April 6th, Viridian City.
His feet were killing him. His black steel toe boots were as comfortable as they could be, but more than 5 days of constant hiking took their toll; especially since the forest route had been more hilly than Route 1 would have been. They had merged with the flat grassland that was Route 1 shortly after breakfast and funnily enough it wasn't until Ash could make out the outline of the city that he really started to feel the ache in his feet. It was only about one in the afternoon when he entered the city limits. If he remembered right from his previous visits to the city then the Pokemon Center wasn't too far. In all cities the Pokemon Centers were never too far from main city entrances. It was so that they could be easily accessible to traveling trainers.
Fletchling seemed amazed by the city and Treecko was clearly curious about all the new things. He supposed it was a completely different environment to the two. Fletchling was perched on top of his hat. He had specifically requested that the small bird stick close so that she didn't get lost. He had learned quickly after he caught her that she was very curious and liked to go off to explore. She was trilling at every car that passed by and chirping happily at every passersby. Many had commented on how cute the little bird was which just seemed to encourage her more to greet everyone.
Treecko was a little more judgmental of the new environment. Once they had crossed onto the concrete road that started the city's infrastructure the grass type had crouched to the ground to examine the new substance. He had watched in amusement as Treecko tapped the ground with its tail to study its hardness before he started to use his adhesive hands and feet to test how he stuck to the surface.
Ash supposed that Professor Birch's lab back in Hoenn didn't have any paved areas. Now that he thought about it the road from the lab to his house wasn't paved either. In fact the only road in Pallet that was paved was the main road that led directly through the center of the town, the rest were dirt roads.
When they had actually entered into the city the two Pokemon seemed impressed by the buildings. Fletchling was practically fascinated by windows. They had stopped several times so the bird could look at itself in the reflection. A few times the people inside waved hello at the little avian, but Ash tried to keep her from staying too long so as to not interrupt people. He had made sure that Fletchling was only looking into restaurants or shops and not homes; that would have been uncomfortable to explain.
Treecko, after a while, decided that he wasn't as taken with the city as Fletchling was. The area smelled extremely different from the forest. Its scent was even vastly different from Pallet Town and the Birch man's lab back in Hoenn, the only other two human areas that he was familiar with. He didn't quite like it and he missed natural aromas of the forest. There were too many people too. He wasn't the type of Pokemon that felt wary around humans but there were too many humans crowded into one space; it made it difficult to walk around and some them didn't seem to even pay attention to what was around them as they traveled.
He was definitely still impressed by the buildings though. They were taller than any other he had seen, although Ash had told him soon after they entered the city that in bigger cities the buildings were much taller. Most of the ones that he had seen before arriving in Viridian had 1 or 2 levels, but these seemed to be 4 or 5 levels high. He had also seen windows before so he wasn't as mystified by them as his newest compatriot was. She didn't seem to get that humans liked to look out at things. Although to be fair why one would want to have strangers being able to see into their nest was a strange human thing.
The "cars", as Ash called them were interesting though. They were shiny and looked fairly heavy, but they moved pretty quickly. Ash had made it very clear that they could be dangerous and they needed to stay of the black road and walk on gray walkway. He didn't even want Fletchling flying near the road. Treecko had thought that he was being over-dramatic until one car speed past them so fast that Ash's hat was nearly blown off. He could definitely see how that could be dangerous. His opinion of cars worsened seconds later when a car with flashing lights that nearly blinded him drove by wailing so loud that he thought his ears would burst.
"Viridian is one of the older cities in Kanto." Ash's statement had caught both Pokemon's attention. "That's why a lot of the buildings only go up 4 or 5 stories. They've been renovating parts of the city for a while though so some of the newer buildings go up higher." Treecko could see what he meant. In the distance he could make out a few spread out buildings that obviously stood taller than the rest of the city. They were shinier too, although that could be because they had more windows that could reflect the sunlight. "Even those are on the smaller side of buildings though. Like I told you guys earlier, big cities like Saffron have buildings anywhere from 20 to 100 stories high. We call those buildings in particular skyscrapers; you'll see when get to some of those cities."
Fletchling was impressed by the idea of skyscrapers. Those ones in the distance were easily taller than the tree that she had grown up in, but to think that there were even taller ones. She wanted to see them and what's more she wanted to see them from the top. From her nest she had been able to all of the surrounding forest and could even make out the mountains in the distance. From atop the buildings that Ash was speaking about she wondered how far she could see.
