A/N: WAS I SUPPOSED TO HAVE THIS DONE MONTHS AGO? YES.
IT'S NOT MY BEST WORK BUT IT'S DONE. TA-DA.
Also, I've gotta juggle this with school so expect even more infrequent updates, my apologies.
"Brendan, I would die for you."
"Jaz, I cooked food. Not created world peace."
"That was already a thing," Darcy said, shoveling food into her mouth, "Regional militaries haven't been mobilized in upwards of seventy years."
Mira took a napkin and wiped off her mouth, "I've had plenty of professional chefs over the years, but somehow, this is the best food I've ever had. Have you considered a career in culinary arts?" She asked him as Brendan made his rounds again with a plate and a serving spoon to give seconds, or in Jasmine's case, fourths.
"Nah, my eyes have been pretty set on a Champion's title my whole life."
Meredith nodded, "I'm like fifty percent sure his first words were, 'i wanna be a pokemon twainer.'"
"Oh and what were yours, 'i wanna be a pwetty dancer,'" Brendan retorted, nose held high. He jerked the plate of food away as Meredith offered her plate for seconds, "No seconds for you," he said, tapping her plate with his serving spoon.
"It's called coordinator, actually," Meredith corrected, scowling at him.
"Brendan just give her her seconds, we don't want another hangry Mer incident," Jasmine said through a mouthful of the curry Brendan had whipped up. Aaron, Mira, and Darcy all shuddered at the thought and backed away from the center of the circle.
Meredith smiled sweetly at her twin brother and held up her plate again. He glanced back at Jasmine and narrowed his eyes, earning a shrug from her. Brendan turned around and scooped a small edge of the curry onto her plate, "Bon, Aaron how do you say it?"
Aaron rolled his eyes, clearing his throat, "Bon appétit," he said in his best Kalosian accent. Brendan nodded, "What he said," he echoed with a small laugh.
Aaron leaned back as Brendan scooped out seconds for Mira and Darcy. They'd been traveling together for a week and a half, partially because Jasmine and Brendan decided they could make it to Cerulean City a faster way because of their "superior instincts" and got them lost for three days. Darcy and Aaron swore to make sure that they would never let them forget that.
Once the navigation got back into Aaron and Darcy's hands, they estimated that they were about two or three days before they made it into the city, and there was a general buzz (but mostly Brendan) of excitement after Aaron revealed he knew the Gym Leader.
"Aaron, do you honestly know every single Gym Leader in Kanto?"
"Nah, but I do know all the Kahunas of Alola," he said, folding his hands behind his neck so his elbows stuck out. Jasmine rolled her eyes as Brendan gaped at him, "Can I be your best friend?" Brendan whispered in reverence.
"Might have to take that one up with the daughter of the Sinnoh Champion, she's blocked me from the title since forever," Jasmine advised Brendan, with yet another shoveling of food in her mouth.
"Because I've known Tori since I was five!" Aaron yelped, "Speaking of five, is that your fifth serving?"
Jasmine grinned as she swallowed, "Yup."
"Where do you put this food?! Do you have a second stomach!?"
"More like a third stomach," Aaron muttered under his breath.
"More like a fourth!" Jasmine exclaimed. She turned to Brendan, "Sixths?"
"I'm cutting you off."
"As the girl she's sharing a tent with, I thank you," Mira applauded him, "She already has bad enough morning breath. Five servings of spicy curry is only going to make it worse, and I don't think my nose could handle a sixth."
"Hey! My morning breath does not smell!" Jasmine protested.
"Yes it absolutely does," Mira said.
"Well at least I don't snore," she retorted.
"And, that means its time for bed!" Brendan yelped, jumping up from where he'd leaned against one of the logs around the small fire that he'd cooked over. Darcy had dozed off at that point, and had snuggled up with Brendan's Torchic. He shook his head at her and leaned down, scooping his little sister up in his arms. Meredith retreated to her tent as Brendan tucked Darcy inside.
Mira and Jasmine had also paired up, using Jasmine's tent. And the last tent was the "boys tent" that Brendan and Aaron shared because Brendan's was in use by Darcy and Meredith. Aaron still sat back with Charmander as Jasmine and Mira retreated back into their shared tent and Brendan shuffled around, picking up after the group.
"You want help?" Aaron asked, sitting up a bit more.
Brendan shook his head, "Nah. I've got this."
Aaron nodded, scratching the top of Charmander's head, earning a contented growl from the Lizard Pokemon. The flame at the tip of his tail seemed to burn brighter as he settled into a nap, snuggled against Aaron's leg. Brendan glanced over at them, and shrugged, tucking all of the now clean dishes and utensils into their cases.
"How do you fit all of that?" Aaron finally said, breaking the hypnotic silence that had settled into the clearing. Brendan flinched, nearly dropping a support pole that was used to hold the pot of curry above the flames while it cooked.
"Uhm, Mer takes a bit, I take most, and Dar-Dar takes the silverware. It's in exchange because Mer has the tent because she shares it with Darcy and you and I share yours," he stumbled out.
Aaron nodded, scooping Charmander up into his arms, "I'm off to bed, see ya-" he yawned- "in the morning." Aaron bent down to crawl into his tent, wriggling into his black pajama pants and light shirt. He shivered with the late autumn chill in the air and immediately re-zipped up his jacket after changing shirts. Aaron slipped into his sleeping bag and wrapped one arm around Charmander, absorbing the gentle warmth from his rough skin.
In the morning, Brendan was grateful that Charmander's tail flame had kept the tent warm and the morning dew at bay. His hair was its normal, dull brown instead of some weird, muddy dark brown from the mysterious drops of water that so loved to take residence within his hair and deprive it of its natural spikiness.
Aaron was laid facedown, snoring lightly with a small bit of drool pooling on his pillow. Brendan took a moment, wondering to himself how that was even comfortable before shaking his head and crawling outside.
"Let me guess, Aaron is sleeping?" Jasmine asked from just outside the clearing, Ekans slithering beside her. She wasn't dressed in her cozy flannel and fleece that she had been wearing before she went to bed last night. She was back in her jeans, yellow shirt, gray jacket, and her hair was divided evenly into its two pigtails.
Brendan nodded. And she snickered, rolling her eyes, "Sounds like him," she said with a shrug. Brendan's eyes glanced over her pigtails, which she noticed, and tugged on one of them. "I guess I should change it up because Darcy has the same thing with the pigtails going on too."
