Hello Ladies, gentlemen, and others, I am your ever witty host the Pikabones. I bring you a new chapter, *everybody applause; I said everybody applause! Better*. Anyways let's start.
Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon
Ch.13: Stormy Days
A holo caster began to ring in the middle of the Lumiose City. A hologram suddenly appeared, revealing a news reporter with red hair, a black top, and red shades.
"And to end this news report, there has been a recent report of a freak storm that will be passing over Lumiose City this afternoon. Heavy rainfall is expected later as well as the possibility of lightning. Our experts conclude that the storm poses no real threat and that it will pass rather quickly, even in time for sunset. It is advised that residents stay inside during the storm. Until next time…"
Paul and the gang reached Lumiose City by next afternoon.
They were walking through the enormous city, thinking about what to do next.
"How about we head for Professor Sycamore's lab, I really want to see Gabite again and see how he's doing."
"Definetly!" Serena took Fenekin's Pokeball out, "I want to show him how good Fenekin and I are getting along."
The Pokeball noded in response to Serena's voice.
"Oh, I don't know" Paul began nonchalantly, "don't you want to see if we can challenge the gym here, Ash?"
Ash looked towards the blue sky in thought "yeah, maybe we can find some answers."
"Pika!"
"No!" Clemont responded emphatically
"Huh? Something wrong Clemont?"
Clemont was sweating perfusely while Bonnie had a quite large and nervous grin.
"Of course not" Bonnie replied for her brother.
"Y-yeah, we should probably get through here as soon as possible."
Bonnie and Clemont began to lead the way quickly, but Paul got in front of them in a flash.
"Why in such a hurry Clemont" Paul then took the Lumiose City badge out of his pocket, "you wouldn't be hiding something now would you."
Paul showed Clemont the Lumiose City badge he found the other day, which made Clemont's blood run cold,
"Where did you find that?"
Paul began to approach Clemont for what seemed an eternity.
"You are in no position to ask questions" without warning, Paul grabbed Clemont's forehead and began to squeeze.
"Let's see, you have one of two options." Clemont began to squirm under Paul's hand,
"I can either electrocute you with Raichu and ask Honchrow to drop you." Paul began to squeeze harder,
"Or you can start talking and explaining what is going on, and then I can electrocute you and drop you from the sky."
"Ne-neither seems t-to be in my b-best interest" Clemont struggled to spit out.
"But what infuriates me the most is that you left your post as a gym leader to Lodi gaggle around in front of my face, and play me for a fool!"
"Paul! Stop!" Ash called out, "how are you so su-"
But a furious Paul wouldn't let go, "don't be stupid, the dork is the Lumiose City gym leader."
Just then a scooter came down the road,
"Clemont, is that you?" The man on the scooter called out as he passed by, an Ampharos riding the scooter with him, "Bonnie, honey where have you two been, I've missed my kids."
He then suddenly looked towards Paul and Clemont with his brown eyes, "son, why does that kid have a handful of your face."
"Is that your old man? " Paul asked plainly.
Clemont answered with a grunt and a nod, to which Paul let go of his face. Clemont then hit the cement with swirls in his eyes and a handprint on his face.
Clemont staggered to his feet, "hey dad."
"Son, I expect to come home and see me once in a while, I miss you guys."
"Of course dad."
"Now I see some new faces here, aren't you going to introduce them to me?"
"Oh, yeah" Clemont tried to reclaim any composure he had left, "these are my friends, Ash, Serena, and May."
"This is our dad." Bonnie added
Meyer suddenly became emotional as tears ran down his face.
"Dad? What's wrong" Bonnie asked worried.
"Nothing, just that I'm so happy you have found friends. Remember, I've always told you that friends are the best things you can have."
"Nice to meet you sir"
"Call me Meyer kids" he then turned back to his son while rubbing his brown beard, "Clemont, I hope you remember the being gym leader is a great responsibility, make sure you take it seriously and don't ignore your responsibilities."
With that Meyer waved goodbye to the group as he got back into his bike, which his ampharos rode as well, "and if your friends need a place to stay they can come over to the house" he said with a smile as he rode off.
