Alola!
In case you didn't know:
"Talk"
'Thoughts' (I never use this one, though)
"Poke-speak/Aura/Telepathy"
"Electronics" (Rotom would fall under this one)
There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.
Source Episode: 4
Ash was determined.
If there was one aspect of his career as a Trainer that he absolutely sucked at, it was catching Pokemon. Contrary to popular belief, all those years of playing baseball as a kid didn't help him much in that regard. Most people sharpened their throwing skills over the course of their travels, but the teen was somehow mentally unable to keep up with the average learning curve.
And that's why this Grubbin was going down.
As Ash and crew watched, the Bug-type jumped into the air, spinning around and firing a String Shot at Pikachu, who immediately dodged to the left with a Quick Attack.
"Pikapi!" Don't worry, Ash. I got this!
The Larvae Pokemon shouted some rather profane words (not that the teen knew what he was saying) angrily and fired another String Shot.
Lillie yelped as the attack rocketed toward her face and instinctively stepped backward in her shock to avoid it. The sticky silk wrapped around one of Pikachu's hind legs, pulling him toward the bystanders and instigating a few exclamations of surprise.
"Pika!" Die, you scoundrel!
"Pikachu!" Ash shouted, genuinely worried for his Electric-type.
This was the Trainer's chance to prove that he wasn't totally incompetent at catching Pokemon. Most of his team members had joined him by choice (even his Tauros herd had admitted to running into his Pokeball's flight trajectory in the Safari Zone all those years ago), which made the teen a bit rusty at the strength calculation that even amateurs were decent at. He could only hope that his Pikachu knew not to hit the poor Bug-type too hard and make him run away.
"Be careful of its strong jaw!" Rotom warned, stating the obvious.
Grubbin zoomed past the Electric-type (and a traumatized Lillie) through the air and promptly disappeared underground.
"Pika!" the Mouse Pokemon shouted, falling on his back. Curses!
Ash ran up to his fallen partner, reaching down to pick him up from the forest ground. "Are you alright?" he asked, worried.
"Pika-chu." I'm wallowing in self-despair.
Popplio and Togedemaru looked absolutely distressed.
"Pikachu: confirmed to have taken damage," Rotom reported unhelpfully.
"I'm sorry!" Lillie apologized, crestfallen.
"I'll show you the way to the Pokemon Center," Mallow volunteered.
Ash stood up, cradling his depressed Electric-Type in his arms. "There's a Pokemon Center here?" In the woods? "Thank goodness." He turned to the girl clad in white. "And Lillie, don't worry about it."
"I…"
"Ash," Kiawe spoke up, grabbing the attention of said Trainer, "we'll head back to the school and tell Professor Kukui what happened."
"Thank you," the Trainer replied sheepishly.
"Follow me!" Mallow exclaimed, turning around and racing away.
As the Champion of Kanto followed the green-haired girl, a single thought lingered in his head…
If Gary ever found out about this, it'd be pretty embarrassing.
"I'm probably the only Champion's starter to ever fail at catching a mere weak Caterpie. Oh Zekrom—that bully—I've been shamed! Imagine what Dragonite would think of me, now! He'd declare a rematch and I haven't trained intensely in four days…"
Turns out, the Pokemon Center wasn't in the forest, much to the Pallet Town Trainer's dismay.
As Ash handed his Electric-type over to the Blissey, he bent down so that he was eye-level with the Happiness Pokemon, much to the confusion of Mallow.
"Yeah, he's physically fine. Might wanna do some counseling, though. I think he lost his dignity," the Trainer whispered in the Normal-Type's ear.
"Ash'll get demoted, Kanto'll be in riot, the Pokemon will start campaigning for rights, Umbreon'll make fun of me, and Paul…"
Blissey sighed. "I'll do my best."
"Thanks."
"Wait 'til Charizard hears that I lost to a freaking auxiliary Electric-type legendary…"
"Grubbin evolves into an Electric-type, anyway," Blissey explained, figuratively grasping at straws. Therapy was not her strongest suit, despite her Pokedex entry. (Even the Lucky Egg-giving trick didn't work, and that always worked.) "Maybe the Guardians don't want your Trainer to have another Electric-type. It can be, like, 'fate' or something."
Pikachu's expression brightened considerably "True. That is a very logical theory."
"And as for that match with Tapu Koko…uh, you did say that you haven't seriously trained in four days?"
"A week, actually."
Blissey was genuinely concerned. The revered Guardians of Alola should've had no business with a low-leveled, arrogant Pikachu like this one. "Well, there you go."
