The Return of a Champion

Ash and Brock have finally made it Saffron City after a long Journey, Brock turns to Ash who has his hands over his head, looking up at the sky with a wide smile across his young face, "Why you so happy Ash?" Brock chuckles, "I don't know? I have Pidgeot, Butterfree, Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Pikachu back with me, travelling with you through Kanto again, meeting old faces it's just I don't know it makes me happy" Ash replies still looking up at the sky, "I know what you mean Ash, the good old days are back," Brock says looking up at the sky as well.

They make their way to the Pokemon Centre, Ash goes to the computer in the Pokemon Centre lobby and calls up Prof. Oak, "Ah Ash, nice to be hearing from you, how is your journey going to find out about the letters?" Prof. Oak says as he takes a mouthful of noodles, "It's going good, look who I got back" Ash lets out Squirtle who jumps on Ash's lap, "Squirt, Squirtle" Squirtle waves to Prof. Oak, "Squirtle nice to see you again, you look even stronger than before" Prof. Oak complementing Squirtle, "Ash there was something I needed to ask you are you getting caught up in all these fires?" Ash and Brock look at each other and mumble "Fires?" "What Fires Prof. O" Ash is cut off by an alarm going off in Prof Oak's lab, "Arrrrrr, not again, Ash, if you don't mind, can Bulbasaur come back? the other Pokemon are fighting and it's getting out of control a little," "Ahhhh yeah sure give me a second" Ash places Bulbasaur's Pokeball in the machine and transfers it over to Prof. Oak, "did you get it?" Ash asks, "yep safe and sound," Prof. Oak holding up Bulbasaur's Pokeball, another alarm goes off in the lab, "I'd love to keep talking but I have to get going Ash, bye," Prof. Oak hangs up as Ash and Brock look at each other a little confused,

*grrrrrrrr

"Same as always Ash" Brock laughing at Ash's rumbling stomach, "Come on let's hand our Pokemon in and get some lunch," Ash and Brock head up to Nurse Joy and hand their Pokemon in to be looked after and healed up, "Pikachu, you want to come with us?" Ash looking at Pikachu who's sitting on the desk, "Pika Pika" Pikachu nodes his head and jumps up on Ash's shoulder, they head out of the Pokemon Centre and into the streets to try and find some lunch to eat. Ash, Pikachu and Brock are walking the streets of Saffron City trying to find lunch but everywhere they look they see big Poster, announcements, banners the "Champion of Celadon City Returns!" Ash walks up to one of the posters but it's only a picture of an old cap, the first cap Ash wore on the start of his journey, "Hey Brock, do you see this?" Ash waving at Brock to come over, "Yeah looks like your old hat, didn't you say there was only two hundred of them?" Brock rubbing his chin again, "Do you think the Champion of Celadon City is a really strong trainer?" Ash turns to Brock with his hands in a fist pumped and excited at what his challenge might be, "I've never heard of a Champion of Celadon City but you might be right and if this is the hat the trainer wears he might be an extremely experienced trainer," Brock tells Ash as he studies the poster on the wall.

