So, I'm back –for now. Also, I'm well versed in math and I'm well aware that the XY and XYZ series has been over with for a good while now. In fact, I'm pretty sure I started writing this story just before the finale of that series, so for the lovely anon who reminded me of that fact, it does very little to urge me to write. Anyhow, another update, hope you all enjoy it.
French in this chapter: (there are also a couple of curse words, but you can google that yourself)
'Mon petit.' translates to 'little one'
'Mon petit ami' translates to 'my little friend'
'… Comme c'est bizarre…' translates to 'How strange'
Checked over with Grammarly to weed out the worst of mistakes.
Enjoy~
Ash was rather excited when he walked through the hallway, towards the area where the official field was where Ramos held his Gym battles. It was about the first time ever since he had landed in Kalos he had felt like he was actually doing a regular Gym challenge, but this time, he also had a definitive idea of what he was doing. Yes, this time, the teen wouldn't just wing it, like he usually did, he had trained Charizard and Fletchinder accordingly, so that they wouldn't come on too strong. Ash hadn't forgotten that Clemont had told him to be careful with the Grass Gym Leader, after all, so that's what he would do.
He would prove to all these other Gym Leaders that he wasn't some mindless brute who let his Pokémon do whatever they wanted, including harming their opponent without any good reason to. They could talk all they wanted, but he still felt a great need to show his heart was the one involved in all his battles and yes, unfortunately, more so that his head oftentimes, especially in the past. It wasn't because he had suddenly started to implement good ideas in his fight, that it made him a dangerous trainer, right? If so, the entire Pokémon League would be the very same, as none of the Champions Ash had ever met were idiots. Alright, so they had their moments where it wasn't that obvious they were as great a person as everyone said they were, but in the end, there was no discussing their well-earned status.
The boy had no idea what he needed to do to get that same recognition, for everyone at the same time, as it made incredibly little sense to him that Gym Leaders were so wary of him, but that elite trainers and Champions all seemed rather enamoured with him. He was aware he got away with a lot more than the usual trainer, as his Legendary Pokémon magnet was pretty active and troublesome, but there was something wrong with how people tended to perceive him. Mewtwo had already told him there wasn't anything strange about him and yes, at the time, the creature had been looking at him terribly close-by, but Ash wasn't too sure whether he could let his dear friend be the judge of that, as the Pokémon's view of people was still askew. Nevertheless, he was here to do a good job at this Pokémon battle, so that was exactly why he pulled up his brave face and made a silent prayer for any god listening, for this fight to go right for once. And he would have totally walked up that field in absolute confidence, if it wasn't for that little voice in the back of his head that something would be happening today and that it would cause everything to go into disarray. For now, however, the teen tried not to mind it too much… unfortunately so, as the child had no idea that this little voice had been one of the gods listening to his prayers. Ah well…
"Gym Leader Ramos had decided it would be best to have a one on one." The referee announced, as soon as the boy took position on the field.
"Oh?" Ash asked, turning to the man with a confused look on his face.
"You're a strong trainer, Ash, I feel like it would have little use in trying to tire out one of your Pokémon with my three."
"You're giving me way to much credit, sir." The teen chuckled.
"I beg to differ. I've seen your fights, child, don't try to change my view of you with innocence."
'… Alright, then.'
"Send your worst then, Ramos."
"Oh, I will." The Gym leader answered and called out a Pokémon who appeared rather familiar to Ash.
In fact, this Pokémon was so very much like several of his Pokémon and that was exactly why he hesitated just a bit too long to call out his own Pokémon. The teen had already seen enough of how a Gogoat acted and attacked, to know that Charizard wouldn't be impressed by it. How would he, having been greeted by Donphan, who enjoyed barrelling towards anyone he liked, at a terrifying speed? And with how Ash's heard of Tauros never truly minding the direction they were stampeding, Charizard had become very good at dodging horns and other dangerous, sharp bits. But then again, Ash didn't want to call out Fletchinder either, because the fact that Ramos was sending in his –probably- most powerful Pokémon in a one on one battle and with the knowledge that Clemont had been speaking to Ramos and had probably told the man about the large Fire-type. Hell, maybe the man was excited to see Charizard-
"What's the matter? Are you feeling unwell?"
"N-no!" Ash answered instantly, head snapping up, and even though he had voiced exactly what he had been thinking, his entire being was answering 'yes'.
"Then why aren't you calling out your Pokémon?"
So the teen did and regretted it, as he saw Charizard's nostrils flare and his pupils widened, as the Pokémon had indeed identified his opponent as… well, plaything.
'Oh no.' Ash thought, when the Fire-type was clearly having lots of fun dodging every single attack the Gogoat launched.
"Oh yes. This is very enjoyable to watch. It is very similar to pinball, only the ball is a whole lot smarter here."
'This isn't funny, Mewtwo. Look at Ramos' face.'
"I do not have to do that to know that all the man's feelings are the result of his own disbelief. You can be proud of your blonde friend, Ash, he really put the Gym Leader on the wrong leg."
Ash frowned, as Charizard had finally tired out the Gogoat and had now become stationary on the field. The Pokémon had enough time to turn to his trainer, for further instruction, as he was terribly aware that his opponent was in no state to attack him right now.
'Well, if this isn't a recipe for disaster, I don't know what is.' He thought.
"Right, euhm… Is the Gogoat okay?"
"I surrender."
"Eh?"
"Gym Leader Ramos surrenders, meaning Challenger Ash Ketchum wins!" the referee called out.
"W-what?" the boy stuttered looking from his equally bewildered Pokémon to Ramos' retreating back and again at Charizard. "What happened? What did I miss? Did I zone out again, I-"
"Perhaps you should go to the Pokémon Centre to go and heal your Pokémon?" the referee said, shrugging as he looked at the confused teen.
"Heal him? Of what? Boredom? Come off it, what happened?"
"Please calm down, challenger, or I will have to call security."
'Screw this.' Ash thought and walked towards Charizard, to at least give the Pokémon a bit of comfort.
Because really, this whole thing was surprisingly upsetting, especially to the boy because why wouldn't anything be like back in the days where he had fun during a Gym Battle! He had trained Charizard and Fletchinder so hard, to make sure they would have been prepared to hold back and what for!? For an old man to have realised that there was a challenger not even his almighty Gogoat could take on? Please, Ash hadn't come to Kalos for this kind of histrionics.
"Do you get it?" he asked Charizard.
The Pokémon let out a small growl, but his expression told the boy everything he needed to know. Namely that Charizard didn't have a clue about why this battle had gone this way. How could he, when all he had been doing was playing as if the Pokémon was one of his buddies? Charizard couldn't help that this Gogoat didn't have the stamina Donphan had, right?
"Why are you trying to seek a reason for a naturally occurring thing, friend?"
'Natural, huh?'
"There really is nothing wrong with being an intimidating force. In fact, I believe it would work in your advantage."
'I'm still going to be salty about.'
"As you wish, friend, as you wish."
But the boy hadn't wished for anything but normality before this fight, so forgive him for being a little frustrated when he did walk into the Pokémon Centre, only to notice his friends hadn't even followed him and were really nowhere in sight. Ash sighed deeply before going towards nurse Joy, to at least get one of his problems off his mind.
"Hello, how can I help you?" the woman asked sweetly.
"I was wondering whether you could print some images for me, nurse Joy."
"Certainly so. Do you have them with you?"
