In the Bath

The trio exited the bathing area and came to the real center piece of the bath house, the hot spring. Ash want not sure if the spring was naturally occurring, but none the less was looking foreword to a nice relaxing soak. The room was filled with vapor from the hot water, which obscured the shapes of the women that were already there. Lucky for Ash, that also meant that there was little chance of someone seeing him and getting upset at his presence. Of course Ash wasn't thinking about that, nor was he thinking about how he was in the wrong side of the spring; all that was on his mind was enjoying the bath for a while.

Ash disrobed and placed everything he had in a neat pile just out of reach of the water. Once convinced the robe wouldn't get too wet, he slipped into the water with his Pokemon. He rested his head on the edge of the spring and closed his eyes, letting the heat wash over him while his mind drifted. As it usually does, his mind settled on thoughts of pokemon.

"Erika is known for her grass type pokemon, like her Gloom. Fire or Ice moves would be really good against her...but she might be expecting that," Ash thought out loud as he was making his battle plan for his upcoming gym match. He looked over at Pikachu and Hypno setting next to him in the spring. Hypno was all smiles, playfully splashing Pikachu while Pikachu didn't look too amused. Ash pulled Hypno away from the grumpy mouse pokemon and put himself between them.

"I don't think Pikachu is in the the mood to play right now," Ash said with a smile. Ash looked at Hypno and thought for a moment.

"You know, Gloom isn't just a Grass type pokemon, it's also a Poison type. Actually, now that I think about it, a lot of Grass types are also Poison types," Ash said with a wry smile while Hypno and Pikachu just looked up confused.

"That settles it, You and I are going to beat the Celadon City Gym," he stated grining at Hypno.

Hypno wasn't expecting to hear that coming from Ashley as she never let him battle before. Tears began welling up in his eyes as a huge smile appeared on his face. He gave Ashley a big hug then started bouncing and splashing around, unable to contain his joy. Pikachu couldn't help but smile, seeing just how happy Hypno was.

Hypno was still beaming when they made their way back to the locker room. Ash was glad to see Hypno was excited for the fight but something was bothering him. He was coming up with some ideas on how to use Hypno's strengths to their advantage, but it felt like this was the first time that he was thinking about it. It was almost like they never battled together before.

"Excuse me," A voice called from behind and Ash turned to see the lady that he had the spat with earlier.

"Hi, I uh... just wanted to say that I'm sorry about earlier. I was rude, it was uncalled for and I'm sorry."

"Okay..." Ash said a little taken aback.

"I'm Nora, by the way"

Ash curtsied in the pink bath robe, "Ash."

"Anyway, I have to go. Again, I'm really sorry. Oh, wait," She stopped and reached in to her purse then pulled out a small piece of paper and handed it to Ash.

"Here is my card, come by later. It's on me," She said with a nervous smile.

"Thanks," he said as she left. He didn't know why she was being so nice but again, he couldn't bring himself to worry about what she thought. He looked down at the card which just said "Nora's" and had an address.

"Well that's descriptive."