Chapter 7
"Best Friends Forever"
Castelia City, Unova
Ashley slept in her box, but it was a very uncomfortable experience. Using newspapers as a blanket, she tosses and turns. The hardness of the cans and beer bottles got to her back, thrusting a sharp pain and inflicting back problems to her daily life. It also didn't help that the sun stared her down, making her sweat raindrops.
Her phone goes off. It was her alarm telling her it was time to go to school. She wakes up for a quick second. You would think she'd be happy to hear the alarm going off so she can go to school, but it was the exact opposite in her case. She grabs her phone and turns the alarm off, only for her to go back to sleep. But her happiness didn't last long, as her friend Davey began calling her repeatedly. The phone wouldn't stop buzzing. It was like gunshots during a war, going on and on, no matter how hard you tried to ignore it.
But the ringing got to her, so she picked up her phone. Davey and Ashley began video chatting. "What?! I'm trying to sleep!" She shouts. Her head began hurting, from staying up last night, shining hunt. She started to feel the side effects of it. She didn't look too good on the phone. Dark bags under her eyes with her hair was a mess, as it included wrappers and tree branches making a home inside.
"Oh that's right… You stayed up all night shiny hunting." A pissed off Ashley screams at him. She hoped to spend her day off school sleeping in. But like always, Davey had other plans. "Why are you waking me up? We don't have school today!" She asks.
"Meet me at the Milotic Fountain in the Central Plaza. I have a surprise for you!" He winks.
"Huh?'" She asks. Davey hangs up the phone. Ashley facepalms, and she then looks at Piplup. Piplup had the same question as Davey, wondering what he wanted. "Piplup, what could that neat freak be trying to get me into?" She asks.
She was bummed out about Davey ruining her plans. She didn't have to go. It's not like Davey was holding her at gunpoint. It was just an excuse for her to do something productive today. Even though she didn't want to go. She jumps out of the box and gets ready for the day.
Ashley arrives at Central Plaza. The park was roaring with people and Pokemon, crowding the area, making it hard to walk. Countless booths stood tall, with people flocking to the most interesting ones in droves. Ashley's attention was drawn to the other people having fun. It piqued her curiosity, as to why Davey invited her. Was it because he wanted her to have fun? Or was it something else?
The girl spots Davey at a table surrounded by other people. Since there wasn't any school today, Davey and Ashley were wearing their regular normal clothes. When Davey wasn't in school, he wore a red checkerboard shirt with a white t-shirt underneath and ripped jeans. Instead of his heavier school bag, he wore a more casual sling bag backpack and large brown boots. While Ashley, on the other hand, was wearing a black tank top, blue jean shorts, and red and white chucks.
Davey held a stick with cotton candy on top in one hand and his Eevee in the other. Once she gets a whiff of the sweet, caramelized sugar, she rushes towards him and takes a small bite of the candy. "Delicious." Her teeth press up on the sweet fluffiness that reminds her of clouds, and she chews down one by one. She swallows it.
Luckily, he had his eyes closed. Davey took a bite of his cotton candy, but once his teeth didn't latch on to anything, he looked at it and cried like a newborn baby. He turns to see Ashley standing there with fibers of cotton candy on her face. "What the hell Ashley?"
"Oh cheer up, you owe me one for forcing me to come here." She hits Davey on the back.
An infuriated Davey screams from the top of his lounges. "I hate you so much!"
Ashlet and Davey put Piplup and Eevee on the ground so they could play. After that, his best friend does a cutesy spin, and she winks. "No you don't, you love me." She laughs for a bit before she remembers what she was there in the first place. "So why am I here? And is there a festival going on today?"
"Oh right," Davey reaches into his backpack and pulls out two heart-shaped pieces of paper. He hands one to Ashley.
Ashley opens the piece of paper and sees the number '11' was written on it. "What is this for?" She looks back up at her annoying best friend. They both stare at each other. The intense eye contact between the two shows how annoyed Ashley was getting at Davey.
An uncomfortable Davey stops staring at her and instead smiles. "Today is Meet-a-Friend day!" He says. He takes out his phone and pulls up a picture that advertises the event.
Ashley raises an eyebrow and then looks back up at Davey. Having never heard about this event before, Ashley was a little confused. It didn't help that she felt insulted, that Davey was insulting, that she needed more friends. "Meet-a-what day?" She asks. She crosses her arms.
The brown skinned boy's eyes widened. He claps his hands. "Meet-a-Friend Day! It's an event held in Castelia City every year. It's a fantastic opportunity to meet new people and make new friends!" His tone of voice was starting to chance as he finished his sentence. It was as if he was hinting at something, but wasn't fully telling the truth.
Ashley catches Davey's vague wording, and it makes her suspicious of him. "But I already have enough friends. Why would I need more?" She invades his space, hoping to scare him into telling him the truth and making him uncomfortable for fun sake.
Davey caves and spills everything. "Well… You don't have enough girlfriends, you know? I think it would be a good idea to get out there and make some new girlfriends." He was glad to get that off his chest, feeling a sigh of relief. But he wasn't prepared for what was to come next, knowing how Ashley tended to react to things.
"Davey, the gender of the people I'm friends with shouldn't matter." Ashley responds. While this wasn't exactly out of character for Davey, Ashley thought he knew better than to insinuate something that could be taken the wrong way. Luckily, it was just Ashley and not someone else, or he could've been in deep trouble. "It should be about their personality." Ashley explains. Her face turns red and balls up her fist. She was trying to control her anger, not wanting to go off on him.
"I know. But I'm worried you're going to regret not having more female friends later in life." Davey says. He scratches the back of his head. He was worrying that she might get even more angry as her face got red. He backs away a bit.
"I'm never going to worry about that dude." She goes off on him. "I'm leaving!"
She starts walking off, but Davey grabs her by the arm. "Wait, please come on! Just give it a chance!"
Ashley turns around and looks at Davey. She decides to hear him out. Deep down, she knew he meant well, and he wasn't exactly wrong about her male to female friend ratio, not that it mattered to her in the grand scheme of things. But she did feel like he had a point. As it was something she did think about.
"Between me, Zack, Jeremiah and Cole, everyone you know is dudes. Don't your parents ever get suspicious about that?"
