A loud, vicious snarl tore Ash from his dreams of stadiums, lights, and a powerful Hydreigon. It took him a few seconds to recognize that the noise wasn't a fully grown Barastyr, but his small Deino self. He blinked several times, trying to figure out what threat his starter had noticed that he had missed.
Oceanius glared from his tank, poisonous barbs already extended in preparation to attack. Barastyr's hackles were raised as he stood by the door. Thankfully, the Deino hadn't started trying to ram the door down to get to whatever it was that he heard, but Ash doubted it would last. The Deino species wasn't known for its patience, and frankly, it was incredible that Barastyr had waited for him to wake up before charging.
Ash pulled on his socks, leaving his shoes by the bed, and strapped on his belt over his pajamas. He doubted that there was anything seriously wrong, but he knew he wouldn't be able to go back to bed without checking it out first.
The dully lit room went fully dark, making Ash freeze for a few moments. He returned Oceanius, using the light of the beam to see Barastyr was starting to paw at the door. He considered returning his starter as well, but he wasn't stupid enough to go investigate without having some kind of protection.
The emergency lights flickered into existence, lighting the room enough for him to navigate his way to the door. He took a deep breath and opened the door, barely moving out of the way as Barastyr shot past him. It couldn't be too dangerous, after all, this was Giovanni's city, and no one wanted to piss off the most powerful gym leader in Kanto.
He closed the door as quietly as he could and followed the sound of snarling. One of these days, he would have to teach Barastyr how to be at least slightly inconspicuous when they were possibly in a dangerous situation.
One day, Barastyr would be able to rush into whatever situation he wanted to, but that day was at least a year away.
Ash felt his heart start beating overtime as his eyes saw what was happening in the lobby. Barastyr was being occupied by two Pokémon. One was a purple and yellow snake like creature, Ekans, and the other was a floating purple ball of gas, Koffing. They didn't seem very strong, likely new additions to whomever was attacking the centers team. A third Pokemon, a cream colored cat like Pokémon called Meowth, stood next to two humans, arms crossed over its chest in boredom. Its cockiness was beyond irritating, but Ash restrained himself from saying anything as he took in the rest of the room.
Nurse Joy was against the wall, fear in her eyes and hands raised as a Gastly watched her every breath. That Pokémon looked a little stronger than the others, and a little meaner. The only other people in the room were both dressed in white. One was a male, with bluish purple hair and bright green eyes that seemed to sparkle in malice. He was glancing back and forth between the battle and the nurse.
The woman had extremely long wine red hair and dark blue eyes. She didn't bother dividing her attention, eyes glued to the Ekans. She laughed when she saw Barastyr, almost curling in half from her laughter. Her teammates had to hold her up, scolding her slightly. It was clear that they didn't recognize Barastyr as a Deino, which made sense seeing as the Pokémon wasn't native to the Kanto region.
On the other hand, Ash knew exactly who he was dealing with: two members of the Rockets. Team Rocket was a fairly old group, having been around for around fifty years by this point. They were known for stealing rare Pokémon and selling them illegally. Unlike the gangs from, say, Hoenn, Team Rocket had no problem using fatal methods. They had caused several hundred deaths since the end of the Last Great War eight years prior.
No one knew who ran it, only that they were impossible to get rid of. Every time the League found and eradicated a cell of the gang, another three popped up in its place. They had a massive reach over not only Kanto, but Johto, Unova, the Sevii Islands, and Alola. Whoever ran it was clearly a threat to the entire world, but no one wanted to acknowledge it.
Ash knew for a fact that he had no chance at actually winning, especially if Meowth and Gastly joined in, but he also knew that if he didn't try, it was possible that Nurse Joy would end up dead and all of her charges would mysteriously disappear. He couldn't do much, but he could make enough noise that it would draw others out. Hopefully, there were at least a few strong trainers staying at the Center tonight.
Ash took a deep breath and stepped forward towards his starter. He released Oceanius, and got himself ready for the fight of his life. There were no other ways out of the Pokémon center, and hopefully, Nurse Joy had been able to call for help.
The two Rockets, both of whom seemed like they were in their late teens, exchanged exasperated looks.
"I'm not holding Imelda back from eating the kid." The woman told her partner.
The blue haired man turned slightly green. "Ugh, do you have to? We're going to see his body for a few weeks while she digests him."
The woman deadpanned. "Like Balthazar hasn't done worse things. The damned plant just likes to play, Imelda needs to eat in order to grow."
"True." The man sighed heavily. "Why couldn't all of my Pokémon be like Abaddan? He doesn't make me sick."
