Chapter 9

Morning

Ash awoke to the sound of breakfast being carried in by Mark. Ash's eyes 
fluttered open when the light came peeking through behind Mark.

'Since when did someone tie weights to my lids?' Ash thought in a moan. When 
it registered that he had slept in, Ash sat bolt upright in bed.

"OHMYGOSH! Officer Jenny's going to KILL ME!" Ash wrenched off the covers 
and got tangled in his sheets. "Wump!" Ash knocked the wind out of himself. 
Mark sighed, set the tray down and helped Ash untangle himself.

"Officer Jenny's not going to kill you. In fact, she doesn't want to see 
your face until you leave for the tournament." Mark said in a gentle voice. 
Ash was finally free of the sheets in his nightclothes so he jumped up.

"WHAT!?!" Ash demanded. "But the tournament it the day after tomorrow! I 
have to urk-" Ash was cut off by a piece of toast being shoved in his mouth. 
Mark picked up the rest of the tray and handed it to Ash.

"What you have to do is get some rest. We want you rested for the 
tournament. That means that your not going anywhere for today or tomorrow. 
Now eat up and go back to bed." Mark left a stunned Ash, toast and all, 
sitting on his bed.

'You've go to be kidding me! It's nine for crying out loud! I'll eat this 
and then get up.' Ash munched down the rest of his late morning breakfast 
and got dressed. 'This has got to be the latest I've slept in since leaving 
Pallet.'

"Ashura! Come outside after your dressed. I hear you up there. I've got a 
surprise for you." Mark called up the stairs. Ash pulled his shirt over his 
head and moaned; a surprise from his father usually meant a new series of 
books to study.

'I wonder what new methods of mental torture he's come up with now.' Ash 
rubbed his eyes coming out his front door and yawned.

"Well? What do you think?" Ash moved his hands away from his face and 
blinked twice. In the center of the lawn was an umbrella set up over a-

"Hammock? You dragged out your old hammock? Why?" Mark shook his head and 
ruffled Ash's hair.

"It's for you boy, I was serious when I said that you're not doing anything 
until that tournament. Your staying put right here." Ash was playfully 
shoved in the hammock.

"But dad-"

"No buts. I don't want to see you move from this spot unless it's an 
emergency." Mark gave Ash a wink. "And I will have my eye on you." Ash was 
left stunned for the second time that day.

'Alright. What's going on here?' Ash thought in a panic. 'Dad's being 
sickeningly nice. I don't think he's been this nice since I was very young.'

"Oh well!" Ash decided to take advantage of his good fortune and sat in the 
hammock Mark watched from the kitchen as his son put his arms behind his 
head in the hammock.

'I don't think I've been this happy in years.' Mark thought with a grin. 
'It's just like when he was young.' Mark watched Ash doze in the hammock.

"Hmmmm,mmmmm,mmmmm,mmm." Mark began to hum to himself absentmindedly. Ash 
was almost asleep when he heard Mark humming.

'I-I know this.' Ash sat up in the hammock and listened. Mark continued his 
tune and Ash couldn't believe that he had forgotten that melody.

"The last time he hummed that, I was sick." Ash then put two and two 
together.

'He thinks I need to be taken care of!' Ash thought in shock. A mixture of 
emotions rolled over Ash. Mark still thought that Ash needed him after all 
these years.

"Hmmmm,mmmmm,mmmmm,mmm." Mark continued to hum. Ash sat back in the hammock 
emotionally confused.

'For a good portion of his life, my father's taught me to be independent; 
but now he's happy to be needed. I thought I had him pegged as my father and 
now this happens.' Later, Mark came out with juice to find Ash asleep.

'Asleep already? I'll just leave this here then.' Mark set the tray down on 
the grass. 'What's this?' Mark spotted something in Ash's hands. It was a 
small brown pouch tied with a simple string. Mark gently tugged the bag out 
of Ash's hand because of curiosity. Mark went back inside the house and 
opened the bag. When its contents were emptied on his table, Mark gasped 
involuntarily.

"What the?" Mark found twenty badges starting back at him and a small 
electronic device. Mark picked up the hivebadge, boulderbadge and 
searubybadge. Mark jostled the badges around in his hand in disbelief.

'Where did he get these?' Mark asked himself. Mark knew a lot about pokemon 
trainers and he knew that not many from the general public had over five. 
Mark saw the electronic device and flipped it open, looking for answers.

