Chapter 10: Oh Crud! x10

A tray holding eight cups of warm tea was sitting on the table. A high tension drew around the living room as the members of the Battle Frontier confront their most odd challenge yet. Scott and Brandon sat on the sofa with apologetic smiles on their faces. Greta stood next to Ash putting some ointments on his cheek while Anabel tended into making something for them to eat. Noland was sitting on one of the chairs looking rather messy than the rest. His cap was ripped into two and his hair was finally showing.

While the rest of them were chatting on the living room table, Spenser and Tucker were busy eating the left over from the food fight that just occurred half an hour ago.

While some of them had some scratches and bumps, Ash was the worst of all. The most visible wound he had on him was probably the blackness on his right eye.

(Flashback, 15 minutes ago)

When the members of the Frontier Brain stormed through the house to surprise Anabel of her birthday, they were the ones who were surprised. With cake and cream covering the boy's face, the first thought that popped into their heads was that the guy was an intruder!

Greta, who was practically the strongest girl in the group lunge in with a flying dragon kick! "Hyaaaa!" she charged out at the boy. But her attack only missed him by an inch of his life. "Hey, wait a minute!" Ash tried to calm the blonde black belt down but his plea was only rewarded with Lucy unleashing her Seviper, "Seviper, get him NOW!" she ordered which the Pokemon did to the letter. But just before the snake could wrap itself around the young boy, Ash did some sort of a break dance move which made him dodge the attack by just mere seconds.

"Please wait a minute!" once again the boy pleaded for someone to hear him out, but his words were silenced when Greta gave him a kick on the stomach which caused him to fly into the kitchen.

"Wait a minute Greta" Anabel pleaded for the girl to stop but then Tucker came in and took her to safety… or at they thought of it that way. With Anabel out of sight, the ones inside were going to have some fun with the so called 'intruder'

Noland put on his gloves and stretched his arms a few times along with Brandon whose face looked like he was pissed beyond all reasons. "Noland, you take the back door" the Factory Head nodded his head and quickly went to the back door. Brandon then turned to Greta, "Greta, you and I will take him head on" the blonde girl cracked her knuckles a few times before nodding in agreement. One could only imagine what pain Ash will go through when he faces her. "Scott, Tucker, you two guard the front door and make sure he doesn't get out" with a defining 'hn' sound from the boss, Brandon walked in carrying one of his favorite golf clubs.

Back at the kitchen, Ash was probably just recovering from the massive blow done to his stomach. Luckily for him, his body had endured much worst punishment… much much worst. Unfortunately for the Ash, when he tumbled into that room, his body tackled onto a bottle of ketchup which spilled all over his shirt making him look like a mass murderer. "Oh o…" was all that the boy could say when he saw something silver flash before his eyes. Thanks to his vigorous training back in the old days, his reflexes were definitely that more of an average boy.

Brandon swung his club and smashed against the cub board making it look like a pile of scrap wood rather than a piece of art. "Brandon, wait!" the Pyramid king took a moment to hear the boy at first, but when he saw the 'blood' (ketchup) all over his shirt his anger rose beyond capacity! "You murderer!" he yelled before taking another swing at Ash. Each time he swung that gold club at the Pokemon Master, it got closer and closer.

With Ash backed into a corner, the boy decided to fight back by throwing pots and plates at Brandon to slow him down. Heck, the kid was even using the roast beef he was planning to eat with Anabel for their main course.

"Ahhh!" Brandon yelled out in a fake pain when an egg slammed against his head. The yolk that spilled off slid down his face making him utterly humiliated. When he was being distracted by the egg, Ash took the opportunity to escape through the back door. However… to his dismay, Noland was there to ambush him.

