Previously:
Serena had a quiet morning, Clemont gave Ash a gift, Bonnie told Serena some interesting information about Gou and Chloe, Gou caught a new team member, little Joltik, Clemont and Bonnie left back to Kalos and Oleana showed up unexpectedly and left us wondering why she was so angry...
"You! How dare you show your faces here after what you did to Chairman Rose!?" Oleana shouted angrily, marching to Ash and the others. They flinched at this sudden anger and looked at Oleana in confusion. "You have no idea how much Chairman Rose was upset that my... I mean, his party was ruined! You are responsible for it, for you lured those criminals there!" she looked at the group angrily, her eyes blazing angrily.
"What?! It wasn't our fault that Team Rocket decided to show up!" Ash defended, feeling his cheeks flush with anger. "We had no way of knowing that, we had no part in Team Rocket ruining Rose's stupid party!" Ash felt his voice rise towards the end and now blushed Oleana.
"Listen, boy, don't ever say anything Chairman Rose makes stupid," she hissed warningly, pointing her finger directly in Ash's face, its fiery red nail polish glistening in the lights of the lobby. Now the other people in the room had also noticed that something was going on. The girl on the phone had stopped talking and was left wondering what was going to happen. The boys talking about battle strategies were also staring and Nurse Joy said quite firmly from her counter, "Ma'am, I'm sorry, but I have to ask you to leave if you start acting threateningly towards other people." Oleana, however, ignored her words and continued, "You have no idea how much Macro Cosmos does for you and your sorry ass, so I'm warning you: don't..."
"Don't what? What's going on here?" a familiar voice asked and everyone turned to look in its direction. They saw Melissa walking towards them from the direction of the toilets, looking confused at the view opening up in front of her. "What did I miss?"
"And who the hell are you?" Oleana said wryly, and Melissa's expression tightened slightly. "I'm Melissa Rogers from Pokemon: Now and right now I'd like to know why you, Oleana, seem to be threatening this boy?" she said, quickly taking on the role of reporter. Oleana didn't seem to like the fact that a reporter had shown up, so she straightened her back and scowled.
"Not for anything. We just had a little... more intense conversation," she said, brushing her hair with her hand. "And I don't have time to give interviews. I have work to do." And with that said, she shot one last warning glance at Ash, then sailed out the door of the Pokemon Center.
"What a bitch," Melissa grunted sourly, once the door had closed behind Oleana and the tense atmosphere in the lobby had dissipated. "She doesn't even remember that I was the one who interviewed her yesterday, I even complimented her dress. Now I understand why no one likes her."
"Yeah," said Ash, still a little confused about what had just happened. He was surprised how Oleana, the epitome of elegance, could be so willing to be so... intimidating. "There's clearly something about her that she doesn't show on the outside."
"Oh, absolutely" Melissa scowled and took her phone out of her pocket. "But if you'll excuse me, I have to go make a very important phone call. See you later!" And with that said, she strode off, leaving the group behind in silence.
"So, what's next?" asked Ash after some time. "Well, I think me and Chloe are going to go clean our room, it's a bit messy," Gou answered and Chloe nodded too. "Okay. I need to have a little word with Nurse Joy. What about you, Serena?" Ash asked, and Serena glanced over her shoulder.
"Actually, I have a call to make as well," she said and Ash looked a little surprised. However, then he smiled and said, "Okay. I'll see you after a while," he said, giving a small kiss on the girl's cheek and Serena nodded with a smile. Then the group divided and Serena watched for a moment as Ash stepped towards Nurse Joy's counter with Pikachu on his shoulder. Then she turned and started walking towards the video phones.
She had been thinking about doing this for a while. She could have easily called on her Rotom, but she had to take care of something for which she needed a Pokemon transfer machine. Therefore, a videophone was a better option than a Rotom. So, as she now sat down in front of the videophone and tapped one particular number into it, she thought about how best to do this.
It was a while before the call was answered. But then, just as Serena was beginning to wonder if she should try again another day, a familiar, dark-haired, tall man appeared on the screen, shaking his lab coat slightly.
"Bonjour, Professor Sycamore speaking," the man said, before realizing who was calling him and a broad smile spread across his lips. "Why, Serena, what a marvelous surprise! What brings you to call me out of the blue like this? And are you still on Galar like you said when we last time talked?"
"Hello, Professor Sycamore," said Serena with a laugh. "And yep, here I am. I have had a quite interesting adventure, but now I need your help," she explained and Professor Sycamore looked surprised. "Really? Usually, if you contact me, it has something to do with your Pokémon."
"So it is now," said Serena and the Professor raised an eyebrow. "Do you remember Absol, the one I left in your care when I left to Galar?" she asked and Sycamore nodded.
