Disclaimer: Pokémon is copyrighted property of Nintendo.
Authoress' Note:
Thank you so much as always for your positive feedback, likes, and follows! Here goes the next chapter, hoping you keep enjoying this story.
On this chapter, Clemont's inventions names were inspired by jakeroo123 idea. Thanks for the reference!
Chapter 5 'Hide and Seek'
Clemont was a very interesting kid, Kukui decided. The shyness that came by default with any technologically brilliant mind, –if Sophocles was anything to go by– seemed to disappear the moment they had to show off and explain their newest inventions.
Proclaiming he had created it for situations precisely like the one they were in at the moment, Clemont presented to them the "Teleporter-To-Ash's-Location-Device"; which apparently did just that…
The Professor had to give credit when credit was due; not counting the long and ridiculous name he had given the thing, Clemont came out to him as a very resourceful person.
"With the combination of my 'Calculate-Coordinates-For-Tracking-Device'–"
"Wow, you are on a roll today…" Bonnie deadpanned.
"–and my tracking device, we will be there in no time!" Clemont finished as if Bonnie hadn't commented.
"Awesome!" Rotom mirrored Ash's most recent expression; taking the chance to take as many photos as he could to the screen.
"What are we waiting for?" Bonnie exclaimed with a smile, before running out of view. Nodding his agreement, Greninja followed. "Let's go, brother!"
"Wait for me!"
"Hold on, Clemont," Professor Sycamore managed to stop him before he went too far. "We don't know how strong Team Flare will be this time. You shouldn't be going alone."
To Professor Kukui's surprise, Clemont's expression steeled before he answered.
"I'm sorry, Professor, but I'm not going to do nothing when I know Ash could use my help," he declared. "Besides, once we find him I'll make sure to send the exact coordinates of our location so you can send help."
Professor Sycamore deflated in resignation, before allowing him to continue on his way. Definitely an interesting kid…
"What?! Who said you could come?"
"Ash is also my friend! So I'm going whether you like it or not!"
The suddenly loud voices coming from just outside his house distracted Professor Kukui from his musings. Deciding it was better to deal with whatever problem was waiting for him at his porch, he ended the call with the promise of keeping in contact with Professor Sycamore should there be any new development, and walked to the front door with Rotom following close by.
As he opened it and walked out, he encountered another bizarre scene. The rest of his students were standing nearby choosing to stay quiet and observe as Kiawe and another girl he had never seen bicker about going off to help Ash.
He wasn't sure how it had started, but Kukui guessed Kiawe must have said something out loud that had alerted the other kids. And now he was stuck trying to convince the new girl of how dangerous it could be to go with him, while she stood her ground, not taking a 'no' for an answer. As this was happening, Tapu Koko waited idly, just levitating beside the other three kids.
Finally, Kiawe exploded.
"Ghraa! I can't waste any more time!" he yelled exasperated. Seeing the girl hadn't even flinched, he sighed. "Fine! You can come… but I'm not going to be babysitting you!"
"I don't need babysitting, anyway! I can take care of myself!"
Seeing that burning determination in her eyes, reminiscent of his recently missing charge, Kukui didn't doubt her words for even a second. 'Ash really knows how to pick them,' he thought.
"Let's just go," Kiawe told her as he walk towards his waiting Charizard. "This way."
She nodded satisfied but with a very serious expression and climbed on Charizard just behind his student.
"I'll go too!" Rotom announced all fired up, as he flew all the way to land in the hands of the new girl. "Hi! Nice to meet you! I am RotomDex, btzz!"
"H-Hello," she said unsure, blinking at the sentient Pokédex in confusion.
"We'll get introduction later, let's move!" Kiawe commanded.
Taking it as a green light signal, Tapu Koko levitated far from the ground, checking once to make sure he was being followed, and speeded off into the distance; Charizard keeping up without trouble.
"What is going on, Professor?" Lillie's question made him turn away from the retreating shapes to face the rest of his students. "We heard Kiawe telling Tapu Koko they need to hurry and save Ash and Mallow from a 'Team Flare' group."
"I-It's probably nothing serious," Sophocles mentioned in nervousness, as if he was trying to convince himself of his own words. "Maybe just another group of bullies picking fights…"
"I'm still worried. Serena looked scared when she heard the name," Lana commented.
"And I don't think Tapu Koko would have gotten involved if it wasn't serious…" Lillie thought out loud.
The three of them then looked at Professor Kukui with questioning faces, as if expecting him to explain to them the situation like he always did when they didn't understand something.
