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. I do not own pokemon.
Note: I am not doing the Kalos Region. So fairy pokemon and Mega Evolutions don't exist.
Chapter 148
Piplup's choice,
The Sandalstraw Contest
And Pokemon Ping pong
One day the gang came to Sandalstraw Town and Dawn of course wanted to train for the pokemon contest right away. She released her other five pokemon; Ambipom, Cherrim, Clefairy, Chatot and Drifloon. Ash decided to enter this contest too and he sent out Snover, Zangoose, Prinplup, Luxio and Roselia. "Okay everyone it's training day for the pokemon contest," said Dawn "and I'm going for my fifth ribbon". As Ash had three ribbons this ribbon would be his fourth. Just then Piplup started to feel giddy and fell over. "Piplup are you okay?" asked Dawn. Piplup pointed out that he was okay, but Dawn wasn't sure about that.
Suddenly somebody ran into Ash; it was Barry. Barry had come to Sandalstraw Town too and so had Kenny. "I take it you two are here to enter the Sandalstraw Contest too right Ash and Dawn?" asked Kenny. "Of course" replied Dawn. "Oh so you know these guys Kenny?" asked Barry. Kenny explained to Barry that he knew Dawn and met Ash, Brock and Tomo the first time in Floaroma Town. Barry then explained he met Kenny some time ago and he also explained he was in Sandalstraw Town because of a pokemon ping ball tournament. Pokemon ping ball was a sport when pokemon and people play ping pong together in a group. "That sounds fun" said Ash. Barry released his Empoleon to show off that they were ready for the tournament.
Suddenly Piplup started to glow. This meant Piplup was close to evolving. But then Piplup started to use bide and the glowing stopped and then he collapsed from exhaustion. "Oh no Piplup what's wrong?" asked Dawn, holding Piplup in her arms. "We need to take Piplup to Nurse Joy right away" said Brock. It wasn't long till Piplup was being treated by Nurse Joy. "Is Piplup going to be okay?" Dawn asked, worriedly. "No need to worry Dawn," said Nurse Joy "Piplup will be just fine, it just needs plenty of rest now". Dawn was relieved to hear that.
While Piplup was recovering, the group had dinner in the cafeteria. Dawn was talking about how she surprised and excited she felt that Piplup was closer to evolving. Barry and Kenny talked to Dawn about how different it was to train, battle and do contests when Piplup evolves to Prinplup and then Empoleon. Even Ash reminded her of what his Prinplup and Grotle were like when they evolved from their previous forms. "Hey no need to worry," said Dawn "I went through that with Swinub when it evolved to Piloswine and then Mamoswine". "Uh even though he was disobedient when he evolved?" teased Tomo. "Hey that's over now thank you Tomo" said Dawn, crossly. The others giggled. Brock was thinking though; he was wondering why Piplup used bide to stop itself from evolving.
That night Piplup had recovered and he couldn't get back to sleep. The thing was he was imagining himself as a Prinplup, while looking at his reflection in a window. But he didn't want that; he wanted to stay as Piplup. Just then Dawn came in with some food for Piplup. "Hey Piplup," said Dawn "I'm sorry I didn't notice that you were going to evolve. But isn't it great? Soon you will become a Prinplup and that's awesome". Piplup chirped out loud trying to tell Dawn that he didn't want to evolve, but Dawn didn't understand. "No need to worry Piplup," said Dawn "it's natural to be scared but I'm going to be right here with you when you do evolve". Again Piplup tried to tell Dawn that he didn't want to evolve, but she still didn't understand. "Calm down Piplup you still need to rest from your exhaustion" said Dawn.
Suddenly Piplup started to glow again. "Oh that glow again," said Dawn "this time let your evolution happen okay Piplup?" But Piplup used bide again to stop the evolution. "Piplup why do you use bide to stop evolving?" asked Dawn. She tried to tell Piplup of all the wonderful things he could do as a Prinplup, but Piplup got angry. He was angry that Dawn didn't understand his feelings. Piplup opened the window, jumped out of it and ran off. "Piplup come back!" shouted Dawn. She ran after him at once.
