Edit: Due to an earlier draft of the story featuring a male Shedinja instead of a female Larvesta, it still referred to her as a him several times. Thanks to ews1 for pointing it out.
Second Edit: Moved the A/N in the middle of the chapter to the end notes. Thanks to Mateusz - and apologies if I butcher your name - for pointing it out.
Third Edit (and I'm making way too many of these): Replaced the cars and buses mentioned in all of a single paragraph with 'faster land-bound Pokémon' and Mantines - as in, there's Mantine lines instead of Bus lines. Nothing important, really.
A/N: A little warning: this is going to be darker than the Anime, not that that's saying much. Death is pretty common in the wild, just like IRL, and sometimes, people die at the hands of enraged/out of control/antagonistic creatures, just like IRL, only with the Pokémon being bears and wolves instead. There'll be a criminal underworld, Team Rocket/Aqua/Magma/etc. will actually have their – usually broken – Pokémon kill people, just like RL gangs sometimes do, and sometimes, even good guys have to kill a bad guy.
If you're becoming queasy about the prospect of so much death, don't be. If you've read Traveller – which, if you haven't, you really should – then you'll notice that the above all happened there, too. It doesn't mean that the whole world is hell, like in Sun Soul, and there'll be tons of people dying left and right, and nuclear warfare, and massacred cities, and – no. Just like in Traveller, there'll be a death here and there, but not a lot.
It's just a fair warning to those of us that want Pokémon to be unicorns barfing up rainbows and happy innocent children putting their fingers up their noses and coming back with pots of gold.
Needless to say, this won't be that kind of story.
-The Baron
Part 1: Birth
Episode 1: Spinning Wheel
"The death of fire is the birth of air, and the death of air is the birth of water.
This world, which is the same for all, no one of gods or men has made. But it always was and will be:
an ever-living fire, with measures of it kindling, and measures going out."
– Heraclitus, Hodos Ano Kato, circa 500 B.C.
Every story has a protagonist.
Usually, said protagonist is the hero. The one that does what is 'good'. What is considered 'right', and 'just'. Sometimes, they're the anti-hero, with a general lack of morals and oftentimes merely looking for the means to an end, willing to use whatever they can get their hands on to reach their goal. Other times, they're downright evil, and have the goal of anything from killing an enemy to ending the world – but that's another matter entirely.
The point is, every story has a protagonist, but they all come in different shapes and sizes, from being a literal saint to being Satan's personification on the earthly plane, with all the horns and tridents that come with the job. A child of a god, Fate's toy, the bringer of the apocalypse, even apocalypse themselves – there are plenty of examples, but only one is important.
The important one is, of course, the perfectly ordinary people, the people who only become great by the things that accompany them on the grand adventure of life; the so-called mutants, made to be the way they are by their surroundings instead of their inherent self. These people are often influenced by the very smallest of changes, from a loose bolt in a chair to someone stumbling along and finding out a secret they shouldn't have.
In one universe, Ash was destined to receive an incredibly powerful Pikachu as his starter who, even though he wouldn't listen in the first few days, would quickly become his best friend, carrying him through practically every battle with ease but always dropping the ball when it was most needed. But in another universe entirely, the Pikachu hadn't made it to Oak's Corral soon enough to get scooped up by Ash, which instead forced the Professor to find a different solution entirely to his lack of starter Pokémon to hand out.
Enter Larvesta.
Oo0oO
"So this is it?" Ash asked curiously, crouching down near the Bug-type, who was peering around curiously. "The Larvae, or whatever?"
Professor Oak snorted, rummaging through his drawers to look for a backup Pokédex. "Larvesta, Ash. They're a rare Bug- and Fire-type from the Unova region. Professor Juniper sent a few eggs over from a Volcarona nest a research crew discovered deep in an ancient underground castle, for research into the species. It's fascinating, really, that such a powerful Pokémon could survive in such remote circumstances and have enough strength to lay eggs and get them fertilised – which will, of course, require a male Volcarona to find a female one and fertilise the eggs she'd already laid, unless there happens to be a large population of Ditto nearby, who have been proven to be able to mate with almost any species –" Suddenly, Oak paused, and shook his head. "But I digress entirely, so let's get back to the matter at hand.
"The Larvesta you have there is the first of the eggs to hatch. To be honest, I probably wouldn't have given her to you if I'd have had another Pokémon for you to take, but that's neither here nor there. Ah, here we are." The Professor surfaced again, a small, red device clutched victoriously in his hand.
Ash, meanwhile, blinked. "But – why not? If Volanora is as powerful as you say it is, and Larvesta is its pre-evolution, and you have so many more specimens –"
"Volcarona, Ash." Oak corrected, dumping the Pokédex and a couple of Pokéballs on the table in front of him. "And the only reason I didn't want to give it to you in the first place is because Larvesta are, frankly, a pain to train – not to mention so ludicrously rare that giving one away just seems wrong for whatever reason, and I don't doubt that if Aaron came around, asking for one of the Larvesta to use on his own team after my research into them is done, then I'd still hesitate."
"Why are they such a pain?" Ash asked curiously as he stood up, hugging the fluffy Larvesta, who was purring happily, to him. Oak grinned a little at the sight.
"Well, Larvesta are extremely weak to Rock-types, having an inherently weak body, even weaker than most Bug-types, so you'll have to skip past Pewter to head over to Cerulean for your first gym." Ash frowned at that. "Not to mention that the fastest any Larvesta has been able to evolve under normal conditions – excluding extensive training in a volcano, for example, which always gives any Fire-type a kick in the behind evolution-wise – is over three years." Oak said bluntly, and Ash gaped.
"W-what?"
The Professor nodded. "The theory behind it is pretty complicated, but I'll try to explain the simplest I can." He paused briefly, looking for the right words. "When Pokémon are freshly born, they have little power, and through training and ageing in general, they become more powerful, their bodies able to hold more of this power as it becomes older." Ash nodded, to show that he was following. "A Pokémon that evolves always becomes much more powerful, but if they evolve too early – for example, if you give a fire stone to a Growlithe days after it is born – their bodies might not be able to hold that new power. There had even been a case where a trainer had evolved a Growlithe within days of being born, and it died during evolution." Ash' eyebrows climbed into his hairline. "This is why Dratini only evolves into a Dragonair after around two years, and Dragonair take another year to evolve into a Dragonite – to allow their bodies to slowly grow accustomed to their new power and to make room for even more.
"Volcarona, to put it simply, are stupidly powerful." When Ash didn't seem to grasp what exactly that meant, Oak continued, "Ancient civilisations put them alongside the Legendary Birds and Johto's Beasts, worshipping them as minor deities. They've even been said to having replaced the sun during the times before mankind, when ash from volcanoes blocked out the sky." Ash gaped, and even Larvesta seemed to be able to understand what a big deal that was, tittering anxiously. "Because of this power, their bodies take years upon years to be able to handle it, and as a Bug-type, their unique physiology won't allow them to have more than two evolutions, unless there's a cocoon stage in between, which Volcarona skipped, just like Venomoth, Vespiquen, and most of the other bug-types did, but the exact reasons of that, I'm not going to go into right now.
"The point is, Larvesta is going to be rather weak for the coming few years, but when she does finally evolve – it will definitely be worth it." Oak grinned.
"But –" Ash blinked – "If Volcarona are that powerful, shouldn't there have been at least one of them in the last few years in – well, in any one of the conferences? I mean, I've watched them all, but this is the first time I've heard of one of them."
