Chapter 12: Pokemon Red and Green Version!
After their intense battle with the evil forces of A.I.M just a few days prior, our heroes were continuing their journey through the expansive area known as Route 3, just enjoying their time and walking.
Ash was showing Brock and Lillie a video on his Rotom-Phone, and although Peter wasn't actually looking at it with them, he knew exactly what the video was all about. However, he kept his distance from his friends and, with his hands behind his head, asked them what they were watching.
"So, uh, what's that video about?" Professor Oak's assistant asked, trying to suppress a grin from forming on his face. "Mind telling me?"
Ash looked up from his phone and grinned at his friend. "Oh, we're just watching the latest video of Spider-Man! They caught some footage of him back during the fight with A.I.M!"
"What the heck? They were able to get footage of me? I hardly made any appearances...Man, they're good..." Peter thought to himself, momentarily narrowing his eyes. However, he quickly shook his head and grinned again, bringing his hands down. "Anyways, uh, what's the video about EXACTLY? Compliments like usual, right? They're complimenting his amazing skills as a hero, right? They should!..."
"Why are you so excited about the media complimenting Spider-Man?" Lillie asked the secret superhero, raising an eyebrow. "That's kind of odd..."
Peter blinked twice before immediately shaking his hands around frantically. "H-Huh?! I-I'm not excited! I'm just, uh...I was just wondering, hehe!..."
"Right..." Lillie muttered in response.
Nebby quickly poked its head out of its caretaker's bag, looking around excitedly. "Pew!"
Lillie felt her eye twitch, her usually gentle demeanor immediately being replaced by a comedically angry one. "N-Nebby! Get in the bag, please!"
While Lillie was comedically trying to get the gaseous Pokemon to stay in her bag, Brock shifted his attention from Ash's phone to Peter. "Well, if you've really gotta know, it's a video by a news site called...'The Daily Bugle'..."
"Oh goody! I've never heard of them before..." Peter once again thought to himself, finding it harder and harder to suppress his grin. Sure, he fought crime because he followed the motto of 'With Great Power must come Great Responsibility', but he still liked being praised for his heroism every once in a while. "So, uh, what does the video say, if you don't mind me asking? Hehehe..."
Ash showed his Rotom-Phone to Peter and grinned. "Take a look for yourself, Peter!"
A man with black hair that had quite a few greys present in it was seen on the screen of the Rotom-Phone. He had a funny-looking bushy moustache, and he was dressed up in a formal suit.
"Hello there, people of the world! It's your host, J. Jonah Jameson from the Daily Bugle, the biggest, most reliable news site for everything related to superheroes and supervillains, and I'm here with yet another report regarding the one and only..." the man paused for dramatic effect before continuing. "...Spider-Man!"
Peter nodded as he watched. "I like where this is going! He's hyping me up so that he can-"
"Making his appearance a few months ago in the Unova Region before moving to the Kanto Region for reasons unknown, this self-proclaimed 'Hero' has been running around and fighting against supervillains, like the Vulture, and has also been fighting against some of the most ruthless evil organizations, like Team Rocket and A.I.M!" the man named J. Jonah Jameson exclaimed.
Finally, a grin cracked onto Peter's face. "Wow! He's pretty good at doing his news job! He's managed to stay up to date with all of my- I mean, all of SPIDER-MAN'S actions! What a great guy! I'm really-"
"However, can we truly believe this teenager that hides behind a mask?!"
Peter blinked twice, his grin disappearing as quickly as it appeared. "Wait, what?"
"Not only does this guy hide behind a mask and run away from the authorities, but he's also CLEARLY underage! Just listen to that voice of his!" J. Jonah Jameson continued. "And, to add insult to injury, he just so happens to be EXACTLY in the area where supervillains appear! Just what is this guy's deal?! It's quite obvious to me, folks, that this 'Spider-Man' is working with known villains to make a name for himself! He's just as bad as people like Scientist Supreme and The Green Goblin! I will update you all if this masked menace ever shows that disgusting mask of his ever again! Until next time, this is J. Jonah Jameson, and I'm signing out!"
The video ended just like that, and Ash put his phone back into his pocket before grinning at Peter. "Well? What do you think? I've never heard of anyone who thinks Spider-Man is a villain...But oh well!"
However, Peter didn't respond. He was in a complete daze. With his shoulders slumped, he kind of just stared forwards. "W-What?! Why would he think I'm a villain?!…Stupid idiots..."
Ash blinked twice, wondering why Peter was looking like that.
However, he simply shrugged in response to this odd behavior and turned his head to the side.
This caused him to grin.
"Look over there, you guys! We're finally here!" the wannabe Pokemon Master excitedly exclaimed.
Everyone looked forwards and grinned.
The gang had made their way to a clearing in the forest and, in front of them, standing tall and mightily, was the large mountain known at Mt. Moon! To get to Cerulean City, where Ash's next Gym battle was going to be held, the gang had to pass through the rocky range. It looked so amazing up-close!
"Alright!" Ash exclaimed excitedly, raising his fist at the mountain. "Mt. Moon...I can't wait to get started! I'm totally gonna catch a Pokemon over there, and then zoom through to get to the Cerulean City Gym! I wonder what type of Pokemon the Gym Leader over there uses..."
Ash, Lillie, Peter, and Scorbunny all turned their attention to Brock, who was looking at a map, despite the fact that he had a Rotom-Phone. The former Gym Leader looked up from his paper and raised an eyebrow at his friends.
"Why are you guys looking at me like that?" the Rock-Type expert asked.
"Well, um, you're a Gym Leader," Lillie pointed out. "You should know what types of Pokemon the other Gym Leaders specialize in, right?"
This question caused a smirk to form on Brock's face. "Well, I DO know what the other Gym Leaders specialize in...But I'm not going to tell you! I might not have liked being a Gym Leader, but I still have to follow the rules set by the Pokemon League, you know! The number one rule established by them was: Don't spoil the surprise for journeying trainers! Let them find out on their own!"
"Huh?! W-Well, I guess that makes sense..." Ash muttered to himself before immediately shaking his head and looking at his friend straight in the eyes, giving him a disappointed look. "But who cares?! Come on, Brock! You've gotta tell me! Please?!"
The Rock-type specialist simply shook his head and continued to smirk. "Sorry Ash, but rules are rules. You'll have to see for yourself what Pokemon type the next Gym Leader uses!"
Ash grit his teeth in response.
"Err...Fine! I'll just zoom through Mt. Moon and get there quickly!" the wannabe Pokemon Master exclaimed as he got ready to run, bending down in a sprinter's position. Comedically, Scorbunny was mimicking his movements. "I'll get there in three...Two...One...Zero!"
Ash immediately started sprinting, but before he could even cover a centimeter's worth of distance, Peter caught him by the back of his collar.
"Woah, woah, woah, calm down there, Ash!" the secret superhero chuckled, causing his raven-haired friend to look back at him in confusion.
"Why'd you stop me, Peter?" Ash asked, raising an eyebrow. "Is this going to be yet another chapter that'll introduce some other random Marvel character? Come on! We need to focus on the Pokemon-related aspects of this story as well!"
"What? No. What in the world are you talking about?" Peter asked as he let go of Ash's collar, since the wanna Pokemon Master had given up on his attempt at running. The secret superhero jabbed his thumb to the left and smirked. "Don't you think we should head THERE first? You know, after all the crazy stuff our Pokemon went through during the battle with A.I.M?"
Ash, along with the rest of our heroes turned their heads to the left, immediately smiling upon what they saw.
It was a Pokemon Center!
"Well, it would be a wise decision to rest up before traversing Mt. Moon," Lillie pointed out, smiling. "Mt. Moon IS incredibly large, and we'll need all the energy we can get..."
Brock and Ash both nodded in response, with the latter proceeding to look down at his partner Pokemon.
"Well, come on, buddy!" the raven-haired boy excitedly told Scorbunny. "I'll race you there!"
Scorbunny grinned at its trainer's little challenge and started dashing towards the Pokemon Center, with Ash not far behind.
"Scor-Bun!"
"Hey, wait up, Scorbunny!"
Peter, Lillie, and Brock all sighed before chuckling. They all proceeded to head to the Pokemon Center as well, not really showing the same enthusiasm as Ash and Scorbunny. However, they were all still in a pretty good mood.
The building was pretty much empty, and lacked the high-tech, futuristic vibe that the Pokemon Centers in Pewter and Viridian City had. However, this was most likely due to the fact the building was located in a remote location.
Furthermore, the building was mostly empty, with the exception of some shady-looking man sitting at a table. He was reading a newspaper and had a Magikarp inside of a fish-tank on top of the table. There was also a duo of two trainers in the corner of the Pokemon Center looking at a PC, but, just like the old man, Ash and Scorbunny ignored them as they both rushed to the front desk, where Nurse Joy was standing.
"Hey, Nurse Joy!" the wannabe Pokemon Master excitedly exclaimed as he stood in front of the desk. "I'm here to heal up my Pokemon so that I can go to Mt. Moon! Think you can do that real quick?!"
