*while Brock still has a love of women in this story, it will be greatly turned down. He won't go after Officer Jennies or Nurse Joys, due to respecting their work.*
A BONE-a-fide Master
Ch 4: Font
Ash and Brock were standing outside the entrance of Mount Moon, with Gaster and Asriel enjoying the fresh air.
"Wait Ash...Where's Sans?" Brock said, looking around. Ash sighed and set his backpack on the ground and rummaged through it until he pulled out his Sans-o-phone.
"SANS!"Ash called through the megaphone, and there was a rustling in a nearby bush when Sans casually walked out, munching on a berry.
"Does he always do this?" Brock asked.
"Absolutely!" Ash admitted, "He thinks it's funny worrying me like that. Now if only he put as much effort into training as he does into being lazy."
Sans talked to Gaster, who started writing something down.
(HE SAYS HE'S GOTTEN A TON OF TRAINING DONE TODAY. A SKELE-TON!)
"UGH!" Ash groaned, raising his right palm to his face, "UN-Believable! Another Pun! I'm starting to regret giving Sans a joke book for his Birthday!"
At the entrance of a cave, they found a scientist being swarmed by Zubat.
"Nyeh! Asriel! Scare them off with a Thundershock!" Ash said, and Asriel landed on the ground and sent a blast of electricity towards the flock of Zubat. A few of them got hit, and Brock threw a Poke Ball at one that was falling while the others took off away from the area. The Poke Ball rocked and eventually dinged, confirming Brock's capture. The scientist looked around and brushed off some dirt before spotting Ash and Asriel.
"That was amazing! The best rescue I've ever had! Five Stars!" The scientist said.
"Wowie Mister!" Ash said, striking a pose (similar to Papyrus when you see him talk about the Royal Guard).
"Never mister! I'm Seymore! Seymore the Scientist! Knowledge, research, I'm Seymore the Scientist!" Seymore said, striking a pose himself.
"Nyeh heh! Not a bad introduction!" Ash said, finding absolutely nothing wrong with the man's introduction while Brock looked a little embarrased by the man's display.
"Now why were the Zubat attacking you Seymore?" Brock asked, causing Seymore to lead them into the cave.
"See, some troublemaker hung up high intensity lights all over the cave, it's drying everything up. The Paras are even planting their mushrooms!" Seymore explained, showing a few rock types, ground types, and some Paras looking dehydrated.
"Nyeh heh heh! Leave it to me!" Ash said, pulling out a water bowl and filling it from a water bottle, "Now Asriel, go follow the wires and enjoy a snack from the generator!"
"PI-KA!" Asriel said, grinning at the thought of free electricity before he saluted and ran after some wires deeper into the cave.
Ash watched with a grin as the Pokemon took turns taking drinks, the Paras going back and collecting their mushrooms. One Paras went up and tapped against his leg.
"Huh? What is it?" Ash said, lowering his hand, which it rubbed against.
"I think that Paras wants to go with you." Seymore said. Once he said that, a large Onix stopped drinking and started rubbing against him as well.
"Wowie!" Ash said, pulling out his Pokedex.
Paras, the Mushroom Pokemon. Growing out of the bug's back are mushrooms called tochukaso. The mushrooms grow with the bug host. It droned before it was turned to Onix. Onix, the Rock Snake Pokemon. Onix has a magnet in its brain. It acts as a compass so that this Pokémon does not lose direction while it is tunneling. As it grows older, its body becomes increasingly rounder and smoother.
"Nyeh heh heh! If you two really want to come with me" Ash said, using a button on his Poke Dex to send Cherish to Professor Oak, "Paras, your name is Vegetoid and Onix, your name is Diamond." The two made happy sounds at the names and Ash set down two Poke Balls that the two were sucked into happily.
"Nyeh heh heh!" Ash said, watching the rest of the Pokemon finsish off the water, some rock types and a few other Paras bringing little trinkets as thanks; such as a couple lost potions, A star piece, a Moon stone fragment, and even a couple fossils. "Many people don't realize how far acts of kindness can go! A truly great puzzle! Defeating anger and hatred with kindness! Nyeh heh heh heh heh heh!" Ash said, picking everything up but the fossils. He gazed at the two at his feet. "Brock, do you want one?"
"Huh?" Brock said, shocked at Ash's offer.
"I mean, you do want to be a Pokemon Breeder right? And if fossils can be revived, I think that Pokemon would be very rare." Ash said, "So choose...but do you have any advice on which Pokemon is what?"
"Well. Both are dual Rock/Water types. Judging by your Pokemon, except for your new Onix, all of them can be speedy if trained right. It'll be tough to raise, but take the Dome Fossil, it'll become Kabuto, which evolves into the speedy Kabutops." Brock explained, "The Helix fossil becomes Omanyte, which evolves into a slow, yet bulky Omastar."
"Nyeh heh! A perfect reasoning!" Ash said, stepping back and allowing Brock to pick up the Helix Fossil and put it into his bag, while Ash put the Dome Fossil into his bag. Right after that happened, the lights shut off and the wild Pokemon went off in different directions as Ash pulled out a flashlight and turned to see a slightly charred, but content Asriel.
