Okay, now you get to figure out what Ash did.
Sorry, no battle this chapter
Ash turned to see the people. One was a brunette girl. She was wearing blue overalls, and under it a red shirt. She had a white hat on over her hair, and long white socks. The other was a passive looking boy. He had bushy hair and wore glasses. Her wore a long sleeve t-shirt and a light green t-shirt over it. It was finished up with jeans.
Ash's eyes widened as he exclaimed, "Lyra, Khoury. What are you doing here?"
Lyra quickly replied, "We heard some dumb trainer challenged Karen to a battle. We came as soon as we could."
Ash frowned and said irately, "I guess I'm said irritated trainer. Not the nickname I would have hoped for."
Koury smirked and answered, "Well do you prefer that or Prince of Pallet?"
Ash groaned and put his head in his hands before he heard Karen comment, "I guess Ash is more well known then I had first thought."
Lyra squeaked as she remembered Karen was there. Ash figured she must idolize her as well. That didn't stop her chattering though as she immediately started saying, "Yeah, he's the pride of Pallet Town in Kanto. Next to the Elite Four and Gym Leaders, he's the most well known trainer in all of Kanto. He's also really famous in Sinnoh too. Johto and Hoenn are probably the only places that he isn't well known."
Karen frowned before asking, "And what did he do to become so famous? He told me his accomplishments, but none of them are extremely well known events."
Khoury smiled and answered, "He is the first challenger to successfully beat the Sunnyshore gym leader, Volkner. It was also televised in Sinnoh and Kanto."
Karen smacked a fist into her other hand as her face lit up. She then exclaimed, "That is how Ash looked familiar. Lance sent highlights of that match to the Johto Elite Four. It just didn't show the trainers too much. Now that I think about it, that Infernape and Floatzel looked familiar too. I guess I was facing a better opponent than I thought."
Ash turned to her and lowered his head before saying sincerely, "Thank you for battling me. I really appreciate it, but we should probably be leaving now. My friend May will probably be at the pokemon center soon."
Karen smiled and claimed, "I get the feeling we'll see each other again. I'm here till the end of the Grand Festival and you seem to be the kind of person who is constantly in the mix of things."
Lyra then muttered, "You have no idea."
After several more departing words, Ash, Lyra, and Khoury walked away. Ash started to ask as they walked, "So why are you guys here?"
Khoury quickly explained, "After we got back, I accompanied Lyra to the gyms. She had some trouble with the Goldenrod gym leader though." Ash nodded as he thought of Whitney and her Miltank. Khoury quickly continued, "We decided to move on and come back. She has successfully beat Morty and Chuck for the Fog Badge and Storm Badge respectively, but can't seem to beat Jasmine and her steel types. So we decided to come back here. She beat Whitney, but we decided to stay to watch the Grand Festival."
Ash nodded and commented, "I also lost to Whitney my first time, and Jasmine was probably my toughest gym battle next to Clair."
Lyra now asked enthusiastically, "So what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be training for the Sinnoh League?"
Ash raised his eyebrows and questioned right back, "And what sort of training do you think I should be doing. In the mountains for three months? Traveling and capturing more pokemon classifies as training too, but I'm here to watch a friend compete in the Grand Festival." The two nodded in understanding.
The trio now stood in front of the pokemon center, and Ash quickly led their way around to the back. As he thought, he found May, Solidad, and Harley relaxing. The three stood up when they saw Ash.
May sprang up and exclaimed, "You are finally back, Ash. I didn't think you would make it. All three of us are in the top thirty-two." She spoke excitedly, but then noticed Lyra and Khoury. She now asked, "Who are these two?"
Ash quickly replied, "This is Lyra and Khoury. I traveled with them briefly in Sinnoh. I ran into them by coincidence a little while ago."
Lyra quickly said, "Yeah, we came to see a stupid trainer who challenged Karen to a battle. We come to find Ash."
Solidad looked surprised and commented, "You challenged Karen. That must have been unpopular. She is the idol of Johto."
May looked confused and asked desperately, "Can someone please explain who Karen." Lyra started to explain passionately who Karen was, confirming Ash's earlier thoughts. Lyra = Total Fangirl
Ash walked away as they talked. He quickly went to the telephones and dialed for Professor Oak. It only took a second before the Professor answered. Ash quickly stated, "I need to switch some of my pokemon. Just had a tough battle and day. They need to rest."
