Hello, everyone. I'm back with another upload. And, to all you people who reviewed this story saying things like 'the start was so promising' and 'I don't get this fear of overpowering Ash' and the like, if this fiction isn't as cut out to be what you wanted it to be, don't read it, I'm not forcing you to. At the end of the day I am the author, so I make the final decisions on what happens with this story. To be honest, I'm now sick of wanting to defend myself for something that's meant to be fun so, in future, I'll be doing this fiction however I please, ignoring all slams and flames. To all those enjoying the fiction, thank you for your patience and understanding towards me, and I promise you all Riolu and Dratini will be returning, and soon. So, for the time being, enjoy;


Forest Training

The caterpillar stood still as stone as the two-coloured orb soared straight towards it. As the ball closed in, the derpy insect found it more and more bizarre. Before the Pokémon had thought through what was happening properly, the sphere conked him on the head.

"Buraow!" The bug chattered as his small form was engulfed in a red light, and withdrawn into the pokéball. The capsule fell to the floor and began to rock back and forth and back and forth again. Ash stared intently at the ball, willing it to stay closed and for Caterpie to be his. After a few more seconds, the pokéball clicked shut, signalling a successful capture. Ash smiled as he picked up the pokéball, and fist pumped the air in triumph.

"Yes! I did it!" He yelled, victoriously. "I caught a Caterpie!" He got so giddy that he linked elbows with Misty and started dancing with her, despite her protests of getting dizzy and how daft he looked. Pikachu blinked confusedly at his trainer. He's already caught a Spearow on his journey, why's Caterpie such a milestone? His eyes subconsciously followed Ash and Misty as they swung round and round in circles until he got too dizzy to keep up, and flopped backwards in a daze.

Misty managed to break free from Ash's grip.

"Ash! You're acting like a-" She was cut short as Ash shoved the pokéball right up in her face, boastfully.

"Look at this! Inside this ball is the first Pokémon I've caught without having to engage it in battle or nearly die from an assault from its peers."

"Yeah, yeah. That's great, Ash." Lied Misty. "Just keep that thing away from me, will ya?" She practically begged, cringing.

"What's the matter, Misty?" Ash asked, with a touch of concern in his voice. "You're not afraid of an itsy bitsy bug Pokémon in a pokéball, are you?"

"Bugs get me all bugged out!" Misty protested. "In a pokéball or out." She covered her mouth, swallowing hard to prevent herself from gagging. "JUST KEEP IT AWAY!" She turned her back on Ash, hands on hips, to show how serious she was.

"Well, I quite like bugs, even when they're not in a pokéball." Ash stated. "I mean, how could you not love a face as cute as Caterpie's?" He challenged.

"Well, I guess it takes a worm to love a worm." Misty insulted under muttered breath. Ash was not impressed by this remark.

"Ha-ha, Miss Comedy ninety-seven (!) Hey, Pikachu." He called to his dazed buddy, waking him up. He crouched down in front of Pikachu and held the pokéball out in front of him. "This is our new friend." He introduced. Pikachu sniffed the pokéball, and gave a happy "Pika!" in response. "I'm glad you like it Pikachu." Ash thanked. "OK, Caterpie, you're sticking with us."

Hearing this made Misty's spine crawl. She didn't like the implication in Ash's voice.

"Does that mean…?" It did mean.

"Alright Caterpie, come on out!" Ash cried, as he threw Caterpie's ball into the air, making release Caterpie in a flash of white light. As the shapeless light spewed in all directions, Misty ran away as fast as she could, screaming her head off just before Caterpie materialised from the light.

"Urugh?" Caterpie clicked, curiously. Ash noticed Misty was missing, and looked about the forest to see if she was still nearby. He noticed her hiding behind a tree several feet away, cowering and cringing dramatically.

"Oh, come on, Misty. There's nothing to be afraid of." Ash told her, thinking how silly Misty was being over her fear. He crouched down to the caterpillar, offering it his hand. "Come on, Caterpie. Climb up on my shoulder." The bug nodded, and started crawling towards his trainer's hand. But something in the distance distracted his eye. There, several feet away behind a tree, was the cutest human female he'd ever seen. He sprinted as fast as he could towards her, making the girl squeal in horror.

"Caterpie? What are you doing?" Ash wondered. When Caterpie reached Misty in her hiding place, her started rubbing up against her leg affectionately, purring softly, completely oblivious to her terrified shivers. "Hey, Misty. Looks like Caterpie really likes you. How cute is that?" Misty didn't find it in the least bit cute. In fact, she found it just plain grotesque.

