Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon
Chapter 1 – Baby Steps
When he first brought the Pokémon egg to his home, ash just sat in his room and stared at it, all the while dreaming about the day the egg would hatch. It was his mom who finally got him out of his excitement and told him that there were other things that he needed to do. His mom told him that he needed to learn about properly taking care of the egg. Ash didn't now that he had to do anything regarding the egg. He thought that the egg would remain in the incubator till it was ready to hatch. It was his mother who told him that although the egg would hatch even if it was left inside the incubator, if he took special care of it, it would hatch in a very strong and healthy baby Pokémon. She told him that the egg requires heat to remain warm and the incubator provides it with artificial heat. So it was better if the egg was placed in front of the fireplace for a few hours every day to provide it with a better source of heat. Although she also told him to make sure that not too much heat reached the egg as it could also harm the baby. So ash with the help of his mom laid a few blankets on the ground in front of the fireplace inside his house and then a few pillows on top of them. He then carefully took the egg out of the incubator and then placed it on top of the pillows after making sure that only enough heat reached it from the fireplace to keep it warm. His mother then advised him to go to professor Oak the next day and ask him to give ash some books about taking care of Pokemon eggs.
His dad also called during the day to congratulate him. Though he told him that since it was an egg he got and not an already trainable Pokemon, he wouldn't need to go to his dad's gym. Rather, they would continue the arrangement next year when his Pokemon would be ready to train.
He also got a surprise visit that night in the form of Hestia, his mom's ninetales. Hestia once licked his face in greeting and maybe to give her blessing to him and then just laid with her egg on the pillows all night, all the while caressing the egg with her nine strong and soft tails. Ash sat with her for some time, telling her all about his plans for the future and his dreams. He only got up when his mom told him to go to sleep.
The next morning after putting the egg back in the incubator, ash went to professor Oak's lab with Hestia. Inside the Pokemon ranch, midway to the lab he was met by the professor's Arcanine who gave him a very wet and sloppy welcome. Trailing behind the Arcanine were 5 growlithe puppies who couldn't have been more than 2 months old. From what ash could guess, they were the siblings to his yet unhatched Pokemon. Seeing them running into Hestia after catching sight of her confirmed his guess. From there Hestia left him to spend time with her children who were trying to catch her dangling tails with their barely developed teeth.
That day professor Oak told him and Gary, who was already there with his grandpa, everything he could about taking care of their Pokemon eggs. He also gave both of them some books to read and a bottle of baby Pokemon oil, which he told them to apply on the egg once every day. According to the professor, the oil was used by Pokemon breeders to hatch strong and healthy Pokemon. He also told them to come daily in the morning for their regular classes with him.
That evening ash sat in front of the fireplace with the Pokemon egg in his lap and Hestia by his side, who had also come at almost the exact same time when he had taken the egg out of the incubator. According to his mother, ninetales were one of the most intelligent Pokemon in the world, right there with the Alakazam line even though they weren't psychic Pokemon. Some ninetales were even said to be able to learn psychic to communicate with humans.
Hestia just sat there near her egg while ash gently polished it using the special oil that the professor had provided him with. Ash wasn't sure if he was just imagining it or not, but he could sometimes feel the egg pulse warmly against his hand every few minutes.
For the next month, the same schedule continued. In the morning Ash would go to the professor Oak's lab to study and then spend some time with the Pokemon in the ranch in the afternoon alongside Gary. In the evening, he would take the egg out of the incubator and read his books while seating near it. And at night, he would gently massage the egg with the special oil given to him by the professor. While doing so, he would talk to the Pokemon inside the egg, telling him about himself, his beliefs, his goals, all the things he planned to do with him. According to the books he had read, talking to the Pokemon egg would make the Pokemon like him more when it hatched as it could hear ash's voice when he talked to him. Hestia would also come daily in the evening and stay all night with the egg. She usually left in the morning after having breakfast.
The most noticeable thing to happen during that time was that in the last week of the month, Gary's Pokemon egg hatched into a healthy little Squirtle. According to professor Oak, the squirtle was 2 inches taller and 10 pounds heavier than what was average for its species. Gary spent that entire week at home, taking care of his Squirtle. Ash went to Gary's home to congratulate him 2 days after Squirtle hatched. From what ash could see, Squirtle was really tiny, maybe the tiniest Pokemon he had ever seen. He couldn't even imagine that the same Pokemon would someday grow up to become a fearsome Blastoise. The whole time ash was there, Gary bragged about how awesome his Squirtle was. Ash was really jealous that Gary's Pokemon had hatched before his but he was also happy for his friend.
But ash's jealousy left him soon during the first week of 2nd month after getting the egg, when it started to shine while he was polishing it. The jealousy soon turned to excitement. But it didn't hatch immediately. The egg took another 2 weeks to hatch. And didn't it surprise everyone when it hatched.
