Surge attracted a lot more attention than Ash would have thought.
The man topped out at about seven feet tall and easily had more muscles than Ash would ever get, so already he was an imposing figure. Six pokeballs and a seventh in his hand only added to the image.
Add in the fact that everyone knew he was the gym leader and it wasn't a very fun walk to the Pokecenter.
The trainers lined up outside of the gym instantly zeroed in on Surge and Ash, walking away from the gym. They each chucked challenges like accusations at Surge, but the man brushed them off and snapped his fingers. The simple motion sounded like an explosion, and most of the trainers shut up. Several in the front of the line kept grumbling, though it was much more quiet.
"Keep the babies out 'til I get back. Beat the shit out of them if anyone tries to get in," Surge told the girl. She nodded, grabbing onto one of her pokeballs. Tossing it up and down and glaring at all of the trainers, they finally shut up and just stood there, waiting for even longer until Surge would return.
Ash felt just a little guilty as he walked by all of the trainers, but he was too excited to really care. Surge hadn't handed out more than five badges in two weeks and he was one of the ones who had gotten one! His ticket was tightly grasped in his hand and he kept the badge in his pocket.
Surge pushed through the crowds with a casual ease, though most people cleared a path for him the second they saw his form block out the sun. The Pokecenter was close enough and though Ash took three steps for Surge's one, they made it there quickly and burst through the doors.
Several trainers collecting pokeballs from Nurse Joy stiffened and promptly fled over to the side of the room, leaving a clear path. Surge tossed his six pokeballs over, Nurse Joy barely catching all of them. But he set Raichu's pokeball on the counter with a fair deal more care. Ash rather hesitantly set his beside the man's.
Nurse Joy glared at Surge and swatted his hand, and he chuckled. "Full Restores on all of them. Shouldn't be too many problems but I need Raichu in perfect blasting form."
"Oh, ready to send more injured pokemon over to me?" She said, gathering all of his pokeballs and setting them onto a special machine to her right, pressing a grey button and sending them to a back room.
Ash spoke up. "Just regular healing for me, please."
Surge grinned and grabbed his shoulders, steering him away from the counter even as Nurse Joy twittered as his back. But there wasn't any heat in their relationship, just teasing with only a hint of ire on Nurse Joy's side. Surge, despite having a vicious streak a mile wide, wasn't a cruel man.
A booth on the far side magically cleared as Surge grew near and the people working there appeared almost instantly, offering him what seemed to be his regular favourite. Ash accepted anything and was presented with a pecha and persim berry smoothie as well as several pancakes.
Surge, despite it being morning, got three hamburgers and a small mountain of fries. The servers also presented him with a powdery drink tinged the bright orange of protein that did not look appetizing in the slightest, but Surge drank the entire thing down in four seconds flat and immediately dug into his burgers.
"Runt, I'll level with you. Your team's got some type problems but it isn't complete shit. Too many poison types but that can be worked with. That vulpix is still a baby but she's teething. Anything you'd like to tell me?"
Surge's voice darkened but Ash steeled his shoulders and kept his gaze. "She was attacked by Team Rocket and her previous trainer killed. I got permission from Brock to catch her again and had her checked out by Bill."
The gym leader nodded. "That explains it. Fire types have a problem with pride, boy, and that vulpix is no exception - right now, she's facing weak enough opponents to keep it up but that'll backfire on her fast."
He downed another burger as Ash finished his two pancakes. Surge held up one hand and began to tick fingers off for every one of his pokemon. "Your vulpix needs more control. You can burn the field but she didn't know shit after that. Frillish aren't too wimpy and yours held up. Anger issues but she is a ghost type. That ekans is getting ready to evolve but you're training it like a nidorino - they can't take hits like that. Get it faster. Protect was a good idea. Your nidorino isn't half-bad but you've been pulling victories out of your ass so far - get down to some real training. All of your pokemon need more battles."
Ash absorbed all of this information, almost wanting to take down notes. "What should I do now? I've only got about a month until the SS Anne takes off and I've only got four pokemon."
Surge scratched his chin. "About that. I dunno who you're going to be battling against - the tournament so far is pretty mysterious because of the breeder who hooked up with the League. Everyone has tried to figure out what those two pokemon are, and I mean everyone - trainers come up to me daily wondering what the hell those little buggers are."
"I'd normally suggest going to the Safari Zone, as you can catch fucking everything there. But that's three weeks from Celadon and its hell trying to get there from here. With about a month, I'd suggest going up to Lavender. You've already got a ghost type but like with your ekans nidorino, sometimes multiple of one type isn't bad. There's also a metric shitton of normal types up there. Most trainers ignore that type cause it seems useless but you've managed to get an ekans pretty strong - maybe you'd be able to handle it."
Ash frowned. "Isn't Lavender Town still marked dangerous by the League? I mean, I've only recently been allowed to go there."
"Runt." Surge glared at him. "Do you think I got my kickass pokemon by playing it safe? If there's something you want, go for it. Sitting back and letting life pass is what gets you into fancy Institutes were not a single fucking thing gets done."
"Besides, Lavender Town is only dangerous if you're trying to tackle the higher levels of the tower. Stay out of the topmost floors and you'll be fine - that is if its even open by the time you get there. About three weeks of traveling and then another week of training. Just make sure to get here in a month, because I didn't give you that badge for you to be a late bastard and miss the whole thing."
"What about Celadon? I could get a new badge and another pokemon."
Surge shook his head. "Just shitty water types up there. 'Cause of the Department Store, tons of tourists come in and scare away all of the pokemon, and the ones still there have been picked up by trainers. Just some minnows left."
Ash nodded, sipping his smoothie. It was very sweet and he greatly enjoyed it. "I'll head to Lavender Town and be back before you know it with a new pokemon to kick Raichu back to the curb."
Surge grinned. "Runt, that there was one member of my team not even on full power. How do you think you'd fare against her real strength?"
He raised an eyebrow. "Nervous?"
The man roared with laughter and slapped a hand on his shoulder. "Runt, we'll make a trainer out of you yet! I'll expect to see you cruising those waves with those new pokemon in your hands."
Ash nodded. "I will be."
Surge did eventually have to go back to his gym, and his pokemon were already well healed with Full Restores. He let Nurse Joy give him a few warnings with a grin on his face before giving Ash one last warning, telling him to make sure to battle with his pokemon more. Then he turned, grinned, and walked out the doors with a bang.
Ash let out a sigh he hadn't known he'd been holding. Surge had a sort of presence that was almost draining to be around.
Nurse Joy gave him a sympathetic expression. "Your pokemon should be completely healed in about five hours, but I wouldn't suggest pushing them too hard for another day or so. They'll be very sore. When are you planning to leave?"
Ash looked around the Pokecenter and into Vermillion Town. While it was a gorgeous place with many things to explore, he wanted to get to Lavender Town and find a new pokemon to join his team. "Tomorrow, I think. Anything I should see while I'm here?"
Nurse Joy pursed her lips. "Well, we've got Pokemon Fan Club building here, though it's truly not that interesting. A couple of construction sites if you'd like to help out. There's the Fishing Brother, though he's one of the most arrogant people in this town." She stifled a snicker in her palm. "And I work with Lt. Surge!"
"Other than that, I can't think of much. Most of our attractions come from the sea but a day isn't enough time to do most any of them. A few traders are always based toward the exit of the town."
He thanked her and started off toward Vermillion. He'd probably check out the Pokemon Fan Club. That sounded interesting, at least.
As Ash, quickly found out, it was not interesting.
He lunged for the door, just barely managing to push it open and escape into the outside. He gasped for breath, glancing back inside to see the leader of the club still talking endlessly about his rapidash.
At first, it had been fun to hear about. Once he got to story five, things got a little annoying. Story seven, frustrating. Story eleven, painful.
Anything else and he was sure his ears would start bleeding.
He checked around them. No blood.
Brushing off his pants, he carefully closed the door. The man still hadn't stopped talking about his pokemon, and he had started to understand why the building had looked a bit broken down and weather touched. He hadn't seen anyone else from the club inside of the building, though the club was supposed to be very popular in other regions.
But that was an hour he was never going to get back. Walking away from the building, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked around to see what the town offered. To his left was more houses, but to his right was something Nurse Joy had told him about - a construction site.
He wandered closer, tilting his head to the side. It was a small plot of land, the ground hard pressed dirt covered in several large chunks of rock. Clear signs of a pokemon using Earthquake, though its control wasn't perfect, but then another sort of rock move as shown by the several large boulders, though he didn't what one.
A man was wandering around the field, a machop trotting at his heels. It was well trained with powerful arms and legs, though a bit of a bored expression on its face. Its gills fluttered as it kicked a small rock out of the way.
The man had a piece of paper in his hands, twisting it around and directing the pokemon to move pieces of rock and stone.
Ash stepped closer. "What are you doing?"
The man jerked and stared at him with bright brown eyes, his machop tensing its arms. But after seeing Ash's trainer belt and casual clothing he relaxed. "Sorry. Just a little nervous. I'm working on building a store, you see, but I need collateral for the bank to give me a loan. So I've been trying to find something in these rocks my machop keeps pulling up with Rock Tomb. There are stories of people finding gold nuggets or stone shards." At a gesture from him, the machop grinned and pulled back one of its fists, shining a bright red. It punched a lump of rock nearly as tall as its head, the stone cracking heavily. Another punch and it shattered, sending shards of stone everywhere.
The man leaned down, pushing apart the shards of rock as he looked over it. Most of it was a dark grey, just common stone, though a few veins of something darker ran over its surface. But nothing interesting.
He sighed and kicked away a few rocks, patting his machop on the shoulder. It grunted up at him, grinning.
Ash looked over the field. Maybe when he came back from Lavender Town he could help the man get some collateral. He hadn't been looking very hard, but there were so many stories and League paper of trainers finding things on their journey, from evolutionary items such as stones and feathers and scales to even TMs dropped from trainers. People had earned tons of money on the road from finding things like that.
The man looked toward him but didn't say anything, sighing softly. The field was littered with tons of pieces of rock. He had obviously been trying to get something for collateral for a very long time now.
Something pricked in his chest but while he had money, he needed it to be able to feed his pokemon. Maybe later he'd be able to help him out, if he didn't already find something to use.
But for now, he just walked away as the man's machop slammed its fists into another pile of rocks and came up empty.
The sun gleamed brilliantly near the horizon as Ash headed back to the Pokecenter. It was growing close to the time he wanted to turn in, but he didn't want to wander around Vermillion again. The town was nice, but he needed more time to explore the truly fun things of it.
He walked past the gym, which still had a line curling around several buildings. His badge was neatly placed into his badge case, tucked into his bag in a safe position. His SS Anne ticket was folded into his most secure place. He did not want to lose the thing so many people were trying to get.
The Pokecenter was full, mostly of people sitting tensely in the couches waiting for the verdict from Nurse Joy. She looked rather exhausted and had many glances toward the clock, ready for the time that she would be able to leave and go to sleep. On the other side of the room, her assistant - the one who took over for nights - stared at the line with not a small amount of worry.
He waited for a while in the line, and Nurse Joy barely spared him a glance before slamming a few buttons down onto the machine next to her. After a moment, a tab opened and four pokeballs emerged from the top.
"Your vulpix will still have a slightly higher amount of electricity inside of her, but I'm guessing this was probably her first time being paralyzed? I'd suggest training your pokemon a bit against it."
And then she handed him his pokeballs and shooed him away before he could even thank her. He shouted his thanks as he walked away and was rewarded with a tired smile before she turned back to her line.
He held his pokeballs tight in his arms as he walked up to his room, the key on his belt. Unlocking it quickly, he stepped inside and dropped the rest of his stuff on the small bed. Though Siren was a water type, he hadn't ordered her an aquarium, though his bathroom did have a bathtub as well as a shower. Her Water Absorb ability would probably help get rid of most of her last aches and soreness.
Releasing his pokemon, he immediately knelt down to be on eye level with most of them. Siren floated above him, chittering softly, her shark teeth bared in a smile.
Vulpix yipped, though he could see her stepped over to him with jerky movements. She frowned at her own body, shaking furiously, but the edges of her fur were standing up and her tails flickered.
Ro rumbled at him as Ash hugged him, careful of the spines over his back. Even with his barbs below his skin, he still had to worry about the sharp spines that could inject poison with a touch.
Apep looked a little annoyed, but he hissed happily as Ash stroked over his head scales, feeling the warmth from underneath them. His rattle was soft and scratchy sounding, his tail growing thinner as he grew closer and closer to evolving. Ash couldn't wait for that to happen, but Surge's words stuck in his mind.
