AN: So I've seen a couple Team Rocket Ash fics that were decent, but none were amazing. I think it's an interesting plot line, so I figured I'd try to write my own fic of that structure.
Featuring: Smart Ash, Non-standard starter, Powerful Ash, Team Rocket Ash. Also will share some elements and maybe some text from The Very Best by MP009 (I asked and he said it was okay, also we're 009 buddies!). Set in BW universe because I don't know a lot of the XY Pokemon, and I haven't played XY yet. Will roughly follow the anime, Pokemon Fire Red, or Pokemon Fuligin (a hack game that I encourage you to play), depending on each individual subplot. Or it could be completely made up. I don't know.
I have already written the second chapter. Each chapter will be about 3000 words long, and I will update once a week. If you want me to update slower but with longer chapters, review, and if enough people think I should have longer chapters, I'll start writing longer.
Chapter One basically comes entirely from The Very Best, I felt that was a good idea since that story started off so well.
Chapter One:
"And the simulator battle between Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak has begun. We will take a look at both teams momentarily," the announcer stated.
Ash confidently twisted his cap to the back of his head and put his hands near his control panel. It was go time.
"It seems that Ash has a Terrakion, Kyurem-B, Keldeo, Blissey, Celebi, and a Starmie to round things up. It seems to me to be quite the balanced team, though I do see a few potential flaws. No matter, let's go over to see what pokemon Gary's bringing out in this matchup." said the excited announcer.
"And Gary's got a Jirachi, Magnezone, Tyranitar, Gliscor, Jellicent, and another Starmie on his team too." he said. "Bill, what do you think about Gary's team?"
"Well, to me it seems to be a relatively unbalanced team, carrying a bunch of weaknesses. I can't possibly see why Gary would carry this team. It does look like he's lucked out though; there isn't a fire type on Ash's team, and he has no hard counters to Jirachi, Magnezone, Jellicent, Gliscor, or Starmie. I mean his Celebi kinda counts, but we don't know what set he's running. Ash doesn't seem to be in good shape for this matchup." Bill said. "What about you, Mike?"
"Well, we can't count Ash out yet. His Terrakion can kinda counter Magnezone, and Kyurem's a monster on the field to anything that doesn't resist it. We'll just have to wait this one out." the original announcer said.
Ash grit his teeth. Gary's pokemon were devastating to his team. Steel type moves were his weakness, but he thought that since it wasn't a very powerful attacking type, he could ignore it. Gary's pokemon were full of powerful steel moves. Ash was just glad that Gary didn't bring out a Scizor; those were particularly devastating to his team.
The pokemon battle simulator was a tool used to develop up and coming trainers in the art of pokemon battling. Essentially, they had to develop skills and strategies necessary to pass the training license test. Each aspiring trainer would have to come up with a team, and battle with it against a stock team built by the examiners. All of the pokemon used had to be "OU or under", OU meaning overused. That meant that certain pokemon, such as Rayquaza, could not be used.
Ash had already acquired his pokemon license, considering the test to be a joke for him, but Professor Oak, Gary's grandfather, was offering a little prize to whoever won the simulator matchup. There were four starting trainers from Pallet town that year: Ash, Gary, Leaf Green, and Jared Cooper. Ash had knocked out Leaf in the preliminaries, in a fairly easy match, and Gary had defeated Jared. There were only three standard starter pokemon of the Kanto region: Charmander, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle, and Professor Oak only had one of each. This meant that someone got a different pokemon. So Professor Oak had put together this little competition to see which trainer got the special Pokemon. And Ash was determined to make himself that trainer.
Unfortunately, Professor Oak hated him. Ash didn't really understand why: perhaps it was because he was the only trainer who posed a threat to Gary, or it could be something his father did. Perhaps it was both. Ash never got to meet his father; he died before Ash was born. But from the little that Ash's mother spoke of her deceased husband, Ash concluded that he must have been a good man, and a fearsome Pokemon master.
Regardless, Ash had to win this match. All of Pallet had come to witness this brilliant showdown, and he could not stand to lose to Gary.
Gary considered himself Ash's "rival". Ash did not really consider Gary in the same way. Ash considered himself to be far superior to Gary in every definition of the word. Gary was annoying, sycophantic, and arrogant at the same time. It did not matter that his grandfather had bought him a car, nor did it matter that he had many fangirls (not by his own merit, by the nature of who his father, Red Oak, was).
Ash had met Red a couple of times, and they had discussed Ash's dreams of becoming a master and his own Pokemon journey. Red was probably the only Oak who didn't hold a grudge against Ash for something that Ash didn't do, and was always available for Ash to bring any insecurities or fears about his upcoming Pokemon journey to. Professor Oak had raised and spoiled Gary, while Red was out training, and upon his return, Red realized that both his father and son had let his own fame get to their heads. It took years of dedication and hard work to accomplish what Red did, and the way Gary was treating his Pokemon journey showed that he wasn't ready to leave, not that Red would ever tell him that. He no longer had any large association to his family, or Pallet Town at all in general, and he felt that his son would learn better by failure than he would with words.
