"Wake up, Espeon, Lucario." Ash mumbled, shaking his partner Pokémon awake. "Time for breakfast." As both of them stirred, he staggered to the bathroom, and refreshed himself. He dressed in his standard trainer's clothes, a casual black shirt with a navy blue jacket, his signature necklace, and jeans. He also put on his fingerless black gloves, where on the left glove, a Key Stone was imbedded into it.

Espeon hopped onto his shoulder and he entered the dining room. As soon as he did, he sent out all his Pokémon to have breakfast in the lounge.

Ash looked to his Elites. As usual, Pakura is changing, but her Pokémon's out here eating breakfast.

"Morning, Ash! Come have a seat!" said Phillip, waving him over. The moment he slid into his chair he was served an enormous platter of food. Eggs, ham, piles of fried potatoes. A tureen of fruit sat in ice to keep it chilled. The basket of rolls set would last a family for an entire week. There's elegant glasses of orange juice, cups of coffee, and cups of hot chocolate.

Ash took an empty plate, and filled it with a substantial amount of everything on the table, before starting to eat.

Over the eggs, Ash asked, "Is Paku taking a shower"

"She's the one that woke me up, so what do you think?" Akeno asked, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

"She used the connecting door to get to your room didn't she?" Jude enquired.

"Yeah." Akeno said

"By the way, what Pokémon are you guys going to use for the tag battle?" Phillip asked, deciding to make some small talk.

"Definitely not our Legendaries." Jude joked.

Phillip shot him a "You don't say?" look, and turned to Ash. "Hey, Ash, what Pokémon are you going to use?"

"For today, I'll go with Kingdra, Scyther and Jolteon." Ash replied. He looked at Phillip, as if to say, "And you?"

"I'll go with Heliolisk, Galvantula, and Excadrill." Phillip said. "Akeno?"

"Decidyu, Delphox, and Gengar." Rosaline listed.

"And I'm going with Scrafty, Malamar and Cloyster." Jude informed them. "Whoever our partner is, I hope their type specialty cancels out at least one of our weaknesses."

"Yeah, I hope so too." Akeno said. "Ash doesn't need to worry, since he has Pokémon of various types, and he doesn't have a type specialty."

Ash made a noise of agreement, just as the sound of a door opening can be heard, and Pakura emerged from her room, dressed and ready to go. She was wearing one of her trainer outfits- a white top (that showed her chest well) with a pink skirt, complete with black boots, a light pink jacket and a belt to hold her six Pokéballs. Her hair was loose, and put up in a hairband that had a ribbon attached to it.

"Morning, Paku." Ash greeted his Leader. Pakura nodded.

"What Pokémon are you going to use today?" Jude enquired.

Pakura looked around at her Pokémon, and pointed to Jynx, Flogres and Mawile.

"You're going to Mega Evolve your Mawile, aren't you?" Phillip voiced his suspicion. The PAL Elites were also well-known to use Mega Evolution during battles, and each of them had their Key Stones worn as part of their outfit, while their Pokémon had the appropriate Mega Stones. Jude's one was in the form of a bracelet, Rosaline's a ring, Pakura's one was a charm, and Phillip's one is a stickpin he attached to his shirt.

Once per battle, only a single Pokémon for each Trainer may Mega Evolve, while this is true, another thing about the PAL Elites are, their bonds with every single one of their Pokémon are so strong; they can Mega Evolve their Pokémon anytime, thus bypassing the rule.

Ash discovered this loophole shortly after he became Champion, thus he was the first person to Mega Evolve more than one Pokémon when he was battling.

Pakura simply shrugged at them

They head to the arena

"From the Green side, we have Leader Brock, and Leader Misty!" The two Gym Leaders walked out to the Arena waving to the audience.

"And from the Red side, we have Elite Pakura, PAL Princess and Champion Ash, our Silent Hero!" The crowd cheered louder for the latter pair as they walked out and took their places at the marked spot. Misty tried to talk to Ash but she got ignored.

"This will be a six-on-six Pokémon battle, as each Trainer can use three Pokémon. Switching Pokémon is allowed, and the first side to lose all six Pokémon loses." Evan explained. "So Trainers, you may send out your Pokémon."

"Starmie, I choose you!" Misty threw a Pokéball and out came Starmie.

"Steelix, come on out!" Brock summoned his Steelix.

"Let's go, Jynx!" Pakura sent out the Human Shape Pokémon.

"Scyther, lend me your aura!" Ash called out.

"Eww, eww! A bug!" Misty shrieked, ticking both Ash and Scyther off.

"Stop screaming or I'll give you something to scream about even when you hurt my trainer!" Scyther muttered darkly.

Back to field

"I'm so going to humiliate her by sending her Pokémon to the Emergency Ward!" Scyther snarled.

"You do that." Ash nodded.

"Battle begin!" Evan brought the red and green flags he has been holding downwards.

"Steelix, use Flash Cannon on Jynx!" Brock commanded.

"Starmie, use Scald on that bug!" Misty added.

Ash twitched. That bug?

"Jynx, let's use Safeguard." Pakura yawned. Jynx formed a shield around her and Scyther, effectively blocking both attacks. Once Safeguard was deactivated, Ash started his attack.

"Scyther, Signal Beam!" Ash commanded. The Signal Beam hit Starmie, which made it skid backwards.

"Starmie, get up!" Misty encouraged, or rather, demanded. Starmie slowly, but surely got up. "Now, use Swift!"

"Shadow Ball." Pakura called out. The Shadow Ball destroyed the Swift, and hit Starmie.

"Steelix, Stone Edge!" Brock yelled out.

"Scyther, X-Scissor." Ash countered, bored. The X-Scissor managed to slice all the stones in half. Before anyone could react, Ash said, "Now, use Brick Break!" The Brick Break was super effective, causing Steelix to be significantly damaged.

"Use Energy Ball, followed by Draining Kiss." Pakura coldly commanded. Jynx didn't let Starmie recover, and used a powerful Energy Ball, and Draining Kiss to drain Starmie's energy. "And now, Psychic." The Psychic spun and threw Starmie into Steelix.

"Starmie, use Rest!" Misty called out.

"Steelix, Rock Tomb and help cover Starmie!" Brock commanded.

"Scyther, Vacuum Wave!" Ash countered. The Vacuum Wave destroyed the Rock Tomb, and it went on to hit Steelix, who skidded backwards and hit Starmie.

"Jynx, Dream Eater." Pakura took the chance to drain some more of Starmie's energy. By the time Dream Eater was done, Starmie woke up.

"Starmie, Thunder Wave!" Misty shouted.

"Jynx, Psychic it to Steelix." Pakura countered. The Thunder Wave affected Steelix, who was now paralyzed.

Ash and Pakura looked at each other and nodded. It was time to end this.

"Scyther, Rock Smash and Brick Break!"

"Jynx, Psychic."

Scyther let out a barrage of Rock Smash and Brick Break, and Jynx used Psychic to throw Starmie against the wall, floor, you name it.

"Giga Impact." Ash commanded.

"Hyper Beam." Pakura called out.

There was an explosion as the two attacks connected with Starmie and Steelix respectively, and when the smoke cleared, both were down with swirls in their eyes, and severely injured.

As medics came in to get them to the Emergency Ward, Evan called out, "Starmie and Steelix are unable to battle. The winners are Jynx and Scyther. Green side, please choose out your next Pokémon."

Ash checked his CommuniDex's stopwatch function. "That didn't even last two minutes." His stopwatch said one minute and thirty-seven seconds, as Misty and Brock sent out Politoed and Marshtomp respectively.

Ash and Pakura then returned their Pokémon, after murmuring some words of thanks.

"It looks like Champion Ash and Elite Pakura has decided to switch Pokémon. What would they send out next?" Ken wondered, as Ash and Pakura and sent out Jolteon and Florges respectively.

"Battle begin!" Evan said.

"Politoed, start things off with Bounce!" Misty cried out. Politoed bounced up high, and started to aim, ready to attack.

"Florges, Grassy Terrain." Pakura called out. The battlefield changed to grass with the move.

"Marshtomp, Earthquake." Brock commanded. To his surprise, the Earthquake was half the power it should be.

"What the?" Brock was puzzled at the turn of events.

Ash sighed. "Grassy Terrain cuts the power of Earthquake, Bulldoze, and Magnitude in half. Didn't you do your homework? Jolteon, use Thunder Wave." Jolteon used Thunder Wave just as Politoed used Bounce. Politoed fell to the ground, as it was now paralyzed and unable to execute the move.

"Politoed, Bubble Beam!" Misty called out.

"Jolteon, Pin Missile!" Ash countered. The Pin Missile overpowered Bubble Beam, and Politoed was hit by the move.    

"Marshtomp, Hydro Pump!" Brock called out.

"Magical Leaf." Pakura said. The Magical Leaf cut through Hydro Pump, and the move damaged Marshtomp greatly because of two reasons: It is doubly weak to Grass, and the Grassy Terrain powered up the move of Grass-types.

"Now, Petal Blizzard." Pakura commanded, as Marshtomp was swept up in the petals. It fell to the ground, and now struggled to get up.

"Finish it. Solar Beam." Solar Beam hit Marshtomp just as it was getting up, and it was blasted in the air. It lasted for half a minute before the beam dissipated. Marshtomp fell from a great height and on the ground with swirls in its eyes.

"Marshtomp is unable to battle!" Evan declared, as medics came to check on Marshtomp, and declared it needing to be in the Emergency Ward.

Misty snarled, and shouted, "Use Hyper Voice on Florges!"

"Disarming Voice." Pakura countered. Both of them clashed, and it slowly overpowered the Hyper Voice. Pakura gave a single nod to Ash.

"Jolteon, full-power Thunder!" Ash shouted. Jolteon took this opportunity to shock Politoed for one whole minute, before stopping, and at that point, the Disarming Voice hit Politoed, letting it fall to the ground with swirls in its eyes. The medics came in again to send Politoed to the Emergency Ward.

"And Politoed is unable to battle! Green side, please send out your last Pokémon."

"How dare you! This should be against the rules." Misty shouted.

"The rule was as long as the Trainers do not mutilate or kill the Pokémon in any way, it isn't against the rules." Evan interrupted.

"Besides, you signed up for this tournament, and action packed battles is sure to have brutality." Pakura said calmly.

Misty glared at her, and sent out her Gyarados, while Brock chose his Crobat. Pakura switched to Mawile (who was wearing a Mega Stone), while Ash chose to remain with Jolteon.

"Battle begin!" Evan announced.

"Gyarados, Flamethrower!" Misty shouted.

"Dodge, and use Volt Switch!" Ash countered. The Volt Switch was super effective on Gyarados, and at the same time, switched Jolteon out with Kingdra.

'So that's why he stuck with Jolteon.' Pakura thought. "

Mawile, let's use Stone Edge!" Pakura commanded

"Crobat, Wing Attack!" Brock called out. The Wing Attack managed to repel Stone Edge.

"Gyarados, Twister!" Misty commanded.

"You use Twister too!" Ash countered. As both clashed (with Kingdra's Twister winning) Ash called for a Dragon Breath, and both Twisters and Dragon Breath hit Gyarados.

Meanwhile, Pakura called for a Fairy Wind, which blew Air Cutter away. Mawile then went in for a Thunder Punch, which was super-effective on Crobat. Before Brock could react, Crobat's wings were frozen, thanks to Ice Beam. Crobat struggled to break the ice with Steel Wing as the ice was difficult to break.

"Kingdra, use Draco Meteor!" Ash called out. Kingdra nodded, and shot an orange sphere in the air, and it rained down on both Crobat and Gyarados. Mawile was unaffected due to her typing.

When the attack ended, Ash and Pakura decided to finish it with Scald and Play Rough on Crobat and Gyarados respectively. Both of them did not stand a chance to dodge, and took the full hit. They fell down with swirls in their eyes.

"Gyarados and Crobat are unable to battle. The winners are Elite Pakura and Champion Ash!" As usual, medics come in to check on the Pokémon again, as the other pair walked away.

