Disclaimer- I don't own Pokémon, it belongs to Game Freak, Ken Sugimori and Satoshi Taijiri.
"Talking"
'Thinking'
Pokédex.
Chapter 11- Lavender tower-Celadon city- Team Rocket hideout.
Lavender town was quite possibly the smallest town in the entire of Kanto; even pallet had a larger area when compared to Lavender town. It only had a couple hundred residents, and not all that much attraction. However, one thing Lavender town was famous for would be the Pokémon tower.
The main purpose of the tower was it was made as a gravesite for all Pokémon. As such, it wasn't a surprise when rumours of ghosts that haunt the people visiting the tower started to travel across the entire region. However, Ash and his friends weren't here to find out whether there were real ghosts in the tower or not. No, they were here to find more about an old man that supposedly went in the tower, and hadn't come back, for 2 to 3 days.
"My grandpa has been in there for 2 days." The little girl said with tears in her eyes. "You are strong trainers; can you please check on him and tell him to come down?"
And it turned out that Ash was a complete softy when it came to children, especially little girls that pleaded to him with tears in their eyes. So he, without thinking of his own personal safety, entered the tower one morning, with a slightly hesitant Brock and an extremely scared Yancy. Pikachu, like Ash, wasn't scared and was looking around the place excitedly, ears occasionally twitching, hoping for a battle. The Pokémon tower was also known for its Ghost type Pokémon. Brock, once he entered, was much more confident, and was looking at the various graves surrounding them, and Yancy, she was shivering badly.
"A Ash." She whimpered out, clenching her Vulpix, who wanted to stay out for the day, closer to her chest. "A are you sure we should be here, l like, can't we leave this to someone who is bigger?"
"Officer Jenny is not available right now." Ash answered back, not fazed by the creepy mist surrounding them, nor the channelers chanting some sort of prayer around them, the graves that littered around the place. "And I am not going to let that girl cry more."
"B but, but..." She whispered out the last part. "I'm scared."
"... Hold my hand." Ash said, without realising what he had said. "You want split up then and you won't need to be scared."
"W W What?!" She almost shouted out, her face going pink as her hair. "H Hold your hand?"
"Yes." Ash said, raising his arm towards Yancy. She blushed and looked at the offered hand. Vulpix shuffled in her grasp and sat on her shoulder like Pikachu usually sat, and urged her to hold his hand. Gulping, she clasped her hand with his, and intertwined their fingers. He clenched back, giving a relieving squeeze. She sighed, looking on with pink dusted cheeks and avoiding his glance.
Brock sneaking removed his Pokégear and snapped a picture, saving it for later. He had an evil smile on his face.
'The 2 of them don't realise what sort of teasing awaits them in the future. Maybe I should send this to Miss Delia as well?' Brock wondered, remembering the conversation he had had with Delia Ketchum one day about Ash and Yancy's relationship. The trio continued on ahead towards the inner part of the tower, where the staircase was at.
Walking in misty darkness wasn't his favourite thing to do, from now on, Ash realised. The dense fog around them was completely obstructing their view. The small candle lit lanterns weren't enough for them to see in front of them. And they weren't allowed to carry their flashlight because it was prohibited inside the Pokémon tower, something about letting the dead rest or something like that.
"Hey, there are the stairs." Ash pointed to the staircase that had appeared in front of him. "Didn't the girl say to wear those glasses now near the stairs? The 'ghost' usually appears around the stairs."
"They aren't exactly normal glasses." Brock removed the pair given to him. "But according to the girl, this thing will identify what the Ghost is supposed to be."
"Is it really necessary for us to meet the ghost?" Yancy asked, putting on her own set, and quickly clenching Ash's hand again. "I mean, can't we just ignore him or something like that?"
"Well, we aren't going to meet the ghost as per say." Brock said, nervously chuckling. "The ghost is going to meet us."
"I find this more comforting and clear than my normal vision." Ash said as he looked around with the goggles he had worn. "The ghost will be coloured in red wouldn't it? I can't wait to see the ghost; I have never seen one before."
"Ash, I really don't understand why you want to meet a ghost anyway." Brock said, clearly nervous of what was to come. "But I think it's too late to ponder that, because, well... I It's standing right in front of you."
According to the goggles, there was a mass of red coloured gas, with shining eyes, in front of them, glaring at the trio. Brock and Yancy screamed and even Ash yelped a little, Pikachu jumping off his shoulder and in front of them, sparking his cheeks and growling. The form of the Ghost changed shape and it turned into a Pokémon, a brown coloured Pokémon with a skull for a head and a large bone with it.
Marowak, the bone keeper Pokémon. Even though small, this Pokémon has exceptional offenses and defences. It has grown tougher over the years, getting over the loss of its mother and forming an unbreakable temperament and will. This Marowak is on level 30.
"H How does a ghost have a level?!" Yancy whimpered, her face hidden behind Ash's back, arms around his back as well. Brock somehow managed to retain his usual stoic persona, but one could see the sweat pouring off of him. "G get rid of it please!"
"Pikachu, thunderbolt!" Ash said to his Pikachu. However, something weird happened. The Thunderbolt didn't affect the Marowak; instead, it went straight through it. Ash's eyes widened in realisation, "This things a real ghost...but that's not possible. There has to be something else!"
He glanced around in the room, and his eyes narrowed down as he spotted another red coloured mass.
"Pikachu, use thunderbolt once again! This time, use it on your right!" Pikachu unleashed a torrent of electricity, this time towards where Ash had pointed. A blur rushed out of the corner, the Marowak vanishing as another Pokémon came up in front of them. The Pokémon was completely made out of gas, with its main body being a darker shade of purple then its outer layer. It had 2 eyes, a large tongue and was grinning at them.
