A Boy and his Cat
AN: Longer then the last chapter, still not that big and I doubt they'll ever be huge. Hope that's ok with you guys. Didn't get many reviews for the first chapter but they're all positive, so I'm not really complaining.
And sorry, Mr. Negima Uzumaki and Mr. dark mann. No starters, unless a lot of people ask for them (and I mean a LOT) and just one cat, singular.
Nevertheless, disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, both the franchise or any of the little buggers. The very few OCs can be used without permission but please send people my way if you do use them.
Chapter 2: Truly, a Team of Brutes
"So this is Mt. Moon, huh?" Ash asked himself "And those are Clefairy." he mussed.
Looking inside the cave Ash made a mental note of the pokemon he could see. The Zubat were either sleeping on the ceiling or hiding from him, the Geodude were pretending to be boulders, Sandshrew were hiding as well and Paras were just planting their mushrooms.
Truth be told he wasn't very impressed and he also didn't really want to fight in here. It was clear this pokemon never saw battle and wouldn't amount to much. Hell, one of the Clefairy was so fearless when it came to strangers that she came to offer him a berry.
He ate the fruit and gave the Clefairy one of his own, it was so happy that now there were three of them dancing around him. Ash had to admit they were cute, a little too cute for him to want to use in battle so he just marched forward. The sooner he got out of here the sooner he could go back to really training his pokemon.
Meowth still didn't want to evolve, but he had a feeling Mankey would be a Primeape soon enough.
While the young trainer walked, the Clefairy came to realize that if they gave him things, Ash would smile and give them berries. One of them even found an old pokeball somewhere and so the trainer was quickly running out of the little fruits. Ok, not really, he still had a lot but they seemed intent on ridding him of them.
When one of the Clefairy found an Everstone for him, it really made a ruckus. Prompting the others to scold it for some reason. He considered asking but he had no idea how to understand a Clefairy so he just kept moving.
When Ash tried to enter the next part of the caves, all three of the Fairy pokemon tried to push him away from it. He stopped and raised an eyebrow, so the little creatures tried to explain something but Ash could only shake his head.
Then one of them shouted it's name, was shushed by the others and explained it's plan. It climbed on the other two to look bigger and growled it's name menacingly after pointing at the path Ash wanted to follow.
"There's something dangerous in there?" the trainer asked.
When all three nodded, Ash just smiled and walked towards the danger. All the Clefairy started running around him in a panic while shouting their names. That ruckus seemed to wake the danger because the three little creatures froze and stared intently at where Ash was headed.
When the trainer saw the pokemon that had scared them so, his eyes widened before a smile appeared on his face. The Geodude in front of him was twice as big as Brock's, it actually looked to be halfway to Graveler.
Grabbing the lone pokeball on his right side, Ash said "Meowth, use Taunt." while releasing his pokemon.
The Scratch Cat took on look at the opponent, smiled and did so. With that weird meow-laughter of her, Meowth angered the Geodude enough that it charged without thinking.
"Double Team and Water Pulse, go." the trainer ordered.
His pokemon agreed and a dozen copies of it appeared in the battlefield, confusing Geodude when he went through one. While the pokemon tried to figure out why it had smashed into a wall instead of a pokemon, it was hit by the Water Pulse and roared in pain.
"That looked a lot more effective then it was on Onix..." Ash mussed but put it out of his mind, the Geodude was standing and the wall he had hit instead of Meowth was not.
The wild pokemon started smashing itself against the ground until everything began to shake. Meowth lost his footing just as a large rock broke free from the ground, the Cat Scratch pokemon fell and hit his face in the boulder. She groaned in pain while rolling on the floor.
"That was Magnitude? Wow... Ah, Meowth use protect!" shouted Ash, his cool long gone.
Meowth was able to put up the blue barrier just on time for Geodude's Roll Out to hit it. The Rock pokemon went flying while spinning, before it started to fall.
"Iron Tail it into the wall!" ordered the boy.
