Chapter 3: Becoming a Mentor
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon
Stone Badge arc – Chapter 3 – Becoming a Mentor
Ash was starting to think that he was becoming a bad person.
It had been around mid morning when he and Pikachu set out for Oldale Town with their new friend, May. According to her, they should reach Oldale Town by sunset if they kept up a decent pace. Ash had released Treecko from his Poké Ball and he used the potion to heal the Grass Pokémon's injuries. When they stopped for lunch, Treecko was much more content to sit up on a branch on his own and at first Ash thought he was just preferred to be alone. However, according to his Pokédex, Treeckos liked sitting high up on tree branches, so Ash also took that under consideration.
It wasn't the slight problems that he had with Treecko that made him think that he was a bad person, no; it was something to do with May. There were a few times where his eyes would wander to her ample chest and his face would heat up slightly. Also there were a couple of times that he had deliberately slowed his walk so he could get a glimpse of her backside. He really was a terrible person. He thought about calling his mom and telling her about this but he felt ashamed to do so and embarrassed. Ash resolved to ask Brock about this, if there was anyone that could understand what he was doing, it was Brock. Unknown to the young trainer from Pallet Town, May was doing the exact same thing to him.
"Hey, Ash can I ask you something that's been on my mind for a while?" May asked him.
Ash looked back slightly; May was only trailing behind him by a few feet. Pikachu was slightly ahead of them both and he was eagerly checking out the trees and bushes.
"Go ahead." Ash easily answered.
"I thought all Pokémon stayed inside of their Poké Balls, so why doesn't Pikachu?"
Ash smiled at her, "You'll find out throughout your journey that you will come across a lot of Pokémon with different personalities. Pikachu is one of the few Pokémon that I have seen that detests being in a Poké Ball and so I am happy for him to always stay out and remain with me."
And also ever since I have received him we became pretty much inseparable so no worries.
"That's amazing!" May said in awe and she pulled out her Poké Ball that contained her Torchic, "I haven't had any problems with my Torchic yet. Come to think of it, I don't really know anything about this Torchic."
"Why don't you check it out with your Pokédex? That will give you some basic information about Torchic." Ash recommended.
May frowned at him, "I already heard your Pokédex give you information about Torchic."
"Since I don't actually own Torchic, I was only given the basic information about it." Ash informed her, "However since you own that Torchic, your Pokédex has much more detailed information about it."
"What kind of information?" May questioned him curiously.
"Check it out for yourself. You will learn a lot more discovering things yourself than me giving you all the answers. I've had to learn that the hard way over the last few years." Ash pointed out.
May pulled out her Pokédex and she looked up her Torchic's information.
"Her moves are Peck, Growl and Ember and she has an ability known as Blaze." May read out loud before she lowered the gadget and she looked at Ash curiously, "What is Blaze?"
"It's a move that powers up the Fire type attacks of your Torchic." Ash replied, "It should have more information about Blaze in your Pokédex but from what I understand, a Pokémon can only activate Blaze is certain situations."
"That sounds neat!" May smiled widely however her attention to her Pokédex died quickly after she noticed a small Pokémon run onto the dirt path. Ash looked at the Pokémon with curiosity and Pikachu quickly stepped in front of Ash and he prepared to battle. The Pokémon that stood in front of them is a round, blue mouse Pokémon. Its thin, black, zigzagging tail has a large blue ball at the end. There are two white dots on its cheeks, and it has black eyes.
May used her Pokédex to scan it, "Azurill, the Polka Dot Pokémon; Azurill is able to throw its tail like a lasso, using the momentum to move about."
"It's so cute! I want it!" May declared passionately.
"Then try and catch it." Ash suggested.
"Okay," May grinned in excitement, "I'll just grab me a Poké Ball and throw it!" Ash's eyes widened when May simply threw an empty Poké Ball at the Azurill. The Polka Dot Pokémon was sucked into the Poké Ball and May cheered at the success of catching her first Pokémon.
'Perhaps this won't be as hard as I thought it would be.' May thought happily, "Oh yeah! I caught my first Pokémon!"