Meanwhile Barry was pushing Ash, Brock, Tomo and Kenny into practicing pokemon pinball. Kenny, Brock and Tomo didn't want to enter the tournament like Ash did. But of course Barry insisted of having them practice anyway. Just then Dawn turned up and told everyone that Piplup was missing. She told them what had happened. "It all makes sense to me now," said Brock "Piplup doesn't want to evolve. That's why it kept on using bide to stop the evolution". Dawn didn't understand why Piplup was like this, but she wanted to find Piplup at once. So everyone decided to split up to search for Piplup. Ash went alone with Pikachu and his Prinplup, Dawn went out on her own, Tomo went with Growlithe and Brock, and Kenny went with his Prinplup, Barry and Empoleon.
Dawn went to look for Piplup through a forest of trees, when she suddenly came to a small waterfall. Piplup was sitting on a rock under the waterfall. He was still preventing himself from evolving to Prinplup. Suddenly he collapsed into the stream from exhaustion. Dawn ran over to him at once. "Piplup are you okay?" she asked "you used bide to stop from evolving didn't you? Why do you keep doing that? You do want to evolve don't you?" Dawn still didn't understand Piplup's feelings of not wanting to evolve and of course that made Piplup angry. He jumped out of Dawn's arms and chirped loudly. "Why are you so mad Piplup?" asked Dawn. Piplup angrily blew bubble beam at her and then ran away. Dawn went after Piplup at once.
Suddenly there was a loud chirping noise; it was Piplup and he was in trouble. He was stuck in a big spider web. Dawn ran over to help Piplup right away, but she got stopped by a sludge bomb attack. It was a wild Ariados. Piplup attacked it with bubble beam, giving Dawn the chance to try and help Piplup. But then the Ariados attacked with sludge bomb again. Dawn quickly dodged the attack, but the sludge hit the web and poor Piplup went flying. "Piplup I'm coming!" shouted Dawn. She caught him in her arms just in time. But then more wild Ariados turned up and they got ready to use hyper beam. At that moment Piplup bravely jumped out of Dawn's arms and got ready to use bide. This reminded Dawn of what happened with some Ariados's when she and Piplup first met. Piplup released bide and the Ariados's were sent flying. "Oh thank you Piplup you saved me" said Dawn, giving him a hug.
At that moment Ash, Prinplup and Pikachu turned up. "Ah here you are," said Ash "I noticed the bide attack". "We were attacked by some Ariados, but Piplup saved me" said Dawn. Piplup started to chirp loudly again. "What is wrong now Piplup?" asked Dawn. "Hold on Dawn, let me talk to Piplup" said Ash. Ash bent down towards Piplup. "Hey Piplup," he said "I take it you don't want to evolve into Prinplup, is that correct?" Piplup chirped yes. "I take it it's because you prefer to stay as Piplup, like how Pikachu here wants to stay as Pikachu?" Piplup chirped yes again and chirped some words to Ash. Ash understood. "What's Piplup saying Ash?" asked Dawn. "Well it's like this Dawn?" Ash said "Piplup doesn't want to evolve because he prefers not to. He has done so much with you as Piplup and he wants to continue doing things with you as Piplup. Isn't that right Piplup?" Piplup chirped yes. Dawn finally understood Piplup's feelings and apologized to Piplup at once for not understanding. It was then Piplup started to glow again but he used bide to stop it again. "Oh no" said Dawn, who didn't like seeing Piplup exhaust himself. "We need an everstone" said Ash. "Everstone?" said Dawn. "It's a stone that has the power to prevent a pokemon from evolving," explained Ash "that way Piplup won't need to use bide to stop his evolution". Dawn understood. "Let's go back to the pokemon center," said Ash "Piplup needs more recovering and I'm sure Nurse Joy has an everstone we can use for Piplup". Dawn agreed and picked up Piplup.
