Chapter 2

Nearly a week after leaving Petalburg City, the four were nearing the edge of the forest. Overhead, the sun peaked between branches and leaves. The early morning dew stuck to the grass, shimmering in the light.

Trailing behind the group, Ash had his eyes firmly planted on the ground. His head was bowed and he scuffled his feet along in the dirt. Pikachu walked next to his trainer, ears hanging back. Ash sighed, he knew Pikachu sensed his distress. There was just a weight on his shoulders. A weight he could describe in one word.

Planning.

He had planned to do so much. He had planned to teach his Pokémon new moves. He had planned on teaching new strategies. He had planned on learning how to cook. Instead, he was falling back into old routines.

He played with his Pokémon each night. He talked with his companions during the day. He watched as Brock cooked.

It was bugging to him. He felt a bit of a failure. Even when he lost, he knew he had done what he could. Here, he could not make that claim, because this failure was in not doing enough, a failure to act.

Ash took a deep breath. The next chance he got, he would talk to someone. He didn't want to. He wanted to work this out on his own, to prove he could do it. It felt right to figure out the problem himself, but was it just his pride talking? More important than his pride was actually succeeding at completing his plan.

The question was who should he talk to? He could call Misty, but he wasn't sure she would be sympathetic. Professor Oak would help, as would his mother. But it didn't feel right to talk to them about this issue.

Suddenly he recalled the other phone call he had made at Professor Birch's laboratory.

Ash smiled. He knew exactly who he was going to call.

The light was getting brighter. Both because the sun was rising higher into the air and because the Forest was thinning out. The group paused overlooking the a grassy plain before another stretch of forest. The dirt path laid out before them passed right by a couple of buildings.

Brock pointed to the building in the middle. "That looks like a Pokémon Center. We should stop in and get our Pokémon checked out."

A few days ago, the group had passed through Petalburg City. Ash, as always, wanted to test himself and his Pokémon against the gym leader. Yet, Ash didn't ask for the fight, for one simple reason. He had not done enough training while in Hoenn. While he was sure he could win by relying on some old friends, he could have won the battle. To do so would not have felt right as he tried to shift how he trained.

While in the City, the group were introduced to May's family. Norman, May's father, turned out to be the Gym Leader. Caroline, May's mother, welcomed them warmly, glad they had kept her daughter safe. May's brother Max wore thick rimmed glasses and had a tendency to carry a book with him. To Ash the desire to study was still foreign and so he respected Max's ability to enjoy studying. Norman and Caroline were thrilled when their daughter asked if the group could continue to travel together. Caroline was thankful her daughter would be guided by two experienced travelers.

Before they left, May's parents asked the three if they would take Max as well. Ash just shrugged, it was always nice to have company. Brock freely agreed and May's protests were ignored.

With the addition of Max, the group became four and headed into Petalburg Forest.

Nurse Joy, with her strong resemblance to her family due, was a familiar and welcome sight to the two experienced travelers. May and Max were stunned to see another Nurse Joy, they had only meet the one in Petalburg and this woman was practically identical. Max made the mistake of saying so while next to Brock.

Ash rolled his eyes and slipped away as Brock started listing all the differences between every Nurse Joy he had ever met.

Taking a seat, Ash punched in a phone number to one of the Center's video phones. The screen lightened up before the other end picked up. Gary Oak answered from a laboratory.

"Hey Ash, where are you know?" Ash's long time friend asked.

"We are at the Pokémon Center in Petalburg Forest. What about you?" Ash asked.

"Sayda Island, between Kanto and the Orange Islands. I am doing research on fossil Pokémon. It has been quite the experience."

"I am disappointed I wont get to face you in the Ever Grande Conference." Ash admitted.

Gary paused a moment before replying. "My path took a different turn Ashy-boy. I admit I enjoyed the thrill of battle, but every chance I had I turned towards learning something new. It was the right decision for me."

"I know. I actually need your help." Ash admitted quietly. He took a breath and explained. He explained how at the end of the Silver Conference he had been faced with a question of training. How that question followed him home to Pallet Town. How he tried to take steps to become a better trainer. And now how he felt like he was falling into familiar patterns instead of moving forward.

Through this Gary listened. He did not interrupt, though he was curious about some of the details. Ash finally ended. "Gary, I know I can do more and become a better trainer. I know I can improve my skills and more. I just don't know how."

"Why come to me?" Gary asked, genuinely curious.

Ash smiled at him and pulled a neckless out. At the end of the chain was the red top of an old slightly rusty Pokéball. "Because you are perhaps the one who understands me the best."