The Koffing seemed to chuckle, while the Ekans flicked its tongue out, tasting the air in a taunting, exaggerated way. Meowth, on the other hand, just glared at the trainers.
"Why would you want all of your Pokémon to act like that dunce?" Meowth asked angrily, sharpening its, his, claws as it looked directly at the male Rocket.
Ash choked, staring at the small normal type. Had it just talked? Was he still asleep? Was this all just a strange dream? It had to be, Pokémon couldn't talk.
It seemed like his staring was annoying the normal type, and it moved its glare from the Rocket to him. "What's ya problem? Never seen a talkin' Meowth before?"
Ash blinked at it. "Actually, no. I can't say I have." He took a breath, hardening his own eyes. "I'd think a Meowth intelligent enough to learn how to talk would be smart enough to know better than to break into a Pokemon Center. Especially in Giovanni's town!" He scoffed. "I guess your both the smartest and stupidest Meowth I've ever seen."
The Rockets seemed surprised by his words, but Nurse Joy seemed to think he was an idiot. To his surprise, the female Rocket just chuckled. "We've got a gutsy one this time, James."
The male nodded. "I suppose we do. I wonder if he knows who he's talking to, or if he's as stupid as he looks."
"I suppose he should prepare for trouble." She said teasingly, flicking her hair over her shoulder.
A small smirk grew on the man's face. "Well, we'll make it double."
"To protect the world from devastation. "
"To unite all peoples within our nation."
"To denounce the evils of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jessie." She blew Ash a small kiss, teasingly trying to take away from the sheer cold fear he was feeling.
He bowed deeply, exaggerating every part of the movement. "James."
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light."
"Surrender now, or prepare to fight." James' eyes twinkled, knowing that their silly rhyme had done its job and disturbed the younger trainer. Ash couldn't believe he had stumbled on Rockets here of all places, but tried not to show his unease. He just needed to make some noise, to draw people who could beat them out. He didn't need to win, he just had to stall.
"Meowth that's right!" The Pokémon chipped in happily, leaning back against the wall with his arms crossed against his chest.
Ash felt his lips twitch. Was he terrified? Yes. Was that the stupidest thing he had ever heard in his entire life? Also yes. He wanted to laugh, if only because of the ridiculousness of their lovely poem, but he knew better.
"Crunch on the Ekans, show it who has the most powerful jaws. Bubblebeam on the Koffing, keep it back and away from us, Oceanius." He commanded, keeping his voice low. Neither of his team members had flashy moves, but hopefully, Bubblebeam would do some damage against the poison type, even if it wasn't much.
It was times like this he wished he had a full grown team, because then he could actually do something. Still, he had only been a trainer for less than a day, and his path was going to be a long one.
Barastyr rushed forward, apparently deciding to go for Ekans tail. Ash grimaced at that. In a normal battle with normal rules, fighting fair was a good thing. When you were fighting someone like a Rocket, it was a good way to die.
If he had a choice, he wouldn't have sent out Oceanius. Not because of his strength, but because of his sheer type disadvantage. With some luck, neither poison type knew any grass type moves, but Ash wasn't holding his breath. He knew that the Rockets would exploit every advantage they had, and nothing was safe. While his Pokémon were fighting like this was a battle, the Rocket's Pokémon would have no such restrictions on them.
Ash watched carefully as his Pokémon followed his directions. Hopefully, he would be able to get between the Rockets and Nurse Joy. To do that, he needed to turn both battles into long ranged fights, something that suited Oceanius just fine, but Barastyr struggled with. He took in everything. Oceanius simply didn't have anything strong enough to do much damage to Koffing, but Barastyr had one move that could get him out of Ekans way, and still cause a slight explosion.
He just hoped it worked. "Barastyr, switch things up, Dark pulse. Oceanius, cover him." He had never asked Barastyr to use the attack, but he hoped that it would help his poor dark type keep Ekans from wrapping and strangling him.
The first thing he noticed was how long it took for Barastyr to charge the attack. Twenty seconds of gathering energy was just too long. Koffing rammed himself into Oceanius while Ekans launched itself at Barastyr. Thankfully, the attack blasted Ekans in the face, knocking it against the wall with a thud.
Ash frowned, the attack should have been a lot stronger, but he put it out of his mind. "Crunch. Oceanius, help him out, Smoke screen." While the other Pokémon would be impaired by their lack of sight, even if it was just slightly, Barastyr would be able to sneak in and hopefully he would be able to do a good amount of damage.
