Kanto

After the male Articuno, who was definitely older than Red's Articuno had left, Ash was dragged along by Red to his room which was in the top most floor. Lucario had gone to Ash's room announcing they were having a sleepover tonight to the other Pokemon who were already sleeping. They woke up and went to the upper floors together, Charmander was quite happy to snuggle with his mother while Pikachu made himself comfortable by Red's Pikachu. The other Pokemon made themselves comfortable around the large room, either sharing space with Red's Pokemon or joining the two humans on the bed like Lucario did.

Red, "I'm guessing the 'feeling' was not the only reason you were unable to sleep."

Ash grumbled into the pillow, "No..... my claustrophobia decided to show itself. I mean like why now all of a sudden. My tent is smaller than that room."

Red, "Must be because compared to the ship the rooms trainers get is quiet small or because it has been a while since you slept in a four walled room? The single rooms in the Pokemon centre are pretty large so it's possible your brain had gotten used to that idea of single room? Honestly phobias have no meaning or reasoning, they just are what they are."

Ash scowled, "It's really annoying though. You would think that by now, it would stop affecting me."

Red chuckled softly, "That's fear for you, it is what it is. You can't help it, but try to lessen it's effects on you. It'll get better you'll see."

Ash started to feel sleepy, "I hope so!"

Red, "Sleep you are safe. No walls are closing in on you here."

Ash fell asleep being snuggled by Lucario on one side with his snout in his shoulder, Jigglypuff snuggling Ash's head above Lucario and Red running his hand through his hair. Ash slept soundly after that although Red sighed as he got up and left the room, he knew the others were waiting for him despite the late night. The champions were in a way a make shift family as they were the only ones who could truly understand each others position and how lonely it is at the top. Red was greeted by them waiting in the lobby and he sighed, looks like he had some explaining to do.

Gold, "Sooooo.... Lugia and Ho oh are both interested in your little brother?"

Red sighed, "Don't ask me why, because I'm not sure. He's just a kid, that too a normal one... well as normal as a trainer can get anyway."

Gold, "And here I am searching for the two of them like a moron!"

Diantha, "Hey hey hey! None of that mon ami! You know you cannot tell how a legendary will act."

Cynthia, "Dia is correct, at least this shows they are probably gonna show up soon, yes? Unlike our region's legendaries, there is no scale, fur or hide to be seen of them."

Gold mused, "I suppose so."

Leon, "It is a bit curious though, why would they be interested in a child."

Steven, "I met him and his group of friends once. They are very bright, sweet and friendly. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what drew the legendary Pokemon to him."

Blue, "That's a bit of a stretch though isn't it? I mean there are others too who are similar."

Gold, "I'm too sleepy to think right now, how about we sleep on it and figure things out tomorrow?"

Lance, "Well, whatever the reason, I get the feeling they are going to give me headaches, aren't they?"

Red gave Lance a sheepish look, "Maybe?"

Blue snorted, "You mean Ash will, he already ran into Team Rocket three times now. Now that I think about it this is his third time meeting a legendary, isn't it?"

Red grumbled, "It better be just a saying and not a pattern or something like that. I swear I'll take away his training liscence if it means he'll be safe."

Blue gave Red a look, "You know he'll not fight against you if you do that but at the same time you won't because it'll make him depressed."

Red looked away from Blue and Leon gave him an understanding look before excusing himself for the night, as an older sibling he could understand where Red was coming from. The others followed his example and left as well to turn in for the night leaving Blue and Red alone to walk to their rooms which were opposite to each other. Red wished Blue a quiet goodnight and Blue squeezed his shoulder in quiet support and entered their rooms. Red entered his room getting a questioning rumble from his Charizard, Red shook his head in answer and promised to explain thing later before climbing the bed beside Ash and getting some shut eye. The next morning Ash woke up to feeling a hand running through his hair.

Ash looked up, "Morning big brother!"

Red smiled, "Morning Ash, ready to get up?"

Ash yawned and stretched only to realize he couldn't, "Yeah but I don't think I can for a while."

Red snorted, "Yeah, our Pokemon decided to cuddle with us half way through the night. They looked really adorable so I didn't want to push them away."

Ash tapped, Lucario, Bulbasaur, the two Squirtles, Jigglypuff and the two Pikachus, "Hey guys, get up! I want out, so I can wash up and take a bath."

Lucario yawned before grabbing the bag he had taken from Ash's room and walked to the bathroom adjacent to Red's room. Ash looked at Red who shrugged making Ash grin and follow Lucario to the large bathroom followed by the other Pokemon. Red waited as Ash and his Pokemon finished their bathroom activities and came out clean and refreshed from the wash.

Ash, "Red, do you want to?"

Red, "Took a bath already, don't worry about me, let's go grab some food yeah?"

