Cha. 26
"Welcome to Celadon City." Ash read the sign out loud. Within a few hundred feet of sight, the traces of human evidence became apparent.
"Finally!" Pikachu exclaimed, sitting on Ash's shoulder. "It's been forever since I stepped out of the Viridian Forest!"
"Me too!" A baritone voice followed from Ash's left. A small iron ball crawled beside his footsteps. "I passed here two years ago on my way to the forest!"
On top of Aron sat Dexter in his Pokédex form. Despite shrinking down, Dexter intentionally infused his body with Qi to weigh three hundred pounds, over five times Aron's own mass!
The two had been traveling like this for the past two days as training. After healing the Iron Armor Pokémon, Dexter gave Aron his own personal training Method.
Armageddon!
Traditional physical offense was separated into two main categories: sharpness and bluntness.
One either attacked by piercing or slicing, like with swords or spears, which belonged to the sharpness category. The bluntness type slammed, tossed, or pushed, like with mallets and staffs.
Aron was obviously more suitable for the latter. According to Dexter, Armageddon, when practiced to the highest level, could call down asteroids that vaporize entire mountain ranges. In the Primordial Eon, it was one of Groudon's favorite moves…
At the same time, it was even more insane of a defense too. The Method could turn Aron into a giant peak that no attack could breach.
Seriously, imagine trying to pummel a mountain...
The key to the Method was linking a connection with the Earth below him, to be able to borrow the power of the planet and the purest Qi that rested under.
It was perfect for Aron, putting both its Steel and Rock subtypes into use.
The Iron Armor Pokémon, after seeing the Method, was stunned for a whole minute. Later in the day, he found Pikachu and asked for a rematch in the following month.
Their conversation was simple.
"So… this is why you won."
"Yep. Also why I'm willing to be captured."
"I will challenge you soon."
"End of October?"
"Deal!"
Pokémon worked like that. Simplistic and straightforward, with respect and rivalry.
Dexter cleared his throat. "Ash, are you planning on challenging the Celadon Gym?"
"I've… actually not thought about that yet." The boy raised his eyebrows. "Do you think I should? I mean, Celadon is fourth on Professor Oak's list."
The Pokédex flashed into Porygon and levitated off Aron's back. "I don't see why not. Gym battles are three Pokémon. And, well, you do have three."
"Four." Pikachu coughed and threw him a challenging glimpse.
Dexter gave the mouse a glare. "I said this a thousand times already. I'm an immortal!"
Aron interrupted. "Yeah, Pika! Give the guy some respect. He is very knowledgeable."
"Shut up, you suckup nerd. You're embarrassing the pride of the Viridian Forest." Pikachu gave a giant eye roll.
"Oh come on! I had never even heard of this thing called Method before! It's game changing!" Aron snorted. "How else did you think you defeated me before?"
"I didn't even use Methods! Nor did the damn robot give me a Method! I have to Realize my own!" Pikachu shouted back.
"I'm not a ROBOT! I'm an IMMORTAL, you peasant!" Dexter bared his teeth. Reaching down, he pat Aron with a flipper. "You know, you have a much wiser eye than the mouse."
Pikachu growled. "Magi, help me here!"
A fish suddenly appeared out of nowhere to the right of Ash. A soft tenor voice flowed out. "Can we all please settle? There's no doubt Dex is the smartest one here, but Pikachu is very gifted in his own ways too."
The two huffed and looked opposite ways. Ash sighed. "Thanks, Magikarp. These two are giving me a freaking headache."
Magikarp, levitating in midair, had a tiny pool of floating water that supported his weight, which did not drop against all laws of gravity. He was getting so good at the land-walking technique after the two weeks of practice.
In fact, with all of the sneaking around in the forest, Magikarp had found the style of agility very attractive. In the last week, Dexter taught him another basic support Method, Conceal, which hid his scent and avoided detection.
As a result, Magikarp's favorite pastime for the week was to sneak up on the other Pokémon, tap their shoulders, and creep away without detection.
Against all odds, the fish was becoming more and more like a ninja, which even Dexter did not expect.
He guessed this was what happened when fish could walk… Next, he needed to make a pig fly.
"Okay, since we're stepping into civilization, let's make a few rules clear." Ash spoke up with a rare tone of seriousness.
"First, no theft. No breaking the laws. No attacking other Pokémon unreasonably. No using moves within the city that could destroy property."
"Second, we're going to try to not disturb other people. I know all of you like being out of your Pokéball, so let's try to decrease the level of fuss to the minimal."
"For Magikarp, you could stay out too, as long as you're confident you can hide from the public eye." Ash stroked the fish's scales lightly. "After all, we all know the level of commotion a land-walking Magikarp can cause."
"For Dexter, try to remain in Pokédex form. I still don't quite know how to explain your Porygon form yet, so until I get that figure out…"
"Third, and the most important one!" Ash gave the Pokémon a sweeping look. "No being stupid! Got it?"
"Got it!" They echoed in unison, with Pikachu holding up a victory sign, Magikarp bubbling submissively, Aron giving a salute, and Dexter projecting the picture of…
A giant… potato?
"I don't want to ask." Ash said plainly. "Also, rule number four. No projecting holograms of random objects in the city."
"Okay, we need to make a compromise…" Domino glared at the fluffy pink cat while munching on a plate of sushi that Mew had teleported in.
Damn… she loved sushi way too much...
"... Because you poking me repeatedly is not going anywhere." The blonde gave Mew a crossed look. "SO STOP POKING ME!"
Mew sat in the air and withdrew her tail in disappointment. "But I like poking you… it's fun!"
Domino's eyes twitched. Breathe…
"Let's start from the beginning. Why the hell do you want me to be your Chosen?"
"Because you're really gifted!" Mew danced in place. "Also, your…"
"LOOK AT ME WHEN I'M TALKING!" Domino shouted. Mew stopped and pouted at her. Domino's face darkened and looked away. "Don't give me that look. I have a heart of stone."
Mew floated in and poked her. "Nope, it's flesh…"
"I SAID DON'T POKE ME!"
…
"Back to business… as you were saying?"
"Oh yeah! You're really gifted in the powers of psychic." Mew stared at her seriously. "Like… really, really, really, really…"
"STOP!" Domino clutched her head and interrupted. "What are you talking about!? I'm not psychic! Back when I was six, I was psychic tested. I was not one!"
"Nope. The humans tested it wrong." Mew snorted. "You hid it too deeply."
"You're insane." Domino stared at her.
Mew shrugged. "If you're not psychic, how do you explain the fact that you're levitating me?"
Domino blinked. The Mew was indeed floating in front of her, but…
"Aren't you doing that to yourself!?"
"No. I stopped a few hours ago. Your conscious just assumed that I was levitating, and the assumption just unconsciously pulsed out enough psychic power to levitate me in reality."
Domino's jaw dropped. "You're messing with me again."
"I am not. Every word is serious. You wield the power to distort reality." Mew stared into her eyes. "Now, do you understand why I chose you?"
"But… before…"
Mew smiled proudly as she dropped to the ground. "Not bad. It only took three days of being next to me to get your psychic to peak to the conscious surface from your unconscious."
A/N: Hmmm, fish could walk now. I guess you can say… something fishy is going on here…
Heheh... Sorry…