"This handheld pokedex unit belongs to Ash Ketchum of Pallet town." Chimed 
an electronic voice. Mark marveled at what he was holding.

'A pokedex? My son was entrusted with a pokedex!?!' Mark used up all his 
self-control not to jump with joy at the discovery of twenty badges. A 
pokedex was not something you would just give to any old pokemon trainer.

"Pokedex rating two-hundred-forty pokemon seen, twenty seven owned." Mark 
nearly dropped the device. The last time Mark had heard that there were only 
one hundred and fifty one kinds of known pokemon.

'How did he manage to see that many different pokemon?' Mark then frowned at 
the twenty-seven owned. 'And why didn't he catch them?' Mark then realized 
he was missing a big part of Ash's life. Mark put the badges back in the bag 
and crept back to put the bag back in Ash's sleeping clutches. Later….

"I don't believe it!" Mark exclaimed at the computer screen. There was 
nothing about computers that Mark didn't know about. If it was recorded on a 
computer, Mark could hack into it and decode its contents.

'How could my Ash do all this?' Mark thought in disbelief. Mark had found 
Ash's trainer license and checked into (illegally) the pokemon league 
records. Mark read the file on his son in disbelief.

"Top sixteen in the indigo league, orange island league champ and the Johto 
league champion." The three ranks began to play in his head over and over 
again.

'My son did this with over twenty seven pokemon to chose from?' Mark read a 
little more on Ash's file and decided that it was actually less than that 
because he PR'ed them. (pokemon released)

"Whoops! Times up!" Mark logged off just in time to not be caught by the 
pokemon leagues net police. "Now then." Since Mark wouldn't be able to use 
that computer for a while, he always kept a backup.

'Let's try the legal way now.' Mark pulled up a search engine and typed up 
his son's name. What he found amazed Mark to no end. The next five hours 
were spent exploring his son's accomplishments. Ash had snuck his stash back 
inside after he had finished the juice off. Ash passed his father's den.

'What's he doing?' Mark was glued to his computer screen staring intently at 
it. Ash tiptoed around the house bored, not wanting to disturb him. Soon it 
was time for bed.

"Night dad." Ash called from his bedroom. Ash had just climbed into bed when 
he heard his father shut down his computer. Ash listened to Mark moving 
around in the living room. Mark sat down in the living room chair and pulled 
an old album from under it.

"My boy." Mark whispered opening the old book. Pictures of a forgotten past 
rushed through Mark as he flipped the pages to the more recent pictures.

'I guess he learned responsibility after all. How else can I explain those 
things he did.' Looking at the pictures, Mark fell asleep at the exact same 
time Ash did.

*****

Ash was having a great time with his pokemon friends in the forbidden grove. 
Ash had met Blue, a silly pokemon with a long, slender body; about the same 
time he had met Digger. Ash had just come back from fishing with his father 
and he was a little confused.

"Hey Digger! Wait up for a sec!" Ash called to the pokemon in the distance. 
Digger was in mid jump so Ash's voice startled him.

"LAR!" Digger almost slammed into a log by tripping on the landing. Ash 
however, saw what was about to happen and intervened. "Lar-vi-tar-lar-LAR!" 
Digger scolded.

"Sorry! I just wanted to talk to you about something." Ash's expression 
turned serious for Ash, so the rock pokemon sat down and listened.

"Lar-vi-tar Lar?" Digger asked. Ash sat down on the log next to the pokemon.

"I just had a talk with my father about pokemon training." Digger fell over 
on the log. "Digger! Are you O.K.?"

"Lar!!!?!!!" the pokemon sputtered. A yellow head popped back up but on the 
opposite side.

"Don't worry! I didn't let on about you. Yeesh! I'm not that dumb," Ash said 
quickly.

"Tarrr," Digger said relieved. "Vi?"

"So it got me thinking. I'm not sure if I want to be a pokemon trainer 
anymore." Digger's mouth hung open in shock. "I still want to be with 
pokemon, like you guys, it's just that I'm not sure I want to train you. 
Pokemon do get hurt in battles…" Digger stared in awe at Ash.

'This boy is worried about if I would get hurt of not. Ash really does care 
for me!' Digger's eyes watered over. 'What a guy.'

