Hey Guys. draconian216 here with he fifth chapter of Pokémon: Gotta Catch 'em All. I apologise for the delay in the update, but I've been seriously busy with school work. I would also like to use this medium to say that updates may be coming slower than usual, but I promise to do my best to update. I thank all those that have been with me. Guys, criticism is important as a writer and so, if you feel I may be wrong in a fact or statement in the book, you're free to tell me about it.

Okay. This chapter marks Ash's second gym battle. All his pokémon also get new moves added to their arsenal of moves. Ash's Elekid, better known as Volt creates two moves and makes his gym battle debut. As for those of you who may not be happy about the pokémon character development, I apologise and I'll try to work on that. In this chapter, I introduce the colour codes that determine the power of attacks. This is also the first time that Ash is shown learning an aura technique. Ash's Psyduck and Scyther make their second gym battle appearance and Scyther creates a new move.

With that out of the way, I give you chapter 5.

Chapter 5: Conquering the Cerulean Gym

"I see you're thinking about them," Red said to a silent Ash.

"Umm...yeah, just to be sure," Ash responded.

"Alright. Ash have your Charmeleon use flamethrower."

"Ok, Blaze responded use flamethrower."

Blaze growled as he reared his head back. He whipped it forward, unleashing a stream of orange-red flames into the sky.

"Alright, that's enough," Red said and Blaze cut off power the flames.

"Pyro, flamethrower," Red said to his own Charizard.

The huge lizard grunted as he released a huge stream of orange-white flames into the sky, and subsequently increasing the temperature of the atmosphere.

"Wow..." Those were the only words that could escape from Ash's mouth. He was in awe of the power the Elder Pseudo Dragon possessed.

"Ash."

"Yes."

"Did you notice the difference between Charizard's flamethrower and your Charmeleon's?"

"Yeah. Yours dwarfed Blaze's in both size and power."

"Apart from that, what else did you notice?"

"Oh yeah. I noticed Charizard's flamethrower was an orange-white in contrast to Blaze's orange-red flames. Why is it that?"

"That's what I'm getting to. You see Ash, pokémon are basically rated in power based on their raw power. Some species of pokémon are superior to others in terms of their attacking power. Some are natural tanks in terms of their defense. Some are monsters in terms of speed, and much more." Red paused to check if Ash was getting all that he said. When Ash nodded, he continued.

"Even at that, individual members of the same species still show variations in terms of those abilities. That's were genetics come into play. The genes transferred from parent pokémon to the child and also the traits that the child develops affect their abilities as pokémon. Another factor that affects these is training. Training is a vital factor in the lives of pokémon. Through training, a pokémon can improve it's genetic makeup, but that takes a long time. The reason why there's a difference in the colour of their flamethrowers is this. As fire-type pokémon grow and train, they expend their heat sacs. Using the heat sacs increases a fire-type's heat power. Note that this is not over usage of the heat sacs, but a controlled one. Fire-type moves usually go through four stages. The power of the move is determined by the colour of the attack. The first stage is the orange-red stage. This is the classic stage that all fire-type's begin with. As a fire-type continues growing, the orange-red flames soon start to change colour and soon become blue. This is the reason why a standard fully evolved fire-type's Blaze ability is usually blue. As they grow, the next stage is the orange-white stage. This is the third stage in a fire-type's power rise. The last and the most powerful stage is the blue-white stage. At this stage, the colour of the flames will not change but will only increase in terms of temperature."

Ash nodded as his father finished.

"So, until Blaze evolves, his Blaze abilities' flames won't be of a blue colour?"

"Not necessarily. Like I said, this is where training comes to play. The kind of exercise he performs with his flames determine the level at which he climbs those stages. Now knowing the Charizard line well, I'd suggest that you get on with it now."

"Dad, I have a question. How strong do you think your Charizard is?"

"Hmm... He is the strongest Charizard in the world and is capable of going head-to-head with multiple Charizard his age without breaking a sweat."

"Woah..."

"Moving on. Like the fire-type, most of the other types have colour power codes. The water type has two colour codes. The first is the normal sea blue colour code. After that is the dark blue colour code. As the pokémon trains it's water abilities, the water starts to get darker, reaching the point we're the sea blue becomes dark blue. The last colour is the deep sea blue colour. As the pokémon's water abilities continue to improve, the dark blue soon becomes a deep sea blue. It is said that pokémon with this colour code can unleash torrents of water strong enough to completely bring down multiple buildings.

Normal types, Fighting types, Flying types, Bug types, Rock types, Ground types, Steel types, Fairy types and Poison types don't have colour codes. In their system, strength is determined by a glow in the move used. The stronger the move, the brighter it becomes.

Electric types have four colour codes. The first one is the yellow code. It is the standard colour of all Electric types. The second colour code is the blue colour code. As the electric type grows, the yellow colour slowly starts attaining a blue streaks. As the pokémon reaches a certain point, the yellow colour would have morphed into a blue one. The third code is the black and white code. As the pokémon uses the blue code, it begins to darken until it becomes a dark colour with white outlines and streaks. The final code is the white-blue code. On using the white and black code, the black colour begins to get lighter until it becomes a light blue. Are you getting this?" Red asked Ash.

