Author's Note: And we passed the 400 reviews! Shout out to Bightnova169 for leaving the review #400!
Chapter 53:
Fun in the Snow
Silverport Town
It had been a few hours since Ash and his friends had broke into Team Omega's main base, defeated its leaders and freed Alain, Mairin, Leona and all their respective Pokemon. Fortunately for them, it didn't take long for the Rangers to mobilize and send as many men and women as necessary to deal with them.
Leading said Rangers was their Head himself, Kellyn. Given the scope of the situation, it was only natural that he would show up in person to direct the operation, even if the worst was already over.
Once they arrived at the place, the Rangers had the Team Omega base completely surrounded and raided, while Larkspur, all his Captains and the few Team Omega grunts that weren't able to escape were arrested.
Ash and his friends were now outside the base, watching how the Ranger teams slowly brought out of the place the Team Omega members they had arrested, the Pokemon they were holding there (most of them Nuclear-types, still inside their cages for obvious reasons) and various boxes, items and other incriminating evidence, as the sun set in the horizon.
"You know, I should give you an earful for what you did today," Kellyn began, as he walked towards them. "What you did was extremely reckless, and you could have ended up hurt, or worse."
"I know sir," Ash replied, lowering his head. "But the situation was dire. If we waited for you guys to arrive..."
"It is possible that our Pokemon wouldn't have been on the base anymore," Alain followed up.
"Yeah! Please don't punish Ash and his friends! It was thanks to them that we're free and we have our Pokemon back!" Mairin pleaded.
"I know. Given my own past decisions, especially when it comes to certain... matters," Kellyn began, as his eyes drifted towards a Nuclear Tancoon growling inside a cage being pushed by a Ranger. "I'd be a hypocrite if I were to admonish you for your actions. And given that everything came out alright and thanks to your actions we won't have to worry about Team Omega anymore, I'll write off your involvement this time around."
Everybody cheered upon hearing that.
"However, this better be the last time I hear of you kids getting involved with criminals like that, got it? Leave that to us," Kellyn told them.
"Don't worry sir. We have no intention of being vigilantes or anything of the like," Clemont assured him.
"Good to hear it," Kellyn nodded. "Now, I just can't let you go yet, since I need you to stay here for some questioning, given your recent actions, but you are in no way in trouble."
"Yes. We will cooperate with the Rangers as much as you need us to," Serena assured him.
Fortunately, the questioning wasn't that long, and soon they were free to go. Kellyn promised them that in the official version they would simply be credited as merely finding the Team Omega base by accident and calling the Rangers right after that. That way, they would avoid both potential legal problems and being in the sights of other criminal organizations. With that out of the way, Kellyn informed them they were free to go.
"I'm spent. Come on guys, let's go back to Silverport Town," Serena wearily said.
No one objected to her suggestion. As everybody began to walk back towards the snow-covered town Ash took one last look towards one of the nearby cliffs. Standing there, its cape billowing with the gentle afternoon breeze, was Garlikid, standing as imposing as ever.
Human and Pokemon locked eyes for a few seconds that felt way longer, before Garlikid raised its fist. Ash nodded, and raised his fist back at him.
With that final gesture, Garlikid disappeared in a blur, while Ash rejoined his friends.
...
Of course, the first place the group of seven went to was the Pokemon Center of Silverport Town. Not only did most of their Pokemon need medical attention, but after today's intensity, the humans themselves were both tired and hungry.
"Oh boy, I can't wait to hit the bed. I feel like I could sleep for a whole month!" Ash said, just as a yawn escaped his mouth, plopping down on one of the lobby's chairs.
"Piika..." Pikachu said, yawning as well.
"Given how inexhaustible you seem to be most of the time, sometimes I wonder if there's something that can really make you tired," Serena began, before chuckling a little, as she sat next to him, gently grabbing one of her hands while resting her head on his shoulder. "And it seems that the answer is 'to take down a criminal organization'. Which is... a little worrying, to say the least."
