Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or its characters, unfortunately.

Read end of work for Author notes.


After eating breakfast early in the morning, Ash departed Saffron with a promise of coming back soon. Now he needed to reach Cerulean City, and the only way was through Route 5.

This particular route had a more country landscape, a stark contrast to Saffron's vibrant, fully urbanized landscape.

Since it was still very early in the morning there weren't any passersby. The trainer walked with a steady pace, if he didn't faced any problem he would be at Cerulean at noon. Several hours went through as Ash occasionally stopped to battle some of the wild pokémon with his newly acquired Meowth.

After defeating another Bellsprout, Ash resumed his walk when he glanced at a large building. Getting closer he noticed that it was a Trainer's School. Ash wasn't a fan. He had to study some basic stuff and when really interested about a subject he would do some deep digging to find more information. For instance, Ash got intrigued by Meowth's Fury Swipes power yesterday and while waiting for sleep to come he read several magazines. He discovered that the increase in power came from Meowth's ability: Technician.

Technician boosted the power of the so called weak moves by a large margin, usually making them even more dangerous than the particularly powerful moves. A good example is using Bite instead of Crunch. Crunch naturally has higher base power, but a Technician boosted Bite will be stronger if used by Meowth.

Ash had already found great use in this ability as he was able to exploit the better effects of the 'weak' moves, such as Bite's flinching or Fury Swipes multiple hits without having a drop in power.

But Ash didn't liked the attitude of those prep school kids, they usually would feel like the world spun around themselves, besides looking down at people who weren't as rich as them.

Ash could say he was surprised when one male student approached him in an overly polite way, asking for a battle.

"Umm, excuse me sir, could you please battle against my pokémon." The student asked. He has well-kept brown hair, and wore a blue blazer, part of the school's uniform.

"He asked politely." Ash thought before nodding.

Soon a small group of students assembled, while one of them offered to act as a referee.

"This will be a one-on-one pokémon battle between Ash Ketchum from Vermilion City and Joe Juno from Saffron. As Joe is the challenger he's the first to send out his pokémon."

"Go Weepinbell."

"Bell." The pokémon cried

Weepinbell has a yellow, bell-shaped body with a single green leaf on either side. It uses these razor-sharp leaves to slice up prey. It has a wide, gaping mouth with pink lips. Above Weepinbell's circular eyes is a pattern of three small green spots and a small hook-shaped stem.

Ash seemed in thought for a moment.

"I've already used Meowth to defeat several trainers already, so I'll go with Squirtle, he needs to learn how to fight pokémon that have a type advantage over him."

"Go Squirtle."

"Squirtle." The turtle pokémon said eagerly.

A few snickers were heard as the students pocked Ash's apparent lack of knowledge.

"Use Bite Squirtle."

The turtle rushed towards Weepinbell, biting him hard, fainting it on the process.

Some of the students were wordless whilst other made fun of Joe.

"Winner is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town." The referee.

Ash recalled Squirtle, thanking him for his effort, whilst Joe did the same with Weepinbell.

The two trainers met at the center of the ring.

"Build Weepinbell's defenses and speed instead of focusing in attack, grass Pokémon cause lots of hazardous damage with Leech Seed and Poisonpowder, also don't let other students get under your skin."

Ash advised, offering his hand in a handshake.

"Thanks.' The boy said, shaking hands

"Pathetic." Came a female voice

"Oh great, another smug rich girl, just what I needed." Ash thought in dismay.

However when he turned around to see who spoke he admitted that he was impressed.

Milky white skin, silky shiny brown hair cascading through her back. Also a well-developed body for her age. Ash had to give it up, the girl was hot.

"Students like you make our school look bad. How could you lose to someone that decided to give you type advantage?" the girl asked

"Sorry, Giselle…"

Ash heard Giselle scold Joe with a sympathetic look. He didn't knew why he said something at all, maybe male comradery.

"Unless you defeated me you can't say anything." He said matter of factly, earning a glare from the girl.

"Are you challenging me?"

"Yes and to keep things fair I'll also give you the type advantage." Ash said smugly.


"This will be a two on two battle between Ash Ketchum of Vermilion City and Giselle Seiyo from Saffron City. Trainers send out your pokémon." Joe said, acting as a referee.

"Go, Graveler."

Graveler is a living, bipedal boulder. It has a rocky crest about its small eyes. It has four arms, each with a three-fingered hand.

"Meowth, I chose you."

"Graveler, use rollout."

The boulder pokémon started to roll around, building momentum.

"Fake out." Ash commanded

Meowth quickly closed out space, getting near Graveler, clasping his hands together, creating a shockwave of sorts that stopped the movement and sent Graveler backwards.

"Don't give up, Rollout once again." Graveler once again assumed rolling form, heading towards Meowth.

"Dodge it and use screech."

Meowth did as asked, easily avoiding the strike and unleashing a loud screech, making Graveler stop the attack to hold his ears in pain.

"Now he's open, Fury Swipes."

Meowth took advantage of the opening swiping his claws in a fiery, Technician powered, fury swipes strike, knocking out Graveler.

"Impossible, this attack was supposed to be not much effective against Graveler." Giselle muttered, recalling his pokémon.

"Battles involve much more than just type matchups." Ash said with a smirk

"It doesn't matter, go Cubone."

Cubone is a small, bipedal Pokémon with a golden brown hide that covers most of its body, including both dorsal spikes. Its belly is a very light brown. Two small claws, one on each hand, serve as its thumbs, and one large nail on each foot make up its toes. On its head, Cubone wears a skull as a helmet.

"Impressive Pokémon you got there." Ash complimented, causing Giselle to blush.

He then turned to Meowth.

"You did well, rest."

After recalling Meowth he turned to Pichu, who stood by his side.

"Up for a fight pal?" the trainer asked, getting an enthusiastic cry from the rodent.

"A electric type against a ground pokémon? Your overconfidence will be your downfall."

"Like I said before, types aren't everything."

"Bone Club" Giselle said, causing Cubone to charge at Pichu, swinging his bone.

"Double Team."

Pichu then multiplied himself, creating illusions, as soon as Cubone dispelled a double team, Pichu would create a new one.

"It's pointless." Giselle said as a very tired Cubone attacked Pichu's double teams. "Use Bonemerang."

