"Caught last night…"
Clemont's mind kept looping around those four words.
He clearly knew what each word meant on its own, so how was it that put together, they suddenly made no sense at all?
Weren't they all just having dinner together last night?
How did it feel like after one night's sleep, he'd somehow fallen several updates behind? "That can't be right, can it?"
Ash took another bite of breakfast at an unhurried pace.
"Relax, let me explain. Do you remember that poacher from yesterday?"
"I remember you sent out Mewtwo…"
The moment Ash said that, Clemont instantly understood the key part of what had happened.
"What happened to that guy in the end?"
"He got dumped at the police station. We still need to head over there later and explain things to Officer Jenny."
"We?" Clemont looked at Ash in surprise.
Ash shrugged. "Pretty obvious, isn't it? Weren't you just about to say you wanted to travel with us?"
Clemont's mouth dropped open. "You actually... saw right through me."
Even if having his intentions exposed caught Clemont off guard, the thought of getting the chance to travel with a legend like Ash still made him genuinely happy.
Bonnie, standing beside him, was just as thrilled.
"See? I told you, Clemont, Ash's really nice. You were worrying over nothing. Besides, I set things up perfectly for you yesterday..."
It would have been fine if Bonnie hadn't brought that up, but the second she did, Serena and Clemont both looked like their expressions flipped in an instant.
Serena was flustered and happy all at once.
After spending time together last night, she could basically confirm that Ash really did like her for who she was, not just because she was a pretty girl.
As for poor Clemont, it was the complete opposite, a pileup of negative emotions so intense he practically wanted instant amnesia just to forget everything from yesterday.
"And you still have the nerve to say that!
Bonnie! Don't ever do that again!"
"..."
Amid the laughter and teasing, the four of them finished breakfast.
Before leaving, Ash made sure to get help from Nurse Joy to insert his Pokédex and activate his qualification for the Lumiose Conference.
Clemont then voluntarily took on the role of strategist.
He pulled out his phone, opened the map, and started analyzing things.
"The closest Gym is the Lumiose Gym.
But I've heard that Gym is pretty strong, and apparently you need at least four badges before you can challenge it.
So I'd recommend...
going to challenge the Santalune Gym first!"
Clemont delivered that whole explanation in a nervous voice.
Bonnie stared off to the side with a guilty look, clearly pretending to study the air.
To Ash, who had known all along that Clemont was actually the Lumiose Gym Leader, the whole scene was especially amusing.
If the siblings ever found out that he had known their real identities from the very beginning, he really wondered what kind of reaction they'd have.
One thing was certain, it would definitely be funny.
For now, though, Ash pretended not to know a thing.
"Really?"
Clemont quickly turned his head away, eyes darting around, sweat beading on his forehead.
"M, maybe? I'm not totally sure either. That's just what I heard from other people."
Seeing Clemont sweating buckets and looking like he was about to crack, Ash knew when to stop and dropped the subject.
If he pushed too far and everything came out now, then later on he wouldn't get to keep acting clueless and teasing Clemont about it.
Before setting out, the four of them first went to the police station and told Officer Jenny everything about the poacher.
After that, they headed to the biggest shopping center in Lumiose City for a major supply run.
One thing worth mentioning was that the Pokémon world's space technology was incredibly advanced.
Even something as small as a Poké Ball could contain an interior space as big as a room, so for larger space-storage backpacks, there was even less to worry about.
Not only were they cheaper, but they could hold a lot more too, so there was no need to worry about buying too much and not having room for it.
Serena and Clemont both stocked up on all kinds of travel necessities, Moomoo Milk, Potions, Pokéblocks, tents, blankets, changes of clothes, and more.
Serena also bought extra types of Poké Balls, and clothes...!!
"Whoa, hold on..." Ash said.
Looking at the outfits Serena had bought, his eyes went wide.
There was a black evening dress from a Cynthia collaboration line, an Umbreon hair accessory, a white coat from a Diantha collaboration line, various Elesa collaboration pieces, and even May's Hoenn dancing performer outfit.
What exactly was all this for?!
Was she seriously using this to target the weak spot of a five-time champion?
Sensing Ash's strange stare, the innocent Serena simply assumed he was confused.
"I want to try out the styles of the older stars so I can build up enough experience with stage outfits."
Ash's internal shame level rose by one.
"Oh... so that's what it was."
Serena looked curious. "Huh? Then what were you thinking before?"
"Nothing. That's exactly what I was thinking too," Ash answered instantly.
At that moment, seeing Ash only browsing without actually buying anything, Clemont gave him a puzzled look.
"Ash, don't you need to restock too?"
Ash pointed at the backpack behind him. "Nope. I already prepared everything before I came."
Once the big shopping trip was over, the four of them were just about to leave the mall when they were suddenly swarmed by a huge crowd of excited reporters and fans.
After asking around, they learned what had happened.
Alexa had posted Ash's interview on her social media account, and in it, she mentioned that his next challenge stop would be Kalos.
As a result, starting today, the entire Kalos region had broken out into a frenzy of people trying to find Ash.
As for how many days the hype would last, nobody knew.
On top of that, plenty of Trainers who hoped to battle Ash, or even dreamed of being the one to finally end his championship streak, were already on their way after buying tickets.
On social media, challenge videos full of bold declarations, videos openly claiming they would be the ones to end Ash's undefeated legend, had already racked up over a million likes at the high end.
That honestly caught Ash off guard.
He really hadn't expected one interview to cause such a huge sensation.
Good grief, had he just boosted the local economy by himself?
Was this basically the Taylor Swift effect, except it was him?
After briefly satisfying the fans' requests for photos, Ash turned down a bunch of people trying to force more attention out of the moment, then directly sent out Latias and escaped the scene with Teleport.
...
Route 4.
Latias and Ash's group suddenly appeared right in the middle of the road.
Serena wiped the cold sweat from her forehead. "Whew, Ash's fans are really intense!"
Ash shrugged. "You chose to become a Performer. Once you get famous and build up your own fanbase, your fans might end up being even crazier."
The quiet Clemont was more concerned with figuring out where exactly they were.
He pulled out his phone and opened the map.
"This is... Route 4! And if we want to get to the Santalune Gym, this is the road we have to take anyway."
Thank goodness.
At least Latias hadn't sent them in the opposite direction.
Ash clenched his fist.
"Before that, once we pass through the forest, I want to put Froakie and Ralts through some special training and raise their levels."
Gym challenges were ranked from one star to eight stars.
Ash currently had zero badges, which corresponded to a one-star challenge.
That meant a Gym Leader would usually send out Pokémon around level 10.
The difficulty wasn't especially high. Even an eighth-level Froakie could put up a fight. But it would be hard to gain much from it.
Every time he came to a new region, every battle against a Gym Leader was a rare and valuable experience.
Not making the most of that would be a complete waste.
So Ash had no intention of challenging that difficulty.
Instead, he wanted to skip ahead and take on the two-star level, facing Pokémon around level 20.
Froakie was only level 8 right now, and Ralts was level 11.
Ash's plan was to train Froakie and Ralts until they both reached level 15.