"My parents?"
"Yeah, your parents."
"What does my parents have to do with any of this?"
"Well, you see parents sometimes worry about the type of friends their kids have." Davey explains. He thinks even harder and realizes that for the three years they've been friends, Davey has never met her parents, and she rarely talks about them. Which Davey found strange. "Now that I think about it, I've never actually been to your house or met any of your parents… Why is that?"
That was a store spot for Ashley, as things were complicated between her and her parents. Davey didn't even know Ashley was homeless and living in an alleyway. "Can we please change the subject? I don't feel like talking about my parents!" She blushes, feeling a mix of emotions.
Davey regrets bringing up her parents. "I'm sorry, I know you're bringing up your parents. I don't want to set you off." He felt bad about it and looked sad as he looked down at the ground.
"Don't worry about it." She says. She calms down a bit. But after a few moments, she wasn't able to let go of Davey mentioning her family, and it triggered her again, causing her to get angry. But instead of mentioning it, she detours the anger to something else. "But now let's get back to the main topic! Why am I here?" She shouts.
"It's just that you haven't had a girl as a friend since that thing happened between you and Harper, and I think it'd be great for you to get back out there again." Davey tries to explain, but Ashley didn't want to hear it.
"I've said it a million times Davey, I don't need any more friends!"
Piplup tries to challenge Eevee to battle, thinking it could beat it. Piplup was prideful. Eevee runs away, but Piplup chases her. Eevee runs into Davey's arm. But he starts to get angry about Ashley's attitude. Eevee was quaking. He looks down at his frightened Pokemon and realizes that Piplup must've done something about it.
"Ugh why are you so aggro all the time! Look, you're even rubbing off on Piplup!" Davey caresses Eevee's head. She chills out, but is still scared of Piplup. "Come here Eevee, are you okay?" He asks. Eevee nods to Davey, giving him the signal that she was doing better. It makes Davey happier, and he smiles and hugs Eevee some more.
Ashley puts her hands on her hips while she pouts. She identifies that Davey likes to hold Eevee in his hands as much as a mother holds her newborn baby, giving her ammo to use against him in the war of friendly insults. "It's not my fault that you spoil your Eevee. Besides, aren't Piplup's naturally prideful?"
Ashley pursed her lips. "Ugh, you're so annoying!" An outraged Ashley clenches her fists and screams from the top of her lungs. She just wanted Davey to drop the subject. So she gives in. "Look, if I do this, will you just leave me alone, Arceus Damn?" She asks, hoping for peace between the two.
"Yay! You're going to participate!" Davey celebrates, jumping up and down. He hugs Ashley tightly.
"Only so you'll leave me the hell alone!" She responds. She blushes. Deep down, she was glad to have Davey as a close friend, despite their differences of personalities and opinions. Davey lets go, and Ashley looks at the piece of paper again. "So what does the number mean to me?" The curious girl asks.
"Hello everyone, may I have your attention?" A handsome man says with a smooth sounding voice. He held a microphone with a Mime Jr. standing by his side. He was 6' 4" feet tall and was a fair skinned man with dark blue eyes, a round face and neat eyebrows. He was wearing a top hat and a monocle over his eye. He had an impressive beard that was a shade grayer than his long black hair tied up into a mini ponytail.
Everyone turns to look at the man. He was standing on a mini stage with a large monitor behind him. More and more people start to show up, creating a large crowd. "It's time for Friendship Games! Hello everyone, and welcome everyone to our beloved Castelia City. This place is beautiful, and I should know, I am the city's mayor. My name is Franklin Hoover and I will be the host of today's event. Meeting new people and making new friends is what Meet-a-Friend Day is about. So for the next eight hours, Castelia City will be burning with the power of friendship." He announces.
He turns around to look at the screen as the crowd claps, cheers and shouts. Pictures of the people registered in The Friendship Games start to appear on the screen. The pictures were grouped in two, meaning the two people listed next to each other were going to be that person's partner. "So now, I want you to make sure you have your randomly generated number, and on this screen you'll find everyone's number listed."
"Look for your number and the number right next to yours. This will be your new friend and partner today. Alright amigos, let's see who's going to be new hashtag besties." Once the mayor finishes talking, everyone starts to look at their number. People begin searching for their parents. There were many people participating in the friendship, with over 50 people registered.
"Ugh, I might as well do this, since I'm dragged into it." Ashley sighs. Plus, she was glad she got to at least compete in a competition. She was a competitive person. She looks up at the screen and sees that she was paired with someone with the Number 5. "Number 5 where are you, Number 5?" She looks around.
Charlotte catches wind of Ashley looking for Number 5. She and Vivian, her Syleon, were already in the area. She and Vivian run to Ashley as she rechecks to see if she was correct in her partner being Number 11, which it was. But she had to double check to make sure. "I'm right here! Are you Number 11?" She asks.
"I am. Wait, you look familiar." Ashley confirms. She gets a good look at Charlotte and realizes she looks familiar. She couldn't put her finger on where she'd seen her before, but she definitely recognizes the girl. "Are you a student at the Pokemon Academy?" She asks. She detects that the Academy was the only place she could've seen the girl at.
Charlotte nods. "Yes I am! And I'm assuming you are too!"
"Yep! I'm a Normal Class student!" The underclass proclaims in an arrogant fashion.
"Hehe." Charlotte laughs.
"Why are you laughing?" A confused Ashley asks.
"It's just that, you don't see Normal Class students bragging about something like that."
"Well uh… thanks I guess." Ashley scratches the back of her head. A deadly silence fills the air for a few seconds as Ashley dozes off elsewhere. She felt her body shifting weight from side to side, all while she put up a defensive stance. Ashley normally had trouble making new friends. But since she felt like Davey was right about her not having many female friends, she thought she'd at least put in the effort.
Charlotte breaks the tension by bowing. She was flustered and nervous, so she started playing with her hair. "My name is Charlotte, I'm an Ultra Class student, and this is my bestie Vivienne." She greets with a wide smile. Her teeth were so white that they could blind you with them. She gets back up. Vivi didn't look like she was interested in meeting Ashley.
