Chapter 2
Holding his breathe for so long was a new experience for Ash.
What was even newer experience was feeling swift swim so close.
After Ash had managed to capture Magikarp he had asked the Pokemon if it wanted a nick name.
It had taken him two hours to find a name that was acceptable and, in all honesty, Lenny was not a threatening, menacing or even interesting name.
It was a basic name and despite everything it was the name that Magikarp had chosen and Ash was oaky with it.
After that the three of them had dinner. Magikarp had enjoyed the bland Pokemon food while Riolu instead had gone for the salmon and ice cream
Ash had given into their demands and let Riolu have his food.
After that the three of them had gone to sleep. Ash had gotten the all clear from Nurse Joy to take Lenny outside this morning after his check-up. Nurse Joy had told him to keep the Magikarp hydrated and well fed and he would progress fine.
They had left for the Battle Club facility run by Don George from the Unova region. When asking around for a good place to train Ash had been pointed towards the Club by a red-haired trainer.
They had been first seen in the Unova region before spreading all over. They were facilities used for training Pokémon to learn new moves or to keep themselves in general shape.
Trainers challenged each other to battles in the Club to keep their skills sharp. There was even some workout equipment for humans in the club.
Ash had started out with Riolu, after practicing all the moves he already knew and building up some muscles by running and doing some other work outs.
They had set their eyes on Blaze Kinck then.
Before having Riolu try the move Ash had it practice kicking on a boxing bag. He had shown him how to do it (he had practice, Mr Domeric thought self-defence to all the youngsters in Pallet Town).
After building up some strength in his legs Ash had him try the move again. No flames had flickered on his legs but they had shone in a slight blue colour indicating the fact that the move might either be a Low Kick or High Jump Kick.
Ash wanted Riolu to learn the move in hopes of using them against the bug types of Viridians Forest and mastering it.
He had put a stop to that move since the progress was going in the wrong direction and started to work on Focus Blast.
This was progress in the right direction as Riolu after a lot of struggles and what looked slight constipation managed to form a small orb but it had fizzled out in his hands before he could do much with it.
He was continuing to work on the move and last Ash checked (before he joined Lenny in the pool) the attack was the size of tennis ball in contrast to the barely formed ping pong ball at the start.
Ash had first worked with Lenny on his jumping skills. He had asked him to use his tail to jump over attacks and used some tennis balls and threw them at Lenny and made him hop over them.
That fish could jump, or he had a very sturdy tail. Lenny jumped upto fifty meters into the air when Ash had asked him to give him his best jump.
He had come crashing down onto some cushions Ash had deposited but the shockwave from the collision were felt through out the room.
Ash had let out Lenny in the pool and had him swimming to build up muscles. There were some other exercises he could have him do but for now he struck to swimming.
He had descended into the pool following Lenny and he couldn't not keep up with him. Just like Ash guessed his ability was Swift Swim and he was off like a bullet swimming around the pool. He was going so fast it looked like he was creating an actual whirlpool within the pool.
He followed the fish underwater as it swam at speeds that boggled his mind. His eyes could barely keep with it and he was running out of air.
He broke through the surface. He had protective gear on and as far as he understood this was created by a combination of Psychic and Fairy type Pokémon.
A rather new invention created by Silph Co in collaboration with Mr. Bill Goodshow, grandson of Charles Goodshow, and world-renowned researcher, this armour could resist all sorts of Pokemon attacks (provided the Pokémon wasn't trying to kill you and it was some sort of training accident).
It was used by in the Battle Club for Trainers to suit so as to keep them safe from the affects of any attack the Pokémon was practicing (It was pretty common Electric type specialist would get electrocuted on a general basis).
Ash managed to swim out of the created whirlpool and climbed out of the swimming pool.
"Take a break Lenny, we will work on your attacks next," said Ash loud enough for the Magikarp to hear. He stopped what he was doing and went to swimming in lazy circles.
He smirked as the little water type enjoyed his time in the pool. Lenny looked so peaceful and happy Ash had no desire to disturb him.
Ash walked out of the pool room into the room he had taken for himself and his Pokémon. He opened it to witness a small explosion right in front of his eyes.
BOOM!
The noise was rather large and there was a lot of smoke. Ash could barely see through the smoke and tripped and fell onto his face.
His forehead hit the floor and Ash groaned in pain. That hurt.
"Fuck," Ash cursed as he tried to rise back to his feet.
His knees were also hurt as he fell on them but nothing too serious. It sure stung like a Beedrill did.
The smoke cleared and could see Riolu rising to his feet too.
Ash walked to the fighting type with a question in his eyes.
Riolu replied to unasked question with a few signs showing how the focus blast got slightly bigger before he lost control of it and it exploded on his face.
"Show me," asked Ash and Riolu looked at him unsure.
"Show me, come one," said Ash and the fighting type nodded before forming a sphere. It got larger than the tennis ball and reached roughly up to the size of football before exploding.
The smoke was back and he was pushed a few inches but the vest protected him from all damage.
Ash had observed the move quiet carefully and from what he could tell Riolu had no problem drawing on his power. It was when he had shape it or use that he had a problem. It was difficult to control for the little guy.
"Alright let's try something like this. I want you to keep the energy lower but try shaping it like a proper ball,"
Ash showed him one of the tennis balls he had picked up on his way to the room.
"It should look like this, about the same size and the same shape," said Ash and Riolu nodded.
He was slightly tired so went over to the waer dispenser and had drink of cold water.
