TDBigJ's message: Another week, another chapter, how about that? That week went by quick didn't it? Anyway, I'm glad that this story is off to a great start. I was shocked that it got as much reception as it did: 20 plus reviews, 10 plus favorites, and 15 plus follows. Wow! Didn't see that coming. I'm not one to brag so I'm not going to show it off. It's good to see most of you who read In or Out are reading this story. Thanks for coming back. You guys rock! You are the ones I do all this for. One thing I would like to point out is about the trailer of the starter Pokemon for the new Pokemon games coming out later this year on November 18th. I watched it a couple days ago and it looks like it's going to be a couple of great games. I was a little disappointed that they kept the starter types as grass, fire, and water, I'm pretty sure a lot of people wanted them to switch it up this time around, but it looks like it won't happen. Aw well. But that is only a minor gripe and will not in any way make me lose interest in buying the games. I'm not going to spoil what the names of the Pokemon are and what they look like. I'm pretty sure you guys want to see them in the trailer. One spoiler I would like to point out though (I hope you don't get mad at me for this), is that the region that takes place in the games is called the Alola region. Could this be the next region the next Pokemon series takes place in? (Only if there's another series, which I hope there is). But I'm super excited that these games are coming out and I hope to get one of them. I haven't played a Pokemon game since the original fire red version for Game Boy (Yes it's been that long). So I hope to obtain either one (or both) later this year. So if you remember from the last story, you know what happens next: The responding of reviews.
Rams30 (Guest #1): Thanks! Glad to be back!
Espeon44: It's good to be back, and to you as well. I'm not sure yet if I will have Ash face a new rival, I will put some thought into that. Yes, I plan on putting Selina and Ashley back into this story. Glad you liked the first chapter and I'm doing great, stoked to be back. How are you? Thanks for the review!
Jaguars5 (Guest #2): You hope those pairings happen? They are just to give you a heads up. I'm not sure guys will hit on Ally and Dawn, but hey, I might consider it. No, Trip won't be a bully. You'll see in this chapter. And as stated above, Selina and Ashley will appear. Thanks for the review!
Wolves22 (Guest #3): I'm glad that you're happy that I'm back. It's good to see you reviewing again. There's a good chance new characters and OC's are going to be added into this story. I have one in mind actually, but I'm unsure if I should use him. He would be related to one of the actual characters of the show, but at the same time I don't think you guys would want him in there, so I'm holding that back for now. They will most likely face trouble. No, I don't think Ally and Dawn will be teased. Thanks for the review!
Oliverqueen01: Yes, I'm back. I'm actually surprised to see you reading this story. I've read a few pieces of your work and loved them, so I like to hear that an author I've heard of is reading my story. I've been reading Her Saviour and read A Wish Granted, both are very great stories! Glad you liked the prequel. Episode 22, huh? I think I know what you're talking about but I haven't seen it yet. Thanks for the review! Oh, btw, love your profile picture!
Klay (Guest #4): Yes, Clemont will end up dating someone. He's going to end up dating Shauna. That is the pairing named "ElectricBounceShipping" that I have in the description of this story. That most likely won't happen, but I like the idea. Drew won't end up hurting Shadow, that I promise you. Next part, well, here you go. Thanks for the review!
Raiders89 (Guest #5): Yes, Clemont and Shauna are going to be a couple. Everyone pretty much knows about Dawn's relationship with Ally. I don't think Paul is that kind of character. Thanks for the review!
Ted (Guest #6): Ally is espeon44's OC that she wanted me use in the last story and she is the one dating Dawn. No, no one will hurt them. Thanks for the review!
Cavaliers23 (Guest #7): Since they already have girlfriends in the names of Serena and May that probably won't happen. Thanks for the review!
Mad Ass Dragon: Good to see you back reading my new story. Oh boy, I hope I don't put you back into another diabetic coma, I couldn't live with myself if history repeated itself. But glad you liked the first chapter. Thanks for the review!
