A Journey's Link

Chapter 44 - Hidden

Ash walked into Sycamore's Laboratory, his hand tightly gripping around the Pokeball that contained Greninja. Ash had wanted him to come along with him to find Squishy, but his lack of an answer told Ash that he most likely didn't want to. It would make this a lot easier, though, Ash thought to himself as he waited for Sycamore to walk through into the waiting lobby.

"Something wrong, Ash?" Clemont asked, breaking Ash out of his thought train. "Huh?" Ash said absentmindedly, staring at the Pokeball in deep thought. "Yeah, you have this really serious look on your face," Bonnie said. "I've never seen you think this hard in, well, forever!"

Ash sighed and stood up, facing his two friends. "I'm going to look for Squishy, and Greninja doesn't want to go." He looked at the Pokeball as he spoke. "I thought I could have him back on the team once I heard that he was here, but I guess he doesn't want to..."

Clemont stood up and walked over to his friend. "Have you tried speaking with Greninja yet?" He asked. Ash nodded and explained, "I tried, but he won't try to communicate with me. He just sat there and never responded." He held his head down in defeat until he felt Clemont's hands grasp his shoulder.

Looking up, Ash saw a confident smile from Clemont. "I'm sure Greninja will want to come along with you," Clemont said affirmatively. "How can you be sure?" Ash asked, unsure of Clemont's confident answer. Usually, Ash was the one who was able to easily give answers without any thought while Clemont overthought the situation, but right now, the roles were completely reversed.

Clemont shrugged his shoulders. "I've seen how much Greninja respects you as a trainer. I'm sure he knows how much of a wasted opportunity it would be to not train alongside you again." He looked at the Pokeball in Ash's hand and grabbed it. "Maybe you and Greninja just need to truly talk to each other," he said, releasing Greninja, which surprised Ash.

"Gren!" Greninja protested, appearing from the Pokeball. "Why don't you tell Ash why you don't want to go along with him," Clemont said to Greninja, who was surprised at the sudden intervention, but reluctantly decided to do what Clemont had asked of him. Turning to Ash, Greninja kept his head down low and said, "Gren. Gre-nin-nin."

Ash kneeled to Greninja's height and said, "I was just really hoping you could travel with me again. I think you and I could both get stronger together." In response, Greninja turned his head away in an offended manner. "Nin-ja!" He profoundly exclaimed. "Pika-Pi-ka," Pikachu worriedly said on Ash's shoulder, understanding exactly what Greninja was saying and conversing with him.

"What's up, Pikachu?" Ash said, facing his partner. He would've been able to understand Greninja's feelings and motives back when he was traveling Kalos, but because it had been so long since they had bonded or even seen each other for that matter, it made it nearly impossible to understand Greninja on a more emotional level.

"Pi-pi-pi," Pikachu began explaining while doing hand motions so Ash could better understand. As Pikachu began explaining more and more, Ash began to understand the situation. "Ah, I got it!" he exclaimed, a melancholic smile forming on his face.

He turned to Greninja and said, "Look, I'm sorry that I never came to visit you." He scratched his head as he began apologizing for Greninja's cause of anger. "I was just so busy with traveling to different regions and meeting new people that it didn't cross my mind." He sat down next to Greninja as he spoke, which Greninja didn't protest against.

"Besides, I wouldn't want to visit you while you were defending the region from those roots," Ash added to his apology. "I wanted to make sure you did what you wanted to do without me being there, y'know?" Greninja looked up as Ash said this, and nodded. He stood up and stuck out a webbed hand, seemingly accepting Ash's apology.