It wasn't long till everyone got back to the pokemon center; Ash and Dawn met the others on the way back to the pokemon center and told them about Piplup's decision. Piplup got fully recovered and Nurse Joy gave an everstone to Dawn. "Now Piplup won't be using bide to stop his evolution anymore, thank goodness" said Ash. Suddenly his Prinplup started to glow. "Prinplup are you?" he said. Before Ash could say anything else his Prinplup evolved into an Empoleon. "Wow look at that," said Barry "instead of seeing Dawn's Piplup evolving, we see your Prinplup evolving Ash". Ash was happy having an Empoleon and Empoleon was happy to have evolved too.
So now the problem with Piplup was dealt with. All that needed to be done now was Ash, Dawn and Kenny to train for the Sandalstraw contest and then Barry to train for the ping pong tournament.
The next day Ash was practicing pokemon ping pong with Barry. Ash decided to enter with Pikachu because his tail was perfect for hitting the ball with. Ash and Pikachu weren't the only interested in pokemon ping pong, Ambipom was interested too and she kept on doing warm ups for the sport. At that moment Kenny turned up and reminded Ash and Dawn about the pokemon contest, but Ash and Dawn hadn't forgotten. And truth is Dawn thought that Ambipom doing ping pong may help in the contest. Ash was going to use his Snover and Zangoose for the contest. As for Dawn she decided to use Ambipom for both the appeal and battle rounds. She was hoping to win this contest as this would be her fifth ribbon. For Ash the ribbon would be his fourth and the same went for Kenny.
After sealing with practice with pokemon ping pong, it was time for contest training. As Ash was practicing with Snover and Zangoose, Dawn practiced with Ambipom. Her other three pokemon Chatot, Cherrim, Clefairy and Drifloon were watching. Kenny was impressed that Dawn had more pokemon on her team. "Hey Dawn how's Mamoswine doing at Prof Rowan's lab now?" asked Ash. "Well Prof Rowan said that he is behaving now ever since Mamoswine started to open up to me again," answered "but Prof Rowan says I need to give Mamoswine more attention from now on". "All pokemon like getting attention no matter what they are" said Brock. "I'll bring back Mamoswine onto my team later because I plan to use him in the next pokemon contest" said Dawn. The boys liked that idea.
It wasn't long till the Sandalstraw pokemon contest was underway. Marian did the usual introductions and showed off the Sandalstraw ribbon. The ribbon was purple with white stripes and there were purple pentagons in the middle of the ribbon. Barry was watching on the side lines with Brock and Tomo, while Ash, Dawn and Kenny were waiting in the waiting room. Dawn's other pokemon were watching from the side-lines too.
Ash went up first in the appeal rounds. He was wearing a dark blue suit, with a white shirt and a red bow tie. He released Snover with a white party seal, and white confetti appeared. Snover started his performance with ingrain and roots came out of the ground. "Freeze the roots with powder snow Snover" said Ash. Snover released a powder snow attack and the roots froze. "Now get onto the top of the frozen roots and use mist". Snover climbed onto the top of the frozen roots and released a thick white cloud around to finish off the appeal.
"Wow Ash is actually good with doing pokemon contests" said Barry, who seemed impressed. "My big brother didn't win his three ribbons just by doing nothing" said Tomo.
A few more contestants had their turn after Ash and then it was Kenny's turn. He released a new addition to his pokemon team with a bubble seal, a Machoke. Machoke started off with focus energy, showing off its muscles in the process. Then an enormous barbell that weighed three times more than Machoke's body weight was lowered onto the stage. Next Machoke used strength to lift up the barbell with only one hand. Everyone was impressed by this, especially Barry and the gang. To finish off the performance, Kenny did a handstand on top of the barbell while Machoke was still holding onto the barbell.
Dawn and Kenny met up in the corridor. Dawn told Kenny she was impressed with how he and Machoke did their performance. Kenny told Dawn that he hopes to meet her in the battle rounds because he wants to beat the one who won the Wallace cup. Dawn replied with no need to worry and that she would do her best to get into the second round.
Now it was Dawn's turn and her contest dress was in the normal state. (The way it was when she first starting doing contests) She released Ambipom with a musical note seal. To start things up Ambipom used double team and then all of the Ambipoms used focus punch. It created a white and yellow glow because of the song notes still flying about. Next Ambipom used swift and she ended up using a move she learnt while learning about pokemon ping pong from Barry. Then Ambipom twirled around fast creating a starry tornado with her stars. To finish it off Ambipom used double hit and it broke the stars into millions of sparkles.