On seeing him nod he continued.

"Ghost types have only two codes. The first one is the normal dark purple colour. The code after that is the faint violet code. It is achieved by mastery over the first code.

Dragon types have three codes. The first code is the emerald code. It is the basic code for all dragon types. The second code was the green-blue code. Using the standard code to a certain level causes it to start attaining a hint of blue. The third and final code was the emerald-sapphire colour. As the dragon-type trains and improves his draconic power, the green and blue colours soon reach their prime form as emerald and sapphire colours respectively.

Psychic types had only two colour codes. The first and basic colour code was the pink code. As the psychic types improve their psychic abilities, the pink colour starts to morph into a pinkish-purple colour. That is the final code.

Ice types had two codes. The first was an icy blue colour. The second was of a light blue colour, much more rich in life than the first colour. This colour type is capable of heavily damaging dragon-types. One notable example is Lorelei's star battler, her Lapras.

Dark types also had two colour codes. The first colour was dark with purple outlines. As the dark-type grows, the purple slowly morphs into a red colour until it finally becomes dark with red outlines. Is that taken?" Red asked.

"Yeah. Got everything up here."

"Good. This is we're you train. Assemble your team."

Ash nodded as he addressed his team. While he was doing that, Red took some pokéballs and tossed them. The pokéballs flashed as the white light slowly took form. As the light condensed fully, there was a Golduck, an Electivire, a Tyrantrum, a Scizor, a Butterfree, a Beedrill.

"Woah...," Misty said as she gushed at the sight of Red's Golduck. "It appears so strong," she said.

"Ash, I figured I'd help you and your team learn some new moves. My Pokemon here are going to teach your pokémon some moves. And don't look at me like that. Blue and Green are doing the same thing with Gary and Leaf."

On seeing Ash nod, he continued.

"Alright. Charizard, you're gonna teach Ash's Charmeleon the basics of using Fire blast."

Ash heard the Elder Charizard make a sound he assumed to be laughter.

"Um...Dad! Why's Charizard laughing?"

"Don't worry son, Charizard's a brutal trainer and I have the feeling your Charmeleon's about to find out brutal he is."

Ash looked at Blaze and saw fear in his eyes. Fear of having your dad train you brutally and you not surviving.

"Golduck, I want you to teach Psyduck muddy water. Electivire, you'll be teaching Elekid thunderbolt. Tyrantrum, I want you to teach Tyrunt earthquake. Scizor, teach Scyther aerial ace. Beedrill, you'll be learning sludge bomb. Butterfree you'll be learning wing attack. Begin."

Soon, all the pokémon were in separate places, working on their moves.

"Ash, I also have something I'd like to teach you."

"What's that?"

"How to physically manifest and manipulate aura."

As Red said this, his eyes glowed blue and soon a blue sphere formed above his hands.

"Woah... classic Aura sphere."

"That's not all."

As Red said this, the sphere changed shape to a cube, then a cylinder, next a pyramid and finally a disc.

"Amazing."

"Glad you think so. Let's begin."

For the next forty minutes, Ash and his team learnt the basics of their various techniques. The training for Ash was not very brutal and he was able to grasp the aura manipulation easily. He was able to create basic three-dimensional shapes, like spheres, cubes and pyramids. The number of shapes he could create at a time was still limited to one.

Ash looked at Blaze. The Charmeleon was panting heavily with one knee down and all arms down. The training with the Elder Charizard was brutal. Fire blast was in a way similar to an ember attack. The pokémon first had to increase the fire power behind the ember attack and thus, increase its size. Then the pokémon had to be able to fire it without the ball fizzling away. The final step was the hardest of them all. The pokémon would now have to find a way and turn the fireball to the kanji for "big", mid-flight. The process was taxing and it required a lot of fire power. Ash smiled at the fire-type because he was able to get the foundation down for the fire attack.

Psyduck was also successful in his move. Muddy water was a water type move that was not of the standard sea blue colour. The colour of the move was a brown colour and it darkened with power. The move was done by summoning water from the ground below. Before the water escapes the ground, the pokémon should have affected the colour of the attack by their natural energy. Now the attack is to be executed with high pressure. Psyduck was able to get the basics down with the teaching from Golduck and was able to perform it almost accurately and with almost enough power as a standard one.

Elekid had also made good progress in learning thunderbolt. The powerful electric-type move was the improved form of Thunder Shock. The move required the user to harness electric energy from within and doubling the power of the electrical energy required to use thundershock and releasing as a large stream of lightning. Sounded easy right? Well, as the saying goes, "easier said than done." If it wasn't for the fact that Volt was a fast learner, grasping the basics of the move would have been a lot more difficult. Volt's thunderbolt was slower than standard but it still dealt standard damage.

