Champion of Champions

by Basic Trainer

It's been 3 years since Ash left Unova or seen his friends. He spent all that time training and now he's ready to start again. As he starts his journey to conquer the Pokemon Leagues he finds meets an old friend who has a favour to ask.

19. Chapter 19

Hi everyone, here's the latest chapter. I've noticed that a lot of you are asking me to update quickly, I'm writing as fast as I can but it still takes time so please bare-with me. Here's the Pokémon on team

Ash – Pikachu, Lucario, Gyarados, Sandshrew, Rhyhorn, Ponyta

May – Glaceon, Blaziken, Munchlax, Altaria, Venusaur, Wartortle

Adam – Luxray, Luna, Umbreon, Pichu, Greninja, Dragonite

That's all from me, enjoy.

---

Chapter 19

Decisions and Destinations

The group tried to explain to Officer Jenny what had happened but a couple of Chad's friends, the two Adam had kicked, had gotten up and told their own version of events. While the group remained calm as they told Officer Jenny what had happened, Chad's friends were getting agitated and started shouting to be heard, thinking that the louder they were the more Officer Jenny would believe them. They were wrong.

"QUIET!" the teal haired police officer shouted causing everyone to fall silent, she pinched the bridge of her nose. "This isn't going to get sorted here, so until I know the truth about what happened, you're all coming back to the station with me. Please return your Pokémon and hand them over, they're all confiscated until I get to the bottom of this." Chad's friends started to protest but one steely eyed glare from Officer Jenny stopped them in their tracks and they handed over their Pokéballs along with those belonging to their unconscious friends. While the group returned their Pokémon and changed back to this normal clothes Jenny went back to her bike, calling for back up to handle the Pokéballs and help bring Chad and his two still KO'd friends back to the station. A few of the officers that came to help were instructed to stay behind and take witness statements.

Unnoticed by anyone a man slowly walked away from the beach and followed the group as they were led to the Police Station. The man had been watching the group from a distance and was about to approach them when everything kicked off with Chad and his friends, so he decided to hang back and observe the events that followed, he peered over his round sunglasses in surprise when Ash had called for Gyarados and how his battling style had greatly increased from the last time he'd seen the Pallet Town trainer. He also watched how Adam battled and was confused like a lot of other by the commands he called out to Luxray. The man pulled a Pokénav from the pocket of his shorts, opening it and selecting a number before typing a message, Found him., the man sent the message before he carried on walking but at a slower pace as he waited for a reply. A couple of minutes he received a reply, About time, we need a challenge., as heread it a small smile crossed his lips, he closed the Pokénav slipping it back into his pocket and increasing his pace to get to the Police Station a little sooner. He needed to get there before anything happened to disrupt his plans.

Meanwhile

The group reached the Police Station and were separated from Chad and his friends. They were taken to a plain room with a few seats and a table in it along with a large mirror along one wall. Dawn, Iris, Alexa and Zoey each took a seat while Cilan stood alongside Iris, Ash and May sat on the edge of the table and Adam was leaning against the wall holding Cynthia's hand as he rubbed his eyes with his other hand trying to get rid of the remaining sand. All of their Pokémon had been taken from them except for Pichu, Officer Jenny allowed the tiny electric type to stay with them because he was only a baby and would cause more trouble than any of the others. Pichu was currently sat on top of Cynthia's head again, watching everyone in curiosity wondering why they were in this strange room.

While everyone else looked quite calm May was wringing her hands to try and control her nerves, Ash saw this and his eyes flicked across the room looking for some sort of advice. He noticed that Zoey was holding Dawn's hand, Cilan held Iris' small hand in his and Adam was doing the same with Cynthia so Ash gently took one of May's hands and held it in his own, May visibly calmed down. She turned and looked at Ash wondering why he wasn't nervous about the situation.

"Ash, how can you be so calm? Aren't you worried about what's going to happen?" She asked.

"Not really, everything's going to be worked out and then we'll be able to get back to enjoying ourselves. Trust me." He replied with a smile, May stared at him for a couple of seconds before smiling and moving closer to him so she could rest her head on his shoulder.

"I do trust you, more than anyone else." May whispered, hearing what she said caused a warmth to blossom in Ash's heart. He looked down at May and smiled as he gave her hand a comforting squeeze. They sat in silence after that, just sitting there watching everyone else with gentle smiles on their lips.

Others were doing the same as Ash had done with May, Zoey was struggling to keep Dawn from freaking out and Iris although she gave off the impression of being unaffected by what was happening clung to Cilan's hand like a security blanket. Adam and Cynthia were calm knowing that the truth would come out and they'd be free to go, the last member of the group was Alexa and she was the calmest of the group working as a reporter had put her in some similar situations so this wasn't the first time she'd been in a Police Station given that a couple of time for a story she'd had to trespass to confirm what a source had told her.

After a few minutes a Nurse Joy came into look over the group to see if any of them were injured, finding that the only harm that had come to any of them was irritation in Adam's eyes from the sand, she told him to sit down and lean his head back while she used a specially made fluid to wash the sand out completely. Alexa gave up her seat for Adam so Nurse Joy could help him, while she worked Nurse Joy told Adam that the fluid she was using was a mixture of Shuca Berry, Oran Berry and Lansat Berry juices, a couple of drops were put in each eye then Adam closed his eyes so Nurse Joy could massage the juices around. After a minute Nurse Joy told Adam to put his head forward and open his eyes, as he opened them the fluid trickled from his eyes carrying the left over sand. Adam thanked Nurse Joy, as did the rest of the group, and as she turned to leave she stopped and asked who had fought against Chad and his friends, everyone looked at Adam as he offered the seat back to Alexa, he slowly raised his hand to admit to it. She was surprised that only Adam had fought given that he had been outnumbered and had a slight build compared to Chad or any of his friends.

"It was in defense of my friends." Adam said, "I only did enough to incapacitate them, they'll be sore for a while but nothing permanent. Except for Chad's ego because Cynthia knocked him out with one punch." Nurse Joy smiled.

"I know, I was sent to treat them first because they were in a worse condition than any of you. I could see that you only did what was necessary. I'm also glad to know that you're all nicer people then they are." She said.

"What do you mean?" May asked.

"When I was treating them, they made some rather provocative statements and I had to call the guards in when one of them tried to grope me." She blushed slightly but quickly fought it back, her skin returning to its usual pale complexion. They were interrupted when the door opened revealing Officer Jenny, Nurse Joy nodded to the police woman telling her that she'd completed her treatments and would be returning to the medical room to check over the Pokémon after saying that Nurse Joy left the room.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting, it took longer to collect the witness statements then we thought. They all support the version of events that you presented, I just need you to supply me with the name of somebody in a respected position who can confirm that you're not the sort of people who would intentionally start a situation like this." Jenny said.

Cynthia being Sinnoh's Champion gave Charles Goodshow's name as he knew all Champions personally, Iris and Cilan gave the name of the supervisor of Unova's Gym Leaders (the Pokémon League randomly checked up on Gym Leaders to ensure they respected their position and are shown to be of good character). Alexa gave the name of her editor back in Kalos, Dawn supplied Professor Rowan's name, Zoey passed over Candice's name and was told that the ice type gym leader was currently in the reception area demanding to see Zo-Zo. May handed the names of her parents and Professor Birch, Ash gave Professor Oak's name and showed Jenny his GCS. Officer Jenny was surprised to see the device and nodded in understanding while making a note to contact Lance and tell him what occurred.

"What about you sir?" Jenny asked turning to Adam.

"I'm sorry but I don't have a name to give you." He replied.

"Are you sure? A regional Professor, parent, friend anyone will do." Adam shook his head, he fought back a tear hearing Jenny mention parents. He could've mentioned Dinah but she wasn't well known enough to vouch for him. "I'm sorry but you'll have to stay here until we can find someone to vouch for you."

"I'll vouch for him." Cynthia said stepping forward.

"I'm sorry Miss Shirona but since you were involved in what happened you can't vouch for him, no one in here can."

"Cynthia, it's alright. I'll be fine go and enjoy yourself." Adam looked at everyone else, "That goes for all of you as well, there's no reason the Festival should be ruined for you because of me." The group were about to protest and demand Adam was released with them, Cynthia was on the verge of calling for Garchomp when a man's voice caught their attention.

"I'll vouch for him." The man's voice was soft and relaxed, everyone turned to look to the doorway and there stood a portly man with short brown hair wearing a light blue Hawaiian shirt, beige cargo shorts, oval shaped sunglasses and white shoes. Ash and May recognised the man instantly even though they hadn't seen him in years.

