I still don't own pokemon :(.

Now let's get on with chapter 7 *exited cheers*.

It had now been three days since Grimer had started his trial run at the team. So far I have tried his battle capabilities which were honestly not that impressive. His harden and minimize was on quite advanced levels but that indicates that he most likely used that to better take abuse and to escape. Obviously Grimer had easy with pound. I would be surprised if any pokemon could be bad at the move since it's very simple. When it came to poison gas and mud slap he was more or less worthless. He could barely manifest the amount of gas needed to use poison gas and for mud slap he had no accuracy at all.

Me and Grimer have only had one battle together but it went well. The enemy only had a weak rattata so even with his two more useful moves barely usable Grimer still pulled through. We won with a new combo we created. It is very simple but also very effective, first Grimer used harden on his hands (more exactly the two masses of sludge he has in front of himself) and then pounded the ratatta with the now harder and heavier limbs. That instantly knocked the rat out.

Otherwise my team and I have battled countless enemies (mostly hikers) who we dominated in battle.

Ceasar with his strong bulk, heavy defense and psychic power crushed his opponents. His lack of speed was barely any problem.

Cocytus with his high speed ran in circles around his foes freezing them with his ice hidden power and smacked them senseless with struggle bug. The two problems he had was his inability to take hits and he got easily intimidated.

Then came Draugr. My mighty ghost. There are some things the gastly line are known for. Being tricky, intimidation and being merciless all of which applied to how Draugr fought.

When it comes to Draugr's moves everything is going just great. Even though he flawlessly pulled of icy wind against Brock he had at first trouble to use the attack again. But after several attempts he can now use it good. He also loves the move payback and has learned to start charging it whenever he is about the get hit. His hypnotic waves now move slightly faster forward and his lick now paralyzes better. He also started using spite more on instinct tiring his opponents out much faster. Mean look have not had many uses so far but that is to be expected from a move which makes enemies unable to escape the area. Those moves migh not be the most powerful of attack's but they make him a tricky opponent. Usually Draugr's battles ended with Draugr barely even damaged and his opponents mercilessly beaten. Also I believe that after the rest of the team falls asleep Draugr is doing some private training.

I have also learned that Draugr has been poisoning me in order to make me immune to poison. And to be honest I took it better than even myself though I would. Although I was honestly not to surprised that he did it. Me and Draugr have bounded almost freakishly fast, possibly since we are very similar. I'm quite sure that if our situations were reversed I would do the same. The only problem with all this is that Draugr might be a bit overprotective and by that he have barely stopped glaring at Grimer since the poisoning attempt. Also there was a time a rattata tried attacking me after I spoiled its food theft attempt, I think that if I hadn't stopped Draugr that rattata wouldn't be breathing today. I hope Draugr's overprotective personality won't be a problem in the future.

Right now I have started to psychically train my pokemon. I'm making Ceasar and Cocytus run lengths with some rocks attached to them. Draugr is lifting rocks with his gas in order to learn to solidify his gas and then lift heavier objects with it. To have Draugr learn to solidify his gas is very useful when I wanna teach him more psychicall attack's in the future.

I've asked Grimer like I asked my other pokemon if he also wanted to try out psychicall training but the sludge pokemon didn't seem to se the need for such training. I very much hope that Grimer will open up to the rest of the team during this week. I've actually noticed Cocytus talking to Grimer a couple times. Even though Grimer is acting cold and like he doesn't like the conversations I have noticed that Grimer seems a bit more relaxed after talking with the wimpod. Unfortunately Cocytus didn't seem to notice that and got depressed by the cold attitude. Later in private I told Cocytus that Grimer actually enjoyed the socializing and he was only acting, that got the little bug type happy in no time. So now whenever they have free time Cocytus moves over to Grimer to talk about whatever they are talking about.

