The Night After
It was late at night and the trio were all in Brock's room celebrating Ash's new gym badge and Serena's first Princess Key. They just finished playing a board game on the floor that lasted for four hours.
"Looks like 54 points for me." Brock tallied his points. He was patiently waiting for Ash and Serena to finish.
"Uh… hey Serena, could you uh… maybe give me another Mareep." Ash asked.
"No. The game's already over. If you don't have any Mareeps then subtract it from your score." Serena declined.
"But I really need one." Ash said.
"Just count your score up Ash." Serena shifted her gaze at Ash's board and held back a laugh. In comparison to Brock and Serena's board, Ash's board was extremely bare and lacked any kind of pokemon. The only thing he had built was a large fence and a Miltank at the upper right corner.
"I have 31 points." Serena announced.
"Just waiting for you now Ash." Brock goofily smiled.
Ash played with his sole Miltank and stared at Serena's board. Her board was full of Mareeps and Miltanks and even Rapidashes. She also had wheat fields and a two story house with Apricorn Trees.
Meanwhile, Brock's board was even more cluttered than Serena's. It seemed as though his board was filled with Rapidashes. He had multiple buildings, including his own house, a pokemon center and a daycare.
"So how many points Ash?" Serena poorly held it in. She was going to burst any second. Just by looking at Ash's board, she knew his score was in the negatives.
"-17." Ash said with a low voice.
"Negative what now?" Brock giggled. Serena was already on the floor dying of laughter.
"17." Ash reiterated slightly louder. "-17."
This time Brock laughed along Serena at Ash's petty score. They were both on the floor desperately trying to breathe between each laugh.
"Hehe, Ash, ha, how are you, so bad haha!" Serena held her stomach from the pain.
"It's my first time playing!" Ash tried to defend. His friends laughing were starting to become contagious.
"Haha! My baby sister does better than you! HA!" Brock laughed hysterically
"Heh, and he said his Miltank needed room!" Serena began nitpicking Ash's board. "But he forgot to give himself a square to live on! Haha!"
"So where's your house Ash?" Brock asked. Ash smiled and shrugged not knowing where it was. Brock and Serena only laughed even harder at this. After a few seconds, Ash too joined in the laughter. He was really bad at the game.
Brock's Encounter
"Alright! And that should be it! Nice doing business with you Brock." Bill said. He offered his hand to which Brock shook.
"It is my pleasure. So I should expect Aerodactyl in about a month's time at your place, just to clarify?" Brock said.
"Yup! And if there are any problems, like you can't make it back to Cerulean City or something, I can always send the pokeball to your nearest pokemon center." Bill said.
"Sounds great!" Brock said. He had a smile on his face that made him look like a giddy child who just received a new toy for Christmas. But before Brock could leave, Bill's laptop rang, notifying of an incoming video call.
"Oh, one second." Bill went to his computer to check who could be calling. "Hm. I don't really know who this is. I don't think it could be that serious." Bill typed a few things before picking up the video call. His monitor turned on to reveal an asian lady with slanted eyes. Her hair was long and black but at the tips there were red highlights. She was standing rather close to her camera so the only thing Brock could make out was her facial features and nothing more.
"Ah, hello. I'm Bill. This is a friend, his name is Brock. Who are you?" Bill asked. Brock stood there like a piece of stone as he stared at Bill's monitor. Like all women Brock is attracted to, his heart began to beat loudly. Blood rushed to his cheeks and the sudden urge to get on one knee and propose was making his knees weak.
"Hello Bill. This is Lucy. I am Frontier Brain and law maker of the Hoenn region. I just wanted to let you know that one of your packages was recently stolen by a crime organization." Lucy informed.
"What?" Bill said incredulously. "The package I sent to Hoenn had important parts from Silph Co.! I need to call the president right away." Bill quickly whipped out his phone and ran out the room to talk to the president of Silph Co., leaving Brock to awkwardly fight his urges in front of the screen.
"Wait! Ugh, nevermind." Lucy gave up. Silence appeared in the room as both Brock and Lucy stared at each other through the screen.
"Uhm. Hello." Brock managed to let out. He wanted to badly listen to his heart and confess but even he knew how weird it would be to do it infront of a computer screen.
"Hi." Lucy replied. She should have just hung up right there and then but now it was too late. Lucy was not a person to waste time but something about Brock made her want to listen to what he had to say.
"So you're a Frontier Brain but you look so young." Brock tried to spark conversation.
"I suppose. What about you Brock?" Lucy asked.
"Well, I was a former gym leader but recently decided to study while travelling with a few friends." Brock answered.