The Factory Head master put Ash into a head lock situation and tried to choke the boy into submission. But Ash was not one to go down without a fight. Spending a year in prison can change a kind hearted boy into a street fighter anytime. Pulling out some miraculous strength from the bowls of his muscles, Ash pulled himself out of the head lock and toss Noland towards the garbage bin. A few moments after he thought that it was over, Greta gave out another flying dragon kick right at him. But this time… Ash was prepared. He caught her leg just milliseconds before the impact and tossed her back at the kitchen, but seeing that Greta was a martial art expert, she quickly recovered and begun throwing punches at him.

Ash was now mentally and verbally cursing himself as he blocked the attacks. No matter how many times he yielded, Greta would ignore him and plow through his words like wheat before the scythe. But when the blonde girl was just about to land another blow on Ash, her feet slipped through some snow and fell to the ground like a sack of meat.

"Now will you listen to me?" Ash lowered his voice as he spoke. But before he could even think of doing something to prove his intentions, Spenser, the Palace Maven shoved his staff right onto the boy's left eye making knocking him out completely with swirly eyes.

The last thing Ash could remember before going black out, was Anabel screaming something at her companions.

(End of flashback)

Ever since that fight, Brandon had to wash his hair to remove the stickiness from the egg yolk. Noland had to put a whole bottle of perfume just to remove the stench off his jacket. Greta had some cuts and bruises but she was ok. Luckily for the rest, they weren't harmed at all. Anabel spent the last hour explaining the situation to her 'visitors' and once that was cleared out Ash had woken awake from his K.O mode.

"Yeowww! That hurt!" Ash flinched when the alcohol cotton touched his cheek. He was being treated by Greta, the Arena Tycoon mistress. Surprisingly for a girl who knows how to hurt people in a million different ways, she also knew several things about medicine. She said that she wanted to be a nurse back in her kindergarten days but after realizing that she needed to treat all those patients, she chose a different path then.

"Oh quit whining you baby!" the black belt yelled back. "I can't believe the world's greatest Pokemon Master can be such a whino!" she added some antibiotics to make sure that all the wounds wouldn't get infected and then after that she placed a band aid over it. "There, it's all done" she quickly folded closed the first aid kit and joined the others on the sofa.

"Ahehehe… sorry about that Ash" Scott apologized with a sweat drop coming from his head. "We thought that you were some kind of an intruder so we had no choice but to attack"

"No choice my rear! You nearly killed him!" Anabel screamed in her head but kept a smile on her face.

"Anyway… how did you know about Anabel's birthday?" Scott asked with a curious eye. Ash quickly picked out the letter he found this morning and handed it to the original owner, "Oh I see…"

Ash gave out an apologetic look at the Salon maiden, "Sorry, I didn't mean to read it. It just flew by on the ground so uh…"

"Well I guess there's no harm done" Brandon cut the boy off. "Should we continue with the party?" he then pointed at Tucker, who was practically inhaling the food at an alarming rate. "We wouldn't want him to finish without us now would we?" everyone gave out a hearth giggle but Tucker only gave Brandon a 'are you talking about me' look at him.

With the party going on without much trouble, Ash and Anabel were relieved that they didn't find out that he was actually staying with her. He only motioned that he was staying in a hotel back in the city, and not in the guest room at the back of the house.

(Pallet Town)

Gary was walking towards his house near the edge of his hometown close to the river. A few months after he had returned from the Hoenn league as one of the top five competitors, he was able to afford his own place. Usually his house keeper comes by and cleans the place once a week. The boy didn't stay in that house for more than three days due to the numerous challenges that were being offered by the world and all.

His house was bigger than Ash's old one. It had three floors and the size of a small mansion. But before the young trainer could reach the place, he had to past through his old grandpa's house. The boy took a moment to reflect on what he had been doing for the past months. All this time he could not stop blaming Samuel the crimes he had committed. Gary didn't know about Ash's accusation until it was already three weeks late. By the time he got to Pallet town, the boy's belongings were already confiscated and Ash himself was gone.

