Chapter 2: Petalburging the Backstory

Ash and Pikachu stayed at Wesley's home as they recovered from a day they were chased out of Petalburg City by a mob bent on protecting Norman's reputation. The morning sun began the new day as Ash and Pikachu slept on a sofa. Wesley's in the kitchen and making pancakes. The smell awoke Pikachu. He leaped off Ash's sleeping body and entered the kitchen to find Wesley skillfully flip the flapjack. ("Nice…") he awed. Wesley heard Pikachu as he leaped onto the counter.

"Good morning, Pikachu," he greeted. "Couldn't resist the smell?"

("How could I?") Instead of a pancake, Wesley gave Pikachu an apple. Pikachu sighed but ate it with a small glass of milk.

"Now, are you alone with Ash or does he have more of your kind like that Mew he had in that device? Rather what is that he showed Mew on?" Knowing what Wesley meant, Pikachu ran out of the kitchen and back with the device with the flipping door. "That's it." Pikachu handed Wesley the device to which he pressed a couple of buttons. It activated with Ash's face with his cap on.

"HELLO, I AM DEX," it registered. "I AM A POKÉDEX FOR ASH KETCHUM OF PALLET TOWN. I PROVIDE INFORMATION OF OVER 300 SPECIES OF POKÉMON INCLUDING EVOLUTION LINES AND VARIOUS ABILITIES. SHOULD I BE LOST OR DESTROYED, REPLACEMENT IS NULL AND VOID." Wesley laughed to Dex's explanation.

"Whoever programmed that detail needs to work on dialogue," he giggled. Ash soon woke as Wesley flipped another flapjack up, landing perfectly on a plate.

"You're talented," he snickered.

"Morning to you, too," Wesley joked. "I just had a moment to understand your hand-held device, or your Dex."

"You did? And give Pikachu something to munch on." The remark made Wesley snicker as Ash enjoyed the pancake and milk.

"Well, you were in a bit of a panic when you burst in the café. I don't know what happened that made you leave your place of Pallet Town…"

"Whoa, I left for my journey to be a Pokémon Trainer from Pallet Town. Pikachu and I became a team after we left and started working together. Besides, it happened in Petalburg City."

"Oh, okay."

"What about the girls? They were nicer than Misty or May."

"But I doubt that's the reason you beat feet out of Petalburg." A nod from Ash confirmed Wesley's point. "Well, Corina's actually a wealthy girl, Zoey and Mark are dating…" Pikachu gawked to the information of Zoey.

"Not that I'm worried. I'm glad those two are together."

"And you also have Bridget going to school and Elliot and I have management jobs with the café." After breakfast, Wesley dressed a jacket over him. "Well, ready to go?" The two nodded as they began to leave. Along the way, Zoey, Bridget and Mark spotted the boys.

"Wesley!" she called out. Wesley, Ash and Pikachu turned to see the dating pair. Zoey and Bridget were in the gray school uniforms like some of the customers from the café. Mark was in a white button-down shirt with dress pants. "Ash! Pikachu!"

("Morning, guys!") greeted Pikachu before Zoey petted him.

"Hey, where's Corina, Kikki and Renée?" asked Ash.

"Renée's at home with some phone calls with modeling agencies," Mark mentioned. "Kikki's minding her other siblings and Corina will come around soon enough." Ash nodded.

"But they'll be at the café soon," Bridget assured.

"Sure," Ash expected.

"We gotta go, anyway," Zoey said. "We'll see you later." Ash nodded as Mark and the girls headed out. Ash and Pikachu followed Wesley to Café Mew which a box truck was parked in the front.

"You're getting deliveries in?" guessed Ash.

"Yep," Elliot replied. "It's our shipment to restock the café." He stacked cases on top of each other. Just then, Pikachu was removed from Ash's shoulder. The Mouse Pokémon turned around to see Renée in sunglasses. She wore a yellow blouse under a black jacket and skirt with knee-high black boots.

"Good morning, Pikachu!" she greeted.

("Renée!") squeaked Pikachu. Renée looked to the cases.

"Do you need help with that?" she asked.

"Of course," Elliot accepted. "Ash, what about you?"

"Count me in," Ash volunteered before picking up a case.

"Thanks," Elliot praised. Ash picked up a box and carried it inside the café. "Just leave the boxes by that door and I'll sort it out."

"Gotcha." Complying, Renée, Wesley and Ash laid the boxes near a heavy iron door.

"Good morning, Ash!" chirped Corina. Ash looked up from putting a box down to find Corina in a black dress with the skirt going no lower than her thighs and dress shoes.