"Guys, we won the battle! Ro just managed to knock Raichu out, but all of you guys were the reason we won. Vulpix, you took out two of his pokemon and then injured a third! Apep took out his jolteon and then hurt Raichu. Siren, your Night Shades really slowed Raichu down. And Ro, you finished it all off. This means we get to go on the SS Anne."
All of his pokemon perked up at that. He had briefed them on it before, and the idea of the tournament and then a few days on Cinnabar Island, where he could maybe even catch a new pokemon.
"But you remember how hard that battle was? The tournament is going to be just as difficult, and we need to be ready for it. There's only a month before we get on the boat and we are going to spend every moment of it training as hard as we can. All of you are going to learn two new moves, which doesn't include Gunk Shot, Apep."
Apep's eyes widened, which made sense. Two new moves in a month was difficult but with Apep going to be trying to learn Gunk Shot as well, it would be impossible. But Ash desperately wanted him to at least begin to learn the moves before he evolved in order to be able to overpower them when he finally evolved. And he wasn't even done yet.
"On top of that, I'm going to be focusing on something for all of you. Apep and Vulpix, you two are going to become my fast pokemon. Neither one of you can take hits, so you'll be able to dodge them. That's even what Surge suggested." Vulpix yipped at him while Apep just looked more worried.
"Ro, I need your endurance to skyrocket. You took a Volt Tackle, which is incredible, but I want more. So you might be pretty sore for the next month, I'm sorry in advance, buddy." Ro just rumbled.
"Siren, I'm teaching you Absorb as one of your moves. That'll be two moves you can use to heal, which is what you need. You are going to be able to take a lot of hits, but more importantly, I want you to be a surprise. Trainers will think they will have beaten you but then you can just heal away all of your pain." Siren chittered at that, grinning.
He filled the bathtub with warm water and showed it to Siren. She immediately brightened and sank into it, tentacles flicking. Her form actually dissolved slightly in the water, only the bare outline remaining with two bright red eyes. He was guessing the tournament might have some sort of water feature on its battlefield, and Siren's ability as both a water type - disguise in water - and a ghost type - she wasn't as present in this world as most pokemon and could hide herself - would definitely come in handy.
Ash changed quickly and set all of his clothes on the desk, making sure everything was ready for him to leave right away once he woke up. But he wasn't going to sleep immediately - he pulled out his pokedex and flicked to his pokemon's pages. He needed to find their perfect two moves, though they'd definitely get a say in what they wanted.
Apep curled up a bit lower on his chest, glaring at the pokedex from where Ash held it and blocked his regular spot. Ro tucked himself into a ball of blankets on the ground, closing his eyes. Vulpix pushed her nose into Ash's thigh, tails safely secured underneath a fireproof blanket.
He smiled at his pokemon, scratching behind Vulpix's ears and rubbing Apep's head. Ro grumbled from the ground and Siren chittered happily from her bathtub, water splashing. They were all content.
None more so than him. Turning the brightness of his pokedex on the minimum, he began to scan through future moves.
Ash was very happy to leave behind the endless lines of trainers in Vermillion City, the hustle and bustle that he was very much not used to from weeks of traveling on quiet routes with only his pokemon.
Route 11 was a quiet little thing, mainly an endless grassland that marked a little less than half of Kanto. Unlike the ones he had seen before, though, this one was slightly better kept, the path neatly trimmed and the grass cut down to a reasonable height. It was only about chest height, a bit higher in places, but it allowed him to see for what seemed like miles.
It also let him see the wandering heads of other trainers on the route, most on the path, but a few trotted through the grass itself, their pokemon strong by their side. That was nearly a surefire way to be challenged by any moderately upset pokemon, but it was a great way to train. A way that Surge had strongly suggested.
Ash grimaced, but at least he was wearing pants, thin as they might be. He wouldn't get too scratched up.
After a moment of thinking, he pulled out Apep's pokeball and released him. He had been planning on having Vulpix out as well, but she was too hot with Flame Body. Even trying to rein herself in, the dry, golden grass would probably catch fire without too much trouble. And that was something he definitely did not need right now.
Apep hissed up at him, flicking his tail. Ash smiled, rubbed his scales, and then jumped into the grass.
It was scratchy, annoying, and fruitful as hell. Within the first couple of hours, he must have been challenged at least five times. Most of them were small pokemon that had probably just been disturbed, and an Iron Tail or Acid from Apep was enough to scare them off. But there had been a raticate that had taken Apep's full concentration in order to knock it out. The pokemon hadn't been that strong but it was vicious in its few attacks. Ash had covered it slightly with the grass before moving on, where he was promptly challenged by another annoyed pidgey looking to pick a fight.
Apep won that one, too.
At ten pokemon fights, Ash finally turned and fought his way back to the path. Apep was tired and had a few bruises on his side from a couple of nasty scratches and bites from rattatas in Wrap.
Healing him with half a regular potion, Apep gave him a thankful look. He pet his starter and looked forward, nodding to a trainer who had a growlithe trotting peacefully at his heels. He opened his mouth to challenge them but the trainer quickly walked on by, hands stuffed into his pockets. Not everyone wanted to battle, and Ash was okay with that, though Apep looked a bit miffed.
Ash walked on the regular route for an hour, only managing to find one trainer who wanted to battle. His pokemon, a weepinbell with a meek expression, was knocked out quickly with Apep's Iron Tails and Payback, though Ash definitely noticed he had to teach him a new attack. He got the money, walked for a bit more, and then dived back into the grass.
This time, though, he was challenged by a different pokemon than normal. An ekans hissed furiously out of the tall grass, dark purple scales flashing in the sun and golden band shining.
Apep rattled his tail at it, to which the pokemon stopped short and peered curiously at him, trilling softly. Apep hissed back, no anger in his voice. Ash just stood back and watched, head tilted.
The two ekans talked back and forth for several minutes, gesturing with their tails and baring fangs. After a moment, the wild ekans nodded its head and slithered off, disappearing into the grass. Apep came back over to Ash, hissing rather smugly and coiling up by his side, rattling his tail.
Ash laughed and pet his head, walking on.
The traveling went by fast, much faster than normal. As he went through the grass and kept his eyes down in order to see any pokemon beneath his feet, he didn't really notice the sun except for when it began to burn past the protector on his the back of his neck. So it was a bit of a surprise to glance up and see it edging toward the horizon, most of the day passed inside of the tall grass. At least he had fed his pokemon lunch when he had noticed it was around twelve-ish.
That meant it was time for training. He grinned.
It had taken him long into the night, probably a lot more than he should have done, to figure out several moves for each of his pokemon. He had a few backup in case they didn't want what he offered, but he knew they'd find something.
Turning off the path, he made camp in a patch relatively clear of grass. He could see divots in the ground and stones piled together and guessed another trainer had probably used this space recently. Setting up all of his supplies, he grabbed his pokedex and readied his pokeballs.
Apep was already by his side and flicked his tongue out at the ground, head tilted to the side. Vulpix yawned, stretching muscles that had probably cramp[ed from spending so much time inside of her pokeball. He promised to walk more on the path tomorrow and keep her out as well. Ro shook himself and pushed his nose into Ash's leg, rumbling. Siren hissed at the dry grass.
He smiled at them all, coming down into a sitting position. "Okay, guys. Here's my plan for the next month."
It was about a week and a half until he reached Lavender Town, and he wanted to spend three, maybe four days there before heading back to Vermillion. Definitely not a ton of wiggle room but it was enough he didn't feel too concerned, especially since he could cut the travel time down a ton by turning down challenges and only moving on the route.
Three weeks was what he had to work with, and that was what he was going to do. He had made a point to try and give his pokemon one defensive move and one offensive, trying his best to make all of them count. Many trainers struggled with an overload of offensive attacks and no defense, which could make it pretty easy to wheedle their defenses down for one powerful attack.
He had to work hard to find his pokemon moves he thought were right. For the most part, he stuck to their regular movesets, only dipping into tutor moves for a bit. But eventually, he needed to branch into teaching his pokemon moves they could only learn through TM. Most of the time, pokemon could only learn though after they were fully evolved, which posed a few problems for him. Only those training for months straight could begin to learn those, which was hard to get. He'd get enough money to buy them TMs but in the future, he waited eagerly for the day where they would learn every move they could get their hands or scales on. But now was not that time.
Pointing to each of his pokemon, he began to list of the moves he wanted them to learn.
For Apep, he had a reason for both. While he had already begun to work on Coil, completing the move would seriously help his quest. The move, when done right, would raise his attack and strength, which would help his toxicity. The offensive, Acid Spray, was both fulfilling a promise and helping raise his toxicity. Apep let out a pleased hiss and accepted both of them.
Ro was much easier. Focus Energy was a neat move that boosted the pokemon's mental abilities, allowing it to search its opponent for weaknesses and find the perfect place to attack. It could take a bit of time to lower the seconds needed, but Ash believed in Ro. His offensive was his TM Shock Wave, which wouldn't take very long at all. But he wouldn't dump another move on his pokemon, letting him learn those two and perfecting a few of his others.
Vulpix was the most displeased with hers. His idea of Iron Tail was well taken, at least, especially once he suggested that she might be able to learn how to do multiple attacks with her tails, and she already knew from Apep how powerful it was. But her rivalry with Siren's mere existence was shown when she rejected learning the ghost type move Confuse Ray from her. Ash tried to explain what the move did - vertigo, blurred vision, uncontrollable twitches or movements which would make it a lot easier to defeat them - but Vulpix shot down all of his ideas.
But his description of Confuse Ray had at least done a little help, as she was suitably nervous of being unable to control her own motions. So she accepted Safeguard, which would protect her from confusion, though she was still a bit miffed and had pointed to several more attacks before he turned her down.
Siren chittered happily as he offered his ideas. Absorb was a move that would create a temporary bond between the pokemon, allowing Siren to suck their health and energy away into her body. Okay, it was an attack, but technically it still mostly helped Siren. She would also be learning Shock Wave, which she seemed excited about. Two new elements but one of them was a TM.
Ro and Siren's pokeballs both glowed an almost blinding yellow, flashing through the air. The second they were released, Ro frowned and concentrated, his horn crackling with electricity. After a second, he fired it.
Apep roared with fury as the energy slammed into his chest. Ash sighed and recalled Ro before his starter could attack. It might be a long training session.
For starters, he had Vulpix up a Protect for Siren and Ro to aim their Shock Waves at. It pulled a bit from her training but it still went okay, though once the fox pokemon began to run sprints she had to let it drop. They both lost concentration at times only to have their Shock Wave curve back around and slam into themselves, which Ro shrugged off and Siren exploded at. Apep and Vulpix did well, and he helped them as much as he could. Both of them worked on their defensive moves first, which was much easier for Vulpix. She already knew how to use Protect and while Safeguard was a different move, it had the same concept behind it. That, he was confident, she would learn before the three weeks were up.
The training that night was hard, but not as long as he would have liked. As much as Ash regretted it, he had stayed up late last night and couldn't really stay conscious very far past nine, and turned in for the night.
His pokemon flopped next to him in exhaustion. Siren could barely lift herself off of the ground.
Ash grinned and fell asleep.
Most of the week passed in days like that, endless traveling over fields and fields of swaying golden grass. He stayed out of the grassfields for most of it after seeing how exhausted his pokemon became after training, though he still got challenges from every pokemon the second he went inside. Vulpix was mainly used in his trainer battles as she really couldn't fight in the grass, but everyone got a fair turn to battle.
They just got stronger, though he was starting to run through his supply of oran berries very quickly.
About a week in, Ash yawned and stretched his hands above his head. He was only an hour away from when he wanted to stop and though he knew his back would regret it, he let Apep curl over his chest in the way they hadn't done for so long. The ekans hissed happily, head resting on his shoulder. He had grown longer, his tail hanging by Ash's side. He was so, infuriatingly close to evolving.
His moves were becoming stronger and he had gained some of the evolution aggression, itching to pick a fight with Ro during every training session. Ash had separated them for now but he was tingling with excitement - it had to happen soon. His starter would finally evolve into a powerful arbok. Apep had been furious that Ro had evolved before him but soon, it wouldn't matter.