Ash just frowned and watched with his arms folded across his chest as the Azurill broke out of the Poké Ball.
"Hey!" May protested, "What gives?!"
"You're not going to catch anything that way, May." Ash informed her with a hint of fondness in his voice. He couldn't help but think back to when he first started his journey and the first couple of attempts to catch a Pokémon. He used to think back on this with embarrassment but now he realised that he wasn't the only one that didn't really know what he was doing when he first started.
"What do you mean?!" May snapped at him, "I threw a Poké Ball at it, didn't I?!"
"You only throw your Poké Ball after you battle and weaken the Pokémon." Ash lectured her calmly.
"I see... then it is time for a Pokémon battle!" May declared and she quickly released Torchic from the confines of her Poké Ball, "Now what were those attacks again?" May mused out loud.
Torchic didn't wait for May's order and she took it upon herself to charge towards the water Pokémon. The Azurill simply bounced out of the way and Torchic ran straight into a tree.
"Torchic!" May shouted worriedly.
Torchic brushed off the pain and she determinedly ran after the Azurill and May quickly followed.
"Was I this bad, Pikachu?" Ash couldn't help question his beloved starter.
"Pika, pika." Pikachu nodded sympathetically.
"I suppose we should go after her." Ash decided and he hurried after his new companion. Pikachu was right on his shoulder.
I was about to remind you, May. You need to battle the Pokemon first before you try to catch it." Ash explained: he had actually made the same mistake himself and he wanted to make sure that May didn't end up in the same position that he did.
"Oh, that's right. Thanks for reminding me. It's time for my first Pokemon battle!" May replied. She grabbed the Pokeball Torchic was in and threw it. "Let's go, Torchic!" May called. The Pokeball opened and Torchic came out, and then she jumped up into the air as if she was glad to be out of the Pokeball. As May was trying to remember what Torchic's attacks were since she was looking them up earlier, Azurill started to bounce away on its tail and Torchic gave chase. Coming to a tree, Azurill leapt away while Torchic ran into the tree.
"Torchic, are you okay?" May asked. Torchic jumped up on her feet, evidently unhurt by that head-first impact and quickly ran after Azurill as it bounced away using its tail to help it move faster. "Torchic, slow down! Wait for me!" May called as she and Ash quickly rushed after the two Pokemon.
Azurill bounced back and forth in between bushes while Torchic followed in hot pursuit. The two small Pokemon soon came to a small cliff face and Azurill stopped short before bouncing out of the way while Torchic ran head-first into it, leaving her eyes in the shape of swirls and bruises on her face. Since she and Ash now caught up, May bent down and picked up Torchic. "Torchic, don't do anything until I tell you to, okay?" May asked. Torchic looked up at May with her eyes having gone big and watering up, causing May to show an expression of worry. "Torchic, what's wrong? Why are you crying?" she asked, not wanting to see Torchic get upset.
"May, if you don't hurry, Azurill will get away!" Ash said. May then looked up to see Azurill standing there in front of a tree, having stopped bouncing around. Torchic then jumped out of May's arms and ran over, ready to actually start battling with this little runaway.
"All right. Torchic, use Peck!" May called: she was actually able to remember one of Torchic's moves before coming across Azurill. Torchic then leapt forward to start attacking, but Azurill jumped out of the way leaving Torchic to peck rapidly at the tree. "Torchic, Azurill's over there!" May said. Torchic turned her head to see Azurill bouncing away and quickly started to run after it. "Oh, not again. Torchic, come back!" May said as she and Ash gave chase after them. Azurill was hopping away while Torchic gave chase after it. Torchic then leapt out from behind a bush and shot out small blasts of fire from her beak, after which she could suddenly hear Azurill's cries from behind the bush up ahead. Torchic then happily smiled hearing this and ran over to find Azurill lying on the ground knocked out. As Torchic was looking at the downed Water Ball Pokemon, Ash and May both arrived and noticed this as well.
"May, now's your chance to catch Azurill." Ash said. Hearing this, May quickly grabbed out an empty Pokeball from her bag.
