Chapter 7

"Thank you. We hope to see you again!"

Ash nodded at the cheerful Nurse Joy in thanks before taking his three PokeBalls from her and walking out of the Pokemon Center. He was immediately greeted by a clear blue sky, with the sun shining right above him.

It had been a day since his battle at the Cerulean Gym and Petal's evolution. The boy had decided to treat himself and his Pokemon to a day at the beach to celebrate the win. They'd be back on the road the next day, so he wanted to take some time to relax.

Nate, empowered by wanting to get revenge on the girl from Viridian Forest, had been able to beat Misty easier than Ash did, even though the option to just take a badge still stood. He had stayed to watch the battle, in which Nate proceeded to spear her Goldeen with a Horn Attack from Nidorino and fry her Gyarados with Pikachu. Ash hadn't seen Nate this psyched to beat someone, and when he asked him about it, he just said, "Revenge is a dish best served… uh… with electric attacks." as he patted his Pikachu's head.

(A/N: Your wish is my command, random strangers.)

Angelina had also been able to defeat Misty with the help of Ivysaur and Jigglypuff, the latter determined to outshine the Eevee that had joined her team. Both of his companions had used the ice that Ash had created on the battlefield prior, since the sisters were too lazy to unfreeze it and didn't have any fire Pokemon until Nate had volunteered to clean up the ice with Charmeleon.

He and Nate stayed to watch Angelina's battle and then the three of them were about to leave, but Misty stopped them and gave them three blue discs. "It's the TM for Water Pulse." she had explained. "Official League rules. Not doing a favor for you or anything." Nevertheless, they thanked her and exited the Gym.

Ash watched his Pokemon frolick in the sand and socialize with other trained Pokemon. He then realized that he hadn't given him and his team members much of a chance to relax, besides taking a day off or two in the two months he'd been out here. Usually they'd either be traveling, training, or battling. He made a mental note to do that more, although not too often. He didn't want to slack off too much.

"Woah." he heard a voice next to him say. "What kind of Pokemon is that? Looks rare." He looked at the source of a voice to see an older boy, who looked to be about sixteen, gesturing toward Dexter.

"That's my Porygon." Ash responded. The boy looked incredulously at him.

"How much for it?"

"W-what?"

"I wanna buy that thing. I'll give you fifty thousand PokeDollars for it" the boy said. "Sounds like a good deal to me."

"No."

"What if I throw in my Dragonair?"

"Still no." Ash said firmly. "That's one of my best friends and my first Pokemon. Nothing you can give me will make me trade him away."

The boy looked at Ash with surprise before he shrugged. "Your loss." he said as he walked away. Ash just shook his head. Money couldn't buy a Trainer's Pokemon, especially if said Pokemon was important to them.

As he watched the boy go, he turned his attention back to his three friends. Kit was playing around in the sand, whereas Petal was building a sandcastle (more like a sand mound), and Dexter watched the two of them have their fun, the concept of having a good time foreign to the man-made Pokemon.

Life was good.

Unfortunately all good things must come to end, and soon they were back on the road to go to Vermillion City. It was a five day walk to the industrial town, where Ash and his friends would get their third badge (or at least they hoped they would).

Before he left though, Ash decided to pick up some supplies as well as a new, larger backpack, padded boots, and a larger water canteen. The walks between cities were starting to get exhausting, so the new gear would hopefully mitigate that problem.

Ash kept Kit out of her PokeBall so she could stretch her legs. The little Eevee had been anxious to leave Cerulean City and see the world, and he didn't want to rob her of that luxury. He had been able to register her as one of his Pokemon at the Pokemon Center, removing Bill's ownership, and was able to see her moves.

"This Eevee knows Quick Attack, Tail Whip, Growl, Swift, and Iron Tail." he recalled the Pokedex saying. "Its ability is Adaptability, which increases the power of moves that share its typing."

A pretty simple moveset that could be expanded upon. Ash had wondered where Kit had gotten Iron Tail. Probably from its old Trainer.

As they continued farther into the route however, it started getting harder to see, as their vision was getting more and more obstructed. He picked up Kit and held her in his arms to prevent them from getting seperated.

