Here we go, another chapter. Small tip, if you send me a question on a guest account, I cannot answer you. As I've told you before, I don't have the most regular update schedule, please try and put up with me, I try my best. Asking me to update isn't going to make me write any faster either. I'm sorry if it's not fast enough, I try to bring you the best I can come up with and it's not something I can force out of me. So with that in mind, please enjoy this chapter! I've also put in a couple of details you might want to keep in mind for later :) As for the travelling partners, it could take some time but they'll be included, of course.
Well, now he is in Kalos and it still sucks. Ash is now left outside of the police station -he would have exploded if he would need to remain between those concrete, lifeless walls, surrounded by people who either don't look at him at all or with damned pity for his tears brimming at the edges of his eyes- wondering why he's ever made the effort to try and get better if this is what's the result of it. He might've just stayed at home, save himself and his uncle the trouble.
But it's too late now, he's in Kalos… all alone. Sure, he can call out his other pokémon, it's hardly a bother to anyone but he's pretty sure his pokémon would panic to find him in this state, without Pikachu. So the teen doesn't bother, though he does reach out to touch them… and frowns.
'Six?' he thinks and bends down to see not five but indeed, six pokéballs on his belt. And no, he doesn't keep Pikachu's pokéball on there, it's an act of trust, a bond between the two of them which means the world to Pikachu. And it's not a regular pokéball either.
Ash swallows hard, he's still very upset even though he knows the police have already found his pokéhelp. Apparently, there is a CPS tracking system in Pikachu's vest and after a worried look at his own outfit, the Officer Jenny assured him that there was no CPS system in his. Didn't need to, she said, when there was already a buddy system on his wrist tracking his every move. The panic at losing Pikachu and going to the police will have been registered too but honestly, the boy doesn't want to talk about it. He's had that conversation a couple of times before, where he would tell someone what Pikachu means to him and how empty he feels when the pokémon isn't there. And it always somehow ends up with someone asking him would he would do if Pikachu would pass away. Like, how did that compare?
It's not fair, he knows that non-evolved pokémon don't live past an age their evolved version definitely lives past. But it's Pikachu's preference and Ash has always feared that, should he force Pikachu to evolve -which he won't, ever- his buddy will turn into one of the asshole Raichu's they've already met. No, he won't even consider it but in turn, he would very much like people to shut up about the mortality rate of a typical Pikachu not evolving. His Pikachu isn't a typical one, after all.
"Mr. Ketchum?"
The boy perks up.
"Yes?"
"You have a phone call."
Ash sags, he would've really expected them to have retrieved Pikachu by now. But then again, he's still thinking that an innocent person took Pikachu. What if it's Cassidy and Butch? Or some worse Team Rocket members, other than Jessie, James and Meowth, whose moral compasses usually sabotage themselves in some way or another? What if the person who took Pikachu and won't return him? By all accounts, Ash would've totally expected that person to take off the vest at all and not lure a butt load of police officers towards them but it's really the kind of gag someone who doesn't know what a pokéhelp is would do. And that will already have something to say about their level of intelligence.
"… Mr. Ketchum?" the officer repeats hesitantly and now the teen shoots off the bench.
"Yes!" he exclaims but falters at seeing her shocked expression. "I'm sorry, I was thinking," Ash adds sheepishly, scratching his neck in awkwardness.
"This way, sir," she says and steps out of the way, completely ignoring his bumbling behaviour.
The teen follows her, a bit wary of his surroundings as he glances to his left and right, seeing nothing but steel and glass and a couple of people who don't look half as miserable as he feels. His anger must be tearing up his Aura world by now, it's honest to God so frustrating to realise how helpless he's become. All these abilities and there wasn't a single one that was useful right now.
"Go ahead, sir," the officer says, snapping him successfully out of his thoughts. Again.
"Thank you," he answers with a curt nod but stares as he sees an overly familiar face in the videophone. "Lance?"
"Hello, kiddo."
"Why'd they call you up for?"
"They said you were upset."
"Yeah, duh-"
"Ash, listen," Lance says, looking oddly bemused by the situation. "What exactly happened?"
So he explains what happened, after splitting up with Alexa and going to see the Prism Tower. How mindful he was not to bump his own knee into his chin and the likes. His uncle doesn't smile when he hears about the little scene he made, though.
"Ash, do you know what 'quoi' actually means?"
"No?"
"It translates to 'what' or 'nani' as you would have learned it."
"N-nani?" he repeats, utterly bewildered because he knows what that word means very well. "I… they were trying to help?"
"Don't feel too bad about it, kiddo."
"Do you… think I should go and learn a bit of French, then? I mean, I've blown them off and all that, while helpful people are so rare."
"Oh, no, Kalos natives are curious and usually well-mannered. I doubt they will have understood what you were saying, officer Jenny claims you looked and sounded very panicked. But as for the French, I suppose you could go and talk to professor Sycamore, he's the best person to ask any question to. I mean, he talks a lot and if you show any kind of interest in it, better be aware he'll keep talking too."
"That's fine, really, I mean…"
"Try not to feel too bad, Ash, it's not your fault."
"But they even called you? I mean, if only everyone was made aware of what's up with this thing I'm wearing, the thing Pikachu's wearing… I wouldn't have needed to ask for any help at all. And you're so far away, what could they possibly expect for you to do? They can't even find a little Pikachu in this spider web city of their so I'm at a loss why…" the teen trails off, feeling a little lost. "N-not that I'm not happy to see you but I remember that you asked me to try not to get in trouble too quickly and I've only been here for three hours now and look at the mess I'm in."
"It's you I'm checking up on. I don't want you to remain upset about something that could have been avoided. And by that, I mean that Pikachu have been classified as cable chewing rodents for at least a decade so it's just ill practice to use tools that a pokémon recognises as a stress reliever. You'll be getting a different cable installed, one that Pikachu won't be tempted to bite."
"I wanted to get him something to bite instead but by that time, someone had taken him already."
"It's okay, Ash. Just know that I'm pleased you didn't act out as much as it would be considered rude. And by that, I mean being loud and brash is very disrespectful towards anyone there."
The teen just nods but he has to bite his lip because stealing a pokémon feels very disrespectful too, to him at least. Still, this isn't anyone but the idiot who decided to take Pikachu. And Lance's time is really valuable so even if Ash isn't sure why they called him, he's kind of glad to see a familiar face here. Maybe it's because he's done dealing with these kinds of misfortunes on his own, maybe he should call his uncle more often and not give others the chance to get to the man first.
"I'm still really sorry. I never meant my stay here to start this way, I really wanted to do this right," he pouts.
"Don't worry about it, kiddo, as long as you're doing alright, you're good to go. And it doesn't matter if I'm close or far away from you, teleportation exists and I knew what I signed up for when I agreed to be your full-time guardian. And I'm proud of it too so don't get it in your head to suffer alone now, you hear me?"
"Okay," the teen chuckles. "I thought you really hated teleporting, though."
"I do but I'll do it for you, any day, no matter what," Lance answers. Ash almost chokes up at that, it may sound as corny as it can get but he's rarely heard these things being voiced to him.
