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~*~ 4. Multiple Thunderbolt! ~*~
Countdown 364: 18:07: 51
October 2nd
"Muk, sludge bomb on Sceptile!"
The silence in the pleasant outskirts of Pallet Town was disturbed thanks to an enthusiastic trainer who was preparing for the Pokémon World Tournament. Needless to say, the enthusiastic trainer was me, Ash Ketchum.
The slimy Pokémon opened its mouth, which was large enough to gobble a child, and shot out the projectile attack. The reptilian Pokémon Sceptile however dodged the attack with ease.
"One more time!"
Muk tried the move again, sending out yet another slimy bullet at Sceptile, but the attack was far from hitting. Sceptile's movements were beyond comprehension. One second he was in front of you, and in the next he doesn't.
I knew Sceptile was fast but this was better than I remembered. It seems he had been training on his own at Oak's. I am really lucky to have a Pokémon like that.
"I'm surprised Ash," Dad muttered, "This one is pretty strong. I think we can give it a backseat on the training regime."
I turned to Sceptile who was slightly disappointed, but it's the truth. My training with dad had just begun one hour ago. We matched up my Pokémon against each other and gauge their abilities. It was to determine which Pokémon deserved more attention, and which could train on its own.
"But don't worry," Dad spoke, "Let's put Infernape as its training partner. That way they can train on their own while we pick up the ones you neglected a lot."
My lips pursed. I hate it how he constantly rubbed on my face that some of my Pokémon were untrained.
"Having an elite team with six good Pokémon and neglecting your remaining is a terrible strategy. Your opponent will easily counter your line up. In fact you have to save your ace Pokémon for the last."
I had to agree. Paul constantly rotated his Poké his Pokémon were amazing because the lesser trained ones were forced to learn from the experienced ones. It was precisely what my dad and I were doing now.
I looked at the horde of Pokémon around me, all of them were mine, and I can tell most of them need to be retrained to be ready for the Pokémon League.
"Okay Ash, the list's done."
Dad held a notepad. He was constantly jotting down something as I picked my Pokémon randomly and pitted them against each other. He was collecting data, from what he observed, and from my Pokédex.
"So, how's it?" I asked.
"Worse than I expected," he said with a wry smile. "One year will be enough just to shape your team up. I wanted to do more."
"Shape up?" I didn't understand what exactly he meant by that.
"Some of your Pokémon aren't par with the standards," he said. "Some like Sceptile and Infernape are very good while some are well, need a good workout. It's a mixed bag."
I nodded. I didn't train few Pokémon for a while. I trained Muk, Torkoal and few others for the Sinnoh League but that wasn't enough actually. It was last minute hurried training.
"Ash, there are few things that I want to teach all of your Pokémon but first, I want to teach Pikachu something before we begin with the others."
"Pikachu?" I was surprised. Pikachu was always with me, and if there was anyone in my team who was up to date with powerful moves, it was Pikachu.
"Yes," he nodded. "Ash have you ever seen the elites use an electric type move?"
My memory wasn't a sharp one. Even if I did watch someone using it, I would have probably forgotten about it. "No," I said.
He let out a sigh, as if he were dealing a hopeless case. "Electric types have a gift that other types don't."
A gift?
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Let me finish," he grumbled. "Unlike other types like Fire, water and few other types, electric types can split their attack power and use it on multiple targets."
My face remained blank. The old man sighed once more, "Let me show it."
He plucked a Pokéball out of his belt. "Ampharos, come out!"
The wool Pokémon materialized with a flash. Its surface glistened with a rich yellow fur that somehow made me feel it was something 'special'. Perhaps this was what Brock and Cilan notice when they critique a Pokémon's strength by just looking at it. It's definitely not your average Ampharos.
"Pick five targets for me," he said. "Make sure they are far apart."
I didn't understand what he was planning, but decided to go with what he said. "Okay," I said, looking around.
After a few seconds of thinking I chose the targets. Three of them were trees on my left, right and front. The fourth target was a distant boulder, and the fifth was Donphan, who was glad that he was the target.
"Nice choices," Dad muttered. All the five were in five different directions, as he wanted. He exchanged a confident glance with his electric type. "Ampharos, use thunderbolt on all the five targets!"
All five? Would they attack one after the other or—? I was beginning to realize what Dad meant now.
