[Ash's POV]

"Ok ok I get it now, I have to do it this way, I get it."

"No, you clearly didn't get it. You're still doing it wrong."

"Aww man..."

"Seriously just use some of your battling brain here!"

"This is not a battle."

"Well it actually is... the other kind of battle"

"This is racking up my brain," I complained as I slumped down on the desk in front of me.

Hilbert was teaching me how to operate some basic things on the smartphone. Even though the phone had a Rotom to operate it fully, Hilbert insisted on teaching me how to operate it without its help, and not gonna lie, I was having a hard time remembering all the features. Plus I had no interest in this knowing that Rotom would be doing all the tasks afterwards. This was just wasting my time.

"Ash, you gotta focus, it's not that hard. Look, I'll show you again." Hilbert said and took the phone. "See, first you open the Pokemail app. It has a white letter with a red 'P' on it. After it opens, on the first page it will show you all the mails that you have received. You can open any of them to read. To reply to any mail, you can see, there's a reply option below. Press on that and a new......" Hilbert kept speaking as I zoned out. This was all going over my head. I was done.

I abruptly stood up and started walking from the office to the kitchen. Hilbert had cleaned out a spare room near the living room for setting up his work station. He called it his office.

As I walked I could hear Hilbert yelling at me but I ignored him. I was too exhausted to get anything in my brain right now. On exiting the room I spotted Serena and Dawn on the couch doing something on their smartphone. They looked at me at the sound of the closing door.

"Seems like the lessons are pretty tough, hmm?" Serena asked in a teasing tone. I gave her an unamused expression as I made my way to the kitchen. I was hungry and when I am hungry I want nothing but food.

"The mighty Ash Ketchum, the champion of all regions, is being pushed to his knees by a smartphone." Dawn taunted in a narrative tone.

"Just shut up already....." I bore-yelled the words as I had no more energy left in me to fight back. I heard them laughing as I opened the refrigerator to look for something to eat. The last few days my house had become a community area, people discussed stuff that goes over my head, and yet I was the topic of conversation. By people I mean, Hilbert, Serena, Dawn and Alexa.

Serena and Dawn always talked about all the trends and fashion stuff. They wanted me to look more celebrity type when I was going out and pointed out every odd thing on my outfit every time I went out. I wasn't allowed to go out much in the first place and then all this fashion stuff... ughhhh.

Hilbert was always on all the technical talks. He wanted me to get all the tech stuff remembered by heart. And I, who has never seen a smartphone ever, was getting nowhere to learn all of the stuff in a few days.

And lastly, Alexa. I swear to god if she is in the house, it becomes a conference room. Words come out of her mouth like a bullet train and everyone listens so attentively, I don't know how they even understand her.

I had taken out the juice carton from the fridge and was pouring it out in a glass. As I took small sips and let the taste relax me, I listened to Serena and Dawn's conversation from the living room. They were still going on about some outfits. Two girls, one of them being a coordinator and the other one a showcase performer talking about dresses, are sure to get bizarre ideas.

".... oh this one looks perfect. Let's go show Ash." I heard them, here they are with another one of their outrageous designs. "Ash, Ash, Ash, Ash, Ash..." Serena and Dawn hurried to the kitchen, sounding really excited for some reason.

"No!" I spoke the moment they entered the kitchen. My back was facing them, and I did not intend to turn around either.

"What?" Serena asked in a semi-confused-semi-angry tone.

"I said no. I don't want to look at it." I replied.

"But why?" Serena asked in a confused tone.

"Because I'm fed up." I replied in monotone.

"This one's really good, see for once." She stepped forward, but I interrupted her.

"I don't want to see!" I yelled and stormed past her towards the exit door.

Just as I opened the door I saw Alexa, she just returned from work. Her face cheered up on seeing me. "Hey As-" she started speaking but I walked past her in haste.

I was not in the mood to deal with any more of the media stuff right now. I wanted some peace. Things have gotten more and more complex ever since the attack in the Charicific valley. So much to keep my identity hidden.

I kept walking through the forest with an odd expression. I wasn't really thinking about anything but at the same time I was pissed. I decided going to the cafe would be a good choice. Cilan has always been a good person. I hope he can help me calm down.

I walked out of the forest carefully, I don't want to be seen by the public at all. Sometimes dressing normally attracts lesser attention than using disguised outfits. I was only using a simple face mask and had settled my wild hair a little and so far no one had looked at me. If i keep walking normally I might even reach there with no more hiding.