"Corina…" he gulped. "Good… morning." Corina helped Ash back up.

"You look a lot better than yesterday after you burst through Café Mew."

"Rest can do that. Don't you have school to attend?"

"I'm home schooled. I can adjust when I can study or work or practice ballet." This made Ash blink.

"Ballet? That's new." His curiosity made Corina interested.

"You… don't have ballet where you're from?"

"Not that I can think of. I would like to see it."

"Really…" Renée found the pair with Pikachu on her shoulder.

"It also turns out he's from a different plain of existence than where we're from," she voiced. Corina turned to Renée as she dropped another box off.

"I had assumed that with Pikachu and Ash mentioning Pokémon," she studied.

"Well, Ash and Pikachu are actually from Pallet Town," Renée started. "And from their journey here, Ash has more on hand." Corina snickered to the thought of more Pikachus.

"I'm happy with one Pikachu," she joked.

"I have four other Pokémon if you wanna see," Ash offered. Corina and Renée wondered about Ash's claim.

"Could you show us when the rest of us get here?" requested Renée.

"Not a problem," Ash acknowledged. Corina began to have questions for Ash.

"Say, does your world only have… Pokémon?" she wondered.

"Yeah, and they can be all over and doing anything to keep nature in balance," Ash began. "I learned that from Brawly, another gym leader." Renée seemed to awe what awaited Ash there. Zoey, Bridget, Mark and Kikki arrived before they opened the café. As they emerged with their work outfits, Mark approached Elliot.

"So, Ash…" he started. Ash turned to Mark as the staff made final preparations. "We saw you barrel into the café and out of breath yesterday."

"Indeed," Elliot confirmed. "What happened in Petalburg City?" Ash took a deep breath while Pikachu rode Kikki's shoulder.

"Well, let me explain something about the Pokémon World," he spoke. The staff stopped their preparations. "As a Pokémon Trainer, I travel around different regions all over where I'm from: exploring many towns, meeting and catching a lot of Pokémon and battling other Pokémon Trainers along the way… not to mention challenging all the Pokémon Gyms." Renée seemed skeptical about the place.

"What are… Pokémon Gyms?" she asked.

"They're places located in certain cities and towns across each region where Pokémon Trainers challenge stronger Trainers who specialize in a specific Pokémon Type like Electric, Fire, Fighting and others. Those are Gym Leaders and if you beat one, you earn a Gym Badge as proof. If you win at least eight in a region, you qualify for the region's Pokémon League Conference to see who's the best Pokémon Trainer with the best Pokémon to become the Champion. Right now, I'm traveling the Hoenn Region on my quest to be a Pokémon Master and with my friends and Pokémon." He opened up four red/white balls where different creatures emerged: a little black bird with red feathers to the underbelly, a red crayfish with huge pincers, an orange tortoise with a charcoal shell and a tall green gecko with a vine protruding from the head and leaves on its arms. "These are my Pokémon."

"Nice, but make sure they're out of sight when customers come in," warned Elliot.

"I will," Ash agreed. The black bird flew to Ash's shoulder. "Taillow is my eye-in-the-sky. He's pretty fierce." Bridget knelt to the tortoise.

"I've never seen a reddish tortoise before," she awed while petting its head. The tortoise croaked happily.

"That's Torkoal, Bridget," Ash identified. "He's a Fire Pokémon." Bridget felt the shell and how warm it was.

"First time I felt a tortoise with a hot shell," she giggled. Kikki was playing with the crayfish who was ready to lunge its horns at her.

"Careful around Corphish, Kikki," Ash warned. "You don't want a Crab Hammer hit your face."

"It's okay!" she assured. "Besides, it's cute when it's upset." Corphish gawked, its face red. The gecko snickered as Mark studied it.

"A gecko impersonating a cowboy?" he pondered. Ash sighed to the sight.

"Grovyle has that habit," he briefed.

"So, you use these guys in Pokémon Gyms?" wondered Zoey as she petted Corphish's back.

"That's right," Ash confirmed.

"I see," Wesley pondered with his chin cupped. "And I take it whatever happened to you yesterday has something to do with these Pokémon Gyms?" Ash billowed a sigh.

"Exactly," he answered. "See, the other day, I managed to defeat Norman of Petalburg City to earn my fifth Badge. He specializes in Normal-Type Pokémon." It didn't add up for anyone else.

"So, what happened?" questioned Zoey.

"Well, the thing is…" began Ash. "The people of Petalburg City are crazy obsessed with Norman. He's a strong Gym Leader but it was reported that he won 532 Gym Battles straight." Zoey and Corina gasped in disbelief.

"He won that many without losing once?" guessed Corina.