"Like I said, they're rarer than Pseudo-Legendaries, which is why it was such a big deal when the exploration team found such a large nest." Oak shrugged. "And even if a trainer managed to come across one, there's a large chance that they'll eventually give up on it, simply because for actual teams that compete in the Leagues, anything but fully evolved Pokémon are rather useless, due to the sheer power that's thrown around in competitive rings like it's nothing."
"Well, thanks, Professor." Ash grinned down at Larvesta, who was purring happily. "I really appreciate it. And I certainly won't give up, just because it takes a little longer than otherwise."
Professor Oak's lips twitched up into a fond smile. "Just a small word of advice – Gary picked a Squirtle for his starter, and as Larvesta is a Fire-Bug dual-type that, because of being so young, will probably be unable to do anything but half of an Ember and a String Shot, I would advise against fighting him if you come across him before catching any new Pokémon." Ash nodded, and Oak grinned, nodding at the door. "Now, I believe Delia is waiting for you at home, and she'll want to meet Larvesta – if you wait too long, she might even come over here and take a look herself."
Ash' grin grew. "Of course, Professor. I'll call you when I get to Viridian." He waved as he walked off, leaving Oak to frown about his suddenly cluttered lab.
"Hey, Daisy! Where are you? I need some help here!"
Oo0oO
Larvesta's presence on top of Ash' hat drew quite a few looks as he strolled through Pallet Town towards his and his mother's house, but they were more looks of curiosity – and even awe in the case of young children – rather than fear, which he'd halfway expected due to Larvesta's status as a Bug-type. Instead of shying away from the attention, like he normally would have done, Ash merely let it wash over him, trying to act like he didn't care about the attention that Larvesta – and by proxy Ash – was receiving from everyone, when in fact, it made him feel rather as if he was heading for the slaughterhouse; but nobody seemed to notice that, thankfully enough.
Mere seconds after knocking, the front door to Ash' house swung open, and Delia only took a second to look at Shedinja before jumping forwards with a big smile.
"Oh, he's so cute!" She cried, scooping the small Bug-type off of Ash' head and cuddling it to her chest. At once, Larvesta began buzzing uncomfortably, and wriggled around, trying to get out of Delia's tight grip. Luckily, she seemed to notice that the Fire-type wasn't exactly pleased with the attention, and let her go; Larvesta quickly shuffled back to Ash and hid behind his legs, glaring distrustfully at Delia like she was going to attack at any moment.
"Calm down, Larvesta." Ash tried to sooth his friend. "This is my mother, Delia Ketchum. Mom, this is Larvesta."
"Hello!" Delia smiled brightly and waved a little, and Larvesta let up on her glare now that the weird woman wasn't as close to her, though she still made sure to stay as far away as she could. "What kind of Pokémon is he? I've never seen a Larvesta before, even on TV."
"Larvesta's a she, according to Professor Oak." Ash answered, bringing out his Pokédex from his jacket's pocket. "Hold on, I'll check." He pointed the little device at Larvesta, who was still focused on Ash' mother, and not at all paying attention to what her new trainer was doing. "Larvesta," The Pokédex began immediately, "The Torch Pokémon. A Larvesta shoots fire from its five horns to repel its enemies. They live at the base of volcanoes."
"Basic Fire-type stuff, then." Delia concluded quickly, but Ash shook his head, scrolling down the list of information.
"No. Larvesta is actually a Fire-Bug type, and she's incredibly frail, so I'm probably going to have to skip Brock and head for Cerulean first, because anything that I can catch on the routes to Pewter isn't exactly going to help against Rock-types, either." Ash blinked, suddenly coming across a rather curious entry. "This is interesting. It says here that Larvesta only knows Ember and String Shot, but barely, and Magnet Rise."
In response, Larvesta focused for a brief second, before fire began shooting out of the bottom pair of torches on her head, and she propelled herself a few inches into the air.* Ash and Delia both blinked at the unexpected action. "Well," Ash' mother said dryly, "I think that, for once, your habit of sleeping in might have turned out for the better."
Ash pouted.
Suddenly, his mother blinked again, as if suddenly remembering that there was a journey her son was supposed to go on, and grabbed Ash' backpack from where it had been sitting behind the door. "Right! I packed your bag already – it's got everything you should need. Temperature-proof thermos can, filled to the brim with water, a packed lunch for on the road, enough rations for a couple of days, so you can get to Viridian safely, some generic Pokémon food, a map of the region, a fresh change of clothes, a couple of pairs of underwear –"
"I get it, Mom!" Ash flushed, and snagged the bag from his mother's arms. Despite the fact that it was rather early in the morning, quite a few people were out and about already, and a few passers-by sniggered at his humiliation. Larvesta, though not fully understanding of why it was so humiliating, tittered in amusement regardless, and Ash shot her a betrayed look.
Delia smiled fondly at her son, and gave him a hug. "Be safe, Ash. I'm sure you'll go far. Call me when you get to the Pokémon Centre, will you?" She grinned mischievously. "And remember to change your underwear every day! I packed those for a reason, you know."
"Mom!"
Oo0oO
"Finally on the road, huh, Larvesta?" Ash grinned several minutes later, stretching his arms out languidly as he basked in the morning sun shining down on Pallet Woods. Larvesta rumbled contently, eyes closed as she rode along on Ash' hat. Ash grinned up at her, before shoving his arms into his pockets and shuffling onward.
It wasn't a fast pace he was setting, but he wasn't aiming for getting to Viridian in less than a day, like some of the more fanatic trainers were hoping to do. With an entire year until the next Conference, even at the pace he was setting, he could probably do two entire laps of the Gym circuit before hopping over to the Indigo plateau. And speaking of Gyms…
Ash sighed as he took out his Pokédex. Larvesta let out a curious rumble, and peeked over the top of Ash' hat to read along. Ash glanced up at her. "The first Gym trainers from Pallet usually face is the one in Pewter, Brock, because he has a team set aside for people that have no badges, a slightly stronger team for those that have one, even stronger for those that have two, etcetera.
"A lot of Gyms do, really, because otherwise people from for example Fuchsia would have to travel for months before being able to come over to Pewter, just for their first Gym battle. It's only Saffron and Viridian that don't do this, and maybe the guys in the Orange Islands, but nobody's heard from those guys in ages, with the semi-Civil War they've got going on over there. The problem is that you will – excuse the pun – get squashed like a bug by the Pewter Gym." Larvesta tittered a little, likely offended, but Ash shook his head a little.
"It's nothing you can do anything about, it's just a problem with your species. No matter how strong you might get, you won't beat a Rock-type – Pewter's specialty – without having way more experience and quite a few more moves to your arsenal, simply because you'll lose from a single hit. We'll just need new members for the team, ones that can take out Rock-types, and we'll be fine." Seemingly mollified, Larvesta settled calmly again, blinking quietly. Ash smiled, before looking back at his Pokédex.
"Right. So unless we can catch a Pidgey and train it into a Pidgeot to fly us around – which will take months – or we scrounge up enough money to get a ride on a ferry – which, again, will take months – the next Gym on our journey will be Cerulean." Ash scowled. "According to this map, that's an entire month of travel, excluding the time it'll take to navigate through Mount Moon in between Pewter and Cerulean. I knew that it'd be long, but I hadn't expected it to be this damn long. That's stupid."
Larvesta tittered, but Ash glanced up at her, and raised an eyebrow. "I can understand you a little, Larvesta, but it'll take a while before I can make out everything you're saying." Larvesta nodded understandingly, though she still sagged slightly. Ash grinned. "Cheer up, Larvesta! We'll have a good month travelling to Cerulean, and I'll train you up to completely smash those Water-types, type advantage my back door!"