"Well, he seems to be pretty good at it, isn't he?" Alain said, smirking a little. "Who knows what would have been of Lumiose and Kalos if it wasn't for Ash."
"Still, I prefer it if it doesn't become a habit," Serena replied.
"Plus, it wasn't just Ash. It was me who brought Squishy from the dark side, remember?" Bonnie protested.
"You guys sound like you had very interesting lives, don't you?" Leona asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Interesting doesn't necessarily mean pleasant, Leona," Serena told the Alolan girl. "Though, if you're curious, I can tell you about the more sordid parts of our journeys tonight."
"Sure thing!" Leona eagerly agreed.
"I'm with Serena, though. Just for once, I'd like to visit a region that doesn't have a criminal gang making things worse for everybody," Mairin said.
"Oh!" Alain said, as if he just remembered something, and started to search for something inside his pockets. "I found this on the Team Omega base, and believed that they wouldn't miss it much," Alain said, producing the Water Stone he had swiped from one of the base's storage rooms.
Mairin gasped in delight. "A Water Stone! Finally!" she said, eagerly taking the stone from Alain while pulling out a pokeball with the other. "Lulu, come out!"
Out of the pokeball emerged Mairin's Glaslug, appearing next to its trainer. Mairin then placed the Water Stone next to it.
"Look Lulu! Look what Alain got for you!" Mairin almost squealed.
"Gla, glas!" Lulu happily cried as it touched the stone with both paws.
There was a crackling noise, and Lulu instantly glowed with a bright white light, its body growing and changing as it absorbed the evolutionary stone into itself. After a few seconds, the process was over, and the light faded so everybody could see the Pokemon Lulu had turned into.
"Gla, glavin!"
Lulu was now much larger, its body longer and slender, with depp blue skin, a white underbelly, fins at the sides of its head, its shoulders, and the sides of its tail. Its two arms were considerably larger than before, ending in webbed paws. Both Ash and Serena took out their Pokedex to scan the new Pokemon.
"Glavinug, the Sea Slug Pokemon, and Glaslug's evolution. Water/Ice. They are rare but not hard to trace, due to the ice crystals they leave behind when they swim." The Pokedex explained.
"Great! I can't wait to see what you can do now, Lulu!" Mairin said.
"Gla, glavin!" the newly evolved Pokemon happily cried.
…
Next morning, after a long night of sleep, the group woke up refreshed and reinvigorated. Their Pokemon were also back to full health, and wasted no time to get their partners back from the blue haired Nurse Joy and her Pokemon assistants. Then, they had a hearty breakfast.
And after that, it was time to say goodbye.
"Aw, you guys are leaving already?" Bonnie asked, sounding disappointed.
"Yeah. I'd love to stay more with you guys, but my Pokemon and I already lost enough days languishing on that cell," Leona gently explained. "So I want to arrive in Venesi City as soon as possible and work hard to make up for all the days those scumbags robbed me."
"I understand. The Grand Festival isn't a competition you can go without being thoroughly prepared," Serena said in understanding.
"Still, I hope to see you guys there when the Grand Festival begins!" Leona said with a wide smile. "It's only a month away, and a month will go by faster than you think!"
"You can bet we will be there," Ash assured her. Then she turned to Alain. "What about you, Alain? You said you still have one badge left to collect, right?"
"Indeed. If it wasn't for Team Omega, we would be on Tsukinami Island right now. Fortunately, there's some time until the League, so this isn't much of a setback," the taller boy replied. "How about you? Given that you're here, I assume that you were heading towards Snowbank Town in order to challenge Vaeryn?"
"Indeed. I have six badges, and I'm ready to show him my prowess with Mega Evolution. I don't have just one, but two Pokemon capable of transforming! I'm sure that will be enough to qualify for a Gym Match," Ash explained.
