Chapter 2-Meeting Misty and Viridian City

The pair continued up the remainder of the road towards Viridian but decided first to stop at a nearby river and look for some water type Pokémon. There were lots of water types and their evolutions in Kanto though so they weren`t too set on waiting around for one. They were in luck however, when a Poliwag came out of the bushes by the water.

Ash jumped forward. "Alright! I this will make a perfect second to help with the Pewter gym. Thundershock, Pikachu!"

Pikachu jumped forward and launched a solid thundershock just as a series of stars came flying out from behind the bush. The combination attack left the Poliwag knocked out on the river bank.

Ash and Kyle looked at each other confused until a young girl with orange hair put up in a single ponytail on the side of her head came out of the bush, a brown star with a jewel in its center by her side. Ash whipped out his Pokedex to identify it but Kyle was familiar with most of the Pokémon in Kanto and knew it was in fact a Staryu. What he was more curious about was the move it used on Poliwag and decided to ask this girl about it later.

"Who are you and why are you trying to take my capture?" she said, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at Ash.

"What!" yelled Ash. "Your capture? This Poliwag came out of the bushes. It was fair game!"

"I was following it for a few minutes so I saw it first. Therefore it was mine!" she yelled back.

"Hey now, both of you calm down," said Kyle. "We can work this out. Now who are you, Miss?"

The girl turned her glare to him and replied, "My name is Misty and I'm a water type Pokémon specialist. I'm searching for as many as I can find and this one is mine."

"Ok well I'm Kyle and this is Ash. We're beginner trainers from Pallet Town. If you were really following it then I guess we could concede it to you. After all there are many water types in this region and we can always find another. Right, Ash?" he said, turning to look at Ash sharply. He figured Ash would be a little more hot headed about this.

Ash glared at him then turned back to look at Misty. "Well…"

"We could always have a battle if you want to continue to argue with me," said Misty with a smirk as she pulled a pokéball off her belt. Kyle knew she was no rookie trainer but it was too late to stop Ash.

"You're on! Let's go Pikachu!"

Pikachu took his place in front of Ash who flipped his hat back in preparation for his first trainer battle. Kyle resigned himself to watching Ash get his rear handed to him by the more experienced trainer.

Misty smirked wider and threw her pokéball. "Starmie, spotlight!"

Ash pulled out his pokedex and scanned the larger purple evolution of Staryu.

Kyle stepped to the side and assumed the position of referee. "This will be a one on one battle between Misty and Ash for the right of capture of Poliwag. Begin."

"Alright Pikachu, we have the advantage so let's start strong with a Thundershock!"

"Alright." said Pikachu. He sparked his cheeks and fired a Thundershock at Starmie.

"How predictable," said Misty with a bored expression. "Starmie use Rapid Spin to dodge and close in. Then use Harden and Tackle."

Starmie took off sideways in a spin at high speeds, completely avoiding the Thundershock. The before Ash could call out another order, Starmie turned metallic using Harden right before crashing into Pikachu and sending him flying backwards.

Kyle kept her clever use of Harden and Tackle as another side note. It was quite ingenious and he wanted to see if he could do something similar.

"Grr alright we can get her Pikachu! Use Quick Attack then Tail Whip."

Misty raised an eyebrow at this. It seemed to her that he was even more inexperienced than she had originally thought. "Harden," was her only order.

Starmie turned metallic again as it used Harden for the second time.

"Perfect Pikachu, you're close enough. Use Thundershock point blank!" said Ash with his own smirk.

Misty's other eyebrow jumped up to join the first as Starmie was jolted with the powerful Thundershock. It was a pretty powerful blast of electricity. Still, she wasn't new at this. "Starmie use Water Pulse to push Pikachu away then use Recover.

Starmie's Water Pulse launched Pikachu back across the battlefield then it glowed white as all the damage from the Thundershock was undone.

"Now use Rapid Spin to launch Pikachu into the air and use Water Gun while it can't dodge."

"Come on Pikachu, get up and use Quick Attack to get away," said Ash desperately, trying to think of a new plan.

Pikachu stood but instead of dodging he seemed to turn around in a circle and Quick Attack directly into Starmie's Rapid Spin which sent him into the air. A quick Water Gun later and Pikachu was in Ash's arms, knocked out.