With a blink, the Bug-type rumbled happily, silently already envisioning the ways she would be able to rip apart her enemies after an entire month's worth of training. Completely oblivious to this, Ash went back to Larvesta's entry in his Pokédex, and scanned her potential moveset. He blinked. "This isn't bad, Larvesta. In a few years' time, you might even be able to use moves like Flare Blitz, or even Bug Buzz, which would even be really good for when you're a Volcarona." Ash grinned when Larvesta tittered anxiously, undoubtedly already ready to start learning them right then. "They're going to be incredibly difficult, though, so let's wait with those." Larvesta slumped, and Ash chuckled.
"Well – there's still plenty to learn. Let's just start with Ember, and work our way up from there." Ash smiled when Larvesta jumped down from his hat, slowing down his fall with a short burst of fire from his horns. "Right – let's just start with giving it your best shot, and work from there. According to this, it's supposed to look like a spray of fire; tons of little bursts. Try to aim away from the forest, if you would. I don't want to cause an ecological disaster within my first hour away from home."
Larvesta tittered in easy compliance, focusing only briefly before opening her mouth and spitting out a couple of small flames, but they spluttered and died only a few feet away. Larvesta hung her head, but Ash grinned.
"That's a good start!" He said encouragingly. "Now, just try to put more power behind it, okay? We'll figure out how to do it eventually."
With another nod, they started walking again, Larvesta shooting little embers into the air as Ash watched on, occasionally calling out encouragingly to keep her going when she faltered.
Oo0oO
A lunch and quite a few hours later, Ash was setting up his tent next to a small, rather charming lake. The steady cadence of the waterfall was surprisingly calming, and Magikarp occasionally flitted underneath the surface of the water, making it quite the peaceful setting.
Larvesta had stopped practicing sometime during the day, having grown too tired to continue. While Bug-types were naturally quite mature when they came out of the egg, she didn't have the best endurance due to still being a baby, not that Ash had been expecting her to practise for even nearly as long as she had. Now, she was resting next to the tent Ash was setting up, silently watching on as he hammered the last few pins into the ground. With a sigh and wipe of his slightly sweaty forehead, Ash stood up and stretched. "Come on, Larvesta. Let's go and get some stuff to build a fire."
Luckily, it was August, which meant that there was a lot of dry grass around, mainly because it hadn't rained in a while. Though Larvesta might have been able to light a branch on fire, as well, Ash wasn't about to test that theory and completely exhaust his Pokémon in the process. Even an ordinary match would have been able to light a bunch of dried grass, so she'd have no problems with that.
It only took a little while to find the wood he needed – it was a forest, after all, and the hatchet Delia had somehow managed to fit in his bag was quite good in chopping way-too-big pieces of wood in pieces – but when he got back, a small purple rodent was rifling through his bag, undoubtedly attracted by the smell of food. Ash growled when he spotted the crumbles, realising that the Rattata had already eaten through a bunch of rations, and glanced down at Larvesta, who was glaring at the other Pokémon. "Feeling up for your first battle, Larvesta?"
Larvesta tittered in response, shuffling forwards to be able to aim correctly. Ash grinned, about to call out for an Ember, before remembering his tent, and his bag, and the other burnable stuff in there, and suddenly realising that that might not be the best course of action. Quickly changing his mind, Ash called out, "Use String Shot! Pull Rattata towards you!"
With a nod, Larvesta spat out a long string, which hooked itself around Rattata's leg and started pulling the struggling rat towards them with surprising speed. Ash grinned, already seeing the possibility for an easy tactic. "Larvesta! Ember on your string!"
Not questioning his order, Larvesta let go of her string, and shot a small flame at the flailing end, which quickly caught fire, spreading towards the Rattata's leg with surprising speed and setting the small rodent ablaze. Ash grimaced when it let out a loud shriek, and watched, suddenly feeling a little guilty, as it ran into the lake to get rid of the fire. It crawled back onto land soon after, thankfully, but it passed out immediately, leaving Ash to deal with the crumbs it had left behind and suddenly making him feel a lot less guilty after he realised that the Rattata had eaten over half of his rations, which were supposed to last him until Viridian.
Well, not that it would really matter all that much, in the end. There were plenty of trees with Oran and Sitrus Berries around, which were fit for human consumption as much as the rations his mother had packed him. Still, it was the principle of the thing – you didn't just steal food and get away with it, especially if you were stealing food from Ash Ketchum!
He was interrupted mid-mental monologue by the shiver that wracked his body, suddenly reminding him of the cold evening that was quickly approaching. "Oh, right." With a chuckle at his own forgetfulness, Ash dropped the pieces of wood he was still holding off next to his tent and set to work, first putting down a small ring of rocks to prevent the flames from spreading and lighting the entire forest on fire, before building up a small pyramid along the lines of what he'd learned from what Oak had taught him and Gary in preparation for their trip, which was then covered in dry grass. With a short nod at Larvesta, who quickly loosed a small ember upon the wooden construct, the clearing was quickly bathed in a warm orange light, casting dark shadows across the surrounding forest.
Luckily, the Pallet Woods were thick enough to prevent much light from shining across the forest. There were undoubtedly other people around, building their own fires and setting up their own tents or sleeping bags – such as Gary and the two that had taken Charmander and Bulbasaur – but the trees were too close together to make their fires visible from a distance. If the woods weren't as thick as they were – if Ash was sitting on an open route, for instance, or the famously thin White Forest over in Unova – there would undoubtedly be countless other trainers coming to challenge him.
For a few minutes, Ash merely basked in the fire's warmth, silently appreciating the quietly cackling light for breaching the almost creepy stillness of night. Then, when he was warm again and the cold was well and truly purged from their small clearing, Ash glanced up at Larvesta, who had dragged Rattata's freezing little body over to the fire when he hadn't been paying attention and was sitting next to the knocked-out rat with her eyes closed serenely.
With a slight smile at his new friend's gentle nature, Ash quickly reached over to the Rattata to check the extent of the damage done to the creature, which, thankfully, wasn't too severe, but he wrapped a small bandage around the leg that Larvesta had hooked with a String Shot, which looked to be faring the worst, anyways, just to be safe. Ash suspected that, unless he was going to catch the thing – which he wasn't; the day he caught a Rattata out of free will was the day he thought Charizard was ugly – it would be gone by morning, its naturally shy nature urging it to seek the safety and comfort of its own burrow.
"Larvesta?" Ash asked quietly, and his Pokémon rumbled surprisingly deeply in response. "Come on, let's go and crawl into bed. We both need sleep." Larvesta rumbled her assent, opening her eyes again to crawl after Ash into the tent. Ash smiled, before crawling into his tent and sleeping bag as well, feeling quite comfortable in his jeans and shirt next to Larvesta's warm body – Ash could easily compare it to a heated Teddiursa stuffed doll, only a living, breathing one.
The next day would be his first official day as a trainer, and Ash would well and truly be stepping into a new era of his life. It hadn't fully sunk in yet the day before, but from now on, it could very well be months or even an entire year until he saw anyone from Pallet again in person, excluding Gary, who would undoubtedly find some way to find him on the road merely to annoy the stuffing out of him. He'd left quite a bit behind by choosing the path of a trainer; his home, his friends, his sort-of grandfather Oak, and, perhaps even more importantly than all that, the possibility of a calm, quiet life in Pallet's suburbs, living a life completely out of the spotlight, raising his own family with one of the many girls around Pallet.
