Cha. 28

"One room please." Ash smiled at Nurse Joy as he handed over a stash of cash. He was currently in the Celadon Pokémon Center, an the sun was setting.

"Here you go!" The pink-haired lady handed over a key and asked kindly. "You're dressed like a trainer. Would you like a heal for your Pokémon? It's included with the room charge."

"No, thank you." Ash took a look at the three Pokéballs on his belt, all of which are dark, signalling their inhabitants' absence. "In fact, they're too energized already."

Walking up the stairs, he turned right into a room, shaped much like the hotel room he saw on magazines before. As soon as he locked the door, a Magikarp appeared out of nowhere and levitated on the couch.

Aron crawled out of a pocket and lunged onto the couch, right under Magikarp, and curled into a ball.

Dexter appeared in Porygon form and sneaked close to the TV to examine it. Pikachu climbed out of Ash's backpack and smirked. "I'm glad you finally found your own species."

Dexter gave the mouse a condescending look and turned to Ash, pleading. "Can I have just one attack? Please? I need to pummel this clueless mouse."

"Get better at insults, nerd." Pikachu snorted, seeing Ash's head shaking from side to side.

"You two, if you have so much energy, let's plan out tomorrow's fight." Ash pointed at Dexter. "Hologram please."

"No need." The Porygon spat out a white beam at the TV, which lit up without a remote. A list of information titled "Celadon Gym Pokémon" appeared on the screen.

"So I've done some research into how Kanto Gyms work. Apparently, the trainers are divided into different ranks based on experience levels."

"There are the Novice, Junior Trainer, Senior Trainer, Veteran, Master, Elite, and Champion. Novice are the beginners who just started. Junior Trainers refer to the people who had gotten at least four of the eight necessary badges for the League."

"Senior Trainers are those who have gotten all eight and have competed in at least one League. Veterans are trainers who had placed in the Top Sixteen of the League Competition."

"That's about all of the information the Web has for me. There is very little information on Master, Elite and Champion, but to become Master, the bare minimum is to have won a League before. For Elite, one has to show the competency of a region's Elite Four. It's the same for Champion. It says, 'having demonstrated the power of a Champion."

"Let's not worry that far into the future. What about the gym challenges?"

"Most gym leaders stand on the peak of Veterans, in terms of skill, not their Pokémon's strength. Their gym Pokémon are divided accordingly to Novice, Junior Trainer, and Senior Trainer levels."

"That being said, you, Ash, will only have to face the Pokémon in the Novice sections, not the giant Gloom that the gym leader Erika has."

"Wait a minute." Pikachu frowned. "Why is a Venusaur in the Novice section? Aren't they third-staged evolved?"

"Yes, but I'm assuming this one is a relatively weak one." Dexter paused. "Actually, the humans have made a level system for Pokémon too, and it follows the sequence of the planets: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, with Mercury being the weakest and Pluto the strongest below legendaries."

"On average, first stage Pokémon are in the Mercury and Venus levels. Second stage evolved are Earth and Mars, and third are Jupiter and Saturn."

"Don't ask about the other three. Again, very little information. They say that pseudo-legendaries, like Dragonite and Salamence, are Uranus and Neptune level, but there's not a lot of reliability in that…"

"There's almost nothing on Pluto, just that it's a crucial stage before turning legendary." Dexter paused. "So yes, for Ash's battle, it's probably going to be three Mercury Pokémon, or two Mercury and one Venus."

The room was silent for a few minutes, as the information sunk into everyone's heads. Pikachu raised a hand. "Ummm… So what stage am I in?"

"I don't know, nor care." Dexter refused to answer. "It's a very barbaric scale that measures only power. I could easily defeat someone on the Saturn level with Mercury level power. It does not factor in tactics at all!"

"But if you have to know, on the strict scale of energy reservoir magnitude, I believe you are at the Earth stage. The awakening of your Royal Seed make your energy more compact than normal Pokémon though, and good tactics can push you to battle Mars level Pokémon."

