Merry Christmas for everyone, celebrate it or not! I hope you have a good Christmas and you enjoy it. We see next time in January :)
Previously:
Our heroes had an interesting conversation with Sonia and Ash found out where Lucario always disappeared alone. They also met Bonnie and Clemont after a long time, and had fun skating with them. Finally, they met a girl named Alida, whom Glaceon suspiciously disappeared after her skating show. However, they found traces that would lead them to Glaceon and now the rescue operation is ongoing.
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"Meowth, a little tip," Jessie gasped as the trio ran along a small snowy path. "The next time you're grabbing Pikachu, choose one that's yellow, not white. This one isn't even seen Pikachu."
She lifted the cage she held in her arms, where the white Glaceon stared at her angrily. Meowth, instead, glared at Jessie and said, "It would have been a little easier if someone hadn't come up with making that smoke so dense! I didn't even see my own tail!"
However, Jessie ignored Meowth's complaints, raising Glaceon closer to her face instead. "Well, this is a pretty decent catch too," she said, now in a slightly happier voice. "The boss is sure to be happy about this, too, and with a little training, you'll become a great Pokemon for Team Rocket, won't you?" She grinned viciously at Glaceon.
However, Glaceon disagreed. She showed it by blowing ice-cold air directly on Jessie's face. The air made Jessie's face covered in glistening frost, and she froze in her place. Glaceon's cage fell from her arms and rolled into a nearby snow pile.
"Aarghh! It went into my eyes!" Jessie screamed and rubbed her eyes, trying to get the ice out of them. James and Meowth stopped confused after hearing Jessie's cry, and looked a little helpless at her attempts to remove the ice from her eyes and face.
"You little shit, I'm teaching you not to do that!" Jessie screamed, and brought out her Pokeball. Her eyes were red from rubbing them and it irritated her. "Arbok, use Poison Sting!" she exclaimed and threw the Pokeball into the air. A purple, large cobra-like Pokemon appeared in front of her and spat poison darts out of his mouth at Glaceon, who was crouching helplessly in a cage too small to her, preparing to receive the blow.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" was heard suddenly, and then big yellow lightning struck Arbok's poison arrows, completely destroying them. Team Rocket turned lightning fast to see who had caused it, and noticed anyone but the twerp standing with his support group in front of them. Thunderbolt, of course, had been fired by Pikachu, and Jessie's mouth curled into a vicious grin. Pikachu was still possible to grab anyway!
"Team Rocket! Should have guessed!" Ash shouted after seeing a familiar trio in front of him. Team Rocket looked at them with vicious giggles, and then began their familiar motto:
"Prepare for trouble, you should know that!
And make it double, because we're a question of what!
To protect the world from devastation!
To unite all people within our Nation!
To denounce the evils of truth and love!
To extend our reach to the stars above!
It's Jessie!
And James!
Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!
Surrender now, or prepare to fight!
Meowth! That's right!
Wobbuffet!"
"Team Rocket?" Alida said confused, and Serena nodded irritated. "Yeah, they're the bad guys who steal other people's Pokemon," she explained, and Alida's eyes widened.
"Sounds awful!" she said and her hands instinctively clenched into fists. However, Jessie heard what Alida said and said, "Awful? Not at all, when there is this kind of creatures to grab."
She hung a cage in her hand, inside which Glaceon cried unhappily. When Alida saw it, she exclaimed, "Glaceon!" and hurried towards Jessie. However, Jessie grimaced when she saw it and said, "Not so fast! Arbok, Poison Sting."
Arbok hissed menacingly and prepared to fire a pile of poison darts towards Alida. However, Ash didn't like the idea, so he exclaimed, "Pikachu, Iron Tail!" and pointed toward the head of Arbok.
"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed and jumped into the air. His tail began to shine brightly and then he struck it directly at Arbok's head. Arbok cried and slammed into the ground, still spitting poison darts out of his mouth. However, they did not all go in the same direction, but spread around and caused chaos.
