A Courageous Heart

Chapter 13

-Ash-

"So…you wanted to talk?" Ash shifted awkwardly from foot to foot. Soliel had asked to speak with him in the back after the battle, while the Gym Trainer 'Shade' offered to show Mallow the local shops so she could pick up anything the two of them might need.

He, admittedly, hadn't been all that comfortable with sending Mallow off with another guy he didn't know.

"Yeah, had a couple things I wanted to talk to you about." Soliel nodded, tossing him a sports drink she pulled from a mini fridge. The drink gave an excuse for him to look around as he twisted the cap off, Soliel opening her own. The back room was a lively looking area with a high-end stereo, some comfortable couches, and posters of various rock stars who, if the symbols by them were any indication, were also gym leaders in foreign regions. He even saw a poster for the 'treble badge', the crescent sickle of an Absol on top of some lines that, now that he looked closer, resembled sheet music. It explained the name more so at least, a pun about both Soliel's musical inclinations and how most saw Dark types as 'just trouble'.

"So. You're the one from the Spearow incident?" Soliel's voice brought his eyes back forward as she flopped down on one of the sofas.

"…Yeah." He nodded, not seeing any reason to hide it, especially as the incident would be something that the various gym leaders of Kanto would have been made aware of.

"How are you doing?" the woman's voice was gentle, full of concern as her eyes showed a perceptiveness that he wasn't prepared for.

"I'm…doing better than I was." He admitted, neither wanting, nor willing, to talk about this situation with anyone, not even those closest to him. He didn't want his parents to worry, and he didn't like having Mallow see him at his lowest, his weakest. Soliel studied him silently before nodding. Whether she believed him and wasn't looking further, or she simply wasn't going to push, he wasn't sure.

"Alright. Now, onto the second thing." Soliel's grin became teasing, "About crush you have on that cute little lady travelling with you." Ash felt his face turn red in an instant as Soliel's grin became a wicked smirk.

"I d-don't know what you're talking about." Ash turned his face away, trying and failing to hide his blush from the teasing gym leader.

"Look dude, I'm not trying to rag on you about this." Soliel eased back on the teasing smirk, "I just thought I'd offer a bit of advice."

"Advice?" Ash blinked, having not expected that.

"I saw your expression when Shade offered to show her the shops." Soliel nodded, "You didn't want her going off with another guy, yeah?" Ash grimaced, his expression showing she'd seen straight through him "But, I can also tell you're not a fan of being jealous and, if I was a betting woman, I'd say you aren't even sure what to do about this whole thing you feel towards her to begin with."

"I…only really realized it a few days ago." He admitted, hiding his blush in the act of taking a drink "And I never really had a girlfriend before."

"Say no more squirt, say no more." Soliel grinned, throwing an arm around his shoulder "Us Gym Leaders have a duty to help new trainers and who says it has to be just about battling? Time for Soliel's Crash Cram course on how to woo a pretty girl! Take notes, something tells me you're gonna need em."

Was it too late to run for it?

-Mallow-

Humming to herself, Mallow stocked up on spices and other things to cook with on the road, not wanting to let her kitchen skills get rusty. She still had to take over the restaurant some day after all.

"Lot of food stuff." The Gym trainer showing her around, 'Shade', commented as he stood by the counter of the store they were in.

"My family back home runs a restaurant, so I've always loved cooking." Mallow shrugged.

"Then I'd suggest you pick up that." He nods to a book in the corner she hadn't noticed, realizing it was a cookbook on closer inspection "Local recipes, mainly desserts admittedly. Might be able to whip up a surprise for your boyfriend with them."

"A-Ash isn't my boyfriend!" Mallow denied rapidly, face burning bright red as Shade just smirked wider.

"I never said it was Ash, now did I?" the gym trainer teases as a stream of flustered gibberish flew from Mallow's lips.

"Oh, stop teasing the poor girl." The shopkeeper swatted Shade on the shoulder, the Gym trainer looking unrepentant. When Mallow, still blushing, actually picked up the book the man's grin grew wider.