"Clemont" Ash looked at Clemont with a blank face, "you're the Lumiose City Gymleader."
"I guess we have some with some explaining to do" Clemont replied coyly.
"And then some" added Paul as his purple aura was on full blast.
AN: Pokespeak On
A small golden brown Pokemon walked aimlessly into the always bustling Lumiose City.
The Pokemon held a bone in its right hand as it cautiously moved around, trying its best to remain obscure.
"So many humans in one place" began the small Pokemon it his behind one of the trees planted on the sidewalk, "how am I going to find him?"
The bipedal Pokemon scanned the area with his pitch dark eyes, "maybe I should ask around."
He quickly found a weird four legged fluffy looking Pokemon with white and pink fur as well as a tail that ended on the shape of a pink heart. He neared the Pokemon slowly, almost ninja like, trying his best to avoid all gazes.
Once he got near enough he began with a loud whisper, "Um could you help me?"
The obviously trimmed four legged Pokemon turned to meet the dark eyes of a timid looking Pokemon.
"Of course honey"she began a bit surprised, "what can I do for you."
"Have you seen a human recently around here" he asked timidly.
The fluffy looking Pokemon darted her red eyes back in forth, "yes."
"Awesome!" He raised his bone in victory, "where!?"
"Uh, all around you?"
He scanned the area once again and hit himself with his bone, "shoot, I forgot I'm not in the forest anymore, I was even telling myself about all the people."
"Are you alright" she asked as she neared him, "I'm going to guess you're not from around here."
"What!? No, I'm fine" he then began to tap his skull with the bone in his hand, "give me a second."
He went through his mind for a second before continuing, "Alright, I got it. He's about yay hide."
He raised his bone in the air as to show height while the other Pokemon watched on with an 'okay, sure…' look.
"He has black eyes, purple hair, and he's also scary looking" added the brown Pokemon as he teetered for effect.
"Black eyes, purple hair, scary looking…" muttered the white and pink fluffy Pokemon, "oh! I did see someone like that, but that kid needs to turn off that aura of his, he's going to burn somebody with that thing."
"Really, where!?"
She turned and, with her nose, pointed towards the center of the city and Prism tower.
"He headed there, towards prism tower" she then turned back to the smaller Pokemon, "it also looked like he was traveling with a small group, one of them had a Pikachu on his shoulder, another one looked like she was hopelessly in love, another looked like she had her heart broken, and two of them looked nervous enough. Weirdest group I've ever seen."
"Thanks!" The small brown Pokemon took off down the road towards Prism tower.
The white and pink fluffy Pokemon suddenly remembered something, "hey kid!" she shouted, "a storm is coming later; make sure you find some shelter by then!"
"A storm?" The bone wielding Pokemon turned around in response, "sure thing, I will, thanks!"
He turned and began to run again just to fall face first onto the cement, before getting up and running again.
"I hope he'll be okay, he doesn't seem to be too adept out here."
"Come on Furfrou" called out a girl with lively emerald eyes and a red barrette on top of her blue hair, "time to go."
"Coming Jessica!" Furfrou walked towards her trainer, "he'll be fine."
Clemont took a seat on a bench in a park in the city.
"Yeah" he began deflated, "I'm the Lumiose City gym leader.
"Clemont, why didn't you say anything about that?" Ash asked softly.
` "I didn't want to lie to you guys, but" Clemont swallowed hard and put his head down, "I just couldn't bring myself to tell you what happened."
"Clemont..." Serena said inaudibly.
Bonnie looked at her brother before turning towards Ash, Serena, and May, "it started when my brother was inventing a robot…"
"A robot?" Ash echoed.
"A robot" Clemont began as he looked at them, "that would act as gym leader of the Lumiose City gym in my place."
"I named him Clembot, and he was supposed to take on the gym operations like take on the challengers so that I could concentrate on my inventions."
"I programmed him to preferably take on challengers with 4 badges, and too be kind to trainers but be tough on them at the same time. But there was an accident during his startup and his programming became faulty."
