Uprising

by A Wordsmith

Ash Ketchum started his journey like every other trainer. He received his starter from the closest gym leader, started challenging gyms, and dreamed of winning the Indigo League. But he rises above the rest - just as Team Rocket does.

14. Ground Up

Gladion's fingers steepled beneath his chin, green eyes narrowed. Surge stepped back silently as the shorter man began to pace, his steps a strange mix between jerky and smooth.

"Two weeks is enough of a start, I suppose." He tilted his head back as he muttered, seemingly completely unaware of the room despite his presence in it. "Get up early, gather your team, and spend an hour regrouping and discussing any further strategies for the day you'd like to work on. Then I'll take over. Surge can show you some basics - you look like you barely know what a punch is - and then your team can rest an hour or two before eleven."

Ash didn't have any time to be properly offended before Gladion clicked his hands together, finally turning his piercing eyes toward him. "Surge can talk to you tomorrow while I review a strategy for training. Get your team healed up."

Surge stepped to the side with practiced ease as Gladion slunk out of the room, pushing his platinum hair back behind his shoulders, and moved back to his position once the other man had left. Ash stared at him, all wide eyes and confusion. His mind still twanged from whatever Rook had found, a residual biting presence that tore at Karma's colors even as she rushed to fill the empty space. He opened his mouth, paused, and closed it, not quite knowing what to say.

Gladion wanted to train him.

He had seen the man's crobat, burnished claws and purple fur and vivid eyes all at the peak of its strength, and the strange, dark type from Unova he couldn't quite remember the name of. Zorok? Whatever it was, it wasn't hard for Ash to tell that he was strong. Working with Sabrina, the most famed psychic in all of Indigo, was another tick mark. And then there was the fact of how he now served under the League, but he was from Alola and he didn't like it here but he didn't like it there either and he had the accent that somehow Ash had never placed-

Surge cleared his throat with a bark-like growl and Ash jerked out of the whirlpool he had rapidly been sweeping himself into. He grimaced and rubbed at the back of his neck, able to feel the feverish heat beneath his fingers. Everything was new, confusing, and he desperately wanted a member of his team here to steady himself.

"That's Gladion for you," Surge rumbled, relaxing minutely from the iron-shouldered stance he had held before. "But don't worry. Your pokemon will have his skill damn beat into their skulls by the time he's done with them."

Ash frowned. "What's going on?" With everything, training, what does Alola mean-

Surge matched his grimace, sighing in a low, deep way that almost seemed to make the floorboards creak. "Alola is… tricky. If you remember it now when you couldn't before, there's no chance it's gettin' erased again, so the best option is just to learn it all now." He shrugged. "And we really are here for two weeks, explorin' some shitty things happening around Silph Co. But we aren't of much help when Sabrina's been meditating hour in an' out. So might as well train you." Surge's grin bared his teeth, eyes sharp. "You're one of the few ones with potential. Wouldn't want that to go to waste, huh?"

Though his mind pounded and his head ached and all of his Trio pokemon's defenses were fighting against an enemy already gone, Ash couldn't help but perk up at the mention of an explanation. There were still so many things he didn't understand - Goodshow working with Team Rocket, Karma's projection, how Viper still wasn't caught - and to have anything make sense was a gift. His mind jolted again with another flash of words.

"What do I need to do?" He asked, clenching his fists by his side. He needed to train, his team needed to train. Giovanni was the next gym leader he had to face and the ground type Master was the strongest in the region for a reason.

Ash was going to beat him. He had to.

Surge chuckled, though it still sounded painfully off when contrasted with the man's wary gaze. "Work with me. Gladion'll be takin' your team to make some decent battlers out of them. He's probably watching the recording of your match with Sabrina now, with that bit you mentioned about Oranguru-" he grinned as he caught Ash's wince "-and he'll have enough ideas for a month of training. I'll just be showing you some more advanced trainer stuff, things you should have learned from the beginning but most never do." His eyes narrowed, an annoyed expression flashing over his face. "That means I'll need some lessons and shit."

He dragged a hand over his face, fingernails scratching at the stubble he seemed to permanently have. "You're lucky I have a slight want to see you up in the echelons, otherwise this'd never happen." Surge flicked a mocking salute in his direction, grin widening, before striding from the room. His natural gait made it sound like stomping.

Ash frowned at the empty space.

Training, explanations, and advanced lessons. It seemed far too good to be true, though he didn't want to look a trade ponyta in the mouth. There were rare opportunities that a gym leader would step down and teach a random first-year trainer.

Then again, it was just as rare that a first-year trainer would have done half the things he'd faced on his journey so far. With the revitalization of Team Rocket, the League would need trainers who could pull their own weight in the coming years, and he had already shown his merit in his battles against them. This training could mean anything; a sign of goodwill, a prepping for future employment in the League, or-

Or a test.

Ash's hands fell to his pokeballs, feeling the life from each of them. Already, Rhydon's was beginning to warm as he recovered from his loss of consciousness, minor twitches and tremors racing over the metal surface. Rhydon was strong - clean hits were easier for him to recover from instead of exhaustion, and with enough healing he'd be ready to go again. He imagined his starter bellowing on a battlefield, sand and rock swirling over his dorsal spines, a glowing crobat swooping overhead.

Training. Before Sabrina, that had been all he had done, but it seemed it was far from over. Two weeks felt like forever but that had been on the road, with the only companion the occasional smell of far-away roselia and the rustle of emerald beech leaves against each other. Here, with the constant distractions from the Silver Jungle of Saffron and the active presence of other humans, he doubted it would feel nearly that long. He popped his neck, made to take a step forward to head toward the Pokemon Center, and jerked back with a yelp.

Sabrina stared at him coolly, her hair twisted out of its previous neat alignment and the purple of a bruise blooming high on her cheekbone. Her eyes flashed as she stared around the room, gaze snapping to the still-murmuring TV before falling back onto Ash.

"Can I stay here?" He asked, the words falling out as one. "Surge and Gladion want to train me."

A shadow of a smile flickered over her face, the humor more present in her eyes than any sort of expression. "I suppose."

She pushed off the floor, hovering a fingerspan above the floorboards with a sort of ease that matched a true psychic pokemon. It took him a moment to figure out why - she was holding her left leg awkwardly, slightly bent, and he could see another arching stream of blue-black twisting over her knee. Strands of her hair shifted as she floated higher, tilting back a degree to relieve more pressure off of her leg. With a twitch of her eyebrow Ash guessed he was supposed to understand as a summon, she turned and floated smoothly out of the room.

It was very strange, watching her move. She was obviously going forward but her legs didn't move, frozen in an illusion of walking. Ash trailed after her, idly noticing how the TV clicked off when she exited the room.

"What happened?" He asked, unable to stop how his attention returned to the bruise over her cheek. The one over her knee looked several days old, at least, and there was no chance he would have noticed her levitating an inch or so from across an entire battlefield during his challenge. Sabrina was supposed to be a psychic, never getting into the thick of things if not behind immense shields, and he hadn't heard of any rising criminals strong enough to get past her defenses in Saffron.

"As I said," she hummed, turning to face him while still moving forward. He found it incredibly discerning. "Saffron City has been in a period of turmoil. The bursts of power have upset psychics across both humans and pokemon, and I am the only one with sufficient strength to shock the upset back into focus. It put me in the front lines more than I would like, but there is no way around it." Her gaze shifted to his forehead, where there only remained tiny scars from Karma's claws. "Silph Co has been the center of it all, and all I have managed to find are notes of some massive project, one started nearly eleven years ago. There are no other records of it, and none of the workers I have gained access to, not from their dark-protected upper floors, have no knowledge of it in the slightest."

Ash frowned. Eleven years? He had heard that number before, even though it had been about a relatively inactive timeframe. Officer Jenny had said that was when Team Rocket had made its last public spectacle-

Sabrina's eyes flicked to him, burning. "Do not say that aloud," she murmured. "Silph Co is under investigation. With the current disrupt of Goodshow's suspected alignment with Team Rocket, we need to handle everything as quietly as we can to avoid mass panic. Giovanni is finding more and more hidden members within the League and Koga has been an excellent deference to criminal outbursts. We cannot lose the advantage we have now."

He nodded his head, but there was no way he was forgetting what she had said. Sabrina seemed far more open about her and the League's affairs now, and he guessed it had to do, in some part, with Surge and Gladion's offer to explain everything. Gary and his encounters with Team Rocket had given him a leg-up into this darker world of Indigo, and he doubted there'd be any way for him to fade back into the ignorance of before. "I understand."

"You do." She stared at him for a moment longer, and now the feather-soft touch of her presence grow longer, sharper. With eerie precision, she bypassed Wraith's defenses and entered his surface level of thoughts. Ash winced but her presence was barely noticeable if not for the odd, spinning patterns of Wraith's fog as she disrupted it, shuffling through his mind. Her eyes glowed a mirage of colors.

"You are curious about Jioga?"

He was, though he hadn't been aware he was thinking about it at that moment. Her explanation of the psychic that started his journey with a charmander and personal recommendation from her had been vague at best, and that was without the occasional flickers of Bone he saw in his darker dreams. His desire to verbally ask a question lost its turn with his embarrassment at previous attempts and so he waited quietly for her answer, tapping his fingers along his belt. Her eyes flashed brighter as she searched his mind.

"The Nurse Joy at Cinnabar Island said a cloud of gastly?" At his nod, she continued. "That is false. Gastly are rarely, if ever, found outside of Lavender Town in Kanto, and such a low population-dense area such as the Seafoam Islands would be one of their least likely places to be. Jioga was on the Seafoam Islands yes, or somewhere close, but his body was found in the water, half-frozen. His death is still being investigated, though I have reasons to believe that Viper may have been involved in some way."

Ash blinked - Arceus, this was so much better than the half-truths he got when he asked most anyone else - and nodded. His gaze shifted back to the hall. Her tone had been rough, something bitter and also sad. The way she said Jioga's name spoke of familiarity.

There was a reason he had been the one to start his journey with a charmander - he had been personally recommended by Sabrina herself. That meant she had actively watched his journey, seen him grown, and labeled him as worthy. There was no way of doing that without interaction.

It took him a moment to remember that she could read his mind, but by then, she had already turned back away from him and continued to float down the hall. They passed several wide-grained oak doors in silence before stopping at an open archway, a warm light spilling from within. "This is where you will heal your pokemon."

