A Hero's Rebirth
Chapter Ten: Battle-Heads
Outside the Pokemon Center was a backyard large enough to hold a single battle arena. Luckily for Ash and Ashley, it was early enough in the day that it wasn't being used by anyone else so Ash had plenty of room to show off his line-up of Pokemon.
"Alright, you wanted to see Charizard, didn't you?" Ash asked her teasingly. She nodded excitedly, almost bouncing on her heels as Ash plucked a Pokeball off his belt reflexively.
He had pattern now, more so than he did when he was younger. Twelve Pokeballs were around his waist at any given moment, six of which were always the same. Charizard, Sceptile, Greninja, Garchomp, Gardevoir and Steelix were among his elite group of Pokemon who's powers could rival legends, including Raichu of course, and their Pokeballs were on his belt at any given time. Raichu was the only exception and, since he didn't ever use his, it was usually tucked away in Ash's bag.
The rest of the belt, the second half that held the last six Pokeballs, wasn't as set in stone. It varied on the day, the activity and the location they were going to. It didn't really matter in the long run because usually anyone else who was going would have his or her Pokeballs put into the bag.
"Charizard, I choose you!" Ash gave his battle cry and Charizard appeared in a flash of light and an ear-piercing roar of power. Upon noticing they had a visitor, he looked down, perplexed.
"Erm- hello?" He followed up awkwardly, bending down to her height.
Ash chuckled, patting Charizard's back as Ashley giggled and turned to him.
"Can I pet him too?" She asked. Ash nodded and watched as she reached out to pet the dragons' neck, scratching it lightly. Charizard smiled and moved to lick her face, causing her to pull away giggling. "I hope my Charmander grows up even half as strong as your Charizard looks!" Ashley proudly declared.
"You have a Charmander?" Ash asked her. She shook her head, circling around Charizard who was content to stay put and receive gentle pats from the new girl. Raichu, meanwhile, had hopped onto Charizard's back and smiled out contently.
"No, not yet. But I will soon! I'm supposed to go on my own Pokemon journey real soon, I turned eleven yesterday day ago but we were here on vacation so I couldn't start right away." She explained to him. "I actually live in Hoenn, but Kanto is where I want my first journey to be, so I'm going there to get my first Pokemon just like you did."
"And you want to start with Charmander?"
"You bet! Then Charmander and I will go around collecting gym badges and get strong enough to win the Indigo League!" Ashley declared. Ash smiled widely.
"I'll be rooting for you the whole way, Ashley. Maybe one day after you start your journey we'll cross paths again, and then we'll battle." Ash proposed. Ashley smiled up at him.
"Sounds like a plan, but don't expect me to go easy on you." She said teasingly.
Ash was absolutely floored. How on earth could he be reincarnated already? He wasn't even dead yet! Not really, anyways. And yet here was his reincarnation, his mini-me, standing right before him.
"'Course not, where's the fun in that?" He replied before reaching for another Pokeball. "Ready for some more Pokemon?" He asked her. She nodded happily.
"Sceptile, Greninja, I choose you guys!" Ash cried, tossing two more Pokeballs into the air.
Sceptile and Greninja materialized beside each other and cried out their names in a manner similar to Charizard's roar, although far less intimidating and ear piercing. Sceptile immediately placed a twig in its mouth, striking a pose while Greninja turned to Ash.
"Really, not a battle? You so did that on purpose." Greninja accused, but he resigned to looking at the little girl anyway.
"These guys are my strongest Pokemon, you know." Ash told her. "These guys have conquered a lot, so if you want to battle be ready." He told her.
She looked on in awe at the powerful elemental beings of fire, water, grass and lightning. Each one looked so calm but also like they could break the world in half. She could feel the heat radiating off of Charizard's tail-flame now and the amount of electricity Raichu was releasing into the air was making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.
They were strong, all right. But she would be stronger.
"You're the one who should be ready, Raidyn, because after I get my starter we're coming straight for you." Ashley declared.
Not literally, they both knew that, but it was an interesting challenge to make. It seemed that he had made himself Ashley's goal, a benchmark to pass of sorts. Anyone else would've laughed, wrote her off as just another kid with a fantasy or told her to get lost. But Ash knew that if she were as much like him as he knew she was, she would damn well catch up to him.
"I look forward to it." Ash said, reaching out his hand for her to shake. "Maybe the next time we meet I'll even be able to let you in on a few secrets." He told her cryptically.
Naturally she didn't pick up on the double meaning, but she was excited nonetheless to receive tips from a veteran trainer already, so naturally she pushed a little bit.
"Is there anything you can tell me now?" She asked excitedly.
"Don't give up 'til it's over." Ash told her his catchphrase. "That's what I always say and it's been working for me since before I was your age."
Ashley nodded solidly, as if vowing to remember the piece of advice. Ash almost told her that Pokemon were friends, not tools to be used in battle but he was sure she already understood that much. She was much too happy and excited to play with Pokemon and start her journey for him to be worried about her mistreating her own.
"How come your Sceptile chews on a twig?" She asked, looking oddly at it. Sceptile began to grow self-conscious and turned away quickly, causing his teammates to laugh.
"All Pokemon have interesting quirks of their own, Ashley, just like people do. Raichu hates Pokeballs with a passion, Charizard loves the color purple, I even have a Mienshao afraid of hair-ties…"
Ash had begun rambling now, talking about some of his other Pokemon while beginning to go through his bag to let them out. Ashley, despite what most would call rambling, was vividly hanging on every word.
Paul, meanwhile, boarded his ferry. It was an uneventful walk for the most part, although he would've liked more time between when he left Oreburgh and arrived in Canalave in case it wasn't so uneventful but he supposed it was no longer cause for concern since he was well on his way to the far away land of Unova.
He had made it in time with a few minutes to spare, so he spent the minutes leading up to ten o'clock in the morning by searching for a newspaper to take with him. Imagine his surprise and anger when Paul read the headline that Giovanni was released from prison already. He hadn't even left the region to warn Ash and they were letting the bastard free!
It seemed nobody trusted the words of the mysterious stranger enough to keep Giovanni behind bars and the nickname 'Dark Spark' was quickly drowning, soon to be forgotten, as the former Rocket boss would surely not like any more attention to be focused on the matter. He had thrown Domino to the wolves (or the Growlithe, in this case) for his own freedom apparently, according to the press in Kanto.
He made it like Domino was the head of Team Rocket and was using him as the face and threatening him to keep quiet while using his reputation as a gym leader for her own personal gain and hiding one of their many bases of operations under his gym. Paul glared at the newspaper so hard he almost set the thing on fire.
Paul grumbled to himself as he folded the newspaper enough to slide simply into his bag, deciding against lighting it on fire with his eyes in order to show it to Ash once he located the Kanto-native. He didn't doubt Ash would believe his story, the fact that he had traveled so far alone would be enough to convince the other trainer, but it would certainly carry more weight if Ash knew the extend of it.