"I do." The teen said and handed her his transceiver, knowing that she knew what to do.
The device he had gotten as a gift from Lance was very popular, due to the fact it had the 'easy connect' feature and thus, it wouldn't take long before the nurse would have access to his pictures.
"Oh, there's quite a lot of them." She said. "Perhaps you would be better off going for a bite, I promise they will be ready and waiting for you here." The nurse added, handing his transceiver back to him.
"Alright, I will be back for them."
"Thank you for understanding."
Well, of course he understood, she was a nurse, not some printing facility or whatever it was called. Besides, perhaps he would feel less upset if he had something to eat or at least something that would make him think of something different, because honestly… he had gone from Gym Leaders making fun of him to Gym Leaders being outright scared of him, which was in no way an improvement.
'There's really no way around this issue, is there?' Ash thought darkly as he passed tables full of happy people.
He didn't even know why he was actually unhappy about this situation and as he face-smiled his order to the cashier who was none the wiser about his inner turmoil, the boy tried to understand why Ramos had done what he had done.
"I told you, the boy told him about you."
'Clemont wouldn't talk bad about me, though.'
"Oh, I am likely to believe that, it is just that the boy is very intimidated by your Pokémon and the way you have such control over them. You know that he is not the confident type and it is highly likely that he spread his own fears about having to face you in a battle in a very near future onto the poor, old man."
'Oh.' Ash thought wryly.
Not even the delicious-looking donuts he had gotten from the employee could take away the idea that there was something wrong about…
'There really isn't anything wrong with me, is there?' the teen thought to himself, knowing fully well that he wasn't even the slightest different in character than before.
He would still help anyone in need, he was still there for every Pokémon and don't ask him how he had done it, but he was already starting to feel sorry for these Ultra Beasts. Yes, Ash had been thinking about the creatures and their dimension jumping abilities and had promptly decided that, with all these strange people walking on this earth, in this dimension, the Ultra Beast were very lucky to have gotten to him, instead of someone who would have reacted a lot differently to the accident. A true villain would have gone out to hunt them, while a different villain would have gone after them to use them, because that's what criminals in the Pokémon world did, right? Instead of climbing up the hill that led to recognition by their own force, they would use a Pokémon's powers instead.
Strange how people reacted to a teenager displaying their extra-ordinary bond with their Pokémon, though, seeing that no one noticed these criminals grouping, plotting, until it was too late. Yes, the boy was aware that it was his bond with his Pokémon that had caused the change inside him, but there was no one who could tell Ash that this was wrong and that it needed to be reverted again. He couldn't stop loving his Pokémon anyway, so what good would listening to people actually do? Yet, the boy still did it, as he had once again forgotten that Gym battles often had audiences and that those trainers also came to the Pokémon Centre, to talk about the fight they had seen.
"I can't believe the Gym Leader battled four people in an hour, that's kind of awesome, isn't it?" someone who Ash couldn't see said. "I wouldn't be able to do that, at all."
"He only really fought three battles, though, that first one was hardly a battle at all." A different voice answered, also clearly belonging to the group of trainers that had come to sit behind him. "I wonder what he was thinking, though, asking for a one on one."
"Perhaps he knew the trainer? I mean, he looked kind of scary. But like, the kind of cute scary, you know?"
"You would even call a Muk cute, Sarah, please stop it."
"Hey!"
"She's right, though, there were definitely worse-looking trainers today that that one. He looks kind of familiar too so it's possible that Ramos knew him… but that Charizard, man."
"It looked so awesome."
"I know right? I would have loved to see that one Dynamax like Leon's, now that would be a show I wouldn't want to miss."
"Really? Dynamax Pokémon are already so dangerous and this one didn't even fire off one attack to defeat the Gym Leader's strongest Pokémon. The sheer stamina that Charizard had was actually the scariest part of the entire battle."
"Oh? You didn't see Ramos' face falling at the sight of his Gogoat that lifts him with ease and carries him through town with ease all worn out because of one other Pokémon? And isn't it kind of bad for a Gym Leader to face an opponent who uses a type advantage Pokémon but in the end, completely embarrasses them by not using a type advantage attack."
"You wouldn't know that, Sarah, the trainer didn't call out an attack at all."
Ash shoved his seat back, having heard enough of the conversation to know that he basically had screwed up another Gym Battle once more. And with how Clemont paled at the mere mention of Charizard's name, the Lumiose Gym would highly likely be another one of his failures.
'I'm a mess.' He thought as he cleaned up the table.
As he stood up, the teenagers behind him might have recognised him, but in all honesty, Ash didn't want to hear it and made his way out the cafeteria, rather wanting to brood a little more in his room. He was surprised to see that this nurse Joy made no mention of the pictures or hardly ever looked at him, so he figured he was best of going to print out his pictures somewhere else. Or perhaps this nurse had taken over the other nurse's shift, that too was an option. At any rate, today was proving to be full of disappointments and when his friends failed to show up throughout the day, Ash set out to find them… Only to find Clemont and Bonnie with Ramos, the former chatting happily with the Gym Leader, as if nothing had happened. It had set Ash of big time and the inspiration to just get up and go hit him like a mallet and thus, he left.
He did send a message to Serena, who he hadn't seen around but assumed that she was training for her first-ever event on stage, so that she wouldn't need to worry about him, but only after he had already been walking on the road towards Lumiose for a good while, to make sure they wouldn't catch up to him. Yes, the teen felt bad he wouldn't be there for the girl when she was taking such an important step in her career, but the boy, in the current mindset he was in, was convinced he would only bring her to her doom if he had stayed near her. So Ash left himself get swallowed by the dense trees that lined the way from Courmaline to Lumiose and let his mind clear up a little. Perhaps his friends would meet him back in Lumiose city, after all, and if not… well, the airport was in Lumiose as well, wasn't it?
"I'm sorry to bother you, Professor Sycamore, I know you're a busy man."
"Not half as busy as I used to be." The man answered with a smile. "How can I help you, Diantha?"
"I was wondering if you had heard anything about the Gym Leader?"
"I can't say I have, no. Why? Is Clemont in trouble?"
"Not Clemont, he has arrived back at his Gym with quite the mood, if I can believe his father. In fact, the entire group seems to have been stranded here in Lumiose again… all but Ash himself."
"Eh? Did he leave?"
"Apparently so. I was hoping he would have…"
The Champion shrugged, as she left her sentence hanging, leaving it open to interpretation. The Professor got it what she was trying to say to, but had the chuckled at the mere idea of her implication.
"You thought he would have come to me?" he said, only half as amused as he sounded, as the man regretted everything that had happened between him and the boy.
"Well, between you and Ramos, I believe he would have. The old fool thought it to be a good idea to face a massive Fire-type one on one." Diantha sighed. "Honestly, I will have to start telling the Gym Leaders of Kalos off, with their silly games."
"Games?"
"Yes, games. At least Gurkinn seemed serious enough when he trainer Korrina, but the girl seems to be very impressed by her err… inauguration of being an official Gym Leader, so I think I can at least count on one Gym to be serious about it. Though it seems that Clemont has been training as well, so that can only mean good things, or so I believe."
"I'm surprised to hear that the Kalos Gym Leaders are starting to misbehave, to be honest." Professor Sycamore said. "Have they done it many times now?"
"Oh yes, the last complaint came from a trainer who has spent days waiting for Viola to arrive again."
"Huh… Surprising."
"Indeed. But that doesn't mean I'm not worried, Professor, so please, if you see anything, please let me know."