Pokemonmeat: Good to see you again. Glad you liked the chap! Thanks for thinking this story will be good. I will do my best to do so. Thanks for the review!
Brig nodrm2347: Man, it's awesome to see you back, reading my new story. The flashback parts you liked, thanks! After some thought, I'm surprised too that I didn't have Fennekin evolve over the summer. How come I didn't do that? I'll reply to your PM by the end of the weekend regarding that. Thanks for hoping that this story will be promising for the future. And when it comes to Trip, he will probably be like Morrison, Stephan, and Cameron towards Ash, a nice rival. I think that since the two of them parted ways on good terms in Unova, that I think it will be best suited for him to be that way. Thanks for the review!
Guest #8: It's good to see you back as well. That does seem like a good idea for the crossover fic and I will see myself working on it soon. I don't know an exact release date but I'll let you know within the next few weeks. Thanks for the review!
Cubs18 (Guest #9): Misty most likely won't be a bull to them. Thanks for the review!
AmourNinfia: Glad you loved In or Out. It's good to see a new face reading my stories. Well it's good that you're excited for the sequel and just hold onto your seat and see where this goes. You think I write excellently? Aww (blushes like Serena). Glad that it makes it enjoyable, that's what I aim for. Yeah, I would say that Amourshipping moments make me squeal as well, but I would be docked man points if I were to do so, so I will refrain from that. It's not really something I would do anyway. Thanks for the review!
Shadic4566: Like above, it's good to see a new face reading my stories. Glad you liked In or Out. Here is the next part. Thanks for the review!
Bryce (Guest #10): Pikachu won't need saving, you'll see in the chapter. I don't think Serena is that kind of person. Shadow is dating May by the way. Thanks for the review!
Jets14 (Guest #11): Those things most likely won't happen, but Shadow standing up for Ally is a good idea. Thanks for the review!
Goldenstate30 (Guest #12): Drew will be in this story, but he won't try to take May from Shadow, and yes, May does love him. Thanks for the review!
Thunder35 (Guest #13): They probably won't have love rivals. That idea seems overused, but that is a good idea. He likely won't appear. Thanks for the review!
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or it's characters, they belong to Game Freak and Nintendo, and… whoever else.
Ash, Pikachu, and a few of Ash's Pokemon were out by a lake, tossing rocks into the water. They were mainly doing it to see who could throw it farther. Seemed like a childish game, but Ash was a teenager and teenagers were almost like kids so he didn't care. The other Pokemon Ash had brought with him were Sceptile, Infernape, Krookadile, and Greninja. He brought them because they were among the ranks of his strongest Pokemon so he could have a challenge.
Ash was pretty much beating them each time though due to his strong arms. Pikachu was small so he only threw about five yards out but the rest of his Pokemon were getting close to Ash, but Ash managed to out throw them each time.
"Okay you guys, another round?"
Each of his Pokemon nodded in agreement and picked up a rock. "All right, one…" They each stretched their arms back. "Two… Three!"
They threw their rocks with all the arm strength they could muster. A couple seconds later each of their rocks landed in the pond with a "SPLASH". Ash once again ended up throwing his the farthest. Krookadile came closest, only within a couple inches. Pikachu again ended up throwing his the shortest. Pikachu didn't feel bad though. He knew because of his size that he wouldn't be able to chuck a tiny piece of gravel long distances. But Ash decided to up the ante. He told each of his Pokemon to throw a rock that was about the size of a fist. There weren't very many of them around them so they chose to go look in the area to see if they could find any. Ash looked around for a couple minutes looking for a good sized rock. Shortly after, Ash found a decently sized rock and picked it up. He tossed it a short distance in the air to see if it was fit for his arm power. He started to turn around before a voice stopped him.
"Hey Ash."
Ash turned around to see who that voice belonged to. He knew though. He recognized all his friend's voices. He turned around and his assumption was correct: it was Ally.
"Oh hey Ally. What brings you here?" Ash asked.
"I should be asking you the same thing." Ally remarked.