The Light Pokémon, took a perfect stance, and exerted out electricity out of its body. The yellow sparks that matched its body color shot out, spreading in five directions at once. Being close to the flash, I closed my eyes reflexively.
I heard five explosions, all at once, and the collective gasp of all my Pokémon.
Curious, I opened my eyes, and found the four non-Pokémon targets singed black due to the electricity, and Donphan growling in happiness as he enjoyed the static spreading through his body.
"It hit all of them at once?" I asked, still not believing.
"Pika!" Pikachu asked Ampharos the same, while the latter folded its arms, enjoying the startled looks from Pikachu.
"Yep," Dad nodded. "This is what I have been saying."
"Wait. Isn't this just like discharge?" Both Iris's Emolga and Dawn's Pachirisu know that move.
"Idiot," Dad glared at me, as if saying that was blasphemy. "Discharge is just pushing electricity out of your body. Thunderbolt is an art. Telling multiple thunderbolt and Discharge are same is an insult to electric types everywhere."
"Multiple Thunderbolts is basically using five perfectly concentrated thunderbolts on multiple targets. It's a perfect strategy to beat Double team, or hit Pokémon that move pretty fast. Plus, using five bolts at once will improve your Pikachu's stamina, and when a situation comes where using one thunderbolt will be enough—"
"The power will be five times a normal thunderbolt!" I exclaimed. What a brilliant technique! Now I understand why he was pissed off when I compared it to discharge.
"But it's not that easy, kid," his lips broke in an expressionless smile. "Your Pikachu will be working on it while we deal with the others. So let's spend some time till breakfast on Pikachu, what do you say?"
"Awesome!" I jumped.
"Pika Pika!" Pikachu echoed my feelings.
"So he burned your bicycle too?" Mrs. Ketchum was in the kitchen busy cooking, while an enthusiastic Dawn was chatting about their Sinnoh adventures.
"I didn't mind it though," she said. "I got to travel with Ash and Brock thanks to that."
"You are such a sweet girl," the older woman smiled. "I should probably make Alex pay for that. He said he and Ash will be doing a part-time job for the whole year."
"A part-time job?" Misty entered the kitchen, she was half-groggy, and rubbed her eyes. "Shouldn't they be training?"
"Well Alex said it was part of his training," Delia tapped her chin with her finger, "Now that you ask me, I think it sounds fishy. He didn't give me any details about it."
Meanwhile Misty took a seat beside Dawn, and whispered into her ears, "So what did you think about it?"
Dawn was petrified. She half-expected Misty to forget about that. Last night was truly terrible. Iris, Misty and May ganged upon her and began demanding to talk about her feelings on few private matters. In the end she gave in to their assaults, and told that she had some considerable amount of feelings towards Kenny, Ash and Paul.
The last one threw them into group hysteria. Well it was certainly unusual to find a completely not-handsome, silent, cold-hearted freak who was obsessed about winning the champion's league attractive. But based on Reggie's views on Paul, she thought of his positive side, and why he turned into what he was. But of course she didn't share any of that with the other three, so they cut it off as a 'weird fantasy'.
The rest of the discussion turned towards Ash. Apparently Brock told Misty how she cheered Ash during the gym battles.
"I simply like dressing up. It's nothing to do with Ash." She said that, but of course they didn't bother to listen to her, because they were full on convincing her otherwise.
In the end she admitted she had a wee-bit crush on him, but mostly looked him as a friend. Of course that wee-bit was enough to throw them into chaos.
"I told you, I have some little teenage crush. It's nothing," she said with a frown.
"You talk as if you are no longer a teen." Misty grinned, "Iris has some plans before you leave to Sinnoh, today."
Dawn realized the torture didn't end.
"Pikachu, Double Thunderbolt!"
The yellow rodent growled and sent a powerful thunderbolt at the first target, and then on the second. Either thunderbolts were done hastily in succession and barely had an impact on the targets.
"I say for the thousandth time," Alex gritted his teeth. "Don't use two thunderbolts!"
Jeez, teaching required a lot more patience than he thought, and unfortunately he didn't have much.
"I am trying, but we can't get it!" The kid was frustrated. He hated being scolded, which made it more the fun for Alex. Looking at a miniature version of himself, he remembered how he was constantly scolded by his teacher Mao. It was a wonderful mental exercise to him, and helped him in the battles.
