I'm glad my first written battle received positive feedback in both how it went and how it was written. And most of you that answered that little question from the past chapter were spot on. It was Ash's first League Battle ever against the (not-so) Astounding Mandi, beating his Exeggutor, Seadra, and Golbat with his Krabby turned Kingler after the first round.
Well, time to work on building the plot more. Just thought I'd give you all one more clue on how Ash is "operating." Simply pay attention on the types of Pokémon he'd be using, considerably in order. You may count Pikachu as the first step. It's really up to interpretation, but I'll do my best not to lead you too far astray.
There'll be no battles here this time, but it's only for you to start bearing in mind just in case you haven't already.
The next week…
The first week of the Champions League New Island Conference had flown by quickly. The first wave of preliminary rounds was intense and a majority of regular Pokémon Trainers had already been eliminated, along with a good handful of Gym Leaders. The Elite Four and Champions of all competing regions have made it unscathed so far, only because they had the luck of not facing each other early on as did some unlucky and unprepared hotshot Trainers had. Nonetheless, the weaker Trainers were already eliminated and were reduced to becoming spectators to watch the remaining rounds and to prepare for future competitions.
Monday came around and the matchups for the second round have been set for the remaining competitors. The first round preliminaries were barely completed by Saturday despite the schedule squeezing, but with a good handful of Trainers already eliminated, the scheduled battles have been spread out a bit more evenly for the new week. As such, everyone had freedom to do as they pleased outside of their battle… provided that it wasn't illegal.
And now, the familiar group of friends opted for a walk around New Island in the more natural areas outside of all of the Pokémon commercialism.
"I can't believe this!" Misty cried out in frustration. "Almost a week and we still haven't confronted Ash since we watched his battle."
"It was a pretty awesome battle though," May said thoughtfully.
"Point is that he's certainly one tough cookie to find," Dawn pointed out. "I wish one of us had placed a tracker on him so that we'd know where he'd be."
"That's a bit being on borderline stalker, isn't it?" Iris questioned as Axew emerged half of his body out of her hair to observe the conversation.
"Please, I think I know what the borderline would be. There was this… interesting Trainer that seemed to fit that category while I traveled with Ash in Sinnoh."
"Didn't you tell us something like this already, Dawn?" May asked.
"About Conway and the fact that we haven't really heard much from him lately? Well, I'm still kinda surprised that he isn't here or even competing here. He was a decent Trainer that had incredible strategies under his sleeve."
"Girls! You're losing focus," Misty called out in a huff. "Man, it's still frustrating that we still haven't bumped into Ash yet. I'm really worried since watching his battle."
While the former female companions of the Pallet Town Trainer continued to converse and lament over their missed friend, the boys stayed a few feet behind them in their own talk. In truth, they were more concerned about their lady friends than their missing friend at this moment.
"You'd think they're all in love with him from the way they carry on and on about him," Max remarked, hands placed casually behind his head.
"Don't forget, Max, Ash did make some sort of impact in their lives, good or bad, while traveling with him," Brock said. "In a way, they learned some things from him and him from them. Though while with Misty and me, he was still learning the basics of Pokémon, but I've gotta say that he's come a long way now."
"It's incredible to see how one life can affect another, at least speaking from experience as a Gym Leader, as I'm sure you'll agree with me, Brock," Cilan added. "It's funny to think though that Ash, being the only child that he is, created such powerful brother-sister dynamics with these girls from his time with them."
"I hear you, Cilan. Misty was the big sister for the first time, considering that she was the youngest of four. Those two used to argue a lot, but the friendship they made was indeed amazing."
"Then when May and I joined Ash, he was the older brother we always wanted," Max continued, smiling fondly as his memories of he, his sister, Ash, and Brock traveling together in the Hoenn and Kanto regions flashed across his mind. "I once thought that my sister might've seen Ash more than a mentor though."
"Really?" Brock mused, amused by the idea.