"Uhh…"
Ally chuckled. "It's no problem. I was just walking through the forest alone and I happened to end up here. I was surprised to see you here I'll admit."
"Oh, well, I just brought my Pokemon here. I like to take them from Oak's lab and spend some time with them and do whatever. It's the least I could do since I haven't taken them on a journey in a while." Ash explained.
"Hm, that's thoughtful of you. It's good that you still make time for them while school is occurring. Let them have some quality time with you while you're not travelling. I wish I was like that." Ally stated.
"Aw, Ally, don't be hard on yourself. You can be that kind of trainer. It's never too late." Ash said.
Ash was always the one to give each of his friend's encouragement. Despite the fact that his friends did it a lot in return, he was the one that usually gave it more, and his words were wiser as well.
"I could give it a shot. I mean, I don't have that many Pokemon. I only have a few since I went on my second journey this past summer, but this could be something that I could do for the meantime." Ally said.
Ash patted Ally on the back. "There you go. Just because you're not on a journey at the moment doesn't mean that you can't make time for your Pokemon. I'm pretty sure they will appreciate it."
"I'll do it. Thanks for the advice Ash." She put her hands behind her back and walked past Ash. "So are these your Pokemon?"
"Yeah, just a few of them. I have a lot more than them back in Professor Oak's lab." Ash answered.
"They all look like they're having a good time. When did you get each one of them?"
"Sceptile, I caught him back in Hoenn, Infernape was part of my Sinnoh team, Krookadile I had in Unova, and Greninja was with me in Kalos." Ash explained.
"They look well trained."
"They are. They all fought hard when I had them a part of my team. They deserve all the credit for their victories."
"I believe that they all think the same towards you. I'm pretty sure they give you a lot of praise for training them as hard and well as you did." Ally commented.
"We all work hard. Believe me, it's hard to come up with new strategies and I bet they go through a lot trying to learn them, but they all pull through with quite a bit of hard work." Ash explained.
Ally knew quite a bit about Ash, but some she still didn't know, him being a trainer especially. Serena and Dawn were right, Ash was a very colorful individual. She walked forward a few more steps.
"So where's Serena?"
"She's out doing errands with her mom right now and said she won't be back until tonight. Where's Dawn?"
"She's catching up on some schoolwork and she said she would rest for the remainder of the day when she finished, so she will be occupied for today."
"I see."
"By the way, I just wanted to ask something. How was Shadow during your journey?" Ally asked.
"Oh he was great. Don't worry, he didn't cause any trouble." Ash replied.
"Good. He seemed to have been really bushed when he got home last week, so it seemed like it was good for him." Ally commented.
"He did really well. We actually faced against each other in the Pokemon League in the round of eight. It was a pretty close battle. I only beat him by one." Ash explained.
"Yeah, I watched your guys' battle on tv. That was one intense battle." Ally remarked, awed by what performance her friend and brother put on.
"It was pretty intense. I've never seen him as a trainer before so it was good to see what his caliber was, and let me say, I was surprised." Ash complimented.
"I'll take your word for it. I've traveled with him before and he wasn't as good as he is now, but I think that since that he was around you that you kind of rubbed off on him." Ally stated. Ash was a little confused, why would Ally make that comment?
"What do you mean?" He asked, wanting to know what she meant by that.
"I've heard what Dawn, May, Brock, and Clemont said about you. When they traveled with you and watched you battle it's beyond what a normal trainer would do, so what I mean by that is that he learned some new tactics while he was with you over the summer and he made some good practice into learning those skills himself. So you've made him better than he was." Ally explained.
Ash was really surprised. He hardly ever heard about how his friends described what kind of trainer he was. Saying he rubbed off on those that he travelled with, making them better was different for Ash. Sure he liked helping others a lot, but seeing these kinds of comments from them caught him off guard, but he appreciated the respect. He really had a lot of people to count on.
"I'm that much of an impact, huh?" Ash asked, looking out towards the sky.
"I wouldn't doubt it for a second." Ally replied.
"You wouldn't?"
"No. But one of these days I'd like to see for myself."
