Raging Sea and Burning Ash

Chapter 5

-Percy-

"Land!" Percy threw himself to the ground in relief once the flying taxi was parked, "Sweet, glorious land!"

"I can't believe you're that scared of flying." Ash shook his head, the group having been rather caught off guard by him shaking hard enough to rattle the entire cabin on both the plane ride and the taxi.

"I can't help it!" Percy grumbled as he got back to his feet, ignoring the snickering Ash and Pikachu. Knowing that Zeus couldn't smite him anymore and overcoming trained fear were two very different things, "Give me land or sea any day and I'll be fine."

"Aerophobia aside," Bruno spoke up as he put away his reading glasses and the trashy romance novel he'd been reading during the flight "you two step outside and stretch. I'm just going to grab the bags and tip the Taxi pilot. We should have someone from the Dojo coming to meet us so keep an eye out, would you?"

"You got it dad!" Ash gave a thumbs up as they stepped outside, seeing the beautiful beach stretching out before them.

"Maaaaan, this place looks awesome!" Ash grinned, high fiving an eager Pikachu "I can't wait to see what Pokémon I can catch here!"

"And if this Mustard guy can help with that aura stuff you pulled out of your ass back in Viridian." Percy leaned against a pillar outside the station.

"That…was admittedly a surprise." Ash grinned with an awkward chuckle.

"Yoohoo!" hearing a painfully chipper voice calling out to them, Percy turned to see a girl with bubblegum pink hair walking towards them, wearing a puffy white coat for some reason despite being on a sunny beach.

"Uh…hi?" Ash waved back confused at the strange girl whose tone sounded uncomfortably fake.

"Are you the new students I'm supposed to pick up?" the pink haired girl eyed them with a look that was somewhere between wariness and disdain that she probably thought was well hidden.

"If you're from the Master Dojo then yeah." Percy nodded, having a feeling this wasn't going to go well.

"Great!" the pinkette gave another one of those forced 'twitter celebrity' smiles, "I'm Klara and I'll be the one bringing you to the Dojo."

"…Oooookay." Percy shared a glance with Ash, more than a little weirded out by this girl's forced 'I'm a happy celebrity vibe'. At least with Ash clearly not recognizing her, Percy felt safe in assuming she wasn't an actual celebrity.

He saw her eye twitching irritably at that response before she spun around, "What's going on? Am I being mocked…by a kid?! But I'm the colorful, caring, and charismatic Klara!"

Percy shared a disturbed look with his friend as the pinkette ranted to herself, apparently not realizing they could easily hear her. "Um…" Ash moved to speak up as she spun back around, plastic grin back in place.

"Hey, here's an idea!" Klara forced her grin ever wider "Why don't we have a quick battle? Just so, you know, we can see who's better?"

"Uh…sure!" Ash perked up at the chance to battle, "You ready buddy?"

"Pika!" the little electric mouse sparked, the tiny powerhouse itching for a fight.

Klara gave a painfully forced giggle as she posed with her Pokeball "I've already been at the Master Dojo for a little while so go easy on me, okay?" Klara's grin slipped into a more sadistic one "Cause my poisons are going to drive you Kla-razy."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…Pikachu, thunderbolt." Ash deadpanned as the overpowered mouse zapped the bug that Klara sent out, the mon going down in one hit as Klara went pale. The pinkette was rigid as the pokeball for the unconscious bug slipped out of her fingers.

"Huh?! No no no! No! Th-there must be some kind of mistake!" Klara started freaking out as Percy and the others shared an awkward look, Ash's opponent once more seeming to forget that they could hear her "How did this kid get so strong? If they join the dojo nobody's going to pay attention to me anymore! I could tell them to just buzz off…no, Miss Honey already asked me to bring in the new student!"

"Ahem." Percy gave a pointed cough as Klara spun around and strutted back over, forced smile once again on her face.

"Well, that wasn't bad! I mean, it's not like I was going all out, not at all! Buuuuut…you see…our Dojo is one that's got a long-standing reputation. Even the famous champion Leon trained at our place! So, no offense, but maybe…just maybe, you're not quiiite good enough to make it here? Sooo why not just enjoy the sights but stay away from the Master Dojo over there? M'kay bye!" and with that the pinkette ran off.

"How stupid does she think we are?" Percy asked before holding a hand up at Pikachu "Don't answer that."

"PIka." The yellow mouse grumbled with a pout.

"Well…she was…" Ash trailed off, seeming to look for a polite way to phrase it.

"An airhead." Percy gave no fucks about being polite and called it out like it was, "She acted like some stuck up celebrity." Percy scoffed as he looked over at the Dojo he could see in the distance.

"I've never heard of her if she is." Ash shrugged, "And I can't find anything about her online when I search her name. Maybe she's niche?"

"Hey kids!" Bruno chose that moment to appear, the massive man having insisted on carrying all the bags "Any sign of the rep from the Dojo?"

"She came, she challenged Ash to a battle, got her ass kicked, then said we weren't good enough to join the dojo." Percy shrugged as Bruno went from 'happy dad who reads to trashy romance novels' to 'massive Elite Four who just found out someone talked shit to their son' in an instant.

"Is that so?" Bruno looked over at the Dojo as well, "Let's go see about that, shall we?" following the giant muscle-bound man who seemed averse to the very concept of a shirt.

As they approached the building Percy saw Klara talking with a woman in a green sweater "Oh, fiddlesticks…so our new students decided to go back home?" the woman sounded genuinely disappointed as she spoke to Klara.

"Seems that way, yep!" Klara didn't even hesitate to bold face lie "I tried to welcome them, but they just suddenly left after out battle!"

"You losing to Ash in one hit and then saying we're not good enough for the dojo isn't exactly 'welcoming' Bubblegum." Percy deadpanned.

"Argh!" Klara paled when she saw them, paling further when she saw the very displeased Bruno.

"What's this then Klara?" the woman in the sweater asked, nails digging into Klara's shoulder, "I believe we all need to head inside and have a talk with my husband, now don't we?"

"…Meep!"