His pokemon got up and took her time to make her tail glow white. Then, crying her name, Meowth smashed it against the out of control Geodude and flung it against the wall behind Ash. The Rock pokemon was out like a light and wasn't able to put up much of a fight against the trainer's pokeball.
"Well, I like that one, kitty. What about you?" Ash asked with a smile.
Just them the Clefairy started dancing and cheering around Ash again, oddly enough, this time Meowth did the same.
"Every single one of your pokemon is incapacitated?"
Ash was simply flabbergasted, Cerulean City had THREE gym leaders and they had been defeat by every other trainer that left Pallet Town the same day as him. Now he couldn't fight because the leaders sucked too much. He had the feeling that his two days with Geodude would have been enough to get beat them.
"All except this one." said the one that had identified herself as Lily, while she released a Goldeen.
"Unless it evolves into a Seaking we can't use it to battle-" started Violet, but Ash interrupted her.
"Why not? He must know at least one attack..." he tried.
"No, he's too young. But it's ok because know instead of battling we have time to make ourselves look beautiful!" said Lily.
While Ash did agree that they were all lovely, he had come for a badge. So just as he was about to protest again Violet spoke "Uh, like, why don't we have him fight Misty? It's better then giving him the badge."
"Oh yeah! Our little runt sister came back the other, I'm going to go get her!" the last sister, Daisy, smiled and took off.
"That's fine with me, I guess." said Ash, while rubbing the back of his head.
"So, this will be a two on two battle for the Cascade." said Violet while she stood on the side of the field "Are both of you ready?" she asked and when answered with nods shouted "Then: Begin!"
Mist twirled and shouted "Staryu, I choose you!" she threw a pokeball forward and her pokemon appeared.
"Then I'll go with Meowth." said Ash, releasing his kitty "Fake Out, now!"
Before Misty could say anything the Cat Scratch pokemon had slapped her Water type into the water.
"Staryu, no!" the Gym leader clenched her fist and ordered "Stay underwater and use Swift!" and from the poll were shot dozens of little yellow stars, all directed at Meowth.
"Aim at where they are coming from, Thunderbolt."
All the stars that impacted with Meowth's Thunderbolt were destroyed but most of them still hit, though Ash's pokemon just ignored them. Staryu, on the other hand, was not able to ignore the electric attack and as soon as Meowth was done with it, Misty's pokemon appeared floating and unconscious.
While the Gym leader returned her pokemon, Meowth turned to Ash and started crying her name.
"Doesn't matter, you wanted to go first so your turn is over, kitty." the trainer said, while returning his grumbling pokemon.
"Why does a Meowth knows Thunderbolt?!" Misty demanded.
Ash just raised an eyebrow, but then smiled "Does it really matter?" he asked.
"Uh! Fine! I choose Starmie!" she shouted.
The challenger nodded and released his next pokemon "Mankey." he announced.
While both pokemon had a stare-off, Ash took upon him to begin the match "I want Fury Swipes." he barked.
His fighting type agreed eagerly and charged the water pokemon. Jumping from platform to platform, Mankey moved.
"Starmie, use Rapid Spin!" shouted the Gym leader. The Water pokemon obeyed and shot off towards the Fighting type.
"Change to Karate Chop, smack it into the poll!" screeching his agreement Mankey met the Mysterious Pokemon and struck. But he did it too soon, so Mankey wasn't able to hit his opponent's crystal.
Starmie did fall inside the poll, but it was able to hit Mankey before doing so. Though the Pig Monkey was able to fall in one of the platforms and the battle continued.
"Focus Energy and Screech!" ordered Ash.
"Hit him with a Water Gun!" shouted the Gym leader.
Starmie's attack hit dead on, but Mankey refused to budge. When it was completing Ash's second order, his trainer gave the next one "Swagger.".
Just as someone was going to ask what exactly Mankey was doing, Starmie shot off from the poll and started spinning in the air.