"Of course, I was planning on going on a small outing onto the road anyway, so I might as well go onto the road towards Courmaline to do it, hm?"
"Thank you, Professor, I'm glad I can count on your assistance. Though be careful, there are many uncertainties about exactly why Ash got separated from the group or the fact he seems to have chosen to go voluntarily. If you do see him, try and be tactful."
"Miss Diantha, with all due respect, I'm very much the figural finger pushing Ash's buttons all at once. I haven't seen the boy ever since the accident where I… acted very out of character, especially towards him."
"All the more reason why you should be the one to go look for him, Professor. You see, he left a message, so I don't believe the boy is expecting that anyone would come looking for him."
"Then why are you?"
"Because he deactivated his transceiver. Either that means he did it willingly, which I would understand, or that he ran out of battery… or something very different happened. And it doesn't need to have anything to do with Pokémon, so don't ask whether or not we've had a report of a strange, loud noise from somewhere on that route."
"Alright…"
The man wasn't looking forward to eventually bump into the boy's corpse and as such, vowed he would be taking Garchomp with him, just in case of an emergency or a similar disturbing situation. But consider him bewildered to find himself with an overly large envelope in his hands.
"Pictures Ash commissioned before he left. He probably forgot about it, for whatever reason."
The Professor nodded dumbly before looking down at the weighty envelope in his hold. Whatever was on these pictures, must be rather important or else there wouldn't be this many of them, to be honest. However, the Champion's assumption that the boy had ran from something, possibly bad enough to have made him forget about these clearly important pictures, made the man rather worried about the child. He too had been listening to the grapevine, you know but with him being the professional person he was, Professor Sycamore had tried to ignore most of that talk. He would be lying if he said that a day had passed where he hadn't thought about the boy he had so rudely accused of something that had been perfectly natural.
It had taken some time, yes, but with all the Legendary and Mythical Pokémon the Frontier Brains enjoyed sending at him –yes, enjoyed, possibly because of the fact they all seemed to know and liked Ash quite a bit- it had eventually become clear to him that every Pokémon, Legendary or not, had a mind of their own. And yes, there were people who attracted them, but a Pokémon wouldn't come to them unwillingly. Or at least, the natural forces of the earth wouldn't, like the Aura Ash was mentioned to possess and wield on a pretty advanced level, if the video of Korrina's fight with him was to be believed.
"Well, I supposed I could go out for a bit longer. I hadn't really thought to make this a trip spanning over a few days but…"
The man looked up, only to see that he was completely alone in the room. He ran towards the exit, hoping to catch the Champion still, but it seemed like she had left quite some time ago. She might have taken advantage of him having just stood there, thinking, but it might have rather been the case she had become bored by his inattentiveness and had plainly left. Whatever had happened, it was fine to him, seeing he had sent both of his assistants home for the day already and most of the laboratory was on lock-down too. The area where the Pokémon resided had been placed on full automatization, so everything was ready for him to leave. Not that the man had been planning on taking Garchomp before, but it was only a small adaptation to his plan.
'She's totally counting on me finding that boy, though.' The man thought and realised he wasn't looking forward to that meeting.
Not that he was scared of the teen, it was more that he didn't have much faith in his own communication skills, as he seemed to have been made fun of by pretty much everyone who had a large, intimidating Pokémon.
'Ash isn't that mean, though. If he was, he would've followed me out of spite and would have called out Pokémon after Pokémon. Instead, he ran, terrified of the biggest idiot in that area, namely me.'
"Chomp?"
The man jumped at the noise, even though it came from his trusty partner.
"Sorry, girl, I didn't see you there. Fancy coming with me?"
"Garr!" the Pokémon nodded enthusiastically.
At least someone in the group of two was happy to go outside, because honestly, the Professor felt a little trapped. He still felt that way when he went outside as well and decided to focus on his own experiments first, though. What experiments, you ask? Well, currently, the man was trying to figure out what made a Mega Stone as powerful as they were, something that clearly didn't interest his colleagues as much as him. But yes, so he had buried some stuff in different routes around Lumiose city and today was the day he would be gathering some of those experiments, to check if something had changed. It was good that he had actually done an experiment on the particular route Diantha wanted him to go and have a look at, but there was no way he would be trailing all the way towards Courmaline city and back… yes, even if he had Garchomp merrily walking beside him, happy for the fresh air.
"Keep your nose out for Ash, won't you, buddy?" he asked, onto which he got stared at. "Yes, so apparently, he's supposed to be here, somewhere but I'm not convinced that he will be easy to find at all. So if I could depend on your sense of smell, Garchomp, I feel like we have a higher chance of finding him."
"… Chomp." The Pokémon said and nodded.
The Professor couldn't help but note that his Pokémon seemed to be slightly hesitant to go near the trees, as they got towards a rather densely tree-grown area of the route towards Courmaline, which was kind of bizarre but it didn't seem scary enough to keep Garchomp from following him at all. Call the man paranoid, but he had actually also buried a couple of Mega Stones along with his experimental ones and thus, had gone into the trees to make it harder for persistent item searching trainers to find by accident. So he had to move in closer to the area Garchomp seemed to be avoiding, yet staring at… only to notice that his Pokémon had a much better sense of danger than himself. In fact, the Professor had pinched himself to check if he wasn't dreaming, but then again, if there was anyone he would have expected to have a go at cleaning a massive Legendary Pokémon, it would indeed be Ash and only Ash who would come to mind.
While the man was relieved to see the teen was alive, he wouldn't be alerting the boy of his presence. Not when the young trainer was clearly focused on brushing the massive Dialga's nails. Yes, of all creatures, a Dialga, laying on its side with its eyes closed and clearly trusting Ash enough for this job. Also, the fact that neither had noticed the large Dragon-type yet, meant that they had lowered their guards, knowing or hoping that they were completely safe here. That was to say, Augustine didn't think that it would take the Dialga much time to straighten, so in essence, the two were indeed terribly safe in this clearing.
'Nope.' The man thought and turned away from the scene.
Not one bone in his body was willing to go mess with that vulnerable situation and yeah, so he might be kind of okay with pretty much every Pokémon, but a Dialga was a completely different thing altogether. The creature could sneeze and it could darn well be the end of half this world, so really, if the man was able to avoid meeting the Pokémon face to face, he really would endeavour to do so. Besides, this wasn't where he had buried his stones anyway and he had found Ash alright, so if Diantha asked, he could give her a response. As for the pictures, well, delivering them would have to wait until the boy wasn't grooming one of this world's creators.
His expedition lasted until the end of the day, or at least, when the sky was starting to turn colours, promising a lovely evening but unfortunately less and less lighting for the man's valuable research. So the Professor had packed his things and even if he found himself tired and wary, he was also very content, as his experiments had delivered some interesting results, which he couldn't have ever started or researched in his laboratory. It wasn't until he had a full view of one of the four sides of the plaza around the Lumiose Tower, that Professor Sycamore remembered something he had tried to put out of his mind. Mostly because a rather familiar figure was sitting on one of the many benches.
As the Professor got closer to that particular side, Garchomp uncharacteristically silent behind him, he noticed the boy was looking intently at the landmark. There was no smile on his face, though and it was highly likely that Ash's gaze only landed on him because his Pikachu had let out a chirp, having noticed the company and not wanting his trainer to get scared. Whether or not he had wanted to, Professor Sycamore found himself halting his movement, not wanting to startle the teen. It almost felt like he was faced with a skittish Pokémon, but seeing Ash made no move to run off, the man dared to come closer… and that's when he noticed the forlorn look on the boy's face.
