Here's Chapter 11. Got this written a lot faster then I thought I would.

I know I said that I was going to start putting the current Pokémon teams at the start and end of each chapter but last time something came up while I was uploading the chapter and had to cut my notes short.

Anyway current teams are

Ash:- Pikachu, Lucario, Gardevoir and Sandshrew

May:- Glaceon, Blaziken, Munchlax, Spoink, Flaffy and Wartortle.

A quick thank you to JLgods01 for giving me the idea to try writing a Pokespeech section. Please tell me what you think about it, if it comes across well then I'll try and put more in later chapters.


Chapter 11

Battling the Tide

Ash yawned as he opened his eyes to see the ceiling of the bedroom, he had slept quite well except for a few interruptions from Misty's sisters trying to get him to open his door for them, Ash wasn't sure but he thought that Lily sounded drunk when she had come knocking at his door asking him to help her with the zip on her dress. They had stopped when Pikachu fired a Thunderbolt at the door knob because they had woken him up from a dream he was having about a mountain of ketchup after that they hadn't come back. Ash got out of bed and started to stretch, Pikachu was still asleep on the pillow, Lucario was still leaning against the wall sleeping and Gardevoir was curled up on the floor breathing lightly in her sleep. Ash carefully and quietly got dressed into his swimming trunks and grabbed a towel he made his way out of the room, leaving Sandshrew's Pokéball with his other things, passing a clock he saw it was 5:30am and made his way to the pool making sure not to wake anyone. Ash hoped exercising would help him deal with the aftermath of reading the letter, he was still bothered by what his mom and Professor Oak had done, though he did understand why they did it and he was still trying to figure out how he felt about his dad now knowing that he'd sent him a new Pokémon for his birthday since he started his journey. Ash shook his head to clear his thoughts and focused on what type of exercises he would do today.

Ash dropped his towel onto a bench and stretched again before doing some press ups and slipping into the warm water of the pool, he took a deep breath and dove under the surface. He swam from one end of the pool to the other and part way back while underwater before he had to surface to take another breath, Ash kept swimming for another hour or so until he decided to get out and go through his usual exercises. After half an hour Ash decided to do a little training with Sandshrew so he went back to his room to get the Pokéball, he retrieved the ball and found that Lucario had just woken up as well. Lucario followed Ash back to the pool and started going through his own morning exercises and meditation, Ash let Sandshrew out of his Pokéball and knelt down his the ground type's level.

"Hey Sandshrew, want to do some training?" he asked, Sandshrew nodded in agreement, "Right I have a few different types of training methods but right now I just want to work on your general training, you know speed, strength stuff like that. So can you run from one end of the pool to the other and back as quickly as you can until you start to feel tired for me?" Sandshrew nodded again, the ground type then turned around, dropped onto all fours and started running to the other end of the pool. Ash was silently timing the small mouse just to see how fast he was to start with, as Sandshrew came back Ash had the time at just over a minute and a half. Ash was about to tell Sandshrew did a good job and ask him to do it again but he didn't get the chance, Sandshrew didn't stop running he just turned quickly in front of Ash and made his way back down the pool. Ash chuckled lightly He really wants to train he thought.

"Sandshrew, be careful you don't slip otherwise you might fall into the pool." Ash said, he saw the ground type nod slightly as he ran. Ash smiled knowing that Sandshrew would fit in well with his other Pokémon from the way he was training. Ash moved out of Sandshrew's way and started going through his fighting skills moving smoothly from one move to the other, while fighting imaginary opponents. Half an hour later Ash saw that Sandshrew was tired but still running as fast as he could, Ash stopped his exercise and walked back to the ground type.

"Sandshrew take a break, if you keep going you'll only hurt yourself." He said, Sandshrew made one last run which Ash timed with Sandshrew finishing in just over a minute, "You've done great Sandshrew, you're a bit faster than you were when you started I'm proud of you." Ash said smiling at the tired Pokémon, Sandshrew jumped into Ash arms smiling at the praise he was getting.

"Sandshrew Sand Sand Shrewsand." He said happily.

"You take a nice rest Sandshrew and get your strength back we'll work on you power later okay?" Ash asked, Sandshrew nodded and dropped to the floor before making his way over to the bench Ash had put his towel on and sat next to it. Ash walked over to Lucario and sat next to his to meditate for a bit, after about twenty minutes Ash and Lucario stood up and started working with their Aura. The next few hours consisted of Ash and Lucario helping Sandshrew with his exercises, having him improve his agility and evasiveness by dodging weak Aura Spheres, increasing his strength by having him lift various weights around the pool and slowly increasing his resistance to water by gently splashing water on him. Ash was floating in the pool watching Lucario and Sandshrew go through a round of light sparring when he saw Misty walking towards the pool, wearing a white one piece swimsuit. (AN Like she does in the games)

"Hey Misty." He called out.

"Ash? What are you doing up so early?" she replied.

"I always get up early now to train a little and do some exercises. What time is it?"

"A little after 10. How long have you been up?"

"I got out here about 5:30. Is anyone else up yet?"

"May's getting changed and my sisters don't usually get up for at least another hour."

"Hey Misty, want to see who's faster?" Ash asked grinning. Misty smiled back.

"Get ready to lose Ash." She retorted as she dove into the pool.

"I'll be the judge." Came a feminine voice. Ash and Misty turned to see May walking towards the pool wearing her normal clothes minus her bandana which let her hair cascade down her back, they saw that Pikachu, Gardevoir and Glaceon were walking behind her. The Pokémon went and sat by the bench as Sandshrew and Lucario stopped sparring and joined them, May walked up to the pool, but just to be sure, she stayed out of arms reach.

"This will be a race from one end of the pool to the other and back. Loser makes breakfast agreed?" Ash and Misty nodded, "In that case, swimmers to your places." Ash and Misty swam to the end of the pool putting a hand on the edge. "Ready," Ash flexed his arm ready to push off the side of the pool, "Set," Misty shifted one of her feet to the wall to do the same, "GO!" May shouted as she moved away from the pool. Ash and Misty pushed off the wall and swam as fast as they could to the other end. Misty was surprised to see that Ash was keeping pace with her, he was never this good, she thought as she pushed herself harder. Ash didn't look at Misty he just kept focusing on the other end of the pool and kicked his legs faster determined to beat Misty.

May watched as they approached the other end of the pool seeing Misty dive under the water, kicked off the wall and powered her way back towards the finishing line in one fluid movement, Ash on the other hand was so focused on going faster he headbutted the wall and stopped for a few seconds to get his bearings before turning around and chasing after Misty. Halfway back and Ash had nearly caught up to Misty, Ash could hear May and all the Pokémon cheering both of them on. Well nearly all of them, he could hear Pikachu only cheering for Misty, Traitor, Ash thought as he pushed himself even harder as he drew level with Misty with only a quarter of the pool left. Ash started to slowly pull ahead of Misty as they approached the finish line but at the last second Misty just managed to pass him and touch the wall.

"Misty is the winner and Ash is making breakfast." May said as the Pokémon cheered for Misty.

"You nearly had me there Ash, when did you get so good at swimming?" Misty asked.

"When I trained my water Pokémon I swam with them and whenever I'm camped by a lake or the sea I'll go swimming in the morning and later on in the day if I feel like it." Ash answered, "If the race was longer than I would have beaten you Misty."

"Yeah of course you would, now let's get something to eat." Misty said as she climbed out of the pool.

"Alright." Ash lifted himself out of the pool and picked up his towel drying himself off, he looked at Pikachu, "Did you really just have to cheer for Misty?" he asked.

"Pikachu Pika Kachu Pikachupi."

"I know you haven't seen Misty for a long time but I still would have like you support."

"Pika Pichu KaPika."

"I'm not a sore loser. I'm just saying that a little support from my brother would have been nice."

"Pi Pika Pichu Pikachu."

"No I'm not trying to guilt trip you."

"Aw, Ash leave Pikachu alone. I'm happy that he was supporting me. He's going to get a bottle of Ketchup for that." Misty said picking the excited Electric type up and giving him a hug, "What did you mean when you said your brother?"

"A while ago I asked Pikachu what he thought if I said that we were more like brothers and he agreed with me. Don't give him a bottle of Ketchup though he got us kicked out of a Pokémon Centre in Sinnoh because of his addiction to it." Misty started laughing thinking that Ash was joking around but when she looked at Pikachu she saw a look of embarrassment on his face and realised that Ash was telling the truth. "I give him some as a treat every now and then but never a bottle of it. Besides I need him to be focused for the Gym battle." Misty paled slightly.

"What do you mean for the Gym battle? Pikachu's not going to fight me is he?"