"Starmie? What are you doing?!" the Gym leader asked.
"She's confused." explained Ash, smiling while his pokemon crossed it's arms and watch Starmie hit a wall. Then it recovered control of itself and stopped in one of the platforms.
"Starmie, use Water Gun again!"
Ash smiled pleasantly and ordered "Run straight through it, Champ! I want Assurance!"
At first the Water Gun had no hope of stopping Mankey, but the closer he got to Starmie the stronger it became. Until he was forced to stop, though the Pig Monkey was able to keep himself from being pushed back.
"Ha! As if he could do something like that!" mocked Misty.
"Mankey can do anything he wants." assured Ash, and just as he said that his pokemon released an eardrum shattering screech. Then started to glow white and grow bigger.
When he was done evolving, Primeape smashed Starmie with the Assurance. The pokemon's jewel cracked and it was knocked out even before hitting the wall. But it did hit said wall hard.
Ash took a deep breath whooped "That was fantastic, Primeape!"
Primeape's excitement at his victory added to his excitement about evolving and his trainers own happiness had the Pig Monkey pokemon screeching his victory to the heavens, before Ash returned him.
"Look Ash, I know you prefer bonding with a small number of pokemon and focusing on them. But as a trainer, if you don't have a certain variety, you become predictable." explained Professor Oak, through the video phone "I'm not telling you to go an capture forty pokemon like Gary but you have three, Ash..."
"I have three undefeated pokemon, Professor. Please stop trying to give me this advice, I understand what you are saying." sighed Ash " But I this is the kind of Pokemon Master that I want to be."
The young trainer was beginning to regret calling the Professor to ask about information on Geodude. Maybe next time he caught something he would do all the research by himself, it was better then listening to this over and over.
"But Ash-" the older man began.
Raising a palm, the young trainer stopped whatever the professor would say "Let me prove to you that it's working." he said "Mike, Louis or Gary. Who's closest to me now?"
Raising an eyebrow, Oak answered "It's Michael. He's also in Cerulean City."
Nodding, Ash spoke again "Then contact him and have him meet me with a full six pokemon team. My three will be enough to beat them."
Professor Oak took a moment to think of what the young trainer was saying. Ash had just declared that every pokemon of his could take two of another trainers who's skill level he wasn't sure about. Nodding, the professor choose to let it happen, it was best Ash learned now not to be arrogant.
"Very well, I'll have him fight you tomorrow after lunch, in the field behind the Cerulean City Pokecenter."
"So, Ash, can you tell me why Professor Oak wanted me to fight you?" asked Mike.
The boy was the same age as Ash and had started his journey on the same day. Unlike Ash, he didn't have a pokemon yet so he was given a starter, Ash just didn't know which one. Michael wore a long-sleeved blue shirt with a white vest over it, brown cargo pants and brown shoes. He had short blond hair and blue eyes.
"He wants to teach me that quantity is better then quality." explained the other trainer.
Raising an eyebrow, Mike inquired "That's not it is it? You two just disagree with something so you're taking his words out of context." he sighed and continued "Whatever, how are we going to do this? Six on six?"
Ash nodded and continued "No substitutions during the match, fell free to change in between."
With a smirk the other boy nodded and shout "Alright! Then I choose Raticate!"
"And I'll go with Primeape." said Ash, releasing his pokemon.
The large Mouse pokemon stared intently at the Pig Monkey and the battle began.
"Bulk Up." ordered Ash and his pokemon clenched his muscles as hard as he could, but his opponent wouldn't wait.
"Raticate!" he called "Use Quick Attack!"
The ground type moved at a surprising speed for it's size and charged Primeape, leaving a white trail behind him.
"Grab it after the hit."
Since Ash's Primeape stood at 4 feet instead of the usual three, it was easily twice as big as the Raticate. When the attack hit, the Pig Monkey didn't even grunt, despite the bruise forming at it's stomach. Grabbing hold of the Mouse that had bounced back, he waited for orders.
