Chapter 17 Kicking It from Here Into Tomorrow

Following a practice battle with Ash, Serena, and Scorbunny exchange a high-five. Just then Darmanitan walks over and begins beating its chest, seemingly challenging Scorbunny's strength.

"What is Darmanitan doing?" Serena asks in confusion.

"Looks like it's gonna do something!" Ash says.

Darmanitan unleashes a powerful Fire attack which almost hits the Sakuragi Park's glass ceiling. Scorbunny yells, "I can do that as well!"

After taking a deep breath, Scorbunny unleashes a measly single ember. Darmanitan is struck by the disappointing effort and breaks out into booming laughter, leaving Scorbunny feeling humiliated. To add more pain for Scorbunny, Torchic walks past and does an Ember on the sky, causing Scorbunny to cry anime tears.

"Ash! Serena! You still haven't had breakfast?" Chloe asks with worry, "Mr. Mime is worried about you!"

But they aren't paying attention to Chloe and Chloe decides to ask, "What are you doing?"

Ash says, "Well, Chloe...you see..."

After explaining how Darmanitan taunting Scorbunny with not using Fire moves, Chloe notices the face of Darmanitan and she asks, "Why does Darmanitan look so smugly...?"

"Darmanitan provoked Scorbunny into trying to use Ember, but it can't really pull it off..." Serena sighs.

Serena and Delphox are trying to help Scorbunny, but Scorbunny just can't do it. Chloe says, "It doesn't seem to work."

"I know, but I don't think there's any need to try so hard, though." Ash says. "Scorbunny, that's enough."

But Darmanitan just mocks Scorbunny before leaving, and Scorbunny tries to follow it, but Ash grabs Scorbunny and says, "It's not worth being angry like that, Scorbunny! Your Quick Attack and Double Kick have gotten really strong. It doesn't matter if you can't use a Fire Move."

But Scorbunny makes a frustrated face and Serena says, "It seems like he doesn't agree."

"That's giving me a headache..." Ash frowns.

Just then, Torchic glows as it also evolves, it is now bigger and Chloe asks, "What is that Pokemon?"

"That's a Combusken." Ash says, "And I'm glad that it evolves since I really like how strong Blaziken is.

It uses its Flame Charge as it leaves, causing Scorbunny to get angry as he chases after Combusken and Darmanitan to prove that it can use Fire attacks.

Over breakfast, Serena asks, "By the way, how is the Global Trade System going?"

"It is not good, ever since we traded 5 away, it doesn't seem to have some progress going on..." Ash frowns. "I feel a little sorry that they have to continue to stay in the machines for who knows when."

"You really care about them a lot." Serena smiles.

"Yeah." Ash says. "But we can also try to capture some new Pokemon for our team as well."

Chloe looks at how Ash and Serena are talking happily, and she remembers the proposal Ash asks her a few days ago. Chloe decides not to think about it and she asks, "Is Pokemon capturing fun?"

"It's super fun." Ash says. "Chloe, you should come with us as well."

"No thanks." Chloe says, but Ash keeps persisting, "Come on!"

Chloe just says back, "I just told you that I don't want to!"

"Why not? It's fun." Serena says, frowning that Chloe is still in her cold self. They start to wonder if she forgets the talking that Ash gave her a few days ago.

Before Chloe can answer, they find that Scorbunny isn't with them and the bowl for him is still full. Chloe asks, "Hey, where's Scorbunny?"

"Perhaps he wants to continue training." Ash shrugs.

Meanwhile, Scorbunny has been practicing by itself and finally unleashes a promising Ember out of sheer frustration. "I did it!" Scorbunny jumps high into the air and he tries to show Ash and Serena his process.

While walking on the road, Ash says, "Don't worry, Scorbunny will come right back once it gets hungry."

Just then, Scorbunny rushes up to them and he says, "Look guys! I-"

Serena pets Scorbunny and says, "Scorbunny! There you are! Now let's go capture some Pokemon."

"Yeah, I can't wait to see what Pokemon we can capture." Ash says.

"But just look at me..." Scorbunny continues trying to show Ash its Ember attack, but Ash is too busy scouring the city streets to notice. Then they decide to take a rest at the bench. "I thought we could find some Pokemon right here..."

"Yeah." Serena says, but then they spot Pelipper as it flies away. "Hey! Wait up!"

Ash and Serena try to chase after the Pelipper, but they immediately lost him after they spot a phone booth. "What is this?" Ash asks as he notices the phone boot, just then, the floor rises and they see Team Rocket getting out of it.

"Team Rocket? How did you get from the phone booth?" Serena asks while Pikachu is sparking with electricity.

"What do you mean? This is our secret base after all." Just then, they realize that they have told them their secret.

"A secret base under the Phone Booth?" Ash asks in surprise.

"Damn it, then let's get that Pikachu! Team Rocket Prize Master!" As they yell, the Pelipper comes and Ash says, "Hey! That's the Pelipper that we saw!"

"Which means that this place getting exposed...was Pelipper's fault!" Team Rocket turns to Pelipper and accuses. Pelipper instantly flees the area before releasing the Rocket Prize Master machine from its bill.

"So that Pelipper was Team Rocket's Pokemon..." Ash says, and Serena says, "And I thought we could find a new Pokemon..."

Meowth instantly takes position, helping to activate the Rocket Prize Master. With two turns of the mechanism, Jessie and James receive a Ball each and call out a Politoed and Poliwrath.

