Operation: Aether (Aureliashipping Variant)

Chapter 4: Complicated Meetings...!

As the sun begins to set, our heroes are traveling through the snowy plain of the Crown Tundra, making pace and talking as they go

Gladion and Lillie were standing next to each other, with Lillie being on the far left, Gladion standing to her right, and Chloe in between Gladion and Ash

Pikachu, perching on Ash's shoulder, notices Snowy walking up next to Ash. Pikachu alerts Ash, as Snowy nudges it's face on Ash's right leg, showing him affection

"Aww... hey Snowy!", Ash responds, while leaning down to pet it. Snowy then jumps into Ash's arms, wanting Ash to hold it

"Vul, Pix!", Snowy sounds, leaning close to Ash as he holds it

"Wow, Lillie's Vulpix really likes you!", Chloe says, with Lillie seeing this as well

"Aha! Yeah!", Ash responds

Lillie giggles at this, finding her Pokémon and her crush getting along to be cute

"I guess a Pokémon really does get a lot from their trainer...", Gladion whispers to his sister, capped off with a wink

Lillie blushes a jumps a bit to this, though she gets over it momentarily

"So... Lillie?", Gladion whispered to his sister, grabbing her attention

"Yeah?", Lillie asked

"I don't mean to intrude on your business and all, but...", Gladion asks, "when are you going to tell Ash... y'know... the thing?"

Lillie blushes a bit, but then replies with, "I will after we find father and go back to Alola. Right now doesn't seem like a good time"

Gladion nods in agreement, respecting his sister's decision

"Hey Gladion", Ash asks Gladion, grabbing his attention, "you said earlier that you'd tell me how you got a mega Lucario!"

"Yeah, actually, I'd be interested to hear about it too!", Chloe said, overhearing what Ash had said

Gladion stared at them for a moment, but ultimately smiled and agree to tell them about it

"During our journey, we've traveled a long way.", Gladion explained, "This of course led to us having to take the occasional pit stop, our longest one by far was at a region called Kalos"

"We weren't originally meant to be there for very long, but during our pit stop, we found ourselves in the same city as a gym with an incredibly powerful gym leader", Gladion continued, "the gym leader there was incredibly powerful, one who wore... rollerblades, for some reason?"

"W-wait wait wait", Ash asks, evidently surprised by what he thinks he's hearing, "you mean you met Korrina?", he continues with excitement in his voice

"Yeah!", Gladion replied, "Do you know her?"

"Yeah", Ash answers, "she's a really good friend from my Kalos journey. She trained really hard to master mega evolution and become super strong!"

"Indeed", Gladion says, "I actually got a battle with her too!"

"You did?", Chloe asked

"Of course", Gladion replies, "I battled her with my Lycanroc, and I... got absolutely crushed by her.", he continues, with a hint of embarrassment in his voice, surprising everyone

"I was doing well before she used mega evolution, after that I didn't stand a chance", Gladion admits, "her Lucario was stronger, faster, and more powerful when it was mega evolved!"

"Yup, that's Korrina for ya!", Ash replies

"The thing is...", Gladion continues, grabbing Ash's attention, "had Korrina been an enemy, and she wanted to get in our way from finding father... how much of a chance did I really stand against her?"