The professor was there that day along with his Arcanine and Hestia both. According to the professor, his Alakazam had told him that there was a very good chance that the egg would hatch that evening. And his Arcanine just wanted to be there when another one of its children hatched. Soon after while ash was polishing the egg it started to shine brightly. The brightness got so much that ash had to avert his eyes. When the brightness finally died down and ash turned his eyes back to his lap, he was really surprised, because instead of a growlithe pup that he was expecting to see, there was a really small, quadruped, fox-like Pokemon in his lap. It had a reddish-brown pelt, brown, pupil-less eyes, large, pointed ears with dark brown insides, and a single white tail with curled tip. There was a vulpix in his lap who was looking at him with her small round eyes. The vulpix also had curled locks of orange fur with bangs on top of its head. From what he could see, Vulpix had a cream underbelly, and brown feet with lighter brown paw pads. But his surprise soon gave way to joy and happiness. He picked the vulpix in his arms and held her close to his chest. Both Arcanine and ninetales soon came to stand beside him and started to lick the baby Pokemon. Seeing that both its parents were here, ash went to set the Pokemon down on the pillows but vulpix started to whine, so ash held her close to his chest.
Once the baby Pokemon had settled down, the professor checked if she was healthy, which according to the professor she was. The professor also told him that the vulpix was female. He then told ash to bring the vulpix to the lab the next morning to do a proper check-up on her. After saying that the professor left, leaving his Arcanine behind. That night, ash slept with the baby vulpix held in his arms against his chest on the mattress in front of the fireplace, with both ninetales and Arcanine on either side of him.
The next morning, ash took the vulpix to the lab, where he was met by professor Oak, Gary who was carrying his Squirtle in his arms, and the other 5 growlithe pups who had come to the lab to search for their parents. While the professor checked up on the vulpix, Arcanine and ninetales took all the pups with them outside. Ash had to stay with the professor all the time he conducted his checks on the vulpix as she refused to go anywhere without ash. According to the professor, vulpix was 1 foot tall and weighed 5 kg, which was average for her species. Gary smirked in ash's direction hearing this as vulpix was average height and weight whereas his Squirtle was already stronger than the average member of his species. Ash just ignored him because he already loved his vulpix, no matter what her height and weight were. The professor also told him that his vulpix had the flash fire ability, meaning fire type moves would have no effect on her during battle and instead would only boost her power. His vulpix had also inherited flare blitz and hex as egg moves. Ash was really ecstatic to ear all this as it told him that vulpix was going to become a really strong Pokemon one day. Ash told his Pokemon so who replied by licking his face.
Later Gary told him that his Squirtle had the ability torrent, and had inherited aqua jet and dragon pulse as egg moves. Gary was really happy to note that his Squirtle had a dragon type move as an egg move.
Before leaving, ash was told by the professor to not make vulpix practice any Pokemon move before she was at least 2 months old. The professor also advised ash to play with her as much as he could, and to engage her in physical activities to strengthen her muscles.
A week after she was hatched, ash introduced vulpix to her siblings at the ranch. Being the only girl in the whole bunch of baby Pokemon made the vulpix shy at first and she refused to leave ash's side. But her desire to play with others finally won over and she left ash's side to play with the other pups. Having professor Oak's Arcanine for a father and then role model had made the whole bunch of pups rather rowdy, so it didn't take them long to remove the tiniest bit of shyness present in vulpix.
Ash's dad sent him a book on the vulpix evolutionary line after being told that his egg had hatched into a vulpix. By the time the next 2 months passed, ash had memorized the book by heart. Vulpix had also grown in that time, now standing at 1'4" and weighing 7 kg.
By this time, Gary had already started teaching Squirtle the bubble attack. So ash was just itching to get permission from professor Oak to teach vulpix some new moves. He finally got the permission to teach her the ember attack on the day she turned 2 months old. It took vulpix 2 months to produce a respectable ember attack. In the same amount of time, Gary's Squirtle had learned the bubble attack and the tackle attack, and he was now working on tail whip. It took vulpix another 1 month before ash declared her ember attack workable in battle. During this time ash had also taught her the tackle attack. Ash had noticed that when vulpix played with the growlithe pups, sometimes they would get too rough with her and she would start making these really cute eyes at them which would immediately stop them from bothering her. When he told this to the professor one day, the professor told him that she must have been using the very basic form of baby-doll eyes attack, which was a fairy type attack which lowered the opponents attack power. Ash was really happy to learn that his vulpix had learned a fairy type attack, which was one of the most powerful Pokemon type, all by herself even if it was a status lowering attack.
The book given to him by his dad had told him that vulpix were some of the quickest Pokémon, and their evolution ninetales were among the fastest Pokémon on the planet. So ash decided to teach her quick attack as her next attack. It took vulpix another 2 months to learn it, and another month to learn it enough to use in battle effectively. By this time, vulpix was around 8 months old and her single tail had split into 3. All of her tails were still white at the tips instead of the orange colour they were known for. So, for the next 3 months, instead of teaching her any new attack, ash focused on developing her physically and had her do some physical exercises daily specially designed for her species. During this time he also worked with her to perfect the attacks she already knew.
