A.N. Hey, everyone. I'm sorry it's been so long. Been going through some stuff. Still am, but I always make time for this ship. And we're in satogou week, so wynaut?
I was worried I wouldn't be able to write anything when the time came. But I couldn't find any information on the prompts this year. Which is either a sign there were none (in which case, shame on you guys!) or I've been incredibly lax in actually trying to find them (in which case, shame on me!)
Buuut, I did have the idea to revisit the prompts for Satogou Week from all the way back in 2020, the first time the satogou server organized one. As I only did two fics back then, the plan this time is to do five, and base them on the prompts from that week!
This story's prompt and quote are:
Synergy / "In life, it's not where you go, it's who you travel with." — Charles Schulz
Goh stared at the clock in his room despondently. Ash had said he was just going outside to train; why hadn't he come back yet?
"Maybe he was having too much fun battling and forgot all about us", Chloe joked from behind him, apparently reading his thoughts.
"Hah hah", he replied sardonically. Although, it was a possibility… his mind flashed back to when Ash went gallivanting with Leon instead of helping him catch pokémon like he'd promised.
"Well, I'm sure he'll return soon. I can wait a little longer", Goh said out loud, though his voice was strained.
"But it's almost midnight!" Chloe remarked.
"Details! That sort of thing has never mattered to Ash, has it?"
Chloe thought for a second. "I guess not."
"So he's going to be totally okay and come back soon, yeah?" Goh said, sounding more like he was reassuring himself than her.
"Uh… yeah", Chloe replied, letting a sweatdrop fall over her forehead. If Ash doesn't come back, Goh's probably gonna go crazy…
Meanwhile, in an artificial island far from Kanto…
"That was an awesome battle, Bettie! You should be proud you have such strong pokémon!" Ash remarked, walking with both his hands behind his back in a laidback fashion.
Bettie simply nodded. Ash had learned by this point that his new friend only occasionally talked, so he didn't mind.
"Sure was nice of Lear to set up this tournament so soon after you arrived, huh, Ash?" A red-haired girl commented as she walked alongside them.
"Yeah! Although, I'm sorta getting this feeling I'm forgetting something… something really important…"
Bettie looked at him quizzically. She seemed like she was deciding whether to say two different and yet very similar things. Ultimately, she spoke up with "What could it be?"
Pikachu took this opportunity to speak up. "Pikapi! Pii pika pi Pikachu pika pikachu!"
It sounded rather urgent. "Oh, wait. Pikachu is trying to say something."
"You can understand him?" Tina asked.
"Sometimes. It comes and goes!" Ash explained. "It sounds like… something about Golett?"
The color fled from Pikachu's face. "Pikapiiiii!"
"Or maybe Golem?"
"Pii! Pii, Pikapi!" Pikachu continued to shout.
"Or Goodra! Yeah, I kinda did forget about Goodra for a while when I was traveling in Kalos…"
Pikachu looked very frustrated and like it wanted to get as far away from Ash as possible.
Ash shrugged. "Oh, well. Whatever it was can probably wait!"
Turning toward a random direction, Ash makes a doofy grinning face, forgetting entirely about his previous feeling of forgetfulness. This is about where the episode theme would start… you know, if this was an episode.
6 AM, the next morning.
Chloe sleeps soundly. Her hair is already a mess, but she'll worry about that when she wakes up.
Eevee, being the ball of energy that she is, is only kind of asleep. That's why she reacts to the creaking sound of the door opening first.
"Eevui?"
"Chloeeeee…" an extremely depressed-sounding voice calls out.
Thinking it's some kind of apparition, Eevee jumps up and yells for its trainer. "Eevui! Eevuvui!"
"Rmrmgrh… just a few more minutes, mom", Chloe complains while rubbing her eyes.
"Chloeeeeee…" the voice calls out again.
"Whaaaaaat…?" Chloe tries to say, interrupting herself with a yawn.
"What if he really isn't coming back?"