Scorbunny excitedly hopped up onto the desk and grinned at the Pokemon nurse with its usual, excited expression. "Scor-Bun!"
"Haha! Well, that's my job, isn't it?" Nurse Joy asked with a giggle before pulling out a tray. "Please, place your Pokeballs into this tray."
Ash looked at Scorbunny and the duo nodded at each other, both of them having large grins on their faces. Ash returned Scorbunny to its Pokeball and handed it, as well as Mankey's Pokeball, to Nurse Joy, who promptly went to the back room to heal up the raven-haired boy's partners.
Peter, Brock, and Lillie eventually caught up with him.
"You have too much energy, Ash..." Lillie told her friend, who simply scratched the back of his neck while nervously chuckling. "You should apologize to us for making us run that fast!..."
"Hehe, I guess I do, huh?..." Ash responded sheepishly. "Sorry for running off like that, haha!..."
Lillie simply huffed, while Brock looked around. "So, um, Ash...Where's Nurse Joy?...I-I just wanted to say hi to her..."
Ash looked at his friend.
"Huh? Oh, uh, she went to the back room to heal up Scorbunny and Mankey," the raven-haired boy responded before asking a question of his own, raising an eyebrow. "Why? Do you want to talk to her or something?"
Brock slumped his shoulders and muttered to himself. "I...I might have a teeny-tiny crush on her..."
Ash didn't hear what Brock had said to himself and asked him to repeat. However, Brock simply told his younger friend that it was nothing and proceeded to start looking around the Pokemon Center.
However, while doing so, something quickly caught the former Gym Leader's attention.
"Hey, aren't those guys?..."
Located in the corner of the room was a collection of three PC's, and in front of each of the PC's was a chair. A PC was a special computer-like device that was used to store and collect Pokemon and items. These special devices were especially useful for Pokemon trainers, since they could use them to retrieve their Pokemon from far-off locations.
Sitting on a chair and using one of the PC's was a boy dressed up in red clothing, and standing behind him, watching what he was doing, was a girl with brown hair and black clothing.
Brock raised an eyebrow and thought to himself for a few moments. "Hm...Those two seem really familiar..."
After a bit of thinking, he grinned.
"Ah, I get it! It's Red and Green!" the Rock-type specialist exclaimed. "Wow! Never thought I'd see them again."
Peter was about to respond, but Ash quickly pushed him out of the way, causing him to fall onto the ground. Looking on excitedly, he asked "Red?! Green?! Really?! Where are they?! They're my rivals, you know! I wanna battle 'em!"
The wannabe Pokemon Master was pretty excited to see his rivals again. He wanted to have a rematch with Red, and he wanted to try and get the money that Green had stolen from him back as well.
"They're, uh, right there..." Peter muttered as he dusted himself off, since he had fallen onto the ground when Ash had pushed him, before pointing at the duo of Pokemon trainers.
Nurse Joy appeared out of the doorway and smiled at Ash, handing him his two Pokeballs. "Here you go, Ash! Your Pokemon are all rested and healthy now! We hope to see you agai-"
"Yeah, yeah, thanks Nurse Joy!" Ash exclaimed as he grabbed the Pokeballs from the Pokemon nurse at an extremely fast speed, startling her. He allowed Scorbunny to materialize next to him, before zooming towards his two rivals with the little Fire-type.
Nurse Joy blinked twice before shrugging. "How rude..."
She then turned her head to look at Brock, who was staring at her lovingly.
"Woah, what the heck?..." the pink-haired woman asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Ah, Nurse Joy..." the former Gym Leader muttered. "Your beauty is so extravagant..."
The Pokemon nurse blinked twice before immediately turning around and walking away. "I should really get a break sometime...I have to deal with weirdos like this every single day..."
"Red! Green! Over here!" Ash called out as he Scorbunny ran towards the two Pokemon trainers. "It's me, Ash!"
The mute boy and the con-woman both turned their heads to look at the wannabe Pokemon Master. Red simply continued to stare at Ash with his usual, bored expression, while Green proceeded to grin at him.
"Oh, hey Ash!" Green greeted, meeting Ash for the first time since their encounter in Viridian Forest. "How's everything been going? It's been a while!"
"I've been fine," Ash responded with a smile. "I recently beat Brock and-"
However, the raven-haired boy paused, and his demeanor grew more aggressive.
"H-Hey! You're trying to trick me into being nice to you!" the boy exclaimed angrily. "You still have to give me back all the money that you stole from me, you know!"
Green rolled her eyes and muttered under her breath, her friendly demeanor quickly turning to a more hostile one. "Oh come on, you're still bitter about that? You should forgive and forget, Ash. After all, anyone would have scammed you if they realized how dumb you are..."
Ash blinked twice before turning even angrier, his face red. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?!"
"See? You're just proving my point!" the con-woman exclaimed with a giggle. "You don't even understand my little joke, hehe!"
"Huh?! Why you!..." Ash angrily started as he felt his eye twitch. Green was making a fool out of him! "I'll show you dumb!"
The raven-haired boy comedically pulled up his sleeves and took a few steps towards Green angrily, with Scorbunny watching on with an amused expression on its face. Lillie and Peter were watching from the counter, wondering what was going on. Even Red was looking on with a raised eyebrow, which was a bit surprising considering how he hardly ever cared when it came to these kinds of things.
However, Brock, seeing that a fight was going to break out, quickly slid in between the two Pokemon trainers, his arms extended. "Woah, woah, woah! Calm down, you two!"
"Hey, what's the big idea, Brock?!" Ash crossly asked. "Green totally deserved it!..."
"Brock?..." Green muttered, raising an eyebrow. "The Pewter City Gym Leader?... What's he doing here?..."
Even Red had a raised eyebrow. What was the Gym Leader doing in a place like this?
"Ash, you've gotta learn the rules of chivalry!" the former Gym Leader sternly told his younger friend. "You can't just threaten a girl like that! You've gotta be polite, and respectful, and courteous, and all those other good things..."
Ash rolled his eyes as Brock proceeded to go on and on and on about treating girls with respect. The wannabe Pokemon Master took a step back causing Brock to comedically fall over.
"Hold up, wait a minute, Brock, why are YOU here?" Green asked, catching the former Gym Leader's attention. "Aren't you, like, the Pewter City Gym Leader?"
Lillie and Peter walked over to the group, and Brock began to explain. "Well, to be completely honest, I kind of just gave up on the whole Gym Leader thing...Long story short, my dad's the new Gym Leader, and I've started travelling with Ash and his friends to try and become the world's best Pokemon Breeder!"
Green nodded slowly while Red watched on silently from his seat.
"Huh. I never really thought of you to be the kind of person to enjoy Pokemon breeding..." the young con-woman muttered. "But then again, you obviously like treating girls with respect so much, so I guess it DOES make sense that you'd want to take up a profession that involves Pokemon reproduction..."
Brock blinked twice. "What?"
"Well, you see-"
Out of nowhere, however, Ash interjected into the conversation extremely quickly. "Oh, and you guys, did you know that Brock's Gym battles were completely fake? Yeah, he was purposely holding back! Buuuut, when we were travelling on Route 3 together, he showed off his skills with his Onix and-"
Brock immediately covered the wannabe Pokemon Master's mouth. "A-Ash! Shut up!..."
However, the damage had already been done.
Red simply raised an eyebrow, not even moving from his seat.
Green, on the other hand, had a MUCH angrier response.
"Wait a minute...What do you mean FAKE?" the young con-woman asked, raising an eyebrow. "Mind elaborating on that?"
Brock glared at Ash for a moment, who nervously chuckled in response.
"Well, you see, uh..." the former Gym Leader muttered, scrambling to find an answer before shifting his gaze to his friend again angrily. "Ash..."
"Oh, uh, hehe, sorry, Brock..." the raven-haired boy sheepishly responded.
However, now that Red and Green were interested, it seemed that Brock had to spill the beans regarding the truth about his Gym battles with the two Pokemon trainers. Green was particularly angry, since she was the kind of person to get what she wanted when she wanted it.
"Come on, Brock! Open up!" the con-woman angrily stated, putting her hands on her hips and angrily glaring at the former Gym Leader. "What's Ash talking about? Your battles were fake?"
The Pokemon Breeder-in training sighed and removed his hand from Ash's mouth, turning his body to look at Green and Red straight in the eyes. "Well, to tell you two the truth, every Gym battle that I've had for most of my career were, well, fake. I purposely lost each and every one of them. Even against Ash I only really battled him to test out my Rhyhorn's power. However, now that my dad's taken over as the Gym Leader, I can follow my dreams of being the world's greatest Pokemon breeder, and-"
Immediately, before Brock could even finish his explanation, Green comedically grabbed the former Gym Leader's collar with both hands while Red simply watched on boredly.
"What?! Are you trying to tell me that you LET me and my partners win your Gym Badge on purpose?!" Green angrily asked the Rock-type specialist, who nervously chuckled in response.
"W-Well, um, I...Yes?" Brock responded, letting out yet another nervous chuckle.
