Not much to say here, other than that this should have been uploaded long ago. I just kinda left this story hanging, didn't I?
Edit: Title change to - Master Quest - and changed the summary alongside it.
Standing back up to his full height, Ash let out a satisfied sigh of pleasure as he stretched his arms up over his head and felt the tension in his back disappear when his spine made a satisfying 'crack' sound.
His eyes surveyed the family of Pidgey, Pidgeotto and Pidgeot as they hungrily ate from the trough of food he'd just filled up. The family consisted of small brown and creamy-yellow colored avian Pokemon, moved up to larger avians of the same color yet had swept back pink hair ontop of their heads, and finally to the few fully evolved Pidgeot of the family which actually stood taller than Ash himself and had long swept back blonde hair adorning the top of their heads.
"That's my rounds for this morning done," Ash said to himself, brushing down his shirt to wipe away any stray dirt or dust that stuck to him. His attire consisted of a pair of black boots which his black cargo pants were tucked into and held up by a silver belt that had one Pokeball attached to it. A white high collared shirt that had the top few buttons left undone to show off the large tooth dangling from a piece of black string around his neck. "Now, what should I do to pass the time? Get in some training? Or go for an early lunch?" The amber eyed boy muttered to himself thoughtfully.
Before he could decide though, the black ear piece around his right ear buzzed to life and he heard the familiar voice of Professor Oak talking to him, "Ash, it seems the Nidoking and Nidoqueen have gone on another rampage please see to it." The old researcher told him, before the ear piece buzzed out once again and left Ash in silence.
"Dammit, not again..." Ash groaned, swiping his hand across his exasperated face. "And here I thought, I was done for this morning." He mumbled in annoyance.
This was the fourth time this week that a herd of Pokemon living within the Oak Ranch began stampeding. And it was only Wednesday to.
Giving a sigh, Ash tossed a wave to the Pidgeot family currently eating their breakfast and sprinted off towards the area of the Oak Ranch where he knew the Nidoking and Nidoqueen families resided.
A few metres into his run, he unclipped the Pokeball from his silver belt and released the Pokemon from within in a burst of silvery blue light.
Materializing at his side and keeping pace with him easily, was the form of a massive canine Pokemon. Arcanine.
Arcanine had become a truly massive canine Pokemon when he'd evolved just over a year ago from the little Growlithe he once was. His head was covered in a cream-colored fur, except for the region around his eyes and ears, which was orange. The large canine's body was a combination of the same orange fur with black stripes and completely black fur on his belly. He had patches of cream-colored fur on his chest, legs, and tail, resembling smoke. Arcanine's paws each had three toes and a round pink pad underneath and two large fangs jutting out from the large Pokemon's mouth even when said mouth was closed.
Wasting no time, Ash reached over to grasp Arcanine's neck and swung himself expertly up onto the Pokemons back, "The Nidoking and Nidoqueen are on a rampage again buddy." Ash told the Pokemon as he seated himself upon his Pokemon's back and began to ride on its back. He received a grumbling whine in response, and Ash could only chuckle in bemusement, "Yeah, I know big surprise right?" He questioned rhetorically before pushing on, not waiting for a reply, "Let's wrap this little tantrum of theirs up quickly then, use Extremespeed!" The raven haired boy commanded.
Arcanine obeyed without preamble and started to pick up the pace. His legs became little more than a blur as a white aura wrapped around his body and he shot off like a rocket towards their destination, a white streak to the naked human eye.
It took Ash and Arcanine a few minutes at the very most to arrive at their destination, all the way on the other side of the Oak Ranch.
Shielding his eyes from the sun, Ash looked over a bit into the distance where he could see a large dust cloud moving across the vast outer layer of the Oak Ranch. He could just make out the silhouette of the many Nidoking and Nidoqueen rampaging around, being led by the biggest Nidoking of the herd which was the only one that he could see clearly because it was at the front.
"Let's go!" Ash ordered.
Arcanine obeyed and sprinted rapidly after the herd, easily catching up within a few moments and then began to actually overtake the gathered pokemon.
When Arcanine ran straight up past the lead Nidoking, the large canine Pokemon skidded on its feet into a turn that left both Arcanine and Ash standing directly in the path of the Nidoking and Nidoqueen stampede.
"Break up the herd," Ash ordered next, "Use, Flamethrower!"