"For Aron, you're at the Venus stage, but not even Earth Pokémon can burst open your shell… which again is why I hate this system. It's too stiff!"

"Magikarp is at Mercury level, but I highly doubt any Venus can deal with his agility." Dexter huffed. "And for myself, I'm an Earth as well, but I can take down a Saturn no problem!"

Pikachu snickered to that statement, but Magikarp interrupted his tease. "But Dex, you have to take into account that our planet is no where close to even a tenth of the development of the dimension that you always talk about. How else will we calculate power, if not based on stiff numbers?"

Dexter glanced at Magikarp. His annoyance disappeared under the fish's gentle stare. "Unfortunately, you are right. I guess I just have to deal with this…"

"Not for long though!" The Pokédex switched to his drill sergeant training mode. "Because all of you will make it to the legendary levels soon, and we will be back to the real scale the universe uses!"

"What are those?" Aron asked.

"Enough!" Ash decided. "That's another topic for another day. Now, let's focus on the Celadon battle tomorrow!"

"Start us off, Dexter."

"Got it. The first Pokémon Erika might use is her Bellsprout. Against that, I would suggest…"


The night passed quickly. Ash worked until after midnight to spell out different strategies and different pair-ups the Celadon Gym might throw at him.

Even with Dexter's help, the permutations still took hours without end. Ash didn't get up until ten and checked out of the Center, heading straight for the Gym.

A fiery look burned in his eyes. First Gym. First time the sword is unleashed from the rock. First time he will be in the trainer's box, and not the audience seat.

He spotted the Gym from a ways away. Celadon Gym is a very peculiar building, shaped with a massive dome into the shape of a Gloom. People said that it was because Erika's Gloom was her partner since she was a kid, and it was shaped like that in his honor.

However, the Celadon Gym had existed for over a century, passed down through generations, and no major renovations had been made to it.

Rumors spoke of a curse on the Gym, but, along with most myth and legends, were dismissed as false officially.

The Gym was, simply put, beautiful. The front yard was a massive rainbow garden of flowers, with marble paths leading up to a giant glass door that led into the cylindrical building.

Ash took a deep breath and stepped onto the path. Despite all his preparation, a deep feeling of nervousness pulsed up from his stomach.

"Hey!" A voice called out. Ash whipped his head to his left. A young teenage girl was walking towards him, with hands on her hips. "This is the Celadon Gym! No loitering!"
Ash's eyes twitched. "But… but I was just here for…"

"For WHAT, huh!? What excuse are you going to give me?" The girl yelled at him. "Save it, boy! Nothing is going to fool Lass!"

"What!? No, I just wanted to challenge the gym!" Ash held his hand out, but the girl… Lass rejected the handshake.

"Wow, what a coincidence! First, our keys get stolen, and then you come within an hour to challenge the gym, which no one had done for two weeks!?" Lass eyed him with a menacing glint. "Tell me the real reason you're here! Surveying the area? Lacing the gym with anesthesia? Spying on our Pokémon!?"

"I'm just here to challenge the GYM!" Ash shouted back, having enough. "Plus, the gym's Pokémon can be found online anyways!"

"So you ARE here for something bad!" Lass yelled. Ash facepalmed. What the hell was this girl's logic…

"Security!"

What!? Ash looked up at her in shock. "What are you doing! I'm not…"

"He's here!" Lass backed off but continued to shout. From the screen door, guards dressed in uniform emerged.

"Run." Dexter whispered in Ash's ears.

"But…"

"I KNOW you're innocent, but THEY don't!" The Porygon cried. "What are you waiting for!? RUN!"


A/N: Poor Ash. Any guess who stole the keys? And surprisingly successfully?

Also, the power rankings below legendaries are ranked solely based off power reservoir, so tactics can let lower levels beat higher levels, just like in the games.