A/N: So, it's been brought to my attention that I've failed to mention that Ash caught Bulbasaur. I guess I just couldn't figure out how to bring it up in a way that would have it flow with the story. Yes, Ash caught Bulbasaur shortly after he caught Charmander. Ash just hasn't used him very much yes. I'm really sorry about any confusion about that.
Over the next few days Ash fell into a bit of a routine. Every day he would be woken up at 5 o'clock in the morning by Lt. Surge and they would train with Pikachu together. The work was hard, and Ash always woke up exhausted and returned to the gym sore. It was fun though. After training with Lt. Surge, Ash would always have a big breakfast. Immediately afterwards, he would work with Giovanni.
What Ash and Giovanni did together varied from day to day. On the first day, they had a two on two battle with each other. Ash didn't win, but he hadn't thought that he would. The pokémon that he had used, Pidgeotto, and the Bulbasaur that had been with Charmander back in Saffron City, hadn't been used in battle very much. Even though they'd had the type advantage over Giovanni's Beedrill and Rhyhorn, they had been way too overpowered. They had fought well though, and Ash was proud of them.
The second day, they had another battle where they used each other's pokémon. At Giovanni's suggestion, Ash used Persian, who was apparently the most easy going of Giovanni's pokémon. At Ash's request, Giovanni used Squirtle. Ash knew that any of his pokémon would do okay against Persian, but he also knew that Squirtle was the one who would be most interested in fighting. Ash knew that Squirtle hadn't forgiven Persian for defeating him back in Pewter City, and it wouldn't give up until it defeated the cat like pokémon in a battle.
On the third day, Ash and Giovanni didn't battle. Instead, Giovanni spent the next few hours quizzing Ash on pokémon information that had previously been told. Ash didn't remember everything, but he was starting to get the hang of type effectiveness.
On the fourth day, Giovanni had Ash work one on one with his pokémon to learn their individual movesets, personalities, and battle styles. According to Giovanni, the more he knew about his pokémon, the better he would be able to use them in battle. This was probably Ash's favorite thing to do.
After Giovanni and Ash trained for an hour or two, the man would go do some work. Ash had no idea what he did, he just knew that it usually involved a lot of phone calls and the occasional shouting. Ash was curious about what kind of work Giovanni did. He just knew that Giovanni was rich, so it must pay really well.
Ash had asked one time about Giovanni's work, and the man had just said that he would be told when the time was right, whatever that meant. After that, Giovanni insisted that Ash not be in the gym at all while he was working. Whatever Giovanni's work was, it must be important if he didn't want Ash to even have the opportunity to eavesdrop if he wanted to.
At first, Ash had been annoyed about basically being banished from the gym, but that annoyance soon went away. Whenever Ash was banished from the gym, Lt. Surge would take him and his pokémon into the city to show them the sights. Ash hadn't known how this would go, but shortly after they left the gym, Ash realized that Lt. Surge was basically a completely different person when he wasn't training.
Ash had never really been intimidated by Lt. Surge, but when it came to training, the man was all business. Lt. Surge was strict and hard working, and he always made sure that Pikachu and Ash put their all into training. Ash didn't mind this so much, as he was pretty serious about training too, but this level of no-nonsense wasn't exactly something that Ash wanted to deal with outside of battle training.
Lt. Surge was nothing like that when they weren't training though. He was fun and relaxed. When they weren't training, Lt. Surge just wanted to have a good time, and that was something that Ash could get behind.
Lt. Surge would let Ash have all of his pokémon out just to let them play, which Ash really appreciated. Giovanni had always disapproved about Ash having even one of his pokémon out of their pokéballs. He said that he didn't think that Ash should spoil his pokémon so much. Lt. Surge encouraged Ash's interaction with his pokémon. According to the blond man, if his pokémon felt comfortable around him, they'd be more willing to help him out when he really needed it.
One day, Lt. Surge even let all of his pokémon out of their pokéballs to join in on the fun. Ash had only ever seen Lt. Surge's Electabuzz before. He was excited to see the other electric type pokémon, like Magneton and Electrode. Ash was especially interested in Lt. Surge's last pokémon. And orange mouse looking creature that Lt. Surge called Raichu.
"That looks a lot like Pikachu." Ash commented as his own electric mouse glared at the Raichu, sparks charging in his cheeks. "Is that what Pikachu is going to evolve into?"
"Yep." Lt. Surge nodded proudly. He then looked over at Ash, a weird look in his eyes. "You can evolve your Pikachu now, if you want?"
"What?" Ash looked at Lt. Surge in shock. "I thought that pokémon only evolved when they were strong enough." Ash hadn't known that a trainer could choose when their pokémon evolved.
