Ash stood before the apartment complex with his stuff. He had been over a few times before, but it felt strange knowing he would live there a few times. He had already spoken with the owner, and thanks to Rita, he was cleared to live there. He gathered up his stuff and walked in. He did not want to keep his roommates waiting.
As he made his way to the room he heard muffled talking among them. Unable to make out what was being said and not wanting to be an ease dropper, he knocked. He heard the talking sound a bit more panicked and some shuffling around. It got quiet for a little bit making him wonder what was going on. After a little bit of silence, he heard someone walk up and throw the door open.
"Ash! So good to see you!" Chloe said as she opened the door. "Please come in! We have gotten everything ready for you!"
Ash walked in looking around. It was admittingly a lot nicer than Rita's, and it was also bigger. Still, he was a bit worried about how much the rent was for this place. Could he even afford one-third of it? Chloe seemed to notice he looked worried.
"Something wrong Ash?"
"How much is this going to cost me?" Ash asked realizing he should have asked this a lot earlier.
"Oh not a lot, don't worry." She said with a smile. "Kari's brother is helping with a few of the costs so you just pay this!"
He was handed a paper with the costs on it. It was not much, a little more than Rita's place, but still not much. He felt a wave of relief wash over him as he realized he would not be paying an arm and a leg. Chloe smiled seeing him relax at this. She wanted him to focus only on her, and yes Kari too.
"So here is your room! Kari and I just finished getting it set."
She leads him to the room. it was a nice decent-sized room with a bed, dresser, and a desk. He couldn't help but have a large smile on his face as he finally had a real bed to sleep in. Kari was standing there smiling. He guessed she was fixing stuff up just before he got there.
"Hope you enjoy your room, Ash! We will give you some time to set up!"
"Thanks!" Ash responded as he set down his stuff.
The two left him and Zeraora alone. Ash got his stuff all set up while Zeraora plopped onto the bed. It was large enough for the two to share so even he got to enjoy a real bed also. Ash smiled at how relaxed his friend looked. It was going to suck when, if, the two moved back.
"Alright, buddy I got everything set up," Ash said. "I guess we need to get to the practice though."
The Pokemon nodded and got up as the two started to walk out.
"All set Ash?" Kari asked.
"Yeah! It looks great! Thanks!"
"Want to do anything?" she asked.
"Sorry but me and Zeraora have to hit up Unite practice."
"Oh! Could we watch?" Chloe asked.
"Sorry again but no. Paul is pretty strict about doing things privately."
Both looked very disappointed.
"We can head out after though. It will only be for a few hours." He said feeling a touch guilty.
They brightened up at this and Chloe spoke up. "Sounds good! Let's go out to eat."
Ash went to Unite practice and met up with everyone. Paul had everyone work on learning their Pokemons abilities more. Ash learned his Pokemon was very speed-focused and started to take advantage of this. Zeraora was soon darting around the field leaving everyone in the dust. Paul almost had a smile on his face.
"Ash! You're doing good. It seems you know your Pokemon strengths well." he said.
"Yeah! Zeraora has been doing well!" Ash responded.
Zeraora gave a smile at him.
"Okay everyone gather around," Paul said. "So you now know how your Pokemon work let's talk the rules of the game. They are pretty much the same as you have seen from the tournaments. However, the Pokemon you battle will not be quite as numerous. There will be six Pokemon on the field and you will defeat them for Aeos energy. Know that they are pretty tough and it will be best if you fight them in a group of at least two or three till your Pokemon gets stronger. They are trained just for the Unite battles so keep that in mind."
"What about the center one?" Jimmy asked.
"I do not know. They are keeping that a secret." He responded. "Just be ready for anything."
"What about the team we are going against?" Georgia asked.
"I know we are going against Unova's team. They are as green as we are so nothing to say."
"Well, I hope they are ready for us to give it our all!" Ash said.
"Yeah! We will take them down!" Morrison followed with.
"I like that spirit," Paul said. "But please be careful. You never know how it will go."