"Bonjour, mon petit ami." He said softly.
"Hello, Professor Sycamore." Ash answered, just as quietly.
"What are you doing here, all by yourself?"
"I… I guess I was waiting until I found the courage to go inside of it."
"You seemed to have no trouble going to the top from the outside, though. What would be so bad that the inside would scare you so much?"
"… I… I don't want to talk about it."
'So something did happen between him and his friends.' The man concluded.
"I see." He said instead of deciding to pry. "Can I offer you a stay at the laboratory? For old times' sake?"
"… I wouldn't want to be a bother." The teen answered.
"You wouldn't be. I don't mind you near, petit ami, even if I… didn't show it."
"I'll go with you then."
"I promise it'll prove to be a good stay, Ash. I have something for you, after all."
"Oh?"
"I was told you commissioned some pictures to be printed."
"Pictures?" the boy asked, face scrunching up as he was trying to recall whatever the man was talking about. "Oh! The photographs of- Oh, I completely forgot."
"I'll give them to you later, okay?" the Professor said, unwilling to admit he had been sent out to search for the young trainer and that he had the pictures in his bag with him right now.
"Sure."
And that's where the conversation went silent, as Professor Sycamore knew of nothing more to say to the child who he owed so much to. The man knew his reaction was silly, but he felt like this silence would be better for Ash than some casual small talk. There was no way he could have a normal conversation without having talked to the boy in a proper way either. But that's exactly where the problem laid, because the Professor had no clue how to start that all-important conversation.
"You euhm… can go and clean up, if you want to?" the man offered. "If you need me, I'll be in the laboratory part, putting my things away."
"… Same room as before?"
"If you wish."
Ash nodded and silently made his way towards the stairs, clearly having remembered the way towards the guestroom he had stayed at before. It humoured the man, as it meant that the boy hadn't forgotten about the happier times they had spent together, despite everything. The Professor was still very pleased about the fact as he warmed up some vegetable stock, something he usually had around, as there were always some trainers who would arrive in this laboratory looking like death. His visitor clearly qualified for that group, even if he seemed a little more lively than the regular trainer who had just seen something or had been through something rather traumatizing. The man couldn't help but wonder whether there was anything that would still faze the boy, though, remembering clearly how calmly Ash had been grooming the Dialga, not a care in the world as he had been brushing the massive leg with the tiniest of brushes.
"… Are you okay, Professor?" the teen's voice asked, causing the Professor to whirl towards him.
"Oh yes, I was just thinking about something. Don't worry about it." The man answered, trying to appear nonchalant about the fact he had been staring at nothing for probably longer than what was considered normal. "Would you… err… like some soup?"
"Yes, please."
"It'll be ready in a bit."
So Ash, who clearly felt a bit awkward just being here, went to sit in one of the chairs, showing a whole lot more patience than what the Professor was actually used to, from kids the boy's age. However, just as he was about to try and talk about all the Pokémon he had seen, just to get used to Legendary Pokémon and thus, fulfil what the young trainer had asked of him, the phone started ringing.
"Bon Dieu…" Professor Sycamore sighed, dropping the spoon he had been using to stir the soup into the pot. "Would you mind if I…?"
"Err, no, of course not. I'll go and-"
"No, stay. It's probably just Scott again."
"Scott?" the boy repeated. "From the Battle Frontier?"
"Oui. He has taken to calling me, whenever he has another Pokémon to introduce to me."
"Introduce?" Ash asked, not even the slightest bit impressed by the news.
"You'll notice soon enough."
And yes, it soon turned out that the Professor was correct, as Scott's smiling face appeared on the small screen.
"Hiya, Professor! Am I disturbing something?"
"Depends on why you've decided to call me, Scott."
"Oh, don't worry, I just wanted to check up on you, you never know what kind of thing might've jumped you, eh? Also, did you notice anything strange outside?"
"… You're going to have a bit more specific on what exactly you mean by strange, Scott, because I was outside the whole day yet I didn't specifically see anything odd."
"Not even in general?"
"Can't say I have." The man answered, painfully aware that Ash was staring at him.
"Oh. Alright, good to know." Scott said, his smile never wavering. "It's just, Anabel refused even put one foot closer to the car when Brandon was intending to drive towards the airplane, to catch the train to Kalos and well… You know about Anabel, do you?"
"I do." Was the Professor's even answer.
"But alright, good that Kalos is still, you know, liveable. Did you see the news, though?"
"I haven't. I was outside all day, as I just mentioned, for my… research."
"I have the news right here, actually."
Perhaps it were the years of having to keep his face neutral even when listening to the most boring of lectures in school that had stopped the Professor from cringing when he saw the smug face of what must be the very same Dialga he had seen earlier today. Still, looking at the picture, the man couldn't help but notice that Ash had done a pretty good job at that grooming session, as the creature looked pristine.
"Can you believe that? What made that Dialga think it was a good idea to take its victory parade of having gotten an obvious grooming session in broad daylight? Through an entire and busy town, even? And where the hell did it find someone to clean its behemoth sized body? And what the heck was possessing that particular person in the first place?"
'Yes, you need to be a specific kind of person to do something like that.' The man thought, but didn't voice it.
He was, after all, terribly impressed by Ash's actions of selflessness and well, he had seen the tender moment and not even the slightest bit of insanity had been involved in it. This young trainer's big heart had just skipped the fact he was over a hundred times smaller than the Dialga and had seen a friend, instead of the large, dangerous creature everyone had deemed it to be. For a Pokémon Professor, this was kind of a big deal and if it wasn't for the fact that this wasn't his area of research, Professor Sycamore would have loved to have a closer look at the mystery that was Ash's bond with pretty much every Pokémon –because the amount of people who would climb the Lumiose Tower for a Garchomp they hadn't even met yet was terribly limited.
"It's a very nice Pokémon sighting, though."
"… Well yes, there were a lot of people who thought that it was kind of awesome to have such a clean Dialga hanging over it. I wonder, though, would that person who cleaned the Pokémon know that it would do that?"
"I doubt that. Then again, even if that person was ballsy or caring enough, why would they think to be capable of ruling over a creature as powerful as a Dialga?"
Professor Sycamore could already hear Ash's exclamation of 'I would never do something like that!' in his head and a quick glance at the child sitting to the side, told him that this was exactly what the boy was thinking, judging from the thunderous expression on his face.
"Huh… yeah, that's a good way to look at it. They did a lot of Professors a good service, though. And tourists are flocking the area, hoping the Dialga will do it again sometime."
"I doubt that it will. It's true that some Pokémon become terribly vain after getting groomed and will show a tendency to show everyone just how awesome they are, but it never lasts long. Specifically because Pokémon themselves don't stay clean for too long either."
"Mm, you're probably right. Well, good to have heard of you, Professor, I'm glad that we can converse about this subject as neutrally as this."
"I only have your persistence and your Frontier Brains and their Pokémon to thank for it."
"And a young boy who dared to meddle with something no one else did." Scott said. "Gosh, did you know that Anabel wasn't even convinced to come here, even when I said that Ash was there? She would've flown to the region before on a whim if I mentioned him yet now… God, please stay safe, Professor."
"I will do my best."
"And contact me if there's anything I can do for you, yeah? Even if it's to get another hug from Brandon's delightful Pokémon."
