Update: I ended up changing this chapter altogether. I had an idea but I didn't like how it came out, so this is the fifth chapter instead. I still have the scrapped version though, so maybe I'll do something with it in the future—after heavy revisions—and add it as like an interlude or something. But probably not.

Ash had obtained his first badge in Gudrut. Sure, in actuality Serena had gotten it for him, but he felt accomplished enough to accept that. He had trained with her a lot, not recently, perhaps, but a lot nonetheless. Either way the shiny badge was on his hand and he was aching to leave for the next gym, and so was Serena. She was only happy to be there and follow along with a genuine smile on her face, at least for the moment being. That's why she had gone there after all. Meanwhile Elyan didn't seem to be in a hurry for anything, including getting his first pokemon, so he was also willing to go wherever Ash wanted.

Ash was easily exasperated by Elyan, who seemed to be doing it all wrong. Truthfully Elyan didn't know how to be a trainer, and was quite daft for not listening to an experienced trainer like Ash. Ash was okay with it though, because he knew that the absolute best way to become a trainer was to immediately start being one, learn day by day, and not stop for anything.

An early morning Lillie arrived in Gudrut. She appeared at the door of Elyan's cousin's house. Ash's friend from Alola was suddenly there with the sun shining behind her, delineating her with light. She was dressed all in white, with round green eyes containing a sincerity that couldn't be replicated.

Hugs ensued. Ash and Lillie embraced with smiles that automatically appeared wide on their faces after seeing each other again. Then Serena went for her and they had a light giggle as they felt each other's closeness. That was it for the hugs. Elyan and Lillie merely shook hands but it wasn't awkward at all, even though they didn't know each other very well.

Now joined by Lillie, the group went out the door and headed to a big park full of healthy grass of the most vivid green, in hopes that Elyan would finally catch his first pokemon before they left for the next gym. However for some reason not a single pokemon appeared on their sight.

"I'm sorry it took me this long to get here," Lillie said with a soft tone. Then she rested her back on a leafy tree, with her hands behind her. "I couldn't make up my mind." She stopped for a few seconds to look at the grass beneath her with her big eyes. Then, after taking a breath, she raised her head and looked at her friends firmly. "But now I'm sure I am ready to become a trainer, a real one. I want to challenge gyms, compete in the league tournament. And I want… I want… I want to become champion!" She took a small pause. "If the offer still stands, I hope that you would let me accompany you."

"Of course, the more the merrier," Serena said. "Right Ash?"

"Definitely!" Ash replied with his fist raised. "Yeah, now that three of us have pokemon it will be safer to travel."

"Hey," Elyan exclaimed, "it's not my fault that all the pokemon here suddenly decided not to appear."

"Um, yes it is your fault actually. You haven't done much these past few days Elyan. I've already got a badge, which Serena got for me. She's captured two pokemon already. It seems you've even put on a few pounds."

Elyan looked down at his belly and noticed a slight bump, although only because he was specifically looking for it.

"But it's okay," Ash continued. "Discipline isn't easily obtained, it's a gradual process. But you have to start it, and you have to do it now."

"You're right, I know you're right," Elyan said in complete agreement. "I have to find many powerful pokemon so that I can beat Pryce and kick him out of my room. And I also have to find the mandibuzz that stole the hat that Agnes gave me."

"Oh, Elyan. I don't know if that's possible," Serena said.

Ash promptly grabbed her shoulder. "Hold on. Trust me Elyan, if you work hard enough you'll find that mandibuzz as well as your hat. And you need all the motivation you can get," he said.

Serena looked at Ash with eager eyes and a smile, then nodded decisively.

They had made up their minds, seeing them filled Lillie with energy. She put up her fists in front of her chest and made a very fierce pout, although she didn't have the tools to look anything other than adorable.

"I feel completely ready for this! I've researched all the gyms of Gudrut, I just need to catch a few more pokemon and train, then I'll start challenging."

"People say the easiest gym is the one here in Maisoram, headed by Norris." Elyan said.

Ash and Serena shared a subtle glance at each other. They knew they shouldn't get near the gym again, both for their own sake as well as Lillie's chances of facing Norris.

"Oh, I know. Don't worry about it," Lillie said. "I went there earlier this morning to schedule a match. The guy in charge told me that Norris was too depressed to fight, but still gave me a date so that I could face his substitute, who apparently is a bit stronger than him. Her name is Nora, she's Norris's niece, she's really nice—anyway, I'll face her next week."