They wrapped things up and everyone left. Ash went to meet the girls at the restaurant they agreed on. On his way there though he saw Iris. It looked like she was trying to train with Drilbur. This was new as he never really saw her training him. He decided he could stop and chat.
"Hey Iris, nice to see you out training," Ash said.
"Oh, hey Ash," Iris responded. "Well, I have been thinking I need to do more training than what I normally do."
"Oh? I never really see you train."
"Well, I admit I have not been training as much as I should. I do, but just not that much. I feel it is time to pick up on that."
"Well, I am glad to see that!"
She smiled. "Thanks Ash! I got a lot to make up for."
Ash waved and continued to the restaurant with a bit of a bounce in his step. Iris had been having a rough time. He recalled how she seemed to give up after just getting her Pokemon. Maybe now things will pick up with her. He was going to keep an eye on her.
He made it to the restaurant not long after. Feeling like it was time Zeraora went into the Pokemon section by himself. It was new but he felt things were safe enough here. He could head over at a moment's notice if needed. He seemed to have come by early so he waited ordering an appetizer while he did.
It took a bit but Kari and Chloe walked in and took a seat.
"Hello, Ash! How was practice?" Kari asked.
"It was well!" he responded. "I think we are ready for our first match."
"Good to hear!" Chloe said. "We can't wait to watch it."
"I am a little nervous," he said. "It is going to be a pretty big event and a lot of people will be there. I just think my nervousness it overshadowed by how excited I am!"
Both chuckled at him.
They ate for a while before Kari spoke up. "Do what will you be doing the rest of the day?"
"I think I just want to relax. Between setting up and practice it has been a pretty busy day."
"I can understand that," Kari said. "Maybe we could watch a movie?"
"I guess we could watch something," Ash responded.
"Any you want to watch?" Chloe asked.
Ash stopped to think for a bit. A lot of the movies he wanted to watch he could not see them like. Not out of any belief that as girls they would not like it, just seemed like the movies were not their cup of tea. After a bit one came to mind he believed they might like. So he smiled and answered them.
"I would love to watch Shrek."
Chloe smiled. "Oh, I love that movie!"
Kari though shook her head. "Pass, not a big fan."
"Oh, we can watch something else," Ash suggested.
"No, you two enjoy it." She responded with a smile. "I can catch up on a bit of work. You two enjoy."
All three of them went back home. Kari went to her room to do her work while Ash and Chloe sat on the couch to enjoy the movie. Ash was enjoying the movie, laughing at the funnier parts. Chloe on the other hand was trying to figure out what to do. This was in a sense a date and this was her moment to do something. She was unsure what to do, however. Goh made things pretty easy but Ash she was not sure.
Right before she could make a move though a loud noise was made and Zeraora was on alert. Ash paused the movie.
"What was that?" he asked.
"It came from outside," Chloe said.
Both walked outside onto the balcony and came to a rather unpleasant sight. There was Mallow now a rather sad sight. Drunk like never before and in a fight with another girl over something. Her Pokemon was out trying to stop her but the little Bounsweet couldn't do anything. Ash looked over to Zeraora and nodded.
In a flash of lightning, he vanished from the Balcony and appeared before the two and gave a rather nice show to frighten both of them. The other girl quickly ran off and Mallow fell back and started ugly crying. She stumbled trying to get up but due to her intoxication couldn't Ash honestly felt bad. She must have hit her most recent party too hard.
"I can't leave her," Ash said.
"I would be disappointed in you if you did." Responded Chloe.
The two went down to get her while his partner protected her. When they got there she was now trying to get up but failing even with her Pokemon trying to help. Both of them went to help her up. She was trying to talk to them but her speech was so slurred they could not make heads to tails out of what she was saying. Ash sighed at this, she really had hit rock bottom with this.
"We don't have classes tomorrow," Chloe said. Guess she decided to go party hard.
Ash shook his head. "There is more to this," he said. "Lana must have trying to talk to her."
The two managed to get her to their apartment. Chloe took her to the bathroom where after a little bit Ash heard the sound of vomiting. It took a while for her to get it out when Chloe called for Ash's help. He walked in to see she had passed out and Chloe was now struggling to hold her up. He grabbed her and helped take her to Chloe's room.
