Unaware of his new follower, Ash went out into the garden that is leading to the forest.
"It's a nice day, isn't it, Pikachu, Lucario?" Ash asked.
"Definitely." Pikachu replied, while Lucario merely nodded. Just as they responded, he heard a rustling noise above them.
Ash suddenly stopped. "Did you hear that?" Despite the rustling noise being soft, he can hear it with his enhanced hearing.
Pikachu and Lucario nodded. Since Pokémon has more sensitive hearing than humans, he can detect the noise as well.
"Do you want to check it out?"
"Can't hurt, can it?" Lucario shrugged. "Besides, we can defend ourselves, if there's any danger to the noise."
Ash walked to the tree, where he thought the noise was coming from, and started climbing up to investigate the source of the noise, Lucario waiting below the tree. Perhaps it was just a wild Pokémon, but since the tree he is currently climbing on doesn't offer much concealment, it's highly unlikely.
Halfway through the climb, something heavy dropped on Ash's free shoulder, and Ash lost his grip and fell to the ground. He used telekinesis to slow down his fall, and stopped a foot from the ground. He then let himself down slowly, and landed on his feet softly, Pikachu clinging on the back of his shirt for dear life, Lucario ran over to him to make sure he's ok.
"What landed on me?" Ash groaned.
"Hi, Ash, long time no see." A familiar voice greeted them.
Ash widened his eyes. He knew that voice! He looked to the speaker, and sure enough, a purple, simian Pokémon with two tails, each with a large, rounded hand with three red-tipped fingers was grinning widely at him.
"Ampibom! Long time no see!" Pikachu waved at him. Lucario raised his eyebrow.
"Oh, yeah, you two haven't been acquainted. Ambipom, this is Lucario. Lucario, this is my old friend from Hoenn and Sinnoh, Ambipom, before I traded him away to Dawn." Lucario frowned at the last word. Isn't she one of the traitors?
"So, what are you doing here, Ambipom?" Lucario enquired.
"Oh, I'm done training with that O guy, and thought I'd go back to my trainer, but when I heard her talk bad about Ash, I knew I can't stay with her, because I don't even agree a single word that she said about you. I went off to try to find you, and heard gossip about the upcoming tournament in this PAL region, so I thought I'd head here and try to find you. And now, here I am!" Ambipom replied cheerfully. By her aura, Ash knew she wasn't lying. "So, how are you doing, Ash?"
"I'm great. So, Ambipom, do you want to return to me?" He took out a Pokeball.
"Definitely." Ambipom jumped to Ash, and pressed the capture button herself. She was sucked in, and the Pokeball dinged without even shaking.
"I guess I just caught an Ambipom?" Ash announced uncertainly.
He let Ambipom out again. "Ambipom, we're going for lunch, do you wanna come along?"
"Sure!"
'Ambipom looked like it knew this trainer.' Cynthia thought. 'If only I can understand Pokéspeech.'
Phillip went up a flight of stairs that lead to the roof. There's a small dome-shaped room with a door to the outside. He opened the door, and stepped to the rooftop, where they had built a garden with flower beds and potted trees. From tree branches hung hundreds of wind chimes.
Emolga immediately went to examine the blossoms, while Phillip set down his equipment, and began working on his new invention.
"What are you doing, Phillip?" Emolga asked.
Phillip smiled shyly. "Well…..I'm going to build a new game stimulus, where it takes the user into a fighting game like Mortal Kombat. What moves they use against their opponents are entirely up to the user, no buttons controlled by people outside to get them to punch, kick or anything. The user have to execute the moves himself."
"Really? What's its purpose?" Emolga asked.
"Er…I figure that's a good way for trainers to practice to defend themselves should they face danger and they don't have any Pokémon. Of course, there are health points as well, and once the user's health become zero, he is simply brought back to the real world, without any injuries, of course, since the injuries they acquire in the game is not real. Unfortunately, only aura users could be able to activate this device, since the device depends on aura to run."
"Sounds like a cool device." A female voice said.
"It is, Emo- Ah!" Phillip turned to the source of the voice, thinking it's Emolga, only to see a strange girl with long brown hair and light brown eyes smiling down at him, and he screamed in fright, dropping the tool in his hand in the process.
The girl giggled. "You sure are easy to scare, Phillip."
"Who are you?" Phillip asked nervously. He hid his hand behind his back, charging electric sparks, ready to shock her at the wrong answer.
"My name is Jasmine. It's a pleasure to meet you." Jasmine held out a hand.
Phillip hesitated, before shaking hands with her after deactivating his sparks.
"You're a Gym Leader, aren't you?" Phillip asked.
"Very perspective. I'm Johto's Steel-type Gym Leader."
"Oh, ok." Phillip nodded, and turned back to his invention. Being a shy type, he isn't really one to initiate conversations, and preferred to keep to himself, although he's still considered more approachable and talkative than Pakura is. He hoped Jasmine would go when she sees that he's not very interested to have a conversation. Soon, he was absorbed into his work again.
He did not even notice that instead of leaving, Jasmine simply sat next to him, and watched him work.