Chapter 6 – The Master's first Student
May and Dawn were already talking for twenty minutes at the Hotel Lobby, they had many things to catch up from all this years. They were so enthusiastic that they almost forgot that Serena was also there, just listening.
"I can't believe you are here too May" said Dawn hugging May
"That's right. I have been invited to the tournament as well" said May
"So, what have you been doing lately?" asked May
"Same as always" said Dawn "Training and participating the contests. But lately I have decided to stop doing contests and just focus on training my battles skills and get new Pokémon"
"What a coincidence" said May "So have I"
"Really? Why?" asked Dawn
"I think for the same reason as you. To get stronger in battling" said May "It is something that I still need to get better. I still don't know how I got enough Rank to be here" said May smiling
"What is your Rank?" asked Serena, speaking for the first time in several minutes
"Oh my God" said May "I am so sorry. We have been talking for so long that we forgot all about you"
"Don't worry about that May" said Serena "You seem to have many things to talk about"
"Now I feel even worst, because I forgot your name" said May embarrassed "I am not like that. Trust me"
"Don't worry again" said Serena "My name is Serena. I am from Kalos"
"Nice to meet you again Serena. As you already know, my name is May. I am a very good friend of Dawn" said May
"Nice to meet you too. So, what is your Rank? I am curious" said Serena smiling
"I am number 32" said May "How about you two?"
"I am number 56 May" said Dawn "And Serena is 77"
"Really?" asked May "You should be at a higher position by the battle you two had just a while ago"
"You saw us?" asked Serena
"Yes. It was amazing" said May
"Thank you May" said Dawn "But as you saw, if it wasn't for Serena, we wouldn't have won"
"That's true Dawn" said May "You are really good. It will be hard to defeat you at the tournament"
"Stop girls" said Serena "You are making me feel embarrassed"
They all laughed. Serena got surprised when she met Dawn because they got very good friends very fast, and now May appeared and Serena already liked her as well. It seems like they were all meant to be good friends
"So, you are all hosted here at this Hotel?" asked May
"Actually, just Serena has a room" said Dawn "They lost my reservation"
"You too?" said May "The same happened with me. But I got a room at the Pokémon Center"
"Why don't you stay with us as well?" asked Serena
"Are you sure about that Serena?" asked Dawn
"Of course. We are friends now" said Serena "If we are staying until the end of the tournament, let's stay together"
"Thank you Serena" said May "You are so kind"
"Don't mention it" said Serena smiling "But tell me you two. How did you two meet?"
"Well, we two met in Sinnoh. May went there while I was on Journey to participate the Wallace Cup. By that time she was already known as the Princess of Hoenn" Dawn said
"And who won?" Serena asked?
"Dawn won over me at the final" said May
"That's amazing" said Serena "But… Dawn… you said you two were trained by the same person. How did you just met in Sinnoh? I thought you were childhood friends"
"Not really" said Dawn "We both travelled with a trained who was already experienced in Pokémon. I met him in Sinnoh and previously he had travelled through Hoenn…"
"…Where he met me" concluded May "Since we two had just started our journeys and we knew nothing about Pokémon, he took us as his "students" and taught us everything he could to prepare us to our own journeys"
"That's so nice of his" said Serena "I had a person just like this. I also started my journey knowing absolutely nothing about Pokémon and this boy also taught me everything"
"I think everybody has a person like this" said May "What is his name Serena?"
Serena looked at May and then to Dawn, saying his name made her miss him so much that she was avoiding doing so. Even though she was having fun with May and Dawn, she couldn't forget the reason of being there, to find Lance and then find…
"…Ash Ketchum" said Serena realizing that she had said it out loud
Dawn and May looked in shock to Serena and then to each other
"Ash Ketchum?" asked May
"Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town?" asked Dawn
Serena looked at both of them curiously wondering why they looked so surprised
"Do you know him?" Serena asked
"Yes" said Dawn "Ash Ketchum is the person we were talking about"
"Who taught us everything about Pokémon" said May
"What?" asked Serena "Really? What a small world"
"So it is" said May laughing and making Dawn and Serena laughing as well
"So… Have any of you heard from him lately?" asked Serena not sure if she should ask since she didn't know how much they knew about Ash's training
May and Dawn looked at each other, probably thinking the same thing about Serena
"No" said May
"It's been a while since we last heard of him" said Dawn
"So bad" said Serena "It's also been a while since I last saw him, so I thought you may know where to find him"
"Sorry Serena" said Dawn
"But it is good to know that there is one more person that came to us by him" said May
"Yes. She is right" said Dawn "That's how May and I got friends and now you too"
"I think you are right" said Serena "But I still wonder where Ash could be"
TEMPLE OF DRAGONS – TWO YEARS AGO
"Ash, pay attention" said Lance to his apprentice "We've been training for one year now, and noticeably you have progressed a lot. You are now one of the best trainers of the world, but that's not only what you seek being here. Am I right?"