Ash's mind suddenly went for a spin. He was dead set on leaving for the next gym that very morning, and couldn't bear the thought of staying there for another day, let alone a whole week.

"That's awesome!" Serena said casually.

"Yeah, I guess it does pay to do your research," Elyan added.

"We'll definitely be there to cheer you on (if Norris isn't there)."

Serena's words were like a punch to the gut for Ash. He did his best to keep it together.

"Thank you so much guys. Now I have to focus on finding more pokemon for my team," Lillie said.

"Oh, that's no problem. Here in Maisoram there are a lot of parks where you can find many pokemon of many different types," Serena said. "I caught my second pokemon in Gudrut, Delibird, just a few days ago."

"Oh, they're lovely, though I've never seen one in real life," Lillie said.

Serena closed her eyes and reached into her pocket, then released Delibird, who appeared standing like a jolly child who had just been praised for doing something silly. He was holding a bag on his hand, nobody knew what was inside, not even him. Serena then released her baby Cubchoo, which she kept safely in her arms.

Lillie couldn't help but touch both pokemon's cheeks abundantly, and after her hands had enjoyed themselves for a while she released Snowy. The three ice types quickly exploded from happiness, and their joint celebratory fit suddenly made the air colder while they were together. Soon Pikachu and Ash's Cubchoo joined, and then Elyan felt sort of left out, although he only had himself to blame for that.

"Great job Serena," Lillie said. "You've got yourself a cubchoo, which is more proficient in hand to hand combat, and Delibird which is better with ranged attacks. Seeing as you already have Braixen on your team, you were able to fit both of them in very well, because Ice types are very good offensively. That's very smart."

"Yeah… Thank you," Serena said, averting her eyes, and softly scratching her cheek.

"In my case my Snowy is definitely better with ranged attacks, so now I should try to get one that's better with hand to hand combat, and one that is anything other than ice type at that."

Meanwhile Ash didn't know what to say. His friends had seemingly decided to stay in Maisoram for yet another week, very casually and very suddenly too. It was as if they had completely forgotten that they were about to leave for the next gym. And he felt he couldn't say anything about it, it was one against three. And he wanted to support Lillie in any way he could, he wanted her to become a great trainer, a champion even. Of course that's what Ash wanted for himself too, he had mixed feelings about that. But he just knew he couldn't follow them. He wasn't a follower, simply because he just couldn't do it; he had to go at his own pace.

So Ash decided to head for the next gym with only Pikachu by his side. When the group started looking around for pokemon and he felt the life being sucked out of him, Ash sneaked out by pretending to check out another park to see if it was worth visiting by the rest. Then he realized that he had been there already, he had been all over Maisoram City already. So he just had to leave.

Ash traveled all the way to Cosounux, the town with the nearest gym from Maisoram, and arrived there that same afternoon. He then called his friends from the station, as expected, they were not happy with his decision. Lillie, Elyan and Serena decided that they would stay in Maisoram until Lillie had gotten her first badge—not until she had her battle, until she had gotten the badge. That would give them plenty of time to stop being mad at Ash, as well as enough time for him to apologize.

It was obvious Ash wouldn't want to apologize, although perhaps he would, only because he cared about his friends. But he knew that he didn't have to apologize for following his spirit. His body was his to carry to wherever his spirit dictated.

Ash and his independent spirit sat on the sidewalk outside of the station in Cosounux, and he rested his head on his hands. Then Pikachu did the same next to him, and the two of them with their lips couldn't help but make sad frowns. Very quickly Ash remembered why he preferred to travel with friends. Maybe he just needed their energy to keep going, it was very unfortunate that they weren't there for him. And it was even worse that they wouldn't be there to see him win his second badge in Gudrut; because it certainly wouldn't take him a whole week to obtain it.

Ash remained sitting. In front of him, a bit far away, was the sea, separated from him by a beach and then the big street right in front of him. He hadn't noticed the water sparkling with the sun, he was too focused on his unwanted solitude. All of the sudden it seemed like he was the only human remaining in the world and Pikachu was the sole pokemon. It was deeply disappointing, but then again, his degree of discipline required him to train regardless of how sad he was at the moment. If he only trained when he felt great, even if he felt great most of the time, he still would consider himself lazy.

So he headed to the beach, settled himself on the warm sand, facing the water, and released the rest of his pokemon, Cubchoo and Mienfoo. As soon as she came out, the baby Cubchoo went and grabbed Ash by the leg and didn't let go. She was either very scared or loved her trainer way too much, perhaps both, either way, no matter what Ash did, he couldn't get her off of him.

