Ash's Arc

Chapter 10 of 14

The healing machine hummed while Ash waited. A nurse laid his fire pig on a clean clinic bed and set the mouse beside it. Both slept under warm lights. Ash sat across the room and watched the doors, thinking of the cracked ring in the moss. The hooded figure knew he was here. Ash needed his team whole before that man arrived. An hour passed. The lights on the machine turned green. The nurse smiled. "They're strong again," she said. The fire pig hopped off the bed and pressed its snout to Ash's leg. Its curled tail glowed bright. The mouse's cheeks sparked, quiet no longer. Ash knelt and rubbed the pig's ears. For the first time in two days, his whole team stood ready. But resting was not enough. Ash had won two badges by beating ghosts and a ringed beast. The hooded figure's sabertooth was worse than both. If Ash met that ice cat with the same tricks, he would lose. He asked the nurse if any trainer trained near the center. She pointed through the wide window. Outside, a trainer sat on the grass with a small blue Pokémon. It kept its eyes shut, hands on its knees, breathing slow. A Meditite. Ash remembered the one he beat for his first badge. This one felt different. It did not move even when the mouse sparked near it. Ash asked for a practice battle. The trainer nodded. "My Meditite won't chase your attacks," she said. "It waits. Try to make it flinch." Ash sent out his fire pig. "Ember," he called. The pig blew flame. The Meditite tilted its head and the fire slid past. It had read the pig's stance before the attack landed. Ash tried again. Same result. The calm little Pokémon stepped aside each time, eyes barely open. Ash stopped shouting orders. He watched instead. The Meditite only moved when the pig committed. So Ash faked it. "Ember, hold," he said. The pig reared as if to blow. The Meditite shifted early. "Now, tackle low." The pig dropped and slammed its shoulder into the Meditite's legs. It tumbled onto the grass. The trainer laughed and helped her Pokémon up. "You fooled a mind reader," she said. "Most people just hit harder." Ash understood what he had learned. Against the sabertooth, raw power would fail. He would have to bait it, make it commit, then strike where it did not guard. He thanked the trainer and looked back at the domed center. His team was healed. He had a new weapon, a trick instead of muscle. But a shape stood at the edge of the trees now, hood pulled low, a white cat pacing at his side. The hooded figure had found the healing center. There was no forest to flee into this time.