"Nice to meet you-" Ashley starts, but was impressed by the beauty of Charlotte's Sylveon. "You're a Sylveon." She takes out her smartphone so she can learn about Charlotte's partner Pokemon.
"This Pokémon uses its ribbon-like feelers to send a soothing aura into its opponents, erasing their hostility." Her Pokedex reports. She then puts her Pokedex away.
Ashley goes in to try and pet Vivienne, but Vivienne rejects her by turning her head over to the side. "Oh I see…" Ashley could tell that Vivienne seems stuck up. Guess she's a spoiled princess. The rejection hurt her, but she understood. Wanting to see why she rejected her, Ashley smells her armpits. They smelt fine, but when she looks at her hands, she sees they were dirty.
Davey looks around to see who had the number 9. He lucked out on a few people, thinking they would be the one. After many failed rejections, he was beginning to give up all hope. But he decides to at least give it one last shot, by shouting. "Hello, who is number 9?" He asks.
An excited Jeremiah turns around. But his demeanor changes completely once he sees Davey had the number that matched him. Oh no, I'm working with Davey. Jeremiah blushes. "Looks like I'm stuck with you." He says, trying to hide his excitement. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place, working with his crush. He didn't even know if Davey felt the same way about it.
Davey was surprised to see Jeremiah. But he smiles at Davey. Davey smiling at Jeremiah made Jeremiah blush even more, and his eyes sparkled. A native Davey didn't even notice what was going on. He was concerned about other things. "Jeremiah, what are you doing here? I didn't think this would be your kind of thing…" A curious Davey asks.
"The guys on the team dared me too, otherwise I wouldn't be here."
That makes sense. "I mean, I'm not thrilled to have you as a partner. But you'll do." Davey explains, which only pisses off Jeremiah. Davey giggles.
What? He doesn't want me as his partner? Aw, that's a bummer. But I won't give up, I will win him over. Jeremiah was determined to make Davey fall in love with him. But he was still unsure if Davey felt the same way as him because of his mixed signals. "Well jeez, no need to be rude. It's not like I wanna be stuck with a know-it-all like you." He plays it off, lying through his teeth.
"I'd rather be a know-it-all than be dumb, so you're not exactly insulting me." Davey playful teases. "I'm kidding Jeremiah! I can't wait to work with you." Davey reaches out his hand to give Jeremiah a handshake, but he freezes up and looks at Davey's hand. He shakes Davey's hand. Jeremiah sure is acting strange today.
I can't believe I'm shaking his hand. It's so soft. Jeremiah quickly lets go of Davey's hand and starts panting. He shakes it all off and changes the subject of conversation to make things left awkward. He looked down at Eevee and was pissed that Jeremiah was holding a 'Pokemon'. "Do you ever go anywhere without that?"
Davey quickly turns into a mama bear over his insult. "It's not a thing, it's name is Eevee. Come on pet her." Davey puts Eevee in front of him, so Jeremiah could get a better look. Davey had hope that Jeremiah would change his mind on Pokemon.
Jeremiah wanted nothing to do with Pokemon. "No thanks! Pokemon, give me the heebie jeebies."
"'Heebie jeebies', what are you 90?" Davey laughs.
God, he is so fucking cute when he laughs. "Shut up okay!" Jeremiah shouts.
Meanwhile, a bush nearby starts to shake. Utah pops out of the bushes, and he has twigs in his hair. Utah was holding a pair of binoculars. "Yuck, a festival dedicated to friendship. How corny. It's not like I need it." He rethinks it when he realizes he has no friends. "I probably could use friends. I'm 18 and live in a beat-down apartment." Utah says.
"Ugh, focus Utah!" Utah smacks himself in the face. He looks through his binoculars to scout out the Pokemon in the area. Sawk, Troh, Tranquill, Watchog and Emolga were some Pokemon he saw at the festival. "At least there's lots of Pokemon that I can steal." He was getting pumped up, ready for some action.
Things change, however, when he sees Charlotte with her Sylveon. "Oh no! That's Sylveon!" Sylveon gives me so many bad memories of my ex-girlfriend. She used to have one. But she cheated on me and kicked me out of our apartment! But I miss her so much. She was so fucking hot! Seeing Sylveon gives him a nostalgic, yet heartbreaking feeling. He didn't want to feel like that and tried to wake himself up by slapping himself in the face again. "Get yourself together Utah! You are a Pokemon Hunter!"
Utah thinks really hard about what he should do next. "Maybe I can steal that Sylveon and prove to that ex of mine that I am a strong, capable man who isn't looking for female validation because his mom treats him horribly." He liked the idea of his new plan and wanted to go through with it. "Watch out Sylveon, because I am coming after you." He proclaims.
The sound of Utah's annoying voices wakes up a flock of Tranquill. One of the Tranquill flies towards Utah and starts pecking him in the face. "Ouchie!" Utah runs off, but the angry Tranquill follows him.
Everyone finds their partners and huddles in a crowd. Mayor Hoover walks onto the stage with his partner Pokemon Mime Jr. following along. Mime Jr. does a cutesy spin that wows the audience. Mayor Hoover clears his throat before he starts talking. "The definition of friendship is as follows, a state of mutual trust and support between two people. That is what Friendship Games is about. Having a deep bond is the true key to success. And so, to the team who emerges victorious, we will reward an item that shows the true power of friendship, the Soothe Bell."
He takes out a pair of two Soothe Bells. The bell rings and produces a gentle yet sweet sound. "The Soothe Bell rings a bell so lovely that it strengthens the bond between two people. This bell is the ultimate symbol of friendship."
He looks at the crowd and sees that everyone in the crowd was standing next to someone else. He concludes that everyone has found their partners. "All right trainers, by now you've all found your new bestie for the day. As you all know, the Friendship Games won't commence until this afternoon, so you all have until the afternoon to get to know your new bestie and even practice with them."
Davey sees Ashley was paired up with a girl. He was happy for her. He walks over towards them and introduces him to Charlotte. "Hi, my name is Davey!" He wraps his arms around Ashley. "I see you've been paired up with my best friend Ashley!"
"Nice to meet you Davey, I'm Charlotte." Charlotte says as she and Davey shake hands.