Orders that came as soon as the opponent was captured "I want Seismic Toss."
Screeching at the top of his lungs, Primeape obeyed and, after tightening his hold on the enemy, jumped as high as he could. Even his trainer was surprised at how far he went, and when Primeape fell, it was smashing Raticate against the ground.
The super effective attack proved to be too much for the Mouse pokemon and it fell down, swirls on his eyes.
"Fuck, Ash! That thing's a monster." accused the other trainer, while pointing at Primeape. Oddly enough both the pokemon and it's trainer took that as a praise "Well, he's still going down! Ivysaur, I choose you!"
The Seed pokemon showed itself and growled it's name at Primeape, who choose to stare at him with as much anger as it could. While Ash briefly wondered if his pokemon was trying to develop the ability "Intimidate", Mike began the match.
"Ivy, use Vine Whip!" he ordered.
"Charge straight ahead, Champ!" called Ash, smiling in delight.
Ivysaur's Vine Whip hit Primeape thrice before he could get to the Grass type, but the larger pokemon just shook them off. Just as he got to his opponent Primeape heard his master's next orders "Assurance, now!"
Remembering every strike of the Vine Whip, the Pig Monkey smashed his pink glowing fist into Ivysaur and watched the pokemon go flying.
"Ivysaur, no!"
But Ash wouldn't let up "Use Focus Punch!"
His pokemon took his time, charging up the Focus Punch. And just as Ivysaur began to get up, Primeape charged.
"Ivysaur, dodge!" ordered Mike, but the poor pokemon could only sway a little to the side, which was in no way outside of the path of the coming blow.
With he's typical angry screech, Primeape sent an uppercut into Ivysaur's jaw and sent the pokemon flying. When the swirls appeared in the Grass type's eyes, his trainer grit his teeth and called him back.
"Good job, Primeape. You've earned a nice long rest." smiled Ash, despite the fact that his pokemon clearly didn't want a nice long rest. Even if he had four, ugly throbbing bruises.
Mike took a deep breath and picked another pokeball "Ok, then I'll choose Geodude!"
Seeing the Rock pokemon Ash couldn't help but smile again. It was this kind of thing he was talking about "Then so do I." while releasing his pokemon, the young trainer rejoiced in the shock present in his opponents face, when the boy saw that Ash's Geodude was twice as big as his.
"That thing is the size of a Graveler!" he complained, before shaking his head "But we haven't lost yet! Geodude, use Roll Out!"
"You too." ordered Ash, wondering what his opponent was up to.
And he found out, just as the Rock pokemon were about to collide, Mike shouted "Geodude, use Selfdestruct!"
Before Ash could figure out what to do, there was a huge explosion in the middle of the battlefield. It took a while for the smoke to clear but when it did, it showed that the biggest Geodude was floating. Burned, panting, but floating while the other one was completely knocked out.
"What the hell?!" Mike wondered out loud, but after a moment, he understood "It has Sturdy right?"
Ash nodded, while watching his pokemon and trying to figure out what to do. Geodude would go down in one blow, there was no question about that. Maybe he could try the same thing, but he just didn't want to.
When his pokemon cried her name, yes her, Ash meet her eyes and understood. Geodude was a classy lady, she wasn't going down for just anyone.
"Zubat, I choose you!" shouted Mike, reminding Ash that he was present.
Ash didn't know what to think, sure it would be hard to hit but when Geodude smashed against it. The poor bat would go out like a light... He was probably counting on Geodude falling before that.
"Zubat, use Supersonic!" the trainer ordered.
"Dig, now!" Ash countered and Geodude disappeared inside the ground. While the sound waves hit the ground and dispersed themselves, Ash continued "Use Rock Throw with the floor beneath him!"
Before the Poison/Flying Pokemon could react, Geodude burst from the floor, caring a small fist-sized rock on her hand. Crying her name, the Rock pokemon launched the stone as hard as she could and watched as it smashed against Zubat's stomach.