"Scott!" They said in unison.

"Hey guys great to see you again." Scot replied, he entered the room and face Officer Jenny. "I'll vouch for Adam's good character. I witnessed what happened on the beach and I've heard his name from other people, a couple of them being your sisters." Scott turned to face Adam, "Was it the Celadon or Saffron Jenny you helped catch a Pokémon Poacher?" He asked, Adam was shock to hear Scott mention that situation, he'd never mentioned it to anyone.

"Celadon, though technically it was Fushcia's because the Poachers were taking Pokémon from the Safari Zone. I ended up passing them in at Celadon's station because they drove right across the Safari Zone to escape. I only found them by chance and chased them on Arcanine, they nearly ran me down as they ran away." Adam explained quietly. "How do you know about that? I haven't told anyone."

"You left something out," Scott said avoiding the question, "When you caught up to them you fought against them to stop them from running before Officer Jenny arrived. What I heard was you ended up with a couple of black eyes, some bruised ribs and a broken arm."

"It was only a fracture." Adam said quietly, staring at the floor to avoid the stares from everyone in the room. Cynthia held his hand tighter and started to fuss over him as if he'd only just gotten the injuries. "That was a few years ago. I still want to know how you know about that." Adam continued as he took hold of Cynthia's other hand to stop her searching him for injuries.

"I'll explain later, right now I think Officer Jenny needs to go and make a few calls so all of you can get out of here." Scott said, Officer Jenny nodded and after taking everyone's full names she left the room telling her subordinates to call the people on her list and to talk to Candice, who was still in the reception demanding to see Zoey and in danger of being arrested herself for disturbing the peace, while she went to her office to call her sisters about Adam and to contact Lance over Ash's GCS.

Officer Jenny came back a few minutes later with their Pokéballs, apologising again for taking so long and returned the Pokémon to their trainers. Pikachu had refused to go inside his Pokéball and so had Lucario so they had walked out of the room with Officer Jenny. As they left the Police Station they saw it was starting to get dark so they went back to the Cynthia's Penthouse, Zoey and Dawn separated from the group dragging Candice with them while she threatened to Kiai the police for holding Zoey for so long. The two Co-Ordinators re-joined the group a little later after passing Candice over to Maylene, who had a calming influence over the spirited ice type leader and soon had her sitting quietly at the stall dedicated to Sinnoh's Gym Leaders.

Once everyone was back at the Penthouse they all sat down waiting to hear why Scott had vouched for Adam.

"Scott, why did you help me?" Adam asked.

"I wanted to invite you to take on the Battle Frontier in Sinnoh and I can't do that if you're in Police custody can I." Scott replied.

"Why me?"

"Sorry?"

"Why me, why do you want me to challenge the Frontier? And how do you know so much about me?"

"I have a number of contacts around the world who keep an eye out for promising trainers who are good enough to take on one of my Battle Frontiers. When they think they've found someone then send me the name and I do a background check to see what type of person the trainer is, if they're kind to their Pokémon, how much experience they have, which Frontier they'd be best suited for, if they've had any trouble with the authorities things like that. One of my contacts sent me your name and suggested the Sinnoh Frontier specifically for you, I did my checks and that's how I know a lot about you." Scott looked over his sunglasses at Adam giving him a look that told the trainer he knew about his past, more specifically his parents. Adam gave Scott a barely perceptible nod to show he understood, ignoring the slight look of pity in Scott's eyes.

"Who are your contacts?" Adam asked, he was wracking his brains to try and work out who might've put his name forward but couldn't figure it out. There was no-one who he could think of that might've worked for someone like Scott.

"I have a lot of contacts some work for me, others are friends and colleagues. There's the Frontier Brains obviously, some Gym Leaders, some highly experienced trainers, Nurse Joys, respectable Day Care owners and I have people visit tournaments to look for trainers. Every now and again I have other people contact me with a name, it might be a regional Professor, League officials and every now and again a Champion might call me with a name. That's how I found out about Ash, Lance gave me a call after you helped him in Hoenn. I didn't say anything at the time because Lance asked me not too." Scott said looking at Ash as he finished his sentence.

"You passed my name on to Scott didn't you." Adam said it wasn't a question but a statement. Everyone had turned to look at Ash so when they looked back they saw Adam staring at Cynthia. "That's why Sinnoh's Frontier was suggested. Why'd you do it?"

"Because you're an amazing trainer and….and I wanted to see you again." Cynthia said ending the sentence shyly. "I called Scott last night to let him know you were here."

"Why?"

"I can answer that." Scott said, drawing attention away from the couple. "I've been trying to find you for a few months, well its closer to a year now and each time I get close to where you've been seen, you've already moved on. You never stayed in one place long enough for anyone I send to find you. Nurse Joy can contact me but you've always left by the time someone get to wherever you were and Nurse Joy only finds out your name after she's handed you Pokémon back, by that point you've left the Pokémon Centre and nowhere in sight. So what'd you say, will you take on the Sinnoh Battle Frontier?" Scott asked, Adam was quiet for a minute before he spoke.

"Can I have some time to think it over?" He asked, shocking everyone.

"Of course but I was expecting to leave here with an answer. Take all the time you need, the offer isn't going anywhere. That goes the same for you Ash, if you ever want to become a Frontier Brain just let me know. Here take my card, call me when you're ready." Scott gave both Ash and Adam a card each and then his Pokénav rang out, he reached into his pocket and pulled it out. Flicking it open he read the message that had come through, he sighed and shook his head. "I've got to go, something's come up. Noland's been tinkering again and the Battle Factory needs some rebuilding, that man will never learn. It's been great to see you all, I'll be seeing you again soon I hope." Scott turned to leave as he opened the door he on the threshold, looking over his shoulder he smiled at Ash. "Oh by the way, it's great to see you're back on the League Circuit again Ash, it was starting to get boring. Congratulations on your graduation, last time someone did what you did was around four or five hundred years ago wasn't it." Scott left without another word leaving everyone looking at Ash, who simply stared at the doorway Scott had just left through.

How does he know about that? Ash thought as his mind raced to find an answer. There wasn't anyone who could've told Scott about that, the people of Rota who witnessed his graduation might've but they wouldn't have known he'd beaten the Battle Frontier. Riley and the Queen knew but they wouldn't have told Scott about the graduation and the only other person was May and she was just as surprised to have seen Scott as he was. It was then that he remembered the call he gotten from Lance after leaving Rota, he'd known about Sir Aaron. The only thing left that puzzled him was why Lance had told Scott, if he actually had.

"What did he mean by graduation?" Dawn asked, Ash didn't hear her as he was still staring at the door. May nudged him in the ribs snapping him out of his trance.

"Huh?" Ash said finally taking his gaze from the door.

"What was Scott talking about when he said graduation? Did you go to college or something?" Dawn asked again. Ash sighed and stood up, turning to face everyone.

"The best way to explain is to show you." He said, Ash closed his eyes and held out a hand palm towards the ceiling. Slowly a ball of blue energy formed in the palm of his hand, after a couple of seconds a fully formed Aura Sphere floated an inch above his open hand. "A few weeks ago I became an Aura Guardian. I am a knight of Rota, member of the Royal Court and Protector of the Crown." Ash let the Aura Sphere dissipate and waited for someone to say something.

"Guess you're not such a kid anymore." Iris said, making Ash chuckle. Ash went on to explain how he'd trained with Riley but kept his actual training to himself saying that the methods of training where only for Aura Guardians and Aura Students to know.

"Adam, can I ask a question?" Zoey asked.

"Sure, what is it?" He asked in reply

"Why do you need to think over Scott's offer for the Battle Frontier? I don't know much about it but from what I've heard it's an amazing opportunity."

"I…I just need to think a few things over before I decide what I want to do." Adam stood up kissing Cynthia lightly on the top of her head. "You guys have fun, I'm going for a walk, try and clear my head so I can make a decision. I won't be long." Adam walked to the door of the Penthouse and left. Everyone just stared at the door, Cynthia started to stand up to follow him but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. The Champion turned to see who'd stopped her and saw it was May.

