A Little First Meet

Chili opened the door. "Oh, Iris!"

"Hey, is Cilan here? I need to talk to him, if that's okay."

"Oh, of course! Come in, I'll get him right away."

"Awesome, thanks!"

Chili turned and walked into the kitchen, and Iris stepped in. There was a small tug on her tights, and she turned to look at the little boy.

"What's wrong?"

He stared at her with nervous and scared brown eyes. She smiled.

"Still not going talk, are you?"

He looked at the ground, and she sighed.

"I'm sure it'll be okay if you come in, too. Besides, I want you to meet Cilan. He'll know what to do with you." She took his small hand and pulled him in, shutting the door as the green-haired Connoisseur walked out of the kitchen.

"Good evening, Iris. What has you out so late?"

She smiled sheepishly and looked at him. "Well… I kind of have a problem here…"

"What is it?"

She motioned her hand to the little boy, who had his hands behind his back as he looked up at Cilan nervously. "I found him walking on the side of the road with a Pikachu. He won't say a word, and I have no clue where he lives or anything!"

"Where is his Pikachu?"

"I left it at the Pokémon Center. We got attacked by a wild Darmanitan, and it got hurt protecting us."

Cilan kneeled down next to the little boy. "What's your name?"

"Cilan, I've tried, he's not going to answer…"

The little boy lowered his head a little. "My name is Ash," he whispered quietly. Cilan barely heard it; Iris thought that the boy had sighed.

"Ash?"

He nodded.

"How old are you?"

"Five."

Cilan looked up and smiled at Iris. "He's so young…"

She gave him a bewildered look. "He's actually talking?" She kneeled down quickly. "Where are you from?"

"I think I'm from Kanto… Brock lives in Pewter, and Misty lives in Cerulean. I met them somewhere in the Viridian Forest…"

"Kanto? How in the world did you get all the way here to Unova?"

"Brock had to go home to become a Pokémon doctor, and Misty was too busy with the gym to take care of me, so I had to go to Professor Oak's lab. He had to go to… The lab in… Um… N- New vehm ah Town…"

"Nuvema Town?"

"Yeah! He had to work with Professor Juniper for a couple of months, and I asked him if I could go on another journey while he worked. He said that as long as I have Pika or a trainer with me at all times, it would be okay."

Cilan stood up, putting his thumb and index finger in a position to hold his chin. "Hm…"

Iris joined him in standing. "What are we going to do?"

"We could call Cerulean or Pewter to see what the other two did."

She nodded. "That's actually a good idea. We could do that, if it's alright."

"Yes, let's do that." They were about to head over to the video phones when Cilan felt a tug on his pants. He looked down at him. "What's wrong?"

"Professor Oak says that there's a time difference between here and Kanto. If it's eight o'clock here, it would be two o'clock there."

Cilan looked at the clock. 6:30. It would be 12:30 there; both would probably be asleep now.

"This is a dilemma… We would have to call in the morning."

"What will we do for the night?"

He looked at her. "I'm not sure. How long did Nurse Joy say it would be until his Pikachu was better?"

"She said to come back in the morning. Maybe before we call we could go back."

"Do you want to stay here for the night? We have a couple of extra guest rooms," he suggested.

"Sure that'd be great! Except…" She looked at Ash. "We need to explain this all to your brothers."

"Of course. We would have to anyways."

"Explain all of what to us?"

They turned to look at Chili and Cress. Ash immediately hid behind Iris's leg, clinging to her tights again.

"Well… Iris found this five year old walking on the side of the road, and she asked me for help… We're going to call a couple of his friends in the morning, and we were wondering if the two could stay here for the night."

Cress blinked. "Yeah, but… Where is this kid?"

"He's hiding behind my leg," Iris explained, laughing nervously. The other two triplets looked and could see part of a small boy. He peeked out, froze up, and hid his face again.

"Ah… So you're shy, aren't you?" Chili reasoned. Cilan crouched down to look at him.

"Ash, aren't you going to say hello to my brothers?"

The little boy shook his head, surprising the older.

"What? Why not?"

The black-haired buried his face in her leg out of shyness. Cilan sighed.

"Please?"

He turned his head, looking at the gentle smile on his face. Ash seemed to get a shyer look on his face before slowly and tentatively pulling away from Iris and into view of the other two Striaton Brothers. They smiled at him. He smiled back nervously.

Chili looked at Cilan. "Don't you think it's time we have supper?"

Cress rolled his eyes. "Honestly, we've got a situation here, and all you can think about is food?"

Ash smiled- a real smile. Cilan stood up.

"Come on, let's go eat."

#?*!

"I'm just saying that Arceus created the Pokémon, and he could defeat Mew easily!" Chili exclaimed.

"But Mew can learn every single move!" Cress replied. "It could use Horn Drill and knock Arceus out immediately!"

Iris sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Guys, you've been debating this for over an hour. Can't you just let it go?"

They glared at each other for a moment, but then they both let out a deep breath.

"Alright…"

"Fine…"

They five were still sitting around the table; the dishes were finished, so they were just talking. Cilan was staring at the ceiling, thinking about that girl that was flirting with him today. He shivered slightly, hoping she wouldn't be back tomorrow. Iris started talking about her village, and how when two people would get into a debate, the whole village would join in and take sides. Chili and Cress were listening to her intently. Ash had his head on the table, facing the wall. He was physically in Unova, but he was mentally in the past, in Hoenn with his best friend, his first older sister figure, and his older brother figure.

