Ash felt the wind rush against his face as he sat upon Dragonite, who was flying arbitrarily, confused as to where he was supposed to go. It had been hours since they had taken off, and the sun was beginning to set. Dragonite wasn't given any direction and didn't know how to act or feel about the situation.
Pikachu must've felt the same way, as Dragonite started hearing Pikachu protesting against his trainer's actions. "Pika! Pika-pi!" Pikachu exclaimed, trying to get Ash's attention. Ash faced straight forwards towards the sun setting and didn't respond to his partner Pokemon, clearly not wanting to talk about what had just happened.
Pikachu defeatedly sat back down and asked, "Why is he acting like this?" in Pokemon language. Dragonite heard this from Pikachu and turned his head around to face the small electric mouse Pokemon sitting on his back. "I don't think he wants to act like this," Dragonite responded, trying to weigh in on the situation.
Pikachu looked at Dragonite and considered his response. "He doesn't want to? Then why would he at all?" Pikachu questioned, not understanding his trainer's motives. Dragonite shrugged, causing a slight disturbance in the flying and a small grunt from Ash, who was ignoring the two Pokemon conversing in their specific language.
"Pika-chu!" Pikachu exclaimed towards Ash again. Ash repeated his actions, simply ignoring Pikachu's calls and facing straight ahead. "Pi-pi-chu!" Pikachu persisted, becoming more and more worried about his trainer. Ash sighed and smiled a little bit, realizing he couldn't ignore Pikachu's cries forever.
"Alright. buddy," Ash said weakly, feigning a smile. "I'll tell you what's up." Pikachu smiled at Ash's willingness to open up to him, so he sat down and listened to Ash while they flew over the forest.
"It's Miette," Ash began, thinking back to everything that had happened hours ago. "I-I think it is, at least," he added. "Pika. Pika-pi?" Pikachu asked, wondering if his trainer was okay. Ash laughed at his buddy's worrying and realized the way he was acting was affecting his Pokemon. "I'm fine buddy, don't worry," he happily said, giving Pikachu a little fist bump.
Ash then turned back towards the sun setting and sighed again. "It's just... I'm feeling a whole bunch of different feelings that I've never felt before," Ash explained, frowning as he did so. "I wish I knew why, but I'm sure that would make things better."
Pikachu saw the clear upset expression on Ash's face and desperately wanted to help him. He looked down and quickly realized that they had ended up in the Kalos region. "Pika! Pi-chu!" Pikachu exclaimed, tugging on Ash's jacket.
"You want us to go see someone?" Ash repeated back to Pikachu. While Ash didn't exactly know what Pokemon were always saying, he understood the message they were trying to convey, similar to when Ash was trying to understand what was wrong with Tauros back at Moomoo Farms.
"Pika-chu. Chu!" Pikachu continued. Ash noticed that Pikachu seemed very insistent that they go to the location that he was speaking of, so he stopped worrying about his problem for a moment to fully listen to Pikachu. "Pi! Pikachu!"
Ash's eyebrows raised upon hearing what Pikachu said. "You want to go to Lumiose City?" He asked, making sure he was understanding Pikachu correctly. The electric mouse nodded and smiled, making it clear to Ash who Pikachu thought could help Ash.
"Oh!" Ash exclaimed, finally getting what Pikachu was saying. "You want to go see them! Right?" Pikachu nodded, confident that if anyone could help Ash at the moment, it would be the two that always helped out Ash during his Kalos adventure, the inventor and the young Pokemon lover.
"Alright then!" Ash exclaimed, realizing that he was about to see some old friends again. "Dragonite, start heading that direction!" he commanded, pointing to his right. Dragonite bellowed and turned, heading towards the center of Kalos. "We're gonna see some old friends!"
[-]
"W-what did you do!" Miette yelled, watching the place where Ash had flown off. "You made him leave!" She yelled at Chloe, who nervously looked back at Miette. "I-I thought you two were... you had a smile on your face and I..." Chloe stuttered, trying to defend herself, unable to get out any words.
"Yeah, I had a smile on my face!" Miette yelled again. "And?" She was getting angry at Chloe because it was true. The small moment where her kissing Ash was a reality was enjoyable to her, but she now realized the consequences of her own personal gain. "And it made him go away!" Chloe exclaimed, tears welling up in her eyes.
Miette felt the breath leave her body at those words. She weakly sat down and whispered, "You're right. It did." She put her hands in her face and groaned, realizing that, by trying to make Ash fall for her, she made things worse. Before, he wasn't by her side, but now, he wasn't by anyone's side.
She began hearing soft sniffling and looked up to see something that confused her. Chloe was silently crying and was softly wiping away her tears with the sleeve of her arm. "Are you crying over Ash leaving?" Miette asked in confusion.
