A Journey's Link

Chapter 4 - Pathway

Goh saw his chance to weaken it further, commanding Raboot to use Double Kick while Spinarak was down. The rabbit Pokemon jumped and used its two feet to attack its opponent. The Double Kick made contact and knocked out the Spinarak; it fell to the floor with a loud crash, sending dust and pebbles flying in all directions.

Goh, seeing his chance, reached for his Pokeball, knowing that if he caught it, he would be one step closer to reaching his goal. "Go, Pokeball!" Goh exclaimed; the ball curved and hit the spider Pokemon right on the head. As the Pokeball dropped to the ground, it started wiggling rapidly as Spinarak tried urgently to escape.

Finally, after a few seconds, the ball stopped moving, and a white ring flashed around the ball to indicate a successful capture. "Spinarak has been registered to your Pokedex-bzzt!" chimed the Rotom phone. Goh silently celebrated his capture with a fist pump and analyzed the data from this Spinarak.

"10 FEET!" screamed Goh. "That Spinarak was 10 feet!" He looked at Frank, who was quietly observing the whole situation. Frank chuckled, "See? I told you that the Pokemon here were unique. We aren't fully sure of why the milk boosts the growth of their size, but it sure is a magnificent sight to see at times."

Goh nodded and looked at the Pokeball containing the Spinarak, feeling odd that he had just caught something so massive. Ash was glad for Goh's capture but wanted to continue along the path; his impatience to try the Moomoo Milk was growing by the second. Goh realized this and recalled Raboot back into his Pokeball.

Frank continued to guide them and along the way they saw many Pokemon that were giant for their size, such as a Sunkern and a Magby, which were usually small. A few times, Ash tried to get up close to the Pokemon, but he was often met with them fleeing. When asked why they were so afraid of humans, Frank had an answer.

"We don't interact with them very much, if at all," he stated, pushing aside some leaves tickling his skin. "We usually just put bowls of the Moomoo Milk near the forest entrance from the farm and let them eat it on their own." Ash frowned, thinking to himself that if he had the opportunity to see giant Pokemon, he was going to do it daily.

Eventually, the three saw an opening, the sun peeking through the leaves. Upon going through the opening, they were met with a lush, open field with many Miltank scattered throughout it. At the gate which led into the field, was a woman holding a few empty buckets. Just behind her was a large farm-like building with some modern aspects to it, which Goh assumed was where they lived.

The women saw the three of them across the field and dropped the buckets in excitement. She ran over, yelling. "Hi, Gramps! It's good to see you!" Frank returned the greeting, also yelling. "It's good to see you too, Amelia!"

Ash and Goh looked at each other with knowing looks. So this is Amelia, Ash thought. But wait? Where is her Tauros? Amelia approached the group and hugged Frank, squeezing him and Espie in her embrace. "It's been a while since you've been home!" She exclaimed excitedly. "Uh, excuse me, but is there a Tauros here that needs help?" Goh asked, raising his hand slightly.

Amelia broke away from the hug and stared at Ash and Goh. "Are they here to help?" She asked Frank, not addressing Goh's question. Frank nodded in response, causing Amelia to smile at the two. She started to pet Espie on the head while explaining the situation, "Well, you see, Tauros isn't angry anymore..." Amelia said with a solemn look.

Frank was equally confused and delighted by this statement. "That's great news, Amelia!" Frank said with a grin, "But you still look sad, so what's the issue?" Amelia looked down at the ground, quietly whispering, "Tauros isn't angry anymore because of something else that happened..."

[----]

Reading the note again, Mr. Stone grunted in frustration and threw it across the room; the air resisted its flimsy structure and floated to the ground, unharmed. "Bring me Ash," he repeated the note's instructions out loud to himself. "What does that even mean?" He picked up the white paper, flattening it out on his desk once more.

Mr. Stone had met Ash once before, but he hardly even knew him. The last time he had heard about him was when he was on the news for defending the Kalos region alongside Steven, but that was about it. "Why Ash? Why the boy that Steven refers to with such respect?" He asked himself pacing around the room.

The shattered picture frame had been swept up by a janitor a few minutes ago; Mr. Stone claimed to have accidentally knocked it over while sitting down in his chair, but that was hardly believable given that it had been stomped on repeatedly. The only other sign that someone had been with Mr. Stone was his bothered state.

He sat down at his desk and folded his hands, trying to regain what little composure he had to offer. There is no other choice, he told himself, sighing deeply and loosening his shoulders. I can't risk it if that man wasn't lying. I need to find Ash and bring him here somehow.

Mr. Stone remembered the time he had first met Ash; His traveling friend, Max, had broken his PokeNav and was in desperate need of repair, so he offered to do it for him. According to Steven, Ash was still a somewhat inexperienced trainer, given that he was still in the beginning steps of his journey.

But one key feature stood out to him from their conversation. Ash had claimed to be in close touch with Professor Oak, Kanto's regional professor; someone Mr. Stone could easily get a hold of. He quickly pulled out an old phone book that was dusting in his drawer and found the number for Professor Oak, quickly dialing the number on his desk phone.

As the line rang, Mr. Stone began doubting himself. "What's even gonna happen with Ash when I finally get him to come here?" He muttered anxiously. "With how scary that guy was, it makes me wonder if Ash is safe." As the line continued ringing, his leg began bouncing up and down as the nerves began to overtake his mind.

"Professor Oak's Laboratory," an older voice answered from the other end. "This is Professor Oak. How can I help you?" Mr. Stone opened his mouth to speak and froze for a moment; no sounds came out of his mouth. "Hello? Is anyone there?" Professor Oak asked; Mr. Stone cleared his throat a few times.

"Hello, this is Mr. Stone from the Devon Corporation," he said, his voice wavering with fear and uncertainty. "Oh, Mr. Stone! What a pleasure it is to talk to you. What can I do for you on this fine day?" Professor Oak responded cheerfully, his tone almost intoxicating to Mr. Stone's gut-wrenching anxiety.

Not wanting to stay on the call any longer and increase his levels of guilt, Mr. Stone got straight to the point. "Do you know an Ash? He told me that you two were in contact with each other a while back?" On the other end, Professor Oak beamed and excitedly began telling Mr. Stone all about Ash.

"Oh, he's just the most talented boy. All of his Pokemon are a joy to work with, given that they're so strong and friendly," Professor Oak babbled, making Mr. Stone feel worse and worse with every compliment he gave Ash. "Do you know where he is right now? I need to... give him a rare stone," Mr. Stone asked, quickly making up a reason for his summoning.

"Oh, he's at the Cerise Laboratories working as a Research Fellow for Professor Cerise himself!" Professor Oak responded. "Here, I'll give you the number for Cerise himself so that you can chat with him." As he began listing off all the numbers, Mr. Stone shakily wrote them down on the note Z had given him, barely being able to read each one.

Once he finished, Mr. Stone hastily said, "Well, it was great talking to you, and thanks for the information." Professor Oak waved a hand on his end and replied, "Let Ash know that I'm rooting for him! He's always been like a son to me!"

Feeling his heart drop at the comment, Mr. Stone flung the phone back on the receiver, not wanting to listen to the professor talk anymore. He took another deep breath, paced around the room once more, and found himself sitting down in his leather chair once again.

Professor Cerise, huh? He thought to himself, picking up the note and slowly dialing the numbers. Let's see what it takes to get Ash over here. He rang the number and was almost instantly met with a voice that seemingly belonged to a young adult man. "Hi, this is Ren. How can I help you?"

"Hi, do you happen to know someone named Ash?"