"We'll never really know unless we resolve it by seeing how May acts around Ash, but he's just so hard to find."
"I know I could spot both Iris and Dawn looking up to Ash as an older brother figure," Cilan commented. "I remember Ash recounting fond memories from his travels with you guys, including his Sinnoh journey with Dawn. And despite her teasing of Ash as a kid, Iris meant well. Those bittersweet moments when they had that volatile argument back at the Decolora Archipelago after that Dunsparce embezzling us with its Screech attack, those two knew how much they meant for one another."
A few seconds of silence passed through them while they continued to walk, disregarding the other ongoing conversation from the girls.
"I miss Ash," Max stated forlornly, looking down at the ground behind the girls' feet. Both Brock and Cilan each placed a comforting hand on the younger Trainer's shoulders. "What happened to him? Why does he not want us to find him? Or better yet, him to find us?"
The girls also overheard Max's lament and ceased their talking, looking back at him with equal looks of sympathy. May gestured for her brother to come advance closer to her before embracing her brother. Since he reached ten years of age, he grew to his sister's former height and ended up at least a couple inches shorter than her. It's amazing that she was able to maintain her heartfelt embrace on her brother while they continued walking down a clear stone path leading through a small mirthful grass park where various children, noncompeting Trainers and their Pokémon were at play. The current mood of the group was quite the contrast of the environment of the park.
Yet the bonds they formed from being together from their main cause strengthened and their hope in reaching out to their missing friend still shined as clear as the day. All this took place even as they passed a bench where a familiar face with lilac hair sat somberly and alone.
They didn't notice her as she also disregarded them passing through, but Anabel shared a lot more in common with them than they knew.
She looked into the clear blue sky, reflecting on a few urgent things of recent.
Six days ago…
"Folks, this concludes this day's events and set of preliminary rounds," the voice of the commentator rang out. "We of the Pokémon League hope that you'll continue to stay and support these fine competitors through the preliminary rounds throughout the week. Have a great night and sleep well!"
A young Trainer that appeared seventeen years of age and notably dressed in a bit of red walked down the empty hallway beneath the main stadium he finished battling in. His Pikachu, though clearly worn out from the previous battles, maintained his place on the Trainer's shoulder. In spite of hearing the echoing cheers and roars of the audience from above, the hallway was rather eerily quiet with the only noticeable noises being his footsteps.
As he advanced onward, another pair, though slightly softer sounding, of footsteps also heard reverberating in the hall before coming to a stop. The Trainer saw a face that he'd never imagine encountering at this moment of time, and especially at a place like this. The expression on her face was rather unreadable, though it was clear that she was in no mood for jokes.
"Ash…" she said, drawing it out almost in a whisper.
"… … … …" Ash merely looked at her, though she couldn't really tell from her side with the visor of his red cap covering over his eyes once more. He couldn't help but wonder why it was Anabel confronting him now, though he had to give her credit in doing something that even his former traveling companions were unable to do.
"You've changed," Anabel stated out, keeping an unwavering gaze upon the Pallet Town Trainer. "What I want to know is why."
"… …" Ash frowned; he certainly didn't like being addressed as he was right now, but he couldn't deny the truth that flowed through the smooth lips of the Salon Maiden.
He took a tentative step forward, only to initialize a reaction from Anabel herself. She stepped up and extended her arms as far as she did around her. She seemed determined to prevent him from leaving until she got an explanation to satisfy her inquiry.
"I have no doubt that you'll make it far in the Champions League with the power you've obtained," Anabel began. "I also have no doubt that you went through…" She took a hesitant gulp, as though swallowing a bitter herb pill. "… horrible things to get to where you are at now."
"…" Ash took a stronger step and once more, Anabel reacted.
"I'm sure whatever happened the past year is none of my business… But my real question is… why?"
"…" Ash slowly closed the distance between himself and the Salon Maiden.
"Please answer my question," Anabel demanded.
"… …" Ash didn't cease his advancement.
