Disclaimer: Me no own Pokémon.
Chapter 8: Shocking Goodbyes.
It took us about four hours to reach Vermillion City. As we were planning to spend the night here, the first thing we did was to get ourselves a room in the Pokémon Centre. Just as we finished registering our names, a trainer ran inside with his badly paralyzed Ratatta. From the looks of it, it was probably the doing of Surge's Raichu. But unlike last time, I was not keen on blaming him. The Trainers that end up in this shape are the ones that challenge the gym with low level Pokémon in order to avoid starting at Pewter City. Honestly, if I was Surge, I would also lose it after the nth trainer who have no idea about how to battle suddenly popped up in my gym.
"Oh dear. Lt Surge has gone on a rampage. This is the thirtieth Pokémon this week." Nurse Joy said helplessly.
"So you are telling me that the Vermillion gym leader did this?" Brock asked.
"Yes. Lt Surge is known for his short temper and these kids won't heed when we advice them not to challenge the gym unless they are well prepared. I have lost count of how many trainers has actually quit after getting beat by him. In fact, the League allowed one of my sisters to work here with me in order to reduce the workload." Vermilion was the only City in the region with two Nurse Joys working.
"So Ash are you sure that you are prepared? Seems to me that Surge is going to be tough to beat." Brock added.
"Of course Brock. I have already prepared and all my Pokémon are strong now." I replied with confidence. In fact, I was pretty sure that I was more than ready. I was basically overpowered against Surge. From the information that I remembered about him, Surge's strongest own Pokémon was his Raichu which was level 24. Even if I account for the chance of some changes being there, he shouldn't be over level 30 under any circumstances. So I was pretty sure that I had this match in the bag. After all, unlike last time, I had a proper team with powerful attacks and had more than one of them too.
In my last life, I had been overly dependent on Pikachu who was the only Pokémon of mine that was anywhere near the necessary level to challenge Surge. I was lucky to have gotten a one on one match with him as I would have been crushed if it was the standard 3 on 3. But the past is the past and you can't always live in it.
Anyways, before challenging the gym, we decided to meet up with Misty who was apparently working with someone from the League. We met up at a restaurant near the Bay and when I saw Misty, I was sure that something was amiss. She looked like she was struggling to choose between something, the exact same expression that I had seen on her face back when she had been asked by Rudy to stay with him.
I decided to ignore it for now and was mentally going over all possible outcomes of this battle. The lunch was really tasty as this hotel was something that had been around for a long time now. In fact, I heard from one of the customers that the owners of this restaurant had been here for around three generations now. That was an interesting tidbit of information. Anyways, after having lunch we decided to o to the gym. It was late afternoon now and Vermillion gym was known to be one of the busiest Gym of Kanto. I was lucky as I only had to wait for an hour before getting admission into the gym. The interior was just as I remembered it to be, dark with a lot of neon bulbs placed around for dramatic effect.
Surge was standing near his custom healing machine which was given to him to avoid having to run to the Pokémon Centre on every occasion. In fact, Surge was the only Gym leader that was given this privilege. Vermillion was the lifeline of Kanto as far as commercial relationship with the other regions went. The Port of Vermillion was the biggest seaport in all of the six regions. Although Viridian was the administrative capital of the region, Vermillion was considered as the commercial capital. In my last life, I barely covered around ten percent of the entire city while I had been here. A fact that I hoped to change this time around.
"Oh it seems that another brat has come to get himself beaten up." Surge said when he saw us. As a gym leader, he probably knew who Brock and Misty was. As such, it was no wonder he assumed that I was the challenger.
"Hello Lt Surge. My name is Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town. I am here for an official challenge for the Thunder Bade. I already have two badges in my possession and as such desire to have a normal difficulty match with you." Being polite was one of the things that you learned as an adult. While being hot headed was a common trait when young, often times than not it leads to bad first impressions. I cannot blame Surge for treating me the way he did in my previous life because as far as he was concerned, I was no different from a random kid trying to fight way above his abilities. So when I behave politely towards him, it creates a good impression on him that this kid is at least polite and thus he would behave accordingly. One of the things to know about Sure was that he was a good guy for the most part.
