A/N: Well, here's chapter three. For those of you who are wondering what Drew did to May…well, you'll find out, okay? Just be patient.
I would love to say that I was only late with this update due to my lack of internet at my apartment, but that is no longer the case. I am back in my parent's house-with internet-and am now on bad terms with one of my best friends. Which sucks. But I suppose that's life. In any case, I'll try to keep updates coming ASAP.
Now that that's outta the way, let's go!
Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon.
Chapter Three: An Old Friend
"Y-you're-!" James said, astonished. He was met with a glare from the person who he had run into…or at least, what appeared to be a glare. The squinty eyes made it hard to tell.
"…What are you doing here, James?" Brock asked, clearly annoyed. "If you're here to steal Pokemon, then I'll show you no mercy."
"N-no! Nothing like that! My new partner and I got blasted off onto a boat with the twerp and twerpette, and then we ended up here, and now we're going to my summer home, and-"
"Whoa whoa whoa. Hang on. Twerp and twerpette? Who do you mean by that?"
"Ash and…May, I think." James responded, frowning as he tried to remember. After calling them 'twerps' for so long, it was hard to remember their exact names.
"!" Brock's eyes widened, or at least somehow formed to make them look surprised. Last he heard, May was in low spirits and had no desire to travel. Now she was with Ash again?
'Interesting. I wonder how Ash was able to convince her to come with…I guess I should've figured that Ash would've been here the second he learned about a new League. Well, it looks like it's going to be like old times…Minus Max and with a couple of stragglers.' Brock thought. Then, another thought occurred to him.
"Wait, what do you mean new partner? Did they separate you and Jessie?"
James visibly drooped. Brock felt a touch of sympathy for the man.
"Yeah…Now I'm stuck with Biff-"
"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO SAY IT? THE NAME IS BUTCH!" Came Butch's voice out of nowhere. Brock chuckled.
"Do you do that on purpose?"
James shrugged. "Usually. Other times I just don't care enough."
"I take it Cassidy's with Jessie, then?"
"Unfortunately, yes. Meowth's with us, though, so I'm not too lonely."
"Mm. So where is Ash, anyway?"
"Talking to the female twerp about Contests, I think. I was just wandering around since I've been here before."
Brock raised an eyebrow. "…How many summer homes do you have here?"
James flinched. "Is it really that obvious?"
"Well, looking back on how many times we've encountered one of your summer homes on our journeys, it's not too hard to see a pattern, James. That, and I doubt Team Rocket has been to the Orre region yet. Until now, anyway."
"Ah. Well I suppose there is that. In any case, I take it you want to see the twerps?"
"Ash and May, James. We at least have the decency to call you by your names instead of collectively as 'Team Rocket' from time to time."
"Oh, fine…Ash and May."
"Good. And yes, I would like to see them."
With that, James turned around and started to walk back to where he came from, with Brock in tow.
Butch fidgeted nervously. He kept glancing about him, trying to hide the big red R on his shirt. Honestly, why hadn't he brought along another change of clothes? He was standing out too much; with his luck, somebody would recognize the R for Team Rocket, then he and James would be sent to jail. Again.
His movements finally caught the attention of Ash, who raised his eyebrows.
"What's up?" He asked.
"Nothing at all!" Butch snapped irritably. Noticing the look on Ash's face, he sighed. "Sorry kid. Just a bit worried about the police and all. I don't know if they've heard of Team Rocket out here, but if they have, they're surely going to notice the R on mine and James' shirts before too long. They stick out quite a bit, you know. And I really don't feel like going back to jail again. Especially in a place like this."
Ash actually pitied Butch for once. "It must be tough once you've done the things you have. Always in paranoia about the law. And now that you've started, you can't stop…right?"
"Something like that. The Boss doesn't really let members just drop off whenever they feel like. It's kinda like a life sentence; you join for life, or…well, I don't really want to imagine what he does to those who quit. It can't be pleasant, I can tell you that much."