"Pokeball, go!" May yelled out before throwing it. The Pokeball bounced off Azurill's head and opened up, causing Azurill to go inside in a bright red light. After that, the Pokeball closed and dropped down on the ground shaking rapidly while its centre blinked red. Ash and May watched on anxiously while Torchic was just wondering what was going on. After a few seconds, the Pokeball stopped shaking and the centre stopped blinking: that meant that May's catch was successful. May stared in disbelief wondering if she was really seeing this while Ash brightly smiled, happy for May.
"May, you did it! You caught your first Pokemon!" Ash cheered. "(Great job!)" Pikachu added.
May slowly walked over and picked up the Pokeball, staring at it for a few moments still unable to register the fact that she actually succeeded in catching a Pokemon. "You're right..." she said to herself, realising that Ash wasn't kidding: she actually pulled it off. A little later, May opened the Pokeball to let Azurill out. Azurill bounced to look around for a few moments before she looked up at Ash and May. The little Pokemon and May stared at each other in silence, uncertain of what to do first.
"May, aren't you going to say hello?" Ash asked noticing May staring blankly at Azurill, which caused her to turned her glance to him. "Well, I would, but...I really don't have any idea on what to say. How am I supposed to talk to a Pokemon I just caught?" May asked in response.
"How about I give it a try first?" Ash suggested. With that he walked over to Azurill and bent down so he was close to her height while Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder, and Azurill bounced in Ash's direction and looked up at him. "Hi there. Nice to meet you, Azurill." Ash said. Azurill then bounced backwards and started shaking in fear: it seemed that she was a bit frightened by Ash. Ash looked at Azurill in surprise before he gently smiled. "It's okay, Azurill. You don't need to be scared. I won't hurt you, I promise." Ash softly explained. Azurill hopped forward a little bit hearing Ash's words and, seeing that he didn't mean any harm to her, brightly smiled before bouncing over. "Now that's more like it. My name's Ash and this is my friend, Pikachu." Ash said, turning to Pikachu who happily ran over to meet Azurill.
"(Pikachu Pika Pikapi.)" Pikachu said. "(Azuril Azu.)" Azurill replied, her smile growing bigger now that she felt more relaxed and confident.
May was watching this all the while, and she had to admit that she was impressed by Ash's successful efforts of befriending the new arrival on the team. "Ash really knows what he's doing." she commented, and she couldn't help but wonder if Ash had done things like this before since he seemed to be fully aware of what he was doing. She then walked over to see Azurill and bent down so she was close to the little Pokemon's height. "Hi there, Azurill. I'm May." May said. Azurill looked up at May and then shot a small blast of water from her mouth at May's face. After Azurill stopped, May was soaked; this was now the second time that she had been hit by a water type attack. May immediately shook herself off and glared at Azurill. "What did you do that for?! I didn't ask you for an attack!" she snapped. Azurill jumped back from fright at May's outburst and then she looked down with tears building up in her eyes.
"May, you're scaring Azurill. I think it was just trying to say hello to you." Ash said. May's frown faded upon hearing this and then she looked back down at Azurill who was about ready to start crying. Realising that she shouldn't have responded that way, May showed a small smile and bent back down to Azurill's height. "I'm sorry for yelling at you like that, Azurill. It's just that I'm not very comfortable towards Pokemon at the moment, so I might take a while to get used to them. You're not upset at me, are you?" May asked, gently stroking Azurill's head to try and calm her down. Azurill happily smiled as if she was saying that she wasn't upset at May for her outburst and then happily jumped into May's arms. "Well, that's good to know. You need to go back into your Pokeball now." May commented as she grabbed Azurill's Pokeball out of her bag and held it up to put Azurill back in. But Azurill jumped out of May's arms and landed safely on the ground before starting to bounce off ahead. "Now what's gotten into you, Azurill?" May asked, placing her arms on her hips in puzzlement.
"I think Azurill wants to stay outside and be with you for a little." Ash suggested. Hearing that comment, May looked down at Azurill to figure out if that was true. Azurill happily smiled and nodded in agreement before bouncing up in the air a few times using her tail to help her. May lowered her head to think for a few moments before she smiled and nodded.
