Here's another manga thing! I really had no way other than this to introduce Primeape, since I want it to be different from the anime (which was lame). So here it is! Enjoy!

Ash looked up, taking in the gigantic structure of the Celadon Departmental Store, which was towering over him by fifteen stories. It was gigantic – larger than any store in the entire region. It held all the standards supplies and gears for trainers, and even separate floors for drugs approved by the Pokémon League, bicycles and many other things. However, Ash was here just for one specific thing – TMs.

He had heard from several other trainers that the Departmental Store held a variety of numerous TMs, and he could use them to expand his pokémon's move pools.

"I can't believe that we're going shopping!" Leaf squealed, giving a hi-five to Misty as she did so. "Ash, you are going to help us, right?"

Ash looked at the two girls in fright. "I…I was?"

"Ash, thank you so much for asking to carry our bags!" said Misty, patting him on the back.

Ash gulped. "Um, I think you two are strong enough to carry your own bags."

"You're a boy, so be a gentleman!" Leaf scolded as she grabbed one of Ash's hands and started to drag him towards the mall.

"Kill me, Ritchie," Ash pleaded as he looked at the boy who was left behind.

Ritchie simply snickered at Ash's predicament and shook his head while waving good-bye to his friend. His laughter was short-lived, however, once Misty reached out and grabbed him to carry him along as well.

If there was one thing aside from crooks that Ash hated, it was shopping, and that was the situation he and Ritchie found themselves in at the moment. Leaf and Misty were being shopaholics right now while the two boys were forced to carry their numerous bags. What made it worse was that Leaf and Misty had decided to shop for their pokémon too, which just gave Ash and Ritchie more bags to carry.

"How much longer do we have to undergo this torture?" Ritchie asked.

"Just five more minutes," Leaf replied, although she didn't sound so sure.

The five minutes extended to another hour, and by that time Ritchie and Ash were purely exhausted. Deciding to give them a break, Leaf and Misty treated them to lunch, which he gladly accepted. The two wolfed down their food in a matter of minutes since they wanted to head to the Trainer Supplements section of the store. After taking his last bite, Ash let out a burp and abruptly stood up.

"Thanks for the food, but we need to go and do some shopping for ourselves, too!" Ash said quickly before he and Ritch scurried off.

Misty and Leaf frowned at that. "Hey! Who's going to help us carry our bags when we get out of here?"

Far off from the distance, Ritchie shouted, "Why don't you ask Brock?!"

The girls grinned devilishly and turned to Brock, who was slowly backing away from them. "M-Me?" he muttered in a scared tone.

Ash quickly found himself staring at a massive array of TMs displayed in the trainer section of the store. He took a glimpse of numerous disks – they were all costing about 2,000 pokédollars. They were certainly expensive, but from the numerous wins he had achieve he would be able to buy at least one TM per pokémon.

For Amethyst, he picked out Dark Pulse. He decided that the Sableye hardly had any dark-type attacks, and he had seen the power of the dark attack from Ellen's Druddigon. He put it in the carry bag.

He first picked one for Frogadier. The newly evolved pokémon hardly had any attacks to his arsenal, limiting to only four attacks – Water Pulse, Aerial Ace, Quick Attack and Bubble. For Frogadier, he picked up Ice Beam – a powerful ice type attack that could take down several other types, and it could also be a way to counter any grass type pokémon used against him. He quickly placed it in the small bag he carried.

Then, he picked one for Bunsen – Flame Charge. He had read in his pokedex that through continuous practice of Flame Charge a Charmander could master Flare Blitz, a highly powerful move that required the user to be strong enough to withstand recoil damage. Although he was sure that Bunsen could not hold the power of Flare Blitz in his current stage, he could at least be comfortable with it in his Charmeleon stage.

He then bought Shock Wave for Pikachu. While Thunderbolt was no doubt a powerful and precise move, it could always miss. Shock Wave, on the other hand, was very precise and had absolutely no chance of missing its opponent. He put that too in the bag.

For Butterfree, he had a long time to decide between Shadow Ball and Psychic. After another fifteen minutes, he picked up Shadow Ball. Since Butterfree had already mastered a weaker version of Psychic, a naturally impossible feat for any Butterfree, he was sure that the butterfly could correct it in a matter of weeks.

