Cyndaquil

As the Gang started moving again, Ash took the lead this time, and he started moving them slightly in a different direction, where the next town was North, Ash was leading them North-West, The reason was obvious.

As they set up camp for lunch in Route 33, it was Brock's turn this time, so as he was cooking, Ash was letting out his Pokemon, eventually letting Kleavor out again, which just made everyone else look at the big bug again.

Misty yelled at Ash…from a safe distance since she didn't want to be close to such a big and scary bug, "Ash, so are you going to tell us or not, how the heck do you find out and get that thing!"

"It's not a thing, he's called Kleavor," Ash said

"I don't care if it has the same name as my dad, what it is, and how did you find out how to get it!" Misty yelled back, somehow even farther than before

Ash whispered something into Kleavor's ear and pointed at the mountain before showing him a picture. Kleavor nodded and jumped, which surprised everyone because they didn't expect such a bug creature to jump so high,

As Kleavor was jumping away to the mountain, Ash looked back, "Well, you see, I know this guy, he's called Professor Fraxinus,"

—-

{Ashtwo}

It's been a few days since the little tournament, and since then, he has had to take responsibility for Helena, seeing as she was forced to become his, well, servant is a harsh word even though it is the correct one, let's say, sidekick.

Speaking of which, as he was walking, Helena was walking next to him, looking eager and far more happy than he was. She's been glued to Ash's side ever since she was assigned under him, even when he told her she could go do her own thing.

Her custom Team Rocket uniform she got was pretty similar to the regular one, she just replaced the red with purple and had a white belt. 

So even though Ash had more options, he had less time since Helena would be stuck to him most of the time, and he still didn't know why she was here, she was the Hex Maniac that you see in the X and Y games.

He did ask her a little, but she just said she wants to be more assertive and grow as a person. Most of all, she wants actual friends.

As they were walking, Ash wanted to check out the Egg station to see if he could get any good Pokemon, but the problem was that he couldn't be sneaky like he usually is with Helena here.

He turned to Helena, "Hey, I want to go check out the Eggs," 

"Ok," Helena said, holding her hands behind her back, still smiling

"Umm…so I will go,"

"I'll go with you," Helena said

"Why…"

"I want to see what's there," Helena said, making up an excuse

Ash sighed, "Do you have credits to buy an Egg if you want one?"

"Errr…" Helena said, looking away slightly, "I mean, do I need to have them?"

"Yeah, kinda. Besides what happened to the Pokemon you got at the beginning of the tournament?"

Helena looked sheepishly and whistled as she looked away, "W-well, I may…or may not have, released it…"

Ash put his hand together and put it on his face, taking a breath, "Why…"

"It wasn't a ghost type… and I do already have a Pokemon." she said playing with her fingers

Ash sighed, releasing there was only one way he could go and steal some more Eggs, "If I give you something, will you please let me go alone? I need to order a few things urgently before the next assignment,"

Helena looked surprised, but she was curious, "Uhh ok…"

Ash grabbed his 'bag' and reached in, making sure she didn't see what was in there, as Ash was scuffling in his bag, Helena's shadow grew some eyes and started slithering around, slightly chuckling.

Ash pulled out an Egg and handed it to her, "Here, it's an Egg, it has a Ghost Pokemon, take it. I don't care what you do with it, but I have some important things I need to do alone,"

Helena was taken aback as she reached out and gently grabbed the Egg, hugging it close, "I, um... ok, but you didn't have to give me anything, w-we, are ... f-friends after all," she said, even unsure of herself.

As she was holding the Egg, she suddenly saw her shadow extend towards Ash, and then it rose as behind Ash, her Haunter, Stephen, he extended, smiling mischievously as he changed his shape, becoming a more scary version of himself.

Helena immediately feared that her annoying Haunter was going to be himself again, as Ash started to turn around, Helena wanted to run up and stop him or yell at Stephen, but he knew both were pointless, so he could only watch on in horror getting ready to lose the closest she had.

As Ash turned around, Stephen immediately showed his scary face, trying to scare Ash, but even as he did, Ash's face remained neutral and unamused, as Stephen was surprised that he wasn't scaring Ash, suddenly he felt a tap on his back.

When Stephen looked back, he was greeted by a Gengar who raised his fist and sent a [Shadow Punch] to Stephen's face, knocking him out cold

Ash walked over, grabbed Stephen by the scruff of his neck, and held him out to Helena, "This yours?"

"Uhh, yeah," Helena said, somewhat surprised about what happened, as she took Stephen, she saw Gengar go back into Ash's shadow, "Sorry about him, I don't know what goes through his head,"

"It's fine, but just keep him on a leash or something, like I said, I need to go fix some stuff, so I don't know, go find something to do, maybe meet someone," Ash said as he turned back around and started walking towards the Egg room.

Helena was left there standing, holding her unconscious Stephen and the Egg Ash gave her, she held onto them a bit tighter as she watched him leave, thinking how he wasn't scared.

——

{Back to the Gang}

"And that's the story," Ash finished explaining his made-up explanation. It just boils down to Professor Fraxinus finding out about this, and he asked Ash for some field research, of course, he didn't say anything about them being the same person.

