THE BLUE SPIRIT

CHAPTER 011 – FRIENDLY INTERACTIONS

When Ash and his pokémon returned to the suite, they saw that Brock, Gary, Richie and Max were seated on two of the four couches that were positioned directly in front of the mounted TV and watching a movie. As they entered, they were greeted by them and asked if he wanted to join them. Agreeing to it, Ash went to drop off his duffel bag in his room with Lucario and Gardevoir following behind. Once inside the master bedroom and the door closed behind, Pikachu popped out of the bag with the bottle of ketchup clutched against his body. Chuckling over his antics, Ash turned to his two other pokemon. "So, what do you want to do?" he asked them.

Lucario and Gardevoir glanced at each other before facing him and the aura canine spoke for the both of them. "We'll just relax here and get used to our surroundings."

"Alright then. Need anything, let me know. And make sure Pikachu doesn't spill the ketchup anywhere."

"Pika!" shot the yellow mouse, peeved but didn't shock him since he was preoccupied with the bottle.

"Thank you Master but we'll be fine."

Ash left his pokemon in the room and headed back to the guys in the living room. Taking a seat on the empty couch on the left side of the living room, he started watching the movie with them. "So, what're we watching?" he asked after a minute.

"Just another cheesy action flick," answered Gary.

"Well, that explains a lot," said Ash sarcastically, watching what he assumed to be several bad guys along with some weird looking pokemon get thrown out of a room on the screen.

Brock and Richie chuckled while Max took it upon himself to elaborate. "It's about a pokemon trainer trying to rescue the love of his life who was kidnapped by an evil sorcerer and his bewitched pokemon who wants to sacrifice her to gain the ultimate power," explained the teenager.

"Now that's a better description. Thanks Max," remarked Ash and the young boy beamed over the praise while Gary rolled his eyes.

After a little bit of time, Misty, Dawn, Serena and May came out of their room and seeing the guys watching a movie, they sat down together on the last empty couch on the right side and joined the viewers in watching the movie. Though they were still a little embarrassed over what happened a little while ago with the newest member of their group, the girls kept themselves composed and just treated him like any other friend.

And so, they all continued watching the rather entertaining movie together. Whenever there were calmer periods during the movie, the group exchanged some small talk here and there that usually consisted of what they just watched as they found it funny, or incredible, or romantic and other things.

But that wasn't the only thing happening during the movie. Throughout the viewing, Ash had a hard time not glancing from the corner of his eyes at the girls seated across from him. Even though each of them had different body types and completely different looks, each was stunningly attractive. Even from their varied hairstyles to their choices in attire, Ash found them strikingly beautiful and just couldn't stop. Every time that they reacted strongly to a particular scene in the movie, his heart would skip a beat at their excitement. He knew that he shouldn't keep glancing at them but he had a hard time following through with that. Hoping that no one noticed and no one would say anything, he didn't stop with his glancing every so often.

Luckily for the raven haired trainer, nobody noticed him doing that.

But, there was something else that was noticed. Gary happened to take a look around after stretching in his seat and realized something. Cilan and Iris hadn't joined them on watching the movie. Glancing at his Poketch, he saw that they were gone for about an hour and a half. A mischievous smirk formed on his face. "Hey guys," he called out to the group at large, making Richie pause the movie and everyone turned to face him. "The lovely couple's been in their room for a while now. Who wants to make a bet as to what they're doing in there?" he asked them while raising his eyebrows a few times.

"Shut up Gary!" screamed the girls angrily together.

"Okay, okay, calm down, jeez," he said. "Learn to have some fun why don't you," he muttered afterwards.

"What was that?!" asked the girls together as they stood up and glared at him.

"Nothing, nothing!" replied back Gary while waving his hands in front of him with fear filling him over their death glares.

"Hmph!" shot the girls before sitting back down on the couch, crossed their arms and legs and faced the screen.

Richie shook his head and looked at Gary. "Did you forget your own advice you told me about not pissing off girls?" he asked him in a whisper.

"Shut up!" snapped Gary immediately.

Richie, Brock and Max burst out laughing, making the girls and Ash look at them. Before anything else happened, Brock got up from his seat. "It's nothing. I'm gonna make some lunch for us," he said as he went to the kitchen.

"Don't you want to watch the rest of the movie first?" asked Ash.

"Nah, its fine. Thanks though. It'll be ready soon," replied Brock as he disappeared into the kitchen. While he worked on the meals, the rest continued watching the movie. About twenty minutes later, right when the movie ended, Brock called out to them. "Food's ready!"

"Perfect timing! I'm starving," remarked May as she hurried to the large rectangular dining table that was loaded with many dishes and sat down on one end of it.

"You're always hungry," commented Misty, following after her.

"Well, duh, she's a bottomless pit," added Dawn with a mischievous smirk as she and Misty sat next to each other opposite the brunette.

"Hey!" shot May with a pout and puffed out cheeks.

"C'mon, you know they're just teasing," reminded Serena kindly as she sat next to May but the Hoenn native just grumbled while crossing her arms.

The guys chuckled, hearing the girls' banter as they followed after them into the dining room and took seats on the opposite end of the table. Taking a look at what was made, Ash began salivating over the many wonderful smells and had to keep his mouth shut so he wouldn't start drooling in front of everyone. Swallowing his accumulated saliva, Ash looked at Brock who was seated at the middle of the table on one side across from Max. "This looks great Brock," complimented the raven haired trainer.