"I tried to regain control of him so I could reprogram him, but the accident must have also changed the voice code to something other than what I originally thought I had set it to."
"We were forced out of the gym since I didn't have the required four gym badges, and he locked us out."
"You can't get back into your own gym?" Ash said worried.
"I keep trying, but Clembot won't let anybody without 4 badges to enter."
Clemont shut his eyes tightly out of frustration.
"Pathetic."
Clemont opened his eyes too see Paul right in front of him.
"What a poor excuse of a gym leader" Pauls' eyes became hard, "not being able to complete your responsibilities as gym leader."
Dark clouds seemingly out of nowhere quickly drifted over Lumiose City, concealing the sun.
"You're so weak it makes me sick" Paul closed his fist as he stared into Clemont's eyes, causing Clemont to be in a trance like state.
"I would never battle you for a gym badge, I would be worried I would cat-"
"-Enough!" Ash stepped in between Paul and Clemont.
"Be careful about what else you say Paul, or you'll have to answer to me."
Pikachu also growled as he stared daggers at Paul.
The floor began to be pelted by raindrops while Ash and Paul stared each other down.
"I don't have to watch my words, especially to a spinele-"
"-I said enough! You have no right to speak to my friend like that."
"Pika!" Echoed the Electric Mouse Pokemon.
"Ash, he's right" Clemont began defeated as he hid his eyes, "there's no reason for me to keep trying."
Clemont then took off at the same as the rain really began to come down.
"Clemont!" Bonnie ran after her brother.
"Bonnie, Clemont" Serena soon followed the blonde siblings.
This left Ash, Paul, and May standing in the rain.
"Why do you keep insisting on defending him like that, when even he realizes he's weak."
Even as the clouds kept most of the sunlight from shining through Ash's eyes created a fire,
"Weak, strong, are those the only things you care about? How about friends and family" Ash put his hand over his heart, "they support each other at all times."
"I will do anything to defend the feelings of those I care about. But you wouldn't know that, would you?"
"Of course I wouldn't; I've never needed anyone supporting me, and I don't need to support anyone, it's a waste of time and effort, and it shows just how pathetic you are."
` Ash had had enough and he took an aggressive step towards Paul, but May suddenly stepped in and pushed Ash back.
"Come on Ash" she said sternly, "let's go, it's starting to rain hard, and the others need our help."
Ash looked at Paul one more time while Paul turned and walked away as rain continued to pour all over Lumiose.
Clemont, Serena, and Bonnie found shelter in at Meyer's shop. He wasn't there at the moment though, which was weird, but nobody really worried since he could just be doing something for work and couldn't make it home due to the weather.
Apparently Clemont's dad, Meyer, owned an electrical appliance job near prism tower. The shop was filled with a various assortment of electrical equipment, appliances, tools, devices, and anything you could think of. You had a good chance of finding what you needed in Meyer's shop. There was a back room as well which seemed too hold more stuff. It also led to some stairs which Serena figured led to the second floor and the living area.
Serena and Bonnie dried themselves as best as they could for the time being using a couple of towels while Clemont sat in a chair behind his father's desk quietly.
"Clemont, are you okay?" Serena took a plain white chair that was resting against one of the many shelves in the shop and sat at the corner of the desk.
Clemont gave and unconvincing nod to which Serena responded with a worried look. She then tossed a towel onto Clemont's head, "dry yourself and change, or you'll get sick."
Clemont didn't move a muscle as he looked down at the table.
"Come on Clemont, you don't want to get sick do you?"
Clemont shook the towel off him and kept avoiding Serena's gaze.
The corners of Serena's mouth curved slightly downwards and her eye narrowed a bit as she felt a little bit annoyed.
Clemont then heard Serena call out Fenekin, to which he turned around and was met with an ember to the face.
"There" Serena said triumphantly, "better?" She asked while she rested her chin on the back of her hand while she gave him a small smile.
Clemont still kept silent which made Serena worry once more.