"She seems nice." Davey says. He could tell by the way she carried herself, and by the way she talked, she seemed like a nice, happy-go-lucky person. Which was perfect for Ashley, as he felt she needed to be around more girls. "That's a stark contrast compared to you." He teases. They were whispering, trying to make sure Charlotte wasn't hearing them.
"Yeah, that's one way of putting it. I suppose." Ashley rolls her eyes. She truly was disinterested.
"Come on Ashley, give her a chance. I know you and her will make good friends!" Davey encourages.
"Fine." Davey says. "Now enough about me, who were you paired with?"
Jeremiah approaches the two of them, almost as soon as he heard his name. "Why me, of course." Jeremiah punches Davey in the shoulder. But due to how muscular Jeremiah was, the punch packed the impact to Davey's shoulder. Jeremiah quickly regrets it. "I hope that didn't hurt too hard!" Oh no, he's never gonna wanna date me now.
Davey rubs his shoulder as he screams in pain. "That hurt!" He cries. He didn't want to cry, but the punch hurt that much.
"Oops, I'm sorry." Jeremiah says. Though Jeremiah remembers who Davey was as a person, it makes sense how he reacted. "I forgot how weak and scrawny you are, maybe I should've just tapped you instead." Jeremiah says, but he didn't mean it. He just wanted to keep up appearances. I hope that wasn't too mean. Jeremiah looks at Davey. Davey blushed as he felt embarrassed about the situation, and continued to rub his arm to play it off.
Ashley couldn't help but laugh. She held her stomach, that's how hard she was laughing. "I see you got paired with Mr. Musclehead." Ashley, Davey and Jeremiah had been friends for a while now. Though compared to Davey and Jeremiah's complex relationship, Ashley and Jeremiah felt more like brother and sister.
"Ha-ha-ha very funny Ashley." Jeremiah says. "You're just mad because I beat you in arm wrestling last week." He folds his arm.
"You might've beat me in arm wrestling, but me and Charlotte will destroy you two in the Friendship Games!" Ashley promises. Her and Jeremiah glare at each other. You could feel the intense rivalry and competitive nature in the air.
"Those two act like brother and sister." Charlotte notices.
"Oh yeah. They only just met three years ago, but it feels like they've known each other their whole life." Davey says.
Ashley and Piplup's stomach start to twist knots. Ashley holds her stomach as she starts to feel hungry. "How would you like to grab some food at Rare Candies?" She asks.
"Sure, I'd love that." Charlotte smiles.
After hearing them talk about Rare Candies, Davey craves the sweet delicious homemade tasting treats that could only be authentically served at Rare Candies. But in Davey's case, since he was a vegetarian, he only wanted their vegan products. "Jeremiah, let's go to Rare-"
Jeremiah graves the weakling teenager by the ear. "Nope. Sugar has a high chance of making you fat, lazy and tired. And since we're aiming to win the Friendship Games, we need to go train. So no time for dilly dallying." He drags Davey away. A confused Ashley and Charlotte watch, not knowing how to react.
Ashley and Charlotte head to Rare Candies, the popular hot-spot for students at the Pokemon Academy. The place was very crowded because of Meet-a-Friend Day. Booths were starting to fill up, as the girls were waiting for their food to be brought to them. Several seconds later, Ross approaches them with their food. He was wearing his Rare Candies work uniform and held a plate with their order. One of the orders was three scoops of raspberry chocolate chunk ice cream, the other was a single piece of molten chocolate cake, and the last two were bowls full of cookies.
"Here you go!" Ross says. As per rules of the job, Ross had a smile on his face. "A Raspberry Swirl Chocolate Chunk for you, Ashley." He first hands the ice cream to Ashley. "And a Molten chocolate cake for you!" He then hands the cake to Charlotte.
"And for the Pokemon, some lovely cookies." Ross puts the bowl of cookies in front of Piplup and Vivienne. Piplup starts showing down first, eating before everyone else. The way Piplup was eating disgusted Vivienne and moved away from it, not wanting to get dirty. Piplup didn't care and continued to chow down on the cookies until there was no more. Piplup becomes bloated, and it burps.
"Thank you Ross!" The girls say. They were thankful for his service, but Ashley and Piplup mostly just cared about their food arriving on time.
"Of course, enjoy your food, and I hope you have a wonderful sweet day at Rare Candies." A polite Ross bows.
Before Ross was about to leave, Charlotte remembered she was supposed to tip him. "Oh Ross here." Charlotte grabs Ross by the hand and stops him in his tracks. Charlotte grabs some money from her purse and hands it on to him.
Ross was delighted to see the money. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He bows again. Ross had been working for Rare Candies since the start of the year. He needed the extra cash so he could save enough money to go to the Pokemon Academy. Going to the Pokemon Academy was Ross's dream. He was about halfway there on accomplishing his dream, so every little tip helped.
She was happy to do a good deed. "No problem!" Ross walks away as Charlotte smiles.
Wow, she tips waiters? What kind of person does that? She seems nice. Maybe I can be friends with her. Ashley was thinking to herself. Instead, she was merely observing Charlotte, trying to get a good feel on what type of person she was. "Guess it's time to dig in!" Ashley diverts the attention back to the food.
Ashley and Charlotte take a bite of their dessert. "Mmm this is so good!" Ashley and Charlotte say. The sweet savory richness overwhelmed them both,
"It's like I've died and been resurrected by Giratina." Ashley says as she was in a bit of trance. That was one of the reasons why it was popular. Rare Candies' claim to fame in Castelia City was its homemade tasting desserts. It was so popular that terrorists from all over came to dine there.
"So lovely!" Charlotte says. Vivienne shares her sentiment, as it takes a bite on one of the cookies. Vivienne uses her feelers to shape a heart shape, and her eyes turn into pink hearts. Vivienne was in love with the cookies and wanted more. So she starts mowing down on more of them.
Ashley and Charlotte leave Rare Candies as they finish eating up their delicious sweets. They had a good time, getting to know each other and sharing delicious treats. But it was time to go. As they walked down the busy sidewalk of the city, cars, people and people passed by them. Charlotte was curious about the time, because the first round of the Friendship Games should start soon, so she looked at her phone. "We have to hurry back, the Friendship Games are about to start in 5 minutes." She informs her new friend.