Ash's brain was ticking. He was thinking something to overcome this obstacle that put them out for two hours. There was something strange about him. Most of the time he doesn't use his head, and when he does, he comes up with an impossible plan and actually succeed.
This wasn't something the Ketchum's possessed; it had to with Delia's line. Delia's father and her forefathers were people who preferred a peaceful life over an adventurous life style which the Ketchum's loved. But they were known for their quick wit in handling the land disputes that happened a lot in 1997.
Ash had them both. The quick-wit from his mother and the undying fighting spirit of his father.
"I have an idea," Ash's face brightened up suddenly.
"Just like always," Alex muttered. He asked, "What is it?"
"Just watch," Ash said. "Pikachu, use a normal Thunderbolt!"
The little rodent nodded, and let out a single thunderbolt on its training partner, Donphan.
"Good, hold it for some time," he said. The rodent did as told, and continued to use the thunderbolt on Donphan.
Holding a thunderbolt for more than one minute would be dangerous for a Pokémon. Alex ought to warn Ash about it, but he held back. He couldn't just interrupt one of Ash's miracles, right?
"Now use another thunderbolt on Krookodile!" He pointed at the second partner who stood beside Pikachu.
"You are asking for the impossible," Alex blurted in surprise. He expected the kid to do something weird but this. "You can't add another thunderbolt while using—"
Pikachu's whimpers cut his attention. Despite the difficulty and impossibility, the rodent continued to maintain the attack on Donphan, clenched its fists tightly to plunge out another thunderbolt.
Alex let out a gasp. At first it was a faint trickle, but then it began to grow and within a flash, a second bolt of electricity erupted and struck Krookodile at amazing speed.
"You did it!" Ash exclaimed.
Whether it was the relief of success or it simply ran out of energy, Pikachu stopped the simultaneous attacks and collapsed on its back.
"Pikachu!" Ash lunged for the rodent, and caught the falling rat. He gently lifted the Pokémon, and brushed its head. "You okay buddy?"
The Pokémon struggled to put up what seemed like a smile of victory and fainted.
"Using a thunderbolt continuously for three minutes was too much," Alex said. "Don't worry; I think your doctor friend will heal him in no time."
Ash nodded. "I should have considered his limits before trying that," he looked guilty.
"It's out of electricity," Brock examined the rodent, he was surprised.
It was a surprise to Misty too, because Pikachu never ran out of electricity, except maybe when—
"Wow, I have never seen it go out of electricity since Viridian," Misty muttered.
To put Pikachu under this much strain, he must be training real hard to win the League. Misty felt her own determination swelling up inside. Ash has always been her source of inspiration. Maybe it was because of him that she really began focusing on improving her career. Till then all she did was blabber about becoming a water Pokémon master.
Misty watched, as Brock strapped two wires onto Pikachu's cheeks. The wires were connected to a small generator. Ash, Alex, and the four girls watched Tracey turn on the generator.
"It never ran out of electricity because of fatigue," Ash said, his face full of remorse.
Ah, so it ran out of electricity for other reasons? It seems those two faced lot more difficult situations than she thought.
"It's breakfast time!"
A humming tune diverted the attention from everyone.
"All of you must be hungry by now." Cilan appeared with a cover in his hands, "Special breakfast delivery right from the artistic hands of Mrs. Ketchum. Prepare yourself for an unbelievable, fantastic, gorgeous and appetizing breakfast. The food is definitely bound to satisfy your rumbling stomachs with a satisfactory taste!" He added with a theatrical dance.
Silence hit them all like a typhoon as the group silently stared at Cilan. Half in sympathy, half in annoyance.
"I told you his sommelier actions are a pain," Iris whispered. Misty couldn't help but agree.
After the breakfast the foursome girls scurried out of Oak's lab to discuss something in seclusion. They were currently in courtyard. May looked around checking if anyone was spying or following them. She then gave Iris a thumbs-up. It was time for fun!
"Look Dawn," Iris chided the blue-haired. "Last night, you were telling about Ash being naïve because he's too focused on his goal?"
"I did," Dawn put a sulky expression, unhappy with the line of discussion. "What about it?"
"Prove it to us," Iris said brushing her hair. "I want you to hit on Ash."
At that point May, who was peacefully having a drink of orange, spat out the contents out at once. "Iris that's—"
"You are going way too far this time," Misty said brusquely.
Iris however looked at them, hiding a venomous grin, "Are the two of you scared that Ash may fall for her?"
