Before you go all, "HA! He got soft!" on me, I want to say I made an executive decision. If two or three weeks go by and still no 2 reviews, I'll just write a new chapter. Honestly, if you just reviewed, you and Psychicshipping could fill up the review quota. Anyhow, my story just isn't long enough for that rule. I'll just sort of use salutary neglect from now on. I've yapped too much. Here's chapter 10:

On my way to the PC guy's house, I was contemplating physics. What comes up, must come down, right? Then what about Team Rocket? They yelled, "Team Rocket is blasting off again!" meaning they've done it before. They fly miles into the sky! How do they survive their falls?!

The answer to my quandary was abruptly given as I was abruptly smashed to the ground. I saw red, then white, and vision returned. I was in a lot of pain, and I felt three bodies on top of me. They scrambled off, and as I was getting up, the idiotic threesome began their theme song.

"To protect the worl-"

"Stop! Stop!" I yelled, cutting them off and covering my ears. They tried to continue, but I wouldn't let them. It was too late in the day for major annoyances.

"I don't want to hear your stupid theme song!" They finally shut up. I started walking away. Over my shoulder, I heard Jesse say, "Well, at least we didn't have to ad-lib an evil plot."

"Yeah, that would be embarrassing," put in the talking Meowth. It was obvious they were awkward enough in this situation as they were.

"You guys need to quit landing on people!" I called over my shoulder as I passed out of their line of sight.

There was a short stretch of woods that I went though quickly, getting myself ambushed by a bug catcher that I beat easily. Bug catchers tend to have the same kinds of pokemon, and this guy was no exception.

At the end of the woods, I came to the foot of a hill that was crested by a house. I sprinted to close the rest of the distance and knocked on the door. No one answered.

"Hello? Anybody home?" I called. "Come in," called a muffled voice. Inside was a cluttered computer laboratory, with an overlording big machine in the back. It appeared to have two chambers connected by a flexible tube. I looked around, but didn't see anybody around. "Hello?" I called again.

I went around a desk and saw a little Clefairy huddled on the floor.

"Oh, hey little guy, what are you doing in here, so far away from Mount Moon?" I coaxed.

"I'm not a Clefairy, I'm Bill!" It said loud and clear. I leaped back. I'd had my fill of talking pokemon earlier today, and this was totally overboard.

"Bill?" I ventured.

"Yeah, Bill. The guy who invented and perfected the Pokemon storage system. I was conducting an experiment and accidentally turned myself into a pokemon. I can't work the machine anymore with my new puny height, so could you please help me get back to normal?" It was a lot to take in. Still, it explains why he was talking.

"Okay...?"

"Good! Now can you open that door? Thanks." He climbed inside the big machine through the portal I had just assisted him with on the first chamber. With a muffled voice similar to what he sounded like through the front door, he gave me the operating instructions. I followed them closely, and when I was done, the thing whirred to life, flashing strange lights and making weird noises. After a few seconds, a lump appeared in the base of the tube, traveled to the other chamber, and disappeared. I waited about another minute, and the door opened and Bill stepped out, fully clothed and human again.

"Thanks so much! Anything I can help you with?"

"Not really. I just wanted to meet you." He frowned. "Well, I should probably give you something useful for your help. Here, have a ticket to the luxury cruise S.S. Anne. As a token of my gratitude." He held it out to me, and I accepted it.

The rest of my stay was small talk. He told me about a fatal system error in the Pokedex that they will be fixing in the Pokemon Center tomorrow. He didn't have the gear on hand to fix it right there, but it was coming in the mail and he'd have it soon.

After I was done at Bill's, I headed back to Cerulean to find a place to crash, as it was around 10:30 when I arrived. I rented a hotel room again, and forgot to sent out my pokemon to enjoy the place.

The following morning, I slept in a bit, then rushed to the Pokemon Center after waking up. There was a small crowd inside, but the equipment necessary for bug fixes wasn't there yet. The crowd continued to grow, fueled by wayward people informed of the situation and people from other towns. Ash showed up, as did Misty. To my surprise, so did Pewter City Gym Leader Brock, who explained he was traveling with Ash and now Flint is looking after the gym.