"Yes Master" said Ash "I came here because I feel that something still misses in my life to make me complete"
"From this day on we will train not only your skills and power of battle, but also your mind and soul" said Lance
"Mind and soul?" asked Ash
"That's right. The Dragon training has three parts, the first you have already complete, which is teach you the Dragon way of battling. Now I am going to teach you the Dragon way of think and then the last part, I shall teach you the Dragon way of life" said Lance "Once you complete all of them, you shall be named the new Dragon Master"
"The Dragon Master" said Ash
"Do you remember that once you told me that you had no intention of being named the New Dragon Master?" asked Lance
"Yes Master. I do" said Ash
"I never asked you. Why have you changed your mind?" asked Lance
"When I came here Master and you told me about being the New Dragon Master, I first thought I should be a monotype Dragon trainer, and I didn't want this" said Ash
"But?" asked Lance
"Correct me if I am wrong Master" said Ash "I now understand that the Dragon Master is more than being a Dragon Pokémon trainer. It is about understand the Dragon's philosophy. It is about using its teaching to help keeping the world safe. To put the needs of others ahead of my own. Be fair to all. That's what being a Dragon Master is all about. That's what you've been doing since you became the Dragon Master and that's what I want to do for the rest of my life" said Ash
"Somehow Ash" said Lance "You seem to have understand both part two and three of the training. So I shall now help find this goal. Let's keep training"
"Yes Master" said Ash
"We are going to train you mind now" said Lance taking a Poke ball from his pocket and opening it revealing a Hypno
"You see this Hypno?"said Lance
"Yes Master" said Ash
"The training now will be simple but hard" said Lance "This Hypno will try to enter your mind and misunderstand your memories"
"What?" asked Ash
"Your objective is to try to avoid Hypno to do so" said Lance "You have to force Hypno out of your mind. If you let him stay you may forget important memories"
"Important memories?" asked Ash
"That's right. If you can keep Hypno out of your mind, not only you will be able to keep any physic Pokémon out of your mind, but your mind will get strong" said Lance
"What do you mean by strong?" asked Ash
"You wont'get deceive easily, you will think fast and will be able to create new strategies for your battles never thought before, among many other things" said Lance
"This is interesting" said Ash
"So let's get start" said Lance
BACK TO THE TOURNAMENT
Serena woke up in the middle of the night, she had a bad dream about Ash, he were in danger and Lance had abandoned him in the middle of a danger forest infested of wild Pokémon about to attack him. It was horrible but it was finished. She decided to go drink some water but when she got up realized May and Dawn weren't in their beds
"Where are they?" asked Serena getting up and leaving the room
Serena went down to the hotel lobby looking for them but couldn't find them. They weren't at the restaurant or the TV room, so she went to the reception where she started listening to voices, and as she got close she recognized the voices as from her new friends May and Dawn. Serena was about to enter the reception to talk to them, but a few steps before she started listening to their conversation, and it was about something that it was of her interesting. Ash Ketchum
"Maybe Serena knows where Ash is" said Dawn
"No, she doesn't" said May "She wanted to know where he is as well"
"You are right" said Dawn "What about you May? Got any news about him?"
"Nothing" May answered "And you?"
"No" Dawn said "I ran into Brock a couple of days ago and he said nobody heard from him"
"Yes I know" said May "I came to Kanto last year for a cup and I passed into Pallet Town"
"You saw his mother?" asked Dawn
"No. I just went to professor Oak's lab, and he told exactly the same thing" May said
They remained in silence for some seconds not looking for each other. They were avoiding asking the same questions to each other. But someone had to…
"Let's be sincere to each other Dawn" said May "Why are you here?"
"What do you mean?" asked Dawn "I am here to enter the tournament"
"Dawn I am not stupid" said May "And I will not pretend I am just to make you to say"
"I don't know if I am liking the way you are talking to me May" said Dawn starting to get nervous "If you have anything to say, please say fast"
"I am just saying that we both know that Ash has been away for over three years now training with Lance" said May
"So they knew about Lance" thought Serena still hiding behind the wall
"And after all these years without getting news from Ash, Lance returns and set up a Tournament" continued May
"Okay" said Dawn "So what?"
