Common Sense

by AeroJester203

At one point, they were feared. And then they were a joke. But what if we turned back the clock and had them be the villains that wouldn't be an embarrassment to villains everywhere? One young child and his Pikachu starting their journey will find out. AU with Competent!Team Rocket. Please read and review.

35. Chapter 35: Something to Protect

Review responses:

Snoozing Lurker (Answered via PM):

1a. Well, glad that I could throw at least one curve ball at you. You're a rather hard one to please, not that it's a bad thing. I consider it a challenge.

1b. Indeed he would be, but they're also notorious for their stench so not a lot of people want to raise one. Team Rocket has a few distributed among them, among the higher ranked members. Petrel himself owns one, even though he doesn't go into battle much. It's a relic from his early days with the organization.

2. Who said that all, or even a majority of the Pokémon would come from thieving activities.

3. Nope. As of right now, he's completely unaware and uncaring of Ash's exploits.

Fox McCloude: I'm glad that you enjoyed the chapter, and thanks again for posting the Spanish translation.

BbK2442:

1. True, that'll be a long term change in the background, most likely. Unless the Elite Four purge the bay of Grimer. But even if they did, they'd just reform time and again as long as Gringey City kept creating pollution that's dumped into the water.

3. True, Ash has his rebreather for Sleep Powder, Stun Spore is ineffective if washed away with water, and we've discussed over PM's that humans likely have an extremely high resistance to poisons from their ancestors likely eating Pokémon who are reportedly extremely poisonous due to all of them being able to learn and use Toxic. And even so, the powder bombs would only catch him by surprise once at best. I say at best because he's extremely wary of any projectile thrown by the TRio, especially James.

ruboo001: Yeah, James was always my favorite of the TRio, closely followed by Meowth, the comic relief. :P

The Sinful (Answered via PM): They do seem stronger than average humans in real life. BbK2442 and I talked about how it's possible that they all have latent aura within them that gives increased durability, and in this case, strength, especially when angered. It's just that very few have the potential to manipulate pure aura.

Accalia (Guest): Maybe, and I'm always happy to answer questions. Ash, as he is now, presents me with a fork in the road at all times, depending on what his options are in any given situation and how I feel he would choose given his experiences and developing personality. But yeah, if Team Rocket managed to take any of his Pokémon, he would chase whoever did so to the ends of the Earth, and likely do anything to get them back.

TheShadowOfZama:

3. Muk can eat anything that he can digest, which is a very long list. Basically, anything he eats gets polluted and/or rotted until it's more sludge that he uses to make up his body and fuel his attacks. From gourmet foods to mud from the ground, it's pretty much all the same to the Sludge Pokémon.

Engineer1869 (Answered via PM):

1. Indeed. First he had Squad 13 coming up with new gadgets to be mass produced in order to aid them, but he knew that they were weak in direct battle. Team Rocket in canon is more oriented to covert missions than open combat. With the proof fo fear from the average trainer being gone – or at least diminished – he can justify increasing their training. And he waited for said proof to make it easier for the grunts to understand.

2. Yes.

Theseus (Guest): Thank you, I pride myself on the development of my characters. :)

Cjonwalrus: Do you remember what happens in Dig Those Diglett?

Chriswriter90: Possibly, but it's never really confirmed one way or the other. Literally the only two moves that Starmie is seen using are Water Gun and Tackle. She could've known more, she could've not.

BrightNova169 (Answered via PM):

3. As stated above, he never said that all of them would be gotten via thievery, just that they neede more Pokémon and more manpower to get said Pokémon. If a ripe opportunity for thievery presented itself, then I'm sure he'd have his agents go for it, but there are plenty of wild Pokémon. Sure it'd be slower to train them up, but it'd be thinking in the long term as they'd be up to par in a few weeks. However, Giovanni is hesitant to try "encouraging" breeding among the Pokémon they catch since forcing that kind of thing tends to only breed resentment. Even if two Pokémon got together in a stable, taking the egg from them would be arguably worse than forcing it in the first place.

4. It didn't occur to him until then. He might be more clever in battle, and more perceptive than in canon (though that's a pretty low bar), but some things still slip through. Like he's admitted himself, he's not the brightest person around in terms of intelligence.

5. It's not. From the Pokédex entries I used for research in that regard, it's merely a sign of their adrenaline spiking, considering the "strong opponent" requirement. Charmeleon and Charizard are very much a warrior-like species, after all.

7. Aura is not finite per se. Well, using too much all at once can be fatal, but aura users do not have a set amount that they can use in a lifetime. So long as they give it time to replenish, there's no threat to their lives, and passive effects like that are hardly even a drain.

9. Poké Balls are not magnetic. If they were, they would've been snatched any of the many times Team Rocket thought to use a giant magnet to try catching Pikachu.

13. He would only use it if he was aiming to seriously injure somebody. It's somewhat impossible to misfire something that requires as much prep as concentrating that much electricity into a single finger.

0 Jordinio 0 (Answered via PM; Ch. 2): Fair enough, nobody is forced to like this story. You gave a fair assessment, and I started this while accepting that it wasn't for everybody.

Foxypaws3: Yeah, I added it in after thinking about how Magnemite would react to so much electricity.

GreyPhantomSith: Thank you very much, I'm glad that you enjoy. :)

Now, on with the story!

---

Chapter 35: Something to Protect

The next morning, Ash and company woke up at the sunrise once again, Ash noting that it was coming later since autumn was beginning to run its course. Still, he continued his exercises under Primeape's instruction, having switched him in for Tentacool since it seemed it would be a while until they were near the water again. The Fighting-type led him and Pikachu on a jog while Ash had a compass he'd gotten from the Celadon Department Store to find his way back after jogging in a straight line.

Going east on the off chance that he'd find Fuchsia Gym while on his run, Ash wove his way through the trees and bushes having to duck and dodge branches that Primeape pushed out of the way to snap back while maintaining his speed. His Pokémon was doing that on purpose as he ran directly in front of him, making it reflex training in addition to building endurance. Pikachu was easily able to keep pace with Ash and was too small for Primeape to effectively plan the same traps.

As they kept going, Ash noticed that the Pokémon seemed to be getting fewer and farther in-between, most of them seeming to be giving Primeape a wide berth when they were visible. But not so many were out in the open, as if they were hiding from something.

'Something doesn't feel right,' he thought suspiciously. 'When was the last time I saw a patch of forest without Pokémon?'

The answer came too late when the trio came into a clearing and saw a Fearow and a small flock of a dozen Spearow gathered atop a giant tree.

His eyes widened as he skidded to a stop, Primeape and Pikachu surprised as well that they'd come across a nest of Pokémon. Hostile ones, if the angry look in their eyes was any indication.

Pikachu tried to hit them with a widespread Thunderbolt to take them down quick, but the birds immediately scattered and the tree was struck instead, flaming leaves coming down as a result of the blast while the wood was scorched black.

"[Bah, this shouldn't take long,]" Primeape muttered while hitting his fists together. Flying-types or not, he had a distinct power advantage over them and could anticipate their movements with his trained eyes. And Pikachu did have a type advantage and was even faster than him, so he could probably take them out quicker.

The birds swarmed the two Pokémon and Pikachu was already charging electricity to his fingers, two pointed from each hand, since they had managed to dodge his standard electricity, taking two of them out with precise strikes. Primeape ignored the scratches and pecks and gave measured strikes to try landing punches on each of them that would knock them out in one blow, if his first hit landed was any indication.

But they wound up ignoring their respective battles when they saw movement over their heads and turned back with fearful expressions.

While they had been occupied with the six Spearow, the rest of the flock and Fearow moved past Pikachu and Primeape, attempting to swarm around Ash. The Trainer's eyes widened before he dropped his backpack and ducked down, rolling to the side to avoid their swiping claws while Pikachu had turned around firing Lightning Arrows at the Tiny Bird Pokémon with sharp accuracy, taking four of them down in rapid sequence. Primeape jumped to tackle the two remaining ones out of the sky along with the Fearow, but the evolved Pokémon sped away, dodging his assault. The three remaining Spearow that they'd been fighting, now no longer occupied, moved to attack Ash again.

As the Trainer tried to protect his eyes from his lower position, he saw Fearow zooming towards him with purpose after breaking away from Primeape, a swirling cone of wind seeming to gather around his beak. Primeape had easily knocked out the two Spearow in his grasp and gave chase, slowly gaining. He felt more than knew that the move was dangerous, and realized that he couldn't dodge in any effective way from his current stance with the speed Fearow was approaching.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt us!" he called hurriedly.

Rather than slow down, the Beak Pokémon attempted speeding up with Agility, becoming a brown blur to his eyes as Pikachu turned from the four he downed and noticed that the Beak Pokémon had escaped Primeape. He didn't waste time with questioning the order and sent a massive bolt of electricity at Ash and the immediate area surrounding him.

But Fearow was ahead of the electricity and Ash acted on instinct, clapping his hands together where he felt the blur would be. The sharp beak was inches away from spearing his chest as he barely stopped it, causing the Beak Pokémon to give a muffled squawk in surprise while Ash gritted his teeth in pain at multiple cutting sensations in his hands and the strain in his muscles from the force pushed on them.

