The scent was already making her mouth water, to say less of her companion. The warm, inviting aroma of cinnamon, graced with a hint of nutmeg filled the air around the campsite as Chloe stirred the pot. She gave the contents a test, bringing up a spoon and dumping it over to make sure it was sufficiently thick before adding in just a little more sugar.

The low rumbling of Ash's stomach drew her attention, making her smile. "Is it ready yet?" he asked.

Giving the porridge one more look, she tested it once more and nodded. "Yeah, I think breakfast is ready." She grabbed a small bowl and served the porridge into it, setting it down in front of Eevee, who very quickly jammed her face into the bowl to begin eating. "I made plenty, so eat up, okay?," Chloe said as she served another before handing it to Pikachu.

Ash reached into his pockets but pulled them out empty-handed. "Oh, uh, whoops. Guess I forgot I left everyone else back at Professor Oak's." He chuckled to himself, scratching the back of his head shyly.

Chloe frowned before handing Ash the bowl served for him. 'Why'd you do it if you'd only forget the next day?' was the thought that rose to her mind, but she decided that saying such a thought wouldn't do much to ingratiate herself with him.

Ash responded as though she had said it regardless. "I did it because the more they know each other, the easier it'll be for them t' work together when we take on the Ultra Class," he said. "Letting them spend time together like this'll only make those bonds stronger when they're gonna be tested in battle."

Chloe's eyes widened, her mind going back to his intense battle against Zeke over a week ago at this point. There was a craving in her to see another intense battle like that, or like Dragonite's clash with Charizard back at Professor Oak's. 'Not that I could have a battle like that with him. But there's so much passion in it when he does it. I didn't know Pokémon battles could be like that…'

Ash snapped his fingers, drawing Chloe from her thoughts as she stared at her porridge. "You're worried we're not going to be prepared, aren't you?" he asked. Looking into his eyes, Chloe saw nothing but confidence and the composure that came with the years of experience he apparently had.

And with the confidence in those eyes, she could easily shake her head. "No," she said. "I'm not worried about anything like that whatsoever." And before she stared into his eyes any longer or elaborated any further, she began spooning the porridge into her mouth. "Mmmm~!" It was better than she hoped, the cinnamon and nutmeg combining with the sugar to make for a very satisfying breakfast.

Sensing that the time for talk had ended, Ash began eating as well. After a spoonful, his eyes widened and then he began to eat even more quickly, shoveling the porridge into his mouth. In an instant, he was already holding out the bowl to her. "More, please!"

She smiled, though there was a hint of guile flickering in her green eyes. "Of course! Allow me."

She handed the bowl back to Ash and watched him eat, drawing great satisfaction that her cooking was something he was enjoying. 'There's a reason they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach,' she thought, the familiar sight in TV and movies coming to mind of a woman wooing a man with delicious food. It hadn't been the goal of coming out here, to cook for Ash, but Chloe thought it was a nice bonus to go along with everything else.

After breakfast, the camp was swiftly put away before the two of them began plotting their next move. Ash gestured around them as Pikachu crawled onto his head. "So, where'd you like to go? We have a lot of wilderness around here, and since you're a Pokémon Trainer, you can decide whichever way you wanna go!"

"Pikachu!" his partner cheered.

Chloe took her phone from her pocket and turned away from Ash. "Let's see… there actually was someplace I looked up before we came out here…"

Ash stepped close, leaning over her shoulder. "Wait, your phone has a map?"

She rolled her eyes, though he thankfully couldn't see from the angle he was standing at. "Yes. It's got a lot of features. I'm sure yours does, too. Only…" Her expression quickly dropped from hopeful to hopeless. The indicator on the screen showed her that there was absolutely no signal for her phone in this part of Kanto. Which meant, of course, her online maps were inaccessible. "...we're too far from town for this thing to get a signal. So no internet."

Ash blinked somewhat dumbly in her direction. "Which means?" he asked.

"No map."

She sighed and let herself slide down until she was sitting on her knees in the dirt where their campsite was formerly located.

Ash scratched his head. "Well… where was it that you wanted to go?" he asked.

