The Ketchum Family

The Silence of Angels: Part 1

This chapter takes place about a month after the previous one ended. Ash is being challenged by the latest winner of the Hoenn league. It's been a while since our hero has a proper battle. How will he fair? Additionally, an old friend is set to cross paths with Ash. How will that reunion go?

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A short musical theme played and the logo of the Hoenn League spun across the screen, finally stopping in the middle of the image.

"Good morning, Hoenn! I'm league reporter Gabby coming to you live from Ever Grande City," a perky female voice said as the Hoenn logo slowly spun in the middle of the screen. A moment later the broadcast cut to a young and striking brunette woman standing slightly to the left of the screen. To the right of the screen, a confident looking young man was standing, arms crossed and teeth showing as he grinned hungrily into the camera. The youth was fair skinned and possessed short-cut dark violet hair. He was wearing a simple black t-shirt and had brown, multi-pocketed, open-front vest hanging loosely on his torso. His black shorts ran down to his knees and his shoes were stylish, white sneakers with violet highlights.

"I'm here with Eddy Dash, the winner of last year's Ever Grande Conference," Gabby continued in a friendly voice.

Eddy inclined his head toward the camera and smirked. "Thanks Gab," he said in a conceited sounding voice.

"Thousands of people all across Hoenn are wondering what's next for you Eddy," the reporter continued. "Are you planning to defend your title, or are bigger things on the horizon for you?"

Eddy let out a low and smug sounding chuckle. "Well, Gab, after I swept the Hoenn league last year I've been looking for some new challenges. I've searched high and low, and let me tell you, it's hard to find someone who's willing to battle me."

Max rolled his eyes and let out a disgusted groan. He still couldn't believe this Eddy character had won the Hoenn league last year. Aside from being vain, conceited and snobbish, he had no respect for other trainers and the hard work they put in. Max turned away from the television and pushed his earbuds in so he could listen to the video he'd been looking at on his tablet.

His favorite science channel had just uploaded something new and he'd been enjoying it before the morning league news had come on. He hit play on the video and the yellow haired, glasses wearing young man from Kalos resumed describing the experiment.

"Now, the magnetic upside-down train car to double railroad capacity, just like the name suggests, could possibly double the number of trains that could run on a single stretch of track."

The young man wore a set of sky blue overalls and was flanked by a very cool robot named Clembot. He spoke in a very friendly voice and always liked giving in-depth technical explanations, just like Max enjoyed.

"You see," the scientist continued. "If we can install rail lines suspended above the ground, my rail cars could use magnetism to attach themselves to the underside of the train track, seemingly defying gravity."

He demonstrated by taking a very small mockup of the rail car and attaching it to a small piece of train track suspended in the air.

"Just imagine. Right now we can only have one train on the track at a time. With this, you could have two trains on the track, at the same time. That's twice as much cargo being hauled; twice as many passengers traveling."

Max nodded as the yellow haired man continued with his explanation. It seemed like a good idea. More trains on the same amount of track would definitely improve things.