After holstering the aggravating object, Paul had gotten on-board his ferry, the S.S. Taylor, and headed for his room below deck. He was a little annoyed at the change in circumstances, if he was being honest. He could've flown from Sunnyshore to practically the same place, Nimbassa was only a small ways north of Castelia but it was a quicker trek to Canalave than Sunnyshore from Oreburgh. Had he hiked over to Sunnyshore instead, he'd be arriving there at about the same time, as this ferry would be docking in Castelia tomorrow evening.
If he had gotten to Sunnyshore sooner, perhaps things would have been different. They had a fossil restoration in Unova, right? Paul shook his head, rolling his eyes at the situation. Nothing he could do differently anymore, he supposed. He was already on the boat so he might as well calm down, get comfortable and make do with the time he had until the docked.
The S.S. Taylor was big enough to have a battle deck, right? It had to be, Paul reasoned to himself as he walked by his room door, deciding on a different objective for the moment. He was going to find an opponent, and it didn't seem like he had to search long. Right as he was approaching the battle deck, he noticed there was already a battle going on.
On one side there was a trainer with nothing noteworthy about him except for the weird cape he was wearing. The pink haired woman on the other side, however, held herself with poise and power that Paul noticed immediately. It also looked like she had total control of the battle, her Pidgeot was leagues ahead of the other kids Poliwrath in terms of skill, power and speed. That much was obvious to Paul right away and it was enough to make him stay put while the pink haired trainer used flashy moves to win a totally one-sided battle in order to challenge her himself.
"Gary!" Professor Oak shouted suddenly.
Gary shot forward, the book that was resting on his face being flung forward and at the desk as the researcher fought to keep balance on the wheeled chair he was sitting on.
"I'm up, gramps!" He shouted eagerly, patting his lap searching for the book he had unknowingly flung at the desk. Oak rolled his eyes.
"Yes, I can see that. Just like I can see that you're working ever so diligently." Oak quipped, moving over to the desk and picking up the book. He held it out in front of Gary, who was searching his lap and underneath his legs still for it. Gary smiled; reaching out to take the book from the older mans hands.
"Thanks," He said sheepishly. "I was reading more about Spearow and Fearow habitats we could check out later, I guess I dozed off."
"Well, I've got something that might wake you up very fast. An old friend stopped by a little while ago, she's outback now with her Pokemon." Oak told him cryptically.
Gary thought hard for a few seconds on who this mysterious old friend could be before he shrugged and got up from the chair, stretched his muscles and cracked his knuckles.
"Alright, I'll go see who all the fuss is about. Thanks, gramps!" Gary said before he broke into a light sprint out the door and down the hallway, ignoring the sigh his grandfather produced as he slid down the banister instead of tripping down the stairs in his haste.
In no time at all Gary was out the back door of Oak's lab and standing behind a girl his own age dressed in trainer gear. She had a long brown hair that went down to her mid-back and was dressed in a light green tank top on with a plain white skirt, matching her white and red sneakers and her light green socks. What really sealed the deal for Gary was the white hat on the girls' head with red markings similar to those on a Pokeball.
"Leaf? Is that really you?" Gary asked in awe. The girl, now known as Leaf, spun around quickly and squealed at seeing her old friend again as she ran and threw her arms around him.
"Gary, it's been forever! I haven't seen you in so long!" She cried excitedly into his shoulder. Gary broke into a grin as he hugged her back.
He, Leaf and Ash had grown up together in Pallet Town. They were all friends before they started getting close to the age they would receive Pokemon, which was when Ash and Gary began to drift apart. Leaf, though, made it a point to never take sides and was primarily the reason Ash and Gary didn't kill each other in the year leading up to their Pokemon journeys.
She had never been one for gym battles, though, so he didn't get the chance to see her as often as he did Ash. She, along with the other kid who started from Pallet, had both dropped out of the gym battle circuit before collecting enough badges for the Indigo League way back when. The last time Ash and Gary had heard from her was after their battle in the Silver Conference, but even that was just a phone call from somewhere in the Seafoam Islands.
Leaf had decided pretty quickly after leaving the gym battle circuit that what she wanted to do wasn't battling, coordinating or researching. No, Leaf was on a special mission of her own design that Professor Oak had aided her in creating. Leaf wanted to be famous, but she knew battling and coordinating weren't what she was meant to do. So, she decided she was going to simply be the first person to ever catch all of the Pokemon that existed.
Excluding certain legendary and mythical Pokemon, every species of Pokemon had been caught at least once. A single person, however, had never achieved this. Leaf decided that, since she liked traveling and loved all of her Pokemon captured so far too much to give up being a trainer in general, that she would be the first person to ever catch every species of Pokemon there was.
Professor Oak had supported her decision whole-heartedly; admiring the dedication the girl was going through to keep the Pokemon that she now considered family. She wasn't ready to give up being a trainer but her heart wasn't in battles so instead the young girl literally created an entirely new and difficult task that was designed to take her ages for her entertainment.
So, the Professor had given her everything she would need. She had access to maps of all kinds of places across the world and she was given an early model of the X-Transceiver that acted like a phone, Pokeball holding system and Pokedex all at once. This Pokedex was special in its own right, though, made especially for Leaf by Professor Oak.
This Pokedex, that Leaf often liked to call her 'Green-Dex', was programmed with all known nesting locations and migration habits of all the known species of Pokemon in order to help her track them down. It could still tell her information about a Pokemon but only after a member of the species was caught. Last time Gary heard, she had captured every Pokemon from Kanto sans Mew and Mewtwo and was working towards catching all of the Johto Pokemon.
That had been almost eight years ago now, though. When he and Ash talked with her after the Silver Conference, she told them she was going to the Oblivia Region, an archipelago that was one of the most isolated regions in the world, in order to find Mew since Oblivia was known to be a region where rare legendary Pokemon tended to reside.
After that, they hadn't heard from her since.
But now, here she was in Gary's backyard once again, happy to see him. He should be mad at her, furious even, but at least she had returned. That was more than he could say for Ash so far. So, as he released her he smiled at her widely to show that there were no hard feelings for her disappearing. Not yet, anyway. Maybe when he found Ash he could just be upset at the both of them together.
"How's it going?" Gary asked her, looking behind her at her very large Venusaur. "I see your baby Bulbasaur's all grown up now." He noticed, petting the starter gently on the head. Leaf smiled.
"Great! I've gotten so many Pokemon, Gary, and I've almost completed four separate regional Pokedex's. Mewtwo, Ho-Oh, Jirachi and Deoxys are the last ones I need for three, and I've got quite a few mythical Pokemon from Sinnoh to catch still, but I'm progressing slowly but surely." Leaf told him, showing him her Green-Dex and letting him see for himself how many Pokemon she'd caught.
"How'd you get some of these, Leaf? You actually caught a Kyogre?" Gary asked, amazed. Leaf just laughed.
"Just because I'm not on the circuit anymore doesn't mean I'm not plenty strong. Some Pokemon aren't as willing to help me complete my goal as others, so battling is the only way." Leaf said with a wink.