"Yeah he is, Pikachu said that he'd battle you but he wouldn't use any electric attacks. We made a deal if he battled against you then I'd let him go up against Surge's Raichu again. He agreed to it only if I didn't ask him to use Electric type moves." Misty was glad that Pikachu wasn't going to be using type advantage against her but she was still nervous about battling him. She knew that he wouldn't be badly injured by the battle, it was just that Pikachu was Ash's strongest Pokémon and after seeing him battle yesterday she knew how strong he was. May could see that Misty felt nervous and tried to make her feel better.

"It'll be alright Misty, Pikachu won't go all out in the battle." May said, "Right Pikachu?" she asked looking at the electric type who nodded in agreement, Misty calmed a little and smiled giving Pikachu another hug. Pikachu cooed happily and nuzzled into Misty.

"Thanks May and you too Pikachu, I feel a little better now. Ash, I have one extra rule for the Gym battle today because it's you." Misty said.

"What the rule Misty?"

"No bug types allowed. You know that I scared of them and even though I know the ones you have I'm still a little scared of them. That's part of the reason I taught Gyarados Flamethrower, in case a challenger come in with bug types."

"Alright Misty no bugs I promise." Ash said, "Now let's go and get some breakfast." They all walked to the kitchen with the Pokémon following close behind them. While Ash was making pancakes Misty was giving May some tips on training Wartortle. As they ate the pancakes May was questioning Ash on when he would start teaching her how to use the Legend moves and which Pokémon he would use for the Gym battle.

"May. I'm not going to tell you which Pokémon I'm using it'll have to be a surprise and before I start teaching you how to use the Legend moves Spoink needs to make her Psychic attack stronger. Gardevoir wants to go to Professor Oak's lab so why not send Spoink with her and they can do some training together." Ash said answering May's questions.

"Why does Gardevoir want to go to the Lab?" Misty asked, Ash looked at the Psychic type and she nodded.

"Gardevoir is a little shaken by the battle yesterday it's been a while since she last got angry like that so she wants to get away from battles for a little bit." Misty and May nodded in understanding, once they all finished their breakfast Misty and Ash went to have a shower and get changed before going to the Pokémon Centre. May waited with the Pokémon, watching Pikachu, Glaceon and Sandshrew playing while Lucario and Gardevoir stood by her. When Misty and Ash reappeared Misty was wearing a red t-shirt under a short sleeved yellow jacket and a pair of denim shorts with her usual red trainers, Ash was wearing jeans, a black t-shirt, a blue jacket, his hat and had his bag on his shoulder.

"Ash, why are you taking your bag?" May asked.

"I need Professor Oak to send me a couple of things to help with my training, so instead of having to carry them in my arms I thought I'd just take my bag to make it easier." He answered before returning Sandshrew to his Pokéball after telling the ground type that he'd call him back after the battle. They all made their way to the Pokémon Centre after Misty locked the doors of the Gym.

After a few minutes they arrived at the Pokémon Centre, while Misty was collecting her Pokémon Ash went to the Vid Phones to call Professor Oak, it rang a couple of times until Professor Oak answered it.

"Ash, I take it you've decided which Pokémon you'll be needing for you battle against Misty." Said the Professor.

"Yeah I have, I'm going to send Gardevoir and Sandshrew to you. I want Sandshrew to meet my other Pokémon and Gardevoir is a little shaken after our battle with Gary yesterday so I want to give her a rest. Oh, May wants to send you one of her Pokémon as well, she's with Misty at the minute because I want my Pokémon to be a surprise."

"So which Pokémon do you want me to send?"

"Can you send Meowth, I won't be battling with him but I want to start his training. How's he been at the lab?" Ash asked.

"Your Pokémon are a little apprehensive around him but that's to be expected given the history they have with him. He's actually helped me a lot it's use full having a Pokémon that can speak English around the lab he was able to let me know why one of the new Pokémon on the ranch wasn't eating their food. He's even repaired a couple of machine that haven't worked in years. So who else do you need?" The professor asked. A smile crossed Ash's face as he remembered his plan.

"I need..." Ash started.

Misty and May were waiting in the reception of the Pokémon Centre for Ash to come back from the Pokéball Transfer Machine, he didn't want them to have even the slightest idea which Pokémon he would be using, though they were trying to work it out.

"What about Bulbasaur?" May asked but Misty shook her head.

"Bulbasaur's strong but Ash seems to be battling smarter now, Bulbasaur wouldn't be able to dodge properly on the platforms. He might try using Squirtle to try and throw me off, you know using a water type against me." Misty replied. "He might use some of his flying types to use the air above the pool to his advantage."

"If he uses a flying type he'd call for one that could take on your Gyarados. The only one I can think of that could do that is..." May trailed off as she realised what she was about to say. Misty gulped and a flicker of fear went across her face, they looked at each other and whispered a single word.

"Charizard."

Ash collected his Pokéballs and opened them revealing the Pokémon he had called from the Lab.

"Nice to see you again twerp."

"Nice to see you too Meowth. You feeling better?"

"A little stiff but other than that I'm fine." Ash nodded and turned his attention to his other Pokémon.

"Okay guys it's great to see all of you, I've got a battle against Misty today for the Cascade Badge will you help me?" the Pokémon voiced their support and Ash nodded his thanks. He returned most of them leaving Meowth and one other out, Ash knelt in front of the other Pokémon. "I have a plan and I need you help to do it. What I need you to do is..."

A few minutes Ash walked out to the reception and saw May sat in a chair stroking Glaceon. As Ash walked up to her he wondered where Misty had gone, May saw him coming with Pikachu on his shoulder and Meowth walking alongside him. As they got closer she got out of the chair.

"Hi Meowth, how are you feeling?" She asked the cat Pokémon.

"I've been worse but I'm ready to go. One question though does the Twer... I mean Misty know that I'm on your side now?" Meowth asked drawing some attention from people in the reception, as a talking Pokémon was very unusual.

"Yeah she knows we told her yesterday what's happened since we meet up in Viridian City." May replied.

"May, where is Misty?" Ash asked.

"Gary came over and they started talking about his research, I told Misty to go back to the Gym so her Pokémon can get ready for your Gym battle. Gary went with her to ask her more questions." She answered, Ash nodded.

"Do you want to send Spoink to the lab now or later?" Ash asked.

"I'll send her now. I think I'll swap my team around to give them a rest and try out some new appeals I've been thinking about." May then walked to the Vid-Phones to swap her Pokémon Glaceon following at her heels. A few minutes later she came back and linked arms with Ash, "Let's go back to the Gym now. I want to know which Pokémon you're going to use."

"Okay let's go." Ash said. They left the Pokémon Centre and made their way back to the Gym, walking arm in arm smiling.

At Professor Oak's Lab

Professor Oak released the Pokémon that Ash and May had transferred to him and told them where the rest of Ash and May's Pokémon could be found.

(Pokémon Language Translator Activated)

"Can you teach me to be a strong psychic like you?" asked Spoink as she looked up to Gardevoir who lead the Pokémon to the lake where their friends would be.

"Of course I will," Gardevoir replied, "Mistress May asked me to, in penance of what I did to her." The other Pokémon looked at her in confusion they hadn't heard what had happened so Gardevoir explained. After she had finished, the Pokémon looked at Gardevoir in silence they could see that she still felt guilty about what had happened. Sandshrew walked up to her and put a paw on her arm.

"You don't need to feel guilty, you said that May forgave you and only asked for your friendship and for your help training Spoink. You have no penance to pay only help and friendship to give. Don't dwell on the mistakes of the past look to the bright hopes of the future instead. What's done is done, forget it and move forward, only by doing that can you progress with your life and move past what has happened. Enjoy your life and be happy that you know have new friends." He said, the other Pokémon nodded. Gardevoir smiled a little.

"You are wise beyond you years Sandshrew." She said. Sandshrew chuckled.

"I'm older then I look. I lived through many winters before I was forced from my group once a new leader was elected. The next few weeks I spent foraging for food in the woods surrounding Mt Moon, with little to no success. I was chased and beaten by many trainers during that time I quickly developed a dislike for humans. I didn't have much contact with humans, the little I did have was only fleeting glances of passing trainers on their way to other places, while I was living in Mt Moon. When I came to your camp I hadn't eaten for the best part of a week and had been beaten by a few trainers the previous day, I was starving for food and I had no choice but to enter your camp when I smelt food. Your trainer, Ash, was the first human that showed me kindness and for that I am grateful, he also gave me a new home to live in and family to live with. This is something I will never forget and I will stay by his side for as long as he wishes." Gardevoir nodded, she felt the same way towards Ash and she knew that some of his other Pokémon felt the same way as they had been in similar situations before meeting Ash. Flaffy and Spoink stared at Sandshrew, they had only known Ash for a little over a week and were amazed to hear the conviction in Sandshrew's voice even though he had only been caught a couple of days before. The group walked in silence until Sandshrew spoke again.