Ash knelt down. "Come on Cubchoo, we need to train. You just learned how to stand up straight and we can't stop there," he said. Cubchoo didn't let go of him, neither did she utter any kind of word. "It's okay, nothing will happen if you let go of me, I will still be here and I'll never leave. Everything will be okay."

Cubchoo looked up at him, Ash nodded at her, and this filled the little pokemon with enough confidence to let go of his leg, and she stood on two legs, with the trace of a smile becoming bigger and wider as she remained with both of her little feet firm on the sand.

"See, it all starts with a confident decision," Ash said. "Everything's fine."

Someone passed by them running fast. Whoever it was, unconsciously threw sand at Cubchoo and hit her in the face. She fell on her plushy butt and started crying, Ash consoled her in his arms.

"It's okay, everything's okay," he said as he softly patted her head.

Still patting her, Ash turned around and saw the jogger running away from him. It was a guy wearing a yellow tracksuit and big headphones which were obviously blasting tunes really loud; Ash could hear the acute, indistinguishable rhythm even from afar.

Ash shouted but the guy didn't hear him at all, it was obvious, so he focused entirely on consoling his pokemon, who was quickly contented by clinging to him again.

"Oh no, we're back at square one. Well, it's okay. Things like this will keep happening," Ash said. "We'll get through it."

He then continued trying to separate Cubchoo from him, unsuccessfully, until the guy in the yellow tracksuit passed by them again. This time he stopped after seeing them, however he continued jogging in the spot, releasing plenty of sand in the air around him. He was wearing dark glasses which he lowered to take a good look at Ash and his pokemon. And he also took off his headphones and put them around his neck. Then Ash noticed him.

"Hey, are you a trainer?" the guy asked.

"Yeah," Ash replied affably.

"No way, I'm Cosounux's Gym Leader."

"No way! Are you serious?"

"Yeah dude."

"Nice! I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town."

"I'm Hertzfeld, official Gym Leader of the Cosounux Gym. Did you come here to challenge me?"

"You bet."

"That's cool, I'll definitely grant you a match."

"For real, when?"

"Whenever you want my dude!"

"Thanks Hertzfeld!" Ash smiled wider. "Let me tell you, after meeting Norris I'm very glad to hear you say that. I was thinking it was going to be impossible for me to challenge a gym in this region."

"No worries, that dude's a jerk. Everybody wants to challenge him because he's the weakest leader by far. So when do you want to challenge me?"

"As soon as I can get my Cubchoo to stand a bit far from me."

"I see, I can help you train if you want. You want to go right now? The day's beautiful to get some gnarly training going."

"Totally! Thanks Hertzfeld."

"No problem dude."

Hertzfeld had an electric jeep, colored yellow. It was only fit for two people at the front, because all the space at the back was used to store all sorts of stuff that Hertzfeld carried with him. He jumped on the wheel, Ash jumped on the passenger seat and Hertzfeld gave him sunglasses to protect his eyes.

"Here, so we look cool on our way to catch some sweet training."

Then he turned the engine on and they went on the road, on that still beautiful morning, with the powerful breeze accentuated by their speed making them look extra cool.

"I've only been a Gym Leader for a short while," Hertzfeld said. "I'm originally from another region. Became champion there, then I learned that the Gym Leader here in Cosounux was retiring and asked for this position. I'm also a DJ, it's a passion of mine, you know. Don't get it wrong, I'm a professional, the vast majority of the money I make comes from my international gigs. I freaking love it. Just putting on those giant headphones, forgetting that the world exists as soon as the music starts blasting through my skull. You don't even need to look at the people around you, the booth beneath your hands is all you ever need. And you can ignore anyone who tries to speak with you by pretending the music is too loud, and if somebody keeps being a nuisance you can just tell them that you can't turn the music down cause it's your job to turn it up! Let me tell you Ash, I wouldn't be surprised if I ever found out that everyone and everything around me is nothing but electromagnetic waves."

"That's awesome," Ash said. "I want to be a Pokemon Master."

"That's great, anyway here we are."

Hertzfeld stopped the jeep, then Ash suddenly found himself at the pier, still on the beach, not far from where he was mere moments ago.

"Let's get surfing," Hertzfeld said.

"I thought we were going to train," Ash replied.

"I thought I said surfing. It's a beautiful day to get some gnarly surfing going. We can always train later."