The three of them have found a little cafe to have lunch at and are sitting at the table, Ash stuffing his face with a bowl of rice and noddles, Brock eating a sandwich and Pikachu eating his Pokemon food, Brock is eating his food slowly looking around at all the celebrations and decorations about the Champion of Celadon City, his concentration is broke, "Is everything fine here?" the waiter asks staring at Ash in a little bit of disgust seeing Ash's face is full of food, "hheemr henrfmsf," Ash mumbles with his mouth full of food and his head in the bowl, "everything is great here thank you," Brock chuckles looking at Ash, the waiter smiles and is about to walk off, "oh wait, Brock puts his arm out hoping to stop the waiter from leaving, "yes, sir?" the waiter turns and smiles at Brock, "The Champion of Celadon City, do you know who the trainer is?" Ash stops eating and wipes his face off as he looks at the waiter interested in his response. "Trainer?" The waiter confused on what Brock is asking, "The Champion of Celadon City is no Trainer" Ash and Brock look at each other confused, "then what is it?" Ash says confused, "The Champion of Celadon City is this an extremely strong Pokemon, it doesn't have a trainer, it has a partner but it's more of a manger actually if I recall correctly the Champion used to have a trainer but the trainer left," the after looking up at the ceiling wondering if his information was correct, "that's not right," Ash says with a little bit of pain in his voice, the waiter walks off back into the kitchen. "A strong Pokemon, do you think I have to beat it? Or maybe I'll catch it?" Ash asking Brock, "I don't know Ash, a strong Pokemon who has a manager I don't think you'll be allowed to catch it, there might be a tournament or something that you need to battle your way through to battle the Champion," Brock explaining his thoughts on what Ash's challenge is.

*scoop scoop

Ash shoves down the last of his food, Pikachu looks at his trainer and shoves the last of his food as well, "All right, let's get our friends and time for some special training, are you ready Pikachu?" Ash shouts out, standing up and running off, "Ah, here we go again," Brock watching as Ash and Pikachu run down the street but he stays and finishes his lunch slowly, he reaches into his pocket a pulls the corner of a letter out, it looks very similar to Ash's letters, "I don't know about this," he says softly to himself looking worried putting the letter back into his pocket.

Ash is training with his Pokemon in the forest just outside Saffron City, "Pikachu quick attack, Squirtle dodge by jumping over and try to push Pikachu to the ground," Ash calls out his moves, Pikachu runs quickly at Squirtle but Squirtle dodges at the last second flipping over Pikachu and pushing down on Pikachu's back as it flips over him, Pikachu stumbles and falls over, "that was awesome Squirtle," Ash shouts out, "Squirt," Squirtle turns and faces Ash giving him the thumbs up, "Pikachu you all good?" Ash calls out, "Pika!" Pikachu replies determined, "All right let's do this, Pikachu thunderbolt, Squirtle use a small hydro pump to cover yourself in water and then hide into your shell, then hit Pikachu with a Skull bash" Pikachu is standing ready to use thunderbolt but his ears twitch, and he looks into the forest, "Pikachu ready?" Ash calls out, Pikachu looks at Ash then runs off further into the forest, "Pikachu, where are you going!" Ash shouts out running after Pikachu, "Squirtle lets go."

Squirtle and Ash are running after Pikachu who keeps running further and further into the forest, "Pikachu wait up!" Ash calls out, Pikachu runs through a bush and out of sight, "Squirtle quick," Ash and Squirtle run through the bush and see an injured Pokemon with Pikachu next to it, "Pika" Pikachu says softly turning to Ash, Ash looks on at the injured Pokemon as it appears to be a Haunter, Ash runs over to Haunter who struggles to open its eyes but manages to open them slightly and sees Ash and Pikachu hovering over him, the Haunter smiles and tries to lick Ash, Ash shocked, he believes this is the Haunter who helped him beat Sabrina four years ago, "Pikachu we need to get him to a Pokemon Centre, Squirtle grab my backpack," Squirtle grabs Ash's backpack and slings it over his shoulders running behind Pikachu and Ash who is holding the injured Haunter in his arms.

Brock has just finished his lunch and is walking down the streets of Saffron City, he looks into the distance and sees Ash, Pikachu and Squirtle running across the road, "Huh?" Brock says to himself, he starts running towards the direction Ash and his Pokemon went.

