As promised earlier, here is the secod chapter of Working Unova With Skill.
It really was hard to decide in the end on what Pokemon exactly that he should have Professor Oak send over from the Oak Ranch back in the Kanto Region Ash mused. Donphan's moves were powerful and fast, Heracross had varied moves that were all packed with insane raw brute power thanks to how powerful the dual Bug and Fighting type really was, Glalie was another great option what with his Ice type attacks and the amount of power the mischievous Pokemon had and his skill with creating ice structures.
Sighing, Ash sat down on one of the couches in the waiting are of the Pokemon Centre, gazing at the Pokeball clasped in his hand. Did he make the right choice? The question had been on his mind for the past few minutes, but despite it all he was sure he made the right decision.
After all, he hardly had any time with Gible considering he caught the small Dragon and Ground type near the very end of his journey through Sinnoh.
"I had a lot of great Pokemon to choose from, but besides my Sinnoh Pokemon I've spent very little time with Gible compared to my other Pokemon," Ash said to himself, "So, I'm positive I made the right decision and with a little training Gible will become a real powerhouse." The Trainer continued as he leaned his head back over the couch and stared up at the green ceiling of the inside of the Pokemon Centre.
"Excuse me Ash, your Pokemon have all made a full recovery." Nurse joy's voice rang out over the intercom system.
Ash smiled and stood up, clasping Gible's Pokeball to his belt as he did so, "Awesome," He said aloud as he looked to the clock hanging on the wall of the opposite side of the room, reading 14:08, "And with enough daylight left to challenge the Virbank City Gym." Ash mused happily.
Sticking his black and red trim fingerless glove covered hands in his cargo jean's pockets, Ash made his way from the room towards the room with the front desk.
When he got there, he caught sight of an Audino pushing a trolley that had a multitude of slots, four of them filled with the Pokeballs of his Pokemon, and Pikachu sitting on the edge of it as the small Electric mouse waited for Ash to come pick him and the others up.
There were various Trainers waiting in the room to be called, and the Nurse Joy who ran the Pokemon Centre was situated behind a desk to his side.
Audino was a bipedal, blue-eyed, pink-and-cream-colored Pokémon. The upper section of its face was pink, as were its floppy ears, exempting the tips and curled lower extensions which were a cream color. The sides of Audino's chest and arms were also pink, somewhat resembling a jacket, although the tips of its forelimbs were cream. Its small tail was lumpy and white, similar to soft serve ice cream.
"Thanks Audino, Nurse Joy." Ash said in gratitude to the Pokemon and the pink haired nurse behind the counter to his right. Ash couldn't help but think Brock would love Unova, what with all the Nurse Joy's and Officer Jenny's being a slightly different than the ones from the other regions.
"It was our pleasure, Ash." Nurse Joy responded softly with a small smile.
"Pika!" Pikachu cheered as he launched himself straight off the trolley and into his favourite resting spot on Ash's shoulder as Trainer retrieved his Pokeballs and began re-clipping them to his belt.
"Good luck in your Gym battle tod-" Nurse Joy began but was interrupted as the revolving doors leading to outside the Pokemon Center slid open and a brown haired teen wearing tan covered slacks, an orange undershirt and green vest ran in to the Pokemon Center with a worried expression on his face, and in his arms, whimpering in pain with a purple tinge to its face was a Darumaka.
Darumaka was a small red, circular Pokémon. Above its eyes were yellow curly eyebrows and its face was orange. Three yellow ovals were positioned on its abdomen and a curvy yellow line was on its back. Its paws were an orange colour and possessed three digits each.
Seeing the state of the Pokemon, Audino hurriedly pulled over a stretcher as Nurse Joy rushed around to inspect the Pokemon.
"What happened?" Nurse Joy asked as the boy laid the small Fire-type down on the stretcher.
"I challenged the Virbank City Gym Leader to a battle, but she took down Darumaka within seconds with a combination of Toxic and Gyro Ball." The brown haired teen in a dejected tone as Nurse Joy examined his Pokemon.
Ash perked up at the mention of the Gym, he could use the information supplied by this teenager to help him prepare.
"Prepare the antidote, Audino." Nurse joy ordered. Audino complied and began pushing the stretcher away, taking the Pokemon away to heal it from the poison, the pink haired nurse following right behind Audino as it went.
"Nurse Joy!" The brown haired boy shouted to her, causing her to turn to him and notice his pale and worried face, "Will my Darumaka be alright?" He asked worriedly, tears budding at the corner of his eyes.
Nurse Joy gave him a confident smile, "Don't worry, at this Pokemon Center we're used to dealing with poison all the time." She answered, "We'll call you as soon as we're finished." The kindly nurse continued before moving on to follow Audino through the doors to where she would presumably heal the Pokemon.
"Okay." The brown haired teen replied, giving a sigh of relief and looking visibly relieved.
Deciding now was as good a time as any, Ash made his way over the the other teen. "You just had a Gym Battle?" Ash stated, more than asked.
The boy turned to Ash and nodded his head in the positive, "Yeah, the Virbank Gym is really tough," He replied, "Are you here for a Gym Battle too?" He inquired.
Ash gave a grin as he answered, "Yeah, I'm just about to head over to the Gym in a few minutes for my Gym Battle."