The comment left the two girls stupefied. Saying yes means admitting weakness, but if they would say 'No' then Iris will attack them instead.
Looking at their blank faces, Iris scoffed. She asked Dawn, "Won't you be leaving tonight? This is your last chance till the next year. Who knows how many advances the three of us can make till then? Especially Misty."
The red-head snapped, "Excuse me but unlike you I actually have a goal. Don't involve me in stupid things, okay? Why don't you pick on May for a change?"
"Could I do it, instead?" A new voice appeared.
The foursome turned around and—
"GARY!" They screamed collectively.
"Why the hell were you eavesdropping on us," Misty demanded, cracking her fists.
Gary replied unfazed, "For starters, this is my house."
"What do you mean by 'Could I do it'," Iris asked to which Gary smiled. Ah, she catches on fast, was the kind of smile on Gary's face.
"I wanna pick May," he said. "For a date."
It took effort for May to not drop the glass. Did she hear it right? Gary asking her for a date? He looks cool and all but they barely knew each other.
"Precisely why I want to hang out with you," Gary said, obviously studying her mind. "We barely know each other, I am kinda bored with all the research work and training, I want to take a break."
"Uh," May's face was blank. This was completely out of the blue. No, this was the textbook definition of 'out of the blue'. He was handsome, she could tell that much, he had style which most men don't. He was born to be a ladies man, and he was asking her out. It wouldn't be that wrong to—
"I'll pick you tomorrow morning," he smiled before getting back to the backyard.
May however stood still like a statue, as if she was a spectator in the entire conversation.
"I didn't think you would accept so easily," Dawn's eyes were still wide open thanks to the shock.
"But I didn't say anything!" May blurted out. She definitely didn't.
"With a face like that, do you really need to?" Misty asked, sarcastically.
Was her face that easy to read? Or was it Gary's magic. First Drew, now Gary why do men always have a way with her, why does she submit to them so easily?
"I give you a '-1' in the Ash race," Iris said, somewhat mad.
"Excuse me but none of us are interested in that kind of a race," Misty said, feigning anger.
"What about Dawn flirting Ash?" Iris asked.
"Of course I am interested in that," Misty replied immediately, and winked at a furious Dawn.
"It smells harem around here," Alex muttered.
"Ash and Harem don't match Mr. Ketchum," Brock whispered back. "It's like trying to use fighting type moves on ghost types."
An unusual combination of Brock, Cilan and Alex watched the girls coerce Dawn into something sane girls wouldn't openly do. The courage comes from the fact that Ash was a naïve idiot, and would probably figure out things only after it's too late.
"He got his naïveté from his mother," Alex sighed. It took her six years to figure out he loved her, what a mess that was.
Noon was already up and over, and so did the lunch break. The training was going pretty fine, except Pikachu was still resting, while the rest of the Pokémon trained together. I never saw all my Pokémon work this hard before, I am definitely going to catch up with Paul at this rate….or not.
The power difference between the two of us was fearsome. I hated it. How did he use Overgrow like that? It was cheating.
"Pikapi," Pikachu called his attention. The rodent pointed at the group training.
Much to my surprise, the Pokémon which were supposed to be training stopped amidst what they were doing.
I walked close to the scene to see what was going on, only to meet with a flaming ape Pokémon in a battle stance.
Facing it was Sceptile. Hmm, that was unusual. They were supposed to be training partners, so what's so special about them battling now.
Infernape was the first one to move. He leapt into the air, like only a naughty monkey ever could. The flames on its manes grew to engulf it in a blue aura.
"Flareblitz," I muttered. So they were having a serious battle instead of simply speed training?
Infernape which resembled a rocket dashed towards the still grass type. Normally any trainer would panic but I knew that guy.
Just as the flaming rocket strung the ground, Sceptile disappeared from my sight and appeared a few steps behind Infernape.
He liked to act cool.
Infernape obviously was annoyed by the development. He growled something at Sceptile.
Sceptile retorted with what seemed like a cool remark and lunged at Infernape with blinding speed.
'Quick Attack' I Sceptile was taking it serious too?
The bolt of lightning called Sceptile was closing on to Infernape at an alarming rate. There was no way Infernape could dodge that. Then what would he do?
Answering my question, Infernape let out a stream of flames from its mouth. The spreading heat was aimed straight at the advancing enemy. Sceptile was done for?
