Ash squeezed through a secret tunnel located near the forest, and it lead him to a huge forest clearing. It's a place he had discovered years ago, when he was trying to hide from the press soon after he was crowned Champion. Since then, it had been a good place to train Pokémon in private. He wasn't aware that the Sinnoh Champion had also found out about the place since she was following him, and was currently going through the tunnel after him.
He laid out the bowls for the Pokémon, and poured out Pokémon food for every single one of them, being careful to sort the bowls according to Pokémon type. Cynthia was behind a tree, watching the scene quietly.
"Alright, come out, everyone!" Ash used his telekinesis to throw all his Pokeballs up into the air, and they all opened, revealing all his Pokémon.
Cynthia gaped at the number of Legendaries that Champion Red owned. And why does some of his Pokémon look familiar like that Pikachu? Especially that Meloetta….could it be?
"ASH!" They shouted enthusiastically, some going to him for a hug.
"Yes, yes I miss spending time with you all too." Ash laughed, getting a hug from the more affectionate ones such as Meloetta, Manaphy, Meganium, Latias, Shaymin, Celebi, Victini and Mew.
"Papa!"Manaphy jumped onto Ash's arms.
"Hi, Manaphy. Great to see you too. I'm so sorry I've been busy." Ash hugged him to his chest closely.
"It's ok, Papa. I'm so glad I can spend time with you now."
"Everyone, I would like you to meet an old friend of mine, Ambipom!" Ash indicated the purple monkey-like Pokémon he caught a few minutes ago. "For those who do not know her, she was my Pokémon from Hoenn to Sinnoh and decided to return to us in our quest!"
"Hi, everyone. As some of you may know, I'm Ambipom, and I just finished training with O. I didn't like what Dawn said about Ash, so I wandered around to find Ash, and arrived here since I heard about the tournament, and figured Ash would be there!" Everyone, hearing this, welcomed her with open arms. Some that already knew her went over to chat with her.
"Alright, everyone, it's lunchtime, and we can train after you have dessert!" Ash announced, interrupting the reunion.
The Pokémon cheered, and rushed to their respective bowls.
"So, Ash, have you tried to figure out what I meant by being careful of the quiet one?" Mewtwo asked.
"No, I was a bit busy with my duties to notice, but I'll work on it when I have time." Ash replied, scratching his head.
"You better hurry. Everyone's lives may depend on whether you solve them or not." Mewtwo warned.
"I get it." Ash nodded, watching the other Pokémon eat their lunch, while having conversation.
After lunch, Ash served some Poképuffs for dessert, and the Pokémon enjoyed them immensely.
"These Poképuffs are great as always, Ash!" Latias commented. "Was is Pakura who made these?"
"Yeah. She had plenty of practice making Poffins and Pokéblocks for contest, so she's the best at making Poképuffs."
"Give our thanks to her later." Meloetta said, savouring the sweet flavour of the Poképuffs.
"This is even better than the Poffins Dawn made!" Shaymin remarked. "I don't even need to release smoke through my mouth after swallowing."
"Agreed." Celebi mumbled.
"Yum…..Pakura sure knows what flavour Dragon types like us like." Dialga said.
"And she even made spicy ones for us Fire types!" Infernape added. Charizard grunted in agreement.
"Yummy! This is great!" Ambipom exclaimed, this being her first time eating a Poképuff.
"Alright, everyone! Now that you finished your desserts, why don't we do some training?" Ash finally asked. All the Pokémon murmured their assent.
"Now, get in pairs and start training! Pretend you are a wild Pokémon and your partner is a Pokémon belonging to a trainer who is about to catch you. Fight with your instincts, and do not wait for me to command you to attack."
"Why don't you take off your hood, Ash?" Pikachu asked. "Since we're alone now, and it's probably stuffy in that hood."
"Yeah, you're right." Ash replied, raising his hand to pull down his hood.
Cynthia gulped in anticipation as Red slowly removed his hood, revealing his appearance.
Red's hair was slightly long at the back, and though the top had a spiky nature, it can be considered tame, with him having bangs long enough to cover his eyes brushed to the side. His face had a mature look to it, and was devoid of baby fats. He had beautiful dark brown eyes that had a tender look to it.
Cynthia gasped. She recognise this person. "Ash?" she whispered.
Unfortunately, Ash heard her gasp, and turned to her hiding place. He saw the tip of blonde hair just peeking out from the tree trunk.
"Oh no…" he whispered. He recognised this blonde hair.
"Ash, we might be in trouble." Lucario said.
Pikachu face palmed at his own stupidity to ask Ash to take off his hood.
"Lance, do you know which direction is towards Aquamarine's Style?" Wallace asked.
"How should I know, I'm not a PAL local." Lance replied. They were outside the Battle Arena, relaxing during a lunch break.
"Sorry, I'm just asking is because I need to go there to meet the other judges for the PAL Contest later." Wallace said.
"So, who are the other judges?" Lance enquired.
"Fantina and Pakura. Why?"
"Of course, that stuck-up bitch would have to be one of the judges. She's the World's Top Coordinator after all." Lance said sarcastically.
"Don't insult her, Lance. I think she's an extremely talented Coordinator. I mean, she's labelled as the youngest Legendary Coordinator in the world! And I don't think she's that bad. Besides, you better be careful what you say, Lance, you might end up wanting to date her."
"Yeah right. That'll happen when Grumpigs fly." Lance muttered, ignoring Wallace's warning.
"If you ask me, that Aerial Ace thing was your fault." said Wallace.
"My fault?" Lance asked incredulously. "How is it my fault that May's Munchlax dodged the attack?"
"Other than the fact that you didn't predict that Munchlax would dodge and may hit Jynx, since she's directly in front of it? She did say to watch where her Pokémon is before you call out an attack you know."
At that moment, Jude walked by with his Purrloin.
"Hi, Jude." Wallace smiled at him.
Jude grinned back. "Hi Wallace, hi Lance."
Lance nodded at Jude.
"Jude, could you tell me where the Aquamarine's Style is located?" Wallace asked him.
He pointed to one of the directions. "Go straight in that direction, and turn right. It's the biggest fashion boutique in the region, you shouldn't be able to miss it."
Wallace smiled in relief. "Thanks Jude."
"No prob. By the way, you guys might want to run right now, there's paparazzi coming this way 400m behind." With that, he quickly rushed off.
They hastily ran away from the spot they were talking at. "Wasn't it nice of him to give us a head start?"
Lance did not say anything, as he rushed for cover in the forest, while Wallace ran towards Aquamarine's Style.
"This is all your fault, Max." May huffed. They are all currently in Pokémon Center rooms, and having their luggage tossed out of the Plaza Hotel (name of the hotel participants stay in PAL) didn't put the traitors in a good mood.
"My fault?" Max protested. "I swear I placed the keys in my pocket, but it just disappeared!"
"Right, and Groudon can fly." May replied sarcastically.
"Break it up, both of you." Brock said. Both of them glared at each other, before looking away.
"I knew I shouldn't have opted out of the Battle Tower rooms!" Misty grumbled. "Now it's too late!"
"Never mind that now." Iris grumbled. "Not only do we need to keep an eye on those Elites, we also need to find out who stole our keys! I bet it's one of those Elites that did it."
"But why would the PAL Elites do anything to us? We haven't done anything to them." May replied.
"Something about their tastes are strange, and yet familiar at the same time." Cilan observed. "We'll have to get more information on them."
"Yeah, I'll have to agree with you." Trip said. "Let's go to the Library. I heard they got the biggest Library and lots of computers you can use for free."
"Sure." The others nodded, and headed to the library.