A moment later, the Thunderbolt came down, zapping the Trainer, Fearow, and the remaining Spearow. Pikachu kept it up, unsure if it would be enough to take out the large bird since he demonstrated high power and cunning for a wild Pokémon. He only needed a few more seconds, though.

The instant Primeape caught up, he yanked Fearow away by his tail feathers while ignoring the shock of the attack before gripping the bird's neck so hard that he strained for breath. Pikachu immediately cut off the electricity then, and the Spearow surrounding Ash dropped down unconscious. The boy himself hunched forward, cradling his hands close to his chest since the shock was largely ineffective against him aside from a few burns. His starter rushed towards him, closely guarding Ash while looking around to make sure all of the hostiles were down.

Meanwhile, Primeape whipped Fearow over his head and slammed him into the ground, picking him up again to repeat the action until he was sure that he couldn't move. After that, he threw the Beak Pokémon to the ground and furiously made his way over.

Raising his foot over the prone bird of prey, he growled, "[Let's see you attack anybody without this!]"

Stomping down, the Fighting-type's rage-enhanced strength effortlessly crushed the bones in Fearow's wing joint to splinters. Eyes wide and beak open in a crow of agony, the Flying-type passed out shortly afterward from the pain.

Primeape snorted remorselessly before making his way back to his Trainer. Ash was trying to hide his hands in his pockets from Pikachu, saying, "Pikachu, it's just a couple of scratches. What matters is that you stopped Fearow before the worst happened."

The Fighting-type, however, reached out without ceremony or permission and pulled one of Ash's hands right out of its hiding place, revealing that the boy had been holding them loosely inside his pockets. Evidently having them closed or opened fully caused him pain, and the Pig Monkey Pokémon could see why.

Catching Fearow's last attack had made a long gash across his palm where the sharp beak had scraped against at high speeds, cutting through the glove which was little more than tatters around the afflicted area. There were also smaller cuts and abrasions from the wind that had been surrounding the beak, some intersecting with the main one and making the corners of cut skin begin peeling away as blood flowed slowly from the wounds. Primeape suspected that the other hand was in a similar state.

Releasing his hold and whipping around furiously, the Fighting-type made his way over to Fearow once again intent on breaking his other wing.

But the touch of a hand stopped him. Looking down, he saw that Ash had the back of his hand against his arm, not wanting to get any blood on him. It shouldn't have hindered him in the slightest, but he paused.

"Primeape," Ash said in an effort to calm him. "It's over. I'm still here, and this'll heal."

The Fighting-type reluctantly relaxed his posture, but had mixed feelings about the situation. While he was proud of Ash being able to stop the surely lethal move long enough at the last moment, there was anger and unsettling realization tainting the positive emotion. Before now, Primeape believed teaching Ash to fight to be largely redundant since the boy was constantly accompanied by his team of Pokémon that could fight off hostiles better than him. The fact that he was attacked without getting the chance to release any more Pokémon, the whole exchange over in less than a minute, revealed that it was clearly a justified decision.

Primeape was angry with himself for letting the flock of birds get past him and even angrier at the Fearow that had dared to try killing his student. He wanted to mangle the Beak Pokémon beyond all recognition. Ordinarily, he wouldn't bother striking a downed opponent since there was no real fight involved, but he wanted to make an exception.

Looking into Ash's eyes, though, he sighed and settled for kicking a bit of dirt over the evolved Pokémon on the ground before turning away.

Ash nodded before looking around at the unconscious Pokémon, "If we're getting near Spearow territory, especially such hostile ones, we might wanna get out of here. We don't wanna push our luck. Once we have some distance, I'll bandage my hands before getting back to camp." He looked at his largely tattered gloves stained with blood from his hands, "Well, these are ruined. Good thing I got a better pair at Celadon."

---

Five minutes after the Pallet Trainer left with his Pokémon, another figure emerged from a distance away among the trees opposite of where he was heading.

The black and grey male uniform of one of Team Rocket's grunts identified his affiliation as he approached the scene. The only difference from other agents was that he had a different belt, possessing large pouches for holding things. His hair was teal and appeared styled into crescents at the sides of his head beneath his hat, one half pointing forward while the other curved around to point back. His eyes were emotionless save for a vague sense of annoyance sparking in them.

Walking around the unconscious Pokémon, he approached Fearow and squatted down to lift his head with a gloved finger. The action began stirring the Beak Pokémon, who still appeared to be in intense pain. Once it made eye contact with him, the bird looked down, immediately contrite in the face of his passionless owner.

"I might've kept you since raising a strong Fearow to replace you for these missions would take time. But you know as well as I that no amount of surgery will let you fly at full capacity," he stated. "You're broken."

Fearow didn't meet his eyes again, though the Flying-type's own seemed to narrow with self-loathing through the pain.

The agent reached into one of his belt pouches with his free hand and held up a round black pill between the thumb and index finger, "Though, for your long and excellent service to Team Rocket, I'll ease your pain."

Looking at the medicine, the Beak Pokémon nodded with a resolved expression and let the gloved hand lift his head further before slipping the pill into his mouth. He felt it start dissolving on his tongue as he swallowed, everything from the pain in his wing to his bruises going numb a moment later. As his heartbeat lowered, the anxiety gave way to acceptance while Fearow closed his eyes, the soporific side effect of the medicine taking hold. A quick, painless death with dignity was far better than being left handicapped in the wild to die from lesser Pokémon or starvation.

Fearow's heart stopped shortly after he fell asleep, passing from the world without struggle.

Letting the deceased Pokémon's head drop to the ground, the agent stood up and retrieved thirteen shrunken Poké Balls from one of the pouches in his belt. He hit the release mechanism on the balls of all the Pokémon he'd used—he had plenty more Spearow and Fearow, though he made a note to catch replacements the next chance he got.

The Pokémon the balls were attached to were invisibly disconnected, the process also erasing all memories of their time with Team Rocket in case of a psychic scan, though that was moot for Fearow. The particular balls that he used were also specially designed to suppress a Pokémon's reservations of violent acts, if any existed.

Only a handful of them were given out to minimize risk of discovery. To his knowledge, only he and one Elite Officer had them, the latter only because he rose through the ranks by ruthlessness and wanted his Pokémon to be weapons that wouldn't question his orders. He had been trying to push for an obedience compulsion, but Giovanni had shot the idea down, saying that any operative that couldn't control their Pokémon with the added risk of reduced inhibitions obviously had no business possessing the special balls. That had shut the man up rather quickly, though he wasn't happy about it.

Putting the empty balls away, he started moving on from the area, effortlessly going to a full sprint further south. The boy would be reaching the next town soon, even if he stopped to tend to his injuries. The agent wanted to get ahead to set up another attempt.

---

Brock had been concerned about his friend's fingerless gloves being replaced with a layer of bandages on each hand, but Ash had explained that it was just a wild Pokémon attack that was cutting things a bit close. The breeder felt that he was understating things from how Pikachu refused to leave his Trainer's shoulder and seemed extra cautious and vigilant.

Regardless, he kept his silence after making sure that Ash had cleaned the wounds properly. Evidently, he'd purchased a first aid kit at Celadon City too. But the breeder resolved to not let Ash out of his sight for the foreseeable future.

While Spearow were aggressive, they usually only attacked if hunting, looking to expand or acquire new territory, or if provoked—otherwise they squawked and mainly drove away intruders rather than attacking so ferociously. And Fearow were the pinnacle of a flock and acted the part; they rarely moved to get their own claws in an intruder or opponent unless it proved to be a major threat.

'Something's off about that attack,' he decided while moving slightly behind and to the side of Ash, perfect for discreetly keeping an eye out. 'That doesn't sound like something Jessie and James would do, but they're probably mid-level authority at best.'

The idea that someone higher on the chain of command than them was after his friend unnerved the breeder. He decided to keep his suspicions to himself, though, since he didn't have any definitive proof and didn't want to add to Ash's paranoia just when he finally started settling back down.

As they reached Marché City, a popular trading center in east Kanto due to its central position, he resolved to stick close to the Pallet Trainer to be an extra set of eyes on the lookout. Ash had decided to try asking around to see if he could find any rumors about Fuchsia Gym's location, or at least the general area since they appeared to be wandering with no idea if they were headed in the right direction.

---

Once he'd spotted his target coming in, he'd started moving along the rooftops of the buildings, a grappling hook gun and special harness over his body that extended sails between his arms and waist, allowing him to climb up to higher roofs and glide down from high jumps to lower buildings. Very few people looked up, and he had his face covered along with a baggy outfit with a hood tightened over his head to disguise his body shape and hair. Even if he was coincidentally spotted, nobody would know his affiliation.

They had come in from the north on one of the main roads that were paved to allow cars easy access to enter and exit in the eight cardinal directions. Once inside, they took a meandering route through the walkways that were solely for pedestrians. Noting the route they were taking, he set up a portable camera pointed to the site of a potential accident. He couldn't be seen watching, but this equipment connected to a viewing device in his belt let him confirm the kill before leaving without a trace.

After it was online, he used his grapple gun to pull himself up to the rooftop over the location, where a metal window washer platform hung on two rusted chains by a pulley system and a worker was innocently tending to his task as the trio of young Trainers headed in his direction.

The assassin pulled out a tool of his trade, a plastic gun with a syringe of corrosive acid in its chamber that would weaken the metal to the point of snapping instead of dissolving it outright. Since it was essentially a high-pressure squirt gun, it had a short firing range before gravity or wind resistance changed the trajectory. But it was made for close-up sabotage anyway.