"Lar!" Ash, caught off guard, was bowled over at the pokemon's embrace.

"Woah!" Ash said once they were sprawled on the ground. "Take it easy. I 
said I wasn't sure!" Digger made a vow then and there that no matter what, 
if Ash asked to be his trainer, Digger would accept.

"Lar-vi-tar,-vitar!" Ash sighed in frustration. What Digger had said made on 
sense.

'What does he mean by that? "Don't worry about me. I'm fine."' Ash mulled 
over the meaning when Digger got off him and blushed.

"Lar." Ash saw that he was sorry about. Ash was covered in mud.

"Eeeyuck!" Ash sputtered once he got out of the mud puddle. It wasn't 
tainted brent mud so Ash was calm, but still was annoyed. "Can you find some 
clean water for me?"

"Lar-tar!" Digger walked three steps to the right and jumped into the air. 
The Larvitar headed straight down at the earth, arms flailing wildly.

"Eeeeep!" Ash suddenly jumped behind the log to avoid a maelstrom of dirt. 
Once the dirt stopped flying so high, Ash came out from behind the log. 
"Next time warn me." Then, the digging stopped.

"Lar, lar lar!" Digger called for Ash. Ash peered into the three-foot crater 
Digger had made to see a large hole but no Digger.

"Digger?" Ash called out into the hole. Diggers head popped out from the 
hole and Ash sighed in relief. "So? What did you find?" Later, Ash was 
walking with a small flashlight in a huge cavern.

"Laaaaaaaar." Digger said in awe. Ash agreed with the statement. The cavern 
was huge! Ash had never seen anything like it. The remainder of the day was 
spent exploring the cavern. A few weeks later….

"Eyaaaahhhoooooo!" Ash giggled as he slid down the underground waterslides. 
Ash and his poke-friends had worked on the cavern for weeks to make it the 
perfect play area. Everyone agreed that it was worth it. Ash loved being 
there, especially since he made a new friend lately.

"Carp! Carp!" echoed the Magicarp beside Ash. Magic had found Ash again 
after being released. It surprised Ash but delighted him too. No he had two 
underwater friends. It was almost like magic so hence the name.

"Dra!" Blue agreed. The cavern was mostly explored now with the exception of 
a few small caves Blue couldn't even fit through. Ash had the whole cavern 
planned out in his mind. There was going to be a magnificent tree house 
built that was going to connect the cavern to the surface.

"Waaaah!" Ash giggled as he splashed in to the biggest cavern. Ash couldn't 
help but diving underwater in this cavern for a long time; it was so 
beautiful underwater that it almost took your breath away. Ash was diving 
deep when he spotted a cave that he never noticed before.

'What's this?' Ash motioned for his pokemon friends to follow him. Ash took 
a look in the cave and surprisingly, it tunneled up to air. Ash could see 
the light emanating from above.

"Gasp!" Ash gulped in the fresh air. Ash swan to the side of the cave to 
find it was level ground. Ash took a look around and saw something 
interesting. It looked like a bonfire waiting to happen. Very dry sticks 
were piled in a corner of the cave.

"Dra?" Blue had seen it too. Ash climbed out of the water and made his way 
to the brush pile. The wood was so old, it crumbled at Ash's touch. Ash made 
his way to the center and found something surprising.

"It's a huge egg!" In the center of the enormous nest was indeed an egg. 
Digger and Blue stood beside Ash and copied his look of absolute awe. Ash 
timidly walked up to the egg and touched it.

"Lar!" Digger warned. Ash felt the surface of the egg; it was smooth, dusty 
and warm. Warm?

"Dra!" squealed Blue in surprise. The egg began to violently rock back and 
forth. Ash took a step back and fell over as the egg cracked open.

"Raaaargh!" The newborn wailed. Ash had never seen anything like it. It had 
huge wings, was totally gray and had sharp teeth and talons. Ash shivered 
involuntarily at the roar. Digger and Blue visibly paled behind Ash.

"LAR/DRA!" Ash recognized that as the signal to haul tail. Ash scrambled to 
his feet and ran. Not too much later….

"But we have to help it." Ash had ducked the talons the fifth time and had 
sent the winged monster into a lower part of the cavern roof. It had smashed 
into the roof and fell.

