AN: Yeah... it's been a while guys. I really have no excuses other than the fact that I've had school to deal with. But who am I kidding? I've had all winter break to work on this... and well... Uggh. Still I've managed to scrape something together. Its not my best work... but I feel like I can steer this story in several directions but I have no idea which one to choose... But regardless. I'm rambling and I'll leave you guys to read.

This story would not have been here today if it weren't for all the kind comments and support I've gotten. So here's my late christmas present to you all.

-Pen of Silver

Tomorrow is the dreams of today and yesterday is but the memory of today.

Let the Games Begin

2 Months Later...

"Psycho Cut," Ash ordered watching his Kirlia's arms glow a light pink sheen before she pirouetted and spun high in the air, slashing while she danced. Her target was a pillar of stone in the middle of the room. Multiple scratches and a high pitched keening sound like metal scraping against metal rang out in the air. When Kirlia landed, he saw that the pillar had been lacerated with an army of scars, all at least an inch deep.

Ash nodded approvingly as he inspected the pillar, he took a couple steps back "Psychic."

Kirlia's eyes glowed purple, then the pillar in the room suddenly twisted to the side and then contorted itself into an unusual U shape, before Kirlia compressed it with a clap of her hands. Plink! The smooth ball of stone fell onto the floor with an audible click. Ash tossed it lightly in his hands. "Good work." He said simply, admiring the smooth contours of the sphere in his hands. "We're moving onto marble pillars tomorrow." He said.

Kirlia looked at her trainer curiously "What are you doing with all those stone balls anyway?" She inquired with her mind as she followed her trainer.

Ash smiled mysteriously and patted her on the head. "You'll see." He said absent mindedly as he continued walking. With a short tap, he returned Kirlia to her pokeball.

Ash stopped in front of a frosty cold door. The peephole was frosted shut and he could barely make out a field of white.

Ash sighed and looked into the adjacent window already afraid of what he'd find. He threw open the door. A gorgeous arctic landscape met his eyes. The very air was thick with snowflakes as Frosslass materialized behind him, her Snow Cloak ability masking her body perfectly. "Lass..." It murmured.

"Not bad at all..." Ash approved, looking around at a crater in the ground. "You have that move down now?" He asked.

Frosslass rolled her eyes Of course... She said smugly, extending one of her delicate frozen hands. A sphere of the purest ice slowly began to wreath the appendage, the very air around it freezing into snowflakes.

She looked at her trainer questioningly, the sphere in her hands writhing as she held it under her control.

Ash nodded.

Frosslass smirked and with an almost contemptuous movement, tossed the sphere of ice onto the ground. The whole room shuddered as a massive dome of ice appeared, the temperature suddenly dropping. He breathed in snow with his first few breaths. Frosslass gestured with her hand and the whole thing shattered, sending chunks everywhere as the massive sphere exploded, leaving another crater in the ground.

Sheer Cold, the strongest out of all the Ice Type moves. It was also one of the hardest moves to learn, requiring a temperature so cold that even ice type Pokémon themselves cautioned themselves against this move. It was the strongest move in her arsenal, and also the hardest to aim, if it was even a hair of, the dome of ice became nothing more than an igloo.

"I'm impressed." Ash stated, patting the Ice and Ghost type on the head before quickly withdrawing it as his metacarpals began to turn white. Frosslass smirked did you expect anything less? She demanded, floating easily up to chest height.

"Not really." Ash admitted wryly, returning her to her pokeball.

Gabite was in the next room. The dragon type had evolved when Ash had decided that they were getting nowhere with training and that the best way to do it was to lock Frosslass and Gible in the same room, and come back 20 minutes later.

He had gone in a Gible, and came out a Gabite. It was a couple days before he decided to talk to Ash again. Frosslass had taken malicious glee in the task and judging by her smile when she had come out of the room, she had been very well satisfied.

It was hard to imagine the Dragon ever being clumsy or slow now, Ash reflected as he watched Gabite dodge Roselia's razor leafs with effortless grace, before moving in for a lethal Dragon Claw attack. Roselia petal danced, spitting a fountain of rose colored petals at the dragon type out of one of her bouquets on her hand before dancing backwards.