Timing it to be just right, to have the three Trainers underneath the platform about to head to its center before it fell, he squeezed the trigger and aimed for a particularly rusted spot.

Once the first chain snapped, the platform fell from the worker's feet, hanging by its single chain now as he was prevented from falling by his harness. He looked up, but the assassin had already fired another shot higher up the second chain and moved away from the ledge. He took out his small screen to confirm the kill. The second chain snapped and his target had barely looked up as the platform came careening down, far too fast to dodge.

'Die. For the future of Team Rocket.'

---

The first snap of metal had gotten the group's attention, causing them to look around before the second made Ash look up to see a mass of metal falling towards them. Before he could act, though, an arm swept over his chest, he and Misty pushed back and out of the way to fall as they reeled back. Brock was still off balance from shoving them with all his strength, and the Pallet Trainer's eyes widened as he fell to the ground.

There was no way that Brock could save himself in time, and the breeder seemed to realize this as he braced himself.

"Brock!" Ash called desperately right before the platform would crush him.

The metal structure was suddenly stopped in midair half a foot over Brock's head, the chains also suspended. Gawking at the sight, Ash looked around and spotted a familiar face further down the street while the metal structure was righted and lowered to the ground a distance away with the two chains bundled up and placed on the platform.

Sabrina was leveling a focused look on the platform as it was set aside, the psychic evidently having caught it without much effort. She wasn't in the same outfit that they'd seen her in last time, having a mid-sleeved soft blue sundress with gray leggings and black flats.

Brock fell to his knees, panting as his narrow avoiding of death caught up with him. Ash and Misty got up and ran to help him. Sabrina approached them as they did so and a force field appeared around the group as people started gathering from the commotion of the incident.

Ash looked up to her first, but felt his world shift when he met Sabrina's eyes.

---

Sabrina's eyes snapped open, the Gym Leader taking a deep breath through her nose as the darkness of her quarters in the Saffron Gym was the only thing in her sight. While sleep wasn't necessary to a psychic as powerful as her, the therapist had recommended that she at least try. Mainly she used it as a way to pass through the hours of the night without teleporting through time. Now that she was more aware of it, nights seemed long and lonely with everyone else asleep.

She slowly sat up, the covers rolling away with a minor application of telekinesis. While it wasn't unheard of for psychics to receive prophetic dreams, this one was her first, and she didn't like it at all. Still, better to be aware of it.

Stepping out of bed in her modest night gown, a trace of her old impersonal demeanor showed through as she carelessly swept a hand towards the blankets, returning the bed to a pristinely made state.

Her vision momentarily blurred until she stood before her sparse closet in one set of her casual clothes, her Leader clothes hanging in there as well.

She took the time to hastily scrawl a note to her mother and left it on her desk before turning away and beginning a chant that she had learned from her parents to aid her psychic abilities. While it was wholly unnecessary as she was now, it helped her keep anchored to her sense of self.

Focusing her mind, she continued the chant as her eyes glowed red, searching for the location that she saw by scouring the region with her remote viewing, starting from Celadon City and moving from there, her window of vision zooming around as she combed for the exact spot. Once she found Ash asleep at his campsite northeast by east of Celadon, near an extremely polluted city, she moved south from his position since that seemed to be the path he was following.

'I need to be very careful. That foul presence at the edge of my dream, it was deliberate in its actions. My face is known as well as my powers. A moment too soon and it'll change its actions, meaning that my interference may be meaningless. Too late, and…'

She shook off the thought as she found the place where her vision had occurred. Able to perfectly recall her vision with her psychically aided memory, Sabrina saw the Pokégear on Ash's wrist from her dream for the time and date.

'I must be discreet until the moment it happens.'

Gaining a blue aura around her as her eyes brightened with power, she turned to light before vanishing without a trace.

---

Ash came out of the vision with a gasp, disoriented after having seen through Sabrina's eyes, having heard her thoughts at the time and knowing things that she'd known.

"Ash, what happened?" Misty asked in concern.

The Pallet Trainer shook his head clear and answered, "Sabrina just answered why she was here."

The psychic nodded with an unhappy look, though the gathering crowd seemed to be making her uncomfortable, even with the barrier up, "I… refused to let it happen. You were… changed by what would have been."

Ash looked down to Brock, who had calmed down by then, unable to imagine what could've happened if Sabrina hadn't intervened.

"…How?" he asked.

"You became… like I was," she answered, seeming to gather herself again at that statement, her eyes drifting down to the ground. "You shut out anybody that advised against the path you decided on—your new quest to hunt down those you knew in your heart to be responsible."

Ash thought about the presence that Sabrina had sensed in the dream, and then narrowed his eyes, "Team Rocket."

---

The assassin frowned at the view his screen was giving him. That barrier didn't seem penetrable by anything he had on him, and the window for an accident was long closed now. Acting now would only implicate Team Rocket.

His camera abruptly disconnecting caused his eyes to widen. The sound of teleportation rang out and he had a standard sidearm with a silencer pointed at the source only to find one of Team Rocket's teleport agents with a Venemoth on her shoulder and his camera in her hand. The deep tan was a telltale sign of an agent that did a lot of traveling in the open, unlike the typical covert operations of standard grunts, and she was holding up a black card with Team Rocket's emblem in her free hand.

She pocketed it once he lowered the weapon, "The Boss wants to see you, Proton. Now."

---

"You mean Ash just left to fight Team Rocket singlehandedly?" Misty asked incredulously.

Sabrina turned to her, "You were the first one he abandoned when you believed his friend's death was an honest accident." She looked down again, "He had… help in his new path, a majority of his Pokémon stayed and there were other people that followed him. But I saw his eyes. They shocked me awake last night."

Ash regarded her silently as the green-haired girl looked at him to continue, "You're… a light of hope. I couldn't let you fall into the same pit of hatred that I was in."

At length, he nodded, "Thanks for saving Brock. I can't imagine losing him."

"And thank you for looking out for Ash," the breeder added as he stood up.

Sabrina nodded back before noticing the Pallet Trainer's bandaged hands. Looking back to his eyes and then the hands, she seemed to be hesitating to reach forward before Ash caught on and offered one of his hands to her, thinking she wanted a handshake.

The psychic gently grabbed his hand with both of hers and a golden glimmer surrounded the damaged palm, traveling along his arms and shoulders to the other hand. Ash's eyes widened, and she abruptly let go before teleporting away, the force field dome fading in an instant without her to sustain it.

While he looked down at his hand and started unraveling the bandages on it, Misty walked around the small crowd gathered and aggressively waved them away, "Hey, this isn't a show! Move it or lose it!" The people quickly left in the face of her threatening tone.

Brock looked as his friend uncovered one of his hands and saw that the skin was perfectly healed, as if it'd never been injured.

"Amazing," the Pewter Leader marveled. "Psychic powers can heal others, too."

Ash clenched the hand to test it, and then elbowed Brock slightly in the ribs. When he had the breeder's attention, he said, "Please don't ever try to do that again. Save yourself and trust me to look out for myself. That's what I'm training for."

"You'd have done the same in his position," Misty pointed out as she returned from clearing out the people listening in.

Ash glared at her, "That's different."

"Is it really?" she challenged. "You lay your life on the line for others pretty often; why isn't he allowed to do the same?"

"Because- Because…" Ash started, but couldn't seem to work out what to say.

Misty stepped closer, "Is it because you're a stronger Trainer?"

"No, that's not it," he replied in a conflicted tone. Pikachu looked at him in concern.

"Because you think luck will keep you alive?"

He looked down with the bill of his hat covering his eyes as she approached, "No…!"

"Both of you have family waiting for you at home, so that can't be the reason," Misty said, shooting down the point before he could think to say it. Pikachu was close to firing a warning shot at her since she was clearly distressing his Trainer. She was practically in his face, but didn't look underneath the cap to make eye contact, "Answer the question."

"I can't, okay?!" Ash answered while still looking to the ground.

The redhead grabbed the brim of his hat, lifting it slightly as she continued in a gentler tone, "Then don't answer the question, because you know how Brock felt when he tried to save us." Ash's gaze darted to her in surprise, and she continued evenly, "If you're going to watch out for him, he'll watch out for you. That's how friendship works, especially one as close as you two share."

Brock stared at his fellow Gym Leader in surprise. While a far more blunt way than he would use, she essentially tore through the wall Ash put up to gently address the center of the issue.

Pikachu hesitantly lowered his hand, the Lightning Arrow's electricity dispersing back to the rest of his body.

Deciding to step in, Brock added, "She's right, Ash. We're here to support each other."

Ash looked between the two of them before nodding with a sigh, seeming like he was resigned to the fact they wouldn't be staying out of harm's way.

"Now, come on," Misty said, pushing the bill of Ash's had down over his eyes before turning to lead the way. "Somebody around here has to have heard about Fuchsia Gym."

The Pallet Trainer straightened his hat with a slightly annoyed look and then followed along with Brock.

---

Three simple knocks on his door let Giovanni know that Proton had arrived. The teal-haired teen was the only one who knocked directly instead of being sent in by Matori.

"Enter."

