Chloe burst into the nearest Pokemon Center, determination written all over her face. "How can I help you?" Nurse Joy asked kindly. Chloe walked up and took a deep breath, as she had run straight from the Performance building. "Where's the nearest video calling station?" Chloe asked politely, despite her internal frustration. "I didn't see one on the way in."
Nurse Joy gave Chloe an apologetic smile and shook her head. "I'm sorry, but we don't have one," she said softly. Chloe gritted her teeth but was able to muster herself to say, "Thanks anyway." She walked away and realized if she was going to find Goh, she was going to have to confront the root of the problem, which was Goh himself.
The issue was that he hadn't been answering his phone at all, and Chloe had no idea why. He hadn't even texted her a reason beforehand as to why he would be leaving the Performance. Shaking her head out of fury, Chloe decided on calling her father again and attempting to force an answer out of him.
Unsurprisingly, he never answered, making Chloe look foolish as she stood in the middle of the Pokemon Center with a ringing phone. "Whatever... I'll find him myself," she muttered to herself as she angrily put away her phone. Storming out of the Center, Chloe looked down the road and gritted her teeth. I'll just walk to find him! She thought to herself.
She walked along the path until she reached the woods, where an obvious realization came over her. "There's no way I'm going to be able to find him like this!" She exclaimed, slumping against a tree. She put her hands in her face and groaned. Not only did she leave a Performance to find her boyfriend that didn't even care about her, but she also couldn't even find him to begin with.
A buzzing came from her phone, which she quickly grabbed. Her heart stopped at the name that appeared on the screen. Accepting the call, she quickly exclaimed, "Goh! Where are you?" Goh, who had called her after realizing she had called many times, quickly said, "Look, I know you must be extremely angry at me right now, but I can explain everything!"
"You sure?" Chloe replied sarcastically. "Because you promised to be there for my Performance, but of course, you weren't!" Goh groaned on his end and responded, "I was there for the first half I just- Look, can you just meet up with me somewhere so I can talk to you?" Chloe rolled her eyes and tapped her feet. "Fine," she answered blankly. "Come to the Pokemon Center near the Performance Building."
"Alright, I'll be there as quick as I can," Goh promised as what sounded like the wind blew past his phone. Chloe was about to ask where he was when she realized he had hung up. Chloe pouted and crossed her arms at him, even though he wasn't there to receive the message. "So much for being a supportive partner..." she muttered as she walked back to the Pokemon Center in anticipation for Goh.
{—}
"There it is, Flygon," Goh said, pointing at the Pokemon Center below them. "We need to land there." Moments later, Goh was walking into the Pokemon Center, looking for Chloe. He saw her sitting near the door, mindlessly staring out the window. "Chloe!" He exclaimed, running over to her.
He held out his hands to embrace for a hug, but Chloe stopped him by putting out a hand. "Where were you?" She stated coldly before turning to him. "After you promised to watch my Performance?" Goh hesitated for a moment and sighed. "Your dad called," he admitted. "He wanted me to investigate into a burnt island way out in the ocean."
"That shouldn't have taken that long," Chloe said in an unsure manner. "Well, I went to Snowbelle City with Clemont after," Goh said. "Clemont was there?" Chloe asked, surprised. Goh paused for a moment and shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Chloe. He's still the same greedy person that he became when he founded his company," Goh explained, lying through his teeth.
Chloe sighed and shook her head, believing Goh in his lack of judgment and logic. "I wish they would all just get over themselves and talk to us again," she said ignorantly. Goh had understood Serena and the Lumiose sibling's separation from the group after everything that had happened, but Chloe had failed to see why that was reasonable.
Disregarding her feelings about Clemont, she said to Goh, "So go ahead. Explain everything." Goh nodded and reached into his bag, a few items rustling around. He placed a few pieces of paper on the table and said, "This right here is evidence that Ash was on the island I went to." He expected Chloe to react in an outward manner, but instead, she just shrugged her shoulders.
"What, you're not surprised or excited?" Goh asked, dumbfounded. Chloe frowned and crossed her arms. "He should've never left in the first place," she said. "I've said for years that if he had stayed and simply talked it out with everybody, we could've understood why he wanted to leave." Goh scratched the back of his head and said, "I'm not sure it's that simple, Chloe."
"And how would you know?" Chloe erupted. "How would you know about how people are feeling, huh?" She stood up and stared at Goh, her eyes ablaze. "You don't even realize that I'm upset with you, even after all this time. We've been trying this relationship out for almost a year, and yet you can't understand how I feel or why I could be upset with you!"
Goh stared at Chloe, speechless. "I-I didn't know you were so mad at me-" Chloe raised her hand and slapped him across the face, interrupting his genuine lack of realization. "I guess we've both forgotten how to treat each other with respect," she said in a soft, but angry, voice. Goh sat with his hand against his cheek, stunned, as Chloe walked out of the Pokemon Center.
He knew it was best to not follow her, so he gathered up his papers and went up to Nurse Joy. "Can you heal my Pokemon?" Goh asked quietly. "Please." Nurse Joy nodded and took Goh's Pokeballs, sending them back with Chansey. He walked over back to his seat and stood there for a while, staring at the table.
It was true that Goh had been ignoring Chloe and failing to support her, and he knew it as well. He hadn't meant for it to get so bad to the point where she had to yell at and slap him to understand this fully. He ran his hands through his hair and groaned, realizing he may have screwed up his already crumbling relationship.
