Pokemon On Hand
Typhaon- Charmander
Horus - Staravia
Ares- Larvitar
The front clerk of the breeder's boutique looked up from her magazine when she heard the doorbell chime.
"Hello how can I help- Hey it's you again! Did you forget something the last time you were here?"
"Not at all," responded Ash. "Managed to get my hands on a dragon and a rock-ground type. So, I need two more bowls, and enough food for three weeks to get through the Viridian Forest, please and thank you Abby."
"Wow!" Abby remarked, sounding impressed. "Well is it a dual type or just a dragon? Need to know in order to give you the right kind of food."
"Just a dragon," answered Ash. "I haven't had a chance to release him yet, but I scanned his pokeball to get some superficial readings."
"Ok then, give me a second to go get it." She walked to the backroom and came back a few minutes later holding a couple bags of dry kibble. "That's going to be 1000 credits."
His eyes bulged. "1000? What is it made of gold?"
"Well the dragon food is packed with almost double the amount of vitamins, and the food for rock types are packed with double the amount of minerals," she explained sympathetically. "Dragons aren't just notoriously difficult to train, they're also expensive to maintain."
Ash sighed and handed over his smart card. It would be worth it he told himself. He would just have to battle more trainers and participate in the occasional local tournament more often than he would have liked.
It wasn't that he hadn't thought about sticking to the trainer's diet, which mostly consisted of eating easily packaged food and general pokemon food. But during his studies in health and nutrition, he had learned that pokemon operated best when eating food that was tailored to the species or type, kind of like when athletes ate more whole foods packed with protein and certain carbs rather than fast food. Too many trainers made the mistake of thinking about food as an afterthought instead of treating it as part of the training regime.
"Well I appreciate it" Ash told the girl as he put the food in the side pockets of his rucksack. Waving a goodbye to the girl, Ash walked out and walked towards the edge of the city, to the same place he had greeted his larvitar last night.
Feeling the four occupied pokeballs, his thoughts were invaded by how fast his team was filling up. He wasn't complaining about the two new powerful additions, more of the fact that he hadn't even had his first gym battle yet, and there were only two slots left on the team. Even though he had originally planned to look for the elusive heracross or scyther that inhabited the forest, he felt like he should postpone catching anymore pokemon. At least until he felt more comfortable and confident with his current team.
While the pokemon league was extremely firm on the 6-pokemon rule for beginners, there was a way to increase the amount you could carry. After winning a third badge from a major gym, the amount of pokemon you could carry was increased by two, and subsequently thereafter until you topped out at 12 pokemon on hand. This allowed trainers to have several pokemon on reserve in order to serve a variety of roles and functions. Although it was highly discouraged, seeing as how expensive it could get to carry around and feed that many pokemon.
Finally reaching the small clearing, he noticed that the pokemon that were there scattered on sight of him. They must remember Typhaon. Ash smiled as he released said pokemon and the others, thinking about Typhaons less than hospitable antics.
"Hey guys" Ash addressed the group as he took the time to rub both the heads of Typhaon and Ares. He felt that the larvitar was warming up to him, especially since he had fed them so well yesterday. "Well I know this is a bit sooner than expected, but we got a new member of the team."
"Char?" Typhaon asked incredulously. They had just gotten the green one a couple days go. Was his trainer just throwing pokeballs at anything that moved?
"Yea I know, but he was a gift, and I wasn't about to say no. Besides, he's going to be a powerful addition to the team, same as Ares."
Ares huffed at that, he doubted there was anything that could present a challenge to him, besides the fire lizard anyway.
Ash grinned "Oh trust me, I think you guys are going to be best friends."
Horus squawked, which Ash took as 'Get on with it.'
"Alright, you guys ready?" Hearing an agreement from everyone, he released the pokemon Giovanni had gifted him. '
The flash dissipated and left a small grayish- green pokemon in its wake. It seemed to be bipedal, with rather small limbs and a short tail. He noticed a slightly curved horn that reminded him of staravias plume. Its crimson eyes were surrounded by a darker shade of green, alongside a short-rounded snout and what looked to be a dark lime green collar. If Ash didn't know any better, he would think that this pokemon derived from the same evolutionary ancestor as Ares. But perhaps the most distinctive trait were the two, nearly flat ivory tusks that protruded from the sides of the mouth.
It seemed disoriented, struggling to stand up and stay on its feet, making Ash wonder as to how long it had been stuck in that pokeball. It noticed Ash and immediately grew excited.
"I don't think he means any harm, let's just see what he does." As soon as he finished telling the others to stand down, the pokemon jumped into his arms and began nuzzling him. Giggling at the pokemon that was now crawling on top of him, he decided it would be a good idea to sit down. He grabbed the pokemon and held it out in front of him so he could talk with it.
"Hey little guy, I'm Ash, your new trainer. And these"- Ash gestured to the three bewildered team members - "are my pokemon." Both Typhaon and Ares waved while Horus chittered a greeting. The pokemon got out of his arms and began introducing himself to the others. "Ok, let's get a reading on this guy."
Axew- The Tusk Pokemon- They mark their territory by leaving gashes in trees with their tusks. They play with each other by knocking their large tusks together. Their tusks break sometimes, but they grow back so quickly that it isn't a concern. This axew stands at 2 ft tall, weighing approximately 40 lbs. Its ability is Mold Breaker, which allows it to hit other pokemon with certain moves regardless of its abilities. Hidden ability Moxie, which causes it to increase its attack power in battle every time it knocks out an opponent. The Moves this axew knows are dragon rage, dual chop, slash, focus energy, shockwave, poison jab, razor wind, night slash, bite, brick break, and aqua tail.