"Lar-vi-tar!!" Ignoring the rock pokemon's protest, Ash climbed over a small 
rise to see the gray pokemon whimpering on the cavern floor. One of its 
wings had been broken in a least three places.

"It's alright." Ash soothed as he made his way to the baby areodactyl. "I'll 
take care of you." Ash kept his promise. After setting the bones and nursing 
for weeks, the infant Arrow showed his gratitude by giving Ash a few flying 
lessons (Insert author's evil laughter here)

*****

Ash awoke again to Mark carrying in his breakfast. Ash yawned and stretched 
as he sat up to eat the bacon and eggs Mark had made. Mark wasn't actually a 
bad cook.

"Ash? I want to ask you about something." Mark said out of nowhere. Ash 
swallowed the bacon he had been chewing, expecting the worst.

"Ask away." Ash replied. Mark took in a deep breath signaling he was 
gathering the courage to speak.

"I never thought to ask you this but-" Mark sighed. "-how were you at being 
a pokemon trainer? You weren't a failure were you?" Ash nearly barked out a 
laugh.

"Hardly! Not many failures become the Johto league champion." Ash stopped 
for a moment remembering his pokemon and friends in Pallet. "I was at the 
top of my game when I came here dad. I guess that's why it took me so long 
to adjust back to my life here." Mark almost cried at the look on Ash's 
face.

"I never knew you cared that much about your pokemon." Mark said quietly.

"I cared for them from the moment I started my journey with Pikachu."

"Tell me." Dumb folded by Marks request, Ash started from the very beginning 
with Pikachu. Hours passed and they moved from room to room in the house. 
Ash talked about Misty, Brock, Team Rocket, Tracey, the leagues, the 
Professor, Gary and his adventures. Then, around five pm, he got to his 
adventures with the legendary pokemon.

"-then I shouted for the three birds to stop. Angered by my minor annoyance, 
they blasted their attacks at me." Mark let out a gasp.

"You're kidding me!" Ash shook his head. "What did you do?"

"Nothing." Mark gave Ash a skeptical look. "I was protected by the master of 
the sea, It was a legendary pokemon named Lugia. Oh dad! You should have 
seen it! It was the most majestic and noble pokemon I had ever met!"

"LUGIA!!!!!" Mark interrupted. "But-but that's impossible! No one's ever 
seen Lugia before! Not in our lifetime at least."

"I see you've heard of him." Ash said smugly. "I'll never forget what 
happened after the danger had passed." Ash of course went starry eyed.

"What?" Mark asked eagerly. Ash sat back in his chair and smiled.

"After I had retrieved the last orb from the isle of ice, Melody played the 
song I mentioned earlier and the three legendary birds went back to their 
islands. After which, Lugia gave me a ride on it's shoulders over the sea." 
Ash paused.

"Then what happened?" Mark asked impatient.

"Then Lugia brought me back to my friends and that was it. Oh! Mom came out 
by helicopter to meet me because she was worried." Marks face darkened at 
the mention of his mother.

"Is that it?" Mark asked hotly. Ash felt a sweatdrop form on the back of his 
head.

'I had better not tell him about the Entei adventure, he might get angry 
that I mentioned mom so much.

"Pretty much, yeah." Ash felt his stomach turn at what Mark said next.

"So, you didn't stay at home much did you? You know that you're not going to 
be traveling if you win a place in the tournament to get your pokemon."

"I know." Ash said seriously. "But I would rather stay home and be with my 
pokemon than no pokemon at all." Mark studied his son and decided to drop 
the subject.

"I'm going to cook dinner. You go find a book or something. After dinner, 
it's straight to bed." Mark got up and left for the kitchen, leaving Ash 
alone with his thoughts. Ash then realized something important.

'Digger, Blue, Magic, Arrow! I haven't told them about my deal with dad.' 
Ash could have kicked himself. This was fairly important! If Ash returned to 
pokemon training they would be able to become his pokemon.

"Ashura! Where's the milk?" Mark called from the kitchen. Ash sighed and 
joined his father in the kitchen to help make supper. Later, Ash went to bed 
with butterflies in his stomach.

'I'll go all out. I won't hold anything back. I'm going to cream the 
competition in every event. I will get my pokemon back if it kills me.'

"Ashura? You asleep?" Ash pretended to be asleep. It was force of habit 
because when his mom came in, she would be angry if Ash were still up. Mark 
came in and sat on the bed. Ash was surprised when Mark leaned over and gave 
Ash a kiss on his forehead.