"Oh interesting." Lucy said. She focused on Brock's appearance and found it odd how his eyes always seemed to be closed. She twirled her highlights as she thought about how it was possible for Brock to see.
"How serious is Bill's package? You think you can get it back?" Brock asked. He was afraid of the awkwardness and wanted to continue with the conversations.
"Oh, hm. Very serious. We're probably never going to see the package ever again." Lucy spoke bluntly.
Brock stood there at how blunt Lucy was. She essentially confirmed criminals stole a very important package from Silph Co. and there was no way to get it back like it happened everyday.
"I see." Brock said. Unable to find another topic to discuss, Brock and Lucy stared at each other through the screen. Just like he feared.
"Your eyes. They intrigue me." Lucy said suddenly. "I find it impressive you are still able to see given your conditions."
"Oh uh, thanks! You too. Hehe." Brock said. He was flustered by the weird compliment and did not know how to react. He wanted to punch himself for what he just said but who could blame him? He has never been complimented before by such a beauty in his eyes. Any girls that Brock thought were strikingly gorgeous would either gag in disgust or turn him away as fast as possible.
"Me too?" Lucy became confused. She began rapidly blinking and rubbing her eyes as she did not believe having Brock's condition was healthy.
"Oh no, I didn't mean there was something wrong with you. I actually think the opposite. You know—" Brock
"I'm back!" Bill returned. "Sorry to keep you waiting. Thank you for telling me Lucy. I will see what I can do on my end."
"Ah, uh yes. Of course." Lucy said. She looked as though she was lost as she choked on her words.
"Goodbye!" Bill tapped a key on his keyboard and Lucy's surprised face was the last thing Brock saw.
"Ah—" Brock jumped suddenly.
"Huh! What is it?" Bill asked, slightly frightened by Brock's outburst.
"Oh uh. Nothing…Nothing at all." Brock realized how weird he was acting and decided to keep his composure. "Thank you for everything. I'll be leaving then."
"Okay. See you around then Brock." Bill said. "Oh wait, by the way, do you want some cruise tickets?"
Ash's First Lesson
It was mid afternoon and Ash was walking to the daycare. He had gotten a phone call from Alder that same morning telling him he can get his study materials from the daycare.
Knocking on the wooden doors and waiting patiently, Ash could see various pokemons on the other side of the fence. They were all within the perimeter playing.
The door slowly opened as an elderly man poked his head out.
"Ah! You must be Ash! Alder told us you would be coming." The old man said. "You did not bring your pokemon with you right?"
"Uh, no. Alder said not to so I left them with a few trusted friends at the pokemon center." Ash said. The elderly gestured for Ash to come in the house.
"Honey! Our first Ranger Trainee is here!" The old man called out. "You may call me Daycare Man and my wife Daycare Woman."
"Uhm… okaaay." Ash knit his brows together at the odd names.
"Oh Ash! So good to see you!" An old woman appeared. She walked up to Ash and gave him a hug like how a grandma would hug a grandchild. "It's so good to see new faces."
"Now, Alder may have provided the study materials, but we were in charge of activities that we believe all trainees should do before becoming a Ranger." The Daycare Man said. He walked to one of the shelves in his home and pulled out a folder. "Here I have a list of what you should do! Take a look!"
Ash read over the list the Daycare Man gave him and grew excited by merely reading it. It just so happened that everything on the list was everything he wanted to do. Some tasks that caught his eyes were visiting Diglett Cave, exploring the Safari Zone and Surfing to Cinnabar Island.
"Everything looks amazing on this list!" Ash said as he handed the list back to the Daycare Man.
"Hm? Does it?" The Daycare Man said. "Well then, you should get started on the first one then! Here you go!"
The Daycare Man handed Ash a shovel and guided him towards a door that led to the enclosure of pokemon playing within the fence.
"The pokemon here are all babies and don't know how to clean up after themselves. It is up to us to clean after them. This includes their… you know. Number 2." The Daycare Man explained. The smile on Ash's face morphed into disgust as he gagged at the amount of droppings littered all over the place.
"Wait, where did it say I had to scoop poop?" Ash asked with much concern. The old man brought the list to Ash's view and flipped to the other side of the paper. On its back was one very specific task. To scoop a day's work of poop.
"Wait…" Ash looked on in despair, completely mortified and wondering what he got himself into.
"Well. Get scooping!" The Daycare man said. "When you're done, I'll give you the rest of the study material." With that, the Daycare Man left Ash to do dirty work.
