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Ages
Ash: 10
Brock: 14
Misty: 11
Damien: 12
AU. Instead of receiving a Pikachu as his starter, Ash Ketchum is only given an empty pokeball and a sheepish grin from Professor Oak. Anger and spite clouding his soul, he sets out only to find a ray of hope in the form of a small, injured Bagon. It's funny how a tiny twist of fate can change one's destiny forever. Dark, smarter Ash – various shippings included.
The Wanderer
Chapter I
"Geodude, use Rollout!"
The rock pokemon curled into a ball and rolled forwards towards a Charmander. The fire pokemon squealed and panicked before his trainer issued a dodge order. The Charmander quickly dove out of the way, standing up slowly when it was suddenly struck from behind by the second stage of the Rollout.
"But how?" the Charmander's trainer demanded, watching with a crestfallen gaze as his pokemon fainted. He returned his starter back into its pokeball.
His opponent grinned, his squinty eyes growing even thinner. "Rollout has the opportunity to hit five times, and each strike grows stronger and faster. It was a good battle, by the way. Rest up at the nearest Pokemon Center and return tomorrow if you wish. The Pewter Gym will always be open for trainers."
The challenger nodded with a grateful smile and took off, leaving the rocky battlefield only to have another trainer take his place.
The kid, maybe ten based on his height, wore a plain red, black, and white outfit with a Pokemon League hat resting upon spiky black hair. There was only a single pokeball hanging from his belt, which was immediately removed by a hand with fingerless gloves on it.
"Hello, challenger!" the Gym Leader called, waving his hand. The hat's lid was blocking his view on the shorter kid's face. "Welcome to Pewter City's gym. My name is Brock, trainer of rock type pokemon. I assume you're here for the badge."
Brock's challenger nodded, not saying a word. Strange… the Gym Leader thought. He shook his growing unease off. Something was different about this boy. After explaining the rules to the new challenger, Brock pulled out his own pokemon.
"Go, Geodude!" the Gym Leader called, throwing his pokeball forward. His Geodude was completely fine after the last battle, so Brock felt no need to heal him at a Pokemon Center. After watching the Geodude pop out of the pokeball, Brock's opponent lifted his head up just enough for the Gym Leader to see his lips form into a confident smirk.
Wordlessly, almost lazily, a shining flash escaped from his challenger's pokeball. Brock's jaw almost hit the ground at the sight.
It was a Bagon. Although it was obviously smaller than the average size of the species, this Bagon was unique. Brock had never seen anything like it before. See, typical Bagon have a gray dome on its head and blue and yellow bodies. This one, however, was a molten gold where blue should be, and an ebony black where the other colors should've been. It stared down his Geodude with uncanny intelligence brimming in its inky eyes.
"Where did you get this Bagon?" Brock asked, curiosity overcoming his thirst for battle. "I've never seen anything like it. I thought they stayed in Hoenn."
Only then did his challenger break his silence. "I saved her life and she saved mine," he answered simply, the undisguised eagerness resonating in his voice. "We became friends and she decided to travel with me."
"But it's gold!" Brock all but shouted, slightly exasperated with the lack of detail in the other boy's explanation. "Pokemon aren't gold. Even shiny Bagon are green!"
The boy laughed, barely a trace of true mirth behind the dry chuckle. "Yeah, well… let's just say she's special, isn't she?"
As if the Bagon could understand his trainer's words, it snorted, as if saying, hurry up, let's get this battle over with.
"But – "
"Listen," the boy interrupted, leaving Brock's mouth hanging open once again, "I'm here for the Boulder Badge. If you really want to, we can chitchat later and you can ask all the questions you want. Deal?"
The Gym Leader nodded and reigned in his curiosity, preparing himself for the battle. His Geodude was getting restless, after all. He waited patiently for the challenger to make the first move, but no commands came. They were waiting for him to strike.
"Well, if you're not gonna go first, I guess I'll go instead! Geodude, use Tackle!"
His opponent said nothing as the Geodude soared towards his Bagon. Once the two pokemon were about to collide, an order sprang from Bagon's trainer. "Dodge, then use Focus Energy!"
With surprising speed, the Bagon rolled out of the way and began to glow, channeling all of its energy. Brock, noticing the danger, barked out a command for his pokemon. "Defense Curl!"
His Geodude curled into a ball, hugging itself with its arms to further protect itself. "Defense isn't going to save you now," Brock's opponent muttered, barely loud enough for the Gym Leader to hear, "Bagon, Iron Head!"
"What?" Brock cried, watching the black dome of the dragon pokemon glow before zooming towards Geodude, moving far faster than any Bagon should. It was not supposed to know that move. "Geodude, dodge it!"
The rock pokemon made an effort to move, but Defense Curl had already slowed it down. Brock watched helplessly as the super effective Iron Head, coupled with Focus Energy, smashed into Geodude, resulting in a massively damaging critical hit. The Gym Leader winced as he heard a loud crack come from the attack, followed by his Geodude flying backwards and slamming into the rock wall, a curtain of dust surrounding its body.
"Geodude, return!" Brock called, not even bothering to see if it was still conscious. No rock type could survive that attack. The red beam recaptured his pokemon as he mused silently on how to defeat the other trainer. Brock underestimated his opponent, a mistake for which his own pokemon had paid the price for.
The kid was smart. He knew how to chain together moves and how to use another pokemon's disadvantages against them. "You did well," Brock started, pulling out another pokeball from his belt, "but let's see how well you do against – "
"ONIX!" the pokemon roared, emerging from the pokeball in a brilliant flash of energy. The massive twenty-eight foot long snake was entirely composed of large rocks, with a sharper spike protruding from its head.
"Rock Tomb!" Brock roared, determined not to loose this match. Onix smashed its tail into the ground, sending large boulders flying up into the air and crashing down upon the smaller Bagon.
Although facing a much larger opponent, the tiny (in comparison) Bagon didn't flinch when it started to hail rocks. His opponent remained as unfazed as his pokemon. "Bagon, use Brick Break on those rocks and then use Hone Claws."