"Just try your best. That's all I can ask for," Mark whispered before 
leaving. Ash smiled before drifting off into dreamland.

*****

'Good grief!' Mark yelped to himself when he went sailing over his 5-½ year 
old boy. 'Where'd that come from?'

"Dad, are you alright?" Ash asked, worried. Ash had just successfully 
carried out a hip throw on his father. Ash had seen the move in an old book 
in the library titled Ancient Self-defense Techniques.

"I'm fine," groaned Mark from the floor. Mark sat up form a flat out spread 
eagle position. "Where did you learn to do that?" demanded Mark. Ash, who 
looked very sheepish right now, smiled slightly.

"I saw it somewhere and decided to try it out," Ash said simply. Mark stared 
at Ash in disbelief for about three seconds and then roared in laughter. Ash 
didn't know what was so funny so he remained quiet.

"Saw it somewhere huh? My son the mimic. Alright then, show me what else 
you've learned." Ash went into a defensive position and waited for his 
father to make the first move. "Ready?"

"Ready," Ash replied. Mark started off with three boxing punches directed at 
Ash's face. All three of them were skillfully blocked by a simple deflection 
to the side. Next, Mark tried his three hit-fist combo, also deflected by 
Ash.

'Let's see how he handles my kicks now.' Mark lead with a right hook that he 
would miss to get momentum for the right turnaround kick that was to follow. 
The punch was deflected like expected but what happened with the kick was 
unexpected.

'I gotcha now dad' Ash ducked the kick by doing a summersault into Mark's 
left leg, causing Mark to lose his balance. As Mark tried to catch himself, 
Ash grabbed the shaky left ankle and pulled.

"Whoa!" Mark fell over with a thud. After an hour or two of this Mark was 
finally frustrated enough that he was going all out on the boy without 
realizing it.

'Dad's really getting into this.' Ash thought as he ducked another kick. 'I 
haven't had this much of a challenge in ages.' Another punch followed that 
also missed.

'I don't get it!' thought a frustrated Mark. 'I'm using my best moves on 
him! Why can't I get him?' Sweat formed on his brow, something that had not 
happened in a practice for many years. Just as it seemed Mark would 
collapse, Ash grabbed Mark's shirt, put a foot into his stomach and rolled.

"Whoah!" Mark yelled, again sailing through the air. On his back again, Mark 
didn't even bother to get up. "You win Ashura. I'm exhausted," Mark wheezed.

"Awww, come on dad. You got more energy than that," Ash urged. Ash was 
delighting in the fact that his father had finally surrendered to him, but 
was disappointed that he didn't have anything to work up to now. Mark waved 
an exhausted hand in the air.

"Sorry boy, but that it's it for today. Prepare yourself for tomorrow, 
you'll have some new training for tomorrow" Ash, excited by this new 
challenge, bounded up the stairs and out of his den.

'Where does this boy get his energy?' Mark thought, still on the ground. 
Next day, same time…

"Alright, since you've thrown me across the den a few times, let's see how 
you are with a weapon." Mark handed Ash a stick.

"What's this?" Ash asked curious. Mark smiled and picked up his own staff. 
Ash took a closer look at the stick. It looked like any ordinary stick 
except for the blue circles painted on it. Mark had red rings.

'Why would he pain rings on it?' Ash thought, puzzled. Mark read Ash's 
furrowed eyebrows and smiled.

"They're the points where I want you to hit with." Ash gave Mark another 
confused look. "You see the rings?" Ash nodded. "I want you to block and 
attack using those points only."

"Oh!" Ash said amused. This was going to be like the war games he played 
with Ken. The difference was that they played with pretend swords, not 
sticks.

"Now prepare yourself. I'm going to show you some basic steps." For the rest 
of the lesson that day Ash mimicked his father perfectly, copying his every 
move flawlessly. Days passed and Ash picks up how to handle weapons. There 
was the staff, the sword, and chain, throwing stars…. You name it and Ash 
could use it with deadly accuracy. Then, one day the training changed.

"Got you again dad!" giggled a six-year-old Ash. Mark froze at the sound of 
Ash's voice behind him. Mark could feel the blunt edge of Ash's wooden knife 
on his neck.