"It was a mountain near Pallet Town," she explained. "It's called Mount Hideaway and I thought hiking my first mountain ever would be a good way to really experience the trainer's life, you know?"

There was a glimmer of recognition in Ash's eyes that sparkled like water rushing out of a fountain. "Oh, that? I know where that is!"

Chloe felt her stomach churn. 'Of course he's gone there before…' she thought, the spite creeping into her thoughts as well. When she resolved to be positive and try her best - to see if the seed of her feelings could take root and fully grow - she knew there would be times like this when he said something that set her on edge, but she tried her best to quash that negative feeling before it had a chance to grow.

"Not surprising," she said, trying not to sound bitter. "You are from this area, after all."

"Hehe, yup!" he said, adjusting his hat on his head as Pikachu did his best to maintain balance. "So I know the way that should lead us there!"

Chloe looked up at him before standing. "Wow, I was honestly kinda worried that it would take us a while to find it, but I guess I had nothing to worry about, did I?"

Ash nodded, looking around. "Now, let's see. You can usually see it from here, but the trick is there's a certain way you've gotta go…" He looked at the ground, seeing their shadows before nodding. "So, if it's before noon, and the sun makes our shadows look like that… That means…"

"Yeah?"

"...I'm actually not sure where it is."

Chloe groaned. "What? I thought you said you knew the way?"

He chuckled, putting a hand behind his head. "Well… you know, I do know the way to get there! It's just not a straight path there."

Any hope of a simple path to follow was blowing away like so much dust in the wind. "Okay, but you do know the way to it?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah! We've just gotta get to the top of a hill that I know is near here, and then we can see where the mountain is from there, once the trees aren't in the way anymore…"

There was a quiet moment. 'I should have brought some paper maps,' Chloe thought, mentally kicking herself.

As if he noticed Chloe's slowly declining mood, Ash held up his hands and laughed nervously, his eyes watching Chloe closely with their auburn warmth. "H-Hey! Getting a little lost is part of the fun of being a Pokémon Trainer. I should know! Pikachu and I have been lost tons of times!"

"Pikapi…" Pikachu sighed, which Chloe took as confirmation before Ash continued speaking.

"We'll head towards this hill and then when we're there, you can plan our route to Mount Hideaway, okay?"

'He says I'm allowed to choose and then he chooses anyway…' she thought, frowning at him before turning away. "Well, if it gets us there sooner, I'm not against it, right Eevee?"

Turning to her Pokémon, she crouched down and offered the Normal-Type a smile. "Vui!" Eevee cheered before taking the offered arm and climbing to the top of Chloe's head, once again sitting on her hat.

"Alright, let's get headed to this hill."

Ash nodded and began to lead them on their way. As they walked through the trees, Chloe noted how cool it was, despite it being late spring. They were walking through a heavily wooded area, which made seeing the sky, and thus any distant mountains, all the trouble that it was. She looked at Ash, who was playing pathfinder, looking at trees and trying to discern details about their position from them.

'Maybe I got mad at him a bit too quickly', she thought. 'It is kinda cute the way he's sniffing around the trees for moss or whatever. It kinda reminds me of Yamper.'

A sigh. The Puppy Pokémon was probably comfortably in Mrs. Ketchum's lap right about now. He had been sleeping on the couch yesterday morning, unwilling to follow the two of them into the forest, and there was a part of the city girl that envied the pooch.

Chloe opened her mouth to express the thought, but just as she did, there was a sudden explosion of thick, black smoke. The acrid heat brought Chloe to her hands and knees as she coughed, eyes watering. The unexpected motion brought Eevee tumbling to the forest floor, though she was also coughing and unable to see.

"Chloe? Are you alright?" Ash called out, a little too loudly perhaps since Chloe was right next to him.

"I'm fine I-Ah!"

As she began speaking, it felt like someone had come behind her and was trying to pull her away from Ash by yanking on her backpack. There was a moment of panic that coursed through her, making her heart race before she managed to shrug the bag off. She opened her eyes, seeing through the clearing smoke, and as she did, she heard a chorus of familiar voices.