"GET THIS DISGUSTING BUG AWAY FROM ME!" She screamed, sinking to her knees. Caterpie poked his face closer to her curiously. "Please… don't… COMEANYCLOSERTOME!" She shrieked, backing away as quickly as she could from the Pokémon, cowering up against a tree.

"What? You think Caterpie's disgusting?" Ash asked, mildly hurt by this remark. But not as hurt as Caterpie, who chirruped miserably. Pikachu walked up to the saddened insect, offering it a reassuring pat on the back.

"I know." Misty said, picking Pikachu up and cradling him in her lap. "You be friends with that creepy bug, and I'll be friends with Pikachu." She offered.

"Misty, that's not very fair. I met Pikachu a year ago, so he trusts me. I can't guarantee he trusts just anyone straight away." Ash warned.

But, to his chagrin, as soon as Misty started petting Pikachu between the ears, he was purring and squeaking in pleasure like she doing things unmentionable to him. This display of blatantly treachery made Ash quite jealous.

"Traitor." He muttered, bitterly. Misty stopped stroking Pikachu and noticed a very hurt looking Caterpie looking at her through teary eyes.

"It's so gross." She cringed. "Ash! PUT THAT SLIMY THING BACK IN THE POKÉBALL! Bugs are one of the three most disgusting things in the world!"

"Well, bugs – supposedly – being one, and you being the other, what's the third thing?" Ash mocked.

"Very funny (!)" Misty spat. "Carrots! Peppers!" She listed off. "And most of all…" She clouted Caterpie with her mallet she used to clobber Ekans. "Bugs."

"Oh, come on, Misty." Ash tried to reason with her. "Don't you think you take a fear of bugs to a degree of silly?" Immediately, Misty was to her feet and right in Ash's face, going on the offensive.

"HA! Well look how's talking, Mister; 'Pikachu, use Flamethrower to get rid of that Ekans'!" She challenged, using a mockingly derpy voice to imitate Ash.

"HEY!" He shouted in her face, actually making Misty recoil. "I have a reason to be afraid of snake Pokémon. That Ekans we saw at the Pokémon Centre was the very same Ekans that nearly took my life when I was just five years old!" He snarled at her. Hearing this made Misty feel terrible. She'd heard about the attack, she heard that Delia died and Ash came close to following, but she didn't know this. But before she could open her mouth to apologise, Ash stormed to his Caterpie, and placed it on his shoulder.

"Come on, Caterpie." He huffed. "You're not gonna be bugging Misty anymore." He shunted past her, Pikachu toddling on behind him. "We're leaving her behind." Ash stormed, as he trundled through the forest angrily.


Ash stomped through the forest muttering angrily. "How dare she hurt Caterpie's feelings like that? Bug Pokémon have emotions, too. What gives her the right to declare bug Pokémon are scum?" As he was ranting to himself, Pikachu sensed something behind them, and glanced back to spot a familiar redhead following some distance behind.

"Pikapi." He called Ash, hopping one foot to the other, pointing behind them.

"I sense her, Pikachu." Ash replied, not turning round. He knew full well Misty was behind them. He could sense her aura. "Why are you following me, Misty? I thought you hated bug Pokémon. Caterpie's still not in his ball." This took Misty quite by surprise. Ash didn't so much as glance in her direction. How'd he know she was there? Well, she knew she was caught. She couldn't back out.

"M-my bike." She excused. "I'm holding you responsible for my bike." She made up, slowly. Ash rolled his eyes.

"Look, I didn't mean for your bike to get cooked. And I said I'd make it up to you somehow, so stop worrying so much about that dumb bike."

"For your information, you're the dumb one for destroying it in the first place. Had you been more responsible for your Pikachu, we wouldn't be here right now, and I'd be on my own way."

"Look, Misty… I will make good on your bike one day, whatever it takes. And if I'm so 'dumb', why are you still following me?"

"I'm not following you, this just so happens to be the fastest way out of this creepy forest!"

"A likely story." Ash snapped. "Fine. Whatever. Just do whatever you want."

"That's preciselywhat I'm doing!" Misty spat furiously. Pikachu, having watched the whole exchange, whipped his head back and forth between the quarrellers, wondering what in Arceus' name their problem was. Seeing the conflict didn't resolve anything, all he could do was sweat drop.


The campfire was roaring softly as Ash snuggled into his sleeping bag. Sat on a tree trunk up next to him were Pikachu and Caterpie.

"Well we'd better get some sleep, guys." Ash yawned. "Tomorrow, I'm thinking of doing some training techniques I planned up when I was training under Gramps back home." The Pokémon nodded, eager to train tomorrow.

