A Journey
Summary: Ash's daughter has NO interest in Pokemon training. So, Ash, being the enterprising young Master that he is, puts her into the middle of the woods in the night while she's asleep with a pack, no map, a Pokedex, and a VERY angry Pichu.
A/N: A short chapter this time. A battle is almost starting, so we're getting into cliché Pokemon area, I suppose. At least the battler isn't the protagonist.
…
Pichu led me to the big Dining Hall.
"You shorted out the video screen so I could get you lunch?" I was incredulous. Of course, then I heard its stomach growl. That was pretty loud, I admitted to myself.
Lavender and Peter waved us over to their table. Maestro was already eating off of a plate stacked high with fruit. The sticky juice colored his snout.
"I got some food for your rat," Peter said idly, sounding back to his normal, conceited self. Maestro growled, annoyed.
"Thanks. Maestro, if you eat that much fruit, you're going to get diarrhea." Lavender looked like she was about to say "Eww!" in a cute voice.
Maestro gestured with his nose to a pile of bananas off to the side. Bananas, in case you didn't know, caused constipation, which would stop diarrhea in its tracks.
"How did you know that bananas would stop you from having diarrhea?" I asked.
Maestro shrugged, as though to imply he learned it from the wild.
Meanwhile, my Kricketune pawed through a salad. He examined a crouton, before deciding to eat it gingerly. Chopin warbled a note of surprise, and then crowed in delight.
I got up, went to the buffet, and got him a bowl of croutons. He grabbed the croutons in his swordlike arms, and proceeded to open his mouth very wide, and pour all the croutons down his throat.
"Wow." I said, grinning at Chopin, who gave an ashamed little whistle. I stared happily at Lavender and Peter, who raised an eyebrow, (hopefully) wondering how he could have known his Kricketune so little.
Chopin didn't seem bitter at lunching with his former owner, however. He did, however, seem to have a strange infatuation with croutons, and he was delighted, happily trilling now.
So there it was, with Peter conceited but oh-so attractive trainer, Lavender, the incredibly stupid but pretty coordinator, Pichu, who growled as I looked at it, and bit angrily into an apple, Maestro, whose personality was so attuned to mine that I could sometimes almost understand him, Chopin, the expressive singer/battler, and through this all, there was me. I was still irate about training, of course, but I had seemed to pick up a strange and unusual group of people and Pokemon; one could almost call it a family.
I laughed to myself awkwardly.
"So, what are we doing this afternoon?" I asked. I stated the 'we' just to remind Peter that he shouldn't just be infatuated with Lavender, if he still was.
"Well, I'm going to battle in the Battle Room," Peter said in that lofty voice of his.
"And I'll cheer you on!" Lavender cried enthusiastically.
"I'll watch too, I guess," I said with a shrug. "I'm not much for battling. Sound okay with you guys?" I asked my Pokemon. What a weird idea, that I now had real Pokemon.
Pichu growled, Chopin shrugged, and Maestro hopped onto my shoulder and affectionately lashed his tail, spitting out a skinless grape onto the table. He could be so charming sometimes. As I rubbed his ears, his eyes narrowed, two tired, happy slits, and he ground his teeth slowly.
"Are there any contests, Lavender?" I asked her politely, trying to control my annoyance at her; if it wasn't for her, I mused, I wouldn't have Chopin, and I'd be stuck with that boring, if rare, fish.
"No," she said sadly. "I mostly just jog around here, to lose my tummy fat." She giggled. I stared incredulously at her nonexistent stomach.
"What 'tummy fat'?" I asked, using air quotes and a sarcastic voice. Peter snorted appreciatively, making me feel proud.
"I should probably go to the battle, now." Peter said. "I must win as soon as possible." There, that was the Peter I know, not drunk on some love-fish.
I nudged Maestro, and he stared plaintively at his plate of fruit. I sighed, and shook my head, and I grabbed a pomegranate and three bananas. Maestro nodded, satisfied, and hopped onto my shoulder. Chopin, noting the end of the croutons, warbled sadly and got up. I walked with them, and asked Pichu, "Are you coming?" Pichu shocked me, in an almost cursory manner, and started running after me.
"So what are your plans?" I asked Peter in earnest, hoping I could make up for the competitive edge Lavender had in the looks department by being genuinely interested.
"Well," he said, pretending to think, "I'm going to start with Infernape, and END with Infernape." Lavender laughed coquettishly at his less-than-hilarious joke, obviously trying to get him to return to his besotted Luvdisc-influenced self. Well, I wasn't going to let her. I needed to stay ahead by playing on the one thing that she didn't have- intelligence.
At least if I was going to be stuck training, I would get a guy. I don't know what it was about Peter that appealed to me so much. He was a bad Pokemon trainer, and his conceit left much to be desired. On the other hand, though, he could have moments of vulnerability, I thought, remembering his talk with me in Lavender's room.
I walked with him, whistling amusedly, while Chopin hummed in harmony.
He finally approached a room labeled 'Battle Room,' and stepped on through, smirking to himself, probably in anticipation of his battle, and, I assumed that he assumed, his next victory.