"Ah-haha-HA!"

Looking up through the smoke and the trees, she did see a familiar cream-colored hot air balloon with the somewhat grotesque, grinning face of a Pokémon. In the balloon's basket were two humans and two Pokémon. The young man and woman standing in the basket were dressed similarly in their white uniforms with black gloves and boots, though the woman's crop top showed off her navel area. The two Pokémon were the feline whose face was on the balloon, and a blue blobby Pokémon.

In the hands of the man was something that Chloe could only describe as an extreme version of an extending arm with a grabbing hand on the end. And in the device's grasp was her backpack.

"Hey, that's-!"

Ash spoke up, his kind expression replaced with an angry determination. "What're you three doing here?"

The woman sneered. "If you ask what we're doing, you should prepare for trouble."

"And when you're surprised," the man followed up, "we'll make it double!" With that, he threw out a rose towards the two on the ground.

The woman climbed onto the side of the basket, taking a dynamic pose like a landing superhero, one knee down and perfectly balanced as her leg kept her on the basket without falling out. "To protect the world from devastation."

The man delivered a striking gaze as the woman's magenta hair whipped in his face from the winds. "To unite all people within our nation!"

The woman jumped back, turning her back to the lavender haired man. "To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

The man jumped, now back to back with the woman before twisting his back and extending his leg, giving the two of them a vaguely 'R' shaped silhouette. "To extend our reach to the skies above!"

She flashed a smoldering smile. "Jessie!"

He showed off his sparkling teeth. "And James!"

They turned to face each other, holding each other's hand high. "Team Rocket-" Jessie shouted as James twirled her and dipped her for the audience of two humans and their Pokémon "-blasts off at the speed of light!"

They turned and he began spinning her like a top, saying "Surrender now or prepare for a far-out fight!"

Bounding in to land on the front of the basket was the very same feline Pokémon. "Meowth, dat's right!"

Popping out behind Jessie was the blue, blobby Pokémon. "Wob-buffet!"

The response came quickly, with Ash speaking first. "Team Rocket! What're you guys doing here?!"

"Pi-Pikachu!"

Jessie leaned over the side, sneering cruelly at Ash. "We're here doing what we always do, my dear Twerp," she said with a venomous familiarity. "We're stealing what is ours to rightfully steal."

"Uh, Jessie…" James said, hesitantly poking her in the shoulder. "You might want to check what we actually got."

Jessie looked at the backpack now in Meowth's hands, blinked twice, and then looked down at Ash and Pikachu, staring up at them.

"WAIT WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE DIDN'T GET PIKACHU?! WHAT DID WE GET?!"

Jessie began to freak out and Chloe sighed before stepping forward. "I think you yanked my backpack off my back. Can you give it back, please?" she asked, more annoyed than anything.

"The Twerpette's backpack?" Jessie asked, frowning as she looked over to Meowth. The Scratch Cat Pokémon was rifling through the bag as she looked at him before doing a double take. "Wait, why is the Twerpette out here with him? I thought we'd see the 1.0 and 2.0 double Twerps?"

"None of your business!" Chloe shouted back, willing her cheeks to stay pale. "Now please, give me my backpack back!"

Meowth dug his claws through Chloe's belongings before he paused. "Hey, what's dis?" Pulling from the deepest part of her backpack, Meowth pulled out a small plush Pikachu. "Why's she got a stuffed Pikachu in here?"

Chloe felt her face begin to burn regardless. "Not now…" she grumbled under her voice. "Eevee, use Tackle on their basket!"

Eevee leapt off her head and charged forward, her small paws kicking up dirt from the forest floor before she bounded into the air.

"What's that powder puff going to d-OOOOO?!"

Jessie's words were cut off from Eevee's tackle hitting the basket and nearly knocking her and Meowth overboard, James leaned over and looked at the small Pokémon. "That puny powder puff packs a powerful punch!"

"Eievui!"

"Enough word play!" Jessie shouted.

James nodded. "Into the fray!"

The two of them took each other's hands and shouted into the sky.