Ghastly, a gas Pokémon. Ghastly is made completely out of gas, which is a sleep inducing agent. If this Pokémon covers a target with its body, the target will fall unconscious within seconds. This Ghastly is on level 30.
"So it was a Ghastly all along!" Brock said, relieved. But the Marowak reappeared again, making Brock go on guard, again. "On shit!"
Yancy was too frightened to even look up, even when the Pokédex chanted out what was causing the trouble, and it was a good thing, because the 'ghost' had reappeared again. Instead, she only pressed herself further into Ash's back.
"..." Ash didn't speak, just stared at the Pokémon and the ghost. The Ghastly was grinning at them, and Marowak stood still behind them. "Why are you doing this?"
Marowak said some words, and Pikachu replied back, clearly not afraid of anything. Then Pikachu gave on the message to Ash.
"... The old man?" Ash asked, an eyebrow raised. Both Pikachu and Marowak nodded. "The old man is up in the tower and hasn't arrived back at home for 2 days. His granddaughter pleaded us to go and get him back home."
The Marowak didn't say one thing to him, and nodded at Ghastly, who grinned widely. Its eyes flashed, and the Marowak disappeared, along with Ghastly.
"Man that was something." Brock sighed, wiping his face. "So what was the story? Why did Ghastly cause the spirit of the dead Marowak to turn into a Ghost?"
"Her child." Ash said, climbing up the stairs. "She was here because she was worried for her child, and the man we are supposed to find knows this child of her's. He usually brings news about the child whenever he visits the tower, that is every day, but for 2 days he hasn't so she has taken to terrorising people to see if the old man will notice or not."
"B But doesn't she know what sort of problems she is causing?" Yancy, once she heard the ghost was gone, unwrapped herself from behind Ash(Though she refused to let his hand go) stuttered out, still afraid of her encounter with the ghost. "A And can we please finish this soon?! I want to get out of here right now!"
Ash and Brock agreed with her, and increased their pace to climb up the tower. On the top floor, the old man was standing, however, he wasn't alone. With him were some people, people dressed in all black with large red R's on their chests.
"Team Rocket!" Brock exclaimed, gaining all the attention to them. "What are you doing here?"
"A bunch of brats?" The one appearing the head questioned. "Shoo, go away, you don't need to be involved into this."
"Not until you let the man go." Ash said sternly, removing a Pokéball. "Ivysaur, I choose you!"
"Che, take care of the other 2, leave the freaky one to me." The 'boss' said, releasing his own Pokémon, a Raticate. "Raticate, use bite!"
"Ivysaur, dodge it, and use Vine Whip!" Ivysaur moved out of the way the last second, and slammed his whips onto the side of the rat Pokémon, causing it to cry in pain. "Now use Razor leaf!"
"Ivysaur!" Ivysaur cried out as he let loose some leaves from his sides, slashing the Raticate up. "Now use Grass Pledge to finish it!"
This time, the number of leaves were a lot more, enough to knock out the Raticate. For someone who talked so much, they were sure weak, because Brock and Yancy also had taken down their opponents with their Rhyhorn and Vulpix respectively.
"Grr, we won't forget this!" The Team Rocket grunts shouted, calling back their Pokémon and running away. "We won't forget this humiliation!"
Once they left, they saw the Old Man, almost knocked out, with bags under his eyes, starving and thirsty. Quickly, they rushed to him and made sure he was alive.
"Thank you kids for getting me out of there." It turned out the man was only hungry and a little dehydrated. They were all in his home, a small Pokémon orphanage where he lived with his granddaughter. "I am Fuji, an ex-Pokémon researcher. Those guys in black dresses were asking me questions about what was inside the hidden closet on the top of the Pokémon tower, and I refused to answer solely because I didn't know what was inside."
"The hidden Closet?" the 3 asked, not remembering to see any closet in the Pokémon tower.
"It's on the top floor, just behind the main pyre. People say that in ancient times, a man appeared, a man of supernatural origin. He had blue eyes and he could shoot spheres out of his hands. No one knew what his origin was other than the fact he kept something inside the closet of the tower, and sealed the closet with a lock so great no weapon in this world can break. Even the walls of the closet are so tough to break down, even with today's technology." The old man explained. "But enough of that, I am happy you got me out of there and saved my life. You can take this as a token of my appreciation."
He handed over a small flute like object, a flute with a Pokéball on top.
"Isn't that a Pokéflute?" Brock asked, peering over the flute in Ash's hands. "It is said to be able to wake up any Pokémon in the midst of battle or normal."
"Yup, I found this back when I was still in my younger days." Mr. Fuji said, smiling nostalgically. "It will be of much use to you now."
"Thank you for this Mr. Fuji." Ash thanked him, keeping the flute safe in his bag. "Now, we must go."
"Yeah, if we want to make it to the underground tunnels by tomorrow, we need to leave as soon as possible." Yancy nodded, getting up. She had a slight change in her outfit now, instead of the usual white dress shirt and an inner dress, she wore a sky blue coloured tank top and a green coloured skirt, with a red belt, and a cross bag slung across her shoulder. She had gotten a good amount of money by winning the musical, and also by coming up as the runner up to the one in vermilion, and didn't exactly have to work under a budget. "And I don't think Ash would want to miss any time he can get for training."
"Yeah." Brock nodded. Ash had his egg in his hands. "Well Mr. Fuji, we will see you again hopefully."