"You've been practicing again haven't you?" Mark asked as he swallowed 
against the knife. Ash removed the knife from his father's throat and hopped 
down from the rafter he had been hanging from.

"Yup. Surprised you didn't I?" Ash said with a smile. Indeed the boy had 
surprised Mark. For the last year of physical training, the boy surprised 
mark again and again by learning things in days that it had taken Mark years 
to master. Mark smiled down at his boy; finally the student surpassed the 
teacher.

"That's it for today. Go find something else to do until I call you for 
supper." Ash bounded out of the garage with enthusiasm. The next day Ash 
went to Sheri's house for piano lessons as usual. The day after piano 
lessons however, marked the start of a different type of training.

"Why aren't we in your den dad?" Ash asked as he followed his father into 
his room. Mark didn't respond but a small smirk crossed his face.

"We aren't going to train physically today, boy. Today we start training 
your mind." Mark took out a key that Ash recognized as THE KEY.

'We're going into the room,' Ash thought excitedly. There was a room that 
Ash was never allowed in that Mark locked up tightly with THE KEY. Ash was 
led to the second story of their home and stopped at the door.

"In we go boy." Mark opened the door to reveal a room lit by a skylight that 
was covered in books. Ash stood there in awe of the entire room.

'There's more books in here than in the library!' Ash almost ran into the 
room, excited to see so many books. Ash picked up the first book and started 
to read. Mark stared at his son who had picked up a book titled Science and 
Discovery Volume 10!

"Ash, shouldn't you read volume 1 before reading volume 10?" Mark asked in 
disbelief. Ash didn't bother to look up from the book.

"I already have with Robert. The library only has up to volume nine though," 
was Ash's reply. Mark, stunned out of his mind, decided to leave Ash where 
he was and left Ash alone in his study.

'I have truly underestimated my son,' Mark thought with a grin. 'I haven't 
even read volume 8 yet, let alone 9.' Mark watched his boy devour every book 
in his private collection during the next three months. Mark decided to 
introduce him to computers after finishing the library, a huge step in Ash's 
training. Or so he thought…

"I've been playing with Gizmo on computers for the last year and a half 
dad," Ash said as he sat down in front of his computer screen. "Are we 
hooked up to the internet? I can show you a few things I learned from him."

"Sure we are. Go right ahead and show me what you've learned." What Mark 
thought would be an hour third grade game lasted for four hours and he had a 
difficult time keeping up. Needless to say, Ash's lessons had ended there.

*****

Ash woke up to the sound of his alarm clock. Ash snapped his eyes open, 
jumped out of bed and ran.

'Today's the day!' Ash mentally cheered. Ash flew through his early morning 
chores like a tornado, packed his overnight bag and left Mark a note. Ash 
ran out of his house overjoyed that during the next three days he would 
finally prove he was responsible enough to get his pokemon. At the training 
center, Ash didn't get a warm welcome.

"Look, it's super cadet," sneered a junior cadet Ash recognized as Trent. 
Trent was a first year scholar cadet and had been in the same class as Ash.

"What? He's not going to fly to Aqua City?" jeered Ceris. Ash's mood dropped 
a bit.

'What's their problem?' Ash thought as he received similar jibed from the 
rest of the cadets. Ash's face was flaming red when the bus pilled up. Ash 
was the only one without a suitcase to load on since he had his green 
backpack. When Ash boarded the bus, he received a surprise.

"Where's Officer Jenny? I thought that she was driving us." Neo, her deputy, 
was in the front seat driving. Neo sighed and turned on the ignition.

"Three people broke out of her holding cell by digging an enormous hole. 
She's out on big manhunt for them and overseeing reconstruction. She'll meet 
up with us at Aqua City." Ash groaned.

'It had to be Team Rocket' Ash was sure that it was Team Rocket that 
escaped. Only those idiots would escape a jail cell by digging holes. Ash 
took a seat neat the back and tipped his hat over his face.

"Dreaming about winning the tournament `Shura?" sneered Ceris. Ash didn't 
bother to remove his hat. "Well keep dreaming `cause that's as close as 
you're gonna get to that trophy." Ceris flicked Ash's hat off of his face.

"Leave me alone Ceris." Ceris smirked and took a seat two seats behind Ash. 
Ash wasn't surprised when no one sat beside him. After all, Ash wasn't in 
cadet training to make friends and he totally upset the so-called balance of 
the cadets.