"A Politoed and a Poliwrath..." Ash says. "Both of them are evolved from Poliwhirl..."

"Use Water Gun!" James says, and Poliwrath aims at Pikachu, while Ash says, "Pikachu! Quick Attack!"

Pikachu dodges the water move and hits Poliwrath. Jessie has Politoed uses the same, and Serena orders Scorbunny to reply with Double Kick. However, Scorbunny is determined to use Ember, though only manages to unleash a single flame before being defeated by Politoed's Water Gun.

"Scorbunny? Why did you use Ember?" Serena says in panic.

"I'll handle this. Pikachu! Thunderbolt!" Ash says as the attack hits Team Rocket, causing them to blast off and also gets the Poliwrath and Politoed's Pokeballs

"Scorbunny! Are you alright?" Ash asks as he rushes to him, and Scorbunny finally wakes up and Serena asks, "Scorbunny, why did you use Ember instead of Double Kick back there?"

Scorbunny says that he wants to show off his Ember, and Ash is getting frustrated at Scorbunny's stubbornness and he says, "That's enough, Scorbunny. I know you want to learn Ember, but that won't work against Water Type Pokemon. You should focus on the moves you can actually use back then."

But Scorbunny is determined to show off Ember, and Serena says, "Scorbunny, you have to calm down. Moves don't simply learn just in one day. If you really want to use it, you should practice more often."

But Scorbunny refuses to listen as it kicks Ash from behind and Ash says, "Why are you so persistent? We told you already, some moves don't just happen if you want to do it, you have to get more practice and training!"

But Scorbunny just runs away, and Ash and Serena try to follow it. "Maybe Scorbunny can't accept the fact that he hasn't mastered Ember..." Serena says.

"Yeah." Ash says, and then they get to a park where Scorbunny is furiously training. They watch in secret as Scorbunny stamps its feet in frustration, which kicks up a stone. The stone lands nearby, leaving a single mark on the path

"Scorbunny is determined to master a Fire move...so that it can prove our other Fire Type Pokemon wrong..." Serena says.

"Yeah." Ash says, "Scorbunny!"

The Pokemon turns to Ash and he starts to run away, but the two give chase and they find Team Rocket again. "You again?"

"How dare you steal our Poliwarth and Politoed! That is what we are doing, not you!" Jessie yells.

"And this time we'll get your Pikachu as well!" Jessie says as she takes out a regular Pokeball, sending out a Chewtle.

"A Chewtle this time?" Ash asks.

"But it is not in the Rocket Pokeball...so it was Jessie's..." Serena says.

"Use Bite attack!" Jessie yells, and Ash says, "Scorbunny! Dodge it!"

Scorbunny dodges the attack, and Ash says, "Scorbunny, even though your methods are wrong for now, there's one way you can try to use Ember! And this time, we'll win for sure!"

Scorbunny nods and Ash says, "But first, use Quick Attack!" Scorbunny tries to attack Chewtle, but it was sent back by a Headbutt.

"Now use Double Kick!" Ash says, and this time it dodges Chewtle's Bite, and then it lands the attack.

"Scorbunny, do you want to try your Fire move?" Ash asks, and Scorbunny nods. "Good, now try Agility faster and faster!"

After it is faster and faster, and Ash takes a pebble and says, "Use this and use Ember!"

"Scorbunny kicks the rock and then the Ember worked, even though Chewtle uses Water Gun to block the attack. Just then, Scorbunny starts to glow as it evolves.

"Now it's a Raboot!" Serena says. "Raboot, the Rabbit Pokémon. A Fire type. Raboot has fluffy fur that protects it from the cold and lets it use stronger Fire-type moves."

"Now, Raboot! Use Ember!" Raboot then does his attack, and then it sends Team Rocket flying.

"We're blasting off again!" After they leave, Ash says, "Nice job, Raboot."

But Raboot just walks away from them, much to their confusion. "Don't tell me..." Ash frowns as he remembers the time with his Charmeleon and Charizard.

Serena asks, "Raboot? What's wrong?"

But after Raboot doesn't pay attention to her as well, Ash says, "I think the same thing might happen again..."

"Again? What do you mean by that?" Serena asks.

Ash says, "Do you know why I didn't mention the story of my Charizard to you? It is because it has given me a hard past. When Charizard was just a Charmander, it is just like Scorbunny. But once it evolves into a Charmeleon, it refuses to listen to me."

"Really?" Serena asks. "I can't believe it now that I look at him..."

"Yeah, and it doesn't change when it evolves into a Charizard...it only listens to me when we are fighting in Cinnabar Island." Ash says. "Because of its stubbornness, I lost my first League in Kanto..."

"No way...is that why you never told me about your Kanto League performance?" Serena asks.

"It is not only the Leagues, the badges that I got from the Kanto Gyms are mostly from pity. I didn't even defeat some of the Leader's Pokemon to get the badge." Ash turns to Raboot. "As for how Charizard now listens to me, it is because of one incident in Orange Islands."

"I see... but that doesn't mean we can't open Raboot's heart as well." Serena says. "Don't give up until it is over."

"You're right. I know one day Raboot will be our friend again." Ash says as they both follow Raboot, who still refuses to pay attention to them.

Here is a new chapter, and in this chapter, Scorbunny evolves, but it is just like Ash's Charizard in the past, which it refuses to listen to Ash. Will they fix their friendship in the end? Find out in future chapters.

New Pokemon: Combusken, Poliwrath, Politoed, Raboot