It felt like years since Ash had last traveled.
Route 5 welcomed him with extended arms of maples and oaks, still tightly holding onto their crowns of leaves even as winter approached faster and faster. Grass stretched hesitant runners over the path, trampled flat by endless feet, the last few hardy wildflowers sprawling next to the brush. Dew - there had been light rain yesterday - made green glitter gold in the sunlight. It wasn't a long route - a week and some change at most - but Ash was going to savor every day.
That wasn't to say it also didn't suck to get back to traveling. Six months had done him a world of good but there was a reason trainers had to keep moving or else risk settling down forever - his muscles had grown lax in the two weeks of sitting on a bench and watching his team. He had also bought new boots from Saffron's high-quality market, monstrous things he hoped would get him through Kanto's winter, mild as it was; breaking them in after two weeks of practically no movement would be less than fun.
But there was sun here, and green, and trees and sounds and earth, and Ash felt remarkably light looking forward.
Every route connected to Saffron was swamped by massive forests, and Route 5 was no different. The League plowed through the woods every few months to clear out the roots determined to choke the path and branches shadowing it overhead, but every time Ash so much as twitched his head in a direction other than straight ahead all he could see were trees, endless numbers in species he had no hope to recognize. There was life, too - rattata tails that appeared for mere seconds through the underbrush, the chirps of pidgey flocks that swarmed overhead, coins abandoned by meowth after they'd grown out of that size.
Ash, only halfway through his first day, wondered idly if he'd eventually become one of those Masters that never left the woods. With this strong of a reaction after a mere two weeks in-city, he wasn't putting the offer completely off the table.
Things in Saffron had taken surprisingly little time to wrap up fully. Gladion had sent him a digital copy of the confirmation letter on his pokedex - in case you manage to lose this single piece of paper - and promptly fled back to the dark of the gym. He guessed Gladion had felt rather out of his depth with the thanks Ash had been throwing down, which was entirely his fault, but it wasn't like he wasn't going to thank the man that had trained him for the past two weeks.
Sabrina had accepted it much better, tilting her head, and he had felt her awareness flutter on the edge of his senses. Erika's words had risen to the forefront of his mind, for some reason, the little warning she had given him about the psychic Master. Sabrina had seemed a bit confused about that but merely turned back to him, eyes bright, and said she would be returning to her investigation of Silph Co and that he had done well. Her praise made his chest warm.
Surge had all but steered him to the healing center of the gym, letting him give the hypno there his pokemon. Then it had evolved into a conversation about Tide, which. Well.
Ash was less than pleased with what he had done over the past two weeks. The sealeo had been neglected for no good reason other than the fact he didn't have the ability of being able to maneuver well on dry land, at least not until he gained the extra pair of limbs evolution would bring. Two weeks of sitting back at a cushy lab while his team had been put through the grindstone.
Surge had told it was for the best - patchwork training is worse than no training at all - but that hadn't exactly cleaned Ash of his guilt. Cerulean would be a place for training Tide. He deserved it.
That being said, Route 5 had ample opportunities to push Tide.
While the majority of it was forest, one of the largest concentrations of pure deciduous forest in Kanto, there was also a landmark that ran only half a mile or so parallel to the route itself.
The Kiyome River was well-known but not well-traveled - it was strong and fast, armed with rapids to aid its speed and unhampered by a general lack of pokemon. Meowth were the most common pokemon on Route 5, dozens of fully-fledged packs, and their claws were perfect for river hunting. Any pokemon that had once lived in the river - most likely magikarp and poliwag, judging by where it flowed from and to - had long-since moved on or else risk extinction. So the Kiyome raced unbidden, too fast for swimming or most training.
But even though it wasn't on the main path, or truly anywhere even close, other curious trainers had explored and found that there were frequent bends in the river, ones which pooled a massive amount of water in an extremity almost resembling a pond. The current of the river was normally only present in the back half, keeping the flow up, but it was, for the most part, smooth water large enough to handle most pokemon. The perfect training ground.
The hard part, of course, was finding them.
He didn't have Gale with him - the fearow had been sent back to Professor Oak for his stunt with Crobat, and while he had been miffed, he understood what he had done. The avian had seemed - almost - sorry as he had been sent away. Gale loved to battle, but he could realize when he had messed up. Ash had given him some halfhearted advice to try and combine agility with flurry, but he more wanted the fearow to sit around and do some soul searching. Once he got his carry limit removed, he'd be able to really talk with him to see what was going on. He had his suspicions - Gary's pidgeot being chief among them - but it was up to Gale to face them.
Ash glanced back down at his pokedex, gauging again roughly the distance he'd have to travel to find the first bend. He was probably roughly at the spot where the river ran closest to the route - it wasn't considered important enough for actual landmarks on the map, but plenty of other trainers on forums had found the location and shared - but it was hard to tell. He stared at the mass of trees in front of them, the underbrush that looked thick enough to swallow him whole, and grabbed for a pokeball. He'd wanted his team to rest until training that night, but it seemed he needed one anyone.
Rook screeched as he was realized, golden eyes immediately snapping down to his blades. He was silent as he took them in. Ash knelt to be more on his level, slipping his pokedex back onto his belt. The pawniard blinked, extending his fully-repaired arm, and stared up at Ash.
"Nurse Joy fixed it up," he offered, pointing roughly to the blade. She had also sharpened them just enough where Rook wouldn't have to spend a week getting them back to his preferred level of sharp, but he wouldn't be mentioning that. "You're as good as new."
Rook's bone that ran down the middle of the blade hadn't been broken, but the steel had, and it took an impressively hot fire to mold the thing back into place. Nurse Joy had given him a tightly controlled lecture about taking better care of his pawniard when she had finished, and Ash would bet gold Gladion had gotten the same thing about controlling his team better.
The dark type screeched again, waving his arm around. It moved just as fluidly as its pair, and he seemed entirely pleased to have his weapons returned. Ash dodged a tap to his thigh before standing, pointing at the forest. Rook turned to follow his finger.
"We're going to be going through there. Do you mind helping me cut through the brush?"
Rook gave one glance at the collection of wide-leaved ferns before immediately sprinting forward. His blades cleaved a narrow path in an instant and then he was pushing forward, black coloration quickly swallowed by the shadows of the forest. Ash chuckled and trotted to catch up.
That morning, after a week of trying, he'd finally been able to reach his mother. She had seemed exhausted, weary bags under her eyes and skin paler than normal, but her cheer was no less diminished from the last time he had seen her. She gushed about the Shamouti Islands, talking about the ocean and the flowers and the people, and Ash had asked her enough questions he guessed he could probably give a tour. Then she had swamped him with excitement about his birthday and sent over a small present, promising something larger once she had slept for several days after the exhaustion of traveling. Ash reached up and touched the pin on the side of his hat - it was small, cut in the shape of the main Shamouti Island, but an iridescent blue that seemed to glow with every single color depending on the way he looked at it.
It was only by the time they'd finished their conversation that he'd remembered Cascade, but he figured it could wait. She was his mother.
Rook screeched against a particularly stubborn sapling that refused to go down and Ash gently directed him around it, pulling up his map once again. According to the most popular forum, the banks of the river were surprisingly clear of forest, and he could follow it up for nearly a week before needing to get back on the route to actually make it to Cerulean. In the distance, he could hear running water. Sidestepping another bunch of brambles, he kicked his pace up another notch to keep up with Rook, who was moving faster.
Less than ten minutes from when they'd started, Ash ducked under a final low-grown branch and emerged into open air.
Describing the Kiyome as fast moving didn't do it enough justice - the brilliant blue raced through the cut in the ground, even the smallest of rocks kicking up sprays of mist. Ash padded forward, feeling the earth waver beneath his feet - mostly mud, judging by how much water the river lost with every second. It snapped on by, the riverbed deep enough from its punishing pace Ash would have to seriously worry if he fell in.
Maybe the pokemon that had once lived here hadn't just been chased away by meowth hunters.
Rook was screeching mistrustingly toward the water and Ash did his best to corral the dark type away from the edge, his blades already slick with mist. It didn't help that Kanto had finally gotten its act together and started cooling down, and being so close to such a tumultuous river had dropped the temperature at least five degrees. Ash tucked his arms tighter to his sides.
They'd just have to walk up the side for a few hours until finding the first bend, and this would be an excellent place to get a good supply of water. Rook came to his side when he prodded the scar in his mind, golden eyes bright. "C'mon, bud. Let's go."
Rook screeched and immediately trotted alongside behind him, scraping his blades together every now and then. The river provided endless background noise and the woods were still beautiful, even more so when not tamed by the League. He'd missed this, in Saffron City.
"You did really well, Rook," Ash said, glancing down at the pawniard. "Against Zoroark. We couldn't have won that without you."
He could feel the dark type's presence in his mind brighten.
xXx
By the time they stumbled across the first bend, Ash was tired, cold, and wishing he had decided to just stay on the route until time to train. It was incredible how fast traveling lost its overwhelming appeal when it wasn't just simple walks on a warm path surrounded by beautiful woods.