"COME ON, DOWN!"

Chloe looked up and heard the cry of some sort of bird Pokémon, but she couldn't quite see it from the height it was flying above the trees. She did see the large red and metallic gray machine fall from the sky, landing in the forest with a crash that made the ground shake, almost throwing her off her feet.

The Meowth-shaped balloon quickly landed in this small clearing, and Jessie, James and Meowth all hopped out and landed before the newly fallen machine. Meowth jumped and dove head first into the slot designed for his charm and the two Rockets turned the knob, chanting to themselves. "Ready, set, what're we gonna get?"

The dispenser dropped two purple Poké Balls emblazoned with the 'R' insignia of their organization. Jessie and James each took one and threw them. From the first came an avian Pokémon that reminded Chloe of Spearow, though she hadn't ever seen this one before. She had beady black eyes and a striped tail. "The Ember Pokémon, Fletchinder!" James shouted.

From the second came a strange, egg shaped Pokémon with a round, metallic body with green protruding spikes. "The Thorn Seed Pokémon, Ferroseed!" Jessie shouted.

"Alright, buddy! Let's go!" Ash said, shrugging Pikachu off his shoulder as the mouse leapt forward.

Chloe began fumbling with her phone to scan the Pokémon for more information, but Ash stepped close to her before she could. "Fletchinder is fast and can strike hard, whereas Ferroseed is defensive and can hurt if you touch it. We've gotta be careful."

Chloe nodded. "R-Right," she said, slipping the phone away. "Let's do this, Eevee!"

Jessie and James quickly referred to their notes that gave them info on the Pokémon they sent out. "Fletchinder, use Steel Wing on Pikachu!"

"Ferroseed, Pin Missile on that Twerpish Eevee!" Jessie followed up.

"Pikachu, use Electroweb!" Ash shouted, gesturing forward.

Chloe copied his gesturing, much like her strategy was copying his move. "Eevee, you use Electroweb, too!"

Fletchinder dove towards Pikachu, wings glittering with the strength of steel. At the same time, Ferroseed spun like a top on the sharp thorns covering the bottom of his body, launching several of the thorns like rockets, zipping through the air at Eevee. Pikachu leapt up, charging electricity in his tail before spinning and lobbing the blast forward, where it expanded into a net that wrapped around the Ember Pokémon, shocking it. Meanwhile, Eevee glowed with an electrical aura, the tip of her tail glowing bright yellow as well. Eevee jumped and flipped, and the blot of electricity shot from her tail like paint flicked off a brush. This electricity also expanded into a net, but instead of damaging Ferroseed, it acted as a shield to block the Pin Missiles and prevent damage.

Chloe thought fast. "Eevee, Pin Missile!" A follow up attack might be able to pressure Team Rocket back.

"Pikachu, Quick Attack!" Ash called.

"Ferroseed, Iron Defense!"

"Use Flame Charge on the double, Fletchinder!"

Eevee's glowing shifted from electric yellow to an iridescent green, and soon her tail was shooting out the same large spikes that came from Ferroseed. The Thorn Seed Pokémon's body hardened, and the missiles connected, exploding as they met their mark.

"We did it!" Chloe gasped.

"Eievui!"

But as the smoke cleared, Ferroseed sat there, still able to continue battling.

On the other side of the clearing, Pikachu shot forward like an arrow from a bow while Fletchinder cloaked herself in flames and charged forward. The two Pokémon collided in a crash, producing a shockwave that reminded Chloe of when she had that battle with Ash all those weeks ago. Unlike the evenly matched battle then, Pikachu was knocked back, sailing through the air until he crashed into Ash, knocking them both off their feet and Ash's hat off his head.. Ash and Pikachu laid on the ground for a moment as the hat settled on Pikachu.

"Ash! Oh no…" Chloe said, pressure beginning to mount.

Team Rocket all began laughing in unison. "Looks like wit'out da brainy twoip here, yer not that tough!" Meowth taunted them.

"We'll take Pikachu away from your stuff!" Jessie followed up.

"With skills like ours, it's more than enough!" James added.