That night, he got everyone into position to perform their moves. Vulpix had managed to create a thin pink shield that had weakened but not stopped one of her Will-O-Wisps, but she was getting close. Ro and Siren had long since mastered Shock Wave and had started on their new moves. Every now and then Ro would flinch, a tiny bit of his energy sucked away, but he kept his eyes narrowed as he studied Siren's body, occasionally pointing toward a certain spot. Siren would giggle happily if he was right, revealing whether she was sore in that area or not, helping Ro to learn.
While Apep had gotten the basics of Coil down, he didn't want to keep working. He wanted to fight Ro, and tonight Ash was giving him his chance. If he didn't let Apep battle, he could be stuck right before he was about the evolve, which could severely hamper his growth and skyrocket his aggression.
"Ro, try to use your new moves. Apep, I want you to focus on only attacking a little. Remember, you need to beat Ro with your speed, not your strength. That's how you're going to beat him," Ash called, nudging his pokemon a little bit farther back, out of the blast zone. With how Apep had focused his gleaming golden eyes on the nidorino, this wouldn't be a pretty fight between friendly pokemon.
"Go!"
Apep lunged, tail gleaming silver. That was his favourite move at the moment and it showed with the powerful steel type energy shining over the clearing.
Ro grunted and reared back, parrying the move with his front claws. It hurt but barely anything, and Apep hissed furiously as he slithered back. Globs of Acid splattered over Ro's sides, pushing him back with no real damage.
An Ice Beam split the air and Apep blocked it with Protect, hissing furiously. He slithered forward, slamming Iron Tail onto the ground and launching himself forward.
Ro spun, baring sharp spines, but Apep ignored the pain as he used Wrap on the nidorino, tightening his muscles and slamming purple-tinted fangs into Ro's shoulder.
The situation was familiar, and Ro used the same method to get out of it. Horn glowing the fierce blue of Peck, he wrenched his head sideways to jerk Apep's fangs out of his skin and slammed his horn into Apep's side.
Apep caterwauled as he was flung away, writhing. Ro's horn exploded with energy and a Shock Wave burst from it, snapping through the air to burst against Apep's scales.
Ash raised a hand, eyes narrowed, when a brilliant glow split the field. Apep roared, rising up to his full height.
He grinned.
Apep glowed brightly from within, scales shining an ethereal white. He flickered, his form fading away into the sheer energy of evolution. It was finally his starter's time to grow into the pokemon he was meant to be.
He lengthened, inches growing onto the edge of his tail, much slower than Ro's growth had been. His neck flexed, flaps of skin extending out, when Ash saw Apep's head curl down to look at his growing hood.
A furious hiss split the air. Apep lunged forward, forcing his way through the power of evolution, and slammed in his head into the trunk of a nearby tree.
Ash lunged forward, but Apep did it again and fell unconscious.
He couldn't help but blink as the evolution energy stopped flowing over Apep's body, retreating from under his scales and escaping into the warm air. The beginning of his hood retreated back underneath his skin and he shortened once again, re-emerging from the brilliance as the ekans he still was.
Ro grunted, uneasy, as he stepped forward. Ash beat him to it and knelt next to his starter, brushing a hand over his scales. They were warm, almost unnaturally, to the touch, much too hot for an ekans. Ash left his side for a second and returned with a potion, dousing Apep with the whole thing.
After a few minutes, the snake came back to consciousness. Ash immediately hugged him, pulling Apep toward his body, before settling back and staring Apep in the eye. The ekans didn't meet his gaze at first, angling his golden eyes down. Most of his aggression seemed to have left him.
"I don't understand, bud," Ash said softly, brushing his fingers over Apep's scales. "Don't you want to evolve?"
Apep's nod was instant and venomous.
Ash blinked. "But you just turned down evolution."
Another nod.
"What do you want then, bud? Was this the wrong time, or something? You don't have to worry about proving yourself to me or any of the others," he said, keeping his voice gentle. "We all believe in you."
Apep hissed, eyes narrowed in frustration. He couldn't explain why it wasn't right yet, why he had to wait.
Ash tried but couldn't understand anything of what his starter was saying. "I'm sorry bud, for whatever reason that you're turning down evolution. But we'll get through it, okay? Do you feel okay?"
Another nod, though this one was slightly more hesitant. Ash narrowed his eyes and the snake finally shook his head, tail twitching limply on the ground.
"No more training today for you. Everyone else, finish up what you were doing. We'll turn in for the night."
That night, Apep curled up so close under his chin that it almost seemed he was afraid Ash would just disappear, tail wrapping around his arm and tongue tickling his neck. His breath was still too warm to be natural but he was cooling down.
Ash just stroked him long into the dark.
There were no more battles between Apep and anyone, which the ekans seemed happy for. He threw himself into training with such a determination it almost scared his other pokemon, managing to both learn and then master Coil in only two more days. Acid Spray had already switched from bright orange to a muted yellow in only another two, well on its way to brilliant green. Apep had never worked harder.
Vulpix was a day away from mastering Safeguard, working on keeping it up as long as Protect. Ro struggled with Focus Energy but he was able to find a few weak points in twenty seconds. Siren gleefully sucked energy from all of his pokemon with Absorb, but she didn't have the strength to pull more than a couple drops worth. Not that he really knew how to measure energy.
By that time, the grass fell away to reveal Route 12, which wasn't so much a natural route as a collection of manmade bridges. He could either head toward Fuschia or Lavender, and he already knew he had to turn left. The bridges were wide and rather stable, hundreds of supports for each one. There had never been a collapse on any of them, and people often told stories of full-grown snorlax taking rests here.
After only a day on the bridges, he peered forward and saw distant shapes on the horizon, the huddled forms of houses and stores. Lavender Town.
He grinned and increased his pace.
In only an hour or two, he stepped off his last bridge and emerged into Lavender Town. Instantly, the temperature dropped.
It was a small town, one completely drenched in the both surprising and not color of lavender. The cobbled streets were stained that color and most of the houses had a shade of it, in windows and tiles and sidings. While he didn't think he could spend all of his time surrounded by the almost overwhelming presence of purple, it was a nice chance from either endless golden grass or the blue of the sea.
Though the nice change didn't last very long as a sort of presence flowed over him, something creeping over his aura with wicked little fingers and gleaming fangs. He shook himself and felt his psychic barriers snap into place, though they didn't do much.
Almost no people were on the streets, despite it being around five. A few faces peered at him through windows, wide eyes and confused stares. The houses seemed much more comfortable than Saffron's, as odd as that sounded. They were wooden and colored and bright despite the dull feeling in the air.
The Pokecenter still gleamed over the town, bright lights escaping into the sky through its glass dome. He trotted toward it, very grateful that it was able to be seen from the gate. He didn't really want to ask anyone for directions.
Nurse Joy tilted her head at him as he walked inside, accepting his pokeballs with a nod. She was the most quiet one that he had ever met, handing over a room key with a soft "You're welcome." He edged into a conversation.
"Is the Pokemon Tower back to being welcome to trainers?"
She looked at him. "Yes, for about two weeks now. Going above floor three is illegal however, and will see your immediate removal from the premise. Refusing to listen to the Ace trainers will see a black mark on your Trainer ID."
"Duly noted." He tried for a grin but she didn't return it, aiming her blank stare over his shoulder.
Though he had heard about it in the League updates, seeing the effect of the ghostly presence over Lavender Town was something very different to hearing about it. Nurse Joys were normally very kind and helpful, even the one that worked with Lt. Surge, which was a skill within itself. This one seemed almost dead, going through the basic motions of everything without seeming to care all that much.
He pulled up the list of pokemon found in the Pokemon Tower. For tonight, if his pokemon healed fast enough, he'd go and check out the Pokemon Tower before trying to find any of the normal types Surge had talked about. Though Ace trainers had combed the entire thing many times, maybe he could find something. He didn't feel much like exploring the town. To be honest, he didn't even want to leave the Pokecenter.
In only an hour, Nurse Joy's voice came over the intercom. He jumped at the sound and walked toward her, accepting his pokeballs. She went back to staring endlessly at the wall, eyes blank.
Ash trotted outside, pokeballs tight on his belt. The town blurred as he moved away from it, not having to dodge any other inhabitants. The whole time he ran through the purple streets, no one greeted or saw him. When he had said he liked the quiet of traveling, it hadn't been like this.
At the edge of the town, there was the Pokemon Tower. It was a brilliant, ingenious structure that seemed to shoot up from solid rock, only the most basic designs carved into the stones making up its body. The majority was a deep grey mixed with black, seeming like a shadow peeled from the ground and settled as a tower. Ash shivered as he walked closer, gooseflesh pricking on his arms.
There was no one at the door, only a small sign newly posted by the narrow wooden door. The bottom three floors are open to all trainers, but entrance above those is strictly forbidden. The League is investigating and soon, the entirety of the Pokemon Tower will be open to the public once again.
Ghostly energy swirled around him, seeming as real as the wind. With a shudder, he grabbed for a pokeball.
Siren appeared with a chitter, immediately freezing as she appeared. Her eyes widened as she almost seemed to feed on the power around her, arms rising and tentacles flicking. She stared up at the tower, almost reverent.
Ash frowned just as a face pressed itself into the stone by his side.
He jerked back but Siren just flew down to the empty eyes and fanged grin morphing the black stone. She chittered almost warningly and the face receded, only to reappear as a pokemon floating through solid stone, slipping through as easily as water.
The gengar before him fixed one red eye on his face, its two pupils moving out of sync with each other. It was tall, a full five inches above his height, with a spiky purple body and small hands and feet. The entire pokemon just radiated a presence that burned behind his eyes even as the bare beginnings of his psychic barriers tried to stop it. He felt his back bend, eyes flicking down, fingers curling into fists-
An arm smacked into the back of Gengar's head and Ash instantly straightened up again, blinking wildly. Siren hissed and the ghost pokemon made a hollow sound of apology before hissing something back.
His pokemon and the wild, fully evolved beast talked, but it wasn't in actual sound. Wind swirled around them as they connected gaze, energy flickering out of their eyes. Ash couldn't help but avert his gaze, the sheer presence of Gengar's power forcing his eyes to the side and down.
After a moment, Siren looked back at him, almost anxious. She chittered at him, frowned as he didn't understand, and grabbed his wrist with her arm. Gengar hissed again before flicking one red eye toward the door, keeping the other fixed on Ash. It exploded open, the edges flickering with grey energy.
Ash sucked in a deep breath before following Siren inside. Gengar cackled softly and slipped into a shadow, appearing inside the tower before him. His skin prickled with unease at the casual way Gengar made the shadow writhe and twist with glowing red eyes before appearing out of it, fangs bared in a grin.
But Siren tightened her grip on his arm and pulled him along, chittering darker than normal. Gengar led them through the darkness of the floor, mostly empty. There were a few ancient chairs and tables from ancient parties that would never see the light lest they crumble to dust with their age. The Pokemon Tower had been around for many years and it would survive for just as long, guarded by the spirits of the dead.
Ash frowned at the stairs, which were pitch black wood drenched in pitch black shadows. Gengar hissed in frustration and Siren jerked Ash up them, creaking dangerously but holding his weight. The second floor was much the same but Ash caught sight of a pair of dark blue eyes and the flicker of flames before he went up the stairs again.
On the third floor, the stairs were blocked with a brightly colored metal gate, the League's symbol pounded into the steel. Gengar turned transparent and floated through it, the metal shifting his body. It warped around him like water, shimmering, before reforming as the ghost pokemon finished going through it. Turning back around, it hissed and floated up the stairs again.
Siren wrapped her arms around Ash and picked him up, moving with rather incredible strength for such a thin, wispy pokemon. She floated up until Ash's feet just cleared the highest rung and set him down on the other side, chittering. Shivers wracked his body as the energy grew stronger.
The fourth floor was different.
Ghosts openly congregated everywhere in the room, their forms fading in and out with the swirling ghostly energy. Gastly, haunter, one other gengar, as well as more exotic pokemon - duskull, litwick, misdreavus, and shuppet. Most were grey and black and the occasional touch of blue, their bodies rippling and shifting. Though he tried, he couldn't seem to fully see each of them, all of the ghost pokemon fading before they reached his eyes, emerging only as a misshapen clump of shadows.
One spot in the middle of the room was completely clear of all ghost, pokemon or energy. It was large but not overly so and actual light gleamed onto it, bending and refracting around the single spot in the dark floor.
Gengar hissed again, red eyes narrowed to slits and both pointing toward the spot of light. Siren did as well, arms flicking as she turned back toward Ash, pointing him toward the center of the room.
All of the ghosts had stopped. They stared with haunting, flickering eyes at Ash before Gengar barked a warning. Siren pointed toward Ash's pokeballs, which he grabbed. "What's going on?" He whispered, breath steaming in the air.
