I don't own Pokémon nor any of its characters. They belong to the Pokémon Company and I own nothing but the story line. I do not own Team USA either. I used Pikachizer to translate human language to Pikachu language
Hey guys, this is my first fanfic I am writing but I have been a reader for quite a while and I figured would try writing. Please go easy on me and if I do something wrong, let me know and show me how to fix it. Flames will not be tolerated unless you give an explanation (ex. This ship sucks! I want this one!).
Read, review and PM me if you have problems with the fanfic in any way. I WILL NOT REPLY TO DUMB MESSAGES!
Ash's lineup of Pokémon
Pikachu
Heracross
Glalie
Swellow
Totodile
Greninja
"Do you really think this is the right way Pikachu?" said a skinny, yet somehow muscular teen with a tenor voice. He was wearing a black shirt with his blue jacket and a pair of blue jeans. He was also wearing his signature red cap (Kalos outfit).
"Pii, pi-i pi-ka-chu!"
"Well that's rude but I'm trusting you with this."
They are headed off to the new Pokémon gym in Lake Placid, New York, where Pokémon now roam too, so they can acquire their sixth gym badge and compete in the North American Pokémon League. It was a difficult task in the beginning, climbing over the Rocky Mountains, but it eased out when our heroes walked through the Great Plains and Prairies. Due to the serious amount of walking and Pokémon training, Ash has grown taller and more muscular.
"Chuu pi'pi kachu kaa'pi kachu Pi pi pii chu Ka kachu chuu kachu!"
"Whatever Pikachu, I'm only a few minutes away anyway. Besides, when have I been late to a gym battle?"
"chuuu, pi-ka-chu kaa pika Chuu kachu chuu pi-i pika-pika piii pikachu."
"Pikachu! Why must you roast me using anything I say? I swear, if I didn't have to say my commands for Pokémon battles, I would say nothing at all."
"Chu"
"Okay Pikachu, we have finally arrived at the Lake Placid Gym! Let's go win our gym battle" Ash childishly said.
Ash and Pikachu enter the building and are in awe of all the pictures that showed Team USA's victory over USSR in 1980. As they walk out of the hallway and carefully walks across the ice rink, the lights flicked on and Herb Brooks himself skates to center ice as he calls Ash. He comes over and meets Herb at the center.
"Hello Ash! I have been expecting you. My name is Herb and I am the gym leader of this Pokémon gym.
"It is an honor to meet you Herb and I can't wait to start his battle!" Ash said enthusiastically.
"Slow down there, before our battle, you need to put on skates. Also, are you sure you would want to stick with that thin jacket of yours, the rink can get pretty cold."
"Nah, it's fine, besides whatever this battle is going to be, I'm already pumped up for it."
"Ha, I like your attitude, go put on skates and a helmet and meet me back here on center ice."
Ash puts on the skates and the helmet borrowed from the quartermaster very quickly and walks over to the ice. He goes on and practices skating a bit before he meets with Herb.
"So how are the skates, need me to help you adjust?" said Herb, jokingly.
"No I think I'm fine, are my skates ok Pikachu?"
"Pipi kachu pi-i."
"Alright Herb, I'm all suited up and I'm ready for your challenge!" (This region does gym battles like the orange islands, could range from battles to races).
"Alright, are my 3 referees ready to judge this gym battle?" Herb called out.
"Yeah!" The two referees called simultaneously.
"Good, the first challenge is for one of your Pokémon to beat my Sneasel in a race by only skating, we start on this goal line and we end at the other red line which is the other goal line." Herb says as he sends out Sneasel.
"Okay sounds good to me. Go Greninja!" Ash says as he sends out Greninja.
"One of the referees is going to blow a whistle, when your Pokémon hears the whistle, it needs to start skating, first one to reach the other side wins, got that?"
"Got it!" Ash said confidently.
The two Pokémon line up to the goal line and get ready to skate really fast across the ice when the whistle blows. After many seconds of anticipation, the whistle is finally blown and both Pokémon dash off and are constantly staring at each other to see who comes out on top. After 4 short seconds, the two Pokémon cross the red line and, not knowing how to stop, Greninja faceplants into the board, while Sneasel laughs at him. Greninja gives Sneasel the death glare and he gives one back. Ash could sense that a rivalry is already forming and the next 2 challenges are going to be great ones. After a few minutes of review, the referees made the call that Greninja barely won by 0.078 seconds.
"Yes! We won the first round, only one more win until the gym badge" Ash said triumphantly as he returned Greninja.
"That's true, but this next challenge tests your ability to handle a hockey puck. What you have to do is navigate the hockey puck in between the stakes put into the ice, next you have to navigate yourself and the puck around the cones. You must turn outside the cones in order for it to count. Lastly, you must shoot the puck through 3 holes 20 feet away. One is low, one is high, and one is in the middle. Of course, you will be playing against me and whoever does these tasks in the shortest amount of time wins this round." Herb instructed as he also returned Sneasel.
"Alright I think I can do this, so I don't have to lose to whatever round 3 is" Ash said pessimistically.
"Go get a hockey stick and whenever you feel ready, go to the blue line and wait for the whistle to blow" Herb instructed.
Ash went to the locker room and got a hockey stick the length of his height up to his nose.
"I think this stick is the right size, do you think so Pikachu?"
"Pipi kachu pi-i."
"Alright thanks, I know I can count on you."
