Chapter 11: Rolling in the Deep
The Dodrio had done its usual Roost ability to wake up the residents of Pallet Town. With the roost and gleaming sun all the inhabitants of Pallet Town awoke with a yawn. There was only one residence the sun and Normal/Flying-type Pokémon failed to awaken. That was the Ketchum residence; no one had awakened yet, well almost no one.
Not even a resident of Pallet, the boy got out of bed. He looked to the person he had to sleep with last night and only stared intensely. Almost immediately did he brush his teeth without making a sound. His rose-colored toothpaste and green toothbrush were his objects to get this day ready. He would shower once he came back from his destination.
He had no desire on waking up anyone from their sleep at 7:00 am with the sounds of the shower. Slowly the boy fixed his hair and put on his usual purple clothing, with a black shirt under as well as the turquoise pants. Drew reached for his Pokeballs and exited out the door.
"I know we were planning on training later today, but I bet even then we wouldn´t get any real practice done," the boy flicked his hair and went right to a meadow where he could train.
Drew made sure that it was far enough to prevent any noise that would wake up any other sleeping inhabitant of Pallet Town. As he walked up the meadow he was thinking about the frustration from last night.
"Does May really love Ash? How can I demonstrate that I´m the better one? Ugh, this is going to mess up my training. I can be with May if I want to, it´s as simple as that, because I´m not as dense as that boy," the emerald-haired coordinator found reassurance in himself.
When he reached for the perfect spot he reached for one of his Pokeballs. He smirked as he held it in his hand. "Go Typhlosion!"
Out came the Volcano Pokémon roaring with enormous pride in its pride. The coordinator recollected the time in which led to the result of getting this arrogant Pokémon. May and him were just revisiting New Bark Town, while traveling to Mt. Silver, which is known for its annual Johto League Battles and for the Johto Grand Festival.
While they were there, they ran in to an injured Cyndaquil that had been crushed by a gigantic tree on the outskirts of town. Drew was determined to help the defenseless little guy. He recalled being incredibly stressed because of the helpless look the Cyndaquil had. It cried out "Quil!" every time Drew tried to move the tree. May had also tried to help, but Drew was giving it all he had. Luckily and idea struck him.
Flashback
"Go Butterfree!" he called out.
The majestic Bug/Flying-type Pokémon came out with its occasional sound.
"Quick Butterfree, help me by using Confusion to move this," Drew ordered sternly.
It quickly obeyed orders and its eyes glowed blue as well as the tree. Sadly, the weight of the tree had been too much for the Butterfree and Cyndaquil needed help fast before it got even more flattened by the trunk.
May watched in horror, she knew she had to help and remembered her Beautifly. She had no time to call herself stupid because a Pokémon´s life was at risk and she needed to act fast, "I´ll help go Beautifly!"
"Ok Beautifly use Psychic!" Beautifly soon used a multi-colored telekinetic attack that assisted in lifting the tree.
"Good thinking May," Drew complimented her.
"Thanks, now come on we have a Cyndaquil to save," she sounded determined and they both put in more effort than ever.
After countless attempts the power of the Psychic attacks had finally been able to overwhelm the heavy tree. Butterfree and Beautifly quickly put it aside. Drew ran for the Cyndaquil and held it tie as if protecting it from anymore harm.
"Quil…" was the Fire-type´s only response.
"It´s ok little guy we´re going to take you to the a place where they can heal you," Drew gave the little thing a reassuring smile, while the Fire Pokémon rubbed itself against his chest, showing affection.
May couldn´t help find this adorable and like any other time like this it would appear as if she was about to cry. Drew told her to hurry up and she rubbed her tears away as they ran quickly to New Bark Town.
Once they entered the town they found Professor Elm running around in panic, "Help has anyone seen a Cyndaquil!"
The duo realized that he must have been referring to this wounded Cyndaquil and approached him. "Professor is this, the Cyndaquil?" Drew and May said at the same time.
"Hello kids, and thank Arceus you´ve found Cyndaquil, but what happened to him? Why does he look so badly injured," Professor Elm appeared very worried.
"We´ll explain later come on we have to get to your lab quick and heal this Cyndaquil," the green-haired coordinator replied strictly.
"Yes of course get in to my jeep," Elm had ordered quickly.
"Thank you Professor," May thanked him and the three drove to the lab where they ran at lightning speed.
When they got to the examination room, "Put him on this table," the professor demanded.
Drew slowly put the Fire Mouse Pokémon on the bed so Professor Elm could exam it and cure it. "I´ll need you two to wait outside this might take a while."
