The Bond

Chapter Ten: A Mischievous Morning!

Ash woke up early, stretching off the floor with Froakie beside him. The frog Pokémon, who was resting on Ash's side, fell backward and woke with a start. "Fro, Froakie kie!" The Pokémon pointed accusingly at his trainer who blushed and rubbed the back of his head, saying, "Sorry Froakie, didn't mean to make you fall like that. Anyways, I'm going to train with Fletchling. You can go back to sleep if you want, or we could have a mock battle?"

Froakie, realizing that this was when they usually get up, simply stood up and said, "Fro." Getting into a battle-ready pose, Froakie raced to one end of the clearing. Ash called out softly, "Froakie! We have to go somewhere else, the others are still sleeping! Anyways, while we look for another place to battle, we can work on our ninja training! To the trees!" With that, Ash and Froakie ran up a tree and started leaping from branch to branch, paying attention to their surroundings. Seeing a decently sized clearing not too far away, Ash pointed and said, "Alright Froakie, let's go there!" The two descended and Froakie ran to one side of the clearing as Ash released Fletchling with a shout, "Fletchling, I choose you!" The trainer then walked in between the Pokémon to the referee spot and said, "Alright Fletchling, we'll be training with Froakie today. I want to work on your agility. Froakie! Throw your frubbles, and gradually get faster and faster! Alright, Fletchling, when I say go, you have to fly towards Froakie and dodge the Frubbles he's throwing! When you touch Froakie, quickly fly around to where you start, okay?" Ash layed out the plan for his Pokémon as they both let out cries of agreement. "Alright, GO!" Ash then started running, getting in his workout for the day while his Pokémon practiced together. He ran around and around the clearing, naturally staying in the shadows and making it hard for his Pokémon to see him. Froakie started throwing Frubbles as Fletchling flew towards him. As Froakie was intentionally starting slow, Fletchling managed to get a tap with its beak. Fletchling was a naturally loyal Pokémon and when others might have started bragging at being able to tap Froakie's side, Fletchling realized this was a practice match and flew back to where it started, per Ash's orders. The bird Pokémon started flying towards Froakie again as he increased his pace. Meanwhile, Ash noticed that his Pokémon got along very well. He ran out of the forest and into the clearing again and started doing his other exercises. He saved his push-ups for last as he knew that Froakie loved riding on his back and relaxing after training. When Ash had finished his exercises, Froakie and Fletchling were going at battle speeds with both of them moving incredibly quickly. Fletchling seemed fluid as it dodged and rolled to avoid all of Froakie's frubbles. Froakie was getting a good workout as well as he continued to throw, focusing now on accuracy with speed. The two stopped as Ash said, "Alright, that's enough you two. Froakie, I'm going to do my Push-ups, wanna join?" Froakie ran over and climbed onto Ash's back after he had gotten into position. Fletchling flew over and said, "Fletch?" while turning its head inquisitively. Ash said, "Climb on my back and lay down, Fletchling! This is Froakie's favorite thing to do." Fletchling listened to its trainer and laid down next to Froakie, looking at the trees above them. The Pokémon both started to relax as Ash methodically moved up and down, at a gentle pace as to give his Pokémon a rest after battling. Upon finishing his push-ups, Ash said, "Alright you guys, let's get back to the others. We don't want to keep them waiting!"

As Ash and his Pokémon raced back to the tents, Serena woke up and looked around, wondering why she was in Ash's tent. Remembering the events of last night and seeing Ash's untouched sleeping bag, Serena felt a little guilty for making Ash stay out there all night. She quickly got changed then remembered how she could make it up to Ash with a surprise. Getting her gift ready, Serena walked out into the clearing around the tents to see Ash, Froakie, and Fletchling running from the forest. She blinked her eyes and could only see Fletchling before Ash and Froakie came leaping from the forest. Startled, she fell backward and said, "AHH!"