"Cynthia, just give him some time. I'm sure he'll be back soon, he just needs some space to think." She said, Cynthia nodded and reluctantly sat back down. Everyone decided to get cleaned up from being at the beach, then order some room service and watch some movies. Ash, Pikachu and Lucario were outvoted when it came to what type of movie they were going to watch. They'd wanted action thrillers but were outnumbered by the girls who wanted to watch romantic comedies, in the end Ash and Pikachu had enjoyed the movies for two reasons. One was that they found the movies funny and the other was that May had sat close to Ash resting her head on his shoulder, while Glaceon had curled up next to Pikachu making both the electric type and his trainer happy for reasons they didn't fully understand yet, though Pikachu was starting to have an idea of what that reason was (AN I know it doesn't need saying but Pikachu's the smartest of the two). Lucario decided to go to Ash's room and meditate instead of staying for the movies, though he was still a Riolu at heart he was still a fighting type and that meant he wasn't the biggest fan of romantic movies.

After a few movies including an action thriller, which Lucario returned to the main room to watch, it was getting late so Dawn, Zoey, Alexa, Cilan and Iris left to return to their hotels for the night. They thanked Cynthia for letting them stay so late and for paying for the food. Once the others had left Cynthia, Ash and May got themselves ready for bed but stayed up a little longer talking, after about an hour they all left to go to their rooms.

A couple of hours later Ash woke up and left his room to get a glass of water, as he walked into the main area of the apartment he saw Cynthia sitting on the couch reading a book on a Poké-Reader (like an E-Reader). She would turn to look at the door every so often while stroking Pichu gently, with the hand not holding the Poké-Reader, as the small electric type slept.

"Cynthia, are you alright?" He asked, Cynthia jumped slightly having not heard Ash's door open.

"I'm okay, just a little worried. Adam said he wouldn't be long but he's been gone for hours." Cynthia explained.

"He'd probably just caught up in his thoughts. I'll go look for him." Ash turned to go back to his room when he felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned back and was enveloped in a hug by Cynthia.

"Thank you." She whispered before releasing him and going back to sit on the couch. Ash quickly went back to his room and got changed, unintentionally waking Pikachu and Lucario in the process. After a minute the three of them exited the room and made their way to the door, Ash gave one last look at Cynthia and smiled before leaving and closing the door behind him.

Once they were outside Ash and Lucario closed their eyes and focused, letting their senses extend to detecting Aura. Slowly they started to feel the whole city around them, the Aura of all the Pokémon and people floating around them. Part of Ash's Aura training was how to differentiate between ages, Pokémon Types and in some cases individual Pokémon along other things that made up a person's Aura signature. They then started to sift through the Auras blocking out any that belonged to people older and younger than Adam leaving them with the Auras of everyone in the city between the ages of 18 and 30, next they looked for an Aura in that age range with a Lucario nearby. They could only sense one Aura signature like that and there were two other Auras nearby other than a Lucario, one was from an electric type and the other belonged to a dark type. Ash smiled as he opened his eyes keeping a lock on the location of the Aura.

"Got him, let's go." He said as he took off running with Lucario and Pikachu alongside him. After a few minutes they arrived at the beach and saw Adam just standing by there looking out to sea. Luna, Umbreon and Luxray were stood around him silently waiting for him. Ash walked over to him, Adam's Pokémon saw him coming and went over to Lucario and Pikachu, the five Pokémon knew that their trainers would need some time to talk.

"Adam, you alright?" Ash asked, stopping a couple of feet away from his friend. Adam looked over his shoulder to see who was talking to him.

"Hey Ash, I'm fine. Why aren't you back at the penthouse with everyone else?" Adam replied turning around.

"Everyone's gone back to their hotels, it's past midnight. I told Cynthia I'd come and find you."

"Is it? I didn't think it would take this long to decide."

"What's the problem? Maybe I can help."

"I'm conflicted, I want to travel with Cynthia for a while and taking on the Sinnoh Battle Frontier is an amazing opportunity but I like travelling with you and May. I still need to help May with her problem as well. I was planning on staying with you until you got to Saffron then I was going to go to Lavender Town before deciding what to do next. I'm torn between my feelings for Cynthia and my loyalty to my friends. I love Cynthia, I really do, with all of my heart but I made a promise to May and I never break my promises. I can't decide what to do, if I stay with you and May then that'll hurt Cynthia but if I go with Cynthia back to Sinnoh for the Frontier then I'll be breaking my promise. I don't know what to do, I'm at war with myself." Adam dropped onto the sand, holding his head in his hands. Ash sat down next to him and put a hand on Adam's shoulder, he'd never seen Adam act like this before. Adam always seemed to know where he was going and could help people decide what they wanted to do, this was a whole new side to his friend.

"I don't know much about feelings or love but you gave me some advice earlier and I think you need to listen to that." Ash said, as he remembered what Adam had said. He wanted to get the words right because if he didn't it could cause more problems.

"What did I say?"

"'The heart never lies, it mightn't make sense sometimes but it always tells the truth.' You told me that after the Gym Battle, I don't really understand what it means but you said it so you should." Ash and Adam sat in silence for a while until Adam chuckled under his breath.

"Ash, you might be an idiot when it comes to things other than Pokémon but you're one hell of a friend. Thank you, I know what I'm going to do now."

"I'm not an idiot, I just don't think about other stuff that often." Ash said as he stood up and offered Adam a hand, helping him off the sand. They started to walk back to the hotel, their Pokémon joining them when Adam stopped and paled slightly. "Adam, what's wrong?"

"What was Cynthia like when you came out to find me?" Adam asked.

"She said she was worried and she was sat on the couch looking at the door." Ash answered, Adam nodded knowing what was going to happen when they got back to the hotel.

"Ash, it's been nice knowing you. This might be the last time I see you because Cynthia's going to kill me when she sees me."

"Don't worry so much, I'm sure everything will be fine." Ash said, Adam shook his head and patted Ash's shoulder.

"That's why I called you an idiot. You have a lot to learn about women Ash. Come on, I'm ready to meet my fate." They walked back to the hotel in silence, Ash entered the room first and saw that May had woken up and was sat next to Cynthia.

"Did you…" Cynthia started but the rest of her question died in her throat as Adam walked through the doorway. Adam opened his mouth to say something but stopped when he was the look of fury in Cynthia's eyes. Cynthia stood up and stalked over to Adam, she ignored Ash and passed the still sleeping Pichu to Luna. Cynthia then grabbed Adam's wrist and dragged him to her room, she threw him through the door before following him and slamming the door. There were a few seconds of silence before Ash and May could hear Cynthia's raised voice through the door, it wasn't loud enough to understand what she was saying but the tone of her voice was more than recognizable. She was angry and letting Adam take the full force of that anger making sure he knew how she felt.

"Ash, I think that we should get some sleep, it's late. Cynthia's won't want us listening in on what she's saying to Adam." May said pushing Ash towards his room. "What was Adam thinking about anyway?"

Ash explained to May why Adam couldn't give Scott and answer straight away. They said goodnight to each other and May left went back to her room, a few minutes later they were asleep and Adam's Pokémon had gone into his room and settled themselves down to sleep hoping that Adam would be okay.

The next morning after waking up and showering May got changed, she then left her room and saw that Ash was sat at the kitchen counter eating some toast. She looked across the room and saw that the door to Cynthia's room was open but neither Cynthia nor Adam could be seen.

"Ash, where are Adam and Cynthia?" May asked taking a seat at the counter. Ash had mouthful of food and his table manners had improved so he didn't try to speak he just handed over a piece of paper while he chewed. May took the piece of paper and saw that it was a note with beautiful cursive writing on it. The note read:-

Ash and May,

I've made Adam take me out for breakfast as a way to apologize for last night and he's going to stay close to me all day so I can keep an eye on him. We probably won't be back by the time you wake up so feel free to order room service if you want to. After Adam and I have had breakfast I have to go to the arena because for the last day of the Festival I'm taking on any challengers.

Have fun with whatever you're doing today.

Cynthia

P.S. Sorry if I kept you awake when I was shouting at Adam but he did deserve it.

"So…what are we going to do today?" May asked as she put down the note. She knew that Adam and Cynthia had made up during the night because at one point she woke up to get a drink like Ash had when he found Cynthia earlier in the night. She'd opened her door but quickly closed it again, she'd seen Adam and Cynthia sitting on the couch, just holding each other. May didn't want to interrupt the tender moment so she got back into bed and went back to sleep.

"Well, I was only eating toast while I waited for you to wake up. Do you want to order breakfast from room service?" Ash replied. May nodded and went over to the phone to get the menu before returning to her seat next to Ash. After a couple of minutes they'd decided what they wanted and placed their orders, Ash and May then settled down on the couch and watched some TV, they caught the end of a news report about a strange cloaked figure who rescued some Pokémon from a forest fire close to Fuchsia City before disappearing. Ash had a feeling about who the figure might be but kept his suspicions to himself, about ten minutes after that there was a knock at the door. May got up and opened the door letting the waiter in with their food. After eating they left the hotel to explore the Festival one last time. Pikachu sat on Ash's shoulder as he usually did and May had released Glaceon as well, Lucario walked behind them his eyes darting left to right keeping watch for any sign of danger.