"Usually that's true." Lt. Surge smirked. "Some pokémon though, like Pikachu, can evolve just by touching a stone like this." Lt. Surge reached into his pocket and brought out a green stone with a yellow bolt shape inside of it.
"Whoa." Ash looked at the stone curiously. Pikachu stopped growling at Lt. Surge's Raichu and jumped onto Ash's lap to take a look at the stone.
"This is a thunderstone." Lt. Surge explained. "If a Pikachu were to touch this, they would become a Raichu, no matter how strong or weak they are." Lt. Surge looked at Ash, an eager look in his eyes. "Here, why don't you give it a try?"
"Huh?" Ash looked up from the stone. "Are you...giving this to me?"
Lt. Surge shrugged. "Sure, I don't currently have a pokémon that needs one." Lt. Surge offered it out to him. "Go ahead."
Ash looked back down at the stone, and then he looked at Pikachu. Ultimately, this should be Pikachu's decision. After all, it was Pikachu who would be the one evolving. If Pikachu wanted to be a Raichu, Ash said go for it. If he wanted to stay the way he was, Ash was fine with that too. After Ash and Pikachu looked at each other for a few moments, they came to an understanding without either of them having to say a single thing.
Ash grinned and looked back at Lt. Surge. "I think we're good."
Lt. Surge blinked in shock. "You...don't want to make your pokémon stronger?"
"We don't need to evolve to get stronger." Ash smiled as Pikachu climbed onto his shoulder and nudged his cheek. Ash scratched around Pikachu's ears. "I like Pikachu just the way he is."
"Pika!" Pikachu cried out happily in agreement. Out of the corner of his eye Ash thought he saw Charmander looking at him strangely, but when he turned to look Charmander's back was to him. He had probably just been imagining things.
Lt. Surge sighed. "Fine, it's your pokémon." The man handed the stone to Ash anyways. "Keep it though, just in case you change your mind."
"Okay." Ash nodded. He took the Thunderstone, though he was careful to keep it away from Pikachu, and put it into his bag.
"You're a weird kid," Lt. Surge commented. He sounded confused, but his tone didn't sound like an insult. "Why wouldn't you want to evolve your pokémon?" Just after Lt. Surge asked this question, before Ash could correct him, a flamethrower attack came directly towards them. Lt. Surge's quick instincts and ability to grab Ash and dive out of harm's way was the only thing that kept them from being burned.
"That was close." Ash groaned. He sat up to see that all of their pokémon that had been playing before had all stopped. Many of them were looking at Charmander, who was tense and glaring at Ash. The flame on his tail burned brighter than it usually did. Ash looked at his pokémon in shock. "Charmander, was that you?"
"Char, charmander." The fire pokémon growled. "Char!"
"What's up with him?" Ash asked.
Lt. Surge looked at Charmander strangely. "Was that a...flamethrower?"
"Yeah." Ash got to his feet. He looked at Lt. Surge. "Is that weird?"
Lt. Surge smirked, a strange look came to his eyes, similar to the look that Giovanni sometimes got in his eyes when he talked about the legendary pokémon that Ash thought he had seen. "Your Charmander must be a really high level for it to know flamethrower. It's not usually a move that Charmanders learn until after they evolve."
"Really?" Ash looked at his pokémon, who was still glaring at him. "Charmander's always known flamethrower, ever since I got him from Damian."
"So Charmander's a traded pokémon." Lt. Surge got to his feet too. "That explains why he attacked you. Traded pokémon tend to be more irritated with their new trainers."
"...I didn't know that." Ash frowned. He could tell that Charmander was upset about something, but he didn't know what. "Why's he so mad?"
Charmander growled at Ash. "Charmander. Char, char!"
"Uh…" Ash grimaced and looked at Lt. Surge. "I don't know what he's saying."
"Raichu, can you translate for us?" Lt. Surge asked his own electric mouse.
"Raichu," Lt. Surge's pokémon agreed happily. It gestured to Charmander, and then to Pikachu, and then proudly to itself "Rai, rai." Raichu then gestured to Charmander again, and then pointed up while stretching as tall as he could while he pretended to roar. It was an abstract translation that didn't make much sense to Ash. Lt. Surge, on the other hand, seemed to understand it completely.
"Oh, yeah, that makes sense." Lt. Surge nodded. He turned to Ash. "Charmander's been ready to evolve for awhile now, and he's not happy that you don't want him to."
"I...you understood that?" Ash asked. Lt. Surge shrugged and pet his Raichu's head.
"Trust me, after you've been with your pokémon for a few years, you learn how to understand them." Lt. Surge said.
