"Froakie, what if we tried combining moves? To kind of create like, Franken-moves?" We were on the way to Cyllage City when we decided to make a stop for dinner, training for Ash and his pokemon, and sleep. Ash was currently training Froakie for their upcoming battle at the rock-type gym while Clemont started on dinner and Serena, Bonnie, and I cared for the pokemon.
We brushed them, cleaned them, and made sure they were doing well for the road ahead. While Bonnie and Serena helped multiple pokemon, I stuck to Eevee the whole time. I still wasn't that comfortable with other pokemon so I was hesitant touching another.
As I brushed Eevee's fur, I heard a small high-pitched mumble and saw tiny, yellow feet step close to me. I looked up to see Pikachu with a brush in its mouth and its head tilt as if to ask me something. I stayed silent and acted as if I didn't immediately know what it wanted, even though we both knew I knew.
"Do... do you want me to brush your fur Pikachu?" I hesitantly asked it and was met with an eager nod and a brush in my lap. I looked to Eevee for help, but even she wasn't on my side on this one. She scooted out of my lap, sat next to me, and Pikachu slowly made its way onto my lap.
I stared at the brush in my hand and the top of Pikachu's head, alternating my gaze between the two. My hand was shaking as I neared the brush to Pikachu's head. I let out a deep sigh and gently placed it on Pikachu's head.
I started by brushing his fur so lightly, it almost seemed like I wasn't brushing at all. The more I brushed, the more comfortable I got with Pikachu. The next few minutes were calming while I brushed Pikachu's fur and took care of his needs.
After a while, we got tired of just sitting around, so Pikachu, Eevee, and I decided to walk over to where Ash was training to watch.
"Hey, Ash! How's the training going?" I asked him. He looked tired from all the training but satisfied with the results of his training. He eagerly told me all about the training they completed, the new strategies they came up with, and even new motivation tactics.
"Wow, Ash! I'm impressed! I may have only seen a little bit, but you were doing great!" He smiled as he scratched the back of his neck.
"Thanks, Cass-"
"I MYSELF DISAGREE!" We heard a yell come out of nowhere and immediately took a defensive position. Ash and I stood back to back while Eevee, Pikachu, and Froakie surrounded us, ready to attack.
A figure popped out of the dark forest and landed in front of us. Turns out, it was some guy around our age dressed in a ninja outfit. Next to him was a Frogadier, the evolution of Froakie.
He introduced himself as Sanpei and told us all about the ninja training he was doing in the forest with his Frogadier and how he was watching Ash while he was training too.
"I saw a lot of things wrong with your battling and am willing to happily take you under my wing! That is if you don't mind working alongside my other pupil." He gestured over to the forest where another person and pokémon jumped out from. I stepped back in surprise to hear another familiar voice.
"Hey, Cassie~"
"Huh?" The figure faced me and I saw his face.
Cameron's.
~
"Well, I'm off! I can't wait to see you guys again soon!" He started, waving to the whole group, then focusing on me. "Especially you Cassie." And with that, he walked off into the distance and my face turned bright red. HUH? What's that supposed to mean?? Oh Arceus, now I'm definitely blushing... ew...
~
"Cameron?!" My mind immediately shifted to the memory of our last encounter and my face started burning up. I shifted around and stumbled over my words as I tried to ask him about his training with Sanpei.
Once I had finally gotten the words out of my mouth, Sanpei had interrupted his explanation and started to tell me everything.
"Cameron here was in desperate need of my assistance and training after I saw one of his battles, so I decided to take him under my wing for the week so I could teach him some ninja pointers," he started off confidently. I snorted at his brashness while looking behind him at Cameron. I arched my eyebrow at him and he merely used his hand to gesture towards Sanpei as he continued on his tale of their meeting.
Ash, the whole time, was acting quiet and reserved. Not like himself. Just a minute ago, he had been the energetic Ash I had grown to know and stand by and now he was acting like the version of him I don't like as much. Like, his alternate personality. He seemed to listen intently but had a funny way of showing he cared.