Their hard work paid off as by the end of their 3rd month of training, vulpix had finally gotten all 6 of her tails, and there was not even a speck of white in them. She also stood at 2'0" and weighed almost 10 kg, which according to his book was the average for her species. According to professor Oak, his vulpix would be keep on growing physically for another 2 years, although her growth rate would be slow. From the tests the professor conducted, he estimated that she would grow to maybe around 3'0", which would make her one of the biggest Pokemon of her species. Professor Oak's Arcanine was a massive Pokemon, around 7 feet tall, and his genes were already showing in his daughter. Vulpix was not the only one who had inherited the good genes. Her brothers were also getting bigger day by day.
So, it was a year after the day ash had gotten his first Pokemon's egg, that Ash left his home to go to Viridian city, where his dad had his own gym. His dad had told him now that vulpix was not a baby anymore, and old enough to properly train, he will be spending every alternate month at his gym to learn more about Pokemons and train his Pokemon. Ash was reluctant to leave his mom and pallet town at first, but it was his mom who finally convinced him to go. She told him that it would be good practice for when he would become a trainer and go on his journey. Also, his dad was one of the toughest Pokemon trainer in all of Kanto, so he would learn a lot from him. So, it was with a somewhat reluctant heart that he left for viridian city with his dad who had come to pick him up.
Ash and his dad had left for viridian city in the morning and it took the almost 6 hours to reach the viridian city even by car. Ash had already visited the viridian city quite a few times before with his mom and dad, so it was nothing new to him. Although it still amazed him knowing that viridian was at least 4 times bigger than Pallet town, maybe more. His dad's gym was located on the edge of the city which provided him with hundreds of acres of land to use for his Pokemon.
From what ash remembered, 3 major paths lead from the city centre. To the north was Route 2, as well as Viridian Forest, which lied in the middle of the route, leading to Pewter City. To the south was Route 1, which led to Pallet Town. And to the west was Route 22, leading to Indigo Plateau and the Pokémon League.
The 1st evening in the gym his dad told him to either get rest or to get himself acquainted with the gym. After setting his luggage in the room his dad assigned to him, ash decided to explore the gym. There weren't a lot of people in the gym, just enough to properly take care of it. There wasn't even any trainer to challenge his dad. So after some time, he just decided to get some rest as his dad had told him that they would start his training the next morning.
The next morning, he woke up early and after freshening up, he went to dining room. There he was met with his dad, who was already having his breakfast and his dad's Persian.
Persian was a large, quadruped, feline Pokémon. Its fur was pale tan with the exception of its black-rimmed ears. It had a short muzzle with a small, black nose, red eyes with slit pupils, rounded ears, a pair of pointed teeth in its upper jaw, and three whiskers on either side of its face. From what ash knew, its thick whiskers were very sensitive to changes in air movements, enabling it to detect its prey by movement alone. In the centre of its forehead was a red jewel. Its long tail had a distinctive curl at the end. It had long legs and three-toed paws with retractable claws. Persian's lithe muscles enabled it to walk without making a sound.
Persian just gave him a lazy look as he entered the dining room before going back to her own breakfast. His father gave him a nod and motioned for him to sit. Vulpix, who was trailing behind him, decided to make friends with the large feline Pokemon and went to sit with him. Although it didn't look like the Persian was any interested in getting to know the fox Pokemon. Vulpix soon gave up and came back to Ash, who picked her up and placed her on his lap.
After breakfast, his dad took him to the grounds behind the gym.
"So, when will we start training?" ash asked after setting the vulpix down who immediately bolted towards the trees where she could see some ratatas playing.
"Soon. Let's have a discussion first" his dad replied.
"Discussion about what" ash asked looking perplexed.
"You"
"What about me?" ash asked again.
"Tell me ash, what is your dream?" his dad asked.
"I want to be a Pokemon master" ash replied without any hesitation.
"And what does it mean to be a Pokemon master?"
"It means…uh." Ash hesitated and thought about it. "It means I'm going to catch some Pokemons and train them to become the best and then one day, I'm going to defeat the champion".
"So you want to be the champion. Is that what you mean?" his dad asked again.
"Well, in a way yes!" ash replied.
"So you don't want to be a Pokemon master?" his dad asked again.
Now ash was getting confused. Didn't his dad implied a few moments ago that both being the champion and the Pokemon master were same things. He asked him so.
"Aren't both the same thing?"
"Let me ask you something different first. Have you ever heard of any Pokemon master?" his dad asked again.
Ash thought about it for a moment and then said, "Well, aren't you a ground type Pokemon master, and Blaine, a fire Pokemon master, and Lance, a dragon type Pokemon master?"
"We are not Pokemon masters ash" his dad explained. "We are specialists in a particular Pokemon type. I'm a ground type specialist. Lance is a dragon type specialist. Blaine is a fire type specialist. None of us is a Pokemon master, not even Lance".
"But isn't Lance the champion. He is the most powerful Pokemon trainer in Kanto" ash said, now really interested in whatever his dad was trying to tell him.
"Yes, Lance is the champion and without doubt the most powerful trainer in whole of Kanto. But he is not a Pokemon master" his dad replied. "Being a champion and a Pokemon master are two different things. There has been only 1 Pokemon master in the entire history of Indigo League".
