A/N: I'm finally on summer break, so I might as well make this a longer chapter :P
~~~~~~~~~~
(Ash's POV)
Gary, Leafia, and I began telling our friends about how we met Yellow six years ago.
[Flashback]
Finally, I was old enough to start on my long-awaited journey to become a Pokemon Master. And tomorrow, I will be getting my first Pokemon from Professor Oak with Gary and Leafia. Since Leafia lives in the Sevii Islands, she is taking the Seagallop Ferries to the harbor in Vermilion City.
"Oh, there's the ferry! Do you see Leafia?" I asked.
"Nope, all I see is a girl floating on top of a pink balloon," Gary said.
He pointed to Leafia, who was sitting on top of an inflated Jigglypuff. She slowly descended onto the harbor and jumped onto me and Gary.
"Long time no see~ I miss you guys so much~" Leafia said cheerfully.
"Ugh... w-we missed you, too," I responded weakly.
She hasn't changed after five years. Except she does feel kinda... softer?
"It's great to have our little childhood reunion, but would you and Ashy-boy please get off of me?!" Gary shouted before pushing us off him.
"Aww~ Since when did you give him a cute nickname?" Leafia teased.
"Well, it's a fitting name for a loser like him," Gary snickered.
"Who are you calling a loser?! When I start on my journey, I'm gonna get ahead of you and become a Pokemon Master!" I retorted.
"Ha! I would like to see you try to get ahead of me, Ashy-boy!" he mocked.
A few days ago, Gary and I had a stupid fight over an old, rusty Pokeball, which broke into two pieces and we went from friends to spiteful rivals.
"Umm... did something happened after I moved away? You two are acting rude towards each other," Leafia pointed out.
"Eventually, we're all going to be rivals, but it's disappointing to be rivals with this loser," Gary said coldly.
"Well, it sucks to have you as my rival who doesn't accept having ties with me!" I argued.
"Because tying with you is just as bad as losing!" he shouted.
We didn't want to admit to Leafia that we haven't been on good terms, so we have to pretend that nothing happened.
After all, she wanted to get her first Pokemon with me and Gary.
"Okay, I don't know what happened, but oh my Arceus... you guys are acting so childish," Leafia sighed heavily.
Gary shrugged. "Whatever, but anyways, let's go to Viridian City."
"But that's a pretty long way from Vermilion City. And how did you two get here without any Pokemon to protect yourselves?"
"Obviously, I had my chauffeur drive me and my cheerleaders to come pick you up... and of course, Ashy-boy enjoyed the ride, too."
"I didn't exactly enjoy the ride. I literally had to sit on the back of the trunk because your air-headed cheerleaders took up the back seat," I retorted.
"Duh! A man needs to make his girlfriends feel comfortable," he gave a smug grin.
When Gary snapped his fingers, his chauffeur arrived with his cheerleaders sitting in the back of his sporty red convertible.
"They're still here?! Where's Leafia gonna sit down?!" I asked.
"Eh, my girls can make space for her, but you're taking the trunk seat again," he smirked.
His cocky attitude was starting to piss me off, along with his cheerleaders.
"Gary, Gary, he's our man! If he can't do it, no one can! Go... Gary!" the girls cheered.
I really wanna throw something at those cheerleaders, but there aren't any buses around here...
"Those are his girlfriends?" Leafia glared at them.
"Yeah, and they literally follow him everywhere! Even when we went to Oak's Summer Camp!" I complained.
"Is that so? Then tell me where's the closest department store?"
"That would be the Celadon Department Store. If you're asking me to take you shopping, then my answer is n-"
"Oh my Arceus! You're telling me that there's a 75% discount on all clothes at the Celadon Department Store?!"
"Huh? That's not what I said. What are yo-"
"A 75% discount?!" one of the cheerleaders exclaimed.
"You know what this means, girls?" another asked.
"Let's go shopping~" they squealed.
Gary's cheerleaders exited the red convertible and trampled over me on the way to Celadon City.
"Oh dear, are you okay?" Leafia asked.
"Ow... no..." I groaned.
"Wait! Don't leave me, girls!" Gary reached out to them and cried.
While Gary was sulking on the ground, Leafia dragged my limp body to the back seat of the convertible. Then she pulled Gary over to the front seat and told the chauffeur to drive us to Viridian City.
~~~~~~~~~~
Once we arrived to Viridian City, Leafia wanted to get her Jigglypuff checked up at the Pokemon Center.
"When did Jigglypuff learn how to fly?" I inquired.