"Thank you," he manages to utter without letting his feelings shine through.
"You're sure that it's just Pikachu you're being nervous about, though? I know there are some shady things happening in Lumiose and while they're never serious criminal organisations, I've always felt like Diantha has let things go too far."
"… In what way?" the teen asks because he knows there's something but it doesn't feel human. Then again, that doesn't mean humans can't be involved in it but if it was, then he should feel a lot more than just a little uncomfortable, right?
"I highly suspect that one of the Kalos elite four has connections with a certain criminal."
"Can I know what they look like? So I know I should avoid them?"
"Better not, you're quite safe if you keep acting like this, kiddo, don't worry about it. I just thought it's something that you should be aware of, that's all."
Yes well, so far for Alexa's honesty too. But then again, does she even live in Lumiose City? Ash would never have guessed that the main Team Rocket base would have been in Celadon, with a looong tunnel creating an underground path to Viridian, the tow right next to Pallet.
"Steven will be with you shortly, I've told him where he can find you so you won't get lost in Lumiose," Lance says, though his eyes glance at something next to the videophone's screen. "Also, I think you've made a little mistake with your team selection," he adds, holding up a pokéball.
"… Oh?" he frowns, figuring that he has made a mistake, as he's got six pokéball on his belt now... but it doesn't add up, does it? "But that's Krookodile's pokéball? I thought I had clipped it on…? How could I…?"
"I think you took Gible instead of Krookodile."
"Oh no! And I've promised him I would take him to the Badlands! I'll have to switch him in-"
"I can take him to see some sand, you know?" Lance then says and it confuses the teen. "I know Gible are quite hard to handle and yours seems particularly attached to you. Should it evolve into a Gabite any time soon, it's quite common for them to… have some difficulties adapting. Krookodile, however, doesn't have to undergo evolution any longer and he can be pretty sure you'll come back to him eventually. Gible, however, are prone to melancholy, most Dragon-types are and the last thing you want is for your Gible to evolve while melancholic."
"You think he's gonna evolve soon, then?"
"I do. I also have a suspicion that Gible switched out the pokéballs because of that."
Ash almost asks Lance why Gible didn't tell him that but realises in time that there's a bit of a language barrier between him and pokémon still, no matter how pleased they both are to see each other. Still, he checks his belt and yep, he sees the little holographic sticker he's attached to Gible's pokéball, just because the pokémon seemed to like it. He chuckles and smiles as he looks up again.
"Alright, I guess that's settled, then."
"Try not to be too mad, will you?"
"Mad? I'm not mad at all, the only reason why I didn't take him was that I thought he was gonna miss your Gible."
"The entire line of Garchomp are solitary creatures, not even the babies like each other. I wasn't kidding when I said that it was rare for two Gible to like each other, Ash," the man states and looks highly amused. "Besides, I think it was my Gible who is interested in you as well, he's right here, by my feet. Do you want to see him?"
"Sure!"
Ash figures he's easily amused, by the time he's done coddling with the pokémon through the screen, an officer knocks on the door. And that's when he realises his uncle managed to calm him down completely. How cunning of them, how did they know Lance could do that? Never mind all that, though, the officer says that they found Pikachu. No matter how excited Ash is, he doesn't forget to say goodbye to his uncle, who still looks very amused as the screen goes black and the call ends. Maybe the waving Gible looking very cute was the main reason for that but the teen isn't sure.
"Pikachu!" he exclaims as soon as he spots the pokémon in the arms of another officer. Pikachu doesn't remain in her arms for long, though, one jump and he's back in Ash's arms, purring as soon as he's landed safely in between them.
"I take it that you will want to have both your vest and his vest reconnected as soon as possible?" the officer asks softly as if she didn't want to disturb the reunion between them.
And to be honest, Ash wanted nothing more than to have that vest gone and out of his life but he knew that it was no longer an option. His reaction to Pikachu's disappearance would've only added to the reason why they ought to never separate the one from the other… and now that the officer who carried Pikachu in is so close to him, helping him out of the vest, he catches a strangely familiar smell around her. It actually smells… singed.
"I'm sorry if Pikachu attacked you, officer," he says and it seems to catch the officer by surprise.
"That's… very kind of you. I'm sure the pokémon would not have attacked me if you were present."
"Chu ka."
"So you only shocked her a little, huh?" Ash chuckles as he pets Pikachu's head. "You have a strange way of apologising."
"Pichu," the pokémon says, looking at the officer, who seems even more bewildered.
"… It's… okay?" she utters, vest in hand.
The teen figures that she's not heard a pokémon ever apologise and even while Pikachu doesn't look an ounce sorry for what he did -understandable, of course- it still counted for something. Ash knows that most trainers don't bother teaching their pokémon manners but Pikachu's going to have to realise that his actions have consequences, especially since he is free to attack anything he sees as a threat. There is always a chance that someone he's attacked will become angry, especially if Pikachu's judgement is wrong so if that's the case, it's better to have a cute trick ready, such as apologising. Maybe that could defuse the situation a bit.
Just as the officer leaves the hall, after telling him to go take a seat in the row of seats attached to the wall, the sound of an explosion rocks the entire building. It's really loud which means that it's close by, so Ash doesn't even bother taking a seat. He's not going to sit here and wait until he gets blown up. It's ironic that, once he gets outside, Pikachu holding onto his shoulder just like he used to without the vest, that he nearly bumps into Steven, who looks alarmed but kind of calm too.
"Are you okay?" the man asks, steadying him as he grabs a hold of the boy's arms.
"I'm fine, the explosion didn't come from inside the building."
Steven nods and leads him out of the way, the entire police station is starting to evacuate and they didn't want to be in the way. But Ash suddenly gets an ominous feeling and turns to look at one of the nearby buildings, blinking when he starts to realise what will happen.
"It's in professor Sycamore's laboratory," he says, turning at the Champion with a startled expression on his face.
"That's right there," Steven says. "Should we go?"
"I… It'll come towards us."
As eerie as it sounds, Ash is completely right, they're first row witnesses to a Garchomp blowing a hole in the front of the house and then bursting through the beautifully carved doors, making them fall down the flight of stairs right behind the doorway. The pokémon storms out, onto the streets, looking mad as heck and the teen feels Steven's hand tighten around the arm he's still holding.
"Please let me help. I can help this pokémon, she's being controlled."
The Champion looks at him with a searching look but does let go of his arm.
"Let me help you."
"How?"
"You can't run," the man says and Ash frowns as he calls out a pokémon. "Skarmory can, like the best, actually and he's been very excited at the prospect of meeting you."
The teen doesn't think they have time for niceties but he humours the pokémon when it pushes its head against his hand. A metal purr comes from the creature, which makes him smile.
"Hello, Skarmory. Do you want to help me get to the Garchomp?"
"Skarr!" the pokémon chirps happily and gives Ash no time to doubt or think about his moral troubles about riding a pokémon when he's still quite capable of walking on his own strength. Skarmory pushes his way underneath his legs, in a very speedy manner too and he's sitting on the Steel-type pokémon in no time.
