Love in the Time of Teamwork

Chapter 20: A Future

I need to quickly clear up an unfortunate misconception I've created: Noibat will NOT evolve. I know he evolves in canon, but as this story is set between XYZ15 and XYZ16, and Noibat doesn't evolve until XYZ17...yeah. More or less, while this is slightly AU, it is still an insert story. That said, join me for Chapter 20!

Chapter 20

A Future

Serena felt tears on her eyelashes. He was here; he was standing again! For a brief second, she wanted to scream for joy and hug him, but with the way Zinnia's lips were turned up into a smirk, she knew that would be an extremely foolish thing to do in the moment. Still, Ash took the moment to turn his head back and look at her. For a very brief second, his eyes were hardened from the battles he had likely been fighting, but they softened upon seeing her there. His eyes seemed to rest on her knee.

"What happened? You're not hurt too badly, are you?" he asked. His Pokémon closed ranks in front of him, like they were daring Zinnia to make a move. She didn't, but she didn't drop the smile, either. Serena shook her head.

"Just a scraped knee. What about Miette? Did you see her? She was-"

"She's fine, Serena," Ash answered kneeling down gently at her side. She tried to get up, but a shock of pain jolted in to her knee and she fell back on her butt. Ash frowned and reached into his pocket, pulling out a handkerchief. More than that...it was the handkerchief. He had actually kept it that close to him all this time? Not that it mattered right then and there. As he tied it around her bloody knee, he answered her inquiry. "Her Meowstic helped to shield her from most of the blast, though she and her Pokémon are passed out. I moved them out of the way before I got here."

"Oh...I'm so glad...I thought she might've..." Serena really couldn't voice the thoughts, each of them too horrible to even visualize within her brain. Ash nodded, finishing with his tying of the handkerchief tightly around her knee. It was already soaking through a little, and she felt it wasn't best to stand up quite yet. Ash offered her one last smile as he stood and faced Zinnia.

"You can leave Zinnia to me," Ash said confidently, walking over to stand beside his Pokémon. Serena blinked, watching his back as he stood there, rigid and ready for battle.

"I'll admit it," Zinnia said cheerily, "I'm glad you survived. Now, we get to face off again. Salamence, Flamethrower!"

Salamence let off a mighty roar and it swooped downward, its mouth opening wide to gush its flame along the floor. Ash stood his ground as Salamence drew closer and his Pokémon looked back at him. He nodded, and that looked like he was giving a command. Without any more words, Pikachu rolled along the ground, avoiding the scorching attack that was razing it, almost like they had planned it out beforehand. When Pikachu got back onto his tiny paws, he dashed forward with a Quick Attack. Meanwhile, Talonflame and Noibat had taken to the skies, their bodies illuminated by the green glow of the meteorite. Likewise, Hawlucha was climbing up whatever walls were left while Ash and Greninja ran at Zinnia together.

"Use Water Shuriken!" Ash commanded and Greninja broke away. The Ninja Pokémon summoned the blades of water in his hands before slapping them together and firing them at Salamence's mouth. They made impact with Salamence's jaw and managed to extinguish the flame while driving the Dragon Pokémon's head upwards. "You're not getting away with this, Zinnia. I won't let you!"

"Then come and get me!" Zinnia cackled out as Ash finally reached her. He punched towards her head but he missed, just as he had the last time they'd fought. Then she repeated her same move and locked his arm behind him. "I told you: we're fighting a war. Do you really think some half-hearted punches will manage to hit me?"