Chapter 4: An unexpected reunion
– Ash's POV –
Ash and co made their way to the top deck for his battle against Cynthia. Brock had tried coaxing Dawn out of her room to watch the battle but she remained in her room claiming that she wasn't feeling well. Ash pretended that he didn't care but was a little hurt that his friend still refused to see him. It wasn't his fault they had to go to Kanto, he thought she'd at least be excited at the prospect of going to a new region and seeing all of his other pokémon. He shook off these thoughts as they reached the end of the corridor, pumping himself up for what was to come.
They arrived at the battle rooms and Ash eagerly pushed open the doors and marveled at what he saw. Light illuminated a huge field, almost as large as the ones used in the official stadium matches. There were television screens propped up on either side of the field which would display each trainer and their pokémon. They even had a huge grand stand for spectators.
"Wow this is awesome!" he exclaimed in awe.
"This is my actually personal ship; I use this when I need to travel for privacy reasons and because it provides the needs for my intense training. Although I let the public use it as well and sometimes hold exhibition matches hence the large seating area." She explained. As if to emphasize this, Cynthia used a speaker in the corner of the room to announce over the PA that a battle was about to commence and all crew and passengers were invited to watch.
"You don't mind do you?" Cynthia asked.
"Of course not! I'm happy to have more people cheer me on to win!"
"Sorry Ash but I don't think that'll be the case here" Brock laughed as Ash pouted. Slowly, the stands began to fill with deck hands, cooks and even random citizens who were also headed for Kanto, until soon enough almost everyone on board was seated. Much to Ash's dismay they were indeed cheering for their beloved champion but this only seemed to fuel his determination further.
"How about a one on one battle?" Cynthia suggested.
"Sounds good to me! Infernape and I are gonna crush you!"
Cynthia shook her head. "Actually I was wondering if you'd use Pikachu instead" she said pointing to the yellow mouse.
Brock gave her an inquisitive look however Ash readily took up the challenge. "Sure! Any one of my pokémon is fine, they're all fired up!"
"Pika!" Pikachu exclaimed in agreement.
"Very well then" Cynthia smiled "Brock would you please referee?"
"Why of course my lady and may I say how beautiful yo-" Brock wasn't able to finish his new declaration of love as Croagunk released himself and struck him with a poison jab.
The others sweat dropped at Brocks antics but the familiar scene made the tension in the room lessen a little more.
Ash walked to one side of the field and bent down so he was eyelevel with Pikachu. "Ok buddy, Cynthia is real strong so do your best ok? She's got the advantage in power so we'll have to rely on our unique strategies and your speed. I know you can do it!"
"Pika Pikachu!" Pikachu made a fist pumping motion which Ash answered with a firm nod. The two turned to face Cynthia who was already waiting with a pokéball in her hand.
Brock stepped up with a flag in hand, "This will be a one on one unofficial match between Champion Cynthia and trainer Ash Ketchum! No time limit! Begin!"
"Go Pikachu!" Pikachu ran forward onto the field, cheeks sparking with anticipation.
"Go Garchomp!" Cynthia threw her pokéball and her trademark battler appeared onto the field. It was a dragon-like pokémon coloured primarily dark blue, with a red underbelly that covered from the middle of its abdomen, to its jaws, and then to the undersides of its arms. It also had a splash of gold on its lower stomach and snout. Covered in fins and spikes, it definitely made the list of scary looking pokémon in Ash's book.
"Garrrr!" the dragon/ground type growled. Ash grit his teeth. Garchomp's ground type characteristic would negate all of Pikachu's electric attacks. This definitely put them at a disadvantage. They needed to even out the playing field.
"Pikachu start off with agility!" Ash commanded. Pikachu began racing around the field, moving so fast that it looked like it disappeared from one spot and reappeared in another.
Cynthia nodded in approval. "Boosting your speed even further is a good strategy, but not good enough! Garchomp use sandstorm!"
Sand billowed over the field stopping Pikachu in its tracks as it looked around confused. "Keep calm Pikachu and try to listen for Garchomp's movements!" Ash encouraged.
