Chapter 3: Chazke Childish
Ash, Gohan, Georgia and Pikachu cleaned Lao's store and left for his cabin in the outskirts with him and his granddaughter, Lime. After they scared off supporters of the Borbonne family, Ash and Georgia learned of the crisis, not only in Chazke Village but the world from a biological creature named Cell who challenge the best to defeat him or suffer genocide. They ate, which fulfilled Georgia's stomach to have real food for a change. They stepped outside which Lao began to work on chopping logs. Despite his age, Lao used an ax to split the logs in half. The split logs fell off a tree stump used for a stand to cut the logs. "I know you've been asked a lot," Ash wondered. "But why don't you want to leave the village when it's threatened?" Lao chopped another log seconds after Lime placed it on the stump.
"I know that Cell can be defeated," he hoped. "Same thing happened when the world was under a similar crisis by the Demon King, Piccolo. I'm positive history will repeat itself." Georgia listened to the words of Lao, believing he knew how Cell could lose in his own Games.
"There's no such thing as someone being without weaknesses," she began to compare. "It's a lot like Pokémon, each one has a weakness or two and even dual-type Pokémon, while having a type to counteract its original weakness, will have other weaknesses that trainers need to concern themselves with." Already, Ash could sense her mocking Iris and the Pokémon she's trying to learn and master.
"You've already shown enough that Ice-Type attacks are super effective against Dragon-Type Pokémon," he pointed out. "Same as how each Starter Pokémon can counteract each other: Grass-Types over Water-Types who are strong against Fire-Types that circle back around on the Grass-Types. Many of the Pokémon Types circle each other to no end." Georgia would agree to Ash's information, only to point out that he hadn't displayed the effectiveness while back with his friends.
"Of course, that's coming from some trainer who ignores Type Advantages. He normally goes with operating outside the box." Ash fired a scorning face to the Dragon Buster, not appreciating the backlash.
"It still works." Lime giggled to the back-and-forth argument between the outsiders.
"That's… one way of looking at the situation," Lao surveyed the talk. Lime placed another log on the stump. Lao cocked the ax to swing again, on the strike, another log split. Ash then looked over to the dome, suddenly thinking the villagers chose poorly about the crisis at hand.
"Now that I think about it, the people of Chazke Village are running away from Cell's threats instead of coming up with a way to stand up in his face." Gohan and Lime awed Ash's thesis of the villagers' reactions on the Cell Games.
"If so, what do the Borbonne family have to do with it?" questioned Georgia. Gohan, now understanding the situation and the previous attack, connected Cell and the Borbonne family the only possible explanation that triggered in his blond hair.
"The villagers are running while this Borbonne gave them the dome to hide," he theorized. To Lao, it's not farfetched.
"Perhaps this is how they comfort themselves," he studied. "Being close to the people they know." Before Lime could put another log down, Lao began to feel great discomfort in his back. He leaned his body back but that brought little help.
"Grandpa!" alerted Lime. Georgia ran over to keep the grandfather upright. Lime immediately diagnosed Lao's problem. "Your back's acting up again, isn't it?" Ash and Gohan knew Lao couldn't continue.
"Lao, we can help you chop the wood," Gohan proposed.
"Yeah, you can rest your back," Ash offered. "It's my way of thanking you for the food." Pikachu also joined Ash in this. Lao felt greatly appreciated to have someone aid his chores.
"Thank you, Ash, Gohan," he praised. Gohan walked to the pile of logs, hoisting a few.
"I might need some practice," he said before chucking the logs up. However, two of the logs came flying Ash's way. Gohan and Lime freaked at the trajectory of the two logs. Ash grabbed a red/white ball, hoping to save himself from injury.
"Oshawott, Razor Shell!" he commanded as he threw the ball up and it opened. Out popped a white otter-like creature with a turquoise torso with a conch seashell attached to its abdomen. It removed the shell from its body as the logs started to fall. The shell suddenly had a glowing blue blade protruding out of the item the otter-like creature held. It sliced the logs as they fell. The logs split in half. Ash caught two split logs as the otter-like creature landed, posing with his shell. Those other pieces of wood? They smashed Ash in the head. Those blows immediately developed huge knots on his head as he fell unconscious… and hard on the dirt. Fearing major injuries, Lime, Georgia and the two creatures dashed to Ash's side. Gohan gulped, wishing that Ash's wasn't badly hurt.