His arms stayed firmly crossed and the expression on his face was dull and unamused by Cameron and Sanpei's story.
As Sanpei rambled on, I turned to Ash and opened my mouth to ask him about his newly sour attitude.
Yet again, I was interrupted by Sanpei also wanting to talk to Ash.
"I challenge you to a battle! We'll test your skills on the battlefield and see just how much training we need to do!" Ash stared at Sanpei confused, trying to remember at what exact time did he ask to train with Sanpei. I decided that it was my duty, as Ash's friend, and as the only one out of 4 standing here, I would help him brush off and tell this guy to skip town. Er, well, forest.
"Listen, Karate Kid, I don't mean to be rude or anything, but Ash is a great trainer already and I don't exactly remember him asking you for your "training" services." Sanpei and Cameron looked at me with surprise and Ash looked worried as Sanpei made his way over to me.
I'm pretty short, I don't know my exact height, but I do know that everyone, besides Bonnie, is taller than me in our traveling group. So when Sanpei stomped over to me, he towered over my small figure, even though he wasn't the tallest person I had met.
As his eyes narrowed and stared me down, I felt my fear of confrontation start creeping up on me and my breathing started frantically speeding up as my heart rate sped. He looked me up and down and his straight face curved into a smirk.
"I admire your courage to stand to me and my boldness," he started. My body returned to its normal temperature and the sweat started to dry. He turned to face Ash and decided to reluctantly ask him if he wanted to train with him.
"Of course I wanna train with you! Won't it be cool to learn some ninja secrets Froakie?" He turned to ask the blue frog. Froakie seemed more nonchalant about it but still excited. Sanpei beamed and Bonnie excitedly came running over with Dedenne and hopped up and down.
"Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Can we be ninjas too? Please?!" I let out a giggle as Pikachu and Eevee joined in on their excited pleads. Serena and Clemont had joined us at this time and Sanpei has challenged Ash to a battle.
Ash took him up on his offer and they got into battling stance as Serena dressed up Bonnie, Pikachu, Eevee, and Dedenne in ninja outfits. Once they had finished their makeover, they danced around and begged for me to dress up with them.
"No thanks, I'm okay in my normal clothes." I nervously chuckled as Bonnie held my hand and pouted. Her little feet were hopping up and down while the dressed up pokemon mimicked her actions at her side.
I just giggled at their adorable actions as I heard Cameron walk up to us and start talking, which caused Bonnie and the pokemon to pause their hopping and turn their attention to him.
"Aw, why not? I think you'd look really cute in a ninja outfit." Only then did I take the time to fully inspect that Cameron was wearing a ninja outfit of his own. He had a black outfit with metallic blue details and even a katana, that I hoped was fake, and a headband tied around his head like a bandana.
My cheeks were on fire and my stomach started doing backflips as I broke eye contact with Cameron. I heard his slight chuckle before I felt my head suddenly be freed from the covering of my hat.
"Huh?" I looked up to see Cameron holding my hat and inspecting it closely. He curiously looked at it until a look of realization dawned upon him.
"Woah! This is an official Pokemon Expo League hat! Where and how did you get this?" His eyes widened and sparkled in amazement at the site of the rare hat. He told me about how he even submitted in a postcard for the chance to win it.
"Heh, actually, those are questions for you to ask Ash," His attention turned from my hat to me, with his eyebrows arching in confusion as I started to explain. I told him the whole start to finish story about me "finding" the hat after Ash had battled Team Rocket.
By the time I had finished recounting the whole story, Cameron's eyes were sparkling with amusement and I couldn't help but giggle at his reaction. I stared fondly at the hat.
"Yeah, so this hat's pretty important to me," I stated finally as I ran a hand through my long hair, preparing to replace the empty site with its cover. I reached for the hat in Cameron's grasp and instead of my fingers meeting the cloth brim, it rushed away from me and I ended up going too far and losing my balance.
