278 Jhoto - Mt Silver

James, "Tomo, Jessie, you made it."

Jessie, "Of course, one of our kids is taking part."

Tomo, "Big brother was so cool. Look, look, Growlithe, Lapras won."

Growlithe, "Awooooo."

Jessie, "He is doing really well, isn't he?"

Tomo nodded, "Un! I want to become just as strong as him.... "

James, "What's wrong Tomo?"

Tomo, "Big brother looks tired though he is smiling."

Jessie and James shared a look at that, they both got the report from Meowth before about the group running into more problems and the temple incident. It was no wonder he was exhausted, the stress was no doubt eating away at his mind after everything that happened so far. Luckily for them however Giovanni has proposed a new project overseas that caught Gonzalez's attention so Ash would be safe. Though Unova might end up suffering instead, but neither James not Jessie could care less about them, Team Plasma has been a thorn on their side for a while.

Tomo, "Can we go meet big brother?"

Jessie, "Of course Tomo. I am sure he will be happy to see you again."

James, "Come on! We will meet him at the Pokemon center."

Tomo, "Un."

Ash was with Lapras patting his neck, "You did really well."

Lapras, "Rassss."

Meowth, "You have every right to be proud kiddo."

Lokoko, -Yes, we are all proud of you.-

Ash, "You should take it easy now. You really pushed through your weakness against fire and electric type and came up on top."

Lapras cooed back, -Meema, meema.-

Lucario, -His Aura training is going really well though a lot of the time his aura gets directed to the water and ice cores he has.-

Lapras, -Harrd, but I try. For Meema and family.-

Ash, "You should get stronger for yourself too, sweet one."

James knocked on the door, "May we come in?"

Jessie, "We are not interrupting, are we?"

Tomo, "Big brother, Growlithe and Tomo are here to meet you."

Ash, "Jessie, James and Tomo. It is good to see you there again. Come in! You are not interrupting anything."

Jessie, "The others?"

Ash smiled, "They are checking up on Green. She had an assignment from her tutor, you could say."

Jessie, "She is working really hard."

James, "How is your blog going?"

Ash, "I already figured out how I want it designed for convenience. Next I just need to launch it. I will do it after returning back to Kanto region."

Tomo, "I will use it when I become a trainer."

Max, "Ash, I brought food. Oh! Hello, I am Max, nice to meet you."

Tomo, "I am Tomo."

James, "It is wonderful to see you again Max."

Jessie, "You have become taller Max."

Ash, "Thank you for bringing the food. All of us appreciate it."

Max grinned and joined them as they shared their stories, after they had parted ways with each other. As it turns out, Tomo had his own fair share of running into rare Pokemon, at least Pokemon that were rare in the Kanto region. The young boy now had a Swablu and an albino Eevee who had become really close to the young lad. It looked like Tomo would be just like him and his friends when the time came for him to start his official journey. Jessie was telling them about her own misadventures or rather she was complaining about the arrogant workers she had to team up with. Ash could only sweat drop and cheer her on to do her best, no one could change or control how others act.

James, "My stories are a bit darker than Jessie and Tomo's."

Ash, "Misty mentioned about what was going on in the Orange Archipelago."

Jessie, "She did, huh? Of course she did, you two basically share the responsibility for the Archipelago."

Ash laughed, "Yeah, I owe her a lot for that."

James, "That is funny because Misty said she owes you a lot too."

Tomo giggled, "Best friend goals."

Max grinned, "Yeah."

Ash laughed as the rest of his friends joined them, Serena, Melody, Misty and Chloe were happy to see Jessie, James and Tomo again. Gou mention Brock was helping Green out with her assignment currently and he was probably going to have his lunch with her at a later time. Gary sat next Ash and pat Lapras in greeting while Meowth recounted what happened at the temple while Casey was applying for her Elite position. Gary had only deadpanned at the information and shook his head while checking Ash over to make sure he was alright.

Gary, "You look exhausted. Will you be alright?"

Ash, "I am fine. It's just I have been tense because of Team Rocket or to be more specific because of Gonzalez."

Jessie, "I have positive news for you on that."

Lucario, -What sort of news?-

James, "Gonzalez Rocketto has been seen heading to Unova region. There is a rumour of a group trying to create another Mewtwo."

Ash paled, "What? Another Mewtwo?"

Gary grabbed Ash's hand, "Calm down Ash, he is not here."

Ash took a deep breath, "I... Mewtwo shared his past with me. It was not pretty."

Serena, "Ash, Mewtwo is alright now. I am sure he, you and any of us will help the new Mewtwo. You are not alone in this."

Ash, "I wish they did not even have to go through that hell. But I suppose you have a point, we cannot always be there when something bad happens but we can be there for them when they need us."

Gou nodded, "Right? We will try to help them."

James, "Say, how about we have dinner together as well?"

Jessie nodded, "It has been a while since we spent time together like this."

Ash, "I have no complaints."

Gary smiled, "Ash, who are going against tomorrow? My opponent is Morrison from Hoenn region."

Ash, "Jackson from New Bark town."

