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It was a peaceful day in the Kanto region. With clouds blocking the sun, it was also quite dark, even though it was noon.
Ash was walking slowly through a forest, looking at the different pokémon. He saw pidgeys and pidgeottos sitting in the treetops, with the occasional pidgeot landing for a break. He was crouched down looking at an oddish, when he was distracted by a sigh.
He turned around to see what the problem was. A few meters behind him, Goh was standing, back facing Ash. He looked up at the sky before muttering something under his breath.
“What’s the matter Goh?” Ash asked with a puzzled expression. He wasn’t even sure what, Goh was doing. He just knew, that he was searching for a rare pokémon, but Goh apparently didn’t want to reveal any specifics.
Goh turned around to look at Ash. He was beginning to feel annoyed. They had been in the forest for almost two hour. Their original plan had been to research the different pokémon in the forest, but when Goh had spotted something in the sky, the plans changed.
“Well, we’ve been searching for almost two hours now. I just thought the pokémon would have shown up by now - and we’re lost” He answered. He might be disappointed, but he wasn’t giving up.
“Well...Why don’t you just tell me, what pokémon it is? It would probably help.” Ash requested.
Goh gave him a look, before letting out another sigh.
“Fine...We’re searching for Articuno. I’m sure, I saw one flying overhead earlier”
Ash blinked confused, before remembering something. ‘A forest, with an Articuno flying overhead….’ Of course! He’d been here before.
His mouth spread into an enormous grin, before he took off running. “Come one, Goh!” He shouted excitingly.
Goh just stood there frozen looking at Ash, as he became smaller and smaller in the distance. He was confused. Why had Ash taken off running like that? He couldn’t get more time to wonder, as he remembered, that Ash had just left him behind. “Hey! Wait for me!”
That was the last thing said, before he also took off running.
~Ten Minutes Later~
“Ash!” Goh shouted, he was tired of running. They had run for a while, but now Ash had apparently stopped.
“Why did you stop? And why did you start running in the first place?” He was seriously puzzled. This was weird - even for Ash.
Ash didn’t answer for several seconds, just looking at the building in front of them. “I knew it!”
“What exactly did you - is that a Pokémon Center?” Goh interrupted himself halfway through his sentence. How did Ash know there was a Pokémon Center here - unless he’s been here before. “Wait - why didn’t you say, you’d been here before? I thought we were lost!” Goh exclaimed, just a little annoyed. Seriously, why hadn’t he.
“Oh, I actually only just remembered, when I took of running.” Ash replied with a sheepish grin. “Anyway - follow me!” Ash then took off running the second time that day.
This time Goh didn’t bother shouting and just ran after him.
While he ran after Ash, he began thinking about the situation they were in. It was quite unusual, if he could say so himself. They started out researching different pokémon in the forest, to then trying to find a legendary, and then lastly running off to Arceus knows where.
But that wasn’t the only thing. He was actually interested in when and why Ash had been here before. Now that he thought about it, he actually didn’t know much about Ash, only that he came from Pallet town, and that he wanted to become a Pokémon Master. Well, he had enough time to ask later, right now he needed to catch up with Ash.
~Later~
Ash stopped running. He had been running for quite some time. He was actually surprised, that he remembered the way.
It might have taken a while, but now he was here - or they were. While Ash had stood and admired the building in front of him, Goh had arrived.
“Wait….Isn’t this The Battle Factory?” Goh asked confused. He might not be into battling that much, but he did know about The Battle Frontier. Why had Ash led them to The Battle Factory, and how did he even know it was here. Goh had the impression, that the Frontier facilities were hard to locate, so how exactly did Ash know it was here.
‘Unless he’s already been here before. But why?’
Goh was snapped out of his thoughts, as Ash grabbed his hand. “Come on! Let’s head inside.”
Goh couldn’t do anything but get dragged to the front door by Ash. He only let go of Goh’s hand, when they were standing right in front of the front door.
Ash was about to knock, when Goh interrupted him.
“Wait! Why are we even here?” He really wanted an answer to that. He was honestly so confused right now.
“Well, you wanted to find Articuno. Right?”
Goh could only nod in answer. Yes he did, but that didn’t really answer his question.
Ash continued. “So I thought, where would an Articuno be most likely to be.” He said excitingly pointing to the factory in front of them. Goh could only blink in confusion. How did that make any sense? Oh well.
Having answered Goh’s question, Ash knocked on the door.
~Inside The Battle Factory~
Noland was going around, feeding all of his pokémon. They were all hungry, so he decided to feed them. It was quite a lot of work, but he didn’t really mind.