"Oh, okay." Ash nodded. Once he knew how Lt. Surge had understood his pokémon, he was ready to think about just what he had told him. "Wait, Charmander, you're ready to evolve?" Ash looked at his pokémon. He would be excited for Charmander, if he wasn't a little hurt about what else Lt. Surge had said. "And what do you mean I don't want you to evolve? Of course I do!"
"...Char?" Charmander tilted his head and looked at Ash curiously. Bulbasaur looked equally confused. Ash frowned. Had he done something wrong? What had he done to make Charmander feel like he couldn't evolve? Did Squirtle and Bulbasaur feel the same way? Were all of them holding back because of something he had done?
Ash felt a nudge at his arm. He turned to see Lt. Surge watching him impatiently. "Why don't you stop moping and talk to your pokémon? They won't understand what you want from them if you don't tell them."
Ash didn't know what he was supposed to say to his pokémon, but he would give it a try. Ash took a few steps closer to Charmander and knelt down on the ground in front of him. Ash held a hand out to Charmander, but didn't actually grab him. Charmander could sometimes be picky about being held or touched, and Ash didn't want to upset him any more than he already had.
"Charmander, just because I don't want Pikachu to evolve doesn't mean I don't want any of the rest of you to evolve." Ash smiled kindly at his pokémon, who watched him cautiously. "The only reason I don't want Pikachu to evolve is because I know that it's not what he wants. If it's what you want, I say go for it. I just want you to be happy."
"...Char?" Charmander took a step towards Ash and lowered his head. Ash grinned and gently put his hand on Charmander's head. The pokémon flinched slightly, but didn't pull away.
"Yeah, really." Ash promised. He gently pet Charmander's head. "If you want to evolve, you should. Pidgeotto and Butterfree did." Ash didn't mention that he had caught Pidgeotto the way he was, as he didn't know if that would get Charmander angry all over again. "It's completely your choice."
No sooner had the words left Ash's mouth did Charmander begin to glow white. Ash recognized this glow from when Caterpie had evolved. Charmander was evolving. A moment later, Charmander began to grow until he was much closer to Ash's size, though still a little shorter. After Charmander stopped growing, the bright light went away and Ash was able to get a good look at what his pokémon had become.
"A Charmeleon." Lt. Surge whistled lowly. "I knew he was ready for evolution, but I've never seen it happen so suddenly. It's like he was just waiting for your approval."
"Well, he's got it." Ash beamed and threw his arms around Charmeleon's neck. "You look great." Ash laughed, completely overjoyed. He could feel Charmeleon tense slightly, and his body became noticeably hotter, but he didn't do anything to force Ash away. Charmeleon was clearly annoyed, but he was willing to tolerate his trainer's excitement, which Ash was relieved about.
Charmeleon let out a low growl, though it didn't seem to be in irritation. Ash hoped that it was a content growl, because that had been what Ash was going for. Charmeleon let Ash hold onto him for a few moments before he turned towards and other pokémon and let out a loud, proud roar. Bulbasaur responded with an annoyed growl.
Ash frowned slightly and looked at Bulbasaur. Were the two of them fighting? Ash wasn't happy about that. Bulbasaur and Charmander's relationship had started off rocky, but Ash had hoped that they had gotten over it. What had gotten them fighting again? Or had they ever gotten along with each other in the first place?
"What's going on with the two of you?" Ash stopped clinging to Charmeleon, just in case he needed to step in and stop things from getting out of hand.
"Charmeleon." The fire pokémon roared again, using a flamethrower while he did so. Bulbasaur closed his eyes and looked away in annoyance, which just irritated Charmeleon even more. Charmeleon growled and tensed. Ash could see that he was preparing himself for a battle, which was the last thing that Ash wanted. He loved a good pokémon battle as much as the next person, but he didn't think that battles should be fought in anger. They were for fun, they were for sport, not a way to beat up one's enemies.
"Charmeleon, stop!" Ash grabbed onto his Charmeleon again, though this time it wasn't a joyful embrace, but more out of desperation. "No fighting!" Charmeleon ignored his command. Lt. Surge had said that traded pokémon didn't listen to trainers as well as other pokémon did. Even if Charmeleon wasn't irritated with him, he was still mad, and definitely wasn't in the mood to listen.
"Bulbasaur, calm down!" Ash hoped that his other pokémon would listen to reason. It was no good. Bulbasaur looked as ready for a fight as Charmeleon was, and Bulbasaur wasn't usually much of a fighter.
Ash didn't know what was going. Neither of his pokémon were listening to him, and Ash didn't know what to do about it. He didn't want them to fight, but he didn't know how to stop them. He felt so overwhelmed, and he didn't know what to do.
"Calm down, Ash." Lt. Surge put a firm hand on Ash's shoulder. "You need to take control of the situation before it gets out of hand."