Treecko grunted and squeaked out questioningly. He stood up on his toes and raised his arm up high, the tilt of his head giving away the questioning nature of his vocalization. Ash crossed his arms and tilted his own head as he thought about what Treecko was asking. It took Ash a few seconds to understand what the question was, "Why are the buildings so high?" His starter nodded at his inquiry. "Well from what I understand people build buildings upward so that they don't havta go outward. By going upward humans take up less land, which brings them into less conflict with Pokemon and damages the environment a little less. There are probably more reasons, but I don't really know anything about construction or land development."
Treecko nodded in understanding, he didn't know what 'land development' meant but he assumed it wasn't too important for him to know since Ash didn't seem to know much about it. "There it is!"
The trainer's excited shout caught his attention, as well as the attention of the some bystanders. Treecko saw his human pointing at a square building. Primarily white except for the roof and the base which were red, but not like the red that Ash's hat and hoodie were; more a pinkish red. There was a big outline of a Pokeball on the front, just under the roof and above the door. "That's the Pokemon Center. They're all over the place, one in every city and a lot of towns. Some of the big cities even more than one."
Seeing his Pokemon tilt their heads in confusion he decided to explain. "A Pokemon Center is a place where a trainer can bring their Pokemon to be treated for any medical issues. There's always nurses and doctors inside that have spent years studying so that they can treat any injured Pokemon. When we get inside I'm going to hand you two over to them and they'll take a look you to make sure your healthy."
Fletchling was hesitant about that. Ash was just going to give them over to some stranger? What if they didn't give them back to him? What if they gave them back to the wrong person?! Treecko seemed pretty fine the idea though, he just nodded in acceptance when Ash finished speaking. Why wasn't he nervous?
Treecko had forgotten that Fletchling had no idea about the world of humans, although he admittedly wasn't an expert on them either. At her nervous question he had explained that he had been taught about these kinds of places before and had undergone medical exams while still young. They were no big deal, well as long as the nurse had warm hands they were no big deal.
"Pokemon Centers offer free housing for traveling trainers, but only for two days. After that we have to pay a fee." The two Pokemon didn't seem to care much about the housing situation, which made sense since the two were perfectly comfortable sleeping outside. He smirked, "They also offer free food for those two days." That caught the two's attention alright, he could feel Fletchling perking up on top of his hat and he caught Treecko's eyes light up from the corner of his eye. "They offer generic buffet style food for people and Pokemon, but you can get some higher quality items if your willing to pay for it." At that Fletchling started chirping happily, he felt bad that he to burst her bubble. "Sorry girl, but we can't really afford the nice stuff right now." The small bird visibly deflated at that and even Treecko's eyes seemed to lose some of their excitement. "That's also why we won't be staying longer. Two days of rest and restocking and then we're off to Viridian Forest!"
Two days. Two days and then he would have to keep moving. He was already behind the others. There were plenty of things that he needed to in the city during those two days. Restocking supplies, registering for the league, calling his mom and the Professor, and looking for evidence of the three others that left from Pallet and what Pokemon they may have caught were all important tasks. They could all wait. The absolute most important thing that he to do was get into the Pokemon Center, give his Pokemon to Nurse Joy and then collapse on an actual bed and sleep for anywhere between 8 and 16 hours. A shower would be good too, but definitely the bed first.
"Hmm, interesting" Professor Oak murmured as he looked over the database on his sponsored trainers. He was so entranced by the screen that he had blocked out the rest of the lab around him.
"What's so interesting Samuel?" The elderly man jumped in surprise at the voice.
"Goodness!" As he swiveled around he saw one of newest lab members, "Marilyn! You startled me." He reclined back in his chair a bit in relief. "Ha! Maybe we should put a bell around you like with some of the Persian."
The young woman giggled, "Sorry, Samuel. So what's so interesting?"
"Ah, yes that! It's truly interesting. You see by shear coincidence I'm quite familiar with this year's top 4 sponsored trainers. Of course Gary is my grandson and I've known Ash practically since the day he was born. He's almost another grandson to me." The old man's smile and laugh really showed how much he cared about the two boys. "Leaf has also been around the ranch quite a bit too over the years since she and the two boys were friends and I've had her work off some punishments over the years." The exasperation at the second part of his statement was obvious. "Jack I became familiar with through a lot of parent teacher conferences. He and Gary would often argue in class, much to their teacher's annoyances. And Delia has told me many times about Jack and Ash fighting as well."
"Sounds like a rough kid."