They first stopped by the Pokémon Centre so Ash could send Sandshrew, Rhyhorn and Gyarados back to Professor Oak and ask for Houndour, Grimm and Typhlosion, May swapped her Pokémon around too exchanging Venusaur, Wartortle and Altaria for Lilligant, Vulpix and Mawile. May had asked for these Pokémon because she still wanted to work on a couple of Lilligant's combinations, Vulpix was still a relatively new Pokémon so she wanted to train the fire type a little more and May wanted to spend some time getting to know Mawile, seeing as she was still young.

When Ash and May left the Pokémon Centre they wandered around the Festival taking one last look at everything, May bought a couple of souvenirs for her parents and Max along with a couple of accessories she could use in her Contests, Ash bought a crystal figurine of Mr. Mime and a pewter frame covered in small engravings of Butterfree and Beautifly around the edges for his mom.

---

At Professor Oak's Lab

Professor Oak had just sent Ash the Pokémon he'd asked for and was walking through the door of the Lab that lead out to the Ranch. He released Ash's and May's Pokémon from their balls and called Tracey over.

"Tracey, could you take Gyarados to the lake where Ash's Pokémon are please. I'd go but there's some research in need to do for Professor Elm, he's in the middle of a study and need the information as soon as possible." The Professor said.

"Sure, no problem Professor." Tracey replied as he took Gyarados' Pokéball. Tracey then started walking towards the lake with Rhyhorn and Sandshrew alongside him while Professor Oak went to his library to find the information Professor Elm needed.

(Pokémon Language Translator Activated)

"Rhyhorn, will you be okay if I run on ahead? I need to tell everyone else what happened between Ash and Mistress May." Sandshrew said.

"I'll be fine. Go, I'm sure they'll all want to know about it." Rhyhorn replied and with that answer Sandshrew dropped onto all fours and ran as fast as he could towards the rest of Ash's and May's Pokémon. A couple of minutes later Sandshrew could hear the now familiar voices of his new family and could see Pidgeot, Staraptor and Unfezant circling above the lake in a mock aerial battle. Sandshrew pushed himself a little harder, using every last bit of speed he had to get the news to the others as soon as possible. He ran towards a break in the trees when he saw May's Wartortle run past.

"Everyone, I have neARRGH!" Sandshrew cried out in pain, as he'd entered the clearing by the lake he was blindsided by a Water Gun from Feraligatr. He run right into the middle of a training exercise/game the water types were involved in, the purpose of the training/game was to work on accuracy and power control. The Water Gun wasn't at full power but the type disadvantage and unexpectedness of the attack was still enough to knock Sandshrew off his feet and send him tumbling towards the lake. The ground type closed his eyes and waited to impact the water but it never happened, slowly opening his eyes he saw he was floating inches above the surface of the lake.

"Don't worry Sandshrew, I've got you." Gardevoir said calmly as she used her psychic abilities to carry Sandshrew away from the water and onto the grass close to where she stood. Torkoal lumbered over and released a low power Heat Wave to dry Sandshrew off as Gardevoir used Psychic to pluck an Oran Berry from a nearby tree. Sandshrew ate the berry and felt his strength returning to him, he thanked Torkoal for his help and Gardevoir for saving him from landing in the lake and giving him the Oran Berry. She had been relaxing, lying under a tree watching Spoink practicing her Psychic control.

"Sorry about that man," Feraligatr said apologetically as he walked over, his head bobbing slightly as if listening to music, "I was in the groove, didn't mean to make you wipe out dude."

"It's okay my friend. You weren't expecting me to appear it's no one's fault, just an accident." Sandshrew said as he finished the berry.

"Why were in such a rush to see us?" Gardevoir asked sitting down next to Sandshrew, she and the Shiny ground type had become fast friends since meeting and when together at the Lab would spend time talking about their pasts. Sandshrew would recount his times with his group before he was forced out and Gardevoir would tell him about her time with Ash. She never spoke of her former trainer but Sandshrew knew what had happened because the other Pokémon had told him and warning him not to hurt her. They all felt protective of the Psychic type but the most protective were Charizard, Emboar and Infernape, each of them having an abusive former trainer just as she did.

"I have some important news to share with everyone." Sandshrew replied, the other Pokémon gathered round and called for the circling flying type to land. Unfezant landed in Torterra's tree beside the two Eevee and Shinx Ash had received from his dad, they'd been playing Tag inside it. Pidgeot and Staraptor landed in the tree closest to where Sandshrew was standing. The small ground type was starting to feel nervous standing surrounded by a large number of strong Pokémon all of them bigger than he was but he pushed the nervousness to the side and raised his voice so they could all hear. He'd spoken to his group back at Mount Moon in similar situations when needed, telling them of danger or a new source of food but he'd never spoken to such a large group of Pokémon before especially given the fact most were bigger than he was and stronger.

"Something we have been waiting for has occurred. Ash and Mistress May have kissed." Nearly all of the Pokémon cheered, Sceptile was leaning against a tree and smirked around the twig in his mouth, Meganium while happy also looked jealous and Torkoal burst into happy tears. Ash's newer Pokémon didn't really understand what all the fuss was over but were happy none the less, once the cheers had died down Gardevoir, having picked up the confusion from the new Pokémon, explained why it was such a big deal. Sandshrew then went on to recount the events that transpired, Pikachu had told him about it once he'd recovered from the Gym Battle.

Tracey entered the clearing and seeing all the Pokémon surrounding Sandshrew, the Pokémon Watcher just assumed that Sandshrew was recounting the Gym Battle to them. Rhyhorn lumbered over to the other Pokémon and Tracey released Gyarados from his ball into the lake, Tracey then left the clearing and made his way back to the Lab.

"So they're still pretending to be a couple." Gardevoir said.

"Yes but they are getting closer. I met a friend of Ash's, his name was Adam, he helped point Ash in the direction his feelings were taking him and give him a little push as well." Sandshrew said.

"I've met Adam before, he's a nice person but he carries a lot of pain with him."

"He has found a mate, a woman named Cynthia. He seemed very happy with her."

"You mean girlfriend, Sandshrew. Human's don't have mates, they have boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands or wives." The Pokémon then started to make a plan of how they could push Ash and May closer together whenever they were called on. A plan was formed, the basic idea was that whenever a moment occurred that could be considered romantic they would make sure Ash and May were close to each other. May's Pokémon were mostly in charge of deciding whether the moment was romantic or not as the majority of Ash's Pokémon were similar to their trainer in not understanding romance. A few like Sceptile, Charizard and Samurott had ideas of what it was like to be in love but didn't want to admit it as doing that would ruin their macho image, Gardevoir understood and knew what would be needed to be done if the moment arose.

Once the plan was finished except for a few details the conversation then went on to the Gym Battle with Sandshrew telling his part, Rhyhorn told her part and the two of them sharing the final battle between Pikachu and Raichu. Sandshrew then told them that Ash was planning on taking on the Saffron City Gym next and that he planned on calling for Butterfree for the battle. When the Gym Battle was mentioned a few of the Pokémon turned to look at the bug type to see his reaction, Butterfree was sitting on the lowest branch to the tree Sandshrew was stood under next to Beautifly.

Butterfree was excited that he was going to take part in a Gym Battle but he was nervous as well because the last time he'd been in a Gym Battle was when Ash first went through Kanto and accepted Misty's challenge for the Cascade Badge. In that battle he'd lost to Staryu after being knocked into the pool forcing Ash to concede the round, he didn't want to let Ash down again.

"There's no need to be nervous Butterfree." Gardevoir said, she could feel the nervousness flowing off him. "You're a lot stronger now and you'll have the type advantage. You'll do fine, I know it, everyone here knows it and Ash knows it. He believes in you and so do we." The rest of the Pokémon voiced their support, Butterfree looked around at them and felt his nervousness fading away.

"You can do it." Beautifly said as she snuggled into his side, rubbing her head affectionately against his. Butterfree noticed that the tension inside him faded completely and was replaced by the desire to win.