No, I clearly forgot how fast Sceptile was. As if to remind me, and ring the bell in my ears, performing an impossible maneuver, Sceptile changed its course.
The green blur shot past Infernape and—
Appeared right behind it! Infernape noticed the presence behind him, his dark eyes began to turn back to catch a glimpse of its enemy.
But Sceptile's attack was faster than Infernape's reaction. Before Infernape could even turn back, the leaves on its hands were growing a bright green. Leafblade.
But Infernape wasn't something one could take so lightly. Even if he lacked speed when compared to Sceptile, he had something else.
The Leafblade could only slash thin air, because Infernape performed a forward flip, and twisted his body in time to face Sceptile.
Infernape had an excellent battle intuition. Even if Sceptile was fast, if Infernape predicts Sceptile's moves it won't lose. I think the intuition came from the fact that it was a fighting type but it could also be that Infernape's life as a Chimchar back in the wild was a rough one.
Infernape let out a confident growl, and lunged at Sceptile once more, this time its fists glowing with a Mach Punch. Even Sceptile has to break a sweat to dodge that, or so I thought.
Sceptile didn't move at all. In fact it raised its arms into the air as if it gave up on the battle and was praying to a Pokémon god.
I began to exclaim, "What the hell are you—"
Except I was cut off when a huge shadow took my attention. I lifted my head into the air, to notice huge boulders above me, standing in the air as if there was something holding them up. The rocks were then dropped, letting gravity do the rest of the job.
The surprising move from Sceptile shocked Infernape. It had to stop its advance to dodge a rock that fell on its path, only to fall in the path of another boulder, and then another and so on.
The dodge was futile and in the end Infernape ended up buried underneath them.
"Whoa!"
All of us fell into deep shock. I never knew...
"You learned a new move today, huh? Your Rockslide was amazing!"
Sceptile smiled proudly, the twig in his mouth never leaving its place.
Training Sceptile against a powerful fire type like Infernape paid off. Rockslide was a good countermeasure against fire types, and not to mention it was completely out of Sceptile's usual hit and run battle style. It could really throw opponents off-guard. If there was any Pokémon that was already ready for the Champion's League, it's Sceptile.
"Naape!"
The grass before us broke, as a small hole was made. Infernape jumped out of the hole, with a sheepish expression on his face. He was looking at me embarrassed of the earlier developments.
"You were amazing too Infernape, dodging Sceptile's attacks is a great thing. I am proud of you!"
Infernape delighted by my praise, jumped in joy and pumped its energy filled fists into the air.
The remaining Pokémon looked equally surprised and excited by the unfolding of events. They turned to their respective partners and resumed their sparring with renewed determination.
"Everyone's all fired up, Pikachu," I nodded to my partner, "I will definitely win this league."
"Pika!" Pikachu's cheeks were filled with electricity. He gestured me something on the lines of 'I want to get back to training too!'
"Are you sure buddy?" I asked.
The rodent nodded with a definite yes. He was determined to not give up yet.
"But before we train we must figure out a new method to use that thunderbolt," I said. "I can't put your electric sacs out of order every time we battle."
He lowered his head in defeat. He accepted the gravity of the situation. We should think something else before we train. After seeing many electric Pokémon I can say this: My Pikachu has a lot of power inside him, and if even he could be exhausted by that move then it was not worth using.
"Ash," a warm voice greeted me.
Standing behind me was the ever optimistic smiling Dawn. Except there was a nervous smile on her face today.
"What's wrong, Dawn?" I asked.
She seemed to be taken aback by the question, because she looked surprised, as if she were hit by a thunderbolt.
"Nothing's wrong," but the nervousness in her face only grew. Her hand was on her chest, as if she was facing a life-threatening situation, or a powerful rival. "I am leaving today so I just wanted to talk with you a bit."
"Then why are you standing like you are scared of me or something. I wanted some break anyway."
I sat down on the patch of grass. Maybe she would feel more comfortably if we sat and talk. "So what do you want to talk about?" I asked her, indicating to sit beside me.
There was hesitation in her eyes. She took a gulp or two, and nervously looked at the place I pointed her to sit, as if she was measuring the distance between us.
Really. What was wrong with her? She never was this uncomfortable around me. Even in Unova she was perfectly fine.
