Disclaimer: I do not own the Pokémon franchise as that belongs to Nintendo.
"Talking," = Speech
"(Pokespeaking,)" = Pokéspeech
'Thinking,' = thoughts
'Telepathic Speech,' = telepathy
Ash and Leaf exited the Pokémon Centre, a thick stack of 75,000 Pokédollars in each of their wallets. It appeared that the Nurse Joy that had sent them on that hunt was surprised that they had found that Primeape and not one of the other more experienced trainers. Not that it mattered to them, as long as they didn't have to pay for the damage that they had caused, they were fine.
"I feel like that hunt yesterday was worth it," Leaf said with a smile on her face, "Even if I don't get to keep that Primeape who cost me a few hours of my life, we got a lot of money. And, I was also able to create that Tri-Attack and Peck combination. So, are we going to get through the Viridian Forest today? Or are we going to do something else? I just want to get to Pewter City by the end of the week."
Ash smiled at his friend's positiveness, "I want to get through at least half of Viridian Forest. After all, I've heard that there have been a few sighting of Scythers and Heracrosses. I just hope that we see one. Whilst bug-types are generally frowned upon due to their generally poor stats late into a journey, there are a lot of shining diamonds among them."
"Actually, now that I think about it, we didn't really get to check out that route yesterday, the one where I had met Nidoran. Do you want to head there quickly?" Leaf said as they were about to pass the entrance into the route.
"Why not? Doing a quick check wouldn't do bad, would it?" Ash said, deciding that they could spend a few minutes on that route before heading to that forest.
As the two turned and entered the route, they heard a familiar voice shout, "Hah, you Mankey don't stand a chance against the awesome Gary Oak!"
Leaf just sighed whilst Ash cringed on the inside, some things never change and they were sure Gary's ego was in that group. As they took a few more steps, Ash looked around. Nothing interesting had immediately caught his eye but he did note that the route sign, the one Nidoran had been sleeping on yesterday had a ten-centimetre wide hole that Ash didn't remember being there.
"Leafy, my girl! How are you? And Ashy-boy, you don't seem that happy. Have you been on a losing streak? That crappy team of yours couldn't hold a candle to mine!" Gary said as they entered his line of vision, "I'm going to guess that you just made it to town yesterday, just shows that I'll always be a step ahead of you!"
"I'll make you eat those words," Ash said, Pikachu jumping off of Ash's shoulder with his cheeks sparking, "C'mon Gary, let's battle right here!"
"Well then, I guess I can add one more to my win streak!" Gary said, unclipping two Pokéballs from his trainer belt, "I choose you, Pidgey! I'll beat you even with the type disadvantage!"
"Alright then, I'll let you take the first move!" Ash said with a grin, "You'll need it!"
Leaf seemed to find the battle pointless on Gary's part, "You do realise that Ash has had his Pokémon for way longer than you and has both higher level Pokémon and a better understanding of his Pokémon. The winner is already clear! Ash, finish this quickly. I thought we would have found something interesting but I guess I was wrong... I hate saying that!"
"You should be on my side, Leaf! Pidgey, use Peck!" Gary said.
"Stop it in its tracks with ThunderShock!" Ash commanded before adding, "Use Iron Tail if you can!"
Pidgey cried as the electricity hit him, soon causing him to plummet down to the ground. Pikachu then used Quick Attack to propel himself high enough so that the Iron Tail would send the bird into the ground. Gary was about to say that Ash couldn't train his Pokémon to use the right move but he was proven wrong when the Iron Tail was able to smack Pidgey into the ground.
Pidgey got up with just under a quarter of its health left, his IVs were high in both his Special Defence and Physical Defence. The Flying-type then took two flaps and was airborne again, he was determined to do some damage to his opponent. The bird then did an aileron roll in the air and kept spinning, the spinning movement should help him do some extra damage.
"Pikachu, behind you! Quick Attack to get out of the way, throw an Electro Ball whilst you are there!" Ash said, somewhat in disbelief at the Pidgey's resilience and determination, before thinking, 'Gary is lucky to have a Pidgey that is determined and sturdy enough to survive his mistakes, he shouldn't have sent Pidgey out against Pikachu.'
Pikachu was just about to jump to the side when he was hit by the Peck attack. He winced at the damage before throwing his Electro Ball at where he suspected Pidgey to be before using Quick Attack to get to the side. The Electro Ball missed by a fair margin but Pikachu sent a few more follow up attacks to try and shoot the bird out of the sky.
"Pidgey, use Sand Attack before using that swirling Peck attack that you used," Gary ordered, ignoring that his Pokémon had less than a quarter of its health left, "You don't stand a chance, Ash!"
Pidgey didn't seem to agree as it said, "(I think they stand a better chance than us at worst and an equal chance at best.")
Pikachu seemed to notice this and said, "(It's fine I've known Ash, my trainer, for a long time. You did well being able to stand up to my ThunderShock and Iron Tail.)
