If there was one thing Ash regretted in life, it was that he was ten years old, once upon a time.
His almost tunnel vision obsession with Pokemon when he started his travels had been something that helped blind him to a lot of things in the world around him he should have noticed more.
One of them, naturally, had been the issue of romance. For years, Ash traveled the world, often with a bright-eyed and adoring girl in tow who followed him as they both pursued their own hopes and dreams, and he always saw them as friends, not because he lacked interest in them, but because he lacked interest in romance in general.
Then there were all the beautiful women he met. Gym leaders and other trainers, even a few criminals or scientists who would have caught the eye of anyone who paid attention to girls and not to Pokemon.
But that was years ago. Ash was no longer a ten year-old boy with a plucky wish to succeed and who needed to find the tools to do it.
He was a man now, and he had more to his name than badges and titles like 'quarter finalist' or 'runner up'. Maturity set in both emotionally and as a prospective Pokemon Master, whose bedroom was now a collection of trophies and awards.
No longer scraping by only on what money he made fighting random trainers--when he won, that was--he could live comfortably off of the fat prize money he won in major tournaments.
His travels lost their aimless nature, no longer simply making his way to the next gym on foot and casually. Moving across the world and to all manner of regions, Ash flew in for big tournaments and took care of his business with purpose and duty.
Which was great. Ash was living the dream in a way that he didn't think he would likely get tired of as he savoured the freedom and success that came from being a bona fide Pokemon Master.
But something else had to draw his interest eventually, and he decided it was time to start shifting his focus. He had battling well in hand, and it was time to look for something else he could put his energy and interest into.
In that regard, what possible direction could have been better than finally making up for all of his lost time and foolish mistakes?
When Ash received the letter inviting him to compete in the Sinnoh Summer Festival Invitational, he knew the time had come to go all out, and that the first woman he had set his eyes on for the beginnings of his plans to start going for the beautiful women he should have noticed years ago was most definitely Cynthia, still Sinnoh's reigning champion and an absolute beauty despite already being married.
She still continued to take part in the festival in secret, hiding it from Steven and her children.
Not only was Cynthia absolutely stacked, but she had a bit of a nefarious reputation--though no one would ever admit it publicly--of her regularly seducing men and even teenage boys who she deemed talented trainers.
How a young Ash had not noticed the gorgeous blonde's appeal before was beyond him.
But there was nothing rumoured about it; Ash had even been 'subtly' propositioned a few years earlier when he battled the Sinnoh Elite Four, and back then he was still utterly oblivious to everything she said, the words going right through one ear and out the other at the time.
But no longer. Ash wasn't the wiry teenage boy he once was, and it should only have been easier to make up for what he hadn't understood before.
Stepping off of the shuttle bus from the airport, Ash stepped into the grandest hotel in Hearthome City, fresh off the airplane from Kanto and ready to get settled in for his long weekend, which aside from battling was going to be a twofold mix of relaxation when he had the time to, and hopefully fucking Cynthia like an animal when he wasn't.
And what a coincidence that as he walked into the hotel lobby, he saw by the check-in desk a familiar silhouette, with long blonde hair reaching down to the legs of a woman whose body was covered by a long black coat, which was loose enough to leave some of her figure a mystery while still showing off the promise of curves just fine.
Ash was a new man now. No longer the same naive teenage boy hyper-focused on Pokemon that he'd been when he first met her, or even a few years ago when he last saw her during his return to successfully challenge the Sinnoh League.
He moved with purpose as he walked toward the desk, still traveling with a large camping style backpack, which now thankfully didn't have to hold a sleeping bag as he got used to living out of hotels and not slumming it by camping off the main paths of routes.