Riolu set to work after drinking some water and had succeeded in drawing the necessary power and was shaping the attack into the ball. He was having trouble though in controlling the ball and it fizzled out in his hands.
Ash clapped his hands and Riolu looked at him like he was mad. He hadn't managed to get the attack right why was Ash clapping.
"That was good, a little more work and you will get the hang of it and then we can go bigger," said Ash and Riolu didn't take his words properly still looking disheartened.
Ash looked to his starter for a few moments wondering what he should tell him. After considering it for some time he called the fighting type closer.
"You know, you have to start small, Prism Tower wasn't built in a day buddy, did you know how long Lance trained with his Pokémon before he was made Champion?" Ash asked. It was a rhetorical question sure but still Riolu thought it over for some time before shrugging his shoulders.
"Ten years," said Ash and the Riolu gasped.
Ash had told him about the league and champion league that was started after that. All about the Elite four and the Champion. The two of them had taken it all in like a sponge and were aiming like he was.
"Yes, that's how long it takes for you to perfect yourself and even after he became a Champion Lance keeps working trying to make himself even better," said Ash and the Riolu looked at Ash finally understanding where he was going with this.
"When you might not succeed in something if might feel like a failure but in actuality it is a learning experience that will help you master yourself. Failure is indeed the stepping stone to success. So, keep at it and you will master yourself," said Ash smiling at the Bipedal Jackal and the Jackal smiled back before setting back to work.
Ash walked out of the room towards the pool to find Magikarp doing flips in the pool and Ash just admired the Pokémon's form for a few moments before calling attention to himself.
"Great job buddy now let's see what you can do," said Ash and Magikarp nodded.
"Alright use Flail," said Ash and Lenny leapt into action.
He was well flailing around the water hitting everything and anything in his path. Wherever he stuck something with his tail the damage was more visible.
"As your aid I would have to point out that your Magikarp has an unusual amount of strength in his tail. His scales are much harder and it must be one of the reasons being hit by him hurts so much," said Dexter the Pokedex.
"Huh is that so," said Ash thinking things through in his brain as he gave Lenny the command to stop.
"Alright Lenny use tackle on the platform," said Ash and the fish was off almost immediately.
He went straight through the platform and stopped the other side looking quite shocked. For a few moments Ash just stood there unsure of what he had just witnessed.
Even Lenny was unsure what had just happened.
"Wow Lenny, that was some power, I can't wait to use it in a battle," said Ash making Lenny blush.
"Let's take a break, you want to return to your Poke ball," asked Ash and the fish Pokémon nodded his head.
"Here you go, return Lenny," said Ash and Lenny returned to his Poke ball with a flip and a smile.
"Great job buddy take a break for now," he whispered into the ball before moving towards the room he had taken for the day.
Since it was Ash's first time in the Battle Club, the facilities were completely free. If it wasn't the case, the room or the pool or wind tunnel or just about every facility in the Club would have cost Ash.
They even served the T.M's in this place and Ash hoped to put them to good use. He had gotten the information of a bunch of T.M's downloaded into his T.M uploading machine his mom had given him as his fourteenth birthday gift almost an year back before he started out his journey.
Since the time to register for the league had passed by the time Ash's birthday was done in the early May (league started in mid-April) he waited almost a whole year since he turned fourteen to be able to go on a journey.
He envied Gary and Daisy in that regard since their birthday was in February.
Anyway he had taken a few T.M's into his machine using the free for the day pass. While some of the more powerful moves like Giga Impact or Dragon Rush were locked from being taken Ash had taken the reusable version of some of the other moves like Stone Edge, Mega Punch, Iron Tail, Scald, Electroweb, Ice Beam, Bone Rush and Dragon Claw.
He had considered taking the one for Shadow Claw and Blaze Kick but Riolu knew both those moves as egg moves and a using the T.M for those moves on him seemed pointless.
T.M's were useful to have since they could cut down the time taken for learning a move by half some times or help a Pokemon tap into a typing he was having difficulty with (Charizard and Dragon typing was a common example).
He was considering taking X-Scissor or Psycho Cut too but the woman managing the T.M's was glaring at him so Ash had put both of those into his T.M machine and ran out of the room as fast as he could.
Ash walked into the room to find Riolu sitting down and meditating. It was a rather magical site. The blue bipedal fox was sitting down cross legged. He was glowing blue in colour and his ears were floating.
He lifted his hands up and started to form a ball in front of him. It took him a good amount of time but he finally managed to form a perfect tennis ball shaped sphere in his hands.
Ash clapped his hands in approval and Riolu looked at him and grinned in delight. The whole time the sphere stayed perfectly still and underwent no change in shape.
"Now release the ball, buddy," said Ash and Riolu sent the ball flying at the closest target. It barely made it there and wobbled on a few occasion but managed to strike the bloody thing in the edge.
"Yeah that was wonderful Riolu," said Ash coming to stand beside the proud fighting type. He rubbed his hands over the guy's head and his neck making the poor guy melt into his touch before petting him like he would a dog.
It was the most soothing thing Ash had ever done and by the look on Riolu's face the little guy was enjoying it too.
"Let's end it for now and head for Lunch, we can start practice afterwards," said Ash and Riolu yowled his approval.
LINE BREAK
Professor Oak was having a simmering cup of coffee as he just stayed in the moment enjoying the sereness and calmness of it.
For this first time in a long time, there were no Regional Professor's asking his opinion on matters or minor Professor's asking his help on simple problems. His associates were doing all their jobs and no rookie trainer was hoping around his lab asking for his advice.