"Alright Pikachu, finish this off with an Electro Ball followed by ThunderShock!" Ash said seeing that the Pidgey was close to fainting. He hoped that Gary would train this Pokémon well, Ash could tell that it had the potential to be a powerful party member when it was fully evolved as Pidgeot.
"(Sorry, this had to end with either of us fainting. Guess it was you,)" Pikachu said as he charged up his Electro Ball before slamming it into Pidgey's side, the Electric Mouse Pokémon then used ThunderShock, just in case the Electro Ball hadn't fainted the Pokémon.
Gary had a brief soft smile as he said, "Pidgey only lost because you got lucky, let's see if that lasts! Go Squirtle!
The water-type started to burst out of his Pokéball with a cocky grin on his face, "(I haven't fainted once and I'm not going to let you change that!)"
"Squirtle, use Water Gun!" Gary said, sure that he would knock out Pikachu with this attack, "Use Scratch if it doesn't faint from the Water Gun!"
"Dodge, then use Electro Ball followed by an Iron Tail!" Ash said, did Gary really think that the one Water Gun would knock Pikachu out?
Pikachu leapt to the side, dodging the Water Gun by a fair margin, the Pikachu then started backpedalling to create some distance between him and his opponent. The Electric-type charged his electric energy into his tail and formed a ball which he threw at Squirtle.
The Squirtle realised this and started running closer, shooting a Water Gun towards Pikachu. The Water-type's claws sharpened and glowed white so that Squirtle could slash them into Pikachu.
"Pikachu, let him hit you!" Ash said, seeing that Pikachu got a good hit on Squirtle. If Pikachu timed a ThunderShock correctly, he'd be able to get a perfect close-range attack that could cause Gary's Squirtle to faint.
"Hah, admitting defeat Ashy-boy? You knew that I'd win so you stopped putting in the effort, how smart of you!" Gary said, before commanding his Squirtle to use back-to-back Scratch attacks.
Just as Squirtle was about to land his hit, Ash called out, "ThunderShock, Pikachu!"
Squirtle realised that he was unlikely to survive the attack that would hit him so he did a back handspring and was about to retract into his shell. As the Squirtle was about to retreat into its shell, Pikachu was able to land a ThunderShock on a part of Squirtle that was exposed.
Squirtle grunted, knowing that the next attack (whatever it may be) would knock him out, he heard Gary call, "C'mon Squirtle, try harder! Use a Water Gun from a distance."
"Pikachu, use Electro Ball! You do realise that Pikachu has a ranged attack as well, right?" Ash said, he could tell that Squirtle was on its last legs but kept on fighting, 'Why is Gary's Pokémon so determined? He better bring them to their full potential, I can already tell they'll be a force to reckon with once they had reached it.
Squirtle spun in his shell and jumped out once he was around seven metres from Pikachu. He did as Gary had told him and water shot of his mouth, aiming towards Pikachu.
The yellow mouse was forming another Electro Ball, before flinging it at Squirtle. The Electric-type then used a ThunderShock to power the Electro Ball so that it would overpower the Water Gun.
Pikachu was right since when the ball of electricity met with the jet of water, the Electro Ball was able to go through the water easily and hit its target in the chest, knocking the turtle unconscious.
Gary groaned as he saw his Pokémon faint, "You got lucky, Ashy-boy! Next time we meet, I'm going to destroy your team!"
Ash and Leaf watched Gary return his Pokémon before exiting the route with relief on their faces, Gary had that kind of feel that whenever he would enter a room everyone had to look at him because of the arrogance that seemed to drip off of him.
"Do you want to heal Pikachu, or are we just going to head to Viridian Forest?" Leaf asked knowing that Pikachu probably had taken some damage.
"We'll go to the Pokémon centre, first," Ash said, "Then we'll go to the forest."
Once they had entered the forest, Ash and Leaf looked at the forest that they would, most likely, be in for around a week. Ash and Leaf only took a few steps in before noticing a lot of Pokémon around them. Weedle, Caterpie and their evolved forms clung to the trees with a curious look on their faces.
"There were thirty of us that came from Pallet Town. These Pokémon have probably noticed that a lot of humans are entering the forest," Ash said, noticing that the Pokémon seemed to nod as he said that.
Leaf also agreed with Ash and added, "How many trainers do you think they've beaten? I mean, wouldn't those trainers have captured them once they had won? I guess the population is pretty high or our competition isn't that good."
Ash and Leaf kept on walking until they were stopped by a group of Kakuna and Weedle. The group of Pokémon went across the path and into the trees. The two sighed knowing that these Pokémon needed to be defeated in order for them to move on.
"Alright, go Riolu!" Ash said, throwing the Fighting-type's Pokéball, "Start off with a Sunny Day, we'll boost the power of Blaze Kick!"
Leaf threw out Nidoran's Pokéball, "Alright Nidoran, let's get some experience for you!"