Ash paused, glancing inside. It looked eerily similar to a Pokemon Center, but instead of Nurse Joy, a hypno stared tiredly around the room. Its black eyes met Ash's without an ounce of hesitation before returning to its silent vigil, pendulum twitching in its grasp. A few old videophones lined the walls, alongside a pokemon transferal station. He opened his mouth to ask about, well, an actual Pokemon Center when Sabrina spoke again.

"Nurse Joy handles more pressing injuries, but as psychics, true battles are uncommon. Exhaustion is much more easily treatable, and the League has supplied me with this station to mimic a Pokemon Center in order to reduce traveling time and distractions for the students who study here. Normally, it is only of use to the students of my school." Her eyes flashed to him, glowing dully from within. "Though I suppose I can make an exception for you."

Ash sorely wished he knew whether she was joking or not. Her expression betrayed nothing, and the feather-soft touch of amusement against his mind was not nearly enough to go off of. He settled for an awkward half-smile and swung his gaze back toward the quiet room.

"Your room is down the hall, labeled under the- ah, my apologies." Ash blinked, turning back to her, only to see Sabrina shaking her head. "You would not be able to see the markers we use to differentiate our rooms. Nevertheless, simply continue down this hall and your room should be the fifth on the right. It is unlocked - we have no need for protections here, where multiple psychics constantly patrol for everyone's safety. I must go, I'm afraid, but I will be there tomorrow for your training."

Her eyes were tired as they flashed, body wavering temporarily around the edges before she teleported out. A soft crack echoed down the hall. Ash had to wonder how exhausted she was to show even those infinitesimal signs of weakness - with her powers, it was easy to hide everything behind an unbreakable mask.

Glancing down the hallway, he managed to see the rough idea where his room would be before heading into the healing room. The hypno looked at him again, pendulum swinging softly as he stepped closer. Detaching several of his pokeballs, he handed over everyone but Tide and Bulbasaur. "I don't know what the cutoff for injuries is - should I bring them to Nurse Joy immediately or see what you think?"

Hypno blinked sluggishly at him, but he could sense a note of contempt in its billowing presence, somewhat akin to a sheet in the wind on the edges of his Trio sense. It grabbed his pokeballs with a curl of psychic energy and teleported out with a soft crack, leaving the room empty.

"Okay." Ash wasn't that concerned - if he couldn't trust Sabrina, he wasn't sure who he could - but it was strange to feel all three of his Trio pokemon disappear beyond his limited sense. Their defenses dimmed, if somewhat, and he stretched idly as the room in his mind increased.

But there was another pokeball on his waist, and his task was far from done.

The sting of the ice type's presence raced up his arm in a familiar manner as he unhooked Tide's ball, aiming it at the center of the room. He pressed the release, blinking quickly to hide the scarlet burst of light.

Tide appeared with a fierce bark, reared upward with his whiskers splayed and brown-black eyes glowing regally. Ash winced as the sound reverberated around, but he couldn't hide the amusement he felt nonetheless. Tide was, well, predictable. Comfortingly the same.

The ice type scanned the room for a second, and when his gaze tracked back to Ash, he seemed thoroughly disappointed at the lack of any psychic types for him to demolish. Ash grinned, reaching forward to pat the sealeo on the dome of his head. Tide chuffed, icy breath bringing ducklett flesh to Ash's skin.

"Hey, bud," he offered, smoothing over the ruffled fur. "How've you been?"

Tide barked, head tilted to the side. It made sense - Ash had had a full team meeting and pep talk just that morning - but he still seemed to feel the thread of melancholy in the air. He grunted a question, eyes searching. Ash couldn't hold back his sigh.

"We beat Sabrina!" Quickly, Ash dug through his various pockets before he found the rounded edge of the Marsh Badge, holding it up proudly. It still had the ding he'd given it when he first got it, he noticed with a wry grin. "And there's… something else. Gladion. Do you remember what Scorch told you about him?"

Tide nodded his head briefly. The second-in-command was always the one to go to for updates, and Scorch took her duties very seriously. There was rarely information that could stay unknown for more than a day.

"He and Surge were at the gym, and after the challenge, we talked. And, as it turns out, there was something inside me that was blocking my memories. Of Alola."

Tide immediately growled, shifting into a battle stance with his flippers braced against the floorboards. Ice glittered out from his back, wood creaking beneath his weight as he prepared himself. Ash yelped and flung himself forward. "No- I'm fine now! Seriously! Rook got it out."

The sealeo relaxed - somewhat - and stared at him with confused eyes.

"Yeah. It's weird right now, bud, but we're going to work through it. But to do that, I'm going to be training with them for two weeks. And I don't know whether you can stay here, okay?"

Tide stiffened, and Ash rushed to fill the silence he had created. This wasn't what he wanted - seven pokemon wasn't enough, he needed his whole team to feel like this journey was worth it - but it wasn't a random choice. Tide needed to know that.

"You're one of my most straight-forward battlers, and what you really need to work on is power and being in your element. Saffron City might be the absolute worst place to do that because it's all buildings - the largest thing of water is a display pond. There's some room for you to grow here, but it isn't nearly enough." He rested an arm over Tide's broad back, practically able to feel some of the tension leave the ice type. There was a reason behind it all- he wasn't just getting shoved to the side. Ash guessed, that at Tide's core, that was what he was most afraid of - being left behind and forgotten. He fought and challenged and brawled constantly so he wasn't forgettable.

"Professor Oak has a gyarados, one he's had since his own journey. I'd like for you to work with it. You remember Captain Fergus?" At Tide's sudden curling over his lip, revealing the teeth that would one day grow into fangs, Ash hid a laugh. "Yeah. You never got to fight his gyarados, but here's your chance. You've fought Arcanine plenty of times, but you need to get back into your element to figure out how to really hunt. Ice beam should help you get some rough ice floes, and I'd like you to start working on the basics of aqua ring. There's not a whole lot you can do right now beyond getting a sense for the water, which you can't do here."

Tide made a low, mournful sound in the base of his throat. Ash detached his arm from the sealeo's back, turning to fully face his sixth pokemon. "Are you okay with that?"

The ice type whined, sounding almost pitiful, before he nodded his head. A fire burned in his eyes, even though he bumped his head against Ash's chest hard enough to make him stumble back a step. The trainer grinned, patting him on the head.

"Only two weeks bud, then you'll be back faster than you know. Say hello to Arcanine for me, okay?" Tide barked, nodding his head, and shuffled back a step as Ash stood up. He barked once more as he was recalled, disappearing in a cloud of mist before being drawn back into the ball. Ash rolled it around in his palm even as he crossed to the closest videophone, frowning at the much older controls before managing to find the buttons he needed to make it work. It felt like it'd be a lot easier to actually go to the Pokemon Center, but there was already a ton he needed to do tonight and he didn't want to waste time.

The screen flicked to black, a cheerful eight-note tune chirping in the background. After nearly five minutes that Ash spent rolling Tide's pokeball between his hands, the connection finally latched and the screen opened to Professor Oak's ruffled hair and bagged eyes. "Hello?"

"Professor Oak!" Ash grinned.

The man blinked rapidly, eyes flicking between asleep to conscious. "Ash?"

"Hello," he offered, hoping to restart the professor. By the sudden jerk as if he had kicked himself, the man seemed to be waking up again. "Were you asleep?"

Professor Oak made a sluggish sniff. "As if. Genius never sleeps. What troubles you, my boy?"

Ash held up the Marsh Badge he had slipped back into his pocket, nearly fumbling it in his attempt to show off the interlocked circles. "I won!" Before Professor Oak could offer congratulations, he moved quickly on. "But I'm going to be staying here for a few weeks for training, so I was wondering whether I could send Tide over and get Scorch back."

"Oh?" Professor Oak hid a yawn in the palm of his hand. "You spent the entirety of your travels to Saffron City training. Are you not going to rest for a bit?"

He hadn't actually considered that - though he probably should have - but in the end, he settled for shrugging. "Someone offered to train me, and I don't want to pass that up. After it all, I'm going to be making my way back to Viridian, and then I'll finally challenge Giovanni. I'm going to need all the time in the world to train for that."

Professor Oak's eyes widened in realization. "Ah, of course. That's very good of you, but please don't forget to rest as well and give your team a break. Giovanni is the strongest gym leader for a reason - you need your team in perfect shape to take him on."

Ash nodded, bouncing Tide's pokeball between his fingers. That seemed to draw Professor Oak's attention because he nodded again. "Alakazam can find Scorch soon enough, it should only take a moment." The screen went black a moment later.

Ash let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding, releasing the pressure in his chest with a wheeze. He hated not being told everything and here he was going, pretending that everything was fine and not that he hadn't just ousted something hiding within his own mind to unlock memories of a secret war in a far-off region. Arceus.

The screen flickered back on before it seemed even a moment had passed, jerking Ash out of his spiraling thoughts, and he turned back to face the screen. Professor Oak reappeared, a dull pokeball already slotted into the containment system, somehow looking even more tired than he had at the start. Ash mirrored him with Tide, pressing the black activation button. With the crack of teleportation, both pokeballs switched.

He grinned, snatching up the metal far too warm to match any of his others. Professor Oak plucked up Tide's, turning back to Ash. "I wish you luck with your training, my boy. Now, however, I'm afraid I must find something soft or else I will pass out on my own videophone. Good night!"

Ash echoed him, clicking disconnect as soon as the other man did. He cradled the pokeball to his chest - for Scorch to have been so quickly found, he guessed she had been resting, which meant she wouldn't need healing. The hypno was back - though he hadn't noticed when - and it stared at him with pitch eyes as Ash padded from the room and entered the hallway.

The fifth door was easy enough to find, thick-grained wood with a tinge of something invisible running over the surface, something Trio related. Frowning, he swiped his hand in front of it, feeling the cold-hot psychic power that made his mind twitch. The markings Sabrina was talking about?

He swung the door handle and pushed it open, stepping into the pleasantly air-conditioned room. It was always hotter in cities, especially one as full as Saffron. Shutting the door behind him, he quickly examined the room.

A bed took up most of one wall, a side table on its left and a desk at its end. The closet was small, only one door, but he had never really used one anyway. A window threw the last of the day's light into the room with renewed vigor as soon as he entered, making everything glow with the golden hour.

Ash all but threw his bag onto the desk and immediately clicked the release on his pokeball.

Scorch emerged with a yip, stretching her tails over her head as if she had been in the ball for days instead of minutes. Her gaze immediately snapped to Ash.

He laughed as she pounced on him, dragging him to the floor with her surprising weight and hitting his chest with her head. His hands stroked everything he could reach, feeling the tangles and burrs that spoke of weeks without a proper grooming session, or even a fire bath. She must have been truly training hard.