"Nah, you're good," Brendan said dismissively. Jasmine raised an eyebrow at him but shook her head. There was a rustling behind them, causing both to look over their shoulders as Aaron clambered out of the tent, Charmander just in front of him.
He interlaced his fingers, stretching his arms above his head, "Morning guys," he said in a half yawn. Aaron took a hand after separating them and tousled his hair, and it somehow miraculously went back into its normal look without any other outside influence.
"Witchcraft," Brendan whispered.
"Dude, my mom can do stuff like that and it's terrifying," Jasmine hissed, glancing at Brendan. "We were swimming this one time and her hair was all messed up and next thing I know it's all normal again. Like dry and everything. I'm like ninety percent sure that she's secretly some sort of mythical pokemon in disguise."
"You think Team Rocket would've ignored it if they found out," Aaron countered with a mouth full of foam. He immediately spit out the toothpaste that had been in his mouth and it stuck to the ground as a little white discoloration.
"Fair," Jasmine shrugged.
Brendan glanced at her in confusion, "Team Rocket? That criminal organization that…wait what did they do?"
"Depending on the region, breaking and entering all the way up to intended manipulation of legendary and mythical pokemon," Aaron answered, "but for like five years, attempted kidnapping was their most prominent charge."
"Wow," Brendan said, pursing his lips, "And why would Team Rocket not have let, whatever theory you had, go?"
"Oh, because my parents were agents," Jasmine informed him.
"Turned spy for my dad," Aaron added.
"And eventually went under his protection and settled in the Orange Islands," she finished.
Brendan looked between the two of them, "Are you two okay?"
"Not at all."
"Bold of you to assume I ever was."
Sunlight had begun to brighten up the clearing where they had camped and the forest around it. Pidgeys were chirping their morning songs, and the light hum of the occasional venonat waddling along seemed to breathe life into the forest. Aaron let Charmander scamper around the perimeter, giving him a chance to stretch his legs before they started walking again.
Meredith, Darcy, and Mira had all emerged from their tents, and Jasmine was sitting back on one of the logs, munching away at a granola bar as Ekans had dug into a small pile of wild berries that Jasmine had set out for him. She kept one eye on Mira, ready to jump up and help fold up the tent once she'd cleared out. Aaron had strapped his tent to his bag already, back in his normal clothes with Charmander on his shoulder, and was scrolling through his phone. Jasmine's attention was pulled away from watching him as Mira waved her over to roll up the tent and shove it back into her bag.
Eventually, everyone gathered around Aaron as he tucked his phone back in his pocket, "You guys ready?" He asked them all, Charmander echoing from his shoulder with a chirp.
"Hey, Zorua."
"Zor!"
Zorua jumped up at its trainer as he came over to sit beside him. It jumped into his lap and curled up, purring as its trainer ran a gentle hand over its fur. Its trainer eventually looked up, gently setting it to the side as he got up and locked the door.
He turned back to Zorua, "Thanks, buddy, you've done a lot. And the amount I've saved on hair dye is a plus," he said, pointing at his hair and scratching behind Zorua's ears.
Zorua flopped back down and its trainer grabbed a small bit of his hair, watching it turn from a dull brown into a fiery red. He exhaled, but tensed up as someone knocked on the door. Zorua settled into a lunge, teeth bared, ready to pounce if need be. "Who's there?" He asked tensely, reaching for one of his pokeballs.
"Christian! You good?"
Christian held up a hand to Zorua, "Yeah, I'm fine."
There was a pause, and the door handle shook. Christian felt himself shaking and held his breath, preparing to fight if there was any attempt to get through the locked door. After that, there was another pause.
"There's dinner in the mess."
"I'm not hungry."
He heard the tell-tale footsteps of walking away and slumped back against the door with a sigh. Zorua jumped off the bed, immediately darting over to its trainer and snuggling up to him. Christian leaned back, his head resting against the solid wood of the door.
"Thanks, Zorua," Christian said, scratching behind its ear, earning another purr. He scooped up Zorua in his arms, quickly checking to see if anything had been messed with. His pillow had its decoy message underneath, which said something quickly scrawled down that roughly said 'get out of my room.' So someone hadn't messed with that.
Zorua lept out of his arms, nudging at the rug that had been laid over the majority of the hardwood floor. Christian pulled it back and released the false floorboard, smirking as he saw the other decoy note that read, 'seriously, I mean it. Get out of my room, you're not finding anything in here. This floorboard was here when I moved in.'
He replaced everything and jumped up, moving a poster of some band he'd never heard of, but was part of his cover. There was one hole behind the poster with another note that read, 'you're more suspicious than me if you've found this one too. I have nothing to hide.' Nobody had touched it, so he pinned the poster back up.
There were a couple more hidden compartments with snarky notes. A false bottom in a drawer, hidden in a ceiling tile, and his personal favorite: behind an electrical outlet. And yes, someone had found that one time. He leaned back against the bed and let out a sigh, with Zorua flopping down in the middle of the rug.
"Did anyone break in?" He asked the small Tricky Fox Pokemon.
"Zorua," it growled, shaking its head.
"That's my girl!"
Zorua got up and trotted over to him, snuggling against his leg with a slight growl as she seemed to drift off. Christian shrugged off his jacket and wrapped it around his youngest pokemon. He moved up to lie back on the cheap mattress that he'd been provided with. "Standard Issue," they'd assured him. They surely weren't recruiting based on the benefits.
The room was bare, only the cot, a dresser, and maybe a shelving system were all that were there. He'd hung some posters of things he'd never heard of or didn't care about, just to give his cover that much more depth. His own personality, or at least what he thought it was, would get him investigated for traitorous intent. Which was ironic. Because that was his entire job.
His "unit" was comprised of other people like him. Most of the kids weren't much older than him, only sixteen at the oldest, and the youngest was just barely twelve. They all had the same stories. There was a pair of twins whose parents had followed Team Plasma when they were prominent and again during the incident. A girl who was only weeks younger than Elaine whose parents had pledged their unwavering loyalty to Lysandre and his, arguably insane, goals for the world. The twelve-year-old, a young boy from Johto, had the same story he'd crafted for himself. Parents loyal to Giovanni, and had been part of Matori's forces after Team Rocket's fall.
All of the anger was directed at their respective Champions that had played a role in the disbandment of whatever team they or their parents had once been loyal to. But there was the common thread of anger all directed at Champion Ketchum.