'Looks like I got the whole seat to myself.' It was going to be a four-hour 
trip to Aqua city. Ash laid his hat over his face again and slept. Ash was 
aware of the bus stopping but didn't bother to wake up. Ash woke up to his 
hat being ripped off his face though.

"What the-?" Ash woke with a start. Sure enough, there was Ceris with Ash's 
hat. Ash growled at Ceris, a warning to give the hat back.

"I'm flushing the hat `Shura," Ceris yelled at Ash. Ash was already in hot 
pursuit when Ceris ran into the convenience store bathroom. Ash skidded to a 
halt in front of the door and slowly pushed the door open.

"Ceris, if you flush my hat YOU'RE DEAD MEAT!" Ash walked in to see his hat 
in front of the stalls. Ash let out a sigh of relief and walked over to pick 
up his hat.

"See you at the tournament `Shura." Ash whirled around to see Frank and 
Ceris shutting the door of the bathroom.

"Hey!" Ash picked up his hat before trying the door. As soon as Ash touched 
the doorknob, he heard a thud.

"That is, if you even get there in time," said another voice behind the 
door. He recognized the voice as Tyrel. Ash was furious.

'They've been planning this together! Sneaky, manipulative jerks!' Ash began 
to bang on the door.

"Let me out of here you creeps!" Ash heard the bus outside the door and 
paled. They had left without him.

'No! No! No! No!' Ash wanted to rip something, anything, to shreds right 
then, but he didn't. Ash knew it wouldn't help anything. Ash looked for 
something to open the door with, after a few minutes.

"They are going to regret this!" Ash growled to himself. "And that's a 
promise." Ash found a pair of pliers underneath one of the sinks. "Perfect!" 
Ash then used the pliers to take a bolt out of the door's hinges. The door 
swung open to reveal a very angry cadet.

'Since Officer Jenny is going to be back late and I don't want to expend my 
energy…' Ash went around the back of the convenience store and walked into a 
part of the Forbidden Grove. When Ash came to the cliffs, he let out a high 
pitch whistle.

"Pheeeee!" Ash then sat down and waited. Two hours passed until Ash heard 
the familiar flap of wings.

"Rargh?" Asked Arrow puzzled. Ash walked up to Arrow and sighed.

"I need to ask a favor." Later, Ash had said goodbye to Arrow after another 
two-hour ride and was on Aqua City's city limits. Ash knew the exact address 
of where they were staying. Ash didn't want to go see his fellow cadets 
after what they had done to him but he needed his bag.

'If I even see one of those guys, I'm gonna explode.' Ash walked around for 
an hour before he found the hotel. (Ash's sense of direction has extremely 
changed by now in the fact that it had gotten better.) Ash walked up to the 
bus and peeked into the window.

"Great," Ash said sarcastically. Ash's bag wasn't there. That meant that he 
would have to go looking for it. At the same time…

"Where is he?" demanded Officer Jenny. She had arrived fifteen minutes 
earlier and decided to give her group a pep talk before they registered for 
the tournament. When all of the cadets filed into the lobby, Ash wasn't 
there.

"Where's who?" Tyrel asked innocently. Officer Jenny looked around to see 
almost everyone copy Tyrel's innocent smile.

"Where's Ketchum? I saw him board the bus this morning, where is he?" Ceris 
shrugged.

"I think he's still in his room," Ceris offered. Officer Jenny looked past 
the boy's to the elevator.

"Nick, give me your key," Officer Jenny demanded hotly. "If he's not coming 
down, I'm going up." As soon as she was in the elevator, about half the 
cadets burst into giggles.

"What's so funny?" Nick asked nervously. Ceris, Tyrel and Frank stopped 
giggling for a moment and turned to Nick.

"She won't find him up there or anywhere in Aqua City," Frank said with a 
smirk.

"Ash was on the bus this morning but he wasn't after the convenience store," 
Ceris said with a smile.

"WHAT?!?" Nick yelled. The troublemaking trio just smiled a Nick.

"Calm down. We just locked him in the bathroom. It's not like we hurt him or 
anything," Ceris said with a snort. When Boomer and Nick paled a bit. Ceris 
knew something was wrong.