Alder's Past
"Leave us alone!" Alder screamed behind him. He was sprinting as fast as he could, his friend only a few feet ahead of him and his Larvesta right on his tail. "Sam you Old Coot! Don't slow down, c'mon!"
Sam and Alder continued to run from their assailants but with every turn they made in the building, the more loss they felt.
"I-I'm, only a… few years… older than you…" Sam stopped running and leaned against the wall as they reached a dead end.
"This way!" Alder pulled Sam's arm and broke through a door that led to a normal office room with large windows. The view from the window was breathtaking but there was no time to waste on sight seeing.
Noticing the dead end they were in, Sam looked around in despair. "What now?"
"We have to fight. How's Dragonair?" Alder asked. The last thing he wanted to do was fight but they had no choice.
"Beaten and tired. I don't know if there's much left in her." Sam admitted.
"There you are!" A criminal entered the room. "Hey! They're over here!" As the criminal called for his friends, Oak released his Dragonair and quickly started applying a few potions on her.
"It looks like they want to fight." The group of criminals flooded the room. They released their respective pokemon that consisted of multiple Zubats and Golbats, a few Muks and three Houndooms.
"Please tell me you have something planned Sam. You're the one who got us in this mess." Alder looked around but found nothing that they could take advantage of and Sam was still tending to Dragonair's wounds.
Without a warning, the Zubats and Golbats came rushing in after the future Champions.
"OAK!" Alder shouted in alarm. He knew Larvesta was not strong enough to take on the entire group and needed Sam's assistance to even stand a chance. "Larvesta, Flamethrower!"
"I know!" Sam screamed back. He sloppily wrapped Dragonair's wounds and faced the criminals."Dragonair! Twister!"
Alder stared back at Sam in fear. Using such a large area of effect move would risk tearing the entire building down. At least most of the building was not flammable so fire moves proved to be less riskier.
But something extraordinary was happening. Dragonair glared at the enemies and slowly began to glow. What started as a faint white light soon exploded into a blinding light so pure, everyone in the room had to avert their eyes.
"D-Dragonite!" Sam said. His eyes were wide with disbelief as he could not comprehend what he just witnessed.
"EEEEOOOOUUUUUR!" Dragonite roared at the opposing pokemon. She flapped her wings together and summoned a larger Twister that collided with Larvesta's Flamethrower. The fire storm was not quite large enough to bring the building down but it was powerful enough to break a hole into the floor above them.
"Your Dragonair… just evolved." Alder said completely flabbergasted. But the short lived victory was forgotten when an attack came Sam's way. It was a Sludge Bomb but Dragonite stood in its path and took it.
"We're leaving now!" Sam informed Alder. The other criminals in the room were still in a daze from Dragonite's attack but they were slowly recollecting themselves. "Dragonite! Break the windows!"
Dragonite listened to Sam's orders and promptly broke through the window with her fist. Shattered glass flew out into the air while Dragonite used her tail to break the rest of the window.
"They're starting to get up Sam. I don't know if we have enough time." Alder caught on to his friend's plan.
"Yes we do." Sam said. He ran to the window and pulled out a metallic baton he stole from one of the fallen grunts. With all his strength, Sam began pounding away at the aerogel glass, helping his pokemon in the process. "Hold the line for us, Alder. I'm getting us out of here."
Alder nodded in understanding and placed himself in front of Sam, guarding his back. "Larvesta… no mercy, Fire Blast!" Alder hated doing this. Even if they are people who deserve the punishment. But if he wanted to come out of this alive, he needed to hurt the criminals while they are down. So they won't come back to hurt his friends.
"Persian, Power Gem!" A voice from the above floor shouted. Taken by surprise, before Larvesta could use Fire Blast, a large rock came from the ceiling and made contact with the bug pokemon. The rock broke upon impact and left Larvesta in a weakened daze.
"Larvesta!" Alder shouted. He could hear the glass behind him breaking but he did not care. He ran to Larvesta's side.
"Alder watch out!" Sam cried out. He stopped breaking the glass and ran to pull Alder away from the incoming Flamethrower about to burn him alive. A bolt of lightning came from the ceiling, ready to end the pair but this time, Dragonite grabbed a hold of both trainers before slinging them on her back. With her powerful legs and new found ability to fly, Dragonite escaped through the window leaving behind Larvesta.
"Wait! Larvesta is still back there…" Alder stared back at the building but as he said that he knew it was too late. A Persian dropped from the floor above and pounced onto the next floor. He could hear Larvesta's cries for help but they were cut short as the Persian swiped at the bug pokemon's body. The floor turned suspiciously red as the Persian evilly stared back at Alder. The last thing he heard was the rest of the criminals commending the trainer above for his kill.