For his part, he felt quite reluctant to drop the news on them and get them all worried, but he knew it was unavoidable. With a resigned sigh he told them to follow him to the Station, in search of Officer Jenny so he could explain on the way.
.:oOo:.
"I am very sorry, Director," Maple bowed her head after she finished her report.
Lysandre accepted her apology with a nod before speaking. "They may have escaped the ship, but they don't have any means of getting off this island. Get Celosia and form two search teams to explore the surrounding area of where you saw them drop."
"Yes, sir."
With Maple dismissed and on her way, Lysander turned around to his second in command. "How is the energy shield coming?"
"Almost ready," Xerosic informed. "We are in the process of calculating the total radius of the island so we can generate a big enough dome. With it, not only will this prevent any ways of escaping; soon, neither will intruders be able to pass."
"And Fenriar?"
"The shield should be strong enough to contain it, should our attempts at controlling it fail."
"Good."
.:oOo:.
It had been a silent trip through the ocean so far, but it was far from relaxing. Kiawe kept thinking about the information he had just gotten regarding the group they were confronting. He didn't doubt his ability to fight against them, nor did backing down ever crossed his mind, but he was still uneasy. He could already tell they weren't at all like the Team Skull he was so used to dealing with; especially if they had managed to take down Tapu Koko. Then, there was the unanswered question of why they had gone after Ash specifically. And if they didn't need Mallow, why take her too?
Deciding he was not going to gain anything by worrying, he turned over his shoulder to check on his passenger. Her wary and unfocused expression said it all. He frowned.
"So," Kiawe called her attention. "Have you known Ash for a long time?"
Getting out of her trance, Serena processed the question and nodded. "Something like that. We met each other when we were kids at a summer camp back in Kanto."
"Oh! You are what they call, childhood friends, bzzt!" Rotom interjected.
She smiled "I think so, yeah. But we didn't see each other again until he came to Kalos to compete in the League."
"So he has already competed in a League before?" That surely would have explained a few things.
Serena nodded again as she thought her answer. "It wasn't his first either. He mentioned having competed in other Regions before then."
"That's surprising… I wouldn't have expected someone with so much experience in the field to be so interested in going to school."
"So he started going to school here?" Serena whispered more to herself.
"He must not have been well prepared for the leagues if he felt the necessity to study more," Kiawe mused.
Serena suddenly felt very irritated on behalf of her crush. "There is nothing wrong with wanting to keep learning to get stronger!" She yelled making Kiawe and Rotom to almost fall in surprise. "And if you MUST know… Ash got all the way to the finals and won second place in the Kalos league."
"Really?"
"Yes! And it was a very closed battle too!" she finished with a huff.
"Huh…" Kiawe didn't comment, but Serena noticed he was smiling.
"Awesome! Are there any recordings, bzzt? I must ask him about it when we find him!"
Serena's annoyance deflated immediately. "I'm guessing he never mentioned any of that, did he?"
Kiawe shook his head as an answer. "Never asked either."
"... Yeah, he does that," she looked a lot more subdued all of a sudden.
"He does seem to be a 'live in the moment' kind of guy," Kiawe admitted.
Serena nodded her agreement. "I guess you're right…"
They were silent for a few moments in which Kiawe took in what she had said and was suddenly reminded of her unyielding stubbornness at Kukui's house.
"Ash must really be important to you, huh?" he commented casually.
"Wh-what are you-? I mean- of course he is! We are friends! A-and we traveled together for so long! You can't help but care, right? I mean we even had that last goodbye k-" she stopped realizing she was rambling now. Rotom looked expectant, like he wanted her to continue, while Kiawe just looked confused. She sighed to regain her bearings and tried again. "It's just… He is always so rash and rarely thinks of his own safety; if ever; I can't help but worry."
Kiawe nod in understanding. "...Well, he is very resilient too so, I'm sure he'll be fine. And Mallow is with him, so she'll make sure he doesn't get into too much trouble."
.:oOo:.
Mallow had been sure they were all going to die. Nobody drops from such a height and lives to talk about it. She must have entered in shock, because she couldn't remember how they ended up in the ground alive and complete, with nothing more than scratches from going through the trees in their way down. Something had slowed their fall halfway through the branches, but she couldn't figure out what.
"That w– Psychic, r–ght? Thanks, Slowking…"
That voice was Ash's; she barely noticed. Her ears were still ringing, making it hard to catch the meaning of the words spoken.
"So you can do more than just speak," Jessie was saying.
"Y'ah I must admit it wus a nice change from the usual," Meowth commented.