Opening his large maw, Arcanine launched a large gout of searing hot reddish orange flames straight down the middle of the herd.
The largest Nidoking leading roared something to its fellow Pokemon before dodging to the side, narrowly evading the searing hot flames fired off by Arcanine. The rest of the Nidoking and Nidoqueen swiftly following suit of their leader, also diving to the sides to dodge the attack.
As the Nidoking and Nidoqueen recovered and got to their feet, Ash used this opportunity to jump off of Arcanine's back and move off to the side. He had no desire to get caught up in a fight between Arcanine and the massive Nidoking leading the herd.
He was pretty strong, especially for a ten year old. It came with the job he worked, he supposed. He'd been working as an assistant to Professor Oak since his eighth birthday, two years as of a few weeks ago when he turned ten years old. And most of the work he done under the older man was physical in nature, so a by product of working up close and personal with so many Pokemon had made his body quite a bit more muscular than the average person his age.
But he digressed. Fit and strong for his age or not, a physical powerhouse like a Nidoking – especially one as large as the Nidoking leading this herd – would snap him in half like a twig.
It took a special kind of person to get up and personal with Pokemon like Nidoking. Those special people being along the lines of Bruno of the Kanto Elite Four. A person who had trained extensively for years with incredibly powerful Fighting-type Pokemon like Machamp.
He was nowhere near as strong as Bruno, so Ash himself would have to settle for commanding Arcanine in battle against the Nidoking and beating it down.
The lead Nidoking rumbled angrily as it got to its feet. The Pokemon was covered in thick purple plates of armour and the large horn adorning its head dripped ominously with a deep and dangerous purple poison that slowly dripped to the grassy floor and fizzled the grass away.
Nidoking were truly powerful and dangerous Pokemon.
The Nidoking that led the herd skulked slowly towards Arcanine, its thick powerful plated arms tensed to attack at a moments notice.
Ash wasn't worried though. This wasn't the first herd of powerful Pokemon he and Arcanine had to calm down and stop rioting, and he doubted that it would be the last.
Still, he waited for the largest Nidoking to situate itself in a ready stance before he acted. He didn't want to make it look like he was attempting to fight dirty and attack before it was ready. The only sure fire way to calm down a herd of rampaging Pokemon was to defeat the leader, and strongest Pokemon of the herd in one on one battle. Only then would the others accept and respect your authority enough to actually heed your 'demands'.
Of course, that only worked if the Pokemon were in their right minds. And not just a rowdy bunch of berserker's.
Which thankfully, these Nidoking and Nidoqueen were not.
Finally, after a few moments of appraising Arcanine, the Nidoking shot off with a powerful roar, cracking the ground underneath its feet as it shot into a sprint, lowering its horn towards Arcanine as it charged. The horn glowed with a powerful silvery white charge of energy.
'Megahorn.' Ash thought as he recognized the attack. One of, if not the most powerful Bug-type Pokemon attack. It was the headliner of the Bug-type Pokemon species, and was rather easy to identify for the most part.
The attack packed quite a bit of power in it, easily noted by how bright the Nidoking's horn shone. But, the most glaring weakness of the Nidoking species especially one of this size was their lack of speed.
Which was something Arcanine had in spades. And, would be a statistic that Ash would abuse the shit out of, knowing that getting caught up in close combat with a Nidoking of this power and experience would be tantamount to suicide, unless the Nidoking was unable to hit back while Arcanine was up close.
"Meet it's charge head-on with Extremespeed," Ash finally stated as the large and powerful Nidoking closed in on Arcanine, "And then use your speed to dodge it and get behind Nidoking, then hit it in the back with Dragonbreath." He concluded.
Arcanine gave a bark of acknowledgement before taking off towards Nidoking, his form becoming naught but a blur to Ash's eyes.
Arcanine met the charging Nidoking halfway within a moment, and as the Nidoking gave a triumphant roar and lunged forward prepared to skewer Arcanine with its Megahorn attack Arcanine used his speed to slip right under the horn and past Nidoking's side.
Nidoking, missing its target stumbled out of its lunge and was only just barely able to stay on its two powerful legs instead of tumbling face first into the grass. Arcanine used this chance to slide around and to face Nidoking's back, straight out of his Extremespeed technique and opened his mouth wide as he could. Before launching a thick and powerful stream of greenish-yellow flames that struck true on Nidoking's back and washed over the entirety of the large purple Pokemon's frame.