"It's nothing special but thanks. Now if only Cilan and Iris can join us so we can start," commented Brock.

"I'll get them," volunteered Gary as he stood up with a mad grin on his face. Everyone sensed trouble brewing but before anyone can stop him, he rushed out to the couple's room and started banging on the door. "HEY LOVEBIRDS, QUIT SCREWIN AROUND! FOOD'S READY AND IF YOU DON'T HURRY UP, THERE WON'T BE ANY LEFT FOR YA!" As soon as he finished saying that, he rushed back to the dining table. Seeing everyone's shocked expressions, he just grinned back. "They'll be here soon."

He turned out to be right as not even a minute later, the couple they were waiting to arrive before eating showed up in the dining room. They were both red in the face because of the attention that was on them from everyone. "Gary…"

"Hey, welcome guys!" Gary interrupted Iris with a shit eating grin. "Lunch is ready and we've been waiting for you to join us! So sit down already!"

Iris shook with anger but then Cilan grasped her shoulder. "It's alright. You know how he is. Let's just enjoy the meal that Brock graciously prepared for us alright?" He was angry as well but didn't want to spoil the meal that their friend made for them.

Iris didn't argue but kept her glare on Gary for a moment longer before sitting down and refused to look anywhere near him. Cilan let out a sigh but before sitting down himself, he gave Gary the stink eye who just continued smiling in return. Immature cretin, thought the connoisseur. Moving his gaze to Brock, he sat down as he spoke. "Thank you for doing this. I'll make the meals next time."

"No problem and thanks," replied Brock. "Now that everyone's here, let's dig in."

"Finally!" shot Max as he grabbed some food, put it on his plate and everyone else followed his example and quickly got food for themselves.

In the beginning they were quiet since they were all pretty hungry and the food was too good to even warrant any other noises besides metal utensils hitting their plates or the sound of chewing. Ash even took some food for his pokémon to share and re-joined the group at the table shortly after. Once everyone had second helpings, with two of them even going for thirds, the sounds of satisfied groans was heard from each and every one of them.

"That was delicious Brock," complimented Ash as he relaxed in his chair after finishing his third plate.

"Thanks. It's nothing special though," said Brock being modest over his cooking. He knew it was good but he didn't let it go to his head.

"Trust me, I haven't had a good meal in a long time and this was amazing," added Ash.

"What do you mean that you haven't had a good meal for a long time Solid?" asked May.

Ash glanced at the brunette and her cheeks turned pink as he caught her eye and he smiled a bit. "Well, it's because I've been away from home for a long time. I've been busy taking care of some things and I've been traveling for a few years now. I learned how to cook for myself a little but nothing grand. Just simple things you know? So this to me was like a feast."

"Well, we're glad you enjoyed Brock's cooking! He's the best!" praised Dawn cheerily while Brock smiled over the compliment.

"You mean ONE of the best! Cilan's very good too!" shot Iris, making Cilan blush at her compliment.

"Yeah, I meant him too. Hehe, my bad," said Dawn while lightly knocking herself on the side of the head and sticking out her tongue cutely, making her friends laugh.

Max turned to their newest friend. "Hey Solid, you said you were traveling around for a while right?"

Ash turned his gaze towards the teenager. "Yea I did. Why do you ask?"

"Did you meet a lot of people or were you mostly by yourself?"

"MAX! That's none of your business!" yelled May, angry that he would be so careless and ask such a personal question.

"What? What's wrong with that question?" asked her brother.

Before May could explain why, Ash interrupted her. "It's okay." Looking at him, she saw he wasn't mad or annoyed so she calmed down and nodded. He faced Max again before he replied back. "A little of both. Why do you ask?"

"Well…since you said you were traveling for a while, I wanted to know if you happened to meet someone. A friend of ours that we haven't seen for a while now."

Ash felt uneasy and his heart started beating a little faster. He knew where this was going. It tore at him to keep going on with this game but he believed now wasn't the right time to come clean since he wasn't ready to face them as himself. "I see. Well, maybe I did. What was his name?"

"Ash…"

Instead of Max answering him, it was the four girls who answered him while staring at their plates. The guys in the group gave the girls sullen looks and even the pokemon researcher couldn't tease them on this. Iris looked just as crestfallen as she looked at them from her seat.

"Ash? Do you mean as in Ash Ketchum?" Oh god, how he hated playing this game. He wanted to tell them so bad since he didn't know how long he could keep up this charade and he didn't know how long he could withstand seeing them so sullen. But he was just so damn scared of how they'll react…

"Yea, that's him!" said the girls together, snapping their gazes towards him before they started shooting off questions nonstop with their eyes shining with hope that filled them all of a sudden that everyone noticed.

"Where did you meet him?"

"What was he doing?"

"How did you meet?"

"Was he okay?"

"When did you meet?"

"Did he talk about us?"

"Alright girls, that's enough!" interjected Brock so they wouldn't go overboard. They stopped with their rapid fire questions and became embarrassed that they just went off like that. Some chuckles and laughter was let out from amongst the group that made them redden with embarrassment.

Ash couldn't believe what he just saw. He was astounded over how they reacted so strongly because of him and he noticed the look of hope in their eyes. Am…Am I being scared…for no reason? Could…could their feelings…be that strong…for me? Could…could I actually have…a chance?