There were a lot of people at the pier, it was very bright and lively. A lot of people wearing shades and smiling wide as they walked and talked in groups. Most of them quickly identified Hertzfeld and waved at him, although he paid very little attention to them, and didn't turn his head at any friendly call. A guy with spiky red hair and a lot of lotion on his nose walked by. "Hey Hertzfeld, you're the man! Keep crushing the challengers!" he shouted.

"Thanks dude," Hertzfeld shouted back. Then he turned to Ash. "I have no idea of who that guy is. What do you say Ash, are you down to get a surfing sesh going?"

Ash was instantly down for that. But more than anything, he saw that invitation to surf as a great opportunity to help Cubchoo become a little more active.

As it turned out, most of the stuff that Hertzfeld was carrying on the back of his jeep was surfing gear. He had a surfboard for everyone, even a little one for Pikachu. He also had wetsuits for each of them. They all changed, Ash's wetsuit was all blue, just like Pikachu's, while Hertzfeld's was vivid orange.

Then the three of them went and faced the sparkling sea while holding their surfboards on their arms. As they walked their naked feet left clear imprints on the sand, and they kept walking until a wave reached their toes, and at the same time a blissful breeze caressed their faces. It was a nice day to get a surfing session going.

Ash swam to the perfect spot to wait for the waves, then another breeze caressed the back of his neck. He could tell a big wave was coming. When he sensed the water level rising Ash started paddling forward, fast and hard just like he knew he needed to, all the way until the wave started carrying him on its own, at which point Ash stood up with conviction and started riding the wave. It was a good one.

A few waves later Ash and Hertzfeld sat on the sand, facing the sea that had just carried, delighted, pummeled and tossed their bodies around. Until then Ash had been unsuccessful in trying to separate Cubchoo from him, and so she was still holding on to his side.

"I wish the rest of my friends were here," Ash said.

"Where are they?" Hertzfeld asked.

"Back in Maisoram. We were supposed to come here together, but my friend Lillie arrived, and they decided to stay there until she wins her badge." Ash patted Cubchoo's head for a bit, then put his hand back on the sand behind him to rest his torso. "The worst part is that they won't be here to support me during my match against you."

"Here's the thing about friends," Hertzfeld said. "Friends can't decide when to support you. Friends have to support you all the time, that's what friendship is all about. I'm sure they'll come to cheer for you if you call them."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course, what event could be more important than my match against you?"

Ash turned to the sea. He didn't quite know what to do, but in the end he decided no to bother his friends back in Maisoram. At least not quite yet.

The rest of the day went by in a heartbeat so Ash and Hertzfeld decided to meet on the beach the next morning to continue with their training. Then the sun rose again and made a beautiful day just like the one before it.

Ash and Pikachu went to the beach very early in the morning. While waiting for Hertzfeld they encountered a very vivacious pelipper who tried to steal their breakfast muffins. Ash sensed the tenacious flying pokemon would make a great, powerful companion and so he set out to capture it. Pikachu stepped in front of Ash and ruffled some sand beneath his little feet. The pelipper came at him with a scream and Pikachu evaded a powerful tackle. Ash realized that pelipper was very strong. A thunderbolt from Pikachu, which the pelipper didn't even try to evade, clearly hurt it, but the pelipper remained on the sky beating its wings in defiance of the ground as well as its Pikachu-inflicted pain. Ash realized that pelipper was bold, his smile got wider at the thought of battling by its side. Pikachu evaded two more tackles and released more thunderbolts which hit the pelipper directly and left it reeling noticeably. Regardless of how strong the wild pokemon was, Pikachu's attacks were too powerful to continue taking them so stoically, so the pelipper stopped attacking and started evading, swaggering and twisting through the sky to avoid Pikachu's electric attacks. The pelipper was fast, it was a formidable pokemon. After many misses, one of the thunderbolts finally reached it and Ash saw his chance to catch it. That's when Hertzfeld showed up.

"Hey Ash, what are you doing? Hey is that a pelipper? I always wanted one, let me catch it!"

Ash had a pokeball ready to throw in his hand. Before he could move his arm backwards to add impulse to his throw he saw how Hertzfeld's pokeball flew through the air, made contact with the pelipper, who was still reeling from the thunderbolts, and captured it, effectively stealing the capture from Ash.

"Hey Hertzfeld! That pelipper and I were having a battle, I was about to catch it!"

"Sorry Ash, I had a shot."