"I...I don't know how." Ash tightened his grip around Charmeleon, but he knew that it wouldn't do anything to hold the pokémon back if he charged to attack Bulbasaur.
"Think for a second, kid," Lt. Surge said, though not unkindly. "You have the tools you need to stop them."
Tools...actually, Ash did have an idea, because he didn't know what it would solve. His pokémon would still be mad at each other, and their anger might just get even worse. But it was the only thing that Ash could think of to stop Charmeleon and Bulbasaur before they hurt each other or themselves.
Ash lowered his head and reluctantly let go of Charmeleon. Just as he had thought, Charmeleon had rushed towards Bulbasaur the second that Ash had let go of him. Before any attacks could hit Ash took two pokéballs out and returned his angry pokémon. With the crisis averted, for the moment, Ash looked down at his two pokéballs and frowned. It wasn't supposed to be like this.
Ash sat down on the ground. He was probably imagining it, but he thought that he could still feel heat coming from Charmeleon's pokéball. He was so mad, and Ash didn't understand why. He had thought that everything was better. Ash had explained to Charmander how he felt about evolution, and then he had evolved. Ash had thought that this had meant that Charmander wasn't mad at him anymore, but then he had gotten mad all over again.
Ash had watched a lot of pokémon battles on television, and none of those trainers had pokémon that disobeyed them. Those pokémon always did what they were told, even if it didn't make much sense. Ash's pokémon weren't doing that though, and he felt like he was doing something wrong because of it.
"What am I supposed to do?" Ash asked, because he really didn't know. Lt. Surge had more experience with training pokémon. The man knew how to teach both Pikachu and Ash how to use electric attacks the best way. Maybe he would know about what he should do about Charmeleon and Bulbasaur.
"Honestly, I don't know." Lt. Surge sat down on the ground next to Ash. "I know how electric types work. They're stubborn pack creatures who will obey the Alpha, but attack somebody that they feel threatened by. I know how to deal with that." Ash knew he did, because that was what he had been teaching him. How to be recognized as the leader without making himself be seen as a threat.
"Fire pokémon though?" Lt. Surge shook his head. "In my experience, they're extremely sensitive. They get upset and angered more easily than other types do. And grass pokémon think that just because they have a connection to nature means that they know everything."
"I can recognize these things in pokémon, but I don't have the slightest idea of what to do about it." Lt. Surge admitted slowly. "But, I may know somebody who can help."
"Really?" Ash looked up at Lt. Surge in shock. "Who? Are they an expert in fire pokémon? What about grass pokémon?"
"Nah, he's more of a poison kind of guy." Lt. Surge said, which Ash didn't understand. How would a poison type expert be able to help? Ash knew that Bulbasaur was part poison type, but he felt like Bulbasaur wasn't the main problem, Charmeleon was. "He's a really good trainer though, and a really good teacher. He'll probably be able to help you get your pokémon back under control again."
It would be nice if his pokémon would listen to him. What Ash really cared about though was that his pokémon stopped being angry at each other. Maybe Lt. Surge's friend would be able to help with this too. "When can we go see your friend? Does he live nearby?"
"Not exactly." Lt. Surge snickered. "Koga lives near Fuschia City." Ash hadn't even heard of that city before. "We would have to talk this idea over with Giovanni, but I think he'd be alright with it."
"Right!" Ash suspected the same thing. As far as he could tell, Giovanni didn't really have a specific goal since they had left Saffron City. Giovanni could do his actual work anywhere, and he seemed to choose their location based off of Ash's needs. If Lt. Surge thought that Ash could become a better trainer by learning from Koga in Fuschia City, Giovanni would probably go with it.
Ash didn't understand why Giovanni was so invested in his training, but he wasn't complaining . It was great to have people around he knew what they were doing. Ash was learning more and more from Giovanni, Lt. Surge, and Sabrina every single day. It was really nice of all of them to help him, and Ash's mother had always taught him to never look a gift Ponyta in the mouth. So Ash didn't bother asking why, and he was just grateful for all the help.
...Even if he was a little curious.
A/N: I had to finish this chapter before I talked myself out of it. I was a little hesitant to evolve Charmander at this point, as it usually takes Ash longer than about a week to evolve his pokémon, especially in the first season. The thing is, we don't know how strong Charmander was when Ash got him. And in this story, Ash spends hours every single day training with his pokemon. I imagine this would get them stronger faster than the odd pokémon battle or two during a lunch break would, which is how most of their training happens in the show. And, even in the show itself, I always got the feeling that Charmander had been ready to evolve for quite some time, and he just didn't until the situation was right. Same for when Charmeleon evolved into Charizard.