The two Pokémon looked at the horde of Weedle and Kakuna with a sigh. These Pokémon didn't look that strong but there were so many that this was bound to take a while. Riolu started as Ash told him to and formed a ball of light in his hands which he then sent off into the sky as a beam. His legs started to glow red as a flame seeped up them, he'd have to keep his legs alight for a while. Nidoran, on the other hand, looked at the Pokémon with disbelief. These Pokémon were, most likely, going to land at least one attack on the Poison-type and that was probably going to do some damage. Along with the poison effect that it could give to Riolu, this fight was going to be hard.
"Nidoran, use Growl on all of them!" Leaf said, she would tell Nidoran to do this repeatedly. Stacking some defence debuffs would make this fight go more smoothly.
"Riolu, one of your strongest attacks is Close Combat which includes a lot of punches and kicks. Use Blaze Kick along with Sky Uppercut to take these Pokémon down. This is going to be good training for you!" Ash said to Riolu, who responded with a growl of acknowledgement.
Nidoran started growling at the large horde of Pokémon (Ash had guessed that there were around eighty whilst Leaf said that there was probably a hundred.) Riolu leapt at a tree before bouncing off and going on a rampage. His arms were thrown forwards and upwards slamming into the various Bug-types. His legs seemed to have a mind of their own as they seemed to hit targets that Riolu hadn't noticed such as a poor Kakuna who was spamming Harden.
Nidoran finished his debuffing so Leaf ordered him to start using Peck on the swarm, he sighed knowing that even with Riolu's help, this would take a long time.
"And Riolu use Blaze Kick on that last one!" Ash said, aggravated by the bug-types. As soon as they thought they had finished, another Weedle or Kakuna would appear with many tailing them.
Riolu axe kicked the Weedle that was left, finally knocking out the... twenty-first swarm? He could just feel all the EXP from those hordes. It must've taken at least two hours! He noticed that Pikachu was snoring on Ash's shoulders, he must have fallen asleep during the seventh swarm.
"It took... two hours and thirty-six minutes plus the time it took to take down the first swarm," Ash said checking the stopwatch that he started when the second swarm came in.
"You know Ash, I think Bulbasaur is going to evolve before we reach the end of the forest," Leaf checking her Pokémon's level; Bulbasaur was level 14, two levels before normally Bulbasaurs are able to evolve, "My parents did say that Viridian Forest was going to include a lot of wild Pokémon battles but not in one go!"
Ash smiled at his friend's comment, "That's what my mum said as well. My dad just told me to not expect a quiet trek through the forest."
Riolu sighed, about to lie on the ground, before starting to look around with a panicked look on his face, "(Ash! There are Beedrill around us. Beedrill that want to harm us!)"
"Oh fuck! Leaf, there are Beedrill surrounding us! Hold on!" Ash said, extending his hands out for Leaf and Riolu to take, "Alright, three! Two! One! Riolu, Agility'"
Riolu nodded and used the move. He started running, pulling Ash and Leaf with him. The swarm of Beedrill were following them but the distance between them was growing.
"Riolu, there are Beedrill to our right! Turn left and keep running, if we have a good lead use Rain Dance! That should slow them down!" Ash said, knowing that rain would make it harder for the Bug-types to chase them, "Pikachu, wake up and use Electro Ball!"
Pikachu opened his eyes groggily, had they finished the fight? Wait no, they were running from Beedrill. Beedrill with a look on their faces that conveyed a strong hatred. Well then, he would need to take them down! He used ThunderShock to try and zap them out of the sky, ignoring that he was on Ash's shoulders.
"Pikachu! Now is not the time to shock me! Use Electro Ball!" Ash said before hearing Leaf laugh at him, "Shut up, Leaf! Pikachu's ThunderShock hurts, I dare you to get shocked by him!"
Leaf stopped laughing and threw Spearow's Pokéball, "Spearow, either head into the swarm and use the Tri-attack/Peck combo or just use Tri-attack from here!"
Spearow perched onto Leaf's shoulder and formed the three balls of electricity, fire and ice and shot them at the swarm of Spearow. The beams moved across the swarm doing some damage to the incoming Beedrill. It didn't knock out a Beedrill instantaneously but after being hit a few times they'd drop or be unable to keep up with the others.
"So Ash, what's the plan? I don't think Riolu has enough energy to keep this up much longer!" the brunette said, knowing that the hours of combat had taken a toll on him. Bulbasaur had been switched out multiple times but Riolu had gone through those swarms without a break (he must've gained a lot of speed and defence EVs.)
"Keep running until we find somewhere to hide, I think you can use Rain Dance now!" Ash said seeing that the Beedrill were pretty far behind, "Let's go!"
Riolu, let go of Ash, slowing down slightly due to stopping the speed buff from increasing, before forming the ball of water. He charged it up for longer than normal, making sure that the cloud would be large enough so that it would be useful. The group of Beedrill were around 25 metres behind them so he grabbed Ash and Leaf's hand and continued to use his Agility.