He couldn't blame them, per se. In a different world, he'd probably be one of them. Not feeding information to Champion Ketchum and Elaine. But one of them. Directing all his anger at one person. And in that different world, Jasmine would probably be right beside him.
Jasmine. Elaine had offered to keep tabs on her for him last check-in. With Jaz and Aaron traveling together, it made sense. He missed her, a lot. His little sister with her bright smile, purple hair, and her one blue eye and one green eye. She was always so proud of that.
He sighed, looking up at the ceiling. Wherever his sister was, she was probably living her dream, and hopefully moving forward instead of dragging on with some sort of mourning of him dropping all contact. She probably thought he was dead.
But it was for a good cause.
Jasmine had led the group, in chanting for a break to eat. Darcy paced around the circle of older trainers, shooting impatient glances at the group. She'd protested the break, grumbling about messing up their ETA, but exhaustion won out for the group, and they'd plopped down for a water and snack break.
It was also a chance for some of the pokemon to scamper around and stretch their legs. Charmander, Torchic, and Cinder were all being chased around by Kip and Ekans, letting little bursts of flame go to try to slow down their pursuers, but Kip's Water Gun rendered their attacks useless.
Aaron sat back against a tree trunk, watching everything unfold. He kept an eye on Charmander's tail to make sure one of Kip's stray attacks didn't weaken the flame that was now burning brighter than usual. The wind rustled through his hair, making him brush it back off his forehead as he took a sip from his water bottle.
Charmander trotted back over towards him, seemingly exasperated with Kip chasing him around. He plopped down next to Aaron, accepting the head pats he earned from his trainer as the two of them watched the small group of pokemon play around. Charmander did flinch after an odd noise from deeper in the forest, even leading Aaron to shift into a lunge, holding his breath to see if he heard the curious noise again.
It sounded again. Halfway between a cry and a squeak, but enough that it set Aaron on edge with worry that it might be a pokemon in pain. He stood up, Charmander falling into step with him.
"Aaron, where are you going?" Jasmine shouted, switching her focus from her conversation with Meredith to watching him linger at the edge of the clearing.
"I heard something, and Charmander and I are gonna go check it out," he explained, "If I'm not back in half an hour, assume I'm dead," he added over his shoulder, starting his trek into the woods with Charmander.
Mira glanced at Jasmine, "Is he kidding about that last part?" She asked.
"You know, it was really unclear."
Aaron flinched at the twig snapping under his foot. Waiting for a minute as he watched a pidgey frantically flutter off a branch. He glanced down at Charmander, who had also frozen, and nodded, letting the small Flame Pokemon continue at his side. The pained cries and squeaks grew louder as Aaron was sure they were getting closer.
Charmander had ventured slightly ahead, flame waging back and forth as his tail wobbled as he walked. As the squeaks grew louder, Aaron hunkered down, more careful with his steps and moving slowly. He'd even crouched down slightly to better use the underbrush to cover him. Charmander stopped in front of a small bush and looked back at his trainer, pointing one claw at the thick and tangled leaves and branches of the bush.
He raised an eyebrow, kneeling down to get somewhat on his partner's level. He glanced down at Charmander, only for Charmander to continue to point to the bush. "In the bush?" He asked, earning a shake of the head and another point at the bush.
"On the other side?" Aaron asked slowly, using his hand to slowly make an opening big enough for him to see through. Charmander nodded furiously, clambering onto Aaron's back and digging his claws into the shoulder of his jacket, and trying to see through the small opening Aaron had created. The rough skin of Charmander's face was pressed up against Aaron's cheek, prompting to shift slightly to the side. "Don't you dare burn me with that tail," Aaron whispered to Charmander, finally forcing a few branches apart and revealing the source of the pained noises.
From where he could see, it looked like a Mienfoo. Aaron racked his brain, trying to remember where Mienfoo's tended to naturally live. He remembered that they'd been found in Unova, and brought to Kalos and Galar as some sort of 'designer' pokemon, and that workers from Unova had brought them to Alola. But they weren't seen wild in Sinnoh, Johto, Hoenn, or Kanto unless they'd been released by their trainer.
Aaron kept an eye on it, ready to spring up if Mienfoo crumpled to the ground in pain. It was limping, reaching down to essentially drag its weak leg along to force it to keep pace with its good leg. Charmander noted how absorbed Aaron was in watching Mienfoo and took it as the perfect opportunity to slip down unnoticed. He hit the ground with a quiet thud, immediately darting around the bush to confront Mienfoo.
Aaron's brain registered that Charmander had left and he jumped up, just as Charmander got Mienfoo's attention. Mienfoo, despite its limp, positioned itself in preparation for a fight, arms outstretched and palms facing toward Aaron and Charmander. He shot a glare down at Charmander before taking a tentative step forward, retreating back after a Mienfoo let out a low growl that sent goosebumps up his arms.
"I'm not gonna hurt you," he assured Mienfoo, making sure to keep Charmander behind him. "You look like you've been hurt enough," he added softly, lowering down, keeping one arm outstretched with his palm open. Charmander let out a confused chirp, only to be given a shake of the head.
Mienfoo narrowed its eyes at the trainer, slowly lowering its arms to its side and moving its weak leg to be next to its strong one. Aaron kept eye contact with the wild pokemon, giving it a small, and hopeful reassuring smile. "I'm not gonna hurt you," he repeated again under his breath, but still loud enough for Mienfoo to hear.
Mienfoo limped over towards him slowly, still wary of Aaron, but both he and Charmander could see the exhaustion that the injury had caused Mienfoo. Charmander tried going towards the wild pokemon but Aaron moved his leg to act as a barrier, careful not to make any sudden movements to startle Mienfoo. It had slowly shuffled forward, still keeping about an arm's length from Aaron's outstretched hand, still wary. Still scared. Still in pain.
Eventually, Mienfoo gave one last burst of energy before collapsing into Aaron's arms. He gently cradled Mienfoo against his chest, scanning over its fur to check for cuts or bruises. Charmander plopped down on the ground, looking up at Aaron as his trainer checked over Mienfoo once more.
"Mien," it weakly cried as Aaron slowly stood up, still holding Mienfoo against his chest. Aaron kept a pitying glance down at Mienfoo, who had curled up into almost a ball in his arms. Charmander plodded along, giving off concerned squeaks whenever he saw Mienfoo twitch or flinch.