"Well, we could all get some sleep if you'd shut your big mouth." Came the now slightly irritating voice of Misty from the other side of the trunk. Ash huffed at her remark.

"Don't let the bedbugs bite (!)" He spat spitefully. The two kids quickly allowed themselves to sleep, leaving Pikachu and Caterpie to stargaze.

"Look up there, Pikachu." Caterpie said. Pikachu did as he was asked, and marvelled at the clear sky littered with lights. In the distance, dozens of Butterfree were retreating back to their trees for the night.

"It's very beautiful." Mused Pikachu.

"That orange girl doesn't like me." Caterpie squeaked, unhappily.

"She's just a little insecure, Caterpie. That's all. That's how human are, I guess."

"I think she's really cute." The caterpillar blushed. "But she looks at me like the most gruesome thing in the world." Pikachu didn't have any words for this. What could he say now to liven the insect up? "I hope to someday get her to like me." The green worm continued. "I want to evolve up through my stages. I want to become a Metapod. Maybe I'll be less ugly to her when I can't move, so she knows I can't pose a threat. And then…" He looked out at the Butterfree who were nestling into their tree nests. "I want to become one of them. If I become a Butterfree, maybe I'll look less scary to her, and she'll like me."

"And, you'd be able to fly!" Pikachu added, excitedly.

"Yeah. And I'd be able to soar through the air majestically, and not have a care in the world!" Caterpie chirruped, a sense of newfound hope in his voice.

"Oh, that'd be so cool, Cat." Pikachu squeaked.

"I think so too, Pi. I really hope I evolve soon."

"I'm sure you will, Caterpie. I'm sure you will."


The Sun was up. The fire was out. And all were quietly asleep.

"GWAAAH!" Or… they were until Misty awoke with a start. Guess who made her scream. Ash leapt to attention, still stood in his sleeping bag.

"What is it? What's the matter? Who's attacking?" He interrogated, glancing around to see what hidden foe was around.

"What is this thing doing sleeping near me?" Misty squeaked, staring down at Caterpie with terror-stricken eyes. Ash noticed what was going on and chuckled.

"Oh, Caterpie just wants to be your friend, Misty."

"IF THAT THING WANTS TO BE MY FRIEND, IT CAN STOP BUGGING ME ALREADY!" She screamed. "If you're a Pokémon, get into that pokéball and out of my face!" She snapped at the insect, making the poor bug type cry.

"Oh, Misty, you're so unbelievably mean." Ash chided her. "Caterpie means no harm to you whatsoever. Why the poor thing likes you, I'll never know." Then he noticed the crying caterpillar crawling cheerlessly back to its capsule. Ash, still being in his sleeping bag, crawled alongside Caterpie trying to reason with the broken-hearted Pokémon. The bug got back to his ball, and pressed the button, allowing himself to be sucked inside. This really pissed Ash off. "Alright, Misty…" He snarled, standing up and unzipping himself from his sleeping bag. "…you owe my Caterpie an apology. Pokémon have feelings, too, you know. No matter what type they are." Misty huffed and looked away from him, crossing her arms defiantly. Ash went back to Caterpie's pokéball, and picked it up softly. "Don't you worry, Caterpie. One day we'll show her."

Suddenly, the sound of beating wings swooped by and a Pidgeotto dove into a tuft of tall grass, not far from Ash, Misty and Pikachu. "Wow! It's a Pidgeotto!" Ash exclaimed, slapping his cap on. He took out Dexter, and scanned the Pidgeotto. The machine beeped, and blinked up an image of the large bird Pokémon.

"Pidgeotto. An evolved form of Pidgey. It is armed with sharp claws, and dives from the sky to capture its prey. Unlike the more gentle Pidgey, Pidgeotto can be more dangerous. Approach with extreme caution."

"Duly noted." Ash replied. "OK, Pikachu. Let's show this Pidgeotto who're the real dangerous ones around here."

"Pikachu!" The mouse replied to his trainer, jogging into a battle position, staring down the large bird before him, how merely gazed lazily at him through the corner of his eye.

"Alright, Pikachu… use Tackle attack!" Pikachu mounted a charge towards his foe, sprinting on all fours. The Pidgeotto hardly thought of a plan of action and calmly beat his wings to elevate himself into the skies and above the attack. "OK, Pikachu, try a Thundershock attack!" Pikachu released a stream of lightning, which wrapped around the Pidgeotto, freezing it in place as its muscles became paralysed.

"Pokéball, go!" Ash shouted, hurling a pokéball at the stunned bird Pokémon. The ball flopped to the floor, and began to rock side to side.

