Of Flowers and Ashes

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

It was time for Ash's daily meeting with Lille. Apparently, she had some major news concerning the construction of the Pokemon League in Alola.

Lille sat down at their usual table. They didn't have an office, so they just used a table at Mallow's restaurant.

Ash sat down and smiled at Lille. "Goodmorning, Lille! How are you?" Ash said with his usual energy.

"I'm doing well Ash. I actually have two things today we need to talk about." Lille said with a smile.

"Well, let's talk!" Ash said excitedly.

Lille rolled her eyes and pulled out a stack of papers kept in a neat folder.

Ash's eyes widened in fear, and papers never meant anything good.

"Is there something bad?" Ash said nervously

Lille shook her head, "Nothing of the sort. Unless if you count the fact that we're broke. We have no money for gyms, let alone a Pokemon League. Buildings are super expensive, and even if we used the Aether Foundation money, we couldn't build what we want."

Ash scratched his head, "So what exactly do we do to fix this problem?" Ash said in the same nervous tone. "I could maybe win a few battles? Would that help?"

Lille just laughed and shook her head. "No, Ash, the type of money we're talking about is in the hundreds of millions. We're going to need to talk to a bank. We need a loan."

Ash stared at her blankly. "So why not just go down the street to the bank there?" Ash said with a shrug.

Lille sweatdropped slightly. "Well Ash, not exactly. That bank isn't big enough to loan the sorts of money we need."

Ash looked even more confused. "Then what bank does have enough money?" Ash said in a confused tone

Lille smiled and pulled out another paper which had a picture of a fancy building on it. "This is the Grand Bank of Kalos. It's in Lumoise City, and they responded to my email. They're willing to give us a loan, and we just need to go to Kalos and talk to them about some minor details."

Ash smiled "I love Kalos! The food, the Pokemon and even the people!" he paused for a brief second and Lille almost noticed a faint hint of a blush on his cheeks. She wrote it off and pulled out a stack of papers.

Ash's squinted at the top of the stack. "What's this for?"

Lille giggled "Ash, it's the gym leader application! Not many native Alolans want to be a leader, but people from all over the world want a job with us. So I paid Sophocles to help me make a job application website. We've had almost 500 applicants in a few days. I want you to go through this list with me. If you like someone, we can have an interview with them."

Ash looked worried. "What about the three leaders we have right now? I promised them."

"Rykui and Macy are fine, but I wanted to talk to you about Brendan. You know he won the Hoenn league a few years ago, right? He's overqualified to be a leader. Maybe make him an elite four member?" Ash paused for a minute to think

"Yeah, that sounds fine. I'd like that actually. So I just need to find two more trainers." Ash said while scratching a non-existent beard

"It's your elite four. Take your time. We aren't required to have all the spots filled until the next league season starts which is a few months away." Lille said with a shrug

"Well, then why are we starting gym leaders so early?" Ash asked Lille

Lille rolled her eyes, "It's because we need to know their types and gym themes if we're building them. And building gyms takes time."