Metachuphasis

16. old goodbyes, new beginnings

The rest of Saturday passed by like a gentle breeze. Or it was meant to. After Kukui ate his breakfast using the remaining food in the house, he sent Ash and his Pokémon to the market to buy food, as he still hadn't had his morning coffee. Only after they left did he realise his mistake- how would they carry food? Or talk to the people at the market? Ash was a Pikachu, for Arceus' sake! Rotom Dex was with him, but who knows if the Rotom can pick out good produce and stop a crazy mouse from eating before paying?

Rotom did not manage to stop Ash. From getting sidetracked, that is. He ran into the bushes after seeing a "red and black thing!" and when Rocky couldn't find him, Rotom aggressively woke up a sleeping Rowlet and made them look. Long story short, Ash got a scolding and a light Iron Tail to the face (unfortunately not a shock though, as he is immune). Rotom did all the communication around the market, floating and talking and paying (Sato counted the money!) and after around half an hour, the squad were all carrying the groceries. Fruit, vegetables, meats, baked goods, and even cleaning products for the week were being hauled by Ash's band of buddies. Rockruff was trotting along with the donuts when she stumbled on a few rocks. A donut or two rolled out, and before Rotom could scold the Puppy Pokémon for letting them out of the bag, a Litten jumped in and wordlessly bit onto one, promptly running off. Ash heaved his bag of berries onto his back and ran straight after her at a decent speed, to everymon's shock. Twinkle abandoned ship too, deciding that Rotom could deal with fabric softener and laundry liquid good enough. He used Quick Attack to give himself a boost, matching Sato's position and pace.

"Nee, why are you running?"

"Huh?"

"...Why are you running?"

"Oh, I wanna see Litten again! And Stoutland!"

"Huh, okay."

Litten suddenly turned a corner, making the two conversing mice lose track of her. Luckily, though, they have good noses, so they sniffed out the direction in which she was going in mere seconds.

"Nee! Come back here!"

Twinkle snorted.

"What is this, a police chase?"

Ash, who was still getting used to running as a Pikachu at this point, also tripped and rolled, dropping one or two berries from his bag on the way, then immediately went back to sprinting towards a random cat.

"Yes it is."

"Damn."

A few minutes later, there were two dying Pikachu lying on the floor, as well as a half-full bag of berries, a tired donut-holding Litten, and a judgemental Stoutland. Who was barely keeping his eyes open.

Litten decided to ignore the two idiots who followed her, and passed the donut to Stoutland. He approved of it, biting into the soft dough and savouring the flavour.

"Are you ready to train now?"

"Yes."

"Okay, child."

Stoutland carefully jumped off the sofa and hobbled his way over to Litten.

"Who are these two?" Stoutland took a quick glance towards the frankly idiotic Pikas that decided to follow Litten from the market halfway across the city.

"They are.. Ignore them."

Satoshi, even though still a little out of breath, lifted his face from the concrete and managed to give Stoutland a big grin. "I'm Ash!! Hi! Nice to meetcha again!"