Gary, though, found it hard to believe Leaf had managed to battle Pokemon like Kyogre, Groudon and Rayquaza into submission, but that was a matter for later. Right now, he had more pressing things to do.
"Leaf, I challenge you to a battle!" Gary proclaimed to the shock of absolutely no one in the vicinity. Leaf only smirked.
"You're on, bookworm." She taunted, tipping her hat.
Gary only smirked. This was going to be fun.
"Venusaur, cover Blaziken with Frenzy Plant, now!" May shouted to her two Pokemon.
Venusaur complied, becoming outlined in green and slamming its two front legs down into the ground and causing giant, spiked roots to start shooting out of the ground. Rather than send them at the opposing Pokemon, however, Venusaur made them form around Blaziken, creating a thick brush of vines with a pocket of space for Blaziken to crouch down under as the attacking Whirlpool attack busted upon impact, glittering light blue sparkles after it popped. May smirked over at Dawn, her training partner. Dawn only glared and looked out at her own two Pokemon, Piplup and Typhlosion's, wondering if there was anyway to penetrate Venusaur's defense.
"That was a great move, May, too bad you left Venusaur totally exposed. Typhlosion, Flame Wheel!" Dawn commanded.
Typhlosion ran off right away, jumping into the air and spinning while igniting the flames around its neck. After Typhlosion became a ball of red-yellow flames, it landed on the ground and rapidly spun towards Venusaur. Just when Dawn thought she was in control of the battle, May smirked.
"Do it now, Blaziken!" She cried happily.
Dawn was confused for only a few short moments before Blaziken busted up from underground right in front of Dawn's Typhlosion, going quite a few feet into the air. Dawn mentally cursed herself; of course May wouldn't leave Venusaur there like a sitting target against any Pokemon, let alone a fire-type. Blaziken had used Dig under the cover of Frenzy Plant, sneaking out underneath the bramble of vines and laying in wait for a sneak attack. Brilliant, really, Dawn commended.
"Come down with Blaze Kick!" May ordered next. The end of Blaziken's right leg was immediately engulfed in flames as Blaziken bent its other leg, intent on stopping Typhlosion from hitting Venusaur.
"Oh no you don't! Piplup, Hydro Pump into Drill Peck!" Dawn countered.
Piplup chirped as it opened its beak, a small ball of water forming before it pulsed out in the form of a powerful stream of water, going straight at Blaziken. Blaziken had taken initiative on his own to throw his body weight to one side, successfully moving out of the way of Piplup's powerful water-type attack. However, what it didn't expect was for Piplup to burst out of the torrent of water in the area directly beside Blaziken, the water-type starters beak was glowing brilliantly with energy as it spun around and around like a top, exiting the stream and ramming into Blaziken's midsection.
Blaziken cried out in pain as it was flung to the ground and Venusaur grunted as Typhlosion's Flame Wheel hammered against its head. Typhlosion and Piplup's assault stopped simultaneously, both flipping back to Dawn's side of the field in battle stances. May only smiled as she stepped forward.
"I think that's enough training for today, don't you think? Blaziken and Venusaur could use a rest." May said, patting Venusaur's head as Blaziken moved to stand beside her.
Dawn nodded, petting Typhlosion's back as Piplup rubbed his head against her shin.
"Yeah, you're right. We're pretty spent too, aren't you guys?" Dawn asked her Pokemon, who nodded tiredly. It was only a friendly training battle, but it was still tiring to battle. "You deserve a break, return for now Typhlosion." She continued, sucking the Johto starter back into its Pokeball.
"You guys too, return." May said, holding out two Pokeballs to recall her starters with. Soon enough, only May, Dawn and Piplup were left in the clearing they had found in the Petalburg Woods.
"That strategy sure was something, May. It was amazing the way Blaziken dug its way out from under that Frenzy Plant without any of us even seeing it." Dawn complimented, picking Piplup up to hold him in her arms.
"Thanks, but I was more impressed with you! The way Piplup managed to swim up that Hydro Pump while still using Drill Peck? Incredible! I've never seen anything link it." May replied back, reaching over to pat Piplup's head. Piplup chirped happily at the admiration.
Then there was silence. It wasn't an awkward silence at all, but May knew she had said something wrong the way Dawn kept her eyes focused away from her. Whether it was on Piplup, the trees a hundred meters away or the cloud, Dawn absolutely wouldn't let May catch her eyes until the brunette girl physically grabbed her shoulder.
"Dawn, are you okay?" May asked, unsure, although she had a pretty good idea of the answer. Dawn sighed, finally turning to look at May.
"You said you had never seen anything like that combination," Dawn started quietly and May nodded. "But I have." She paused. "It's so stupid, you know? That it's been so long and I still get upset about it so easily."
May knew immediately what she was talking about, having felt the same way herself often enough.
"It's not bad to be upset, Dawn." May said, throwing an arm over the bluenette's shoulders as they continued walking. "You were close, best friends. He was a big part of your life and mine too. I still miss him every day. It doesn't make you stupid to miss someone who's important to you, no matter how long they've been gone."
Dawn sighed. She knew May was right, really, but it made her feel so silly sometimes the way even the smallest of things made her bust into tears because they reminded her of Ash.
"I know what you need," May start, waiting for Dawn to look up at her. Once she did, May grinned even wider, pulling Dawn closer by her shoulders. "A vacation."
"I'm on vacation now, aren't I? I've been with you for the last two weeks." Dawn said in confusion.
May rolled her eyes, releasing her grasp on Dawn as she moved to stand in front of her fellow coordinator. Dawn came to a halt as May stood before her, her grin ever growing.
"It's a vacation for you, sure, but what about little ol' me, huh? I'm here all the time, just because you're here doesn't make it a vacation, now does it?" She winked teasingly. "We should go on a vacation."
"To where, exactly?" Dawn asked skeptically. Not that she was accepting, but she was pretty curious what May had in mind.
"I was thinking somewhere with a nice view, a beach maybe. " May suggested, turning around and continuing to walk again. Dawn hurriedly stepped forward to keep up with the other girl.
"You- I- we- we're in Hoenn, this is literally the most tropical region there is! Why would we go somewhere else to relax when we can trudge over to Slateport City and-" Dawn started to rant, only to be cut off when May dismissively waved a hand in her face.
"Because it's been forever since I got out of here, I miss traveling so much but there's just been so much happening recently. Ash disappeared, Max became a trainer and all of my friends and rivals had their own paths to follow except for me. I've been cooped up in Hoenn too long, Dawn; I need to see the world again." May argued with her.
Now that she mentioned it, Dawn couldn't remember the last time May had visited her in Sinnoh. For as long as they'd been close they'd always met in Hoenn, whether it was in Petalburg, Mauville or Liliycove they had met up in Hoenn. The last time she could recall meeting may outside of the region was just over a year after Ash disappeared and he was officially declared dead when a bunch of Ash's friends had gathered in Pallet Town with Mrs. Ketchum and Professor Oak to hold a funeral or sorts for the boys.