"Like how?"
"Well, I know this may be way early, but, when you go on another journey someday, maybe next summer, would you mind if I tagged along?" Ally asked.
"You want to journey with me next summer?" Ash asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Only if you're okay with it. But I want to talk to Dawn about it before I do so. Maybe she would like to travel with you again." Ally responded.
"Yeah, yeah, that wouldn't be a bad idea. I'm fine with it one hundred percent." Ash confirmed.
"All right then. It's good to plan ahead, right?"
"Yeah. But we've got ten months to plan everything. See if anyone else would like to come along in the meantime." Ash stated.
"Serena would come along too, right?"
"Yeah, we already planned that once we graduated we would travel all year and we would do it together." Ash replied.
"Well, then, I guess it's settled. Next summer, we're travelling together."
"It's a done deal."
Ash picked up the rock that he had picked up a few minutes earlier. "Would you like to toss rocks with us?"
"Yeah sure, I've got nothing else to do." Ally picked up a rock that was a few feet from her. "But while we're doing so, could you tell me what it was like travelling with Dawn in Sinnoh? I don't think I've heard that from either of you yet."
"Sure."
The two then went over to Ash's Pokemon who had found a rock while Ash and Ally were conversing. And they all tossed rocks into the pond while Ash told Ally about his journey in Sinnoh.
The following day at school was nothing short of the usual. A few classes were boring, a few were tolerable. When lunch came around, each student breathed a sigh of relief, seeing as they finally reached a break in their day that was more than five minutes. Ash left the classroom and before heading to the lunchroom, thought that for a change, he would have Pikachu be there with him, so he went towards the nursery that he left Pikachu in at the beginning of the day to fetch his best buddy. Right when he entered the nursery, Pikachu saw him come in and rushed over to him and jumped into his arms in joy.
Ash chuckled. "Didn't expect to see me this early, huh buddy?
"Pika pika!"
"Come on buddy, let's go see the others."
Pikachu nodded his head and the two left towards the lunchroom. Ash usually was the last one to get to the table anyway so his friends didn't care that he showed up a little later than they did. When he entered the lunchroom, he looked for the table his friends were sitting at. When he spotted them he walked over to them and sat down.
"Hey Ash. Oh, it looks like you brought Pikachu with you." May commented.
"Yeah, I thought I would bring him along for once. Besides Serena, he doesn't really see any of you that much." Ash stated.
"You've got a point there. I haven't seen Pikachu really at all since we parted ways in Unova." Cilan said. Pikachu hopped off of Ash's shoulder and ran across the table to Cilan. Cilan smiled and stroked the top of Pikachu's head, making the yellow mouse coo in delight.
"I don't think any of you, with the exception of Shadow, Ally, and Brock, have seen any Pokemon of mine at all in a long time." Ash explained. Serena then showed up at the table and sat down next to Ash. "Oh, hey Serena."
"Hey baby. Sorry I'm late." She said and pecked Ash on the cheek. With the sight of his partner's girlfriend, Pikachu rushed over to her and jumped into her arms.
"Hey Pikachu. Good to see you here. Ash, you brought Pikachu here?" Serena asked.
"Yeah, Thought I'd switch things up a little." Ash responded.
"That definitely sounds like you." Serena playfully teased.
"Uh, it does?" Ash asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah, and I'm not talking about Pokemon battling either." Serena continuously teased. All of Ash's friends giggled. This caused Ash to blush pink a little.
"Come on, Serena, not in front of the others." Ash pleaded.
"Do what? This?" She asked. Then she grabbed each of Ash's cheeks and planted a quick deep kiss on his lips. As soon as she released, he now was blushing red, and he was also confused.
"Aww, young love!" Brock commented.
Ash was a little nervous right now. Serena doing that in front of his friends, geez. Having a girlfriend was going to be a lot of work. With that aside, Ash thought he'd get things back on topic.
"What were we talking about?" Ash asked, blush finally disappearing.
"Well, we weren't really talking about anything. What's on your mind?" Shauna asked.