Everyone liked the performance and even Barry was impressed. Kenny was impressed too and Ash reminded him about Dawn growing better as a coordinator after getting back on her feet at the Wallace Cup.
While waiting for the results Dawn couldn't help but feel nervous of what the results may end up being. "Come on Dawn you must relax now," said Ash "you've been through all this before". "I know, but I still can't help but worry whenever it comes to final results in pokemon contests," said Dawn "not to mention you and Kenny will be in battle rounds. Kenny said he really wants to earn his fourth ribbon here and beat me". "Hey we are both rivals in this contest so we would want to defeat each other," Ash reminded her "remember what your mum and Zoey kept telling you before just have fun no matter with who you face". Dawn remembered those words alright and thanked Ash for the reminder. Soon the results came and Ash, Dawn and Kenny made it to the battle rounds. Ash, Dawn and Kenny were not going to back down now, especially since they all wanted this ribbon.
The battle rounds soon came on. Ash was using Zangoose and Kenny was using Prinplup. Ash, Dawn and Kenny easily defeated their opponents in the first round. But now Ash and Dawn were up against each other in the second round. As Zangoose and Ambipom were fast pokemon it was hard for each other to hit each other. But with using pokemon ping pong techniques Zangoose ended up getting beaten by Ambipom's swift attack and focus punch. So for the first time ever Dawn had beaten Ash in a pokemon contest. Kenny defeated his second opponent and now it was the final battle between Dawn and Kenny. Ambipom and Prinplup were ready to go. Kenny started off by using bubble beam, but Ambipom used hidden power to counter it and then the hidden power hit Prinplup. Next Dawn ordered Ambipom to use double team, but Prinplup used bubble beam to destroy the copies. More bubbles started to get near to Ambipom, but Dawn quickly got an idea. She told Ambipom to hit the bubble back with focus punch. That idea worked because the bubbles flew right back at Prinplup. Kenny ordered Prinplup to hit the bubbles back with metal claw. Ambipom and Prinplup began hitting the bubbles back at each other like a pokemon ping pong match. Marian, the judges and the whole audience loved it. Kenny ordered Prinplup to use bubble beam again, but Ambipom countered with double hit. Prinplup wasn't done yet and used drill peck. "Counter with aerial ace Ambipom" said Dawn. The two pokemon collided at each other with their attacks. Kenny ordered Prinplup to use metal claw next while Dawn ordered Ambipom to counter it with thunder punch. Despite thunder punch being an electric type move, Prinplup was able to not get much damage because of metal claw. Then before Ambipom could do anything Prinplup pecked her hard with drill peck. Ambipom fell to defeat onto the ground, making this the first time that Kenny beat Dawn.
So Kenny was the winner of the pokemon contest and he got the Sandalstraw ribbon. Dawn did feel a bit disappointed of not getting her fifth ribbon, but there were still other contests she could enter to get her fifth ribbon. So she had time to work hard with her other pokemon before she could enter another pokemon contest.
Later that evening Kenny said goodbye to the gang. He wanted to get back to traveling now to catch newer pokemon and train his pokemon some more. Dawn promised she would beat Kenny the next time they met and Kenny promised the same thing. He also promised he would defeat the next time too. Then he left. After Kenny left, Barry told Dawn how impressed with how Ambipom used pokemon ping pong techniques during the contest. It made him decide that Dawn and Ambipom should enter the pokemon ping pong tournament too. Ambipom actually liked that idea as she did start to feel interested in the sport.
So with the Sandalstraw pokemon contest over there was still only one more event to go through, and that was the pokemon ping pong tournament.
The next day it was the day of the pokemon ping pong tournament. Ash and Barry decided to get some more practicing in before it started. Dawn didn't really understand the rules about pokemon ping pong and she admitted it. So Barry explained. The rules for pokemon ping pong were a trainer and any of its pokemon team up together for the game. The trainer got to use a ping pong paddle while the partner pokemon uses its body in the ping pong match. It was also forbidden for the pokemon to use moves to hit the ball. The team who got 11 points first wins a match. After hearing the rules Dawn decided to enter the tournament too and she and Ash registered for it right away. Dawn decided to enter with Ambipom as Ambipom really started to like pokemon ping pong.