Gengar hissed, and the other gengar floated forward. It visibly sagged in the air, eyes thin and tired, barely holding its form. At Gengar's command, it flicked its hands up and let them drop.
A wave of ghost energy flew through the room, settling heavily over the spot of bright light in the middle. Like a ripple, something appeared as the swirls of ghostly energy flickered away.
Ash stiffened. A snorlax laid in the middle of the room, sleeping.
It was enormous - the top of its chest was nearly at Ash's head, which made it nearly seven feet tall while standing. Thick blue fur rustled in an unseen breeze, thick fangs protruding from its mouth. Dagger claws and pointed ears - this was not a pokemon to casually see on the road and walk away from. They were capable of tearing down cities in their hunger rages. But why was it here?
Several things fell together in his mind.
Snorlax were normal type pokemon, which meant they were completely immune to ghost type moves, and with their thick layers of fat, they could shrug off most moves without even feeling them. But for the most part, they were gentle, docile creatures who would, even when wild, let children jump on their stomach. But the problem came with their size.
Snorlax had to eat nine hundred pounds of food every week, and then they would promptly sleep it off directly afterward. For the most part, their small number and ability to eat most everything, from meat to entire trees, kept them staved. But when they woke up and couldn't find enough to eat, they would go into dreadful hunger rages, where they would attack everything in sight until they managed to find enough to eat, where they would fall asleep once again.
Staring around the room, he could see several ghosts flinch back at the sight of the pokemon. Ghost type pokemon were strong, yes, but against normal type pokemon there was little they could correctly do. While most ghosts had a secondary typing, snorlax just had too high of defense and wouldn't feel anything that didn't have an incredible amount of physical power to it, something that ghost types just did not have.
And if a snorlax had come into the Pokemon Tower in a hunger rage, there was little the ghosts could do to defend themselves except for to hide. But instead they had hidden it from the view of trainers and protected it while it slept - something dark glistened over Snorlax's exposed clawed, dried brittle. It was a dark red, almost black.
If a snorlax didn't have anything to eat, it would start killing to make food.
Ash's stomach pounded viciously and he averted his gaze. Gengar had brought him up here because Siren had made the ghost pokemon trust him. He would do everything he could to stop the snorlax.
His mind raced. Snorlax had two main abilities - Immunity or Thick Fat. Either unable to be poisoned or resistant to fire and ice attacks. He couldn't tell for sure but Snorlax did have an extremely large stomach, something almost bulging. There wasn't a way to be positive but he guessed it probably had Thick Fat, which would only protect it even more from the ghosts. And Vulpix.
Scowling, he looked around the room. The ghosts still hung there, the room hazy and thick from energy, and there was no sun to power Vulpix's attacks. Siren would be the most at home here but his other pokemon would need to adjust. And Apep hadn't battled since he'd rejected evolution.
Ash turned, slowly, to face Gengar's gleaming red eye, the other still fixed on Snorlax. "Can the other ghosts leave? I don't want them to get hurt."
Gengar swiveled its eye around before cackling, the sound rich and dark. It swept through the air and every ghost looked over at it, being corporal for one blink of an eye. The next, they faded from view, their energy slipping upward through the floor to emerge elsewhere. There was still a prickle over his skin but it was faded now, much easier to handle. Gengar didn't leave, staring at him with an impassive eye.
Ash tossed out his pokemon, instantly falling to his knees and placing a finger over Apep's mouth to stop his happy hiss. Snorlax could take a lot of sound before they woke up but he didn't want to risk it. Pointing, he gathered all of his pokemon's attention and threw it towards the sleeping giant.
"We're going to take down Snorlax. It's going to be difficult but I believe in us."
Apep hissed like it had personally offended him. His evolution aggression was coming back, albeit slowly, but Ash was just hoping it might work. Snorlax was big but not fully grown, and definitely not kingsize.
"Spread out. Don't get too close but make sure to be able to hit it."
Vulpix stalked forward with Ro, taking the two sides. Siren hissed deep in her throat and floated over Snorlax to be at its back, tentacles dripping poison. Apep curled by Ash, tail twitching.
"Ro, Focus Energy. Tell everyone what you notice. Apep, Coil, make it a good one. This is going to be a matter of getting all of your attacks on it before it can notice us. Ro, constantly switch between Ice Beam and Shock Wave." The nidorino grunted with his eyes still narrowed, ears twitching as he scanned Snorlax's prone body. "Apep, Acid. If anyone cuts it, aim for that spot. We need it poisoned. Vulpix, blast it with whatever you've got - use Energy Ball. It might be resistant to fire." She hissed at that. "Siren, just water attacks and Shock Wave. Ghost type moves don't affect it," he finished, putting a hand over the empty pokeball on his waist. There was a chance he would catch it to keep - if not, he'd turn it over to the League.
Apep flickered brightly inside of his tightly wrapped ball, strengthening his muscles and eyes for better attack, defense, and accuracy. Not that it'd be hard to hit the behemoth in the middle of the room. Ro finally got out of Focus Energy and grunted around the room to everyone, telling them its weak spots. Vulpix hissed in acknowledgment and sank back into her attack position, tails whipping behind her. Siren just giggled, the sound high and threatening. Ash nodded.
"Siren, I don't know whether this'll wake it up, but use Absorb as soon as I give the word. Take as much energy as you can."
All of his pokemon tensed. He did so as well.
"Go!"
Ro roared, firing three glowing bursts of ice energy. They all exploded directly against Snorlax's head just as Siren's Shock Wave rippled over its chest. A gleaming ball of thick yellow poison burst over Snorlax's chest and fire crackled hungrily on Snorlax's arms.
Narrow black eyes snapped open.
Snorlax bellowed, slamming one hand into the ground and pushing itself to its feet. It glared around the room, turning to see all of the snarling pokemon around it. The tower shuddered as it stomped its feet, roaring.
Ash heard a hiss and turned around to see Gengar gone, but it wasn't completely. His shadow - not that he could see much of it in this dark room - was much larger than him, the proportions wrong and almost sticking out of the ground, the edges writhing in an unseen grip. The fight brought him back.
Vulpix hissed as she spat Ember after Ember, never being able to pause long enough to use Flamethrower. The balls of fire barely got Snorlax's attention as it batted them away, lunging for Vulpix again and again with one of its fists crackling with furious electricity. Vulpix was glowing in this dark room and she had gotten its attention first, but her speed managed to keep her away. Snorlax roared again, furious.
Shock Waves and Poison Stings peppered Snorlax's back but it barely seemed to feel it, shaking its head and lunging at Vulpix one again. Its Thunder Punch slammed into the wooden floor with enough force to make the tower groan.
Siren brightened suddenly as Snorlax frowned, energy flowing through the bond she had made. Snorlax turned to her, eyes burning with fury as it recognized her ghost typing. Its ears flickered silver almost weakly but the force behind the Iron Head sent Siren hurtling backward to slam into the wall.
"Recover!" Ash barked, even as Siren floated limply into the air, body dark and bruised. She flickered with glowing energy and most of the pain faded away, though she held herself more tightly.
"Get your energy back with Absorb. You need to hit it with Shock Waves," he called, just as Ro bellowed in pain.
Snorlax was able to focus on one pokemon at a time, but its focus was a deadly thing. With frightening precision, its fist glowed and popped with burning flames as it punched the Ice Beam, the move disrupting in midair. Fire Punch continued until it slammed into Ro's unprotected side.
Ro roared, letting the move spin him backward. Bracing himself, he launched Double Kick at Snorlax's exposed arm.
Snorlax screeched with rage, eyes closed and mouth gaping, but its voice didn't stop. It grew, crawling higher and higher until it made Ash's head throb. Of course it knew Screech. His pokemon definitely felt the move, eyes narrowed in pain as their sensitives ears exploded with the intense sound.
Apep had weaker ears than even Ash. He snapped an Acid directly in Snorlax's open face.
The pokemon's eyes flew open and it gagged, spitting out some of the orange poison. It flinched, shaking itself, even as more poison ran down its throat.
Ash cheered. Snorlax would probably digest the poison soon but right now, it had been poisoned. That put a timer on the battle, something he was very good at using. "Ro, Ice Beam! Get it frozen!"
The nidorino barely recovered from the Screech, charging silver blue energy in his throat. Only two beams exploded out but they both slammed into Snorlax's legs, the pokemon groaning as ice froze over his claws and fur.
Siren finally managed to form another bond with Absorb, some of her injuries fading as Snorlax actually hissed as the move sucked away its energy. It swivelled just in time for Vulpix to blast Flamethrower at its face.
It caterwauled, thumping backward. Apep lunged into the air and landed an Iron Tail right into the back of its legs. Fist crackling with lightning, it shot around with much more speed than Ash would have thought and punched Siren in her chest.
She shrieked with pain, electricity running over her body, before collapsing on the ground. Ash recalled her just as Snorlax grabbed for her, eyes narrowing in confusion as his prey disappeared.
Apep and Vulpix circled Snorlax, spitting some of their weaker attacks to bait it. Snorlax growled again at the missing Siren, ignoring the Embers and Poison Stings. Apep hissed and spat an Acid, the poison sliding over Snorlax's side. Vulpix opened her mouth and something green came from it, a move Ash realized he had only seen twice and never trained her on. Energy Ball exploded right in the back of Snorlax's head.
It finally turned its attention back on them just as Ro darted forward.
His side was blackened with burns and his movements stiff, but he worked up an impressive amount of speed. With his horn glowing a violent white he slammed Horn Attack into Snorlax's side, actually forcing the pokemon back a few inches. Snorlax seemed surprised, but only long enough to jump into the air and Body Slam Ro with its thousand pound body.
Ash instantly recalled his friend. There was no way he'd come out of that conscious.
Snorlax roared as another one of its prey disappeared, holding up two fists. Frost crept over its fingers as Ice Punch emerged into its grasp, swinging wildly as it tried to find the rapidly moving Apep and Vulpix.
They were running - or slithering - around Snorlax, not letting it hit them. Ash frowned, but he couldn't think of a way to end this. There was no way to use Payback when a single move had knocked Siren and Ro out and Vulpix's only finishing move was Flamethrower, which took time to charge.
"Apep, slow down! Let Vulpix use Flamethrower!" He shouted, tense. His friends pokeballs were tight in his hands.
Apep hissed and stopping slithering altogether, tail glowing silver if he needed a quick escape. Snorlax homed in on him and roared, fists still glowing.
Vulpix stopped behind him and, taking a few seconds, exploded Flamethrower at its exposed back.
Snorlax bellowed again, but it definitely had Thick Fat. Only a few chunks of fur were burned and barely any of its skin had gotten touched. Vulpix had firepower but that wasn't what he needed to end this match.
"Acid Spray!"
Apep's move he still hadn't perfected glimmered yellow as it slammed Snorlax forward a few steps, the perfect position to hit Vulpix with its Ice Punches.
Protect folded out above her nose.
Snorlax narrowed its eyes, but it'd obviously encountered this move before in the wild. It pressed down harder with its fists, the edges of Protect cracking under the strain. Vulpix yipped, strengthening it, but Snorlax just grinned darkly and put the force of its body behind the attack, slowly but steadily shattering Protect.
Apep hissed as he soared through the air.
His tail, glowing a brilliant silver, slammed into Snorlax's neck, breaking its concentration and making it stumble to the side. Vulpix immediately leapt back with Quick Attack, visibly sagging. Apep bared his fangs and slipped his tail around Snorlax's neck.
It was smart. Apep wasn't nearly long enough to use Wrap around Snorlax's chest but its neck was perfect for his size. He flickered with white energy as he slowly constricted around Snorlax, tail flicking.
Snorlax gagged, eyes flying open. It used Screech again, nearly sending Vulpix to the floor and Ash covering his ears, but ekans barely had ears anymore, mainly using vibrations to tell what was around them.
Apep reared back slightly and slammed Poison Fang between Snorlax's shoulders, his fangs bouncing off Snorlax's thick hide. With a frustrated hiss he tried again, twisting his head with enough force to break past the first layer and pump deadly poison into the normal type's body.
Snorlax bellowed, raining Fire Punches down Apep's scales. He flinched and hissed in pain, but his scales glowed to remove the burns and Coil had strengthened his defense enough that he was able to keep going, tightening around Snorlax's body until the pokemon let out one final shriek and fell to the ground, landing with a thud that made the tower shake and a single stone fall from the walls.