"Enough," Ash called, stepping forward. Gabite shook his head and folded his arms marching out of the room proudly. Roselia did a polite bow, before getting returned to her Pokeball. Ash bowed back, a polite little incline of his head as the rose Pokémon vanished in a beam or red light.

Ash pocketed the pokeball and set off for the kitchen, sure to find Brock experimenting with the wide array of ingredients there. Whistling tunelessly, the trainer walked off toward the kitchen, admiring the lavish decorations as he did so. Cynthia had taste, he admitted as he paused to inspect what looked like an authentic Flame Plate in a velvet cushion.

Ash briefly contemplated opening the case, before he discarded the idea. Now walking quicker than before, he made his way down to the kitchen only for the scent of a bubbling potato stew in a pot to greet him. He inhaled deeply, Brocks specialty was soup or stew of any kind. The world renowned breeder and chef had perfected the dish enough while traveling with him. He didn't quite have Brocks knack for mixing in herbs and balancing the thickness of the stew to the ingredients within, but he made up for that by being a ninja with a frying pan.

Ash smiled as he walked into the kitchen, finding two people already seated at the counter top. One was Paul, his tousled purple hair and sweaty forehead told Ash that he had been training earlier in the day. The other person, he noticed with a start, was Cynthia. The blond champion was obviously going to milk Brock's services for all they were worth.

At the moment she looked rather calm. The blond champion actually hadn't taken the others presence in her household too badly, as long as they stayed out of her sight and didn't mess with her private rooms or the decorations she more or less tolerated them.

Of course there were exceptions, for example last week Dawn had touched a century old Cubone skull and had nudged it of its display, shattering the delicate material into a thousand pieces. Needless to say, Dawn didn't sleep inside the house that night.

Paul looked up from the magazine he was reading as the sound of the door opening reached his ears "Ash." He acknowledged.

Cynthia sat stonily silent on the opposite end of the table, quietly sipping her coffee.

"Paul, Cynthia." Ash greeted as he took a seat next to his former rival, watching Brock bustle around the kitchen as he diced up potatoes and sprinkled in various herbs into the plain ceramic pot.

Cynthia glared at him, telling him that he still wasn't quite off the hook and resumed sipping her coffee, looking oddly sedate as she did so.

Brock looked up from the simmering pot of stew for a quick greeting. "Hey Ash, how does the stew smell?"

"Like heaven." Ash responded truthfully, already anticipating the first spoonful.

Cynthia's lips quirked into a slight smile.

"Yeah... Nice to know Ash... But this was a special request by , so... you can't really have any." Brock said, like every word was poison to his lips. Cynthia's smile grew wider.

If there was a hell, it couldn't be worse than this. Ash decided, looking at the smug blond champion with piercing brown eyes. "I hate you so much..." He grumbled, watching Kirlia dance circles around the kitchen floor.

"I love you too." Cynthia said an evil smirk on her face. Revenge was so very sweet.

Payback's a bitch... Ash conceded, now fully understanding the meaning of that saying.

Paul rolled his eyes, before a girl dressed in pure white and light blue bounced into his room. "Hey Paul!" Candice cried cheerfully as she all but launched herself into his arms.

Paul grunted as she slammed into him, but he still managed to catch her gracefully and place her down onto the ground. "Have you been drinking coffee?" Paul asked as he rubbed his arms.

"Yep. Why?" Candice asked as she plopped herself down onto a seat next to Cynthia.

Paul sighed "Just wondering..." He muttered as he shook his head, looking back down at an article about a new Carbos formula that was said to be two times as effective as the normal kind. Paul frowned slightly as he scrolled down the article. The researcher and head scientist caught his attention. Max Petalburg... He mused as he read through the paper.

Absorbed in the paper as he was, he noticed too late that Candice was pouting. A pouting Candice was never a good sign. "I'm bored..."She whined plaintively tugging at Paul's sleeve.

"What are you, 6?"Paul snapped as he looked up from his magazine.

"19 actually."Candice said with a smile that could have lift up the dark side of the moon. The radiant teen collapsed neatly onto Paul's lap. "You should come rock climbing with me." Candice proposed, looking sweetly at Paul.