"It's not just that!" Chloe defended herself, wiping away the last of her tears. "It's just that I had a fight with my best friend, and now his only other friend beside me has just disappeared! He's going to be devastated!" She passionately explained, feeling immense guilt and sorrow for Goh as she realized she was going to have to tell him that Ash went missing.
Miette opened her mouth a little as she realized that this was true. It's my fault that Ash is gone! She thought, the gravity of the situation weighing on her. He was supposed to protect the world, and I drove him away. Her mind went to Serena, and how she would have to tell her that Ash had just left them all behind.
Miette quietly stood up, emotionless, and walked over to Chloe. "Here," she said, offering out her hand. "Let's go find the others. We were all looking for you." Chloe warily took her hand and stood up, wiping off the leaves on her clothes. "Really?" Chloe asked, seemingly shocked that everyone dropped what they were doing to search for her.
Miette shrugged and said, "Well, yeah. They're all your friends." She began walking along the path that she and Ash had taken to get there. "I would've done the same if you were my friend." Chloe rolled her eyes at this statement, thinking, That's not true, but decided to keep her mouth shut.
Chloe decided to keep the conversation going. "So, even Goh was worried about me?" She asked nervously. It worried her that Goh might've not even cared at all to come looking for her, given their recent quarrel. Even if it was his fault for starting the fight and being so assuming, she still cared for him and worried their bond may have been severed.
"Oh yeah, he was the most concerned," Miette answered, still walking through the dense bushes. "He came running to the gym, looking like he lost his mother, wondering where you went." She softly smiled as she recalled the look on his face when they told him that they hadn't seen Chloe in a while.
Miette felt a hard slap on the back of her head. "Ow!" She yelped, reaching to the back of her head to rub it. "What was that for!?" She whined, glaring at Chloe who angrily stared back at Miette. "Just because Goh cares for me doesn't mean he's a wimp!" Chloe exclaimed, fighting for Goh's dignity. "I think it's good that he was so worried about me!"
Miette clenched her teeth and was about to fight back when they heard rustling in the bushes. "Who's there!" Miette exclaimed, forgetting all about the fight that was about to happen between her and Chloe. "Guys! It's us!" A pair of voices came from the bushes. Chloe's eyes widened when she recognized the voices.
"Whose us?" Miette asked threateningly. "It's Goh and Serena!" one of the voices exclaimed, getting clearer as they exited the bush. "We heard screaming, so we ran as fast as we could into the forest," Goh explained as he stood up from exiting the bush. Upon seeing Chloe, he ran over to her and embraced her in a tight hug.
"Chloe!" he exclaimed as he did so. Both Miette and Serena watched as Goh began nearly crying. "I'm sorry for the things I said,'' he apologized as he continued hugging Chloe. "I was being an idiot. Please forgive me!" Earlier, Chloe would have punched Goh for being such a rude person in the first place, but the sincerity of Goh's apology broke through to the point where she had to forgive him for his actions.
"It's okay, Goh," Chloe said softly. "I do forgive you." She parted from the hug and smiled at him, seeing his face happy that she accepted his apology. Her smile faded when she looked over at Miette and was reminded of Ash's departure. "What's wrong?" Goh asked, seeing Chloe's mood fade into sadness. "Did I do something wrong?"
The innocence of Goh's question made Chloe even sadder as she began telling the story of what had happened. "It's about Ash," she said, her voice breaking slightly. Both Goh and Serena frowned upon hearing Chloe talk about Ash in such a sad manner. Miette looked on in guilt as she realized the true result of her despicable actions. As she listened to Chloe begin explaining, a thought began forming in her head that she thought would be the right thing to do.
"He's... um... well..." Chloe stuttered, not sure how to explain why Ash had left without accidentally giving away the main event that caused everything. Looking over at Miette, she thought about what would happen if she told Serena that Miette had wanted to kiss Ash and had encouraged the thought that they had done so.
It's what Miette did next that shocked everyone, especially Chloe. "I-I kissed Ash!" She exclaimed, causing a few gasps to be released. "I kissed him when we found Chloe and he flew away on his Dragonite!" She repeated, eyeing Chloe as she did so, who shockingly looked back at her. "No you didn't" Chloe mouthed to Miette, who shook her head back at Chloe.
"I did. And I'm sorry," she said, apologizing for an action that she had simply not done. Chloe knew in her heart that Miette was lying and that she was doing this for some other reason. But what? Chloe thought, staring at Miette shuffling her feet. What personal gain could she even get out of this?
Her thought process was cut short when she heard soft crying from her left that belonged to Serena. "Serena, I-" Miette began. "Stop!" Serena exclaimed, putting her hand up to quiet Miette. "You've already caused enough trouble!" She added, putting her other hand on her mouth to quiet her crying. Chloe simply watched as everything unfolded, unsure of why Miette had just done what she did.
