Ash laid on his stomach, bored out of his mind
"Aghh, how long til Prof Oak picks us up?" he whined
"Bout an hour" Gary said, only to hear Ash whine again "Ash, stop it, will ya? Whining isin't gonna make him get here sooner" Ash sighted, Gary was right
"Yeah. So what do you wanna do?" Ash asked, Gary thought about it for a second and smiled
"How about a training battle?" he asked
"Sure!" Ash said, getting up and walking to the door
"Hey guys, where are you going?" Ashchu asked from the table
"Outside" Gary said "Were gonna have a training battle"
"Really?" Bolt asked, peeking his head from over the table "Mind if I come with you?"
"Yeah, we can do a tag battle" Gary said
"Wait, your not suggesting..." Ash asked
"Yes I am, Ash" Gary said "Ashchu needs to learn to defend himself. No matter how hard you try, your not going to be with him all the time"
"No, Ashchu is not ready" Ash said
"Yes he is" Gary said
"Yeah, come on Ash. Don't you remember I helped you with your thunderbolt? I can fight" Ashchu said
"I don't want you getting hurt" Ash said "Your not fighting"
"Oh yes I am" Ashchu said
"Ash?" Gary said "If there's one thing we learned about your little brother is that he's pretty stubborn"
"Kinda like his big brother" Bolt said, snickering
"Hey!" Ash said
"Come on Ash, just once?" Ashchu asked, Ash shook his head
"I say that you let him fight" Nubtup said, walking back from the cells
"Hi Nubtup, how the chat with your dad go? Get any info about Cipher?" Ash asked, wanting to change the subject
"Not really" Nubtup said "Just the usual 'You'll regret this, we're going to rule the world' junk"
"Oh, okay" Ash said
"Don't try to change the subject Ash" Nubtup said "Listen Cipher wants you. So at one point, they might use Ashchu as leverage, he needs to know how to defend himself"
"But I.."
"Ash, listen. It's just a battle. We're not going to knock each other out, we're basicly sparring" Gary said "It's nothing but a couple of bruises" Ash groaned and grabbed his head before cracking under the prssure
"Okay okay, but just once!" he said
"YAHOO!" Ashchu exclaimed as he jumped down from the table along with Bolt, then tackeled Ash in a hug "Thanks Ash!"
"Alright, the battle of Ash and Ashchu vs Bolt and Gary is about to begin!" Nubtup said, taking the role of referee "No knocking the openent out. When you are too tired to battle, raise your paw and yell 'DONE', are we clear on the rules?"
"Yep" Gary and Bolt said, the two pikachu brothers gave the thumbs-up
"BEGIN!" Ash took of on all fours, heading straight towards Gary
"Quick Attack!" Gary grunted as he was hit by the yellow streak that was Ash
"Ow, Sand Attack!" Gary yelled, sweeping dirt with his tail and sending it straight to Ash, hitting him square in the face
"Augh, I can't see!" Ash yelled, his eyes hurt to much to keep open, and couldn't just stop in the middle of the fight to rub the dirt out of his eyes. Knowing that he couldn't relly on his sight, his ears began twiching, picking up sounds of trees, the fight between Ashchu and Bolt, and Gary steps! Turning his body to the source of the sound, he heard Gary said
"Shadow Ball!" Ash jumped in the air as the purple energy ball hit the floor, in the air Ash rubbed his paws in his eyes and cleared them out of dirt
"Charge Beam!" Ash yelled, clasping his paws together and realesed the beam straight at Gary, hitting him. Ash dropped back down and ran straight for Gary, his fist glowing, as the eevee got up
"Brick Break!" Ash yelled, hitting Gary square in the face and sent him flying to a tree, he got ready to do it again when Gary lifted his paw into the air
"Done!" he yelled "Good fight Ash"
"Thanks" Ash panted
"Done!" he heard his little brother yell, he turned around to see Ashchu sitting on the ground, Bolt looking right at him
"Well, just you and me now, Ash" Bolt said "Thunder!" Ash barley managed to roll out of the way of the attack and countered with his own thunderbolt "Agh, wow, you've really gotten stronger, haven't ya?"
"Thanks to you training me!" Ash said "Thunderbolt!"
"Thunderbolt!" Bolt yelled, the two bolts collided in mid air, pushing against each other
"Woah" Ashchu said, looking at the electric colision. Ash closed his eyes and he felt as if he wasn't in control anymore, he involuntaraly used more and more power, blasting electricity with more voltage and strength out of his cheeks, pushing back Bolt attack. Bolt shut his eyes and increased the power of his attack, but unfortunatly it wasn't enough as Ash's attack beat Bolt's and zaps him. Hard
"GAH!" Bolt yelled
"Bolt!" Ash yelled, rushing over to his friend "You okay?", Bolt winked at him, and raised his paw
"Done!" he yelled, getting up and smiling, but he then winced in pain, collapsing to his knees in pain
"Bolt!" Ash said, grabbing his friend and helping him stand up "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay" he said, but his face showed that he was in pain
"I'm sorry buddy, I don't know wha-" Ash tried to say before he was interrupted
"It's okay Ash. A battle is a battle" Bolt said, smiling
"I'll take you to the pokemon center" Ash said, worried about his friend
"Nah, don't worry about it" Bolt said "We need to go back inside, I bet Professor Oak got here by now"
"Wait, we've been battling for an hour?" Ash asked, Gary nodded "But it felt like five minutes" he shrugged, thinking it just meant he was too engrossed in the battle to notice. The pokemon walked back inside to see Oak standing in the lobby
"There you are!" he said "You have no idea how worried I've been!" Ash felt a sweat-drop form as he scratched the back of his head
"Well, there fine professor" Jenny said "Now, just sign here so you can retreive them" Ash looked at Gary and smiled
"Looks like things are changing a bit" he said in poketounge
Lewis walked into the break room of the complex, heading towards the coffee machine
"So, your back" he heard a voice say behind him
"Hello Brodie" Lewis said "What brings you here? Your not one to stay at HQ, being a merc"
"Just wanted to talk." he said, pressing a button on the wall, sealing the door "About Doug"
"Hm" Lewis said, sipping his coffee
"You say you two were cornered at the top of the tower, different ends of the room, right?" he asked, Lewis nodded "I don't think that's what happened"
"And you'd know, how?" Lewis asked, walking to a window that showed the inside of the volcano the base was built inside of, and the cells that were built right above it
"I followed you" Brodie said "I saw you run away and leave him on the floor, passed out and with no pokemon! So, what do you think?"
"Just a question. Did you finish what the director ordered you yet?" Lewis said, taking another sip
"Yeah, so?" Brodie asked impantly
"Nothing. Gallade!" Lewis called, suddenly Brodie was grabbed from behind and felt something sharp touch his neck
"What the-?"
"Now, I wouldn't move if I where you, Brodie" Lewis said, pressing a button next to the window, on of the cells that were haging above the lava came down, Lewis jestured to Gallade, who nodded and tossed Brodie in
"What are doing!?" Brodie yelled as the glass sealed him inside the cell
"Your expendable Brodie. And you know too much for an outsider" Lewis explained
"Then why don't you take me out?" he asked
"Simple. I was told to keep you alive" Lewis said, pressing the button again "Goodbye" the cell slid back to the roof of the volcano, locking in
"Are you sure no one will find him?" Gallade asked
"Don't worry, there are only two routes for the cell to transit, here and the chiefs office" Lewis said, laughing