"Gardevoir, what can you tell me about our trainer's mate?" Gardevoir looked at Sandshrew in confusion.

"Ash doesn't have a mate."

"Oh, I thought that he and May were together." Sandshrew said sounding confused. Gardevoir laughed quietly.

"They have a complicated relationship. May has feelings for Ash but is afraid to confess them and Ash has feelings for May but is too dense to realise. They are currently pretending to be a couple to stop someone from bothering May. From what I can understand he is only wants May for her body and as a trophy."

"I see." said Sandshrew thinking deeply before looking back to Gardevoir and smiling, "We'll have to do something about that won't we." Gardevoir smiled back and nodded, with Flaffy and Spoink agreeing.

The group carried on walking in silence until they got to the lake and saw the rest of their trainer's Pokémon, including the Pokémon that Ash's dad had sent.

"Come on," said Gardevoir, "Let's introduce you to everyone else shall we." Sandshrew, Spoink and Flaffy nodded and followed her to the group. They saw the assembled Pokémon doing various activities most were resting, others were swimming. The rest were sparring and training Infernape and Sawk were testing each other's fighting abilities, while Swellow and Staraptor were engaged in an aerial duel the others had paired off and battling each other. Noctowl was sleeping on a tree branch and heard someone approaching, opening his eyes he saw Gardevoir and the other Pokémon walking towards the lake.

"Ah Gardevoir, how nice to see you again," He said, "Who have you brought with you?"

"It's nice to see you again too Noctowl. This is Sandshrew, he decided to join Ash yesterday." She said, "These are Flaffy and Spoink, they are May's Pokémon." Noctowl nodded in understanding and looked at the Pokémon who had arrived with Gardevoir.

"It is a pleasure to meet you all. Please make yourselves at home all are welcome and none are turned away." He said. Sandshrew made his way towards the other ground types that were training, Flaffy made his way to where some of May's Pokémon where sleeping and Spoink stayed by Gardevoir wanting to start her training as soon as possible.

"Gardevoir, can you start teaching me now please? I want to help May next time she calls on me." Spoink asked, looking up at Gardevoir. Gardevoir looked back at Spoink and smiled.

"We can start training soon but first we should introduce you to the others, they'll be able to teach you all sorts of things if you ask them." She said.

"Alright let's go." Spoink said happily and bounced towards the group. Gardevoir shook her head and smiled before following the young psychic type.

"Goodbye Noctowl, I will come back and talk to you later my friend." she called to the Shiny flying type.

"I look forward to it Gardevoir, until then." Noctowl said as he returned to his sleep.

(Pokémon Language Translator Deactivated)

Back in Cerulean City

They walked into the Gym and found Misty and Gary sitting by the pool talking about how a water type Pokémon need some time to adjust to their body if there has been a big change in their form such as Feebas to Milotic changing from a normal fish body to a serpentine one.

"Misty, you ready for our battle?" Ash asked putting his bag down by the bench but before Misty could answer Ash was mobbed by her Pokémon, Corsola and Politoed jumped on to him knocking him to the floor, Pikachu saw them coming and abandoned shoulder landing on the bench before they sent Ash to the ground. May only just managed to unlink her arm from Ash's when the Pokémon jumped on him otherwise she would have fallen to the floor as well. Misty laughed a little seeing Ash get buried under her Pokémon but soon stopped and stiffened when she saw Meowth.

"Take it easy. I'm not part of Team Rocket no more, I'm one of the good guys now." Meowth said.

"He's right Misty, he even saved Ash's life while we were in Rota." May said. Misty nodded her head and relaxed slightly, her Pokémon had noticed Meowth and remembered everything that he had done to them and their trainer. They decided to keep a close eye on him just in case.

"How did Meowth save Ash? And why did you go to Rota?" asked Gary. May then realised that Ash didn't want too many people to know about the event in Rota and was struggling to find something to say.

"Well you see he ...er... There was..." May stuttered and stumbled over her words when she felt a hand on her shoulder, she turned and saw Ash was standing behind her now and Pikachu was back on his shoulder.

"We went to Rota because we heard there was a contest there and May wanted to get her first Ribbon. How Meowth saved me is another story, I was taking a walk with Meowth to where May was training and a wild Ursaring charged at me. I'd accidentally gotten between her and her cub, I froze up and Meowth jumped forward and tried to hold the Ursaring off but he got really hurt. I sent out the rest of my Pokémon and moved out of her way. She ran past picked up her cub and went further into the woods after that I took Meowth to the Pokémon Centre. Nurse Joy kept him there for a couple of days and then let him out, I sent him the Lab so that he could heal quicker and now I've brought him back to the team. I promised Meowth that I help him get stronger and that's what I'm going to do." Ash explained.

"I understand now but why didn't Pikachu help?" Gary asked, Ash realised that he'd forgotten to think of why Pikachu wasn't there but May came to his rescue.

"Pikachu woke up before Ash and came with me to help me with my appeal." She said. Gary nodded and moved on to a different topic.

"If you two are having a Gym Battle do you want me to be the Referee?" he asked.

"Sure, why not." Misty said recalling her Pokémon, "Ash, you ready?" Gary moved to the podium at the side of the pool and May went and sat down on the bench with Glaceon sat by her legs sniffing at Ash's bag. Lucario leaned against the wall next to May with is eyes closed.

"Yeah, I'm...oh wait a minute I almost forgot." Ash said he quickly ran over to his bag and opened it just enough to get his hand inside, "Where is it?" he muttered under his breath, he pulled his hand out of his bag and a second later the edges of his half of the Terracotta Ribbon poked out of the bag. "There it is." He said quietly before muttering something else which May couldn't hear properly. Ash put the Ribbon in his pocket and turned to her, "Can't battle without this can I." He said with a wink causing May to blush, she looked at the floor as Ash ran back to his side of the pool to start the battle. May saw that Glaceon was pawing at Ash's bag.

"Glaceon, stop that don't you want to watch Ash's battle?" Glaceon stopped and turned to sit facing the pool, May was about to turn her attention to the pool as well when she swore that she saw the bag wriggle slightly, she also thought about how after Ash brought his hand out of the bag the ribbon had appeared. He must of had it between the tips of his fingers and the bag can't have wriggled something must have fallen over or something, May shook her head and saw that Meowth was walking over to her. He jumped on to the bench and sat down.

"If you want to see something funny watch Misty's face during the battle." He said quietly.

"What do you mean?" May asked.

"Ash has a plan and it'll really surprise Misty so just watch her." Meowth replied with a grin. May tried to get more information out of Meowth but his lips were sealed and the battle was about to start.

"This is an official gym between the Cerulean City Gym Leader Misty Waterflower and the challenger Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town. This will be a 3 on 3 battle. Trainers are you ready?" Gary said, he had thought about passing a comment on Misty for calling him an idiot yesterday but Misty seemed to be one step ahead of him as he saw her twirling her Mallet around with one hand. Gary did notice that it was being held together with some tape and assumed that Misty broke it by hitting someone too hard.

Ash and Misty nodded their heads to show that they were ready but didn't take their eyes off each other as they tried to stare each other down. "Trainer release your first Pokémon."

"Go Starmie." Misty called throwing one of her Pokéballs out over the pool. A purple ten pointed star-like Pokémon with a yellow harness holding a red crystal at her centre (AN I know that Starmie are genderless when you hear one in the anime they sound like girls) appeared on a platform near Misty Ash turned his head to look at Pikachu.

"Let's go." He said, Pikachu jumped off his shoulder and on to the nearest floating platform.

"Begin." Gary shouted.

"Starmie Water Gun." Starmie fired a powerful stream of water at Pikachu from one of her points. Pikachu instinctively dodged jumping to another platform.

"Use Grass Knot." Ash called and Pikachu's eyes briefly glowed green and a few tufts of grass grew out of the platform Starmie was on and wrapped around her lower points knocking her over when she tried to turn. "Now Hidden Power." Multiple white spheres of energy appeared circling Pikachu before they flew towards Starmie who had just gotten back onto her points. (AN Points, feet whatever you want to call them)

"Deflect them with Rapid Spin." Misty cried out. Starmie hovered couple of inches off the platform and started spinning at high speed some of the spheres hit while other were knocked away. "Now use Ice Beam." Starmie stopped spinning and fired an icy blue beam at Pikachu.

"Dodge it with Agility." Ash said, Pikachu blurred slightly as he ran at high speed away from the attack. "Now use Hidden Power again." Once more orbs of white light circled Pikachu, after a few seconds they were launched at Starmie closing the distance between them quickly. Misty tried to defend with Rapid Spin again but she was too late, Hidden Power slammed into the water type and sent it falling off the platform and into the water.

