"Turffield, here we are!" Ash exclaimed and Pikachu on his shoulder also exclaimed, "Pika!" Serena and Gou glanced at each other and Serena giggled Ash for eternal, endless energy and Gou rolled his eyes.
They had eventually arrived at Turffield Town, a small rural village with lots of lowland land but few people. They walked along its sandy, not-so-wide streets and looked around.
The village was clearly quiet, as hardly anyone came to meet them as they walked down the road. "Does anyone even live here?" Gou asked confused and Serena picked up her Rotom Phone and did a quick search. "Yes, but maybe this time of day is just quieter," she said and Ash blinked from side to side. "Right, but where do I find the Gym of this village," he said impatiently and Serena sighed.
Suddenly he stopped. "Pokemon Center, we're going to ask Nurse Joy for advice," he exclaimed and stepped inside. "Ash, wait for us too!" Serena exclaimed and went after him, Gou running on her heels.
"Hello, how can I help?" Nurse Joy asked happily and Ash replied, "Where can I find Gym?" "It's right here, but the Gym Leader can be instead... Hey, where are you going now, I haven't finished yet!"
Nurse Joy exclaimed the end of the sentence, for Ash had turned abruptly and left without thank. Serena and Gou, who had come to him, sighed frustrated and regretful Serena said Nurse Joy: "I am sorry for Ash, he seems to be a little too impatient today"
Nurse Joy smiled sympathetically and said, "I understand, but I would have just told him that.."
****
Ash looked around. Serena and Gou came beside him and Serena said, "The Gym is over there," pointing close to a hill, and Ash set out to run towards it. "But Ash, the Gym Leader.." Serena began, but Gou shook his head. "Let him go, he'll notice it soon, though," he said and Serena sighed.
Ash finally found the Gym, and stepped inside. However, it seemed to be empty. "Hello, is anyone here?" he shouted and the young woman came to him. "Are you looking for Gym Leader Milo? He's not here right now, he has to take care of his herd," the woman explained and Ash frowned. "Take care of his herd?" he asked in wonder and the woman nodded. "You'll find him in the meadow next to the Gym," he explained, and Ash thanked her and went back out.
He blinked around and tried to understand what it meant to "take care of his herd" What herd? If he had a herd of Pokemon, couldn't they have been taken care of inside?
Ash shook his head and went for a walk towards the meadow, which he thought was what the woman had meant. He found that the meadow was surrounded by a wooden fence and that the meadow was not really a "meadow" but an area of small, grassy boulders and a grassland.
Ash jumped over the fence, it was thankfully low, and found himself surrounded by white and fluffy Pokemon. They ate the grass in a contented look, and their peculiar, head-hanging, braid-like protrusions hit the ground almost as they ate. Ash took out his Rotom Phone and used it to scan one of the Pokemon.
"Wooloo, Sheep Pokemon and Normal-type. Wooloo live as a herd and mimic the actions of their Trainer or herd leader. They dislike conflict, and if they need to Escape from Enemies, they will simply roll away."
"Roll away?" Ash asked and suddenly he heard a shout of "Ash!" behind him and Wooloos looked up and suddenly left roll away very quickly. "Oh, so that it means", Ash said to himself.
Then he turned and saw Serena and Gou running towards him. They reached Ash, jumped over the fence and Gou looked at the Wooloos, whose was now little distance away, curiously. "What Pokemon are those?" he asked, but instead of Ash, the answer was given to them by an unknown voice.
"They're Wooloos and this is my herd," the voice said and they turned to see who had spoken.
In front of them stood a tall, young man with pink hair and a large, wide-brimmed straw hat on his head. He had a smiling, freckled face, broad shoulders, muscular arms, green shorts, and a white-green T-shirt. He had green-black boots on his feet and next to him stood one of the Wooloos. However, it was black instead of white.
"Your herd?" Ash asked and then he realized. "Are you Gym Leader Milo!? The woman in the Gym talked about something that Gym Leader Milo is out there taking care of his herd," he said enthusiastically and Milo smiled.
"That's right, and I find you're eager to challenge me," he said and Wooloo next to him leaned against his leg looking pleased. It was wearing a bandage-like thing on its feet and it looked at them curiously.
Serena looked at it and asked, "Excuse me, but why does that Wooloo have a bandage on its leg?" Milo smiled and explained, "This little guy hurt his leg yesterday and got into the Pokemon Center. Luckily he didn't feel bad, but he's very attached to me now." Milo then knelt beside Wooloo and gently pounded it. "Let's go play with your friends, they must have missed you," he said to the hesitant-looking Wooloo.
Wooloo hesitated for a moment and then ran to the other Wooloos. They immediately welcomed it and soon the black Wooloo had disappeared among the others.
