Archive of Our Own

Going with Ash was probably one of his better choices in the last few months.

Clemont pocketed away the navigational device as Ash ran ahead, calling out to the others to ‘hurry up, I really want to battle the Gym now!’ and Bonnie yelling back, ‘Weren’t you listening—it’s going to take days to get there by foot!’

Ash was pretty powerful from a glance. Even if he didn’t have the required amount of badges to enter the Lumiose Gym (and promptly got kicked out of it due to not heeding the warnings), he held his own against Clemont pretty admirably. His Pikachu was no slouch either, battling innovatively and turning tight spots into an advantage, and when those Pokémon thieves—some sort of Team Something?—came in and threatened to take their Pokémon, well, Ash didn’t back down.

Neither did Froakie, a notoriously difficult Pokémon that chose Ash of all Trainers.

(And that night. And that Garchomp, frothing in pain and anguish, and the Prism Tower, and Ash, above it all.

So, so tall.

Clemont couldn’t help but look up to him then. That’s all the view offered from the base of the tower, and Clemont was too slow, and Pikachu fell and Ash jumped, and Clemont couldn’t even reach out a hand to help him.)

A day and a night, and Clemont made up his mind. He’ll just have to do better.

“Woo, can’t believe we battled three trainers already, Pikachu! People around here really like to battle, don't they?” Ash laughed as he spun around, Bonnie giggling beside him as Pikachu woozily chittered back. “My kind of people; I like their spirit!”

Right now though, Ash was getting very sidetracked by new Trainers. Clemont didn’t really understand wasting time on something so trivial, especially when the outcome was obvious from the start (against a Poliwag? Really?) but maybe this was the secret to his strength. Just endlessly challenging everything in front of him, overpowered or underpowered. Pokémon or people or gravity itself.

“Hey, I challenge you to a battle!”

Ash spun around so fast his hat nearly flew off, Pikachu tightly gripping his shoulder with a displeased crackle of electricity discharging from its cheeks. The boy chuckled good-naturedly at his partner before facing the challenger. “Hey there, do you mean us by any chance?”

The kid in front of him nodded, throwing the Pokéball in his hand and catching it. “Yep! Either of you is fine, I just want to get in some practice with some new people once in a while, and I’m sure my Pokémon has at least one more fight in them. So, who will it be?”

“Uhh,” and Ash turned back, eyes catching into Clemont with a million-watt smile, way too bright for a cloudy morning. “Hey, Clemont, I’ve been hogging most of the battles lately, so I think that you should take this one for once. If that’s alright with you.”

Clemont almost opened his mouth to say that he didn’t have any Pokémon, a defensive instinct, before remembering the one that he had caught a few hours before he met Ash. And Ash would know about it, because they battled and it was as much of a test of the Kantonian’s abilities as it was for the new Pokémon that he had gotten.

He pulled out the Pokéball, looking at its shiny cover. So new and barely used. The child in front of them grinned, taking that action as a challenge, and threw down his own Pokéball—a Zigzagoon, growling and ready for the battle. “So, Mister, are you going to show us your Pokémon now?”

“I—“ Clemont didn’t agree to this. He never formally said he wanted to battle, in any capacity, but as his eyes rovered around to look for some support he had caught onto Ash’s face—so full of trust and happiness for his new friend.

Ash waved at him then, calling out, “You can do this! Show them what you can do!”

And Clemont never really knew how to say no in the face of opposition.

(“Let’s go, big brother!”)

So painfully boring, he never stood a chance.

Ash doesn’t really dwell on the past, from what Clemont had observed. As a trainer he was always moving forward to the next goal, the next catch, the next battle, the next hour (and the next meal). And to be fair there really wasn’t much time to dwell on what had happened before, considering the sheer amount of events that occurred to them in the short time they started to travel together; once they crossed into the forest there was that Dedenne that Bonnie really, really wanted, and the Fletchling that Ash tried to catch (and Froakie wanted to beat).

One successful catch after, Ash looked over at Clemont, who was adjusting the bag over his shoulders after giving the Pokémon some of the Oran Berries that he had on hand. “I never knew that you made inventions,” the former said, awe shining in his voice.

Clemont ducked his head, making a few noncommittal sounds before replying. “Yeah? It’s just a fun hobby for me; I haven’t had much time to do as much in a while though, so I’m just trying to get back in the swing of things. Even if I didn’t expect that kind of result…”

“My brother’s inventions are pretty cool,” Bonnie piped up, jumping in between them to put her hands on her hips. “Even if the naming is bad, you can’t say the actual inventions aren’t interesting. It’s fun to guess what he’ll bring out next!”

Okay, maybe that’s a little too much praise. He opened his mouth to counter, before she added, “They do blow up a lot though, so you might want to be careful about that.”

“Bonnie!” He yelped, waving his hands out in distress. Ash shouldn’t know such a thing, he’s going to think that they’re not worth the risk and then leave them and he can’t have that, not when they’ve just started. “Please, don’t mind her, she’s just overexaggerating, I can fix it I swear—“

Ash just laughed, adjusting his hat as he gave a kind look towards Clemont and slowly waved out his own hands. “Hey,” he said calmly, “I’m really not that fussed about the blowing up bit—it helped us get rid of the Beedril, didn’t it? And your invention-thingy worked in the end, right?” Ash flashed a Pokéball, grinning at him as he held it up for a few seconds before pocketing it once more. “I would’ve never got Fletchling if it wasn’t for your help!”