Cubone then threw his bone as a boomerang, dispelling all the double teams at once, and almost landing a hit on Pichu, who barely leapt out of the way.

"Pichu." Ash said getting an attentive expression from the rodent.

"Use Sweet Kiss." The attentive expression was quickly gone, replaced by an angered expression and a glare.

Pichu didn't liked people calling him cute. He was powerful, not cute. He hated to use attacks such as Charm, Nuzzle and most of all Sweet Kiss. He wasn't a kisser, and to make things worse Cubone was male.

"I'll give you a bottle of ketchup."

Now Pichu's ears perked up in interest, but he still relented

Ash sighed. "Fine, two bottles."

Suddenly Pichu regained his will to fight and approached Cubone, giving him a quick kiss on his cheek, before quickly withdrawing with a disgusted expression and frenetically wiping his mouth clean.

Cubone seemed confused enough.

"Use Bone Club, his defenses are gone." Giselle ordered.

Cubone used Bone Club, onto himself, repeatedly swinging his bone at his own head.

"Grr… snap out of it. Bonemerang."

Cubone seemingly recomposed himself, launching his boner. Key word: seemingly as it was a wild throw, that came back straight at Cubone's head, properly knocking him out.

"W-winner is Ash Ketchum of Vermilion City."

"And that's how it's done." Ash said with a smirk, before turning to leave.

"ASH! Wait." Giselle said hurriedly

"Yeah?" the raven haired boy asked turning to the girl

"You forgot your prize."

Ash was about to shrug it off when Giselle boldly closed the space between the two pressing her lips on his.

"Good luck, handsome trainer." The schoolgirl said with an wink before she left, leaving a very red Ash behind.


It was already late in afternoon when Ash came upon a Gloom. Thinking a grass pokémon would be a good addition to his team he decided to capture it. With a combination of Pichu's Nuzzle and Electroweb, all Ash needed to do was throwing the Poké ball. However a few seconds before the ball touched the pokémon, a Vine Whip grabbed the ball.

The trainer turned his head to see a Bulbasaur.

Bulbasaur is a small, quadruped Pokémon that has blue-green skin with darker green patches. It has red eyes with white pupils and sclera. It also has pointed ear-like structures on top of its head. On its back is a green plant bulb.

"Bulba, Bulba." He said to the Gloom, who fled the scene, before leaving as well, going into an opposite direction, carrying Ash's poké ball.

"Hey, come back here. This Poké ball costs 2000 Poké Dollars." Ash yelled chasing Bulbasaur.

The Pokémon quickly moved into the thick woods, with Ash trailing behind. The chase continued for more minutes, until Bulbasaur came to a house, where a girl, slightly older than Ash stood.

The girl had bright blue hair, tied in waist line ponytail by a green ribbon and wore red overalls over a pink t-shirt.

"Bulbasaur, who's he?"

"I'm Ash Ketchum." The boy said offering his hand in a handshake

The girl took Ash's hand. "I'm Melanie, a pleasure to meet you." She then looked at Bulbasaur who still held Ash's Poké ball with his Vine Whip.

"Bulbasaur stopped you from capturing a Pokémon right?"

"Is this a common occurrence?" Ash asked, getting a nod from the girl

"Bulbasaur helps me at the Hidden Village, a place my parents built to help pokémon released by its trainers to prepare for live at wilderness once they're ready."

"I see, I had no idea that Gloom was being cared." Ash said bowing. "If you could ask Bulbasaur to give me back the Poké Ball, I'd greatly appreciate it."

"Bulbasaur, can you give Ash his Poké Ball back?"

The grass pokémon shook his head.

"Bulbasaur doesn't trust you to give the ball back, but I have an idea, help me taking care of the pokémon today and he'll surely warm up to you."

Ash pondered his options, if he refused to help, instead opting to leave for Cerulean he would reach the city during the evening and will be able to challenge the gym tomorrow. On the other hand if he stayed he would be able to get his Poké ball back besides helping a good cause.

"I'll help."

"Great." Melanie said clasping her hands together.

Ash and Pichu followed Melanie and Bulbasaur deeper into the woods, until they saw a clearing.

"Strange. Usually the pokémon like to rest here, but it's empty."

Ash then turned to Melanie.

"Heard this noise?"

"No."

"Follow me."

Ash then guided Melanie to a deep part of the woods where several cages, containing Pokémon were being loaded into a transport truck.

"What's the meaning of this?" Melanie demanded

Then two figures appeared, donning similar black uniforms, which consisted of a black long-sleeved t-shirt with a red "R" at the middle, a black pant, or skirt in the case of the girl, with red details and white gloves with red details.

The man has teal green hair, styled in a half parted fringe and brown eyes.

The girl has golden hair, styled in a complex two sided ponytail and purple eye.

"Prepare for trouble…" the girl said

"...and make it double!" the guy completed

"Here's our mission, so you better listen!" they said in unison

"To infect the world with devastation!"

"To blight all people in every nation!"

"To denounce the goodness of truth and love!"

"To extend our wrath to the stars above!"

"Cassidy!"

"And Butch, of course!"

"We're Team Rocket, circling Earth all day and night!"

"Surrender to us now or you will surely lose the fight!"

As the newly identified duo finished his introduction, Ash furrowed his brows.

"Weren't the Rockets a NBA team?" he asked causing them to deadpan.

"We're Team Rocket idiot, surrender your Pokémon now." The Cassidy said

"What about a teacup of no?" Ash said ironically.

"THAT'S IT." Cassidy yelled.

"Crush him Raticate." She said, throwing a pokéball

"Help Raticate out, Primeape." Butch commanded, sending out his own Pokémon

"Two on one is hardly fair." Ash noted, sending out his Meowth.

Then Bulbasaur stood beside Meowth.

"You really want to help me, Bulbasaur?" the trainer asked getting a nod from the grass pokémon.

"Let's do it then."

"Raticate, use Super Fang on Meowth."

The big rodent readied his fans to attack Meowth. As he got closer, Meowth dodged, only to be hit by Primeape's Karate Chop mid airborne.

"Meowth!" Ash yelled in concern

As Meowth slowly got up, Ash realized he was in a dire situation.

"They have good combination attacks, I need to perform my own combos."