"Oh at least you got some manners kid. On second thought, you look quite strong for a kid. Let's take the show to the ground shall we?" He asked pointing towards the field of the gym.
"Oi Sam. Call for a three on three." Surge ordered one of his lackeys who was chatting with his friend.
"Yes Boss. The following mach will be a three on three between Lt Surge of Vermillion City and Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and will be for the Thunder Badge. Substitutions are allowed for the challenger. The leader shall release the first Pokémon but the challenger shall have the first move. Begin." Sam, I assume was his name, called out.
"Then let's go wild Voltorb." Surge released his first Pokémon, a level 21 Electrode.
"Ivysaur, let's go bud." I decided to go with the type advantage. Frankly, as he was now Ivysaur was more than powerful enough to solo this gym but I was not looking for that.
"That's a powerful looking Pokémon there kid. I can see that you have trained him well. It's your move kid." Sure said.
"Alright then let's start off with Razor Leaf." If it had connected properly, then this attack would have been more than sufficient for taking out Voltorb, however these things were notorious for their speed and this one was especially good as it had dodged most of the leaves by rolling out of the way. However, some damage was done and everything was going according to plan for now.
"Tackle ain't gonna cut it and Spark is useless too so Electrode, get close and use Sonic Boom." Sure was sounding excited.
"Big Mistake. Ivysaur, trap him with Vine Whip and use Razor Leaf." Although Electrode was near impossible to catch in mid or long range unless you have a faster pokemon, it was much easier to trap it when it got in close. Ivysaur's vines wrapped around it and lifted it off the ground before pelting it with a shower of Razor sharp leaves. The Pokémon fainted soon after and the first match was decided.
'Winner of the first round is Ash Ketchum. Leader Surge, please send out your second Pokémon." Sam said.
"That's a mighty fine Ivysaur you got there. Is it your starter?" Surge asked.
"No Mr Surge. I found him in route 6. I think he was abandoned by his first trainer.
"Wait Seriously? Damn. You are one heck of a trainer then." He was quite honest in his compliment.
'Thank you Mr Surge." I replied.
"Pikachu, take the stage." Surge called out his second Pokémon, which was a level 18 Pikachu.
"Would the challenger like to change Pokémon?" Sam asked.
"Nope. I'm all good." I replied.
"Then Ivysaur vs Pikachu begin."
"Alright Pikachu, speed is key. Do not let yourself get hit by his attacks." Surge was quick to give out a command and I was expecting this. After all, this was the exact same strategy that i used against Raichu last time.
"Alright bud, do not try to waste any attacks. Try and feel where the Pikachu is coming from okay?" I said to Ivysaur who was not the best in a contest of speed.
"Pikachu use Tail whip on Ivysaur continuously until his defences can no longer be lowered." It seems to me that Surge had created a new plan. Pikachu who was running around avoiding Ivysaur's vines, was continuously using Tail Whip. One of the best and worst things about status reducing moves is that they did not require any physical contact between the oppositions. So even though the name Tail Whip suggested that the Pikachu had to touch Ivysaur with his tail, that was not the case.
Anyways, after about five or six consecutive Tail whips, Surge changed his tactics.
"Pikachu, Quick Attack and hit him square on the body." It seemed that Surge was planning on using Ivysaur's lowered defences to at least do some damage to him before being forced to recall his Pokémon. It was a good strategy, and I didn't see any big flaw in that.
"Ivysaur, let him hit you and finish him off with a Tackle." Ivysaur's sturdy body was more than a match for poor Pikachu who probably thought that someone had hit him with a sledgehammer when Ivysaur hit him back. Pikachu who was low level to start with were also not that good in the defence department, so it fainted after that hit.
"Oh well. At least I tried. Pikachu, return." Surge said.
"The winner of the round is Ivysaur and Ash Ketchum. Leader Surge, please choose your next and final Pokémon." Sam said.
"You know kid, in all my years as a gym leader, this is the first time that I have been forced so bad into the corner especially by a rookie. I know that if even one of your other Pokémon is as strong as that Ivysaur over there, I ain't going to win but let's just have a good show alright. Raichu my old pal. I need you out here." Surge said as he called his strongest Pokémon. And by what Dexter showed, he was only level 24, just as I remembered him to be.