"Ash why did you that to our pokemon." Misty screamed not believing her friend would do that

" You sign up the tournament remember that  how battle are gonna be here." Ash replied not caring tone left with Pakura

"It's your turn, Akeno." Ash said. Akeno stood up, and left the VIP Box to the front of the entrance of the battlefield, her Leafeon following behind, along with Cynthia

Of course, due to Akeno being the only Elite, she was the only one except Cynthia who never lost a Pokémon. He didn't have to say for the other two, who lost all their Pokémon (although Cynthia lost one due to Paul training hard with his Pokémon)

After that Ash and his friends were running from  The paparazzi.

Now why are they the number one fear and annoyance? The reason is simple. They follow you around, taking your pictures without permission, asking incessant questions, and use all means to find any information about you, and post it on the newspaper or magazine, even if you didn't want that information out. Basically, with paparazzi around, you have zero privacy, because they will never give you that. Even if you wish for a quiet time with your family or a friend, they would never give you that.

While it was true their local paparazzi would leave them alone, and ask permission before they post, it doesn't apply to the other paparazzi

Phillip fell behind to use his power to disable all the electronic devices carried by the paparazzi. As a genius inventor, one of his abilities was the capability to activate and deactivate various mechanisms, both electronic and biological as far as 10km radius. With this range, he can select specifically which devices to activate or deactivate, which in this case, he's selecting to deactivate the reporters' cameras and microphones.

as they were trying to figure out what the problem Ash and his friends made it to the tower and their room to relax before AJ and Miya battle

Next Battle

"From the Green side, we have Trainer Max, and Trainer Dawn!" The two Trainers walked out to the Arena waving to the audience.

"And from the Red side, we have Elite Miya, and Champion AJ,!" The crowd cheered louder for the latter pair as they walked out and took their places at the marked spot. AJ saw Max look at Miya and he growled.

"This will be a six-on-six Pokémon battle, as each Trainer can use three Pokémon. Switching Pokémon is allowed, and the first side to lose all six Pokémon loses." Evan explained. "So Trainers, you may send out your Pokémon."

"Lopunny, Spotlight!" Dawn shouted as she sent out the rabbit Pokémon. "Scizor, Lets go!" Max shouted "Umbreon, Sylveon! Lend us your Aura!" AJ and Miya shouted in unison as the psychic and Fairy Eeveelutions appeared on the battlefield.

"Hah!" Max laughed "Get ready Champion"

"Your cockiness will be your downfall." AJ replied in a wise, yet cold tone.

"Tomato Tamato!" Max said then he did a hand signal, then Scizor Came at Umbreon with an  X-Scizor, followed up with steel wing. Dawn was about to command her Pokémon to do something , when Max did another hand signal, gesturing her to wait.

AJ and Miya exchanged a looked, then sighed, realizing Max was to much of a idiot to take advice.

"Well I'll have to show instead of tell." AJ thought

"Umbreon Stop Scizor with Shadow Ball, then use dark Pulse towards Lopunny!" Ash commanded and with no effort whatsoever, Umbreon stopped Scizor attack with Shadow Ball and hit Lopunny with dark pulse At Lopunny, making direct contact.

"Hey AJ?" Umbreon called out

"Yeah?" Aj asked

"Mind if I have some fun?" Umbreon said with a smirk on his face. "Go ahead." With that being said Umbreon Began to attack Lopunny and Scizor with his move and threw them every where in multiple directions, repeatedly sneaking attack,, giving both Pokémon a panic attack. After about 1 minute of torture Umbreon finally dropped them onto the ground. Both Pokémon had swirls in their eyes.

"Lopunny, and Scizor are unable to battle! Send out your next Pokémon." Evan called out and the crowd started cheering and some people were even laughing at what happened. Leaving a mortified Max and a very angry Dawn.

"MAX YOU DUMBASS! THIS IS WHAT ALWAYS HAPPENS!" Dawn shouted.

"What It work last time I thought it would work again?" Gary replied

"Well it didn't dumbass." Dawn muttered under her breath

"Can we get on with the battle cocky ass?" Aj shouted coldly

"Ohhh right." Max muttered

"Arcanine! Let's go!" Max shouted

"Ivysaur! Spotlight!" Dawn added on.

AJ was a bit surprised that she had Ash old Ivysaur who then look battle ready

"Their all yours!" AJ said with a smirk on his face.

" Sylveon let's show them what you can do! Misty Terrain, then follow it up with Moonblast!" Miya commanded

"This will be fun." Sylveon thought then used misty Terrain which released pink mist on the field, fully camouflaging Umbreon and Sylveon. A couple of minutes later Sylveon jumped out from the mist and fired a moo blast at Arcanine, then another at Ivysaur.

  "Ivysaur dodge, then use Sleep power!" Dawn commanded

"Arcanine hit it head on with Wild charge and send it back!" Arcanine charged at the moonblast and sent it back, but Miya was expecting that. Then, without Miya telling her to, Sylveon caught the moonblast and threw it back, and thanks to the added speed it slammed Arcanine right in the face, like a bullet, sending him flying headfirst into the wall. When he fell to the ground Arcanine had swirls in his eyes. "One down. One more to go!" Miya whispered to herself. Then Ivysaur used sleep powder. "Sylveon Magic Coat!" Miya commanded A magic coat or barrier, if you will formed around Sylveon and Umbreon, protecting them from the sleep powder and sending it back, hitting Ivysaur. "Now Sylveon let's wrap this up! Draining Kiss!" Miya commanded then Sylveon ran up to Ivysaur and kissed him, draining his health and making him faint. Dawn and Max send out Blastoise and Piplup (Dawn caught another one)

"Alright you ready Miya?" AJ asked. Miya responded with a thumbs up

"Alright! Use helping hand!" They said in unison then both Sylveon and Umbreon gained stats. "Now Umbreon use double team around Sylveon and Sylveon use Moonblast!" Then Espeon used double team around Sylveon and both Pokémon started running towards the opposite field. Sylveon was charging up her moon blast. "Let's finish this up! Umbreon use Shadow ball and Sylveon use moonblast!" They said in unison. Then Sylveon released her moonblast and Umbreon and his illusions fired their Shadow Ball, making the opponents panic. "Quickly Blastoise use Hydro pump to get rid of the illusions!" Max shouted, panicking "A-And Piplup use bubblebeam to stop the moonblast!" Dawn shouted, also panicking. When the illusions disappeared Umbreon wasn't there. Umbreon was behind them all along. Then Sylveons moonblast made contact, same as Umbreon Dark Pulse from the back, when the smoke cleared, both Pokémon had swirls in their eyes.

"BLASTOISE AND PIPLUP ARE UNABLE TO BATTLE!" Evan shouted. "This round goes to Sylveon and Espeon! The winners are Aj and Miya!"

Next battle

Evan put the flags down, May ordered Wartortle to fire an Ice Beam attack at Togekiss, while Whitney ordered a Gyro Ball at Gardevoir.

Pakura countered with Flamethrower at Lickilicky, and Ash told Gardevoir to use Psychic to send Ice Beam back to the sender. Lickilicky fell to the ground, slightly burned.

"Wartortle, dodge!" May commanded. That was apparently what they were waiting for, since when Wartortle jumped to dodge it, Togekiss flew in close, and at Pakura's command, released a stream of thick purple liquid from its mouth at Wartortle, it hit Wartortle, and Gardevoir followed it up with a Shadow Ball.

"Are you ok, Wartortle?" May asked, concerned. Wartortle got up, but his face was purple and purple sparks emitted from him, indicating he was badly poisoned.

"Gardevoir, use Focus blast on Lickilicky!" The Focus Blast hit as Lickilicky was about to get up, and is super effective on Lickilicky. Whitney closed her eyes, as she thought of her next move.

"And it looks like Coordinator May's Wartortle has been badly poisoned!" Ken announced. "What would May and Whitney do to counter this setback?"

"Lickilicky, switch out, come back!" Whitney had returned her Lickilicky.

"And it looks like Whitney had switched out her Lickilicky. What Pokémon would she send out next?"

"Come on out, Clefable!" She sent out the same Clefable that she used to battle Cynthia and Rosaline the other day.

"I'm not going to stand there and wait for her move." Ash said. "I'm going to attack May's Wartortle first. Gardevoir, use Moonblast, followed by Thunderbolt!"

"Oh no you don't. Wartortle, use Rapid Spin!"

"Togekiss, use Brick Break!" Togekiss used Brick Break on Wartortle. It was able to slow down Rapid Spin, but Wartortle still spun past Togekiss, and towards Gardevoir. By then, Gardevoir had fired Moonblast, and quickly charged a Thunderbolt, which fused with Moonblast, creating a pink meteorite that hit Wartortle. Wartortle struggled to get up, since the poison is taking its toll on him.

"Clefable, use Healing Wish!"

Clefable leapt into the air, and its body started to glow white. It then let out a burst of light blue, sparkling lights that rain down onto Wartortle, which regained his energy and cured him of his status condition. However, she fainted after the move.

"Clefable is unable to battle!" Evan declared. "Please send out your next Pokémon!" he directed the latter sentence to Whitney.

"Thanks, Whitney." May said.

"No prob." Whitney replied, though she was frowning. She quickly sent back out her Lickilicky, and it also regained its energy since the Healing Wish also heals those who take over the Healing Wish user's place. Lickilicky also recovered its energy, and its burns from Togekiss' Flamethrower also disappeared.

"Who knew Whitney's Clefable knew Healing Wish?" Espeon said.

"Whitney must have prepared this move specifically for this situation. She must've known that the moves we use have so much power it's unlikely they can stand more than four attacks. She's pretty skilled in her own way. Now I know why she was appointed as Gym Leader." said Lucario.

'Hmm...while this is effective in removing the damage we caused so far, it'll only work once.' Ash thought.

"Alright, let's use our ultimate move. Wartortle, use Surf!" Wartortle summoned a huge wave that and jumped on top of it, and rode the wave towards Togekiss and Gardevoir. Ash and Pakura's eyes widened. There's no way their Pokémon can dodge it.

"I got you now!" May smirked.

'I don't have time to switch to Salamence!' Ash thought. He turned to Togekiss thoughtfully.

"Pakura, can your Togekiss use Steel Wing?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, why?" Pakura said, puzzled.

"Hurry, ask Togekiss to use Steel Wing on the wave!"

"Ok. Togekiss, use Steel Wing on the wave!" Togekiss' wings glowed white, and it broke through the surf, which caused the wave to be cut in half, causing Wartortle to fall.

"Gardevoir, now's our chance! Use Charge Beam!" Ash ordered

"Lickilicky, use Wrap to prevent Gardevoir from using that move!" Lickilicky used its long tongue and shot it at Gardevoir.

"Oh no, you don't! Togekiss, get in front of Lickilicky and use Thunder Wave on the tongue!"

The Thunder Wave actually paralyzed the tongue, which caused Lickilicky to be unable to retract it. During this time, Gardevoir used Charge Beam on Wartortle, which is super effective, and causing Wartortle to faint.

"Wartortle is unable to battle!" Evan raised the Green flag.

"Wow, where you'd get such creative ideas from?" Ash asked.

"From you, of course." Pakura looked at him as if it was obvious. "I just love your battle strategies. Crazy but effective."

Ash blushed. "Well, we better concentrate on the battle."

Pakura grinned at his red face. "Well, Togekiss, let's finish it off with Brick Break." Togekiss took advantage of the fact that Lickilicky can't use its tongue to attack, and since it's weak to fighting types, it took a lot of damage. While it's getting up, Togekiss used Aura Sphere, which knocked it out.

"Lickilicky is unable to battle!" Evan declared. "Trainers, send out your next Pokémon!"

"I take back what I said about them not being able to take more than four attacks." said Lucario. "They can't even take one or two attacks!"

"Miltank, I choose you!" Whitney chose her strongest Pokémon as her final one.

"Venusaur, spotlight!" May sent out her second Pokémon.

Pakura decided to stick with Togekiss for now. Meanwhile, Ash had returned Gardevoir, and had sent out Salamence in her place.

"Trainers from both sides ready?" Evan looked at both of them, as they nodded, signalling yes. "Alright, battle begin!"