"Pikachu is unable to battle. Misty is the winner of this match," said Kyle dutifully.

"Alright, fine. Take your stupid Poliwag," grumbled Ash, cradling Pikachu in his arms gently.

"Thank you," said Misty, pulling an empty pokéball out. Unfortunately it appeared that while the battle was on, the Poliwag had woken up and wandered away. "Hey, what gives? My Poliwag is gone…"

"I don't see how that's my fault," said Ash. "Now, which way to Viridian? I need to get Pikachu to the Pokémon center."

"It's back up the path and to the left. Now go on, I need to spend another week trying to find a good water Pokémon to capture," said Misty dismissively. Ash immediately dashed up the path and was gone before Kyle could say anything.

"Well excuse me Misty but could I twist your arm and ask you to come with me to Viridian? I'd like to discuss some things with you," Kyle asked as politely as possible.

Misty seemed to observe him for a moment and seeing him sincere, she agreed. She pulled a bike out from behind a nearby tree and they made their way towards Viridian.

"What did you want to talk about then?" she asked as they reached the road.

"Well first I noticed that there was an attack you used on Poliwag that I didn't recognize. What was that?"

"Oh that was Swift. It a medium power attack that never misses its target. Quite handy, and since it's a normal type move, there are quite a few Pokémon that can learn it. You interested?"

"Ya I've got a Charmander and a Pidgey. Can either of them learn it?"

Misty thought on this for a moment. "I'm sure they both could but I think Pidgey would have an easier time learning it than Charmander," she said eventually. "I could probably help teach it to Pidgey if I had more time but it's not that far to Viridian and I do have Pokémon to try to catch."

Kyle considered a proposal for her but he did have more questions in the meantime and decided to ask them. "Well anyways, how long did it take you to think up that combination of Harden and Tackle? It was pretty good and I'm feeling incompetent that I never thought of it myself…"

"Well actually that idea came from a battle I saw a couple months ago. I've only used it once or twice," she said with a wry smile.

"Oh ok then. Hmm…oh here's a simpler question. Where are you from?"

"Well I come from Cerulean City," she explained. "I left because I had enough of my older sisters looking down on me…" she got a faraway look as though remembering something she had strived to forget. She snapped out of it a minute later and quickly continued. "But I'd rather not talk about that."

Kyle nodded understandingly. Seeing that they were approaching Viridian quickly, he took a chance and ran his proposal by her. "Misty, I'd like to offer you an invitation. You said you wanted to master water Pokémon and there are lots around the region. What say you join us? Think of all the Pokémon you could catch going all over…and I'd like to have someone like you along who I can depend on for any advice I might need. Will you come with us?"

Misty seemed completely taken aback by the offer. She thought about it and said, "This is kind of a big decision to make so how about you give me the day to think about it? If I make up my mind by tonight I'll let you know and we can set off in the morning. Just be sure to talk to that friend of yours first. He might not take too kindly to me after I beat him so effortlessly."

Kyle cracked a bit of a smile. "Serves him right for being so stubborn about one Pokémon. I mean, there are 16 water type or partial water type lines in Kanto and he wants to battle over a somewhat common one."

"Really, 16? I didn't know that…" she said, perturbed that a new trainer knew more about the region's Pokémon than she did.

Seeing her look he reassured her, "I don't know too much about them, just that there are 16. I found out when I was doing research on the region to find out what types would be good to capture and where to find them. I'm very strategic about my team. I'm going to try to only catch maybe 10 or 12 from any region I go to, making sure I vary the types to cover anything I might encounter."

Once he saw that she was now focused on the information he had dumped on her, he excused himself to do some shopping to stock up on supplies. But first he had to find Ash so he headed for the Pokémon center.

Kyle had no difficulty locating the Pokémon center as it was the biggest building around and it was situated in the very middle of the town. It had a large red dome roof with a pokéball symbol on the front of the building.

Upon entering, he spotted Ash on the phone with Professor Oak. He came up behind him and addressed the professor, "Hi professor, how are you?"

"Oh hello Kyle, Ash was just telling me of an incredible thing he saw on the way here."

Kyle turned to Ash with a raised eyebrow. "What was this incredible thing? Was it a Pokémon?"