"Everyone thank you, if all of you believe in me then I can do this. I have something I want to ask you, all of you. It's been a long time since I was last in a Gym Battle or battle of any kind for that matter. I want to be ready, will you help me?" Butterfree asked. The Pokémon all agreed and as soon as they'd stopped taking they began to help Butterfree starting with increasing his agility and dodging ability by launching attacks at him. The training was planned to continue for the rest of the day, switching from dodging and speed to power and accuracy every couple of hours.

It wasn't just Butterfree training, Ash's newer Pokémon were working with the Pokémon who weren't helping Butterfree but doing the same types of exercises dodging attacks or countering ones that couldn't be dodged. When Butterfree was doing his speed training he would race against Pidgeot and Swellow, as they were Ash's fastest fliers, or work on his agility by chasing Sceptile through the trees while dodging attacks. The speed training for the newer Pokémon was just a race between each of them or it would be a game of Tag to work on both speed and agility. The power and accuracy was the same for Butterfree and the newer Pokémon, Gardevoir would use Psychic to lift a selection of rocks of varying sizes and move them around at different speeds, the aim of the training was to either hit or destroy the rocks as quickly as possible. Some of the more serious of the newer Pokémon, like Sawk, were doing some one on one training with Ash's other Pokémon.

After they stopped for lunch Gardevoir was working one to one with Butterfree to try and help him adjust to battling Pokémon that can teleport as well as help him learn to keep his focus while being assaulted by the confusing side effects of psychic attacks. Ash's Pokémon that could use fire, rock, electric or ice type attacks used them at a low power to slowly build up his resistance to them. It was going to be a harsh training regime but Butterfree knew that in the end the results would be worth it. Every so often the training would stop and Butterfree was given a chance to rest before it started all over again.

Once the day was over Butterfree was tired and sore but he was happy with the results and willing to do it all again the next day. He was getting faster and stronger thanks to the speed and power training but the main thing he needed to work on was keeping his focus and accuracy. He knew that would come in time but he wanted to get those perfect before the Gym Battle, he didn't know when exactly Ash would call for him but he was determined to be ready.

---

Back at the Festival

Ash and May met up with Dawn and Zoey about an hour after leaving the Pokémon Centre in the Sinnoh section of the Festival, they were talking to Candice at the stall where some of Sinnoh's Gym Leaders could be seen with their Pokémon. Ash greeted the Gym Leaders that had come to represent their Region. Candice and Maylene waved at him, Crasher Wake nearly crushed his hand while shaking it, Fantina remembered seeing him from Rota and Volkner nodded his head in greeting. There was a sixth person there who Ash was surprised to see, Flint the fire type member of Sinnoh's Elite 4. Ash spent a couple of minutes getting some advice from Flint about how to train Infernape and his other fire types while May chatted to Fantina about possible Contest combinations.

After that Dawn and Zoey joined them as they went through the Festival meeting up with Cilan and Iris a little while in the Johto section, Cilan had closed the Connoisseurs stall early so that he could enjoy the Festival with Iris. Cilan and Iris declined May's invitation to join the group saying they wanted sometime together and would meet them later at the arena to watch Cynthia's battles.

The four continued to explore the Festival buying trinkets and other things they might need. Dawn, Zoey and May each bought a set of combs for grooming their Pokémon along with some other implements for Pokémon without fur such as cloths and Squirtle wax for Pokémon with shells or hard hides. Ash found a stall selling some Evolutionary Items at discounted prices, during the 3 years he'd been training whenever he was home between regions he'd asked Professor Oak to teach him things about Pokémon and how they evolved so he could always get the best from his Pokémon. One of the first things Professor Oak had taught him was how to tell whether Evolutionary Items were real or not as people selling counterfeit items was a real problem and could be found everywhere. Ash looked over the items and found that the ones he wanted were the real deal so he bought an Electirizer, a Magmarizer and a Protector along with a couple of each Evolutionary Stone, Mossy Rock and Icy Rock just in case he or May needed them.

After spending some more time enjoying the Festival the four friends went to find some food. There was a section of the Regions Festival dedicated solely to the many different foods of the different regions, there were stalls for each region along with a few that blended the different foods together such as Sinnoh Old Gateau with a Unova Casteliacone topping. The four of them split up to find the food they wanted before meeting up again a few minutes later and sitting at one of the picnic tables that had been set up among the stalls. Dawn and Zoey had a modest amount of food on their plates, while Ash and May had their usual portion of food, each of which easily dwarfed both Dawn's and Zoey's. They chatted lightly while they ate, soon their food was gone and they were ready to explore the Festival some more.

After another couple of hours and a fair amount of shopping by the girls, leaving Ash to carry the bags, they met up with Iris and Cilan again. This time the Unova natives accepted the invitation to join them and the group then made their way to the arena to watch Cynthia battle. As they got close they could hear the cheers of the crowd echoing through the air along with the unmistakable roar of Cynthia's Garchomp. They entered the arena and found some seats towards the back, they spent the next hour or so watching the battles.

May spotted Adam standing behind Cynthia leaning against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest and a foot placed on the wall, watching the battle intently. Luxray was sat next to him with Pichu sitting on the electric type's head, it was clear that both Pokémon were enjoying the battle as Pichu would call out when Garchomp attacked and Luxray, while quiet, was excitedly flicking his tail from side to side. She saw Alexa standing close to the field with her camera in her hand, Alexa had said goodbye to the group the night before saying that once she had enough footage from Cynthia's battles she was returning to Kalos to put the finishing touches to her articles and pass them over to her editor.

Ash did feel a near overwhelming need to battle Cynthia, to test himself, but chose not to as he knew that he was nowhere near the level Cynthia was. If he called in a full team of his strongest Pokémon he might be able to beat two or three of Cynthia's Pokémon but that was only if he managed to get past Garchomp. Adam had told him about the battle he'd had against Cynthia at the outskirts of Vermillion and how he'd barely been able to take down two of Cynthia's Pokémon thanks to type advantages. So Ash made sure to take notice of how Cynthia battled, her timing for attacks, when she shouted for a dodge, everything in case he got the chance to battle her in the future.

While he's been training he'd made a habit of watching any trainer battles he'd come across and tried to work out if there were any hole in the trainer's battling styles, he was trying to do that now but as far as he could tell there were no holes in Cynthia's battling style, her attacks were perfectly timed and beyond powerful, her defense near unbeatable and there was no hesitation in her voice when she called out to her Pokémon showing her pure and unbreakable faith in the abilities of her Pokémon. The way her Garchomp followed her calls to attack, dodge or defend showed that they felt the same way towards her, believing in her just as much as she did them.

The fact that she never broke her calm during battle fascinated Ash, even though he was sat at the back of the arena he could see the fire burning in her eyes that showed her excitement for the battle but somehow it didn't show on her face. The way that her expression never changed no matter how the battle went, if it were Ash he'd be grinning and flailing around in his usual vigor but Cynthia stood still with her arms either by her sides or crossed over her chest and a kind smile on her lips.

Eventually it was time for the last battle of the day, on the field the group saw Cynthia smiling as Garchomp delivered a Dragon Claw to her opponent's Ampharos sending the electric type backwards. Cynthia's opponent was a man with dark skin and short black hair, he wore a pair of black jeans, black boots, a white T-Shirt and blue leather jacket with gold lightning bolts down the sleeves.

The battle continued for a couple more minutes with Ampharos landing a couple of Dragon Pulse attacks on Garchomp but was inevitably knocked out by Dig which was hidden by a cloud of smoke when a Dragon Pulse from Ampharos collided with Garchomp's Flamethrower.

"Ampharos is no longer able to battle, The Lord of Thunder, electric type specialist of the Kanto Elite 4 Jefferson Pierce has run out of usable Pokémon. The winner of the match is Cynthia Shirona, Champion of Sinnoh." The referee said, the crowd cheered as both trainers recalled their Pokémon and walked to meet each other in the middle of the field. They shook hands and exchanged a few words before Cynthia took a microphone from the referee. Raising it too her lips she looked into the crowds.

"Thank you to everyone here who came to see these battles, I hope you enjoyed what you saw." The crowds cheered, "I'd also like to thank everyone I battled and I hope you take the advice I gave you to heart. I want you all to take what I'm about to say to heart as well, we all know that there are people out there who don't deserve to be trainers, they see their Pokémon a tools and things to be used, abused and thrown away but that isn't what being a trainer is about. Being a trainer isn't about having strong Pokémon and winning lots of battles either, it's being with your Pokémon being friends, being a family." Cynthia turned around so that she could see all of the people in the arena, her eyes briefly rested on Adam when she mentioned being a family with your Pokémon.