"Starmie use Psychic." Misty shouted. Starmie rose from the water and her jewel glowed as a blue light surrounded her.

"Pikachu dodge with Agility." The blue light of Psychic started to surround Pikachu until he moved at lightning speed (AN pun unintended) breaking the light and moving to another platform to put some distance between himself and Starmie. "Now use Grass Knot again." Pikachu's eyes glowed green again and more grass grew out of the platform tripping the water type up once more. "Now get in close and use Hidden Power." Pikachu used Agility to get close to the fallen Starmie and prepared himself for the attack.

"Starmie use Water Gun!" Misty shouted. The top three points of Starmie each fired a blast of water which cannoned into Pikachu sending him across the battlefield and into the water. Tense seconds went by as the waited to see if Pikachu surfaced ready to battle or not. Finally some bubble broke the surface and Pikachu pulled himself back onto the nearest platform, he was breathing heavily but he was still able to battle. "Starmie finish this quickly with Rapid Spin." Starmie flew towards Pikachu, spinning at high speed closing the distance between them in seconds. Misty was confident of victory when she was something that really worried her. Ash was smiling.

May was watching the battle with intense fascination but Glaceon was distracted by Ash's back for some reason. May saw this and decided to find out why.

"What is it Glaceon?" She asked, Glaceon just kept pawing at Ash's bag. It was then that May noticed that the bag seemed to be wriggling, she lifted the bag onto her lap and noticed that it was heavier than she thought it would be. She stole a glance at Ash not wanting him to know that she was snooping in his bag, but Ash was completely focused on the battle. Meowth was also focused on the battle and didn't notice what May was doing, Lucario however did but didn't interfere as he knew what was going to happen in next in the battle and all would be explained. May slowly unzipped the top of the bag and looked inside and what she saw confused her greatly. "What's going on?" she muttered under her breath.

"Time to end this battle." Ash said with a grin as Starmie was a foot away from Pikachu. "Night Daze." He said calmly. Pikachu nodded and was outlined in a red light before it expanded outwards forming a dome and red and black energy. Starmie slammed into the dome and was thrown backwards landing hard on a platform the other side of the Gym. Pikachu jumped in the air and was enveloped with a purple swirling light, when he landed he looked very different. His yellow fur was replaced by black fur, his lightning bolt shaped tail was now short and fluffy covered with black and red fur, a tuft of fur was present on his forehead tipped with red fur, his long thin ears were now short and black. Pikachu was never in the battle, it was Zorua that Misty had been battling.

"Hehehehehe" Zorua chuckled.

"But how...I mean...he was...where?" Misty stuttered, her face a mask of confusion as she tried to work out what had just happened. Meowth was sat on the bench next to May howling with laughter, while Ash was trying not to laugh as well.

"Sorry Misty but I tricked you again. This is Zorua, he has the ability to make illusions." Ash explained. Zorua decided to prove Ash's point, he jumped into the air and was once more enveloped with purple light, when he landed on the platform again he looked exactly like Ash except for having a short black and red tail.

"Hehehehehe"

"Zorua, I keep telling you don't do that. It really freaks people out." Ash scolded as Zorua changed back.

"Where's Pikachu?" Misty asked. Ash opened his mouth to explain when May cut him off.

"He's over here." May said, Misty and Ash looked over and saw that May was holding Pikachu in her arms. "Ash hid him in his bag." Ash could see that they were about to ask why so he started to explain.

"Misty, you know how I battle and what I'm probably going to do, so I needed to think of a way to battle you differently and this was the only thing that came to mind. Now can we finish this Gym battle I want to get that Cascade Badge."

"Ash, you tricked me again, there is no way you're getting that badge." Misty said angrily, "Starmie use Psychic." Starmie's core shone and a blue light surrounded Zorua but quickly dissipated. Misty look on in confusion.

"Did I mention that Zorua is a dark type?" Ash asked, "and I will get that badge. Zorua, Grass Knot to hold Starmie in place then use Dark Shadow." Zorua used Grass Knot again and the blades of grass wrapped around Starmie's lower points keeping her from moving, he then formed a Shadow Ball in front of his mouth and fired it quickly following it with a Dark Pulse. The Shadow Ball and Dark Pulse fused together to create a larger ball of dark energy with rings spiraling around it (AN looks like an atom).

"Starmie use Rapid Spin to get out of there." Misty shouted but it was too late the grass held Starmie too tightly and the combined attack slammed into her throwing her out of the grass and out of the pool, landing on the floor behind Misty. Starmie's core blinked weakly.

"Starmie is unable to battle, the winner is Pika... I mean Zorua." Gary said, correcting himself. Misty recalled Starmie while Ash congratulated Zorua on his first Gym battle. Ash looked across the pool to Misty.

"Misty, I'm sorry for tricking you but I wanted see how you would battle Pikachu. I know I shouldn't be surprised to see that you went all out. Can you forgive me for tricking you?" Ash asked. Misty looked back at him and nodded.

"I did have a feeling about the battle. Pikachu looked like he was moving differently than the last time I saw him but I put that down to the fact I haven't seen him battle in years. I do forgive you but I will have my revenge. Go Politoed." Misty said as she sent her second Pokémon onto the battlefield. Politoed landed on the nearest platform smiling and started to clap his hands.

"Politoed Politoed." He croaked.

"Politoed use Hydro Pump." Misty called. Politoed opened his mouth and launched a torrent of water at Zorua, the small dark type didn't have time to dodge and was sent flying backwards landing on the platform nearest to Ash.

"Zorua are you okay?" Ash asked getting a nod in return, "Alright, use Shadow Ball." Zorua fired a ball of crackling black energy at the water type but Politoed dove underwater barely avoiding it, the attack had grazed his side. Zorua looked all around trying to find Politoed but didn't succeed. "Zorua keep calm and be ready." Ash said as his eyes swept across the water looking for the slightest sign of where Politoed could be.

"Politoed use Focus Blast." Misty shouted, a second later Politoed leapt from the water directly in front of Zorua and threw a light blue ball of energy at the dark type. Focus Blast hit Zorua full on and sent him flying into Ash's arms with swirls in his eyes.

"Zorua is unable to battle, Politoed is the winner." Gary said. Ash returned Zorua to his ball thanking him for all his hard work, Ash then took another Pokéball from his belt and enlarged it. He turned to look at Pikachu.

"You ready to see how she does?" he asked, Pikachu nodded in reply, Ash smiled, "Alright then, I choose you." He said throwing the ball into the air. A flash of light was emitted by the ball as the Pokémon inside was released, once the light had faded everyone could see the Pokémon that Ash would be using. She had spiky yellow fur over most of her body with a collar of white fur around her neck, she stood on four legs and held her head high. Her eyes were solid black with white pupils.

"Jolt, Jolt." She said looking around seeing Ash she ran up to him and rubbed against his leg.

"It's great to see you too Jolteon but we're in the middle of a Gym battle. I'll play with you later okay but now I need you to battle now." Ash said with a small laugh as ne knelt down to stroke the electric type, Jolteon nodded her head and ran back on to the platform.

"Ash, did you evolve one of your Eevee?" May asked.

"No, I'll tell you how I got Jolteon later." He replied.

"Politoed use Ice Beam." Misty shouted trying to win this battle quickly, she hadn't expected Ash t have another electric type with him. She knew that he'd gotten some from his dad but didn't think Ash would have already had one other than Pikachu. Politoed fired an icy blue beam of energy at Jolteon. When the beam was seconds away from hitting Jolteon she disappeared and then reappeared on a different platform.

"Jolteon is my fastest Pokémon even Sceptile has trouble keeping up with her." Ash said when he saw the shocked looks on everyone's faces, "Jolteon use Pin Missile." Jolteon lent forward raising the spiked fur on her back and fired a flurry of white needle like points of energy. Politoed tried to dodge them but was hit by most of the attack. "Now use Thunderbolt." Jolteon's body was covered with a crackling shroud of yellow electricity as she quickly charged the attack, Politoed was still reeling from the previous attack and was unable to dodge the electric attack them surged through his system. Politoed fell to the ground twitching from the attack, a couple of seconds passed and Politoed started to slowly get to his feet.

"Politoed, are you okay?" Misty asked, Politoed looked over his shoulder and gave Misty a confident smile as he nodded his head, "Right use Hypnosis then use Focus Blast." Politoed's eyes glowed red and red rings moved towards Jolteon, following it quickly with a Focus Blast.

"Jolteon use Counter Shield!" Ash shouted as soon as he heard Misty call for Hypnosis, Jolteon quickly rolled over and started to spin on her back while using Thunderbolt, creating a spinning shield made from electricity. The Hypnosis attack hit the shield and was destroyed, the Focus Blast hit the shield as ricocheted into the pool sending water everywhere. "Now Jolteon use Quick Attack." Jolteon righted herself and ran at Politoed leaving a trail of white light in her wake. She slammed into Politoed's stomach sending him back a few paces.