I sent out my pokemon to take a break while I waited. Ash got to enjoy a berry as he and the rest of my starters sat around me. Mimien took to entertaining everyone, causing other trainers to send out their pokemon. Fencer preened himself and inspected his stick, then went down for a nap. Shocker didn't look so good. He looked slightly green, his cheeks fizzled with weak electricity, and he had a defeated look in his eyes.

I was concerned for my Pikachu and took him to the counter to see Nurse Joy. She gasped slightly at the sight of him and rushed up to inspect him. "What's wrong?" I asked, alarmed.

"Your Pikachu has come down with a harmful Pokerus. It looks bad."

"A Pokerus?!" I had read about those. "Pokerus are supposed to be helpful!"

"Most are. But this particular strain can permanently put a Pokemon out of commission if it gets too far. Have you battled any wild pokemon that behaved strangely recently?" She rolled him over and took his temperature. Then a Chansey wheeled in a stretcher and carted Shocker to the back.

"No..." I racked my brain. Then I remembered a particular encounter in Mount Moon. "Wait, actually I have! There were a bunch of wild Zubat that bit me and Shocker. They must have had it!"

"They bit you too? You should be okay because the virus targets pokemon, but we'll need a blood sample to test for just in case." I went to the back and did my best not to cringe when they used the needle. I patted Shocker's head afterwards.

"It'll be okay, boy. I'll have a bottle of ketchup for you soon." I turned to the nurse. "Can I take him with me on my journey still?"

Nurse Joy shook her head. "I'm sorry, but the virus has advanced too far. He'll have to stay here till he recovers."

"What?! But I need him! The poor guy needs to come with me!"

"Look, what he needs is extensive care. When he's healthy again, we'll inform you when we put him in the PC system so you can retrieve him. Okay?"

I sighed. "All right." I said goodbye to my poor sick pokemon, then returned to the rest of my team in the main lobby.

One restless trainer came up to me and challenged me to a battle. We took it outside. Fencer got KO'd against his Growlithe, and Hydro Gun pulled through with the battle. It was right about then that the equipment came. Nurse Joy had everybody line up alphabetically, and it wound like an Ekans all the way around the lobby and out the door. We basically had a small army of trainers, much to the chagrin of the lone Team Rocket grunt that tried to steal our pokemon. All of my pokemon helped beat him up except Fencer, who was looking discouraged.

Luckily for me, I was about five trainers back in line due to my fortunate last name. Updating the pokedex took about 25 minutes, though, and I was stuck there nearly two hours. I felt a bit sorry for my friend Ash. His last name was a "K," so he was set back about 50 or 60 trainers back.

While I waited in line, I had a conversation with Fencer, strained because I can't speak Farfetch'd-ese, in which he managed to express he was having to much trouble in battle and wanted a break. I wanted to keep him with me, but he was too disheartened. In the end, I had him sent to Prof. Oak to stay for a while. I felt bad to have to do so because he really wasn't a bad fighter and I enjoyed having him around. I realized I had two slots left open in my team, and filled them with the Twins. They were delighted to come with me on my journey again.

After my pokedex was finally fixed up, I went to the Mart and stocked up on supplies before leaving Cerulean. I then began on Route 9, also connected to the Mount Moon Mountain range. I fought a lot of trainers along the way, using many of my healing supplies.

Eventually, I came to what looked like a fortress. A big guy with a southern accent was training his pokemon out front. A big sign with changeable numbers read, '47 wins, 0 losses.' I observed the '0' wasn't changeable. The guy noticed me and came over with a Sandshrew in tow.

"Hey there trainer, name's AJ. How about a friendly battle? My Sandshrew here against your whole team!"

"Okay, if you don't mind changing the zero on your sign."

He laughed. "I like your sense of humor. Sandshrew, get battle ready!" He pulled out a bullwhip and cracked it in the air. Sandshrew curled into a ball, rolled around to the front of his trainer, and then popped back out to a standing position.