Ash headed out and dropped of Pikachu at the bench. He went to the blue line and waited for the whistle. When the whistle blew Ash handled the puck through the stakes very fast, almost like a pro. However, when he reached the cones, he screwed up many times as when he was rounding a cone, he would lose control of the puck and it would go off into the boards. Ash would recover but he lost a lot of time. When he finally cleared that section, he was skating so fast to make up for the time he had lost, that he never thought of trying to stop. Pikachu sweat dropped at the bench when Ash crashed into the 3 rings, knocking them down and he crashed into the board too. As a result, Ash was disqualified for that round because he knocked down the rings.
"Man, what a bummer, all this time I thought I could skate so well but I guess I just can't stop"
"Hey, cheer up, this happens a lot with people new to skating, most people don't even pick up ice skating that easily anyway, and that's why this gym is one of the hardest to get a badge in."
"I guess you're right, at least there's a third round, so there's another chance for me to get that badge."
"You are right Ash, and that last round is a 5-minute hockey round with a team of 3. 2 Pokémon and 1 trainer and only the trainer can use a hockey stick. The Pokémon can't use any moves too, so it's up to them on how to handle a puck."
"You're joking right? No Pokémon moves?"
"Precisely! It is all up to your Pokémon's strength and mobility to overcome mine"
"If that's what I have to do to get a gym badge, then that's going to be what I have to do then."
"Good luck Ash and may the best team come out on top."
Herb sends out his Avalugg to be the goalie and his Sneasel to be his wing. Ash, catching on to what Herb is doing, he sends out his Heracross to be the goalie and his Greninja to be his wing. Both teams got into position and Ash and Herb faced off in the center. One of the referees dropped the puck in the center and Herb won the face off. He passed the puck to Sneasel and because of his speed and agility, he raced across the ice very quickly but then, Greninja body-checked Sneasel into the boards and laughed at Sneasel the same way he was laughed at before. Sneasel shook his head in rage. He started to attack Greninja and Greninja started to fight back. The referee blew the whistle, stopping the play and the clock, when the two Pokémon stopped fighting, they were sent to the penalty box for 45 seconds. As a result of the penalties, neither side was at a disadvantage, so there was no power play. Ash and Herb went over to Ash's side and the referees dropped the puck. This time, Ash won the face off and he was racing down the ice with Herb right next to him, trying to steal the puck. Ash struggled to keep the puck away, but not knowing how to stop, he crashed into the board on the other side of the rink and lost control of the puck. Herb gained control of the puck and he gracefully handled the puck from left to right. As Ash was finally getting up, Herb already reached the offensive blue line and he took his shot at the goal. Heracross blocked the first shot, but with no Ash to regain control over the puck, Herb just got the rebound and took another shot at the goal. This time, the puck went past Heracross into the goal. The scoreboard now read 1-0 and Greninja wasn't very happy as Ash would get destroyed out there if he was not out on the ice with him. The referees let out Greninja and Sneasel after the goal was scored and they continued with the game. It was center ice again and when the referee dropped the puck, Ash won the face off again and passed it to Greninja, who then dribbled the puck with his hands, trying to avoid Sneasel. Ash caught up with Greninja and started boxing out Sneasel, leaving an open shot at the goal for Greninja. Using his speed, Greninja juked out Avalugg and kicked the puck with immense power and it went past Avalugg, into the goal. The scoreboard now read 1-1 with 2:30 remaining.
"Yay we did it, the game is tied up!" Ash said as he was hugging Greninja.
"Don't get so excited now, there is still 2:30 left to play" Herb reminded Ash.
Ash didn't say anything as they both headed to center ice to continue their game. The game continued on with neither side giving in, with the goalies blocking all the shots and there is only 20 seconds left on the clock until overtime. Sneasel has the puck and is not letting anyone have it, not even Herb. Greninja took this to his advantage and body-checked Sneasel at a great speed to steal the puck. Since Ash was right next to him, they both took off, leaving Sneasel and Herb trailing them. Greninja was facing Avalugg and he took a fake shot, leaving Avalugg to lunge at nothing and the goal vulnerable. Since Ash had a better angle of attack, Greninja passed the puck to Ash. With only 3 seconds, Ash quickly took a shot, pleading that it goes into the goal. The puck hit the crossbar, and as Ash's hopes were going down, the puck goes under the crossbar and crosses the goal line. The alarm blared for the end of the 5 minutes afterwards and the scoreboard read 2-1. Ash just won the hockey game and the gym battle. Pikachu approaches Ash from the bleachers to congratulate him.
"Yeah, Pikachu! I did it, I'm so proud of you Greninja, take a long rest, you deserve it!" Ash said as he returned Greninja.
"Ash, I'm very surprised on how you made that last hockey shot and that you even won. Many people never beat me and my team in a hockey game and I'm proud to say that you have earned the hockey badge" Herb says as he returns Sneasel and presents the hockey badge.
"I got the hockey badge!" Ash says as he takes it and does his funny dance.
"Pi-Pikachu!"
"Thank you for the badge Herb and I hope we can have fun like that sometime soon."
"You too Ash"
Ash leaves the gym and starts to head back to the Pokémon center to let Greninja heal from his fight with Sneasel.
But little did he know that someone was waiting for him in the lobby.
God I love cliffhangers. So how was it? Like the storyline so far? Like the idea of mixing the real world into the Pokémon world? Like the idea of having sports as gym battles? Like the idea that I started the story near the middle of the journey? As always, read and review.