I went ahead and started to count the familiar, named trainers here.

First of all, there was the expected Ash, Dawn, and Brock, whose importance to the anime made their presence be of no surprise to me. Ash dug into the buffet alongside Pikachu, Dawn happily chatted to a few other present trainers, and Brock...

Well, Brock was trying his best to recover from Croagunk's Poison Jab after he dropped one of his usual, intense pick-up lines.

They made a baseline of three known trainers, but Zoey was here alongside Candice, the two of them acting as the trainers Dawn was talking to. The current attendees didn't just stop at those five, though, as there were upper echelons of the Sinnoh Pokémon League here too.

Cynthia, Lucian, and an elite four member I didn't expect, the red-afro'd Flint, were here, too. Those three brought the count up to eight, and the visiting Steven and recent arrival, Brandon, made the final count ten.

In total, that was ten trainers present that I recognized from either the games or anime. Alongside them were countless other trainers who had participated against Hunter J, now all much more flush with cash from their share of the bounty that had been split between them all. With how exuberant they all were acting, there was no doubt Snowpoint City's economy was currently receiving a huge financial infusion.

As this “festival” had started impromptu on the wide main street of the town, there was plenty of space for everyone's Pokémon to be sent out. A joyous crowd of Pokémon and humans alike sang, ate, and danced to celebrate the arrest of the infamous Hunter J.

My current Pokémon were all having the time of their life. Carbink was lecturing a group of miscellaneous Rock Types on the merits of absolute defense, Whimsicott was leading around an angry flock of bird Pokémon with glee clear on his face, Dedenne was chowing down on the buffet not too far away from Ash, and Altaria was on my head, of course. His role as an unintentional disguise was the primary reason random people weren't approaching me.

Florges, on the other hand, looked a bit tired. Not only had she done her best against Hunter J’s Salamence, but she had also healed dozens of injured Pokémon. The start of the party had seen her practically fight off an entire crowd of grateful Pokémon trying their best to impress her with gifts or shows of strength. In the end, she was saved by a group of the local Pokémon Center's Chansey, who all made sure that it was known Florges wanted to be left alone.

A pair of Chansey were actually serving as Florges's bodyguards right now. With her space secured, she was sitting back and was casually chatting to the rest of the Chansey, who were all treating her with the respect she deserved.

As for me, I already had my share of the food, and already I had my share of the music. Rather than talking to anyone in particular, I instead clutched an item I had just obtained, holding it up between my fingers and staring at it with a smile on my face.

At the beginning of this party, Candice had approached and handed me the badge I had earned from the show battle earlier today. The presence of Hunter J had stopped that exchange before it occurred, so she made sure I was given what I was owed. With that, I was now the proud owner of my seventh Sinnoh Gym Badge: the Icicle badge.

The blue Icicle badge somewhat reminded me of a Bergmite, as it resembled a set of a few ice crystals pointing upwards. It was a cool blue highlighted in steel gray, and it reflected the light of the hastily thrown up strings of bulbs that extended up and down this street.

With this earned, there was only one more badge I still needed to earn in Sinnoh. I had one week until the month of February, and from there, the Sinnoh Pokémon League Conference would start at the beginning of March. My potential battle against Tobias was slowly creeping closer and closer.

I finally looked up from my new badge, having been lost in thought for a while. This time, my eyes lingered on what Ash and Dawn had received from Cynthia as a reward for their help against Hunter J. The stones on their wrists glinted with rainbow light. It represented a threat both of them would have access to if I ever battled them in the future.

“Worried about your chances?” Cynthia said as she approached.

I glanced her way as she maintained an amused smile on her face.

“You know, you might not be the only Mega Evolution Master out there soon enough,” she said.

“I’m not—” I sighed, understanding the futility of fighting against that title. “Yeah. I just didn’t expect both Ash and Dawn to get a Key Stone as a reward. Did they get any Mega Stones, too? I know Dawn could potentially Mega Evolve Lopunny, but unless I’m misremembering, I don’t think Ash has any Pokémon that can Mega Evolve on his team.”

Cynthia moved to the seat on the table across from me and sat down. She leaned back and looked over to where Pikachu was now furiously trying to perform the heimlich maneuver on the choking Ash. A wet “plop!” signified that Ash was now freed of the blockage, and the pair went right back to eating.

“I suppose I could reveal it, but that would be telling,” Cynthia said.

“And we all know I haven’t been spoiled on something like that before.”