Soon the visibility started getting worse, and Ash could barely see three feet in front of him. He lost track of Angelina and Nate, and he could feel Kit starting to shiver in fear.

"Guys!" Ash called out. "Where are you?"

"Over here!" he heard Nate say to his right.

"That doesn't help us, we can't see you!" Angelina yelled from his left.

"I think I see something!" Nate yelled. "Just follow my voice!"

Ash followed the sound of Nate's voice, holding Kit close to him. He heard light footsteps from behind him, which he assumed were Angelina's. As Ash started to walk toward where he heard Nate's voice, he started to make out the shape of a building in the distance through the fog.

Finally, he was able to see Nate, who seemed to be looking at four other boys through the fog. He waved Ash and Angelina (who had caught up to Ash) over.

"What do you think they're doing?" Nate whispered. Ash took a closer look at the boys and saw that three of them were huddled around a smaller boy running on a treadmill.

"What item can be used to evolve Nidorino into Nidoking?" one of the boys quizzed him.

"Uh... um… Dusk Stone?" the boy guessed, unsure of his answer. The other three boys just sneered, and the younger boy collapsed on the treadmill, panting from exhaustion.

"Moon Stone, Joe." another boy corrected him. "Should've known it was a waste of time tutoring the weakest in the class." With that, the three boys left the blond-haired boy slumped on the treadmill.

"Looks like a form of torture." Angelina responded. The three of them approached the boy, who was still panting from exhaustion.

"Hey… you okay?" Nate asked. "Were those kids bullying you?"

"No, they're my friends." the boy responded. "I'm fine though. The name's Joe by the way. Are you guys part of Pokemon Tech too?"

"We're just passing Trainers." Angelina said. "We got lost in the fog and found this place. Interesting… uh… friends you have though. What exactly is Pokemon Tech anyway?"

"It's a school where kids can get badges without having to travel the Kanto region." Joe explained. "If you complete a simulation of a gym battle, you get the badge. How many badges do you guys have?"

"Two." Ash responded. "The Boulder Badge and Cascade Badge."

"Only two?" Joe questioned. "I have four. A lot of the kids here have five or six badges from the simulations."

"But simulations can't replicate a real battle." Nate said. "You can't predict what's going to happen. Pokemon Trainers aren't robots. Who's in charge of this anyway?"

"Well, the head student is Giselle." Joe responded. "She's pretty mean though…" The boy took out a picture, and showed it to them. The picture was of a girl with long brown hair who, in Ash's opinion, did look pretty.

"If she's so mean then why do you carry her picture around?" Angelina asked.

"I hate the way she treats us but I like the way she looks." Joe responded simply.

"Yeah… me too." Nate mumbled as he stared at the picture. Angelina responded to this by whacking him forcefully in the head with her hand.

"OW!" Nate yelled. "What was that for!?"

"For being a dunce." Angelina stated.

"What's THAT supposed to mean!?"

"GUYS." Ash said forcefully. "Can you PLEASE not fight again? I am TIRED of this." Both of them bowed their heads and muttered an apology. He turned back to Joe.

"The stuff you can learn here is easily learned by just going on a journey." he said. "Getting an experience is way more fun."

Joe just shrugged. "I think it's still as good as the real thing. How about we battle? Then we can see who's the better Trainer."

"Sure. I'll battle him" Nate said, unclipping Nidorino's PokeBall. "Where should we battle?"

"Giselle has a study area with an indoor battlefield." Joe said. "We can battle there. It's too foggy out here anyways. Is that okay with you?"

The three Trainers nodded, and Joe led them into the building.

As Ash entered the study room he could see there was a vast array of computers and other fancy technology used for battles and research. In the middle was a standard dirt battlefield, with a monitor next to it. Joe took his place on one side, while Nate stood on the other.

"Let's show 'em Nidorino."

"Come out, Weepinbell."

Nate's Nidorino came out of its PokeBall, pawing the ground and glaring at its opponent. On Joe's side, a pitcher plant-like Pokemon emerged, with large eyes and a huge mouth.

