"Dedenne!" The blonde girl squealed, grabbing the little mouse from Max's hands and squishing her cheeks against it. Dedenne reciprocates it, squishing back and releasing harmless sparks. 

"There you are!" A male's voice sounded from behind the girl, and a boy around Ash's age appeared. He had round glasses, a blue jumpsuit with yellow stripes, and blonde hair the same shade of the little girl. 

They must be related.

"Clemont, look! Dedenne's back, this boy found it!" The girl shouted, holding up the Pokemon to the boy, while also pointing at Max. Clemont smiled, then looked at the younger boy.

"Is that so? Well, thanks for your help! It was tiring running around the festival..." Clemont sighed, then looked at the girl. "Now Bonnie, remember what to say if someone helped you?"

The girl's pale blue eyes lit up. "Ah, right! Thank you very much, uh..." She trailed off, remembering she didn't know Max's name.

Max just responded with his name, trying to keep his voice level. 

"Ah! Then thank you very much, Max! I'm Bonnie, this is my big brother Clemont!" Bonnie introduces, bowing slightly in thanks.

"W-well, it's not a problem. The little thing just bumped into me." Max replied.

Clemont inspected Max again. "Say...do you have anyone traveling with you to the fair? I don't think someone your age would be coming here alone." He knelt down to Max's eye level. Bonnie placed Dedenne in her bag, where the Pokemon's head popped out.

"Yeah, I'm here with someone. I can just call her on my phone, though." Max replied, holding up his phone. He looked at the blonde girl again. "By the way, your Pokemon's name is Dedenne, right?" Bonnie nodded. 

"Uh-huh! Isn't it the cutest?" She beamed brightly, holding up her bag to their eye level. 

The two kids chatted on, with Max overly interested in Dedenne, since it's not a Pokemon he has delved into researching about often. Clemont supervised the two, while Ash and Co. were trying to find Max. Along the way, Dawn introduced May to Iris and Cilan and vice versa, causing the three to become friends. Iris and Cilan were also formally introduced to Gou and Koharu and Iris decided then would be a good time to share embarrassing stories about Ash, with May and Dawn jumping in as well. 

Ash feels betrayed for the third time that day. 

The ever-growing group of companions soon ran into Conway. Or rather, Conway ran into them, deciding to give Dawn a scare.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" His voice immediately sent chills down Dawn's spine, with Piplup in her arms becoming wary of the sudden entity behind them. Dawn immediately spun around, and sighed.

"It's Conway..." She drawled out, taking quick steps to the front of the group. Ash took notice and saw Conway behind them. 

"It's Conway!" He exclaimed, with a different tone from Dawn's. He shook Conway's hand as a greetings. "Thanks for the numbers, by the way."

"Heh heh heh...all in a day's work." Conway smirked and adjusted his glasses, the light reflecting off of the lens overshadowing his eyes. "It wasn't easy, everyone was scattered across the world."

Ash stuck his tongue out sheepishly, while Gou remembered something. "By the way, Ash, you said you were gonna do something, and it wasn't a Pokemon tournament. What is it, then?"

Ash smiled at the boy and replied, "Food competition!" He pointed at a stage not too far from them. "It'll be held right there!"

The group silently stared at the energetic boy, all except for Conway, who asked again if he could sign up, to which Ash nodded. Iris then jumped on it too, just to see how much she can eat. 

Lana could hear them from a mile away and had already signed up. Mallow, who was with the blue-haired cryptid, looked on in concern. 

Meanwhile, three hooded figures stand off to the side of the stage, their own booth nearby. They look at each other and nod.

One of them makes a straight beeline towards Ash and Co., placing a smile on their lips. This catches the group's attention and they watch the hooded figure make their way towards them.

"Hello, hello! You're the one who requested the food competition, right?" The figure asks. Ash, with no sense of suspicion, nods.

"That's right!"

The face behind the hood smiles. "We're making a contest for the Pokemon, it's quite similar to yours. Would you like to try it out?" They ask, locking eyes with Pikachu, who narrows his own eyes in suspicion.

"Lemme think about it." Ash replied immediately. The figure seemed satisfied with the answer, and told him to let them know if he did. Dawn, May, Gou, and Cilan stared at the retreating figure before turning to Ash.

"Hey Ash, I don't think you should accept their request, seems kinda sketchy." Dawn whispered, with everyone near her nodding. Ash looked thoughtful, as if thinking whether he should take their advice or just try it out anyway.

In the end, he chose the latter, causing half the group to groan. 

"But other people are signing up like crazy!" Ash argued. 

"A horrible reason, really," Koharu muttered. 

"Sometimes a dish may look tempting, but they are usually the ones that give a terrible aftertaste. It's best not to go after them."

It took a while, but Ash eventually relented, instead deciding to walk around the festival before going to the stage. Everyone else stayed close to the boy, occasionally buying cotton candy and complaining about its stickiness once you bit into it.

Cilan hears some yelling close by, and went to inspect it. Iris notices and follows him.

A bit of wandering revealed a girl with ginger hair and a young boy with dark blue hair pulling the ear of a familiar man with spiky brown hair. An equally familiar blonde boy was standing off to the side, an arm extending from his backpack holding his younger sister, clearly flustered. A girl stood off to the side, blushing profusely. 

They're all yelling and causing a commotion.