"Hey, Scorch," he said with a grin, thumbing her ears. She yipped again at him, breath hot, and swung her tails around to curl against his back. "How was it?"

She did an admirable impression of rolling her eyes, crest flaring as she shook her head. He laughed and patted behind her ears, the warmth spilling out from her fur and combating the air condition unit. She leaned into his touch, nearly as needy as she had been when she was still a vulpix.

But then she stepped back, crimson eyes flashing. She nosed at his chest, gaze surprisingly serious, and stared at him. He frowned, pausing in his pettings, as her eyes flickered blue with her fledgling psychic abilities. She wasn't to the point of being able to communicate psychically with him, but her intention was clear.

Ash grimaced and rested his head against the bed frame, reaching forward to brush against Scorch's mane. She churred, leaning into his touch, golden fur just warm enough it soothed the aches that had built up over the course of the past few weeks. He pulled her closer, Scorch allowing herself to be manhandled into his lap as he stroked her fur.

He had forgotten how well she could smell emotions. He really shouldn't have. It was far easier to hide something like this from other humans, but now that he was alone with her, the dam splintered and snapped.

"It's just- a lot has happened, you know?" She tilted her head to the side, eyes flashing. "Everything. The Fishing Centre back in Vermillion, Charizard, what happened to Gary, Viper, St. Anne…" he dragged a hand over his face, calluses catching on his nose. "I'm ten - well, nearly eleven - but it doesn't stop."

Scorch purred, nosing at his chest.

"Team Rocket shouldn't exist but it does, and for some reason I keep getting pulled into it. Wraith, Bulbasaur, Tide - I wouldn't give them up for the world but I just wish it had happened differently. Like I was some other kid, finding a gastly around Lavender Town, or hunting through the Safari Zone for months to find a lone bulbasaur, and just stumbling across a sealeo when it was migrating from Hoenn. I don't know."

She yipped at him, bumping her muzzle against his shoulder. He smiled and smoothed back her crest, watching the hypnotic spin of her tails. Though he couldn't understand her in the way of Karma or even Wraith, the burning determination in her eyes was clear. Scorch purred deeply once he seemed to get it, a random flame running down the length of her release tail.

"It's worth it for you guys," he said, pulling his head away from the bed frame. Her purr seemed to shake the floorboards. "And, well, if we keep encountering that stuff, I guess we better be ready for it."

With a grimace, his back cracking like his entire spine had snapped, Ash stood and stretched his arms over his head. The sunlight was still there, if weak, and that meant daylight enough to start studying. Gladion was going to test him, though he didn't quite know what his training entitled, and he needed to be ready to match him. He forced his insecurities out of his mind, focusing entirely on the upcoming days.

He had beaten Sabrina. He wouldn't stop now.

xXx

Ash had only just begun to shake the water droplets from his hair when an earthquake-esque pounding surfaced on his door. He yelped, towel falling from his shoulders, but apparently that was answer enough as Surge shouldered through the door with a grunt. Bulbasaur snarled at him, claws twitching and eyes aglow, but the gym leader spared the grass type only a glance before turning to Ash. He jerked a thumb toward the hall, a grin stretching over his face.

"Time to get started. Gladion's ready to talk you through these weeks of trainin'." With that, he marched cheerfully back out the door, seemingly as awake as he always was. Which was unfair.

Ash let out a sigh, feeling a wave of relief come over him. He had set his alarm - also known as Scorch - an hour early to give him some more time to prepare, but apparently, Gladion didn't believe in beauty sleep. He cracked his neck with a vengeance, thrashing his hair with the towel until it reached a medecorum of dry, and threw everything back into the restroom. Bulbasaur stretched, bulb glimmering as she harnessed some of the sunlight she had absorbed yesterday to give her a boost of energy. Ash reached into his bag, shuffling through the various jars of his food pocket until he managed to find the one he was looking for.

Bulbasaur's eyes lit up as he tossed the rawst berry at her, catching it easily with her uninjured vine and biting it in half. She growled happily at the taste, eating the other half, and snarled up at him in thanks. He grinned, though he was immediately distracted by Scorch's sudden pleading presence by his side.

"Not now. You can have some-" he ran through any remaining spicy berries he might have left "-cheri berries once we finish up with training. Come on, both of you."

Scorch whined but understood - she'd need the high-protein pokemon food for the upcoming training, if the presence of Surge was any indicator. He doubted there'd be much time where she could kick back and nibble on berries during the training.

He pried open the door with a grunt from where Surge had nearly embedded it into the frame, snagging his pokedex on the way out. While he hadn't had much time to take notes last night, he had plenty taken over his journey so far, and he rather hoped that would be enough.

Ash took a moment to remember everything, retracing his steps to the healing room. Hypno was there, looking mightily unchanged - he guessed its ability was insomnia - but his pokeballs were not. Shaking off the tinge of worry, he traveled back to the gym battlefloor.

That, at least, was easier to find. He idly wondered whether Sabrina had made her school this complicated on purpose.

In the minute ways Ash was only just able to pick up on, Bulbasaur looked uncomfortable. The constant presence of psychic power pressed against her poison sacs, ready to destabilize the internally fragile organs, but she seemed to refuse to acknowledge it. Her claws clicked against the wood as she padded along, sniffing curiously at something Ash couldn't pick up on.

The battlefield had been reset to what it had been before he fought, the darker brown of overturned dirt the only sign that anything had happened. It was weird, comparing that to the enormous furrows and blackened burns of just yesterday, but he guessed gym leaders would have to have a highly-honed strategy for cleaning up battlefields.

Ash walked in, glancing around, only for Bulbasaur to throw herself in front of him with a snarl. Her injured vine lashed out and snatched a projectile out of the air a foot before it would have hit his chest.

He stiffened, watching Bulbasaur crouch in a fully-defensive position. Her growl split the air.

Surge laughed uproariously from his position to the side of the door, head thrown back and shoulders shaking. Ash frowned and turned to Bulbasaur, seeing her cautiously inspecting what appeared to be a… sandwich? The opening of her bulb twitching as though she wanted to release sleep powder, she warily offered him the wrapped meal.

"Eat on the grind, runt," Surge called, flicking his own wrapper into a nearby trash can. "Gladion doesn't like to wait."

Ash sighed, prying off the waxy paper as he trotted toward the giant of a man. Scorch padded beside him but Bulbasaur trailed behind, still snarling at the man who had thrown something at her. Surge seemed less than affected, easily holding five pokeballs in one of his massive hands. "Catch."

Ash almost managed to do so, even with his hands preoccupied with the sandwich. Scorch kicked off the ground in a narrow arc and nabbed the last one before it hit the ground, held gently between her fangs to avoid adding any more flaws. Ash set his sandwich - a sort of style he recognized as coming from the Seafoam Islands - on the observatory benches for gym challenges and hurriedly shuffled the pokeballs around, finding their specific dings to remember whose was whose. Scorch offered the one she had caught - Karma's, judging by the discolored splotch over the red half - and he slipped it back onto his belt. The familiar weight of them all was comforting.

He had only just glanced up to ask Surge what he'd be doing when Gladion appeared from a side entrance, green eyes immediately landing on him.

Despite it being too early for the sun to warily show its face, Gladion looked as put-together as he always did, dreadlock-esque hair tucked back and grey-lined black clothing proper. He crossed the room with an easy gait, drawing Ash's attention to the multiple great balls over his waist. One was even a type he didn't recognize, bright blue with protruding gold rings glittering serenely in the first slot of his belt.

He wasted no time. "I watched your battle with Lady Sabrina. While your strategies were far from hopeless, you use your pokemon in the same ways; rhydon as a battering ram, haunter as a sword. For now, it makes them predictable. For later, it makes them useless."

Scorch bared her fangs, tails swirling behind her pinned ears. Gladion glanced at her with a single eyebrow raised, arms crossed. Surge stifled a snort. "And I suppose you run and blast your opponents with fire? Is that it?" The ninetales stiffened, scarlet eyes pinpricks of flame. "As I said. The same ways."

Ash nodded, trying to absorb everything at once. This was far different from Sabrina's advice. While she had just commented on his strategies and how they wouldn't have worked under slightly different circumstances, Gladion was going for his pokemon's base ways of attacking - he fought down the urge to take out his pokedex to record it.

"I have come up with a few new tactics that may help your pokemon develop to be unbeatable later on, instead of just relying on power as you are now. Follow me."

Ash tore into his sandwich as they walked, thoroughly enjoying the spicy sauce, and chucked the wrapper into the first trash can he found. Scorch hadn't stopped glaring at Gladion since his comment, flames racing over her golden fur in a greatly-reduced flash fire. A fire type's pride was a thing to behold, and he found himself immensely curious at how she would handle herself training with him.

The Saffron City gym wrapped around a plot of land like an ekans, coiling around a centerpiece of two battlegrounds about the same size as the main gym. Immensely powerful psychic barriers gleamed over the delicate trees and flowers surrounding the grounds, strong enough that Bulbasaur snarled and Ash could taste the power on his tongue. Gladion seemed unaffected, but he could see the way the man's hand rested on his second pokeball as if for comfort.

Surge was Surge. He ignored the psychic barriers entirely.

Ash squinted as he walked, the artificial lights unable to truly mimic the sun's presence, forcing him to rely on Scorch's ambient glow to make his way around. Gladion stopped in the center of the primary battlefield, examining the scattered rocks and swaths of mud as if the were the most interesting thing in the world. Ash held back a shiver and wished he had brought his long sleeves - despite the Welcoming Day of the First and the official start of winter still being a month or so off, there had been a bitter cold spell recently.

"Release your team," Gladion said, voice broking no argument.

Ash's hand fell to the familiar half-circle dent on his first pokeball and released Rhydon, who bellowed happily and slammed into the ground hard enough to send a tremor outward. He turned to Ash and spun his horn curiously, no doubt recognizing Surge behind him, revealing the still pale splotch over his chest from Oranguru's hit. Ash offered him a grin in response as he released the rest of his team.

Gale shrieked, crest flaring and black eyes searching as he took in the definite lack of Sabrina's gym - apparently, he hadn't been healed at all and simply left in his pokeball. When only brown-green grass greeted him instead of a psychic opponent, he squawked annoyedly and honed in on the next threat of Gladion.

Wraith shook himself, spines reshuffling fluidly, and dove to be next to Bulbasaur. She growled a welcome, straightening up now that his natural presence reduced the pressure of the psychic powers on her poison sacs. Karma idly spun her shines through her long claws, eyes fixed unnervingly on Gladion's blank face. There was still the glitter of psychic burns over her fur, darkening the gold to nearly grey, but she made no reaction to them.

