"Alright, everything is packed, team is ready, let's head out Pikachu." Ash said, double checking all his things.
"Pi." Pikachu replied with a sad sigh.
"I know buddy, you didn't want to say goodbye to Rosa and Elliot, but this is getting too dangerous for us to keep traveling with them." Ash reminded. "I didn't want to make them leave, but I wanted to make sure they're safe until this all clears up. Maybe once we've stopped Team Plasma and saved Unova we can go visit Elliot at the academy, even bring Rosa along and have a rematch against Drayton or Crispin."
"Pi." Pikachu said still bummed.
"Yeah, I doubt they'll be too happy to see me then too." Ash said, slinging his bag over his shoulder. "Come on, we should get going, we've got a long trip back to Undella Town."
As the two exited the Pokemon Center Ash saw a familiar white tail out of the corner of his eye.
"Minccino?" Ash asked in confusion. "No, probably just a wild one or another trainers, I mean Minccino is with Rosa still."
"Well you're partially right." Rosa commented, walking over with Minccino in her arms.
"Rosa, what are you doing here? I told you to go home so you'd be safe!" Ash argued.
"You did, but we decided to ignore your decision because as usual it was dumb." Rosa said.
"It was not a dumb idea, Team Plasma could still try to take you to get to me, and I wanted to make sure you all were safe, wait did you say we?" Ash asked.
"Yes, we agreed." Elliot pointed out.
"No, you need to both go home, and be somewhere safe, if Team Plasma wants to get to me, then they won't hesitate to kidnap you again." Ash argued.
"And the way I see it, we are safe. Team Plasma has been going after you because they fear you." Rosa pointed out. "And if they try to kidnap us, at least you won't be far from getting us back."
"Besides if you're going to take down Team Plasma, you'll need all the help you can get, especially if they're using Colress's code. Porygon and I might have helped make it, but we can probably just as easily corrupt it." Elliot commented.
"It won't be easy or safe." Ash said.
"We know, but thanks to your movie, they can't move in public without someone finding out." Rosa said.
"But I never filmed the message." Ash said.
"You didn't need to, there were cameras all over the city, they caught everything, including them taking your mom hostage." Elliot pointed out.
"Meaning, that all of Unova knows the truth." Ash said in shock.
"Elliot and Porygon-2 managed to get all the data, even from some of the broken cameras and gather all the film needed to show just who Team Plasma was. Opelucid City, despite everything that happened there, wasn't a loss for this war, it was a win." Rosa informed.
"Alright, well clearly we have some traveling to do, you guys ready to head back to Undella Town?" Ash asked.
"As long as you don't run off in the middle of the night again." Elliot commented.
"Fair enough, if you two want to stick with me, then you two are stuck with me until the Vertress Conference." Ash said.
About two weeks later finally back in Undella Town
"I really wish we had time to enjoy the beach again, but right now we need to keep focused on getting you to Humilau City." Rosa said, looking at the white beach.
"Once this is all said and done, I promise we'll have a beach day." Ash reassured. "So thats the Marine Tube?"
"Yes, please know that battles in the tube are strictly prohibited, you're allowed to stop for photos or sightseeing but make sure not to spend more than 5 hours in the tube due to health risks." A worker said, reading a waiver.
"Why five hours?" Rosa asked.
"The Marine Tube does go underwater, so it might have something to do with artificial sea sickness or pressure build up." Elliot said.
"No, we had someone try to sue us a few years back because there is no food available to be purchased in the tube." The worker sighed.
"Yeah, I think we'll be fine." Ash said.
"That's what they all say." The worker said with a sigh as the trio went through.
"Wow, so many Pokemon I've never seen before are down here." Rosa said, watching a school of Basculin swim by as they got on one of the carts going back and forth across the six mile tube.
Authors Note
According to bulbapedia yes, Marine Tube does span a six mile trench between Undella and Humilau
"Pika!" Pikachu said as a Wailord swam beneath them.
"Look, there's some Frillish, and Mantine." Elliot said.
"That's the beauty of water." Ash said. "I used to travel with a friend who knew everything when it came to water types, she taught Pikachu and I a lot about them."
"You've traveled with a lot of people in the past, what happened to all of them?" Rosa asked, having heard about a few of Ash's friends now.
"Some left me, others I left, it was just our dreams took us on separate paths, but we didn't stop being friends jus because we went our separate ways." Ash said, reminiscing.
"Do you think they'd be willing to help if we asked them?" Rosa asked.
"Like I said, they're all busy right now, with their own dreams and journeys." Ash admitted. "Look once we're at the conference, we already know Hugh is on our side, and we can probably get Stephan to help out."
"Not a huge group to fight an army." Rosa pointed out.
"Hopefully we won't need to go to war, if I can get through to N, he might be able to talk some of Team Plasma down." Ash said, as the exit to other side was still a ways off. "But right now, our next stop is getting my final badge to enter the Unova League." Ash responded, as the cart continued on it's way down the long tunnel.