Chapter 2: The Morning After
Clemont let out a huge yawn as he entered the kitchen. It was now 7:30 in the morning and he didn't get a wink of sleep since the...events of last night. He got himself a glass of water hoping it would wake him up a little as he didn't like how coffee made his hands shaky. Not exactly ideal for an inventor. Clemont sat at the table, the events of last night still buzzing in his mind. No matter which way he thought about it, he was no closer to guessing what exactly happened to Ash and Pikachu. Nor what caused Ash's memory loss. This was just a big confusing mess right now. How was he going to clear everything up if Ash was unable to fill in the blanks? If only he had one little hint he could go on. It was a shame that pokemon can't talk...well most can't anyway. He could really use Pikachu's insight since he was undoubtedly with Ash the entire time. Then again who knows.
Clemont heard shuffling in the hallway. Bonnie came into the kitchen rubbing her eyes, with Dedenne in her other hand.
"Bonnie, you're up early," said Clemont with amusement.
"So are you." his sister muttered. "Last time you were up this early was when Clembot locked us out of the gym."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." apologised Clemont. "You can go back to bed for a bit if you want."
Bonnie stared at Clemont for a moment then she walked over to him and crossed her arms.
"Okay, what happened?"
"Wh...what do you mean?" asked Clemont, taken aback by this. Did she really suss him out this fast?
"You look like you've been up all night," said Bonnie as-matter-of-factually. "You're hair's all messy, your eyes are droopy and I'm sure those aren't the same pyjamas you went to bed in," his sister let out a sigh. "This is exactly why I need to find you a wife." Dedenne made a noise in agreement.
Clemont sighed. He should know his sister by now. Nothing gets passed her. He really didn't want to get into this so early in the morning. Well, he had to tell her eventually, so it was probably best to get it out of the way now."
"Okay, come sit down Bonnie."
Bonnie did as she was told and sat at the opposite end of the table.
"Is everything okay, Clemont?" she asked, her irritated expression disappearing, replaced with a worried frown.
Clemont sighed, having no idea where to start.
"Yes, I mean...I think? I don't really know yet."
"Sounds serious." whimpered Bonnie.
"Don't worry, I'm sure it will be okay. It's just, I don't have all the answers yet."
"Okay," said Bonnie petting Dedenne. "What do you know?"
Clemont took a deep breath, trying hard to ignore the knot in his stomach.
Here it goes.
"Last night a pokemon called for help. A Riolu. It was very upset about something so I followed it to see what was up. It...led me to Ash."
"WHAT?!" cried Bonnie standing up from her seat in shock. Clemont flinched.
"Shhhhh, he's asleep Bonnie," he whispered.
"Oh sorry," said Bonnie covering her mouth. "Wait, Ash is here?"
"Yeah, it was pouring down with rain last night. I'd be a pretty bad friend if I just left him there," said Clemont with a small laugh.
"Is he okay?" asked Bonnie, her voice filled with worry. Dedenne seemed concerned too.
"Dene?"
"He's fine, or at least he will be," reassured Clemont, staring at his glass of water. "Just a little shaken."
"What happened?" asked Bonnie. "I thought Ash went back home."
"So did I. I'm afraid that's an answer I don't have right now." sighed Clemont.
Bonnie nodded and sat back down looking at her feet in worry.
"Poor, Ash."
Clemont stood up and walked over to Bonnie then placed a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, he'll be fine. You know Ash, nothing keeps him down for long."
Bonnie smiled and nodded.
"Yeah." She clapped her hands together. Hey, he's gonna be really hungry when he wakes up. We should make him a special breakfast. Like pancakes."
Clemont rolled his eyes. Trust Bonnie to find the perfect excuse to have an unhealthy breakfast.
"Yeaaaaah, okay, but we should wash and get dressed first. As you said, I look like I just rolled out of bed."
After they were both showered and dressed the siblings got to making breakfast. It wasn't too long before the sweet aroma of pancakes wafted through the kitchen. They had finished the first batch when they heard movement in the hallway.
Guess Ash smelt the food. Clemont thought with a smile.
The first one in the kitchen was surprisingly Riolu. Bonnie squealed. She rushed over to the pokemon, nearly knocking over the pancake batter.
"Bonnie, be careful!" cried Clemont as he grabbed the bowl in the nick of time.
Bonnie didn't seem to hear her brother. She introduced herself to the understandably startled Riolu.
"Hi, Riolu I'm Bonnie!" she took Dedenne of her head. "This is Dedenne."
Dedenne happily squeaked and held out its paw. Riolu smiled and shook the Antenna Pokemon's paw.
"Roo!"
Not long after Ash came into the kitchen with Pikachu in his arms and Heliolisk close behind. Clemont couldn't help but notice that Ash didn't appear to have slept well either. The raven-haired trainer let out a massive yawn. Bonnie's attention immediately shifted over to him. Clemont was impressed that she wasn't already charging at Ash with a huge hug. She's certainly matured since their journey around Kalos. Dedenne, however, didn't have the self-control his would-be trainer showed. He dashed over to Ash and hopped on his shoulder,
"Dene DeDeDene!" he cried stroking Ash's cheek with his tail. Something that Bonnie taught him to do when he wanted to show affection as nuzzling often left the recipient zapped. Ash let out a laugh and petted the small pokemon.
"Hey, Dedenne, good to see you too."
"Pika!" greeted Pikachu.
Bonnie approached Ash slowly.
"Ash, are you okay?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine Bonnie. Sorry, I worried you."
Bonnie smiled then wrapped her arms around Ash's waist in a hug. Ash seemed taken aback at first but then placed Pikachu on his free shoulder and returned the hug.