Like Ash predicted, the battle was over with just that and Mike was forced to recall his fourth pokemon.
Visibly panicking, Mike choose another pokeball "Dammit, go Bellsprout!"
By the time the Grass type showed itself, Geodude couldn't even float anymore. Ash sighed and petted his pokemon before saying "You were amazing, Geodude. I don't think anyone could have won that match but you."
Returning Geodude to her pokeball, Ash unleashed Meowth and attacked immediately.
"Fake Out! Then, Aerial Ace!" he ordered.
"Bellsprout dodge!" tried Michael but it was no use.
Meowth hit the Grass type cleanly and while it flinched, the Scratch Cat pokemon did something unbelievable. She jumped as high as she could, easily ten feet, and swopped down while glowing white.
Catching Bellsprout right in the face, Meowth sent the Flower Pokemon flying so far it hit the wall of the Pokecenter. But it was getting up.
"Yeah, you can do it, Bells-" started Mike.
"Meowth, Pay Day!" barked Ash.
Swiping her pawn over the coin in her head, Meowth made four more of them appear and hurled them at the weakened Grass type. Just as Bellsprout lifted it's head, it saw the coins and cringed. Before going unconscious from the hit.
Mike swallowed a lump on his throat and looked at his opponent. It was then and there that he decided that facing Ash was really scary. The boy's eyes were hard and calculating, but he had a smile on his face which went completely against how brutal his pokemon were.
"Ok..." he started, before strengthening his voice "Clefairy, I choose you!"
A quick stare off and Ash began the match "Charge straight ahead using Pay Day."
And Meowth did, she ran incredibly fast and started hurling golden coins at Clefairy. At it's trainers orders, the Fairy pokemon dodge most of the coins, but was hit by a few. And just like that, Meowth was upon it.
"Clefairy, use Double Slap!" tried Mike.
"Take it, then use Bite!" ordered the raven haired trainer.
After the second slap, Meowth took a nice big bite out of Clefairy's outstretched hand. It cried in pain from the super effective attack until it's trainer spoke again.
"Use Sing, now!" ordered the blond, and when Clefairy did, he let out a breath of relief as Meowth fell asleep "Now-"
"Sleep Talk, now." came Ash's voice and an Iron Tail to the head proved to be too much for the Fairy pokemon.
Returning his pokemon, Michael told it what a good job it did, like he had done for all the others. While Ash just petted Meowth and smiled at her.
It was three days after Ash's battle with Michael that the raven haired trainer left Cerulean City. So far the only interesting thing to happen was that he found some kind of unofficial gym, with a sign claiming the leader had one hundred victories and no defeats.
Ash would have loved fighting someone like that, unfortunately the place was empty so he just kept going. Also unfortunately the trainer still hadn't found any interesting pokemon on the way to Vermilion City, but he had a while before Professor Oak started bugging him to catch more pokemon again.
The only real problem Ash had right now, was that he was bored. Battle-crazy pokemon aren't the most fun to talk to and he hadn't met any trainers in a while. Still, soon enough came something that promised not to be boring, human voices coupled with pokemon cries and something hitting something.
The young trainer immediately took off towards the battle scene, unfortunately by the time he got there, the fight was over. He found was a very injured Pidgeotto, a Magneton, a teacher and his students.
"Now, can anyone tell me why I had such an easy time?" asked the man.
One of his students, a, somewhat, plain looking boy with glasses raised his hand and answered "Not only is your Magneton at a higher level then the opponent, sir, you also had the type advantage."
"Good answer." said the man, he clapped his hands before continuing "Now-" but stopped when one of the students raised his hands.
With the teachers permission, the boy spoke "Uh, sir, there's someone watching us."
All heads turned to where the kid indicated, to find Ash starring with a frown on his face, only he was starring at the Pidgeotto.
The teacher cleared his throat to grab Ash's attention, before asking "Can I help you, young man?"