Ash sat back, eyes wide. Snorlax was collapsed on the ground, dust fluttering over its body, narrow eyes rolled back and closed. This wasn't the sleep after eating its fill, it was knocked out. His pokemon had managed to defeat a pissed-off Snorlax, and the normal types were often called some of the strongest physical pokemon out there, though this one wasn't fully grown.
There was only a moment's hesitation before he chucked the empty pokeball in his hand toward Snorlax. The red and white sphere flew through the air before bouncing off of its chest, sucking the pokemon into itself as red energy. Apep hissed as it fell onto the ground, no neck to wrap around.
It was an instant capture. Ash grinned.
But he wouldn't be keeping the pokemon. As powerful and useful as they were, he just didn't have nearly enough funds to be able to feed it. Eating nine hundred pounds of food a week wasn't something a rookie trainer like him could keep up, and he and his pokemon would suffer if he tried. To the League this pokemon would go, where it would be safely released in a place very far from the seemingly traumatized pokemon of the Pokemon Tower.
All of the ghost types had been weak and tired, forced to either find food or become food for Snorlax. He'd ask the League to keep it off limits for just a little while longer, let the ghosts recover, but he didn't have very much say at all in this matter. He was, after all, just another trainer.
But it wouldn't be that way for long.
Vulpix and Apep both came over to him, visibly exhausted from the battle. He crouched down and stroked over their heads, frowning at the little heat escaping from Vulpix's fur. She must have been only a few minutes away from passing out.
He recalled both of them, carefully setting Snorlax's pokeball away from his team. He could have Professor Oak contact the League to give it over, but first he was healing his pokemon.
As he turned, his shadow grew a pair of gleaming red eyes. Gengar floated back out, grinning madly with poison drenched fangs. Ash narrowed his eyes but the ghost did nothing, merely look at him. After another second, it cackled and sped upward, disappearing through the wooden floor.
Ash sighed, then started the trek back downstairs. He'd have to find a new way over the gate.
Nursing a few bruises, Ash finished the journey and arrived at the front doors of the Pokecenter. It hadn't been his brightest idea to jump over the gate but everything had turned out fine in the end.
The town was still empty, a breeze rustling a group of dead leaves crackling over the ground. Moonlight danced over the lavender stones and spilled over the roofs and walls of the town's houses. But he had passed a house with the curtains drawn away from the window, a moderately confused expression on the woman's face peering out. She hadn't seemed to see him.
He stretched, keeping a careful eye around him. The ghostly presence hadn't left the town but it had lifted, the edge taken away.
The Pokecenter doors opened easily, the glass catching the light and reflecting it over the dark room. There were no lights on inside the building but the moonlight through the glass dome was enough to light up most everything.
Nurse Joy didn't seem to have moved at all, even though she should have already gone to sleep and let her assistant take over. Her back was straight and her arms tight against her side.
But her eyes flicked away from the wall and met Ash's, her gaze brighter than it had been before. She frowned, the bare edges of her lips tilting downward. But that was more emotion than before.
"Can you heal my pokemon, please?" Ash said, walking closer until he was at the edge of the counter.
She put her hand forward and he set his four pokeballs into it. Nurse Joy frowned, pointing to the fifth pokeball on his belt. "Would you like me to heal your other pokemon as well?"
"No." He shook his head. "That's actually a snorlax. It had broken into the Pokemon Tower and attacked the ghosts there in a hunger rage. They were forced to find it food or become food themselves and I think that might have been what was causing all of the strange energy around the town. It should be going away soon, but I would probably call the League. Are you allowed to do that?"
Nurse Joy blinked. "I am perfectly capable of talking to the League. Your pokemon took down a snorlax?"
"I don't think it was quite fully grown yet," he offered a bit meekly.
More life flowed into her body, and she straightened in a bit more human manner. "Full Restores on all of your pokemon. Only one isn't in its youngest state and your nidorino has only recently evolved, am I correct? It's a miracle something worse didn't happen. What were they all injured by?"
"Siren - oh sorry, the frillish - was hit by an Iron Head but healed herself a bit with Recover and Absorb but was knocked out by Thunder Punch. I recalled my nidorino after Body Slam, though I don't know whether he passed out. He was hit by Fire Punch before. Ekans was hit by a lot of Fire Punches but he was still conscious. I think Vulpix didn't get hurt but she's exhausted," he said, trying to remember everything that had happened in the fight. It had gone by in a blur of action.
Nurse Joy nodded, slipping his pokeballs into a special machine off to the side of the regular ones. Full Restore was printed on the side, the letters clean and evenly spaced. He would be able to congratulate his pokemon only a couple of minutes after the fight with Full Restores, and a grin slipped over his face.
Indeed, only a minutes later Nurse Joy handed over his pokeballs, all of them bright and shiny. He clipped them onto his belt and pulled off the snorlax, but she shook her head, raising a hand. Already, she seemed so much more alive, moving with a precision her earlier robotic movements hadn't had.
"I can only call the League, but you'll have to use the pokemon transfer machine in the back. Well, of course I could use it, but I think you'd like the pokemon to be sent over using your account," she said, actually smiling. The presence had retracted all but the barest tips of its claws and the effect was being felt by everyone. Ash's psychic barriers were back to being present in his mind instead of crushed under the ghostly energy.
He smiled at her. "Thanks. Just tell me when you get it ready. Also, where's the light switch? As much as I like the moonlight, I think we might need a little more to do everything right."
"What?" Staring around as if for the first time, Nurse Joy frowned and narrowed her eyes. "I didn't turn off the lights."
But the Pokecenter was still dark, the back corner dripping with shadows. The moonlight couldn't seem to reach the darkness in the back, bouncing off of something covering the back corner.
Ash tensed just as the shadows slithered away.
Four people were revealed, each in a group of two. Black clothing, pants and long sleeved shirts. Hats. Two of them had something silver against their side, supported by a thick belt and gleaming in the light. All of the four had two pokeballs on their waist, only the regular type. A kadabra lowered its spoon, the psychic barrier that had been raised in place falling thickly.
Crimson Rs glittered on their chest.
Ash's muscles each tightened of their own accord, freezing him in place. Team Rocket was here, but he didn't know why. He kind of doubted that these four grunts had the firepower to send a snorlax into a rage and then direct it to the Pokemon Tower, not that they'd want to. They'd probably just want to capture it for themselves.
He narrowed his eyes. That was probably exactly why they were here in the Pokecenter.
"Team Rocket has been so kind and decided to take the whole transferring business off of your hands," one of the grunts said, stepping forward. A man with thick brown hair and a permanent sneer. "I've heard it can be very time consuming, and that's not anything we'd like to wish on such an up-and-coming trainer such as yourself. Hand over the snorlax, please, and we'll take good care to send it to the League." He grinned. "Or at least to Team Rocket's League."
All of the grunts turned every so slightly to show their pokeballs. Eight of them, including the kadabra. These were higher level grunts than the ones he had seen at Mount Moon, but there was a difference.
At Mount Moon, he had been taken unaware without his pokemon ready. He hadn't ever seen them before and was in a dark tunnel underneath a mountain with only two pokemon. But this time, he had four powerful pokemon capable of taking on four Team Rocket grunts. He wasn't scared.
He grabbed his pokemon's pokeballs and tossed them out.
In four bursts of scarlet light, his pokemon appeared. All of them peered around, still tense from the fight with the snorlax, but within a second their eyes slammed into Team Rocket.
Apep reared furiously and hissed, tail rattling so hard it slammed into the ground. His six feet quivered with rage. Ro bellowed, tensing. All of his barbs much longer with his evolution extended, dripping. His horn weeped poison. Siren had never met Team Rocket before to his knowledge, so Ash was definitely surprised when she reacted just as intensively. Her dull eyes gleamed with power as Night Shades trembled up and down her arms, flickering with the gleam of ghost energy. Water dripped off her tentacles, hissing as it splashed over the ground.
But the worst reaction was Vulpix.
Fire burst into life around her, her fur heating up enough to glow with heat as actual embers slipped from her snarling jaw, crackling over the ground. Heat exploded out in a shockwave, warming the room to almost uncomfortable levels. Smoke trickled from the ground as she stepped onto tiles, fury and rage and pain crackling in her eyes.
He had promised her revenge when she had joined him. She looked like she wanted it.
Ash grinned. The grunts looked a little more nervous, but they snatched up their pokeballs and hurtled them forward.
It seemed that while they had more pokemon, they weren't much stronger. Three raticates alone, only two with fangs that actually extended out of their mouth, while the other was young enough it still had the teeth of a rattata. One grimer, which was a little more exotic. A zubat immediately screeched after coming out, echolocation dancing over the room to allow it to see, though one golbat took to the skies immediately and snarled with enormous fangs.
The kadabra moved forward to float next to what Ash guessed was the leader, the man who had been talking. A houndour padded behind his feet, fire flickering from its jaws. There was no flinch from the psychic pokemon being so close to a dark type, no emotion except for blankness in its eyes. Whatever Team Rocket had done to these pokemon, it shattered the line between humane and evil.
Ash believed in his pokemon. They were strong enough to take down a snorlax and the group in front of him only had two evolved pokemon and mostly poison types, which all of his pokemon could counter. He only had a few commands to give, all of which were simple. He'd let his pokemon run this show.
"Siren, take the kadabra. Keep away from the houndour. Ro, try and take down the fliers. Apep, Vulpix - bring them down."
He turned to face Nurse Joy, who still looked like she was coming out of a long dream. "Nurse Joy, please call the League. We'll take care of these." She nodded, ducking under the counter before the grunts could start to care about her. A door opened and she slipped through, a phone visible through the glass before she covered it up. Ash hadn't seen a chansey, which was uncommon but understandable. Lavender Town was not too popular and chansey were hard to find for every Nurse Joy.
"Go!" He barked.
Ro bellowed, electricity crackling over his entire body. It concentrated toward his horn before blasting off in a wave of burning yellow. The zubat shrieked as it was hit, using echolocation desperately, but another wave of lightning curved through the air and slammed it into the ground.
The golbat spat poison but it dripped harmlessly off of Ro's skin, sliding right past the electricity beginning to emerge again. It seemed to realize it was in trouble and began to fly higher, but Ro didn't even look as he fired another Shock Wave. The electricity immediately shot upward, catching the pokemon in the wing and hurtling it toward the ground, where it was promptly met with one of Ro's Horn Attacks.
Siren floated high into the ground, out of the way of the houndour's powerful jaws. Her arms snapped forward and threw two Night Shades at the kadabra, which blinked up at her with grey eyes. It used Teleport and appeared in front of Siren, raising its hands. Its eyes gleamed blue.
She giggled wickedly and spat a Bubblebeam in its face. The kadabra shook itself, dripping, only for a Shock Wave to slam into its chest and hurl it to the ground. The water raised the attack to deadly proportions and with two gleaming Night Shades to the chest, it was down for the count.
Vulpix targeted the raticates with a fury Ash hadn't seen in her before. Her three tails burned and he remembered that they had thought that a raticate had probably bitten off her others with Hyper Fang, which one of the pokemon was currently charging up, eyes narrowed. Vulpix never let it finish.
She slammed her paws into the ground, readied herself, and roared.
Fire exploded into the air, greedily sucking at the oxygen. Water sprinklers overhead began to blare an alarm but Vulpix just narrowed her eyes and all of the water that came down evaporated before it fell even a foot, steam trickling into the air. The alarm wailed on and by now the police department would be notified, heading here in order to catch Team Rocket in the act. But Ash needed to knock them out first.
The youngest raticate was almost instantly out with Vulpix's Flamethrower and the other two were heavily burned. She growled, her eyes stone. Green energy built in her throat, taking longer than her other regular moves, but after only a few seconds the raticates spent stumbling around she launched an Energy Ball, the green sphere crackling with arcs of emerald grass type energy. Another raticate down.
Apep threw himself at the grimer, which glared with beady black eyes. Its body flickered with a white-grey tone, preparing to use Pound, if Ash was going to guess. Apep merely leapt into the air, tail glowing silver, and cleaved the grimer in half.
The larger portion kept the eyes and mouth while the other splattered against the ground, the poison seeping into the tiles. Apep slammed another Iron Tail into the mixture, splitting it up for good, before casually raising a Protect to block a tongue of fire from Vulpix. A third Iron Tail and the grimer was unconscious on the ground.
Ash grinned just as something cold tapped against his back.
He tensed and immediately turned, only to meet the cold muzzle of a gun. The leader smirked down at him, houndour at his side.