"Giovanni." Alder whispered to himself. Tears endlessly streamed down his cheeks as he repeated the name over and over. His heart ached, numbed and broke in that order. Insurmountable waves of grief coursed through his veins as his entire body shook from agony. Not able to hold back his emotions, Alder began wailing behind Sam, temporarily losing his sanity.
Knowing his friend was not in his right mind, Sam grabbed Alder's hand and held it tightly. If Alder decided he wanted to fall, Sam would not let him.
After this day, Alder became a pokemon trainer and began his first usage of modern pokemon technology. The Pokeball.
Post Cerulean City Showcase
"Hey let's take a picture!" Serena insisted. She had already reunited with Ash and Brock backstage and was still living in the moment of her first win in Kanto.
"Excuse us!" Serena called out to a random stranger. "Could you take a picture for us?"
After finding a suitable photographer, the trio stood beside each other and posed for a picture. Serena smiled with sparkles in her eyes, holding the Princess Key in her hands as if she were presenting it. Ash and Brock stood on either side of her and gave a winning smile.
"Thank you for the picture!" Ash called out.
"How did it turn out?" Brock asked Serena who was holding her pokedex observing the picture. Brock towered over his friends easily and peeked past Serena's shoulder to see the picture. Ash tried to follow suit but a genetic obstacle was in his way.
"Hm well…" Serena and Brock both looked down at Ash and noticed how short the aspiring Pokemon Master was.
"What is it?" Ash asked. "Did the picture turn out bad?"
Serena took a step closer to Ash and noticed she could see the top of Ash's Pokemon League hat.
"Ash, how tall are you?" Serena asked after showing him the picture. It was a normal picture of the three of them. Some might even say it was a nice picture. But the picture held some inconsistencies that would only be noticed if you knew the trio somewhat well.
"I'm not that short! I'm 5'2"! Don't look at me like that!" Ash said in an embarrassed fit. To prove his point, he straightened his back and puffed his chest to make himself look larger.
"I'm 5'1" but with heels almost 5'4" and I tower over you!" Serena pointed out with a smile.
"No you don't! Your heels just give you too much of a boost. Look at them, they're like 5 inch heels!" Ash defended his honor. In the picture, Ash did look extremely short. As if his height did not make him look bad enough, he was also slouching in the photo which made him look that much shorter.
"Mhm… Whatever you say!" Serena laughed at Ash's attempts to seem taller. "Tiptoeing doesn't count either."
The pair continued to go back and forth with Ash saying he was not short and Serena further embarrassing him with the photo.
"Hehe, I'm about 5'10" and a half." Brock said his piece.
Both Serena and Ash stared at Brock for a moment before going back to their own conversation. Brock shrugged and continued to guide the group out of the showcase and back to the pokemon center.
Post Training
"Well, we did it guys!" Ash smiled at his team. "I'm proud that we made it this far. Even if we did run into a few mishaps during the fight." Ash looked at Dusty who looked away in guilt.
"But that doesn't mean we don't train. We need to get ready for the next gym! Vermillion City!" Ash smiled at his team but his pokemon all groaned. "What's wrong guys? All tired out from training?"
Prior to battling Misty, Ash's team has been training constantly. Even with the day long break before and after the battle, his pokemon were beat.
Looking at his team, Ash noticed the obvious dreariness and unmotivated will to do any work. But regardless, Ash wanted his pokemon to at least stay in shape.
"C'mon guys, let's at least get some runs in. We may have beaten the second gym but it only gets harder from here." Ash adamantly insisted. Listening to their trainer, Ash's pokemon slowly got into position to train.
"Aura and Pikachu, pair up. Light sparring okay? Aura I need you to try and land a hit and make your attacks more precise. Pikachu, all dodging. It's all about endurance okay? Don't strain yourself though." Ash informed the yellow rodent and the Aura pokemon. "Dusty and Luna. Just play tag. Luna you need to keep up with Dusty okay? It'll help you grow faster." Ash watched as his pokemon began to do what they were told, albeit in a slow fashion.
"Hey Homura. I'll be working with you today. You think you're up for another Dragon Rage? I think I have an idea to help prolong your attack." Ash smiled at Homura.
"Char… char?" Homura tilted his head.
"I know Dragon Rage is an extremely tiring attack, even for a Charizard but your Dragon Rage is a bit short. To make it longer try to coat your mouth with Ember." Ash suggested. Homura was still confused at Ash's instructions but understood what Ash meant when he said Ember. Taking the tip, Homura began to use Ember.
