Chapter 5:Apprentice
Ash woke up to the gentle tingling that usually accompanied one of Pikachu's Thunderbolts. Any normal person would most likely be paralysed, but after a few years of the same wake-up call, he grew used to it and anyway, since when is Ash normal? "Alright, I'm up, I'm up, already!" He grumbled, sleepily.
Pikachu jumped onto Ash's chest. (Well, it's about time! I've been shocking you for one minute, twenty-six seconds!)
"Hmm, new record," he said, mildly impressed with his achievement. Speaking of impressive achievements, it just occurred to him that the night before, he was titled first place winner of the Lilley of the Valley Conference.
Ash leapt out of bed, picked Pikachu up and swung him around. "YES! YES! WE DID IT, PiKACHU, WE DID IT!"
(Just hit you, did it?) Pikachu chuckled.
Like a tsunami, the memories of the night before flooded his mind. Beating his opponent in the finals, what was his name? Aaron? Derek? Spencer? Oh, who cares? Anyway, after that, he stood on that stage with Mr. Goodshow and Cynthia, who presented him with his trophy and gave him her hotel room number because she wanted to proposition him. Wow, that sounded weird.
And after that, Mr. Goodshow brought him to his office, not to proposition him, thankfully, but rather to give him his other prize, the one the audience and other competitors didn't know about. A huge cash prize that made Ash's eyes bulge, six small statues of the six pokemon he won the finals with, which seemed to be made of gemstones, it amazed him how they managed to make them so quickly. A topaz Pikachu, a ruby Charizard, a sapphire Heracross, an emerald Sceptile, an amethyst Muk and a diamond Glalie.
And the biggest prize, a pokeball with the standard white bottom half and a purple and red top, a masterball. A pokeball capable of catching any pokemon without fail, even legendary pokemon. And of course, the chance to take on the Elite Four and if he beat them all, the Champion herself.
After a quick shower and getting dressed, Ash heard a knock on the door. "Who is it?" Ash asked.
"Ash, it's us, open up!" He heard Brock's voice say.
Ash opened the door to his friends. "Morning, Brock, Dawn, what time is it?"
"Morning? It's 1:40pm!" Dawn exclaimed.
Ash turned to Pikachu. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"
Pikachu shrugged his shoulders. (You looked so cute with your face half covered in spit, I didn't want to wake you.)
"Gee, thanks buddy. C'mon, let's get something to eat, I'm starved,"
Twenty minutes later, they were sitting outside of cafe, enjoying, for Ash anyway, breakfast, while Pikachu tried to consume his body weight in ketchup. "So Ash..." Brock began.
"Yeah?" He replied with a slice of bacon halfway down his neck.
"What happened to you last night? You disappeared after you got the trophy,"
"Oh, right. You see, Mr. Goodshow brought me back to his office and gave me the rest of my prize,"
"The rest of your prize?" Dawn asked.
"Yep, this," Ash said, as he took the shrunken masterball from his pocket.
"Wow! Is that..."
"A masterball? Yes, yes, it is," He replied, feeling a little bit smug.
"Do you have any idea how rare these are? Only five are made a year for Conferences,"
"Only five a year?" Dawn asked. "If they're so great, why don't they make more?"
"Well, no, a Champion or Elite Four member can request one, but it costs a fortune. And even Champions can only get two at the most," Brock explained. "Speaking of Champions, what did Cynthia say to you last night?"
"Huh?"
"Last night, she said something to you and gave you something, what was it?" Brock asked, with a slightly lecherous smile.
"Oh, she just gave me her hotel room number and she said she wanted to talk to me about something,"
Brock broke the silence. "...What?"
"She gave me her room number and said she wanted to talk to me about something," he repeated slowly.
"Yeah, right, of course. Was there money mentioned?" Brock asked urgently.
"No, why?" Ash asked, innocently.
"No reason," Was Ash really that naïve? Brock wondered.
"She said to meet her at her hotel room at 3:30pm,"
"Oh," That was fairly early, so maybe Cynthia wasn't interested in employing the 'services' of Ash. But, what else could it be then?
You would be astounded by amount of lonely, older women interested in having Ash "keep them company". They would approach Brock with large sums of money, believing him to be some sort of pimp. Of course he could never abandon his closest friend to some old persian for mere money, so Brock would gallantly offer to sacrifice his virginity in place of Ash's own. Unfortunately, that's when the money, and the women, would disappear. Thinking about such things depressed Brock.
Ignoring his anime tears and the rain-cloud that had spontaneously appeared above his head, Dawn told Ash, "Oh, by the way, your mom called, she wanted to talk to you,"
"Thanks Dawn, I should probably let her know how I am, see you later, guys,"
"Bye, I'll just wait here and make sure Brock doesn't kill himself then,"
Ash left some money to pay for the meal and headed for the Pokemon Center. A half-hour and some autographs later, he didn't think he'd ever get used to that, Ash and Pikachu arrived at the Pokemon Center.