"Start off with Horn Attack!" Nate ordered. Nidorino's horn glowed white and it charged at the Flycatcher Pokemon with impressive speed.

"Quick! Dodge and use Razor Leaf!" Weepinbell swerved out of the way of the Horn Attack and shot a flurry of leaves at its opponent.

"Now jump and use Poison Sting!" Nate shouted. Nidorino jumped up in the air, dodging the attack, before sending an attack of its own at Weepinbell, swarms of small poisonous barbs from its mouth. The attack hit, causing Weepinbell to groan in pain.

"Finish this with Peck!" Nate commanded. As Nidorino was falling, its horn glowed and it rammed it into its opponent, sending it flying into the fog.

"Weepinbell!" Joe cried. He ran into the fog after it, with Ash and Angelina on his tail. Nate thanked Nidorino for the good battle, which was followed by a grunt from the Poison-type, before going after them.

They found the boy crouched over his Weepinbell, which was clearly unconscious after being hit with the super effective attack. He seemed to be in a state of shock as he recalled his Weepinbell.

"Those moves… the strategies… they weren't in the simulation." he sputtered. He turned to Nate. "How'd you beat me with only two badges? I've never seen someone in my school with that kind of power!"

"Simulations can't prepare you for real life." Ash said. "Pokemon battles are unpredictable and chaotic. Your Weepinbell would've been much stronger if those simulations were actual battles. You probably would've been more prepared to counter something like that."

Joe took a moment to process this information before nodding. "I guess you're right… maybe I should do what you said and-"

"Did you seriously just lose to a Trainer with only two badges?" a voice said. The four of them turned to the source of the voice and recognized it as the girl from Joe's picture. She had a scowl on her face as she looked down at Joe.

"S-sorry Giselle…" Joe said, his head hanging low. "I'll do better next time."

"Yeah you better, weakling." she spat. She turned to the other three Trainers, staring at her as she berated Joe. "Who're you three?"

"I'm Angelina, this is Nate and Ash." she said as she gestured to the other two boys. "You're the head student right?"

"The one and only." she said proudly. "What brings you guys here? Itching to sign up for classes?"

"No, we got lost in the fog and found this place." Nate said. "Joe told us all about your weird fancy private school. How can you call yourself a Trainer if all you do is battle in simulations? What about real battles?"

Giselle's eyes narrowed. "The students here get badges twice as fast as any other Trainer." she said. "Simulations work just fine."

"If your fancy expensive fake battles work so well, how come Nate was able to beat Joe so easily?" Ash countered.

"Because he's weak." Giselle stated simply. "But it still seems like you guys still need some convincing. So I'll beat one of you and show you how strong a real student here is. Who's gonna step up?"

"I'll battle her." Ash volunteered. The other two nodded and Ash stood opposite from Giselle, the two opponents staring each other down. Other students started to take notice of the commotion and gathered around the battlefield. Ash glanced nervously at them before taking a breath. It was his first time battling in front of a crowd, but he couldn't let his nerves get in the way.

"Go, Graveler!"

"Kit, wake up. Time for you to battle."

The Eevee, who had been resting peacefully in Ash's arms, had slowly opened its eyes and jumped out of the boy's grasp before stretching and a smile appeared on her face. She wouldn't miss a battle for her Trainer. Ever.

"Use Take Down!" Giselle ordered. Graveler tucked in its arms and rolled with surprising speed toward Kit, intent on steamrolling the little Eevee.

"Jump and use Iron Tail!" Ash shouted. Kit leaped over the rolling Graveler and her tail started to shine, before she brought it down onto Graveler's body and smashed it, leaving a crack on its body. The Rock-type roared in pain as it clutched the spot that was hit and it glared at Kit, who had a smirk on her face.

"Graveler!" Giselle yelled. "Use Magnitude!"

Her command knocked the Rock Pokemon out of its stupor and it jumped up and stomped on the ground, releasing a large shockwave that knocked it off her feet.

"Now use Take Down once more!" Giselle commanded. Graveler rolled towards Kit, who was still recovering from that powerful Magnitude. The attack hit, launching Eevee into the air as she cried in pain.