Ash was pretty sure that you had to have no heart to refuse Candice when she wore that look. Thankfully, that's exactly what Paul specialized at. "No." He said curtly, returning back to his magazine.

"Please?"

"No."

"Pretty please?"

"An extra word isn't going to make a difference." Paul flipped to another page in his magazine. You had to hand it to man, when it came down to it, he had nerves of steel.

"You're so mean..."Candice pouted as she settled herself on his lap.

Brock watched the group with a nostalgic smile, how many times had he seen this scene? Except back then it had been him, Ash, and Misty. Memories of an orange haired girl with a mallet sprang into his mind.

"Soups done." He announced as he placed the bubbling pot in front of Cynthia.

With a smirk toward Ash's direction, she dug in.

Her taste buds exploded.

Such was the skill of Brock.

Ash watched her internal monologue of joy as she ate her food with a speed that surprised even him. "Stupid woman." He sighed as he lifted Kirlia off her feet and plopped her onto the table. Pikachu shrugged and picked at the opening to a packet of ketchup.

Cynthia sighed and dropped her spoon into the bowl with a hollow clunk. She leaned tiredly backwards into her seat and with her blond haired splayed out and her eyes closed Ash could almost believe she was the teen ager she could have been. He averted his eyes and sighed, looking morosely down into his cup of coffee, what would he have been like, he wondered, if he had never become the champion? Happier maybe? A small vestige of regret tugged at his stomach. Just a little. Before he silenced the impulse.

He was here to win. To reclaim what he had lost all those years ago. Nothing else mattered.

Kirlia's horns twitched slightly as she felt the slight emotion emanating of her trainer… It felt like… Regret? Pikachu lifted his head and settled it onto his trainers lap, like a yellow housecat.

Ash smiled and lightly ran his fingers over his pokemon's smooth ears as he watched Paul and Candice chat. "I'm Training." He announced as he stepped out of the room and back into the familiar training halls before a voice stopped him.

"Not Quite…" Cynthia said coldly, her momentary content dispelled like a flash, "I'm coming with you." She stood up from her and walked after him, black shoes clicking against the ground ignoring the eyes on her she folded her arms proudly.

"Whatever floats your boat." Ash said lightly as he made way into a training room. Cynthia's shoes clicked audibly against the floor as they walked down the hall in uncomfortable silence. The scuffed and scratched wooden flooring creaked slightly underneath their weight. Ash looked at Cynthia, appraising her like she was a piece of jewelry on display wondering whether he should buy it.

"Why are you really here?" Ash asked simply after they spent almost a minute in awkward silence.

"Fight Me." It was an order, not a request.

Ash straightened his back, "Why?" He asked cautiously.

"I want to see how strong you've become. A new team is a new team. But are you still the same trainer that I beat all those years ago?" Cynthia replied her fingers straying toward her belt.

"Are you sure?" Ash asked "No one here will know who won expect for the two of us."

"And that's how it should be," Cynthia replied steadily, her chosen pokeball in her hands.

"I suppose I have no choice huh?" Ash said as he selected a pokeball from his belt.

"Nope. Roserade." She said, releasing the elegant Pokémon, the twin bouquets of roses sparkling with poison in the harsh light of the training room.

"Frosslass." Ash said simply, dropping the pokeball. The frozen ghost Pokémon materialized with a sadistic smile on her face. "Win." He said simply.

Of course. Frosslass said with her mind, an ice beam already pulsating in her hands.

"Roserade, Protect!" Cynthia yelled, not a moment too soon, as a lightning bolt of ice slammed into a green barrier. The ice beam split into two, sending twin clouds of dust as they screeched of the protect and slammed into the specially reinforced iron walls.

"Energy Ball, make it quick!" Cynthia ordered, already gauging the strength of that ice beam, judging by the scars in the walls, it was cold enough to cause iron to freeze, but what really caught her attention was the way the walls were cracked into two. The only way that occurred was with a rapid increase, then decrease of temperature. Or in this case, it was the other way around, Cynthia observed. Ash had obviously trained her to maximize her ice attack damages.