"Politoed use Hyper Voice." Misty said. Politoed opened his mouth and an ear splitting cry knocked Jolteon back. Jolteon tried to block out the noise by putting her front paws over her ears, "Now Politoed, Ice Punch." Politoed's fist became coated in Icy energy as he hit Jolteon directly in the face sending her back towards Ash.

"Jolteon, finish this use Thunder Missile." Jolteon fired another Pin Missile attack following it with a Thunder attack hitting the Pin Missile and charging it with the electricity. The combined attack rained down on Politoed and resulted in a cloud of smoke covering the platform the water type was standing on. When the smoke cleared Politoed was laying on his back with swirls in his eyes.

"Politoed is unable to battle, Jolteon wins. Misty, please send out your last Pokémon." Misty returned Politoed thanking him for his effort and took out her final Pokéball.

"Go Gyarados." Misty shouted sending out her strongest Pokémon. Ash took an involuntary step back as Gyarados appeared roaring, Jolteon whimpered slightly but held her ground.

"Jolteon use Thunderbolt." Ash said wanting to get an early lead in this battle knowing that Gyarados would be hard to beat. Jolteon fired the attack at the opposing water type and hoped that she would do Ash and Pikachu proud.

"Gyarados block it with your own Thunderbolt." Misty said smirking, Gyarados' body started to crackle with electricity as she built up the power for the attack before firing the attack from her crest.

"Like, what's with all the noise?" May looked in the direction the voice had come from to see Misty's sisters walking towards her.

"Ash and Misty are having a Gym Battle." May replied. Misty's sister looked over at the battle and saw that Gyarados was out.

"Oh, poor Ashy's not going to win if Misty's using Gyarados. That one has like never lost a match." Lily said

"Ash will win, I know he will." May said angrily.

"Care to like make a bet?" Daisy said.

"What do you mean?" May asked.

"If Misty wins, Ashy takes us out on a date tonight and if he wins he takes you out and we'll pay for it."

"No way I'm agreeing to that." May said crossing her arms and looking at the battle.

"I thought you like said Ashy was going to win, if you're like so confident about it what's to lose." Violet said, "or don't you believe that Ashy will win?" May rounded on the three Cerulean sisters.

"Ash will win this battle," May said through gritted teeth, "and stop calling him Ashy!" venom filled her final words.

"So do we like have a deal or what?" Daisy said with a small smirk on her lips, as she held out her hand.

"Deal." May said shaking Daisy's hand. The Pokémon with May looked at her in shock before turning their attention back to the battle and praying that Ash would win.

"Jolteon stop your attack and take that Thunderbolt." Ash called out shocking everyone other then his Pokémon. Jolteon stopped her Thunderbolt and let Gyarados' hit her but she didn't take any damage. "Jolteon's ability is Volt Absorb," Ash explained, "now her attacks are more powerful. Jolteon use Thunder." Jolteon launched the powerful electric attack at Gyarados and hitting the large sea serpent. Gyarados roared in pain, glaring at Jolteon with a burning anger.

"Gyarados use Flamethrower." Misty shouted, Gyarados opened her mouth and let a pillar of fire erupt out of it. Jolteon dove out of the way but was still hit by the flames and burnt. Ash was about to recall her when she charged another Thunderbolt and attacked Gyarados again. "Gyarados use Earthquake to stop Jolteon from moving then finish with Hyper Beam." Gyarados slammed her tail onto the water causing the entire pool to start moving, the constant movement of the water kept Jolteon from escaping to another platform as Gyarados charged a ball of orange energy in her mouth and fired it. Jolteon was engulfed by the blast and when the energy faded and the smoke had gone Jolteon was lying on the platform knocked out. Ash recalled Jolteon thanking her for all of her hard work, he reached for another Pokéball. Pikachu glared at Gyarados, his cheeks sparked. May noticed Pikachu's reaction and made a note to ask Ash about it later while she tried to calm Pikachu down.

"I choose you Scepti..." he started but he stopped when another of his Pokéballs snapped open and the Pokémon inside the ball appeared on the field. The Pokémon was a dark blue in colour with beige shell like armour covering some of his body and white hair sprouting from his face forming a moustache and beard. "Samurott? What are you doing out?" Samurott drew one of his scalchops from his foreleg sheaths and pointed at Gyarados. "You want to battle Gyarados?" Samurott nodded, "Well alright then," Ash said as he put the Pokéball he was holding back on his belt, "You sure have changed from when we first met haven't you." Samurott nodded and looked at Gyarados.

"Samurott Razor Shell back to back." Ash said. Samurott drew his other scalchop and blue water like energy grew around them giving them the shape of swords as he charged towards Gyarados who was still recharging from using Hyper Beam. Samurott struck again and again as fast as he could while constantly moving around Gyarados just in case she started to attack again. "Switch to Night Slash." Ash called out. Samurott nodded and his scalchops changed from a watery blue to a dark purple as he continued his attack.

"Gyarados use Thunderbolt." Misty shouted. Electricity crackled around Gyarados again as she prepared her attack.

"Samurott get out of there." Ash shouted. Samurott kept attacking until the last second when he jumped out of the way and barely evaded the super effective attack. "Now use Water Pulse and follow it up with Ice Beam." Samurott opened his mouth and shot out a ball of water which grew in size as it approached Gyarados, Samurott then fired an Ice Beam at the Water Pulse freezing it into a solid ball of ice. Gyarados dove under the water to dodge the attack, Ash smiled, "Now Ice Beam on the water." Samurott fired another Ice Beam at the pool freezing the surface. Gyarados surfaced breaking through the ice.

"Gyarados use Hydro Pump." Gyarados opened her mouth and sent a torrent of water towards Samurott.

"Samurott dodge it." Ash said and Samurott used the ice to skate out of the way and get in close to Gyarados. Ash and Samurott had used this strategy a few time during their training. "Now use Attract." Samurott looked into Gyarados' eyes and winked at her with a flirty smile on his face. Pink hearts flew towards Gyarados and hit her before she could try and dodge them, her eyes were replaced by hearts. Misty looked on in horror.

"Gyarados snap out of it." She cried but it was no use Gyarados was completely head over fins for Samurott. (AN like head over heels but for fish)

"Now Samurott Megahorn." The horn on Samurott's helmet glowed white as he struck Gyarados with it sending her backwards across the ice. When Gyarados rose up Ash saw something that worried him, her eyes were back to normal. "Samurott quickly use Slash." Samurott drew his scalchops again as the glowed white and he charged Gyarados by skating his way across the ice.

"Gyarados Thunderbolt." The Atrocious Pokémon launched another Thunderbolt.

"Samurott dodge it!" Samurott skillfully dodged by skating out of the way,

"Dragon Rage." Gyarados charged a ball of blue and black energy in her mouth and fired it. As it approached Samurott it morphed into the shape of a dragon's head.

"Samurott get out of the way." Ash shouted but Samurott didn't move he skated straight into the path of the attack and was hit. Smoke blocked everyone's view of Samurott, Ash was about to use his Aura to see what had happened when Samurott burst out of the smoke cloud and slashed Gyarados over and over again. Switching between attacks on his own going from Slash to Night Slash to Razor Shell and back over and over again. Gyarados roared in pain batting Samurott away with her tail, both Pokémon were breathing heavily covered in the evidence of their battle. Ash and Misty looked at each other and knew that it was time to finish this battle.

"Gyarados use Hyper Beam." Gyarados once again fired the beam of orange energy towards her opponent. Misty was sure of her win until heard Ash's command to Samurott.

"Samurott dodge with Aqua Jet." Samurott bellowed and became shrouded in water as he flew towards Gyarados diving under the Hyper Beam and closing the distance quickly, "Now spin and finish with Slash." Samurott did as Ash said drawing his scalchops and spinning while using Aqua Jet, his scalchops slashed Gyarados repeatedly until he moved out of the way to avoid her tail and landed back in front of Ash. Samurott and Gyarados faced each other stared dead into the other eyes not moving, seconds felt like hours until Gyarados gave one final mighty roar and fell forward, her eyes were replaced by spirals.

"Gyarados is unable to battle, the winner is Samurott, therefore the winner of the match is Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town." Gary said. May and the Pokémon cheered as Misty's sisters looked on in shock and disappointment. Misty and Ash walked round the pool to each other after returning their Pokémon with words of thanks.

"Congratulations Ash, you've earned this," Misty said holding out the Cascade Badge, "I, Misty Waterflower of the Cerulean City Gym, present you with the Cascade Badge in recognition of your victory here. Wear it with pride as not many have earned it." Ash took the badge, he turned to May and the Pokémon holding the badge between his finger and thumb.