Also I've seen Grimer talk a few times with Ceasar. Since their conversations are quite short I believe Grimer is simply asking a question. It seems to have become a thing in the team to ask Ceasar any question you might have and Ceasar seems able to answer them every time. I think Ceasar really enjoys the attention although I have no proof since Ceasar is allways wearing a slowpokes legendary poker face.

Another thing that have been happening with Ceasar is that sometimes when speaking to him I can feel something like signals in my head. It's like I get the feeling negative or positive without feeling it. My theory is that Ceasar is attempting telepathy. It's not surprising that he is trying, every psychic type is capable of it. It's only that some have easier than others to learn it. Although slowpokes are not among the ones who have it easier with telepathic abilities slowkings surely are. It's not that unbelievable to believe that Ceasar will be able to speak the moment he evolves. Whenever that is, kings crowns are very rare. It would be nice to be able to speak to my pokemon. There are also some non psychic type pokemon that can use telepathy, in rare cases even some gengar are able to do communicate. But those cases are when a gengar have bonded strongly with a human and spent much time as that humans shadow. After a long time the human's and the gengar's minds would fuse. But that is nothing I should hope for in a near future. Even if Draugr spent all his time as my shadow (A/N the way I understood gengar's pokedex entry is that a gengar is capable of becoming someone's shadow for some time so that's how they will work) after evolving to a gengar we would be lucky if we could start some light communication within a year.

One day later

I got challenged to a battle by a orange haired girl slightly above my age and we are now both standing on each side of a lake. We decided since we both have the possibility the battle would be a 2v2 water type pokemon. This would be a great chance to try out my two water types abilities to fight in water.

I started by throwing out Cocytus who instantly jumped into the water and swam like a torpedo. My opponent seemed a bit intimidated by a pokemon she had never seen before who moved at such great speed. She threw out a goldeen that calmly floated at the top of the water.

The girl suddenly yelled out her first order, "peck."

The goldeen took a short time before reacting and swimming with her horn coated in white energy.

My guess is that the goldeen is newly caught and Goldeen and it's trainer are still getting used to each other.

After thinking a little I had made my decision. "Swim a bit to the side then use struggle bug," I said. I knew I didn't have to worry about Cocytus hearing me or not since almost all water type pokemon have ears specialized for hearing under water.

And as I planned Cocytus dodged the goldeen and then hit it hard in its head. This caused some damage on the goldfish pokemon.

My opponent looked frustrated as she made her next command. "Goldeen, peck again," she screamed.

"Jump above the surface and then use hidden power straight down," I said. I tried using a voice that I knew Cocytus could easily hear but my opponent wouldn't.

Goldeen swam towards Cocytus who as I said jumped above the surface. Goldeen had the time to follow halfway up towards where Cocytus was before getting hit with the orb of ice that Cocytus threw at her.

Goldeen quickly flew down towards the surface where it and the water around it got frozen. This lead to the fish instantly fainting.

Goldeen was recalled by the orange haired girl before she threw out a second pokeball.

The new pokeball contained a starmie which was spinning half above water half under. This one looked more disciplined and well trained.

"Starmie, use water gun," the girl ordered.

"Dodge while moving closer and then use struggle bug," I replied.

And just as planned Cocytus swam forward while dodging the powerful blast of compressed water. When Cocytus got close he started to move with his body encased in bug type energy. The hit was super effective and threw the starmie back a few meters.

Why bug type is strong against psychic is a question that has been bothering humanity for a long while. An old myth was that that bugs where a common fear and that fear disrupts psychics. While it's true fear is not a recommended emotion for a psychic type pokemon that's not the reason. The reason is that a big types brain is built very differently and the signals they give off is disturbing to the psychic pokemon. The bugs have also learned to use those disruptive signals as attack's which is what the bug type moves are.

Well even though the hit was very damaging the starmie is still standing (floating) and is ready to fight.

"Ok starmie use swift," the girl screamed.