Just as Oceanius was about to blow out the thick smoke, they were no longer alone. A Machoke, Hitmonchan, and Ariados were suddenly helping his team. He glanced to the hallway, relieved to see three new people rushing forward.
The first was a short haired blonde with deep green eyes that were lined with dark bags showing his exhaustion. He was dressed in a plain grey t shirt and black sweatpants. He was about fourteen, or fifteen, but he knew what he was doing.
The second was a girl with long, waist length brown hair, purple mini shorts, and a black tank top. She had light blue eyes that glinted with amusement as she moved to his side with her friends.
Finally, the last boy had shaggy black hair covering one dark brown eye. He was dressed in black checkered pajama pants, and had apparently forgotten to throw on a shirt.
"Lightning Punch." The black haired boy commanded.
"Electroweb." The brunette girl said easily.
"Brick Break." The blonde muttered out sleepily.
Ash watched in amazement as the three Pokémon rushed into the fight, seeming to know what their trainers would want them to do before they said anything. Oceanius and Barastyr backed up, guarding him instead and leaving the fight to the bigger Pokémon. It was impressive to watch the way that the trainers expertly handled their Pokémon.
The other three seemed to relax once their Pokémon moved. The blonde glanced over at Ash. "You okay kid?"
"Fine, thanks for the help."
The other black haired trainer scoffed. "If you knew what you were doing, we wouldn't have to step in."
"Hayden!" The girl elbowed her friend roughly, "be nice. This will only take a few more minutes, then you two can go back to bed. Ari and I can watch them until the police come."
Hayden scoffed. "What? You were thinking the same thing, Kels, if the kid was competent instead of being a pathetic, idiotic, waste of space, we could be sleeping. It's been a long time since we got to sleep in a bed, damn it, and I wanted to enjoy it. Why did you guys drag me out of bed, but Nic gets to sleep?"
"A) it was Nic's Alakazam that teleported us. B) it's only been three days since we were in Saffron. And C) your team was more pathetic than his when we were that young, remember?" The blonde told Hayden.
The girl rolled her eyes, but seemed content with what the other boy had said.
Ash just scoffed. Honestly, he thought he was doing pretty well for someone who hadn't even been a trainer for twenty four hours. He didn't particularly care about what the older trainer said, but apparently, his team did.
Barastyr was growling at the other boy who insulted his trainer while Oceanius glared murderously. They weren't particularly happy about their trainer being insulted.
The older trainers laughed, clearly not scared of Barastyr, before the girl screamed in fear.
Ash felt pain blossom on his back as something sharp slashed through the skin. He bit his lip, feeling himself falling forward as another set of cuts was delivered to his back. Barastyr roared in outrage, jumped up, headbutted the Pokémon that had snuck up behind him, the Meowth.
He fell to his knees, focusing on trying to keep his breathing steady as a battle raged behind him. His body collapsed further, banging his head on the cold tiles underneath him. He looked around, ignoring the horrified looks of the other trainers, and spotted his starter in a rage with Oceanius helping Barastyr tear into Meowth.
Thankfully, all of the other Pokémon seemed occupied, and he was fairly certain neither of his Pokémon would allow anyone near him while they were in danger. Blackness that had been creeping in his vision overtook him. He knew nothing else.
He woke suddenly, with a gush of air leaving his chest as his memory of the previous day slammed into him like a Snorelax using body slam. He looked around, trying to make sense of his mind. White everywhere. He was hooked up to several machines, his back ached like crazy. Luckily, there was a small tank in the room, and Oceanius watched him in distress.
His breathing slowed a bit, as he locked eyes with his Pokémon. He had a Horsea. And a Deino. And a Dratini. He had encountered a Gyarados, saved a Dratini from death, ran away from a fight, that made him grimace, and fought against Team Rocket. What a day.
He sat up slowly, having to pause midway to simply breathe as his back screamed at him for moving. He didn't notice anyone else entering the room until he was forced back to the laying down position and the pain evened out enough for him to pull himself together.
A frowning Nurse Joy was watching him. "You shouldn't move, Mr. Ketchum. That Meowth did a lot of damage to you. You took three fury swipes to the back, as I'm sure you can feel. It's healing, but I'm afraid that even with Ditto cells injected in the area, you're still going to have some pretty bad scars. Humans just aren't meant to take attacks like that. If the Meowth had been a little bit stronger, it would have been enough to kill you. You were very lucky that your Pokémon were keeping such a close eye on you."