Oak nodded and claimed, "I'd be happy to. Just tell me what pokemon you want, and I'll go get them. Also I want to congratulate you on some of your new pokemon. They are quite a group."
Ash nodded at the praise before saying, "I send over Infernape, Floatzel, Charizard, and Pidgeot. I would like to have Gible, Torterra, Donphan, and…. Totodile."
Professor Oak nodded and disappeared for a couple minutes before returning and saying he was ready. Ash turned off the phone and walked over to the transporter. He placed his four poke balls in it before stepping back. They disappeared in a burst of light, and within seconds four new poke balls appeared. Ash grabbed them and walked back outside.
Everyone there was talking animatedly. Ash didn't join the conversation and released the four pokemon. Pikachu and Eevee jumped down and quickly started playing with the new arrivals. Ash sat down leaning against the wall and started watching his pokemon. He was thinking deeply as he watched Gible throwing dirt to create a mound which allowed Donphan to use Rollout and jump over Torterra. Dragon types. What should he do?
Ash was interrupted from his thinking by the group walking over and Lyra hitting him on the head before saying, "What you staring at?"
May then added, "And what were you doing the past week?"
Ash looked up before replying, "I think the best way to answer the first question is to answer the second." He then stood up and lifted up the side of his black shirt to show his belt full of poke balls. He then continued, "To make it easier, I shall release the pokemon to help illustrate my points."
Ash sighed before announcing, "At first I went to Mount Silver. It was there that I found Larvatar." He then grabbed the first poke ball and releasing the pokemon. Out came a small green, dinosaur-like pokemon. It had a horn on the top of its head, and a patch of red on its stomach. The arms and legs were fingerless(or toeless.) May obviously thought the pokemon was cute, and attempted to pick it up with a squeak. She made a small noise of pain and stood up as she clutched her back in pain. Ash chuckled. Larvatar was no longer light enough to pick up easily. Larvatar could eat a mountain of soil in little time, and he now weighted over one hundred and fifty pounds. Larvatar looked curtly at May before turning around and walking over to his other pokemon. Ash continued, "I met Larvatar while traveling through Johto. Larvatar was separated from its mother as an egg due to poachers. I was the first person it trusted when it hatched. It would Harden whenever someone else approached, but we got it over that. We took it back to its mother at Mount Silver. I researched and found that despite the mother taking care of their babies after they are born, they start to distance themselves after several years. I flew on Pidgeot till we found Larvatar, and it quickly agreed to come."
"I also caught a unique Scyther that knows Bug Buzz, Light Screen, and Safeguard. I calculated its father must have been a Ledian or Ledyba." He then released his Scyther. Scyther quickly positioned himself beside Ash, but a little bit behind as he studied the group supsiciously. Ash chuckled before saying, "Scyther is very protective. After that I went to Ecruteak City to catch some ghost types. I came at a good time. Morty, the gym leader, told me that recently a new group of ghost types have immigrated to their tower. Mainly the Dusk-family. This sparked as rivalry between the younger pokemon. I went and used Noctowl to catch the leader of the Gastly. It was extremely strong and the natural choice. After that I went and captured the opposing leader, Duskull, using Gastly. Gastly evolved battling it." Ash then released his two ghost types. Haunter and Duskull looked at the group. When Harley muttered something about Duskull being a shrimp, Duskull responded by using Astonish to make Harley fall backwards. Ash quickly warned, "Duskull is very insecure regarding his size."
"After that situation settled down, I went and picked up Charizard from the Charicific Valley. Then I went to the National Park and caught multiple pokemon. A female Nidoran, Yanma, and I won the bug catching contest by catching a large Pinsir." He then released several of the said pokemon. His Pinsir stood six feet tall, and ignored the humans as it joined the other pokemon. Ash continued, "Since I got the Sun Stone, I should probably catch and Oddish or Sunkern."
