'PokeSpeech'
"Normal Speech"
Indigo Plateau, Pokémon Center
"Take care!" Nurse Joy called out to Ash as he left the Indigo Plateau Pokemon Center. Ash gave a fleeing smile before focusing on his current tasks.
Where to go now and what to do now.
His Pokémon were fully healed, Mr. Mime was walking alongside Ash with Togepi and Psyduck while Pikachu was on Ash's shoulder as usual. So he had a majority of his Pokémon. The plan would be to go to Pallet Town and get his remaining Pokémon: Kingler, Muk, and his Tauros herd. No doubt there were on his side still, but with Oak's lab vulnerable, he needed a new place to store his Pokémon. On top of that, Ash was still a bit injured. But this won't stop him. Deciding to go for broke and attempt at using a map, Ash stopped for a minute to search his backpack. When he did, he noticed a few new items in his bag.
First off, he was greeted with three new Pokeballs. Ash could identify them as Mimey and Psyduck, so he returned them thankfully. But the third ball was empty. Ash was confused about this. What was he supposed to use this with?
Ash's eyes shifted to Pikachu and Togepi. Then it hit him. He had to catch Togepi? Granted, Ash had a newfound hatred for Togepi's "mother," but he didn't want to steal someone else's Pokemon (Psyduck didn't count since he still had his Pokeball).
"Hey Togepi, I'm not sure if Misty is coming back for you. So how about I catch you for the time being?" Ash said, since technically he had found the egg first.
Togepi, while may not be old enough, had been listening to the entire ordeal with his "mom" attacking "dad." And all this time, Togepi was more drawn to Ash than Misty. While she did care for him, the baby Pokemon found Ash more like a parent than Misty. Even if she was caring. So, without hesitation, Togepi chirped happily and pressed the Pokeball. He was absorbed and immediately caught. The ball shrunk, due to his six party limit. Ash was worried about sending his Pokémon to Oak's after the betrayal, so he had to carry them and was unable to use them for the time being.
Next in the bag was a small note. Ash briefly read it. It said the following: "Head to Orange Islands for the Orange League."
"The Orange Islands? And what's the Orange League?" Ash questioned. He wasn't familiar with the Orange Islands. Heck, he was only familiar with Kanto, come to think of it. He figured he would just retry Kanto again, but given the betrayal, he was unsure that he could even travel with people again, but if the Orange Islands had a league...
Who was he to deny the challenge. He could show Misty (given she was fully on board with killing him) and to the lesser extent, the others, that he was destined to become a Pokémon Master.
The final items were new items. Ash wasn't quite familiar with these items but he wasn't sure if they were necessary or not. He decided not to discard them and save them at the moment.
With that, Ketchum and Pikachu took off.
A few hours later, random Kanto forest
Ash had been traveling down a route for the past hours now. He wasn't sure if he was even heading towards Pallet Town. Pikachu was doing his best to help with directions, but like his trainer, lacked a sense of direction. Ash was beginning to be exhausted from his trek and was about to take a break...
When an all too familiar robotic hand grabbed his starter. The hand lifted Pikachu into a glass cage and was retracted from a familiar hot air balloon Ash let out a growl. Oh all the times for them to show up...
"Prepare for trouble!"
"And make it double!"
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all people within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"
"Meowth, that's right!"
Ash was already annoyed that they had followed him around the region, trying capture Pikachu and other rare Pokémon. Their schemes always backfired on them, but after his last encounter...
Ash was beyond annoyed. He felt anger towards the trio. This trio had cost him a match. The same match where he had nearly lost his life afterwards, trying to reflect on his goal.
"TEAM ROCKET! GIVE ME PIKACHU BACK!" Ash roared, causing the trio to flinch in fear.
"What's wrong with the twerp?" James stuttered out, afraid of the tone.
"Not sure, but we got Pikachu! That's all that matters!" Jessie said, looking on the bright side.
"Yeah, let's hightail out of here and get to da boss, so he can promote us!" Meowth recommended.
The trio's balloon began to take off as Ash sent out Pidgeotto. "Use Quick Attack on the balloon!" Pidgeotto nodded before flying with a white streak in her fast flight. She went through the balloon, causing it to fall with its occupants. Pikachu's glass prison was shattered and returned to Ash's side.