Charlotte presents her phone as proof, so Ashley wouldn't think she was lying. Charlotte understands and nodded her head in agreement. As they continue their journey, Ashley decides to break the ice. "So what brought you to the Meet-a-Friend festival? You don't seem like the type who has a hard time making friends." The curious girl asks.
"Oh that's easy. I just wanted to make more friends." She responds with a smile. Charlotte had a cheerful presence about her, even in the way she responded to questions. She was like a little girl, sparkling and radiating sunshine. This made Ashley more curious, wanting to know more. "There's no such thing as having too many friends." She giggles.
"I guess." Ashley replies. Ashley puts her arms in the back of her head, thinking to herself.
Charlotte was just as curious about Ashley. Despite their different personalities, there was something about her that Charlotte was drawn to. Maybe it was the way she carried herself? Her charm, her sarcasm, it was all a mystery. "If you don't mind me asking, what made you come?"
"Well, my friend Davey reminded me, I don't have any female friends, so he dragged me there." She explains.
"That's crazy." Charlotte bursts into laughter.
Ashley felt embarrassed and insulted, and she blushed. She hides behind her hair, not wanting to be seen. "Why are you laughing?" She asks. Things get heated quickly as Ashley becomes angry again. Can't believe I'm saying this, but could this girl actually have some bite to her? "Who do you think you are?! You don't even know who I am, so how are you going to tell me who I'm friends with?" She shouts.
"No, no, no! That's not what I'm saying." The nice girl backtracks. "I'm laughing because your friend's logic doesn't make any sense. Why would he register you for the Friendship Games when there was a 90% chance you'd get paired with a guy for the competition?"
"Oh yeah right, I suppose you're right." Ashley felt bad for getting angry at the sweet innocent girl. She seems a little too nice. That could be annoying. Can't believe I thought she'd actually have some bite to her.
Charlotte just laughs it off. She gets up in Ashley's face, wanting to know more about her. "Now tell me, Ashley. Are you dating anyone? Have any crushes? What is your goal? Why are you enrolled at the Pokemon Academy?" She asks.
The questions were all so invasive and came to her at a rapid pace. Ashley couldn't respond because of it. Instead, she just becomes flustered. "Uh… You're hitting me a lot right now." Ashley says. This was one of the reasons why Ashley never hung out with girls, they always brought out her more feminine side. God, this girl is getting annoying. See, this is why I don't hang out with girls, they always make me act soft.
Charlotte takes out her phone and faces it towards Ashley. Charlotte puts her arm around Ashley and smiles. "What are you doing?" Ashley asks.
"Selfie!" Charlotte puts up a peace sign.
"Okay…" Ashley got even more embarrassed. Charlotte takes the picture, but it was more flattering to her than Ashley. She puts her phone away.
A mysterious song fills the air. Charlotte and Ashley hear the mysterious song coming from a nearby alleyway. Charlotte is drawn to it and follows it. She sees a skinny, dirty old man with a ripped up shirt. He was playing a ukulele with a hat full of dollars and coins. Charlotte was mesmerized with the song. "Wow, Mr. Your song was incredible. It brought me back to the times I was a child, playing in the forest with my friends." She was thankful for the song. She grabs a couple dollars and throws them into the hat.
The man gains the widest smile on his face. "Thank you so much ma'am." Charlotte really made his day. He gets up and starts dancing. She didn't say anything. She just smiles, waves and walks away. Leaving the happy old man alone with his ukulele, he starts to kiss.
Ashley follows alongside Charlotte, but is angry with what she did. Despite Ashley being homeless herself, she wasn't one for giving out handouts. Did she give money to a homeless man? She was trying her best to hold her anger, but she just couldn't do it. "Charlotte, why did you just give money to that man? He's homeless." She felt relieved getting that off her chest.
"Because he needed the money more than I did." She tries to explain to Ashley, but Ashley wasn't it.
"Charlotte, you don't even know if that man is actually homeless. He could've been doing his to scam naive people like you."
"So I am naive for giving charity?"
"Yes, you are Charlotte. Charity is a scam. If people need help, they can go get it themselves."
As the two were arguing, Piplup sees a boy walking alongside his Pignite and holding his bike. Piplup, seeing how strong Pignite was, chases after it because Piplup wanted to challenge it to a battle. Vivienne freaks out and follows Piplup.
Ashley and Charlotte were getting so deep into their arguing, that they weren't even paying attention to the fact that their Pokemon had disappeared. Charlotte, who was normally kind, was getting fed up with Ashley. Ashley kept bringing up the fact that Charlotte gave money to a homeless guy, who was starting to annoy her. "Who cares if I gave money to a homeless man, Ashley? It's the thought that counts!"
Ashley facepalms. She was fed up with her and had had enough of it. She decided to finally let everything out on the table, not hold back anything. "Oh my god Charlotte, you're so annoying. No one is this nice! Even Davey has a backbone." She shouts.
Charlotte was about to say something, but didn't. She notices Sylveon wasn't around and starts to worry. "Vivienne, where'd you go?
Ashley realizes Piplup wasn't around either, and she panics. "Piplup?" She wanted to make sure she wasn't just dreaming, but it kept turning out that this was reality. Piplup went missing. Both trainers felt all sorts of emotions. They were upset, angry and confused, but more importantly, they wanted to know where their Pokemon were. "Where could they have gone?"
"I don't know! But we have to go find them!" Charlotte says, and the two rush off to look for their partner Pokemon.
The Tug o' War match between two boys versus Jeremiah and Davey got intense. Jeremiah and Davey try their best to hold a tight grip onto the rope. But Jeremiah was getting distracted with Davey being in front of him and touching him. Keep yourself together Jeremiah. He was trying to keep composure, but Jeremiah's blood started coming out of Jeremiah's nose.
But the teenagers' opponents weren't pushovers. They weren't going to give up easily either, which was why they were in the lead. Davey was ready to admit defeat. "Come on Jeremiah, we should just give up." He says.
"Dude, don't give up!" He pushes back. I have to win this to show Davey how well we work as a team. Jeremiah uses all his might, and with his full force, he pushes forward and makes his opponents fall in the mud nearby. Granting Davey and Jeremiah the win. The screen changes to show Davey and Jeremiah, reflecting the results.