"Of course, but before you go." The man said, his face turning into a frown. "You see, the closet inside of Pokémon tower had a key. If you can find that key, there's a chance you will get to find out what is inside the closet. If you ever run into a golden coloured key with a Pokéball on top of it, please get it to me, we will open up the closet."
"Sure." Ash nodded, walking out of the house. Now with Lavender town behind them, the group of three had to make their way towards Celadon City, where Ash's 4th gym badge awaited. But with the recent activities of Team Rocket, was the trip to Celadon going to be so quiet and simple?
Probably not.
"Alright Squirtle!" Now that he had the green light from Nurse Joy, he could officially start the training of Squirtle. And already, in 2 days, he had levelled up from a measly level 3 to a good level 15, training with Ash's Ivysaur and Charmeleon as his training partners. Pikachu was a bit too much for him because, let's face it, at Level 36, Pikachu was Ash's strongest Pokémon as per now, and even Charmeleon, a close second to Pikachu on Level 32 had problems facing Pikachu on a straight on battle, in fact, in the time he had been in Ash's team, he had never beat Pikachu. But that was for another time. The time right now was for Squirtle to train. "Use Water Gun on that rock over there!"
"Squirtle!" Squirtle took a deep breath, and let loose a burst of water on the rock in front of him. The rock didn't stand a chance as it was cracked into small dust particles. "Squirtle! Squirtle Squirt!"
"Good Job, now use Bite!" Opening it's Jaw as wide as it could, a shroud of a mouth appeared where the broken rock once was, and chomped down, hard, causing the already shattered rock to shatter more. "Great Squirtle! You are doing amazing."
"Squritle!" Squirtle cheered, and joined his friends in their playing. Once the training for the day was over, they could move on to the other part of the day almost all of them loved, dinnertime. Ash sighed, and removed his cap, throwing it into his tent, his hair moving slightly with the wind. On the other side of the camp, Yancy was training, with her Vulpix, trying to find out what she was capable of in a Musical. Till now, Vulpix had tried many things. Singing, which she failed at, Dancing, which was a big no and painting, which she had a surprisingly good talent at, something due to her being an extremely smart race of Pokémon. And up till now, she had created many master pieces, one was of Squirtle shooting a Water Gun, another of Ash and Pikachu, with the latter on the former's shoulder as he commanded his Pokémon to use a move and one of Brock making lunch as well. Strangely, Yancy's picture was nowhere to be seen, something he was surprised off because he thought Yancy's picture would be the first one she would make.
Unknown to any of them, Yancy had taken away her picture as soon as possible, and kept it away from prying eyes as it was of her and Ash holding hands in the Pokémon Tower, something which she was still embarrassed off.
Summary of the past 2 days, Ash, Yancy and Brock, along with their Pokémon and Ash's egg, left towards Celadon city, or more like, the underground tunnel in route 8. They could have had made it today, but they were forced to take shelter in the midst of route 8 when rain suddenly poured out of nowhere upon them, and continued to pour like crazy for 2 to 3 hours, and then they had to wait for another hour for everything to dry up before they could leave, and by then, it was already reaching evening. And they were once again delayed in the morning where none of them could wake up, waking up 2 hours later than usual, at 0800 instead of 0600. For the first time in their 2 months of travelling, Ash woke up the latest.
"We are travelling a day behind schedule." Ash said, noticing the date on his Pokégear. "If not for today morning, we would have been in Celadon by now."
"Well, sometimes plans never work out the way they are supposed to. Remember the time when we were going to Vermilion city, when we were late by an hour or so because of me capturing my Rhyhorn?" Brock said. "It's like this. First we had the rain yesterday, and today we were getting late due to oversleeping. But its okay, you know. Not like we are on a schedule exactly, just some probable calculations we make."
"You have a point there." Ash nodded, sitting down on the table. "Squirtle is making good progress, I think a week to 10 days more and he will be on the level of the others."
"That's good. My own Pokémon are doing great in their training." Brock said, looking at his Pokémon that were playing with Ash's. "Can't believe Onix is on level 32 now."
When Ash and Yancy did their own training, so did Brock. Even though his dream wasn't to do something that involved sheer level spamming, nothing better that training a Pokémon to level 100, was there?
"So Ash, what's the plan for tomorrow?" Brock asked once he finished whatever he was making for dinner tonight. "I mean, if we leave at our usual time at 8 in the morning, we will reach Celadon just by lunchtime, if I remember, route 7 is a very short route and hardly should take us an hour to pass through. I still don't know why Saffron and Celadon aren't considered sister cities when there's such a small distance between them, literally the smallest I have seen between 2 cities."
"You have a point there. And as for what I am going to do, well, I was thinking to visit the Celadon city supermarket to check out for the new Pokéballs that have come out." Ash, who was sitting on the inflatable chairs they had set up, while reading a magazine he had picked up, said, showing him the page. It was of a tall building and then a lot of other stuff available inside of it. "Maybe get a new bag and travelling kit as well. I have money to spend, and saved the major part of the rewards for beating the gyms and the other trainers here and there for this particular moment."
"Yeah, maybe it's finally time I invest on a Pokégear as well." Brock said, looking at Ash's own red and white one longingly. "It will be better for me that way, and a new set of equipment doesn't sound bad."
"What are you guys talking about?" Yancy, who had just finished her training, called out for her Pokémon to let them play with Ash's and Brock's, joined the 2. "I heard something about a supermarket."
"In Celadon city, there's a large supermarket where you will find anything you want to. I and Ash were wondering what to do with the saved up money we had from battles and such. Ash says he wants to buy some advanced Pokéballs and new travelling gear while I want to get a Pokégear and some other equipment. What about you Yancy? You want something?"