Leaf spotted something in the distance, "I see a house, you think they'll let us in?"
"I don't know but it's probably our best chance of coming out of this unscathed," Ash replied as they neared the door to the house, "Help! There's an incoming swarm of Beedrill!"
The door opened wide before Ash and Leaf were thrown into the house. Their Pokémon slumped onto the ground whilst their Pokéballs rolled on the floor. Ash groaned, whoever dragged them into the house had a good grip.
"Oh shit! I know you were nice and all letting us into your house, but like, did you have to pull us that hard?" Leaf said, she could tell she had a bruise on her left arm, the part of her body that she had landed on.
"Oh, err... my bad. I do have quite a strong grip," the owner said, they heard the voice Ash and Leaf would've expected from a young girl.
As Ash got up, he looked at the person who dragged him in. It was a thin, young, blonde-haired girl. She wore a yellow dress with black sleeves along with light blue jeans, purple boots and a straw hat that was tilted to the side.
Leaf got up as well, looking at the young girl, before laughing slowly, "What the... how are you so strong? I mean, you're a thin, young girl. How the fuck did you do that?"
Leaf was about to continue before the blonde girl looked at her with a genuinely confused expression, "Didn't I say that I have a strong grip a minute ago? Anyway, my name is Yellow, from the Viridian Forest!"
"Well then," Ash said, brushing himself off, "my name is Ash Ketchum, I'm from Pallet Town! The girl freaking out about your strength is Leaf Green, also from Pallet Town. Pikachu and Riolu, say hi!"
The two Pokémon waved their hands. Riolu was about to say hello before he sensed a Pokémon close to them, inside the house. From his emotion reading ability, he could tell that the Pokémon was gentle and didn't want to hurt them. He smiled and waved in that direction before listening to the conversation.
Pikachu noticed something as well, it smelt similar to him, maybe a little less ketchup but it seemed almost identical. He followed the scent until he was under a small pillow. He opened his eyes only to see a familiar sight.
The Pikachu opposite him had a gentle smile on their face, "(Another Pikachu? That's cool, my name's Chuchu, I'm Yellow's unofficial Pokémon!)"
"(Never seen another Pikachu in... I guess I haven't seen another Pikachu for a few years!)" Pikachu said with a grin, "(I don't really have a nickname, Ash, my trainer, just calls me Pikachu. Any likes or dislikes? I have what Ash calls an 'addiction' with ketchup, but I like to just call it a strong desire. What about you?)"
Chuchu giggled, laughing at the addiction, "(I like chilli sauce, helps me run faster! Running is one of my favourite things to do, it's just so... accomplishing!)"
Whilst the two Pikachu continued talking, Ash and Leaf were listening to Yellow, "I'm actually a psychic. One of the lesser known things about Butterfree is its moderately powerful psychic capabilities. I'm good friends with all the Pokémon in the forest and the Butterfree taught me how to use these psychic powers that I have...Anyway, I have a favour to ask of you."
"And that is..." Leaf said, gesturing for Yellow to continue.
"The trainers passing through here have been harming the environment and Pokémon have been disappearing left and right.." the blonde's hair started whipping around and a wave of psychic energy passed through them, "You better make sure that you aren't one of them."
Pikachu noticed the malevolence coming from Yellow, "(Erm... Chuchu, what's happened to Yellow?)"
Chuchu sweatdropped as she saw Yellow, "(That's why Yellow doesn't have many human visitors. She takes the state of the environment and the Pokémon living in it pretty seriously. This always happens whenever she has a feeling that someone will hurt either of the two that were previously mentioned.)"
Pikachu scratched the back of his head, "(It's for a noble cause. I won't hold it against her.")
Ash felt a bit of fear run through him, this small blonde girl see "We'll try not to!"
Leaf looked at Yellow with a quizzical look, like a teacher confused at a student's answer "Why are you using fear to manipulate? You should always use empty promises and deceit, how do you think I survive? You manipulate or are manipulated and you should only use the most reliable form of manipulation!"
"Oh, hehe. Thanks for the advice, Leaf! I just don't want the Pokémon in the forest to get hurt. Every year, trainers come through the forest and capture my friends. I don't want them to get hurt. So, how do I use empty promises and deceit to make sure it doesn't happen?" the blonde said, genuinely wanting Leaf's insight.
Ash decided to tune out as he realised he had no place in the conversation. He looked at the two Pikachu, his Pikachu and another female one (presumably Yellow's.) He smiled at how it seemed like they were both best friends. He'd definitely tease Pikachu about this after.
Once Leaf had finished telling Yellow how to control others through words, Yellow smiled, "Thank you Leaf! You're really smart!"
Leaf just blushed at this, "Thanks Yellow. I might as well ask this, who's that Pokémon?"