But with his departure, with his decision to choose the path of a trainer, the chances of all of that happening were gone. Trainers rarely, if ever, led a peaceful life, and barely two thirds ever found their significant other; a mere ten percent of those that took jobs with the League, as Ash was eventually planning to do, ever actually settled down and had families, with at least half of those that did being Gym Leaders and Professors.
So no, Ash likely wouldn't ever lead a calm and quiet life. But he didn't think that he'd have been able to stand that, anyways.
"Sleep well, Larvesta." Ash whispered, a slight smile spreading across his lips as he snuggled into his pillow.
The steady rumbling of Larvesta's breath told him his new friend had already fallen asleep.
Oo0oO
When Ash awoke, it wasn't to the calming sound of a cascading waterfall, to the happy chirping of Pidgey and Pidgeotto, or even to another Rattata rifling through his stuff with hungry fervour or a large flock of Spearow taking offense to his presence and choosing to attack.
No, it was the shrill shriek of a girl extremely close by that shook him violently back to the land of the living with a suddenness of an Accelgor on steroids, and Ash shot upright, momentarily concerned by his partner's absence before he found Larvesta standing in front of his bed with fire steadily shooting out her torches, thankfully not quite reaching the fabric of the tent, as she glared at the redhead that had chosen to peek her head through the flaps of his tent. Ash scowled, and rubbed his eyes sleepily.
"Larvesta, stand down. I'm sure she means no harm. You don't, right?" He directed the last part at the girl, who shook her head fast enough to make Ash fear for the safety of her neck's position as perch for her head. "Right. If you'll head back outside, I'll take a moment to actually wake up before I start interrogating you on why you stuck your head into an unknown person's tent at – what is it? – seven in the bloody morning."
The girl eep-ed when Larvesta let out another burst of fire, and quickly shuffled out of his tent, leaving Ash alone with his Pokémon. He glanced up at the still tense Larvesta even as he tried to worm his way out of his sleeping bag. "Larvesta, I appreciate your efforts for our safety deeply, but next time, please wake me before you start charging attacks, alright? You might burn down the tent on accident." Larvesta tittered in accord, though it had an edge to it that Ash wasn't able to identify – likely a begrudged affirmative.
"Right. Let's go." Ash smiled briefly at Larvesta, before pushing the flap of his tent out of the way with a sudden grimace. The light from the morning sun – which was, of course, shining right in his bloody face – was incredibly bright compared to the relative darkness of his tent, and he had to shield his eyes while they adjusted, taking the time to glance around the clearing.
The Rattata had, as Ash had expected, made its way out of the clearing some time during the night, taking the bandages Ash had wrapped around its rather badly burnt leg with it. Ash wasn't really concerned about littering up the forest that way; Rattata were surprisingly intelligent, and it would undoubtedly find some way to get rid of its bandages, which a Pidgey or Spearow would then probably use as material for their nest. Spearow especially were notorious for utilising whatever they could find, so the bandages likely wouldn't remain lying around for more than a day before they were repurposed as something equally useful.
A small charred pit in front of his tent told Ash that the campfire had gone out sometime during the night – not that he'd expected otherwise – though plenty of the wood he and Larvesta had gathered was still lying near the charred pit, completely untouched. Ash could probably stuff some of the dried grass in his bag for the next night, though he didn't even think about taking the thicker branches with him – they were way too heavy, and with the Pallet Woods being, well, woods, there was plenty of ordinary wood to be found around, in front of, and inside every corner.
The redhead from earlier was sitting on a rock outcropping next to the lake, and was fishing quietly. A distinct lack of Magikarp next to her made it clear that she probably hadn't had much luck – even amongst the particularly soft-hearted Magikarp were seen as good food, and with how many there were, practically everyone ate at least one every week. Unless, of course, the girl was a water-specialist, who'd probably want to capture a Magikarp to train up into a Gyarados, but she was looking frustrated enough for Ash to discard that option almost as soon as it popped into his head.
"Having any luck?" Ash asked amiably as he slid up next to her, and the girl's head snapped over to him immediately. She flushed.
"Not at all." The girl sighed. "Look, I'm sorry about earlier. I've been fishing here for quite a while in the hopes of catching a Poliwag, but there's never been someone else here before, so I was curious."
"Ah." Ash smiled. "Well, when Larvesta starts pumping out fire, she does look rather frightening, so I can understand why you reacted the way you did." A scratch behind her ears told Larvesta that her trainer had only been halfway serious, and the girl's head snapped up to stare at Larvesta as if she'd only just noticed that the Bug-type was there. She paled noticeably.
"Y-yeah. That's it. L-Larvesta just looks scary." Ash raised a curious eyebrow at her stuttering, but didn't say anything. The girl shook herself. "Sorry, I'm – er – not used to dealing with Larvesta. I'm Misty."
"Ash." Ash grinned, choosing not to question how the girl even knew about Larvesta existing. "By the way, did you know that there aren't any Poliwag here?"
The girl – Misty, Ash corrected himself – froze. "I-I'm sorry, but what?"
"Yeah." Ash continued, oblivious to Misty's distress, and Larvesta let out an amused titter. "Well, there was a colony not so long ago, but a few months ago, a Magikarp evolved – no clue how it managed that on its own in a small lake – but it required nourishment, and found the Poliwag and Poliwhirl more acceptable prey than its own kin." Misty paled even further. "The only reason I know about this is because it was rather big news in Pallet when it happened – this used to be a popular fishing spot, where fathers would take their sons for a weekend of catching Magikarp and playing with the Poliwag, back before the Gyarados, but now mothers find it too dangerous for their children, and fathers don't want to run the risk of accidently getting pulled in and eaten by the Gyarados." Ash shrugged. "I hadn't realised it was this lake they were talking about until you mentioned the Poliwag – this is the only place around Pallet a colony has been in quite a while."
"Oh, god." Misty muttered, looking ready to hurl. "B-but what about the unconscious Poliwhirl I fished up a couple of days ago? I threw it back, because I couldn't have been able to keep it without proving my power to it, which I can't do with my team, but –"
"It was likely already dead." Ash said bluntly. "There could be one or two Poliwag or Poliwhirl still hiding in some alcoves, somewhere deep down, but they'll probably get found out and eaten by the Gyarados at one point or another." He shrugged. "It's the way of the world. There was bound to be some sort of power struggle in this lake one day, and it happened to be a Magikarp that evolved into a Gyarados, instead of a Poliwhirl that became a Poliwrath. If it had been a Poliwrath instead, the Magikarp would likely have diminished as much as the Poliwag and –Whirl have."
"I think I'm going to be sick." Misty muttered, looking as white as a shiny Amaura, and quickly ran away behind some bushes. Ash and Larvesta both blinked at her sudden departure, before Ash turned to the fishing rod with a shrug and a grin.
"Now, let's see if we can't catch ourselves some tasty breakfast…"
Oo0oO
After failing spectacularly in catching anything – not that he'd have known how to prepare a Magikarp for eating anyways, never mind the fact that he'd actually have had to have decapitated the Pokémon with a knife to even be able to get started on that – Ash had resigned himself to eating berries for the rest of the trip to Viridian, and he was just getting started on his first Oran Berry from a nearby bush when Misty returned, looking only slightly less pale than she had when she'd left.
Without saying anything, she ripped open her bag, which was sitting, forgotten, next to her fishing rod, and stuffed a pre-made sandwich into her mouth, likely to get rid of the taste of puke, if the left-over blotches on her shirt were any indication. Then, she took out a small towel, dipped it in the lake, and started cleaning her shirt, leaving small yellow patches completely see-through. Ash quickly averted his eyes and began to tear down his tent, which, thanks to some kind of ingenious Silph Co. design no ordinary human could ever hope to understand, was completed in less than a minute, excluding the time it took to wrench the pins from the ground.