Bonnie came back downstairs, looking better than Clemont, but she was still not like her own energetic self.
"Bonnie, how are you?"
"Huh? I'm fine Serena, I just went to change clothes."
Serena nodded with a smile before realizing something, "wait, how are Ash and May going to find us?"
"Don't worry about that, I gave May some directions to find the shop, they should be able to find it" she replied with a halfhearted smile.
"Oh, well that's-" Serena was then cutoff by the front door of the shop opening,
Ash and May entered, soaking wet. Anyone could tell from Ash's eyes that he was seething, the fact of being soaking wet doing nothing to change that.
Bonnie held out a couple of towels to Ash and May which they took, thanking her with a nod.
Ash walked forward, nearing the desk where Serena and Clemont where sitting. Serena stood to talk, but she then thought better of it. She then walked up to May,
"May, what happened?" She asked in a low tone.
"Nothing much, Ash was just trying to defend Clemont, and they got into some sort of argument" May sighed before looking at Ash, "this is not how I wanted to end my time with him."
Serena turned to look at Ash, and she would see something that would stick with her for a while. Ash was obviously seething, but in literally a blink of an eye, Ash's face became softer, his eyes returned to their normal warming blaze.
"Has we always been like this?" Serena asked herself. Meanwhile, May had a similar question,
"Since when has he been able to do that?"
"Hey, Clemont, can you look at me?"
Clemont shook his head furiously without looking up.
"Why do you care so much about what Paul said?"
Clemont looked up for the first moment and showed his blues eyes, "because he's right."
Ash kept Clemont"s glaze firmly before responding, "He'll only be right if you let him. If you really think that's true, then do something about it, take back your gym."
Clemont shut his eyes tightly, "I can't, I can't even make it to the battlefield" Clemont then closed his fists tightly, "and even if I make it there and remember the voice code, I can't defeat Clembot and my other Pokemon with my inexperienced Bunnelby."
"Well, you can at least try" Clemont suddenly looked at Ash again, "I don't know much about robots but what I do know is that being strong doesn't mean to win, being strong is about fighting no matter what is thrown your way to never quit."
Clemont grounded his teeth, fighting back the fear of failure. He then stood up, "you're right, I can't give up, I became a gym leader to become stronger and I can't let my creation take control of my gym, what Lumiose City needs is a true gym leader."
Clemont then felt a hand on his shoulder,
"It also helps having friends that will help you no matter what" Ash said determined.
"That's right, we're here for you" added Serena.
"Now let's go get your gym back Clemont." May said with a fist pump.
"Pika!" Pikachu echoed with his own fist pump.
Clemont nodded and he lead the way as he made a b-line for prism tower; his gym.
Paul threw his head back as his wet purple hair covered his eyes. He found cover in a bench area with a small overhead.
For some reason he didn't feel like doing anything other than just stand there and wait for the rain to pass. He could go to the Pokemon Center, but he didn't feel in the mood to talk to anybody, even if it was just nurse Joy for like 5 seconds.
"Protecting others and their feelings? That's stupid, isn't it?"
Clemont looked straight ahead once again and caught site of a group of silhouettes running towards prism tower. Paul quickly took out his high tech binoculars which he 'found' and took a look.
He found Ash and the entire group running towards Prism tower. Paul also noticed something else.
"Is that a giant umbrella coming out of his backpack?"
At the same time, a nearby bush began to rustle, with a thick club sticking out.
A/N: Pokespeak On
Suddenly a golden brown Pokemon jumped out of the bush. He continued to shake his whole body to dry off,
"Man, she wasn't lying about the storm at all."
Cubone looked out from under the new shelter he found in the form of a bench with an overhead, "great! I don't know what I was thinking. How am I supposed to find him in this huge place? Why do humans make their living centers so huge!
Cubone then had the strange feeling of somebody's gaze upon him; he turned to his left and found the purple haired boy he had been looking for all day looking at him.
"Cu-bone-bone-Cu-bone!" cried the thick club wielding Pokemon.
Paul looked at the Cubone with a raised eyebrow as it continued to speak in Pokemon lingo.