"So you have another Pokemon on top of Metalynx that has Mega Evolved? Hearing you makes me want to challenge you right here and now," Alain said. "Not to mention that super move you and Greninja developed."
The previous night, during dinner, one thing the group talked about was what they did and which enemies they faced after they separated when they were looking for Alain's Charizard. Needless to say, Ash was the more excited to tell his side of the story, especially the part where Greninja was finally able to pull off the Storm Shuriken thanks to the rain created by Clemont's Mega Electruxo.
"Alain..." Mairin said, groaning a little.
"I know, after yesterday I should let my Pokemon rest a little until I use them in a high intensity battle," Alain quickly said, seemingly calming the redhead. "Besides, given how close we are to the League, I prefer to wait until then to challenge you, Ash."
"I see. In that case, I'll do my best so our League rematch is the best so far!" Ash said with his usual enthusiasm.
After that, the group of seven headed towards the docks, where Alain, Mairin and Leona took a ferry that would take them back to Maskara Island, and from there, Leona would go to Venesi City while Alain would take another boat to Tsukinami Village.
After bidding their friends and rivals goodbye, Ash and his friends returned to Silverport Town, where they would spend at least one day resting and recovering from yesterday's intensity.
…
"Come on Greninja, one more time! Rain Dance!" Ash ordered.
"Greeee..." Greninja began, his body glowing a faint blue, bringing his webbed hands together for a ninja seal. "NINJA!"
Dark clouds began to form above the amphibian. Unfortunately, the clouds didn't grow past the size of a basketball, while the rain they produced was just a pitiful shower of drops. The Ninja Pokemon lowered his head a little in disappointment.
"It's okay, Greninja. No one expects you to master a new move overnight," Ash reassured him. "If you keep trying, you'll have it down in no time!"
Ash's encouragement seemed to be more than enough to wash away the Kalosian's Pokemon fleeting's feeling of failure, as he eagerly nodded and continued trying.
After having breakfast, the group released all their Pokemon in order to allow them to stretch their legs after spending all night cooped up inside the Pokemon Center's care unit. Ash, however, was unable to resist the temptation to do some training – especially with Greninja.
"Alright, let's see how everybody else is going," Ash said, looking upwards.
Up in the sky was Dunseraph, who was about to dive towards a stone pillar previously summoned by Serena's Pangoro. Pikachu was riding on his head.
"Pi, pika, pichuipi!" the rodent said as he waved his little arms for added emphasis, as if he was explaining something.
"Se, seraph!" Dunseraph cried as he extended his wings, one of them glowing with a silvery light, before using it to cleanly slice said stone pillar.
"Well done, Dunseraph! It seems you have Steel Wing down!" Ash congratulated the angelic dragon. "And well done to you too, Pikachu! I'm sure he wouldn't have done it without your help!"
"Pi, pika!" Pikachu happily cried.
"Dun...!" Dunseraph scoffed, as if he took offense of having to share credit of an accomplishment that it was his and his alone. Still, Ash decided not to pay him any mind.
"Alright then, let's see how the others-" Ash was about to say, but he was surprised by a pair of arms gently wrapping around his neck and shoulders, and a pair of lips greeting him with a kiss to the cheek.
"Training, Ash?" Serena asked, as she rested her head against his. "I thought we were going to take it easy today." Her tone wasn't that of reproach, thought, just gentle curiosity.
"Eh, I know... but I feel really energized after sleeping so much tonight, and my Pokemon feel the same," Ash replied. "Plus, now that I finally found out what was missing regarding the Storm Shuriken, I can't just stop it right now!"
"Oh, right. Yeah, I should have seen it coming," Serena said, rolling her eyes a little.
"Though, don't think that I'm going to spend the whole day training! Only a light training session today!" Ash told her.
"That's good to hear, because I've been thinking that-"
Serena was then interrupted mid sentence by a beeping noise coming from Ash's pokegear. Bringing the dive to eye level, Ash smiled upon seeing who was calling.