He then picked Scald for Krabby, Sludge Bomb for Bacchus and Aerial Ace for Pidgeotto. Since Krabby relied mainly on his pincers, he had primarily physical moves on his arsenal, and it could prove fatal if the opponent had abilities such as Poison Touch or Effect Spore. Moreover, Scald had a chance of inflicting a burn status due to the highly concentrated heat on the pressurized blast of water. Sludge Bomb was picked for Bacchus because he needed a poison type attack rather than a grass type attack. And since Pidgeotto relied mainly on her speed, Aerial Ace could prove worthy in battle.

He smiled as he walked over to the cashier and handed the eight TMs, and the clerk kept a permenant smile as he billed Ash for the TMs. He even gave the raven-haired boy a TM case that would protect the devices if anything happened. Ash paid the vast amount of money, thanked the clerk and walked away.

"So, what TMs did you get?" Ash asked Ritchie, who glanced down at his own TM case before speaking.

"I got Dig for Zippo, Psychic for Happy, Poison Jab for Alan and Hyper Beam for Marko." Ash furrowed his brow at the mention of his last pokémon, and Ritchie explained, "Marko is the giant Tentacruel I have."

Ash mouthed an 'Ah' as he and Ritchie walked over to Brock, who had a bag full of ingredients to cook food for humans and pokémon alike. His newly-acquired Eevee was in his hands, and the two were looking at the array of different evolutionary stones on display.

"Isn't that cool, Eevee?" Brock said with a smile, and the energetic pokémon nodded.

"Vee!" she cried, startling everyone by jumping out of Brock's arms and landing onto the exposed stones. Brock's eyes widened in horror as the evolution pokémon glowed, until the glow died down after a few moments.

In place of Eevee stood a Jolteon, smiling innocently at Brock while he and a member of the staff looked at her with an annoyed expression. Brock looked like he was about to burst with anger – he would obviously have to pay for the Thunderstone that had just lost its powers – but with a heavy sigh he calmed down.

"Excuse me, but there is a sale on evolutionary stones today," the clerk said sweetly. "They're only for 2,400 pokédollars!"

Brock took another sigh before he pulled out his wallet and fished out several notes. After counting them thrice, he reluctantly handed over the money to the clerk, who happily took the money before giving an icy glare towards Jolteon.

"Eevee—I mean, Jolteon, return," Brock said sadly, and a red beam of energy coated the electric type and recalled her back into her pokeball.

"…And that's what happened," Brock recalled with a sigh.

Misty forced a smile. "Well, on the bright side, you at least got an electric type!"

With Celadon City behind them, the group was now continuing on to Saffron City. To their relief, they found out that it would take about two days for them to reach Saffron City. They were glad that they wouldn't have to go camping for a whole month between these two cities, unlike the others. As of now, they were enjoying a nice lunch prepared by none other than Brock himself. Their pokémon were eating, playing around or introducing themselves to the newest members, Jolteon and Psyduck. Jolteon happily introduced herself and started shooting sparks in the air, while Psyduck only gave them a blank stare before mumbling something and walking away.

Leaf looked over to her crush, who was talking to Ritchie about the Indigo League. Since the past few weeks the raven-haired boy had been unusually close to her, but it could also be unintentional. It had always been so hard to read Ash, even though she was sure that he was the same, dense boy. Did he like her back? The thought of that made her blush.

Ash noticed her gaze on him and simply gave her a smile, a gesture that she returned. As a test to see what would happen, she scooted closer towards Ash to see what would happen. True to her suspicions, Ash did not widen the gap between them, so maybe he was doing that on purpose. Did he enjoy staying close to her? Oh, well.

"Leaf, are you okay?" Ash asked upon noticing her goofy expression.

Leaf shook her head and smiled sheepishly as she scratched the back of her neck. "Huh? Oh, yes I'm fine, Ash, heheheh…"

"I suggest we leave right now," Brock stated suddenly. "I hope everyone is done with the lunch I prepared."

"Bok, zefoon was teemey deshus!" Ash exclaimed.

His mouth was so full of food that everyone thought it was quite an achievement for him to make any noise at all.