"It's about enjoying the journey more than where you're going. It took me a few months to work that out when I started as a trainer, it took a dear friend to show teach me that a trainer isn't measured by the strength of their Pokémon alone but by the bonds they share with their Pokémon. He didn't even know what he did, I never told him of thanked him for what he did. It's because of him that I am who I am today, not as a Champion but as a person." She added.

There was a moment of silence until one person started to clap and soon the arena was filled by the sound of applause. Cynthia locked eyes with Adam and smiled, Adam smiled in return and nodded his head just enough for Cynthia to see. The truth was he was shocked by what Cynthia had said and couldn't think of anything to say in response. After a minute Cynthia signaled for the crowd to stop clapping, once there was silence again she put the microphone to her mouth again.

"I'd like to that Jefferson for his battle as well, I wasn't expecting to battle a member of Kanto's Elite 4 today." Cynthia continued turning to her former opponent.

"Well, when I heard the Champion of Sinnoh was taking on all challengers, how could I refuse such an offer? And please call me Jeff, I always feel like I'm in trouble when I get called Jefferson." The Elite replied in a deep, calm voice earning a laugh from the crowds. "I should thank you as well, it's not often I battle someone with your level of skill. I have a question for you, will you have dinner with me tonight?" Cynthia jerked at the question not expecting it, there were shouts from the telling her to accept along with a few voice asking her out to dinner.

Ash, May and the others looked at Adam, his arms had dropped to his sides and his hands were opening and closing as he tried to control himself. He looked like he was going to charge across the field but stayed where he was waiting to see what Cynthia did, Luxray's fur bristled and sparks were crackling around it causing Pichu to laugh as they tickled him.

"Jeff, thank you for the offer but I already have plans tonight and tomorrow I'm leaving so I have to decline." Cynthia said, she then lowered the microphone so the crowds couldn't hear her. "The man behind me, who I assume looks angry, is my boyfriend but I don't want that made public yet so if you don't mind could you play along with my excuse?" Jeff looked over Cynthia's shoulder and did see the angry looking Adam before returning his gaze to the Champion.

"Not a problem, I didn't know. Sorry if I've embarrassed you." He said. Cynthia then lifted the microphone back up and looked at the crowds again who were still shouting out for her to accept the invitation for Jeff or other members of the crowd.

"That's alright Cynthia, I understand." Jeff said into the microphone. "Can't blame me for trying." This earned another laugh from the crowd, Cynthia chuckled lightly and sent Adam a quick glance to say everything was alright.

"Thank you again for coming and I hope you enjoyed watching the battles today. Goodbye and enjoy the rest of the Festival." Cynthia said before handing the microphone back to the referee and walking back towards Adam with Jeff behind her. When they got close to Adam, Jeff extended his hand.

"Hey man, sorry about what I said out there. I didn't know Cynthia was taken." The Elite said. Adam took Jeff's hand shaking it, the anger he felt had lessened considerably and faded completely once the handshake ended.

"Not a problem, like you said can't be blamed for trying. Cynthia's something special but there's one thing you're wrong about." Adam replied.

"What's that?"

"Cynthia isn't taken, the only reason I'm with her is because she chose to be with me. I don't know why she chose me but I'm not going to complain." Adam chuckled, Jeff laughed as well and Cynthia hit Adam's arm playfully. The three of them continued talking as they left the arena, however leaving the arena took longer than they expected because of a large number of people waiting to ask for autographs. Jeff and Cynthia smiled and signed the various pieces of paper that were shoved under their noses, even though they were both contemplating calling their Pokémon out to disperse the crowd. Adam stayed stood close to Cynthia despite the amount of pushes and shoves he was given as people tried to get closer to the blonde Champion.

At one point Adam put a man in an arm lock because he tried to grab hold of Cynthia's backside. When questioned about why he did it Adam simply said he was Cynthia's bodyguard supplied by the people who organised the Regions Festival because of some disturbing fan letters she'd received. The crowd seemed to accept the explanation because there had been articles in the papers for years about Champions, Gym Leaders and Elite 4 members getting threatening and perverted letters from unstable fans.

Cynthia was surprised by how convincing Adam was as a liar when it came to everyone except her, on the odd occasion when Adam had lied to her she'd had a feeling he'd not been telling the truth but seeing the confidence he spoke to the crowd with Cynthia half believed him herself and made a note to question Adam about it when they were alone.

Eventually the crowd left having gotten their autographs and then Adam, Jeff and Cynthia managed to get out of the arena. Waiting outside for them were Ash, May, Iris, Cilan, Dawn and Zoey. Ash immediately started talking about the battle but was interrupted by Jeff.

"Hey, didn't you battle the Lieutenant yesterday?" He asked.

"Yeah, I did." Ash replied, "How did you know?"

"I was watching the battle yesterday. Your Pikachu is something else, I've never seen a Pokémon take that much damage during a battle with the Lieutenant's Raichu and win before. Any chance you want to trade him?" A moment of silence passed between them as Ash processed what Jeff had just asked.

"Pikachu's my best friend, there's no way I'd trade him. Why are you asking?"

"Well, oh sorry I didn't introduce myself." Jeff held out his hand, "I'm Jeff Pierce, I'm a member of the Kanto Elite 4, electric type Pokémon are my specialty. The reason I asked is because Pikachu had a lot of potential and given time could become incredibly powerful. Have you thought about maybe breeding Pikachu? Any children he has would have the same potential, maybe even more depending on which Pokémon he bred with." Both Ash and Pikachu were taken aback by the question the idea had never crossed either of their minds. A certain ice type who stood by May's side blushed deeply at the mention of Pikachu breeding.

"We've never thought about it." Ash answered, "We've been focused on training and battling since we first met. Right buddy?" Ash directed his question to Pikachu.

"PiPikachu." The electric mouse answered.

"By the way my name's Ash Ketchum." Ash said.

"Nice to meet you Ash. I can understand that but think about it, you could be surprised by the results." Jeff said, after that they all walked through Vermillion City talking as they headed for the Pokémon Centre. Jeff told them that he was originally from Johto but moved to Vermillion before his journey started bringing with him a Mareep who was his starter and now his signature Pokémon, Ampharos. He also told the group that he'd studied under Lieutenant Surge before becoming a member of the Elite 4, he was good friends with the Gym Leader but there was one subject they constantly butted heads on which was the same issue Ash had with Surge. On when a Pokémon evolved, Surge still believed on evolving his Pokémon a soon as possible while Jeff gave his Pokémon the choice of whether to evolve straight away, wait or not evolve at all.

"Hang on Ash Ketchum, I recognise that name. Give me a minute and I know where I've heard it before." Jeff said as he scratched his head, trying to remember where he'd heard the name before, and then it hit him. "You're the guy who scared off Arthur, aren't you. You met him in Cerulean City, he was talking to Misty the Gym Leader."

"I was just helping a friend, he wouldn't leave her alone. He went to hit May and I couldn't let that happen, I'm not sure why though." The group turned to May looking for an answer, she shrugged her shoulders.

"He asked me out, I said no then he put his hands on my waist and tried to pull me closer to him so I slapped him. He shouted, raised his fist and that's when Ash came to the rescue." May explained quietly. Ash could feel anger swell up in his heart hearing what Arthur had done, he hadn't thought to ask her what had happened and May hadn't mentioned it since the event occurred.

"I'm sorry about the way he acted." Jeff said apologising for his fellow member of the Elite Four, "He's full of himself and thinks he's Arceus' gift to women. He failed to mention that he'd been slapped so thanks for telling me that, it's always good to know things like that to take him down a few pegs with." Jeff chuckled thinking about how he could torment his fellow Elite 4 member.

Once they arrived at the Pokémon Centre Cynthia and Jeff handed their Pokémon over to Nurse Joy, everyone then went out to the training fields as Ash wanted to let his Pokémon out to start training a little. Ash threw his Pokéballs into the air and when they opened he was tackled to the ground, looking at his attacker Ash saw a wet pink tongue approaching his face. After a minute of having his face slobbered on and hearing everyone else laughing Ash managed to move his attacker off his chest, finally seeing it was Houndour.

"I'm happy to see you too Houndour." Ash said as he patted the fire type's head and dragged his hand over his face to try and clean away the slobber. Cilan walked over and handed Ash a handkerchief. "Thanks Cilan." Ash wiped his face off and stood up, he looked at his Pokémon. Pikachu had moved to sit on Lucario's shoulder, Grimm was stood next to the Aura Pokémon a small smirk on his face, Ponyta neighed gently and pawed at the ground eager to start training, Typhlosion stood the other side of Lucario, random embers flickering around his neck. Houndour was sat at Ash's feet wagging his tail happily and staring up at the raven haired trainer.