Chloe turned her gaze forward, trying to analyze the battle. 'C'mon, Chloe… you've had Pokémonology lessons. You knew about Professor Sycamore. You can know a little more, right? How can we turn the tables…' Looking at Team Rocket's Pokémon, she began racking her brain. 'Okay, so Fletchinder is a Flying Pokémon that fights with fire… and Ferroseed is a Steel Pokémon that looks like a seed… wait…!' "That's it!"

Jessie looked back over to Chloe. "Oh? And what's one little Twerpette with her powderpuff pet Pokémon going to do?"

'It's just another test. Just like the rest of this. Just one more test for myself!'

Chloe ignored Jessie's taunting. "Eevee, use Flame Charge on Ferroseed!"

"Eeeeeeiveuiiii!" the Evolution Pokémon called out, glowing with a bright red aura all the way down to the tip of her tail, glowing with heat. The tail burst into flames that cloaked Eevee and she shot forward, ramming into Ferroseed, knocking the Grass- and Steel-type backwards and scorching the seed's metallic surface.

Eevee bounced back, a pained look on her face, but Ferroseed looked much worse for the wear.

"H-Hey! You can't just use any moves you want!" Jessie shouted. "That's cheating! Somebody call a judge!"

"Oh yeah," Chloe yelled back sarcastically. "Let's get Officer Jenny here while we're at it!"

The lady Rocket's face contorted into a scowl. "Mouthy Twerpettes should watch themselves!" She turned to James. "What are you doing?! Help me!"

"R-Right," James said, hesitating. "Use Acrobatics on the Eevee!"

"Eevee, dodge it!"

Eevee responded to Chloe's call and leapt quickly out of the way of Fletchinder's sharp beak. 'Wait, was Eevee… faster than before?' she thought. "Eevee, use Flame Charge again!"

Eevee once more cloaked herself in flames and shot towards Fletchinder, knocking the Ember Pokémon back.

Jessie growled in frustration. "Use Pin Missile again!"

Ferroseed spun and launched the missiles towards Eevee, but the Normal-Type dodged left and right, avoiding each one. Chloe watched Eevee's movements closely. 'It's like Flame Charge makes us even faster…! We can win if we do this!' "Use Flame Charge again!"

"I-Iron Defense!" Jessie shouted. Ferroseed began attempting the move, but Eevee flashed across the battlefield like a living fireball, crashing into the Thorn Seed Pokémon and knocking him back into Meowth. With a pained grunt, the talking Pokémon threw Chloe's backpack and the Pikachu plushie into the air. Eevee turned on her paws and zipped quickly towards the falling Pikachu plushie, grabbing it with her legs, twisting and keeping it from hitting the forest floor.

Suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Great work, Chloe. But we've got it from here."

She turned and saw Ash there, eyes focused forward. He still wasn't wearing his hat, but the intense look in his eyes sent a shiver down Chloe's spine.

"Y'know, I'm lucky you guys are here. I need to get more practice in if I'm going to battle Leon again!" As he spoke, he held up his left hand with the glittering Z-Ring on his wrist.

Jessie, James, and Meowth all paled at the sight. "The Twerp has his Z-Ring?!"

Pikachu jumped forward, landing in front of Ash while wearing his cap. "You ready, buddy?" Ash asked.

"Pikachu, Pikapi!"

Ash crossed his arms in front of him, and the yellow Z-Crystal on the ring began to glow. Pikachu adjusted his hat. "Let's do this!"

"Pi-ka!"

Pikachu leapt up and brought his small fist to Ash's as they bumped them together, before turning and returning Ash's high five with his tail. All while doing this, the Z-Ring began crackling with electricity.

Chloe watched the scene playing out in front of her, transfixed. Eevee was silent as she watched as well.

Pikachu landed before Ash and both of them punched forward with their right arms as the Z-Ring poured forth with a golden electrical aura that flowed from it through Ash and into Pikachu, leaving Pikachu with a glowing golden aura.