"Bulbasaur, use Razor Leaf." The grass type did as asked, firing several sharpened leaf disks, targeting both pokémon. As soon as the duo leapt to get away from the attack Ash noted Raticate was slower than Primeape, so he started formulating his plan.

"Bulbasaur, Razor Leaf once again." The scene repeated, however Ash had something in store.

"Meowth, use Fury Swipes on Raticate." The feline quickly repaid the attack from earlier, striking with real fury, soon enough Raticate had swirls in his eyes.

"You'll pay for this." Butch said

"Primeape, ready a Focus Punch." The primate started then to flow with red energy.

"Bulbasaur's Razor Leaf can't hit from that far, and Meowth only has physical moves if this hits it's a sure OHKO…"

Then an idea came to Ash's mind.

"This is probably my most reckless idea ever … let's do this." Ash thought grinning.

He then muttered something to his Pokémon.

Butch saw Ash talking with his Pokémon and decided to jab at him.

"Discussing surrender plans?"

"My dear Biff…"

"IT'S BUTCH DAMNIT." The rocket soldier yelled

"… I'm sorry to upset you… but I'm much more a Clippers fan than a Rockets fan." (AN: yep, a Basketball pun)

"Meowth, Bulbasaur, use Cat-tapult."

Meowth then leapt at Bulbasaur bulb, before being grabbed by its vines. The Bulbasaur quickly spun Meowth around to build momentum, before throwing the cat pokémon towards Primeape with great speed.

Using the momentum to its favor, Meowth grinned; unleashing a fiery Fury Swipes strike at a helpless Primeape.

"Crap, looks like we're outmatched." Cassidy said

"There's only one thing we can do…" Butch concluded

"RETREAT!" the duo quickly said, getting at the truck before speeding off at the speed of light and leaving all of the cages behind.

Ash then looked at the very tired figures of Meowth and Bulbasaur.

"Great job Meowth, you're getting stronger each day." Ash said, before patting the cat pokémon at the head, earning a purr, before recalling it to his pokéball.

He then turned to Bulbasaur.

"Great job Bulbasaur, now can you give me my Poké ball back?"

The quadrupled just grinned, setting the ball at the ground, before touching it with his paw.

One shake

Two shakes

Three shakes

PING!

Capture successful.

Ash looked at Melanie with a confused expression.

"Bulbasaur saw you as someone worthy journeying with, besides that he was making the village so safe that the pokémon in here didn't bothered to grow stronger." The blue haired girl explained.

Ash then picked up the ball from the ground.

"Thanks for choosing me, Bulbasaur, I won't let you down."

Ash then looked at Melanie.

"It was a pleasure meeting you."

Melanie said nothing, pulling Ash for a heated kiss, unlike earlier when Giselle kissed him, that time around there was tongue.

"It was pleasure meeting you too." She said with a blush

Ash stood motionless.

"Second day as a pokémon and I've already been kissed by two pretty girls."

He then grinned

"Being a Pokémon Trainer is amazing."


Ash ended up staying for the night, as it was already pretty late when he finished the battle. He parted ways with Melanie, who once again kissed him, before leaving to Cerulean.

After two hour of walking through the Route 5, Ash finally spotted Cerulean City. Despite being one of the biggest cities in the Kanto region, Cerulean was so well ornate and decorated that it looked much more like a tourist destination rather than an important city. The well organized and paved streets gave an air of calmness, that wasn't present in Vermilion due to its explosive, unplanned growth, pivoted by the installation of Vermilion Harbor. Ash quickly recognized Cerulean River, arguably the most important river in the region. The river's source was the famous Mt. Moon, a famous mountain that only lost to the famed Mt. Silver as Kanto's biggest mountain. It ran through Cerulean, ending up at the Lighthouse at Route 25. The water area between the Lighthouse and the harbor became known as Cerulean Cape. The harbor itself was the second bigger in Kanto, only losing to Vermilion's harbor. While Vermilion's harbor handled a great volume of merchandise and products came from regions like Hoenn, Kalos and Unova, the harbor in Cerulean was the prime gateway to Sinnoh and was much more known for receiving people instead of products. Another interesting fact regarding Cerulean was the presence of the nearby Cerulean Cave, known for the unusual presence of extremely stronger Pokémon, and thus requiring the highest level of clearance for visitation in the region of Kanto (Mt. Silver didn't count because it is geographically located in Johto). Ash was brought out by his analysis when he saw a multitude of people in front of the Gym.

"Are all those challengers?" he thought frowning

He then approached a youngster who was eagerly waiting into the line.

"Hey, this is a line to challenge the gym?"

"To the gym yes, but not to challenge it. We're here for the sensational sister marine show."

"Sensational Sisters?"

"Are you dumb, how come you never heard of the face and pride of the Cerulean?" the youngster asked in a scolding tone.

"I'm not from here…"

"Oh, I see." The boy then took a flyer from his pocket, showing it to Ash.

The flyer featured three very beautiful women, whose ages appeared to range from 16 to 20, posing in a group photo. The first one, from left to the right, has blonde hair long hair, with a pale pink flower acting as a decoration, and green eyes, wearing a red one piece swimsuit, the middle one has long indigo hair, a bit darker than Melanie for instance, brown eyes and spotted a green swimsuit, finally the last one has long pink hair, blue eyes and spotted a yellow swimsuit. Bellow the three it read "The Amazing Waterflowers of Cerulean City".

"From left to the right Daisy, Violet and Lily, they are the city gym leaders and performers."

"Oh, I see…"

"I don't think they'll be able to accept your challenge today, will you stay for watch the show?"

Ash looked in deep thought for a moment, the boy was right, his battle would have to wait until tomorrow. He could do some extra training, he remembered seeing a flyer at the Pokémon Center about a tournament of sorts taking place at Route 25, but he could enjoy a day off, seeing three beauties in bikinis… if he was lucky there was a chance of a nipple slip to happen… Ash gritted his teeth.

"Success first, girls later…" he decided as he took the road to Route 25.


On his way to the tournament, Ash had to go through Route 24, where a golden bridge, known as the Nugget Bridge, crossed the Cerulean River. As he was in a hurry he didn't stopped to note the facers of the people standing at the bridge. However there was a thing that caught his attention, a Charmander, curled into a rock, attentively looking at the horizon, as if waiting for someone.

