Chapter 2

Croagunk, perched serenely on the roll-cage of Brock's Jeep, lost his balance and fell into the back of the car, so startled was he at the arrival of the huge airplane. Brock had, unconventionally, parked a little ways off the tarmac. (Hey, being a gym leader has its perks.) Lots of people were getting off the plane, but soon Ash caught his eye, and they began to make their way over.

Ash. Wow. The guy was taller. Not taller than him, but still. Unnatural. He was dressed in jeans, a black T, blue windbreaker with the zipper undone, a red cap, (was he ever not wearing a hat?) and nice looking running shoes. Ash should have known better than to wear tennis shoes. Pretty soon someone was going to use that awful, overused line, the reason Brock wore boots everywhere. (Hey, Ash, nice TRAINERS! Hahaha -continued annoying laughter-.)

Something else was different about his little buddy, though. Ash was still lithe, but his muscles showed just slightly through the t-shirt, and his eyes were more alert. He'd been training his mind and body. He seemed in-the-moment, and he walked straighter. His face was more serious, but his smile was warmer, more genuine. He'd grown up.

Pikachu was different as well. He was bigger, and perched across Ash's shoulders, watching everything, he seemed dangerous. Kalos had definitely made him a better Pokemon. He still looked just as cute, though, and as he leaped onto a little girl walking with Ash, Brock turned his attention to Ash's new companions.

The little girl with Pikachu looked about 9 or 10, with her blond hair done up to the side. She wore a simple brown shirt, and a white skirt with black leggings. First impression: curious, mischievous, and a handful. She had some kind of orange mouse sitting on her head. (When Brock had studied to become a Pokemon doctor, he'd taken a course on Pokemon from other regions. But the course material had said almost nothing about Kalos Pokemon.)

Her older brother stood close at hand. Brock knew an older brother when he saw one; the way he always had one eye on her, his body turned slightly in her direction, in case he needed to rush to her side at any moment, (further evidence she was a menace,) and the physical resemblance was striking as well. The faces, the hair, the placement of the eyes.

The brother seemed a bit of an odd one. He could have been Ash's age, maybe older, and he was wearing… what was that thing, anyway? It looked like some kind of insulated jumpsuit; light blue, with yellow stripes. He had a mostly white backpack, heavy looking- but he wore it like it weighed nothing.

"He must wear that thing everywhere." Brock thought. The kid had wire rimmed glasses that made his eyes look huge, and his hair was more than a little wild. The back looked like he'd combed it with a live grenade, and one jagged blond plume stuck straight up at the top. The color and the shape, ha, funny, it almost looked like a bolt of…

Brock was distracted by the girl.

Not the little girl, the girl girl. She was beautiful, with a kind face and a bright smile. She wore a short pink dress with a kind of red vest that went to her waist. Tall stockings and knee high boots spoke of country life, but the red fedora with the thick black band contradicted that. The hat sat atop short-cut hair that was a kind of honey-gold. Brock wondered if Ash had a thing for her. It wouldn't have surprised him. She was good looking. Although, to his knowledge, Ash had never had a thing for any girl. Brock revoked his previous thought. It would have surprised him.

Ash came in running. The hug almost bowled over the taller friend. "Hey big guy!"

Brock laughed. "Heya, bro. Long time."

Ash pulled away, his smile fading just a tad. "Yeah. Too long."

Nodding, Brock looked up. "So, who're your friends?"

The trio behind Ash had caught up. The little one sprung forward. "Hi! I'm Bonnie! Nice to meet you! This is my big brother, Clemont!"

The brother managed to catch his breath. "Hi there. Pleasure, (wheeze) to meet you, (gasp) sir."

The boy straightened up and looked him straight in the eyes. Those eyes… there was something strange about those eyes, he couldn't place where he'd seen that before…

Pikachu, upon seeing Brock, sprung from Bonnie's arms and onto Brock's shoulders. "Hey there, bud. You looking for one of these?"

Seemingly out of nowhere, Brock produced a homemade PokeTreat. Pikachu let out a happy "Kaa!" and seized the morsel, beginning to dine, only to spit it out again, sputtering. Brock laughed. "Sorry, I think May made that one. Here, try this." He handed Pikachu a second treat, which the mouse smelled carefully, before digging in, with no ill effects.

