The next day, or at least what they thought was the next day, they walked out of the manor together. Of course, Ash made breakfast, but for some reason, the girls didn't want to eat it inside the Old Chateau. How cowardly. So, he wrapped it up to go for them.
Now, they would have gone back to town, and Verity was ready to go off running, but she got stopped real quick by Ash, who grabbed her by the back of her shirt, and he reminded her that she still hadn't caught a Pokémon. They weren't leaving until she got that last Pokémon.
While Verity lay affected on the ground, he did tell Zoey she was free to go or stay if she wanted. After all, he wasn't responsible for her unlike these two, whose mothers both literally asked him to take care of them, and he was going to do just that.
Zoey stopped to think about it, "Depends. Where are you guys going?"
"Eterna City first, then we'll head over to Hearthome," Ash said casually.
Dawn nodded excitedly, "If you join us, we can train together for the Hearthome Contest!"
Zoey smiled but shook her head, "Sorry, but I wasn't planning on going after the Hearthome Contest. I had another route in mind, but hey, that means you have a better chance to get it~" Zoey said with a smirk.
Dawn puffed her cheeks, "Hey! I was already planning on winning that one!"
Zoey giggled, "Sure, I know you will, but only because I'm not gonna be competing~" Zoey kept teasing.
Ash chuckled, "Well, rivals will be rivals, I guess."
Verity, who was still laying on the ground after Ash had stopped her from running off, raised a hand, "Can someone please remember that I'm still here?"
Ash looked down at her, "Oh, right."
He released the back of her shirt, letting Verity finally get back onto her feet.
"You're free to go now," Ash told Zoey, "Thanks for hanging around with us, though."
Zoey looked down the road for a moment before turning back toward them, "Well, I guess this is where we split up."
"Looks like it," Ash said.
Zoey nodded, then glanced toward the river running alongside the forest, "I think I'm going to follow the river for a while. I've never really explored that area before."
Dawn tilted her head, "Looking for Pokémon?"
"Maybe." Zoey smiled, "I've been thinking about trying to find a Water-type I haven't seen before. There could be something interesting living around there."
Ash nodded, "Aight, good luck."
Zoey smiled and nodded, "Alright, until we meet again."
Zoey gave them one last wave before turning down the path alongside the river, her Glameow following close behind.
Dawn waved back, "Bye, Zoey! Good luck finding your Water-type!"
"Thanks!" Zoey called back, "And good luck with your next contest!"
Dawn smiled, then watched as Zoey slowly disappeared around the bend.
Ash shoved his hands into his jacket pockets and looked over at Dawn and Verity, "Alright, now that that's taken care of…"
Verity was trying to sneak backwards, but Ash pointed at her, "Don't."
Verity froze, "I didn't even do anything!"
"You were thinking about running."
"I was not!"
"You absolutely were."
Verity crossed her arms and looked away, "…Maybe a little."
"Well, don't worry. Just remember I'm much faster than you," Ash said with a smile that just screamed that there was no salvation.
Dawn giggled as she adjusted her bag, "You should probably just accept it, Verity. You're not getting away."
Verity looked between the two of them, then sighed dramatically, "Fine, fine. I'll catch my last Pokémon."
"Good," Ash said, turning toward the forest, "Now let's find you something."
Verity immediately perked up, "Wait, you're actually going to help me?"
"Of course."
"You're not just going to point at a random Pokémon and tell me to catch it?"
Ash looked offended, "What kind of trainer do you think I am?"
"The kind that would absolutely do that."
"…Fair."
Dawn laughed as they started walking along the path.
Verity followed behind them, looking around at the trees and bushes, "So what am I even looking for?"
"Something that fits you."
Verity blinked, "What does that mean?"
"It means I'm not just going to let you catch whatever happens to walk by."
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
"Figure it out."
Verity groaned, "That's not helpful!"
Ash shrugged, "You'll know when you find it."
Dawn looked at Ash, "You really have no idea what Pokémon she should catch, do you?"
"Nope."
"ASH!"
"What? I'm being honest. Besides, it's not my job to tell her what she should catch. If she wants to catch a Magikarp and feed it an Everstone, good for her. More power to ya. I'm just here for the vibes."