"Keep safe, Ash. Please?" Steven asks, face serious but sad at the same time. "I don't want you to get hurt."
"I promise, Steven, I promise. I'm good on abilities, I should be fine."
"Okay," the man says and nods. "Let Skarmory help you, okay?"
"Alright," Ash answers and gently pats the Skarmory's neck. "We'll be alright, I won't let you get hurt either, Skarmory."
The boy isn't sure why the pokémon and Steven chuckle at that but he has no time to ask, there is a raging Garchomp stomping through Lumiose at this very moment and he's not aware how fast a Skarmory can be.
Very fast, as it turns out, Ash's eyes widen as the pokémon shoots off, dodging people and potholes even faster and a whole lot more accurate than Pikachu. It's extremely exhilarating to ride this pokémon, it's so fast and incredibly smart, even by itself… Is this what it means to be a Champion pokémon? Skarmory seems to have absolute faith in its own abilities too, it stops as close as it can get to the Garchomp.
"Stop!" the teen cries out to the pokémon and holds out his left hand as soon as the Ground/ Dragon-type turns around to face him. He's not about to let Skarmory's effort go to waste and he knows he can overpower whatever's keeping this pokémon under control.
It seems to work, the Garchomp turns to him and its stance seems to relax as soon as it sees him. The influence of his left hand is clearly working, even as Ash approaches the pokémon as slowly as possible, the Garchomp is focussed on him. The teen keeps a smile on his face, not wanting it to feel bad, the situation is worse enough. All this ends up with him successfully reaching the pokémon and he manages to lay a hand on the Garchomp's head.
"There we go, buddy," he says softly, trying to muster as much sympathy as he can get to keep the pokémon calm. "It'll be okay, I've got you."
"Garrrr…" it utters, clearly suffering. A bolt of electricity rages through the device that Ash notices is around its neck, which makes him guess that it's not working like it's supposed to. Normal working devices don't have these faulty symptoms like electric charges around them anyway.
This makes him a little wary to reach his right hand towards the device but he figures he's safe with Pikachu right there on his right shoulder. If it gives off electricity, it'll get attracted to Pikachu's ability Lightning Rod and honestly, he's somewhat used to getting shocked by now. He tries to remain confident and smiles at the pokémon when he sees that it's looking at him.
"It's okay," he repeats and now he's not sure who he's trying to keep calm.
It's hard to keep his left hand on Garchomp's head and reach the right over towards its neck, it's a bit of an awkward position but he perseveres slowly. He needs to get this off the pokémon, it's not right, it's-
Ash paused and he feels the Garchomp jerk too. From out of nowhere, the sound of helicopter blades cutting through the air comes in, very loudly and it startles him a lot.
"What the h-"
He doesn't have time to think, other than to grab Pikachu when he's suddenly grabbed around his middle and pulled from his feet. The last thing he sees before he hits his head hard and blacks out is Steven's worried face.
Lance is sitting in a chair in the meeting room generally used for meetings of little importance. His niece has already been roasted due to her inability to just be a teensy bit lenient towards a kid who didn't know any better -he swears that Ash has given her a certain idea of a level that is almost impossible for any other child to reach up to- and thus, so far, no surprises have been announced yet, leaving him quite bored. He's happy with the idea of having a silent rest of the day, he could have done without the call from the Kalos police force that early in the morning. It's still nothing but a miracle that his boy didn't ask him to come back to Johto, as the police over there have really let him down, even with all the scaremongering about the 'consequences of stealing a pokéhelp' but then again, according to the most recent update he got from said police force, Pikachu had been retrieved so all was good. All Lance wants to do right now is to relax a little, get his own nerves under control and enjoy the cup of coffee with Mr. Goodshow's droning on the background being white noise to his thoughts.
He can't help but wonder why his aggressive Gible turned into a right angel after spotting Ash on the videophone's screen and in turn, the teen had been completely taken with the tiny dragon. Like, he got it, Ash loves pokémon to the point where the mere sight of one will cheer him up, especially if it's happy with his attention too but still… That very same pokémon who had been all cute and nice while the boy was talking to it, had made a very serious attempt to nip at his fingers right after the call ended and dammit, it nearly got him too. So yeah, his nephew's pure magic that even transcended through screens, as far as he's concerned.
Everything seemed so blissfully normal as soon as Ash isn't in the picture either and it's a bit jarring for him, mostly because Lance is very aware of the changes the teen's arrival in his life has brought on. For starters, people like him a lot more and ask about him and the boy quite commonly. The man isn't sure what he should answer, though, Ash has barely gotten time to enjoy his stay in Kalos and Lance doesn't want to tell everyone what happened in Kalos the moment the teen set foot on Lumiose or else Diantha's going to get it big time. Agatha's taken her role as godmother pretty serious, after all. All Lance hopes for is that the teen's greatest challenge will be the battles with the Gym Leaders… but somehow, he's a lot more worried about all the rest. The boy is clearly extraordinarily dependant on the Pikachu he's been travelling with for a good while and with Pikachu being equally as protective of the teen, it might be hard for anyone to approach and befriend Ash when the pokémon could defend his trainer from whatever harm they could bring to him. Lance can understand where the idea to protect him from others comes from, Ash never does things halfway and the moment he befriends someone, the man figures these people have a piece of his heart, meaning that the boy's foresight might also count for them.
The last thing he would want for Ash is to end up in a bout of depression or worse while he's so far away from him and like, fail what he's been striving towards. That being said, does the teen still want to go anywhere? Lance would understand if not, he would much rather have Ash journey a bit further from home and then come back after a couple of days. Not… a whole year or so. But that's why the boy's been signed up to get as much help as he can get, right? Lance is pretty sure the teen will end up taking public transport from city to city, town to town and yeah, it might end up making him see fewer pokémon and meet less people. Still, that's an advantage too, bad people are included in that package deal.
'Steven's with him, though,' Lance reminds himself as Mr. Goodshow drones on and on about infrastructural issues in Diantha's design of how the battle arena is supposed to look like. 'He's hardly Arceus himself but he's likeable and Ash trusts him.'
He's settled comfortably in that idea and waits until Mr. Goodshow announces a small break so all of them could catch a bit of air before the next part of the meeting, Not that this promised to be anything special either but these things just needed to happen.
"You look troubled," Agatha remarks. "Are you alright, Lance?"
He blinks, he hadn't noticed that she had come to stand right next to him.
"O-oh, I'm just… a bit concerned. Ash's journey started out to be a bit upsetting but I think he's fine now."
"Upsetting? What happened, then?"
He recounts the story, catching the other elite's attention -it was a meeting for both Johto and Kanto, after all -but they don't say anything, they just listen. As Lance talks to Agatha, who's frowning at him, he can feel his phone buzz but he pays it no mind for now. He just wants to know why she's frowning at him at this point. Everyone he knows should be aware he's in a meeting anyway and if it was Ash calling him, he would know because he's selectively unmuted his number so a particular ringtone would sound out if his nephew called.
"What's the matter?" he asks.
"It's just, Ash sounds very dependent on Pikachu. A bit too much, I feel."
