A New Journey

12. The Challenge of Trust: Ash's Battle for Riolu's Acceptance

Hi! Yes I am alive and yes I know that I haven't written anything for two months, but there were several reasons for that. One was university, another was a breakup, which made me not feel like doing anything romantic and finally there was work. I hope you can forgive me.

It was early morning in Musichabour-city and Ash wanted to go training with Greninja and Riolu. He quietly crept through the suite where he and Serena currently spent their nights, so as not to wake them. When he left the hotel room, he took a deep breath and went downstairs to the absolutely empty lobby of the hotel. You can tell it's five in the morning. Ash went out to the hotel's training ground and let Riolu and Greninja out of their respective Pokéballs. The two Pokémon saw each other for the first time, but both Pokémon recognized each other's strength and potential. Ash and his Two Pokémon sat down on the sandy ground of the battlefield and began to meditate. However, it took almost two hours for Ash and Riolu to even establish an aura connection. This connection was very weak, however, he can neither read all of Riolu's thoughts nor communicate with him telepathically. The only thing he could do was read Riolu's approximate feelings, which unsettled Ash, who hadn't had such a challenge in a long time. Slowly the sun could be seen rising and Ash decided to proceed differently. Ash gave Greninja the order to fight him and Riolu, to which Greninja immediately agreed. Greninja stood on the battlefield opposite Riolu and Ash and took his typical fighting position but without changing into his special form. Riolu also went into fighting position. Ash instructed Riolu to use Quickattack, but Riolu completely ignored Ash's instruction and used Focus blast, but this attack was blocked by Greninja without much difficulty. He countered with two small Aqua Shuriken and Ash ordered Riolu to dodge, but he didn't move a bit and decided to face the attack head on. That this was a stupid idea turned out only a few seconds later when he was thrown back by the attack. Greninja immediately realized why Riolu acted the way he did, recognizing himself as a Froakie. Too proud to dodge an attack and too naive to realize that this will get him nowhere. Ash didn't completely understand why Riolu was acting this way, but it seemed familiar. Before Ash finally understood, Greninja had already telepathically connected with Ash and said in Ash's mind, "I'm going to borrow our power for a moment," and began to transform into his synchronous form. Ash thought about what Greninja might be up to and when he finally understood, a giant water shuriken was already flying towards Riolu. Ash also realized that Riolu wasn't planning on dodging this attack and decided to intervene and threw himself in front of Riolu. Greninja knew that Ash would do this and resolved his attack before it hit his trainer. He used his tremendous speed to appear behind Riolu and gave him a jab to the neck with Cut which incapacitated Riolu. "Why did you do that?" asked Ash now a little angry. "Gren Greninja Gren Greninja [I wanted to teach him what you taught me, that we can only win together]." Replied Greninja in his familiar calm as he transformed back. "Yes, but that was extremely dangerous what if I hadn't gone before?" asked Ash still unnerved as he put Riolu back into his Pokeball. "Greninja Greninja" [I knew you would intervene] replied Greninja pointing to his head and then to Ash's reminding him of the telepathic link. "Okay, come on let's go to the Pokémon Center and get Riolu treated. The two set off on their way.

Meanwhile, Serena slowly woke up in her hotel room. She got out of her bed and stretched. She headed towards Ash's room to wake him up. But she stopped in front of the door when she realized that she was still in her pajamas. Earlier it wouldn't have bothered her since Ash didn't see her in a romantic light, but now it was different, and this now made her feel insecure and she decided to change. After getting undressed she went into the room and found only Pikachu lying on Ash's bed asleep. Serena immediately realized where Ash was. She woke Pikachu up and went down to the training ground with him and her Pokéballs. When she got there, she was surprised to see that no one was there, but she realized that there must have been a fight recently, and from the markings on the battlefield, Serena realized that Greninja was one of the two Pokémon involved in the fight. In fact, Greninja creates a circle in the sandy ground of the battlefield when it transforms. A normal observer would not pay attention to this, but Serena, who has seen Ash fight many times, recognized it immediately. That means Ash's Greninja was fighting at full power, but who was Serena wondering, because it was still morning and who could he have been fighting? Serena decided to put the question on the back burner and continue looking for her friend. First she went to the restaurant, thinking that Ash might have gone out to eat after practice, but he wasn't there. She went back to the room to see if he could be there, but he wasn't. Since Ash was not in the hotel, she ran to the Pokémon Center next out of concern. Arriving at the Pokémon Center out of breath, Serena saw Ash sitting pensively in the Pokémon Center lobby. "Ash is everything okay?!" asked Serena worried and out of breath. "Serena, what are you doing here?" asked Ash, who was surprised to see Serena. "I was worried about you. I couldn't find you and you left Pikachu at the hotel, then after I saw the battle scars on the battlefield outside the hotel, I thought something bad had happened and now finally answer my question" replied Serena still slightly out of breath. "Oh crap! I'm very sorry about that Serena. Me, Greninja and Riolu got up very early to train. Unfortunately Greninja overdid it for a short time and knocked Riolu out we rushed here for safety. I forgot to leave you a note, sorry." Explained Ash. Serena could only despair when she heard the explanation. "Serena giggled and looked at her boyfriend, who was sitting in the lobby in sweatpants and undershirt. Ash looked down at his body, which Serena was also staring at, and noticed that he was sitting in the lobby in his sleepwear. Ash had to laugh along with his girlfriend. "Is Riolu okay?" asked Serena after she stopped laughing. "Yes yes he only got Greninja's full force once" Ash explained. "But what made Greninja use his Full Power on Riolu?" asked Serena puzzled that the calm Ninja Frog Pokémon had lost control like that. I'll explain over breakfast, but first I need to shower and put on some real clothes." Replied Ash. He took Serena by the hand and they both went back to the hotel. Ash freshened up and they went to breakfast together and Ash explained to Serena exactly what had transpired in the early morning. "I see, so Greninja wanted to teach Riolu the lesson that took him so long to learn himself." Said Serena, who was now fully in the picture. "But Ash, is this really the best way?" continued Serena. "What do you mean?" asked Ash in surprise. "Greninja started listening to you when he trusted you 100%, but that didn't happen overnight. You and Greninja need to give Riolu sometime so he can settle into his new environment." Serena explained her view of things. Ash realized that Serena was right and that it could take weeks for Riolu to listen to him, but there is a difference with Greninja, he has someone to help him. "Thanks Serena, I'll go to Gary maybe he can help me." Said Ash firmly and made his way to Daisy's lab. Pikachu appeared from under the table and jumped on Ash's shoulder. Serena, who was a bit surprised that Ash had found a new idea so quickly, decided to go to the shopping mall in Musichabour-city.