There were few weapons in Kanto, or in the world. Because of pokemon, people hadn't seen much of a reason to invent more things when most pokemon, when trained well enough, had the ability to incapacitate or even kill humans with their abilities and moves. Officer Jennys had a few in the larger cities, but the most damage they did was paralysis and possible unconsciousness. Someone had named them tasers, but they were ni impossible to get your hands on them and all were closely guarded by the League. There were rumors of guns that used air pressure to fire pellets, but they really didn't have a way to get any sort of explosion to fire them farther or harder.
But the gun against his side wasn't either of those - it was bulky but small in overall size, easily held in one hand. Mainly silver with criss-crossing wires running over it, not seeming to be perfected yet. Still a prototype? That would explain why Team Rocket had it - they stole almost everything they had.
It wasn't an explosive, which harnessed electricity and activated it with fire energy. They were tricky to make without exploding the two energies together, but the League had managed it. Officer Jenny probably used one. Was she coming here?
The gun brought him back to the present. Yellow light trickled from the muzzle, where a hole large enough to stick a thumb it was. He had honestly no idea what the gun could do.
"Kid, I'd suggest calling off all of your pokemon," the leader hissed. His eyes were burning pinpricks of light.
Vulpix had taken out the final raticate and now only the houndour was left, strong by the leader's side. The grunts were hurriedly recalling their pokemon and walking back toward their leader. Another one pulled out his gun, angling it toward Ash's face.
The leader growled as Ash didn't move, his pokemon glaring at the grunts with burning eyes and coming closer. Gun or not, if he hurt Ash there was a very little chance they'd be getting out of here unharmed.
The man's eyes flicked down to the untouched pokeball on Ash's side, the snorlax. His hand twitched.
The gun barked in his hand.
A ball of electricity exploded from the tip, crackling. It hit Ash's chest and he yelped, but the force wasn't terrible. His side burned from the heat of the gun but it wasn't nearly powerful enough to even cause a bruise.
The real problem came when he tried to step away from the man. Lightning raced over his skin, the current sticking his hair straight up, but he wasn't able to move freely, only in small jerks. Paralysis. It was a human-made version of Thunder Wave.
Or Psychic. His heartbeat picked up and his arms started to tremble. Was that blue in front of his eyes? He couldn't close his eyelids. Arceus, he wasn't able to move at all and he was frozen and Team Rocket was right there-
A roar split the room.
Light spilled over his eyes, and his gaze immediately shot toward his pokemon. More precisely, one of them.
The leader had tried to move after he had fired the gun, reaching down to take the pokeball, but now he glanced over at the pokemon and promptly froze.
Apep glared with glowing golden eyes, energy flickering over his body like it had only a few nights ago. It came out from underneath his scales and burned, a writhing mass of silver white. It spread over his entire form and he began to change.
Scales darkened and thickened, changing from partially opaque to fully colored. His rattle twitched once before smoothing over, scales emerging where golden circle that had made up his rattle had been.
Ash tensed as much as he could. If Apep rejected the evolution again, then he would have to knock himself out. Then Team Rocket would be able to get away and he'd still be frozen here-
Apep looked down at his hood, which was expanding below his head, and shrieked with joy. He threw his head back and let the energy fully flow over his body, stretching him out like a pipette. Seven feet, eight feet, nine, ten- he just kept growing and growing as his first and final evolution took place.
With a roar, an arbok slammed into the ground.
He towered above the rockets, the tip of his head nearly six feet above the ground. His full length was more than double what he had been before, rich purple scales nearly as large as Ash's fist. His rattle was gone but new muscles gleaming under his skin, his midsection nearly as large as Ash's entire chest. His mouth was filled with countless enormous fangs, much more than the four he had previously. A pale pink tongue flicked from between his fangs.
But the biggest change was his hood.
Ash had done research on arbok and had seen their pictures many times before. They were rather frightening to look at and Apep was no different, but he was different.
Arbok normally came out of their evolution at about eleven feet long. Apep was nearly fifteen. He was thinner, scales smaller, hood tucked closer to his body even when fully extended out.
And the design was all wrong. Instead of burning red and orange eyes outlined with black, a thick black V design of eyebrows, and a gaping black mouth, he had thick black lines to make up a pair of narrowed circular eyes. A black slash making up a frowned mouth was beneath those and six pure white scales made up bared fangs. Black scales were randomly spotted around the face, making the entire thing seem much darker than Apep's other coloration.
He was terrifying and strong and powerful and absolutely pissed off. Without even a move, he whipped his tail around and shattered the gun still in the leader's hand with deadly precision. Scrap metal thudded against the ground.
Team Rocket seemed far from confident. Houndour had once stood a foot above Apep but now, with the cobra pokemon fully raised up, it was the shorter by about four feet. It bared its fangs and looked up, but a single glance at the face on Apep's hood and it flinched, muscles tight, unable to perform a move.
Apep lunged forward and sank his fangs into the houndour's chest. With an ease obviously insulting, he flung the writhing pokemon into the closest wall where it slid to the ground, limp.
The leader backed away slowly, hands raised in an innocent position above his head. He dropped what little remained of his gun on the ground and the other grunt who had one did the same. A single Poison Sting burning with toxicity began to eat away at the metal, turning it to a melted mass of bubbling slag.
Apep hissed, and the sound was like thunder. Using the tip of his tail, he made it gleam with Iron Tail before slamming it into the ground, breaking through the tiles with uncanny ease. A grounding pole. He offered a single coil to Ash, brushing it against his leg.
The effect was instant. Apep hissed with pain as the electricity flowed out of Ash and through him, curing his paralysis and flowing into the ground. He had figured it out a while ago but while it worked with lightning, pokemon's electricity didn't work the same. It wanted to attack - and so while they could get it out of their bodies and into the ground, it still hurt them greatly. Helped with paralysis though, and he was definitely trying to teach it to all of his pokemon. Apep had always been a fast learner.
Team Rocket, at Ash's gesture, slowly backed up into a corner, though their eyes were fixed on the gently swaying Apep. They each handed over their pokeballs, though the leader scowled and nearly didn't obey when Ash got to him. A single glare from Apep and that problem was solved. He recalled the houndour.
His pokemon walked up to him. Ro rumbled, retracting his barbs and shaking the last of the golbat's poison off of his skin. Vulpix still glowed with fire but nothing had touched her. Siren giggled, touching his shoulder with her arm.
They all headed closer to the grunts, though Apep didn't need any help guarding them. Siren's almost cackle kept one grunt from taking a step forward, though Apep stretched out farther and completely covered their escape unless they wanted to walk over his scales. Ro tensed his legs, eyes flicking over their bodies. He seemed a bit surprised at the number of weak spots that became apparent to him with Focus Energy, rumbling them out.
Vulpix still seemed furious, spitting fire. One grunt - the owner of one of the raticates, Ash remembered - hissed as embers crackled next to his feet, several popping against his skin. The rough scent of burning hair filled the room, but it wasn't enough for her. Fire flickered behind her eyes until Ash whistled, calling her off.
Ash walked back over to the counter, stepping carefully over the remaining fires. Reaching behind the counter, he grabbed a small bag used to transport fragile medical supplies and dumped the grunts' pokeballs inside.
He couldn't see Nurse Joy through the glass of the door she had disappeared through. With a last glance over toward Apep who was still keeping the grunts frozen, he knocked rather politely on the door.
Nurse Joy's face appeared, and now she looked fully awake from the ghostly presence. Her eyes were narrowed and a pokeball was tight in her hand, but when she saw Ash she relaxed. Ash stepped back to let her through after she unlocked the door.
They walked back into the room where Nurse Joy promptly froze and prepared to throw her pokeball. Ash tensed, ready to command his pokemon, but he still only saw Apep. Realization hit him.
"Stop! That's my pokemon!" He shouted, freezing her in the act. She glanced back over the room, finally noticing that Apep was keeping the Rocket grunts from escaping instead of protecting them. Her shoulder sagged.
"I've called the League but my call was cut off by the fire alarm. The police department should be here soon and Officer Jenny should be able to call backup to get these criminals into prison cells."
The leader flinched away from her furious glare.
"Did any of your pokemon get hurt?"
"Not a single hit landed on them," he said, his chest puffed up. "But Apep did evolve. Do you think you could check him over? His pattern isn't right and I don't think he should be this long."
Nurse Joy nodded, glancing over the arbok with a watching eye. "Arbok have been known to have different patterns in different regions, but if you got him from Professor Oak he's most likely Kanto born and raised. I can do that tonight and give you the results tomorrow morning, if that's okay?"
He grinned and thanked her. Not a minute later, the glass doors open and Officer Jenny walked in, an enormous arcanine watched with shrewd eyes from behind the glass. There was a scowl on her face but none of the blankness the ghostly presence had caused. Her police outfit was pristine and her blue hair combed back, sharp eyes flicking over the entire room before she entered.
"I got a fire alarm warning from here but I'm thinking there's another problem?" She honestly growled as she saw the Team Rocket grunts, hands clenching into fists by her side. "That'll do it."
Ash stood forward. "They were hiding in here under a psychic barrier, but when they revealed themselves I was able to fight them off. I think my vulpix triggered the alarm, sorry about that."
She waved her hand. "That's hardly a problem. Any reason they were going after you?"
The grunts seemed almost miffed to be talked about while they were standing right there, though they didn't move with the threat of a powerful arbok still looming very presently overhead.
"I went into the Pokemon Tower and my ghost type talked to a gengar, I think? They showed me a snorlax on one of the upper floors - please don't get mad - and I managed to knock it out and capture it because I think it was forcing the ghost types to find it food or else it ate them. Or something like that. I was about to give it over to the League when they attacked me."
He was much less confident telling the story to Officer Jenny than Nurse Joy. Maybe it was because he had disobeyed the League and had gone into the Pokemon Tower upper levels, which was illegal. A pressure built in the back of his throat.
Officer Jenny snorted. "Ballsy, kid. I'll put it in the report but no black spot on your record. We've had Ace trainers crawling all over this town for weeks trying to figure out what was causing that energy and they finally just guessed it was the number of ghosts. I'm guessing the ghosts hid it or something?"
He nodded.
"Fuck. Anything hurt?"
"I think it might have killed several ghosts before I go there," he offered, knuckles white. Pokemon killed pokemon, he knew that, but ghosts were nearly defenseless against the powerhouse that was the snorlax.
"And then the Rocket shits showed up and your arbok managed to knock out their pokemon?"
Ash barely hid his preening at his starter. "He evolved once the leader shot me. It was something like a Thunder Wave gun, I think? Electricity that paralyzed me, but my arbok used a grounding pole with Iron Tail to get it out of my system."
Officer Jenny whistled as she stared over the room. Blackened tiles still kept a few embers burning from Vulpix and Siren's missed Night Shades had carved thin trenches into the floor. Ro had probably been the least destructive, which was a good thing because if he had missed with his Horn Attack he could have taken a wall out.
"I've actually heard of you from Pewter and Viridian. Bit of a reputation you're gaining among the police departments, which could be a bad thing if you ever get strong enough for us to ask for favors." She actually snickered at the thought.
"Three encounters with Team Rocket and you're only… two? Three months into your journey, kid? You've either got the worst luck in the galaxy or a backbone of solid steel. Either way, good job. I'll get the League ready and you can send over the snorlax tonight, I'd prefer it sooner rather than later. I'm sure I can find some sort of prize for you, but I'm guessing you don't want one of their shitty pokemon."
Ash blinked. "Wait, you give out pokemon as rewards?"
"Of course. The League handles all criminal, abandoned, mistreated, or abused pokemon but after we get them through reconditioning, there's not much we can do instead of giving them to gym leaders, which is hard enough because we've got to find a properly strong pokemon of the right typing. Surge's got that little training place from the war in his gym he uses every now and then for pokemon that need to learn basic skills again. We've had to send a lot of pokemon there from trainers who evolve their pokemon too fast or pokemon whose egg was broken before they were born. He's a good man despite the appearance he gives out, saved probably hundreds from being locked in their pokeballs for the rest of their lives."
She shook her head, blue hair swinging. "Back on topic. Yeah, reconditioned pokemon are handed out as rewards, though its got to be a good trainer. Perfect record or one that's showed genuine remorse and has done steps to recover from any black marks in the past. Who knows, maybe I'll find something for you. But don't expect it instantly, though I'll give you some sort of answer tomorrow."
Ash visibly perked up. Maybe he wouldn't have to catch a pokemon here for the tournament - he really wanted to get out as soon as possible. It was a nice town, but boy did he not like it here.