"Dawn you are treating me as if I am a road side swindler. I am not going to steal your Pokémon or something," I said with a smile.
"Huh," she held her breath, "I-I am sorry," she hastily took the seat beside me.
Something was really really wrong with her. Why was she so fidgety? She was all right till yesterday.
"So what do you want to talk about?" I asked, casually.
"Nothing special, I just wanted to catch up with you," she said. "So how's your training going? I heard you are teaching Pikachu a new move."
"About that," I said with a disappointed tone. "I was trying to figure out how to use a double thunderbolt. But I can't seem to find a way."
"They make a nice couple don't they?" Delia smiled looking at them.
"Nah," Alex brushed her off. "My mom thought I and Natalia are a good couple, and we all know how that went."
"Your pessimistic thinking always leaves me in awe," she said, half-serious.
"That kid should learn to taste girls first," he said.
"If you have any such things in mind cut them off," she poked him. "It's a warning."
"We wouldn't have had Ash if I actually cared about your warnings," Alex said. "Besides, you babied him too much."
"I didn't," she was unusually offensive, "Unless you think hitting on girls is a sign of maturity."
"It isn't?"
"No."
"Eh, whatever," Alex shrugged, "But those girls are practically going gaga over him."
"Well, Ash is the only thing they have in common to talk about," Delia pointed out. "If May and Dawn were alone they talk about contests. I think Iris is the one spoiling them."
"Maybe she has a thing for our little guy," Alex smiled.
"Well, all four of them are pretty good," Delia said, "Dawn is my personal favorite though. She is a sweet girl, very kind and helpful."
"It could be a façade to please adults," Alex argued. "You fell right though it by the way."
"Alex, she's just thirteen."
"Few kids learn these things from childhood. I think she's a girl who tries to look strong, but is in fact weak inside. She only looks strong for the sake of others. Girls like these could grow into deceptive women."
"Wow," Delia looked at her husband in wonder. "Don't you think a bit too deep? Have you been reading those conspiracy theories on internet?"
"Nah. It's just that I have seen a big bad world," Alex smiled wryly, sorrow wallowing him up. Memories of things that happened one month ago haunted him. "Even the most seemingly innocent child can't be trusted sometimes."
"We are banning you from the World Tournament, Mr. Alexander."
Alex hid his clenched fists from Delia. "Let's see how our son will fare against that girl," he told her with a bright smile.
"So that is a double thunderbolt, huh," Dawn muttered. It took me some time to explain her but she finally caught onto it. Dawn always got inspirational ideas for her contests. Back in Sinnoh both of us helped each other in coming up with various combinations like Ice-aqua jet, counter shield.
"So what do you think?" I asked, as she thought on the subject, eyes closed and focused. Somehow I found myself staring at her face.
"I am not sure about this but," she said, her eyes still closed. "How about—" Her voice stopped when she opened her eyes, and looked straight into me.
The two of us remained silent. Our faces were too close; maybe she was uncomfortable with that. Dawn on the other hand moved closer to me, slowly. Her lips open as if she wanted to eat something tasty. Her breath was ragged, and warm.
"What's wrong, Dawn?" I asked putting a hand on her forehead. Does she have a fever?
"Huh," The blue haired snapped, and hurriedly crawled back. She looked around guiltily.
"Do you have a fever?" I asked.
Swiveling her head towards me, she denied hastily, "N-No, I am perfectly fine."
Now how do I put it? There was something weird about her today, and she was hiding it. "Dawn did you forget we are friends?" I asked somewhat serious.
The question changed the expression in her face abruptly. She looked at me with fear-filled eyes, as if she was a criminal interrogated by the police. As if I was threatening her seriously. "Ash, I-I am really sorry," tears were piling upon her blue eyes.
What did I do to scare her so much?
"I am sorry Ash, I didn't mean to do that to you," she said, forcing her eyelids shut.
"Do what?"
"T-The k-k-k…," she was unable to finish her sentence. "The K-word," she said, her eyes fell to the ground.
K-word? Kingler? Krabby? Krookodile? Damn, why does she have to be so mysterious?
"What are you talking about?" I asked. "I don't get it all. We are friends right? You could tell me what your problem is."
A sudden realization seemed to sweep across her, because her tears stopped, and she looked at me with an awkward expression, "So that was what you meant by 'did you forget we are friends'?" She asked sourly.
