Mastermind

5 - Friendship

Surprised, the Pokemon turned its back to its enemy and was shocked to see its old owner in front of him. Suddenly, about 50 Glalie spawned around the Ninja Pokemon. Then, all dashed at him and used Headbutt, causing Greninja to maintain huge damage. With basically all the copies of Glalie piling on top of the Pokemon due to Double Team, he decided to calm down.

Unbeknownst to Ash, an orange aura started floating around the water-type, and using all it's strength, forced huge spikes of ice threw his back hitting all the copies at once.

After all but one of the Glalie had disappeared, Ash saw Greninja crawled up into a ball, completely covered in shards of ice. Still surrounded by an orange light, these shards retracted back into Greninja's body and he stood up. The aura faded and the Pokemon stood confident above the wincing ice-type. It was tossing and turning, face indicating the sheer pain it endured by the attack.

"Gre! Greninja!" The Pokemon screamed in anger.

Fearing for its life, Glalie complied and, whilst still hurting, the Pokemon got up and closed it's huge eyes. Ash looked at the hole in the cave, and noticed the blizzard getting better. Soon, no snow was falling at all, then sunlight could be seen behind puffy clouds. Finally, a ray of light cut through into the room and focussed on the middle of the cave. Then, the Glalie quickly flew out the hole and disappeared as fast as it had come in earlier.

"Gren..."

The boy quickly looked at his old Pokemon. It was staring at him, like if someone were to look at a stranger. It somewhat belittled Ash, made him feel uncomfortable, however soon the awkward silence was met with a warm embrace.

Greninja brought Ash into a comforting hug, causing him confusion and curiosity.

"Wait!" He shouted as he backed away from the Pokemon.

"Aren't you mad at me? I mean, I left you, left you to take care of the entire region. Then, then when you were done, I didn't come back. You must have made this cave your home, right?" Ash said in a soft voice.

"Gre..." the water-type agreed.

"Greninja! Gre, Gren!" It then argued.

Ash immediately knew what he was saying. "You want to come back with me?"

Greninja nodded. The boy ran back to the Pokemon and embraced him, sobbing happily.

They made their way back to the Korrina, who was still waiting with a troubled Pikachu. Greninja had showed him a secret passage he had created for an emergency, it was a tunnel above the water maze, bypassing the entire network. Then, Greninja punched a hole in rock, walked through and saw Pikachu at its feet, ready to attack.

"Buddy, it's fine! This is Greninja, remember?" Ash shouted from behind the Pokemon.

The mouse Pokemon looked at it in focus, then remembered the fun and enjoyable journey they both had together. "Pikachu!" It screeched in a high pitch excitement. Leaping into the air it landed on Greninja's shoulder and nuzzled its cheek.

"Gre!" It responded in a happy tone as he petted his old friend.

Ash followed behind Greninja as it walked around the cave. The boy realised he was in the original area, the place with the large lake steaming with heat.

"Ash!" Someone shouted from the shadows.

"Korrina! We're over here!" Ash waved in the direction of the cheer.

Finally, the girl appeared in front of them and stopped in awe. "Greninja? But Ash, when did you reconnect!?" She declared an answer.

"I just found him fighting a Glalie. That pokemon is the cause of all the blizzards and cold temperatures!" He reasoned.

"I see! Glalie have the ability to freeze moisture in the air, so I guess that means Greninja was trying to stop it...?" She asked.

"Yep! Even here, where it isn't even noticed or asked for aid, Greninja still goes out of his way to help others!" Ash complemented.

Korrina was still holding Ash's clothes and Rotom Phone. Greninja took the clothes off of her and found a poke ball. He grabbed it and noticed that the ball was empty, obviously one that wasn't inhabited by another one of Ash's Pokemon. Whilst Ash and Korrina talked, and Pikachu still on the water-types shoulder, Greninja rolled the ball into his palm, then pressed the button that was facing up with his thumb. The Pokemon flashed a bright light and was instantly inhaled by the pokeball. Pikachu fell onto the floor next to the ball, and the three watched it roll around. After a few tense seconds, the ball stopped and clicked shut.

"Pikachu!" The mouse Pokemon shouted in excitement.

Ash and Korrina looked at each other in awe. The boy then bent down to the ball and picked it up and opened it. Greninja appeared once more in front of him, as cool and collected as ever. Happy, Ash grinned at his old friend who had chosen to rejoin his journey around the globe.