Ash's Pokemon Journey

Summary: This story is about how I think that ash's journey should have gone through, Kanto, Orange Islands, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova. Smart, a psychic and an Aura user (He'll find out about being a psyphic and Aura user later). I do not own pokemon.

Chapter 20

The Indigo League

The gang were nearly at Indigo Plateau. "So Ash," said Misty "how far do you think you'll get in the indigo leage?" "Well I would like to win it," said Ash "but I do know that trying to win the league isn't easy. So I just hope I can at least make it through the preliminary rounds". "You'll be great big brother" said Tomo. Ash smiled and rubbed Tomo's head in gratitude.

Just then they approached a large fanfare and people with flags. "What's going on?" asked Ash. "They must be waiting for the torch bearer" said Misty. "Torch bearer?" said Ash "oh wait that's someone who runs to the indigo league stadium, with a flaming torch, and lights up a huge flame that burns during the entire pokémon league competition, correct?" "That is correct Ash," said Brock "and the flame is supposed to be a form of inspiration for the competitors. They also say that the flame is supposed to be of a Moltres".

Ash looked at Moltres on his pokedex: Moltres, the flame pokemon. It is known as the legendary bird of fire and it is said that its appearance indicates the coming of spring.

"What an amazing pokemon," said Ash "oh I wish that I could be the torch bearer". "Excuse me young man," said a voice "but did you say what you want to be a torch bearer?"

The gang turned round and saw an old man in a car. "Who are you?" Ash asked the old man. An Officer Jenny spoke up. "This is the Honorable Charles Goodshow, President of the Pokémon League Torch Committee". Ash and the gang greeted Mr Goodshow. Ash walked up to Mr Goodshow and told him that he would like to be a torch bearer. Mr Goodshaw smiled. "And you shall too," he said "you have the spirit kid. And if your friends want to join, they may". "Well guys," said Ash "what do you say?" "I want to run with the torch too" said Tomo. "I would like that as well" said Misty. "It's a once in a life time opprtunity" said Brock.

So Ash, Tomo, Misty and Brock got to run with the torch. First Ash had a run, with Pikachu. Then it was Tomo, with Growlithe, then Misty, with Togepi on her shoulder, and then Brock, with Vulpix. Until at last, they reached the stadium. Brock handed the torch to Mr Goodshaw, who invites the gang to come to the opening ceremony of the pokemon league that was tomorrow.

That evening, Ash and the gang were at the pokemon center. Ash had his pokemon checked and registered himself for the pokemon league. A lot of pokemon trainers were there too, even Gary. Poor Nurse Joy was kept very busy. That night while everyone was still asleep, Ash was still awake. He was thinking about everything that he had done on his journey; catching pokemon, collecting all eight badges and been to all sorts of places. And now he was facing the indigo league tournament. "This has been such a journey for me" he whispered to himself. Then he tried to get some sleep.

The next day, everyone had gathered to the pokemon stadium; it was almost time for the opening ceromony of the indigo league. The stadium seats were full of people and trainers, who had gotten eight badges, were waiting for the tournament to begin. A runner was just about to place the flame on the cauldron. But then the flame got snatched out of her hand. It was James from Team Rocket. Team Rocket wanted the flame of Moltres, to sell it for money. Ash was cross. "Must Team Rocket have to spoil everything?" he said. He had come a long way to get to the pokemon league and now Team Rocket was trying to ruin it.

Team Rocket had a big machine, which held a cauldron. Jessie lit the flame onto a cauldron and the flame turned into a bigger flame. "With this flame," said Meowth "not only will we be rich, but unstoppable". Ash had Pikachu use thunderbolt on the machine, but it didn't work. "At this rate," said Ash "Team Rocket will destroy the stadium and take away the flame". Team Rocket aimed their machine at Ash. "Let's teach the twerp a lesson" said Meowth. "Yes, let's" said Jessie. They fired the flame at Ash and Pikachu.

Ash and Pikachu braced themselves against the flame. But they didn't end up burnt to a crisp. "That's funny;" said Ash "why isn't this fire burning us". Suddenly he heard a screech and saw a shape of a bird in the flames. "It's Moltress!" gasped Ash. And it was too. Moltress revealed itself to everyone, including Team Rocket. Team Rocket wanted to capture it, but before they did Moltress destroyed their machine and sent them blasting off. Then Moltress flew to the stadiums cauldron and lit the flame.