"He's waiting for its trainer?"

Charmander is a bipedal, reptilian Pokémon with a primarily orange body. Its underside from the chest down and soles are cream-colored. It has two small fangs visible in its upper jaw and two smaller fangs in its lower jaw. Charmander has blue eyes. Its arms and legs are short with four fingers and three clawed toes. A fire burns at the tip of this Pokémon's slender tail and has blazed there since Charmander's birth.

Ash then knelt to face the Pokémon, who looked wary, but didn't moved.

"Waiting for someone?" he asked, getting a nod from the pokémon.

He then took a Oran Berry from his bag, and gave it to Charmander.

"They say time passes by faster if you're eating." He said in a friendly tone. "Speaking of time… it seems as I'm running late, so excuse me." The trainer concluded, leaving the lizard pokémon with the berry atop the rock.


Ash was barely able to reach the tournament site, but still managed to claim the last spot in the tournament. The format was single, one-on-one battles.

Ash decided to give his Meowth a little bit more of experience as he already planned on giving it a rest on the gym battle. Since Cerulean was his first shot at a real gym battle he decided to challenge the gym using his Pichu, Squirtle and Bulbasaur. He guessed that the gym used three on three battles as there were three sisters. Pichu and Bulbasaur were chosen due to their type advantage, while Squirtle even while not being able to do damage with his water attacks, could easily punish the opponent with his Bite and had coverage against water attacks.

In the Last of 32 round, he easily got past a schoolboy's Oddish due using Meowth's Technician boosted Fury Swipes.

In the Last of 16 he defeated yet another schoolboy, who possessed an Eevee using a lethal combination of Bite and Fury Swipes.

In the Quarter Finals his Meowth finally received damage as he clashed against a Lass's Gloom. But in the end he once again managed to emerge victorious.

The semifinal saw Ash facing a male camper, who used a Nidoran Male. Despite the foe's Poison Point ability and it's supper effective Double Kick move, Meowth managed to defeat him using Screech to lower its defenses enough before sweeping him with his Bite.

In the final Meowth and Ash face a Schoolboy and his Pidgeotto. Despite having a slight speed advantage, Meowth was overwhelmed by the avian Pokémon use of Double Team and Gust. When everything seemed lost, Meowth learned a new move: Faint Attack, and used it to bypass the double team and claim the win.

After getting the prize, a Nugget, and a small symbolical medal, Ash was about to make his way back to Cerulean when a male voice called his name. The trainer turned around to face boy, slightly older than him, with wavy brown hair and black eyes, he wears a purple shirt and brown pants.

"Hello, I'd like to congratulate you on your performance on the tournament."

"Thanks."

"The Meowth you used is a very interesting pokémon and I dare say it's among the strongest in his species. So I'd like to study him."

"I see… sorry but no, I have no time." Ash said warily, after running with Team Lakers or something like that in the Pokémon Village he became a bit suspicious of people.

"You don't trust me right?" the researcher called

"It's not personal, but I don't trust people unless they give me a good reason to do so."

"My name is Bill, I developed the Pokémon Storage System." He said offering his hand

"Ash Ketchum, from Vermilion City." The trainer said shacking Bill's hand

"What if I make a deal with you?"

"What kind of deal?"

"If you let me research your pokémon I'll give you their advanced status, abilities and characteristics besides a TM Case."

This caught Ash's interest, he had no Pokédex and wasn't able to access the PSS (Pokémon Storage System), so learning about his pokémon abilities and those stuff would be of a great help. The TM Case would sweeten the deal even more.

"I accept only if my pokémon agree and if I get to watch."

"It's a deal then."

Bill then guided Ash to his house, known as the Sea Cottage. As Bill researched Ash's Pokémon, giving special attention to Meowth and Pichu the trainer saw the imposing Cape Lighthouse. He then looked at a poster Bill had glued into the wall.

"Are you a member of PfP (Pokémon for People)?" Ash asked

"Yes, I'm their vice president." Bill explained "What do you think of our cause?"

The Pokémon for People organization was born after the league and the PPA (Pokémon Protection Agency) decided to limit, and by some degree elitize the access of pokémon. They greatly opposed to that, wanting to have pokémon being freely given to the people.

"Whilst it would be much easier to me if pokémon were more accessible, I understand some of the league points… some people are very immature, even with the age requirement increase."

"Don't tell me about that, when you're coming here you happened to see a Charmander atop a rock?"

"Yes."

"He was released by his trainer, but it refuses to leave the rock because he believes his trainer will come back for him."

"I see…" Ash said calmly, but inward he was angry, like Squirtle and Bulbasaur, Charmander was released by a trainer, and people who merely treated Pokémon like possessions were the worst of the scum, even worse than Team…Spurs?...Mavericks?... no Rocket.

"I still get their name wrong." He inwardly thought

"Even though there are unworthy trainers here and there, I trust the power of the bond between people and pokémon, it's unfair to prevent the majority of the population from having the wonderful experience of having a pokémon just because of some few assholes." Bill explained

"I agree, hopefully your organization can find a good solution for this problem." Ash said

"I've finished the checkup, but it will still take some time for the results to be ready. If you want to I can get your phone number so I can text you with the results." Bill said

"It would be great." Ash said

"Also there's another matter of interest. It came to my attention that you don't have a Pokédex, so you're unable to access the PSS, making you stuck with the max of six pokémon, not even being able to capture more right?"

"Yes."

"I can offer to store some of your caught pokémon at this cottage, I won't demand any fee at all, there will be a limit of the number of the pokémon you can store here of course but it's still better than nothing."

Ash was very surprised.

"Why?" was his only question

"Because if you're successful the PfP would have their interest defended. Come to think of it, if you, a kid who has nothing at all, and became a trainer just with sheer willpower and guts, win or get some recognition at the league we will have some good leverage about unrestricting the use of Pokémon against the PPA."

"I accept, our shared interests tie us together." Ash said solemnly.

"Great!" Bill said, handling Ash a spherical device. "This is a one way transporter, pre-programmed to transport Pokémon to the Sea Cottage, just put the recently captured pokémon pokéball in here and I'll receive and store it almost immediately."

"And how I call back the pokémon I sent to you?"

"You'll need to go to the Pokémon Center and contact me, I'm working in a two way transporter but it's still in early developmental stages."