"Will the challenger change Pokémon?" Sam asked once again.
"Yes. Ivysaur, return. Charmeleon, I choose you." I said as I recalled Ivysaur who looked like he had a good exercise and send out my starter. While I had no need to change Ivysaur, I had promised Raichu to Charmeleon and frankly, there was no reason for me to not fulfil it.
"Char." My orange fire breathing lizard looked all ready for battle.
"So this one is your starter then? I can feel that it's monstrously powerful for its age. But me and Raichu won't lose that easily would we buddy."
"Rai." The electric mouse replied.
"Raichu vs Charmeleon. Begin." Sam called.
"Raichu Thunder full power." It seemed that Surge was going all in right out of the gate, something which I was more than ready to reciprocate.
"Charmeleon, Flame Thrower full power. We're ending this in one shot bud." I gave out my orders as well.
"Thunder was the first to hit as Raichu was much quicker at collecting the necessary energy and did some good damage to Charmeleon but he didn't falter in firing a full power Flame Thrower in Raichu's face. The electric mouse was drained from the Thunder and couldn't dodge the incoming flames and by the time Charmeleon was done, Raichu was out. This was the fastest match yet and ironically enough, it was between our strongest Pokémon.
"Winner of the round and the match is Ash ketchum from Pallet Town." Sam was quick in overcoming the shock and awe that the display created. Before any words could be spoken, the field was enveloped in a blinding white light that my starter released. It took a few seconds for him to finish and by the time it was over, a huge Charizard was standing in his place and when I said huge, I mean it. He was easily twice as large as an average Charizard with powerful looking claws and wings. A scan with Dexter revealed the following info.
Charizard, The Flame Pokémon
Charizard flies around the sky in search of powerful opponents. It breathes fire of such great heat that it melts anything. However it never turns its fiery breath on any opponent weaker than itself.
This Charizard is a Male and has the ability Blaze.
This Charizard is currently level 36 and knows the moves Scratch, growl, Metal claw, Rock Slide, Bite, Ember, Smokescreen, Scary Face, Flamethrower and Wing Attack.
Note: This Charizard currently has a height of 3.5 Metres which is exceptional for its species. Researches are being conducted on the cause of this phenomenon.
"Congratulations on winning kiddo. I have never seen someone take Raichu out that fast. Also, that Charizard of yours is looking like a proper monster. I have great hopes for you. Anyways, here's the Thunder Badge and this Thunderstone is a gift from me. I have a feeling that you would put it to good use." Surge said.
"Thank you Mr Surge. I appreciate it." I said as I collected the badge and the stone from him. I was not planning on catching many electric types but a Thunderstone was definitely costly to buy and was only available in limited quantities at any given time.
"Good job Ash. All your Pokémon are much stronger than the last time I saw them." Misty said.
"Yeah good job Ash. I was sure that you could pull this off. Congratulations on the win." Brock said.
"Thank you guys. Now let's go back to the Pokémon Centre before exploring the City some more." I replied. After saying our goodbyes to Lt Surge, we started walking towards the Pokémon Centre. As we were passing by the harbour, we heard Misty speak.
"Guys, I want to speak to you about something." Misty looked like she had made a decision on whatever was troubling her.
"What is it Misty?" We asked simultaneously.
"You know, while I was here in Vermillion, I met Ms Lorelei." Misty said.
"Wait! You mean 'The' Lorelei of the Kanto elite four?" Brock exclaimed.
"Yes. She was here for a meeting and I ended up tagging along with her. She asked me whether i would like to be her assistant and I was confused on what to choose. I want to travel with you guys but going with her would mean I could learn a lot about Water Types." Mist said.
"So did you make your decision? I mean, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity for you after all." I said.
"Yes I have made my decision. I am going to join her. I wanted to travel with you guys, but after seeing how much Ash has grown in just a week, I feel like I would just slow you guys down. So I'll try and learn all that I can about Water Pokémon from Ms Lorelei so that someday, I can walk with you as an equal." Misty said with an unruly conviction in her voice.
"Well Misty, I don't know what to say except good luck on your journeys. We will always be rooting for you." I said.
"Yeah Misty. Although we were together only for a short while, I genuinely had fun travelling with you. I can only pray that you will succeed in your own journey." Brock said.
