Sorry for the long delay, also I have finals coming up so I won't be uploading any chapters until all my finals are done.


When on a journey you tend to get hungry as you travel, and our heroes are about to find that out when they meet an interesting new friend.


Our heroes continue on their journey as they head off to another gym so Ash and Ritchie can earn their next gym badge and enter the Indigo League.

Pikachu was fast asleep on Ash's shoulder making the boy chuckle in amusement, "I was wondering when Pikachu was ever going to take a nap on our journey."

"Pikachu looks really cute when he sleeps." Misty smiled.

Molly nodded in agreement.

Zack looked around, "I wonder where we are though."

"Don't worry, we're taking the right path." Brock told him.

"That's good."

Ritchie and Tommy noticed something far up ahead, "Hey guys, there's someone over there sitting down on the road."

The all walk over to the man and noticed he was playing a song on a flute, when he sensed them he stopped playing, "Good day, would you kids happen to have any food?"

"No I'm sorry mister, but we don't have any food." Ash responded regretfully. He noticed Pikachu stopped his little snoring and turned to see the electric type was wide-awake.

"I see, please have a safe journey." The man smiled politely.

They all nodded and continued on their way without looking back at the man, "Well that was interesting." Brock said.

"I know. I wonder who that man was?" Misty wondered.

"Whoever he was his flute playing was really good." Ash complimented.

Molly and Tommy nodded in unison.

Zack had a thought, "Maybe we should go find some food for him and ourselves."

"Sounds good to me." Ritchie agreed.

They walked on until they eventually found a town, only to see the people had crestfallen looks on their faces.

"I wonder what happened?" Misty wondered.

"Hey look." Tommy pointed at a restaurant that had a 'closed' sign on it.

"That's not the only one, there's one over there." Zack pointed.

"There's one over there, too." Ash pointed in the other direction.

"What in the world happened here?" Brock wondered.

"I'll tell you youngsters what happened here." A man approached them, "You must be trainers, I'm the mayor of this town and unfortunately there's no food here."

"Did something happen?" Ash asked.

"It's our river. For some reason its gone completely dry killing all of the produce which is why there's no food here." The mayor said.

Zack's shoulders dropped a little, "Well so much for that plan."

"Now what?" Ritchie wondered.

"We could go check out what the problem is and see if we can somehow help, what do you guys say?" Ash suggested.

"I'm in." Misty said.

"Me too." Brock replied.

"Us too!" Molly and Tomo raised their hands.

"You need to ask?" Ritchie grinned.

Zack nodded.

"Well, let's get going then." Ash said.

And with that they all headed up stream to find out what the problem was and had run into some thorns causing Misty to get pricked by one. Ash had Bulbasaur use Razor leaf to get through, once the thorn were cleared out of the way none of them were expecting to see this. Before them was a large pokemon that was snoring as it blocked the flow of the river.

"What pokemon is that?" Misty stared.

"That would be a Snorlax." Ash said.

Ritchie scanned it.

[Snorlax, the Sleeping Pokémon. Snorlax isn't satisfied unless it eats at least 900 pounds of food per day. Once it is full, it promptly goes to sleep.]

"900 pounds of food per day?!" Misty and Ritchie exclaimed.

"That's a Snorlax for you." Ash commented, "This is the first time I'm seeing one too, so I have no idea what to do in this sort of situation."

"Soo big~" Molly stared up at Snorlax.

"Really big." Tomo added.

"We need to try and move Snorlax out of the way." Brock said.

"Easier said than done," Ash sighed, "Snorlax weighs close to 1,000 pounds, our best bet is to try and wake it up and even that won't be easy. They know how to sleep."

"Should we try capturing it?" Ritchie questioned.

"Not while it's sleeping and even if we tried the pokeball would just bounce off of its belly." Zack said.

"Then what do we do?" Misty wondered.

"How about stepping back and let us steal it?" Jessie appeared from out of nowhere.

"And now they show up." Ritchie rubbed his forehead.

"Actually…we could work together on this one." Ash suggested.

Silence.

"SAY WHAT?!" Misty, Brock, Ritchie, Molly, Tomo, and Zack exclaimed, even the pokemon.

Ash gathered them all into a semicircle, "We'll only work with them so they can help us in waking Snorlax up, once that's done we can send them blasting off like always." He whispered.

"Oh…so we'll just be pretending to work with them?" Ritchie got the idea.