"No problem, thanks for the help Bill."

"I'm the one who should've been thanking you for the opportunity to study such amazing pokémon, by the way don't forget this." Bill said handling Ash a TM Case.

"You know how TM'S work right?"

"Yes, reproduce the on the device to a pokémon who can learn the selected move, they can be used freely too right?"

"Yes, in the past they were one use only but nowadays they're made by much more resilient material, allowing multiple uses."

"Once again, thanks for everything, Bill."

"Win the league and I'll be the one thanking you."


After talking with Bill, Ash opted for returning to the Pokémon Center in Cerulean City, it was already night and he hoped to get a good night of sleep to finally challenge the sensational sisters tomorrow. As he was checking in at the Center, he heard a smug, boisterous voice.

"I'm telling you he was so weak that it couldn't even damage a Bellsprout."

Some of the attendants chuckled. "And what you did with it Damian?"

"I released it of course, my team is no place for weak pokémon. But it is so stupid that he believes I'm still coming back to him, like I'd waste my time with trash like him."

Ash connected the dots, this Damian guy was the trainer of the Charmander he saw at Route 24, to see him referring to Charmander like that, made his blood boil, and he acted purely on instinct.

"HEY ASSHOLE." He said, causing Damian to turn to him

"What do you…" he said only to be interrupted by a strong punch from Ash connecting straight to his face.

"Pokémon aren't possessions, they're our friends, having someone like you as a trainer is the worst fate a pokémon can have."

Ash then once again charged towards Damian, only to be stopped by an Officer Jenny, who grabbed him from behind.

"THAT'S ENOUGH, YOU'RE UNDER ARREST."


Unlike some people who would feel shame on being arrested, Ash didn't flinch or faltered. When he was conducted to the police car, he held his head up unlike several other people who would bow in shame. In his mugshot he glared at the camera, as if defying it. He then was thrown at a jail alongside his Pichu, who refused to leave his side. Unlike Vermilion, Cerulean had a low crime rate, so the jail only had the arrested trainer and his faithful companion as occupants.

Ash had no idea of how much time he stayed there, in some point he glanced up to see the approaching figure of Officer Jenny.

"The offended party decided not to press charges against you, consider yourself lucky."

"…"

"Nothing to say?"

"… at least I broke his nose?" Ash asked, causing Jenny to chuckle

"Yes, I must admit that you have one hell of a right hook for a twelve year old, but answer me, it was worth it?"

"I caused him pain, so partially yes, but it still doesn't compare to what Charmander felt, so I still wish I had dealt more damage."

"I'm a police officer and I'm disgusted by the treatment this guy gives to his pokémon, yet I can't do anything."

"…"

"… I assume you want to be alone, so I must go then."

After some more time Jenny once again approached the cell, opening it's doors.

"Someone bailed you out, this time you got out with just a complaint and a warning, but if this proves to be a constant event your license can be suspended or even revoked."

"Okay."

Ash quickly got his possessions back before heading out, coming face to face with Bill.

"You bailed me out?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because you did what everyone else wanted to do for a long time."

"I should've kicked his nuts…" Ash said, earning some chuckles from Bill.

The conversation then was interrupted by a loud thunder.

"It looks like it'll rain soon."

As soon as Bill said that, Ash stormed off, with only one thought in his head.

"Must check on Charmander…"


When Ash got to the rock it was already raining. Charmander still faithfully clung to the rock although he was curling in a ball form, shivering, and the flare on his tail on the verge of extinguishing. Ash wasn't a pokémon researcher but he knew that if the flare extinguished, Charmander would die. He quickly took off his bomber jacket, enveloping Charmander, before guiding it to the closest indoor location that he could think off, the Lighthouse.

Ash kept in standing vigil for the entire night, there were some times that Charmander's tail flame almost extinguished, but in the end the lizard pokémon survived. Bill passed by the next morning and took care of Charmander alongside Ash, the pokémon had a severe case of malnourishment and a nasty flu, courtesy of the storm from last night.

For the next week, Ash set aside his training alongside his pokémon to take care of Charmander full time. When Bill finally deemed the pokémon as healthy, Ash took out both his Bulbasaur and Squirtle out of their pokéballs. Seeing Charmander puzzled expression, Ash sat down, looking directly at his eyes.

"Both Bulbasaur and Squirtle were abandoned by his trainers." Ash said as his two pokémon nodded

"In some ways they're like you, so I'm officially offering you a place as one of my Pokémon. Life won't be easy, but I promise to help you accomplish any objective you may have. I'll be blunt with you, Damian will never come back, and despite what you think, this is a good thing, you were one of the most loyal pokémon I've ever seen, but to a unworthy trainer. Loyalty is one of the most important qualities in relationships, between people, pokémon and people and pokémon, but it's useless if it's one sided, trust and loyalty are both two way roads, you're free to make your choice, but if you choose to come with me, to be loyal to me, to trust me, I'll do the same."

"So, what do you say?" Ash said extending a Poké Ball to Charmander.

The lizard-like pokémon just nodded, before touching the pokéball.

One shake

Two shakes

Three shakes

PING!

Capture successful.

"Thanks for trusting me Charmander, I promise to be the best I can be for you." Ash said, taking the pokéball and touching his heart with it.


Ash was heading back to Cerulean, with the challenge to the gym in his mind. He already decided to settle with using Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Pichu, but his team as a whole was shaping greatly. Charmander's addition created what Ash decided to call 'The Trident', the combination of Kanto's grass, fire and water starters, providing Ash with lots of coverage when facing different opponents.

He was crossing the Nugget Bridge, when he snarled, seeing the figure of Damian, glaring at him.

Damian has wavy blue hair, pink shirt, covered by a cowboy like vest and a pair of blue sunglasses on his forehead. He also had a band aid on his nose, courtesy of Ash's right hook last week.

"What do you want?" Ash demanded

"MY Charmander back." He replied in an equally aggressive tone

"Like I said before, pokémon aren't possessions, pokémon are partners. You broke your partner's trust when you released him. He's no longer your Charmander, he's Charmander, my partner and friend."

"GIVE ME MY CHARMANDER BACK."

"Pathetic." Ash said as he saw Damian throwing a childlike tantrum, ignoring him and proceeding to cross the bridge.