"I see you're very close with your Houndour Ash." Cynthia said, a giggle under-toning her voice. "How long have you been training him?"

"Not long, I got him about a month ago. Same with Grimm and a few more Pokémon I've got back in Pallet Town." Ash replied, he then looked at his Pokémon again. "Okay, who's ready to do some training?" The Pokémon let out a cheer and waited for Ash to tell them what to do.

"Ash, mind if I join in the training?" Adam asked.

"Sure." Ash answered, Adam as let his Pokémon out of their Pokéballs Luxray ran forward to join them after Pichu jumped from his head and climbed up Cynthia's body, curling up in her arms. Luna and Umbreon appeared in a flash of light alongside a Breloom and a Floette holding a red flower. Immediately after the light died down the girls squealed seeing the tiny fairy type, Floette enjoyed the attention she was getting and floated closer to the girls to try and get even more. It took a few minutes for the girls to calm down and for Adam to get the attention seeking Single Bloom Pokémon to behave. Once everything had settled down Adam and Ash got on with their training. Before Ash started he scanned Houndour, Grimm and Ponyta with his Pokédex to see what moves they knew.

"Houndour, the Dark Pokémon. Houndour travel in packs and communicate with a series of different barks and growls. The co-ordination between members of the pack is unmatched by any other Pokémon. This species of Pokémon are usually found in areas of rough terrain. Gender – Male. Moves Known – Bite, Fire Fang, Faint Attack, Flamethrower and Sucker Punch. Ability – Flash Fire – When hit by a fire type move no damage will be taken and the power of fire type moves will increase."

"Ponyta, the Fire Horse Pokémon. Ponyta are generally weak runners when first born but get stronger by chasing their parents. Their hooves are harder than diamonds and they are capable of making giant leaps when their legs are fully developed. If they sense something approaching them from behind they will kick out on instinct. Gender – Female. Moves Known – Tackle, Tail Whip, Flame Wheel and Double Kick. Ability – Run Away – Pokémon with this ability will be unaffected by moves such as Mean Look and Wrap. Abilities such as Arena Trap and Shadow Tag also have no effect. Special note this is a Shiny Pokémon."

"Absol, the Disaster Pokémon. Absol possess the ability to sense coming disasters and try to warn people, however this has given people the belief that Absol are responsible for the disaster. Though they generally are distrustful of humans once a friendship has been established between human and Absol it is nearly impossible to break. They live in steep mountainous areas and are said to have life spans that surpass one hundred years. Gender – Male. Moves Known – Night Slash, Pursuit, Feint Attack, Psycho Cut, Detect, Sucker Punch, Slash, Bite, X-Scissor and Dark Pulse. Ability – Super Luck – Super Luck increased the chance of an attack hitting the opponent's weak spot and doing more damage than usual."

Ash was impressed by the moves his Pokémon knew and what they had learnt while at Professor Oaks Lab. Houndour had learnt Flamethrower from Torkoal, Ponyta had added Flame Wheel to her move set thank to Typhlosion and Absol now knew X-Scissor and Dark Pulse thanks to Sceptile and Lucario. While Ash was looking up the information on his Pokémon May released Mawile and checked on what attacks she knew.

"Mawile, the Deceiver Pokémon. Mawile use their docile looking faces to lure opponents close before attacking with their powerful jaws. Their jaws were previously horns which have transformed over time and are strong enough to chew through iron bars. Gender – Female. Moves Known – Bite, Fairy Wind, Shadow Ball and Fake Tears. Ability – Hyper Cutter – This ability stops a Pokémon's attack power from being decreased." May's mind automatically started to think up possible combinations of Mawile's current moveset and wondered how best to use the steel type. May pointed her Pokédex at Floette wanting to know what type of Pokémon she was.

"Floette, the Single Bloom Pokémon. Floette flutter around fields caring for the flowers that are starting to wilt. If challenged Floette will draw power from the flowers they hold to use in battle. When a well-tended flower bed blooms Floette will appear and dance in an elegant way to celebrate the occasion."

"I didn't think you'd have a Pokémon like Floette, Adam. Too be honest she seems too girly. What type is she?" May asked.

"I know what you mean but she's a real battler when she gets into it, she's a lot stronger then she looks. She's a Fairy type, Floette and the rest of her evolution line can only be found in Kalos. I caught her a few months ago and wanted to see what she can do." Adam replied, May nodded and went back to consulting her Pokédex.

Once Ash and May had finished looking at their Pokédexes, May released the rest of her Pokémon and they started training. Lucario was sparring with Sage (Adam's Breloom), Tink (Adam's Floette) was helping Mawile with Fairy Wind, Absol was running circuits around the field with Luxray, Typhlosion was helping Ponyta learn Flamethrower and Umbreon was teaching Houndour Dark Pulse. All the other Pokémon had paired up and training hard, every now and then Cynthia or Jeff would approach a pair of Pokémon to offer an observation or suggestion that could help their training. Dawn and Zoey helped May with her Pokémon as they created their own combinations, May had the idea to let her Pokémon come up with their own ideas for Appeals and attacks while helping Ash train for his Gym Battle. Iris and Cilan left their Pokémon out of their balls and let them join in the training, Axew peaked out of Iris' hair and was mesmerized by the sight of May's Pokémon creating showers of sparks and flashes of light.

After half an hour Jeff and Cynthia were called inside to collect their Pokémon from Nurse Joy after being healed from their battle, when they came back out they too released their Pokémon to help with the training. Adam was off to one side sparring with Luna working up a sweat and helping May's Blaziken learn other fighting styles to give her an advantage in battles with fighting types and other Pokémon that specialize in close quarters battling. After a few minutes Adam stepped back and let Blaziken spar Luna, stopping them occasionally to demonstrate a move or correct a stance.

Jeff left the group awhile later as he was meeting Lt Surge and some old friends for a night out. The training session ended after another hour and the group went into the Pokémon Centre to give their Pokémon over to Nurse Joy for treatment. While they waited for their Pokémon to be returned to them, they discussed the training they'd done and what the different Pokémon could improve on. Mawile needed to increase her speed, Ash's Pokémon just needed to up their stats and add some more power to their attacks. Once their Pokémon had been treated the group went back out to the Festival to enjoy the celebration of the last night.

They could hear music floating on the air above the noise of the festival and found a party on the beach with stalls set up selling food and drinks. Dawn, Zoey and May immediately took to the improvised dance floor, which was just a large open area of sand with a huge bonfire in the middle, Ash was dragged over a minute later by the three girls to dance with them. He was nervous at first not knowing how to dance like they were, he'd had lessons in Rota but that was ballroom dancing and even then he could only waltz but after a few minutes he loosened up, letting the music take over and May discreetly moved him away from the others so that they were just dancing together.

Adam was pushed onto the dance floor by Luna and Luxray, while Umbreon used Psychic to move Cynthia over to him they laughed nervously and started to sway to the music, neither of them knew how to dance. Cynthia didn't really have time to go dancing due to her duties as Champion and her hobby of studying ruins, while Adam having spent a lot of time by himself didn't have the opportunity or inclination to dance. Iris went and joined the three Co-Ordinators while Cilan was stood at the side talking about how he was a Music Connoisseur.

The Pokémon mostly stayed out of the way, Axew was still inside Iris' hair trying desperately not to be thrown out by the dragon Gym Leader's movements, Pichu was once again sat on Luxray's head, Luna and Lucario stood to the smirking at their trainers, Umbreon was sat in the shadow of a rock with only the gold rings on his body showing where he was. Pikachu and Glaceon were the only Pokémon from the group, not counting Axew, who were out on the dancing. Dancing might be too strong a word as Glaceon had dragged Pikachu onto the dance floor and was now dancing around him, blocking any attempt he made to escape. In the end Pikachu relented and started to match Glaceon's movements.

They ate, danced and enjoyed themselves late into the night, some of the Gym Leaders appeared as time went on. Falkner was dancing with Winona, Juan was talking with Fantina and Brawly was trading opinions on fighting styles with Maylene. Eventually the group grew tired and split up, each of them making either own way back to their hotels, planning on meeting the following morning to say their goodbyes before they went their separate ways. Luxray and Luna had returned to their Pokéballs, Umbreon being a dark type was unaffected by the late hour and actually seemed to be more alert than he had been during the day. Pichu was snuggled up in Cynthia's arms sleeping soundly, Glaceon like Luxray and Luna had returned to her Pokéball to sleep and Pikachu was sat on Ash's shoulder barely keeping himself awake. Cynthia was leaning against Adam and May was doing the same to Ash, though neither of the trainers minded.

