Elites

A spring morning breeze blew through the meadows that surrounded the Cerulean City gym – it kicked up leaves and blew a comfortable cold through the front door of the gym. "Brr!" said Daisy as she shivered in annoyance. "Who left the door open?!"

The one who did so was one Misty Waterflower, who stood on the threshold of the doorway, blocking it. She had a letter in her hand that she was holding still, eyes wide, and mouth agape. Her Azurill observed her in confusion. It seemed that the girl was struggling to find her words. Daisy knew she could care less for whatever her sister had to say. "Hey! Airhead, what the heck do you- oof!" Before the blonde realized, Misty flung herself at her oldest sister, her hands hugged her waist almost intimately. "W-what?!" stammered Daisy. "Sis, like, what's going on?"

Misty shot her eyes up, an unmistakable smile was on her face. "Oh Daisy!" she said. "All my hard work has paid off! They've finally paid off! Mind, there's zero guarantee of anything – but who cares?! They've acknowledged me!"

"Hold up, hold up, hold up!" shouted Daisy. She pushed the bubbling gym leader away from her. "Start right from the beginning, missy. Just what in Arceus' name are you even talking about?!" Misty waved the paper in front of her sister, a smug look on her face.

"As you know the Elite Four is undergoing a massive change with Agatha retired and Bruno deciding to leave as well. The Pokémon League is now scouting out some of the best trainers in the region – and as a top ranking gym leader, I'm on that short list on becoming part of them."

"Like, congratulations baby sis!" shrieked Daisy, suddenly filled with excitement. "You've finally been acknowledged! That's excellent!" They both squealed happily for nearly a whole minute.

The work to get initiated was tough, as she had to remember code after code, and do battle after battle with the current members, but she passed through. Lorelei was most impressed and congratulated her for her acceptance, the orange head couldn't have been happier, she may not have actually been as good as she thought she was, but the fact that she got in made her giddy, even if she was ranked fourth in comparison to Jon Dickinson, who had been the winner of the Johto League way back when.

Being a member of the group didn't prove to be as busy as Misty would've thought and found she had a lot of spare time to spend on honing her skills are a water expert. Given her freshman status within the group, with the only remaining member of the original Elite Four from when she had been traveling with Ash being Lorelei, they were still being broken in – the newest members in recent years being Sabrina, Jon, and herself.

She was training in the swimming pool at her former gym – now ran once more by her sisters, though really by Daisy – when a call came in. "Misty!" greeted Delia. "Oh my sweet dear, I hope things are going well for you now that your dreams are starting to come true."

Misty beamed at the praise. "Thank you, Mrs. Ketchum! It's a blast now that it's happening. I'm so young for the position as well, what with being only twenty-two."

"Now, now," tutted Delia, "don't sell your abilities so short, you've earned that position through your hard work and principals. Anyway, I'm calling because I want to know if you'd like to come over sometime this week, or next." She paused and grinned at the orange head. "Also, Ash is coming home from Alola soon. I figured you two might want to meet up. I imagine he'll want some company when he gets back."

"O-oh, well, if he's that lonely, sure." Misty had held her breath at the words, but tried to put up an indifferent front.

"You ought to congratulate him when you see each other," went on Delia, pretending to not have heard. "He is the winner of their new League after all."

"Oh of course, of course! To accomplish that is huge. He's always been going on and on about getting to the top – and now he finally made it." She blushed a bit. "He's always been a pusher; it's nice to know that he finally did it."

"Good. I'll see you and him soon then?"

"Yup!"

Two days later one Ash Ketchum touched down at the Viridian City airport. "Finally home!" he said as he looked around the outside of the building. He was eager to get back and started walking off immediately for Pallet Town.

Ash had barely made it halfway through the city when a mysterious black car zoomed by. Ash didn't think much of it, until it pulled over some five-hundred feet away from him. From the driver's side stepped out a young woman in formal clothing, she looked like some kind of secretary.

"Excuse me, sir," she said as she walked over to him.

"Sir?" Ash echoed to himself.

"Sir, would you happen to be Ash Ketchum?"

Ash blinked. "Yes, that's me."

"Excellent," said the woman, smiling. "My employer thought he recognized you when we passed."