A large rock flew at the Bagon, roughly three times its size. The small dragon pokemon cocked its arm back, glowing dimly with suppressed energy, and smashed the rock to pieces before quickly rolling through the hole in the Rock Tomb and to safety. Then, a malicious glint appeared on its stubby arms, but nothing else happened.
Brock was slightly annoyed by his inability to land a hit on the smaller pokemon. "Smack Down, quickly!"
The Onix roared, voicing his consent, and raised its tail, preparing to crush the smaller pokemon. The trainer's Bagon did nothing but stand in the shadow of the massive tail, watching it come closer and closer –
"Bagon, Rock Smash on the part of the Onix that's touching the ground."
"No!" Brock all but shrieked, "Onix, either get out of there or finish the move!"
It was too late. In using Smack Down, Brock's Onix had revealed his most vulnerable spot, namely the group of rocks that acted as the pokemon's legs if it were to have any. His challenger's Bagon's attack was too quick to avoid; Brock, just like before with Geodude, could only watch helplessly as the Bagon, powered by both Hone Claws and Focus Energy, slammed his arm into the unsuspecting rock monster's weakest point.
The damage was instantaneous. It's like getting the wind knocked out of you, Brock thought, horror making its presence known, and then getting your balls smashed by a hammer, over and over again but then having all that pain being condensed into one blow.
Onix roared in pain, its tail coming down uselessly as Bagon danced out of the way, using its smaller size to its advantage. The rock type fell to the side, resulting in a mighty crash. Dust flew up, clouding the Gym Leader's view, but even without knowing whether it could still fight or not, Brock withdrew his pokemon, forfeiting the match.
He wanted to win, but not at the cost of his pokemon's life.
– Ω –
"So how did you get your pokemon to become so strong?"
Brock stuffed his face with food after asking the question, glancing at his ex-opponent, now shy friend, whose name he was reluctant to give. Brock didn't press for any more information, noticing the younger boy's obvious discomfort around people he hadn't met.
They sat in a booth at a diner that Brock frequented at after he closed the Gym for the night. Noticing the other trainer didn't seem to have a place to go, Brock invited him along for dinner. After all, they had a deal.
"I trained her," the boy answered, toying with his Bagon's pokeball. His food hadn't arrived yet, so in his free hand he rubbed his new Boulder Badge before putting back into his badge case. "I only kept her in her pokeball when we went into the city for supplies."
"So do you travel?" Brock continued, gulping down a large mouthful of water.
His friend shook his head. "I traveled here to Pewter a few weeks ago. I spent my days training Bagon in the hills and sleeping in the wilderness, only to come in every now and then for stuff," he answered, eyes widening in delight as his meal arrived.
"But what type of training did you guys undergo?" the curious Gym leader asked again. "I mean, the raw speed and power…"
"Yeah, we worked on that." His buddy tried belittling the compliment, but failed when Brock noticed the pride in his voice. "Day after day, I guess we just worked more on the basics rather than perfecting the moves, although being stronger does make it easier to execute them."
The trainer paused, taking a small bite from his dinner before continuing. "I bought ropes from the stores in Pewter," he continued, "and found some large rocks littered among the hills. It took some trial and error, but in the end, I managed to tie some small boulders to Bagon's legs, body, and arms. Then we started training."
Brock raised an eyebrow at the trainer's unconventional training methods, but didn't say anything else. It was a little odd, and maybe even a tad bit cruel, but it definitely worked.
"You might think that it's a cruel training method," the other stated, reading Brock like an open book, "but Bagon didn't care. I told her what it would be like, how hard and tiring it might be, but she readily accepted the challenge. When she ran uphill, I'd run with her. When she slid downhill, I slid down with her. And when she'd jump off a cliff and dream of flying, well, that's where it stopped."
The older boy chuckled at the joke, glad to find something where he could get his quiet friend to spill. Apparently, the young trainer was extremely passionate about his pokemon and his unorthodox methods.
"I found that training alongside her helped us bond," the boy proceeded, completely forgetting about the food. "So I kept her out of her pokeball, basically doing everything with my Bagon as I increased the size and weight of the boulders. I think, in the end, she was running and jumping around with all the rocks totaling twice her weight. She's smaller than most Bagon, but she's got the drive to make up for it.
"Every night, before I went to sleep…" there the boy paused, as if deciding to tell Brock this piece of information. "… I'd talk to her," he said, timidly, "and tell her about my dreams and goals." He stopped, hoping that Brock didn't make fun of him for talking to his pokemon.
Brock was silent. "I respect that," he finally said. "Not many people are able to train their pokemon so hard and yet retain such a firm relationship."
The boy chuckled mirthlessly, reminiscent of his earlier laugh in the Gym. It wasn't natural and sounded forced, something that troubled Brock. He could tell that the young trainer was a little bit more troubled than most, but Brock wasn't one to pry. If he didn't feel comfortable talking about it, so be it.
The conversation died off, only the sound of chewing and sipping breaking the silence. Brock watched as the kid scarfed down his entire meal in mere seconds, offering an apologetic smile when he burped. The Gym Leader took this as an opportunity to restart the conversation.
"Do you travel alone?" Brock asked, drawing on the obvious conclusion.
"Well, no, considering the fact that Bagon's always there with me," he answered, checking with his hands if his pokeball was still by his side.
Brock nearly face palmed, but opted for another question. "Doesn't she get lonely being all alone out there in the wild without a traveling companion?"
The look on the other's face told Brock that he had stepped over an unspoken line. Fiery eyes stared at him, before a response was forced out behind gritted teeth. "I don't need a traveling companion. My pokemon are better than the company of a human's."
"You only have one, though."
"And that's enough," the cryptic boy retorted, his tone sharp. "My father traveled through Kanto alone. I don't see why I can't do the same."
"Your father?" Brock's curiosity peaked. He received no answer. Sighing, the Gym Leader pushed forward another tentative question, knowing full well that he was in dangerous waters. "Did something happen in your past?"