Pikachu stood still, ears pricked upwards in an attempt to locate the bipedal land shark. Pikachu's ears twitched as Garchomp suddenly burst through the ground and struck with a sneaky dig attack. Pikachu managed to move at the last second to avoid serious damage but was still hurt as its side was scratched.
"Pikachu!" Ash called out in worry. Pikachu stood up again and resumed its battle stance, ready to go again. Ash sighed in relief, "Ok try irontail!"
"Counter that with brick break!"
Pikachu's tail and Garchomp's claw both glowed as they rushed toward one another, dodging and striking when the opportunity presented itself. Finally the two attacks clashed and an explosion threw Pikachu to the ground while only pushing Garchomp back a few steps.
Ash bit his lip in concentration. Pikachu would´ve taken a lot of damage from that explosion while Garchomp looked like it wasn´t even close to being tired yet. He needed to deal some heavy damage and fast.
"Pikachu quick attack into double edge!"
Pikachu once again rushed toward Garchomp only this time it slammed into the land shark pokémon heavily, dealing damage to both.
Ash smiled triumphantly but it disappeared quickly when he saw Garchomp growling fiercely at Pikachu. It had taken damage but clearly not enough to impede it in anyway.
"Garchomp use dragon rush!" the dragon flew toward Pikachu and landed a critical hit. Pikachu was panting heavily, he'd taken too much damage and hadn't dealt enough back.
"Pikachu try a quick attack!"
Pikachu increased its speed as it tried to knock over the larger pokémon but Garchomp simply dodged every single one of its attacks and retailed with a few of its own. Ash could hear the audience cheering in the background as their champion's pokémon looked on the verge of winning. He growled frustratingly, this wasn't looking good at all and he was running out of time before Pikachu couldn't take anymore. It was time to finish this.
"Pikachu use thunderbolt!"
Everyone was surprised by Ash's mistake. Surely he knew that electric type attacks wouldn't be effective against a ground type like Garchomp? However they watched as Pikachu's attack was directed at something else entirely, itself. Pikachu was surrounded by electricity, giving it a major power boost. Cynthia realized what Ash's intention was but saw his efforts were fruitless.
"Enough! Garchomp use Dragon claw!" Cynthia ordered. Garchomp launched an assault of attacks at Pikachu who stopped charging itself to dodge.
"Pikachu use volt tackle!"
Cynthia still couldn't understand Ash's plan. Sure he'd charged Pikachu up with the self thunderbolt but a volt tackle still wouldn't have an effect on Garchomp.
Pikachu sped toward its opponent surrounded by a bright shield of electricity, much larger and moving faster than usual. "Now Pikachu switch into irontail!" Ash commanded. Faster than anyone could believe Pikachu was in front on Garchomp, tail growing, and landed a strike right atop of its head.
The thunderbolt was to boost Pikachu's speed during the volt tackle not power Cynthia realized. It had dealt heavy damage to Garchomp, she'd never expected Ash to get this far. She looked up at the trainer to compliment his tactics but stopped when she saw he was clutching his chest and breathing quite heavily. Her eyes narrowed as she thought she saw his eyes flash with blue. Brock also noticed Ash's predicament and raised his flag once more. "Both pokémon are too tired to continue. This match is a draw!" . The audience began to complain at such quick ending to an intense battle but the older boy ignored their jeers and immediately rushed to his friend.
"Ash are you alright?!" he asked concerned.
"I'm fine" Ash wheezed. His chest was burning again, it felt tight and breathing felt like a huge effort. "I just got a little excited is all, I keep forgetting I'm still injured. You shouldn't have called off the battle we were about to win" he tried to shake it off with a chuckle but sat down when standing was too much for him.
"You can't continue to battle in this condition" Brock scolded, Cynthia nodded in agreement.
"He's right Ash I'm sorry, I should've realized this was difficult for you in your condition" Cynthia apologized.