Verity sighed, "Unfortunately, that's actually a good point."
She stood up and sighed before slapping her cheeks slightly, "Alright, let's do this! Something good against Grass-types, so Ice, Poison, Flying, Bug, or Fire. Which one of those can I find in this forest?" She looked around.
"Why are you looking at me? I ain't helping you with this," Ash said with a smirk, but then he remembered something, "Oh, right. But I will give you this."
Ash went into his pocket, then threw something at Verity. Verity scrambled and it fell, but she quickly picked it up, while Ash tossed one over to Dawn too, who caught it the first time. When they looked down, they saw it was a soothe bell.
"Put that on your Budew and Buneary," Ash said casually as he put his arms behind his head, looking away from them and off deeper into the forest.
Verity blinked at the soothe bell in her hand, then looked over at Ash, "You just happened to have these?"
"Don't make it weird. I just had a bunch, so you can have one," Ash said.
Verity stared at the soothe bell for a moment before attaching it to Budew's Poké Ball, "Thanks, Ash."
Dawn smiled knowingly, "Aww, Ash cares."
"I do not."
"You just gave her a soothe bell"
"I had extras."
"You gave me one too."
"I had two extras."
Dawn grinned, "Uh-huh."
Ash glanced over at her, "You wanna walk back into the Old Chateau?"
Dawn immediately stopped smiling and shook her head quickly, "No."
"Then shut it."
Verity giggled as she attached the soothe bell to Budew's ball, "Okay, okay, let's go."
"You better," Ash huffed, "Come on, there are more Pokémon over here." Ash led Verity a little deeper into the forest.
—
{POV Gardenia}
Gardenia was walking through the forest casually today. She was here to enjoy the fresh air and the plant life. Plus, she could use this as a work-related thing, since she isn't only the Gym Leader; she is also a licensed Ranger, so scouting the area was part of her job, which she enjoyed.
But there was one thing that she didn't enjoy, and it was something that she was actually supposed to go check out and maybe even deal with: the Old Chateau. As Gym Leader and a Ranger, something like that, which causes people in her town to be scared, fell under her jurisdiction.
However, she hadn't gone to do it. She's been delaying it every single time, always saying that she had battles, or she had calls, or Gym Leader duties, or something, and always saying that she'll do it when she has the time. But if she had it her way, that time would never come.
Because…
Because it's scary. She doesn't like scary things, and she really doesn't like ghosts. Just the thought of them makes her shiver.
But that wasn't her problem right now. She was just gonna avoid the Old Chateau. It was a great plan in her head, and no one could tell her otherwise.
Anyway, back to more important things. She started smelling the forest as she walked, "Mmm, what a lovely aroma! The scent of the grass! The trees! The sweet perfume of nature! A great start to another beautiful day."
Gardenia also had a very sensitive nose, so her sense of smell was way better than a normal person's. Because of that, she loved smelling anything related to nature, and she could tell if anything was wrong, if a forest fire was starting, or if anyone was littering in the forest. Basically, anything like that and she could tell.
As she walked deeper with her arms behind her back, she took another long smell and stopped, opening her eyes, "What's this...something new, mixed with the smell of the earth and vegetation…"
She took one more, then her eyes opened wide, "Gas!"
She immediately took off running, following the direction her nose took her, "I'm sure I smell gas, but where?!"
She ran deeper into the forest even though she didn't want to originally, and as she did, the smell got stronger until she burst through a clearing and saw...three teenagers and their Pokémon, one boy and two girls.
And one of the girls was standing in front of the other two with a Budew out, battling a Burmy.
"Now [Swift]!" the girl, Verity, commanded.
And her Budew jumped up and fired out multiple small stars at the Burmy. The Burmy tried to flop away, but the stars followed it and shot it one after the other in the back, sending her flying and slamming into a tree before sliding down.
"Alright, now you're mine!" Verity pumped her fist and pulled out a Poké Ball, throwing it.
The ball flew out and hit the Burmy, sucking her in and shaking. It rolled three times before finally clicking shut. Burmy was caught.
Verity immediately threw both hands into the air, holding the Poké Ball above her head, "YES! I DID IT!"