Ash turned his attention back to his screen. He was situated on a podium, with his laptop, facing toward Gary, who was on his computer as well. Both computers were linked to the central monitoring system, where the battle was being projected on the big screen, inside Pallet Town's only movie theater. Bill Mallon and Michael O'Neil, ex-pokemon trainers from Pallet, were commentating on the match.
Ash knew that he was allowed to switch the order of his pokemon, and thought he'd have the best advantage with Keldeo. Keldeo was choice-scarfed, which meant that it could move much faster than it would normally be able to, but it would be locked into one move after the turn. The thing was that his Keldeo was unique, as it contained a set of his own creation that would gel well with the rest of his team. Keldeo knew hidden power fire, which was not carried often on a Keldeo. This would be super effective against Jirachi, which was part steel- part psychic.
"And both trainers have selected their starting pokemon. Ash has gone with his Keldeo, while Gary chose his Jirachi. It seems like it's a bad matchup for Ash." the announcer said.
Ash sighed as he decided that the only thing he could do would be to sacrifice Keldeo in return for destroying Jirachi. He clicked on Hidden Power for his attack.
"And Keldeo goes first with a Hidden Power. It's super effective, which means that it's either fire or ground, and it does 54% damage on Jirachi." the announcer said. "Jirachi retaliates with a powerful Zen Headbutt, doing 84% to Keldeo."
The battle went on, and Ash lost his Keldeo to Jirachi, leaving Jirachi with very little health. Ash switched in his Starmie, but Gary just switched in his Magnezone. It seemed he had an answer to whatever Ash did.
The battle continued, and Ash lost his Starmie to a clever trick by Gary, then his Celebi took out Gary's Jellicent and his Kyurem-B took out the Magnezone. It seemed that the tide had turned, and they were now tied.
Since four pokemon had fainted total, the first in battle break was taken. Ash drank a bottle of water, and poured some over himself before clicking "Ready to play".
"And it seems like both contestants are ready, so let's start the second part of this matchup. But first, a few comments from the analysts." Mike, one of the announcers said.
"Well, here are a few highlights. At first it looked like Gary was going to slaughter Ash, but thanks to a timely paralysis, Ash's Kyurem was able to take out Gary's Magnezone. And Ash's Celebi seems to be on fire today." said Bob.
"Actually, that would be terrible, as it is a grass pokemon we're talking about." Mike said.
"Of course. Anyways, offensive Celebi sets are rather rare, especially ones that don't use Nasty Plot, one of the best set-up moves. However, this seems to work rather well." said Bob.
"Yes, it was able to take out a Jellicent, one of the sturdiest walls of all pokemon."
"And now, we will return to the match. Remember, the next break will be taken when eight pokemon of either side have fainted." said Mike.
"Let's do this," Ash said.
Since Ash's Kyurem was already out, Gary got to pick which pokemon to go with, and he chose to lead Tyranitar. Unfortunately, Kyurem was confused, and Ash thought it wouldn't be wise to risk it. He decided to send out Celebi.
The battle continued with both Celebi and Tyranitar fainting, leaving both with three pokemon a piece. He sent out his Kyurem, and Gary sent out his almost dead Jirachi. Knowing it would be easy to bring down, Ash attempted to attack Jirachi. Unfortunately, an untimely flinch lead to Kyurem fainting.
Ash then sent out his Terrakion, a powerful pokemon in every definition of the word. A Close Combat lead to Jirachi's fainting, ending the second part of the match.
The break went past very quickly, and both players quickly went back at it. Ash's Terrakion was still out, so Gary responded with his Starmie. Ash sent out his Blissey as a response, and was able to stall out to Starmie's fainting. Then, he was able to land some quick damage on Gary's last pokemon, a Gliscor, before his own Blissey fainted.
It was now or never. Ash sent out his Terrakion, and hoped - prayed to Arceus that his Terrakion would be able to destroy Gary's Gliscor in one hit. The pokemon was at 50% damage, but was still hard to defeat. He nervously clicked on the button for Stone Edge, and expected the worst.
What he saw next on the screen made Ash scream out "yes" and punch his fist in the air. He had done it! His Terrakion was able to take down Gary's Gliscor in one hit. Fuming, Gary smashed his screen, and refused to come down to shake Ash's hand. Ash had known Gary for a long time, and knew that he usually wasn't this bitter about a loss. Checking it off to Gary just being Gary, Ash went up front to claim his award: a Pokemon.
"Very well done, Ash," Professor Oak said, smiling, though the smile didn't quite reach his hard eyes. Ash could tell that Oak thought there was something wrong with him, and really did not want to give him a special Pokemon. "Although this victory was just on a simulator, and battle simulators say absolutely nothing about the potential of a Pokemon trainer, you really did a good job, Ash," Oak said.
Ash growled. Of course Oak was going to try to take this one away from him.
