Reunion, Chapter 2: How Do I Get You Alone?
This small story also found it's roots in the MorpheusShipping thread on Bulbagarden, where we were discussing how Angie might make another appearance now that Ash is traveling the Unova (Isshu) region. Member CrazyYanmega, also know under the same name on this fanfiction site, and the author of some great MorpheusShipping fanfics himself, mentioned a way how Angie could turn up in Unova. Unable to write at the moment, he suggested someone might make a fic about it, and I volunteered, since the idea appealed to me. As can be expected, this short story also involves MorpheusShipping (Ash and Angie liking each other) so if you really don't like that idea, perhaps you should stop reading here. The rest, I hope you enjoy this fan-fiction.
Btw, the title of this chapter is a reference to the song "Alone" by Heart, some of the lyrics seem very appropriate for this shipping.
Our friends were not far from the Unova Daycare, and soon the first building came into view. The daycare consisted of a couple of buildings. A square building on the front of the premises, with a large sign "Pokémon Daycare Center" that gave away this was probably the main building. At a little distance next to it was a house, in which the owners of the center most likely lived. More behind the house and the main building, were three other buildings, one big and the other smaller, but each one much larger than the main building. All three buildings were connected to each other with a large glass corridor.
"Wow..." Ash exclaimed, as he looked at the large place, "I don't think I've ever seen such a large daycare facility!"
"Yeah, that was my first reaction too," Angie said, smiling at Ash, "it's much bigger than the daycare my mom and dad run in Solaceon town."
"Why is that?" Ash wondered.
"Well, it seems a lot of new trainers are coming to this new region here, to see and catch the new Pokémon present in Unova, so the daycare got a lot more customers as a result. So the owners decide to expand," Angie explained. "And part of this place is also a research facility. You see that right smaller building more to the back?" she added.
Ash nodded as he looked in the direction where Angie was pointing.
"That building was funded with money from the Unova Pokémon University," Angie continued, "that is were the new Pokémon are studied more closely. The middle building is the hatchery, where the eggs are kept and monitored. And to the left are where the Pokémon are kept. You can't see it from here, but behind it are some vast pieces of land, with different landscape types, so every Pokémon can go outside and still feel at home."
"A bit like the Safari Zone in Johto," Ash remarked.
"I don't know that place, but if it has different habitats for different Pokémon, then yes," Angie replied.
"Ah, Angie, did you manage to catch that little runaway?" a dark sounding voice suddenly asked, as they were close to the main entrance.
"Oh... mister Carey, I didn't hear you coming," Angie said with a startled look on her face, as she was hoping the Monozu going missing wouldn't have been noticed yet. "I'm sorry I lost your Pokémon, sir..." Angie added as she looked down at her feet.
"Don't feel too bad about it, lass," mr. Carey replied with a gentle voice, "those Monozu can be a handful, the first time I had to watch over one, it got away as well, and I spent all day looking for it. So you already did better than me back then," he added, now laughing.
"Thanks for your understanding mr. Carey," Angie replied, as she sighed of relief. "Here is your Pokémon back," she added as she took Monozu from Iris' hands, and handed the snappy Pokémon over to the owner of the daycare facility.
"Thanks, and these are friends of yours?" mr. Carey asked, pointing at Ash, Dento and Iris.
"Yes. I completely forgot to introduce them," Angie quickly answered, feeling a little embarrassed by her inattentive behavior. "This is Ash, a trainer from Pallet Town..." Angie paused a moment, "and..."
"Pikaa!" Ash's little mouse Pokémon interrupted Angie.
"I wasn't going to forget you," Angie immediately added, as she looked at the little mouse Pokémon. "This is his best friend, Pikachu. And his traveling companions, Iris and Dento."
Mr. Carey shook hands of all three, then stared at Dento for a moment.
"Hey, weren't you a gym leader or something like that? Your face looks familiar..." Mr. Carey wondered.
"That's correct sir, until recently I was the gym leader of the Sanyou gym," Dento explained, "but after battling Ash and losing to him, I realized there is much more to learn outside the gym, and decided to accompany him on his journey through Unova."
"And I just thought it would be fun to come along," Iris chimed in, without waiting for anyone to ask what her reasons for traveling along with Ash and Dento were.
"I see," mr. Carey said, "well, I bet all that running around to catch that Monozu must have worked you guys quite an appetite, right?"
"Oh yes!" Angie and Ash said simultaneously, then looking at each other for a short moment, and starting to laugh.
"Well, come along then, my wife has prepared lunch, and there is always room for a few extra mouths," the friendly daycare keeper invited the party to come along.
Our friends followed the man to the house to the right of the facility, and after meeting mrs. Carey, they enjoyed the delicious lunch she had made. When their tummies were filled, our friends walked thanked their hosts, and walked to the main entrance of the daycare facility.
"So Ash, how about I show you around this place?" Angie suggested.
"Cool, sounds good," Ash replied enthusiastically, "Iris, Dento, are you coming along?"
Angie was however hoping for some time alone with Ash, so hearing him invite his new traveling companions made it seem like her plans were thwarted. Iris was the first to see a little touch of disappointment on Angie's face, and she quickly winked at Dento.
"You two go ahead, I need to take care of my Pokémon first," Dento lied, as he exchanged a knowing glance back with Iris, showing he got her hint.
Angie's face cleared immediately, and she didn't hesitate a second at the opportunity this might mean.
"Alright, come along, we haven't got all day!" Angie said as she quickly grabbed Ash's hand, pulling him along, before he could object to his companions not coming along.
"Okay, okay, I'm coming, I'm coming..." Ash muttered as he struggled to keep his balance while getting almost towed along by Angie, while Pikachu, who had been sitting on Ash's shoulder, had to put in quite an effort to avoid falling off.
