Warming Hearts

Meeting New Friends

Warming Hearts

A/N: Let's get on with Chapter 6 now. Roll it!

Chapter 6

Meeting New Friends

Ash was sitting down on the floor, slumped against the cold stone wall of his cell, feeling utterly defeated, even though there wasn't a Pokémon battle that took place. Pikachu, though, looked ready to zap him into oblivion as he furiously paced as best as he could on two paws in front of the distraught teenage boy.

"PIKA-PI!" He shouted at him. "PIKA PIKACHU?!" In translation, he had said, "Ash! What were you thinking?!"

Even though his Trainer winced at the volume of the angry Electric type, he didn't answer him. Pikachu stopped his red-hot glare and saw small tears glistening in the sad brown eyes of the eighteen-year-old boy. He suddenly forgot his anger and cuddled up against his legs to comfort Ash.

This was not the best time to get angry at him. He had just lost his mother and now, he was a prisoner to a creature they had never seen before. Ash was known to never stay in one place for too long. He loved his freedom, but now it was lost to him.

Ash petted the electric rodent gently down his back. "Don't worry, buddy." He said as he tried to look out the tiny window from where he was sitting. "We'll get out of here, someway."

"You do know that if you do that, the deal is off." A voice suddenly piped up.

Ash immediately stood back up and Pikachu got into a battle stance in front of him. "Who said that?" He demanded.

The iron barred door slowly swung open with a loud creak, making the two even more suspicious. Then the same Swinub from before suddenly appeared. "Hi there!" It said in a feminine voice.

Ash and Pikachu both yelped in surprise and jumped back, almost hitting the iron side of the door. The Swinub also leaped back a bit from their shock. "W-who are you?" Ash asked.

"The name's Leona." The Swinub replied cheerfully.

"And, you can talk?!"

"Well, of course she can." Another voice called out. The three turned and saw a Prinplup that had dark brown eyes instead of blue coming up the stairs. "That's basically all she does."

Leona just stuck her tongue out at him, and he returned it with a glare. "That's what you say, Kenny." Leona growled.

Ash was now officially beyond shocked. The only real talking Pokémon that he knows is Meowth from Team Rocket, and he sometimes wondered if that blabbering Scratch Cat had an off switch somewhere. And other Pokémon that he had met before during his journey were just pretending to talk in human speech. But this time, it was definitely certain that these Pokémon were really talking.

"Oookay." He said to Pikachu. "This is getting weird." His number one partner could only nod his head in agreement.

"Well, now that's out of the way, let us show you to your room." Leona piped up.

"My room?" Ash asked. "But, I thought-"

"Oh, don't bother what our mistress said." Leona said. "She's so dramatic and a bit of a grump."

"Your mistress?" Ash asked, surprised that the beast he had met was mistress of all of these somewhat normal-looking Pokémon.

"Unfortunately, yes." Kenny said.

"To us, you're not a prisoner." Leona added. "You're a guest. After all, it's been so long since another person has been in this place."

Ash was still a little hesitant about this idea. "Are you sure about this?" He asked.