Most importantly that mischievous Pichu had finally evolved and was now less prone to pranking and electrocuting him. He did have to give it a ton of ketchup to keep him on his good side but it was fine.
He had been taken under the wing of the other Pikachu in his ranch that had belonged too…
A call interrupted his thoughts and Oak turned towards the screen in his room.
He sighed a deep sigh. So much for his coffee and an afternoon of undisturbed poetry.
He moved his wheelie chair towards the screen and accepted the call.
The screen switched on and he could see his fellow researcher Professor Krane of the Orre region in front of him.
Professor Michael Krane was one of the fresh and incredible talents coming out of the Orre region who wanted to help their region after the Cipher wars.
The man had created the Purification Chamber that had helped the Shadow Pokémon to be purified at a faster rate.
He was an incredible man if a bit quirky. With his messy sandy brown hair, glasses along with his ever-present long professor coat the man was the picture of a very busy Pokémon Professor.
"Oh Professor, I am so happy you accepted my call," said the man as he descended down into a chair in front of the screen.
"I am always happy to help out a fellow researcher, Micheal. Tell me how can I help you?"
"Straight to the point, after dealing with those Snagems I can appreciate it," said the man as he pulled along his necklace.
"Anyway, Professor I think I have made a breakthrough in my research," said Krane and Professor Oak listened eagerly as he took a step forward.
The man had been making headways into research of effects of Pokémon on the ecosystem and what happens if they were absent.
It was a fascinating read and made Professor Oak hope he never had to visit the Orre region.
"You remember what Cipher did to their Pokémon right," said Professor Krane and Oak nodded.
Team Cipher had waged a single-handed war against the other regions in hope of world dominion. They had created Shadow Pokémon by corrupting normal Pokémon with dark aura making them wild and dangerous at the same time a slave to the commands of the Ciphers.
They had unleashed the creatures on the forces that were sent out against them. The losses were massive on either side with no end until Cipher had managed to get their hands on the Legendary Birds and the Legendary Beasts trio.
The effects of that were catastrophic and there seemed to be a shift of momentum in favour of the Ciphers after. It seemed hopless until an agent from the inside had disabled them. He had managed to free the Legendary Beasts from their hold along with a bunch of Pokémon and used them to fight back.
It was due to the efforts of this man that they managed to win the war. This man and Lugia who had enough of the bullshit.
Even ten years after the Cipher Wars the effects were felt all over the world. It took them years to reconstruct Route 17 in Kanto and a whole Island of the coast of Lavender Town which contained a shrine to the Yveltal the Kalos legendary had sunk.
Eterna Forest fire caused by some of the shadow fire types waged on for three weeks before stopping while Former Galar Champion and a good friend of Professor Oak's Mustard established a dojo on the Isle of Armour after it was razed to the ground by a pair of fighting dragon types.
Though the most effect was felt by Orre who lost every single one of their Pokémon. It was a barren wasteland now. Not that it was plush green before but now it seemed like a desert with no plant or Pokémon in it.
The only place you could find wild Pokémon in Orre was in the plains surrounding Agate Town.
"Well what is it, Micheal?" said Professor Oak.
"Okay follow what I say carefully, Mt. Travil before the Cipher Wars was a lush place wasn't it," said Professor Krane.
"Yes, it was," said Professor Oak not knowing where the man was going.
"And now it is a barren wasteland," said Micheal as he pushed his glasses back over his nose and Oak nodded his head.
"So get this, I did some digging and as it turns out the major conversion base for Team Cipher was on the Mountain," said Professor Micheal.
"So, as we now Agante Village had fought back against Cipher and never let them even lay a finger in their region so there were none of the black aura they used to make Shadow Pokémon was nowhere in the region and it thrives,"
Suddenly Oak managed to piece together where Micheal was going.
"So, you are thinking that if you manage to purify the place like you do a Pokemon…,"
"Yes Professor, I would theoretically be able to bring the green and Pokémon back to the place," said Professor Micheal smiling like a child at a fair.
Oak was excited for a few moments. It was a good and interesting research and Oak would love to lend his hand in this project. While his work with Pokémon relations was important this would take paramount.
Orre couldn't survive the way it was. That was the reason many of the trainers from the region were moving around getting stronger in hopes of establishing a league in the place and prevent such a situation.
But then his balloon was punctured.
"That is a good theory Micheal but until we have proof we can't move forward with this plan,"
"Ah, yes, this is where I need you help, Professor, I was purifying a batch of shadow pokemon while observing the negativity being sucked out of them, I managed to observe this lingering effect of power on the Pokemon and that was what got me thinking about the base and…,"
"Micheal the point," said Professor Oak giving the man an amused smile.
"Oh, it is just that this aura they used had a lingering effect and while a Pokémon is mostly purified of it there is still a slight bit of it stuck to him like a chewing gum. It keeps degrading but it is never gone. This left-over part was releasing a unique sub-atomic particle. I believe these particles are killing the region and if we could get a good amount of them, we could reverse their effects on the place,"
"Okay what do you need my help for?" asked Professor Oak.
"Like I said before I purified a batch of Shadow Pokemon, Professor and I need you to find a few competent trainers to take them. They would both be taken care of and being trained would stimulate the release of more sub-atomic particle,"
"We could collect them and use them for our research. I am currently working on a few prototypes for this collection and we will ask the trainer to collect the particle when the Pokémon was training or battling and send the particles over to us,"
"This seems like to elaborate a plan Michael, why not do it ourselves," asked Professor Oak.