(Elsewhere)
"What on Earth happened to the Generatior, James?" Jessie yelled out, stomping her foot in anger.
"All of the wires are torn apart. It won't work!" James said, feeling around the machine.
"Meowth that's right!" Meowth added, "Poihaps we should just head to Cerulean City now, before anything ELSE happens!"
"Agreed." Jessie sighed, "At least we got a Moon Stone shard for our Boss." She said, holding up a fist sized black stone.
(Elsewhere still)
A group of Clefairy suddenly felt relieved and didn't know the reason why.
(Back with the group)
Seymore led them to the exit, waving to them as he went back into the cave. Brock and Ash stood looking towards Cerulean City. As they follwed the path, they saw a sign with something written under the words "Cerulean City" in permanent marker.
'Gary was here. Ash is a loser.'
Ash looked a little down as Sans glared at the sign and Gaster wrote something.
(AT LEAST OUR TRAINER DOESN'T NEED A CAR TO GET EVERYWHERE LIKE A LITTLE KID.)
"Nyeh! You are right Gaster! The Great Ash Papyrus Ketchum doesn't need a vehicle to earn badges!" Ash said.
"Gary Oak, right?" Brock said, frowning. "I remember him. Highly egotistical. Only used a male Nidoran and a Squirtle. He pushed Timmy aside rather roughly after winning and left in a convertable."
"Nyeh?" Ash said, looking at him in confusion as Brock pulled out his own permanent marker. Brock wrote something down and it now read 'Gary was here. Ash is a loser. I desecrate landmarks for fun.'
Sans then grabbed the marker and added a little more to it. 'Get dunked on.'
The two finally reached Cerulean City after Ash battled a few trainers with Vegetoid and Diamond; giving them much needed experience. There was a crowd around a store, and Brock guided them away from it and towards the Pokemon Center. They gave Nurse Joy their Pokemon, except for Brock's Onix and Ash's Asriel and Gaster and the nurse took the Poke balls to a machine to restore their health.
"Excuse me Nurse Joy, but we have something to do while our Pokemon are healing." Brock said, throwing an arm around Ash and guiding him out of the building and through the city.
"Nyeh? What's that about?" Ash said, and Brock rummaged through Ash's bag and pulled out a stack of drawing paper.
"Did you forget what I told you earlier?" Brock said as he stopped them at a building labelled "CERULEAN PUBLISHING COMPANY"
Long ago, three races ruled over the Earth. Humans, Pokemon, and Monsters. Than one day, a war broke out between the Humans and Monsters. The monsters eventually lost, being sealed unground beneath an imposing mountain.
A Comic shut, revealing a cover with a goat-like monster with large curved devil-like horns and red eyes with yellow hair and a yellow beard. He had imposing gold shoulder-pads with a purple cape closed around him. Next to him was was a kindly female goat-like monster with kind red eyes in a purple dress holding a piece of pie towards a shy, nervous little girl with brown hair, pale skin with a slight blush, brown eyes, and a green sweater with a yellow stripe on it wearing a golden heart-shaped locket. There were a few bruises on her. Next to her, attempting to photo-bomb the cover, was a young goat monster kid wearing the same thing as the little girl giving the viewer a wink while sticking his tongue out.
Across the top was a single word: FONT
Across the bottom were the words: Issue #1: Chara Dreemur, Hope of Humans and Monsters
An official seal of the Cerulean Publishing Company sat in the far right corner.
"I told you this could be published!" Brock said, clapping a hand over Ash's left shoulder.
"Wowie! The Grrrrreeeat Ash Papyrus Ketchum wins again!" Ash said, glancing at the author signature, simply written "Papyrus".
"I can understand why you are using a writer name other than your own." Brock said, "It's too early in your training career to be swarmed by fans, isn't it."
"Abso-positively-lutely!" Ash said, striking a pose, "Now, let's go retrieve our Pokemon and face the next gym!"
Eventually, picking up their Pokemon and making a brief stop for Brock to submit Pokemon Food to a Pokemon Breeder's Conference Contest, they came across a building shaped like a circus tent with a Dewgong sign with the words "CERULEAN GYM".
They entered the building to see a girl with orange hair scolding trhee older girls with blue, yellow, and pink hair with a League Official.
"AND FURTHERMORE!" The girl screamed before the yellow-haired girl covered her mouth and pointed behind her. Brock took a step back as the girl turned to see Ash there.
"Ash?" She asked.
"Nyeh heh heh heh! It is I! Ash Papyrus Ketchum! Nice to see you again Misty!" Ash said, striking a pose, "But how did you get here so quickly. It's been almost a week since I left Viridian City?
"Oh! I know I have a slight phobia of bug types, so I just took a charter bus between cities." Misty said, waving off the question, "I assume you are here for an official gym battle?"
"Nyeh heh heh! Indeed!" Ash said.
"Then follow me and prepare for a challenge!" Misty said with a confident smirk.
"Nyeh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh!" Ash laughed as he followed her, occasionally turning to look at different fish and Water Type Pokemon in the aquariums.
