A/N. So I'd like to thank everyone in advance who had suggestions for my littles (more than six pokémon) dilemma. You all had such great ideas, and they really helped a lot with solving the problem. As for the pokémon thing, I'm still thinking on which ones to use, since I'm trying to give Ashe a relatively balanced team, but I do have some spots taken already. I've decided that Ashe will be carrying eight pokémon on hand, (because that seems relatively reasonable) and may eventually catch more, but probably not for a good while. So counting Bow, Sid, and Sparkler (who will be referred to by a different nickname from here on out. Sorry for those who were particularly fond of the name.), and the one pokémon that I know will definitely be on the team without a doubt, that leaves four more free spots that are still open for suggestions.

Remember though, these are suggestions and there is no poll, so it's entirely possible that I will pick pokémon that no one even so much as mentioned.

Anyways, hope you guys enjoy the chapter and thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!


EP 7: Don't Call me Kid!


Surge hadn't lied when he'd told her that Red was perfectly fine and that she hadn't caused nearly as much damage as she'd apparently let herself believe. Not that the little charmander she'd called out was anything particularly to sniff at, but Red had had the kid beat by miles.

Yeah, the charmander on its own might've burnt a house down, maybe two if it'd been given the chance before the kid had high-tailed it rather smartly out of there. But it was Red's damn charizard that had done the worst.

It was a monster of a fully evolved pokémon, and really one had to wonder where in the world he'd gotten such a beast. But while Ashe's charmander might've been a potential fire hazard waiting to happen, Red's own, famous starter pokémon was a nuclear bomb by comparison.

And Surge still couldn't figure out why Red had called it out. Yeah getting slightly burned by a startled fire-type wasn't any fun, but calling out the boy's charizard had just made the situation worse. What would've just been a collapsed building turned into an entire street being set ablaze, and rather violently at that. But by the time the smoke had cleared and panic had fully set in, both trainers were long gone.

Or would've been, had Surge not somehow managed to track down the wayward trainer that had actually had the gall to pull a pokéball on the famous Red, champion of Kanto.

It was that apparent gall that had caused Surge to take the kid under his wing, and teach her the ropes. The ins and outs of a pokémon battle could be tricky to master for anyone, and a week later had found the kid all but flourishing in the admittedly high stress environment.

More than flourishing actually, she was living and thriving, and from what he could tell, loving every second of it.

But he was digressing now, and probably rather painfully, considering the rather nasty look his raichu was giving him as said kid took the wide opening he'd given her to bat his magneton across the battlefield like a ragdoll.

"Whoops?" He'd offered placatingly, but the giant mouse simply rolled his eyes at him, and darted off to try and goad his younger counterpart into an electric brawl of sorts. "Okay Kid, let's try this again, from the top."

"For the last time, my name's not Kid!" Said child called from across the battlefield before swinging her arm out in front of her. "Bow, use Swift!" The eevee in question chirped in confirmation before suddenly bounding forward in what was probably actually a takedown of sorts, before it seemed to trip over its own front paws, roll across the dirt and then suddenly bounce up at the last second, straight over his magneton.

Said pokémon wasn't nearly as fast as most of the others, and was quickly overtaken by the brilliant normal-type attack spewing from the eevee's mouth. It plinked rather uselessly off of the dual-types body, due to type resistance, but it left the pokémon dazed enough for the eevee to burrow into the relative safety of the ground with a well-timed Dig.

Surge wasn't about to let the little spaz escape though.

"Magneton, Signal Beam the ground, let's see if we can't flush her out!" Surge ordered then, watching as the ground suddenly erupted in a brilliant light show that left everyone slightly dazed, rocks flying everywhere.

"Bow!" Said eevee didn't even looked a little panicked as she hopped and bounced her way to relative safety. There was scratches and bruises to be sure, everything that would've honestly warranted a trip to the pokémon center by anyone's standards, but the little normal-type apparently had a very high pain tolerance, because she never seemed all that bothered by any of her injuries.

"Oh Mew!"

"Shit, Raichu!" Both trainers called out suddenly as the two electric mice tumbled haphazardly into the fray. Bow squealed in joy at the sight for some odd reason that completely escaped the gym leader, and it was honestly the only one anyone got before it completely dismissed the battle as a whole and jumped into the sparking tangle that was Sparks and Raichu.

Sparks now, because to the kid, his old name hadn't fit as well anymore once she'd realized that the little pikachu was a guy and not a girl, or an it.

"Okay, kid, time for group tactics!" Surge cried out, grinning as he did what he'd always done best. Rolling with the punches as they came and making the best of a situation, no matter how bad it probably actually was. "Raichu, use Thuderbolt! Magneton, Magnet Rise!"