"Oh no, Ash!" cried Lime. From the quickly grown bruises, Georgia concluded Ash's symptom.
"That's a concussion," she confidently believed. Gohan's concern grew but he forgot about the other log he heaved. That one clocked him at about the same spot of Ash's clobbering. He fell forward as blacked out as the other young man. Lao came over to check on Gohan as he regained consciousness.
"I respect you as a martial artist but it's easier with one of these," he offered by handing him his ax. Gohan blinked before grabbing the tool. Ash slowly stirred awake but in great pain.
"OUCH!" he shouted while feeling the lumps on his head. His vision blurred, he couldn't see Lime or the otter-like creature in front of him.
"You okay, Ash?" she asked. The otter-like creature frantically apologized for allowing the logs to crack Ash's head.
"Can't really see..." he cringed. Hearing Ash's struggle, Gohan dug in his pocket and pulled a bean to break in half before reaching Ash.
"Here, this should help you," he offered. Ash heard Gohan and opened his hand. Gohan dropped the bean to Ash's hand before eating. Ash swallowed the bean and after a few seconds, his vision cleared up and his pain died off.
"Whoa! I feel a lot better." Seeing the otter-like creature acting somber, Ash petted the Pokémon. "It's not your fault, Oshawott. It happens." Oshawott breathed a sigh of relief from Ash's forgiveness. Viewing the new Pokémon, Gohan and Lime pondered what else Ash carried.
"Pikachu, Snivy, Oshawott… Who else?" Instead of letting him answer the question addressed to him, Georgia backed Ash up.
"A Pokémon Trainer can carry up to six Pokémon at a time," he answered. "Of course, none of Ash's Pokémon are Dragon-Type, thank goodness." Ash had a solution to Georgia's ranting.
"When we get back, you can battle Iris as much as you want."
"Sure thing. Besides, you're better off with either me or that ditz, Bianca, not some wannabe Dragon-Type Master that can't train his Axew." Ash blew a sigh, flustered with Georgia's constant rants. After recovering, both boys started cutting wood with a pair of axes. Gohan's slice and retract was so fast, he was ready to chop the next before the log finally split apart. Ash took three or four whacks at a log before it finally fell. Lao studied both boys and their progress.
"Gohan and Ash's strengths greatly differ," he surveyed as he came to Ash's side while Georgia loaded another log on a stand. "Can I ask you something, young man?" Ash turned to Lao after cocking the ax back.
"Sure," he snapped his reply.
"Do you train yourself along with these Pokémon? It seems like you have accuracy but lack strength." Ash lofted a breath of frustration and lowered his arms holding the ax.
"Not really. I spend a lot of time traveling from town to town to pursue my goal as a Pokémon Master. I don't take a lot of focus on my strength. In fact, I'd say Georgia could cut more wood than me." The depressing truth prompted Lime to comfort Ash.
"I know," she thought up. "Let's take a walk. I'm sure Georgia can watch over your creatures." One look to a nodding pink-haired Buster told Ash that she had things here under control.
"Okay." Ash hacked the ax to the ground, facing Lime for the offer. Back on the other side, a black flying squirrel-like creature flew through the air with its cape-like flaps as it searched around. It landed on the tree and looked, not finding anything. Springing off a branch, it flew back to Iris and Cilan, perching on the tanned girl.
"Any sign, Emolga?" she asked. The squirrel-like creature shook its head, moaned sadly.
"Ash couldn't have vanished into thin air," Cilan hypothesized. "Someone or something must have taken him and Pikachu from the area while we've been asleep." A theory that began to disturb Iris. Cilan's theory may have pointed to an outside force that kidnapped Ash and Pikachu. To her, labeling Ash as a "little kid" may have been a misjudgment.
"So Ash may not have left us on his own?" The fear that they may not see Ash again began to weigh on Iris.
"The last thing we should do is give up. There's something we're overlooking." The motivation helped Iris refocus on how to find their Kanto trainer.