"Wow," the Electric-type marveled, "I feel like I can tell you all of my problems."
"Really?" the Happiness Pokemon asked, surprised.
"Well, you see here, my Trainer's actually the Champion of Kanto, and since I'm his ace, he uses me for the challenging battles. Like, three weeks ago, we KO'ed a Cresselia pretty badly and it was really fun. But my Trainer's on this mission now, trying to establish trade between Kanto and Alola and stuff—not easy, since you guys are so insular…no offense—so we're feigning incompetence and it's so easy for him 'cause he's already pretty dumb, even for a Human…"
"Pika-chu!"
"Pikachu has fully recovered," Joy announced happily.
The Normal-type rolling the cart wiped a trail of sweat from the side of her face. "Blis-sey!"
A certain Trainer couldn't help but notice both of Nurse Joy's assistants giving him weird looks as he and Mallow left the Pokemon Center.
The next morning, Ash's determination was reaching soaring levels.
"Today's the day," he announced to Mallow as they sat outside on a porch, eating fruit. "I'm definitely getting a Pokemon, today!"
Pikachu pumped a fist into the air. "Pika!" Yeah!
With a steep, airborne roll to gain momentum, a fierce Iron Tail swung down on Team Rocket's Mimikyu...missing completely, which was strange, because Pikachu was sure that his attack had hit. Did it somehow go through the Ghost and Fairy-Type?
"Die, die, DIE!" Mimikyu screamed.
The Mouse Pokemon was at a loss. How was he supposed to deal with this without trying?! Maybe if he faked a knockout…AH, looks like that's not gonna work.
The Disguise Pokemon continued its attack, charging up a powerful-looking Shadow Ball and screaming bloody murder.
He was so screwed…
Toucannon locked his eyes on the back of the strange Human.
"You see, Rowlet has so many friends," he had explained. "They're all family. That's why it's alright."
The Trainer now continued to walk away, unwilling to let his companions to catch up despite their confused calls.
"W-wait!" the Grass Quill Pokemon shouted, visibly deflating when the teen didn't respond.
Toucannon continued staring intently at the silhouette of the Human's receding form. He'd heard Tapu Koko muttering about a Trainer clad in white and blue: something about his excitement for the Chosen One's arrival and how, with the turn of events, disaster was destined to come to Alola. The Normal and Flying-type honestly didn't care.
Without breaking his line of vision, Toucannon carefully nudged his son's back. "Go," he insisted.
"Huh?"
"Go."
Rowlet jumped from Ash's outstretched arm, taking flight. "Come and get me!" he shouted enthusiastically.
"What is it doing?" Rotom asked, confused. The Trainer could almost see the circuits connecting in the Electric-type's head. Did he lose his ability to speak with Pokemon in his Pokedex form?
"Isn't it obvious? He's telling me to catch him!" Ash replied, taking out a red and white-colored sphere from his backpack. With unmatched accuracy (huh, maybe his history with baseball was kinda useful, after all), the teen promptly threw the Pokeball in his hand.
"I got...a Rowlet!" the Trainer exclaimed, pausing for a second (he was sure he was missing something…) before grinning and punching his occupied arm into the air.
"I'd forgotten that it was a tradition to pose!" Pikachu exclaimed, pumping his fist in victory. He had sincerely hoped for a heated battle, but now, looking back, that would've just scared the poor thing away.
"I…is it possible to get a Pokemon like this?" Rotom questioned.
"Of course it is," Ash answered, trying to hide the annoyance from his voice. Next to him, Mallow beamed with excitement.
The teen may have been incompetent at traditional catching methods, but there was a reason he was still a pretty good Trainer, in his opinion.
It was a very lively two in the morning.
Rowlet was snoring peacefully, nestled in a certain backpack. Occasionally, he'd mutter a few words and shift in his sleep. Next to him, Rockruff curled up on the couch.
Ash thought the Rock-type was the most adorable thing on the planet. Now he wanted a Rockruff, too. Maybe tomorrow he'd ask Kukui how he got such a cute Pokemon.
But the Trainer's opinions didn't matter at the moment. His government exam was taking way too long. The teen would definitely rather be sleeping than writing an essay on the role of the courts and media in the policy process. No, he honestly didn't care about how gerrymandering affected electoral competition in regions like Unova.
From the basement, it was pretty clear that Kukui's new theories on Absorb, Mega Drain, and Giga Drain weren't easily being accepted by whoever was on the other end of his video call. Probably Professors Juniper and Rowan again, if Ash was to make an educated guess.