His feet hurt.
But the bend was incredible in its own way, different from the power the Kiyome exuded on its regular stretches. The way they were formed was simple - the river had originally been a narrow, twisting line over Kanto, but as its current increased and it began to carry more water, it had simply cut straight through where a bend had been. Thus, the river continued right on, while its bend was left much calmer as it filled in.
A massive, stretching expanse of blue carried across, bare little ripples moving over its surfacing only a few feet away from the rapids of the main part of the river. Ash felt comfortable enough getting close, staring into the depths - the water was dark enough he couldn't see anything beyond the shadowed silhouettes of rocks and earth near the shore.
Rook screeched again, poking at the riverbed. It stayed surprisingly well under the assault, probably mostly made of clay. Ash walked the perimeter of the bend and, while the forest pressed much closer here than on any place before, there was still plenty of room for his team to train if they spread out. It wasn't their normal time to start, a little earlier than before, but Ash was fine with taking it slow today and spreading out over more time.
He also really wanted Scorch out to combat the chill from the river.
His team appeared in flashes of red, Ash aiming as best he could to keep them a few feet apart. There wasn't much open space - even with Rook gleefully hacking through the base of every plant he could find, the brambles were bad.
Rhydon rumbled, shrugging back his massive shoulders as he looked around. His eyes narrowed as he saw the water, horn crackling with a few excess sparks. Scorch looked similarly annoyed.
Wraith disappeared into the shadows of the forest almost immediately, a pair of bloody red eyes the only part visible, and Karma carefully twitched a bit farther away. The ghost's aura had strengthened recently, which was the only sign Ash could look for in accordance to evolution, but he was trying not to get his hopes too high. Ghosts took incredibly long to evolve.
Bulbasaur snarled at him - miffed she had been kept in her pokeball, even though he had explained it to her - but padded over to Wraith and laid down in a particularly bright sunbeam. She ignored it when he tapped her head with the knuckle of one jagged claw, which was progress.
Ash held onto his last pokeball, grimacing, before clicking the release.
Tide formed with a deep bark - a much deeper bark than Ash remembered, really - and slammed his flippers against the ground. Pale blue fur, cream underbelly, white whiskers, dark brown eyes. He stared around at his teammates for a moment before his gaze landed on Ash.
He immediately flung himself forward and bumped his head against Ash's thigh, breath bringing ducklettflesh over his entire body. Ash leaned down and hugged the ice type as best he could, wrapping his arms around his neck. "I'm sorry, bud. But you're back now. You won't ever have to leave again."
Tide's resounding bark had a note of quiet in it Ash never wanted to hear again.
He straightened back up, keeping one hand splayed over Tide's head. The sealeo leaned into the contact. "We'll be doing some move training until we reach Cerulean, but we'll be keeping it light after everything." He could feel a barely-hidden note of relief from Karma's colors. "I'll give everyone some ideas for tonight but I'll be working with Tide for the next few days, so just do the best you can."
Tide barked and slid back as Ash went around to assign jobs, whiskers twitching curiously as he examined the river. Every teammate came up to him, speaking in their native tongue, and Ash smiled at the gesture. Even though the sealeo could easily get on their nerves with his die-hard battling personality, he was part of their team.
Scorch's pokeball burned a myriad of greens as it spun, the TM importing all needed information into her mind. She wouldn't be able to practice it much tonight, with the setting sun, but just getting a feel for the new type of energy now within her would be much needed. When he released her, she churred curiously, flexing her tails with an odd look in her eyes. Solar beam would be the edge she needed to win her fights now.
Wraith looked fascinated by the concept of curse - putting a part of his essence within his opponent and attacking them from the inside was exactly his style of battle. It would be easier when he evolved into a gengar, able to dissolve himself with the incredibly difficult tactic known as miasma, but for now his hands would suffice. He immediately disappeared back into the shadows of the forest.
Karma took more time. Ash had been fascinated by how her battle with Sabrina had gone in person instead of just concept, forcing that connection between her and Alakazam, and though her colors had twinged green with concern she seemed just as excited at the idea of something he was tentatively calling melding. If she could reach out and influence her opponent's mind with her own powers, a battle would be as good as over. Signal beam was also added to the mix, though to a lesser extent.
Rook was his usual self when Ash told him the basics of iron head, though he did see a flicker in his golden eyes at the combos of attach and fury claw. Attach was relatively simple - combine a charge with a thunder wave to raise the chance of a successful attach - but fury claw was difficult. Bug and dark type energy couldn't be combined, as they repelled each other, but Rook could eventually learn to have one of his blades be fury cutter and the other be night slash, for an array of attacks that would overwhelm his opponent. There was a method behind it - multiple energies in an attack would tear through an opponent's armor faster - but Ash also wanted him to try and pick up more of a strategic battling style, beyond that of just running and stabbing. The pawniard cheerfully sprinted off to immediately begin.
Rhydon was getting something different.
True, Ash wanted him to work on the dome structure of widespread, perfecting moving it fast enough to leave himself openings for attacking but leaving his opponent unable to, but after six months it was finally time. Surge's words had struck a chord and Ash knew Rhydon had been unbelievably patient so far, but now they were finally ready.
Earthquake was incredibly dangerous, the most powerful ground type move in existence. Rhydon couldn't just start throwing it around with no consequences - but once he learned it, the move would be utterly devastating. They were starting slow, simply transferring earth power down instead of up and keeping the energy contained, but it was a start.
Rhydon's eyes burned pure red as Ash told him.
Karma carefully levitated the ground type across the river to the other side of the bend, shines melting from the effort, but Ash wanted him as far away from the team when he started training it. Rhydon nodded at him, a mere grey splotch from that far away, and went deeper into the forest to avoid collapsing the river. Earthquake.
Tide barked, slapping his tail against the ground as Ash turned to him.
Two weeks had done… a world of difference, honestly. Pulling up every memory in his mind of the sealeo didn't have him being this large - he seemed to have gained maybe thirty pounds since the last time Ash had seen him, his whiskers growing another branch outward to nearly cover his entire face. His two fangs, normally only barely visible past his mouth, glittered in the light.
Ash was a little more than cautiously hopeful but he shook it off. No reason to try and convince Tide of something when he just needed to work with his friend.
"I do have some good news," He said, tapping his fingers along his thigh. "We're going to Cerulean City, which is all about water types, and we're going to take a test there from the Sisters. When - if," he amended, "-we win, I'll be allowed to have as many pokemon with me as I can handle. That means I won't have to send anyone back again."
Tide's eyes lit up, brown depths shining. He barked again, the sound nearly concussive, and slammed his tail hard enough into the ground to indent it. Excited. The same thrill that had filled him when Ash had first seen him at Vermillion. A grin slashed over his face.
"Then let's see what you can do, so we can win this."
The sealeo howled.
Ash's grin widened as he thought, mind pulling up all the strategies he had thought about for Tide. "I asked you to work on aqua ring, right?" The ice type nodded. "And… making ice floes. Alright. Show me what you've got."
Tide immediately turned tail and flung himself into the river bend, slick fur slightly too dark to fully blend in. He was a deep sea pokemon, glacier subsect - rivers weren't meant for him. But it would be enough for now. Ash saw his blurry form circle a few times, stretching muscles being in a pokeball kept tightly wound and exploring the space he had to work with. It was always fascinating to watch Tide swim. When he was on land he was irrevocably clumsy, forced to use powder snow just to travel around, but in the water his massive tail and flippers could finally be put to work. He zipped around the mostly shallow space for a minute before rising back to the surface, whiskers twitching. He simply seemed to stare at Ash before, abruptly, the water began to move.
It was slow at first - a simple few inches sliding closer and making it look like he was going back under, but before long the water arced up in graceful streams, wrapping around his body. Loops and rings circled him, pulled constantly closer, leaving him a vague murky figure beyond the blue. He swam higher, the water following him, making it look like the river had developed a hump in the middle. His tail was the only part of him below the regular water's surface.
Ash whistled.
Aqua ring was a defensive move, allowing the pokemon not to manipulate water but merely summon it as a secondary layer of protection. Tide had picked it up significantly faster and to a higher level of control than Ash would have thought - did Professor Oak's gyarados know it? That might have helped. He whistled as sharply as he could, waving an arm around, and it still took Tide nearly a minute to understand the command past the water and let aqua ring disperse. The water immediately dropped back down, little waves rippling away from his body. Tide barked and swam back toward the surface, getting his flippers up on land with his tail still hanging in.
"That was incredible - how did you learn it so fast?"
The sealeo barked again, whiskers twitching.
"I'm going to team you up with Professor Oak's gyarados more often," Ash teased, getting closer. "That worked really well." Tide snorted. "Show me an ice floe."