"Hey, it's Professor Oak!" the teen boy said as he accepted the call. The gray haired professor appeared on the screen. "Hello there, Professor Oak!"
"Good day, my boy," Oak greeted with his usual warmth. "And hello to you too, Serena."
"Hello, Professor Oak," the Kalosian girl said with a smile.
"By the way, Delia already told me about you two. Congratulations on your newfound relationship!" Oak said.
"Haha, thanks!" Ash said, blushing a little.
"So, how is your journey through Tandor going? Everything's good?" the professor asked.
"Pretty great so far! I caught several really awesome Pokemon, I have six badges, and soon I'll have the seventh!" Ash quickly recounted. His expression saddened a little and added: "Though Pikachu suffered an accident and can't fight for the time being..."
"Oh," Oak said, his expression matched Ash. "I'm sorry to hear that. Though I hope that Pikachu's condition is only temporary?"
"Yeah! Nurse Joy told me that if Pikachu rests and takes his medication, he'll be back to full health!" Ash replied.
"I'll be hoping for a swift recovery, then," Oak said. "Anyway, I was calling to you because a certain old friend of yours returned to us not long ago."
"An old friend of mine...?" Ash repeated, as he wondered who could be.
Oak then moved away from the camera, revealing behind him an insect Pokemon with a purple body, white wings, and a yellow scarf around his neck.
Ash's face immediately lit up. "Butterfree!" he almost yelled.
"Freeeeee!" the Butterfly Pokemon happily chirped upon seeing his former trainer after such a long time.
"Hey, Pikachu, get over here, you have to see this!" Ash excitedly called his starter, who quickly hopped off of Dunseraph's head and scurried over towards Ash, climbing to his shoulder. "Look, Butterfree is back!"
"Pi, pika!" Pikachu cried, waving at the Big and Flying-type Pokemon.
"Free, freee!" Butterfree waved back.
"Not that I'm not happy to see Butterfree back, but how is he here now? And what about his mate?" Ash asked.
"If you're referring to another Butterfree with a mostly curious pink coloration, she's here too," Oak told Ash. "As for why he returned... well, you told me that you released him so he and his mate could start a family of their own, right? I assume that, after their babies grew up and left the nest, that left them free to go wherever they wanted, and thus Butterfree must have decided to return here in order to see you again, Ash."
"But what about the pink Butterfree's trainer?" Ash asked.
"Nothing that I saw suggests that the pink Butterfree has a trainer. She must be a wild Pokemon. Which makes sense, I know very few people that would be willing to depart from such a rare Pokemon," Professor Oak reasoned.
"Guess that makes sense," Serena agreed.
"So, do you want me to send Butterfree so the two of you can catch up?" Oak offered.
"Not just yet. My team is making a lot of breakthroughs in their training, and I'd like to see it complete," Ash explained. "But I'm definitely calling for Butterfree soon enough."
"Freee!" Butterfree happily chirped.
"I'll be looking forward it. That way, I'd be also able to take a look at one of the Pokemon you have caught there," Oak suggested. "Despite the faxt that Bamb'o used to be my undergraduate, I've never been in Tandor nor seen its native Pokemon in the flesh."
"Don't worry professor, you'll see them soon enough as well," Ash assured him.
Oak nodded. "Very well. In that case, I'll let you go back to your endeavors. Good luck with your remaining badges. And good luck for the Grand Festival, Serena!"
"Thanks!" both Ash and Serena said almost in unison, before the call was ended.
Serena then released Ash from her hug, grabbed him by the wrist and led him to a nearby bench, as the two of them took a seat. Pikachu also got off from Ash's shoulder, and sat on his lap.
"So, Butterfree, huh?" Serena asked.
"Yeah," Ash said, chuckling a little.