"Cubone? Wait, it's the same one as last time. Did it follow me?"
Cubone began to jump and wave its arms happily while Paul gave it his famous disinterested look.
Paul began to feel uncomfortable and decided on his next best move; he walked away.
A/N: Pokespeak On
"Wait!" Cried Cubone as it ran after the purple haired boy. He only made it to the corner of his shelter before stopping.
"Come on" he said while he hit his skull with his bone, "it's just water."
Cubone took a couple of tentative steps into the pouring rain. He started to feel confident before a roar of thunder had him scurrying back to the shelter in fright.
Cubone covered his eyes while he sat on the floor, "No! Water is water, but thunder! Why thunder!?"
"Wow Clemont" May began as she touched Clemont's backpack, "I wouldn't have thought it could do that."
Clemont held his head high while his glasses flashed, "hehe, my backpack can do many things. The future of sien-"
"Come on Clemont, we need to get to the battlefield!"
"Right!" Clemont then took the lead and lead them to a somewhat hidden area around Prism Tower. It looked to be under construction.
"This way! We might be able to avoid detection and get to the battlefield."
Clemont led them as they climbed floor after floor,
"We're almost there, just a little more and-" Clemont suddenly stopped running to a familiar sound.
"Mag-ne? Mag-ne mite!" A magnet looking Pokemon hovered around the corner and saw Clemont, to which it responded happily.
"Magnemite! It's been too long my friend!" Clemont said as he neared the magnet Pokemon.
Magnemite then suddenly became hostile and fire an electric attack in front of Clemont as a warning.
"Hey! Clemont, I thought Magnemite was your Pokemon?" Ash said as he jumped to the front with Clemont.
"When Clembot took over my gym, he took command of my Pokemon, he must have given Magnemite strict orders to keep anybody out."
Magnemite sent another electric attack towards the group, to which Pikachu acted defensively with his own attack.
"Clemont, is it okay to attack?" Ash asked without losing sight of magnemite.
Clemont nodded in response, "we need to get to the battlefield."
Magnemite attacked again, to which Ash was ready for,
"Froakie! Let's go, use your frubbles" Froakie quickly reacted as frubbles began to pile onto Magnimite, casuing the one eyed Pokemon to fall.
"Ash" Bonnie cried, as another Pokemon appeared, "It's a Magneton!"
Magneton attacked as well, causing the others to stop in their tracks.
"Fennekin, Ember please!" Fennekin quickly obliged and attacked, but Magneton dodged it easily. Serena soon became its target and fired.
"Skitty, protect!" A pink and white Pokemon appeared in a flash and jumped in front of Serena and covered her in a protective green barrier.
"Blizzard, now!" May commanded. Skitty quickly moved from defense to offense and fired a blast of freezing cold snow, pushing Magneton back.
"Froakie, it's your turn" Froakie then reentered the picture and shut down Magneton as well with its frubbles.
"Thanks May!" Serena said gratefully.
"Don't mention it." May then turned to her Skitty, "good job Skitty."
"Wow, Skitty is so cute!" Bonnie exclaimed as she kneeled down to its level.
"Forgive me Magnemite" Clemont apologized as he ran, "but I need to take my gym back."
"Not bad May" Ash said as they ran side by side.
"Aw, thanks, you were great too" she replied with a smile.
"Just doing what I need to do, like always" Ash replied with a tip of his hat.
Clemont led the group to one of the gym's vents, which took them right to the battlefield. At first, the battlefield was pitch black, so nothing could really be made out, but their presence was soon detected, and the gym came to life as it was lit up, revealing Clembot.
Clembot stood on the opposite trainners box, it then came to life with a blast of steam,
"Welcome to the lumiose gym" started the gray and blue robot. It also looked that Clemont made the robot out of his image and gave him that blonde strand of hair sticking out from top of its head.
Clemont wasted no time, "Clembot, activate master recognition battle mode."
Clembot looked at Clemont with squinted eyes, "first, voice code recognition will be needed for recognition activation."
