A Journey's Link

Chapter 62 - Found

Ash ran around the center of the village, looking for honey-blonde hair in the crowd of countless masked faces in ninja clothing. I need to find her, Ash thought to himself frantically. I need to apologize to her. His incessant phrases rang in his mind the longer he looked.

Over the past few days, Ash hadn't been too worried about not seeing Serena, but now that he had seen her again, he found it harder to lose her again. Why did I ever leave her? He thought, questioning his own choices. I should've just stayed and talked with her about Miette.

Upon thinking about Miette, he realized that she wasn't there and felt incredible happiness because of this. There was a small level of guilt involved with this feeling, but Ash remembered what she had done and felt angry at her again, now understanding why he had left again.

He walked through crowds of people going about their day. He noticed some people trading goods with people in small tents, children running around playfully, and Pokemon all interacting with the people harmoniously. Ash couldn't help but feel a sense of peace amongst the village, temporarily forgetting about Serena.

That was, he forgot until he felt a tap on his shoulder and looked around. Ash stood face to face with his slightly green clone, A. "We're here to help you!" A exclaimed, Goh and Chloe, walking side by side behind him. "I can't find her anywhere!" Ash responded, yelling over the noise of people having separate conversations.

A gave Ash a confident look and exclaimed, "Then we'll look where you haven't!" He ran off in a randomly chosen direction and began searching in between different stands where people were selling goods. Ash looked on in disbelief as A continued searching without any rhyme or reason, coming up short every time. "Why is he doing that?" Ash asked out loud. "It's not going to work?"

Goh and Chloe both immediately burst out laughing. Ash raised an eyebrow and looked over at the two. "What's so funny?" He asked cluelessly. Goh chuckled and looked at Ash. "Nothing... nothing," he said mischievously, earning a suspecting look from Ash. "Whatever, let's just split up so we can find Serena, ok?" Ash said, Goh and Chloe, finishing their laughter and agreeing with Ash.

"Chloe and I will take that section right there," Goh explained, pointing towards a section of tents set up near the western side of the village. "That means I'll get the area over there," Ash said, pointing towards the opposite side. Goh nodded and said, "We should start looking, then." Ash nodded and turned around, but not before Goh grasped his shoulder quickly. "Just promise you'll come back here when you're done," he said, his voice quivering a little.

Ash hesitated for a moment before nodding. It had just occurred to him how much his friends had missed him upon his sudden disappearance, so he promised Goh then and there that he would return. "Promise," Ash responded, giving Goh a fist bump. "You better," Goh retorted, smirking. Ash turned around again and began walking in search of Serena. He waved at Goh and Chloe, who departed in the other direction, and disappeared into the crowd.

As for A, who had gone off on his own sporadically, things were going great. Along with his search, he had met with an old woman who said she had seen a young girl with honey-blonde hair running down the street towards a local zen garden. A had thanked her, and in response for being so polite, the lady had allowed him to take a small sample of the mint-flavored Moomoo Cream she was selling. He noticed that ever since he broke free of Aaron's control, life was more fun and exciting.

A was just finishing his free sample, which he found incredibly tasty, as he entered the area that held the zen garden. He carefully walked and looked around, unsure of what he was seeing. He expected to see a garden full of plants, but instead, he saw rocks and sand in a space, which was a garden unlike one that he had seen before. Tiptoeing around the area, he looked around to see if Serena was nearby.