"Yes. Well his home life sure didn't help that." Professor Oak had muttered that part to himself and Marilyn figured it was best not to ask. The seasoned Professor straightened up quickly and got back into what he was saying before, "I've hired him a few times over the years to help as a field hand during the busy seasons, you know like when winter is approaching and we have to get everything ready for the Pokemon in the fields. I always hoped that the work would help give him experience and discipline to mellow him out, set him on the right path, but he never took up the offers to stay on as a part-timer."
"That's too bad, but what's so interesting about these kids?" Marilyn felt that it was probably best to move the conversation back on topic. She had only been working at the lab for a few months but she knew that the respected Professor tended to ramble when he got worked up.
"Ah, yes!" His smile returned, clearly glad to not dwell too long on the young man. He swiveled around and brought up four different windows on the screen. Each window had a different trainer profile. "Well its been almost a week since the four left and I was just looking over what they've caught since then. What's interesting is that their personalities are reflected very well by what they've caught."
"Hm? What do you mean?" Marilyn had only started at the ranch a few months ago and wasn't really familiar with the four trainers. Gary she knew the best and Ash she had seen and said hello to a few times, but the ranch was a big place. She didn't know the other two at all.
"You see Gary is confident, cocky in some ways, but he is also very good at multitasking. Not only that but he always likes to have options, sometimes going out of his way to create options so that he can pick the best choice. Only six days into his journey and he already has 10 Pokemon. What's more is that he has already started to rotate them for training. Catching so many Pokemon gives him viable options for multiple different scenarios and the fact that he's already rotating them shows an understanding of managing multiple members of his team at a time."
"Huh. Must be difficult training so many." She was especially impressed since she could see that all of his captures were different species. "He started rotating already?"
"Yes, as soon as he reached Viridian City he rotated a few for preparation for the Viridian Forest. And yes managing so many Pokemon is very difficult. Trainers that catch so many so quickly often fail miserably or they're extremely skilled at time management and organization and end up doing very well in the long run. I'm sure my grandson is the latter and not the former." The Professor had said that last part with a certain pride that only a grandparent could have for a grandchild.
"And the others?" It was a curious observation from the esteemed Professor about his grandson so she was rather curious about the others.
Professor Oak smiled at the inquiry, glad his newest employee was interested. "Leaf always has a purpose to her actions. She doesn't do things randomly and she often plans things out ahead of time. A very pragmatic and practical girl." The pride in his voice was clear. Marilyn couldn't help but think that was one of the reasons why the elderly man was so liked. He had pride in people that he wasn't particularly close too, not something that many could feel.
"She's caught 3 Pokemon so far, a respectable number for a first week. However if you look at what she's captured you can see her personality emerge. A Pidgey, quite a large one at that it seems; easy to raise but when a Pidgeot is fully grown it's capable of carrying a person over large distances and at a quick pace. Considering its current size it will reach a size where it's capable of being a ride Pokemon sooner than most others of the species. A Zubat as well. Useful for traveling through caves and at night, but also for locating other Pokemon. Crobat are excellent battlers too; extremely fast. But even for a veteran trainer it takes a while to get a Zubat to fully evolve into one; the earlier one starts training one the better. And finally a Meowth. A good Pokemon to have as a walking buddy, even when fully evolved; plus a diverse and adaptable move pool." The Professor rubbed his chin in thought, "No doubt the girl is being picky with her captures. It wouldn't surprise me if she left here with a list of Pokemon she definitely planned on catching, although how many of these three she planned a head of time only she knows."
"I see Jack's only captured two Pokemon so far." As noted as she looked at his trainer Profile. Under his picture there were standard images of a Raticate and Mankey.
"Yes, Jack's also choosing his Pokemon carefully. It appears he's looking for Pokemon that aren't necessarily aggressive, but do have a tendency to like to battle. Easily motivated to train and battle, relatively simple to raise, but difficult to bond with. He's a battler through and through. The others I can see following another path at some point in their lives, but I can't really picture him doing something else with Pokemon. Although I admittedly know him the least as the four, so who am I to judge?"
"And Ash?" His profile was hidden behind the other windows so Marilyn couldn't quite see what he had captured.
"Ah, yes Ash." The Professor's tone was hard to interrupt. He seemed exasperated and amused at the same time. "That boy tends to stumble around blindly; leaping before he looks. And yet he tends to get where he needs to eventually. He's only caught one Pokemon in the week, but he somehow stumbled his way into finding a Fletchling of all things."
"That's...an unusual find in Kanto."
