A/N: I do not own Pokémon. But it would be mighty nice of Nintendo to gift it to me for my birthday!
XXX
Mt Silver, PayPhone House
"YOU DID WHAT!" A furious voice bellowed out from the tiny Telephone booth, causing many people to lean away nervously.
"It wasn't something I did for my profit Ash! I swear Tauros #18 was very pleased to join the Police!" A nervous old voice came back frantically, causing the person sitting in front of the screen to fume.
"Oh, he was happy? Well how would I know? Good ol' Professor shipped him out without even telling me!" Ash said as he glared at the old guy present on his screen.
"C-Calm d-down my boy-"
"Calm down? CALM DOWN!? You have just traded one of my Pokémon without even telling me beforehand, please forgive me for NOT calming down!"
Ash was angry. No, screw that, he was beyond angry! What had the old fart been thinking!? Trading one of his Tauros for god knows what. And he didn't even inform him about the exchange!
Oak sighed "I understand your anger Ash, but please see my position too! You were somewhere around in Mt. Silver, Your XtremeDex didn't have a signal there, so I couldn't message you, and Officer Jenny said that the offer was only for a week! I had no choice Ash, I knew that the trade would prove beneficial to you Ash, and that's why I took the decision." Professor Oak said as eh looked at Ash with pleading eyes.
Ash's eyes lost some of the anger, but he was far from happy even now "I understand all that Professor, but you did have a choice, you could have chosen to let Tauros 18 be, he could have remained happily with his family!" Ash argued. After all, the Tauros herd was very close knit. Not to mention Ash didn't really have pleasant memories with transfers. The day he exchanged Butterfree for the pathetic Raticate still haunted him. And Buizel didn't count, he already knew the cool guy, and he could rest assured that Aipom would be fine with Dawn.
Oak gained some confidence from Ash's reasoning, seeing as he had all the counter measures "Ah, that's where you are wrong my boy. Tauros 18 was in fact very willing to go, and his herd was very supportive in the matter. I agree that I should have asked you first, and I apologize for that mistake."
Ash was still not fully satisfied with the answer, but nodded nevertheless. If Tauros and his herd agreed to the decision, who was he to argue? Also, if Tauros 18 really wanted to live an adventurous life, it was the correct path for him to take.
"All right, I accept your decision Professor…" Ash said as Oak gained a bright smile, but it immediately faltered as Ash continued "But if you ever do something like this again, remember that Muk's hugs can always occur… frequently." Ash said with a sinister look in his eyes.
Professor Oak gulped "A-Ah, no n-need to be hasty m-my boy!"
Ash looked at the Clock present above his cubicle "I will have to cut the conversation Professor, daylight is burning and I and my Pokémon have to train." He said with a serious look in his eyes.
Oak nodded "Of course Ash. But first, don't you want to meet the newest member of your team? He is quite the energetic guy, and I have full belief that you both will become the best of friends."
Ash's eyes widened, he had almost forgot about exchanging his Pokémon "Yeah that would be good Professor. I will be sending you Unfezant's Pokeball for the new guy."
"Unfezant? Sure… Snivy and Bayleef would like that." Oak murmured to himself as he put the new Pokémon's Pokeball on the exchange machine.
Ash clipped off the Pokeball belonging to Unfezant and put it on the identical exchange machine. Being one of his newest Pokémon, Unfezant's Pokeball was still shiny; unlike the Pokeballs of the Pokémon he had caught in Kanto, Orange Islands and Johto. The Pokeball was engulfed in a brilliant flash of light for a few seconds, before vanishing. A split second later, a similar looking Pokeball appeared immediately. Most wouldn't have been able to tell a difference between them.
"Thanks Professor, I call you in a few days to exchange five of the guys, I think I'll keep the new guy a bit longer." Having close bonds with his Pokémon was something that Ash cherished above anything else, the new Pokémon would be no exception.
Oak nodded "Righto." The line cut, causing the screen to go blank for a few seconds, before showing the bill, which was pretty high considering it was an interregional call, involved exchange of Pokeballs, and had lasted a pretty long time. Nevertheless, it wasn't something Ash couldn't pay.
Having paid the bill, Ash held the Pokeball in his hand as he trekked up the hill side to reach the spot where the only released member of his team was training.
And what an odd sight it was.