"Much bigger than a Thunderbolt!" Ash called out. "10,000,000-Volt Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu's cheeks began to spark, each spark growing in intensity as the power welled up inside him. "Yeah!" Ash said, grinning wildly. "This is much much bigger! At super-full power!"

Team Rocket and all their Pokémon began hugging each other in fear as the sky began to darken overhead.

"Use 10,000,000-Volt Thunderbolt, now!"

Pikachu leapt into the air, the sparking from his cheeks becoming a sphere of energy around him that began arcing off his small body and into the storm clouds. The electricity seemed like it was being drawn into Pikachu, forming a bright, electric aura around him.

"PIKA PIKA!"

With a shout that echoed over the clearing, Pikachu let the attack burst forth into seven different bolts of electricity, each of them a different color of the rainbow. The seven bolts all split apart and then converged on Team Rocket's position, exploding into a pillar of electricity that was brighter than the sun. Chloe and Eevee both averted their eyes from the spectacle for the first time since it began.

Pikachu landed on Ash's shoulder as the electricity exploded, launching Team Rocket, their balloon, and their Prize Master all into the stratosphere. Chloe heard a familiar "We're blasting off, again…!" as they were launched far, far away from the two of them.

She looked at Ash and Pikachu. The mouse put the hat back on Ash's head, and Ash offered him a fist bump again. "Thanks, buddy."

"Pikachu."

"That was amazing…" Chloe said, her tone somewhere between awe and fear. "It was like something out of a picture book."

"It was totally amazing, wasn't it?" Ash said, grinning happily. "Pikachu and I can do amazing things when we work together. Just like you and Eevee can!"

"Eievui!"

Chloe turned her attention back to her Pokémon, who had watched everything from the ground, still clutching the Pikachu plushie. Her face immediately became hot, and she grabbed Eevee and the plush and rushed over to where her backpack was lying on the ground. Eevee scrambled to her shoulder while she held the plushie, but before she could fully put it away, Ash spoke up.

"Oh, you brought it with you?" he asked.

Chloe felt her blush begin to cover her ears. "I-It's a good luck charm," she said, not even believing it as the words came from her mouth. "I just kept it in my backpack for luck."

Ash smiled, seemingly accepting that as the answer. "Well, it was pretty lucky that I won it, huh?"

She wasn't sure if his lack of understanding was a blessing or a curse at this point, and the two feelings mixed up in her stomach, taking a very unpleasant form. "Yeah," she said curtly.

There was a moment of silence, tense and humid, between them. Chloe looked up, seeing that the gathering clouds that appeared as Pikachu used his Z-Move were still gathered. The trees around them were beginning to dance as the wind picked up, shaking their branches.

She felt a drop of icy cool water touch her face. And then the downpour came.

"Quick!" Ash said, grabbing her wrist. "We've gotta get some cover." Ash grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her along. He led their entire group under a tree on the edge of the clearing. Once they were out from under the open sky, Chloe took a moment to breathe and process everything she just saw as she clutched Eevee to her chest.

"That was another Z-Move, right?" she asked after a few moments.

Ash nodded, though Chloe kept her eyes on the rain instead of looking at him. "Yeah! Pikachu and I invented it. It's kind of a long story, though."

"Of course it is," she sighed. "When isn't it a long story with you?" It came out sounding meaner than she intended.

"Pikapi…" Pikachu chided his partner, sensing Chloe's annoyance.

"Sorry…" he said, looking at her with an apologetic look on his face.

Chloe looked up from her pouting for a moment and her green eyes met Ash's brown, and any anger inside of her was snuffed out, like a campfire in the very rain they found themselves hiding from.

They were quiet for a few more moments. Then there was a rumbling.

"S-Sorry," Ash apologized. "I guess I'm hungry…"

Chloe's gaze narrowed at him. "That wasn't you. That was the clouds." She looked upwards at the darkened sky.

Ash looked up as well. "We should head further into the forest, then," he said. "Bein' on the edge of a clearing like this isn't the safest place in a thunderstorm."

"Further in?" Chloe said, frowning. "Shouldn't we try to find a structure or something? Even a cave would be fine, right?"