Tyrunt had made quite the progress in earthquake. Earthquake was a standard ground type move and as it's name implied, it involved the pokémon causing an earthquake. The technique had a simple mode of execution. The pokémon first had to gather ground type energy in their feet, hand, tail or anywhere the pokémon could use as a medium of energy transfer. The next step required the pokémon to slam the ground with the medium. Upon slamming, the pokémon had to release the ground energy to shift the ground's surface, and causing a tremor. Pokémon who happen to be learning the move for the first time would have to come down on the ground with enough force and also release the ground energy. The strongest gym leader in all of Kanto, Giovanni. His most powerful pokémon, a Rhyperior is said to be the strongest Rhyperior in the world and his earthquake is strong enough to level a small City on half power. Tyrunt's earthquake could currently make Ash's body vibrate slightly. Ash knew he would need to work on that before it could be used in a real battle.

Scyther was working on aerial ace. The flying type move was a speedy sneak attack move meant to confuse and strike the opponent at the same time. The pokémon had to first perform a loop in the air to gather up flying type energy. As the pokémon approaches the end of the loop, the pokémon would then double it's speed and move faster than the opponent's eyes can trace, making it seemingly disappear. As it nears the opponent, the pokémon would pull back a little and strike the opponent. For none flying type pokémon, the move was done differently. Their feet first glowed white and they ran at the opponent with enhanced speed. Reaching the opponent, they would have to strike the opponent twice with both feet. Scyther was one of the few pokémon that could perform the move in both ways. Right now, Scyther was focused on learning the move like a flying type first. He had only gotten down the loop, but on reaching the point where he would have to double his speed power, he would fizz out. It was something Ash had to work on. Nevertheless, Scyther was good enough to practice the move on his own.

Beedrill was a prodigy in learning poison moves. Sludge bomb was a powerful poison move and Beedrill was a quite fast at learning the move and it shocked the older Beedrill. Sludge bomb required the pokémon gathering poison and compressing it into an unstable sphere. Next, the pokémon had to launch the poison sphere at the opponent. On impact, the sphere explodes and covers the opponent in poison, dealing damage. Beedrill could easily form the ball of poison and launch it at the opponent. Her sphere could also explode, covering the area with poison, though the power of the explosion was not as destructive as the older Beedrill's, but it was of a standard power. The move also had a thirty percent chance of poisoning the target.

Butterfree also made good progress in learning wing attack. The move simply involved the pokémon coating it's wings with flying type energy and slamming the opponent with it. The move was very simple and easy to learn. Butterfree was able to use the move to deal slightly more than average damage.

"Guess that's it," Red said as he recalled his pokémon except his Charizard.

"Thanks Dad. I really needed it."

"You're welcome son. Before I go here's my number so we can stay in touch."

"Will do Dad," Ash said as he took the card from Red.

"One more thing. After your gym battle, make sure to visit the lighthouse on that cliff. Just keep walking in that direction. I have someone who wants to meet you there," Red said as he got on Charizard.

"Thanks Dad. Bye!" Ash said as Charizard took off.

Soon, the Red Dragon was out of view.

"Okay guys," Ash said as he set up seven boulders for his pokémon. "I want you guys to practice your moves on these boulders. Have at it until you get tired or you're finished with the boulder."

All his pokémon made various cries of agreement.

"Cleffa, I want you to come with me, I want to get to know you and teach you a new move."

Cleffa nodded as she walked up to Ash.

"The rest of you begin."

Ash and Cleffa made their way to a clearing outside the one they were.

"Okay Cleffa. How about a scan," Ash said as he activated his pokédex.

"Scan pokémon."

"Scanning," the pokédex responded.

"Cleffa, the 'Star Shape Pokémon.'

Height: 1'00" ft.

Weight: 6.9 lbs.

Ability: Cute Charm; Hidden ability: Friend Guard.

Type: Fairy.

Gender: Female

Egg moves: Amnesia, Belly drum, Covet, Heal pulse, Metronome, Mimic, Misty terrain, Splash, Present, Stored power, Tickle, Wish.(Note: Egg moves have not been unlocked.)

Moves: Rollout, Metronome, Charm, Pound, Encore, Sing, Headbutt."

"That's a nice egg set, but your moveset has lots of room for improvement. Well the move I want to teach you is Zen headbutt."

"I've seen that move before. The Elder Clefable's are skilled in that move."

"Good. Now, according to the pokédex archives, Zen headbutt is a psychic move that involves the pokémon hitting the opponent with a psychic reinforced headbutt."

"Psychic reinforced?" Cleffa asked.

"Putting it simply, it's basically a headbutt done with a psychic helmet."

"Okay."

"The basic way the pokédex instructed to learn this was to use headbutt and from time to time, cover your head with psychic energy. Got it?"

"Yes," Cleffa responded.

"Now go," Ash instructed.

Cleffa turned to face a tree and began to attack it with headbutt. Nearing the tree, she tried adding psychic energy but it was faint. She stopped the headbutt mere inches from impact.

"Fail huh? Again."

Forty minutes had passed before Ash started seeing faint traces of pink trying to reinforce Cleffa's head as she tries the attack.