Gary responded by pulling out the white half of the Pokéball. After the Silver Conference the two had exchanged halves, knowing it was an important part of their rivalry and relationship. "Fair enough." He paused before speaking again. "My first thought is that you are trying to do too much at once."

Ash waited, sensing his old rival and friend had more to say. Gary continued. "As much as you want to become super trainer over night, it is just not realistic for anyone. It is trying to do too much at once."

Ash nodded slowly. "I should just try to improve one thing at at time then?"

Gary smirked. "Take a manageable slice." At Ash's confused look, Gary continued. "I would focus only on the Pokémon aspect of things for the time being."

Ash smiled. "I can do that. I like spending time with my Pokémon." His smile fell. "But we travel all day and by the time it is night, I just don't think there is enough light."

"Ashy-boy you are making excuses. Get better as a trainer by doing what you need to do as a trainer. Find the time." Gary said sharply.

Ash took a breath. "I guess it is all a bit of give and take. I give up traveling distance by having new companions. I give up traveling time to train my Pokémon."

"Exactly." Gary said.

"Thanks Gary, for your help." Ash said, his smile returning.

"I need to get back to work, but I wanted to mention one other thing." Gary said.

Ash looked at him expectantly and Gary continued. "Don't just talk to me. Talk to your friends, if they are good friends they will want to help."

Ash smiled brightly. "Thank you."

"Any time."

Ash stood up and stretched. After talking with Gary, Ash had checked in with several people. His mom was still enjoying spending time in the garden. Professor Oak was pleased to hear of Ash's new Pokémon. Professor Elm and Professor Birch had been polite, but rushing to their next experiments. Misty had changed her gym into one people were excited about again.

He took a deep breath. It was time for another conversation. He needed to talk to Brock, he probably should include the siblings.

Ash returned to Nurse Joy's desk, noticing his friends had left. Probably May and Max had finally just walked away from Brock, or dragged him away. It would have been kind of funny to watch, but calling Gary had been worth missing the scene.

Nurse Joy came out with a tray of Pokéballs, Pikachu walking behind her. "Here you go, your Pokémon are all in great shape and seem very happy."

"Thanks Nurse Joy." Ash said. He carefully took each Pokéball and attached them to his belt. "I guess I should transfer a couple around soon, huh Pikachu. I am already carrying eight Pokémon."

"Pika Pi chu ka chu."

"You're right, I will do it in Rustboro City. We still have work to do together." Ash said.

He petted his starter's head. "Come on, we should go talk to our friends. Maybe they have some hints of how we could train more."

Outside, behind the Pokémon Center, Brock was siting next to his Geodude. With careful determined circles, Brock polished his old friend. Ash had asked him once about the polish Brock used, apparently it was made of sand and other dry ingredients so not to harm rock and ground types.

May was wandering around the edge of the field, looking at the trees and the different leaves. While it was not quite an exotic location, this was not Petalburg City. Her desire to travel was already being accomplished and even just looking a different trees was a good start. Torchic played around May's feet, circling his trainer.

Max sat on a nearby bench reading a book, one Ash thought was fairly large. Knowing the title would probably make his head spin, Ash chose not to ask what the younger boy was reading.

Brock looked up as Ash emerged from the building. "Gary Oak huh?" Ash blinked at his old friend in confusion and Brock continued. "I heard his voice as you two were talking. How is the life of a researcher treating him?"

Ash smiled, a bright genuine smile. "He is loving it. He is on an island studying fossils."

Brock nodded, continuing to polish Geodude. "Duude." The rock type hummed its enjoyment.

Ash sat on the grass cross legged. He took a deep breath. "I need some help."

Brock chuckled. "You feel like because we are not traveling as fast as we can that we need to travel longer. Taking the extra time in the day to continue walking has lead to you not being able to focus on improving your training abilities."

"How did you know?" Ash asked.

"A couple of reasons. First, I know you Ash. Second, I have been feeling similar about working on my own skills." Brock explained.

As the two had started to talk, May had walked across the field to join. "Umm, why do you two think we are not traveling very fast."

Pikachu replied. "Pi chu ka pika chu."

May blinked. "Uh, what?"

Pikachu rolled his eyes and Ash interpreted. "Brock and I have been traveling for two years. We can walk faster than the pace we have set."

Brock nodded. "It is alright though, you two are new to hiking and it will take some time."

May sat down, frowning. "I thought we were making good time. We are already almost to Rustboro City."

Ash shrugged. "It is not bad time."