"Nothing now." Ash remarked.
"Anything up with you two?" Dawn asked.
Ash sighed and held his hand down, placing his right hand on top of his cap. Did this question really need to be asked now?
"I'm sorry about that. Are you okay Ash?" Dawn asked, realizing Ash was looking uncomfortable.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'll be right back." Ash said and got up from his seat.
Clemont looked at Serena. "Serena, do you know what's troubling him?"
"I think that he doesn't want to talk about us a lot right now. He's still getting used to being in a relationship so he doesn't feel like going too much into detail about it at this point. This is his first relationship you know." Serena explained, telling the others about Ash's position that he was feeling.
"You seem comfortable talking about it. Is this your first relationship too?" May asked.
"Yeah, but does it matter?" Serena replied.
"Good point."
Cilan thought he would chime in. "From what I know, girls are usually faster than boys on the subject of romance."
"Explains why Ash isn't completely comfortable with it yet." Brock stated.
Serena took off her hat and placed it on the table in front of her. "To be honest, I'm not one hundred percent comfortable with it either."
Everyone looked at her quizzically. Really? She wasn't?
"You serious?" Ally asked.
"I'm serious. I mean, when I first had a crush on Ash, I loved the idea of us as a couple. I would always dream of the day we would end up together, and now that we are, I'm happy beyond all means, but at the same time, I'm a little nervous and I get Butterfrees in my stomach quite often." Serena explained.
"Why is that?" May asked.
"There are two things that cause them. One is that whenever Ash compliments me and it makes me happy. The other one is in fear that if I do something wrong, Ash is going to think of me differently and that we aren't going to last long together. So basically it makes me either happy or scared." She concluded.
All of the others knew at least a thing or two about this sort of thing. They knew that Serena was going to have minimal problems when she was dating Ash, so they thought they'd put their two cents in.
"Serena, you have nothing to worry about. Fear of doing something wrong out of the blue is how everyone feels in a relationship, but does it ever make the other person think of you differently? I know Ash, even though he is new to this, I doubt he will think of you differently in any way. He's not that kind of person. He'll accept you no matter what. Don't let the fear of one small mistake scare you into thinking the worst will happen." Dawn explained in full detail.
Serena listened to everything that Dawn had to say. She fully understood what was said. "Okay, I understand. Thanks."
Fifteen minutes later, Ash had finished eating and he went to the bathroom to wash his hands. He wasn't usually one to think this but he wanted to get away from his friends for now. He didn't mind that they knew that he and Serena were a thing now but he didn't want to answer a million questions whenever he encountered them, and he just needed to get away for the meantime. He left Pikachu with Serena. At least he knew he was in good hands, that he knew.
Ash took off his gloves and put them into his pocket and went up to the sink to wash his hands. He dried it with a paper towel when he was done and put his gloves back on and walked out of the bathroom. But right when he walked out, Gary came up running to him. He seemed to have been running for a good amount of time because he was heavily panting, and it also looked like something was up.
"Ash, you've gotta come quick." Gary said, motioning his hand to tell Ash to come with him.
"What's up Gary?" Ash asked, curious to the situation.
"You might want to see this, it's about Pikachu. And it's not good." Gary explained.
"How bad is it?"
"Another person's Pokemon has picked a fight with him."
Ash's eyes widened. "WHAT?"
After that Ash ran with Gary to the courtyard behind the lunchroom. There seemed to be a crowd surrounding the area where a battle was supposedly taking place. Ash was worried. He didn't fear the worst because Pikachu could handle himself in these situations, but he still wanted to know what was going on. Once he and Gary reached the scene, it seemed that Pikachu was in a battle against a Serperior. Pikachu didn't look too bad. The worst that he had was a few marks, but nothing serious. Ash rushed to a safe distance from the battle to where he wouldn't get hit. It seemed that neither Pikachu or Serperior were going to give in. They were both looking like they were about to strike. And right when they did, Serperior got ready to jump while sparks emanated from Pikachu's cheeks. But before either could start their attacks, Ash and a familiar voice shouted at their Pokemon simultaneously.