"Wow, Giovanni wasn't kidding when he said he paid a lot of money for you. Moxie? I feel bad for whoever the breeder was to get you that ability," he said out loud. Looking up, he noticed that his four pokemon seemed to be playing tag with each other. Axew even managing to climb one of the trees in order to tag Horus. He smiled, Glad they can get along. "Might as well look up more information on you, seeing as how I barely know anything about you."
He spent the next hour familiarizing himself with some of the basics on the species. One of the most interesting pieces of information he found was that axew's had to break their tusks often before they fully evolved, if not, the tusks would become malformed. Another tidbit was that the fully evolved form was one of the few dragon types that couldn't fly, instead becoming extremely adept climbers in the heavily dense forest and mountain regions of Unova. Apparently, this evolutionary quirk had been caused by their intense rivalry with the pseudo- legendary of the Unova region, Hydriegon. The rival apex predator/ dragon had conquered the skies, so in return Haxorus had been forced to remain landlocked, for fear of being hunted by the territorial rival. It seemed that while they were rare, Haxorus were the signature pokemon of the Opelucid City mayor, Drayden, and its gym leader, Iris.
"Wow," he muttered under his breath, "And I thought Charizard and Tyranitar looked fierce, but a Haxorus looks imposing." At the mention of its final evolution, axew stumbled and let himself get tagged by Ares. Getting back up, he walked over to Ash. "Do you want to see what you'll look like one day?" Axew enthusiastically shook his head yes. Ash pulled up several pictures of Drayden's Haxorus, who had been one of the first to submit information regarding Haxorus to the international community.
Axew's crimson eyes lit up, the pictures serving as a catalyst to his deepest desires. He remembered how powerful his mother had been. She had protected the village he had been born in when the flying three- headed one had attacked. She managed to fend it off on her own, even when it had clearly been stronger than her. He would evolve, become strong, and make her proud.
"I can help you become strong and evolve," Ash stated. "If you join us on our journey, we'll fight the best there is in this world. Alongside these three, we'll grow strong together. While I don't doubt that there will be setbacks, I promise you that I'll be there alongside you every step of the way. So, what do you say?
Axew had already made up his mind on the human. After speaking with the fire and rock pokemon, he had already decided to follow the boy who would willingly sacrifice himself if need be to save others. Besides, he knew that these two were strong, and if he stayed, then he would get strong to.
"Awesome" Ash proclaimed as he watched axew shake his head yes. "And do you want a nickname? I've given the rest of the guys one, but if you don't, I'll understand."
Axew thought about it for a second. He had always just known himself as axew, its who he was. But the human seemed to mean well, and if it made him happy, then he would take a new name.
"Hmm, how about Nidhogg? He was a mythological dragon and was a symbol for the destruction that would follow when the cosmos fell back into the chaos from which they were created." Axew scrunched his face and vigorously shook his head no. Ash began naming off quite a bit of mythological figures, wanting to keep in style of the team, but axew shook his head no at every single one of them.
"Hmm, maybe something a bit unconventional then? Since one of the first things you did was play when you got out of your ball, how about I name you after a mythological figure from one of my favorite video games." Axew gave no indication as to whether he would accept it, so Ash continued, "Its Kratos, he was a character in an epic game series that lasted over a decade, and by the end of it, he became the god of war. He also happens to be an actual figure in mythology. He was the son of two titans, was the personification of strength, and was the brother to the goddess of victory." Ash let a sigh of relief out when he saw axew shake his head yes at the name. Out of all his pokemon, Axew had taken the longest to name by far. "Kratos it is then," Ash told the dragon as he rubbed his head affectionately.
"All right guys"- Ash announced as he stood up- "let's have a quick lunch and then we can train for the rest of the day. We have a tournament that I want to participate in tomorrow before we leave the city, so get ready to be more exhausted than you've ever been."
While his pokemon ate, Ash found a clearing nearby that they could use to train. Despite it not being ideal, it would be enough to get the job done, away from prying eyes. He took his time in determining the length of the longest part of the clearing and drew lines into the dirt which measured out to 25 ft. Then he marked a couple spots while making sure they were spaced out enough. Looking around, he found a small 5 ft long log that he managed to drag (with an absurd amount of effort) back into the clearing. After taking a step back and visualizing how the training was going to go, he gave himself a satisfactory nod. He walked over to his pack and pulled out some gym shorts and running shoes and changed clothes behind a couple bushes. Let no one ever say he didn't go the distance when training.
"Alright guys, we're going to be starting off with shuttle runs, then going into log pulling, boulder flipping, and after that we're going to practice some attacks. And I don't want to hear any whining since I'm going to be doing everything right beside you."
Ash knew it was a little unorthodox to train alongside your pokemon, but after watching several interviews with Koga and Bruno, he had made the decision a long time ago to train with his pokemon. Even Professor Oak had recommended the training methodology to him, saying that when he had been younger, he would regularly exercise with his pokemon. Blood, sweat, and tears helped to build the strongest bonds.
Horus was the trickiest to get started, with him being the only airborne member of the group, but Ash had something in mind. Grabbing some paracord out of his pack, he assembled a makeshift harness and strapped a medium sized rock that had been laying around onto the birds back. He then gave instructions to Horus, telling him to fly through the woods for as long as he could. Hopefully the creative resistance training would help with his speed and maneuverability.
Once Horus flew into the woods (with obvious difficulty), they got started. In hindsight, he should have predicted that he would be the fastest out of the group and have the most endurance. While Typhaon had been right on his heel for most of it, Kratos seemed to genuinely struggle. It seemed like the dragon had never trained in its life, which thinking back on it should have been obvious. Ares seemed to have tried sprinting, but his heavy body was just too dense to be sprinting for long. At which point Ash adjusted and let him rest for 2 minutes every time he finished 25 ft, using the stopwatch feature on his watch to keep track of the time. After about a half hour of doing this, they switched over to the next exercise.