He was about to say something when Gary cut him off. "Hold on there a second Solid. None of us have been able to find Ash for a long time. Nobody has heard or seen from him in ages. We've tried everything and spoken with everyone. It was like he just vanished into thin air. And yet here you are, some random person we just met who's saying that you did run into him. So how? When? And why you?" questioned the pokemon researcher. Gary grew suspicious of their new acquaintance and he wanted to know why of all people, this random person they just met today, had met their friend who had been gone for three years.

Everyone looked at Gary for a second before facing the questioned person with inquiring looks on the faces. Ash felt nervous over their piercing gazes and he did his best to quickly come up with a suitable explanation. He figured that a little bit of the truth about his adventures would probably work. "I understand what you're saying and I get how suspicious it looks. To be honest, it was a complete coincidence that I ran into him," he started telling them, coming up with the rest of the story as he spoke. "I stumbled into his campground and he didn't notice me at first since he was busy training…"

"Sounds like Ashy-boy," commented Gary and some of them laughed.

Ash couldn't help but chuckle as well. "Well, once he did notice me and saw that I wasn't a threat, we introduced ourselves and found out we were both heading the same way. So we decided to team up for a bit and talked here and there. I found out we were both training to become stronger. I had told my family I would return as champion one day and he said he had similar goals but was also preparing for something. And this was a while ago when I was making my way through Meteor Falls in Hoenn looking for some pokémon…"

"He was in Hoenn? And he didn't visit?" interrupted May, an obvious hurt look on her face. Serena rubbed her back and started comforting her while Misty and Dawn said some comforting words too.

Ash felt his heart break a little over the brunette's reaction. Idiot! Why the hell did you say a specific place? He hurried to fix it. "Well May, let me tell you something else I found out," he said, catching her and everyone else's attention. "After we talked some more, he told me how even though he was on his own for a long time, he was able to keep going because whatever he was doing was important. And that he also has a group picture of himself and all of his closest friends that he would look at every night before going to sleep. He told me how much he misses them and how he couldn't wait for the day when he can finally go back..." Ash didn't continue because he noticed how everyone looked sad with the girls, including Iris, had tears in their eyes.

"He misses us?" croaked out Misty.

"He thinks about us every day?" questioned Dawn.

"He can't wait to see us again?" asked May.

"He said all that?" whispered Serena.

The girls couldn't help it and they started letting out tears over that, sobbing quietly over what they just learned about their crush.

They…they really do miss me… "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything," apologized Ash, hating that he was the cause of their sadness. And he hated being such a chicken shit for not coming clean. I'm such a fuckin idiot…

"No, you did the right thing Solid. We needed to know. Thank you," said Iris for them all as she wiped the few tears off her cheeks, while Cilan gave her a sympathetic look.

Glancing around at everyone, Ash was told the same by everyone else. When they calmed down enough, Brock asked a question. "Did Ash ever mention why he's been gone for so long?"

Brock's question made everyone lock their eyes back onto him and Ash felt his heart skip a beat. "Um, not really. All he told me was that he was on an important mission helping out a friend and that he couldn't leave while in the middle of it because if he did, then everything he did would be for nothing."

"But what did he mean that he was on a mission?" asked Richie.

"I can't tell you because he didn't tell me. And I never got the chance to find out more because after a few days of traveling together, we went our separate ways. This was about five months ago and that was the last I've heard or seen of him," he finished explaining, feeling like a total asshole for lying and putting them all through this. Why couldn't he just let them know?

"I guess we'll find out some day. Hopefully," said Brock before standing up and getting everyone's attention. "Alright, why don't you all go relax? Get some fresh are at the balcony, have some battles, go on a walk or something. Cilan, can you help me with the dishes please?"

"Of course, not a problem," replied Cilan as he stood and helped Brock clean up the table.

While the two of them did that, all of the girls went to the balcony and closed the sliding door behind them so they can have some privacy while they conversed with one another. Ash decided he was going to go train for a bit and Richie decided to go with him. Max wanted to go with them to learn some of their training habits but both trainers said that they just wanted to have a quick one and would let him come with them some other time. Max was disappointed but understood. So after Ash retrieved Lucario and Gardevoir from his room, he found Richie waiting for him at the door and they left the suite together. Not having anything else to do, Gary and Max decided to watch some TV.

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While the girls where outside in the balcony, they looked out into the horizon while leaning against the railing on the balcony walls. It wasn't too hot even though it was midday. With the sun's rays and a gentle breeze hitting them, it allowed them to stay calm and able to enjoy the scenic view in front of them. After a short period of silence, the girls started talking more openly about what they just learned recently. They discussed what they were told for quite a while as they hung out in the balcony. Anyone who would've walked in on their discussion would've thought it was some very important business with the serious tones being exchanged between them. And if they were observant enough, they would've noticed the slight hint of hope that was in the voices of four out of the five girls as well.

"Do you really think Solid met Ash?" asked Serena.

"I don't think he would lie about something like that," replied Dawn.

A certain purple haired girl however was still skeptical about it all and decided to speak up about her doubts. "But how can you be so sure Dawn? Like dumbass Gary said, you've done everything humanely possible to try and find him and you came up with nothing. What makes Solid so special that he just ran into him?" questioned Iris and her comments made them think about it.

"Well, it might've been just coincidence. We'll never know. I can tell that Solid was hiding some things, but I don't think it was something bad. Maybe he made a promise to not say more and I wouldn't be surprised." Misty's opinion made sense and the girls nodded.

"Maybe. But if he's hiding something from us about Ash and we find out about it, he'll be in a world of pain before you can say 'Pokémon Master'," promised May as she punched her fist into her other hand a couple times.