"…Oh, for crying out loud." Chloe looks at the open door and sees who is on the other side. Goh is staring at her, looking much worse for wear than how he was last night. "You can't even spend a day with Ash gone without having a panic attack?"
"You're the one who said that thing about Ash forgetting us… forgetting me!" Goh replied.
"I didn't specifically mention him forgetting you, though-"
"But that's where my mind went to, okay? Now say something that will calm me down! It's your responsibility!"
Chloe yawned once again. "It's… six in the morning, Goh… your boyfriend will come back, you just have to be patient…"
"I've been incredibly patient!" Goh protested.
"No, you… *yawn* haven't", Chloe said, before wrapping herself in as many blankets as possible, and snoring loudly.
Goh raised an eyebrow at this, and for a moment he wanted to complain that he knows Chloe doesn't snore so obviously she's still awake… but he knows he's already bothered her enough. She's right, he's really not being patient. Ash isn't even awake at 6 AM, after all. He's probably just sleeping at a friend's house, that's all…
Or is he? The only friend Ash has who lives in Vermillion is… well, him. Unless… Unless Ash got so completely lost he ended up in a completely different region?
No, no, that's silly, Goh tells himself. A completely different city, maybe, but even Ash isn't so distracted that he'd end up in a different region!
Meanwhile, back to the different region Ash had found himself in…
"If there's one thing I don't like about Pasio is how there's no wild pokémon", Ash groused. "What's the point of exploring if there's no new pokémon to catch?"
"For what purpose?" A tall man with silver hair asked. "You already have a full six-pokémon team. There is no need for more, is there?"
"But it's just that there's this one friend of mine who'd love to be able to catch a whole bunch of new pokémon…" Ash pouted.
"But this 'friend' of yours isn't here, so why should I care?" The older man questioned. "Everyone else is perfectly okay with bringing their own pokémon. And plus, invasive species are showing up all the time here, anyway!"
"I guess you're right, Lear" Ash replied while crossing his arms. "Although, now that I think about it… oh, no!"
"What now?"
"I completely forgot to tell Goh that I was here! He must be worried sick!"
Without even giving Lear time to respond, Ash darted out of the room, hurrying in the direction of the pokémon center.
"…Goh? What kind of terrible name is that?" Lear pondered to himself. "That's like naming your child after a pair of household utensils… or such. I pity whoever that person is."
"Urgh." Goh groaned.
"Ruki?" Grookey uttered, looking at his trainer in confusion.
"It's nothing, Grookey… It's just that I got a sudden feeling that someone out there was pitying me, and I do not like that!" Goh explained, making a pouty face. "Anyway, back to work…
Grookey squinted its large eyes at the strange device Goh was fiddling with. "Grooh!"
"My precious Ash-radar! This will help me find Ash for sure!"
And now, back to our regularly scheduled Ashnanigans.
"Professor Bellis, you gotta help me!"
"Nani?" Professor Bellis turned around. "Oh, c'est you, Ash. Que pasa?"
"I need to send a message to a friend back home", Ash explained. "But I dunno how to work any of the computers around here…"
"Mon dieu! But can't you use your Rotomphone to send your amigo this message, instead?"
"Yeah, it's just… I've been so caught up in all the cool fighting tournaments that…"
"Nyet… don't tell me… your Rotomphone's battery is muerta?"
"If you're asking me whether my phone's battery is dead, then yeah" Ash admitted. "I'm… not good at keeping track of these kinds of things."
"Va bene, I cannot refuse a trainer in need. Now, what is your tomodachi's name?"
"Goh!"
"No need to be impaciente, Ash", Professor Bellis chided.
"No, it's Goh!"
"Oh, so your tovarisch's name is Goh?"
"Da", Ash confirmed. "Er, I mean, yes."
"And do you know his number?"
Ash thought for a while. "Mmm… not off the top of my head, no." After all, he only ever had to use it once, to add Goh to his contacts list. Who could possibly memorize a string of eight random numbers like that?