Nidoking fell to its knee's in pain, giving an ear shattering roar of pain as the greenish-yellow flames of Arcanine's Dragonbreath engulfed it.
While this was happening though, Ash's mind was running a mile a minute, 'If I remember correctly, this particular Nidoking's ability is Poison point, so that means most of Arcanine's physical attacks have been rendered moot unless I want Arcanine to become poisoned.' He thought to himself. And the Nidoking and Nidoqueen species both had a rather powerful natural poison that protected their bodies from every other type of Pokemon besides Poison-types themselves and Steel-type Pokemon which were immune to Poison-type attacks.
That was why the Nidoking and Nidoqueen herds were the most annoying for Ash to quell when they were rampaging. Most of Arcanine's more powerful abilities lay in physical attacks, and with their natural body coating poison, and Ground-type Pokemon attributes to go along with their Poison-typing, it made for a bit of a challenge for Arcanine to deal with.
Thankfully though, Arcanine had an advantage here other than speed. He had Ash, and this Nidoking didn't have it's own Trainer.
Which meant Arcanine could focus entirely upon the battle at hand and leave the strategizing to Ash.
...Still though, that left Arcanine with only three attacks he could use safely on the Nidoking. Flamethrower, Dragonbreath and finally Flare Blitz.
Ash was drawn from his thoughts as the Nidoking finally stood back up after a few seconds under the continuous Dragonbreath attack.
Turning it's back towards Ash. Nidoking raised both arms up and literally plunged them into the greenish-yellow flames of the Dragonbreath and physically tore the stream of flames apart. Dispering them into nothing but small wisps of greenish-yellow vapours.
Ash grinned though as he caught sight of the few singe marks upon Nidoking's purple armoured back. The attack didn't do to much damage overall, but from what Ash could see of Nidoking's sluggish arm movements when it dispersed the flames of Dragonbreath. His plan had worked.
Dragonbreath may have been made up of flames. But the attack didn't attack with heat. No, it impacted with jarring force, and while it was still quite hot to touch, it wasn't anywhere close to as powerful heat wise as Arcanine's Flamethrower. But that didn't matter. Because, the flames of Dragonbreath attacked the body from the inside. The flames attacked the nerve system of the opponent and literally gave them a paralysis effect.
The indirect damage of the attack was quite a bit too. With its muscles and more partially paralysed. Nidoking wouldn't be able to take as much damage because it's body wouldn't be able to prepare and protect itself fully, and thus Nidoking wouldn't be able to take as many hits before going down.
It was a simple theory and battle tactic Ash had learned under Professor Oak when he had first started trying to teach Arcanine Dragonbreath as a Growlithe. When a muscle was tensed, it was much sturdier than when limp. Harder, would be an appropriate term. Thus with the muscles partially paralysed, the victim of the attack would have the majority of its muscles limp or 'soft' as it were. And would therefore be unable to absorb as much damage with the weakened muscle.
Ash grinned in remembrance. It had become one of his favourite tactics when it came to battling. Paralyse the muscles of the opponent with Arcanine's Dragonbreath and then he'd have Arcanine overwhelm them with incredibly powerful physical blows, all designed normally to be knock-out attacks. But retaining even more impact and damage with the paralysed muscles.
It was why after perfecting Dragonbreath and evolving Growlithe into Arcanine, that Ash focused mainly on Arcanine's physical prowess. Learning very powerful and versatile Physically based attacks. Extremespeed, Close Combat, Flare Blitz, Wild Charge and finally Giga Impact were all attacks learned and perfected by Arcanine to maximize jarring impact on his foes when Ash's paralysing tactic came into play.
….Well maybe not so much Extremespeed. That technique was learned mostly for travelling purposes and for getting to places much faster. It sure as hell beat driving or walking anywhere that was for sure.
Grin stretching a little wider, Ash decided to finish things up here. Lest Nidoking recover full mobility once again. Arcanine wasn't a Dragon-type Pokemon afterall, and his Dragonbreath attack would never be as powerful as if he were a Dragon-type Pokemon instead of a Fire-type.