"Then you better be ready for a lot of Poison, because I've never seen anybody so good with Poison type moves," The brown haired teen replied, "And her Pokemon are really high level, we couldn't do anything; first she poisoned us and then she defeated us easily as if we weren't even a challenge at all." He continued gravely.
They were interrupted this time by the arrival of a few more Trainers gathering around them, with serious but grave looks on their faces.
"The same thing happened to me." One of the girls stated, her brown hair done up in two pigtails and wearing a pink dress.
A teen around the same height as Ash with short blue hair wearing a white shirt with jeans cut in next, "The same thing happened to us to." He told them.
"Me too!" Another girl chimed in, this one with long dark blue hair wearing a cyan dress with a ribbon in the middle. "That Gym is way too difficult..." She continued dejectedly.
Finally, at the back a boy with short spiky black hair, wearing a red shirt and black jeans commented, "I can't believe with just one of her Pokemon, she defeated all 6 of mine." He told them sombrely.
Ash's eyes widened at that tidbit of information, Pikachu's alongside him. Defeating a Trainer's roster with just one was no easy feat, in fact Ash himself had only ever done it a few times over the course of all of his journeys, it was a very rare feat indeed accomplished by only the strongest of Trainers... or those lucky enough to face someone who specialized to the point of insanity with a Pokemon their entire team was weak to, but that went without saying.
Well, that or a weak low levelled trainer and any battle worth mentioing. But he didn't really count them. He was talking full on, experienced, powerful trainers.
To date only a scant few of his Pokemon had managed it before, Pikachu, Charizard and Sceptile being the most prominent.
Ash grew pensive after a moment, nodding his thanks to the other Trainers, "Thanks for the information, I'll be sure to use it to my advantage." He told them as he turned on his foot and left the Pokemon Center, walking down the street towards where the map had said the Gym was.
Both he and Pikachu were quiet as the Trainer of the two tried to come up with a winning strategy, but he just couldn't think of anything until he saw this Gym Leader's Pokemon battle in person.
"I should have asked those Trainers for directions rather than information on the Gym Leader." Ash deadpanned as he leaned his head against the entrance to the Gym.
It had take him over half an hour to find the Gym. He'd walked through the alley a couple of times expecting to find some kind of grand building like what most of the other Gym's he'd challenged looked like; how was he supposed to know that the entrance to the Gym was a ratty door that led underground?! Finally, after over a half an hour of searching he noticed the Gym sign on the door. The sign itself was just as ratty and worn as the door itself, to make the situation even more annoying.
Sighing one last time, Ash straightened himself up and gave his head a few shakes, slapping his cheeks lightly for good measure.
After a few moments Ash grinned, head in the game and ready to battle. "Alright, let's go." He declared to nobody in particular as he opened the door and entered.
Ash wrinkle his nose in distaste as he looked at the corridor leading underground, the entirety of the walls were covered in ratty posters and the like, reminding Ash much of the many buildings he'd seen that frequently held rave parties and small time rock concerts.
Honestly, they could at least keep the outsides of the Gym in better condition, as it was it was almost impossible to tell this dump led to the Gym.
Walking down the stairs, Ash caught sight of another door and quickly opened it, preparing to declare his challenge.
He was therefore surprised when as the door opened, Pikachu covered his ears with his paws and cried out in slight pain as an incredibly loud and grating tune of music played and a crowd roared in the background.
In the middle of the room was a large Pokemon battlefield, huge crowds standing off to the side off both sides, roaring and cheering as a band played. The band consisted of three members, a bald man in red pants and a leather jacket playing the drums, an older rather good looking goth-like woman wearing a black tank top that showed off some cleavage and a small red mini-skirt who was playing the bass guitar. The final member of the band was a girl around his age with short spiky white hair tied up in a straight up pony-tail, she was wearing a long blue and purple striped jumper, black shorts and black boots and was also playing an electric guitar.
Ash blinked stupidly, "This so isn't what I expected." He said aloud, his voice tinged with uncertainty.
"ALLLLL RIGHT! ROCK 'N ROLL!" The girl in the middle screamed loudly as she stopped playing her guitar and began winging her arm around rapidly to the tempo of the loud blaring rock music.
Making his way down the blue staircase in front of him, Ash locked eyes with the girl he assumed was the Gym Leader, what with how everything seemed to be centred on her, his amber eyes meeting her pale green ones.
She pointed at him with a grin, "Next challenger, that you?" She inquired brashly.
The crowd went silent, and the two older members of the band soon followed suit and stopped playing their instruments as Ash took his place on the empty side of the battlefield, "Yeah, the names Ash, from Pallet Town." He answered confidently, sharing a smirk with Pikachu on his shoulder.
Every eye on the room was on Ash, "How's it goin?" The girl questioned rather pleasantly, "I'm the Virbank City Gym Leader, Roxie!" The white haired girl declared.
Roxie took a closer look at Ash and finally noticed just what was on her shoulder, "Sweet, check out that Pikachu dude!" Roxie crowed, she grabbed a Pokeball from her shorts pocket and unleashed the Pokemon inside in a flash of blue light.
Ash was rather surprised that the Pokemon inside was a Koffing, what with how rare people said non-Unova native Pokemon were in the region, "This Koffing showed up during a concert we had in Kanto and we've been tight ever since." Roxie told him with a giddy smile, her eyes glinting with affection letting Ash know just how much she cared for her Pokemon.