"Watch out!" Ash exclaimed as some of the darts flew towards them, and they all plunged into safety in different directions. One of the darts hit the lock of Glaceon's cage, causing a small explosion and causing the lock to break. Glaceon immediately seized the opportunity and jumped out of her cage directly into Alida's arms. "Glaceon!" Alida said with delight and hugged Glaceon firmly. But there was also one who didn't look so delighted.
"Arbok!" Jessie exclaimed in rage when she saw her cobra on the ground unconscious, and looked at the crowd in front of her murderously. "Meowth, do something!" she hissed and Meowth stepped forward with his sharp nails glistening.
However, he had not come very far when one of Arbok's poison arrows hit him. He had first stiffened and then fell, poisoned in the snow on his face. Jessie had looked at him in disbelief and screamed, "No! This cannot be true!"
"Oh yes," Ash said and nodded to Pikachu. "And now, Pikachu, use Thunderbolt"
"Pika!" said Pikachu and jumped in the air again. He was just about to launch Thunderbolt towards Team Rocket when a gray cube similar to Alida's performance flew from something, covering everything with thick smoke.
Ash and his friends once again had to cover their mouths as smoke spread around them. This time, however, it took longer for the smoke to disappear. And when the smoke was finally gone, they saw Team Rocket running away. And they had taken Pikachu.
"Pikachu! Damn Team Rocket!" Ash exclaimed in anger. He was slowly getting enough of Team Rocket and their stupid plots. "We need to get Pikachu back. Come on, let's go!"
And having said that, they set off to run after Team Rocket.
"That smoke cube was a genius idea, James," Jessie said as they ran forward. "What does it matter if Glaceon escaped? Thanks to you, we finally managed to get Pikachu, and that's the only thing that means something."
She held Pikachu in a small glass ball in her arms, and he was constantly trying to get away from it. However, Jessie had a very tight grip, so it was impossible to get the ball out of Jessie's grip. Even Pikachu's electric shocks didn't help, as the ball was electric proof.
James smirked with satisfaction. "I'm glad you liked it," he said, but then frowned slightly. "But I'm not happy about what happened to Meowth. Without this annoying poisoning, we would have already gotten out of here." He glanced at Meowth, which he dragged along the path from his tail. Meowth seemed unconscious.
Jessie glanced at him, and huffed. "You're right. Do you have a Pecha berry or something, so I can...," she began, but her sentence suddenly broke, as a set of shurikens suddenly flew in front of them.
They caused a small explosion in front of them, forcing Team Rocket to stop. They quickly turned around, and again saw the twerp and his gang standing behind them. Jessie had never been afraid of a twerp, but seeing him now, she felt sudden goosebumps running along her spine. Twerp's face had a look that could only be said to be anger, and on either side of him stood Greninja and Lucario like bodyguards.
"I'm starting to get tired of your tricks," Ash hissed and his eyes flashed red. "Twice in the same day. So I only say this once. Give Pikachu back and I'll let you go without fighting. If you don't, Greninja and Lucario can persuade you."
"Never!" said Jessie, squeezing the glass ball containing Pikachu tighter. Even though she didn't like twerp's tone of voice, she still had no intention of letting Pikachu go. "If you want your precious Pikachu back, you can come to get it yourself!"
"Fine," Ash said, nodding to Greninja and Lucario. "Lucario, Aura Sphere. Greninja, Water Shuriken."
"Gladly, Master," Lucario said, forming a blue Aura Ball with his hands. He then threw it towards Team Rocket. Greninja did the same with his shurikens, and those two moves went simultaneously toward a trio who still hadn't understood how to surrender.
Those two combined strikes flew towards Team Rocket, which seemed to solidify in place. At the last moment, however, they realized to rush to safety, but dropping Pikachu's glass ball on the ground.
"No!" shouted Jessie and rushed towards the ball. Ash did the same and behind Jessie, James exclaimed, "Weezing, use Sludge!" and threw the Pokeball into the air. Weezing appeared in front of him and spat black liquid from his mouth towards Ash.