"Anyways, I also caught Vulpix in the wild. Also a Tyrogue. Tyrogue is at Professor Oak's." He then released Vulpix. "Then I got lucky and helped a breeder's center from some gang. In thanks, the center gave me two newly hatched pokemon. Magby and Elekid. After that I went to the sea and captured water pokemon. I ended up with Shellder, Staryu, Seel, and Horsea. I only have Horsea and Shellder on me. I then went into wilderness again and captured a Tangela and Kangaskhan. Then I went and visited another old friend. I helped a member of his pack. He had evolved into Houndoom, but I still caught him. And I caught Skarmory on my way here." He then released a strong looking Houndoom and his new Skarmory.
Ash looked to see his audience was dumbfounded. Finally May asked, "You caught all those pokemon in a week?"
Ash raised a hand and said confidently, "I did all that in five days. I still have three more pokemon to introduce. The other two days were after I got Houndoom, and before I caught Skarmory. I flew to the Dragon's Den by Blackthorn City."
Solidad quickly asked, "Why would you go there? Did you catch some dragon types?"
Ash smiled and claimed, "No, but I did catch some pokemon. I went there because the best dragon type trainers reside there. See, Gible is my only dragon type, and it is a mystery to me how to train him properly. I went there to research properly. I was lucky and found Clair, and there were also Drake and Lance there too."
"You mean the Hoenn Elite Four member, and the Johto champion," Khoury said in awe.
Ash nodded and announced, "I have met both before, and we caught up some. Clair said it was smart for me to come, and said she needed to see Gible in action. We had a battle. Gible against her Dragonair."
Solidad stated reasonably, "But wouldn't Dragonair be at the advantage. She is the second stage of a pseudo-legendary, and Clair has been working with that pokemon for a while."
Ash grinned as he replied, "Drake and Lance thought so too. Didn't stop us from winning."
May looked excited, "You beat her. Isn't she really strong? I read that her and my dad are the two gym leaders who have given out the least badges. Especially when Gible was weak to her dragon type attacks. How did you do it?"
Ash grinned before explaining, "Well, I also knew that Dragonair was weak to dragon type attacks too. Mainly, Clair used her Dragonair's flight to her advantage, and tried to attack from a distance. I realized this and figured it out. The power of Dragonair is their unique movement. They use energy to fly, and their long body allows them to dodge. So I used Gible's advantage. I stayed underground. I used that to keep dodging her attacks till Dragonair started tiring, and then waited till they were coming close to fire an attack into the holes. Gible bit onto Dragonair's tail. This allowed him to get a good hold, and he held on as he attacked. As soon as it got close range, it was done. Dragonair didn't have many attacks that it could use that wouldn't hit itself. When she tried Hyper Beam, a Dragon Pulse finished it before it could fire. Clair was definitely shocked."
May had her mouth open in awe as she exclaimed, "You really have become that good."
Ash grinned, but put on a serious face as he continued, "Lance and Drake were really impressed. They said that I had a natural affinity to dragon types, and that Gible was rapidly becoming stronger. They actually started to encourage me to become a dragon type trainer."
Now the group was even more shocked. Dragon types were renown for their strength and power, but they were also unbelievably rare and hard to train. Most people couldn't handle it. To have two such powerful dragon type trainers to say that, was a huge honor.
Ash continued solemnly, "I'm not sure. I find the idea attractive. Dragon types are so interesting, and would be an amazing challenge. Yet I'm not sure I could focus entirely on them. I love training all types and bringing out their strength."
Khoury now spoke, "Then it seems obvious to me. You should stay as an all around trainer."
Ash nodded and claimed, "Yeah, that is what I told them. They understood and came to a compromise. They offered me an egg."
"An egg?" May asked.
Ash nodded again and explained, "If I have three dragon types in two weeks they will give me the egg of Lance's strongest Dragonite and Clair's Dragonair."
This drew an audible gasp. Harley immediately asked, "They offered you the egg of a champion's strongest pokemon. That egg could turn into the strongest Dragonite ever if it was raised right. You realize what some people would give for that egg. They could sell it for a cruise liner."
Ash nodded and said ruefully, "They realize that, but they have no need for money. Pseudo-legendaries reproduce almost never. They can't expect another egg for years. They said they are simply looking for a traier to treat it right. They said that they decided I was the best option, but they know I would battle with it. So they placed the restriction. With more dragon types, I could raise it better and smarter. If I can't do it, they want to decide on another person before it hatches. Two weeks is what they gave me."
