Love in the Time of Turbulence

Chapter 10: A Friend

An earlier posting time of the chapter today! Mostly just because I'm busy today and I wanted to make sure the chapter got up on time! Hopefully, you'll all enjoy and leave a review regardless! All right. Chapter 10, go!

Chapter 10

A Friend

"All right," Ash said, pulling his fingerless gloves a little tighter around his hand as he stared at the companions before him. "Are we ready to go?"

"Yes, sir!" Meowth responded with a wicked little smirk and a salute.

"Can't believe we're taking orders from the twerp..." Jessie complained. Ash sighed a little at the comment, wanting to make one of his own, but refraining from it.

"You know it's the safest bet, Jessie," James said. Jessie waved him off, like she was still annoyed with the details. "Either way, we've got our plan set and ready to roll."

"You just give us da commands, chief," Meowth answered seriously. "Da Rocket Balloon is prepped and ready for action. Dose Team Neo creeps won't know what hit 'em until dey get a face full of my Fury Swipes!"

"Guh, enough talking! My patience is wearing thinner than James' hair will someday!" Jessie snapped, and she finally began to stomp out of the cave furiously. James, Meowth, and Wobbuffet, all of them seemingly worried about Jessie's not-so-sudden shift in attitude, scrambled out of the cave after her. Ash watched them in amusement.

No matter how many times he teamed up with their group, he still found it strange every time. Maybe it was because when they worked together, Team Rocket didn't try to steal Pikachu, or maybe it was because of some of the other things they did along the way. It was such an odd relationship between all of them, and somewhere in the back of his mind, Ash wondered what he would do if they weren't there. They were as much a fabric of his life as Pikachu was, or as Serena had become along with his other friends. Looking over at Seamus, who was still leaning nonchalantly against the cave wall, he recalled what the blond had said earlier. He needed to find who he was without Travis. Ash wondered if he would ever need to find out who he was without Team Rocket. Not that it mattered; he was almost certain they would follow him until the day he died...or they did...whichever came first.

In any case, Ash was more than willing to work with them if it meant helping people. He just had to make sure they didn't pull their usual shenanigans along the way.

"You ready to go, Seamus?" Ash asked loudly, his voice echoing off the cave walls. Seamus, clearly still lost in thought, turned his head with a somewhat dazed expression.

"Yeah," the blond answered. It sounded a little hollow to Ash's ears, but he figured that may have just been an effect of the cave around them. Shortly after he thought this, Seamus shook his head. "Sorry. It's just...I have to face them, and that scares me."

"I get it," Ash told him, walking over and clasping his shoulder with a firm grip. "We all have to handle things that scare us, though, right? That's why, as soon as I get back to Serena, I'm going to tell her how I feel. I'm fine if you don't want to come with us, though. It can't be easy to fight your friends."

"No," Seamus replied sternly. He came up from leaning on the wall with a face set into an expression of determination. "I need to do this. They were my friends, but we're walking different paths. I can't speak to what's going on in Merry's mind, but Travis...he, at least, I need to face on my own."

"Then leave me to deal with Merle," Ash replied confidently, pointing proudly at his chest. "Besides, she really sucker punched me a few times. Those really hurt, too..."