Pokemon World Disaster

Pit Stop

The next morning, Ash was able to leave the Pokemon Center. Greninja kept an eye on his trainer as they left in case he suffered from any side effects of the attack. They were planning to fly to Sinnoh later in the afternoon once they had gotten something to eat.
"Are you sure you're all right, Ash?" Greninja asked as they entered a small coffee shop just down the street from the Pokemon Center.
"I'm fine, don't worry," Ash replied, a bit impatiently. His tone softened as he added, "Sorry. I'm okay, I promise."
"All right, but say something if you don't feel well," the frog-ninja Pokemon ordered. Ash rolled his eyes but smiled all the same. "I mean it, Ash."
"And somehow I'm the mother hen," Ash muttered with a slight laugh, taking a seat at a table by the window. Greninja sat down next to him and Lillie took the seat opposite Ash. A young red-haired waitress walked up to their table.
"Hello, how may I help you?" she asked. A quick glance at her name tag told Greninja that her name was Jasmine.
"Er-anything, Greninja?" Ash asked, glancing over at him.
"No thanks, Ash. I'm fine," Greninja replied. He didn't particularly like the Pokemon food served at cafes. Something about it always looked unappetizing.
"I'll have a large coffee and French toast," Lillie requested politely. Jasmine nodded and made a quick note on a notepad.
"And for you, sir?" she asked, turning to Ash.
"I'll have a medium green tea and oatmeal," Ash replied.
"All right, your food will be ready shortly. Call me if you need anything else," Jasmine said with a wink at Ash. Greninja had to hold back a laugh as he realized that she was flirting with his trainer. The young redhead dropped a piece of paper in front of Ash and sashayed off, leaving him looking extremely flustered.
"Someone's popular," Greninja couldn't resist teasing, smirking at the expression on Ash's face.
"Oh, shut up," Ash groaned. Lillie was grinning at him as well.
"You'd be surprised how often that happens," Pikachu remarked from Ash's shoulder. "We went to a restaurant in Alola and three different girls came up to talk to him."
"Hey Ash, what does that note say?" Lillie asked.
"She gave me her Pokedex number and asked if I wanted to meet her for dinner sometime," Ash said with a slight eye roll. Greninja had the feeling that he was very, very tired of the constant attention from girls. Unfortunately, it didn't look as though he would be getting a break anytime soon.
"And are you going to say yes?" Lillie asked, looking amused.
Ash sighed. "I have more important things to do, remember?" he reminded her.
"That's his excuse every time a girl asks him out now," Pikachu said to Greninja.
"You mean he never says yes?" Greninja asked, a little surprised. Ash had never seemed like the type of person to turn anyone down for a date. Granted he probably wouldn't have known it was a date, but he still would have gone. It seemed that his trainer had grown up a bit over the past three years.
"I said yes once, actually," Ash answered. Greninja jumped; he hadn't realized Ash had been listening. "I went to lunch with a girl named Emma. She was...well, you had to be there, let's just put it that way."
"Oh yeah, I remember Emma," Lillie chuckled. "Didn't she pretty much talk your ears off?"
Ash nodded and grimaced. "I swear, never in my life have I heard anyone talk so fast or so loud," he said.
"Was she really that bad?" Greninja asked, happy to be hearing more about his trainer's life since his time in Kalos.
"I couldn't understand anything she was saying, so yes," Ash answered. "But every few minutes she kept saying, 'You know?' So I had to pretend like I actually had some sort of clue what she was talking about."
"Sounds like you had fun," Greninja said jokingly.
Ash just shrugged. "It could have been worse, I suppose," he agreed. "And actually, after we left the restaurant I did manage to work out some of what she was saying and I realized that the whole time, hour and forty minutes, she was just bragging about how great a performer she was."
"Was she any good?" Greninja asked curiously.
"Um...no," Ash replied. "She had no coordination at all, her Popplio couldn't dance, and I don't think she rehearsed her performance beforehand."
Their food arrived fifteen minutes later. Greninja watched Ash take a bite from a bowl of unappetizing-looking brown lumps. To his surprise, he seemed to enjoy it.
"How can you eat that?" he asked, trying not to gag.
"It's not that bad," Ash said. "This one isn't as good as the one I had in Alola, but it's decent enough."
"If you say so," Greninja replied skeptically. He wasn't sure what could be so great about something that looked like a bowl of regurgitated oats. At least Ash wasn't making him eat any of it.
They finished eating half an hour later. Ash left a tip on their table and placed his empty oatmeal bowl next to an assortment of dirty dishes near the front of the coffee shop. Greninja was still amazed that his trainer had been able to eat the horrible-looking oatmeal without throwing it back up.
"All right, Charizard, Pidgeot, let's go," Ash said, tossing Charizard and Pidgeot's Pokeballs into the air.
"Where to now, Ash?" Pidgeot asked, landing gracefully in front of Ash.
"We need to get to Sinnoh. Are you guys up for the flight?" Ash asked, stroking Pidgeot's feathers.
"You bet! We'll be there before you can say 'Pokeball'," Charizard roared.
"Ash, why don't we just catch an airplane or something?" Greninja asked as he climbed on Charizard's back. Lillie climbed up behind him and gripped his shoulders tightly as they took off into the air.
"One, I don't have any tickets. Two, I've had enough of airplanes and airports for a while," Ash replied, exchanging a glance with Lillie and Pikachu.
"What happened?" the frog-ninja Pokemon inquired.
"When Lillie and I flew back to Kanto the other day, the pilot flying our plane was a bit inexperienced," Ash answered. "He received a message about an airport in Kanto being closed that wasn't the one we were going to, but misinterpreted it as being the one he was taking us to. So he made a detour before he realized he had made a mistake. And just so you know, planes do not come with unlimited fuel supply, so by the time he got us back on course we had about thirty minutes of fuel left and it took another twenty-six minutes from there to land."
Greninja sighed and shook his head. "Those things seem to happen when you're around, don't they?" he commented. Ash winced and nodded. "Although that sounds better than being stuck on the wing of a plane."
"Well, we didn't crash, so I guess it was," Ash said. "All right Pidgeot, Charizard, turn left here. We should be in Sinnoh in a couple hours."