Ash's Pokémon Journey

Chapter 101-105

Chapter 101

The Kanto Grand Festival

After travelling some more, the gang made it to the Indigo Plateau. "We are finally here" said May, happily. "The Indigo Plateau looks more amazing than I imagined" said Max. Ash, Brock and Tomo started at the area. "This place brings back memories" said Brock. "Yeah especially memories of when I participated in the pokemon league here" said Ash. Tomo remembered that too. "It's amazing that they will be holding the grand festival here, despite they never did it before until now" said Tomo. "Well a lot of things have changed since then" said Brock. "Come on Ash," said May "let's go register for the grand festival right now". May was very excited about this, and it wasn't long until Ash and May registered for the grand festival with their ribbons and pokemon. May and Max contacted their mum next to let her know they were at the grand festival. Unfortunately Caroline couldn't come because she and Norman were kept very busy, but she promised to watch May all the way on TV and wished her and Ash lots of luck.

After the phone call was over, a commotion happened in the lobby. A Vigoroth and two Aipoms were running around. The gang ran over to the three pokemon. "What's going on?" asked Ash. When the tree monkey pokemon saw Ash they calmed down. "I think they know you Ash" said Brock. Ash started at the pokemon. "Hey are you three?" he said. Before he said anything else Nurse Joy came up and asked what the noise was about. She saw the three monkey pokemon. "It's alright Nurse Joy, I know these pokemon" said Ash. He explained that he met the two Aipoms in the forest. "I reckon the Aipoms decided to follow me, and I also reckon this Vigoroth, who lived in the same forest, must be their friend and decided to come with them". "Oh that's alright then since no harm has been done" smiled Nurse Joy. Ash told the three monkey pokemon to come outside with him because they were causing too much noise.

The monkey pokemon did as they were told and soon they were outside with Ash. "What are you three doing here anyway?" asked Ash. The Vigoroth and Aipoms explained, in their language, they were interested in Ash because of the psychic power he had and they were impressed with how he battled Team Rocket and the fake Slaking. "Oh so you three like me then?" asked Ash. The three pokemon nodded yes. This was a surprise one after another for Ash. Ash took out three empty pokeballs from his ruck sack, but then the three monkey pokemon ran away. "Okay, what was that about Pikachu?" asked Ash. Pikachu had no idea.

Suddenly a surprise came up to Ash; it was Ritchie and Sparky. "Hey Ritchie what are you doing here?" asked Ash. Ritchie explained he had heard from Prof Oak that Ash was participating in the Kanto Grand Festival. "The Indigo Plateau brings back memories of when we battled each other in the pokemon league here, so Sparky and I decided to check out the grand festival" said Ritchie. Ash was happy to see Ritchie again, since they hadn't seen each other since Johto, and Pikachu was happy to see Sparky again. Ash showed Ritchie his Kanto ribbons and the six frontier symbols he had. "Wow Ash, you have done a lot on your journey" said Ritchie. "How have you been doing Ritchie?" asked Ash. Ritchie explained that he had been traveling through Kanto, and now he was thinking what to do next. "I've been thinking of going to Hoenn because I haven't been there yet". "That's a good choice Ritchie," said Ash "I liked traveling through Hoenn and you will too".

Later Ash and Pikachu went back to the others with Ritchie and Sparky. Brock and Tomo were happy to see Ritchie again and introduced him to May and Max. A girl, the same age as Brock, had been talking to May, Max, Tomo and Brock. Her name was Solidad and she was a pokemon coordinator entering the grand festival too, and she lived in Pewter City like Brock. Brock and Solidad were old friends. This meant that May and Ash had another rival for the grand festival, apart from Drew and Harley. Solidad told the others that she was an old rival of Drew, having gone against him in contests in the past. She also said that Drew cried when she beat him in his very first contest. This made May remember when she cried after Drew beat her in her first contest; so the rivalry between May and Drew was the same with Drew and Solidad.