Unlike most of the areas where Ash and his team trained, this place was not filled with charred rocks, cut up trees, large craters, and full metal mayhem. Rather, a small yellow Pokémon was levitating a few feet above the ground, an intense expression on his face as he struggled to maintain his position.
A light yellow colored shroud covered Pikachu who hovered at a little height. The little guy's body was shuddering every few seconds; showing the sheer amount of pressure he was under to maintain his course of activity. Pikachu was getting tired, but wait….. he could feel it now! The Magnetic Energy had finally started flowing through his body, even though it was minuscule. Yes, he could definitely feel it…. Pleasant little electric shocks generated on his body as the energy dilated and concentrated in quick succession. Yes…. He could see it now, the little yellow sphere, the holy sphere where all of his Magnetic potential was present….. Pikachu reached out with his tiny hands, an expression of glee on his face, as he reached the sphere, just reached it, almost there…
"HEY PIKACHU!"
Poof. The sphere exploded as Pikachu's concentration was rudely broken by his very own trainer.
"Hey Pikachu, I see that you are training pretty hard!" Ash said, oblivious to the twitching ears of his best friend.
"Pi…KA…CHUUUU!" Pikachu let a massive Thundershock, charring Ash in the process. Seeing the painfully twitching Ash on the ground, Pikachu nodded in satisfaction. His idiot trainer deserved it for breaking his concentration when he was so close!
A few painful minutes later, Ash finally came to his bearings. After a few minutes of bickering with Pikachu, which resulted in another Thundershock, Ash finally gave it up as a lost cause and proceeded to releasing his new Pokémon, who still didn't know the identity of.
Pikachu and Ash watched with extreme curiosity as a flash emerged from the Pokeball, gradually taking shape. The Pokémon had tufts of regal looking fur on various parts of his body, which itself was covered in orange colored fur. The Pokémon stood a little bit higher than Pikachu, and was indeed one that every Kanto native could identify without fail.
"Grow!"
"Wow…. It's a Growlithe!" Ash said. An expression of amazement found its way on his face as he looked at the fire type Pokémon. Growlithes were well known for their rarity in being found in the wild, mostly bred in captivity for use in the Police Force. Unlike its fellow mighty canine; Houndoom and Mightyena, Arcanine's were as rare as legendaries in the wild, and could be classified as Pseudo Legendaries if not for their easy evolutions from Growlithes, which could be done in a cheap manner with the help of a Fire Stone. Even so, Arcanine's were mostly under Trainers, and wild ones who mated\ were very rare. The one Drew and May tried to catch in Hoenn was one of those rare occurrences.
Ash scanned Growlithe with his XtremeDex, with Dexter taking a few seconds to properly analyse and scan the Pokémon.
"All done sir-
"National Pokedex Entry #58: Growlithe
Extremely loyal, it will fearlessly bark at any opponent to protect its own Trainer from harm
This Growlithe has the Ability: Flash Fire
This Growlithe knows the Attacks: Crunch, Ember, Fire Fang, Flamethrower, Quick Attack, Double Team, Odor Sleuth, and Flame Wheel."
'Hmm…. Not bad for starters. Quick Attack and Double Team always come in handy, and I think Flame Wheel and Flamethrower have been drilled into him from his Police Training.'
Ash also noted that the Growlithe wasn't fully grown, so he must have been born not more than 3-4 months prior. 'I have make Growlithe even more comfortable now…..He is still a small Pokémon, I can't train him as hard as the others. I think it would be best if I pair him up with Scraggy. But first…'
"Hey, buddy!" Ash smiled as he knelt down to the dog Pokémon's level, who was looking at Ash with a look of curiosity. "My name is Ash Ketchum, and I'm from the town of Pallet." He then pointed a finger towards Pikachu "And this is my buddy Pikachu. Now that you are a member of my team, I hope we can become the best of friends!" Ash said as Pikachu gave an enthusiastic thumbs up in support.
Growlithe yipped happily as his tail wagged even faster. The dog Pokémon then licked Ash's face, causing the teen to laugh a bit. Within a matter of minutes, all expected awkwardness had disappeared from the area as Ash and Pikachu decided to play a little bit, so as to make the obviously young Pokémon more comfortable, as well as trusting in their presence.