"Well, I guess there's nothing wrong with that. You can stay out for a little. Just make you stay with us, okay?" May asked, bending down to Azurill. Azurill happily smiled and nodded in agreement. Sometime later, Ash and May continued their way down the road with Azurill bouncing alongside them. The two looked down at the Water Ball Pokemon that was hopping beside them. "Azurill sure is cute, huh?" May asked.
"Yeah." Ash agreed nodding. He then turned his head to May and found that he wasn't able to take his eyes off her; he wasn't sure what it was or why he was acting like this, but it was as if she had caught his attention. After a few moments, May turned her head to Ash and happily smiled at him and he couldn't help smiling back. This was almost like what happened when they met on the route leading to Littleroot Town: it was only the two of them and no one was there to interrupt them. In fact, Ash didn't even notice Pikachu staring at the two with a smile on his face, like he was noticing that something was up as well
Pokémon Centre – 6:00pm
Like Ash had thought, Torchic and azurii's injuries weren't serious and Nurse Joy informed them that all the both Pokémon needed was a good night's sleep. Earlier when they had been running to the Pokémon Centre in Oldale Town, they ran into an archaeologist, Professor Alden outside of the Oldale Ruins. He was the one that guided them to the Pokémon Centre in Oldale Town.
With Pikachu on his shoulder, Ash intended to do something that he had never really done before and that was to go talk to the other trainers. In his previous journey's, he just stuck with Brock and Misty but now he had to start mixing it up with some other trainers. Thinking that he could just catch wild Pokémon and training them up wasn't going to be sufficient to win a league, he understood that now. So, he was far more open to the prospect of trading Pokémon. Perhaps that is why Gary caught so many Pokémon, even the ones that he already had, in order to trade them for Pokémon that he couldn't find. If that was the case, then right now the only Pokémon that he was open to trading were his Tauros. Although he was more open to the idea of trading Pokémon, he wasn't sure if he had it in him to simply catch a Pokémon for the purpose of trading it later. All of the Pokémon that he had caught, with the exception of the 29 extra Tauros, he had bonded with them. He only caught the other Tauros because for some strange reason they would intercept every Safari Ball that he threw at another Pokémon.
"Hey, Ash?"
Ash turned around to see his new brunette haired friend with her hands behind her back and she looked at him with a curious look on her face, "Yeah, what's up?" he asked her.
"I was thinking... now that I am in a Pokémon Centre, will you show me around?"
"Yeah, of course," Ash answered her, he could go converse with the other trainers a little later, "but I need to make a call first."
A few seconds later, Ash sat on a chair in front of a video phone with May peering over his shoulder. "Hey, Professor Oak," Ash greeted the old professor when he appeared on screen, "I'm just letting you know that I have made it to Oldale Town."
"That's wonderful, Ash." The professor smiled pleasantly at the young trainer, "Have you managed to catch any new Pokémon over there in Hoenn?"
"Technically," Ash admitted delicately, "I got a Treecko that Professor Birch had already captured after it challenged me and Pikachu to a battle."
"Sounds interesting," Professor Oak noted with interest, "I'd love the chance to study a Treecko; I don't know much about them after all."
Ash nodded, "I'll send him to you at some point. Also I have registered for the Hoenn league, so I'm ready to go and psyched for my first badge."
"It sounds like it's going to be another big adventure for you, young man."
"That's right," May shoved a disgruntled Ash aside with a large grin on her face, "we haven't met yet but I'm May!"
"Hello there, May." The professor acknowledged her, "I'm Professor Samuel Oak from Pallet Town."
"I know who you are!" May surprised him, "My brother never misses any of your radio lectures and when I tell him that I have actually been talking to you, he will be so jealous!"
"Wow, how nice..." The professor didn't really know what to say to that.
"I know I am just a beginning Pokémon Trainer but I promise you, I will work hard!" May firmly informed him.
"Well, May, with Ash by your side, you should do quite well." Professor Oak replied, "I wish you both a safe and successful journey."
"Thanks!" the two trainers said in unison before the call ended.