"That's right." Ash said.

"Sounds like a plan." Zack saw no problem with it.

"Okay, we'll go along with it." Misty said.

"I've got no problem with it either." Brock was in.

"We wanna help, too." Molly and Tomo chorused.

"Good." Ash nodded his head turning to Team Rocket, "We'll work with you in order to wake Snorlax up."

"Fine with us, twerp!" Meowth had his hands on his hips.

"And we have the perfect idea." James smiled.

So Team Rocket's idea was to attach cables to their hot-air balloon, but of course it didn't work not much to anyone's surprise either. So they tried waking it up again.

"Alarm clock?" Ritchie suggested.

"Why not?" Zack shrugged.

They put an alarm clock near Snorlax hoping that would wake it up but of course nothing happened. So that failed.

"Bucket of water?" Misty suggested.

Splashing a bucket of water on Snorlax proved to be just as useless too. Another failure.

"Sleeping beauty! Sleeping beauty!" Molly suggested.

Ritchie blanched, "You want one of us to kiss it?!"

"No silly not us, one of the pokemon." Molly smiled.

"Pika (Not it)!" Pikachu and Sparky yelled.

"Ursa (Not it)!" Teddiursa yelled.

"Well these three are out." Ash smiled nervously.

"Meowth, you do it!" Jessie ordered.

"What?! Why I gotta do it?!" Meowth exclaimed.

"Well I'm not going to do it." Jessie stated.

"Me neither." James said.

Meowth grumbled something under his breath.

Misty was about to send out one of her pokemon when one of her pokeballs opened on its own revealing Psyduck.

"Psy (Huh)?" Psyduck tilted his head.

"Psyduck? You wanna try it?" Ash questioned.

Psyduck said nothing as it went over by Snorlax and kissed it on the mouth, but it didn't do anything.

"So much for that." Ritchie sighed.

"I actually thought that was gonna work." Zack admitted.

"Same here." Brock said.

"Okay Meowth it's your turn." Jessie said.

Meowth sighed as he went over by Snorlax kissing it on the lips, Snorlax seemed to flinch a little but it still stayed asleep.

"Well at least it moved a little…" Ash observed.

"It loves Meowth!" Molly smiled.

"Ursa (It does)!" Teddiursa agreed.

Meowth sopped comically.


Who's That Pokemon?

Its…Snorlax!

"Snorlax!"


Ash was racking his brain over about what to do next until he saw Snorlax roll over dropping something.

"What's this?" Ash picked up what appeared to a card, "A card? Its says, "Only the beautiful music from a Poké Flute will awaken a Snorlax." He read off from the card.

"Hey, remember that Hippie guy we saw earlier? He had a flute!" Ritchie reminded them.

"We need to bring him here so he can wake up Snorlax!" Brock said.

"Right." Misty said.

"Hold it right there twerps! We're going to catch this Snorlax not have some Hippie wake it up!" Jessie proclaimed.

"Oh no you're not!" Zack growled.

"Yeah, leave Snorlax alone, mean lady!" Tomo yelled.

"Why you little-!" Jessie growled.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash said.

Pikachu wasted no time in sending the idiots flying as they blasted off again. With then taken care of they went off to find the Hippie guy, successfully finding him and bringing him over towards Snorlax.

"Oh my…so this is where he's been sleeping." The Hippie smiled.

"Eh? Wait a minute you mean this Snorlax is yours?" Ritchie said.

"Yes he most certainly is, now then its time to wake him up." The Hippie said blowing on his Poké Flute successfully waking up Snorlax who yawned as he got up but there was a problem.

"The river is still blocked." Brock said.

"It must be the thorns, wait a minute. Snorlax's favorite snack is thorns! He can eat it!" Ash remembered.

The Hippie smiled, "That's correct, eat it up Snorlax."

Snorlax wasted no time in eating up all of the thorns allowing water to flow through the river again thus saving the town. The gang was glad the town won't have anymore problems with these two around and left to continue their journey.


With the town no longer facing problems thanks to Snorlax our heroes continue on their journey.


"So…this is Dark City, huh?" Ritchie looked around.

"It really is a Ghost town," Ash observed, "Are you sure this city hasn't been abandoned?"

"No, this is the right place…" Brock said.

"So creepy." Misty commented.

"Its creepy alright." Zack agreed.