Rook thumped his blades together, glancing around. With his odd gait, he trotted toward Ash and stood guard next to his feet, digging furrows into the ground without seeming to notice it. Raichu snickered, flexing his tail as Rook made another awkward motion as he turned to watch the electric type. Gale's crest flared further at the presence of the randomly-dispersed sparks.

Gladion nodded his head, inspecting each of them for some qualification Ash had no idea of. Rhydon spun his horn when prompted, electricity crackling to the forefront, and the ground trembled as he moved to keep Gladion within his sights. Scorch barked, ears still pinned, but he simply walked past her. The Trio pokemon were given a once over as well, and Gale seemed insulted as Gladion ignored his massive beak and paid attention to his wings.

"Again, as I thought." A grin flashed over his face, dimming some of the apathy there. "Your team is going to enjoy these two weeks."

Gladion clicked his fingers together, gesturing to Rhydon. The ground type shot a concerned glance to Ash before stepping forward, tail dragging over the dirt, and stopped in the center of the first battlefield. His natural bulk put him well above Gladion but the man hardly noticed, inspecting him again before pulling off his only normal pokeball. He released its occupant next to Rhydon, eyes narrowing.

The pokemon that emerged was large and sharp, for lack of a better term. It was mainly made up of two enormous pincers, a small torso, and transparent wings moving so fast Ash could only see them as a blur. It hovered easily over the dirt, blue carapace shining in the reflected glow from the artificial lights, and a crack of electricity jumped between its two jaws.

Before Ash could finish placing it - definitely not from Indigo, he was leaning on Galar - Gladion gestured to it, still keeping his rather unnerving grin. "This is Vikavolt, a bug and electric type from Alola. She will be rhydon's opponent."

Ash frowned. Sure, she was able to fly and thus avoid most ground type attacks, but her electricity might tickle and bug moves were mostly physical, which Rhydon could shrug off easily. All and all, she would be difficult to hit but Rhydon should be able to nail her with a flamethrower, and with how fragile bug types typically were, that should weaken her enough where the match would end soon.

Gladion's grin widened.

"And that is exactly what I'm talking about. We'll see what you think about her after today."

A great ball was primed and released before he could respond, releasing a more familiar presence. The massive, regal crobat took to the air immediately, purple fur gleaming and golden eyes bright, circling lazily a dozen feet up. Gale's attention snapped to it.

"Crobat for your fearow."

Gale shrieked his approval, bracing his talons against the ground and snapping out his wings. Ash darted forward and kicked for his braced talon, jerking off his balance, before carefully stepping back as Gale shrieked. The fearow didn't try and take off again, but from the fury in his eyes, he took Crobat's slow, sweeping loops as utter mocking. Vikavolt hummed.

His zoro-something was next, all gleaming black fur and bloody claws. It churred warmly at its trainer, staring around the circle of pokemon. Rook straightened at the dark aura it exuded, raising a blade in an odd, circular motion Ash took as a greeting, though he didn't move forward. The dark type bared its fangs at him, gaze piercing directly toward Wraith.

"Your ghost will learn plenty from Zoroark, though she will make it as difficult as possible." Gladion brushed an errant curl of her tail back, the hair-like extension shifting in an invisible current as she extended each of her claws to their full extent. Wraith mirrored her, fangs growing in number until they littered his mouth and inflated it past what it should be with a hiss. "Golisopod may also help when needed."

Golisopod was absolutely enormous, hulking bug type that looked like it could go hand-to… claw? with a tyranitar. It stared flatly at Rook, who didn't know what to make of it, if his low screech was anything to go by. Its three pairs of arms twitched under its cream-grey carapace, claws strangely sharp. Idly, Ash thought that this should be the pokemon to go against Rhydon, based on bulk and size alone.

"For your pawniard. I doubt this will be anything less than one-sided, but it should learn some helpful tips from their battles. Your alakazam as well, when she is not busy."

Maybe it was just him, but Ash couldn't help but get the idea that Gladion was enjoying this.

The last pokemon, thankfully, didn't look like a monster. It was similar to a growlithe, though nearly triple the size, armed with a stiff, rocky ruff and bright blue eyes. It barked, voice gravely despite the friendly tone, and wagged its thick tail. Gladion patted it lightly behind its dagger-sharp ears as he spoke.

"And Lyranroc will work with your ninetales. He will let her try and attack him, and maybe she will eventually land a hit."

Scorch, apparently, did not like the arrogant words Gladion had said. She snarled, lowering into a four-point battle stance, and made a movement as if to lunge forward. Ash whistled sharply and she stopped, still growling.

He fought a flush as Surge roared with laughter behind him. Not even ten minutes into Gladion's training - training introduction - and twice he had had to call back his own pokemon from attacking outright. From Gladion's raised eyebrow, he had expected better.

Ash's shoulders tightened. He wasn't here to be the same trainer he had been in his first month - he was nearly halfway through his journey, having earned seven badges and well on his way to an eighth. The point stood: he wasn't going to let Gladion intimidate him into cracking this early. He could wrangle his team.

Surge stepped forward, landing a hand on Ash's shoulder with a grunt. Raichu squeaked, jagged tail curling around the gym leader's throat. "And I'll be handlin' you this morning, just talking. We'll head back once we're done and you can see the ass-kicking Gladion's laying down on your team."

Rhydon rumbled at that, horn spinning, but Surge just chuckled. Another jolt of electricity jumped between Vikavolt's jaws, looking less benign than before. Surge stepped forward, grabbed his shoulder, and cheerfully steered Ash out of the courtyard.

Almost immediately, he stumbled forward from the burst of wind Gale made by taking off, lunging up to match Crobat with a shriek. He became nothing more than a grey-brown blur as he tore across the sky in a blaze of fury. Even if the poison type was stronger, Ash guessed that Gale's territorial protection of his skies would even it out.

The afterclap of lightning and the unsheathing of Zoroark's claws ushered him back inside.

Entering the much-better lit space of the gym was a welcome change from the grey dimness of outside. The door clanged with a certain foreboding, cutting off a rumble that trembled the ground. Training was starting full-on, apparently.

Surge near manhandled him into the original sitting room, clicking the door closed behind the slower Bulbasaur. She snarled at him, but crossed to lay by Ash's feet under the main light of the room, careful to keep one eye on each occupant. While she would normally spend her time with Wraith, she tended to avoid the team while they were training beyond watching them, and it was too dark to do much of that - especially for the eyes of grass types, which needed the light.

Some of Surge's boisterity seemed to disappear when he sat down, the couch creaking beneath his weight, even as Raichu chittered and leapt to the seat arm. He idly smoothed back an errant curl of fur, staring at Ash with a tired gaze.

Neither of them said anything for a short while, but he felt the invisible presence - or the empty hole where it was - grow stronger and stronger in the silence.

"Alola," Ash tried, and felt the word reverberate through his skull like a drum.

Surge grimaced, glancing away for a second.

"Alola was a clusterfuck, runt," he began, grimace deepening. "They've got shitty technology and are so far away no one knew what was happening. For us, it looked like one day they suddenly imploded and everything went wrong. Kanto got the call for help too late and we were the only ones they reached out to." He curled his fingers against the cushion of the couch hard enough to make the fabric creak. "Maybe because we're one of the longest standing Leagues. Maybe because we were the ones to first make contact with them. Arceus knows what the reason was - we certainly weren't the closest."

"I was still a newbie, having done the Conference a few times and having just been swept up by the ACE trainers. So I was sent down in the first wave to try and help whatever mysterious thing was going down there." Raichu squeaked as Surge glanced at him, only serving to make Ash's nerves worsen. "Supposed to be a real easy thing. Get in, figure it out, kick some ass, get out. Alola was the baby compared to the rest of us, so it would only make sense that their problem would be just as small. Shit, we barely knew anything about them- it was only a few days before I was shipped out that I learned the region was all about islands instead of just land. We were fodder, something for Kanto to throw at the problem until it went away."

"Alola wasn't any better. They underplayed everything, which I think is because they've never faced any real problems before. Their government and everything was never contested unless unanimously. They don't have the ravaging powerhouses like Unova has with hydreigon. And they've got minor Legends there - four beasts or something called the Guardian Deities. Apparently, they interact pretty often, saving falling kids or stopping conflicts, though they aren't really seen." Surge snorted. "At least they know their Legends exist and haven't fucked off to nowhere."

"But one random day, everything went dark for a week straight. No moon, no sun, just big ol' empty sky. When the light came back, the Deities were gone. And panic started. See, when you're that close to your Legends, you rely on them a lot, and that's exact-fucking-ly what happened to Alola. Their precious guardians disappeared and they knew shit all what to do. So some bastard named Po rose up with this group named Team Skull, took over one town, and made it their base. Alola's communication is awful so by the time Professor Kukui figured out that his messages weren't coming back, Team Skull had built up a little army and were sweeping it over Ula'ula island. No one had any defenses, and they utterly crushed everyone in their path. Ula'ula was under Po's control easily, and the other islands had no way to know when they would get hit. It was when Akala Island started gettin' blasted that Alola reached out and Kanto sent us over."

Surge shrugged, fingers tapping over his pokeballs. "I got teamed up with Kiawe, a fire type Master over there, because I was the strongest of the new ACE trainers and electric and fire are a match made in heaven when you want sheer destruction. We used hit-and-run tactics to try and keep Team Skull from advancin'. Not a standstill, because we kept getting pushed back, but we'd stopped the bastard Po for a short while and gave the other islands a breather. But even with my whole troop, we were losing pokemon left and right and Team Skull had an entire town to just keep throwing at us."

"Kiawe was ready to pull back, retreat to the closest town to try and build up a defense, but that's when Gladion showed up." Raichu squeaked at the mention of the name, Surge flicking him across the ears without looking. "He was a nobody then, some sort of exiled heir to the Aether Paradise that had just started up, but his Kumu was one of the strongest pokemon I've ever seen. He single-handedly held a point long enough for us to bust in and start throwing shit, and we scared Team Skull back to a corner of the island. It was a nice little victory, something we hadn't had yet."

"We were all thinking about what we could do next but Team Skull didn't stop. A chunk split off and was heading to Poni Island to try and corner us in. Hypno barely managed to teleport me, Kiawe, and Gladion over, and we were all ready to-" he paused. "Well, to make our final stand to hold them off as long as we could." His voice grew softer and softer through the whole thing. "And then everything just… changed."