"Take it and use more struggle bug," I ordered. Swift was a move that tracked the opponents personall energy and was impossible to dodge.

Although the swift obviously hurt Cocytus sensitive body he still managed to pull thorough and hit starmie once again.

"Now freeze it," I ordered. Cocytus instantly complied and shot his hidden power on the starmie. Starmie and the water around it got frozen instantly which lead to the victory of Cocytus.

"Don't think you're better than me just because you got lucky," the girl screamed at me.

'Shall I even bother to answer?' was my thoughts while I just remained silent. I decided not to answer.

"I'll beat you next time," she said with dedication.

I couldn't care less of what she said. I have learned that some people say the weirdest things after they loose.

She then walked over to me to offer me my price money. Seems like she at least pays her debts. And it seems like she was kind of rich. The money she added to my account was about a half of what I've earned throughout my entire journey. It was a welcomed addition to my fundings.

The last I saw of her that day was her riding away on a red bike. By some reason I would really like to se that bike trashed.

Well that was fun. I saw Cocytus now swimming around enjoying the water. I decided to take a break at the lake.

I released Ceasar and Grimer since Draugr and Cocytus was already out.

"Guys Cocytus just won a battle against two tough opponents, be sure to congratulate him," I said. I know that Cocytus's self esteem wasn't the best so I made sure to praise him extra much and it seems like the rest of the team thinks the same. Even Grimer seems to make a small gesture of praise which seems to mean a lot to the little isopod. Cocytus jumped around seemingly telling the story of how he won his battle. Cocytus was by far the liveliest in the group, not that I mind at all it's quite refreshing.

As we set up camp Grimer surprised us all by getting some firewood for the campfire. I'm not sure if he wants to join the team yet but I'm glad he's giving it a fair chance. I just remembered I need to ask him something.

"Would you like to try out some more battles?" I asked the sludge pokemon.

Grimer seemed to hesitate for awhile before giving me a weak nod.

"Well then you need to join us for practice tomorrow," I said with a smile.

Grimers lips slightly twitched upwards at that before moving away sleeping closer to the fire. I got a little worried since some grimers especially those with the ability stench tends to burn easily.

"Ceasar," I said getting the attention of the pink pokemon. "If Grimer is set on fire please use a weak water gun on him," I said. Ceasar after a couple seconds nodded and I felt positive in my head again. 'Seems like Ceasar is really trying hard with this telepathy thing,' I thought to myself.

I fell asleep with my pokemon on me as usual. Except this time Grimer decided to sleep closer to my feet.

I yawned once before falling asleep after another good day on my journey.

Well this was another chapter that I hope you all enjoyed. I'm most likely going to make my chapters a bit shorter from now on so that I can keep up with one chapter every week. Or I can start making longer chapter over longer time. It's up to you guys. I hope you enjoyed this chapter of crimson. Time to answer reviews.

Cool man 96: I'm glad you liked it and I realized that I was making Ash take the poisoning a little to well. That's why I decided to explain a little more in this chapter.

Taozalcoti: Thanks a lot.

Amourshipper35: Glas you liked it. And you're request will be granted.

Dark Serpent Cat: I think a meowth would fit in quite nicely since I have no normal type planned. Although some things you need to remember if I were to add a meowth to the team. I would most likely evolve it so it would be a persian, it would walk around on four legs since that is how meowth was originally planned to be (in my opinion that was better and team rocket have ruined the meowth species) and last but not least it would not be able to talk at all. If you are ok with these things I might just add a meowth to Ash's ever growing family.

1995hzq: Thanks for liking my story. For your question of slowpokes evolution your wish will be granted. And I'm glad you like my team.

Guest: Maybe.

If anyone has any suggestions for future events or pokemon please review and if you want to discuss my plans for this fanfiction please pm me since I would prefer not to spoil to much by answering you reviews so everyone can see. For you who think your question would bother me I promise they won't.

Yours truly

-Octopie21