"I think someone needs to give her a wake-up call," Ash said.
"You need to be alone with her tomorrow?" Chloe asked.
He nodded. "I am going just give it to her. She needs to stop trying to ignore her problems and face them."
Chloe smiled at him. "I am sure you are the one who can do it."
"You can sleep in my bed," Ash said.
Chloe shook her head. "We will share a bed tonight." Ash was about to protest when she covered his mouth. "No, we are doing this! No one will be uncomfortable tonight."
Unable to fight back they got into bed together for the night. He set an alarm to get up early so he may have his chat with Mallow. Zeraora was lying in his bed with Mallow and Chloe's Pokemon cuddled up to him, it was kind of cute. Ash was a tad uncomfortable with her right next to him. Ironicly made why they were doing this moot for a bit. Still, sleep took over at some point.
Later he woke up a few minutes before the alarm went off. He was going to just get up but he found that in the middle of the night, Chloe had cuddled up to him. Her arms were around him and a big smile was on her face. Ash tried to figure out if there was a way out but Chloe had him held tight. He could wake her right now but the peaceful look on her face made him unable to bring himself to do it. He was forced to wait until his alarm went off.
As he was lying there, Chloe still holding him tight, he started to realize a problem. As a male, a girl holding him like this was causing him a problem. Notably more south of the border. The idea of Chloe finding out about this scared him and he tried having thoughts of gross stuff to get it down. However, he was failing as he admitted that Chloe was very attractive and he could not seem to calm himself down.
He looked at the clock to see it was very close to having the alarm go off. He decided that maybe he could pull back quickly when she woke up. He got ready to move away as he waited for it to make the noise to awaken her. However, she did something that stunned him. He felt a soft pair of lips on his neck. This action locked him up as the alarm went off.
"Mmmmmmph... Hmmmmm? OH!" Chloe pulled away a large blush across her face. "Ash! I am so sorry! I was just having such a nice dream!"
Ash was also blushing hard. "It is okay! Don't worry about it!" He was able to quickly hide his little problem in the panic of the event.
She got out of bed fast. "I will ah, give you some privacy." she scampered out.
Ash let out a long sigh. It was an awkward start to the day. However, his mind snapped back to Mallow. He was able to "calm down" after a little bit before he walked out. Chloe was still red when he went out to check on Mallow. He gave her a quick nod as she opened the door to her room.
"Bathroom!" Mallow said running out the door. Chloe Pointed to where to go and she ran in. All that followed were the sounds of vomit.
Ash followed her in. "You went overbored last night," he said flatly.
"I just need to get used to the stronger stuff..." she said between vomiting.
"No Mallow, you need to stop this! It is not good for you!"
"You don't know what's good for me!" she yelled.
"I do know what's bad for you! Had Zearora not come down there is no telling what would have happened!"
"Shut up! You don't know what I am going through!"
"Your mother's death," he said.
She stared at him for a while. "Who told you?"
"It doesn't matter. What matters is you're not handling it well."
"I don't want to handle it! I want to forget it!"
"And is that working?"
She looked like she wanted to yell at him but nothing came out.
"As soon as the party ends the memories return don't they?"
She stayed quiet looking down.
"Mallow, I like you better when you're sober. When you're not in parties. It is the only time I saw you speak about your dream restaurant. You talked about it like it was all you wanted. But after that day, it was just parties."
"...It just hurts a lot." she finally says. "And it is easier to just forget."
"How have your grades been?"
"Passable," she responded. "Just... Passable."
"I do not think your boyfriend wanted to hurt you but his idea of, just party to forget, I do not think it is working."
She was quiet again.
"Mallow, you need to stop. What if no one is around the next time you do this? For that matter, why did you go this hard?"
"I got into a fight with Lana." She said. "She said she was sick of taking care of me and she would not be going out with me anymore. The boyfriend took me out and I was told to try the strong stuff. Normally she would talk me out of it."
"Lana cares about you also. But she gave up a lot of her life just to keep you safe."