Tide's brown eyes gleamed at that, throat already beginning to glow a pale white. Ash scrambled back away from the riverbank as the temperature plummeted a few more degrees. Tide kicked off the shore and faced the center of the bend, energy crackling between his whiskers. In a second, he had primed and spat an ice beam toward the water.
It froze immediately. A massive spread of ice was born, jagged and pure white, and Tide was hardly finished. He launched two more, circling the ice to get all sides, and in less than a minute he had an ice floe that took nearly a third of the entire river bend. Tide ducked underwater for a boost and managed to fling himself on, barking cheerfully on top of his creation.
Ash blinked. It was impressive - there was a reason that the spheal line had ice first in their typing, instead of water - and clearly a stable platform. If there had been more water available, Ash guessed he could have made it thicker - even with just Tide's weight, it was dipping a few inches below the surface of the bend - but the sheer usefulness of a sheet of ice in a water field was impossible to ignore. He strafed around the bend, trying to gauge how thick it was. Maybe two feet, around twenty feet across, and that was from three short-charged ice beams.
He was suddenly reminded of blizzard's existence and felt his excitement kick up a notch.
"That's fantastic!" He shouted across, Tide perking up from his ice floe. "How big can you make it with only one ice beam?"
Tide cocked his head to the side, throat glowing that same pale white. He spat another toward a relatively clear stretch of water. Ice crackled outward, spreading immediately, and it ended up at about seven feet across. The temperature steadily dropped. Ash stared at it, mind whirling. Tide could create large enough platforms, like the ones in the Cerulean gym, to let him both fight and retreat with ease. For other water types, he'd have to rely on underwater picking and creating walls of ice to block their path, but this would give him the edge he-
Ash paused.
He moved closer, toes right over the edge of the riverbank. "Tide, can you get back in the water?"
The sealeo barked and slipped back into the river, making the ice floe bob without his weight. It floated there, surrounded by water. Made of water. Tide swam closer to him, head raised above the surface. "Now use aqua ring, but try to pull the water around the ice floe. Or the water inside it."
Tide twitched his whiskers but didn't say anything, spinning back around to stare at the largest ice floe. The water rippled in front of him, a pale glow coming from his eyes, and-
Ever so slowly, the massive chunk of ice started to drift toward him. The water on its edges frothed, splashing against the ice in an effort to push it, but it was moving. Tide kept up the aqua ring, slowly becoming more and more covered in water as it bubbled around him, until the edge of the ice floe bumped his side. He dropped it and turned back toward Ash, a questioning bark filling the air.
Ash was grinning, thoughts racing. He trotted around the bend to stand in front of a relatively clear spot, Tide swimming to match him. "Okay. Now I want you to grab the smaller ice floe, and pull as hard as you can. Don't worry about anything else."
Tide - with a small shade of concern in his eyes - swam back out, staring at the much smaller ice floe. A ripple of water raced out as he activated aqua ring, using all of his control to centralize it on that one pocket of water.
The floe erupted.
The sealeo disappeared under the surface an instant before the ice would have hit his head, deactivating aqua ring - momentum carried the floe to explode against the riverbed, ice shattering like glass and forcing Ash to quickly backtrack lest get hit. A moment passed of every single teammate staring incredulously at the water as Tide poked his head back up, eyes wide.
Ash's face hurt from how wide he was grinning. Tide couldn't just start chucking ice floes at his opponents but he was ridiculously fast in the water - if he could get behind them and pull hard enough before swimming away, the momentum would do the rest. Maybe he could even do it underwater, creating walls of ice and pulling them around to devastate his opponents from every angle.
"Oh yeah. We can work with this."
Tide barked.
xXx
Ash dutifully walked around the edge of the river bend, kicking littered chunks of ice back into the water so they wouldn't oversaturate the ground when they melted. Combining the aqua ring and ice beam combo - he needed a name for it - with body slam was an efficient, if horribly messy, tactic.
Scorch breathed a few tongues of flame over the river, heating it back to the temperature it had been before multiple massive ice floes dominated its surface. Tide was still happily swimming around in it, occasionally appearing to spit weak water guns at the ninetales, but he never fully challenged her. From how Scorch's eyes glowed with extrasensory as she heated up the water, she wasn't aiming at nothing either.
The rest of his pokemon lazed around the hole Rhydon was eating out of, ready for a fire before they went to bed. It hadn't been a terribly difficult training day, especially after Gladion's two weeks of distortion, but they enjoyed the feeling of doing nothing. Even Bulbasaur had found a spot around the soon-to-be fire, though she normally avoided it like the plague. Wraith would call her back every few minutes to inspect a new plant, though she didn't seem to mind.
It was weird without Gale being there, no enormous wingspan to provide shade or black eyes leering down from a strong enough perch. Ash really needed to pass the carry limit test. He couldn't deal with constantly giving some of his team up.
Scorch finally gave up trying to hit Tide and trotted back to the group, curling up in the hole Rhydon had provided and activating flash fire. Warm yellow light danced through the clearing, throwing ripples over the river bend.
Ash finished kicking the ice in and headed for the fire, pulling off his gloves and unwrapping the shirt he had used as a makeshift scarf from around his neck. He hoped Cerulean had decent winter supplies - Saffron's deceptive city heat had tricked him into not buying everything yet. It didn't help that he was training an ice type, either.
Bulbasaur snarled as the weedy flower she had been inspecting stabbed her with a hidden thorn, narrowing her eyes and walking away. Wraith chucked the plant as far into the forest as he could before drifting back over to the fire, spines rounded and much softer than normal. He actually had a semi-realistic amount of fangs in his mouth, now.
Rook was sitting with his back against a heavily-scored tree, multiple whetstones stacked around them. It wasn't like he could pick them up so instead, he used his clawed feet to secure them in place before running his blades over, testing the edge with every few swipes on his helmet. That explained, at least, the numerous scratches that littered over his armor, though Ash doubted he could convince the pawniard to check the sharpness somewhere that didn't actively injure him.
Karma used a burst of gravity and dropped a bucket load of leaves on Ash's shoulders from the tree above him, colors bright - he snorted and flicked droplets of water at her. She had perked immensely back up after training with Sabrina, coming back into the mischievous personality he knew she had. Too much intensive training was a problem for psychic types, as they tended to lose emotions in sight of power, but she seemed to have bounced back remarkably quickly. He was trying to keep her workload light for the next few days - melding was a relatively simple concept to learn, though not execute, and she could get a feel for bug energy through Rook instead of struggling on her own. He could still remember the blank eyes of Professor Oak's own alakazam.
Rhydon rumbled, stretching out his arms, and fell like a tree to the ground. Bulbasaur snarled as the earth shook beneath his bulk. He still couldn't lay down very easily, no easy breaks in the armor around his knees to let him bend down, but once on the ground he was fine. Rhydon rolled to be flat on his stomach, tail curling against his side, and almost immediately went to sleep.
Ash laughed, patting his starter on the head - while Rhydon hadn't mentioned much about that day's training, the ground had been trembling from even across the river.
Scorch lazily ate the stick he offered, flames growing temporarily brighter. Ash continued to feed her as the rest of his team fell asleep, even Rook curling up against his tree. Her flash fire trickled down to mere embers as she finally passed out, the ground charred around her. He patted Rhydon behind the horn once more, pulled up his blanket, and fell asleep surrounded by his team.
xXx
He woke up and orange burned - fire, close. His chest ached. Ash swiped a hand in front of him - nothing but heat, cage, steel-
Cold, beneath him. He squeezed his eyes shut, drowning out Charizard. Fingernails pressed into his forehead. He hadn't dreamt about that in ages, since back at Tohjo Falls. Why now?
Ash opened his eyes warily. It was just Scorch, curled in the firepit, tails over her muzzle and embers popping lazily against her fur. He forced himself to stare at them as if they'd make his dream go away. It didn't.
Grabbing the edge of his blanket, he inched around the firepit, heading towards the huddled mass next to him. Rhydon had shifted in his sleep, half on his side, and Ash wormed himself into the crack between his tail and chest. His stone-keratin was cool to the touch, smooth. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on anything else.
xXx
Cerulean City had a lot more… people traveling to it.
Ash had gone back to Route 5 one week after leaving it, given as the Kiyome took a sharp turn towards the wilderness at that point, and after a truly enjoyable time hacking his way through the underbrush via Rook, he had managed to find his way back to a League-built path.
Only to find people.
The majority of them weren't even trainers, just regular people walking in what he guessed were family groups. Normally at least one person in the party had a pokeball, very needed any time you left the protection of a city, but they never so much as glanced at his own team, let alone challenged him.
After the seventh group of people, half of which had multiple young children, Bulbasaur had all but demanded to be recalled. As one of the fantastically rare Kanto starters, people couldn't help but stare at her, kids tugging on their parents' arms to try and let them pet her. The parents, wisely, saw Bulbasaur's furious crimson eyes and walked on.