"Yeah! It was a big gold and orange bird with some colourful wings. Here," he dug out his pokedex and opened the history, showing the picture Dexter had captured. "See?"

"I've never see the like of it except in drawings," Professor Oak offered, scratching his head. "If I remember correctly, it's-"

"A sight said to bless trainers with good luck," Kyle finished for him. He vaguely remembered a passage about it in one of the professor's books.

"That's right."

Ash looked at the video phone screen surprised. "It's good luck to see this Pokémon?"

"Yes it is Ash, but if you'll excuse me I do have a few things to attend to here so I'll let you enjoy the sights of Viridian. I wish both of you luck on your trip through the forest."

"Thanks, Professor," said the boys together.

Kyle turned to Ash now. "So how's Pikachu doing?" he said as Ash ended the video call.

Ash's expression turned somewhat sombre. "Pikachu's pretty beat up but Nurse Joy says he'll be back to normal soon. I just can't believe I lost so bad with a type advantage…"

"I can explain why you lost if you're interested." Seeing Ash throw him a questioning look, he said "you lost because you were stubborn and didn't think."

Ash's cheeks reddened with anger and he opened his mouth to retort but Kyle cut him off before he could start, "Let me elaborate."

Ash nodded, his eyes narrowed.

"You battled a trainer who has had Pokémon quite a bit longer than you and you didn't even make a plan. You went right into a battle assuming you would win because you were overconfident and you underestimated her. You also should just have let it go when she said she had been following that Poliwag for a while. It isn't like there is a shortage of water Pokémon in the region…"

Ash calmed down somewhat and sat down to think it over. Eventually he nodded in agreement. "Maybe if I get stronger and I meet her again someday I can win and regain my pride."

Kyle saw an opportunity and tried to lead Ash towards it. "So you would definitely want to have a rematch someday?"

"Of course I would."

"That's great because I kinda…um…invited her to join us on our journey," he said tentatively, trying to gauge Ash's reaction. It didn't take long for his thoughts on it to become obvious. His face changed colours quite quickly.

"You did WHAT! I don't know if I can stand having her around permanently. She was rude and um…what's the word…"

"Condescending?" Kyle ventured a guess.

"Yeah, condescending."

"Well, to be honest, it might not have been very nice of her but she did have some good points to make. Besides if she does come then she can offer helpful advice on things we encounter and she can fulfill her dreams just like you are trying to do. Would it be fair to deny her the opportunity? And you can get your rematch down the road."

Ash became resigned after Kyle played the 'being fair' card and perked up when he mentioned the rematch. "Alright fine, she can come. But don't expect me to like it."

"Great, thank you for being open minded. She's going to take the day to decide whether or not she wants to come and let me know later tonight. Anyways I have some shopping to do. You wanna come?"

"No I'll wait for Pikachu."

"Ok then can you give Nurse Joy my Pokémon when she comes back?" said Kyle, handing over Pidgey and Charmander's pokéballs, "and get us a room for the night."

"Sure, have fun."

Kyle headed out the door and towards the pokemart on the east side of town. He was happy he had saved money for a long time. First stop was the aisle for supplies to get their Pokémon through the forest. He stocked up on potions and status healers, especially antidotes. He also picked up a few more pokéballs before going to get some food. He picked up enough Pokémon food for their 4 Pokémon for 4 days and some extra in case they caught some more. He also picked up some human meals for that same time and some extra in case Misty agreed to come along.

Finishing that he moved on to the clothing section and picked up a nice pair of black gloves with good grip and a wide black hat to keep with his dark fashion sense. He also picked up a green shirt, a red shirt and a nice deep purple shirt just to have some variety. He also found a rack with maps and grabbed one of those along with a compass. Finally he made his way to the trainer section.

There he picked up two trainer belts, one for his active Pokémon and one for his other side filled with empty pokéballs for convenience. He continued to look around and found a strong rope that might come in handy. He also found a secluded corner that contained move booklets. These contained instructions on how to teach Pokémon a certain move and which Pokémon were capable of learning it. They didn't have very good selection but he did find one for Steel Wing for Pidgey and Spearow, one for Brick Break for Charmander and one for Iron Tail for Pikachu to use if he wanted it. He went to the counter and had them ring up his purchases.