The rest of the breakfast preparation was pretty much uneventful. Soon everyone was at the table enjoying the pancakes. Ash was practically inhaling his food. Clemont was glad that his friend's appetite wasn't affected at least. Clemont let his gaze drift to the pokemon on the floor next to him. They were also having breakfast which included Riolu.
"Hey, Ash is that Riolu yours?" he asked.
Ash stopped midway through his fourth pancake and looked down at the pokemon.
"No, I don't even know where it came from." Ash then looked at his plate and seemed pensive all of a sudden. "Or I don't remember."
Riolu glanced up at Ash for a moment then looked back at his food. Clemont noted that Riolu seemed a bit uneasy. He brushed it off for now and turned back to Ash.
"It was thanks to Riolu, that I even found you. If it hadn't found my gym and woke me up, who knows what would've happened."
"Yeah, Riolu's a hero!" proclaimed Bonnie causing Riolu to blush.
"Is that right?" said Ash. He walked over to Riolu knelt down next to it and petted the pokemon. "Hey, thanks Riolu. We were in a bit of a bind back there."
Riolu shook its head then pointed to Pikachu.
"Raa, Raa,"
Pikachu rubbed the back of his head, embarrassed.
"Pika..."
"Pikachu helped huh?" asked Ash, as he petted Pikachu as well. "Then you're both awesome."
"Oh I just thought of something," said Clemont. "We should take Pikachu and Riolu to the Pokemon Center for a checkup. Since none of us knows what happened, it might be good to play it safe, just in case."
Ash nodded.
"Yeah, I guess we should."
"You might wanna get cleaned up first though." Clemont pointed out, eyeing his friend's bed head. Ash put his hand on his head and laughed.
"Yeah, I guess I am a little messy."
Clemont began cleaning up the plates when Ash walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Thanks, again for last night Clemont. I appreciate it."
"N...no, problem, Ash. Happy to help," muttered Clemont, finding Ash's touch...rather nice.
Ash gave Clemont his trademark grin then left the kitchen to get washed. Clemont stared at the doorway for a moment as he felt his heart flutter, and his cheeks heat up. His arms involuntarily lowered and one of the plates slipped from the pile. It was only thanks to Heliolisk's quick reflexes that the plate was spared from shattering on the floor. "Thanks, Heliolisk," said Clemont with a shaky sigh of relief as he accepted the plate from his pokemon. "Sorry, I should be paying more attention. Clemont put the plates down by the sink before any more near-misses could occur.
What was that just now? He thought to himself as he leant against the counter.
"You okay, Clemont?" asked Bonnie. "You're not normally this...spacey."
Clemont gave Bonnie a reassuring smile.
"I'm fine Bonnie. Lack of sleep catching up to me I guess."
Yeah, I'm sure that's all it is.
Lumiose City was bustling as usual as the trio made their way to the Pokemon Center. The sky was now clear. Various puddles littering the pavements were the only evidence of last night's rainstorm. Clemont watched as Ash, in his now dry clothes gazed around the city. Pikachu sat in his usual place on Ash's shoulder while Riolu followed at his heels. Bonnie, as usual, was way ahead of them, but she knew her way around the city well, so Clemont wasn't too worried.
"Looks like everything's back to normal now, huh?" said Ash narrowly dodging a Plusle and Minun as they bolted past his feet. Clemont nodded. He shuddered at the memory of the events that occurred after the Kalos League.
"Yeah, everyone worked really hard to get Lumiose City back to how it was before. It's almost as if the Kalos Crisis never happened now."
"How's Clembot doing with the gym battles?" asked Ash.
Clemont smiled. He hadn't quite realised how much he missed the conversations he had with Ash.
"He's learning. He can battle gym challengers without my guidance now. These days we take in turns to battle. Since it was Clembot's turn today anyway, I thought I'd get some of my Pokemon checked out too."
Well, that was only half-true. Clemont indeed was going to the Pokemon Center to give the Pokemon on him a check-up. However, he also didn't feel comfortable leaving Ash alone quite yet.
The trio soon reached the Pokemon Center and went inside. It wasn't insanely busy but still had a fair few trainers around. A girl was sitting on one of the chairs talking to her Floette. A male trainer was pacing near a window, likely waiting for news on one of his Pokemon.
"Welcome to the Pokemon Center." Nurse Joy, greeted them happily as Ash and Clemont reached the front desk. "What can I do for you today?"
"Just a check-up for my Pokemon please," said Ash as he unclipped his pokeballs and placed them on the counter. Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder and on to the counter as well.
"Me too, please," said Clemont, placing his own pokeballs down as Bonnie did the same with Dedenne.
"Of course, I'll have them looked over right away."
Ash then knelt down and picked Riolu up.
"You too, Riolu. We need to make sure you're healthy."
Clemont smiled. Ash's kindness was one of the many things he admired about the trainer. Nurse Joy suddenly looked thoughtful.
"Pardon me for asking but is this Riolu yours?"
"Err, no it's wild, I think," confirmed Ash.
"Where did you find it?" she asked.
A feeling of foreboding enveloped Clemont. Where was all this coming from?
"Errr..the thing is I don't know," said Ash awkwardly.
Well, technically that isn't a lie. Clemont thought to himself. Then again, he knew no more than Ash about the Emanation Pokemon's origins.
"Riolu came to me for help last night," he said. "Why? Did something happen?"
"It's just..." Nurse Joy started. "Santulune City's Nurse Joy reported a Riolu missing a little over a month ago."
T.B.C.