The atmosphere in the forest Pokémon Center was thick enough to choke a Weezing. Mai, the youngest of the Joy household, was currently a permanent fixture on Dawn's leg, her face a mask of tragic, watery-eyed despair.
"Big Sister Dawn, please! Can't you tell Ash to let him go?" Mai pleaded, her voice cracking.
The little girl was frighteningly sharp. She had correctly identified that Dawn was the only person capable of influencing the boy with the blue Aura. But Dawn, though her heart twinged with sympathy, remained firm.
"I'm sorry, Mai," Dawn said, looking away to avoid the "Puppy-Eye" critical hit. "Ash caught Suicune in a fair battle. According to the rules of the League, I have no right to tell him what to do with his Pokémon."
"Then... Ash..." Mai turned her gaze toward the "monstrous" trainer.
"Impossible," Ash said, his tone flat and unyielding. He wasn't being cruel; he was being a Trainer. In this world, power was respected, and he had proven his strength to the North Wind. He couldn't just release a legendary asset because of a childhood friendship he wasn't part of.
The Arrival of the Matriarchs
Just then, the door to the kitchen swung open. The mature Nurse Joy and her eldest daughter, Ayaka, stepped out, followed by a bewildered Brock who was still wearing an apron and clutching a wooden spoon.
"Mai! You're bothering the guests again!" Ayaka chided, picking up her sobbing sister.
"But... the big guy... he's in a ball now!" Mai wailed into her sister's shoulder.
Ayaka looked at Ash, her expression torn. She knew the 'big guy' was the mysterious spirit of the forest that Mai had visited for years. To see it captured was like seeing a piece of their home taken away.
"I apologize for my daughter's behavior," the mature Nurse Joy said, her voice poised but her eyes reflecting a mother's worry. "It is not our place to interfere with a Trainer's catch."
The Legend Reappears
Click.
Without Ash even touching his belt, the Ultra Ball on his hip burst open. In a swirl of light and mist, Suicune materialized in the center of the small hall.
"SUICUNE!" Brock, Ayaka, and the mother cried out in unison.
Brock was stunned—he had seen legendaries, but seeing one actually standing in a living room as a captured partner was a different level of reality. Ayaka and her mother, however, were seeing something else: the realization of the rumors of their Kanto relatives. They had a cousin who was a League Investigator partnered with a Latias. It seemed Mai had been on the verge of a similar destiny before Ash intervened.
Suicune ignored the gasps. It walked slowly over to Mai, nudging the little girl's head with its sapphire crest. It looked at Ash, who offered a singular, silent nod of permission, before turning back to comfort the child.
A Private Conversation
"Mrs. Joy," Ash said, his eyes locking onto the mature woman's. "I think we should discuss this somewhere more private."
"Ash? What are you doing?" Dawn whispered. She knew his plan for Suicune—it was a brutal, practical calculation that treated the legend more as a strategic tool than a mystical being.
The mature Nurse Joy studied Ash's face. She saw the depth of his Aura and the seriousness in his dark eyes. She nodded slowly. "Follow me, Mr. Ash."
She led him into a quiet side office, closing the door and leaving the confused group—and a frantic Mai—outside.
"May I ask what you intend to propose, Mr. Ash?" she asked, her voice steady but guarded.
Ash didn't answer immediately. He checked Suicune's data one last time. Then, he straightened his posture, walking toward the graceful woman until the space between them was formal yet imposing.
"Mrs. Joy, I sympathize with Mai," Ash began, his voice dropping to a low, resonant tone. "As her mother, you surely don't want to see your daughter's heart broken like this... do you?"