"It sounds like it. …Say, Bob-"
"IT'S BUTCH!"
"Sorry, sorry. Butch, then. Why did you join Team Rocket? I know James did it to get away from his parents and be free, and Jessie did it to move up in life. But why did you?"
"Hmph. Nosy kid, aren't you? I had my reasons. That's all you need to know."
Any further conversation was interrupted as a voice called out. "Ash!"
Ash and Butch turned. James was approaching them, as was-
"Brock!" Ash cried. They high-fived.
"What are you doing here, Brock? I thought you were going to become a Pokemon Doctor." Ash said, clearly surprised in a pleasant way.
"Well, I am. I have to do a lot of research, though, and I also needed to understand how to handle Pokemon from different environments. As such, I came out here to study the habitats of the few Pokemon that live out here. I take it that you're here for the League?"
"You know me too well. Of course I would go anywhere that has a League." Ash replied, grinning.
"Brock? Is that you?" Came May's voice. They all turned to see the brunette approaching them. Ash frowned. Where had she got off to? He was talking to her only minutes before he began talking to Butch…
A voice in his head told him not to think about it too much. Girls were just weird like that. It would give him more than just a headache trying to solve any of it.
"May! Long time no see!" Brock said, smiling kindly at the younger woman. "Nice to see you again. How have you been?"
"Oh…I've been doing fine. Just getting back into my Contest career." May returned his smile. It was almost like old times. Now if only Team Rocket and Gary weren't here, and Max was with them, it could almost be like they were traveling in Hoenn again. A very dry and desert-like Hoenn.
"Well, good to hear it. I know you'll do well." Brock said, still smiling, although it looked kinda forced to Ash, who frowned.
'He's probably thinking about whatever it was that Drew did to her…Am I the only one who doesn't know the exact details?' He thought, idly wondering if it was that had caused May so much pain. He then shook his head mentally. 'I guess if she really wanted me to know, she'd tell me. Maybe there's a reason that I'm the only one being kept in the dark. Maybe she's afraid that I'll go find Drew and finish the job that Norman started…if he didn't finish it already.' Ash chuckled slightly at that. Yes, he had no doubt that whatever Drew did, he paid for it dearly once Norman caught up to him.
Gary returned soon after, having finished his business with Samantha. After briefly catching up with Brock-whom Gary did not seem surprised to see, Ash noticed-they found their rooms and began to unpack.
Ash was still chuckling as he let out all of his Pokemon; according to Gary, all of the Pokemon Nurses in Orre were just like the Nurse Joys back in all of the other regions-they all were named Samantha, and looked almost identical. He had no doubt that Brock could tell them apart, which amused him even more.
His thoughts were interrupted when Bayleef tackled him to the ground, intent on snuggling with him for the rest of the night…or for the rest of their lives, if she could get away with it. Totodile started dancing around them, obviously thinking that Bayleef smothering Ash was some new game that was currently not known to it. Bulbasaur sighed, and Buizel face palmed. Quilava merely glanced at the commotion, before curling back up to take its nap.
As Pikachu, Buizel and Bulbasaur tried-in vain-to get Bayleef and now Totodile off of Ash, giggling could be heard from the doorway.
May watched the scene in amusement, happy that all of Ash's Pokemon were still as lovable as ever. She did notice that Bayleef glared at her momentarily for some reason, before she went back to resisting everyone's attempts to get her off of her beloved Trainer.
May's Pokeballs shook slightly, before light engulfed the room. Blazekin, Skitty, Glaceon, Venusaur, Squirtle, Cyndaquil, Beautifly and Munchlax had all come out, with most of them looking at Ash's predicament with amusement. May smiled; it was good to be a Gym Leader's daughter sometimes. She could get away with having more than six Pokemon. Of course, since she was not really a battler anyway, she could've probably gotten away with it anyway, but still.