Clemont’s panicked explanation died down as Ash’s words started to register. “…It helped?”

“Sure it did!” Ash walked over and slung an arm over his shoulder, freezing the inventor as he added, “And besides, that many Beedril with one machine? That’s pretty incredible on its own!”

Bonnie wiggled her eyebrows at her brother as he bowed down his head, trying to avoid the compliments. “It’s really not that much, to be honest,” he softly said, towards the ground. “I’m just doing what I do best.”

“Hey.”

Clemont looked up at him reluctantly, expecting some form of apathy, of apprehension, of distrust.

Instead, all that Ash said was, “I’m glad to be travelling with someone like you!”

(Maybe this Trainer was going to be too much for him.)

“Hey, Clemont, can I see your Bunnelby for a second?”

Clemont choked on his drink, having to put it down and gulp in air a few times to clear his throat. Ash continued to give him a hopeful look all the while, so he mustered up the energy to say, “Okay, but why though?”

“Well, that’s easy to explain! It’s for the Pokédex, of course!” He gave him a big smile then as he waved the eponymous device out, so full of hope and goodness in the world and if only he could feel the same way. You know. Like a normal person. 

And then Bonnie cooed, “Ooh, does it show every Pokémon on it?” and that moment was broken, because he remembered that no matter what, he wasn’t normal.

He could lie and laugh and live as close to the edge as he could, but in the end he was made up of more rules than anyone else.

Not like a normal person.

(And more like a robot.)

Anyways. Clemont doesn’t bring out Bunnelby, not usually.

Not like Ash, who always has Pikachu out on his shoulder and ready to talk with. But then Ash had, on his first day of Kalos, helped a rampaging Garchomp and jumped off a tower trying to catch the very same Pikachu, so maybe he’s just an outlier.

The Trainers that he has seen do not leave out their Pokémon when causally travelling, so he assumed the same neutral stance. It’s natural that way. Only bring out your Pokémon at break times and battles, and at other times keep them inside their Pokéball.

So simple. So unlikely to fail.

(Unlike last time)

But Ash wanted to see him, and maybe this will bring about a solution, somehow. Some sort of epiphany, an answer, showing him the right step in order to… do something important. 

Because he and Bunnelby? They’re normal. As plain as can be.

He brought out the Pokémon, who hopped into place in front of them, placid and calm. “Here he is; it’s not much, but I hope it’s enough for you.”

“Of course it’s enough, Clemont,” Ash said, shaking his head at him as he brought the Pokédex closer to the rabbit. To the Pokémon’s credit he didn’t flinch, just watching passively as the Pokédex opened up and the detail started to zip across its screen. “See, that’s all I wanted to do… Wait, what’s that?”

He tapped on the screen, showing the cursory details about the Pokémon: classification, Egg Group, Ability, gender… “What’s what?” Clemont asked, leaning over to see it closer.

“This.” Ash pointed at the Ability, which had Clemont readjusting his glasses as he squinted at the text that was scrawled next to it (the Professor really needed to fix that up in the next update). “It says Huge Power. I haven’t seen much Pokémon that have that, even on my many travels. Right, Pikachu?”

Pikachu, who was jumping around the inquisitive hands of a very enthusiastic Bonnie, nodded, adding a long ‘chaaa’ that Clemont had rarely heard from the species, especially one as battle-hardened as this one was. He shook his head, returning his focus to the Pokédex. “Huge Power, huh? Maybe it’s a rare Ability…”

“Yeah? Well it seems powerful, with the name and all that. Are you sure that you couldn’t have beaten that guy from before?”

“It does, doesn’t it—” Clemont started, vaguely uninterested before the last sentence dropped.

Beat the guy from before.

Of course Ash would still be stuck on that.

(That’s just what a normal Trainer would do, right?)

“It doesn’t matter, does it?” He tried to laugh it off, but felt crackly and disjointed and wrong somehow. “He bet me with the respect and skill of a Trainer and I’ve got to accept it. Maybe next time will be different.”

Ash shook his head, gripping his knees as he faced Clemont. “No, I’ve seen you battle, both you and Bunnelby. You both were able to stand up to Pikachu, and your strategies were amazing back then as well! What happened?”

Clemont turned away, biting back a harsh retort. That Ash doesn’t know him, that while they are friends they aren’t that close and would never be, that only Ash is the Battle Trainer among them. Only he would care about such a thing, so removed from real issues, and that proactive behaviour rarely came without repercussions in the first place. That he was just a normal person, and he didn’t want to be dragged into drama or disputes or anything.

All of those complicated feelings begging for some release, an output, and Clemont felt his mouth twist darkly before opening—

“…I’m sorry if you didn’t want to talk about it. I’m just, well, really competitive I guess. And I really thought you would win.”