"Now follow up with another Take Down!" Giselle yelled.

"Counter with Swift!" Ash ordered.

Kit summoned a swarm of star-shaped projectiles that all locked onto the Graveler and battered it, interrupting its attack.

"Now finish it with Iron Tail!" Ash called. The little Normal-type rushed toward the stunned Graveler and brought her steel-encased tail down on it once more, delivering a final blow before sending it into unconsciousness.

Giselle looked in shock as her Graveler stopped moving. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been beaten, especially not this easily by a Trainer she just met. She watched as her opponent's Eevee promptly curled up by her Trainer and went to sleep once more.

"Wow did he seriously just beat Giselle?"

"That Eevee is pretty strong."

"Didn't he say he only had two badges?"

Giselle ignored her fellow students' murmurs and recalled her Graveler. She then walked up to Ash and stuck out her hand.

"Hey." she said. "Thanks for the good battle. Maybe you're right. Soon I'll go on my own journey and catch up to you. I'll might see you at the Pokemon League. We can have our rematch then."

Ash smiled. "I look forward to it."

"Finally! Vermillion City!"

A couple more days of traveling had finally led the trio of tweens to the seaside city. Ash had been relieved to finally see the large sign indicating they had finally made it.

After finding the Pokemon Center and reserving their rooms, the three of them split up and agreed to meet back at the Pokemon Center by nightfall.

Ash strolled down the streets of Vermillion at a moderate pace, finally alone with his thoughts. The events of Mt. Moon had reduced themselves to a mere memory in Ash's mind, although he still had the occasional nightmare about it, leaving him waking up sweating and breathing hard. He found that walks like this helped him relax and clear his mind.

Suddenly, a flash of light appeared directly in front of the boy, startling him and causing him to jump back. A few seconds later a giant Exeggutor appeared, and with it was Professor Oak.

"Hello Ash, my boy." Professor Oak greeted him. "I see you've managed to make it to Vermillion City. You're making remarkable progress."

"T-thanks Professor Oak." Ash stammered. "How'd you find me anyways? Did Dexter send you a warning?"

"No, Exeggutor here was able to lock onto your location and send me here." he responded. "I saw that your oddish evolved into a gloom. Congratulations. Evolution is a fascinating and beautiful thing to witness, especially in the heat of battle."

"Anyways, I've been meaning to see you. The scientists in Cinnabar sent me the Upgrade ahead of schedule. Could you send out your Porygon for me please?"

Ash resisted the urge to jump for joy right there and sent out Dexter. It beeped and looked at Professor Oak before warbling at him, recognizing the same old man who had helped it find its Trainer.

"I see you've been taking very good care of it." the Professor observed. "Anyways, I shall insert the Upgrade now. It'll take a couple of weeks to fully download, in which the Upgrade will be fully absorbed into Porygon's body, altering its structure and programming."

He proceeded to walk around to the back of Dexter and insert the Upgrade into a slot on its body. Ash then heard a humming sound coming from the Virtual Pokemon.

"There. In a couple weeks time, your porygon will evolve into its next stage." the Professor said.

"Thanks, Professor." Ash said, grateful for the contribution. "By the way, I remember you saying Porygon had two stages of evolution during our video call in Pewter City. You've already done more than enough for me, but is there any chance you could get the item required for that as well?"

The Professor frowned. "I'm sorry Ash, but I couldn't obtain it." he said. "I asked about it, but the researchers weren't too keen on giving it to me for some reason."

Ash just nodded. One evolution was good enough for now. If he ever made it to Cinnabar he could ask about it.

"Well Ash, I should probably be heading back." the Professor said. "I'll see you soon. Remember to call your mother, she's been worried about you."

Ash nodded, making a note in his head to do that later. Oak smiled, before being whisked away by Exeggutor's Teleport. And as soon as he disappeared, Ash's smile fell as he saw that Gary was behind Professor Oak the entire time, with a smirk on his face.

"Well look who it is!" Gary sneered. "It's little Ashy-boy and his weakling of a starter. I'm surprised you out of all people made it this far.