Ash cracked a wide grin. "Her cooking hasn't got much better, then?"

Brock grinned back. "'Fraid not." He leaned in close to Bonnie, making her laugh as he whispered, "But don't tell her I said that."

Standing, he turned to the remaining nameless friend. "And who's this pretty thing?"

She blushed. "Oh, I'm Serena. I'm a Pokemon Performer."

"Pleased to meet you, everyone." Brock stood tall, letting his ego out just a little. "My name is Brock, and I'm Gym Leader at the Pewter City Gym."

Suddenly, something purple and orange sprang from the Jeep and attacked Brock. Seeing it from the corner of his eye, he dodged just in time, grabbing Croagunk's wrist and attempting to immobilize the Poison-Type in his arms. But the frog kicked Brock in the stomach and twisted from his grip, springing high in the air before coming down with a powerful Poison Jab. Brock jerked back, the glowing purple finger missing by just an inch. As the inaccurate amphibian crashed to the ground, the poison in the move shot into the dirt, and Brock pounced on him, covering him with his whole body.

The audience to this strange melee consisted of three kids from Kalos, watching with open mouths and wide eyes, and one kid from Kanto laughing and cheering, "Yeah, Croagunk! Go for the legs!"

"Not helping, Ash," Brock mumbled as he tried to wrestle his Pokemon into submission.

For a moment, it seemed that Croagunk had quieted down under Brock. The moment his trainer began to relax his grip, however, the frog shot out of captivity, perching atop Brock's Jeep and letting out a long "Crooao," before charging a Poison Jab attack and launching off at Brock. The attack scored a direct hit…

...On the button of the Pokeball Brock had pulled from his vest. The look on the dismayed Pokemon seemed to say, "You cheater." as his form glowed red, broke into a stream of light, and was sucked into the ball.

Brock sighed. "Sorry about that. He's a little… temperamental."

Ash began to clap, and the rest of the group followed suit. "Gotta say, Brock," Ash said as he walked to get in the Jeep, "that move with the Pokeball was inspired. Never saw it coming."

Brock gave a short laugh as he climbed into the driver's seat. "Yeah, well, unfortunately, Croagunk's just as clever as you remember. That trick won't work twice. Hop in, everyone."

Ash jumped into the passenger's seat, and the three seats in back were claimed by Clemont, Serena, and Bonnie.

"Hey, Ash," Brock had a thought as he started the Jeep, "I thought you said you were bringing four people. What, were you counting Pikachu?"

Brock's four passengers all gave a jolt, then a look of dread crept onto every face. Ash seemed to sweat a little. "Oh, crap."

In the rearview mirror, out on the horizon, Brock saw something that made no sense. Some kind of dust cloud, as if there was a stampede on the tarmac. Turning around, he pulled a pair of binoculars from the glove compartment and tried to pull the object into focus. "Do you guys see that? It looks kinda like…"

"A middle aged man in a blue coat carrying five or six suitcases and running like a maniac?"

Brock looked incredulously at Serena. "How did you know-"

Ash and Serena looked at each other, and then they both looked at Clemont, who looked at the both of them. Bonnie gave an exasperated sigh, and said in a tired voice, "We forgot the Professor."

(-o-)

Unsurprisingly, Sycamore wasn't even a little upset. Just relieved he'd caught the Jeep in time.

He shook hands with Brock, introducing himself, and the two loaded the luggage into the back of the car. Then there was the small matter of where Sycamore was going to sit. There were only three seats in back, and two up front.

Clemont, as usual, had the obvious solution. "Bonnie can ride on my lap." he said, shifting in his seat.

Ash jumped up. "The professor can sit up front. Here, slide over Serena."

"Oh! Uh, yeah, ok…" She slid into the middle, with the siblings on one side, and Ash on the other.

As Brock started the Jeep, he caught sight of something in the overhead mirror. A splash of color in Serena's cheek, just a hint of… blush?

An idea came to Brock then, so alien and impossible he nearly hit a concrete divider coming off the runway. He filed away his suspicion as he began a spot of conversation with the Professor.