"Miltank, start things out by using Attract!"

Ash groaned at the all-too familiar move. He knew that once Attract hits, it's almost over for him, since his Salamence is male, and Miltank is definitely a female. But before he could react, Pakura gave a command. "You use Attract too, Togekiss!"

The Attract moves cancelled out each other, as May decided to use Vine Whip to attack Salamence.

"Salamence, use Dragon Pulse!" Salamence opened his mouth and a turquoise energy ball appears in front of it. He then shot it at the Vine Whip, effectively reflecting it away from him, and dealing Venusaur some damage.

"I thought Salamence usually can't lean that move Ash." Pakura said surprised to Ash.

"Pakura His father was a Hydreigon, so he knew the move the moment he hatched from an egg. Thanks to that, he also knows Dragon Rage and Dragon Rush." However, as soon as he mentioned those moves to Pakura, Salamence thought it was a command, so he fired a Dragon Rage at Miltank, who was commanded to use Gyro Ball on Salamence. When Venusaur tried to help by using Leaf Storm, Salamence countered with Dragon Rush.

"Salamence! I didn't ask you to use those moves! I was only telling Pakura what moves you could use!" Ash was caught in between the urge to laugh or to face palm.

"Opps, sorry, you said the moves so I thought it was a command." Salamence said sheepishly.

"Salamence, you should've listened carefully." Espeon sniggered. Lucario was openly laughing as well.

"It looks like Salamence, by its own mistake, dealt severe damage to Miltank and Venusaur." Ken said, as the audience laughed, and cheered for Ash's Salamence.

"Thank you." Salamence smiled at the audience appreciatively.

"Ok, Salamence, concentrate on the battle and stop showing off." Ash said, which earned a big laugh from the audience.

"Venusaur, use Poison Powder!"

"Togekiss, Metronome!" Metrenome turned out to be Blizzard, and it not only blew away the Poison Powder back to Miltank and Venusaur. Miltank was now poisoned, and damage was taken from the Blizzard. Venusaur, being part poison, wasn't affected, which is probably lucky for May. Whitney immediately used Heal Bell to remove the status condition from Miltank.

"Salamence, use Brick Break!" Salamence made eye contact with his owner, and Ash smirked, and gave a single nod. Salamence flew towards Venusaur, which prepared a Protect move. However, just as Miltank was about to intercept with Ice Beam, Togekiss countered with Flamethrower, and as they clashed, Salamence changed direction towards Miltank, revealing that he was actually targeting Miltank, and not Venusaur.

Miltank was hit, which caused her to stop firing the Ice Beam, and Togekiss took the opportunity to change the direction of the Flamethrower towards Venusaur. Both super effective moves took out the two Pokémon in an instant.

"Miltank and Venusaur are unable to battle! Coordinator May, please send out your last Pokémon!"

"Ash, since May is the only one left on the field, I want to take her one on one. Is that ok?" Pakura asked.

"Sure, why not." Ash shrugged. "I think you deserve a one-on-one with her anyway, after all she did to me."

"Thanks, Ash." Pakura smiled

"Beautifly, spotlight!" May sent out her last Pokémon.

Ash returned his Salamence and thanked him for his good work. Pakura return Togekiss took out a Pokéball, and looked at May with a gleam in her eye.

"Manaphy, lend me your aura!" She threw his Pokéball and out came the Seafaring Pokémon.

"And it looks like Princess Pakura is in possession of another Legendary,!" Ken commented.

"How did you capture Manaphy?" May's jaw dropped.

"With a Pokéball, what else?" Pakura raised her eyebrow, which earned laughter from the audience at the joke.

"You must've poached it from the Samiya, haven't you?" May accused.

She then turned to Manaphy, and her features softened. "Manaphy! It's Mama, remember?" May held out her arms to Manaphy, expecting him to jump into May's arms, but instead, she was hit by a Scald attack, which grazed her arm since Whitney pulled her out of the way. She was hurt, not by the burn in her arm, but by the fact that Manaphy would attack without hesitation.

"Please Manaphy. It's me, May, I'm your mama!" May pleaded. Manaphy ignored her.

"Let the battle begin!"

"Manaphy, let's start things off by using Ice Beam!"

"Beautifly, Protect!" May said desperately, praying that Manaphy would come to his sense soon. The Protect managed to prevent Ice Beam from hitting Beautifly.

"Now, use Whirlpool!" Pakura said

Manaphy raised his arms and a large whirlpool appears above his head. He then threw it at Beautifly, and Pakura told Manaphy to fire a Shadow Ball and Energy Ball inside the Whirlpool. The Whirlpool glowed alternately between purple and light green, and headed towards Beautifly. May half-heartedly told Beautifly to use Gust to counter it, but it wasn't enough, so the Shadow Ball and Energy ball infused Whirlpool crashed onto Beautifly, causing it to fall to the ground.

"I actually used this combination back at one of the Grand Festivals. Not only does it make it look beautiful, it actually can make it powerful too." Pakura remarked to Ash. Ash nodded, as he watched Beautifly struggle to get up. When it did, May commanded it to use Stun Spore, which successfully paralyzed Manaphy. However, Pakura told Manaphy to use Rain Dance. Due to his Ability called Hydration, it cured Manaphy of paralysis.

"But how?" May sounded more distressed than worried.

"Simple. Manaphy has the Ability called Hydration. Hydration heals status problems of the user if it is raining." Pakura explained. "Now, Manaphy, use Bubble Beam!"

May couldn't bear to call out any more attacks that would hurt Manaphy, and asked Beautifly to just dodge. That gave Pakura the opening to use Ice Beam towards the direction where Beautifly flew towards, and it became frozen in a block of ice. Through the ice, it's clear that Beautifly is unable to battle.

"Beautifly is unable to battle! The winners are Elite Pakura and Champion Ash!" The audience cheered at their victory. Whitney solemnly closed her eyes in defeat.

"Whitney, you were a great opponent. You had a great strategy that caught both of us off guard. You have a great talent." Ash called out to her.

Whitney looked at Ash, surprised, before giving a smile and nodding, knowing she did her best. She left for the VIP Box without another word.

"We made it, like I expected." Lucario nodded, folding his arms in an "I knew it" way.

"Gee, modest much?" Espeon asked sarcastically.

Ash laughed, and watched as May returned her Beautifly, and walked towards Manaphy, about to take him away. Manaphy, however, quickly ran towards Ash, and hopped into his arms.

"Give him back to me, you bastard! How dare you take Manaphy?" May demanded.

Manaphy, though an able battler, is still a little on the sensitive side, started crying at May's loud voice. Ash started rocking Manaphy to calm it down, and trying to comfort it.

"I'll never give him to you." Ash replied, clutching to Manaphy, who had stopped crying and is glaring at May.

May growled and was about to slap Ash, but Pakura was faster, and had May's wrist in a tight grip.

"How dare you try and hit a Champion?" Pakura hissed. She gripped the wrist tight enough to hurt, but not enough to leave a bruise. May winced at the grip

" Ash's keeping Manaphy away from his rightful mama and you need to give your pokeball to me!" May protested, wrenching her hand from Pakura's grip, which led her to stumble backwards. "And you must have poached it! There's no way Manaphy would go to anyone other than his mama! Right, Manaphy?"

"Well, then, we shall see." Ash replied as he was on the verge just go to his form and blaster but put Manaphy down. "Manaphy, go to your mama."

May opened her arms, expecting Manaphy to go to her, but was heartbroken when Manaphy leapt straight into Pakura's arms. Her eyes started to fill with tears.

"Mama!" Manaphy nuzzled his head against Pakura chest

Ash smirked. "Well, guess this is Manaphy's answer." With that, they left for the VIP Box. May's tears made its appearance, and she flung a hand over her face, and hurried away, in the direction of the ladies' room. The female traitor, who had been watching the scene but was unable to enter the battlefield, due to the battlers still being there, rushed after May.

May looked at her face in the mirror. Her face had gotten all splotchy, and her eyes were now squinty and red-looking from the crying she did due to Manaphy hating her now.

'Is this the face of a princess?' May thought, extremely saddened. She looked down on the sink, crying, and ignored the noise of a stall door closing, indicating fact that someone had entered the ladies room, and entered a stall.

"Hey May." A familiar voice said. May looked into the mirror to see Iris and Misty smiling at her.

"I-I don't know what I'm doing wrong." May hiccupped. "I just wanted Manaphy back!"

"You did nothing wrong." Iris assured her. "It's that Princess Pakura who probably poisoned Manaphy's mind against you."

"Yeah, she most likely poached that Manaphy so that you would be distressed and lose that battle, thus eliminating you from the tournament." Misty snarled. "We should do something about this!"

"How?" May asked.

"Simple. We take one of their Pokemon when there guard is down." Misty said.

"Which is at the Battle Tower." May pointed out. "There's no way we can get in unless invited by a Gym Leader or an Elite Four."

"You're forgetting something." Misty smiled. She may have opted out, but she's still a Gym Leader.

The girls smirked, and they planned to take one Pokémon when everyone is asleep, say 2am or so. They just have to get some caffeine to help them stay awake for the plan to happen. Then, once they are taken, if the Elites want them back, they would have to give up Manaphy in exchange for the safe return of their Pokémon.

To be safe, they would get one unsuspecting trainer to distract the Elites long enough for them to sneak into the rooms if some of them are awake by that time. It's better than to get the boys because they've seen the boys drool over the female Elites, especially Pakura, and would probably not want to do something that would ruin her.

"When do you want to take action?" Iris asked.

" Tomorrow Tonight. I can't imagine my sweet Manaphy in that Bitch ownership any longer." May replied. "We need to rescue him as soon as possible!"

Before They left as the door opened to see Pakura walking out with headphones listening to music as she pretend not to see them as she walked away as they sigh in relief as Pakura put a hidden smirk

-------------------------------------------------

Ash squeezed through a secret tunnel located near the forest, and it lead him to a huge forest clearing. It's a place Pakura had showed him years ago, when they were trying to hide from the press soon after he was crowned again (hint hint) Champion. Since then, it had been a good place to train his Pokémon in private.

Ash silently used his telekinesis to throw all his Pokéballs up into the air, and they all opened, revealing all his Pokémon.

"Papa!" Manaphy gave Ash a bear hug as soon as he was released. Ash non-verbally hugged him back, not saying anything.

"Papa, where's Mama?" Manaphy asked. Ash knew he was referring to the Elite Leader, Pakura, as Manaphy got attached to her over the 5  years, and loved her cooking very much, including the Poképuffs Ash often fed his Pokémon. It also didn't hurt that whenever Manaphy got injured in battle, Ash would send him to Pakura to heal him up, as one of her abilities is to heal Pokémon.

Ash remembered Pakura told him about the time where she first met Manaphy. He remembered that day, Manaphy let himself out of the Pokéball just to interact with Pakura.

Pakura was serving up some Poképuffs for her own Pokémon, when a blue blur slammed into her, knocking her to the ground. Fortunately, she managed to close the basket so that her Poképuffs do not fall out.

"What hit me?" Pakura mumbled, looking down at whatever was on her stomach. It was a small, blue, aquatic Pokémon with stubby feet and club-like arms that are longer than its body. It has a red gem on its chest and a yellow dot below the gem. Its onion-shaped head has a pair of long blue antennae, which have small spheres on the ends. Its irises are dark blue with yellow sclera, and there are two yellow dots of "eyelash" markings extending from the eyes.

"Do you want a Poképuff too?" Pakura asked, offering it one, who took a bite, and gave a cry of delight at the delicious taste.

"Who are you?" Pakura took out her CommuniDex, and the CommuniDex said, "Manaphy, the Seafaring Pokémon. Born on a cold seafloor, it will swim great distances to return to its birthplace. Water makes up 80% of its body. This Pokémon is easily affected by its environment. It is also born with a wondrous power that lets it bond with any kind of Pokémon."

"Mama." Manaphy was saying while smiling down at her.

Pakura was puzzled, until she remembered a story that Ash told her regarding a Manaphy hatching from an Egg, and how it had called May mama, and the adventures that entails. She knew Ash had Legendaries, but he had allowed her to see half of them. She hasn't seen the other half

And now she is seeing one with her own eyes.