After a long moment of tension, the ball clicked shut. "YES!" Ash screamed. "We caught Pidgeotto!" He shouted victoriously, flicking a peace sign. Wanting to join in the celebrations, Pikachu mimicked the action, gleefully. Ash picked up the pokéball, and walked over to Misty with the biggest grin on his face ever. "I feel like this whole journey's going well so far. I caught a Spearow, a Caterpie and now a Pidgeotto, with a Riolu and a Dratini waiting at home to be used later in my travels. Add Pikachu into that mix, and I've already got six Pokémon in all. Gary may have ten, but I'm sure one or two of those will be through evolution."

"KETCHUM!" Speak of the Devil himself. Ash and Misty turned in surprise of the bellow to find a fairly tall boy about their age with large spiky brown hair coming thundering through the trees towards them. And he looked pissed. When he came within striking distance of Ash, he grabbed him by the collar, and started shaking him roughly. "Thanks for Mewdamned bankrupting me Ketchum!" He roared in Ash's face. "Grandpa doesn't let bets slide by, you know!" Ash just calmly took the rough treatment, smirking at the enraged kid.

"Gary, put your uncle down." He requested, slyly. Gary cringed at the U word, and put Ash down immediately.

"Y-you're not my uncle, Ash." He pouted, causing Ash to chuckle victoriously.

Ash calmed himself down, and straightened his shirt.

"So I take it Gramps told you about my Spearow capture?" He asked the sulking kid before him, who nodded grumpily. "Well…" He chuckled. "…you should know better than to underestimate my Pokémon catching skills. I mean… you were there when I caught Dratini."

"Well… yeah." Gary admitted, sheepishly. "But I always thought it was just a fluke."

"Oh, by the way. Thanks for asking (!) I'm fine (!)" Ash almost hissed with sarcasm dripping from his teeth. "My Pokémon journey started just fine (!) Not long after catching Spearow, a whole flock of them sought after revenge on me and Pikachu, and nearly succeeded in killing us. Then, when we got to Viridian City, I met up with the girl who tried to kill me five years ago. And, to pour salt into the wound, she still has the same bloody Ekans. I was terrified, Gazza." Ash whined, tears forming anew in his eyes. Gary looked at Ash with the deepest sympathy possible. Ash never called him Gazza unless he was really and truly upset. It was like a little code to them. Gary hooked an arm around Ash's shoulder, and gave him a brotherly hug, offering him support.

"Don't worry, mate. We'll get you over this fear, I promise." He soothed. It was now that he noticed Misty. "Hey, Ash? Who's the girl?"

"My name's Misty." Misty introduced herself, holding out a hand to Gary. "Nice to meet you." Gary took the offered hand, smiling.

"Pleasure's all mine." He smirked, winking at her. "Gary Oak."

Introductions over, the three of them started to make their way through the forest. Little did they notice… they were being watched.


From the bushes, three pairs of binoculars peered out at the three ten year olds as they made their way down the road through the forest.

"Oh, great (!)" The pink haired girl moaned. "They've added another to their number." The blue haired boy beside her lowered his binoculars.

"This could pose a great risk to our 'kill the twerp and steal his Pikachu' plan, if there are too many witnesses to the account." He said.

"Meowth. Well, we'll just hafta wait til those halfwit kids are preoccupied with udder business before we strike." Meowth sneered, evilly. Jessie chuckled to herself, darkly.

"We'll wait until they're training, and they tire their Pokémon out." She plotted. "Then they'll have nothing to defend their miserable arses."


Some hours had past and, sick and tired of just wandering around gormlessly through the forest, Ash had indeed decided to take up a spot of training. He took a notebook out from the front pocket of his backpack, and started flipping through the hastily scribbled notes he took over the years he trained under Professor Oak. He flipped through until he found the page on training bird Pokémon. He scanned over the techniques he'd learned and the ones he devised himself based on his teachings. He heard from the professor that Pokémon like Pidgeotto could learn powerful flying type moves like Brave Bird, a move where the user soars directly into a foe after plummeting at neck breaking speeds from immense altitudes. This move, Ash thought, would put him in good stead when he started challenging the gyms.

"OK, Spearow. Pidgeotto." He addressed his Pokémon, once they were out of their pokéballs. "Here's what I want you to do." He flipped his notebook round to show a series of illustrations he doodled in a lecture once, depicting a bird shaped Pokémon performing Brave Bird attack. "To perform Brave Bird, you need to get over fears of having a dodgy impact with an opponent." He repeated the lecture in his own words. As he taught Pidgeotto and Spearow how to get over these inhibitions, Misty and Gary were having a discussion of their own.