"What do you mean? It was my shot!"

"Of course it was, that's why it was clear that I should be the one to take it. It was the best alternative for the both of us."

"How so?" Ash asked, he was genuinely curious.

"It's obvious," Hertzfeld replied. "Discipline. I did it to help us both build discipline. I wanted you to have the pelipper, but instead I captured it for myself because I want to be good friends with you. Think about it. It's easy to be friends with someone who is nice to you and hasn't done anything bad to you. Now that I've stolen the capture from you, we'll both have to work much harder if we want to be friends. And working hard is good." Ash looked up and raised an eyebrow, deep in thought. Then Hertzfeld continued. "What do you win by becoming good friends with someone you like? A nice friendship? Sure, but that's all you get. Now, what do you win by becoming good friends with an enemy? A nice friendship, and a great exercise in discipline. So there you go. Tell me that doesn't make sense to somebody like you."

"Um, I guess it does," Ash said. He marginally understood Hertzfeld's reason. But at least one thing was clear to him. They would have to work much harder if they wanted to be good friends. "Okay," Ash continued, "can we train now?"

"Sure," Hertzfeld replied. Then he walked back to his jeep which was very close on the beach, clearly parked in a recreational area where it wasn't supposed to be. Hertzfeld opened the trunk and took out a surfboard. "Surfing?"

"I said training."

"Did you say surfing? You said surfing, right? Let's go surfing."

"We surfed all day yesterday."

"Come on Ash, it's a beautiful day to get a gnarly surfing sesh going and to catch some sweet waves."

Hertzfeld handed Ash his surfboard and wetsuit. Ash wasn't all that excited, but he took the surfboard and accompanied Hertzfeld back into the water. This time however, he focused on trying to get Cubchoo more in tune with her body, as he was kind of tired of surfing by then. He went to a nice spot where the water reached to his waist, so it was very close to the beach because Ash was very short. There he settled Cubchoo on the board, and she was very delighted, because Ash held her by the waist the whole time and helped her retain balance. She was so happy all she could do was to give it her all. Hours passed, but Cubchoo managed to stay on the board without the help of Ash and Pikachu—although they did help by keeping the board balanced, nevertheless they had made tangible progress. Cubchoo raised her little paws with a victorious, overwhelmingly adorable smile on her precious face, while Ash and Pikachu praised her as they kept the board without moving. That's when Hertzfeld approached fresh off of riding a wave, which took him all the way to Ash. He then submerged and the reaction on the water caused Cubchoo to lose balance and fall off the board. She could barely walk, had been born mere days ago, she had no idea swimming was even a thing. She started flapping her limbs in the water, Ash rushed to rescue her and held her safely within his arms. She buried her crying face on his chest.

"I have to say it's turning out to be really hard to be friends with you Hertzfeld," Ash said.

"Hang in there, Ash," Hertzfeld replied. "You want to be the best of the best after all. How much discipline do you think you need to achieve that?"

"A lot."

"Exactly."

"Anyway, I think I'm done with surfing for now," Ash said, as Cubchoo kept holding on to his chest.

"What? Let's keep riding some sweet waves for a while, come on Ash."

"The day is almost over again. I need to train as much as I can while there's still some light, maybe even try to capture some more pokemon."

"No. You know what you should do instead of capturing more pokemon?"

"Surf?"

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes. Look, you shouldn't spend your time capturing more pokemon, because having less pokemon will help you be stronger and have more variety in your strategies."

"What? That doesn't make sense."

"Yes it does, just think about it. By having less pokemon you'll have to focus more on the ones you already have, so you'll learn to optimize their training, and your bond with them will be stronger, all because, as your team will have less pokemon, you will struggle much more. And if you don't struggle, you'll never improve. So, the more you struggle, the more you'll improve as a trainer."

Once again Ash could barely understand what Hertzfeld was saying, but once again he couldn't say anything about it because, as far as Ash saw it, he wasn't wrong.

Very soon it was night again and the next morning they went surfing too. But it wasn't all that bad for Ash, because he was able to spend that time helping Cubchoo overcome the fear of water she had acquired the day before.

Hours passed, but Cubchoo managed to stay on the board without the help of Ash and Pikachu—although they did help by keeping the board balanced, nonetheless it was tangible progress, that they'd recovered. Cubchoo raised her little paws with a victorious, overwhelmingly adorable smile on her precious face, while Ash and Pikachu praised her as they kept the board without moving, again.