They chuckled at that before Serena's question made them go silent again. "Do you guys really believe that Ash thinks about us and misses us every day?" she asked them in a small voice.

"I'm sure he is. If anybody is like that, it would be him," said Misty softly.

"She's right. No one else would do something like that," remarked Dawn and the girls sighed and nodded. "By the way Iris…" began Dawn and waited until she looked at her to continue. "…what were you and Cilan doing by the way?" she asked while sporting a large smirk.

Iris felt her heart beating quicker when she was asked that question but when Misty, May and Serena gave her their full attention as well, she blushed. "W-Well, you know what couples do…"

"No, we really don't," replied back Dawn with her smirk growing.

"So why don't you teach us?" requested May, backing up her partner in crime.

Misty and Serena glanced at each other, shrugged and decided to get in on teasing Iris since it was rare to have an opportunity to do so. The girls kept trying to have Iris confess what she did with Cilan while the Unovan native did her best to answer as generally as possible so she wouldn't give up any actual details. Their little discussion was turning heated but not as a fight. It was more of a competition to see which side would give up first or let something slip. It was a bit unfair, with four of them against one but the purple haired girl wasn't one to back down from a challenge like this.

Oddly enough, the five of them came to a stalemate after a series of intense back and forth questions that resulted in one of them blurting out such a question, that it ultimately ended with each of the girls just staring at one another with shocked expressions. A moment of silence enveloped them before they just burst out laughing.

"What kind of question was that?!"

"I don't know!"

"I'm surprised you even thought of that."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"You almost had us though."

"What about your guys' questions huh?"

"Mine was civil compared to yours."

"That's true. Hers was expected but yours..."

"We never would've thought you'd say something like that."

"Oh shut up, you were probably thinking it."

Laughing a little bit more, the girls decided they should go back inside since it was starting to get dark with the sun setting as they had been outside on the balcony for a while. Especially when a particularly strong gust of wind blew over them all of a sudden that made them shiver, they knew it was time to go back inside. The moment they opened the sliding balcony door however, several shouting voices were heard from within. The girls quickly went to see what the cause was as each of them readied a poke ball...

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"Man, what a jerk," remarked a pink haired girl after thinking about the last trainer she registered for the tournament. "Hope he gets knocked out of the tournament soon." Letting out a sigh, she went back to work and finished up some of the tasks she had to do. It didn't take her too long to get everything complete and once she sent out the final email of the day, she smiled to herself. "And we're finally done." Stretching her arms over her head while sitting, she arced out her back that made her spine pop in some places. "Ah, that feels good," she said as she relaxed again. Glancing at the clock on the wall, she let out a hum. "Not much longer until my shift ends."

As soon as she said that, she heard the elevator ding and she turned in time to see two trainers along with two pokemon step out of the elevator once the doors opened. She watched them walk closer to the counter but she could tell that they were heading towards the exit since their bodies pointed towards it. Catching some words, she figured out that they were going out to train.

But then one of them changed his direction and moved towards her while speaking. "Hey Joy, how're you doing?"

Nurse Joy smiled at him. "I'm doing well, thank you. How about you?" she asked.

"Doing great, thanks. I'm gonna go train for a bit. Do you know of any good spots nearby?" he asked.

"There's a few, yes. Just head straight towards the forest as soon as you exit the hotel and you'll see a suitable clearing if you just keeping going straight through it. That's the closest one."

"Awesome! Thanks Joy!" he said with a bright smile.

She smiled back. "You're welcome."

Before anything else could be said between the two, the second person that was with Ash came up to them while the two pokemon waited by the door. "So is there a spot?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, it's nearby too," said Ash, glancing at him before facing Nurse Joy. "By the way, Richie this is Nurse Joy. Nurse Joy, this is Richie."

"We've met. I'm the one who signed him up for the tournament remember?" teased Joy.

Ash rubbed the back of the head while Richie chuckled. "Yeah, but these are formal introductions. I'm trying to be proper here," he said with a bit of whine.

Shaking her head, the nurse chuckled. "Alright Solid." She turned to face the other young man. "Good afternoon Richie. Pleasure to meet you," said Nurse Joy while speaking with a proper tone and using formal words.

"Good afternoon Nurse Joy. The pleasure is mine. How do you do?" replied Riche, following her example and doing the same.

"I'm doing quite well, thank you very much. I hope you do well in your tournament battles."

"I'm glad to hear it and you're too kind but I thank you for your well wishes."

Ash let a smile form on his face, realizing what they were trying to do but he didn't mind it. He figured it would actually be a good way to break the ice between them. But then they really got into it and kept going, enjoying their proper conversation while trying to one up each other now. He watched the two go back and forth for a little while longer, his smile turning into a large grin on his face as he did so.

Deciding it was enough, he stepped in after their last exchange. "Okay, as entertaining as this was, you got me beat a long time ago and we still need to go train," he told them.

Joy and Richie stopped at once, glanced at Ash, who was sporting a massive shit eating grin and then slowly turned to look at one another. Both of them blushed. "Sorry. I...kind of got into it," apologized Richie as he looked down at his feet.

"It's okay. I did too," admitted Joy as she looked at her keyboard.

"I had fun though," added Richie as he looked back at her and scratched his right cheek with his right index finger.

Joy looked up as he said that and saw how he was behaving and gave a small smile. "Me too."

