A Journey's Link

Chapter 40 - Past

Ash felt the wind rush against his face as he sat upon Dragonite, who was flying arbitrarily, confused as to where he was supposed to go. It had been hours since they had taken off, and the sun was beginning to set. Dragonite wasn't given any direction and didn't know how to act or feel about the situation.

Pikachu must've felt the same way, as Dragonite started hearing Pikachu protesting against his trainer's actions. "Pika! Pika-pi!" Pikachu exclaimed, trying to get Ash's attention. Ash faced straight forwards towards the sun setting and didn't respond to his partner Pokemon, clearly not wanting to talk about what had just happened.

Pikachu defeatedly sat back down and asked, "Why is he acting like this?" in Pokemon language. Dragonite heard this from Pikachu and turned his head around to face the small electric mouse Pokemon sitting on his back. "I don't think he wants to act like this," Dragonite responded, trying to weigh in on the situation.

Pikachu looked at Dragonite and considered his response. "He doesn't want to? Then why would he at all?" Pikachu questioned, not understanding his trainer's motives. Dragonite shrugged, causing a slight disturbance in the flying and a small grunt from Ash, who was ignoring the two Pokemon conversing in their specific language.

"Pika-chu!" Pikachu exclaimed towards Ash again. Ash repeated his actions, simply ignoring Pikachu's calls and facing straight ahead. "Pi-pi-chu!" Pikachu persisted, becoming more and more worried about his trainer. Ash sighed and smiled a little bit, realizing he couldn't ignore Pikachu's cries forever.

"Alright. buddy," Ash said weakly, feigning a smile. "I'll tell you what's up." Pikachu smiled at Ash's willingness to open up to him, so he sat down and listened to Ash while they flew over the forest.

"It's Miette," Ash began, thinking back to everything that had happened hours ago. "I-I think it is, at least," he added. "Pika. Pika-pi?" Pikachu asked, wondering if his trainer was okay. Ash laughed at his buddy's worrying and realized the way he was acting was affecting his Pokemon. "I'm fine buddy, don't worry," he happily said, giving Pikachu a little fist bump.

Ash then turned back towards the sun setting and sighed again. "It's just... I'm feeling a whole bunch of different feelings that I've never felt before," Ash explained, frowning as he did so. "I wish I knew why, but I'm sure that would make things better."

Pikachu saw the clear upset expression on Ash's face and desperately wanted to help him. He looked down and quickly realized that they had ended up in the Kalos region. "Pika! Pi-chu!" Pikachu exclaimed, tugging on Ash's jacket.

"You want us to go see someone?" Ash repeated back to Pikachu. While Ash didn't exactly know what Pokemon were always saying, he understood the message they were trying to convey, similar to when Ash was trying to understand what was wrong with Tauros back at Moomoo Farms.

"Pika-chu. Chu!" Pikachu continued. Ash noticed that Pikachu seemed very insistent that they go to the location that he was speaking of, so he stopped worrying about his problem for a moment to fully listen to Pikachu. "Pi! Pikachu!"

Ash's eyebrows raised upon hearing what Pikachu said. "You want to go to Lumiose City?" He asked, making sure he was understanding Pikachu correctly. The electric mouse nodded and smiled, making it clear to Ash who Pikachu thought could help Ash.

"Oh!" Ash exclaimed, finally getting what Pikachu was saying. "You want to go see them! Right?" Pikachu nodded, confident that if anyone could help Ash at the moment, it would be the two that always helped out Ash during his Kalos adventure, the inventor and the young Pokemon lover.

"Alright then!" Ash exclaimed, realizing that he was about to see some old friends again. "Dragonite, start heading that direction!" he commanded, pointing to his right. Dragonite bellowed and turned, heading towards the center of Kalos. "We're gonna see some old friends!"