Ash gave a sigh as they finally started to train while traveling through the famous Orange Archipelago. They had gotten off the talk late in the evening, they even had lunch in the meeting room where Lucario and Raboot had barged in not wanting to wait anymore. It had been a pretty comical sight, Ash was sure of it to see Lucario talking to them using aura, the fighting type had taken over to explain why it was easier for Ash and Riley to connect with aura. Lucario's line had a natural connection with pure aura and training with the Lucario line actually helped the trainer in accessing their own aura, hence why most Gaurdians had a Lucario as their main Pokemon.
They had talked all the way up to late at night to go anywhere that day, although Diantha couldn't ignore her meetings much longer and had to take leave followed by Wallace. Ash would have insisted on leaving if it weren't for the look on Ruby's face that spoke of relief when he realized what was going on with him and why. Ash was planning on training his Pokemon on Mikan Island and maybe challenge the Island leader while at it, he had heard how strong she was. It would be good training for them, maybe even take part in the Orange Islands competition while at it. One of the best things about being an unofficial League was you could train all of your Pokemon for the main League together, a little loophole in the rule book they had found years ago.
Lucario, -Meema, one of the eggs are glowing.-
Ash, "Really? Oh! Gou quick! We need a Pokemon centre!"
Gou took out his navigator, "It's on the east side of the Island. Let's go east!"
Lucario, -Follow me!-
Milotic trilled happily, -We're going to have another hatchling in the family.-
Ash, Gou and the rest of the Pokemon quickly packed up the camp and rushed off towards the Mikan Island Pokemon centre. Unknown to them they were being followed by a curious boy who had seen all the different types of Pokemon from different regions. He had first been curious about the different Pokemon before he watched them train together in awe and now they would be having a new little Pokemon join them. He would be lying if he said he was not jealous because he was, he only had one Pokemon he could call his own and his overprotective sister would not let him go on a journey for another three years.
Ash, "Excuse me Nurse Joy, My name is Ash Ketchum and I need help. This egg is from Grampa Canyon."
Nurse Joy checked the computer, "Ah! Yes, of course, you have been listed here, this way young man."
Nurse Joy led Ash towards a private room, "Please put your egg here and I will give it a check up."
Ash placed the glowing egg on the bed and Nurse Joy checked it, "It's okay, right?"
Nurse Joy smiled, "Don't worry, this little one is as healthy as it can be, why don't you seat down and hold it close to your left chest. Your heartbeat might just be what it needs to hear to be born."
Ash nodded and held the egg over his heart and the egg started to glow in rhythm to his heart and he started to whisper small encouragements. Gou sat beside him after texting the others about what was going on and opened the live feed. Gary, Misty and the others even the Alolan group were quietly watching Ash and the egg, despite it being almost midnight in Alola. They were very excited to see a poke egg hatch, even through the phone, they even got Professor Kukui took join the. The poke egg started to glow brighter with each heartbeat and encouragement before it started to change shape and became bigger.
Tyrunt blinked as he woke up, "Tyr?"
Lucario snickered, -Yes he is your Meema.-
Tyrunt snuggled into Ash's embrace chirping and looking to feed making Ash laugh, "I'm not a female. Ah! Nurse Joy the milk please."
Nurse Joy giggled handing over the bottle of milk she had prepared, "I'm happy you already bonded so well with him."
Ash smiled feeding Tyrunt, "So am I, I was a little worried about his health."
Nurse Joy checked Tyrunt while he was drinking milk, "Well according to this, he is as healthy as he can be."
Ash grinned, "Looks like I got four babies now, let's introduce you to the rest of the family."
Tyrunt simply burped getting giggles and laughs from Ash and Gou before they got up and left through one of the back doors to where the Pokemon were waiting in the garden that was connected to the ocean. Ash thanked everyone who had sent him congratulations on the phone on the way out and Lillie even commented she couldn't wait for her own poke egg to hatch. Tyrunt looked around wide eyed as he was introduced to his family or rather pack, there were so many of them and he chirped a greeting getting down from Ash's embrace and toddling over to them. The Pokemon happily welcomed him and Phantump, Omanyte and Chimchar played with the new addition.
A voice came from behind them, "So cool."
Gou, "Hello? Who are you?"
The boy shuffled his feet, "I'm Senta, this is my partner Krabby."
Ash smiled, "Nice to meet you Senta, what are you doing here though?"
Senta blushed a bit embarrassed, "I was watching you train before I followed you to the centre, I wanted to watch the egg hatches but I was not allowed in."
Ash smiled motioning to the young dragon type, "Well, this is Tyrunt, the youngest of my family."
Senta, "He's really cool looking."
Krabby nodded in agreement, "Bi bi."
Gou grinned, "He is, isn't he?"
Senta, "Will one of you be challenging Sissy?"
Ash, "The Island Gym leader? Yes, the plan is there but I want to wait till Tyrunt is a bit comfortable so maybe in two days."
Senta nodded, "I'll see you in the gym in two days then. It was nice to meet you Tyrunt."
Ash and Gou watched the kid run off after the impromptu good bye and turned their attention to the Pokemon. They were excited to have a new member and couldn't wait for the last egg to hatch soon, Tyrunt would be a big brother then. They spent the next two days training and checking the island out and even ran into Sissy who thanked them for helping the Lapras. Lorelei it seems have told them of their battle with Team Rocket and how they had helped the Pokemon escape from their clutches.
Ash, "Don't worry about it, it's not a big deal."
