"Mm, thank you~"
Seeing that Ash had noticed him watching his training, yet hadn't blamed him and had instead generously shared his experience regarding Pokémon training, the cold-faced boy's cheeks couldn't help but flush slightly. His good upbringing also prompted him to immediately thank Ash.
Ash simply nodded and didn't say anything more.
Standing beside Charmander, the cold-faced boy then imitated Ash and began doing jumping jacks on the spot, training alongside his Charmander.
Seeing this, Ash once again nodded in satisfaction inwardly.
Having the ability to think independently and maintain one's own convictions was certainly a good thing. But if someone couldn't listen to sound advice from others, then that wasn't perseverance—it was stubbornness and foolishness.
Clearly, the cold-faced boy standing before him wasn't a stubborn fool. He was someone capable of listening to and accepting good advice from others.
For an ambitious professional Pokémon Trainer, that was an extremely wise and valuable quality.
"Haha..."
"But aren't you worried that the experience I gave you might actually be wrong?"
Because there were other people in the park now, and because he was away from familiar Pallet Town, Ash was worried that using his Aura might expose his abilities to outsiders. Therefore, he wasn't doing any Aura training at the moment.
Besides, his Pokémon had all become extremely disciplined by now. They were highly self-motivated when it came to training and rarely needed their Trainer to supervise them.
As a result, Ash was doing nothing more than alternating between clap push-ups and jumping jacks, which was becoming somewhat boring.
Seeing the cold-faced boy nearby following his advice and imitating him by doing jumping jacks alongside his Pokémon, Ash decided to strike up a conversation with a smile.
"I wouldn't."
"Mr. Ash, you're a famous star Trainer throughout the Kanto region. You're incredibly strong, and you have very unique insights when it comes to training and raising Pokémon."
"I don't know how many Trainers would love to receive guidance from you but never get the opportunity."
"Now that you're willing to give me some advice, if I were to question whether your advice is correct or useful, then I'd simply be ungrateful."
Hearing Ash's question, the cold-faced boy continued doing jumping jacks on the spot, warm breath escaping his mouth in little clouds as he shook his head.
His expression was sincere and earnest.
"Hm? You know who I am?"
Ash couldn't help looking surprised.
"Yes."
The cold-faced boy nodded without offering much further explanation.
To him, whether he knew Ash or not didn't seem particularly important.
Yet his calm, indifferent attitude made Ash even more curious about him.
"I noticed that the Pokémon you're training is Charmander, one of the Kanto region's Fire-type starters."
"Are you a Trainer from Kanto as well?"
Ash continued his clap push-ups and jumping jacks without stopping, asking casually while exercising without even becoming short of breath.
"No."
The cold-faced boy shook his head.
"I'm a native of the Kalos region. I'm currently an experimental assistant at Professor Sycamore's laboratory."
"Previously, when the Kanto League and Kalos League conducted their regional exchange program, Professor Sycamore's laboratory and Professor Oak's laboratory jointly organized Pokémon summer camps and sent students from each region to the other for cultural and academic exchange."
"At the time, I was one of the researchers responsible for Professor Sycamore's summer camp. I helped receive the students and research staff who came from Kanto."
"I also watched the livestreams from Professor Oak's summer camp from beginning to end."
"And among the outstanding students who achieved perfect scores in all ten of Professor Oak's assessments, there was Mr. Ash."
"After receiving his own Pokémon, you quickly distinguished yourself and rose to prominence, eventually becoming a household-name star Trainer throughout the Kanto region."
"Actually, it isn't just me."
"Everyone working at Professor Sycamore's laboratory knows about you."
"Quite a few parents of students in Kalos who watched the livestreams also know about you, as do many ordinary people who continued following your progress afterward."
"If you'd come to this park later in the morning, after the weather warmed up, you might even have had citizens asking you for autographs."
For the first time, a faint smile appeared on the cold-faced boy's face.
"So you're an experimental assistant at Professor Sycamore's laboratory?"
"I see."
After hearing the boy's explanation, Ash's expression became one of realization.
But precisely because the boy had introduced himself as an assistant at Professor Sycamore's laboratory, Ash suddenly felt that there was something familiar about him.
The boy's appearance seemed vaguely similar to one of the important characters from the anime he remembered from his previous life.
"By the way..."
"I haven't even introduced myself yet."
"That was rather rude of me."
The cold-faced boy suddenly seemed a little embarrassed when he remembered this.
But he quickly composed himself.
"My name is Alain."
"I've been working as an assistant at Professor Sycamore's laboratory."
"I never actually planned on becoming a Trainer."
"But this time, because of the exchange program between the Kanto League and Kalos League..."
"For the next five years, when new Trainers from either region begin their journeys, they won't be restricted to choosing only the regional starter Pokémon from their own home region."
"They'll also be allowed to choose starter Pokémon from the other region."
"I don't know why..."
"But when I saw Charmander, the Fire-type starter from the Kanto region, I immediately felt an inexplicable fondness for it."
"I couldn't help but develop the urge to travel and go on adventures with it."
"So even though I've already passed what would normally be considered the ideal age to begin, I still applied to Professor Sycamore for a Charmander."
"I'm planning to train with it for a while."
"Once Charmander becomes stronger, I'll set out on my journey and challenge the Pokémon League."
Perhaps he had finally opened up after talking for so long.
The boy who had initially seemed so cold and distant gradually became much more talkative.
And after hearing his introduction and learning his name, Ash's mind suddenly clicked.
...
So it really was him.
This boy was none other than Alain, the Trainer from the original anime who would eventually be deceived and manipulated by the villainous Team Flare mastermind, Lysandre, ultimately being led down the wrong path.
He was the very same Alain who would eventually defeat the original Ash in the Kalos League and claim the championship.
When Ash had first seen him earlier, the heavy morning fog had obscured his features.
On top of that, the difference in their current ages had caused Ash to overlook the possibility.
But now that he thought about it carefully, everything lined up.
Ash was currently only six years old.
Alain looked to be around ten.
And in the original anime, when the original Ash was ten years old, Alain indeed appeared to be only around four or five years older than him.
The ages matched perfectly.
What Ash hadn't expected was that his trip to Kalos would actually bring him face-to-face with Alain.
The two were destined opponents who would eventually meet in the final battle of the Kalos League.
Yet somehow, at this point in time, under such completely unexpected circumstances...
They had already met.
Not only that, but their first meeting had taken place before either of them had officially begun their Trainer journeys.
Ash couldn't help finding the situation rather amusing.
After all, not long ago, while helping Greninja train its Bond Phenomenon, he'd complained about the original anime's storyline.
It was Alain's existence that had ultimately prevented the original Ash from becoming the Kalos League Champion.
Because of the infamous plot-driven loss, Greninja—despite being in its Bond Phenomenon form—had somehow lost to a Mega Charizard X, a Fire-type Pokémon.
That ridiculous defeat had even caused Greninja's ultimate technique to acquire the mocking nickname "Golden Healing Water Shuriken."
And now...
The very person responsible for that future defeat was standing right in front of Ash.
Alain had no idea that the young boy training beside him was the very same Ash Ketchum who would one day rewrite the entire fate of the Kalos League.
Nor did he know that the meeting they were having on this snowy morning might quietly change the future that had once seemed inevitable.