"That's enough Cleffa. But I want you to keep working on that move whenever you're free."

"Okay Ash."

"Now let's go back."

The both of them left the clearing and made their way to where the rest of Ash's pokémon where.

Ash looked at them and their boulders. They were panting heavily. Blaze was down on one knee with sweat visible on his face. His boulder was completely covered in scorch marks. Psyduck was lying face first on the ground. His boulder was weathered, leaving only a small chunk of what was left of it. Elekid was face first on the ground. His boulder was cracked on every side, though not broken. Tyrunt was lying down, and from the looks of it, he had passed out. His boulder was broken badly due to the effect of earthquake. Scyther's boulder was dented in many ways and Scyther himself looked to be very worn out. Beedrill was resting on the ground. Her boulder was now a shade of purple. Butterfree was on the ground panting. His wings were dented and his boulder too was dented. All in all, Ash knew they had tried.

Ash sighed as he gave each of them restores. Restores helped the pokémon regain strength, but not completely. The pokemon's stamina is also restored but not to full capacity and they still needed to be checked by a Nurse at a Pokémon Center.

"Alright guys. Let's see those attacks. Blaze show me your best fire blast."

Blaze growled as he reared his head back and shot a medium sized fireball. Mid-flight, Blaze was able to transform the fireball into the kanji for "big". As the attack hit, it scorched the boulder.

"Nice. Psyduck show me muddy water."

Psyduck quacked as he slammed both fists on the ground. On impact, the ground beneath his hands cracked open and a brown, mud-like water gushed out and slammed into the boulder, completely destroying what was left of it.

"Good job Psyduck."

The Duck pokémon quacked, before falling face first into the ground.

"Okay. Volt show us thunderbolt."

Volt's antenna sparked as his entire body was enveloped in yellow lightning. He unleashed the bolt of lightning on the rock, cracking it and slightly burning it. As he reached a certain point, Volt cut off the power to the move.

"Woah. Nice thunder power Volt."

Volt nodded as he flexed his arms.

"Tyrunt your turn. Earthquake."

The Royal Heir Pokémon growled as he jumped up with all his might and came down. On impact with the ground, a vibration was sent throughout the ground causing Ash to shake slightly but not enough to cause destruction of a high order.

"Don't worry Tyrunt we'll get it down. Scyther your turn, aerial ace."

Scyther crossed both hands together as he flew at a tree. Few seconds into the flight, Scyther reached the loop point. He performed the loop and sped up faster than the normal eye and few seconds later, he pulled back and struck the tree, causing some leaves to fall.

"Nice improvement Scyther. Beedrill sludge bomb."

Beedrill flew in front of Ash and took on a battle stance. She formed the purple glob of poison in front of her and launched it at a tree. On impact with the tree, the glob exploded and the tree was poisoned. Within few seconds, the tree began to show signs of poison.

"Excellent Beedrill. Butterfree wing attack."

Butterfree coated his wings with flying type energy before using it to slam the tree Beedrill had already poisoned. On impact, the tree came down with a crash. Butterfree buzzed happily at his success in the move.

"Good job you guys. Nice job all of you. You guys all deserve a nice rest," Ash said as he returned all of them to their pokéballs.

"Serena, Misty. I'm done over here. Let's get to the Pokémon Center."

"Coming Ash," came the voices of Serena and Misty.

When the both of them arrived, they placed the clearing in order and made their way towards Cerulean City and it's Pokémon Center. It didn't take then long to reach the Pokémon Center, thanks to Misty. On entering the Pokémon Center, Ash, Misty and Serena walked up to Nurse Joy to register for three rooms. After registering for their rooms, they healed up their pokémon. Ash, Misty and Serena went up to check up on their rooms. As Ash entered his room, he dropped his bag and immediately went downstairs to heal his pokémon before making his way to the cafeteria area of the Pokémon Center. He was eating when he heard over the Center's speakers that his pokémon were ready for him to pick them up.

He quickly made his way to Nurse Joy and thanked her for healing them. He took them and went back to the cafeteria to finish his food. He would have released them to eat with him, but it was standard Center rules that no trainer should release his/her pokémon in the cafeteria, unless on special permission, to prevent them from disturbing others who are eating. The rule was established because of a trainer sometime ago called Morty Eugene. Apparently he had released a Snorlax, Munchlax and Gengar while he was eating at a Pokémon Center in Saffron City. The trio of pokémon had unleashed chaos on the Pokémon Center, destroying it during their food fight. When the authorities came, they warned Morty of this and he agreed not do it again. However, Morty once again released his pokémon when he was eating at a Pokémon Center in Lavender Town. His Gengar called for the assistance of some of the ghosts the in the Pokémon Tower, and they completely destroyed the Pokémon Center. Nurse Joy had to call on the assistance of Pokémon Master Red who stopped the rampage with his Gengar. Seeing the results of the rampage, Red was so provoked that he revoked Morty's trainer's license and transfered custody of his pokémon to the Pokémon League. The next day, on International News, Master Red passed the decree that no trainer under normal circumstances was to release a pokémon in the cafeteria of a Pokémon Center. He also said that the consequence of been caught with a pokémon in the cafeteria would ultimately lead to the trainer's license been revoked and the custody of the pokémon would be transferred to the Pokémon League.

