A well deserved fluke

"Sorry we're late," Ash said as he took a seat beside Elena while Ricardo dragged Via as far away from Elena as possible.

"You played poker with him, didn't you?" Elena asked as she punched Ash's shoulder playfully. Pikachu nodded pitifully at that as he jumped on Elena's lap.

Ash chuckled as he nodded. "Free food is free food, and I just had to beat him six times." Ash said with a humor filled tone while Gary shook his head before whispering something to Brock.

"Here's some trivia about Ash, he can turn anything into a poker game. Sudden earthquakes, poker, a tsunami, poker, a worldwide storm, poker, end of the world, poker." Gary shook his head at that while Ash glared at him.

"Stop complaining, if you remember correctly, I bailed us out of half of our acting class because I beat our acting teachers in poker." Ash reminded him but that outburst caused every single one of them, with the exception of Elena, to look at Ash funny.

"You took acting lessons?" Sarah asked; suddenly intrigue at that fact.

Ash nodded before shivering in dread. "My father loved watching theater, and loved the fine-arts in general, so when Gary and I reach the age of four, dad forced us to take acting lessons."

"Worst four years of my life," Gary commented with a dread tone.

"That's because you suck." Ash reminded Gary as he glared at him.

"Not everyone can star in four different productions like you, Ashy-boy." Gary retorted sharply.

"Wait a minute, you stared at four productions, and I didn't know that?" Elena said, surprised that she didn't know at least one thing about her love.

Ash gave her an apologetic look. "Those four productions were the worst moments of my life." Ash told her but Gary snorted.

"You were good, hell; you were offered six contracts after the fourth production." Gary reminded him, earning him a glare.

"One more word, I will impale you." Ash threatened, feeling uncomfortable at the looks that he was receiving.

"Hey Gary," Sarah called with a grin. "Do you have a video recording of those performances?" Sarah asked innocently.

Natasha laughed at that. "If Ash is anything like Alex, then those performances would be epic."

"Agreed," Adan muttered as the group of twelve enjoyed a casual conversation while waiting for their food to arrive.

(Scene Change)

May was pissed, together with Misty and Dawn, the reason why is because her rival, Drew, and her brother, Max were watching the battle that practically cemented Ash's strength as a trainer, and they were joined by Nando, Barry and Reggie. The problem is that the white haired girl was present in that battle.

"Can you turn that off already, Max?" May demanded in irritation as Drew gave her an exasperated look.

"I don't care if you're jealous of her, I am watching this. Ash showed some pretty cool moves, and that Elena was spectacular too. If you don't want to learn from the moves that they showed us, then that's your problem and you can leave if you want." Drew told her firmly.

May huffed in annoyance at that while Dawn rolled her eyes. "She depended on Ash." Dawn commented while Nando beg to disagree.

"That is not the case, Dawn. Ash and Miss Elena's teamwork was divine." Nando said as he played his harp. "I have never seen such a well coordinate teamwork in my life." Nando added, oblivious to the glares that he was receiving.

"And that girl's Lucario was so cool." Barry said with glee. "Have any of you seen those kinds of Aura Moves before? That girl trained her Lucario well."

"A pity Ash gave it to her." Max mused as the girls glare shifted to her. He ignore those glares as he watch the footage of Pikachu's evolution. "Now this, this is cool." Max said as the roar of the newly evolve Pikachu echoed in the room.

Barry instantly brought out his Pokedex and check if there was any info about that Pokémon. "I have nothing on that monster." Barry mumbled in disappointment.

"Maybe it's a new breed of Pokémon." Reggie said commented, clearly impressed by that monster's abilities.

"I'm impressed with Ash's adaptability." Nando said as he watches Ash flawlessly control the black Pokémon that he calls Voltranuc.

"Yeah, I never would have thought Ash could beat Cynthia." Barry muttered in awe.

"The victory was a fluke." They all snapped their heads around to look at Professor Oak who had just entered the room. "With all due respect of Ash's and his partner's abilities, Cynthia and Lance, especially Cynthia, lost because of three reasons. First, they are not tag-team specialists, second, Ash's Pikachu and Elena's Lucario caught them off guard, and lastly, Pikachu's evolution could not have been predicted." Professor Oak noted as he took a seat, his face laced with disappointment and exhaustion.

"But Ash clearly beat Cynthia, how can that be a fluke?" Max asked as their attention was diverted to Professor Oak.

Professor Oak chuckled a bit at that. "Ash admitted to me that the victory he had over Cynthia was a fluke, and I agree with him. If you want to know more, ask him yourself, he has truly matured." Professor Oak said with a proud smile.