"Okay, let's go." Ash stood up, "I'll show you around."
The first place he showed her was the bedrooms, which consisted of two bunk beds, and then he led her to the lobby. The lobby was mainly open space, with long grey couches spread out throughout the room and there were also several computers for trainers to use. There was even a Pokémon Transfer machine. There were quite a few people in the room currently.
"This is the lobby," Ash explained, "this is where the trainers staying here share information."
"Really?!" May gasped happily, "You mean like where the best malls are, where the best places to eat are, where the best clothing stores are and other things like that?!"
"Not exactly. It is mainly stuff to do with Pokémon. They can also trade Pokémon with each other or agree to battle each other here." Ash informed her.
"I heard that there is a new Gym Leader over at the Petalburg Gym!" One of the trainers said loudly, and Ash and May couldn't help but overhear.
"Hey!" Ash hurried over to the three people that were talking, "Can you tell me who the new Gym Leader is?!"
Ash never got to know the answer just yet as May had hurried over to him and she pulled him away, exclaiming that she was starving. Ash conceded to her for now and they headed off to the cafeteria.
The Next Morning – 8:00am
It had been quite the ordeal last night, Ash thought after he finished getting ready. During dinner last night, they had met Professor Alden again and he had shown them what he had been working on at the Oldale Ruins. He was searching for some ancient Pokémon that he believed were still in the ruins someplace. Unfortunately the nice evening ended when the Pokémon Centre was taken over by a group of people that went by the name Team Magma. They were after Professor Alden in order to get into the ruins and unfortunately Ash couldn't stop them since he didn't want to risk battling inside the Pokémon Centre.
In the end, Team Magma had cut the power to the centre and Ash, May and Nurse Joy was locked in the storage room. They had also cut the power so they were all quite worried about the sick Pokémon. Fortunately they were able to find a vent that they could crawl through and once they were free, Ash went to find the master key to unlock the storage room and May put the power back on. With the Pokémon Centre safe, Ash and May hurried towards the Oldale Ruins where Team Magma had taken Alden to. However they discover that Team Magma had already left after finding nothing and they had abandoned the orbs that they had obtained for the Oldale Ruins after having no more use for them. Alden reveals that he duped Team Magma and he used the orbs to discover the location of the ancient Pokémon, Relicanth. Ash resisted the urge to capture one in respect towards Professor Alden.
'Another organisation up to no good.' Ash thought in aggravation. It seemed that there were these organisations in every region. Nurse Joy had told him all she knew about Team Magma which wasn't much but Ash knew that he would have to be wary of them. The young trainer from Pallet Town looked across the room to where May slept. She slept on the top of the other bunk bed and Ash could see that she was still sound asleep, with a bit of drool leaking out of her mouth. Ash figured that she must really find the bed comfortable.
Seeing that his trainer was up and ready, Pikachu happily jumped onto his shoulder and they left the room quietly. Ash headed off towards the lobby and was delighted to see that it was quite busy. There were at least eight people in the room.
"You wanted to know about the Gym Leader last night, right?" A pretty girl with long dark hair asked him after he entered the lobby. Ash could tell that she was a couple of years older than him, she wore a yellow shirt and a blue skirt, and Ash swiftly noticed that her chest was roughly the same size as May's.
Ash blinked in confusion for a moment before he realised that she was one of the people that he tried to talk to last night, "That's right."
"He goes by the name of Norman," The girl informed him kindly, "he is a very strong trainer that is rumoured to almost be Elite Four level."
"That strong?!" Ash gaped with wide eyes. He would have to avoid battling that Gym Leader right now, although he would have to pass through Petalburg, so maybe he could battle this Norman strictly to test how strong he was.
"I take it you're a Pokémon Trainer," The girl asked him and Ash nodded, "I would advise against battling him until you have at least four badges."
"Thanks for the advice." Ash said gratefully.
"Now I have a question for you." The girl asked him quickly.
"Go ahead." Ash raised an eyebrow.
"Do you have any large and powerful Pokémon that is capable of moving heavy objects?"