The con-woman felt her eye twitch at this response.
A Pokemon suddenly materialized next to Green, having a similarly angry expression on its face that resembled its trainer. "Saur Saur!"
Green's partner was a quadrupedal Pokémon that had blue-green skin with darker patches. On top of its head were pointed ears with black insides and it had narrow red eyes. The Pokemon also had a short, rounded snout with a wide mouth and two pointed teeth in its upper jaw. Each of its feet had three claws on them. There was also a large pink bud on its back, which was surrounded by leafy green fronds.
"Woah!" Ash exclaimed as he took out his Rotom-Phone nonchalantly and pointed it at the Pokemon that belonged to his rival. "It looks like a Bulbasaur...But larger!"
"Bzzt, Bzzt! Ivysaur, the Seed Pokemon, a Grass and Poison-type, and the evolved form of Bulbasaur! The stronger the sunlight it absorbs, the stronger this Pokemon becomes and the larger the flower bud on its back grows!" the technological device buzzed, instantly giving Ash some information about Green's Pokemon.
"Ivysaur, huh? Cool..." Ash muttered as he put his Rotom-Phone away. "That means Green must have picked Bulbasaur as her starter..."
Peter's Bulbasaur immediately walked materialized next to him and walked over to the Ivysaur.
"Bulba Bulba!" Peter's Pokemon happily exclaimed.
However, in quite a cruel fashion, Ivysaur simply smirked at the little Pokemon before putting one of its legs on Bulbasaur's head and rubbing it roughly. "Ivy Ivy Saur Saur!"
Bulbasaur, who was feeling a bit distressed, immediately ran back to Peter and returned to its Pokeball on its own.
"Woah..." Peter muttered. "That Ivysaur sure is mean..."
"Yeah, agreed..." Ash responded seriously.
"Her name is Ivy, and you should just forget about that, Ash!" Green angrily told the raven-haired boy before shifting her attention to the former Rock-type Gym Leader. "And Brock! You owe me and Ivy a rematch! Use your strongest Pokemon this time, too!"
"A-Alright, alright! I will!" Brock exclaimed, putting his hands up in a surrendering motion. "J-Just let my collar go, alright?...We'll have the battle outside..."
The female Pokemon trainer huffed and let Brock go, giving the former Gym Leader a moment to breathe and putting an end to the comedic situation. A smirk crossed her face. "Haha, good!"
Green was pretty mean, and was really intense!
The young con-woman turned around and prepared to leave the building to have her battle against Brock. However, she was stopped by Ash.
"Hold up, wait just a minute, Green!" Ash excitedly exclaimed, catching her attention. "Can I join in too? You still owe me from when you stole my money, and we didn't really get to battle the last time we met!"
"Huh? Well, uh, I guess that's true..." Green responded under her breath, looking at the raven-haired boy with a raised eyebrow. "But a two-on-one wouldn't really be fair, would it?..."
Ash blinked twice before nodding in agreement. "Y-Yeah, I guess it wouldn't, huh? Man, what a bummer..."
After a bit of thinking, an idea struck Green and she quickly looked at Red, who was back to doing whatever it was that he was doing at the PC.
"Hey Red! You'll be my partner, and we can have a Multi-Battle against Brock and Ash!" she excitedly told the red-eyed Pokemon trainer. "What do you say?! You in?!"
The bored Pokemon trainer turned his head to look at Green for a few moments. He blinked twice before shrugging and standing up.
It looked like he was in!
"Alright!" Green grinned before looking at the three other people who would be participating in the battle. "Now we can finally get this whole thing underway! Right guys?"
"Yeah, but, um, just one question..." Ash stated as he raised his hand, causing Green to groan.
"Ugh, Ash...Fine. What is it now?"
The raven-haired boy grinned and scratched the back of his head with a nervous chuckle. "Uh, what exactly is a Multi-Battle? I have no idea, hehe..."
Everyone present, with the exception of Red who just looked on disappointedly, all blinked twice before comedically falling over! They got back up as quickly as they fell, though.
"W-Well, Ash..." Peter started, dusting himself off. "A Multi-Battle is when a trainer four trainers participate in a battle at the same time. They split up into two teams and battle their opponents together..."
"Right," Lillie stated with a nod, before adding a bit more information. "You and Brock will each use one Pokemon, and will battle against Red and Green, who will also be using one Pokemon each. When a team loses all of their Pokemon, they lose the match. You get it?"
Ash slowly nodded in response to his friends' explanations. "Uh...Yeah, I think I understand now..."
Green smirked upon hearing this. "Hah! Took you long enough. Now come on! Me and Ivy are itching to prove that we can beat Brock even when he ISN'T holding back on purpose, hehe!"
"Ivy-Saur!" the Grass and Poison-type exclaimed, stomping its two front legs onto the ground in excitement.
As Green ran out of the door, Lillie looked on in confusion. "Didn't she get her partner as a Bulbasaur, though? Why'd she name it Ivy?..."
"Alright, I'll act as the referee for this match," Peter stated as he looked on at the four Pokemon trainers who were going to participate in the battle, Lillie standing next to him so that she could watch the match. "You all understand the rules, right?"
Red, Green, Brock, and Ash all nodded in unison, grinning. "Right!"
The group was standing in a clearing in the forest, and were all ready to start. Red and Green were standing together, and they were opposite to Ash and Brock, who were also standing together and staring down at their opponents. Their was a large gap between the two duos, and this was going to act as the battlefield.
"Alright, well, if both sides are ready..." Peter started, before smirking. "...Send out your Pokemon and let the battle begin!"
Green grinned and pointed to the battlefield. "Ivysaur, I choose you!"
The Grass and Poison-type jumped forwards, grinning. "Saur Saur!"
Red simply grabbed a Pokeball from his waist and monotonously threw it forwards, allowing his Pokemon to materialize in front of himself.
"CHAR!" the Pokemon screamed at the top of its lungs as it landed onto the ground.
Ash was expecting to see Red use Charmander. However, Red was using a Pokemon that Ash did not recognize, one that he had never seen before. The raven-haired boy raised his Rotom-Phone and scanned the creature in confusion.
"Who's that Pokemon?..." he muttered.
"Charmeleon! The Flame Pokemon, and the evolved form of Charmander! A Fire-type! Charmeleon's preferred battle style is to knock down its opponents using its tail, and then defeat them using its razor-sharp claws! It will always try to challenge stronger opponents, and is an extremely powerful yet proud Pokemon!"
The wannabe Pokemon Master smirked upon hearing this. As he put his technological device away, he grinned to himself. "So it's the evolved form of Charmander? That means Red's Charmander has evolved! Its scales are a completely different color, so I didn't recognize it..."
Charmeleon was a bipedal, reptilian Pokémon. It had dark red scales and a cream underside from the chest down. It had blue eyes and a long snout with a slightly hooked tip. On the back of its head was a single horn-like protrusion. It had relatively long arms with three sharp claws. Its short legs had plantigrade feet with three claws and cream-colored soles. The tip of its long, powerful tail had a flame burning brightly on it.
Ash looked down at Scorbunny. However, instead of looking up at him, like it normally did, Scorbunny simply glared at Charmeleon, grinning as it hopped from one foot to the other. It seemed that, after it had suffered such a pitiful loss on Route 1, Scorbunny really wanted to get revenge on Red's Fire-type partner!
"You're really excited, aren't you, Scorbunny?" Ash asked his partner, grinning.
The bunny Pokemon finally looked up at him and, raising its fist, nodded in response, a determined expression plastered onto the face of the raven-haired boy's partner. "Scor-Bun!"
Nodding in response, the wannabe Pokemon Master donned a similar expression as his Pokemon. "Well, so am I! This is our chance to redeem ourselves against Red! So...You wanna battle?!"
Scorbunny grinned, stopping its hopping to get in a battle stance and nod. "Bun!"
"Well, in that case..." Ash started before pointing to the battlefield. "...Scorbunny, I choose you!"
Ash's partner ran onto the field excitedly, determined to win. "Bun Bun!"
Charmeleon took notice of Scorbunny and smirked. Red's partner clearly remembered their previous battle, and was intending to win this one as well!
"Melon, Melon..." the lizard Pokemon taunted, making a 'come here' gesture using one of its claws.
Scorbunny took offense to it and once again stopped hopping to get in a fighting position. However, Ash's partner didn't stop there. It was so determined to beat Charmeleon that the area under its feet started darken, due to the heat being sent out of its feet.
"Well, guess I'll use my partner too, then!" Brock exclaimed as he threw out his Pokeball. "Go, Onix!"
Immediately, the giant Rock-type Pokemon materialized onto the battlefield, surprising Green with its size. After all, she had only witnessed Brock's Geodude and Rhyhorn, and wasn't expecting him to have such a large Pokemon.
As usual, Red didn't really care and kind of just stared at the large Pokemon with his usual bored expression.
"W-Wow, it's so big..." the con-woman muttered to herself quietly. However, she quickly shook her head and smirked. "But hey! Onix is a Rock and Ground type, so me and Ivy have the advantage! Right Ivy?"