"Hey." Just as Ash was stuffing his sleeping bag into his actual bag, Misty called out to him, and he glanced over, only to find her standing, cleaned up and dry, next to a bike. "I'm going to Viridian. There's nothing for me to do here, if the Poliwag are really –" She swallowed – "If they're really dead. If you want, you can drive the both of us there – I would, but I'm not strong enough."
For a second, Ash actually considered it, to save some of the time it would take to get to Cerulean, but a curious titter from Larvesta made him think otherwise. "I'd love to, but I'm going to have to decline." Misty didn't look surprised. "It's nothing to do with you, I just want to have more time to train Larvesta before we do anything else."
"I understand." Misty nodded, before handing him a slip of paper she'd obviously prepared earlier. She'd expected his refusal, then. "If you ever get a water-type and want some tips, call me. I'm a specialist, and even though I have little practical knowledge, my sisters drilled me well enough to ensure that I won't forget all twenty-one moves Dewgong can naturally learn anytime soon." She flashed him a smile, and Ash nodded in thanks.
"I suppose that I'll be seeing you sometime in the future, then." Misty grinned, swinging one leg over her bike. "Goodbye, Ash!" She called back as she rode off, and Ash waved with a smile as the girl weaved a path through the trees and onto the open road.
Larvesta let out an amused titter, and Ash glared at her, blushing slightly. "Shut up, Larvesta. Let's see if you still talk – er – make noise that way when you've had dirt outlast you in Ember practise."
Oo0oO
"Right." Ash frowned, eyes focused on the little screen in front of him, where another Larvesta was using Ember. He had to shield the screen from the glare of the morning sun with one hand, and still had to squint to make out what was going on, but Larvesta, who had been practising his not-quite Ember, trying to get it to become more powerful to no avail and was sitting on his hat to peek at the screen with him, seemed to have no such trouble, and merely blinked. "I found this feature while rummaging around in the Pokédex a few minutes ago, Larvesta. It shows a little clip of the move that's being mentioned. It's meant for trainers who are stuck trying to teach their Pokémon a new move, but I think this qualifies as well."
Larvesta nodded silently, now suddenly quite a bit more interested in the Pokédex. Ash grinned, before squinting at the screen, trying to make out some of the smaller details. "See that?" He asked quietly, pointing with one finger at the Larvesta's torches, which were puffing out tiny plumes of fire every time it used Ember. Larvesta nodded again. "Does that help you any? Maybe you need to focus your power in the same way as you do when firing fire from your torches, only direct it to your mouth, or something."
Ash' Pokémon shot him an unimpressed look – because learning a new move was, of course, hardly as simple as merely redirecting some other natural instinct – but hopped down nevertheless, readying herself up for a brief moment before letting rip a surprisingly strong burst of flame from his torches, which sent Ash jumping back with a surprised yelp. Larvesta tittered laughingly as Ash scowled at her, but quickly returned to the matter at hand, loosing several more bursts of fire before suddenly sending not just two or three, but an entire spray of small little flames flying through the air, accompanied by a massive burst of flames that sent Ash careening back from the heat and left Larvesta panting.
"Yeah, amazing job, Larvesta!" Ash cheered, not even caring any about his suddenly singed face. Larvesta tittered happily, if extremely tiredly. "Now to keep from spending as much power. But if we do that, we're good! This is great!"
"Good morning." Ash and Larvesta both blinked at the new voice, suddenly shocked out of their partying by someone else, and looked up to meet the eyes of a rather… unique man, who was looking at Larvesta with a curious expression on his bespectacled face. "A Larvesta. Haven't seen one of those in a while."
He shook himself, the long, blue lock of hair that stuck out from his blonde forehead swinging with the motion. "But I digress. Is Pallet someplace around here? I am required to visit for business, and was told to go south from Viridian, but I have been walking for days, and there still isn't a town to be found. My Pokénav doesn't have any battery left, either."
"Er – yeah." Ash blinked again. "But – why do you need to be there? I mean, there's no large businesses or anything."
The man looked amused. "Well, what else would you call Oak's ranch?"
"Oh. Yeah." Ash grinned sheepishly, and Larvesta tittered, sounding amused. "I left Pallet the day before yesterday. Just follow the road, I suppose. You'll see it sooner or later. It's rather hard to miss."
"Alright." The strange man nodded, before setting off again, his white scientist's cloak billowing behind him as he walked. "Good morning, kid." He called again. "Do take care to avoid the skeletons you'll find while you're on your journey. I hear they can be quite… unpleasant when aggravated."
"Er – goodbye, I suppose." Ash muttered bemusedly as the man moved around a bend and out of view. "Weird guy. Girly, too." Larvesta tittered again, almost like laughter, and Ash grinned.
"But now, onwards! Onwards, to a perfect Ember!"
Oo0oO
It took Ash and Larvesta the rest of the week to get to Viridian. As they grew farther away from Pallet and got closer to Viridian, the amount of trainers around increased, to the point where they could scarcely go fifteen minutes without running into a trainer requesting a battle. The most of these, Ash turned down, as a large part of trainers that started around Viridian started out with Pidgey from Route 1, which, even if only trained a little, would completely destroy Larvesta with a single Gust until she learned to fully harness her Ember to not tire herself out in an instant.
The ones he did accept, however, were usually done quite quickly. Rattata were perfect for practising their String Shot-Ember combo on, which didn't require Larvesta to tire herself out within a few attacks, and the occasional trainer that passed by with a unique Pokémon, such as a Machop, Zubat, Meowth, or even Scyther or Staryu always proved an interesting, if difficult battle, not all of which Ash won. The desperation of nearly getting caught by Scyther's sharp scythes or Meowth's deadly claws served to push Larvesta to new heights, and she'd even managed a Leech Life when the aforementioned Machop had clutched her and she'd bitten him in desperation.
There had been one incredibly troublesome incident where a kid had suddenly pulled out a Geodude and immediately started attacking, but Ash had recalled Larvesta before anything could happen, and had already taken out his wallet to pay his loser's fine when the kid had started yelling, calling him a coward and threatening to sic Geodude on him if he didn't send his 'stupid bug' out again. Ash had, in a moment of idiocy, acquiesced, and, in a battle that took nearly ten minutes and way too many near-misses for Ash to count, Larvesta had ever-so-slowly whittled down the – incredibly slow, even for its species – Geodude's strength with millions of String Shot-Ember combos until it simply collapsed from exhaustion.
Of course, the kid had called him a cheater, and demanded a rematch, but at that point, Ash had simply started walking away, too annoyed to give a crap about the money he should have gotten for winning.
When Ash did finally arrive at Viridian, however, it was to pure and utter chaos. The supposedly quite hospitable city was on complete lockdown, it almost seemed like. Police and members of the Indigo army alike were scurrying everywhere, their incredibly powerful Pokémon by their side, and before Ash could do as much as move a toe inside the city walls, he was halted by an officer, who looked as if she hadn't slept in a week.
"I'll need to see your identification, kid." She sighed, and held out a hand for his ID. Ash blinked, and started sifting through his bag for his wallet.
"What's going on, Officer?" He asked curiously. Larvesta rumbled unidentifiably from his place upon Ash' hat, blinking, and the officer glanced up at her before turning back to Ash.
"I suppose you wouldn't have heard if you came from Pallet just now. There was a break-in in Professor Oak's lab, the one in Pallet, a few days ago." Ash' hand went slack and he was just barely able to prevent is ID from slipping through his fingers as he gaped at the officer.