"So....Ash is your papa?" Pakura asked, and Manaphy nodded.

"And May is your mama, right?" Pakura added, as she started to get up, but holding Manaphy so he doesn't fall off.

"No, she is not mama. You are mama." Manaphy replied. As Pakura carried Manaphy in her arms, Manaphy happily snuggled in her embrace.

"I love you, mama." Manaphy said.

Pakura was about to give a funny look to Manaphy, as since when can baby Pokémon change their declaration of who is their parent, but softened when she saw Manaphy looking cutely at her.

"I love you too, Manaphy." Pakura mumbled, as Manaphy cooed.

"Mama is busy getting ready for a Contest. What do you say we go see her after our training?" Ash proposed. Manaphy nodded in excitement.

"Now, get in pairs and start training! Imagine 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 give you a command." Ash ordered, as his Pokémon started partnering up, and started to use their moves to attack each other. Meanwhile, he was walking around, taking notes, and giving some advice to others.

"So, Ash, have you tried to figure out what about the traitors?" Mewtwo asked, as he shot a Shadow Ball at Umbreon, who whacked it back with Iron Tail, and he was forced to use Psychic to avoid being hit.

"I was too busy. I'll work on it when I have time to see what should I do to them." Ash replied.

"You better hurry." Mewtwo warned.

Ash nodded, as he watched the other pairs sparring.

After training as a reward, he decided to serve some Poképuffs, and the Pokémon enjoyed them immensely.

"These Poképuffs...delicious as always!" Lugia commented.

"Did Pakura make them again?" Mew asked, munching on its own.

Ash nodded, confirming Pakura made them.

"Give our thanks to her later." Ho-Oh said, savouring the flavour of the Poképuff. "Tastes great."

"Pakura sure knows what flavour we all like." Palkia said.

"And she even made spicy ones for us Fire types!" Flareon added, as the other Fire-types nodded in agreement.

With Jude

"Judging by the shining and smooth fur your Shinx has, you have been taking care of your Shinx very well." Jude said to a boy who wanted him to evaluate his Shinx's well-being and their relationship together. "And by the response your Shinx gave me when I asked about you she likes you very much, and you guys most likely have a long friendship, I bet you guys have been together for at least 5 years. Am I right?"

Understanding Pokémon language is pretty advantageous when you're a Connoisseur. Jude neglected to mention that the affection Shinx was showing for the boy was because she had a crush on him.

"Yeah, we've been together for five and a half years now." The boy replied, smiling. Except there was something wrong with the way he is smiling. His lips were curled up at the edges, but the smile didn't seem to go all the way to his eyes. It sort of stopped at his gums.

Jude frowned. "Something wrong?"

"No, nothing, it's just that.....there was this girl dragged me in her station to evaluate my relationship with my Shinx, but she said that my relationship with her was worst of the worst, and insisted I get another one. I don't know who I should listen to." The boy mumbled.

"Who is this girl?" Jude narrowed his eyes. One thing he didn't like was Connoisseurs who evaluates anyhow.

"It's some girl called Burgundy." The boy replied. "She said she's an expert in telling the relationship between trainers and Pokémon, since she's a Connoisseur too."

Jude tried to remember where he heard the name from, and realized Ash had told him about this girl. Apparently, she has a rivalry with Cilan, but it's one-sided on her part. When Ash first met her, she was pretending to be good enough to run her own Connoisseur shop, and she made Ash show her all his Pokémon, and she said all of them were horrible and he need to replace all of them, and seemed to want to replace Ash's Pokémon without any reason to back it up, and when asked, she replied with "Are you doubting the words of a Connoisseur?"

When asked about her rank, she was revealed to be a C-Class Connoisseur, but according to Ash, she thought that all professionals would say the same thing she did about his relationship with his Pokémon. As an S-Class, Jude had to disagree on what Burgundy said about Ash's relationship with his Pokémon, and Jude thought Burgundy was just a conceited little brat.

Back then, he was eager to hear Ash's adventures in Unova as he was from Humilau City.

"Oh, that girl." Jude waved him off with disdain for Burgundy. "Did you know she was just a C-Class Connoisseur? She's in the novice class, so why are you even listening to her? She's not even allowed to open her own shop for business, and people from her class are only allowed to work as assistants to A-Class and above. Listen to me. I think your relationship with Shinx is great. Don't let that wannabe's word get to you."

"Really?" The boy's smile was more confident and wider now. "Thank you!"

Jude waved, as the boy returned his Shinx to his Pokéball and left after paying Jude, which Jude reluctantly accepted.

Jude sighed. He had been dealing with a long line since lunch break, since besides offering a professional Connoisseur's service, he also runs a bookstore and café, the latter only built the beginning of this year since the café used to be a sweet shop next door that was ran by a family, but it shut down last year after an ancient water pipe burst in the ceiling, destroying all their stock.

He was also planning to stock up on PokéChow as well (he planned for them to cater to all types and type combinations), which was why several of the shelves at the back were still empty, and maybe even stock up on Pokéblocks, Poffins and Poképuffs as well.

In addition, the other Elites had the idea installing a café in the former sweet shop and knocking the wall between Jude's shop and the café down, which gave him more business. However, as far as running the shop goes, while he is good at physically making sales and running a service at the same time, he needed help in running the café, so he usually hired assistants to do it. He even did his own bookkeeping and bill paying, although sometimes he had to ask for help, as numbers aren't his forte.

"You look tired." Purrloin commented.

"You think?" Jude yawned. "I had to deal with so many customers." He wished he could go for a swim or something, since his last swim was interrupted by Ash's message to get his ass back to the Plateau because of the stupid Champions Tournament where they were short one player and Charles Goodshow had decided to disturb them to send down one person.

"I'll go get some nice, healthy smoothie." Purrloin scampered to the café to get the said drink for Jude. She returned with a grape smoothie for Jude.

"Thanks, Purrloin." Jude took a sip of his smoothie. "Maybe a walk would do me some good." With that, he went out his shop for some fresh air, Purrloin following behind.

The first thing Jude noticed was that someone had set up a portable shop station somewhere next to his café. He heard loud voices inside the station, and approached closer to listen in, since there was a female voice shouting.

"Your relationship with your Latias is the worst of the worst!" a female voice declared, and he heard a familiar male voice sighing. "Now let me see the rest of your party!"

Jude opened the curtains to find the voice belonging to a girl dressed in a long-sleeved pink shirt and over it was a red sleeveless shirt with four gold buttons at the stomach, a red bow at the collar, and black pants. She had purple hair with matching eyes, and had an arrogant look about her. Tobias was sitting there, apparently bored of hearing what the girl had to say about his Latias, who was violently shocking the Connoisseur with Thunderbolt.

"What is going on here?" Jude asked. Tobias looked up, relieved to see Jude.

"This person just dragged me into her shop when I was taking a walk, thinking I wanted my Pokémon to be evaluated and saying that the relationship with Pachirisu is the worst. And now she is demanding me to show her the rest of my Pokémon." Tobias said, looking at the girl in disgust.

"What are you doing?" Jude asked the girl.

"I'm just telling Tobias that he is better off with a Latias that has an item soul dew instead of mega evolution." The Connoisseur explained.

"Why?" Jude gave her a funny look.

"Are you doubting the words of a Connoisseur?" She demanded.

'Must be the girl Ash told me about.' Jude thought, but he said, "What Class Connoisseur are you?"

"I'm a C-Class. What about it?" Burgundy asked, jutting her chin out.

"You know C-Class is just a novice class, and now allowed to open their own shop, right?" Jude asked mockingly.

"I know, you know, but she doesn't." Tobias mumbled.

"I think anyone would say the same thing I said about him and his Pachirisu!" Burgundy shouted.

"I think there is no need for Tobias to replace his Latias. While it's true they had been together for only 4 years, so their relationship is not very close yet, but by spending time and training it, he'll most likely have a great relationship with his Latias in times to come.." Jude said.

"He's lying!" Burgundy shouted to Tobias. "I am the real deal here!"

"Excuse me, but I know Jude for years, and he would never lie. I doubt anyone would believe you. What kind of Connoisseur are you?" Tobias snorted.

"Listen here, in PAL, we don't appreciate fakes who pretend to be professionals. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, doing whatever you like in our region." Jude warned.

"And who are you to tell me what to do?" Burgundy asked.

"Ignorant, isn't she?" Purrloin asked. Jude nodded.

"If you don't know, there's no point telling you." Jude mumbled.

"Let's see who is right by having a one-on-one battle! If I win, Tobias replaces his Latias and give it to me!" Burgundy shouted.

'As if you can even win.' Tobias thought, as Burgundy chose Stoutland for her Pokémon, while Jude sent out his Absol.

"Bonjour, new tasting time, s'il vous..." She was cut off when Jude said, "Absol, use Leer!" Of course, that move caused Stoutland's defences to drop, and Jude finished Stoutland off with a Rock Smash. Since Burgundy wasn't a very good Pokémon battler and Jude's Pokémon attacks are all stronger than normal, it would be a while before Stoutland can battle again. Right now, it would need the Pokémon Center.

"If I catch you doing this again, I won't hesitate to report you to the Pokémon Connoisseur Association, and take away your license, because you're not fit to be one." Jude warned.

"Now if you excuse us, we have a lot of things we have to do besides wasting our time with the likes of you." Tobias added. With that, both of them left

.

Later on with Miya and AJ who is hidden using his invisibility as Pakura opened her mouth to say something as sensed someone unfamiliar approaching. She turned to see a tall, slim boy, probably a young adult by the looks of it, with messy black hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a pair of baggy grey pants, a black leather jacket, and a blue shirt with a white undershirt. He was also wearing a pale blue scarf.

Alain froze. Miya back was completely turned towards him, how did she know he was approaching from behind?

"Hello, Elite Miya." Alain gulped nervously, still unnerved by the fact that she knew he was behind her without turning around.

Miya nodded in greeting.

Alain had to admit that Miya was one of the most stunning, sensuous people on the planet. She was tall for a girl, and had a body many females would kill to have, with cream-coloured skin and eyes the shade of the precious amethyst gems.

"Can I help you?" Miya coldly raised a brow, and Alain shivered at her icy tone.

"I was wondering the best place to train." Alain said, though he couldn't hide the fear in his voice.

Miya eyes looked down, and saw his Mega Ring which was in a form of a large black bracelet on his wrist.

'A Mega Evolution user, huh?' Miya thought, looking at his Key Stone in mild surprise.

"I think it's that direction. That is where they offer concealment so no one can see your training and it's relatively quiet there, so they can train in peace. There are also plenty of Berries to help restore your Pokémon's energy or cure a status ailment. If you are lucky, the wild Pokémon there can help you in your training, they are pretty friendly and powerful, as they do train by themselves."  AJ said

AJ pointed to the said direction, and Miya mimicked his movement. Alain thanked her, and left.

AJ watched him leave with mild interest. "I have a feeling his goal is for his Charizard to be the most powerful Mega Evolved Pokémon." Looking at Miya inquiring look, he said, "I sensed Charizard's aura in one of his Pokéballs. It won't be the last time you're meeting him that's for sure. Once he realizes all of you are Masters of Mega Evolution, he is bound to ask for a battle. His first choice would be either US or Ash and Pakura."

Miya nodded, just as a message beeped on her CommuniDex. It was from Tobias, stating the lights were fixed, and asked her to return to the Contest Hall to do a small appeal to test out the lightings.

With the traitors

"This is all your fault, Cilan." Iris huffed. They are all currently in Pokémon Center rooms, and having their luggage tossed out of the Plaza Hotel didn't put them in good mood, because they had just lost a free luxurious place to stay, and had to settle for average accommodations.

"My fault?" Cilan protested. "I swear I placed the keys in my pocket, really, but for some reason it wasn't there."

"Right, and Groudon can fly." May replied sarcastically.

"Break it up, guys." Brock said. The two girls glared at Cilan, before looking away.

"I knew I shouldn't have opted out of the Battle Tower rooms!" Misty grumbled. "Now it's too late!"