Jeremiah and Davey cheer, and hug each other. 'We won!" Davey says. He was so thrilled, he cried.
"I told you we were going to win this!" Jeremiah flexes his biceps. Jeremiah sees Davey crying, and he thought it was the most adorable thing in the world. Gosh, he is so cute.
Davey smiles. "You know Jeremiah, we make a great team."
"That we do." Jeremiah agrees. He secretly hopes that the two of them would be something more than just a team. Jeremiah blushes, and his nose starts to bleed even more. He hurries and covers his nose, so Davey wouldn't be concerned. Instead of saying anything, Jeremiah gives Davey a thumbs up.
Davey backs away as he remembers Ashley hasn't come back. "Ashley and Charlotte should be back by now. They should be here by now."
"Don't worry about them! We only have one more round before we win the Friendship Games." Jeremiah reassures Davey. Although he didn't agree, both boys knew Ashley was strong enough to take care of herself.
"Watch over my bike for me, Pignite." A boy says as he puts his bike up against the wall of a store. Pignite agrees to watch over the bike and signals that by shaking its head up and down. The boy waves goodbye. "I'll be right back." He walks into the store. Pignite, thinking it was cool, puts its back leg up against the wall, hums and closes one of its eyes. A young girl walking with two Gothorita walks by. The two Gothorita's laugh at Pignite, but Pignite takes the laughing as a sign of them flirting. When instead they make fun of Pignite.
Piplup sees Pignite. Piplup opens its beak and releases multiple bubbles. The bubbles hit Pignite. Pignite was enraged, feeling like Piplup ruined its chance of getting a girlfriend. The two Pokemon glare at each other. A tired Vivienne finally catches up to Piplup, only to find that Piplup was causing trouble.
Piplup and Pignite back away and prepare to launch their next attacks. Pgnite's hands glow white, and it strikes its left one towards Piplup. Piplup's beak glows white and hits Pignite's glowing arm, causing the attacks to collide. The force from both attacks was pretty even, with one not being stronger than the other. They both back away again as their arms turn back to normal. Vivienne tries to stop Piplup, but Piplup rejects Vivienne.
Pignite stomps on the ground until a cloud of dust covers its body. Then, it emerges from the cloud while surrounded by an orb of red-yellow flames, and crashes into the Piplup and Vivienne, sending them flying up into the air.
"Vivi, where are you?"
"Piplup, come out, come out wherever you are."
Ashley and Charlotte searched everywhere for their precious Pokemon, but they couldn't find them anywhere. But they weren't going to give up hope. Though they were getting frustrated with not being able to locate their Pokemon. Charlotte normally kept a good eye on Vivienne, but thanks to Ashley, she lost sight of what was important. Charlotte wasn't happy. "This is all your fault!" Charlotte says.
This surprises Ashley. "My fault, how was it my fault?"
"If you weren't such… such.. such.. a butt, then we wouldn't be in this mess!" For the time today, Charlotte was angry.
Ashley turns her head to the side and closes her eyes. "You're right." She admits. She didn't want too, but she had to admit it. She felt bad for losing both of their best friends due to a childish argument, which was about nothing. "If only, only."
Charlotte hated seeing Ashley like this. "Ashley…"
"You know, I had a female friend before. Before Davey, she was my best friend. But because of my selfishness, we got into a huge argument that ruined our friendship." She says. Ashley gets down on her knees and starts crying. "That is why I have so much trouble making friends with other girls, because every time I try to make friends with one, all I think about is her. Harper."
"Ashley, I didn't know." Charlotte felt sorry for the girl. She reaches into her purse and pulls out a napkin. She bends down and hands it to Ashley. Ashley grabs it in smiles. "Here."
Ashley was surprised to see Charlotte still smiling. She stops crying and uses Charlotte's napkin to wipe away her years. "How can you still smile after the way I treated you?"
"Because Ashley." She grabs her by hand and lifts her up. She puts her hand on Ashley's right shoulder. "We're all human Ashley. We all make mistakes, no one person is better than the other."
Hearing her say that brought her back to Harper. "You know Charlotte, you remind me of Harper. The way she used to be. The way she used to smile, before she became all emo." Ashley says. But she wasn't sure if Charolette would ever forgive her, unlike Harper, who practically blocked her out of her life. "Do you think you can forgive me?"
"Of course silly. You're not a bad person."
"Good." Ashley blushes. "Now that you've seen me cry, you must never speak of this to no one. I can't have people knowing that I'm human."
"I won't." Charlotte giggles. "See Ashley underneath it all, you're a good person at heart."
Ashley was happy to hear that. "I'm going to call Davey, and ask him if he can help us." Ashley takes out her phone and calls Davey.
"Right." Charlotte takes out a Pokeball. "I think Manon can help out." Charlotte throws her Pokeball into the air, and Manon, the Fancy Pattern, Vivillon comes out. The Pokemon was beautiful. "Manon, do you think you can look around to see if you see Vivi?" She asks. Manon agrees and flies off.
The Friendship Games was wrapping up, and the last competition had just finished its conclusion. The winners were now about to be crowned as they stood on the stage alongside Mayor Hoover. "And the winning besties of the Friendship Games are Davey Jones and Jeremiah Wong!"Mayor Hoove announces. As the crowd goes wild and cheers for winners. "As promised, here is your prize. May you let these Soothe Bells be a token symbolizing your newfound friendship!" He hands them their prizes.
Davey wasn't used to all this attention and was nervous. "Tha-tha-thank you!"
"You were right Davey, we do make a good team." Jeremiah says, and the two bros fist bump. Jeremiah was eating the attention up as the crowd shouted his name. He started flexing to impress them further. The girls in the audience swooned over Jeremiah's hotness, as the guys were jealous of how ripped the teenage boy was. "Hell yeah, I knew I was going to win this!"
"Jeremiah, can we sign your chest?" A girl asks. She was with a couple of her friends.
"I got something even better." Jeremiah first takes off his letterman jacket, and then he takes off his shirt, revealing his eight pack and muscular toned body. Jeremiah balls up his shirt and throws it to the audience.