The next day Gary was up against Morrison from Hoenn and Ash marvelled at how much different he looked when younger. Morrison was wearing a gray shirt over his red pants and his Onix looked close to evolving into a Steelix soon. But Gary was not the type to go easy on others and his Dragonite, she gave Morrison a run for his money living up to her rumours and legend of being one of Kanto's powerful Pokemon. Ash had to leave for his own match before he could see the ending of Gary's match, he was going up against Jackson. Jackson was in one word, excitable, as a Growlithe but Ash was not complaining, it was very much welcome.

Jackson, "Ash, I am so happy to finally meet you. Professor Elm told me so much about you."

Ash smiled, "It is awesome to meet you to Jackson, let's do our best and show everyone what Pokemon battling is about."

Jackson, "You are on."

Referee, "This is a match between Ash from Pallet town and Jackson from New Bark town. This will be a three on three battle. The last Pokemon to remain standing will be considered the winner. Choose your first Pokemon."

Jackson, "Let's go Azumarill."

Ash, "Let's go Croconaw."

Referee, "Begin."

Jackson, "Azumarill aqua ring."

Ash, "Croconaw... Dance."

Croconaw grinned roguishly and started to dance around the fairy water type as she shot him with aqua ring. Croconaw danced out of the way which prompted Jackson to shoot him with bubble beam. Ash then called for icy wind which froze the bubbles and fall to the ground which frustrated Jackson who told Azumarill to attack using roll out. Ash called for Croconaw to use tail whip on the frozen bubbles which Croconaw used tail whip on the frozen bubbles. The Azumarill shrieked as her attack was used against her and she got sand on her along with the icy bubbles.

Jackson, "Azumarill use aqua jet."

Ash grinned, "Psychic fangs."

Azumarill attacked using aqua hey rushing after Croconaw but the crocodile Pokemon dodged the attack twice while powering up his psychic fangs. Psychic power was not his strongest suit so it would take time to properly energise the attack. Croconaw then took a stance and then grabbed Azumarill using psychic fangs capturing her. Ash then grinned and called for a full powered brick break on Azumarill while Jackson was calling for Azumarill to break free from the strong hold. Croconaw grunted the raised Azumarill higher before bringing her down at a high speed slamming her on the battlefield knocking her out.

Referee, "Azumarill is unable to battle. The winner is Croconaw."

Ash watched Croconaw roared then started to glow as he became larger in size and a Feraligatr stood on it's place. Everyone was now staring at the large water Pokemon who was now in place of the already chubby and huge Croconaw. Ash though grinned as Feraligatr danced around excitedly, making everyone gape as it did not match his looks which were now ferocious. Feraligatr roared happily then jumped on to the platform Ash and Lucario were on cooing at them getting pats from both. Of course, this also meant that Feraligatr could not take part in battle anymore, he knew his trainer was very strict about the evolution rule.

Ash, "Great job Feraligatr. I am very proud of you."

Feraligatr rumbled, "Arrrrrrr."

Referee, "Will participant in the yellow box be using the same Pokemon for the next round?"

Ash, "No, I have a strict rules for any newly evolved Pokemon."

Referee nodded, "Feraligatr has forfeit fighting for medical reasons. There are only two Pokemon left on both sides with side yellow having a victory under the belt. Now, choose your next Pokemon."

Ash, "Return and get some rest buddy. You were awesome. Now then let's go Typholsion."

Jackson, "Let's go Magneton."

Referee, "Begin!"

Jackson, "Thunder shock."

Ash, "Flame wheel."

Typholsion used flame wheel to avoid getting directly hit by the thunder shock and rushed to attack Magneton who quickly moved out of the way. Magneton eyed the fire type warily as he swerved around and rushed to attack them while dodging the electric attacks. Typholsion came to a stop and Ash called for flame thrower which Typholsion happily shot at his opponent not wanting to give them any chance to recover or rest. Jackson though was not someone to take it lying down called for thunder wave and Ash was honestly very impressed. His opponent had obviously trained his Pokemon in increasing stamina and using power moves.

Ash, "Well then, let's make things more fun Typholsion, lava plume."

Typholsion roared and his back started to glow red making Jackson nervous as he watched Magneton back up. But Jackson was not giving up without a fight and called for rain dance from Magneton to cool off the heat. Magneton nodded and started to perform rain dance to counter the lava plume which was more closer to overheat thanks to Charizard's training. Ash then called out for Typholsion to attack while Jackson called for another thunder wave as well. Lucario watched quietly from the side as Typholsion moved to attack his opponent and the electr attack and firey eruption clashed increasing the temperature of the stadium.

Lucario, -I feel static under my fur. That is one strong Magneton.-

Ash grinned, "You can do it Typholsion. I know right? Just look at how fired up Typholsion is right now."

Serena, "Whoa! I am getting a little dizzy."

Misty, "Here, stay hydrated. Ash will be fine because of Lucario but we don't have a Pokemon who can regulate aura yet."

Chloe was looking at her ice cream, "Isn't the heat too much though? My ice cream has melted."

James chuckled, "Well it is summer and this is normal for fire type Pokemon."

Lance, "I hope they do not destroy the arena."

Gou smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry Lance, ever since Gonzalez attacked us during the Altomare conference we have decided to put aside certain amount in case Team Rocket attacked."

Lance, "You.... You didn't have to do that."

Gou, "Think of it as prepping for the future, Lance. Lokoko is a Master of Future sight move and what she saw worried Ash. They did not share it with us yet but I can guess what it might be about."

Lance, "I see."