"DON'T YOU DARE IGNORE ME." Damian yelled throwing a punch at Ash's face.

Years of living in one of Kanto's most dangerous neighborhoods paid off as Ash easily dodged the punch, counterattacking Damian with a left uppercut, that sent him flying backwards.

As Ash once again attempted to cross the bridge, he heard his enemy again.

"Don't dare turn your back on me, Poliwag crush him." He said calling out the tadpole pokémon

"I'm not going to waste my time with the likes of…" Ash said only to be interrupted by Charmander coming out of his pokéball.

The lizard like pokémon had an angry expression as he glared at Damian.

"Are you sure of this Charmander?" Ash asked, getting a nod from the pokémon.

"The traitor showed up." Damian said mockingly.

"Poliwag, kill him."

The tadpole like pokémon then unleashed a flurry of water attacks at Charmander, who impassively glared at Damian.

"Charmander, dodge." Ash said as his pokémon dodged the first wave of attacks

"Don't stand back Poliwag, unleash another barrage."

As Ash was about to command Charmander once again he noticed a purple like energy forming at the Lizard pokémon's mouth.

"New attack?" Ash inquired as the Lizard pokémon nodded. "Then show me."

Charmander then unleashed the energy in a stream, instantly knocking out Poliwag who was hit dead center by the attack.

"That's a Dragon Rage attack." Ash noted

Damian then took five Pokéballs at once.

Predicting what Damian was about to do Ash quickly called Pichu, who stood atop his shoulder alongside Bulbasaur and Squirtle.

"Pichu, use Thundershock."

"Charmander, Dragon Rage."

"Squirtle, use Water Gun."

"Bulbasaur, use Razor Leaf."

The combination attacks sent Damian flying far away. Then a strong rain started to fall, startling Ash.

"It was sunny until like a minute ago."

He then glanced to the clouded sky, and saw a sight he would never forget. A dragon-like pokémon, with silver and white plumes, and blue belly. If Ash had to describe it in one world it would be 'majestic'. The young trainer then heard a voice from inside his head.

"Impressive, Chosen One."

The storm then suddenly stopped once again, leaving place for the bright sunlight. Ash was still trying to get around the fact that a Pokémon just spoke with him, when he saw a silver wing, belonging to the flying figure, landing at his hand. He then glanced at the wing, remembering the previous events.

Just similarly to when he caught Charmander he took the wing, placing it close to his heart.

"I'll treasure this, forever."


After recovering his pokémon at the pokémon center, Ash was finally ready for his battle. He asked Pichu to stay in his pokéball for a while, as he felt like it could help him to surprise the leaders.

The gym building resembled a carousel of sorts with round roof and stripped tiles. Inside the gym, Ash was greeted by a large aquarium, with several native water types from Kanto, such as Shellder, Goldeen, Magikarp. He then entered the central area, where he saw the gym's battlefield.

The battlefield consisted of a large pool with two opposing platforms and a referee pod at the side.

"Hello there cutie, here to see the Sensational Sisters show?" a girl's voice asked in a seductive tone

Ash turned to see the gym leaders: Daisy, who spoke with him previously, Lily and Violet, wearing sundresses.

The raven haired trainer had to admit the flyer did the sisters no justice, to be honest with himself he actually was worried about how he would be able to battle the sisters if he kept having perverted thoughts of them. He quickly recomposed himself.

"I'd like to ask for a gym battle." He said in a serious tone.

The sisters sighed, then Lily spoke.

"Okay, which one of us do you want to face? I'm assuming you'll chose the prettier girl, in other words, me." She said with a wink

"I've already kissed two girls, there's no need to fear, just chose any of them and get this show on the road."

However when Ash looked at the girls, he felt something taking over him.

"If I'm to choose the prettiest girl… I choose… the three of you."

The girls giggled and blushed a bit, Lily was the first one to recompose herself and thus addressed Ash.

"Three on three battle, each one of us will command one pokémon, sounds right to you?"

"Yes."

Soon the group took their respective places, with Ash facing Daisy first and Violet acting as a referee.

"This will be an official gym battle between Ash Ketchum of Vermilion City and The Sensational Sisters of Cerulean Gym. The chosen format is three-on-three, only the challenger is allowed to switch Pokémon, that being said, let the battle begin, trainers send out your first Pokémon."

"Go Squirtle." Ash commanded

"Goldeen, be ready to battle." Daisy said

Goldeen is a white, fish-like Pokémon with orange markings on its tail, back, and fins. On its forehead is a large horn.

Soon both Pokémon dived underwater.

"Goldeen has a slight advantage here because he's already used to fighting in this environment, but I still believe Squirtle is faster."

"Goldeen, Horn Attack."

"Squirtle, repel it with rapid spin."

Squirtle did as asked, but due to the water resistance he couldn't build enough momentum to properly perform the move, thus being hit by Goldeen's horn and sent crashing against the wall.

"Squirtle, are you okay?" Ash asked concerned

"Squir…" the pokémon nodded, wincing a bit

"Using rapid spin wasn't really my best idea, Goldeen may be slower, but anatomically speaking he's better designed to fight underwater… so I change of scenery is in order."

"Squirtle get into the platform and tuck your head in."

The turtle pokémon quickly leapt, before tucking his head at the shell.

"Goldeen, once again hit him with Horn Attack."

The fish pokémon quickly built his speed underwater before leaping toward the platform, where Squirtle was standing still.

"Squirtle, Skull Bash now, target Goldeen's body and avoid the horn at all costs."

Squirtle then started to glow white due to the accumulated energy, and went in encounter of Goldeen. As the horn neared Squirtle, the amphibious pokémon did a slide to get past it, before connecting a clear Skull Bash to Goldeen's underbelly. The impact was enormous, sending the fish pokémon outside of the pool, with swirls on his eyes.

"Goldeen is unable to battle, the winner of this round is Ash Ketchum from Vermilion City."

"Good job Squirtle, you made us all proud." Ash complimented, recalling his pokémon while Daisy did the same before turning to Ash.

"Attractive, charming and a great trainer, looks like we got the full package." Daisy said with a flirtatious smile, causing Ash to blush.

Soon enough Violet took her place at the leader's pod, with Lily taking up the referee role.

"The same rules from the previous battle apply here, trainers send out your pokémon."