Koffing was a round, limbless purple Pokemon filled to the brim with toxic gases. Several crater-like protrusions on this Pokémon's thin body gave it the resemblance of a meteorite or a naval mine. Koffing had a skull and crossbones below its blissful face.
Ash smirked; finally, all those times he dealt with Team Rocket during his Kanto and Johto journeys was going to come in handy. He was an old hand now at dealing with Koffing and Weezing, although something just told him that hers was going to be much more powerful than James' ever was.
Pleasantries out of the way, Ash decided to get down to business, "What are your terms for our Gym Battle?" The Kanto native asked boldly, not at all bothered by all the people staring at him. If he hadn't competed in so many competitions that had massive crowds, he dare say he might've been nervous, but he'd long since learned to block out a crowd. They could be distracting if a Trainer let them get in their head, from cheering for them to make a Trainer more arrogant or making the Trainer nervous and indecisive when boo'ing them.
Both were bad frames of mind for a Trainer in battle.
Roxie whistled in appreciation, "Man, you've got a set of brass ones on you," She complimented with a grin, "Alright then, welcome to the Virbank City Gym, which doubles as a place for me and my band Koffing And The Toxics to jam all the time, and all of our fans come out to cheer us on cuz they totally love great tunez and Pokemon battles." Roxie boasted, causing the crowd to roar in agreement as the two members of Roxie's band began playing another tempo of music.
Ash just grinned impishly at her, what could he say? He'd always been a headstrong kinda guy, more into making his moves on the fly than trying to strategize, he preferred to run with his instincts, and while he didn't always come out on top, they never steered him wrong. He had accomplished a lot in the past few years after all, and had a whole slew of amazing Pokemon thanks to said instincts.
"Okay then.." Roxie started as she took her place on the other side of the battlefield, "We'll go for a 3 on 3 Pokemon battle, that cool with you dude?" The white haired punk girl inquired.
Ash let his grin stretch, "Oh yeah, I'm totally up for this." He responded.
"Brill my man, I'll be starting with Koffing," Roxie proclaimed before looking to the side of the room, her eyes landing on a man with shoulder-length brown hair wearing a navy blue suit. The lights dimmed and a spot-light shone down upon Ash giving the crowd a clear view of him, Roxie began to play along with her two band-mates as she spoke loudly to the roaring with cheers crowd, "Your attention pu-leez, Virbank City Gym Battle time and challenging the house is Ash from Pallet Town!" The introduction she gave Ash, induced another loud roar of cheers from the crowd as they simultaneously began to chant 'RO-XIE! RO-XIE! RO-XIE!' and 'ASH! ASH! ASH!'
"Alright ref, kick us off!" Roxie ordered to the visual pleasure of the crowd.
The man in the navy blue suit stepped up to the small box beside the battlefield, "You got it Roxie!" He responded with a grandiose wave of his arms which caused the lights of the Gym to light back up again, "Okay, here's the deal, both the Gym Leader and the Challenger will use 3 Pokemon and only the challenger will be allowed to substitute Pokemon." The ref continued.
"You rock hard ref!" Roxie declared as the large overhead screen above the battlefield flared to life, an icon of Ash and Roxie on the sides with six circular slots, three of them dull and grey and three of them lighted up a bright blue with Pokeball icons in the middle.
"Now opening up the show is Koffing! Bang! Zoom!" Roxie shouted. Koffing floated idly above Roxie before almost literally shooting forward in a blur of speed above the battlefield, shooting across to Ash's side of the field before spinning and zooming back to Roxie's side.
Ash whistled, he was impressed. "That is one damn fast Koffin,." The teen complimented, but it still didn't compare to Pikachu's. Grabbing one of the Pokeballs from his belt Ash tossed it up and released the Pokemon inside, "Let's go Krokorok!"
Krokorok appeared in front of Ash on the battlefield with his arms crossed. "Krok." The dual Ground and Dark type Pokemon idly commented, although Ash didn't understand him - he only really understood Pikachu because of how long they'd been together - but he could tell most of the time what his Pokemon meant, although he hadn't reached that level yet with Krokorok considering he had only just caught the crocodilian Pokemon the night before.
Up above, the first lit up slots on the overhead screen faded away to be replaced with icons of both Koffing and Krokorok.
"Let's rock the house!" The referee declared with a swipe of his hand, causing the two band members behind Roxie to begin playing a fast, kinda action packed sounding tune, one Ash would expect to hear during a big battle in a thriller movie of some kind.
Ash figured that was the starting signal and took the first move quickly, he needed to test the waters first and see how well that Koffing was at dodging, "Alright Krokorok, Stone Edge!" He ordered sharply.
Krokorok obeyed instantly and within moments had conjured the attack and sent the multitude of sharp rocks flying speedily towards Koffing.
"Gyro Ball, let's go!" Roxie declared in reply.
"Koooooooooffing!" Koffing cried out loudly as it began to spin rapidly a blow glowing outline surrounding it as the floating Poison type began to repel the speeding rocks, when the blows stopped raining upon it, Koffing shot forward towards Krokorok faster than many could follow.