Wraith stayed out, fully dissolved into Ash's shadow, and Rhydon lumbered beside him. Scorch had exhausted herself yesterday trying to create other pokemon with her fire illusions - slow progress - and neither Tide nor Karma exactly enjoyed traveling. Rook trotted away on the other side of Rhydon, occasionally hacking at any branch he deemed too long.
But there were so many people.
Ash didn't dare ask for a battle when he couldn't tell the levels of experience any longer, everyone dressed up to a surprising amount of grandeur, but he had no idea what was going on and didn't feel comfortable enough to ask. All League routes were safe enough to travel and it wasn't like people were landlocked in whatever city they were born in, but so rarely did people travel in these numbers. He would have felt a lot more suspicious if not for how happy so many people seemed to be.
It finally clicked when he arrived in Cerulean.
The city was dressed like it had somewhere to be - even on the outskirts, massive streamers of pure white were strung between houses. None of them were the same, each looking to be stitched together of every fabric imaginable. Ash felt Wraith's thoughts stir with interest.
It made sense, now. The Welcoming Day of the First - the annual holiday to welcome winter, mild as it was in Kanto. He checked his pokedex quickly. He'd missed the first day, which had been yesterday, but the festival was always a three-day celebration.
He wondered idly why they weren't called the Welcoming Days.
People were taking down constructions of branches and boards modeled to look like snowflakes, hung with even more white pieces of cloth. Ash passed a house decked out in glowing white lights, all shaped into another snowflake. Some of them were nearly half the size of the house itself.
Each Welcoming holiday took part over three days, celebrating a different aspect of the theme. The First was for winter, which was all about snow, ice, and blizzards. Today was the celebration of ice.
Something crunched beneath his feet. He glanced down in time to see a psychic burst of power pull away strips of white paper from the bottom of his boots - Wraith hissed - and send them flying toward one side of the road. A bored-looking golduck was twitching its claws, gem glowing, and removing mounds upon mounds of white confetti Ash hadn't even noticed. It didn't seem to care about the massive amount of psychic energy it was pouring out. A cheerful growlithe sat beside it, burning all of the confetti brought before it.
Ash laughed. Arceus, he loved pokemon.
Cerulean City had new life breathed into it by the festival - all businesses were closed for those three days, schools let out, and there hardly seemed to be anyone not out on the streets. Clumps of families gathered, working together to put up or make new decorations for tonight's celebration - all pale blue. He wondered what blizzard's color theme was.
This was nothing like in Pallet Town. Every Welcoming day holiday, he and his mother had gone to the center square and given their offering, alongside a pile of the others from everyone else. For the First, it was simple - a collection of branches tied together to make a snowflake shape and frozen. The next morning, they would all be gone. Ash remembered being devastated to learn that it was Professor Oak cleaning them up instead of an actual Legend taking away their offerings. But that was it. A prayer said every night, and then on the third day, a simple pile of branches and ice.
Cerulean City exploded with action.
Ash was reminded quite easily of Celadon as he struggled his way toward the Pokemon Center - even it had a massive swath of cloth draped over the roof - in order to grab a bite to eat before going to the gym. There was no chance he was waiting for later in the day in case the Sisters were preoccupied with the festival instead of his test.
Nurse Joy wasn't there, the counter manned by a worn looking replacement, and Ash shuffled his way past loudly-talking trainers towards the back of the room. Lunch was still going on, barely, and he managed to snag a decent looking sandwich and retreat. The woman behind the counter gave him a key - top floor, wonderful - and he fled upstairs to drop his stuff off. Far too many people.
The room was nice enough, by anyone's standards, but rivers were far from comfortable to sleep by and the mattress looked heavenly. Ash dug through his bag, reaching into his secure pocket, and pulled out the slip of paper. Smoothing over a crease in the top corner, he read it over again. Confirmation he was able to take the test.
He exhaled once, ran his fingers over his pokeballs, and left his room.
Wraith had to latch tight to his shadow as they moved, hissing furiously with every step over his face or spines, and the crowd was even thicker around the gym. Ash could see numerous stalls lining the streets, hasty constructions of wood painted every shade of white and blue. People bustled behind them, setting up for that night. He hoped he was finished with his test by the time the festival started - it certainly looked interesting.
Ash grimaced as someone's elbow attempted to dislodge his kidneys and pushed harder through the crowd, ducking under arms and waving limbs. Being eleven helped in some cases. The paper was in his pocket and he kept one hand over it at all times, though it threw his balance off.
By the time he was finally at the doors, he could see two guards on either side, arms crossed and expressions dark. He thought he recognized one as the receptionist from last time and headed toward her, the crowd seemingly milling directly in front of the gym. Maybe the Sisters put on a show for the festival?
The woman stared at him, unimpressed. "No gym challenges during the festival."
"I know," he said, making a movement to reach into his pocket before thinking better of it. "I have a test scheduled with the Sisters. For Ash Ketchum."
She opened her mouth before stopping, turning to her partner. They whispered something before her partner stepped out, waving back the ground. Ash sidestepped him just as the woman opened the door a crack, quickly waving him forward. "Good luck," she said, shutting the door just as quickly behind him.
Ash exhaled - wow, he hated crowds - and looked around. The entrance room had changed somewhat, the tiny garden that had been outside being brought in. His eyes widened at one particular plant, pushed toward the back in a grey pot - were those planted leech seeds? The long vines blooming up from the dirt certainly seemed to suggest so.
The counter was empty and so he wandered forward, trying to remember what he had done the last time he had been here. Chlorine filled his nose. There was a door towards the back, one that probably led to the pool. Ash shrugged and headed towards, fingers still splayed over the confirmation letter. He could hear water splashing on the other side. The door wasn't locked, opening easily.
The Sisters were all there, sitting together by the edge of the pool with their legs hanging in the water. Whatever conversation they were having shut off the second he entered, immediately turning toward him - then Daisy's eyes lit up and she jumped to her feet, a wide grin splitting her face. "Ash!"
He blinked - he hadn't exactly expected them to remember him - before nodding. The other Sisters stood up as well, shaking off water from their legs and walking toward him. Daisy was at the front, still grinning.
"We got the message from Sabrina - you're here for the carry limit test?"
Ah, that made more sense. He nodded again, pulling out the paper. Daisy wiped her hand off on her shirt and read it over quickly, nodding, before she reached a certain part. Her eyes went wide. As if on some cue, both Violet and Lily came over to read it, expressions lighting up. "Gladion!"
Their cheeks, for some reason, turned red.
"Was he in Saffron?" Lily said, eyes bright. Her voice was very high pitched. "Was he with anyone?"
Ash blinked. "Yeah, he was traveling with Surge. They were both helping out Sabrina."
All three of them frowned, practically in sync. Daisy shook her head, forcibly replacing her expression with another wide smile, and elbowed her sisters. "Thanks, Ash. We knew him when he first came to Kanto and like to- check up on him." Their blush wasn't going down. "So! Your carry limit test. It's a pretty simple process."
Ash perked up - this was what he was here for. Violet retreated back to continue talking with Lily, keeping their voices low.
"I'll be handling the test, as the strongest Sister," Daisy explained. "The first part is a written test, split into two parts. One is the explanation of your care for your current pokemon, your average trainer income, your training strategies, stuff like that. Making sure you're taking good care of your current pokemon. Next is a basic test of the care of most Indigo pokemon and some of the more common immigrants, to see if you could take care of those. It's pretty simple - I think we've only had one or two people fail because of the written test."
Her smile sharpened. "The second half, however, is a battle, and not a normal one. You'll be facing a member of my true team and I'll be changing things around to try and put you as far out of your depth as possible. That is the deciding factor of whether you get your carry limit removed."
Ash matched her grin. He could do written tests endlessly, giving with how much information he read on his pokedex every night, but battles were where he would shine. Daisy had been a monster the last time they'd faced off, but he'd gotten stronger. Much stronger.
She straightened and clapped her hands together, keeping the confirmation paper tucked under her arm. "Alright! I'll take you to the room. We've already got everything set up, so you can begin! I will have to take your pokedex, though."
He nodded, trailing behind her as she walked toward the back of the battlefield. Tapping the ground behind him, he received a hissing sigh of acceptance as he recalled Wraith, speeding up to keep in line with Daisy. She had surprisingly long legs.
"And here it is!" She said, swinging her arm wide. It looked to be a repurposed storage closet, empty shelves lining the walls. A collapsable table was in the middle, a stack of papers on top. "We're getting ready for the festival right in here, so don't hesitate to come out if you've got a question. Good luck!"
Ash nodded, still grinning, and shut the door when she left. Tapping along his pokeballs, he went and sat in the rather uncomfortable plastic chair, thumbing through the papers. Maybe a dozen in total, all with a decently sized font. A pencil rolled out from underneath the bottom paper, and he snagged it before it went off the edge.
What species is your starter?