Ash had Ares use his stone edge to create some makeshift targets, then he had him use iron tail several times on one of the constructs in order to break it into smaller pieces. Ares was still nowhere strong enough to just break them apart with pure strength, like his final evolution could, so this would do for now. Once he found a couple of pieces he thought were heavy enough, he set them up at the start of the 25 ft line. With the log, he tied some rope to it and made a bowline on the other end. One by one, each of them dragged the log as far as they could, taking turns and switching over to flipping the heaviest piece of the destroyed boulder afterwards. Ares had the advantage here, his small powerful body allowing him to drag the log across the field for the whole 25 ft every time. Both Typhaon and Kratos struggled with the task, with the charmander only able to drag the log for ten feet at a time, and the dragon about 5 ft before collapsing each time. Not that Ash could really judge them to harshly, only barely managing to match Kratos for distance towards the end of it.
Ash gave his pokemon a chance to rest after another half hour of tough training. They might not have any fancy equipment, but Ash would be damned if he let that stop them from making progress.
"Alright now we're going to practice your attacks," he addressed the exhausted group of pokemon. "Typhaon, you're going to alternate, between learning Metal claw, and practicing dragon pulse and rapid fire for the rest of the afternoon." He had researched the move since he had planned to challenge Brock first. It was one of the easier attacks to learn early on, and the repetition would come in handy if Ash wanted to try and teach him dragon claw down the road. He just had to use his claws to scratch a hard surface. The repeated actions would eventually cause his claws to harden naturally, taking on the properties of steel in order to dent the solid surface.
The true power of dragon pulse was unfortunately still eluding Typhaon. While he had used the move in order to defeat Area, it had been his rage and the heat of battle that had made it effective, two things that they shouldn't grow to rely on. It was still coming out as an uncontrolled beam of energy, instead of the compact destructive sphere it was supposed to be. But they would continue working on it. He refused to give up trying what could arguably be one of his strongest moves
"Ares, we're a little too close to the city to practice your sandstorm, so we'll save that for another day. Today we're going to focus on your control for stone edge and rock throw, as well as your power behind dark pulse and iron tail. I want you to create straight ling of rocks that are larger and denser than you've ever made them before using stone edge, then use iron tail and dark pulse to destroy them. From what I've seen, you pretty much like to stand in one spot during a fight, so later we're going to work on your endurance."
"Horus, I want you to work on your double team and quick attack/ wing attack combo." Most people never seemed to understand the complexities behind using double team, merely seeing it as a strategic maneuverer. The truth was that for any pokemon starting to learn the move, it was difficult to maintain more than one copy of itself. Most pokemon had inactive psychic capabilities, so when using this technique, it strained a pokemons ability to focus. Creating and maintaining the illusions in combat got even trickier, since there were various layers of complexities involved. But with practice and time, he trusted the staravia to be able to create multiple copies in order to utilize them in battles.
"Kratos, I'm going to have you practice on your attacks. I'll call out each one, and I want you to try the attack on this target, after that we'll gauge where you're at and go from there. Sound good?" The dragon nodded and stepped up to the boulder. One by one, Kratos tried every attack on the boulder. None of them even left a mark on the rocky surface. He had been hoping with Kratos being a dragon type, he would pack more of a punch using the dragon type moves. But in the end, they had been his weakest attacks. The dragon rage looking even more pathetic than what Typhaons ember had looked when first starting out. The teal and violet tendrils of draconic flames fading before even reaching its target. Dual chop was a bit better since Kratos had to physically hit the target, but that didn't stop it from being abysmally weak. It had looked almost like scratch, except for the tinge of cyan that enveloped his hands when performing the attack.
Ash grinned at the hand fate had dealt him. He didn't care that his dragon was the weakest member of his team by far, he would turn the youngling into a powerhouse. Dragons were exceptionally rare among trainers. The moves were incredibly difficult to master and most of the information surrounding dragons were zealously guarded by the clans. It's one of the reasons why there were so few dragon masters in the world, the Indigo League Champion Lance being the only Dragon Master in all of Kanto.
"Hey, it's alright buddy," he reassured the dejected pokemon. "I didn't expect you to be some uber-powerful pokemon that could one shot anyone and everything. This just means I can join you on every step of the way to reach your full potential." Pulling out a berry from his side pouch, he handed it to Kratos, who cheered up a bit when eating it. Ash touched his forehead to the dragons, "I don't care how much effort it takes, we're going to get strong, together. Now c'mon we got some training to do."
For the rest of the afternoon, Ash trained alongside his pokemon. He used Horus and himself as target practice, which in the end was helpful to all his pokemon. He gave some advice on how he thought they should perform certain moves. And towards the end of their training session he pitied each of them against one another at least once (Although Ares and Typhaon decided to go overboard and went 3 rounds against each other). While there wasn't some abnormal growth in their power levels, it was putting in the work that counted. Becoming strong wouldn't be an overnight miracle, it would take months of consistently working towards their goals, and getting a bit better each day. That's where they would see the results.
After feeding the exhausted group, he recalled Horus and Ares, and headed towards the pokemon center to get a good night's rest. They deserved it after all.
Sitting in bleachers provided, Ash watched as people trickled into the plaza and walked towards the sign-up table. The bleachers filling up slowly with spectators and participants alike.
The sun was just begging to rise above the skyline, with rays slowly creeping and shining on the two battlefields in front of him. Cool chilly weather still seemed to pervade the areas the suns warmth couldn't reach, with most people wearing some sort of light jacket or sweater. Kratos seeming to enjoy the weather, pretending he was breathing out some sort of attack onto Typhaon, emitting the clearly visible water vapor from his mouth onto the amused pseudo-dragon. Taking note at the obvious police presence at the sanctioned event, Ash's excitement for the Bi-weekly tournament began to grow.