"Bulbasaur, I need your help."

"Go, Seel."

Seel is a seal like pokémon with white fur. The small horn above his forehead and his two tusks were his trademark features.

Seel leapt underwater, while Bulbasaur stood at the platform.

"Bulbasaur let's grab the bull by its horns, well not the bull but the seal, you get what I mean." Ash said causing everyone present to sweatdrop.

Bulbasaur then used his Vine Whip to grab Seel from underwater, restraining him at ground level.

"Great, let's finish with Razor…" Ash said before taking notice of Violet's actions. The Cerulean leader decided to take off her sundress, thus spotting a very small green two piece bikini. "… boobs." Ash said incoherently, causing Bulbasaur to turn to look him, giving Violet and Seel the opening they needed.

"Seel, use Ice Shard."

The attack impacted at Bulbasaur, causing great damage. Ash quickly recomposed himself, realizing what happened, while Bulbasaur grunted in pain.

"That was a very dirty trick." Ash said sternly

"A trainer must use all her assets to win, besides it's really hot today." Violet replied with a wink

Ash took a deep breath.

"I agree wholeheartedly. In fact I think I'll follow your example." Ash said, lazily taking off his jacket and his t-shirt, showing his muscled upper body to the sisters.

He shrugged the lustful looks off, instead turning to Bulbasaur.

"Please use Razor Leaf at Seel."

The grass type nodded, unleashing a torrent of edged leaves. While a fairly potent attack, it was avoidable, keyword was, because Violet was still drooling at Ash's body and only saw the attack when it landed at Seel, knocking him out instantly.

"Winner is Ash Ketchum of Six Pack City, I mean Vermilion City" Lily said.

Violet absently minded recalled Seel, still without taking her eyes of Ash's torso.

Ash amusedly signaled to Violet to clean the drool at the corner of her mouth, which the girl did blushing a deeper shade of red.

The trainer then put back his t-shirt, earning disapproving moans from the girls.

"It was nice winning like this, but I feel like a gigolo." Ash reasoned to himself

The sisters quickly recomposed themselves, with Lily taking her spot and Daisy acting as a referee.

"Trainers, send out your pokémon."

"Go, Gyarados."

Gyarados is a dragon-like Pokémon. It is mostly blue, with a yellow underbelly and yellow spots along its body.

Ash took a deep breath, everything came up to this…

"Go, Pichu." Ash said, throwing the pokéball and revealing the rodent pokémon.

"OH MY GOD…" Daisy said

"… HE IS…" Violet continued

"… SO CUTE." Lily completed squealing

Soon enough the girls rounded Pichu, hugging him fiercely, causing Ash and Gyarados to sweatdrop.

Pichu was beyond pissed, he even tried to ask for Gyarados to control her trainer, only being greeted by a laughter from the atrocious pokémon. Pichu in his own mind wasn't cute, he is a strong pokémon, a killer in the good meaning, if there's one, of the word. He hated having to use the Sweet Kiss, in fact he decided to demand extra ketchup compensation to Ash everytime he had to go through this humiliation. But being hugged to death by some girls was outrageous, he was not teddy bear, he's a cold blooded warrior, one of the likes to be feared, not hugged to death. The anger turned into white energy, and soon he started to change forms.

His body grew a lot, the once thin rodent became burly, even chubby if you will. The once pale pink cheeks grew and changed to red. The once prototype tail became a fully developed one. The small triangle like ears, became pointed, stick-like, ones. The gold fur changed to a more orange like color. Pichu had just evolved

Ash was speechless at first, but quickly regained his composure.

"I guess Pichu, didn't appreciated being hugged to death by you three." Ash said, turning to the Sensational Sisters

"Although I'd kill to be in his place." Ash flirtatiously added, causing the girls to blush crimson red.

"How you feel, Pikachu?" Ash said, with emphasis on the rodent new name.

Pikachu looked at his own body, before letting out an enthusiastic cry, which would roughly be translated as 'I'm ready to kick some ass.'

"Then let's get this show on the road." Ash said grinning.

Soon the trainers took their places, with Gyarados swimming underwater and Pikachu standing at the platform.

"Pikachu has a dual type advantage here…one good hit and it's over…"

"Gyarados, use Hyper Beam." Lily ordered.

The atrocious Pokémon then leapt from underwater, opening his jaw, revealing an orange stream of energy, targeting Pikachu from the above.

"Pikachu, use Double Team to avoid it."

The rodent followed Ash's command to perfection, swiftly dodging a certain defeat should the attack hit. As Gyarados was left panting, unable to move due to Hyper Beam's side effect, Ash knew the battle was about to end.

"Pikachu jump at Gyarados head."

As soon as the rodent climbed atop the dragon-like pokémon head, Ash grinned.

"It's over, Pikachu, use Thundershock."

The four times super effective attack connected from point blank range, fainting the atrocious pokémon instantly.

"Gyarados is unable to battle, the winner is Ash Ketchum of Vermilion City." Daisy said.

As Lily recalled the Gyarados, she signaled for a Seel to come forward. The seal pokémon then opened his mouth, revealing a cerulean blue raindrop-like badge.

"As Gym Leader of Cerulean I hereby concede you the Cascade Badge." Lily said, handling the badge to Ash

"Take this as a personal gift from us." Daisy then stepped forward, handling a cerulean blue badge case

"Wow, thanks."

Violet then stepped forward.

"Since you defeated the three of us a special reward is in order." She said with a mischievous grin.

"Special reward?"

"Yes, a date with the three of us." Daisy said enthusiastically.

"God bless Cerulean City." Ash thought, containing a blush.


The group then opted for a get out to the movies, while Ash wasn't actually happy in seeing a movie about vampires that shined near the sun he at least dodged a bullet as the girls wanted to go shopping instead.

Ash and the sisters opted for seats in one of the last rows in the movie theater. Daisy and Lily flanked Ash by his right and left respectively, while Violet sat beside Lily. The movie was boring as hell, and Ash was trying his best to not fall asleep.

Then Daisy decided to start kissing him, their tongues battled for dominance with Ash winning the right to explore the blonde Sensational Sister mouth. As soon as they pulled out to catch some breath, Ash turned to see Lily already moving to claim his mouth in a lustful kiss. Unable to rest, Ash kissed the pink haired sister, while occasionally toying with Daisy's hair caressing her. Then Violet somehow appeared from behind the trio, kissing Ash.

