Fight?
"Come on Ash! Just ask them!"
"Why do I have to Pikachu…? They'll probably say no anyway after what I did to him…"
"No! I am sure they'll help you get your fighting spirit back!"
"But what if I don't want my fighting spirit…"
"Ash, you want to save Dawn and this is the only way to get stronger. Now go and ask them!" Pikachu said as he pushed Ash at the people.
"Hey Ash, what's up?"
"Nothing Senrui…"
"Come on, you can tell us. Aren't we your friends?" said Drew.
"Yeah but…" Ash murmured. "I don't wanna hurt any of you anymore."
"Ugh! This is hopeless! Ash wants to have a training match with one or more of you!" said Pikachu.
"A training match?" Everyone exclaimed at once.
"See Pikachu I told you that they wouldn't want to do it!"
"I'm up for it!" said Drew.
"So am I. I'll help train Ash any day!" said Vector.
"You guys can do whatever you want." said Rio.
"But that's no fun Rio! Let's give everyone a chance at sparring with Ash!" Duskfang exclaimed.
"Can I have a shot too?" asked Thurkear.
"Sure!" said Pikachu.
"We'll get to try out our move on him again Soryu." said Senrui.
"Let's hope it doesn't get that far."
"I don't wanna fight unless I have to, so I think that I'll pass." said Eve.
"Guys…" Ash whispered.
"Remember Ash, you only have three more days until your battle with Team Rocket back at that house. And we need one full day to get there so this is the only time you'll get to train beforehand." said Pikachu.
"Fine… I guess I'll do it…"
"Yay!" everyone exclaimed.
"I'll call dibs on first!" yelled Drew.
"Awww." said Thurkear. "I wanted to go first…"
As both Ash and Drew got into a stance, Rio walked up to the side.
"I guess I'll ref since you froobs would probably fail at it anyway. Are both Pokémon ready!"
"Ready!"
"Ready… I guess…"
"Then let the battle… BEGIN!"
Right as Rio said begin, Drew rushed in with a scratch attack.
"You won't hit me with that Drew!" yelled Ash as he dodged.
Ash began storing up energy in his cheeks, but right before he released he heard a voice.
"Gah!"
He saw Drew fall to his volt tackle and froze in mid attack.
Drew used this to his advantage and hit Ash with a Flamethrower attack and point-blank range.
"What's wrong Ash! I thought you could dodge all of my attacks!" yelled Drew.
Ash slowly got back up. "I can…"
"He's hesitating… He won't win like that." said Pikachu.
"We'll just have to believe that he will get his confidence back!" Rio replied. "Otherwise we're screwed when we attack Team Rocket."
"Yeah…"
Ash charged toward Drew with a quick attack that would have surely hit, but Ash saw another vision in his head.
He saw himself turn around and glare at Duskfang. "You're still too slow."
This gave Drew enough time to hit Ash square in the gut with his own quick attack.
As Ash was slow to get up, he heard a voice behind him.
"Jeez! You sure are pathetic Ash! Especially if you're letting yourself get beat up this badly!"
"Golbat? Is that you!" Ash asked.
"Yeah it's me! But don't get all mushy on me, Brock's not here. I am just here to pass on a message. Your mother wanted me to tell you that if you don't save that poor girl Dawn, then you will get none of her cooking for three months when you come home."
Ash was stunned. Did Golbat just say what he thought he said?
While Ash was gaping at Golbat, Drew used to opportunity to charge at Ash with a metal claw.
Ash turned around and grabbed Drew's wrist before getting up into his face and saying,
"I'm sorry Drew, but I can't let you win anymore."