Maerk Andrew: YES! Thank you! I was wondering when someone would mention the fact that Ash's eyes tend to flash blue when he's upset! Yes, he is using Aura unconsciously, and he is untrained, but that won't last.
To the Amourshipper Guest it could be any kind of shipping, I just love Romance!
ShadeDurza: Thank you for pointing that out, I went back and fixed it thank you.
WARNING: Chapter contains slightly mature content...heavy fluff and an aggrivated teen couple :p
Pyrite Town Arc
7:Pyrite on the Rise!
Ash laid flat on his stomach as a cool cream was applied to his blistered back. He was back in his room at the Pyrite hotel, with Serena applying the cream. "How are you feeling?" Serena asked worriedly as her fingers moved over the bumps on his back. "Does it still hurt?"
A small glance over his shoulder made him wince as he turned around, "A little, but I'll be fine a couple of days," he said, smiling at her, "How are things now that you're the big boss?"
Serena's cheeks gained a bit of color, "W-well, everyone seems to thing that since I beat Lovrina, I'm worse than she was," she sighed, finishing up his back, "Sit up so I can put the bandages on."
"Right," Ash said, sitting up as Serena reached for a roll, "But haven't you tried to talk to anyone?"
Serena sighed as Ash raised his arms stiffly for her start wrapping the gauze around him, "No, they all look at me like I have the next big plague." She said, making sure not to graze any of his blisters, "I hope these don't scar. It'd look horrible."
Ash chuckled, lowering his arms, and wrapping them around her. "Hey, don't worry."
"About you, or the fact that this town seems to think I'm a bigger witch that Lovrina was?" Serena giggled while leaning into his chest.
Ash shook his head, "Either one." He kissed the top of her head, "We'll figure this out. It's not like we have a time limit or anything."
"Speaking of figuring things out, where are Pikachu and Pixie?" Serena asked, not seeing the two bundles of energy. "I thought they were in here this morning?"
Ash chuckled, "Professor Oak's looking over Pixie because she's unique to the Vulpix/Ninetails species, and Pikachu's just babysitting. He's also running a few tests on that Steelix I caught yesterday."
Serena sighed, "I hope he doesn't hurt her. She's just a baby, after all."
"He wouldn't dare," Ash promised, smiling at her, "Besides, if he did, Pikachu would shock the hell out of him. Literally." He said, "Now stop worrying, Serena, because as far as this town goes, the worst is behind us. Now we just have to fix it up."
Serena gave him a sour look, "Ash, this place is built out of scrap metal, how in the world are we gonna fix it up?" She said, and saw his trade mark grin spreading over his face, "Ash?"
"Oh, I've already made a few calls," He said, smiling at the girl devilishly before sliding her into his lap, making her cheeks burst with color, "Now, you really need to stop worrying...you're starting to get wrinkles." He grinned.
"Wha - !" Serena squeaked, cupping her face, "Ash Ketchum, I do not have wrinkles!" She smacked him on the chest, making him wince and fall back onto the bed, "Oh, no, I'm so, so sorry, Ash! Are you okay?!" She leaned over him as he laid there, only for him to open his eyes and grab her around the waist, and role over the top of her, Serena giving out a startled squeal as his lips came to rest on hers.
As she sighed into the kiss, it was only then that she realized the situation she as in. The thought brought a bright pink hue to her cheeks as she realized that she was not only alone in her bedroom with her boyfriend, but said boyfriend was already half-naked, thanks to his shirt being tossed aside because of his burns.
Not that Ash seemed to mind them, however, because his arms snaked around her, caressing her up and down her sides and back, making her shiver as she moaned from his touch. Her hands reached up to fist in his hair, and, growing bold in the moment, she let her her tongue slide out along his lips. It only took a moment for him to open his mouth so he could return the gesture.
Both thoroughly tasted each other as the hesitation in this new kiss was swept away. He noted that she tasted faintly of cinnamon, and just a hint of chocolate. Serena sighed beneath him, squirming slightly as his hands moved over her body. She took one hand from his hair to take one of his own to guide it to the hem of her shirt, letting him slide beneath it, arching against him as his hand glided under the the fabric against her skin. "Ash..." she sighed, breathing heavily.
