A Journey's Link

Chapter 61 - Explanations

"Ash!" Serena exclaimed, running towards the raven-haired trainer. Goh and Chloe followed close behind, both feeling the same excitement as Serena. "Hey, you guys!" Ash exclaimed, running down the hill from where he and A stood towards the group, feeling an immense amount of happiness upon seeing his friends again.

Upon reaching each other, Ash and Serena embraced each other in a hug. Naturally, they both stayed there until the other two joined them, creating a large four-person group embrace that quickly broke apart due to cramming. Ash stepped back and smiled at his friends. "How did you guys get here?" He asked happily. "Not that I'm complaining, of course, " he quickly added.

The others looked at each other, not knowing how to explain what had just happened to them. "It's a long story, but there are clones of you and Serena and we have no idea who they are," Goh explained, unaware that A was right behind Ash. Ash's eyebrows rose as he heard this. "I knew about my clone, but Serena has one, too?" He responded, earning a look of confusion from the other three.

"You know about A and S?" Chloe asked Ash, surprised. "A and S?" Said a voice behind Ash. "Who was that?" Goh asked, looking around to find the owner of the voice. Ash turned around and saw A slowly approaching, looking rather nervous as he came close. "Oh that's my clone," Ash explained, unaware of how the other three viewed A. "He helped me out with something," he added.

"Is that who I think it is?" Serena said in a shocked manner. Goh's facial expressions morphed into anger, so he stomped up to A and pushed a finger into his chest. "Do you know how much trouble you've caused us in the past few days?" Goh asked threateningly, causing A to put up his hands in defense. "I didn't know what I was doing was bad!" A exclaimed quickly. "I was just saying and doing what my master told me to do!"

"Your master?" Goh repeated, releasing his finger pressure off of A's chest. A nodded and began explaining. "Well, his real name is Aaron, but I didn't know what Aaron's goal was until just a few hours ago," A explained to Goh, who raised his eyebrow. Aaron? Goh thought to himself. Why does that name sound so familiar? Something about the way A spoke seemed real and unfiltered, almost as if what he was saying was true.

Goh took a step back from A and softened his facial expression. "Ok, fine. Let's say that you're telling the truth," Goh said, crossing his arms as he spoke. "What about your partner, S?" A was confused momentarily until he put the dots together. "Oh, you mean her counterpart?" A corrected, nodding towards Serena, who still seemed slightly creeped out by the sight of two Ashs, a sight that she had only seen once before.

"What about her?" A asked innocently, not knowing that S had given up her teleportation device and had departed on her adventure. Goh saw the innocent look and A's face and decided it wouldn't be worth his own time to explain what had happened. "N-Nothing happened," He stuttered. Chloe walked up behind him and said, "Goh's lying. She left on her own to find answers."

Goh turned to Chloe in shock. A was surprised momentarily before smiling. "Makes sense," he said bittersweetly. "I could tell she never really wanted to be working for Aaron anyway." Goh was confused about A's reaction. "Don't you care that she's gone, though? You'll probably never see her again?" He asked, imagining how he would react if Ash had been gone forever. A shrugged and kept a smile on his face. "She's going to be happier on her own, so I have no issue with it," he explained indifferently.

Serena frowned as she heard that. She turned to Ash and saw him with a frown on his face as A spoke as well. What if he's happier on his own as well? She thought to herself, A's words echoing in her head. That's probably why he never came back after he left. Ash looked at Serena and smiled softly, glad to be seeing her again. She quickly turned away from his gaze and slightly blushed, angry at herself for staring.