How Freakachu Came to Be (Lilja, a trainer?!)
Part 10
By Freakachu

:: Authors note: This is just the last few parts of "Have Pokemon, Will Travel" edited a bit to fit this fanfic's needs.::

As she watched Ash leave, Lilja smiled. She kind of liked him, even though she hardly knew him. She thought it was nice that he was on a Pokémon journey to become a master. She had been a master at one time too, but that had changed after she had collected all the badges, beat the Elite Four, then realized that it wasn't battling Pokémon which made her happy, it was looking after them and training them for other people as well as for herself. Lilja knew she wasn't the only person with strange Pokémon that no one had seen before. She didn't know how she knew, she just did.

She sat back and recalled her pokemon journey that she took.

She had seen Brock before, the second to last gym leader she beat. He didn't seem to remember her, but she didn't mind. He was quite young then. Only eleven himself. She remembered him saying about how he had to help his mother with dinner after the match, so the battle couldn't be very long. It wasn't. She had him in utter defeat in less than 5 minutes. But then he only had a Geodude. She wondered if he had caught any others since then. She also remembered how haggard and worn down his mother looked when she came to call him in to help.

'When I see Brock tomorrow,' She thought, 'I'm going to ask him how his mother is.'

She had been to Cerulean and remembered Misty, a scrawny nine year old, watching the battle wide eyed, as if to absorb what was going on so when she were old enough to be the gym leader, or at least old enough to get her trainer licence, she would have the knowledge and skill it took. Lilja also remembered how Misty had stared at her, wondering why she were competing for badges, when Misty herself couldn't. It was a wonder why Misty hadn't recogized her until her freakachu had came into the room.

Lilja also wondered how those two gym leaders had gotten together with Ash, and why. She was going to make it a point to ask them. She felt as if she had seen Ash before but didn't recognize him.

She stood staring at the spot where Ash had dissapeared, then entered the house. Then closed the door behind her without touching it.

*******************

The morning sun filtered through the sheer curtains and fell on Lilja's sleeping face. Freakachu slept at the end of the bed to keep her feet warm. With a yawn, she awoke and glanced at her clock. 7:42. Lilja usually had to get up earlier than this to help her uncle in his gym. Sometimes she played 'jr. trainer'. She'd probably have to play Jr Trainer today.

Kicking off her blankets, and sending Freakachu flying, she leapt out of bed and ran straight to the closet. Selecting a green tanktop and a pair of old jeans, she scrambled to get ready. She hurried to the kitchen and scarfed down some cereal, then rushed to the bathroom to wash her face and brush her teeth. She knew she was going to be late.

Grabbing her bag with her pokemon inside, she rode on her bike the five minute trip to the Cinnabar Gym, where she knew Blaine would be waiting patiently for her even if she was a little late.

"Hello, Magmar." She greeted Blaines spitfire pokemon, as she entered the gym.

"Magmar! Mag, mag mar." Magmar seemed happy to see her.

"Hello? Is it too early to ask for a rematch?" A voice echoed and broke the quiet stillness that had settled in the room.

It was Ash! She had known he'd be back!

"Hey! Lilja!" Ash called as he entered the gym and saw her standing there.

"Hey Ash!" She replied, a hint of excitement in her voice.

Ash walked towards the middle of the gym wtih Pikachu on his shoulder.

"I have to help out Blaine. Magmar has to be fed, and Ponyta needs a bath." She replied, looking Ash over.

'He's quite cute.' She smiled to herself. A warm feeling washed over her but she quickly shook it off. 'He'd never in a million years think the same about me though.'

Brock and Misty, who had just entered, walked up behind Ash.

"Uh, if you don't mind me asking, but how do you bathe a Ponyta?" Brock brought up a good point in Pokémon breeding exercises.

Ash gave Brock a strange look, but even so, it seemed he was wondering the same thing himself.

"Well," Lilja answered slowly, "you use a sponge and a bucket, and wash it. The fire tail and mane you just don't bother with. The rest of it is fine."

Misty scratched her head, taking this new information in.

"That makes sense. But how would you clean a rock type pokémon?" She wondered aloud.

"With a sand blaster!" A familiar voice was heard, as a man entered the gym.

"Hey Uncle Blaine! What do you want done this morning besides Ponyta's bath and feeding Magmar?" She questioned, ready to help.

"I've already fed Magmar, since you were 10 minutes late. No, I think all that needs to be done is Ponyta, and you can sweep the gym floor."

"Ok, I'll st-"

"Oh, and can you sweep the floor first? There's a trainer here to battle for a badge." He motioned towards Ash.

"I see that." She grabbed a broom and started to sweep.

After the dust was in a neat pile, Lilja swept it out the back door, and went through the same door.

"Ok Ash, back again to try to win your badge?" Blaine teased. He held it up, red, orange and sparkling in the dusty light.

"You bet!" He countered.

"Two on two." Blaine called.

They took sides on the gym and Ash called out squirtle. Blaine used a ryhorn, which squirtle took out with a water gun after being hit with horn attack. Blaine then used Magmar which defeated squirtle with a mighty fire punch. After much deliberation, and sorting through his pokéballs to try and choose the right pokémon, he finally called out Butterfree, which he had gotten back from Arti while he and the group had stayed in Prussian Town. Butterfree delivered sleep powder, which put Magmar to sleep for only a second. But in that second, Butterfree managed to also tackle the unsuspecting Magmar. Magmar awoke and used fire blast. Butterfree was burned, but still had enough strength to use stun spore and paralyze Magmar to win the match.

"Arg! You've beat me this time! Well boy, here's the Volcano Badge, just for you." Blaine held it out for Ash to accept.

"Thank you, Blaine." Ash smiled as he took the badge and pinned it to his jacket with the rest of them.

He spun around to brag to Brock and Misty but they were nowhere in sight.

"Brock? Misty? Where are you?!"

Faintly he heard laughter and talking coming from the back door. Peering out he could see Lilja scrubbing Ponyta's back with a sponge and Brock and Misty were flinging soap bubbles at each other. All three were soaked, and Ponyta seemed a little uneasy with all the water being flung about.

Dropping the sponge in the bucket, Lilja wiped bubbles off her forehead. She took hold of Ponyta's reigns and took it to the barn. A minute later, she reapeared, in dry clothing and walked over to Ash.

"Well, I guess now that you have the badge, you're going to leave, aren't you?" She seemed upset, and Ash wondered why. He felt like staying, but he knew he needed to finish collecting enough badges to get into the Pokémon League. He also knew that Lilja had collected badges, even though she was underage when she did so.

"Well, yeah. I guess I have to."

Brock whispered something to Misty, which made her frown. Then the three huddled up and talked in low whispers.

"It's unanimous. Do you want to come with us?" Brock asked Lilja. "You could, you know, if you wanted to I mean." He said, glancing at Ash, who was visibly turning red.

"You want me to come with you? Well, sure, I guess so. If that's ok with you guys." She replied, happy with the thought.

"It's fine with us. You probably know alot about Pokémon breeding and stuff you could show us." Brock said, grinning and still a sideways glance toward Ash.

"Yeah, sure!" She pulled the strap of her bag up onto her shoulder. "I'll come with you then. When are you leaving?"

"As soon as possible. When is the next ferry leaving?" Asked Ash, his mind set that they would leave quickly now that he knew Lilja was coming along.