"I hear Johto is really nice this time of year." Dawn mentioned, stepping forward and linking arms at the elbow with May, who giggled.
"Maybe, but nice enough for beach weather? I'd love to work on my tan again…" May replied happily as she and Dawn made their way back to her house in Petalburg City. She wondered how her parents would feel about her leaving again.
"-And then Primeape basically just beat me up and stole my hat, back when he was only a little Mankey! So Charizard fought him for me and I managed to catch him, although I never did break him of that hat-stealing habit." Ash told her, looking over at Primeape who was basking in the Pokemon Center windows at his reflection wearing Ash's blue, large brimmed hat.
Ashley couldn't stop laughing at the image of the now-experienced and well-traveled teen getting beaten up and robbed by a small Mankey, the same one he would later capture no less! The whole idea was hysterical, she found, as she watched the fighting-type pose in the trainers' headgear.
"Hey, are all of these your Pokemon?" A new voice said. Ash and Ashley stopped laughing and turned around to face the newcomer on the field. He was a little older than Ash was, probably a few years difference, with brown shaggy hair dressed in what seemed to be a blue tracksuit.
"Sure are." Ash replied as he looked out at the group of Pokemon he had out now.
He had returned Charizard, Sceptile and Greninja a little bit ago in favor of showing the girl a few more Pokemon. Currently roaming the backyard of the Pokemon Center was Ash's Primeape, Espeon, Mienshao and Hawlucha in addition to Raichu.
"They sure look strong," The man commented. "Maybe even stronger than mine. I'm Jeffrey, by the way, would you like to have a battle?" He requested.
Ash paused, not really sure. He had already spent far too much time here, it was almost eleven in the morning which was two hours past the ideal time Ash would've liked to beat feet on over to Nimbassa. If he stayed and battled it would only be longer.
"I'm Raidyn and this is my friend Ashley. It's nice to meet you Jeffrey, but-" Ash started, intending to decline the offer of a battle until he heard another voice from behind them.
"Ashley," Linda's voice called. "It's time to go, honey."
"But mom," Ashley borderline whined. "Raidyn was just about to have a real battle! I might never get a chance to see someone like him battle in person again before I start my own journey! Please, can we stay and watch it, just a little bit longer?" The girl begged.
Linda looked at Ashley skeptically before glancing over at Ash.
"Were you going to have a battle?" She asked him.
Ash glanced between Linda, Jeffrey and Raichu in hesitation but when he glanced at Ashley and the look of pure joy in her eyes, he had made up his mind and nodded soundly.
"Sure was." He said, and Jeffrey pumped his fist. "It'd be really great if Ashley could watch, I think she could learn a lot from it."
Linda sighed and nodded, bringing her husband and son over to the bench on the sidelines while Ash moved over to crouch down next to his mini counterpart.
"Which Pokemon do you want me to use in this battle, huh?" Ash asked Ashley. "It'll probably only be a one-on-one so choose carefully."
Ashley looked around, studying the five Pokemon Ash currently had displayed and back to the few that were out earlier, like Charizard. She wanted to see how strong he was, sure, but she also wanted the battle to last longer so she could stay with Raidyn and Charizard seemed much too strong to cater to her current wishes, much like Sceptile, Greninja and Raichu.
So, she was left to pick between Espeon, Primeape, Hawlucha and Mienshao. He had told her Mienshao was the newest Pokemon he had, caught barely a few months ago, so that was the closest she would get to being able to watch a long battle today.
"Mienshao, can you use Mienshao?" Ashley requested happily. Ash smiled down at her, nodding.
"Good choice. Primeape, Hawlucha and Espeon, return for now. Mienshao, we choose you." Ash said, giving Ashley a thumbs up after recalling the others back into their 'balls.
Ashley and her family moved to sit over on the bench to watch the battle commence while Raichu scurried over to sit on the end of the bench beside Ashley for the match.
"Mienshao, huh? Alright Luxray, you're up!" Jeffery cried, lobbing a Pokeball and releasing his electric feline-like Pokemon. Luxray glared heavily over at the fighting-type, but Mienshao only crouched down, ready to fight.
"I guess we don't really need a ref, right? Standard one-on-one, no time limit, all that jazz?" Ash asked. Jeffery nodded his reply and Ash grunted. "You challenged me, you have the first move."
"Okay then, Luxray, use ThunderBolt!" Jeffrey ordered.
Luxray cried out its name as it released a light blue bolt of electricity hurtling towards Mienshao. Only, compared to one of Raichu's ThunderBolt's, even before he evolved, it might as well have been moving in slow motion so she easily took the initiative of dodging the attack without her trainers say-so, moving quickly to the right and only stopped when she heard Ash call out another order to her.
"Force Palm!" He cried out.
Mienshao rushed forward and thrust her right palm into Luxray's midsection from the side and a blast of yellow light exited the fighting-type's palm and sent Luxray reeling backwards. Luckily for Jeffrey, it managed to flip around to right itself and glared over at Mienshao.
"Go ahead and give 'em an Iron Tail!" Jeffrey called next.
Luxray nodded and jumped into the air, somersaulting as it coated its tail in steel-type energy and attempting to slam Mienshao with it.
"Block it with Dual Chop!" Ash countered.
The ends of Mienshao's hands glowed with a green-ish color as she crossed them over each other and put them about her head, locking the Iron Tail between them and stopping it from making contact with her own skull. Jeffrey gasped in shock while Ash just smirked.
"Acrobatics!" He continued before Jeffrey had a chance to counter.
Mienshao's body then started to glow light blue and it seemed to disappear from underneath the weight of Luxray's Iron Tail, the glowing tail now ending up embedded in the ground as the light-blue rocket that was Mienshao zipped around to behind the electric-type and continued on, smashing into its back.
The force of the impact broke its tail from the ground and threw Luxray forward, but its grace was gone as it skidded to a stop on its side rather than landing on all fours like before. It did, however, manage to stand up and growl back over at Mienshao, who stood calmly before Ash.
"Raidyn's doing great out there." Linda commented to Ashley, who nodded. Linda swore if they were in some kind of anime, her daughter would've had stars for eyes.
"He's just as strong as I thought he'd be!" Ashley said excitedly before looking at Raichu. "Are you that strong?"
"Stronger, actually. Way stronger." Raichu answered, although he knew it was useless to attempt to speak to her without Ash around so he tried to add a nod in with his speech to help her get the idea.
"Iron Tail again, Luxray!" Jeffrey called out next.
Ash sighed. They never learned.
"This battle between Leaf and Gary is about to begin. It will be a one-on-one match that will be over when either side's Pokemon is unable to continue battling and as such there is no time limit. Trainers ready? Begin!" Oak cried out, acting as the referee for the two long-time friends.
"Rapidash, fight for me!" Leaf called upon her fire-type racehorse.
It was impressive, Gary noted. It's flames were higher than most and it stood taller than the average Rapidash did, that was for sure, but nothing he was intimidated by even if he wasn't a full-time trainer anymore.