"Of course. He and my Garchomp are very good friends. But why do you ask that?" he asked and in response, Serena took one of her Pokéballs from her bag. "Well, I just thought now would be a good time to bring him along again. But since my team is full, I have to make a switch. So, will you wait a minute..."
Professor Sycamore watched as Serena turned and threw a ball into the air, causing a small, pink Pokemon to appear next to her. It looked around, a little confused, and then said, "Tenna?" Then it seemed to notice Serena and its mouth turned up in a happy smile.
"Hat hatenna!" she said happily as Serena picked her up in her arms and then turned back to look towards the videophone. "Professor, this is Hatenna. She's one of the Pokémon I caught here," Serena explained and Professor Sycamore, who had been staring at Hatenna with open curiosity, nodded. "But since I also have another Psychic-type Pokemon, I thought I could do a switch with her and Absol."
Serena felt a little bad saying it, but she knew Hatenna would be perfectly happy with Sycamore. But because she wanted to be sure, she also took out one of her Pokéballs and threw it in the air, causing a small, panda-like Pokemon to appear next to her as well. Pancham also seemed a little confused for a moment, but then noticed Serena too and a happy smile spread across his face.
"Pancham, I have an important task for you," Serena explained and Pancham seemed to listen carefully. "I want you to keep Hatenna company and show her all the best things about Kalos," she explained and then smiled. "I'm sure Professor Sycamore would also like it if you told him and his Pokémon about your adventures here in Galar."
"That would be very nice," said the Professor over the videophone and then winked. "And I might need someone to explain a bit about performances. Garchomp doesn't really understand anything about them and I'm not really a professional on the subject..."
Hearing the word "performance", Pancham's eyes lit up and he said excitedly, "Pan cham cham!" Serena and Sycamore laughed at his excited expression and then Serena said, "Okay then, I guess it's settled. Pancham, Hatenna, I think this is goodbye, but not a final one."
Serena hugged both her Pokémon tightly until she returned them both to their balls. Then she turned back to Professor Sycamore, and said a bit wistfully, "I'm done."
The Professor nodded and said, "I will send you the code to connect your device to mine. After that, all you have to do is enter the Pokemon's Pokeball into the device and the device will send it to the other connected device, which in this case is mine. If everything goes as it should, it will only take a few seconds. I'm sending the code to you now."
After that, everything went quickly. Serena received the code sent by the Professor and applied it to the device. The device beeped to indicate that the connection had been successfully established. Then a small hole opened up in front of Serena, the size of one Pokeball, and she put Hatenna's Pokéball in it first. The hole closed, a moment passed, and then it opened again, this time again empty. Professor Sycamore instead showed Serena Hatenna's Pokeball, which had just arrived at his lab, and that was how Serena knew the transmission had been successful.
She did the same to Pancham's Pokeball, and then it was Professor Sycamore's turn. He placed Serena's Absol's Pokeball, which his assistant Sophie had just brought, in the machine and sent it on its way. A short moment passed, and then Serena's machine beeped to signal that the Pokéball had arrived. The hole where she had just placed the Hatenna and Pancham's balls opened to reveal the single ball that Serena knew contained her Absol. She took the ball from the hole, causing the hole to close automatically, and squeezed it in her hand.
"Thank you, Professor," she said with a smile, and watched as Pancham and Hatenna, whom the Professor had just let out of their balls again, greeted him, making Sycamore laugh. "You're welcome. And don't worry about Pancham or Hatenna. I have a feeling we're going to have fun," he said, and the two Pokémon nodded in confirmation.
"That's good," said Serena, smiling at her two Pokemon, who were now very far away from her. "You two be good. Oh, and say hi to Clemont and Bonnie if you see them. I'm sure they'd like it."
Pokemon and Sycamore nodded and then Serena said one last goodbye. Professor Sycamore then hung up and the videophone screen went black again. Serena stared at it for a moment, then sighed, and lifted the Absol Pokeball in front of her.
"Absol, come out!" Serena finally shouted and threw a Pokeball in the air. Absol appeared next to her, turning his head from side to side in confusion. Only moments ago he had been in the Professor's lab with Garchomp and the other Pokemon, but now he was in a completely foreign place, and it confused him.
"Absol, it's good to see you again," Serena said gently, and Absol slowly turned his gaze in her direction. He looked at her for a long moment and for a moment Serena was afraid that Absol had forgotten her. But then suddenly Absol's expression melted into something like a smile and he strode calmly over to Serena, finally sitting down beside her.