Ash shook his head. He didn't want to be treated like he was fragile. Already his head was clearing up and the burning in his chest was settling down.
"I'm fine really!" he insisted. He stood back up and dusted off his pants feeling foolish for worrying everyone when it wasn't that big of a deal.
"Pikapi!" Pikachu rushed up to his trainer and crawled up to his shoulder, seemingly having decided Ash was healthy enough to resume his usual post.
"Pikapi Pikachu pika"
"I'm ok Pikachu. You did great! I'm sorry we couldn't finish the match"
"pika"
Cynthia put a hand on his shoulder in comfort "it was a good battle. But it would have ended soon anyway"
Ash scowled. "I could've beaten you Pikachu was just about to-"
Cynthia laughed cutting him off. "No I mean that we're almost there"
The two Kanto natives looked up and Ash immediately ran for the exit and rushed to the railing. Sure enough, on the horizon lay Vermillion's port. He was so close to home.
"Well Pikachu, we're back."
"chu"
The two stayed in that position, watching as their homeland came closer until the ship reached port.
– Dawn's POV –
Dawn sat on her bed, knees drawn to her chest thinking guiltily about how she'd turned down the offer to watch Ash's battle against Cynthia. She knew she was being stupid; there was no reason to avoid Ash. He hadn't done anything and had no idea why she even would avoid him. But still… she shuddered at the memory of the events at the league and seeing Ash in that hospital bed.
When Cynthia had talked to her and Brock and told them they were going to Kanto she protested at first but the look in the champion's eyes shut her in silence. To think that this went beyond even her… Dawn never really understood the league and its politics. In fact she feared it a little. They had more power than people realized and it was being demonstrated right now as they recalled Ash to his homeland. They had no right! She pondered over why they wanted him to return so badly and what they could possibly need to ask him that couldn't have been done in Sinnoh.
A sudden burst of light from her bag alerted her to Piplup who had, once again, released itself from its pokéball.
"Piplup!" it announced then, realizing that no one had come to greet it, jumped onto the bed and prodded his trainer with its small fins.
"Piplup pip!"
"Huh? Oh Ash, Brock and Pikachu are somewhere on the ship. Ash is battling Cynthia again."
"Piplup pip piplup!" Piplup waved its arms around trying to communicate its thoughts with its trainer. Dawn furrowed her eyebrows, she never could really get the hang of understanding her pokémon talk, she couldn't see how Ash always seemed to know exactly what Pikachu was saying.
"PIPLUP PIP PIPLUP!" Piplup tried again with much more force.
"You… want to go watch?" Dawn asked hesitantly. Piplup nodded in affirmation, happy that it'd been able to get her to understand.
"Oh umm… they're probably almost done and…" Dawn trailed off having no real excuse NOT to go watch. Piplup made an angry expression, mad that she wasn't being her usual cheery self. The blue penguin jumped off the bed and began digging into her bag.
"Piplup what are you doing?" Dawn asked "If you're hungry I can go down to the kitchen and make you some food but quit digging around in there you're gonna mess up my clothes!" Piplup however came back out with a satisfied expression, holding what what clearly been its goal all along.
"Pom poms?" Dawn stared at the pink puffs and smiled.
"You're saying we should go cheer for our friends"
Piplup rapidly nodded it's head and held out the pom poms which Dawn took gratefully. Now satisfied Piplup puffed out his chest and patted it with its fin.
"Thanks Piplup, you're absolutely right! We should go cheer Ash on, who cares about everything else no need to worry!" with that Dawn quickly changed into her cheering outfit and rushed out the room.
…
Great where am I? Dawn thought as she turned another corner. In her excitement to go see Ash's match she hadn't thought about where she actually need to go and hence had gotten herself hopelessly lost. Piplup had gotten quite squirmy after the first 5 minutes of looking so she'd returned him to his pokéball in order for some peace to find her destination but it didn't seem to really help any.
This was getting frustrating. At this rate she would miss the match altogether! Then she thought she heard sounds of cheering down the hall to her left, yes! Found it! She thought excitedly. She rushed down the hall and turned the corner only to crash into someone else. They both fell to the floor and Dawn landed hard on her behind.