He blinked, closing his mouth again. He turned to look at Ash, who gave him a rueful smile and an awkward laugh. “Looks like my cheering wasn’t enough this time around,” the Trainer joked, lightly nudging the inventor.

Clemont bit his lip, all of those complicated feelings rushing out and leaving the same sort of void inside of him. That void he got once he adjusted to the disaster that befell him and his sister and the circumstances that it forced them into, the void that was so tough to battle against all on its own, the void that he didn’t want to show Ash (that would derail this mission and why they were travelling together in the first place). He didn’t—he shouldn’t have—

Ash gave him a short look, before standing up. “Do you like Pokémon?” 

Clemont shot him a bewildered expression, suddenly shocked out of his gloomy outlook. “What? Of course I do!”

The Kantonian Trainer nodded, pulling out a Pokéball out of his belt. “Fletchling!” he called out, and with a bright sparkle of light, the bird flew down to rest next to Clemont. “Wanna pet him?” he asked with a knowing grin.

The inventor raised an eyebrow, before raising a finger instead onto the soft head of the bird. He twittered excitedly, hopping around while leaning to the touch. He remembered how Bonnie loved to pet all of the Pokémon she met, and how much the Pokémon loved that. And petting a Pokémon himself, he started to realise how much it helped him as well, feeling that connection through touch and mutual gratification. A small token of trust and love, as simple as what his sister made it out to be.

Was he overcomplicating things? Could he learn to trust just as easily as Ash and Bonnie?

He looked at Ash, who was trying and failing to get Bunnelby to come closer to him. “How do you do it, Clemont?!” he cried, making grabby hand gestures that went ignored and unnoticed by the Pokémon around him.

Clemont shrugged, noting how the Digging Pokémon looked… closed off, just like him. Had Clemont truly interacted with it beyond battles? Beyond the three battles that they’ve ever had? “Why don’t we swap?” he asked, passing the bird off to Ash, realising that the warmth leaving his finger was from Fletchling.

He looked down at his own Pokémon, who noticed the gaze of his Trainer and looked up expectantly. Clemont took a shaky hand towards the rabbit, resting it on his head. “Thanks for the battle,” he said, hesitantly moving his hand in a back-and forth movement.

Bunnelby purred in a soft way as he slowly closed his eyes and lowered his ears, leaning into the touch. A bit reluctant, just like him. Clemont moved his hand downwards, towards his ears, and the rabbit Pokémon thumped his foot emphatically at the motion.

Clemont paused, wondering if what he had done hurt his Pokémon in some way. Bunnelby opened his eyes and tilted his head, gentle and kind, and somehow it just clicked.

“You liked that, didn’t you?” Bunnelby nodded, and Clemont smiled back as he put his hand down and brushed down the grey-to-brown fur, sharing some joy so easily as his heart calmed down and the void lit up with a hopeful spark.

Ash smiled at him from the corner of his eyes, letting Bonnie take his Fletchling for a brush down as an ultra-clean Pikachu sat next to his Trainer.

Maybe being this kind is normal, he thought to himself.

Maybe there was a way to be normal and happy, if just for a short while.

Ash doesn’t have a tent.

He laughed it off, rubbing his neck self-consciously as he mumbled about forgetting it back home (back in Kanto, so far, far away), and then waving his hands in front of him in a flustered panic when Clemont offered him a spot in theirs, citing that it would be too cramped and ‘anyways, the stars are much more prettier to look at when camping out’.

And the thing is, Clemont had to do better than Ash. Has to learn off Ash, to see why he is the way he is, and every moment counts, even this one.

So, that night, he brought out his sleeping bag next to his.

Ash blinked, having just laid down his bag next to his own spot, hair ruffled from the way he pulled off his hat after roughhousing with Pikachu earlier. Clemont swallowed down the memory that playful encounter brought up within himself, a memory of golden eyes and tapping paws, and focused on taking his shoes off. 

“I hope I am not intruding,” the inventor added as an afterthought, pausing in case of some kickback, but Ash just shook his head and resumed back to his routine.

“Nah, it’s nice to be out with someone, I guess.” The Kantonian unzipped his jacket, long fingers deftly going through with the action. Like everything else, Ash simply doesn’t hesitate, doesn’t worry, and it’s so different to how Clemont has always lived his life.

There are at least five inventions in his bag in case of emergencies, all with their own dreamt-up scenarios attached to their purposes.

Ash lived his life with his Pokémon and his burning spirit even in the face of emergencies, and they couldn’t have been more different to each other even if they tried. Enantiomers, but not.

Electrons, never meant to pass the same orbit, maybe.

“Hey, are you actually sleeping outside, Clemont?” And there’s Bonnie, jumping up next to them already in her Tyrantrum pajamas, stopping in front of him and giving him a pout. “Why can’t I do it too?”

He sighed, but without any bite to it. “Because it’s cold out and I don’t want you to get sick tomorrow, especially since we’ll be having a long trek down the rest of the path to Santalune.”

“But aren’t you and Ash gonna get cold too?”