Suddenly, the boy opposite of him stood up. Brock groaned internally. He knew that question went to far. Its not that Brock was insensitive, after all, he grew up in a large household where secrets were almost nonexistent. I guess we didn't know each other well enough then, Brock contemplated.
"I appreciate your courtesy in paying for my meal," the other informed in a flat tone, "but I'm afraid I have to leave. I'm travelling to Vermillion City to take on their gym."
Shocked at the sudden desire to leave, Brock could only manage a "but Cerulean City is where the next Gym is."
A mirthless grin. "Yeah, but I'm avoiding it. Bad vibes, you know?"
The boy left the booth, walking towards the exit. There was a black backpack slung over his left shoulder, bulging with food and potions. But that wasn't what caught Brock's attention. There was a little nametag that glinted in the light of the diner, only noticeable when one was looking for it. It read: Ash Ketchum.
Brock whistled, finally finding out the name of the quiet trainer. "Well I'll be damned…"
– Ω –
Misty returned to her position as Gym Leader.
She took the position from her less-than-competent sisters and let them focus on modeling and doing commercials. After all, they were famous for their mermaid-like allure and beauty. Her oldest sister even made it into the singing business.
There weren't a lot of reasons that caused Misty to return to Cerulean, in fact, for the past few weeks she wondered why she even went back in the first place. But really, it was simple.
In Viridian, she received a call from her sisters. A whole lot of pleading and a whole lot of insults later, Misty found out that the Waterflower sisters were so terrible at battling that they almost ran out of badges to give away. Something had to be done about that. Misty would not let her family name be associated with terrible trainers.
And… there was something else. She felt terrible after the event in Viridian. Having grown up as the youngest of many children and homeschooled in Cerulean, it was safe to say that Misty didn't have many friends. As soon as she got her trainer's license, Misty became dedicated to her water pokemon, quickly surpassing her sisters in prowess. She spent all of her time either training or battling until she grew so sick of it that she ran away in hopes of finding friends and going on an adventure.
But life didn't work out like that. First she went to Pewter City, battled the nice gym leader, Brock, and made friends with him. Yet he was a Gym Leader, so Misty didn't even bother to ask him to be her traveling companion. So she continued onwards, crawling through a filthy, vermin-filled hellhole of a forest to Viridian City, and then along the grassy flatlands of Route 1 to receive a Pokedex from a kind Professor Oak. Everything was going fine, that is, until Ash Ketchum wrecked her bike and passed out.
Then she took him and his pokemon to the Pokemon Center in Viridian, only to have him wake up a day later, get into a massive argument due to her terrible temper, and then leave. Back then, she was too angry to see the mistake she made, but when the reality came, it struck her like a train. Misty had blatantly thrown away a golden opportunity, just because she couldn't swallow her pride and contain her own temper.
That was what caused Misty to deem her entire adventure a massive failure, and decided to return to Cerulean until she managed to mature. Plus, there was a small hope within her that Ash would come to Cerulean to challenge the gym for its Cascade Badge.
But her fantasy was, in the end, just a fool's dream. Ash never came. And while a smug side of Misty told herself that the reason for his absence was that he wasn't a good enough trainer and couldn't control his Bagon, something else told her that he was purposefully avoiding the gym.
Maybe it was curiosity, maybe it was something more, but it was definitely something that forced her hand in calling Brock.
"Hello."
"Hey Brock," Misty greeted, holding the Pokegear up to her ear. "It's Misty. Remember me?"
"Hi Misty! I'm kinda surprised that you called."
Misty flushed red; glad that there was no way Brock could see her. She forgot that they weren't exactly great friends, more like oh-we-met-once type of friends. "Yeah, I'm surprised myself."
"So, why did you call?"
That's Brock, so down to earth, Misty thought. She laughed silently at her own pun. "I was wondering if you had a trainer pass by."
Brock snorted. "Well, a lot of trainers 'pass by' the Pewter Gym. You've got to be more specific."
"Um," Misty deadpanned, searching her mind for his appearance, "well he's – "
"Ooh, it's a he. Tell me more."
"It's not like that!" Misty shrieked, mumbling a meek apology when she realized she had just screamed right into the Gym Leader's ear. "Anyways… he's got a hat on, uh, black pants, a shirt I think, and fingerless gloves."
There was silence on the other side of the line. "You realize that you just described fifty percent of the trainers that come through here… um, maybe his pokemon?"
"Oh yeah," Misty breathed, mentally slapping herself, "he had a Bagon. It's really indescribable, one-of-a-kind – "
"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?" Misty could hear Brock laughing on his side of the phone. "Could've saved a lot of trouble."
Misty let loose a nervous chuckle. "Well yeah, I guess. Have you seen him?"
"Seen him?" Pewter City's Brock was a master of sarcasm. If Misty wasn't controlling herself, insults would've already been flying. "He whooped my butt a week ago. Took him three minutes tops to take the Boulder Badge, and afterwards we talked over some dinner." His voice lowered significantly. "You do realize who he is?"
"Yeah, Ash Ketchum," Misty snapped, "Red's son."
"You know that his father disappeared three years ago, right?"
Misty felt uncomfortable talking about this subject. Ash's father wasn't the only dad to abandon a family. "Yeah. Who wouldn't? It was headlines everywhere, even in Sinnoh."
"So, what about Ash?"
"I was just wondering if you knew where he was going next…" Misty hinted, sitting on her comfortable bed. This conversation was longer than she thought it would be.
"He said that he was going straight to Vermillion," Brock informed. Misty felt her hopes plummet and smash into the unforgiving face of reality. "Apparently, he's avoiding Cerulean." Something clicked in the male trainer. "Wait, Misty, you and Ash. Did you – "
"Thanks, Brock. Bye!"
With a click, the conversation ended. And so did any hope of her seeing Ash Ketchum again. It definitely wasn't that she liked him and wanted to see him again… it was just that he was an intriguing person of great potential. Yeah, that was it.