"Oh, but you did hurt me." Ceris froze and went blue in the face. Ash was 
standing right behind him, angry and furious. For the first time in his 
life, Ceris was scared of a fellow cadet.

"H-how did you get here?" Ceris asked. Officer Jenny came down in the 
elevator, Ash's bag in her hands, puzzled. All she could find in Ash's room 
was his bag in the middle of the floor.

'I never thought Ash to be the messy type after my visit to his house. I'll 
have to have a talk to that boy.' Officer Jenny walked off the elevator and 
as soon as the door opened, she could hear the yelling.

"-how I got here!?! You have no idea what this tournament means to me! How 
could you do something like that Ceris?! What did I ever do to you for you 
to pull such a nasty prank?" Ash yelled at a very angry Ceris.

"What do you mean 'what did I do'? I'll tell you what you did! You stole my 
rightful place as Officer Jenny's favorite pupil! That's what you did! Ceris 
yelled back. Ash had finally reached his breaking point.

"What? Why you…stupid, ignorant, JERK! You're that jealous that you nearly 
ruined the tournament for me? I never asked to be anyone's favorite! If you 
would get off your high horse for a second, you would realize Officer Jenny 
likes me because I actually take cadet training seriously!" Ash roared.

"I'll show you who's a stupid jerk!" Officer Jenny saw Ceris pull back his 
arm for a punch and she froze; Ash didn't move, not even a flicker of an 
eyelid.

"Think about what you're doing Ceris," Ash said calmly. Ceris couldn't think 
clearly because of his anger so Nick decided to take action.

"Stop!" Nick grabbed Ceris' arm before he could swing. Officer Jenny finally 
found her wits and blew on her whistle.

"Alright! That's enough!" Officer Jenny walked in between Ash and Ceris. 
"Would someone please explain what's going on here? Where have you been 
Ash?" Ash didn't answer right away, instead taking his bag from an angry and 
confused Officer Jenny. "Where do you think you're going? Come back here and 
explain this!" Officer Jenny demanded when Ash turned for the door. Ash 
turned around so fast it startled the woman.

"I'm through talking! I'm not staying one more second than I have to in the 
presence of mean, cruel cadets or chicken, jellyfish who can't count on a 
bus or use their voice if someone's missing! I'll find somewhere else to 
sleep tonight, but I won't guarantee you'll see me at the tournament." 
Officer Jenny saw the genuine anger and pain in his eyes.

"Then here," Officer Jenny said, tossing a blue pokeball at Ash, which he 
caught effortlessly. "It's Silvermane's ball. Take care!" Ash was already 
out the door.

'Jerk!' Ash thought as he left the building. 'I'll go to the nearest Pokemon 
Center. I don't think that Nurse Joy will mind if I stay the night.' 
Meanwhile back at the hotel, Officer Jenny dragged the story out of Ceris, 
Tyrel and Frank.

'No wonder Ash was furious,' Officer Jenny thought before losing her own 
temper.

"That was no prank! That was cruel and uncalled for! The first thing I would 
have done if I was him would be to punch your lights out!" All the cadets 
flinched.

'I'm shocked that he didn't,' Officer Jenny mentally put in before 
continuing.

"Don't you know what Ash had to go through to get here today? He had to take 
a job to pay for this! Hr had to beg his father to let him go. Ash had to 
learn faster and work harder than all of you combined there last three 
months just to have the right to be here." Absolute silence followed Officer 
Jenny's speech.

'My God, they didn't know!' Officer Jenny was shocked. Boomer broke the 
silence.

"Where does he work?" Boomer asked interested to know the answer. Officer 
Jenny hesitated before answering.

"Bruce's Junkyard." A round of gasps echoed the cadets all around. "He had 
made his way to second about a week ago."

"You're kidding, right? Please say you're kidding. You have to be kidding!" 
Nick begged. Nick remembered the hard labor he had done under Bruce during 
the summer before taking cadet training. Cadet training seemed tame after 
working for Bruce.

"No, I'm not," Officer Jenny said seriously. Nick felt his heart leap into 
his throat. Ceris was in the same situation. Officer Jenny saw an immediate 
change in her cadets' attitudes towards Ash. Ash had earned the respect of 
all his fellow cadets just by hearing the tale. Much later…

Disclaimer: You know the drill.
Author Note:Hee hee hee. Am I not evil ^_^