“Trust me, Bonnie,” Ash spoke up, grabbing the siblings attention as he kicked off his socks, “If Clemont freezes over then Pikachu will just jumpstart him again. But it would be painful, turn him into a crisp and I wouldn’t want to risk such a horrible move on you…”

“Pika,” Pikachu chirped as he wandered by Bonnie’s leg, trying to stalk around her powerfully while also trying not to giggle.

The girl yelped as yellow fur brushed her leg, running back into the tent and zipping it closed as fast as she could. Clemont shook his head and gave Ash a deadpan look. “Was there really no other way for you to tell her to go to sleep apart from scaring her to bed?”

“Maybe, but I’ve been around kids like her.” Ash balled up his socks and threw them towards the electric mouse, who batted it back with his tail and walked away from the two boys. “If it helps, I’m sorry and I will absolutely make it up to her tomorrow, but for tomorrow to come she needs to sleep and you’re just a bit too… wordy with her.”

And soft, was what was lying underneath those words. “She’s not your responsibility,” he said in a clipped tone, pulling his bag off his shoulders and setting it down. “It may be effective now, but I know Bonnie, and we’ve—I mean, she’s been going through a few things lately.”

Ash’s eyes widened, and Clemont resisted that part of him that shirked from the half-truth. “Just… don’t make threats, please, empty or otherwise. We’re not opponents on the road—just normal people. Friends, even. You don’t have to be efficient with us.”

And isn’t that a stupid thing to say?

Clemont held his blank face, willing himself to not cringe from that moment of self-consciousness.

Ash looked back at him, face clouded as milk in tea.

A moment passed.

The Kantonian sighed, letting out a big breath that Clemont wasn’t aware he was holding in. “Alright, if you say so,” he yielded, breaking eye contact. “I’ll go make it up to her right now, in fact.”

Clemont wanted to say ‘Don’t bother, she’s probably sleeping now’ but he held his tongue as Pikachu pawed at the tents covering, making apologetic noises that bordered on mournful. The zipper went down a few centimetres and a blue eye appeared behind it, and after a hushed conversation she let the yellow mouse sneak into the tent.

Ash stopped right in front of the tent a few seconds after it closed, crouching down and rubbing the back of his head with his hand in awkward silence. “Um, Bonnie?”

A few seconds of silence. Then, “Mmm?”

Guarded, tight. Clemont listened nearby, intrigued about how Ash would go about this dilemma, even with his big brother instinct was now very much stuck in alert mode.

Because he’s going to learn off Ash, it’s true, but it didn’t mean he had to take everything he gave him. It didn’t mean he had to give him anything beyond what was necessary, either.

In the end he is still a Trainer, and Trainers always come and go. Trainers want to be the best no matter what, and this one has experience with that drive, and that just means he has more ways to break them down.

Ash was just a means to an end; a nice boy, but in time a nice boy with four Badges in his case and the wisdom to challenge the Kalos Gyms in his mind. An asset that Clemont needed, even with the risk.

So when Ash walked back, chuckling about how he’s going to lose his dessert rights for the next few stops, Clemont just nodded and went back to his work, sticking the screwdriver into the compartment at the back of his bag.

He’s just a normal boy.

Ash is an extraordinary one.

And they couldn’t be more different if they tried.

“Hey, hey, it’s just a dream!”

Clemont snapped back into wakefulness, chest heaving, face wet (why was it wet?), lump in his throat. Warm hands were on his shoulder, tanned and tough and giving him one more shake. Hands connected to the worried face in front of him, shining with worry.

Once Ash noticed his wakeful state, he put his hands away, sitting cross-legged and looking at him. Something like pity passed through his face, and Clemont straightened himself out and wiped his own as if it would change anything.

There’s a reason he doesn’t sleep as much as he should. But being next to somebody else, anybody else… it felt vaguely protective. Like nothing could harm him now that he’s got the piece that he needed.

“Okay, what’s up?”

“Huh?”

Ash gestured to the tent with his head, before nodding at the boy in front of him. “The problem. The nightmare. Whatever you’d prefer.”

Right now, Clemont hated the illusion of choice. A false branching statement, ending up at the same conclusion no matter what you picked. “It’s nothing, really.”

“Hey,” the Kantonian said, voice soft, “We’re supposed to be friends, right? At least talk to me, if you don’t want to talk about it.”

Clemont scrubbed his eyes, grateful that his glasses were off so he didn’t have to see the nuance in Ash’s face. It would probably be the closest to seeing the reaction of someone who actually knew him, if anything else, and it would be smart to prepare for that just in case, but there’s a reason why he’s taking the high roads. “What would you want to talk about? It’s in the middle of the night.”

Ash shrugged, shifting in his bag noisily as Pikachu murmured quietly nearby. “Well, where do you live, if that’s not a bad question to ask.”

Great, another loaded question. But where he lived was a big place, the most populated city in the region, and there was no way that Ash was going back there until he’s gotten four Badges. It was probably safe to answer just this once. Probably. “Er, Lumiose City.”

