Chapter 9 - Hoenn

Gou knocked, "May we come in?"

Ash smiled, "Sure I will introduce you to her. Everyone meet Diance, the jewel Princess Pokemon. She is one of the Princesses of Lord Xerneas court."

Max faltered, "A Princess?"

May's eyes were shining, "A real Princess."

Molly, "She is very pretty."

Ash nodded, "Mnn, she is. We have to keep her safe too. Since she is a baby royalty and sadly a very vulnerable target."

Gou, "I understand. You though, you never do anything half way do you?"

Ash snorted, "This time it was not my choice and honestly I really can't complain."

May, "You can count on us Ash. Now, I am excited about my Pokemon egg too."

Max, "Has Kalos been informed?"

Ash nodded, "I asked Nurse Jim and used a specific code to register."

Molly, "The one for special Pokemon birth."

Gou, "So much for a quiet adventure."

Lucario, -Meema, I got the feed.-

Ash, "Thank you Lucario."

Diance cooed as the bottle with milk was brought to her, she latched on and started to eat happily getting coos from the rest. It was peaceful for a while then Nurse Jim entered the room, pausing on seeing the rest of the group but not for long. Seeing the baby Pokemon eat he decided to get some of the check ups done and just as Diance had finished her food announced her to be healthy. Ash and the others gave a sigh of relief as Diance started to look sleepy and clung to Ash as she snored softly.

Nurse Jim, "Ash, Ranger Red, Professor Sycamore and the Champion's Advisor, Miss Diantha is on the call."

Ash nodded, "Alright, is it in one of the secure rooms?"

Nurse Jim, "Yes, it is in the room opposite to this one. I figured you would not want others to see her yet."

Ash, "We just had to deal with poachers a while back. So, yes it is took risky."

Nurse Jim, "Understood! Here we are. I will leave you to talk. If you need me I will be down the hall."

Molly, "One of us will run over to call you if necessary."

May, "Good idea Molly."

Ash picked up the secured video phone, "Hello, Ash here."

Diantha, :Hello Ash. We heard the lovely news. Is that the Princess?:

Sycamore, :You do not do anything by half do you child?:

Red, :Where is Ruby? Wasn't he with you?:

Ash, "Yes, Diantha, sorry she is sleeping right now. Not my fault Professor Sycamore, blame Lord Mew. Yes, the Mew we met was male. Ruby was furious about the poachers and rushed to Rustboro for a meeting. We hope to meet him there and not have any more trouble."

Red narrowed his eyes, :Poachers? Or Hunters? Tell me the truth.:

Gou placed a hand on Ash's shoulder, "We are sure they were poachers though they used interesting equipment."

Diantha had a tired look on her face, :Calem is also dealing with similar problems and questions from the media.:

Ash, "I am going under the radar. The only time you will see me on television is during the Conference. May here will be the one you see on television."

May gave a thumbs up, "I will make sure to keep the lenses focused on me. That way Ash will not be bothered."

Sycamore, :Let me guess, you already have disguises ready.:

Lucario, -Grandmeema would not let us leave without one.-

Red, :As long as you remain safe little brother.:

Ash, "I will do my best. I have a little girl depending on me and a future baby too."

Lucario lifted the poke egg, they had won at the Silver Conference, -I am sure they are close to hatching too.-

Diantha, :You have an exciting time ahead of you. Personally I would have preferred if you headed to Kalos but considering the mess here that would be dangerous.:

Sycamore nodded, :Agreed! Diance is known for making priceless jewels. I can already see many people attempting to get her to make profit off her.:

Ash scowled darkly, "The only way for them to touch her is over my dead body. She is my Pokemon and kid now."

Lucario placed his paw on his clenched fist, -Agreed and I will help you hide their bodies too.-

Max, "I am sure many of our friends will help do that. I know a few abandoned places."

May nodded seriously, "Anyone hurting one of us is am enemy of all of us."

Molly, "I will train hard to protect the Princess no one will come near her."

Gou, "And you are not doing this alone Ash, we are here with you."

Ash's blue eyes turned back to their normal colour, "Thank you everyone. I certainly hope we don't have to go that far but I will if necessary. No one hurts our family and walks away unhurt."

Diantha smiled, :I am relieved you have each other. We were a little worried.:

Sycamore, :Still do remember that we are here too. So if you need help please contact us, understand?:

Red, :Seriously Ash, you need to contact us, especially since you have a baby Royalty in your group now. You can expect people will find out despite the precautions and they will try to take her.:

Ash nodded, "I know Red, which is why I will be laying low around the contest and show case areas."

Red nodded, then Sycamore started to ask Ash questions about the Jewel Pokemon and Ash answered the questions the best he could. The Diance he learned about was an adult, this one was a baby so they had to call Nurse Jim to answer the more medical questions. The Nurse did not mind and explained the baby was very healthy and had a higher resistance to temperature changes then most rock type Pokemon. She could travel through the different terrains without any problems they just needed to pay more attention to her diet as she grew older and bigger. As Diance matured her rock would also grow and she would require more elements in her food just like any other rock Pokemon.