He simply nodded, before clearing his throat a bit. She frowned and passed him a glass of water. He downed it, knowing he needed it. "Thanks." He forced out. "How's Dratini? And where's Barastyr?"
"Your Dratini is healing well. Thankfully, when they cut the power a couple of days ago, they only got the main centers power, not the emergency one. I'm guessing that you mean your Deino, by Barastyr. It's just fine, and it's pokeball is on the chair. I don't recommend letting it out, as it was extremely distressed when you passed out."
He frowned, but nodded as she continued. "Anyways, you were asleep the better part of the last three days. You should be able to move by tonight, and tomorrow, I have arranged for a dragon specialist to come in and show you how to help your Dratini shed its skin. You will not be helping, just watching. If the swelling goes down, yes, you will be free to go tomorrow night, just like your Dratini. Alright?"
"I..." he took a deep breath. "I understand that Barastyr seems dangerous, but I promise he won't hurt anyone or anything. He's my starter, and the last time he saw me, I had just been attacked. I know you don't trust him, but i need to make sure he's okay."
Nurse Joy pinned him with a look. He knew he was already on a thin rope with her, as most Nurse Joy's worked exclusively on Pokémon, but he had been bleeding out in her lobby. He also knew that there was something inside every Pokémon center that usually kept Pokémon calm under duress. There was a rumor that each Nurse Joy had an Alakazam hiding around, keeping an eye on the property and subduing Pokémon that were too wild normally.
After a five minute staring contest, she finally sighed in acceptance. "Fine. But you have to stay calm, and still. There are forces here that will step in if you get too rowdy. Please don't make me use them." With that, she walked calmly to the other side of his bed and handed him a pokeball. His fingers closed on the cool metal and he felt a pulse of dark energy go through him.
He didn't even have a chance to press the release button, Barastyr let himself out, carefully whining and sniffing at him. He ignored the nurse watching him and moved his head slightly to butt against his starters. "Hey Bara. Gotta be careful for a little while longer, mkay?" His eyelids were getting heavy, and Barastyr just curled up on the bed next to him, trying not to hurt his trainer.
Ash moved, just a little bit, "Thanks for keeping me safe, Bara." His sleepy eyes moved to where he was being watched by Oceanius. "You both did better than I could have imagined. I'm so proud of both of you."
It felt like minutes later, he was woken up by a harsh growling sound. With a small yawn, he opened his eyes to see Barastyr standing on the bed next to him. A familiar teen had entered his hospital room, and Barastyr wasn't pleased.
With spiked brown hair, a royal purple shirt, and a dark bag slung over his shoulder, Gary Oak had finally arrived.
"Looks like you got yourself in a bit of a pickle, Ashy-boy." Gary teased lightly.
Ash rolled his eyes, soothing Barastyr with continued petting. "Looks like you finally made it." Ash shot back. "You're so slow."
Gary simply shrugged. "Me and Squirtle aren't stupid enough to take on Rocket's. Speaking of." The teasing expression melted off of the youngest Oak's face as a scowl took over. "What the hell were you thinking? You could have gotten killed. You could have gotten everyone killed. If that Koffing had used Self Destruct, what would have happened? This was an enclosed space, idiot. Most dragons are ranged fighters, and even if they weren't, this is a Pokémon hospital! Where were those hours worth of lectures I had to listen to about how Dragon types grow slowly and need to have constant small challenges? Huh? Did you take a leave of absence from your senses, Asher Theodoric Ketchum?"
He couldn't stop the small flinch that moved his body. Yes, he had been stupid. He should have just stayed in the room, called the police, and returned his Pokémon. If he had been found, he should have tried to escape. Barastyr was not ready for a battle like that, even if his opponents were weak. He knew better.
It would take months of work to get Barastyr back to where he had been that night. Luckily, he hadn't done any damage to Oceanius, as the water type was more adaptable at the moment than the dark type.
Yes, his Pokémon had been agitated, but he could have dealt with it in a better way.
Barastyr nudged him again, and he shook himself out of his head. "I'm an idiot." He sighed out, "but you already knew that. Besides, I honestly didn't think that Rocket's were stupid enough to step foot in Giovanni's territory."
Gary shrugged in agreement. The Rockets must have been far dumber than anyone gave them credit for if they thought they would rob a Pokemon Center in Viridian. Other places, especially Pewter, had been targeted before. But Viridian? They must have been dumber than anyone knew.
There was no chance that Giovanni would let the idiots get away undamaged.
Gary flopped down in the visitors chair, exhaustion clear in his dark blue eyes. "Arceus, Route one is a mess right now. Have you heard about the Gyarados that almost maimed a girl? One of her Pokémon is going to have to retire, from what i hear."
