Third Person's POV

Ash took the morning to assemble his team for the unknown journey ahead of him. He's taking Pikachu of course, along with the starter trio of Oshawott, Snivy, and Pignite. His last two picks were Krookodile and Palpitoad.

Cedric Juniper doesn't actually own any Pokémon so they only have one team of partners for now.

Cheren and Bianca said their goodbyes and left towards their own future goals. So now it's only Ash and the professor who doesn't know how to speak without using cliffhangers.

"Stay safe you two," Professor Juniper waves as the two males make their way out.

"Why would we do that?" Cedric Juniper remarks. "Can't have adventure without danger."

"My Arceus," She sighs. "Good luck Ash."

"Thanks Professor," Ash chuckles and adjusts his backpack.

Professor Juniper watches them get off the property and disappear behind the bushes. Her father explained what they need to find and it doesn't sound easy.

But finding a Pokémon weapon shouldn't.

"Are they gone?" A low voice says, her head creeping from behind a tree.

"Hilda!" Juniper holds her heart to calm down the quick burst of adrenaline.

"Sshh," Hilda looks nervously in the direction the two went.

"What are you doing here?" Juniper puts her hands on her hips. "And yes, they are gone towards Castelia."

"Isn't Ash flying out of Accumula Town?" Hilda questions while carefully stepping out of the trees.

"He isn't flying anywhere," Juniper smirks after seeing relief wash over the girl's face.

"Oh," Hilda looks down nervously. "That's good."

Her voice becomes quieter as she has to control a smile wanting to burst out.

"Hilda I'm not going to ignore how messed up you look," Juniper states. "What's going on?"

"Uhh," The brunette's face reddens. She pulls her long curly hair a little too late to hide the reaction. "I blew it."

"Blew what?" Juniper brings the girl inside since her pale legs are shaking.

"My chance with Ash," Hilda says and Juniper sighs.

"What did you do?" The professor asks and Hilda takes a deep breath.

"It was perfect," Hilda starts. "Ash won the quarter finals and went training that night because that's who he is."

"He was taking a break alone along the boardwalk. The sun was just beginning to set and everything looked incredible with the orange glow, including him. I walked up to him and gave him a water bottle as an excuse to meet up with him."

"That does sound romantic."

"It gets better," Hilda gets a sparkle in her eye.

"We sat down at the end of the pier, our feet barely hanging above the water. My hand was brushing up against his and it was hard to resist the urge to grab it."

"All we did was talk and it felt so relaxing. We talked about our dreams, pasts, and whatever came up."

"What happened?"

"I asked him what his plans were after the league was over."

"Uh oh."

"Yea, you can probably guess what happened next."

"I was dreaming of a future together and I thought he was thinking the same thing. I was too lovestruck to think about what he would do if he did stay but I guess my brain just assumed he would try the Unova league again."

"And he was planning on leaving."

"Yep," Hilda looks up to hold back in her tears. Hasn't she cried her fair share yet? "He told me the first thing he would do is going home, which now makes sense but it didn't a week ago."

"I freaked out before he could continue anymore."

"That's why you've been avoiding him all this time?" Hilda nods at the question.

"I couldn't face him, first because I was mad at him for leaving, then because I was embarrassed."

"I should have been there to support him but instead I hoped he would lose from my hotel room."

"You aren't blaming yourself for his loss are you?" Juniper crosses her arms. "Virgil had an advantage no one could beat. It's hard to defeat someone who can carry more than six Pokémon and has almost every type."

"But I wasn't there to comfort him either," Hilda protests. "I don't know if I could've changed the outcome of the battle but I do know that he hates me because of what I did."

"You don't know that," Juniper tries to reason with the distraught girl.

"How couldn't he?" Hilda starts to cry. "I was an a—"

Juniper rubs her back to help calm her down. "He may... but you will never know unless you talk to him."

"But—"

"No buts here Hilda," Juniper pulls her off the couch. "My father has recruited Ash for a mission, I don't know if that's a good thing but I do know that Ash staying is another chance."

"So this time you're going to step up and deal with whatever Ash says to you," Juniper tells the girl.

"Okay," Hilda mumbles.

"Hilda look at me," Juniper states. "There's something between you and Ash that is more than friendship and people are noticing."

"You think so?"

"Only if you believe it as well," Juniper winks. "You better hurry up and catch them because I have a feeling those two are going to take every scenic route they can."

"Okay," Hilda wipes away the water in her eyes and smiles big for the first time in a awhile. "Thanks professor."

"Anytime," She smiles. "Now go get him."

"You got it Professor," Hilda grabs her drawstring bag and practically skips out of the lab.

"Alder is gonna owe me dinner," Juniper laughs to herself. "Because no way they don't get together."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Why Castelia City Professor?" Ash asks the researcher.

"Because it is the hub of Unova," Cedric explains. "And call me Cedric boy."

"I'm still confused," Ash sweat drops.

"Look at this map," Cedric pulls out a fancy laminated map, sign of a true adventurer.