Suddenly, a loud rumbling sound filled the area, causing the two Pokémon to tense up, and look around for whatever was making the noise. Ash's sheepish chuckle caught their ears. Both the Pokémon sweatdropped as Ash was holding on to his stomach.
"Haha, I think I've gotten a bit hungry guys…" Ash grinned as the two Pokémon sighed. But even they were quite hungry, so the trio started walking towards the camp Ash had set up.
But a strange sight greeted them. Just as the trio neared the Camp, they were stupefied to see that the camp was shaking violently, almost as if something was dancing inside it. Also, Ash noted with dread filling his bones that multiple packets of packed food were strewn about. This could only have meant one thing….
"Oh no! Pikachu, someone is stealing our food!" Ash shouted worry as Pikachu immediately launched a quick Thundershock to sniff out whoever it was inside. Growlithe also took a battle ready position, growling threateningly.
The Camp was engulfed in a mini explosion as Pikachu's exceptionally strong Thunderbolt reached the rubber structure. This was mainly due to the hardcore training Pikachu had continuously undergone since the end of the Unova League.
Unfortunately, this also meant that whatever food that might even have been salvageable was ruined. After all, most things don't tend to survive being shocked by a Lightning Bolt. This was also a fact that Ash noted with dismay. "What the hell Pikachu!? Your Thundershock just destroyed whatever food was left!" Ash admonished his sheepish looking Pokémon. 'That's it…' Ash thought with anger. 'Whoever caused this, has to pay…'
No one messes with Ash Ketchum's food.
The trio hadn't had to wait long as a small figure bundled out of the structure, apparently unharmed. The small figure was snickering to himself as he had his greedy little fists immersed into the packet he was holding. The Pokémon regarded the glaring trio with a cocky smirk.
"You…..! How dare you steal our food!" Ash yelled angrily, causing the Pokémon to grin even wider. Now that the little monster was completely out in the open, Ash was able to recognize the Pokémon, even if barely.
The blue colored bipedal Pokémon had large round snout, circular ears and the most exemplary feature was perhaps the three thick gray ridges which covered its head, giving it a nigh impenetrable armor. The Pokémon also had two teeth protruding upwards, giving its mischievous look a nice touch. Another defining feature was probably the digit-less arms, or more like little digits, which looked like stumps.
"It's a Bagon!" Ash said as he scanned the Pokémon with Dexter.
"National Pokedex Entry #371: Bagon
Bagon harbors a never-ending dream of one day soaring high among the clouds. As if trying to dispel its frustration over its inability to fly, it hurls itself over high cliffs, and in the process slams its hard head against huge rocks and shatters them into pebbles. Although it is small, this Pokémon is very powerful because its body is a bundle of muscles. It launches head-butts with its Iron-like skull."
"That's a long ass entry…" Ash said as he looked at the longer than usual description on Dexter's screen.
"Professor Rowan got a little over enthusiastic while submitting this, sir." Dexter explained curtly.
Nodding at the explaination Ash turned back his attention to Bagon, who was currently engaged in a glaring contest with Growlithe. Pikachu simply looked amused at the attempts of the young Pokémon to draw him into it.
"Grow-Growlithe!" Growlithe barked angrily at Bagon, who mockingly raised the bag he had in his hands, taking a chips out and eating it with a relish one can only get from eating things which belonged to others.
Ash was about to let the Pokémon go, since he knew that nothing good could come out from fighting him, but it was then that Ash truly noticed it, the thing which caused him to finally lose his cool.
The packet of chips that Bagon was holding wasn't an ordinary packet. No, it was a Lays.
But even more importantly, it was a Baked Flavor.
"How dare you." Ash's voice was a mere whisper, yet was clear to all three of the Pokémon. "How dare you steal Baked Lays!" Ash roared out at the Pokémon, causing it to momentarily draw back in fear, but the cocky smirk was back in place as he mockingly took another bite.
"Grr…. That's it, Growlithe, get ready for your first battle buddy!" Ash yelled to Growlithe, who smirked as he jumped in front of the Bagon, happy to be given the chance from his new master.
"Bag Bagon." Bagon didn't look worried in the least as he took a fighting stance.
"You won't be mocking us for long! Growlithe, use Ember!" Growlithe yipped as Ash's commanded reached his sensitive ears. Growlithe immediately launched the Ember attack, little fireballs flew towards Bagon, who simply launched his very own Ember Attack.