After they walked around the corner in this odd way, Angie loosened her grip a little, and this allowed Ash to regain his balance. To be safe, should Angie decide to do the same again, Pikachu used this little pause to jump to the ground, and walked over to Angie's Shinx.
"Now, what was that all about?" Ash wondered, as he looked at Angie, who was trying to hide a little blush.
"Well, there is so much to see around here, I just didn't want you to miss out on anything, that's all," she quickly blurted out, hoping Ash would buy this little excuse.
"Nah, that's not really all, now is it?" Ash reacted, as he looked straight into Angie's eyes. "You've been acting a little strange ever since I got here," he added.
Angie felt a fuzzy feeling coming up. Could it be that Ash knew about my feelings for him? She thought. Ash then winked at her, making Angie believe even more strongly that it might have gotten through to Ash's dense had that she liked him.
"Seems I can't keep anything a secret from you..." Angie said with a soft voice.
This situation reminded her about the incident with the Lickytung that accidentally evolved into a Lickylicky when under her care. At first she had tried to hide this from Ash, but he had quickly found out something was wrong, and she confessed to him and his friends what had happened, and why she had been acting so strange. This moment seemed quite similar.
"Yes, I think I know why you are acting this funny..." Ash started.
Angie felt her muscles tighten. Just say it, Ash! She shouted inside herself.
"You are still feeling a little bit uncomfortable around Dento and Iris, because you don't know them very well yet, right?" Ash suggested.
"You've got me," Angie admitted with a bland voice, disappointed that he still didn't know how she felt.
"I knew it!" Ash said triumphant, "well, when you get to know them, you'll see they're really nice, just like Dawn and Brock." he added, while momentarily laying his arm on Angie's shoulder, to comfort her.
"Thanks," she replied, feeling a little better because of this unexpected touch. "Now, what part do you want to see first?" Angie asked.
"I don't know, you decide," Ash replied, "surprise me."
"Alright," Angie said, "follow me!"
She walked to a door in the middle building, where the hatchery was located. Both kids entered the building, and proceeded through a small corridor. At the end there was a door to the right, and also one straight ahead. Angie was still a little distracted about the surprise visit from Ash, and thoughtlessly opened the door that was directly in front of her...
"Aauuw!" she shouted, as a broom came suddenly falling on her head.
It turned out she had opened the wrong door, this one was leading to a cleaning closet, with some cleaning equipment stored in it.
"Are you okay?" Ash asked with a compassionate voice, as he lifted the broom of Angie.
"Yeah, but this is probably going to be a bruise," Angie replied, while Ash helped her up. "This way," she said as she now opened the door to the right.
The door on the right was in this case really the right door, the two were now walking along big shelves on both sides, with Pokémon eggs on it.
"Wow, I've never seen so many eggs together..." Ash said in awe.
"Amazing, isn't it?" Angie replied, "now we have to take that door over there," she added, pointing at a blue door on the other end of the room.
"Are you really sure?" Ash smirked, referring to the little 'broom accident' just before.
"Will you can it! This place is so big, I still get lost sometimes," Angie defended herself.
"With your memory that doesn't surprise me," Ash continued teasing her.
"Oh? Well if I recall well from that 'bad memory' of mine, Brock told me about the many times you got lost when you were the guide. I bet you wouldn't even find your own pockets without directions," Angie teased back.
"Is that so?" Ash said, a little crossed, as he raised one eyebrow, "look, you can't even walk straight," he added, giving Angie a little push to the side.
"Ah... well neither can you," Angie replied, as she also gave Ash a little push back.
So, pushing and shoving each other aside, the two rivaling friend progressed along the shelves, while Pikachu and Shinx, walking behind them, shook their little heads. Then suddenly, Angie pushed Ash a little too wildly, causing him to loose his balance, and fall with his side against one of the shelves! The egg cylinders rattled, but all seemed to stay in place at first. Both wiped their heads in relief, and exchanged a little reproachful look. But then Angie's face changed to a very frightened look instead! At the end of the shelf, one cylinder had fallen on it's side, and was now slowly rolling towards the edge!
"Ash, that egg cylinder!" Angie shouted.
"I got it!" Ash shouted back, as he raced towards the cylinder, that was now dangerously close to the edge of the shelf!
Unfortunately Ash tripped, and fell over. Both he and Angie watched helpless as the cylinder fell to the ground with a loud crashing noise... But, the egg didn't break in that crash, instead it flew up, but if nothing was done, it would follow the fate of the cylinder soon... Just as both were about to shout "Nooo!" since all seemed lost, Ash felt Pikachu run over his back, and jumped forward, using his head as step up! With a combination of speed and agility, the little Pokémon lunged forward and tried to catch the egg with it's tail, then made a somersault forward, and landed on it's back paws, it's tail behind it. For a moment everyone was very silent, since it was not clear Pikachu had gotten to the falling egg in time...
"Pikaaa!" the little mouse Pokémon cried triumphant, as it pushed it's tail up high, with on it... the egg, completely unscathed at first sight!
"Good job, Pikachu!" Ash cheered.
"Yeah, thanks Pikachu!" Angie added, also very grateful for this amazing save.
"Now, what is going on in here!" they suddenly heard a strong and partially angry sounding voice shout from behind them...
(To be continued...)
I apologize for any typing errors, or grammatically not 100% correct sentences. Remember, I am not a native English speaker or writer. I tried to make this story as close to the Pokémon series as possible, so that the characters will react roughly the same in this fictional story as they do in the series. I hope I succeeded in doing that. Comments are always welcome, you can use the review function on this FanFiction site for that.
Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own any trademarks of Pokémon. Any similarities to the works of others is purely accidental, and not meant as an infringement on anyone's achievements.