The paralysation never lasted more than ten to twenty minutes at most when the tactic was employed by Ash and Arcanine. Where as when Oak was teaching him the tactic, the Pokemon Professor Oak's Dragonite had demonstrated it on had been near enough fully paralysed for a good four hours.
"Alright Arcanine, let's wrap this up," Ash called out to his partner Pokemon. His call was echoed by a loud bark from said canine Pokemon and Ash allowed his grin to drop, "Right then, hit it with Flare Blitz!" He commanded sharply.
Arcanine obeyed and sprinted forward towards the sluggish Nidoking. Body exploding with an armour of red and orange flames that surged into a bright cyan blue not a moment later, as the fire around Arcanine reached a new level of heat.
Nidoking didn't stand a chance in hell of dodging the attack that struck true a moment later, straight against the Nidoking's unprotected white underbelly.
The flames exploded off of Arcanine and straight into Nidoking's body with a jarring explosion that kicked up a massive plume of dark smoke over Arcanine's form and sent the large Nidoking flying backwards at breakneck speeds. Bouncing across the grassy landscape of the open field a good dozen times before rolling and skidding to a stop.
Ash waited a moment for Arcanine to walk out of the smoke, the canine Pokemon wincing slightly as blue arcs of energy rippled off of his form.
Flare Blitz was the most powerful physical Fire-type Pokemon attack. But in return for being so powerful, the attack came with quite a recoil. The more powerful the attack, the more recoil damage Arcanine retained.
Thankfully though, when Arcanine fully mastered the technique the recoil should gradually wear away until there was no kick-back from the technique.
Ash waited for Arcanine to come to his side before he headed over to the Nidoking. Walking at a sedate pace.
Some would think he was being much to carefree about such a situation. He'd disagree though. He had been working daily at this Pokemon Ranch for over 2 years now, and so situations like this were a Pokedollar a dozen, and quite the common occurrence.
Especially since Professor Oak had refused to allow him and Growlithe – now an Arcanine – to wander out in the ranch without supervision until he was able to handle all of the larger species of Pokemon in battle, calm them down and generally know how to maintain the peace between the herds.
When he reached the downed form of Nidoking. Ash looked it over with a critical eye. Up and down its form he looked, before quirking a smile a few moments later. "Well, there's a bit of bruising and swelling across the chest and stomach area, along with a few painful looking burns," He stated, "But nothing serious that won't heal over within a few days time or with some potion." Ash finished.
Kneeling by the Nidoking's head. He met the laid out Pokemon's annoyance filled pitch black eyes with his own amber ones, amusement flittering across his tanned face as he lifted a finger and flicked the Nidoking lightly across the nose, causing said Pokemon to growl slightly.
"That's 33 against a whole whopping zero," Ash stated amusedly, a bemused smile spread across his face. "Better luck next time." He said next, standing up to his legs and moving on. Pointedly ignoring the grumbling crowd of Nidoking and Nidoqueen.
He jumped up upon Arcanine's back, and tossed one last parting shot towards the downed Nidoking before Arcanine took off at breakneck speeds. "Better get more training from Gary if you want to compete with us Nidoking." He shouted back with a laugh as he and Arcanine disappeared in a blur of speed.
...The Nidoking and Nidoqueen species while quite rowdy at times, never usually stampeded as much as they did nowadays. And that was for one simple reason.
Still though, it was best to allow a prideful Pokemon like that Nidoking to heal from such minor injuries on it's own. Sometimes Pokemon as prideful as a Nidoking would react violently to be babied, especially when it came to injuries, which most battle loving Pokemon wore with pride.
Ash's best friend from childhood had left upon his journey when he turned ten years of age. Originally, Gary was going to wait the extra month until Ash turned ten himself so they could start at the same time as rivals. But since Ash was working as Oak's assistant, he saw no need to and left on his Pokemon journey two months prior.
The Nidoking leading the herd of Nidoking and Nidoqueen was Gary's own Nidoking that he'd caught during a venture through Viridian Forest. The Pokemon being quite mature and powerful already would have destroyed any rookie trainer in a battle with ease. Gifted as much as Gary Oak was or not.
But when Ash had begun working under Professor Oak as his assistant. Gary had convinced the good Professor that since Ash had a Pokemon already it really was quite unfair that Gary didn't. Especially since they both were in all the same classes when learning about Pokemon, and Gary was even a bit older than Ash.