Now ash was stunned. From what he remembered of Kanto's history, Indigo league was around 500 years old and his dad was telling him that in the last 500 years, the had been only 1 Pokemon master.
"Who was he?" ash finally asked after a moment's silence.
"He was the very first Pokemon champion, the same one who established the Indigo League, William Goodshow" his dad said. "And he was 56 years old when he achieved the title of Pokemon master".
Ash just sat there stunned thinking about all that his dad had just told him.
"Still want to become a Pokemon master, when nobody else, not even your hero Lance has been able to become one yet?" his dad asked him.
Ash thought about it for a moment. Yes, it will be tough, tougher than anything else he could do, but just because nobody else had done it didn't mean he couldn't do it. So yes, he would become the 2nd Pokemon master in history of Kanto.
"Yes, my goal is still the same, no matter how difficult it may be" ash replied.
"So, do you know how to become a Pokemon master?" his dad asked.
Before this discussion he would have replied that he just needed to catch some Pokemon, care for them, and train them, and one day defeat the champion. But now, he didn't know.
"No, I don't!" ash replied somewhat subdued.
"Well then it is a good thing that I know it" his dad replied and continued before ash could say anything else. "No, I'm not going to tell you how right now. It is a tightly controlled piece of information, known only by certain gym leaders, elite four and the champion. So I can't tell it to you".
"Then how am I going to become the Pokemon master if I don't even know how to become one?" ash asked now slightly hurt and angry at not being told.
"There are certain things that one need to accomplish before he/she can be called a Pokemon master. I know all of those things. I will tell you one right now and when you complete that task, I will tell you the other, and when you complete that I will tell you the next one and so on. How does that sound?" his dad asked already knowing his answer.
"Very well. Tell me the first thing that I need to do?" ash asked.
"The first thing you need to do in order to become a Pokemon master is that you need to win the indigo league" his dad said.
"I'm already going to do that dad. Tell me something else" ash whined.
"No, I don't think you fully understand" his dad said. "The tasks that you need to perform to become a Pokemon master increase in difficulty with every task you complete. Winning the indigo league is the first and the easiest, and you need to do it as soon as you can, so that you can move on to the next task. Even Lance won the indigo league on his 3rd attempt, at the age of 13. He was given his first Pokemon, his dratini, when he was just 5 years old. He had all the resources of wataru clan, all their techniques at his disposal, and it still took him 3 tries to win the indigo league. It took him another 6 years to become the champion, making him the youngest champion in the history of world, at the age of 19. Well, he was the youngest champion, now that title belongs to Cynthia, champion of Sinnoh. She became champion at the age of 18, 1 year before Lance. And still, none of them is a Pokemon master, and believe me when I say this that both of them are still trying to become the Pokemon master".
Now ash was really shocked. Lance had been the champion for last 10 years, and Cynthia for the last 5, and still none of them was a Pokemon master when they both were actually trying to become one.
"Do you understand me ash? Do you understand what I'm trying to say?" his dad asked. "You need to actually be better than both the champions if you want to achieve your dream during your lifetime".
"Yes, I understand dad" ash replied, and he really did even if it was still mind-boggling. "Will you help me?"
His dad thought about it for a moment.
"I will help you but on one condition" his dad said. "You will always listen to whatever I'm telling you. No exceptions, ever. Do this, and I promise you I will make you a Pokemon master? Can you do that?"
Ash thought about it. Could he do what his dad was asking him to do? Could he trust his dad implicitly? But his dad was promising him that if he could do it then he will definitely become a Pokemon master. The choice was a simple one for ash.
"Yes! I can do that" ash replied.
"Good! We will discuss more about it later" his dad said. "Right now, it is time to see what your vulpix is capable of. Call her and we will start her training".
Ash did so.
After that the whole day was spent testing the limits of his vulpix. How long she could run, how high she could jump, how strong were her tails, how strong were her attacks, her attack range, her attack power, everything was tested by his dad. By the time his dad finished, vulpix was so exhausted that she fell asleep in ash's arms before he could even take her to his room.
After making sure that vulpix was safely sleeping in his room, ash went back to the dining room, where his father was already waiting for him along with his Persian.
"You have trained her well so far" his dad said. "Your decision to focus on her physical development instead of teaching her new moves was a particularly good one. It takes a vulpix usually 15-18 months to develop all 6 of their tails".
"Thanks! I read in the books that vulpix won't be able to properly fight or even use her full capabilities before developing her tails. So I decided to help her develop them first. I just followed the exercises mentioned in the books that a vulpix can perform to help her develop her tails at a faster rate" ash said.
"That was good thinking on your part. Now that she is fully developed, we can focus on training her without any problem. I talked to Blaine before you came here, he has a ninetales of his own. He told me about a few exercises that you should make vulpix perform daily" his dad said. "As you know, every Pokemon has a type of energy inside them that they you for various tasks like breathing fire or generating electricity. Now, some people may tell you that the energy in every Pokemon is same, but never listen to them. Fire type Pokemon use a totally different type of energy than water type Pokemon, because if that wasn't the case, every Pokemon would be capable of learning just about every move. Though some Pokemon have more than 1 type of energy present inside them, and some can even convert one type of energy to other. Your vulpix has fire type energy inside her. When you tell her to perform ember tomorrow, ask her to try to sense the energy she uses for her attack. Keep it up till she can sense this energy without performing any attack. When she can sense this energy inside her even while not performing any attack, ask her to circulate this energy inside her whole body".