“Oh, really? Huh, must’ve been luck that we crossed paths like that then.” Ash sounded so happy then, and Clemont had to crush that part of him that yearned to untie his tongue free from all of those restrictions he laid upon himself. To tell the truth, to talk about the inventions at home, to ramble about something that actually meant something to him. “I’m sure you know where I’m from, but my birth place is Pallet Town; it’s really small and there’s not a lot of people there, but it’s nice. Got my own Professor living nearby, and my mum and Mimey, and I guess Tracey is living there too now that I think about it.”

Clemont listened in rapture, trying to imagine such a place. Ash looked so confident in his lonesome that it was hard to imagine that he had to have started from somewhere. “I’ve been meaning to ask you, Ash, what was your Kanto Starter? I haven’t seen any other Pokémon with you other than Pikachu, and if I recall correctly all starters are usually Fire, Water and Grass Types.”

Ash chuckled, rubbing a finger underneath his nose. “My Starter actually was Pikachu; there was a whole mixup and I woke up late and there wasn’t enough Pokémon for me, so the Professor gave me Pikachu instead. We didn’t hit it off that great at the start—” giving a wry look at the Pokémon, who slapped the ground with its tail in its sleep— “but we’ve been through a lot together. I have caught all of the Kanto Starters though, and trust me my group is a handful. Actually most of my Pokémon are at the ranch with the Professor and Tracey, that’s his assistant and a friend of mine, and they’re all the coolest in their own ways.”

Clemont stared at him in awe, absorbing and collecting and storing all of the information that Ash was giving him into his head. He doesn’t know it yet, but this was one of the numbered times that Ash will be this open with him again, for a long time to come.

He doesn’t know how much this Trainer will mean to him.

Ash turned to him, residue joy still stuck to his face. “So, my turn now. How did you get your first Pokémon?”

His breath caught in his throat, causing the inventor to swallow and swallow until it disappeared. His first Pokémon? It’s not like he could even tell Ash, but (sparking claws, tiny mewl) his Pokémon (long tail, glowing frills)—the only Pokémon he has with him is Bunnelby, right? Clemont looked down at where he put the Pokéball, in the side pocket of his bag beside him. “Well, I met Bunnelby in an old subway. I helped him and he helped me, and then he came along with me afterwards. It’s not as daring as your story is or as deep, but it’s what we have.”

“I think that’s pretty daring to me.” He looked over to the Kantonian, who flashed him a grin. “Hey, it’s true! People and Pokémon helping each other is about as cool as it gets. You’ve got to stop putting yourself down like this, or otherwise you’ll pull everyone down with you. Be confident in yourself!”

Clemont shook his head, staring at the Pokéball that he took out, the Pokéball that never shook in his hands since he caught Bunnelby, not even for a second. So perfectly still. Was he putting his Pokémon down? “I’m… not sure how to do that.” It was probably the truest thing he had told him ever since they met.

“Then let me show you!” Ash threw a hand around his neck, pulling their heads together. Clemont couldn’t help but think about that skin to skin contact, checks bunched up against each other, cold warming up by mutual exchange of body heat. It felt too close, feeling his hair brush his ears and his grin against his frown and the back of his arm around his bare neck. Too much, and yet… “We’re travelling together, right? Then I’m sure we’ll learn plenty of stuff together on this journey, and maybe some of it will help you too! After all, it’s not just my adventure.”

Clemont shook his head, belatedly, too slowly. He couldn’t let himself get drawn in by this Trainer. He’s going to leave, just like everyone does, and he can’t afford to hurt himself again. He was supposed to be the rational one. This was supposed to be a temporary truce. “I’m not going to travel long with you,” he should’ve said. “We’re not meant to be travelling like this. I never expected this. All I wanted is to be as brave as you.”

He opened his mouth.

He said, “I hope so too.”

“Hey, big bro!”

Clemont started for a bit before yawning, rubbing his eyes and patting around for his glasses. As his hands met a much smaller one, handing him the equipment he needed to see literally anything ever, he let out a sigh of relief. “Hey, Bonnie. Had a good nap?”

She beamed as her face became clearer in his view, jumping up and down in place. “Yeah! But isn’t there someone that you forgot to ask?” She paused her jumps to give him a sly look, nudging her pouchette towards his face.

He sighed, pushing it away. “It’s not good manners to push a Pokémon—especially an Electric Type—on someone’s face. I thought I taught you better than this.”

She rolled her eyes. “If Ash can handle getting zapped by Pikachu and if we you-know-what—“

“Bonnie.”

“—Then he shouldn’t be an issue at all! C’mon, say it, say it!”

Clemont rubbed his nose with his thumb and his pointer finger, almost knocking off the glasses that he had just recently put on his face. “Okay, okay. But please be more quiet, Ash and Pikachu are still having their sleep, so we have to be more considerate.” He stood up and took his bag with him, walking her away from the tree that they were resting against towards a small sunny patch in the sun. As he sat down and took his bag down, bringing out his latest project, he asked, “So, how is Dedenne? Adjusting well with your presence?”

“He’s doing great, he’s super fast when he wants to be and once we did that little hole trick he was doing when we saw him before, you remember right, and—“ His little sister clapped her hands happily, running circles around him. Somehow the more they travelled the more active she became, soaking in the sunlight and powering herself further, as if she had Chlorophyll as an ability. He smiled despite himself, bringing out of his toolbox and starting on the project.