"PIKACHU STOP!"
"SERPERIOR HOLD BACK FOR A SECOND!"
Pikachu looked back at Ash when he heard his name, and Serperior looked at his trainer as well when he emerged from the crowd. Right when Ash saw who it was, he was surprised.
It was Trip.
"Serperior, I didn't let you out of your Pokeball just so you could go fight other Pokemon on your own accord. You need to be a little careful when I'm not with you for a short period of time. Okay?" Trip told his Pokemon a little sternly but with some easiness.
Serperior held his head down. "Serperior."
Trip looked over at Pikachu. "Hm, I wonder if that's Ash Ketchum's Pikachu." He looked at Ash come up to Pikachu and picked him up. "Yep, sure is."
"Pikachu, you okay?"
"Pika."
"Don't worry, I'll get you healed up buddy."
Ash kept looking at his partner. Due to that, he didn't notice Trip walking up to him.
"Hey Ash."
Ash looked up from Pikachu. "Oh, uh, hey Trip."
"Look, I'm sorry for what Serperior did. I didn't expect him to do this once I let him out of his Pokeball." Trip apologized.
"Oh, it's no big deal Trip." Ash responded, putting a hand up in the air a little.
"No, it is. It's all my fault. I should've brought Serperior with me when I had to go do something." Trip continued, feeling bad about the situation.
"Seriously Trip, it's fine. No hard feelings."
"I just wanted to clear the air with you. I wouldn't know why Serperior would attack Pikachu of all Pokemon." Trip added.
"I think I might know why."
"What's that?"
"Remember back in the Unova League when we faced each other in the preliminaries? Seeing as you used Serperior and I used Pikachu probably explains why this whole thing happened." Ash explained.
"Oh yeah, that could explain why." Trip said, seeing as that could be the possibility. "Well, anyways, again, sorry for all this happening."
"No worries." Ash added.
Serena walked up from the crowd that had now disbanded and placed a hand on Ash's non-Pikachu occupied shoulder. "Is everything okay Ash?"
"Yeah Serena, everything is all right."
Trip motioned his hand towards Serena. "Ash, who is this?"
"Oh, Trip, this is Serena, my girlfriend." Ash answered.
Trip's eyes widened a little bit. "Your girlfriend?"
Ash nodded. "Yeah."
A smile crept across Trip's lips. "Huh, very interesting Ash. Nice to see you've matured."
"Thanks. I guess."
"Ash, how do you know Trip?" Serena asked.
"Oh, Trip was one of my rivals during my Unova journey." Ash answered.
"Was he one of your rivals that was a rival and friend or just a rival?"
"He was more of a rival. We didn't get along well."
"How come?"
"Well, he always underestimated me and he made insults towards Kanto."
Serena gasped. "Like what?"
"He often called it the boonies." Ash replied.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Serena asked, now looking at Trip.
"It's not a big deal now. When we last encountered, we parted on good terms, so that's basically the past." Ash stated.
Trip nodded. "He's correct on that."
Serena calmed down a bit. "Okay, I guess that's good then."
"Anyway, I should be getting to class now, it starts in a few minutes. I'll see you around Ash." Trip said, holding out his hand. Ash noticed Trip's hand and shook it.
"Will do. Oh, and Trip?"
"Yeah?"
"Let's keep that promise and have ourselves another battle someday. What do you think?"
Trip smirked. "Sounds good."
"But for safety, I think we should refrain from using Pikachu and Serperior in that battle." Ash added.
"Good call. I'll see you later."
"See ya!"
"And Ash?"
"Yeah?"
Trip went up to Ash's right ear. "Good job on the girl. She looks like a keeper."
"Uh, okay, thanks." Ash replied.
"Nice meeting you Serena. I'll see you around."
"See you around."
After Trip had left, the bell had rung. Since their next class was together, they could walk there with each other.
Serena grabbed Ash's left hand. "Come on Ash, let's get going." She pulled Ash, making him walk. "He seemed interesting."