"Ash!" Anabel called out, becoming desperate.
"… … …"
"Ash, please!"
"… … … …!"
As if by an unknown force, the Salon Maiden suddenly stumbled on her feet. Ash slipped by her like a cold phantasm, but not before doing a completely unexpected act of kindness by catching on one of her wrists before she completely fell to the ground. He pulled Anabel securely onto her feet, seemingly looking at her direction before taking his own leave. The Salon Maiden was baffled and depressed about what had just taken place as she watched Ash's retreating figure at the end of the hallway.
"… Why aren't you letting it go?"
Anabel continued to sit in the bench, playing back the events in her head. She overall felt uncomfortable with the entire situation, as though icy fear had gripped onto her heart. However, she was determined not to let it completely interfere with her own participation in the Champions League as her second battle was scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. She also knew Ash's second battle was this time scheduled by end of the week, on Friday morning.
Unbeknownst to her, two formidable figures glanced upon her from a considerable distance in the park. They were not bothered by the other park-goers. The serious young man with purple hair and the composed young woman of dark gray-blue hair were contemplative over the sight of the lone Salon Maiden.
"I still don't get why we're doing this," he said.
"Don't you remember our 'little talk' about a week ago regarding all of this?" she replied evenly. The young man merely looked away in annoyance.
"You still being vague about it," he commented. "So the Salon Maiden of the Kanto Battle Frontier is having a difficult love life. Why should that matter to me in the first place? There is a reason that I haven't bothered too much with relationships in the past and as far as I can see, neither should him."
"You never know, Paul. Just because you've focused on one spectrum on becoming strong doesn't mean you've experienced all of the spectrums under the light. Ash, on the other hand, has ultimately experienced what he lacked the past year, provided that my dissertation on the matter is correct."
"So then, how is toying around with delicate human emotions any different than what I've done in the past with Pokémon?" Paul asked, smirking. "Being the Saffron Gym Leader, you would obviously have the intelligence to figure out such a case."
"While my mind is capable of brilliance beyond the norm, along with powerful psychokinetic powers, I'm still limited in my abilities as a human," Sabrina explained, locking eyes with Paul once more. "I believe what we talked about previously should answer the remainder of your question."
Six days ago… again…
"I said, 'We need to talk,'" Sabrina stated calmly, glaring eyes glowing light blue while emanating peculiar waves of psychic energy. "Did you not get my mental memo just now?"
The recipient of the psychic energy was none too pleased. He found his body to be completely bound and immobile. His posture was stuck, as well as his hands within his pants pockets. Though unable to move his entire body, his head was permitted to turn and face her.
"W-What do you think you're doing?!" Paul demanded, struggling against the invisible force binding him. "I ought to get Officer Jenny on your case, you psycho!"
"What was that?" Sabrina growled threateningly, narrowing her telekinetic glare.
"Hey!" Paul yelled, suddenly feeling a draft around his legs and knees. Forcing his eyes to look down as far as they could, he discovered that his pants fell to his ankles and was only clad with his undergarments from the waist down. "You're demented, you know that."
"I only need your cooperation for a little dissertation I'm working on for a study that I want to major in," Sabrina explained, dimming down her psychic glow. "An apology would be nice for calling me a 'psycho' as well."
Paul was released from his psychic hold and immediately fastened his pants back up, not turning to look at the Gym Leader with abrasive persuasiveness until the red in his face faded away.
"Where's that Haunter that seems to hang around you a lot?"
"Last I learned, Haunter wanted to go play in traffic after watching Ash's battle."
Elsewhere on New Island…
"What do you mean I'm not allowed to go down there?" a male tourist complained with a small group of other people. "Is there something wrong with the bathroom stalls or something? I really need to go!"
A Haunter dressed with a police cap, as well as holding both a whistle and an arrow sign in both hands, continued to gesture the tourist group into a different direction. Begrudgingly, the tourists left into the direction that Haunter wanted them to go to.