"Shall we take this to the next level?" she asked in a seductive tone

Ash just nodded, followed by the other two sisters, leaving the cinema in a hurry. While the group made their way to the Cerulean Gym, Ash's mind was racing.

"It's really happening, today's the best day of my life."

As soon as the group arrived at the front of the gym, the girls noticed a very angry figure standing at the door.

"OH SHIT…"

"…IT'S…"

"…MISTY." The sister said in unison.

The newly identified Misty was a different kind of beauty when compared to the other gym leaders by Ash's eyes. She was tomboyish and didn't seem the type of girl to spend hours fixing her hair. Still, she was as pretty as any of her sisters, as Ash presumed by the facial features and skin color.

Misty has orange hair, tied in a one-sided bun by a blue band, unlike her sister's her hair was wild, untamed. Ash then noticed her viridian green eyes, that paired well with her auburn hair.

Finally taking notice of her clothes, Ash saw the clear difference in styles. While her sisters usually wore sundresses, Misty opted for a pale sleeveless yellow top and jeans short. She also wears red suspenders.

"Hey Misty…" Daisy said carefully.

"Don't hey me." Misty yelled.

"You weren't there to receive the challengers, besides closing the gym for days in order to do your stupid marine shows. Finally you go lose to an inexperienced trainer with weak pokémon just because you were looking at his body."

"Hey." Ash said sternly. "You can talk about me as long as you like, but don't get my pokémon involved."

"You're still a weak trainer, if you were battling against me you would lose easily."

"Is this a challenge?"

"And what if it is?" Misty replied, glaring at Ash

"Then I accept, when I have time I'll be sure to show who's inexperienced." Ash replied

"Why not now?"

"Because I need to go to Pewter City to meet a friend, but I don't flee from my battles, Lily has my number, so call me in a week so we can arrange a battle."

Misty seemed in deep thought, before nodding.

She then turned to her sisters.

"Now, we need to have a very serious talk." Misty said, flinching the girls, who rushed inside the house.

"Keep your promise." She said before entering the house/gym too, leaving Ash alone alongside Pikachu.

"Pikachu, did I just got cockblocked?" Ash asked incredulously


Phew, my longest chapter so far. I've carefully studied where this story was going and decided to add Dawn as one of Ash's pairings, so expect to see some Pearlshipping in Sinnoh. That being said, I'll use the Q&A segment to answer some of the posed questions and discuss some of the pokémon suggestions. In the next chapter I'll use the same segment to give my thoughts on some of the pairings proposals. Also, I hope I didn't went overboard with the NBA references, it's just that I'm a big fan and I thought that it would be funny if Ash kept forgetting Team Rocket name as people often forget Butch's in the anime.


Q: Cada cuanto tiempo vas a ir actualizando? (How long the updates will take?)

A: It's a bit irregular right now, I have another ongoing work here, besides some stuff happening at my personal life. While I can't disclose how long it'll usually take to constantly update the story, I believe next chapter will be up in two to three weeks.

Q: Very nice choices for pairings, though I'm surprised that Leaf isn't on the list. But I'm guessing you'll have more of a big sister role or something right?

A: Thanks for the compliment. While Leaf will be one of Ash's closest friends, I don't envision her as a big sister of sorts. Ash is kind of the lone wolf, next chapter when Brock will be introduced you'll see what I mean. Leaf will just be a friend and a way to keep Serena informed of Ash's accomplishments, although she'll appear next chapter once again.

Q: Can Ash wear all black and wear a fedora?

A: In some points he'll use an all-black look, while the fedora will be part of his regular outfit in Sinnoh. For this particular moment I decided to give Ash a more 'just got out of the army' look.

Q: Male or Female Meowth?

A: Male, next chapter I'll write a summary of Ash's current pokémon, including gender.

Q: This story is awesome I'm really enjoying it, keep up the good work and keep doing your best as for my question: will the amount of girls ash will end up with stay with 3 or is there a possibility of a 4th girl that will possibly join.

A: There's a chance of having four, or even five girls, although the latter is highly unlikely. Like I said previously I don't see this as a harem fic, so I'm trying to keep things real. The possibility of having a fourth or fifth girl join will mostly depend on popular acclamation, so I can't say I have this one figured out yet.


Now, for some pokémon suggestions:

Mewtwo : Ash will befriend Mewtwo, but won't necessarily capture him, if the Sinnoh Arc comes out as I originally planned, there will be a Mewtwo x Darkrai fight. As I plan on adapting the M01, Mewtwo will appear somewhat soon.

Lucario: Ash will befriend Sir Aaron's Lucario at the Three of Beginning, and in the future will get his own Lucario. Since Ash will have Aura it's an obvious choice.

Manaphy (for May): It can happens, but it's still very soon to guarantee it.

Shaymyn (for Dawn): It's still early to say, but it pairs well with her, so it can happen

Pyroar : A big if, I like Pyroar, but I'm not sure if Ash will even go to Kalos.

Greninja: The same as above although I'm really considering him.

Tyranitar: Will happen, in the final part of Johto, Ash will get a Larvitar and will use him in Hoenn.

Houndoom: I like Houndoom, but it's unlikely as the Johto fire slot will most likely be filled by Typhlosion.

Magmar : Unlikely as Ash will already have a fire powerhouse in the form of Charizard at his Kanto team.

Electabuzz : This is a big yes, despite using multiple pokémon types, Ash will have a special liking to electric types, so he'll use plenty of them.

Alakazam : I'm not sure, Ash in fact needs a psychic type, but I don't want to overstuff him with pokémon, besides he can cover this type gap with other pokémon.

Scyther : I love Scyther and Scizor, so I'm regarding this with great enthusiasm, while I can't guarantee, I can say it's likely.

Primeape: I think I'll keep things as in canon, not sure though.


That concludes the Q&A next chapter I'll give my opinion on some of the pairings, besides answering questions posed in this chapter, so please review.

The next chapter is called 'To each Bro his Wingman' and will see Ash meeting with Brock, the Pewter Gym and his new objective in life.

I'll now work on my Naruto fanfiction, so the update will mostly likely be slower than this one.

As I said above, please leave a review, it means a lot to me.