"Hm? That's Chuchu, my unofficial Pokémon. I haven't actually caught her but we're inseparable!" Yellow said, causing Chuchu to move away from Pikachu and onto Yellow's shoulder.
Ash noticed that she had said she hadn't caught Chuchu, "Would you like to? Catch Chuchu, I mean. I have a lot of spare Pokéballs from an incident."
Yellow took the Pokéball Ash held in his hand and looked at Chuchu who wore a face of acceptance. They both nodded before Yellow tapped the Pokéball's button on Chuchu's head.
Once the ball signalled that Chuchu had been captured, Yellow threw the Pokéball causing Chuchu to return to the place it was before Yellow put it in his Pokéball.
"Well Chuchu, you're my first official Pokémon!" Yellow said, causing Chuchu to run up her arm and onto her left shoulder like how Pikachu would run up Ash's shoulder, "I know that there'll be some more friends for you down the line."
Ash looked out the window and saw that the last of the Beedrill had left, "That's all of the Beedrill gone! Sorry for suddenly crashing into your house, Yellow. Anyway, we need to continue our journey through Viridian Forest. Can we just ask for you to tell us where the path is? We did panic when we ran here, so..."
Yellow had a slightly crestfallen face but she quickly covered it with a smile, "Well, once you leave the door, keep walking straight and you should reach the main path. Well, erm, anyway, I hope we meet each other again!"
Ash gave a smile whilst Leaf gave her a pat on the head before saying, "Remeber the thing I told you about manipulation, alright. Anyway, once we meet again, I'll test you to see how far manipulation skills have gone alright. It's always more fun to be the controller than the controlled."
Yellow readjusted her straw hat before giving them a sincere smile, "After you, I do have a little errand I have to go on."
The two trainers, after saying goodbye to Yellow, continue on their path through the route. Once they had walked for a good few minutes of peace and nature, they noticed that there were trainers lining the sides of the path.
"Alright, why the fuck are there so many of you? Is there some magic treasure because it's really starting to piss me off!" Leaf growled, there had been at least twelve trainers that she had to battle, "Like seriously, what the fuck is so important about this area?"
One of the bug catchers on the route looked at her with a dumb smirk, "Because we want to take down all you weak trainers. After all, you're Pokémon will have been weakened by all the battles you'd have had so it's almost impossible to get past!"
"Yeah, well shut the fuck up!" Leaf started glowing red with anger, "Who said I have to battle you anyway? It's not like you have to battle someone if you have eye contact. What kind of messed up world do you think this is?"
"Eh, are you too chicken?" one of the younger trainers said causing Ash to shudder. Leaf was a complex person (like many others) but there was one straightforward thing: If you say Leaf can't do something, she'll do it, no matter how stupid it is.
Ash looked at the boy with a pitiful expression, "You just signed you and your Pokémon's graves, kid."
Leaf had already sent out Nidoran's Pokéball, "Alright then, send out your Pokémon so that we can get this over with!"
The young boy that had challenged Leaf was sweating bullets, "Erm, Caterpie, I choose you!"
"Alright, Nidoran use Peck!" Leaf said, her aggression being used in the battle.
Nidoran launched himself towards the small bug with his horn glowing and a grin on his face. The small bug cowered in fear and curled into a ball.
"Caterpie, use String Shot to tie it to the ground!" the small boy said with a fearful look in his eyes, "Use Tackle afterwards!"
Nidoran was only a few centimetres away from Caterpie before he had a sticky white substance on his face. His horn was still glowing and, despite Nidoran being blindfolded by the String Shot, he was able to get a good hit on the Bug-type.
Leaf smiled at this, "Nidoran, make some distance so you can take the String Shot off your face!"
Whilst Nidoran was jumping backwards, clawing at his face to get rid of the white substance, his small green opponent was trying to close the distance so before using Tackle.
"Caterpie, use String Shot!" Leaf's opponent said with an annoyed look, "Your Pokémon shouldn't be able to rip that string off!"
The Caterpie used String Shot and missed by a large margin, Leaf's Nidoran sidestepped (not knowing that the attack would have already missed even if he hadn't dodged) away from the string of white substance, finally being able to tear off the string from his face.
"Nidoran, use Peck again!" Leaf commanded. This battle should be over unless he was one of those trainers that just caught a hundred or so Weedle and Caterpie and tried to use all of them in a battle.
The Caterpie was unable to dodge the flying-type attack and was knocked out, slumping on the floor with his eyes replaced by swirls and their body was completely still excluding the breathing.
"Well done, Caterpie! You did really well for your first battle!" the trainer said with a grin, "Alright, here's my secret weapon! I choose you, Weedle!"
The Weedle that was sent out looked at Nidoran with a cocky smirk that just screamed confidence.
"Alright, Nidoran use Peck and Double Kick to do some chip damage!" Leaf said, guessing that the Weedle was level 100 or something to be his secret weapon. Maybe if he evolved it to Kakuna at the minimum and used some X items, he'd probably be able to do some damage to a full team.
