In the original anime, the storyline set in the Kalos region—technically the eighth generation of the Pokémon series—was considerably more mature in its visual style than the child-oriented animation of previous generations, while its battles were also exceptionally exciting.
Because of these qualities, the Kalos portion of the story managed to draw back a large number of fans who had previously stopped following the Pokémon anime, while also attracting plenty of new fans.
Compared with the Pokémon Leagues of other regions, where the Elite Four often had relatively little presence beyond the Champion and some of them barely appeared at all, the Kalos League was an exception.
As the Champion of the Kalos League, Diantha possessed stunning beauty and an elegant, noble bearing. On top of that, she was a famous movie star.
As a result, Diantha was enormously popular.
And because she was also one of the prominent users of Mega Evolution, she received a tremendous amount of screen time in the original anime and interacted with the main cast on numerous occasions.
Among the Kalos Elite Four, the Fire-type Elite Four member Malva had a Mega Evolution-capable Houndoom as her ace partner.
As a television news reporter, she appeared throughout Ash's journey during his participation in the Kalos League.
Later, Malva's true identity was revealed during the events of "Kalos Crisis! The Giant Battle!"
She fought alongside the main cast, Kalos League Champion Diantha, and numerous Gym Leaders to resist the catastrophe threatening to destroy Kalos.
She also appeared at Lysandre Labs in the special "Mega Evolution Special: The Strongest Mega Evolution — Act IV", where she watched Alain's battle together with Lysandre.
It could be said that among the Kalos Elite Four, the Fire-type member Malva had one of the greatest amounts of screen time and presence.
As for the Water-type Elite Four member Siebold, his ace was a Mega Evolution-capable Blastoise.
Siebold was also a master chef who owned his own restaurant.
He appeared in the special "Mega Evolution Special: The Strongest Mega Evolution — Act I", where he defeated Alain and his Mega Charizard X when Alain came to challenge him.
The Kalos Elite Four's Dragon-type member, Drasna, did not appear during the Kalos-era anime.
However, she later appeared in the tenth generation of the anime, Pokémon Journeys, as one of the participants in the Pokémon World Coronation Series.
She eventually faced Ash in his final battle before reaching the Master Class—the Masters Eight.
The two fought an intense and spectacular battle, and Drasna's Mega Altaria left an especially deep impression.
And finally, there was the Steel-type Elite Four member of the Kalos League—
Wikstrom.
Like Drasna, Wikstrom did not appear during the Kalos-era anime.
Instead, he made his appearance during the tenth generation, Pokémon Journeys.
Wikstrom was a Trainer who was utterly devoted to honorable combat.
He loved facing opponents openly and honestly, fighting Pokémon battles with dignity and integrity, and discovering the joy within such battles.
He was a Trainer who embodied the true spirit of knighthood.
More importantly, unlike many other Elite Four members who, after reaching the peak of their strength and encountering a bottleneck, began pursuing various side careers, Wikstrom remained completely devoted to the profession of Pokémon Trainer.
Not only did he establish a Knight's Spirit Gym where Trainers could challenge him, but he was also exceptionally generous toward visiting Trainers and their Pokémon, willingly offering them guidance and helping them grow stronger.
He also regularly traveled throughout different regions, holding lectures about the path of knighthood.
By guiding others, he simultaneously tempered his own knightly spirit and deepened his understanding of the path of a Pokémon Trainer.
In the tenth-generation anime Pokémon Journeys, Ash himself received guidance from Elite Four member Wikstrom.
That guidance ultimately helped his Galarian Farfetch'd evolve into Sirfetch'd, a Pokémon that truly embodied the spirit of knighthood.
Because of this, Ash had always held a very favorable opinion of Wikstrom.
Deep down, he genuinely admired the Steel-type Elite Four member.
Furthermore, Greninja carried the responsibility of resolving the crisis that would eventually threaten the destruction of Kalos.
It had also received the favor and recognition of Kalos's destiny itself.
Because of this, Ash had an almost unbreakable connection with the Kalos region.
He had never expected that this trip to Kalos, originally planned simply to celebrate his girlfriend Serena's birthday, would coincidentally bring him into contact with Wikstrom and his touring lectures on the spirit of knighthood.
If he could listen to Wikstrom's teachings on the knightly spirit, it would undoubtedly provide enormous benefits for Ash's future.
It could even help him break through into the Elite level and, more importantly, deepen his understanding of the path of a true Pokémon Trainer.
Naturally, there was no way Ash was going to miss this opportunity.
However, according to Clemont, Wikstrom would not arrive in Lumiose City until tomorrow afternoon, while the actual lecture and knightly event would not begin until the morning after tomorrow.
Even so, Ash was already beginning to feel impatient.
He was looking forward to it.
...
After dinner, everyone gathered at Clemont's house and spent some time chatting happily in a lively atmosphere.
But after spending the entire day traveling by plane, Ash and the others were already feeling tired, so they eventually returned to their hotel to rest.
They agreed to meet at 8:40 the next morning.
After returning to the hotel, Ash washed up together with his Pokémon and also helped the Pokémon belonging to his online clinic's customers learn their requested moves through the Pokémon Care Center in Kanto.
Once he had called home to let everyone know that he had arrived safely, Ash climbed into bed with Pikachu in his arms.
Before long, he fell into a deep sleep.
The night passed peacefully.
Inside the room, apart from the steady breathing of Ash and his Pokémon as they slept, the only sounds were the soft whoosh and rustle of snow blowing outside.
Until—
Six o'clock in the morning.
Without needing an alarm, Ash woke up precisely on schedule thanks to the biological clock he had developed through his long-standing habit of morning training.
Even though he was no longer in Pallet Town and had traveled all the way to the distant Kalos region, Ash had no intention of becoming lax and skipping his morning workout.
Good habits required consistency.
And strength was built through countless small improvements accumulated day after day.
Especially now that Ash's strength had already reached the peak of Gym-level, approaching the Pseudo-Elite Four level.
At this stage, rapidly increasing his strength was no longer easy.
That made his daily training even more important.
And today, he had to travel to Vaniville Town to celebrate Serena's birthday.
Not only would he have little time for training later that morning, there was a good chance he wouldn't have any time at all during the rest of the day to personally train his Pokémon.
Therefore, he absolutely had to make full use of this one-hour morning training session.
"Let's go, Pikachu, Greninja, Pidgeot, Fearow, Gyarados, Milotic, Venusaur."
After washing up, Ash quietly got dressed and slipped out of the hotel room.
He took the elevator down to the hotel's entrance.
Once outside, he released his Pokémon from their Poké Balls.
"Pi-ka~!"
"Gyaaah~!"
The Pokémon appeared one after another.
The cold morning air immediately swept over them.
Ash smiled.
"Come on. What's a little cold?"
"Once you get moving, you'll warm up in no time."
"Pikachu, start running with me."
"Fearow, you too. Fly into the sky together with Pidgeot."
"Let the cold morning wind wake you both up."
Pikachu immediately followed Ash as he started running.
Above them, Pidgeot and Fearow spread their wings and soared into the pale morning sky.
The biting winter wind swept across their feathers.
But none of them slowed down.
For Ash, whether in Kanto or Kalos, whether under the scorching sun or in the freezing winter wind—
Training never stopped.
And neither did his pursuit of becoming stronger.