"Now try to transition to Dragon Rage Homura." Ash said. Listening to his trainer, the Shiny Charmander began to spill blue flames from his mouth.
"Alright Homura! You're a natural at this!" Ash was surprised at Homura's progress. "At this rate—"
A small explosion and a puff of black smoke surrounded Ash. Mixing the two attacks in Homura's mouth backfired due to Homura's lack of control. When the smoke cleared, Ash's face could be seen covered in black dust with his eyes closed.
"It's okay Homura, we'll keep working on this." Ash reassured Homura but it sounded more for himself than his pokemon. His other pokemon who were already training with each other all looked at Ash with smiles on their faces. They were all giggling as Ash rubbed his eyes.
After the small mishap and many giggles, training seemed to be much more lively as the initial lack of motivation disappeared.
Packing
Serena and Brock said goodbye to Ash as they parted ways for the day. It has been two days since Ash's battle and Serena and Brock needed to buy supplies to make it to Vermillion City.
"What're trying to get Serena?" Brock asked. The pair entered the pokemart and walked down the aisles, shopping for anything that catches their eyes.
"Well, I wanted to find a warmer sleeping bag and buy some ingredients for some pokemon food." Serena answered. "What about you?"
"Oh that's it? I was going to buy some food, a new stove, I also wanted a foldable table, some flashlights, maybe stock up on more potions for you and Ash." Brock listed out. "Oh! And a small tent. It's still winter and there is an off chance of it raining. Which reminds me, I need to buy tarps and ponchos."
"That's a lot of stuff Brock. How do you plan on holding a foldable table?" Serena looked at Brock mildly surprised.
"My backpack of course." Brock simply stated.
"Wha—" Serena blinked in confusion at Brock's solution.
"Yup." Brock magically had all the items before him and presented it to Serena. "See!" Brock lifted a full sized table and slipped it into his backpack as if it was food falling into a Snorlax's mouth. But even with the table in the backpack, the size of Brock's backpack did not change in the slightest.
"Wait a minute, ho—" Serena's eyes widened in shock yet Brock proceeded to feed his backpack more gear. After the table, Brock inserted a portable dual stove with a variety of pots and pans, a family sized tent, a car light and hundreds of Full Restores.
"Whoa, h—" Serena attempted to speak but lost her words. Meanwhile, Brock dropped in three foldable chairs, a water purifier, another sleeping bag and bags of tarp. Despite all the items in the backpack, there was no physical outward change to its appearance.
"Are you okay?" Brock asked normally. He held out his hand to Serena as she was on the floor completely baffled.
"You can fit me in your backpack…" Serena muttered in fear.
"Ah, don't be silly. You're too big." Brock said. He opened his backpack to show Serena but as he did, Serena woke up with a jolt. She rose from her bed and looked around.
In relief, Serena noticed that it was all a bad dream and that she was back in her room at the pokemon center. Someone was knocking on her door, waiting patiently for her.
"Coming!" Serena shouted. She rubbed her eyes and released a small yawn before opening the door.
"Oh, morning Serena. Are you ready to get breakfast?" Ash said.
"Ash said he was going to train after breakfast." Brock stated. "We're still going to the pokemart to buy supplies right? I need a foldable table and—"
A rush of trauma flashed in Serena's mind as Brock listed his first item. Cold chills ran down her spine and goosebumps rose at the back of her neck. She recalled the darkness inside Brock's backpack in her dream and the further she dwelled on it, the more her sanity chipped away. Lost in her fear of Brock's backpack, Serena slowly let the door close. Not caring that she ignored her friends, Serena walked towards her bed and covered her head. Brock's backpack was too powerful.
Sorry for any mistakes. I'm dumb, I know.
But this is another chapter but a bit different. After having such large events, I thought it would be good to cool down on all the intensive writing and show some short clips of the group just being... well a group. I also added a few stories of other characters here and there. I kind of liked doing this so I'm probably going to do this like every ten chapters or something. There's not really much to say but I hope you enjoyed the bit of slice of life between the characters. I am probably going to update a full, complete chapter later in the month so this won't be the only chapter.
Oh yeah, another thing. All the short stories here are not in chronological order. But they are all events that happened before the next chapter if that makes sense. If there is ever a story that's not in the past, you could probably tell by the name of the short story.
But nonetheless, that is all I have to say. Thank you for reading. I appreciate everyone who said something about last chapter, it was really heartwarming to know people are giving me their time with my lame story. Again thank you and I hope everyone is safe. Stay cool.
P.S. I've been playing a lot of Runscape lately. Yee Haw! 99 cooking baby!