Ash shrugged. "Well, I don't know if there's a building or a cave anywhere nearby, so we might as well use what we've got, right?"

"I think it's a better idea to have something solid over my head, just in case," Chloe responded, holding Eevee tightly. "We should look for another place to wait it out."

This brought a frown from Ash. "If there were a place like that nearby, I think we'd have some clue," Ash said. "Besides, we're still heading towards that hill so we can see Mount Hideaway, right? We shouldn't get lost out here."

"We're not lost," Chloe fired back, her annoyance growing. "I've got it memorized the exact path back from here to where we set up camp last night, and from there to the flower field. Even you could get back from there."

This brought a scowl from Ash. "Hey, what do you mean, 'even you'?" he asked sharply. "I'm just tryin' to help."

"And I'm trying not to be a bother to you," Chloe replied, turning to him in anger. "You're the one who said you preferred it when you didn't have to take the lead all the time, and yet here you are, taking the lead all the time!"

The anger that was buried by Team Rocket's surprise attack had been unearthed.

"What do you mean?" Ash asked. "I just have more experience, so I-"

"Oh, so you're saying you lied to me at the Sugiya," she replied, the hurt in her tone growing at an increasing rate. "When you talked and I listened, I thought you were being genuine with me, but I guess that's not the case, huh?"

"E-Ei…" cooed the Pokémon with a worried tone as she looked at Ash, confused.

"Pikapi…" said Pikachu, trying to offer his partner counsel.

"This is different from that stuff," Ash replied, holding his hands up in a calming pose. "This is just common sense. It's not about me takin' charge or lyin' or anything like that. But if we move further into the trees, it's safer than standing here by the edge. I mean, look!" He pointed at a nearby tree. There was a hollow in it, and inside were two Rattata with different whisker lengths. "Even the Pokémon are taking cover in the trees. We can do the same, y'know!"

Chloe felt her stomach twist. 'Pokémon,' she thought. Her mind instantly jumped tracks of association. The huge family of Pokémon he had waiting for him at Professor Oak's ranch. The trophies and badges and symbols they had all earned together.

The Clefairy Doll sitting on the dresser.

"I guess if Pokémon do it, it's fine by you, huh?" she spat, the hurt and resentment she felt finally boiling over.

"What's that mean?!" Ash asked, more confused than angry, though his tone indicated to Chloe that anger was indeed beginning to build within him.

The storm around them began to grow in intensity, the rain coming down in sheets. The leaves and branches of the tree they were standing under were no longer sufficient to keep them dry.

Clutching Eevee to her chest, Chloe turned to him. "You're always going on and on about Pokémon!" she snapped. "You don't seem to ever think about anything else! Maybe you should have come all the way out here by yourself, you Pokémon-obsessed freak!"

As soon as the words left her mouth she saw the pain she had inflicted on Ash reflected in his eyes. He began to look around, as though he was in a battle and had taken an attack from an unexpected angle. Chloe recoiled, feeling like she had just punched herself in the stomach, the guilt and despair flowering inside her from the seed that had been planted when she came face to face with Ash's extensive accomplishments.

She couldn't bear to look at him anymore. She couldn't stand to be near him for a second longer.

'Coming here was a mistake.'

Not knowing what else she could say to make this entire situation any better or worse, Chloe did the one thing she could in her panic and heartbreak that she could make sense of.

She turned her feet towards the forest and ran as fast as she could.

"Wait, Chloe!" Ash called after her, but his words didn't reach her heart or change her course as the heavy downpour continued to fall.

'I'm an idiot! I'm such an idiot! How could I say that stuff to him?" His hurt gaze stayed in her eyes, no matter how far she ran from him, darting between trees and over roots as the rain continued to pound down on her and Eevee.

"Eievui…" the Pokémon in her arms cooed.

As she rushed through the trees, something on the horizon was coming into view. She stepped outside the treeline and stopped. Just outside the tree line was a drop down the side of a cliff. In the distance, she could just barely see a mountain standing tall in the distance through the rain. "Mount Hideaway…" she said, recognizing the shape from the pictures she had seen on her phone. She looked down, trying to see if there was a way to climb down and head towards the mountain.