He sat down in front of the video phone with Pikachu on his shoulder and called his mother in Pallet Town. She answered after just the first ring with a stern face. "Ash Ketchum! Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting for you to call me? Why are you up so late?" Delia shouted.
"Uh, sorry, Mom, I overslept a bit,"
Delia sighed. "Don't apologise, I'm just happy you're alright," She smiled at Ash, "So, congratulations, how do you feel?"
"I feel pretty fantastic actually, financially, I'm set for the next few years, I've done what I've wanted to do since I became a trainer and I'm beginning to realise what I've been missing all this time,"
"That's wonderful, honey, so when will you be home?"
"I'll be back in a few days or so, there's still some things I need to take care of here," he told her.
"Like what?" She asked, curiously.
"Oh, it's nothing really, it's just that someone wanted to see me, something about a proposition,"
Delia's eyes widen slightly. "Ash, sweetie, I understand that there are times when money is tight on a trainer's journey and they have to do things they aren't proud of, personally, I never had to do anything like that and I can't say I'm happy that you're using your body but I'm glad that you haven't resorted to pimping out Dawn,"
"Mom, what are you talking about?" Ash asked, mystified.
"Oh, nothing, nothing at all!" She laughed nervously. "So who propositioned you, exactly, and for what, Ash?"
"It was Cynthia Shirona, the Champion of Sinnoh. What she wants to talk to me about something, what that something is exactly, I have no idea,"
"Ah, yes, that girl who gave you the trophy..." Ash might have imagined it, but he could have sworn he heard something almost dangerous in his mother's voice when she said 'girl'.
"Well, I better go, I have to meet up with her soon and I don't know where her hotel is, so who knows how long it might take me to find it, love you, bye,"
"I love you, too, honey. Remember, I'm proud of you, and you too, Pikachu,"
"Thanks, Mom, bye," (Bye!)
Ash walked over to the Nurse Joy's desk. "Excuse me, Nurse Joy?"
"Yes, how can I help you?" Nurse Joy smiled benevolently.
"I was hoping that you help me find the Three Lakes Hotel, do you know where it is?"
"The Three Lakes Hotel? It's on the other side of town, it's the biggest building there, it's impossible to miss,"
"Thank you, Nurse Joy,"
"It's not a problem, Mr. Ketchum," she replied.
Ash was about to walk away, but he turned back toward Nurse Joy. "Wait, you know my name?" He asked.
"Oh, a lot of people know your name, Mr. Ketchum," she said with a slight blush, barely noticeable against her pink hair. Ash turned around again and left the Pokemon Center, intent on finding Cynthia and finding out exactly what her proposition was.
Meanwhile, as Ash was wandering around, hopelessly lost, Cynthia was in her penthouse suite, re-reading the file she got from Lance's G-men on Ash.
Name: Ashton B. Ketchum
'Hmm, I wonder what the B stands for,' she thought, her natural curiosity making itself known.
Date of Birth: 25th of November
'So, his birthday is only two months after mine,' Cynthia wasn't sure why she found that notable.
Age: 16
Place of Birth: Pallet Town, Kanto
'Pallet Town? Oh, yeah, I remember going there once with Grandma, it's a lot like Celestic Town, except near it's the ocean rather than in the mountains and it doesn't have a Pokemon Center,'
Known Pokemon: Pikachu, Charizard, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Totodile, Bayleef, Heracross, Noctowl, Sceptile, Snorlax, Glalie, Infernape, Swellow, Staraptor, Etc.
'It'll be hard to train so many pokemon equally, which is why I only have twelve myself, but we'll work on that, I suppose,'
Known Accomplishments: Stopped many Team Rocket plots in Kanto and Johto, Team Magma and Aqua plots in Hoenn, including helping Lance, and Team Galactic plots in Sinnoh. Involved in many incidents involving legendary pokemon.
'To be able to stop so many criminal organisations and he started when he was only ten, too.' She thought, impressed with his ability to mess up villainous plots. And there was yet another interesting thing about Ash Ketchum. 'So, it wasn't just Spear Pillar, then? Most people go their whole lives without even glimpsing a legendary, but Ash seems to have a way of getting caught up in "interesting" situations, if what happened with Palkia and Dialga is anything to go by,' Growing up on stories about the legendary pokemon of Sinnoh and the other regions, it had always be a dream of hers to see one, a dream that had been fulfilled because of Ash and his friends.
Her reading was interrupted by the sound of splashing from the bathroom. "Milotic, Gastrodon, stop making so much noise, I'm trying to read!" She shouted.