"I have enough on my plate as it is Professor, and you would have more, do you really have time to actually look after them, raise them and train them. You do realize how demanding a Shadow Pokémon can be right,"
That was true, after being purified a Shadow Pokémon took a whole new meaning to the word's abandonment issues. They had to be cared for very carefully and given every sort of attention possible and Oak didn't have that kind of time on his hand. Also a lot of them went wild and savage after the treatment under the Ciphers and that would be even more work calming the beast down and having him listen to Oak.
"I get what you are saying and I know a few perfect trainers for this job," said Professor Oak smiling.
"Besides what are the Pokémon?" asked Professor Oak.
"Well, one of them is an Teddiursa, an Eevee, a Vigoroth and a…,"
LINE BREAK
Ash and Riolu sat down in front of the T.V with a box of popcorn in between them. Lenny was lying on the ground by the side asleep.
It was concerning, disturbing and distracting how Lenny slept with his eyes open. It creeped them out to look at those empty dead eyes.
They were trying to not stare at the fish.
On the screen, a battle in between Bruno of the Elite Four and League winner John Dickson was playing.
He had managed to defeat Loreli (barely) but was getting destroyed by Bruno.
He still had Flint and Agathe to fight before Lance.
Flint was the new addition after the death of Blue Oak who was being considered for the role. Koga had taken the role for a short time followed by Blaine but both of them dropped it and the opportunity came to Flint.
Flint Cornerstone of the Pewter City was a former gym leader who had travelled the World leaving the gym in the capable yet uninterested hands of his eldest son Brock Cornerstone. Brock wated to be a breeder and had left for his own journey four years back after his father had come back to become a Gym Leader.
Flint had been elevated to the status of Elite Four in a year since he was back after Blaine had gone back to Cinnabar Island before going AWOL for almost a year now.
Very rarely did trainers get a badge out of Blaine mostly because he was very hard to find and even harder to defeat, (***Mega Houndoom and Mega Charizard Y***).
He was no Giovanni who accepted all challenges (when he wasn't managing his multi-million-dollar MNC) and proceeded to crush them with no mercy.
Flint with his rock types took the Champion League by storm beating up Bruno, Agatha and having a close victory against Loreli. He had almost beaten Lance but in the end, Lance came out on top.
It was always fun to watch those two battles in the Champion League each of them trying to one up the other with new and creative strategies.
Forrester Cornerstone had taken over the gym when his father was made Elite and had made a steady presence in the Kanto Gym's managing to push it into the top 8 in the ranking.
His steel types were a menace to any and everyone he met and fought. It was just the typing that made them such a menace being resistant to half the dex easily. He sighed, while Riolu was good against Steel types, Lenny couldn't do much. Ash had no idea how to use him properly for the battle and win but he was sure something would come to him.
He had to capture a third Pokemon and he hoped to find a Sandshrew or Cubone in but he knew he wasn't that lucky.
"Riolu, Rio, Riolu," said Riolu cheering on Bruno's Urshifu who had knocked out half of the John Dickson's team on his own.
Bruno's Onix had removed the man's Mr. Mime and had a double knock out with his Salamance.
Urshifu had come up next. It was one of Bruno's top fighters along with his Hitmonlee, Sirfetch'd, Medichamp and Heracross.
Urshifu had knocked out a Golduck, a Raichu, a Tyranitar and was now in the process of defeating the Typhlosion though the bear seemed to be on it's last legs.
Ash had played the rerun for Riolu to watch and see the multiple moves that the fighting types used. They had seen a perfected Focus Blast, a Power-up Punch, Dynamic Punch, Shadow Claw (though it came from Tyranitar), Iron Tail (From Raichu) and many other cool techniques.
"Alright Urshifu let's finish this, use Dynamic Punch," said Bruno and Urshifu responded putting everything it had into the attack and rushing the Typhlosion at incredible speeds.
The Typhlosion was barely able to move and the minute the attack struck it was pushed of it's feet and thrown into the air.
The Pokémon flew into the air and landed with a harsh thud a few feet away.
Urshifu breathed a sigh of relief as the battle was done and he could go back and rest for a long time now.
"And I think that's it for John Dickson and his Typhlo… I don't believe it the fire type is still awake and ready to go, he is rising to his feet and is that blue fire I see,"
Oh, it was blue flames and Typhlosion had activated Blaze. The Pokémon wasn't going of this field until he beat the bear.
Ash moved to the edge of the seat as he looked on at fight only for John Dickson to call his starter towards him and exchange a few words and glances before restarting the battle. It was precious time lost but Ash understood why he was doing it. There was no logical way he could win the battle and there was a chance Typhlosion could take permanent damage and John hoped to avoid such a case.
"Alright Typhlosion, let's win this for the rest of them, use Flame thrower,"
The fire type starter of Johto breathed out scorching hot blue flames and Bruno had them countered by a dark pulse that didn't stand a chance.
Urshifu was hit head on by the move and thrown back a few feet.
Out of the smoke came Typhlosion roaring out a challenge and his hands crackling with a Thunder Punch that struck Urshifu in the face.
The Bear was barely able to stand after that move but after some motivation from Bruno was ready to fight.
"Let's finish this Typhlosion, Flare Blitz,"
The fire starter was covered in blue flames as he took of towards the Bear at breakneck speeds. The ground was scorched as the Typlosion left a flame trail on the battlefield.