Ash felt himself flinch slightly. "I was there when it showed up." He admitted quietly. He had assumed that the girl had at least one Pokémon that was strong enough to fight if she had stayed behind.
Gary peered at him, before nodding. "There was nothing you could do, not in the face of a Gyarados in the middle of an evolution frenzy. Even if all five of us had been there, we would have gotten our asses handed to us."
"Yeah."
The room was silent for a minute. Barastyr was still tense, ready to attack at any second if his trainer needed him to. Oceanius was still incredibly
"It took us the better part of four days to get here. Somehow, the other three got freaked out, and we ended up going through route one together. Lillian- Rose's Bulbasaur is a handful in battle. It already knows stun spore, and sleep powder. She wants to teach him poison powder next. Blake's Solosis is a beast in the making. Stupid thing beat me in all three of our battles, and Brat just wants to squish it now. Vesper is an idiot. He has no idea how to manage Charmander at all. You'd think he would have looked it up, but no, he's too smart to need help." Gary groaned in annoyance. "They thought we would find you in a couple of hours, but I knew you would have been right in the middle of things."
Ash forced out a laugh. "Sounds like you had fun."
Gary just groaned again. He wasn't antisocial, not really, but the other three drove him insane. Blake was a bigger headache than the other two, simply because no one could figure out why he had stuck by Lillian- Rose's side for so long. She treated him like a pack mule, and talked down to him.
Vesper was simply a jerk. That was all there was to it. Having lost in battles was probably good for him, especially if Gary wasn't the only one to stop him down.
"I caught a massive Pidgey, Ash, he's almost a foot and a half tall, and he's 7 pounds, according to Nurse Joy." Gary bragged easily, fingering the pokeballs on his belt happily. "He's gonna be a powerhouse once he evolves. I also have a Weedle that somehow ended up at our camp the third night. He's pretty stupid, but he's mean."
Ash just hummed quietly. "Well, I haven't caught a Pidgey, or anything near as interesting."
Oceanius rammed against the tank, trying to get their attention. Gary's jaw dropped. Ash gave his little Sea dragon an apologetic smile. Everyone knew that Oceanius was far more interesting than a Pidgey, massive or otherwise.
"Is that a Horsea?" Gary asked flatly.
Ash simply hummed in agreement.
"You managed to catch a shiny Pokémon as your second."
"His name is Oceanius, and yeah, he was my first battle. On my first day." Ash knew he sounded smug, but his dreams were already coming together. He already had three Pokémon, two dragons, and one that would become a dragon in time.
Gary opened his mouth a few times to reply, but simply shut it and shook his head. "Only you." He grumbled out, head low in his hands.
Ash felt a smug smirk grow on his face. He hadn't even told Gary about Nephthys yet. Assuming she liked the name, his Dratini would strike fear into the hearts of her opponents when she was ready.
A loud crash from downstairs echoed through the room, and Ash forced himself up as he heard screaming. "Gary."
The brunette nodded and headed out of the room to scout out the problem. While he was doing that, Ash slipped on his jeans and belt, not bothering trying to change into his shirt. His back ached too much for that. He returned Oceanius and Barastyr, ignoring their grumbling about it, and picked up his backpack. He didn't want to carry it, his scars were too fresh, but he had a feeling that he would need it. As soon as it touched his bare back, he grunted in pain, closing his eyes for just a second to get himself under control.
When Gary came back in, not at all surprised to see Ash out of bed, he had a grimace on his face. "There's a Gible freaking out downstairs. I think it belongs to Officer Jenny. It's really, really mad, and keeps ramming itself against the counter or the walls. Think you can get it under control?"
Ash half shrugged, ignoring the racing pain down his back. "Probably. Let's go."
No one in Pallet knew dragon types like he did. Most of his knowledge surprised even Professor Oak. To be fair, the Professor wasn't a specialist, like he was, and studied a broad variety of topics. Ash had a fascination so strong that he and his mother visited the famous Blackthorn City in Johto. He spent two weeks watching what he could and following those who would indulge him.
It was there that he met Claire, a dragon trainer who was just starting with her own Dratini. He guessed that she would probably be around sixteen now, as he had been six at the time. She had shown him how to properly groom the scales of a dragon type. Seeing as they had a far different laying pattern than any other typing, it could be difficult to take care of them properly.
She had also let him help her Dratini, she named him Xander, shed his skin. While Dratini rarely needed the help, it was a good way to bond a new dragon trainer with their Pokémon. He had learned a lot watching her interact with Xander.