"What?" Brock said, while Misty looked revolted. Ash gave an enormous swallow and repeated, "Brock, the food was extremely delicious!"

"Thank you, Ash," Brock said, picking up the empty bowls from everyone and Ash gave an enormous burp, earning a disgusted sound from Misty. A few minutes later Brock was done with packing up the utensils and the group continued on their journey.

Ash had quite a good time during their walk down the dirt path. He battled several trainers, and he lost only to a few, experienced ones. With a little bit of fine training Ash was sure that he could take care of Sabrina, especially when he had Amethyst with him.

By now they had entered into a barren place, far different than the lush, green area they were once in. Dead trees stood in random spots, while a few blades of grass sprouted around them. Aside from them, the land was lifeless. Brock bent down and ran his fingers along the hard ground, frowning as he did so.

"What is it, Brock?" Ritchie asked, noticing the teen in deep thought.

"No…It's just that the erosion of the land here is severe…That means that we're closer to Saffron City, since the industrial pollution from the factory region has destroyed all plant life around it…But still…"

"Pikachu, use Shock Wave!"

Brock, Misty and Leaf were woken up to the sounds of boulders crashing and their remains bouncing off the ground. Through half-closed eyes they could see Ash's Pikachu obliterating the boulders, while Ritchie's Charmeleon was using all his strength to hurl them at the mouse pokémon.

"Great job, Pikachu!" said Ash, giving the pokémon a thumbs-up before recalling his pokémon.

It was time to continue their journey towards Saffron City. At first, Ash was quite happy and skipped his way along the path before he started sweating madly under the sun's intense heat. Every two minutes he would stop, support himself on his knees and take short sips from his flask before continuing on, and although Misty mocked him for being delicate she soon found herself in a similar predicament. By that time Ash had gulped down the water from everyone's containers, and not a single drop of water was left for her. Misty began to feel as though she was going to die from dehydration, and she abruptly fell down on her knees at one point.

"Why don't you ask one of your pokémon to spray some water on you?" Ash suggested, stating the obvious.

Misty blushed in embarrassment and didn't talk to him for the next hour.

"How much longer is this going to take?" Ritchie complained as he plopped down on a rather large boulder; a second later he let out a short howl of pain before he rubbed his backside.

Brock took the backpack off his shoulder, swung it and let go of it, where it landed right next to where Ritchie was sitting. "I don't know. We might reach Saffron in three hours; four tops."

Ritchie groaned irritably and threw his arms in the air. "Good God…"

"But then—" He stopped midway and scrunched his eyebrows, and he was sure that he could sense something around him. "A presence…?"

"WAAA!" He turned around to see Misty fearfully walking towards Ash, pointing upwards. "G-G-Guys…We have trouble!"

Surrounding them were hundreds of Mankey, a hungry and menacing look in their eyes. They looked particularly scrawny for their species, and they were growling in a low voice. The group huddled together, trying to stay as far away from the group of Mankey, but with each step they took, the Mankey took a step towards them.

"It's a whole troupe on the move…" Brock muttered.

Leaf shivered. "But then…why are they surrounding us like this?" she asked.

"When they stalk like this, it usually means that they're very hungry," Brock replied. "Just look at them. They're looking for prey."

Ash gulped. "P-Prey?" he reiterated.

"At this point they'll eat just about—"

Ash sidestepped as two Mankey leapt at him, avoiding them in the nick of time, letting the Mankey bash their skulls together with such force that they were knocked out. Brock was right – they were very thin, and he could see the outline of their ribs as they lied spread-eagled on the ground. Upon seeing their fallen comrades, the others let out battle cries and the hundred Mankey jumped towards the group.

"We need to break the line!" Ash said, unclipping several pokéballs and hurling them into the air; in a matter of seconds the creatures within materialized on the floor and stared at the troupe of Mankey, clearly frightened.

The others too followed Ash's example and sent forth their respective pokémon. Another line of Mankey replaced the already defeated one, as if they were never going to end. "Frogadier, use Water Pulse! Pidgeotto, Wing Attack!"

"Starmie, Psychic! Horsea, blind them with Smokescreen!" he heard Misty shout.

It seemed that all their efforts were in vain. Within a matter of seconds the Mankey knew how to counter the attacks after listening to angry shrieks and grunts.

