Pokémon: Sunrise&Sunset

Prologue - End or new beginning?

Everything you can imagine is real.

- Pablo Picasso

Ash had just opened the door of his house wide after returning from Kalos.

"I've arrived!" he exclaimed closing the door behind him.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASH!" shouted his old friends, jumping out suddenly.

There were everyone he had traveled with in the past: Misty, Brock, Tracey, May, Max, Dawn, Iris and Cilan.

"Guys?" said the coach extremely confused looking at them one by one.

"Surprise!" May said, smiling.

Dawn took a step forward and took the floor.
"We knew you were coming back today, plus it's your birthday, did you forget it?"

The boy thought about it a little, then made a breaded expression.

"You didn't remember, did you?" the Sinnoh coordinator asked rhetorically with a chuckle.

"He really is a child..." Iris said with a bragging air, crossing her arms.

"Happy birthday Ash." Dawn said again, getting closer. "From all of us." she added, handing him a package.

The coach took him with an increasingly displaced air.
He immediately unwrapped it and found a box containing a medal.

"As you can see it is similar to the medals that are generally won in gyms, but you can't find it anywhere." explained the Sinnoh coordinator. "It is special and it is won over time, its name is Friendship Medal." she concluded with a smile.

Ash was increasingly incredulous. He couldn't believe his friends had done this for him.
He looked at Dawn as if convinced that it was all a dream.

"Are you all right Ash?" asked the blue-haired girl a little worried.

"Guys, I don't really know what to tell you." he finally began to say. "I thought about it a lot on my last trip... not a single day passed before I didn't ask myself where you were or what you were doing."

"Is that my impression or has Ash matured a lot since the last time?" Misty asked in Tracey's ear.

"Well, it's normal, after all it's been a long time." Brock replied feeling as he smiled and continued to look at his friend.

"Maybe now you think I'm exaggerating, but the truth is that your absence weighed heavily on me." Ash said.

"Of course we believe you Ash!" May exclaimed.

"We have another little surprise for you." Dawn spoke again with a wink. "Cilan, bring her in!" she said, turning again.

Cilan was preparing to push a trolley from the kitchen with a cake on it.
"It's cake time!" he exclaimed, starting to push him.

"Guys, you didn't have to! You bothered me so much... and I..."

By now the connoisseur had brought the cart in front of Ash.

"It doesn't matter Ash, we're glad you're back!" Dawn reassured him with a smile.

The coach looked at the cake and noticed that there was an inscription with the icing on it: To our favorite champion!

Leaving all his eyes stunned and it was only a matter of seconds before his crying intensified.

"Ash..." murmured Dawn worried.
"Cilan, I told you to change that writing!" whispered Iris in the ear of the connoisseur.

"Thanks guys..." Ash said at one point rubbing his eyes. "Thank you very much." he added, looking back at them smiling.

"We followed the finals of the League of Kalos on TV, for us even if you finished second you proved to be a champion across the board." said Dawn and then smiled.

"Just to be precise, the writing was Cilan's idea!" clarified the purple-haired girl.

"Thank you very much Iris... I don't think you disagreed!" said the offended connoisseur.

"You are very special friends." the coach said moved. "Not many would have done what you did..."

"Well, I can't blame you." Dawn said putting her hands on her hips with a sly air. "But it's your sixteenth birthday, you deserve it." she continued smiling.

"I propose to cut the cake!" May exclaimed enthusiastically, raising an arm to the sky.

"Yes, cake! Cake!" Max echoed just as enthusiastically.

"We finally eat!" commented Misty happily.

"It was time!" echoed Iris.

"Okay, I'll take care of it." Brock said smiling.

"Dawn?" Ash called out as everyone else spoke to each other.

She turned in amazement.

"I know it was your idea to gather them all, thank you very much." he said and then smiled.

The girl blushed a little, so to hide the embarrassment she smiled.

"You discovered me, but I didn't do it all by myself... ninth! I spoke to Brock about it and he gave me a hand to gather everyone at your house the day before your return!"

The boy said nothing, perhaps he did not even listen well to what his "justifications" were. He kept looking at her with an expression full of gratitude... maybe he was even a little thoughtful to be honest.

"What is it?" she asked surprised, meeting her gaze.

"Nothing, I'm happy." he always said with a half smile.

"Happy with what?"

"To have known you."