Although the Knight's Trial had officially come to an end, Wikstrom still had a few words he wanted everyone to remember.
"I hope that, even though this Knight's Trial is now over, everyone will remember the spirit of knighthood and carry that knightly will with you. On the road ahead, I hope you can face every challenge with the same determination and wholehearted effort that you showed during today's Knight's Trial."
"Finally, I wish all of you good fortune in battle. May you achieve great things on your journey as Pokémon Trainers!"
As the event drew to a close, Wikstrom drew his knight's greatsword and performed the distinctive knightly salute, placing a hand against his chest as he sincerely offered his blessings to everyone present.
"Thank you, Elite Four Wikstrom!"
"Thank you, Elite Four Wikstrom!"
"..."
"..."
"Ah~ I never thought that even those of us who didn't participate in the Knight's Trial would get a commemorative medal! I'm so happy! (^^)"
With the Knight's Trial finally over, Ash and the others followed the crowd out of the Castle of Chivalry.
Looking down at the commemorative Knight Trial medals in their hands, Serena, Clarissa Joy, and the others all wore expressions of pleasant surprise and happiness.
"Mr. Ash! Mr. Ash! Please wait a moment!"
Just as Ash and the others were preparing to leave, Alain—the young man who had come over to greet them before the trial began—hurried over to them.
"Alain, is something wrong?" Ash asked curiously.
In the original anime storyline, Alain would eventually defeat Ash in the finals of the Kalos League with his Mega Charizard X. Although that outcome was heavily criticized by fans as an unsatisfying plot-driven defeat, there was no denying that Alain himself possessed exceptional strength.
But at this point in time, the "protagonist" fortune surrounding Alain had yet to awaken.
The Alain standing before Ash was, relatively speaking, an extremely ordinary young man.
He was merely an assistant researcher at Professor Sycamore's laboratory—a rookie Trainer who had obtained his first Pokémon considerably later than most.
During that afternoon's Knight's Trial, Alain had been eliminated during the very first round. He spent most of his time working inside the laboratory and had done very little physical training, so his performance in the trial had been rather poor.
The Alain who would later become a confident and powerful Trainer, break into the Masters Eight of the Pokémon World Championships, and stand among the Champion-level powerhouses was, at this moment, little more than an unnoticed background figure.
During the entire trial, Wikstrom had not even remembered his name, much less left with any particular impression of him.
After all, the current Alain was simply too weak.
"Mr. Ash, earlier I passed along Professor Sycamore's invitation and asked if you would be willing to visit the laboratory," Alain said sincerely. "I wanted to ask whether you have any plans for tomorrow so that I can give Professor Sycamore an answer."
"Of course. I've admired Professor Sycamore for a long time. Even if you hadn't invited me, since I came to Lumiose City in Kalos this time, I would have visited him at the laboratory anyway."
"However, we had a performance battle this morning, and then we came straight to the Castle of Chivalry for the trial this afternoon. After running around all day, everyone's a little tired."
"Besides, it's already getting late. It wouldn't be appropriate to suddenly show up at the laboratory now. I might end up disturbing the professor's work."
"After you return, could you ask Professor Sycamore whether he'll be free tomorrow morning? If he is, please make an appointment for me. I'll visit the laboratory tomorrow morning."
Ash smiled as he spoke.
"Sure, no problem."
Alain nodded. He had no objections whatsoever to Ash's arrangement.
...
...
By the time the Knight's Trial organized by Wikstrom had concluded and Alain had finished discussing the arrangements with Ash, it was already five-thirty in the afternoon—dinnertime.
Ash and the others did not stay at the Castle of Chivalry on the outskirts of the city. Instead, they all returned to Lumiose City together and headed to Clemont's house for dinner.
"Uncle Meyer, we're here to mooch another meal off you~ (^→^)"
As Ash pushed open the door and stepped inside, the delicious aroma of food immediately filled his nose. He jokingly announced their arrival.
"Hahaha! Ash, Clemont, you're back!"
"And what do you mean by 'mooching a meal'? Just treat this place like your own home. There's no need to be so polite with your uncle."
"Clemont spends practically all his time cooped up in the laboratory and barely has any friends. I'm happier than anyone that he's managed to make a group of good friends like you."
Meyer laughed heartily, his expression warm and carefree.
"Blaziken, could you turn off the gas stove? The seaweed and egg-drop soup I just made is ready."
Meyer turned toward the kitchen and called out.
"Blaziken!"
A Blaziken wearing an apron poked its head out from the kitchen doorway and answered.
Following Meyer's instructions, it then walked over and turned off the gas stove.
...
...
Clemont's mother had been left in poor health after giving birth to Bonnie. She later passed away after falling ill, leaving the two siblings to grow up in a single-parent household under the care of their father, Meyer.
In his younger days, Meyer had been a well-known and powerful Trainer in the Kalos region. However, after his two children were born and his wife passed away, he completely returned to his family.
The foundation of the Lumiose Gym that he had built through his own strength during his younger years was eventually inherited by his son, Clemont.
As for Meyer himself, he had completely retired from the Trainer world and instead opened an electrical repair shop.
He took care of his two children and lived a peaceful life. Every now and then, whenever the mood struck him, he would put on his battle suit and transform into the Blaziken Mask, acting as a heroic vigilante in Lumiose City who punished evil and upheld justice.
It was an extremely relaxed, comfortable, and carefree lifestyle.
In other words, Meyer was practically the perfect example of a Trainer who had successfully retired after accomplishing his goals.
There was another example of someone who could also be considered to have successfully stepped away from the Trainer profession: Serena's father, Gibson.
Although Gibson had never possessed much talent as a Trainer and had failed to accomplish anything particularly remarkable during his career, he had at least recognized the situation in time.
Rather than stubbornly pursuing a path that clearly did not suit him, Gibson stopped his losses in time, returned to his family, and changed careers.
His wife was still by his side, his daughter was adorable, and the family remained complete and happy.
That, too, could be regarded as a positive example of someone who had known when to step away.
As for examples of failure...
One of them was extremely close to Ash.
It was the cheap father he had never even met—the perfect example of someone who had started a great undertaking but abandoned it halfway through.
He had failed to accomplish anything significant during his career as a Pokémon Trainer—or perhaps he had achieved a few things along the way—but in the end, he had never managed to retire successfully.
Instead, he had died out there somewhere.
And the second example of a failed and rather pathetic Trainer was Brock's father, Flint, the Gym Leader of Pewter City in the original anime.
He had abandoned his wife and child and left home to pursue his dream of becoming a great Pokémon Trainer.
In the end, however, he failed to make anything of himself.
After struggling for years, he eventually returned to his hometown of Pewter City, only to be too ashamed to face his wife and child.
In the end, it was Brock himself who helped push things in the right direction.
Fortunately, Brock had a broad heart and never blamed his father for what had happened.
Only then was Flint finally able to return to his family and settle down as a stay-at-home father and homemaker.
Compared with Meyer, who had successfully stepped away from the Trainer world after building up the foundation of the Lumiose Gym for his son and then returning to his family, Ash's father and Brock's father Flint were both textbook examples of what not to do.
One represented a career abandoned halfway through.
The other represented someone who had chased his dream at the expense of his family, only to return after failing to achieve it.
Perhaps the most important lesson was not whether someone became a powerful Trainer.
It was knowing when to move forward, when to change direction, and—most importantly—when to return home.