The group had packed up, all meandering about, and waiting for Aaron as he emerged from the bushes. Jasmine rolled her eyes, "Finally, and you're our navigator- Wait, what happened?!" She exclaimed, seeing Mienfoo cradled in his arms.
Aaron shrugged, still keeping Mienfoo in his arms, "I found Mienfoo out in the woods, and I couldn't just leave it alone. That would be cruel."
"And so you are the one who must take this poor Mienfoo to the Pokemon Center in Cerulean City and nobly nurse it back to health," Jasmine said with every attempt at sounding posh, even trying to replicate a horrible rendition of a Kalosian accent. She cleared her throat, letting her voice return to normal, "Is the 'chosen one' complex genetic?" She teased.
"One, I can show you a picture of the Shamouti Island Prophecy and show you the news stories of my dad fulfilling it. Two, Sarah and Laura never picked up Traditional Kalosian like Elaine and I did," he countered, adding under his breath, "and even then I picked it up better than Elaine. But even they can do a better accent than whatever that was."
"Well, my mom isn't Kalosian like yours," Jasmine tried to argue, letting out an "oomph" as Darcy pushed past her.
"Are we even close enough for us to get to Cerulean City in time?" She asked, standing on her toes and grabbing Aaron's arm to brace herself as she looked over Mienfoo.
"Last I checked there's a Pokemon Center a couple of hours back the way we came. It might not have all the luxuries that Cerulean City does, but it should have enough to get Mienfoo stable or at least the resources to take Mienfoo to Cerulean City faster than we can walk," Aaron said, biting the inside of his cheek.
"But we do need to head to Cerulean City," Meredith piped up, drawing the gazes of the rest of the group. "There's a Contest there that Mira and I are going to compete in and we've wasted a lot of time because someone thought he could out navigate the literal son of the Champion," she directed her comment to Brendan and Jasmine.
"Then I'll go by myself," Aaron announced, silencing the rest of the group.
"What?!"
"Are you sure?"
Aaron shrugged, "I'll be fine. Besides," he turned to face Brendan and Jasmine, "you two need a chance to snag a Gym Badge. I'm already up one on both of you, you guys deserve a chance to try to catch up."
Brendan and Jasmine exchanged a glance and glanced down at the ground.
"I think it's a good idea!" Darcy piped up, "Mienfoo needs help and Aaron is more than capable of getting it the help it needs."
Mira shrugged, "Darcy has a point. Besides, if he wants to go, let him go. No need to be co-dependent," she said.
"You had maids and butlers waiting hand and foot on you-" Meredith tried to argue before Mira silenced her with her hands and a glare.
"I'll be fine, and I'll meet up with you guys later in Cerulean City, promise," Aaron assured them, adjusting his bag on his shoulders. Charmander chirped in agreement, flapping his arms and trotting around. "Give me like a week at most. If I'm not there by then, then you guys can head on to Vermillion City and I'll meet you there."
"Are you sure?" Jasmine pressed.
"I'll be fine, see you guys in a couple of days," Aaron assured them again, glancing down at Mienfoo down in his arms. His brow furrowed slightly and Jasmine shook her head, realizing she wasn't going to convince him otherwise.
"Fine," she sighed. "Try not to be mobbed by tabloids, alright?"
Aaron rolled his eyes and nodded, heading back the way they'd come. Charmander waddled beside him, keeping his eyes trained on Mienfoo in Aaron's arms.
He breathed in the scent of the forest, and the mild, smoky smell of Charmander's tail. He felt the gentle warmth of Mienfoo's small body curled against his chest and shook himself out of the hypnotic trance of walking through the forest to shift Mienfoo to one arm so he could fish his RotomPhone out of his pocket.
He clicked on the small map icon, flicking up on the message notification that popped up on the top of the screen without reading who it was from, and zoomed out on the map. He spotted the familiar icon marking a Pokémon Center and looked around, judging about which direction it was.
He settled back into walking, and Charmander tried to keep up with him, forgoing his trot for much more of an exhausted stumble. Aaron even forgot the feeling of pain in his calves, and the burning numbness in his feet as he continued trudging forward.
Eventually, the exhaustion caught up to him, when he nearly stumbled almost an hour later, placing a hand on the nearest tree to steady himself. Charmander plopped down beside him, nearly gasping for air. Aaron winced as he saw the state of his partner and knelt down, slowly, and held out Charmander's pokeball to him.
The forest held the scene in an eerie silence, like every pokemon that might have ever been around them was holding its breath. Aaron fought a shiver at the annoyingly prevalent paranoia in the back of his mind, warning him of things that hadn't been dangerous since his father's childhood.
Charmander stared at the pokeball, then looked at Aaron, and then his eyes landed on Mienfoo, still unconscious and cradled in Aaron's arms. He stared back at Aaron and batted the hand that held the pokeball and jumped back to his feet, growling with renewed energy.
Aaron furrowed his brow and slowly tucked the pokeball back into his belt. "Are you sure, buddy? It's still a bit of a walk, and even my legs are tired."
"Charmander!" He exclaimed, raising a claw into the air enthusiastically.
Aaron glanced down at Mienfoo in his arms and then back to Charmander, the corners of his mouth twitching into a slight smile. "You wanna make sure Mienfoo is okay, don't you?"
"Char!"
Aaron reached out and rubbed the rough and scaly skin of the top of Charmander's head, smiling softly. "Alright then, but if you need to stop, I can pull you back."
Charmander shook his head and got back up, starting to walk again as Aaron slowly rose up from his crouch. They settled back into that walking pace, and Aaron tried to push the pain in his legs out of his mind, letting it wander back to the message he'd ignored as he tried to guess who it was from, even though he'd only seen it for a fraction of a second. He ignored the lingering impulse to actually see who it was, just in case it was important.
It was easier to push the thought from his mind as he saw the bright, cherry-red rooftop of the Pokémon Center. Aaron exhaled, relieved, and checked over Mienfoo once more; just in case anything had changed.
Charmander cheered from beside him and started at a run down the last hill before they made it. Aaron made sure Mienfoo was secure in one of his arms before he took off running after Charmander, breathing the crisp forest air and feeling the wind on his face. He slid to a stop in front of the door, nearly stumbling as he got himself out of the skid.
Charmander lumbered up the small set of stairs and flipped down on the porch, and Aaron watched his tail flame slowly die down to its normal intensity. He stifled a laugh, "I'll get Mienfoo situated and grab you, cool?" Aaron asked.
Charmander weakly squeaked and gave Aaron a thumbs up before curling up and starting to doze off.