His hands were hardened with calluses, a tribute to just how hard he worked at times. It was one of the things she loved most about him. Unlike her hands, which were still soft compared to his, rough, and hardened as they were, his were just as gentle as her own. She shuddered as his hands slowly moved up her body, the tips of his fingers tracing tantalizing lines beneath the lace of her bra.
Serena pushed him away from her for a moment, drawing a worried, confused look from him until she reached down and slowly, her face aflame, brought her shirt up over her head, and dropped it with his on the bed. As he stared down at her, stunned, she suddenly felt her shyness coming back full force, and crossed her arms over her chest and stomach.
"Beautiful." The boy breathed out, making Serena look up at him. His eyes were glazed over with something she'd never seen in them before that she couldn't place, but it made her feel...wanted. She reached for him, cupping his face between her hands as she brought him down to meet his lips. His arms wrapped tightly around her...and the door slammed open.
"Ash, we just - Yeow~!" Tracey yelled, and ducked right back out the door as Ash reached over and threw a lamp at him, "Sorry!"
"You're gonna be!" Ash roared, jumping up from the bed while a mortified Serena dove for her shirt, "Dammit, Tracey, wait 'til I get my hands on you! Don't you know how to knock!"
"I seriously didn't know!" Tracey yelled as the two young men tore down the hall, "Please forgive me, Ash!"
"HELL NO!"
Serena moaned and hid her face in the pillows, "How embarrassing...and we were so close!"
"Ash, watch out for that - "
CRASH
"Gah, my back!"
~Fwing~
One aching back, and a lot of frustration later found our hero still frustrated, but in a slightly better mood as he spoke over the phone, "So when can you get here?" Ash asked, smiling at the five people on the screen.
Drake grinned at him, "We need to pack everything up before we get there, so it'll be a week before we start moving across the waters, Ash, but the Orange Crew is heading toward Orre. It's honestly not that far off our territory, matter of fact, if we hit Orre, Mr. Goodshow might actually make us an official League with you as the champion."
"You think?" Ash grinned.
"Don't get cocky, Kiddo," Sissy smirking, leaning heavily over Drake's shoulder, much to his annoyance, "You gotta keep up with us, and then we have to have the tournament. And I'll tell you, if you lose to some backwater moron the lucks out and gets passed Drake, I'll kick your ass myself."
"Oh, look at me shake," Ash grinned, "I'm looking forward to seeing you guys again, seriously. But I really have to warn you, this is a really rough place, Gateon Port is horrible. The whole ocean around the docks is polluted."
Luana smiled at the boy, "We'll take whatever challenge Orre has to offer, Ash, so you don't need to worry about us."
"Yeah, hey, is Misty there?" Rudy pushed his way in. Ash chuckled as Drake shoved him out of the way.
"Easy, Tiger," Drake grinned, "Anyway, Ash, give us about a week, maybe a week and a half, and we'll see you in Gateon Port, or Professor Krane's lab."
Ash nodded, "Just watch out for the Steelix. And take care of yourselves."
"Will do, Ash, oh yeah, Nurse Joy should be on her way," Drake said, "Last I heard she was over at Shamuti Island, so she should be there in a day or so if that crazy Gyarados of hers carries her."
"That's great!" Ash grinned, but it quickly turned to a frown, "But we could really use a few more if any of her sisters or cousins could help out?"
"No go," Danny sighed, "We already tried. But isn't one of your friends a Pokemon Doctor?"
"Brock? I don't know, Danny, he's got his family to look after," Ash said, frowning, even though he would have loved having Brock around for the added support. "I'll give him a call, but I'm not going to hold my breath."
Rudy muscled his way back onto the screen, "Hey, you never know until you try, right? Besides, from what I understand, a Pokemon doctor in Orre would be a huge improvement from just getting a few Pokemon Centers. Plus, if those centers get overloaded, a full on Pokemon hospital would help out a lot, plus those same medical techniques can be used on people, too." He said, before Drake shoved him out of the way again, "Hey!"