Sissy shook her head, "It is though, Lapras are already very rare thanks to the relentless poaching and the Orange Islands currently has the largest number of Lapras in whole of Kanto. It would have been a disaster if we had lost even one colony of wild Lapras."
Gou frowned, "It's really that bad?"
Sissy sighed, "Afraid so. Anyway serious talks aside, shall we get this gym challenge on the road?"
Ash, "Ready when you are!"
Gou fidgeted, "Um Ash... "
Ash, "You want to catch Pokemon? Go ahead, Gou, just remember to meet me back here or if you are late then at the centre."
Gou grinned, "Thanks Ash! I will be back soon."
Sissy, "Let's go Seadra!"
Ash, "Lucario!"
Lucario, -On it!-
Senta, "The first challenge is underway, here the challenger must be able to knock down more targets than the gym leader to be called the winner."
Ash and Lucario watched curiously as Senta pulled a lever and the field opened up revealing a table with fourty targets on top of it. They had to knock down more targets then Sissy and her Seadra did, sounded simple enough for them to follow and perform.
Senta, "Ready? Begin!"
Ash, "Aura bullet!"
Sissy, "Bubble!"
The two Pokemon went at it and started to knock down the targets as quickly as possible and when the last two targets were knocked down the score was twenty twenty. It had ended up as a draw!
Senta, "The second challenge is moving targets. The challenger and the gym leader will choose Pokemon to hit the moving targets. The one to hit the maximum number of targets is the winner."
Ash, "Awesome!"
Lucario nodded, -Indeed!-
Sissy, "You good to go Seadra."
Seadra, "Dra!"
Ash, "Lucario?"
Lucario, -Ready!-
Senta, "Begin!"
The two Pokemon started shooting their attacks at the moving targets as they appeared and hit them all in succession ending up in another tie. It was fun, Ash would admit doing another activity that was not a straight up Pokemon battle and also very refreshing. Lucario was also grinning by the time he had hit the last target, he was enjoying himself and the challenge that they were facing. On the sides Tyrunt, Chimchar, Phantump and Omanyte were watching with wide eyes as Lucario hit every target in succession, it looked like so much fun.
Gou, "Wao! That was a very close match up."
Raboot, "Ra raboot!"
Ash smiled, "You are back Gou, did you catch the Pokemon you ran after?"
Gou took out his phone, "Yup I added a Tentacool and a Shellder to my list of Pokemon and I met this guy Tracey. You should see some of his art, it's really beautiful and he even drew you while you were helping the Pokemon escape from Team Rocket.", Gou whispered the last part to Ash making his eyes widen.
Ash smiled brightly at Gou, "Great job Gou! I'm proud of you. And I would love to meet your new friend later."
Gou looked away a little pink, "Thanks Ash! Yeah, definitely we can meet him later."
Senta cleared his throat, "The second round has also ended in a draw, so we will move on to the third and final round."
Sissy grinned, "Good job Seadra, get some rest now."
Seadra nodded, "Dra!"
Ash hugged Lucario, "That was great."
Lucario grinned, -That was fun.-
Sissy, "Follow me for the final round!"
Ash blinked, "Sure!"
Gou and Ash followed Sissy to the back of the gym that had a wide open beach and the spread out ocean. Ash and Gou looked at Sissy who took out Blastoise and climbed her to sit on her shoulder.
Senta, "The third round will be a race between the riders and the Pokemon. The first rider today cross the flag point and reach the finish line will be the winner."
Milotic who had been watching trilled, -I want to see how fast I am against a Blastoise, Ash, please!-
Ash, "Of course Milotic, not to forget it looks like fun."
Sissy, "Well then get on your Pokemon and let's head to the start point."
Ash, "Ready Milotic?"
Milotic, -Always.... Huh! Lucario was right, you really are very light.-
Ash, "Hey!"
Sissy snickered, "I'm pretty sure humans are all light weight compared to Pokemon."
Milotic, -You need to eat more.-
Ash poked Milotic, "I already eat a healthy diet, now focus on the race."
Senta, "Begin!"
The race began and both Pokemon sped off towards the flag point, Milotic was noticeably faster, although Blastoise was no pushover either. Despite his size Blastoise kept up with Milotic and crossed the flag point at the same time before racing towards the shore. Half way through they were disturbed by a giant wave however Milotic used surf and used the wave to her advantage instead and raced ahead of Blastoise.
Sissy, "Oh no! We are not giving up that easily, use surf Blastoise."
Blastoise nodded and gave chase after her opponent, it was a very close match and when they reached the finish line, Senta had to depend on the camera to see who the winner was.
Senta, "Milotic is the winner."
Ash hugged Milotic, "Great job Milotic."
Milotic, -That was fun.-
Sissy got down from Blastoise's back, "Well done Ash, as proof of your victory I present to you the Coral Eye badge."
Ash, "Eh? Oh I didn't challenge you for the badge. I actually challenged you to test myself, in fact I'm planning on challenging all the gyms here for that reason. I want to see how far I can go, but I guess that does mean I'll take part in the challenge, doesn't it? I will have to sign up first."
Sissy smiled, "Well then it's a good thing Lorelei signed you up for the Orange Islands competition."
Ash looked at Sissy bewildered, "She did? When?"
Gou got an ah ha face, "It must have been back at Tangelo Island."
Ash, "Ah! Anyway thank you for the badge Sissy."
Sissy smiled, "Thank you for the fun challenge Ash, it was wonderful meeting you all."