Now Khoury said intelligently, "That will be difficult. Dragon types are as rare as they come. Unless you can enter the Dragon's Den.."
Ash shook his head and informed them wearily, "No can do. They want to see if I really want the egg. Plus the Dragon's Den is sacred to them. Using it as a place to catch dragon types is as bad as disrespecting dragon types. I have figured it out. Excluding legendaries, there are only the Dratini family, the Bagon family, Gible family, Vibrava, Flygon, Altaria, and Kingdra. Those are the only options."
May was now thinking, "Not good odds. You have Gible, but no other. You said you caught a Horsea, but two weeks isn't enough to evolve it to Kingdra. The Bagon family and Vibrava and Flygon all only are found in Hoenn. The Dratini family are found in several places, but are almost legendary in their difficulty to find. I don't see how you could search for it. You have Gible, so overall it would be useless to catch another. That leaves Altaria. They are found mostly in Hoenn and Sinnoh. My bet would be going to Hoenn. Plus, if you get the egg, you would get a Dratini."
Ash grinned and claimed, "But I have something that might help. This actually concerns you too, May." May looked up, confused. Ash pulled out two pokeballs and continued, "Before this, I went in the Dragon's Den for a little while. I caught three, non dragon type pokemon."
Ash then released the two pokemon. Out came two small birds. They had blue bodies and large fluffy wings. A small beak and two feathers at the top were the only other defining features. Swablu. One was significantly larger than the other.
Ash quickly explained, "When I was there, I found these two. It seems the two had gotten separated from their mother. The larger one is the older sister of the smaller, who is also female. I battles the older, and captured her using my new Larvatar. After capturing the older, I couldn't leave the other. I figured that May would enjoy it. It seems to be more of an appealing pokemon. It knows Featherdance which is an appealing move. The larger one knows Agility and Dragon Rush. Both would help in a battle."
May's face softened as she looked at the baby Swablu, and she picked it up in her arms. She then looked at Ash with a soft expression and stated, "You are giving me this. Thank you so much."
Ash nodded and explained, "Both are sisters, so I couldn't send her to someone she wouldn't ever see again. Your one of my best friends, so she'll be sure to see you a lot. Their evolved form, Altaria, is part dragon. That makes them powerful enough to hold their own against any opponent. I'm sure that she will be helpful. Consider this a thank you. You stuck by me when we traveled together. This should make us equal."
May was looking at Swablu softly and exclaimed, "You helped me in so much, Ash. You were my mentor. If anything, I owe you. If I hadn't already fallen in love with this Swablu, I would have refused."
Ash chuckled at her before saying, "This Swablu is extremely powerful. It is possible that it will evolve quickly with training. I shall do that for a week, and then head off to Hoenn when the Grand Festival is over."
Solidad now spoke up, "You should go now. Your Swablu might not evolve. In which case, you would need to catch both a Bagon family member or a Vibrava or Flygon. Not too likely with both. The extra week might make a difference."
Ash shrugged and flashed a grin before claiming, "I also have another ace up my sleeve, but I would rather not bring it to calling on an old friend. I just have to trust fate. I promised I would watch the Grand Festival and I will. I'll take this time to put some good training in the hole."
Lyra now spoke quickly, "Wait, Ash. You still have another poke ball."
Ash grinned even broader and released the pokemon. Out came a ragged fish. It's body was brown with dark spots, and its fins a dull blue. Feebas. Ash reached down and picked up the Feebas before explaining, "After I caught the Swablu, I was sitting by the river with my feet hanging in. Suddenly, this little guy comes over and starts rubbing against my leg. When Pikachu and Eevee came into view though, it swam back and looked like it wanted to battle. I caught it with Pikachu, and you wouldn't believe some of it's egg moves. Mirror Coat, Dragonbreath, Hypnosis, and Lightscreen. It really will excell at training. Can't even imagine when it evolves. I'm not too good at beauty, but I'll figure it out. For now though, I just want to start training."
Lyra smiled and said in a challenge, "Then how about me and Khoury help. We can have a battle."
Ash looked up and said confidently, "Bring it on."
Okay, now I'm done with so much talking
Next chapter, quite a bit happens
I'm also thinking of starting another story. I'm trying to start it quickly. Please read.
Yes, Ash got a butt load of pokemon.
