"Seriously? Wow, I really didn't know that…" Giselle said.
She had been so busy studying other subjects that she had never considered any of these questions until now.
"Wait… there's more than one Pokémon Tech?" I asked curiously.
"Huh? You didn't know? There are Pokémon Tech schools in every region. They might have different names in some places, but they're essentially the same. In Kanto and Johto they just kept the name Pokémon Tech," Giselle explained.
There are Pokémon Tech schools in every region? Wow, I really wasn't expecting that. In the anime it was never mentioned again after that one episode. Not even in the final season, which took place mostly in Kanto. Though now that I think about it, it makes a lot of sense.
"You really do learn something new every day…" I said.
"Well, it's an alternative way to participate in the Pokémon League for those who don't want to bother with a long and tedious journey," Joe added.
I'll ignore that last part. Traveling is exciting — exploring unknown places, going on adventures with your friends, experiencing romance… Doing the conventional journey is way more exciting than just taking exams. But oh well, everyone has their own preferences.
We kept talking for a couple of minutes until…
"Well, well, look who we have here," someone said.
When the three of us turned around, I saw it was Gary. This time he wasn't surrounded by his usual crowd of admirers.
"Gary, I knew you'd show up," I said.
"Of course I came. After all, I was the first one to complete the challenge of earning all eight badges. That's a commendable feat, much better than being one of the last ones to get them," Gary said with an arrogant smile.
The Gary from the early seasons really is… like a kid. Good thing he grows up later and his personality changes. Honestly, I didn't like him much in the beginning, but once he matures in later seasons, he becomes a lot more likable.
"What did you just say?" Giselle asked, frowning.
"Hmm. Who's she? Another one of your little girlfriends? Focusing so much on romance has made you weaker and slower than everyone else, Ash," Gary said.
"You…" Giselle started, getting angry.
"Easy there. Gary talks like that, but he's not a bad person. He's just… a bit immature," I said, trying to calm her down.
Even though his personality had taken a surprising turn, that didn't mean she couldn't get mad if provoked.
"Immature? Whatever you say," Gary replied.
Truth be told, he didn't dislike Ash. He just… enjoyed teasing him.
"Anyway, even though I was the last one, last time we met I remember your Pokémon couldn't even take a single hit from mine," I said with a mischievous smile.
I might not care about his insults… but that doesn't mean I can't tease him a little.
"Hmph. I admit I lost, but only because I got too cocky. Since that defeat I've been training non-stop and I've caught some really strong Pokémon. Now I have a powerful and balanced team, so don't think it'll be the same as last time," Gary said.
And that was true. After losing to Ash, he realized there was always a higher ceiling, so he decided to train hard, catch stronger and more powerful Pokémon, and build a balanced team… and he actually did it. He caught an extremely strong Pokémon that he was sure would let him win the Pokémon League without any effort. That's why he was so confident.
But before I could say anything else…
"Ash! I finally found you!" a female voice called out.
When I turned around, I saw Verity running straight toward me. She gave me a warm hug and then let go.
Seeing this, Giselle frowned slightly but didn't say anything.
"Verity, it's good to see you again. We haven't seen each other since that time at Mt. Moon," I said.
"Hehe, we've both been really busy with our adventures. It's normal we haven't run into each other since then," Verity said with a smile.
"True," I nodded.
"Excuse me. Could you introduce us to your friend, Ash?" Giselle asked.
"Right, how rude of me! I'm Verity, a friend of Ash and the future winner of the Pokémon League. Nice to meet you!" Verity said.
"Hmph. Winner? Girl, you're way too confident," Gary said.
"And you are…?" Verity asked.
"Gary. Gary Oak, future winner of the Pokémon League," Gary replied with an arrogant smile.
"Oak? You're related to the famous Professor Oak!" Verity said excitedly.
Ahem. In this world, Professor Oak is the most famous and well-known Pokémon Professor in the entire Pokémon world.
"Ahem, that's secondary," Gary said.
"Anyway, this is Giselle, my…" I tried to say.
"Girlfriend. I'm his girlfriend. Nice to meet you," Giselle said with an air of superiority.
"Oh… nice to meet you," Verity replied.
Her usual liveliness seemed to fade for a moment after hearing those words.
"And I'm Joe, a friend of Giselle and Ash," Joe said.
But Verity didn't seem to pay much attention to him, making poor Joe comically tear up.
"Before I forget, Ash, give me your Smart Rotom number so we can keep in touch in the future," Verity said.
Then she looked at Giselle and smiled.
"That is, if your girlfriend doesn't mind."
"Hmph! Why would I mind?" Giselle said, clearly annoyed.