"So little people knew about his training not even Misty who always had a crush on him is here" said May "But you are"
"Yes I am" said Dawn "Go on"
"You want to find Lance and make him say where Ash is" said May
"Why do you sound so surprised? That's exactly why I came here" said Dawn "I don't care about the tournament, nor Elite four or Lance. I care about my friend"
"But he is more than a friend to you isn't he Dawn?" said May seriously
"What?" Thought Serena
Dawn blushed. She had no words to answer May
"How does she know?" Dawn thought to herself
"I don't know what you are talking about" said Dawn still blushing
"Your face says more than your words" said May
"I like him as a friend" said Dawn
"Don't try to make a fool of me" said May "You love him Dawn"
Dawn blushed even harder. May know her secret. Was it so obvious? Brock knew, her mother knew and now May
"Okay May" said Dawn "You are right. I have feelings for Ash. Feelings that go beyond friendship. It was weird at first, but then it was good and now is amazing. But he is somewhere far, maybe hurt who knows. I must find him and that's why I came to this Tournament"
Dawn looked down, she was embarrassed too much to look to May
"Dawn, look at me" said May
Dawn looked up to May and saw that tears started to fall from her eyes rolling down her face
"May, is everything alright?" asked Dawn holding May's hand
"Dawn. Are you my friend?" asked May
"Of course I am May" said Dawn "What's up?"
"First promise me that it doesn't matter what, you will keep being my friend" said May still crying
"Of course May. Forever" said Dawn smiling
"Dawn… I'm also in love with Ash" said May blushing "That's also why I came here"
Dawn let go of May's hand and stared at her, she couldn't believe what she was hearing. May loves Ash?
"But… you like Drew" said Dawn "He is your boyfriend"
"No Dawn" said May "We broke up"
"Broke up? Why?" asked Dawn
"Because I realized how much I love Ash" said May "I couldn't do that with Drew so I broke up with him"
Serena was in shock. The man she loves is also loved by two other girls. Why was that happening to her? It wasn't fair
"Dawn" said May "Do you hate me?"
"May" said Dawn smiling "I am your friend. Your truly friend. I will never hate you" said Dawn
May stopped crying and hugged Dawn very strong
"Thank you Dawn. Thank you so much" said May
"May" said Dawn "Even though we are in love for the same person, we are not enemies"
"Of course not" said May "We are friends in life, rivals as coordinators and it seems now that we are rivals in love as well"
"That's right" said Dawn "If we lived so far in harmony as rivals coordinators, we can live in harmony as rivals in love too"
"Anyway, our objectives is still the same" said May "To find Lance and make him give us information about Ash"
"Yes" said Dawn "That's the objective of the two of us"
"The three of us" said a voice coming from behind the wall
"Who's there?" asked May
Serena revealed herself from behind the door and entered the place May and Dawn were talking
"Serena?" asked May and Dawn at the same time
"That's right" said Serena "I apologize but I overheard your conversation"
"How much has she heard?" thought May
"What do you mean about the three of us?" asked Dawn
"I know about Ash's training with Lance" said Serena
"You know too?" asked May
"Yes. Ash and I created very strong bonds during our journey" said Serena "When he left to his training he came to me to say goodbye"
"You too?" asked Dawn
"We are sorry Serena" said May "We didn't know. Ash said it was kind of a secret, so that's why we haven't said anything about"
"It's okay" said Serena "Ash is a very special person to me too. And I am very worried about him. So I decided to come here to find Lance and also find Ash"
"A very special person?" asked May "How special?"
Serena blushed, she decided not to tell them about her feelings for Ash, at least not now. May and Dawn were very good friends a long time, they would never take each other down, but they just met Serena, if they had to take someone out of the match she would be the first.
"He taught me everything I know as I said before. We got real good friends" she lied "I just want to know if he is fine"
May and Dawn seemed to believe Serena
"And how much did you listen before?" asked May
"Nothing" Serena lied "I just arrived. I woke up to drink some water and saw you two weren't in bed, so I came down to look for you and heard you talking about having the same objectives"
"Which are?" asked Dawn
"To look for Lance and ask about Ash" said Serena. She surely was a good liar
Dawn look at May smiling who smiled back
"Well, I think we are fine now" said May
"Yes" said Serena "And again, I am sorry for hearing you from behind the wall"
"It's okay" said May "We are sorry too about not saying the truth about Ash"
"So now that's everything is solved why don't we go back to the room?" said Dawn "Let's not forget that tomorrow the Tournament will begin"
"You are right" said Serena "Let's go back to the room then"
"Serena, weren't you going to drink some water?" asked May
"What?" asked Serena "Oh yes. You are right"
"So Dawn and I are going back to the room while you go drink your water" said May
"Okay" said Serena taking the opposite way from the other two girls
"May, are you alright?" asked Dawn
May waited until Serena entered the restaurant to answer Dawn
"I don't know Dawn" said May "But there is something about Serena that doesn't seem right"
"Hum? What do you mean?" asked Dawn "She is so nice and want to help us find Ash as well"
"Maybe" answered May "But just for safety I shall watch her from close. Very close"