"So… what happened with Ash when he was five?" Misty asked. Gary looked towards his adopted brother, and gave a sad smile. He turned back to Misty, and sighed.

"Well… on the day of his fifth birthday, Ash's house was attacked by a group of murderous thugs called Team Rocket." He told her, spitting the name 'Team Rocket' as if it were bitter poison. "They burnt the house, killing Delia in the process." He wiped away a small tear that started to bead in his eye. "Then, from what Ash has told me and Gramps, he was attacked by a girl and her Ekans, which bit him with the intention of killing him with venom. He was extremely lucky Gramps got there as fast as he did. Otherwise…" He didn't finish his sentence, as the lump in his throat threatened to choke him if he spoke another word. Misty looked back to Ash, who was now instructing Pikachu on what technique he wanted him to train with, and couldn't help but feel sorry for the kid.

"And… has he always had this hatred of them?" She asked slowly. Gary nodded and wiped his eyes dry, thinking happier thoughts about how Ash survived that night, rather than what might've been if things hadn't gone so well.


With Pidgeotto and Spearow practising Brave Bird, and Pikachu now working on strengthening his tail by jumping through the trees using his tail like a springboard, Ash turned his attention to Caterpie.

"OK, Caterpie." He addressed the bug, who looked up at him expectantly. "I'm sorry to say this, but you're not strong enough yet to try training with any of the others, yet. But… I have a special form of training for you." Caterpie's eyes widened with delight at the sound of this. "I'll be training you myself." His training announced. So Ash assumed his battle stance from training with Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan. Caterpie eyed him nervously, knowing for a fact that he'd have a severe disadvantage against a human. "Don't worry, Caterpie." Ash reassured his hesitant sparring partner. "I'm not gonna go too rough on ya, and I'll tell you what to do during the bout." He offered, settling the worm.

Ash dashed forward, ordering his Caterpie to try using string shot on his foot. Caterpie fired, but Ash dodged with a skip, and kept charging forward. "You've gotta be a lot faster than that, small fry." Ash teased, winking slyly at the insect. Caterpie started to worry, and started rapidly firing blast after blast of string shot. All of which Ash dodged absentmindedly. Soon, Ash was practically on top of his caterpillar Pokémon, and he tagged it gently on the forehead, signalling the sparring round of over. "Good try, Caterpie." He congratulated. "But you freaked out. You got nervous, and went mad with your attacks. You need to anticipate your opponent's moves, and act before they happen." Caterpie nodded, and they started to spar again.

Again, Ash ran for Caterpie. But this time, Caterpie stood still and observed. He watched his trainer jump from his right foot to left and back again, and got into the rhythm of his movements. Once he was comfortable with the steady beat of Ash's run, the worm Pokémon waited for an opportune moment to strike. That moment came went Ash came close enough to a stone juttying out of the soil. The bug type focused its eyes on Ash's right foot, and started to count down. Three… two… one… shoot! The stream of silky thread connected with Ash's foot, sticking it to the ground just mere millimetres from the large stone. As Ash tried to lift his foot, he stumbled over the rocky growth, and collided with the forest floor. The resounding thud alerted everyone around. The bird Pokémon, Pikachu, Gary and Misty rushed to the clearing Ash and Caterpie were training in to find Ash laying on the ground, face down, with his foot glued to a stone with sticky silk and laughing. Seeing him laughing in content, rather than screaming in agony, everyone allowed themselves to breathe again, relaxing.

Ash stood from the leafy debris that had fortunately cushioned his fall. He pulled away the silky strands of thread that bound his foot to his trip trap and dusted himself down. "Well done, Caterpie." He applauded. "That was a very good string shot. If you keep improving your technique like that, and earn enough battle experience, I'll bet ya you'll evolve very soon." He gave his Caterpie a confident thumbs-up gesture, making the bug click and chirp in excitement.

"Oh, that'll be the day (!)" Came a sarcastic voice from the bushes. Ash, Gary and Misty all turned to see who were hiding in the shrubbery. Ash, however, had a pretty firm hunch of who it was. He snarled in displeasure.

"I know that voice." He growled.


Sure enough, there were three very, unfortunately, familiar silhouettes of the three villains Ash had hoped were now dead.

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all peoples within our nation."

"Urgh." Ash grunted, exasperatedly. "Not this crap again."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie."

"James."

"Team Rocket blast off at the speed of light."

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight."

"Meowth! Dat's right!" Ash was not having any of these threes' pissing around.

