Ash woke up, his eyes refusing to open, but he could feel his body had woken up. He strained his eyes and tried to open them, but his face tensed up instead.

"He just moved!" Ash heard Miette's voice, then a chair scraping across the floor as she jumped out of it. 

"Ash?" Serena asked quietly, kneeling beside Ash. 

Ash tried with all the energy he had in his body, which wasn't a lot. Ash felt tired as his eyes slowly opened, adjusting to the light and finally opening up to the world once more.

"Oh thank god" Miette put her hands on her chest and sat back down. 

Ash's memory was a blur, he remembered being hurt and then, nothing but darkness.

"What..happened?" Ash looked around, first at Serena, then Miette. Clemont came walking in at that moment, hearing the question being asked.

"You have been unconscious for a whole day now" Clemont sat down next to Ash's bed and looked across at the girls, who smiled.

"Clemont decided to double back and came just after you blacked out. It was kind of lucky, because he managed to distract those Team Shadow jerks while we got out" Serena explained to Ash, who's eyes flicked over to Clemont.

"Thanks" Ash spoke faintly, as his memory's pooled back into his head. "Has the date been announced for the tournament yet?" 

"Yup" Serena nodded, she got out her Kalos pokedex and held it up to Ash. "Two days from now"

"I bet the others are all preparing for it then" Ash looked out of the window and then back to Serena. 

"Yup, they came last night but they all left and haven't come today...yet" She informed him.

"What about Greninja and Pikachu? Are they okay?" Ash asked, remembering that he was using them to battle Darkrai and hold off while he gathered Serena's and Miette's Pokemon. 

"They both sustained a bit of damage, but they didn't leave your side until this morning" It was Miette's turn to do the story-telling. "They will probably be back shortly, Greninja in his pokeball"

"Thank god" Ash breathed out a sigh of relief and then got out of his bed.

"You should rest a little more Ash" Serena said, concerned for his health. 

"I am fine, I need to get up before my legs die" He said jokingly, standing up from the bed. Ash got up and found that his t-shirt wasn't scratched up and his jeans looked brand new. "Huh?" He wondered, looking at his clothes.

Then, Serena turned so red she could've melted into lava. 

"We, erm...Kind of had to change your clothes" She sounded embarrassed, coated over by an overload of nervous speech. 

"Don't worry, Clemont did most of it" Miette leaned into Serena and her voice fell into a whisper. "Though you would've loved to do the whole thing"

Serena leaped out of her seat, feeling so hot she felt like fire itself. Her face was bright red, so she decided to rush outside for a moment. 

"Erm...is she okay?" Ash said, not noticing the blushing charade. He knew how Serena felt and with his memory's resurfacing, he realized how he had a change of heart during the confrontation with Parker and co. 

"I am sure she is fine, just give her a moment" Miette still had a teasing tone, she just threw her hand forward and dismissed Serena's response. 

Clemont coughed into his hand and got their attention. "I think we should consider what to do next"

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ash asked Clemont, who shrugged like it was obvious.

"Well, what if they try something again? We can't just let these people walk all over us and dismiss the law" Clemont shifted his glasses up. "Should we notify Officer Jenny?"

"She wouldn't be able to handle these guys, they are the ones that find you, we can only find them because they have been giving us trouble this whole time" Miette said, with a shake of her head.

"But, we can lead Jenny to them" Clemont countered, Miette considering his words.

Ash felt a little sarcastic. "What is she going to do against six people and a Darkrai? Not to mention Parker's Umbreon. Is she going to bore them with a lecture on law?"

Miette giggled at Ash's sarcasm. "Got a few screws loose, Ash?"

"I don't know, my head does feel a little shaky" Ash replied like she was being serious, not even moving a muscle.

Serena came back in at that moment, seeing Miette and Ash joking around, Miette giggling at Ash and she saw her blush. Serena smiled and shaked her head, just as Nurse Joy came into the room.

"Pikachu and Greninja are fine and I am glad to see you are awake" She smiled at Ash, who nodded. 

"Thanks a lot!" He said, a big grin appearing on his face. 

"Pika!" Pikachu jumped onto Ash, crawling over his back and onto his left shoulder. 

"Hey buddy" 

"We also fixed up your jacket and hat" Nurse Joy handed Ash his jacket and hat.

"Thank you very much, Nurse Joy" Ash threw on his jacket, zipped it up and then put his cap on his head. "Lets go guys"

Everyone left the building and was pierced by a sudden bolt of deja vu. Parker and the rest of Team Shadow (Minus their leader and their Darkrai) stood a few feet away, just at the start of the path. Ash's fists instantly clenched at his sides.

"What are you guys doing here?" He asked in an annoyed voice, Pikachu staring back with anger.

"What Ash said, you guys have caused enough trouble already" Serena folded her arms and stared at the group, who didn't even say anything.

"Why don't you just stop and focus on the tournament, we can settle things their" Miette scowled. Clemont said nothing, pushing his glasses up slightly.

"We are focusing on the tournament" Parker studied the four that stood at the entrance and smiled momentarily. "You see, we aren't hear to cause any trouble"

"Right...And Arceus is going to appear out of nowhere" Miette frowned, receiving a few scowls from Elizabeth and Tristan, but she didn't care.

"You're funny, you know" Parker kept a smile on his face. "We could use someone like you, very useful..."

"Like I would ever join someone like you, your all worthless" Miette's face was stuck in an angered frown as she pierced Parker with a death stare. 

"Someone getting a little heated up?" Parker asked, folding his arms. A weavile came from behind Parker at this moment. "Use icy wind to keep our friends here cool"

Ash grabbed onto his pokeballs and lifted one up, throwing it up into the air. Charizard came out of the light. "Charizard, flamethrower now!"

Charizard opened up his mouth and the flames came bursting out instantly. The icy windy was melted away by the flames, but no one on the other side seemed fazed by Ash's reactions.

"I expected you to do that much" Parker laughed, putting Weavile back in its pokeball. "I think it is about time we took our leave"

Before another word could be exchanged, Team Shadow walked off, disappearing along the tree line.

"That was weird, I think it must have been some sort of warning" Clemont scratched his head in confusion.

"Pika pi" Pikachu was a little confused too, he scratched his head, almost mimicking Clemont.

"Well, they definitely didn't want to cause trouble" Ash was a little dimwitted, he was ok with not being caught up in any action for once, but he couldn't see why.

"Ash, you dimwit, we are right outside one of the most public places around and you think they didn't want to cause trouble, they probably did want to, they couldn't" Miette folded her arms and sighed, looking across to where Team Shadow had stood. "Whatever they was doing, they seemed really calm. Way too calm infact"

"Well, you know what they call that, right?" Ash said, not even reacting to Miette's 'dimwit' comment. He got an interesting look from her and Clemont, both wondering what Ash was going to say next.

"The calm before the storm" Serena finished, looking up into the sky, where the clouds rolled in like a dark curtain over the blue sky that was slowly beginning to grey.