The four of them spent a year training intensely with one another.  Rebal decided to keep the Ultra Beasts that he had caught already and did not catch any more, but the same did not go for the others.  Ritchie caught an Eevee and evolved it into a Jolteon and also caught a Luxray. Serena had captured a regular Ninetales as well as a Camerupt that could mega evolve and some of her Pokémon had evolved to. Her Litwick had evolved into a Lampent, her Litleo into a Pyroar, her Fletchinder into a Talonflame, her Eevee into a Flareon and finally her Braixen into a Delphox. Serena was absolutely ecstatic.

And then there was Ash. The first Pokémon he ended up catching, surprisingly, was a Lucario. Ash had left for the mountains with Mew as she sensed one of the most powerful auras in existence up there. They were surprised when, instead of finding a Legendary Pokémon, they found a Lucario. It was rare to find a Lucario in the wild as usually they were just Riolu's. They did do battle and in the end Ash won after if fainted 4 of his Legendary Pokemon and Lucario pledged his loyalty to Ash. Ash was surprised by the response, but was nevertheless happy to have Lucario as one of his Pokémon.  Ash then also was able to catch the lake spirits Mesprit, Uxie, and Azelf.  He also caught Hetran, Manaphy, Phione, and Cressalia.

The next amazing things to happen was Ash's Pokémon evolving. After months of training Ash's Shiny Bagon finally evolved into a Shiny Salamence and gained its wings. The Salamence line trained relentlessly for this having wanted their wings for as long as they have existed. Ash's shiny Metang had also evolved into a fully evolved and powerful Metagross. Ash's Dragonair had also evolved into a Dragonite.  Ash also found out that his Arcanine had the Battle Bond Ability and was able to Synchro Evolve into this.

Finally, he had also finished catching the last of the Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon. He captured a Larvitar, a *Shiny* Gible, a Deino and a Jangmo–oh; all three of which eventually evolved into their final forms.  

Rebal was curious and asked Ash why he captured the Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon if he planned to specialize in Legendary Pokémon.

Ash's response was cheeky, devious and brilliant. "Well I plan on spicing up the challenges. It's like a pre-game bonus battle. Any challenger that wants to take the Elite Four Challenge will get the chance to fight one of my Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon. It's just a simple one on one battle and the Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon is chosen at complete random. If they can defeat the chosen Pokémon then they've earned the right to battle me right away, but if you can't you face the Elite Four. Can you imagine the amount of challengers that'll flock just for that kind of chance?"

Rebal could imagine it and right away he thought that Ash was an evil, devious genius, like himself.

But that was for later; they still had to find their final member. Currently the four of them were in Hoenn watching the Victory Tournament of the Ever Grande Conference. They were looking at trainers who were specializing in Pokémon instead of using various as various could only be used by champions, not Elite Four.

They saw three so far that jumped out. A girl named Allison, who specialized in Fairy Type Pokémon. The second was a boy named Thomas, who specialized in Normal Type Pokémon. Finally, there was Morrison, a boy who specialized in Steel Type Pokémon.

They all watched the battles with scrutiny once the Victory Tournament began. There were one hundred twenty eight trainers and only three specializing in one type. They became disappointed when Allison lost her first match. "For the Fairy Type, I expected a little more" Ritchie said.

"Yeah since they're so good at Offense and Defense" Serena agreed.

"Yes, but the Fairy Type also has very few offensive moves as most of them are support type" Rebal pointed out. "If a certain move is used to often it's very easy to counter it."

The matches continued and both Thomas and Morrison made it a lot farther, but Thomas lost in the Top 8 to a trainer named Tyson. Morrison managed to continue on. It was amazing; his Steel Type Pokémon were showing amazing ability. He made it past the Semi-finals and into the finals where he faced the same boy that defeated Thomas.

Tyson and Morrison's battle lasted a long time, but in the end Tyson came out victorious. His own versatile team, plus his fully evolved Metagross and perhaps the strongest Meowth that any of them had seen, was too much for Morrison leaving Tyson as the victor.

"That Tyson is pretty good" Serena commented.

"No kidding" Ritchie agreed. "His Meowth was definitely the strongest of its kind that I've ever seen."

"Not to mention it has really good fashion" Rebal quipped making them all laugh. "So Ash, what do you think?"

Ash smirked and spoke a moment later spoke "I think we've found our final member. Let's go." All of them stood up and left the stadium. The found Morrison leaving the arena with a downtrodden look. They all stopped in front of him making him stop.

"What's up, you need something" he asked.

"We just want to congratulate you" Ash said. "That was some amazing battling you did out in the tournament."

"Heh, you really think so" Morrison asked with a sheepish grin while rubbing the back of his head.

"Of course" Ash said. "I don't think I've seen anyone use Steel Types so good since Steven Stone himself."

Morrison's grin grew and he laughed "Well he was my inspiration for having a Steel-Type only team. Not to mention Metang was my very first Pokémon."

Ash smiled "Well then, allow me to offer you a proposal." Morrison now looked confused "You see myself and my friends here are on a goal."

"What kind of goal and how does it involve me" Morrison was looking suspicious now.

"I'll get to that" Ash said. "Let me explain first. For as long as the Pokémon world has existed the two regions of Kanto and Johto have shared an Elite Four and Champion. The reason for why, I don't know. Is it because they're so close or something else? The point is that it's time for that to change. I won the Kanto League three years ago and now I want Kanto to have its own Elite Four and Champion. What you see next to me are people who share my goal. My best friend Ritchie, a master of Electric Pokémon, the lovely Serena, a Fire-Type master and the Ultra Beast Tamer Rebal. We came here to Hoenn to find our final Elite Four member. Of the one hundred and twenty eight trainers who made it to the victory tournament only three specialized in certain types of Pokémon and among them you made it the farthest by far. You have amazing potential Morrison and we could help you become a master Pokémon Trainer, a member of the strongest Elite Four. Will you join us?"

Morrison stared at Ash in shock at what he just said. Morrison knew of Ash the moment he mentioned his victory in the Kanto League three years ago. Everyone knew of him; a young trainer who swept through the competition using at maximum, just three Pokémon. But the best part was that he used the Legendary Mew. He was famous; many people wanted to meet and challenge him, but he disappeared and was never seen. To think that very same person was in front of him offering him such an opportunity.

Morrison grinned broadly "I'd be a damn fool if I turned you down." All of them grinned "Sign me up Master Ketchum."

Ash laughed "You can just call me Ash; we're friends right."

"Hell yeah" Morrison grinned and shook hands with Ash. The deal was struck and their team was complete. They now had three years left to train until they approached Mr. Goodshow with the idea.