Bellis put her finger to her chin, thinking. "It'll be very difícil to find him with just a first name, Ash. I'll try to see if he has any profiles on PokéBook or Rookidee, but I make no yakusokus!"
"No what?"
"No promises!"
"Ah, alright. Thanks anyway." With that, Ash waved goodbye to her.
"Come to think of it, maybe it would have been easier to ask if she knew Professor Oak or Professor Cerise, huh, Pikachu? Oh well."
Pikachu shrugged in response.
"Maybe I should just go home. We've already done pretty much everything we can here and I don't want to make Goh even more concerned than he probably already is", Ash considered. "Although…"
Ash's eyes wandered toward a poster on a nearby wall. "Dine-A-Max restaurant? Grand reopening?! Oh boy! Pikachu, we gotta see this!"
Pikachu sighed and made a long face at Ash. "Pikapi, pika."
"Oh, come on, Pikachu. We haven't eaten anything since we got here!" Ash retorted. "It'll be nice to try the local cuisine. Besides, maybe they'll have ketchup…"
Pikachu's eyes widened. That was an offer he knew he could not refuse. "Pikachuuuuu!"
"See, I knew you'd change your mind! Now let's gooo!" He shouted. "Huh... It's not as fun to say without Goh around."
Speaking of Goh, the other research fellow was currently traversing the seas on his Dewgong, trying to locate the missing Ash. Grookey was sitting on his shoulder, like usual.
"I feel like one of those clingy girls on TV, chasing Ash around like this", Goh admitted. "But, it's not like it isn't for a good reason, right? When I know where he is, I can deal with him not being around. It's basically his fault for not warning me, yeah?" He pleaded to his Grookey, seeing if the latter would assuage his insecurities about his behavior.
"Ruki!" Grookey exclaimed, pointing at the sky with its stick. He had not listened at all.
"Ah, why I am saying stuff like this to you?" Goh groused. "You're barely a toddler. You don't know what it's like to be separated from the one you love."
"Ruki!" Grookey repeated, still not paying attention, but trying to give the impression he was. He was busy looking at clouds and remarking on the ones that looked like Chloe's Eevee.
"Ash located! Ash located!" The Ash-radar cried out.
"Finally!" Goh shouted. "Looks like he went to someplace north to northwest of where we are. Head in that direction, Dewgong!" He ordered to the pokémon he was riding.
"Dewgong!" Dewgong uttered, before swimming in a completely different direction. It had just spotted a Milotic swimming nearby and had wanted to strike up a conversation with it.
"Hey! Pay attention to what I'm saying!"
"Dewgong? Gon… Dewgong", Dewgong apologized, although a bit half-heartedly. After all, he is being asked to chase after his trainer's partner instead of finding one of his own.
Goh looks at the Ash-radar with glee, thankful for its aid. "Oh, I'm so glad I took a strand of Ash's hair while he slept in order to build this thing!"
Then, realizing how what he just said sounded, Goh cringed. "Okay, maybe I am acting really unhealthy."
"Gee, this food really is amazing!" Ash exclaimed, gorging himself on curry and other snacks to such a degree that it was concerning. "I didn't know Pasio had so much to do besides battling."
The girl behind the counter glared daggers at him. While also stabbing a kitchen knife through the table for emphasis' sake. "Mebbe ya should try swallowin' it while yer at it, ya dobber!"
"Gloria, it just means he really enjoys your food", a feeble-looking boy told her. "You can forgive a little rudeness. Especially since you're… you're also…"
The boy gulped. His words died in his mouth as Gloria looked at him with pure venom. "I dinnae ask fer yer opinion, Vic! Bugger off!"
The young lad – whose name was apparently Victor - looked very appalled and quickly started walking away. "Terribly sorry about her!" He yelled at Ash before vanishing in the horizon.