Ash clenched his fists but decided to let it go. It wasn't worth it to fight with Gary right now. "What do you want Gary?" Ash spat his name like venom. "Did you come all the way to Vermillion City to call me a loser?"

"That, and to challenge you to a battle." the red-haired boy answered. "I'm gonna prove that our battle back in Pallet Town was just a fluke, and show you how weak you are!"

"Fine by me." Ash responded calmly. "Two-on-two?"

"Tch. Whatever." Gary said. "Let's just get this over with."

"Dexter, you're up."

"Pound him into dust, Mankey."

Dexter took its place in front of its Trainer, its eyes glowing yellow, whereas Gary sent out a furry, monkey-like Pokemon with a snout. Ash held his Pokedex up to examine the creature.

"Mankey. The Pig Monkey Pokemon." the Pokedex recited. "When Mankey starts shaking and its nasal breathing turns rough, it's a sure sign that it is becoming angry. However, because it goes into a towering rage almost instantly, it is impossible for anyone to flee its wrath. Its raging tires it out and causes it to fall asleep, but the anger resonating in its dreams causes it to wake up—which infuriates it all over again."

"Heh. Kind of like Gary." Ash thought. Gary also proceeded to scan Dexter, before calling out to his Mankey. "Use Karate Chop! End it!"

Mankey's fist started to glow white and it rushed toward Porygon, intent on smashing it with its fist. "Dodge it!" Ash yelled.

Dexter swerved out of the way of the Karate Chop, barely getting out of the way. "Again!" Gary ordered. "Don't let it get away this time!"

"Blast it with Psybeam!" Ash commanded. As Mankey sprinted towards Dexter, it charged up a Psybeam before firing it at the Fighting-type, hitting it square in the face and causing it to fly back a few meters.

A couple of seconds later, Mankey got up, and Ash could hear its breath starting to quicken, as it jumped around in frustration before rushing toward Dexter, its desire to take it out of the battle even stronger than before.

Ash watched in horror as Mankey brought its fist down on the porygon with surprising speed and power, sending it back a few feet before it rushed toward Dexter again, attacking it with flurries of kicks, punches, and scratches.

"Dexter, get out of there!" Ash called in worry. But it was no use. Mankey didn't give Dexter a chance to even use an attack as it battered the Virtual Pokemon, before knocking it out with one final punch, sending it flying back to its Trainer.

Ash was shocked at how fast that exchange had gone. One minute he thought he had the situation completely under control, before it slipped out of his grasp the moment Mankey became enraged. He could still hear Mankey breathing heavily, far from being out of the battle.

Ash sighed. "You did well, Dexter. Take a rest."

"Too easy!" Gary boasted. "Guess that battle back in Pallet Town was just a fluke."

"This isn't over yet, Gary." Ash responded. "Let's do this, Petal."

The Gloom took the field, and immediately started emitting its noxious aroma as it sensed its opponent. Mankey's sensitive nose immediately caught a whiff of the scent, which only served to make it angrier. Gary wrinkled his nose, but Ash seemed unbothered. He had to live with this every day for a week or so before Petal had evolved into a Gloom and was able to turn off the smell at will.

"Use Fury Swipes!" Gary commanded. "End it!"

"Use Acid! Aim for the eyes!" Ash called. Gloom spat a glob of the toxic mixture right in the face of Mankey, who shrieked in pain and fury as it tried to get the goo off of its face.

"Attack the plant, you dumb monkey!" Gary screamed, but Mankey was too preoccupied with its frustration to notice or care.

"Now, Mega Drain!" Ash ordered. Gloom raised its arms as the Fighting-type's life force was quickly sapped away from it, causing it to eventually calm down and collapse.

"Lucky shot." Gary said. "Too bad your useless Torydon or whatever its called is down. This'll be too easy! Let's do this, Wartortle!"

A navy blue turtle Pokemon with feather-like ears and a tail shaped like a wave came out of Gary's PokeBall, still with the smug demeanor it had as a squirtle. Ash didn't need to scan it with his Pokedex to know that its shell could deflect weaker attacks pretty easily, thanks to his extensive research on the Squirtle line before he became a Trainer.

