Kanto - Celadon City

[Warning: PTSD triggers]

Ash and the group cheered as the newly evolved Lily, Grovyle battled against Erika's Gloom, it was speed vs strength. Lily used her newly found speed to dodge all of Gloom's attacks, it was a really fascinating battle between two grass types. Phantump's eyes were wide as he watched the two grass types go at it without holding back, well to him at least it looked like they were not holding back their strength. Gloom won however as Lily despite the evolution boost was still lacking in experience, something Gloom had in spades.

Referee, "Grovyle is unable to battle. Choose your next Pokemon."

Ritchie, "Return girl, you did great. Let's go Jumpy."

Jumpy came out and chattered happily, "Pom aipom."

Referee, "Begin!"

Brock, "This is his third match."

Ash, "Who did he use?"

Gou, "Spirit first who won before picking Lily and now Jumpy."

Misty, "Ah, so he's going for four on four then."

Horace, "Jumpy sure is very active."

Ash, "Yeah and raring to go for it."

Jumpy attacked Gloom when Ritchie called out an attack and jumped around to avoid the attack thrown at her. She was a truly fast Pokemon and unlike Grovyle didn't have any problems moving around the grass type Pokemon and attacking him. Gloom was no pushover however and gave it as good as it got.

Ritchie, "Swift!"

Erika, "Magical leaf!"

The two attacks clashed however Jumpy had been practicing her swift attack with Zippo and was able to make it stronger than the magical leaf. The swift overpowered the magical leaf and hit the Gloom forcing him to back up or risk getting knocked out. Ash and Pikachu cheered Ritchie on as he called out another attack which hit Gloom.

Ritchie, "Double slap then swift."

Jumpy attacked Gloom before he could recover from the previous attack and knocked him out.

Erika, "Gloom!"

Referee, "Gloom is unable to battle, Gym leader Erika please take out your last Pokemon."

Erika, "Looks like I underestimated your Pokemon just because she was young. No matter, let's go Vileplume!"

Ritchie, "Return Jumpy, let's go Zippo!"

Referee, "Begin!"

Brock, "A battle between final evolutions, this will be good."

Ash nodded in agreement, "Definitely!"

Erika, "Use rain dance!"

Ritchie's eyes widened, "Sunny day Zippo!"

The two status moves clashed against each other making it wet yet sunny and warm inside the gym. Ash and the others sweated a bit as the humidity increased indoors forcing one of the workers to open the moveable ceiling.

Misty, "Sunny day and rain dance, more like a sauna."

Ash hmmmed, "I might just use this combo."

Gou, "For the next contest? Don't know how you will use this idea."

Ash grinned, "I already have an idea how."

Horace, "I look forward to it then."

Erika, "Solar beam!"

Ritchie, "Dragon rage!"

The two powerful attacks collided increasing the heat even more. Ash took out the chilled water from his capsule and distributed it. The others took the bottles and drank the cool water sighing in relief.

Misty, "Man! That's something!"

Brock, "It's still needs some polishing, it's out of control."

Horace, "Which one?"

Gou, "Zippo, his attack needs to be concentrated more for it to be truly effective against the opponent. Vileplume did not even flinch."

Misty frowned, "Yeah! Erika is not a pushover.", 'I'm going to have to come up with something.'

Ritchie, "Steel wing!"

Erika, "Stun spore!"

Ritchie, "Counter with flamethrower and continue with steel wing."

Vileplume used stun spore as Zippo attacked with steel wing. He used his flames to burn away most of the spores before hitting the grass type Pokemon hard. Vileplume flew back but got up again only to be hit by another flamethrower on the face.

Erika, "Vileplume are you okay?"

Vileplume got up, "Lume!"

Erika, "Alright let's end this hyperbeam!"

Ritchie, "Zippo dodge and use your hyperbeam!"

Zippo flew left to dodge the attack from the grass type before launching his own attack on him. The hyperbeam hit the grass and poison type Pokemon straight on knocking him out.

Referee, "Vileplume is unable to battle, Ritchie and Zippo are the winners of the gym battle."