"No way, I want to make this Cyndaquil is safe and healthy," Drew snapped at Elm, his frustration obviously overcoming his politeness.
Professor Elm sighed; there was no use in arguing with a boy like Drew so he had no choice, but to let them stay. "Very well, but be patient."
The male coordinator nodded and asked May, "Are you going to stay?"
"Of course, I´ll stick right here with you hoping for the best," May informed her old rival and friend.
Her company made Drew calm down a bit as he observed Elm put some creams and give some oxygen to Cyndaquil. Luckily for the poor thing, May and Drew had arrived to it in time.
Elm told them that if it had been under that tree any longer its lungs might´ve been crushed and the worst might have happened. Drew and May´s eyes widened this and were glad that Arceus had helped them in a time like this.
"It will be about two days before Cyndaquil can do anything, are you two willing to wait for this little guy?" Professor Elm questioned the pair.
"Yes, the Grand Festival isn´t for another two months. This won´t be a delay," Drew answered the professor as May nodded in agreement.
"Alright then," Professor Elm´s stern face that he had for some hours had vanished with a smile and so did the pair´s since they were now certain Cyndaquil would make a quick recovery.
"By the way Professor Elm, what do you have to do with this Cyndaquil," May inquired him.
"You see last night during the storm Cyndaquil was outside along with Totodile and Chikorita. When there was thunder occurring all of them had come back inside, except for Cyndaquil. I was so troubled by its disappearance, I could only blame myself. All day and last night I searched for it. The three of them were suppose to be getting ready for a trainer that was supposed to pick up his Pokémon in three days," Professor Elm explained the situation to the two coordinators.
They completely understood the problem, but now they were only thankful that they found the mouse. For the next two days, they stayed at Professor Elm´s lab and once Cyndaquil had been fully healed they rushed to see it.
"Professor is Cyndaquil in one piece?" Drew ran up to Professor who was in his room where he did his studies.
"Yes, I´ll bring him right now," Professor Elm told them as he walked in to the examination room.
About a minute later he came back with a Cyndaquil that held open arms for Drew.
Professor Elm let Cyndaquil free and leaped for Drew. "Looks like it really likes you Drew," May giggled.
"Guess it does, after all Drew you were motivated to help this little fella," Professor Elm smiled cheerfully.
"Cyndaquil!" the fire mouse joyfully pronounced.
"Good to see you again to little guy," the LaRousse boy grinned at the little Fire-type.
Elm and May watched Drew embrace the adorable thing so lovingly. May thought she´d never see the day he´d be so sweet to someone like this, she gave him a smirk as she stared. "You know Drew, I think you should keep this Cyndaquil, it really likes you and I know you´d raise it well," the professor commented to the emerald-haired coordinator, whom turned his attention to what Elm said.
"You really think so huh? Well what do you say Cyndaquil," the boy asked the little innocent Pokémon.
The Fire-type leaped off his arms to land on the floor. It got on its hind legs and squealed, "Cyndaquil!" as it´s back sprang with flames.
May laughed at this, "I think that´s a yes Drew."
"Well alright then, from here on out you and me are partners. We´ll train hard, but I know you can do it and you´ll be able to compete in Pokémon Contests," Drew assured his new- found pal.
"Quil!" the fire mouse said with a joyous tone as everyone in the room laughed.
End of Flashback
He thought to himself, those were great days when there wasn´t anything like this to think about. On their way to Mt. Silver Drew trained Cyndaquil until it evolved in to a Quilava. It was faster it was stronger and Drew used him in the semi-finals when he faced Solidad once again. She was stronger than ever and her Slowbro had knocked out his Roserade, while he made her Lapras faint. Quilava looked like it was about to give up as well until it evolved.
Before the eyes of Solidad and the crowd looking at the battle, Quilava evolved in to Typhlosion and it unleashed its ability Blaze. It used an overwhelming Flamethrower against an exhausted Slowbro that was unable to dodge it. Due to the increased power in its fire attacks thanks to Blaze and its evolution, Slowbro could fall at any moment.
Following that Drew ordered a Sunny Day and Slowbro made a final stand by using Hyper Beam and Typhlosion was ordered to release a Solarbeam. The powerful beams collided and there was beam struggle. However Typhlosion´s sheer power overpowered the Hyper Beam, and ultimately defeated Slowbro and let Drew progress to the finals.
Ever since it became a Typhlosion it became cocky and had become powerful enough to win all of its battles as a Typhlosion. He was sure to use him training today, after all Typhlosion stilled needed work in coordinating.
The Volcano Pokémon turned to Drew for a command, "All right Typhlosion we are going to practice coordinating with Roserade."