"Ouch! " Dawn rubbed her tailbone wincing.
"Watch it troublesome"
Dawn looked up in surprise to see Paul standing up, dusting off his pants with his usual frown on his face.
"Paul? Wha? HEY THE NAMES DAWN! D-A-W-N!"
"Tch. Whatever." Paul put his hands in his pockets and began walking away in the direction Dawn had come from.
That jerk didn't even help her up! A scowl plastered itself on Dawns face as she pushed herself up and ran after the broody trainer.
"Paul wait up! What are you doing here?" She asked curiously. She knew that there were other passengers on their way to Kanto on the ship but seeing Paul was totally unexpected. She thought after the incident he'd gone back home or travelled somewhere quiet to train until they took the Sinnoh league off hiatus.
Paul ignored her and continued walking. Aggravated by his actions Dawn stalked straight past him and stopped right in front of him, arms stretched out to block his path.
"What do you want?" he asked irritated.
"I asked you a question. What are you doing here?"
The purple haired trainer stared coldly at her but she just stared right back unswayed by expression. Knowing she wasn't going to budge until he indulged her Paul sighed.
"I was asked." He answered simply and tried to duck under the smaller girl's arms but she wouldn't have it.
"By who? Why aren't you in Sinnoh? Why would you need to go to Kanto?" she demanded. She wasn't about to let him get away without answering her questions. This had something to do with Ash she knew it and she was going to do whatever it took to find out and hopefully protect him from further harm.
"Cynthia asked. I have to go to the Indigo Plateau to answer some questions same as you and the idiot right?" hoping that answer would satisfy the bluenette. Dawn's eyebrow twitched at Paul's casual insult to her friend but let it slide.
"Why would they need you to answer questions? They questioned everyone else at the league in Sinnoh."
"The same reason you and the pervert are tagging along with him." She raised an eyebrow at Paul's nickname for Brock, almost giggling but held it in due to the seriousness of the conversation.
"We're tagging along because we're his friends, I couldn't say the same for you" she said pointedly.
"It's not because you know him better than anyone else and maybe they want to question you too?" Dawn was stunned at his question. She'd never even thought of that. She'd just assumed Cynthia was ok with her and Brock tagging along for support but were they really going to be questioned too?
"Why do they want to question Ash in the first place? He didn't have anything to do with the attack on the league!" she protested.
"C'mon don't act like you didn't see anything. Ash shouldn't have survived that hyper beam attack. They want to know why he did. You saw it too right? I saw you staring at him." He glared at her and she avoided his eyes, suddenly feeling shy.
"I…" she couldn't reply. She wasn't sure what she'd seen. She was so worried about Ash when he collapsed and then with the whole situation of going to Kanto she'd avoided thinking about it as well as avoiding Ash himself.
Taking her silence as a sign that the conversation was over, Paul lowered her arm and continued walking.
He stopped and then called out behind him "they drew."
"huh?" she looked up at him not understanding what he meant.
"You were on your way to see them battle right?" using his eyes to indicate toward her pink cheering outfit that she'd forgotten she was wearing until that moment. Dawn turned bright red as if she'd eaten a tamato berry.
"uhh yes umm" she fiddled with her skirt suddenly flustered with her appearance. "they drew?"
Paul nodded "He didn't look good so they stopped the battle and the older one called it a draw. He's ok though." Paul turned again not looking at her face. Dawn wondered at the boy, surprised that he was reassuring her like this.
"I see. No need to worry then!" she said cheerfully, although Paul gave her a sort of weird look and continued walking. She watched him walk away for a few moments before turning around and running in the opposite direction, now eager to reunite with her friends and see a new region for the first time.
Yes I know I said we'd see Lance in this chapter but it didn't really fit in after I'd decided to reintroduce Paul so it'll be next chapter I promise! Thank you for all the new reviews, favourites and follows! You guys are the best! Please review and I'll see you next week!