Ash wasn't one of them though, he was used to following high-speed combat in battles and had learned how to follow it after years of training many fast Pokemon like Pikachu, Sceptile and his speedy Flying types like Swellow.
"Dig!" Ash commanded quickly.
Krokorok dived straight towards the ground, burrowing down a deep hole right beneath the battlefield and narrowly avoiding the spinning Koffing who spun right back up into the air before stopping and surveying the battle field for any clues on where Krokorok would surface.
"Now, Brick Break!" Ash shouted out after a few moments.
Krokorok burst straight up and out of another hole, straight up into the air behind Koffing, swinging a glowing white arm down in a chopping motion just as Koffing turned in surprise to look at Krokorok, receiving the powerful blow straight to the face an sent careening through the air.
Koffing managed to right itself before it crashed into the ground, but Ash was already applying his next move.
"Stone Edge, let's go!" Ash declared, he had to keep up this momentum and not give Roxie and Koffing any time to counter attack and that meant bombarding Koffing with attack after attack before it could do anything edge wise.
Mid-air, Krokorok conjured the multitude of sharp rocks and sent them shooting down at Koffing, raining down blow after blow upon the Poison type before it could attempt to dodge after it's recovery.
"Koff!" the Poison Type Pokemon cried out in pain as it was bombarded with a great deal of the sharp projectiles and forced to crash harshly against the ground with a pained grunt.
"Now wrap this up Krokorok!" Ash shouted quickly, "Come down and use Brick Break!" He continued.
"Krok!" Krokorok grinned and flipped mid-air into a dive straight towards the downed Koffing, it's arm pulled back and glowing a bright silvery white. and ready to deliver the powerful attack.
"Clear Smog, now!" Roxie countered abruptly.
Koffing snapped to attention, and from it's position on the ground bloated slightly before opening it's mouth and unleashing a large stream of white smog that crashed straight into Krokork and used the descending Pokemon's momentum against it as the dual Dark/Ground type was sent soaring back up into the air and crashed harshly against the roof of the large room, and then promptly fell to the ground below with a loud thud, the roof and ground both being cratered slightly from the impacts Krokorok made when it hit.
"Way to Koffing my man, you... ROCK THE HOUSE!" Roxie cheered strumming her bass guitar loudly. Koffing floated back above Roxie and responded to her encouragement with a puff of gas and deep chuckle.
Ash licked his lips in deep thought, trying to analyse all that he'd saw so far, while Krokorok began to shakily pull itself up, its body covered in multiple dark purple bruises that looked quite painful, but after a moment Krokorok, like a true soldier, pushed himself up and took a battle stance, awaiting further commands from Ash.
From the recovery Koffing made, even after being hit with a Brick Break and Stone Edge, Ash deduced that Koffing was at a much higher level than Krokorok, which was especially apparent after seeing how much damage Krokorok took from one attack; it could barely stand.
'But still.' Ash thought to himself with a grin on his face, 'The level of a Pokemon doesn't decide the outcome of the battle, it only gives the advantage, a Trainer's true worth is shown when they can work together with any level of Pokemon and make them great.'
Ash looked at Koffing, who had a few bruises of its own and a couple of scuff marks all over it, it had taken some damage at least, not as much as he'd hoped, but he could work with it.
"Krokorok..." Ash began slowly, it was hard to construct a plan when none of Krokorks attacks were very versatile at the moment, his move repertoire so far was just for straight forward battling, not for strategic wins and definitely not for an opponent like Koffing, but Ash had to try at least, "Double Brick Break!" The black haired Trainer commanded.
Krokorok obeyed and sprinted towards Koffing, both arms glowing a white silver with power. As Krokorok reached Koffing, he leaped up and began a deadly dance with the Poison Pokemon, flowing through punches, chops and anything else as the crocodilian Pokemon attempted to land a blow on Koffing, only for the purple Pokemon to continuously evade by spinning from side to side, below and above.
Finally, Krokorok overextended another attempt at Brick Break and Roxie took advantage of that as Koffing spun around, coming out facing Krokorok face to face.
"Sludge Bomb! Wooh yeah!" Roxie cheered her command, playing another quick solo on her bass guitar.
Koffing puffed it's cheeks before firing a large missile of brown sludge point blank in Krokorok's face, the attack exploding on impact and tossing Krokorok from his latest leap crashing and into the battlefield and crater it underneath his body.
Ash growled as Krokorok stood back up, albeit barely and even worse there was purple arcs of energy shocking Krokorok all over and a deep purple hue across his snout. Krokorok was poisoned.
Ash knew he had to end this now, Krokorok couldn't take another attack like that and get back up.
"Go! Full power, Stone Ed-" Ash shouted, but he was cut off by Roxie shouting her own.
"Finish it with Gyro Ball, man!" She crowed out in that hard to understand punk slang of hers.
Krokorok already knew what Ash wanted though and conjured the rocks of Stone edge within a second, but before he could launch it Koffing shot like a missile, spinning lightning fast, glowing with a blue outline and crashed straight into Krokork's face, sending the beaten Pokemon flying into the wall, one again cratering it from the impact, and causing Krokork's sharp rocks to fall to the ground.
A moment later, Krokorok followed, completely unconscious and unable to continue.