The well-oiled hinges made no sound as the doorknob turned and his assassin let himself in before closing the door behind him. Taking measured steps forward, he stopped and stood at attention roughly a yard from the leader's desk. He was back in his regular uniform, his city camouflage not needed in the headquarters.

A silence stretched between them for a moment before Giovanni let out a heavy sigh and pressed a button under his desk, "Proton, have a seat."

A square comprised of four tiles slid into the floor between them, moving aside to allow a metal panel to come up with a simple wooden chair bolted to the surface. He only had one since Proton was the only one who'd ever used it. All the other agents saw him as a venerable leader and were more than glad to stand in his presence, but the agent before him was special and was allowed to be seated, even if none of the others knew.

The teal-haired agent moved to the chair and sat down with his hands folded in his lap, seeming lost in memories for a bare moment before focusing back on Giovanni.

"My boy, what is your opinion on this Trainer, Ash Ketchum?" the leader asked in a more gentle voice than he used with anybody else. "I already figured out where you disappeared to and why, even though I'm sure you wouldn't deny it."

Proton's eyes turned to look at the desk between them as they narrowed in slight distaste, "Our agents are improving now due to the threat he represents and the increased bravery of the average Trainers. I feel we have gotten all the improvement we're going to get out of him. Any further and he might become a legitimate problem to our organization, one that I wished to resolve while it's still small."

"And the fact that it was nearly a Gym Leader that met a tragic end?"

"Nobody would be able to link it to us."

Giovanni shook his head, "Proton, you are a good agent, and have made great strides since our first meeting, but still have much to learn about human nature."

The assassin's eyes met his leader's own, silently asking for elaboration since he was sure a lesson would follow.

"While I admire your initiative and attempt to look out for the best interests of the organization, and the covert methods you attempted to employ, you still acted rashly," he chastised in an even tone. "As far as the public is aware, Team Rocket is primarily a band of thieves operating on the black market, not revolutionaries. It is that reputation that keeps Gym Leaders in their cities and even higher authorities off our back."

The man sat back in his chair, "I understand that you remember this, but let us imagine that you managed to kill the boy. There's still that potential resistance to consider. His death would have the child they revere elevated to martyrdom, making them all the more dangerous. It wouldn't matter that there was no proof; they would always suspect Team Rocket since he's publically known to be fighting against us. To say nothing of the threat they would pose with the anguished boy actively leading them after the loss of his dearest friend."

Looking him in the eye, he said, "Right now we are a thorn in the continent, hiding an infection that is our vast intelligence network. If the resistance stopped paying heed to consequences in the name of their fallen idol, we would be dealing with a potential army that doesn't fear death. Not only would the possible lethal force required to deal with them make the League come down on us even harder, they might actually force some of our end goals or trump cards to be revealed. The existing government would then stop at nothing to burn us away. You know that we walk a delicate line to speed our eventual takeover, correct?"

Proton nodded, knowing about Giovanni's ultimate plan of taking over the world as everybody else in the organization did.

"However, your actions have caused a card to slip from the opposing side's proverbial hand," the leader granted in consolation. "While I doubt that she's involved directly with any resistance, having such a powerful psychic in the boy's corner is… troublesome."

Giovanni's gaze hardened in warning, "You cannot act against her. While Sabrina being a public figure presents its own problems for assassination, it would be virtually impossible. If she somehow foresaw the accident that might have claimed Ash or his friend's life, any attempt on hers would be anticipated and stopped. Worse, you could get caught."

"And a majority of our secrets along with my previous targets will be revealed," Proton replied.

Gaze softening, the leader said, "And you would be executed for carrying out those missions. Remember that you are more than an assassin; you are also my son in all but blood."

The teal-haired agent nodded after a brief pause, "I know. I'll never forget that. I want your dream to become a reality."

"And I wish for you to be standing beside me when it does," Giovanni added. After receiving another nod, he pressed the button under his desk again, prompting Proton to stand again. "Of course, there's still the matter of your acting without orders. You shall be docked half of your teaching pay for three months."

"Understood, sir," Proton replied respectfully, not caring about such a thing. He knew the leader would use the extra money well.

"Dismissed."

---

After two days of digging around for information, the Trainer trio finally managed to find a lead on Fuchsia Gym, an old man mentioning that it was among the small mountain range northeast of Marché City. Not that Ash or Misty had complained about having a place to stay while they trained their Pokémon. As they walked, Ash had his new gloves on, black leather all around with soft felt fabric on the palms and undersides of the fingers for handling Pokemon. He'd cut the majority of the finger ends off himself with Brock's tailoring shears as a point of preference. He believed that soft fabric couldn't make up for actual contact with the Pokémon you were handling; it's why his first pair of gloves had been fingerless as well.

While the Pallet Trainer was in the dark about what Misty had done for her own training, he had worked with Muk in a small parking lot behind the Pokémon Center. Focusing on developing a fighting style for his newest Pokémon, Ash had managed to begin training Muk to use his sludge body and other natural abilities to his advantage.

He also switched out Charmeleon for Magnemite, managing to hold the mechanical Pokémon away from Pikachu long enough to get its attention and establish some ground rules. The foremost was to control itself around Pikachu since they would likely be fighting dangerous criminals. If it latched onto him in the middle of a battle, he and anybody that went to help them would be in danger.

That seemed to snap the Magnet Pokémon out of its infatuation for the time being. As an afterthought, Ash had explained that a particular trio in Team Rocket was looking to take Pikachu for themselves. Apparently, Magnemite was irked at that thought since electricity sparked among its magnets, even though its eye panel remained neutral. While it still followed Pikachu very often and seemed to enjoy being close to him during downtime, the mechanical Pokémon took training very seriously from then on.

On that note, Ash wasn't really sure what to call Magnemite. The Pokedex explained that the Magnet Pokémon as a whole didn't have much physical difference from each other, being mechanical and thus agender. He wanted to say a girl since it seemed to be, for lack of a better word, attracted to Pikachu. Then again, if it was just because of his electricity, Magnemite could easily be a boy in mind too. Like a kid that discovered their favorite treat, since the Magnet Pokémon seemed to live off electricity even if it could choose whether to fire it back or absorb it.

He'd tried asking if Magnemite was a boy or a girl, but Drowzee indicated that the mechanical Pokémon was completely clueless about the concept of two genders. Since his question had gotten it curious, the young boy wasn't sure what to do about it, and didn't want to tell Magnemite how to live its life. He decided to say that it could ask the rest of the team next time it was at Professor Oak's and decide later while making a mental note to call his mom for advice on the matter that evening.

That had been a discussion that left him feeling embarrassed since Delia had insisted on explaining everything in regards to gender identity in contrast to what people were born with. She had said that if he was out in the world he might encounter somebody that identifies differently from their birth gender – or non-binary – and he should know so that he didn't judge or say something thoughtless.

He was brought back to the present when Brock took out his topographical map, saying, "That old man wasn't very helpful. According to this map, there are mountains spread out in all directions from here. Fuchsia Gym could be anywhere among them."

"Ugh, don't tell me we're lost again," Misty complained.

The breeder nodded without looking up from the paper, "O-kay. I won't tell you."

"Good news is that we just left a city back there," Ash commented. "We can always go back to rest or resupply between checking the mountains."

Brock rolled up his map and put it away, "That's true. Well then, no time like the present. Where should we start?"

Misty sighed, "Well, if we're going by our gut, let's just keep going northeast until we reach the center of the mountain range and fan out from there."

"Good idea," the Pewter Leader replied. "I did see a road on the map; we should pass it by on our way over."

"Let's find that road and hit it, then," Ash said with a laugh as he started moving forward. Misty sighed at the bad joke while the two Leaders followed him.

Before they could get far, though, an explosion rocked the ground under their feet, causing Ash to dash forward with Pikachu at his heels once it settled down, completely serious now at the sign of trouble.

"Hey, wait for us!" Brock called as he and Misty struggled to keep up with him. The latter nearly tripped once another blast went off, but the Pewter Leader grabbed her hand to help her stay on her feet and keep running.

Up ahead, Ash came out of the foliage to a dirt road weaving between two shallow cliffs, one of which he stood on. Down below, large trucks laden with heavy items under black tarp drove by on the road, but the Pallet Trainer mostly ignored them, looking around for any signs of an attack. Brock and Misty caught up a moment later, not overly tired out since the distance was short compared to the last time Ash ran ahead of them.

Another explosion caused the trio to turn towards some higher cliffs in the distance where construction was going on, but there didn't seem to be any sign of Team Rocket. Soon after, though, the road suddenly caved under the front truck, causing it to tip sideways as it sank into the earth, causing a pile-up of the other trucks while the vehicles themselves remained largely intact.

"What a wreck!" Misty said.

Brock looked as the drivers of the vehicles managed to climb out of windows to get to safety, seeming largely used to the experience, "What could've caused this?"

Pikachu's ears perked up, and Ash noticed before listening carefully, "Shh… You hear that?"

A multi-voiced, high-pitched chant soon became more and more audible to the group, "Diglett-Dig-Diglett-Dig-Diglett-Dig-Diglett-Dig~!"

A small patch of earth pushed apart in front of them and a tiny cylindrical head popped out of the ground. It had brown fur with a pink nose and tiny black eyes, the rest of its body hidden beneath the ground.

"Diglett!" it greeted.