He paused, tilting his gaze back as if searching for words. "There's no way to describe it, runt." Surge shook his head. "All was right and stuff, but then somethin' just happened, and I couldn't understand how I hadn't noticed how everything was so empty before. The world was all warm, yellow and gold, and nothing was dark anymore."

"The ocean rose and drowned the travelin' Team Skull, and the ones still on land were forcibly teleported to clumps of three or four randomly. They're good in numbers but they're shitty on their own, and the Alola League was able to beat them back. Whatever had caused the Deities to disappear apparently left, and with their help, we were able to win it all over. Po's rotting in some volcano prison with no damn intentions of parole, and most of Team Skull surrendered the second their leader was down. Everything got cleaned up, and I got sent back to Kanto." He rushed through the last few words as if being chased, shoulders stiff.

Ash opened his mouth to ask something but Surge leveled him with such a glare he shrank back to the couch cushions.

"But back in Kanto, the Indigo League was… torn. Yeah, sure, hundreds of ACE trainers had gone there to fight and not all of them had come back, but mass internal wars were a big deal. The last one was Kalos' Great War, and nearly every region fell apart because of that. This one wasn't nearly to scale and it was actually won, so there's that, but mass fucking hysteria was something to be seriously concerned over." Surge scratched at his stubble like he wanted to rip it off.

"So they kept quiet. Covered it up, removed my rank as lieutenant, and deleted all files on the whole thing. I was given some prizes from Kukui and I'm still decently close to Kiawe, but the whole thing was swept under the rug." He let out a breath before closing his eyes, the weight on his shoulders melting away in some bizarre version of furious mediation.

After a heartbeat, Surge revealed tired, tired eyes, a wry grimace on his face. "But no other regions had to deal with it. That kind of inspiration would have kickstarted Team Rocket into the fucking sky, and that war was right about the point of their peak. If all of this had gotten out, there's no telling what could have happened."

Ash frowned, feeling himself bristle at the words. "So they covered up everything you did? Everything you fought for?"

Surge jerked up a hand, cutting him off. "Don't start. I'm made my peace, runt." He sighed, swiping a hand through his hair. "I'm not happy 'bout what happened. It was shitty, still is, but once I stopped bein' pissed I can understand why they did it."

"You see where Team Rocket is now? That center in Vermillion, the mess with Gideon, and now Goodshow in the hoops when he's been nothing but squeaky clean for the past two decades? We're barely dealing with it now. If what Team Skull did came out, they'd triple what they're doing now. Or if everything came out right when it all happened, maybe we'd have been dealing with this shit then, and a lot more people would be dead."

Ash nodded quietly. In some part of his mind, he could understand it as well, but it was equally warring with the fury at having an entire war hidden from the public. What would the League do? Keep it hidden up forever?

They would, probably. And then the Team of Kanto and other regions wouldn't hear how nearly successful an uprising was, and they would stay crushed. He grimaced, tugging at his hair as if it held the answers.

Surge snorted at his dilemma, scratching behind Raichu's ears. He seemed calmer now, but there was an edge sharper than anything Ash had ever seen before. "That was me after it all." He chuckled, low in his throat. "But try as they might, I've been able to use lieutenant for all these years without them being able to stop me, and that electric golem Kukui gave me is still a cornerstone of my team. The situation wasn't - isn't - ideal, but the world ain't. You've just gotta find some niche to punch something and move on." He shrugged his massive shoulders, prompting Raichu to jump back on them.

Bulbasaur growled quietly to herself, and Ash leaned forward to pet her lightly on the top of her head. She didn't lean away from the touch, which was a win, her scarlet gaze fixed on the ground in deep thought.

Ash stayed silent for a moment, absorbing everything. The story had none of the bravery and courage and reward spoken of in war history books. Alola was still a new region to join the Council of Leagues, but everything he had heard about it was friendly, warm. His hair-tugging increased until he could feel his skin flex beneath the pulls.

Surge stared at him, expression carefully dull. "Anything else you want to know?"

Ash forced a laugh. "I think you covered it pretty well." Surge snorted at that, and Ash ran through his thoughts once more. Another tremble raced through his mind as if an electric volt, forcing him to wince again. Wraith howled in retaliation. "Why couldn't I remember anything?"

Surge stiffened at that, a ticked frown on his face. "That'd be the League, looking out for their influence." A few furious sparks raced over Raichu's fur.

"Officer Jenny - the chief in Vermillion - knows what happened. She was in the clean-up crew, never faced anything there, but she got the story. So the League gave her a real pretty beheeyem that's trained in manipulating memories. She must've seen me talking to you after the raid and overheard. That's my fault. So she sent Beheeyem in and he covered up your memories. Probably would've worked too, if you didn't go out and get a shit load of Trio pokemon without ever revisiting Vermillion to let him remake it. The block was probably on a hairline fracture until something managed to bring it up again."

Ash scratched at the back of his neck as if that could unearth the touch of the psychic. The idea of having a random pokemon - even one trained by the League - poking around his mind with the intent of hiding something was frightening. Worrying.

Rook's river bubbled up, and Ash raced to change the subject. He didn't want to think about the Hypno fought down in Alola so she can face ghosts and Kiawe is annoying and Kukui gives good rewards buzz hidden behind his eyes.

"What do you think about Legends?" It had been impossible to ignore his undertones during the speech.

Surge shrugged. "Ours exist, you won't ever find me denying that. They're powerful enough to crush me with a single look, I won't fight that either. But ours stopped interfering so much when we developed a strong enough League to support ourselves. Still do all my traditions and holidays, but the issue with never seeing our own Legends in a few hundred years is that they start to fade a bit." He leaned back, a blithe chuckle escaping his lips. "That's something good about what happened in Alola, I guess. I don't look it, but I'm a strong believer in theirs. Whatever happened to chase Team Skull back wasn't a mortal influence."

"Oh."

The silence raced on again, which Surge seemed content to sit in, and it was only when Bulbasaur bumped his leg that Ash moved. Grimacing, he raised his head to look at the giant. "Yeah. I just- this is a lot to take in."

"Damn right it is," Surge hummed. "Took me plenty long and I was in it. Don't get too wrapped up. What's in the past is in the past. Gladion's here, he scampered from Alola as soon as the war was over, and Lance has been mentioning Kiawe's name pretty recently in meetings, but Alola's back to a paradise. Team Skull still exists, but it's comparing a rattata to a dragonite. Everyone on Alola hates 'em and so the most they can do is annoy before they're inevitably carted to prison. Whatever remains is shapin' up their act. Kukui's been working with Po's son, Guzma, to take the reins of the old group and make 'em into something worthwhile. No one wants to risk anything again."

Ash nodded again, glancing away for a second. Team Skull was a strange comparison to Team Rocket, at least partially. Strong in numbers, tightly attached, striving for control. Gideon had taken all he had to capture. Giovanni was still hunting on the members of Team Rocket in the League itself, proving that the group was more manipulative and vicious than the straight-forward javelin of Team Skull, but they were both dangerous.

"Why are you telling me this?" There was a moment of pause before Ash backpedaled, hands flying up. "Not that I'm not grateful, I mean, it's just that Gladion would also know-"

"Runt."

Ash shut up.

Surge leaned back, examining the ceiling tiles in a manner rather unconvincingly before answering. "See, for me, it was just a war. I didn't know this land. I didn't know these people. I was just shipped there one day and I started fighting."

"But for Gladion… that's his home. He's never talked about why he was exiled from Aether Paradise and that place closed down early in the war, so I guess we'll never know, but the kid's got connections to Alola. That's where he lived, grew up, was born. Leaves a mark, even though he hasn't been there for years. This story ain't one he's ever going to be comfortable telling."

Ash nodded, eyes flicking down again to stare at Bulbasaur, whose full attention was snagged on Surge. He hadn't considered that really, though he knew he should have. There must have been a reason Gladion was here instead of there, but he rather felt he was probably the last person to ask.

Surge grunted after a minute, making a move to stand. Raichu wrapped his tail tighter around his throat for stability as he stood, squeaking once with a few random sparks jumping from his red electricity sacs. "You can have a moment," he offered, voice rumbling. "Gladion'll still be working out his regime so just breath for a second and then head back."

As he headed toward the door, a final question sprung to the forefront of his mind.

"You said two years," Ash tried, words failing him amazingly. "But what you described… that only sounds like months."

Surge paused right before the exit, still turned away so Ash couldn't see his face. There was a stutter to his shoulders that hadn't been there before, even during the thick of the story. He could hear an exhalation.

"There was a lot of fighting, kid," he said at last, quietly. "And not all of it turned out pretty. I'll see you outside."

And with that, he was gone, shutting the door gently behind him.

It was fifteen minutes until he felt he was alright enough to leave the room.

Ash glared at the jitter in his hands until it went away, leaving him to slide the door open and step into the cooler hall. The air helped clear his thoughts somewhat, even though they still raced.

Surge was… somewhere between an acquaintance and a friend - it was difficult to tell with the man's permanent gruff attitude - and knowing what he had gone through and lost was hard to describe. The most he had known about wars were the dolled-up examples in textbooks, which was far different than the story coming from a fighter there.

Thankfully though, hearing the story had chased away the majority of the buzz behind his eyes. Karma's colors had successfully covered the blank splotch and Wraith's defenses were back to full strength, Rook's river running strong. It was a comforting contrast.

Ash resolved to ignore Alola for now. He didn't really have time to get caught up in the past, as Surge had said. There was little chance he could ignore it, but he didn't want to get caught.

He retraced his steps, trying to remember which way Surge had manhandled him. Bulbasaur snarled when he tried to go the wrong way, eventually leading the way and leaving him to trail behind with a sheepish grin. She marched through the door, bulb twitching and gleaming a pale green as the early morning light slipped over her. Ash let the searching fingers of sunlight twine over his arms, enjoying the warmth opposed to the cold of everywhere. A blistering shriek tore over the battleground.

Ash blinked, looked up, and flinched just in time to dodge a whistling burst of wind.

Gale screeched, barely catching himself before he could slam into the ground with the combined force of aerial ace and steel wing. He flapped clumsily back up, crest flared, and shrieked.

Crobat flew overhead, purple fur catching in its own wind, and managed to look remarkably smug even from a distance of forty feet up. It hadn't attacked Gale outright, instead throwing a current of wind just strong enough to throw off Gale's balance and divert his charge. Gale hurtled himself back at the poison type but Crobat spun itself and dropped, releasing twin air cutters to slam into Gale's talons. His charge went wide again.