"You three!" He snarled, dangerously. "I'm warning you once and once only. Surrender now, or prepare to face a slow, painful and gruesome death while I laugh in your faces and spit in your eyes." Although the dangerous tone in Ash's voice made both Misty and Gary shudder in terror, Team Rocket just laughed mockingly.

"Oh, isn't he a feisty little boy?" Jessie sneered, tauntingly.

"A little Pidgey who doesn't know when to quit." James added. The sneers and jeers he was receiving made Ash's face shine crimson in rage. He clenched his fists so tight, they were close to drawing blood. The two Rockets smirked at this, enjoying the hate vibe Ash was now radiating like a broken nuclear reactor core. "Hand us the Pikachu." James ordered. "And we may consider letting you live." He offered hollowly, smirking as he said it, which gave Ash his doubts. He looked down at his Pikachu, then back to the Team Rocket trio before him, raising an eyebrow at their demand.

"Pikachu? Just last night, you three couldn't care less for him. And now you're demanding that I hand him over just like that?" He asked, incredulously.

"That Pikachu is no ordinary Pikachu." James justified.

"Yeah. Dat Pikachu's got the power levels to rival its big brudder Raichu." Meowth added. Ash screwed his face up in non-conception. Pikachu's suddenly special for having a jumped up electric attack with the aid of a dozen other Pikachu and the power of a front light of a charred bike?

Pikachu snarled at the Rocket trio before him, not prepared to surrender to these dicks. Gary stepped forward, standing beside Ash.

"Why don't you losers just bugger off!" He spat. Team Rocket, however, just laughed at him, making Gary sneer even more aggressively.

"Oh look." Jessie insulted. "Ketchum's boyfriend's stepping in to help." This comment sent Team Rocket into fits of laughter, while Ash and Gary bared their teeth at them.

"We're brothers!" They shouted, simultaneously. Team Rocket abruptly stopped laughing.

"Oh, whatever." James snapped back. "Hand over the rat, or else."

"NEVER!" Ash spat in retaliation. "Pikachu! Get ready to kill 'em."

"Pikachu!" The mouse shouted, sparking at the cheeks with a bloodthirsty look in his eye. Jessie and James threw their pokéballs, releasing Koffing and Ekans.

"Hey! Two on one is illegal!" Ash protested.

"We're Team Rocket, runt, we don't play by the rules." Jessie said, nonchalantly.

"Koffing, use sludge attack!" James commanded. The purple poison sphere obeyed and sprayed a black tar on Pikachu's face, sealing his eyes shut. The poor mouse struggled against the sticky slime that bound his eyes closed vainly. The sludge was not coming off any time soon. Ash picked the defenceless Pokémon off the ground, and cradled him in his arms.

"Your dirty tricks won't get you anywhere with me, you arseholes." He glared.

Ash handed the blinded Pikachu to Gary, and stepped forward to confront the criminals before him. "Well, if you're using two Pokémon… I'm using two Pokémon. Pidgeotto! Spearow! Go get them." The birds cawed in obedience, and swooped into battle. James pulled out his favourite black rose.

"Koffing. It's grime time." He stated, coolly. The sludge spitting ball levitated between the bird Pokémon, which started to dart around in evasive manoeuvres to avoid its venomous mouth. Koffing released a splurge of slime, but the flying Pokémon were too agile, and the sludge fell to the forest floor with a squelch.

"Ekans!" Jessie shouted. "Dinner time!" Ekans licked its lips, and started leaping for the feathery foodstuffs, chomping down on thin air when they narrowly avoided its jaws.

"Pidgeotto, Quick attack. Spearow, get into Pidgeotto's slipstream and use Peck." Ash ordered. Pidgeotto dove for the snake, swiftly followed by Spearow, who's beak, which had been slightly elongated, was glowing white, ready to strike.

"Ekans. Go underground." Jessie demanded, smoothly. The snake burrowed into the soil, causing Pidgeotto and Spearow to panic as they noticed how close to the ground they were getting. They flapped frantically, to prevent colliding with the dirt, and narrowly succeeded. However, this diversion was the window Koffing needed to reposition to strike again.

"Behind you!" Ash warned, just before Koffing sprayed a Smokescreen attack. Luckily, Pidgeotto had turned in time to flap the Smokescreen away with his large wings. In retaliation, Koffing unleashed a barrage of sludge blobs at the flying duo, causing them to focus on dodging the attack, and not on the fact that Ekans had now jumped out of the ground, and was baring down on them.

"Look out, you two, behind you!" Gary tried to alert them. The birds split, flying in opposite directions, making Ekans missed them and face plant the dirt.

The birds flew into the sky, quickly pursued by the poison types.