Ash sighed but gave a smile, "Well done Krokorok, take a good long rest buddy." He said as he returned his Pokemon to it's Pokeball in a beam of red energy, he may have lost but Ash was incredibly proud of how Krokorok performed in his first ever trainer battle, especially with an opponent of this level.
"I knew he couldn't stand up to Roxie." The women in the mini-skirt commented as the crowd roared for Roxie.
"Those were some killer moves there Ash-man, but your not gonna even come close to winning if that's all ya got." Roxie told him with a toothy grin on her freckled face.
Ash smirked back in reply, "Don't sell me out just yet, I just caught Krokorok last night," He responded causing Roxie to whistle, deeply impressed, "But now I think I'll kick this up a notch!" He continued.
Ash pointed forward, "Let's go Pikachu!" He declared confidently.
Pikachu launched himself onto the battlefield sparking his cheeks at Koffing in challenge, "Pika!' His starter matched Ash's declaration with his very own, a smirk spreading across his little yellow face.
Ash decided to forgo the pleasantries, he was here to win his third Gym badge not listen to a band, "Pikachu, Agility, roundabout style," He ordered, "Disorient it."
"Say wha?" Roxie muttered to Ash's command, she of course knew what Agility was, but the hell was roundabout style?
She found out, as Pikachu literally disappeared from her vision for a second, appearing to the side of Koffing so fast it looked like it Teleported. Koffing turned to Pikachu, but the small yellow mouse once again disappeared in a blur of speed and appeared behind Koffing. Once again Koffing turned to face Ash's Pikachu but the small yellow mouse once again blurred to the side lightning fast.
Everytime Koffing tried to catch Pikachu in it's line of sight the Electric Pokemon would run around it so fast Koffing was spinning madly out of control in confusion trying to find the lightning fast rodent Pokemon.
"Now Pikachu, Iron Tail!" Ash shouted abruptly, a triumphant glint in his eyes that his plan worked.
Before Koffing knew what happened, Pikachu appeared in a blur of speed, spinning down from above and slammed a silvery glowing white tail into Koffing's cranium and sent the Poison type careening into the ground, splintering it beneath him with a loud cry of pain.
Pikachu didn't let up though and followed right after, landing on Koffing and pinning it to the ground.
"Thunder." Ash whispered, but even though it was quiet it carried all over the entire roaring crowd.
"Pika-CHU!" Pikachu roared as his body was engulfed in a massive pillar of lightning that scorched everything it touched, the battlefield, the air, the ceiling and unfortunately for Roxie, Koffing most of all.
Pikachu jumped back as the attack died down, a triumphant grin on the small Pokemon's face. Koffing was planted firmly in a crater, burnt black and completely unable to continue.
Roxie gaped, "Woah, that is some serious power man..." She breathed out, literally shocked out of her wits, she was completely outplayed there and Koffing never stood a chance.
As Roxie returned her Pokemon to it's Pokeball and switched it with another Pokeball in her black short pockets, Ash took a look at Pikachu. His partner Pokemon was panting mildly, Ash tsked, Pikachu had even less power than he thought and unleashing a full power thunder when his reserves and power were still recovering tired him out immensely. Ash growled quietly, at this rate Pikachu would fall unconscious after a few more Thunder attacks from exhaustion, not to mention the more tired Pikachu got the less able he was able to stand up to attacks, especially considering the Pikachu species were not known for the defensive prowess.
"Alright, I'll admit you got me by surprise there Ashy-man, but I think I'll follow your lead this time around and kick this up myself," Roxie spoke up, as she released her next Pokemon in a bright flash of white, "Let's rock and rule Scolipede!" The white haired girl cheered.
Scolipede was a huge centipede-like Pokémon, with bright magenta coloration interspersed with purple rings spaced evenly along its segmented upper body. Its horns, extended from its head in a similar way to antennae, which were long and slightly twisted. Purple banding decorated its horns, as well as its similarly-shaped dual tails. It had four pairs of purple-tipped forelegs with nasty looking stingers, Its legs further down its body were longer, with curved black patterns and black tipping on the extremities of the limb.
"Screech Scolipede!" Roxie commanded.
Scolipede waved its antennae repeatedly and shrieked loudly, causing orange shockwaves to ripple out from its antennae, and expanse over the entire battlefield.
Pikachu squealed in pain, the sound based attack rattling against his enhanced hearing.
"Now use Sludge Bomb!" Roxie followed, up biting her lips with all of her top teeth and thrumming her base guitar.
Scolipede stopped it's screech attack and fired a large ball of brown sludge raging towards Pikachu, who had his eyes closed and whimpering in pain from the last attack.
"Iron Tail!" Ash ordered sharply, he knew with complete confidence that no Screech could keep Pikachu at bay for long.
Pikachu's eyes snapped open, his ears were ringing but he would fight for Ash no matter what situation, proven by his body moving before he even started recovering, his glowing white tail swinging around to cleanly bisected the Sludge bomb, saving himself from the attack.
