Chapter 13

*Undella Town*

"Pika!"

"Piplup!"

The pokémons cheered as the boat arrived at Undella Town. The beach was really beautiful and as expected, packed with lots of tourists.

"COOL! The beach!"

"Wait up Max, we should check in to the pokémon center and put down our stuffs first." Brock said

"Oh alright…"

The trio walked towards the pokémon center when Ash noticed someone familiar.

"Hey, isn't that Lyra?"

"Yeah you're right. Lyra! Over here!" Dawn waved happily to get their friend's attention.

Lyra spun around, quickly spotting the trio. She waved back and ran towards them.

"Hey Dane, Ash and Brock! How are you guys?"

"Haha we're just fine, how about you Lyra? It's so nice seeing you again!" Dawn moved forward giving her friend a hug. Meanwhile May and Max stood by the side awkwardly.

"Hi Lyra!" Brock greeted.

"What are you doing here?" Ash asked

"Oh, I am here with my family," she pointed towards a few people ahead of them, "you see my dad thought that I'm spending lesser time with them because I'm always travelling around, so he decided to bring us here today."

'Sounds like my mum.' Ash smiled at the thought of his mother, 'maybe next time I should go somewhere with her instead.'

"By the way, this is May and Max." Dawn pointed to May and Max, who were behind her.

"Oh hi! I'm Lyra."

"Hi, you must be a good friend of Dawn's." May said

"Wow, how do you know that?

"Well, it's pretty obvious, you two looked really close."

"Yup, despite her often mispronouncing my name…"

"Come on! Oh well, I think Dane sounds nicer anyway!" Lyra said cheerfully. Dawn sweat dropped, but took in no offence.

"Where is Khoury by the way?" Brock asked, suddenly realizing the absence of a friend.

"Oh, we parted ways as we both decided to go back home. Maybe we'll travel again, I'm not so sure…" Lyra said thoughtfully.

"Pip-piplup!"

"Pikachu!"

"Haha! Hey Pikachu don't go too far into the water!"

"Pika!"

"Come on guys, let's go to the pokémon center so that we can get back here quickly!" Ash said. The others laughed and joined him.

"We'll see you later Lyra!" Brock waved to her

"Okay! I'll still be here!"

*Professor Oak's Laboratory*

"Bulbasaur!"

"Okay so next we'll- just a minute Bulbasaur – we'll work on this…"

Bulbasaur frowned as Professor Oak continued talking to Mandy. He knew something was up the moment Mandy stepped into the lobby earlier on. He needed to let Professor Oak know.

"Okay, give me a moment Mandy, I'll go get my documents."

Professor Oak walked away to go up to the study room. Without Mandy noticing, he motioned to Bulbasaur for him to follow. Bulbasaur is a smart pokémon, Professor Oak knew something must be wrong if he calls for his attention like that.

"So what's the matter, Bulbasaur?" Professor Oak asked once he closed the study room's door.

"Bulba! Bulb-bulb…" Bulbasaur slowly tried to 'explain' to Professor Oak what he sensed about Mandy.

"I see… I see. I guess I better take precaution towards her, you'll help me right, Bulbasaur?"

"Bulba!"

"Professor, do you need help?"

Professor Oak quickly got the documents he needed and motioned Bulbasaur to hide. He opened the door to find Mandy right outside.

"Nope I'm fine, just misplaced my documents that's all! Alright, so as we were saying…"

As she listened on, Mandy thought she saw something small at a corner. But she dismissed it as soon as she thought so, thinking it might be just her imagination.

*Undella Town*

"Haha! Ash, stop! Haha!"

May watched jealously as Ash and Dawn splashed around in the ocean. She looked away, not wanting to feel even worse. The cold wind blew against her skin as she shivered in her swim suit. Sitting beside her was Lyra, who didn't intend to get wet. Once in a while they chatted a little, but it was still rather awkward between them.

'I should have gone to get snacks with Brock and Max.' May thought.

Apparently Dawn had enough fun, and walked towards them to join in.

"Aww! You two are just a perfect match!" Lyra said.

"What perfect match?" Dawn asked innocently.

"Well, you know what I mean! I've told you about this before." Lyra eyed Ash and winked at Dawn, who immediately blushed.

"N-no!" Dawn managed to stutter out, as she blushed and waved her hands frantically before her.

"Oh Dane, you know I'll always be able to help you out! You don't have to worry."

"No! No no no! I'm fine REALLY! You don't have to do that!"

By then May tuned out completely and looked around. She noticed that Ash had sat down near the water to watch the pokémons play. She stood up and went to join him.

"Someone being so lonely huh? That's so unlikely for THE Ash Ketchum." She teased.

"Huh?" as usual Ash looked at her with the innocent look.

"Oh never mind… Why don't you go play with the pokémons?"

"Nahh, it is fun watching them as well."

"…Did you hear what Lyra said earlier on?" May asked, though she thought this conversation wouldn't get anywhere, considering Ash's oblivious character. But to her surprise, Ash knew what she meant.

"Yeah, why?"

"Oh, erm, nothing…" May looked back to the pokémons. She didn't expect his answer at all.

"You're weird…" Ash said with a blank look.

"Excuse me, what exactly do you mean?"

"Haha! You asked me if I heard what she said, and then there's nothing you wanna talk about after that. That's just so weird!"

"Very funny…"

"Yeah, why- … not?" Ash finished his sentence uncertainly.

May turned and found him looking at something far away. She looked to his direction, and saw the person that she loathed. She was about to tell Ash, but Dawn beat her to it.

"Guys! Isn't that… Hunter J?"