"Well, a new bag does sound like a good idea." She winced as she looked at her old and stinky bag. "It's been ages since I changed that one. And I think I want something to highlight my Pokémon during the musicals as well."
"That's a good idea actually, I have read a lot about musicians dressing up their Pokémon for more points, especially in the first round." Ash nodded, flipping a few pages and showing a particular article about a certain part of Celadon city where they did such things. "But from what I have read, these people are either drop-out breeders looking for a quick way to earn reputation and money, so they basically pour make-up upon make-up on your Pokémon which the Nurse Joys say isn't good for them and such. But I have heard about a certain breeder in Celadon city as well."
"Yeah, you mean Suzie don't you?" A dreamy look appeared on Brock's face. "Sh She's my idol, and someone who I want to be like~~~"
Ash and Yancy looked at Brock oddly as he sighed dreamily, but chose not to ponder. Better for their 10 year old minds like that.
"Whoa~~~" Yancy said in childlike awe as they entered Celadon city. Being one of the biggest cities in the region, and the most popular one for shopping as well, it clearly was enough to excite children, especially like Yancy who had lived in a forest for most of her life. "It's so big!"
"Yeah..." Even Ash couldn't help but contain his excitement as the trio entered the city from its eastern entrance. The Pokémon centre was not even 10 meters away, literally the first building of the city. "Let's check into the Pokémon centre first, drop our bags, and then leave."
And that is what they did. Ash decided to take his egg with him this time, in its incubator of course, and left all his other stuff, except his Pokémon, Pikachu in his usual position on his shoulder. The first thing they did was head to the supermarket building, especially because all of them had heard so much about it.
The 3 split up, deciding to go on their own way to buy what they needed for personal use and then buy the other public stuff. So here was Ash, standing against the glass that held the Pokéballs inside, all sorts of them. From the normal Pokéball, to the stronger Great Ball, and even an Ultra Ball!
"Can I help you young man?" The man on the counter said to him with a smile. "You look like a trainer, do you need anything?"
"Yes, I would like 5 Pokéballs, 5 Great balls and 2 Ultra Balls, please." Ash said, removing his Pokédex out. The shopkeeper picked a bag, and scooped in the things he needed.
"That will be 6900P$ please." Ash handed him his Pokédex, where in the bottom there was a slot for the credit transfer. The man attached a wire to it, and typed the number on the computer the wire was attached to. There was a soft beep before his Pokédex was returned to him. "Thank you for shopping, have a good day."
Taking his stuff with him, he left for the next thing he needed, bags. And apparently, Pikachu had other ideas about him buying a similar red coloured bag.
"Pikapi!" Pikachu was pointing to the bag on his side, a small yet spacious, durable yet flexible, red and blue coloured bag, but what Pikachu was more concerned about was the Pikachu face that was attached to its outside in a golden coloured embroidery. It looked extremely fantabulous, and was a good fit for him, but Ash had his doubts. "Pika Pika!"
"Are you sure?" Ash asked, taking another look over the bag. It sure had many columns, a different slot for his travel items and personal items, and a special slot for electronics as well. Taking one last look, he figured why not, and took it with him in his purchase bag. Keeping it in his bag, he went towards the adventure section of the store, to buy some stuff he needed, and ran into Yancy. "Yancy?"
"EEP!" Yancy, who was trying to do something or the other, shrieked in surprise, and hid whatever she had found behind her. "A Ash, h he hey, I didn't expect to run into you here!"
"Is something wrong?" Ash asked in concern. He felt a sense of responsibility to Yancy because he was the one that convinced her to tag along with him. "And what are you hiding behind your back?"
"O Oh, I it's nothing." Her face had gone absolutely red. "I am just g getting something for me that's all."
"..." He simply stared at her with narrowed eyes, causing her to squirm under his gaze, but he then sighed. "Well, carry on then, just shout out to me if you need help, I am just across buying some rope and other hiking stuff."
She nodded, and ran off. Ash caught a glimpse of something blue in colour, but he shrugged it off, going back to his shopping. After a day full of shopping, the three met in the cafeteria section of the mall to grab some food.
"You brought an orange and green coloured one?" Ash asked Brock, watching as he was fiddling with his Pokégear, doing something or the other. "That's fitting actually, with your orange coloured vest and all."
"It's a way to mark mine off from yours so we don't keep on getting confused." Brock said, closing it off. "There, all set. I have all the numbers I need stored in here. What about you Yancy, did you get a Pokégear?"
"No, I am not that good with technology." Yancy said, slumping over in depression while Ash and Brock sweat dropped. She couldn't even switch the channels of the TV with the remote control, and the first time she saw an ATM machine, she almost passed out from confusion. Luckily, Ash and Brock did everything they could to rectify that problem. "But I did get a fame checker."
"A fame checker?" Ash and Brock asked, surprised. A fame checker was what its name suggested it to be, a device made to check somebody's fame. Like the Gym Leader or something like that. It could be handy at times, but Ash liked to walk in without any prior knowledge about his opponents Pokémon, or the fun would be removed of it. "That's unusual."
"I am not like Ash, not that strong, and personally speaking, I like to be informed about my opponents beforehand." Yancy said, opening the fame checker and pointing it at Ash. "Let's see here... hey, you have a profile!"
"Pokémon Trainer Red." All three of them raised an eyebrow at that. He hadn't chosen a nickname for him yet, so why? "From Pallet, is known to be a prodigy in the art of Pokémon training since he hasn't lost a single Gym battle yet."