'Gotta finish this fast, Pikachu can't keep up using attacks that are energy based because of how low his energy levels are, and that only leaves us with Agility and Quick Attack that takes the least, all the other attacks used Pikachu's energy in larger quantities in some form of another, and thanks to Zekrom, Pikachu's is almost always dwindling on empty because of the amount of power his attacks take.' That suggestion from Pikachu about evolving to a Raichu was literally becoming more and more appealing, but he wouldn't take away Pikachu's happiness with his form at the moment because of his selfish desires to win a Gym Battle, it would just take time, that's all, to get Pikachu back to tip-top shape, and he would take any amount of time to ensure Pikachu and his other Pokemons happiness. And once Pikachu got Electric Terrain down, it would go a long way to offsetting the amount of energy he needed to put into his attacks jsut for a few electric attacks that barely reached half the power of the Thunderbolt's his starter was tossing out like candy back in the Lily Of The Valley Conference back in Sinnoh.
But for now, they had a Gym Battle to win.
"Pikachu, Volt tackle towards Scolipede." Ash ordered quickly, a risky plan forming in his head, but it would work if Pikachu got close enough.
"Pika pika pika pika pika!" Pikachu chanted as he bounded towards Scolipede rapidly, his charging body enshrouded in an aura of golden electricity.
"No way man, time to put a stopper on your show!" Roxie fired at him, "Scolipede, Rock Tomb!" She screamed, thrumming her guitar... once again. She did that a lot, didn't she? Ash mused to himself silently.
Scolipede roared into the air, conjuring a large grey boulder with a transparent glow above its head, before jerking its head forward and sending the boulder flying at the rapidly closing Pikachu.
"Go straight through it!" Ash ordered, to the shock of almost everyone present, that plan sounded absurd.
But Pikachu didn't even hesitate to launch himself at the boulder, crashing into it as hard as he could, propelled by the power of Volt Tackle. He trusted Ash with his life and trusted his crazy ass ideas in battle because they usually always worked.
Both the boulder and Pikachu stayed in a deadlock for a moment, before with a cry of "PIKA!" Pikachu ploughed straight through the boulder, shattering it to dust, and got sent flying through the air towards Scolipede by his momentum; although the power of Volt Tackle had receded, with his dwindling reserves he couldn't keep up his strongest power based attack for long at all
"Scoli!" Scolipede cried out in panic as Pikachu closed in.
Ash smirked, "Now grab onto its head by the horns!" He roared out quickly.
Pikachu suddenly remembered the first time Ash had him do this crazy stunt, against Drake the Champion of the Orange League's Dragonite, in order to land a point blank Thunder for a come from the behind victory. Pikachu knew Ash well enough by now to know that it was his plan, and that it would be using the last of the small Electric types reserves, but Pikachu supposed it was worth it for now.
'I swear I'll get my power back somehow, someway!' Pikachu vowed as he flipped in midair and grabbed tightly on Scolipedes horns, causing the large Poison/Bug type Pokemon to begin bucking like a Rapidash to get him off.
Roxie looked over and caught Ash's grin, the same grin he had against Koffing and her face paled slightly as she caught onto Ash's plan, 'Fucking crazy man! These guys have some real balls of steel' She crowed in her head.
"Thunder!" Ash shouted above the crowd's roar, a sense of victory in his tone.
"Pika-CHU!" Pikachu roared again, and just like before the small Electric rodent Pokemon was engulfed in a massive pillar of lightning that scorched everything it touched, but mostly just Scolipede this time because Pikachu needed to focus what energy he had.
Pikachu jumped down landing in the middle of the battlefield as the lightshow died down once more, panting heavily, body covered in sweat and looking ready to keel over at any moment, but stood strong. Pikachu knew he could at least try to soften up the last Pokemon for Gible, and hope to ensure their victory.
Roxie let her guitar hang and actually liftted her hands up into the air after she returned Scolipede and began to clap, "That was amazing, just terrific, I don't think I've ever had a challenger with a set of stones like you before, ready to do the craziest ass shit in order to win." Roxie told him, before a secretive smirk played across her face.
"But sorry, I'm afraid that this is where the concert... ends, for you Ash." The white haired girl continued as he released her final and third Pokemon.
Ash wrinkled his nose at the sudden stink introduced to the air by this new and very large Pokemon. It kind of reminded him of a Trubbish.
Grabbing his Pokedex Ash scanned the Pokemon, "Garbodor, the Trash Heap Pokémon and the evolved form of Trubbish. When Garbodor inhales garbage, it becomes part of its body. The fingertips on Garbodor's right hand spray a powerful liquid poison." His Pokedex rattled off.
Ash put his Pokedex back in his back pocket and studied the massive trash heap of a Pokemon. Garbodor was a Pokémon that had the appearance of a pile of trash spilling out of a large, torn-open garbage bag. It had a round, lumpy body that was mostly tan coloured with blue and pink lumps, reminiscent of mold. It's head had the appearance of the tied end of a garbage bag that had been ripped open and trailed down like a cape. It had two appendages that looked like clumps of garbage coming from its head, which resembled pigtails, or ears. It's large round eyes had small pupils, and when it opened its mouths, its large, triangular teeth could be seen. Garbodor had two extremely long arms made of garbage that were held together with piping, and fingers also made up of piping material. It had one finger on its left hand, and three on the other, with flat dumpy feet.
"Pikachu, Agility and tackle it straight to the chest." Ash ordered grimly, and suddenly, he knew Pikachu had no chance in attaining victory at the moment, but this last attack would give Gible and advantage.
Pikachu didn't even hesitate, even when he already knew Ash's Plan, the could practically read each other's mind after being together for so long.