Milo got up and straightened his hat. "Shall we go? I realized you were eager to challenge me...",
"Ash, my name is Ash and this is my partner Pikachu," Ash said and Pikachu greeted him too. "And I'm Serena and this is Gou," said Serena, and Gou also lifted up his hands in greet.
Milo looked at them for a moment and then smiled. "All right then, Ash, Serena and Gou. We have a battle ahead."
****
They had arrived at the Gym and Ash and Milo were standing on opposite sides of the field. Serena and Gou had gone to the audience and Gou's Scorbunny was also watching with interest. The referee was the same woman who had advised Ash to Milo and she announced the rules: "This is a one on one battle between Gym Leader Milo and challenger Ash. The winner is the one whose Pokemon are last upright. Begin!"
Milo threw one of his Pokeballs into the air and exclaimed, "Eldegoss, I'll choose you!" A Grass-type Pokemon appeared in front of him, with a big, cotton-like thing on her head and a lower body resembling a bouquet of green leaves. "El!" it exclaimed.
Ash looked at it and then glanced at Pikachu, who was sitting on his shoulder and said to him, "Ready, buddy?" and Pikachu nodded resolutely and jumped off Ash's shoulder ready to battle.
In the auditorium, Gou was puzzled. "Why he chose Pikachu, Electric-type Pokemon are weak against Grass-type Pokemon, so Milo has a type advantage," he said and Serena shrugged. "Ash is Ash, you can never know what he's planning," she said, taking out her Rotom Phone and scanning the Eldegoss with it.
"Eldegoss, Cotton Bloom Pokemon and Evolved form of Gossifleur. Grass-type. The cotton on the head of this Pokémon can be spun into a glossy, gorgeous yarn - a Galar regional specialty."
In the meantime, the battle between Ash and Milo had begun. "Pikachu, Electro Ball!" Ash exclaimed and Pikachu jumped into the air and formed a yellow electric ball, which it threw towards Eldegoss.
"Eldegoss, Razor Leaf!" Milo instructed his Pokemon and this one did green, sharp things that went towards Pikachu.
The moves collided in the middle of the field and caused a small explosion. Pikachu landed on the ground and Ash instructed it again. "Pikachu, use Quick Attack and Iron Tail!" he exclaimed and Pikachu fired at lightning speed towards Eldegoss.
"Dodge it!" Milo exclaimed to his Pokemon, but Eldegoss wasn't fast enough and Pikachu got to hit his Iron Tail in its cotton-like main body.
Eldegoss staggered back, but still remained upright. "Leafage!" Milo instructed Pokemon and this did as instructed.
It hit Pikachu and this one flew on its back to the ground. "Pika!" it exclaimed and Ash pressed his hand to fist. "Pikachu, are you okay?" he asked and Pikachu nodded resolutely. "Pikachu!" it said and was ready for another hit.
"Good, then use Thunderbolt!" Ash exclaimed and Pikachu jumped in the air and made his very familiar electric move.
"Eldegoss, dodge it!" Milo exclaimed, but too late. Pikachu's Thunderbolt hit it and Eldegoss fell to the ground. "Now Pikachu, Quick Attack and Iron Tail!" Ash exclaimed and Pikachu plunged into the trip again at lightning speed and was soon with Eldegoss.
It jumped into the air and made Iron Tail. It hit Eldegoss and as a result it collapsed and familiar spirals appeared in its eyes as a sign that it could no longer continue.
"Eldegoss is unable to battle, so the winner is challenger Ash!" the referee announced and Ash raised his fists in the air as a sign of victory. "Alright, buddy!" he exclaimed to Pikachu and this also exclaimed happily, "Pika!"
Serena and Gou rushed to Ash and Serena smiled happily at Ash. "Ash, you did it! You claimed your first Galar Gym badge!" she exclaimed, her cheeks flushed with excitement and Ash scratched his neck. "Thank you, Serena," he said, thinking Serena was cute when she blushed. Wait what!
Milo had at that time brought Eldegoss back to Pokeball and Ash's thoughts he had recently had, such as that Serena's eyes were beautifully blue or that she smelled of strawberries and that confused his, were interrupted. "You battled well," Milo said with a smile and held out a small, green leaf-like badge. "Here, you deserve this, the Grass Badge," he said and Ash accepted the badge with a smile.
"My first badge in Galar, the Grass Badge!" he exclaimed and Pikachu jumped into the air, exclaiming happily, "Pika!"
Ash took out his badge box and put the badge there. "One earned, seven left," he said to himself and then turned to talk to Milo. "Do you happen to know where I can earn the next badge?" he asked and Milo scratched his head.
"Well, you could go to a place called Hulbury. There's a Gym and its Gym Leader, Nessa, specializes in Water-type Pokemon," he said and Ash nodded. "Good idea, let's go right now!" he exclaimed and was if going when Serena said giggling, "Maybe it would be better to wait until tomorrow"
Ash laughed embarrassed and scratched his neck. "Yeah, maybe you're right," he said and Serena smiled and Gou sighed. "Ash, what are we doing for that your endless energy," he said and Pikachu sweatdropped.