"Yes well, Ash always tends to do things his own way. Sigh, knowing him he probably caught it while doing something dangerous," the hesitant smile then fell and he looked plain exhausted, "and/or stupid." Marilyn could only sweat drop at that end part which he muttered under his breath. "One of these days I'll find out whether he's the luckiest person I've ever met or most unfortunate."
Ash had awoken at about 10PM. His pillow was covered in his drool, causing his face to be very sticky. Even lying down his knees were still weak, but he felt great. Picking himself up on his arms he practically fell out of the bed, but he managed to swing his legs over the edge of the bed. He was still wearing his traveling clothes, even his boots. He could feel the dirt and grime covering his face and arms, the dried sweat in his armpits. His hair was dry and stiff and greasy. Time for that shower.
Untying his boots was easy, but getting them off his feet was a bit more difficult. He had little feeling in his legs and it made it more difficult to get them over his heels. Once his feet were finally free he grabbed his bag off the ground, picked out a clean set of clothes and stumbled his way over to the small bathroom that was in the room. He was silently thankful that this was a bigger and newer Pokemon Center so the rooms had their own showers. Some of the smaller and older Centers had communal showers.
He felt so much better after his shower, even his legs felt back to normal. It was probably the longest one that he had ever taken. As soon as the water hit him all the dirt and grime fell off and coated the floor of the shower. Currently he was sitting cross legged on the bed and watching a movie on the small TV that sat parallel to the bed. His white t-shirt already had a crumbs on it from the ham and cheese sandwich that he had grabbed from the cafeteria earlier. As soon as his teeth sunk into the prepackaged meal he thanked Nurse Joy for telling him that the cafeteria closed at 8:30pm, if she hadn't then he wouldn't have been able to grab one before going upstairs and would have gone hungry.
The lights and television cut out as he was taking a bite of the second half of his sandwich. "Hm?" He got up and flicked the light switch, but the over head light remained off. He took another bite of his sandwich before opening his door and looking into the hallway. The ceiling lights were off as well. The only light that illuminated the corridor was from the street lights outside the windows. So that meant that the city block still had power. Was it just this building?
A door three rooms down opened and a girl walked out. She looked about his age, but was a little bit taller than him. The light from the street light illuminated her orange hair that was cut straight across at the shoulders. Combined with the light he noticed that it almost looked like fire around the edges. "The powers out here too?" He noted the trainer belt in her hand.
"Apparently. The street lights are on so I doubt it's the whole block." He answered.
"There should be a back up generator and emergency lights. Did they come on in your room?" At her question he looked into his room from over his shoulder and saw the only light source being from his window.
"Nope."
"Hm, wonder what's-" *CRASH* The sound of glass shattering put both of them on alert. "What the hell was that?!"
"It sounded like it came from down stairs." By the time he answered her question he was already moving toward the stairway. His Pokemon were still downstairs in their Pokeballs, they could be in trouble. He could hear that the girl was right behind him.
Due to the lack of windows in the stairway and the emergency lights not coming on the two stumbled around a bit in the dark and had to slow down. Emerging onto the first floor lobby the two froze. Nurse Joy was behind the counter to their right and looked terrified. The floor was covered with broken glass, he would have to be careful as he wasn't wearing his shoes. His eyes were drawn upward by the moonlight and he saw that the the lobby's skylight was completely shattered.
"Team Rocket?!"
The girl's shout redirected his attention to the middle of the lobby where two people were standing. A man and a woman. The man was about average in every way except for the hair; a turquoise or maybe lavender? He wasn't the best with colors, but he knew it was somewhere between blue and purple. The woman was fairly tall, standing about the same height as the man. Ash might have called her pretty if it weren't for the ridiculous style that her deep red hair was in. All her hair went backwards, away from her body with not a single strand actually touching her back before curling at the end. 'How much product must go into that?' Both were wearing white with the big, bold, red 'R' on their chests.
'Shit! My Pokeballs are still in the back!" He glanced at the girl out of his peripheral and saw that she had put on her trainer belt over her Staryu covered blue pajama pants. A Pokeball was in hand and she looked ready to throw. While her face was steeled and angry, he could also see the nervousness in her eyes too.
"Well, looks like two twerps decided to be brave." The woman's voice was lanced with condescending sarcasm.
"Why don't you two go play while the adults finish talking?"
"There's nothing to talk about!" Nurse Joy's shouted before either of the young trainers could respond to the man's question.
"Oh! I beg to differ." The Rocket Woman, "There's plenty of strong Pokemon in the back for you to give us. Now if would be so kind?" She was holding out her hand and flexing her fingers in a 'give it here motion'.