Dawn jumped up and down, clapping, "You finally caught your last Pokémon!"
Ash grinned and gave Verity a thumbs-up, "Nice! Took ya long enough."
"Hey! I was trying to find the right one!" Verity said defensively, though she was still grinning from ear to ear, "And look! A Burmy!"
Budew happily bounced around her feet, celebrating with her.
Gardenia stood completely still, watching this in slight confusion and shock. She smelled the air one more time, and yep, the smell of gas was coming from the two girls.
She took a few steps closer, raising a hand, "Excuse me?"
But the three of them didn't respond to her. It almost seemed like they were ignoring her as they kept talking about their own plans.
Verity was still admiring her new Poké Ball while Dawn leaned over to look at the map Ash had pulled out.
"So if we take this path," Dawn said, pointing at the map, "we should be able to reach Eterna City before lunch."
Ash nodded, "Yeah. If we don't get distracted."
Verity immediately looked offended, "Why are you looking at me?"
"Because you're the one who gets distracted."
"I do not!"
Dawn giggled, "You're the one that spent 10 minutes looking for the perfect Burmy."
"It was cute!"
Gardenia stared, "…Excuse me?" Still nothing.
Gardenia's eye twitched slightly. She was standing only a few feet away from them. How were they not noticing her?
Ash pointed toward the map, "If we get there around noon, we can grab some food at one of the restaurants, then figure out what we're doing afterward."
Dawn nodded, "We could probably spend the afternoon looking around the city. Oh, maybe we could check out the mall."
"Please don't talk about the mall with me nearby," Verity said helplessly, looking down at her empty wallet, "Not all of us are rich."
Gardenia's eye twitched again, "HEY!"
All three finally stopped.
Gardenia stood there with both hands on her hips, staring at them, "Were you three seriously ignoring me?!"
The three of them blinked owlishly, then they looked at each other.
Then Ash shrugged, "Were we?"
Gardenia's jaw dropped, "Yes!"
"Oh."
Gardenia stared at him in disbelief.
Ash simply looked back at her and blinked once.
Gardenia took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down, "Okay...fine. Now that I have your attention, I have some questions for you three."
Dawn tilted her head, "Questions?"
"Yes." Gardenia pointed toward them, "First of all, why do you two smell like gas?" she said, pointing at Dawn and Verity.
They blinked and looked down. Verity grabbed her collar and brought it up to her nose, and Dawn sniffed her own arm.
"…Do we?" Verity asked.
Gardenia nodded firmly, "I have a nose for this kind of thing, so did you guys battle Gas Pokémon recently?"
Dawn opened her mouth, then thought about it, "Oh yeah, I guess technically we did last night," she said, remembering the Gastly.
Gardenia nodded proudly at herself. She put her hands on her hips, "Just as I thought. You both reek of gas, so where did this take place?"
Dawn tapped her chin, "Um, an Old Chateau, I guess."
As soon as she said that, Gardenia's proud posture immediately shifted, and she nearly stumbled back in shock, "T-the Old Chateau?!"
Immediately, she started shaking, "That's the most dangerous place in Eterna Forest! They say strange shadows and ghosts haunt that place!"
Then she quickly started moving her hands around frantically, trying to explain and trying not to lose face, "I've been meaning to investigate someday...not that I've been putting it off because I'm scared or anything like that."
She laughed, then she got close to them, "You were scared out of your skin, weren't you?!" she said, like she was trying to validate her own fear.
"I mean…it was kinda scary, but after we started fighting and they left, it wasn't that bad anymore," Verity answered.
Again, she stepped back in shock, "Y-you defeated a G-G-G-G-Ghost?!"
"We beat a few, actually. Ash also caught one of them," Dawn said.
"A-ah, that's great!" she said, shifting a few feet further from Ash, "I-I'll take your word for it."
"So wait, you said you were supposed to look into it, so why haven't you then?" Verity asked, putting her hands on her waist.
Gardenia immediately froze, "Well…"
She looked to the left, then to the right, then up at the trees, "Well, you see, investigating something like that requires a lot of preparation," Gardenia said, slowly putting her hands behind her back, "You need to make sure you have the proper equipment, the proper Pokémon, the proper paperwork…"
Ash pointed at her chest, where she had a Ranger badge, "Isn't that a Ranger badge?"