Pikachu and Ash moved forward, the Trainer taking a knee to get a closer look at the tiny Pokémon.

"Hey there, little fella," he said. "Do you know what's going on here?"

The Pokémon simply beamed in a similar manner to Tentacool and Kingler with another "Diglett!" before sinking back into the ground, leaving the hole behind.

While the various drivers walked back to the construction site, a bearded man in light blue coveralls with boots and a hard hat came out of the formerly frontmost vehicle last, falling to his knees and pounding the ground with his fist as he cried out in a thick accent, "I just can't take eet anymooore!"

Brock and Misty slid down the cliff to go to him with Ash following close behind, holding Pikachu on his shoulder.

"Are you alright, sir?" Brock asked.

The man seemed to bring himself under control slightly, but still raged to the sky, "Eet's ze Deeglett! Zey're destroying everysing!"

"The… Diglett?" Misty asked in a perplexed tone.

Pointing, he shouted, "See, zey're right over zere!"

A distance away, several Diglett were popping in and out of the ground, singing the same chant as before.

"Aw, they're so cute!" Misty lightly squealed.

The construction worker reared up beside her, "You sink zey're cute, do you?!" He pointed to the construction site, "Sanks to zem, we can't finish building zat dam!" He gnawed on his shirt before slapping himself repeatedly on his hardhat, "I hate Deeglet! I HATE ZEM!"

Pursing his lips, Ash took out his Pokédex and said, "Dexter, Diglett."

"Diglett, the Mole Pokémon. Diglett love to create underground tunnel systems and can move through the earth as easily as fish swim through water."

Another blast went off and Brock looked to see rocks falling from the side of the cliff, "Is that blasting part of building a dam?"

"YES, ZE BLASTING EES PART OF BUILDING A DAM!" the man shouted. "But we can't get supplies through because of Deeglett!"

"Pokémon usually have a reason behind what they do," Ash replied. "Did you try talking to them?"

The worker turned to him furiously, "Zey are a menace to ze construction of ze Giva Dam! You expect zere to be negotiations?"

The Pallet Trainer was unfazed, "Yes. They live here, and whether it's the blasting or something else, they clearly don't want the dam to go up. I'll talk to 'em; if there's really no reason for them to be doing this, then I'll clear the Diglett out myself. How 'bout that?"

"We have already come up weeth a plan to deal weeth ze Deeglett," the man replied. "We're calling for any able Pokémon Trainer who's traveling through ze area. Someone weeth real Pokémon know-how to help us get reed of ze Deeglet."

"No. That's not a good idea," Ash warned. "I don't know if you heard about it all the way out here, but the last time a large group of Pokémon got pushed into a corner, it didn't go so well for Hutber Port. Give me a chance to talk to them, and I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable-"

The sound of brakes screeching cut him off and the group turned to see four buses with a red convertible car at the front parked on the road. A spiky-haired brunet boy with a blue long-sleeve shirt and dark blue pants with a green and yellow necklace stood up on the passenger seat with one foot on the dashboard. A woman with sunglasses drove the car while six girls in various outfits sat in two rows of back seats. Ash recognized some of them as Gary's fan club, but only knew three of them; his one-time rival must have picked up more.

"The Pokémon Trainers have arrived!" the boy announced.

"Gary," Ash idly noted.

Pikachu tilted his head, "[So that's Gary.]" He looked him up and down before letting out an unimpressed snort, "[Looks like he has a high opinion of himself.]"

Gary seemed to notice him at the same time, "Huh? Who's-" Then he smirked, "Well, if isn't little Ash from Pallet Town. What are you doing here? Must be an unlucky coincidence; only the best were invited." The brunet Pallet Trainer held a hand to his chest, "Like me, Gary Oak, the number one Trainer!"

He then smugly pointed at Ash, "You're fourth. Fourth in leaving home, but when it comes to Pokémon training, you're dead last."

Towards the beginning of his journey, Ash would've been baited into an argument or fallen into feelings of inadequacy at Gary's taunts. But hearing it after all he'd gone through on his Pokémon journey, it just sounded so childish. It didn't escape Ash's notice, either, that he considered Gary so when they were around the same age. But he didn't dwell on it.

He sighed and shook his head, "Gary, believe it or not, I have more important things to worry about than your little contest. I have some Diglett to talk to."

Gary blinked in surprise as Ash turned around and moved to leave. He didn't get far before the brunet jumped out of his car and caught up to grab his shoulder and turn him around. By now, the other Trainers were starting to disembark from the buses and noticed the confrontation.

"What is that supposed to mean?" he challenged as he held up a Poké Ball. "I could trash you any day of the week!"

Ash simply shrugged apathetically, "Maybe, maybe not. I don't really care anymore. It may surprise you, but the world doesn't revolve around Gary Oak."

The brunet's fan club gasped at the blatant disrespect to their idol while some of the crowd started whispering among themselves as they recognized Ash.

Gary grabbed his fellow Pallet Trainer by the front of his shirt, "Oh yeah? Let's see you put your money where your mouth is, Ashy-boy! I challenge you to a three-on-three Pokémon battle, right here, right now!"

"Don't you have that job to get to?" Ash asked flatly with a raised eyebrow.

The slightly older Trainer scoffed and shoved him back with a smirk before turning away to take his own spot, "It can wait the few minutes this'll take."

He jumped slightly when a light zap hit his back and glanced over to find Ash walking to his own spot, Pikachu glaring at him from the Trainer's shoulder. Taunts and insults were meaningless coming from such an arrogant person, but the Electric-type wouldn't tolerate a physical attack on Ash.

Gary glared back, but continued his course while muttering, "Hmph, guess losers stick together."

While his fan club started cheering for his victory, some in the crowd frowned at the disrespectful showing towards a person they recognized as a hero. They kept quiet at the moment, though, since they really wanted to see Ash battle in person.

Meanwhile, the construction worker was trying to get the crowd's attention to move them to the construction site for their assignment, but none of them paid him any mind.

"Can we please get back to ze business at hand?!" he called, holding up fliers for a resort that would be built into the dam. "We need zose Deeglett gone! Remember our offer: a week's stay at our resort upon completion!"

An arm soon reached out and yanked him into the group before wrapping around his shoulders. The worker grunted in surprise before looking down at the intricate river rapids tattoo along the entire bare limb.

"Shh…" an excited voice whispered in his ear. "This is gonna be good, and I'm gonna see if the kid lives up to his hype. Don't be a wet blanket."

The black-haired Trainer took out his Pokédex and started shuffling around his team. Meanwhile, Gary laughed, "I have to say, I'm impressed. I didn't think you'd manage to catch more than six Pokémon."

Ash ignored him and made his choice for which three he wanted to use in this battle, sending Magnemite and Primeape back to bring in the two he wanted. While he felt confident he could likely win with ease using Pidgeot, Pikachu, Primeape, Kingler, or possibly even Muk with the right strategy, he wanted to save his heavy hitters' strength. Such a large group of Trainers had probably caught the eye of Team Rocket and it had been a while since their last attack.

He might've been able to spare Muk, since he could afford to give him some more training before pitting him against Team Rocket. But even with the little he had taught the Sludge Pokémon, he'd still be a great ace against groups of enemy Pokémon.

Ash caught the new spheres and asked, "Are substitutions allowed?"

"No," Gary replied. "You stick to your guns and fight with what you call out."

"All right. Brock, if you'd ref?"

The breeder nodded and moved to stand between the two at the side.

"Gary, Gary, he's our man!" the fangirls cheered behind Gary. "If he can't do it, no one can!"

Misty noticed that Ash didn't turn his hat back and guessed that he wasn't going to go all out. But she looked at Gary's fan club cheering (with pompoms, even) and decided that he wasn't worth taking seriously.

"Now everyone here can see the top Pokémon Trainer in action!" Gary boasted while holding up a Poké Ball. "This should be enough for you. Go!"

The white energy emerged, forming a quadrupedal Pokémon with light purple skin and a sharp horn on its head. It had claws on its feet for traction and spines along its back and on the edges of its ears, which were teal on the inside. Its skin also seemed somewhat rough and it had several darker patches decorating its complexion.

"A Nidorino," Ash muttered, remembering a League match he'd seen the night before meeting Pikachu, where one had been used in battle against a Gengar. He took out his Pokédex and pointed it to get more information since he didn't know much besides the name. A ping later, Dexter spoke up.

"Nidorino, the Poison Pin Pokémon. The evolved form of the male Nidoran. An aggressive Pokémon that is quick to attack. The horn on its head secretes powerful venom."

Ash closed the device and already knew what Pokémon he was going to choose. He took the Poké Ball from his belt and enlarged it, "I choose you, Rattata!"

Gary laughed obnoxiously as the Mouse Pokémon materialized before his own, "Ha-ha-ha-ha! Such a puny Pokémon suits you, Ash!"

Brock raised both of his hands, "Begin!"

"Quick Fang!" Ash commanded.

Moving faster than Nidorino could keep up with, Rattata darted inside his guard with glowing teeth and carved a shallow cut in his side before moving away again to dodge the hasty kick the Poison-type had launched to counter.

"What the-?!" Gary muttered. He took out his own Pokédex, "Deidra, Quick Fang."

"No move entry found."

"Keep it up, Rattata," Ash called. "Stick and move!"