"W-what?"
The officer raised an eyebrow at his shock, before scanning his ID card with her device, figuring it none of her business. "You heard me. Someone made their way inside – smashed a window while an obviously quite experienced Porygon-Z disrupted the systems protecting the Porygon that protected the actual alarms, deleted the other Porygon's data, essentially killing them, and then momentarily lifted the alarms to allow its master to slip through – and was apparently caught by one of the cameras rummaging through the Professor's large storage of Pokémon. We think that he'd allowed himself to get caught, as he could easily have had his Porygon-Z delete the footage, but I don't think we'll ever figure that out – he's obviously incredibly skilled, and will probably be able to escape capture no matter what we do.
"He didn't take anything, which is the weird part, but as you can see, the protection for the towns and cities around Pallet has been heightened a ton. There's an entire squad of the army stationed near Pallet, as well, and near Cordovan, too, guarding both the coastline and the town itself."
She sighed, handing Ash' ID back to him, which he accepted with a shaking hand. "You're clear to go through. It's a right old mess, this is."
"Do you –" Ash gulped, his stomach sinking into his feet with dread – "Do you have any idea who it was?"
"We don't have a clue." The Officer sighed again. "Luckily, he's pretty recognisable, which is why we even bother with stationing this many people everywhere. The only reason we even ask for IDs is in case he got a disguise." She shrugged.
"All we know is that the man – whoever it was – was wearing a lab coat, a pair of glasses, and had a single lock of blue hair curling around his head." She smiled mirthlessly. "Thieves get more unique every time, but I suppose that's nothing but news for us. Move along, kid."
Oo0oO
It was in a haze that Ash entered Viridian, one that not even Larvesta's concerned tittering could bring him out of. The fact of the matter was that he'd pointed the thief into the Professor's direction – he'd seen him, talked to him, even – and hadn't even gotten a name to prove it.
Crime was a pretty big thing in Kanto. It generally ranged from petty thievery to the capturing of protected species to sell on the Black Market – because capturing a Rattata, for example, and selling it on a public auction was a perfectly normal and genuine practise, but a Tyranitar or even a Gyarados was highly illegal and a felony that could get you up to a lifelong sentence in prison, depending on the species and scope of the operation – but usually, the offenders were caught in the act sooner or later, most of the time when becoming overconfident in their abilities and suddenly finding themselves facing an entire squad of the Indigo army.
Never in the history of the Indigo League, whose greatest pride lay in its ability to protect incredibly important stuff, had anything even close to this happened. Over a dozen times, criminal organisations had tried to bust high-ranking members out of Kanto and Johto's collective prison, The Abyss, only to be locked inside by a single squad of the Indigo Army, which would then pursue and more often than not take down the entire syndicate surrounding the rescue party as well. Even more often than that, criminals tried to break into Professor Oak's virtually impenetrable bunker of a lab, or decided to try and take a few Pokémon from the corral to sell, or to use for their own. Not once had they succeeded.
Not once, that is, until then.
On a purely intellectual level, Ash knew that he'd really had no influence, positive or negative, on the situation, and that the Scientist, as Ash had started calling him, would have broken into Oak's lab regardless of whether he'd been there when he had been or not. He hadn't helped the Scientist along, certainly not, but Ash could have easily pointed him in completely the wrong direction, which would have – Ash thought for a second, his mind racing through all of the possibilities – postponed it, but it wouldn't have done much else, because the Scientist would have undoubtedly found his way towards Pallet eventually. So there wasn't anything Ash could have done.
But on an emotional level, Ash couldn't accept that – couldn't accept the fact that he hadn't seen through the ruse of the Scientist's claim that he had business with the Professor, couldn't accept that he hadn't sent a message through his Pokédex to Oak afterwards, to check, just to be sure – and he was beating himself up over it, because really, how hard could it have been to –
Ash was shocked out of his thoughts by a painful collision with a tall strangely blue-haired man, who scowled. "Watch where you're going, kid." He growled in an accent that sounded almost as if it came straight from the depths of Sinnoh, before looping around Ash and Larvesta and stalking off. Ash blinked when Larvesta tittered concernedly, and reached up to scratch her behind her ears with a faked smile.
"I'm fine, Larvesta." From what little part of her face Ash could see, Larvesta didn't look convinced. "Really, I am. Just thinking a little." Ash glanced around curiously. "Come on, let's go find the Pokémon centre. We could both use a nice bed for once."
Oo0oO
"Hello, Professor." Ash smiled at the videophone, and the Professor, who looked quite harried, grinned back.
"Ash! How are you, my boy? You certainly took your time getting to Viridian. Delia was about to go over there herself and see if you'd actually been changing your –"
"I get it, Professor!" Ash interrupted hastily, and Oak's grin grew. "I've already called Mom, but there's something I have to tell you."
"Oh?"
"I heard from the officer that checked my ID that your lab was broken into a few days ago." Professor Oak blinked at that, before nodding and motioning for Ash to go on. Ash took a deep breath, bracing himself for the outburst that was bound to come. "I ran into the guy that did it on Route 1."
"You what?" The Professor sounded quite dangerous, and Ash hurried to explain himself, lest his mentor were to reach through the connection to pull him through just to interrogate him.
"The Scientist told me that he had business with you, and with his lab coat, I believed him. The police actually got his appearance spot-on; the only thing I can tell you is that whatever hair he had that wasn't blue was blonde. We had a short conversation, he said something about Larvesta –" Oak's eyes narrowed – "asked if he was on the correct route for Pallet, and gave me some weird advice about skeletons, before continuing on. He seemed quite friendly, really, and I thought that he was maybe one of Professor Sycamore's aides. You know, with the weird hair, and everything."
Professor Oak nodded understandingly. "I get it. It wasn't your fault, Ash, no matter what you might be telling yourself right now." He grinned. "It's actually a fairly reasonable assumption that he was one of Sycamore's, though I'm not quite sure that even he would force that kind of hair upon his aides." Ash grinned as well, before they both sobered up, a crash in the background and Oak's reflexive wince reminding them that it was a thief they were talking about, not one of the Professor's colleagues.
Oak cleared his throat, looking oddly serious. "Listen, Ash, if my assumption is correct, then you might very well meet the Scientist, as you called him, again. He might actually be going after you." Ash' eyes widened, and Professor Oak frowned. "That's not to say that you should be wary of every corner you turn, but just know that if you see him again, then no matter the circumstances, just run. If his Porygon-Z alone was able to take care of my entire alarm system, then I can only imagine what the rest of his team might be like."
Ash nodded. "Alright, Professor. But – if he's that strong, shouldn't he be able to catch up to me in no time flat, with a Pidgeot or something?"
The Professor shook his head. "That doesn't matter. Just run. He might actually leave you alone, if his character is like I suspect it is." He suddenly frowned. "Did you tell Delia about this?"
"I didn't." Ash winced when Oak's frown deepened, fearing another outburst. "I just – I thought Mom might stop me from continuing with my journey, or force me to give Larvesta back to you."
"While I'm fairly certain that she won't do that," The Professor replied, sounding amused of all things, "She will be incredibly worried, and might constantly bother me about your safety. So really, I'm kind of grateful that you didn't tell her, even if I might have gotten another aide out of it." They both grinned. "Take care, Ash. And try not to get eaten in Viridian Forest. I'm not sure that I'd be able to handle your mother should you come home wrapped in a bundle of silk strings."
Ash' grin widened. "I'll try, Professor. And I suppose the same will go for you. You never know what kind of dangerous Caterpie might be lurking in the corral."