With Ash

Pakura yawned as Aquamarine was prepping her for the cameras as a Judge for the PAL Contest. She was dressed in the same pretty dress Dawn had wanted, and Aquamarine was brushing out her hair, as she is going to let her hair loose, and add a tiara on it.

Aquamarine took one of her hands and held it out for inspection. "Now, what do you think for the nails? A pink that matches you dress? Or a deep red?"

"It doesn't matter." Pakura waved her off, as Aquamarine gave a wry smile and started doing her nails, while Pakura simply continued reading a magazine called Pokémon Friend. Her Sylveon and Skitty were reading an old copy of Poké Chic, the one where it featured her doing a photo shoot as the winner of the Hearthome Collection years back.

There was a tap on her dressing room door, and Ash stepped in. "Can I have a minute?" Ash asked Aquamarine. He was with Pikachu and Lucario.

Aquamarine nodded, as she was done with her prep, and left the dressing room.

Ash had to admit that Aquamarine had did a good job on Pakura's outfit and hairstyle, as it had enhanced her natural beauty. The outfit also showed off her curves very well.

"What is it?" Pakura asked, snapping Ash out of his thoughts.

"We all know that Dawn and May are participating in that little Contest." Ash said. "I do not want them beyond the Appeals, and since this is on National Television, I want them to be humiliated as well." Ash said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"What do you have in mind?" Pakura asked.

"If I am not wrong, the Coordinators have a backroom with lockers where they keep their stuff, right?" Ash enquired. "As in their change of clothes and all that?"

"Yes, and only I have access to the key combinations to the lockers...." Pakura trailed off.

"Knew it. I want you to choose two lockers, and fill it with these Rapidash manure, and assign these lockers to May and Dawn. Make sure not to be adjoining or they will get suspicious. Once they open, the manure would hit their dresses. And since they have no time to buy another one, it's likely they would try to take one of yours from your dressing room. And then Phase Two comes in." He handed her two heavy buckets, which Pakura slightly wrinkled her nose at due to the smell.

"What do you have in mind?" Pakura asked, interested in the plan.

"I remember one of the gowns Aquamarine designed for you burned, and revealed another gown in a different colour and design when you twirled around. Can you get Aquamarine to modify two of the dresses in such a way that when they twirl around to show off their new dresses, it burns the dress completely off, rendering them naked or at most, in their undergarments?" Ash asked.

"I like your thinking." Pakura was nodding, a hint of her smile on her lips.

"And as for their Appeal, I'll try to wreck the performance myself with my psychic powers, and since whenever I use psychic powers there isn't a tell-tale light blue aura, everyone would think it was an accident." Ash explained.

"I see....but there are security cameras in the locker room." Pakura said.

"Not to worry, Phillip would take care of it." Ash waved it off. "He will signal you when he had deactivated the cameras. Alright?"

Pakura nodded, just as her CommuniDex rang and saw it was from Phillip. She then carried a bucket (Sylveon was carrying the other) left her dressing room towards the locker, ready to put Ash's plan in action.

True to Ash's words, May and Dawn entered early, and were wearing their Contest dresses already, and as soon as they opened the locker door they were assigned to, the manure fell out, and hit them, ruining their dresses. They were forced to take a shower to get the smell off them, while cleaners came to clean up their locker, muttering something about lockers not being a place to store fertilizer, as they assumed the previous user must've wanted them for fertilizer, but forgot to come retrieve it.

The bigger issue was their dresses, as they were now ruined, and they won't have time to get it washed, cleaned and dried in time for the Contest. Neither would they have the money to buy another dress, as the two dresses were fairly expensive.

Now they were wandering around in their normal clothes, looking for another dress to wear, and as they passed Pakura's dressing room, they perked up when they heard Pakura sigh and mumble something about Aquamarine sending her two dresses which would burn off and reveal another dress and design when the user spins around long enough, and that she would never twirl to show off anyway.

May and Dawn looked at each other, excited about getting the said two dresses for themselves, just as the door opened, and they hid as Pakura walked past them with her Sylveon and Skitty. Much to Dawn's irritation, she was wearing the very same dress that she wanted.

When Pakura was out of sight, they rushed in, and sure enough, there were two beautiful dresses Pakura had apparently hung against the wall. One of the dresses was a pale grey dress which was off one shoulder, and there were sparkles at the right side of the grey dress that looked like snow. The other was entire royal blue in colour, with a gold belt in the middle.

"Those dresses are more beautiful than the ones we bought! What's more, I think we can fit in the dress. Let's take them!" May suggested.

"Won't we get caught?" Dawn asked.

"Look, this may not be a beauty contest, but you know the best looking Coordinators always seem to pull more support from fans." May went in the dressing room, and took the grey dress. "Come on. Our dresses are ruined, and these are our only choices, but they are the best choices. We'll even give the twirl and show off another dress to help our performance."

Dawn smiled, as she took the other dress. She was definitely in the plan. They also stole a bag from the dressing room to hide the dresses, and snuck out of the dressing room.

Unbeknownst to them, Pakura watched the entire scene, and said to her CommuniDex, "You're right Ash. They took the dresses hook, line and sinker but Dawn has found a new better dress so we won't be able to mess with her."

"Good. All of us will be in the audience watching the show to unfold. I think Makoto would like some pictures for the paper as well." Humiliating them on National TV should be enough, but for Ash, he wanted those who never follow Contests to know all about what happened too, to make it even more mortifying.

Jude was sighing as he looked at himself wearing a light blue buttoned up shirt with a red ribbon around the collar, along with a dark blue formal jacket and matching pants. As one of the best variety show hosts, he had been enlisted by Pakura to be the host of the PAL Contest and later, the PAL Showcase, as he usually added the right note of fun to the proceedings. Jin had left earlier, as he was done with his prep for the Contest. He had arrived earlier because Ash said he wanted to borrow his camera for tonight's Contest and Jude had to come pass it to him before his prep.

"Look at you. Like you came right off the fashion runway." An amused voice said. Jude looked up, and saw Diantha in the reflection of the dressing table.

"Hello, Diantha." Jude said wearily. He knew Sabrina, Brycen, Diantha and Elesa as they were fellow actors (the first three) and a supermodel, like him (the latter). He had even worked with them at some point in time. "I thought you wanted to see the PAL cities."

"Good to know PAL locals don't disturb celebrities." Diantha commented.

"Anything interesting happened today?" Jude asked.

"Apart from Phillip running away from me?" Diantha joked.

"So I see you met Phillip." Jude said. "You'll have to forgive him for running from you, he's actually socially awkward you know. But he's still more approachable than Red or Pakura."

"Your Champion and Leader are practically unapproachable from what I've seen." Diantha frowned.

"That bit was obvious." Jude combed his hair back a few times. "You'll get used to it after a while. Just leave them alone and they'll leave you alone. But never try to piss them off. You step out of the line, let's just say it wouldn't be pleasant for you." After all, among the five of them, the one with the highest chance of killing their targets would be Pakura, followed closely by Ash (Pakura had been in the killing game longer than Ash did, and also, she's a Blacklist Hunter)

"What do you mean by that?" Diantha asked.

Jude shook his head. "Ah-ah that is a secret exclusive to the PAL Elites...and those close to them." He had dropped the usual cheerful tone that he had, and replaced it with something forbidding.

Before Diantha could respond, an attendant called Jude, saying the Contest was about to start, and Jude swept out of the dressing room, leaving Diantha to wonder what Jude was talking about. She was fairly sure that the PAL Elite members were hiding something judging by what Jude said.

Meanwhile, Jude stepped out onto the stage, to many cheers.

"Alright, everyone! Let's get this started!" Jude declared, as everyone was screaming. "Welcome to the PAL's Contest of the Year. I am Elite Jude and I will be hosting this event!" There were cheering and clapping from the audience.

"Of course, many Coordinators, even those who won the regional Grand Festivals before, come from all over the region to compete against one another, and the winner would get...." Here, he held up a pure white silk Ribbon which is inlaid with gold. The top half looked more like miniature angel's wings on a golden grafted flower, and the silk at the bottom was let free like a typical ribbon. "This would be the prize for the winner, the PAL's Special Ribbon, where it can be used as a ticket to the Grand Festival, even if this is the only Ribbon you have in your possession, and it's only offered in this tournament only."

Everyone's eyes shone at the beautiful Ribbon that was definitely made of real silk and maybe even real gold.

"Please welcome the three judges of the PAL Contest: Gym Leader Fantina from Sinnoh, Champion Wallace from Hoenn, and our very own Princess Pakura from PAL itself!" the three of them walked out onto the Contest battlefield, and to the judge's stand. Fantina and Wallace waved to the audience, while Pakura simply remained silent and stoic.

"And now, to open the Appeals Round of the Contest, Princess Pakura would make an exhibition Appeal for all to see." Jude stepped to the side of the stage, and allowed Pakura to take the stage for her Appeal.

"Gardevoir, Milotic, time to shine!" Pakura threw two of her Pokéballs into the air, and as they opened, one showed a huge droplet concealing the Pokémon, and landing on the stage with a spectacular splash, which produced sparkles, revealing Milotic. The other produced very pretty sparkles and a huge heart, and Gardevoir emerged from it.

"Milotic, start things off with a Twister. Gardevoir, lift Twister up with Psychic, followed by Disarming Voice at the bottom of the Twister." Pakura commanded.

The Twister was lifted up with Psychic, and when Gardevoir layered it with Disarming Voice, the pink heart shapes were spinning around, making the Twister look like it was alternated between grey and pink. It was then put down again.

"Alright, fire a Focus Blast." The Focus Blast turned the Twister into a light blue colour, making it alternate between light blue and pink now. The audience was in awe of the pretty tornado.

"Now use Moonblast, Milotic, use Ice Beam! After that, fire the fusion move into the Twister." The Ice Beam froze the Moonblast, and Gardevoir threw the frozen Moonblast inside, letting the Twister rip it up, and it looked like the Twister was spitting out pink and blue droplets, which was destroyed with Thunderbolt, letting it explode in sparkles.

"Milotic, use Dragon Tail to give Gardevoir momentum. Gardevoir, jump into the Twister. After that, you know what to do." The two Pokémon nodded, and followed her commands

The audience was perplexed. What was Pakura thinking?

Meanwhile, a certain Eevee, who heard the commotion in the Contest Hall, decided to go check it out, and gulped when she saw a lot of people. She decided to hide at the Corner of the Contest Hall behind a pillar, and peeked out. Much to her delight, she saw the same girl she had met earlier, and she was giving a performance.

"Milotic, use Dragon Breath to destroy the Twister, and follow it up with Dragon Pulse and Water Pulse." The Dragon Breath effectively destroyed the Twister, and exploded in small sparkles, but Pakura wasn't done. Standing there was Gardevoir jugging Moonblast, Focus Blast, Energy Ball, Shadow Ball, and adding a Water Pulse and a Dragon Pulse from Milotic with her Psychic.

"Throw them all up, and Milotic, surround them with Aqua Tail." The Aqua Tail made the moves all sparkle in the light, and both of them fired Hidden Power simultaneously at the moves that Gardevoir threw up. It clashed, and exploded into a brilliant fireworks, and the explosion result even left colourful sparkly droplets that rained down on everyone.

Everyone was mesmerized by the Appeal, as it was clear Pakura had been practicing hard for it, considering the amount of moves use just to pull this off. Pakura gave a small bow with her Pokémon, signalling she was done with her Appeal.

The Eevee's eyes were sparkling, dazzled at Pakura's performance. It definitely dreamt to be part of a performance like that, and knew Pakura could help grant her wish.

"Mama is amazing!" Manaphy had let himself out of the Pokéball to see her. He was now on Ash's lap, and was tall enough to peek out, but also short enough to duck and hide from May and Dawn if needed.

"Now Manaphy, make sure May and Dawn doesn't see you, ok?" Phillip said. "We don't want any...incident happening."

"Ok, Phillip." Manaphy replied.

Pakura was given a standing ovation for the Appeal, as Jude said, "Wow, that was an extremely magnificent performance. What do you two have to say?" He turned to Fantina and Wallace.