"A-ah yes, I am a Ranger!" Gardenia said quickly, "And as a Ranger, I have very important Ranger duties!"
Dawn tilted her head, "Like what?"
"Like…checking plants."
"You were checking plants?"
"Yes!"
Gardenia pointed at a nearby tree, "That tree, for example. Very important."
Ash glanced at the tree, "It's just a tree."
Gardenia flinched, "It is a very important tree."
Ash shrugged, "Sure."
Gardenia cleared her throat and continued, "And besides, I've had Gym Leader duties! There are challengers, paperwork, training, scheduling, maintenance…"
Verity crossed her arms, "You said you were going to investigate the Old Chateau."
"Yes, well, things come up!"
"Every time?"
"Sometimes things come up more often than others!"
Dawn covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.
Gardenia noticed and pointed at her, "What?"
"Nothing."
"You're laughing at me!"
"No, I'm not."
"You absolutely are!"
Ash casually looked away, trying to hide his own grin.
Gardenia sighed and rubbed the back of her head, "Look, I was gonna do it...eventually. It's not like the place is going anywhere."
Verity raised an eyebrow, "That's your excuse?"
"Well, technically, yes." Gardenia nodded quickly, "And honestly, I was just waiting for the right time."
"What would the right time be?" Dawn asked.
"Whenever I felt like it!"
"That doesn't sound like a very good plan," Ash said.
Gardenia's eye twitched, "Well, I didn't ask for your opinion!"
Ash shrugged, "You kinda did when you started making excuses in front of us."
Gardenia opened her mouth, then closed it.
She really didn't have a response to that.
"Anyway!" Gardenia suddenly said, clapping her hands together, "Enough about ghosts!"
The three of them blinked.
Gardenia smiled way too brightly, "Let's talk about something much more pleasant! Like…flowers!"
Dawn immediately perked up, "Oh! I love flowers!"
Gardenia visibly relaxed, "Excellent! See? Much better topic!"
Verity glanced between them, "You really don't like ghosts, do you?"
"Of course I like ghosts!"
Ash raised an eyebrow.
Gardenia's smile twitched, "I mean…as a concept."
"Uh-huh."
"I just don't particularly enjoy being around them."
"You're scared of them," Ash said bluntly.
"I am not scared!" Gardenia's voice cracked slightly.
Dawn covered her mouth to hide a giggle.
Gardenia cleared her throat, "Anyway! You three are obviously trainers, right?"
"I mean, technically," Dawn was about to say something, but she got cut off.
"And you just said you defeated several Ghost-types in the Old Chateau?" Gardenia said, nodding, "Then you must be here to challenge me, the Gym Leader. Therefore, I accept your challenge. Find me when you're ready," she said way too quickly, then she immediately turned and ran away.
The gang stood there for a second, then from that tree Gardenia pointed at, Haunter flew out of it, holding an apple, and she looked annoyed.
Ash stared at her, "You were gonna scare her, weren't you?"
Haunter nodded and huffed. She was planning on scaring Gardenia, except Gardenia had run away before she even got the chance. Like, I mean, if you were gonna run away from her, at least let it be for something she actually did.
Ash patted her back, "Don't worry. You are scary. Don't let anyone tell you you're not."
Meanwhile, Dawn, now that Gardenia was gone, slowly brought her arm back to her nose and kept sniffing herself.
Verity heard the sound of sniffing and looked back, but Dawn quickly hid her arm behind her back and kept a neutral look.
"Are…are you upset because she said we smell gassy?" Verity asked.
"Of course not," Dawn answered immediately.
"Don't worry about it. We don't smell—" Verity was gonna try to wave it off, but Dawn walked past her.
"Let's head to town and book a hotel. I want to take a shower first," Dawn said calmly, a bit too calmly.
Dawn walked ahead with her arms crossed, her expression completely neutral.
Verity looked at Ash, then back at Dawn.
"She's definitely upset."
Ash nodded, "Yep."
"I am not upset," Dawn called from ahead without turning around.
"You're walking like someone who's upset," Verity said.
"I am walking normally."