Serena smiled broadly and slid off her chair onto the floor beside Absol. "I've missed you," she said, burying her hands and face in Absol's soft fur. She hugged Pokemon for a long time and Absol, not a fan of such close contact, let her do it. He realized that Serena had missed him and showed it in this way.
However, Serena did not have time to enjoy the joy of Absol's reunion for very long. Suddenly, there was a blood-curdling scream in the lobby of the Pokemon Center and Serena looked up from Absol's fur as if she had been electrocuted. She looked around in confusion, searching for the source of the scream, until she finally found what she was looking for.
The same girl who had been talking on the phone before the incident with Oleana was now pointing somewhere in horror. Her eyes were wide with fear and she had turned very pale. Serena quickly turned her gaze in the direction the girl was pointing and now her eyes were widening too.
Indeed, the vases of flowers on the tables in the lobby had begun to levitate of their own. They floated above the tables, causing the people in the lobby to stare at them in horror. Some of the vases floated right over the heads of some people, eventually spilling their contents onto the unfortunate person.
Absol had also noticed that something abnormal was going on. He had started growling in a warning and Serena felt his muscles tense under his fur. Then suddenly he jumped away from Serena and darted towards one of the floating vases.
"Absol!" Serena exclaimed, sprinting after her Pokemon. She saw Absol leaping towards the floating vases, growling angrily as he did so. People were staring and pointing at him and Serena tried desperately to understand what was going on.
"Serena, do you know what's happening?" Ash's voice suddenly came from beside her, and Serena turned her head slightly to see her boyfriend. She also noticed Greninja and Braixen, who had somehow magically appeared from somewhere. "And where did that Absol come from? I've never seen it before."
"He's mine, I'll explain later," Serena replied to Ash's questioning expression. "And I don't know any better than that. I just heard a scream and then I saw those vases floating. And then Absol rushed over and here we are."
"Oh, I see," said Ash, looking at Absol, who was trying to grab the vases floating in the air. It didn't work very well, though, and eventually one of the vases floated above Absol's head and dumped its contents on him. Absol cried as the icy water and bouquet fell on him and growled angrily.
But the next thing took Serena, Ash and everyone else in the lobby by complete surprise. After the vase had done the trick, they quite clearly heard a cackled laughter from somewhere nearby. And Serena was sure that the laugher was laughing because the trick was funny. This was not the case with Absol, however, as he formed a purple ball of energy with his mouth and hurled it towards the ceiling, apparently hoping it would hit something.
Serena thought that the Absol's Shadow Ball was completely useless, as it would only hit the ceiling of the lobby and cause a small explosion at best. She was therefore very surprised when the Shadow Ball seemed to hit something invisible, which made a very loud noise. It seemed that the invisible thing was fluttering in the air from the impact, and Absol, who obviously knew where it went, was watching it very closely, ready to hurl the next ball at it.
"It's probably some kind of Pokemon, if Absol's move did damage to it," said Ash, also eyeing the seemingly empty space. "And it's probably either a Ghost- or Psychic-type Pokemon, since Shadow Ball seemed to do a lot of damage to it. So, Greninja, use Night Slash!"
Greninja immediately obeyed and lunged towards... something, a sword made of dark energy in his hand. Serena felt that since Absol was her Pokemon, she too had to participate somehow. So she shouted, "Absol, Shadow Ball, again!" and Absol quickly repeated the move he had just done.
Somehow, and Serena had no idea how, the two moves hit again, and this time something clearly fell out of the air. It crashed surprisingly lightly to the floor, causing the nearby people to move a step away. Now that the creature had apparently fainted, its invisibility faded away and they could see what had caused the vases to float.
It was Gengar. It was lying on the ground and its eyes were now spirals. Ash, Serena, the Pokémon and everyone else in the lobby stared at it, wondering where it had come from. Was it perhaps wild, or did it have a trainer somewhere looking for it? Finally, Ash crouched down next to it and wondered aloud, "I wonder if this Gengar was the one I thought I saw last night when we came here?"
"Maybe," Serena said, watching carefully to make sure her Absol didn't cause any more damage. This one seemed to be staring at Gengar sternly, and Serena could already tell that this Absol had a very strong protective instinct. "But what I'm more curious about is where it came from. I mean, Gengar is not very common in the wild."
"Maybe I can help with that," someone said, and Ash and Serena turned to look. Nurse Joy was monitoring the situation from behind her counter, and she gave them her familiar smile. "There's a website where you can report if you've lost your Pokemon. We could see if anyone nearby has lost their Gengar."
"Good idea!" Serena said and Ash nodded. "Yeah, that sounds good," he also said and stood up.