This was all because of Ash, in a way. Clemont was doubtful about catching a Pokémon, especially for Bonnie who was definitely not of age yet, but somehow he couldn’t refuse two people. And for once, that inability to stand up for himself proved to be worth it, seeing the face on his sister. 

(That moment when he threw the Pokéball, arching his arm in a motion that he thought he would never do again, a motion that he thought he wouldn’t like but what ended up feeling freeing and stong and joyful, that anticipation—)

Somehow, Ash made catching a Pokémon feel so rewarding in short and long-term. And looking down at his other Pokéball (he has two now, although one is for formality), he started to entertain an idea entirely of his own making.

“Bun?” The Digging Pokémon looked around, as if expecting some sort of situation at hand before looking up at his Trainer questioningly. Clemont shook his head, pointing to the fields around them.

“Have some fun,” he simply said.

His Pokémon took a few hesitant hops forward, as if undecided, before a brown ball rolled up to him and bounced off his legs. “Nene?” the tiny mouse squeaked as he unfolded himself, giving him a questioning look before tapping him and running off. “Ne, dene!”

“That means you're it, Bunnelby!” Bonnie called out, keeping her distance away as she waved to the rabbit. “You have to tag one of us to be free!”

Bunnelby looked around before doing an approximation of a shrug, running over to the group and scattering both girl and mouse as they shrieked and laughed.

Clemont smiled to himself, quietly happy, before returning his attention to the invention he was making.

Surprisingly, he’s a lot more used to the sun now than he was before, and maybe that’s another sign for this journey to come.

It’s a cold night, even colder than the last, and so this time Ash tried to suggest a huddle up.

“A what?” Clemont readjusted his glasses on his face, as if that would enable the phrase to make more sense. Bonnie squealed loudly in the middle of Ash’s sentence as he started to reexplain, bringing out his Pokéballs and releasing his Pokémon, and Clemont struggled to understand what was happening in the commotion. “No, seriously, Ash, can you repeat yourself? It’s way too noisy with everyone in this tent.”

Ash gave him a thumbs up, scooting past Pikachu and Froakie to sit next to Clemont. “So,” he started, shouting way too loudly and making the other teen wince. “Sorry,” he whispered, before continuing, “Since it’s another one of those cold nights, we should huddle together with our Pokémon to become extra warm! It’s nice and fun and team-building too, and we won’t wake up with frostbite in the morning!”

“So that’s why you called it a huddle up…” Clemont looked around, his eyes resting on Bonnie who was pointedly pointing to his pocket. Oh. “Should I…”

“Yeah, of course!” Ash raised his hands up, saying in a deep voice, “All Pokémon are hereby required to come out for the huddle up!”

The blonde teen gave him a tired look, but brought out Bunnelby anyway, turning to face him after he came out. “Is it okay with you to sleep out for the night?” he asked his Pokémon, noting the crowded situation of the tent as it was.

Bunnelby looked around, before curling up in place. Fletchling hopped to the top of his head, twittering rapidly as Froakie rolled his eyes, trying to swat the bird away. “Hey!” Ash called, “No fighting, especially on top of other Pokémon. We’re all friends now, aren’t we?”

“…Froa.” The Bubble Frog Pokémon disengaged himself from the confrontation, turning away to rest next to Bonnie. The young girl giggled, trying to pat him, before he jumped away from the hand out. “Kie.”

Ash gave an apologetic look when Bonnie pouted at him, shrugging as the frog situated himself at the far end of the tent. “Sorry, Bonnie, but it looks like Froakie isn’t really in much of a mood to play right now. Which makes sense, considering it’s night.”

“You should be getting ready for sleep anyways, you know,” Clemont pointed out, receiving a raspberry from her as a response. “You do know that in order to be a Trainer, you’ll have to be more mature than that.”

“Fine then, I’ll go to sleep. But I’m going to make my dream about beating you, which is going to make me the mature one around here!” she vowed, giving him a narrowed look before tucking herself into the sleeping bag. Dedenne chirped as he wiggled onto the sleeping bag as well, earning a small smile from the girl as she closed her eyes and promptly began dozing off.

Clemont shook his head, dimming down the lights. “Ash, please don’t tell me that you’re going to sleep with three Pokémon in your sleeping bag?”

Ash paused, having Fletchling and Froakie on one side (the frog looking largely uncomfortable) and Pikachu on top of him. “No?” he dragged out hesitantly, before freeing his Kalos Water Starter from the bundle. “See, Froakie is completely on his own. Wow, what a tough guy!”

“Pikapi.”

“Kie-fro.”

The inventor just sighed and turned off the light, staring up at the roof of the tent and contemplating what brought him to this particular moment in life itself.

There really wasn’t much to say after that.

(Two boys and one girl, two electric mice, a bird, a frog and a rabbit, all in one tent.)

There is something to be said here, something that Clemont felt like he could take, but all he could come up with was warmth.

“Hey guys, c’mon!”