"Well, I'll see ya around then. Bye Nurse Joy!" said Richie as he turned around and quickly walked towards the exit.

"Bye Richie," said Joy as he exited the building. A moment later, she turned to face the one who was still there.

And he was still sporting that same shit eating grin. "Having fun?" asked Ash.

"I hate you."

Ash burst out laughing. Joy somehow reddened even more but couldn't say anything. He calmed down after a few seconds and took in a deep breath. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I'm gonna go train now. See ya around Joy!" he told her with a cheery wave and left the hotel with his pokemon.

Nurse Joy kept her sight on the hotel doors for several seconds after he left. Damn it, I'll get you back for this Ash. I promise. Turning to face her computer screen, Joy tried to find something to do during the last part of her shift. But her mind wouldn't let her focus as she kept thinking about everything that happened with Ash so far today as well as her interaction she just had with Richie…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Alright, that was some good training everyone. Let's call it a day and head back," said a young man after his pokemon did some light practice. "Have a good rest." Recalling his pokemon, he clipped their poke balls onto his belt and walked back to the hotel. Getting closer to the hotel, he started feeling a little uneasy. He wasn't exactly sure why but with each step towards the building, his heart was starting to beat a little faster. What the hell is going on with me? Trying his best to calm down, he didn't know what was happening but did his best to remain calm and tried not to dwell on the feeling.

When he finally went through the entrance doors, he looked at the counter and saw that Nurse Joy wasn't there. Instead, a man dressed in official league attire was standing there instead. The feeling inside of him went away and he wondered what that was all about. Deciding that it wasn't important, he made his way to the counter. "Excuse me sir, where's Nurse Joy?" he asked the official.

"She's gone for the day since her shift ended. If you need to sign up for the tournament or have pokemon that need healing, I can help you with that," said the man.

Richie shook his head. "Thanks but I already registered and my pokemon don't need healing. I just wanted to say goodnight to Nurse Joy."

The man didn't react except for barely raising his eyebrows. "I see. Well, maybe next time. Goodnight."

Richie didn't say anything else since the man's serious tone made him feel like he was being judged. Getting into the elevator and going up to the suite, he wondered what that was all about. I'm probably just over thinking things. I should just let it go, he finished thinking as he left the elevator and opened the door to the suite he was staying at.

As soon as he opened the door, he was hit with loud voices. He found Brock, Cilan, Max and Gary playing a board game together in the living room and they were arguing with one another. Moving closer so he can see what they were playing, he saw what it was. "Hey, Monopoly! I wanna play," stated Richie, catching their attention and letting them know that he was up for a game as well.

They all looked at Richie with different emotions expressed on their faces ranging from frustration to utter glee but the first one to respond was the pokemon researcher. "No can do Richie Rich. I'm almost done draining their bank accounts," laughed Gary sadistically.

"You have no idea Richie. You don't know how lucky this guy is!" cried Max.

Richie looked closer at the game board and saw several hotels all over the board spaces. "Are those all yours Gary?" he asked with disbelief.

"Yup!"

"Yea, I'll pass."

"Smart move. I should've done that too. It's a very depressing flavor. He's always getting perfect dice roles," complained Cilan, eyeing Gary's next roll of the dice to see if he was cheating somehow.

"Yea, it's a mystery," agreed Brock before looking at Richie. "So how was training Richie?"

"Not bad. It was light training to get everyone warmed up. We'll probably do it again tomorrow and we'll be ready for the tournament," said Richie with confidence. The guys nodded in agreement and wished him luck. "Has Solid come back yet?"

"No, he hasn't," answered Gary without looking up as he rolled his dice. "He's probably still training."

"Damn, still? Well that's good. I don't want easy opponents," commented Richie as he went to wash up and change his clothes.

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It took about thirty minutes after Richie came back for Gary to completely drain everyone's bank accounts, which caused Max to start screaming that he cheated. Brock attempted to calm down the young kid while Gary laughed boisterously, not helping the situation at all. Richie, who had returned to watch them finish the game, and Cilan let out sighs and shook their heads. That is until Max, who was being held back by Brock at the moment while brandishing his arms and legs everywhere, accidently hit the box on the floor that they were using to house the bank. As a result, the game money, the tokens and the extra dice that were inside it spilled onto the ground.

"Now look what you did," chastised Gary. "Don't be such a sore loser."

Max felt bad. "I'm sorry but it's your fault for making my mad."

"Don't make excuses," remarked Brock. "Let's just clean this up."

Working together, the five of them quickly cleaned up the mess since they had gone all over the living room. As Cilan went to pick up the mess around the table while the others went around the couches, he found some money and tokens along with the dice. He noticed two of the six dice were showing sixes. Picking up the dice, he dropped them into the box and was about to continue when he stopped and glanced back at the dice in the box.

Again it showed two sixes out of six.

Cilan rose an eyebrow over this and picked up the six dice. He dropped them into the box and the same result happened. He did it again a few more times with all six and then he tried with just the two dice that were showing sixes. He did it several more times with just those two.

And every single roll with those two dice ended up in double sixes.

Realization crept in and Cilan grew furious while standing there and glaring at the dice as if they had had committed a horrible crime. And that drew the attention of Brock who had cleaned up his area and came back to see the connoisseur stock still with an angry expression. "What's wrong?" asked Brock.

Before Cilan could respond, the other guys finished up cleaning and came back to them. "What's going on?" asked Richie.