"Huh, didn't know you already chose a screen name." Brock asked Ash, who was as confused as Brock and Yancy. "Or you didn't?"
"I did not, but I know who did it." Ash sighed. "I think it was Mom who told Professor Oak to do that."
"A Screen Name?" Yancy asked, curious to know about something she didn't know about. "What is that?"
"A screen name is usually chosen by Pokémon trainers, celebrities or even normal people who are well known to crowds and masses to hide their personal details." Ash said. "My mother had one, it was Lilith, yeah, weird, I know, but she was a very well known trainer in her age, and people were afraid of her nasty temper. I don't remember my father's, but I think it was drake, because of his obsession with everything dragon like. Similarly, many people in the world have a screen name. But for some strange region, the Elite Four and Champion seem to abandon their screen names. Weird, I know, but I guess that's the form of them getting true attention and respect."
"Yeah." Brock agreed, taking a sip of his Cold Coffee. "So what to do now? You going to challenge the gym tomorrow?"
"I would love to get a day worth of training first." Ash said, popping his back by stretching. "But for now though, I want to check out one more thing."
"The Game Corner?" Brock asked looking around in the place they were in. All around him, people were either playing on the machines or tables. Many kids were running around as well, playing by themselves in the Machines that allowed such kids to play. "But we need a coin case to play."
"And I happen to have one." Ash said, removing a coin case from his pocket. After putting away their newly brought supplies from the supermarket in their room back in the Pokémon centre, the 3 made their way to a building Ash wanted to go into, which happened to be the world famous Celadon city Game Corner. "I have heard you can get some good gifts if you win have enough coins on you, and I happen to have 100 coins with me. A man was going to throw it away, I bought it from him for 500 P$ and now, I think we can enjoy a few games."
"I always wanted to try the slots." Brock mused, sitting on one of the machines. Inserting some coins that Ash had given him into the machine, he swung the handle to start the spinning. Unfortunately, he won no coins, causing him to slump over. "Man, this could have gotten better."
"How do you play this game?" Yancy asked, scrunching her nose up cutely as she held a coin. "And are we supposed to play this?"
"This game happens to be a PG game, but because we both have our trainer cards, we can play this game." Ash said, looking over to her. "And as for how you play, well, first you insert the coin in there, 1 for a single middle row, 2 coins for all the rows, and 3 for the diagonal rows."
"So if I insert 3 coins..." She inserted 3 coins, and pulled the lever down, causing the rolls inside the glass cover to start spinning. They all stopped at a pattern of 3 same things in the middle. And Yancy had won 50 coins. "Whoa..."
"Wow Yancy, you are lucky today." Brock said as Yancy removed all the coins and added them inside the coin case that Ash had. It was Ash's turn to spin, and he landed 3 7's. "Bloody heck."
"Wow Ash!" Yancy exclaimed, looking as the 300 coins poured out from below. They played around the slots for a while, until something caught Ash's attention.
There were 3 guys, looking inconspicuous, but clearly were new because their red R's were sticking, as they were walking from the inner parts of the game corner towards the main gates. He nudged over to Brock, who also noticed the same thing.
"You checking inside?" Brock asked Ash, who nodded. Ash looked at Pikachu, who was trying his own luck, who looked up at him and grinned, jumping up on Ash's shoulder. "I and Yancy will check outside then."
Looking around to see if anyone was looking, Ash snuck inside the back of the Pokémon Game Corner, while Brock and Yancy got up, and followed the 3 rocket grunts that were walking outside.
The inner portion of the Game corner was much quiet and bland, with stark white walls and long hallways. What caught his eye was the poster stuck on the wall, of Pokémon musicals, and a suspicious looking nudge in the middle. Looking at Pikachu, who nodded, Ash pressed the switch. There was a soft click as a the area beside the switch opened up to show a small stairway. Looking around one last time, Ash went down the stairway into what was below.
He never noticed a figure with a red tint follow him.
"So what exactly are we doing Brock." Yancy whispered to the older teen, both of them along with Yancy's meowth and Brock's Geodude hidden behind a building following the 3 suspicious grown men. "Why are we following them? And why isn't Ash with us?"
"They are from team rocket, and Ash isn't with us because he is going to find out why these guys came out from behind the hallways of the game corner." Brock whispered back, slowly moving to hide behind another corner. "Possibly a base of sorts."
"So we are catching the bad guys?" Yancy asked. Brock sighed, but nodded. Yancy smiled at that. "I love catching bad guys!"
"Who would have thought that there was such a big base inside?" Ash muttered to himself. The second he entered he knew this was a Team Rocket Base because of the large R's stuck in the walls of the base. "And who exactly is leading Team Rocket? I admit, this is pretty sick, but I am even more astounded no one has ever found out about the base."
"Hey, who are you?!" A man in a grunt shouted at him. "How did you get in here kid?!"
"..." Ash stared at the man, his eyes glinting. "Thunder wave."
Pikachu jumped off his shoulder and shot a small bolt of electricity towards the grunt, causing the man to crumble onto the floor in a sparking heap.
"Damn... you!" the man hissed out as he was shuddering on the ground. "H How the fuck does a kid have such guts?!"
"Where is your boss?" Ash asked the man. However, what the man saw wasn't simply a 10 year old boy asking him something, no, he saw a red eyed creature behind the boy, glaring into his eyes, daring to try and stay silent. "And how do I get there?"
"I In the 4th floor!" The man grit out, partly in fear, partly in pain. "But first you need to get the key card for the lift!"
"And where do I get it?" Ash asked once again, the 'creature' behind him narrowing his eyes, or at least to the man.
