Ash glanced out of the corner of his eye.
On the bed, Serena was happily playing with the Ralts sitting in her lap.
After thinking it over, he decided that with only two of them, there was no way he could form a whole team of Gardevoir maids to handle everyday chores anyway.
And if they were being raised as core battlers, then one of the same type was enough.
On top of that, both little ones were female, so there was no chance of using a Dawn Stone to evolve either of them into Gallade...
In the end, Ash asked Serena to take care of the regular Ralts, while he adopted the Shiny Ralts.
Serena had no objections to that at all.
After all, the Shiny Ralts had originally been the one Mewtwo brought back for Ash.
The fact that she got to have a regular Ralts at all already made her incredibly happy.
Just then, probably because it had used Mystical Fire too much, Serena's Ralts had its stomach growl in protest.
"Oh, right. If you're hungry, there's food here. If you don't like it, we can buy something better suited to your tastes tomorrow."
As she spoke, Serena climbed off the bed, slipped on her shoes, walked over to where her bag was, unzipped it, and pulled out the Fire-, Water-, and Grass-type energy cubes she had prepared in advance.
Then she split them between the two Ralts.
Maybe because both of them had learned the Fire-type move Mystical Fire, the pair sniffed at the choices and, almost in perfect sync, both picked the Fire-type cubes.
The moment the cubes went into their mouths, the spicy taste spread across their tongues while the rich energy rushed through their bodies.
"So spicy, bleh!"
A childish little voice suddenly rang out in both Ash and Serena's minds.
It made Ash pause halfway through reaching into his own bag to pull out Fairy- and Psychic-type energy cubes.
Both of them turned to look at the Shiny Ralts, who had its mouth open, tongue hanging out, and little white hands waving frantically in front of it to fan its tongue.
They suspected it because the other Ralts was eating much more politely and did not seem like the type to complain out loud.
Apparently noticing the strange silence in the room, the Shiny Ralts raised its head, revealing two wide, innocent-looking eyes beneath its blue bangs.
"Why are you both staring at me?"
"So it really was you talking."
Ash withdrew his hand from his bag and rubbed the Shiny Ralts on the head.
The silky feel of it made him want to keep going.
Feeling offended, the little one angrily stretched out its short arms and tried to escape from Ash's grasp.
After several failed attempts, it could only stare at him in surprise.
This human was really strong...
Of course, the little rascal was not just going to sit there and accept defeat.
Since strength was not on its side, it decisively used Teleport to escape Ash's hands, then challenged him to a battle.
If it lost, it would become Ash's partner. If it won... well, it had not figured that part out yet.
At the end of the day, both Ralts had already grown up the moment their mother abandoned them.
And after being picked up by Mewtwo, they had already accepted Mewtwo as a powerful protector.
The moment the Shiny Ralts saw that Ash had caught Mewtwo, it had already decided to follow him.
But its competitive nature would not let it accept being caught peacefully, so it bravely demanded a battle instead.
Ash, for his part, did not intend to go easy on it at all.
He sent out Mewtwo directly.
Mewtwo stepped in, did not even bother using a move, and knocked the Shiny Ralts out cold with a single chop, granting the child baby-level sleep quality.
When it came time to catch it, Ash hesitated for a moment between a Moon Ball and a Dream Ball.
In the end, he chose the Moon Ball, whose design gave off a cooler, more elegant feel.
Aside from the prominent crescent on it, the upper half of the Moon Ball was split between blue and black.
And the Shiny Ralts's final evolution, Gardevoir, especially after Mega Evolving, would have blue hair paired with a black evening gown-like skirt.
The color scheme matched the Moon Ball perfectly.
Once Ash finished his capture, Serena's side was even simpler.
Her Ralts was much more well-behaved by nature.
And after personally witnessing the result of trying to act tough, namely being rewarded by Mewtwo with baby-level sleep, it wisely accepted Serena as its Trainer on the spot.
Since Serena believed in asking when she did not know something, she asked Ash before catching it why he chose different Poké Balls for different Pokémon.
After Ash explained that in Contests and Showcase-style performances, matching a Pokémon's colors with the colors of its Poké Ball could also earn a small number of extra points, Serena immediately realized just how much she still had to learn.
A regular Ralts was green and white, so it obviously was not a good fit for a Moon Ball.
After thinking it over, Serena finally chose a Friend Ball.
Since this had been a last-minute decision, she did not happen to have a Friend Ball herself.
But that was fine, because if Serena did not have one, Ash did.
Before setting out, Ash had prepared at least ten of every kind of Poké Ball.
And since they could all shrink down to the size of a fingernail when not in use, carrying them around was no problem.
Taking the Friend Ball from Ash, Serena enlarged it and held it in her hand, then looked at Ralts.
The two met each other's eyes.
Ralts obediently raised a hand and gently tapped the button in the center of the Poké Ball.
Click.
A red beam shot out and drew Ralts inside.
After Ralts was caught, the Poké Ball did not shake even once before going still.
"I did it!"
Serena was thrilled at her first successful capture.
She immediately let Ralts back out again, and spent the rest of the night cuddling the adorable little thing.
Watching the whole scene, even Ash was not sure which of them he was supposed to envy.
...
The next day, after washing up, Ash and Serena each got breakfast and ran into Clemont and Bonnie in the lobby, who had also gotten up early.
The moment he saw Ash, Clemont excitedly stood up from the table and waved.
"Over here, Ash!"
But when Ash reached the table and Clemont was just about to say that he and Bonnie wanted to travel with Ash, his eyes landed on Ash's collar.
There, a tiny little figure with blue hair and an orange horn was quietly peeking out.
He froze on the spot, mouth wide open, pointing at the Shiny Ralts as he stammered in disbelief.
"A-Ash, look at your collar! R-R-R-Ralts?! And it's Shiny?!"
The moment he said it, he held his breath, as if afraid the Ralts would bolt the very next second.
"It really is! What a cute Pokémon!"
Bonnie's eyes widened too, practically sparkling with hearts.
"I want one! Bonnie really wants one!"
The siblings' shock immediately drew the attention of everyone else in the dining area.
There were not many guests up this early in the morning, but this involved a Shiny Pokémon, and not just any Shiny Pokémon, a highly popular Ralts.
In an instant, quite a few people put down their utensils, stood up, and turned to look at Ash.
There was no helping it. Seeing that a scene was about to break out, Ash had no choice but to recall the little beauty with the Moon Ball before she caused a full-blown commotion.
"When did you catch it?" Clemont asked in shock.
"Just last night..."
The guests who overheard Ash's answer were instantly set off.
If he had only caught it last night, then did that mean there were Ralts living somewhere nearby?
The moment that thought hit them, breakfast suddenly stopped tasting good.
Every bite turned bland in their mouths.
Forget this, there was no way they could keep eating.
The restless Trainers all abandoned their breakfasts and rushed out of the Pokémon Center one after another, each afraid someone else would beat them to it.
Very quickly, every guest in the Pokémon Center was gone.
Before long, only Ash, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie were left in the entire dining hall.
"Uh..."
Nurse Joy came out of the restroom, passed by, saw the completely empty dining room, and stared in total confusion.
Where did everyone go?
Did Dialga use its power over time while she was in the bathroom or something?