"Uh, who would your employer be?" asked Ash, confused. As if on cue, the door of the black car opened, and out stepped a man Ash hadn't seen in years. He wore shorts and a tacky looking short sleeved shirt. "Ah," said Ash. "That's who…"

OoOoO

Misty checked her clothes all over for wrinkles or any unpleasant signs. Azurill heaved a sigh at the action. Her trainer was not amused. "I just don't want to look like I've been slacking off on my hygiene and self-care, okay?" The Pokémon sighed again and accepted the explanation before being picked – Misty looked ahead and braced herself, she would finally be seeing him after a while, and with a title to boot. She couldn't wait to rub it in.

"Wow!" exclaimed Ash, his jaw hung open, Pikachu doing the same expression in their collective revelation. "Part of the Elite Four, and you did it in little more than a year since we last saw each other?"

"Read it and weep, Mr. Pokémon Master," replied Misty, waving her I.D. smugly at him. "It's so nice to be recognized as one of the great talents here in Kanto."

"Yeah, I bet," said Ash, completely missing her sarcasm as he stared at the I.D. in awe. He had been taken aback by Misty's arrival into his house, having been unaware of his Mom's desire for the two to see each other again. "It's so cool that you're living out that dream of yours, Mist." He then pumped a fist into the air. "I bet it must be great being able to be recognized as an Elite member, and with training your Pokémon as Elites, talking like an Elite, and…and…"

"Don't strain your brain for words you don't know," said Misty cheekily. Ash went red in the face from frustration and promptly settled back down. "So," she went on, "I heard you became champion of the Alola League, my congratulations."

Ash perked up. "Aw heck yeah I did! I'd show you the trophy, but its back home." After they met, both agreed that they wanted to take their reunion outside on the grassy meadows near Oak's Corral.

"Don't worry about it," replied Misty. "I'll have you know, Mr. Pokémon Master-"

"Hey, that holds real weight now."

"Shut up," she said, before smugly continuing. "As I was saying…I see trophies supposedly like yours – I think – all the time now. I have zero interest in what you've got." She waited for a reply, but it never came. Ash had instead gone quiet – his eyes vanished underneath the shadow of his hat and hair. "Huh?"

"Well, Mist," he began. "That's quite the insult to my abilities…" Misty stammered, but before she could apologize, Ash cut her off. "…but, I doubt you would've said that if you knew that I was your superior…"

"What? You? My superior? Don't make me laugh, Ash. Just because you won a regional league doesn't make us even equals…"

But Ash wasn't listening to her – instead he reached into his bag and pulled out a piece of paper. "Read it and weep then, Miss Waterflower."

Misty snatched at it and took one look at before screaming. "What the hell?!" she shouted after she pulled her face back from it. "You're now a Frontier Brain? Seriously?!"

Ash brushed the underside of his nose. "Yeah, crazy, right? Scott's been on a recruiting streak recently and started by asking all the previous winners who won all eight Symbols. Turns out I was on his radar, haha! I have nothing really all that better to do so I accepted it."

Misty stared at him, gob smacked. "B-b-but you…! You like traveling, not staying in one spot."

Ash cocked his head to one side. "Huh? But I thought it'd be fun to try something different. After all, I did live at Professor's Kukui's during my whole stay in Alola. Besides, I get to be top of the food chain in power here in Kanto."

"Ha!" retorted Misty. "But we Elite Four members are still better known to the public."

"Ah…but Frontier Brains ARE still technically stronger, right…?" Misty faltered and looked anywhere but at Ash. "I am right! Looks like I'm the best one here then," said Ash victoriously.

Misty heard a vein pop and glared at him. "Oh no you aren't, Ash!" she said. "We'll see who's strongest right now. Battle me!"

Ash blinked before falling back onto the grass. "Nah, Mist, I'll pass. Our little argument has worn me out. Come back in an hour and maybe I'll be up for a fight."

"Wait a moment...! Eh?!" But Ash had already fallen asleep.

OoOoO

Author's Note: Pokeshipping Week is back at last ladies and gentlemen! Albeit some of these I'm not going into with the greatest confidence – maybe as a result of experimentation or not knowing if you lot will like what I've done, but as always that is up to you the reader.