Lucky for Ash, the cafeteria also served pokémon food. But, the pokémon would had to eat it outside. Ash had already ordered for food, specifically for his pokémon's needs. After he finished eating, he went to collect his order and he went outside to the Pokémon Center's training area. He released all his pokémon and gave each of them food in preparation for their training. After an hour of eating, Ash had his pokémon rest for another hour while he worked on their strategy for tomorrow's gym battle.

According to the information Misty had given him, the gym battle was a three-on-three battle. Ash very well knew that his battle was be a one gym badge battle, since he only had one gym badge. First, the Cerulean gym was a water type gym. He did not plan on using Blaze because he knew that in a one gym badge battle, he would decimate the gym's pokémon. Butterfree and Beedrill we're out of the equation. They weren't prepared to face gym battles yet, and Ash was saving them for Koga and Erika. Cleffa was a decided no. He had just caught her and they had not build that relationship for her to be used in a gym battle. Tyrunt was young and had a type disadvantage to the pokémon at the gym. That left Volt, Psyduck and Scyther. Volt had a type advantage over the gym and he would be a nice addition in tackling them. Scyther had experienced a gym battle before and although he was weak against ice attacks that water pokémon were capable of using, Ash did promise him a battle. Psyduck was of the Sam typing as the gym's pokémon so it was going to be a fairly even fight. But before the battle Ash would have to work on some moves with them. He planned on teaching Scyther metal claw and teaching Psyduck ice beam. And that was what Ash thought about form the entirety of the hour.

'Time's up already,' Ash thought to himself.

"Time's up guys. Let's get down to business. As you all know, tomorrow is our gym battle. The battle is going to be three-on-three battle and I know the three I want to use. The three are Psyduck, Scyther and Volt."

The mentioned three pokémon became excited on hearing that they were battling tomorrow during the gym battle.

"Don't get sad the rest of you. You'll soon get a gym battle. Don't worry. Now, before the battle tomorrow, there are some things I'd like to work on. Blaze, I want you to teach Scyther metal claw."

The glance that Blaze sent at Scyther made the normally calm bug/flying type scared. Ash knew that the training was going to be brutal for Scyther.

"Psyduck, I'm going to teach you ice beam. The rest of you are going to work on your previous moves. Volt work on thunderbolt. Begin."

After showing, Psyduck a clip of a pokémon using ice beam and explaining it to him, Ash left him and went to analyze them once more. Two hours had passed and Ash went to check on them and their progress.

"Hey Blaze, how's metal claw?"

"See for yourself Ash," Blaze responded.

Ash turned to Scyther who had his scythes in front of him. Soon they took on a metallic sheen as he moved towards a boulder. Scyther slashed at the boulder and it split in two.

"Good job Scyther. I want you to keep practicing metal claw. Blaze, work on your fire blast. I'm going to check on the others."

Ash worked away to check on the others. Psyduck's ice beam was borderline average due to the fact that he was a water type. Volt's thunderbolt was getting much more powerful and so we're the attacks of the others.

"That's okay guys. Come here."

Ash waited for all of his pokémon to walk up to him.

"You guys have done well. You've gotten down your moves well and we are here for the final training before tomorrows battle. This is going to be an accuracy and evasion training. I want all of you to work together and try to strike Psyduck, Scyther and Volt."

The rest of his pokémon turned towards the three that they were to attack and there was a unanimous cry of understanding.

"Now begin."

Ash, Misty and Serena where standing outside the Cerulean Gym. They walked inside and saw a girl behind a counter. Ash assumes her to be the receptionist and so he walked up to her.

"Hello. My name is Ash Satoshi Ketchum from Pallet Town and I'd like to battle the gym leaders for the Cascade badge."

The receptionist nodded as she pressed a button on her desk and said, "You have a challenger today. Make your way to the gym arena."

She turned to Ash and said, "The Sensational Sisters will be down soon. Please make your way to the gym just right that way."

"Thank you," Ash said as he, Misty and Serena made their way to the gym entrance. As they reached the entrance, they saw four females making their way to the arena from another entrance.

Ash looked at them and noticed that one had yellow hair, another had violet hair and another had pink hair. He knew that those were the ones he was going to battle because the other lady was dressed in a standard referee's uniform.

"Well, well, well. The runt has finally returned home," the one with yellow hair said.

"I haven't returned home. I'm traveling with Ash. I came here to watch him beat the Cerulean gym."

"So he's our challenger. I'm Daisy and these are my younger ones Violet and Lily."

"I'm Ash Satoshi Ketchum from Pallet Town and I'd like to challenge you for the Cascade badge."

"We accept. And from your data, this is going to be a one gym badge battle. Are you ready?" Violet asked.

"Yeah, let's get on with it."