Unless Gary only had two Pokemon on hand, Ash assumed he picked Wartortle for a reason to use against Petal. He had to be careful.

"End this with Ice Beam!" Gary shouted, eager to finish the battle as quickly as possible. Wartortle shot a stream of ice at Petal, who just barely managed to dodge out of the way.

"Keep up the pressure! Use Ice Beam again!" the red-haired boy ordered. The next Ice Beam met its mark, knocking Petal back with super effective damage.

"Use Acid!"

"Protect!"

The Turtle Pokemon formed a green shield around itself, deflecting the Acid and leaving it unscathed. Ash knew he had to break through Wartortle's defense quickly, but how? He'd leave himself open by using Growth. Oh, right. He had something for that.

"Sleep Powder!" he yelled.

Gary's eyes widened. "Use Protect!" he shouted. Unfortunately for him however, Protect drained a lot of energy from the user, which caused Wartortle's shield to falter and left him open.

Petal sprayed his sleep-inducing spores onto Wartortle, who inhaled them and immediately collapsed and fell asleep.

"Now, use Growth!" he ordered. Petal's body started to glow, and after a few seconds, its leaves became glossier, signaling its success.

"YOU STUPID TURTLE!" Gary screamed. "GET YOUR LAZY BUTT OFF THE GROUND AND DESTROY THAT THING!"

That snapped Wartortle out of its slumber, and it woke up groggily before being greeted by a powerful Mega Drain, sucking the energy out of its body once more and causing it to collapse again.

"Nice job, Petal, you've done it again!" Ash cheered. Petal squealed in excitement, happy that it was able to please its Trainer once more, before being returned to its PokeBall.

"Fluke, huh?" Ash said. "Yeah right. Go and train some more so we can have an actual battle."

"Buzz off, Ash." the boy spat. "You're such a loser, you know that? It was easy not being friends with you once I figured that out."

With that, Gary stormed off in the other direction, leaving Ash by his lonesome, before shrugging and walking to the Pokemon Center to rest and relax.

It had been almost two weeks since Ash's battle with Gary, and a lot of things were on his mind since then.

For starters, he'd seen Trainers running in frantically with their injured, bruised, and battered Pokemon, handing them to an exhausted Nurse Joy, and saying how the Gym Leader had absolutely crushed them. If he had to guess, he'd say at least twenty Trainers came into the Pokemon Center per day as a result of losing a gym battle. It had made him worried about his Pokemon meeting the same fate.

Then Nate had come rushing into the Pokemon Center one day, begging Nurse Joy to take care of his Pokemon's wounds, and Ash saw firsthand how bad the damage was. His Charmeleon had large cuts, scratches, and scorch marks all over its body. His Nidorino suffered a similar fate, with bruise and gashes lining his body. Pikachu's wounds weren't as bad, but she still received her fair share of injuries from the battle.

As a result, he started to train harder than before. He wanted to master the attacks he needed before taking on the gym. For Petal, he wanted Giga Drain to be learned. It was the most powerful draining move that a grass-type could learn, and the fact that Petal could learn it so early meant he needed it in his arsenal immediately. Petal had gotten the move down with a few tries, which was simply just a brighter, more powerful Mega Drain.

He still needed Petal to keep practicing before he could use the move consistently, but they were getting there.

As for Dexter, he was still having trouble getting Conversion 2 down. He had thought he could use Conversion as a basis, but oftentimes Dexter would lose concentration and choose the wrong type, or even choose a type that took super effective damage from the move. If he could get the move down though, he had no doubt Dexter would be an extremely tough opponent to face.

But he was getting worried about his starter.

Oftentimes, Dexter would stray away from the group, and stare off into space. The porygon was usually reserved anyway, but Ash often found it a few hundred feet away from them, staring at something random like a leaf or rock.

Something else that confused him was that Dexter seemed to stare at Petal, a lot. Its eyes always seemed to track the Gloom's every move, and Ash was starting to get a little creeped out.

The porygon also seemed to be putting less effort into training recently. Ash knew his Porygon had no reason to hate him, so it definitely wasn't loathing or disobedience. He just decided to give the Normal-type a couple of days off until he found out why it had been acting this way.