"But isn't the energy already present in her body?" ash enquired truly intrigued.
"Yes, but it just present there. It is like water in a glass, it is stationary, and it is not moving. Make sure that vulpix understand this, she has to keep this energy moving inside her body. It will help her in 2 ways" his dad said showing him 2 fingers. "First of all, it will improve her control over the energy, meaning that she will learn fire type attacks faster, her attacks will be stronger, and she will waste less energy while performing an attack. Second, circulating the fire type energy inside her body will slowly help her withstand higher temperature, as a result the fire she produces will be hotter. Blaine's ninetails has been performing this exercise for the past few years, and now she can even stand inside a volcano, inside the lava flowing there".
Ash just gaped at that. Ninetails were not known to be able to survive inside lava. Even amongst fire type Pokemon, there were very few who could survive being bathed in lava. For a ninetails to have achieved this told ash about the potential of this technique beeter than anything else could.
"Now ash, remember this, you will be the one to train vulpix. I will tell you tips and tricks just like I told you now, but I will not train her. She is your Pokemon, so how to train her, what areas to focus, what attacks to teach her, you will have to decide all that. You can come to me if you have any problem or if you want my help for anything particular. Understand?" his dad asked.
"Yes dad, I understand" ash replied.
"Good. Now finish your dinner and then go prepare a proper training schedule for vulpix. You will start training her tomorrow. Make sure you leave a day every week just for rest because proper rest is every bit as important as proper training. I will also join you every week on the day before your break. For the rest 5 days you can train her any way you want"
Ash nodded at that.
After finishing his dinner, ash went back to his room and did just that. He used the computer in his room to find out all the moves that vulpix could learn and then he made a list of the ones that he wanted to teach his vulpix. He decided on a timeline for when he would teach her a move and how long they both would spend on it.
After that he woke her up and gave her the dinner that he had brought for her. Then they both fell asleep on the bed, with vulpix lying on top of ash, dreaming of what the next day would bring for them.
A month later, a day before he would be returning to Pallet town, ash stood on one side of the battlefield inside the gym while his dad stood on the opposite side of the field. Vulpix stood in front of him and in front of her was his dad's Pokemon, Nidoqueen, a dual ground and poison type Pokemon.
Nidoqueen was a large, bipedal blue Pokémon with distinct reptilian features. Its body was encased with extremely hard scales that served as excellent protection from any attack and stood up when Nidoqueen was excited or provoked. It had a blunt snout, narrow brown eyes, and large ears with brown insides. There was a small horn on its forehead, and single spine on each ear, and there was a line of toxic spikes running down the length of its back. Each hand had three short claws and each foot was two claws. Its lower jaw, the front of its abdomen, and two plates on its chest were cream-colored. It had a thick, powerful tail.
His dad wanted him to battle his Nidoqueen to see how vulpix and ash both would fare in a real battle. The previous month had been spent doing some rigorous training. Ash had wanted vulpix to learn the move fire burst, which was an upgraded version of ember with a hotter flame and more power. The flame bullets resulted from flame burst also exploded on coming in contact with the target, though it was a small explosion, nothing compared to a fire blast, which could reduce the whole gym to ash if fired by a sufficiently powerful Pokemon. With the help of her new energy circulating exercise, a silly name he had come up with, she was able to learn the move in just 10 days. After that ash had started to teach her hex, which was an egg move for her, so she was able to get a hang of it even faster, but due to it being a ghost type move, it was really underpowered as she couldn't control the other-wordly energy very well.
The schedule ash had come up with for training vulpix was an easy one, if somewhat hard during practice. 3 hours in the morning were spent on physical exercises, most of which ash did with vulpix as he couldn't ask her to do something if he himself wasn't willing to do. Seeing her trainer doing the exercises with her motivated vulpix to do even better. In the afternoon, vulpix would work on her energy regulating exercise, while ash worked on his studies. Since he was going to be a trainer, he didn't need to go to a proper school, but he still needed to study and pass the standard graduation exams. He had already cleared his level 2 exams last year, which was equivalent to graduating primary school, and now he was preparing for level 3, which would make him equal to a secondary school graduate. In the evening, 2 hours were spent on learning a new move, while another 2 would be spent on practising and improving the already learnt moves.
Now as ash stood on the battlefield behind is vulpix, he recalled all the moves she could do. She could do ember, flame burst, Hex, although it wasn't fully learned yet, tackle, quick attack and baby doll eyes. Nidoqueen was a fully developed Pokemon, and quite powerful, so ash had no dreams of defeating her, yet. But he was still going to do his best. A single hit from Nidoqueen's powerful body would take out vulpix, so his best bet would be to attack from distance.
"Alright ash! Show me what you have learned so far" his dad said from the other side. "Attack when you are ready".