The brunet Trainer growled as his fan club gasped at Nidorino taking another hit and being too slow to stab Rattata with his horn. Her small size didn't help his aim either.

"Nidorino, Swift attack!"

"Shoot 'em down with your Swift, Rattata."

While the two Pokémon were in a deadlock since Rattata was forced to slow down to steer her stars to intercept, though she was still too far away for Nidorino to take advantage. Still, it bought time, and Gary thought hard about the moves he'd taught the Poison-type. He smirked as he came up with a plan of attack.

"Poison Sting!"

Nidorino turned while leaning to his side, shooting multiple white needles from the spines on his back straight at Rattata. With the stars no longer a threat, Rattata was free to dodge out of the way and approach Nidorino again as she wove her way through the barrage.

'Perfect!' Gary thought before calling to his Pokémon again. "Water Gun the ground around you!"

Being a loyal Pokémon, Nidorino didn't waste time questioning why and did so, reducing the dirt road beneath and around his feet to a muddy surface that spread as the water did. Rattata started slipping on the muck and was still for the moment as she tried to get her feet under her.

"Horn Attack!"

Nidorino was able to navigate the mud easier since his feet sank into the inch-deep quagmire. It slowed him down slightly, but he could move, unlike Rattata who was too light and kept slipping. Lowering his head, he speared Rattata, making sure to secrete some venom from the tip to make the hit count before the impact knocked the tiny Pokémon away.

"Ha!" Gary triumphantly laughed as the Mouse Pokémon tumbled along the ground with her fall. Meanwhile, his fangirls started cheering again as he said, "Looks like your rat can't stand up to real strength."

Rattata stood up again with little difficulty, a purple blush appearing before the red aura of Guts flared up. But before Ash could order another attack, she seemed to smirk as if she'd been waiting for her ability to activate. She concentrated for a brief moment before flaring white with evolution, the light tinted pink with her aura over it.

"What?!" the brunet Trainer shouted in disbelief.

Ash watched in fascination, wondering how long Rattata had been holding back evolving if she could trigger it at will. The Mouse Pokémon grew in size, dense fur bristling outward from her body, covering her limbs to the point that her arms and legs seemed to grow shorter in proportion. Her ears turned jagged at the edges and her tail uncurled at the end before growing in length. The last trait to change was that her mouth opened wide as her front teeth lengthened dramatically, joined by another pair sprouting from the lower jaw.

At that point, the aura of Guts seemed to absorb into her body, the tint fading until the light was white again. Once the light went out, she completed her transformation into Raticate, standing with tawny fur with a paler color on her belly and two sets of three whiskers. She seemed jittery and stood up to clench her more pronounced three-fingered hands before raising a foot and stomping it into the ground, leaving a shallow but definitive footprint in the dirt road. (1)

Making a note to get an explanation from his Pokémon later, since her actions seemed far too deliberate to be coincidence, Ash pointed forward regardless, "Raticate, burrow underground."

She did so, clearing the earth away far faster than before as she disappeared down the tunnel. Nidorino looked around helplessly and Gary growled since he didn't have a counter to that. His Pokémon didn't have enough power to learn Earthquake yet.

"Now, Hyper Fang!" Ash called, speaking up to be heard underground.

The mud underneath the Poison-type's feet split apart and Raticate appeared with her glowing teeth biting into his underside. The Mouse Pokémon emerged from the hole with her opponent held up in her jaws before tossing him aside. Nidorino struggled to get up before falling back to the ground from the pain in his abdomen.

Gary gawked before frowning and holding his Poké Ball forward, "Nidorino, return!" He exchanged the Poké Ball for another one from the belt underneath his untucked shirt, "I guess even a loser like you could have one decent Pokémon after all this time. But it won't stand a chance against this! Haunter, go!"

The Ghost Pokémon appeared in mid-air, staring down Raticate, who fearlessly glared back.

"Huh," Ash muttered as he took out his Pokédex. "Now where did you get that?" He knew that the Gengar from Lavender Town would never tolerate his other friend being taken, so it had to be a different Haunter.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Gary sneered.

"Haunter, a Ghost Pokémon. After evolving from Gastly, it can learn Dream Eater and other psychic attacks."

"Haunter, Hypnosis!"

"Raticate, eyes shut."

With the Mouse Pokémon's eyes closed, the sight-based hypnotic waves had absolutely no effect, causing both Gary and his Pokémon to grunt in frustration.

"How stupid can you get?" the brunet Trainer asked. "Having your Pokémon close its eyes just makes them helpless."

"[I don't need to see him,]" Raticate muttered to herself while taking a few quick sniffs of the air. She then dashed towards Haunter with her eyes still shut and countered with a Super Fang aimed for his head. Haunter brought his hand between them to intercept and cried out in pain as the teeth sank into the floating limb. Around the caught hand, she continued, "[I could smell the rot coming from your body since you came out.]"

"How?!" Gary demanded while pointing his Pokédex forward. "Normal-type attacks shouldn't be able to hit Haunter!"

"The Rattata line's second signature move: Super Fang. Also known as the Fang of Hatred, it will pierce any defense to strike damage to its target." (2)

Hearing that, Ash thought about the Ghost-type moves he'd read up on using Dexter, remembering that they were effective against other ghosts.

'Most of those moves seem fueled by fear and darkness, so maybe hatred is enough to hit them too,' he mused.

"Haunter, Thunderbolt!" Gary commanded.

The Ghost-type raised his free hand to fire bolts from the fingertips, but Raticate let him go and dropped to the ground to dodge, going off sound to dodge away before opening her eyes and keeping them to the ground so that Haunter couldn't get her with Hypnosis.

As she kept dodging blasts of electricity, she thought about how to counter. While she could pick out the ghost's position whether or not he was invisible, he knew that Super Fang could get him now, so he'd be wary of it. Then the Mouse Pokémon got an idea from constantly keeping her eyes on the ground.

'I can smell him, but he still needs to see me to aim. If Nidorino could use the terrain, so can I!'

Rapidly pawing at the ground with Dig, she loosened up a patch of earth and ground it up to make it a hole filled with a pile of fine dust that started to spread across the ground from the flurry of activity. Once it was ready, Raticate jumped up and stomped down with both feet to send the substance into the air in a cloud that covered a majority of the area between Ash and Gary, enveloping both Pokémon. From living among dirt and airborne dust for all her life, she didn't have to worry about it affecting her nose.

Gary called, "Haunter, keep your eyes-"

"Haaaaunt!" the Ghost Pokémon cried out again from inside the dust cloud.

"-open…" he finished in an annoyed grumble.

By the time the dust settled, Raticate was carrying the unconscious Ghost-type between her teeth, multiple bite marks across his form. Evidently she'd jumped him and repeatedly gnawed with Super Fang until he went down. The Mouse Pokémon set him down and stepped aside to allow Gary to recall his Pokémon.

Once he did so, the brunet turned to his fangirls. Some were whispering anxiously while others appeared to be muttering fervently in response. He cleared his throat and called, "Girls, one of you get my backpack from the car."

Startled out of their discussion, one of them ran to the convertible, where the driver grabbed it from the back seat and handed it to her. Once she brought it to Gary, who thanked her with a charming smile that had her blush and swoon slightly, he turned back to Ash while taking his next Poké Ball from his belt.

"I never thought I'd have to use this in the middle of a match, least of all against you, Ash," he started before expanding his Poké Ball. "But playtime's over. Prepare to meet one of my strongest Pokémon! Go, Growlithe!"

As the Pokémon materialized, Gary hurriedly opened and rifled through his backpack. The Growlithe appeared to be a canine Pokémon with orange, black-striped fur along most of its body with cream-colored fur over its chest, belly, tail, muzzle and the top of its head. The fur over its chest and tail was especially bushy and the top portion appeared naturally styled into a flame-shaped tuft. It had gray eyes with black pupils and two claws on its forepaws.

Ash took out his Pokédex to analyze the unfamiliar Pokémon.

"Growlithe, a Puppy Pokémon of pleasant demeanor and great diligence. It drives enemies away with barks and bites." Ash noticed the color and checked the Pokémon's type, "Growlithe has characteristics of a Fire-type Pokémon."

"Growlithe, it's time!" Gary called while pulling out a shiny orange stone with iridescent flame patterns on it. Ash recognized it from the fourth floor of the Celadon Department Store and his eyes widened as he remembered what the clerk had told him about the special stones they sold.

The brunet Pallet Trainer tossed the stone towards Growlithe, his Pokémon seeming to anticipate this and eagerly catching the stone in his mouth, flashing white immediately afterwards as the stone remained in his jaws.

Ash gasped while Raticate narrowed her eyes warily as the dog grew immensely in size, becoming taller and larger while his limbs built up in musculature. The tuft of fur on the top grew into a mane of cream-colored hair and the tail on his rear became long and with the fur drooping about halfway before the end fanned back with the split ends making it appear jagged. Flame-like fur shapes grew on the backs of his four legs as well. Once the glow faded, his now streamlined fur had more intimidating patterns in black, the stripes appearing jagged and angling in different directions upon his back and sides. The used stone had turned into a dull brown color and dropped out of the evolved Pokémon's mouth. Arcanine let out a fierce growl that Raticate returned with equal vigor, refusing to be cowed.

Ash pointed his Pokédex forward again, "What's that?"