"So, your work on Mega Evolution, has it had any bearing on the Regional Phenomenon?"

"I assume you mean why Mega Stones, only found in Kalos, can aid a Pokemon from another region in Mega Evolution?"

"Yeah, I've always wondered about that."

"Well, I recently published a very controversial article on the very subject, regarding the origin of Mega Evolution, in which I postulate that the formation of the Mega Stone, is in fact, dependent on only two variables, being, the first, the presence of a geographical anomaly that some call…"

Ash turned to Serena. "Man, the conversation just took a turn for the Drowzee. Eh, Clemont?"

He looked to find Clemont leaning toward the front excitedly, hanging on every word.

Ash sighed, rolling his eyes. "I should have expected that. Ah, well."

He looked out the window, letting the scenery flash by in a blur. He thought about what was waiting for him in Pallet Town. Oak would be there, and his mother, Misty might come over for a visit, was Tracy still working for Professor Oak? There was so much he was excited for, but so much he had chosen to hide… 5 years worth of secrets that his Kalos friends would find out about eventually. Ash sighed. He wanted to have this time. Becoming Champion had done enough to change the way his friends treated him. If they found out about the rest of it…

Since he was ten. That's how long he'd been on the road. He'd caught dozens of Pokemon, competed in League after League, and he hadn't done too badly, all things considered. Plus there was the matter of Prophecy, saving the world, battling ancient superpowers, standing against godlike entities and whatnot. And Ho-Oh missing… Ash was still getting flack for that.

No. It was just… too much. Let them believe his journey had begun for the first time in Kalos. He'd called ahead to make sure everyone knew. Many of them had been against hiding the truth, but they respected his wishes. Besides Pikachu, all of his Pokemon he'd not caught in Kalos would stay at Oak's preserve for the duration of the retreat.

Turning away from the window, he looked at his friends. Clemont, listening to the Professor with eager eyes, Bonnie and Serena, playing with Pikachu, Dedenne sleeping in Bonnie's little bag.

Ash tried to shake the melancholy from his mind. This was going to be fun.

(-o-)

The ride to Pallet Town was long, and Serena, though secretly wishing he had fallen asleep on her shoulder, was glad Ash hadn't, because she needed to ask Brock something. Checking again to make sure he was asleep, she smiled at the way his cheek was pressed against the window, his mouth just barely open, his breathing light, and easy…

She started when she realized Brock, glancing in the overhead mirror, had caught her staring at Ash while he slept. She blushed furiously, and, trying to remain dignified, leaned forward into the front seat. "Hey Brock?"

He put on a wry smile. "Yeah, Serena?"

She tried to ignore the look on his face. "Um, I wondered… is there anything I should know about… Ash's family? I want to make a good first- I just mean..." She tried to collect her thoughts as Brock's smile began to grow wider. He leaned over to Sycamore, who was rereading his old notes on a kind of wide tablet. The older man looked up as Brock murmured into his ear. Serena couldn't catch all his words, but could guess she was the butt of the joke, from the way the Professor laughed and laughed, glancing back to Serena with eyes full of mirth.

Brock chuckled as Sycamore went back to his reading. "Not to worry, Serena. I felt the same way when I first met Philena's family."

If Serena had been pink before, she was red now. Brock smiled at this, silently wondering at the idea that a girl was crushing on Ash. On Ash! Of course, that wasn't fair. Ash was a truly impressive young man. It shouldn't have surprised him as it did. But still. Ash.

His smile slowly faded as a thought came to him. "Now that you mention it, Serena, there is one thing you should know."

The pokemon performer leaned back into the front seat as Brock visibly prepared himself to talk about a hard subject. His eyes stayed on the road ahead as he began.

"Ash's father never came back from his Pokemon journey a long time ago. There's no bitter feelings; Ash's father was a great role model, and Ash wants to be just like him. It's just… painful. Try not to mention it."

Serena nodded, filing the information away, so she wouldn't forget. Very nervous now, she spoke in a low voice. "Any advice for meeting… his mother?"

Brock's smile came back, full power. There was a spark in the thin contours of his flint eyes. "Don't worry, Serena. You're going to love Delia."