"Saur Saur!" the Pokemon shouted excitedly, looking back at its trainer with a grin.
Unlike its trainer, Charmeleon was fired up, no pun intended, and wanted to battle Onix as soon as possible. After all, according to the Pokedex, Charmeleons loved to battle against stronger opponents!
"You ready, Ash?" Brock asked his friend, looking ahead at the battlefield. "I've battled these two, so I know what they're capable of...Red's insanely good, and has such a powerful bond with his Pokemon that he doesn't even have to shout out commands to them. Green, meanwhile, is a really tricky foe. She likes to use status conditions, making you believe she'll play the role of a supporter. However, she'll sometimes just not use her usual playstyle and attack you with some devastating moves, so be careful! You never really know what she'll do for certain as a whole, though, so you've gotta be on your feet..."
"I've already battled against Red," Ash responded to Brock. "But thanks for the tips about Green...Her battle style really matches her personality..."
"Alright! If both sides are ready..." Peter started before immediately raising his hand, like he was chopping the air. "...Let the battle begin!"
Red, who had his eyes closed the entire time, suddenly opened them, causing Charmeleon to smirk. Immediately, the Fire-type lizard rushed towards Onix, intending to battle the powerhouse.
"Alright! This is going to be really fun!" Ash exclaimed excitedly. "Scorbunny, use-"
However, Scorbunny refused to listen to its trainer and let a silver aura surround its body. Transforming into the Normal-type, Scorbunny zoomed from left to right, intending to use Quick Attack on Charmeleon.
"O-Or you could, you know, do that..." Ash muttered to himself, sighing.
As Charmeleon ran towards Onix, its claws began to glow. It was going to use the attack known as Metal Claw!
"Char..." Red's Pokemon muttered, charging up its attack.
"Onix! Brace yourself!" Brock shouted to his partner. "Onix's size is both a blessing and a curse! It can be used to deal some massive damage to foes, but it makes Onix an even bigger target!..."
Charmeleon smirked and brought down its claw, ready to deal some massive damage to the rock-snake Pokemon.
"Meleo-"
However, right before Charmeleon could hit Onix, Scorbunny rammed right into the Fire-type lizard's stomach at massive speeds, not only knocking the wind out of it, but also causing the energy that had surrounded its claw to disappear.
Charmeleon skidded back, looking down and clutching its stomach in anger. It shook its head and looked up at the bunny Pokemon, who was smirking.
"Scor-Bun!" the bunny Pokemon excitedly exclaimed, ready to battle Charmeleon once again.
However, instead of giving a similar expression, Charmeleon simply huffed, letting some smoke out of its nostrils.
"Char-Char!" the lizard Pokemon angrily screamed, pointing one of its fingers at the bunny Pokemon. "Meleon-Char!"
…
Scorbunny blinked twice, its jaw dropping. Whatever Charmeleon had yelled, it seemed to have hurt Scorbunny's feelings. Ash's partner was frozen in place, its eyes wide and its jaw dropped. What was going on?!
"Wait...Peter, what happened?" Lillie asked her friend, who was much more knowledgeable regarding Pokemon then her. "Why did Scorbunny stop attacking...Did Charmeleon use some kind of move?"
"No..." Peter replied, shaking his head. "This might sound a little silly, but...But I think Scorbunny's feelings have been hurt!"
Lillie raised an eyebrow. "What? How?..."
"You weren't with us so you might not know this, but Charmeleon and Scorbunny have actually battled against each other before," the assistant to Professor Oak explained. "It was when Charmeleon was still a Charmander, and, well, let's just say Charmeleon won by a landslide. Now that its evolved, Charmeleon is a Pokemon with a short temper, and is also a Pokemon that likes to battle stronger opponents, so since Scorbunny lost to it before..."
"...It doesn't think of it as a worthy opponent!" Lillie suddenly exclaimed, finishing off Peter's sentence. She had put two and two together. Sure, she wasn't as smart as Peter, but she was still pretty smart in her own right. "Scorbunny's feelings must have been hurt because of that...How awful..."
Peter chuckled in response, nodding. "Yeah...But that's just how Charmeleon is. A rude and powerful powerhouse...It'll be interesting to see how Ash and Brock deal with it!"
"But we shouldn't forget about Ivy," Lillie pointed out, smiling. "We still haven't seen what IT'S capable of!"
The secret superhero grinned and nodded. "Yeah...This is shaping up to be a great match!"
Taking advantage of the situation, Charmeleon spun around, its tail crashing into Scorbunny, causing the bunny Pokemon to fly backwards.
"Char! Char!" the angry Pokemon shouted before turning back to Onix, smirking. "Meleon!"
The rock snake growled, and the two locked eyes in an intense showdown, with the intent to knock the other out.
As the two of them did that, Scorbunny rose to its feet and dusted itself off. However, it lacked the enthusiasm that it was showing just a few moments prior. Scorbunny really wanted to prove to Charmeleon that it was capable of winning now that it was...But how was it supposed to do that when Charmeleon literally just said that Scorbunny was not worthy enough to challenge it?!
"Scor-Scor-Bun..." the Pokemon sighed dejectedly, kicking at the dirt below itself.
"H-Huh?!…" Ash exclaimed in surprise. Brock was busy commanding Onix, so Ash was alone to talk to his partner. "Scorbunny? What's wrong? Are you...Sad? Why? You can tell me. I'll listen."
The bunny Pokemon sighed and looked back at its trainer, nodding slowly. "Scor-Bun Bun...Scorbun-"
However, before it could complete itself, two vines suddenly came out of nowhere, wrapping themselves around Scorbunny's arms!
"Scor-Bun!?" the Pokemon asked in disbelief, wondering what was going on. "Bun-Bun?!…"
"W-Woah?!…What's going on?..." Ash asked, looking up from Scorbunny to where the vines were coming from. However, his eyes narrowed at the sight and he clutched his fists, while also gritting his teeth. "Green!..."
Two vines were coming out of Ivy's back, and standing behind the Grass and Poison-type was Green, smirking at the raven-haired boy while putting her hands on her hips.
"Sorry Ash, but there's no time for feelings during a Pokemon battle!" the young con-woman told her opponent while smirking. "It's a Houndour-eat-Houndour world, you know!"
"Green!" Lillie exclaimed in surprise. "She and Ivy came out of nowhere!..."
"Just like a Con-Artist..." Peter muttered, chuckling at Green's tactics. "Waiting for the right moment to pounce!..."
Ash growled, watching as Ivy raised its vines into the sky, raising Scorbunny high up in the process. "Scorbunny's in trouble! Yikes, what am I supposed to do?!…If Scorbunny was on the floor, I could have used its fiery feet to my advantage, but I'm out of ideas right here..."
"Scor-Buuuun!" the Fire-type Pokemon screamed at the top of its lungs.
"Screaming's useless, Scorbunny!" Green told the Fire-type Pokemon with a grin. "Ivy, slam your opponent onto the ground!"
The Grass and Poison-type Pokemon did as its trainer instructed, and slammed its vines towards the ground, bringing Scorbunny down along with them, causing immense pain for the bunny Pokemon.
"Scor-Bun!" the Pokemon screamed at the top of its lungs, landing onto the ground painfully.
Ivy retracted its vines, chuckling to itself darkly upon seeing the pain Scorbunny was facing. "Ivy-Ivy Saur-Saur..."
"Agh, Scorbunny, are you okay?!" Ash asked his partner worriedly. "Can you still fight?..."
Slowly, Scorbunny got to its feet and nodded, not even looking at its trainer so that it could focus on its opponent. Narrowing its eyes at the Grass and Poison-type Pokemon, Scorbunny screamed, ready for an intense battle!
"SCOR-BUN!" the Pokemon shouted at the top of its lungs before glaring at Ivysaur, who glared back, albeit with a cocky expression.
"Saur, Saur, Saur..." Green's Pokemon chuckled darkly.
Angrily, Scorbunny glanced to the side, where Charmeleon and Onix were having an epic showdown.
It wasn't fair! Scorbunny wanted to battle against Charmeleon, but now the lizard Pokemon didn't even view him as a worthy rival! Scorbunny had taken part in so many battles, and was definitely stronger then it was before. Scorbunny wanted to have a rematch against Charmeleon, but it couldn't get one!
It was a terrible feeling...
…And Scorbunny was determined to prove Red's partner wrong!
Completely ignoring Ivysaur's existence and the fact that it was a major threat to its chances of winning, Scorbunny attempted to once again run towards Charmeleon with the intent of fighting it, but, once again, Ivysaur captured the bunny Pokemon using its vines!
"Jeez Ash! You've really gotta teach your Pokemon to behave better!" Green giggled as Ivysaur lifted Scorbunny into the air, preparing to do a combo similar to the one that it had done previously. "Scorbunny can't even focus on one opponent, haha!"
Ash clutched his fists as he watched on helplessly as Ivysaur slammed Scorbunny into the ground, before lifting the bunny Pokemon into the air once again to repeat the cycle. It was absolutely devastating to watch, especially as Scorbunny's trainer.