While the two attacks in themselves were quite weak, colliding them with each other still resulted in a mini inferno, which disintegrated many of the plastic bags strewn around.
Ash had to shield his eyes a bit due to the sudden flash fire, but much to his astonishment, when he opened his eyes, Bagon was gone!
"Growlithe, stay on alert, Bagon has hidden somewhere." Ash said to his Pokémon, who used its advanced senses to try and locate Bagon. But it was for naught since the ground beneath Growlithe exploded violently, and Bagon emerged with a quick Headbutt to effectiveness.
"Grow!" Growlithe howled in pain as Bagon's Iron hard skull smashed into his sternum. Ash watched in fascination as Bagon didn't waste another second in immediately digging its way back into the ground.
"It's very fast under the ground, Growlithe, try to stay calm and jump u-damn." Ash cursed as Growlithe, being young as he was, wasn't able to jump in time as another aching Headbutt smashed into him.
Before it could happen a third time, Ash quickly ordered "Growlithe, quickly use a Odor Sleuth, and map Bagon's position, once it emerges, use a Flamethrower attack!"
Luckily Growlithe had only suffered two Headbutts by now, and was able to use the Odor Sleuth properly. Growlithe's nose glowed in a golden shroud, immediately after which Growlithe launched a small ball of light towards the ground. What Odor Sleuth did was to show a map of the battlefield to the Pokémon who had used the attack. It increased the sense and perception of the Pokémon to a huge degree and thus made it able to recognize the pattern of attack its opponent was using. It was also extremely useful for negating attacks using illusions.
What it did for Growlithe was making the Ground glow a bit in the places from which Bagon was travelling. While Ash wasn't able to see anything special, for Growlithe it was like chasing after the taillights of a car. The unsuspecting Bagon emerged, happily in the position of another Headbutt, only for a huge blast of seemingly never ending flames to hit it dead on.
Despite its resistance to fire type attacks, Bagon still cringed in pain as the fire singed and burned through its skin, causing irritating and mildly painful burns to the Dragon Type Pokémon.
"Growwww….!" Growlithe's eyes were narrowed in concentration as it maintained the Flamethrower attack on Bagon. While Growlithe new a couple of high powered attacks, it was not completely proficient in them. A Ditto might be able to copy any attack, but it can't use them to their full potential. Which was exactly the case with rookie Pokémon.
Ash knew this, and thus immediately ordered "End it, and then use Quick Attack!" Growlithe immediately rushed forward while a white light surrounded its body. The Pokémon turned to a mere blur as it rammed into Bagon. But much to Ash's horror, it wasn't just Bagon crying out in pain.
"It's Bagon's skull!" The raven haired Orange League winner exclaimed as Bagon's main layer of defense became clearer to him. While most of Bagon's body was normal as other Pokémon, its Skull and upper back were supremely protected by its unnatural armor.
Growlithe snarled as it nursed its slightly wounded head, where a small bruise had formed. Meanwhile, Bagon itself was growling as it had not come out completely unscathed. While a mature Bagon could shrug off most Fire type attacks, Ash had understood by now that this Bagon was relatively younger. A bit of Bagon's body was burned and the Quick Attack also had a bit of effect.
"Bag…" "Lithe…" The newfound rivals glared at each other as they tried to anticipate their adversaries next moves.
Naturally, Growlithe was at an advantage there as he had a trainer to make decisions for him "Don't let him rest Growlithe! Use Double Team, followed by Quick Attack."
The air around Growlithe shimmered as multiple copies of Growlithe appeared around it, greatly confusing Bagon. The multiple Growlithe's grinned as they began running around Bagon causing the Dragon to lose its opponent in the activity. Suddenly, one of the Growlithe glowed, and not a second later Bagon was cried out in pain as it was hit in its weak spot.
Growlithe didn't give up at that though, continuing his attacks he continuously exchanged his position and seeing the opportunity, hit Bagon hard.
"That's it, keep it up buddy!" Ash cheered his Pokémon, happy that a prospective victory was so easily in his hands.
But Bagon had gotten sufficiently annoyed by that time. Its rage at its peak, Bagon let loose a tremendous amount of energy, which resulted in a greenish mist attack being launched from its mouth. Ash watched in horror as the attack disintegrated the multiple Growlithes and like a raging demon, it hit the real Growlithe head on. Growlithe cried on in pain as it was engulfed in an explosion.