Roselia sprang forward, her bouquets glittering a unearthly shade of green as, like a ball room dancer, sprang delicately into the air and flung out energy ball after energy ball. Craters impacted the ground as Frosslass immediately reacted, phasing in and out of existence as the balls of glittering energy passed straight through her unearthly body.

"That was a crude attack." Ash observed calmly, a small light of satisfaction in his eyes.

"Not quite." Cynthia said a wicked glimmer in her eyes. "Roserade Now!"

Shit… Ash thought as the energy balls that had missed, hadn't dissipated into the ground like they should off, instead, they melted like water and immediately sprang up tendril after tendril of plant material.

The plant matter shot out and snared Frosslass in a strangle hold, leeching energy away with the single minded intensity of a machine.

"Leaf Storm, Roserade!" Cynthia commanded the taste of victory already on her tongue.

"Freeze this place Frosslass!" Ash snapped, watching his precious pokemon struggle in the tendrils of leech seed as he watched a tornado of leaves spiral her way.

Frosslass heard the order, and obeyed, immediately plummeting the body temperature around her, freezing the vines around her into ice, then shattering them with a swish of her frozen hands.

"Blizzard." Ash ordered.

Frosslass nodded, exhaling out a massive globe of snow and ice. The whole battle field was rendered into a winter wasteland as the snow cut visibility down to close to nothing, cutting the leaf storm to bits.

"Double team." Ash ordered.

Frosslass nodded and with a quick blur, there were two ghostly snow pokemon standing in front of him.

"Hail."

The air was filled with snow.

Cynthia blinked as snowflakes caught themselves into her eyes and she squinted. Visibility was down to practically zero as she snow whirled and jump. The stinging hail on her neck and chest didn't help either.

Though, the more pressing problem was that Frosslass' ability, snow cloak pretty much rendered her invisible in the current weather conditions.

"Roserade, light screen." She ordered, anticipating a special attack from the snow ghost.

"Nice try." Ash said from the opposite side of the field, "But you were too slow."

What? Cynthia thought as Frosslass suddenly appeared in front of Roserade from the snow, a frozen ghost, her white arm encased in an icy aura.

"Ice punch." Ash ordered.

"Dodge!" She commanded, her heart in her throat as Roserade jumped out of the direction of the fist.

"Don't let up." Ash cried, as multiple fists suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

"Roserade!" Cynthia cried as she spotted a fist heading toward her pokemon's chest. Then it just vanished. Before another attack connected and Roserade was sent flying.

Double Team… She thought. Frosslass had cloned herself and then hidden the copies into the hail. Meaning that only one of those attacks would actually do damage, though… she had no way of knowing which one was real, and which one was a clone.

"Leaf storm, spread it out!" She ordered, watching her pokemon send ethereal funnels of leaves into the hail. It was a crude attack but it at least ensured she'd land a hit.

The whistling of the leaves through the wind was audible.

Clink. The sound of leaf on ice rang throughout the air.

"Hyper beam!" She ordered pointing in the general direction of the noise.

A massive orange beam roared out of Roserade's bouquet.

The sound of a substitute popping out of existence was audible.

"Nice try," Ash's voice rang out into the snow. "But you forgot something, Sheer Cold."

A ball of ice suddenly materialized from the ceiling, like a massive ice chandelier as Frosslass drifted quietly out of the ceiling.

Of course… a ghost type Cynthia thought.

Frosslass sent the ball whirling at Roserade, a frozen deadly beachball.

A sphere of ice appeared in the center of the arena, whether it had hit or not, she couldn't tell. Then with muted terror, she waited for it to explode.

And explode it did.

BOOM!

Paul sighed and he sipped at his coffee " There they go again…" He muttered as he felt a explosion shift the table three feet to the left, the untended cups of coffee shaking in their saucers.

"Is this what their usually like?" Dawn asked wide eyed from her seat.

"Compared to when we were all teenagers… it's actually pretty mild." Paul replied amused looking back down at his magazine.

"They were worse when they were younger?" Dawn asked amazed as she looked at Brock.