"Stop in the name of the law!" the voice of an Officer Jenny shouted, much to Haunter's surprise. She and her accompanying Growlithe immediately surrounded the Gas Pokémon. "Are you the one causing havoc to these poor tourists?"
Haunter merely shrugged with its hands. Officer Jenny was certainly not buying into it.
"By what authority did you make these tourists leave anyway?" she demanded.
Haunter pretended to scratch its chin before coming up with some sort of inspiration. It pulled out a large and rather official-looking gold badge from its body to present to the police officer.
"I don't know about this," Officer Jenny mused, peering closer at it. The gold plate of the large badge suddenly slid up and…
*Bam*
One custard pie in the face had done it.
"Haw Haw Haw!"
"Isn't that… dangerous?" Paul inquired skeptically.
"I know Haunter wouldn't do anything too foolish like anger Officer Jenny over a trivial matter," Sabrina said. Paul shrugged it off, deciding to go back to the proper topic of why Sabrina froze him with her mind.
"Anyway, what would this 'study' be for?" he asked calmly.
"I've been recently fascinated with certain forms of psychology, the study of the human mind," Sabrina began. "A couple years ago, I started my studies in a university while still maintaining my position as the Gym Leader of Saffron City. For a while, I was studying about Pokémon psychology under distinctive stimuli, such as those living in the wild, those with Trainers, and even under scenarios such as battling."
"How old are you?" Paul interrupted offhandedly.
"I am less than a couple years older than you, believe it or not, even though I look like I'm twenty-one… Your additional mental comment about me being unnecessarily old as your grandmother is not needed."
The Veilstone City Trainer merely smirked. Sabrina brushed it off and didn't remain too conscious of her age for long.
"As I was saying, I've gotten far in the university at a young age because of my innate superior mental abilities to learn, understand, and memorize," Sabrina continued. "I'm already working on a complex dissertation on how a Pokémon Trainer's relationships with other people can affect their battling. Truth be told, I needed to find the right 'specimen' for my experiment, one that has varied and complex relationships with different people from different regions."
"You want Ash," Paul surmised curtly. "By your description, he sounds like the perfect sample to use for your studies. That seems rather underhanded in trying to manipulate him for a university degree, especially at a competition like this." Sabrina shook her head.
"You misunderstand. I have no plans in sabotaging him or anyone in this tournament, but there is one more relational factor that he's actually missing before I can complete my dissertation."
"And that is?"
"Love."
*Dong*
"… You're joking."
"Not joking."
"… You somehow knocked me out with your psychic powers and I've been dreaming up to this point."
"You're still very conscious and awake."
Paul was at complete disbelief on what he just heard from the Saffron City Gym Leader. As much as he disliked the idea, he shared the same beliefs as Ash's former traveling companions did concerning the concepts of Ash and romance together: just as nonexistent as the idea of him becoming buddy-buddy and outgoing. It just didn't seem to fit, but then again, two additional factors had to be taken into account now.
The first was that Ash had demonstrated his complete change from the last time anyone saw him.
The second was that he proved against the most impossible odds at times, a shining example being the only Trainer known to have defeated both Tobias's Darkrai and Latios in the Lily of the Valley Conference years back before ultimately falling himself.
"And… how do you expect him to fall in love?" Paul asked, attempting not to snicker at the thought. "I really hope you don't plan on having me to seduce him. I don't like him that much. He has my respect, nothing more and nothing less." Again, Sabrina shook her head.
"I've already discovered a suitable 'partner' for him," Sabrina said. "I just need you as a lab partner of sorts."
"Hmph, you trust me with this kind of responsibility?" Paul questioned cynically. "Like I said, I'm not that close to Ash as you probably have been thinking, and I most likely am not close to whoever you think would be his 'partner,' get it?"