Instead of meeting the hard dirt floor, my body was caught by Cameron and I felt the heat of his body surround me. My legs had turned to noodles and my feet were on the ground while Cameron's arm circled around me, holding me up by my armpits. He held my hat behind my head and grinned at me.
"Falling for me already, Cassie? We still don't know each other that well." He chuckled with a wink. My face was on fire and I managed to roll my eyes at him as he helped me stand up. I crossed my arms and allowed myself to cool down as he reached his arms around my head.
"Come on, it wouldn't kill you to dress up just a little," He said, unwrapping the headband from around his forehead and wrapping it around my own. Once he finished tying the knot, he placed his hands on my shoulders and stared at me. "Plus, it looks cute."
I just looked down and gazed down at the bright green grass while my foot picked at a little spot in the ground. I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear.
It was quiet except for the sounds of mine and Cameron's breath and the calls of wild pokemon in the distance. All I could feel was the sweat from my nerves and Cameron's looming presence towering over me.
• Ash •
"You sure you can keep going?" My eyes had been on Cassie and Cameron, the sight of them distracting me from focusing on my battle, causing me to start losing. Badly.
I shook my head, trying to get them out of my head and turned back to the battle site. Froakie was weak and barely standing while Sanpei's Frogadier didn't seem to have a scratch. I looked from the scene to Sanpei, who was studying me intently.
"There seem to be some emotions boiling up inside you. Not to fear, there's a perfect way for you to use those in your favor!" He shouted matter-of-factly. I looked at him confused.
Emotions? Boiling?
Yeah, right.
"Turn that anger into power! Battle with it and you're sure to head to the top!" His insanity made no sense as I shook my head and tried refocusing on battling. I heard a laugh from my right side and saw Cass, Cameron, Bonnie, and the pokémon playing around.
I watched them for a while until I noticed that Cass wasn't wearing my hat and instead, was wearing Cameron's ninja headband.
I clenched my teeth and let out a deep breath I didn't realize I was holding before I started shouting commands to Froakie.
"COME ON FROAKIE! NOW!"
• Cassandra •
I had been playing with Bonnie, Cameron, and all the pokémon while waiting for Ash and Sanpei to finish their battle when I suddenly heard a loud voice shouting orders.
I turned to see Ash with a fire in his eyes, battling intensely. He looked like he was giving it his all, but at the same time, holding back.
In the end, all of Ash's efforts weren't even worth it. He ended up losing the battle and getting an earful of criticism from Sanpei. I felt bad for Ash but my sympathy didn't last long because Ash, Cameron, and Sanpei were gathering together to train.
Sanpei explained how the exercises he had planned tested their agility, speed, and strength through physical training like jumping through trees and whatnot.
"Jumping through trees? That seems a little dangerous, don't you think?" Serena worried after she and I walked over to Cameron, Ash, and Sanpei. I studied Serena.
Her eyes were filled with worry and she was in a protective stance, waiting for the chance to pull Ash away and protect him from any possible danger. She really cares about him...
I closed my eyes and smiled before facing the guys again while crossing my arms.
"Ash will be fine. He's tough. He can take care of himself." I assured Serena while the guys started climbing on top of trees. Bonnie and all the pokemon started playing around, jumping around on trees, or well, pretending too, while Serena, Clemont, and I sat around the campfire and talked with each other.
~ A Few Hours Later ~
"How do you think training is going?" Clemont wondered as we all turned in our spots to watch the guys. At this point, we could see Ash and Froakie getting tired while Cameron, Sanpei, Riolu, and Frogadier were still high on energy. Ash was lagging and making clumsy mistakes. We looked at each other with worry as we watched Ash make mistake after mistake.
"We need a plan to get them to take a break and relax for a little while," Clemont suggested. I nodded furiously, agreeing while Serena was ready to applaud for him.