"On some level." Ash responded.
A few hours later after school ended and making his way home, Ash entered his house and went up to his room, slammed his binder on his dresser, took off his hat, and plopped down on his bed. Pikachu hopped off of his shoulder before he descended. Ash moaned as soon as his face hit the pillow. He turned around after a minute, looked at Pikachu for a moment then looked back up at the ceiling.
"Feeling all right, Pikachu?"
The yellow mouse nodded his head. "Pika Pi."
"Just making sure. You seemed a little rattled after that small battle you had today."
"Pika."
Ash sighed. "I'd hate to see you get badly hurt. I'd be devastated, Serena would be devastated, all my friends would be devastated."
"Pi?"
"You mean a lot to everybody. Believe me, you've had just as much impact on them as you've had with me."
Pikachu smiled. "Pikachu."
Pikachu hopped over onto the bed and sat on top of Ash's chest. Ash patted the top of his buddy's head a few times.
"Just like you do with me, I'll always have your back, even through the hard times." Ash stated.
Pikachu closed his eyes and rubbed the side of Ash's face with his head. After a few nudges he laid down on Ash's torso and fell asleep. Ash couldn't help but smile. He placed his hand on Pikachu's back. He didn't want to interrupt his partner's slumber and thought he would drift off to sleep as well after such a hard day he had. He closed his eyes and started to rest, not letting anything around them keep them awake.
The two were definitely inseparable. Anyone who doubted it was an idiot. The two would be a team until the end of days. And it was a sure thing.
Author's note: And that's the true bond between trainer and Pokemon, always by the others side for eternity. Man, wouldn't it be awesome if we lived in the same world? Being a trainer would be awesome! Maybe they could invent a machine that made us live this reality, but until then, I guess we'll just have to settle for the games, that's the closest we'll get for now. Okay, I think my hopeful dreams can sit aside for now, but at this moment, we need to get to the preview.
"So this is the gym you used to lead?" Serena asked.
"Yeah. This is about the whole deal." Brock responded.
"It's nice to see that you've kept it in pristine condition, even after travelling with Ash."
"Yeah, a few of my brothers and sisters and my parents keep it top notch while I'm not home. They deserve the credit."
"You must have been one heck of a gym leader." Serena commented. "Hard to believe you battled Ash at one point, let alone the first gym battle he had."
"Yeah, it wasn't much of a battle though. First time I forfeited and when I came back I almost beat him but something happened that made me want to stop the battle."
"What was that?"
"The sprinklers turned on and soaked Brock's Onix and I was about to have Pikachu use thunderbolt on him, but I didn't want to beat him that way. It would have been too easy of a win."
Serena smiled. "Even at the beginning of your journey you had some smarts in you."
"Yeah, well, I told Brock that it wouldn't have proven anything if I let that happen. But even after that he gave me a badge anyway, which surprised me a bit." Ash added.
"Maybe you proved something to Brock that you didn't know about." Serena commented. Ash looked at Brock.
"Is she telling the truth Brock?"
"Actually, yes."
"What was it?"
"Well, it was-"
Suddenly there was a loud rumble. It sounded like it came from within the gym.
"What was that?" Serena shouted, covering her head with her hands.
"I don't know, but it sounded like it came from here on the inside." Ash added.
"Let's go check it out." Brock ordered and the three of them rushed off to find the source of the disturbance. Once they went to the back of the gym, they found Brock's Steelix and Golem lying on the floor. One of Brock's little brothers, Forrest, was there, looking on in shock. Maybe it had to do with something he did. But what? The three of them walked up to him to see what had happened.
"Forrest, what happened here?" Brock asked.
Author's note: What strange thing has happened here? What did Forrest do to make Steelix and Golem get knocked out? Will Forrest be able to explain it? All this and more will be answered in the next installment. Until then…
TDBigJ out!
"There's no sense in going out of your way to get someone to like you."
-Ash, Pokemon Advanced, Episode Once in a Mawile