Pikachu blurred forward at Garbodor faster than the eye could see, and crashed straight into the massive Pokemon's stomach, doing very little damage at all, and that was only because of his speed and momentum.
Roxie smirked, "Not very smart of you," She jeered, "Finish it off with Doubleslap!" Roxie ordered.
Garbodor pulled the panting Pikachu from it's chest easily with its long arms. Garbodor tossed Pikachu into air before swinging two glowing arms up, blinding white with energy and delivered two harsh blows to Pikachu's head and sending the small Pokemon flying straight across the arena, rolling to a stop after hitting the ground in front of Ash, eyes in swirls.
"Piiika..." Pikachu groaned as Ash picked him up with a soft smile.
"Well done buddy." Ash whispered softly as he lay Pikachu gently down on the ground behind him. Thankfully Pikachu had avoided getting poisoned so he'd be fine with a bit of rest, he was mostly just exhausted anyway considering he only took one attack that did brutal damage because of Pikachu's lack of energy to defend his body.
"Well how'd ya like that?" Roxie taunted with a toothy gin.
Ash just smiled back at her "I'm not here to trade jibes with you, I'm here to win!" He declared confidently as he lifted Gible's Pokeball, "And with this Pokemon, I'm gonna get that Badge." Ash continued seriously.
"Still confident I see, damn you're one slammin' hot dude." Roxie commented. Ash wasn't sure if she was hitting on him or just complimenting him, but put it out of mind for now, "Lets see it then Ash, my rockin' man!"
"Lets win this!" Ash declared as he released Gible from its Pokeball in a bight flash of white.
Ash blinked, the Pokemon that appeared in front of him was not his mischievous and cute little powerhouse of a Gible.
That was a freaking badass and intimidating Gabite almost as tall as he was! Ash almost faceplamed, he didn't think anything big had really changed all that much with his Pokemon, not something like this anyway and so hadn't even checked with 'Gible' until the battle, a stupid move on his part he realised now.
He really hadn't expected his Pokemon to evolve, but this was a good thing, Gabite was one beastly looking Pokemon, even if this one looked more mischievous than the rest of its species with that eye smile and toothy grin.
Gabite was a dark blue shark-like species Pokemon, with a red underbelly that covered from the middle of his abdomens to the bottoms of his jaws, and the rest of his undersides being a light blue in colour. Gabite had appendages that resemble jets or planes its four fins, one on each arm, one on its back and another on its tail; horns that resembled jet/plane engines rested on his head, each with a light blue stripe in the middle. Gabite had spikes on his hind limbs, and sharp claws on his feet. His eyes had black scleras and gold irises.
The crowd around them roared their approval, "Wow damn, look at that thing, an honest to fuckin' god Gabite! Those things are super fuckin rare and badass lookin' to boot!" Roxie gushed over the 'badass' Pokemon.
"It ain't a poison type but that baby is my kinda Pokemon, rock that shit man!" Roxie cheered along with the crowd, "Alright, Ashy my man, show me whatchoo and Gabite can doo~" She sing-songed.
"Gladly," Ash responded with a smirk. "Alright Gabite, lets start this off with Dragon Pulse!" He ordered sharply, punching his fist forward in Garbodor's direction.
Gabite growled and happily obliged, opening his mouth and forming a large turquoise coloured ball of energy and launching it, the attack streaking through the air towards Garbodor rapidly.
"Use your arms to dodge!" Roxie commanded quickly.
Garbodor obeyed and used its massively long arms to push itself high into the air, standing on just its arms, allowing the Dragon Pulse attack to miss completely by passing underneath it, and then it landed back on the ground right after.
"Sweetness!" Roxie cheered.
And just like that, Ash had a picture perfect plan to end this in his victory, but he needed to wear down that Garbodor, one good attack should weaken it significantly enough for Ash to swipe victory.
"Venoshock! Roxie shouted next.
Gorbodor lifted its arms and began firing two separate streams of dangerous looking green liquid from the pipes in its arms towards Gabite.
"Dodge with Dig!" Ash ordered quickly.
Gabite dived straight at the ground just like Krokorok, burrowing a hole straight down beneath the battlefield and avoiding the green liquid easily.
Now was the time to put his plan into action, "Dragon Claw!" Ash shouted his order.
Gabite burst through the ground behind Garbodor and delivered a powerful and crushing blow to the back of the Poison Pokemon's head with a glowing blue claw that left a trail of energy in its wake.
"GARBO!" Garbodor cried out in pain stumbling forward a few feet from the force of the blow.
Ash knew that attack would only stun a Pokemon as powerful as Roxie's, but that was all he had hoped for and As Gabite landed, Ash completed his next order, "Now, Rock Smash!"
Gabite sprinted forward quickly towards Garbodor's back, one of the dual Ground/Dragon Pokemon's entire arm and claw glowing a powerful blinding orange.
"Dodge upwards and trap it down beneath you!" Roxie ordered her Pokemon in return.
Garbodor obeyed immediately and used its arms to spring high into the air again. Gabite swiped at Garbodors back with his glowing orange arm, but missed as it jumped and he stumbled, and that was all the opening the large trash-heap Pokemon needed as it slammed down harshly on Gabite pinning the Pokemon to the ground with its weight.
