Gotta Catch That One

Chapter 34: New and Familiar Faces

"Thanks Professor Oak. See you later." Ash said, waving goodbye, as the call ended. He picked up the five new pokeballs and looked up at Pikachu on his shoulder. "Alright, let's go say hello to these five."

"Pika!" Pikachu yelled out in excitement.

It was the morning after the fight with Team Rocket. Ash and the other Pokemon had camped out for the night and then had come to the Pokemon soon after waking up. Although, they did do a little bit of training before setting off. Everyone had been up for that. Ash was going to make sure to get training sessions with all the Pokemon he transferred over.

Ash and Pikachu arrived outside the Pokemon centre and called out all five Pokemon. Out came Boldore, Buizel, Staraptor, Gible and Scraggy. Although he expected it, Ash was barely able to prepare himself as they all leaped at him. Boldore and Gible caused the most pain, with Boldore's weight and Gible deciding it would be a good idea to bite Ash's head.

"Ow!" Ash said, although he didn't sound too convincing, because he was laughing. "Alright, everyone, please get off. I'd like to actually seeyou." His Pokemon complied and Ash was able to finally look at his next team.

Boldore was a blue rock-like Pokemon with red crystals on his body and rock-like pincers. Buizel was an orange weasel-like Pokemon with a yellow floatation sack around his neck. Staraptor was a bird-like Pokemon, similar in size to Talonflame, with brown feathers on most of its body, but white ones on its chest and a red tip on its head. Gible was a big-jawed Pokemon that kind of looked like a shark with two legs. And finally, Scraggy, the youngest of the group, was a lizard-like Pokemon with orange skin along his bottom that functioned almost like pants which he constantly pulled up.

"So how have you all been?" Ash asked. "Have you been training hard?"

Buizel stepped forward, folding his arms across his chest and nodding. "Bui-bui!" He announced proudly.

Ash laughed. Clearly Buizel hadn't changed a bit. He was very similar to Hawlucha in his personality, although Hawlucha probably showed off a little more. "Glad to hear it, Buizel. I know you've always been a pretty hard worker."

"Gible!" Gible yelled. He ran forward and opened his mouth, aiming at the sky.

Ash's eyes widened. "Whoa! Wait Gible!" Luckily, this stopped Gible and Ash and all the Pokemon sighed in relief. "Don't worry, Gible, you can show us draco meteor soon. Just...maybe not so close to a Pokemon centre, ok?"

"Gible." Gible said, nodding.

And then, in a few minutes, Ash and his Pokemon were on the road. Again, he kept his Pokemon out of their pokeballs. He hadn't been sure whether or not Boldore could keep up, but the rock-Pokemon was actually doing fairly well. Ash realized he was actually probably moving a lot faster with Boldore than he would be with Clemont.

As they walked, Ash wondered why Olympia had asked him to go to Shalour City. The obvious assumption would be to learn more about mega evolution and possibly about his bond with Greninja, but if that was the case, why not ask him to go to Lumiose City and work with Professor Sycamore. He wondered if Olympia was purposefully keeping him from Serena, but dismissed the idea quickly. It was better not to dwell on that. Although, if he saw another vision of Serena being attacked, he didn't think he'd be able to stop himself from getting his strongest Pokemon from Professor Oak and going straight to Lumiose City to pulverize anyone that went near her.

"Bui-bui?" Ash jumped and noticed Buizel walking along beside him. He realized he must have been walking with an angry expression or something, because all of his Pokemon were looking at him with concern.