"Sure, are you planning on capturing that pokemon?" Ash asked, a confused look in his face.
Raising an eyebrow, the teacher spoke "Yes, I am. Why?"
Ash walked over and knelled before the pokemon "Because of how badly you injured it." he brushed it's feathers and said "I don't think it's going to fly for a whole week... Also the fact that it's in an incredible amount of pain right now and capturing would allow it to rest a little."
The boy starred at man with something that could only be described as expectant indifference. It looked like he was just waiting for something to irrelevant to happen and that he was waiting just because. Ash starred until the teacher cleared his throat.
"Very well, Mr. Verhan." he said, removing a pokeball from his pocket "I think you could use the practice."
A shy looking boy disentangled himself from the crowd and grabbed the pokeball his teacher was offering. That's when Ash choose to back away, wondering who needs practice to capture a pokemon on death's door.
In a few second, the young trainer received his answer in the form of a pokeball hitting his shin. Glaring a little at the other boy, who was apologizing, Ash kicked the ball back and kept his eyes on it this time.
On the second try, the student did capture the pokemon and Ash prepared to leave until the teacher spoke "I take it you are not aware, young man, that you are trespassing on the Pokemon Technical Institute's grounds?"
"Really?" asked a very confused Ash "But there are no signs or fences..."
The teacher wasn't deterred by that at all "Still, I must inquire what you are doing here."
The young trainer just shrugged and explained "I'm traveling." when no one said anything he added "To Vermillion City."
The older man smiled, taking a glance at the pokeball on Ash's belt "Are you planning on challenging the Gym there?" he asked.
After Ash's nod, he continued "Then, since you interrupted my lesson, would you mind helping out a bit? I think some of my students would benefit from battling someone they have no prior knowledge of." he explained.
Ash's blinked a few times then smiled pleasantly "Of course, I would love that."
Matching Ash's smile the teacher asked "And how many badges do you have so far, Mr?"
"Two and Ketchum, Ash Ketchum." the boy replied.
The sound of snickering made the young trainer look at the students and raise an eyebrow, looking at the teacher Ash noticed that the man didn't seem pleased with the laughing either.
"And who would like to challenge Mr. Ketchum?" he asked the class, a lot of people answered 'yes' but the rest just looked like they found something about that amusing.
"Let me do it, Professor!" said the boy from before, taking position in front of Ash "It will be easy!"
"And why do you think that?" asked a very puzzled trainer.
"Because although I'm the weakest student in my class, I can easily take a trainer with only two badges." he explained, much to his teacher dismay.
If anything, Ash looked amused right now "I honestly can't tell if you're bragging or putting yourself down." lazily throwing a pokeball forward, he released Geodude and said "Still, that's not what we are here for."
"Geodude, huh?" the boy smiled "I know the perfect counter!"
When he choose a Weepinbell, the teacher took position as referee "This will be a one on one battle between trainer Ash Ketchum from Pallet town and Joe Verhan representing Poketech." he announced "Are both of you ready? Then begin!"
"Weepinbell, use Vine Whip!" shouted Joe, while Ash smiled pleasantly.
"Harden and grab it, after it hits you" ordered Ash.
Shouting her name in agreement, Geodude's body shinned for a moment before gaining a clearer tone. She was done just as the Vine Whip smashed against her arm, using that same arm the Rock pokemon grabbed it.
While the other trainer panicked and the other pokemon tried to pull free, Ash ordered "Pull it and Focus Punch!"
With a single tug Geodude overpowered the Grass pokemon and it flew towards her. The airborne pokemon reached the Rock one just as the attack was done charging, the correct timing showing that this was a practiced strategy by Ash and Geodude.
Crying her name, Geodude pummeled her opponent and sent it flying.
"Weepinbell!" cried the boy as his pokemon rolled to his feet, completely unconscious "But how? Grass beats Rock." he said.
It was the teacher who answered, but with a question "What were the two advantages that I had in my battle against the Pidgeotto, Mr. Verhan?"
