Pokemon: The Roar of the Neo Battle Frontier

Summary: After leaving for three years, Pallet town's favorite son makes his way back to where it all started. But Ash comes back stronger and wiser than before as the leader of the newly opened Johto Battle Frontier. What does the future have in store for him? AshXHarem

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon

Chapter 3

"Comm'on guys, the boat is leaving!" Ash cried out to his friends who raced into the metal vehicle and not a moment too soon as the horn suddenly blew, signaling that they were about to depart. Once his friends reached where he was on deck, he sighed. "You know, shopping is fine and all, but it's another thing altogether for it to cause you all to miss the boat." He calmly told them as he stared at the mountain of shopping bags and boxes that were supposed to be his male friends. "Pika!" Pikachu added helpfully.

Of course they mostly, if not all of them belonged to his female friends. Though the more he stared at his male friends, the more he couldn't help but pity them, and he mentally began to thank whatever legendary Pokemon had decided to take pity on him today and let him unintentionally separate from the group earlier, thus letting him escape the inevitable, if only for today. "Hey don't blame us! We would have gotten here earlier, but the girls took too long to pay!" Max retorted.

"That was because the line was too long and the store only had one cash register. But what else do you expect to happen on a fifty percent sale holiday?" May replied as the other females nodded in agreement. "But even if it was on sale, don't you think this is a bit too much?" Gary Oak asked. "Of course not. When it comes to sales, you need to get all the good ones you can, since they don't happen too often." Misty answered in a matter of fact tone, and the guys all inwardly sighed.

"Well, how about this, we split up and take all of our stuff back to our rooms and while we do that Ash, why don't you go save us a table at the dining room since you've already placed your things in your room?" Brock suggested and when no objections were raised to his idea, the group split up and headed to the rooms below deck while Ash and Pikachu headed for the dining hall. But once he was only a few steps away from his destination, his Xtranceiver began to ring.

"Pika?" The Pokemon asked titling its head to look at the screen. Ash's eyebrow rose when he saw who the caller was but wordlessly pressed the 'answer call' button. The image of a teen with long chocolate hair then greeted him. "Everything ok, there, Giselle?" He asked. "Of course it is, you think the others and I would slack off and let the frontier station fall to ruin?" She asked with a hint of sarcasm and Ash gave a dry laugh. "I guess, then to what do I owe the honor of this call from you, milady?"

"You owe it to Scott." Ash raised an eyebrow at that. "Scott?" He repeated, and when she nodded in confirmation, he kept quiet to let her continue. "He's suddenly called for an emergency meeting." She explained as his confusion grew even more. "Did he tell you why?" He asked, but she only shook her head. "Nope, I just got an email from him a little while ago that said that there was to be an emergency meeting that would take place in Cherry Grove City two days from now."

"Will you be able to make it?" She asked as he thought about it. "What time does the meeting take place?" It took less than a second for her to answer him. "At ten am sharp."Ash then put his hand under his chin as he tried to calculate the time it would take to get to Cherry Grove. "I'll be cutting it close, but I'll make it." He finally replied before adding. "But take note that I'll be coming with my friends." He said, but Giselle only waved him off. "I'm sure they'll understand."

"Who are you referring to, my friends or the other Frontier Brains?" Ash asked as a small grin began to appear on his face. "Both." She answered simply before adding. "But you're friends might have to sit out of the meeting." She said and he nodded. "Probably, but is there anything else you wanna tell me about this meeting?" Giselle only thought about it for a second before answering. "Well, the meeting will be held at conference room three at the Newtown Hotel."

"Food and drinks will be served, of course, and the Frontier Brain is required to bring either their second or anyone else who's a part of their crew." She finished and Ash winced. "I don't suppose that my second has returned yet in my absence at the frontier station?" He asked and Giselle shook her head, giving a look that was nothing short of being sympathetic. "Thought as much." He said before sighing. "Not much we can do about it; you know the type of guy he is. Though you still have to take someone with you…"

"So, who'll it be?" Ash thought about it for a second. "How about you go with me, then?" He said and Giselle seemed to be a bit surprised at his choice. "I didn't expect that, I would have thought, you'd choose your third to accompany you to the meeting." She honestly admitted and he laughed. "She would have also been a good choice, but with a challenger on his way, I think her hands are full as it is. No need to give her more work by making her travel even farther away from the Frontier Station."

"That makes sense, I guess." Giselle allowed as a small smile appeared on her face. "We'll just meet up at the conference room, and make sure you don't come late again, Ash." She told him and he nodded. "Yeah, I'll try my best to be punctual this time." He replied. "Well, that's it for now. I'll contact you if there are any last minute changes." She told him. "See you in two days then." He replied as she gave him a curt nod. "See you in two days, Ash." She said, before she cut the call.