"… Yes, of course, I will."
"Good. I'll talk to you later, then."
"Yes, goodbye, Scott."
Professor Sycamore sighed in relief as he saw the screen go black, meaning the call had ended… without needing to prove he was getting better in resisting to panic when faced with an unforeseen situation with a Legendary Pokémon.
"Thank you for not saying anything about the Dialga to Scott, Professor. And that you didn't do something to startle it earlier."
"Oh… I didn't think I had been noticed." The man admitted. "I honestly would have thought that it would have taken offence to me there."
"Dialga was sleeping at the time, Professor. But your Garchomp can be sneaky, but it's never not noticeable."
Yes, well, if it wasn't the noise it tended to make that betrayed the Pokémon, it was its size that would do the trick, but then again, Garchomp weren't typically Pokémon who relied on hiding in the first place. Being the offensive creatures they were, it was only natural that they were obvious to spot, even in dense trees.
"It must trust you."
"They don't have a reason not to."
"Is it really that simple?"
"What can I do, Professor?"
The man looked at the boy who seemed kind of miserable all of a sudden.
"You've already done a lot, though."
"Yes, that's one of my issues." The teen grumbled.
"I'm here to listen if you ever want to talk about them. But for now, let's focus on the soup. It should most definitely be warm already."
If anything, the soup had been delicious, but Ash hadn't attempted to open up about any of these supposed issues he had. The Professor figured it was normal, because after everything that had already happened between the two of them, he doubted that the teen saw a father figure or something similar in him. And he understood, hence why he was at peace with the relative silence in the laboratory –a place like that, where Pokémon came and went as they pleased was never truly silent. Ash had gone upstairs rather quickly, but the boy did look tired… but whether he was physically or mentally tired remained to be seen, because honestly… The Professor was missing the boy's quick and witty remarks, or rather, he was missing the trainer who had arrived here in Kalos, free from… well, whatever was tormenting Ash at this moment.
Professor Sycamore, however, was being tormented by something a whole lot more obvious today, though, as he seemed to have been implemented in some kind of agenda, several possibly and heavens, people were pushing it. Just as he had intended to use the newfound loneliness he had experienced earlier, due to his visitor's early departure, to take a look at the results from his research, his videophone loudly announced someone else needed his attention.
"Oh, good of you to still answer, Professor." The Champion said hastily. "Did you see him?"
"Yes, Diantha." The man answered evenly. "He's currently resting in my guestroom."
"You managed to get him to come with you?"
"He seems very much out of it, though, so don't give me any credit. I think any friendly hand would have been accepted at this point and that it was purely coincidental that I would be the first one to reach out to him."
"It hardly matters now, anyway." Diantha answered. "Would it be okay if I came to visit tomorrow morning? I have someone who wants to speak to him."
"Depends on how long I can get him to stay, he really doesn't seem to even enjoy his own company. Also, I found him sitting in front of the Gym, so he might want to try and challenge it, come morning."
"He'll find it empty, Clemont isn't in, possibly still training hard."
"I'm glad to hear it. Will he be picking up the Gym Leader title now too?"
"Unlikely, it seems like the boy is just hell-bent on trying to beat Ash. I think Clemont just wants to have this fight as an official Gym Leader, but will let Clembot in charge. Or at least, that he will let the robot in charge for as long as Ash is here."
'At the rate this is going, it won't take too long for the kid to just pack up and go home.' The Professor thought.
"I see. Do you have any idea what might have put Ash into this funk, though?"
"I think you might enjoy the company of one of the people I think has something to do with it tomorrow. Ramos seemed a tad bit too happy to come to Lumiose all of a sudden and was actively looking out to talk to Ash again."
"… I hope it will turn out okay for him." The man said, though knew that in the mood the young trainer was in now, he would just nod along the whole time yet wouldn't be listening to a single word that was being said.
"I warned him and all the other Gym Leaders for any future shenanigans." The Champion stated. "I won't accept such blatant disrespect from them towards trainers from different regions."
The Professor wondered whether this kind of warning would actually do anything against the free-fought spirits that the Gym Leaders were, but also… it was open to interpretation and if there was anything you could count on happening, is the fact that everyone reacted to something differently. Especially the kind of trainers who had enough imagination to keep their challenges interesting for trainers to come around for a visit.
"Do they know the Gym Challenge of Kalos is at risk if they keep up this behaviour?" he asked, instead of trying to egg the visibly irritated woman on.
"Clearly not." She answered. "The gull of some people, honestly."
"You'll be able to handle it."
"Oh, count on it, I most definitely will be handling it. And no, it has nothing to do with favouritism for one particular trainer, but we can lose track of the fact that Ash is a very apt speaker and if pushed hard enough, he might complain and it's just too bad that he's also aware who to complain to and I would really like to see either Viola or Grant's face to see Charles Goodshow appear in front of them, just because he got a direct complaint from a trainer."
"You think they would enjoy getting the boy's lesser source to let out frustrations out on is any better? Champion Lance is known to be a man of very little patience and he does have a say in League matters."
"… Agreed. I will let you know that he was as good as ready to send over an Arcanine search party, to find his nephew."
"Can I expect him to come by tomorrow morning as well?"
"Oh, no, I don't trust him near Ramos at all, Lance knows things I don't, somehow. But if I notice that Ash is indeed not… right, I might call him in anyway. After Ramos leaves, of course."
"Mm, yes, that might be for the best." The Professor said as he nodded.
"Anyway, thank you for having found Ash, Professor, I'm glad that I can count on you."
The man nodded again, trying to stop himself from chuckling nervously as he had almost blown her off as well. Still, none of that had actually happened and honestly, Professor Sycamore was kind of impressed with himself. He had found the elusive boy and had pleased a worried Champion all at once, plus, he might have found a breakthrough in his research. Hence why the man went back to his desk to analyse his results, once the call had ended. The Professor had to stop himself from laughing out loud when he held the perfectly shaped marble in the light, seeing the familiar swirling pattern shimmer… formed from components he had buried underneath soil. It was a massive breakthrough, but a dangerous one as well, hence why the man decided to write everything down as quickly as he could and then lock it up in his safe, to make sure this information would end up in the wrong hands. One might wonder why he didn't put it into some encrypted file on his computer, but to that, the Professor would answer he sucked at remembering passwords and there were far better hackers out in the world than he could encrypt. So his trusty vault that hardly wanted to open with its actual key was a far better solution.
"… Professor?"
The man slammed the door of his vault shut, barely missing trapping his own hand underneath the unforgiving steel, only to see his young visitor stand in the middle of the room with a glass of milk in his left hand and a biscuit sort of thing the Professor had never seen in his life before in the other.
"What's the matter?"
"I didn't know you were such an early riser as well." Ash said softly.
"… What time is it?"
"A little after five."
Professor Sycamore's face might have already told the boy that he never even went close to a bed, because Ash changed the subject.
"You don't mind I took a glass of milk?"
"O-oh, no, not at all. You could have even taken something else, but I see you have your own meal with you."
"… Yeah, it's some kind of bun. I made it while… travelling."
"Alone?"
"… Yeah." Ash sighed. "I thought that I needed some time on my own. Turns out I didn't."
"Is that why you're awake already?"
"… I don't think I fell asleep, actually. I don't even feel like I rested at all."
"Please let me help you, Ash. I can't do anything for you if I don't know what is bothering you." The man sighed in desperation, turning away from the vault, but not before locking it back up.