"Sylveon, use Protect!" Serena exclaimed and threw the Pokeball into the air. Sylveon appeared and formed a protective shield with her feelers to protect Ash. Weezing's Sludge hit it, bounced back, and hit the wall of the building behind them.
The match had gradually moved towards the center of Circhester, gathering curious spectators around it. Among them were also some well-known persons, namely a girl with maroon hair holding a cocoa mug and a boy standing next to her with black hair sticking up.
"What is happening here?" Chloe asked when she saw the crowd. She and Gou had been in a nearby cafe for cocoa, so they had no idea what had happened to Ash and the others in the meantime. "Is there a show here or what?"
"I don't know," Gou replied, trying to see what was really going on behind the crowd. However, he could only hear the shouts of some people and the names of the Pokemon moves. "Sounds a little like there's a battle going on"
"Battle? In the middle of the city?" said Chloe confused and Gou thought the same. However, he did not have time to think about it for very long, because then someone from the crowd shouted, "Watch out!" and then the crowd dispersed out of the way as the blue Aura Ball flew towards them.
Gou had just enough time to pull Chloe and himself out from under it. The ball hit the pile of snow instead and caused a small explosion. "What the heck?" Gou gasped as he helped Chloe up from the land they had rushed to safety. "Where did it come from?"
"There," Chloe said, pointing to the crowd. Gou turned his gaze back in that direction, and now saw better what was really going on there. And realized he recognized one of the battling persons.
"Is that Ash?" he said amazed, staring at the boy he assumed was Ash, who had just told Lucario to do the Bone Rush. "Why is he battling here in the middle of the city? Wouldn't a Gym be a better option?"
"I don't know, but I want to find out," Chloe said, grabbing Gou's hand. "Come on, let's take a closer look," she continued, pulling Gou closer to the battle.
"Weezing, use Poison Gas to Sylveon!" James instructed his Pokemon, and Weezing set off for Serena's Sylveon intending to poison it with toxic gas. However, Alida noticed it, and exclaimed quickly, "Glaceon, Ice Beam!"
Glaceon cried shrilly and then fired an icy beam from her mouth towards Weezing. It hit it, and managed to freeze Weezing completely. Weezing fell to the ground, bouncing bluntly, and James' expression turned from happy to shocked.
"Will you finally give up?" Ash asked, gritting his teeth, and Jessie and James looked at each other. They then looked at the unconscious and still poisoned Meowth lying on the ground, the frozen Weezing, and Pikachu still in his glass ball. Then Jessie sighed and said, "All right, we'll give up. But not until Pikachu is ours!"
And then, before anyone could do anything, she rushed towards Pikachu's ball, grabbed it in her arms, and quickly ran away. "Hahaa, who's the winner now!" she shouted, lifting Pikachu's ball into the air. Ash was just leaving after her, but didn't have time to take a step when a fireball flew from somewhere that hit directly at Jessie's face.
It caused Jessie to falter and slip on slippery ground. She swayed for a moment until she fall straight into the circular pool of water that was in the middle of Circhester. It caused a big splash, James' worried, "Jessie!" and Pikachu's glass ball flying into the air.
The ball made a long air flight until it finally hit the ground and shattered into hundreds of small pieces of glass. Pikachu immediately jumped out of it, and straight into Ash's arms. "Pikapi!" he exclaimed and Ash hugged, laughing, his best friend.
"Wow, Ash, you really have the ability to get into trouble," a voice was heard from close, and Ash turned to look. He saw Gou and Chloe walking grinning at them, and Raboot stepped behind them, a basic, slightly gloomy look on his face. Ash smiled when he saw them and said, "Yeah, I guess."
Gou said nothing about it, but watched as James helped the sulking Jessie out of the pool. Jessie had a big, red burn on her face, and her hair was wet and dripping water on the paved street. "Something should be done for those three," he said and Ash nodded.
"Yeah," he replied, but this time he wasn't going to let the trio go so easily. "Could someone report to Officer Jenny? These three would probably have something to explain to her."
"Done already," Clemont said, holding in the air the phone he had just called Officer Jenny. Soon the sound of a car was heard, and Officer Jenny drive to them with a serious look on her face.