Ash stopped, staring at the furious battle. Gale was in a rage, throwing everything at his opponent, but Crobat was barely retaliating. It lived in slow circles of forty feet up, lazily keeping itself within the boundaries of the battleground, but the only effort it put in was releasing weak, specialized attacks designed to throw Gale off instead of just damage him. It seemed to have used barely any energy, still the same level of power as it had been at the start, while Gale was definitely moving slower than he normally did. The fearow screamed overhead, wings seeming to slice through the air, but he didn't try for another frontal assault - instead, he soared higher, reaching nearly sixty, before blasting the air with heat wave.

Crobat spun, wings glowing, and used a centralized tailwind. The burst of energy tore a hole directly through the heat wave, clearing a path for Crobat to soar through. Gale tucked his wings and barrel-rolled away from the tailwind, still shrieking, his crest singing from his own heat wave. Crobat returned to its circles.

Ash whistled lowly. Gale had rarely been this pissed since Gary's Pidgeotto, and Crobat was only making it worse with every passing second. By not engaging him - and not letting him engage either - Gale's fury was spiking rapidly, and Ash was curious how long it would take for him to snap entirely.

Whatever Gladion wanted to achieve, he was certainly choosing a difficult path to get there.

He padded forward, watching Bulbasaur tuck herself in the corner with a clutter of Kalosian roses. Gladion stood in the middle of the field, eyes seeming to glow, stance like he was commanding an army.

It looked like it.

Rarely has his training ever gotten this chaotic. Ash barely knew where to look but Gladion handled it effortlessly, whistling commands or snapping his fingers. His pokemon responded immediately - Ash's struggled to keep up.

Rhydon stumbled, tail slamming into the ground to keep his balance. Vikavolt buzzed, soaring higher into the air as Rhydon snapped out a bulky fist, missing her entirely. He roared, arm still extended, but he had to struggle for a few seconds to properly pull it back. His eyes were furious.

His entire body glittered with minute burns, but it wasn't covered - instead of more black than grey, Ash found he could only see the electrical burns in certain places. The underside of his jaw, shoulders, base of his tail, every joint - and with every movement he made, it became painfully clear that the burns had reduced his movement to nearly zero. Every time he tried to move, his limbs would move slowly, and pulling them back was practically impossible. Vikavolt had miles to dodge his hits and could retaliate easily, reducing Rhydon immobile. A mountain of armor and force, but that was useless if he couldn't move.

Vikavolt hummed, jaws clicking, as she buzzed around his frenzied blows. A flamethrower split the air but she flew upward, looping around an errant flame and dodging easily enough. Rhydon spun at the speed of a slowpoke and bellowed.

Both him and Ash had underestimated her. The battle was one-sided.

The others weren't doing much better, either. Ash moved closer, careful to stay on the perimeter, and stared in not-well-hidden awe at the fights going on.

Scorch yelped in pain as sand peppered her eyes, flamethrower going wide. Lycanroc blurred around her, shaking his mane to release a barrage of pointed stones, another sand attack swirling over his back in preparation. The rocks didn't attack, falling to the ground in supposed meekness, and Lycanroc barely seemed to notice their release. Scorch yowled and released a burst of fire from her release tail, the flames curving around to obliterate the dirt in front of her eyes. As soon as she was able to see, she spun around to face Lycanroc, eyes burning blue with extrasensory even as her tails glowed with fire-

The stones on the ground sprung up and tore into her sides. Scorch fell, thrashing, and Lycanroc blurred away again. Stealth rock.

He hadn't actually attacked her, beyond the stealth rock, only using sand attack and rock throw to divert her attacks. It was similar yet different to Crobat - while he was the pressing force, the one to continuously engage, he wasn't doing any real damage. She had plenty of opportunities to attack. Judging by her frustration and Lycanroc's smooth coat, she hadn't succeeded yet.

Wraith howled his fury as his hand disintegrated, destroyed by Zoroark's mere presence as he tried for an attack. She churred, eyes gleaming, and stood stoically as Wraith dove for her. His ectoplasmic skin thinned and released a burst of poison, but she coughed out a wave of dark energy and exploded it before it ever reached her. Wraith went incorporeal, reappearing only a heartbeat later over her with his claws crackling with unearthly blue flames, but she snapped her fangs up and popped his form before he could get anywhere close. An unearthly wail echoed out.

Golisopod grunted, glancing down at its side with an expression of polite indifference. Rook screeched, glowing viscerally with night slash, and threw himself forward. His blades burned against the air and embedded into Golisopod's carapace. The bug type swatted him with a single claw as Rook was still struggling to dig deeper, yanking him out and throwing him across the empty battlefield. Rook hit the ground with a thud, still screeching.

Ash stood there, staring at the carnage. It was nicely organized - Scorch and Rook shared a field, Wraith and Rhydon on the other, and Gale took up the air - but with the sheer amount of attacks being thrown around, it took all he had to get his eyes to properly follow the madness. He could see a mr. mime in the corner, hands flashing constantly as it threw up shields to protect the uncaring Gladion. It looked like one from Sabrina's gym, though he couldn't tell for sure.

He didn't know how long he stood there, blinded by pops of fire and deafened by ghostly shrieks, before electricity crackled against his arm. Ash hissed, looking down - red stood out against his elbow, slightly shiny. Rubbing it more out of insult than any sort of pain, he glanced around and saw Surge waving him over, Raichu squeaking smugly by his side. Ash rolled his eyes but trotted over, quietly grateful from the endless chaos.

It looked like there would be no more talking of Alola, which he both appreciated and disliked. Surge had lost the cracks in his bravado, back to smug grins and roared laughter. He was wearing shades, the dark glasses covering his eyes, but the expression on his face looked the same as it always did.

"Training seems to be going well," he offered, jogging the last few steps. Surge barked with laughter.

"This is just the first day." Surge's grin exposed too many teeth to be entirely friendly. "He's starting out by beatin' some humility into your team's head, using perfect counters to crush them in a way they haven't faced before. Tonight, they're just going to pass out, but tomorrow they'll be so damn pissed they'll have to start getting creative to land a hit. 'Least, that's what he's guessing. And by using his counters, he's showing them ways around it. Your rhydon for example - he's big, he's strong, and he hits hard. If nothing gives him a chance to do that, he's a sitting psyduck. Vikavolt's fast, agile, and annoying - she'll whittle him down, hitting all his joints and weak points until he can't move, then she would blast him with her one power move. With that strategy, I've seen a jolteon take down a steelix." He shook his head, a chuckle building in his throat. "That was something to see."

Ash didn't quite know how to respond but a laugh came and so he let it, watching his pokemon get beat into the ground.

He waited for a moment, but there was no surge of frustration. Rhydon let out a pained roar as electricity crackled on the underside of his jaw, immediately sweeping up toward his horn but not before eroding another layer of his protective plating away from its intensity. Ash winced in sympathy.

He wasn't angry. It took him a moment to realize it, waiting but feeling no sting of irritation or fury at watching his best friends in the world get destroyed, and it was a moment longer before he figured it out.

His pokemon weren't getting obliterated.

Lycanroc wasn't peppering Scorch with stone edges and rock blasts, neither was Vikavolt against Gale and filling the skies with lightning. They were being stopped from using their own attacks but they weren't being crushed in response. It was learning, not just humility lessons - there was something far less infuriating about watching Wraith get popped by his own foolish charges than Zoroark blasting him with dark pulses.

Surge grinned, somehow watching both Ash and his team closely. "Your team'll hate and love you for this- oh, that's gotta hurt."

Gale pried himself up from the ground, talons safely having taken the brunt for him, but there was still an odd tilt to his left wing. Still, he shrieked at Crobat, who chittered back and pulled into a short loop to fly closer to the ground. That must have infuriated the fearow because he immediately took off, harnessing agility for an extra burst of speed. Crobat stopped flapping and dropped, leaving Gale to screech overhead.

"Where's Karma?" Ash asked, eyes flicking back to Wraith's sluggish reforming. The ghost was a good fourth smaller than normal.

Surge shrugged, shades slipping half an inch down his nose. "Sabrina took her right this morning. Apparently, the extra power, even if untrained, helps her search out and break down Silph Co's defenses, and she should learn some critical multitasking from it. Sabrina might give her back eventually, but just expect her to stay workin' there."

Ash nodded, wincing as Scorch was hit by another centralized stealth rock. Despite all her prowess with extrasensory, she had an awful time remembering where inanimate objects where she had to pay attention to. "What do I do? I've got some ideas for Wraith-"

Surge grunted, holding up a hand. "Wouldn't suggest it. Gladion's prickly at the best of times and he just needs to keep working. I'll have to throw something at him to get him to remember to eat." Another sharp-toothed grin crossed his face. "In the meantime, you'll be watchin' the fights to see how you've failed."

Ash bristled, prompting Surge to laugh again.

"Just look around, see the little tricks Gladion's using, and then spend tonight and the morn talking through what you'll do to combat that. Unless, of course, you want them to keep getting blasted, which is damn entertaining."

He let his shoulders drop and glanced away for a moment, staring as Rhydon used rock polish in a furious attempt to get rid of the blackened scorching over his armor.

Well, he had never been one to take a challenge lying down. Ash pulled his pokedex from his belt, flicking open to a new notes page, and watched.

Surge was helpful, to a point. He lounged back and provided unwanted - if hilarious - commentary on the whole thing, but he was able to read Gladion far better than Ash ever could and he pointed out strategies Gladion was trying to unlock in his pokemon that Ash wouldn't have gotten.

One note page was filled, then another. He eventually separated everything up into a document for each pokemon, using the rather clunky keypad as fast as he could. In terms of innovation, the pokedex was defining many of the new resources about training coming of. But technology-wise, the pokedex used pieces that had already been old when it came out. Touchscreen was widely used now and the pokedex didn't have that, still on buttons, and overall the thing just worked slower than other inventions made at the same time. Professor Oak's invention was paving the way for a whole new line of inventions in the same vein, but Ash felt a bit like he was trying to cram a textbook into a single sheet of paper when he used it.

He snacked idly on some protein bars as Surge chucked a sandwich across the entire battleground with ease, neatly going over the battles, and nearly smacked Gladion upside the head before the man managed to sidestep it. The glare he returned was legendary but he did eat the food.

Night crawled onward, spreading tendrils of shadows over the battleground until Ash was debating pulling out his flashlight when Gladion whistled. His pokemon immediately stopped their battles at the shrill sound, dodging any last furious attacks. Ash's nearly passed out the second everything was over, Wraith blipping out of existence and Gale thundering down in a barely-controlled dive to land. Surge laughed uproariously at the sight, pounding Ash's back hard enough he stumbled forward a few steps.