"I knew you had a lot of Pokemon, but I forgot that you had many more that you released for one reason or another, like Pidgeot," Serena said, recalling when she met the large bird of prey on their way to Pallet Town. "Though it seems that this one has come back to stay."
"It seems, yes. Heh, I'm super happy to see Butterfree back. He was the very first Pokemon I caught, you know?" Ash told her.
"Hmhmm. I can see why you would consider such a Pokemon special," Serena said, as her eyes drifted to Pangoro, who was hanging around Oblivicorn and Delphox. "But you let him go so he could be with his girlfriend."
"Yeah," Ash said.
Serena smiled in a way that gave Ash goosebumps. Was her smile always this breathtaking, or was he only starting to notice these things about her. "That was very sweet of you."
"Thanks, hehe," Ash said, chuckling a little. "And now that I have a girlfriend myself, I'm even more glad that I let Butterfree go."
"Speaking of said girlfriend," Serena giggled, as she inched towards him. "After yesterday's insanity, I think a romantic activity with my boyfriend would help me decompress a lot. And so would you. What do you say?"
"I can agree with that," Ash said, as he began to look around. "So, do you have any idea of what we could do around this place? Another dinner date?"
"We could do that. But on our way out of the town I saw something that drew my attention," Serena said, her smile widening in anticipation.
…
"Alright, that should do it," Clemont said, before pressing a single key. "This should be done in less than five minutes."
Meanwhile, in the lobby area of the Pokemon Center, Clemont was sitting on one of the tables while he waited for something in his laptop to load. So far, there were only two other trainers besides him in the area, none of them engaging in conversation, which allowed the large TV hanging over the lobby to fill the silence.
On the screen was Maria, the very first leader Ash had defeated since arriving on Tandor, with several journalists holding microphones next to her as they asked her questions while she answered them as best as she could, as photo cameras flashed regularly. On the bottom of the screen was a headline in all caps that read:
MARIA ANNOUNCES SURPRISE RETURN
"...in hindsight, it might have been hasty of me to decide not to defend my title this time around," the raven haired woman explained. "I'm not going to lie, the past few leagues felt rather subpar to me, so I thought that this region had nothing left to offer to me in terms of challenges. That's why I felt it was for the best to take a step back and stop hogging the title."
"What made you change your mind, then?" a journalist asked.
"Thanks to my new job as half Gym Leader and half trainer school instructor, I was able to meet and test a lot of trainers with a lot of talent, or at the very least potential to be something great, both natives to the region as well as outsiders," she began. "I'm pretty sure that not only those young promises will make it to the League, but they're more than likely to give me a good fight at my best."
"You seem fired up by the possibility of fighting these challengers again. Can we have any names?" another journalist asked.
"Now, where would be the fun in that?" the teacher and Gym Leader teasingly asked. "Though if you follow the Gym Leader circuit, I'm sure you can figure out which trainers I'm talking about."
"But what about-"
BEEP!
The noise from his laptop drew Clemont's attention away from one screen towards another.
"Ah, it's done!" Clemont said, smiling widely. "That took even less than I thought! Okay, let's see what we have here..."
On the screen, multiple text lines appeared. Text lines that were familiar, but now were now completely legible:
01/21/XX: Progress is going well on Codename 092. The shell is made from radiation-impervious biofiber. It will be able to reconstruct itself if damaged.
02/04/XX: The Power Core shipped from overseas. It will require a large amount of nuclear fuel to initialize. Once fully activated, it will be able to produce nearly limitless energy.
04/11/XX: The MRI detected anomalous brainwave patterns. The specimen should be fully incapable of independent thought. We are working on a suppressant.
07/12/XX: Work on the interface was finalized today. Its operator will be allowed to assume full control. Our chief researcher. Dr. Lucille Raine, has been granted clearance.
07/28/XX: There has been a breach of confidentiality. Henceforth, all reports shall be relocated to high security underground servers. Project 092 may have to be terminated.
08/08/XX: Lab 02 and Project 092 have been terminated. The radiation will keep the area isolated.