Typhlosion acknowledged this and began for some practice. "Go Roserade!"
Out came a striking Grass/Poison-type Pokémon. It got up from its knees in an elegant manner and eyed Typhlosion. "Alright let´s begin! Typhlosion use Sunny Day and now Roserade use Weather Ball!"
Typhlosion started to create intense sun rays as Roserade proceeded to use a spherical fire. "Continue Typhlosion with Fire Spin!" as the fire attack encircled the flame ball. Then Drew snapped his fingers and Typhlosion added more power that started to make the beam look like a dragon.
"Roserade Solarbeam!" he ordered and the Bouquet Pokémon shot a Solarbeam through the gaps in the Fire Spin and once it hit the Weather Ball the whole dragon-shaped beam shot out in sparkles.
"Let´s wrap this up Roserade use a combination of Magical Leaf and Sweet Scent and Typhlosion use Swift!" Drew made his final command.
Roserade let out at a Sweet Scent at the same as unleashing a Magical Leaf, Typhlosion shot a barrage of Swifts and soon the air was covered in what looked like stars with rainbow sparkles from the Magical Leaf. The sky was glistening completely and with a pleasant red aroma, but couldn´t stand out from the bright colors. Drew took a bow once the sparkles came down.
"That was good you guys, keep this up and we´ll win the next Grand Festival for sure," he complimented the duo.
Typhlosion roared with pride at the remark, while Roserade also took a bow.
"Now let´s continue," the coordinator gave them an order.
May was awaking after smelling some cooking. She looked around to find Misty still sleeping. Pikachu had also still been sleeping. May smiled at the two sleepyheads and read the clock, which said 9:02 am.
She thought Ash´s mom was the one cooking, and thought it´d be best to get out of bed. "Pikachu wake up," May told Pikachu as she moved him back and forth.
"Pika?" the yellow mouse woke up.
"Hey Pikachu time to wake up, Delia is already cooking can you go downstairs to let her know we´re wake," the brunette asked him.
"Pi," Pikachu got up and pointed to the door.
"Yeah, I´ll open it up in a sec, after waking up Misty," May told the little mouse.
"Pika pi," the rodent acknowledged.
"Hey Misty, wake up it´s 9," May moved Misty.
"Huh? What? Oh morning May," the red-head wiped the sand off her eyes.
"Morning Misty, I thought it was getting late, so it would be best to wake up," May explained to her friend.
"Yeah your right come on," Misty suggested to her.
May opened the door so Pikachu ran out, while girls followed close behind. When they got downstairs they found Drew´s bed empty.
"Huh? Where´s Drew?" the coordinator appeared a bit puzzled.
"May be he´s in the kitchen come on we have to wake this Snorlax up," the gym leader turned to a sleeping Ash.
"Ash wake up," the boy´s Hoenn friend tried to wake him up. She tried the same thing repeatedly.
"No use, guess he´s gotten worse can´t he even smell the food?" May said to Misty who agreed with her.
"I know," Misty snapped her fingers and whispered in May´s ear.
"So you want us to scream his name in his ear?" the girl in the red nightgown.
"Yep, whaddaya say?" Misty asked him.
"Ok sure, this will be funny," May giggled
They both went on each of Ash´s respective ears and yelled "Wake up Ash!"
He woke up in an instant and was so alert, his ears felt like they had been ripped off. "What´s the big idea you two?" still making sure his ear worked.
"Well you wouldn´t wake up so we had to take another procedure, morning Ash," Misty gave him a smirk.
"Yeah, how you been sleepyhead?" the Petalburg girl chortled.
"Morning and I´m fine thank you for asking, but I was wondering when I am going to wake up in a normal manner," Ash appeared a bit bothered.
"Well breakfast should be ready so I was wondering if you were going to get up or not," the water gym leader gave her arm and gave him a wink.
Ash chuckled, "I guess you know I can´t say no to food."
Misty pulled him up and said, "Guess I know you too well." The red-haired girl smiled and giggled a bit.
May might have taken this exchange of gestures between the two a bit literal because she got a bit frustrated at it. She quickly shook it off, not wanting to make things seem misleading.
"Hey where´s Drew?" the boy took notice of his absence.
"May be in the kitchen, come on let´s go eat," May led the pair.
When they entered they found Delia making all sorts of delicious foods: chocolate chip pancakes, a small cake frosted with chocolate, some scrambled eggs with bacon, and French toast.
"Whoa, I´m trying everything right now!" the teen hurried to his eat to find Pikachu eating his very own pancake, and enjoyed every bite of it.