"Meet it head on with Giga Impact," said Bruno and Urshifu was off too.
The collision looked pretty even steven until Typhlosion pulled through and managed to overpower the dark type.
A cloud of smoke came up as the collision lead to a powerful explosion. As the smoke cleared Typhlosion was knocked out still rearing from the recoil of the insanely powerful move.
Urshifu looked barely conscious atleast until the burn was inflicted and Urshifu was knocked out too.
Ash switched off the T.V after the match to see Riolu's eye glimmering in excitement. He wanted to continue training and Ash was okay with.
"So shall we get to it buddy," Ash asked and Riolu replied in an affirmative.
LINE BREAK
Well, Ash figured out one thing, he was low on funds right now.
While facilities like the Pokemon Centre and other places run by the league are free for League registered trainers (such as Ash), none of the other things were.
The Pokemart in Battle Club would probably make his wallet cry and he had already spent a slight amount to use the practice room for Riolu.
It was the most basic one available and Ash had taken it. It contained a bunch of wooden targets and a large enough space for Ash to work his starter.
But the money was well spent as Riolu had managed to master High Jump Kick while working on Blaze Kick and the Focus Blast had gotten large enough to be a basketball. The time to form the orb was still pretty long but they were slowly working on reducing the time.
A focus blast as far as Dexter was concerned was to be the size of a Beach Ball. They still had some time to go for that size and also had to work on how good Riolu's accuracy was since most of his attacks were moves for close combat.
They had also gotten Iron Tail to work which was good plus for them.
There was no progress in the punching moves for the time being but Dexter told him Riolu was still young and some more experience and a little strength would help him learn the moves.
Shadow Claw and Blaze Kicks were still dead ends but Ash had no problem with that Riolu would get them, Ash was sure about it.
After the training and a snack, the three of them had set out to battle different trainers for some money.
Ash had battled and defeated almost ten trainers and both his Pokémon had put in a lot of work. Especially Lenny.
The Magikarp had knocked out a Poochyena, a Ratticata and a Pidgey. He hit like a fucking truck whenever he used tackle.
Two tackles and the Pidgey was down. He had to get more creative when dealing with Ratticata. That rat had a mean hyper fang and was crazy fast.
Ash had used the rat's momentum against him knocking him into the ground using flail when he came at Lenny with a half completed double edge.
The flail had made the mouse trip and smack into the pavement. With the recoil damage, smacking into the pavement and the general exhaustion of his inability to hit Lenny and that rat was down with a single powerful tackle.
The Poochyena had been all about timing. When he was about to fire Dark Pulse Ash had Lenny smack that thing into the ground with his tail as he came down from the air after a jump.
The dark pulse exploded in the Poocheyna's mouth and with the pavement meeting knocked the poor thing out.
Neither trainers could believed their Pokémon had lost to a Magikarp of all things but had accepeted their defeat with grace and paid Ash what he was owed.
The Pidgey trainer accused him of cheating since Magikarp wasn't capable of winning. Lenny didn't like that and tackled the boy into the ground.
He was knocked out in the middle of the road and Ash hoped the boy woke up at some point.
He also hoped he never realized Dexter hacked into his bank account and took the money Ash was owed from the boy.
He wasn't entirely sure how Dexter did that but he hoped he never found an answer. He still had trouble sleeping after watching Terminator. It was a disturbing movie and one of the few that didn't have a Pokémon caste.
Riolu had put in more work then even Lenny did having knocked out a Forretress, a Lickitung, a Butterfree (the kid was so happy his Metapod evolved in the middle of the fight he didn't even mind he lost), a Noctowl, a Lunatone and Kirlia followed by a Golbat.
This was the reason Ash was rushing towards the Pokemon Centre. While Riolu beat both Kirilia and Golbat the fairy typing was brutal on Riolu and now he was poisoned. The boy was currently following him to pay him for winning the fight but Ash had more important concerns.
He had done well when Golbat had been brought out. With Iron Tail and Metal Claw being perfected Ash had used those moves to keep the poison clear off Riolu but a Screech had caught them off guard and before he knew what happened Riolu was poisoned by Poison Fang.
He had knocked the thing out with a combination of Extreme Speed and Iron Tail but Riolu was hurting and Ash wanted him healed fast.
The Centre came into view and Ash picked up pace to ran inside almost causing a girl to fall on her butt.
"Nurse Joy," Ash called for the Nurse panicking and Chansey materialized from behind the desk hearing his distress.
"Chansey, my Riolu got poisoned, could you take care of him," asked Ash pulling out Riolu's pokeball and giving it to the pink normal type.
Chansey nodded and accepted the Pokeball before rushing into the centre.
Golbat venom was one of the most lethal ones there and whenever a Golbat is brought out the referee always held a few berries and fruits to treat the Pokemon after it was knocked out
It was one of the reasons Ash had rushed for the Centre after the match.
"Oh, dude I am sorry…," said the boy who followed him.
"Don't be you did tell me you had no restores or fruits so in reality it was my fault," Ash told him.
"Yeah, and you did good too with the Metal claw and Iron Tail, I got carried away with battle," said the boy looking very sheepish and slightly guilty.
"Anyway, here you go, the money I owe you, my name is Rafe we should battle again sometimes," said Rafe as he handed Ash the money. Ash took it without paying much attention.
"Aren't you going to heal your Pokemon?" asked Ash as the boy walked away towards his room.
"Your Riolu need more attention then either Kirilia or Golbat," said Rafe walking away.