Shopping done, he returned to the Pokémon center and collected his Pokémon. He would have discussed his move booklets with Ash but he was happily collecting Pikachu from Nurse Joy and went to the room. Kyle instead made his way outside and to the edge of town to work with his Pokémon.

"Charmander, Pidgey, come on out." When they both materialized in front of him he said, "Alright guys I'd like to keep you learning new moves. Good variety can be key. Charmander I'd like you to continue to work on Metal Claw for now."

"Watch this," said Charmander. He walked over to a boulder and slashed at it. His claws glowed and cut the boulder in half.

"Wow great job, Charmander. When did you learn to do that?" Kyle congratulated his Pokémon though he was very confused.

"When we stopped to camp last night, I went to practice until I got it," he replied, digging a toe into the ground and looking down.

Kyle was touched by his dedication. "Well I'm very proud of you but in the future if you want to keep practicing, you only need to ask. You don't have to sneak off to do it. Anyways I guess that means you're moving on to Brick Break. Let me see…" he pulled out the booklet on that move. "This says that the best way to learn Brick Break is to put your hands together and smash down while focusing on your inner energy. You should practice in the air before you try to hit anything or you might hurt your hands for no reason. Any questions?"

"No I think I got it, I'll go practice."

"Great. Pidgey I think for you we should work on increasing your flight speed so this is what we'll do…"

By the time the sun started to set, they had made good progress. Charmander had learned Brick Break but it was not yet strong enough to do any lasting damage. He made his way back to the center and remembered he had yet to register for the Pokémon league. He approached Nurse Joy and asked about registration.

"Name?" she inquired politely.

"Kyle Foster"

"Age?"

"10."

"May I see your pokedex, please?"

He handed it over to her and she placed it into the machine in front of her. She typed a few things before pulling it out and handing it back to him. "Ok you're all set to go. Collect 8 badges from gyms around the region and present them at the Indigo League to enter."

"Thanks, Nurse Joy."

"So you think you can pull it off and get all the badges? You really are serious about this aren't you?" came a familiar voice from behind him and he turned to find Misty standing there.

"I hope I can but I could use all the help I can find," he said hopefully.

She chuckled. "Well you can count on my help. I'm in. I'll meet you here in the morning for breakfast and we can set off." She turned and went out the door.

Kyle smiled at her retreating form and headed towards the room they were borrowing for the night. He collected Ash and Pikachu and they went in search of the cafeteria. As they sat down to chow down, Kyle brought up Misty again.

"She's agreed to join us. I will ask you to be nice because she can teach us things if you stay polite."

"I don't want her help with anything," said Ash forcefully. "Pikachu and I can do just about anything on our own, right buddy?"

"Well to some degree."

"Oh? So what strategy did you come up with for the Pewter gym?" asked Kyle, smirking at Ash.

Ash blanched. "Well…umm…I have some ideas, I'm just umm…fine-tuning them."

Both Pikachu and Kyle looked at him exasperatedly. "I didn't think you had anything but here, I picked this up today," said Kyle, digging out the Iron Tail booklet from his bag and handing it to Ash.

Ash opened it and smiled. "This will work. You think you can learn Iron Tail, Pikachu?"

Pikachu gave him a look that said 'You dare doubt my abilities?'

"Alright, Alright, just checking," said Ash nervously.

They finished their meal and walked back to their room, anticipating a pleasant night and easy trip the next morning. But they were in for quite a surprise.

Up above the town, in a large hot air balloon, two adult figures and a Pokémon made sinister plans. This was made more interesting as the Pokémon spoke English.

"Well Jessie, your plan to drop down from higher up was worth the delay," said the purple haired man evilly. "They haven't detected us and now the Pokémon in that Pokémon center are ours for the taking."

"Of course it was worth it. We have a reputation to uphold and we will make sure they respect the name of Team Rocket," replied the pink haired woman.

"And when we snatch them, everyone will know I'm the top cat," said Meowth.

"We know, Meowth, we know," said the two together in a tone that suggested Meowth said this much too often.