Oak chuckled, and nodded. "I'll make sure to bring Arcanine with me wherever I go." He smiled. "Goodbye, Ash. And good luck."
"Thanks. Goodbye, Professor."
Oo0oO
It was only the next day that Ash and Larvesta set out again towards Route 2, which would lead them into Viridian Forest after only a day's walk.
Despite being the main city on the road that leads from Kanto to Johto, Viridian held very little of worth to trainers, aside from the currently abandoned Gym – Giovanni was away on vacation, or something – and was only attractive to non-trainers because of its massive shopping district and the several cinemas that were scattered around the city; not exactly something that Ash was willing to waste his money on, especially after spending a ton to refill his rations for the trip through Viridian Forest.
There was, of course, an easy path to take – the main road from Viridian to Pewter was constantly being patrolled by people from the League and the Indigo Police Forces, and even had asphalted roads for the faster land-bound Pokémon to easily zoom across at high speeds, for those that had one. There ran Mantine lines, too, as much for the non-trainers as otherwise, but Ash wasn't planning to take the quick way out.
Larvesta still needed training, and a lot of it, if they were ever planning on standing a chance against Cerulean's Gym Leaders. They'd need a new member to the party, something that could withstand some hits from a water-type, too – though preferably not another bug-type – but as Pikachu were particularly elusive as far as Pokémon within Viridian Forest came, there was very little chance of that happening. The most likely thing was that Ash would end up getting one of the Zubat from Mt. Moon, not that he was particularly thrilled about that – the most he'd get otherwise were Geodude and Onix, which were even worse of a choice, or a Pidgey, which was so generic, even Zubat scoffed at them.
But that didn't mean that Larvesta was going to be neglected in the meantime. In fact, Ash was planning to work on the move she'd displayed so magnificently in the fight against the Machop a couple of days earlier – Leech Life would be much better to use against the Sisters than Ember, even though it would require Larvesta to rope her enemy in with a String Shot first. Not to mention that practising a move that utilises fire anywhere inside a forest aside from on the main road or in large clearings would probably be a horrible idea, resulting in plenty of death everywhere.
Somehow, Ash couldn't imagine a forest fire in the middle of Viridian Forest being safe for anyone, but then again, maybe that was just him. Who knew what kind of crazy people stalked about in there.
Oo0oO
Plenty of them, as Ash soon found out.
It was a surprisingly common theme to find trainers specialising in one type, likely in the hopes of eventually being able to start up their own gym, one of the minor ones in the smaller towns scattered across the Kanto forests. Water-type trainers usually gathered around large bodies of water, and near the coastline, while Grass- and Poison-type specialisers sought out the forests and Fire-type trainers went all across the known regions to explore volcanoes and comet sites.
Most of these trainers were held in high regard, for choosing to pursue one single line of Pokémon with such dedication, and it took quite a bit of it, too, to overcome the plentiful weaknesses owning only Pokémon of a single type had to have. However, most of these trainers never made it far in the Indigo League, simply due to every team in there having at least some members that could easily counter their singular type specialty. It was only the true masters of the type that became major Gym leaders, or even members of the Elite Four, and had a shot at becoming the Champion – though quite a few regions, such as Unova and Sinnoh, didn't really seem to care much about having their Champions own a single type of Pokémon only, but that was beside the point.
One of the trainers amongst these that was held in the highest regard was Aaron, the Bug-type specialist from the Sinnoh Elite Four. Someone had even calculated that, should there be a Pokémon that was all types at the same time, any Bug-type damage done to it would be lowered to one-thirty-second of its original damage, simply due to the sheer amount of types that resist it. It took a special kind of dedication, even amongst the mono-type specialists, to train up such a type strong enough to earn yourself a place in the Elite Four.
However, at the same time, it was Viridian's Bug Catchers who were considered worse than the grime on the sole of your boots amongst the starting trainers in the surrounding towns and cities.
Simply put, Bug Catchers aimed at getting Pokémon to evolve quickly, to have an easy time training them up due to being evolved fully practically from birth, which automatically made them more powerful than normal Pokémon, because they were already fully evolved. At least, that's what the Bug Catchers theorised.
In reality, training up a Pokémon with the only thought in mind being to have them evolved as soon as possible so that they'd have an easy time becoming strong worked against them. A Beedrill was only about as strong as a Bulbasaur or a Squirtle, despite already having evolved twice, and it was their trainer's overconfidence in their Pokémon that made things even worse, not even bothering to train and give their Pokémon new attacks and strategies they could use.
So Bug Catchers were hated by everyone, for trying and failing to choose the easy way out. Everyone including Ash, who ran into one every five minutes, and was immediately challenged to a battle by every single one of them, only to be threatened to be stung by their Beedrill when he rejected due to being so exasperated that he just wanted to get on with his journey.
Larvesta finally got Ember down pat, though, due to the surprising amount of clearings around the edge of Viridian Forest, so that was one plus about to situation. Not that Ash could find it in himself to care right then, infuriatingly annoyed with the situation as he was.
Oo0oO
It took a few days for the ridiculous amount of Bug Catchers to thin out as only those strong or stupid enough to venture deeply into the forest remained, though they were by no means a rare encounter, and instead of meeting one every five minutes, Ash came across them every hour or so, being, of course, challenged to a fight upon being spotted every single time.
Eventually, these battles began to actually get challenging, as only the strong remained, and the amount of non-Beedrill-infested clearings around dwindled to next to none, severely limiting Larvesta's fighting capabilities as any Ember shot would undoubtedly light the entire forest on fire.
There was no doubt in Ash' mind that a single spray of Ember would have knocked out almost any team they came up against instantly, but because that was unavailable, unorthodox tactics had to be used; Ash' favourite to use against flying targets was something he'd dubbed String Sledgehammer, where Larvesta bound her target in a String Shot and slammed it against nearby trees. Extremely brutal, but very, very effective.
Land-bound targets, meanwhile, were merely assaulted by Leech Life, and if that took too long, launched into a tree through the magic of String Shot, more often than not knocking them out immediately. It only took a little while for circumstances to dissuade Ash of his newfound habit of going for flair instead of effectiveness; he wasn't about to repeat his mistakes, not after the first time he'd tried and Larvesta nearly got knocked out cold by a Gust from a Beautifly barely a second after.
And so, the rest of Ash' trek through Viridian Forest continued, most of the two-and-a-half weeks he was forced to spend weeding through the undergrowth as he weaved his way around the various 'danger zones' that had been marked on his map spent in complete silence, with only the occasional command to Larvesta keeping his voice from going rough from disuse. It wasn't that he didn't want to talk, it was that there wasn't really anything to say; by the end of the second week, Larvesta understood him well enough without words, even if it sometimes took a few extra to specify what exactly he meant.
It wasn't until the last few days that trainers began popping up again in relative frequency, though these seemed to have a more varied combination of Pokémon; some trainers Ash ran into had Mankey and Nidoran of both genders instead of the standard Bug-types he'd come to expect, and there had even been a memorable incident when a random trainer had suddenly pulled out an Onix from Mount Moon, who Ash had surrendered to at once. Aside from these, there were, of course, still the standard Bug Catchers absolutely everywhere, but Ash didn't really have a problem with these until the very last day of his stay in Viridian Forest, near the borders of Pewter, when he had finally decided to go back to the main path.
"Halt!" Ash blinked when a ridiculously dressed kid suddenly jumped in front of him, a surprisingly sharp blade held aloft by a kid that seemed to be around his age, dressed in a set of ridiculous fake samurai armour. "I doth be the Great Viridian Samurai!" The kid declared, and Ash had to resist the urge to chuckle. "I beseech thee with the request of a battle! And kindly doth not deny, as doing so would be unchivalrous, to sayeth the fewest."
