¤~A Thousand Miles~¤
by Scrat with a G
Chapter One
~*~A Year Later~*~
"Whatcha got there, Ash?" Misty asked. She peered over Ash's shoulder to try and get a look at the piece of paper he was holding.
"I found it on the bulletin board back there," Ash replied. "It's an advertisement for a Pokémon training camp."
"A three-week overnight training camp for trainers of all ages," Brock read off the flier. Togepi trilled excitedly.
"Sounds fun," Misty chirped. "Should we go?"
"I'm up for it," Brock said. "A little strengthening wouldn't hurt Onix or Vulpix."
"You in?" Misty asked Ash. Ash sighed.
"Oh, whatever," he agreed.
"Great!"
"Toge toge briiii!"
"According to the flier, the camp is only around the next fork in the road," Brock announced, jabbing a finger at the bottom of the paper.
"Pika!"
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Misty squealed. Togepi trilled in agreement.
Several minutes later, they found themselves in front of a small log cabin.
Ash snickered.
"This is your amazing training camp?" he scoffed.
"Oh hush, I bet it's better once you get inside," Misty snapped.
They strolled inside. Ash was right: it wasn't much to look at. There was a girl standing at a podium in the front, and several trainers mulling about in front of her.
"Over there," Misty said. She pointed to a table at the side of the room. A sign reading Register Here hung above it.
They went over and filled out the forms.
This is going to be so stupid, Ash thought as he filled out the papers. They included questions such as Name, Age, Main Pokémon Type (if any), etc.
"May I have your attention please?"
Everyone fell silent and turned to face the girl in the front.
"Welcome to the Pokémon Training Camp. I am Riley. I will be your supervisor while you are here," the girl said. Ash snickered. A lot of the trainers didn't look too happy at the idea of a teenage girl "supervising" them. "The rules are stated clearly on the back of your registration forms. Read them thoroughly. Now, before I assign cabins, we will start off with a few friendly battles so I can get a taste of your battle styles." She smiled. "Any questions?"
"What kind of Pokémon do you have?" asked a small boy.
"That's for me to know and you to find out," Riley teased.
"How old are you?" asked one of the middle-aged men.
"Sixteen."
Several of the men snickered.
"Can I get your number?"
Obviously, that was Brock.
Ash and Misty both fell over. (a/n: You know, those entertaining little anime falls that they do when someone does something stupid, where their legs stick up in the air and twitch…)
Riley just grinned at Brock.
"If there are no more questions, we'll head out to the arena now," she announced.
Arena? Ash scorned. What arena? All I see is a stupid log cabin!
Riley led the trainers out the door and to the back of the cabin, where a large battle arena was located.
"Whoa," Brock gasped.
"I never would have guessed that was there," Misty breathed.
"Remember, keep it friendly," Riley said. "Hand me your registration forms."
There was a shuffling sound as everyone struggled to give Riley their papers. She quickly counted them and began pairing people off.
"Monica and Brock… Daniel and Sierra… Arianna and Misty… Brad and Ash…" She continued naming pairs.
Ash glanced around for Brad, which wasn't too difficult, since he was most likely the eight-year-old boy wearing a shirt that said BRAD across the front.
"All right, now that you all have your partners, select a portion of the arena and go to it! When you have finished, come sit up on the bleachers with me."
Riley climbed up to a seat in the middle of the bleachers while everyone split off into their groups.
"You ready?" Brad chimed.
"I was born ready," Ash replied. He turned his hat backwards. "Let's do this."