With her hearing considerably better, and her breathing under control, Mallow took a deep breath in an attempt to get ahold of her scrambling thoughts. She had never gone through something like this in her entire life, and had to admit she felt overwhelmed by it all; from their kidnapping, to their daring escape from captivity.
"We should hide somewhere before those guys come down looking for us," suggested James.
With no objections, they followed through that plan, managing to find a cave just beneath a small waterfall, not too far from where they had started. By the time they stumble inside and slumped on the rocky ground with sighs of relief, Mallow had regained her composure; even if she still felt scared.
She looked around to check how everyone else was baring. Pikachu was right beside her, chatting amiably with her Bounsweet; by his gentle gestures she figured he was trying to keep her Pokémon calm. Farther away, the trio of Rockets were surveilling the cave with suspicion on their faces, as if they had expected something to jump out of the shadowy but obviously vacant spaces. Slowking seem content to just watch the water fall from the cave's entrance.
Finally, she turned to Ash, and was surprised to find him as calm as he had ever was, if not more so considering how serious he had been the past few hours. Mallow had to do a double take at the rare sight. She would have never imagined such a change in his usually carefree demeanor.
"Are you feeling okay?" She decided to ask.
He seemed startled by the sound of her voice but smiled her way as he registered the question.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Oh, give me break, twerp!" Jessie interrupted a bit irritated. "You are obviously not okay."
Ash was stunted into silence by her outburst, not quite getting where she was going with that.
"Jessie?" James looked at his partner in confusion.
"You've been finally acting your age for the first time in who knows how long since you got to this region," she continued, earning an indignant protest from the kid she was addressing; which was kindly ignored. "Then this Lysandre guy comes back from the death and starts plotting another end of the world."
Meowth seemed to be the one to catch up with her thoughts.
"That's right! Don't tell us you don't feel at least a bit bothered by this."
As they waited for an answer, Mallow just watched in silence starting to wonder if this situation was actually somehow common for Ash. He had lower his gaze from view letting the silence drawl for a few more seconds before he sighed in defeat.
"Of course I'm worried," he admitted with his head still low. "Lysandre is a very dangerous person, and I've seen how far he would go to get what he wants," he then turned back up with a steeled expression. "But that's exactly why we can't stop to complain about it. We have to be strong enough to stop him before it's too late."
Truth was, since he had arrived at the Islands, he had been taking the whole experience as a nice refreshing break from his previous adventure. Though he didn't openly admit it, what had happened in Kalos was kind of a big deal that he had yet to get into terms with. Alola had sounded like the perfect opportunity to just relax and have a peaceful yet no less exciting adventure for once. No end of the world or weird prophecies involved. But as recent events were kind enough to point out, he was just fooling himself.
The villain trio shared a look before looking resigned themselves.
"So what's the plan now?" James asked.
"Wait. You are sticking around to help?" Mallow asked in bewilderment.
"Don't get us wrong," Jessie was next to speak. "We are doing this for our boss own sake."
Mallow still looked a bit confused but Ash was grinning brightly at them.
Slowking chose that moment to approach and bowed apologetically.
"I must apologize in behalf of such a needy world. I understand how much of a burden this must be to someone so young such as yourself, but I am grateful that you are still willing to help out."
Letting himself be a kid for just another moment, Ash pouted in irritation at their current situation and whined his dislike for the whole thing; flailing his arms around in exasperation, before standing up all fired up, proclaiming he was going to put an end to the bad guy's plans so he could go back to his pacific vacation feeling life in Alola.
"I thought he wanted to stop the end of the world..." James commented in confusion.
"Hey twerp, I think ya're using the whong motivation this time..." Meowth pointed out before murmuring. "Not that I know what motivation ya used other times…"
"Other? Just how many times had you been in this situation?" Mallow deadpans.
"Whatever the motivation, just make sure it works. We have our jobs at stake here," Jessie noted.
"Yeah, we are counting on you, twerp!" James agreed.
.:oOo:.
Somewhere in the middle of the ocean, a psychic Pokémon and his flying type companion soar through the clouds at high speed. The sound of screaming and a sudden splash caught their attention below, finding three individuals just breaking through the water just a bit ahead. They slowed down to get a better grasp of the situation, and managed to hear them better.
"Clemoont!" a small child whined as she was assisted by a frog-like Pokémon to stay afloat.
"Huh… I wonder what went wrong this time…" the bigger human seem to be tinkering with a contraption in his hands, while being supported over the water by the same Pokémon, which only action was to spit water in a pitiful imitation of a fountain.
Before the psychic could decide whether to get involved or not, the trio disappeared in a flash of light...
"Humans never cease to confuse me…"