"Arcanine, the Legendary Pokémon. Evolved from Growlithe with the use of a Fire Stone. Arcanine is known for its bravery and fierce loyalty, along with its majestic cry."

"Open up with a Take Down, Arcanine!"

Ash called out, "Double Team, Raticate!"

As the Legendary Pokémon charged forward and Raticate blurred into several copies of herself, all charging forward. Gary's fangirls were cheering anew, "Let's go, Gary! Let's go! Yeah, yeah!"

Looking around at the afterimages that scurried around and taking a cut across his chest only for the perpetrator to slip back into the throng, Arcanine glanced back at Gary for apparent permission. The Trainer nodded and rooted his feet to the ground while waving for his cheerleaders to move back, "Do it."

Rearing his head skyward, Arcanine howled to the heavens, wind starting to pick up before it formed a mid-sized cyclone around him, using Dragon Rage. Ash and Gary managed to stand their ground with a little difficulty, the former holding Pikachu in his arm, but Raticate was pulled in and thrown into the air, her afterimages vanishing without her to maintain them. The lion-like dog then dispersed the wind attack and shot a Flamethrower at the falling Mouse Pokémon. Once it was done, he ran forward and pounced, holding one paw over her burnt body since she was still conscious.

"Raticate, return," Ash called, the beam connecting a moment later and allowing Arcanine to rest his foreleg back on the ground, knowing that the Normal-type was out of the battle. As he switched the ball for another one he said, "Not bad, Gary. You're certainly a good Trainer, better than I thought you'd be with how much you brag."

The other Pallet Trainer simply remained silent, watching for the next Pokémon Ash would call out.

Ash smiled, feeling excited about a battle for the first time in a while, "But that doesn't mean I'm going to give up. Charmeleon, I choose you!" After the Flame Pokémon appeared, he added, "Show 'em what you're made of."

Pikachu held up a fist, "[You can do this!]"

Charmeleon snorted smoke out of his nostrils as he regarded his opponent. Arcanine stood about twice as tall as him, even on all fours, and was likely far faster than him. He knew it would be a hard battle.

'I could lose,' the Fire-type internally noted. Then he sneered and spat out a small gout of flame towards the Legendary Pokémon in challenge before his tail flame turned blue.

"What the…?" Gary held his Pokédex forward as he noticed the change of color.

Charmeleon paid it no mind as he narrowed his eyes in thought while readying his strategy for battle. Memories of his time together with Ash and the team passed through his mind in the background. His Trainer had always had his back since the day they met and genuinely cared for each and every one of his Pokémon. Looking back, it was ridiculous that he ever even thought Ash would abandon him unless he evolved.

'So what if I lose?' he asked himself as the adrenaline started burning through his veins. Although he reined in the urge to charge in blindly that seemed to accompany the power boost as he vowed, 'I sure won't go down easy!'

"Arcanine, Take Down!" Gary ordered after reading up on Charmeleon's tail flame.

The Legendary Pokémon charged forward at high speed, only for Charmeleon to burrow underground the moment the command was issued. Arcanine skidded to a stop and flitted to random locations while looking around for any signs of the Flame Pokémon emerging.

Once a slim appendage poked out of the ground, Arcanine pounced on it while biting down, only to pull up a tree root that had the thick end cleanly cut. Gary's Pokémon only had time to look surprised before Charmeleon emerged and punched him in the gut, causing the Legendary Pokémon to drop the root with a gasp.

"Roll to the side and break away!" Gary hurriedly called. Arcanine did so and got back to his feet before Charmeleon could scratch him with Slash.

Ash nodded, "Great idea using a decoy, Charmeleon."

Charmeleon grunted in acknowledgment, but didn't take his eyes off his opponent as he took a deep breath and shot out a grey cloud of smoke through his mouth, reminiscent of the short bursts he snorted through his nostrils. Arcanine jumped back to avoid getting caught in it as it fully enveloped Charmeleon and the area between them.

"I'm not letting your Pokémon hide again!" the brunet Pallet Trainer declared. "Arcanine, sweep that smoke away with a Roar!"

Taking a deep breath, the canine Pokémon let out a roar so powerful that it displaced the air in a large cone and blew away the smoke, revealing a hole in the ground.

"Arcanine, send your strongest Flamethrower down the hole!" Gary ordered.

Rushing forward in a burst of speed to avoid getting caught off guard again, flames started gathering in Arcanine's mouth as he skidded to a stop beside the hole and shot a powerful stream of burning hot fire down.

A few seconds later, fire burst from the ground a distance away as Charmeleon rolled out of it with slight burns over his body. Concentrated heat could still hurt him, despite his resistance.

Arcanine didn't waste an instant and pounced on the reptilian Fire-type, pinning both of his arms down. Charmeleon craned his neck and bit down on one of the forelegs, making Arcanine wince, but keep his grip.

Ash's Pokémon let go a moment to call, "[Don't you dare call me out of this battle, Ash!]" Then he bit down again in the same area.

Hearing that and seeing that the black-haired Pallet Trainer didn't appear to have any intention of pulling Charmeleon out, Arcanine readied another Flamethrower. While he didn't believe there was any honor in attacking a pinned Pokémon, this one was particularly stubborn. And if he didn't knock him out soon, the bites would force him to let go from the pain.

Breathing a stream of fire directly on his downed opponent, Arcanine held it for several seconds as he didn't feel the teeth letting go as they tried to dig further into his leg.

He heard his Trainer mutter before shouting, "What's- Arcanine, stop!"

The Legendary Pokémon's eyes widened in surprise before he cut off the stream to see the other Fire-type with worse burns than before and a furious expression. Had he been able to look underneath his stomach, he would've seen that Charmeleon's blue flame had steadily been growing the entire time under his attack, now as large as the Flame Pokémon's body.

Charmeleon released his leg to start pushing with his arms again. "[You're pissing me off!]" he roared as he used his boosted strength to force Arcanine's paws off him and push him back, surging to his feet to land an enhanced Rock Smash to his rib cage.

Gary had his Pokédex out and cursed, "As I thought; it's Rage! Our attack made that Charmeleon stronger!"

Arcanine tried to move away as Ash's Pokémon rushed him with his tail flame still blazing hugely, but his injured leg protested the action, pain flaring up around the bite wound. Charmeleon caught up to him and began swinging his fists wildly at any area he could reach, dodging the paw swipes his opponent used in attempted retaliation.

"Arcanine, Bite!" Gary commanded, seeing no better option since it would be more effective than a fire attack.

But when the Legendary Pokémon lunged forward and sunk his teeth into Charmeleon's right shoulder, his mouth large enough to reach halfway down the smaller Pokémon's chest and back, the other Fire-type just took the opportunity to punch him in the side of the head with his left fist before hitting Arcanine in the throat as he'd seen Pidgeot do with his Clothesline Dash.

When he was released as his opponent gagged, Charmeleon ignored the slight blood running down his body and readied his claws while his opponent was stunned. Putting all his strength into it, he ran past and slashed along the lion-like dog's left side, drawing blood as Arcanine let out a low growl in pain.

The Flame Pokémon's tail flame went down as his Rage subsided, but still burnt blue as he turned around to face the larger Pokémon again, Arcanine doing likewise.

Gary let out a low groan before reluctantly calling, "Arcanine, get over here so that I can treat those injuries."

Ash blinked before speaking up, "Um, I'm pretty sure that using medicine during a battle is against the-"

"Shut it," the brunet Trainer interrupted irately as Arcanine limped over to him and he took out a bag of medicine that Ash didn't recognize along with a rubber glove that he put on. "Even if I beat your stupid Charmeleon, you have another Pokémon to use and Arcanine's in no shape to battle a fresh opponent, no matter what you planned to use."

He then took a pinch of what appeared to be white powder from the bag into his covered hand and blew it downward to disperse over Arcanine's injured leg before taking a larger handful and sprinkling it over each of the three slashes on the Legendary Pokémon's side. The wounds closed up before Ash's eyes as the medicine absorbed into Arcanine's skin, astonishing the Pallet Trainer.

Gary then tied the bag and put it away, taking out a Potion instead, "Here, this should help numb those bruises."

His fangirls gaped in shock, "Gary… lost?"

"Now, now, ladies," he reassured in a cocky tone. "This was just a test to make sure that Ash was at least close to my level with his strongest Pokémon. Next time, I won't go easy on him." The brunet Pallet Trainer remembered how they wailed inconsolably when he lost to that unofficial Gym Leader near Cerulean City, and he hated to see them cry.

This seemed to cheer them up, so Ash decided not to explain that he'd been holding back significantly as he treated Charmeleon's bite wound with a Super Potion, making the blood clot before he wrapped his chest and back with bandages. Not that he'd been planning to tell in the beginning, but now he had an extra reason. Who was he to tear apart the girls' hopes and dreams of Gary's invincibility?

Charmeleon, on the other hand, was tiredly snickering to himself while muttering, "[He thinks I'm one of the strongest? Wouldn't he be in for a surprise if Arcanine is the best he has? Kingler or Primeape would pummel that overgrown dog easily. And I can think of at least half a dozen others off the top of my head that'd have more than a fair chance.]"

Ash turned his attention back to his Pokémon with a smile as he finished tying the bandages, "You were amazing out there, Charmeleon. Does that feel better?"