"Alright I won the Cascade Badge." He said excitedly, then a confused look came over his face, "Hey Misty, what did you mean not many have earned it?"

"Well since I took over as Gym Leader, the Cerulean City Gym has become one of the hardest to beat. The only ones higher are Saffron and Viridian, from what I've heard about the Viridian City Gym Leader she's never lost a match since she took over four years ago. You're the first high rank trainer to beat me." Misty explained

"What do you mean high rank trainer?"

"Most of the trainers that come here are new trainer with little to no experience, like the first time you came here. For those battles I use my lower leveled Pokémon like Caserin and Marill. The high experience trainers like you that have come for a badge, none of them apart from you have beaten Gyarados."

"Really, Gyarados is that strong?"

"You have no idea a couple of years ago a trainer came in with Pokémon I've never seen before saying that beating the Indigo League would be easy because this was the bonnies or something like that. I had a new trainer before his battle and afterwards the new trainer had lost and this guy started to belittle him saying that he should quit and not bother continuing his journey. I told the kid to stay and watch this guy's battle, Gyarados demolished his whole team quite quickly, she did it barely breaking a sweat. I can't remember that guy's name but he never came back and I didn't see him in the league either.", Misty laughed a little, "I still remember the look on his face when he saw Gyarados. I think he might've wet himself."

"Boonies." Ash said quietly.

"What?" asked Misty.

"He called Kanto the Boonies."

"Yeah, that was it." Misty said, " You know him?" Ash nodded.

"His name's Trip, I met him in Unova. I thought he would've changed but I guess not." He said sadly.

"Cheer up Ash," Misty said putting a hand on his shoulder, "You're a better trainer and better person then he'll ever be." She smiled and gave him a friendly hug before whispering in his ear, "If you tell anyone I said that then not even your Aura abilities will save you." When they separated Ash smiled nervously and was about to walk over to May and the Pokémon when he felt a sharp pain at the back of his head knocking his hat off. He turned back and saw that Misty had her hand in the air, "That was for tricking me again." She said before walking towards May. Ash shook his head as he bent down to retrieve his hat when a pale blue blur grabbed it and ran away. Straightening up Ash saw that Glaceon now had his hat and had given it to May, Ash walked over to May and was about to speak when she wrapped her arms around him neck and hugged him.

"Congratulations Ash." She said happily kissing his cheek. May stopped the hug and put Ash's hat on her head, she made sure to keep in contact with Ash so Misty's sisters wouldn't try anything.

"So like where are you going to go on your date?" Daisy asked.

"What date?" Ash asked. May was about to explain but Lily spoke first.

"We made a bet with May that if you won the match then we'd pay for you and May to go on a date." Ash and Misty looked at May and the sisters in shock, Gary had heard the bet being made but kept quiet so the battle wouldn't be effected.

"What would've happened if I'd lost?"

"Then you would've gone on a date with the three of us." Violet said smiling. Ash paled at the thought of it and started to feel a little faint.

"I'll leave the date up to May, I need to take my Pokémon to be healed and swap my team around so that I can train my new Pokémon." Ash said.

"Ash, would you take my Pokémon with you they need to be healed too." Misty asked. Ash nodded in agreement and took the Pokéballs from her.

"Mind if I tag along? I need to get a couple of things from my bag, I've still got a few things I need to ask you Misty." Gary asked. Ash didn't have anything against him coming and nodded. May decided to stay at the Gym with Misty and Misty's sisters went out to get beauty treatments. Pikachu stayed at the Gym with May and Misty.

"May, can I have my hat back?" Ash asked. May looked thoughtful for a minute.

"Er...No, I think it looks better on me for now." She said with a wink and sticking her tongue out.

"Alright just look after it, that hat's my favourite." Ash said laughing. She's right it does look better on her. He thought.

"Why's it your favourite?"

"I'll tell you some other time." Ash said, May pouted and tried to get Ash to tell her by using her puppy dog eyes but Ash quickly turned away and closed his eyes so he wouldn't fall prey to her glistening sapphires. After a few minutes just before Ash was going to give in May gave up and sighed in defeat.

Before Ash left Gary asked him what he was going to do before Samurott came out of his ball.

"I was going to call out Sceptile." Ash said.

"That would mean you had seven Pokémon with you." Gary said.

"I knew that Pikachu would never battle Misty even without using Electric type attacks so I sent his Pokéball to the lab. I had Samurott with me in case I needed him. I was going to use Sceptile's speed and a few attacks he learnt while training to battle Gyarados but you know what happened." Ash explained. Gary nodded in understanding and after that everyone when about their business.

Once Ash had left the Gym May turned to Misty.

"Do you think Ash is mad at me for making that bet?" she asked

"No, he's not mad at you." Misty said, "If anything he's probably not thinking about it too much. So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know, what is there to do in Cerulean for a date?"

"Well there's a few nice restaurants, you could go see a movie, you could have a picnic in the park and if you really want it to be romantic there Cerulean Cape."

"Cerulean Cape?"

"Yeah it's the number one date spot here. There's a legend that says when true love walks the Cape a school of Luvdisc will jump out of the water on that night to honour the love they felt. I think you and Ash should go." Misty said with a grin, May's face heated up as she turned her gaze to the floor.

"Misty don't." May said quietly.

"Look May you asked for my advice and that's it.", Misty sighed, "Look go to a movie, have a meal and then take a walk. Don't think of it as a date, think of it as having a good time with your best friend. With everything that you're feeling you need to take a step back and just have some fun with a friend, this 'date' is your chance to do that. Just go out and have some fun, it'll do you good to enjoy yourself with a friend." May thought about what Misty said and realised that she was right.

"Misty, can you help me plan this 'date' so that it's just two friends having fun and not a couple?" May asked. Misty smiled.

"Sure May but we'll need it to look like a real date in case anyone see you don't we."

"Oh yeah I kind of forgot about that." May said rubbing the back of her head, Misty giggled slightly and linked her arm with May's.

"Come on we've got some planning to do." Misty said pulling May to the Gym Leader's side of the battlefield in case any more challengers came in.

Gary could tell that something was bothering Ash as they walked to the Pokémon Centre, usually he would be talking about the battle but Ash was strangely quiet.

"Ash, you alright? Looks like something's bothering you." Gary said looking at his old rival.

"..." Ash opened his mouth to reply but nothing was said.

"It's about this date isn't it?"

"Yeah." Ash said quietly.

"Well what's wrong?"

"I don't know what to do, I've never been on a date before. After the contest in Rota I took May to the party afterwards but this is different isn't it. I don't want to let her down."

Wow, Gary thought, Ash has been hit hard and he doesn't even know it. "Listen Ash, I know what you're feeling. My first date I felt the same I was really scared about disappointing the girl but Grandpa gave me some advice he said 'You just need to try to stay calm and be yourself. Don't think of it as a date, treat it like any other day and you'll be fine.' He was right I just acted the way I usually did and the date went fine."

"Gary, you're leaving something out." Ash said

"No I'm not." Gary replied walking a little quicker.

"Gary, we've known each other since we were kids I can tell when you're not telling me something now. I never used to but I can now so what are you not saying?" Gary sighed in defeat.

"She slapped me after I kissed her."

"Why'd she do that?"

"I may have asked if her sister was as good as kissing as she was.", Ash stared at his friend before he smirked. The smirk changed into a grin and then he started to laugh, "I couldn't stop myself, it just came out." Gary said, Ash spent the next couple of minutes trying to stop laughing while Gary glared at him. Ash was still dense when it came to girls and romance because of the movies his mom had made him watch while he was at home even he knew that you don't say something like that.

"Who was she?" Ash asked once he had stopped laughing. Gary mumbled something under his breath. "I didn't hear that speak up Gary."

"Leaf." Gary said quietly

"Leaf! Now I know why she hates you so much. She's hated you for years, when did all this happen?"

"Just before we left on our journeys." Ash and Gary walked a little further in silence when Ash spoke again.

"Wasn't her sister like twenty or something?"

"She was 19." Gary answered, "What can I say, back then I liked older girls. Now they need to be closer to our age. Ash take my advice be yourself on this date, you won't disappoint May." There was a minute of silence before Gary spoke again grinning, "and don't mention her sister."

"She hasn't got a sister." Ash said returning the grin.

"Alright then don't mention her mom."

"Why would I do that? Wait did you..." Gary nodded.

"Helena Gray. Every now and then my chin still hurts." He said rubbing his chin

"Helena from down the street?"

"Yeah that's her. She's got a powerful right hook, nearly knocked one of my teeth out." At this point neither one could hold there laughter anymore and they laughed all the way to the Pokémon Centre.