"Well well, what's going on here?" she asked with her hands on her hips, and Ash nodded toward Team Rocket. "Team Rocket is causing trouble," he explained, and then explained everything that had led to the latest happenings. Officer Jenny listened intently and finally said, "I see. You three can go with me to the station then."
She looked at Team Rocket, who no longer had any enthusiasm to flee. "Whatever, if I could just dry my hair," Jessie grunted, and then the case was closed.
After Officer Jenny took Team Rocket away, Ash turned to Alida and said, "I'm glad your Glaceon was found."
"Me too," Alida said, hugging her icy Eeveelution firmly. Glaceon cried happily, licking Alida's cheek. Alida giggled and then seemed to remember something.
"Oh yeah," she said, digging out of her pocket the turquoise ribbon they'd found at the skating rink. "I guess this dropped off when Team Rocket kidnapped you. Here, I'll put it back."
She wrapped the ribbon back around Glaceon's neck and set it so that the silver heart was exactly in front. Then she looked at it with satisfaction and said, "Here. It fits perfectly."
Glaceon looked first at Alida and then at herself from a frozen puddle. She stared at her picture for a moment until she cried happily. From that, Alida knew that Glaceon agreed with her and it made her smile broadly.
"That adventure then ended there," Serena said, looking up at the sky where the sun had already begun to set. "But there is still a day left. Does anyone have any ideas what we could do next?"
"I have a good idea," Chloe and the others turned to look at her. "Gou and I found a good cafe nearby. What if we all went there?"
"Sounds good!" Ash said immediately and his growling stomach agreed. "Fighting Team Rocket made me hungry. If I just get food from there, it's good for me."
"You get," Chloe said with a smile and Ash looked pleased. "The cafe sounds good," Serena also said and Bonnie nodded determination.
"Yep yep, Dedenne and I support that too!" she announced and Dedenne over her beanie said, "Deennee!" Since the idea also suited Clemont and Gou, the group eventually headed for the cafe found by Chloe and Gou.
And there they were then for the rest of the day until they returned to the Pokemon Center in the evening. There they talked for a moment more until they finally went to sleep.
The next morning Ash woke up early. He didn't remember where he was at first, but stared at the roof of the Pokemon Center room a little confused for a moment. Then he felt Serena move beside him and remembered the events of the previous day.
Ash sat up and turned to look at Serena, who was still sleeping next to him. She had turned to her side and her honey-blonde hair had spread on her pillow. Ash smiled as he looked at her and then pressed a light kiss to Serena's cheek. Serena moved in her sleep, but didn't wake up, and Ash got up quietly so he wouldn't wake her up.
However, someone was awake. Pikachu had woken up in the same second as Ash and was now looking at his trainer curiously. "Pikapi chu?" he asked and Ash lifted a finger to his lips.
"Shh... let Serena sleep, would we?" he whispered and Pikachu nodded. He understood well that it was still very early morning and yesterday had been a very busy day. It definitely got many tired!
Ash walked quietly to the armchair in the room and took his backpack from top of it. He grabbed it and then walked over to the toilet. "I'll be back soon," he whispered to Pikachu and closed the door behind him. Pikachu nodded, sitting on the bed and listening to Serena's calm breath as she slept. He knew Ash wouldn't be away long.
After a while, Ash returned, but this time he was wearing his usual clothes. He threw his backpack back on the chair, and took his Pokeball with him. "Come on, Pikachu. Let's do a little training before the others wake up," he told Pikachu, and this one nodded.
"Pikachu!" he said and jumped on Ash's shoulder. Then Ash went to the door of the room and opened it as quietly as he could. He then took one last look at the sleeping Serena until he closed the door behind him and headed with Pikachu toward the main door of the Pokemon Center.
When Ash returned from training, he found others in the lobby of the Pokemon Center. Nurse Joy just explained something to Clemont and Bonnie and Gou and Chloe were waiting for them on the couches. So everyone was there, except...
"Where's Serena?" Ash asked after reaching the others and Pikachu jumped off his shoulder and went to Chloe and her Snom. However, Gou turned to him and said, "I guess she's still in your room."