"Hey, big brother! Can you-" Bonnie's voice said, as his little sister skipped towards his table, Dedenne scurrying behind her. "...huh? You look happy. Something happened?"
"You could say that. When we infiltrated the Team Omega base, I was able to slip a virus on their database that would copy their files to my server on Prism Tower," Clemont began. He could feel Bonnie losing interest in the topic fast, but he kept explaining. "Most of it is encrypted, but thanks to a program that I wrote, I'm going to be able to decodify everything."
"Oh. I see," the young blonde said.
"Remember those incomplete logs that I recovered from the lair in Kevlar Town?" Clemont asked. Bonnie merely nodded. "Well, thanks to the new data and my decodifying program, I've been able to restore them!" Clemont proudly said, as he moved the laptop so his sister could read the screen. "This is what I found!"
It took a couple minutes for Bonnie to read the short reports.
"Wow. Limitless energy? Repair itself? Independent thought?" Bonnie repeated the words that had stuck with her the most. "What were those Team Omega jerks doing in that lab under the power plant near Bealbeach?"
"I don't know, but it doesn't look like something I'd like to find," Clemont said, agreeing with his sisters' feelings of unease. "It almost sounds like they were trying to create a... living being. Perhaps even a Pokemon."
"...is that really possible? To create a Pokemon?" Bonnie asked in disbelief.
"Yeah, there are some manmade Pokemon out there. Porygon and its evolutions are the most well known," Clemont explained. "Though what they were doing here sounds far more dangerous than any Porygon..."
Bonnie continued to look at the screen. "The twins' mom was Lucille, right?" Bonnie asked again. A scowl developed on her face. "Guess those guys were telling the truth when they said that their mom was part of their gang."
"Indeed. Not only was she a member, she was their chief researcher," Clemont observed. "And that last report... it makes it sound like the accident from ten years ago was anything but."
"What a bummer..." Bonnie said, looking down, before suddenly perking up again. "Then it's a good thing we kicked them so hard in the butt yesterday! That way they won't be able to cause trouble anymore!"
"While there are still many Nuclear Pokemon out there, Team Omega being out of the table will give us some breathing room," Clemont agreed. "By the way, were you going to ask me something? It looked like you wanted to tell me something before we got distracted by all this."
"Ah, yes! I need to borrow some of your Pokemon again," Bonnie began, and before Clemont could ask, she added, "I think it's about time I step up Dedenne's training."
"Oh? What makes you think that all of sudden?" the elder sibling asked.
"Well... I felt that I've been babying Dedenne a bit too much. During the attack on the Team Omega base we managed to win a big battle thanks to him, and thought that maybe we could have done more if he was more battle ready," Bonnie explained.
"Does Dedenne want to be trained? He isn't exactly the most energetic Pokemon," Clemont pointed out, remembering how often her sister's Pokemon loved to nap, especially in the most inappropriate of circumstances.
"So was Chespin, and I think I did a good job motivating him," Bonnie fired back, as she placed her hands on her hips.
"Okay, you make a good point," Clemont admitted. "Very well, next time we train, you and Dedenne are welcome to join us."
"Yay!" Bonnie cheered. "Did you hear that, Dedenne? From now onwards, you're going to train a lot alongside the rest of your friends!"
"Nenene!" Dedenne cheered alongisde Bonnie, unaware what her unofficial trainer's words entailed.
…
"Greeee-NINJA!"
As Greninja cried, he brought his hands together, focused his power and released it above him. Once again, a bunch of storm clouds formed above him. Still insufficient, but at the very least this time the move yielded a better result than previous tries.
Meaning that he had to keep trying. Sooner or later he'd had it mastered, and with it, complete access to the ultimate version of the Water Shuriken, the move the master had dubbed "Storm Shuriken".
He felt that this was it. The summit of the mountain. The peak of his potential. The awarded price that he had been waiting so much, working so hard to finally-
No.