Which was why he was calling Professor Oak.

After a few rings, the Pokemon Professor finally responded and waved to Ash.

"Hello there, Ash my boy!" he said with a smile. He noticed the frown on his face. "Is there something wrong?"

Ash nodded, and proceeded to explain how Dexter had been doing over the past week. All the while, the Professor nodded and stroked his chin, occasionally writing something down on a piece of paper.

"So do you know why it's acting like this?" Ash asked, wanting to see his old starter come back to normal.

"Isolation, low effort, strange behavior..." the Professor mumbled to himself. "Tell me Ash, is there any reason Dexter should be feeling this down?"

Ash thought for a moment. "Well… it has been losing a lot in the major battles I've done. It lost against Brock's Geodude before Petal took it out, and then lost against Misty's Starmie before Petal evolved and beat it, and then it lost against Gary's Mankey before Petal won…" He stopped as the realization hit him like a truck.

Dexter was feeling guilty. Guilty that it couldn't live up to the role of being the first Pokemon Ash had ever obtained. Sad that its role as his strongest Pokemon had been taken by Petal. Distant because it didn't want Ash to ever find out. It didn't feel anger at losing, or jealousy at Petal, because it didn't know how.

Come to think of it, he had never congratulated Dexter during his battles, really. During a battle with a regular Trainer, he would just say "Good job." before returning it to its PokeBall. When it lost, he would just sigh before sending out his next Pokemon. Even in Pewter City, it had gone off by itself to wallow in shame. Ash let his head hang low. He had failed his partner, and made it think it wasn't good enough without even realizing it.

"You see Ash, Porygon may be a man-made Pokemon, but it's still a Pokemon, a living being with feelings like you and me." the Professor explained. "I'd recommend you go talk to it and patch things up."

Ash nodded. "Thanks a lot, Professor."

"Think nothing of it, my boy." he responded. "I hope to see you and your companions in good health the next time we meet."

Ash hung up and immediately ran outside the Pokemon Center. It was nighttime, and Nate had gone off on his own to do some training whereas Angelina decided to explore the city.

He walked to one of the battlefields by the Pokemon Center. Not many people stuck around to train at night, so the place was virtually empty, save for a few people.

He released Dexter from its PokeBall, and it warbled as it laid its eyes on Ash.

"Dexter, we need to talk." Ash said. "I've been noticing that you've been more distant and reclusive lately. So I want to ask you something."

"Do you feel ashamed?" The Virtual Pokemon bristled at the question, before nodding. Its coding prevented it from lying, and as much as it didn't want Ash to know, it seemed its Trainer had already figured it out.

Ash sighed. "Dexter, do you know why I picked you as my first Pokemon? I picked you because I saw potential in you to be the perfect teammate. You were strong, smart, and unique." he said, feeling himself spilling his entire heart out.

"I don't want you to ever feel down about yourself, or feel inadequate," he continued. "And I'm sorry if I ever made you feel that way. I'm always going to be proud of you, win or lose, because I know you tried your best, and that's what matters. If you hadn't weakened Brock's Geodude, Petal wouldn't have beat it and Onix. If you hadn't taken out Misty's Staryu, Petal would have surely fallen. If you hadn't damaged Gary's Mankey, I would've lost. That's why Petal looks up to you. I can tell."

"You will always be my companion, no matter what. You're worth it to me. Never think otherwise. Soon, we'll march down to the Vermillion Gym, and you're gonna take down every Pokemon there."

Dexter looked at its Trainer with even more respect than it had before. It could see the emotion radiating off its Trainer's face. The Virtual Pokemon beeped and butted its head on Ash's chest. He chuckled and patted its head. "Glad you're back." he said.

He just closed his eyes and embraced the moment he was having with his starter. It was.. nice, sharing a moment like this with his first Pokemon. He knew deep down that even though Dexter was indifferent and emotionless, it was still one of Ash's best friends, a trusty companion he wouldn't trade for the world.