"Looks like things are about to get even more interesting, Pikachu." He told his partner before he began to scratch behind the small electric mouse Pokemon's ears. "Chaa!" The mouse happily answered before Ash continued his walk to the dining hall, all the while wondering about two things. The first was that he was wondering what was so important that Scott needed to call in an emergency meeting, and the second was how to break the news to his friends.

After dinner was done and both Pokemon and people had their fill, the group was about to leave when a loud cough got their attention. They turned to the source, only to find Ash, who was the only one who stayed seated. "Guys, could you spare a minute? There's something I need to tell you because of a sudden change in plans." He started and the others began sitting back down. "What do you mean by sudden change of plans?" Iris asked as everyone's eyes looked at their friend expectantly.

"You see…" Ash then began to tell them all about Giselle's call to him before dinner and what they had discussed about. "I see, so instead of going straight to Azalea town, we'll be heading for Cherry Grove first for the meeting." Cilan summarized and Dawn perked up. "But doesn't this mean that we'll get to see the Johto frontier brains at last?" She asked and Ash nodded. "This wasn't how I expected things to go, but I guess this works too." He answered simply. "Too bad Tracey, Professor Oak and Mrs. Ketchum couldn't go with us this time." Misty started before continuing. "If they did, they would have been able to meet the other Johto frontier brains and their Seconds as well."

"It can't be helped; I know that gramps really wanted to go. But who would have thought that the very next day he'd get mail saying that there was this Pokemon conference that he'd needed to go to and as his assistant, Tracey needed to go as well." Gary replied. "Yeah, and it was just bad luck that the day before we leave mom gets a call about my uncle getting into an accident, and as the only family member, aside from me, who still lives in the same region, she said it was her duty to take care of him."

"But there's always a next time. I'll just invite them again some other time." Ash said as he began to lean into his seat to get more comfortable. "But I can't wait to find out who the other Frontier Brains are." Max said before adding. "Well so far, we know two of them, you and Paul. But there are still six more to go." Dawn then piped up. "Still just the fact that you and Paul are working together, and have become good friends still hasn't lost its novelty on me yet."

"I can't help but feel slightly insulted at that." Ash said and the others began to laugh. "But it's kind of understandable since you two were such bitter rivals before." Brock supplied helpfully and Ash waved him off. "Past is past." He replied simply causing the others to laugh again. "It's kind of funny hearing that from you of all people, Ashy boy." Gary told him between laughs and Ash glared at him. "But it has been years, so it's only natural that both Ash and Paul to have matured too." Brock said, backing up Ash.

His words seemed to have triggered a chain reaction since it prompted some to nod and the others to look thoughtful. "I guess that Ash did mature a bit over the years." May suddenly piped up which caused everyone's eyes to turn to her. "I mean, you know back at Pallet town, he seemed to take training more seriously, and I guess, when he was with the kids!" She hastily explained, but the others seemed to have gotten lost at the last part.

"That's true, Ash seemed to devote a part of each day into training both his Pokemon and himself now. But I don't really mean what you mean by kids, May. Care to elaborate?" He asked as May tried to find the best words to explain what she meant. "I guess you can say he's managed to become something like a responsible older brother back at Pallet town. Remember when he took the time to teach Jackson, Gilbert and Isabella a bit about Pokemon?" She said as the others seemed to understand.

"Really? I think he had actually spoiled those kids, a bit." Misty said and all eyes turned to her. "What do you mean by that?" Dawn asked. "You know, aside from teaching them and letting them play with his Pokemon, I heard that he took them out to a few trips to the outskirts of Pallet town to see wild Pokemon." She explained as the others gave incredulous stares at Ash. "What? In my defense, I took them to places with friendly and peaceful Pokemon, and that's Spearow and Fearow free."

"That's not it Ash." Cilan gently told him as the others nodded. "Then what is it?" He asked, a hint of exasperation in his tone. "We just didn't think you were the type to chaperone, that and we never expected you to be good with children." Iris said as the others nodded their heads in agreement. "Well, I got enough practice back at the Frontier Station." He muttered just low enough that no one would be able to hear him.

"But anyways, it's getting late we should probably head back to our rooms and get some rest." Ash said. "That's right we land at Johto at noon tomorrow, but after that we'll still have a trip to Cherry Grove City, so we should get all the rest while we still can." Brock added and shortly after the group stood and began to head to their respective cabins. But tonight it seemed that the sandman was especially pumped up to do his work, because as soon as their heads hit the pillow, the teens fell fast asleep.

The gang spent the next morning to midday having breakfast, playing around on deck, battling on the specified area on deck, then relaxing a bit before finally having lunch. While they were eating lunch, the captain had sent a message through the intercom saying that they would be docking in Johto in approximately one hour. But once they did dock, the gang had been one of the firsts to disembark, partially because they were excited at the prospect of having landed in a new region, and partially because they had no time to waste.