Infused with the rage of hatred to so many people, the boy broke his eye contact with the professor's house/lab and continued walking towards the dirt road.

"Gary?" his walk suddenly came to a halt when a familiar voice echoed from behind. "Gary Oak, is that you?" the boy turned around and mentally froze when his grandmother in law starred at him back with her deep blue eyes. It wasn't long then till Gary realized that Ash inherited his mother's charm. If that kid would become a play boy in a normal high school, he'd be swamp with girls 24/7.

"Oh… hey Mrs. Ket… I mean… grandma" it felt strange to call such a young woman like that. Ash's mom barely had any wrinkles on her face, and her body was already like that of a super model. The more Gary looked at her, the he realized how similar she and Ash are. He doesn't really know much about her previous husband and perhaps we probably never will. "I didn't know you were still up"

The woman gave out a small giggle, "Well, you know me, always a light sleeper. Did you just come from Varidian city?" the boy nodded his head in reply, "Well, I'm about to have some midnight snack, do you wanna join me?" Gary was just about to refuse at first but after a sudden rumble from his stomach he blushed. The boy hasn't eaten much ever since he got down from the bus from Varidian city.

"Yeah… I'd love to Mrs. Oak" that title sounded much better than grandma or grandmother any day.

The two of them walked into the old place where Gary first learned about Pokemon training. Ever since Delia and Ash moved into the place, the lab got turned into a house for a family of five. Delia and the professor sleep in one room while Ash took the one next door. The other three rooms were for guests. After a month of living in the place, the mother did a lot of refurnishing which gave the place a little family look. All the equipments that were scattered around the living room were now stacked inside the store room for safe keeping.

Gary gave out a giggle when he remembered that the professor went on a panic strike when he couldn't find one of his devices. He nearly turned the whole house inside out looking for that little gizmo.

"I didn't really make much" the boy's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when Delia spoke, "I'll go and heat up the left over beef. Why don't you sit down and make yourself comfortable?" while she disappeared into the kitchen at the back of the house, Gary decided to do what she said. He quickly placed his knapsack on one of the chairs and laid his back down on one of the sofas. His exhausted body really needed some rest after all that non-stop traveling all the way from Celadon city.

(Back in Anabel's lodge)

Just as the party went on with jokes and plates being passed around like coins, Scott took a look at his watch and compared it to the clock on the wall. "Whoa… it's getting late everyone" he said to all who were present on the dining table. "We'd better head back to our Battle Facilities or else there'd be a pile of paper works waiting for us" the others quickly agreed and decided to leave. After that, Scott turned his head to the Pokemon Master, "Hey Ash, do you need a lift back to your hotel? I can give you a ride"

The boy quickly waved his hand defensively, "Oh no, that's ok Scott. I can walk there myself" he said while giving out a fake smile.

"Oh come on Ash. It's just along the way" it didn't look like the man was gonna give in to the 'no' answer. Anabel gave out a worried look to Ash but Scott didn't notice.

In the end, Ash thought of it to be a good thing. "Oh ok…" he agreed which caught Anabel by surprise. With a victorious smile from Scott and a confusing glance from the Salon Maiden Ash returned all of his Pokemons (excluding Pikachu) to their respective Pokeballs. "I'll go start the car then" Scott said dangling his car keys. Before the two of them exited through the front door, Ash gave out a wink to Anabel to gesture to her that he had a plan.

"Come on Pikachu" the little yellow mouse gave out a confusing stare at his master for a moment, but decided to play along anyway. Ash has never let the little guy down before so why should he start today? By the time Scott started the engine of his red corvette, Greta came with a smile coming across her face.

"That was some nice move there Ash" the blonde said cheerfully, "No one has ever blocked my flying dragon kick with only their hands before. Hey, why don't you come to Celadon city gym for awhile? My cousin owns it. I visit him once a week to do some small time business and he's quite the fighter"

This caused Ash some great confusion, "Wait a minute. You're related to Erika?" he wondered how a nice gym leader like Erika could be related to someone like her. Erika is a girl who loves plant Pokemons and looks nothing like Greta at all.