{—}
Ash, now in Olivine City, was meticulously making sure that his appearance wasn't recognizable one bit. Luckily for him, the Nurse Joy in Santalune City seemed to be the only one so far to see through his attempts at hiding himself, as no one else had batted an eye. He also bought a black cloak from the clothing store in case he needed to go into extreme hiding.
Getting ready to depart for the Moomoo Farms outside of a cafe. Ash's attention was diverted to Pikachu, who had decided to sleep in Ash's backpack. "Not now, there are people around," Ash whispered, trying desperately to go unseen while speaking to nothing. "Let me get to a better spot."
Quickly looking around for a quiet and isolated place, Ash noticed the dock was empty. "Give me a second, buddy," Ash whispered to Pikachu as he began walking over. He eventually reached the dock and stood at the end of it, staring deeply into the ocean that was before him. The smell of the ocean breeze overtook him, as he vaguely remembered noticing it the last time they arrived here.
"Pika-Pi-pika!" Pikachu exclaimed, wriggling out of Ash's backpack and jumping out. "Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed as Pikachu stood in front of him. "Pika..." Pikachu said softly, looking at Ash with intent. To the untrained eye, Pikachu was simply just trying to get Ash's attention, but Ash knew it was more through the way Pikachu was moving and looking at him.
"What, you want me to just go look for my old friends, huh?" Ash asked in a confronting manner. Pikachu nodded with a frown on his face. "Well, I can't! You know this! We can't just decide to do this because you know how painful it's going to be!" Ash asserted, raising his voice. "There are too many negative things that will happen if we go and find them!"
Pikachu was angry now, feeling as though Ash was not thinking straight. "Pika!" He exclaimed in protest, communicating to Ash that he believed things could work out if he talked to them. "The last time I tried working things out, I almost got us killed!" Ash retaliated. "So trying to get me to explain everything won't work, cause through one way or another, I'm just going to get more people hurt!"
Pikachu crossed his arms and stood there defiantly. He hadn't agreed whenever Ash had taken him from the Pokemon Center but didn't protest in favor of helping Ash. Now, he had had had enough and was standing up against Ash. "If you aren't going to come along willingly, then fine!" Ash exclaimed, grabbing a Pokeball from his belt.
"But I'll make you come along with me," he added, sending out Dragonite. "Dragonite, grab Pikachu and bring him to me!" Ash ordered point at his partner Pokemon. Dragonite scratched his head and stared at Ash, confused as to why Ash was having him forcibly grab Pikachu.
"Do it!" Ash affirmed, causing Dragonite to turn towards Pikachu with an apologetic face that read 'I don't want to do this. Pikachu began sparking his cheeks as Dragonite flew closer, getting into a defensive position. Dragonite reach out and swiped at Pikachu, but the electric mouse Pokemon was able to use his tail to essentially bounce over Dragonite, running past Ash and into the city.
"Oh no, you don't!" Ash exclaimed, turning to Dragonite. "Let me get on so we can chase after him!" Ash frantically said. Dragonite reluctantly flew over to Ash and allowed him to mount him. "After Pikachu!" Ash exclaimed determinedly. Dragonite knew that Ash wasn't thinking straight and hoped that he could somehow break his flawed sense of thinking, but he followed his orders anyway.
Taking off, Ash was able to see Pikachu heading towards Moomoo Farms, using Quick Attack to make his way through the city and into the woods. Ash grunted, realizing that Pikachu was getting into the forest where Dragonite was too big to freely fly around. "We're gonna have to hover over the forest and follow Pikachu's path!" Ash yelled to Dragonite over the wind.
"Drag..." Dragonite softly cried, not wanting to continue chasing Pikachu. "Don't give up on me," Ash said Dragonite. "Trust me, it's for the best." Dragonite was able to see Pikachu weaving in our and through the forest, getting closer to Moomoo Farms. "Why is he going to Moomoo Farms if he didn't want to go there in the first place..." Aah whispered to himself.
As Pikachu broke out of the forest and ended up in the open, sprawling fields where the Moomoo were kept, Ash made Dragonite swoop down low and begin catching up to Pikachu, who sensed Ash behind him. "Just come with me, Pikachu!" Ash shouted below him. "I know you want to see our old friends, but we can't!" Pikachu gave Ash a rude look before really giving his all into one final Quick Attack as they approached the farmhouse.
Ash opened his eyes wide as he watched the door to the farmhouse open. He was even more surprised when he saw Amelia, who was Frank's granddaughter and helped run the farm. She had Espie in her arms and watched as Pikachu was running from Ash. Sensing something was wrong, she put Espie down and said, "Please help out Pikachu."
Espie stared at Ash and frowned, recognizing him not off of his physical appearance, but from the energy that exuded from him. She closed her eyes and Ash was shocked when he noticed that he had begun floating against his will, being taken off of Dragonite, who stop flying and stared at Ash in awe. "What're you doing?" Ash exclaimed, trying to break out of Espie's Psychic attack. "Just helping Pikachu out," Amelia answered, her face covered with disappointment.
Espie brought Ash over to her and Amelia, sitting him down gently before them. Amelia walked over and held out a hand for Ash to grab. He huffed out of annoyance and reluctantly got up. "Now, why don't we all come inside and talk to each other," Amelia suggested, picking up Pikachu, who was staring at Ash defensively.
Ash turned to Espie and frowned. "Thanks for all the help, Espie," he said sarcastically. Espie stared at Ash and made a face of confusion, as she had realized that the Z-crystal she made for him was now gone. Ash didn't notice her facial expression and went inside, hoping to find answers and explain to Pikachu why he could never go back to his old friends.