Clemont closed his eyes, trying to remember the voice code,
"Come on Clemont, do it" Bonnie said woridly.
"There has to be some way you can remember" Serena followed as she held Bonnie's hand.
Clemont then opened his eyes in realization, "I… can't remember!"
"Come on Clemont, remember!" May exclaimed.
"Voice code recognition is needed" repeated Clembot in its metallic voice.
Clemont grounded his teeth as he glared towards the ceiling, "Come on Clemont, there has to be something."
"So this is the lumiose city gym" was echoed throughout the spacious battlefield, causing everybody to look around.
"Definitely looks like Clemont." Paul stepped into the light, revealing a serious look. His hands were deep in his pockets as he approached the group.
"Paul!" Ash said somewhat angrily, but mostly defensive.
"Calm down dumbass, I'm here to help." Paul walked up next to Clemont who was still struggling with the voice code.
"Whats wrong?" Paul asked genuinely.
"I can't seem to remember the voice code to start the master recognition battle."
Paul closed his eyes for a long moment before slowly opening them once more, "I have an idea."
Paul's idea required patience, subtlety, and technique. So he proceeded to take his left hand and smack Clemont upside the head, a smack that echoed through the room.
"Hey! Why you hit my head for!" Clemont suddenly had a moment of realization after he said those words. He looked towards Clembot and he saw the indentation Clembot got during the accident,
"That must be it! The voice code must have changed when Clembot was hit in the head, so…"
"The voice code is" began Clemont forcefully, "you can start today; I'm Clemont, the gym leader."
Celmbot finally responded to Clemont's command, "voice code recognized, master recognition battle mode activated.
Everybody in the room, except for one, cheered, Clemont was finally going to get his battle.
Clemont looked confidently as he sent out Bunnelby for battle, to which Clembot countered by choosing Heliolisk as the opposing combatant.
Heliolisk was more than happy to see his trainer once again, but Clemont did not hesitate to tell it to give it all it had in this battle.
"My reputation as a gym leader is on the line, I have to win this" began Clemont, which led to him glancing towards Paul.
"What are you doing looking at me for? Concentrate on the battle dumbass" Paul began, he then looked more closely, "and your tense, there's no way you're going to win."
"Hey, genius!" Paul called out, "concentrate on the battle instead of me" he then put his hand through his hair, "I know I'm good looking, but come on, I don't play like that."
Everybody, including Clembot, hit the floor.
Clemont's face became flush while his glasses became foggy, "are you serious!?"
A smile then appeared on Clemont's face, "he is right though, I need to focus and do what I can."
"Are you sure it's the time for that, Paul?" May scolded.
"It was the perfect time for that ribbon girl"Paul then said inwardly, "he's relaxed now, so show me something, so that at least I won't be bored to death in our gym battle."
Clemont took an early lead in the battle by using Bunnelby's best attributes, mostly its ears, as well as his knowledge of his own Pokemon and general knowledge of electric types.
The tide of the battle soon turned however when Clemont ordered Bunnelby to attack with dig. Clembot pulled out a surprise by commanding Heliolisk to use Bulldoze, a move that Clemont never taught it before.
The ground began to shake and Bunnelby was forced to the surface. Clemont attempted to recover with a combination of Double Team and Mud Shot, but Bunnelby was quickly shut down with a Parabolic Charge.
At this point, Clemont was beginning to see that he was fighting a losing battle and that he had to do something else.
"Come onBunnelby and Clemont, you guys need to win this!" Bonnie called out from the sidelines.
"Bunnelby, dig once more!" Clemont commanded.
Bunnelby cried in agreement and went underground. Clembot though would have none of that and ordered Heliolisk to perform another Bulldoze attack.
"Oh no, isn't the same thing going to happen" Serena called out in worry.
"No way, Clemont has this, he has to have an idea" Ash responded.
"Of course he does, he never makes the same mistake twice" Bonnie then thought about what she said, "okay maybe more than two times but he gets it eventually. Clemont do it!"
"If there's one thing I learned from traveling with Ash, it's to think outside the box."