The brunette's Nidoran charged at the Weedle, who stood there with his cocky smirk. Weedle pointed the horn on his head at Nidoran and kept it angled at him until he faltered slightly. Because of Weedle faltering, Nidoran was able to quickly jab at Weedle with his horn, throwing off the small yellow Pokémon. Nidoran then seized victory as he used Double Kick, pushing Weedle onto the ground in a heap.
"Finish it off with Peck, Nidoran!"
Nidoran leapt on top of Weedle and started vigorously jabbing his horn into Weedle's stomach. The battle was soon over since Nidoran jumped off of Weedle and went back to his trainer's side.
"Hah, your Pokémon is poisoned now, my Weedle had Poison Point for its ability! Now my real secret weapon can take you down. Alright then, go Butterfree!"
A butterfly popped out of the Pokéball with a gentle smile on its blue face. Butterfree had a purple body with two small blue claws on the upper part of his body with similar coloured blue legs and white wings with a black pattern on it.
"Butterfree, start off with Sleep Powder on that Nidoran so we have no resistance!" Leaf's opponent said with a cocky smirk, similar to the one his Weedle had when it was fighting.
"Nidoran... kick some dirt up to block the dust! Then use Leer!" Leaf said, knowing that Nidoran had no way of dodging the powder, "Hold your breath, don't breathe any of the powder in!"
Most of the dust was blocked by the cloud of dust that Nidoran had kicked up. Nidoran then started glaring at Butterfree with a malevolent grin, clearly not wanting to sleep. Butterfree started flying backwards, the cloud of sleep-inducing powder would still affect him if he breathed it in.
"Butterfree, use Gust to throw it into a tree! Then use Confusion! Let's knock that Pokémon out!"
"Nidoran, stand your ground and keep using Leer! Brace yourself!" Leaf said before adding, "Use Double Kick into the ground to keep your balance!"
"Butterfree, strengthen your Gust! I want you to throw him into the tree. We have to make sure that he can't recover from the Confusion!"
"Nidoran, deepen your legs into the ground! I think we've lowered their defence enough! Use Focus Energy before trying to power your way through the Gust!" Leaf said, knowing that Nidoran would be able to cripple Butterfree if he landed a Peck.
"Instead of using Gust, just use Confusion! Let's just get some damage done! Also, can we use another Stun Spore!"
"Nidoran, don't power your way through! Instead, I want you to make a barrier of dust again. Actually, throw a tree into the cloud, you don't have any non-physical attacks so we need a projectile to attack."
"Keep using Stun Spore for a bit longer, Butterfree!"
Butterfree was running out of dust to spray and the concentration of dust was lessening. In fact, Butterfree stopped using Stun Spore entirely and started focusing their psychic powers on Nidoran.
Nidoran winced at the attack but, realising that the Bug-type had ceased their Gust attack, leapt with Double Kick and headbutted the Flying-type with his horn bruising the Butterfly's head.
Nidoran winced again before fainting from the Confusion being used as he attacked. As he collapsed, the butterfly he had attacked also crumpled onto the floor. It appeared that Butterfree had put 100% into their offensive capabilities and 0% into defence.
"Aw, how could I lose? I trained so hard for these battles, I made sure that Butterfree could knock out low-level Pokémon like a breeze!" Leaf's opponent said, handing over a decent amount of prize money for an 8-year-old unofficial Pokémon trainer.
Leaf returned her Pokémon with a sigh, she'd had quite a few back-to-back Pokémon battles using Nidoran. She wasn't sure if Nidoran could win the battle by himself but, to her surprise, Nidoran pulled through.
She was about to celebrate when she heard Ash shout, "What the fuck!"
Ash had only looked at his Pokénav for five seconds before he sidestepped away from a sword. Ash noted that the blade had shined in light, it was either made of actual metal or coated in a metallic paint.
"Riolu, we'll need to snap that sword!" the trainer shouted, his father had told him he would be attacked on his journey but he hadn't expected to be attacked this early on.
Whilst Ash was dodging the sword swings, Riolu was darting around the sword-wielder. The small Fighting-type was waiting for a moment where he could use an attack on the sword.
Ash noticed that the sword-wielder had slightly loosened his grip on the sword. Ash took advantage of this and quickly disarmed the attacker. The 12-year-old ran his right index finger over the blade, cold and smooth like steel... this could've harmed him beyond saving.
Ash held the sword flat in both palms before calling Riolu to snap the sword with Sky Uppercut. Once the sword was snapped (and shattered soon after), the owner of the sword cried in, what seemed to come off as, grief.
Ash replied to the scream of sorrow with, "You tried to attack me with a fucking sword. A sword that was made of fucking steel. I'd be crying way louder if I got hit and was sent to a hospital, most likely not coming out with a life-changing injury!"