"Don't let this youngster bully you deary." The old shopkeeper told her, "Why, I could go all over his crush he used to have on the previous Gym Leader." Shade was suddenly much less smug.

"Previous Gym leader?" Mallow tilted her head as she put her purchases on the counter.

"Oh, a lovely woman named Karen." The shopkeeper nodded "She passed on the role to Soliel a couple years ago to travel and train up, aiming to become one of the Elite Four."

"Good for her." Mallow nodded, deciding not to mention that Ash's dad was one too, noting how Ash didn't like to mention it to people as he said it felt like bragging.

"Yep. So Soliel was promoted to Gym Leader since this one is allergic to paperwork and responsibility." The old woman running the shop continued to tease the grumbling trainer as Mallow chuckled.

"Just trying to help." Shade muttered with a pout, "Trust me, he likes her too." Oh look, Mallow's cheeks were somehow even redder now.

-Ash-

"It's going to rain soon." Ash frowned as he glanced at the clouds forming overhead, "We should get inside." His scars were still tender to direct heavy rainfall on the m would be far from pleasant.

"Then let's hurry, my dex says there's a Pokémon center nearby." Mallow nodded as they picked up the pace, wanting to escape before the storm hit.

"Hey, is that a light up ahead?" Ash frowned as he spotted a weak glow ahead, nowhere close to where the center was supposed to be. Breaking through the tree line into a clearing he saw a small Charmander on a rock, looking weak and malnourished. They also showed signs of having been beaten badly in a battle and not been treated afterwards.

"Sweet Arceus, are you alright little guy?" Mallow clearly saw it too as she hurried over to check on the little Charmander who looked up weakly, eyes seemingly dazed as their stomach roared loudly, too loudly to just be 'I haven't eaten since lunch, and I want food'.

"Chaaar." It muttered weakly, curling it up on itself on the rock as Mallow's hands started flying, bringing out Pokémon food that was good for Fire types. Typically, they'd just been feeding it to Vulpix, but Charmander clearly needed it more. Whatever protests the fire starter had were washed away by its hunger as the little one dug in, letting Mallow check over their injuries.

As Mallow tended to Charmander, Ash looked around for any sign of what had happened. There were a few char marks on the ground and other signs of a battle having taken place. All the damage was in a roughly rectangular area, indicating this was a trainer battle. One where this Charmander must have lost and been abandoned. Meeting Mallow's eyes he saw she had come to the same realization.

"Let's get you inside little fella." Mallow's voice was gentle as she pat Charmander on the head, "There's a storm coming and if you stay your flame will go out." She was gentle but wasn't going to sugarcoat how dangerous this would be "We can leave a message behind for whoever you're waiting for, so they know where to find you, how about that?"

"Char." Charmander clearly didn't like it, but they didn't want to die and agreed as Mallow wrote out a note, putting it in a Tupperware they weighed down on top of the rock. Running through the woods, rain started to fall as they shielded Charmander's tail, they finally managed to find the Pokémon center.

"Nurse Joy!" Mallow ran straight up to the counter, "We found this Pokémon outside and they're hurt." Ash let Mallow explain the situation to the Nurse who inspected the tiny Charmander.

"Man Damian, your team is amazing!" a high-pitched wheezy voice exclaimed, apparently not knowing what an indoor voice was, Charmander perking up at the name "But I thought you had a Charmander too? What happened to it?"

"That stupid thing?" 'Damian' scoffed, "I got sick of that useless runt losing. The Charizard line are supposed to be strong and fierce, but that cowardly little shit got scared every battle and never won a single fight. I told them to wait on a rock and that I'd come back for it. Stupid thing is still probably sitting there with that dopey expression on its face!" Charmander started to cry on hearing that, drawing attention to the counter where the pink shirted trainer saw the Pokémon they'd abused. Before Ash could move to tear the prick a new one, Mallow shot past him, throwing a hard punch which knocked Damian to the ground.

"The hell?! You bitch!" Damian snarled, his cheek turning purple as he got up, his groupies all reaching for pokeballs.