"Umbreon, you're up!" Gary released his Pokemon. Umbreon was one of his star battlers who had been in need of a good work out recently. It wasn't the same going against his teammates in battles as it was against other trainers.
"Is this Umbreon the Eevee that beat Ash's Pikachu?" Leaf asked curiously. Gary and Umbreon nodded in sync, although they shared a look.
"Good thing for Umbreon's perfect-at the time-record we didn't have a rematch of that battle. Ash and Pikachu got a frightening amount stronger after that." Gary admitted. "Don't ever tell him I said that." He continued quickly. He'd never live it down if Ash heard him admit that out loud.
However, he noticed from Leaf and Oak's downcast expressions that was the wrong thing to say. Right, Gary thought, nice going dumbass. Why don't you just go tell Team Flare he's still alive too while your at it?
"Right," Gary continued awkwardly before anybody could press further. "You can have the first move, Leaf, you'll need it."
"Alright Rapidash, let's use Flame Charge!" Leaf started.
Rapidash replied by stomping the ground repeatedly until red-yellow flames surrounded it. Then, it charged full-speed at Umbreon. Gary, however, wasn't worried.
"Dodge with Double Team!" Gary countered.
Umbreon barked and disappeared for a second, reappearing in sync with five other Umbreon clones flanking either side. Rapidash's Flame Charge continued going straight and collided with a copy, letting it fade from existence as it continued running.
"Fury Attack to hit them all!" Leaf ordered next. Rapidash's flames disappeared and instead the horn on the top of its head started glowing white. Then, it jumped forward to thrust the horn at the Umbreon copies, determined to find the right one.
"Don't let 'em get ya Umbreon, Shadow Claw on the ground!" Gary told it calmly.
Umbreon, before Rapidash could reach the real one, formed a claw with black aura in a purple outline and slashed it down across the ground. This managed to kick dirt and dust into the air long enough to obstruct Rapidash's vision since it was close enough to ground zero. Gary smirked while Leaf gasped.
"Now keep it going, Umbreon, Dark Pulse!" He continued his assault.
Umbreon formed a sphere of black energy from its mouth before firing a beam of black and purple circles at the disoriented Rapidash. Leaf cried for it to dodge, but there just wasn't enough time for the Fire Horse Pokemon to get entirely out of the way and was struck on the hind leg with the powerful dark-type attack.
"Use Flame Charge once more!" Leaf said next.
Rapidash wasted no time covering itself in flames again and charging, faster this time around. Still though, it wasn't fast enough to worry Gary.
"Quick Attack, dodge!" Gary told Umbreon.
Umbreon barked, quickly becoming outlined in white before it leapt away faster than it had moved before and leaving a white streak behind. Rapidash decided to continue on, using Flame Charge once more to charge the opposing dark-type while Umbreon had no choice but to use Quick Attack again as Rapidash was gaining more and more speed with each use of the fire-type attack.
"Get behind Rapidash, go under!" Gary ordered next.
Umbreon, while in mid-air, cancelled the normal-type attack in favor of a ground-type one. Umbreon fell down from the air and straight into the ground where it immediately began digging its way down deeper and deeper. Leaf, however, didn't seem all that concerned over the disappearance of Gary's dark-type. Gary noticed this and quickly became suspicious of whatever she knew that he didn't, but until she made her move he could only hope Umbreon successfully popped out behind Rapidash.
Luck was not in Gary's favor this turn, though, as Leaf struck first.
"Drill Run, find it!" Leaf commanded.
Rapidash nodded and jumped into the air, positioning itself so that the horn on its head was facing the ground. Then, it broke straight through the floor and tunneled through the underground maze trying to find Umbreon. After several long, tense seconds Umbreon burst through the floor with Rapidash behind it after having been tossed around with Rapidash's powerful horn.
"End it with Megahorn!" Leaf yelled, going for the finished.
Gary grit his teeth as Rapidash's horn glowed light green and it moved forward to jab Umbreon's abdomen with it.
"We're not done yet! Umbreon, stop it with Foul Play!" Gary ordered.
Right when Rapidash was about to make contact, Umbreon's eyes glinted and it moved to the side and kicked the fire-type in the side with its hind legs, sending them moving in different directions. Umbreon went further into the air while Rapidash went crashing down.
"Rapidash!" Leaf cried out in horror as her fire-type shakily stood from the ground and huffed. "Are you okay to keep going?" She asked and hummed in approval when Rapidash stomped its hoof on the ground, raring for more. "Flare Blitz, let's go!"
"Stop it in its tracks, Umbreon, Psychic!" Gary countered effectively.
Rapidash, despite being surrounded in a red-yellow blaze and charging full-speed ahead was still caught in the blue glow brought about by Psychic's power, glowing the same color as Umbreon's eyes. Still, Rapidash attempted to push through but its physical prowess was not as strong as Umbreon's mental prowess.
"Now throw it down!" Gary told Umbreon. Umbreon nodded and barked, tossing the still-flaming Rapidash to the side and letting it land lying down, its flames finally dying out as a dust-cloud stirred up.
"Flame Charge!" Leaf cried suddenly.
Again, faster than ever, Rapidash broke through the wall of dust in a ball of fire, running at the dark-type who instinctively used Agility to dodge without prompting from Gary, who sighed in relief.
"Umbreon's really fast, Gary. Even after multiple Flame Charge's it can still out-maneuver Rapidash. That's not something that can be said for many Pokemon." Leaf complimented.
If they had been kids still, Gary wouldn't have noticed she was biding time. Trying to keep his attention on her instead of the battle and let her come up with some type of counter-measure. Nope, Gary thought, not gonna work.
"Yeah I know, Umbreon's always been a speed-demon. Like now for instance, Umbreon, Mimic!" Gary ordered, surprising Leaf.
Umbreon's golden rings flashed and it stomped on the ground, mimicking Rapidash's movements. Then, it burst into a ball of red-yellow fire and ran towards Rapidash. When Leaf made no move to dodge, Gary only smirked more.
"Turn away and use Dark Pulse!" He changed tactics immediately. Umbreon and its newfound speed turned on a dime, swerving away from Rapidash and skidded to a stop where Umbreon unleaded the stream of black and purple circles from its maw once more, colliding with Rapidash's side.
"How did you-" Leaf started, but Gary cut her off.
"You didn't really think an experienced Pokemon researcher like myself would forget that Rapidash can have the ability Flash Fire, making it immune to fire-type attacks as well as fueling its own? What do you take me for, Leaf, a rookie?" Gary mocked. Leaf had the decency to blush, but her glare held firm.
"Megahorn, one more time!" Leaf cried out in desperation.
Gary was startled when Rapidash complied. He thought for sure that last Dark Pulse was more than enough to finish Rapidash off but it seemed Umbreon was more tired than he thought from running all over the place.
"Block it with Shadow Ball!" Gary told it.
Umbreon complied, charging the ghost-type sphere in front of its face just in time for Rapidash to ram its glowing green horn into, almost slicing completely through the fully-charged ball of spectral energy and nailing Umbreon's head point blank.