****
They therefore decided to stay the night at the Pokemon Center and Ash sat down on his bed. His thoughts spun in a recent battle, but for some reason Serena was on his mind too. He couldn't help but think that his strange feelings had only intensified when Serena joined them. What bothers me, he asked himself a third time during this journey and again on the same subject.
Ash found himself watching Serena brush Braixen's fur while sitting on her bed and noticed that her ribbon was coming off her hair. Without thinking about anything, Ash got up and walked over to Serena.
Serena was so focused on brushing Braixen's fur that she was startled when she felt the touch in her hair. She turned and saw Ash sitting next to her, looking focused on something that somehow connected to her hair.
"Ash, what are you doing?" she asked in confusion and forgot to brush Braixen's fur completely. Braixen looked confused at her trainer, but when she noticed Ash, she smiled to herself in knowledge and returned herself to her Pokeball so as not to disturb Serena and Ash.
Ash held Serena's blue ribbon in his hand, which Serena's sudden twisting had detached from the girl's hair, and looked at it as if he didn't really know what to do with it. Serena noticed his confused look and smiled.
"Your ribbon... it was crooked and I thought... uh... fix it," Ash stumbled and felt himself blush. What is wrong with me, he thought as Serena giggled and said, "Thank you, Ash, it was a beautiful thought" Then she gently took the ribbon from Ash's palm and was attaching it to her hair when she suddenly looked at Ash. "Maybe you could put it back on my hair," she said, gently putting the ribbon back on Ash's palm.
Ash looked at that blue ribbon so important to Serena and then said, "Uh.. sure." He wrapped the ribbon in Serena's hair in much the same way that she had and thought about how to make a bow.
Pikachu watched all this from Ash's bed. He shook his head with a sigh and thought that his trainer was sometimes particularly dense. For unlike Ash, Pikachu was not dense and he did see what was going on.
Serena felt how affectionately Ash affixed her blue ribbon to her hair. His touch sent shivers along Serena's spine and she blushed. She didn't think this would go that way.
Suddenly the door of the room was slammed open and an enthusiastic looking Gou stood in the doorway. "Guys, guess what! I just grabbed... Ash, what are you doing?"
Gou's enthusiastic exclamation suddenly turned into a question as he looked at Ash, who put something in Serena's hair, blushing Serena and Pikachu, grinning on Ash's bed with a look on his face that said he had seen everything and he also knew everything about this thing. Gou stared at them.
Ash turned to look at his friend, his face red and a slightly confused look. "I.. nothing.." he said vaguely and the very blushed Serena meanwhile fastened her ribbon properly.
Gou said nothing for a moment, but then shrugged. "Whatever," he said, then brought up one Pokeball. "While you did whatever you did, I caught myself a new Pokemon. Guys, here's Skwovet!"
A small, squirrel-like Pokemon appeared in front of them, looking at them happily and saying, "Wow!" Serena took out her Rotom Phone and scanned the Pokemon with it.
"Skwovet, Cheeky Pokemon and Normal-type. It eats berries nonstop - a habit that has made it more resilient than it looks. It'll show up on Farms, searching for even more berries"
Gou then recounted how he and Skwovet had met. It had simply noticed Gou carrying food (he had been going to buy food) and followed him. And eventually, Gou had caught it.
Others nodded to the story and then began preparing to sleep. They each took a shower and changed their nightwear and eventually each of them lay in their own bed ready to fall asleep.
Ash remained awake the furthest. He heard Serena breathing steadily, sleeping at the other end of the room and Gou was already sleeping in the bed next to him as well. Pikachu had also fallen asleep at the other end of the bed and Ash was the only one still awake.
He thought about the ribbon thing that had happened a moment ago and suddenly he remembered that he had not yet given Serena the red ribbon he had received from Marlene. He couldn't give it to Serena just giving, no, it had to come up with some special way. But whatever it was, Ash didn't know.
He felt his eyes close and the sleep come. And before he fell asleep, he had time to think about Serena and how soft her hair had been.
I know Milo's Eldegoss can Dynamax, but I didn't want to make Dynamax debut yet. Why so, I have other plans for it.
I also know that Milo's Eldegoss may not know all the moves I have given her, and I also know that at least in games he also has a Gossifleur. I got to know of this, however, only when it was already written a scene, and because I'm lazy, I'm too tired begins to repair it anymore. So that's what it is now.
The battle scenes are still a bit of a search for me anyway, as I'm not used to writing them. However, progress has been made and I am pretty sure that the following battles have been a little better. Besides, the main point of this book is not in battles, (Edit from future: It is) but in something else.
And I know, Gou got his Skwovet in anime differently.