A Champions Beginning

Learning The Way Of The Fist

Olivine City loomed in the distance as Ash panted in the early hours of the morning, sweat dripping from his forehead as he finished running. The sun had just barely broken through the horizon when he finally stopped his morning exercise, the sight of the tents growing larger as he returned to the campsite. 

Ash reached for Greninja's pokeball, knowing it liked getting up early as well, and let the pokemon out of its capture device. The ninja-like pokemon gave a smile to its trainer before bounding off into the forest to train for a bit. Ash looked over to the camp fire from the previous night, remembering his conversation with Serena,

"Just us again, huh?" Ash smiled at Serena as she sat beside him at the campfire.

"Yeah," Serena smiled at him warmly, "so what is this surprise of yours?"

"Well..." Ash thought seriously for a brief moment, "I guess you should know. I plan on training with Fang in Cianwood City, it's a boat ride from Olivine and there's a man named Chuck who specializes in fighting types. He's also a black belt so I figured it might be a good idea to ask for his help. What do you think?"

"I think that sounds like a great idea." Serena stifled a laugh,"Bonnie can keep working on her ninja skills."

Ash chuckled and they fell into a comfortable silence as Serena leaned against Ash's shoulder, which caused him to look over before mentally shrugging and letting his own head rest against hers.

Olivine city was only a few hours away, and so when the others got up they'd head over there and try to catch a boat ride to Cianwood City. When the sun finally broke through the tree line and shined down onto the tents, a loud yawn came from Serena and Bonnie's tent as the younger of the two unzipped it.

"Morning Ash..." the young girl dragged herself over to Clemont and Ash's tent before shaking it top wake her brother up, "Can you wake Serena up?"

"Sure." Ash nodded and walked over to the tent, taking a kinder approach as he unzipped it the remainder of the way and crawled inside.

The raven haired trainer placed his hand on Serena's shoulder before gently rocking her back and forth, "Serena, wake up."

The honey blonde groaned as she rolled over in her sleeping bag, mumbling about 'five more minutes' as Ash sighed.

"Well then," Ash smirked, "I'll just have to let Bonnie wake you up. I think she's almost done tipping Clemonts tent over...

Serena bolted awake, if only in fear of Bonnie smothering her in a tent avalanche, "I'm awake!"

"Good." Ash smiled as he left the tent, "I'll let you get changed."

Ash stood up and brushed himself off as he looked over to where Bonnie was grinning next to an annoyed Clemont.

"Why Ash?" Clemont groaned, "Why did you let her wake me up?"

"Sorry." Ash laughed a bit at the siblings as they fought over how to wake someone up.

A moment later, Serena crawled out from her tent and smiled at them all as she dusted herself off. Bonnie stopped pouting at Clemont and turned to smile back as Clemont greeted her, 

"I'll start on breakfast shortly." the blonde boy told them as he dug through his bag for ingredients.

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"Welcome to Olivine City!" Ash spun about on his foot and faced his friends, grinning as he spread his arms, "Who's ready for the surprise?!"

"Me!" Bonnie leaped into the air, bouncing up again as her feet met the ground.