He turned on his heel, opening the door and startling Nurse Joy into standing up. She scrunched her nose for a second, as though she was annoyed that he'd woken her up from a nap. Then, once she made eye contact with him, she blinked a few times confusedly. And then she shook her head and launched into her spiel, "Good afternoon! Welcome to the Pokémon Center, can I help you with that-" she paused, her eyes settling on Mienfoo, still cradled in Aaron's arms- "Arceus above, child. What did you do to that poor mienfoo?"
Aaron slowly laid Mienfoo down on the desk as Nurse Joy hollered over her shoulder for Blissey. She did a quick scan over the Martial Arts pokemon and chewed the inside of her cheek. "I'm assuming that this wasn't your doing because if it was, we'd be having a very different conversation," Nurse Joy said, glancing up at Aaron.
"I found Mienfoo in the forest near where my friends and I were resting. I saw that it was in a lot of pain and I brought it back here to get it some help."
Nurse Joy nodded and took Mienfoo into one of the back rooms and left Aaron to go grab Charmander from his curled-up spot on the porch. Charmander didn't protest being pulled into his pokeball, and Aaron headed back inside to flop down on some of the couches inside.
Nurse Joy eventually walked back outside to see Aaron sitting upright, hands folded in his lap. She had a clipboard tucked under her arm, and a pencil tucked into her updo.
"Where were you on your way to before you found Mienfoo?" She asked, "Just to judge your own health. You'll be in no shape to care for Mienfoo if you aren't at your best."
Aaron scratched behind his ear, "Cerulean City. I had to backtrack a couple of hours of walking to get here."
She nodded, twirling the pencil between her fingers, and scribbled a note down. "How many hours would you say?"
Aaron shrugged, "I dunno. Maybe two or three."
Nurse Joy looked at him from over the clipboard, "You should rest, or eat. That would probably be best."
His leg muscles groaned with the effort it took to stand back up. They wobbled, and Aaron held the back of the couch tightly to keep himself from falling. And then he heard a growling, loud enough that Nurse Joy whipped around, brows slightly raised.
Aaron sheepishly scratched the back of his neck, "I'll…I'll go eat now."
"Good idea."
"We should go back for him."
A chorus of groans echoed from Mira, Meredith, and Darcy as the words left Brendan's lips. Jasmine even rolled her eyes and glanced at Meredith, "Am I allowed to duct tape his mouth shut?" She asked, earning a pointed glare from Brendan.
"Go ahead," Meredith mouthed.
Brendan shook his head disappointedly at his sister and his friend, "We did kind of leave him behind-"
"He wanted to go alone," Jasmine interrupted, emphasizing both syllables of wanted so it sounded something like wahntehduh, and not the actual word. She scrunched her nose, crossing her arms. "And with Aaron's family, if they set their mind to it, you really can't distract them from it."
The two trainers stood at a standoff, Jasmine with her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes, and Brendan took a moment to figure out if he should be more intimidated by the sharp, calculating jade in her left eye, or the cold, unfeeling cobalt blue in her right. He tried to maintain calm by crossing his arms and pressing his mouth into a thin line.
"You could always battle it out," Meredith shrugged.
Jasmine looked at her, cocking her head to the side as if considering the suggestion before nodding, "Sounds good. We haven't had a real battle in a couple of chapters."
"What?" Brendan asked, face contorted in confusion.
"What?" She responded, seeming to be just as confused by Brendan's reaction. "But anyway, I'm up for it."
"I am too, Torchic and I need to start our winning streak early," Brendan said, hands in his pockets.
"Cool," Jasmine said and then stopped for a moment, "If you win, we mess up our ETA and backtrack to find Aaron. I win, and we trust my best friend and keep going to Cerulean City and meet up with him there."
Jasmine turned on her heel and walked a few paces away from Brendan, not letting him challenge the declaration. He simply copied the movement so they were an equal distance from where they'd just been standing. Meredith and Mira exchanged a glance and rolled their eyes while Darcy sat cross-legged, roughly in the middle between the two trainers. "I don't have to pull up and read off league regulations to you two, do I?" She asked, finger hovering over the now illuminated screen of her tablet.
"Regulations, shmegulations. Let's get to the good part," Jasmine made a point to flash a confident smile to try to get Brendan off his game before she gripped Ekans' pokeball tightly in her hand. She inhaled deeply, "Ekans, let's do this!" She yelled, tossing Ekans' pokeball out towards the field, watching as her partner materialized, hissing venomously at Brendan to such an extent that he shuddered as he met Jasmine's eyes and took in her confident eyes and pose.
"Torchic, I believe in you buddy, let's be the best!" Brendan yelled, tossing out Torchic's pokeball, releasing the Chick Pokemon, who chirped at seeing Ekans. Ekans, however, hissed again, causing Torchic to turn white in fear and run back toward Brendan.
He resisted the urge to slap his forehead, "Torchic, bud. It's a battle. Ekans is trying to be mean to scare you off. And you can't get scared that easily if we're gonna take on Gym Leaders and leagues and stuff. So, just for right now, can you be brave and fight him?"
Torchic looked up at his trainer, fluffing his wings, chirping as his head was slightly cocked to the side, "Chic?"
"I'll give you a little extra food once we camp for the night," Brendan promised.
Torchic looked back at Ekans and then back to Brendan, "Torchic!"
"Hey, wait a minute. That's bribery!" Jasmine protested, crossing her arms and blowing a piece of her lavender hair that had fallen over her face. She narrowed her eyes as Brendan shrugged and Torchic moved back to the middle-ish of the makeshift battlefield, fluffing his feathers to seem more intimidating. Ekans looked back at her, and she could almost see the bored expression on his face, and she fought the urge to laugh.
"I'll take the first move if you're resorting to bribery," Jasmine smirked and almost seemed bored as she figured out her first command, "Ekans, use Wrap!"
"Torchic, run!" Brendan yelled as he watched Ekans slither close to Torchic, and Torchic obliged, running as fast as his small and thin legs would let him. Brendan watched Jasmine try to hold in her laugh as he struggled to figure out how to counter this and turn it against her. He finally settled on a move and made eye contact with Jasmine, "Torchic, use Ember!"
Torchic fluttered his small wings, flitting into the air, and unleashing small balls of fire that went flying toward Ekans, and hit the Snake Pokemon head-on. Ekans hissed in pain, leading Jasmine to snap her fingers and holler out a command, "Poison Sting!"