Goh had been silent for a while until he exploded. "Everyone here knows how much Serena cares for Ash!" He angrily yelled at Miette. "I know! Chloe knows! It's obvious you know!" He said, raising his voice as he went on. "Why?!"
"I-I don't know," Miette stuttered, frightened by Goh's sudden outburst. Goh scoffed and shook his head. "What do you mean you don't know?" He questioned, not accepting it as an answer. "I wasn't thinking," Miette admitted, trying to answer in a way that Goh would accept.
He clearly didn't, as he stormed away whispering what one could imagine would be strong words that were rude and hateful towards Miette. Serena, who was still quietly sobbing, saw Goh leave and decided that she would follow suit. She picked herself up and glared at Miette with such hatred that Miette got the chills. Serena walked towards where Goh had left, leaving just Chloe and Miette.
Chloe walked over to Miette and asked, "What are you doing?" in a serious and threatening tone. "Just trust me," Miette forcibly answered back. "This is for their own good." Chloe didn't know what Miette was talking about, but when she looked into her eyes, she didn't see any evilness or malice, just pure innocence, which Chloe was taken aback by.
"Fine," Chloe said, realizing that Miette was most likely telling the truth. "But if this turns out to hurt my friends more than help them, then your life is going to be a living hell." Miette looked up in shock at Chloe's words and nodded seriously, making a promise to Chloe and everyone that would follow her everywhere.
[-]
"Right there, Dragonite!" Ash exclaimed, pointing towards the Prism Tower. "That's where we need to go!" Dragonite responded with a small cry and began flying downwards, Pikachu and Ash hanging on tight. Dragonite landed onto the concrete, creating a loud quake in the ground and performing a stylish pose,
A few pedestrians looked on in awe at the size of Ash's Dragonite. "Dragonite, you don't need to make such an entrance," Ash whispered to Dragonite, who sheepishly looked back and shrugged, clearly wanting to try something new. Ash shook his head in exasperation.
"Dragonite, return!" Ash had said when he and Pikachu dismounted the Dragon-type. "Thanks for taking us here," Ash whispered to the Pokeball before storing it on his belt once more. Looking up at the Prism Tower, Ash began thinking back to the great times he had there. Professor Sycamore's Garchomp, his battle with the Gym Leader, and most vividly, the conflict with Team Flare, he thought shuddering as he remembered everything that had happened that day.
He turned back towards the front doors to the gym and took a deep breath, knowing the two individuals that waited behind the door. "You ready to see some old friends, buddy?" Ash asked Pikachu, who responded with a "Cha!" and raised his fist in the air. As they began approaching the doors, he felt a warm sensation on his ring finger.
"What the-" he began, looking down at his finger. He honestly forgot that the Mega Ring had been on him the whole time, and was only reminded of its existence now when it was reacting to something. "What's up with that?" He thought out loud, looking closer at the ring.
It was glowing blue and red while pulsating like water. That's weird, Ash thought, staring at the ring. Why here? At the Prism Tower? A thought came to Ash's mind, so he took off his backpack and opened it up, searching for the scarf that contained the Mega Stone. Ash remembered that 'Mega Scarf' was the name Serena had coined on the way to Anistar City.
Ash paused as the thought of Serena came to mind. It filled him with warmth and almost made him want to turn back and meet up with her again, but the thought of Miette clouded that desire and reminded him of why he came to Lumiose City in the first place.
Grabbing the Mega Scarf, Ash found the Mega Stone attached at the end of the fabric and saw that it, too, was glowing red and blue. "But there's no Pokemon holding it," He said, Pikachu agreeing with him. "Why is it glowing without another Pokemon?"
"Big brother! Big brother!" A high-pitched feminine voice rang out throughout the area. Pikachu's ears perked up upon hearing the voice, recognizing it almost immediately. "We've got to get back to the gym! There might be a challenger waiting!" The voice exclaimed. Ash's face grew into a smile as he knew exactly who the owner of that voice was.
"I know Bonnie!" an older boy's voice rang out. "You don't need to run! The challenger can wait a few extra seconds!" Their voices were behind him, so he began stuffing the Mega Scarf back into his backpack and began zipping it back up, anticipating their arrival. "Look! A person is waiting with their Pikachu!" Bonnie exclaimed, running towards the front doors.
"Gah!" Clemont exclaimed, realizing he had kept someone waiting. "I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting!" The siblings ran up behind Ash, who turned around with a huge smile on his face. "Hey, guys!" Ash exclaimed, causing both Bonnie and Clemont to stop dead in their tracks. "Long time no see!"