Plus, she didn't want him to wander the world alone.
– Ω –
Ash was almost a quarter through with Route 5 when the storm hit.
It left him soaked to the bone, huddled underneath a makeshift tent, and barely warmed by a fire that Bagon had managed to start due to Ember. The pokemon in question had decided to go out and play in the rain, and Ash, deciding that it would help further strengthen his pokemon's resistance towards water attacks, let her go have fun. He trusted her to return.
The young boy leaned back, listening to the rain hit the top of his tent, and rested his head on his backpack. His sleeping mat was already rolled out underneath him, leaving a backpack full of pokeballs, food, and potions the best pillow available.
The fact that it was only seven at night left Ash wide awake, and ultimately, his thoughts began to wander. The two day journey through Route 3 was uneventful, but the caves of Mt. Moon offered good shelter and a magnificent training ground, with boulders of all different shapes and sizes to practice attacks on. Each day, Ash walked with Bagon, keeping the pokemon company as she dragged sizeable rocks that were now almost two and a half times his own weight.
During their four-day rest at the caves of Mt. Moon, Ash had managed to teach Bagon the move Dragon Claw, a powerful dragon type move. Bagon learned the move easily, mastering it within a few hours. Then came the long and difficult challenge of teaching her Double Team, where they spent three days learning it.
Lacking experience or advice, the best Ash could do was, "Uh, try and move really fast." Needless to say, it was easier said than done. But in the end, Bagon had managed to create a double image, and Ash deemed the days of effort a success.
Then the day came where they traveled through Route 4, Bagon doing a brisk jog with his usual load of rocks, and Ash jogging alongside it. A day came by and withered away, and on the dawn of a new day Ash found himself in Cerulean.
After buying the necessary equipment, he left an hour later. Word was on the street that the youngest of the Waterflowers, Misty, had returned as Gym Leader.
A day and a half later, Ash found his process impeded by a massive storm system moving in from Sinnoh. It wasn't like he was in a rush or anything, but Ash wanted to complete the eight gyms in time to compete in the Pokemon League Conference at the Indigo Plateau. And then from there on, who knows? Ash had always wanted to explore the other four regions.
Why not sweep all five of the region's PLCs? And then he could challenge the Elite Fours and defeat them as well, moving on to defeat the four champions of the regions, Lance, Wallace, Cynthia, and Alder to become the best of the best, a master amongst trainers everywhere.
That was his dream. And no one was going to tell him otherwise.
Ash sighed happily, listening to the peaceful rain fall onto the greenery around him. It was calming to his nerves, which were just hyped with adrenaline just by thinking about becoming the Pokemon Master.
Bagon hasn't been back for a while, Ash thought, worried. Although he was sure that the dragon pokemon could handle herself against wild pokemon, what if something worse happened? What if poachers or thieves got to the shiny pokemon? Ash was about to start looking for her when the pokemon in question suddenly popped up, emerging from the bushes.
"Hey, Bagon," Ash called out, patting the dry spot next to him. But his Bagon didn't budge. Something was wrong.
Ash emerged from his tent and immediately the pokemon took off. Without any weights to slow her down, the pokemon was ridiculously fast, especially for a pokemon that wasn't known for its speed. The trainer barely managed to follow the flash of gold through the forest until he finally emerged into a clearing, where, to Ash's utmost shock, he found his Bagon huddling over something.
Upon closer inspection, Ash found that Bagon was protecting a pokemon, but which one? As whimpering emanated from the obviously wounded pokemon, Ash pulled out his Pokedex and pointed it towards the half-covered pokemon. Immediately, the automated voice rang out, and Ash strained his ears to listen to its words.
"Charmander, the Lizard Pokemon, is a native of Kanto and a Fire type pokemon," the voice read. Ash realized that this could've been one of his pokemon had he arrived on time to Oak's Laboratory. It was one of the starter pokemon of Kanto. "From the time it is born, a flame burns at the tip of its tail. The flame at the tip of its tail makes a sound as it burns. You can only hear it in quiet places, and its life would end if the flame were to go out."
Horror clamped down on his stomach with its vice-like grip. The Charmander's flame was almost nonexistent. Without thinking, really, Ash scooped up the little pokemon into his hands and sprinted back to his little campsite with Bagon closely trailing behind. He gently placed it in the dry spot that his makeshift tent covered and cleared everything else out. Then, taking some dry wood that was stored in his backpack, Ash stacked them over the dwindling fire.
"Bagon, use Ember."
The dragon pokemon knew exactly what to do, and a stream of fire sent the little bonfire blazing. Taking the Charmander's tail, he gently dropped it into the fire where the Charmander visibly relaxed, its tired eyes getting some energy back into them.
"Bagon," Ash called, gently rubbing the Charmander's head, "Go into the dry spot. I need you to maintain this flame so that this Charmander can survive until this storm ends."
His pokemon obeyed his order, stepping underneath the tent and stared at him quizzically, as if saying, aren't you going to come, too?
"You stay there. There's not enough space for all three of us," the now soaked boy reassured, "I'll brave the weather. It's not that bad, really." Boy, what a lie that was.
For an indeterminable amount of time, Ash just sat there, stroking the Charmander's head, focusing on the heat coming from the small fire, and Bagon just breathing fire every time the blaze looked like it weakened. But no matter how cold it was, Ash knew he would suffer through it all after receiving a grateful look from Charmander before a watery tear escaped from its eye.
But its temperature was dropping. That, for a fire type, was obviously not good.
"Bagon, I'm gonna need something more," Ash murmured, sleepiness sneaking up on him even though there were large droplets of water falling on him nonstop. "If not, I don't think the Charmander is going to make it."
Bagon nodded, understanding the gravity of the situation, before closing her eyes, concentrating hard. Then she opened her mouth wide and – nothing. Not even a tiny little flame. Not even a small – "AAAAAAH!"
