Love in the Time of Tribulations

Chapter 6: A Chase

The review synching system broke...again...sigh...So, if you leave a long review, be sure to PM it to me because otherwise it'll get truncated and I won't be able to respond properly! But otherwise, enjoy Chapter 6!

Chapter 6

A Chase

Too many thoughts were swimming in Ash's head. So many that any normal person would have a hard time staying upright.

Standing just a few feet away from him was his father. The father that had disappeared...well...he wasn't exactly sure when. It was definitely sometime after he had met Serena, or so he could presume from his words. That hardly mattered in the space of the moment, because Ash had all but admittedly forgotten his father. His mother had done such a great job of raising him without his father that he had no need for one. And once he started his journey...well, that seemed to be that. Now that he was standing before him though, Ash had to wonder just where his father had been all this time, and what his true motive for coming here was. It was a mind-boggling situation for sure. He was glad to have Serena by his side for that particular revelation.

She couldn't help with the second one, though.

Ash didn't expect Paul to be standing in front of him, even if he was dressed slightly differently. The Pokémon were all the same, though, as was the catchphrase that allowed him to identify him. Most of all, he didn't expect the boy to have next to no memory of him. Their rivalry had been too fierce for either one of them to just forget it so easily. Even to this day, Ash looked back on their final battle as his greatest match, the one that probably made him into the trainer he was today.

It was a good thing that Ash wasn't a normal person. That allowed him to step forward, Greninja acting as his temporary bodyguard.

"Paul, it's me, Ash," he said confidently. There was still some slight turmoil in his mind over why the purple-haired trainer had forgotten him so easily, but he wasn't going to let it affect him all that much.

"I know who you are, but I don't know how you know who I am," Paul insisted with a glare. He still wasn't removing his cap, but his eyes glared over at him, almost piercing the space between them.

"Come on, you can't have forgotten me! We were rivals! We pushed each other! We-"

"Yeah, great for you. Cross Poison, let's go!" Surprised by the ruthlessness in Paul's sudden attack on them, Ash stepped back, but quickly clenched his fist.

"Greninja, use Cut!"

"Nin!" Greninja shouted, summoning his white blade of light and slashing through the purple cross shaped attack like it was nothing.

"I don't know how you forgot me, but it looks like I'll have to make you remember," Ash said sternly. Nothing else was coming to matter. His father was there, but that could be dealt with later. Right now it was about Paul, and the fact that he was outright attacking him. "And the best way to do that is through a battle!"

"Ash!" Serena called warningly, but for that brief moment, he ignored her. This was between the two of them.

"Greninja, use Aerial Ace!" he shouted. Greninja's fist glowed white and he jumped towards the Drapion in the hall before slamming down on its head.

"So, the Horde Battle wasn't a fluke..." Paul commented with a nasty smirk stretching his face. "Interesting...let's see if you're as good as the news reports say, or if you're just another path-"

"Water Shuriken!" Ash interrupted him. Greninja clasped at his side and tossed the watery blades right at Drapion. "You should know it wasn't a fluke! I'll just remind you!"