At the bottom of the cliff looked to be a raging river, made even more wild by the thunderstorm happening around her.

"Chloe!"

Ash's voice filled her veins with ice, and she turned to see him standing in the treeline.

"C'mon, it's dangerous," he said, offering her a hand. "You shouldn't be that close to the edge in this weather!" He was smiling at her, gentle and comforting, but the look in his eyes still held the pain she had inflicted on him.

"I-I…" Chloe stammered as the rain continued to soak all the way through her clothes.

"I'm sorry, okay?" he shouted above the rain. "I promise I had a good reason for taking charge. I just-"

"-N-No, I'm sorry!" she shouted back at him. "I just got all mixed up and lost in my emotions. I've seen so much of your life since I came to Pallet Town with you and it just seems so full and exciting that there's no way there's a place for someone like me in it!"

Ash shook his head. "That's crazy! I could always use a friend like you, Chloe!"

"You don't get it!" She shouted back, her cheeks burning hot even in the icy rain. "What I mean is-"

There was another rumble, unlike the thunder rolling from the skies or the growling of Ash's stomach. Chloe felt the ground shift underneath her feet. She looked up at him, her eyes going wide.

The cliff, weakened by the torrential rain, began to slip away.

The next moment seemed to happen in slow motion for Chloe. She saw the realization dawn on Ash's face and the fear pulled at his features, eyes and mouth opening as much as they could. She heard him say something, but she couldn't make it out with the rain and the ground collapsing.

Ash leapt forward, tackling into her. His arms wrapped around her and Eevee, pulling the two of them to his chest as Pikachu crawled around and held onto Chloe's back. Ash twisted in the air, putting himself on the bottom of the falling tangle of people and Pokémon.

And they fell.

Chloe's heart was racing in fear, and she wasn't able to string together a coherent thought.

Though the fall was brief, to Chloe, that moment felt like an agonizing eternity.

And then they plunged into the water with a wet sounding snap.

If the rain was already draining her body heat, the rushing river chilled her to the bone. She felt Ash's arms around her slacken, and felt him falling away from her into the depths of the river. She put her arms around him and Eevee and began kicking with all her might to bring them back to the surface.

She didn't know how far they were moving downstream, or how deep the water was. She felt Pikachu moving his legs and tail to help them reach the surface as well, and there was a collective gasping for air once they did.

She thought quickly, looking around for something - anything - that could bring them to safety. Seeing a branch hanging over the water, she continued holding Ash in one arm and reached out with her other arm to grasp it. The hard, wet bark was hard to grip, and it felt like it was cutting into her soft hands, but she pulled herself, Ash, and the Pokémon over to the side of the river where this lifeline was.

Pikachu, now wearing Ash's hat, hopped off of Chloe's back, and Eevee squirmed out of the grasp she held the Normal-Type and Ash in. As Chloe's grip began to slip off the branch from the pull of the river, Pikachu grabbed her hand and pulled hard, helping her grab onto a rock jutting from the ground. Eevee crawled close and bit into Chloe's arm as she got close, doing her best to pull her trainer and Ash from the river. Chloe grit her teeth, feeling the sharp fangs, but it was preferable to the alternative.

When they were finally on the ground again, Chloe looked at Ash. He was still breathing, though he was unconscious, knocked out by the impact of hitting the river water flat on his back. If there were any more injuries, she couldn't tell quite yet.

"Pikapi…!" said Pikachu, the worry in his voice and on his face.

Chloe looked around. The side of the cliff they were on now stood looming overhead. Across the raging river were more and more trees and wilderness, in the direction of Mount Hideaway.

"Kakachu!"

Pikachu drew Chloe's attention and the mouse pointed to a small break in the cliff face where they could at least get out of the rain.

"Right. Thank you, Pikachu," she said."

She put Ash's arm around her shoulders and stood, lifting him as best as she could onto her back. He felt cold and heavy, like she was hefting a sack of Laxton's carrots onto her back.

Eevee and Pikachu lead the way, and Chloe carried Ash into the cavity.