"Thank you. Ms Lorelei must be waiting for me at the Docks so I guess this is goodbye for now." Misty said as she gave us both a warm hug. She left soon after and once again, it was just me and Brock.
"I think this is good for her growth." I said out loud.
"Yes. She will be better off this way." Brock replied and nothing more was said between us.
I suppose this was one of the changes that my rebirth caused but I couldn't find it within myself to care about her departure that much. Misty was a great friend and was like an older sister to me once but she had nothing to teach me this time around. If this happened in my previous life, I was sure that she would have chosen to stay with us. The constant trouble from Team Rocket, the destroyed bike and many other things had made Misty's life completely entangled with mine by this time. However, in this life I was but a stranger that she travelled with for a short period of time and I didn't feel the need to change that. It may seem pretty heartless but the fact was that among the four different female companions that I had travelled with, five if you include Bonnie, Misty was the least dependent on me and Brock. And as far as Iris was concerned, there was no chance in hell that I would travel with her again. So Misty's departure wouldn't affect her in any way or I think so.
The journey to the Pokémon Centre was rather melancholic for us. We didn't talk much as there was nothing to speak about. After healing my team, we decided to walk around the city. There were a lot of hidden gems in this city but you needed to find them. In fact, a large number of unique Pokémon were available for trade throughout the City. I had met guys who were willing to trade Pokémon like Eevee which was one of the least available Pokémon in the region. There was a place called Garden of Eevees in Sevill Islands, but that place was yet to be discovered in this time. In fact, I was the first person to stumble upon that Island in my previous life and the Island cluster to which it belonged to was called as the Ketchum Isles. Also Pokémon like Electivire who needed an Electirizer was yet to be identified as the item called Electirizer was not yet created so trading one was a waste of time for now.
However I did end up making two purchases. One was a rather unique looking stone, which I knew was a Keystone from my previous life. Keystones were one of the most expensive things in the future as they were extremely rare and limited in number. Even in Kalos where Mega evolution was first discovered, only a select few trainers like the Elite Four and those chosen by the Tower of Mastery could wield its power. In fact, the Keystone that I purchased for just a thousand Pokedollars was sold at over 30 Million Pokedollars in the future. While this was basically a robbery, I couldn't care less. The other item purchase I made was a Moon stone. I had no real use for it, but I couldn't be sure about it in the future, so I bought it as it was being sold at a really cheap price.
After shopping, I met up with Brock who had bought a few things of his own and returned to the Pokémon Centre. Since it was already night, we went to bed after having dinner from a nearby restaurant.
"Are you ready Brock?" We were all set to leave the next morning. We had decided o leaving for Route 11 before heading to Lavender Town.
"I am ready Ash. Let's go." Brock said and we left on towards our next destination which was Route 11.
Bonus Chapter: Brock's journey.
[Brock's POV]
My Journey with Ash after I left my hometown was not that eventful. We had passed Mt Moon and I had caught a Zubat on the way. The most memorable thing about this part was the sheer number of Zubats inside the caves of Mt Moon. Like seriously, where the hell are these things hiding in the first place?
We reached Cerulean City by the next morning but Ash decided to postpone his gym challenge for some extra training. From the short time that I travelled with him, I was sure that this kid was a training nut. But his Pokémon were more than happy to oblige and were getting stronger to boot. I wouldn't have been able to watch his gym battle if he had decided to challenge the gym right then.
Dad had entrusted me with delivering a package to an old friend of his called Mr Arthur Stone. This guy was the younger brother of Mr James Stone, President of Devon corp. As such, dad wanted me to personally deliver this Hard Stone to him.
I reached his house after ten minutes of walking. The building itself was not too big but it was bigger than my house. I met him and despite my initial apprehension about speaking with such a big shot, I was genuinely surprised about how knowledgeable he was about Rock type Pokémon. I spend the entire morning with him, learning more about Rock type Pokémon. I also learned that his wife was from Kanto and he had settled here with her in order to get away from the responsibilities of being a Stone. He was genuinely happy here.
