"Are you okay? Did you stumble?"
Dawn, who had been following Ash just fine, couldn't help but worry when she noticed Ash seemed to have fallen, and she leaned over from above to ask.
The stone stein front were about a meter above the ground of the path.
Although you could see the path below from above, you couldn't see the small patch of ground right next to the ste.
In this case, where the view was obscured, it wouldn't be strange to fall, but logically, Ash looked like he was being careful when he went down, so why did he still fall?
As Dawn leaned over to ask Ash if he was okay, Pikachu and Aipom had already jumped down to Ash's side.
But, when Dawn looked at Ash, Ash's gaze... no, it should be said that the gazes of Ash, Pikachu, and Aipom weren't on themselves, but on...
"Huh?!"
Following their line of sight, Dawn discovered that there was a person squatting in the corner.
His back was facing outwards, and he was muttering incomprehensible words in a posture of facing the wall in repentance.
There was a fresh footprint on this person's back, probably left by Ash just now, right? The scene in front of her looked a little strange.
"A-A-Ash... are you okay?"
Dawn also jumped down upon seeing this, but she deliberately avoided the squatting person when she jumped, otherwise, she would have encountered the same thing as Ash if she had jumped down where she originally intended.
"I... I'm okay..."
Dawn found it strange that even after she came down, Ash's gaze still didn't turn away.
He was staring at the... somewhat dark-skinned male squatting in the corner with a speechless expression.
"Since you're okay, let's go? He looks a little strange, I wonder if he's a bad guy..."
Dawn said softly next to Ash's ear.
Feeling the warm and slightly itchy sensation near her ear, Ash finally came back to his senses.
He looked at Dawn as if wanting to explain something, but ultimately gave up on a verbal explanation.
Then, under Dawn's astonished gaze,
he walked up to the crouching male, raised his hand, and smacked him hard on the shoulder.
"Wake up!!"
Dawn: "?!"
Dawn was startled by Ash's action.
She thought Ash was angry about being tripped, and she could understand, of course, who would expect someone to be hiding in a place like this? Being tripped after jumping down is just an unexpected disaster.
But something seems off about this person.
It feels like he has some kind of mental issue, won't he suddenly become violent later?
"Why... why is this happening... it shouldn't be..."
Ash: "..."
What Ash and Dawn didn't expect was that this person didn't even Frisk the surrounding situation after being hit, and was still immersed in his own world.
Ash was really helpless when he saw this, so he gave Pikachu a look and slowly said, "Pikachu, Thunderbolt."
Dawn: "Huh? No! Wait! It shouldn't be this far to do that..."
"pi~ka~qiu!!"
Unexpectedly, Pikachu, who should always be calm, didn't hesitate at all after hearing Ash's instructions.
The shining Spark instantly swallowed the man.
After making bursts of Growl, he finally came out of his world.
"Who?! Who is it! Who is attacking... Huh? Ash and Pikachu?"
"oki!"
"Also, Aipom?"
Dawn: "???"
After seeing this strange man greeting Ash and the others, Dawn finally recognized the fact that they knew each other.
"Oh, really... Even if you want to call me, you don't need to use Thunderbolt, right? It would have been fine to just say it or pat me."
The man patted the dust off his clothes and complained.
"I couldn't help it, I already patted you, and I even stepped on you when I came down, didn't you notice?"
"Pi~"
Ash explained, and Pikachu also echoed Ash's statement.
After figuring out what happened, it was the man's turn to feel embarrassed.
"Ha... haha.
..Sorry, it seems to be my problem~ So who is that standing behind you..."
While chatting with Ash, the man shifted his gaze to Dawn, who was cautiously hiding behind Ash.
Seeing the man's gaze shift to her, Dawn took two steback in fear.
Although she had noticed that Pikachu, Aipom, and Ash seemed to have strange expressions when looking at this man, and she had guessed that they might know each other, Dawn felt that his mental state didn't seem very good, so she denied her guess, until now...
"Ah, I forgot to introduce her, her name is Dawn, and she's a new Trainer who's debuting today and preparing to receive her Pokémon.
" Ash first introduced Dawn to Brock, then turned around and said to Dawn, "Although I didn't mention his name before, I did tell you his story.
He's the one I mentioned who traveled with me before, from Pewter City, the Pewter Gym Leader, Brock."
"Former Gym Leader.
" Brock added.
"Huh?" Dawn asked in surprise, "Is he the one you said was very reliable, cooks great food, and is very experienced in raising Pokémon? He doesn't seem like it at all..."
Dawn's bluntness silenced Brock.
He had just suffered one blow, and he didn't expect to suffer a second blow after finally recovering.
If his personality wasn't so 'calm,' he would probably be hiding in a corner crying right now.
"Don't worry about it.
" Ash patted Brock on the shoulder.
"The way you looked just now seemed wrong to anyone.
It's good that Dawn didn't say you looked like a pervert!"
"Is that your way of comforting people?"
"Huh? So you can say that? I was afraid it would be impolite, so I kept it hidden in my heart and didn't say it."
Ash, Brock: "...."
The scene fell into a deathly silence.
Although the process of meeting was strange in some ways, no matter what, the three of them met again in the Sinnoh region in a new way.