When Ash, May, Adam and Cynthia got back to the penthouse they said goodnight and went to bed. The next morning they woke up and had breakfast together, Pikachu was sat on the table nibbling on some toast and Lucario was leaning against the wall eating some Pokémon food. They ate in silence, still feeling tired from the night, before May asked a question that had been hanging over them for a couple of days.

"Adam, have you decided what you're going to do?" She asked, Adam finished the piece of toast he was eating before answering.

"I have, I'm going to take on the Sinnoh Battle Frontier. Ash, May I loved travelling with both of you and I'd like to do it again sometime in the future but now I want to take on a new challenge." Adam turned to look at Cynthia, "Cynthia, I was wondering if I could travel with you for a while before going back to Sinnoh and maybe…you'd travel with me while I take on the Frontier?" Adam asked nervously. Cynthia was quiet and looked thoughtful for a few minutes, enjoying the nervous look on Adam's face.

"No." She said eventually, a few seconds of silence passed between the four until Cynthia's face broke into a wide smile and she started laughing. The melodious sounds of her giggles filled the room, "Of course, you can travel with me and yes, I will travel with you for the Frontier." Cynthia leaned over and kissed Adam on the lips. Once the couple parted Adam wore the same wide smile as Cynthia, they all finished their breakfast and collected their things from their rooms. When they had everything they left the hotel handing their keycards in at the reception desk on the way out, while they waited for the others May released Glaceon and Adam let Luna out of her ball. Ash started to ask Cynthia if she had any training advice for Garchomp and Dragonite along with the new Trapinch and Bagon he'd gotten from his dad, while they talked Adam motioned for May to follow him. They walked a couple of steps away so that Ash wouldn't hear them.

"May, I want to help you with Ash but I…" Adam started before May interrupted.

"But you want to spend time with Cynthia. It's okay you've already done more than enough, the rest is up to me now." May said, she stepped forward and gave Adam a hug. Adam stiffened when May grabbed him, he wasn't really a hugging person only Cynthia could bring out that side of him. "I hope you and Cynthia are happy together….and remember to invite me to your wedding." She giggled, Adam laughed and broke the hug.

"It's a bit early for that but if we get that far then I will, promise. May, I understand how you feel about Ash. I feel the same way about Cynthia and there's something you need to remember, Que omnia vincit amor."

"What does that mean?"

"No matter what love conquers all. Don't give up on him May." Adam pulled a piece of paper and a pen out of his bag, he wrote something down and handed it to May. "That's my Pokégear number, if you want to talk call me and I'll try to help. Ash already has it but I thought you might want it for reasons you don't want Ash to know of yet." Adam smiled as May took the piece of paper and put it in her bag.

"Thank you." She said before lightly kissing Adam's cheek and walking back to Ash and Cynthia. Adam followed her and a couple of minutes later Dawn, Zoey, Iris and Cilan appeared. They all exchanged their goodbyes before splitting up, Cilan and Iris were getting a plane back to Unova with the Unova Gym Leaders that had come to the Festival to represent their region and Dawn and Zoey were catching a boat with the Sinnoh Gym Leaders. There were hugs and handshakes all around even for Pikachu and Glaceon. Adam and Cynthia stood to the side letting the group of friends say their farewells but when Dawn noticed she pulled both of them into a group hug, which made Adam feel very uncomfortable. Luna took pity on her trainer and used Psychic to lift him free of the embrace. Adam explained that he wasn't the biggest fan of hugs but this didn't stop Dawn trying again until Zoey grabbed the back her girlfriend's collar and dragged her away. Zoey apologized for Dawn's behavior saying that she was just a little giddy because she was going back to her Contests.

With a final goodbye the group split up, Dawn, Zoey, Iris and Cilan went towards the docks to get their plane and boat while May, Cynthia, Ash and Adam made their way towards the outskirts of Vermillion City. Adam asked if they could stop at the Pokémon Centre for a minute so he could swap a Pokémon, Tink was still tired from training and Adam wanted to send her back to Dinah so she could rest properly. When Adam came out of the Pokémon Centre they carried on towards the outskirts of the city reaching them a few minutes later.

"I guess this is it." Ash said extending a hand to Adam. Adam and Cynthia were going to make a quick stop at Lavender Town to pay their respects at Pokémon Tower before heading off to Mount Moon to look at the ruins Cynthia had heard about then going on to the other places she mentioned if they had the time. Adam had called Scott before they left the hotel, telling the large man that he was coming to take on the Frontier after travelling with Cynthia for a little while. Scott had said okay and to call for the first Battle Facility location when he arrived in Sinnoh.

"For now. I'll tell you what, when you have all your badges call me and I'll come help you train if you want me too. If not I'll come and support you during the League, what do you say?" Adam replied taking Ash's hand and shaking it.

"Deal, good luck in the Battle Frontier."

"Thanks, good luck against the Gyms and remember what I said, you'll understand it soon enough." They broke the handshake and nodded at each other, Cynthia said goodbye to Ash giving him a quick peck on the cheek and telling him to look after May. May gave Adam another quick hug and did the same to Cynthia. Adam turned to May and said "May, good luck in your Contest. I'll be supporting you all the way and if you ever want to talk you have my number."

"Thanks Adam. I know that you'll beat the Frontier Brains."

"I guess it's time to hit the road." Cynthia said shouldering her bag and was about to start walking when Adam put a hand on her shoulder.

"Where we're going we don't need roads." He said returning Luna and throwing another Pokéball into the air, "Go, Aether." Out of the ball in a flash of light came a Salamence, his fangs shone brightly in the sunlight. The Dragon Pokémon roared loudly, the sound shaking the treetops. Adam stepped forward putting a hand on the dragon type's head. "Easy there boy, easy settle down." Aether soon calmed down and rubbed his head into Adam's hand. Aether saw Cynthia standing nearby and swung his head round to nuzzle against her.

"Hi there, Aether. It's been a long time, you've grown so much. I still remember the little Bagon, Adam and I found in Meteor Falls. Guess you got your wish, now you can tour the sky as much as you want." Cynthia said as she stroked the dragon's head, Aether pushed against her hand enjoying the sensation.

"Adam, why have you called out your Salamence?" May asked.

"Cynthia only has a couple of weeks, maybe a month before she has to go back to Sinnoh. We want to go to a few different places and mightn't have enough time so I thought we'd fly instead of walking." Adam replied.

"I thought you didn't like flying."

"It's not that I don't like flying, I just prefer to keep my feet on the ground." Adam pulled himself onto Aether's back, extending a hand towards Cynthia.

"You coming?" he asked with a smile, Cynthia smiled back and took Adam's hand joining him on the Salamence's back. "Ash, May, goodbye and thank you." Adam said before nudging his heels into Aether's sides and the dragon type took off into the air towards Lavender Town with another roar. Cynthia clung tightly to Adam's waist to make sure she didn't fall while also making sure Pichu was safe sitting in her bag, his head poking out so he could see what was going on.

"Why did he thank us?" Ash asked, May shook her head.

"Because he wouldn't have gotten together with Cynthia if we hadn't dragged him into Vermillion with us." May explained, taking Ash's hand in hers and giving him a quick and light peck on the lips. "Come on where's next on your list of places to visit?" She asked as they prepared to continue with their journey.

"Saffron City but there's a few places on the way." Ash said feeling his lips tingle from the brief contact, his mind fogged up a little.

"Well let's not waste time, there might be a Contest on the way there." May said as she took hold of Ash's hand tugging it slightly to shake him out of his stupor. Ash smiled and together they started walking towards Saffron City, their joined hands swinging between them. Pikachu and Glaceon walked in front of their trainers side by side, their tails touching occasionally and Lucario followed behind them letting his Aura drift out around them, enjoying the feeling of being out of the city once more. Ash and May both wore a small smile as they walked down the road, not saying anything just enjoying the feeling of travelling alone again. They were ready to take on any challenge that came at their way, big or small they'd face it head on together. Saffron City was their next destination but there were some places to visit along the way first.

---

And that's the end of the Chapter. Hope you liked it, I'm not too pleased with the ending but it's the best I could come up with.

Pokémon on hand

Ash – Pikachu, Lucario, Houndour, Grimm (Absol), Typhlosion, Ponyta

May – Glaceon, Blaziken, Munchlax, Vulpix, Lilligant, Mawile

Please review and tell me what you think.