"Yeah, that's good! It'll give Ash a little time to rest and catch his breath." I looked back over at the two boys already WAY ahead of Ash on a running trail before leaning in and whispering to my two companions. "You know what? Maybe a little food will weigh the other two down a bit."
With that being said, in almost less than 10 minutes, we had prepped a simple lunch of all different kinds of sandwiches for everyone. Different jams and jellies made from berries on some, while others were filled with lettuce and ham. We worked like a machine trying to get a lot done.
Clemont uncrusted, Serena smeared jam, jelly, or mayo, and I sliced and placed lettuce and ham before closing them and handing them to Pikachu and Eevee, who had now joined us, to place on a giant platter on the picnic blanket we had set out. Our system was working perfectly, that is, excluding the many, MANY times Chespin tried to sneak some food into his mouth.
But, we eventually finished and were calling the boys to stop "playing around" and join us for lunch. They excitedly joined us and practically threw themselves at the food.
"Hey, hey, HEY!" I called out as I threw pieces of bread crust at the boys. They stopped their struggle and turned to give me a confused face. I shook my head and chuckled as I walked over and pulled them away from the sandwiches.
"HEY! We're hungry!" Ash pleaded with a pout. I just shook my head and waved my finger at him.
"No siree. You'll have to wait. Children and pokémon go first. You guys grab food AFTER them."
"AWW!" I couldn't help but let a giggle escape me as I watched the boys pout while Bonnie and the pokémon were all served.
Once Bonnie had picked her sandwiches, the boys turned to me with pleading eyes, practically whimpering. Serena and Clemont started laughing at them with me before I could catch my breath to say yes. I let Clemont, Serena and I pick our sandwiches first before I let them.
Juuuuust in case there's none left after they take their turn.
Finally, the guys were allowed to take their turns attacking the sandwich platter. We stared wide-eyed at them as they devoured every single crumb with no mercy. Meanwhile, the rest of us are slowly and cautiously taking small bites and chewing while staring at the wild animals we call our friends.
Once we had all finished our lunch, the guys were eager to get back to training, but Serena and I could see that Ash wasn't as ready as the other two. Sanpei and Cameron shot right up and started pumping themselves up to continue training, while Ash seemed more comfortable sitting and seemed to not be as eager to continue training.
Clemont, Serena, and I frantically glanced at each other while trying to think of a good excuse to make when Serena hooked her hands onto Sanpei's arm and practically dragged him back down to sit.
"WAIT!" He landed with a thud and looked at her confused and concerned while the rest of us had the same inquisitive look. She stuttered and glanced around at all of us, begging for help, but even I had no idea what her plan was. Once she landed eyes on Ash, she immediately let go of Sanpei's arm and stuff her hands in her armpits.
"I-um, uh, w-why don't you tell us some stories about where you're from or what you're training for or, uh, you know?" I quickly realized what she was trying to do and just as quickly started asking about their training, Sanpei's hometown, even if they liked the food and what specifically they liked.
We got Sanpei rambling on and on about Ninja Village, his home village where his family is and where he's lived his whole life, learning "The Way of the Ninja". He even told us about the training that he, Ash, and Cameron had been doing. Apparently, he and Cameron had been training for weeks already, since before we even met him at Suou Village.
We were talking for hours, in fact, before we even knew it, the sun was setting and the sky was starting to turn into a mosaic of beautiful colors, featuring orange, pinks, and purples.
"Well, look at the time! Maybe we should do a little more training before nightfall?" Cameron noticed and Sanpei agreed by standing tall and nodding his head.
"Yes. We should be able to fit in at least another hour of intensive training before it gets too dark!" Sanpei eagerly and excitedly agreed. The rest of us nodded and Clemont suggested us building a fire for us to cook a simple dinner of hot dogs with smores for dessert. I heard Ash let out a deep breath before standing and walking with the other two ninjas.
Bonnie had gotten bored of playing and wanted to watch the guys actually do something interesting. So, she came up to me and started begging me to go and join her.