Gladion stretched on the battlefield, barely looking out of place, and started heading back over. Zoroark fell neatly beside him, carefully sheathing each of her claws.

"They'll be nicely slathered in some potions and then given back to you - there aren't many real injuries, just exhaustion. We'll give 'em some chesto berries revives for an energy boost in the morn. Don't bother them tonight, they'll need the sleep." Surge's grin grew wider, almost matching Gladion's eerie one. "And today's only the first of many."

Ash decided, at that moment, he would really, really not want to be trained by Gladion if he was a pokemon.

He recalled his team immediately, though leaving Karma out. There'd be time to talk that night but for now, he just needed them to start healing so they wouldn't be in awful shape the next day. The good thing, at least, about Gladion's training style was that Rook, Rhydon, and Wraith weren't getting destroyed, and that allowed them to still heal from their battle with Sabrina. If Ash was totally honest, he wanted another week to let them do nothing but lounge around in recovery, but exhaustion only slowed healing instead of stopping it.

It wasn't perfect, but this was training he couldn't pass up.

He padded back to the healing room, rolling the pokeballs over the counter until Hypno grabbed them and teleported out without so much as a glance in his direction. Karma still hadn't returned, but he wasn't worried about her safety. She'd come back when she was done.

His room seemed cold, and Bulbasaur snarled at the temperature. He debated opening the window before deciding to keep it closed; Scorch would be back soon, and the cold spell meant nothing much would be heated anyway. In the meantime, he set up a small nest of blankets for Bulbasaur on the windowsill, which she curled upon, and prepared for his team's arrival.

Berries, half of the entirety of his stores, were arranged in piles of favourites. He idly nudged one or two of Scorch's cheris into Gale's noticeably tiny pile - he still didn't really care for berries, which was strange - and slipped a yache into Karma's as a test run.

He tried to set up the bed in the best way he could - a thin strip down one side for him, the majority else taken up by Scorch's customary fireproof sheets and a clean spot around the headboard for Gale. Rhydon's place next to the bed was empty, and he guessed Karma might want the corner opposite the desk. Wraith preferred under the bed when he slept corporeal - which Ash was kind of doubting he'd do tonight - and so he slipped his extra supplies under the desk instead.

It was exactly at the time that Ash was planning on heading down to the healing room to see what was happening, head still bursting with Alola no matter how much he tried to chase it away, when Hypno teleported inside his room, tired eyes glancing around the room. It offered him five pokeballs with its normal blank expression. The second he was distracted with managing his team, Hypno snatched up one colbur berry and teleported out, ignoring his yelp.

Shaking his head, Ash crammed himself in one corner as best he could to make space and released his team.

Rhydon rumbled, visibly sagging despite his bright armor. It was sleeker than before, mainly because of the number of times he had used rock polish, and he looked absolutely miserable. Gale hopped over to the available headboard and almost immediately tucked his head behind his wing, closely followed by Scorch collapsing on the bed. Wraith never went corporeal but Ash could feel his customary trickle of wind as he dove beneath the bed, darkening the shadows by his mere presence. Rook, at least, ambled toward the berries and tore into his pure-chople pile, red juice sliding down the length of his blades.

Ash sighed before jumping in to help.

With a bit of effort, he managed to walk Rhydon over to lay down next to the bed. He put his pile of berries directly in front of his mouth so he had to do the bare minimum of effort to eat them, which the ground type rumbled happily at before taking nearly a minute to reopen his eyes after blinking. Gale didn't move, no matter what he tried, so he set aside his berries for now. Sometime during then, Wraith's had disappeared, so he let the ghost be beyond sticking his head under the bed and whispering congratulations to the empty space.

Scorch yipped tiredly at him when he approaching, barely releasing a few degree's worth of heat, but after she ate a few spicy berries she did perk up. Her tails twitched as she watched him fly around the room, helping everyone.

Karma teleported in soon enough, ears flat against her skull and only a few inches off the ground. She didn't seem nearly as tired as the others, though she was quiet. Her shock at seeing the others' state was probably only amusing to Ash, but he took it anyway. She gathered her berries quickly and drifted off to a corner, shines flowing in their inactive form around her neck.

Rook needed the least help - steel types were naturally strong in order to be able to move their own armor, and he only really performed the same frontal charge over and over today. Ash guessed he was going to have to sit down with the pawniard to actually get him to try something new, come up with a new strategy; without a bisharp - or "bisharp", in Ash's case - directing him, he seemed to revert completely back to his methods of the wild.

He took a moment to admire his handiwork and found it rather heartwarming. Rhydon's dorsal spines rose with every breath, trembling the room on its foundations, as he watched his pack carefully. Gale was a huddled mass of grey-red feathers with no intentions of moving; Scorch a curled up pile of golden fur. Rook laid beneath the window in that awkward, stiff way he did with his thick armor, though it never seemed to bother him, and Karma floated quietly in the corner.

This was only day one, he supposed, grabbing his pokedex and shuffling to the desk in the corner. If they wanted a chance to beat tomorrow, he'd be right there with the strategies they needed. They had all suffered by not having him there to direct them as well as no time to prepare - and Gladion's pokemon had done their absolute best to rile them all up to the point where they couldn't think straight. Tomorrow would be different.

For Rhydon, he'd need something to slow down Vikavolt to the point where he could hit her. Smack down was the first thought to come to his mind, but then there was the issue of how easy that was to dodge for a small, speedy pokemon like the bug type, so maybe mixed in with rock blast for his combo of widespread? But then-

Ash caught himself the first time he nearly faceplanted against the desk, but not the second.

Grimacing, he rubbed at the already-forming bruise on his forehead and glanced at his pokedex clock. He immediately winced - nearly three am, the bright numbers annoyingly cheerful against the black of his room. Ash glanced around at his team, finding every single one of them passed out, and groaned as quietly as he could.

At least, when he set a bad example, no one was awake to see it.

Shutting off his pokedex and plugging it into the outlet for a charge, he stood and tried to shake free the stiffness that had built up over his five hours in the desk chair. His limbs popped and cracked in a manner most unpleasant but he decided that was good enough, changing quickly and ignoring the concept of another shower. Ash padded toward the bed, a frown crossing his face - Scorch had managed to sprawl out over seventy-five percent of the thing, tails fully spread and lazy plumes of heat escaping from her ears. He stared at her for a good minute, snapping his fingers quietly, but she barely seemed to breathe, let alone stir. Getting an arm under her stomach, he managed to shove her into some semblance of sharing and clambered into the bed as well, tucking himself up next to her ambient heat and immediately passing out.

xXx

He pumped his fist against the air, cheering as Rhydon managed to rip up enough of a widespread to completely cover his form. Vikavolt buzzed furiously and flew up, but even Ash could see sand powder over her wings and drop her a few feet. She recovered almost instantly and flew above the rest of the blast, but that was progress. Progress! Rhydon bellowed proudly at his first successful hit.

Surge grunted and smacked his fist out of the air, Raichu chittering smugly on the bench next to them both. "That ain't the stance, runt."

Ash obligingly got back into the position Surge had told him to be in, feet perpendicular with his left pointing forward and ahead of the other. His fists fell into positions by his side, thumb on the outside instead of the inside - Surge had nearly popped a blood vessel when he saw Ash's first attempt at a fist - and he angled one in front of him. It was an awkward position, but he supposed it'd be useful when he eventually caught a fighting type. It was considered tradition to train alongside fighters, both to help them develop as well as binding their loyalty. While most other pokemon cared about how strong and undefeated a trainer made them, fighting types needed someone who worked with them, even though they had to stick with learning regular punches compared to blistering focus blasts. The act of training alongside pokemon was one well known for fighting type trainers. He idly wondered whether Leaf did - she must have, to stick with that type.

Surge made a slow, exaggerated punch with his right arm, and Ash mirrored him. It felt odd, pulling his shoulders forward to match his invisible target head-on instead of the twisted position he had been in earlier. Surge jabbed his right out, Ash struggling to follow, but he fell into a comfortable pattern of repeating those two punches.

Surge seemed to see the exact moment it got easy for Ash, because he immediately asked him a question. "What's Lycanroc's advantage over your ninetales?"

Ash perked up, sliding into another punch. "Everything she does." Surge raised an eyebrow, and he didn't need any more prompting to jump in.

"See, that's the thing about Scorch. She's got all these strategies - distraction, whittling down, ranged and physical attacks - that she can take down most pokemon. Bulky tankers she chips away at with fire spin and distance barrages, speedsters she traps and distracts with her fire clones - or fire bombs for physical fighters - and aggressive rangers she creates fire armor and forces them to get close by dodging. But she can't face well against something that does everything she does. Lycanroc - he's fast, has ranged and physical moves, and excels in distraction and area-control moves, same as her. She's not used to having to find counters to those kinds of moves so that's why she's struggling."

"Arm down."

"Oh yeah, sure- so she can use a distraction technique, let's say light show. But at that same time, Lycanroc uses stealth rock, and once both of their moves end, they're back in a stalemate, neither having had the time to attack. And then she tries for a barrage of embers in order to get a couple will-o-wisps out for a burn hex, but Lycanroc doesn't use his normal rock blast destruction technique and just quick attacks out of the way. Then she has to quick charge - sorry, flame charge and quick attack - in order to block him, and then they're circling again. Another stalemate. Then he goes in with a sand attack prepped and she gets thrown across the field because she's normally only faced straight-forward pokemon. Trainers, mainly, when they see a ninetales, think smart, weaker fire, non-physical, and then they throw out a counter for that - mainly fighting types, fliers, or anything water. But lycanroc wouldn't be on that list, mainly because they're one of the most fragile rock types. Their armor is only on their ruff, and Alola's given them thick fur that burns easily. And the majority of his rock moves are all distance, which Scorch can dodge easily. But it's because she's so rarely had to face a pokemon like him that she's failing." He finished his thought process with another left jab, feeling rather proud of his ideas.

Surge grunted, but there was a grin on his face. "Not bad. What're you going to do to change that?"

"Toxic cloak," Ash said decisively. "The main problem is that his moves match hers: extrasensory for odor sleuth, lightshow for sand attack, ember for rock throw, flamethrower for rock slide, heat wave for stomping tantrum, and so on. But there's one glaring issue- he doesn't have the Trio abilities she does. So if I give her time to charge up a ghostly assault, or even the bare beginnings of her zen headbutt, then she's got a much better chance. And toxic cloak is the way to do it - his odor sleuth won't work with the stench of toxic, so she should have plenty of time." He frowned. "Solar beam might also work, but I don't want to drop a new move on her in the middle of all of this training."