Ash nodded and followed Red out of the room towards one of the restaurants that were more high class and private. The two sat at a large table with the other Champions and ex Champions who greeted them warmly. Ash smiled at them shyly as he sat beside Red and picked food for his Pokemon first before taking for himself.

Gold scooted close, "So Ash, that was some introduction last night. It's good to finally meet you in person."

Ash grinned, "You are talking about mine or a certain Phoenix?"

Gold grinned, "Yours of course, I got to say you have made quite an impression on all of us."

Ash looked at the others, "Huh! I had no idea Champions gossiped."

Leon snorted, "We really don't want to talk about work all the time, especially when we are together."

Steven, "It's one of the few times we are free."

Wallace held Steven's hand, "Which is very rare in itself."

Cynthia, "Free from our responsibilities and strict rules."

Diantha, "No one but another Champion can actually understand how lonely it actually is at the top."

Alder who was quietly eating, "Or mentally exhausting."

Ash looked concerned, "Are you guys doing ok? Do you need me to sneak you out for a holiday? I mean Ho oh can be summoned by using his feather right? I'm sure they would not mind helping you all get a break under the pretence of getting a Legendary."

Gold choked, "The heck kid! Do you even know how rare it is to get a feather? Let alone see Ho oh on your first day! And you want to use it to give us a holiday?"

Ash shrugged, "I have no plans to capture Ho oh. Too many risk comes with it. So this is probably the next best thing."

Blue laughed as Gold spluttered, "That's our Ash for you. Where is Lance? It's not like him to miss out on breakfast together."

Red, "He's talking to the Captain about last night, one of the cameras caught what happened on tape."

Blue, "Ah, I see him coming. Lance over here, come sit!"

Lance brightened up a bit seeing them waiting for him, "Good morning everyone. Sorry I'm late, I finally got the tape and destroyed it along with any copies of it."

Ash mumbled, "Sorry for the trouble."

Lance shook his head, "Not your fault, you can't control what a Legendary Pokemon does and the one from last night... He's the oldest of his kind."

Red, "I see, so he's from Lugia's court. One of the oldest in the world. They are going to be a pain to deal with, aren't they?"

Gold, "So if we interfere there is a chance we'll piss them off."

Ash, "Interfere with what?"

Cynthia, "Let's not have an apocalypse."

Ash, "A what?"

Leon, "Just know we are here!"

Ash, "I'm having an idea what you are talking about but I really hope I'm wrong about it."

Red looked at Ash, "What idea could that be?"

Ash looked at Red and spoke bluntly, "I'm gonna die, aren't I?"

Red, "What? No! What makes you say that?"

Ash, "Geeeee I don't know.... Maybe the fact the Legendaries only come during times of conflict and death? Oh and there is a 50% chance the day I meet them I'll no doubt run into Team Rocket or some other psycho poacher. My luck seems to go that way."

Alder, "You are not dying, I promise you that much, but you will be traumatized."

Cynthia snarked, "Thanks for the positive encouragement."

Red flicked Ash's head getting a squawk, "You don't need to worry about Team Rocket, we are dealing with them. Vermillion helped in cracking down on many of their hidden bases."

Ash looked at Red, "Should you be telling me that?"

Lance gave Red a look, "He really should not be telling you that."

Red shrugged, "Considering how many times you have run into them Ash, I get the feeling you should know, at least for some reassurance."

Ash sweatdropped, "I hope, you didn't just jinx me."

Wallace, "Anyway congratulations on winning your ribbon Ash. That was a very impressive display young man."

Ash smiled, "Thank you Mr Wallace."

Wallace waved, "Just call me Wallace kid."

Cynthia, "Speaking of we should get going, the type specialist tournament will start in two hours and breeder's competition in three."

Ash agreed as he left the fancy restaurant with Red, he was to say not exactly someone who would eat at fancy places. He had to call the lab and exchange his Pokemon too, and decided to do that first while waiting for the tournament to start. Ash sent Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander back to the lab while having Milotic, Beedrill, Butterfree, Primeape and Krabby sent to him. He would be training Lucario, Milotic, Beedrill and Butterfree for the next gym badge which is at Saffron city. Thanks to having four badges already he could now ask for four on four battles. It'll be good to increase his experience with longer battling time slowly.

Soon the type specialist tournament started with the announcer opening the ceremony. Misty was one of the few battling in the beginning against a fire type trainer followed by a fellow water type trainer. There were six rounds before the finals and Misty won the first two rounds easily before there was a break for them to cool down and check their Pokemon before the next two began. Ash used this chance to go check on how Brock was doing in his competition.