Brock quickly changed the subject, knowing Ash was making an effort to be tactful. "How much time do you want each day to practice?"

Frowning, Ash worked on thinking. "I am not sure."

From his bench, Max spoke up after closing his book. "Why are you trying to improve your training ability? It seems like you are already a really good trainer. I looked up your statistics while you were on your phone call. Top 16 in Kanto, Top 8 in Johto."

Ash looked at the younger boy before replying. "I trust in my Pokémon and they give a lot of effort and heart to battle. I don't want to let my Pokémon down. So I need to get better as a trainer."

May tilted her head. "I don't understand. If you Pokémon are performing well, doesn't that mean you are a good trainer?"

Brock shook his head at the question and answered it for Ash with another question. "What is the difference between good and great?"

Max shrugged, his confusion evident on his face. May just looked blankly at the older teen.

When it became clear to Ash the others were not going to respond, he spoke. "A trainer on the other side of the world, Walter Payton, once said 'When you're good at something, you'll tell everyone. When you're great at something they'll tell you."

"I guess I still don't understand." Max said.

Ash smiled softly. "I am good. I tell people I am good and my Pokémon can back up my claims. I want to be great and so good is not good enough."

May nodded. "I think I get it. It is about the next challenge more than the last one."

"Yes." Ash agreed.

Brock rubbed his chin. "What if we stopped earlier in the day, say around the time we eat lunch? That would give you the afternoon to train and me the time to do some studying of my own."

"Breeding information?" Ash asked, wanting to clarify.

"Thats right." Brock agreed.

"We can give it a try. I don't see any reason why it would not work." Ash agreed.

"Aren't you worried that we wont make good enough time for you to get all the badges and then to the League?" May asked.

Ash shook his head. "Not really. We have a couple of months. If we loose too much time, well, we will have to make decisions then."

Max looked at his sister and then his two traveling companions. "So now you have a time to train. Do you know how you are going to train?"

Brock laughed suspecting Ash was going to make his training up as he went. Ash looked at the younger boy. "Did you want to help?" He asked.

Max blinked. "What?"

"Would you like to help?" Ash asked.

"I wouldn't know how." Max said shaking his head.

Ash smiled. "Okay, let me know if you change your mind. I have some ideas where I could use the help of another person."

Brock smirked. "Want my help?"

"Only if you have enough free time. You want to become a great breeder and I want you to succeed. I have some training ideas which don't need a partner." Ash said.

May looked between them. "What am I supposed to do while you two are working?"

Ash shrugged as he stood up. "What do you want to do?" He asked.

Brock nodded at Ash's response. "Exactly. This will be a time to pursue our goals. What do you want to use the time for?"

"I don't know." May said sadly.

"Don't worry about it. You will find what you want to do in time." Ash said. "Now if you three will excuse me. I think I want to take some time now to get started training."

Ash reached the far end of the field and let his hand trace the top of the Pokéballs attached to his belt. The one in the back he did not linger on, Pikachu was out and it was more of habit than need to attach that Pokéball to his belt. As his hand ran accross the Pokéballs, he named each of his Pokémon.

Tauros. Bayleef. Cyndaquil. Lapras. Pidgey. Taillow. Treeko.

The last two were new captures. Taillow had been captured after a straight up battle. Treeko had joined after helping him save the big tree in Petalburg Forest for his family.

Ash's hand went back to Cyndaquil's Pokéball. With a tug and a flick, the red and white ball flew forward sending out the small fire Pokémon in a flash of shimmering light.

A moment later, another Pokéball was thrown. Standing next to Cyndaquil was the tall, powerful Tauros.

Ash smiled as the two greeted him happily. "Alright you two, calm down."

"Quilll!"

Tauros huffed in response.

"Right, Cyndaquil, I wanted to work with you on increasing the power of your fire attacks. Tauros, I wanted to teach you a move to surprise your opponents." Ash said.

The two Pokémon looked at him with expectant eyes. "We are going to work on Flamethrower for both of you."

Cyndaquil cheered with a "Cynda!"

The little fire Pokémon released its control on its flame which erupted out of its back. Tauros tilted his head and huffed again.

"I know it is not your typical move, which makes it perfect." Ash told the powerfully muscled Pokémon. Ash took a breath. "Pikachu, would you mind being the target?"

"Chu!" Pikachu replied with a fist pump before using Agility to start moving.

"Cyndaquil start out by shooting full power Flamethrowers at Pikachu." Ash instructed. He then turned to Tauros as a burst of flame lanced out behind him.

