Champion's Confidant

On Music

The rest of the school day came and went with little fanfare.

"Okay, but their cheeks are so cute! I heard they're like rubber when you touch them!"

"Uh-huh."

"C'mon, Chloe! You want to touch a Pikachu's cheeks too, don't you?"

"Not in particular..."

By the end of lunch, Mika had seemed to forget about Ash and zeroed in even more on his Pikachu, discussing in glowing terms the time her brother showed her video he had recorded on his phone of a Pikachu in the wild.

'Mika sure is crazy about Pokémon. I'd be lying if I said it didn't remind me of Ash and Goh. Those two basically became best friends overnight, bonding over Pokémon. I almost think she'd get along better with them than I would...' She touched Eevee's Poké Ball in her pocket. The ball shook slightly, responding to her touch, Eevee letting her know that she was there for her.

'I might not be as outgoing as Mika is, but I still love Eevee,' She thought. 'We're going to find our way together, at our own pace. And we won't let anyone rush us, either.'

The ball in her pocket shook, as if Eevee was agreeing in her own way as well.

A few hours and classes later Chloe returned to the lab to the cheerful barks of Yamper. She felt exhausted, going through the hall. 'Today wasn't awful after the beginning of the day had passed, but boy am I glad it's the weekend now. Letting Eevee out of her ball, she entered the kitchen to look for Ash and Goh. But when she arrived, only one of the boys was sitting there, gleefully stuffing his face with some bread.

"Ash?" Chloe asked, somewhat puzzled. "Where's Goh?"

Ash was so busy stuffing that face of his that he didn't even notice her come in. He swallowed the bite of the croquette sandwich Mr. Mime had made for him hard. "O-Oh, hey, Chloe! Goh got a call from his parents, and they said they were free tonight and invited him to hang out at his place!"

Chloe took a seat across from Ash. She knew Goh's parents, of course. Especially how busy they were with work all the time. If they had a day off to spend with him he'd definitely take the opportunity. Even if it meant ending his self-declared watchfulness of Ash. 'Which means that the entire confrontation we had this morning was basically pointless,' she thought as began to look through her phone.

"You look like you're about t' say somethin'," Ash said, looking at her.

She looked up, her green eyes meeting his brown. "I wasn't going to say anything," she said, shrugging and looking away. She sat her phone down on the table, hoping that he somehow didn't gain the ability to read her mind.

"I mean, you and Goh had that fight this morning that we kinda forgot to talk about," he said, staring back at her with those brown eyes of his that reflected only the truth. "You probably wanted to apologize to him, right?"

The heavy guilt she felt this morning suddenly returned to her stomach, and she frowned at it. 'Why was Goh so upset...? It doesn't make any sense...' "I guess it doesn't matter," she said. "I can just talk to him later."

"Y'know, it's easier t' just apologize when you fight with a friend," Ash explained. "I've gotten in a lot of fights with my friends so I know what it's like."

"I don't even know why he got so upset," she admitted, shrugging. "And I guess I won't know until we talk tomorrow."

Ash gave her that winning smile of his again. "You guys'll figure it out! You've been friends for a long time, right? And friendships are pretty hard to break, even if you mess up." He laughed, scratching his cheek. "I should know. I can mess up a lot."