Hey everyone, it's Toadettegirl2012! This is just a little notice for the next upcoming chapter, with it's letter being: W. While the chapter isn't done yet, it's getting close to it, but I just wanted to give everyone a quick little sneak peak of the chapter since you all have been waiting since September for a new update. So, here's a little snippet of the chapter. I hope you like it.

Chapter 23: W is for Welcome(Alola)

The sky was shimmering shades of orange and pink. And the air was cooling as the sun was dipping into the horizon. Another beautiful day was coming to a close in the sunny region of Alola but it was still bustling with life. Many residents were out and about, running, laughing, conversing as now was the perfect time to be outside without being weighed down by the heat. But as much as the beautiful tropical waves were beckoning, Ash had to stay inside. Well it was more like he was trapped inside. His captor: homework.

"Ughhhhh…" Ash groaned into one of the books he had strewed across the table. "Why does time go so slow when you're bored?"

"Bored? How could you be bored?" Burnet questioned as she walked into the living room with a glass of juice for the disheartened looking boy who sat at the coffee table. "I thought you said learning was the most exciting thing in the world."

"Well, only when you understand it." Ash replayed as he watched the clock tick to six pm. "I've been sitting here since three and I still don't get any of this!" He waved his hands frantically at all the papers, textbooks and other supplies he had on the table.

Handing Ash the glass, Burnet glanced at the mess of papers and books and smiled brightly. "Ah, Pokemon biology, fun!"

"Easy for you to say, Professor." Ash murmured into his glass.

Burnet laughed at his rather obvious point. "Alright, I know your frustrated so how about I help you out a bit?" She had watched him struggle all afternoon and she couldn't stand seeing him so miserable. Sitting across from him, she offered her full attention. "Alright, Ash tell me what's the problem?"

Setting down his half empty glass, Ash waved at the textbook closet to him. "Everything really their anatomy, habitats, life cycles, we even have to learn about their mating habits." Slouching against the couch he glanced over at his Pokemon, all snoozing in a heap. "We have to take a test about the biology for each Pokemon type we learn about and I suck at it!" Ash rubbed his hands through his hair in frustration.

Out of the twenty or so students in his class (A/N: Because let's face it six kids isn't really a class) Lillie was the smartest and always passed the tests with flying colors. Coming in second was Sophocles, who had only bested Lille when it came to Electric types, he got every single question and the extra credit right. Mallow, Kiawe and Lana all seemed to tie when it came to Poke-book smarts. Kiawe worked with Pokemon every day on his family farm, making it easy to learn about their mating habits and life cycle. Lana was always fishing and learned easily about water types anatomy and knew how to apply it to other Pokemon. Mallow found it easy to pick up on habitats as she often went into the woods to look for herbs and berries for her family restaurant and observed Pokemon and all the ways they adapted to life out in their natural environments. And then there was Ash, and all he was good at was bonding with Pokemon and battling, well that is if he didn't mess up the type match ups and he had a plan in mind.

"Oh, don't say things like that, Ash" Burnet said, hoping to ease his worry. "With my help you'll ace your test!"

"But it's in two days!" Ash whined.

"T-Two days?" Burnet gawked. "How long did Kukui give you to study?"

Ash hesitated. "A…a while."

Burnet arched an eyebrow.

"T-three weeks."

"And you're just started studying now?!" Burnet declared and irked expression overtaking her face.

Ash frantically shook his head. "No, no of course not! I've been studying since a week and a half ago but…" He sighed down at the papers and all the words. He closed his eyes, just looking at it was making him feel worse by the minute. "I just don't want to let everyone down."

This was the last test before a break started for all the students at the Pokemon school. And while their finals were still haunting them in the future, Principal Oak wanted to motivate the students by throwing a huge luau party! But like all great things, there was a catch. Only the classes whose grade average were passing were able to attend. And the very thought of costing the entire class the luau was enough to make Ash sick with worry.

"Sorry, Ash I didn't mean to snap at you." Burnet apologize and reached across the table to ruffle his rave hair. The last thing she wanted was for him to give up before she could help. "Now let's see what type you're learning about."

"Dragon types." Ash said as the woman reached for a book. "We're learning about Dragon types."

"Oh, so Kukui finally got to the section about Dragon types, huh?" She mused, knowing her husband tended to get carried away on each Pokemon type and their spectacular moves. Even Principal Oak complained that he took too long to move through each section. "Dragon types are one of the more complex Pokemon. There's not that many and most of them are aggressive, strong, territorial-"

"Beautiful."