Everyone was amazed by what had happened and was also happy that the tournament would now happen. Mr Goodshaw gave a welcoming speech and declared the pokemon league open. Ash was staring at the flame and thanked Moltress for helping him. Now the pokemon league had now begun.

Ash and Pikachu was waiting for his first indigo league battle to begin, in a waiting room. After the opening ceromonies, Ash found out that he had to pass through four preliminary battles on four unique battlefields (Grass, Water, Ice, and Rock) to qualify for battling inside Indigo Stadium. His first battle was going to be on the water field. "Since this field is a water field, I will use Gyarados, Dragonair and Raichu" said Ash. "That's a good idea," said Misty "those three are a good choice". The screen in the pokemon center, where participants find out who their opponents are, showed that Ash was against a trainer named Mandi, who was a bit of a magician. "This guy is going to lose" smiled Ash.

Ash's battle with Mandi wasn't until the afternoon, so Ash got ready for the battle. He phoned Prof Oak and asked him for his Gyarados, Dragonair and Raichu. Ash switched Wartortle, Pidgeotto and Sandslash for them. "I wish you luck Ash, especially since this is your first time in a pokemon league" said Prof Oak. "Thanks professor" said Ash. Delia was at the lab too and she wished Ash lots of luck too, and she also said that she will be watching him on TV all the way.

Ash felt ready after getting Gyarados, Dragonair and Raichu from the lab. He found out that Gary had win his first battle on the ice field, but Ash just concentrated for his first battle. Later they on they met Mandi, but Mandi was a cocky, arrogant trainer and Ash didn't like him at all. "I look forward to beating you in our battle Ash" Mandi smirked. 'If that guy thinks that he is going to win, then he is wrong' thought Ash.

Soon it was time for Ash to battle on the water field. "Ready Ash?" asked Misty. "As ready as I will ever be," replied Ash "let's go". Ash, Tomo, Misty and Brock entered the arena together. Ash took his place on the battle field and Tomo, Misty and Brock took a seat behind Ash. The battle field was a water field all right; it was a big pool, with platforms. The judge explained the rules about each trainer using three pokemon and such. H also explained about the rules of pokemon battle loses; if the trainer recalled a pokemon, or the pokemon was knocked out, or the pokemon fell asleep or refused the battle, those four things counted as loses. Delia and Prof Oak were watching the battle on TV and all the other residents of Pallet Town were watching too. The residents knew that Ash and Gary were participating in the Indigo League, so they wanted to watch both of them. Then the battle began.