Displaying no reaction to all of this, Ash eventually did swallow all the food in his mouth, though who knows if it was because Gloria told him to. "I wish Goh was here with me. I bet he and Cinderace would love to try out this 'order roulette' gimmick you guys have."
"Speakin' o' whilk", Gloria interjected, "Ya ordered fifty plates o' curry, an' that dinnae come cheap, sae pay up!"
Ash quickly looked at his pockets. "Uh… can you put it on my tab?"
Didn't look like it. "IDJIT! Ah'm nae runnin' a charity 'ere! Away' wi' ye, ye lavvy-heided bampot!"
"Uh… what?"
"Git oot afore ah make you regret it, ya numpty!"
"Huh?"
"Oan yer trolley, mate! Yer maw's a beetroot an' yer da sells avon!"
"WHAT?"
"BUGGER OFF!" Gloria screeched, clearly on the verge of taking that bottle of Irn-Bru she was holding and whacking Ash upside the head with it.
"Oh… okay!" Ash stammered and swiftly got to his feet. "Run, Pikachu! Like your life depends on it!"
"Pikaaaa!"
After they were a significant distant away from the restaurant, Ash took a moment to catch his breath. "Geez, if she wanted me to go, why didn't she just say it?" He asked rhetorically.
"Wait… go? Oh, yeah, Goh… I wonder where he is?"
Sitting down, Ash looked unusually forlorn. "I never realized how much less fun I was having without Goh. Traveling to a new region without him… it doesn't feel right anymore."
"Pikapi…" Pikachu patted Ash's arm with his paw, comfortingly.
"And I used to be so good at it, too! I guess that's what happens when you fall in love. Mom always used to tell that the world feels completely different when you're with the person you love. But I didn't really listen because I didn't like that kind of mushy talk", Ash reminisced, chuckling slightly to himself.
"I wonder how he's doing right now? I hope he's not freaking out too hard about me being missing!"
"ASH, WHERE ARE YOU?!" Goh screamed. "IF YOU'RE HERE, SAY SOMETHING!"
The crowd of people in front of him said nothing, aside from giving him a few weird looks.
Goh was sweating. He didn't like making a scene in public like this, but at this point, he was willing to try anything to find Ash.
"ASH, IF YOU'RE LISTENING, PLEASE SHOW YOURSELF, OKAY? I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU ALL DAY!"
"Excuse me", a quiet voice interjected. "Did you say you're looking for Ash?"
"Yes, oh god, thank you", Goh cried out in relief.
He turned to look at who was talking to him. It was a girl wearing some weird green hiking outfit and her red-clad companion, who was wearing a severely unfashionable (albeit, Goh had to admit, very well color-coordinated) outfit.
"Please, could either of you point me to where he is? I'm his boyfriend and I've been worried sick about him. I don't know why he didn't tell me he was here." Goh was surprised at how easily he described Ash as his boyfriend. Maybe he was just too panicked to do his usual 'aloof' routine.
The boy looked at him with a neutral expression, which made Goh feel rather intimidated, before pointing toward the nearby beach, without a word.
"Uh… are you saying that's where Ash is right now?"
"Yeah!" The girl interjected. "Sorry, Red doesn't really do words."
The red-clad lad (try saying that five times fast) nodded in confirmation.
"Okay! Thank you!" Goh replied, before racing to the beach so quickly he looked like a blur. "I'll make sure to repay you some daaaaaay!"
The girl smiled. "So that's Ash's boyfriend, huh? Not surprised. He did remind me of someone else who also drove his boyfriend crazy with his sudden disappearances…" She said, looking at Red significantly.
Red remained silent, though he did pull his hat over his face in embarrassment.
Ash paced around the beach. Some of his other new friends looked at him with worry.
"Aren't you tired of hanging around here? It's getting late…" Said Rosa, a peppy twintailed girl who was apparently Pasio's resident tour guide. "You should rest at the Trainer Lodge, and wait to see if Professor Bellis can get in touch with your friend."