"Erika?" Greta repeated the name, "Oh you mean the gym leader of Celadon city? No, not that kind of gym. I meant the workout gym!" she gave out a Hercules pose, "My cousin Melvin owns a gym right across the Pokemon center. If you need to work out or need someone to spar with, then that's where you'll get your number one treatment! Just tell him I sent you and you can use the facility for free"

Ash gave out a mother of all sweat drops as the girl continued her frantics about the details of the place. "Uh… thanks Greta, I'll keep that in mind" he extended his hand and gave his respects to the Arena Tycoon mistress. "I hope we see each other again"

Greta didn't really know how the boy managed to grab her hand, but when he did, he felt a sudden surge of warmth coming through her body. A faint blush came across her face like a heater that had been left on in the middle of the hottest days of summer. "Uh… yeah… too me… I mean: me too!" her words began to intertwine like a fly caught in a spider's web.

When Ash released his grip, the girl's face dropped down with a large disappointing look. She wished to hold his hand just a little bit longer but then again it would only look strange.

With Scott and Ash driving off to the city and the rest of the Battle Frontier members traveling via Brandon's floating pyramid, Anabel gave out a huge sigh of relief as she closed the door to her house. For a moment there, she actually thought that she was gonna get into big trouble. But thanks to Ash's quick thinking and acting skills, they were able to get off without raising a hint of suspicion. "Well… I guess I'd better start cleaning up" she whined as she looked at the mess the Pokemons made during their food fighting spree.

(Celadon city streets)

"So Ash, where are you staying?" Scott asked not removing his eyes from the road, "I guess since you're a Pokemon Master, you must be staying in one of those five star hotels huh?" the chubby man gave out a slight giggle.

"No, not really" Ash replied while holding Pikachu on his lap, "I'm actually staying in a small place just at the edge of town" he then pointed at a small average size hotel near the city gates. He didn't really know of any other hotels out there since he hasn't been in the city for long. When Scott dropped the boy off, he gave out a wave and thanked the man for sending him here. Ash walked into the hotel and 'pretended' to be talking with the clerk on the counter.

When Scott drove off to wherever he may be going, Ash decided to stay about five or six more minutes just to make sure he wouldn't 'accidentally' bump onto him. After the minutes flew by, he began making his way back to Anabel's lodge. Hopefully this time, they won't have anymore interference.

(Somewhere along the road)

Just as Scott drove out of the city towards Cerulean city, his cell phone began to ring. "Hello?" he answered politely.

"Mr. Scott sir!" a voice sounded from the other line, "We've got a call from the construction workers back at the new facility. It seems like the price just doubled to get the repairs done" Scott immediately hit the brakes and parked on the side to have a proper conversation with his secretary.

"Doubled? What do you mean doubled?" he snapped, "I thought he said that the price was accurate!" he immediately shut down his car and walked out to get some fresh air. "The manager told me that it has already been paid in full!"

"I know sir" replied the secretary, "But the materials needed for the construction are missing. They'll need top quality supplies to keep the place intact" the owner of the Frontier Brain sighed. He had spent a great amount of time and a huge fortune just to get the best workers to repair the new facility. But now that the price has doubled, he was beginning to think that he was gonna be bankrupt for sure.

The chubby man began massaging with aching head with his own hand and went into a deep thought. "Alright… tell the sponsor to meet me in my office tomorrow. We'll settle the deal there" with a simple click on his cell phone, Scott got back into his car and drove off into the night. It was supposed to be a relaxing cruise to let him let go of some steam, but now with that phone call, he could barely even blink without having a thought go through his mind.