"Jigglypuff inflates itself like a balloon and float, not fly. You really need to study more about Pokemon, Ashy-boy," Gary mocked.
"Just because you're Professor Oak's grandson doesn't mean you can boss me around."
"But Gary's right. And I prefer to have Jigglypuff as my aerial transportation since I hate bird Pokemon," Leafia shuddered.
"Why, Leafia?" I asked.
Before Leafia could explain, we noticed a young girl talking with Nurse Joy.
"Are you sure, Nurse Joy?" the girl asked.
"I asked a couple of trainers, but none of them had seen your Rattata," Nurse Joy replied.
"Oh... then what should I do? If he finds out that I lost Ratty, he might get upset with me."
After hearing their conversation, we walked over to see them.
"Hey, I'm Ash and this is Gary and Leafia. We overheard your conversation and it sounds like you haven't found your Rattata?" I inquired.
The girl nodded and cried, "This morning, Ratty disappeared from my home and I can't find him anywhere."
"Couldn't you catch another Rattata? There's plenty of grass for those annoying rats to hide," Gary said bluntly.
Gary's harsh words made the girl cry again.
"How could you say that, Gary?" Leafia comforted the girl.
"What?" Gary questioned.
"Don't you understand, Gary? You can't replace your bond with another Pokemon. It's just not the same," I stated.
He shrugged. "Well, I don't care about developing a bond with my Pokemon as long as I'm using the strongest for my team."
I don't like his mindset on Pokemon, but for now, I should focus on how to find Ratty.
"By the way, what's your name?" I asked.
"I'm Yellow and I live in Viridian City with my uncle, Wilton."
"Okay, Yellow. Do you know any place where he could be?"
"Let me think... Ratty likes to eat apples from Viridian Forest."
"Alright, let's go to Viridian Forest!"
I rushed into the direction of the forest.
"Wait! It's dangerous without any Pokemon!" Yellow warned.
~~~~~~~~~~
Inside Viridian Forest, it was crawling with Bug-type and Flying-type Pokemon. And what's worse? It's a freaking maze. How the hell am I gonna find Ratty?
Then I heard a cry coming from behind me. I turned around to see a Rattata carrying an apple and running away from a swarm of Beedrill.
"That must be Ratty!"
I chased after them and I see Ratty backed up against a tree. Then I rushed in front of him with my arms out.
"Leave Ratty alone, Beedrill!"
The Beedrill didn't listen and pointed their stingers at me and Ratty. But luckily, my friends arrived in time.
"Use Sing, Jiggly!" Leafia commanded.
Leafia's Jigglypuff appeared and sang, which made the Beedrill dropped to the ground.
"Whew... thanks Leafia," I sighed in relief.
Ratty noticed Yellow and jumped into her arms.
"Ratty! I was so worried about you!" Yellow hugged him.
Seeing the bond between them made me happy... and sleepy.
Zzzzzzz...
"Oh, Ash fell asleep from Jiggly's Sing," Leafia giggled.
"Hah! I doubt he's gonna wake up in time tomorrow," Gary snickered.
Well, he's right. I did woke up late, but I would have never met Pikachu.
[Flashback End]
"And that's how we met Yellow," I finished.
Serena smiled. "You're always helping others, Ash. But I never knew Gary was such a jerk."
"Hey! I've changed my ways since I retired from my trainer days," Gary retorted. "However, I am still popular with the ladies~"
Suddenly, Gary was knocked out by a Great Ball thrown by Leafia.
"Ugh... you disagree, Leafia?" Gary asked weakly.
"What do you mean? I'm sure a spiky-haired nerd like you had a great time with other girls," Leafia scoffed and turned away from him.
"Why does your words hurt me more than the Great Ball?"
Oh, how the tables have turned against him.
~~~~~~~~~~
With everything settled down, Clemont reported to the student council about Ursaring. Apparently, Yellow was told to deliver Ursaring to Silver because it was his Pokemon.
"On my way to the academy, I ended up losing his Pokeball. So I messaged Leafia with the holo caster I received from one of the assistants," Yellow explained.
"And that's why we left the school," Leafia stated. "Because I don't want my little Yellow to get hurt by Silver's vicious Ursaring."
Leafia embraces Yellow as if she were a small Pokemon.
"Umm... I can't really breathe..." Yellow said weakly.
"Sorry, but you're just so cute~" Leafia squeezes her before letting go.
"Since you're here, why don't you come with us to the flower fields?" Bonnie asked.
"That's a good idea!" Mairin agreed. "And I would like to get to know you better, Yellow."