"… You can't help that I'm weird."
"I remember what I said to you back then, Ash, but at the time, and it pains me to say it, I was the weird lunatic. But you were back on your feet after this… adventure in no time and now I'm wondering what the heck happened for you to have fallen so silent."
"I'm quick to answer, but assumptions are faster."
"You're never going to convince me that Ramos made an assumption about you as a trainer before the battle."
"No?"
Professor Sycamore sighed at the clear dismissal of his beliefs, but perhaps it was high time he got an update on how everything was going here in Kalos. It was painfully easy to miss details of life when you were bend over a report or some interesting research, in fact, the man couldn't start counting to amount of times he had missed an entire conversation, even though his assistants would swear he had hummed occasionally, as a sign he had been aware that they were talking.
"Well, he's coming to see you, so be prepared to have your opinion on how he treated you ready, yes? I miss your voice."
"That's a first." Ash commented.
"As weird as you think you are, mon petit, you are likeable."
"Even when I was sitting on a big-ass Legendary Pokémon?"
"Yes, it was strangely endearing. Though surely you must understand why I didn't make my presence known? Having a natural fear of bothering entities is often a good thing, like, I would never think of bothering either Champion or elite trainer either."
"That was never one the issues you had, Professor, you know that as well." The boy answered. "But yes, you proved that you've become kind of okay when meeting with sudden Legendary Pokémon, so for that, I need to thank you. Not just for my sake, but for every Legendary Pokémon in the world taller than yourself."
"I'm already glad it was enough, mon petit, I… I never intended to show that side of myself to you."
"I appreciate it. Few people care these days. It's a shame, because well… you saw first-hand what happens if someone truly dangerous and unpredictable does give you the sliver of hope and trust they own." Ash said.
"I wonder why, though."
"Huh? Why what? The fact that Dialga trusted me that much or…?"
"You. Why do you care so much?" the Professor said. "I would go to the end of the world and back for my Garchomp… but it was you who eventually went and did it, nearly costing your own life too."
"I do care, Professor." Ash answered, giving him a rueful smile. "A bit too much, about everything too. That's why it hurts to see that all the people I'm so willing to help and love aren't… what I initially thought they were."
"Like Ramos?"
"Don't think he ever qualified. Clemont got to him first so really, no matter what I did or said to him, he merely relied on the assumptions he had made from what he must've thought to be the expert on everything that considers me. Unfortunately for him, Clemont wasn't… at his best and neither was I, then again, neither was Ramos, so it was all… a failure, I guess."
"Did you lose the battle?"
"Hah, it wasn't even a battle. But no, Ramos surrendered."
"Really? That's probably the first time I've ever heard he went and did that."
"Great."
The Professor didn't understand why the fact that a strong Gym Leader like Ramos had surrendered made Ash feel this bad, but it might have something to do with his fickle self-image as a person and a trainer. Things he wasn't at all qualified to mess with and thus, the man left it be, inviting the teen to come join him for some more, actual breakfast. That bun in the child's hand could easily fit on Pikachu's little head, so it honestly wasn't nearly enough to prove to be a nutritional breakfast for a boy Ash's age. Besides, the man had been active throughout the whole day, so it wasn't as if his body had gotten any rest, to preserve some energy. Consider the man befuddled that he could hear the front door open just after he had gone to open it to the public after having had his much-needed breakfast. It was only a little after half-past six in the morning too, however, and as he went to look at who his visitors were, he saw the Champion stand there, with a very meek looking Ramos right next to her.
"Good morning, Professor." The woman said, in an icy like way, as if the person she was speaking to hadn't done her the major favour a day earlier. "Is Ash up already?"
"Certainly. I'll just have to find him, but you can go up to the-"
"Thank you."
The Professor barely had time to blink as the Champion and the Gym Leader passed him.
'… Comme c'est bizarre…' he ended up thinking as he went to the kitchen, where his young visitor was politely doing the dishes.
"Ash?"
"Yeah?" the boy asked, looking up from the glass he had been focused on drying off.
"Champion Diantha is here."
"… Already?"
"Mm, she doesn't seem like she is terribly pleased, so forgive her." The man said. "She tried to help you, but it seems she received some feedback she didn't enjoy."
"There's someone who actually would talk back to a well-meaning Champion?"
"Absolutely. Especially when they think favouritism is in play."
"Favouritism? Of who?" Ash asked, carefully putting the glass down on the table.
"You."
"Me!?"
The man cringed as the boy slapped the drying cloth on the back of a chair.
"Me!?" Ash repeated, even louder. "There are about a dozen people who actually go out of their way to listen to me and care about what I say but it suddenly becomes twelve and that's suddenly favouritism? Is there some unwritten rule in the universe that says I can't be happy for once? That no one is allowed to give a fuck about me unless they're getting the 'oh, you're picking favourites' card pulled on them!?"
"It's not like that, mon petit."
"No!? What the hell is it like, then? Salty people who clearly have enough skeletons in their closets, clinging their bones together to keep them awake all night and get out of bed to annoy innocent people at barely seven in the morning?"
"… Something like that, I suppose." The Professor answered subdued. "Try to be a little respectful, Ash, you're going to be talking to two powerful people."
"Oh, but I'm powerful too, aren't I? Aren't I the monster Ramos was so bloody scared off!?"
"Monster?" the man repeated. "Ash, you are no monster."
The teen fell silent at that, but it wasn't hard to imagine he was still frothing at the mouth at the idea of going to talk to the two trainers in the back. His eyes were heated and angry and honestly, the Professor couldn't blame the kid for being angry when he had been called or deemed a monster.
"You're just a good trainer, little friend, that's all."
"Then why did I feel like the bad guy when Ramos surrendered to me?"
"I think, Ash, you should go talk to the man and show him exactly who you are, so that he can perhaps look beyond what he was told."
"Oh, I'll show him, alright!" the teen exclaimed with renewed vigour and powerwalked towards the door yet had to halt as said door opened.
"… Is everything alright here?" Diantha asked as she peered inside.
Ash's apparent aggression faltered as soon as he had been faced with her but he still nodded, a little less enthusiastic than his trek towards the door.
"I hope it will be." Professor Sycamore sighed. "Would it be okay if I lingered around the area, Diantha?"
"All things considered, I think it would be the safest bet that you would be around somewhere, yes."
"But the dishes…?" the boy muttered.
"Leave them." The man said. "There are more important things to be done."
"Allow me to express my grief about the situation, Ash." Ramos started, clearly looking apologetic.
"Is this about what happened to me, or is it about the grief you've started feeling when you got called out for doing it?"
"My behaviour towards you, as a trainer but most of all a Gym Leader, was inexcusable, I realise that. I should never have given you the option to beat me so easily, but that's all on me." The man said. "But I feel the worst about having made you feel as if you pushed me into a corner. I… I couldn't help but overhear that you called yourself a monster just now and I hate the fact that it was me who made you feel that way."
"You never did anything, Clemont must have said things."
"Not about you, boy, he had nothing but good things to say about you as a person, and as a trainer, he just told me to expect the unexpected. But he did tell me about this Charizard of yours and well… You know the rest of what happened all too well."
"I do." Ash nodded, feeling a little comforted that his friends hadn't been the reason why all this had happened.
"What's so terrible about this Charizard, anyway?" Diantha asked. "You've faced worse, Ramos."
"It outmatched my Gogoat in stamina and energy."
