Adventure's Past

Chapter 17 - Retrieval

"So why are we going to Olivine City?"

Clemont asked this to Ash, who sat next to him atop of Magnezone as they made their way towards Johto. Ash had told them of the location they should go to discover more about Greninja and Lucario's disappearance, but he requested something of Clemont and Bonnie before they left; to go to Olivine City.

Ash leaned back, causing Clemont to fear he would fall off into the ocean below. "Pikachu and the others are there right now," he explained. "Probably." Clemont was about to ask why, but he just rolled his eyes knowing how, even six years later, Ash was still prone to getting himself involved in odd situations.

Bonnie, who offered to ride on her Vivillon, was close enough behind to hear the conversation. "Wait, how are they here if you were all the way over here in Snowbelle City?" She asked, a bit more curious than her older brother. "A friend sent us," Ash replied over the wind. "I can explain a bit more when you meet them."

Bonnie crossed her arms at the lackluster answer but ultimately accepted it, as she looked up to Ash. In fact, Ash being here was one of the reasons she decided to tag along, as she would've just stayed in Snowbelle City and brute-forced her way through Wulfric. Ash had convinced her otherwise, saying that if she did that, she would just lose again.

"Hey, I've got a question, Ash," Clemont piped up. "You remember Professor Cerise, right?" Ash nodded as he stared out into the sky. "Yup. Chloe's dad," he replied. Clemont stared straight ahead. "Well, before we left Snowbelle City, I gave him a call and let him know you were back. I hope that was okay."

While he wasn't a huge fan of another person knowing his return, Ash had accepted that sooner or later he'd have to let the people close to him know. That included his own mother, but he wanted to cross that hurdle when he got there. "Okay, is that all who you told?" He asked Clemont.

"Yes, Ash, but I need to explain something important," Clemont added in a serious tone. "You see, I helped Goh try to find you because he asked me to help investigations into the fire on an island." Clemont wasn't looking at Ash, but he could just sense him tensing up.

"And when we got there, all we found was your journal and the Team Rocket grunts, knocked out and bleeding," Clemont continued. Ash was silent as he closed his eyes. "Of course, we had thought you had lived there once we found out that journal was yours, but we didn't know how long it had been since you were there, so we came back to Snowbelle City to investigate further, but..."

"But what?" Ash snapped as he opened his eyes, feeling Clemont had already snooped enough. "But, well, I had a disagreement with Goh," Clemont muttered. "I told him we shouldn't have tried to find you because you didn't want to be found." Ash nodded his head silently and whispered, "That's exactly what it would've been like if it weren't for the fire."

"Goh didn't like that I said that, so he grabbed the evidence he could and took off," Clemont explained. "Now, I have no clue where he went, but when I told Professor Cerise I had found you, all he said was that Goh was not only aggressively trying to find you, but he was doing so in a manner that could get him seriously injured." Ash shook his head and sighed.

"Goh gets so focused on things," he muttered, leaning his head on a hand. "Look, you and I both know that this situation is pretty annoying, and I'm sure you just want to do your own thing know that you're back," Clemont assured Ash. "But we can't just let Goh go on his own and get hurt. We need to do something."

"Fine," Ash replied, sitting up. "But we're still going to get my Pokemon." Clemont nodded and checked to see that Olivine City was a few minutes away. "You better be glad we are," Clemont said to Ash. "I was going to go to Cerise Laboratories after Bonnie's battle to try to find Goh before you randomly showed up."