It was almost three minutes before Chansey came over with Nurse Joy by her side.
"You are lucky, we had the antivenom readily available or this would have gotten messy very quick," said Nurse Joy as Ash hung his head down in shame.
"How is he?" asked Ash as the Nurse walked of to her usual post.
"He is fine, and will make a quick recovery, it's the latent steel typing in him. It's helping fight the poison but I would suggest giving him a rest for tomorrow from training, you can take him back in a few hours" said Nurse Joy.
Ash nodded in relief.
He crashed into a chair by the side making the Nurse smile. It was good to see trainers care about their Pokémon so much.
Ash had sat there for a few seconds going through with the battles in his head.
Despite everything Riolu had done very well. His combination of Brick Break and Force Palm with the Focus Blast had helped defeat the Forretress, the Lickitung was at a general disadvantage and with how fast Riolu was he was able to dodge the large pink monstrosities tongue very easily. All it took was a Force Palm right in the chest to knock it out.
The Metapod had been tricky since he knew String Shot along with Harden and Tackle but Ash had turned it around by using the String Shot to pull the bug close and pummel it with a Brick Break. It evolved sure but he took it down with a Metal Claw.
The Noctowl had been tricky and it didn't help that it knew confusion. It was luck that won them the match since force palm set a paralysis in the flying type allowing Riolu to finish him off.
The Lunatone had been a good adversary and being almost as fast as Riolu and having struck with a Psybeam but Riolu was made of sterner stuff. Ash had used Metal Claw to deflect the attack back at Lunatone before finishing off the thing with a combination of Extreme Speed and Metal Claw.
It had been a strategy that the two of them had come up with when they were training today and proved to be useful. Ash would have to rename it as some sort of attack but it was a good addition to their arsenal.
The Kirlia though was destroying them with a combination of psychic type moves and fairy moves. It had kept Riolu at a distance with Fairy Moves like Dazzling Gleam or Disarming Voice while striking with Moonblast, Psybeam and Confusion.
It had been Riolu who had taken the Initiative to cut through the Moonblast with Metal Claw using Extreme Speed before hitting the mid evolution with a super effective Iron Tail. Riolu didn't let up following that up with a nasty High Jump Pick in the gut and a Force Palm to the Chest.
The paralysis set in again before Riolu finished it off with what could be considered a passable Focus Blast.
The size was there but by the gods did he take time to charge and throw it.
The battle against Golbat was in a stalemate with neither of them particularly looking forward to getting close to the other Pokémon and Golbat's poision doing bat shit nothing when in presence of steel.
Ash had done well until the Screech had caught them off guard before they were destroyed by the poison fang. The only reason they won was Riolu's quick thinking to use Iron Tail when the poison type was so close to him. It proved effective to destroy the rather low health Pokemon.
Obviously, there were multiple things to work on, the first one being the fact that Riolu needed a long range move and fast. A single use T.M of some move he could do might prove useful.
The second one was their speed. The could barely dodge the Lunatone and Kirlia's moves and the Golbat proved faster in some situations.
The third one was the fact that Ash had not seen how exhausted Riolu was getting and that was a major error on his part. He should have asked and checked but he got carried away with how well things were going for them. They beat a Pokémon that had a type advantage over them. It was good thing that they did.
Type Diversity. He needed to Teach Riolu some other moves if he wanted to hurt ghost Pokémon. It was imperative too. Maybe a Dark Type Move like Fling or Throat Chop. That was only if he couldn't get a read on Blaze Kick and Shadow Claw.
Lenny was very good at all three of his moves and it was just Ash's strategies and quick thinking that can help the Pokémon. At least until he chooses to evolve.
Ash hoped that he would have good luck trying to find a ground type in Mt. Moon or even a fairy type. While Ash was not going to go looking for the Clefairy (because that would be stupid and not to mention dangerous) he would not say no to one that wants to join him.
He planned on leaving tomorrow afternoon after giving Riolu enough time to rest and also getting a check up done for Lenny.
His thoughts of Riolu sparring with an aggressive yet caring Sandshrew were broken by Nurse Joy calling for him.
Ash got up from his place in the reception and joined the Nurse as she told him Professor Oak from Pallet Town had called him a few times and she had almost forgotten about it in the rush to treat Riolu.
"Thanks Nurse Joy," said Ash rushing towards the video phone.
LINE BREAK
Ash was holding the Pokeball Professor Oak sent over with delicate hands.
Training a Shadow Pokémon was dangerous and difficult.
Because of the incredibly traumatic process of becoming a Shadow Pokémon, most of them after a purification were very aggressive towards humans and Pokémon alike.
It was a sad to know that such horrifying people were in the world and Pokémon were still suffering this way.
After Cipher had been defeated the Shadow Pokémon had been scattered all over the world managing to escape from the clutches of their masters.
It was imperitive that any rookie trainer who comes across a Shadow Pokémon, doesn't try to catch it and call for the authorities immediately.
There were purifying chambers located in all major cities of Kanto, Johto, Unova, Kalos and Galar (where most Shadow Pokemon are seen other then Orre).
Sinnoh was rid of these types of Pokémon but then again, they had their own problems in the form to Team Galactic, Team Origin, Pokémon Hunter J and many other criminals.
It was no secret that the Sinnoh Elite Four and Champion are believed to be the best of them out there and no one tries to win the Sinnoh League on their first try as a Rookie.
After purification and a lot of rehabilitation the Pokemon are sent out into wild. Some of them are given to trainers with a lot of experience that managed to stop and bring them to the purification chambers.