Yellow smiled at them, but then Leafia whispered into her ear about something important.
"I apologize, but I have to go somewhere with Gary and Leafia," Yellow said.
"Really? Where are guys going?" I asked.
"We're escorting her to the school since she just arrived," Gary explained.
"And she does have to fill out the paperwork and dorm applications," Leafia added.
Yellow called out to Pika, who was playing with Pikachu and Dedenne. Pika waved goodbye to them before jumping onto Yellow's shoulder.
"Will I see you tomorrow?" I asked.
"Of course, Ash! I am going to be a student here after all," Yellow replied.
After Yellow left with Gary and Leafia, I looked around and realized that Hawlucha was not here.
"What happened to Hawlucha?" I inquired.
"I saw him leaving through the forest not too long ago," Clemont informed.
"What?! Aww, man..." I groaned.
That Hawlucha was a really interesting Pokemon.
~~~~~~~~~~
(Third Person View)
"Why did Silver invited us to hang out with him?" Gary inquired.
"Yeah, he doesn't usually ask this, but it must be important," Yellow said.
"You're correct, Yellow~" Leafia said cheerfully. "We're almost to the meeting place."
They turned the corner into a dark alleyway and stopped in front of a suspicious cafe.
"This is the place," Leafia pointed out.
Gary reads the sign, "The Rocket Cafe Lounge? That sounds... Wait a minute! Don't tell me tha-"
Then three well-dressed figures rushed out of the cafe to greet them.
"Good evening! Master Silver has been waiting for your arrival," said the lavender-haired man.
"And what a surprise! It's the famous grandson, Gary Oak!" said the magenta-haired woman.
"Wow~ Didn't expect to meet him under these circumstances," said the short one.
"Neither did I, Team Rocket," Gary glared at them.
It was the Team Rocket Trio, Jessie, James, and Meowth.
"Why the hell is Team Rocket here, Leafia?" Gary asked.
"We'll talk about them later, but for now, let's go inside," Leafia walked in the cafe.
Before Gary and Yellow followed Leafia inside, they were immediately stopped by them.
"Not so fast! Before you enter the cafe, you are required to hand over your holo casters for inspection," Meowth extended his paw.
"An inspection, huh? That's probably an excuse to install a device in them, so you can steal our Pokemon!" Gary retorted.
"Hmm, that's actually not a bad idea," James rubbed his chin.
Then Jessie stomped on James' foot and he jumped around from the pain.
"Listen here, Twer- I mean, Gary," Jessie corrected herself. "As much as we would love to steal your Pokemon, we cannot disobey Master Silver's orders. He told us to take your holo casters for inspection."
"You know, Leafia mentioned Silver is the son of Team Rocket's Boss, Giovanni, so maybe..." Gary pondered.
"Gary," Yellow interrupted. "If Silver is asking them to do this, then I think it's okay to trust them."
"Are you sure, Yellow? Team Rocket caused a lot of trouble for everyone in the past."
"Even so, I don't sense any evil intentions from them or Silver. And you know he isn't a bad person like his father, so let's trust them."
Gary thought about her words carefully and agreed.
"Fine, but don't try anything funny with them," Gary said bluntly.
He and Yellow handed over their holo casters to Meowth.
"Thank you for your cooperation," James bowed.
"Now, please follow me," Jessie said.
They followed Jessie inside the cafe where she led them to their friends.
"What took you so long?" Leafia asked.
"We were going through Rocket Security," Gary said sarcastically.
They sat down with them and Yellow handed Ursaring's Pokeball to Silver.
"Your father told me to give him back to you," Yellow informed.
"He didn't have to return him," Silver said as he put his Pokeball away.
"But answer me this, Silver. Why is Team Rocket on Shinrai Island? Did your father send them to infiltrate the school? Or is he trying to take over the entire Kalos region?!" Gary interrogated.
Silver shook his head. "At the moment, he's not doing anything after Team Rocket failed to conquer the Unova region with Operation Tempest. But when he heard that I was attending Kizuna Academy in the Kalos region, he sent Jessie, James, and Meowth to watch over me."
"Aww~ What a protective father~" Leafia teased.
"As if! I'll never acknowledge that man as my father!" Silver yelled. "But I am a little thankful to him for sending those idiots."
"What do you mean?" Gary asked.
"At first, I didn't want anything to do with him or Team Rocket. But after coming here, I've been feeling unsettled about Kizuna Academy and Shinrai Island," Silver explained. "So Leafia and I have been working undercover with them to find out more about this place."