"Hm?" Burnet blinked at Ash's sudden interruption.

Ash's head jerked up. "H-Huh? No, nothing!" He nearly knocked over his glass as he reached for it and promptly pressed it against his lips, eyes darting elsewhere.

Burnet gave a weary smile. "Well, yes, I guess Dragon types are beautiful in their own way." There came no response for the raven-haired boy, only a small cough as he set his now empty glass down. In the silence that followed the professor noticed a twinkle of something familiar flashed in Ash's amber eyes.

"W-What?" Ash asked, shifting uncomfortably under the woman's gaze.

"What's not clicking with you and Dragon types, Ash?" Burnet questioned, lacing her fingers together and resting her chin on them thoughtfully.

"Clicking? I-I don't understand what you mean, Burnet." Ash quickly answered and turned his attention to one of his book's pages that displayed an image of a Dratini wriggling free from an egg.

That wasn't the answer she was looking for. But before the woman could ask another question a call came from the kitchen. "Burnet." The woman flinched at her husband's skeptical tone. Turning the two saw Kukui's head poking into the living room. "I'm glad you're helping Ash, but I hope you're not planning on spoon feeding him everything."

"What no, of course not, dear!" Burnet hopped up quickly from the table. "In fact, I was just telling him that he should, uh, take a quick break!"

Kukui gave a chuckle. "Oh, is that so?" He knew his wife was rather nurturing and didn't know when she needed to let things grow on their own. It was one of those qualities he would always love about that woman.

Bam, bam, bam!

The abrupt sound from the door caused the three to jump and caused the Pokemon to stir from their sleep. Kukui went to open it and was surprised at what he saw. "Mallow? What are you doing here?" His student was hunched over and completely out of breath.

"A-Ash!" Mallow rasped, ignoring Kukui all together as she waved for him. "Quick…c-come quick!"

"What is something the matter, Mallow?" Ash asked, coming over with some water as she looked about ready to collapse.

"Your record at my family's restaurant." The twin tailed girl managed between sips of the cooling liquid. "Someone's about to break it!"

"What! No way!" Ash declared before racing to stuff his shoes onto his feet. "I'll be back in a bit! Come on, Mallow." Grabbing her hand, he raced out the house.

Kukui gave something of a laugh as he watched them go. "So much for studying, I guess."

"There's no way someone could beat my record! There's just no way!" Ash muttered as he and Mallow ran towards Aina's Kitchen.

The record in which he spoke of was for the eatery's Giant Alolan Jam Bread challenge. After the sweet doughy treat won Aina's Kitchen the Alola Bread Festival, it was promptly added to the menu. Within a few weeks Alolan jam bred was getting ordered so often that Mallow convinced her father to turn the dish into an eating challenge. A normal portion of Alolan jam bread could fit in your hand but when taking on the Giant Alolan Jam Bread challenge, Mallow and Tsareena would present the diner with one that was a massive twenty pounds and took up a large portion of the table. If they finished it within an hour, the meal was free, and they would get their picture on the wall. Such a challenge was making Aina's Kitchen a popular tourist destination.

"It took me fifty-seven minutes and thirty-eight seconds to finish." Ash said aloud.

"Yeah, the first two times you tried, you just about fainted at the table." Mallow said with a laugh.

"Third time's the charm, Mallow." Ash said with a grin.

"But it was it really worth two days of bedrest from that stomach ache you got?" Mallow asked, remembering how she felt bad that the food challenge made her classmate absent from school.

"Yup, every last sugary bite!" Ash declared. "And there's no way I'm going to let anyone take my place as the third fastest to finish the Giant Alolan Jam Bread!"

"They might even beat second place's time, if they keep up with the pace they were at before I ran to get you, Ash." Mallow said, only to laugh as her friend gave a wail of distress and picked up his pace.

(A/N: If you haven't guessed, I low-key ship Ash and Mallow)

"Papa, did they finish?" Mallow cried out as she and Ash came tumbling into the café.

But the two didn't receive an immediate answer like they expected. Instead they were greeted with the sight of Mallow's father, Abe, talking with two bulky looking men that looked rather out of place despite wearing normal clothing. After a moment more they gave disappointed sighs, said their thanks and hurried for the door.

"What was that about?" Mallow asked, watching the door with curiosity.

