With five badges collected, Ash is feeling as optimistic as ever.

But Saffron City was no cake walk.

"Growlithe use your fire blast!"

"GROWL!" Growlithe cried, firing without hesitation.

"Alakazam use Psychic." Sabrina told her Pokemon.

"Agility!"

Growlithe was fast but Alakazam was already dominating the field. The fire blast caught up to Growlithe after only a few short seconds of running.

"Growwl." Growlithe growled, standing up and whimpering.

"Psybeam."

"Kazam!" Alakazam called out, attacking with a powerful psychic move.

"Growlithe use Leer!"

Alakazam felt unnerved.

"Flamethrower!"

"KAZAM!" The flamethrower was sent around Alakazam, keeping him safe.

Alakazam was breathing heavily, drained after having defeated two of Ash's four Pokemon in lengthy fights before battling Growlithe.

"Growlithe!" Growlithe barked.

"Tackle it!"

Growlithe sprinted forward and took Alakazam head on, who did not react in enough time due to his weak muscles and his waning Psychic powers.

Alakazam fell backwards, unable to lift itself up.

"Fire blast!"

"Growlithe!" Growlithe agreed, blasting Alakazam and winning the battle.

"Alakazam is unable to battle, victory to Growlithe!"

"I'm impressed Ash. The last time we battled your Pokemon hardly stood a chance against my Psychics." Sabrina recalled clearly.

"Might as well just hand over that Marsh badge now." Ash said confidently, "Growlithe are you still good?"

"Growlithe." Growlithe barked happily, wagging his little stub of a tail.

"Then my last Pokemon will have to be my best... Go Mr. Mime!"

"Great." Ash muttered, knowing that Mr. Mime may not look like much, but it had the heart of a warrior when it came down to the wire.

"BEGIN!" The referee declared.

"Fire spin!"

"Barrier."

The fire blasted off an invisible shield making it impossible to attack.

"Agility."

Growlithe's speed rose sharply, almost too fast for Mr. Mime to keep up.

"Make a wall." Sabrina commanded, in a monotone voice.

"Mime. Mime. Mime. Mime. Mime. Mime."

Growlithe ran into the wall and fell down.

"Grow..."

"Can you get up?" Ash asked.

"Growl." Growlithe stood up.

"Fire blast!"

"Growl..."

"Psychic."

"Growwwwwwl." Growlithe was thrown off the field.

"Growlithe is unable to battle, the victory goes to Mr. Mime."

"You did your best bud. Thank you, you deserve a nice long rest." Ash said, returning his friend to his Pokeball, trying to think of a new strategy. He'd done various readings on Psychic types (mostly magazines and web articles that Misty shoved in his face) and knew that there was some dispute about the effectiveness of Poison and Bug on various versions of Psychic types. "Come on out.. HERACROSS!"

"Heracross." Heracross chanted.

Ash had switched Heracross out with Riolu for a short while so Professor Oak could run a few tests and make sure Riolu was in good shape, being a baby.

"Pin missile!"

"Barrier."

The attacks collided, but the wall didn't hold well against the bug type move.

"Take it to the air." Heracross started flying around, rapidly bouncing from place to place.

"Double slap!"

Mr. Mime leaped into the air and grabbed onto Heracross, dragging both of them down and smacking Heracross along the way.

"Megahorn!"

"Heracross!" Heracross sent Mr. Mime flying backwards, but the Psychic Pokemon wasn't ready to give up just yet.

"Mimic."

Mr. Mime used Megahorn.

Heracross crashed backwards, struggling to stand up.

"Come on Heracross!" Ash cheered, "You can do this!"

"Heracross!"

"Mr. Mime!"

"Double slap, one more time."

"Double team." Ash called.

Mr. Mime couldn't find the real one.

"Now!... what?"

Heracross started looking strange.

"But Heracross can't evolve..." Sabrina muttered.

"Hera! Cross!"

Heracross used Hyper Beam!

"Woah! What power!" Misty exclaimed, having watched the entire battle from the sidelines.

"Quick! Barrier!"

But it was too late.

Mr. Mime was smashed by Heracross's Hyper Beam and sent crashing into the wall, falling down and not getting back up.