And so, two years back just after Ash had started working as the assistant of Professor Samuel Oak. Gary picked his very own starter Pokemon, a Squirtle.
And when Gary finally left on his own journey, he left with a mature and powerful Wartortle by his side that trained against Ash and Arcanine regularly before they left.
Ash's smile of bemusement stretched a bit as the sight of Professor Oak's lab came into view and he allowed his mind to wander to all of Gary's recent captures since he left on his journey two months ago.
Gary had been a very busy guy as of late. He was determined to win the Indigo Pleateau League that was due to start in the next few months if Ash remembered right.
And from his last conversation with Gary over the video-phone just two days ago, Ash had learned that Gary already had an amazing collection of five badges. To go along with the twenty-six Pokemon he had captured to go along with those badges.
Ash couldn't quite remember them all, but he remembered the more powerful ones Gary had captured. Along with Wartortle and Nidoking. Gary had managed to capture a Nidoqueen, Electabuzz, Houndour, Magmar, Graveler, Seadra, Scyther, Kingler, an Eevee which he had trained thoroughly and managed to evolve into an Umbreon and the one that left him the most amused of all, a Growlithe of his own.
There were a good few other Pokemon he'd caught as well, but none that Ash could recall from the top of his head. He only really remembered the powerful or rare ones so far.
...Maybe he should think of catching more Pokemon? It wouldn't do to let his childhood rival get to far ahead of him after all. Researching Trainer instead of normal Pokemon Trainer or not.
It was just a few minutes at most later, in which Ash finally entered the Oak laboratory. Arcanine once again recalled into the confines of his Pokeball, and the Pokeball clipped back onto Ash's belt with a well practiced moved.
It wouldn't do to allow a Pokemon as large as Arcanine to parade around the many delicate items that were kept within the lab. That was a disaster just waiting to happen.
Arcanine was a massive Pokemon after all. Standing at an impressive 6,5', even on all fours and weighing a good three-hundred and sixty pounds, Ash's Arcanine was truly an awe inspiring sight at times.
Ash was quite proud of Arcanine's stature, seeing as the Pokemon was in fact a good few inches taller than the average size for his species. It showed Ash just how well of a job he was doing raising Arcanine. After all, he'd only been an Arcanine for just shy of one and a half years and he'd already exceeded the average height of his species.
That wasn't to say that Arcanine was a beast among Arcanine though. He just had the luck of having a Trainer who was learning all he could about Pokemon under the renowned Professor Oak, who'd actually raised his very own Arcanine once upon a time.
And that was an Arcanine that Ash was in awe of every time he saw it. It literally was a Pokemon deserving of the title 'Legendary' as the Pokedex was want to say about the Arcanine species. Professor Oak's Arcanine was easily over forty years old, and stood at a massively towering height nearing eight feet tall. Over a foot and a half in height larger than the average size of it's species.
It was a testament to the amount of effort and care Professor Oak had put into raising his Arcanine from a young Growlithe. And really hit him for Ash how far he still had to go before he could claim the title of 'Pokemon Master' with his own two hands.
Professor Oak, after all, had never been titled as a Pokemon Master. Even with his insanely powerful original team of six Pokemon. They were all massive and towered over the average Pokemon of their species with ease, and it was due to those six Pokemon that no true riots had ever occurred in over twenty-years at the Oak Ranch.
They were all monsters to behold in a battle. And they were the beasts that both he and Gary had to train against when having mock battles with Professor Oak.
Arcanine, Charizard, Gyarados, Venasaur, Dragonite and finally Professor Oak's rarest and most powerful Pokemon that even Ash had saw very little of. And Ash had no idea, just how the man had managed to capture it. The Legendary Pokemon, Celebi.
Ash had only seen Celebi a handful of times, and only ever battled it once with Arcanine. And the power the small little green pixie Pokemon wielded was terrifyingly awesome.
It had tracked Arcanine's Extremespeed with ease and then literally destroyed him with one blow. A Shadow Ball attack that wasn't even at full power.
It was a great blow to both his and Arcanine's pride, to learn that despite them being a powerful team together, they weren't even a blip on Professor Oak and his Pokemon's radar.
But even then, after sulking for a bit. Ash's determination to become a Pokemon Master came back even more powerful than before.