"This is what's wrong." Cilan said no more as he picked up the two dice and as he did so, a certain pokemon researcher's eyes widened in shock. Throwing the dice, they all watched as they ended up as double sixes. Without waiting for anyone to say anything, Cilan quickly picked up the dice and rolled them again. And again. And again. And again.

Every single time it came up the same; double sixes.

Realizing what that meant, Brock, Max and Richie turned to look at Gary and Cilan joined right after. The pokemon researcher was starting to sweat bullets under their collective glares right at him and he tried to come up with a plan to get out of this in one piece. "So, how about that huh? Who could've known? Maybe whoev…"

"GET HIM!" shouted Max as he pointed Gary.

Brock and Cilan jumped at Gary but the pokemon researcher was quicker. He was able to dodge their initial lunge and he started running around the living room while doing his best to stay away.

"YOU CHEATING BASTARD!" yelled Brock.

"YOU HAVE NO CLASS!" remarked Cilan.

"IT'S PAYBACK TIME!" shouted Max as he joined in on the chasing.

"YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME ALIVE!" retorted Gary as he continued running away, using the furniture as obstacles between him and his chasers.

Richie just looked at them running around the living room with a dumbfounded look on his face. Really?! This is what I have to deal with?! I should've kept my room...

As the four of them continued running and yelling at one another, all of a sudden, the girls came running into the room while holding up their poke balls but then stopped in their spots as they took in what was happening. After watching for a few seconds, they yelled at them to stop. Hearing the girls yell at them, all five of the guys froze at once in their spots and turned their gazes with widened and fear filled eyes towards the girls.

"What the hell is going on here?!" asked Iris with her arms crossed and tapping her foot, with Misty, May, Dawn and Serena doing the same.

None of the guys were able to say anything and the girls quickly moved. They smacked each of the guys upside the head for causing a commotion. Cilan, Brock and Max said it was Gary's fault so they shouldn't be hit while Richie complained he didn't do anything so why was he getting hit. The girls answered that from now on if one guy messed up, then all of them would get punished since they were probably part of it in one way or another and that they were tired of their shenanigans.

Gary grimaced as he nursed the back of his head. "I'd love to see you try to hit Solid. You'd probably freeze if not faint if you got close to him!" retorted Gary without thinking.

Brock, Max, Cilan and Richie face palmed and let out groans as they all thought the same thing; Gary was a dead man and so were they because of being affiliated with him and his complete disregard for his friends.

Even though Gary mostly targeted four of the five girls with his words, all of them shook with rage and reddened over his words. "You're dead, Oak!" said the five together as Misty raised her mallet.

"Why's Oak dead?"

Nobody noticed that Ash had walked in but everyone turned towards him. He was holding his sweat drenched black shirt in his hand with a towel around his neck. Lucario and Gardevoir were standing beside him and looking at everyone with curious gazes. All of the girls' eyes widened and they blushed madly at the sight of Solid, half naked and sweaty with his toned muscles showing off. Without warning, four of the girls fainted right there, with only Iris barely left standing, yet she wasn't moving an inch with her gaze locked onto Ash.

Cilan hurriedly moved to block Iris's view before he shot Solid an annoyed look. "Do you mind?"

"Oh, sorry, I'll go put on something." Ash went to his room to take a quick shower and change with his pokémon following after him with amused expressions on their faces.

After he left, Richie turned to the pokemon researcher. "Wow, Gary you're the luckiest son of a bitch I've ever met."

"What do you mean?"

"The girls were about to kill you, then us," answered Brock, as he looked over the girls. He was making sure none of them hit their head and that none of them were bleeding from anywhere.

"Yea, but then Solid came in and that caused them to faint. Thank Arceus I'm still alive!" shouted Max while looking up with his hands reaching for the ceiling.

"Yes, you're quite lucky Gary. That was quite an entertaining flavor, even though it left a bitter taste in my mouth at the end," finished Cilan.

"Ah, you're just upset that Iris froze like a statue after seeing his muscles!" laughed Gary as he sat down on a couch.

Cilan shot him a very angry look that was even worse than the one he gave him before that made Gary go quiet at once. "She was merely giving admiration for someone who seems to take care of himself. Nothing wrong with that!" spat Cilan. He turned to Iris and waved his hand in front of her dazed face.

Snapping out of her trance, Iris looked up at Cilan's face with a guilty expression on hers. "Sorry Cilan, I just wasn't expecting something like that. You know I love only you. I was merely blindsided, that's all. You understand right?" pleaded Iris as she hugged him, still looking into his eyes.

"Of course my little monkey. I can never stay mad at you!"

"Ah, he has a pet name for her!" amused Gary, starting to laugh while getting angry looks from the couple as well as disappointed looks from Brock, Max and Richie.

A mallet suddenly came up from behind the couch Gary was sitting on and then crashed down onto Gary's head, sending the researcher flying towards the ground. The girls got back up with reddened faces while Misty held her mallet. Iris moved to stand with them with her hands clenched into fists. "Don't think you're out of the woods yet, Oak," warned Iris.

"I take that back. You're not the luckiest guy in the world. More like the saddest," corrected Richie.

They all laughed at Gary's expense, who slowly got back onto the couch. "Well I was right wasn't I?"

The girls all gasped and then looked at one another while four of them gave each other a certain look that no one else caught. A few seconds passed before they burst out laughing over the ridiculousness of it all. Seeing them not getting angry, the rest of them joined in laughing as well.