"You can't erase the history they have together," he answers, trying to defend the teen who isn't here to hear it. "For a good while, Pikachu was the only one actually listening to Ash, not making fun of him. Even if it's just a tiny rodent, that's something Ash won't ever forget."
"Yes but Lance, unevolved pokémon don't exactly get old."
He swallows hard, it's a reality he doesn't want to face nor does he want to talk about, not with anyone and especially not Ash. He knows, though, always has, that's why he noticed Ash from all other trainers. Still, giving a pokémon the chance to live the life they picked out themselves is the most honourable thing you could do but still… the shock the teen could get from losing his starter pokémon could be enough for him to stop… what exactly? Lance isn't sure, he doesn't want to think about it, he can't or else he'll go back to Pallet and hurt the professor who actually saddled the child up with a pokémon like that.
"Pikachu's alright still, though, so there's no reason to remind the kid about the mortality rate of his trusted partner, thank you very much," Lance answers and to effectively end this conversation, pulls out his phone.
He blinks in absolute confusion when he reads the last message Steven has send him.
-Lance, for the love of Arceus, answer your bloody phone, I don't want you to find out what's happened through the news-
Stupid thing to say, the first thing Lance does is to actually open his news app to find out what the hell Steven is on about. And boy, does he find out what's happened? It's headline news but he almost crushes his phone in his hand when he sees a picture, a zoomed-in one of his boy falling down the highest fucking tower of the entire world-
"Lance, you look ready to spit fire," Will comments, which is odd because usually, the young man could never be bothered to talk to him. And Karen, who usually keeps her distance from him, is now right beside him, looking over his shoulder at the news still displayed on his phone.
The man would say something about the uncharacteristic behaviour of these two, if only the desire to squeeze his phone to bits wasn't too big to left unguarded. He's very upset, not just at the fact that, after everything he did to help this kid, the first thing Ash did was jump off the highest tower he could find but what the hell was the teen doing without his vest? The one that would strap the fucking Pikachu to him so he didn't have to fucking jump at all?
"I'm going to kill-"
"No, you're going to explain what's up with this reaction of yours," Karen says and surprises Lance as she takes his head in her two hands and turns it away from the phone so he's looking straight into her eyes. "You're not good to anyone mad, especially not to… Oh, but isn't this your boy? What's his name again?"
She's only glanced at the screen of his phone and already recognised the teen, which really isn't…
"Yes… Yes, that's Ash."
"Why is he falling off the Prism Tower?" she asks and he can see Agatha's expression change the minute the question leaves Karen's mouth.
"What?" the elderly elite trainer growls.
"Keep calm, the both of you," Bruno huffs and this surprises Lance too.
"I… I think he… jumped after his Pikachu. I don't know what happened exactly but he… the photograph does explain it all, doesn't it" the man answers, sounding defeated and shrugs. This picture is going to remain burned in his vision for a long time.
"Steven is there with him, isn't he?" Lorelei pipes up. "Call him, he will know."
"He damn well should, he went there to keep Ash safe!" Lance huffs and pulls his head out of Karen's hands to focus back on his phone.
"Put him on speaker, won't you?" the Dark-type elite trainer asks, still remaining close to him.
This sounds like an excellent plan so that's exactly what he does, especially since it can give all these other people the chance to roast the man who was supposed to keep his boy out of trouble.
"Thank Arceus, you've finally called!" Steven exclaims, taking the man by surprise -a lot of people are acting out of the character he's gotten to know them as today but then again, Ash is getting the gold this time, by jumping off that fucking tower. "I need you to listen to me before you condemn me to-"
"Did he survive?" Agatha asks and Steven pauses a bit before answering.
"Yes, just knocked out. He did something really weird on his way down, which slowed him down and Skarmory caught him. The poor thing wanted to help so badly he forgot he's pure steel all over, so when Ash landed, he knocked his head against Skarmory's neck."
Lance doesn't like that, he wants to talk to Ash, ask him why he wanted to risk everything for a little rodent… but he knows it wouldn't be fair. That little rodent is all Ash has from his old life. Sure, he's got other pokémon but again, with Pikachu not going into a pokéball, the pokémon was there to witness everything, whether Pikachu or Ash liked it or not. He doesn't speak up though, he leaves Steven to explain himself because he really wants to know what's up and judging from the fact Agatha looks like she's going to spit fire soon, he figures he's not the only one feeling that way.
The man explains that he had met Ash without the vest, that there was an emergency with a Garchomp suddenly going rogue and that Ash wanted to help. That came as no surprise but when Steven told them that the teen managed to calm down the rogue pokémon and managed to approach it, nearly getting the damned thing sending the pokémon into a frenzy off the Garchomp's neck, there was a bit of disbelief. Not Lance, though, he knows. And oh, he's so happy the teen didn't get lost to that horribly high jump.
"But then a helicopter, probably from the press or something, came in hovering close by and the sounds of the blades must've startled the Garchomp and snapped it straight out of the spell Ash put it in. But when it became startled, the Garchomp took a hold of Ash and took a run for it."
"Straight to the top of the Prism Tower, huh?" Lance utters, already knowing that, one way or another, Ash would not be able to be blamed for what he had done. Damn it.
"Yes. There was a lot of panic, apparently, the Garchomp belongs to professor Sycamore and got controlled by the foreign groups of criminals. I wasn't told who, just that there were two offenders but the police isn't happy."
"Understandable, a teen jumping from a tower on public TV isn't exactly the kind of advertising any region wants," Bruno deadpans.
"Jump? No, no, Ash fell, Bruno," Steven says, sounding a bit confused.
"Wha?" Lance utters.
"So you did check the news before you called me, didn't you? Goddammit, Lance, I knew you would be jumping to conclusions but you're wrong, Ash didn't jump, he fell. A corner of the Prism Tower broke off, presumably by one of the Hyper Beams Garchomp fired off, to defend itself. It was Pikachu who jumped after Ash."
"Does… Pikachu know Fly?" Will asks and pauses when a deadly silence follows afterwards. "… Surf?" he adds, very softly and looking a bit desperate.
"No, Will," Agatha answers solemnly. "Pikachu doesn't know either of those moves."
The man wants to sob. The idea of a tiny pokémon jumping after their trainer, knowing well enough that they would not be able to be of any help whatsoever… That's a kind of tragic respect that cuts straight through his heart. It makes this entire incident even worse now too, somewhere, Lance would've understood that Ash would've wanted a way out, there's almost no way he could ever become the same person with the same impeccable health and abilities as before… but to think that, after all this effort to get where he stood, the boy would have fallen to his death due to some tragic accident? With only his Pikachu giving the only thing it could think of to help and that was to jump along with him so he wouldn't be alone?
"Lance?" Steven's voice asks. "Are you still there?"
"I am, yes," he answers and he's impressed he manages to talk without his voice quivering.
"I think it's best if you distance yourself from this incident a bit, I mean, Ash is fine, he's probably only going to be a bit bruised-"
"Like hell, I'm distancing myself from anything, I'm going to Kalos and I'm going to have a good talk to Ash about what happened and if he decides that this was enough, I'm taking him back with me!" Lance bellows, anger spiking because how dare Steven claim that his boy is going to be okay after falling from such a high tower? "What the hell kind of bullshit has already happened to the kid in these few hours he's fucking landed in Lumiose? Do you honestly think I'm going to stand by and watch while that region is destroying all the hard work of several professionals as well as Ash's absolutely resilient and amazing willpower?"