"Vulpix, try to maintain the distance, if nidoqueen attacks, dodge with quick attack. Now, start with ember"
Vulpix immediately started shooting small balls of flame towards Nidoqueen, who much to ash's surprise just stood at her position. The attack hit her head on producing some smoke. When the smoke cleared, Nidoqueen stood at her place without any damage. Then she opened her mouth and fired off some purple needle like energy which ash immediately identified as poison sting. Vulpix dodged them without any trouble and started to run across the field in zig-zag pattern so that Nidoqueen couldn't attack her. Nidoqueen kept on firing poison sting for another few seconds before stopping much to both ash's and vulpix's relief.
"Vulpix! Use baby-doll eyes. Then flame burst, and then change position using quick attack and flame burst again" ash shouted.
Vulpix did just that. She gathered some energy in her eyes before looking straight into nidoqueen's eyes. The effect was immediate. Nidoqueen relaxed her stance. Vulpix quickly gathered a large amount of flame in her mouth and then fired it at Nidoqueen. The flame bullet, much larger than previous attack slammed into nidoqueen's face and exploded. Nidoqueen immediately snapped out of the previous attack's spell and roared in pain as much hotter flames licked at her face. She moved her tail and slammed into the ground with such force that the whole field shook. Vulpix who was in the middle of charging another flame burst, lost her balance and fell on the field. She cried out in pain when some loose rocks slammed into her.
"Come on vulpix! I know you can do it. Flame burst one more time" ash shouted. Vulpix obeyed immediately and started another flame burst. On the other side of the field, Nidoqueen having recovered from the previous flame burst, opened her large mouth and fired two large thick gooey sludge. She fired off her attack at the same time as vulpix. The first sludge bomb exploded on coming in contact with the flame burst and exploded, covering the field in a large amount of smoke. The second sludge bomb continued uninterrupted and slammed into vulpix's small body, who cried out in pain. Thankfully, it didn't poison her.
"Vulpix, come back here!" ash called, mentally thanking arceus, the god of Pokemon, that vulpix was not poisoned by the sludge bomb. But as she came back to ash's side, he noted that vulpix was wincing ever so slightly, and was favouring her left side more. The small earthquake attack earlier must have damaged her more than he had thought it would. Ash knew that it was a very weak earthquake attack, because if it had been fully powered, vulpix would have fainted right then and there. And that sludge bomb hadn't done her any favours. One more direct attack, and vulpix would be done for. But ash didn't want to lose so easily, even though he knew that defeat was inevitable. Nidoqueen was a powerhouse of a Pokemon, and vulpix had just started training. Looking at the Nidoqueen, who was patiently waiting for him to attack again, ash quickly thought of a plan.
"Vulpix, use quick attack to get near Nidoqueen and fire ember at her left shoulder. When she attacks back, dodge with quick attack and fire ember again at the same place. Go" ash said to vulpix in a very low voice so Nidoqueen or his dad couldn't hear it.
Vulpix immediately started running towards Nidoqueen, leaving a white energy trailing behind her signifying her use of quick attack. Nidoqueen patiently waited for her to come close, opening her mouth and charging a white energy. The moment vulpix came within 10 feet of Nidoqueen, Nidoqueen fired off her attack, freezing the very air as white lances of energy moved towards vulpix who dodged at the last second using the speed provided by the quick attack and fired a quick ember attack which Nidoqueen ignored as it didn't seem to do any damage. Ash recognized the attack fired by Nidoqueen as ice-beam, as it froze the part of the field where it slammed. The next minute went by without any success on either Pokemon's part. Nidoqueen couldn't seem to catch vulpix with her attacks while vulpix's ember attack didn't seem to be doing anything. But just as it seemed that they had both reached a stalemate, an ember attack made Nidoqueen shriek in pain. When ash looked closely at Nidoqueen, he could see an angry red burn mark at her left shoulder. The continued use of ember hd made induced a burn on nidoqueen's body.
"Now, use hex! Before Nidoqueen can recover" ash shouted immediately.
Pleased by the sudden damage her attack had done, vulpix immediately fired off a hex. Ghostly energy surrounded her mouth before she shot it in the direction of Nidoqueen. The attack hit Nidoqueen head on and she roared in pain.
Seeing that his Pokemon had suffered enough, ash's dad finally issued a command, "shadow ball, and finish it".
Before ash could even order vulpix to dodge, Nidoqueen had charged up a shadow ball in her mouth and fired. The shadow ball slammed into vulpix and exploded with such force that it picked vulpix off the ground and tossed her 10 feet back.
"Vulpix!" ash shouted. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to get up after such an attack, ash immediately ran up to her and picked up her in his arms.
"You were so amazing vulpix, I couldn't have asked for anything more" ash whispered to vulpix who looked really sad at having lost. "Don't worry, Nidoqueen is really tough and you were still able to push her so much. Next time, we will definitely win."
"Vul! Vulpix" vulpix cooed back and licked ash's face promising her trainer that yes, next time they would definitely win. After that she finally lost consciousness. Ash took out the vulpix's pokeball, a luxury ball, having gotten it from his mother, and returned vulpix to it.
