"Ah man," Dawn said as her face expressed disappointment towards Paul losing to Aaron. "I can't believe that Paul lost! Is there anyone, at all, that can beat Aaron?"

"Well, Dawn," Trevor began. "Since we now know what Aaron is truly capable of, in battle, it's hard to say if anyone, including me, stands a chance against that incredible amount of power that he displayed here, today."

Brock decided to join in the conversation. "Aaron's Pokémon are really powerful, especially that Lucario and Charizard, of his. He's going to be a tough opponent to beat."

"Yeah," Trevor stated as he listened to the announcer saying that the next matchup of the quarterfinals will start in 15 minutes. Trevor knew that it was time for him to battle now. "Oh! That's my cue, guys. Wish me luck!"

Trevor got up and started to head towards the door of the box, before remembering something that he wanted to ask the group. He turned around and looked at the group.

"Oh hey, guys." Trevor began as the group turned to look at him, listening to what he's about to say to them. "Would it be alright if I asked Aaron to come and sit up here with you guys?"

The group thought, for a moment, before Lance gave an answer. "Yeah. Of course. He could sit up here."

Trevor nodded as he exits out of the box, and started to head down the atrium.

---

He walked to where the stairs, leading to the corridors below, are. As he walked down the stairs, he comes across Ash and his two Pokémon, who were coming up from the corridors. Pikachu was still on Ash's shoulder, while Lucario was now walking by his side. Seeing them, Trevor stopped right in front of them.

"Hey there, Aaron," Trevor said, hoping to get a response from Ash.

"Hey, Trevor." Ash began. "I see you're ready to battle against Ritchie. He's tough, so watch out for him and Sparky."

"Don't worry, I will," Trevor responded, before remembering what he wanted to ask Ash. "By the way, the group, in the elite suite, said it would be alright for you to come and sit with them."

Ash hesitated to accept the invitation, but he knew there was some reason that Trevor wanted him to be there, especially during his match. Suddenly, something clicked in Ash's mind. He then grinned and chuckled about it, while Trevor gazed at him with a confused expression on his face.

"What's so funny, Aaron?" asked Trevor puzzled at Ash's chuckling.

"I see," Ash started as he stopped chuckling. "You want me to be there because that's where our friends will finally meet Brittany and Ashley, and you want me to meet them too. Am I right?"

Trevor grinned at Ash's assumption about his reason for wanting him to be in the elite box while watching his match.

"That's right," Trevor replied. "I wanted you to meet them, especially Ashley. Trust me, you'll see a bit of yourself in her. Plus, it wouldn't hurt if you sit with your friends while watching a battle. Also, you get to sit next to Serena."

With that last statement, Ash smiled and blushed, underneath his mask, at Trevor's request for him to sit with the group, in the elite box, and watch his battle.

"Alright," Ash answered. "I guess I'll accept their invitation and watch your battle with our friends."

Trevor smiled at Ash's response and nodded. "Sounds good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a battle to win!"

"You know, whoever wins this next battle, will have to face me in the Semi-Finals," Ash stated as he wanted to remind Trevor that if he wins his match, today, he'll face Ash in the next round.

Trevor grinned at Ash's statement and responded, "That's fine by me! I'll see you in the Semi-Finals then, Aaron!"

"I hope so!" Ash stated as he extended his hand out to Trevor.

Trevor took it and shook his hand. He lets go and proceed to head down to his locker room, waiting for his battle to begin. Ash, along with his two Pokémon, resumed walking up the stairs, as they headed to the elite box to watch Trevor's battle, with his old friends.

---

Ash and his Pokémon walked down the atrium as they headed towards the elite box. Ash felt a bit nervous about watching Trevor's battle, with the champions and his old traveling companions there.

"Master."

Ash snapped out of his thoughts when Lucario spoke up.

"I sensed that you're troubled by the thought of your friends still being mad at you, for what happened between you and Serena last night. I'm pretty sure Serena has informed them that you were a good guy."

"Pika." Pikachu nodded in agreement to Lucario's statement.

Ash grinned and looked at both his Pokémon with confidence in his eyes.

"Thanks, guys," Ash replied. "It'll be nice to watch a battle with my friends again, even though they don't know that it's really me. Besides, it would be nice to finally meet-"

Ash was interrupted; when suddenly, he heard a soft voice, echoing throughout the atrium.