“Of course not. It’s not like you’ve seen the future of this world, or anything of that kind.”

I turned in my seat to face Cynthia, whose amused smile had not changed. I glanced around us to make sure no one would overhear what was about to be said, but Cynthia spoke up to reassure me and bring my focus solely on her.

“Don’t worry about what we’re saying getting out. Spiritomb is consuming any loose sound waves outside that get too far away. No one else will be able to hear us.”

I suppressed a shiver at the mention of the ghost, then pushed past that momentary uncomfortableness to get to the question I wanted to ask.

“So, did Steven tell you?”

Cynthia shrugged.

“There was no need to. After what you wrote in the packet, it wasn’t too hard to put it all together,” she replied. “You’re from a world without Pokémon. And somehow, you’ve seen a glimpse of how things should go. At least, you caught a glimpse of how things should have gone before you got involved.”

“I watched an anime,” I explained. “I played some games. Ash was basically the protagonist.”

Cynthia nodded. She didn’t look too surprised.

“With what you told me, there’s no wonder you’ve kept such a fact secret. Is it really true that your government—”

“I’d rather not talk about politics,” I interrupted.

“Of course, of course.” Cynthia waved her hand. “But I do have a question for you related to that: What do you plan to do next?”

Curious about the question being asked, I shifted in my seat to better face Cynthia. She seemed prepared for this to be a long discussion, so I went ahead and prepared myself as well.

“Now that I have the Icicle Badge, I need to earn my last ribbon. From there, I’ll need to beat Volkner before I rush back to Lake Valor to hopefully compete in the Grand Festival. After that, The Lily of the Valley Conference awaits.”

“And after that?”

I blinked.

“Huh. I’ve been so caught up with the fact there’s a trainer with multiple Legendary Pokémon on his team that any plans past that slipped my mind. After the conference, I’m heading to Spear Pillar.”

The Pixie Plate was still in my possession, though Gardevoir had been the one to hold it more often than not. Just its presence alone allowed him greater control and power over his Fairy Type moves. He was my solution to Darkrai, though my solution to the rest of Tobias’s team was still in the works.

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“I meant what your plans are after Sinnoh,” Cynthia explained.

“Oh. Hm. I guess I don’t have any? Likely, I’d figure out the next region to visit and continue to expand my knowledge of the Fairy Type.”

“So no specifics in mind? No plans to settle down?”

“Not at the current moment,” I said. “As I am right now, I can’t see myself ever taking a break from working with Pokémon.”

As I said that, Cynthia smiled and leaned forward. She rested her head on two crossed hands. Her eyes glinted with amusement as she stared directly into mine.

“I have a proposal,” she said.

I tried my best to not squirm in my seat awkwardly.

“Yeah?”

“Would you be interested in working for the Pokémon League?”

“I... what?”

“Think about it, Alex,” Cynthia said. “Think about the experiences you’ve gone through. You’ve fought Team Magma, you helped Steven with Rayquaza at Sky Pillar, you practically personally revealed and stopped Team Flare back in Kalos, and now here, in Sinnoh, you’ve been battling our Gym Leaders’ personal teams, fighting the Legendary Heatran, and helping stop Hunter J. Not only have you helped to stop countless tragedies from occurring before they even started, but you’ve personally rocketed our knowledge of Mega Evolution years into the future. The sheer number of major events you’ve been involved with is mind-boggling. I doubt anyone would question your eligibility.”

“I don’t really consider that to be anything special. I never went out of my way to do any of those. They mostly just kind of happened.”

“Alex,” Cynthia sighed. “Who are you comparing yourself to? The average trainer? Or Ash, who both has a list of achievements far longer than yours while also being the teen who was the protagonist of an entire series of games and anime.”

“Ash actually stayed ten all the way through and never reached teenhood,” I pointed out. “And he was only the protagonist of the anime, not the games.”

Cynthia sat back up in her chair and crossed her arms. I turned away from her questioning look.

“Alright, alright,” I said. “Maybe what my team has been through is certainly something. But even then, the League is really that interested in hiring me?”

“Well, there’s been some discussion of it in the past, but Steven spoke against it, saying you deserved to have your own journey without needing the stress the job would entail. It’s never come up since then,” Cynthia said.

“But why now?”

“Do you know how most Ace Trainers are recruited?” she asked.

I shook my head. Cynthia continued.