Molly and Tomo edged closer to Ash feeling uneasy about the silence of the place. Something wasn't right.

"Hey, there's a woman there with her son." Misty said about to wave over at them but the woman herded her son away from the trainers, "What was that about?"

Ash was really starting to get a bad feeling about whatever was happening in this city, "Something isn't right."

"I agree, we should probably be on the look out for anything." Zack said.

"Yeah…" Ash reacted quickly when he noticed a rock being thrown right at his sister's head, catching it quickly he looked around to try and fine the person responsible. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed three kids on the rook with rocks in their hands, giving them a fierce glare the three kids ran off in fear, "Let's get something to eat and leave now before I lose my temper." He tossed the rock away.

"I'm in agreement." Ritchie said.

Everyone else agreed with him. And angry Ash is something nobody wants to see. A restaurant owner saw what happened and invited them in to get something to eat while he explained the situation to them.

"In this city we have two Pokemon Gym Rivals, the Yas Gym and the Kaz Gym. Both gyms are trying to be official but they need the approval of the Pokemon League Inspector, who is schedule to arrive at any moment. Sine there can only be one official gym per city, each Gym seeks to eliminate the other before the inspector arrives." The owner explained.

"Sounds intense." Ritchie said.

"It is. Pokemon trainers who have neared Dark City are recruited for the cause of either gym." He continued.

"So they just brawl anywhere they want without even thinking about how the people of the town feel about it. Selfish morons." Ash stated calmly but the others could tell he was mad. Juts then some fighting broke out and the other stayed in the restaurant watching from a distance. They noticed something else about the Pokemon battle and that was this was no pokemon battle…but a gang war. The Yas Gym leader Scyther against The Kaz Gym leader's Electabuzz begin to dispatch the other opposing gym with ease.

"This is just too much to look at. Do they even realizing what they're doing to this town?!" Misty yelled.

"Of course they don't, the only thing they care about is battling it doesn't matter who gets hurt in the process." Zack stated.

Molly and Tomo didn't even wanna see the battle and the pokemon were starting to get really angry. Just then three familiar figures entered the restaurant and started harassing the restaurant owner for food, when he refused they sent out Arbok and Weezing but before they could do anything Ash had Pikachu send them flying out of there. Pikachu was especially vicious because he was feeding off his trainer's emotions. When Ash was angry then all of his pokemon were angry.

Ash sighed, "I really need to let off some of the anger I'm feeling."

'Yeah no kidding.' Everyone agreed. Another person entered the restaurant, this time it was a girl that was with the Yas gym. She came right over to them.

"Hey, I saw what you did with your Pikachu and I'm impressed. Why don't you join up with us the Yas gym?" she suggested.

If anything making such a request made Ash angrier but Misty managed to calm him down, "Wait a minute, why don't we go there while using fake names. We won't join them of course just get some information."

"Ash?" Ritchie looked at his cousin.

Ash sighed, "Fine," he turned to the girl, "My name is Tom Ato."

"I'm Ann Chovy." Misty introduced.

"I'm T." Tomo said.

"I'm M." Molly said.

"Names Orange." Ritchie shrugged his shoulders.

"Eh, you don't need to know my name." Zack said.

"I'm Caesar Salad." Brock introduced.

Everyone turned their heads over to Brock, "I can never say 'no' to a pretty girl."

"You are seriously pathetic." Misty shook her head.

Ash gave the restaurant owner a reassuring look as they let the woman lead them to the Yas Gym, looking around the ruined places only made Ash's mood worse. He really needed to blow off some steam and quick. They finally arrived and entered the building where the leader was there waiting for them.

"Yo, so you're Tom and these guys are your disciples, huh?" the leader eyed them.

Ash's eye brow twitched as he looked over to the others showing them he was going to snap. While they didn't appreciate being called disciples they overlooked it in favor of calming Ash down.

"Before I let you join, how about we have a battle? You and me." He was referring to Ash.

"He'll accept!" Brock said quickly.

Misty grabbed his ear, "What are you doing?" she whispered.

"Trust me I know what I'm doing, besides look at Ash." He had her look at their friend, "He needs this to blow off some steam, trust me."

"I'm with Brock on this one." Ritchie agreed.

"Yep." Zack, Molly, and Tomo nodded.

"Yeah…I think you're right." Misty said finally.

