After the match, Ash and Lorelei stayed on stage for an extended post-match breakdown. Both of them walked through the decisions they had made, the ones that worked and the ones that hadn't, giving the watching Trainers something they couldn't have gotten from the battle alone.
Seeing a high-level fight and understanding it were two different things. A Trainer could watch every move, hear every command, and know the final result, and still have no idea why certain choices were made at certain moments.
That gap was what separated experienced Trainers from developing ones, and the breakdown closed it considerably for everyone listening.
There were no prizes. The match had been publicly framed as an exhibition from the start. But anyone who had watched it understood what they had actually seen. Both sides had given everything. Calling it anything less than a real Champion-level battle would have been dishonest.
What the result proved was straightforward. Ash had beaten Lorelei fairly, with no outside interference and no asterisks on the outcome. The same logic that applied when he defeated Koga applied here. A clean win over an Elite Four member had meant Elite Four-level strength. A clean win over Lorelei meant Champion-level strength.
Not even Cynthia at fifteen had matched that. She'd had one Garchomp that could reach Champion level at that age. Ash had two, and neither of them was scraping the bottom of that tier.
How he trained, what made his approach so different from every other Trainer, these were questions nobody could answer from the outside. Ash wasn't going to explain it.
The honest answer involved things he wasn't about to share publicly, and so the speculation would continue, and the people doing the speculating would keep watching him move past every ceiling they had assumed was fixed.
After the post-match session wrapped up, neither Ash nor Lorelei left the island. The reason given publicly was that they wanted to spend a few days enjoying the local atmosphere. The islanders took that at face value and reacted with immediate enthusiasm.
If both of them were staying, that meant there was a chance, however small, of getting some direct guidance from either of them. Battles started breaking out across the island almost immediately, everyone hoping to be in the right place at the right moment.
The reality was that Ash and Lorelei couldn't teach everyone who came looking, and once the volume of requests reached a certain point, they quietly let Mewtwo handle crowd management from the background.
The islanders on Little Orange Island were, fortunately, reasonably measured about it. Rather than swarming anyone they spotted, most people waited to see who the two Trainers approached on their own.
A number of people received genuine guidance that day, though set against the total population of the island, it was still a small fraction.
By evening, Ash and the others were back at their accommodation.
It was nearly eleven at night when a knock came at the door.
The island had gone quiet hours ago. Even the most dedicated battling enthusiasts had turned in, saving their energy for the next day. Ash had already lain down when he heard it. Misty, in the bunk above him, and Serena in the adjacent bed both stirred at the sound.
The guesthouse had plenty of rooms, but the three of them had ended up sharing one with two bunk beds. It made practical sense.
With the bait Ash and Lorelei had laid out that morning, the island wasn't entirely safe, and keeping Serena in the same room reduced the risk of something happening while everyone was separated.
Team Galactic shouldn't have been able to move this quickly even if they had already received word, but a knock at this hour made Ash consider the possibility that he was wrong about that.
He sat up and kept his voice low. "Misty, Serena, stay here. I'll leave Mewtwo with you. If anything happens, it can protect you."
"Absolutely not," Misty said immediately.
Serena was already shaking her head. "If Mewtwo stays here, what happens to you?"
Ash had told Serena enough about his journey that she knew what Mewtwo was. She knew what it was capable of, and she knew why Lucia Jr. had been brought out in public that morning.
She understood who they were waiting for. Against an enemy that had made Cynthia disappear without a trace, there was no version of leaving Ash without his strongest Pokémon that felt acceptable to her.
"Stop worrying. I'm an Aura user. People like that are no match for me even on my worst day. I'll be back soon." Ash unclipped a Poké Ball from his chest and tossed it to the floor. Mewtwo materialized with its arms crossed, floating silently, and gave Ash a single nod.