Leaf ran over to Ash to check if he got grazed. She noticed that there was a small cut on Ash's right index finger, the blade placed a shallow wound when we ran his finger over it. She took some disinfectant from her bag and sprayed it on the wound.
Ash winced slightly whilst Riolu kept his eyes on their attacker. The Pokémon took a closer look at the boy that was weeping on the ground and mumbling incoherent words.
The boy was wearing a samurai outfit, samurai armour and headpiece, and looked straight out of an anime. In fact, maybe this guy was cosplaying?
Riolu was going to ponder a bit more until he realised that Ash had turned around and was walking away. Riolu was running back to Ash's side when he heard a corse voice.
"Battle me!" the boy said as loud as he could, "Please let me redeem myself after you have dishonoured me and broke my sword!"
Leaf sniggered and said to Ash in a borderline shout, "So Ash, he sounds pretty desperate, huh? Are you going you battle him?"
Ash inwardly cursed, he could've pretended that he had never heard the boy but now that Leaf had asked Ash aloud, he couldn't say no, "Fine..."
"Alright then, I choose you, Pinsir!" the samurai said after he had recovered, sending out a large brown bipedal bug into the battlefield. It had two thick horns on the top of his head, each horn having multiple small horns protruding out of them. The Pokémon had short, thick legs whilst its arms were long and thin.
"Well then, Pikachu, let's do this!" Ash said, knowing Pikachu would be able to get this done quickly if things played out perfectly, "Alright Pikachu, use Quick Attack to get some momentum into that Iron Tail! Do a close-range ThunderShock to get some extra damage!"
"Pinsir, use a Harden a few times to boost your defence! Then..." the Samurai said, Pinsir had a great defence but the added defence buffs would help.
Pikachu used Quick Attack to start moving faster, he circled the Bug-type a few times before jumping towards the centre with a flip.
Pinsir had been spamming Harden and was able to get two defence buffs before Pikachu flipped towards him. Pikachu had an Iron Tail and flipped again to slam the brown bug into the ground.
Pikachu slammed his tail and did a decent amount of damage with Pinsir having a 150% defence boost. Pinsir started glowing orange, causing Pikachu to backpedal a bit.
Pinsir's trainer smiled, "Use Revenge!"
Ash winced, 120 base power would do quite a lot of damage to Pikachu, who was either a sweeper or mixed attacker, "Pikachu, bounce back with an Iron Tail! He's going to attack so brace yourself, try and meet the blow with an Iron Tail."
Pikachu did as Ash told him to and slammed his metallic tail into the ground which knocked him back a fair distance. Whilst in mid-air, he prepared another Iron Tail to counter that Revenge.
Pinsir charged at Pikachu with unexpected speed, arm outstretched with most of the aura being focused into Pinsir's fist. Pikachu twirled in the air and smashed his metal tail into Pinsir's fist.
"(Oh fuck!)" Pikachu shouted, causing Riolu to mutter something.
Ash sighed, whilst Pikachu's super effective Iron Tail would've had a higher base power than a powered Revenge, Pinsir's higher attacker stat won the clash and sent the yellow Electric-type into a tree that was a few metres away, "Alright Pikachu, defending won't be an option! We're going to need to do a multitude of attacks quickly. Use Quick Attack to get some speed, use Electro Ball afterwards! Try and use ThunderShock!"
Pikachu turned into a blur with a yellow ball of electricity being tossed at Pinsir. Whilst Pinsir took the hit well, Pikachu slammed into the stomach of the Stag Beetle Pokémon with all the force he had.
"Vital Throw, Pinsir!" the samurai-cosplaying guy shouted.
Pinsir leaned in to grab Pikachu and throw him into the ground but Pikachu had already distanced himself from the large bug.
"Keep the distance and mix ThunderShock and Electro Ball together!" Ash shouted Pikachu couldn't use Iron Tail again since Pinsir was on guard and looking for a moment where Pikachu would be close enough to grab.
"Pinsir, charge in and use Revenge!"
"Pikachu, keep the sparks going!" Ash said seeing that Pikachu was tossing an Electro Ball and then following it up with a ThunderShock, "Keep some distance, if it catches you, you're not gonna last much longer!"
Whilst Pikachu was zapping Pinsir and then doing a back handspring to get away, Pinsir was charging at Pikachu and taking all the attacks that were thrown at it. Pikachu was tiring from the constant stream of electricity that he had been producing and Pinsir ceased the opportunity.
"Pikachu, twist in the air and land with an Iron Tail!" Ash said as Pinsir grabbed the yellow mouse and threw him into the air. Pikachu did as Ash told him to and twisted in the air to make sure he wouldn't faceplant before he moved his tail underneath him and giving it a metallic sheen.
"Pinsir, Vice Grip whilst he's landing!"
Pinsir leapt with his two large horns, seeming to want to impale Pikachu on one of them. Pikachu, who had just landed and was about to get up, was smashed on both sides of his face by the horn.