"You're walking faster than normal."
"I want a shower."
"You're embarrassed."
"I AM NOT EMBARRASSED!"
Ash chuckled as Dawn immediately sped up even more.
Verity looked at him, "Should we tell her she doesn't actually smell that bad?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because this is funny."
Verity grinned, "Fair."
Dawn suddenly stopped and turned around, glaring at both of them, "I can hear you!"
Ash put his hands behind his head, "Good hearing."
Dawn narrowed her eyes, and Ash laughed before running after her, with Verity following shortly behind.
—
{With D}
D and his team snuck into the Eterna Historical Museum. He chose right now because he knew it was currently closed and Gardenia was out of the town, so he would get a window to do this.
He only took Annie and Oakley with him since they were the ones with the best experience in this kind of thing. The rest of the team was playing lookout or holding the line as they got down.
As they got lowered down, D landed with Annie and Oakley shortly behind. D gestured for them to do their thing. Oakley stepped forward first and activated something she had on her arms. Then all the cameras in the building began looping.
"There, we can speak now," Oakley explained, "But we have 5 minutes."
"Okay, what are we after?" Annie pumped her fists, looking around at the museum and all the goodies.
"Don't touch anything," D said, "We're here for one thing."
"Listen to him, Annie," Oakley added.
"Awww, fine," Annie sighed.
They moved further into the museum until they found what they were looking for, a display that had the Adamant Orb.
Yeah, D came here to take the Adamant Orb before Team Galactic could even try. After all, he COULD NOT let them get any leg room, so he had to do everything in his power to stop them.
D gestured at the orb, and Annie stepped up this time. She quickly used some powder to check and found lasers protecting the display. She smirked and used some special mirrors to block them, letting D get his hands in.
Yes, the display was locked, but D had Muk, and Muk slithered into the lock and opened it, letting them get in, and it was right there: the orb.
Annie was holding the mirrors, so Oakley was about to gently grab it and switch it just in case there were weight sensors, but D stopped her at the last moment.
"No…" he said, narrowing his eye.
Looking at it from here, D could tell this orb was a fake. If it was real, it would be overflowing with energy. At first, he assumed it wasn't because of the case, but now that he was here, he confirmed there was nothing.
He clicked his tongue. Not good, not good at all.
Okay, maybe it's not the worst case and Galactic already has it. Maybe the real one is just in Celestic Town already. He needs to check. He needs to check ASAP.
Annie blinked, "What? Already?"
"Yes."
"But we just got here!"
"And we found what we needed to find."
Annie looked at the fake orb, then back at D, "You mean that thing?"
"It's fake."
Oakley stepped closer, examining the display and the orb herself. She couldn't tell a difference, "You're sure?"
"Yeah," D said simply.
"Okay, I believe you," Oakley nodded. She didn't need to be convinced.
Annie crossed her arms, "So someone already took the real one?"
"Maybe," D said, "Or it was never here to begin with." D turned and gestured with his head for them to follow him, and he walked back down the hall.
Annie smirked before looking toward D, then back at Oakley, "You know, you two make a pretty good team."
Oakley immediately looked suspicious, "What are you talking about?"
"You know what I'm talking about."
"No, I don't."
"Sure you don't~ You just believed him like that. If I told you something, you would have a million questions, but not with D~"
Oakley's face remained completely serious, but there was a faint twitch near her eye, "Annie."
"What?"
"Stop."
Annie giggled, "Okay, okay."
D looked back at them, "Are you two coming?"
"Yeah!" Annie called.
Oakley quickly followed, with Annie right behind her.
They reached the room where they had entered, and Oakley pulled out her equipment again. She tapped a few buttons, and the security cameras returned to normal.
"Five minutes are up," she said, "Everything is back to normal."
"Good," D said.
Annie looked around one last time, "So we're really not taking anything?"
"No."
"Not even something small?"
"No."
"What about—"
"No."
Annie sighed, "You're no fun."
"Not trying to be fun. I'm trying to get everything done. We can have fun after," D said.
"Can I get that in writing!" Annie said, earning an elbow from Oakley, and she just giggled and followed along as they got out.
And again, Annie and Oakley were professionals. Not even one of their hairs was left behind.