Old Titles (Betrayed) **Revising**

Chapter 5: The Unknown (revised)

Bonnie laughed. "Could've fooled me. But what have you been up to anyways? I think I would've noticed you at some point on the statistics."

"Well not when I'm a Frontier Brain."

Bonnie almost froze. "W-Wait... you're a Frontier Brain now?"

Ash nodded. "Mhm. And besides my co-workers and a select few others, you're the only other one who knows."

She couldn't help but gaze at him in awe. "Wow... I never thought you would actually sit in one place long enough to get a title and run a battle facility. You used to be way more invested in travelling."

"Oh he still is. I don't even think I could get him to stop." Anabel joked. "We're just more discrete about it."

"Amazing..." Bonnie muttered. "I can only imagine the kind of damage you're going to do to the others."

"Yeah, I hear you, but kicking their butts is not at the top of my priority list right now. I'm just glad you're still on my side." Ash stated.

"I'm glad also. And now that gives me a job."

That made the former Pallet native frowned. "And that is?"

"Getting you two together!" She grinned.

Silence.

Ash and Anabel looked at each other and immediately blushed. Then they both turned to Bonnie, then back at each other. Normally they were both quick witted after being Frontier Brains for a long time. But something about what Bonnie just said took a second to process.

"WHAT?!!"

"Why is this suddenly your job?!" Anabel demanded, her face flushed in embarassment.

"Why are you two not together yet?" Bonnie countered with a cheeky grin.

"Why am I getting flashbacks to Kalos?" Ash groaned, facepalming.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The ceremony yesterday wasn't anything to gawk at. At least not to the Frontier Brains and many others like them. All they needed were the rules for later rounds before most of them tuned out Goodshow in an instant. Today, Ash and Anabel spent their time talking about strategy for the upcoming Tag Team rounds after the prelims for the regular trainers.

They sat in the Frontier Brain exclusive box that Scott rented out for them. Each individual person was up to their own activities, and even some of the Brains weren't in the box at the moment. But Ash and Anabel had some battles they couldn't afford to miss.

"So are we sticking with those two?"

Anabel nodded. "They know each other like the back of their hands after all the recent practice. If we get a hard pool of battlers, then we can switch to Pikachu and Espeon. Don't want to take too many risks."

"Alright, I get that. Best to keep the amount of Pokemon we have unknown." Ash surmised.

"Right. Also, who are Bonnie and Lillie supposed to partner with?"

"Bonnie said something about running into Sawyer, one of my Kalos rivals, so unless Max tries to steal her, my bet's on him. And Lillie ran into my friends from Alola, but I don't know who she'll choose. Plus let's not forget they have to beat prelims first."

"Don't you have faith in them?" Anabel asked.

"Of course I do. After all, in a way, I taught them myself."

. . . . . . . .

Waiting in the hall for her battle to be called out, Lillie was unsure of what to expect from her opponent. She had never heard of the name Alice McKenzie before. That didn't mean Lillie planned for reckless actions, but she wasn't sure how cautious she had to act.