"There is no one in Pallet Town called Ash Ketchum", shouted someone over the speaker before hanging up the phone.

Tierno threw the phone onto his bed in disappointment, flopping himself onto the bed afterwards.

"He doesn't even come from Kanto!", he moaned.

"Maybe he comes from another town or city, and said it wrong the first time?", Shauna suggested.

"Or maybe we should stop looking into it, it's none of our business", Trevor snapped.

Shauna, Tierno and Sawyer turned to look at him.

"Woah, chill, Trev"

"No! We could be getting ourselves into some serious trouble here! Don't forget that Ash is the champion now, so if we try to do anything against him, it could ruin our lives!"

"It kinda already is, Trevor! Alain, one of the most powerful trainers we know, is in jail. Lysandre and some woman with Ash's last name is dead. The police station in the area he's staying in was burned down, and everyone in there was killed. Something's up with that kid, and we could be next if we don't figure it out!"

Just then, Ash, Sycamore and Mairin walked into the room.

"Hey, Ash, do you have any brothers?"

"No"

"Sisters?"

"No"

"Oh. Does it get lonely having no brothers and sisters?"

"Sometimes"

"I found something!", Tierno announced.

Once he saw that Ash was in the room and was looking at him like everyone else, he immediately regretted it, but he knew that the boy was testing him, and it could cost him his life.

"Um...the witness kid...s-someone was able...to...to hear the song he was singing. They arranged something to show what it sounded like"

"And how is that related to Ash?", Trevor blurted out before covering his mouth upon realization that Ash was in the room.

Luckily, he was talking to Mairin and the Professor, giving them a perfect opportunity to play the song and continue their own discussion about the boy.

"La, la la, la la, la la"

It was mysterious. Sort of nice, in a creepy way. They played it for a few seconds, then paused it, which allowed them to catch up on Ash's conversation.

"...But not having brothers and sisters could be boring sometimes, so I'd do things like sing"

Immediately, they froze. Cold sweat ran down their horrified faces.

"...Which was never a problem, since I could still focus on stuff like schoolwork when I was singing. I can hear multiple things at once"

"Oh, really! That's so cool! So if you were singing, and someone was talking, you'd hear both?"

"Yep!"

He turned to face the four petrified teens. So many words were in between them, but none were said. All they could do was sit still and hope they'd get to see the sunrise tomorrow.

"And sometimes people would talk about me, thinking I couldn't hear them. I hate it when people do that"

----------------------------------------

That night, Trevor, Tierno, Shauna, Sawyer, Mairin, Bonnie, Serena, Clemont, and Alain gathered in their room with the door locked.

"Make this quick. The police could find me any minute. I'm lucky Charizard was able to get me out of prison"

Professor Sycamore sat behind them, smirking as he knew what was to come. Tierno sat in the middle, his phone in his hand.

"The person that I called earlier, that told me no one called Ash Ketchum lived in Pallet Town, called me again"

All except Sycamore were intrigued, some fiddling with anxiety, some smiling with excitement. They all flinched when the phone rang.

"Hello?"