Floaroma town.

(A/N: Here is the new chapter, For those who want to know, the creation of the cover was a dud, I will try again some other time. Besides that, Tuesday I won't be uploading as I have a family day out. Enjoy the chapter.)

Ashley had spend her days playing with the forest Pokémon and was finally on her way again towards Floaroma town. After she passed through that she would arrive at Eterna city, where she decided she would have her next gym battle. She heard the gymleader was a user of grass-type Pokémon and Ashley couldn't wait to battle her. Ashley could feel that it would be just the battle Chimchar would need to breakthrough and evolve.

Having finally arrived in Floaroma town, Ashley already liked what she saw. All around her were flowers decorating the streets. There were many flower shops and a lot of grass-type Pokémon.

If she could find some grass-types that would want to battle her, then she could get some experience fighting them, which would really help in her gym battle.

As she was walking down the street, she could see a crowd around the contest stadium. Interested in who might be performing, Ashley went inside and saw Dawn again. She was running towards the dressing room. Ashley decided to watch the performaces of Dawn, wondering if she had improved.

When she entered the public stage, she could see Ash and Brock near the front, Pikachu and Piplup cheering with pompons and flags. Ashley was amused at the display of support of the cute Pokémon and went to greet the bunch.

"Hey Ash, fancy seeing you here. Not joining this time?" Ashley said as a greeting, trying to distance herself from Brock as she could already feel something was going to happen again.

Her insticts hadn't betrayed her as Brock took a knee in front of her and grabbed her hand. "Was it just an encounter or was it something more? I can feel that fate is playing its part in bringing us together, why don't we let fate play as cupid for us and bring us closer togeth-Aaarrghh!"

Before Brock could finish his sentence, he was again hit by a powerful poison jab from his wingman Croagunk right in the ****. "Fate can be so crueeell!" brock muttered as his Croagunk dragged him away again.

"He never learns, does he?" Ashley said as she had grown slightly numb to Brocks attempts to flirt. At least his Croagunk was sensible and put a stop to it whenever he was too much.

Ash laughed slightly embarrassed as he too had began to grow numb to it. Getting back to her question, Ash began to chat with her.

"Nah, I'm more of the gym battles, see." Ash showed her his badge case, revealing a shining brown Coal badge.

"Good job. I'm planning to take on the Eterna gym first before the Oreburgh gym. My Chimchar is close to evolving and I want him to get more experience first before he battles against a bad type match-up." Ashley said, as he eyes were drawn to the stage.

"Yeah, I get it. You could try getting more Pokémon on your team." Ash said, as he too felt he should get a new Pokémon on his own team.

"I know, but I want them to be with me too, not because I caught them against their will. Don't misunderstand me though, sometimes it can't be helped." Ashley said. She preferred it if the Pokémon would like to be with her, but if she caught after a battle, she could still bond with it and try to make it like her. If it didn't and it would hate to be with her, she would send it to Professor Rowan.

After she's find a place her Pokémon liked, she would try to obtain it and let her Pokémon live there if they didn't want to travel with her.

A new goal added to her to do list, Ashley happily hummed as she was Dawn perform with her Pachirisu, watching from beginning all the way till she had won her first ribbon.

Ashley was happy for her. She was following her dreams and Ashley would do so as well. Dawn had seen Ashley was watching, so as soon as she was done, she came and talked with her about how it all went.

"I'm happy for you Dawn. I really enjoyed watching your performance. Till next time." Ashley said as she went her own way. She was glad she had avoided another one of Brocks 'flirt attacks'.

Intending to catch herself a Pokémon, Ashley went towards the flower fields and hoped to catch herself a bug Pokémon.

When she wandered around, Sylveon and Shaymin happily ran through the flower field, rolling about as they both ended up being completely covered in pollen.

Though the had a lot of fun, they hadn't noticed they had angered one of the Pokémon nearby. When Shaymin went a different way from Sylveon, he was suddenly attacked.

An Angry red honey comb flew at Shaymin flapping is tiny wings to create a powerful wind. Ashley noticed something was wrong and headed towards Shaymin. When she saw her opponent, she was a bit shocked at its appearance.

She pointed her Pokédex towards the Pokémon and heard its entry.

"Combee, the tiny bee Pokémon. This Pokémon formed by three others. It busily carries sweet floral honey to please Vespiquen."

Though the Pokédex said so, the Combee in front of her was red instead of yellow. It angrily attacked again, sending a Gust attack at Shaymin. Shaymin dodged and looked at Ashley for permission to battle.

Ashley nodded as she was quite interested in this particular Combee. She decided she would catch it. If it didn't want to be with her, then she would send it to Professor Rowan. She was sure he too would be interested in this particular coloured Combee.

Shaymin was happy he could battle it. This Pokémon had attacked it from out of nowhere, making a fool of him. He would get back at this Combee and hoped to be praised by Ashley afterwards.

Shaymin send a Magical leaf straight at the Combee. When it tried to dodge, Shaymin changed the angle, making the Magical leaf circle back and hit the Combee from behind.

The Combee hadn't expected such a powerful attack from this weak-looking Pokémon, as it was determined to beat it. The Combee sended another Gust towards Shaymin, only for the attack to be dodged again.

Shaymin had already become bored from the constant Gust attacks and decided to finish it. He made his leafy back glow and send a powerful Seed flare towards the Combee, immediately knocking it out.

Ashley took her chance and threw the Pokéball at the Combee, succesfully catching it. As Shaymin had already hoped, Ashley praised it for its battle and patted it on the head as reward.

Shaymin proudly puffed out his chest again, happy he was praised. Ashley paid it not mind as she made her new Combee come out. The Combee seemed to have calmed down as it buzzed around her happily.

Ashley checked her Pokédex again and was happy to see that her Combee was a girl, which in turn could evolve in Vespiquen.

The Combee intself didn't seem to mind having been caught as it was happy to travel with her. It had become determined to be stronger than Shaymin and beat it when it was finaly strong enough. That would make up for the loss of today.