Every city contained a Palestra of sorts, a set of standard battlegrounds located in one of the town squares that trainers and pokemon owners could go and train daily. But while every trainer was a pokemon owner, not every pokemon owner was a trainer. And since the city helped maintain the grounds, even non-trainers could participate. This allowed battling to become a more recreational sport among the city denizens, to help keep interest alive in the league during the lull in between exhibition matches, various regional tournaments, etc.
A couple of years ago, Celadon had grown enough interest in daily battling that they started hosting a local tournament on the weekends. While it wasn't televised and the winners didn't gain any sort of prestige, it was a fun activity to go watch and participate. It slowly started gaining prominence, boosting the economic growth of local shops and eateries. So much so, that the other metropoles in Kanto started replicating the tournaments and saw similar results. It also helped that it was an easy place for league-sanctioned trainers to gain some experience battling and money. With the tournaments splitting up most trainers by number of badges in order to keep it fair to those who weren't trainers.
The local communities usually took turns hosting the events, sending hosts and announcers to help keep the experience civil and enjoyable. Sometimes local shop owners would even sponsor and put up prizes for people to win. But one of the biggest draws was the cash prize. Every person participating would shell out 150 credits, instead of the usual 250 that the league mandated. And since it was a winner-take-all style event, it was too tempting an opportunity to pass up.
The atmosphere was pleasant. The aroma of coffee and hot cocoa wafting through the air. Children laughing, chasing each other playing with pokemon in the fading lamplight. Vendors in the local market stalls selling merchandize and breakfast sweets to those walking pasts. Several families were sprawled out on blankets on the west side of one of battlefields, on the lush green grounds provided
Ash noticed a blonde man dressed in casual wear walk over to them with a microphone in hand.
"Ladies and Gentleman" Boomed a voice from the various speakers stationed around the plaza. "Today's amateur tournament will begin shortly. Let me just take a minute to explain the set-up so we're all on the same page." He told the eager crowds. "Today we have 16 participants for the one badge and under tournament. This will be a single elimination style tournament. We still have two more tournaments to host today, so every battle well be one vs one and the finale will be to. Usually we would at least have the semi- finals and finals be two vs two, but we didn't expect these many trainers to sign up. Each match ends in either knockout or when the trainer surrenders. As of right now the pot sits at 2400 credits, so how about we get this show on the road!"
A cacophony of cheering and shouts of joy followed the announcement. Ash observed as a relatively young-looking Mr. Mime set up psychic barriers around the battlegrounds, in order to prevent any stray attacks from hitting the growing crowds.
The announcer called the first two names for the first match of the day, and the tournament began in earnest. Ash watched the first couple battles, mentally taking notes on some of the more interesting fights, just in case he had to face any of them when he won his own match. One young bug type specialist used a ferocious looking beedrill, knocking out his opponent under in under a minute, Ash would have to watch out for him.
"AND NOW LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, PLEASE WELCOME ASH KETCHUM AND FELIX ANDERSON TO THE STAGE"
Ash stood up and told the guy next to him to save his seat. Walking over to the designated trainer's box he looked over to analyze his opponent. They guy looked a bit nervous. Continuously tapping his index finger on his pokeball, fidgeting with his jacket, eyes darting between Ash and the charmander by his side.
Felix lost the coin toss, so Ash waited for him to send out a pokemon. A svelte and sleek body appeared when the light faded. Its bright green coloration complimenting the cream-colored underbelly. It's tail resembling that of a maple leaf. He recognized it as one of the common grass types from Unova, a pokemon that nearly a tenth of trainers received when starting their journeys. Ah now it makes sense.
"Felix has sent out a snivy! While common, this pokemon packs quite a punch and should not be underestimated. How will Ash respond?"
Deciding to ignore the announcer going forward, Ash deliberated on which one of his pokemon he should use. Using Typhaon would give him a significant advantage, but he wanted to save his friends strength for the later battles, where the competition would be stiffer. Using Horus gave him the advantage of flight and could end this battle just as quickly. He grabbed the pokeball off his belt and tossed it into the air, releasing the avian.
"Hey Horus, think you're up for taking this guy out?"
The bird squawked in indignation, as if there was any doubt.
"Good" grinned Ash.
"Ash has sent out a staravia folks. Although this one seems to be a bit larger than usual, I wonder what he feeds it."
The teen across from Ash looked no less nervous that he had sent out the flyer instead of Typhaon, he knew he was at a disadvantage. Ash wasn't about to wait and find out if he had any dangerous surprises.
"Gust, get it off balance." Ash commanded in a low voice. He knew the staravia could hear him from the somewhat close distance. No need to let Felix know what he was trying to do.
Horus glided across the air towards the snivy. He stopped a bit in front of it and started flapping his wings with a tremendous force. The visible rush of wind drove down on the snivy, as it struggled to maintain its balance.
"Vine Whip, knock that thing out of the air!" Shouted Felix.
Two thin strands of twine shot out from the popped up yellow collar, though they only failed to get any further than a couple feet. Felix looked on with frustration at the failed attempt.
"Magical Leaf!" The snivy spun in place, producing leaves around its body. They stood in place for a second, defying the wind trying to force it back. The leaves took on a bevy of different coloring and then they raced towards the bird
"None of that" Ash whispered to himself. "Double team."
