. . . All the Wrong Times . . .

- Chapter 3 -

TW: Uncensored Swears/Injury

A/N: I might not post as consistently, but we'll see, probably going to post different content other than Satogou, but I will finish this fic and then think about that.

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Ash's POV:

First Noah spotted a rustling in the bushes and went to check it out, Thorn and I decided to follow.

Noah pulled back to the bushes to reveal a startled-looking Weepinbell standing in the leaves.

"Go get em' Panpour!" he exclaimed while throwing a Pokéball.

Panpour squealed and started to battle.

I watched as Noah and Panpour battled in sync, even if their moves weren't the best, they were so in tune with each other throughout the entire battle.

Eventually, Noah and Panpour won, so Noah threw out yet another Pokéball and successfully caught the Weepinbell.

"Wow, you were so in tune with your Panpour, throughout the entire battle!" I mentioned.

"Oh yeah, me and Dumpling, here, have been cooking partners from way back. We enter all sorts of cooking and baking competitions together, heh!" Noah replied.

"That's so cool! I have only been in a couple of small cooking competitions with my Pokémon." I said, sadly thinking back to the time I and Goh entered one together.

I got lost in thought for a minute before Thorn violently patted me on the back and said that we should keep moving. They were right, we wanted to at least catch some Pokémon before sundown.

We kept moving until Thorn suggested we split up to catch triple the Pokémon until it gets too dark. Noah recommended a time we meet up again and we each promised to stay moderately close in the area.

I smiled and gave a 'thumbs up' to Thorn and Noah before trekking off on my own, I had Pikachu on my shoulder of course.

Behind me, Thorn and Noah both went their separate ways until all three of us were walking in different directions through the woods.

Thorn's POV:

I was walking into the woods away from the group, staying nearby of course so that I didn't get lost.

It felt like I was walking in circles with no Pokémon in sight!!

"Arghh!! How long is this gonna take..." I mumbled impatiently.

I never had much patience even as a kid, I was always running around and leading Ash places, I guess that part of me never really left, heh.

I remember once convincing Ash to help me play a prank on our mum and him getting in huge trouble afterward... Good times.

I continued to wander, admiring the scenery, looking out for stray Pokémon...

Eventually, the sun started to set, and even though I was bummed to not have caught any Pokémon, I thought it was better to head back now rather than get stranded in the creepy woods at night.

I started to walk back around, hopefully, the others would meet back up with me soon.

Noah's POV:

I had just split off the group to find some Pokémon on my own, it wasn't a very fruitful catch, however, and I could just hope it was going better for Thorn or Ash.

I pushed past some leaves to get to another pathway as Dumpling, my Panpour, followed me excitedly.

Dumpling and I love to go on adventures together, probably because he's so easily excitable and I just go with the flow of the situation.

After Thorn offered for us to accompany them on a Pokémon search, how could I say no?

Anyways, Ash seemed pretty nice, I'm glad to help cheer someone up with Pokémon any day!

I continued deeper into the forest while walking along the messily paved dirt path, before spotting two Pokémon in front of a towering willow tree blocking out all the sun left.

The canopy of leaves above and the setting sun made it hard to tell which Pokémon they were, but Panpour and I gladly followed.

"Panpour use Torrent!" I yelled but it seems the Pokémon had gotten away, there was nothing there.

"Maybe the creeping darkness is playing tricks on me...", I thought. 

This told me it was about time to start heading back, so glumly, I did.

Ash's POV:

I walked away from the group and thought about what Goh had been doing recently, and if it really was my fault, I yearned to feel his hand in mine or hear his soft voice from behind.

Before I shied away from thoughts like these, ones a guy couldn't get away with about another guy.

I could tell Thorn and Noah were just trying to help me move on, but once they left and I had no one again, the memories of my past experiences came back to me.

I kept wandering through the woods, not paying attention to where I was going just thinking. Thinking about... Goh.

At a certain point, I noticed the sky had started to darken and I was supposed to be going back to my friends, Thorn and Noah. 

I then realized I had no idea where I was! I stared around at the seemingly foreign surroundings and sighed.

Then I saw some brush move up ahead and decided to follow it, maybe it was a Pokémon...

I started running blindly after it, tree branches hitting my sides and my body feeling numb and cold.

I didn't know what I was doing and why I was doing it. I just kept chasing after this one Pokémon when my friends were back there waiting for me, most likely.

My vision started to blur as I continuously ran into the darkness, stumbling and panting, I had finally had made it out of the thick woods-!

-But my feet hit no ground and I plummeted through the air, falling from a tall cliff in the night.

It wasn't long until I hit the ground and my vision went completely black.

...