"What's going on here?! Scorbunny's never acted like...Like THIS before!" Ash mentally exclaimed, clutching his fists. "I...I think the loss to Charmeleon must be really bumming it out...Scorbunny must want to have a rematch or something...I can't do anything to help my partner, though..."
…
However, Ash couldn't just stand by as his partner was slammed into the ground time and time again.
He had to take action, and he had to take it now!
"Scorbunny! I get that you want to fight with Charmeleon, I really, really do! I want to beat Gary, Red and Green, for example!" the wannabe Pokemon Master told his partner. "But...But I think that we should focus on the task at hand, you know? I think we should focus on Ivysaur first, and THEN fight against Charmeleon! what do you say?!"
Green's Ivysaur slammed Scorbunny into the ground once again, and slowly lifted the Fire-type Pokemon into the air, its adorable yet determined face covered in bruises and dirt.
"Scor-Bun..." the Pokemon angrily muttered.
Ivysaur smirked and chuckled darkly, showing that it possessed a terrible and proud personality. The Grass and Poison-type Pokemon loved to show off its strength, but not to the extent of Charmeleon. It knew how to be tricky when the time needed it!
"Saur-Saur-Saur!" the Pokemon with green skin cackled.
"Oh come on, Ash!" Green giggled, smirking. "You've clearly lost! I only started this battle to test my Pokemon's abilities against Brock...And Red's totally stealing my chance because of you! So that's why..."
Ivysaur once again slammed Scorbunny into the ground, this time with much more force then before.
"SCOR-BUN!" Ash's partner screamed in pain. "SCOR, SCOR, SCOR...SCOR-BUUUN!"
"...We're going to make this victory snappy, hehe! It's nothing personal, though~" Green continued, giggling.
Ash gritted his teeth. "Scorbunny! Are you really going to let this happen?! Are you really going to let Green and Ivy humiliate you like this?! Let's fight them together, and show 'em just what you're made of!"
Ivysaur's vines slowly unraveled from Scorbunny's body, leaving the bunny Pokemon to lay on the floor, unmoving with the exception of the occasional twitch of the ear.
"Scor...Bun..." the bunny Pokemon muttered angrily.
"Well, I guess THAT'S a wrap," Green smirked as Scorbunny stopped moving altogether, before shifting her attention to the battle that was raging on between Red's Charmeleon and Brock's Onix, which was pretty intense. "Now...Let's fight against Brock! We can't let Red have all the fun, can we Ivy?"
Green's partner laughed in response. "Saur Saur!"
"Sc-Scorbunny!..." Ash exclaimed in disbelief. "N-No way!..."
"Wouldn't it be wiser to make sure Scorbunny's actually down?" Lillie asked Green from afar, raising an eyebrow as the con-woman and her partner prepared themselves to assist their Fire-type ally. "Peter's the referee, and he's got to make sure that Scorbunny's actually down for the count...Right?"
"Puh-lease! Ivy's so strong, she was able to beat Scorbunny despite being at a Type-disadvantage! That's just how I trained her, you see!" Green exclaimed with a cocky smirk as she extended her pointer finger towards Onix. "Now, Ivysaur, use Bullet Seed!..."
Lillie was puzzled by Green's extreme overconfidence, but, strangely enough, Peter sided with the con-woman regarding the matter.
"I don't know, Lillie..." Professor Oak's assistant started, scratching the back of his neck as he looked on at Scorbunny's unconscious body. "Scorbunny took quite a beating there...Hm...Alright! I've come to a decision! Scorbunny is unable to battle and, as such, is eliminated from the-"
"Wait, Peter, look!" Lillie exclaimed, cutting her friend off. "It...It looks like Scorbunny's getting up!"
"Wait...What?!"
"Alright, Scorbunny!" Ash shouted to his partner while Red and Green battled against Brock's Onix who, despite its incredible size and power, was struggling to take them both on. "I believe in you, and I really want to have a rematch against Red too! Get up and let's win together!"
Scorbunny grunted as it attempted to push itself off of the ground. However, it still struggled to get up. "Scor...Bun...Ny..."
"If you get up, you can have another go at Charmeleon!" Ash continued, attempting to motivate his partner. "You can prove to everyone that you ARE a worthy opponent to them!"
"Scor..."
"So get up, Scorbunny! Get up and prove to everyone that you ARE the strongest!"
This particular set of words seemed to do the trick, and Scorbunny's eyes immediately opened wide.
"SCOR-BUN!" the Pokemon shouted as it did a backflip, landing perfectly. The area under the bunny Pokemon's feet proceeded to burn due to its reignited spirit, which only excited Ash.
"Alright! Way to go, buddy!" the raven-haired boy shouted to his partner, grinning widely. "Let's do our best!"
Scorbunny smirked and looked behind itself, giving the wannabe Pokemon Master a thumbs-up. "Scor-Bun!"
"Yes!" Lillie exclaimed, raising a fist. "They got up! This battle is so intense!"
This earned a puzzled expression from Peter, who raised an eyebrow. "Seriously, Lillie. Do you like Pokemon battles or not?"
The blonde-haired girl immediately blushed and looked away. "U-Um...I mean...Th-That's pretty great for Ash and Scorbunny..."
Nebby poked its adorable little head out of Lillie's bag and giggled at its caretaker's behavior. "Pew, Pew, Pew, Pew, Pew..."
Peter shrugged and looked back at the battle.
"Wow! This is amazing! Scorbunny's back on its feet!" the secret superhero exclaimed. "What a come-back! Those two keep on proving time and time again that their bond is absolutely incredible!..."
"Alright, Scorbunny, let's do this!" Ash grinned. "Surprise 'em and use Quick Attack on Ivy!"
After nodding, Scorbunny bent down, brought its hands down to get the ground, and raised its backside to the sky, getting ready to use the attack that its trainer had commanded it to use. "Scor..."
Ivy was blasting glowing, yellow, balls of energy at Onix from its mouth, causing intense damage to the rock snake who was already struggling to deal with Charmeleon, who was absolutely relentless in its attacks.
"Keep up the good work, Ivy!" Green excitedly told her partner. "It WOULD be great if we could battle Brock on our own...But hey, this works too, I guess! We're such a great team, and you're the most powerful Pokemon ever, haha!"
However, just as she said this...
Scorbunny rammed into the Grass-type's side at intense speeds with a silver aura around its body, not only signifying its change to the Normal-type, but it also cancelling out Ivysaur's attack and causing the rude Grass-type to skid to the side.
"Saur!..." the con-woman's Pokemon angrily grunted before shaking its head and glaring at Scorbunny. "Saur Saur Ivy-Saur!"
"Wait..." Green muttered, before her eyes comedically popped out of her head, kind of like in a cartoon. "WHAT?! How'd THAT happen?! I thought Scorbunny was knocked out?..."
Ash and Scorbunny simply grinned in response and rubbed their noses in unison. "Well, we were able to pull through it, ya see? Hahaha!"
Immediately, Green turned her head to Peter and began shouting at the top of her lungs. "What the heck, man?! We totally knocked Scorbunny out! This is clearly biased because he's your friend! You're a terrible referee, and-"
"Woah, woah, woah!" Peter exclaimed in response, waving his hands frantically. "If you didn't automatically shift your attention to Brock, you would've known that Scorbunny was able to get up before I make my decision..."
Green comedically puffed her cheeks in response to Peter's response, but shook her head and turned her head to Ash and Scorbunny, smirking. "Alright, fine then! We already dealt a butt-ton of damage, what's a bit more? We'll make sure you're REALLY beaten this time! How's this gonna go any differently then it did before?"
"Saur Saur!" Green's Pokemon barked, smirking.
Ash grinned in response, raising his fist at his opponent. "Well, because Scorbunny's managed to clear his head, and because of that, we're totally gonna kick YOUR butts now! Isn't that right, buddy?!"
Scorbunny smirked and began hopping from foot to foot, ready to battle against the Grass and Poison-type Pokemon. "Scor-Scor!"
Green grinned and crossed her arms. "Well come at us, then!"
Scorbunny did exactly that, zooming towards Ivy at incredible speeds, using Quick Attack to cover a lot of distance quickly. Immediately, Scorbunny once again smashed its head into Ivy's side. This time, however, the Grass-type Pokemon managed to tough it out and stay in its place.
"Ivy, grab Scorbunny with your vines, just like last time!" Green commanded. "That trick never fails!"
"Ivy-Saur Saur!"
The con-woman's Pokemon attempted to do so, however, Ash had a quick response.
"Oh yeah? Well we can combat that!" he exclaimed with a grin. "Scorbunny, keep on using Quick Attack to dodge the attacks!"
Because of the raven-haired boy's quick thinking, the battle between Green and Ash became a laughable scene of Scorbunny dashing from left to right and dodging Ivysaur's attempts at grabbing the bunny Pokemon.
This simply angered the young con-woman.
"Oooo! You're so frustrating, Ash!" Green angrily told her rival. "Fight like a man, you dimwit!"