An amused look appeared on Giselle's face as just five minutes before ten, the door dramatically burst open and all eyes turned to see a teen with raven black hair standing at the open doorway. "Did I make it?" Were the first words out of his lips, which prompted a few giggles from the others in the room. "With four minutes and fifty seconds to spare." Giselle answered as he let out a sigh in relief as he went over to what he supposed was his seat.

But as soon as he did, he could hear someone from the opposite side of the table shout "Darn it!" This prompted him to turn slightly in his seat and he saw that the source was actually his blond haired friend, Barry, who was giving a violet haired male what looked like a few Pokedollar bills. "Am I missing something?" Ash asked and was answered by the blue haired girl wearing yellow and black beside him. "Nah, Barry just went and made a bet with Shingo that you would be late."

Ash gave the two a dry look. "You bet on whether or not, I'd make it in time?" He asked flatly as the blonde's face became a bit sheepish as he raised his hands. "Hey, we were bored." He said in his defense while for the part of the violet haired teen, he just calmly stated. "At least I bet you would make it in time." He said and Ash fought the urge to face palm. "Cheer up Ash, at least you made it in time." The blonde teen who sat exactly opposite him, said before adding. "And you've even broken your record."

"And what record is that, Bianca?" He asked, though his gut told him that he really didn't want to know. "The number of times you haven't been late for meetings in a row." A male teen who sat next to Bianca answered and Ash twitched. "As of now, your record is four times." He continued. "No that's wrong Steven, it's his fifth time. You forgot the meeting at Olivine City." A female teen sporting a ponytail corrected. "Oh right, thanks Shauna- Wait a second! I keep telling you my name is Stephan, not Steven!"

"It's close enough." The teen beside Shauna said. "No, it's not! It's as far as the name Cyril is to Cyrus, Chigusa!" He screamed out in frustration as Bianca began trying to calm him down. "But anyways Ash, I heard you're friends are here too?" A tall teen asked him and he nodded. "Yeah, but they're probably chilling at the Pokemon center by now." He answered. "But when Harrison said friends, are you also referring to those guys too?" A female teen with red hair asked and he nodded.

"Assuming we're talking about the same people, then yes, Georgia." He replied evenly as he realized that a few faces that he had been expecting weren't around. "Hey aren't I usually the only person here who attends the meetings with an MIA Second?" He asks before quickly adding. "Not that I'm not happy to see you guys!" Three females then began to giggle at his antics. "Oh don't worry about it; we know you didn't mean it in a bad way." A teen with violet hair in pigtails said while the other two nodded.

Ash looked visibly relieved at that, but who wouldn't? Despite how he usually was the saying that 'hell hath no fury like a woman scorned' was firmly engraved in his mind like every other male in this room. "But it has been a long time since I last saw you three, Cherry, Miki, Sakura." He addressed them before continuing. "I think the last time I saw you three was when we threw Paul a surprise birthday party." At the mention of that event the aforementioned teen grunted. "Don't remind me of that."

"Hey, it wasn't that bad." Ash protested as the violet haired male fixed him a look. "Ok, so maybe things did get out of hand, but I'm pretty sure that years from now we'll be able to laugh at the day's events." He said and Paul said nothing at first. "I almost got buried alive by birthday cake." He stated. "Well, ok so there was that." He said as a few of the others seemed to snicker at the memory. "Oh, and not to mention that the room ended up turning into an industrial sized refrigerator."

"Thanks Nicholai, I had almost forgotten that." Ash said sarcastically, but it didn't seem that the energetic teen noticed. "You're welcome." He energetically replied before his face turned thoughtful. "But how did that even happen, again?" He asked and it was Cherry who answered him. "If I remember correctly, Pikachu accidentally released enough electricity that the air conditioning system began to malfunction, and the room ended up turning into a freezer." She said as Ash's face turned sheepish.

"Oh right, but where is Pikachu, by the way? I don't see him with you, Ash." Miki asked as the others looked at the raven haired teen curiously. "Now that you mention it…" Bianca started. "As we speak, he's at the Pokemon center with my friends, babysitting, Baby." He replied. "Oh, Baby is your Vulpix, right?" The girl wearing yellow and black said and when he nodded continued. "I wish you would have brought her along, I really wanted to see her."

"You can see her later, but I'll warn you now that she's really timid and easily gets scared of strangers. But this is a surprise, I thought you only liked Pokemon that are yellow and black, Casey." He teased and she laughed. "That only applies for my team, but I do like other kinds of Pokemon too." She said and just as Ash was about to say more the doors to the conference room opened again revealing a man wearing a Hawaiian shirt, Khaki shorts and sunglasses.

"Oh? Looks like everyone's already here, then I declare that this emergency meeting to officially begin!"

Thanks for Reading!

Please Review!