"It did?" Professor Sycamore asked, not even bothering to hide his clear surprise.
"A Charizard? Are you sure you picked the right Gogoat for the job?" The Champion asked, doing a much better job at hiding her disbelief.
"Yes, of course, I picked the right Gogoat, there was never a wrong one to send out in battle!"
"Oh, God, you guys are unbelievable!" Ash snapped. "Instead of not believing Ramos' capability of recognising the difference between all his, you should have been focussing on the one he raised all his defences for! Why isn't any of you asking why Clemont was so bothered by Charizard, in the first place?!"
"Please remain calm. There's no reason why you should be raising your voice." Diantha said sharply.
Again, the boy faltered visibly and even sank back down his seat a little.
"Now, say whatever you have to say, calmly. I've been shouted at enough these days, so please, do me a favour." She added, also a lot calmer.
"Alright. I'm sorry, Diantha, I didn't mean to upset you."
"Don't be sorry, dear. Continue at your preferred pace."
"… Okay. I… I'll be honest, Ramos, and I don't intend anything bad by this, but I never even thought that your Gym would be a challenge. I had been intending to use Charizard from the start, anyhow and we… have such a history together, that I can't help but become so angry when we're either judged as being dangerous or just useless, as if there's no in-between." Ash sighed. "I always promise my Pokémon that we'll be aiming for something great, but Charizard is different, because I met him as a Charmander at an all-time low. Left in the dirt by his previous, shitty trainer, I had a lot of difficulties getting him to trust me and it took ages until Charizard had any faith in me as a trainer. In fact, it wasn't until I changed, that Charizard changed. And if Clemont hadn't been so busy being scared shitless of what Charizard actually looked like and had been looking at how I was training my Pokémon, he would've known that I truly didn't mean to push you into a corner, Ramos."
"I realise that. If that had been your intention, I'm sure that you would have commanded your Pokémon to attack. Yet, all it did was dodge."
"Oh, but that happened naturally. Charizard likes his challenges and if you think he won't be standing in the way of my herd of Tauros, just for the kick of getting away just in time, you're wrong. So be thankful, he identified Gogoat as a friend and started playing."
"Oh."
"If he hadn't made that connection, though, Ramos, he would've most definitely let Gogoat hit him. Seeing he's enjoyed watching me help my Infernape control his Blaze, know for a fact that he learned along with it and knows how to activate his ability without my guidance now."
"Oh."
"Nevertheless, it didn't happen, so don't worry about it. But what did happen, was that you blew the whole experiment I had planned to bits and I was so pissed about that, probably even more than the fact your 'challenge' hadn't been a challenge at all."
"What experiment?" Professor Sycamore asked, clearly interested.
"I was thinking about trying to check whether he was suited to possibly… Mega evolve him."
"Do you have the stone for it?"
"I figured that finding out whether or not Charizard would be biting my head off before Mega evolving him was more important than the stone. Besides, I only recently got a situation on hands where I could check whether or not he acted out while being clearly overpowered, or having a clear type-advantage, so I really didn't get the chance before getting back here."
"Oh, but that really isn't an issue, mon petit, it's just that I only have the Y left for you."
"The Y?" Ash asked blankly.
"Charizardite Y. It'll Mega Evolve him but it won't make your Pokémon change type like the X does."
The way the teen's faced changed, told the Professor that this was a sensitive issue he had just breached. But he couldn't help it, another assistant, a good friend of his as well, had the Charizardite X. Alain deserved to Mega Evolve his Charizard as well… but it seemed like Ash was thinking about refusing this Mega stone, if the look on his face was anything to go by.
"He's not going to enjoy hearing that."
"I'll tell him myself if that will help?"
The boy stared at him for a while before shaking his head.
"I don't think it will."
"… Fair enough."
"Charizard has been bothered by the fact he's not a true Dragon-type from the start. And he doesn't care much for titles, so you would honestly just appear in front of him as a stranger who doesn't only know of his insecurities, but also thinks they can erase them by just talking. I don't know how well you can work with Pokémon in that kind of situation, but I know my Charizard well enough to know he wouldn't appreciate it. Not that he would bite you or anything, but let me tell you, you've seen nothing worse in the world than the look of disappointment in a Pokémon's eyes."
"Oh, I know." Professor Sycamore sighed. "I know… But I really want to help you Mega Evolve him, Ash. It would be a shame that a Pokémon with such potential would end up not getting the upgrade he deserved."
"Is it an upgrade, though?"
"Yes."
"Hm… I'll talk to him about it. Later."
"You're not going to use him against Clemont, then?"
"Still a Flying-type. I'm sure Charizard can stomach it, but I've got better options against Clemont."
"That can Mega Evolve?" Diantha asked.
"Yes, how many Pokémon can you Mega Evolve?" the professor added.
"Four." Ash answered quickly. "If I count Charizard along, of course. But so far, I've successfully performed two."
"Four." Ramos repeated. "And I thought one single Gogoat would be enough to determine… I'm sorry, Diantha, you were right."
"I'm already glad you're seeing reason, Ramos. Just… be the Gym Leader everyone expects you to be, not… something from your own fantasies."
"Yes, I'll try and keep that in mind."
The young trainer didn't look too impressed by the Gym Leader's confession, but honestly, it was understandable why he felt so underwhelmed about it.
'The poor boy must've been blaming himself all that time, and now he's seeing the whole scene unfold before him, that it wasn't him being the issue, after all.' Professor Sycamore thought and felt a surge of sympathy for Ash and the situation he was in.
"All that aside, I would very much like you to have the Charizardite Y anyway, Ash."
"… Go ahead, then. I obviously can't convince you to keep it, even though I just told you that it all depends on Charizard's feeling whether or not I'll ever use it."
"The only part that makes a dragon an actual Dragon-type, is the way the Pokémon behaves and displays their power." The Professor persisted. "So if your Charizard wants to believe it's a dragon, it can go ahead and do so when he Mega Evolves."
"Man, you're really making me want to release him right here and now."
"What's stopping you?"
"The ceiling's too low."
The man looked at his Charchomp and then the ceiling, blinking a couple of times before looking back at the boy.
"Are you trying to tell me he's bigger than my Garchomp, Ash?"
"The boy's Pokémon truly is enormous, Professor." Ramos answered. "He must have been treated really well for him to grow this size."
"Tell me something I don't know." The teen stated, giving the man a strange look, from out of the corner of his eyes.
It really seemed like the boy had lost quite a bit of respect for the older trainer, but who could blame him for that? Besides, this was another stab at Ash's already obvious care for his Pokémon, like, his Pikachu was so beautifully cared for. It had been a while since he had seen any Electric-type Pokémon look so fluffy and just… the Pokémon's fur looked as if a mere brush of a hand would be enough to send a static shock through the person's hand and that was a sign that this Pokémon had a good trainer.
"Ash, I'm still going to give you the Mega stone. I just need to find something to house it in, something that your Pokémon would actually wear."
"If you've got the time to do some adapting, I've got something that could be useful. Charizard is kind of vain, so he wouldn't mind a ring at all." Ash said, pulling the creepy ring he had stolen from the Lore Keeper from his pocket.
He could feel Diantha's stare burn a hole in his sleeve, so yes, the boy was aware she knew darn well what it was. Nevertheless, it was completely harmless and if Professor Sycamore altered it enough, no one would actually recognise it for what it had once been. Besides, the skull would have to go anyhow, to make room for the large marble, so half of the creepiness would be gone with only the slightest adaptation.