They came to a large pool with a few floating platforms on it and Ash stood on a red platform while Misty stood on a green platform. Brock moved to the stands and Sans sat next to him, drinking from a bottle of water.
"Now, this will be a two-on-two match." Misty said.
"Nyeh? Like Brock's?" Ash asked.
"Exactly!" Misty said, throwing a Poke Ball, "Go! Poliwag!"
The little Tadpole Pokemon landed with a bounce and slapped it's tail against the platform as Ash threw out his Pokemon.
"Go! Fuku!" With a roar, Fuku landed with her tail flame blazing.
"You do know that fire types have a disadvantage, right?" Misty asked.
"Nyeh heh heh! Don't count us out yet!" Ash said, "Use Ember." Fuku opened her mouth and peppered Poliwag with small fireballs, but Poliwag quickly jumped into the water and avoided the rest.
"Now come out of the water and use Water Gun!" Misty commanded, and Poliwag jumped out of the water and blasted Fuku in the chest with a water gun, making her cry out in pain.
"Now Dragon Pulse!" Ash commanded, making Misty recoil in shock.
"Quick back below the water again." Misty yelled, but Poliwag was blasted by the draconic energy and sent flying to the other side of the pool. Poliwag jumped onto the platform and awaited orders.
"Hypnosis." She yelled, and Ash grinned.
"Prevent from seeing it with Smokescreen Fuku! Nyeh heh!" Fuku exhaled a cloud of smoke, blocking the hypnotic waves from sight.
"Not bad." Misty complimented, feeling her heart pulse from the battle, "Bubble Poliwag!"
"Block it with Ember!" Ash commanded, and the orbs of fire flying from the cloud of smoke met with the bubbles and both exploded, sending waves crashing onto the platforms.
"Poliwag, hit it with Doubleslap." Misty said, and Poliwag jumped into the water and swam across and jumped towards the cloud of smoke. Poliwag spun and smacked Fuku across the face with it's tail, before leaping and slapping her again.
"Fuku! Scratch!" Ash yelled, and Fuku ducked under the third attempt of the double slap attack and scratched it with all of her remaining might. Poliwag landed and collapsed as the smoke cleared.
"You did great. Return Poliwag." Misty said, as Poliwag was sucked into the Poke Ball by a red beam.
"You did great as well Fuku. Return!" Ash said, chuckling slightly as Fuku was sucked into her Poke Ball.
"Now prepare for a difficult challenge! Go Staryu!" Misty said, throwing the star shape Pokemon onto a platform.
"Go ahead Asriel!"Ash said, and Asriel jumped onto the platform and gave a confident smirk.
Misty gulped slightly and glared defiantly. "Now! Bubblebeam!" With that, Staryu blasted a fast moving stream of bubbles at Asriel.
"Nyeh heh! Dodge with Quick attack and then use Thundershock!" Ash said, and Asriel quickly moved to another platform and hit Staryu with a bolt of electricity, the Staryu shaking in pain.
"Oh no! It's really hurt!" Misty said, but before they could do anything, the wall collapsed and revealed Jessie, James, and Meowth in Team Rocket regalia on a giant vaccum and hose. Before they could say anything, Ash snapped his fingers and the areas went black and the colored hearts became visible once again; Ash's red with an upside-down white one, Misty, James, Jessie, and Meowth's purple, Brock's green, and the three girls had light blue ones. The Leauge official had a blue heart shape.
Ash held his right arm straight down with the palm facing the ground, his left hand in a fist on his hip, and was tapping his right foot. There were multiple bones sprouting from the pool and moving towards them as Team Rocket panicked and started to quickly suck up the water. The bones were pulled in and jammed up the hose's nozzle.
Ash pointed at them, and nodded to Asriel, who blasted them with a Thundershock. They were sent flying off as the vaccuum exploded and color returned and the hearts vanished.
"Nyo ho hoo! They destroyed the gym! We never got to finish our battle!" Ash whined, watching the water from the pool leak out of the destroyed wall.
"Actually. You still get the Badge." The League official spoke, "It was obvious your Pikachu would defeat Misty's Staryu, and you did defend the gym on top of that, even if it mean forfeiting."
Misty nodded at his decision and reached into a case and handed him a blue, teardrop shaped badge.
"You've definetly earned the Cascade Badge!" Misty said, recalling Staryu as Asriel climbed up onto Ash's shoulder.
"Nyeh heh heh! This is the second badge of eight needed to compete in the Pokemon Leauge!" Ash cheered, admiring it before putting it in the same case the Boulder Badge was in.
"Hey Ash, do you mind if I take a training trip with you and Brock?" Misty asked, as Brock was blushing while looking at her older sisters.
"Nyeh heh heh! Not at all! The more the merrier!" Ash said, as Sans whacked Brock on the foot to get his attention away from the girls.
"Now..." Misty said, pulling out a Poke Ball, "The Official will stay with you three and teach you about battling...but if I hear about you giving away badges again...my Vaporeon will have to teach you a lesson!" With that, her older sisters paled at the memory of that Eevee Evolution.
"Nyeh heh heh! That sounds great! Maybe I'll get a Vaporeon one day!" Ash said.
In Celadon City, an Eevee sneezed.