Well, at least he knew that one.
xXx
Feeling, somehow, even more pumped than he had when he'd arrived to take the test, Ash triple checked his last answer and shuffled them back in order. It'd gone pretty well - although the dietary requirements for jynx had thrown him off - and he was rather confident. His memorization, while not quite up to Leaf's standards, had always been good.
The Sisters were in roughly the same area they'd been in before, though Violet's hair was sporting a dripping tail and Lily was reading from a laminated sheet of paper. Daisy grinned as he reappeared, hands curling above her head in a stretch. "Nice! Lily, can you send those out?"
Lily groaned but nodded, pushing her pink hair back behind her shoulders. Ash handed them off to her, mind spinning with every question he had second-guessed himself on. Lily hummed absentmindedly as she walked off, skimming through them.
Daisy clapped her hands together, revealing a pokeball between her cupped palms. "Alright! You ready to battle?"
Ash grinned, running his fingers over his own team, only to pause. Violet showed no signs of leaving the pool, legs still dangling in the paper. He couldn't taste any sort of psychic power in the room so sorely needed for large battles, no wave of barriers ready to protect the trainers. He frowned.
"And yes, we're not battling here." She shot him a grin. "That wouldn't exactly test you, would it? The carry test isn't about throwing you in against Lance's dragonite - it's about seeing what you do with a unique challenge. So follow me!" She threw an idle glance at the door, a frown gracing her features. "But through the back door. The crowds are swarming today."
Ash trotted to keep up with her, accepting his pokedex back. "Why are they gathering here?"
She shrugged. "Well, we're the center of Cerulean and all, but I think they're most excited for the show. It's Violet's turn, and ever since Hydrus evolved, everyone's excited about it."
A pokemon show, then. Missing a Sensational Sister show would be an incredible mistake, even more so now that he knew pokemon were involved. He doubted it would be like one of their regular shows, which often involved synchronized diving routines with their pokemon, since there was no chance they could fit the entirety of Cerulean City into their gym.
Daisy ducked out a narrow door in the back and led him down a hall that curled around the back of the battlefield, shooting them out in an alleyway. She frowned, kicking aside an old cardboard box. "Wow, we've got to clean this place up. It's been a while since we've used the back entrance." She rolled the pokeball between her fingers, pursing her lips. "Eh. I'll get Misty to do it."
Ash coughed into his hand.
She led him right, waving cheerfully to the people that greeted her. With everyone on the streets in preparation for the festival, that seemed to be practically the whole population of the city, but they didn't pull her aside for a conversation beyond the normal hey, Daisy! Ash felt rather small behind her.
They kept walking for what felt like a strangely long time. Daisy never lost the pep in her step and Ash kept bouncing on his heels and so didn't lose the energy, but they were winding their way around only occasional houses, hints of Route 9 visible to their right. He wondered whether she'd be okay with him releasing Wraith for protection. Most people didn't appreciate massive ghosts.
Blue glittered before them by the time Daisy finally slowed her pace, ambling up to what Ash could only call a dock, but not.
Cerulean City wasn't technically connected to the sea, but it was only a mile or so outside the city limits so most people ignored that fact. Massive waves kicked up in the distance, reduced to harmless splatters against the long expanse of beach Ash couldn't even see the end of. Seafoam splashed against the tan-white sand, littering its surface with old driftwood and clumps of algae. Not the most pristine beach, but he could see a lifeguard tower in the distance, so obviously still used.
But off to the side was the confusing part. A dock, made of wood with the thickest layer of protectant Ash had ever seen, extended out only to split about fifty feet off the shore. It made two prongs, roughly a hundred feet away from each other, like a fork without the middle section. A few platforms that looked to be the same material of the Sisters' gym bobbed serenely between the prongs, gathered toward either end. He could feel a buzz on his tongue now, Wraith's defenses hissing at the presence of psychic energy.
Daisy threw her arms open wide. "And here's the battlefield!"
Ash blinked before grinning - ocean fields. He'd heard of them but they were uncommon, given as only really water, ice, and flying types could fight on them with any sort of success. It made sense for a coastal city to have one. The League mimicked it with their Water Field, but true ocean fields had many more dangers that came with them. There had to be an incredibly powerful psychic there, both to protect the trainers and the pokemon within. Multiple instances where wild pokemon wandered into the battle had been recorded before.
"One on one," she said, "since I'm guessing you don't exactly specialize in ocean field pokemon. We've got a hypno here, don't worry. You can go all out." There was a surprising spark of challenge in her eyes. "Arceus knows I'm going to."
Ash touched each of his pokeballs - Karma, Scorch, Rook, and Rhydon were immediately out. Even with the "platforms", ocean field battles were nearly impossible for a terrestrial pokemon to stand a chance in. There was also a healthy amount of doubt in his mind that the peacefully bobbing sheet of white material could hold his massive starter's weight. Wraith was an option but moving through water was infinitely more exhausting than air. Tide's pokeball sent a shock of cold up his arm.
"You're on the left," she said, nodding toward the side. He headed toward it, strategies blitzing through his head - a member of Daisy's true team. Dewgong had taken three of his pokemon the last time, and that had only been a few months ago. He was also fighting on her home turf.
His blood pounded in his ears. This would be a battle to remember.
The dock was incredibly stable under his feet, despite the waves that battered it relentlessly. He could practically taste brine with how strong it was, sea wind kicking through his hair and making his eyes water on every sharp burst, but the chill did nothing to the beat of his heart and the excitement in his veins. Carry limit test. Time to go.
Daisy held her pokeball high, far enough away he could only see a blurry outline of her figure. Ash felt the psychic protections snap into place, immediately lessening the sea wind to a mere breeze against his face. The Sister said something that died in the space between them. She waved toward him.
There wasn't any hesitation in his mind on who to pick. Tide was his only pokemon at home in the sea - while Gale had evolved to be an ocean hunter, he still roosted on land. Sealeo rarely, if ever, left deep water currents and massive ice floes. And with his new technique, well. He might not be the strongest on Ash's team, but he was definitely getting there.
Tide hit the water with a bellow, immediately bobbing back to the surface. Ash could see the exhilaration in his eyes - rivers were fine, but nothing compared to true saltwater. He barked a challenge across the ocean field.
Daisy made an odd gesture Ash guessed meant excitement before releasing her own pokemon. A massive swarm of scarlet mist erupted in front of her.
He felt a grin split his face as a gyarados emerged.
It wasn't the massive, hulking ones legends spoke, far slimmer, but muscles gleamed in bulk and its eyes showed nothing of an unwillingness to battle. It coiled on Daisy's side, completely hiding her, baring its cavernous mouth. One of its barbels was missing, a few of its delicate fins tattered.
He hadn't truly fought a gyarados before, beyond distracting one at Vermillion, but it felt like he had for how many battles he had seen with them. They weren't common pokemon, far from it, but they seemed that way because there was no chance someone would forget fighting one.
Tide barked again, flippers slapping the water - despite him being the largest pokemon on Ash's team, he was entirely dwarfed by Gyarados. He didn't seem phased in the slightest.
His mind raced.
Tide swam closer to him as Ash knelt - on an ocean field, his ability to give instructions would be all but destroyed. Deep sea pokemon had awful hearing from the get-go and the field itself was enormous, so he'd just have to try to cover everything here. Another way of making it a unique challenge.
"Whenever you're underwater, don't stop moving," he said, stealing a glance at Gyarados. Daisy was talking to it on her side. "It's probably faster than you in the long run so go for short bursts to evade. Constantly make ice floes, and when you have enough, then go on the offense with ice beam and maelstrom."
Tide's eyes lit up at the mention of his new favourite combo. He barked, slapping his flippers against the water, and abruptly disappeared beneath the surface.
Ash shook, shaking some last water droplets out of his hair, and faced Daisy. Gyarados was coiled in front of her, maw gaping and massive body twisting. Tide was somewhere under the water. They both made eye contact. That was all that was needed to start the battle.
Gyarados bellowed, shooting forward - it dove under the water only to whip its tail around. A wave of water exploded out from the contact and Ash barely saw the blurry form of Tide get picked up in the movement, thrashing. Hundreds of gallons burst against the psychic barrier less than two feet in front of his nose, sending him jumping back.
Fire roared from Gyarados' mouth, vaporized water instantly and sending up plumes of steam - Tide reappeared as a tiny figure, zipping underwater away from the near bubbling water. Gyarados had blinded itself and it didn't notice Tide, at least until he slammed an iron tail into its side.
Ash cheered as Gyarados bellowed, immediately cutting off the flamethrower and spinning around. Daisy waved a hand over her head before jerking it down, fingers splayed. Gyarados roared loud enough to make Ash's bones shake.
It dove under the water, kicking up a burst of blue that splattered against the psychic barriers. Tide immediately rose to the surface, spitting ice beams - two ice floes formed on opposite ends of the ocean field, nearly ten feet of cragged ice each. He barked and made to swim back under.
Gyarados exploded up from directly beneath him.