"Oh hello kids, how´d you sleep?" Delia questioned all of them.
"We slept fine!" the girls spoke together.
"Speak for yourselves; I had to sleep on the floor while Drew got the bed," the raven-haired boy muttered.
"Speaking of sleep where is Drew?" Misty asked.
"Pika pika," Pikachu looked around also confused about Drew´s whereabouts.
"That´s strange where could he have gone?" Drew´s rival spoke.
"Well his loss, he won´t get a chance to eat any of this great food," the rude teen boy was speaking in between munches.
"I´m sure he went out to get some fresh air, he´ll be back soon. When I woke up I found him gone too, which was like at 8:30," Mrs. Ketchum informed.
"Guess you´re right he knows what he is doing," the Hoenn girl agreed with Ash´s mother.
"Come on let´s eat," Misty cheered because even the red-head was starving.
"Oh yeah, I need to call my mom and dad to let them know I´m here. Before we went to port they told me to call," the coordinator told them.
"Everything is going to be gone after your back thanks to the boy with the rude manners," the Water-type gym leader eyed Ash.
"What me?" Ash spoke with his mouth full, Misty only gave a sigh.
"Sure May, go ahead and use the phone," Delia had told the female coordinator.
"Thank you," the blue-eyed girl went for the phone.
She began to dial the number of her house and hoped someone would pick up. When the beeping ended she found that it was her dad that had picked up. "Well this is a surprise how are you May?" the kind father asked.
Caroline and Max soon appeared on the screen, "Hello sweetie, how´s everything?"
"Hey May, how´s Kanto?" Max greeted his sister.
"Hello everyone, I´m fine I couldn´t call last night because I got to Ash´s place late," the daughter of Norman and Caroline told them.
"We understand May, how´s Ash?" Norman questioned her daughter.
"He´s doing great Ash, still the same and his friend Misty is here to so it´s great so far," May assured her family.
"Oh and how about Drew, dear?" the brunette´s mother asked her.
"Ummm he´s doing fine, He´s not here right, but I think he went out to take a look of Pallet," the sapphire-eyed girl told the trio.
"Hey I heard my name May," Ash popped up.
"Ash, you startled me I was just mentioning you to my mom and dad," the coordinator told her friend.
Ash turned to face the screen, "Hey everyone how are you doing!" The cheerful boy waved his hand at them.
May´s family greeted their daughter´s good friend, "How have you been Ash, gotten stronger?"
"You bet Norman, I can´t wait till my next battle," Ash put on his usual determined look for them.
"I´m sure you have, do you have your next destination?" May´s father asked him.
"Not yet, but since I have guests I don´t think I´ll be on the go for another week," the raven-haired boy chuckled.
Max was the next to speak, "So Ash how´d you do in the Sinnoh League? I never got a chance to see your performance."
"Oh well, I got in to the Top 4, but I lost to this guy named Tobias who used a Darkrai and a Latios," the trainer informed the younger boy.
"Bet I could have won," Max gave him a cocky smile.
"Gee, how nice of you to say that," Ash said in an irritated tone.
"Ignore him Ash, he´s just jealous that you´ve started competing in battles, while he still has a long way to go," Max´s older sibling defended her pal.
"Hey I´m starting in just a few months," the boy with glasses snapped at him.
There argument however was put aside when Norman began to speak again, "Top 4, Ash that´s really impressive. With each League Battle you raise higher through the ranks, you might even win the next league out there."
"Thank you Norman, you bet I´ll win the next league," Ash assured Norman and his family.
May had gotten a bit uncomfortable as all this league and top rank stuff kept going on. She knew exactly why she felt it. Hearing Ash say Top 4 made her feel guilty that she actually one a competition that could actually fulfill her dreams, while Ash still had trouble climbing the ladder. How would she tell him, would she have to lie to save him the anger and jealousy for denying her dream while he had supported her even when he wasn´t there?
"Ash what´s taking you so long?" Misty appeared in the background.
"Misty!" Max yelled from the video screen.
Misty soon got closer and was on the screen herself with her friends. "Hello Max, how you been?" she spoke softly to the boy she shared the position of the youngest with.
"Good, I really wish I was there," the little boy spoke in jealousy.
"Don´t worry, Max we´ll see each other again real soon and do you still remember what spoke about at Mt. Moon?" the red-head was speaking to him.
"Sure did," the boy in the green pajamas laughed.
"Oh good, so you two must be Max and May´s parents it´s a pleasure," the gym leader saluted the elder pair.
"The pleasure is all ours dear," Caroline stated sweetly.