"Huh, well, I guess that kinda makes sense if you think about it," Brock said as he served lunch to everyone.

Misty sighed as she took a Bowl, "But why do I feel like you're still holding something out on us,"

"Oh, I am, I'm keeping a lot of things secret. I like you guys, but there are some things I'm not going to say," Ash said

"Come on, you can't just say that kind of stuff and expect us not to want answers!" Misty exclaimed,

"Nope, sorry. I guess you could say it's some secret family technique—only people in my family can know about it. It's classified. I could tell you, but then I'd have to do something," Ash said, closing his eyes and nodding to himself.

Misty and Yellow took a moment to process that: his family, the "something" he'd have to do if he told them... Their minds wandered to a different place, and both started blushing deeply, imagining Ash meant they could only know if they had become part of his family.

"I, er—wait, I—" Misty stuttered.

Yellow was bright red. "N-no, A-Ash, I... I mean, I g-guess I wouldn't... hate it…"

As the girls were flustered, Brock snapped his fingers. "Oh hey, I know this one! It's 'It's classified. I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you,' right?" Brock cut in.

Ash snapped his fingers and pointed at Brock. "Correct, my dude! I love that movie."

Misty and Yellow immediately froze. "Wait, you were quoting a movie?"

"Yeah, Top Gun! Love that movie," Ash said. "Why, what did you think I meant?"

Misty and Yellow blushed harder and looked away. "N-nothing," they muttered in unison.

Just as Ash was about to tease them some more, they heard the sound of leaves crunching nearby.

Turning toward the forest, they saw a boy with a Sandslash beside him. He looked a few years older than Ash, probably around Brock's age, maybe a year younger.

The boy caught sight of them and approached. "Hey, you there!"

Everyone was surprised by the rude tone in the boy's voice; Brock was the first to speak up, "Yeah, can I help you?"

He pulled out a photo and showed it to them, "The name's Koji, I've been looking for this Cyndaquil for over a week, have you seen it if so, tell me now if you know what's good for you,"

Misty immediately broke out of her earlier embarrassment and got her usual angry look as she stomped up, "Excuse me! Isn't that quite rude, Do you not have any manners!"

Koji scoffed and turned away from her, "Shut up, I'm not here to make friends, so just tell me and make yourself useful for something, have you or have you not seen this Cyndaquil,"

Misty was about to lose her temper. She raised her fist, ready to hit the boy on the head, but Ash stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Now, now," Ash said calmly. "He's been searching here for a week. Even if he's rude, maybe we should tell him… something~."

Ash gently pushed Misty back and pointed away from the mountains. "Yeah, I saw a little blue thing run over there. I think something might have scared it away from here."

Koji glanced in the direction Ash indicated and started walking, not even bothering with a thank-you or a nod. Still, without turning back, he spoke.

"Good. One of you has some use. Now, if you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of my way. This Cyndaquil is mine." With that, he walked off.

The group watched him leave, then collectively sighed.

"That guy sure was rude, wasn't he?" Brock said.

"Yeah, he was really mean. We didn't even do anything to him," Yellow added.

"But Ash, you said you saw a Cyndaquil? I didn't see anything," Yellow said, looking puzzled.

"Yeah, why did you even help him? People like that don't deserve anything from us," Misty said, irritation creeping into her voice.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Ash said with a smug smile. "I didn't tell him I saw a Cyndaquil~."

"Eh? But you said you did…" Misty said, confused.

"Nope," Ash replied, smirking. "I said I think I saw a blue thing. I never mentioned any names."

"But why?" Misty asked.

Ash leaned back against his sleeping Snorlax, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Why would I give up something I want~?"

"Wait…" Brock said, realization dawning. "You mean you want the Cyndaquil? And you knew there was one here this whole time?"

"Exactly," Ash said, casually folding his arms. "By the time he realizes he was an idiot, we'll be long gone—and I'll have my new fire boy."

"But…don't you have to go, I don't know, actually go looking for it if you want it," Misty said, "I mean, it's not like someone is going to come and give you Cyndaquil on a silver platter,"

As soon as she said that, Kleavor jumped back from his mission, and he landed behind Misty with a loud stomp, making her freeze in surprise and fear as she shakily looked up to see the bug type so close to her, her face went pale as she started to fall over.

Ash caught her then tossed her back, making her land on Snorlax's stomach, "Good, you're back," Ash said, turning his attention to Kleavor. "You got what I asked for?"

Kleavor nodded and lowered one of his axe-like arms. On the flat side of the blade lay an unconscious Cyndaquil, its small body limp but unharmed.

Ash nodded in approval and pulled out a Pokéball. Pressing it against the little Fire-type, he caught it instantly. With a satisfied grin, he tapped Kleavor on the shoulder. "Alright, bud, great job. Go grab something to eat, and then I'll teach you something extra special afterward, okay?"

Kleavor nodded, clicking his claws in excitement before heading off to eat in preparation for training. The rest of the group stared in stunned silence as Ash casually spun Cyndaquil's Pokéball on his finger.

"See? Easy," Ash said with a cocky smirk.