Brock nodded sagely, a fond smile on his face. "When we first met Cynthia, she was a pipsqueak, a cute one mind you, but still a pipsqueak. They probably went at it hours everyday before both of them gave up. Though mind you, it was always Cynthia who started it off."

Candice lifted her head, as a cool breeze whistled throughout the room. "That's one strong Ice attack," She commented quietly, a far cry from her normal cheerful nature.

Paul shrugged "I wouldn't expect anything else from Ash."

"Or Cynthia." Brock put in his two cents. He slipped out of his chair. "I'm gonna go check up on them actually… I bet they blew up a room or something."

"I wouldn't put it past those two…" Dawn muttered as she recalled how scarily powerful Ash's Pokemon could be and against the current champion… she wasn't quite sure who'd win to be honest.

"Ouch…" Ash grumbled as he shoved of a disintegrated section of a wall of his chest. He looked up to see a small ballerina like Pokemon standing with her eyes glowing an unearthly teal color. Ash reached out with his hand before it impacted with an invisible, slippery surface.

Barrier… He surmised as he tapped the side of the mental construct with his fist.

Kirlia turned around and lowered the barrier, dumping a cloud of dust onto the two of them.

"Yo, Cynthia, you still alive?" Ash yelled as dust clouded around both of them.

"Screw you Ketchum." Cynthia snarled as her Garchomp shoved a collapsed part of the ceiling off her leg. "Do you know how much these rooms cost?"

"Well you can afford it can't you? Millionaire Champion and all." Ash countered cheekily as Kirlia began to clear the surrounding area of debris with her psychic attack.

Ash sighed and pushed outwards with his aura, shoving away sections of the ceiling off the floor. "I may have over done it with the Sheer Cold…" Ash muttered sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"No really?" Cynthia said sarcastically, walking toward him obviously with the intention of yelling at him or something of that nature, before her black boot caught on a piece of debris. She braced herself for the impact.

And being the gentle man he was, Ash let her fall, before halting her impact with the lightest trace of his Aura.

She was essentially floating an inch above the floor. Cynthia spoke through gritted teeth. "let me go Ketchum."

"As her majesty wishes." Ash responded, releasing his control and allowing her to smack her face neatly into the ground.

Ouch. She really didn't think that one through did she? Kirlia observed as the blond champion got onto her feet, her mouth open to deliver probably some ultimatum of sorts before a voice stopped her.

"The hell happened here?" Brock said from behind the two, his squinted eyes glaring at the two youths in the center of the room.

"Blame Ketchum." Cynthia said automatically, her finger pointing in Ash's direction.

"Fine… Fine… I may or may not have used Sheer Cold and ordered Frosslass to detonate the thing without thinking about the consequences." Ash conceded, rubbing the back of his head.

"Typical Ash…" Dawn muttered from behind Brock, before coughing as the cloud of dust reached her lungs.

"Hey," Ash protested indignantly. "I'm not that bad…"

"I beg to differ Ketchum." Cynthia replied dryly, dusting of her heavy black jacket before marching out of the room. She needed to get this dust out of her hair.

Ash sighed and watched Cynthia's retreating back. Hey Cynthia!" He yelled out. She turned around and quirked her eyebrow, the universal signal for "What?"

"Good Battle." He said with a lopsided grin.

Cynthia shrugged her shoulders and continued walking, one step after another. She felt the ghost of a memory flit through her head at the words.

"Nice Match Kid. What's your name?" The voice flashed through her head. She felt the hint of a smile on her lips; he had actually called her kid back then, even though they were practically the same age, her, a budding trainer, and him the champion who had accepted an innocent battle request from a girl with only 6 gym badges.

She turned around on impulse "You too." She said, her voice penetrating through the chatter of Dawn and Brock.

He smiled once. The part of him that she remembered, the benevolent champion that she had faced with shaking knees resurfaced for just an instant. Then it was gone.

Ash ruffled the top of Kirlia's head affectionately, "Thanks for keeping me safe, Kirlia," He said simply patting her lightly.

It was Nothing. She murmured gently with her mind.

Ash nodded and turned to gaze at Brock with Impassive eyes "How much longer until the tournament?" He asked.