No, he couldn't think like that. The master would be disappointed. There was no limit to how much you could keep improving. No matter how good you were, you could always strive to be better. That's why the master was able to bring out so much of his potential, both him and his teammates, current and past.
Mastering this move was nothing but just another step forward into his journey to become the strongest Greninja. After that, he'll continue looking for more limits to break. He wouldn't make the mistake of thinking that he had reached his peak.
He already thought like that once, and he paid it dearly. Alain's Charizard showed him that, no matter how strong he became, there would always be someone above him. Someone better than him.
That didn't mean that said someone couldn't be surpassed, though.
That was the reason as to why he asked Ash to bring him along to his new journey. He felt he needed to make up for losing when he was so close to bring his master the glory he deserved. And the master was kind enough to accept such a request.
And as fate had it, the author of his greatest defeat was in this region as well. Despite having crossed their paths many times, fate also had it so he couldn't have his rematch against Alain's Charizard, but deep down he knew that such a battle would be inevitable. And this time, he will be prepared. This time, he won't think his current level of strength is "good enough".
One more time.
"Greeee-NINJA!"
More clouds formed. These ones looked thicker, more consitent. The raindrops weren't so thin anymore, making soft but audible wet noises as they landed on the dry ground.
Suddenly, a powerful wind started to blow, as the clouds above him stirred, followed by a thunder clap. Greninja looked upwards in surprise. Was he responsible for such an effect?
"Sple, spleeee!" A whistle of joy, one belonging to Splendifowl, drew his attention.
Looking in the direction of the bird, the Ninja Pokemon saw that Splendifowl had produced a terrifyingly big and powerful Gust. Though, could it be called a Gust anymore? This was to a Gust what a Fire Blast was to an Ember.
"Gre, gren, ninja?" Greninja asked.
"Sple, splendi!" Splendifowl happily replied.
So, it wasn't a Gust, as he suspected. Apparently, the master had taught Splendifowl about a much more powerful version of the move called Hurricane.
"Ninja," Greninja said, congratulating the bird for his achievement.
"Foooowl," Splendifowl replied, shaking his head. So he hadn't mastered the move just yet? "Sple, splendi, fowl, splendi!"
Apparently, he was having trouble with the move, but during the past tries he had made a lot more progress. He didn't know why, but he then realized that Greninja's Rain Dance helped to speed the process.
So, the move also benefited from the rain, despite not being a Water-type move? That was mostly interesting.
"Sple. Splendi?" the Paradise Bird Pokemon asked. Needless to say, it was obvious that he'd want to continue his training next to Greninja.
"Gre, ninja," Greninja nodded, assuring Splendifowl that his own training wouldn't disturb Greninja's.
Together, the two Pokemon continued to push through their limits.
…
"Are you ready?" Ash asked.
Serena looked at the slope in front of her and gulped a little. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she was starting to have second thoughts. Oh well, too late to change her mind. She simply nodded. "Ready."
Turns out the place Serena had seen in Silverport Town was a shop for winter sports and climbing gear, which also rented sleds. Naturally, Ash had loved the idea, and once they had their sled, he had led her to the tallest hill around Silverport that he could see.
"In that case..." Ash said, as he began to push the sled. "Here we GOOOOOOOOO!"
The moment he reached the edge of the slope, Ash jumped onto the sled and quickly latched to Serena, who was sitting on the front. As the sled gained velocity, it left a trail of snow dust in their wake.
"Wohoooo!" Ash loudly yelled. "This is awesome! You had such a great idea, Serena!"
"I know, right?" Serena proudly replied, fear no longer present in her. "It's such a-"
"Tree ahead!" Ash warned.
"EEP!" she squealed upon taking a sharp turn to dodge a small tree. "Whoops! Sorry! Hehe..."
"A rock!" Ash said again.