"He's got a point," Drake said, grinning at his friend, "But either way, Ash, we're all in. Good luck on your end."
Ash nodded, and smiled at them, "Thanks, guys, you don't know how much this means to me. I'll see you all in a week or two." He said before hanging up the phone, and turning to Serena with a grin, "This is great, now we have our Gym Leaders, and a Nurse Joy on the way!"
Serena, having listened to the call over his shoulder, smiled, "It's actually going to be alright, isn't it?" She asked, "We're going to make this happen?"
"Damned right we are," Ash said, his eyes brimming with a bit of the blue in his eyes flaring. "Now we just need to get the people here in town on your side."
Serena tilted her head a little at his statement, "Don't you mean 'our' side?"
Ash shook his head, "Afraid not, Serena. You're the one that beat Lovrina, so you're the one that they all look to now." He said, chuckling as the girl's face turned blue, "Oh, come on, it's not like I'm not going to help you at all!"
"But, Ash, I don't even know where to begin in all of this mess," she said, reaching up and fiddling with a strand of her hair nervously, "I'm not even sure what I could do for them?"
Ash chuckled a little as he stood up from the phone booth, wincing slightly from the hunched position his back had been in, "Well, for starters, I can make a few calls around to a few friends I've made over the years that could help us out with getting some better crops for the farms around her, anything that could grow in sandy soil like this. And I can have Steelix help me find a few underground springs, maybe get a river going if it's big enough."
Serena flitted to his side to support him, reaching up to kiss his cheek, "Ash Ketchum, where in the world did you learn to live so much?"
Ash just grinned at her, "With one step at a time."
=|Meanwhile|=
Professor Krane watched in amazement as Jessie, James, and, surprisingly, Meowth, worked tirelessly on his hover craft, "Goodness, you three certainly know your way around machines, don't you?" He said.
Meowth looked up him from the engine, "Sure do, we've been building our own mechs for years, now." He said, wiping a bit of grease from his paws, "Stuff like d'is is second nature to us."
Jessie, who was working on one of the turbines, her hair done up in buns to keep it out of the gears, nodded, "All of them were made out of scrap metal, too, so we were pretty resourceful about finding materials."
"Sometimes we had to poach from some of our older machines, too," James pointed out from beneath the vehicle. "But we're always good at what we intend to make, whether it flies, hovers, or floats. We can manage it if we have the means."
The professor chuckled, "You three sure saved me a lot of time by fixing this thing for me," he said, smiling at the trio, "Seriously, thanks. It's almost impossible to get a mechanic out here. And with the Onix and Steelix on the prowl all the time, it's too dangerous for someone to come out this way."
"Think nothing of it," James said, coming out from under the hover craft, wiping his hands clean, "We do owe you for saving us, and for that lovely meal you provided us with." He said, smiling, "A little manual labor like this is the least we can do to repay the favor."
Krane just smiled at him, "If you don't mind me asking, why come to Orre in the first place?" He asked, "Not that you have to tell me, but this isn't exactly a nice place for most people to come to."
Jessie sighed and straightened up from the turbines, "Well, we weren't exactly nice people not so long ago." She said while working a kink out of her shoulder, "We came out here because we wanted to disappear, and start over if we could. It was just blind luck that that Onix sent us flying your way when it did."
"New start, huh?" Krane said, leaning against the wall. "You know, why don't you guys stay and work with me? I'm no Pokemon Professor like Samuel Oak, but I do know a think or two about machinery, it's build that I have the problem with. I can design something that will work the way I want it flawlessly, but putting it together usually throws me through several wall, if you know what I mean?"
"Been there, done that," all three former Rockets said, smiling before James piped up, "It sounds like a good thing to us. Just tell us what you want us to build and supply the blueprints."
Krane grinned, "Alright, then let me ask you this," he said, "How good are you at building air crafts?"
James grinned right back at him, "Haven't built anything that couldn't keep up with a Zapdos, yet."