"It's in about a week. But we should get there early. Scope out the competition." Brock said simply hands already dropping to his pocket to take out his cell phone.

"Then let the games begin." Ash murmured simply. Pikachu felt the thrill that ran up his trainers shoulders and he felt the familiar feeling of competitiveness spark into his body, cheeks sparking in response to the emotion.

"Damn it Giovanni, get out of the way!" Cyrus cursed as he dove to the side, feeling the attack graze his shoulders. Time itself bent to the pokemon's will and like history has shown, time is hardly gentle to its inhabitants.

The legendary pokemon roared, or rather screamed, a terrible grating sound before it launched another attack. This one was charged red and blue, and tore open a massive hole in the fabric of time.

A pulsating portal was formed in the air. Unusual circular patterns carved themselves into the rocky plateau as the portal tore open, revealing the hall of time. One of the more interesting side effects of Dialga's attack, Roar of Time.

Giovanni yanked up his colleague and they both gaped in awe for a moment. Just a moment. It was an impressive action for two of the most hardened, evil men in history. Before another ear wrenching roar split the air, shaking them out of their trance.

"The hall of time…." Giovanni whispered, the term coming back from decades ago, when he had scoured the library at Canalave City, reputedly the oldest collection of texts in the world for a clue, any clue on the secret to world domination.

Cyrus matched the man's wicked smile "Of course…" He could have almost purred those words.

The ability to transcend time itself…. For a crime organization it was an invaluable ability.

"The first matter of business is restoring team galactic to full strength…" Giovanni said, observing the portal. His clenched fist gave away his excitement. He seemed almost oblivious to the thundering pokemon behind them, restrained by only a red chain.

"Which means eliminating a couple annoying trainers on the way." Cyrus said amused, already thinking back to the date where his mighty organization had fallen to two young trainers. "July 17th."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Giovanni said before off handedly saying "I've never time traveled before, must be a new experience."

Cyrus chuckled, in an oddly good mood. "You know what they say, you only live once." He said, he was in the mood for a cigarette right about now…

A massive paw came down like the hammer of a righteous god, splitting the earth itself.

"SHIT! Move it Damnit!" Giovannit swore as he hurled himself out of the way. This time their positions were reversed as Cyrus hauled him to his feet and threw him unceremoniously headfirst into the portal created by Dialga's attack before diving after him, Dialga's jaws at his heels.

The portal closed behind them, an ominous bang splitting the night as Dialga shrieked and screamed. Then the sound became more muted before in vanished all together. He opened his eyes and gasped.

He was stuck in a massive hall…. It gleamed with shades of silver and chrome and an indefinite number of arches flashed and showed scenes from millenniums past.

Of Aggron and Charazards clad in metallic armor, their attacks lighting up the skyline

Of a man dressed in a distinctive blue outfit… a odd pulsating ball in his hands

Of what looked like present time with two people, one with platinum blonde hair and another with pitch black facing against each other. A massive roar from the crowd as the whole stadium was engulfed in smoke.

And a city, made of massive steel and distorted stone and unusual floating pillars of rock.

It is what has passed and what is to be. It is the past and the future. It can be yours. For a price.

The voice rang through his head. And what a voice! It chimed like bells in the wind and almost seemed to draw him closer… closer… to one of the arches in the doorway.

"On what terms?" Cyrus inquired his hands scrabbling at his belt for a pokeball, a true schemer, through and through.

A presence filled his mind. It sifted through his thoughts and intentions. Memories. Thoughts. Dreams. All was laid bare.

You bore me. Begone.

And suddenly he was breathing in massive breaths of salty air. The ocean stood in front of him and a distinctive building rose out of the horizon like a monolith. A department store it seemed.

"Your finally here."

Cyrus turned around to meet Giovanni's annoyed glare.

"let's go." Cyrus muttered, shrugging his vest and walking toward the department store.

He wasn't exactly in a talking mood.

"Hmm… Hey Cynthia!" Ash yelled.

"What?" Cynthia grumbled from the dining room table. She was contracting a builder to come repair the room that Ash and she had destroyed. Needless to say, she wasn't in the best of moods.

"Is my plane still here?" Ash asked curiously, popping his head into the dining room.