"She has," she said guilt in her voice.
The two sat there in mostly silence for a bit. Mallow would vomit up a little more for a bit till all of it was out of her system, Chloe had slid water into the room so she was able to keep hydrated. He could see that she was still thinking about what she had been doing to herself and her friend. He could tell this was the first time she was forced to. After relative silence, she pushed herself up.
"I need a shower," she said unsteady on her feet.
"Let me get Chloe," he said, noticing she was still unsteady.
Soon both girls were under the hot water of the shower. Chloe was holding her up helping her run a cloth over her. Mallow did not like being helped but she couldn't keep herself up on her own. Besides, it was about time she started to accept help. Soon though the silence made things a little too awkward for her liking.
"So, your skin is nice." Of all the things for her to say.
"Oh, ah, thanks?" Chloe said. "Yours is, not great honestly."
Mallow ran a hand over her skin. "I guess I haven't been taking much care of myself."
"I got a lotion you can use."
She blushed as Chloe continued to help clean her more, sensitive, areas. She felt silly being washed by someone else but she was still not very steady. "Thank you for helping last night. I lost control."
"I am glad we helped but you ruined a good thing."
"Are you two dating?" she asked.
"I would like to be," Chloe responded.
Mallow took the cloth and started cleaning herself. "I have heard a lot of rumors. Notably, there are a few other girls who have their eyes on him," she said.
"I do not intend on giving up then."
Mallow just nodded.
After she was cleaned up Chloe helped her out. Kari had woken up and helped Ash make breakfast. Mallow felt she could eat now and sat down to refill her stomach. They all chatted a bit and she felt a lot better. She was even able to stand again. With food in her stomach and now feeling strong she decided to leave.
"Are you sure you will be alright?" Ash asked.
"I will be fine Ash," Mallow said. "I need to get back and talk with Lana. I also need to have words with my boyfriend."
Chloe blinked. "What about?"
"Weather he will still be my boyfriend." she turned. "Ash I hope you will come back to the apartment soon."
"That will be up to you three."
With that, she left leaving the three of them alone. The three of them went ahead and prepared for the day. Although anoied her date with Ash was messed up she was going to let Kari have her time with Ash. She would just have to plan something better next time. Kari, on the other hand, knew what she wanted to do.
"Hey, Ash? Let's take our Pokemon out to the park!"
Zeraora seemed pleased by this.
"Not a bad idea honestly. I could use it after this morning," he said. "Care to join us, Chloe?"
"Nah, you two go on. I have some work to do," she responded keeping her end of the deal.
The two of them and their Pokemon started walking through the park. Zeraora and Purrlion seemed to have fun with one another and chased each other about. Kari watched them both intently. Ash knew she was having a hard time communicating with Purrlion. He wondered if that was still a problem.
"So how are things between you and your Pokemon?" he asked.
"Okay, I guess." she let out a sigh. "I still have a hard time understanding her. How do you and Zeraora communicate so well? What was your first meeting like?"
Ash remembered back when they met. "Well I shared my food with him and I told him about what I wanted to do."
Kari looked at her Pokemon. "I see." She responded. "Perhaps I should try something like that."
"You can," Ash said. "But everyone has a different way."
"I just want to be able to understand her. We are doing okay but I still feel like there is a block there."
"Hey cheer up!" Ash said with a smile. "Think hard of something you might be able to both do together."
Kari stopped to think. "I will figure something out," she responded.
They enjoyed their time in the park for a bit longer. They had fun with their Pokemon and Kari put a lot more effort into her Pokemon. But soon they had to go home. They headed back as the son started to get low. It was a strange day, but an alright one.
Meanwhile, James was watching from the distance. He was confused as to the sudden change in location. Was he aware Team Rocket was keeping an eye on him? Thankfully he was able to find him, now he just needed to wait till he went back. best he keeps more distance for now.
"Hey James," Meowth said in a quiet voice. "Da boss said we are getting a new partner tomorrow."
James shook his head. "We do not need one."
"Not really our place to turn it down."
"True. Let us just hope whoever it is will not hold us back."