"What, you learned something from Ash and not me? I feel left out."
"Bunnelby, Double Team underground!"
As the ground shook, a large mass of Bunnelby shot out of the ground,
"Parabolic Charge!" Clembot commanded with its robotic voice.
All of the Bunnelby copies were taken out by the electric type draining attack, but that left a question in the air; where was Bunnelby?
"Bunnelby, now!"Clemont called out with ferocity.
The ground underneath Heliolisk began to crumble and the Generator Pokemon was sent flying into the air.
Clembot could not process what was happening and the maniac robot went complete haywire.
"Let's finish this, Bunnelby, mudshot!"
Bunnelby quickly followed and blasted Heliolisk with a multitude of mud balls, hitting Heliolisk for super effective damage and knocking out the electric type.
"Heliolisk!" Clemont ran to the side of the yellow and black electric type, "are you okay?"
"He-lio-lisk" answered the Generator Pokemon tiredly.
"Good, I'm happy to see you again" Clemont then looked down a bit, "I'm sorry, I've put you and the others through a lot."
"Master" began the robotic gym leader of the Lumiose gym seemingly calmer, "I remember you now, welcome back."
Clemont nodded in approval before he continued, "thanks. I know now that I made some problems while programming you, but know, I know better. I've caused problems for everybody, so let me fix it."
Clemont quickly got down to work changing Clembots programming,
"Modesty, the right balance of kindness and toughness, remember that your priority is to help challengers become better trainers. This are rules all gym leaders need to follow."
After modefying Clembot, Clemont thanked everybody for helping him learn so much in such a short time.
"Great, talking like this is making me feel embarrassed."
"Ah, come on Clemont, I want to keep learning with you too. Isn't that right everybody?" Ash gave a Clemont a one armed hug while everybody cheered in agreement.
Clemont couldn't help but give a grateful smile, but he then quickly changed gears as he realized there was one more thing he had to do.
"Your robot kicked you out of the gym!" Meyer could be heard from outside his shop.
The storm had passed quickly, and just in time to reveal the sun setting over the horizon. The storm had produced a heavy amount of rain in a short amount of time, leaving puddles all around the city, and water dripping form the green leaves lanted around the city. The air was fresher than usual as well as colder.
In Meyer's shop though, the air was not as fresh, it was more like choking on smoke, especially for Clemont.
"But we fixed it, I changed Clembot's programming so that he could be a better gym leader" Clemont explained.
"Well" Meyer quickly changed from upset to understanding rather quickly, "I guess what done is done and that you corrected your own mistakes. So does that also mean you'll come visit home more often?"
"Visit?" Clemont said as he had seen a ghost, "um, about that…"
Meyer looked at his son curiously, "What's the matter Clemont?"
Clemont gulped hard, "The thing is" Clemont thought about how he was going to say this, "I want to go on journey, a real journey. I want to become stronger. I learned so much in such a short amount of time. I've been happy, sad, terrified out of my mind. Even if it is just until Ash enters the kalos league, I want to learn as much as I can and become as strong as I can."
Clemont looked up to his father's eyes, a fire evident, a fire that probably was rarely if ever seen.
Meyer closed his eyes tightly, almost trying to push himself to say something.
"I also want to go with Ash, May, and Serena" began Bonnie, "it's so much fun to travel with them."
"I promise to take care of Bonnie" Serena began.
"We all promise" Ash echoed.
"Pika-Pi!"
"And I promise to take care of the gym the best I can, as well as help around the shop" added Clembot with its metallic voice.
Meyer looked like he was still trying to force something out, he then opened his eyes which had become watery, "Clemont, Bonnie, I'm so happy and proud of both of you."
Clemont and Bonnie gave big smiles at their father's words. Meyer than gave them a big hug, "with what you have told me, there's no doubt in my mind that going on this journey will be the best for both of you. Just remember that I love both of you very much." Meyer then stood up and spoke to everybody, "now let's celebrate the start of Clemont and Bonnie's new journey. Come on everybody, let's eat, dinner is almost ready."
