The Bond

Chapter Seventeen: Disastrous Debut!

Serena woke extremely early, early enough to see Ash was still sleeping. Usually, the rest get up to find he had already left to train with Riolu and Froakie, but today Serena wasn't sleeping well. She laid there, listening to the others breathing while trying to fall back asleep. After a while, Serena heard a quickening of breath. Looking over, Serena pretended to stay asleep so she could see what Ash does in the morning.

He sat up and scooped Riolu and Froakie into his arms, silently walking out of the room to change into his specially made outfit for training. Serena quietly got up and followed him out into the other room. Seeing a light in the bathroom, she crept back into the bedroom and waited for Ash to come out. When he did, Serena saw that Froakie and Riolu were sitting on his shoulders, looking fairly awake. Her eyes widened as she saw Ash turn to the room to return his pajamas to his backpack. Serena quickly ran back to her bed as quietly as she could and dove under the covers. She remained silent as Ash put his pajamas away, and left with Riolu and Froakie. She continued to follow him out the door, stepping down the dark, cool hallway. Rounding the corner, she saw Ash heading outside. Walking through the door, Serena scanned the area to see if she could find Ash. Not able to see him, she slumped her shoulders and turned to go back inside. Serena jumped back and yelped as she turned to see Ash there with his arms crossed. He said, "Serena, what are you doing up so early? Also, why are you following me?"

Serena looked down guiltily and said, "I wanted to know what your morning routine was like. I couldn't sleep."

Ash sighed and said, "If you wanted to know, you could've just asked me. You should get some rest, it's still early in the morning and your body isn't used to it like mine is."

Serena sighed and walked back inside. Once he was certain Serena was going to sleep, he turned to see Froakie was almost falling asleep again and said, "Get some rest, Froakie. I'll work with Riolu on this one." The frog Pokémon padded back inside to go back to bed.

Ash turned to his remaining Pokémon and held out his fist, and Riolu fist bumped with him. The two worked on Riolu's moves. "Alright Riolu, let's work on Counter. I want to see if we can get it fast enough where you don't even have to take the hit and just turn their power against them."

The two started training, Ash would throw a punch while Riolu would use counter. After a few failed tries, Riolu started getting faster and faster. Finally, Ash threw a punch and Riolu ducked under it and slammed into Ash's stomach. "Oof!" Ash had the wind knocked right out of him. Riolu stopped and looked at his trainer, concerned. "Riou?"

Ash waved his hand and said, "I'm fine, Riolu. Nice job. You didn't even take the hit, and I could feel the power behind that punch." He petted Riolu on the head, making the small Pokémon close his eyes with pleasure.

The two headed inside the Pokémon Center and were checked out by Nurse Joy. Upon hearing what Ash had done with Riolu, Nurse Joy said, "That may be an efficient way of training your Pokémon, but you shouldn't use it if there are other options. You might hurt yourself too much to battle." Ash smiled and said, "Thanks for the advice, Nurse Joy."

Nurse Joy shook her head and said, "It wasn't advice, it was a diagnosis. Your body was weakened by that training, and I'm going to have to ask you to stay until at least this afternoon. I can't risk you injuring yourself further." Ash opened his mouth in shock, saying, "What? But I have to support Serena in the Showcase!"

Nurse Joy simply said, "You'll have to support her from here. You need rest, Ash. Riolu will be fine after a little treatment, but I can't use my Pokémon healing tools on you. It's never been attempted."

Ash continued to try to convince Nurse Joy to let him go until the others woke up. Seeing Ash arguing with Nurse Joy, Serena came and said, "What's wrong, Ash?"