"Excellent." He pulled a rolled up blueprint from his lab coat, "Since getting supplies here in Orre is easier said than done thanks to the harsh environment, I was thinking of having a few things flown over, but..."
"Butter fingers?" James smiled, accepting the role of paper, and checking it out, "Hmm, not bad for a cargo plane. Looks like it lifts straight up instead rolling down a runway."
"Precisely," Krane said, "The desert environment is too much for an air port, but if I could I could build something that lifts straight up from the ground, and can shift the propellers forward when needed, then there won't be a need for one."
"The tiltrotor will be tricky," James said, remembering a few times when he had pilot such air crafts, "One this large may need an more powerful engine than what you have designed here."
"I already thought of that, but the sad fact is that I don't have those sort of resources," Krane admitted sadly, "It's part of the reason I scrapped the idea. Truth be told, I wanted to find the old railroad system that ran from Pyrite town to Olivine City, but that's a pipe dream if ever I heard one. The Rock type Pokemon would destroy the rails before we could get everything set up."
Jessie came over and looked over James' shoulder, "Why are the Onix and Steelix so aggressive? I've never seen one as mean as what you're describing."
"I'm not sure," Krane said, "As I said, I'm no expert on Pokemon, much to my shame, but I can say that it start only a few years ago after an incident concerning Team Snagem. Apparently they had a large Steelix in captivity, and it escaped. Ever since then, these wild ones have been on the attack. The Steelix that leads them isn't the one that escaped, but it's almost as big. Little over eighty feet if I had to guess."
"That big?" James asked in shock. "I've never seen a Steelix that was over fifty feet."
"There's that Gym Leader's Pokemon," Meowth pointed out, "Brock's Steelix is around sixty feet long."
Jessie looked at their furry friend, "Well, yeah, but isn't he something of a Pokemon Breeder? It's no surprise that his Pokemon are larger and healthier than normal, right?"
"True enough," James said, rolling the plans up, "We'll have a look around the materials if you don't mind, and see if we can't at least get a small cargo chopper built, sound good?"
"Better than good," Krane said, "I can't tell you how much this will mean to me!" He reached out and shook James' hand, grasping Jessie's next before taking Meowth's paw, "By the way...how do you know how to talk?"
=x=
Back in Pyrite Town, things were going as they usually did, with one small exception. Serena, Ash, Tracey, and Willy were clearing out an old building to make room for Kurt and his new Pokeball shop, while Professor Oak and, surprisingly, Folly, began clearing out another building for the Pokemon Center. Pyrite Town was remarkably close to the ocean, and, after another phone call from Drake, it was found out that not only had Joy found her way to the continent, but she had nearly bowled a certain surly Pokeball smith over while her Gyarados powered through the water.
Now they were both only a few hours away...or so they thought.
As the two teens were taking a break from the labor, Ash just happened to look up, and promptly blinked in disbelief. "Serena?"
"Yes?" Serena said as she tended to his back once more, "I'm not hurting you, am I?"
Ash shook his head, "No, I just think the heat's getting to me," he said pointing up, "Cause I swear that that's a flying Gyarados."
Serena giggled, looking up where he was pointing, "Oh, Ash, don't be silly, Gyarados...can't...fly..." She mumbled, "I think the heat might be getting to me to."
Sure enough, soaring through the sky was gigantic Gyarados!
"GREETINGS PEOPLE OF EARTH!" Cackled an old man from the Gyarados' back, surrounded by a thin blue aura that Ash immediately recognized as a Psychic attack, while a very tan Nurse Joy waved down at them happily. "WE COME IN PEACE!"
"Kurt?!" Ash laughed as he recognized Slowpoke, Slowbro, and Slowking behind Kurt, all three of them with their eyes glowing blue in a combined attack to keep Gyarados from falling. "Joy?!"
"Hello~!" Joy called down as a crowd began to gather to see the spectacle, "Clear the runway~!"
