Love in the Time of Teamwork

Chapter 10: An Evening

I hope you will all enjoy this chapter immensely. I think you might, but you guys are the only judges of that. So, without further ado, let's start Chapter 10!

Chapter 10

An Evening

Righteous anger was still coursing through Ash's veins by the time they exited the coliseum. In fact, it was so bad that Serena and Clemont had to hold Ash back from chasing after Seamus and teaching him who the cowards were. Pikachu ended up being caught by the tail as he tried to do the same exact thing, with Brock dragging him away.

"Unbelievable..." Dawn breathed. She and the rest of her team were walking alongside Team Ketchum while they exited the coliseum. Clemont had already stopped holding Ash back personally and was now using his Aipom Arm to do the job for him. "We've seen some things, but that...?"

"You mean...you've seen trainers release their Pokémon for losing a single battle before?" Serena asked. She sounded shocked, and Ash honestly couldn't blame her whatsoever. Seeing something like that was not a pretty sight.

"Yeah, but just once," Dawn admitted. "And Paul never made other trainers release their Pokémon."

"And he never beat on said Pokémon outside of their release," Brock reminded her. Dawn nodded sagely, as if remembering that fact just supported her statement. "Like I said: Team Brutal really lives up to their name."

"I'll teach them not to mess with Pokémon like that!" Ash suddenly roared out. His outburst appeared to draw a little attention from the crowd around them.

"Pikachu pika!" Pikachu screamed out with his trainer. The raven haired trainer noticed Serena rolling her eyes and she got behind him to keep pushing him toward the hotel. May suddenly joined him in step at his side.

"You're not the only one who wants a crack at them," May reminded him. Ash frowned at her, but had to accept it as the truth. Judging by the way that every trainer had been reacting in the coliseum, from Team Rocket's frantic scrabbling to Aria's cold proclamation, every single team wanted a crack at taking Team Brutal down a peg. Ash, however, was feeling something just a little deeper than that, and it caused his steps to quicken up a pace, dragging Serena along with him while Clemont just detached his invention from Ash.

"Ash, slow down..." Serena whispered in his ear, unable to get out much more than that. He hardly even heard her. From the moment they had met, Seamus had gotten on his nerves, and now he had just stepped over the line. Was it because he knew people like Paul before? Or was it just his own general demeanor? He always believed life was sacred and saw no point in hurting things needlessly. Sure, he loved Pokémon battling, but that was sport. He would never take his attacks so far as to actually wound a Pokémon to the point that it needed a doctor. Paul was the only one he'd seen ever get that close, and that may have been attributed to his own stubbornness. What Seamus had done...that was pure cruelty. "Ash, stop!"

"Huh?" Ash said, finally heeding the words of the blonde hanging on to him. He turned and saw Serena standing there with a scowl on her face. He didn't like the sight of that as it ruined her very attractive features.

"I know you're upset, Ash, but really, you separated from the group," she said, now letting go of him and placing her hands on her hips. Shame flooded through Ash and he hung his head a little, looking at Serena from under the brim of his hat to smile sheepishly. She just sighed and dropped the scowl. "It's not like I'm mad at you. Those guys were...wrong."

"Yeah, sorry. I just wasn't thinking," Ash told her. "People like them get me really angry."

"Me too, but, uh...we should really get back to the rest of the group," Serena chuckled out. Ash looked around and suddenly noticed that he actually had no idea where they were.