“Most of the time, after a promising trainer competes in a League Conference, we send them an offer to join up. Most trainers only compete in a single Conference before getting recruited, and most tend to accept. Traveling around multiple regions is difficult for most people, especially when they have their own homes and families they want to get back to after spending an entire year on a journey. Being an Ace Trainer gives trainers a chance to continue training their Pokémon without needing to go too far away from home. Most trainers at high levels tend to fall in such a role.”

“So how many actually travel between the regions?” I asked.

“A few hundred, at most,” she replied.

“And what about those that end up working for Gyms? Is that not a reasonable goal?”

She hummed and put a hand in her coat pocket. As she did, I got a glance of her moving a stone around in her palm. I tried not to grimace when I realized that was Spiritomb’s core.

“You have quite the unique case when it comes to that,” Cynthia said. “Did you know that most Gyms require its members to swear an oath of loyalty to their region?”

“I didn’t, actually,” I said, surprised.

“Well, they do. Gyms were originally put in place to support the trainers dedicated to protect individual towns and cities. The history of such is really quite interesting, but I’ll keep it short. Essentially, as time went on, those Gyms were eventually unified into a Pokémon League for one reason or another, and with that form of centralized power, most of those Pokémon Leagues partnered up into the single Pokémon League we have today, which claims to have united the globe.”

I narrowed my eyes at her suspicious word choice.

“‘Claims?’” I asked.

Cynthia nodded reluctantly.

“As much as we ‘claim,’ the Pokémon League is more of a conglomeration of individual regions rather than one unified whole. We work together to stop conflicts before they happen and handle major issues, but most problems are still expected to be handled by individual regions. Situations like the one we have now, where Steven has been visiting to help with some local issues, aren’t actually too common. The true cross-regional organization would be the International Police. The Pokémon League is still highly restricted to the regions themselves.”

“So where would I fit in with that?” I asked.

“So where would you fit in, indeed,” Cynthia replied. “You don’t have a home region, and you’ve only actually visited a handful of Pokémon League members. I want you to become an Ace Trainer, but I think having you be one limited to one region would be a mistake. My offer to you is this:

“I want the League to hire you as an independent agent, specifically. Someone who visits regions and uses your knowledge to assist with issues that happen within. At the rate things are going, it won’t be too long until your knowledge of what might yet come will become out of date. I want to be able to use that while we still have the chance. You would still have the independence you have now, but you’d work on behalf of the League, gaining the authority that would come from such a role alongside the responsibility.”

I frowned. Cynthia continued her explanation.

“As payment, the League would take over your sponsorship, though your position at Sycamore’s ranch still would be maintained. Your income would switch from weekly to monthly, being increased overall in exchange, and you’d be able to put in applications to train rare Pokémon that would be too difficult to find otherwise.”

“That’s it?”

“Well, there’s also the usual benefits of working for the Pokémon League,” Cynthia continued. “You’d gain access to free travel across and between regions, most area restrictions wouldn’t apply to you, you would have significant discounts at Pokémarts and most shops, you wouldn’t have to pay for rooms in Pokémon Centers even during the off season, and you would have access to private training halls located in almost every city. We also have information not usually accessible to the civilian populace, though I have a feeling that’s not necessary.”

Despite all that, I still wasn’t convinced. Honestly, what I was caught up on most was the potential restriction of my freedom to choose what to do. I liked being able to travel wherever I wanted on a whim. Heading back to Iron Island to challenge Heatran was both fun and valuable. Gardevoir had only recently evolved, too, and his Teleport would slowly expand its usable distance to bring us around even more than he already could.

At the same time, what Cynthia said about my knowledge ran true. I knew Hoenn, Kalos, and Sinnoh had their criminal organizations basically solved, but what about the rest of the regions? Having a steady job also appealed to me, but I had been somewhat hoping to be able to apply somewhere as a Gym Trainer. I wasn’t sure what to think of swearing an oath to a local region, though.

As I considered Cynthia's offer, my mind went back to Kalos, where I met with Valerie. There, she had asked me what I had planned to do other than just battle Pokémon, and I hadn’t had an answer to her. Even now, I wasn’t sure I had an answer.

Did Contests count? Did I want to compete in Contests and be involved in that culture for the rest of my life?

Seeing my thoughtful face, Cynthia stood up, pushing her chair out.