"Now Foul Play, again!" Gary's next command came.
Umbreon's eyes glinted again, pushing harder against the Megahorn and giving it enough room to jump out from underneath it. Once the bug-type attack rammed into the ground, Umbreon struck and body-checked Rapidash, throwing it to the side once more as it flipped and landed on its feet like an expect acrobat.
"Finish it with Dark Pulse!" Gary continued on.
Umbreon obeyed, firing the string of black and purple circles once more at the downed Rapidash. After that assault of attacks, both Gary and Leaf could see it was down for good this time.
"Rapidash, return. You were great." Leaf complimented it.
"Umbreon, you did great. Thanks, pal, you go take a nice break, okay?" Gary congratulated Umbreon, stroking its back as it barked happily. Then, Gary smiled as his Eeveelution took off sprinting down towards the pond while Leaf approached him.
"That was a great battle, Gary. Glad to see you haven't lost your touch." Leaf poked his shoulder playfully.
"You didn't think I hadn't gotten stronger, did you? I'm mildly insulted." Gary huffed back, crossing his arms. "But, as long as you're here, I'd love to hear about how you've caught certain legendary Pokemon. Even the weaker ones are immensely powerful." He dropped his annoyed charade easily; he was too excited to learn more about Leaf catching multiple legendary Pokemon and the world not ending.
"Sure, as long as you and Professor Oak tell me what you've been working on recently that has you up at all hours of the night scouring Viridian Forest." Leaf replied as she and Gary went back into Oak's lab.
Gary could only huff at the unpleasant memory and decided he'd leave out the part where he and a little Weedle were terrified of passing cars. Probably best for everyone, right?
"Luxray, use Swift!" Jeffrey ordered desperately.
So far the battle had been completely one-sided and he swore Raidyn was only toying with him. Mienshao had yet to take any actual damage beyond minor inconveniences, like wincing while blocking attacks like Luxray's Iron Tail. Still, Luxray obeyed and its tail began to glow and when it jumped into the air and swung its long feline-like tail, yellow sparkling stars materialized and headed straight for the crouching fighting-type. Since Swift was unable to be dodged, Jeffrey was sure he could at least land this attack.
Unfortunately for Jeffrey, Ash had other ideas and quickly countered.
"Rapid Force Palm, break them all!" Ash ordered.
Both Jeffrey and Ashley looked equally surprised at the tactic, as there seemed to be far to many starts to break with such a method. Mienshao, however, never one to question her trainer and friend, obeyed and thrust both its arms out repeatedly, the glow returning from her palm every time it made contact with a star. Soon enough, more than half of the stars were gone and Mienshao was still palming away, although it was noticeably more tired after such an exercise.
"Alright, no more being passive, right Mienshao?" Ash encouraged once all the stars were broke. Mienshao panted but nodded.
"I look forward to victory." Mienshao said and Ash only smiled wider.
"Let's go then, Acrobatics!" Ash cried out.
Mienshao glowed a light blue again before it jumped and ran at Luxray, intent on crashing head-on.
"Wild Charge, meet it half-way!" Jeffrey called. Luxray growled and ran forward, its body becoming shrouded in yellow electricity as it charged to meet Mienshao at the halfway point on the battlefield.
Only, Ash had something else in mind.
"Switch to Bounce!" He ordered suddenly, getting startled responses once more.
Just before the collision, Mienshao pushed upwards with all the might in her legs and went high, high up into the sky. The electricity surrounding Luxray dissipated with no target left to hit and both trainer and Pokemon were left to start at the sky in wonder of when Mienshao would plummet back down to the ground. Fortunately, the answer was soon.
"ThunderBolt, again!" Jeffrey ordered.
"Spin!" Ash countered again.
Just as Luxray's ThunderBolt reached the height Mienshao was at the Martial Arts Pokemon suddenly spun to the side, letting the bolt harmlessly pass her as she descended even quicker to the ground, landing hard on Luxray's back before using it as a springboard and hopping over to her trainer's side of the field once more.
"We're not done yet! Luxray, use Thunder!" Jeffrey exclaimed suddenly.
Luxray forced itself to its feet once more and charged an even bigger column of electricity, this one much wider than the previous two, and shot it forcefully towards Mienshao. Ash, thinking quickly as it also apparently moved much quicker than the previous two, ordered yet another bizarre tactic.
"Block it with Aura Sphere!" He cried out.
Mienshao quickly summoned the sphere of light blue energy in front of her between her paws, charging it fast enough so that it was big enough to cover her upper-torso and head. When the Thunder struck the Aura Sphere, it broke apart with the electricity going in all different directions, unable to penetrate the fighting-type attack.
Jeffrey was befuddled and Ashley was amazed, neither had seem an Aura Sphere be used like that before.
Of course not, though, it was another Ash specialty. He and Raichu, back when he was a Pikachu, had figured out that moves like Aura Sphere, Energy Ball, Water Pulse, Zap Cannon and the like were highly effective shields due to their natural, circular shape. When used against the right attack with enough time to charge it big enough, they were very versatile tactics to know. Against long-range moves like ThunderBolt, Hyper Beam and the like, it was a life saving strategy.
"Now fire!" Ash told her.
Mienshao nodded behind the collision of attacks and thrust its arms forward once more to send the Aura Sphere sliding through the Thunder unharmed and colliding with Luxray's face. Once the dust settled, the result surprised no one.
"Great job, Mienshao, you were awesome." Ash praised, petting Mienshao's head.
"Thank you, I did my best." Mienshao responded, bowing slightly to show her respect for her trainer.
Ash sighed. No matter how close her was with them, sometimes Pokemon just couldn't break themselves of their habits. He looked up to see Jeffrey walking towards him, Luxray returned and arm extended.
"That was a great battle, Raidyn. You were truly the better trainer." Jeffrey said as they shook hands. "I hope we can battle again someday when I'm stronger."
"I look forward to it Jeffrey." Ash said back.
As Jeffrey walked away and before Ash could even turn completely around he felt Ashley grabbing at his arm excitedly and Raichu scampering over to his feet.
"That was so cool! Mienshao totally overpowered that Luxray!" Ashley raved happily, letting go of Ash as she went to pet Mienshao.
"That's nothing you won't be able to do with the right amount of preparing and training." Ash told her. She nodded happily as her parents finally joined them on the field.
"That was quite the performance, young man." Tom complimented him. Ash scratched his cheek nervously. He never was one for praise from strangers after a battle. "Ashley seems to have picked a wonderful role model."
Ash ignored Raichu's snort at the thought that he was a good role model and smiled back widely while Ashley spoke up again.
"Where are you going next, Raidyn?" Ashley asked curiously.
Ash smiled, returning his Mienshao and clipped her ball to his belt.
"I'm heading over to Nimbassa City to challenge the gym." He explained. "Not for the Unova League, though, more of like a training exercise."
"Well, that's certainly an, er, interesting way to train." Linda noted. "Alright, well, we'll leave you to it then. Come along Ashley, we've bothered this man enough." She said next, putting her hand on the dark-haired girls shoulder.