"Guh, on the 3rd floor!" The man blurted before passing out in fear. Ash started to walk towards the way where he saw the stairs at, ducking behind a garbage bin to avoid the gaze of a grunt that was near the vending machines. Who knew criminal organization bases were so well equipped?
Dashing when the man wasn't looking, he went down the stairs, and came into another room, similar to the one above. On his right was the lift, and on his left were some strange tiles, with arrows on them. They were green colored. Looking at Pikachu, who nodded, he stepped on one tile, and was surprised to feel himself drag forward onto another, and another, through various routes until he reached a particular tile, yellow in colour. Now, he was faced with many different routes. After a while of going on tiles and trying again and again, he finally made it to a small office like place, where on the table he could see a card with a red R on it. Quickly deducing it to be the key card, he went forward to pick it up, but was stopped.
"Hey, what do you think you are doing?!" A grunt shouted from behind him. Turning around, he saw the grunt, with his Pokémon, a small blob of purple coloured toxic sludge, Grimer. "Grimer, show the kid what happens when you peep into adult business, use Sludge!"
"Pikachu, counter it with Thunderbolt!" Ash said. "And then use quick attack to get behind Grimer and use Iron Tail!"
"Pika!" Pikachu used his thunderbolt to counter the ball of poison shot at him, before vanishing and reappearing behind the Grimer, smashing an iron tail on top of it, knocking it out instantly. However, Ash's eyes widened up.
"Pikachu, jump in the air, quick!" Pikachu jumped to narrowly avoid being trampled over by a Pokémon which had purple coloured skin, and was on all four of his legs. "…"
"I am impressed you managed to spot that." The grunt had a sneer on his face. "But this isn't going to be easy. Now that you are in the air, you won't be able to move! Nidorino, use Poison sting!"
"Pikachu, use Iron tail on those needles to block it!" Pikachu swiped his metallic tail to stop the poisonous needles from harming it, since Steel was resistant to Poison. Pikachu landed safely on the ground, and went on all 4's, cheeks sparking in anticipation.
Nidorino, the poison pin Pokémon. Its horn is harder than diamonds, and is extremely powerful. This Nidorino is on level 25. Warning. This Nidorino has the ability Poison Point. If a Pokémon or a human touches this Nidorino, they will be poisoned.
Ash narrowed his eyes. A Poison type, quite possibly one of the most dangerous types to face in battle without a psychic or a ground type, and he didn't have any of them. But that didn't mean Pikachu was going to lose this.
"Pikachu, make sure not to touch Nidorino without Iron Tail on!" Ash shouted out to Pikachu. "Thunderbolt, now!"
"Pikachuu!" Pikachu let loose a stronger bolt of electricity onto Nidorino, who grunted, but survived the onslaught of electricity.
"It's not going to be that easy!" The grunt shouted. "Nidorino, horn attack!"
"Dodge it!" Pikachu jumped to the side to dodge the incoming Nidorino, his horn aimed straight for him. "Now use Quick Tail!"
Quick Tail, when made, was as rough as his first ever combination move, Quick Break. A mixture of Iron Tail and Quick attack, this move was much tougher than Quick Break. At first, it was very rough and had a very low accuracy because of Pikachu not being experienced and used to carrying such his tail which had hardened over and weight a lot more than normal, and missed 8 out of 10 times. But now, with much more experience, he could deal considerable damage with the move. As such, it wasn't a surprise when Nidorino was knocked out easily from the move.
"WHAT?!" The grunt shouted in dis-belief, slowly backing up. "Y Y Y YOU MONSTER!"
And with that, he escaped, not caring what happened to his Pokémon. Luckily, he had dropped the Pokéballs of his Pokémon, so Ash could return it back to the wild. Picking up the Card Key, he pocketed it, along with the Pokéballs and left towards the lift on the 3rd floor.
"Brock, how much longer do we have to tail them?!" Yancy whispered/groaned to Brock, who ignored her and focused on the 3 Rocket Grunts in front of him. "We are almost out of the city!"
"I know, and now we will confront them." Brock said, getting out of his hiding spot. "Hey, you, you're Team Rocket Grunts aren't you? What are you doing here?!"
"Oh no, 2 brats followed us!" one of the grunts shouted, calling out for a Pokéball. "Go Koffing!"
"I chose you Bellsprout!"
"Gloom Let's go!"
3 Pokémon, 1 a koffing, the other one a yellow coloured Venus fly trap like Pokémon and finally a small weed like Pokémon with a brown coloured 'flower' on top of it appeared in front of them.
"Geodude, time for battle, I chose you, Zubat!"
"Go Cleafable!"
Yancy and Brock sent out their own Pokémon for battle.
"Koffing, Smoke Screen!" The grunt with the koffing ordered his Pokémon. Koffing released a lot of smoke out from its holes, covering the area in thick and dense smoke.
"Not so Fast, use Gust Zubat!" Zubat flapped its wings harder and harder until it created a large gust of wind that cleared up all the Smoke. "Now use Air Cutter on Gloom! Geodude, you use rollout on Bellsprout!"
"Cleafable, use Flamethrower on Koffing!" Yancy pointed towards Koffing. Now, even if Yancy wasn't focusing on Battling, it didn't mean she didn't train her Pokémon. Her Meowth was on a respectful level of 28, which though not that great for someone on Ash's level, it was still good enough for a kid that didn't know the names of all 151 Pokémon in the Kanto region until 3 months ago. The flamethrower was powerful enough to burn Koffing. "Good Job Cleafable, now use Mega Punch!"