A good percentage of them were put down too because of how aggressive they were.
Ash had been shocked that Professor Oak was giving him the Shadow Pokémon but he had said, "There is no one I trust more,"
Five minutes later he had the electric type under his ownership. A mythical electric type.
"Zeraora, the Thunderclap Pokémon, recently transferred to your ownership, This Pokémon creates a powerful magnetic field by emitting strong electric currents from the pads on its hands and feet. Unlike most Electric-type Pokémon, Zeraora doesn't have an organ within its body that can produce electricity. However, it is able to gather and store electricity from outside sources, then use it as its own electric energy,"
"This Zeraora is male and knows the moves Thunder, Plasma Fists, Electroball, Fire Punch, Iron Tail, Throat Chop, Acrobatics and Close Combat. It has the ability Volt Absorb,"
"Alright Riolu, Lenny both of you ready to meet our new team mate," asked Ash and the two of them nodded.
Well, Riolu did, Lenny juts kind of flopped around.
"Alright come on out," said Ash releasing the Zeraora.
The electric type martialized in front of them and Ash tensed ready for anything. It looked magnificent with it's pristine golden colour fur and the blue highlights on his face with the thunderbolt shaped whiskers. His black abdomen looked like the path of cobblestones and the large tail was swishing around behind him.
His ears that were to his body twitched up to listen while he slowly opened his blue eyes and made contact with Ash.
That was all it took before he launched himself at Ash. Riolu and Lenny tensed waiting for an attack only for Ash to get tackled to the ground by the feline Pokemon that was licking all over Ash's face making the boy burst out laughing trying to push the Pokemon off from him.
None of this was missed by the three grunts of Team Rocket who stood in the corner watching.
LINE BREAK
Ash was ready to go to sleep. He had talked to Professor Oak after introducing Thor to the team properly.
Professor Oak had been delighted to tell him how happy he was that Ash was getting along with the mythical and how he shared Ash's dream in getting stronger.
He had also mentioned his purification batchmates like Eevee who joined Gary and seemed ready to tear his fingers off just because he got a little too close.
The Teddiursa joined Daisy (he was happy for her because she had a Teddiursa plush toy when they were young) and was mostly indifferent to her except for when he was hungry and Vigoroth with Kai was docile when not in battle and became a savage beast when battling. He had apparently torn into a Pidgeotto and Prinplup like they were paper.
Ash understood though why it was so much work with Shadow Pokémon. Zeraora was currently hugging his leg while he went to sleep. Riolu was passed out by his side and Lenny was in the small pool he was gifted a small pool for the fish Pokémon by Nurse Joy for helping fix up the centre after the attack.
Ash understood the behaviour of the Pokémon though. They were known to be aggressive and dangerous which were traits common in the Eevee and the Vigoroth.
The trauma probably switched Vigoroth off and put Teddiursa off being close to people. Thor probably wanted people so that he felt loved and needed.
Ash was going to do everything in his power to make Thor feel welcome with him.
LINE BREAK
Well making Thor felt loved included a through belly rub along with a good grooming where the thunderclap Pokémon kept mewling and purring. He had given it a bath after Lenny had his dip in the pool and Riolu got him as wet as a Poliwhirl on land. It seems Riolu didn't particularly enjoy baths though he wanted to keep himself clean.
It was a good bonding time with his Pokémon before telling them the plan for the day. He was happy Thor was so excited to join them for the training something which pissed Riolu off since he was off training duty for the day.
Riolu had tried to fight his request about not training for the day so Ash had put his foot down and said no to the poor thing.
He was now depressed about the bath and the lack of training.
There wasn't going to be a lot of training though. Ash just wanted to gaze at how good Thor was.
So, they weren't visiting the Battle Club instead were going to use the battlefield in the back for training the Pokémon.
He was located there right now with a very pumped Thor, a sulking Riolu and Lenny who was trying to make his tail tougher. He was bashing it against rocks and pulverising it with a few hits. If he evolved Iron Tail and Dragon Tail were a must teach along with Aqua Tail.
"Alright Thor there won't be any official training today, I just want to gaze where your attacks are and how powerful they are, okay,"
The Thunderclap Pokémon growled his acceptance and Ash started him off with, wait what moves does he know.
An embarrassing few moments later with Dexter calling him names
"Alright use Iron Tail on that rock,"
Ash started out and Thor was off rushing the rock at speeds that would make a Ninjask jealous and the tail cleaved straight through the rock.
All three of them gawked at the hit that was delivered to the rock.
That would have taken Riolu atleast three hits to get through and two for his Metal Claw. His starter had some catching upto.
"That was a great job, buddy," said Ash and the feline blushed as if to say it was nothing.
"No, it wasn't you cleaved straight through the rock that is some power, NO,"
Ash looked at the Riolu who was gearing up to join the feline in training.
Riolu whined at him rather pitfully with puppy dog eyes but Ash held fast. There was no training today, doctor's orders.
Lenny seemed to take pity on the poor fighting type and joined him to make him feel better.
"Now use Thunder,"
Ash had to shield his eyes with how strong the light was from the move. He took an unconscious step back and the whole ground where it struck was cracked. It was quiet an achievement that the ground was harmed by an electric type move.
"Alright Close Combat," said Ash and he could barely make out his punches as they were thrown forward. Even Lenny seemed impressed by the ferocity and speed of the attacks.
"Fire Punch,"
This was a move he was struggling with. While he called on some fire it was inconsistent and flared out in case of his left hand.