"Your plane?" Cynthia asked dryly. "Last I remember that plane belongs to the current champion." Which went without saying, was her.

"So it is still here." Ash deduced cheerfully, plopping himself down in a seat next to her. "So what is our fine champion up to today?" He asked, the events of yesterday already forgotten.

"Contracting a builder. To repair the room that YOU broke." Cynthia snapped signing at the bottom of the slip she was working on.

"Well… to be fair you did challenge me." Ash said, the ever present Pikachu on his shoulder. He peeked over her shoulder curiously. "See, only 500,000. That's like chump change for someone like you." He said easily.

"Or like you." Cynthia shot back.

"Not really." Ash said dryly, leaning back into the century old wooden chair. "The league association took away most of my winnings as champion and in case you didn't know, I've been living on a deserted island for the last few years."

"Why'd you do that? Didn't you have a house or something to go back to?" Cynthia exclaimed, now looking over the state of his clothes in a new light. His hat in particular looked really beat up.

"I've been traveling ever since I was 12. I never really had a place to go back to." Ash replied, the slightest tinge of melancholy in his voice.

Cynthia didn't really know how to reply to that. Should she just laugh at him? Or present a small amount of pity? "Well you could have just asked to stay here. I wouldn't have minded." She muttered. She looked over to meet Ash's wide eyed glance. "What?" She asked.

Ash smiled. "Well you don't seem to happy with the rest of the guys for staying here." He observed.

"That's because their annoying." She said flatly. "It's like living with a flock of spearrow."

"And I'm not?" Ash asked amused as he gently played around with Pikachu's ears.

"No…. You're just… Different." Cynthia said hotly, a healthy flush rising in her cheeks. How had she let herself get stuck in this situation again?

"I never got the chance to thank you for letting us stay here." Ash forged on. "Even though I'm techniqually allowed to come here… It was rude of me."

"Are you getting soft on me Ketchum?" Cynthia murmured.

Ash leaned the side of his face against his left hand. Pikachu twitched on his shoulder. "Maybe I am." He replied as he looked into the adjoining room. Dawn and Brock were both settled on the sofa, watching a breeding show. While Paul, with Candice on his lap, were looking at a laptop. Occasionally Candice would laugh and tweak his nose to which Paul would grumpily poke her in the forehead with an odd half smile on his face.

"But it's more like I had a long time to realize what I missed when I was stuck on that island." He said steadily, still staring at his friends.

Cynthia sat there quietly, not sure how to respond.

He smiled at her, and Kirlia materialized out of the air. Her horns detecting a strong emotion in the air. "The next time we have a battle. It will be at the tournament." He said.

Cynthia smirked "Count on it." She said, looking her rival right in the eye.

Ash nodded and joined his friends in the living room. He was quickly accepted into the group, Cynthia observed as the former champion greeted Paul along with making what seemed like a snide comment about his current position.

Cynthia sighed and closed her eyes. They planned on setting off on a plane tomorrow. Maybe she'd finally get a moment of peace and quiet in her house. The house which might as well of been deserted if it weren't for the maids.

An arm gripped her firmly. She yelped and opened her eyes to see Ash pulling up and away from her laptop to the rest of the group. "Come on Cynthia, you can't be anti-social all the time." He said easily, shoving her onto the couch.

She landed on the cushions with a huff, neatly between Dawn and Brock who after a moment of hesitation, resumed their previous conversation about breeding.

"Candice! You're doing it wrong." Paul's voice caught her ear. She turned around to see Candice fiddling around with the laptop in Paul's lap.

"Come of it Paul, let her do what she wants." Ash said easily, watching Candice over Paul's shoulder.

"You should go look at his history Candice. See what Paul's been doing cooped up on this thing."

"Don't you dare Candice." Paul snapped, his hands grabbing her and averting her grip. Then as things went, it dissolved into a childlike brawl for the laptop. All with a laughing Ash goading them on.

Well? Tell me how it went and if you guys want me to edit it. Tell me. And I will. Also give me any suggestions you have for the story, cause at the moment... I'm really floudering on what to write about.

Thanks

Pen of Silver.