Ritchie jumped on Zippo, "We did it Zippo, we won, we won."

Zippo caught Ritchie and gave a roar, "Zarrrrrr!"

Erika, "Congratulations Ritchie! I proudly present to you your badge, the Rainbow badge!"

Ritchie, "Look guys! We won!"

Ash hugged his friend, "You did it!"

Gou joined the hug, "Good job Ritchie!"

Horace grinned patting Ritchie's back, "That was awesome."

Misty laughed, "Congratulations!"

Brock grinned, "This is your fifth badge, right?"

Ritchie, "Actually my sixth, I won against Blaine before coming here. It's when my Zippo evolved into a Charizard while battling against his Magmar."

Horace, "So you have the infamous volcano badge then?"

Ritchie nodded as he showed them his new badges next to his old ones, "It was not easy, I'll tell you that. At one point I thought I would not even be able to battle Blaine because I could not fulfill his criteria. But somehow I managed to do it."

Erika, "That old man is still going around testing challenger I see."

Ritchie sweatdropped, "Yeah!"

Erika snorted, "He has not changed since the time I battled him as a trainer."

Misty, "Seriously?"

Erika nodded, "Afraid so! Now I need to go, I have a meeting to attend."

Ritchie, "Thank you for the battle Miss Erika."

Ash walked beside Ritchie, "Will you come with us to Fuchisa then?"

Ritchie, "Only up to Fuchisa after that I'm heading for Viridian City..... I know you are worried but don't worry. I will be fine!"

Misty, "Of course we are worried Ritchie, especially with all the trouble we have been through."

Horace, "We have to return to Vermillion City too."

Gou sighed, "Yeah, I need to report in with the Professor. He said he has a new assignment for us."

Brock, "Cheer up! Just because we are separating now, doesn't mean we won't see each other again you know!"

Corsula piped up, "Cor cor!"

Ash, "I know but it doesn't stop us from worrying about our friends. But you are right, we'll meet each other again."

Ritchie nodded as he observed his friend's behavior, something's was truly bothering him for him to act this way. They entered the centre and Ritchie went to heal his Pokemon while the others went to do different things in different directions. Gou and Horace were talking to their Professor in a video call, while Ash and Misty went to train, they had a good idea about Erika's strength after today while Brock in turn went with Ash. Ritchie snapped out of his thoughts when he heard his name being called from the front desk after fifteen minutes.

Nurse Joy, "Your Pokemon are just fine, they only exhausted and need to relax and take it easy for a day, to return back to normal."

Ritchie thanked the nurse and went outside to where Ash was training, he noticed Gou was excitedly talking about his battle to the Professor while Horace was typing a mail to send their findings to the lab. Ritchie smiled at them and mouthed he was going outside and they waved back in answer. Ritchie found Ash and Brock at one of the furthest training grounds, Ash was training his Pokemon while Brock was meditating with his. He decided to sit down by one of the benches as he watched his childhood friend train hand to hand combat with Primeape and Lucario who kept beating him to the ground. Ash would get up despite being thrown down and get into a fighting stance again and start sparring with them. After a while Ash would train the other Pokemon while Lucario and Primeape trained together and battled each other, they stopped their training after a while and went inside.

Ritchie, "Brock I'm burrowing Ash for a bit."

Brock blinked, "Sure!"

Ash simply followed after his friend as he was dragged to their room, "Ritchie?"

Ritchie, "Lucario could you guys give us some privacy please?"

Lucario hesitated but nodded, -Alright we'll be outside on the lawn.-

Ritchie, "Thank Mew for ground floor room facilities! Okay, the room is private enough."

Ash, "What's wrong Ritchie?"

Ritchie sat beside Ash, "You tell me that Ash, what's wrong?"

Ash looked at Ritchie, "What do you mean?"

Ritchie sighed, "Ashy I'm not blind, and I don't want to be blunt but, you have been clingy."

Ash looked away, "You think so?"

Ritchie, "Not just you, Misty too, actually but she hides it better."