"Will the friends of the challenger please move to the bleachers so that the battle can commence," the referee said.

Misty and Serena left the battle area.

"This is a three-on-three battle with no substitutions between Ash Satoshi Ketchum from Pallet Town and the Sensational Sisters of the Cerulean Gym. The battle will be over when the three pokémon from one side are unable to battle. Gym leader has the first pick."

"Shellder you're up," Like said as she threw her pokéball, releasing a Shellder.

"Scyther let's do this," Ash said as he released the Mantis Pokémon.

"Challenger has the first move. Scyther vs Shellder begin."

"Scyther agility."

Scyther immediately opened his wings as he took to the skies, circling Shellder and boosting his speed.

"Shellder ice beam."

Shellder fired the ice beam attack at Scyther but missed because Scyther was moving faster.

"Go in with metal claw."

"Use withdraw."

Scyther's scythes attained a metallic sheen as he dove towards Shellder. Shellder was able to withstand the attack by using withdraw and retreating to his shell.

"Slam him against the water."

Scyther quickly brought forth his other Scyther and slammed Shellder on he surface of the water.

"Use bug buzz and follow up with vacuum wave."

Scyther flapped his wings so fast that they emitted red waves of sound energy that slammed into Shellder, dealing some damage, before hitting him with vacuum wave. Shellder became confused.

"Agility and focus energy."

"Shellder snap out of confusion and use ice beam!" Lily yelled.

Scyther immediately began to increase his speed before stopping to raise his critical-hit ratio.

While Scyther was raising his critical-hit ratio, Shellder bashed his head against the water surface repeatedly until he was cleared of confusion. He turned to face Scyther and blasted him with ice beam faster than Ash could issue a command. The super-effective move slammed into Scyther and sent him flying into a pillar near the pool.

"Shellder aurora beam and follow up with ice beam."

"Scyther get up and dodge."

Shellder fired aurora beam at Scyther who used his scythes to block at the last minute. As Ash saw the situation Scyther was in, an idea entered his head as ye saw the incoming ice beam.

"Scyther block ice beam with your frozen scythes and then hit Shellder."

"No way," Lily said.

Scyther used his frozen scythes to block ice beam as he pushed his way towards Shellder. As he neared him, Scyther swing his frozen scythes and sent Shellder flying.

"Way to go Scyther," Serena cheered from the bleachers.

"Into the air with metal claw and slam your scythes against the roof until the ice breaks."

"Shellder freeze him with ice beam."

Scyther began slamming his scythes against the roof while he was using metal claw. The ice beam Shellder fired hit Scyther's leg and caused him pain, but he fought through it until he freed his scythes.

"Use a low powered metal claw to remove the ice from your feet."

Scyther reduced the power behind his metal claw, as he slashed at the ice on his feet. He soon freed himself and began circling Shellder while using agility.

"Shellder, water gun and follow up with ice beam."

Shellder fired the short stream of water at Scyther, before freezing it with ice beam.

"Dodge with quick attack. Circle Shellder."

Scyther dodged the attack using quick attack, before coming back to circle Shellder.

'He might attack again,' Lily thought. "Shellder withdraw."

"Force Shellder out of his shell with vacuum wave."

Scyther quickly slammed into Shellder's shell with vacuum wave repeatedly. The Bivalve pokémon couldn't take it anymore, so he came out of his shell.

"I've never seen anyone use moves like this," Lily muttered.

"Scyther, agility into quick attack around Shellder."

After boosting his speed for the fourth time, Scyther began using quick attack around Shellder, leaving only trails of white. The result was a whirlpool that began to form under Shellder.

"Oh my gosh!" came the voices of the Sensational Sisters, Serena, Misty and the Ref.

Ash smiled. This was his plan. The four speed boosts and the quick attack wouldn't be enough to form a very strong, and powerful whirlpool, but it would be enough to form one that will throw Shellder off balance.

"Oh no!" Lily cried, as Shellder was bashed around by the whirlpool. After watching Shellder been bashed around, she turned to Ash.

"Nice strategy Ash," she commented.

"Thank you," he responded.

"But," Lily continued. "I'm not a Gym leader for nothing. Shellder use the whirlpool to propel yourself and use ice beam."

Using the water currents, Shellder was able to align himself and fire ice beam at Scyther.

"Scyther. I want you to use metal claw and tuck yourself in like a spear. Add steel wing and spin towards Shellder."

Scyther nodded slightly as he began to use metal claw. Slowly, he tucked himself in like a spear. His wings started taking on a metallic sheen, but that was all. Scyther did not spin. He was just moving in circles as he blocked ice beam with his scythes. He was still taking damage from the ice beam, due to been a part bug and flying type.

"Come on Scyther. We need you to spin."

Lily was grinning. "Shellder, amp. the power of ice beam."

The power of the ice beam was amplified to its fullest, but Scyther still tried to endure the attack.

"Scyther come on. We need you. The team needs you. I need you."

Still, nothing happened.

"Well, I guess the match is mine. Shellder wrap it up," Lily said with a laugh.