"Close range ThunderShock! Hit as much of the body as possible!"
"Pinsir, Vital Throw into the ground!"
Pikachu did a small leap away from Pinsir, staying just out of arms reach. The mouse was sidestepping around the Pinsir, ducking and weaving around the two arms that tried to grab him.
Pikachu kept the ThunderShock going until he could feel that he wouldn't be able to go on for much longer.
"Iron Tail from the back, Pikachu!" Ash said knowing that Pikachu was running out of electricity to use. He would need to use his speed to hit quick and then get the hell out of dodge.
Pikachu turned into a blur with Quick Attack and ran around Pinsir before landing a solid Iron Tail to the back of Pinsir's head.
"Pinsir, use Vice Grip! You can take him down!"
Pinsir turned around but didn't see anything since Pikachu had already sped away to Ash's side. Pinsir started running, albeit slowly due to the head injury and exhaustion, to Pikachu with his horns ready to squeeze Pikachu.
"Let's end this, ThunderShock along with an Iron Tail!" Ash shouted with a smirk, the battle was definitely almost over.
He was wrong, although not completely. As Pikachu sent the ThunderShock and flipped in the air to land the Iron Tail, he noticed that Pinsir already had swirls in his eyes and that he wasn't running but trying to gain his bearings before tumbling in a heap.
"You did well, Pinsir!" the boy said, returning Pinsir to his Pokéball, "Go, Metapod!"
"Pikachu, come back. You did well but I can tell that you've run out of juice," Ash said, spraying Pikachu with a Potion, "You deserved some ketchup, it's at the back of my bag. Behind the table and pot. But anyway, Bagon! Let's end this!"
"Metapod, use Harden!"
"Bagon, use Fire Fang! Let's finish this battle early!" Ash said with a hint of worry in his voice, was this trainer going to spam Harden and then keep using Tackle.
Whilst Metapod gained both a metallic sheen and a blue glow that pushed upwards, Bagon leapt to behind Metapod before sinking flaming teeth into Metapod.
"Use Harden, Metapod! We can't be taken down this early!" the bug-catching samurai said, his strategy was definitely to just stall.
"Bagon, Dragon Pulse!" Ash said, he could rely on Bagon's special attacks to finish this, "Bagon, use Leer well, we can't let that Metapod's defence quadruple!"
As it had been last time, Metapod started gaining a metallic sheen and its body strengthened, its defence had now been doubled so it would take physical hits better. Unfortunately for him, Dragon Pulse is a special move so the doubled defence would do nothing.
After shooting the beam of purple at Metapod, doing a fairly high amount of damage with it, Bagon narrowed his eyes thus neutralising the second defence buff. Bagon charged its second Dragon Pulse to take the Metapod down, he had always had a strong dislike for staller. If he wanted to wait, he would have stayed inside his Pokéball!
"Flame it, Bagon! I'm not in the mood for making this battle longer," Ash said before also adding, "Why don't you get as close a hit as possible? No, I want you to keep your beam trained on him, let's see how long your attack takes to knock him out after constant exposure."
With the ball significantly larger than normal, Bagon released the beam out of his mouth with his teeth ablaze causing the Dragon Pulse to be coloured an orangey-red. The beam wavered around Metapod before finally staying on the green Bug-type with a few moments where the beam would inch upwards.
After around twelve seconds, Metapod collapsed with burn marks covering where the beam had hit him. Metapod was returned to his Pokéball whilst Bagon walked back to Ash's shoulder and stretched.
"That took twelve seconds to knock out Metapod. That's pretty good but I do think that we should practice on your aim though, or maybe practice on the stability of the attack," Ash said before pulling a bottle of lemonade out of his bag, he was only able to take a gulp when the ground shook from an explosive force.
"What... holy shit, there's smoke!" Leaf shouted, seeing the plume of an oily black smoke rise in the sky.
"We both know that's Yellow, right?" Ash said to Leaf, Yellow went in the direction the smoke cloud was rising from.
"No shit, Sherlock!" Leaf said back, "Oh well, it was nice knowing her."
Ash pulled Leaf back as she was about to walk away, "No Leaf, we're not going to let someone we know die, not without knowing that I did everything I could do to protect them!"
Leaf sighed, knowing that Ash was right, "Fine then Mr Moral Fibre! Unlike you, I don't go out of my way to help people. And now that I've said that out loud, I can tell I've made myself look like an asshole. C'mon, let's go save Yellow and restore my reputation!"
Hey, didn't I say that this would come out within a month?
Anyway, I have a question to ask of you all, should Yellow to join Ash and Leaf in their journey or to stay in the Viridian Forest and be mentioned in later chapters and have small appearances later on? There'll be a poll on my profile so check it out and tell me what you think. The poll will be up for a week so you can put what you want into the poll and I'll see you all next time!