Ash, "Ah!"

Ritchie, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Ash, "I don't know what to say!"

Ritchie, "Alright then how about I ask questions and you answer in yes or no. Can you do that?"

Ash looked at his friend and nodded, "Okay!"

Ritchie, "Did something happen in your journey?"

Ash, "Yes!"

Ritchie, "Something bad?"

Ash, "Yes."

Ritchie, "Poachers?"

Ash, "Yes!"

Ritchie, "Team Rocket?"

Ash, "Yes."

Ritchie, "Did you loose someone close to you?"

Ash, "No!"

Ritchie, "Did someone die?"

Ash, "Yes."

Ritchie, "You..... are scared I might die?"

Ash hesitated, "A bit."

Ritchie looked at his friend sadly, "Is this a recent development?"

Ash, "Yes."

Ritchie was quiet before he hugged his friend, "How recent?"

Ash leaned into Ritchie, "I... I guess two weeks give or take."

Ritchie, "Was the person who died Phantump? I mean I noticed how you guys treat him."

Ash nodded unable to speak and Ritchie held his friend in a tight hug which Ash returned after a while of staying quiet and spoke, "I have not been my normal self since Lavender town, if I'm being honest. They didn't, they didn't care they killed someone, a child at that, he was not even ten yet. I have been trying to get better and to get over it, believe me I have but sometimes it is hard."

Ritchie sat their quietly as he listened to his friend talk and he rubbed his friends back with his hand in comforting circles. He felt for Ash truly he did, he didn't know how close he and his Pokemon came at times to getting badly hurt. He sometimes still has nightmares from what he had seen in the poachers camp which had reduced significantly after sleeping alongside his Pokemon.

Ritchie spoke after Ash quieted down a bit, "I am sorry you had to go through that Ashy."

Ash looked up at him, "Don't apologize Ritchie, it was not your fault."

Ritchie, "Only if you promise not to beat yourself up over what happened to Phantump."

Ash gave a wry smile, "I'm that obvious huh?"

Ritchie nodded, "Because you are my oldest friend and I know you Ash. You feel responsible for the death of a kid just like you felt responsible for the eggs back at the camp, when we were hurt. Even though it was not your fault they were abandoned in the first place."

Ash, "Well.. That's different!"

Ritchie pushed him into the bed, "Don't think I didn't notice you feeling restless and awake some nights while your Pokemon were fast asleep."

Ash, "Ah! I woke you up, on that night after all."

Ritchie, "Not really! I'll be honest I was having my own nightmare and couldn't sleep."

Ash, "From the poacher's camp!"

Ritchie nodded, "I was not kidding when I said it was not pretty."

Ash, "Hey do you... "

Ritchie, "What is it?"

Ash looked away feeling embarrassed, "Do you want to cuddle for the next few days we are here while sleeping?"

Ritchie laughed, "I don't think this bed is big enough for us, especially since I have no doubt our Pokemon will want to join in."

Ash, "You don't mind the idea though?"

Ritchie, "Not really but like I said the bed is not big enough."

Ash, "Well we could push the two beds together?"

Ritchie looked at his friend at that suggestion and, "Pffft ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Yeah! Yeah we could. You know what let's do it now so we don't have to bother later when we are too tired to sleep. Come on."

Ash gave a childish grin as he got up and helped Ritchie to push his bed against the other one. It was big enough Ash supposed to hold the two of them and their Pokemon if they decided to join them in bed. Lucario simply hummed and commented that it might actually help them sleep, properly sleep for the next few days. The aura Pokemon had been worried when he felt Ash was awake and not sleeping again two nights ago but he didn't press. He hoped his Meema would get better soon with the help of his friend and become normal again, well as normal a trainer could be.

[A. N.: Well this became a little serious again!

I'll be honest I was reading up about PTSD, nightmares and stuff and this chapter came out.

I tried to keep it light though to avoid anyone who is suffering from PTSD and reading to not get affected. I even put a warning up for the same reason!

Hope you all enjoyed it!]