After Gary had found Samantha again-and explained to her about them picking up a new bunkmate-he and Brock filed into their room. Hearing the laughter-and obvious gasps for air that were coming from Ash-they both smiled fondly. Yes, perhaps this trip would snap May out of the funk she was in. Then they both paused to wonder why they had called it 'funk', and then to wonder why they were both thinking the same thing-and even then, HOW they knew that they were thinking the same thing.
The author smirked at them. "Dance my puppets, DANCE! MWAHAHAH!"
He was promptly smacked upside the head by a million and a half fan girls who had come to take Gary away.
Butch and James, on the other hand, were both already almost in deep slumber. Chimecho, who James had picked up from his grandparents just before he and Jessie had gotten separated, was wrapped comfortably around his head as he slept. Butch was mumbling in his sleep, most of which involved various getting his name wrong, and what names he was going to change his to.
Across the hall from Ash's and May's room (who had opted to sleep in the same room, which, oddly, nobody seemed to find weird), a man with spiky white hair looked up. He was clearly tanned from spending a long time in the desert, and he had a white mark that crossed right under his eyes. His blue trench coat was currently off, revealing his casual outfit underneath-which no one still living had ever seen him in. Well, the one exception snuggled up closer to him.
"Noisy bunch, aren't they?" Rui asked, smiling as she looked at the auras of the people in the rooms across from them. She had always been able to see auras, ever since she was a kid. That especially made her invaluable when she and her boyfriend had thwarted Cipher all those years ago.
Wes grunted. He was a man of few words, unless Rui was involved, of course. His long-time partners, Espeon and Umbreon, both slept at the edge of their bed.
"Hmhmhm…Come on Wes, don't look so grumpy. If you frown all the time like that, you'll turn ugly."
He raised an eyebrow. "I've always looked like this. You know that. And you have yet to say I'm ugly. I think I'll take my chances."
She giggled as she planted a kiss on his cheek. "Whatever you say, dear."
A/N: Whew…that actually took a lot longer to write than I thought it would. Got Wes and Rui introduced in this chapter, got Brock in, some character development for Butch…I'd say I did well.
Okay, I lied about Ash having his first battle. But it will happen next chapter, for sure. For those of you who have played Colosseum and Gale of Darkness, prepare for the most lovable character from both games to return! And maybe even have a huge part in the story!
Alright, so to answer a couple of things that a couple of reviews had said. First of all, japaneserockergirl. I thank you for your review, and I will try harder in the future to get setting descriptions down a lot better. I always had trouble with things like that, and I also like the way how you were polite about it. But as for how they were going to train their Pokemon…well, in the Colosseum and Gale of Darkness, to make up for the lack of wild Pokemon, they had trainers every which way. And in the show, Ash typically battles other trainers to train, so that's what I'm going off of. And I totally agree with what you say about the anime; if the show didn't have so many fillers (and if I would've had a T.V station that aired Pokemon at the time), I probably would've continued watching after Kanto. And Ash needs to grow up. Seriously.
And now, for Vitallnfo, I thank you too for your kind review. But I should tell you that Orre is NOT a fan-made region. Orre was not in the show, but from two games: Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness. Cipher and the whole Shadow Pokemon thing that I explained (roughly) in the first chapter were present in both games as well.
I must thank all of the rest of you who reviewed as well (Oliviakd, Blue-Red-Ninja, Hakkyo no Yami, Vitallnfo [for a !SECOND! review], knownobody, gabrielsolomon, and Writer of the Void). I appreciate the encouragement, and I will try to get up another chapter ASAP!
And is it just me, or does anyone else here who writes Pokemon fanfiction always seem to forget to put the Pokemon in? I always seem to forget about them and focus on the humans more. I really need to work on that...
Next time: Afros and disco music ahoy! A former Team Snagem member reveals himself to the group! Ash has his first battle (for real this time)! And what's eating Gellert Grape?
Until next time!
~The Doc