“There’s no need to answer straight away,” Cynthia said. “You have time to think and consider my offer. No one else knows that I asked you this, since I did so on a whim more than anything else. If you say yes, I’d approach the rest of the League about my idea. On a no, we would simply resume how things are now, with no one the wiser. I won’t be offended if you turn me down, as I understand that working for the League isn’t for everyone. For you, I especially understand, given how the government worked back in your old home.”

“For now, though, Alex,” she continued. “I wish you luck for the rest of your journey. Unfortunately, this is where we part. I have to get back to my job. As the local Champion, I can’t foist all of my paperwork onto my assistants, especially what I need to fill out regarding Hunter J’s capture.”

Cynthia laughed, as if that was a joke, but there was a clear pain in her eyes when she mentioned paperwork.

“Please say hi to Togepi for both Togekiss and I, by the way,” Cynthia said. “I hope she’s doing well. We’ll talk another time.”

With one last silent wave, Cynthia walked off into the crowd, disappearing from view and leaving me to think.

I didn’t get to do so for too long, however.

“Hey! Alex!”

“Yes, Ash?” I sighed.

I turned to where Ash was approaching me from across the street. He had a determined expression on his face.

He pointed directly at me. Pikachu puffed up his chest.

“I challenge you to a Pokémon battle!”

I blinked.

“What?”

“You heard me! Both of us earned our seventh Gym Badge, and now I have Mega Evolution on my side, too! I want to put that to the test! Let’s battle!”

A few nearby people turned their heads towards us in interest. Dawn, from where she was talking to both Zoey and Candice, glanced over and sighed.

“Oh, Ash,” she said.

I didn’t get the chance to accept or deny his challenge.

“You’re not fighting Alex today,” a voice called out.

Practically everyone turned their heads towards where the voice came out. Personally, I just chose to sit back and let this drama play out in front of me.

“I am,” the voice declared.

Emerging from the crowd was Paul, followed by Reggie, the pair of them becoming the eleventh and twelfth named character here at this party today. Paul had a scowl on his face that was somehow directed to both Ash and I at the same time. Reggie, his older brother, let out an almost apologetic chuckle.

“What? I already made my challenge to Alex, Paul! You can’t just interrupt like that!” Ash accused.

“Ash, Alex hasn’t accepted your challenge yet,” Dawn pointed out.

“And I’m not sure if I will,” I replied. “Practically every single member of my team is exhausted. Half of them are still recovering from my battle with Candice, and the other half are recovering from the battle against Hunter J. None of my Pokémon are able to fight right now.”

“Tomorrow, then,” Paul said. “I’ll defeat—”

Reggie placed his hand on his brother’s shoulder. Paul’s scowl deepened.

“...you tomorrow. We’ll battle tomorrow,” he said.

Ash looked unhappy, but as he stared at Paul’s determined expression, his own expression seemed to relax. He glanced at me with acceptance on his face. He didn’t seem anywhere near as bothered as he was only moments ago.

“You know? Go ahead and battle Paul, Alex,” Ash said, to my surprise. “He and I already agreed to resume our battle in the Conference. I’ll battle you there once I beat him!”

“Wait, you didn’t finish your battle?”

“Hunter J interrupted the fight,” Dawn explained. “Paul had knocked out four of Ash’s Pokémon. Ash only knocked out two.”

I hummed, remembering what happened in the anime. Paul had beaten Ash pretty conclusively. I was pretty sure that without Hunter J’s interference, the same would have occurred.

“Then I’ll accept your challenge, Paul,” I said. “We’ll fight midday tomorrow. As for you, Ash. I guess I’ll see you in the Lily of the Valley Conference.”

Ash held up a fist with a smile as Pikachu did the same.

“Right!” Ash said. “In the Conference!”

He smiled at me, as I smiled back. Paul stomped off, and Ash rushed away to go train with his team.

I was finally left alone to think, giving me time to consider both what Cynthia said and my apparent upcoming battles.

Paul was different, but in what way, I couldn’t exactly say. At the same time, I now had to truly prepare for Ash alongside Tobias, meaning I needed to step up my game even further.

Ash was at his peak during the Lily of the Valley Conference in the anime. I had been preparing to battle Legendary Pokémon in it, a team of Legendary Pokémon that I knew might conclusively beat him again. Even with that, however, I had significantly changed this world. I now had two serious opponents I needed to properly prepare for, rather than just one.

And then there was Cynthia’s offer...

The future was somehow gaining more and more events I needed to worry about. I had time, though, and with time, I knew I could eventually come to a solution. I considered myself to be at my strongest when I had time to plan, after all.