Tide howled, thrown nearly twenty feet in the air - something Ash had thought impossible with his bulk. Gyarados flung itself up to snap at him with fangs that could rip a man in two but missed, Tide's weight carrying him down faster than expected. He slammed into the water like it was concrete, thrashing weakly. Gyarados lowered itself, still glowing with iron head.
"Tide, get back!" Ash shouted, as close to the edge of the dock as he could get. The sealeo didn't hear him, still struggling to keep himself afloat, shaking his head-
Gyarados slammed into him with all the tact of a hurricane.
Tide disappeared under the water, bubbles exploding upward. Gyarados bellowed, jaws snapping against the air, and glanced back toward Daisy. She gestured once again toward it. Tide wasn't visible.
Ash barely saw Tide's rounded head appear behind one of his ice floes. He bit down to prevent himself from calling out - the sealeo looked awful, purple-black already blooming over his face, but Tide wasn't one to give up. He had challenged an entire team of pokemon back in Vermillion, had gone up against Ash's starter day after day after day, had lived his life with only the intention of proving himself in battle. He wasn't done yet.
He slapped a flipper against the water, the sound ringing out - Gyarados spun and saw him behind the floe, anger hot in its red eyes. It didn't charge at the jagged ice but instead reared back, blasting a perfect blue flamethrower towards the ice.
Even as steam filled the air, Ash saw the water begin to shift toward Tide.
Daisy was practically jumping, waving her hands back and forth. Gyarados growled as it continued to melt the ice floe, evaporating feet upon feet of rising water, not facing her. Its hearing was no better than any other deep sea pokemon. Tide bellowed as the flamethrower finally struck a hit and dove under, prompting Gyarados to swim forward to engage -
With all the speed of an explosion, the ice floe shattered against the water type's back.
Gyarados shrieked, ice tearing through its massive scales. It thrashed, one of the spines over its back hanging weakly, water frothing. Hate manifested as power and with two more arm gestures from Daisy, its mouth began to glow a vivid orange, like flames spilling out - hyper beam. Of course.
Tide was swimming around as fast as he could, using his tail for speed and fur for camouflage, but Gyarados didn't need to see him. Diving under, managing to keep the hyper beam primed in its maw, it corkscrewed like a whip. Bubbles entirely covered its form.
His first clue was the remaining chunks of ice beginning to spin, picking up slowly but then starting to hit and collide against each other, heading directly toward where Gyarados had gone down. The platforms, secured to the dock, trembled outward like they wanted to join. The center of the ocean field dipped a few feet, white with the intensity of bubbles - whirlpool. Ash gritted his teeth. In terms of sheer bulk, Tide was outclassed on several levels. He couldn't resist the pull of a rage-fueled vortex. He watched as a barely-visible shape was pulled, fighting, into the center.
Gyarados exploded upward, mouth still burning orange. It easily threw Tide up with a furious swipe of its tail. The ice type bellowed, thrashing in midair, but his own throat was glowing.
Tide managed to twist before he hit the water and release an ice beam the second Gyarados launched the hyper beam.
The explosion ripped out in waves of pure energy, lighting up the psychic barriers to the point where Ash couldn't see. A resulting shockwave of heat and light threw both pokemon backward, Gyarados giving a furious roar as its bulk kept it above the water. Tide disappeared underneath, invisible beneath the water, but Ash saw his round head appear less than a minute later. He spat another ice beam, creating a new floe before immediately disappearing back under.
Gyarados bellowed and swam forward, destroying the ice flow by slamming straight into it. Tide created another behind it, spitting a short-charge ice beam towards it back. Gyarados spun, shattering the ice that had spread over its back, but Tide was gone again. Hit and run - all he could really do against the beast of the sea.
Three more ice floes appeared in short succession, vastly limiting Gyarados' room to swim. It roared and dove underwater, immense bulk cutting straight through the waves. Tide immediately appeared, spitting four ice beams as fast as he could and clambering on top of the floe as it was still forming. His fur was singed black by the explosion, bruises running over his back from Gyarados' tail, but his eyes were bright regardless. Ash wanted to cheer but the sealeo's eyes were painstakingly focused, watching the water as if it was his opponent instead.
There was the crack of shattering ice and the entire ice floe shook, Tide bracing his flippers as he rocked from side to side, but it didn't break. A bellow echoed through the ocean field, muffled but enraged.
Ash grinned - Gyarados had tried to break the ice floe but found it too thick, that one formed by four ice beams. The water type exploded back up, horns still flickering with iron head - but the scales around its mouth were cracked and fury bloomed in its eyes.
Its mouth glowed orange.
Tide, halfway through his attempt to slide off the ice floe, was struck dead on by the hyper beam. He hit the psychic barriers hard to make them flare before dropping down to sink below the water, thrashing.
Ash made to take a step forward but stopped.
Tide had immensely thick reservoirs of fat, nothing that would make a snorlax jealous but plenty to put other pokemon to shame. One hyper beam wouldn't take him out. It couldn't.
Gyarados roared its victory and dove back under the water, maw gaping, but Ash could see the slump in its massive neck and the lack of speed it had used at the beginning. The recovery time after using hyper beam.
If Tide could strike, he needed to do it now.
Thirty seconds passed in silence. The water was agitated, thrashing against the psychic barriers with waves rebounding against each other. Ash looked at Daisy - though he couldn't be sure, he thought she was smiling.
She had underestimated Tide.
Slowly, with a sort of air of foreboding, one of the remaining ice floes began to move.
It drifted slowly, pushed by some unseen force, before it stopped directly in the middle of the ocean field. Water lapped gently at its side.
Tide exploded out of the ocean, wrapped in coils of aqua ring, propelled by a blast of brine - he immediately dove back in the heartbeat before Gyarados burst upward, thrashing. Ice was encrusted over its face, hiding its eyes. It belched plumes of fire and power, steam erupting upward, each roar shrieking and enormous.
Tide circled as fast as he could, one of his whiskers nearly torn off and flapping against the waves, and ended up behind Gyarados. Water flooded over his form and the ice floe erupted toward him, kicking up sprays of mist -
Gyarados didn't stand a chance.
The floe hit its stomach and nearly impaled it past its scales, shattering into an explosion of shards sharp as any dagger - Gyarados screamed with agony, head still frozen, unknown pain digging into its side - and thrashed. A hyper beam charged in an instant cleaved through the water, vaporizing dozens of feet into a volcano of steam, but Tide was nowhere near it. The sealeo grappled for the last ice floe, aqua ring stuttering through his mass of injuries, but he managed to pull one last time.
It struck Gyarados on the side. With a groan Ash could feel vibrating through his bones, still thrashing with blood vivid against its scales, the serpent collapsed. It sunk beneath the surface before disappearing in a mass of scarlet mist, retreating back to Daisy's side.
They had won.
It was quiet but only for a moment - Tide rose back up, whisker fluttering limply and more bruise than fur, but his eyes were bright and excited and his bark matched that. Ash knelt, trying to get as close as he could. "Tide, you were amazing! That was incredible!"
The sealeo barked, pride brimming in his voice. He glanced back toward Daisy, who was talking to her pokeball. Tide slapped his flippers again, chest puffing out.
"We couldn't have done this without you, bud," Ash said, an enormous grin spreading over his face. Tide seemed to glow, any final lingering doubts he had at being left behind for two weeks fading, before he paused. An odd look filled his eyes.
Wind chill picked up, even past the psychic barrier. Ash frowned, feeling ducklettflesh rise over his skin. Daisy was heading toward him but even she had stopped at the sudden drop of temperature, the steam from Gyarados' attacks completely gone.
Ice leeched over Tide's form, disguising the purpling of the bruising beneath crystal white. Ash made to take a step forward before remembering he was on a dock, trying to reach forward instead. Tide barked once before the ice covered his mouth but he didn't seem scared, eyes gleaming. The sealeo disappeared under the water.
Daisy arrived at his side, panting slightly from the run she had taken to get to him. "Is he injured?"
Ash frowned, standing fully up. "I don't… think so? He sounded happy."
The temperature plummeted another ten degrees and now Ash could see his breath, arms huddled at his side. Waves rose, the water agitated and thrashing from some unseen source, but there was white glittering on their surfaces. Splinters of ice formed and melted within seconds.
It was when Ash saw the barest hints of a powerful light beneath the surface of the water that he knew.
A wave made fully of ice shattered against another, only to have ice creep over that surface as well - pale white swarmed the ocean field as if possessed, the sea doing its best to break the intruder but being unable to keep up. The dock trembled as its supports froze over, the droplets of water on Ash's legs transforming into tiny pockets of cold.
Ice finally won territory and a massive expanse exploded as if from nowhere, directly in the middle of the ocean field. It was thick and strong and almost glacial in size, crags and spires of pure white bursting upward. The edges bloomed outward until they extended past the dock, a circle of raw power. Ash stretched his arms out for balance as the wood shook beneath his feet. His lips seemed frozen in a smile.
Tide was coming unto himself.