"Those two men were looking for someone, that's all." Abe responded. "But what was odd is that they didn't give me much to go on when it came to what they looked like-"

"Ahhh!" The sudden cry interrupted the two's conversation and they turned to see Ash looking sorrowfully down at a large empty plate.

"Oh, they did finish!" Mallow cried out. "What was their time, Papa?"

He held up a stopwatch the read fifty-five minutes and twelve seconds.

"Gahh! A full two minutes faster." Ash whined.

"Wow, that's pretty impressive!" Mallow said. "Sorry about your record though, Ash. You can keep your victory picture if you want." She was referring to the one where Ash was all smiles alongside Pikachu with a huge smile and jam staining his face. "In the meantime, I'll go get the camera."

"I don't think that'll be necessary, Mallow." Abe said before she could dash off.

"Why not?" Mallow was always excited to take a picture of a customer that conquered the massive sweet she and Tsareena worked to make. The person's happy smile always made all the hard work worth it. "Don't tell me they got sick in the bathroom."

"No, even worse." He pointed towards an open window near their table. "They up and left before I could even come out and congratulate them!"

There was a breathless sigh as a girl pulled herself over the sill of a window and into her suite. It was no easy business scaling a palm tree to get to one of Hano Grande Resort's top floors. If anything, she was more surprised no one noticed her, but then again, she was wearing a disguise. A flower printed scarf pulled over her head, large blue tinted sunglasses and civilian clothes to blend in perfectly with the tropical region. With barely enough energy she flopped onto the king size bed but just as she was starting to get comfortable the door swung open.

"I don't care if you have to look all night, you have to find her!" The sound of the manger's tone was sharp and demanding, reflecting her appearance rather accurately. Tight white skin, an even tighter bun of rose-colored hair, glasses and businesswoman attire, suit pants and all. "Don't you dare take that tone with me! Iris Dragonlight is the champion of Unova for Acreus sake, it's literally your job to know where she is at all times!"

"Ah, come on Angela, don't be so hard on them." Iris's voice caused the lady to cry out and whip around in a panicked state, causing the young girl to laugh.

"W-Where have you been?" Angela said in a voice that was neither whispering or yelling but almost a loud hissing.

Taking off her sunglasses, Iris blinked her big brown eyes in confusion. "What do you mean? I told everyone on the plane this morning that I couldn't wait to have fun here in Alola." Angela lips pursed, unsatisfied with that answer. "So, I went to explore a bit-"

"And didn't tell anyone?" Angela snapped. "I had my men running around like maniacs for hours looking for you."

Iris only grinned. "Well, then I guess my disguise worked pretty well then!"

"This isn't a game, you're the Pokemon Champion of an entire region!"

"Well, yeah I know-"

"The youngest Pokemon Champion in history, may I remind you."

"Y-Yes, but-"

"That means you can't go galivanting around without a care in the world." Angela came up to the bed and sat on the edge. "I know this whole Champion business is new to you Iris, but as your manager you put a lot of stress on me when you up and disappear like an Abra." Angela removed her glasses so her blue eyes met the girl's brown ones. "Anything could have happened to you out there and I promised Drayden that my team and I would keep you safe on your Regional Champion tour and we can't do that if we don't know where you are, do you understand?"

Iris wanted to argue but, but she knew her manager was right. The Regional Champion tour was how the world would get to know her: Iris Dragonlight, the world's youngest Pokemon Champion. It was a big deal, bigger than Iris knew what to do with. Sighing Iris nodded. "Yeah, I understand and I'm sorry, Angela."

Content with the response, Angela nodded. "Good."

"And I promise to make it up to you and the security team." Iris said clasping the woman's hand with a smile. "There's this cute little restaurant called Aina's Kitchen and they serve this delicious jam bread and so many other yummy dishes! I'll make sure to take everyone when-"

Angela wriggled her hand free and held it up, silencing the young girl. "That's very kind of you Iris, but as of right now I need to have my team regroup." She headed for the door. "Now, please don't give me anymore heart attacks while we're in Alola, alright?"

Iris pouted but still nodded as she pulled the flower printed headscarf from her head. Her long tresses falling around her shoulders and down her back. "Yeah, yeah." She headed for the bathroom to clean up.

"Good, now I do hope you have a good night's rest." Angela called out. "You have a big day ahead of you tomorrow, Champion Iris."

So yeah, that's the opening for chapter W. I've been excited to write Iris in Alola and going to do everything I can to get the rest of the chapter out soon. Until next time:

Bye: Toadettegirl2012