"Oh, my, my, my, the best Appeal I have ever seen!" Fantina commented in her French accent. "The ability to keep the audience entertained, and the mystery of what Gardevoir was about to do next...it keeps us suspended, and it was all worth it!"

"The elegance of Milotic and gracefulness of the Gardevoir makes a great match up. She was able to utilize a lot of her Pokémon's moves to keep her Appeal beautiful and original. I love it." Wallace said.

"And there you have it, folks. They have spoken, and they loved the Appeal as much as you do. Let's give another round of applause to Pakura and her team! Now, let's have our first contestant out on stage to show off his Appeal."

Ash yawned at most of the Appeals, which mirrored what Pakura was feeling at the moment. Those appeals are beautiful, yes, but they lacked originality, since he knew she had seen so many of those on TV before. Can't those people think up of their own ideas and not get some rip-off from a previous Contest?

Ash knew that while Paku valued the beauty of an appeal, she valued the originality even more. She believed that if one wants to earn the title of Top Coordinator, they have to have their own style, and give different ones for each Contest so that it'll be unpredictable, and make the audience want more.

While it's nothing wrong to be inspired by another Appeal seen before in Contests or Grand Festivals, she thought it's stealing credit if they used Appeals that are highly similar to the ones she seen before. That is part of the reason why she won six Grand Festivals straight in a row, because she never used the same combinations twice.

"When is the sabotage happening?" Rosaline whispered.

"I think it'll be soon." Phillip replied. He had disabled the cameras for the locker room, so they won't link Pakura to the sabotage, and also, he saved the footage of May and Dawn stealing the dress for Pakura, as she mentioned she wanted it to be used against them later.

They perked up when May came on stage, and sent out her Venusaur and Wartortle. Manaphy ducked down, making sure May couldn't see her.

Unfortunately, May had decided to twirl first to show off her beautiful dress. When May heard the screams of the crowd, May knew it was because the smoke from the fire was devouring her dress, and she is not worried as Pakura had stated it would reveal another dress. Besides, the fire wasn't burning her. The smoke thickened, covering May, and when the smoke cleared, there stood May in only her underwear, and everyone could see that she isn't wearing a bra, which meant her breasts were exposed, as she was striking a pose.

Some of the audience, especially the women started screaming, others covered their eyes, those who were consuming things spat out whatever they were eating or drinking and some men looked interested at May's assets, although it wasn't much to look at. Others were murmuring something about naked princesses, and staring at Pakura, who glared, as she was not about to let them see what's underneath her clothes.

Ash didn't seem fazed and continued filming the video of the humiliation and taking pictures for the newspaper to give to Makoto. Maybe he can send the video to the news channel to discuss it as well. Rosaline and Phillip covered their eyes, not wishing to see the scene.

Jude looked very pale when he saw May's body, the microphone trembling in his hand. That was something he did not want to see.

Fantina was covering Wallace's eyes, as she shouted at May. Pakura meanwhile, was pretending to sigh, and placed her forehead on the table.

"What's going on?" Manaphy asked, as he was hiding.

"I'll tell you later." Ash's Espeon whimpered, as he ducked down the moment May's dress burnt off.

May was puzzle at their reaction, so she looked down, and screamed, as she realized she was wearing nothing but her underwear. She quickly covered herself up, returned her Pokémon, and rushed back to the locker room to dress back in her usual clothes.

"Alright.....er.....disaster aside, let's ask the judges if they want to give her another chance!" Jude said, as he turned to the three of them.

"What do we do?" Wallace asked. "Should we give her another chance to perform?"

"Yes, but make sure she's not naked!" Fantina replied. "Put her at the very last on the list." She told Pakura.

"Fine." Pakura mumbled, pencilling in May's name at the last on the list, which did not go unnoticed by Ash. He smirked. It looks like he still has a chance to ruin May's Appeal.

Some of the audience clapped at their decision as May is the Princess of Hoenn, and they were looking forward to see what she has in store for them. Others, however, were disturbed at the scene she had displayed earlier.

"Alright, without further ado, let's give it up for our favourite music Coordinator, Nando!" Jude announced, as they had to continue the show. Ash watched as Nando came out on stage, ready to perform. He allowed Manaphy to peek out to watch again, seeing as May was out of sight.

Nando sent out Altaria and Lopunny, and he decided for Altaria to use Aerial Ace, and while doing that move, he got Altaria to use Sing, and followed by Perish Song, so that the colourful musical notes glowed gold, and the execution of the move looked more elegant with Aerial Ace.

"Altaria, use Sunny Day. Lopunny, use Thunder Wave." The Thunder Wave gave the musical notes and electrifying appearance and the Sunny Day made the musical notes even more beautiful.

'No surprise there.' Ash thought, watching the colourful music notes float in a pretty glow before it was destroyed by Lopunny's Thunderbolt, sending rainbow sparkles all over the stage.

"At least it's still better than most of the Appeals we saw." Rosaline commented to Phillip, who nodded in agreement.

"And thank you, Nando, for the spectacular performance. Next up, we have one of Johto's Top Coordinator, Marina!"

A pretty blue-haired girl that Ash remembered seeing in magazines and the video about Double Performances in a website walked out onto the stage, to cheers of some of the fans, and Ash noted they were wearing T-shirts with her on it, giving Ash the impression she was some sort of idol.

Marina sent out her Jigglypuff and Misdreavus, and they performed a little synchronised dance, before she told Misdreavus to use Shadow Ball and Jigglypuff to use Shock Wave, which fused together to make the Shadow Ball look like a meteorite. She then had Jigglypuff to throw Misdreavus in the air with Psychic and had the Misdreavus use Ominous Wind to add trails of purple in the path of the meteorite. To finish off, she had Jigglypuff use Flamethrower on the meteorite, and both exploded into colourful sparkles which dazzled the audience.

Everyone seemed impressed, including Fantina and Wallace, but Pakura stayed as impassive as ever, her expression unreadable. When asked for her comment, she did not say anything.

Manaphy's eyes were sparkling at the performances. "Papa, do you think Mama would allow me to perform with her?"

Ash gave a small smile. Who wouldn't smile, with such a cute child-like charm Manaphy possesses (though he was an able battler)? "Of course, Manaphy."

Ursula was next, and Ash remembered she made a unique Appeal during the Sinnoh Grand Festival, using evolution of her two Eevee while using Hidden Power to make a very unique Appeal. He wondered what she had in store this time, as she sent out her Vaporeon and Jigglypuff, and started her Appeal.

Meanwhile, May was sobbing at the humiliation that she got in a clothing closet located somewhere outside the locker room that is a great place for privacy since no one ever seemed to need extra clothing, like she and Dawn did, but they chose to take Pakura's because her ones are much more beautiful than the ones currently in the closet.

She was sure that the dress changing would win her more fans, but her chances are now ruined thanks to the dress somehow burning off exposing her body to the entire Contest Hall, including the judges, and everyone is probably laughing at her misfortune. She saw all the judges disgusted expressions (Actually, Pakura's one was unknown as she placed her head on the table)

The question is, would she get a chance to perform her Appeal again?

A while later, the door opened, and one of the judges, Pakura was looking down at her.

"W-What?" May asked, somewhat rudely.

Pakura had to stop herself from smirking at May's state.

"We decided that you'll be performing last." Pakura said curtly.

May's eyes shone. "Really? T-Thank you."

Pakura left

Halfway through an Appeal, an attendant, who tends to the Coordinators before their performance, rushed to the judges table and asked if one of the Co-ordinators could be moved to the last to give him time to find his Pokémon, which was missing, and let May take his place, as the other Coordinators needed more mental time to prepare themselves, and she had volunteered to go next.

"Is May ready?" Wallace had asked.

The attendant nodded. "She is. Don't worry, she's wearing clothes." The attendant meant it as a joke, but none of them laughed.

Fantina said curtly, "Very well. Then she can do her Appeal after this."

Pakura, somewhat irritated, started making changes to the list again.

'What's going on, Paku?' Ash was using telepathy to communicate with her. It was apparent he had seen the scene.

'Apparently, one of the Co-ordinators are moved to last because his Pokémon went missing and he wanted to find him, and May volunteered to take his place. She's next.' Pakura replied in her mind, as she absent-mindedly petted Manaphy, who was sitting on her lap, and peeking out from the judges table to watch the performances, in case May or the camera spots him, since the camera is trained on Pakura quite often. But he didn't mind, as long as he gets to be with his Mama.

'Very good.' Ash replied,

Rosaline turned to Phillip, holding the Hanged Man card. "You know, when it comes to love for this, the theme can be one of letting go. "Letting go" of an unattainable lover, for example, will bring about the possibility that someone that one can be with will "be there" for them. One-sided love always hurts, don't you think?"

Phillip nodded, not noticing Ash was taking her mutterings to consideration, and taking note if it in case it might help him in his Dragon Duo case, just as Jude announced that May was now to come up on stage to show off her Appeal, although she was wearing one of the old pink and white dresses from the closet, which looked relatively ugly, looking like Cinderella's dress after it has been ruined by her stepsisters. Thankfully, the audience was tactful enough not to say anything (most PAL locals are generally tactful and polite)

"Venusaur, Wartortle, take the stage!" May's Pokéballs opened with bubbles and flower petals to reveal Wartortle and Venusaur respectively.

"Wartortle, use Bubble! And Venusaur, use Petal Dance!" This caused a pretty effect where the petals were swirling around the bubbles, and the bubbles were sparkling in the lights, making the petal dance shine as well. Ash sat up straight, watching for a time to sabotage her performance.

"Wartortle, use Ice Beam!" The Ice Beam froze the combination, and May planned to use Razor Leaf to break it so that it would explode into beautiful pink and blue sparkles, which was expected as she had practiced it.

"Now, use Razor Leaf!" May commanded.

'Now!' Ash used his telekinesis to redirect the Razor Leaf, and May was puzzled when Razor Leaf missed its target, and was sent sailing towards the stage lights above, severing the wiring, and letting several of the lights fall. Unfortunately, it was directed somewhere near the judges table, and only Pakura was quick enough to grab Manaphy, and jump away from her seat. Ash, thinking quickly, used his own telekinesis once more so that the stage lights won't hit Wallace and Fantina, and gently laid the stage lights on the ground.

'You got to be kidding me.' Pakura groaned, as the Contest Hall was now in partial darkness. 'Ash just put my position in jeopardy with that stunt. If word gets out what actually happened, I'd be fired.' She wondered why she was willing to risk her position for Ash's revenge.

Jude called for a break so that Phillip and some other crew members could go repair the lighting set again.

The audience left the Contest Hall to get some dinner, while Phillip went high up the ladder to start working on the stage lights.

Wallace and Fantina are talking to some other regional guests, including Jude and Rosaline, and it was apparent the regional guests had nothing better to do, since they are here now, as usually they aren't interested in Contests. Wallace was telling them about the amazing Appeal Pakura put up, and Fantina was agreeing with Wallace, adding her comments about being one of the most beautiful Appeals she had ever seen, and even exceeded the Appeals seen in Grand Festivals.

Meanwhile, Ash left the Contest Hall to get some dinner from the Tower.

"Rosaline, Jude, can either of you pass me the stage lights?" Phillip called from high above the ladder, interrupting his conversation with the other regional guests.

"Sure." Jude shrugged, and with his strength, lifted the light in one hand with ease, and threw it towards Phillip like a baseball, to the shock and awe of the other regional guests. The gaped when Phillip also caught the spotlight in one hand, and nodded his thanks, before working on fixing the spotlight, and attaching it back to the ceiling.

"How did you guys pull that off?" Flint asked, surprise on his features. "It's so heavy!"

"Oh, we do training for ourselves besides Pokémon training, you know." Jude said. "PAL Trainers are expected to be able to protect their Pokémon as well in our own way."

"So, what training do you do to protect your own Pokémon?" Steven asked.

"Oh, we do all sorts of training whenever we are free, you know, such as via this game stimulus Phillip..." Rosaline started, but she was cut off with a voice saying, "You guys are telling them too much."

Jude and Rosaline jumped, and turned to see their Leader with an unreadable expression.