A crack like shattering bone raced through the air, brought along by freezing winds, and Ash watched as the middle of the glacier split open like it was nothing, ice splintering and shattering away as something forced itself up. Spires fell and broke, clearing a direct line of sight to the center. The entire structure groaned like it was dying, slices of ice hitting the water, rumbling as parts moved. Ash brought a hand up to cover his eyes as a flash of pure light echoed over the plain. One last flex of some power brought the ice to even height, revealing the shrouded figure within.
Tide was… enormous.
Four limbs splayed out, massive bulk barely contained by slick blue fur, and a tail that positively dwarfed what he had had before. His whiskers had grown into a mane of white tufts, surrounding his head like a crown.
He was easily taller than Ash, just braced on his front flippers. Amber eyes brighter than any fire stared across the plain of ice he had created.
His tusks, weapons strong enough to shatter boulders, extended nearly three feet down his front.
The walrein before him was one built for power, for strength. He had bulk in spades and now the capabilities to use it, four limbs adapted for aquatic and terrestrial travel. His breath came out pure white, even in the frigid air.
He and Ash made eye contact.
Tide carefully opened his mouth, testing the positioning of his tusks. Ice crept outward with his every movement. He didn't seem aware of his surroundings but Ash could see the tenseness in his shoulders, muscles pulled taut and ready for action. Ash forced himself to glance down, if only for a moment. The glacier had spread far enough out that it had frozen the entire area below the dock.
Sucking a breath of far-too-cold air, he slid off the dock and landed on the glacier. Daisy reached for him but she was too late, his boots hitting the white with a light crack. Not completely safe for his weight, then. Ash ignored it.
Tide had narrowed in on him the second he'd moved but Ash kept picking his way forward, past ice jagged enough to cut through bone and downward slopes he had no choice but to slide down and hope for the best. Slowly, he moved closer and closer to the walrein.
The wild look in the ice type's eyes dimmed.
Ash kept moving closer, keeping locked eye contact. Adrenaline highs after evolution were not so much a risk but a guarantee, but Ash knew Tide. The ice type was vicious and stubborn and determined but he knew his team. Ash just had to get close enough to let him. He doubted his horrible vision had gotten any better with evolution.
He wrapped his arms around a twisting spire and used it as a grounding method to inch his way over a ledge, feeling Tide's gaze like two pinpricks in the back of his neck. His boots had barely enough traction to let him shift around, skin snow white after touching the ice directly. He was shivering with every step.
Finally, he was before his friend.
Tide's eyes were almost painfully bright, the last of the energy from his evolution trickling out. Ash took another step forward, close enough he could have touched the walrein's chest. "You're incredible."
There was a moment when the ice type didn't react.
But then whatever spell broke, the high of evolution reducing and leaving Tide as who Tide was - himself. The walrein shook himself, massive tusks carving furrows into the ice before him. He stared at Ash, amber eyes unbelievably excited.
Ash laughed, the sound easy - "You evolved!"
Tide barked, and now it sounded more like an avalanche, voice impossibly deep. He blinked, before trying it again - it was almost concussive with how loud it was. Ash ignored the ringing in his ears and stepped forward, maneuvering around various tusks in order to wrap his arms around his friend's neck. His fingers immediately went numb, frost spreading through his hair. "Thank you, bud. You deserve this."
The walrein made a soft, crooning noise and, carefully, reached up with a flipper in an attempt to hug back. Ash felt the wind get pushed out of his lungs but didn't complain.
Tide had done it.
xXx
Daisy had a smile over her face as she watched him, but Ash didn't really care. He kept rolling Tide's pokeball around in his hands, feeling the jolt of ice with every movement.
Tide had evolved.
"So, you definitely passed the test," she grumbled, passing him another heat pack. Ash took it with his free hand, putting on the back of his neck. Everything was cold. "And you left me a mess of a glacier to clean up. Right before the show, too. Not fun."
Ash snorted.
"But yeah, you deserve this." Daisy unpried her fingers from around her own two heat packs and tapped a few buttons on her pokenav, reading the answer. "And Lily says you also nailed the written portion, so congratulations! You will now have your carry limit removed, as soon as I confirm everything with the League."
She would have sounded more excited if she also didn't sound half frozen.
"We'll order you a new Trainer ID," she offered, pressing a heat pack to the side of her face. "It'll show your new perk so no one tries to call you on it. Do you need to go up a size?"
Ash slipped a finger under the band around his wrist - it was easy to forget most of the time, but it had been growing snug recently. He nodded. Daisy pressed another few buttons on her pokenav and sent off the message, collapsing back against the chair. Ash pulled another pack off his lap and clenched it between his hands, some of the numbness going away.
Scorch was going to be an invaluable resource when training Tide, now.
"It'll take a day or two to get here." She hummed idly under her breath. "I'd suggest sticking around to the end of the festival. Have you ever been to one before?"
He shook his head, vocal cords still feeling faintly frozen. Another drop of water fell from his hair.
"It's something you don't want to miss," she chuckled. "My show is tomorrow but the one Lily put on yesterday was incredible - she used a bastardized form of hail to make it snow, then had her golduck control the snow to make it fly around. I wish I could have come up with that," she said a bit wistfully. "But you know Violet is going to rock it out of the water. Hydrus loves ice and he's going to go to no limits to make it as impressive as possible."
Ash nodded again. There was no chance he was missing a true, honest Welcoming Day celebration.
Daisy stretched, a last few shards of ice splintering off her clothing. "Alright then. Go get your walrein healed up and be ready for the festival at seven - Violet's show is at eight-ish. I think. Eh, you'll know when it starts."
"Thank you," he managed back, then frowned at how hoarse his voice sounded. Maybe he'd pick up a warm drink at the Pokemon Center.
Daisy snorted but led him back to the entrance of the gym, shrugging off the heat packs as they moved. She accepted them back, immediately pushing them against her neck, before gesturing toward the doors. "See you tonight, maybe. There's a lot of people. And congrats, seriously, on passing that test. You deserve it."
Ash beamed and slipped outside.
It seemed the crowd had quadrupled in the time since his test, but his pale white appearance and the frost still littering his hair made everyone shuffle back a bit as he made his way through. He imagined even being close to him probably made them cold. Maybe there was time for a boiling shower before the festival started.
But Tide had evolved.
Walrein were classified as native to Hoenn in practically name only, given as they rarely came to shore and were often only found as roaming sealeo kicked out of pods. They lived out on the open seas, creating ice floes and swimming closer to land for hunting purposes only. There weren't awards cheered over their water power, many others beating them there, but then there was their ice typing.
Oh, their ice typing.
The spheal line didn't have gills, like many water types, but instead had some of the largest lungs in proportion to their body. That forced them to revisit the surface at least every few days for air, but it also led to them evolving to be able to create massive ice floes as a simple resting point, their lungs the major source of power behind their attacks. Walrein were perfectly adapted to be the ice type.
There were, quite literally, only three other ice type pokemon able to live in the deep ocean - dewgong, cloyster, and lapras - and none of them even came close. Dewgong often lived in caves or around them, such as with the Seafoam Islands. Cloyster sunk to the bottom of the ocean, hidden amongst coral reefs. Lapras lived near islands, traveling in packs and spending the majority of their time in bays.
The spheal line dominated the high seas. There were precious few pokemon that could survive the freezing temperatures produced by the deep ocean and none that could so actively thrive in it - walrein were known for creating massive ice floes for the sheer purpose of lowering water temperature and chasing away competitors. They were the only deep sea ice type.
And now Ash had one.
He felt vaguely like he was floating on a cloud as he made his way back to his room.
Nurse Joy still wasn't back but he handed Tide's pokeball over to the weary-looking replacement instead, able to squeak something out about evolution with stiff vocal cords before disappearing up to his room. His clothes - sopping wet in the places they weren't still frozen - were thrown in the bathroom to thaw while he immediately jumped in the shower. He swore part of his skin evaporated the moment the water hit him.
Emerging from the shower a solid thirty minutes later with his cheeks bright red and air thick with steam, Ash happened to glance outside before getting changed. Everyone on the street was wearing variations of the color blue, with enough differences in style and shade that he knew it wasn't one encompassing group. Another tradition of the holiday, probably. He'd stick out like a sore thumb if he came in dressed like any other tourist.
Ash grimaced down at his relatively small collection of shirts. He had various styles, including the heat resistant pair from Cinnabar, but most were deviations of grey. That was… not going to work. He had jeans though, which were blue enough.
It was another five minutes of staring at his decidedly not-blue shirts before he broke and headed downstairs. In every Pokemon Center, there was a store in the back, one that sold generic trainer supplies, like potions, food, antidotes, the works. Most also sold several lines of clothing. Hopefully there'd be something blue-ish there.
Ash browsed amidst a couple of other panicked trainers - including one wearing bright red and looking rather nervous. He scored with a decently priced pale blue one, although it had the Cerulean City gym logo emblazoned across the small of the back.