Lots of people of various genders rush over to the shirt and start fighting over it. "Mine, mine, mine." Multiple people scream.
Jeremiah laughs, but Davey blushes at the sight of Jeremiah's body. Davey then rolls his eyes. "You're such a show off."
"Hey, I can't help it that the people love me bro."
Davey's phone starts to ring. He sees he was getting a call from Ashley. He picks up the phone. "Hello?" Ashley was panicking, and explaining everything that happened. Davey freaks out. "Yeah, we're on our way." He hands up the phone. Jeremiah puts his letterman shirt back on and grabs him. "We need to go."
"Where are we going? Aww man, I was enjoying the show." Jeremiah whines. He's totally jealous.
"Piplup and Sylveon have gone missing. We have to help them look for them."
"Right." Jeremiah says.
Vivienne and Piplup crash land into a puddle of mud in a nearby forestland in the city. Piplup gets up, but Sylvoen is stunned. It was her worst nightmare, she was all covered in mud. Vivienne screams and hyperventilates.
Utah was still in pain from pecks he received earlier. "Why do I always have to be the one to get attacked by flying types?" He complains. He walks by and sees Piplup and Vivienne. His jaw drops. "This is my chance to win over the love of my own!" He says.
Utah's annoying talking draws the attention of Piplup and Vivienne. Piplup gets angry and stands in front of Vivienne, warning her about the type of guy Utah is. "Well, if it isn't my old friend Piplup, it's been a while.'' Piplup didn't like being reminded of its past with Utah. "Don't show off in front of your new friend Piplup, you know you missed me." Utah teases, but Piplup did not miss Utah at all.
Utah tries to use some sweet talk to lure Vivienne in. "Come on Sylveon, why don't you come with me? I can promise you a happy life full of riches and wonders." Vivienne ignores Utah. She was still in shock over being dirty. Utah's sweet talking wasn't working, so he had to use another method.
Utah grabs two Pokeballs. Before going out on missions, Utah usually sends a certain amount of Pokemon to help him on that mission. He never knows what the Pokemon might be, and they're usually randomly, so it was a gambit on what he might get. "Well, I tried being nice! I guess I'm going to have to do this the hard way. From the Tou Family Headquarters, I present to you two powerfully raised Pokemon." He throws the Pokeballs into the air, and Minun and Plusle come out. "Introducing the Cheering Pokemon, Minun and the Cheering Pokemon Plusle."
Utah wasn't pleased about getting Minun and Plusle of all Pokemon. "Seriously, these are the two Pokemon headquarters given to me for today's mission?" He complains. But wait, maybe I can use them to my advantage. But quickly gets over it after he thinks it over. "I can work with these two. Minun, Plusle use Spark!"
Minun and Plusle wiggle their arms back and forth. Their bodies become surrounded in blue electricity, and they charge towards Sylveon. Sylveon was still surprised about being in mud. Luckily, Piplup protects Sylveon by jumping in front of her. Sylveon was thankful for it, but surprised because of how she treated Piplup today. Minun and Plusle tackle Piplup and shock him. Piplup falls to the ground as Minun and Plusle jump back in front of Piplup.
Utah balls up his fist, and he celebrates his "'win'". "You're trapped now. Without your trainers, you both will be mine!" Utah had a sinister look when he said that, scaring Vivi. The spark attack damages Piplup badly, and paralyzes it.
"Piplup!"
"Vivi!"
Ashley and Charlotte followed Manon and finally found their Pokemon. They see they're in trouble as Utah hovered over them. "Oh nooo… My plan is going to be ruined." Utah throws a temper tantrum as he sees their trainers were on their way. But he wasn't going to stop. "However, I'm still not done."
They finally catch up to them. Both girls were angry, but Ashley was surprised to see Utah. "Utah, what in the hell are you doing here?" Ashley bends down and looks after Piplup, trying to see if it was okay. "You okay, Piplup?" Piplup nods.
Charlotte sees that Sylveon was trapped in mud. "Vivi! Oh no, this is bad…"
"Huh?"
"You see Sylveon hates getting dirty."
"If it isn't, the annoying brat Ashley who stole my Pokemon!" Utah says. He was still angry about that.
"What? Ashely is that true?" Charlotte didn't think Ashley was the type to do something like that.
"No! He was trying to force Piplup to go with him, back when it was a wild Pokemon." She clarifies. She didn't want people to think she was monstrous enough to do something like that.
"How is that different from when you Pokemon Trainers catch wild Pokemon? I don't see a difference." Utah points out. While he did have a point, the methods of how they went about it were drastically different.
"We're nothing like you!" Ashley protests.
"I beg to differ!"
"Ashley, Charlotte!" Davey shouts out. Him and Jeremiah finally caught up to them. They were happy to see them, but they were more surprised to see what was going on. "What's going on here?" He asks.
"Awww, Ashley, I see your boyfriend is here!"
"That is not my Boyfriend!"
"She is not my girlfriend!"
Ashley and Davey both felt personally attacked by that comment. Utah laughs. "Aww, did I trigger? Well tough luck."
"Do you two know this goober?" Jeremiah asks.
Davey nods. "Yeah, he's Utah. He's an annoying Pokemon Hunter who fails at everything he does."
"That's not true!" Utah shouts. "Enough of the talking, I'm here to steal Pokemon. Minun, Plusle, use Spark again!" The cheering duo bodies become surrounded in blue electricity again, and start running.
Charlotte was pissed off. "Nobody is going to steal any of my Pokemon." A sudden rage filled her body, causing her blood to boil. "Manon use Bug Buzz!"
Manon flaps its wings and produces red sound waves from its wings at the opponent. Everyone closes their ears as the sounds get louder. The Sound Waves reach Minun and Plusle, but they ignore them and tackle Manon. Manon flies on the ground, and its eyes turn into Xs. Manon was unable to battle. "You did a good job, now return." Manon is returned to its Pokeball.
Utah laughs manically. "I thought Pokemon Academy students were supposed to be strong!" Once again, Utah had gotten another win. Piplup was tired of this and got up. Piplup screams. "Back for round two?" Utah asks.