Water is strong against ground, so I sent out Hydro Gun. "Hydro gun, use Hydro Pump!" I called. Hydro gun did as he was told, but Sandshrew just seemed to shake off the water, unharmed. AJ grinned.

"Sandshrew, use Rollout!" AJ cracked his whip above his pokemon's head, and it sprang into action. It leaped forward, rolled back into a sphere, and pounded the ground, rolling like a wheel set free. Hydro Gun fired off another Hydro Pump to no avail. Sandshrew coursed through the pressurized stream, barely slowing at all. My Squirtle used Withdraw at the last second, retreating back into his shell a moment before impact. He got knocked away and flew like a football.

"Hydro Gun, use Rapid Spin!" My battered water turtle used his flying motion to change course as Sandshrew rounded for a new, more powerful attack. They careened into each other and smashed apart. Hydro Gun popped out of his shell and hit the dirt face first, now unconscious. I was shocked. I returned him to his ball, and Sandshrew, unruffled, rolled back in front of AJ, and stood cooly.

"Okaaaay... Uh, Bossplant, I choose you!" I said unsteadily. Sandshrew appeared not to have taken any damage from my Squirtle's supereffective attacks. It was a force to be reckoned with.

"Bossplant, use Sunny Day." Bossplant complied, and the sun brightened. The seed pokemon began gathering energy.

"Sandshrew, use Sand Attack!" called AJ, snapping his whip once again. His small pokemon swiped some dirt up and chucked it at Bossplant. It got in his eyes, nearly blinding him. He tried to rub his eyes with his Vine Whip, but it didn't help.

"Rollout, Sandshrew!" crack! Sandshrew rolled again. It was really looking bad for me now.

"Bossplant, use Solarbeam!" I called. The normally true beam missed its mark, and Sanshrew barreled on, crashing into Bossplant and bouncing back, gathering more speed and force. My Bulbasaur got back to his feet, squinting at his opponent angrily. He took careful aim and attempted to nail Sandshrew with another beam of Grass-type energy. Sandshrew flew foreward with tremendous force.

"Dig! Now!" cried AJ, making yet another loud noise with his whip. Sandshrew terminated his Rollout and dove underground, avioding a certain KO by inches. A molehill arose, barreling straight for my pokemon.

"Bossplant, do a Vine Whip jump on my signal- Now!" The molehill cracked open, and Sandshrew erupted out of it like yellow lava. Bossplant, however, snapped his Vine Whip against the ground and used the force to leap high in the air. He and his adversary rose at the same rate, Sandshrew striking and Bossplant avoiding.

Bossplant's trailing vines lashed Sandshrew and wrapped him up. Bossplant pulled the small foe out from under himself and slammed him down into the ground as he landed. Sandshrew, stunned and dizzy, flopped out of the green coils, and tried to catch his breath. In close quarters, the landing of the coming Solarbeam was imminent. The blast of energy smashed into the small pokemon, leaving him a little blackened. Amazingly, he stood back up and dusted himself off, looking wearily to his trainer for a command.

Bossplant acted first, though, tripping him back to the ground with another round of whipping and Solarbeaming it repeatedly. Sandshrew just kept getting up. After about the fifth time, Bossplant stopped. He and Sandshrew just stared at each other. I could see AJ about to give a command, but then he stopped, confused.

Sandshrew stumbled forward and leaned on my Bulbasaur. Bossplant steadied him and sat him down, reaching out with his Vine Whip and snatching an Oran berry from a nearby bush. He handed it to Sandshrew. They started talking as Sandshrew ate the peace offering.

"What about the battle...?" I ventured. Bossplant turned to me and shook his head.

"Bulba."

"So you won't fight him anymore?" He nodded. I sighed. "I guess then it's a draw. Our pokemon don't want to fight each other." AJ nodded. "Yeah, I guess this is a kinda sacred moment. It's a draw." We shook hands.

"Oh well. I guess you don't have to change the sign now."