"Nurse Joy, Nurse Joy!" Ash shouts out bursting into the Pokemon Centre, "What is it?" Nurse Joy runs around her desk with Chansey next to her, "I found this injured Haunter in the forest can you help it please?" Ash still holding Haunter in his hands begs for Nurse Joy to do something, "Oh not again, Chansey get a stretcher quick let's go," Nurse Joy grabs Haunter out from Ash's hands and places him on the stretcher and runs into the back rooms of the Pokemon Centre, "not again?" Ash mumbles looking on at Nurse Joy and Chansey taking Haunter away. "Ash!" Brock shouts out exhausted, "Brock, why are you so out of breath?" Ash asks looking confused, "I saw you running with Pikachu and Squirtle and thought something was wrong" Brock leaning over holding his knees for support, "we found an injured Haunter in the forest and ran it here, Squirtle thank you, return" Ash smiles at Squirtle and returns him. "An injured Haunter?" Brock stands up straight getting his breath back, "yeah, we were training just outside of the city in the forest and Pikachu heard something and started running, by the time we stopped Pikachu found the injured Haunter just lying there in the middle of the grass" Ash says looking back at the door Nurse Joy ran through hoping Haunter's ok, "in the middle of the day and by itself that's strange" Brock says.

Ash and Brock are sitting down in the lobby of the Pokemon Centre as the sun is starting to set, Pikachu playing with a ball it found kicks the ball over to the door that leads to the back of the Pokemon Centre, the red needle light turns off, Ash and Brock stand up and run over to Nurse Joy who has come out of the doors smiling, "Is Haunter going to be ok?" Ash asks, "The Haunter you brought in will be fine, it just needs some rest," Nurse Joy responds smiling at Ash and Brock, "that's a relief," Brock says out loud, "excuse me Nurse Joy" Ash getting her attention, "when I brought Haunter in you said not again, has this happened before?" Nurse Joy's smile turns into a distressed expression on her face, "You see Ash this Haunter has been trying to find a trainer for a while now, but every time he meets a new trainer he manages to scare them off and the trainers attack in retaliation or the trainers don't want Haunter to be their Pokemon but Haunter keeps following them so they either attack him or catch him and then release him in the forest and run away," "That's horrible" Ash says angry, "what type of trainers would do that" Brock chiming in frustrated, "you can come and see Haunter if you would like to," Nurse Joy asks leading the way into the back rooms. "Haunter!" Ash shouts out as they enter a room, Haunter lying on the bed smiles and floats up, "Wait, isn't this the Haunter from four years ago?" Brock points looking surprised, "Yep," Ash replies smiling with Haunter hugging Ash, Haunter licks Ash paralyzing him, Pikachu smiles and says hi to Haunter, "Pika," "Haunt, Haunter" Haunter saying hi back, Ash stands up and pats Haunter on his head.

*The Champion is coming tomorrow! The return of the Champion! Quick off to Celadon City

Ash and Brock look out the window and see a group of people walking and shouting down the street, Ash turns to Haunter and smiles "I'm glad you're ok Haunter, stay here and get some rest ok, Brock we better get going, Nurse Joy take good care of Haunter ok" Ash and Brock walk out the room and out the Pokemon Centre, Haunter looks out the window upset as he sees his old friend walking off, "you want to go with them don't you Haunter?" Nurse Joy smiling, she walks over to the window and opens it, "Go ahead Haunter" Haunter eyes watering up flies out the window after Ash and Pikachu.

"So do you have a plan on how you're going to beat the Champion Ash?" Brock asks as they walk out of Saffron City, "I think I'm going to go with Squirtle, it's power and sp"

*Bang

Ash is hit in the back and falls to the ground, "Haunt, Haunter!" Haunter laughing with Ash standing up, "Haunter what's wrong?" Ash asks Haunter, "Haunt, Haunt, Haunter" Haunter throwing his arms around, "I think Haunter wants to travel with you Ash" Brock explains, "is that true Haunter?" Ash looking on with a smile appearing across his face, "All right Haunter, go Pokeball" Ash throws a Pokeball capturing Haunter inside, "All right I caught a Haunter, come out," Ash lets out Haunter who is smiling and laughing and licks Ash again paralysing him, Brock and Pikachu laugh, Haunter looking sorry floats next to Ash who is twitching.