In a few minutes I was behind the cafe building. I entered the cafe through the staff back door. The first person I met inside was Sara, she was a co-worker, and the moment she saw me her eyes widened. I had been away from work for a long time, so this was expected. She was about to shriek from happiness but then decided not to and I was really grateful for that. She gestured to me to stay in the staff room as she hurried outside. She did her best to maintain her normal posture before exiting the room. I took the time to remove my mask and get my hair back to their original look. I went to the water filter to get a glass of water, at the same time Cilan entered the staff room.

"Ash! How are you?!" he asked me cheerfully. I was in the middle of a sip so I took a few seconds to properly gulp the water before replying.

"I'm doing great Cilan. Tell me about yourself." I said. He clapped his hands together and gave a wide smile.

"Well, the cafe is running quite smoothly, though we miss having you with us for the last few days." He replied.

"I know right, I miss you guys too. I just can't get out in public so openly anymore. It's such a bummer." I spoke in a bored tone as I slumped on to the chair. Cilan came and took a seat beside me.

"I understand your troubles. I'm sure, you must have sneaked in here really carefully." He said. I nodded in agreement.

"Mhmm.." I stared at the glass in my hand.

"Would you like to talk to me about it?" He asked and I looked at him with a questioning look. "I know that expression of yours, something is troubling you. What happened?" he asked.

"How do you read me so well?" I asked him in a rhetorical way.

"Reading a customer's satisfaction through their expression is a part of my job." He replied with an obvious boast. I just shook my head at his mini display of pride.

"Alright.. Well, since you have already realized, might as well spill the whole tea." I started.

"Speaking of which, would you like to have some tea?" He asked before I continued.

"Sure," I laughed.

He went and started preparing tea for both of us. I went on about my week. How much I have been stressing out and how hard it has been for me. He listened to every bit of the information really carefully. I told him about everything. Not a single detail left behind. He gave me his response to each one of them very intently. Soon the topic changed to other things and before I knew it I had forgotten about my problems and we were having a blast discussing so many other things. Every once in a while some of the other co-workers would come for a break and join the conversation. It was so good to meet everyone after so long.

Before I had any friends at school the cafe was the only place I considered my home. Everyone was so kind to me all the time. Sometimes when I was bullied at school I would come and just sit in the staff room and talk to them until I felt better. They always had my back when I was feeling down. When they found out Serena and I were dating, they were all so happy for me.

Ever since Serena came into my life, I had been feeling less upset than before. Even they said it themselves that I have been quite happy recently. And I agree, Serena has been a wonderful gift for me. She has given me all the love and care I had been missing in my life. She even trusted me with the situation with Dawn without any doubts. If I ever made her mad or upset I would feel really guilty. She has done so much for me.

After talking to Cilan and the others, I realized that everyone was just trying to make things back to normal for me, in a better way. I just found it hard because it was all put on top of me all of a sudden. Today I acted irrationally and yelled at them, when all they were trying to do was help me. I just didn't see it straight. My mind was clouded by the stress. I need to make up for it and apologize to them, especially Serena.

"I should get going, I have been out since afternoon. They all must be worried about me." I said. It had started getting dark. Cilan nodded and we both stood up. We walked till the door and he opened it for me.

"Come back again if you miss us or want to talk about anything." He said as I stepped out.

"Sure, It was wonderful talking to you and everyone after all this time." I replied gratefully.

"Likewise." Cilan returned a smile. I turned around to walk but Sara rushed in the room with a parcel.

"Looks like I made it in time." She laughed sheepishly. She came up to me. "Here, I prepared this food parcel for you all." She handed me the hot parcel. "This would be a good way to apologize for your mistake." She said with an assuring smile.

"Thanks a lot Sara." I replied happily.

"And don't worry about the money, this one is on the house." Cilan added.

"Thank you." I laughed. I waved them goodbye before starting to walk towards my home.

I need to get there soon before they start sending their Pokemon to look for me. I don't want them to worry about me. I have already given them enough pain in the afternoon.

To be continued...

Hey Guys, as Promised in my last announcement, I have returned to my stories. I hope to continue with the updates this time until the stores are completed. 

And I have an announcement to make as well. I have decided to begin work on my original book, "Welcome to the GAME." I have created an Instagram account as well as a Discord server for the promotion of the book. The link for both are available in my message board. 

I shall add them to my profile for future readers as well. If you are on any of the platform feel free to join the Discord server or give a follow on Instagram. Your support is what gives me motivation to write more for you guys.

Thanks for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. Please vote and comment anything about it. your feedback and suggestions give me ideas to improve my work.

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Stay safe everyone!