Another thing her Pokémon had taken to was to learn some moves from Ash's and Brock's Pokémon. While training by themselves, Meowth and Cleafable went to Pikachu or Charmeleon or Onix for some tips on how to strengthen their attacks, or how to raise their endurance and defense.
Koffing didn't stand a Chance as the Cleafable knocked it out easily. On the other side of the battle, Brock had just finished his opponents himself.
"So, now, tell us what you are doing here?!" Brock demanded of them. The three looked at each other and nodded, turning around and breaking for a sprint, dashing into the wilderness. Yancy looked ready to run back, but Brock stopped her.
"Come on, we have to follow them!" Yancy exclaimed. "We can't let them go now!"
"It's of no use, they are masters in escaping." Brock said with a sneer. "All of the villains are like that."
"Alright, as you say." Yancy looked downtrodden. "Now I think we should go and help Ash."
"If I know him, he would have finished his stuff already and would be in the Pokémon centre waiting for us." Brock said, turning around and walking back into the city. "We need to go back, that was the initial plan."
These grunts were annoying. They didn't have the power to back up their bites, and their Pokémon though tough for them, weren't for him. Walking inside the final gate in which the boss was probably sitting, he stepped inside and came face to face with the mastermind of the plan.
The man had short hair, very short, with a round face. His eyes were brown, like him, and he looked a lot like the stereotypical movie Villain. His choice of attire was an orange coloured suit, with a red R on his chest.
"Greetings." The man had a grin on his face, an evil grin. "You must be Red from Pallet town."
"..." Ash stared at the man, his red eyes narrowing down at the man in front of him.
"Now now, don't need to be surprised, I am the boss of a criminal organisation, I should know about those who oppose me." The man grinned wider. "I am Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, and you, young man, have been a big thorn on my side, stopping my men in the Viridian City Pokémon centre, the Mt. Moon, The and also in the Pokémon tower. I will give you this warning boy, leave us alone, and I will not have you and your friends killed off."
"..." Ash only snarled at him, removing a Pokéball. "Never."
"I see, I was expecting that." Giovanni sighed, and removed his own Pokéball. "Let's see who the better one is. Let's go, Nidorina!"
"Charmeleon." Ash released his Charmeleon for battle. The Criminal Boss's eyes widened in interest.
"Ahh, I see, so you have this one." Giovanni said. "I will be taking him off your hands too, it was a pain to make this one."
"... What do you mean?" Ash asked, confused. Charmeleon himself was confused, but this man seemed familiar for some reason. "How do you know my Charmeleon?"
"Oh, yours? So you caught it? Now that is interesting. You see, I had this Pokémon experimented on." Giovanni said with a very twisted grin. "I wanted him to be a Pokémon that could even rival the legends, but unfortunately, it escaped. Now I think I can start this plan again."
"I am not giving you Charmeleon, or any of my Pokémon!" Ash shouted in anger. "Charmeleon, use Flamethrower!"
Charmeleon took a deep breath, and unleashed a torrent of blue flames on Nidorina, who surprisingly survive the attack.
"Nidorina, Sludge Bomb!" Nidorina spat out a large glob of poison, much more dangerous than any faced before.
"Use Dragon Rage to counter it!" Charmeleon spat out his own long ranged attack, a purple colour blob of draconic energy, the 2 attacks meeting in the middle with a loud and large explosion. "Now Metal Claw, go!"
"Fury Swipes!" Giovanni called out. Both the claws met each other as the 2 Pokémon duelled it out. "Now use Poison Sting!"
"Not so fast! Iron tail!" Charmeleon was much faster than Nidorina, and slammed his tail with a metallic sheen on top of Nidorina, stopping it from unleashing it's move. "Now use Dragon Rage once again!"
This time, the Dragon Rage was a direct hit, being a critical hit to Nidorina, causing her to stumble on her steps. Giovanni growled.
"Nidorina, use Water Pulse." Ash widened his eyes. "Now!"
The Water Pulse was also fast moving hitting Charmeleon straight on, being super effective on Charmeleon. Giovanni smirked as he knew the tables were turned.
"Well then Red, let's finish this. Nidorina, use Fury Swipes!" The Nidorina was getting closer, and Charmeleon couldn't do anything but watch. Ash's eyes widened in horror, and he called out to Charmeleon.
"Charmeleon, I know you have it in you, stop that Nidorina!" He looked back into the Red eyes of his trainer, and grinned. A blue inferno encased him, the flame on his tail going much larger and wider, and his eyes narrowed down to slits. Taking a deep breath, he roared, scaring the Nidorina and to an extent, even Giovanni as the Charmeleon unleashed it's full power. Ash's Pokédex dinged.
Charmeleon has activated his ability Blaze. It allows all fire types to gain a boost in attack and special attack when in tough situations.
Ash grinned at that, and glared at Giovanni, who looked effectively nervous.
"Charmeleon!" Ash called out. "Finish this, Flamethrower!"
This time, Nidorina didn't stand a chance. The blue coloured inferno of flames was incredibly powerful and it got knocked out within a second.
"Well done, Red." Giovanni regained his smirk. "But tell me, is defeating me, or rather, one of my Pokémon enough to stop me?"
Ash's danger senses literally skyrocketed as he knew something was wrong. Pikachu cried out for Ash, and so did Charmeleon. Looking to the side, he saw the cat like Pokémon, with long claws and cream skin, ready to gauge his eyes out.