Darcy rolled her eyes, "I'm gonna be honest, that battle you guys had to do for your contests was way more interesting than whatever this is," she said, gesturing vaguely to Brendan and Jasmine.
Mira nodded, "Well duh. Cause we practiced."
Meredith stifled a laugh and then shook her head, "I am so glad that we aren't going to be stuck watching Brendan or Jasmine try to out-intimidate the Cerulean City Gym Leader, and even then, I can see Brendan running for the hills the minute he tries to face her."
"You really don't have faith in your brother."
She gestured to him and Jasmine, "This is an entire waste of time and we all agree. Aaron wanted to go backtrack to take care of Mienfoo by himself, we don't need to backtrack all of what we've walked today because we miss him. Besides, he can probably use his name to score a ride to Cerulean City to meet up with us."
"That's my point!" Jasmine yelled at them from the battle, where Ekans managed to wrap himself around Torchic, rendering him immobile. "Brendan, I'd call it here before Ekans' Poison Stings start kicking in, and that's really gonna start hurting Torchic."
Brendan, instead of sighing and holding his hands in surrender like Jasmine expected, looked up with arms crossed, and then made eye contact with Torchic, "Use Scratch!"
Torchic managed to get a spiny leg free to open his claws and scratch across Ekans' eye, leaving the Snake Pokemon to hiss in pain as he released Torchic from his tail. The Chick Pokemon flared his wings, tittering angrily as Ekans coiled, head poised for a strike should Torchic get too close.
Jasmine, however, rolled her eyes, looking down at her hand and seeming to count on her fingers. Waiting for something. Brendan scrunched his nose, suspiciously scanning every area around them. There wasn't any reason for her to be counting, he knew, it wasn't like Ekans could learn Future Sight or anything.
The minute Brendan concluded that she was doing it to intimidate him, Torchic's legs buckled and he cried in pain. Brendan's head snapped up to meet Jasmine's, "What'd you-"
"I told you that Poison Sting was really gonna start kicking in," she reminded him, "I'd call Torchic back, it's only going to get worse and the next closest pokemon center is in Cerulean City and we're still," she looked out at Darcy.
"About a day and a half if we leave now!" She called.
"And forfeit?!"
"Brendan, take the hit to your pride, Torchic is in no shape to keep going," Meredith advised him.
"Nobody great ever got anywhere by forfeiting."
"Nobody great ever got anywhere by pushing their pokemon past their limits on their first battle," Jasmine argued, "Take the loss and we'll walk fast to make sure that Torchic gets help in time for you and me to challenge the Cerulean Gym Leader!"
Brendan looked back down at Torchic, writhing in pain, and winced. "Torchic, return," he said, the words hanging heavy with regret and guilt in the air.
Jasmine recalled Ekans as well, twirling his pokeball on her finger before clipping it back to her belt. She fixed her ponytails, making sure they were even, and then turned to the rest of the group, "Shall we go?"
"He didn't answer your text immediately? He must either have lost his phone or he's been kidnapped!"
"He's probably just busy," she said, glancing at her RotomPhone that was turned over on the table by her and her friend. "Can you blame him? I've been late responding to texts from my dad because I was in a Gym Battle or a Contest."
"But he's never late responding to you. Seriously, it's like Aaron senses when you're about to text him and is already writing a response in his head before you even hit send."
She glared at her friend, "You're exaggerating."
"I've seen it. It must be some ability that he got from his legacy or whatever," her friend quipped, hands on her hips with a smirk across her lips.
"Just because Elaine was born an Aura Guardian doesn't mean that Aaron has any hidden abilities," she retorted, "He's glad he doesn't. Riley's training can be pretty intense from what I've seen. And my aunt is a pretty brutal battling and fighting trainer on top of it all."
"I bet you wished he had them," her friend teased, "then he'd been in Sinnoh all the time and you two would be able to-"
"You," she interrupted, exasperated. Her friend only responded with a smug smile.
She heard her phone vibrate and reached for it, only to be beaten to it by her friend, who swiped up on the screen but kept it just out of reach. "Looks like he was busy saving an injured mienfoo. Not sure how one of those ended up in good-old Kanto," then her friend turned back to her, "I see why you like him," her friend teased.
"Just tell me what the response was to my original question," she sighed, twirling a strand of blue hair around her finger.
"On his way to Cerulean City to go challenge Raina…whoever Raina is."
"Remember Misty-"
"Oh yeah, the Kanto Elite Four with the Mega Gyrados?"
"Raina is her daughter and Cerulean City's Gym Leader."
"You are a nerd."
She rolled her eyes, "What about-"
"And he said he got the Boulder Badge a week or so ago. So he's got a long way to go to catch up with us," her friend said, handing her her phone back. "We'll have to see who wins a league first."
"Haven't heard from you in awhile kiddo. You doing alright?"
"Yeah, but, uh, after a long day of walking, what would you recommend to do to make sure your legs don't cramp so bad that you need to limp all the way to Cerulean City?"
"You okay Aaron?"
Aaron winced, rubbing his foot to reduce the cramping along his arch, "I, kinda, of backtracked at least four-or-so hours of walking in two hours."
"You really are my son."
He laughed slightly, "Yeah, but at least I haven't jumped off any buildings yet."
"I was trying to save Professor Sycamore's garchomp from destroying the city because of the collar Team Rocket slapped on him, for your information."
"Mom said-"
"She was still in Vaniville Town!" Ash protested.
Aaron shrugged, "Anyway, there was this mienfoo and it-"
"Mienfoo aren't found on the archipelago," Ash interrupted skeptically.
"Yeah, I know. But it was hurt, and it was pretty clearly abandoned. So I took it back to the Pokemon Center my friends and I passed earlier, and Nurse Joy is caring for her now," Aaron explained, scratching the top of Charmander's head, who was curled up on the cot Nurse Joy had directed him to for the night.
"Wow, Aaron. That's great, I'm really proud of you," Ash said, and Aaron swore he heard his breath hitch.
"Thanks, dad. But it's not a big deal. I just did what any trainer would've done to help a pokemon in need," Aaron said, scratching the back of his neck, "How's Lainey and Mom?"
"Doing great, they're speaking in whatever language-"
"Tu veux dire la langue que tu ne parles pas?"
"Don't you start too! I already can't understand what they're saying and they've laughed a bunch and I'm not sure what about," Ash said, leaving Aaron to devolve into a fit of laughter.