Ash stepped back into the living room with his hair slightly wet but fully dressed now with sweats and another black shirt. "Sorry about that, guys. Didn't mean to blindside you all," he apologized as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Don't worry about it," answered Iris for them all, her face going red again while Misty, May, Dawn and Serena also blushed slightly but remained quiet as they nodded.

"So what took you so long?" asked Richie.

"I was perfecting some moves with my pokémon."

"Oh cool. What kinds of moves? And what pokémon?" asked Max, while practically jumping up and down in anticipation since he loved talking about anything pokémon related.

"Sorry buddy, but you'll have to wait and see," replied Ash as Max quieted down, a little sad from not being told. "Alright guys, I'm gonna go sleep. I'll see you tomorrow." Ash bade them a good night and went to his room.

After he left, the rest of them decided to call it a day as well even though it wasn't too late and went to their rooms. Brock and Gary opened their couch bed up and settled in. Every single person in that suite had thoughts swim around in their head as they thought about what happened that day before most of them drifted off into sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

May and Dawn had washed up, brushed their teeth and changed into their pajamas before getting into bed. They were about to turn off the nightstand lights when there was a knock on their door. "Who is it?" asked May.

"It's us." It was Serena's voice. May and Dawn glanced at one another and knew what this was about.

"Come in," replied Dawn. The door opened and Serena and Misty walked in and closed the door behind them. "So, when we give each other that look earlier, I guess we're having a talk now?" asked the blunette as she and May sat up in the bed and leaned against the headboard.

Both Misty and Serena sat down on opposite sides of the queen bed with one leg underneath while the other dangled over the side of the bed, glanced at each other and then faced May and Dawn. "Yeah. So, any ideas as to what happened with us back there?" asked Serena.

"Just to make sure, we're talking about when we fainted, right?" asked May to clarify and they nodded. She and Dawn both shrugged in response. "No idea."

"No clue. Do you?" asked Dawn in return.

Misty and Serena shook their heads. "We can't think of anything as to why all of us would be so affected in seeing Solid like that. He's been affecting us all day. We talked about this before. But now it's gotten to this point. This hasn't happened with anyone else before either…" started Serena.

"Especially when we know that we have strong feelings for Ash," finished Misty.

"And he's the only one who's ever affected us like this before too," remarked May.

"Yeah, that's right!" jumped in Dawn as she realized something. "How many times have we seen other guys, even good looking ones, but it never really affected us like this? Sure, we may have felt embarrassed or blushed a little or something like that. But we were never affected so much like this."

"You're right," agreed Misty as she started thinking. "The only one who's ever made us feel so strongly like this was Ash…"

"So, why are we feeling like this with Solid?" questioned Serena and the four girls went silent for a moment as they pondered possible reasons as to why. "Maybe…do you think…maybe Solid…is a relative of Ash's and that's why we're feeling like this?" asked the honey blonde haired girl.

May shook her head. "I doubt it. I remember talking to Ash about siblings and our families. He told me I was lucky to have a brother since he was a single child. No brothers or sisters and never mentioned any relatives or cousins," explained the brunette from Hoenn.

"Hmm…do you think it's because Solid's giving off a similar vibe to Ash and we're just subconsciously picturing it's him so we're being affected by him like this?" asked Dawn.

"That's a very psychological way of looking at it," commented Misty with a chuckle.

"And it might be true for one of us, but for all of us? Don't you think that's a bit of stretch?" asked Serena and Dawn thought about that.

But before the blunette could respond, the brunette spoke up. "And could you possibly be looking for an excuse so you won't feel bad about feeling like this because of Solid?" asked May.

Dawn snapped her gaze towards May in an instant and gave her a blazing look. "No way May! I know I gossip and I like to talk about certain things, but that doesn't mean that I like someone else instead of Ash. I have feelings for him and him alone. I know that for a fact and nothing can change my mind," said Dawn fiercely with such conviction that none of the three were able to argue back.

"Okay Dawn, I believe you," said May, feeling bad and a little frightened to be honest. "It was just something I thought of when you said that. And to be honest, I thought I might be acting that way myself…" revealed May with a heavy sigh.

"Oh." Silence in the room until Dawn spoke again. "Well, why don't you try to picture yourself with Solid," suggested Dawn.

"What?!" shot May in surprise. "Why?! I like Ash…"

"Just try it!" commanded Dawn as she got in her face.

May's eyes widened as she leaned away from her. "Okay, okay, just give me some space!" Dawn moved back and waited for her to do so and so did Misty and Serena.

May's heart started beating a little faster as she closed her eyes and tried to picture Solid in her mind. She was able to see him in her mind's eye with no problem. Then she tried to picture herself hugging or kissing him. But every time she tried to do that, Solid would change into Ash at once. Even when she tried to picture herself standing next to him, it still wouldn't work. Solid again immediately changed into Ash. No matter what she tried to picture herself doing with Solid, it just wouldn't work. She could picture him alone in her mind but anytime she tried to put herself with him, doing even the most mundane things, it was like her mind and heart would instantly correct things for her as if to say she was mistaken. Even when she tried to force a picture in her head, she wasn't able to at all.

She opened her eyes and saw Dawn, Misty and Serena looking at her with neutral expressions, waiting for her answer. A smile spread on her face as Ash's image remained in her head. "I can't," she revealed happily as a couple tears escaped her eyes. "I can't picture myself with Solid. Alone yes, but not with him. No matter what I tried to picture us doing," revealed May as more happy tears were let out.