"Dragonite, Dragon Claw!" However, it seemed someone had a different idea. A claw full of draconic energy slammed into the incoming Persian, sending it to Giovanni, who looked shocked at the appearance of the light orange coloured dragon type Pokémon. A man walked out of the shadows. He was wearing a full body outfit, with the outer edges black in colour and the inner edges red. A long red cloak hung behind him, and he had spiky red hair. Everyone knew who this trainer was. "Tell me, Giovanni, wasn't it? You might have given this boy a challenge, and also lost to him. Without a doubt he can improve, but even you know you won't be able to beat him when that Charmeleon is in that state. And with me here, I doubt you can take both of us on at the same time."
"Lance Wataru." Giovanni growled out. "Leader of the Kanto Elite Four, high tier member of the Pokémon G-men."
"..." Ash only stared at the man in slight awe.
"Give up, leader of team Rocket, you have gone without punishment for far too long." Lance said, coming to a standstill beside Ash. "Perhaps we might not shift you to the most dangerous and brutal of all prisons."
"You, catch me that will be a day I don't think will ever happen." Giovanni sneered one last time, before dropping an object on the ground. There was a large burst of smoke, causing both Ash and Lance to cover their noses. Quickly acting, Dragonite flapped it's wings to create a small gust to clear the smoke, only to find Giovanni missing, along with his Pokémon. A golden coloured glint was where he was standing, which Pikachu chose to look at. It turned out to be a key.
"I expected this to happen." Lance sighed and looked at Ash and smiled. "So, Red wasn't it? Or was it Ash Ketchum? I have a lot to talk with you. How about we get out of here and meet up with your friends in the Pokémon centre?"
"Ash, I must say I am astounded with you improvement in 3 months worth of travelling." Lance said to the red eyed trainer after they all sat down in one of the tables in the Pokémon centre. Luckily, it was late at night so no one else was here, except the 4 and Nurse Joy. "For someone so young, it is very good. Anyways, before you ask me, let me explain something to you. Team Rocket as you know is a criminal organisation that is working against the rules of the Pokémon that we humans had set when the idea of Pokémon training came forward. I am a member of the Pokémon G-men, a very high levelled member as such, and have dedicated all my time ever since I found out about the existence of this group to eradicate it from the roots. In the previous year, I have visited to every single known area of their influence in both, this region, and Johto. Till now, I have no idea of who their boss was, why they operated, and what were their motives, until today when you met Giovanni."
The 3 listened to the elite four leader in silence, letting him speak as he said before.
"I admit, I am disappointed that we let him get away, but it seemed he was well prepared." Lance said, leaning back on his chair. "But that doesn't mean that I won't get any other chances. You, Ash, are the one that will give me those chances."
"Me?" Ash asked, eyebrows raised in curiousness. "But why me. I admit, these guys don't leave me alone for some reason, but all I want to do is complete my journey around Kanto and challenge the league."
"I know, and I am pretty sure you will be able to do it. What I am saying is, these guys won't leave you alone now that you are involved, and it seems that Giovanni himself was interested in you." Lance said. "Ash, you will need to face Giovanni when you meet him next time, and finish him once and for all. Leave what happens after that to me, I will take care of his capture, but I don't think I am going to be able to catch him on my own. Your friends will for sure help you with that."
"Yeah." Brock nodded. "We aren't leaving him alone in this."
Yancy smiled and nodded at him. Ash looked up at Lance, and nodded.
"I will fight him." Ash said, determined. "And stop him. What he is doing is very wrong, and he must be stopped once and for all. I agree to that."
"Thank you for that." Lance removed a card from his pocket and handed it to Ash. "There is an address where you can leave a message for me if you need me for something, and my Pokégear number. Feel free to contact me whenever you have some information on team rocket. And also, use your screen name from now on in battles and such, it will be of much help."
And with that, the legend left the Pokémon centre, leaving the 3 kids alone.
"So, Giovanni." Brock looked at Ash. "You are telling me the full story afterwards."
"You are going to use your screen name?" Yancy asked Ash, causing him to nod. "Then should I call you Red from now on?"
"Only in public, when someone is in earshot. When we are travelling or alone, you can call me by my name." Ash said, stretching. "Now I don't think I need to say we should sleep."
"Yeah, tomorrow is going to be a big day with your upcoming gym battle after all." Yancy nodded, and stretched. "Hey Ash, do you think that we will see more of Lance?"
"Definitely." Ash nodded. "Definitely yes. I have a feeling he is going to be an occasional run in."
How right he was going to be.
The End.
Author's notes- So sorry for the long wait. Been 2 weeks since I updated anything, and here it is, chapter 11 of Ash 'Red' Ketchum, and as you can see, the title is going to be much more effective from now.
I said in the start that Red is Ash's game counterpart and reverse, I am going to make his real name be Ash Ketchum, while his more known name will be Red. So all you red fans, I hope this satisfies you to an extent.
About Lance's interruption... let's say, that's a plot twist I added, one of the many I have planned. Speaking of Lance, I want to go with the elite four league route in this fic, and not the Pokémon league route, leave your comments if you want it to be a tournament. And I also will say one thing... Gary is not going to be the Champion of the Indigo Elite four if I do go through the elite four route, which is what I am going to do.
Why? Well, I want him to hold a bigger part in this story, and like in the anime, I want him to be Ash's major rival in Johto as well, alongside silver if I introduce him. If he becomes champion, well, he won't be able to leave the region without business, and I don't want to shut Gary up completely. If you think that's a bad idea, tell me a good solid reason and I might change my mind, but that's going to be difficult. This is my story, and I intend to make it one of the greatest, even though it may not look like on right now.
Also, thank you all for all the support you give me. PM me if you have any questions.
Till then, this is Omnipotent97 signing off.