"Hey, it was no bother at all, really. Raichu and I had a blast with you." Ash insisted, crouching down to Ashley's level as Raichu stood between their feet. Ashley smiled as she patted the electric-types head once more. "It was great meeting you and talking Pokemon with you, you're gonna do great as a trainer."
"As great as you?" Ashley asked curiously. Ash chuckled.
"Probably better, I'm nothing special." He told her. "You just gotta keep on going and learn as much as you can." When he noticed she still wasn't convinced he sighed and reached into his back pocket, pulling out a slip of paper.
"When you become a trainer and set out on your own journey we'll meet again. I'll be at the Champion's League in a few months; you're welcome to come too. And if you want to battle before then, call this number and tell them your looking for me, Raidyn Stark." He said, handing her a phone number.
Ashley smiled widely, holding the piece of paper tightly while her parents and brother walked her away from the battlefield. They were probably eager to spend some time together, Ash realized, and they might have been going to get those Castelia Cones Castelia City was famous for. Oh well, he thought, missed opportunities are plentiful.
He knew he shouldn't have spent all morning with the girl, really, but she was so eager and happy to learn about any and all things Pokemon. There was no way he'd have made it to Nimbassa without feeling awful for crushing her hopes of getting tips from a 'veteran' trainer. He could only hope he hadn't made a mistake staying and an even bigger mistake giving them Jessie and James' phone number.
"You ready, Rai?" Ash asked, slinging on his backpack and unclipping a ball from his belt.
"I've been ready since nine o'clock this morning, Ash." Raichu replied jokingly. Ash could only grumble as he released Charizard, who roared mightily again.
"Yes, yes, very scary, but hurry with the dramatics we're behind schedule." Ash encouraged.
"Oh well, and whose fault is that?" Charizard mocked, crouching down as his two close friends boarded his back immediately. Ash only huffed and patted the starters neck, indicating it was okay for take off.
And take off he did, for Ash had a gym battle waiting.
Soledad, that was the name of the pink-haired girl Paul had wanted to battle with as he soon learned. He also soon learned that she was a very skilled coordinator and battler, her Lapras making quick work of his Honchkrow.
His Ursaring, however, had managed to turn the tide of the battle and defeated Lapras with a strong Hammer Arm. So now, they were even. But this was the last match, as they had settled on having a 2-vs-2 battle and Ursaring had already taken damage. So when Soledad called upon her Togekiss, Paul knew he was in for a rough ride.
"Start things off with Swift, Togekiss!" Soledad cried out urgently.
Togekiss cried out, opening its mouth as a reign of sparking yellow stars came through and flew through the air and across the battlefield at Paul's Ursaring. Paul grunted at the challenge, expecting as much. She had started every battle so far with a move that could not be dodged, likely to see how her opponent would react to the pressure.
Pidgeot's Aerial Ace, Lapras' Smart Strike and now Togekiss' Swift all served the purpose of letting Soledad get a read on the trainers mindset and battle strategy with the particular Pokemon so Paul knew he had to shake things up. He had let Honchkrow take the damage, it was bulky enough, but he couldn't afford that now with Ursaring and Soledad knew it.
"Block them with Focus Blast." Paul commanded.
Ursaring charged up a ball of yellow energy between its hands and held the orb between the incoming attack and itself. The stars from Swift were breaking apart on impact of the orb. Soledad was confused for a moment and it showed, the pinkette audibly humming in thought.
"Fire it." Paul said.
The Focus Blast traveled quick enough to force Togekiss to instinctively dodge without Soledad's instructions. Ordinarily this would've been a positive thing, but Paul had been counting on this.
"Metal Claw, right." Paul continued ordering.
Ursaring growled, his right arm shinning while being coated in steel-type energy and glinting as the bear-like Pokemon rushed forward, making a beeline to where Togekiss had dodged to, and leaping forward to slash the fairy/flying-type in midair. Soledad gasped while Paul grunted. Togekiss' instinct was to dodge right, as he figured. Both Pidgeot and Lapras before it had to be instructed when to dodge 'left', but dodging to the right was just 'dodge'. With Pidgeot, it could've been an isolated occurrence but with Lapras too, it was intentional.
"Metal Claw, again." Paul ordered, but Soledad had broken out of her stupor.
"Double Team!" Soledad countered.
Right before Ursaring's Metal Claw slashed into Togekiss again it vanished and reappeared with about nine copies of itself, resulting in ten Togekiss images circling around Ursaring on the field. Paul's eyes narrowed at the tactic but he didn't order anything new right away, which interested Soledad.
"Steel Wing and spin!" Soledad said.
All of the Togekiss' wings began to shine white and they all turned to face the sky before spinning around and around sideways. The light from the Steel Wing was radiating off the spin, causing each individual Togekiss to appear in the shape of a diamond.
"Aura Sphere!" She added in.
With the Aura Sphere now being used, the 'diamond' shapes were now glowing a bright blue color that was quite the dazzling sight to behold. Paul, though, couldn't care less about how pretty it looked. He knew there was another purpose to this attack and if he had to guess it would be to act like a-
"Spin towards Ursaring!" The top coordinator now cried out.
-Gyro Ball, Paul finished his thought as they all began to close in on Ursaring who was standing in the center of the battlefield.
"Rock Tomb, across the field." Paul ordered.
Ursaring raised its claws over its head as it roared and white rings started to appear across the field, each dropping a sizeable amount of large, grey rocks through it. The rocks rained down across the field, harmlessly passing through the glowing copies of the Togekiss-diamond technique and the real one just barely spun out of the way in time of a particularly large rock, causing Paul to let out a small smirk.
Had she been almost anyone else and he would've attempted to speak up and say something to her. Something about her creative strategy or perhaps relying too much on the chance his attention would've been completely derailed but she had proven that she was more than capable on her own and Paul was not about to start talking and give her more room to recover.
"Climb the rocks and hit it with Metal Claw." Paul instructed.
Ursaring acted instantly, jumping up in tandem with the shine on its arms returning and attempting to slash at Togekiss again but Soledad was ready.
"Parry with Steel Wing!" She cried out.
One of Togekiss' wings glowed white again and came swinging out to meet Ursaring's Metal Claw. Paul glared. Usually he wouldn't worry about Ursaring in a stalemate, he usually held his own damn well, but he was in midair now and stalemated with a flying-type. That wasn't Ursaring's field.
"Hyper Beam, push it away from you." Paul said next.
He knew it was hopeless to physically push Togekiss away. It he had Ursaring use an attack with its other arm it would be parried by the other wing and then Ursaring would be even more helpless, locked totally in combat with his opponent. Instead, Paul had to hope that a special attack from Ursaring would be enough to disengage the stalemate they had found themselves in before Soledad acted again.
A ball of purple and black energy formed in Ursaring's mouth and before anyone knew it, it was released in a beam straight into Togekiss' chest and it sent the two flying apart. Togekiss crashed into the ground and skidded to a stop before standing up while Ursaring landed loudly, stomping on the ground as it fell on one knee.