Walking back from his venusaur, he let out a sigh of relief. That had taken a long time, but well, he didn’t have much else to do.
Noland heard a sound behind him that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. He turned around to find Articuno sitting on his perch.
Articuno let out another undignified squawk. He almost sounded like he was choking.
“You think it’s funny, eh? Well, why don’t you try to feed them next time?” Noland asked with a raised eyebrow.
Articuno chirped something in reply sending Noland a glare.
Any further teasing though, was cut off by the sound of a knock at the front door.
“Guess we have visitors?” Noland said, walking towards the front door.
He was actually a bit puzzled. He was pretty sure no one was taking up The Battle Frontier at the moment. So who could it be? Probably not any of the other Brains. They usually contacted him before coming. Maybe Scott? Probably. Noland couldn’t think of anyone else, who’d have a reason to visit.
Any further pondering was interrupted by a second knock.
“Coming!” He shouted, so the visitor knew not to knock another time. Coming to a halt in front of the front door, he opened it.
He was surprised to see who it was. Not only was it two people, but two kids, and one of them was quite familiar.
~Outside~
“Ash?” Noland blinked in surprise, before his mouth spread into a grin. He hadn’t seen Ash in a long time.
“Hey Noland!” Ash replied with a smile.
Meanwhile, Goh was standing wide eyed beside Ash.
‘Wait. Wait. Wait. They know each other?!’ He was completely thrown off. When in Arceus’ name had they met?
While he processed that, Ash and Noland had begun talking.
“Long time no see, eh?” Noland asked, leaning against the factory wall.
“Yeah, it’s good to see you again.” Ash replied, hands in his pockets.
“So, who’s this?” Noland tipped his head, so he was looking at Goh. Goh didn’t seem to notice though.
“Oh! This is Goh. Him and I are professor Cerise’s research assistants.” Ash answered.
“Hmm, interesting. Actually - what are you two doing here?”
At this point, Goh seemed to have regained his senses. Now he was actually listening to what was being said.
“We started out researching pokémon, but we got lost, and then Goh here-” Ash pointed at Goh. Goh looked away feeling a little embarrassed.
“Saw an Articuno flying overhead.” Ash finished.
Goh looked to Noland. He was quite shocked, when Noland began laughing. “Sounds quite familiar. Doesn’t it?” He looked at Ash, amusement painted all over his face.
Ash smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, I tend to get lost a lot.”
“No matter. If you came to see Articuno, you're in luck. He’s visiting right now.” Noland told them. Ash looked excited to see Articuno again, while Goh just looked unbelievingly at Noland.
“Well, come on in!” Noland called, walking back in.
Goh didn’t get more time to process the fact, that Articuno was visiting , as Ash physically pulled him indoors, before closing the door.
“Come on, Goh!” Ash shouted, as he walked through the factory.
Goh just blindly followed Ash. He was pretty overwhelmed by all of this.
It was supposed to be a quiet and simple day. But that definitely didn’t happen. He was so lost in thought, that he didn’t realise, that they had stepped into a large room filled with powerful pokémon.
He jumped in surprise, when he heard Ash shout. He turned to look at who Ash was shouting to and couldn’t help but stare in awe, as he saw Articuno sitting majestically on his perch.
His focus was broken as Ash ran towards Articuno.
“Ash!” He yelled. ‘You don’t just run towards a legendary like that..’ Goh fought the urge to facepalm.
“Don’t worry. They already know each other.” Noland said nonchalantly.
Goh looked at Ash and Articuno incredulously. Ash was currently giving Articuno a good scratch. “When?” Goh couldn’t help but ask. He never took his eyes of off Articuno, even as Noland answered.
“When Ash challenged me for the knowledge symbol.” Noland told him with a shrug.
“Ash took up The Battle Frontier?!” Goh couldn’t hide his surprise. The Battle Frontier was a hard challenge. No one had ever won the challenge, of what he knew.
“Yep. And he completed it.”
Goh just stared. Ash completed The Battle Frontier?! It was pretty unbelievable.
“Which pokémon did he win over?” He was actually curious about it. He knew that Noland let his challenger chose which pokémon they wanted to battle, so he wanted to know which one Ash had chosen.
“He battled Articuno.”
It took some time for Goh to actually process the words, but when he did, he was completely floored. If Ash battled Articuno, and Noland said, that he completed the whole Battle Frontier, that meant that Ash had won.
“Ash won over Articuno?!”
“Yep.” Noland confirmed.
Goh was officially rendered speechless. He had so much to ask Ash about. But right now, he was unable to do anything but stare.
What. The. Heck.