"Let me guess; every time you tried to picture yourself doing something with Solid, his image would change to Ash's at once. And it never failed to happen and always happened instantly. Right?" asked Dawn gently, her words letting them know that she had done that test too.

"Yes."

Dawn beamed at her and hugged May tightly who reciprocated it before facing Misty and Serena. "You do it too," said Dawn to them both and they complied. Dawn and May waited for them to go through it themselves and after a couple of minutes, both Misty and Serena opened their eyes within seconds of one another. "Well?" asked Dawn.

Misty nodded with a smile as her eyes filled with water. "Me too," answered the redhead and both May and Dawn smiled at her happily before the three of them turned to face Serena.

Serena cupped a hand over her mouth and closed her eyes again but was unable to keep her tears from spilling out. The honey blonde haired girl's reaction made the three of them become worried at once. "Serena?" called out the three towards their close friend.

The honey blonde haired girl held up her other hand and they stopped. Taking a moment to compose herself, Serena opened her eyes and removed her hand from her mouth. "I'm sorry…it's just my heart skipped a beat once I realized it…" The three girls had their eyes widen and they were about to say something when she cut them off. "I realized that…it's the same for me too," she finished telling them.

The three felt relieved at once. "What the hell?!" shot Misty.

"Scared the shit out of us!" said May.

"Yeah girl, not cool at all," added Dawn.

Serena moved forward to hug them and they let her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to," she apologized while the four of them shared a group hug. "We're in this together. No matter which one of us things work out for. Always."

"Always," repeated the three and they couldn't help but cry a little as they realized how they were all on the same page and would always be there for one another.

They stayed like that for a bit as they used each other to comfort themselves and calm down. Once finally calmed down enough, Dawn spoke. "So, about my question; still think it's just a psychological theory?" she asked them. They chuckled in response but didn't refute it at all. "Okay. So possible reason then. Any other theories?" she asked them.

Silence reigned once more until Serena said something. "Remember…remember how we mentioned that Ash might come back in a disguise because…because he might be too scared to face us?"

Following her train of thought, the girls glanced at one another before facing Serena. "You think Solid might actually be Ash in disguise?" asked May.

"I mean, look at everything so far. How he affects us like Ash does. How he has a very similar vibe as Ash. How he even behaves like Ash. He even had three servings today, same as May," said Serena, making the brunette flush a bit while the other two chuckled.

They thought about the facts she listed and wondered if Serena had a point. Everything was just too suspicious to completely disregard it. Letting out a sigh, Misty spoke. "It's possible. A long shot. A very long shot. But still possible. But if it does turn out to be true, he's gonna be in a world of pain for doing this to us," she told them.

"Of course. We wouldn't just let him off the hook so easily," agreed May.

"Alright, so we have two theories right now. Unless we have anything else important to say, we should probably end things here for tonight and go to sleep," suggested Serena.

"Yeah, you're right. We need our beauty sleep. And we need to be extra careful of things starting tomorrow," advised Dawn.

"Right," agreed the three. The four shared another hug before separating. Misty and Serena went towards the door and bade them goodnight. Dawn and May told them goodnight as they left the room and closed the door. The two turned off the nightstand lights beside their bed and went to sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As Ash lay on his back in his bed, he stared up at the ceiling. His pokemon had fallen asleep already but he was still wide awake. His mind was filled with thoughts over everything that happened that day. From meeting Joy for the first time to causing the girls to faint because of coming back sweaty with no shirt.

He was happy about a lot of the things he had experienced today. He met and ended up becoming friends with Joy. He was able to hang out with his friends after not seeing them for three years. He was right in how he believed Iris and Cilan had a thing for each other so long ago and now they were together. And even though he and Gary had buried the hatchet and patched things up a long time ago, he couldn't deny that he was happy to see him get some karma back.

And the girls he had been hiding feelings for since Arceus knows when are doing well. They had even grown very close to one another and not only that, had grown even more attractive than he could imagine and he could sense how much stronger they were mentally and emotionally. He was very happy for them. And he was also secretly glad that he had found out that they are in fact missing him, thinking about him a lot and there's a very good chance that he wasn't imagining that they have feelings for him as well.

But, he was also a bit upset over some things. He saw how close the guys were with the girls too and wondered if there was anything going on between any of them or if anything had happened between them at some point. He knew he couldn't fault them and shouldn't feel upset over it if it was true. He knew it was possible something like that could've happened because they were good friends that probably spent time together and he was gone for so long. That was just the first thing that upset him.

And the other things that were bothering him was because of his own stupid idea of entering the tournament in a disguise. And now, because of his disguise, he had spent a good part of the day lying to his friends. Not only that, but he was making the girls he had feelings for get affected from his disguised persona.

He hated that he caused all that but he couldn't do anything about it at the moment since he had no idea how to fix it. He had shot himself in the foot and was paying for it dearly. He did remember Joy's words of how she'll help the girls realize how much he means to them and how she's certain that they're only affected by his 'Solid' persona because of how similar it is to his actual self. Yet, it didn't do much to ease his mind. Especially when he remembered how he caused them to blush like mad and then faint after seeing him half naked as 'Solid'.

After thinking about all that for a little bit longer, Ash took in a long breath and exhaled it out slowly. Turning his body to lie on his left side, he closed his eyes and brought the blanket up to his shoulders. No point in thinking about all this. I fucked up. I fucked up big time. The only thing I can do is roll with it and hopefully…Arceus willing…I luck out and I'm able to somehow fix all of this…