"Yeah." We watched the two new unlikely friends for a moment. A thought occurred to me.

"Hey, AJ, how come Sandshrew acted like Hydro Pump was nothing? It should be super effective."

"Ah, my little secret. Here, watch this: Sandshrew! How about we show your new bud how you train?" Sandshrew nodded and and got up, strength returning from the nurishment of the berry. He beckoned to Bossplant, who followed him to a pool crawling with AJ's other pokemon. Bossplant helped him in when he struggled a bit.

"You make your Sandshrew swim?!" I asked, shocked.

"Well, yeah, I normally use my whip to speed things up, but the poor guy is recovering."

"You whip them?" I was considering turning this guy over to the Kanto Police for pokemon abuse.

"Oh, no! I just use it to spur them on with the noise! You saw how I used it during the battle. Never touched the little guy!"

"Oh. Normally Sanshrew hate water. Why is yours swimming?" I said, changing the subject.

"Builds up immunity. If you expose your pokemon to an element they're weak to in small doses, they can resist it much better."

"But he doesn't have Grass immunity."

"No, immunity like you saw back there takes a long time to build up. If you try too many things at a time, it doesn't work as well."

Bossplant saw Sandshrew get tired and start to drown and pulled him out of the pool. Sandshrew gave him a hug.

"I think that's enough training for now, Sandshrew. Get some rest." AJ told his pokemon.

I let Bossplant walk with me out of his ball as I left AJ's place. I turned and waved one last time to our new friends. Bossplant waved too, and got a strange look in his eyes. He began to glow white, and his form began to shift and grow. I watched, awestruck. The white glow faded, and my former Bulbasaur now looked very different. His scaly skin was now more bluish, and his cute face now looked a bit more rough. The bulb on his back had opened into leaves, topped with a pink pod.

"Ivysaur!" he declared.

"Bossplant, you've evolved!" I said, elated. I gave him a little hug. Normally Ivysaur look meanish, but his much less cute face still had a kind but more competitive look to it. "Ivy."

"You realize there's no turning back, right? You'll never be a Bulbasaur again." He nodded gravely, then smiled, telling me everything. He was ready for his next stage in life. He was now better equipped for the battles to come.

"Oh, yeah, that reminds me, I need to heal Hydro Gun," I remembered. I revived him, and he was amazed to see Bossplant's new form. I sent out the rest of my team to see the change that had taken place. My Charmander cheered and patted him on the back. The Twins took a moment to realize exactly who they were looking at, then cheered him on, too. Mimien clapped, excited.

"You know," I said, "I'd like all of you to evolve." They got quiet and looked at one another. The Twins looked a bit scared.

"Well, Mimien, you're okay, you can't evolve. I'll wait for the rest of you to get ready."

The rest of them looked relieved. I hoped they had it in them to evolve later.

There were another few trainers I beat along the road, followed by another short stretch of woods. I came to a clearing inside and stopped. There was a trainer standing there with a strange smirk on his face.

"Hello, there, Name's Travis. How about a little high-stakes battle? If I win, you hand over your trainer's license and other trainer stuff instead of money. You name your conditions."

"Alright, triple prize money and umm... any rare items in your pack."

His smirk widened, and he pulled out a small table with retractable legs from his pack and set it up with a flourish.

"Before we have our little fight, I would like to give you a little something to consider," he said, bringing out a huge card binder from his overstuffed backpack. It was labeled, 'Trainers I Have Trashed, a collection by Travis the Trainer Trasher.'

Making sure I read the title, he set the large volume down on the table and opened it up. There, inside, were the Trainer Cards bearing the names and pictures of nearly 100 people, page after page of rows and rows of young trainers. I noticed none of them were any more than a year older than me. The last four pages were nearly free of cards, and there was a single space still open on the page before.

"If I win, which I'm confident I will, your Trainer's License will go right there," he said, pointing to the empty space.

"I'm confident you won't," I said boldly, "Let's fight already." I wanted to avenge all of the other beginning trainers he had ruined, and his smugness was making me mad.