Mandi sent out his first pokemon; Exeggutor. Ash knew that Exeggutor was a grass and psychic type, so he sent out Dragonair to battle. "Okay Exeggutor use egg bomb" said Mandi. Exeggutor fired multiple egg shaped balls towards Dragonair. "Quick Dragonair, use protect" said Ash. Dragonair quickly protected herself from the egg bomb attack with a shield. "Okay time for us to counter attack, use flamethrower". Dragonair blew flamethrower at Exeggutor and Exeggutor got hurt. Mandi didn't expect this. "Quick Exeggutor use hypnosis" he said. Before Exeggutor could use hypnosis, Ash commanded Dragonair to attack with extreme speed. Dragonair tackled Exeggutor very hard and Exeggutor fainted. Mandi's next pokemon was a Seadra. Ash returned Dragonair and sent out Gyarados. Seadra was a dragon type pokemon as well as a water type; so Dragonair would have been at a disadvantage with Seadra's dragon type moves. "That's a good idea of Ash's," said Misty "Dragonair would have had a lot of trouble with Seadra". "Yes, Ash knows exactly what he's doing out there" said Brock. "Of course he does," said Tomo "big brother has trained and practiced hard for this". Misty and Brock knew that Tomo was right. "Use dragon rage Gyarados" said Ash. Gyarados fired dragon rage at Seadra, but Mandi ordered Seadra to use agility to dodge it. "Keep on using agility Seadra" said Mandi. Seadra kept on swimming around the pool so that Gyarados couldn't hit it. Ash had seen this tactic before with water pokemon and knew what to do. "Gyarados whirlpool" he said. Gyarados swam all-round the pool and created a whirlpool. Seadra got caught in the whirlpool and couldn't escape from it. "Oh no!" gasped Mandi. He had been underestimating Ash all this time and now he knew of Ash's abilities as a trainer. "Now use dragon pulse" said Ash. Gyarados fired dragon pulse at Seadra and Seadra got hit and fainted. Now Mandi had only one pokemon left, while Ash still had two. Mandi sent out his final pokemon; a Golbat. Ash returned Gyarados and sent out Raichu. Since Ash recalled Gyarados and sent out a new pokemon; he was now done to one pokemon, and he would lose the match if Raichu was defeated. "You think Ash will be okay?" asked Misty, nervously, "he'll be fine, besides as Golbat is a flying type; it will easily be defeated by Raichu's electric attacks". Mandi ordered his Golbat to use double team, but Ash told Raichu to use swift, and Riachu's swift attack got rid of the copies and hit the real Golbat. "Okay Raichu, let's use thunder" said Ash. Raichu fired a thunder attack at Golbat, which really shocked Golbat, and then Golbat fainted. "Golbat is unable to battle," said the referee "Raichu is the winner. And as Ash Ketchum has defeated all of Mandi's pokemon, this match goes to Ash". So Ash won his first preliminary round. He hugged Raichu. "We did it Raichu!" he cheered. Raichu was happy with the victory.

Misty, Brock and Tomo congratulated Ash for his victory. "You were great big brother" said Tomo, hugging Ash. "Yeah," said Brock "for your first battle, you did great out there". "And you knew exactly what to do out there" said Misty. "Well I did tell that I was ready for this," said Ash. Tomo, Brock and Misty nodded with agreement.

Next day, Ash was now battling in his second preliminary rounds. He was battling a trainer named Jeramiah and it was on the rock field. So far Ash had defeated Jeramiah's Electrode and Fearow, thanks to Tauros and Rhydon. But Rhydon had been knocked out by Jeramiah's Nidorino. So now Ash was down to his last pokemon and he called out Marowak to battle. Jeramiah ordered Nidorino to attack Marowak with horn drill, but Marowak easily clubbed Nidorino hard with his bone. Ash then ordered Marowak to attack Nidorino with bonemerang. Nidorino got hit by Marowak's bone three times and then fainted. So Ash won his second preliminary round.

"I find it amazing of how Marowak has become so strong," said Misty, after the match was over, "I mean when we first met him, he was only a baby Cubone". "Yeah but baby pokemon do grow up quick with the right training" said Brock.

The next day it was Ash's third preliminary round match on the ice field. He was up against a trainer named Pete. At the moment they each had one lose; Ash had defeated Pete's Dewgong with Magneton, but then Magneton got defeated by Cloyster. Then Ash released his Kingler to fight Cloyster. "Crabhammer Kingler" said Ash. "Withdraw Cloyster" said Pete. Cloyster clamped back into its shell, and Kingler started to whack Cloyster with crabhammer. "Switch from crabhammer to rock smash Kingler" said Ash. Kingler used rock smash on Cloyster. As rock smash was a fighting type move, poor Cloyster couldn't handle it, being an ice type as well as water type, and Cloyster fainted. Pete returned Cloyster and sent out his last pokemon; an Arcanine. Ash thought this would be an easy match, as Arcanine was fire and Kingler was water. But Pete proved him wrong; Arcanine defeated Kingler with a dragon rage attack. Ash sent out his last pokemon; Golduck. "Golduck use hydro pump" said Ash. Golduck fired a powerful hydro pump attack, but Pete had Arcanine fight back the hydro pump attack with fire blast. Arcanine kept on firing fire blast around the ice field, and all the ice melted. Only a small bit of ice, where Arcanine was standing was left. Ash smirked; as Golduck was water, it was a good time to attack. He told Golduck to swim up to Arcanine and use hydro pump again. Golduck swam up to Arcanine and used hydro pump again. This time Arcanine got hit and then fainted. And Ash won his third round.