"Pretty much," Ash shrugged. "And everyone in Petalburg City worship him like a king or a champion or something. When my friends and I arrived in Petalburg City and everyone learned that I was gonna challenge Norman, they had the nerve to tell me that I shouldn't be allowed to face him, even though I already won four other Badges needed to earn a Gym Battle with him." The girls gawked to Ash's treatment.

"They did?" grunted Elliot. "Man, talk about rude."

"They harassed and disrespected me all day," Ash continued. "But it got worse. They challenged me non-stop to prove that I don't have the right to challenge Norman. Here's the thing: I don't turn down challenges. I ended up battling just about everyone in Petalburg City… but the more we battled and won, the more exhausted my Pokémon and I got. They wore us out like crazy. Eventually, I had my Gym Battle with Norman a couple of days later and it was a struggle, but I won and earned the Balance Badge." To the girls, he earned the victory.

"That's great!" cheered Bridget. "Was… Norman upset that you ended his consecutive streak?"

"Not at all," he shook. "He was actually proud that I overcame his toughest Pokémon. That's what a great Pokémon Trainer like me can do and believe me, Norman's a really nice guy. After all, I'm traveling with his two kids and helping his daughter in Pokémon Training." To Mark, Norman's kids saw or heard about their father's loss.

"Really?" he hummed. "Were they disappointed that their dad lost?"

"May wasn't," Ash remembered. "But Max was upset. It's a good thing Norman and I convinced him that it's not a big deal." Kikki giggled while petting Pikachu.

"You are someone who's really nice!" she teased. "So, everything was good to go?"

"Not really, and this is where it got really messed up," Ash continued. "Yesterday morning, I was ready to move on to the next area with my friends and our Pokémon when the entire city showed up and saying they were mad… it's an understatement… and mainly because they attacked me."

"THEY WHAT!?" shrieked the group. Ash bobbed a nod.

"Yeah…" he sighed. "They found out that I beat Norman and they wanted me to pay for it, big time… and if that wasn't enough, they also intended to take my Pokémon away, even Pikachu." The Pokémon gawked to the thought of being removed from Ash. The horror made Bridget clutch Torkoal. "I had no choice but to run for my life with the angry mob pursuing me and Pikachu. I thought if I stopped, I'm not gonna make it. I ran non-stop to lose them before I ran in here and… well… you know the rest." Corina palmed a hand on Ash's shoulder. "I've been run out of town and out of my world by an angry mob." The boys seemed to want to understand Ash's dilemma.

"So, let me get this straight," Wesley spoke. "You came here because an entire city attacked you to redeem their city's Gym Leader that they've idolized as a deity? That's not right." Mark and Elliot seethed at the story.

"Jeez, what a bunch of sore losers!" scowled Mark.

"That's beyond low of them!" growled Elliot. The girls were a lot more worried.

"What a bunch of meanies!" huffed Kikki.

"How could they react so awfully?!" whimpered Bridget.

"They don't deserve to be humans!" cried Corina. "They should be ashamed of themselves!"

"Their unhealthy worship of Norman's gone completely out of control," Renée seethed. "It's a miracle that you escaped the situation."

"I believe it," Ash nodded. "The looks on their faces, the fire in their eyes… it didn't look like any anger I've had. It was… hate… actual hate… and all towards me. I still hear their shouting: how I had no right to compete for the Hoenn League, no right to be in Hoenn, no right to be a Pokémon Trainer, no right to have a Pokémon, even no right to be alive. All those people… telling me that I don't deserve to live… all for winning a Gym Badge fair and square." Recalling all of that made him sigh in defeat. "Do you guys know how awful I feel about that? I don't wish it on my worst rivals and enemies like Team Rocket, but I don't go and say that."

"And no one was there to help you?" worried Zoey.

"It's not that I didn't have help or that anyone tried to help me," Ash corrected. "Believe me, Norman, his wife Caroline, their kids, my friend, Brock… I don't know if Norman's Gym assistant, Kenny, was caught in traffic or didn't hear the chaos outside… but they all tried to help keep the people back, but it was no use. It was a handful of us against the entire city. They were helpless to stop them."

"Man, that's rough," Mark whistled.

"So, you ruined the façade of their savior of Norman with a battle?" started Bridget. "That's an overreaction to a Gym Battle." Crossing her arms, Renée scoffed.

"Calling that an overreaction is an egregious understatement," she mulled. Elliot seemed disturbed.

"If a few people were standing up to you, that's understandable," he compared. "But an entire city? There's some serious beef going on in that place." Kikki looked to Pikachu as he's in her arms.