"That was a good strategy you used, taking advantage of vulpix'x moveset and nidoqueen's arrogance. I don't think she is going to underestimate anyone for some time now" Giovanni said, having already returned Nidoqueen to her pokeball.
"Yeah! I knew that we couldn't defeat Nidoqueen. The power difference between her and vulpix is just too much right now. I knew that hex would be able to damage Nidoqueen if she got a burn. So I had vulpix use ember again and again as Nidoqueen just kept on ignoring them thinking they were harmless" ash explained.
"It is a good combination. Burn the other Pokemon and then use hex. A surprisingly good combination against a superior opponent. If it was a ninetales that had fired that hex, you would have won the match"
"Vulpix is still learning how to properly use hex. I don't think if it wasn't an egg move that she would have been able to learn it".
"She will get it eventually, just keep practising it"
The next day, ash went back to pallet town. When he saw Gary there, he immediately challenged ash to a Pokemon battle. It was ash's first Pokemon battle aside from his fight against Nidoqueen. Vulpix was a lot faster than Squirtle but Squirtle had better defence and offence both. Knowing this, ash used the same combination he had used against Nidoqueen, use quick attack to dodge, and fire ember and flame burst when presented an opening. Squirtle got burned after getting hit by a particularly powerful flame burst. After that it was over the moment vulpix used hex. But it wasn't a one sided match. Squirtle had hit vulpix with a very powerful water gun, and some bubble attacks had also made contact. Vulpix was really exhausted after the battle.
Gary congratulated ash on winning their first battle but ash knew that gary was really angry at himself having lost the battle. Ash could understand. He would have been upset too if he had lost his first Pokemon battle against his best friend and rival.
The next year went by quickly in the same fashion. Ash would spend one month at home and then one month at his dad's gym. Every time ash would come back from his dad's gym, Gary would challenge him. Gary won their second battle and the 3rd too, and ash won back the fourth and fifth battle. He would have won the 6th and latest battle as well, but Squirtle evolved mid battle, allowing Gary to win. Ash wasn't really upset about his latest loss, as it had been a close battle even after squirtle evolved. He was happy for his friend. Squirtle, now Wartortle, was already showing signs of becoming a monster one day. He was 4 feet tall after his evolution, 1 feet more than what was average for his species. He also weighed 30 kg, so Gary couldn't carry him in his arms anymore.
Professor Oak had told them that ash was the only one from the 10 kids whose Pokemon hadn't evolved. All 9 of other Pokemon had evolved at least once by then. But ash wasn't really concerned about vulpix's evolution right now. Ash knew that he needed a fire stone to evolve his vulpix and since he didn't have one, he had asked his dad if he had any. His dad had promised him that he would provide him a fire stone but only after vulpix manged to defeat his Nidoqueen. His dad had forbidden him from evolving vulpix before that. When he had asked why, his dad had told him that if vulpix could defeat his Nidoqueen, who was a top gym level Pokemon, as a pre-evolved Pokemon, that it would make her that much more powerful when she evolved into a ninetales. So, right now ash's main problem was defeating Nidoqueen, who had defeated vulpix all six times he had challenged her. Though Nidoqueen had to try really hard to win the last time they had battled, so ash considered it progress.
His vulpix had also grown a lot in the last year. According to latest readings by the professor, she was 2'8" in height and weighed 18 Kg. Ash could already tell that his vulpix was going to become one of the largest Pokemon of her species. A normal ninetales had a height of 3 feet and his vulpix was going to reach that height soon.
Vulpix had also learned the moves fire spin and will-o-wisp, both fire type moves, hypnosis, a psychic type move which made the opponent sleep, bite, a dark type move, fire fang, and iron tail, a steel type move for which he had to use a TM which his dad had provided him with. Thankfully, it was a reusable TM, so ash could use it again in future to teach iron tail to some other Pokemon. In addition, vulpix had also perfected hex. Now using will-o-wisp to induce burn and then using hex was his favourite combination move.
The next move he wanted vulpix to work on was flamethrower. Flamethrower, like the name suggested, was a move in which the Pokemon literally fired out a constant stream of flames from their mouth. Masters of this move were said to be able to keep up a single flamethrower going for minutes. Since his vulpix had just started to learn the move, she could only do it for a few seconds.
Now, standing before his father in his gym, ash wondered what his dad wanted to talk about. He had just came to viridian city few hours ago and his dad had called him to his office, which was rare to say the least. Ash wondered if it was about him or vulpix.
"Tell me ash what do you think of vulpix right now? You must have learned everything there is to know about her evolutionary line by now." his dad asked.
Ash thought about it for few moments. His dad was right in saying that ash had read a lot about vulpix and her evolutionary form ninetales. Since the day vulpix hatched from her egg, ash had wanted to know everything about her line, so he had tried to find every piece of information that was available to him.