"Counter attack!" Ash shouted. The birds tried Gust attack, but their opponents dodged. While the birds looked about, confused, they were suddenly set upon at all angles as Koffing and Ekans began smacking them around in mid-air. One final strike from Ekans' tail did the trick, and the birds could fight no longer. "Return." Ash cried, as he recalled the battered birds into their pokéballs. He snarled in anger at the evil trio before him. "I'll show you." He roared, as he rushed the now cackling threesome.

"Ash, don't." Misty dashed forward to catch Ash before he did something stupid, but he was already too far away for her to catch up.

In his rage, Ash swung a roundhouse kick aimed for James' face, which he blocked without blinking. With split-second thinking, the enraged child pushed his free foot off the ground, and landed the toe of his trainer into the purple-haired man's groin, with a terrible crunch. Gary winced at the sound, and Misty gasped, clasping her hands over her ears. James coiled over in agony, howling and wailing while clutching his now crushed crown jewels.

"Ooh." Gary winced. "I felt that." James started coughing in discomfort, as he tried to will the sensation back into his legs. Meowth leapt to his stricken comrade's aid, and unleashed a flurry of scratches to Ash's face. The boy managed to wrestle the enraged tabby cat from his head, and rush back to Gary and Misty, clutching his sore face. Misty rushed to Ash's aid, moving his hand away to inspect the damage done to his mug. The only blemish she could find were a bunch of red scratch lines all over his face. But, fortunately, no blood was drawn.

"You'll live." She reported reassuringly, turning Ash to face the Rockets again.

"How dare you do that, you little squirt!" Jessie growled, as James continued to try soothing his nads.

"How dare you kill my mother!" Ash bit back, as he applied a sensitive face moisturiser Misty handed him to his face.

"…Touché." Jessie, reluctantly, admitted. "Now, unless you have any more Pokémon to battle with, hand over that Pikachu, or suffer horribly as the result." She threatened.

Ash snarled, and thought through battle strategies he could try to get these guys out of his life.

'I can't try to fight them myself again, they'll expect it. And I don't want another run-in with Ekans.' He thought. 'And I couldn't possibly send in Caterpie with no battle experience… could I?' As if knowing exactly what Ash was contemplating, Caterpie crawled past his trainer, and prepared for battle. Ash was struck dumb by this simple, but very foolish, action. "C-Caterpie?" Team Rocket gawped in confusion.

"Huh? What's that?" James asked, dimly.

"It's a bug! A measly little bug!" Meowth exclaimed incredulously. The fact that this little worm was prepared to endanger itself in battle was laughable. And that's precisely what they did. The three of them cackled in spite, pointing and jeering at the tiny Pokémon.

"Let's get the bug spray!" Jessie mocked.

Ekans and Koffing made a lunge at the poor innocent insect, making the helpless thing gulp in panic. Ash watched on, hoping that Caterpie's nerves would hold for at least one attack.

"You can beat them, Caterpie! Use String Shot!" Ash cried out. Despite its worry, Caterpie obeyed, and spat a stream of silken threads towards the rampaging foes. The silk wrapped around Koffing first, encasing it in a cocoon of thread, rendering it as useless as a hollow piñata. The mummified gas bag dropped to the floor like a stone. Ekans, enraged by his companion's defeat, lunged faster for the bug, only to have his head completely encased in silk as he was just inches from striking. With Ekans distracted by the blinding cast around his face, Caterpie charged towards Koffing, heading it like an English football, causing it to soar through the air into Ekans' head, sending them flying into a tree.

"Beaten by a Caterpie." James stated in anger. Meowth stepped up to the plate, baring his claws menacingly.

"Now, get ready to see a real Pokémon in action." As soon as he said this, Caterpie wrapped him up in silken bonds without warning, mummifying the dozy cat in seconds.

Jessie and James, realising their battle was lost, ran over to Meowth, and picked him up uncaringly.

"Looks like it's time for Team Rocket to blast off." Jessie stated, and they made their exit.

"You may have won this round, Ketchum, but we'll be back to win the war!" James called behind them as they left.

"If I were you, I'd run and hide it I wished to live!" Ash threatened them, just before they disappeared into the dense woodland.


With them gone, all attention was back on Caterpie. The poor thing was now panting for breath, after spending so much energy sustaining his String Shot attack for so long. Ash picked the little bug up, and smiled at him as he held him in his arms.

"Well done, Caterpie. For a few minutes training, that wasn't a bad attack." He congratulated. Gary nodded in agreement.

"I never knew Caterpie could be so powerful. Even my Rattata would've chickened out if it saw those Pokémon."