(Sorry, Cynthia,) (Sorry,) They called out in their respective languages.
Cynthia sighed 'Those two are always the same whenever there's a hot tub around,'
She looked back at the file on the large desk she was sitting at and was about to begin reading again, but the file was caught be the wind created by her Braviary and Togekiss, who decided it would be a great idea to race around the house sized penthouse.
The papers scattered around the floor. Cynthia sighed. 'Oh, well, it's not like I haven't read about ten times already,' She was pretty sure she could recite the facts of Ash's career as a trainer by heart. She had all the information she needed to come to a decision.
And she had, of course. She had been thinking about it for a while, but seeing Ash beat Tobias finalised her decision and she would give him her offer...as soon as he showed up, of course. She did say 3:30pm, didn't she?
She decided to watch a movie to pass the time. Sitting down on a couch, she flicked through the channels on the room's ridiculously large television. Oh, 'Luvdisc, Actually' was on, one of her favourites.
Cynthia Shirona had quite a few secrets, her hidden love of romantic comedies for one, another was the reason why she wore black clothes almost all of the time, which hopefully no-one would ever find out, seeing as she tried to destroy all photographic evidence, another was the fact that when she was thirteen, she stole one of her Grandma's "romance" novels and read it cover to cover. She couldn't look her Grandma in the eye for a month afterwards, or anyone else for that matter, without turning red and her biggest secret, the true reason why she and her sister lived with her grandparents when they were younger.
A shadowy presence formed on the couch next to Cynthia. "Hey, Spiritomb," she said to the pokemon that seemed to be wickedness incarnate.
(Greetings, if we may say, we believe that the Mistress is rather eager for the arrival of her guest,) it said through it's psychic power.
Cynthia laughed. The only one who was worse than Spiritomb with the whole "Mistress" thing was her Lucario, who somehow managed to work it into every sentence.
"I guess you could say that I'm a little bit impatient, I wonder where he is? Maybe he's caught up by fans?" Cynthia remembered when she won the Lilley of the Valley Conference, she was hounded for autographs, photos, training tips and more disturbingly, her hand in marriage, which was kind of scary, seeing as she was fifteen at the time. It only got worse when she became Champion three weeks later.
(Mistress, we sense your guest coming, he is near,)
"Ah, good, I was wondering when he would show up," Crossing across the room to an armchair that faced the door, she sat down and quietly called Lucario and Garchomp out of their pokeballs. "Spiritomb, on my left, Lucario, my right, Garchomp, get behind me," Cynthia smirked. A little intimidation never hurt anyone.
Ash checked the room number on the card against the door. 'Room 901, this is it. Penthouse, huh?'
(Should we knock?) Pikachu asked.
"I suppose..." Ash raised his hand to the door, but heard Cynthia's voice from behind it. "Door's open, come in, Ash," The door opened with Spiritomb's Psychic, not that Ash knew that. 'How did she know I was outside?' He wondered.
Ash and Pikachu walked through the door to see an imposing sight. The room was dark, the curtains drawn, the only light coming from a lamp near the armchair Cynthia was sitting in, that cast light over Cynthia and three of her pokemon ominously.
A lucario stood by the chair, it's red eyes and spikes glinting, a spiritomb rested on the arm of the chair that seemed to be giggling to itself as it thought about the best way to inflict harm on Pikachu and Ash. And something else, something big that stood behind the chair in the shadows, just out of the light, growling. "You're late," Cynthia stated, in a voice devoid of emotion.
"Yeah, sorry, we got a bit lost," he said sheepishly.
"I see," she replied in the same tone.
"You wanted to see me?" He asked, nervously.
"Yes," Cynthia was glad that the lamp cast a shadow over her face, or else Ash would see her struggle to contain her laughter. There was nothing like inspiring fear, Cynthia thought, it was part of the reason for her black clothes. She gestured to the chair near her own. "Sit,"
Ash sat in the chair in front of Cynthia. "So... What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"
"Straight to the point, good. What I want to talk to you about... is you, Ash," Cynthia said, leaning forward slightly into the light.
"Me?" Ash asked, surprised. Pikachu was equally surprised. (Pika Pi?) He asked as he tilted his head.
"Ash, tell me why you think you won against Tobias,"
A part of Ash wanted to play it off as if it was nothing and say he was just awesome like that, but he realised it would be better to be honest. "It was because Tobias relied too much on Darkrai to win his battles, so his other pokemon got rusty. All pokemon, even legendary pokemon need practice to keep their skills up. If he trained them properly, it would have been a lot harder,"
'Well, he's modest,' she thought. "Yes and no, while it's true Tobias' pokemon were under trained, he was also overconfident, he went in to the battle expecting to win, that's why he lost,"
'So he did underestimate me,' Ash thought as he clenched his fists. "So we won because he thought we were weak?" He asked bitterly.