"Of course, there were many, many things that you could have done better. You could have let Keldeo or Starmie survive, which would have given you a powerful threat to use against Gliscor. But you won, and that's that." said Oak.
The crowd was watching, puzzled. Why was Oak being so harsh to a fifteen year old teenager? There were many adults who could not play as well as he could. Simulator battling was a popular game, and it was followed almost as heavily as real Pokemon battling was. The myriad of different strategies and combinations allowed for a different sort of experience than regular Pokemon battling.
"And now, your prize will be a unique starter Pokemon. I can guarantee you that it can't be found wild anywhere in Kanto. Without further ado, your starter: Torchic." Oak exclaimed.
"Huh?" Ash said. Of course he knew what a Torchic was; he wasn't that out of it. But for all the hype that Oak made it out to be, Torchic wasn't that special a Pokemon. It was given to a third of the trainers that started out in the Hoenn region, and was analogous to Charmander. Torchic wasn't a bad Pokemon, but Ash was expecting a rare dragon type like Dratini, or maybe a Zorua or a Riolu.
Then again, Blaziken did have the unlockable but coveted Speed Boost ability. Ash knew that it would be hard, but he hoped that he could train his Torchic enough to gain access to the ability.
Speed Boost allowed a Pokemon to gain speed progressively as the match went on. This allowed for faster motion which lead to increased evasion and faster attacks.
The crowed was similarly puzzled. Pallet town was not isolated from the rest of the world; they knew what the Hoenn starters were. Oak must have had his reasons, of course, but everyone wondered why he would simply give a Hoenn starter pokemon.
"Go on, you've earned it," Oak said, tossing a Poke-ball to Ash. "As for you three, I'll be giving you your starters in the lab right now. Show's over, everyone."
Ash was quite frustrated. He was certain that if Gary had won, he would have received a different Pokemon. Oak was required by law to provide each aspiring trainer with a starter Pokemon and a Pokedex or risk losing his professorial license, but Ash was going to pick a different professor as his starting professor. Maybe Professor Elm would be interested.
Ash kicked a rock forward as he sullenly walked back to his house, when he realized that he really had nothing to be sad about. It didn't matter that he didn't get a crazy powerful starter pokemon. Torchic was awesome in its own rights, and Ash would make do with what he had.
But first, Ash needed to find out what Pokemon he would have gotten from Oak. And to do that, he needed a bit of eavesdropping.
Ash crept near the Pokemon laboratory of Pallet town, and hid inside one of the many bushes. He was not too late, for he saw Leaf and Jared walk out of the Pokemon lab, leaving the door open. He left it open just a bit, and pressed his ear to the door. As it turned out, he needn't have bothered, because Oak was mad enough to yell.
"HOW COULD YOU LOSE?" Oak yelled at his grandson.
"I'm sorry," Gary said, clearly unapologetic. "That Rocket scum must have cheated."
"Sorry? I showed you his entire team. How is it possible that he beat you. You made me look foolish in front of all of Pallet town." Oak said.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry gramps," Gary said. "Don't worry, you said it yourself, just because he's good at that stupid computer game doesn't mean he's a good trainer."
"I was lying, you daft dimwit," Oak said. "The program was designed to test the strategy creation of potential trainers. Ash is quite gifted, just like his father. Of course anyone could appear to be gifted with stolen Pokemon. That's why I had to stick on him the unruly starter Pokemon."
"Unruly?" Gary asked.
"Oh yes," Oak said. "That Torchic I gave him does not take very well to be commanded. You know as well as I do what Ash's father has done to us. That lousy, no good, Rocket son of a bitch."
Ash was shocked. His father, someone he had held in such high esteem, someone who he knew was an extremely powerful trainer, was a Rocket! Team Rocket was one of the most powerful Pokemon organization that specialized in genetic research on Pokemon. However, their methods were inhumane; their goals were to bring out the power, and reduce the intelligence in Pokemon, and many Pokemon suffered from their torture. Additionally, they funded their operations with a black market of Pokemon, stealing many Pokemon from trainers, breeders, and Pokemon Centers. They were in general a blight on society.
And to find out, in such a way, that his father was a Team Rocket member. It definitely changed things; either Team Rocket wasn't as bad as he thought it was, or his father was a lot worse than Ash's impression of the man. Then again, it wasn't like Gary and Professor Oak were much better; this sort of bullying is exactly what sends someone directly to the criminal lifestyle. And Ash knew that the Team Rocket black market wasn't as bad as many people thought it to be. They generally took Pokemon from weak, rich trainers who considered Pokemon training a status symbol, not a way of life. It made sense that if you couldn't make your Pokemon strong, you didn't deserve to have them, and many rich young Pokemon trainers who bought rare starters, like Dratini or Scyther, had them stolen by Team Rocket.
Ash didn't even care that Gary got a powerful, but docile Dratini, even though it was quite ironic that Gary got a Rocket-esque Pokemon. He had a lot to think about.
AN: Ash's current team: only Torchic.