Ash nodded. "I guess so. I'm going to get her," he said and Gou hummed.
"Do it," he said a little distractedly, as Chloe just told him to take a picture as Snom climbed on Pikachu's tail. However, Ash had already left his and Serena's room, so he could no longer hear what Gou was saying.
"Serena? Are you ready?" Ash said as he opened the door to their room. He came in fast, but suddenly froze when he saw what was waiting behind the door.
Serena stood her back to him. She tried to catch the zipper on the back of her dress, but it looked like she had some problems with it. The zipper was stuck halfway, exposing half of Serena's back and the back of her bra. Ash felt his cheeks flush as he saw it.
"Ash? Could you help me a little?" Serena asked and turned to look at Ash. She held her dress with her hands to keep it from falling off. "The zipper got stuck and I can't catch it myself. Could you help me?" she asked a little embarrassed, and looked at Ash questioningly. The light from the window behind her made her hair shine and Ash had to clear his thoughts for a moment before he could respond.
"Y-yeah," he stammered and Serena smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Ash," she said with a smile and turned her back. Ash stepped up to her and grabbed the zipper. He tried to get it moving, but it didn't move anywhere.
"It really is stuck," he said and Serena hummed. "It may have got stuck in the fabric. Try it if you could remove it from it," she explained, and Ash did so.
The zipper was really stuck in the fabric of the dress. Ash carefully removed it, slowly pulling the zipper back on. At the same time, he gently moved one escaped curl of hair out of the way, and at the same time moved his hand along Serena's shoulder.
Ash's touch made the shivers run along Serena's spine. She felt her cheeks flush and she slowly turned around, now looking straight into Ash's eyes.
Ash felt his breath get stuck in his throat. Serena was beautiful. Her hair shone beautifully and she had tied it up with the red ribbon he had given her. A pink rose quartz necklace hung around her neck, and seeing it made Ash remember that day at Stow-on-Side. He smiled and said quietly, "Serena, you have no idea how beautiful you are."
Serena blushed at Ash's words and stepped closer. "Well, then you must have act as my mirror," she whispered, then pressed her lips against Ash's lips.
Ash wrapped his arms around Serena and responded to the kiss with sudden passion. Suddenly at that moment, they were the only two, complementary and loving partners. He smelled Serena's perfume around her, a mild floral scent, and he felt Serena's hands wander around his body. It caused new feelings in Ash and...
"Ash, Serena! Did you leave kissing or what?! Gou told to say that if you don't come at this minute, he will leave without you!" suddenly there was a clear voice from Bonnie behind the door and the moment of Ash and Serena suddenly broke like a soap bubble. They opened their eyes and slowly withdraw from their kiss.
"Um... tell Gou we're coming!" Ash said and still felt a slight burn in the places Serena had touched. Serena, on the other hand, quickly took her bag and said, "Come on. Don't let Gou wait any longer."
"Yeah," Ash replied, though he was annoyed by the interruption of their moment, and then Serena opened the door of the room and they went back to the others.
Bonnie was waiting for them behind the door with a look on her face that said she knew exactly what Ash and Serena had been doing. She grinned knowingly at them and said, "Are you bothering to tell me why it took so long?"
"It's rude to spy on others' private affairs," Clemont's voice came close before Ash or Serena had time to answer anything. "You should someday learn it"
Bonnie rolled her eyes lazily at Clemont. "All right, all right, I'm quiet," she sighed, but in her mind, she decided not to let her ship sail without the necessary teasing.
Clemont seemed content with Bonnie's response and said, "Well, if you're ready, shall we leave? You must be ready to challenge the Gym, right, Ash?" He looked at Ash and this one nodded.
"You bet! I can't wait to get to the battle against the Gym Leader!" he said and resolutely raised his fist in the air. In fact, he felt even more prepared and wondered if his and Serena's moment had anything to do with it.