"GAH!" Serena coughed as she barely had time to swerve. "I don't remember this slope having so many obstacles when we were climbing up!"
"Maybe you should try to go a little slower..." Ash advised.
"I'll try, but this thing has no brakes!" Serena replied, as indeed the sled's speed increased over time.
"It's okay, I don't see any more obstacles, so it should be a smooth ride until we get to the base of the hill," Ash stated.
And as soon as Ash said that, something popped out of the snow in front of them: the head of a dog-like Pokemon with blue fur, huge furry blue ears, and equally huge blue eyes that appeared to be on the verge of crying.
"Puff...puff... pu?" the Pokemon said upon noticing the speeding sled coming towards it. "PUUUUUUF!"
"Serena, move aside!" Ash urged her.
Serena was able to dodge the Pokemon in time, but in doing so she unwittingly directed the sled towards a small upwards slope of ice that sent them flying into the air. Both Ash and Serena hugged each other while screaming as they fell from the sled and landed on the snow below them, she on top of him, while the sled landed a few meters away from them.
"Ugh..." Serena groaned, as she rubbed her head, before realizing that she was lying on top of Ash. "Ash? Ash? Are you okay?"
"I think..." Ash's muffled voice said. "You?"
"I've been better, but I don't think that I have anything broken," Serena said looking up, she saw the sled vertically embedded into the snow. Thankfully it didn't look broken. She then looked down at Ash and smiled bashfully. "Sorry Ash, I'll get out on top of you right now, give me a couple seconds."
"There's no hurry. It doesn't feel that bad," Ash said, grinning while blushing a little.
"You're incorrigible," Serena said, but smiled and gave Ash a small kiss on the lips, before finally rolling around and getting back on her feet, and helping Ash doing the same.
"Thanks," the boy said.
"We almost squashed that poor Pokemon," she said, looking at the white and blue furry Pokemon, running around. Now that it was out of the snow, she could see it had a small, puppy-like body and long, blue furry tail. "What kind of Pokemon is that?"
Both she and Ash pulled their Pokedexes and scanned the unknown creature.
"Pufluff, the Soft Fur Pokemon. Ice/Fairy. It constantly wraps itself in its long tail to protect it from the cold. Despite this, it always seems to shiver as if it is freezing." The Pokedex explained.
"We gave that poor guy quite the scare," Ash said, looking at the Pufluff disappearing behind a bunch of bushes.
"Indeed. Thank goodness I managed to move away in time," Serena noted.
There was a moment of silence as the two of them stood there, silent.
"Wanna do it again?" Ash asked, a huge grin plastered on his face.
"You bet!" Serena replied, sharing his enthusiasm.
The couple went to retrieve the sled and climbed again to the top of the hill while giggling excitably. Yes, after yesterday's stress, today's fun was something the two teens sorely needed.
Author's Note: So yeah, after all the intensity of the previous chapters, we needed a little downtime for our heroes. Not to say this chapter is bereft of developments!
Given that the key to completing Storm Shuriken was rain, it's only natural that Ash had Greninja learn Rain Dance. And he isn't the only one developing new moves.
Yep, Butterfree is back! Why? Because I love Butterfree and I hated that he was put on a bus so early into the first season. Ash won't be using him just now, but Butterfree's big moment will come in the future, trust me.
Remember those broke, incomplete logs Clemont found all the way back in Kevlar town? Well, now you can finally see the complete versions, which foreshadow the next big event that will shake the region now that Team Omega has been permanently done for.
Lastly, I decided to have Ash and Serena do something fun together not related to Pokemon. Given that they're a couple now, they should show it. I hate when two people become a couple in a story, but their relationship stays virtually the same as when they were friends.
Thanks a lot to Lipeghoul, Fox McCloude, BrightNova169, MarkusDarkus87 and hirowriter for reviewing the previous chapter.
Next chapter, our heroes meet with a friend that they hadn't seen in a long time. In the meantime, don't forget to leave a review!