"Mr. Mime is unable to battle. The victory goes to Heracross and the challenger, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town!"

"We did it!" Ash cheered, running up to Heracross and hugging him. "It was all thanks to you Heracross!"

"Heracross!"

Sabrina smiled and returned her Pokemon to its Pokeball, "You did well Mr. Mime." She walked up to the challenger and presented him a Marsh Badge, "As a symbol of your true victory over the Saffron City Gym Leader, I humbly present you this Marsh Badge."

"Thanks Sabrina." Ash said, taking it thankfully and putting it with his collection.

'Six badges down... two to go.' Ash thought to himself.

A ghostly figure appeared in the badges.

"AHHH!" Ash screamed, falling backwards onto his butt.

"Haunt Haunt Haunt Haunt!" Haunter laughed.

"That was not funny." Ash said, rubbing his back.

"I thought it was pretty funny." Misty told Haunter, who had proceeded to cry dramatically in the wake of being told it wasn't funny.

"Haunt Haunt Haunt!" Haunter chanted some more, putting its eyes in its mouth and turning invisible to show off.

"It's good to see you Haunter." Ash said.

"We just saw your brother's in Lavender Town. They miss you."

"Haunter?" Haunter scratched his chin (does he have a chin?) "Haunt Haunt Haunt."

"maybe we'll take a trip there to visit them." Sabrina told him, patting his head, which just passed right through the Ghost Pokemon.

"Haunt Haunt Haunt!"

"Well, we have tog et to the Pokemon Center so I can send Heracross back to Professor Oak."

"Good luck in the Indigo League Ash. I'll be watching."

"Thanks Sabrina."

Ash and Misty made it to a split in the road a few hours after leaving the Pokemon Center in Saffron City.

"Where to now, Ash? We could either keep moving to Celadon, or south to Vermilion." Misty asked.

"I say we go to Celadon City. I didn't really finish the battle there last time because of Team Rocket. I want to show Erika what real empathy with your Pokemon means."

"Sounds great."

They continued walking.

"Oh I almost forgot to say something... when I woke up the other day I had this song stuck in my head."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. And I swear I've never heard it before."

"That's strange." Misty commented.

"Yeah, I think you might've gotten it stuck in my head. That night by the campfire."

Misty's eyes widened, but Ash didn't notice.

"I don't know what you mean." Misty lied.

Ash shrugged, keeping his eye on Riolu (whom, he'd traded back for at the Pokemon Center before departing), who was running around with Growlithe since Pikachu was all tired out from playing with Riolu 24/7.

"I was just wondering you were singing it that night, out loud? I don't remember all the lyrics, but I woke up because Riolu had a nightmare, and I thought I could hear your voice."

"Maybe you were just imagining things."

Ash shrugged again, "Maybe... it just felt real."

"Ash..."

"Hey Riolu! Growlithe! You're getting too far away!" Ash shouted, running towards them.

Growlithe saw that his trainer was chasing him, wagged his tail and started running farther and faster.

Riolu sped to keep up with Growlithe with its strong legs.

"Same old hard-headed Ash." Misty shrugged, breaking off into a run after him and his Pokemon.

"Come on guys! Slow down!" Ash shouted to them.

And with six badges in tow, Ash is fighting for his place in the Pokemon League. Little does he know, a mysterious figure stalks his movements throughout the Kanto region. Is this figure a friend? An enemy? Does he even know this person? Will they threaten his friends and Pokemon? Find out... as the journey continues.


I know Ash hasn't caught all that many Pokemon... but is that really an Ash thing to do anyway? Honestly?

The next chapters might challenge a little bit of the continuity of the original series... in particular, when exactly he was on what route, between what two gyms, and blah blah. Only because I don't have the time to go that far in-depth with a fanficition. However, I do want to bring back a couple of things from the original series to nod too before we make it to the Indigo Plateau. Some battles will be shortened (like this one) others will be lengthened. There is no guarantee that Ash will obtain another badge in the next chapter, or the one after that. But there is no guarantee he won't. It all depends on the flow.

Thank you for reading thus far, I really hope you enjoy every minute of it!

In the meantime, review, follow, favorite... maybe read another one of my many fanfictions with ships that correspond to your own...

Until then,

Have a great day!