Returning to Kalos ✔️

Return of Flare

[Well, last chapter was nice. Pre-Evolution, who would've guessed? And it's the same as Ash and Greninja's Phenomenon Bond. Anyways, onto the chapter!]

Ash and friends visited Sycamore's Pokémon, Pikachu and Dedenne running in among them. The Pokémon all began to play with one another, laughing happily.

"They all look really happy," Bonnie commented, watching Dedenne and a Zigzagoon play tag with Pikachu. "It make me feel happy!" 

"That's what Pokémon-Human relationships are all about," Clemont replied. "It's what many Pokémon Trainers base their life around, to see their Pokémon happy and healthy." 

"I didn't know that. That's nice to know." 

"It's what every trainer knows," replied Ash. "Their Pokémon is their number one priority as a Trainer. They have to keep them healthy and fit for battling."

"If they battle," Serena corrected him. "Not all of us like to battle with out Pokémon."

"Yeah, because you think you're not good enough to do it," Ash replied.

Serena went slightly red, kicking him in the shins. "Shut up," she muttered to him. 

"Ow," Ash replied, rubbing his shin. "That hurt." 

"It was meant to, Ash." Serena walked to the Professor and began talking with him. 

Ash rolled his eyes at her, walking over to Pikachu and Dedenne. "You guys having fun?" he asked.

"Pika Pi!"

"Nenne!" 

"That's great. I thought I'd go and find Garchomp. Gonna come?" 

"Pika!" Pikachu jumped onto Ash's shoulder. "Pika pi!" 

"Great. Let's go!" 

Ash and Pikachu left to go and find the Dragon-Type Pokémon. They passed one of Sycamore's assistants, Sophie. They had a quick chat, then Ash and Pikachu continued their search. They found Sycamore's machine which could identify Mega Stones. Ash remembered when they had found a Garchompite for the Professor's Pokémon. That was one heck of a day. 

Finally, Ash and Pikachu found Garchomp with a man in a lab coat. Maybe a new assistant? Garchomp noticed Ash and Pikachu and smiled. "Gar, Garchomp!" Garchomp ran forwards and hugged them.

"Hi, Garchomp! Good to see you're well. Who's the guy?" Ash asked.

"Garchomp, Gar, Gar." Garchomp shrugged. "Chomp." He returned to the man, who had a clipboard in his hands, checking things off it.

"Excuse me," Ash said. "But who are you?" 

The man looked at Ash, his lab coat riffling slightly. Ash caught sight of a strange emblem on his shirt, which looked oddly familiar. He discarded it, thinking maybe it was of a clothing brand. 

"Me? I'm Sycamore's new assistant. I just wanted to check the lab out, see what it was like. What about you?"

"I'm Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town, in Kanto. I was here about a year ago, but I came back to visit some friends. This is my partner Pikachu, too."

"Pika!" 

Ash didn't notice that the man's left eye twitched when Ash introduced himself. He didn't notice the man's fist clench. Ash kept on smiling. What he did notice, though, was a slight fear in the man's eyes, only for a second. 

That's strange, he thought. And that emblem was something...

Ash and Pikachu returned to the others. "Hi guys, we're ba- What happened here?!"