"We're going to get nowhere like this," he muttered softly as his pokémon strained to keep the horde of Mankey away from him. It was then that he noticed a Primeape, sitting not far away from the scene, looking angrily at them. Could it—?

"Pidgeotto, I need you to clear a path for me to that Primeape over there!" Ash yelled through the noise, and he repeated it once more to make sure that the bird pokémon had heard it. While Brock's two Graveler flattened several Mankey like they were bowling pins, Pidgeotto smacked several of them to make a path for Ash. With a word of thanks, he ran with all his strength, making sure that no Mankey had grabbed onto any part of his body.

"Attack that Primeape!" Ash roared.

Pidgeotto flew towards the Primeape and pecked him on the forehead.

"PRIIIIIIIIME!" the Primeape bellowed, his face contorting with rage as he got up from his spot and started to chase the avian creature. Ash let out a triumphant snort and pumped his fist in the air.

"I was right!" he exclaimed in glee, turning back to look at the Mankey troupe look at each other with confused expressions. "Without the Primeape's commands the pack is confused. Pidgeotto, use Aerial Ace on Primeape!"

The wild Primeape, however, took the blow and turned his attention towards Ash. So this human was trying to defeat him, huh?

"PRIIIIIIMEAAAAPE!" the Primeape thundered as he ran towards Ash with a reared fist. Realization dawned on his face a moment later, and he spat blood as he took a powerful punch from the Primeape. Just as the wild Primeape was about to land another punch, Pidgeotto swooped in and kicked him with her talons, sending him tumbling away from Ash.

"Thanks…Pidgeotto," Ash coughed out, running his hand along the back of her neck. H wiped the drops of blood on his lips. "Okay – Pidgeotto, Frogadier, Bunsen, Bacchus, Krabby, Amethyst I need you to attack that Primeape! Without his orders, the Mankey won't be able to do anything!" he shouted out, tossing the five pokéballs in the air. In front of him appeared the rest of his five pokémon, forming a line between him and the Primeape.

"Okay guys, he won't be able to take care of all six of you! Pidgeotto, Quick Attack!"

The Primeape took his battle stance, taunting Ash and his pokémon with his fists, but the look of contempt disappeared on his face as soon as Pidgeotto disappeared in a flash and crashed against Primeape, then – "Frogadier, Aerial Ace!" – was stunned again by a swift jab from his glowing arm, before – "Bacchus, Vine Whip!" – shrieking in pain from two lashes by the Bulbasaur; then – "Scald!" – a hot blast of water sent him soaring back, and he winced in pain before – "Flame Charge, Bunsen!" – finally being pinned down by Bunsen, who crashed into him with a cloak of hot flames surrounding him.

"Priiiiiimeape…" the pig monkey grunted, his eyes widened in shock before he fell down to the ground and admitted defeat.

Ash turned back, a look of utmost satisfaction on his face as he saw the pack of Mankey scurrying away, apparently frightened by the sight of their defeated leader. "We did it! They're gone!"

Ash noticed his friends running up to him, covered in dust as they did so.

"Unbelievable!" Leaf beamed.

"Cool," Misty said.

"Amazing," said Ritchie, awestruck.

"That was great quick thinking, Ash," Brock said with a grin. "Why hadn't you done that any sooner?"

Ash grinned back, blushing as he received a pat on the back from Brock. "Well…" He trailed off as he noticed the Primeape, heavily wounded, lying on the ground in pain from the ruthless volley of attacks. Ash felt his heart sink. Was he going to leave him there?

"Wait a minute, guys," Ash dismissed with a wave of his hand before walking over to the Primeape. He cradled the creature, who was glaring hatefully at Ash and wincing every few seconds. Without thinking twice, he fished out a Revive capsule from his backpack, broke it open and forced the powder inside down the Primeape's throat. In a few seconds the Primeape was up and he reluctantly gave Ash a grateful nod before standing upright. The Primeape was weak, however; although the Revive Capsule had got rid of most of his injuries, they would only vanish if they were properly healed.

"Here," Ash said with a smile, handing a rather old apple at the Primeape, who took it only after waiting for a few seconds. "It's okay. You had to find food for your pack, being the leader, didn't you?" he sympathized.