Ash was quite happy to see he was in time for them to start and surprised at how many breeders and trainers were taking part in the competition. There were around 16 breeders and he would bet his money they were from all over the regions plus he had not expected to see AJ of all people so soon taking part in the competition. The first round was the cleaning round where they would clean the various Pokemon as quickly and as efficiently as possible. The breeders were presented with various Pokemon from the crowd who had played around in the dirt box that he had noticed earlier. Brock had end up with a playful Noivern during his draw and had taken a bit of time in cleaning up the active Dragon Pokemon. AJ had ended up with an Alolan Sandshrew and from what Ash could see the teen was smitten.

They had both managed to get their Pokemon done in time and entered the second round which was the food making competition. Ash watched as Brock and AJ entered their element and impressed the judges with their own brand of Pokefood, however that was just part one of the second round. The true judges of the second round would be the Pokemon in the audience and the type specialist tournament who would decide who are the ones going to the finals round which is the battle round.

Ash called all of his Pokemon and explained they were about to get delicious food. The Pokemon were excited to try the delicious smelling food and the trainers went to the table which had different food with numbers on them and took the ones their Pokemon wanted. No one knew which number was who as the judges wanted an impartial judgement from everyone in the audience and the tournament. At the end of the second round they counted the votes the dishes got and chose four finalist, which were Brock, AJ, Suzy and Iggy.

Referee, "The first battle is between Suzy and Brock. Battlers please choose your Pokemon!"

Brock, "Ladies first!"

Suzy smirked, "How charming! Let's go Vulpix!"

Brock, "Let's go Graveller!"

Referee, "Begin!"

Suzy, "Iron tail!"

Brock, "Dodge it, roll out!"

Graveller rolled out of the way as Vulpix came down with an iron tail.

Suzy, "Follow up with inferno!"

Brock, "Graveller earthquake! Follow it by rock tomb like we practiced."

The earthquake disturbed the Vulpix who struggled to stand still and focus on attacking his enemy. Graveller then focused on using rock tomb on making Vulpix unable to move.

Referee, "Vulpix is unable to battle, Graveller wins the match. Brock will be moving on to the final round."

Suzy, "You did great Vulpix. Our first competition and we came so far."

Vulpix, "Vul!"

Brock hugged Graveller, "You were amazing big guy."

Graveller smiled before he started to glow and evolve into a Golem, "Lem!"

Suzy and Vulpix watched the evolution awed, "Congratulations!", "Vul!"

Brock, "Thank you, how are you feeling Golem?"

Golem rumbled in content as they prepared for the final battle which was against Iggy and his Cinderace. AJ and Sandslash had been beaten by the quick fire type and wished Brock best of luck.

Referee, "The final battle is about to start. Battlers choose your Pokemon."

Iggy, "Let's go Cinderace!"

Cinderace, "Cin!"

Brock, "Ready Golem!"

Golem, "Lem!"

Referee, "Begin!"

Brock, "Mega punch!"

Iggy, "Mega kick!"

The two attacks hit each other making them two separate.

Iggy, "Bounce and high jump kick!"

Brock, "Defense curl!"

The fire rabbit came down hard on Golem making him twitch a bit but the rock type refused to move. instead he grabbed on to the fire type and held on with an iron grip.

Brock, "Now take down!"

Iggy, "Oh no Cinderace."

Cinderace hit the ground hard but he refused to give up and stood up glaring at his opponent. Gou and Scorbunny were watching wide eyed from their seats as the older evolution used sunny day to recover his strength.

Gou, "You'll be able to do that too one day."

Scorbunny nodded, "Scor!"

The Cinderace used a combo of overheat and blaze kick to retaliate against Golem who used defense curl and rock throw. It became a battle of wills for the two final evolution Pokemon till finally Golem fainted due to exhaustion.

Referee, "Golem is unable to battle, Cinderace wins."

Golem got up feeling a bit down, "Lem!"

Brock pat his head, "You were amazing Golem, don't worry we'll work on your defense and speed in your new body, promise. You won't be beaten so easily next time."

Golem grinned and hugged Brock hard, "Eh he he he he, easy big guy."

Golem, "Lem Golem!"

The awards ceremony soon started and the winner got a portable incubator capable of holding three Pokemon eggs, three mystery eggs, a written recommendation and money as the first prize. Brock got a written recommendation, two mystery eggs and the prize money. AJ and Suzy both got written recommendations and AJ being the third runner up got one mystery egg to care for. Ash and the others congratulated Brock and greeted AJ and invited him to join them in cheering for Misty at the type specialist tournament. AJ agreed to go with them and went to cheer for Misty who had cleared the preliminary rounds and entered the semi finals.

[A. N.: Ahem! I just deleted another comment which... I will not go into details.

However I'll say this, insulting me or my readers who enjoy writing or reading LGBT stories by calling them names doesn't make you sound cool.

It makes you sound like an attention seeking homophobic looser.

So do us all a favor and keep homophobic comments away. I'll delete them of course but I rather not see them in the first place.

It's 2020, get on with the times people!!!!

Don't worry this is for a certain person who went out of their way to insult LGBT tagged story.]