"That's one of the last we have available," the cashier said with a grin, nudging the scanner closer to him. Ash flicked his Trainer ID under it and waited for the beep, a bit of a mareepish smile over his face. He fled the store as soon as the shirt was in his hands.
The material was alright but Ash still awkwardly pulled it down every few seconds, used to the athletic style the rest of his shirts were in. Making sure he had nothing on his person he couldn't bear to lose, he checked the time once more - 6:51 - and headed back outside. Festival time, apparently.
Ash blinked as soon as he left what he now realized was the protection of the Pokemon Center - everything outside seemed to bloom. There weren't confetti or white streamers, instead beautiful bunches of blue cloth, pinned up in some archaic way that made them look like they were trailing down like enormous waterfalls. Icicles, of a sort. Every building had at least one, no matter the size, some large enough to be hung from the roof and still nearly hit the ground while others trailed a few feet down from windows. He brushed past a faux icicle hanging over the door of the Pokemon Center.
Even though night was approaching quickly the city had become alive again, even past what it had been when he arrived. Crowds of endless blue-white shuffled as one through the streets, their voices blending together to a song of elation. Ash felt a grin spread over his face.
He didn't like crowds - or most cities, if he was being honest - but there was something about the purity of this excitement, this amount of people all arriving for one thing and one thing alone.
Maybe he could appreciate this, at least.
Ash shouldered down and started to pick his way in any random direction, heading roughly toward the gym. He could see the tops of stalls over a wall of heads and shifted his trajectory.
The first he stumbled across was manned by a tall blonde, one with a warm smile on her face as she handed out what looked like pastries? People were lined by the dozen in front of her. The stall was decked out in pieces of origami, all folded and slotted perfectly together to form what looked like a coat of scales protecting the sides and top. Each scale was a different shade of blue.
Arceus, how much work had that taken? He didn't know how to do a single piece of origami, let alone hundreds.
He shuffled into the line.
She greeted him with an even wider smile when he arrived. "Hello! How many would you like?"
"What are they?"
As if she had been expecting that, she reached below her counter and whipped out one of the pastries, a small round ball about the size of her palm. "Mochi! They're made of sweet rice with a berry filling!"
Ash blinked but offered his wrist - she swiped her scanner over it and gave him the pastry. Nodding his head as thanks, he disappeared back into the ground and took a bite. Occa, it had to be - when he pulled back, he could see the soft pink interior that spoke of the sweet berry. He polished it off in another bite. It was surprisingly delicious.
He continued to wander around, trying to see each different stall. Several boasted various ice pokemon, including one with a cubchoo on a leash to keep it from escaping and a glaceon that curled up on the stall and lazily accepted all praise thrown at it. Others were stacked high with ice cones, flavoured every color of the rainbow. Memories of Tide's evolution kept him away, throat still hoarse. Another stall had actual pieces of an Ice Stone, carefully protected by acrylic casing and the watchful eyes of a hypno right behind. Ash lingered there the longest - while none of his pokemon would need it, there was still something tangible in the power of the Stones, a sort of presence that made his hair stand on end. It was nearly eight by the time he left that stall and made his way toward the gym itself.
Ash bit back a yelp as someone swung an arm where his head had last been, tucking down and speeding towards a gap. He wished he could have his pokemon out - but with this crowd, there wasn't a single member that wouldn't either be too large, too dangerous, or too uncomfortable. He resolved to tell them all about it later. The clear in the crowd proved large enough and he was able to make his way fully to the gym, trying to walk on tiptoe as if that'd help. There were times he was jealous of Gary and Leaf's height.
Everyone stopped abruptly, before they even reached the entrance - Ash managed to find his way to another break and see what was going on. The entire plaza in front of the gym was walled up with massive ropes, the same guards and more patrolling on the inside. People pressed forward to try and get the best view, but it was clear that the performance wasn't going to happen within the gym itself. Ash squared off his own little spot and craned his neck back to find the perfect angle. Minutes passed as he defended his area as best he could, conversations bright and chirping even as the moon began to rise in the sky. Plenty of streetlamps lit up the area in warm yellow-gold, shadows rippling from the illusioned flames, so of course everyone noticed when they began to dim.
Voices died in an instant as the lights faded to a fraction of what they were before, almost like will-o-wisps in their pale intensity. Ash shuffled forward another inch and managed to see the doors of the gym open, excitement thrumming through his veins.
Violet emerged, prompting a cheer - she stretched her arms up to accept it, a grin visible on her face even from there. Ash shouted alongside everyone else as she moved to stand in the center of the plaza. The streetlamps flared back to their previous brightness, casting shadows of her silhouette in every direction. She was wearing a dress of iridescent blue, gleaming like a rainbow with every movement.
Her voice cracked over the crowd - technological help, it had to be - as she addressed them all. "Welcome to the Welcoming Day of the First!"
A cheer answered her, loud enough Ash could feel it in his bones.
Violet held up something red, twirling it on the tip of her finger. "Then let us celebrate the ice Kanto came from!"
Scarlet mist erupted from the pokeball, and a kingdra appeared.
It was incredibly large, nearly seven feet, and its levitation brought it another one up. An elaborate crown of horns curled above its head, fin gently swaying from side to side, scarlet eyes impossibly bright even in the dark. Hydrus.
Looked like Violet had been able to score that dragon scale.
Violet waited another second before clicking her fingers. The streetlamps dimmed once more in time to catch Hydrus hovering slightly higher, pointing its snout directly upward. A swirling vortex of power formed, but that wasn't it - gasps ran through the crowd as arcs and streams of water rose to join the sphere over its snout from seemingly nowhere, crystal clear and humming with power. Ash happened to glance down.
Storm drain in the middle of the plaza - clever.
Hydrus continued to gather water, pouring from its reserves as the mass of water grew larger and larger over its snout until it nearly dwarfed the kingdra in size. Then, with another click of Violet's fingers, the sphere exploded.
The crowd took a step back as one but the water never touched them, instead beginning to swirl - individual droplets, almost like rain - a mere few feet from the edge of the crowd. The spiral fluttered on the very edge of the crowd, barely misting the frontmost lines. Ash felt a single molecule hit his face. His smile felt like it was going to break off for size. An intensely controlled whirlpool, maybe, focused on ambient water in the air instead of the normal pool? His mind raced with the possibilities.
Hydrus rumbled with another snap, pointing his snout up once more - the tornado of water droplets began to shift, drawn in by some power. Pebbles of escaping moisture splashed over the front row. The kingdra floated another foot higher, the water rising to match - it swirled around Hydrus, the blue of its scales nearly invisible past the thrashing water.
He took a step back and nearly bumped into a kid only a few years younger than him. Ash opened his mouth to apologize but he hardly seemed to notice, eyes brilliantly wide. In his arms was a bucket full of water, a horsea poking its tiny head out the top. Both barely seemed to breathe in their rapture of the fully grown kingdra performing its show.
Violet clicked again and the water flowed back to a single point about Hydrus' snout, writhing and twisting. The crowd all leaned in. Hydrus rumbled, voice seeming to shake the street beneath him, and exhaled a whistling blast of wind. The water detonated outward, thrown back, only to be hit by an explosion of a blizzard Ash could feel in his bones. It froze just as the streetlamps came on, full force.
A massive dome of pure ice glittered overhead, easily double the size of the gym itself. Ash could taste the buzz of strong psychic energy - something was holding it up - but he couldn't help but stare at the power there.
The ice reflected light in a hundred different directions and colors, bringing the illusion of midday to midnight, throwing waves of pearly rays over the crowd. Ash had to squint against the colors. Hydrus rumbled, pleased, as it stared up at the second sky it had created. The dome of pure ice floated serenely nearly fifty feet above the crowd, refracting every beam and multiplying it tenfold. The entire area glowed white with fractals of light.
Ash laughed.
This was what being a trainer was about, wasn't it? If he had stayed in Pallet Town, he would have never seen anything like this. He could never have watched a kingdra create a second sky of pure ice in order to impress a crowd of people, never have seen a glaceon, never have tried a mochi pastry. Everything tonight had been new.
Arceus, he loved this.
Ash put his hands up and added his voice to the cheers of the crowd.
xXx
That was fast! Amazing what quarantine will do for you.
Short chapter tonight, but it's a bit more lighthearted as a recovery from last one's. Next chapter should hit the plot home, though I will warn it should take longer than this one to come out.
Also, for my original notes on Cerulean City, I was caught up in my desire for unique cities and made it a struggling town. I will be returning to fix that, making it not something that thrives like Saffron but does well enough for itself, and I hope this chapter showed that!
One last note - movesets. Galar changed a lot, like adding a ridiculous amount of TMs, while removing most tutor moves. I'm not fully decided, but for the moment I'll simply be plugging Alola's tutor move sheet on Galar's list, excluding moves already learned.
Hope everyone is staying safe, and thanks for reading!