"Muk, lead me to victory!" he trumpeted, releasing a huge slimy beast from the pokeball in his hand.

I decided to go with type advantage to begin with. "Mimien! I choose you!"

"Muk, use Sludge Bomb!" he ordered.

"Mimien, block it with a barrier and follow it up with a Confusion!"

Muk hurled a slimy projectile at Mimien, smashing through the quickly put-up Barrier, but falling short as a result. Muk suddenly held his gooey head, eyes wheeling in circles. He swiped with a sludgy arm at Mimien but missed, coming back around and wetly smacking himself in the face, hurling gobs of nastiness in the process.

"Just do the Death Hug!" yelled Travis. This isn't an official League move, but it's still allowed to be used. People call it whatever they want.

"Mimien! Use Psychic!" I called, as the gooey mass closed in. My Mr. Mime had learned this move recently, but if his concentration broke, he was a goner.

Mimien was smothered in Muk's nasty body for a long moment. I held my breath. If something didn't happen soon, I would most likely lose this match, and obtaining a new Trainer's Licence is next to impossible if someone won it off you, so my journey would come to an abrupt end. I'd have to release my pokemon, and Oak probably wouldn't give me a new starter.

Muk began to glow blue, and shapes appeared through the sludge making up his body. Mimien fought his way out of the gunk, continuing to nail Muk with Psychic till he was KO'd. Mimien shook himself off, coughing and choking for breath.

"Dang it! Alright, Muk, return. Go, Graveler!" shouted Travis, sucking his slimy pokemon back into its storage capsule. Out came the tough, four-armed rocky evolution of Geodude. "Rock Blast, Graveler!"

The physical attack completely blew my weakened Mr. Mime away, crashing through his hastily thrown up Barriers with impunity. I returned my fallen pokemon to his ball.

"Thing 1 and Thing 2, show me what you got!" I cried, sending them out.

"Hey, this is a single battle. Only one at a time!" said Travis.

"Fine. Thing 2, stand back." The Male Twin reluctantly went around behind me, and watched his sister get creamed. Graveler had type advantage and much higher power, so there was no contest.

Thing 2 got angry, and flew forward into battle position. The poor little guy took a Rock Blast but landed a tackle with violent determination. It didn't seem to do anything, and a Magnitude ensured Thing 2 wouldn't be able to avenge his sister.

I knew the Twins couldn't handle Graveler from the start, but I was trying to make Travis underestimate me and get sloppy. I hoped the Twins would forgive me later.

"Hydro Gun, your turn!" Now I went for type advantage. My Squirtle exchanged a Hydro Pump for a Rock Blast, but both attacks missed. I had Hydro Gun use Rapid Spin to get closer to his foe and then Hydro Pump again. The maneuver worked, but the dripping foe didn't appear to be weakened too much. Graveler used Strength, slugging my little turtle with huge force. He fell, unconscious, to my feet.

This battle was still not looking up for me. I only had two Pokemon left, and he could have at least four more after this one. Still, I had one big advantage against this particular foe.

"Bossplant, pull through, I believe in you!" I said, as Bossplant engaged his foe. I had him use Sunny Day and dodge a Strength, and then surprised the rocky adversary with a Solarbeam. Graveler didn't know what hit him. Travis grumpily returned his boulder pokemon and sent out an Electabuzz.

"Electabuzz, use Psychic!"

"Bossplant, use Sleep Powder!" Bossplant resisted the Psychic and put his foe to sleep. Then he wailed on him with Solarbeams and Vine Whips untill it was clear that Electabuzz wasn't gonna finish this battle. It helped that Psychic activated Overgrow.

Travis smirked. "Magmar, finish him." The fiery pokemon popped out of its ball into battle. The sunlight, Bossplant's weakening from Psychic, and type advantage all fed into a KO on my Ivysaur by a Flamethrower. If it looked bad before, it was nothing compared to now. I had one left, and he could potentially have two backing Magmar.