One of those things, funny enough, was what happened when a dragon type went on a hunger rampage.
He watched down the hall with an impassive look. It took him all of three seconds to catch onto the fact that the Pokémon was practically starved.
With a massive sigh and a roll of his eyes, Ash walked into the main waiting room of the Pokemon Center. Several couches and benches had fallen to the mighty teeth of the Sand Shark Pokemon.
He put his backpack down against the wall, and pulled out a bowl, catching the attention of the small dragon ground type. He pulled out a bag of dried Pokemon food and poured it into the bowl, completely ignoring the rampage around him, and the chaos as the other humans tried to figure out what to do.
Instead of running at it, the Gible froze. Ash frowned slightly at that. The Gible had most likely been abused, probably with food. Instead of getting angry or freaking out, he pulled out a jar of Yache berries.
He opened it, and rolled a berry towards the Gible. It looked at the berry, going completely silent, before hesitantly picking it up. It waited a few seconds for someone to take the berry away, before devouring it. After it ate, the hesitant look came back. Ash simply rolled another berry, this time with a little more strength, to the Pokémon. It took a few seconds less for it to eat the berry.
He went through the process five more times, before simply placing a few more berries into the dish of Pokémon food. He stepped back a little ways, and waited. Within a minute, the Gible, male if the dorsal fin indentation was any indicator, was chowing down.
He shook his head slightly, an amused smile breaking through his lips, and sat down where he was. The Gible kept glancing over at him, but he didn't really move. He could see Gary watching a few feet away with his hand on a pokeball in case the dragon type started rampaging again.
Unlike the others, Ash knew he was safe. Gible were some of the most relaxed dragons there were, outside of battle anyways. He would be extremely surprised if this one was any different. From the look of it, it was a pretty average Gible, in height at least. It was thinner than the ones he had seen on Television, but as the creature was pretty much all mouth, and it was clearly starving, he wasn't surprised. It had a few lighter blue scars on its back, like someone had whipped its scales, and the horns on the side of its head were covered in dead, rotting skin.
It needed to be groomed, badly. Sadly, Cynthia's love of the species didn't change the fact that most people were terrified that they were going to be bitten if they touched the Gible.
The Pokémon was suppose to be extremely social, laid back, and fairly quiet, a trait that most dragons shared. This one was terrified, hesitant, and starving. He really hoped that Officer Jenny had just gotten it, and hadn't been the one to starve it because she didn't understand his needs.
He tried to ignore the stench coming from around the horns as he watched the Land Shark Pokemon eat, but gave up with a small sigh. He didn't have the supplies on him to completely fix the problem, but he could at least help the creature get its horns back to standard shape.
He dug through his bag and found a pair of rubber gloves, a hard bristled brush, and a container of moisturizer for the skin of Pokémon. He moved to its side and touched one side of the horns with a gloved hand. It froze under his touch, but he gently started massaging the dead skin. With a couple swipes of the brush, the shed skin came off, into a waiting plastic bag. It was easy enough to clean the new skin and keep the driest parts under the thick lotion.
When he finished one side, the Gible simply moved so he could reach the other. It only took about five minutes of care to get rid of the decaying skin. Once he was done, the gloves went into the trash bag, which he easily tied to keep the smell trapped. It took him a few extra seconds to regain his balance once he stood up. He threw the bag to Gary, hiding a wince, and watched as the other boy tossed it into the garbage.
"Most dragons don't like being dirty?" Gary asked with a roll of his eyes.
"Yeah, and he's starving. With the dead skin covering his ears, and the fact that he's either been underfed or not fed at all, his rampage makes sense." Ash glanced at the dragon, who was now watching him in curiosity. "Besides, he's going to be paying for that rampage for at least a month. I'm gonna go back to bed."
To his surprise, Gary stole his backpack without a word. Ash rolled his eyes at the protectiveness of his once best friend, but wasn't surprised by it. He covered a yawn with his hand, trying to find his energy once more. He knew that he would be leaving the hospital the next day.
"Wait!" A voice commanded from behind him. Ash turned and met Officer Jenny's red eyes. "How did you know how to do that?"
Ash simply blinked at her. "I like dragon type Pokémon." He answered easily. "They are pretty easy to understand once you learn why they behave certain ways." That was true for all Pokémon of all types. Dragon's were the most, well, honor based besides fighting types. They didn't rampage often, but when they did, there was always destruction left behind. It was lucky that the Gible was so weak, or it could have caused some serious damage. The Land Shark Pokemon was a lower level dragon, and most likely, still very young.