He couldn't help but wonder if Max was still as excited to get his first Pokémon as he was when he left to go to Sinnoh with Brock. He frowned, feeling regret again about how he never told Max that he was his first and only best friend. When I become a Pokémon trainer, if I ever see Max, I'm going to tell him. I will, I will, I will!

His thoughts landed on May, wondering if she ever thought words near that about Drew. He knew that she looked at him different than how she looked at Brock or Harley, but he couldn't figure out why. Her face always turned red whenever they were talking about him, and it seemed to be even darker when he gave her one of those roses for Beautifly. He still couldn't figure out why.

The way May treated Max reminded him of how Kenny would treat Dawn. They would tease each other all the time; Ash thought it was fun to watch them. They were both great at contests, even if Dawn was better. Dawn was his second older sister figure. She never treated him like a five year old. He always felt older around her.

"Ash, what are you thinking about?" Cress's words interrupted his thoughts.

"Dawn…"

"You mean sunrise?"

"No, my friend Dawn. She lives in Sinnoh. I think that she said she was going to compete in some contests in Hoenn…"

He fell silent again. Cilan had to smile at how he was thinking of his friends.

^^;

Alana grabbed onto Newton's hand. "You can't go," she sighed. "What will Lilly do without you? What will I do without you?"

"I don't know," he mumbled, "But I have to go. They need me back there."

"Then let us come with you!"

"It's too dangerous!" He turned and looked at her with a stern look. "All of the…"

Cilan tore his vision away from the book and closed it. I still want to dream of this book. I need to finish reading it at a time when I'm not about to fall asleep. Of course, I'll probably finish reading it in the morning…

"This is his room, Ash… are you sure you're okay?"

Cilan turned at Chili's voice right outside his door. He started to get out of bed.

"Okay… Do you want me to get him up? …Are you sure? …Okay… I guess I'll-"

Cilan gently opened the door to see Ash rubbing his eye, hugging a slightly dirty Vaporeon doll, and Chili kneeling down next to him, both in their pajamas.

"What's going on?" he whispered.

Chili stood up. "I woke up and heard sobbing, and when I came out, I saw that it was Ash. He had gotten scared, being alone in a room for his first time, and he got up to find your room, but he got lost and was twice as scared as he was before."

Ash quietly hugged Cilan's leg with one arm, still scared, and looked up at him. Cilan chuckled and looked at Chili.

"I can take him for now."

"Are you sure? I mean… He seems kind of frantic…"

"I can do this, Chili, really. Honestly, you have no faith in me…"

The redhead stood up straight and sighed. "Alright… You know where we are if you need us…" He turned and walked down the hall, waving his triplet off.

Cilan smiled and kneeled down next to the five year old. "Why don't we go to sleep now? I'm sure you're tired."

Ash nodded tiredly and squeezed his Vaporeon before Cilan picked him up and lay him down on the right side of his bed. After crawling into the left side, he turned the lamp off and lay down.

"Cilan…?"

"Yeah, Ash?"

"…Good night…"

Cilan smiled. "Good night, Ash. Sleep well."

#?*!

As the video phone rang, Cilan turned to Iris.

"I forgot to tell you, last night Ash had gotten scared and came to my room with a little help from Chili. He ended up sleeping with me for the night."

"That's what happened to him? I was so worried! I thought he'd run off or something!"

The phone was picked up, and a teenager with spiky brown hair came on screen, looking down, not paying attention.

"Pewter City Gym."

Cilan took a deep breath. "Are you Brock, by any chance?"

The teen looked up. "Yeah, this is. Can I help you?"

Iris quickly explained the story to him, and he frowned.

"He made it all the way to Unova? I knew I shouldn't have left him with the professor…"

"Do you have any idea what we should do? He seems to really want to go on a journey…"

The tan smiled. "I'm sure it will be alright if he goes… If you two are available to, that is."

"I'm available for sure! I have nothing better to do anyways!"

"I'm sure my brothers will be quite alright with it."

"Great! But… Just a fair warning- he can get… stubborn at times. He's always shy at first, and when you get to know him, he acts really confident, but… he's actually sensitive."

Cilan nodded. "We can tell already."

"Just be prepared for the things he can throw at you. I have to go- I trust you two can handle him from here?"

"Sure thing! Just leave him to us!"

"Alright; just call if you need any help with anything. See ya!" The line went dead; Iris and Cilan were left with a five year old and a journey into the unknown.

As if on cue, Ash quietly ran into the room, still in his pajamas and carrying his Vaporeon doll. He ran over and hugged Cilan's leg, causing the teen to turn and smile.

"Well, good morning, Ash. Did you sleep well?"

He nodded. "Did Brock say that it was okay to go on a journey?"

"He sure did." He kneeled down to look at him. "And Iris and I are both able to travel with you. Would you like that?"

The brown eyes lit up tremendously. "Really? Yes!"

Cilan chuckled. "Alright… Let's get Pikachu, and we can start really soon."

"Awesome! Let's do this!"