"You want that? We'll give it to you!" Ash shouted in response. "Scorbunny, use Ember!"
Scorbunny stopped in its tracks behind Ivysaur, letting a red aura surround its body.
"Scor..." the Pokemon started, breathing in.
Ivysaur immediately turned around angrily, roaring.
"Ivysaur, quick! Grab Scorbunny!" Green exclaimed quickly.
The Grass and Poison-type Pokemon extended its vines at its opponent, getting ready to grab the Fire-type. However...
"...BUNNY!" the bunny Pokemon shouted, jumping back as a barrage of fireballs zoomed towards its opponent.
Green's eyes, as well as her Pokemon's eyes, both widened in disbelief. The fireballs zoomed through the air at such incredible speeds, and the four-legged Pokemon had no time get out of the way.
KA-BOOM!
An explosion of fire and dust engulfed Ivysaur's body as the fiery projectiles hit its, well, body.
And, when the dust settled...
…Ivysaur had fainted!
"Saur... Saur... Saur..." the Grass and Poison-Type muttered under its breath.
"Alright!" Ash exclaimed excitedly. He glanced at Scorbunny, who was running over to him. The Fire-type Pokemon did a front-flip, extending its leg towards Ash, who extended his hand. Scorbunny's foot connected with Ash's hand, and the two of them did a high-five in their own way. "We did it! Great work, buddy!"
Scorbunny landed onto the ground and smiled confidently at its trainer. "Scor-Bun!"
"Wait...WHAAAAT?!" Green exclaimed in shock, comedically surprised by the fact that Ash and Scorbunny had managed to take down her partner. "That's not fair!... Peter, you've gotta!...Agh...Whatever...Guess I'll just cheer Red on or...You know, whatever..."
"Ivysaur is unable to battle, and, as such, has been eliminated! Scorbunny is the winner!" Peter shouted, before continuing. "This has become a Two V one! Charmeleon will have to take on both Onix AND Scorbunny!"
"You hear that, Scorbunny?" Ash asked his partner with a smile. "You can fight against Charmeleon now!"
The bunny Pokemon excitedly nodded and turned to the red lizard, who was battling the giant rock snake.
Ash nodded and turned his attention to Red. "Hey, Red! Me and Brock are totally going to beat you! You don't stand a chance!"
The Red-eyed Pokemon trainer, who was focusing on commanding Charmeleon with his eyes, merely glanced at Ash before making a 'Hmph' sound. He extended his finger, pointing at Onix.
Charmeleon knew just what move to use.
It brought its hand to the side and smirked as a silver aura surrounded its hand, its claws turning to pure metal. "Char..."
"Look out, Onix!" Brock shouted to his partner. "I think...I think that's Metal Claw! They're trying to use it again!"
The rock snake Pokemon swung its tail at the Fire-type Pokemon, attempting to damage it. However. Red's partner jumped into the air, dodging the attempted attack easily.
"...MELEON!"
Charmeleon thrusted forwards and towards its opponent, slashing at it using the powerful Metal Claw attack!
The Fire-type landed behind Onix, smirking as it touched the ground. A bit of smoke came out of its nostrils, leaving Brock and Onix very confused.
"Uh...What's going on?" the former Gym Leader asked Red, who simply looked on with a bored expression. "What did-"
Suddenly, out of nowhere, Onix let out a pained scream!
"ON-IIIX!" the Pokemon shouted in agony as it fell backwards, causing large amounts of dust to fly in the air.
When the dust settled, the Rock-type Pokemon had fainted.
"On...Ix..." the Pokemon wheezed before its head tilted to the side. The Pokemon was completely unconscious and was out.
"No way!..." Brock exclaimed quietly and in disbelief. "I knew Red was strong, but!...Wow..."
"Onix is unable to battle, and has been eliminated!" Peter shouted, genuinely surprised by how quickly Red and Charmeleon were able to even the odds between him and his foes. "This has become a One V One! Red vs Ash! Charmeleon vs Scorbunny! Let's see how it goes!"
Charmeleon smirked and looked back at Red as Brock returned Onix to its Pokeball. The Fire-type had a proud smirk on its face, and Red gave a small nod to his partner, though his expression didn't really change.
"Sorry about that, Ash," Brock apologized to his friend, turning to him. "It looks like this is all on you. Think you can handle it? Red's so incredibly gifted at Pokemon battling..."
Ash smirked and turned his cap backwards. "Trust me, Brock, me and Scorbunny have wanted to have a rematch against Red for a while now, and I'm sure we're gonna win this time! Right, buddy?"
Scorbunny smirked and began jumping from foot to foot at an even faster pace then before, leaving the ground beneath its little feet charred. The Fire-type was ready to go at it!
"Scor-Bun!"
Red looked on with a raised eyebrow, with his hands in his pockets. The red-eyed boy had a slightly hunched back, and always looked serious, like he didn't care what was going on.
In his mind, however, he was thinking.
How much could Ash have improved in such a short time-span. Sure, a month and a few weeks had passed, but that was it. Scorbunny hadn't even evolved yet! How did the raven-haired boy think the fight would go any different then the last time they fought?
"Go Red!" Green cheered for her teammate. "Teach Ash a lesson he'll never forget! BEAT HIS ASS! Hahahaha!"
The con-woman then stopped and smiled cheekily.
"But, uh, don't tell my Dad that I said that word! He'd kill me, hehe!"
Lillie, noticing that Green was cheering for Red, immediately started cheering for Ash, although meekly. "G-Go, Ash! You can do it!..."
"Lillie, I'm convinced that you actually like Pokemon battles and just try to pretend that you don't," Peter teased. "Seriously, the same thing happened back at the Pewter City Gym, haha! You get so fired up!"
"C-Come on, Peter, be quiet..." Lillie muttered, looking away. "You know I don't like Pokemon battles..."
Charmeleon and Scorbunny circled each other, neither making any advancement towards the other.
They were just GLARING at each other.
Menacingly.
Red looked on at Ash with a bored expression, while Ash looked on at Red with a determined expression.
The raven-haired boy was determined to win, and so was his Pokemon!
They were going to do this, and they were going to win this!
"Alright buddy, use Quick Attack!" Ash suddenly shouted, calling out the first move.
Scorbunny nodded and zoomed from left to right, using Quick Attack in attempt to confuse Charmeleon. However, the lizard Pokemon was least bothered. After all, according to its own logic, Scorbunny had been beaten before, and as such wasn't that big of a threat.
After a bit of attempting to catch its opponent's attention, Scorbunny decided that the best time to attack was now and, after it ran behind the red lizard, Scorbunny zoomed towards its opponent at extreme speeds.
…
However, the menacing lizard Pokemon simply responded by masterfully extending its arm out, grabbing at Scorbunny's neck and stopping the bunny Pokemon in its tracks!
Everyone gasped. What skill!
"Sc-Scor...Bunny..." the bunny Pokemon choked, its neck in pain due to Charmeleon's grabbing.
"Agh! Scorbunny!..." Ash exclaimed in disbelief as this happened. "Charmeleon is so strong!..."
The lizard Pokemon smirked. Knowing that Scorbunny had the Libero Ability, Charmeleon knew that its opponent was a Normal-type since it had used Quick Attack.
Charmeleon also knew that, because of this, its next attack would be absolutely devastating.
Unleashing a stream of fire from its mouth, Charmeleon used its powerful Flamethrower attack, causing Scorbunny immense pain and also charring its face a little.
"CHAAAAR!"
"SC-SCOR BUN!..."
The lizard Pokemon followed this up throwing Scorbunny to the side. Fortunately for Ash, the bunny Pokemon was able to lower the damage and make it so that instead of flying away it was merely sent skidding away.
UNfortunately for Ash, Charmeleon was quick to follow up!
Red's partner lunged at Scorbunny, attempting to use Slash by bringing its sharp claws down towards the bunny Pokemon.
"Scorbunny, dodge it!" Ash shouted out to his partner.
Thanks to Ash's quick command, Scorbunny was able to jump out of the way in time.
"Scor...Bun..." Ash's partner grumpily muttered, shaking its head for a moment so that it could focus on the battle at hand. It then smirked at Charmeleon despite its pain. "Scor-Bun-Bun!"
Charmeleon raised an eyebrow, before breaking out into hysterical laughter.
It still viewed Scorbunny as an unworthy opponent!
Scorbunny felt its eye twitch. This was so extremely disrespectful! And after all the fighting that they were doing, too!
"Er...SCOR-BUN-NY!" the bunny Pokemon screamed, stomping its foot onto the ground, causing it darken and become charred.
"H-Hey! C'mon, Scorbunny! Calm down a little!" Ash called out to his partner, causing it to look back at him. "Take a deep breath!"
"Scor?" the bunny Pokemon grunted, raising an eyebrow at its trainer.
"We've got this, alright? Trust me," the raven-haired boy stated, comforting his partner. "We can do this."
The bunny Pokemon looked at its trainer for a moment, thinking.