It was just past a baby, and less than a year old, if he had to guess. No Garchomp would feel comfortable letting such a small Gible venture out on its own.
Which meant that it had been stolen.
A small bump against his leg tore him out of his thoughts. He glanced down at the small blue Pokémon with a half smile. "All done then?" He asked lightly. Ash felt his eyebrows shoot up when the Pokémon simply grabbed onto his jeans with one if its small claws. Dragon's didn't behave like that. They were never shy, they never hid from a challenge, and they never backed down.
Having a Gible acting so hesitant made his heart ache. He knelt down beside it, half using Gary to keep his balance, and rubbed right behind one of its horns.
It clung to his arm as soon as it was in reach. He exchanged a look with Gary. The abuse had been worse than he had ever imagined it could have been. For such a proud, laid back species to be so unsure was just wrong.
"I take it you brought him for Giovanni?" Ash said lightly, trying to keep the dragon from feeling his anger. His burning golden eyes met Officer Jenny's crimson ones.
"No actually. Leader Giovanni liberated this little guy from the Rocket's after they attacked a few days ago. He said that it was obviously too wild for anyone to be able to tame, and suggested that Champion Lance come by to take it off my hands. I was trying to heal it up so that it would be healthy when Champion Lance came by this afternoon." Officer Jenny explained quietly, getting a low growl from the Land Shark. Gible did not like Officer Jenny.
"Gible is part ground type too. Giovanni should be able to handle it. I mean, Garchomp are powerful fighters." But if Giovanni had decided that he didn't want to waste his time on the Pokémon, then it would be passed to Lance. From there, maybe an Ace Trainer would get it, if the Champion decided he didn't want to raise such a low leveled Pokémon.
He felt bad for the little dragon. Hopefully, Gible would end up with a trainer that took the time to see its potential and was patient enough to help it reach its full power.
"He doesn't have time to help a subpar fighter. Besides, taming dragons is Champion Lance's thing." Officer Jenny shrugged, clearly repeating what the older Gym Leader had told her. If he wanted to pass on the Pokémon to someone else, then he had full rights to do so.
Ash patted the little Pokémon on the head, noticing its Rough Skin ability, but knowing where it was safe to scratch its scaly skin. "I guess you're right." He admitted with a sigh. His back was practically on fire from the angle he was kneeling, but he kept quiet, knowing that it was more likely than not that the dragon would be discarded by whatever trainer it ended up with. "Wait, did you say that Champion Lance was coming by this afternoon?"
This time, it was Nurse Joy who nodded. "Yes, Mr. Ketchum. He is going to show you how to take care of your Dratini." She folded her hands in front of her for a moment. "He tries to help every trainer who is lucky enough to catch a Dratini, seeing as he's an expert with the species and they require more work than most in order to grow into healthy Pokémon."
That made sense. Of the most powerful types, Dragon, Fairy, Psychic, Dark, and Ground, Kanto only had experts in three. Sabrina was one of the true Psychics, and the one he would challenge for his Marsh badge, while Giovanni was the expert in Ground Type Pokemon. Out of them, Dragon and Dark were the two most challenging types to raise, for very similar reasons. They could be the most vicious and cunning out of any Pokémon. In the case of Dark Pokemon, they had an almost insatiable appetite for blood and violence. Dragons grew slowly, but they grew into titans that were almost impossible to beat. Because of that, only dragons of certain personalities were supposed to be caught. His Barastyr certainly didn't match the personality types that were supposed to be captured.
He knew that his silence was bothering everyone else in the room, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He was still beyond exhausted at the moment. Besides, he had weird feelings towards the Champion that he didn't enjoy thinking about. Lance had taken the League by storm, with not one, but three powerful Dragonite, an Aerodactyl, a Gyarados, and a Charizard that made Professor Oak's look like a wimp. The problem was, for a Dragon Type Master, he had very little understanding of how his Pokemon appeared to the general population. They were strong, yes, but they seemed to be strong enough to completely obliterate Kanto if they so choose to. To make things even worse, they might actually be able to.
No one had seen Lance in a corner, about to lose since he had won against the last Champion, Eridian. Worst of all, Lance was born and raised in Johto, not Kanto. He would never hurt his home region, but the other one he ruled over? That one was fair game.
While Ash seriously doubted that Lance would actually hurt anyone, he and his dragons were one of the main reasons that Dragon Types were so feared. As much as he respected what Lance had done, he hated how detached the man had become from his people.