"There aren't any powerful Pokemon here. This place is for injured and recovering Pokemon." Nurse Joy was clearly scared, but she was determined not to give into these thieves.
"This is Viridian City lady! We know that their are plenty of strong Pokemon that are recovering from their Gym Battles! So hand them over." The red haired woman wasn't the least bit deterred from their mission.
The orange haired girl next to him seemed to lose her nervousness and she gained a serious nerve at the Rocket's logic. "The league season just started you morons! No new trainer is anywhere near strong enough to challenger Giovanni! And the veteran trainers that are competing in the league aren't allowed to start the gym challenge for another month! How stupid are you guys?!"
"Eh?! Is that right?" Ash could barely hear the male rocket surprised mutter. Of course it was hard to hear over the woman's rage.
"Who you calling stupid, carrot top?!" Ash wasn't sure if the female Rocket had actually recognized what the girl beside him said in her rage or if she was just reacting to the insult.
"I'm calling you stupid, you bonehead!" Ash felt his jaw drop at the nerve of the red head beside him. "I mean seriously! Everyone knows that Giovanni only takes first year trainers that have 6 or more badges! If you were going to steal strong Pokemon then why didn't you do it 2 months ago, before the last tournament?!"
Ash could feel the sweat drop on the back of his head at the girl's comment and he couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "I don't think you should be giving the bad guys tips."
His comment was completely unheard, especially over Rocket woman's shout. "Because we were still in the academy 2 months ago you little pest!"
"Jessie! I don't think you should have said that." Ash silently couldn't help but agree with the Rocket man's hushed yelled.
"Shut it James!" The Rocket woman, Jessie, shouted at her partner before quickly turning back to Nurse Joy. "Even if the Pokemon aren't strong there are still Pokemon back there! Now give them here!" She empathized her rage by enlarging a Pokeball in her hand. The action caused Ash to step back, he still didn't have his Pokemon with him. The girl next him however raised her own Pokeball in response. The purple(?) haired man raised his own Pokeball to back up his partner, but he clearly was much more hesitant, probably having realized the futility of this endeavor.
"Go Ekans!" From Jessie's Pokeball popped out the purple poison type Pokemon. It was about as long as Jessie was tall and about as thick as Ash's waist. The serpent coiled in on itself, a natural pose for their kind and hissed threateningly. When coiled it's head reached it's trainers hip. The yellow segmented tail shook, the sound a natural warning to how dangerous the species could be. Ash was sure that it would narrow it's eyes in a glare if it could, but he remembered one of the ranch hands telling him that many snake Pokemon didn't have eyelids.
"Come out Koffing!" James's own poison type emerged in front of him. The purple spherical Pokemon weren't very popular for trainers due to the smells they produced and the risk of exploding. There were a few around the ranch, but Ash never worked with them. Professor Oak had a special team of ranch hands that dealt with the various poison types that called the ranch home. Ash was always interested in the skull and cross bone patterns on their 'chest'. He had a heard an urban legend that Koffing's pattern inspired the stereotypical skull and cross bones patterns that appeared on human made toxic materials, but Ash wasn't sure of the authenticity to that. It was such a strange pattern, even for a Pokemon. As apposed to Jessie's Ekans' aggression, James' Koffing had the same dull expression on its face that all Koffing had. Ash couldn't help but wonder why they all had that same face.
"Staryu!" The red headed girl threw out her own Pokemon. He briefly wondered if it was the girl's favorite Pokemon as her pajama pants featured the starfish Pokemon. The brown five pronged Pokemon was a common sight in the shallows near beaches and Ash had seen many living in the various ponds and lakes around the ranch. The red jewel that comprised its core flashed a deep and harsh red. Ash assumed that it was a sign of aggression sent towards the opposing Pokemon, but he couldn't be sure. Staryu and its evolution were some of the most difficult Pokemon to read. Many people believed that the evolutionary line were extra-terrestrials due to their strange biology.
From his peripheral his could see the girl glance at him before turning her attention back to the rockets. She was probably looking to see why he hadn't called out a Pokemon of his own because she immediately started to slowly reach behind toward her belt to grab another Pokeball.
"Ekans! Use-!" Jessie's command was broken interrupted by loud clattering and a harsh shatter of something breaking. The tension was broken and all three of the Pokemon relaxed their muscles slightly as the humans all turned toward the source of the noise. The surprise noise also seemed to break Jessie's anger and the look of rage faded to be replaced with the same confusion that was on everyone else's face. The humans and Pokemon all looked behind the counter toward the double doors that led to the examination area.