That scream tore out of Ash's mouth when a powerful flame spilled from Bagon's mouth, coating the fire pokemon in blistering hot flames and nearly burning Ash. He rolled away and marveled at Bagon's newest attack, Flamethrower, before checking and making sure that the powerful little pokemon hadn't burned his backpack.
Luckily, the backpack was too wet and too far away to catch flame. When the fire died down a little bit and the bonfire at the end of Charmander's tail blazed with fire merrily, Ash decided it was safe again to resume petting the pokemon. It suffered a little bit of damage from receiving the attack, but it helped the lizard pokemon more than it hurt it. The Charmander's temperature was extremely high and fever-like, which was good for a fire type pokemon.
"Heh," Ash chuckled, staring at his shiny pokemon, "nice one, Bagon."
"Bagon!" the pokemon chirped almost snidely, offering a smirk. She blew another Ember towards the lizard pokemon, coating it in heat. Ash basked in the glow of the flame, suddenly feeling sleepy despite the heavy torrent cascading upon him. He was sure to have a cold in the morning, but to him, it was worth it as long as the Charmander survived.
"Hey, buddy?" Ash scratched the pokemon's head, causing it to glance up at him with weary eyes. "Tomorrow, we're hightailing it back to Cerulean and healing you up. Then I'll find whoever abandoned you and… well…" Ash left the threat hanging in the air.
"Char," it whimpered in agreement.
Ash yawned, leaning against the trunk of a tree, and closed his eyes…
… only to open them to dry weather and daytime.
Shocked by the sudden change, Ash jumped up, smashing his head against a low lying tree branch and crumpling to the ground, his muscles groaning in angry protest as he realized that he had somehow fallen asleep.
He glanced over at the two pokemon with him and was relieved to find Bagon and the Charmander asleep, and a smaller-than-normal yet still better-than-yesterday flame shining proudly on the pokemon's tail. They looked so peaceful, with the sunlight shining off of Bagon's golden skin like a mirror, truly giving her a reason to be called a "shiny" pokemon.
"ACHOO!" Ash sneezed, startling his two companions. He rubbed his now half stuffy half running nose and groaned, knowing the symptoms of a cold. Checking his Pokegear, Ash found that it was seven in the morning. There was ample time to get to Cerulean, but Ash wanted to hurry to restore the Charmander to full health.
Quickly packing up his gear and returning Bagon to her pokeball, Ash took the time to spray the pokemon with a potion. Then, without pausing for a rest, he scooped up the Charmander and took off in a sprint towards Cerulean. On the way, he saw curious trainers and travelers glancing at the pokemon cradled in his arms, but he ignored them and continued on the way to the city. Luckily, he hadn't gone very far down Route 5, so he made it to Cerulean by ten, panting and sweating like crazy as his sprint had turned into a jog about an hour ago.
Ash burst into the Pokemon Center, scaring all of the people within with his haggard and wild appearance. Nothing stood in between the way of him and the front counter, so he quickly ran to a Nurse Joy handed her the Charmander.
"Please, Nurse Joy, you've got to help him," Ash barely managed to squeeze out, still panting heavily from the running. "I found him out in the rain – ACHOO! – last night and… and…" At this, Ash had a coughing fit.
"I'll fix him up," the nurse assured. "The damage doesn't look as bad as it should be if he had been out in the rain all night. Meanwhile, go to the front desk and get something for your cold. And don't worry about the Charmander, he'll be fine."
"Thank you." Ash breathed a massive sigh of relief as he heard that the pokemon would be okay. He slowly made his way back to the front desk and received some medicine that should help him with his cold, completely free of charge. Feeling a little bit better, Ash got his Bagon checked, where he was told that she was completely fine.
Then he busied himself with hiding in the corner of the Pokemon Center, hat drawn down just in case a certain Gym Leader sauntered in. He didn't want anything to do with Misty.
He was about to doze off when an interesting conversation suddenly entered his hearing.
"Damien, what about that Charmander you left out there in the rain?"
"Nah, don't worry bout it. He was a weakling anyway. I've got a much stronger team now."
Ash's eyes snapped open, instantly standing up as he made his way towards the two people having the conversation. Or, to be more clear, one boy with spiky blue hair, probably Damien, lounging on a sofa while a group of three followers hung on to every word he said. Ash knew Damien from Pallet Town. The older trainer had embarked on his journey a few years before Ash had. They weren't friends but weren't enemies, either, but this incident pushed their relationship to the sour side.
"But don't you think it'll die? That was a pretty powerful storm."
"Like I said, don't worry bout it. He's probably still sitting there, in that exact same spot that I told him to stay, and probably still thinking that I'd come back for it! Isn't that just the funniest joke?"
His three followers laughed, and Damien let out a loud, boisterous laugh. It was then when Ash snapped.
"Hey Damien!"
Said boy turned to stare at Ash before his eyes widened in realization. "Ash Ketchum? What are you doing here?"
At the words of Ash Ketchum, everybody in the Center stared at Ash, knowing very well who his father was. This is exactly why I'm going to start people that I'm just Ash, the boy decided, hating the feeling of one hundred eyes on him.
Well, he couldn't disappoint. "I'm here because I just brought back your Charmander back from the brink of death and delivered him to the hospital." Ash's tone was obvious, raw anger causing him to snarl when he said "your Charmander."
Damien looked abashed at the sudden attention. "Charmander? What Charmander?"
"Ooooh," Ash sprawled, drawing out the word. "What Charmander?" he mimicked, pretending to sound like an idiot, which Damien apparently was. "Oh, just the one that you left to die in the rain!"
Fired up and angry, Damien struck back. "Oh yeah? That Charmander was weak anyway. I have no idea how such a pokemon could even be given to trainers as a starter. My team is much more powerful and better of without it."
"Your pokemon is weak because you haven't bothered to train it!" Ash snapped, clenching his fists. "You threw it aside the moment another seemingly more powerful pokemon showed up! Its weakness is only a reflection on your failure as a trainer."