"I get you, loud and clear," Sabrina replied calmly. "I also know that you and Ash have shared a powerful bond, not necessarily on the friendliest of terms, since your travels in the Sinnoh region. I know more than you think I do, but I believe that I won't have to force anything unnatural that would disrupt my dissertation."
"What makes you say that?"
"How about a little incentive? I can help you overcome your own stumbling blocks if you agree to help me with my experiment."
"My 'stumbling blocks'?" Paul repeated. "I've got none. My Pokémon are incredibly well-trained and powerful. I certainly don't need help in that department, nor do I plan on getting help from anyone for this tournament."
"I haven't specified what exactly you needed help with, but time will reveal what you still need to learn. By then, you'll learn not to kick against a Cacturne anymore."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You'll find out," Sabrina replied surreptitiously with an eerie wink. Paul was rarely unnerved, and this moment happened to break that characteristic quite flawlessly.
"I'll help you if you don't do that again," Paul muttered, apparently repulsed before giving in with a big sigh. "And considering that a powerful Psychic Gym Leader wants to throw me a bone, I suppose I can humor her for now." Sabrina nodded in acknowledgment with what appeared to be a small smile on her face.
"I'll fill you in all the details as the week passes through," Sabrina said as she walked away. "Also, good luck in your battle tomorrow. I'll find what you lack and open your eyes."
Paul remained silent as he watched Sabrina take her leave. While he was certain that she'd uphold her promise in figuring out what he still needed to do to ultimately overcome Brandon, he was still weary on what her intentions with him were going to be, if it would actually involve Ash or not.
"This is ridiculous, just standing out here like freakish stalkers," Paul grumbled while Sabrina still observed the somber Anabel sitting on the bench. "Why can't we just go up to her and tell her to suck it up? It's obvious that he's not interested and is out here to prove that he's the best, same reason I'm out here."
"It's best to keep our interactions limited for now until we can comfortably insert ourselves into her path, keeping it natural," Sabrina explained. "And we can't immediately make that conclusion about Ash. He still doesn't know yet."
"Personally, I have no real reason to suddenly become buddy-buddy with that girl, especially since she's a colleague of Brandon," Paul said, scowling. "I'd rather not get entangled any more than necessary, and besides, they'll find out something's up if I started doing something like that."
"You haven't come to comprehend everything yet," Sabrina stated, amused. "Give it some time and we'll be seeing results and not following basic assumptions."
"I'll give you this, doing a university dissertation while remaining a competitor in the Champions League has to be some record," Paul commented informally. "You also promised to 'help' me in this. I'm still wondering why you've bothered offering, even when you knew how I was going to react. And why do you really plan on helping Anabel in the first place? You're not fooling me that easily and there's probably something more behind that dissertation excuse for your reasons."
"Give it time," Sabrina merely said, still observing Anabel closely. "As for your situation, we'll deal with it after your second battle. That will be your first test."
"Passing the second round? That's a no brainer, of course. Besides, you've already seen more or less of my battle style."
"Like the one where you imitated Ash for your first round battle last week by using only your Torterra and its Stone Edge primarily to knock out all three of your opponent's Pokémon?"
"… Will you stop lamp-shading me like that?"
"Nope. And you do know that if you actually try to ruin my work, I will curse your life into a living hell, worse than having your pants fall in public, right?"
"… Right."
I was going to include more flashbacks, such as what supposedly happened with Georgia and Ash from last chapter (if you hadn't already caught that), but I'm still taking it one step at a time. And for forming quite the unlikely alliance, I wonder what Sabrina's motives for using Paul are, along with watching over Anabel… Actually, I already know. It's up for you readers to speculate. There's more than the surface I presented so far, I hope I did well in drawing out the story further.
I've also begun noticing a bit of a pattern that whenever AbilityShipping becomes prominent, Paul is also featured as a major character. Probably because he's the rival that pushed Ash the farthest into becoming strong. It's probably just me, but who knows?
Anyhoo, it's time to measure up how my writing skills are. Please review!
L-ater!