They threw a pokéball each into the center through the window on the roof, and then proceeded to slide down a rope after them. The pokéballs broke open to reveal a small purple snake known as Ekans and a floating purple ball known as Koffing. Koffing immediately used a Smokescreen to cover their entrance while Ekans assumed a threatening pose as it was trained to do.

The only one in the front room was Nurse Joy. "Hey who are you and what do you want?" she screamed, hoping to get the attention of someone else in the center.

"She doesn't know who we are?" said the woman, coming forward out of the smoke.

"Let's introduce ourselves then, shall we?"

A hall down from the invasion, Ash and Kyle both heard glass breaking and went to investigate. When Nurse Joy screamed, they both broke into a run. They reached the edge of the main room just in time to see two figures in white shirts with a red R on them start speaking in turn.

"To protect the world from devastation," started the woman.

"To unite all people peoples within our nation," continued the man.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the starts above.

"Jessie," the woman introduced herself.

"James," put in the man.

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light."

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight."

The Meowth jumped down in between them and said," Meeooowth, that's right."

They all posed in for a few seconds then James stepped forward and spoke. "As you are incapable of fighting, surrender all the Pokémon in the building to us and we walk away.

Ash and Kyle shared a look before both ran forward, Pikachu jumping in front of Nurse Joy and Kyle releasing Charmander alongside of him. "You aren't touching the Pokémon here," said Ash.

"Yeah, we will battle you over them," Kyle put in.

"You think to challenge us?" Jessie's eyes flashed in amusement.

"Let's show them what a mistake that is," said James. "Koffing, go!"

"Ekans, attack!" Jessie echoed.

Koffing spewed more smoke out, and then went into a Tackle attack. Ekans jumped forward in a Bite attack.

"Charmander, use Ember on Ekans," Kyle ordered quickly.

"Pikachu, let's use Quick Attack on Koffing," Ash backed up his order.

"You got it," they both said.

Pikachu charged forward at Koffing and knocked him back towards James while Charmander spat flame balls at Ekans, causing it to hiss in pain and fall back towards Jessie.

"Hmm, let's focus on the Charmander, James," said Jessie. "It will probably be more of a threat than a useless electric rat.

"Hey!" cried Ash. "Pikachu show them you aren't useless. Use Thundershock."

"With pleasure."

"Ekans, go underground."

"Koffing use Sludge on Charmander."

Ekans, who was the target of Pikachu's Thundershock, dove into the ground in front of it, evading the attack. At the same time, Koffing spat sticky purple goo at Charmander, hitting him in the face and rendering him blind long enough for Ekans to use Dig on him. The super-effective ground move took its toll on him and he was thrown backwards, out of commission.

Kyle ran forward. "Charmander, return." The red beam swallowed him up. "Ash, this battle is yours now."

"I'll do my best. Pikachu, Quick Attack Ekans back into Koffing."

Pikachu ran forward and slammed into Ekans, throwing him back into Koffing's floating form. They landed in a heap in front of their trainers.

"Now use the best Thundershock you can muster."

Pikachu sparked his cheeks for a good five seconds before releasing a huge burst of electricity straight into the tangled figures. Both flew back into their respective trainers who were pushed out the door from the impact. Upon seeing their unconscious Pokémon, they recalled them and grabbed onto the rope hanging from their balloon.

"You haven't seen the last of us," said Jessie.

"You'll regret the day you messed with Team Rocket," James added.

A few seconds later they both disappeared into the night sky.

Nurse Joy turned to look at the two boys. "I want to thank you on behalf of all the Pokémon that are recovering here. I'll also treat Charmander right away."

Kyle gave her Charmander's pokéball. "Thanks Nurse Joy. I'll pick him up in the morning."

Both the boys headed off to bed, worn out from the day's excitement. Little did they know the journey ahead would be just as full of excitement.

A/N: So that's chapter 2. A problem i had with the original series is that as a gym leader, Misty should be more powerful than she shows herself to be. She is older than the boys and obviously knows how to battle. I also included a way for Misty to join them since Ash no longer owes her a bike. I debated destroying the bike another way but this was easier. Also i wanted a way to include the concept of TM's as Kyle's style will be based on using many different moves of different types while Ash is still based on weird strategy so i came up with the booklets. Jessie and James are somewhat powerful but will soon start losing more easily as the group gains experience.