In truth, even staying in the room, Mewtwo could react the moment anything went wrong. At this distance, as long as Ash wasn't taken down in the first instant of contact, and no one could do that, Mewtwo would already be moving. The concern from Misty and Serena was genuine, but unnecessary.
The knocking continued at the door, unhurried, patient. Ash walked toward it with a measured expression. His Aura had already reached the person on the other side. From the outside, they looked entirely ordinary. From the inside, the Poké Balls on their waist were radiating energy that registered at Elite Four level without question.
Nobody carrying a full team of Elite Four level Pokémon knocked on someone's door at eleven at night with innocent intentions.
He opened the door.
Standing in the corridor was a woman who looked young and delicate, with vivid red hair and an outfit that couldn't have been more deliberately understated: a denim skirt and a plain white jacket. The moment she saw Ash, a shy expression crossed her face. A faint blush climbed her cheeks. She twisted her hands together and spoke in a hesitant, soft voice.
"Ash, my name is Akai. I'm a fan of yours. I'm so sorry to come at this hour, but I was afraid that earlier in the day I'd never get a moment alone with you. I've had questions about Pokémon that I haven't been able to work out for a long time, and I didn't know what else to do. If you could spare even a little time, would you be willing to give me some guidance?"
She looked up at him with wide crimson eyes, the picture of someone entirely harmless.
If Ash hadn't had Aura Power, it might have worked. The reasoning she gave wasn't even unreasonable on its face. Getting Ash's attention during the day had genuinely required luck. Coming at night to cut through that variable, with the courage and presence of mind to actually do it, would have been exactly the kind of move that made a Trainer memorable.
All of that assumed Ash hadn't already seen what she was hiding.
A full team of Elite Four level Pokémon at midnight, with questions about Pokémon training. Nobody was going to believe that.
"Alright," Ash said, keeping his voice neutral. "It's late. Let's talk outside so we don't disturb the others."
Relief and excitement flickered across her face in what looked like a genuinely spontaneous reaction. She pressed her fingers lightly to her lips. "Really? Thank you so much, Ash. I won't take up much of your time, I promise."
On the walk over, she played the role perfectly. She asked him basic questions, the kind any Trainer picked up within the first few weeks of traveling. Type matchups. Move categories. She delivered each one with the right amount of uncertainty in her voice, never breaking character for a second.
Carrying Elite Four level Pokémon and asking questions that beginners outgrew in a month, with no trace of incongruity on her face. Ash had to admit it was a committed performance.
They arrived at an open clearing about a kilometer from the guesthouse. She turned to face him, took two small steps back, and smiled.
"Ash, would you mind taking a look at my Pokémon? Please let me know if you see any areas where they could improve."
Ash nodded.
The smile shifted in the same instant. All six Poké Balls at her waist opened at once.
Crobat, Skuntank, Purugly, Bronzong, Electivire, Yanmega. Six Pokémon, every one of them at Elite Four level, Crobat sitting at High-Elite Four. They hit him with everything simultaneously. Air Slash, Poison Jab, Swift, three other moves converging from every angle at the same moment.
Against anyone else, the ambush would have been over before it started. No warning, no prior hostility, and six high-level Pokémon unleashing coordinated attacks from point-blank range. Even Cynthia or Leon might not have had the reaction time to answer it cleanly.
Ash stood still. His eyes went cold and flat.
"Took you long enough."
He raised one arm. A deep blue barrier snapped into place around him, and the six attacks detonated against it in a single deafening blast. The shockwave leveled every flower and shrub within range of the clearing.
When the smoke pulled back, Ash was standing exactly where he had been, untouched.
The satisfied smile on her face died the moment she saw him.
"So," Ash said, brushing nothing off his sleeve. "Which one of Team Galactic's commanders are you? And what exactly happened to Cynthia?"
A pause. "When did you figure it out?"
"The moment I opened the door." He tilted his head. "Pretending to be a young girl really doesn't suit someone your age."
"Who are you calling old?! I am Mars, one of the Four Commanders of Team Galactic!"