Pikachu had given up on sleep for the night and had disappeared outside for some self-training. Occasionally, when he glanced out the window, the Trainer could make out a column of lightning arcing through the clear sky in the distance. The teen hoped that his starter was courteous enough to keep his volume to a minimum. Then again, the Electric-type was probably venting his frustration and scaring half the wild Pokemon away.
As the Champion of Kanto finished typing up his free-response question, he clicked on the 'submit' button to his online exam and promptly relaxed, letting out a sigh of defeat.
He had one last video call to make before his day was over.
"Hey, what's up?" Gary asked, leaning against the back of his chair.
Ash put on his earbuds and rubbed his eyes. Staring at a computer screen for such a prolonged period of time definitely wasn't beneficial to his health. "What time is it?" he asked.
"9:30 pm," the other Pallet Town native answered. "Just closed up the Viridian Gym for the day. I'm on a winning streak, you know. The challengers aren't as strong as they used to be."
"Why? Did Kanto lose its most talented Trainer when Gary Oak chose to become a Researcher?" Ash quipped, grinning.
"You guessed it!"
The Champion massaged the nape of his neck, covering up a yawn with his free hand as he did so. "Well, gotta sleep soon, but I have a few questions for you before I wrap up for the day. Sorry I can't entertain you for much longer."
"Yeah, isn't it like, three in the morning in Alola right now?"
"Don't remind me," Ash muttered before slapping himself awake in the arm. "Alright. Did Surge begin his renovations yet?"
"Yeah. Started last night. I think he got the idea from visiting Sinnoh awhile ago. Couldn't stop complaining to me about how their Gym Leaders get so much time to renovate. I don't think he listened when I told him that Volkner from Sunyshore City is a special case."
"Okay. Keep me updated on that. Is Viridian University ready to open?"
"We're going to wait," Gary answered. "We've got enough faculty and supplies. It's just that we want to align with the League year as well. April is pretty far away, but grandpa's writing the curriculum for the Pokemon-related classes as we speak."
"That's fine," Ash remarked. "Take your time."
"Yeah, we're trying to get Bill to teach a course, but he never likes to go anywhere, so recruiting him's a bit more difficult than we thought it would be."
"I can imagine."
Gary laughed. "Do you have any more questions?"
"Yeah. Who won the most recent Celadon City Battle Tournament?" Ash asked.
"I knew you were interested in that!" the Viridian Gym Leader exclaimed, crossing his arms triumphantly and swinging around in his chair. "Brendan did, by the way. Remember him? Hairnet kid?"
"Of course," his friend answered. "But looking back, I'm starting to think that the thing he was wearing was a just weird hat."
"You know, at first glance, Umbreon thought it was a wig."
"Really? Totodile did, too."
Gary shook his head. "But seriously, you need to get some sleep. I doubt you're any closer to figuring out relations with Alola right now."
"Yeah, I'm not," Ash agreed. "But that's no reason to neglect Kanto. But don't worry, this'll be my last question before I sleep."
"Fire away."
"Did the PIA stop by recently?" the Champion asked.
"The what?"
"The Pokemon Inspection Agency. I haven't received their latest scheduled report. They were supposed to check on Yas and Kaz from Dark City this month. And you, too."
Gary combed his unruly hair absentmindedly with his fingers. "Wait…that Joy in a trenchcoat that criticized my floor tiles was actually PIA?!"
"Your floor tiles?" Ash questioned. "The spinny ones?"
"Yeah!" the Gym Leader exclaimed, indignant. "She said that they were dizzying and potentially unsafe!"
"I think that was a compliment."
"Really? They called Lt. Surge's trash cans 'unoriginal' and 'repulsively boring.' He barely passed the inspection!"
"Huh. So that's why he was so adamant on remodeling," the Kantonian Champion realized aloud. "Yeah, it's a little-known fact, but the PIA actually like difficult, flashy puzzles. Like two months ago, I sent a few of the agents to Unova to check out the Gyms there. They came back pretty disillusioned and immediately demanded for more funding to be spent on city renovations."
"So I'm not in danger of losing my Gym?" Gary asked, relieved.
"Nah," Ash answered. "If you were, I'd back you up. Had to help you build that thing, anyway."
The Gym Leader grinned. "Plus, it's not my fault that the younger Trainers refuse to go one at a time! I even put up a sign!"
So, you're asking why I'm updating with chapter 2 so quickly, right?
Haha. It's 'cause I won't have time to do it when August comes around. Have thirty kiddies to take care of. Gotta teach 'em how to breathe and walk and stuff.
Here's a shoutout to my kiddies.