Everybody followed Meyer to the next room. Ash was one of the lasts one to follow when he noticed something strange,
"Hey, May are you okay, you've been really quiet."
May was standing silently by herself, playing with her hands when Ash called her,
"What?" she replied startled and her cheeks went slightly red, "I mean nothing's wrong, come on."
She then grabbed his hand abruptly and began to lead him to the dinner. Ash then stopped suddenly too which May turned around a bit annoyed, but she saw why.
"Are you coming?" Ash asked simply.
"You mean I'm invited?" Paul answered.
"Well you did help a little bit so I guess you made an amends" Ash continued a bit reluctantly.
Paul then gave a rough smile, "well, I can't turn down free food."
He then walked past Ash and May to eat.
"Hey! What are talking about" Ash then followed dragging May behind him, "you turned down free food last time."
"I'm sorry you didn't get to challenge the Lumiose gym when you first got here" Clemont began as he and Ash prepared to turn in for the night.
"Don't worry about it, I'm just glad everything turned out alright" Ash replied as he sat up on the couch.
"Well at least now you can have that gym battle."
"Yeah, about that" Ash began as he looked towards Clemont as he lay on the floor, "I'm going to wait till I get to 4 badges to battle for my lumiose city gym badge.
"Why?" Clemont asked confused.
"Because, that's the rule you put didn't you? Only challengers with four badges can challenge the gym, right? I want to follow that."
"Well yes, but…"
"Anyways, I don't want my battle to be against Clembot" Ash began as Clemont sat up to hear the rest, "I want to battle you for the gym badge."
Ash's eyes caught fire once again, while Clemont's did as well, "I see."
A confident smile then appeared on Clemont's face, "Then, I'll make sure to get stronger to give the best gym battle you ever had."
"I'm sure it will be" Ash responded. The two friends stared each other down for a moment before breaking out in a laugh. Getting so intense for a battle that would take a while to come was funny to both of them, but there was no doubt that when the time came that battle would be like none other.
Clemont then recovered from his laughter and looked at Paul who was across the room,
"How about you" he began as his glasses flashed in the moonlight, "are you going to battle Clembot?"
Paul wasn't looking at anything particular before he replied,
"Of course not" Paul then shifted his eyes towards the direction of the window for a split second as if he saw something outside. He then quickly looked back at Clemont, "battling a robot doesn't amuse me; it would be more fun to crush you instead."
Clemont heard this and a big smile appeared and his glasses flashed again, "can't wait."
The moon shone bright over Lumiose and allowed the city of light to glow brilliantly, the evidence of the storm still evident by the fresh and cold air.
A top of Meyer's shop stood to figures. One of them was a Blaiziken, while the other wore a red and yellow cape that rode the wind, a black suit, and a Blaiziken mask. The entire wardrobe gave him an almost uncanny resemblance to the Blaiziken next to him.
"Let's go Blaiziken" uttered the man in the Blaiziken mask. The two figures got set to leap into the night, but a voice seemingly out of nowhere stopped in them in their tracks.
"What's up Meyer."
Mey- I mean the mysterious Blaiziken mask guy, yeah let's go with that, quickly turned around in surprise.
"Paul!" He then caught himself and quickly tried to change the direction of this, "I mean…" he quickly deepened his voice as if it would hide his identity, "young man, what are doing here at this hour."
"I could ask you the same thing."
"..."
"..."
Hehehe, and that's a chapter, I hope you guys enjoyed.
Reviews are greatly appreciated.
And I really hope you guys see the irony with Cubone being able to handle water but not thunder, if not I have failed. :D
Also I'm sorry for any of you who wanted to see PaulxClemont, because I pretty much shot that down this chapter… Or did I? Also I wonder if that already has a name?
Oh and here's a little bit of what you can expect next chapter. (note: dialogue is subject to change)
Ch.14 preview
"Here I have a backup"
"I've been seeing those shady characters here recently, they call themselves…."
"That power; I want it, I need it"
See ya, I wish you guys nothing but the best.