It looked like… she had a future rival in front of her. Why did beautiful women always approach Ash? At this rate, by the time Ash finished his journey he'd be able to fill a mansion with his harem.
I knew Giselle was a bit angry, but… it would be rude to reject Verity. Besides, I like her and in the future I'd like to make her part of my harem… even if it'll be difficult because we rarely see each other. Still, with her phone number and talking often, maybe I can reduce that distance considerably. So I gave her my number and she gave me hers.
"Perfect! Now we can talk whenever we want! Isn't it great?" Verity said.
"Yeah, great," I replied.
I could feel Giselle's burning gaze on me, but there was nothing I could do about it.
Luckily for me, just when the situation seemed to be turning against me…
"Ash! I knew it was impossible not to see you around here!" someone said.
"What did you say? I seem to remember a certain person saying they wouldn't make it in time," another voice, this time female, replied.
"After the talent he showed in that place… how could someone like him not participate?" said yet another voice.
Surprisingly, it was the three trainers I had met during the events of the first Pokémon movie: Corey, Fergus, and Neesha. They had gone through those events with me, and although we didn't talk for very long, they were very grateful for my help with Mewtwo. You could say we were more than acquaintances, but not quite friends.
"Oh, it's you guys," I said calmly.
"You look a bit surprised. Did you really think you wouldn't see us here?" Neesha asked with a smile.
I thought about it seriously, but now that I consider it, my earlier thoughts didn't make sense. The reason I thought I wouldn't see them again was because they never appeared after the first movie in the anime, so I didn't think about it deeply. But now I realize how stupid that was. This isn't a fictional world — the events of the first movie really happened, not in some alternate timeline. Of course I would see them again.
"Sorry, it's just a surprise to see you here after so much time," I said sincerely.
"It's fine," Neesha said, brushing it off.
"Exactly. The important thing is that we're here," Fergus nodded with a smile.
Fergus was the trainer who only used Water-type Pokémon in the movie. I wonder if he's still going for a monotype team.
"Although I have to admit it wasn't difficult for me at all. After that incident and seeing how weak I was, I trained without rest and earned the badges with ease. Right now I'm sure I could defeat that Pokémon without any problems," Corey said with a confident smile.
Corey was the trainer who flew to the island on a Pidgeot.
"I also have full confidence in beating it! You don't know how much Gyarados and I have improved since then!" Fergus said.
"My current Blastoise could defeat that other Blastoise with a single Hydro Pump," Neesha nodded.
If they're this confident… it seems they really didn't slack off and have genuinely improved. But I've improved a lot more since then, so I don't plan on losing.
"Um… could you introduce us to your friends?" Giselle suddenly asked.
Although I had told her what happened on that island, I hadn't explained it in detail.
"Oh, yes, of course. These are…" I said.
A tedious round of introductions followed.
"I really never thought I'd see you again, Gary," Corey said with a confident smile.
"I didn't think I'd see you again either, Corey," Gary replied with a mocking smile.
"You guys know each other?" I asked, surprised.
"Of course. We ran into each other by chance after I got my sixth badge and I wiped the floor with him," Gary said arrogantly.
"I see…" I nodded.
"Yeah, you beat me back then, but the me from that time has nothing to do with who I am now. I've improved enormously," Corey said with a smile.
"Are you implying… that you could beat me?" Gary asked.
"I'm not implying it… I know it," Corey replied.
Back then they fought 1 vs 1 and he could barely do anything to Gary's Pokémon, but now it was different. He was much stronger now.
Gary and Corey stared at each other with challenging looks until…
"I knew it! I knew I'd see you here!" someone suddenly shouted.
The voice was so close that everyone turned to see where it came from. It was a girl about Ash's height, wearing a short-sleeved blue shirt, a pink skirt, white sneakers, and long socks up to her knees. On her head she wore a white hat with the same symbol as Ash's cap.
The girl didn't notice everyone's stares. Instead, she threw herself at Ash and kissed him on the lips, leaving everyone completely stunned — including Ash himself, who had no idea what was happening.
"You scared me! For a moment I thought I wouldn't see you here, but I see I worried for nothing!" the girl said while hugging Ash tightly.
Ash, still in shock, looked at the girl.
"Sorry, but… do we know each other?" I asked curiously.
I had no idea what had just happened. Suddenly a beautiful girl threw herself into my arms and kissed me in front of a bunch of people. Who was this girl and why did she kiss me?
"You don't recognize me? It's only been a few months since we started our adventure. It's me, Leaf!" the girl said with a bright smile.
The moment that name left her lips, a flood of memories rushed into my mind — memories I didn't know I had and hadn't remembered until now. This Ash's past had many differences compared to the anime's Ash, and one of them was undoubtedly the girl in front of me: Leaf, my childhood friend.