"Heads up for cargo!" Kurt roared, and it was then that Ash saw several large crates strapped to the titanic Water/Flying type's back. The three Psychic types landed Gyarados safely on the ground. Gyarados actually looked disappointed to be back on the ground. Kurt then slid down the back of the Pokemon like a giant slide, and landed next to Ash with a wide grin, "Ash, my boy, it's good to see you...what happened to you?"
"Bad sunburn," Ash grinned, reaching out the hug the old man, "You're here way earlier than I hoped!"
"Well, it helps when you run into a friendly Gyarados." He said, jerking his thumb at the behemoth as he deposited Joy on the ground, who was draw more attention than a Raiko in the center of town. The woman was tan, as always, and she still wore her one piece swimsuit, considering she did most of her work on the fly. She was more than stunning to most men.
"Sorry for the dramatic entrance, Ash," she smiled at the boy, and gave him a bone crushing hug, making him yelp, "Oops, sorry. Goodness, what in the world have you done to yourself?!" She said, noticing the blistered flesh beneath some of the bandages, "You look like you just waltzed out of a volcano!"
"Close enough," Serena said, dragging Ash back to their bench to fix his bandages, "Oh, this is bad, some of the blistering popped, Ash, your covered in - "
"Yeah, I can feel it," Ash groaned, wincing, "Sorry to cut this short, but we've got a few buildings cleaned up...sort of," he sighed, "I know it's not thej best in the world, but - "
"Ash, don't say another word," Kurt said, smiling, "I've got my boys helping me out, and I'll be sure to get them helping Joy, here. Now you just get those injuries tended."
Joy nodded to the girl at his side, "I'll come by later and have a look at him. I'm sure I can give a little aid since I'm no stranger to sunburn."
Serena beamed at her, "That would be great, thank you."
"Alright, you three dopes, let's get this cargo stowed!" Kurt roared to his Slow trio, "We open first thing in the morning! Pokeballs half-priced until noon!"
=x=
Later that evening, Delia had made a fine meal for them with what she could scrounge up, but the quality didn't make it any less delicious to the people attending. Kurt was telling stories of his younger days, gaining laughter for the most part as he told of his time as an apprentice himself. Joy, on the other hand, spoke of her adventures around the Orange Islands.
Pixie was a big hit around the table. Serena giggled when she saw her and Pikachu bumbling into the dining room where Pikachu snatched up a whole bottle of ketchup, and Pixie tried using his tail as a chew toy. Pikachu took it all in stride, and gladly accepted the ketchup as payment for his babysitting services. Of course that stopped the moment Serena picked the newborn up.
The young Vulpix immediately curled up into her arms and fell right to sleep. Nursing a sore tail, Pikachu sat back and enjoyed his prize with a straw given to him by Ash. "Really, what is it with him and ketchup?" Ash wondered, shaking his head, "I've never met any other Pokemon with a food addiction like him."
Joy giggled, "Tomatoes are a favorite food among Electric types, Ash. Pikachu tend to gorge themselves on them when they can. Ketchup just happens to be a good way for them to do it."
"That makes sense," Delia giggled, "I once caught him in my tomato patch. He was covered in what was left of my tomatoes, but he looked so funny that I couldn't bring myself to scold him."
Ash laughed, "I remember that," he grinned, "It was just before I left for Kalos. He wouldn't move for a whole day!"
"Chaaa~." Pikachu sighed as he finished the bottle and tipped over backwards.
"And there he goes," Ash said, looking amusedly at his old partner as his friends and family laughed.
Willy chuckled at the Pokemon's antics, then turned to Ash, asking, "So what's the plan now?" Drawing looks of confusion, he said, "I mean, where do we go from here? Serena will have to keep battling to keep her title until your Gym Leader friends get here. And there's Phenac City to worry about, too. Lovrina's mentor is the head honcho over there, and she's just as bad as she is."
Ash sighed, "I have to heal up before I think of making a trip to Phenac City." He said, "My back alone is gonna take a week."
Serena placed a comforting arm on his shoulder, "I can keep this up for that long, Ash, it's no problem." She smiled at him, "Besides, I have Delphox on my side, and Lovrina's gone." She said, "Nothing to worry about."