"Of course not but I want you to release that this was just an accident and not something Ash looked out for to meddle with."
"I don't care whether it was an accident or not, it should never have happened in the first place," Lance grumbles and ends the call right then and there, no longer in the mood to hear excuses.
All he wants to know now is whether Ash is okay and if he's feeling like continuing because this is all some kind of madness he's never seen before. And he doubts whether this is something even his nephew would regard as normal. As he looks up, Lance sees that Will's pulled out his own really big and funky green to purple shifting coloured phone and is looking at something pretty intently.
"… Whoa, this isn't what I thought off when Steven said the kid somehow managed to slow down his fall," the young elite trainer says, looking straight at Lance as if he expected that the man would look at him. "He disappears halfway through the fall and then reappears, only to disappear a bit further down to then start falling a couple of metres above ground, straight onto Skarmory."
He squints his eyes at Will, he's not in the mood to listen to someone dissecting this accident either.
"Whatever," he says, unwilling to discuss this any further. "I'm leaving."
"We'll alert Charles of the emergency," Lorelei says and nods. "I hope you'll find Ash in good spirit, it would be a shame should anything deter him from continuing… Including your anger, Lance. Let him have his say too, please? I would hate for you to make the same mistake I made, even if you make it with all the best intentions."
"… Yes," he sighs. "Yes, of course."
"Take care of yourself too. And if he comes back home, let me know," Agatha says. "Ash will need all the help he can get if his spirits are so low he can't continue, after all."
Lance doesn't particularly like how everyone else is also expecting his boy to come home with him too but Ash has always excelled at making a fool of everyone who thinks he can't do something. Including a lot of medics, doctors and professors. He still remembers dr. Deare staring him down after they had found the reason for the seizures after he had told her that he would not stand in Ash's way to start travelling again. She told him that it would be nearly impossible and look at the kid now, huh? Well, if Kalos would stop putting him through mortal terrors, that would be nice but no… No, he needs to hear the boy tell him that he wants to continue. He doesn't trust Steven to talk for Ash, he knows the man has a way with words and his boy is still heavily influenced by people he trusts. And it's not as if Steven is a bad person but if he's going to be lending out his pokémon to help Ash get into trouble, then he's not someone Lance wants to have near his boy, that much is sure. As such, he books the first flight to Kalos with the intent to have a good talk to Ash and see what's up with all this absolute madness the kid's had to endure so far.
"Ah, putain, he's angry?" a voice says and even in his slightly dazed state, Ash recognises the panic in this man's voice, even if it sounds a bit muffled too.
This person clearly isn't in the same room as he is and as he blearily opens his eyes, he's greeted by his Pikachu snuggling into his cheeks, letting out the purr that could darn well cheer him up from the deepest, darkest thoughts. Oooh, he loves this sound so much but still… he remembers how awfully close he came to never hear it again. Don't get him wrong, he's not dense, he remembers Mewtwo's less than subtle hint at how Aura users only die once but that's not the case with Pikachu, is it?
Although… Looking at his buddy's eyes, Ash can clearly see that same, crescent shape in the white reflections in Pikachu's eyes, the same ones he has on his hands. They're just as subtle as his but to him, it's a sign he's somehow laid a claim on the pokémon. He hopes Pikachu doesn't mind and even if the Aura signs in his partner pokémon's eyes have a different meaning than what he's given them, it puts his worries to rest because he's going to have nightmares about Pikachu jumping after him, straight to what could possibly be a messy if not deadly situation. The boy doesn't even want to think of what would have happened if he hadn't thought of going into his Aura.
His attention is drawn to something on the right and when he looks, he sees the tiny Dialga stand on what seems to be a table functioning as a nightstand. Ash blinks, he feels guilt coming off it in waves and he's not too sure what to make of that. So he takes his purring pokémon in his arms and goes towards Dialga, determined to find out what's wrong. Honestly, the pokémon looks really guilty too but that could just be his imagination.
"Sorry…" is the fleeting feeling Ash gets when he stands close to it and it confuses him.
"Why?" he asks, out loud but not loud enough to startle anyone outside of the room and lays his hand on top of the Dialga's back.
"I should have been faster, I would have caught you. You should never have needed to experience that kind of mortal terror."
"Nonsense," the teen says.
He would much rather have people think that he's a weirdo than have Dialga spawn in the middle of Lumiose and cause even more panic than the raging Garchomp. Even if he just fell through a portal or something, people would've realised the connection with the legendary pokémon and that's something he desperately wants to avoid. Mostly because he knows that he's a weakness to them, the moment anyone realises that they'll come to help him whenever he's in trouble, could spell absolute disaster, especially if the knowledge falls into the wrong hands.
"I am so sorry, dear Chosen, we have now also become a weakness to you. What use does it have if we cannot help you?"
"Oh no, no, that's not what I expect from you, I mean, my friendship with you is something priceless."
"What is friendship that cannot be counted on?"
"A fleeting one. But isn't a listening ear not a kind of friendship you like? Is the way I'm listening to you not something you enjoy?"
"I do, I do," the pokémon persists.
"Then why would you want to risk this good feeling by appearing in broad daylight and endangering the both of us when you know I appreciate this too?"
"I have never experienced any form of love before, what am I supposed to do?"
"Be happy," Ash answers and shrugs as he looks at Pikachu. "It's all I've ever wanted for my friends."
"Is it truly that simple?"
"Being happy isn't always as simple, though. Or are you right now?"
Dialga bends its head in defeat but the boy knows that it means well. He's not angry at the pokémon either, the thought never occurred to him. He's not even angry at all, Ash isn't sure what he's feeling right now. The feelings he felt during his fall off the Prism Tower will probably reoccur in his nightmare collection of all his misadventures, he doesn't need to reflect on this to know that he had been terrified. Still, he remembers Skarmory and how it ran to catch him as he reappeared for the second and last time, a good five metres above the ground. He's not seen the pokémon other than today and still, it showed such a determination to help him… Was this what Dialga meant by being useful? If so, Ash could understand but no criminal is dumb enough to go and try to steal a Champion's pokémon.
And if so, Steven is the least of their issues, it's the man's friends and the pokémon itself that'll pose the biggest issue. He remembers the exhilarating feeling as he rode the Skarmory, he knows that trying to control the pokémon would be a whole different ball game and it's not one he would want to play. Then again, he already has Skarmory's respect so he doesn't need to play anything.
"One day, I will learn what makes humans do such stupid things. One day, I will understand that stupid thing called love. But today is not that day and tomorrow most likely will also not be."
"There's no reason to be in a hurry, though, you've got all the time in the world."
Even if it wasn't a pun directed at the pokémon's abilities, the statement still got a chuckle out of the Dialga, who pressed its head against his hand and disappeared after the shortest of purrs. Ash isn't sure what to do now, though, he lingers a bit before deciding he doesn't want to be in this room any longer. He exits through the door and is met with the sight of a burly, shirtless man who grins at him.