After his Pokémon had been healed Ash sent Sceptile, Samurott, Jolteon and Zorua back to the Lab and asked for Sandshrew, Grimm, Pikachu's Pokéball and Krookodile. Ash wanted to start training his new Pokémon and Meowth, his plan was to have Krookodile help train Sandshrew and teach him some new moves, Pikachu could help Meowth and Lucario would train with Grimm. Collecting his Pokéballs and Misty's he thanked Nurse joy and waited for Gary to finish collecting his things. When Gary appeared he had his bag on his back.

"I thought you were only going to get a couple of things." Ash said.

"I thought about it and after I've talked to Misty I'm going to start making my way back to Pallet Town. I should get to Mount Moon before night fall." Gary replied. Ash nodded and together they started making their way back to the Gym. Ash didn't notice the looks he was getting from the girls that they passed but Gary did and felt a pang of envy when he realised that all the looks were being given to Ash. Ash has absolutely no idea this is happening. He is the luckiest guy alive...or the unluckiest given he's not noticing. Gary shock his head and smiled when a pretty girl walked up to them, he saw a group of girl watching them and realised that this girl must've been part of that group.

"Hi," she said looking at Ash and completely ignoring Gary, "I'm Jenny. What's your name handsome?"

"I'm Ash."

"and I'm Gary."

"That's nice." She said waving Gary off. "So Ash, what are you doing in Cerulean City?"

"I came to get the Cascade Badge."

"You're a trainer, can I come and watch your match, please." Jenny said putting her hand on Ash's arm and giving him puppy dog eyes.

"Sorry but I've already had my battle and won the badge." Jenny stepped back a little in shock.

"You beat Misty? Did you battle her Gyarados?"

"Yeah Misty's an old friend of mine and I did battle her Gyarados, it was a close call but I beat her."

"Wow you must be really strong, want to go out sometime?" Ash was about to reply when Gary grabbed his arm and pulled him to one side.

"Excuse us." He said leaving Jenny by herself.

"What did you do that for Gary?"

"Arceus you're dense," Gary sighed, "That girl was flirting with you."

"Flirting? Why?" Gary was nearly pulling his hair out at this point.

"Because she thinks you cute."

"What do I do?" Ash asked.

"If it was me I'd go out with her but you're playing the part of May's boyfriend so you tell her you already have a girlfriend." Gary said, "then tell her I'm single."

"Okay." Ash said and was about to walk back to Jenny when Gary stopped him again.

"Don't tell May about this."

"Why not?"

"Has any girl talked to you like that when May was around?" Gary asked. Ash remembered what had happened in the Co-Ordinators room back in Rota between May and Ursula and nodded. "May got angry right?" Ash nodded again. "That's why if you tell her then she'll get angry and because the girl isn't around she'll take it out on you." Ash paled as he remembered the power of the emotions he had felt coming from May that day.

"Thanks for the warning and the help." Ash said as he walked back to Jenny with Gary walking slightly behind him.

"So are we going out or what?" Jenny asked with a giggle.

"Sorry, I already have a girlfriend," Ash said, "but my friend Gary is single." Gary smiled at her, Jenny looked at him and then back at Ash.

"Where's your girlfriend?"

"She's back at the Gym with Misty, I'm on my way back there now if you want to meet her." Gary facepalmed, "Her name's May she's a Pokémon Co-Ordinator." Jenny smiled seductively at Ash as she stood very close to him. She leaned forward and lifted herself up onto her toes, moving her mouth close to his ear.

"Why not leave her and come with me?" she whispered in his ear. Ash took a couple of steps back and fixed Jenny with a steely gaze.

"May is my girlfriend and I care for her more than you could ever know, I'm never going to leave her. So if you'll excuse me I'm going to go and see her now." Ash turned and started walking to the Gym with Gary and Jenny staring at him. Ash says that and still doesn't know what he's feeling, Gary thought, How dense is he? Gary shook head and walked after Ash leaving a bewildered Jenny on her own.

"Ash, where did that come from?" Gary asked when he had caught up to Ash.

"I don't know it just came out when she said leave May." Ash replied, Gary could hear a slight note of fear in Ash's voice. He realised that something like this must've happened before and because Ash didn't know where this was coming from or why it was scaring him.

"Do worry about it Ash, it just the fact that you want to protect May is making you say things like that. You probably heard it in a film or something." Gary said to try and help Ash calm down.

"Yeah you're probably right whenever I was home my mom made me watch romance films with her." They walked in an uncomfortable silence for a bit until Gary decided to try and make it less awkward.

"How are you going to train your new Pokémon?" he asked and after that the spent the rest of the walk comparing thoughts on training methods.

"Right so we've got everything planned for the date." Misty said, "The only thing left is to let Ash know."

"Let me know what?"

Misty and May turned to see Ash and Gary walking towards them. May smiled seeing Ash and walked over to meet him,

"Hi Ash. We were just saying that we needed to tell you what we've planned for tonight." May said nervously.

"What are we doing?" Ash asked.

"I was thinking we could go to a movie and then get something to eat. Just treat it as a night out with a friend, we'll have to make it look like a real date though." May started to blush slightly.

"How do were do that?" Ash asked quietly.

"Well...we'll need to look like a couple, so hold hands or you could put your arm around me," May was slowly turning bright red and Ash was as well, "and maybe go for a walk after we eat."

"Oh okay." Ash said, "Misty is it okay if I use one of the Gyms other pools to do some training?" he asked quickly.

"Yeah sure, you can." Misty said looking confused and a little angry when she saw the hurt look on May's face.

"Thanks Misty, come on guys we've got some training to do." Ash called to Pikachu, Meowth and Lucario before running to start his training. The Pokémon looked at each other before following him. May watched Ash go and felt tears starting to fill her eyes, just before she started to cry she felt a hand on her shoulder. Turning round she saw Gary standing by her and noticed that he had a hand on Misty's shoulder as well.

"Don't be mad at Ash," he said, "and don't be upset either."

"Why not? He's hurt May's feelings and run off like it was nothing!" Misty said angrily.

"Because he's scared."

"Why's he scared?" May asked.

"He doesn't know what to do on a date, he's scared of disappointing you. Ash is the densest person I know but he's starting to understand that there's more to life than Pokémon. (AN I'm not at that stage yet) I know that he didn't mean to hurt you just give him a little space and he'll be fine. When you're on the date just try and keep him calm, if you do that then everything will be alright."

"Thanks Gary, Ash told you about our situation didn't he." May said drying her eyes.

"Yeah he did, after the battle yesterday. When we went to the Pokémon Centre he told me about not wanting to disappoint you and that after your Contest in Rota you went to a party together," May blushed again, "and from your reaction I can tell that he left something out. What happened after the party? He told me that you danced together and left it there."

May blushed even more and then told Gary about what nearly happened in the garden's.

"Wow, never thought that would've happened. What stopped you?" Gary asked

"One of the other Co-Ordinators came over and interrupted."

"Why not try again?"

"Ash isn't the only one who's scared."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Before we went to Rota, Team Rocket attacked us. They kidnapped me and told Ash that if he wanted to see me again he had to give them Pikachu. That's how Meowth joined Ash, he didn't like the fact that they were willing to hurt me to get Pikachu. Meowth led Ash to where they had me and Ash fought them, he got hurt. Arbok and Seviper bit him and injected him with their venom but Ash still saved me and sent them blasting off. After that he collapsed and was unconscious for a few days. Seeing Ash like that because of me it...I can't put him in that position again. If I tell him then he'll either leave me or put himself in even more danger, I can't do that to him. I care about him too much to let him be hurt because of me so I'm not going to say anything, I'm trying to hold my feelings back but it's hard." May couldn't continue as tears began to fall. Misty hugged her and Gary put his hand back on her shoulder. Misty was about to talk to May, to try and help her when the door of the Gym flew open.

"Where's the Gym leader? I'm here for my badge!" Misty, Gary and May turned around to see a ten year old boy standing in the door way with a cocky grin on his face.

"I'm the Gym Leader." Misty said feeling slightly angry about this kid interrupting their conversation.

"You? This will be easy you're just a girl." The boy said. A vein throbbed on Misty's forehead.

"Gary, do you have my Pokémon or has Ash got them?" Gary held out the Pokéballs knowing that this kid was in a world of trouble. Gary's eyes widened when he saw which Pokéball Misty took from him.

"Alright then kid let's see what you can do. 3 on 3 battle, only you're allowed to switch Pokémon alright." Misty said as she walked to her side of the pool. Gary stood on the Referee's podium.

"Trainers send out your first Pokémon." He said

"I'm taking you down," the kid said, "Go Paras." Misty flinched when she saw the bug type but kept her composure.

"This won't take long. Go Gyarados."