"No, you won because you were the better trainer with the stronger pokemon," she said, using the same stern tone she used the week before. "A good trainer would have trained all of their pokemon equally, but Tobias only focused on Darkrai because he thought it was a sure thing and he and his pokemon suffered for it. A good trainer also would have trained their pokemon for every situation, like you did, but when Tobias' Articuno came against your Glalie, he just spammed Ancient Power. You won because you are better, not because Tobias thought little of you. You're a good trainer, Ash, and you deserved to win the Conference. What you need to ask yourself is, is good good enough?"
"What do you mean, Cynthia?"
"What I mean is, you're good, but you can be great, you have the potential to be one of the best trainers there is. With the right training and guidance, I see you as a champion in three to four years,"
"Really? You think I could be a champion? Me?"
"I'm not easily impressed Ash, but you've done it. Personally, I believe you can do anything you want and I want to be the one who helps you achieve it,"
"You mean..." This couldn't be, Cynthia, the Cynthia Shirona, the strongest of the five Champions, was willing to help him become a Champion himself?
"Yes Ash, I want to take you on as my apprentice, with your talent, I believe you could be just as strong as I am. But I want to know," Cynthia held her hand out to him, "are you willing to take that first step on the path to greatness?"
Ash thought about it. He was in a situation he never expected to be in. Cynthia was pretty much offering him the chance to be a Champion, something he wanted to be since he was little. But despite being a little dense at times, he wasn't an idiot. "What's the catch?"
Cynthia tilted her head and smiled. "No catch. You just let me put you and your pokemon through so much physical, mental and emotional trauma that you beg me to end you pathetic little lives,"
(Oh, is that all? Pika Pi, let's get out of here, this torchic's crazy!)
"This sounds like a lot of hard work..."
"Of course it is, if it were too easy, what would be the point?"
Ash was sure he heard that somewhere before, but couldn't remember where. Regardless, it was that phrase that sealed his future. "So, Ashton Benedict Ketchum, will you accept my offer and become my apprentice?"
"That's not my midd..."
"Not the important," she interrupted. "Do you accept?"
"Yes. Cynthia, I accept," he said, holding his hand out to shake hers.
Cynthia's smile widened. "I'm glad Ash." She stood up, recalled her pokemon and walked towards the door. "And to celebrate you can treat me to ice-cream,"
An hour later, Ash learned to NEVER treat Cynthia to anything, especially her most favourite thing in the world. He was lucky he didn't keep his winnings in his wallet or else he was sure Cynthia would have kept him paying for her until closing time.
After mourning his wallet, he and Cynthia walked to his hotel. As they walked she went into more detail about his apprenticeship. "I suppose that you'll want to go home for a while, catch up with your family and such. So, in three weeks I want you to meet me at Sunnyshore Docks, I want you to bring everything you'll need, clothes and stuff like that and all of your pokemon. It will be tougher to train all of your pokemon equally, but I'll devise a training regime to suit all of them. And then I'll create one for you,"
"A training programme for me?" Ash asked surprised.
"Of course, I've found that the best way to train your pokemon is to train with them, to put as much blood, sweat and tears in as they do. Why do you think I can eat so much ice-cream and still look good?"
"I just sort of thought you looked that good naturally,"
Cynthia laughed. "You're sweet, but no, hours of exercise and I've got the abs to prove it!"
Not for the first time, Ash wondered just what Cynthia was hiding under that coat of hers.
They approached the entrance of Ash's hotel. "So remember, Sunnyshore Docks, three weeks, bring what you need and of course, you're pokemon. I'll see you then, my apprentice," she smiled.
"I'll see you then, Mistress Cynthia," Ash replied, playing along.
Cynthia walked away as Ash walked back into his hotel. 'Mistress Cynthia? Kinda has a ring to it,' she thought to herself, with a slight blush on her cheeks.
A few weeks later, Ash was leaving his house in Pallet Town, he spent the last two weeks relaxing, the first week he made a quick trip to Saffron City, the Veridian Forest, the Orange Islands and Mt. Silver. He hugged his mother, who gave him words of encouragement and a reminder to change his underwear.
"Well, Pikachu," he said to his long time partner and friend. "Looks like this is the start of our biggest adventure yet!"
(C'mon, don't want to keep your mate waiting!) Pikachu exclaimed as he jumped off of Ash's shoulder and ran towards Pallet Town Harbour.
"Arggh... You little!" Ash growled in mock annoyance and began to sprint after Pikachu down the path to the harbour, the path to Championship and although he didn't know it, the path to love.