"The honor is mine Misty; I hear you´re a gym leader correct?" Norman inquired the red-haired girl.
"Yep that´s right, for the Cerulean Gym and I´m aiming to be the greatest Water-type trainer there is. I also hear you´re a Normal-type gym leader?" the red-head gave her own tone of determination along with an inquiry.
"That´s a very honorable goal Misty, my family and I will be supporting you all the way, and I also happen to be the Petalburg Gym Leader, " the Normal-type gym leader
"Thank you sir, and I´m sure you gave Ash a hard battle," the water gym leader gave Ash a sly smile.
"Hey, I got my badge anyways," Ash retorted at his friend.
"Relax Ash, I´m just saying," Misty giggled.
The four members of Norman´s family laughed, "Well everyone I think we should get back to breakfast. I´ll talk to you guys soon," May proclaimed to them.
"Alright sweetie, bub-bye you three," May´s mother waved innocently at the trio with a smile.
"Awww, ok see ya sis, Ash, Misty," Max gave a farewell to the three himself.
"It was great talking to you guys, we´ll talk more soon," Norman gave his own farewell as well.
"Bye," the three teens waved and said in simultaneously.
Immediately, the faces of the seven disappeared from their respective screens. The trio went back in to kitchen to find Pikachu eating most the pancakes.
Ash was shocked, "Pikachu you ate most of our pancakes."
"I didn´t even know he could eat that much," May had also appeared dazed.
"That just shows how much he enjoyed them," a stunned Misty had also stated.
"Pikachu!" the electric mouse fist pumped in the air, praising the delicious pancakes.
"That´s ok you guys I made more," Delia faced them with another batch of pancakes.
"Alright," May and Ash high-fived each other, knowing their appetites they would probably eat the most. Misty just thanked Mrs. Ketchum for bothering to make another set of pancakes.
May and Ash served every individual food there was to their plate and made no hesitation to eat without manners. Misty ate like a normal person along with Delia, not even Pikachu ate normally today.
Misty gave a sigh, "That´s one thing Ash and May have you common."
"What do we have in common?" halted their eating with food still in their mouths. They faced each other laughed, Ash almost choked on his food.
"That´s what I mean," Misty couldn´t help, but smile at her friend´s silly behavior.
"So May, how are your contests going?" Delia questioned the younger female.
Then a red-head´s thought flashed in to her mind, the Johto Grand Festival. The topic of contests alerted May, this was the part where she had to lie.
Misty intervened in the conversation, "Hey May, how´d you do in the Johto Grand Festival?"
Ash then also grew curious, as well as Pikachu when he climbed on his master´s shoulder. "Oh yeah May, how´d it go? We never got a chance to ask you that since there was too much going on lately," the raven-haired boy chuckled.
May needed to think of something quick, she had to make sure she wasn´t nervous. The brunette coordinator let out some air and spoke, "Well I got runner-up, but Blaziken and Venusaur lost. I still think they did an awesome job though, I´ve never gotten that high before."
"That´s wonderful May, it isn´t easy getting there," Delia congratulated her.
"Wow that´s awesome, except it would have been so great if you won. You were so close to getting to your dream, I still have a long way," Ash laughed a bit, but he was also jealous on the inside that the student he mentored got runner-up, a position he hasn´t even reached after competing in four leagues.
Misty felt like something wasn´t right about this scene, but she wouldn´t put her finger on it. She thought it´d be best to just ignore after all the mind can play tricks, "So who won May?" was her inquiry.
"It was Drew, his Pokémon were stronger than ever and he did a really great job. He trained for so long he´s earned it," the coordinator lied.
This comment made Ash cringe, Drew won and she was ok with it. He let a sigh out, her best friend´s chances of winning were taking by him, but she was friends with him so there was nothing he could say that insulted Drew, that would be breaking his promise. Then an idea beamed in to his head, he´d enjoy training with a Top Coordinator and it´d help him a lot.
"That´s really good for Drew and May I bet you did a fantastic job out there too," the Water-type gym leader praised her. She thought it´d be best to not ask Drew about being a Top Coordinator because that must be why his ego is so high and knowing Ash this would result in chaos.
The black-haired trainer also thought it would be best not to bring it up with Drew or else his self-image would boost even higher than it already was. Pikachu was a bit disappointed at May´s loss, but like Misty and Ash he considered that it would be best not increase the boy´s arrogance or else it could cause a problem between his friend and the LaRousse Coordinator. This especially meant since Drew had achieved his dream and Ash hadn´t, which would be Drew´s weapon to taunt his best friend.