"Pi chu!"

Ash looked confused as he turned and looked at the electric mouse Pokémon, who was sitting on his shoulder.

"Did you say something, buddy?" Ash questioned Pikachu as it responded by shaking its head sideways, which meant no.

The trio looked around the atrium to find out where the source of that voice came from. Then suddenly, they heard more voices.

"Cha char, charm, cha." One of the voice was saying.

"Pi, pi, chu, pic hu." The same voice from before.

"I'm going to beat you, guys!" a voice shouted out, which sounded like a three-year girl, whose voice is somehow familiar to Ash.

"Honey, slow down! There's no need to rush! We'll make it there on time!" another voice yelled out, which sounded like a young adult female.

Lucario then uses the power of aura, to sense where the voices might be coming from. As he does uses aura to locate the sources of the voices, his eyes are closed, his ears rise upward while vibrating, and Lucario extends his right paw outward so that he could figure out where the voices were coming from.

After a few seconds, Lucario suddenly opened his eyes and turned around to point where the voices were coming from. "The voices are coming from there!"

As Lucario pointed towards the hallway of the atrium, behind the trio, Ash and Pikachu noticed two small Pokémon running towards them.

One of the small Pokémon was a Pichu, the pre-evolved form of Pikachu. The tiny mouse Pokémon appeared as a small, ground-dwelling rodent creature, with pale yellow fur. Its ear tips, collar, and tail were black and angular.

The other small Pokémon was a Charmander, one of the Kanto Starters, whose final evolved form is Charizard. The lizard Pokémon appeared as a bipedal, reptilian creature with a primarily orange body. Its underside, from the chest down and soles, are cream-colored. It has two small fangs, visible in both its upper and lower jaws and blue eyes. Its arms and legs are short with four fingers and three clawed toes. A fire burns at the tip of the Pokémon's slender tail.

Behind the small Pokémon, came a running three-year-old girl, who appears to be playing with them, since the two Pokémon were clearly having fun, as shown through them smiling.

The three-year girl stood 3'6" tall. She was wearing a cute pink t-shirt that had Pikachu's face at the center of the t-shirt. Her shorts were blue. On her feet, she wore red and orange sneakers, with Charmander's face on the heel tip of the sneakers, along with white socks. Her short hair had a light brown color to it. On top of her head, she wore a baseball cap, turned backward, that had a Pokéball symbol at the center. As the little girl runs, her face shows a wide smile, as she chuckling, while running after the two small Pokémon, in front of her.

Finally, a young adult female appeared, far behind the little girl, as she could be the girl's mother. The woman appears to be in her 20s, as shown through her young looks. She stood about 5'5" tall. She is wearing a purple shirt. Around her neck, she wore a diamond heart-shaped necklace. She is wearing blue skinny jeans, which covers her blue socks that go up to her knees. On her feet, she had on brown saddle shoes. Her hair is short and has a light brown color to it, just like the little girl. Strapped around her right shoulder, there's a yellow tote bag, which her right hand was holding onto the purse strap, as she runs after the little girl.

The two small Pokémon noticed Ash, Pikachu, and Lucario were standing right in the middle of their path. They managed to slow down and stopped right in front of them, without crashing into them.

Unfortunately, for the little girl, she ran right past the small Pokémon and bumped into Ash. As she bumped into Ash, she fell down and landed, on her butt, with a thud.

"Oh dear!" the young woman shouted out as she saw the little girl fell down to the ground. "Are you alright, honey?"

"Yeah, mommy." The little girl replied as she rubbed her numbed bottom. "Although my bum is numbed, I'm okay."

The little girl noticed Ash extended his hand out to her. "Here, let me help you up."

The little girl took Ash's hand and he helped her up as the girl's mother finally caught up with them.

"Finally," the mother began as she catches her breath before turning to look at the little girl with an exhausted look in her eyes. "You've stopped running. Just give me a minute, I need to catch my breath."

The woman took a deep breath before regaining her composure. Once she did that, she turned and gazed, with a look of authority, at the little girl.

"How many times must I tell you?" The woman started while looking at her daughter. "You shouldn't be running far away from me! You could have gotten lost in this huge stadium."