That wasn't to say he wouldn't listen and absorb every word the Champion would say.
Gible gripped his arm tighter, yanking him back to the moment. His eyes met Gary's dark blue eyes. To his surprise, Gary just yanked him up. "Come in, loser. You're still out of it, and you need to go back to bed, Ashy-boy."
He gave Gary a dirty look as Gible still clung to his arm. Forty pounds of dragon was not letting him go any time soon. "I'm fine." He muttered out. "I've got things to do, Gary. You're grandpa might kill me if I don't check in with him soon."
"Mhm, whatever loser. Are you going to be stupid enough to tell me your back doesn't really hurt?"
"You know it does." Ash ground out, temper spiking in a way that only Gary could cause. "But unlike you, I don't need to be in bed all day. I've got plans to change, and people to talk to."
Gary sighed in exasperation. "Do you really want to go trekking through Fuchsia City right now?"
"Not particularly, no. But Barastyr needs some open space to work on his moveset, so does Oceanius. Considering that Dratini won't be able to battle for at least a few weeks, I'm so far behind schedule that I'm not sure how I'm going to catch up." He was tired, exhausted even, and wanted nothing more than to take a nap, but he needed to adjust his plans. It would be days before he had a coherent plan, and he needed to be awake to work it out in his head. Was it even worth going to Kalos? Should he try to simply work with what Kanto had to offer?
Either way, he had no idea where he was going, and that, more than anything else, made him irritable. The Pokemon he caught now, the choices he made now, would follow him for the rest of his life. That was a terrifying thought to him.
He shifted a bit, moving so that he was holding Gible in both his arms instead of letting the Land Shark Pokemon hang from one. He wasn't going to let himself float around uselessly. He had things to do, places to go, and Pokemon to meet.
His eyes burned gold in stubborn determination. Gary nudged him in the side, and he forced it back. He would draw up a plan as soon as he was checked out. Speaking of.
"You said I could be checked out today." Ash reminded Nurse Joy.
She clucked disapprovingly at him. "I said you could leave if you stayed in bed all day, young man. If you go back to bed, I might consider letting you leave in a few hours, once Champion Lance arrives. Maybe."
He nodded in agreement, and tried to set the Gible down. Its small claws bunched up in his hospital gown, clinging tightly. His eyebrows shot up, and he turned to Gary, who simply held his hands up uselessly.
Gary wasn't stupid enough to try and remove the Pokémon from Ash's person. It may have exhausted itself earlier, but its teeth could still cause a lot of damage.
"Wimp." Ash muttered out as he moved closer to Officer Jenny. It was her Pokémon at the moment, after all. The cop simply looked at him, completely unimpressed.
"Tell me, kid, have you always had a way with dragons? Or is this a new thing?" She asked, one hand on her hip.
Gary burst into laughter behind him, and he shot his onetime best friend a glare. "Ash would read stories to grandpa's Dragonite practically every day! He's the only one who could make it purr!"
Ash's glare intensified. "It wasn't my fault King likes me better! Besides, you loved spending time with his Arcanine, and Blazes would shoot an ember whenever I got near it!"
Gary laughed again, but controlled himself after a few moments. "He wants to be a Dragon Master, and eventually, own one of every dragon type Pokémon on the planet, pseudo or not."
Ash felt himself go red. He wished he had his hat to cover his face, but simply looked down. To his surprise, Gible was staring at him in consideration. He was being judged by the Sand Shark for something.
"Do you think you could handle that? Dragons are very..." Officer Jenny trailed off.
Ash rolled his eyes. "My starter is a Deino. My second Pokémon is a Horsea. My third is a Dratini. If I can't handle it, I'm going to have to learn how to pretty quickly."
The door dinged, but Ash ignored it. He would catch a Gible of his own soon enough. Even if this one clearly needed someone who could understand it. He would make his team work. He just had to get to Route 8 in Kalos. Once he got there, everything would get a lot easier, and he would be able to find hopefully two new members of his team, Bagon on the Route, and Axew in the Connecting Cave. Gible and Trapinch would be found around route 13, hopefully he could handle it in the more rugged terrain. If he couldn't find a Pokémon that would work with his team, then he would head forwards to Route 14, where Goomy would be hiding. It wasn't much of a plan, but it was something, seeing as he already had the only dragons available in Kanto.
"Why don't you just take Gible with you?" A man asked casually. He was dressed in red, with fiery red hair and black, assessing eyes. He was simply watching, leaning against the wall as he spoke.
Champion Lance of the Elite Four had arrived.