To say the least Ash was witnessing the cruelest thing he had ever seen. Red's Pikachu was being man handled by a Graveler owned by a snobbish girl named Giselle. They had met him, Misty, and Tracey at the famous trainer school, Poketech.

There they met a boy named Joe, who was being teased by his "friends" for not knowing anything about their up coming test. They were scared off when Ash brandished his sword. Well brandished meant he embedded it into the ground mere centimeters from their feet.

Over the weeks of traveling Ash had gotten extremely good at swordplay and controlling his powers. Now he could slice through tree branches with out a problem. Also, concerning his powers, he could release a torrent of it. It destroyed or pulverized anything in its destructive path.

Ash and Brock had talked with the kid and to their surprise he knew all the answers perfectly. Joe had been acting all stupid so he didn't get harder questions. He told them about the heated competition in the school and if he started acting smart he would be picked on. He then showed Ash and Brock a picture of the class' top student. Giselle.

Brock was instantly infatuated with her looks while Ash blushed. He had to admit she was pretty.

Joe then said even though he was the class' worst member he could still beat Ash. A mistake. Seadra had ultimately decimated his Rattata with a simple Ice Beam. After Joe had apologized to Ash they walked over to a nearby training field where Red and Giselle were having a battle.


Pikachu landed on the ground with loud thud. Its body was completely bruised and covered in scratches. Even though it was evident Pikachu lost Graveler continued to punch the downed pokemon despite Red's claims to stop. Eventually it seemed Giselle grew bored of torturing the poor Pikachu and called off the attacks. Red hurriedly grabbed his starter of the field and started soothing the beaten pokemon.

"Any one else?" she asked cockily. Graveler struck a arrogant muscle pose, making sure to especially show of its muscled four arms.

"I will." stated Ash. He stepped onto the make shift field and stared down the duo.

"Aggron come forth!" Ash's familiar steel dragon appeared and let loose a roar that mortified the Graveler. Aggrons were the stuff of nightmares for any rock-type pokemon.

"Graveler come back!" commanded Giselle. She knew of the Aggron species and their superior strength and firepower. Graveler would be wrecked into dust. Only one of her pokemon could stand up to it.

"Ninetails come on out!" she said as she released her fire fox.

Ash grimaced. Ninetails were some of the most powerful fire-types out there, sometimes being even with the notorious Magmar. Aggron was at a huge disadvantage, but if he played his cards right he could end up with triumph.

"Flamethrower!" called out Giselle. A torrent of fire surged towards Aggron scorching the air as it closed the distance between the two foes.

"Ancient Power! Shield yourself!" commanded Ash. Aggron's foot was encased in silver energy and was slammed into the ground. Lightning quick a large boulders formed a shield in front of him. Fire soon encased the shield. Fire warped around the shield of rocks, searing the air and making it hard to breath for Ash. Soon the flames died down to show the rock shield standing but heavily burned. The shield crumbled to reveal an unscathed Aggron grinning at the success of the defensive move.

"Flamethrower!" the familiar burst of flame surged through the field only to be stopped by the same move that had quenched its destruction before. The fire scorched the rocks leaving it red and almost molten.

"Again!" Giselle commanded.

"Now jump over the rock wall!" came the cry of Giselle. Ninetails swiftly jumped over the makeshift shield and composed itself behind Aggron.

"Will-o-Wisp!" a bolt of blue fire darted towards Aggron and encompassed him in a pillar of blue fire. Roars of agony and pain filled the air and only resided when the flames died down.

Aggron was revealed kneeling on one knee and panting. Burns covered his armored skin and some of it was actually melted.

"Magnitude!" Ash called out in a desperate cry. Aggron wouldn't last much longer against against Ninetails. Only his will kept him up after the Will-o-Wisp attacks.

The ground started shaking violently and the walls of building started to crumble. The constant shaking made Ninetails quite dizzy. With the constant shaking its mind couldn't register anything making even moving difficult. Soon Ninetail's head couldn't take it anymore and it fell unconscious.

Seeing his opponent had fallen Aggron released a triumphant bellow before falling unconscious himself.

Ash sweatdropped at that.

Giselle looked down trodden at her defeat. One of her strongest pokemon was defeated by one that had a type-disadvantage. 'What would the teachers say about her failure? What about her popularity? What about her parents?' she thought as she returned her pokemon and dashed off into the large school.

Ash walked towards the field towards the unconscious Aggron and started tending his wounds. It was mostly burns and a few bruises but most of them were healed with a simple potion. The worst of his injuries would have to be healed at Vermillion.

Aggron soon disappeared in a flash of scarlet which was sucked inside of a pokeball. Ash returned to the group to see Brock treating Pikachu with a saddened look on his face.

"You ready to go?" asked Ash.

"Uhhh" sighed Brock. "I'm sorry Ash but your going to have to go on with out me." he said sadly.

"Why?" questioned Ash, but he had a good idea why.

"Pikachu is in pretty bad shape and if he doesn't remain stable he could harbor some crippling ailments." he said worry and regret in his voice.

Ash looked at him with a questioning look, but his mind was already made up. Ash would not be responsible for a crippled pokemon or of a ruined career.

"Go on. I'll meet you in Vermillion." Ash said as he swiftly turned and started heading towards the exit.

Brock gave Ash a small smile before resuming Pikachu's examination.


It had been a day since Ash and Brock had gone separate ways. And it hadn't been easy. Ash and his team instantly missed the fine cuisine Brock offered and his expert navigating skills. But none-the-less Ash made it to Vermillion the next night.

After renting a room from the resident Nurse Joy Ash released all his pokemon in his room, which in his opinion was a bad idea seeing how small the room was.

After situating themselves into comfortable positions, Aggron in particular, Ash told them why he released them.

"Alright, tomorrow we face Lt. Surge, one of the strongest gym leaders in Kanto so I need you all to try your hardest." a chorus of grunts answered his small speech.

"Seadra your staying out of this for obvious reasons, okay?" Ash was answered by a sad, but a affirmative nod.

"Alright now rest up we have a long day tomorrow." Ash said before returning his pokemon.