"See Virbank City across Castelia City?" Cedric points to the place and Ash nods. "Well don't worry about Virbank because we aren't going there."

Ash stumbles a bit before catching himself.

"Where we are really going is a passage that goes right beside Virbank City," Cedric's finger follows a trail. "It starts deep under Castelia City and goes right under Unova Bay to a place near Driftveil City."

"We are here," Ash helps himself imagine how far they have to travel.

"We'll probably take a day or two to talk with the Nacrene gym leader who I'm sure you know well," Cedric states.

"Lenora," Ash remembers the woman who kicked his ass.

"She'll be able to lead us in the general direction we should go," Cedric explains.

"How do you know we have to go through that passage then?" Ash questions.

"We don't," Cedric says and Ash is starting to question his life choices. "I just don't like deserts."

"Great," Ash sighs before noticing Pikachu's ears perk up.

"Why is she here?" Ash looks at the running girl.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Got the most random person to save the world from us," A man laughs.

"Mr. President sir," A grunt steps up in front of his desk. "Your son escaped."

"What!?" The President slams his desk. "You guys had one job. ONE JOB!"

"I'm sorry sir but you didn't give us the tools to fight off a legendary Pokémon," The grunt just secured his fate.

"So it's my fault?" He starts to laugh. "You can be the new test dummy for the Houndours now."

Like every evil leader he has a trapdoor in his office which the grunt falls through. "What an idiot," He sighs. "He was right though, we don't have the tools to fight that fire beast."

"It won't be hard to distract him while we recover my deepest desire though," The president laughs evilly. "It's a shame that this planet will go to such a waste. If only being president brought me more power."

"Everything will end well though," He sighs and looks over the biggest city in the region from the tallest skyscraper in the city. "There's so much wrong in this world and I'm going to be the hero that saves it all."

"By bringing back the ice age," He sighs.

"I love your monologues boss," His assistant walks in. "They almost sound like you're doing the right thing sometimes."

"Thanks Courtney," The President sits down across from her. "Are they close?"

"Sadly no but the take over of the Nacrene Museum went well," She reports.

"Did they get the book?" The President asks.

"Yep and you'll be happy to hear that you were right all along," Courtney informs while watching him celebrate.

"Of course I was," The President brags. "Tell them to continue the good work."

"On it," Courtney nods and leaves the room.

"Too easy," The President laughs and plans his trip to— wow my fingers are starting to hurt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ash!" The girl runs but forgets to stop and hits Ash into a nearby pond.

"One day I'll stay dry after meeting you Bianca," Ash sighs and climbs out of the pond.

Pikachu, who saw it coming and jumped away in time, is laughing along with Cedric who is commenting about Ash needing the trip through the desert to be safe from Bianca.

"I am so sorry Ash," Bianca bows apologetically.

Ash grabs a towel from Cedric and tries to dry off as much as possible.

"I'm going to assume you rushed here for a reason," Cedric states. "Or you're practicing for a marathon."

"I have something for Ash," Bianca brings out a small box. "Professor Juniper forgot to give you it yesterday because of all the excitement."

"Oh," Ash drops the towel and takes the box. He studies it before opening it up.

Bianca and Cedric try to peer into it but Ash is keeping it pretty private. Instead they focus on his expression which is either blank or a mix of them all.

"Sooo," Bianca leans her head forward to make Ash uncomfortable, that way he will spill.

"It's from— I mean nothing," Ash catches himself while backing away.

"A note!" Bianca points at the paper in Ash's hands with a huge smile on her face. "Let's hear it Ash."

Ash looks between the two and realizes he isn't getting out of this. "Fine," Ash sighs.

"Hey Ash,

We may never see each other again and I just wanted to say that everything that night was completely my fault.

I don't know how much this means to you but I hope you become a Pokémon Master like you dreamed.

I'm sorry, H."

"Who's it from?" Bianca questions, somehow oblivious to the fact that there's one person who disappeared.

"Don't know," Ash lies. "It looks like sh- they included—oh."

"Ash stop talking in code," Bianca pouts.

"It's nothing special," Ash tucks away the item.

"You're impossible," Bianca rolls her eyes. "Good luck on your journey guys." And she leaves as fast as she appeared.

"Should I expect any more girls to come chasing after you?" Cedric jokes.

"No I think we're good," Ash chuckles and the two continue their trek...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We have breaking news Unova.

It has become apparent that our "Unova Heroes" didn't finish the job.

There was a robbery at the Nacrene Museum earlier today by a group calling themselves Team Archo Plasma. It is not clear what they stole but if they are related to the defeated Team Plasma, it can't be good.

There have also been reports of Reshiram flying around, the Pokémon thought to be owned by the leader of Team Plasma.

What all of this means is unknown.

But it can't be good"

Beep beep beep

"There is about to be a surprise presidential address, stay tuned."
__________________________

I don't have an update schedule yet for this book but for now sundays seem to be working.

I hope you liked the chapter and see you next time!

We need more othelloshipping art people