That, and he hoped that one day he could capture his own Legendary Pokemon.
And despite only interacting with Celebi a handful of times, the small Pokemon had taken quite a shine to him, for reasons he just couldn't place.
It was a puzzling experience. When he had asked Professor Oak about it, the man had told him Celebi had been with him for over forty years, and that one day soon he, Ash himself would come to understand why, and just why Celebi had taken such a shine to him.
Cryptic as hell, as far as Ash was concerned but at least the old Professor had told him he would learn about it all one day soon, so he was content to just drop the matter until then.
Making his way up the stairs, Ash entered the research area of Professor Oak's laboratory. It was a large, wide open room with lots of space. At the far end, Professor Oak sat on a comfortable chair as he typed away at his large computer screen. On both sides of the computer were long lines of large white computer processors that were hooked up to the computer the professor was seated at. And were used to make sure that the computer could handle the strain of running thousands of different programs at once that ensured the working conditions of the Oak Ranch.
To the far end of the research area, there was another set of stairs that led up to a balcony that hung over the room and allowed for occupants of the laboratory to look out and enjoy the view of the massive window that was as wide as the room itself. The view out of the window itself, was straight out and over the Oak Ranch, allowing everyone a view of the entirety of the many habitats. From the fields, to the grassy plains, to the rocky terrain, the forest areas and even a bit of the water Pokemon habitats which were generally just rather large lakes.
It was a breath taking sight, that much Ash knew. To watch out over the thousands of Pokemon living at the Oak Ranch as they went about their day to day lives.
Under the balcony, there was a set of bookcases that Ash was intimately familiar with. Having spent many a night alongside Arcanine relaxing and studying all about the many different Pokemon and information on said Pokemon contained within the confines of the books.
To the side nearest Ash as he entered the research area. There was a large video phone and Pokeball transport device that was used to transfer Pokemon to wherever in the world another Pokeball transport device was hooked up.
And finally, in the middle of the large room there was a comfortable red sofa and a large cylindrical stand that held the three Pokeballs that contained the newly raised and trained Kanto started trio. Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander.
The sofa was a bit out of place, but that was because Ash himself had asked for it to be moved into the lab. The sofa was able to be folded out into a bed, and was what Ash used to catch up on his sleep when he stayed working over the night at the Oak Ranch and couldn't be bothered walking down the road to his home. It happened so regularly that both he and Professor Oak both thought it would be for the best.
It was that or having his mother chew him out for not getting enough rest, because growing boys needed lots of rest. And then for some weird reason she'd throw in a few comments about remembering to change his underwear, or 'you-know-what's', as his mother liked to call them.
"Well, that's my rounds for today finished up Professor," Ash said out loud, as he reached the sofa and collapsed onto it, his arms resting on the back as he swivelled his head towards the Professor. "And I've taken care of that Nidoking and Nidoqueen stampede problem."
Professor Oak swung around on his computer chair to face Ash, a beaming smile on his cheerful looking face, "Splendid, splendid," He replied, "There were no outstanding problems, dare I ask?" The grey haired professor asked.
Ash chuckled and shook his head, "Nah professor," He denied with a wave of his hand, "It was just Gary's Nidoking trying to lure us into a battle again, but the battle itself didn't last long at all since I decided to bust out the Dragonbreath tactic at the very beginning."
Oak chuckled in amusement, "That Nidoking is just like Gary, always challenging you to a form of competition every chance it gets. Whether it wins or loses. Just as Gary has with you since you both ended up with Growlithe and Squirtle as your Pokemon." He replied through his chuckles.
As their chuckles died down, Ash spoke up once again, "So Professor, do you have anything else you need me to do today, or am I free to head on out to do some training with Arcanine?" The young research assistant inquired. Mussing his shaggy black hair with his hand as he trailed it up from the base of his neck and over his head.
If possible, Ah could have sworn Professor Oak's beaming smile glinted in the sunlight coming through the massive window. "As a matter of fact Ash, there is something I want to talk to you about." Oak started, gaining Ash's attention. "As you know, you turned ten a few weeks ago and both you and Gary qualified under the Pokemon Trainership tests, and were allowed to start your journeys at ten years of age."
"Yeah?" Ash stated, "And Gary left on his journey as soon as he could when he heard that I planned on sticking around here to learn more under you, so?" He asked, his voice casual yet with a slight undertone of curiosity.