They walked toward the lobby of the Pokemon Center, and found a very impatient-looking Gou there, tapping his fingers against the coffee table and Chloe feeding treats to Snom and one very greedy-looking Yamper. Seeing Ash and Serena, Gou bounced up from his chair and said, "Finally! I already thought you would never come!"
"They were too busy kissing each other," Bonnie announced cheerfully and Clemont glared at her. However, Goulla seemed too hurried to continue the journey, so right now he paid little attention to Bonnie's words or the blushed cheeks of Ash and Serena. Instead, he nodded toward the front door and said, "Let's go then!"
"Yeah," said Ash, and Pikachu jumped on his shoulder. Then he nodded resolutely and said, "Circhester Gym, just wait. Ash Ketchum is coming to challenge you!"
They then said goodbye to Nurse Joy and Indeedee and stepped out the door.
Outside of them was a smiling Alida and Glaceon. "Oh, hi! I'm assuming you're going to the Gym, aren't you?" she said and Glaceon cried too. The silver heart of the ribbon around Glaceon's neck glistened beautifully in the morning sun. Alida, on the other hand, held a pair of skates. She had clearly been skating before coming to the Pokemon Center.
Ash nodded a little surprised and said, "That's right. How did you guess?"
"I'm just good at deducting things," Alida replied, then turned quickly. "Come on, I can take you to the Gym! I was going there anyway." And then she set out to walk forward, with Glaceon following in her footsteps, jumping happily on the snowy street.
Ash and his friends glanced at each other and then shrugged. They then hurried after Alida and Glaceon, admiring the snowy morning in Circhester.
It wasn't hard to find for the gym. Like the other Gyms in Galar, it was very big, reminiscent of a kind of stadium. It was located right at the end of Circhester, on top of a small hill. In front of it was a large paved opening, and the group stopped at it, their breaths fogging in the cold frosty air.
"Well, we're there!" Alida announced and pointed to the Gym. "Welcome to Circhester Gym!"
"Thanks!" said Ash and then nodded resolutely. "And then go. The Gym battle is waiting!"
He walked to the door of the gym and the others followed. He was just opening the door when someone opened it from the inside and slammed it directly on Ash's face.
Ash slumped on the ground, holding his face, especially his nose, and Serena hurried to him. Others, on the other hand, watched as the person marching through the door, a young man with shiny sunglasses, turned toward the open door and shouted, "I've had enough, did you hear!? I'm setting up my own Gym, and you can't stop it, you heard that?!" Then he seemed to notice that he had an audience and slowly turned around.
"Oh," he said, and his gaze moved slowly from one person to another. Finally it stopped at Alida and he said with a wide grin, "Hey sis, you've brought quite a bunch of people here."
"SIS?!" exclaimed Ash from the ground where he was still sitting, as Serena tried to patch his face and Pikachu patted him on the knee compassionately. That man turned to him, looked at him for a moment, and said, "Yeah. Alida is my sister. By the way, the name's Gordie, and I assume you've come to challenge the gym."
"Yeah, that's right," Ash said, slowly getting up from the ground. "At least I was before you slammed the door in my face"
He wiped his face from his sleeve and looked at Gordie. He had blonde hair but yellow hair ends. He was wearing a brown jacket with a white shirt with black pictures underneath. For some strange reason, he wore gray shorts and blue-gray shoes as his shoes, those shiny sunglasses on his eyes, and a necklace with a big blue stone around his neck. If he hadn't said he was Alida's brother, Ash wouldn't have realized it right away.
"Oh, sorry," Gordie said as he realized it and looked a little embarrassed. "I was so angry with mom that I didn't notice looking in front of me. I'm still that, tho. I think I'm going to calm down a bit to home," he explained and winked at Alida. He then set off to march down the hill with his hands in his pockets and a carefree whistle.
Ash and the others watched as he stepped down the hill apparently without freezing, and Serena said, "An interesting brother you have, Alida." She shivered a little, as it was cold outside, and wondered how on the Earth Gordie didn't have a cold.
