The Fall Of Bonds

Chapter 2: Alone

The sun began to rise, as a pair of auburn eyes open up. Ash then began change up and ready for his morning training with his team.

Suddenly, as soon as he search for his pokeballs, "Wait, what? only four?" Ash thought. He then called out his Pokemon for checking. Hoping everyone is still here with him

"Come on out, everyone!" Ash exclaimed.

But to his surprise there were only three flashes of light as Noivern, Talonflame and Hawlucha appeared in front of him and Pikachu joined in line a moment later. The forth pokeball was empty which Ash knew it was Goodra's, since he left his friendly dragon type at the wetlands to be with his own friends.

"Greninja, HE'S THE ONE MISSING!!!" Ash's eyes lit up.

He then approached his team and said, "Hey guys, Greninja's not here, can you all go search for him?" He asked.

"Of course, Ash." His team saidin approval.

Talonflame, Noivern and hawlucha then flew in different directions to search Greninja from the air while Ash and Pikachu run into the forest to search for him on foot."C'mon Greninja where are you right now? Why would you left without telling me?" He thought to himself, before the revelation hit him like a ton of bricks.

His mind played the second question over and over like a broken record as his mind flashes back to the memories of Greninja's bad experience with his previous trainers. All of them ending up in Greninja abandoning all of them all poured into his mind. His running pace was getting slower and slower as he finally come to a halt. He just stood there, not moving an inch.

"Greninja? Has he abandon him too? But, why? he isn't causing anything to make him unhappy, right?" Ash thought. More and more questions then poured into his mind such as,"Has he thought that he's now too powerful for him so, he could just left? Or did he have other reasons of leaving?"

No matter how hard Ash tried to thought for a good reason, he just couldn't. He tried recalling almost every memory with Greninja, from his time he first caught him in Lumiose City to now. He still couldn't find the time when he done Greninja wrong.

Ash closed his eyes and lowered his head down as streaks of tears rolled on his face, a few tears dropped on the grass below and his eyes body began gowling red and blue alternately due to pure anger and sadness.

"Ash? Is there something wrong? Why are you crying?" Pikachu, who had been staring at him asked worryingly.

"It's fine, Pikachu. It's fine. There's nothing wrong." he replied as he wiped his tears as his flickering red and blue auras in his eyes and body fade away.

"Let's go back and meet up with the rest of the gang, shall we?" Ash asked, smiling sadly. Pikachu hesitantly followed, curious of what happened to his trainer earlier.

Ash and Pikachu then called back Hawlucha, Noivern and Talonflame back to the camp.

"So, why did you call us Ash? Did you find him? Cause we didn't..." Talonflame, Hawlucha and Noivern all said together as they lowered their head down.

"No, I didn't find him either." he replied but with an emotionless tone.

"So, do you want us to expand and search the area more? Or is there something else you called us for?" Hawlucha asked.

"No, we no longer need to find him, let's all go pack up and ready to cotinue on our way then." Ash said in a monotone voice.

"W-WHAT!!!WHY???!!!" His Pokemon all shouted as their eyes widened in sheer shock.

Ash stayed silent for a while and replied bitterly, "He had abondoned all of us just like he did with everyone else too."

"W-Why would he do that?!" Hawlucha asked, he was givimg Ash an incredulous look, not wanting to believe what he was hearing.

"My guess is we aren't good enough for him. Do you remember his previous trainers? Yeah, I think he also thought that we're not worthy, just like them." Ash said in tonelessly.

"B-But, that's not possible! Why would he thought of us like that?!" Noivern asked as tears brgan glistening in his eyes.

"Yeah, I agree! He's reasonable, so why he would suddenly turn his back on us for no reason?!" Talonflame said, backing up his teammate.

"That's true Ash and we knew it, c'mon tell us!" Pikachu pressed, crossing his arms.

"There is another reason, he left because he's thinks he's just too strong for us now, it's probably either of those reasons." Ash replied before turning to face his Pokemon and asked, " Tell me something, have I done anything wrong or mistreated any of you so far?" Ash asked rhetorically, when he reveived no response, he countinued,"So, that's obvious enough. What else would he thought of us then?"

"N-No, Ash, you've done nothing wrong, b-but-" Pikachu stuttered, unable to find the right reason. He knew all too well that Ash look after his Pokemon with utmost care and even go as far as sacrificing his life for them! He couldn't find a single reason why Greninja would leave Ash like that.

Hawlucha, Noivern and Talonflame opened their mouths/beaks to say something. However, nothing came out. Like Pikachu, they also tried to think of a good reason why Greninja would leave them, but couldn't as well.

The four of them slumped on the ground, Hawlucha and Pikachu clenched their fists and has a look of mute fury on their faces, while Noivern and Talonflame were crying from the loss of the person who had been like their big brother to them.

"Hey, guys...There's no need to be angry or sad." Ash said in a condescending tone as he comforted his team and gently pat the four of them on their backs.

"We should be proud of each other guys, we're strong together as a team and no one's going to change or judge how we are!" Ash said determinedly, his team looking at him in awe. "One day, he'll see how wrong Greninja is to leave us like this! So, who's with me!" Ash exclaimed and saw their faces lit up in realization.

"WE ARE!" They all yelled with a new-born determination burning inside them.

"So, let's get back and ready to continue our training, shall we?" Ash asked.

"Right! Let's do this!" They yelled determinedly, their passions fully re-ignited once more.

Ash returnef all of his Pokemon back to their respective pokeballs (except for Pikachu of course) and headed back to his campsite to train with Pikachu and the others. He lift his face up slightly, showing a serious expression adored on his face.