"Alright Tauros, lets see if we can't get you started." Ash muttered. He pulled out his Pokédex and opened it. The screen flashed and returned to displaying information about the move. "Right, so when a non-fire type uses Flamethrower, the fire is created from heating the air."

Ash paused. "You know how to fire Hyper Beam?"

Tauros nodded once. Ash smiled. "It is the same idea, you gather energy and push it out."

Tauros shook his head and pawed the ground. Ash rubbed his Pokémon's head. "You change the energy as you gather it. Instead of just pure power, you add heat. Can you do that?"

Tauros seemed to shrug before taking a deep breath. In Tauros' mouth a ball of energy started to from. "ROOS!"

From Tauros' mouth the energy lanced forward, flames flickering along the path of the beam.

"Good start." Ash said. "It looks like it was more Hyper Beam than Flamethrower, but I did see some flame."

Tauros threw its head back mooing in joy.

"Lets see if you can't do it again."

Ash collapsed into his seat at dinner, his friends noticing he was absolutely covered in soot. "I think that went well."

Brock, May, and Max looked at him. Ash continued to talk. "Tauros is starting to get the hang of using Flamethrower and Cyndaquil is feeling better, more powerful almost."

"Then it is a good start." Brock said. "Are you going to keep this set of Pokémon with you for a while?"

Ash shrugged. "I don't know, I am thinking about it. One the one hand, I could definitely teach these guys more. Then again, reaching out and swapping Pokémon around more will allow me to teach and be with more of my Pokémon."

"How many Pokémon have you caught?" May asked.

Ash frowned and then looked at Pikachu, almost as if asking for permission to give the number. The yellow mouse rolled his eyes before speaking. "Pika Pi chu ka."

"I have forty eight total." Ash said. "At least right now, it has changed a bit over time and some are doing other things but are willing to return."

Brock spoke up again. "Remember when we were going though Kanto, Gary rarely had the same team for this reason. He was always experimenting with new teams."

"Are you going to plan out which Pokémon and how long you are going to train them?" Max asked.

"I probably should." Ash admitted.

May shrugged. "It seems like you have a lot to deal with as a trainer. Do you think it is something all trainers have to deal with?"

"It is to a degree." Brock answered. "I only have a few Pokémon, so I don't have to rotate them. Instead, I have to make sure I am treating them all right. Other trainers with even more may not even try to train them all."

Ash shrugged. "I have no idea. I haven't really asked other trainers about their teams."

He took a breath. "I am going to finish eating and then head to the room. I have some more thinking to do."

Soon enough, Ash made his way to the rented room in the Pokémon Center. Pikachu leapt from the floor to the bed, resting against the provided pillow.

Ash sat down at the desk next to his friend. He pulled out his Pokédex and opened it. The device displayed its home screen and Ash started to navigate its menus.

After several minutes of somewhat directed research, Ash leaned back. "Pikachu, we have a long way to go don't we."

Pikachu opened his eyes and looked at his trainer, but did not answer.

"We have an ambition, we have our friends, and we are looking for any path forward." Ash continued his musings. "We are going to do it."

He pulled a brochure out, he had grabbed it on the way to the room from dinner. The document was titled "The Ever Grande Conference." Inside was a listing of the eight primary badges, the gyms, and other information. Further back in the brochure were some of the minor badges, which Ash didn't really care about.

"Roxanne is the gym leader in Rustboro City. She uses Rock Types." Ash read.

Pikachu moved to sit up. Ash leaned back in his chair. "Before we get their we should practice against Brock."

Pikachu nodded. "Ka Chu."

Ash looked at his starter. "We could do this one of two ways. First would be to call in Bulbasaur and Squirtle, or some of my other experienced and powerful Pokémon. The other way would be to start off with Taillow or Treeko and then use an older Pokémon to ensure a victory."

His started nodded and pointed at himself. "Pika."

Ash smiled. "I could use you, or actually I was thinking of my current team. We do have both Bayleef and Lapras."

He paused. "I think that is what we will do. We will prepare for a Rock type gym with the current team. After winning the badge, I will swap out Pokémon. What do you think Pikachu?"

Pikachu nodded and pumped his fist. "Pi Pika Pi."

Ash smiled. "You're right. We can do this and Rustboro City is our first test."

The boy fell silent as he turned his attention back to the Pokédex and brochure in front of him. He didn't speak for a moment. Instead, he packed away the two sources of information.

He stood up and stretched. Leaning forward, he gazed out the window. Taking a deep breath, Ash smiled.