May was going to watch the battle when she felt Glaceon rub against her leg, looking down at her Pokémon she saw that Glaceon wanted her to follow. May walked after Glaceon until she noticed where they were going. They stopped just outside the room where Ash was training, May saw that most of the Pokémon were training except for Pikachu and Meowth. They were stood in front of Ash who was sitting on a bench.

"I messed up there didn't I." She heard Ash say. Pikachu nodded.

"Yeah you did Ash." Meowth said, "Before we followed you it looked like May was going to cry." Ash dropped his head into his hands.

"I need to do something to make up for it don't I?" Meowth nodded

"You need to take your mind off it, let's do some training and think about it later." The Cat Pokémon said. Ash nodded and took out his Pokédex.

"Let's see what moves you've got." Ash said

"Spearow is unable to battle, the challenger is out of usable Pokémon. The winner of the match is Misty and Gyarados." Gary said as the boy returned his Pokémon, he turned and walked out of the Gym without saying a word. Misty was going to go after him but Gary stopped her.

"Leave him, he need to work this out on his own." Misty nodded and then they started to talk about Gary's research.

May backed away from the door and smiled a little, she walked to the room she was staying in and started to look through her clothes to see what she could wear for their 'date'. May scratched her head and realised that she was still wearing Ash's hat, she lifted it from her head and looked at it. It was the hat Ash wore in Hoenn and Kanto when he competed in the Battle Frontier, May smiled as the memories of their time travelling together flooded into her mind. She gently put the hat on her pillow and started to sing to herself as she continued to look through her clothes.

'Meowth, the Scratch Cat Pokémon, adoring round and shiny objects, Meowth wander the streets at night looking for loose change. Withdrawing their claws allows Meowth to slink around silently without leaving footprints. Move known: Scratch, Fury Swipes, Slash and Thunderbolt.'

"You know Thunderbolt?" Ash asked looking at Meowth.

"I do?"

"You didn't know? Pikachu can help you work out how to use it but how did you learn it in the first place?"

"I must've learnt it by being blasted off so much."

"What do you mean?"

"The amount of Thunderbolts I've been hit with I must've started to absorb the energy until I learnt how to use it, without knowing."

"Alright, Meowth you and Pikachu find a spot to work on Thunderbolt while I go and see how the other are getting on." The Pokémon nodded and went to train. Ash stood up and went over to Krookodile and Sandshrew, he saw that Krookodile had Sandshrew working on his agility by firing weak attacks at him. Ash watched them for a while and gave them some tips on where they might need some improvement and encouraging them, he then walked over to see Lucario and Grimm. They were working on increasing Absol's speed and strength by running laps around the pool while pulling some of the weights Ash found in the room, they weren't overly heavy weights but there were enough to give Grimm a challenge. Ash ran with them for a while once again giving tips on where to improve and encouragement, when Ash looked at the clock he realised that he had been training for a couple of hours and told the Pokémon to stop. Ash was about to go tell everyone he would start making some food when Meowth and Pikachu walked up to him smiling, just before he walked out of the door.

"I've got it." Meowth said happily, "I can use Thunderbolt. It needs a little work though"

"That's great Meowth, let's see it. Try and hit this weight." Ash said pointing to a weight next to him. Meowth nodded and took a few steps back he closed his eyes, electricity started to crackle around his body after a few seconds he managed to fire a Thunderbolt but his aim was off and it flew towards the door, just as May was about to enter the room.

"Hey Ash can we taAAAAAHHH!" May screamed as she saw the attack coming towards her, she squeezed her eyes tightly shut and waited to feel the attack hit but it never did. Through her closed eyes she could still see the light from the attack, after it had died she slowly opened her eyes and saw that Ash was standing in front of her smoke slowly rising from his shoulders. He had jumped in front of the attack, he had taken the hit for her. Ash coughed and dropped down on to one knee, May knelt down next to him.

"Ash, Ash are you alright?" She asked franticly as she could see some of the electricity still sparking around him. Meowth and Pikachu ran up to Ash, Pikachu immediately tried to absorb some of the electricity and Meowth wore a look of shame.

"May, what's wrong? Why did you scream?" Misty said as she and Gary came into the room, "What happened?"

"I don't know I came in to talk to Ash and I saw a Thunderbolt coming towards me. I closed my eyes and when I opened them Ash was in front of me, he jumped in front of the attack. He was hurt again because of me."

"Where did the attack come from? Pikachu wouldn't do something like that."

"It was me," Meowth said, "Ash scanned me with his Pokédex and it said I knew Thunderbolt, so Pikachu was helping me learn how to use it. I finally learn how and Ash wanted me to show him but I need to work on by aim." Meowth turned to look at Ash, "I'm sorry Ash I didn't meant to hurt you or anyone else." Ash coughed again and looked at Meowth

"It's alright Meowth we can work on your aim and you should be proud that was nearly as strong as Pikachu's." He said, making Meowth smile a little.

"Like what was all the noise for?" Misty turned around and saw that her sister were walking into the room. When they saw Ash on the floor they ran over to him, surrounding him and pushing everyone else out of the way.

"What happened to you Ashy?" asked Daisy as she pulled Ash's face into her chest.

"Don't worry we'll look after you." Said Violet taking Ash from Daisy and pulling him into her own chest.

"We'll take you to your room so you can rest." Lily said as she followed her sisters action and pulled Ash into her chest. May fumed and pushed them all out of the way.

"You aren't taking him anywhere. Lucario can you help me get Ash out of here?" May said. Lucario nodded and looked to Krookodile gesturing for him to help. Lucario got one side of Ash and Krookodile got the other they both put one of Ash's arms over their shoulders and lifted him to his feet then slowly started to walk him to his room. May and the rest of Ash's Pokémon followed them out, Misty's sisters were about to follow when Pikachu turned and glared at them, his cheeks sparked a little. They were about to walk past when Misty stopped them.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." She said

"Like why not?" asked Violet.

"Because even though Pikachu is small and cute, he's still strong enough to take down Gyarados in a few minutes. Without using his electric attacks." Misty's sisters took a step back and looked at Pikachu with a mixture of awe and fear. Pikachu sparked is cheeks a bit more then turned and left the room.

May opened the door and walked into the room closely followed by Lucario and Krookodile who were still carrying Ash.

"May, I'm fine, after being shocked by Pikachu so much I think I might've turned into a ground type." Ash started to laugh but it soon turned into a cough, "It's been a while since Pikachu last shocked me so I guess it's hit me a little harder." May turned to the Pokémon.

"Can you put Ash on the bed please?" They did as May asked and lower Ash onto the bed. May then turned to look at Ash. "Why?"

"Why what?" Ash asked.

"Why did you jump in front of the attack?" Lucario gestured to Krookodile and they both left the room.

"You would've been hurt." Ash said as if it was obvious, "I promised your parents that I wouldn't let you get hurt and I meant it."

"But you keep getting hurt because of me, first Team Rocket then in Rota you sent Lucario to protect me during the contest, you told all the Pokémon to keep me safe when Mew attacked and now you jumped in front of a Thunderbolt. I can't take seeing you get hurt because of me, if you keep doing it then I don't think we should travel together anymore." Ash stared at May and could see tears in the corners of her eyes, he slowly raised himself on to his elbows.

"May sit down," May sat on the bed by Ash, "I don't want to stop travelling with you. I don't want to see you get hurt, you're my best friend and I will do whatever I have to, to keep you safe. The same goes for Misty, Gary, Brock, everyone I've met, everyone I care about I'll do anything I need to if it means keeping them safe." Ash put his hand on May's cheek and brushed away a tear with his thumb. "Don't cry, I'll be alright. See I'm fine." Ash said waving his arm around and pulling a couple of faces making May giggle. She gave Ash a quick hug and got off the bed.

"You get some rest, I'll bring you some food in a little while then if you feel up to it we'll go out tonight. If you still want to."

"Okay May I will and if you still want to go out then I'm okay with that." Ash said with a smile, May returned the smile.

"It'll be fun. We can talk later about which movie we want to see. Now rest, I'll see you later." May turned and walked out of the room leaving Ash alone with his thoughts.

'Why did I touch May's face?' He'd done it on impulse wanting to get rid of May's tears. Ash lay back on the bed resting his head of the pillow and shook the thought from his head and turning them to how his Pokémon had done during their training. May came back to the room after half an hour to give Ash some food and saw that he had drifted off to sleep so she left the food on the bedside table and left the room closing the doo behind her.


So that's the end of Chapter 11

Current teams are

Ash:- Pikachu, Lucario, Krookodile, Sandshrew, Meowth and Grimm (Absol)

May:- Glaceon, Blaziken, Munchlax, Beautifly, Wartortle, Mawile

Remember let me know what you think.

I'm in the process of writing up the Move combinations I'm not sure when I'll post it but I will be up eventually.

Until next time

Basic Trainer