"Come on, Cassie! Please!" She pulled on my sleeve as she bounced up and down while giving me a pout. I was getting a bit tired of it but I didn't want to be mean and just blow off the little kid.
"I'm trying to help your brother and Serena clean up, Bonnie!" I wearily chuckled while her pout only grew. She seemed to start getting agitated with me and my desire to not go ninja-watching with her.
"I know, but you're practically done already! PLEASE? I really wanna go!"
"Why don't you go alone then? Or with the pokémon? I'm sure they would love to go watch too." I thought that would've helped me but she only persisted further as I folded the picnic blanket. Serena returned with Fennekin and Chespin, who had gone with her to collect firewood. Clemont was grabbing everything for food out and kindly putting our tents up. I was in charge of cleaning up our original picnic and making the fire once Serena returned with wood.
Eventually, Bonnie wore me out with her begging so I made a deal with her.
"Once we get the fire all set up, then I'll go with you to watch the guys train, okay?" She excitedly nodded and opened her mouth to say something, but I held my finger up to stop her and crouched down to meet her eye level.
"But you have to promise to not ask me again or I will explode and not go with you," she furiously nodded and I smiled before extending my pinkie.
"Pinkie promise?"
"Pinkie promise!" Her eyes were wide with joy and satisfaction and she moved aside to let me start working on the fire. I turned to face the pile of wood Serena had placed for me. I thanked both her and Clemont before starting on the fire.
It took me a few minutes to start the fire but soon enough, my little spark turned into a roaring flame that I stared at with pride.
"Wow, nice fire Cassie!" Clemont came over, rolling a large log as seating over the place in front of the fire. I smiled and tried to thank him but was cut off by a little hand grabbing my arm and dragging me towards the forest. I immediately knew who was the cause of this and rolled my eyes and glaring playfully at the little lemon-haired girl pulling me.
"Bonnie..."
"Hey! You said 'once you finished the fire' and 'as long as I didn't ask you again.' I didn't ask again before you finished, so I'm keeping my promise! Are you trying to break yours?" I stopped and stared at her in shock before crossing my arms and grinning.
"Impressive. I'm proud, Bonnie." I told her before she giggled and we walked side-by-side closer to find the guys each standing on a tree, each on their own branch.
"Hey guys!" I yelled at them. Cameron and Ash happily waved to us while Sanpei stayed focused on standing on the branch. I explained that we just came to watch and didn't want to cause any distractions, which made Sanpei seem to ease into the idea of us watching a little more. We watched as they moved around the branches and performed different exercises. Once they even swung by their legs and met us face-to-face.
We were so entertained by the show the guys put on, no one realized how all the heavy movement was causing the branches to weaken and start splitting.
Until, I heard a loud snap from above me and looked up to see a huge branch swinging by a thread and snapping off. As it fell, my only instinct was to keep Bonnie safe.
I threw her forcefully out of the branch's path. I felt a sharp stab in my shoulder that caused me to fall back, holding my shoulder and trying to hold back tears from the sudden pain.
In the next split second, I felt myself start to fall, move somehow, and heard my name, followed by a thud.
I opened my eyes and unclenched my teeth to frantically look around to see the branch and someone on the ground next to it. It took a second for my eyes to adjust and see who it was.
"ASH!" I got up so fast, I felt my head rush and I wobbled as I ran to him. Once I was at his side, I fell on my knees next to his fallen body. I grabbed his arm closest to me and quietly called his name again.
My breathing was calmed when I felt him start moving and start trying to get up. He was clearly dizzy and not very stable due to the long fall and hard drop he took. He started frantically looking around and asking questions.
"Where's Cass? Is she okay? Did it fall on her? Is Bonnie safe? Who am I?" I laughed and let go of his arm to hold his head still I made him face me as I smiled.
"I'm here. I'm okay. Nothing fell on me and Bonnie is safe," he breathed a sigh of relief. "And you're Ash Ketchum."