"They're probably talking about league prospects or something. Elaine and I always tried to work it out, and then guess whoever would win, and then tried to work out if they'd do any good against the Elite Four," Aaron explained, "It's kind of a hobby, I guess."
"When do you think you'll be challenging Raina?"
Aaron shrugged, "I think I'll let Jaz and Brendan go first. I wanna fight Raina's swanna and she's not really gonna pull it out against me when I just have Charmander."
"You haven't caught mienfoo?"
Aaron shook his head, "I'm gonna see if Mienfoo wants to come with me first."
"Then let me know if you do end up adding a team member. I'm sure Charmander will like having other teammates to train against. Pikachu enjoyed having Butterfree around before he decided to go off with the others. And if you train right, you could have a real powerhouse in a mienshao, you've seen Korrina's in action."
Aaron nodded, "Yeah, I know. Maybe I could even get a rival to Lucario."
"Don't get cocky, Aaron. You're still ten!" The muffled voice of his mother shouted from what seemed like not too far away from his mother.
"She's got a point," Ash echoed.
Aaron rolled his eyes, "I know, Mom!"
Rains: Sooooooooo, it's been a week
Rains: does not take that freaking long to get from pewter to here
Sarah: he got lost
Rains: How
Rains: tf?
Rains: I'm half like, how do you get lost in the age of maps with rotoms
Rains: and half like, how do you explain to your dad that you got lost in the region he literally controls
Sarah: Okay so first off
Sarah: my dad told us that the old galar champion had a habit of getting lost
Sarah: I still can't tell if he was exaggerating when he told us that he somehow went halfway across Galar while getting lost on the way to his fridge
Rains: That's
Rains: That sounds like an exaggeration
Sarah: I HEARD ALMOST THE EXACT SAME STORY FROM THE MAN HIMSELF
Rains: Sarah
Rains: off the conspiracy blogs
Sarah: you mean the ones that think my dad is secretly a pokemon
Rains: we're not digging into that
Rains: that still doesn't answer how he got freaking lost
Sarah: okay
Sarah: ALLEGEDLY
Sarah: He handed over control of the map to an Orange Islander and a Hoennian
Sarah: And they got him lost
Rains: This is the child my mother expects to be the next great champion
Rains: THIS IS THE CHILD MY FATHER EXPECTS TO BE LITERALLY THE ONLY CHAMPION
Rains: LIKE IN THE WORLD
Rains: LIKE HE'S GONNA GO GET ALL 8 TITLES
Rains: AND SPLIT HIS TIME EQUALLY BETWEEN THEM
Sarah: I love that everyone thought that about Lainey, and then Aaron appeared
Sarah: And the world was like: ah yes, the only worthy ketchum
Rains: has she recovered
Sarah: My dad said she's been chatting with my mom in Traditional Kalosian, so I think she's doing okay
Sarah: he's internally screaming because despite my mother's many attempts to teach him, he can't even say hello
Rains: that's kinda sad
Sarah: yeah
Sarah: BUT WE CAN ALL GET AWAY WITH SWEARING IN FRONT OF HIM
Rains: Sarah…
Rains: Arceus save us
Raina sighed as she flipped over her phone, ignoring the notifications from Sarah now pinging endlessly. She occasionally wondered if the girl ever got any sleep from the way she was always up to date on everything and anything.
She tucked a piece of her orange-red hair behind her ear as she stared out at Cerulean City slowly winding down for the night. The lights twinkled out over the river as she stared out at the long darkened gym. Raina reached towards her window, unlatching it and pushing it up so she could swing her legs around and let them dangle outside the window.
Her hair blew over her face as she reached up, taking out the small hair tie that tucked her bangs back. She finally heard a cry from not far above her and pulled her legs back in, making sure that the window was open as much as possible.
A blur of white with small hints of blue barreled through the window, only narrowly avoiding slamming into the wall. Raina leaned back against the wall, "You know how big this room is and you still just dive right in and hope you can stop in time," she observed, slightly scoffing.
White feathers were scattered around the room and Raina rolled her eyes, "Thank you, Swanna. Now I have to clean this all up," she muttered.
Swanna fluffed her wings, preening some loose white feathers off of them and leaving more scattered on the floor. Raina sighed, "I swear you exist just to make going to bed in a clean room nearly impossible." She got up and started nudging piles of feathers together, "Even after all I do for you," she added under her breath.
Swanna ignored her, managing to flap her wings enough to get into an old accent chair that sat empty in the corner of Raina's room, save for the occasional jacket or pile of dirty laundry. Raina again rolled her eyes as she watched Swanna curl up and fall asleep with her wings over her eyes.
She eventually gathered up the loose feathers and dropped them in the small trash can under her desk, which was already half full of feathers Swanna had preened. Raina half wondered how the White Bird pokemon still had any, considering how many piled up there in a single week.
A light breeze blew through her open window, reminding Raina that she hadn't closed it after Swanna's almost crash landing. She spun, reaching over her bed, and shut the window, hearing it close with a thud and the lock engage with a click.
Raina then flopped back down onto the mattress, however, was kept from sleep by the sudden ringing of her phone. Groaning, she grabbed it and tapped the green 'accept call' icon, and held it up to her ear.
"I've made a discovery!"
"Do you literally never go to class?"
"I go to class," Sarah protested.
"You're talking to me right now-"
"I am literally not in class, considering the fact that I'm talking to you."
"Sarah," Raina sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose to ward off an impending headache, "What discovery?"
"Aaron backtracked some more to help an injured mienfoo and bring it to a Pokemon Center to get it back on its feet. So he'll be a few more days."
"Arceus above. I do not have all League season, could you please tell him to move his butt?" Raina complained, sitting up and crossing her legs. "Please tell me that he doesn't think being the Champion's son gives him any special privileges."
"He doesn't."
"Good, because I've heard that one of the kids of like whoever- you know, former champions, thinks like that-"
"Kayda is nothing like that," Sarah scoffed.
"No, no, not Blondie," Raina said, "She mentioned some other girl that did that-"
"Ohhh, you mean Gabby."
"Yeah, whatever, you know all these people, and I've just been a Gym Leader for two years. Haven't really gotten a hang of the modern-day socialite thing stuff whatever."
Sarah snorted, "Raina my dear friend. We can be awkward at those events together because Elaine knows fancy rich people talk and I don't."
"You are literally a fancy rich person!"