They walked over to Nurse Joy's counter and Nurse Joy tapped out the address of the website on her computer. Before doing so, Serena instructed Absol to keep an eye on Gengar to make sure it didn't run off anywhere, and Absol accepted the task confidently. Ash said the same to Greninja, and Braixen came with Ash and Serena to Nurse Joy.
Nurse Joy opened the site and a list of trainers and Pokémon that had disappeared or escaped opened up in front of them. Nurse Joy tapped in Gengar as the search term, Galar as the region and hit search again. The list was shorter now, but still included many Gengars. Serena felt a little sorry for the trainers whose Gengar had disappeared or escaped. Perhaps now they would find one of them and bring the trainer and Pokemon together again.
"No, too far, no, no, no...," Nurse Joy muttered as she scrolled through the results, and the lower she scrolled, the less likely Serena began to feel that Gengar's trainer would be found. Eventually, they reached the very bottom of the list and there were only a few trainers left. Just as Nurse Joy was about to say something about them, there was a rustling behind them and a warning growl from Absol.
They turned quickly and saw that Gengar had awakened. He looked around in confusion and Absol growled warningly in front of him. Greninja also looked alert and Gengar was clearly trying to figure out what had happened. Eventually he shifted his gaze to Ash, Serena and Nurse Joy and opened his mouth, apparently to say something. It was interrupted, however, as his gaze moved to Nurse Joy's computer screen and then his eyes widened.
He quickly stood up and glided straight towards them, going straight through Nurse Joy's counter. Absol was too distracted to do anything and Gengar had already reached them before he realized what had happened. Gengar instead seemed to be staring at one of the pictures of the trainers on the screen and Serena had a hunch that it was Gengar's trainer.
"Gengar, is this your trainer?" Ash asked Gengar and the Pokemon nodded. Nurse Joy clicked to enlarge the image and a picture of a dark-haired boy with a sad expression and dark eyes appeared on the screen. "He's from Spikemuth. Not too far from here," Nurse Joy read from the description and Serena looked up.
"Spikemuth? Isn't that where we're going?" she said and Ash nodded slowly. "Yeah. Hey, maybe we could take Gengar back to his trainer!" he exclaimed and Gengar seemed excited by the idea.
"Geng gengar!" he said nodding his head and Nurse Joy looked thoughtful. "That could work. Gengar can't travel in a Pokeball though, his Pokeball is probably with his trainer, so we can't catch him," she explained and Ash grinned. "That's not a problem. Pikachu always travels outside his Pokeball, don't you, buddy?" he said and the Pikachu on his shoulder nodded and said, "Chu!"
"Very well, then," Nurse Joy said firmly, and Gengar looked pleased to hear that he would soon see his trainer again. Nurse Joy then decided to let this trainer know that he would know to expect them, and Ash and Serena stayed behind to watch as she wrote a message to Gengar's trainer.
While Nurse Joy, Ash and Serena were doing this, Lucario, Kirlia and Dragonite entered through the back door of the Center. Lucario was in a bad mood, as Kirlia had started a very nasty argument with Dragonite, and he had been forced, against his will, to act as something of a referee in it. So, right now, he was in a very bad mood, and the fact that the first thing he saw was a smirking Greninja didn't help matters.
"Why does that frog look so pleased with himself?" Lucario muttered, eyeing everything in front of him suspiciously. His wonder only increased when he saw a stranger Absol on guard near Nurse Joy's counter, as well as an unknown Gengar behind the counter. His confusion only increased when he noticed Gengar and his now-slightly-less-dense Master talking and Gengar even smiling at something that Master said.
"Ooh, Gengar! I love Gengars, they can be funny, unlike the grumpy Lucarios," said Kirlia, hovering (literally) next to Lucario. Lucario furrowed his eyebrows when he heard this and said coldly, "Well, this grumpy Lucario wants to know where that Gengar came from, so if you'll excuse me, I have some things to do." And having said that, he marched straight over to Nurse Joy's counter.
"He's a jerk, isn't he?" Dragonite said as Lucario left, and levitated herself over to Kirlia. "A self-centered idiot who thinks he's supposedly better than everyone else."
"Yep, and I like it," said Kirlia, grinning in a way that made Dragonite wonder what the hell was going on in Kirlia's head.
"What's the deal here?" Lucario asked as he marched over to Nurse Joy's counter. He eyed everyone suspiciously, especially Gengar, and tried to convince Braixen that he was better for the job than the stupid frog. "Why wasn't I told anything?"
"Oh, Lucario," said Ash, noticing the Pokemon's arrival. "I wondered where you were again. I thought you'd run away."