"Prime…" the Primeape replied, a tear trickling down his cheek.

"Why don't you call your pack? I'm sure we have some food we can give."

The Primeape's ears twitched and he looked up in excitement. "Prime?" he asked, and Ash nodded. "PRIIIIME!" he grunted out, and he hiding Mankey poked their heads out from behind several boulders they were hiding behind.

Ash turned to Brock. "Hey, Brock!" he called out. "Do you have more of that pokémon food?"

Brock furrowed his brow. "Yeah, why?" he asked.

Ash rubbed the back of his neck. "Because you're about to feed a whole pack!" he yelled out.

"Aw man, all my supplies are depleted…"

Brock groaned as he packed the empty canisters which were filled with food a few minutes ago as the group of Mankey pranced around them – they were utterly grateful towards the humans, who had given them practically every ounce of food in their bags. The leader, Primeape, continuously followed Ash wherever he went. Although he felt it was somewhat annoying, he knew that the pig monkey pokémon had a certain fondness for him.

"Look, I can already see the connecting gate from here!" Ash exclaimed, pointing dramatically in front of him. He turned down towards the Primeape, the troupe behind him. "It looks like this is where we say goodbye, Primeape."

"It was nice meeting you," Leaf said with a smile.

The Primeape glared angrily at Ash. "Prime, Primeape!"

"What?" he asked, frowning slightly.

"Oh, I hope he's not asking for more food," Brock muttered hopefully.

"Prime, Prime Ape Primeape Ape Ape-Prime!" the Primeape exclaimed enthusiastically, pointing at the pokéballs on Ash's belt.

The boy's eyes widened in surprise, and his stomach did a back-flip in exhilaration. "You…You want to travel with me?"

"Primeape!" he affirmed with a smile. Just as Ash was about to throw the pokeball on him, the pig monkey pokémon leapt back, keeping an appropriate distance between him and Ash. Primeape taunted him with a fist, and everyone quickly understood what the wild pokémon meant.

"I think Primeape wants to first battle you, Ash," Brock said with a supressed smile.

"Okay then, Primeape!" Ash said, a grin etched on his face. "But I'm not going to hold back!"

"Priiiiiimeape!"

He tossed a pokeball in the air, which snapped open and sent forth Pidgeotto. The bird pokémon chirped upon coming out and spread her wings, looking at Ash in annoyance after noticing Primeape. "It's just a battle, Pidgeotto," he explained, although Pidgeotto still didn't feel any better. "Let's begin! Start off with Aerial Ace!"

Pidgeotto nodded; she tucked in her wings and swooped at Primeape, but the fighting type was far quicker. He ducked at the last second, and in a jiffy he shot a balled-up glowing fist upwards, striking Pidgeotto on her torso to earn a squawk of pain. She gasped in pain before letting out coked coughs as she soared upwards and away from Primeape.

"Pidgeotto, are you alright?" he cried out in worry. A few moments later he heard a shriek from above, and he was happy that she had not sustained any heavy injuries from Primeape's brute strength. However, it would take more than a punch to bring the bird down.

"Okay then, use Quick Attack!"

"J'iotto!" she squawked as she flew to the ground, spinning as she did so. The moment she was a few metres off the ground, she spread her wings, letting her slow down as to not crash on the ground. She then quickly picked up her speed and when she was a metre away from Primeape – "Now, Sand Attack!" – she stopped midway and kicked the ground, hurtling sand into Primeape's eyes and partially blinding him.

"PRIIIIIME PRIIIMEAAAPE!" The wild Primeape grunted, shaking his head in an attempt to throw the sand from his eyes. He hurled a punch forward in an attempt to hit Pidgeotto, but with his now-terrible aim he only hit the air.

"Great, Pidgeotto!" Ash praised. "Now, use Wing Attack!"

SMACK! Primeape was thrown to the ground from Pidgeotto's powerful wings, which were still glowing even after she had successfully hit Primeape with them. A moment later he got up, and Pidgeotto once again swung her wings. Primeape, however, simply ducked and angrily caught the wing in his arm, startling Ash and everyone else. "AAAAAAPE!" he roared, gutting the avian with a powerful punch that sent her reeling in pain.