"You're gonna be the best Scizor ever!" Ash yelled.

As he said this, Scyther's eyes opened. 'Ash is helping me with my dreams of becoming the best Scizor and I owe him that. I should also try my best,' Scyther thought. Scyther screeched as he began to spin. Soon, his body was coated with a green aura.

As Ash saw the green aura, one thought came to his mind. 'Swarm. Scyther's health must be low.' Ash chuckled. "You can do it Scyther."

Thanks to Scyther's technician ability, metal claw's power was boosted by one and a half times that of normal. As Scyther continued spinning, he whipped up a much more violent whirlpool and Shellder was trashed about by the waves and the others were also splashed by the water.

Ash looked at Scyther. His whole body was covered in a metallic sheen. 'Iron defense... impossible. Scyther doesn't know iron defense and it's not a move that Scyther can learn naturally, unless... That must be it. The use of Steelwing while spinning at such speeds must have initiated the process for the move to be used. While spinning, his body must have unconsciously spread the steelic energy around itself.'

"Scyther..." Ash muttered. Said pokémon was still flying in circles to boost his speed as much as he could, while Shellder was been tossed around by the waves.

Ash smiled. "Finish it Scyther."

Scyther suddenly stopped mid-air as he directed his course of flight at Shellder. As he neared Shellder, he yelled. "Scyther scy-scyther," something Ash understood as "Iron Spear Slash."

He slashed at Shellder. Although water resisted steel type, Shellder had latent ice type Gene that would be made dormant when he evolves into Cloyster. This gave metal claw a slight advantage. This, coupled with been boosted by Technician, Swarm and the speed boost from four agilities, and the speed at which the move was released, Shellder stood no chance. As the attack crashed into Shellder, he was sent crashing to the bottom of the pool. As he resurfaced, he had swirls in his eyes.

"Shellder is unable to battle, the match goes to Scyther. Gym leader send out your next pokémon."

"I can't believe I lost!" Lily screeched as Violet entered the Gym leader's box, while she left.

"Alright Ash. You have an unpredictable battle style, but that doesn't mean you'll, like win against me. Go Starmie."

Out of Violet's pokéball came the Mysterious Pokémon.

Ash looked at Scyther. He was struggling to hold himself up in the air. The Iron Spear Slash combo took a lot of energy for Scyther to perform. Ash knew what he had to do.

"I forfeit Scyther."

"What?" came the voice of everyone.

"I forfeit Scyther."

"Why?" Misty asked.

"Look at him. He can barely fly. Sending him to battle a fresh pokémon would be cruel on my part. His will to not give up is one thing, and going up against someone when you can barely move is another thing. I know also that one of your duties as Gym leaders is to also test the bond between trainer and pokémon," Ash said as he gestured for Scyther to come to him.

"You did good buddy. Rest up," Ash said as he recalled him.

'Starmie huh? My best bet is Psyduck.' "Go Psyduck," Ash said as he released the Duck Pokémon.

"Starmie vs Psyduck."

"What are you gonna do Ash? Starmie resists most of Psyduck's attacks. Starmie rapid spin."

Starmie began spinning rapidly as it went straight for Psyduck.

"Into the water."

"After it."

Psyduck quickly dove into the water to avoid the attack, but Starmie gave chase. Ash smirked. Violet had fallen for his trap.

"Surface and ice beam the pool."

"Starmie out."

Psyduck quickly resurfaced as he heard Ash's voice. As he emerged, he quickly froze the pool with ice beam. Starmie wasn't lucky enough and was trapped underneath. After some seconds, the pool was covered in a two and a half inch layer of ice. The ice prevented Starmie from escaping.

Ash smirked. His plan was working.

"Psyduck wait."

Psyduck was surprised at his command but obeyed. His trainer knew what was best and he was right. Ash knew what was best. He was letting Psyduck wait to achieve two things. First, let the cold seep into Starmie's body and weaken it a little. Second, he was trying to figure out Starmie's movement pattern. Soon Ash figured it out and he turned to face Psyduck.

"Psyduck jump and come down with cross chop right there," he said pointing to a spot.

"What's he planning?" Misty asked Serena.

"Typical Ash. Very unorthodox. Watch and see," Serena responded as the two turned their eyes to the pool.

Violet's eyes widened as she realized his plan. 'Damn this kid.'

Psyduck also realized it, and on reaching his climax in the air, Psyduck shot a small blast of water to increase his acceleration due to gravity. As he came down, both of his arms were glowing white and where crossed in front of his chest. When he came within striking distance, Psyduck swiped both arms in front of him. As his hands came in contact with the ice, it shattered, the force pushing Starmie to the bottom of the pool where some if the ice shards even hit it.

"Starmie!" Violet cried.

Starmie slowly floated up to the surface.

"Good Starmie. Recover."

Ash smirked. "Disable."

Immediately, Starmie felt the psychic block over recover.

"I played right into his trap," Violet said.

"We're not done yet. Hypnosis and future sight."