"Vulpix are known for their special attacks and speed. They are not very large, not even large, vulpix are quite small Pokemon actually, so their physical attack power and defence is quite weak in comparison to their speed. But my vulpix doesn't have these weaknesses to such extent. She is very large for her species already and still growing. I think, and professor Oak agreed with me when I told him this that when she evolves into ninetales and finishes growing, she may reach the height of an average Arcanine. Still, vulpix are known for their speeds, so I have tried to focus on helping her become as fast as she can. With the exercises that you recommended, her attack and defence has become quite good as well, but her speciality lies in speed" ash said.
"Good. You are correct to think that ninetales may reach 6 feet in height one day, which will provide her with a very good physical offence and defence, no doubt because of her superior genetics. Getting a Pokemon sired by Oak's Arcanine was a stroke of luck for you. I have seen him fight you know, his Arcanine. I don't think even Persian would be able to defeat him, though don't tell Persian that" his dad said, laughing silently. "Now, there are different approaches to how to raise a Pokemon. Some people try to focus only on developing the abilities of Pokemon that they are already good at. Some people try to raise Pokemon to counter their weaknesses. There are a lot of other approaches out there. When you came here, I noticed that you were already working on Vulpix's speed and her special attacks even without you noticing it. Vulpix was really good at ember, and her quick attack was also very good, but her tackle was normal compared to them. I wanted you to learn first-hand these things, that's why I didn't point them out. That was also the reason that most of the exercises that I taught you and your vulpix were meant to help her increase her physical strength since you were neglecting them though unknowingly."
Ash looked horrified to learn that he had been focusing only on some parts of vulpix's training. He had never even realized that.
"Now, don't look so sad. It is a common mistake that almost every trainer makes at the start of their journey. You only come to know about these things through experience. And no, because of the exercises that I had vulpix perform almost every day, she is not lagging behind in those areas. But since you will be getting a second Pokemon soon, and you still had not become aware about it, I thought I should mention it to you"
"Thanks dad!" ash releases a sigh of relief knowing that his negligence hadn't resulted in hindering vulpix's growth. He silently promised himself to never repeat this mistake again. But then he thought about what his dad had said. "Wait, what second Pokemon? I thought I was not allowed to catch any Pokemon till I can officially start my Pokemon journey?"
"First of all, if you want to become a Pokemon master in one life-time then forget about what is official and what isn't. Most of the league rules regarding Pokemon are for people who can't handle Pokemon properly. People are not allowed to carry Pokemon above a certain limit because league don't think that you can take care of them all. Same reason for not allowing you to catch above a certain number of Pokemon. Though you can officially increase the limit of how many Pokemon you can carry with you if you can get someone with a league position to sponsor it. You can also have the no. of Pokemon you can catch increased the same way but there is a limit to how much you can do it. Do you really think that lance or any other champion or elite four trainer didn't already have multiple Pokemon before they started their Pokemon journey? Let me tell you, most of them did."
"Well, if you put it like that I can understand. But wont the league or the professor object to me catching a Pokemon?" ash asked, now excited at having another partner to help him achieve his dream.
"You will be catching the Pokemon but it will be registered to me. The pokeball that you will use will have my Pokemon trainer id. So you don't need to worry about league knowing about it. I will officially transfer it to you when you start your journey. About professor Oak, well you will have to leave the Pokemon here when you go back to Pallet town. You will also have to be careful about not mentioning it to anyone out there"
"I can do that" ash agreed immediately, too excited at the thought of catching a new Pokemon. He wonder who it would be, a pidgey, no, his dad would never agree to a pidgey, even ash knew that by now. No bug type either if it wasn't a scythe, but they were super rare in the wild. Maybe he could catch a nidoran or a Pikachu.
"Where should I go to catch a Pokemon?" ash finally asked his dad.
"I have a house in Sinnoh. We will be going there tomorrow. So, don't bother unpacking your things" his dad said.
"I will catch a sinnoh Pokemon. That's so cool. Thanks dad" ash said, barely containing his excitement. He could already imagine the look on Gary's face when tell him about his, but then he remembered that he couldn't do it for another two years.
"I wonder if I could catch a gible" ash mused out loud.
"Don't get your hopes up. And you will not be getting any dragon type Pokemon till you have a full team" his dad said.
"why so?" ash asked, more interested in knowing the reason than getting angry at being told no. he was still giddy at the thought of catching Pokemon.
"Dragon type Pokemon are the most difficult type of Pokemon to raise. They won't listen to you or respect you if you aren't powerful enough. So till you become powerful enough to gain the respect of a dragon type, you won't be catching any. We don't want any accidents now, do we?"
"No, I understand"
"Good. You can go now. Be sure to wake up early tomorrow, we have an early flight"
With that said, ash went back to his room, wondering what new Pokemon would become part of his family.
A/N:
rockingchampif, thank you for posting the very first review for this fic, I hope you will continue to do so. I hope you are not too much disappointed with ash getting a vulpix. I agree with you that growlithe is an amazing pokemon, and Arcanine is one of my all-time favourite, but he has been used as a starter by a lot of people before in their fanfics. I wanted to try something new. Rest assured, in the world of pokemon that I am envisioning, ninetales is also going to be an amazing pokemon. Also, there is no move limit. Pokemon trainers are going to be way more competent, it's not just ash.
I hope more people will leave a review this time. Till next time.