“What’s the… rush?” Clemont huffed, trying to grab the nearest tree and slipping onto the ground, landing chin first. “Ugh, Santalune isn’t moving anywhere, okay?!” Bunnelby—who was still out from last night— hopped by him in worry, nudging his glasses back into his face (thankfully not broken).

Bonnie paused in her running, putting her hands on her hips as she frowned at her brother. “But we’re going and the carts are going, so there is a rush! You’ve gotta hurry it up already!”

“Are you okay, Clemont?” Ash asked, worry tinging his voice as he pulled his arm down to his side and stepped away from the edge of the road. 

Clemont pulled himself up with his arms to a kneeling position and sighed, rubbing his face with his sleeve. “Yeah, just peachy,” he said weakly, and Bunnelby snorted. “Seriously! If it helps, just disregard my Pokémon right about now.”

“Pokémon always tell the truth.” Ash shook his head and went over to the inventor, looping an arm underneath his right side, then helping him stand up. “On the bright side, we now have more hands to wave ‘em down!”

The inventor squinted, trying to find their target. “Okay, I’ll give. What are we trying to wave down?”

Ash flung his arm up in the air, Bonnie copying his action from way too far up ahead (“Hey, Bonnie, you can’t walk that far away from us!”). “We are going to wave down our own ride to Santalune!”

Clemont stared at him, mouth agog. “You mean hitchhike?!” he half-screamed in a strangled tone, causing his sister to wince halfway through her reluctant walk back to them. He then whispered, a little harshly, “Is that even legal?”

The Trainer shrugged, now looking a little less confident as a car drove by without even checking them out. “It should be, I think. I’ve done this a few times before but not in this region, so I don’t know all of the rules, but if it’s not then I’ll just explain ourselves to Officer Jenny.” Oh no, Ash couldn’t be that innocent, could he?

“I don’t know what Officer Jenny you’ve encountered in Kanto or in any of the other regions you’ve been through, but in Kalos her whole family is quick to take you down and ruthless to all rulebreakers, regardless of what rules you’re broken.” The blonde teen shook his head, putting his free hand out to grab Ash’s extending hand. He needed him to face him, to face the severity of his actions, and so his cheeks didn’t light up when their eyes connected, face to face. “You can’t be risking your whole journey on something that might save some time or looks fun—“

A horn blared through his explanation, causing Clemont to startle and let go of Ash’s hand. A lady yelled out from above them in her trucks front seat, “Hey, fellas, are you in need of a ride or are you in the middle of your own right now?”

Clemont automatically dropped the Kantonian’s hand and looked away, clutching his bag straps in mortification as Ash explained their situation and Bonnie laughed from the back of the truck.

The back of the truck was cramped, but none of them wanted to sit alone next to the drivers seat.

“Hey, Ash,” Bonnie asked, looking curious, “You just came to Kalos, haven’t you? Have you gone anywhere else but the Gym?”

“No, not really.” He looked faintly embarrassed as he said that, giving Pikachu on his shoulder some chin scritches. “To be fair, I am a Battle Trainer. It’s always going in me to have a battle whenever I can.”

The girl looked confused at that. “But you only had Pikachu, right? How were you going to challenge it with only one Pokémon? The Lumiose Gym is an Electric Gym after all, you wouldn’t have much do an advantage there with only an Electric Type.”

Clemont was listening absentmindedly, fiddling with some of the spare parts he had in his bag, but his head snapped up at that question. He wanted to hiss out his sisters name, wanted to shut down the conversation, apologise profusely to Ash and pretend it never happened, but… he needed to know too, in his own way.

The more he could understand about Ash, the easier it would be to get to the place he needed to be. To become the person everyone else needed him to be.

Ash opened his mouth before closing it again, deep in thought. Pikachu chirped as the scritches slowed then stopped, hopping off his Trainer’s shoulder and wandering over to Bonnie’s lap instead. “It’s good to measure our strength and understand the Gym,” he said slowly, as if feeling the words in his tongue. He flashed a desperate look towards Clemont for a second, as if expecting… what? Assistance? Help? The inventor couldn’t tell.

Ash shrugged languidly as he turned away, as if that moment never happened, before leaning his back onto the side of the truck. “It’s our first time in Kalos and we had some pretty bad jet lag. Is it so wrong to try to get in a battle with a strong opponent first thing? Get a taste of what the Gyms have to offer?”

Bonnie giggled, having pet Pikachu on his tail and hearing the long-drawn ‘chaaa’ out of his mouth. “Well, you are definitely one of a kind, Ash. You’re always so impatient! My brother would never be able to deal with me if I was like that.”

Clemont sighed as Ash laughed, dodging the Trainer's attempted pat on his own back. He decided to break his silence by saying, “But you are like that, Bonnie. There is no proof that you would not pull the same trick Ash did when you first become a Trainer yourself.”

“Oh, right, you’re going to become a Trainer soon, aren’t you?” Ash tapped the bottom of his chin in a show of thought. “What Pokémon is going to be your first?”

“It’s going to be Dedenne, silly!” She pulled out her bag, opening the flap to show the tuckered out baby mouse. “I can’t believe you didn’t know that!”

“Hey, I meant after Dedenne!”