Next day, it was the day of the fourth round matches. Before it was Ash's time to battle, Ash and the gang watched Gary in his fourth preliminary battle on the rock field. He was battling a girl named Melissa and both she and Gary were down to their last pokemon. Gary's Nidoking was putting up a good fight against Melissa's Golem, but Golem defeated Nidoking with seismic toss. So Gary had lost in the preliminary rounds and had earned Top 32 in the Indigo League.

Gary was a bit disappointed with himself, but it didn't make him want to give up of being a trainer. "I'm surprised with Gary's loss," Ash said to Pikachu "I would have thought that Gary would have made it at least four rounds". He started to feel a bit nervous now, but with Pikachu, Tomo, Misty and Brock cheering him on Ash started to perk up again.

Later on was Ash's fourth preliminary round battle. He was up against a trainer named Jeanette. Ash sent out Ivysaur to battle first, and Jeanette sent out Beedrill. "Beedrill fight that Ivysaur with your twineedle" said Jeanette. Beedrill flew over to Ivysaur and tried to stab him with the twineedle attack. Ivysaur managed to keep on dodging, but this Beedrill was as speedy as him. Ash had to do something quick, before that Beedrill could hurt Ivysaur. "Ivysaur use leech seed" said Ash. A seed sprouted out from Ivysaur's bud and Beedrill got trapped by the leech seed, and its energy was being sucked. "Now tackle it" said Ash. Ivysaur tackled Beedrill hard and then it fainted. Jeanette returned Beedrill and sent out Scyther next. Ash asked Ivysaur if he was still okay to battle, and Ivysaur was. Scyther flew over to Ivysaur and tried to hurt it with slash attack. "Ivysaur try to use razor leaf against" said Ash. Ivysaur tossed out razor leaf to Scyther, but Scyther slashed the leaves with its blades. "Now use double team Scyther" said Jeanette. Scyther multiplied itself to make Ivysaur confused. "Okay Ivysaur hit all of those Scyther copies with vine whip" said Ash. Ivysaur whacked all the copies of Scyther and whacked the real Scyther too. Scyther got such a blow from Ivysaur's vine whip, it fainted. Jeanette's last pokemon was a Bellsprout. Ash was surprised but it didn't make him lose concentration. He ordered Ivysaur to tackle it, but Bellsprout easily dodged it. Ivysaur tried again, but Bellsprout easily dodged it again. Ivysaur tried a third time, but Bellsprout grabbed Ivysaur and slammed him onto the ground multiple times until he fainted. Bellsprout was like a ninja warrior; it was obvious that it had been trained really well. The same thing happened when Ash sent out Flareon next. Bellsprout easily dodged Flareon's flamethrower attacks, and then it slammed Flareon hard until he fainted. Ash couldn't believe how strong that Bellsprout was. He then sent out his Muk to battle. "Sludge bomb Muk" said Ash. Muk fired globs of brown sludge towards Bellsprout, but Bellsprout easily dodged that attack as well. "Slam that Muk" said Jeanette. Bellsprout tried to slam Muk, but it had no effect on Muk's sludgy body. "Body slam Muk" said Ash. Muk body slammed Bellsprout good. Bellsprout tried to fight Muk off it, but Bellsprout fainted.

So Ash had passed all four Preliminary rounds and he could battle in the Indigo Stadium.

After finishing off the Preliminary rounds, Ash, his friends and family were having dinner at a restaurant. "I have to say Ash," said Misty "you did great during the preliminary rounds". "You were awesome big brother" said Tomo. "Yeah," said Ash "and its all thanks to my pokemon". "You and your pokemon have come a very long way Ash," said Prof Oak "not only have you and your pokemon become strong, but your bond has too". I am very proud of my boy" said Delia. "Too bad that Gary didn't make it passed the preliminary rounds" said Brock. "Yes," sighed Prof Oak "but the thing is with Gary is that, he is a good trainer but he got over confident, and that's why he lost in the fourth preliminary battle. So Ash my boy Pallet Town is now giving cheers to you only". Ash smiled; he felt more proud than ever.