I was returning to the Pokémon Centre when I came across Misty who was the gym leader for Cerulean city. I ended up warning her about Ash and her response was that she was planning on travelling herself and asked whether she could join us. I told her to ask Ash as I was just tagging along with him. We parted soon after ad I returned to the Pokémon centre.
Ash returned by evening and looked all set for the gym battle. After dinner, we ended up going to sleep and was at the gym the next morning. Just as I predicted, he ended up breezing through the gym and bet Misty rather handily. She ended up travelling with us after a few words and I was happy to have another companion.
We travelled a lot throughout Route 25 and even met a trainer named TJ who had a strong Sandshrew. In fact, his Sandshrew was higher levelled than Ash's Charmeleon but still ended up losing to him after a close match that came close to the wire. We had camped at the outskirts of Poketech academy but didn't encounter anyone from there.
The journey through Route 6 was quite intense with us chasing a rare Pokémon and a hidden Pokémon Village. We did end up finding both. The rare Pokémon turned out to be a Bulbasaur, which was as rare as it got and the village was a de facto Pokémon centre run by a beauty named Melanie for the wild Pokémon in the area. After my initial flirting had failed rather painfully, i ended up being close to her as she and I had a lot in common. We ended up exchanging recipies for the Pokémon food and grooming techniques for some Pokémon.
Ash ended up catching the Bulbasaur and we said farewell to Melanie. Ash ended up catching a Squirtle from a nerby town and decided to stop and train his Pokémon for a week in the centre of Route 6, a decision that I wholeheartedly agreed with. Most Rookie trainers never took time off to train their Pokémon, opting to travel and train. This came back to bite them when they entered the League. As such, I fully supported his decision. Misty did end up leaving for Vermillion early as she had something to there.
The next few days were spend with me training and helping my Pokémon. I ended up meeting an old lady who was an expert in breeding and ended up training under her. I learned a lot of things bout many Pokémon from her and felt that I was one step closer to my dream.
By the end of the seventh day, I could see that Ash was now much stronger than what he was before the training. We reached Viridian City and he challenged the gym for the Thunder badge. The match was much shorter than what had transpired in my gym. Raichu, which was Surge's strongest, went down in one hit albeit in a spectacular manner. I was sure that Surge now held a good amount of respect for my young friend.
Misty ended up leaving us soon after as she had received an offer from Lorelei of the Kanto Elite Four for training, something which could be a game changer for her. She ended up accepting it and we were once again, just the two of us. We went for a little shopping spree soon after and I ended up buying a Steel Coat for my Onix.
And now, we are ready to challenge Route 11 and what came after that. While I was not growing as fast as Ash did, I was in my own pace, progressing forward.
Here are the details about Ash's current team.
Charizard
Level 36
Moves: Scratch, Growl, Rock Slide, Bite, Ember, Metal Claw, Smokescreen, Scary Face, Flamethrower, Wing Attack.
Pidgeotto
Level 32
Moves: Tackle, Sand Attack, Gust, Steel Wing, Quick Attack, Whirlwind, Wing Attack.
Kadabra
Level 30
Moves: Teleport, Thunder Punch, Confusion, Disable, Psybeam, Reflect, Recover, Future Sight.
Ivysaur
Level 31
Moves: Growl, Tackle, Vine Whip, Leech Seed, Poison Powder, Sleep Powder, Petal Dance, Razor Leaf, Sweet Scent.
Wartotle
Level 30
Moves: Tackle, Tail Whip, Bubble, Withdraw, Water Gun, Mirror Coat, Bite, Rapid Spin.
Alrighty, that's it. I have given the necessary information as asked by a reviewer. However, just because a Pokémon have a move doesn't mean that they'll use them. I may or may not use them in the future but they are there for sure.
Now back to the main topic, I have gotten rid of Misty and for those who were wondering why, it's because I was unable to write a good story for her and I hate destroying good characters due to my poor skill. That said, I have no idea if the way that i wrote Brock is acceptable or not.
He's my second fav character in the series after Ash so I don't want to do him dirty. So I decided to give a small part of some chapters to see things from Brock's perspective. However, these chapters will be far and few between as constant switches in POV destroys the balance of the story.
That's enough of my rant, stay safe and don't forget to review. I had received a lot of review last chapter and am genuinely thankful to all those who reviewed.