"Yes," Professor Oak replied, "But as things are now Ash, there really isn't much else I have left to teach you. And you'll now only improve as a Trainer with experience."
"Again, that's nothing new Professor," Ash stated in return, "You told me all of this just lack week, and I've been trying to determine what I should do on my journey before I leave." He continued, "I mean, I don't know if I want to battle Gym Leaders and compete in leagues like Gary, compete in Pokemon Contests as a Coordinator or just plain travel around the regions and learn as much about Pokemon as I can." Ash finished, taking a deep breath to regain the lost oxygen from his lungs.
He'd probably lean more towards the battling gym leaders thing though. He did love to battle. Not to mention, becoming a champion was one of the things on his to do list before he could even come close to being called a Pokemon Master.
Coming out of his tirade, Ash looked up to meet Professor Oak's eyes and was just in time to catch a closed over, black coloured Pokegear.
"What's this for?" The young trainer questioned.
"...That," Professor Oak started, pointing at the black device in his hand, "Is a newly bought - and modified personally by me - Pokegear. Along with the usual features of the Pokegear, I've installed in it a program that is filled to the brim with unusual reports, sightings and rumors that have been discovered over all of the regions." He explained cheerfully, his voice having a slight lilt towards the edge that allowed his young assistant Ash to determine just how excited the older researcher was about the information programmed into the device.
Okay then, he'd bite.
"That's interesting and all Professor, but what's it got to do with me?" Ash prodded. Nudging his head towards the black device clasped between his hands.
Professor Oak merely chuckled, waving his arm towards Ash in amusement. "Now Ash, we both know that while you're rather hard-headed at times, you are not dense." He replied, before pushing on, "But I'll humor you I suppose."
Pointing at the device once again, Professor Oak began his explanation, "Over the past few weeks, I have been in close correspondence with the regional Professor's of Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova, as well as a contact within the Orre Region." He began, "My inquiries towards these individuals were all based upon rare Pokemon evolutions, sightings and rumours that I recorded down to later install into that Pokegear."
"I'd like you, Ash, to head out as a field researcher on a journey to research each and everyone of these happen-stances and see if you can discern anything of note." The Kanto Regional Professor finished.
Ash stared at him for a moment, then he slowly blinked. And blinked again as he processed the information that had just been dumped on him within his head.
...Well he'd been searching high and low for a reason to head out on his own journey with Arcanine. He was getting a bit stir crazy hanging around Pallet Town, whilst Gary was out travelling all over Kanto, catching Pokemon and winning Gym Badges.
And these rumours were bound to be based mostly around rare Pokemon. So therefore there was a good chance Ash could capture some of these rare Pokemon to become his own Pokemon.
Not to mention he was hard up for some excitement. Pallet Town was just too damn peaceful for him. There was nobody of note at all besides Professor Oak to battle. And he could only take so many losses before his ego would be irreversibly damaged.
He mulled it over in his head for another few moments, before he came to a decision.
"I'd love to!" Ash responded, a wide face splitting grin running across his visage. Excitement literally bubbling away at the base of his stomach.
Professor Oak's smile stretched further and he clapped his hands together joyfully, "Splendid splendid my boy. I'm glad you decided to take me up on my offer." He stated, "Now why don't you shoo on back home and let your mother know of your plans, I'd like you to leave as soon as possible." He continued, "Just thinking about what possible new discoveries you will make has got my old bones jonesing with life and excitement once again."
Ash laughed loudly as he stood up from the sofa and slipped the Pokegear into his empty back pocket. The other actually having the black Pokedex he'd been gifted for his 10th birthday by the elderly Professor in it, "Don't go making it out as if your some weak old man," He mock admonished with another laugh, "We both know you're as fit as anyone could possibly ever hope to be at your age."
Professor Oak gave another jovial chuckle, "My my Ash ma' boy, you need to lay off the praise from these old bones, at this rate you might make me blush like a little girl."
Ash snorted another laugh, but began making his way towards the stairs when another thought question raced across his mind and he froze in his next step, "Hey Professor, why isn't there any rumours or the like on the Pokegear from the Kalos Region?" The Trainer asked.