Two additional images appeared, spread out from each other. The leaves passed through the middle one harmlessly. Ash whistled in a low pitch that transitioned to a sharp high note. While Felix was confused, Horus understood what the signal meant. They had been practicing that particular whistle since the day after Ash had caught him. Letting out a harsh caw, almost resembling a battle cry, he lunged forward. He pumped his wings for all their worth, gaining a speed that was hard to track. He flickered in and out of existence as he approached the rattled snivy.
"Dodge it!" cried the boy, unwilling to lose this fast.
The snivy didn't know which way to move. In front of it there were two staravia approaching it, the two images intertwining with each other to make sure she couldn't guess the real one. In its indecisiveness, it felt all the wind being knocked out of it as the staravia scored a direct hit with its glowing wing.
"Snivy is unable to battle, Ash Ketchum is the winner!"
Ash nodded to the disgruntled teen. The guy huffed at him and walked away after recalling his pokemon. Meh, forget that guy. Ash recalled his Horus and whispered to the ball, "You did great bud, now rest up, the day isn't over."
Walking back to his seat the people around congratulated him. He picked up his axew and put him in his lap, with Typhaon clinging to his leg. The host announced the next battle and the rest carried day carried on.
Watching some of the rest of the battles, there were very few that caught his interest. A butterfree that put up a brave but futile fight against a houndour. A bidoof that lost to a particularly young ralts. The only thing that truly worried him was the savage beedrill that steamrolled through its opponents. None of the trainers seemed that interesting either. He had been hoping to see either Gary or Leaf here, but it seems like they had both moved on.
His next match was just as forgettable as the first one, with staravia ending it just as fast. It seemed the older girl had acquired a beautifly from the Hoenn region. Ash found out afterwards that she was mainly interested in competing in the Mulberry City contest at the end of the month, and had only entered to gain some experience.
Right about noon was when the semifinals were set to begin. Ash looked at his competition and worried about the beedrill. While he knew his own pokemon were strong, he didn't think they had the speed necessary to match the beedrill. On top of that, Horus was tired after already defeating two opponents, so using him was out of the question. It was the only pokemon the trainer had displayed, so he wasn't sure what other surprises he had in store.
"And now ladies and gentleman, its time for semifinals!" The announcer told the crowd. "For our first match, it will be Wally Miller vs Ash Ketchum. Both these fine young trainers have given an incredible performance today, so let's give them a round of applause."
Ash gave a small wave to the crowd, hoping they couldn't sense how awkward this was for him. He saw his opponent merely keep his eyes on the ground he was walking on, tightening his clutch on his leather handbag. He even pulled out what looked to be an inhaler and took a puff.
Ash gave the guy an analytical look, oddly colored green hair, light blue overcoat that looked a size too big for him, and silver trousers. He looked to be about his age, so Ash guessed he was about as green as he was. His ralts followed closely behind him holding onto his leg and even hiding behind it as the crowd's eyes watched their battle closely, tension filling the air.
"Ash Ketchum you have lost the coin toss, will you please bring forth your pokemon."
Ash went over in his mind what he had seen from the boy all day. So far, he had fought with only the ralts, and he couldn't see any other pokeballs anywhere on the boy's body, so he assumed that the ralts was the only pokemon the boy had on him. He knew better than to assume the tiny pokemon was weak. He seen several videos of the gardevior owned by the Kalos champion take down monstrous teams. It was also rumored that Sabrina owned a gallade that she liked to use against some of the more arrogant trainers. Making a decision, he brought out the only pokemon that could disrupt the young psychics abilities.
Ares appeared and slammed his tail on the ground, growling and issuing a challenge to any who came in front of him.
"Ladies and gentleman, we are in for a treat today, Ash has released the infamous larvitar! I'm not going to question how in the world he obtained one at such a young age, but I do hope he has it under control."
Ash smiled at the confused look the boy had on his face, must not be from around here. While the tyranitar line were notorious in Kanto and Johto, the same couldn't be said for the other regions where they couldn't be found. Most of the time it just wasn't worth the hassle of traveling all the way to Mt. Silver to get one, especially since most people would come out empty handed.
Wally crouched down and said something to the ralts, Ash assumed it was words of encouragement since it seemed nervous, then sent it out. It was hard to tell how far along it was, given that he had no experience with the pokemon. Its bright red horn glowing with an underlying power, the pearly white extension behind it flowed like a dress in the wind as it stepped forward.
"And Wally has chosen his Ralts once again! This is a battle seen throughout the ages, a battle between brains vs brawn. Will the young psychic be able to overcome its adversary? Or will the nightmarish larvitar end the streak of the young pokemon."
Ash knew he had to end this quickly. If the ralts knew any fairy type moves, it could do some serious harm to Ares and vice versa. If Ares could land a clean hit with dark pulse, it would probably take down the pokemon. But first…
"Stone Edge!" Ash needed to feel out his opponent, this wouldn't as easy as the first two fights had been. Ares punched the ground in front of him, rapidly raising the stone pillars in a straight line headed towards the ralts.
"Teleport, then use confusion and slam it down!" Shouted Wally. His nerves seemingly calming down now that he had something else to focus on besides the crowd.
The ralts disappeared just as the dull blue colored pillars were about to slam into it. It reappeared about ten feet away. Its red horn glowed, and it put his hands in front of it, clearly focusing on the larvitar. The ralts was surrounded by a thin red light as it blasted out a wave of psychic energy.
"Take the hit" cried out Ash. Wally looked shocked at his command, as did the crowd
Ares visibly braced himself, using his arms to cover his torso. The young pokemon thought the energy looked dangerous to get hit by, but he was willing to trust his trainer.