Minun and Plusle combine their energy, and their bodies become surrounded in yellow electricity. Together they form an orange-yellow orb of electricity, with sparks of yellow electricity coming off it. The Pokemon jumps into the air and throws the ball at the group.
Vivi breaks its pride, no longer caring about the fact that it was dirty. Sylveon spreads its feelers wide open and forms an orb of pink energy in front of its mouth, and fires it at Minun and Plusle. The two attacks collide, creating an explosion. Charlotte was proud of Vivi. "Vivi!" Sylveon turns to her trainer and smiles.
"I'm not giving up! Minun, Plusle, use Spark!" A frustrated Utah shouts. Minun and Pluse's bodies become surrounded in blue electricity again, and they aim the electricity at Vivi.
"Sylveon, use Moonblast!" Charlotte orders. Vivi creates another ball made out of pink energy. Charlotte launches the ball and it flies towards the opponents attack. The two attacks collide and battle for power, but Vivi's Moonblast proves stronger and overtakes it, destroying it. Utah, Minun and Plsule freak out as the ball hits Minun and Plusle, sending them flying and hitting Utah and forcing him to fall on the ground.
Charlotte turns to Ashley. "Hey bestie, are you ready to finish this?"
"I am." Ashley responds. The two girls high-five.
Piplup's body becomes surrounded by white streaks of energy. The Penguin Pokemon circles around the stars. "What in the-" Ashley had never seen Piplup use that type of attack before.
Luckily, Davey knew what attack that was. "That's Aerial Ace. Ashley, Piplup learned Aerial Ace." Davey informs. Everyone was surprised by this. Piplup and the stars attack Utah, Minun and Plusle. The attack did so much damage that it caused the trio to fly into the air. "Looks like I'm blasting off again!" The trio is sent flying off into the unknown, nowhere to be seen in the naked eye as of this moment.
Piplup and Sylveon land on the ground. Charlotte hugs Sylveon and Ashley hugs PIplup. "I'm so glad you're alright!" Charlotte says.
"Piplup, I was so worried you'd be gone forever." Ashley was so happy to have Piplup back in her arms, that she almost started to choke it. Luckily, she realizes her mistake and stops. Everyone laughs.
Jeremiah was impressed, but surprised by how close Ashley and friends were with their Pokemon. It brightened his day. So this is the mighty power of having a Pokemon as a friend?
After a long day, the sun was starting to set, and the group decided to spend their final hours of Meet-a-Friend-Day eating Rare Candies, except for Jeremiah, who refused to eat sweeties. So he just tagged along and didn't order anything. As the trainers were eating outside at the Rare Candies patio, their Pokemon: Vivi, Manon, Piplup, Gligar and Deerling were munching on some lovely cookies tailored to their specific tastes.
Piplup finishes eating its cookies and is sad that they are all gone. As a way of saying thanks, Sylveon gives Piplup a few cookies, and Piplup smiles. Becoming best of friends after a long day of not getting along.
Jeremiah was disgusted by how much sugar Ashley, Charlotte and Davey were eating, as they were eating their desserts like a bunch of untamed Pokemon. "How can you eat all that sugar? I haven't ate anything sweet in about three-"
"Oh shut up." Ashley shoves a chocolate chip cookie in Jeremiah's mouth.
Jeremiah is forced to swallow the cookie. But he didn't dislike it. In fact, Jeremiah was in love. "That was the best thing I've eaten in three whole months. I need more." The jock had become addicted and wanted more. He grabs a couple of cookies from Ashley's plate, and starts shoving the cookies in his mouth. "I think I'm in love."
Davey, Charlotte and Ashley laugh. "I knew he'd loved them." Ashley says. Her and Charlotte look at each other and smile. After everything they've been through today, they knew that this was only the beginning of their friendship. The two girls high-five.
"I'm so happy to see you two become friends." Davey starts crying.
"Men!" The girls say.
"Hey Charlotte, do you mind if I sit down?" Rex asks as he walks up to them.
"Sure. Oh everyone, this is Rex, he's a friend of mine and he goes to the Pokemon Academy."
"Nice to meet you Rex." Ashley smiles. Jeremiah ignored him as he was busy eating cookies.
Davey's mouth opens wide. He couldn't take his eyes off of Rex. Davey's heart starts to beat, the palm of his hands clamping up and his face turning red. Davey had fallen in love. Rex turns to Davey and offers a handshake. "Hello, I'm Rex. Who are you?"
"I'm-I'm-I'm-Davey."
"Nice to meet you Davey." Rex smiles.
Davey's heartbeat faster. His teeth, his smiles, his body, just about everything about Rex was amazing to Davey. He hadn't felt this way about anyone in a long time. "Yeah, nice to meet you." Davey and Rex shake hands. Wow, his hands feel amazing.
Ashley notices what was going on and whispers to Charlotte. "I think Davey has fallen in love with your friend."
"Oh no, I can't wait to see how this unfolds." Charlotte whispers back as the two girls laugh.
Jeremiah, on the other hand, hadn't been paying attention, as he was too busy enjoying the deliciousness of Rare Candies desserts. Jeremiah looked up and saw that everyone was acting strange. "You Pokemon freaks are weirdos."
Utah crashes into the mud nearby, along with Minun and Plusle. He wakes up and wipes the mud off of him. "Awww, why does this keep happening to me?" He whines. Minun and Plsule were embarrassed to be around Utah and shock him. Utah falls asleep.
Dr. Dimension watched Utah from his television screen inside of his lair. Next to him was the Poison Pin Pokémon, Poipole, also known by the UB Adhesive. He was keeping an eye on Utah's action throughout the day, peaking his interest. "I'm going to have to keep an eye out on this Utah guy. He seems interesting and might be the perfect human for our plan."
Author's Note:
Another chapter this week? What is this sorcery?!
Haha yeah, I've been working hard on this story and was able to finish up another chapter in time! This was a more laid back chapter, but we finally got an Ashley focused chapter! Speaking of which, how are you guys enjoying this addition of subplots in these chapters? I hope it's not too much.
Question of the chapter: What region would you like to see be visited in the story? And what do you think the next chapter will be about? I'm keeping it a secret ;). Here's a hint to what the next chapter is about. Family.