Ash gave Pikachu a look who understood completely and got into position, "I'll use Pikachu, call out your pokemon."

"Scyther, tear 'em up!" the leader sent out his Scyther.

"Scyther (Let's do this)!" Scyther got ready.

Ritchie scanned it:

[Scyther, the Mantis Pokémon. Its claws are sharp as swords, and it is a powerful flyer. This Pokémon is rarely seen by humans and almost never captured.]

"Sounds like a tough pokemon, but Ash can handle it." Ritchie said.

Brock nodded in agreement.

"Scyther, use Cut!"

Scyther's pincer started glowing as it came at Pikachu, but the yellow pokemon had other plans. As per Ash's orders he used the ketchup bottle he got back at the restaurant to block the attack causing it to bust open getting in the pokemon's eyes causing it to go mad and attack its own trainer forcing him to return the bug pokemon. The leader was surprised that Scyther suddenly lost it but a loss was a loss.

"Not bad, how about you guys join us?"

"Before we get to that, explain why you want to be an official gym." Ash said.

"For money."

"…Huh?" Ritchie stared dumbfounded.

"It's a simple means to earn money quickly, official gym status comes with prestige and funding." The leader explained simply.

"Is he serious?" Ritchie couldn't believe what he was hearing. This whole time, scaring the town's people, recruiting trainers, all for money?

"Oh man…its about to get ugly real quick." Zack said getting out his camera.

"How long have you've had that camera?" Misty wondered.

"I've had it with me the whole time." He told her.

"Ash looks like he's about to snap." Brock said.

SNAP

"Oh, I heard something." Molly said.

"Me too." Tomo said.

"Damn, he's snapped." Ritchie shook his head.

"This is stupid, we're leaving." Ash said to the others walking towards them.

"You think you can just come in here and leave?! I don't think so, get him boys!" the leader growled.

Ash stopped in his tracks before taking off his cap, "Ritchie…"

"I got it." Ritchie took off his cap handing it to Brock while Ash handed his off to Molly.

Ash and Ritchie turned to the men who came at them wasting no time charging at the bastards and proceeding to beat them into a bloody pulp. Misty and Brock covered Molly and Tomo's eyes, while Zack was taking pictures of the beat down.

"Pika Pikachu (I knew this would happen)." Pikachu sighed.

"Pikachu (Serves them right)." Sparky huffed.

"Ursa (I can't watch)." Teddiursa covered his eyes.

Ash took down the last goon before he spin kicked the leader in the face sending him flying across the room. Sighing deeply he walked away with Ritchie following after him, both boys took their caps back as they all left the gym without another word leaving some flabbergasted trainers behind them as they all left.


"Feel better?" the restaurant owner asked.

Ash sipped his drink calmly, "I feel much better, guess beating them up along with the leader was just what I needed."

"Oh man did you beat them down good," Zack grinned, "Showing this to the people of town should lift their spirits."

Ritchie stretched his arms, "I just hope they stop after this."

"Doubt it, guys like them are the types to keep on fighting until the other one is no longer capable of doing so." Brock said.

"Now what?" Misty said.

"I know exactly what to do." Ash said.

"You do?" Misty wondered what he had in mind.

"Yeah, both Scyther and Electabuzz are color-sensitive and the color red in particular sends them into a rage. We'll use that to end this…permanently." He said.


Who's That Pokemon?

Its…Scyther!

"Scyther!"


Once again fighting broke out between the two gangs outside. The two sides were destroying the buildings and everything around them as they fought, seeing an opening Ash gave the signal to the others to drop the red paint on both sides which was successful as both pokemon attacked their trainers ending the war between them both as their pokemon took them all down.

Ash then appeared, "Well? have you two idiots learned your lesson?"

"Yeah…we can come to an agreement on one thing." The Yas leader said.

"That one thing is…" The Kaz leader agreed.

"Dealing with you!"

"Thunderbolt!" Ash hollered.

Pikachu shocked them taking great pleasure from it too as he stared at their charred bodies, before any more damage could be done the mysterious figure revealed themselves to be…Nurse Joy.

"Nurse Joy~!" Brock said with hearts in his eyes.

Misty sighed, "Enough already…"

Nurse Joy confronted both men, "Neither of you has any right to have a gym as you don't understand what it truly means to have one. Having a gym isn't about money, recognition, or fame, its to test trainers and pokemon to do their very best and trust in each other, not senseless violence."