"Physically, yes. Spiritually, I am but a traveler on her way to the next phase of existence," Sarah said, and Raina heard her flop down on something and the groan of someone else in the room.
"I don't know who my dear roommate is talking to, but she pulled two all-nighters in a row and is now subsisting on four cups of coffee she drank two hours ago-"
"I am perfectly fine, Alaia Wilson!"
"Girl you just said that you're spiritually a traveler going to the afterlife, go take a nap," the other voice said, to the groaning protest of Sarah.
"Sounds like it," Raina snorted.
"She literally put her head down and is zonked out, I am so sorry random friend of Sarah's."
"Grew up with her, that's normal. Honestly, I pity you."
"I pity myself."
"So, since we're settling down for the night, I'd like to revisit that conversation we had a couple of days ago about you having a talking Meowth," Brendan said, making sure to hold the plate he'd made for Jasmine just out of her reach.
"First of all, nobody owns him. He's technically a wild pokemon that's just been adopted by my parents. Second, are you seriously depriving me of food until I tell you my Uncle Meowth's tragic backstory?" She deadpanned, making no effort to conceal her staring at the food.
"Uncle?" Meredith asked skeptically.
"Don't ask," Jasmine said to her before turning back to face Brendan.
"Yes, yes I am," he said.
"Is this also revenge for Torchic?"
"Yes, yes it is."
Jasmine rolled her eyes, hugging her knees to her chest, "Fine, you guys want the story?"
"Hold on!" Darcy exclaimed, fumbling for her tablet and tapping away for a few seconds before jerking her head back up and practically staring at Jasmine, "Ready!"
Jasmine glanced at Brendan and back at the young girl, "I am scared."
Mira leaned over to glance at Darcy's tablet, "It's fine," she informed her after she swallowed the forkful of food she'd just put in her mouth, "She's just taking notes."
She rolled her eyes, "So we need to establish some backstory first. Meowth was kinda screwed at first, and somehow ended up in some big city, and got adopted by a meowth gang led by a persian, which explains why he hated Giovanni's so much," she explained, blinking with the revelation she'd just made.
"Anyway, he met this other meowth named Meowzie, which is just such a creative name," she continued with heavy sarcasm laced through her words, "And she rejected him because he was poor and she preferred humans anyway. So, with a fair bit of logical thought, he decided to teach himself to walk on two legs and to speak our language so he could be more human-like so she'd love him. AND THEN SHE STILL REJECTED HIM and called him a freak to add insult to injury. And that's why he can talk."
Brendan blinked a few times, slowly handing Jasmine her plate of food, "How did he end up with Team Rocket, though?"
"The first word he learned was 'rocket' so that's why he wanted to join."
Darcy looked up disappointedly, "I was really hoping it was something more interesting."
"For a kid whose only other bedtime story is how her parents tried to kidnap Aaron's dad's pikachu, that's pretty dang interesting in comparison."
"Excuse me, what?" Meredith scoffed.
"You heard me."
"Your parents," Brendan began, eyes wide in disbelief, "tried to steal Aaron's dad's pikachu?"
Jasmine shrugged, "Yeah, for like," she held up her hand and counted her fingers, "five-ish years before they got put on other projects and Aaron's dad went to Alola to do Champion stuff."
"Why are they not in jail?"
"Selling out Giovanni gives you extra favor points or whatever," Jasmine shrugged, "Why do you think I'm friends with Aaron?"
"I don't know! Pen pals or whatever!"
Sighing, Jasmine rolled her eyes, "He started coming with his dad to check in on my family to make sure we were still alright and stuff-"
"Why-"
"BECAUSE, my parents are technically under Aaron's dad's protection or whatever because they sold out Team Rocket and stuff, so he does check-ins to make sure no vengeful Team Rocket admins or whatever try to kill us," Jasmine said.
Darcy raised an eyebrow, "Are any of them still out there?"
"There are rumors that a member of Giovanni's inner circle is out there. I think her name is Domino? Maybe? Or at least that's one of her codenames."
"You aren't concerned about that at all?" Mira asked.
"Not really, no. I mean the only proof that she's still running around causing problems is some blurry photos of a blonde from the Galar Region," she shrugged, "No big deal, I doubt she'd try to find me even if she could."
"Why are you so casual about this?"
"Did your mom not help take out Team Aqua and Team Magma?"
Darcy nodded in understanding, "I see your point."
"Thank you," she announced, "finally. Everyone hears that and immediately assumes that I'm paranoid and looking over my shoulder all the time. It's so annoying!"
The tension seemed to break as the group burst out in laughter and Jasmine's facial expression as she finished her sentence with a big flourish of her hand that lasted for a few more seconds into the laughter. They felt the gentle warmth of the small campfire and Mira took a second to watch the flickering embers flutter in the air, following one so high that she ended up craning her neck up towards the sky and covering her mouth to stifle a gasp.
She'd never seen so many stars.
A/N: It's literally like dark out and I'm editing this for here and AO3.
Also if you guys have the Amazon streaming service I totally recommend watching the new Lord of the Rings TV Show if you're interested in that. I've only watched the first thirty minutes of the first episode but it was pretty good.
Enough with my rambling, onto the reviews!
ninjaboy12 - Thanks so much! I have my own little sister (not a twin though), so I tried to input parts of my dynamic with my sister in the two of them.
I'm glad you like Sarah. She's actually a really fun character to work with because she's not bound to any duties like her sisters. It's kinda just her on her own. And I'm also glad that you like Elaine, and I'm glad Laura comes off as an iffy character. That's kind of the approach I tried to take with her. You really have to see how the three of them develop outside the main orbit of the main gang.
That was intentional! Serena failed her first Showcase, and nearly ended up being Kalos Queen by the end of XY, so the girls have potential, but you're right, they are total beginners.
Honestly, you can't tell who the chaos came from. It could've come from either party.
Oh, Serena makes sure that Aaron's watching his language. And yes, that scenario ends up happening at least once a week.
Thanks for that. Some of my close friends came from a mutual love of Pokemon, and I even got into the fandom a little late. It is really all about connections, and I want to emphasize that in Aaron's journey, considering how he seems to know nearly everyone. And don't worry about essays, I appreciate the review!
cricketlaxwolvesbandy - Serena has tried many a time to teach Ash, but he just can't seem to get it. And we'll definitely see more father-son moments between Aaron and Ash because I love writing them. They really write themselves and always turn out pretty funny.
And that's all folks for now! See you on my AO3 lore soon, maybe.