"Clever, but it seems your Ursaring has reached its limit. Battling Lapras took more out of it than you thought." Soledad taunted.
"I knew exactly how much battling Lapras took out of Ursaring, and it wasn't enough for it to lose to your Togekiss." Paul stated confidently.
"Aura Sphere, Togekiss!" Soledad attacked.
Paul couldn't do anything as the blue sphere struck the target Ursaring's fur marked on his stomach as the Hibernate Pokemon needed to recharge after using an attack like Hyper Beam. To Soledad's genuine surprise, though, after the sphere plowed into Ursaring and sent the normal-type flying backwards, it stood up once more and growled.
"Psyshock!" Soledad yelled urgently.
"Block it with Night Slash." Paul quickly countered.
Togekiss fired a steam of purple energy from its mouth at Ursaring, who had started to let the claws on both hands glow light purple and extend out past where its claws normally ended. Just before the burst of purple energy struck Ursaring, it crossed its claws in front of it, letting the purple stream hit the dark-type attack head-on instead and fade away into nothingness.
"Aerial Ace!" Soledad charged in.
"Double-Edge." Paul commanded.
Togekiss looped around in flight before taking off at Ursaring, trailing white streaks behind it while Ursaring ran forward and threw its body at Togekiss in a full-body tackle. Both bodies collided with one another, causing more dust to swell up and everyone but the trainers involved coughed and covered their eyes.
Soledad and Paul just continued to stare straight out at ground zero, waiting for the result to appear. As expected, after their trainers could make out their forms it was clear both Togekiss and Ursaring were unable to continue battling.
"Great battle, Paul. That Ursaring's really something." Soledad complimented, recalling Togekiss.
Paul nodded, having done the same with Ursaring after nodding his thanks and respect towards the normal-type.
"One of my strongest Pokemon. Thank you, too, it was good to battle someone as strong as you, it's been a while." Paul replied.
Small talk after battles was never in his comfort zone and one of the few times he was grateful for Ash even before they became… whatever they were, even before the Sinnoh League. The kid always made it was to talk back to, even if it was Paul talking down to him. Reggie said it was good practice regardless, though.
"Maybe we can battle again tomorrow, I'd love another warm up like that before the Champion's League." Soledad suggested before the wandered off.
Paul smirked, stuffing his hands into his hoodie pockets as he stalked over to the food court. So Soledad would also be competing in the Champion's League? This was going to be a fun tournament, Paul deduced. Fun indeed.
Oh my god I want to die. Four battles in one chapter are really exhausting, especially when so many different people are battling. But I wanted to show some of the parallels between Ash, Paul and Gary's battling styles as well as establish a few new appearances from the girls.
May and Dawn will be vacationing in the Johto Region soon and will (eventually) meet up with a certain ex-trainer-turned-researcher and, well, Leaf. Soledad might make a few more appearances' too, but I haven't decided yet.
This was my longest chapter yet, over 10,000 words and 19 pages on Microsoft Word. Yikes. But, if you guys liked it then I'll try to make all the chapters in the future about this long since 10,000 is a good, round number in my opinion. Let me know what you guys think.
Next chapter will be Ash's gym battle with Elesa and it'll be a special one, all right. And, instead of only focusing on Ash next chapter I'll try to explore Gary and Paul further still as well as another of Ash's old friends. Any guesses as to whom?
Make sure you guys R&R and all of you are welcome to PM me with any comments/questions/ideas if you'd feel more comfortable with that than leaving a review.
Speaking of reviews…
Thor94: I fail to see how exploring Ash's character more and taking a detour means we "aren't ready for the main arc of the story". The arc is still going on, his goals haven't changed and the story is still heading in the same direction, just with a small shift in focus. Ash isn't going to be stopping in every town to help every lost soul, but he isn't a dark and brooding man who could just take off without a second thought while a girl he sees himself in was asking for advice. It just wouldn't be Ash otherwise.
For-England-James: Soon enough, my friend. I'm doing my best to avoid the whole 'This is the first time I've seen you in _ years, I love you' thing so I hope you feel okay waiting just a bit longer!
Vital Info: I haven't planned out almost any of the actual matches that will happen during the Champion's League yet since we're still leagues (pun absolutely intended) away from there so that's definitely a strong possibility.
We've already discussed Coordinators in the Champion's League privately so I'll neglect to speak more on them here but in short for the rest of you; Coordinators who have enough sets of ribbons or other requirements (like Battle Chateau ranking) can gain access to the Champion's League as seen this chapter via Soledad.
The wheels are still turning on a Rota plotline, fear not friend. As for Ash's little mini-me I'm glad you liked it. I was afraid too many people would be upset about not jumping into the next gym battle but I really felt like it was important to show that Ash wasn't too hardened by his years in isolation.
Lol yes, real Pokemon would be preferable when answering questions like this. Although… * Google's it * it is pretty fitting. And alas, Gary and his research will make a comeback. I've got plans in mind for sure, and Gary was a league ahead of you on that one. We'll learn more about what he found out before his nap soon.
FacelessxAuthor: Aw, thank you so much! I'm glad you've been enjoying reading it as much as I've enjoyed writing it for you! And yes as I've mentioned it was very important to me that I establish that this Ash wasn't turning into the brooding/depressed Ash a lot of other authors use and Raichu too.
I find more often than not that people have Pikachu surprise Ash with having evolved and that never sat right with me. It was definitely something they should experience together and decide on together rather than something like that and I'm happy to see you agree! I do plan on sticking with this one for a while; it certainly seems to be turning into a long story so I hope you'll stick around as well! Enjoy the latest chapter!
Guest: As you see, I did end up giving Ash an Espeon. He will indeed be having at least one Pokemon of every type for more diversity so he does have Pokemon of the types canon!Ash is missing. As for Aerodactyl… wait and see.
RagingSceptile: Thanks! I'm glad you like my twist on things; I thought it would be a nice change of pace for those like myself that felt like they were just reading the same story over and over again. Using the gyms as training? You can thank Vital Info for that.
Yes, precisely! The world is indeed bigger than just Ash and Raichu so I'm glad you like seeing the shenanigans Gary is getting into and the path Paul's taking. As for Dawn, here you go friend! As for other ships, perhaps some but I'm not sure which ones yet. I may show more of Abilityshipping but mostly because Anabel's crush was canon, not fanon. Sorry you didn't get Blastoise, I hope Umbreon was an okay substitute. Maybe next time!
Voltage-Livewire: Lol, thanks. I tried to play up her cuteness without seeming creepy and getting really detailed about how adorable this still-underage girl was being. And yes, it seems people are on the same page I am about Ash being Ash rather than a grumpy shell of the young Ash we see in the show so it seems I've done at least a few things right!
Oh wow, more votes for Aurorus and Aerodactyl. I guess you'll see…
Now then, if that's all, until next time, folks! Chapter Eleven: The Perfect Storm.