Chasing Dreams

Chapter 10: Pyxis

Ash opened his eyes, confused. He looked around and saw that they hadn't actually been able to fly higher than the tower. He looked up again. "Try again, Garchomp! But, slower this time."

Garchomp slowly began to increase its elevation, only to be once again forced to a stop and pushed several meters down. Ash frowned, sighing. "I guess Zinnia was right. That sucks."

Zinnia watched expectantly as Ash and Garchomp slowly reached the ground, Pikachu still perched on her shoulder. Ash looked sheepish as he dismounted and returned Garchomp to its Pokéball. He rubbed the back of his neck. Zinnia sighed and shrugged. "You should've just listened to me, Ash."

"Sorry, Zinnia. I just wanted to see it for myself. Not like I didn't believe you or anything, I just needed to see for myself to really believe it. Gotta exhaust all my options before I try to climb this giant thing." Ash said, motioning to the tower.

"It's okay, Ash. I learned a lot about you from that. I really admire your attitude. It will certainly help us get up to the top here. Even I don't really know what we'll come across." Zinnia told him.

Ash chuckled sheepishly. "Well, thanks. I say let's get moving, then!"

Zinnia nodded. "Agreed. Let's go."

Ash nodded back, holding out his arm towards Zinnia, who looked confused for a moment, before Pikachu jumped off of her shoulder and back onto Ash's arm and finding his place back on Ash's shoulder. Zinnia smiled at this. She could tell the trust between those two was just as, if not more, strong as the trust between Ash and Serena.

As the two entered the opening in the front of the tower, they both took a moment to dry themselves off. Pikachu hopped off of Ash's shoulder and shook the moisture out of his fur.

"Nice to be out of that storm, huh, buddy?" Ash asked, grinning at Pikachu. The mouse smiled back and nodded.

Ash turned to Zinnia to see her smoothing out her hair and getting the water out of it. She had seemed to be the rather quiet, reserved type to him. From what he could tell, she didn't have a whole lot of experience around people. That was very different to him and his own experience. He was easily able to connect with people without even having to try, having been surrounded by lots of people since Professor Oak's summer camp where he met Serena. He figured he was going to have to reach out a little bit more than usual to make sure that he and Zinnia were able to work well as a team.

"Hey, Zinnia. I know we're probably gonna run into some danger as we're climbing, but you don't mind if we chat for a bit, do you?"

"Well, I'm not a big fan of small talk, but go ahead. What do you want to know?"

"So, do you have a dream? A goal for yourself, at all?" Ash asked, genuinely curious.

Zinnia seemed to smile sadly, looking down at the floor. By this point, everyone had settled into the damp, cold air of the inside of the tower and had sufficiently dried themselves. Pikachu took his place on Ash's shoulder and they began to walk in the direction of the first staircase.

Zinnia looked up slightly. "I don't, at the moment."

The dark-haired girl stayed quiet for a moment. Ash looked over at her with a gentle expression, silently encouraging her to elaborate. She saw this look and figured that she could trust him.

"...I honestly can't even remember a significant amount of time where I've been too far away from home. My grandmother only passed away a few months ago. She raised me, so it took a big toll on me. But because of that, I've never really had the chance to go anywhere too far away. I can tell you're well-traveled, and that you're great around people. I'm... not. The only friend I've ever truly had was my grandmother. I've never met my parents. But, if given the chance, I would not hesitate to explore the world. The inheritance from my grandmother would surely be enough to allow me to do that." Zinnia explained.