Psyduck looked at Starmie as his eyes swirled. Starmie couldn't help but feel drowsy at the sight of Psyduck's eyes. It fell on one of the ice shards and was fast asleep. Psyduck looked up as he unleashed the future sight attack. Starmie was now at the mercy of Psyduck.

"Ice beam and cross chop."

Psyduck froze Starmie with ice beam before slamming the ice structure with cross chop. On impact, the ice shattered and Starmie was sent flying, and all Violet could do was yell for Starmie to wake up.

"Use screech."

Psyduck opened his mouth and let loose and ear-splitting screech that lowered Starmie's defense and caused everyone to cover their ears.

"Freeze your hands with ice beam."

Without doubting Ash, Psyduck froze his hands.

"Now use cross chop separately."

Gathering the energy for cross chop in his frozen hands, Psyduck ran at Starmie and slammed his right hand into it, followed by his left hand, before jumping back to Ash's side. The impact caused Starmie to wake up.

"Starmie hydro pump."

Before Starmie could even form the powerful water type move, it was hit with he future sight attack hit and stunned it.

"No!" Violet said.

"Use brine and end it with ice chop."

Psyduck reared his head back and blasted Starmie with jet of saltwater. Due to the fact that Starmie's health was less than half, the move doubled in power. He ran at Starmie before chopping it with a frozen right hand and sending it into the water. Starmie's body floated up as the jewel at it's center began blinking rapidly before it went blank.

"Starmie is unable to battle. The match goes to Psyduck. Gym leader send out your next pokémon."

"That was amazing Ash," Misty yelled.

"Nice going Ash," Serena said.

"Thanks guys," Ash responded. "It's time buddy."

Psyduck quacked in affirmation as Ash returned him in forfeit.

"What are you doing Ash?" Misty asked.

"Yeah Ash. What gives?" Serena asked.

"Guys calm down. This is Psyduck's second gym battle, and I figured this guy use it to gain experience."

"Challenger. Do you wish to forfeit your Psyduck?" the Referee asked. Ash nodded.

Challenger Ash Satoshi Ketchum has forfeited his Psyduck. Challenger, release your final pokémon."

"Let's do this Volt."

Out of the friend ball came the Electric Pokémon.

"Finally going for a type advantage," Daisy said as she entered the leader's box. "Must be due to the fact that you don't stand a chance against me. Go Seel."

Out of Daisy's pokéball came the Sea-Lion Pokémon.

"Elekid vs Seel begin."

"Tackle," Ash said.

"You think tackle is going to work against my Seel. Seel show 'em a real tackle."

Ash smirked. "Don't always go in head first. Volt thundershock."

One of the things that his Dad's Electivire, Zeus, had shown Volt was how to fire electric attacks while running and that was what Volt did. Without stopping, he blasted Seel with the electric move. Seel was sent skidding back.

"Karate chop."

"Icy wind."

"Thunderspeed."

As a breath of ice escaped Seel's mouth, Volt uses thunderspeed to avoid been hit.

"What kind of move is that?" Daisy asked.

"Thunderspeed is a move Volt created. By revving his arms to generate electricity, he can use it boost his speed slightly, but for a long distance and at short bursts of power. Now after Seel with sky launch and karate chop."

Volt's hands sparked with electricity as he slammed them on the ice, pushing himself forward towards Seel who he descended on with a super-effective karate chop and sending her into the water.

"Sky launch is a move that uses lightning to launch the user into the sky. Sky launch once more and max. thunderbolt."

Volt used sky launch to send himself into the air, before he unleashed his full power thunderbolt on the pool.

The electric move electrocuted the pool alongside Seel, as the pool was covered in yellow lightning. The move did not favour Seel. She was part water and ice type, increasing the effectiveness of electric attacks to four times normal. Also the fact that she was in a pool of water made the matter worse. And one more thing. Volt was shiny. Having double the power of normal Elekid. Seel was knocked out as Volt ended the attack.

Hope you guys liked the chapter. No cliffhanger this time. As to anyone who read it, it's clear hat Ash has gotten his second gym badge. Scyther creates a new move combo, the 'Iron Spear Slash.' In the middle of the gym battle, Ash and Psyduck create a new combo move. Hope you guys liked the battle. I focused on Ash's unorthodox battling style and his ability to think of strategies on the spot. It was revealed in this chapter that Ash should go to the famous Pokémon Scientist Bill. The next chapter marks his debut and also, Ash's Scyther evolves. Can I hear some cheers. I hoped you guys liked the little history I threw into the chapter. I'll be doing more of these in most of the chapters. Some may be wondering, Where are Gary and Leaf? Don't worry, they'll soon appear once more. Ash gets one of our favourite pokémon in the next chapter. I'm also going to give a back story to one phenomenon the anime didn't explain: the Giant Dragonite at the Lighthouse. Ash also gets a pokémon egg. You're welcome to guess which pokémon egg it is. In the next chapter, a new pokémon is discovered in the _ region. Fill in the blank space. Well don't forget to Read and Review. Stay tuned for the next chapter: A Lighthouse Discovery. draconian216 out.