"I asked, "Yeah, what else would I mean?" There was still some anxiety in her face, I could say that.
"Nothing," she smiled nervously, "How about going back to the main topic?"
"Okay?" I was unsure, but if she doesn't want to talk about it, I shouldn't bother her. "Any ideas?"
"I am not sure about it actually," she said. "Why don't you use two different thunderbolts and try to reduce the time gap between them?"
Well I had the same idea but…"It's still two thunderbolts not double thunderbolt," I pointed out.
She frowned for a second, placing her chin on her hand in a thinking pose, "It's just my hunch but I think if you practice enough you could actually use two thunderbolts with almost zero time difference. If you do that—"
"Then two thunderbolts will become a double thunderbolt!" I exclaimed. "You're awesome, Dawn. I should have thought about that too. What do you say, buddy?" I asked Pikachu.
"Pika!" Pikachu nodded in agreement.
Seeing the goofy-slash-excited Ash made Dawn lose all the previous discomfort in her heart. Seriously, what was she thinking? She scolded herself. She planned to flirt with Ash a bit. But not only did she manage to fail in doing so, she fell in for him instead.
This was the first time her thoughts actually went as deep as stealing a kiss from a boy. Oh gosh! She promised herself she would never ever get close to a guy than she was comfortable, not any time soon. But firstly she wanted to kill the other three girls to induce the stupid feelings into her. All the while she and Ash had this neat friendship thing going on. Now she could never talk to Ash the same way. Everything was ruined.
Nothing was all right!
"Dawn, are you okay?" A soft touch on her shoulders brought Dawn back to reality and noticed that Ash placed an arm on her.
NO!
"You are spacing out," he placed his hand on her forehead. "I think you have a fever—"
Those were the last words she heard because right after that everything went blank and fuzzy.
"Whoa," I caught the unconscious blunette just in time.
Just as I thought, she wasn't well. She was planning to travel with this health?
"Wow look at what you did."
To my surprise I found Misty, May and Iris before me. The voice belonged to Misty.
"She has a fever," I said. "I think we should postpone her journey till she gets well."
"I wonder," Misty seemed like she was hiding a grin, "Trust me on this one Ash, even if you ask her to stay she won't stay back. Not a second more than necessary."
"I know you are hopeless Ash," May sighed. Hey where did that come from? "But this is really pushing the word 'naïve' to the extreme limits."
"I told you he's a kid," Iris nodded, "See nothing happens no matter how hard we try."
"What should happen?" I asked. Because of none of this discussion made sense, and yet it was about me. "And I am not a little kid!"
"You are a little kid!" May and Misty echoed together.
Dammit, I hate when people mock me. But for god's sake could anyone tell me what was going on? Could this be a girls-only secret? Maybe they simply like to make fun of me.
"I think that's enough," a gruff voice cut any further conversation between us.
"Dad, it took you long enough from that lunch break," I said with sarcasm.
"For your sake Ash, I'll pretend the last few minutes didn't happen," he said with his ever existing disappointed-father expression. Even him? Something was going here, and I really want to know about it! "Let's focus on Bulbasaur for now," he said. "Delia, take care of Dawn," he said to mom who was hidden behind his immense frame.
"Fine," I said putting away everything else out of my mind.
"Mr. Ketchum is it okay if we watch Ash training?" Misty asked.
"Oh sure, you girls would peep from the bushes anyway," Dad brushed her off casually. But it seems she seethed at his comment. Dad's a pro at making people hate him.
"Bulbasaur!" I called the bulb Pokémon who was busy trying to hit Swellow with a leech seed. He immediately hopped his way towards us, delighted that he was being given the spotlight.
The Swallow Pokémon followed him, and cawed for my attention. "Take a break for a while Swellow," I gave him a thumbs-up.
"I want to study Bulbasaur's style a bit Ash. I think it could use some tweaking," Dad said.
"Bulbasaur, Vine Whip!"
May watched the fierce exchange of moves between Bulbasaur and Pikachu. With unbelievable agility, Pikachu ducked between the vines and leapt into the sky.
"Leech Seed," Ash commanded.
"Use thunderbolt to counter it," Alex commanded.
The brown seed that popped out of Bulbasaur's back was shot at the airborne rodent, but a quick thunderbolt averted the attack from finding its way towards Pikachu.
"Bulba!" The Pokémon was surprised and angry at the sudden move.