"Sorry, Pakura." They said in unison. The other regional guests looked at them curiously. What was it that they wanted to say before being interrupted? And what kind of training do they actually do when they are free, and what does it have to do with the person now fixing their stage lights?

"Well, anyway....Steven, look out!" Out of the corner of Jude's eye, Phillip lost his balance and fell, along with the ladder, and the ladder was heading Steven's way. Before anybody could react, a trail of ribbon was wrapped around his waist, and he was pulled to safety, just as Jude caught Phillip, and the ladder fell to the ground.

Steven sighed in relief when he was safe, and turned to look at his saviour, only to blush when he saw the beautiful Leader's face just right next to him. Eevee's eyes were awed at Pakura's quick reaction to situations. Her "child" Manaphy was clapping in joy at her quick thinking.

"You ok, Phillip?" Jude asked, as he placed Phillip back to the ground.

Phillip nodded, through it was clear he was pretty shaken about the fact that he fell off a high ladder.

"..." Pakura stayed quiet, giving Phillip an appraising look, before turning to some other crew members who were resting, and said, "You guys, take over for Phillip. Now." The crew members practically fell over themselves to complete the task she had given them (Well, who wouldn't considering it was a request from the PAL's Princess, and it didn't hurt that she had extreme beauty). Pakura also threw two things at Phillip, which turned out to be a mini candy bar and a can of soda, as sugar does help someone relieve their shock...or so she heard.

"Thanks, Princess." Phillip smiled in relief. Pakura made a gesture that is something between a nod and a shrug.

Phillip joined the talking group, munching on the candy bar, where the subject then changed to the upcoming fashion show where Valerie and Elesa were scheduled to model the latest female PAL clothing, while Jude was to be the host and commentator. Jude was the one who had selected those two because he had known them while working for the modelling industry years ago.

Jude had moved to PAL because he wanted to improve on his career, and after being accepted into the PAL Elite by the Dragon Duo, he stayed there permanently. In the process, he became a world-famous supermodel, a famed actor, internet idol, and even became a variety show host, which makes him the most popular socialite in the entertainment industry.

"So, how are they going to advertise the male clothing?" Volkner had asked. It was all female clothing because they had designed more female clothes than male ones.

Jude shrugged. "They are going to advertise it through magazine, which means I'll have to go for a photo-shoot. You guys should come for the fashion show. It's an hour after the Contest in two days' time."

The guests nodded, stating that they would check out the show.

Speaking of checking out, Pakura had sneaked out of the Contest Hall to check on Ash.

THUD!

Ash sat up, panting as Pakura wasn't sleeping on his chest worried him as Ash frowned, and opened the door, only to see three girls sprawled on the floor along the corridors. The bewilderment was evident on Ash's face as he recognised those girls as the traitors. Misty, May, Iris, and Dawn... What are they doing here? Well, no matter. He needed to knock them out

"Leafeon come on out." Ash said as Leafeon came out with a small yawn

"Leafeon, Sleep Powder!" Leafeon obliged, and let sleeping powder above the girls and blue, shining powder is released from them, instantly putting the girls to sleep.

A Croagunk was standing over them, remarking, "You know, if it wasn't for the fact that I had to help Ash make sure Brock never gets a girlfriend, I would've gone to him a long time ago."

Ash recognized this to be Brock's Croagunk, and judging by his aura flow, Ash knew he wasn't lying. He smirked, as he got an idea.

"So, Croagunk." Croagunk turned to him, and his eyes lit up in recognition. "How about helping us keep an eye on these traitors and keeping us informed?"

Croagunk thought for a split second, before nodding. "Definitely, Ash."

"Go back to Brock for now, alright?" Ash said. "Watch them for me."

Croagunk nodded again, as Ash decided to teleport the girls and Croagunk back to their rooms for now. A blue glow surrounded all five, before disappearing.

A male voice cried out from the living room, and Ash turned to the source of the noise. Ash wondered who it could be, since it didn't sound like Jude or Phillip.

He walked to the living room, when he saw a man was being strung up by his ankles, having stepped into the trap that one of his Elites had apparently strung up. Pakura was sitting at the couch giving the man a patronising look. Judging by the fact that the man had his eyes closed, it's most likely Pakura knocked him out while he was still stuck in the trap.

"What are you doing up again?" Ash was puzzled. Why does she keep staying up late?

"Right back at you." Pakura retorted.

"I had another weird dream via one of my abilities again." Ash answered.

"Well, never mind that now." She replied, pointing to the man strung up. "This person snuck into our quarters via the elevator, and when he saw me, tried to get close to me, only to be strung up by his ankles by the trap I set. I didn't take those girls seriously when I overheard them in the toilet about their plan to take back Manaphy because of their stupidity, so I didn't say anything to the other Elites, and only set this one trap, but it looked like they had meant business, and actually came prepared."

Ash's face darkened. "You mean the traitors actually tried to sneak in our quarters?" Ash hissed, angry. "And Misty used her Gym Leader status to enter and brought a guy in to molest you?"

"I don't see what the big deal is." Pakura waved dismissively at her boyfriend not getting the point.

"Of course it's a big deal! It means they are starting to take action!" Ash ran a hand over his hair in frustration. They are a bigger nuisance than he thought. Well, no matter. He'll just crush them in the tournament. "And why was a man in her for you?"

Pakura shot him a sarcastic look, and Ash remembered.

"Oh yeah...you're considered the hottest and most beautiful girl in the region." Ash mumbled.

"And thus I attract a lot of guys, but I am already taken" Pakura concluded with a smirk and a wink making Ash blushed deep red as she giggled and .

"Even the other regional male Gym Leaders, Elite Fours and Champions can't take their eyes off you." Ash said. "Ok, maybe except Lance, since you insulted and punch him yesterday"

"What should we do to him?" Pakura asked.

Ash examined the man, and vaguely recognize him as a rookie trainer from one of the other regions.

"It's not as if he'll make it to the Top 128 anyway, so bring him down and tie him up with another rope. Place him at the stairwell where someone can see him, and leave a note to whoever finds him to arrest him. I want him to suffer from being tied all night first." He doesn't tolerate men who only thought of girls as a sex object like this man, especially when the girl in question is his girlfriend, who seemed to be a pervert magnet.

Pakura brought the man down, and tied him up with another rope, before dragging him none too gently towards the stairwell.

"Ash, should I leave him outside the stairwell or drag him down one flight?" Pakura asked.

Ash shrugged. "See as you deem fit."

"Alright." She held the man by the ropes at the edge of the stairs, and let go. Ash could hear him thumping down the stairs.

"Typical." Ash muttered, as Pakura returned, dusting her hands as he smirked as he did something

SLAP

"eeep ASH!!!!" Pakura said blushing as Ash had just spanked her as if nothing

"Come on let go to bed." Ash said as Pakura lifted her arms as he lifted her up letting her snuggle into his arms as he gave a smile as she drifted off into sleep as he carried her

Next day

"Well, Paku, since Jude is resting, I am counting on you to pull this one...." Ash said

That was what Ash had said, and that was how Pakura found herself carrying a box that Ash and Phillip had prepared. She Smirked, as she waited in the shadows for Misty to show up.

when she found Misty heading towards the building where her performance is going to be held. She ran towards her, and purposefully bumped into her.

"Hey, watch it!" Misty cried, glaring at her.

Pakura got up and apologized. "Sorry. I just need to deliver this box to Jude, since he got sick. But after that, I had to go for a dinner appointment with the Chairman of the Hunter's Association, and I'm already late for the appointment."

Misty was intrigued. "If you like, I can pass it to Jude. I always help a fellow Water Master."

Pakura nodded. "Thanks." and passed the box to Misty, casting her Mind Control ability to swallow whatever got into her mouth.

Misty smiled, and carried the box back to her dressing room. She decided to open the box, and found a beautiful cake full of icing and chocolate rice.

'Is Pakura sure that Jude can finish that all by himself?' Misty thought 'Judging by the size of this cake, I don't think he can even finish half of it....maybe I should try a slice. He wouldn't notice and I'm hungry anyway.' With that, she took the knife provided and cut the cake.

However, as soon as she did, the balloon containing sedative drugs exploded, showering her face. As soon as the substance touched her tongue and she swallowed it thanks to Pakura's Mind Control, she passed out.

"Mission accomplished. Phillip, have you deactivated the cameras in Misty's dressing room?" Ash asked

"Yup. It's safe to go in." Phillip replied, just as Ash teleported to her side.

"Come on, let's do this, Paku." Ash announced. Pakura and Sylveon looked at each other before Pakura sighed and complied as she carried Misty's body back to the dressing room, and wiped her face clean, as Ash swapped her Pokéballs, making use of aura to find out which Pokéballs was in the Pokéballs.

"I have a bad feeling about this, Ash." Pakura muttered, as she was ready to inject the antidote so Misty could wake up and make her preperations. "She would blame me as soon as she wakes up."

"You'll be fine, Paku. After all, Phillip can modify the security footage to suit our needs. If rhat doesn't work Shadow will do his way." Ash reassured her.

'Although I don't really know why she puts a camera in her dressing room. Did she think anyone would want to see her flat chest?' Pakura rolled her eyes at the thought. But then again, some boys may like flat-chested girls, who knows?

"You're right." Pakura conceded, as she watched Ash erase part of her memories. "You do have a point."

"I'll admit though, some of my former friends have grown to be fine looking people, though I hear that girl Dawn went through plastic surgery. They are apparently living the good life, but not for long." Ash said darkly as he left when Pakura grabbed the cure

As soon as she injected the antidote, Misty's eyes opened, and when she saw Pakura, she snarled.

"You!" She shouted. "What did you do to me?"

"I didn't do anything." Pakura replied calmly and truthfully. 'Not directly, at least.'

"I am sure you did! You must have knocked me out so you can get some guy to rape me, right?" Misty pointed an accusing finger at her.

"Nah, who would want to do that?" Pakura replied sarcastically. "You look like you can't even fit into a bra. I suggest you should use Band-Aids instead."

Misty tried to hit her with her mallet, but Pakura blocked it with a finger, and kicked the hammer away. In the process, she kicked her hand as well, causing her a lot of pain. Funnily enough, Pakura's finger was fine.

"While I still say you should do us all a favour and go curl up someplace and die, I'm here to bring a message." Pakura tapped her fingers against the wall, getting bored with Misty.

"What is it?" Misty spat out, glaring at Pakura. She dare not attack as she clearly saw that Pakura can fight back.

"You better hurry up in fifteen minutes, or we're cancelling your performance." Pakura yawned. That was when Misty just dropped it like a hot potato, and screamed when she realized Pakura was right after checking the clock in her dressing room.

"Oh no, where's my costume?" Misty screamed, as Pakura exited the dressing room.

Ash and Pakura looked at each other like they couldn't believe it when they heard Misty screaming some more about how she did not have time to do her make-up and hair. Who is that person, and why do they have to be incarcerated with people like her on a daily basis?

Meanwhile, back in the penthouse, Jude opened his eyes. Everything seemed fuzzy and blurry. He groaned as the lights in his room seemed too bright.

"You're awake." said a voice. Jude turned to see Elesa on his bed.

"What time is it now?" Jude asked.

Elesa checked the clock. "It's almost 7pm now."

"Aren't you going to have dinner?" Jude asked.

"I'm taking care of you. I can't let you out of my sight, can I?" Elesa shrugged.

Jude widened his eyes slightly. "I'm sorry. You can go back now."

"It's no problem, Jude. Everyone gets sick once in a while. I won't go back until you are well. I think Phillip said that there are some allergy pills in here." Elesa rummaged through the first-aid kit provided, and found the bottle she was looking for. She handed him the pills and a glass of water. She raised her brow when she noticed her boyfriend putting away the medicine and glass of water on the bedside table.

"Aren't you going to eat that?" Elesa asked.

"No point. I mean, I ate those pills once before. I choked and it was pretty awful." Jude wrinkled his nose at the flashback.

"That's why it's called medicine," Elesa retorted, and reached for the glass of water and pill.