“Maybe I’ll take Pikachu from you next!”

As they bickered and argued, Clemont started to look out at the landscape blurring past them. He never really got to appreciate nature as much until he started to travel with Ash, and even then it was mixed with exhaustion and pain from walking for so long. But now, on the back of a truck speeding through semi-rural Kalos, he could start to see the appeal of nature. Start to see the appeal of Ash’s idea too, even if it might be slightly illegal (the driver promised to cover for them, but that was a dubious offer in and of itself in the inventor's opinion).

Ash was starting to look more and more experienced and wiser than what Clemont had originally given him credit for, and he didn’t know what to do with that fact. If it meant that friendship was worth it, or their late night talks, or connecting with all do the Pokémon. If this journey was worth more than what he had given credit for.

Learn to be courageous, wasn’t that what he said? But it was more than that. If only he could just understand it now…

“Let’s go sneak up on Clemont, whaddaya say?”

To his eternal embarrassment, Clemont had to admit that he may have screamed a little as he felt two sets of hands tackle him down, knocking his glasses askew as he laid flat in the middle of the pickup bed, thoroughly surprised. Two faces leaned up in front of him, both beaming as if they never done a thing, and it was lucky that Clemont was so easy to placate. So quick to let things go, even at the detriment to himself.

“You’ve got me,” he said once he could feel his mouth and tongue again, shock wearing down the temporary numbness and impact. He was lucky that all of their Pokémon (sans Pikachu and Dedenne of course) were in their Pokéballs, otherwise the chaos would’ve been unparalleled right about now.

“Bonnie was right, you are easy to startle!” Ash laughed as he pulled him to an upright position (and nearly fell off the truck himself, almost starting another panic).

Talking and laughter and wheels bumping on potholes, taking them closer to the destination.

Ash and the first Gym. Clemont and the first demonstration of skill.

(None of that mattered now though; all he could currently think about was how nice it felt to have the wind passing them without any of the effort walking required, and how nice it was to hear Ash talking with Bonnie, none of that ruthlessness to be seen.)

Of course, all fun has to come to an end at some point, and that point for Clemont was Santalune City.

Clemont’s heart stopped in his chest when he saw her standing by the fountain, taking a picture of Ash in mid-speech, fitting in as if she was just as normal as he was.

It wasn’t supposed to be that shocking, to be honest—it was just a camera and a woman holding it, chatting to Ash and letting him know the direction to the Santalune Gym. It would be ironic except that everything was a hair's breadth from going wrong so, so easily.

For a second, his normality was on the verge of cracking and his hands tightened around his bag handles, glasses obscuring his eyes as he forced himself to wait back.

Just for a second.

(No one needs to know.)

Once Ash started to run off, Bonnie following him, Clemont resumed his laboured walk forward, panting once more as the exertion set in. It was tiring, having trekked so far and with two overenthusiastic people always ahead of him, but it could’ve been worse. At least the next stop was nearby and he could rest up while watching Ash in action. Maybe even get a drink.

He wondered how the Gym was.

“Didn’t expect to see your face around here. Are you with the others?”

He stopped, a few steps ahead of the woman next to him. “What if I was?”

“My sister told me about that Trainer. He’s from Kanto, isn’t he? He’s travelled quite a bit and went to a lot of Leagues, got a ton of Pokémon from his travels. Quite a few friends too, from what I’ve heard.” She paused, before adding, “Did he manage to catch you in his net, I wonder?”

“I chose to go with him. Please leave him out of this. Treat him like any other challenger that comes your way and pretend that you don’t know me. It’s the only thing I ask of you.”

“Only thing you ask of me? Is it okay for me to ask why?”

He closed his eyes, controlling his tone. Trying to sound as matter-of-factly as he could. It doesn’t mean anything, he can make it mean nothing. Just a temporary arrangement. “I’m just observing Trainers as they go through the Gyms. I want to see their improvement and their growth as they battle, and if it means I have to travel, then that’s what I’ll have to do.”

“Hmm. Well, I guess it’s only a little strange that you’ve decided to go with a boy like him, that’s all I’m saying.”

Clemont made sure to keep facing away, keeping his eyes away from the lady beside him. “He’s a strong Trainer, and I want to know what makes a Trainer strong. If what you say is true, well, maybe that’s another reason why I should stay with him even more.” He walked off for a bit, before pausing. “Thanks a lot for the assistance, though. Just please, don’t say anything.”

“…Alright then. It’s your call. By the way, it’s been nice seeing you again, unplanned visit or not. Make sure to let me know if any other life-changing events are happening, ‘kay?”

He held his tongue as he started to walk away again, following the directions of a person that he doesn’t know, denying the claim in his head that anything life-changing is happening because there are none, because he is just a normal boy following a greater path.

(A courageous Trainer from Kanto, well-travelled and well-versed in Pokémon.)

It’s a good choice for a normal boy. Because he’s normal. An average Trainer, with an average early-route Pokémon and a younger sister.

(The lady gave him a small smile as he turned away, checking her camera roll one last time before turning it off and walking away herself.)

Normal choices.

He’s not hiding anything.