"Uh..." the boy began "Type advantage and level advantage." he answered.
"Correct." nodded the man "And who had each advantage on this match?"
Nodding and returning his pokemon the boy answered, completely downcast "I had type but he had level."
"Correct, you may go now." as Joe returned to the crowd there was plenty of snickering at him and one kid went out of his way to bump him "Does anyone else wish to challenge Mr. Ketchum?"
The most beautiful girl Ash had ever seen made her way to them, while the young trainer tried to fight off a blush. He was a little too preoccupied, so Ash didn't even notice how everyone made way for her without being asked.
Running a hand through her hair and letting it flow with the wind, she spoke "I really don't want you to leave here with a wrong impression of Poketech's strength. Also, beating you will surely help Joe recover from that embarrassing defeat." she explained, while Ash wondered what was embarrassing about it "So, I, the beautiful, talented and modest Giselle, will beat you now, Ash Ketchum!"
Releasing a Graveler, probably for intimidation purposes, she smiled and everyone waited.
"Uh, aren't you going to change your pokemon?" she asked, after the silence became to much.
"And deny her this match? No way." he actually laughed at the absurdity of her statement, and Geodude agree by bumping her fists and growling her name.
"Fine then! Graveler, get it!"
'Train him to use the move when you say something else, clever!' thought Ash "Harden again, then another one."
Shouting her name, Geodude did just as ordered and finished with plenty of time to brace herself for impact. And there was impact, Graveler fell down right on top of the other Rock pokemon with a Stomp that raised a massive cloud of dust.
Everyone was waiting for it to clear up to see what had happened, except for Ash "Seismic Toss!"
And much to everyone's surprise, Geodude jumped fifteen feet in the air with Graveler firmly in her hold. Crying her name, the Rock pokemon placed her evolved form underneath her and came down just as hard as Graveler had before.
An even bigger cloud of dust rose and shielded the results from view, not that everyone cared about that.
Disregarding visibility again, Ash ordered "Brick Break, now."
He was answered with a shout of Geodude's name, the sound of rock hitting rock and a pitiful moan of Graveler's name. When the dust went down, Geodude was rolling away from her defeated target. And crying her name, she began to glow white. Ash's opponent just few to her knees in shock at her, rather easy deafeat.
There was plenty of whispering around Giselle's lost, she must have been good but Ash knew that from the fact that her pokemon survived Geodude's Seismic Toss. But the boy wasn't really paying any mind to anything but his pokemon.
He smiled at his former Geodude and said, kindly "Well done, Graveler. Very well done!"
While Ash returned his newly evolved pokemon, every student was starring at him with wonder. And the teacher approached him.
"Mr. Ketchum? Would you mind explaining my class your strategy in this match?" he asked politely.
"Uh, sure." shrugged Ash "I used Harden to make sure Geodude wouldn't get hurt to bad, so it wouldn't hinder any of her attacks-"
"What?!" shouted the girl he had just beaten "Too bad? It would have knocked it clean out!"
The young trainer just rose and eyebrow at this and answered "No, she can take something like that."
Just as she was about to argue, the teacher spoke "Ms. Seiyo, I think Mr. Ketchum knows his pokemon better then you." he scolded then turned to Ash and smiled "Please continue."
"Well, I figured she didn't have much real battle experience, so she would wait for the dust to clear and she did." he explained.
"What do you mean 'real battle experience'?" demanded a random student.
"Yeah! We fight all the time!" shouted another.
Raising his hands in a surrender gesture, Ash said "It's just... Well, you guys have to see the people you beat everyday, so you probably have a few rules the students follow. No cheap tricks, both sides wait until one clash is done before giving another order and all that."
That seemed to placate them, and Giselle spoke again "And you don't do that." she concluded "You just keep ordering and ordering."
"Outside of our academy, even in league matches is not uncommon for trainers to interrupt their opponent or use Ash's so called cheap tricks." the professor then turned to the young trainer again "Please, Mr. Ketchum."
