On William's side, after he separated with Alex, he first walked around for a bit before walking towards a group of trainers. By this time, he had already recognised two of the three pokemon trainers. Who were Brock, the Pewter Gym Leader and Misty, the Cerulean Gym Leader.
After all, he did conduct a bit of research as he came along the way. It's a part of what a trainer should do, to gain information about your opponents.
And also, the boy at the middle, the one with a pikachu. He seemed to be the one leading this group for some reason.
"Hello," William said as he approach them, attracting their attention.
What's the best way to start a conversation for trainers?
There's two.
The first is to challenge the other into a pokemon battle.
The second is to say, "your pokemon looks weak as hell."
Both triggers a battle, the latter one though may or may not trigger a human battle.
Of course, as a rational person, William chose option 1.
To add is the usage of certain words, and praising skill, to leave a good impression.
"Wow, your pikachu looks like it's well trained! I can see the fighting spirit in it!" William said as he approached, a polite smile emerged on his face.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes...
(Pfff... that was hilarious! I had never seen you act so strange, it's plain hilarious!)
(Shoo, I'm trying to concentrate here, this is all the drama I can think of with my grade 3 drama classes.)
The fishes bit the lure.
"Ah, thanks, your pokemon looks well trained as well!" The was what the kid was saying, although... Brock's twitching eyebrow might indicate he has another thought.
For you see, Gardevoir, due to years of nearly no training, isn't exactly what you'd call well trained. For a fact, Gardevoir's recent training involves mostly psychic training, not physical training. And these aren't traits you can see directly.
It was at this moment that the kid realised there was an unknown pokemon behind William, so he used his pokedex to scan the pokemon.
"Huh? Unable to identify pokemon?" The kid looked puzzled.
"Ah, that one you're using is the local Kanto pokedex, my pokemon is of Hoenn origins."
"Eh..."
"It's so beautiful!" Suddenly, Misty shouted, at a decibel William swore he could claim medical insurance.
"Kya!!!!" Ah there she goes, hugging Gardevoir.
"Wait, you don't want to hug her by... oops."
William tried to save the tragedy that was about to happen. He failed.
The lesson here is, unless you're a Gardevoir's trainer, don't try to hug it by any means. Since the scale on its chest is a sensitive region, sensitive by the fact that its the organ for emotion sensing. Its a biologically important asset for a Gardevoir. It's the basis of their survival and well known strength/ability.
And when you hug it, there's a huge probability you'd touch it no matter what. And to a pokemon as loyal as Gardevoir, to the extend you could call overprotective, it wouldn't risk letting you damage it for such little issues.
And such, Misty was blown away.
"Sorry, are you alright?" William immediately went up and checked Misty.
After seeing she was alright, he stood beside Gardevoir.
"Erm, back to topic."
After the ruckus, they managed to come back to topic.
Seeing that a lot of people's attention is attracted towards him, William knew the time is now.
"I want to challenge you to a pokemon battle."
"I gladly accept your challenge!"
As the kid said, the gym leaders retreated aside, leaving behind a space for battle.
"I'm Will, from Mauville City." William said as he stood at the edge of the area.
"I'm Ash, from Pallet Town!" Ash said as he went to the other side.
"Gardevoir, let's do this!" William said as Gardevoir gracefully stood at the middle of the battle zone.
"Pikachu! I choose you!" Ash shouted as Pikachu dashed down his shoulders, entering its battle stance in front of Gardevoir.
(Link established.)
Gardevoir's hands started glowing blue, her eyes also started glowing blue.
At this moment, Brock was holding two flags from god knows where, and started waving them.
"Let the battle begin!" He shouted, indicating the start of the battle.
"Thunder Shock!" Ash took the first move.
"Thunderbolt!" William countered.
The two flows of electricity countered each other. Creating a burst of smoke.
"Quick Attack!"
Using the smokescreen, Pikachu dashed straight into the smokescreen, when it re-emerge from the smoke, it was surrounded with white light.
Gardevoir immediately raised her hand, a shield like forcefield appeared on it, blocking Pikachu.
"Psychic!"
As William ordered, a faint purple glow surrounded Pikachu, holding it in air.
"Pikachu!"
Ash shouted, with signs of anxiousness.
"Dang it! Pikachu! I know you can do this! Thunder Shock!"
For some reason, Pikachu suddenly had a burst of energy from god knows where, and a burst of electricity struck Gardevoir when she least expected.
Gardevoir flinched from the attack.
With the psychic control gone, Pikachu immediately followed up with a quick attack, hitting Gardevoir right on her body.
(Teleport the both of you into air.) William ordered while shouting, "Gardevoir!"
Gardevoir took the strike, but with Pikachu still touching her, she teleported into midair, causing both of them to loose foot ground.
"Shadowball!"
As Gardevoir was moving away from Pikachu due to the elastic collision, she fired off a few shadowballs towards Pikachu, resulting in an explosion.
"Pika!"
"Pikachu!" Ash shouted in a worried voice, as the smoke created was too thick and he was unable to see into the field.
"Gardevoir!"
(Light screen, wait for the next action.)
As the smoke dissipated, Pikachu was found standing firm on ground, its eyes burning with the will to win.
Gardevoir on the other hand, also stood firm, her eyes glowing evermore brightly.
"Alright Pikachu! Use Quick Attack!" Ash ordered while pointing forwards.
"Retaliate!"
(Take the hit then throw it back.)
As Pikachu rammed into Gardevoir, she quickly gained control of the rodent and threw it away with a lot of force.
"Pika!"
Pikachu slid against the floor generating a dust trail, with friction dealing damage to it, Gardevoir knelt down as soon as she threw away Pikachu.
As the dust dissipates, Pikachu slowly stood up. Gardevour collapsed as soon as Pikachu stood up
"Gardevoir is unable to battle! The winner of this battle is Ash!" Brock announced.
"Are you alright?" William went up to check Gardevoir.
(Yeah, I was just surprised at how that Pikachu managed to get rid of my psychic control.) Gardevoir shook her head by a bit.
"Your pokemon is a strong one!" Ash said as he approached William.
"Yours is stronger, we lost fair and square. We will improve next time we meet!" William said, with a sight of determination in it.
"I will look forward to that!" Ash replied.
"Now, I have to let Gardevoir rest, sorry, I got to go." William said, looking at Gardevoir.
"I see, good luck then!"
And that said, William and Gardevoir left, with their main objectives completed.
Not long after William and Gardevoir settled down in a room, Alex came in as well.
"I thought we were supposed to meet at 9:30?" William asked.
"Don't mention, if it wasn't for you." She said as she sat down on the bed, which wasn't occupied.
"What, did I do something wrong?" William was puzzled.
"Gardevoir shouldn't lose in that battle." She pointed out.
"Fact is, as a double evolved pokemon, Gardevoir shouldn't lose that easily to a Pikachu by any means."
"Well, that pikachu had something special to it. It had a burst of energy from nowhere, that itself was a killer move." William explained, Gardevoir nodded in agreement.
Alex sighed, and shook her head a little. "Do you think the others know this? At least, you didn't use those special skills."
William's eyes rolled.
"What did you get then?" William asked.
"Nothing, just trying to enjoy this while I can. You as well, you should enjoy it while you can."
William stared straight at Alex, Alex didn't budge, she was also staring straight back at William. Tension started to rise.
After a few seconds, they broke eye contact.
After a while of awkward silence, their door was being knocked on, an agent told them the operation time was delayed until 12:30pm.
And so, with nothing to do, they just sat in the guest room, doing their normal daily routine.