"Bonjour!" the man says merrily and Ash can only give him the most sheepish of grins and a small wave as he stands there, looking like a fool. "Professor Sycamore's just left towards his laboratory downstairs," he adds helpfully and actually points towards a… half-destroyed looking set of stairs.
"Err… merci," he says and scuttles off, still feeling a little awkward.
The man is still looking at him too, he can feel his eyes on his back. And there are more people who stare at him, only a couple greet him but oof, Ash is happy to escape into a hallway, away from the stares. He actually checks his shirt for holes, the looks had been so intense that he feared they had burned holes in it. But no, no holes… In fact, he feels like today is a bad day for holes, he spots a couple through the walls -though he ducks because there is another set of builders and he doesn't want to see them- and now he feels like he's somehow responsible. The last time he came into New Bark, he had created a hole too so honestly… he was kind of done with this.
"-putian, this is really-"
The man pauses when Ash knocks on the door but it's useless to look like he hasn't just heard the man curse -oh yes, he might not understand the word itself but the tone conveyed that the man was properly frustrated, alright- through the already open door.
"Bonjour," he says, not knowing what else to say but he never thought it possible to see such a look of concern on a stranger's face.
"A-ah, mon petit, what… oh, what a horrible bruise on your little face, sacre blue," the man says, approaching him with his hands open to obviously cup his face but as soon as the man does so, something mechanical starts talking.
"Sacre blue, a very old French profanity meant as a cry of surprise or happiness." The Pokédex chimed. "The phrase originated from the swear words "sacré dieu". At varying points in history, this was considered to be taking God's name in vain which is forbidden in the ten commandments. It was then changed to 'bleu' which rhymes with Dieu. It is sometimes incorrectly referenced as referring to the colour associated with the Virgin Mary. Historically, blue was one of the colours reserved for royalty. As Mary is referred to as the Queen of heaven, blue began to be associated with her. Other sources propose it coming from old blasphemous curses relating to God, used from the late Middle-Age (some are attested as early as the 11th century) to the 14th (at the latest), with many variants: morbleu or mordieu, corbleu, palsambleu, jarnidieu, tudieu, respectively standing for mort [de] Dieu (God's death), corps [de] Dieu (God's body), par le sang [de] Dieu (by God's blood, the two latter possibly referring to the Eucharistic bread and wine), je renie Dieu (I deny God), tue Dieu (kill God)... Those curses may be compared to the archaic English [God']sdeath, sblood, struth or zounds (God's wounds). They were considered so offensive that Dieu was sublimated into the similar-sounding neutral syllable bleu. The verb sacrer has several meanings, including to crown, to anoint, to name someone [champion, best actor, etc.], and in the past, rarely in France but more common in French Canada, of swear, curse. Therefore, sacrebleu could be in modern French Je jure par Dieu and in English I curse by God, or the more used I swear to God."
Both Ash and the man look at each other, bewildered by the sudden inflow of information but the teen is more confused as to where it's coming from. But it's not done yet, though
"See also, ¡Ay, caramba!-"
"Ta gueule, toi, » the man grumbles and stomps off towards the desk where the mechanical voice is coming from.
"Ta gueule, an abbreviated form of 'Ferme ta gueule', a vulgar and offensive sentence translating into shut the fuck up."
Ash snorts but the device doesn't get a chance to continue, the man grabs the offensive thing and stuffs it very deeply in one of the drawers of the desk.
"Apologies, I work on something that would help foreign trainers master French. But I seem to have created a machine with a Rotom possessed mind instead," the man says.
"Sounds like great fun," the teen says but the man is already coming back towards him.
"Vraiment pas," he sighs and this time, crouches down. "Oh, that is a wicked bruise, does it hurt much?"
"I never even knew there was a bruise," Ash answers but as he brings a hand to his nose, he feels a terrible sting exactly where he's putting his hands. "Now I do," he adds with a slight hiss as he removes his hand from his face.
"Does it hurt much? Do you need ice?"
He's not sure how much it would help to put ice on his face and besides, he's usually pretty quick to heal, even with bruises. By all accounts, it should be gone by tomorrow or so but still, he didn't think it would be such a hard landing on top of the Skarmory. Well, it's completely steel so it's just his mistake to assume there would be any soft part on the entire pokémon.
"Euhm, can I first ask where I am?"
The man straightens and pulls a face, possibly only realising right now that he never introduced himself and took in a teen who wasn't aware where they were going at the time of their departure.
"I am professor Sycamore and you are in my laboratory in Lumiose City," he says, smiling gently. "Although you may have noticed that it is a bit banged up, I assure you it's quite stable."
"I'm not worried," the boy says, mirroring the man's expression easily. "Was it the Garchomp?"
"Yes, it is mine. The Garchomp, that is. Some criminals misguided my assistants and thought to steal my pokémon. And now they have disappeared without a trace."
Well, that sounds strangely familiar, it's almost how every encounter he's had with Team Rocket, or rather, Jessie and James ended up as. He doesn't press the matter, it's clear the professor isn't happy with the criminals -though he feels like those two, along with the Meowth, just have a strange moral compass, he's gotten more sympathy from them than from the whole of Pallet during his childhood- and the last thing Ash wants to do is link his arrival in Kalos with theirs. Chances are they're going to get busted soon if they keep stealing important pokémon, though but then again, they might just be that dumb to go for his Pikachu too. Which would be a right hoot, they would probably bring Pikachu straight to Giovanni and the GPS signal would lead the police straight to him. Not that he or Pikachu have a vest right now but still.
"Are you sure you are not in pain?" the professor persists, hands going for his face again.
"I'm not. Unless I touch it."
The man lingers a bit awkwardly but eventually settles on shrugging.
"Steven is upstairs, he told me he wants to talk to you."
"Oh, okay," Ash says, figuring the professor felt like he was going to leave. This is not the case, he's still got questions. "How's your Garchomp doing, then? Is she fine?"
"Yes?" professor Sycamore answers, blinking in confusion. "She did not scare you, did she?"
"Nah," he chuckles and waves the man off. "I've seen way worse and besides, Garchomp is still a dragon. Everyone can count on their lucky stars that most trainers are dumb enough to use TM's at all so that it's just a hyper Beam she fired off."
"Comment?"
Ash blinks, he's not sure he understood that but he figures he's going to need to explain his 'err' with TM's.
"TM's? You know what they are, right? Or aren't they a thing here?"
"Technical Machines, oui?"
"Yeah, them. They're not personal enough, I mean, when you travel and live along with a pokémon, they learn moves and abilities on the way. Those leave an impact, most moves need training and pokémon love the time they spend together with their trainer. And when controlled, memories often get in the way and moves learned along the way get blocked off. TM's, though… there's no feeling in them. Pokémon are just shown what they need to do, it's often easy… but it's also the move that the pokémon will possibly use against you when controlled."
Professor Sycamore looks at him with wide eyes and his expression is a bit… well, tragic.
"Have you…?"
"Yes," Ash sighs. "Thunderbolt."