Both men looked down in actual shame.

"There is a way you can redeem yourselves," she continued seeing them perk up, "Ash would make a fine tutor, don't you agree?"

Ash gave them a scary smile, "And I have a way they can learn too, Nurse Joy."

"Oh man, that smile." Ritchie's spine shivered.

"Yeah…its over for them." Brock felt sorry for them.

"Go easy on them big brother." Molly said.

"I don't think he'll do that." Tomo told her.

Zack was ready to take more pictures, "This is gonna be awesome."


"Put your backs into it!" Ash ordered he observed both groups fix up the town for every single battle they had.

Misty and Brock sweat-dropped, "He's a demon…"

Zack was laughing his ass off while taking pictures at the same time, Ritchie was eating some food along with Molly, Tomo, the pokemon, and the three boys from earlier. They apologized for what they did and Ash accepted it, the boys stayed and watched the men who caused their town so much problems be ordered around by a 10-year-old boy, they were fans of both Pikachu and Ash and the town was eternally grateful.

Nurse Joy was smiling pleasantly, "He's such a nice boy, look at him telling them what to do nicely."

Misty and Ritchie looked at her like she was crazy, 'Is she serious?'

"Who said you fools could stop?! Keep working!" Ash ordered.

"Sir, yes sir!" the groups saluted getting back to work.

Misty and Brock shook their heads.


With the fighting between the two groups finally over and Dark City back to normal our heroes learn what it truly means to create a gym. Stay tuned as the journey continues.


Pokemon Captured

On Hand:

Ash's Pokemon: Pikachu (Male), Shiny Eevee (Female), Bulbasaur (Male), Ralts (Female), Charmeleon (Male), Squirtle (Male), and Pidgeotto (Female).

Molly's Pokemon: Teddiursa (Male), Lilligant (Female), Shiny Espeon (Female), Ninetails (Female) Alakazam (Male), and Clefable (Female).

Misty's Pokemon: Starmie, Staryu, Psyduck (Male), Goldeen (Female), Vaporeon (Male), Froakie (Male), and Jynx (Female), Shiny Vaporeon (Female), Shiny Glaceon (Female), and Horsea (Male).

Brock's Pokemon: Geodude (Male), Onix (Male), Chespin (Male), Shiny Flareon (Female), and Shiny Leafeon (Female).

Ritchie's Pokemon: Pikachu (Sparky) (Male), Charmeleon (Zippo) (Male), Butterfree (Happy) (Male), Shiny Umbreon (Midnight) (Male), Shiny Jolteon (Speedy) (Male), Gengar (Shadow), and Eevee (Eve) (Female).

Tomo's Pokemon: Kangaskhan (Female), Growlithe (Male), Poliwhirl (Male), Geodude (Male), Weepinbell (Male).

Zack's Pokemon: Jynx (Female), Electivire (Male), Magmortar (Male), Swampert (Male) Gardevoir (Shiny) (Female), Gengar (Male).

At the Ranch

Ash's Pokemon: Shiny Meowstic (Female), Shiny Cloyster (Male), Starmie, Braixen (Female), Luxray (Male), Scizor (Male), Slowpoke (Male), Rapidash (Female), Nidoqueen (Female), Nidoking (Male), Xatu (Male), Scizor (Male), Gyarados (Female), Krabby (Male), Glaceon (Female), Leafeon (Female), Umbreon (Male), Espeon (Female), Flareon (Male), Jolteon (Male) Vaporeon (Male), Primeape (Male), Ralts (Male), Charmander (Male), Squirtle (Male), Electabuzz (Male), Magmar (Male), Rhyhorn (Male), Taurosx25 (Male), Kadabra (Male), Butterfree (Male) Pink Butterfree (Female), Sandshrew (Male) Porygon (Genderless), Lapras (Female), Haunter (Male), Dratini (Male), Riolu (Male).

Tomo's Pokemon: Voltorb (Male), Cubone (Male), Hitmonlee (Male), Hitmonchan (Male).

Molly's Pokemon: Exeggcute (Male), Raichu (Male), Tangrowth (Male), Machoke (Male), Beedrill (Male).

Ritchie's Pokemon: Venomoth (Male), Fearow (Male), Farfetch'd (Male), Dodrio (Male) Hoothoot (Male), Scyther (Male).


Next Time: Exeggutor Squad & The Paras Problem!