"How come he isn´t somewhere else then, I mean it´s not a rude comment, I just figured Top Coordinators had the option of going worldwide?" Ash gave May a question.
"He thought he liked traveling like this, better and he was more intent on becoming stronger than gaining popularity," the Hoenn coordinator explained to her Kanto friend about it.
"That´s determination, I would do the same though if it were my dream to just be #1 rather than be popular and rich," Ash thought at the pointless life we would have to just have fame and money. He was more of a wanderer type of person, he enjoyed traveling like always had, it was always more fun and it would improve his skills better.
"Wonder when he´s coming back?" Misty inquired still a bit suspicious about the discussion.
"Yeah, there´s hardly anything left for him," the raven-haired trainer found only two pancakes and a little bit of scrambled eggs and bacon.
"I can always make more for him," Mrs. Ketchum offered to cook more.
"No need Delia, Drew doesn´t eat much. I think this is good enough for him," the blue-eyed girl told her.
"Oh well ok then," the loving mother gave a smile, however she proceeded to clean empty dishes.
"So Ash tell me more about the Sinnoh League," the Petalburg girl was interested.
"Well I fought my Sinnoh rival, Paul and that was one of the greatest battles I ever had. He almost beat me with his Electivire and Drapion," the trainer spoke with excitement.
"It was the one with the purple hair right Ash?" Misty asked her old friend.
"Yeah that was him, he was a serious guy who mistreated his Pokémon and released them if they didn´t live up to his standards. After our battle though, I sensed a change in him, from there he would change the way he treated Pokémon and I got his respect after it," Ash described his most serious rival ever.
"It´s good that he changed, because I don´t like people who act like that," the girl in the red nightwear said with Misty who was in her yellow nightwear agreed.
"Yeah, but he helped a lot in becoming a better trainer, wonder where he could be now," Ash thought to himself.
"What about Tobias?" May questioned him about the mysterious man.
"Tobias was one critical guy; he was the strongest person I´ve ever battled. Most of my Pokémon were taken out by his Darkrai, but they fought great. It wasn´t until Sceptile battled him that he fainted and used Latios. Sceptile had no energy to fight back and lost, Pikachu took the dragon on and they both ended up fainting, but since he had four Pokémon left he advanced," the trainer spoke a bit saddened at the memory.
Misty couldn´t believe there was such a powerful opponent out there, she recalled seeing the intense battle on TV where Ash fought valiantly against the man. May trembled at such a potent adversary, "I´m sorry Ash, I bet if you didn´t face Tobias you could´ve won. It just scares me to think what his other four Pokémon were."
"May be more legendaries, but I doubt something like Arceus. Tobias told me though I gave him a great battle and I was the only one that ever defeated his Darkrai. I was proud Pikachu, Sceptile and all my other friends, right buddy," the young teen petted his Pikachu.
"Pika!" the yellow mouse loved the petting and his trainer.
"I was sad about the loss, but then I realized there´s always room for improvement and if I trained harder I could beat an opponent like that next time. With you guys here it makes it all the better too!" the boy stated with pure fortitude.
May felt guilt though, the more Ash talked about this the more she got saddened. He did his best and lost while she already got to that point. Then they heard the doorknob of the front entrance turn. When they figured out whom it was a boy with green hair entered the kitchen.
"Drew, where have you been?" the female coordinator asked the male coordinator.
"I was out taking a look," the boy informed.
"How long have you been out," the water gym leader asked him.
"It´s around 10 right, like three hours," Drew told Misty.
"Were you out training?" Ash asked him next.
"That might be it," the green-haired boy flicked his hair.
Tension between the two could be sensed, as they eyed each other. Ash only grinded his teeth at how much of a hotshot this guy thought he was, when they trained he made sure he would overcome Drew.
"Drew, there´s some food on the table just let me know if you want more," Ash´s mom told him with a usual joyous grin.
"Thank you, but that will be enough," Drew assured her as went to his chair and began eating some scrambled eggs and bacon.
"Who were you training with Drew?" his rival questioned him.
Drew shifted his direction to her, "I was training with Roserade," he answered. He did not want to tell her he also trained with Typhlosion because he wanted to save for training and give his now male rival a shocker.
"You evolved your Roselia?" asked the Pallet Town teen.
"Yes, it evolved when it came across a Shiny Stone in Ilex Forest, I don´t how it found it, but I was among some bushes and Roselia rushed to it during some training. Before May and I knew it, it evolved in to Roserade. It became much more powerful and helped you gain two of my Johto Ribbons. I even used it battle Solidad in the Grand Festival," Drew informed his rival about the origins of Roserade and its experience in combat.
