PokePiece: A Grand Pirate Kalos Adventure

Chapter 14: A Raid on Team Rocket

"Chespin, Pin Missile!" Brock called out in a confident tone. The spikes on Chespin's head stiffened as he fired white orbs trailing green streams of light at Froakie.

"Dodge it...and use Pound!" Ash retaliated. Almost no one noticed the hesitation there...except for an attentive girl and captain. As Froakie skillfully dodged the Pin Missile and ran toward Chespin with his hands glowing white, Luffy narrowed his eyes and walked over to Serena, who was refereeing this training battle.

"Is it just me, or does Ash sound a bit off today?" he asked while crossing his arms. Serena looked over at Luffy, a little startled by the question.

She then sighed before replying, "Now that you mentioned it, Ash's been acting weird since last night. I'm getting worried about him." As if to prove Serena's point, Brock called for a Vine Whip, which Chespin used to trap Froakie.

"Now use Rollout!" he exclaimed. Chespin curled up into a ball and started rolling back and forth into Froakie.

"...Yep, I definitely need to talk to him." Serena uttered. Bonnie heard her and smirked.

"Leave it to his future wife." she stated teasingly. Serena normally would've protested there, but she was too worried for Ash to be bothered by that now.

"...Ash, if you don't get your head back in the game, I'm calling off the battle! Understand?!" she shouted after a few minutes of Chespin rolling into Froakie. Ash took a deep breath and held out Froakie's enlarged Pokeball, to everybody else's surprise.

"Sorry, Froakie, Brock, but she's right. I really am in no condition to continue this. Return." he admitted somberly. Froakie returned into his Pokeball, which caused Chespin to roll right into the Pokemon Center and knock over Nurse Joy's desk.

"...Oops. Sorry about that, Joy!" Brock exclaimed as he ran inside...though, not without giving Ash a worried expression. Serena immediately rushed over to the boy, with both Pikachus and Fennekin showing the same worry as her.

"Another nightmare?" she whispered. Ash just nodded, which made Serena frown.

Okay, we definitely need to get to the bottom of this. The sooner, the better. she brooded. Ash gave Serena a smile to try to tell her he was fine, but she could easily tell that it was forced. Luffy turned to Zoro, who was frowning after that display.

"This is affecting him." the captain muttered.

"Agreed. I think getting sent here was necessary to stop this." Zoro murmured back. Luffy hummed in agreement.

"Man, I don't think I've ever seen the twerp this affected by anything before." Meowth hissed out to Nami.

Her eyes rose in surprise before she asked, "Wait, really?!"

"Really. Even his crushing defeat at the hands of Chimmy's old trainer didn't get him down THIS bad." Meowth admitted.

Sanji puffed out smoke from his cigarette while asking, "...So what's the plan, Captain?"

"We hope Gary pulls through on his info gathering on if Jason or Guzma exist." Luffy answered seriously. The Straw Hats nodded. Suddenly, Ash's tablet started ringing. However, before he could pick it up, Serena took it away.

"No. You're not talking to anyone else in this condition. Capisce?!" she shouted in a very serious tone. As much as Ash wanted to protest, he just sighed in defeat. Serena checked to see who was calling...and then turned to the Straw Hats.

"Luffy, you wanna take this call? It's Gary." she stated. Luffy gave Serena a nod and grabbed the tablet. With some help from Clemont, he was able to answer the call before the ringing stopped. A few seconds later, Gary's face appeared on the screen, and he raised an eyebrow upon seeing Luffy.