Then, a grin spread across its face and it looked back at Charmeleon, once again determined to win!
"Scor-Bun!" the bunny Pokemon shouted.
Charmeleon merely rolled its eyes, still believing that it had the advantage and that Scorbunny would once again lose to it.
"Alright, buddy, use Double Kick!" Ash commanded.
Immediately, the bunny Pokemon ran towards Charmeleon, a brown aura surrounding its body. It launched two kicks at its opponent, the first of which was gracefully dodged.
The second, however, landed, and directly into Charmeleon's stomach, too!
The lizard Pokemon was sent flying back, clutching its stomach in pain as it flew backwards through the air.
"CHAR-MELEON!" the Pokemon howled. However the fire lizard Pokemon was able to quickly recover and managed to land on its feet. Charmeleon glanced at Red, who simply nodded.
It was time...
…Time to use their most powerful attack!
Charmeleon turned back to Scorbunny, smirking. Its pupils disappeared, giving the Pokemon a horrifying appearance since its eyes were pure white. The Pokemon opened up its mouth and began charging up some sort of attack.
A ball of energy began to form in front of Charmeleon's mouth. The energy was purple, and it looked extremely volatile.
"Huh? What's that move?..." Lillie muttered, examining the battle. "It seems familiar..."
Peter simply clutched his fist in response and looked on with interest. "Charmeleon is using a powerful attack...An attack known as Dragon Rage!"
"Scorbunny, brace yourself!" Ash called out to his partner. "I think...I think this attacks gonna be a big one!"
Scorbunny nodded and raised its arms up in a defensive position.
The red lizard Pokemon let loose the attack, a stream of purple energy zooming out of its mouth and towards Scorbunny.
Not only was Charmeleon's attack powerful, it was also really cool, since the stream of energy quickly morphed into the shape of a dragon!
Green watched on with a raised eyebrow. "That attack looks so strong!...Me and Ivy have a lot of work to do if we want to reach their level of power!..."
The attack zoomed towards Ash's partner, who quickly realized this wasn't an attack that it could tank out.
Even so, he decided to try and motivate his Fire-type Pokemon.
"You can do this, Scorbunny!" the raven-haired boy told his partner, who was gritting its teeth. "Why is Red so powerful?!…Jeez..."
Charmeleon's attack was about to connect with Scorbunny's body when, suddenly...
KA-BOOM!
The attack immediately exploded when some sort of strange object fell into its way!
Red and Charmeleon both raised an eyebrow, while everyone else was visibly confused.
"What's going on?" Green asked, looking around. "Does Scorbunny have some super secret attack that was able to destroy the Dragon Rage attack?..."
"I-I don't think so..." Ash muttered in response, looking around as well. "Something or someone must have messed with our battle...The question is who, though..."
"THAT WOULD BE US, TWERP!"
Everyone looked up, and, with the exception of Red and Green, who were just confused, found their expressions turning sour.
There was a hot air balloon floating above them.
The balloon appeared to be stylized as a Meowth's head with a raised right paw and tail. It had a green basket and beige sandbags, and, apart from the fact that it looked like the Pokemon known as Meowth, it looked like your average old hot air balloon. Nothing really special about it.
However, it was the three people INSIDE of the hot air balloon that was the main cause of concern for our heroes.
Immediately, they began to sing a motto we are all VERY familiar with.
"PREPARE FOR TROUBLE!"
"AND MAKE IT DOUBLE!"
"TO PROTECT THE WORLD FROM DEVESTATION!"
"TO UNITE ALL PEOPLES WITHIN OUR NATION!"
"TO DENOUCNE THE EVILS OF TRUTH AND LOVE!"
"TO EXTEND OUR REACH TO THE STARS ABOVE!"
Two of the villains in the hot air balloon jumped out of their vehicle and onto the ground. One of them was male while the other was female.
"JESSIE!" the woman exclaimed, smirking.
"AND JAMES!" the man added, having a similar expression.
"TEAM ROCKET BLASTS OFF AT THE SPEED OF-"
"Alright, alright! We get it!" Ash angrily exclaimed. "You're here to steal Scorbunny! We've heard it like a billion times now..."
"Who are these guys?" Green asked confusedly. "Are they or friends or something? They look like complete weirdos..."
James looked on puzzled while Jessie felt her eye twitch.
"They're Team Rocket," Lillie explained. "They're evil people who steal other people's Pokemon. Though, frankly, they're quite bad at it..."
Once again Jessie's eye twitched.
Brock nodded. "Yeah, they're really incompetent, and-"
"Now you listen here, you little twerps!" the magenta-haired woman angrily shouted, frightening everyone present, including her own teammates. "Every time we appear, we're going to sing our motto! You got that?! Now you're going to shut up, and let us-"
"Jessie, let's just get our plan underway," James told his teammate, who simply sighed. "We can sing our motto later."
"Fine. Whatever. It's just not the same without the motto, though..." Jessie muttered angrily, before her expression turned into a malicious grin and she began screaming enthusiastically once again. Pointing at our heroes and their friends, she shouted "MEOWTH, FIRE THE WEAPON!"
"Weapon? Meowth? What's she talking about?" Peter asked aloud as he looked up. Immediately, his eyes widened and his Spider-Sense immediately started going off like crazy. "HOLY SH-"
Meowth was holding some sort of bazooka and was aiming at the group. "Aha! Heya, twerps! I've got a little gift for you kiddies!"
"Is that Meowth TALKING?!" Green asked in alarm, while Red simply recorded the whole ordeal on Rotom-Phone. "And is it holding a BAZOOKA?! Is this freaking out NOBODY?!"
"You get used to it," Brock stated, smirking.
The talking Pokemon immediately pressed a button on the weapon it was holding and it unleashed an attack at the group.
A rocket was sent zooming towards the group!
Peter's Spider-Sense immediately starting going off like crazy, alarming him that this projectile was, obviously, an extremely big risk to the lives of himself and his friends.
However, despite this, everyone watched on as the projectile landed onto the ground, making some ticking noises.
It was gonna blow!
Charmeleon immediately looked at Scorbunny, who nodded. The two Fire-type Pokemon knew about the dangerous thing that was about to happen, and jumped backwards, narrowly avoiding the explosion caused by Team Rocket.
KA-BOOM!
When the dust settled...
…Our heroes and their friends were captured in a net!
"H-Hey, what's going on?!" Green angrily asked. "We're...We're in a net!"
Red simply grunted in response. His expression never changed from his bored one, so it looked really hilarious to see him in that situation.
"Ahahaha! The plan worked perfectly!" James exclaimed with a grin, twirling around happily. "We caught them...Just like a Pokemon!"
"Yes! I knew it would be a great idea! I'm such a genius!" Jessie beamed before she began twirling around and around in a similar way to James. "Why bother trying to capture the Pokemon when we can capture the Pokemon trainers themselves? Now we have them held captive, and we have all of their Pokeballs too! Hehe!"
James stopped twirling around and raised an eyebrow. "But Jessie, Meowth suggested the idea. And when he originally suggested it, you said it was incredibly stupid and-"
The female Rocket grunt punched James angrily in the back of the head, causing him to shut up and grab his head in pain. "You shut up! No one asked you!"
"Agh! We're trapped!" Brock exclaimed. "This is terrible!...Who knows what they'll do to us? I haven't even gotten a girlfriend yet! Oh man..."
Lillie looked up and raised an eyebrow at Brock. "That's pretty random...Anyways, Nebby could try teleporting us out of here, but I think it would hurt him a lot, especially after the whole situation with A.I.M just a few days ago..."
"Pew..." the gaseous Pokemon muttered from within the depths of Lillie's bag, afraid of the situation that Team Rocket had unfortunately put our heroes in.
"Well, I want out of here!" Green angrily exclaimed. "Ivy could totally break me out of here, but this net is so squishy, so I can't get her out of her Pokeball, unfortunately..."
As James picked up the net, Meowth brought the hot air balloon down to the ground.
"I COULD break out of this thing with no problems whatsoever. I DO have super-strength," Peter thought to himself, trying to think of a way to break out of the net. "The only problem is that I'd probably reveal my identity in the process, so...Damn it!..."
While all of their friends talked, Ash and Red noticed something odd.
"H-Hey! Where's Scorbunny?!" the raven-haired boy asked worriedly, looking around. "He's not in this net!...And neither is Red's Charmeleon!"
The red-eyed boy nodded, agreeing with Ash.
"Wait...WHAT?!" James asked as he dropped the net. He, Jessie, and Meowth all begin examining it. To their horror, the wannabe Pokemon Master was right! They had failed to capture Scorbunny! "B-But...Scorbunny was the main reason we even did all of this!"
"This is absolutely terrible!" Jessie screamed, before beating James in the back of the head. "This is all your fault, James!"
"Well, I don't know about that...But without Scorbunny, we've just got six twerps and some useless Pokemon!" Meowth added disappointedly. "We've gotta find that Fire-type, and fast! We've gotta do it before-"
"CHAR-CHAR!"
"SCOR-BUN!"
The Team Rocket trio looked to the side, and they all scowled.