"Only bitch here is you." Mallow glared at the prick, her Bounsweet out and ready to battle even as Ash heard Nurse Joy calling for the cops given Damian had admitted to attempted murder of one of his Pokémon alongside abandonment and abuse. Ash's team popped out of their balls to back Mallow up if needed, but he let her take point otherwise. Mallow was fired up with Charmander looking at her in awe.

"Yeah, she's pretty amazing, isn't she?" Ash grinned at Charmander who nodded, seemingly too stunned to speak as Mallow and Bounsweet thrashed the Pokémon Damian sent out until the cops arrived. Given the rapid pace the other mon went down it would seem Damian's streak of losses was his lack of abilities rather than anything on the mon. The cops who arrived took Nurse Joy's security footage of the incident, giving Mallow a warning about the punch but letting her off otherwise given Damian's open admittance to much more severe crimes. They were talking about finding new homes for all of Damians' Pokémon, but something told Ash that finding one for Charmander wouldn't be an issue.

-Mallow-

Smiling happily, Mallow watched as Bounsweet and Charmander played tag, running around as the duo travelled closer and closer to Vermillion where the St. Anne would be. They were only a few days left of the trip there and she remembered Ash mentioned the last part of his 'apology gift' from Professor Oak would happen there too. Stepping out from the tree line, Mallow saw a bridge going over a canyon, a rushing river at the bottom.

"Whoa." Mallow's breath was taken away from the view, the sights and landscape of Kanto so far different from her home of Alola but both beautiful in their own rights. Eager, she hurried, wanting to get further on the bridge to get a look straight along the canyon, maybe take a picture for her dad and Ulu.

But the second her foot touched the third plank the whole bridge started to shake, the ropes snapping apart as her stomach flipped, a feeling of weightlessness surging through her as the bridge gave out with horrifying speed. The world seemed to slow around her as her head turned toward the others, Charmander and Bounsweet crying out in fear for her. A scream tore from her lips as she tried to get back to safety, but she was already falling.

Ash moved forward and she wasn't sure if it was her fear, his adrenaline, or something else but she hadn't realized a human could move that fast, and she was sure she saw a flash of blue in his eyes.

"Mallow!" Ash's roar made the world seem to snap back into going full speed as he dove, arm grasping hers as his torso slammed down right by the ledge, the only thing saving her from falling to an early grave. She saw the muscles in his arm and neck tense as he worked to lift her up, the scars on his chest stretching and some bursting open as blood started to stain the grass and trickle over the cliffside. Slowly, Ash raised her higher and higher, eyes blazing with determination as he pulled her back up onto the cliff, getting her safely on solid ground before he collapsed.

Concern for Ash quickly snapped Mallow out of her shock as she hurriedly started trying to get to his scars. The injuries, only freshly starting to heal, had stretched too far from that and burst open and had covered Ash's chest in blood.

"Bounsweet, bandages!" Mallow ordered quickly as her started rushed to their bags "Charmander, work on boiling some water." The fire type nodded and hastily worked with Ash's Pokémon to set up a pot of water. She'd been working with Charmander to help him learn to use his flame for cooking, but this was just as critical right now. Taking the bandages from Bounsweet as she rushed over, Mallow worked on washing the dirt and grime out of Ash's scars, the pain having clearly started to hit with the danger fading.

"Thank you." Those were the only words Mallow could find, resting her forehead to Ash's as she felt his body tense as she washed out the reopened wounds, "Thank you." He didn't respond, he just wrapped his arms around her till the shaking stopped, but that was enough.

AN: I know Squirtle didn't show up at all here but that's for a reason, their story is going to be different here while the part of Bulbasaur and the Secret Garden gets wrapped up next time.

AN2: We start to see the growth of Mallow's team. I was originally going to only give her Grass types but then I got an idea for a team designed around helping in the kitchen or with food. So, she and Ash will both end up with 12 mon each.

AN3: Next chapter we get to Vermillion where I have a LOT of things planned. It's an Arc I've been eager for since the story started.