The blue haired boy was left speechless for a while, face contorting in an effort to think of a comeback. "Well, at least I got a starter! You didn't even get one! Everyone in Pallet Town knows the story, Ash. I doubt you even have a pokemon," he finished triumphantly.
A scary smile made its way onto Ash's face. For once, the entire Pokemon Center was silent, listening to their conversation. "I have one," he responded, unclipping his pokeball from his belt and enlarging it. "Let's just see how powerful your team is," Ash challenged as mockingly as possible.
Flustered, Damien stood up from his seat. "Fine then! If it's a battle you want, it's a battle you'll get!"
The two stormed outside, followed by a good chunk of the people in the Pokemon Center, all eager to see how the son of Kanto's Champion battles with pokemon. They settled for a clearing in the woods, and people crowded a safe distance away. Damien unclipped one pokeball out of five from his belt. Ash knew one of those pokeballs was the Charmander's, which told him that the blue haired nitwit had a total of four pokemon.
"When I win," Damien stated, arrogance poorly disguised in his voice, "you'll give me all of your money!"
"And when you loose and whine like a little baby," Ash snarled, "you'll give me your Charmander!"
"Deal, I don't want that pokemon anyways. Go, Pidgeotto!" Damien shrieked. He took the pokeball in his hand and threw it, revealing a Pidgeotto, slightly larger than most of its species. That was probably why Damien had it.
Ash looked at the pokeball in his hand. "Show 'em how it's done, Bagon."
A blinding white flash revealed the shiny pokemon, her golden skin once again shining in the sunlight while her black patches seemed to suck in any light that touched it. A collective gasp rang through the crowd as they marveled at the unique shiny pokemon. Damien's mouth was slightly wide with shock.
"Well?" Ash yelled, waving at Damien. "Are we going to battle or are you going to stand there, swallowing flies?"
The blue haired trainer shook his head, and Ash marveled at how ridiculous blue hair was, not knowing that his opinion was going to change at the sight of Dawn Berlitz.
"Pidgeotto, let's finish this quick. Steel Wing!" The Pidgeotto cawed in response, its wings turning white as it zoomed forward.
"Double team twice, then dodge," Ash responded calmly, a stark contrast to his blazing temper before. He always kept his cool during a pokemon battle.
Bagon split into two images, and then the images split into another two, resulting in four Bagons rolling out of the way as the Pidgeotto came flying through, not hitting a single thing.
Ash sighed in disappointment. He expected the Pidgeotto to be faster, but no, Damien had picked it just for its size. And that was a disadvantage disguised as an advantage. "Bagon, Hone Claws and Focus Energy."
"Who would use a non-damaging move?" Damien asked, incredulous, as if the mere thought of boosting one's stats before attacking was ridiculous. "And three times in a row? Pidgeotto, let's show these fools how to battle. Twister!"
Twister, a dragon type move, Ash mused, knowing that it was effective against Bagon's dragon type. But Ash didn't have to worry; it would never hit Bagon in the first place.
"Bagon, dodge. Surround the Pidgeotto," Ash commanded, watching with slight amusement as all four Bagon responded to his command. He, of course, could tell which one was the real one.
Damien was slow on his feet. He was mulling over what to do since he came in with a set battle strategy, and now that things were spiraling out of control, Damien was at a loss of what to do. Maybe he'd just let his powerful pokemon tank it through.
"Bagon, Rock Tomb." All four Bagon slammed their feet into the ground; large rocks flying upwards and then back down towards the bird pokemon due to gravity.
"What?" Damien yelled, recognizing the super effective move. "Pidgeotto, get out of there!"
Panicking, the Pidgeotto was completely surrounded by rocks. Of course, three of the attacks were fake, but it didn't know which one was real. So it took its best guess and flew away… straight into the real attack.
The first rock hit the pokemon's body, causing it to spiral out of control. Pidgeotto crashed into the ground painfully, another rock slamming into its outstretched wings. The onslaught didn't stop there, with the most devastating impact going straight to the bird's head for a critical hit only Focus Energy could pull off.
The crowd cheered slightly, and Damien looked shocked. "Get up, Pidgeotto!"
"Give it up," Ash responded instead, "he's clearly knocked out. Even if he was still conscious, there's no way that it could continue battling."
"Fine," the boy huffed, retrieving Pidgeotto. "It was one of my weakest pokemon anyways. Go, Kadabra!"
The psychic pokemon lazily rolled out, its kite-shaped face peering curiously at the four Bagon. With a wave of its spoon, the three false Bagon disappeared, leaving the original dragon alone. Ash looked on, silently cursing himself for not teaching Bagon Shadow Claw when he had the chance.
"Kadabra, Confusion!"
Bagon, even without Ash's command, rolled out of the way of the slow attack. Damien was going to have to do a lot better if he wanted to even touch Bagon.
"For Arceus's Sake, hit him! Psybeam!"
"Dodge, then counter with a Dragon Breath," Ash ordered, letting out a small sigh of relief when his trusty pokemon managed to dodge the fast moving attack.
Instantly, a draconian roar escaped the small pokemon's mouth and a blueish tinted version of a small Hyper Beam exploded forth, knocking the unprepared Kadabra on its back. As it got up slowly, shaking slightly from the direct hit, Ash decided to end it right there and then. Bagon's physical attacks were always stronger than his ranged ones.
"Close the distance quickly and use Dragon Claw."
It was a wonder how panicked Damien was. It was almost laughable when compared to Ash's cool exterior, even though his heart was boiling with the heat of battle. "Quickly Kadabra, Pyscho Cut to counter!"
The two attacks met and held each other for a brief second, but then Bagon's attack quickly gained the upper hand due to Bagon's training and the Hone Claws from earlier. The boost allowed Bagon's Dragon Claw to pull off an uppercut on the psychic pokemon, resulting in the Kadabra being launched into the air and a bloody slash being drawn across its face. When it fell back down, Damien's Kadabra was barely hanging onto consciousness when its stomach, bruised from the Dragon Breath, was introduced to Bagon's other Dragon Claw, which landed a powerful blow on the psychic's vulnerable stomach.