He had to work on that. Just like he had to work on Electroball. Much like Focus Blast that move was incomplete.
Plasma Fists was a devastating attack in general but it wasn't at that level yet but it was still very strong.
Throat Chop was fine since it glowed purple and struck well enough on the rock. It looked to be at the level of one of Riolu's moves.
Acrobatics again was a huge success with how fast he was. Ash could barely make him out.
"Alright great job, buddy, there were some moves…,"
Ash was cut off as a tremendous bang was heard and out of nowhere a net came and snagged both Thor and Riolu.
"What the fuck?" screamed Ash as both his Pokemon were slowly dragged away by the net.
"Who was that, how dare you," said Ash and then he heard a cackling.
"He asks who we are?" said a female voice.
"Maybe we should introduce ourselves,"
Ash could finally make out three figures. A male a female and what looked like a Meowth that had fired the net.
"Prepare for Trouble," said the female. Ash couldn't make out their faces but he could see the women had pink hair and the man blue.
"And Make it double,"
"To protect the world from devastation,"
"To unite all people within a nation,"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love,"
"To extend our reach to the stars above,"
"Jessie,"
"James,"
"Team Rocket blasts of at the speed of light,"
"Surrender now or prepare to fight,"
"Meowth that's right,"
"Team Rocket, you crooks, give back my Pokémon,"
"No can do, twerp, these are pristine and rare Pokémon from the Sinnoh and Alola region, if we give these two to the boss on top of the already stolen Pokémon, we are sure to get a promotion," said the now named Jessie.
"I'd like to see how you would do that," said Ash glaring at the three of them .
"What are you going to do twerp make that Magikarp tackle us," said the Meowth.
It took Ash a few seconds to process that,
"Wait did that Meowth just talk,"
"Yes he did twerp, and now we are going to get out of here and you can have all the training you want with that Magikarp, toodles," said the male James.
"Weezing use smokescreen," said the male and a Weezing was released and the aforementioned attack was performed.
When the smoke cleared Team Rocket was nowhere to be found.
Ash in his panic ran to the Police Station with Lenny by his side.
LINE BREAK
"Okay stop panicking kid and tell me what you saw?" asked Officer Jenny to the shaking boy in front of her.
"I was just looking at what moves Thor could perform…," said Ash and Jenny looked at him questioningly.
"Thor?" she asked and Ash nodded.
"My Zeraora, he was a Shadow Pokémon that was purified and entrusted to me by professor Oak, I also got my starter Riolu from him and bunch of people calling themselves Team Rocket stole them," said Ash.
"A bunch of them," asked Officer Jenny. That was the wrong term. This seemed like something different.
"Yes, they wore odd clothing in white instead of the black and they had a talking Meowth with them," said Ash and suddenly Officer Jenny leaned forward with a fierce expression.
"Did you catch their names?" asked Officer Jenny and Ash nodded.
"Jessie and James I think, one of them had a Weezing," said Ash and Jenny stood up immediately.
"Victor call the forensics tell them to move to the Pokémon Centre Battlefield and do a full sweep for any evidence about our suspects," said Jenny and said Victor was off.
"Gina contact the League tell them we might have a good lead on the Rocket Trio and tell them send some psychic to check around," said Jenny and Gina nodded.
"Where is Ronald, I want you to find Ronald and tell him too…," Ash wasn't entirely sure what was happening and Lenny was slowly leading him outside by hitting him on his leg slightly.
He made it out of the chaotic station and onto the main road and stood there for a few moments unsure of what to do. Ash had lost his two partners and he wasn't sure what he was to do.
"Come on, Ketchum, we have work to do," said Dexter and Ash looked down at his Dex.
"What are you talking about?" Ash asked as Lenny looked at the Dex surprised.
"Return the fish and let's go find your Pokemon," said Dex and Ash started at Dexter with a perplexed look.
"Look, I don't have a lot of time to explain, so I want you to return that fish and move so that we can find the bastards before they get away,"
Ash managed to snap out of the daze he was in and returned Lenny and pulled out Dexter.
"Okay what should I do?" asked Ash.
AND THAT IS A WRAP. I REALLY LIKED THE ZERAORA DESIGN AND REALLY WANTED ASH TO USE ONE AND SO HERE WE GO. I HAD CONSIDERED LUXRAY OR TOXTRICITY BUT FINALLY FIXED ZEROARA. THATS ALL FOR TODAY, PLEASE DO FOLLOW, FAVOURITE AND REVIEW.
ASH'S TEAM ON HAND
RIOLU (MALE)
MOVES: EXTREME SPEED, METAL CLAW, IRON TAIL, BRICK BREAK, FORCE PALM, HIGH JUMP KICK, FOCUS BLAST (WORK IN PROGRESS), EGG MOVES: BLAZE KICK, SHADOW CLAW, BULLET PUNCH
ABILITY: STEADFAST
LENNY THE MAGIKARP (MALE)
MOVES: TACKLE, SPLASH, FLAIL
ABILITY : SWIFT SWIM
THOR THE ZERAORA (MALE)
MOVES: THUNDER, IRON TAIL, ACROBATICS, THROAT CHOP, CLOSE COMBAT, FIRE PUNCH (WORK IN PROGRESS), ELECTROBALL (WORK IN PROGRESS), PLASMA FISTS (WORK IN PROGRESS).
ABILITY: VOLT ABSORB
TILL NEXT TIME, TOODOLES, MSKN.