Ash knew Ares could have easily dodged the attack, but he wanted to test out a hypothesis of his. While larvitars didn't share the same typing as a tyranitar, Ash hypothesized that the latent traits of the dark type genes were still prevalent enough to nullify the weak psychic energy. It would help to explain why Ares dark pulse was so strong compared to the rest of his attacks, even the ones that were more attune with his current typing. As the wave failed to do anything, much to the surprise of everyone, including Ares, Ash couldn't help the grin that reached his ears. The ralts and Wally were stunned at the ineffectiveness, it had been their trump card for most of the day, so now they were at the disadvantage.
Wally's eyes flickered with realization "psychic moves won't do much to it, use disarming voice."
"Oh Fuck! Use dig, don't let that hit you." Ash shouted with alarm in his voice. Even though he knew the fairy type move wouldn't do much damage to Ares, this was one hypothesis he didn't want to try out yet.
Ares escaped into the ground just as the pink tinted sound waves passed by. The ralts looked around, somewhat stunned that it had missed.
"Teleport, don't let it know where you're at."
Ash's eyebrows furrowed in concentration as he watched the ralts continuously teleporting, trying to avoid staying in one spot for too long. It can't keep teleporting, it already looked like it was tired after the first time. Must mean that it's not used to teleporting so often during a fight
After about the fifth time, Ares came up at the spot where the ralts stayed at a few seconds too long. The ralts cried a shout of surprise and pain as it was forced from its spot and fell to the ground, hard.
"Iron tail!"
"Disable, then use disarming voice!"
Ares was stopped mid-swing of his tail, the tail losing its dull metallic sheen. He was starting to get incredibly annoyed with this pokemon. He growled as he fought with sheer will and strength against the paralyzing attack. He refused to be stopped by this dainty twig.
Ralts stood up, obviously struggling to maintain the immobilization.
"Screech! Throw off its concentration" Shouted Ash, surprised at the versatility the ralts was showing.
"Teleport Again!" cried out Wally.
Unfortunately for Wally, it was in vain. Ares let out blood curling shriek, causing the ralts (and most everybody) to cover their ears to block out the horrendous noise.
"Dark Pulse!" Ash yelled, hoping Ares could hear him.
Ares paused for moment to gather the malicious energy and fired it point blank at the ralts. The dark purple rings threw the ralts back, making it squeal in pain as the malevolent energy disrupted its psychic aura.
Ash looked on in admiration, as the ralts stood its ground, shakily, unwilling to go down. If this was a wild pokemon, he would have tried to catch it, but as life would have it, it's currently their opponent
"Finish this with Iron tail!"
Wally knew that his ralts didn't have the energy to teleport again. He was on the brink of fainting and it would take a miracle to win now. But he was unwilling to go down without a fight, especially if ralts was unwavering, even in the presence of the superior foe.
"Magical leaf!" Shouted the desperate boy.
The rainbow-colored leaves shot with a fury at the larvitar as he sprinted towards the pokemon, leaving some deep lacerations on the rock-hard armor of Ares. But he was undeterred. He jumped into the air, butterfly twisted and smashed his tail onto the side of the pokemon, sending it flying back across the field. He slammed his tail on the ground, growling and demanding the ralts to stay down.
"Ralts is no longer able to battle" boomed the voice of the announcer. Breaking the spell the crowd had been under in watching the intense fight before them. "Ash Ketchum will move onto the final battle. Let's have a round of applause to both young trainers and their pokemon, who performed beyond our expectations!"
"We did it "Shouted Ash, jumping for joy. What he didn't notice was the ecstatic larvitar running towards him. "Wait, nonono"- cried Ash as Ares playfully jumped into his arms. The sudden heavy weight causing him to fall backwards while holding onto his pokemon.
"Larvitar" exclaimed the happy pokemon.
Ash couldn't help but grin at the happy pokemon. This had been fun and a good way to test out Ares' skills. He wrapped his arms around Ares and gave him a quick squeeze, content to lay there for a moment. But Ares was way to heavy to continue letting him sit in his chest. Rolling over to his side, the heavyset pokemon slid off him as Ash stood up.
"C'mon. Typhaon and Kratos are waiting for us back at the stands." Ares put his arms up a similar way that he had seen Kratos do. "You've gotta be kidding me! Your way too heavy to pick up bud."
"Larvitar!" Exclaimed Ares, undeterred. If that dragon and lizard could get picked up, then so could he.
Ash stood there, stumped for a second at the action his most reserved pokemon was showing. Then he grinned like a Cheshire cat. If Ares was willing to let him show a little bit of affection, who was he to judge.
His face grew red as he struggled to pick him up, but pick him up he did. Shifting the weight in his arms in order to hold Ares up easier, he walked back to the spot where he had been sitting. Just as he was sitting down, He noticed that Wally was walking over to him, holding the recovering ralts in his arms.
"H-Hey" stammered out the awkward teen. "That was a great match. Your pokemon was really strong."
"Oh, Well thanks. I was surprised with your ralts too," Ash remarked. "I know that their evolutionary line are fairly strong, but I always figured their first form was really weak, like most psychic types."
"Thanks," the young trainer and his pokemon beamed. "Do you mind if I Sit here with you, I don't know anyone else."
"Sure, no problem" Ash told the trainer as he scooted over. The next match was about to start, so he figured he could make some small talk. "So where are you from? There's no way you found that ralts here in Kanto."
"I'm from the Hoenn Region" answered Wally, spraying a potion onto the pokemon in question. "I'm here visiting some family in the city till tomorrow. They're the ones who told me about this tournament."
"But why enter if you only have one pokemon?" questioned Ash. It wasn't really his business, but four matches was hard to ask out of a young psychic pokemon, they just didn't have the endurance or stamina built up yet.
"I have a skitty and a budew, I just haven't had a chance to train them yet. I just started my pokemon journey last week, but my parents really wanted me to come. So here I Am." Wally shrugged his shoulders, indifferent to his situation.