Alida shrugged. "Well, I guess you can say that," she said and Glaceon cried. "But I think he's nice. Mom doesn't get along with him, though, they always have terrible quarrels, as you may have noticed. Mom would like Gordie to start running the Gym, which would suit Gordie really well. The problem is that Gordie wants to change Gym's Ice-type to the Rock-type, and mom doesn't like that. So, the result is a quarrel like this. Mom is always really grumpy after them, which of course is also reflected in the battles. So, I warn you, Ash. Mom is not an easy challenge, especially when she's grumpy."
"Then why don't you start running a Gym?" Ash asked and Alida shrugged again. "I guess I could, but battling isn't really my thing," she explained, then lifted her skates in her hand. "I'm more of a figure skater. If I started running the Gym, I'd have less time to skate. I guess I could combine them somehow, like Hulbury's Gym Leader Nessa has combined modeling and Gym management, but I guess I'll still leave the battles to mom and Gordie."
"Oh, I see," Ash said, only to realize now that someone had told him what type the Gym Leader specialized in. So the Ice-type Gym, he thought and then nodded his mind. And the hard opponent. This can become an interesting match!
Alida seemed to forget for a moment to stare at the Circhester that opened up in front of her, until she woke up to reality again. "Well, let's go inside then, it's pretty cold here," she said and so they then stepped inside the Gym.
Inside, they were the first to face the heat. It warmed up wonderfully after the cold outside and Ash wondered if it was always so cold in Circhester. However, he wiped out the idea in his mind, as Alida directed them briskly toward two people, a young boy dressed in the gym staff outfit and the curvy, white-clothed, about-middle-aged woman.
"Send this to Chairman Rose, I want to hear his opinion on one matter," the woman just said to the boy and he nodded and left to carry out the task given. The woman stayed to look behind him for a moment until she turned and rubbed her fingers over her temples.
"Hi, mom!" Alida exclaimed just then and the woman looked up. She noticed Alida and a smile spread across her face. "Well hello, honey, were you skating again?" she said and walked over to Alida, and at the same time to the others.
"Yep! And Glaceon and I are almost learning to make a triple pirouette!" Alida said and Glaceon cried happily. "But I didn't come because of it, but I brought you a new challenger." She pointed to Ash and this one raised his hand in greeting.
"Oh, I see!" the woman said, a little surprised, and examined Ash with her gaze. Then she smiled and said, "Well, you look eager to challenge me. Tell me, what's your name?"
"I'm Ash Ketchum and here's my partner Pikachu," Ash introduced himself and Pikachu, who happily raised his hand in the air and said his name. "And those are my girlfriend Serena, and my friends Gou, Chloe, Clemont, and Bonnie"
"Heya!" said Bonnie cheerfully and Dedenne on top of her beanie also cried happily. Serena smiled, Chloe raised her hand, Gou nodded, and Clemont raised his glasses. The woman looked at them all alternately until she put her hands on her hips and said, "Nice to meet you all. My name is Melony, and I'm running this Gym. If you want, we can start right away."
Melony had white, very thick hair that reached up to her hips. She wore a white, fluffy, and somewhat beret-like hat on her head, and she had blue eyes that followed everything around her very closely. She was wearing a white, long-sleeved shirt with a silver, mountain pattern and gray leggings with white, short shorts. She wore white, long boots and a white, fluffy tippet around her neck.
"Sounds good," said Ash and Melony nodded. "All right, then follow me," she said, and then stepped forward. The others looked at each other and then quickly followed.
Melony led them to a battlefield that was no different from other Gym battlefields except the air was colder there. Melony settled at one end of the field and Ash at the other, and the others climbed into the stands in the meantime. They had also been accompanied by one of the Gym staff, and he now took the place of the referee.
"Okay then, so this is a four vs four battle between Gym Leader Melony and challenger Ash Ketchum," the referee announced and Melony had already taken out her first Pokeball. "The winner is the one whose last Pokemon is upright! Are the battlers ready?"
"Yes!" said Melony resolutely and the referee nodded. "How about the challenger?" he asked and Ash turned his cap on the other way around.
"Yeah, I'm ready," he said and the referee nodded again. "All right then, the battle can begin!