Journey Of The Chosen One

Chapter 11

Ash looked down at the sound. He saw an upside-down name tag. 'It must be her's!' The raven-haired trainer turned the name tag and colour drained from his face:

Name: Arielle Surge

"Ash, what's up? You seem pale."

Gary leaned over to look at whatever was on the tag. When he saw what was written, Gary burst out laughing.

"Out of all the children you could've hit, you hit Lt. Surge's niece!?"

"Don't laugh at me! He's going to kill me!" Ash groaned.

The now dubbed Arielle woke up from the ruckus.

"Hiya pumpkin, did you sleep well?" Ash asked the little girl.

"Mm, I'm still tired..." She rubbed her eyes.

"You should probably check into a room, it is getting late." Daisy suggested.

"Yeah, we probably should." Gary said.

They bid farewells and the trio checked into room 17. On the way there, Gary asked:

"Arielle, why do you let Ash call you pumpkin?"

"It makes me remember something."

"What does it make you remember?" Ash joined in.

"I don't know. It just.... seem familiar."

The trainers' hummed.

"By the way, Ashy, do you know what pushed the people back?" Gary asked quietly.

"N-no I don't." Ash replied. 'Damn it! Why did I have to stutter now!? If he finds out he's going to think that I'm a freak of nature..."

Gary eyed Ash skeptically making him feel uneasy. Eventually, they arrived at the room in awkward silence.

The room was quite spacious and contained 3 beds.

They washed up and retired for the day.

*******

It was approximately 2 AM. Small crying noises were heard by Ash, thus waking him up. It took a few minutes for him to realize that it was Arielle.

The sleepy trainer got up and went to check on her while the other was still sleeping like a log. It turns out that Arielle was having night terrors.

Knowing that he shouldn't wake her up, he put a comforting hand onto the blond girl's trembling back while whispering soothing words in her ears. Arielle soon calmed down still sleeping. She mumbled a few words in her sleep that Ash couldn't quite make out.

Even after Arielle stopped shaking, Ash stayed up to keep an eye on her. Only after 30 minutes was he content with letting himself rest.

*******

The next morning came.

Gary stretched:
"Have you two slept well? I slept great!

"Yeah!" Arielle squeaked on a chair.

"Hm." Ash gave a half-hearted response as he was concentrated on braiding Arielle's hair.

A knock was heard at the door. Gary went to answer.

"Brock! Great to see you! Where were you?"

"Gary! It seems like you're doing well. I'm sorry that I couldn't be there. I was short on potions." Brock apologized.

"Don't worry about it come in!"

"Um... Where did you get a kid?" He asked.

"Well..."

Ash and Gary took turns in explaining the story of they met her and a few details about the attack.

"Damn..." Brock glanced at Ash then at Arielle and back at Ash.

Arielle, seemingly catching up with the conversation, crossed her arms and said :
"Do not blame Ashy! I already forgive Ash."

"Don't worry, I am not blaming him. Just surprised, that's all."

Arielle's pouty face morphed into a grin.

"So.... What should be our next step?" Brock asked.

The room was silent for a minute or two while the other trainers thought. The toddler was looking at Ash curiously.

"Arielle, why were you at the hospital in the first place?" He asked.

"A really nice lady bring me there when I had ouchies." She responded.

"Why did you have ouchies?"

"Men wearing black put me in a car. I do not think that uncle knows. They hurt me." Her mood went down.

'So she was kidnapped..." The thought went through their collective heads.

Deciding not to pry in further, they lead her to the cafeteria for breakfast.

"So I guess the best plan of action is to take her there ourselves?"

"I don't know.... Not that I don't want to help her but shouldn't we leave this to the authorities?" Brock asked.

"I mean, we could but I don't think that little Arielle wants to let go of Ash yet." Gary pointed at the duo who were having a blast. "Besides, we are heading there anyway."

"Yeah you're right but we should at least tell officer Jenny. We don't want to be accused of kidnapping do we?"

They called Ash over and told him their decision. He agreed almost immediately as he got a little attached to the girl.

After they got their stuff sorted, they went out to the police station.

"Alright then. I will inform the station in Vermillion city. Thank you for volunteering to bring her back to her home. We are at the moment short-staffed. May your journey to Vermillion go on without a hitch." The cyan-haired officer saluted.

"Let's go then!"

"Ash where are we going?" Arielle asked tugging at his hand.

"Pumpkin, we are taking you back home." He replied smiling.

"Yay! I can see uncle again! I missed him."

"Oh and by the way Ashy, here." Gary tossed him his pair of black fingerless gloves. "You forgot it on the nightstand."

"Thanks! I forgot about them." He quickly put them on. After his gloves were hugging his hands, Ash felt the awkwardness that he didn't even know was there dissipate a little.

He didn't let the shock show on his face, however. He just continued to walk while his brain raced. Ash thought back to the professor's words about the gloves:

"These are from your father. For the reason that I do not know of, he said one day that they will come in handy."

'Hm... I guess they probably will."

******

I'm so sorry for the wait but it's finally here! I've been lacking in time and motivation.

Do you know how teachers force you to read while taking the fun out of it? Well, that happened to me and the book we were reading about twins who had gay parents was boring as hell. Not that I have anything against homosexuality, it's just that the storyline was quite bland and dull.

Welp, enough of me ranting.

Thank you for reading and have a marvellous day!

(P.s. Pardon the mistakes please.)