After registering, Ash and Dawn decided to do some practicing before the tournament started. There were plenty of practice pokemon ping pong tables. Dawn used her heads and tails app and Ash won with heads. Trainer got the first serve, so Ash gave the first serve. Soon Ash and Dawn were hitting the ball back and forth at each other with the paddles. Unbeknown to them a man was watching them practice. Just then Pikachu struck the ball with his tail, but then Ambipom struck the ball back with one of her tails. The ball sky rocketed off the table and headed towards the man, who had been watching. The man caught the ball at ease and was impressed by what happened.
The gang ran over to the man to see if he was okay and Dawn apologized. The man said he was impressed with Ambipom's reflexes and asked Dawn if they had been practicing ping pong a lot. Dawn admitted this was their first time doing pokemon ping pong. The man was impressed and told Ash and Dawn to do their best, and then he left. Brock noticed the man on the front of a magazine he was holding, which made the gang wonder who the man was.
Later on it was time for the tournament to begin. Ash, Barry and Dawn made their way into the stadium with their pokemon. Brock and Tomo sat in the audience seats. There was a big tv screen that showed the match up results in the tournament. It revealed that if Ash and Dawn won their first matches they would be up against each other. They were in block B while Barry was in block A. Just then Dawn noticed the man from earlier on the screen. Barry explained the man's name was O and he was the winner of last year's pokemon ping pong tournament and he had a reputation of being the world's strongest ping pong player. Barry then started to boast that he would beat O and show him how strong he is as a ping pong player. Just then the announcer revealed the first prize and the second prize. The participant who won the tournament would get 6 solid golden ping pong balls and the runner up would get a year supply of special pokemon food.
The tournament was soon underway. Ash was against a trainer named Wilkinson and he had a Farfetch'd. Dawn up against a scientist and he had an Alakazam. Ash tried his best, but as this was his first time doing ping pong he got beaten by Wilkinson because he had more experience. Dawn on the other hand was doing well. At first it seemed the scientist would beat her because this was her first time too. But Ambipom gained the upper hand especially with how she made the ball skyrocket like she did earlier.
Dawn ended up winning her first round and going against Wilkinson. Ash joined Brock and Tomo in the seats. "I'm sorry you lost big brother" said Tomo. "It's okay Tomo," said Ash "this was my first time and he was just more experienced. That sport is more difficult than I thought". The group watched Dawn and Ambipom during her second match. "Dawn and Ambipom are getting really good at this despite being their first time" said Ash. "Yeah you wouldn't really believe this was really first time doing pokemon ping pong at the rate their going" said Brock. "It's like Ambipom had the talent for ping pong all the time" said Ash. Ash never knew about this because he hadn't heard of pokemon ping pong back in Kanto. After beating Wilkinson, Dawn and Ambipom won the third match against a trainer named Halverson who had a Marowak. O had been watching Dawn and Ambipom the whole time and he found it hard to believe that Dawn and Ambipom had only started doing pokemon ping pong. He thought Ambipom had a real talent for it.
After defeating her opponents Dawn had a rest with Ambipom while waiting for the semi-final battles to come. Right now it was Barry's match against O. Of course Barry was still boasting that he would win the whole thing. But when the match started Barry found out how strong O and his Shiftry really were at pokemon ping pong. Shiftry could really hit a ping pong ball hard. Poor Barry ended up losing without a chance to turn things round.
Soon it was time for Dawn to face O. She and Ambipom did their best, but O and Shiftry were very tough to try and beat. Poor Dawn ended up losing her nerves, but Ambipom gave her encouragement which made Dawn feel better again. But trouble came, Dawn tried to hit a ball back that O served but her paddle broke. Ambipom moved in to take over while Dawn got another paddle. Dawn could see how hard Ambipom was working and told her to stay strong.