The man nods in understanding but looks up, seeing someone behind him. Ash turns around and smiles at Steven, who also looks a bit sad.
"That's not something someone as young as you should know," he says.
"There's no one in particular you can thank for it, they're all possessed with the idea Pikachu's super powerful."
"He is but presumably only when he's with you."
"Well, you can come along then, to tell that to the next idiot who feels like controlling pokémon is a good idea," the teen chuckles.
"I might just do that but I fear your uncle isn't happy, Ash."
"I'm not either," he admits. "And I'm not scared of Lance, either. Is he coming here?"
"Yes, though there is a delay, a plane got into trouble and now he's seething in some airport in Unova."
"Oh, jeesh, he's quick. But isn't that the-"
"Wrong way? Yes, yes, it is," Steven sighs and rubs his face in a tired manner. "That's why he's so pissed. So beware when he gets here, he might work it out on you."
Ash heavily doubts that, this is probably just Steven trying to express the anger Lance might have initially shown at finding out what happened. And then again, there was nothing he could have done is he hadn't been lent the Skarmory either, that's all on Steven too. His uncle will highly likely recognise that too so if there's anything he fears he will see, it's disappointment. He's promised to try his best not to get in trouble and look at him now, huh? He hopes the rest of Kalos is a bit nicer, he's not sure if Lumiose City can ever redeem itself in his eyes.
"Anyway, you will probably have enough time to rest up and still have a bit of time outside."
"Enough time to go to a different city? What was it again? Santalune City?"
"Yes, that's the first Gym, as far as I can remember. Her name is Viola, she's a Buy-type Gym Leader," the man says and the professor nods along in confirmation.
"I know her name, I've met her sister in the plane I took here," Ash answers and pulls out his phone. "I bet I can make an appointment with her and still get there in time… Or is the public transport here no good?"
"No, it is excellent, there is a train directly to Lumiose into Santalune. If you wish to go into the forest, that is a totally different matter, though."
"Good, I'll see if I can catch that train later, then," the teen muses, scrolling through the list of appointments in Viola's agenda. Doesn't seem like she's strict, Ash notices that appointments are being added in the past slots so it's possible someone sprung a challenge on her.
He's not going to do that, he books an appointment at ten in the morning, figuring he can get there by that time. It's only a little after four in the afternoon right now -and he's amazed at how much bullshit has already happened to him in such a short while, which isn't like, promising for the rest of his time here at all but, whatever, he'll live- so if he can get to the train at five or at six by the latest, he can still check into a pokémon centre, rest up for the remainder of the day and then get some training in before going to the Gym. Yes, that sounds like a good plan.
"You're not deterred at all, are you?" Steven asks. "Not even that fall impressed you?"
"I've dived off cliffs before, if that's what you're asking."
"Willingly?"
"Do you think I'm suicidal? I mean, I have a lot of issues but that's not one of them."
"Some trainers go to extreme lengths to keep their pokémon safe, Steven," professor Sycamore says, clearly bothered by the change of subject. "I saw the effort Ash put into saving my pokémon so I have no doubt in mind that he is one of those trainers. And it is not nice to call them out on their empathy, mostly because their hands are forced into situations where they risk their lives. In their head, there is often no other idea than to try and save as many as possible and there is nothing you can do about that natural instinct."
Oh, but Ash likes this comment a lot, it explains perfectly what he's not been able to voice for as long as he's tried to explain himself. He's not sure how many people would have survived the daredevil stunts he's done in the past but he's comforted by the idea that he's not the only one who turns into a bit of an idiot with no regard for personal safety when someone is in danger.
"You can take that up to Lance, I'm not putting my foot in that," the man states, completely unimpressed.
"You don't have to." the man states simply, looking very unimpressed but smiles as he turns towards the boy. "I am forever grateful that you helped my Garchomp, Ash. I am in your debt."
"You don't need to do that, professor, I'm happy to help. Besides, you have other things to mind, I'm sure," the teen answers but the professor shakes his head.
"Buildings can be rebuilt and accidents with pokémon happen all the time. But it is not often that there are no casualties, you cannot repair what's irreparable, after all," professor Sycamore says with a shrug. "People won't be so scared of Garchomp now that she proved to still respond to kindness even through what the device around her neck was putting her through."
Yeaaah, that wasn't something Ash wanted to put his foot in either. He's pretty sure Garchomp would've totally blown someone out of their socks should they not have a beacon displaying their intentions as clear as day to it, much like he has -the fingerless gloves might hide the crescents on his hands for the people's view but pokémon spot them straight through, that much is sure. But still, it's not something he wants to talk about, he doesn't want to possibly scare both Steven and the nice professor like the reveal of his abilities did to Riley, especially not on his first day here.
"Alright, I'm glad I could help you, professor."
"Mais oui, let me know if there's anything I can do to help you, Ash," the man says. "I am ready to help you any way I can."
"Can you recognise Mega stones?" Ash asks, figuring he might as well catch in the professor's favour right away.
"I can try. There are a lot of them and I have a machine to read the power values of the stone, which is usually also a give-away to which pokémon can use the stone to Mega evolve. Do you have it with you?"
"I do. Is it bad that it's already in a setting?"
"Not at all," the professor says but looks a bit bewildered as Ash pulls out the long necklace from the safest pocket he owns in his big backpack. "Can I ask where you have gotten it from?" he asks when the teen hands it over to him.
"It was a gift from professor Elm, he send it to me shortly after the incident with the shadow pokémon at the Indigo League building."
"Ah," is all the man says and Steven remains silent as well, which is enough reason for Ash to believe that professor Sycamore has been told about him.
He doesn't mind, it saves him a lot of trouble, especially since he's more inclined to admit he's a troublemaker -due to having been called that for the longest period of his life- than explain himself and possibly confuse the man. The boy approaches the man who is fiddling with a machine carefully, curious about what he's doing. And as been told by Lance, professor Sycamore clearly enjoys the interest in the subject and allowed him to come a lot closer than professor Oak ever would. Not that Ash know what he's looking at, he just sees the machine going in overdrive straight away.
"This is an extraordinarily high reading," the professor mutters, staring at the pulsing lights on the device that kept growing more intense. "This can only be the Mega stone of a legendary pokémon, I feel."
"Really?" Ash asks, full of glee because he's thrilled to try it out with any of them-
"Yes, due to the colour and intensive Psychic readings of the stone, I feel like we are dealing with Mewtwonite."
"Huh?" he asks. "What do you mean?"
"Yes, Mewtwo is one of the legendary pokémon in Kanto, is it not?"
"Yeah but how's a natural stone possible for a pokémon that's been determined to be cloned in the pokédex entry?"
"That… is a very good question," the professor answers as he keeps looking at the stone. "One I don't have an answer for. But much like Porygon has come into existence, I feel like all these pokémon that are deemed to be 'man-made' have always had a part of Arceus' attention."
"So you don't believe that Mewtwo was genetically created by scientists?"
"All I am saying is that I believe some people think very highly of themselves," the man says and it makes Ash chuckle. "Even so, as a legendary pokémon, Mewtwo has not been treated properly by humans at all so I feel like this stone will never truly have any function for you."