Ash thought of Charizard, Pidgeot, Snorlax and his thirty Tauros. "Yeah, I have a few." Judging by the happy look that suddenly appeared on her face, Ash assumed that she liked the answer, but he didn't understand why.
Just then a sad looking blonde hair teen boy, roughly the same age as the girl Ash was talking to, approached her and he said, "Did you have any luck, Amy?"
"Yeah, I did!" Amy told him happily. "This boy can help you!"
"Help with what?"
"Pika?" The electric mouse tilted his head in confusion.
"My name is Charles, a former Pokémon Trainer." The boy introduced himself unhappily, "To make a long story short, my father runs a farm that has been in our family for generations and he is come down with a severe illness. I need to quit my journey and go run the farm but I need to find some strong and big Pokémon that can help me out. Unfortunately I haven't been a trainer for very long and I haven't been able to catch any uncommon Pokémon that people are interested in trading with. All I have is an Electrike and Poochyena left to trade but since they are pretty easy to find and catch, nobody will trade for them. I don't suppose you might be interested?" The boy looked at him with a light hopeful expression, but Ash could see that he was already ready for the rejection.
Naturally Ash's first instinct was to reject the offer especially hearing that the two Pokémon on offer were easy to find but he couldn't help but sympathise with the boy. He knew that if his mother came down with a severe illness, he would quit his journey immediately and head home to help look after her. Although he knew that this might just be a trick in order to gain stronger Pokémon but fortunately for Ash, he wouldn't really lose anything if he agreed.
"For all I know, you are simply making this up in order to gain stronger Pokémon." Ash replied bluntly, folding his arms across his chest.
Charles sighed miserably and his shoulders slumped slightly, "Yeah, I know. Many people have told me that."
"The good thing for you is that I have thirty Tauros and so even if you are cheating me, it won't have a huge impact." Ash smirked at him and the boy brightened. "Is two Tauros acceptable for those Pokémon?"
"Yes, thank you!" Charles bowed gratefully, a large smile on his face. "I'll go get my Pokémon from Nurse Joy."
Ash nodded, "I have to get my Tauros transferred over to here." Ash watched the teen boy run off to find Nurse Joy.
"Thank you, it really means a lot to him. I know we don't know each other but I promise you that he is telling the truth." Amy told Ash sincerely.
"Don't mention it," Ash shrugged, "I need a more variety of Pokémon anyway and this will save me time searching for those two specific Pokémon." The young trainer from Pallet had decided that these two Pokémon would be useful pickups. Ash and Pikachu had discussed catching another Electric type Pokémon as Ash relied too much on Pikachu. When they are in the Pokémon League, his opposition can easily come up with a strategy to counter Pikachu, as they didn't have to worry about any other Electric types plus he wanted to use Pikachu as little as possible in his Gym battles. As for Poochyena, he didn't have a Dark type Pokémon and he thought that it would be a good place to start.
"How old are you?" Amy suddenly asked him, "12, 13?"
"I'm 13 years old." Ash answered her confused at the sudden question.
"Let me give you some advice," Amy smiled at him mischievously, "If you want to avoid offending girls and risk getting slapped, don't check out their breasts when they are talking to you." Amy gave him a wink before leaving the room.
Ash blushed furiously in embarrassment whilst Pikachu sniggered on his shoulder.
End of Chapter
If you like it, then review it. If you don't like it, then don't read it.
Now onto The reviews.
Anonymous Reviewer (Fox): Yes he will get a Bagon.
Team ultrasun: Yes Ash Will get non-canon Pokemon. If you have noticed I already am starting to give May and Ash Non-Canon of course all of his Canon Pokemon here in Hoenn.
Dr1zzy:Gee 's been 5 years since I have come back in yes it also annoyed me of how Ash never evolved his older Pokemon I.e squirtle totodile etc. Yep Ash Will be serious and he will train all his Pokemon.
Anonymous Guest:Seriously Guys get an account yes Ash Will Compete in Pokemon contests mainly to support May but also to use/showcase the combo moves. He Won't compete in all the contests to be honest only a few like terracotta contest and others.