"Wow you're from Hoenn? Are you trying to challenge Wallace Mill-?" Ash's eyes widened. Now that he took a good look at Wally, he could see a resemblance to the Hoenn champion. Green hair and grey eyes weren't exactly common anywhere. "Wait, are you two related?
Wally looked embarrassed under the scrutiny Ash was giving him. "Y-Yea."
"That's so cool!" Exclaimed Ash. "I bet he gives you tons of training and teaches you pro strategies!"
"Please keep it down, I would rather that not be something everyone find out about."
"Oh, sorry" Ash chuckled apologetically while rubbing the back of his head.
"And for your other questions, no he doesn't treat me as special or anything. In fact, we barely keep in touch. He's to busy these days for family" muttered the teen.
"Well, sorry about that. What's your reasoning for becoming a trainer then?"
Wally didn't respond for a second, instead looking out onto the field where the beedrill and houndour were fighting, contemplating. When he finally responded, Ash was surprised by the passion in his voice.
"It's always been a dream of mine. I don't know if it's obvious, but I have asthma. It's a disease that's inflicted me my whole life, and made it very difficult for me to even get my trainers license since I struggled so much in the practical portions. My entire family thought I was too weak to get my license, so when I did, it came as a surprise to everyone, including Wallace. I want to prove to my family that I can be just as good as him." Wally declared, a little surprised at how much he had shared with the boy who was pretty much a stranger.
Ash grinned at the boy, and slapped his hand on his shoulder, startling the young man. "Well Wally, that's just as admirable as anybody's else's reasons. And when you reach the top, I expect a battle from you."
"Thanks' Ash," responded Wally earnestly.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMAN, NOW FOR THE FOR THE FINAL MATCH OF THE DAY"-
"Wanna stick around till after my match?" Ash asked Wally as he stood up, not bothering to pay attention to the rest of what the announcer had to say. "We can grab a bite to eat afterwards."
"Sure, I'd like that"
"Great," smiled Ash, "Let me just beat this guy real quick."
Wally raised his eyebrow at that, "So sure you're going to win Ash?"
"What can I say, I believe in my pokemon." And with that, Ash headed towards the trainers' box alongside Typhaon, leaving Kratos and Ares to look on from afar.
They had already discussed who he was going to use this morning when they had first signed up. He had informed them that he would use Horus for as many of the matches as he could and save Ares and Typhaon for the later matches. While Kratos had looked crestfallen at his choice to not use him, Ash had informed the dragon that it was merely because he didn't have any experience. battling. And once he got up to par, he had promised that he would use him in the next one.
"This is the last round for today's Amateur tournament. We have seen many spectacular battles and this last one promises to be no different. Now Rick, if you would, please send out your pokemon and let's begin!"
Ash looked onto the young man whore sported a tan sun hat, green t-shirt and khakis. It was obvious that the kid seemed to have an affinity for beedrills, having used two different ones during his last three matches.
It was usually difficult for most people to discern two different beedrill from each other, but Ash had payed attention during his studies. It was the wings. Each beedrill wing was composed of a thin transparent membrane of cuticle, and an intricate web of veins. Every beedrill had a different pattern of veins, similar to how snowflakes were always structured differently. Sure, since beedrills laid millions of eggs each year, there were bound to be similar patterns. But these two happened to differentiate quite a bit.
"Go Hornet!"
Ok so maybe the kid wasn't that creative with names…
Ash looked at Typhaon, perhaps it would have been smarter to use the one pokemon he had who resisted poison, but he wasn't about to deny Typhaon the thrill of battle.
"You're up bud."
"Char!" Typhaon rushed forward, the flame on his tail glowing a little bit brighter than usual, giving away his enthusiasm.
"While Hornet has the flight advantage, along with those razor-sharp stingers, Charmander has the fire power to do some serious damage. This match could go either way"
The two pokemon stared each other down, the bright red orbs giving nothing away on to how it was feeling. It was true Ash was at the slight disadvantage, with Typhaon being unable to fly, so he would wait patiently for Rick to make the first move and give him the opening he needed. Finally, it seemed like Rick had gotten tired of their little stare down.
"Agility, hit it with Fury Sting!" yelled out the bug catcher.
Fury Sting? Must be a combination of fury attack and poison sting. Can't let Typhaon get hit by that.
"Smoke sphere!"
Typhaon opened his mouth and spun around while letting out the smog. It was a trick they had picked up while fighting Horus a couple days ago that hid the charmander well enough for the few vital seconds.
The beedrill flew into the smoke, its stingers dripping with poison. Its wings weren't strong enough to blow any of the smoke away, so it was stuck flying in blindly.
It went through twice before Ash decided he didn't want to chance it a third time. He waited until he saw the body of the beedrill disappear into the smoke for the third time to give his command.
"Typhaon, Light it up!"
"Hornet get out of there" yelled Rick.
Typhaon fired off an enormous blast of ember, enough so that flickers of flames seeped out from the dense fog. The beedrill flew out of the cloud, black chars now speckled its abdomen and wings. It seemed like they had at least damaged its ability to fly fast.
Typhaon charged out, trying to chase down the beedrill with his flames.
"Hornet, toxic spikes!"
"Burn them all away!" Typhaon took another huge breath of air, before releasing another blast of fire. Unfortunately, he missed some. As continued to walk forward, trying to keep the beedrill on the defensive, he stepped on one of the spikes.
Typhaon yelped in surprise, and the beedrill took advantage of the distraction to charge forward with its twin stingers, poison still leaking from them.
"Dodge!"
Typhaon was scratched by the right stinger just as he jumped away, and drops of blood started seeping from the cut.
Shit, This, was bad, at this point the poison would have been introduced into the blood stream. While he knew the poison wasn't fast acting, it was still debilitating. They were on a time limit now.