Surge laughed, jerking Ash out of his stance again. "I don't suppose you've got thoughts on everyone else too?"

Ash resisted the urge to grab for his nice, perfect notes in his pokedex and nodded. "Who's next?"

xXx

A week and a half later, Ash hadn't ever found himself wishing to be on the road more.

He dragged himself out of bed, now having to rely entirely on the chirping tone of his pokedex instead of Scorch or Rhydon, exhausted as they were. Slapping off with one hand, he clambered into the shower and contemplated never leaving.

Everything hurt. And that was just him - he wasn't even the one being trained under Gladion, for Arceus' sake! But even just basic punches and kicks from Surge, as well as getting slammed into the ground every single time they had a mock spar, had made him ache in ways he hadn't thought possible.

His team wasn't doing any better. Karma was taking it the worst - she had only worked with Sabrina for three days before getting dropped straight into Gladion's training, not having the welcoming period the others did. Golisopod was simply there as a weight for her to lift while still fighting off Rook, which seemed easy at first.

It wasn't. Golisopod was a bug type, which meant the natural chaos of his mind and the protection of an exoskeleton versus a skeleton messed with every single one of her natural senses until she was putting four times the effort she did on any other pokemon just to get a solid hold on him. And then there was the fact he weighed around five hundred pounds, which, for her, was heavier than anything she had ever lifted. So far, she had managed to stare angrily at the air, eyes glowing like suns, as Golisopod drifted up and down a few inches, seemingly unaffected.

Gladion had also put her in a few mock battles against Golisopod, whenever Rook was cheerfully passed out after one too hard a hit. He would fill the air with a weakened bug buzz, staining everything green, and then throw up enough dust to confuse her physical senses. It often came down to Karma floating there, searching furiously for a behemoth large enough he should have stuck out like a spotlight as bug energy jolted her mind and concentration.

Her weakness was her inability to control a battle. She had power in spades and enough sheer willpower to control it, but her opponent could easily use a Trio attack and become all but invisible to her. She needed to learn to sense others, change the battlefield with curls of her massive power, and force them to face her.

Which Golisopod was excellent at avoiding.

He turned off the water with a sigh and stayed in the steam for a moment longer, enjoying the warmth, before getting out and changing. His time on the road had prepared him for chaotic mornings, at least.

Surge ignored knocking altogether and merely busted in, forcing the pokemon that had only just started to stir into full wakefulness. Ash appeared from the bathroom, hiding his yawn in the palm of his hand.

"Enjoying sleeping in, runt?" Surge said, grinning wildly. From behind him, Ash could see Scorch practically slither off the bed in an attempt to conserve energy.

He was rather proud of the glare he leveled at Surge, though the bags under his eyes probably ruined it. "Are you kidding? I spent two minutes last night trying to get toothpaste out of an empty tube because I was seeing double, and I had to release Rhydon nearly four times to get him into his proper sleeping position because he could barely move. Gladion grilled them harder yesterday than any before."

"And that's because you've got today off."

Ash blinked.

The day off? What had they done wrong? His team was exhausted, sure, but they always were. There must be something else.

Surge watched him stutter stop for nearly a minute, grin steadily widening, before he started talking again. "Today and tomorrow are your days to fancify everything, come up with some plans, before Gladion drops his test on you. I'll let him explain it to you, but I'm certain you'll enjoy the damn thing."

Days off for planning, and then a test. He nodded absentmindedly, thoughts already racing - this time with Gladion, having to constantly watch six battles all at once and come up with strategies for each of them, had seriously trained his own ability to see weaknesses and flaws in his own pokemon, and he was going to use that to give his team the edge they needed to pass this test. Test. Something like a gym battle?

"Back to the gym challenge floor in five," Surge grunted, sweeping from the room. The door clicked closed behind him, swinging shut sharply as if possessed. Ash nodded again at the empty space.

"Two days. Alright." He turned back to his team, who stared blearily at him through various states of wakefulness. "Today we'll plan, and tomorrow we'll prep. Okay?"

Rhydon rumbled, shifting his head against the ground in a mockery of a nod. Ash debated quickly whether to take any of them with him but decided against it - even Wraith, normally his most boundless pokemon, had only gone corporeal with one bloody eye peering out from the shadows. Bulbasaur stirred with a snarl from her windowsill, padding down the chair backing he had set up for her to easily get to the window. He winced at the indents her claws had left embedded into the drywall but she hardly seemed to notice, walking up to Wraith. He blinked - winked? - his single eye at her, hissing from a mouth Ash couldn't see, and disappeared back into the shadows. She growled at the empty space but went back to Ash.

She was probably the only one who had enjoyed this past week and a half - except for Surge, the sadist. The majority of her time was spent exploring the Saffron City Gym's exotic flowers, mainly from Hoenn, but Ash had caught her watching the training more often than not.

He had seen her raking at the air in an almost mockery of Wraith's fighting style, dull claws gleaming, infrequently but still happening. Ash didn't want to hold out hope that she'd eventually grow to like battling, but she didn't seem to hate it anymore. Her sleep powder had certainly grown immensely stronger.

Ash walked out of the room with her by his side, moving past the healing room and heading right. Bulbasaur seemed pleased she didn't have to lead him by the nose any longer, padding alongside him with her spots reflecting the dull light of the hall. Ash heard the sound of voices - Surge's deep rumble - and moved faster.

The gym challenge room appeared to have been through some form of Distortion, enormous furrows carved through the dirt and marks that looked almost like a sandslash's claws marring the normal dirt. Sabrina's hair was frazzled, but even as Ash entered, she smoothed it with a curl of psychic energy. Her eyes glowed with frustration, face impassive as always.

Gladion turned as Ash entered, lips quirking as he watched Bulbasaur sniff curiously at the battlefield. "Lady Sabrina received an early battle."

Ash nodded, stopping to complete the sort of square the other three were making. Surge grinned at him sharply, no Raichu present but a jolteon curled in the corner of the room, sparking softly in its sleep. He could feel the buzz from Sabrina's Alakazam in the back of his mind, not present nor in battle but powerful enough it was a constant thing. Resting, maybe.

Gladion cleared his throat, drawing Ash's attention back. "Surge told you about my test?"

"Of it," he offered.

The man's eyes flashed, pleased. "Good. On your journey, you have won seven gym badges, correct?" He didn't wait for a response. "Then you are used to a simple battle. In Alola, we don't have your methods for our circuit, instead having a challenge that tests both the trainers and their pokemon. It holds much more difficulty than the gyms of Indigo." The words sounded painstakingly rehearsed - which, by the way Surge was barely able to hold back laughter, he wasn't the only one to notice - but Gladion bulldozed on despite it. "I do not have a badge for you to win, but I do have a challenge."

For one tiny moment, Ash wondered what would happen if he didn't accept.

"I will place an item on the outskirts of Saffron City, specifically the battleground near the western side. Your job is to find, retrieve, and bring the item back to me."

Ash blinked. That didn't sound terribly hard, if time-consuming, and three of his pokemon were perfect for search-and-find missions. A frown crossed his face - if he knew Gladion, there was something he hadn't mentioned. The item actually being one of his pokemon, Gladion hunting for it alongside him?

"During your mission, my own team will be released onto the city," Gladion said with another sharp-toothed grin. "They will attack you. Your job is to keep them away from public areas and defeat them. Every pokemon you have seen so far is fair game."

Ash could feel himself blanch at Gladion's words - attack him? That was heavily against League rules, given as his squishy body versus Rhydon only had one outcome. And all of Gladion's pokemon were powerful, mainly Zoroark and Golisopod. The dark type was vicious and as smart as a whip, with Wraith having fought with every bit of strength he had and still only managing to land a few hits, while Golisopod was a walking mountain with armor to rival a rhyperior and the ranged moves to accent that. He was immensely grateful for the rules being every pokemon you have seen, Surge's words of the unbeatable Kumu having kept him in high alert. Ash realized the silence was stretching and glanced back up at Gladion, who had an eyebrow raised.

"Yes. I- I accept." The words didn't exactly show his confidence and so he tried to straighten his shoulders, staring directly up into Gladion's eyes as if he was the one issuing the challenge instead.

Surge's grin widened. "I'm going to enjoy watching Gladion kick your ass."

"I can speak for myself," Gladion muttered, losing the majority of his formality. "But yes. It will take place tomorrow night, as soon as the sun sets, to avoid crowds. The item will be small, about this size-" he curled his hand into a fist "-and not visible. My pokemon will be only roughly instructed by me and will have freedom for the majority else - that should help you somewhat. No visits to Nurse Joy during this time, though of course you are allowed to recall at any time."

Gladion paused, watching as Sabrina began to walk out of the room. Her leg had finished healing a few days ago, the bruise on her cheekbone now an off-yellow, but she still moved stiffly as though she had many more hidden injuries. "Something is happening within Silph Co," she hummed. "I must go."

Surge nodded, stepping back to let her pass. She moved quickly, eyes flashing a pale blue, and was gone.

Gladion turned back to him. "My team is strong, much stronger than yours. With all of your strength combined, you might have a chance - but my team will be doing what they can to capture you and bring you to me. Your pokemon will both have to protect themselves and you, and your commands will have to be flawless to achieve that. Do you understand?"

There was the formal language again. Ash nodded his head, swallowing with a surprisingly dry throat - the last time he had been truly targeted had been with Charizard. But there was no cage this time, no flamethrowers heating the air until his skin caught fire and his team burned. Shaking his head, he nodded again. Gladion's lips quirked.

"Then go get ready," he said, tone properly dramatic, and stalked out.

Ash jerked and immediately ran back to his room, followed by Surge's boisterous laughter.

xXx

Hey all, I return!

Sorry for the hiatus as well as the shorter chapter today, but I'll be honest, I'm going to be shortening everything up for a while after in order to still be able to release chapters within a decent time frame. College is picking up so if I manage to keep things around a 15k radius, I should still be able to do around once/twice a month. But also, knowing me, expect a couple 25+ because I have no self-control.

Alola mysteries are revealed! Gladion has a test! Ash's team is accepting death to get away from training! Ash is handling everything entirely healthily!

The next two chapters are going to be significantly more action-packed, to make up for this one, and hopefully, they should be out much sooner. I was originally planning on having the test be this chapter, but when I hit 17k with just the training, I figured you'd want it this decade (heh) rather than later.

300k words!

Sorry again for the hiatus, and thanks for reading!