"Okay, now I understand why you two are always off on your own," Gary said. "But I agree with you, I also have my suspicions about this place as well. And earlier, Leafia and I overheard a conversation between Alain and Mairin about a plan."
"What plan?" Silver asked.
"It was vague, but it was a plan to help Mairin's Chespie wake up from his coma at Lysandre Labs," Leafia stated.
"Isn't Lysandre the principal of the school?" Yellow inquired.
"Yeah, but I found it strange that Lysandre offered Mairin immediate admission to attend Kizuna Academy," Gary pointed out. "It's like he doesn't want her to stay at his lab with Chespie."
"And Alain is acting weird, too. When Mairin mentioned about the plan, he had a very scary expression," Leafia added. "Could he and Lysandre be up to something?"
"If that's the case, then we have to be on our guard and find out about this plan."
~~~~~~~~~~
(Serena's POV)
Once we arrived to the flower fields, we released our Pokemon from their Pokeballs. While Bonnie and Mairin played with the Pokemon, Clemont decided to create an invention for them, but as usual, it exploded and covered everyone in black soot.
Luckily, Ash and I avoided the whole explosion since we were sitting away from them. I looked over to Ash and noticed he was staring into space.
"What's on your mind, Ash?" I asked.
"Oh, I was thinking about that Hawlucha," Ash admitted. "I like how he doesn't give up on his battling style. And I wanna help him use his move efficiently, so his opponents don't have time to dodge them."
I smiled and placed my head on his shoulder. "You're always looking out for Pokemon, Ash. And that's what I love about you."
"Aha... you're embarrassing me a little there," he blushed.
Suddenly, there was a loud splash coming from the other side of the forest.
"Did you hear that?" Ash asked.
"It sounds like something fell in the water," I said.
"Hmm... Let's check it out."
He stood up and ran into the forest.
"Wait up, Ash!"
Everyone returned their Pokemon to their Pokeballs and we chased after him.
~~~~~~~~~~
(Ash's POV)
As I followed the sounds, I found myself at a pond with a waterfall, and to my surprise, Hawlucha was there.
"It's Hawlucha!" I exclaimed.
Soon, Serena and the others caught up with me.
"You shouldn't run ahead of us, Ash," Serena scolded.
"Sorry, but look, Hawlucha's here!"
On top of the waterfall, Hawlucha spread his wings and dove into the water.
"Looks like it's practicing Flying Press," Clemont commented.
"Ah! So that's the name of the move that its' working on!" I said surprisingly.
When Hawlucha swam towards the rocks, I approached and offered him my hand.
"My name's Ash and I would like to take on your Flying Press."
"Haw-lucha?" he hesitated, worried about hurting me.
"Don't worry. I may not look like it, but I'm pretty tough! Listen, I would appreciate if you let me help you on mastering your move."
After convincing Hawlucha, he agreed to let me help him. I looked around and found a fallen tree trunk for Hawlucha to use as a target for Flying Press.
"Let's do this, Hawlucha!"
~~~~~~~~~~
After 30 minutes passed, we haven't made any progress to improve Hawlucha's Flying Press. He poses and then attacks. But I always manage to dodge while carrying the tree trunk at the last minute.
"You still have a long way to go, Hawlucha. How about increasing your speed?"
We tried again, but it still proved to be effortless.
"How can Hawlucha finish his move faster while showing off his pose?"
During Hawlucha's battle with Ursaring, he always poses first before performing his finishing move, so maybe...
"Augh!" I yelled.
Because I got lost in my thoughts, I didn't know Hawlucha crashed into me. Serena rushed over to me along with the others.
"Ash! Are you hurt?" Serena asked frantically.
"I'm fine, but more importantly, I've thought of a good way for Hawlucha to show off his pose without giving his opponent a chance to escape."
I talked about my strategy to Hawlucha and he wants to try it out by battling with me.
~~~~~~~~~~
At the start of the battle, I used Frogadier because he would be a good opponent against a fierce battler like Hawlucha.
"You ready, Hawlucha?"
Hawlucha nodded and positioned himself in a battle stance.
"Alright, Frogadier! Use Water Pulse!"
As Frogadier prepares Water Pulse, Hawlucha quickly glides around Frogadier and dodges Water Pulse. Then I commanded Frogadier to use Double Team, which allowed him to avoid Hawlucha's High Jump Kick.
"Use Aerial Ace!"
However, Hawlucha notices the attack and glides up the waterfall. Frogadier followed him by jumping onto the rocks and attempted to grab him. But Frogadier misses and lands in the water.
"Wow, Frogadier and Hawlucha have matching jumping power and speed," Clemont commented.