"Sorry Ashy my man," Roxie told him her voice light and her face slightly flushed from how much she was enjoying the intense battle, "But this is where it ends." She continued, and was about to order Garbodor to finish Gabite with Hyper Beam when she caught Ash's triumphant smirk.
"Why are you smirking...?" Roxie inquired, an uneasy yet excited feeling forming in her gut. Couldn't he see that he was about to lose?
Ash chuckled loudly at her as the crowd quietened down to hear what he was saying, "You did exactly what I predicted you would do." The Trainer replied.
"You mean..?" Roxie began hesitantly, uncertainty clear on her face.
"Yeah, you fell completely right into my trap," Ash revealed to the shock of everyone there, "Now Gabite, Draco Meteor!" Ash commanded cleching a fist and punching it outwards, triumph blazing in his eyes.
Gabite obeyed and bit right into Garbodor from below. Within a moment Garbodor's entire body was enshrouded in a blazing orange orb of energy before the orb was fired straight up into the highest height of the Gym, exploding and raining down upon the ground in multiple powerful firework like explosives.
Garbodor fell harshly against the Gym Floor, burnt black around the edges and covered in a great deal of bruises, the most prominent being a large purplish blue one that came from the powerful Dragon Claw attack Gabite unleashed upon the back on Garbodor's head.
Everyone was quiet in the gym was the realized that Roxie, the Varbank City Gym Leader, all round rock star and undefeated... had just been toppled.
Roxie gaped, before after a second she began to chuckle, "Oh my God that was fucking great! I don't think I've ever such an awesome and fucking intense battle." She admitted happily as she returned her third and final defeated Pokemon in a beam of red energy.
She dug around in her pocket with one hand as she walked over towards Ash.
When she reached him she held out her hand showing a small purple with gold trim badge, "Here, as proof of your victory here at the Virbank City Gym, I award you with the TOXIC BADGE!" Roxie roared at the end, followed immediately there after by all of the fans in the crowd, who were immensely happy to have witnessed such an amazing and intense battle.
Ash looked to Gabite and returned him in a beam of red light, "Good work buddy." He said before turning his attention back to Roxie and accepting the badge, quickly flipping out his badge case and inserting the badge before slipping it back into his jeans pocket.
"Thanks Roxie, great battle." Ash returned with a toothy grin of his own, his amber eyes burning with a crazy wild passion, in Roxie's own words, which would later be quoted in a song of hers.
"I'd love to stay and party, but I gotta get my Pokemon to the Pokemon Center and get them a great reward for all the hard work they put in here to get my new Toxic Badge." Ash told her as he gave her and the many fans a wave before taking off running up the blue staircase and out of the Gym, off to heal his Pokemon.
Plus, he didn't really want to keep his friends waiting on him much longer.
As her female bandmate walked over and stood beside her, Roxie who had her eyes glued to Ash's retreating rear end framed by those suddenly tight looking black jeans of his. She couldn't help but comment, "Damn I'd let that fine lookin' dude rock my world any day." The teen punk/rock star commented.
Billy-joe, her female bandmate in the tiny red mini-skirt nodded in agreement, "Yeah, that kid could have his fun poundin' me Arcanine-style any time he wanted." The black haired beauty of Koffing And The Toxics replied with a husky purr in her voice.
Ash had no idea the fun he missed when he left to get his Pokemon healed. Some others, not him, would be quite glad for that though.
Ash's Team (On Hand)
Pikachu - Male - Static - Thundershock, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Thunder Wave, Electro Ball, Volt Tackle, Quick Attack, Agility, Iron Tail, Double Edge
Pidove - Female - Super Luck - Gust, Quick Attack, Wing Attack, Double Team, Air Cutter
Oshawott - Male - Torrent - Razor Shell, Water Gun, Aqua Jet, Tackle,
Tepig - Male - Blaze - Tackle, Ember, Flame Charge
Snivy - Female - Overgrow - Attract, Vine Whip, Tackle, Leaf Blade, Leaf Storm
Scraggy - Male - Shed Skin - Headbutt, Focus Blast
Swadloon - Male - Swarm - String Shot, Razor Leaf, Bug Bite, Tackle, Energy Ball
Krokorok - Male - Moxie - Dig, Stone Edge, Crunch, Brick Break
Gabite - Male - Sand Veil - Rock Smash, Dragon Pulse, Dig, Draco Meteor, Dragon Claw
There we go. Ash brought over Gible, who as it turned out had evolved into a Gabite in the time they'd spent apart. I went about this route, because I wanted to show that while Ash isn't travelling with his older pokemon, they aren't staticand rusting away, they're actively still training and growing. And Gible was definitely already at a level where he could evolve. I mean, in the Lily of the Valley he took on the likes of Dusknoir and crap and came out the winnner, and even put up a decent fight against Darkrai.
All Ash's pokemon stick to training regimes he left them. And while they're not all super hard core training maniacs like Charizard, Sceptile, Infernape, Buizel and such they will follow them, because they all want to help Ash achieve his dream and all love being called on by him to battle. Yes, that even means Snorlax. How else do you think that big lovely tub of lard swaggered in during The Battle Frontier and was pulling black flips and shit and dancing around Medicham's with a grace that would make a ballerina froth with envy?