"Of course, I made sure to use something that would do some real damage because I couldn't afford many hits from such a strong Graveler-"
"Yeah, right! It lost to a Geodude!" snorted a girl on the back, she really seemed delighted that Giselle had lost.
Ash just smiled and asked "You haven't seen many Geodude before have you?"
When she shook her head, Ash smiled brightly "Well, mine was a monster amongst them." he chuckled a little "If you didn't notice, now she has the size of a small Golem."
Before the teacher could ask him to continue again, the young trainer carried on "After blocking her view again I just got another heavy hit in and started thinking of what to do next. Luckily it wasn't necessary."
The older man thanked Ash for his time, and turned back to his class.
"Uh, Professor?" Ash tried, and succeeded in getting his attention "Do you think I could have a match against you, sir?" he asked, trying to be polite.
"Aren't you getting a little too cocky?" asked Giselle, mirroring the annoyance in many of the students faces.
"What do you mean?" the young trainer really looked confused.
"You think you're just going to beat everyone here!" she complained.
The boy just shrugged and replied "I don't know, I have never seen him battle."
This seemed to confuse a lot of people, including the teacher.
"And what if you loose, Mr. Ketchum?" the older man asked.
With a completely serious face, Ash answered "Then I would like to use your infirmary to treat my pokemon."
There were a few moments of silence, until Giselle spoke again "You don't mind loosing?"
"Of course I do, but that's just what happens when you fight someone stronger then you." he then smiled at the teacher again and said "So, one on one? Real quick?"
Matching Ash's smile, the man said "Very well, I take it you want to fight Magneton?" he asked, following the young man's line of sight.
"Please." said the boy, while nodding.
Giving themselves enough space to battle, the teacher and the trainer faced each other and Ash released his pokemon.
"We're going all out, kitty." he told Meowth.
The Scratch Cat pokemon nodded her agreement and before anyone could say anything else, Ash began the match "Rain Dance."
"Magneton, use Lock-on!" ordered the older man.
"Water Pulse!" Crying her name, Meowth gathered the plenty of the rain on her pawns and launched the attack.
"Now, use Thunder!"
While Magneton released his attack before being hit by Meowth's, Thunder was launched up before coming down and that was all the time Ash needed.
"Dig, now!" ordered Ash with a smile when his attack hit, making the other pokemon groan in pain.
The Thunder left a crater on the ground but Meowth was long gone. When Ash's pokemon came out behind his opponent, she didn't expect Magneton to hit her with a Spark with no orders from it's trainer.
"It's best to teach your pokemon to react to certain situations if you don't have time to give orders." explained the teacher.
But the older man was a little unnerved when the young trainer smiled at him "Yeah, but that's not such an advanced strategy." Ash said.
His opponent turned back to the match immediately, just in time to see Meowth push herself of the tree it should have been smashed against and fly towards Magneton.
"Magneton, use Hyper Beam!" shouted the older man, making Ash's eyes widen a bit.
"Substitute, now!" the boy shouted quickly.
Just as Meowth's Substitute was about to hit Magneton, and Ash was cursing himself for making such a rash decision. The beam was fired, at point blank range and even if it did damage it's user a little there were no traces left of Meowth's copy.
"Do Return, while he can't move." ordered Ash.
Just as the smoke cleared, Meowth appeared jumping straight to her opponent's face. Just as they were about to hit their heads, the Cat pokemon spun in the air and swung her tail sideways. The pink glowing blow hit only one of the Magnemite.
But everyone there was surprised it didn't come off. The whole Magneton was sent spinning and flying straight into a tree, easily snapping it and being buried into another. It didn't twitch or anything, so just for a second, Ash's was worried they had killed the pokemon.
Then the Magnet Pokemon groaned a metallic sound and fell to the floor.
"I think that move is getting a little too strong, kitty." commented Ash, just as surprised as everyone else.