"Bow, Sparks, straighten out! Sparks, counter with an Iron Tail, Bow, see if we can't daze it a little!" The three pokémon jumped apart from their little growlithe pile, the two mice sparking with electricity as Raichu released the ordered attack. It missed its mark though and lost quite a bit of power, as the attack was redirected to the now very metal tail of his younger counterpart.

Bow took the chance the redirection offered her, and immediately bounded forward, headlong and straight into the dual-type that had been her earlier opponent. She downed it relatively easily, and the poor creature was left dazed and dizzy on the ground at the sudden burst of pain.

Normal-type attacks might not've been very effective against a steel-type like his magneton, but timed just right and they had the potential to hurt quite a lot. It was enough, anyways, as the kid took advantage of the delay both pokémon were now experiencing.

"Okay Sparks, power through! Quick attack with an Iron Tail! Bow, let's see if that Magnet Rise was any good, use Dig!" Both pokémon chirped in response, one disappearing into the ground while the other burst through the dust the ground-type attack kicked up, clearing the expanse of the battlefield in very little time, tail shining with the energy typically found coursing through any proper steel-type pokémon.

"Raichu, stand tall! Magneton, shake it off and get out of there." Raichu easily withstood the full brunt that was the little pikachu's assault, but then he somehow rolled his weight passed the older mouse and went straight for the still dazed magneton currently lying helplessly on the ground. "Shit! Magneton!"

Said pokémon blinked in dazed shock as it quickly rose from the ground, only to float straight into the oncoming mouse's attack. It slammed into the ground as the tail came around, and before it could so much as groan at the attack, it was sent flying once again as the little eevee suddenly came bursting forth from the ground below, spewing rocks and dust into the air and giving both pokémon proper cover as they disappeared in the debris.

"Rai-rai!" The fully evolved mouse growled, tail flicking in frustration at not being able to see his opponents. His eyes narrowed at the bellowing cloud of smoke, cheeks sparking but knowing far better to charge into what he couldn't see.

Everything was silent for a few moments, batted breath still in the air as the smoke finally cleared to reveal his magneton out and down for the count, while kid's pikachu and eevee were roughed up but otherwise still conscious.

"Well, I'll be damned!" Surge called out with a laugh, recalling the clearly defeated dual-type to its pokéball for a rest.

"I-I did it?" The kid questioned clearly shocked.

"Yeah, you did it kid. You beat one of my pokémon. And a bit earlier than I expected." There was this manic, excited grin on the kid's face now, as she started laughing too, running over to her pokémon to hug and congratulate the both of them on their little feat.

They'd actually beaten a gym leader's pokémon. They were strong enough now.

"Now don't go getting so cocky or comfortable, Kid. I may not be the weakest gym leader around, but I'm certainly not the strongest." He warned walking over to give his raichu a good scratch behind the ears for his help.

"Oh…" She seemed to pout at that, but Surge didn't call her out on it, instead continuing with his little speech.

"You're gonna have to keep training and getting stronger, but I have no doubt you'll get pretty far. You do seem to have this flare for battle." The kid chuckled nervously at that. "Now I believe I promised that I'd pay for you to get on that plane to Kalos, right?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, here." And he watched with the kind of amusement only father's probably ever experienced as he pinned the Thunder Badge on the girl's shirt.

"W-What? But that's-?"

"The Thunder Badge, and your ticket to getting on that plane. Keep that on you, and they won't question you when you get on board. And if they do, you tell them they can bring it up with me." Surge assured as he ruffled the kid's hair and sent her to the room he'd loaned her inside the gym.

She was technically registered still as one of at least twelve trainers currently under his tutelage in Vermillion City. So nobody had asked any questions seeing her around the gym with her pokémon, despite the fact that she only had a single electric-type to her name. The others had known better than to question them anyways, since they were all of varying questionable backgrounds themselves, and Surge apparently had a habit of taking in strays.

"Now go get your pokémon healed up, pack up your stuff and get ready. That plan leaves in tomorrow next week."

"Got it!"

"And hey Kid!"

"What?"

"Good luck!"

"Save that for tomorrow! And quit calling me 'Kid'!"


A/N. Another short chapter, but considering that this was supposed to be entirely from Lt. Surge's point of view, I'm perfectly okay with that. I like Lt. Surge to be honest, he's a cool character, and I like to think he's a lot nicer than he actually comes across as in the anime. It's just that we don't see any of him after the one episode, and I kind of wish we had. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed reading the chapter, thanks for reading, and please leave a review! See ya!