After dinner, Ash and the gang met up with a trainer named Ritchie. Ritchie nearly looked like Ash, only with with different hair and eye color. Ritchie also had a Pikachu, nicknamed Sparky. Ash also found that Ritchie had a Butterfree and Charmander. "It's if like Ritchie and I are twins" chuckled Ash; after all he has a Butterfree and he caught Charizard as a Charmander.

The next day, Ash was getting ready for his fifth battle. Believe it or not his opponent turned out to be Ritchie. At first both Ash and Ritchie felt uncomfortable with battling each other, since they had become friends as well as rivals. But they agreed and promised with each other to make it the best match ever.

First Ritchie sent out his Butterfree, nicknamed Happy, to battle. Ash had his Flareon out. Ritchie had Happy use sleep powder, but Flareon blew it away with flamethrower. Then Ash had Flareon use fire fang on Happy. Happy got hurt from Flareon's firey teeth, and ended up with a burn too. And with a powerful quick attack, Flareon defeated Happy. Ritchie called out his Charmander, nicknamed Zippo, to battle. Zippo and Flareon put up a good fight with each other with slash and quick attack, despite being fire vs fire, but Flareon got defeated by Zippo's slash attack. Ash sent out Wartortle, who easily defeated Zippo with his water gun attacks. Last of all Ritchie sent out Sparky. Wartortle did the best he could, but Sparky defeated him easily with his thunder bolt attacks. To make the last battle fun, Ash sent out his Pikachu to battle. Ritchie was a bit surprised, but understood what Ash was doing. Pikachu and Sparky had a real fight between them; firing electric attacks at each other and charging at each other with quick attack and so on. But in the end Ash's Pikachu managed to knock out Sparky with a combo of iron tail and thunderbolt, meaning Ash had won.

After the battle Ritchie gave his pokemon a rest in the pokemon center. Ash was there too, giving his pokemon a rest. "That Ash was the best battle ever" said Ritchie. Ash agreed on that. "I wish you the best of luck with the other matches" said Ritchie.

Ash was now against a girl named Assunta. Since he was now in the finals; Ash would now battle six-on six battles. They were now down to their final pokemon, Pikachu and Ivysaur. Assunta turned out to be quite a challenger for Ash. Ash had defeated her Rhydon, Tentacool, Venomoth, Parasect and Primeape, thanks to his Vaporeon, Fearow, Arbok, Clefable and Pinsir. Ash's Pikachu did quite well against Assunta's Ivysaur. But Assunta's Ivysaur defeated Pikachu with its vine whip attack. So Ash lost this match.

Ash did feel a bit disappointed about loosing the match. But then again he earned Top 8 in the league, way higher than Gary's position. So Ash didn't feel so down. He was now with the others at the cabin. "You feeling all right Ash?" asked Misty. She had been a bit worried about Ash, ever since he lost his match against Assunta. "I'm okay," said Ash "I did hope of course that I would win this tournament. But then being in Top 8 isn't that bad and there are other leagues that I can try out". "Absolutely" Misty agreed.

After the final battle of the indigo league it was now time for the closing ceromony. All the trainers that participated marched into the stadium and received a lot of applausing from the crowds. Ash, Ritchie and the other trainers who didn't win received a pokemon league badge. The badge was shaped a bit like a wing, in a green and cream colored cloth, and it was an ice blue colored badge. And the trainers who came in 3rd, 2nd and 1st place were placed on the winner's box and received a trophy and medals. Then there was fireworks going off in the night sky and the Moltress flame were extinguished until the next year's competition. Then everyone began going home.

Before going home, Ash bid farewell to Ritchie and then took one last look at the stadium. He thought about the time he entered the stadium, seeing the Moltress flame and running with it, the battles he fought in, meeting his new friend Ritchie and earning the pokemon league badge. Now it was time for Ash and the gang to head back to Pallet Town.

Ash's first journey through the Kanto region may have ended, but a new journey was about to begin.

1. I wanted to have the league all together instead of seperating it into different chapters. I'll be doing the same for the other leagues. 2. Since they never named the trainer Ash battled in the rock field, I gave him a name. 3. I hated Ash acting like a big baby in the anime. 4. I think he should have been made Top 8 in the anime. 5. Since it never revealed Assunta's all full pokemon team, I made up the rest myself. 4. I hope this chapter is better than it was before.