In the end Dawn was defeated by O and O won his next match against another trainer called Theodore and his Gliscor. So O became the champion of pokemon ping pong again. Ambipom was exhausted and needed rest in the pokemon center. Dawn apologized to Ambipom for all the hard playing she did, but Ambipom was okay.
Just then O turned up to speak to Dawn. The thing was he was impressed with how Ambipom played during the ping pong tournament. And he wanted to train Ambipom to become a ping pong champion like him and Shiftry. Ambipom liked the idea of that because of her liking for Pokemon ping pong. Dawn on the other hand wasn't so sure as this request came so fast. O asked Dawn to think about it and he left. Dawn didn't know what to do at the moment.
Later that night in the pokemon center, Dawn rushed into the boy's room in a worry. "Dawn what's the matter?" asked Ash. "I can't find Ambipom anywhere" said Dawn. The gang ran outside to look for Ambipom. Brock heard a noise coming from the side of the pokemon center and the gang went to see what it was. It was only Ambipom and she was playing ping pong against the wall. "Wow I've never seen Ambipom so psyched over something," said Ash "she really does like ping pong". Dawn admitted to the boys about O wanting to train Ambipom to become a powerful ping pong player. "Ash what would you do?" she asked. Ash thought about all of his memories of Ambipom back when she was Aipom and after she evolved into Ambipom. "Well Dawn," he said at last "you and I have many memories of Ambipom and it would be a bit hard to let go of her, I know because I've seen pokemon trainers letting go of their own pokemon. But remember what Brock and I said to you before, our pokemon's happiness always comes first and of course we always decide what we want to do. So the best thing to do is ask Ambipom what she wants to do; the real decisions rest with her". Dawn knew that Ash was right, again.
The next day O was getting ready to leave Sandalstraw Town in an RV. He had been waiting for Dawn to know her decision, but she hadn't turned up yet. It seemed at first he wasn't going to get her answer, but then Dawn and the others turned up with Ambipom. "Mr O," said Dawn "I've been thinking what you said last night. And I've decided to let Ambipom decide". She turned to Ambipom. "Ambipom what do you want to do? Do you want to continue doing contests with me, or do you want to continue playing pokemon ping pong?" Dawn held a ping pong ball in one hand and Ambipom's pokeball in a capsule in the other. "Decide carefully now Ambipom," said Ash "this is about what you really want to do". Ambipom stared at the two balls in Dawn's hand; she really liked doing contests, battles and pokemon ping pong equally. But then she picked up the ping pong ball. "I see you really want to do pokemon ping pong don't you?" said Dawn. Ambipom nodded yes.
So it was official that Ambipom had chosen the path of becoming a ping pong champion. Dawn handed Ambipom's pokeball to O and asked him to take really good care of Ambipom. O promised that he would take good care of Ambipom. He even said that he had a pokemon ping pong training centre in Vermillion City in Kanto and the gang could visit anytime they wanted. The gang was surprised, especially Ash, as they didn't know that. (I reckon that training center for pokemon ping pong was built in Kanto sometime after Ash went to Sinnoh) "You take care of yourself Ambipom and grow stronger as a ping pong player" said Dawn. "Good luck to you" said Ash. Ambipom placed her big hands onto Ash and Dawn's hands. Then she got into O's RV and they started to leave. Ambipom waved goodbye to the gang and the gang waved goodbye back.
It seemed sad watching Ambipom leave, but the gang did know that Ambipom would have a happy future being a pokemon ping pong player.
Sorry for the wait. They should have had Ash talk to Dawn about his Bulbasaur not wanting to evolve in the stopped in the name of love episode. Another thing they should have done was Ash tell Dawn how Ash let go of Butterfree and Lapras due to happiness in the to thine pokemon be true episode. Sorry if readers don't like the idea of Ash being defeated by Dawn, but I decided to have Dawn defeat Ash in this contest instead of Kenny again.
I know I said that I was going to have Ambipom have an egg after mating with Ash's Ambipom and give it to Dawn when she left. But I've changed my mind, I'm very sorry for the change. I'm going to have Ash give Dawn an Aipom egg as a goodbye gift for her when they leave Sinnoh.