Ash bit his lower lips so hard that it started to bleed as he watched Primeape gutting his pokémon. "Pidgeotto!" he shouted.

Primeape bellowed again before he grappled his opponent. Then, with a gruff chant of his name, he leapt in the air, spinning several times while mid-air. Ash easily recognized the move as Seismic Toss – he had seen it too many times on TV, and it would be long before he would forget it.

He had to find a way to let Pidgeotto loosen from Primeape's grip, or it would be over for the avian creature. Primeape continued to spin, increasing his momentum as he did so. "Pidgeotto, I need you to carry Primeape high up into the sky!"

At the right time Pidgeotto spread her wings, breaking herself from Primeape's grasp. Without a second to lose she set off upwards, carrying Primeape with her by the help of her talons. As soon as she reached an appropriate height, she spun, finally letting go of Primeape to reach his doom.

"Follow up with Aerial Ace!"

As Primeape plummeted to the ground, Pidgeotto swooped in after him, jabbing him fiercely with an elongated beak that sped up his fall. Primeape crashed on the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust that Pidgeotto swept off in a matter of moments. It was clear that Primeape was knocked out – no one could still keep standing after such a devastating fall. Ash smirked, fished out a spare pokeball and tossed it at Primeape; the pokeball bounced off his body, snapped open and absorbed the pig monkey pokémon in a burst of red light. The red-and-white sphere shook for a few seconds, before it clicked, indicating that Primeape was caught.

"Yes!" Ash said, jumping and pumping his fist in the air. "I caught a Primeape!"

"Congratulations, Ash!" Leaf exclaimed.

"Thanks," Ash said, looking at Primeape's pokeball. "I'm sure that Primeape and I are going to be good friends." He pressed the button on the back, sending Primeape forth, and Ash bent so that he could look at his friend at eye level.

"Hey, Primeape," Ash said with a grin. "How would it be if you got a nickname?"

"Ape!" Primeape frowned before punching Ash in the stomach, and the boy fell to the ground. He looked up weakly at Primeape, who was furiously shaking his head.

"Ugh…" Ash groaned. "You could've just said no…"

The Rocket Boss leaned back on his chair, casually petting his Persian until he heard a knock on the door. With a sigh, he lifted a sleek remote off his table, pressed a button on it and the door opened.

"What is it this time, Proton?" the Rocket Boss asked snappishly. "Were you defeated by some kids again?!"

"No!" Proton replied angrily, and his tone softened under his boss' glare. "I have procured the files you wanted on the Pallet Town trainers."

The Rocket boss' lips curled upwards as the executive walked towards him, placing a set of files on the table once he reached there. The man snatched the files from him, and as Proton stood stiffly he opened the file, which dropped several sheets of paper on his lap.

The Rocket boss cursed under his breath. He picked up the sheets of paper and placed them carefully on his desk, reading from them attentively. "Ritchie Hiroshi…Leaf Rose…Paul Shinji…Ryan Zeller…Gary Oak…Ash…" His eyes widened in surprise. "…Ketchum!?"

Surprise still on his face, he shook his head and read further into Ash's file. "Ash Ketchum…Mother, Delia Ketchum…Aha!" he exclaimed triumphantly.

"Listen here, Proton," the Rocket Boss said in a dangerously soft voice, "I want you to assign one of the top spies in our organization to track this Ash Ketchum and report everything that he does. Furthermore, I want someone else to be on Delia Ketchum's tracks. Am I clear?"

Proton frowned, confused by his boss' orders. "Um, but why—?"

"Just do it!" Proton flinched under the loudness of the man's voice. "Am I clear?"

"Crystal," Proton replied through gritted teeth.

Uh-oh! What does Team Rocket have to do with Ash and Delia Ketchum?

So this does prove that Giovanni has some backstory with the Ketchum Family. What it is, I won't disclose it (and no, Giovanni isn't Ash's dad. Deal with it.) but it does show some insight. And yay! Primeape is caught! No, he's not going to be given away to Anthony, but he will be training under someone. Don't worry, he will return - he isn't going to be forgotten like the GS Ball or something.

Okay! I'll see you guys next week then!

Chapter 22 - The Fighting Dojo!