"Did your friends find a way out of there?" she asked. "You and Ash couldn't be the only ones who escaped, right?" Pikachu shrugged his shoulders, unsure about their friends' fates. Corina faced Ash with a somber face.

"Oh, you poor thing!" she teared up. "You've had such a hard and horrible day!" She pulled Ash's head to her shoulder, looking like he was about to cry. "There… there… It's all over… You're safe with us." She felt Ash nod. "If we do return, we'll do everything we can to protect you… but mostly me." After assuring Ash's condition, the café opened. Ash monitored the staff and the many schoolgirls who got out of classes. Zoey, Bridget and Corina were bringing foods and drinks to tables, Elliot and Wesley's preparing various foods and drinks, including slices of cake and teas. Ash also saw Mark, Kikki and Renée busing tables. As he studied, some of the girls spotted Ash.

"Excuse me!" a brunette girl called out. She sat with a blond girl, a little older than Kikki. Ash turned to see the brunette waive her over and Ash obliged.

"Hey, you're the boy we saw rush in and hold the door closed!" the blond remembered. The brunette swatted the blond's arm.

"Megan!" she scolded. "I'm sure there was a reason for it!" Megan shrugged her shoulders.

"It's alright," Ash brushed off. "It's all behind me."

"I'll bet, it looked like you ran a marathon with that huge and cute rodent on your shoulder," the brunette believed. "By the way, where is it?"

"He's back where I'm staying right now," Ash lied.

"Yeah, Mimi," Megan figured. "I highly doubt management would allow pet mice to run rampant without the risk of closing due to what they may drop." Mimi nodded, believing Ash and Mimi. "So, are you gonna be working in Café Mew? We could see you in here." To Ash, the idea seemed to enlighten him.

"I'm thinking about it," Ash pondered. Wesley spotted Ash.

"There you are!" he motioned. Ash, Megan and Mimi turned to Wesley.

"Manager!" identified Mimi. "We're having a discussion about having this boy as part of your crew." Wesley's eyes lit up.

"Oh, really?" he gasped. "I was gonna give him a chance for that." Ash blinked before getting up and joining Wesley in the back. "I think we need to keep contact to a minimum right now so that people don't get an idea where you're from. One way is if you keep yourself busy with us." To Ash, an opportunity arose.

"I've been getting some ideas where to go like cleaning tables to washing dishes…" he listed. "I've done a lot during the traveling."

"We can have you in for odds and ends," he accepted. Just then, a pink fluff with wings and a tail fluttered to Ash. Pikachu emerged as well. "Are you playing with Mini-Mew, Pikachu?" The Mouse Pokémon shyly giggled before Mini-Mew began shrieking. It startled the boys. "Oh, that's not good." Corina saw it and knew what to do.

"Wesley, hold down the fort!" she instructed. Wesley's nod gave Corina the motive to move. The other girls joined.

"At least you don't have to worry about any shenanigans going on," Wesley assured. However, Ash saw Pikachu chase Corina.

"Tell that to my partner!" he groaned before pursuing Pikachu. They exited the café before seeing the girls and a few mutated green chimpanzees.

"Don't tell me those guys did it to my friends!" cried Kikki.

"It never fails for us," Renée sneered. Zoey removed her broach and faced it.

"Let's stop this rampage!" she urged. "POWER PENDANT MEWTAMORPHASIS!" The girls flashed and changed. Each one got a different outfit to wear. Zoey's hair became pink and she gained cat ears. Her outfit was a pink strapless dress with puffy arm-sleeves, gloves and red boots that were knee-high. She also had a cat tail. Corina's wore a turquoise dress like Zoey with boots that only reached her shins. Bridget had a green strapless swimsuit-like uniform on and green boots reaching her kneecaps. She also lost her glasses but her hair had extra strands. Kikki wore a yellow jumpsuit, yellow legwarmers and orange flats. Renée had on a magenta crop-top, shorts and thigh-high boots. All of them wore colored chokers and pendants. Zoey danced a pose. "Mew Mew Style, Mew Mew Grace… Mew Mew Power, in your face!" Ash and Pikachu couldn't believe what they saw.

"Pikachu?" he hiccuped. "What did we just see?"

("I-I'm not too sure…") stuttered Pikachu. Hearing Pikachu, Corina turned to find Ash and Pikachu seeing them.

"We got a problem," she gulped. The other girls turned around to find Ash and Pikachu approaching since seeing the mutated panda bears.

"Did they… see us transform?" guessed Renée. Ash and Pikachu have a lot of questions to ask the five… but with the chimpanzees, they would need to survive.

TO BE CONTINUED...