Hertzfeld approached after shredding another wave, Ash hurried to grab Cubchoo and lift her off the board so that she wouldn't fall again.

"Let me guess, you're tired of surfing again," Hertzfeld said.

"Well yeah! How can you not be? It's all we've done for the past three days!"

"It's okay, there aren't good waves today. Let's go into my yacht."

Right then a deafening horn resounded all over the beach. Hertzfeld's big white yacht approached, scaring the rest of the tourists and bathers that were around there, and making them run out of the beach as the giant ship that came out of nowhere took over the whole place.

Ash was so bewildered by the sudden appearance of a giant, luxurious yacht that he didn't even question it. He simply followed Hertzfeld to the back of the ship, where there was a small ladder that they used to climb inside. Then they used a set of stairs that took them to the back of the yacht, more specifically to the party zone at the top, out in the open, where there was a pool filled with quite a few people sitting and talking, both inside the pool and on chairs set around it. Ash was quite surprised at finding what was basically a rave there, but the really astonishing part was finding somebody he recognized among the crowd. None other than Professor Birch, from Hoenn, who was sitting at the edge of the pool, facing Ash, with his torso naked and half-submerged in the water. Hoenn's leading researcher, stout and bearded, raised his open palm and made a bright smile that showcased very clearly just how happy he was for encountering Ash's familiar face. He quickly made his way out of the pool and towards Ash and Pikachu, being careful not to slip and fall into the water at the side of him.

"Hey Ash! What a nice surprise. I never thought I'd find you out of all people here in Cosounux."

"I could say the same to you professor, I had no idea you knew Hertzfeld. What brings you by? Are you on vacation?"

"You could say so, although I am merely enjoying a work trip a little more than what is customary. Hertzfeld is known for throwing great parties with very important guests. I needed to conduct a few interviews with Cedric Juniper from Unova, and it was very fortuitous that we'd both be in the Gudrut Region at the same time, and even more fortuitous that Hertzfeld would have us the both in his yacht today."

"So Cedric Juniper is here too?"

"Yeah, you know him? Can't say I'm surprised about that. Look, he's right there."

Professor Birch pointed at the pool. Effectively, the visibly hoary, irreparably hunched, though clearly full of life Cedric Juniper was there standing by the pool among the rest of the bodies, wearing a very flashy golden shirt with the collar popped. Birch called his name, and it took Cedric a good moment to place Ash and him, as he looked around squinting his eyes, but when he did he raised his right fist on the air and gave them a smile, then lifted his pinkie finger and his thumb, with his hand still raised, and then waved it around a bit.

"He looks like he's having a lot of fun," Ash said.

"Yeah, though for my part I'm ready to take a break from it," Birch replied. "I've taken quite a few breaks to admire the regional pokemon. This place has been quite enjoyable so far, although I fear my time to leave is nearing. Do you want to go explore with me?"

"You bet!" Ash exclaimed, almost jumping from the excitement. "I need to get out there, to move and train for once. Seeing as I'm challenging Hertzfeld very soon, I need all the training I can get."

That's when Hertzfeld arrived, still wearing his yellow tracksuit with headphones and pitch-black shades.

"Hey Hertzfeld," Birch said. "Thanks for inviting me to Cosounux."

"Yeah, no problem dude. I really like what people like you do so you're always welcome in my yacht. So what were you doing?"

"The professor and I were going to admire the regional pokemon," Ash said, "and I was going to use that opportunity to finally get some training done."

"Hey, you two know each other?" Hertzfeld said. "That's weird. I guess you're pretty special Ash, we can definitely be friends. So you said jet ski, right?"

"What? No, I said the professor and I were going to admire the regional pokemon."

"Nah, I'm pretty sure you said jet ski, let's go on jet skis, come on, it's gonna be awesome."

"No!" Ash exclaimed. "For all this time we've only done things that you wanted to do."

"Let me guess, you want to train."

"Of course I do, how else am I going to get better?"

"I'll tell you Ash. You see, you're so absorbed in what you want to do, that you can't see it's doing more harm than good. As I said, and I'm sure you'll agree with me when I repeat this: it's all about building discipline. But you still have very little of it, so little in fact, that you can't even defeat your own desire to train. However the truth is you need to build discipline in order to control your desires. If you can't control yourself, how do you think you're going to be able to control your pokemon?"

Once again Ash was without an answer, and Professor Birch was also puzzled by Hertzfeld's philosophy.