"Emolga, look for anything out of place like a cave." Emolga nodded before Iris flung it back to the air, resuming its search. Back near the village, Ash and Lime walked through the woods, Ash climbing up trees and pulling ripe apples, sometimes the branches holding said fruit down to Lime.
"Were you a monkey in a previous life?" she asked, amused with his nature skills. Ash began his descent from one tree with a branch having an apple still attached.
"Well, I've been teased about being a human Aipom," Ash laughed after he reached bottom. Back on Earth, he handed Lime the picked apple after pulling it off the branch. Lime returned the favor by giving him one he already plucked and placed in a bag. As he snacked, he recalled Lao's purpose of watching over the girl. Her parents killed by Cell, Ash felt huge remorse to Lime.
"Your mom and dad… They were good to you, right?" Lime heard the topic, turning and seeing Ash. She sniffed and bobbed a nod. "Listen… I know you'll see them again. I'm sure of it. Besides, you're not alone." Lime continued her nodding, believing the outsider.
"Grandpa protects me. He's a master Martial Artist." Ash seemed to underestimate Lao being an old man.
"You're kidding!" Now Lime shook the head, not nod.
"He would've done numbers on those Borbonne supporters if you didn't show up." To Ash, Lao might be aged but his background and protection toward Lime made him an ideal grandfather.
"I bet he would." That's when Lime became curious to Ash's prowess.
"Do you know any martial arts?" Ash blinked, unsure to answer the question. He soon recalled a moment with Pikachu.
"I don't know if it counts but I taught boxing to Pikachu. I mean… people in my world don't engage in fighting because of the laws." Lime realized that Ash and Georgia's world had more peace than where she lived.
"You're lucky. Why didn't we live there, have our own Pokémon to raise?" Ash placed a hand on Lime's shoulder.
"It'll all work out. If Cell does win, just come to the cave and we can keep you safe." His words struck her heart as Lime dove and hugged Ash.
"Thank you!" Ash gently wrapped his arms to hug the brunette in overalls. While Ash comforted Lime, cracking sounds echoed through the woods. Ash turned to the cracking sounds and Lime listened to help.
"What's that?" The sounds came near them and they chased. It was the sound of a cracking whip in front of the dome. More Borbonne supporters, men dressed in the same clothes as Kasdan and Burdwell, used whips on villagers wearing dirty and worn clothes over bruises and blood as they struggled to carry shipments of accessories to the dome.
"Hurry up!" one of the whippers scolded, cracking his whip in the air. "We got eight days before Cell attacks! This dome needs to be finished!" One villager, a man that appeared in his 50's, collapsed to his knees and dropped boxes. He breathed heavily and his body covered profusely in sweat.
"Can't go on..." he pained. Someone would not want him to rest.
"I made it an order to get the dome up and the supplies stored within the time we have left," a burly man demanded. The tired villager glanced up to see the raven-haired man with his head mostly within half-an-inch to his scalp while having a pencil-width mustache. He wore a blue tuxedo and necktie over a pink flannel shirt.
"Please, Mister Borbonne, I beg you to let me recover." The man stomped the villager in the head viciously.
"You should be lucky I don't have General Tao to take care of you… yet. Now get your ass moving before I ship you to be executed by Cell himself!" Hidden behind the tree lines, Lime growled at Borbonne's treatment of the villager.
"So that's the head Borbonne," Ash determined. "Not exactly someone I'd vote for."
"Yeah, Mister Brobonne's the mayor of the village," Lime described. "As soon as Cell made his announcement, he demanded the villagers to 'pitch together for a place of safety.' That's what helped make the dome." Seeing the situation, Ash quickly thought of a way to test Borbonne's courage.
"You wanna do that alarm again?" Lime gasped at Ash's request. "If I'm right, Borbonne may abandon these villagers to save his own butt." The idea gave Lime the pleasure of sounding the alarm… with a promise.
"Can you keep me safe?"
"It's a promise." An entire village unknowingly fell on the shoulders of one of their youths and a trainer who just visited the world. Ash doesn't have Pikachu or Oshawott, but what about Snivy or any other Pokémon? It will be a chaotic scene…
TO BE CONTINUED...