Kadabra didn't stand a chance. It lay unconscious where it fell. Bagon danced away, chattering excitedly. It was then when Ash realized that his pokemon had just warmed up.
A while ago, during their stay at Mt. Moon, Ash discovered Bagon's devastating ability: Moxie. With each pokemon Bagon defeats, it only grows stronger and stronger. It wasn't an ability unique to the Bagon evolution tree, but it was a rare one nevertheless. And one look at Bagon told Ash that she was reaping the benefits of her ability. She looked stronger than when she had started out.
"No matter," Damien said, fear creeping into his voice. He retrieved his unconscious pokemon before a new one took its place. "Rattata, finish what we started."
Ash didn't even wait for the words to come out of Damien's mouth. "Feint, then Brick Break."
Bagon, not needing to acknowledge the command, rushed forward with unnatural speed and feinted with her left arm. The Rattata fell for the feint and jumped backwards, only to get smashed in the face by the real attack. The super effective move was once again powered up by Hone Claws, yet the Rattata remained standing, seeing how it was already moving backwards when the blow struck home.
"Rattata, Hyper Fang!"
Ash smirked slightly, a clever plan falling into place. "Bagon, block it with your arm."
The Rattata bit down hard into the pokemon's arm with its fangs and Bagon whimpered slightly, the damage barely worth batting an eyelash at.
"Now, Bagon. Lift it up and use Brick Break on its neck." The pokemon followed Ash's orders to a T, slamming the powerful blow straight into the rat pokemon's neck, resulting in a critical hit. The Rattata's grip on Bagon's arm loosened as it fell, unconscious, to the ground. Once again, Bagon danced away, chitterling excitedly as her body pulsed with faint power. The longer that match was, the more powerful she became.
"Congratulations Ash," Damien said sarcastically, withdrawing his fallen pokemon, "would you like a trophy, just like the one your father got? Oh yeah, I forgot, he abandoned you! I wonder why…"
Although it was an obvious attempt to anger Ash, the boy's calm exterior remained the same, a poker face hiding it all away. Damien would pay, that, Ash would be sure of. The crowd around them whispered amongst themselves, no doubt about the blue haired boy's uncalled-for insult. Bagon, on the other hand, growled protectively, hearing the malicious intent behind the words.
"Let me show you my most powerful pokemon," Damien bragged, holding a Net Ball. "Let's see how your puny Bagon does to Gyarados!"
The massive dual type flashed into existence, giving a massive roar. Its twenty-foot long, snake-like body twisted and turned in the sky, giving testament to its flying type. The Gyarados was easily ten times Bagon's size, but that didn't faze Ash the slightest.
Their orders came out at the exact same time.
"Double Team twice, Focus Energy."
"HYPER BEAM!" Damien roared, a wild look in his eyes. Ash grinned slightly, knowing that, in Damien's thirst for power, he would use this move. It had a significant downside to it, though…
"Dodge, Bagon, then get in close to it," Ash instructed. Bagon only had one chance to pull this off, and if she did, it would be an amazing sight to see. "Come on, buddy, I believe in you!"
Bagon roared, although the roar sounded like a squeak compared to the Gyarados's powerful, yet avoidable, Hyper Beam. The orange attack went clear past Bagon and Ash, uprooting plants and trees when it hit the forest behind them. Then, the next part in Ash's place clicked in place.
"Gyarados, destroy that thing! What are you waiting for?" Ash's opponent cried, watching as his Gyarados struggled to do anything.
At this point, Ash couldn't help but laugh. "Sure, Hyper Beam is one of the most powerful attacks out there. I'm surprised your Gyarados even knew it. But what makes it so unwise to use is that it drains the pokemon's power, only the very strongest being able to recover in seconds."
"Gyarados is the strongest," Damien asserted, and Ash was impressed by his confidence. Was it true confidence or was it just blind arrogance? "Come on, another Hyper Beam!"
"Game over," Ash told his opponent. "Bagon, Rock Tomb."
Damien visibly paled as the supercharged attack, powered by Moxie, Focus Energy twice over, and Hone Claws slammed into the water dragon as it recharged, leaving its underbelly wide open to the vicious super effective attack. Time after time the rocks found critical weak points, resulting in a massive, super effective and critical hit that was powered by so many different factors that the atrocious pokemon was knocked out in one blow, falling to the ground in an ground-cracking crash.
The crowd, which had grown quite large by now, roared its approval. Damien hung his head in shame, withdrawing his most powerful pokemon. But then his shame morphed into anger. "Here, take the stupid pokeball. You've made a rival today, Ketchum. I'll destroy you one day, just wait!"
At those words, the blue haired trainer threw a pokeball at the ground, bouncing a bit before rolling to a stop at Ash's feet. Then, he turned and walked away, his three followers hanging faithfully at his side.
"You did great, Bagon," Ash said with a real smile. "Have a long rest, girl." With a red beam of energy, his Bagon was swept back into her pokeball.
Then he turned to the Charmander's pokeball and picked it up. Manually opening it, Ash observed the inside of an empty pokeball for a second before snapping it in half, releasing the Charmander from its binding spell. The people who stuck behind gasped, wondering why in the world he would destroy the pokeball.
"I don't want Damien's pokeball," Ash cleared up to no one in particular. "I want the Charmander to join me, not because it has to, but because it wants to."
Then he hurried back to the Pokemon Center, annoyed by all the attention he was getting. In his hurry, however, Ash failed to notice a bright plume of orange hair, attached to a girl who was all but screaming his name.
Arriving at the Pokemon Center, Ash busted through the doors and nearly trampled a Nurse Joy, who meekly told him that the pokemon was waiting for him out back. Without waiting for anyone else, Ash found the lizard pokemon sitting dejectedly on a tree stump, curled up in the position that Ash had found it in just a day ago.
"Hey, Charmander," he greeted, watching with amusement as the pokemon instantly jolted to attention, turning around and scurrying over towards Ash. "I took care of Damien and showed him a taste of true power. He never deserved your friendship."
