Following the end of the doppelganger event and after Ash asked Elias for help cleaning up his own mess, Ash apologizes for initially trying to push blame onto Elias on the network, but his "excuse" is that he was under a lot of pressure and panicked. Of course, the lie quickly unraveled once Ash was actually confronted about it.

He tells Elias he's going to skip town and lay low for a while, but he does ask if they're still bros despite this doppelganger incident.

(He's desperate to reinforce this relationship for his own selfish gain, unaware that Elias is likely using him as a pawn, himself.)