"Now scram, kid. I'll call you down some time tomorrow."
Officer Jenny whistled with her fingers in her mouth, the sound shrill and piercing. Her arcanine pushed open the doors with one massive paw and walked inside, its fur flickering with flames. Vulpix narrowed her eyes at it but didn't make any movement.
Apep turned his head slightly to stare at it in the eyes. Before, when he was an ekans, he might have been able to come up partially up its leg. Now he made eye contact, a little taller than the fire pokemon fully extended up.
It yipped cheerfully at him before crouching down, staring at the grunts. An ember sluggishly exploded near its mouth.
Seven more officers came into the building, pokeballs gleaming on their waist. All of them had batons on their hips but they didn't draw them. Three stepped forward and tossed their pokeballs, letting loose two growlithe and one tangela. The grass type reached out with its vines and snatched a hold of each of the grunts, gurgling happily.
The rockets yelped and thrashed as they were picked up, but the tangela seemed barely bothered by the weight of four humans as it waddled out of the Pokecenter, closely followed by a circling group of growlithe to make sure the rockets didn't try anything.
Ash stopped Officer Jenny before she left, handing over the bag of pokeballs. She blinked at them.
"They're the pokemon I took from the grunts. They're all knocked out but I don't think anyone was too hurt," he said, holding it out. She took them, prying open the top to glance inside. Her eyebrows raised.
"Eight pokemon, kid? Not bad." She grabbed onto the bag and tied it onto her belt with precise strokes. "Be here tomorrow."
And then she left the Pokecenter.
Ash immediately ran over to his pokemon, letting them crowd around him. Before, it had been mostly equal. Siren had floated above but he had still been able to look up and make eye contact.
Now, Apep towered above them all. The snake seemed honestly confused at how to move now that the adrenaline had worn off. He slithered forward and missed his destination by about ten feet, unsure of his own strength.
Ash stepped closer, placing a hand on his hood. Apep craned his neck toward him, golden eyes gleaming in their much larger sockets.
Moving slowly, he guided the snake's head down until he was lying fully on the ground, stretched out to his full length, a bit over fifteen feet. That was well over double his previous six and the thick corded muscles were impossible to ignore. His hood was still fully extended but by pressing on one side until it shrank, Ash was able to help Apep figure out how to retract the flaps until they were pressed against his side. He walked back to the middle of the circle, practically skipping with pride.
"You guys! Eight pokemon taken down in a matter of minutes! We've never done something that big before and none of you were hurt in the slightest!"
Vulpix yipped happily, but she stared up at Apep with a bit of jealousy. She had been beaten by him before, when he was just an ekans, but now, as an arbok, he could probably crush her well.
"Don't worry about that, girl," Ash soothed, rubbing between her ears. After a battle she was always fiercely powerful, and he could feel his skin begin to burn. But he smoothed her fur back before pulling away.
"Apep is going to be checked out by Nurse Joy tonight so we can make sure nothing went wrong. All of you as well - that was a difficult battle, even if it didn't feel like it." Holding up their pokeballs, he recalled them.
Except for Apep. He kept the snake out, still stretched across the ground, and walked closer.
"I'm so proud of you, bud. You're incredible, and I've never seen anyone have a more powerful pokemon than you. I don't know why you didn't want to evolve earlier but I'm happy you decided when you wanted to. And you're definitely special - look at that pattern! Fifteen feet long!"
Apep visibly preened, even though he stayed still. He really didn't know how to move with his new form.
"Nurse Joy is probably going to run some checks on you overnight, but she'll heal you of tiredness before we leave. I don't want you to be sleepy before we battle against trainers on the road."
Golden eyes gleamed at the thought, and Ash laughed before recalling his starter.
His starter.
When he had first gotten his pokemon, he had been a tiny snake trying to take on the world. His strength had grown over his journey but now he had exploded into power, power his other pokemon just didn't have yet. He knew his Apep would be strong and that was heavily clear now.
Nurse Joy walked closer as he stood fully up from his crouched position, stretching lightly. His muscles were still a bit sore from the paralysis and he was definitely going to find a way to combat that in his pokemon - it was absolutely terrible.
"I'll have your arbok ready by tomorrow, dear. I have a theory but I'd like to do some research before telling you."
He bobbed his head to accept that before trotting over to the desk. Taking the key form her, he practically ran to his room and threw himself on the bed. Tomorrow he'd figure out how strong Apep was and receive a prize from Officer Jenny. Excitement bubbled through his veins.
Unsurprisingly, it was a long, long time before he fell asleep.
The next morning dawned bright but he was already awake at that point, pacing around the front room of the Pokecenter fully clothed and still damp from a quick shower. He had sprinted down there but, when he didn't find Nurse Joy, grabbed something sweet to eat. Another smoothie, but this one had a bit more sweetness to it. Gnawing on the straw, he finally sat down on a couch to wait.
An instant later, a door opened and Nurse Joy walked through, holding four pokeballs. Ash exploded to his feet.
She chuckled lightly, gesturing him to follow her. He trotted through the door and into a thin hallway, taking a sharp right and emerging into a room for experiments and testing. Apep was partially curled up on the ground, dozing lightly.
Nurse Joy stepped closer, setting the four pokeballs into Ash's waiting hands and grabbing a piece of paper off of a counter. "I've just got a few questions. Has he showed a lot of interest in evolving before, and does he have any sort of rivalry with either your frillish or your nidorino?"
Ash blinked. "Yeah, he really wanted to evolve to become stronger than my nidorino. He actually began to evolve a few nights ago but stopped the process by knocking himself out - I don't know why, but he made it seem like the time wasn't right."
"Ah!" Nurse Joy smiled. "Well, that clarifies it. Ash, all arbok have a pattern specific to their region - I'm sure you've seen the Kanto pattern before." He nodded. "That is known as the defense pattern, as arbok have very thick scales. They also have another ability of flinch power, as weak foes who go face to face with the image may freeze and panic, as I'm sure you saw the Team Rocket grunts do. But a little known fact is that arbok have a few other patterns they're able to harness with a lot of inner strength and fortitude."
She held up three pictures, each of arbok's hood. One was a sort of grinning clown's face that was uniquely terrifying, another with wide eyes and a small mouth, and the last the one on Apep's scales.
"These three are variation patterns. The first is the invulnerability pattern, the second the attack, and the third the speed. Arbok with the first can become immune to the power of poison type moves instead of just being unable to be poisoned. Those with the second have a body built for incredible attack. The third, as with your arbok, have very streamlined bodies and a larger size in order to be able to go to incredible speeds."
Ash blinked.
"Now, while he'll never be able to reach jolteon levels of speed, your arbok should be quite the speedster. He won't have nearly the same level of defense as regular arbok but he should be much faster. Other than that, he is a very healthy pokemon who will be able to fight powerfully."
"I have already told him everything so you don't have to try and explain it again. I don't foresee any problems except for questions about his design, and there were no complications with his evolution."
"Thank you so much!" Ash grinned, quickly recalling his dozing friend. "Why did you want to know about his rivalries?"
Nurse Joy smiled at him. "Well, your nidorino and frillish aren't very fast pokemon, but they are very strong. If your arbok has been consistently losing to them, he could be thinking that getting faster may be the only way to be able to beat them. And with your nidorino being kingsize and even slower, that is most likely the way he has decided to be able to beat him. Be proud - it takes a lot of mental strength to reject evolution."
He opened his mouth to thank her again but she waved him off. "I believe Officer Jenny is in the front room."
Immediately, he turned and sprinted out of the room. Nurse Joy laughed loudly before following him at a much more sedate pace. CHildren. Never walking if they could run.
She was right - Officer Jenny had just stormed through the doors, an absolutely furious expression on her face. Ash almost flinched back and hesitantly walked closer, catching her attention. "What's wrong?"
Jenny growled. "That obvious?"
He nodded.
"Team Rocket attacked again, this time the Pokemon Tower. We were bringing the other grunts back when someone noticed, and by the time we got there they had managed to get away. We did catch a single teenager who probably joined recently and most likely won't be too much help."
"What'd they take?"
"Ghosts. They were all weakened by the snorlax and pretty easy to capture, though they didn't manage to get away with all of them. But it might be years until that number of ghosts come back to the tower with how many terrible things have been happening."
Ash stiffened. He had known about how weak the ghosts were and had even thought about alerting the League to keep trainers out to allow them to recover, but he hadn't had the faintest idea that Team Rocket might attack the Tower as well. That hadn't even crossed his mind in the slightest.
She sighed and dragged a hand over her face, shaking her shoulders. "But I'm not here to gripe to you. ABout your reward."
He shoved the other thoughts away and focused on her. "Yes?"
"I've got two options for your reward. One, I give you a big fat check with seven thousand dollars on it right now. Cash it in with any Nurse Joy pretty much anywhere and buy whatever the hell you want."
The money would be nice, but he had a pretty good haul right now. Though he didn't shake his head, he listened on.
"Or two, I get a shitton of work and find you a pokemon. I have no idea what I could get you, but Team Rocket has become far more active than normal recently. I'll be able to find you something from them - hell, you might capture the grunt yourself, with the way things have been going."
Ash perked up. That was a no brainer. "I'd like number two, please. And I'm sorry about the work."
She waved him off. "I thought as much. But I will warn you - it might be up to a month before I can find you something that'll work well enough with reconditioning. And I'll say this again - you will have absolutely no idea what pokemon I will find."
He nodded again.
"Alright then. Give me your pokedex, I'll put a bit more of a private line so I can tell you if I get a lead. Lavender Town comes first but with two attacks in a single day, I should be able to find you something in these pokemon coming up."
"Thank you," he said, handing over his identification device.
She smiled at him, a real one, fingers dancing as she entered a number into his contacts. "Thanks for the thanks. Now, I'm betting you're going to skedaddle back to Vermillion for the tournament, right? Says on your profile you managed to beat Surge. You probably won't get the pokemon until a couple weeks after the tournament at the latest, though I'll try to get it a bit sooner."
He promptly thanked her again, to which she waved off. Saying a goodbye to Nurse Joy, she walked back to her police department, probably to interrogate the grunt she had captured. Ash shuddered. He did not want to be on the receiving end of Officer Jenny's questions, especially not this one.
Nurse Joy waved him over, scribbling something down on a piece of paper. "Here. I managed to find a League article on the speed variation, though it's a bit outdated. Should have a few facts on it."
"Thanks, Nurse Joy. Let's give the snorlax over, and then I think I'm going to go."
She sighed. "I expected that, and there's no way I could keep you here. The whole process shouldn't take that long anyway. Stay safe, Ash, and make sure to keep that arbok close to you. He'll be powerful once you train him right."
Ash grinned. "I know."
When he got back on the road, he felt a bit like he'd been suckerpunched. The last day had been action-packed, far more than his quiet days of walking down routes had been. Going into the Pokemon Tower, breaking the law, fighting a snorlax, fighting Team Rocket, Apep evolving, a promise of a new pokemon… it was all so much. Sighing, he brushed his hair away from his face.
But now he had only two weeks to get back to Vermillion and then to the SS Anne, and then to the tournament. There was a pokemon prize for that as well- maybe he'd even get his pokemon reward right after. It would be difficult to raise two at the same time but he knew he'd be able to handle it.
He looked over the bridges of Route 12 and readied a pokeball. Apep needed the time to get used to his new body, but he didn't expect it to take long. He had only grown in length and gained a hood, nothing like Ro's evolution in nidoking. It wouldn't be difficult at all.
It was difficult.
Apep fell into the water a grand total of four times, hissing furiously. His new strength made him shoot forward while his weight promptly stopped him from most of his old movements. He kept rattling his tail in frustration only to notice he didn't have a rattle anymore, and then had nearly smacked Ash off the bridges when he flared his hood in annoyance.
But by the end of the day, when they reached the end of Route 12 and transitioned back to sweet sweet dirt, Apep had started to get the hang of it. He occasionally slammed into trees but his much thicker scales prevented most of the damage and he had actually bent a tree backward one time.
At the end of the day, he released all of his pokemon and began training.
Apep was much, much stronger. He perfected Acid Spray nearly on the tenth try, and the first eight were all trying to figure out how to access his new poison glands. With his evolution, he had doubled his glands, as each of his new fangs had a new gland able of producing far more poison at far more toxic levels. Sickening green poison slammed into the ground, killing the grass almost instantly.
Gunk Shot would still take a while, but not much longer. No, what Ash was excited about were the new moves Apep could learn.