"Wait, you battled Solidad this time? Is that right May?" Ash asked her and she gave him a nod. This talk about contests made her a little nervous, but lucky for her no one wanted to ask Drew about winning the festival and then brag about it.
"Yeah, she used her Lapras and thanks to Roserade, I managed to overcome its ice attacks by using a Giga Drain," the green-haired boy continued to discuss about Roserade.
"Whoa, you beat Solidad then. I can´t wait to battle Roserade, it must be really strong," the trainer mentioned with enthusiasm.
"You´ll be battling more than just Roserade, Ash," the boy just decided to let him know.
"What do you mean?" Ash raised an eyebrow.
"You´ll figure it out," he flicked his hair and gave him a smirk.
The discussion between Drew and Ash ended, leaving the Pallet boy puzzled. "If you´ll excuse me I´ll be in the living room, Delia thank you for the wonderful breakfast," Drew stated, got up and walked out.
"You're welcome Drew," Delia spoke with a cheerful tone.
"Hey May, did you get to battle Harley?" Ash asked May one last question.
"Sure did in the semi-finals and he used A Mismagius and his Banette. I´ve never fought such a creepy duo group. The only difference was Harley had changed by this point, after constantly losing to me he realized he focused more on getting revenge rather than putting concentration on his skill. Solidad was the one that made him realize this. From there we got along better, but he was determined to win. In a good way that is and he very put up such a challenging fight like the last one I had with him. He wasn´t upset like other times, but thought with more training he could get what he wanted, victory. The last time we saw each other we parted in good terms," May had explained the whole situation to Ash.
"Harley changed after all huh? It was about time, but I´m glad he did and what Pokémon did you use?" the black-haired boy questioned as Pikachu and Misty listened intently.
"Glaceon and Beautifly, they were about to lose. He was planning on taking them both out at once with a combination attack, but I beat him to it and prevailed," May explained to the three how the battle worked out.
"That must have been one struggling festival May," Misty added to the discussion.
May shook her head, "Sure was; now how about we get some training done and get ready!"
"You can on that," Ash gave her his usual strong-minded look.
"Come on, we´ll have to shower one at a time. Ladies first," Misty told May and let Ash know the brakes of treating a girl.
Ash only drowned in his own disappointment, wanting to be the first one to be ready. The girls raced ahead to the stairs to prepare themselves. May was the first one and then Misty, while Ash and Drew would be final.
Ash walked in to the living room to find Drew there, watching the news. They were discussing usual things like league, festival, frontier, contest, and gym battle results. Right now they were declaring the victory of a Sinnoh boy named Paul who was in the Hoenn Region and had won his second frontier symbol, the Arcade Symbol when he defeated Arcade Star Dahlia. Next it showed a picture of him with the same serious face as always.
"Hey that´s Paul," Ash turned to face Pikachu, who gave him a confirmation.
"You know that boy?" Drew questioned him.
"Sure do he was my rival in Sinnoh and I beat him the Lily of the Valley Conference," Ash informed him.
"He must be pretty impressive if he was able to beat a Frontier Brain," Drew gave his opinion about the purple-haired boy.
"Yeah, he was really strong, but serious. He always took everything serious," the boy told the green-eyed boy.
"Sounds like the type of person I can get along with," the emerald-eyed boy told the auburn-eyed teen.
Ash wanted to spat and ask him what he meant by that. However he had to be careful with what he said to Drew now to avoid problems. The news informed viewers of Paul´s attempts to defeat the Hoenn Battle Frontier to identify the location of the final Frontier Brain Brandon, whom had been moved from the Kanto Battle Frontier to the Hoenn one. This cleared Ash´s thoughts about what Paul was doing in Hoenn and smiled, Paul was still determined to beat Brandon.
The news then changed to a contest in Verdanturf Town that was won by a coordinator named Dawn. This was her second ribbon won and had just arrived from the Sinnoh Region after three days of a photo shoot for her Buneary in Hearthome City. It showed a picture of the bluenette with her usual smile.
"Dawn, way to go," the trainer murmured.
"Pika pika!" the mouse also cheered for her friend´s victory.
"That´s the famous Dawn, she actually seems very potent. I would enjoy battling an opponent like that," May´s rival had spoken.
"She´s a tough opponent for sure I can tell you that," Ash advised him, remembering what Drew had said last night. He was glad that his opinion was changing about his Sinnoh friend.
The boy from LaRousse City nodded. Suddenly, they heard the girls coming down, their hair dry and in their usual clothes.
"We´re finished," Misty declared to them.