"Well, I guess that sounds like the reasonable thing to do", Ash pondered, his brow furrowed. "But I just feel like I could be doing something more proactive. I mean, if I had money, I could pay for the next boat to Kanto, but no, of course I never remember to bring a wallet with me!"
"Do you want me to buy you a ticket, then?" Brendan, a tough-looking boy from Hoenn, asked him.
"Nah, it's fine. You're probably almost as broke as me, anyway", he replied. "Goh was always the one who took care of money stuff for me…" He commented, his eyes watering. "I miss him so much."
"Gee, don't you think you're overreacting a little? I'm sure this 'Goh' friend of yours knows you're okay!" Said Lucas, a trainer from Sinnoh.
"Yeah, all this pining you're doing for your missing friend is starting to remind me of Hilbert. Don't tell him I said that, though!" Nate, a Unovan trainer dressed almost head-to-toe in blue, stated.
"…Thanks, guys. I'm glad everyone here is so encouraging. But the thing is, he's not the missing friend, I am! If he gets worried, it's my fault!"
"If he is worried, I'm sure he's trying just as hard to reach you as you are trying to reach him", Calem, a sharp-dressed Kalosian boy, remarked. "That's how love is, after all."
"…Yeah, you're right! Thanks, pal!" Ash replied with a smile.
"Pal? You didn't forget my name, did you?" He asked.
"Uh. Yeah, actually", Ash admitted. "I'm sorry, but half the boys here just wear all-blue clothes and it's very hard to tell you guys apart!"
Rosa laughed. "It's totally true! When I met Calem I thought for the longest while he was Nate's big brother because of that."
"Exactly!" Ash laughed back, while Calem and Nate looked at each other, for the first time noticing their resemblance and unsure of how to feel about it.
"Anyway, how about I go check out that Trainer Lodge of yours while I wait…" Ash yawned. "Man, it really is late, huh?
"Yeah, it sure is… they say around this time is when the ghosts start coming out…" Said Elio, one of the two Alolan trainers present.
"Ghosts?" Ash repeated. "But Pasio shouldn't have any ghosts because it was only created recently, right?"
"Yes, that's true", Selene, another Alolan trainer, replied. "But even so, lots of trainers report strange occurences… unknown monsters prowling the woods… people appearing and vanishing without explanation… wailing voices crying out your name…" She elucidated while making tons of 'spooky' hand gestures.
"Ooh, creepy", Ash said with a smile. "But I've already dealt with millions of ghosts, so I'm not scared-"
"…Aaaaashhhh…" A distant voice cried out.
"Huh?"
"Was… was that your name in the wind, Ash?" Lucas asked.
"…Assssshhhhh!" The voice repeated.
"It is!" Nate cried out in fear.
"THE STORIES WERE TRUE!" Rosa shrieked. "EVERYONE SCATTER!"
"Wait, guys!" Ash protested. "I recognize that voice!"
But they were all already gone. So much the better, though…
...Because now, Goh and Ash could have their reunion in private, which Ash knew was just how Goh liked it.
"Aaaashhh!" Goh cried out a third time, his voice clearly sore. "I can't believe it! I've finally found yoooouuu!"
"Whoa, hey!" Ash was surprised when Goh hugged him as soon as he got to him. It wasn't like him to be so openly affectionate; he must have really worried the poor boy sick! "Awww, I've missed you too, buddy! I'm really sorry I didn't say anything… I got lost, and…"
"No, it's fine", Goh interjected, trying to dry his tears. "I'm sure you had some reason. It's my own fault for not being able to handle you being gone."
"I still tried as hard as I could to contact you, though!" Ash explained. "I just got caught up in the moment and ended up letting my Rotomphone's battery die… but it's not your fault for worrying, Goh! I'm your boyfriend, you should have been the first thing I thought of when I got lost! Instead, I just got distracted like usual. I'm sorry for making you feel bad."
Goh nodded. "It's alright. I guess we both like to worry each other to death, huh?"