(Back with Ash)

After getting through the city's main gate without much of a trouble, Ash arrived back at Anabel's lodge along with Pikachu and his other Pokemons. He politely knocked at the door first, since he knows that it is not his house. He could hear several locks being undone on the other side which prompt him to believe that Anabel was still up. "Hey Anabel, I'm back" he spoke up when the girl's face popped through the door. At first he was expecting for her to say something like, 'Welcome back' or 'Where were you' but instead, the reply he got was a broom, a dustpan and an apron.

The boy mentally sweat dropped and knew what the girl was asking him to do. Sweep, mop, dust and etc. Those were probably the words that were repeating in Ash's head when he began cleaning. He wasn't worried because that he had the place messed up, he was worried because of all the furnitures and antiques he broke during the fight against Brandon and Greta.

The kitchen room was utterly destroyed with only six plates remaining and a half dent frying pan. The refrigerator was torn down that you could already see some sparks coming from the plug.

When Ash scanned around the house for all the damage, he took a mental note to repay everything before he breaks anything else.

Just when the both of them were sweeping the living room, the phone began to ring, which caught them by surprise. "Oh by the nine, that scared me for a moment" Anabel placed her hand over her chest and sighed. "Hello, this is Anabel speaking" she answered in an annoyed tone

"…"

"Oh ok…" she then glared at Ash, "Hey Ash… there's a phone call for you" Ash was surprised for a moment there. He had not received a land line phone call for a long time now. He usually answers all his calls through his cell phone nowadays.

Ash took the phone from her and placed it on his ear. He tried to activate the video receiver, but when it did, there was a phrase saying 'voice only' imprinted on the screen. "Hello, this is Ash speaking"

"…" there was no reply from the other line. Only a harsh breathing and the sound of rain coming from the background could he heard.

"Hello, is anyone there?" Ash tried to communicate with the caller again but in the end he just received the same reply. A breathing and rain tinkles. "Hey, if you're hearing this, can you say something?"

"…" again, the dead silence.

"Hello, is someone th…" before he could finish, the line went dead with a defining thud, telling the boy that the caller had hung up. Ash pondered for a minute and tried calling back, but then he realized that the call came from a telephone booth. "That's weird…" he said to himself. He then hung up and decided to continue cleaning the house along with his Pokemons.

"Hey Ash" Anabel called out taking the boy's face off the phone, "I'm taking the trash out for a minute. Can you clean up the things at the back" she pointed to a large pile of broken plates and potteries near the stair case. Ash accepted the task without question. Since he was part of the group that caused the damage, he believed that it was his responsibility to clean up after himself. "Well… better now than never"

(In a phone near Celadon city)

The dark figure that attacked Anabel's house a few days ago walked out the phone booth with a cigar on his mouth. He was grinning from ear to ear while holding a bottle of beer in his hand. If one should encounter this guy on the road, you would probably think that he was rotten to the core of his heart. Well… you're not far from the correct answer there.

Before he returned to his car, he spat out his cigarette and drank that bottle of alcohol with one big gulp.

(Pallet Town) (Oak's lab)

Gary was munching happily with the food that was prepared for him. Delia's cooking never once failed to fill the hole in his stomach and tonight was no exception either. The plates that were filled with the left over from dinner were practically disappearing one by one by the seconds.

With a defining burp from the boy, Delia gave out a satisfying smile. She didn't really know about Gary's appetite, but after years of cooking for Ash's stomach, she had grown used into cooking more than she actually needed. "Phew! That was the best auntie!" Gary now decided to call her that rather than grandma or Mrs. Oak. "That was probably the best meal I had for days!" he rubbed his stomach, gesturing to the mother that he was full.

Delia gave out a chuckle, "Well I see you and Ash finally have something in common" the two of them giggled then it turned into a small laugh, "I guess I'd better remember to cook some more when you come to visit"

"Yeah…" Gary agreed, "By the way. I met him in Pallet town the other day. He's staying in a hotel until the blizzard dies down"

"That's nice dear…" The mother nodded, "Well… I guess he's old enough to know that his health comes first" just as she got up to clean the table, Gary froze with that last statement. A huge part of him wanted to tell Delia about Ash's body failure condition, but then his foolish pride of keeping his promise never to tell kept his mouth sealed like super glue.