"Dragon Breath! Growlithe, are you all right?" Ash asked in concern as Growlithe weakly stood up, snarling all the while. Bagon itself was panting quite hard, using a powerful attack like Dragon breath and being hit by multiple Quick Attacks had taken quite a toll on the small Pokémon.
But Bagon still was in a much better shape, and started rushing forward with its hands tucked behind. Ash was a bit confused since Bagon's weren't exactly known for speed, but like a raging bull Bagon continued its way forward. Ash's confusion was cleared as Bagon's skull armor was engulfed in a fiery aura.
Growlithe whimpered in pain as the super strong Zen Headbutt hit him. Bagon smirked in glee as Growlithe was launched behind. Rolling through the ground like a rag doll, Growlithe's prone body finally came to still a few feet back, where it shuddered as the pain began registering.
"Oh no! Growlithe!" Ash yelled out in worry as he chastised himself for launching his Pokémon into battle without proper training. Bagon was a bit above in skill level, Ash had to admit that.
"Bagon!" Bagon, using the last vestiges of its energy, launched an Ember attack towards the prone body of Growlithe.
"GROWLITHE!" Ash was extremely worried now. While a normal Ember would just tickle a Fire Type like Growlithe, in its damaged state even Ember could prove disastrous.
Growlithe was whimpering as the pain in his body was nigh unbearable. He didn't think that he could battle any further, he was completely spent. But hearing his trainer's concern filled scream, something in Growlithe flared up. For the first time ever, he felt his body react so aggressively. Growlithe was a bit confused by the sudden course of motions, but let them continue nevertheless. His body glowed like the sun as the Ember Attack finally reached it.
But rather than injure it, Growlithe absorbed the little Fireballs! Growlithe howled as energy filled its entire body. Bagon drew back in shock as the sudden energy of its adversary was completely out of the blue!
But Ash clenched his fists in excitement "Flash Fire! Alright, Growlithe you activated your ability!" Growlithe merely let out another feral howl in return to his trainer's excitement. Understanding his Pokémon's emotions, Ash immediately commanded "Growlithe, finish it with Flame Wheel!"
The last howl Growlithe let out was on a level high above the previous ones. Growlithe's entire body was covered in flames a split second later; he was on fire both literally and figuratively! Immediately afterwards, Growlithe was no longer visible as his body began spinning insanely. The Flame Wheel grew in size as it spinned its way towards a scared and shocked Bagon.
"GROWLITHEE!" "BAGONN!" Both Pokémon screamed out for completely different reasons as the spinning wheel of fire met the little Dragon Type. A huge explosion occurred as Bagon's entire body was engulfed in fire. It tried defending itself with its skull, but the grinding motion of the Flame Wheel was just too much for the Dragon Type as it was violently launched away. Landing painfully a few meters away, Bagon was groaning in pain, and surely didn't look like he would move any time soon.
Ash recognized what to do at that exact moment.
"Go Pokeball!" Unclipping an empty Pokeball from his belt, Ash hurled the Pokeball towards Bagon, who made a weak motion with his left hand, but the Pokeball hit it nevertheless. Bagon disappeared into the Pokeball in a flash of red light. The Pokeball wobbled uncertainly for a while as Ash, Growlithe and Pikachu (who had been silent during the entire battle) watched in anticipation.
Finally, after the fourth wobble, the Pokeball dinged, indicating that the capture was indeed complete.
"Alright, I caught a Bagon!" "Growlithe growl!" Ash and Growlithe jumped up in happiness as their victory finally became official.
"You were awesome Growlithe!" Ash patted Growlithe's head, whose tail shook in happiness. Ash however returned Growlithe not long after, since rest was essential to him after such a long battle. Not to mention that he activated his Ability; probably for the first time, so that would have been even more tiring for the little dog Pokémon.
But even after all this, one thing was still confounding Ash… the motion which Bagon made just before its capture…
'Did Bagon…. Did it really flip me off?'
XXX
A/N: I hope you enjoyed the chapter guys. I admit it was a bit short, but it was only to address some of the things most reviewers had problems with.
Ash caught a Bagon, so that should be interesting enough for you lot!
Tango Charlie O.U.T.