Charmeleon and Scorbunny were both angrily glaring at the villains, their chest comedically puffed out to try and makes themselves look tougher.
"Heh, look at that," Meowth muttered, smirking as a single bead of sweat trickled down his forehead. "Scorbunny and that Charmeleon over there are saying that we should give up before things get ugly, hehe..."
"Well, things ARE about to get ugly...But for THEM, not for us!" Jessie exclaimed, smirking. "And that's completely fine with me! After all, without a trainer to command it, a Pokemon can't fight properly! AHAHAHAHA!"
"Hey!" Meowth angrily interjected. "I can fight just fine, y'know! I don't need a trainer to command me!"
James chuckled, ignoring his friends' shenanigans. "Well, when we win, we can also capture that Charmeleon! Hahaha!"
"Scorbunny! Charmeleon! You've gotta help us out here!" Ash called out to his partner from within the net where he and his friends were being held captive by Team Rocket. "You can do it, but you've gotta work together with Charmeleon! Work like a team!"
Scorbunny blinked twice at its trainer's words before smirking and looking up at the lizard Pokemon.
"Scor Scor?" the bunny Pokemon asked its rival.
Charmeleon simply huffed in response, but ended up nodding anyways.
After all, if they wanted to save their trainers, they would have to work together!
Scorbunny simply grinned, feeling all giddy inside. Charmeleon wasn't being a complete jerk anymore!
"Go Ekans!"
"Go Koffing!"
Jessie and James both sent out their villainous Pokemon, believing that they were going to be able to easily capture the two Fire-type starter Pokemon with no issues whatsoever.
"Alright, let's get this over with!" Jessie exclaimed with a smirk. "The two of you are now going to belong to us in just a few short seconds...HAHAHAHA!"
Red's Pokemon simply smirked and opened its mouth, charging up a powerful Flamethrower attack. Similarly, Scorbunny began charging up an Ember attack. They were going to work together!
"Ekans!" Jessie shouted to her partner.
"Koffing!" James shouted to his partner in a similar fashion.
The two Rocket grunts then smirked and, in unison, yelled:
"ATAAAACK!"
The two Poison-type Pokemon immediately charged at the two Fire-types upon their trainers' commands, intending to defeat them quickly.
However, Scorbunny and Charmeleon had other plans for the members of Team Rocket.
"Char..."
"Scor..."
As the Poison-types grew closer and closer, the Fire-type Pokemon's attacks simply grew in size, becoming larger and larger, until...
"...MELEON!"
"...BUNNY!"
The two Fire-type Pokemon immediately unleashed their attacks, letting the two fire-based blasts zoom towards the Poison-types. However, surprising everyone, Charmeleon's giant stream of fire, and Scorbunny rapid barrage of little fire balls...
…Ended up merging together, creating one enormously powerful attack that was bigger then anything that they had ever seen before!
"Woah, look at that..." Ash muttered, pointing out what had happened. "Scorbunny's Ember and Charmeleon's Flamethrower...They...They joined together! That's pretty cool!"
Koffing and Ekans watched in horror as the new, more powerful attack zoomed towards them. They stopped in their tracks before attempting to run away, but the fireball inevitably crashed into them. However, instead of disappearing or just exploding upon contact, the attack comedically pushed the two Poison-types backwards...
…Causing them to fly towards their trainers!
"Ekans! Watch out!"
"Koffing! We're standing right here!"
However, Ekans and Koffing soon crashed into Jessie and James.
The group of four then proceeded to crash into the Meowth-themed hot air balloon. The balloon was finally hit with the Flamethrower + Ember combo, and because of this...
Team Rocket was sent flying into the sky!
"That damned Scorbunny!" Jessie shrieked. "Why can't we do anything right! AGHHH! I'M SO FRUSTRATED! I WANNA HIT SOMETHING!"
"Well, don't hit me!...Um, anyways...Ah man!" Meowth angrily stated, snapping his fingers. "We were so close, too!"
"Indeed, we were," James sighed, his arms crossed and his eyes closed. "We'll hopefully get them next time, but until then..."
…
"WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAAAAAIN!" the three villains shouted in unison before disappearing over the horizon.
DING!
Charmeleon and Scorbunny smirked and looked at each other. Scorbunny specifically felt a sense of pride, since it had actually managed to work together with Red's partner.
And not only that, but the lizard Pokemon wasn't treating the bunny Pokemon like a useless fighter anymore! It was a nice feeling, to say the least.
"Char Char!" the red lizard exclaimed, complimenting the bunny Pokemon.
Scorbunny rubbed its nose in response, grinning from ear to ear. "Scor-Bun Bun, hehe..."
"Alright, that's great and all, and you two both did really well..." Brock interjected before nervously chuckling, catching the duo of Fire-type Pokemon's attention. "But can you two get us out of this net now?"
Charmeleon and Scorbunny simply grinned and nodded.
What a day!
The sun was setting, and Ash, along with his friends, were bidding farewell to the wannabe Pokemon Master's rivals.
"Are you sure you don't want to come with us, Green?" Lillie asked the con-woman with a smile. "Travelling with friends is always better, and, frankly...It gets a bit lonely being the only girl, haha!"
Green smiled in response, but shook her head. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm gonna have to pass. Red's staying here to try and catch all the species in the area, and I'm staying here so that I can challenge him to a battle! That's the only reason I haven't gone off to Cerulean City yet, to be honest..."
"Oh, I see!" Lillie replied, smiling. "Well, the offer still stands, haha!"
"See ya later, Red," the raven-haired boy told his rival with a grin. "It's a shame we weren't able to complete our battle, though...Agh, whatever! The next time we meet, me and Scorbunny will be a LOT stronger, you hear me? I want you to get stronger to! So then we can fight again!"
The red-eyed boy simply shrugged before nodding. He extended his arm out, and Ash firmly shook it.
They both promised that the next time they met, they were going to have a serious battle!
Charmeleon was standing by its trainer's feet, while Scorbunny was standing by it's trainer's feet. The two Fire-types were grinning confidently at each other. Scorbunny had finally earned the respect of Charmeleon!
"Scor-Scor!" Ash's partner excitedly told Red's Pokemon.
The lizard Pokemon smirked and scratched its cheek with one of its claws. "Char-Char-Charmeleon..."
This comment made Scorbunny grin widely, its eyes twinkling.
Charmeleon had accepted Scorbunny as a proper rival!
Everyone watched on and laughed as Scorbunny hopped around excitedly, jumping great distances.
However, Green eventually cut in.
"Oh, Ash, I nearly forgot!" the con-woman exclaimed, handing Ash an envelope. "A certain someone wanted me to give this to you~"
Ash blinked twice, accepting the envelope from his second rival. "An envelope? For me? Who's it from?..."
"I won't tell! You've gotta open it up and see!" Green exclaimed as she put her hands behind her back while showcasing a toothy grin at the wanna Pokemon Master. "I'm sure you'll absolutely LOVE what's inside!"
Intrigued, Ash opened up the envelope.
Inside, there was a yellow piece of paper. In black ink, it said:
'Ahahaha! Hey, Ash! It's me, Gary! I asked Green to give you this note since I couldn't be bothered with handing it to you myself! Also, unlike you, she's an actually good trainer! Anyways, just wanted you to know that I already have not one, not two, but THREE whole badges, you big loser! You probably only have one Gym Badge or something like that, haha! You're a loser! A BIG one! Bigger then a Snorlax! Anyways, I'll smell ya later, you big loser! Wait, did I mention you were a loser? Haha! Anyways, for real though, smell ya later!'
Ash felt his eye twitch, and he immediately crumpled the paper and tossed it aside. "Oooo! That Gary! He's such a big jerk! He makes me so ANGRY sometimes!..."
As fast as he could go, Ash dashed towards Mt. Moon, not even turning to look at his friends.
"Come on, guys!" he called out. "The longer we sit around here, the more time Gary has to get ahead of me! Hurry up!"
Lillie, Peter, Brock, and Scorbunny all blinked twice before grinning and following their friend.
After being immersed in a joyful reunion with Red and Green, it was time to say goodbye.
However, with Scorbunny now having a raging rivalry against Red's Charmeleon, its only inevitable that Ash will cross paths with Red once more!
Q: What's the holdup? Aren't you going to do the next chapter?
A: Yeah, sorry. I was going to address the reason for why this chapter took so long in the Author's Notes, but since there's a question for it, I'll answer here. The reason this chapter took so long was because we had exams, so I had a little amount of time to write. However, now that they're over, I can write more often again! Expect the next chapter really soon! (Let's hope I can actually make it really soon, though. Haha.)
Once again, sorry it took so long!
Anyways, yeah. Red and Green are back, so that was pretty fun to write. I decided to make it so that Green's Ivysaur had a nickname, since in the Manga, she gives nicknames to her Pokemon as well.
Expect to see more of the Daily Bugle somewhere down the line. Charmeleon and Scorbunny have a rivalry now, so expect to see more of that too.
Anyways, that's all for now.
Until next time!