"Come on, you can always train later," Hertzfeld continued. "Soon it's going to get dark out and we want to see where we're going as we cruise through the water on our jet skies. Come on Birch, you know what I'm talking about, right?"

"Yeah, let's go Ash," Birch said, "surely we'll still have plenty of time to admire the regional pokemon later."

But Ash was not in the mood to agree with them, in fact he was quite upset. So he decided not to go with Birch and Hertzfeld as they went to get jet skis. Ash had to admit it sounded like it'd be a lot of fun, but he just couldn't see past the fact that Hertzfeld had caused him yet another disappointment, and what was worse, Ash couldn't identify exactly where Hertzfeld was wrong. He sat on a chair at the edge of the party zone. Next to him there was a big table filled with a lot of food. In front of him was the pool, and Pikachu had decided to join in on the fun. Ash grabbed a piece of cake from the table and watched all the people and Pikachu enjoying themselves for a bit. He was too sad to do anything else by then.

A while later Cedric Juniper sat on a chair next to him, clearly out of breath but still with a wide smile on his face.

"Hey Ash, long time no see. You seem down, is there something wrong? It's not often that you find yourself in a yacht, so you should make the most of it."

"But I didn't come here to party, or at least not like this. I came to this region to run through open fields with my pokemon and my friends by my side, searching for wild pokemon and opponents wherever we can find them. I was going to do just that with Professor Birch, but then Hertzfeld arrived saying we should all go jet skiing. And so they left me."

"Well, if Professor Birch said he'd go train with you, and if that's what you want to do, then I'm sure that's what he'll do if you just ask him."

"But he looked like he really wanted to go jet skiing with Hertzfeld."

"And that's okay too. You should accompany him in doing the things he wants to do too. That's what friendship is all about, in being there for each other and share what makes you happy."

"So you're saying it's okay for me to go jet skiing with them? To be honest it sounded like a lot of fun."

"Absolutely, as long as you're careful of course. It's getting late, but I guess there won't be a problem since Birch is there. So, yes, go have fun with your friends Ash. Make sure everyone is there for each other."

Ash raised from the chair and nodded with conviction, then bolted off downstairs to look for Birch and Hertzfeld. He was ready to be friends with both of them, and he wasn't going to mess it up and make them mad at him this time, like he had done with his actual friends. As he came down and stood at the edge of the yacht, and stared at the sparkling blue sea in front of him, Ash heard an engine roaring at full throttle, then saw Hertzfeld piercing through the water very fast on his jet ski, still wearing the black shades over his eyes, with his headphones settled on his neck. He was wearing only yellow shorts, of the same yellow as that of his tracksuit. The wide, sort of mischievous-looking grin on his face showed how much he was enjoying his speed.

But there was no sign of Birch anywhere around, and no other jet ski was piercing through the water. Right then Ash heard someone crying for help. It sounded like Birch's voice, and although no words were really clear, the distressed tone he was using made Ash instantly worried. Ash kept looking, he had the whole beach right in front of him. The sun was about to go down but there was still plenty of light to identify him. Ash saw Birch. He was being dragged behind the jet ski. Ash immediately understood that Birch was water skiing, holding on to Hertzfeld's jet ski with a long rope, and had fallen at some point a while ago; he was still wearing the water skis.

Ash promptly reached his hands to his mouth to increase the volume of his voice, and shouted at Birch to let go of the rope.

Birch heard Ash clearly and obeyed his command, but then he found himself thoroughly exhausted in the middle of the sea, he had trouble breathing. He couldn't really think of what to do, in his state of absolute fear he could only react by swinging his arms around and screaming for help with his eyes closed.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried. And from the top of the yacht Pikachu popped his face already fully alert barely a second later. "Throw me the lifering!"

Pikachu nodded and shouted with diligence. Ash jumped into the water fully clothed. The orange donut that was thrown by Pikachu fell right next to him, Ash grabbed it and rushed all the way to Birch, reached him, grabbed the donut with both of his hands, and thrust it on Birch until it was stuck around his waist.

Then Ash slowly took him back to the edge of the yacht, and punched Birch's belly until water stopped coming out.

"Are you okay professor?"

Birch coughed a few times. "Yeah, yeah I'm alright! You saved my life Ash, thank you!"

"What were you doing out there?"

"I was water skiing."

"I know that, but what happened."

"Well, I lost balance. At the beginning it seemed like I would do okay and it would be very fun, but then Hertzfeld accelerated too much. Also it was my first time trying to water ski, but I really wanted to do it."