Charmander nodded, whispering a small, "Char."
"I broke your pokeball," Ash informed, gauging the fire type's reaction. The Charmander only blinked. "You're free to go, if you want."
Charmander gazed curiously at him, not moving. Ash's grin only grew larger. He pulled out an empty pokeball and held it up to Charmander. "Or, if you really want to, you can join my team. It just consists of me and Bagon right now, but we're the best of friends. You won't be excluded. We'll love you unconditionally anyways. But I can't promise you a pain free world. I told Bagon this and I'll tell you this too… I want you to become the very best, a legend amongst your species. Maybe one day you'll return to Charicific Valley a Charizard and make yourself king – I don't know. But what I do know is that I can help you get there. The training won't be easy, but it will make you strong."
Ash's voice broke down into the quietest of whispers. "This is your chance at glory. Take hold of it."
Without hesitation, Charmander tapped the white button of the pokeball and disappeared into a flash of red light. The ball dinged, signifying capture, and Ash pumped his fist high into the air, rejoicing in the new addition to his team. With proper training, Charmander will grow to become a very strong pokemon.
"Well, that was quite a speech there. Are you going to say that every time you catch a pokemon?"
Ash flinched at the voice. He knew it all too well. "Hey to you too, Misty."
"Ash," she greeted. "Tired of wandering the woods?"
The boy had difficultly coming up with an answer. One part of him was still hurt at her rejection and yet the other side wanted to give the offer again. But then again, he was doing just fine without her, and her stupid temper, and her stupid ponytail, and her stupid good looks – whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down there, Ash, he mentally chided himself. Ash found himself at a crossroads not knowing which path to travel.
"Hello?" Misty called, uncomfortable with the lack of response.
Ash decided to go a neutral way and carve another path for himself. "Why'd you come?"
"What?" the girl squirmed, her face flushing.
"I mean, you could've full out avoided me," Ash explained, fiddling with his hat, "and I was just wondering why you came to find me."
Misty's temper looked like it was rising, but she managed to contain a lid on it. "I watched the battle. As Cerulean's Gym Leader, I had to make sure nobody got hurt."
"Well, if you saw me, how and why did I win?" the boy quizzed, a smirk etched on his face. He didn't like tooting his own horn, but Ash had just wanted to make sure that Misty was actually there.
The girl growled, clearly frustrated, but didn't explode or snap at him. "Damien had strong pokemon, but they weren't trained. They were slow to react and didn't have a lot of experience; in fact, I would even go so far as to say that he didn't evolve them, instead choosing to catch their evolved forms. He just tried to tank his way through. But you, on the other hand, used only one pokemon. And Bagon was obviously well trained, in fact, she looked like she was going to evolve by the end of it. Not a lot of pokemon could just swamp a pretty powerful team like that. So you didn't just overpower him, you just outmaneuvered him and actually knew what you were doing."
"Soo," Ash drawled, amusement in his voice, "you admit that Bagon was well trained. And to think that I didn't have the experience to train it…"
Ash had to admit; the thinly veiled stab at Misty was a bit cruel. He was about to apologize when Misty's legendary temper finally exploded. "I was wrong, okay? I'm sorry! That's the whole freaking reason that I came here: to say sorry. I never apologize, but somehow, I felt like I had to, and now you're giving me all this crap about something that I did a month ago. I'm sorry," the girl managed through gritted teeth, straining herself to say the words. Any previous anger Ash had at Misty dissipated with these words.
Though the words lacked sincerity, Ash was impressed. "I'm sorry, too. I…" he hesitated, choosing his words carefully, before going on to say, "I was pretty upset. I mean, that day so many things went wrong. I was kind of sick of it all, so I ran away." Ash felt spent, sitting down on the tree stump that Charmander was on earlier. He didn't want to divulge any personal information to Misty, but after her sacrifice, Ash decided that he could sacrifice something as well.
"I worked for Professor Oak and did a lot of fieldwork with him," Ash revealed, tapping Bagon's pokeball absentmindedly, "and when the day came to receive a starter, I found out that he gave his all away. Even the Pikachu that I wanted so bad. All he had to offer to me was a pokeball."
"So you were mad," Misty concluded. Ash chuckled drily.
"Yeah, although that would be watering it down a little bit," Ash admitted, heating up when Misty sat on the stump next to him. Their legs were touching. "I was raging. I even hung up on my own mother." Regret pooled in the pit of his stomach as he realized just how much he had missed his mom. Ash suddenly felt homesick, and he could've sworn that the aroma of his mom's fresh baked cookies made its way into his nose. Sighing sadly, he willed away the phantom smell. Blocking his mom's number was one of the biggest mistakes he had made, he realized.
"It's okay," Misty murmured, clearly clueless as to how to approach this situation. At least she tried, Ash thought. He glanced at her only to find her staring intensely back at him, their noses so close –
Ash stood up, trying to get Misty's ocean breeze scent out of his mind. "Sorry," he apologized, glancing down, "I got too close."
Misty remained silent, studying him. Was he really that dense? "Hey," she offered, trying to cheer him up, "let's go to the Cerulean Gym. Maybe we could travel to Saffron together…"
"Maybe through the whole of Kanto," Ash counter offered, a small but genuine smile breaking out onto his face. "Would you?"
The girl nodded, and Ash felt as if he was flying. He finally had a traveling companion.
Well, Charizard was smoking the polls, so I decided, eh, to hell with it, there's no way it would loose. Also, I remember watching the episode and feeling that the guy who ditched him was a major douche. It felt gratifying to write his defeat, but in doing so, I also managed to create a new rival for Ash. Gary hasn't even appeared in the picture yet.
I hope the gym fight wasn't too short. After all, Brock is Kanto's weakest Gym Leader and only has two pokemon.
Thanks for all the support guys and gals. It means a lot. Remember, the only way I know if I'm doing my job right is by your reviews! So review! Don't be shy, I don't bite that often.