"I thought about it for a while, but I ended up staying here anyway," Lucario grunted, then pointed his finger at Gengar. "But what's the situation with the bogeyman? Is he the new team member I have to tolerate?" Lucario glared at Gengar, to whom Braixen explained something that made Gengar laugh.
"He's Gengar, and he's going with us all the way to Spikemuth," Ash replied, frowning as he saw Lucario eyeing Gengar dangerously. "And I will not accept that you are immediately picking a fight with him. He's not even my Pokemon, we're taking him back to his trainer who lives in Spikemuth."
"A free rider, huh?" Lucario scowled, but didn't pursue the subject any further. Instead, he glanced at Absol, who had been sitting in front of Nurse Joy's counter like a statue the whole time, shooing away all humans and Pokemon with his mere gaze. "And what's the problem with that Absol? He looks stiffer than an iron bar."
"He just takes his job seriously," Ash replied, but in his mind he secretly thought Lucario was right. "And he's Serena's Pokemon, and arrived recently, so I don't know anything more about him."
"Why is everything happening when I'm away?" Lucario grumbled, leaning his hands against Nurse Joy's counter. He watched sourly as Gengar and Braixen talked about something, and wondered what it would be like to live a carefree life somewhere far away in the mountains, where he wouldn't be bothered by smug Kirlias, crazed Dragonites or stupid frogs, also known as Greninjas for some reason. And speaking of frogs, he now noticed out of the corner of his eye how one of them stepped up beside him.
Greninja stood beside him on the counter, looking awfully smug. It didn't help that Braixen noticed this, rushed over to him and kissed him on the forehead. Lucario tried to ignore it, even though he felt his hands clench into fists. Instead, he concentrated his thoughts only on the thought of standing alone on top of the mountain, the wind in his ears and not a single frog in sight...
"Okay, everything should be ready now," said Nurse Joy and Lucario's thoughts were interrupted. "Gengar is now ready to travel with you."
"Great!" Ash said happily and Lucario said sarcastically, "Wohoo," rolling his eyes as he said it. No one noticed, however, so Nurse Joy continued, "I've informed Gengar's trainer that you're coming there, so he knows to expect you. You will meet him at the Spikemuth Pokemon Center, I have also informed Nurse Joy at that Center. So, everything is now in order."
"So, it's time for us to move on," Ash said and Serena nodded as well. "Yep. Let's just get the stuff and tell Gou and Chloe and then we can head towards Spikemuth," she said happily and Ash smiled broadly.
"Yeah! Spikemuth, here we come!" he exclaimed and Serena giggled at his excitement.
After a while, the group stood outside the door of the Pokemon Center, ready to set off for Spikemuth and their next adventure. They had just handed Nurse Joy the keys to their rooms, as well as Ash's rented suit, which Nurse Joy had promised to return to the store. So everything was in place and they were ready to move on.
Gou and Chloe had rejoined Ash and Serena, and were now listening intently as Serena explained to them about Absol and Gengar. Ash, on the other hand, was only listening with one ear, for he had noticed Lucario and Greninja, and a certain thing suddenly occurred to him.
"Wait a minute," he muttered and marched over to the two Pokémon. "You two! I've got a job for you!" he shouted and the Pokémon turned to look at him.
"And what might that be?" Lucario asked with a raised eyebrow and Greninja folded his arms. "I'd be curious to know."
"It's that you two will be keeping Gengar company for the next few days," Ash announced and the Pokemon looked a little confused. He explained further. "Do what you want, as long as you do it together."
He let the matter sink into the Pokemon's skulls for a moment, and when it did, the reaction was immediate. "WHAT?! Am I supposed to babysit the bogeyman with that -" Lucario exclaimed, pointing at Greninja, "- frog?! No way! No way, no way, no way!" He looked horrified at the very thought and Greninja's reaction was very similar.
"Yes way, it's part of learning to work together," Ash said firmly and Pikachu on his shoulder nodded too. "I'm not going to listen to a single grunt or whine on the subject. So, forget your ego for once and do as you're told." And with that said, Ash turned and left Lucario and Greninja to glare at each other and stop themselves from strangling each other.
"Are you absolutely sure that's a good idea?" Serena asked a little worriedly as Ash returned to her, Gou and Chloe, nodding towards the two Pokémon who were now marching acidly towards a slightly confused Gengar. "They look like they're ready to kill each other at any moment."
"Nah, they'll be fine," Ash said nonchalantly and Serena sighed slightly. But then she shook her head slightly and smiled a little. "Well, shall we go then?" she finally asked and Ash nodded.
"Yeah! Spikemuth, just wait, we're coming!" he exclaimed and so the party finally set off, leaving Circhester behind and wondering what adventures the journey would bring their way next.