"And it's not like you've got to do this alone, Ash," Willy said, "I'm not much of a battler, but I can sure throw down when I have to."
Ash grunted, shaking his head, "No, I can't just sit on the sidelines like this," he said, sighing heavily, "And I've got to work with Steelix and Vibrava."
Professor Oak nodded, "That Steelix is especially interesting." He said, "While I was examining him, I found that, unlike a normal Steelix, which is both Steel and Ground type, your diamond Steelix is Rock instead of Ground." He pulled out a Pokedex, "Now I've only had time to catalouge a few things, but this new species of Steelix evolved to be stronger than the average member of its species. Ground types are generally weak against Grass and Water types, while Rock types are somewhat resilient against Grass types, they are still vulnerable to both, and also to Electric attacks."
"So how come they didn't develop the Ground type advantage over Electric?" Tracey asked.
"Simple," Samuel said, "In the Orre region, there are no Electric Pokemon species, so the Onix and Steelix in this area, isolated as they were, had no need to develop such an immunity. Rock types, however, are far more resilient to heat, and harsh climates such as this, hence the evolutionary branch of the Crystal Onix, and the Diamond Steelix. To survive the extreme condition, they became pure Rock types as an Onix, and evolved into a Steel/Rock type to strengthen that durability."
Joy nodded, smiling, "It makes a lot of sense. Pokemon in isolated conditions will always find ways to survive and pass on those genes to the next generation." She said, "If you were to compare the two, which would you say was the superior species?"
"I would honestly have to say the original branch," Professor Oak said, "While this new species is far larger than the average ones, they have four weaknesses when you think about it. The crystallized form of Onix is vulnerable to Fire, Ground, Grass, and Electric type attacks, as it the evolved form, which also gains the weakness against Fighting types. So, in evolving survive in a place where there natural weaknesses were not present, the species inadvertently weakened, even though they are stronger than the normal breeds, they have more vulnerabilities because they don't have to worry about them here."
Ash took out his Steelix's Pokeball, "That explains why Vibrava was able to beat this one so easily," he said, "We kept using Superpower, and sent him flying each time until she used Fissure, and knocked him out."
"Weak or strong," Willy said, gesturing to the Pokeball, "You're the first person in Orre to ever catch one of those things, and that's no small feat. Anyone that knows you have it will give you a lot of respect."
"Speaking of respect," Kurt smiled, reaching for his belt, "I have something for you, Ash, out of respect for gifting it to me in the first place." He pulled out a familiar gold and silver Pokeball, "The GS Ball you gave me provided a great deal of material for me to recreate it. And I'm far more shocked at what it can do."
Samuel looked at him in delight, "You've managed to open it?!"
"I did," Kurt said, then frowned, "But the Pokemon inside it disappeared the moment I opened it. I didn't even get a chance to see it, just a great big flash and then it was gone." He sighed, placing the ball on the table, "But the ball itself was originally an apricorn ball, like what I make. And its strong. I'd say it's as powerful as Silph. Co.'s Master Ball."
"Really?" Ash said, looking at the ball in wonder, "And you're giving this to me?"
"I am," Kurt smiled, "I have plenty more. It took a whole year, but I was able to breed just the right apricorn to recreate it. I now have several in my stock, which I intend to sell, of course, but at a much steeper price considering how powerful they are."
Willy whistled appreciatively, "You'd better keep those under a real tight lock, Kurt. Much as I hate to say it, thievery ain't exactly rare around here."
"I intend to," Kurt nodded, "You see, I have the seeds and saplings I need for several different Pokeballs, but seeing as there's mostly Rock, Ground and Steel types, it seems like my Heavy Balls are going to been in high demand."
"Any Pokeballs are going to be in high demand," Willy laughed.
And here's the next installment! Things are looking up for Orre already. Next chapter, though, is going to be about Serena meeting the people, and gaining their trust as a person, as well as a trainer, in other words...BATTLE ON!
Don't forget to review!