I focused on Frogadier's movement in the water and Hawlucha's presence in the tree.
"Frogadier, Double Team!"
Multiple copies of Frogadier jumped out of the water, which surprises Hawlucha. And as they were moving up the tree, Frogadier attempted to use Cut on Hawlucha.
But when they reached the top, Hawlucha counters with High Jump Kick and Frogadier crashes down to the ground.
"A direct hit!" Bonnie shouted.
Just like yesterday, Hawlucha stood on top of the tree, but this time, he's following my strategy.
"It's getting ready to do Flying Press," Mairin pointed out.
First, Hawlucha jumps high and strikes his pose in the air. Then he immediately starts spinning and took a nose dive towards Frogadier's chest, which creates a fast and efficient Flying Press.
"You're doing it!" I cheered.
For a moment, I almost forgot about the battle and I quickly told Frogadier to counter with Cut just as Hawlucha slams into him, causing a collision between them.
"Oh no! What happened to them?" Serena asked worriedly.
When the dust cleared, it was revealed that Frogadier and Hawlucha fainted.
"It's a draw."
~~~~~~~~~~
(Third Person View)
Back at the Rocket Cafe Lounge, the Team Rocket Trio approached Silver's table and returned the holo casters to Gary and Yellow.
Meowth spoke, "We finished removing the bugs hidden in your holo casters."
"What? Our holo casters were bugged?" Yellow questioned.
"As far as we know, the holo casters have listening and tracking devices installed inside them," Jessie explained. "I assume that the school is using them to keep track of the students' conversations and locations."
"And of course, we have to eliminate them since this cafe is our base of operations," James added. "That's why we took them for inspection because we can't let anyone know that we're here."
Gary browsed through his holo caster. "Did you guys hacked into my holo caster? It says it was accessed ten minutes ago, but you need my password."
"We thought you would have a lot of interesting information on your holo caster, but you don't," Meowth complained.
"I'm not careless enough to keep my research on my holo caster."
"Oh, but you're careless enough to keep countless pictures of that girl?"
Meowth jumped onto Gary's shoulder and opened his holo caster's photo gallery that has Leafia's pictures.
Gary blushed and shouted, "H-hey! That's invasion of privacy!"
"Well, it's not my fault that you set your password as Leafia_Greene," Meowth smirked.
Hearing that Gary used her name as his password, Leafia blushed and Silver gave a death stare towards him.
Leafia cleared her throat, "A-anyways, why did you call us, Silver?"
"Ah, right. Do you guys know an international police officer named Looker?" Silver asked.
"Yeah, he travels around the world to investigate evil organizations," Gary stated. "But what about him?"
"A few days ago, he approached me and gave me a case that contains a strange Pokemon. But I don't know what kind of Pokemon it was, so I thought you might know."
"Is that so? Well, you called the right person for the job! So where's the Pokemon?"
"Unfortunately, it disappeared when I opened its' case. Or most likely, it has an ability to hide itself that can't be seen with the naked eye and escaped."
"Why did you call me when it's not here?" Gary complained. "Do you remember what it looks like at least?"
Silver crosses his arms. "Hmm... how should I explain this? It's kinda green and... squishy?"
~~~~~~~~~~
(Ash's POV)
In the late evening, we were getting ready to head back to the dorms, but first, I wanted to congratulate Hawlucha on mastering his Flying Press.
I spoke, "I had a great time battling with you, Hawlucha. You're an amazing Pokemon and I know you're gonna do just fine with battles now."
He stares at me longingly as if he wanted to ask me something. And I have a good feeling that I know what it wants.
"You wanna join me, Hawlucha?"
"Haw-cha," Hawlucha nodded.
"Great! We're gonna be good friends."
I took out my Pokeball and Hawlucha used his talons to tap on the button, allowing himself to be captured.
Then I raised my arm and shouted, "I got a Hawlucha!"
"Pi Pikachu!" Pikachu cheered.
I smiled and said, "Glad to have you on the team, Hawlucha."
~~~~~~~~~~
Clemont spoke, "Alright, shall we return to the dorms?"
"Yeah! It's close to dinner time, so let's go!" I exclaimed.
"Wait, let me get my bag," Bonnie said.
Bonnie and her Dedenne went to the rock where she placed her bag. She opened the bag for Dedenne, but they had a surprised expression.
"What's wrong, Bonnie?" Serena inquired.
"Th-there's something inside," Bonnie stuttered.
We looked inside her bag and there was a strange green Pokemon.
"Who's that Pokemon?"