"Let's go inside." Ash suggested. "It's getting late, and we're going to be doing a lot of training tomorrow. Porygon nodded and levitated after him. Ash was about to walk into the building when he realized Dexter wasn't behind him. He turned around and motioned for his starter to come in.

But it didn't move.

"Dexter?" Ash asked, a bit worried. "You okay?"

Suddenly Dexter started twitching erratically and his eyes starting flashing blue. Ash stepped back. What was wrong with it?

The twitching went on for a few seconds before Dexter's head dropped. And then its body started to glow.

Ash's eyes widened as Dexter's body lost its blocky texture, and its limbs slowly became more polished and refined, starting with its tail, then its feet, its body, and finally its head and beak. The Porygon's body started to grow larger and it grew a neck, until its head reached Ash's chest.

Finally, the glowing ceased, and Ash marveled at his starter's new look. He produced his Pokedex from his pocket and started to scan it.

"Porygon2. The Virtual Pokemon." it read aloud. "Porygon2 was created by humans using the power of science. The man-made Pokémon has been endowed with artificial intelligence that enables it to learn new gestures and emotions on its own. With planetary development software installed, it has become capable of working in space."

Ash's smile widened like a Meowth's as he gazed at his new and improved starter. Porygon2 blinked, surprised by the sudden evolution, as it looked over its new body and flexed its limbs experimentally.

"I bet Petal will be happy to see that you evolved." he said. "C'mon. Let's go inside.

At the mention of the Gloom's name Porygon2 hesitated, but realized it had nothing to worry about, now that everything had been cleared up. The two of them made their way back into the Pokemon Center, and walked to the room where Petal and Eevee were staying. Ash had left them alone for a few minutes, and walked into them currently playing tag with each other.

"Hey you two." Ash said as he walked in with Porygon. "Notice anything different about Dexter?"

The two of them laid their eyes on Dexter and immediately swarmed it, excited by the fact that one of their friends had evolved. Ash settled onto the bed and watched his team members socialize. Petal and Dexter had been through a lot together, and while Kit was a new addition to the team, the three of them had gotten along quite well.

One thing that caught Ash's eye was the fact that Dexter actually seemed to have emotion in his eyes. Anything that happened or was said to it as a Porygon would be met with a stare or a warble. Now he could see happiness in its eyes while it was with its companions. It was a huge contrast compared to how it had acted before.

Soon enough, Angelina and Nate came back from their activities and congratulated Ash and Dexter on the evolution. Dexter looked happy to receive the praise, while Ash responded his thanks tiredly. It had been a long day, and he wanted to get some sleep.

Because tomorrow would be when the real training would begin.

End of Chapter 7

Author's Note: Hey guys! Thanks for making it to Chapter 7!

We all know Ash was a complete savage in the earlier seasons. I tried to replicate that, but if you guys have an even better comeback, I'm all ears. I'm not the best at this stuff anyways.

This chapter is a bit different from some of the other ones I've done so far. I've been thinking a lot about what direction I'm going to take this story in, and so I'm going to be changing up things a bit.

For starters, I noticed I've been leaving out things like interactions between characters and descriptions of training. I only really detail anything that has some sort of relevance to the plot. I'm going to change that so I can develop my characters more, and make more references to the anime. I've added some short scenes in previous chapters as well.

Next chapter will include two major battles! I think you already know one of them, but who else could Ash be battling?

Rockingchampif: Hey! Thanks for the feedback! And I'm glad you're liking the story as well! I fixed the error you mentioned. About your concerns with Nate's battle with Proton, the rocket executive is by no means weak. His Golbat was able to fend off three trained Pokemon, including a Pikachu, until Nate passed out and two of his Pokemon evolved, which made them much stronger and caught Proton off guard. The upcoming battles involving Rockets will increase in difficulty however.

Ilayhyams: Keep in mind this happens literally all the time in the anime and the games. You, a ten-year old, manage to beat the entire game by just knowing type matchups and spamming moves. Ash LITERALLY beat a Regice, a Legendary Pokemon that's been alive for THOUSANDS OF YEARS with his Pikachu. So this isn't too out of the ordinary, at least in my opinion.

See you guys in the next chapter!