"But weren't we just going straight through the hall, though?" The little girl asked while forming a smirk across her face and giggling at her mother's statement. "I don't think that anyone could get lost by running straight ahead."

"Oh very funny." The mother said sarcastically as she turned to Ash, who was still standing there, in front of them. "But you still need to watch out for other people walking through here, like this man here."

The little girl's smirk disappears and she frowns as she remembered bumping into Ash. Both the girl and her mother turned and looked at Ash and his two Pokémon.

"I'm sorry for my daughter bumping into you." The mother apologized to Ash while bowing forward.

"Yeah. I'm really sorry for bumping into you, mister." The little girl responded, while also bowing forward, mimicking her mother's actions.

Ash chuckled before responding to their apologies. "It's alright. I can totally understand why your daughter was in much of a rush to get to her seat. She seemed excited about watching the upcoming battle."

"Yeah! This is my first time watching a battle in person." The girl stated with excitement in her voice.

"You don't say?" Ash asked the little girl.

"Yeah. I normally just watch them on the T.V., but right now, I'm going to be part of the audience watching the battles. It's exciting!"

"Pichu! Pi chu Pichu!" the tiny mouse Pokémon responded with delight

"Charmander! Char!" the lizard Pokémon shouted with joy

Ash chuckled at the little girl's energy, which is equal to the amount of energy that her Pokémon are expressing. Something about the little girl reminded Ash back to when he was little and that he couldn't wait to become a Pokémon Trainer and be able to battle within a huge stadium, like this one.

The little girl gave Ash a puzzled look when he chuckled at her statement. "What's so funny?"

"Oh sorry," Ash replied as he comes back into reality. "It's just that your excitement in watching battles reminded me back when I loved watching them, as well, on the T.V. I couldn't wait to become a Pokémon Trainer, and now, here I am. Battling in such a big stadium, for a chance to finally achieve my goal."

"And what's that?" asked the little girl curious about the masked trainer's goal.

"To become a Pokémon Master!" Ash responded as Pikachu and Lucario nodded to their trainer's statement.

"Wait a minute," the little girl's mother began as she looked at Ash and his Pokémon, with a curious look in her eyes. "Aren't you Aaron? Didn't you just defeated that Paul trainer?"

"Yep," Ash replied. "That's me! I was about to head towards the elite box to watch the next battle. Where are you two seated?"

The mother and her daughter chuckled, leaving Ash a confused look on his face.

The little girl then responded, "We're watching it from that place too!"

"Really? Boy, you had a friend that somehow got you to seat with the champions, huh?" Ash responded in wonderment that a mother and her daughter get the chance to watch the upcoming battle with some of the greatest trainers out there.

"You could say that." The mother answered, but with a soft nervous tone in her voice.

"Anyway, we should properly get over there right now. The match is going to start soon." Ash stated as he looked at the mother and her daughter, who nodded at his suggestion.

"Sounds good to me." The little girl answered.

"Yeah. We could use someone that can help lead us to the box." The mother responded.

"Alright then," Ash began. "Onward to the elite suite!"

Just as soon as the group began walking, Pichu jumped and sat on the little girl's shoulder, similar to how Pikachu is currently sitting on Ash's shoulder. The little girl then picked up Charmander and held it in her arms, with its tail hanging underneath, just so that it doesn't accidentally burn her, with the flame burning on its tail.

They continued to walk down the atrium until they reached the door of the elite suite. Before they entered, Ash realized that he didn't catch the mother and daughter's names.

"By the way," Ash began as he turned and looked at the mother and her daughter, who were right behind him. "You two never told me your names."

"Oops." The mother started as she gasped at the fact that she never told the trainer, who they bumped into, their names. "I guess that you and my daughter were so caught up in your discussion that I have forgotten to introduce ourselves to you."

"That's alright," Ash stated while chuckling. "It happens."

The mother then proceeds to introduce herself. "Anyway, I'm Brittany."

"And I'm Ashley!" The girl said as it was her turn to introduce herself.

"And these are my two buddies: Pichu and Charmander!" Ashley said as she pointed to her two Pokémon.

"Pichu!" the tiny mouse Pokémon shouted with joy in its voice.

"Charmander!" the lizard Pokémon shouted with delight.