"That's a cool way to counter Leech seed," Ash exclaimed. It was his Pikachu after all.
"On the other hand it proves how straight forward Bulbasaur's attack was," Alex said coldly. He was really good at making the cocky Ash's smile drain away.
Alex said after a pause, "Bulbasaur has excellent aim, but I think straight forward attacks won't be doing you any good."
Ash's lips pursed. "I see," he said with a serious expression.
"If you had battled enough with Bulbasaur you could have developed its battle style a bit more."
It was clearly an insult to Ash a trainer. But instead of getting all flustered up, he took them silently. He was accepting them. He was guilty.
Accepting your mistakes was a part of growth too. May thought for a second. She had flaws too, and there was a good reason why she lost to Zoey in the Wallace cup. She should start working on them instead of blaming things on everything else.
"That's it for today, Ash," Mr. Ketchum said to him, abruptly ending the two hour session.
"But it isn't evening yet," Ash said. "There's a lot of time."
"I want to teach you about special abilities a bit," Alex said. "And how to use them intelligently in a battle."
"Really?" Ash was excited. "Can you tell me how to use Overgrow like Paul did?"
"Not exactly, but it's worthwhile." Dad cheered. "There are many amazing stuff you don't know about. But the people at Rosenburg hunt for this knowledge, and then this knowledge passed down through generations. I learnt it from my teacher Mao, and I will teach it to you. Speaking of which there's something else I want to teach you."
Wow, and there's more?
"Tomorrow the two of us will be going to the mountains in the north. I have a technique that my teacher taught me. I couldn't grasp it, but I think it matches your battle style pretty well."
Whoa! So there was something dad couldn't learn properly and only I can? I could feel it. Yes, I am getting stronger by the second. Whatever this technique was, I am going to learn it!
"Keep up the enthusiasm, Ash," Dad commended, "Once you perfect it, I think you will be far better a trainer than me, and it's not pretty hard to learn either. I am looking forward for tomorrow," he grinned.
"Me too," I said.
"Ash, it's about time we send Dawn off," Brock said taking the opportunity to speak up. "Let's go."
I nodded and followed the group that proceeded to my house.
"Are you really well? Ash asked her for the umpteenth time. He was so caring, if only he wasn't so naïve.
"I am perfectly alright," she gave her best 'everything will be alright' smile.
"We are going to miss you Dawn," Delia clasped her arms, "Give my regards to your mother."
"We'll miss you too," Misty approached and hugged her. The expression on her emerald eyes was real. Despite the mischievous things they did, they were really good friends. The three days were eventful and went on quickly.
"Me too," Dawn said.
"Well it's time to go," Gary called her. He was driving her to Viridian. "The ship's not going to wait for you, Princess."
"Alright then," she smiled. "Bye everyone. Good luck for your training. Remember everything will be all right!"
Seconds later, the car whirred into life, and she found herself waving to her friends a final parting goodbye. They won't see each other for one year because everyone will soon be focused into the training. The thought that she would be all one in Twinleaf throbbed her heart. Within just two days she fell in love with Pallet.
"Dawn," Ash shouted as the car began to move. "If you meet Paul tell him that I am getting stronger. I will definitely win the next time."
"Sure," she smiled. She had to tell Barry about it first. If he finds out how strong Paul has become, he will turn bonkers. "Bye-bye, Ash."
The car moved, and Ash grew distant once more. They were going apart one more time. This time for one year.
"I'll miss all of you," she muttered. "And you."
~*~Chapter Fin~*~
Authorial rambling: This was a dull chapter comparatively. I tried to add some Pearlshipping instead. Ah, don't worry; this chapter was only to set up the future chapters. Alex has a ton of things he wants to teach, and the next one will be his first official lesson. Apart from that he will be teaching how to use a Pokémon's special ability.
There was a reviewer who questioned why Tauros didn't had Giga Impact or Hyperbeam. Dear friend, I staunchly believe Giga Impact and Hyperbeam are terrible moves. Unlike the anime writers I don't want to conveniently ignore the charging period whenever I want. Tauros is an offensive Pokémon and can't afford leaving an opening for the opponents to freely attack. If there is any Pokémon in Ash's team that deserves Giga Impact, it's only Gliscor and you all know why.
For the next chapter, look forward to meet an old character from the anime.
Next Chapter, tentative title: Training at Mount Iwark! Gible versus Sandslash.