'Is she going to force it in my mouth or what?' Jude thought, as he watched Elesa pop the pills into her mouth and take a mouthful of water from the glass. To his surprise, Elesa pressed her mouth against his, mouth-feeding him with the medicine. He had no choice but to take the medicine.

'I am surprised she managed to outwit me.' Jude thought, perplexed by the turn of events. After that, it turned into a kiss that is controlled but passionate. After a few minutes, Elesa broke away. "Since when does medicine taste awful?" Elesa teased.

"You shouldn't take sickness so lightly Elesa, it can be contagious." Jude warned her.

Elesa shrugged. "If it's from you, then I don't mind. Then you'll take care of me."

'You got to be kidding, right?' Jude thought. But he was interrupted when there was a knock on the door. Elesa went to answer, and it was revealed to be Phillip, who was carrying a bowl of soup. Phillip silently set the tray on Jude's lap, and handed him a spoon.

"It's French Onion." Phillip commented. Jude nodded, before starting on his soup.

"So, where are the others?" Jude asked.

Phillip shot an uneasy look towards Elesa, but answered the question. "Pakura and Ash are currently carrying out the plan we made.

"Yeah, I could tell. I'm taking a break since I did the first part of my role. I'm waiting for the signal to start the second." Phillip nodded.

Jude whistled. "Not bad." He said, finishing his soup.

"Can I get you anything else? I can get one of the attendants to cook something more substantial if you're hungry." Phillip offered. There's any number in the Tower. They cook for them, wait on them, check that everything is running smoothly, and clean up their rooms. Taking care of them is their job.

"I'm not feeling hungry tonight." Jude shook his head. "I should sleep some more, so I have the energy to battle tomorrow."

"Suit yourself." Phillip shrugged, as his CommuniDex beeped. "Well, I'm going to station myself for the second part. See you." With that, he left the room.

"What was that all about? What plan?" Elesa asked.

Jude grimaced. "Let's just say Champion Ash is out for revenge, and this is only part of it. I'll show you." He walked up to the TV, and turned on to the live program where Misty was about to start her performance at the swimming pool. She was wearing a beautiful dark blue mermaid costume dress that can be used for swimming.

"Slowbro, let's use Sunny Day!" Misty called out. "Lapras, use Blizzard, and Starmie, use Thunderbolt!" The three Pokémon (which belonged to Jude) came out of the water and performed the respective moves, causing beautiful rainbow droplets that exploded and rained down towards the three Pokémon and Misty.

'They must have taken some of my Pokémon.' Jude thought, as he recognized them to be his. 'Oh well, I did agree to let them use mine.'

Misty then jumped into the water with Lanturn and Floatzel in a synchronized way and asked the latter to use Sonic Boom while underwater upwards, causing silver discs to fly out. She then asked Lapras to use Ice Beam to freeze them and Slowbro to use Shadow Ball, which exploded in sparkles as she swam in sync with Lanturn at the surface.

Everyone seemed impressed by her water performance, but as Misty dived into the water and asked Starmie to use Thunder on the Hail she had Lapras use, Starmie instead used Thunder on the water. The other Water Pokémon jumped out as Misty got electrocuted. Meanwhile, the others also started chaos by firing random moves that started to destroy the stage and the seats the audience were sitting on. Starmie used Psychic to remove a beam from the ceiling and let it free fall.

"Stop, stop, STOP!" Misty screamed, running around and chasing the Pokémon. "Listen to me, you useless little...." She let out some vulgarities under her breath when Lapras fired a Blizzard at her. Unfortunately, Ash had recorded everything she had said, as in the chaos, no one heard it.

Pakura gasped as one of the air-con was about to fall on her, but someone tackled her to the ground, and destroyed the air-con with his psychic powers.

"You alright, Paku?" Ash asked, practically leaning on her. Her fellow judge, Aria was looking at them with concern written on her face.

"Yeah, thanks." Pakura replied as Ash helped her up, just as Ash's Lucario decided to take matters in its own hands and returned all the Water Pokémon and switching the Pokéballs back with Misty's. Those who hadn't escaped sighed in relief that they were still alive. Most glared at Misty as she couldn't control her Pokémon and destroyed a performance hall.

Meanwhile, Misty was yelling at her poor Pokémon who did not even know what was going on. Some of them were on the verge of tears as Misty shouted nasty words to them.

Just then, the intercom came on, and someone (most likely Phillip with his voice changer) said, "The performance tonight would also give shocking news. I interrupt the show to announce to everyone that Leader Misty is not who she seems. A sweet and optimistic girl with a reputation of being a charming Water Master....or is she?"

Phillip played a recording of Max saying, "If only you knew how mean Misty really is...you'd know that May wasn't allowed to have shoulder-length hair. Two years ago she told my sister that shoulder-length hair was her thing and she wasn't allowed to have it, so my sister May grew them out. Though she looks pretty, May hated it, you know. But she put up with it because Misty is the leader of our clique or some sort."

"How could you be so mean? To inflict your stupid opinions on your own friends!" One woman shouted.

"Yeah, we don't respect people who have problems with other's personality." Another kid, younger than Misty, sneered.

"Shut up!" Misty roared. "What do you know? I look the best with shoulder length hair, so it should be my thing alone."

However, the recording was still playing. "And you know she cheats on Brock? She claimed to be saving herself for him, but she already lost her virginity a long time ago to some stranger she met at a club. She has quite a reputation in Kanto for that. And yeah, every Thursday he thinks she's training to be a better Water Master in the forest but really she's hooking up with a student that was going to be a screenplay writer in Hollywood or something in the Plaza Hotel. I overheard her on the phone, but I never told anybody that."

"Misty, how could you!" Brock shouted. Apparently, her friends came to watch the show.

"Well, you're bad in bed anyway!" Misty sneered. "You don't even know a woman's needs, and you claim to be a ladies' man!"

Shouts and comments of "Whore", "Slut" and "harlot" came pouring in. Not even her friends came to help her, and Misty was forced to leave the hall by herself, but not before she was being pelted with the refreshments provided for the event. Her Pokémon did not follow as they were still hurt by her words.

"Well that over," Ash said as he grabbed Pakura bridal style and teleported away

______________________________________________________

Cynthia watched Misty's performance live via the television with her fellow Elites, and gasped when the Pokémon started going on a rampage. There was a camera cut to where the beam was about to fall on Pakura, but Ash had saved her...which ended up getting them in a somewhat compromising position.

"Boy, she's such a whore." Aaron sighed, listening to the broadcast. "I wouldn't cheat, but she sounded like she can't just close her legs!"

"Aaron!" Flint gave him a scandalized look, but Aaron shrugged.

"What? That's no way for a Gym Leader to behave." Aaron pointed out.

"Well, Aaron's right." Lucian closed his book. "This will definitely bring down her reputation. Looks like Kanto has a lot to answer for, like what were they thinking getting someone with no morals whatsoever and who can't behave properly outside of the Pokémon League as a Gym Leader?"

"Not to mention, her sisters are famous performers who do water ballet shows in their Gym which made the Cerulean Gym even more popular. But it looks like after this failed water performance and her scandals revealed, no one would want to visit their Gym, not even for the water ballet shows." Flint added.

Cynthia sat there, looking thoughtful as everyone pelted Misty with refreshments as she ran out of the performance hall. It was clear that Misty had been sabotaged, but who would have a motive to do so? Misty didn't really have any enemies out for her blood. In fact, she lived the good life, with fun friends, a boyfriend who loved her, and a fairly large fanbase due to the fact that she had joined her sisters for water performances and it didn't hurt that she was quite pretty with her hair grown out to her shoulders. And just like that, she lost everything, and to make things worse, it was broadcasted in Interregional Television Network.

Cynthia decided to take a walk to clear things in her head. As she took a walk around Luonto City, she wondered, 'Should I help her? After all, she didn't choose for this to happen to her. Somebody else must be behind this.' Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw a familiar figure with a Espeon and Lucario.

"Ash!" She called out. Ash looked up to see Cynthia smiling and waving at him.

"Oh, hey Cynthia." Ash said coldly. In reality, he was a very slightly unenthused about seeing her as he was about to go and train his Pokémon for tomorrow's match.

"What a nice coincidence. What are you doing here?" Cynthia asked, as she went up to him.

"I was about to go train my Pokémon." Ash replied. Actually, he borrowed Pakura's portable television to be able to watch the broadcast in private, but Cynthia didn't need to know that.

"Cool." Cynthia nodded. "So, wanna hang out and talk about the events over your disappearance?"

"No, not really." Ash shook his head as he always didn't want anyone knowing his secrets.

"Oh..." Cynthia looked disappointed. "I hadn't. Have you seen Misty's live performance?"

"I did." Ash replied. "Why?"

"Don't you think it was cruel of someone to do this to her?" Cynthia asked, not noticing the dark flash in Ash's eyes. "Why don't we find out who is behind this? Plus, we could hang out while we figure this out, and help Misty repair her reputation. It'll be fun." Cynthia gave him a beatific smile, and Ash sighed at her as he took his arm

'Of course she would side Misty over this. After all she's friends with her and I am doing this for revenge for the Pain they caused me 11 fucking years ago.' Ash thought. 'Oh well, I can't blame her though.' However, he said to Cynthia, "It's not going to be that fun when we start going at each other for our differing views. After all, you and I have different opinions on the broadcast."

"Whatever it is, both of us are Champions, we have the authority. Together, we can bring whoever is behind this to justice, so I'll try not to go at you. And do this for me, please?" Cynthia smiled. "Anyway, I was hoping maybe we could..."

Just then, a beep was heard from Ash's pocket.

Ash, knowing what that meant, said, "Excuse me for a moment." With that, he started to leave, but Cynthia wasn't having any of it.

"Wait, Ash!" Cynthia followed him. "We're friends, you can say it to me, right?"

"We aren't friends Cynthia." Ash said coldly as Cynthia winced at his tone as Lucario spoke to him

"Just show it to her. That way, she can't blame you if she didn't like what she saw...or heard." Lucario suggested.

Ash shrugged, and let Cynthia stand next to him as he turned in to the announcer stating that she is about to show the match-ups for tomorrow.

"Oh, you're just going to take a look at this?" Cynthia asked, and Ash nodded.

Cynthia smiled. "There is nothing to be ashamed of if your opponent is an ordinary trainer. Oh, I'm up against Phoebe."

Ash saw enough to see that he was going to battle Wallace and Pakura was going to fight Drasna, when without warning, Max was suddenly on television.

'He did it.' Ash thought. 'Phillip broke in.'

"And then, this one time, Cilan actually gave a girl roofies at a party and had sex with her while she was unconscious, then forced her to have an abortion when she discovered she was pregnant from it." Max shrugged. "He was dating Iris at that time, so I assume that is cheating."

Cynthia gasped, as secret after secret was exposed. It turned out Iris drunkenly crashed May's mother's car, Brock was the one who spread the rumor about Misty having an eating disorder, Iris hacked Cilan's bank account and stole three thousand Pokédollars to pay for her plastic surgery and makeover, Max had kissed Misty behind Tracey's back.

Meanwhile Ash watched in glee, though his expression showed nothing, as his sister drummed it into him that people can exploit them if they know how he was feeling at the moment, and advised him to only show the emotions he wanted to show, and not to wear his heart on his sleeve all the time

"I got to help them..." Cynthia whispered.

"No use, Cynthia." Ash said flatly. "It's like the evidence that they lack to excuse me for hurting Tobias."

"But the difference is, their was many evidence about you attacking Tobias. They didn't do any of those things. They're close friends with each other and with their Pokémon. I can feel it." Cynthia cried and realize as she saw the dark eyes of Ash

'And I'm not close friends with my Pokémon?' Ash thought. 'Why would I turn on my own friends? What motive do I have?'

"I think you said enough, Cynthia." A cold voice said.

Cynthia whipped her head to see Pakura standing between her and Ash.

"If you are still blind to the truth, then Champion Ash and I have nothing more to say to you." Pakura went on. "Isn't that right, Ash?"

Ash said nothing, but took a few steps back. Cynthia's heart broke at every step back Ash took.

A/N I am in university so it may take longer to update..this first three chapter took me very long and most of the night