Ice Fang, Thunder Fang, and Fire Fang.
He had seen the power of those elements in Snorlax's punches, but Apep could eventually learn to both inject venom as well as harness an element when he bit down. So Ash threw his pokemon into learning Bite first, which was almost ridiculously easy with his new fangs. He already knew dark energy with Payback and in only a day had learned Bite. A day with a rock and many potions taught him Crunch.
Four moves in under a month.
Thankfully, it was taking him a bit of time to learn the others, otherwise Ash probably would have keeled over from sheer pride. He had started with Fire Fang, both to combat steel types as well as he had a fire type to help teach. Vulpix didn't really know how to teach and she didn't know the move but she did her best.
Unfortunately, her best was spitting Embers at Apep while he used Bite. Many burnt mouths later, Ash had almost given up until two days before they arrived at Vermillion, a single ember appeared in Apep's mouth of his own accord.
On the last day, he managed to produce a bit of heat, enough to cause discomfort. In the heat of battle he could burn his opponent, but Ash needed him to be able to do that on command.
His other pokemon were progressing as well. Vulpix had finally learned Iron Tail and was able to separate her three tails to hit a pokemon multiple times and was working on strengthening her Energy Ball slightly. Ro still took a few heartbeats too long but Focus Energy was down nicely, which was wonderful because it was a very difficult move to learn. Siren had perfected Absorb and worked a bit on shooting Night Shades faster, though that didn't need much work.
But not everything was nice. Brock had been right, on that message from almost three months ago.
When Apep was an ekans, he hadn't been that threatening. On a battlefield he had a powerful presence but off that, when he was traveling next to Ash, the skinny little snake barely drew attention to him at all. He just… existed, as much as any of Ash's other pokemon did, for other trainers.
But since he evolved, he wasn't just a tiny snake anymore. Six feet was impressive but fifteen was frightening. Having an enormous hood with narrowed eyes and bared fangs placed right above or next to Ash's head as he walked casually down the path did not help his image in the slightest.
People flinched as he walked by. Apep had over a dozen fangs, all shining and dagger sharp, and it was more comfortable to have his mouth slightly open as he traveled. The sight of those pearly whites hadn't exactly installed confidence in the trainers he walked past, and that was even without his size.
His challenges dropped to nearly zero. Beginners would scamper by, which was fine with him - they weren't a challenge for his pokemon and there wasn't much a reason to fight them anyway. But the rookies, like him, didn't seem nearly so confident even though machokes and kadabras and charmeleons trotted behind their heels. He knew Apep was big but he didn't understand the fear until what Brock had said hit home.
Team Rocket was known for three pokemon - zubat, raticate, and arbok.
Though people never figured out where they managed to get so many of them, it was generally assumed they had a secret breeding farm somewhere the League hadn't managed to find yet. Poison types were the easiest to train into pain and destruction, though dark types were better. But dark types were rare, and so Team Rocket turned to the deadly poison types. And arbok were the cover boy for poison types.
While nidoran and the line had the ability Poison Point, no other poison type in Kanto had the sheer amount of poison glands that arbok did. Every part of their body was a weapon, even their poisonous blood. And snakes were already regarded as suspicious because of a stupid story from so long ago. Poison and snake made everyone dislike them, and sprinkle in some Team Rocket and you've got a cake of sadness.
For Apep and Ash, at least.
But he kept his head up high and marched on. He could have recalled Apep but the snake needed exercise, something he was probably not going to get on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Vulpix occasionally joined him but only when she wanted to, and with the couple of storms he had suffered through in the grass fields, she preferred to stay dry and in her pokeball.
After a week and five days, he arrived back in Vermillion City. He was a bit disappointed, as Officer Jenny hadn't called at all. No updates on his pokemon, but he didn't have time to worry about that now. Ash quickly recalled Apep, stroking the snake's scales. The narrow streets just weren't the best place for a fifteen foot long predator.
And especially when Vermillion looked like it did now.
The city hummed.
Everywhere he was, there were thousands of voices filling up any quiet he could have had. People arrived by the hundreds in preparation for the tournament and every single restaurant was filled to the bursting with people despite it being neither lunch nor dinner time but somewhere in the middle. Hotels had every room light on and several places offered housing for extreme prices but people paid it anyway, walking inside.
The line to the gym snaked over half a mile through the city.
Trainers of every age and size tossed pokeballs and chatted with each other as they waited under the blistering sun, though most of them probably wouldn't be able to fight today. There were tents in people's arms and they looked completely ready to wait the entire night to be able to keep their spot.
Ash became very aware of his ticket, tucked into a pocket in his backpack, and made a mental note to protect it.
But he probably wouldn't be able to talk to Surge until after the gym closed, so he'd just find a room and do a little more research on the tournament and his pokemon's strategies. There was a rumor that some battles might be fought using two pokemon at the same time, which wasn't something he had prepared for.
The Pokecenter was stuffed to the brim. Nurse Joy looked beyond exhausted and didn't seem to remember her own name let alone him, and had apologized greatly before saying that there was no room in the building and people were already sleeping in the front room. She had already closed down the building to non-trainers even though they'd have to pay just to try and keep trainers in.
But that was fine with him, though a little disappointing. Following her suggestion, he walked a bit into the forest and set up camp, making sure to have a pokemon out at all times to make sure no other trainer came in and tried to steal his ticket. Pulling out his pokedex, he sat back and stroked Vulpix's ears.
When the clock ticked over to nine, he packed everything back up, there was no point in risking anything being stolen. It was only a ten minute trek back to the city and then fifteen minutes to fight his way to the doors of the gym.
The two trainers in the front looked overwhelmed as they fended off trainers from every angle, but they still had a sneer for him. He was almost touched. "Scram, baby. No challenges after the gym closes."
He shook his head. "I'm here to see Surge. I have a few questions for him."
"Oh really?" The girl shook her head. "Not a chance. Get out of here."
He had been facing people who thought he was Team Rocket for the past week. This was nothing. With a shrug, he pushed past them and stormed through the doors.
They both yelped but he was already inside, pushing the doors closed behind him. The gym was still brightly lit though several lights were shut off.
Surge stood in the middle of the room, talking quietly to Raichu. The electric type looked a bit worn, though not by much. It chittered and pointed toward the door, to which Surge narrowed his eyes and stood up, flexing his muscles.
His expression cleared as he saw Ash and he chuckled, marching over. Ash guessed the two trainers were expecting Surge to throw him out and cheerfully walked away from the door, grinning.
"Nice to see you, runt. Almost didn't think you'd make it here in time."
Ash shrugged. "I've still got another day. It leaves tomorrow, right?"
Surge nodded, a gleam in his eye. "So! You've come to see me again, and I don't think you're here for a shitty pep talk."
"Just a question. I've still only got four pokemon - didn't really spend much time in Lavender - and I was wondering whether I'll be at too much of a disadvantage at the tournament or something."
Surge scratched the back of his neck. "One on one, two on two, two on two, three on three, I think. One of those twos is two pokemon on the battlefield at the same time. So it'll suck to not have a lot of variety but you shouldn't be shit out of luck, if that's what you're asking."
Ash grinned. "That's fine. I think you'll be impressed by a certain pokemon of mine."
Surge raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. Raichu chittered and ran over from the field, leaping up onto the man's shoulders once again. The yellow of the pokemon matched the electric tone of Surge's shirt. "Really?"
He grinned wider and tossed Apep's pokeball onto the field.
The arbok reared instantly as he was released, towering above the field with a fanged leer. When he saw Surge, he hissed. His hood snapped out, baring the growling face upon the room.
"Oho!" Surge laughed, stepping closer. "Well brat, I haven't seen a speed variation in over ten years. Good to know some of my words stuck in your tiny ass head."
Ash just chuckled. Surge had harsh words but he had been right - Apep was built for speed, now even more so. While he had been training his pokemon for speed a little, now he had been focusing almost thirty minutes every day on sprints for all of his pokemon, and the effects were showing. Apep, despite his size, beat all of them every time, though Vulpix was always a close second.
Surge stared appreciatively at the snake. "He's a good color, good size, though his fangs are a bit dull. Get him biting something with some substance behind it instead of just sticks - you ever hear of the Totodile Trainer?"
Ash shook his head, thinking. Totodile were known for their jaw strength, their evolutions more so.
"Well, look into it. That'd definitely help him for biting strength. Other than that, hey. You didn't fuck up completely. Color me impressed."
He thanked the man, who, despite his boisterous attitude, looked about ready to fall asleep right there. Apep hissed once more in Surge's face as he was recalled, which prompted a laugh. When he left the gym, he was greeted by two scowling trainers, who obviously hadn't expected him to not be booted out by Surge. He tipped his hat to them as he walked through the squabbling trainers.
That night, he trained hard. The next day, he trained harder. His pokemon were tired but after twenty minutes of waiting in a line at the Pokecenter, they were ready and raring to go. The tournament would be the real test of his power and he was prepared to meet it head on - four pokemon, only two evolved, one of them considered Team Rocket's go-to pokemon, another thought to be the only docile fire type.
The sun burned overhead as he walked onto the dock, holding his ticket tightly. People shouted from the sidelines, offering money for tickets. People were shuffled into three lines for convenience. He joined his, staring toward the horizon.
A silver ship gleamed on the water.
The SS Anne.
Proton steepled his fingers, a dark scowl on his face. His stupid grunts had one mission - find the stupid brat who had managed to capture the snorlax before their plans were ready and take it from them. And they had failed to do such a simple task, even when he had trusted them with the prototype of their new gun.
At least the others hadn't failed, though they hadn't captured nearly as much as he would have liked. They had left one behind but the boy hadn't known anything, only the name of his executive. One of them inched toward him, a very hesitant expression on his face. There was a pokeball in his hand.
"Sir, we found the strongest ghost type in the entire tower. It's a gengar, and it knocked out several dark types before we could capture it."
He raised an eyebrow, interested. "How submissive are the drugs making it?"
"Submissive enough sir, but we suggest one more dose before you try and train it. It might attack you if it doesn't understand-"
Proton shook his head and the grunt instantly shut up. "There is no need for another set of drugs. I will… train it myself."
The pokeball in his hands seemed to burn from cold, shivering. The strongest ghost type Team Rocket had to offer, a gengar. And he had a few days to train it before his newest accomplishment would take place, one that would show the might of Team Rocket.
He set the pokeball on his waist, next to five other gleaming pokeballs. All of them would show their worth.
The SS Anne was a challenge, and he would gladly answer the call.
EDIT: 7/3/18 I have updated all fo the chapters! Minor changes for most but it might be better to read the whole thing over once again. Maybe. IDK just go nuts
Oh boy. Oh boy.
Hey guys, I'm back! Aren't you proud of me?
Also, I think I've fully jumped into twenty thousand word chapters. This one is about twenty one so that's pretty cool. I'm proud.
Writing camp was pretty awesome and this chapter was awesome as well! I'm super proud of how this one turned out. Ash was right - a ton happened, a lot more than normal for my chapters. Surge Advice ™, training, Snorlax, Team Rocket, evolution, promise of a new pokemon, training, SS Anne! Geez.
But yeah! We're really chugging along for this story. Also, I'd like to personally thank a wonderful reviewer of mine - Anime Nightwing39. They left an enormous review on my story and I dearly love the thing, and it asks a lot of questions. I have a few answers because its literately my favourite review ever so far.
Siren's whole bloodthirsty-ness will definitely come back. Don't worry about that. I hope I addressed 'Team Rocket arbok fear' this chapter, I just felt it made more sense with a very imposing arbok than a tiny ekans, ya know. Ash will catch one of the pokemon you've mentioned. I won't say which one, but definitely one of them. I'm planning on definitely keeping him in the six-eight range, and if I go above you may promptly slap me. There. I've never thought about Gary and Ash traveling together, but the idea has a lot of merit. Maybe a bit later? After the SS Anne might be a good idea, but Ash will, for the most part, do this story alone.
Also DEAR GOODNESS I love the questions. I will try my best to put them all in!
So in response to Nightwing's amazingness, I have decided that in about a week or two, I will go back and edit all of my chapters, adding a ton of stuff and fixing the cringe of the first one. SHould be tons of fun, I get to add more foreshadowing, and there's a good excuse to read 150+ thousand words again.
SS ANNE IS NEXT CHAPTER SHOULD LAST TWO MAYBE IDK YET
I've got a few OCs nailed down but hey! Who knows? Maybe you could get in to! Submit (to me) your OCs! Yay!
But anyway! Please read and review!
Frost OUT!