"… Why do you have something like that with you, mon petit?"
"I found it somewhere. I never thought of getting rid of it, but hey, it might be useful now, right?"
"… I suppose so, yes. I'll need some time, though."
"Let's say half a day?" Diantha suddenly piped up. "I have to talk to Ash anyhow and afterwards, I can join him as he goes towards the Gym and then we'll return. Does that sound alright?"
The boy nodded wordlessly and Professor Sycamore didn't find it within himself to deny the Champion anything, so he nodded as well.
"Good, then I suppose we'll be on our way. Do you have your pictures, Ash?"
"… Pictures? Oh, yeah, those. Kind of lost sight of them... In fact, did you ever give them to me, Professor?"
"Ah non, putain, I still have them laying around somewhere. Let me go get them."
Ash felt slightly awkward as he walked next to the Champion, the photographs he had completely forgotten about in his hold. If it wasn't for the fact that she looked slightly constipated, he might have started talking to her, but it seemed she was kind of angry with him and the teen had no clue what he had done to make her feel this way.
"Do you want anything to drink?"
Ash shook his head, even though his throat felt like sandpaper. He was just too wary to sit comfortable, a feeling that had settled firmly inside his head ever since he had made his escape from Courmaline City a good week ago. It didn't seem like he was going to be able to shake it off soon either.
"Alright." Diantha said, settling down. "Can I ask, do you really feel the need to spit in someone's face at every opportunity you get?"
"If this is about the ring, then yes, I do."
The woman sighed and rubbed her forehead.
"There's only so much I can do for you, Ash, and I've already put my neck out a bit too far."
"I've heard something about favouritism, yes." The boy answered sourly. "Did you hear my response as clearly as Ramos did?"
"… Yes, and I suppose you're right, only… Don't go causing trouble whenever and wherever."
"I'll try not to. But trust me, Professor Sycamore would probably do something drastic to it, because he's going to need to stretch it and do stuff to it. In fact, it pleases me a lot that he's going to completely mangle whatever was out to cause so much harm."
"If you look at it that way. Still, be careful. I don't have the ability to tell anyone off like I can with the Gym Leaders."
"If everyone in Kalos is going to act like the asshole the Gym Leaders I've already had the misfortune of meeting here, I'm on the first plane home, Diantha. I didn't come here to get judged by sight, I get that at home already."
"Still…"
"Yes, I will try not to upset anyone." Ash sighed.
"Good, that's all I ask for. As for what happened with Ramos, I'm really sorry. I've made sure that Clemont has received a good amount of challenges to make sure he knows what to do when faced with one who wants a serious challenger. And just so you know, someone you know very well has sent a special kind of trainer, who trains up G-Men, towards the Gym."
"I'm sure he's enjoyed every minute of that battle."
"I needed a way to make sure he knew that such talk between Gym Leaders, which basically ruined your challenge, is not done. Yes, talking is allowed, but Ramos nearly had your Charizard's exact stats. And that's not allowed, especially not among Gym Leaders, as it is a breach of privacy."
"People can actually check all my Pokémon in my profile, though, can't they?"
"Not any longer, no. You can, but no one else can. You'll have to contact Professor Oak if you want to see that changed again, but for your own safety, I would recommend leaving it that way."
Ash nodded, but at the mention of the Professor, he couldn't help but look at the pictures he had laid on the table. He was curious about them, but it hadn't been a burning matter on his mind. It did, however, seem like Diantha was interested in them.
"Did they send them to you?" he asked, pointing at the envelope.
"No, the nurse gave them to Clemont, who completely panicked, took the first car to Lumiose, as if he thought you would already be waiting at the Gym. His father brought him back to Courmaline, so that Clemont could at least pack his stuff and calm down a little. And when Meyers returned back in Lumiose, he gave me the pictures, along with the plea of whether or not I could find you."
"Ah, that's why you were in the laboratory, so adamant to see me."
"Yes." The woman sighed. "You got us worried, Ash, try not to disappear on us again."
"Oh, no, did my transceiver run out of battery again? The blasted thing always ends up letting me down in the worst of situations."
"Apparently."
"Dang it…"
"Let's just sit here for a bit and try to calm down, okay? Everything considered, I think you would be a lesser threat to Clemont and his self-esteem calm."
Ash snorted at that.
"I've got nothing against my friends, it was all m- Oh no!"
"What is it!?" Diantha asked, worried as the teen had shot up straight in his chair.
"I completely forgot about Serena's contest! This was here first one and I wasn't there!"
"I'm sure she can forgive you for it, Ash."
"… You think so?"
"As far as I saw, the girl ended up getting disqualified and-"
Diantha stopped talking as soon as she saw the boy's face fall.
"Oh, no…"
"She seems to be very much alive, though, Ash, so try to keep calm. As far as I could see, she was also terribly worried over you, saying things like that you needed help or something. It all got me very worried as well, I really imaged you were a total mess. Only to eventually hear you scream at Professor Sycamore, clearly okay."
"Yeah well, I'm okay, just not great. But I'm glad Serena's okay as well, I mean, getting disqualified, what the heck… I'll have to look at that contest later."
"Yes, later. Right now, you're just going to sit and relax a bit."
Ash decided to just nod and keep his mouth shut, because it would only make the woman act out even worse. It was probably a habit of hers to go and sit in some restaurant or bar and just look at life passing by, which was probably a comfort for her. But it really wasn't for the boy, who felt more than ready to go and beat something up, because the level of unfairness today had shown was really going over his head. Heavens, he really had been judged and things had gone terribly wrong while he hadn't been looking. He hadn't meant for Diantha to straighten out all the Gym Leaders, he hadn't wanted Ramos' apologies, he hadn't needed Professor Sycamore's sympathy nor the Mega Stone.
He wasn't going to be ungrateful, though and there was nothing he could do to change the past, but he was not going to let the actions of another define him as a trainer. Ash knew he had done some things he should have thought about, rather than going ahead and do them straight away, but he hadn't actively hurt anyone and heck, Serena had known where he had been going, so Clemont's panic had been unwarranted. All in all, with everything that had happened, with him and his Pokémon, from a few of his dear friends having evolved to having to deal with Dialga who somehow had the same sentiment as Diantha had, just figuring that it had seen the boy peacefully cleaning other Pokémon and thinking that offering its massive body would actually make a difference. It had, because now, Ash could be pretty dang sure Professor Sycamore wouldn't start screaming at him again, just because some unexpected, Legendary Pokémon had popped up.
Call him mean, but there was no way he would ever have believed that the man would be okay with another Giratina sighting if he had been hugging it out with Anabel's Suicune. Ash had met other wild Pokémon, willing for a snuggle, so honestly, it wasn't impressive. No, just being near and looking at a creature that could destroy you in a blink of an eye, without giving any reaction was what the boy thought to be perfect. So everything considered, it had all kind of worked out, no matter whether the execution of everything had been less than perfect. And right now, even as Diantha had asked him to calm down at least a little bit, every bit of Ash's passion for fighting straightened and oh, did he have some surprises for Clemont. The Gym Leader might have been forced to train by Diantha, but he hadn't need anyone to realise that if he were to make a good show, he needed everyone in his team as strong as possible. For now, as he sat here, waiting until the Champion would let him go, he would make a little prayer out to Arceus, to at least have some hope that his friend would be ready for him.
~Please read and review