"Yeah… I guess so…" he replied while taking his cup of hot coffee to his lips. "He's still the same old Ash I remember"

As the night went on in Pallet town, Gary could only imagine what Ash might be doing now. "I bet you anything that he's sleeping right now" if I had made a bet with Gary, I would've already won his house.

(Back in Anabel's lodge) (45 minutes later)

After finally getting her house well done, Anabel laid her sore back on the sofa with a sigh of great relief. Her house was now practically empty because of all the broken furnitures she had to throw out. The place was now actually spacious enough to hold a small disco party if she should ever want one. Heck, she even had a disco ball in her attic during her grade school days.

"Hey Anabel…" her train of thought quickly popped out like a bubble when a voice echoed from behind. She turned her head to meet to speaker, but when she did, she couldn't help but break out a soft smile from her tired lips.

Ash was holding a small plate which had a cake standing on it. "I save you some cake" he placed it down on the living room table and then sat on the opposite side of the girl's sofa. Anabel looked at the cake and was surprised to see what was on it. Ash had spent the remaining time he had to put a coating that spelled 'Happy Birthday' on top and her name 'Anabel' at the bottom. At the center of the cake was a single candle stick which stood out above the tasty treat. "I thought, since you didn't eat much, I thought I'd save you some" the girl gave out a blush that would make the red rose jealous.

"Oh Ash, you didn't have to" she tried to be as modest as possible but that didn't work. Ash was already playing that character and boy was he good or what?

"Oh that reminds me!" Ash clapped his hands together; "I bought you something while I was in town" he quickly pulled out a gift from the bottom of the table. It was a small gift wrapped nicely with a Tediursa picture pasted on it to give it that cute and cuddly nature.

Anabel blushed even more if that was even humanly possible. Her heart increased its pace again making her chest thump within every second. It was pumping so fast that the girl could believe that she was already feeling its pace just by her breathing. As she glared at the present Ash gave her, she could see the wave of emotions flooding down from the ribbon that the boy tried so hard to tie up.

A small part of her mind was telling her to open it and see what was inside, but then another part of her mind just wanted to keep the present just the way it is. The box enough was already enough of a present for her.

Just as she was still awed by the gift that the boy had given, Ash's Pikachu climbed onto its master's shoulders giving out a small 'Pikachu' if you were in that situation, you would probably believe that he was saying "Happy Birthday" in the Pokemon language.

It wasn't long then till Ash's other Pokemons began to join in. Aipom took over Ash's other shoulder with its ever cheerful smile imprinted on its face. Swellow and Noctowl stood on the corner of the boy's chair with their claws planted on the wood, giving them that extra balance. Bulbasaur and Totodile also came out to give Anabel that morale support.

With all of them together at that happy moment, Ash said to the purple haired girl with a smile on his face, "Happy birthday… Anabel…" (Bulbasaur) (Croo croo!) (Aipom pom!) (Pika pikachu!) (Swellow!) (Bubabubabubabubabuba!)

Anabel's face held no emotions but deep within her mind, heart and soul, her body echoed with so much happiness. Her love and her friends were all there… congratulating her with smiles on their faces. Their presence filled her shallow heart with the flow of joy making her eyes watery like next before. A tear of happiness fell through her cheeks then dripping onto the carpet below. She could not speak, heck she didn't even know what to say. But words meant nothing now… she didn't need them to express her gratitude. Her smile and joy… was all the reply Ash needed to know what she wanted to express.

With the blow of the candle, Ash and his Pokemons began clapping their hands to signal a successful birthday party!

"Congratulations!" was the last word that came from that house… as the long night… had finally… come to an end.