"[I'll live,]" the Fire-type nodded, happy that he'd made his Trainer proud.

Meanwhile, under the bravado he displayed to his cheerleaders as he returned Arcanine, Gary's mind was in a state of shock, rage and begrudging respect all at once towards his fellow Pallet Trainer.

'How in the name of Mew did Ash get so strong? He was one of the lowest graded passing students back in Trainers' School, and I can't see him sitting down to actually read and study up on Pokémon or train them seriously. He doesn't have the attention span for it; or at least he didn't. Did something happen to him?'

While following the construction worker that finally managed to break away from the crowd and begin directing them to the construction site since the battle was over, he thought over how the battle went.

'I lost, even if I pulled out early to save face. Heck, his Raticate was dominating the fight after evolving until I evolved Growlithe to overpower it because I thought it wouldn't be enough otherwise. If the rest of his Pokémon, however many he has, are anything like his Raticate and Charmeleon, I'm going to have to seriously step up my training once I have eight badges. I have six now, just two more and I can head back to Pallet Town to train up for the League. I won't let Ash pull ahead of me without fighting him every step of the way. Next time won't be such a one-sided match.'

Ash had recalled Charmeleon to use a bit of Potion on Raticate's burns when he saw a pair of legs in white pants standing near him. He looked up and saw a somewhat brutish looking teen with slicked back navy colored hair, a black shirt with mid-length sleeves that left his forearms exposed to show an intricate tattoo on one of them. A silver ship's steering wheel glinted off his belt in the sunlight as he looked down at him with interest.

The Pallet Trainer sighed and stood up, "Listen, if you want a battle, you're gonna have to wait until-"

"I ain't interested in battling you now," the navy-haired teen interrupted. Then his face changed to a grin that, with the color and style of his hair, made Ash think of a shark, "The name's Noah. You. Me. The Indigo Plateau. I can tell when somebody's holding back. If you're stronger than you showed in that battle, and half as good as I've heard, I'll see ya there."

While Noah had originally been planning to sneak back across the border to the Silver Conference in Johto after seeing if he could find any advantages or strategies to help his own battling, he found it much more interesting to stick around Kanto for the time being to battle Ash.

Meanwhile, the Pallet Trainer saw the anticipation in his eyes, something that reminded him of his rematch against Brock at the Pewter Gym—knowing the opponent was strong, but being determined to win. The feeling was contagious and Ash found himself looking to Pikachu with a smirk, the Electric-type sparking in excitement as well. He turned back to Noah and said, "It's a promise. We'll be there."

After returning Raticate, Ash moved on with Brock and Misty to find the construction worker speaking with a megaphone as he pointed to a giant banner depicting a Diglett crossed out hanging on the scaffolding behind him.

The Pallet Trainer rolled his eyes with a groan and walked around the crowd to the front, "I said that I'd talk to the Diglett and find out why they're doing this. Trying to fight them with their ability to burrow so fast will just cause more trouble."

"What know you of Pokémon, young man?" the bearded man asked angrily with his megaphone making Ash's ears ring.

The Pallet Trainer took a few steps forward and grabbed the amplifier before pushing it down so that the worker would stop shouting at him.

"More than you," he answered in a level tone. "I'm a Trainer, and I don't see you using any Pokémon to try dealing with the issue."

"He's right," Gary added as he stepped forth from the crowd. "Didn't you call us Trainers here because you couldn't deal with it yourself?"

When the man growled and remained silent, the brunet turned to his fellow Pallet Trainer, "We'll try it your way first, Ashy-boy, but just because I want to get out of here to my next Gym as soon as possible. If you think you can wrap this up, then show us."

Ash expanded a Poké Ball from his belt without a word and called out Drowzee, the Hypnosis Pokémon glancing down at the ground below him with a surprised expression.

'Oh my. That's quite a lot of Pokémon down there.'

"Can you read the situation from my mind?" his Trainer asked. "It'll be faster than explaining it all."

Drowzee didn't answer for a moment before communicating, 'I understand. So these Diglett must have some motivation and you want to hear them out before deciding whether or not to fight them.'

Ash nodded, "If you could call one up, that'd be a great help."

"Telepathy, huh?" Gary guessed. When Ash looked at him curiously, he answered, "I have a Psychic-type too."

Seconds later, a Diglett emerged from the ground between their feet. The foreman looked ready to shout, but Pikachu pinned him with a glare from Ash's shoulder.

The black-haired Pallet Trainer squatted down to be closer to Diglett's level, "Hey, I heard that you're cutting off supplies from getting to this construction site. The last group of Pokémon that tried to stop a huge project had a pretty good reason for it. Drowzee here can translate, so do you feel like telling us if you won't show us?"

The Mole Pokémon looked back and forth between them before popping back into the ground where a chorus of Diglett voices echoed upward from the hole left behind. Soon, the Ground-type reappeared with several more popping up at intervals, making a trail up the shallow cliff and behind the construction site.

"Diglett!" the one closest to Ash said urgently while turning sideways to ask him to follow.

Nodding, the boy stood up again and turned to the foreman, "You're coming too. If they have a reason, you'll need to see it."

"You stay with the car, ladies," Gary called to his fangirls. "This shouldn't take long."

Ash remembered the crowd behind him and said, "You too, Misty, Brock. We're heading out right after this anyway."

"Why do we have to stay?" Misty asked in an irritated tone. "I want to see too."

"Don't attack me about this Misty," the Pallet Trainer grumbled. "It's rude to crowd people with your complaints, especially among mature Trainers."

While confused at his emphasis on the specific words, Misty was always a fan of riddles growing up and quickly deciphered the message Ash was trying to pass.

'Attack, crowd, Trainers,' she repeated in her head. 'Team Rocket might be attracted to this group.'

The redhead glanced at Brock, who seemed to be coming to the same conclusion. Ash was entrusting them to keep watch while he was gone.

"Fine, but hurry back," she replied sourly.

Ash nodded and followed the trail of Diglett, each of them going back underground as he passed by them. Gary followed close behind in interest, and the foreman was dragged along by the black-haired Pallet Trainer, surprised at the oddly strong grip the eleven-year-old had.

As the group moved further along at a light jog, they got deeper into the forest and began seeing other Diglett carrying either tree branches or thin saplings that hadn't had the chance to take root yet. The Mole Pokémon were chanting what was rapidly appearing to be their digging/working song, and a deeper set of voices chorused as well as the trail grew closer to the source.

"Diglett-Dig-Diglett-Dig~"

"Trio-Trio-Trio!"

When they reached a massive clearing, they saw a labyrinth of upturned earth with thin trees planted by the Diglett in tilled soil that bundles of three Diglett with more stoic expressions dug up. Looking further, Ash noticed that the trees grew larger outward from the clearing. They must've been planted before the ones before him. Various pairs of Diglett also carried stone bowls filled with mashed up rotten fruit before tunneling them underground beneath the trees and coming back up with empty bowls, using the decaying items as fertilizer.

Ash took out his Pokédex and scanned the Pokémon that were bunched close together.

"Dugtrio, the Mole Pokémon. The evolved form of Diglett. This Pokémon is able to burrow deep beneath the Earth's surface."

Turning to the last Diglett that had led them there, the Pallet Trainer said, "You have a beautiful home."

The Mole Pokémon beamed at him with a happy "Diglett!"

"Zis… Zis place used to be wasteland," the foreman commented in stunned awe. "Eet's how we got ze permit all zose years ago to build here before we spent ze time to gather materials, designs from architects, everysing we needed. If we finished ze dam, zis entire mountain forest would be covered with water…"

"And nothing would be able to live here, not just the Diglett and Dugtrio," Ash finished.

The man sighed, "Well, we waited years to come zis close; I suppose we can wait a few more to find a new place to build the Giva Dam. Zis project's cancelled."

Ash smiled at the foreman before an explosion blasted through the tranquility.

---

Cliffhanger! Sorry, but this chapter was getting way too long as it was. I'll do my best to have the next one out ASAP.

Notes:

1a. Rattata and Raticate's hidden ability is Hustle, which boosts power, but sacrifices accuracy, as portrayed by the shakes that Ash's Raticate experienced. It's a given since high adrenaline is the new norm for her. Given time to adjust, that weakness will likely be overcome, and accuracy is a whole different playing field compared to in the games.

1b. Evolution is a tricky thing, the metamorphosis making the body extremely adaptable as it takes on a new form, as evidenced by the giant Tentacruel. Since Rattata waited until she was poisoned to evolve, her body basically accepted the strength boost of Guts as the new norm and adapted the body appropriately, also making changes to adjust to the poison in her at the time. Granted, this also means that she can't use Guts again since she's basically in a constant state of super strength now, and Toxic or any poison stronger than a Nidorino's, such as Toxic or Poison Fang, would still manage to poison her.

2. Super Fang used to be able to affect Ghost-types in the first generation. Considering its ability to always halve a Pokémon's remaining health and its Japanese name, Hatred Fang, there's no reason it shouldn't still be able to hit them. Ghost-types are weak against Dark-type attacks, which are basically regular attacks amped with sneakiness and/or malicious intent. In fact, given that Super Fang can even half a Steel-type or Rock-type Pokémon's health, it shouldn't even be classified as a Normal-type move. If anything, it should be a ?-type move since it operates outside of the type chart.

See you when I see you.

-AJ203