He started laughing with me as I dropped my hands from his face and they landed back on his arm. He used the other one to sit himself up. We stared at each with relief before I noticed that everyone else had ran over and were also worrying.
I helped Ash stand up, which I shouldn't have been doing because then I almost stumbled to the ground. Thankfully, we had a full support group leading us the whole way back to the campsite.
We were gently sat down and were told to rest and relax after the slight trauma.
"Trauma? That wasn't traumatic. What WAS traumatic was having 300 hands touching me and guiding me to a giant log." That relieved the tension and allowed everyone to relax and start cooking hot dogs and marshmallows.
Night fell quickly and we were all surrounded by the enchanting navy blue sky, decorated with sprinkles of stars. Our campsite was illuminated by the fire, which was starting to turn shades of blue and purple from burning for so long. All the pokémon had fallen asleep and Bonnie was resting peacefully, with her top half on her brother's lap and her bottom half covered by my flannel.
The breeze whistled through the tree branches and caused a shiver to go down my spine. I shivered as I stretched my arms out to allow the fire to warm up my hands.
"Cold?" Ash asked from beside me. With my teeth still chattering, I gave him a snarky response.
"Not really," I shook my head and turned back to the fire. I heard his deep chuckle and felt a strange warmth wrap around me. He had wrapped his blue over-shirt over me. I was freezing, so of course, I couldn't refuse his offer. I tightly held the two sides closed with my hands while also fiddling with my necklace.
"Where'd you get that?" I was snapped from my trance again by Ash. I looked at him then stared back fondly at my necklace.
"My dad gave it to me after..." A lump was lodged in my throat and only then did I realize that this was the first time I would tell another person about my mother. Ash placed his hand on my shoulder and moved in closer. He probably noticed how the words were struggling to free themselves.
"After my mom died."
"It used to be hers and my dad used to tell me about how when I was a baby and was being held by my mom, I would play with it and mess with it all the time. After she passed, he gave it to me." I felt the tears start creeping up on me, but I wouldn't let myself cry. Not here, not with them, and definitely, not about this.
"It's funny. I don't even really remember her. I don't know what she looked like or what she sounded like. I remember almost nothing. It's kind of scary and sometimes it makes me wonder if I really even had a mom,"
"But, I do remember how much she loved me. I don't know how, but I know she really loved me and I loved her so much. That's probably why I love this necklace so much." My eyes grew heavy and I felt myself sink, but I did nothing to bring myself back up.
My head landed on something and I slipped into a deep sleep.
• Ash •
She fell asleep on my shoulder...
I couldn't help but smile at her and how she remembers the love her mom felt for her.
I looked at her necklace, then at her.
"It's beautiful." I said before falling asleep too.
A/N
I LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE!
HOLY DANG ITS BEEN FOREVER SINCE IVE LAST UPDATED THIS STORY!
First I wanna say sorry, it's just I've had school and AP classes and tests and homework and stress and all-nighters, it's been hectic stressful. But I'm on winter break and I'm back to update these stories just for you guys, cause I <3 you guys. Also, I had the whole chapter written out but I didn't like it and I wasn't happy with it so I rewrote it, which of course took longer than usual. And this chapter is long as H E C C so there's that too heh.
Anyways, I hope you guys like this chapter! I know, it's a bit boring but don't worry, soon we'll get to the juicy stuff ;) hehe
I'll see you guys next time, bye byeee!
Sincerely, Static
P. S. What if I made an Instagram account for story updates, art and just stuff for my Wattpad followers and friends? Like Wattpad but more? What do you guys think? Yee or nee?
P. P. S. THANK YOU ALL SO SO SO FREAKING MUCH FOR 4K READS!!!! HOLY CRAP I LOVE YOU ALL SO MUCH YOU GUYS AND GALS AND TOASTERS AND OVENS ARE ALL AMAZING AND I REALLY HOPE YOU'RE ENJOYING THE STORY :D