"I would like it back, though."
"Oui, oui, of course, I wouldn't dream of taking it away from you, it's just that I feel it is sad that such a powerful object won't ever serve a purpose. You see, Mewtwo has never been spotted here, so the chances of possibly trying to ease the idea of Mega evolution on it… Ah, I would not attempt it, mon petit, it could be very dangerous. Psychic-types are usually a threat to people when angered and one with legendary deemed powers is best not approached at all, it owes nothing to humans, after all."
Ash is starting to like this man a lot and much to Steven's grace, he keeps his mouth shut about his 'drawing in legendary pokémon in like Mothim to a lightbulb' issues. Not that Steven has been caught into one of his legendary shenanigans but he will have heard about Lugia and Ho-Oh being rude. Him meeting a Mewtwo and befriending it isn't that far of a stretch, either, considering the tiny Dialga occasionally appearing on his nightstand; Nevertheless, if he didn't have as much history with Mewtwo, this would've been valid advice and the boy appreciates it a lot. The idea that this region's professor is a competent one is already making up for the trouble he's already encountered. Professor Oak wouldn't be caught dead talking about legendary pokémon with him, after all. But that was just the man's issue, perhaps, professor Juniper had no issues telling him about Zekrom when the legendary pokémon had sniped Pikachu.
"Thank you, professor, I appreciate this a lot," he says and as the professor smiles and nods his head, Ash has a firm suspicion that the man doesn't have a clue why he is that thankful.
"Not a problem, I am always ready to talk about things I specialise in, Mega Evolution is all part of my research and the pokémon who can Mega evolve are included in the said package, naturally. So if you have a question about it, you know where to find me."
"Yep," Ash chuckles, though hopes Lumiose City would be half as hospitable as professor Sycamore was. "Just one more thing before I leave, these Mega stones are completely natural?"
"They indeed are, if you pay close attention to your surroundings, you could occasionally find some. In fact, some can give off glints of light when you approach them at just the right time."
"Huh," is all Ash says to that because he would've thought these stones to be a bit rarer. Then again, if they're created naturally, there might even be more than one.
It doesn't really matter to him, he's happy as is and honestly, he doesn't know how to feel about Mega Evolution as a whole because Steven's Skarmory is pretty amazing without it too. He would much rather have his pokémon be that fine without the added effects like Mega Evolution and what not. There's nothing wrong with a normal but amazingly powerful pokémon, is there? No, as he leaves the laboratory -after getting the necessary updated pokédex from professor Sycamore- with the full intent to catch the train to Santalune, he figures that it's cool he's got Glalie's Mega stone but he's not actively going to search for the stone. Chances of him finding one that actually matches with any of the pokémon he's got would totally not be his kind of luck either. He's not sure whether he's actually found proof to show Mewtwo that it's meant to exist too but really, a naturally occurring stone that doesn't actually exist for every type of pokémon seems a bit farfetched to be a coincidence, right? Next time he sees Mewtwo, he'll definitely tell it about the stone and see what the pokémon thinks about it.
He's not exactly able to leave Lumiose as quickly as he imagined, an officer Jenny has tracked him down and leads him back to the office he evacuated from. They won't let him leave without another vest, it seems but honestly, he's pretty sure Pikachu won't be chewing this cable. Instead, there is a little chew toy hanging from Pikachu's zipper, which is really thoughtful of them. But still, this cable is apparently made out of Kevlar so this time, they're properly connected to each other. And his vest is now proudly displaying the message NOT to touch his pokéhelp too, in big yellow letters so he'll be at a loss if anyone touches Pikachu again.
"Lookin' snazzy," he comments, as Pikachu's vest is now the opposite of his.
While his is black except for the bright yellow letters, Pikachu's vest is bright yellow with bold, black letters displaying the same message as his, just phrased differently. And a sturdy clip that Ash recognises as mountaineering gear is holding onto the loop at Pikachu's left side, also completely yellow. He likes how they paid attention to details, it's all actual Pikachu yellow and matches quite nicely.
"Pika~" the pokémon on his shoulder states and settles onto the vest, clearly comfortable despite the jacket being something that Ash figures would be in Pikachu's way.
Ah well, it'll just be another hurdle they'll have to cross. But he's got so many powerful pokémon with him this time, it would be downright stupid to depend on his partner the whole time. Ash wants to give his other pokémon a go too, he's especially curious to see whether his uncle is right about Gible wanting to evolve. Wouldn't it be cool if it were to evolve during a tough Gym challenge? Not that he thinks it'll happen quickly, he's not going to send Gible out against a Bug-type Gym leader, it's only going to frustrate his pokémon because they're fast and skittish, everything Gible isn't. Glalie, however… Yeah, Ash figures it would be a good time to check whether his accuracy training paid off. One shot would be enough to shoot any Bug-type clean out of the sky but it's a different challenge actually hitting them.
He's actually looking forward to this challenge, here's to hoping the Gym leader was too. Judging from how Alexa had returned from her call, Ash figures that she had told her sister about him and he's not sure whether he left a good impression on the woman to impress her sister… Not that it matters, he's not here to cater to their whims either so they better be ready. No matter what his uncle will say to him, angry for whatever reason, he'll continue this journey, it's a challenge like the whole of his life has already been. And no matter if he now has an overly protective person to look out for, he's not all-knowing. The event with the Garchomp took him off-guard, though he had known what to do when the problem posed itself. Was that still his foresight now appearing as the guts and wisdom he's always felt during these accidents? Like, it had worked, if the helicopter hadn't appeared out of anywhere, he would've totally been able to get the collar off the Garchomp and he would never have seen the vista from the top of the Prism Tower. He'll have to pay a bit more attention, maybe his feelings over Pikachu's disappearance muddles his foresight… or had he been feeling so bad because he knew what was going to happen but didn't realise it in time?
'Stop it,' he thought, his head starts to hurt at the confusing set of thoughts.
There's no way he can be absolutely certain of what happened the moment he set foot in Lumiose but he knows that he passes a location that feels… off on his way to the train station. Ash isn't sure what's up with it, it looks like a normal enough café, if not for the bright red exterior. He sees the name of it and is set on remembering it, to check if his uncle knows anything about 'Lyssandre Café'.
As he sets foot into the station, Ash isn't certain whether the accident has made him a local celebrity, as an awful lot of people stare at him as he passes, or whether it's got something to do with the shiner on his face, perfectly positioned in the middle, around his nose. It doesn't get any better when he's in the train towards Santalune City, though the train conductor is a very nice lady who doesn't even pull a face as she scans his free-pass that clearly states it's because of a disability. He doesn't blink when she asks to check his trainer card, she doesn't even need to scan it, the card kind of looks like a clown too, with the stars and the colours, it fits perfectly with him. Besides, she's just doing her job and it doesn't take more than a second for her to move on to a person who does seem a bit nervous -and turns out not to have a ticket bought in advance. He's been told it shouldn't take long for them to arrive in Santalune City so he settles down, comforted by the idea that Team Rocket won't bother him when he's on a train.
End of chapter twenty-four