Herzfeld passed by them like a horizontal lightning on the water, splashing the already wet Ash and Birch. He then turned the jet ski around and stopped in front of them.

"I told you it would be fun," Hertzfeld said.

"Are you serious? You have no idea of what just happened, have you?" Incensed, Ash practically shouted. "The professor fell off, you were dragging him on the water for who knows how long. He almost drowned!"

"Really? Well, as we all know accidents can happen at any time. But with accidents we cannot know exactly what the problem is gonna be until it happens. So you could say it's a good thing that this happened, because now we can be prepared for the next time. You know, now that this accident happened, and seeing as we're all safe, you could say this is the best possible thing that could've happened. Because the only thing that we have now, is a valuable lesson."

"Shut up Hertzfeld!"

"What?"

"I said shut up! You never listen to anyone around you, you always force people to do whatever you want to do. That's how I know you aren't really my friend."

"But we are friends Ash," Hertzfeld said with an oblivious tone.

"No we aren't. We can't be friends if all you care about is you."

"Why shouldn't I care about myself? If you are my friend you have to care about me."

"But you also have to care for your friends."

"No I don't, I have to look out for number one."

"Who's number one?"

Hertzfeld raised his right hand, then lifted only his index finger, then pointed it at himself.

"And we are friends," Hertzfeld continued, "we're buddies. I told you Ash, everything around me, including you, is just electromagnetic waves. You're my surfing buddy, and you're going to surf with me whenever I feel like it. And then one day, when I feel like it, I'll let you challenge me, and your little friends from Maisoram will be here cheering for you. Have you called them?"

"No. I won't call them. I'm not even sure I want to challenge your gym anymore. But of what I am very sure, is that I'll never go surfing with you ever again."

"What? But, but. But you're only electromagnetic waves outside of me, act like it!"

"No."

Still on the jet ski, with his hands on the handle, Hertzfeld directed a stare full of hate at Ash. He was still wearing pitch-black shades over his eyes, but Ash could feel it very well.

"You came to challenge my gym, didn't you, Ash? You came here to defeat me. But you aren't the Gym Leader, I am! I decide when and if I fight you. So you still have to do whatever I want, and now I'm not so sure if I ever want to accept a challenge from you."

"I don't care. I don't want to have a battle with somebody like you. You're worst than Norris."

"Don't compare me to that loser! You want my badge. You came all this way to get it." Hertzfeld made a very mischievous smile, his sharp teeth showed in full. "But I forgot to tell you something—actually I just didn't care to tell you. I leave for Lumiose City tomorrow. I have a gig at a club there that's going to last at least a couple of months, and I'll order the Cosounux gym to be closed in the meantime. I've done it many times before and I'll do it again. You think you're the first surfing buddy I've erased from existence? No way, I've done it many times before and I'll do it again and again until I find the perfect surfing buddy for me. I already have a skating buddy and a snowboarding buddy and a yoga buddy. But anyway, that means tonight's your only chance to get my badge, but you'll have to find me, and I know you won't be able to. And even if you somehow managed to find me there's no way you'd ever be able to beat me." Hertzfeld kick-started his jet ski again. "If you want your badge, come and get it."

Hertzfeld accelerated, drenching both Ash and Birch in salt water.

"Wow, Hertzfeld is actually an awful person," Birch said. "I thought DJs were nice people, Hertzfeld is really giving them a bad rep."

"I forgot he was a DJ," Ash said reticently. He was filled with a rage that cried for justice.

"Yeah, he has a club that's just a few streets away from the pier. He works there at night."

Ash knew he had to head there. All the events that had transpired during the past few days forced Ash to win that badge, mainly because losing all of that time and effort would be unacceptable for him.

Right then Cedric Juniper appeared, hopped on a jet ski. "Hey guys, check this out. I've never ridden one of these before but I really want to try it out."

Ash jumped from the yacht to the jet ski and grabbed the handle.

"Sorry professor, but I need this vehicle. Besides, you shouldn't ride a jet ski if nobody has taught you how to do it properly and without any kind of appropriate supervision, no matter how old you are."

Cedric Juniper got off the jet ski with a disappointed frown on his face, then Professor Birch helped him get on the yacht.

"Pikachu!" Ash then shouted.

Pikachu heard him, saw Ash already hopped on the jet ski, and jumped all the way from the top of the yacht unto his shoulder effortlessly, still with some cake on his mouth.

Then Ash accelerated.