"Yeah, you get worried and then I get worried about you getting worried… it's kind of funny when you think about it", Ash commented. "But at least now, we don't have to keep worrying, because you're here now, and we're together again!"
"Speaking of here… where is here?" Goh asked. "I didn't even bother looking it up on Goodra Maps because I was so dead-set on getting to you!"
"Oh, it's a place called Pasio", Ash explained. "It's pretty cool, but I ended up doing most of the cool things alone since you weren't here."
"Oh. Well, maybe next time, then. Any neat suggestions of things that might interest me?"
"Well, there are tons of fun locations to explore", Said Ash. "Sometimes people even catch legendary pokémon that happen to wander in here. Oh, and there's this fashion designer that makes pokémon-inspired outfits for everyone!"
"Fashion designer? Pokémon-inspired outfits? This, I got to see!" Goh declared. "But for now, let's just go back home. Your mom is probably wondering where the heck you went!"
"Oh, I really doubt it! She's used to this kind of thing." Ash noted, smiling idly as they headed back to where Goh had left his Dewgong.
"Heh. I guess I'll have to get used to it too, someday." Goh replied. "Maybe then I'll stop freaking out and doing things like building Ash-radars..."
"Ash-what now?"
"Oh, nothing!" Goh blushed as he quickly hid the device behind his back.
The night sky looked beautiful as Ash and Goh drifted across the sea, back to Kanto.
"Ruki, Ruki!" Grookey continued to point at the clouds just as he did before.
"I wonder what he's seeing?" Ash pondered.
"Probably the shape of something he really loves", Goh speculated.
"I guess even pokémon can't help but think of the things they love when they're distant."
"Wow, you actually said something profound there, Ash!"
"I try."
"Dewgong…" Dewgong nodded, gazing at the open sea ahead with a downcast expression. If only he could have caught up to that cute Milotic…
Wait! Could it be? "Dewgong! Dewgoong!" Dewgong repeated. A glimmer of two familiar antennas caught his eyes. Surely, it must be her!
Dewgong's eyes turned into cartoonish heart symbols as it raced in a direction quite opposite to the one Goh had told it go, attempting to reach its newfound love.
"Dewgong, what are you doing? Nooooo!" Goh screeched.
"Roookiie!"
"Ah, geez... I hope we don't end up getting lost in yet another region!" Ash complained to himself.
But… then again, it wouldn't be so bad if that happened. After all, he had Goh with him now.
A.N. I hope you guys enjoyed the story. I'm quite proud of it… which is a good sign, considering how long it's been since I finished anything.
There was just one thing I ended up not implementing, which was that Professor Bellis was going to make a reference to using 'Deciduolingo' to learn foreign languages, but as I rewrote that conversation, there wasn't a natural place to add it in. Speaking of her, if her constant interjections of foreign words into her dialogue was really grating, then I did a good job! :D
See you (hopefully) tomorrow or the next day, at most. Oh, and also, here:
OMAKE: Naomi and Helena's Review
"Wow, that sure was a neat story! It was cool how the writer made sure to spotlight so many of Pasio's cool features!" Naomi said. "A shame we weren't included, though.
"And even though we're both original creations of the game, too, just like all the other trainers that showed up!" Helena grumbled, seeming depressed about it. "Was it because our models are just from generic NPC trainers?"
"Maybe", Naomi shrugged. "It's too bad - would have loved to get an autograph from the world champion!"
"Although, I did like watching all those poor kids getting scared of ghosts. It's so delightful to see that so many people respect the power of the supernatural world!" Helena exclaimed, doing a complete 180 from her previous sullen demeanor.
"Uh… I don't think 'respect' is the word here. And in the end, it was just Goh, not a ghost!"
"Hehehe… what does it matter if it was a ghost or a… Gohst? Eh?" Helena joked with a wide, expectant grin. "Eh?"
Naomi looked at her like she was disappointed.
In response, Helena went right back to looking depressed again. "…I'll see myself out."