Meanwhile Team Rocket got themselves free from the wreckage, looking peeved at the development. "You twerp have always been a nuisance! Arbok, Lickitung go!" Jessie said as she threw out her two Pokémon, a purple cobra with a face pattern on her hood and a pink bipedal Pokémon with a long tongue. "Weezing, Victreebel join them too!" James called out with his own Pokémon, a two headed floating purple mass that emitted a foul smell and a yellow Venus flytrap like Pokémon... which chomped on James' head in a happy mood.
Ash drew his own Pokémon, summoning Bulbasaur and Squirtle while Pidgeotto flew down and Pikachu was landed in front, ready to lead the charge.
"Arbok, use Double Edge! Lickitung, use Wrap!"
"Weezing, Sludge Bomb! Victreebel, get off of me and use Razor Leaf!"
"Bulbasaur, Razor Leaf! Squirtle, Water Gun! Pidgeotto, Gust! Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"
All of the moves were sent in flash. Arbok charged with a white aura and rushed through Bulbasaur's assortment of leaves, bashing into the Seed Pokemon and sent back. Squirtle let out a gush of water into Lickitung's tongue, preventing her from using Wrap. Pidgeotto beat her wings in repeat succession to beat the glob of poison coming her way, which proved to be ineffective and was hit with it. Pikachu's bolt struck Victreebel's barrage of leaves and the Pokémon himself.
"Lickitung, give those four a nice good Lick attack!" Jessie snidely commanded. The Licking Pokemon sent her tongue which began to stretch and licked the four Pokémon, paralyzing them. Ash bit his tongue at this, now all of his Pokémon he could send out were paralyzed. Bulbasaur and Squirtle looked down at their predicament. They had been loyal members of Ash's team, but right now they felt their trainer's guilt. They feel like they haven't been pulling their weight on the team. And they wanted to make a difference. They used to see all trainers as bad people, both sharing that experience, but Ash had taught them that not all trainers were the same.
And right now, he needed their help.
Both starters began to glow, a blue form taking over them. Bulbasaur's bulb began to shed, turning into leaves while morphing into a closed flower. He also seemed to grow a few inches. Squirtle's tail seemed to turn fluffier and gain wings along his head, while growing a bit himself. The light died down and revealed two new Pokémon.
"Ivy!" "War!"
Ash gasped in astonishment at his two Pokémon. He knew Bulbasaur and Squirtle didn't want to evolve, but why would they do it now?
Wartortle glowed with a blue aura and let out a cry, before stomping the ground causing pillars of water to surround the trio and drench them. "Do you know how long it will take to dry clean these clothes and my hair?!" "Hey! What's the big idea?!" "Cats like me don't do water!" Ivysaur smirked glowing with a green aura before let out a growl and stomping the ground himself causing pillars of grass to surround the trio. The combined efforts created a swamp that slowly consumed the TRio. "Ah!!! Now we are sinking!!!" Team Rocket's fighting Pokémon were busy questioning what was going on, they didn't notice Pidgeotto's incoming Quick Attack that knocked all of them into the swamp with their trainers.
And now the coup de grace.
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash yelled, ready to send them flying as they usually do. And Pikachu couldn't agree more.
The Mouse Pokémon let loose a revenge filled lightning bolt which struck Team Rocket and sent them flying.
"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off againnnnnnnnnn!" the meddlesome trio cried as they flew away with a twinkle.
Ash rushed over to his newly evolved Pokémon and gave them hug. "That was amazing, you two! But I thought you didn't want to evolve?" Ivysaur and Wartortle let out their respective cries. While he may not have understood him, Ash got what they meant. "Oh, you two just wanted to help?" Both starters nodded. "That's great!" Ash said, pumping his fist in the air.
The celebration was short lived as the two starters began to flinch from paralysis followed by Pidgeotto and Pikachu as well. Ash mentally cursed at this. He was low on Paralyze Heals and didn't take the time to stock up, due to the hurry he was in. He returned his three Pokémon before carrying Pikachu.
Random Pokémon Mart, undisclosed Pokémon town
Chaos was amuck. Customers and employees were fleeing from the sheer destruction of thirty Tauros glowing white from using Take Down. A Kingler and Muk were gathering various healing items and other necessities for their trainer.
All while a Mythical Pokémon giggled from at the destruction. She wasn't one for chaos -even if she's considered the youngest among legendaries- but this scene was just hilarious. Anyways, after the thirty two were done both committing destruction and gathering, she gave them a heads up and warped them to their trainer's position.
Ready to help him become the best.