"Ouch!"
'Who was that? Team Rocket? Or another employee of the center?' More shouting interrupted Ash's thoughts, but it was muffled and he couldn't make out the words.
"You'se little pests! I'm gonna get you for that!" That he was able to make out. More clattering kept everyone in the lobby's focus. After a moment the doors swung open as something small smashed through them and fell onto the counter. The computer monitor and what sounded like several other things on the counter fell to the floor.
"Nurse Joy! Are you ok?!" The nurse had just narrowly jumped out of the way of whatever object crashed into the counter.
"What the fuck was that?!" The red headed girl was clearly as surprised about the turn of events as he was.
"Ugh. Ow, ow, ow. That hurt." The voice that came from the behind the doors earlier matched the voice that was groaning in pain from behind the counter.
Nurse Joy had scurried around to their side of the counter, but was still the closest and the only one that could see over the counter top. "A Meowth?"
Both teenagers paused at her confused statement. "Huh?"
Sure enough a beige feline Pokemon jumped up onto the counter. The gold coin on its forehead shined brightly, clearly well cared for. Its purple eyes looked pretty annoyed, which was confirmed by the snarl on its sharp teeth. The Scratch Cat Pokemon stood up on its hind legs, its brown tipped tail whipped behind it. Turning toward the nurse the feline surprised the woman and the two teenagers.
"Yeah, I'm a Meowth! So what?!"
"Eeeeehhhh?!" He couldn't help the surprised cry that came out of his mouth.
"A-a-a talking Meowth?!"
"How is that possible?"
Nurse Joy and the Staryu trainer seemed to both be as shocked as he was.
The talking Pokemon snarl changed into a chesire grin. "Oh? You want to know why I can talk?" The Pokemon held his paw underneath his chin in a smug expression. Ash didn't even know that Meowth could stand on two legs, let alone use its front paws like hands. "You see it's a long and tragic story that depicts my ability to overcome hardship and-Oomph!"
Whatever else the talking Pokemon was going to say was interrupted by something crashing into the back of his head, sending him careening face first into the floor. Looking up at the counter Ash couldn't help but smile "Fletchling!" Flapping right where the Meowth's head had been was Fletchling. The tiny bird's fierce glare was erased as soon she heard Ash's voice. Flying quickly over to her trainer the Tiny Robin Pokemon landed on his shoulder and nuzzled his cheek. "Hahaha, I'm glad to see you too!" The heat she was producing was more intense than usual, a sign of her anger, but it wasn't burning thankfully.
A squeak interrupted them and Ash's smile grew even larger as another Pokemon jumped up on top of the counter. "Treecko!" The Wood Gecko Pokemon was standing on top of the counter with his arms crossed. The grass type's eyes quickly glance to his trainer before settling back into glaring at Meowth.
"Ugh, you're still here." Meowth seemed pretty annoyed at his starter. All of a sudden Meowth coming flying out of the back made a lot more sense.
"Meowth! What are you doing?!" Jessie's shout drew everyone's attention. "Don't you know your job?!"
He could practically hear the vein throbbing in Meowth's forehead. "I was! The little snack and this green jerk got in the way!"
"So Meowth is one of Team Rocket's Pokemon." The red head beside had finally regained her ability to speak.
Ash looked back at the two Rockets and their Pokemon; Meowth had retreated to stand alongside the two poison types. He noticed that the Staryu trainer hadn't taken out another Pokemon. It was possible that whatever she was reaching for before was either too new to be of use or at a disadvantage against the poison types.
Treecko jumped down to stand next to Staryu and Fletchling left Ash's shoulder to fly right above them. Him and the orange haired girl with a total of three Pokemon against two Team Rocket grunts with a total of three Pokemon.
"Well, looks like we're evenly matched."
I had planned on making this chapter be composed of this as well as the next chapter, but I got real busy with work and school which put me behind and I decided that I wanted to put something out sooner rather than later. The good news is that I know how the next chapter will play out from start to finish so I just need to actually write it up.
Let me say this right now. GIOVANNI IS NOT ASH'S FATHER! I'm saying that right now. I have no intention at this point of even bringing up Ash's father. At this point in my planning stage it is irrelevant to the plot and I have no interest in it. If I do, as unlikely as it is, eventually decide to bring in Ash's father it still won't be Giovanni, it'll be someone else, probably an OC.
I also have NO plans for any shipping/pairing/romance. So don't ask me about that either.