"You're really strong, Caterpie." Misty complimented. Pikachu, would had now managed to wriggle away enough sludge to open his eyes, smiled at Caterpie, and flicked him a peace sign. All the praise and compliments – particularly from Misty – made the little caterpillar blush and chirp with glee.

"So, Misty…" Ash addressed her. "I bet you feel differently about Caterpie, huh?" Although this was partially true, Misty was still a little squeamish.

"W-Well, I-" Ash held Caterpie out to her.

"Come on. Please, Misty. Just pat Caterpie on the head and say thank you, that's all I ask." Misty looked at the bug nervously. "You like Pokémon, don't you? So, you should be able to congratulate one properly for doing a good job, right? Come on, I won't ask you to touch him again afterwards, I promise." Misty, shakily, walked towards Ash and Caterpie and, hesitantly, reached a hand out towards the caterpillar Pokémon. She whimpered and trembled as her nerves told her to run and hide, but she eventually made contact with Caterpie, and stroked it on the back of the head.

"T-thank y-y-you." She stammered as the bug chirruped happily at the content. After she said those words, she leapt back several feet, trying to recollect her nerves. Ash smiled kindly at her.

"Thanks, Mist. See? That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Unexpectedly, Caterpie started spraying String Shot for no apparent reason. "Caterpie?" Ash asked, placing the Pokémon down on the ground. The worm shot its string into the air above it. Slowly, the silk encased the Pokémon's body, and its form began to shift and change. The silk that that was now hardening around Caterpie began to glow.

"Your Caterpie's evolving." Gary exclaimed. Sure enough, when the glow faded, there was sat a Metapod. Ash pulled his pokédex out of his pocket, and scanned the green cocoon Pokémon.

"Metapod, Caterpie's next stage. It has encased its body in a hard shell. This specimen reached this stage faster than any previously discovered Pokémon of this variety." The device stated. Ash beamed with joy.

"Alright!" He fist pumped. He picked up his newly evolved Metapod, and smiled. "Nice to meet you, Metapod." Silence from the green chrysalis. "Not in the mood to talk, eh?" Ash joked.

"Wow. He really loves Pokémon." Misty commented. "Something tells me he'll be a fine Pokémon trainer." She mused to herself. Just at that moment, a Beedrill flew past her, making the redhead scream in surprise. "OK, great. You've got a Metapod now. Can we please get out of this bug-infested nightmare now!" She demanded. Ash slipped Metapod into his backpack, securing it snugly around the lackadaisical chrysalis.

"No way!" He exclaimed, watching the Beedrill fly off into the forest. "There's still so many more Pokémon to catch in these forests, Misty. And I'm gonna need a lot of them if I'm gonna become the world's greatest Pokémon Master. Come on!" And with that, he dashed off deep into the forest with Misty and Gary running to catch him up as he pursued the buzzing bee Pokémon through the trees.


From behind her bushy hiding place, a familiar someone was watching over the raven haired boy with tawny eyes. She watched as he rushed off after the Beedrill, with his friends struggling to hurry along behind him. She couldn't help but giggle as she set off herself, her nine separate tails flowing in the breeze as she enjoyed the chase of following her favourite human boy. One day, she thought. One day she'll make an appearance to him, and then they'll travel together. There was nothing in the world she'd ever want more.


Right, if I've done this correctly, this chapter will have replaced my moaning notice, and have alerted people who put this fiction on story alert, fingers crossed.

Oh! And, by the way, I'm now OFFICIALLY a Beta Reader. So, if anyone new to the Fanfiction community wishes to write a story, but requires help from a Beta, I'm happy to oblige.

I've seen a comment about Ash's desire to kill Team Rocket, and I'm planning on having Ash kill off the lesser Team Rocket members first, like Atilla and Hun and Annie and Oakley and so on. But... I'm thinking of adding some OCs into the mix. So, here's where you people come in.

In your reviews, if you have an idea for an OC Rocket member - Grunt, Elite, Admin, any rank, I don't mind - please give me;

A. Their name/title(s).

B. Their rank.

C. What Pokémon, if any, they use.

E. Their number (if they're a single Rocket, or a group).

F. Any additional information you care to add (ie, how Ash meets them, what their mission is, how they're killed etc., or leave it up to me what they do, how they die and so on).

I have no expectations for how you want to invent your OCs but, one thing I would request is, I'd like to see some OCs named after historical figures to do with crime and justice, like Jessie and James are named after Jesse James, and Atilla and Hun after Atilla the Hun. But, please, try to steer away from references to things like Adolf Hitler and other things that may be a little too extreme. I look forward to uploading chapter twelve next week. Til then... take care.