Ash made a mental note to talk to Brock about rock type Pokemon diet, looking back, he never required it before. Ash decided to talk to Brock and told his plan to the adults which was quickly agreed upon by them but the only catch was Brock would not be joining them for a few months as he was focusing on his studies. Ash did not want to distract him from his studies and would only tell him after he would finish his exam and not before that. Brock would not be allowed to become a Doctor if he did not clear his exams and Ash trusted Brock the most when it came to his Pokemon's health.

May spoke as they left the Centre, "That was something else."

Gou, "Tell me about it. But we can't blame them now, can we? Just like Sinnoh, Kalos has not seen their Legendaries in centuries."

Max, "That is true. They were very excited to see Diance even though she was still sleeping."

Molly, "She is very active now."

Ash chuckled, "Yes, she is."

Dianxe was playing around with the other Pokemon who were very excited to see her join them. Phanphy especially had become very attached to her acting like her older sibling and carrying her on his back. It had amused and at the same time made Ash very proud to see the youngest and most rowdiest baby Pokemon act so mature and responsible. But then again they had started training so it was possible that with an outlet for his energy Phanphy was now calm and collected compared to before. They traveled through the forest seeing many Pokemon but mostly flying types like Taillow who chirped at Ash's Taillow in greeting.

Taillow was observing his new trainer intently as they traveled. He was completely different from what he had heard from the older Pokemon in his flock. Taillow was truthfully expecting to be shoved into a pokeball and only let out to eat, train and battle other Pokemon. He was not expecting to travel alongside his trainer and fellow Pokemon at all. Noctowl had explained to him, this group was the smart one out of every other group out there. Traveling was considered terrain training according to Max's Beedrill and it was way more effective then simply training for a terrain. Taillow figured it was aore effective way of spending time instead of being g stuck inside a ball for hours on end.

Molly tugged Ash's clothes, "Umm, I think we are lost."

Max, "My GPS is not working here. This is strange."

May, "The signs are missing too. That is even more strange. What is going on here?"

Ash, "Phanphy, Diance come here. Absol, Abra, Eevee stay close. Taillow, Noctowl have a look around."

Max, "You too Beedrill, go with Honchkrow and make sure to stay safe and stick together."

Gou, "I will look for the missing signs."

Molly, "I am coming with you."

May looked around, "Any ideas?"

Max was observing the board, well what was left of it, "The signs look like they had been ripped off. I don't know who would do this though."

Ash, "This is problematic. Stay alert. Come out Feraligatr and Typholsion."

Feraligatr, "Arrrrrrr."

Typholsion stood up towering over them before settling down, "Phol."

Ash, "Diance, stay close to them. Phanphy stick close to her and keep her safe. We do not know what is happening."

Phanphy, "Phan."

Lucario, -They are back Meema.-

Noctowl, "Oooo, owl ooooow."

Lucario, -That is not good.-

Ash, "What is happening?"

Lucario, -Two Sceptiles are fighting over the turf and the Grovyles under them captured Taillow for entering their territory.-

Ash stood up, "Not acceptable. We are going in to negotiate."

Gou, "How will we do that?"

Max, "Yeah, you are an Aura Guardian yes, but this is a turf war."

May, "You could end up getting hurt, we are not supposed to interfere. How did Taillow get caught though? As a wild Pokemon he should know to not interfere right?"

Molly, "Maybe he was caught off guard. They were watching the turf war and returning right?"

Noctowl nodded, "Ooow."

Ash, "Like I said we are negotiating with them. They are in the middle of a turf war, therefore they will get hungry by the end of it."

Lucario sighed, -That will put quiet the debt on our saved food Meema. Knowing you, you are planning on feeding everyone.-

Ash sighed taking out the items, "We do need to appease them, Lucario. Now then, Diance come here. Let me show you how to prepare food for certain types of Pokemon. You can always appease angry heads with delicious food."

May snorted, "A very old, tried and proven technique. I will help you."

Unknown to them they were being observed by a Treeko that had followed Noctowl to the group, out of curiosity. The grass type was observing them as they moved around and the smell coming from the prepared food made him feel hungry. He slowly approached them and was noticed by the older stronger Pokemon though they did not attack him. The human called Ash smiled at him and asked if he liked the smell and would like to try some of the food. Treeko stared at him then the food before finally agreeing to try it out a bit only for his eyes to widen in delight.

Ash, "We are on the right path."

Diance, "Ann."

Gou, "I only hope it is enough to calm the angry Alpha."

Max, "If it does not work we have to book it."

May muttered, "Since battling them will be equal to carreer suicide."

Molly, "What do you mean?"

May showed them a paper, "Look here, we are close to Big Fir reserve. This place is famous for the Sceptile line."

Max, "Oh! Oh! Now, I understand why this place seemed familiar. Yeah, let's make more food."

Ash, "That's the spirit."