"Ash, give it all you've got!" My Charmander looked up at the taller foe, and shank in fear for a moment. Then, gathering his courage, he looked up at me, then gave Magmar a challenging look. Magmar grinned cruelly, then delivered a Thunderpunch and a Mach Punch that left Ash seeing stars. Ash recovered, then leaped up and Scratched Magmar's face with determination.

Magmar didn't like that, so he Focus Blasted Ash to the ground. Ash looked hurt, and looked up at me with a pitiful look.

"Come on, Ash, you can do it! Pick yourself up and fight! If you give up, youll never recover. Fight harder, and you keep your dignity!"

Travis smirked cruelly, looking a lot like his Magmar had. "Touching. Magmar, finish him." Magmar raised his fist. Ash looked up, a new competitive fire brimming in his eyes. He pulled himself out of the dirt, facing his foe once more. Magmar smashed his fist down in a mighty Thunderpunch. Ash flipped over his arm, and Magmar's punch connected with the ground, cracking his knuckles violently and losing all the electric energy to the unyielding earth. He held up his injured hand to inspect it, looking a lot less smug.

Ash's competitive fire burned brighter in his eyes, and the look on his face grew very uncharacteristic. Magmar swiped at him with his good hand, but Ash grabbed it and yanked on it with unwarranted strength, throwing Magmar off balance. He fell on his hurt claws, wincing.

Ash, though beat up, looked healthier than I had ever seen him. His tail flame, which had been burning low, grew bigger than I had ever seen. We all stopped and watched in amazement as he began to glow white. His form got bigger, and his little arms lengthened. The glow faded, and there stood a red Charmeleon, with large claws and a prong coming off the back of his head. The flame in his eyes grew ever brighter, and his face contorted as he used Rage. He traded five or six blows with Magmar, attacking with mighty Slashes and punches. Magmar was constantly getting weaker, and finally collapsed.

Ash, beaten up and bruised, stood panting over his fallen foe, and his Rage slowly subsided. He tottered, then curled up for a nap, all of his energy spent.

"Do you have any more pokemon?" I asked, distressed. If he had so much as one more, even a Magikarp, I would lose everything.

Travis said a word unfit for print and said Magmar was his last. I couldn't believe my luck.

"I won. Give me my prizes."

"No, we tied. You just get out of here."

"My Charmeleon beat your Magmar. I won. Give me my stuff or I'll revive my pokemon and whup you again." Travis shook his head. "Fine."

I took out a Super Potion and sprayed Ash with it. He woke up from his nap, blinked, and got to his feet.

"Ash, this guy won't give you what you earned. Are you gonna let that victory go to waste?" Ash looked angry.

"Char!" he demanded, baring his teeth and raising his claws.

"Okay, fine! This is just extortion now!" cried Travis, throwing his pack to my feet.

"Call it what you like, but I won," I mumbled as I went through his backpack. It truly wasn't extortion. It was a fair win and he could have recovered it if he had carried more pokemon.

I found some good stuff in there. There was a ticket to Faraway Island, an Experience Share(Good for even training), and a funny looking blue-green stone with rough rock around it. I pulled out my Pokedex and identified it. It said it was the Enigma Stone, an object with some legendary connection deeply rooted in the Hoenn region. I also took my triple prize money.

"I'll be back," promised the Trasher as I left, Ash walking with me.

"I'll be waiting," I called back.

Well, did you like those battles and the twist in the one against AJ? I sure hope you did. Sorry if you didn't like Ch. 9, but some things can't be helped. Also: if you don't know what was with the Zubat incident in Mt. Moon, refer back to Ch. 8, because I added that part. I have also decided to grow my story apart from the anime more so I don't make more OOC mistakes. Hope this chapter makes up for it. Also, please review! And thanks for taking time to read the notes- they're important. One more thing, thank all you fans for following this story so far! I plan to get the next chapter up next week if I can because I got a review from somebody besides Psychicshipping. Also: forgot to mention this earlier, but the Trainer Trasher idea came from Psychicshpping. Thanks again, reviewers!

Thanks again for reading and your support,

Pokelegend