"Close in! Rapid Fire at close range!"
"Don't let him get close to you!"
Typhaon had to be careful how much he ran now. The more he ran, the faster he could feel the effects of the poison.
It was a good thing Ash had been working on Typhaons speed since the day after they met. He rushed forward surprising everyone with the sudden burst of speed. He jumped in front of the beedrill, ignoring the pain coursing through his veins. And spout out balls of fire.
Rick wouldn't let himself be taken down so easily "Twin Needle!" The insect met the charmander in the air and thrust out both stingers intending to end this.
They both crashed to the ground. Each one hurt by the others attack.
Ash stared in desperation, opening and taking out an antidote vial, needle, and potion from the PFAK (Pokemon First Aid Kit) that was attached to the left side of his belt. If Typhaon was done, he needed to make sure he could give him the antidote ASAP.
As both trainers looked on, the two pokemon stood up, both unwilling to go down first. Ash could see both were struggling.
The beedrills exoskeleton had been severely blackened, and one of its wings was twisted at an unnatural angle, preventing it from flying.
Typhaon looked a bit better. He had taken that last attack head on and now had two small punctures in the front of his torso. The poison was still coursing through his veins, but it seemed to Ash like it hadn't been potent enough to fully affect him by now. They still had a chance to win this.
"Rapid Fire one last time!" Yelled Ash, wanting to finish this. Typhaon grunted a response and released the attack that would finish his opponent.
"Dodge it!" The beedrills first instinct was to take flight and sadly, that was its downfall. It managed to get a couple inches into the air, nowhere near its usual flight speed, before it was hit by the orbs of fire. Several second later, it was down for the count.
"That was a great match! Was it not ladies and gentleman? Please give it up for the winner of the tournament, Ash Ketchum!"
Ash barely heard a word of what was said, instead rushing forward with the antidote in his hand. He inserted the antidote into Typhaons skin, then began applying a potion to the two wounds and cut that the charmander had received during the battle.
Fortunately, beedrills poison wasn't known for being potent, instead it relied on introducing the body several times to the toxins in order to gain the advantage. Typhaon stood up a minute later, feeling just fine.
His opponent never said a word to him, merely choosing to recall his pokemon and walk off in the other direction.
Ash picked up the charmander and spun him around "We did it buddy! We won!"
"Char, Char!" crowed out Typhaon, feeling just as happy as his trainer.
The Announcer walked up to Ash and held out an envelope. "Congratulations Ash. That was one hell of a show! And if you're ever back in town, please come compete in the advanced trainers' tournament."
Ash took the envelop and stuck it inside his jacket. He beamed at the announcer "Thanks sir for the opportunity to win some money."
The announcer grinned and gave him a thumbs up before departing. He brought the microphone back up to his mouth.
"Thank you all for coming to the Amateur Tournament. We will be taking an hour break, at which point we will resume with the Intermediate Tournament."
The crowd began to climb down from the bleachers and disperse, which made it easier for Ash to reach his own pokemon and Wally.
"Nice going Ash, for a second there I thought he had you."
"Yea? Well so did I," admitted Ash. But the he started scratching Typhaons head, right behind the ear. "But then this guy came through and we won!"
His pokemon all gave shouts of Joy.
Wally stood up, obviously ready to get going. "So, where do you want to go eat? I hear there's a ramen shop on main that really good."
"Anywhere sounds good" said Ash, putting Typhaon down on the ground so he could walk. And apparently Kratos felt neglected, because he jumped into Ash's arms next. But Ash didn't care, "Tonight," he addressed the group, "We eat like kings!"
A/N Thank you to everyone who has read and enjoyed this story. If anyone is wondering why I made this chapter so fight heavy, its because I'm trying to better my writing skills when describing battles. I promise to not do this too often. The next chapter will lean more heavily on worldbuilding and getting through the Viridian Forrest and Pewter City. As always if you like my story, please consider leaving a review and following. I will continue updating about every two weeks, but from now on I will always update on either Fridays or Saturdays.
Before this causes some issues or any kind of confusion, no, Wally will not become a reoccurring character. I added him because its my story and I wanted to have some fun with it. He was my favorite rival during the third gen series, so I showed him some love. Although I can't promise he won't show up one or two more times. Now for some Review Responses:
TheBatFamily: Really enjoyed the story so far and am super pumped for what comes next, also if Ash is getting a gible like I think he's going to then he is really shaping up to have a monstrous team. Also was just wondering if you planned to have Ash build a team of six or so Pokemon or if this would be like one of the stories where Ash ended up catching tons of Pokemon?
Thank you for leaving a review! While I love gible, Haxorus just beats him up on the scale of my favorite dragons. And in response to how many pokemon he's going to get, I'm going to try and keep the number low, around ten for now. Give him some variety in the pokemon he uses.
Hilte: Good job! I can't wait to read more. I love that he is getting such a wide variety of different pokemon from the norm. I do miss pikachu though, maybe he can still catch him just obviously not have him as his starter... I like the idea of charmander being his starter!
Thank you for leaving a review! While I don't have anything against pikachu, I already have another electric type that I want him to use, a more recent addition to the games.
MrMarauder98: Feck Yeah! Larvitar Baby! My OTP! Get guud Scrubz. Loving the story so far. Especially the pokemon your giving him, and while I think Giovanni giving Ash a Pokemon is a bit much, its still alright. A quick fix though, in chapter 1 after Charmander Pokedex readout, you say Dragon Dance instead of Dragon Rush. Ke3p up the good work!
Thank You for leaving a review! And thank you for pointing that out, I went back and fixed it. Also, I needed a way to introduce the pokemon I wanted and this way was sort of the most convenient.