Ash grinned. "Sure. One on one?"
The kid nodded. "Very well! I doth accept these terms!" He stepped back, sheathing his sword in favour of a black Pokéball that looked like the red part had simply been spray-painted over with a can of black paint. "I shall reveal my Pocket Monster first, to give thee the advantage in this skirmish! Make thee entrance, noble sir!"
Perhaps not so surprisingly, the Pokéball the kid had tossed into the air erupted into a Pinsir, who were known to be quite chivalrous Pokémon – hence, partway, the name. The Pinsir cried out in greeting, though it was more of a roar than a happy wave, and Ash' grin grew. "Come on out, Larvesta!"
Larvesta, who Ash had returned to her Pokéball after the undergrowth was becoming a bit too dense for her to navigate through without getting lost, tittered a greeting to Ash as soon as she appeared, but quickly became serious upon seeing the Pinsir staring down at her menacingly, its massive pincers clacking together in a clear warning.
"Let us begin this battle, Pinsir!" The kid called out extravagantly, motioning forwards with his arm, which was holding his sword again. "Vice Grip, now!"
"Larvesta, into the trees!" Ash commanded sharply, watching with wary eyes as the Pinsir shot closer and snapped its great pincers shut around the spot Larvesta had been in only half a second earlier, having only gotten away into the canopy above due to a quick String Shot.
"A good move, my adversary, but I am afraid that it was not quite good enough!" The kid grinned. "Pinsir, Earthquake!"
Ash scowled. The kid had beefed his Pinsir up with TMs, it seemed. "String Shot around the branch you're on, Larvesta! Hold on tight!"
That was all he could say, however, because the Pinsir suddenly slammed its pincers into the ground, causing a small earthquake around the clearing that sent both Ash and the kid falling on their arses. Some of the trees around the clearing uprooted and fell over, though none contained Larvesta. The kid grinned, despite not having found Larvesta yet. "Good! Keep going, Pinsir! We shall findeth the Bug yet!"
Pinsir roared and reared back, getting ready to cause a second earthquake. Ash' mind raced to find a solution to his problem, but had trouble coming up with one – a single Earthquake would be enough to put Larvesta out of commission, her fragile Fire-type body not being able to withstand the tremors accompanying most Ground-type moves, and while Magnet Rise would be a temporary solution, she wasn't nearly proficient enough with it to be able to attack at the same time. On the other hand, staying up in the trees would eventually cause the tree Larvesta was in to fall down, taking the Bug-type with it.
Frowning, Ash snapped just as Pinsir started his second Earthquake, calling out the loudest he could to make sure Larvesta heard him over the deafening noise; "Larvesta! Try to hit Pinsir with String Shot, and see if you can light the string on fire!"
The kid frowned when a large string suddenly shot out from one of the few trees that still stood, wrapping Pinsir up into a neat package within a second, the massive Bug-type having been unable to evade whilst his horns were still being wrenched from the ground, but the frown turned into a panicked, wide-eyed look when the end of the string was suddenly on fire, quickly spreading towards the cocoon in a manner that had Ash reminiscing all the way back to his first night out in Pallet Woods, which was already an entire month earlier. "Pinsir! Get out of there!"
But Pinsir wasn't fast enough to cut away the string, having no natural defences such as scythes and sharp claws aside from his pincers; while the string around his head was gone quickly enough and his pincers were largely unharmed, the rest of its body was still covered by the time the fire spread, and its body was quickly lit on fire, making the Pinsir screech shrilly and Ash flinch and cover his ears from the sudden painful sound.
"Damn!" The kid cursed, removing one hand from his ears to grab Pinsir's Pokéball from his belt. "Pinsir, return!" A familiar red light flashed out and absorbed Pinsir into the Pokéball, and Ash breathed a sigh of relief as he removed his hands from his ears.
Larvesta, who suddenly turned up beside him, tittered in concern, and Ash smiled at his Pokémon. "I'm not hurt, Larvesta. You did amazing – I doubt anything else in this forest would have stood up as well to Pinsir as you did." Larvesta preened at the praise, and tittered happily at her trainer.
The kid snorted as he came up to Ash, having clipped Pinsir's ball to his belt. "That's certainly true – I've been hanging around here looking for a good match for quite some time." He'd apparently given up on his ridiculous samurai imitation after he'd briefly broken character due to his worry over Pinsir. "Everyone around here has either Bug-types, something from within Mt. Moon such as Geodude and Zubat, or something from outside the place like Nidoran and Mankey." Ash nodded; he'd experienced the same thing. "There was a dude with a Squirtle, who managed to evade Pinsir's opening move, as well, which nobody ever really does, but he lost right after from a Brick Break."
"Well, it's not that there are a lot of powerful trainers around here." Ash pointed out. "Because of Rock-types being weak to so much stuff, tons of beginner trainers come to Pewter for their first battle, despite the geographical distance. Water- and Grass-types are available practically everywhere, which makes it incredibly easy to score a quick win."
The kid nodded. "True enough."
Ash blinked, suddenly remembering that he still didn't know the kid's name. "I'm Ash Ketchum. Nice to meet you." He greeted, extending his hand to the kid, who blinked, apparently having forgotten as well.
"Right." The kid smiled, reaching over to shake his hand. "I'm Nobunaga. Oda Nobunaga. And likewise."
Ash stared. "You can't be serious. You can't."
"Oh, but I am."
"…Your parents hated you, didn't they?"
"…Shut up."
*Before anyone claims bullshit on the floating Larvesta thing, allow me to note that it did this very thing in Episode 702 of the anime. If you have to blame someone, blame the guys at Pokémon for not making sense, not me.
A/N: Damn. Plot twists, out-of-place characters, and the death of a Poliwag colony, and we're barely a chapter in. Shit, I move fast.
A few more things before I go – firstly, whether you're interested or not, LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK (Pay attention to this, people who are just glancing over this note!). I like reviews, and I'll reply to every question I get at the end of every chapter.
Secondly, a random disclaimer: Don't own Pokémon, and technically don't own the first line of the summary, 'cause I took it from Daft Punk. Also, the cover image belongs to Amaterasu 121 on Zerochan - at least, that's the person that uploaded it, I don't have a clue if they made it themselves. The plot and any OC characters I might make to fill up the blanks are, of course, mine.
Lastly, a few notes on the chapter:
The guy at the beginning that broke into Oak's lab was, of course, Colress – there really isn't any point in hiding it, not that I went through great lengths to do that in the first place. He's got his own purpose for being in Kanto, which will be revealed as the fic goes along.
Oda Nobunaga was a famous Samurai in Japan from around 1550 that gave rise to the last shogunate rule over Japan, which lasted for over three hundred years – and a shogun, if you didn't know, is a hereditary position of military dictator. The guy never became shogun himself, instead committing Seppuku – honourable suicide – when he was betrayed by one of his generals while under minimal guard. I think we all can see why you wouldn't want to be named after him.
On the subject of the title: Spinning Wheel is a song by Blood, Sweat & Tears. The first line, 'What goes up must come down', is Heraclites' Hodos Ano Kato at its simplest. There's a lot more to it than that, of course, but it is what, in the end, summarises Hodos Ano Kato best. Its meaning will probably become clear as the story continues.
And that's it for this horrendously massive Author's Note! I sincerely hope to see you all next time, people, because I can tell you right now that I already have a large part of the story planned out, and it's going to be awesome.
-The Baron