"Yep, we brushed, showered, and fixed our hair and ready for the day," May announced cheerfully.
"Oh good, hey I just heard on TV that Dawn is in Hoenn and won her second ribbon in Verdanturf Town," Ash informed the duo.
"Really, Dawn´s in Hoenn? That´s great, I hope she stops by Petalburg one of these days," May said with joy over hearing the whereabouts of her friend.
"Two ribbons already, that´s fast, good for her, I really want to meet," Misty spoke with eagerness about the famous friend.
"I also heard about Paul, he´s also in Hoenn battling the Hoenn Battle Frontier," Ash let them know also.
"Sounds like you Ash," May grinned at him after mentioning this.
"Yeah, he´s one determined guy, wonder how strong he´s gotten," the boy with the Pikachu wondered.
"Hey what´s that?" Misty turned her attention to the news, which Drew was still watching.
He couldn´t believe what it was reporting. It was yet another sighting of the man in black. He was spotted near Vermillion City after defeating another trainer just as easily. He used a Salamence this time against none other Bruno of the Elite Four. Bruno was out in a route near Vermillion City training until the man in the black coat challenged him. Bruno accepted and faced off against his Salamence, unfortunately he all six of his Pokémon were beaten. Eyewitnesses reported Bruno used several attacks on Salamence that barely fazed the dragon and once the battle ended the man fled at the speed of Arcanine. The fighting elite wasn´t there to interview because he was discussing the situation to the Kanto Police Force and the other members Elite Four as well as the Champion Lance.
The news reporter stated that anyone should please contact an Officer Jenny if they encounter this man, as said before he is hostile. And then the news on this man ended.
Everyone in the room was paralyzed. Drew was shocked at the ability of trainer that can beat down one of the Elite Four so easily, yet hearing about the speed of an Arcanine stunned him even more. Remembering the encounter with an Arcanine during his last visit in Kanto when he had a feud about catching with May, this was what the brunette was also thinking.
Misty looked a bit dazed after hearing this, was there even such a person in existence. Ash was confused along with Pikachu, hearing this a second time sounded more frightening than the first because of the man´s ability to take down Bruno of the Elite Four.
"That´s really scary," May´s legs were shaking.
"How can anyone be so strong and yet move around so fast?" Misty spoke, her mouth opened.
"Let´s just hope we don´t encounter this guy, I doubt any one of us can have the strength to an Elite Four member, so there is no use in believing we can beat an opponent like this," Drew had stated to them.
"Drew´s right, but let´s forget about it. I´m sure this guy won´t come as far as Pallet, Vermillion is miles away from here," Ash gave them reassurance, Drew agreed with him and so did Misty. May was a bit paranoid though.
"What if he comes here though," May felt paranoia.
"May don´t get hysterical, Drew, Misty, and I are here and we will all look for each other," Ash assured her and they all followed his lead.
"Pika pi!" the mouse also gave his own assurance. May let out a deep breath and calmed down.
"Thank you guys, now how about we get going," the brunette recommended.
"Yeah, I´ll hit the shower," Ash ran to the bathroom with Pikachu behind him.
No one had spoken in his absence. Everyone was busy thinking about what they heard on the news. All of them tried to shake off and focus on strategies for practice. When May thought about Dawn she was happy to hear of her progress and relaxed. Not too long after, Ash came down all done, brushed, showered and in his Sinnoh Attire.
"I´m next," Drew said and headed upstairs.
Ash and Pikachu didn´t speak either. Training was in their heads and was ready to give their friends one of the best training sessions ever. Misty was preparing to choose a Pokémon to use at Oak´s Lab. May thought she should transfer her Pokémon from her home to the lab so all of them were there and could choose more wisely on to train with.
Eventually Drew finally came down, having down everything all the three had done before him. His was fresh for the sunny day and soon they got everything they needed.
"Mom, we´re going to Professor Oak´s Laboratory and then walk around Pallet Town, we´ll be back by dusk," Ash let his mother know about how they were planning their day.
"Alright sweetie, you five take care now," Delia told them.
"Ok, Delia we´ll be back soon bye," May said goodbye to the mother.
"See you later Delia," Misty also waved goodbye.
"See you soon Delia," Drew made his farewell," as he waved as well.
"Bye mom," Ash told her as they began exiting the house.
"Pika pi!" Pikachu said bye too.
"Bye everyone!" Mrs. Ketchum also said as she waved bye to the walking trainers.
Soon they were out of sight and Delia was left alone. She looked around the house to find it a mess with unfixed beds and some dirty dishes. She let out a sigh, but then smiled, "Come out Mr. Mime!"