At that, Ash turned and was met with the amusing sight of Professor Oak chuckling in embarrassment, and scratching the nape of his neck in a nervous manner, "Well both I and Professor Sycamore ended up clashing ego against ego, because I stated that both you and Gary both would thoroughly trounce the three trainer's who started off their journeys over in that region just a few months ago with ease." He explained feebly, "And so, until we get back on speaking terms I won't be able to get rumours and the like from that Region for you to investigate."
After hearing the reasoning, Ash could only shake his head in reply. He supposed even men like Professor Oak had moments when their pride wouldn't allow them to back down.
Too bad though. He'd heard from rumours and saw in a few pictures that the Kalos Region was a very beautiful place, and that there was quite a few interesting Pokemon that lived only there.
That and the fact that the Kalos Region was the region where the Fairy-type Pokemon were said to have originated from.
"Later Professor Oak!" Ash called, tossing a wave over his shoulder as he reached the stairs and began descending them on his way out of the Oak Laboratory.
It was 8:45 Pm when Ash finally got back to his own bedroom for the night and collapsed onto his bed in exhaustion. Arcanine following at his heels and laying down beside his bed.
Once upon a time when he was a Growlithe, Arcanine would sleep on the bed with him. It done wonders during the winter when his room got cold, the Fire-type canines inherit body heat was oh so comfortable.
But he was no longer a cute little Growlithe anymore. Nowadays he was a massive towering Arcanine, and weighed almost three times Ash's body weight. Together they would be putting a combined weight of almost five-hundred pounds on the bed, and Ash wasn't sure if the springs of his bed would snap or not with that kind of weight pressing down on it.
So they played it safe, and Arcanine slept on a soft rug by the side of his bed.
Anyway, he'd left the Oak Ranch at just ten minutes past two in the afternoon and made his way to his home. When he reached there, he spent a good half hour eating lunch and telling his mother all about the journey he was set to start out on.
While she was rather sad that he was going to be leaving her alone as he went out on a journey, his mother was nonetheless exceedingly happy for him. She knew just how much his dream of becoming a Pokemon Master meant to him, and was the person that tried to motivate him to do his best the most. Which was why she actually helped him learn to take care of himself so that he could pass the Pokemon Trainership exam when it came to the survival test.
After having lunch and regaling his mother, he went out to run a few errands for his mother and didn't arrive back home until 5pm. Then he'd spent another half hour eating dinner with his mother and Arcanine before heading back out to do some training with Arcanine.
They spent a full three hours training, nonstop, before they packed it in and headed back home. As far as Ash was concerned, he was a very busy kid.
Thankfully though, his mother had already set out the outfit he'd purchased for his journey a few weeks back. So he could just drift off into a nice relaxing sleep, and not have to worry about anything else until morning came.
And when morning came, he'd be setting out early on his very own Pokemon Journey. He was very keen to get out and travel with Arcanine, see awe inspiring sights, enjoy the independence that came with a Pokemon journey, and most of all battle and capture more Pokemon.
He was so excited at the thought of capturing a large Flying or Water-type Pokemon. Arcanine was incredibly fast on land, and he could traverse miles on his back with ease and a speed that very few could hope to match.
All he needed now was a large Flying-type Pokemon to travel through the air, and a large Water Pokemon, like maybe a Gyarados? To travel over large bodies of water.
Two Pokemon like that, alongside Arcanine, would be all the transportation he needed to get to almost everywhere and anywhere he wanted to go on his journey.
It was a very pleasant day-dream to fall asleep to. And one Ash decided he definitely would, and hope for a dream just as fulfilling to him as the day-dream was.
Reaching over towards Arcanine as he pulled back the covers on his bed and slid between them, Ash gently rubbed the side of Arcanine's nose.
The large canine Pokemon let out a pleasured rumble in response and nuzzled his snout into Ash's palm for a few moments before Ash allowed his hand to trail away and towards the illuminated lamp sitting upon the table beside his bed.
"Good night, buddy." Ash said softly.
"Rooh." Arcanine mumbled sleepily in reply.
Smiling to himself, Ash clicked the button on the side of the lamp and allowed darkness to encompass his room. Together, both Trainer and Pokemon drifted off into a relaxing slumber.
Tomorrow, their very own Pokemon journey would begin. And together, they would make Ash's dream of becoming a Pokemon Master become a reality.
It would all begin tomorrow morning. The adventure of a lifetime.
