Author's Note: Isaac is 100% sure he doesn't have plot armor and simultaneously gets the same frustrating desire to be a Big Damn Hero when a situation is put in front of him that I have. The simultaneous desire to want to let things be someone else's problem and seeing a problem in front of you that you can fix is an annoying and chaotic mash-up and 0/10 do not recommend.

Also apologies for the major delay in all my projects. I am going through a divorce where my wife is the at-fault party right now and have been a total mess.

Chapter 6: Thunderbolts and Lightning

"Alright, brat," Lt Surge was beefy in the video games and show, but all the gods above and below in person he was an absolutely terrifying mass of muscle. They could cast John Cena to play this guy and still he'd have been lacking in height and muscle.

Luckily he was talking to Ash and not me right now.

"How about we do a one on one with that wimpy looking pikachu you've got there? Make it a real test?"

Ash gritted his teeth in anger, trying not to have an outburst. I was pretty proud of him for that actually.

"I have another pokemon that I promised would get to fight, so umm…" Even Ash was a little intimidated, though the comment had riled him enough up that he wasn't backing down, "Could we make it two on two with another of your three badge team?"

Just like that, Surge's intimidating demeanor dropped and he let out a long, sincere belly laugh.

"Aha, wow! You've got guts, kid! I like that! Sure thing, two on two, that pikachu first though?"

Ash grinned back at the man, his normally abrasive and twerpish behavior abating in the face of simply being shown just a little respect.

"You're on! Come on Pikachu, let's do this!"

"Pika pi!" Electricity crackled around Pikachu's cheeks as he leapt to the center of the arena for the challenge.

In a flash of light a hulking specimen of a raichu emerged onto Surge's side of the field. It was obviously a bit more of a physical fighter than your standard raichu, but I knew from my insider knowledge that it also had gotten into Surge's Thunder Stone store far before it was actually ready.

"Begin!" Cried the gym trainer acting as a referee.

Without even waiting for commands both pokemon shot off with their opening moves. The raichu firing off a massive Thunderbolt and Pikachu zipping out of the way with a Quick Attack.

"That's it! Now show him your own electricity! Thundershock!"

Well Ash was still going to be Ash, I thought to myself as the raichu shrugged off the electric move from the smaller rat.

"Ahahaha, you think that's electricity? Blast away Raichu!" Surge was obviously not taking this quite seriously, and honestly after having my challenger fire off a Thundershock I probably wouldn't have either.

However a few Thunderbolts later I noticed a pattern emerging, Ash...was following the lesson I had taught him with Brinker. About how you can use defensive measures to put the opponent into a bad position for an offensive switch.

Pikachu was running rings around these Thunderbolts, firing off pathetic Thundershocks just to convince the raichu that he was still actually trying.

Surge noticed it too if his grin changing from condescending to approving was any indication. And yet he didn't tell his raichu to change tactics. I wasn't sure if he was going easy on Ash due to his approval or if he wanted this raichu taught a lesson.

Either way, Ash and Pikachu were about to punish that, because the gaps between the Thunderbolts had increased by almost two full seconds.

Plenty of time for-

"Quick Attack into Brick Break, Pikachu!"

A blur of light and Pikachu's glowing tail slammed into the gut of the raichu between Thunderbolts, staggering it viciously.

"Hammer away!"

The fight almost ended there, Pikachu got another shot in before the raichu recovered and CAUGHT the third Brick Break with a glowing paw, the other one glowed as well and a heavy Mega Punch sent Pikachu back to the edge of the arena.

"Good one, kid!" Surge said approvingly. "But this big lug can take hits just as well as he can dish them out. Body Slam! Slow it down!"

Pikachu had barely managed to stagger up from that brutal punch before he had to clumsily backpedal out of the way of the raichu's plummeting body, which slammed right into where the smaller rodent had been not a second before.

"Get some distance again, Pikachu!" Ash called out, somewhat frantically. But then he saw the same thing I did, how long it took the raichu to stumble to his feet after missing with that body slam.

"Back in with a Brick Break!"

Surge's grin widened, "Got ya, punk! Mega Kick!"

The raichu had been baiting them, thrusting a glowing foot into the sky. Both pokemon hit each other in the heads with their attacks, sending the two of them flying opposite directions. Both failed to rise.

After that double knock-out I don't think Surge realized that the next fight was a foregone conclusion until he saw Primeape appear across from his magneton.

"You have a bruiser like that and you walk around with a pikachu?" Surge asked in surprise.

"Sure!" Ash said, "Pikachu was my first pokemon and it's even only been lately that I got Primeape here to take me seriously!"

The gym leader nodded at that, "Yeah, pokemon with a temper and ego can be rough for you youngsters. How'd ya pull that one off kid?"

And then something I didn't expect happened, Ash pointed right over at me.

"Isaac's a really strong trainer! He helped me teach my pokemon that Brick Break move and showed me a lot about being smarter in my fights!"

"It's called tactics, Ash!" Misty chided from next to me.

I could tell Surge was instantly interested, "How many badges do you have, son?"

I gulped, "Uh...technically seven. I'm a student at Pokemon Tech and have passed enough of my exams and trials to qualify for seven. My final trial will be next month."

The retired soldier continued grinning, "What do you say after I finish this one you challenge my eight badge team for a real final badge?"

My mouth fell open, that was...technically allowed actually. I could substitute badges earned in gym battles as long as the substitution was for the same level I fought the battle at.

"Uh, of course! I'd be excited to have that experience!"

Surge nodded then turned back to the fight at hand. "Alright kid, let's see if your furry monster has what it takes!"

It turns out Primeape very much did, training so much with Pikachu had done a lot more for his speed than we expected. Surge used a very smart strategy with his magneton, don't get me wrong here, but it was obviously a three-badge magneton. He just couldn't get it to land one of the incapacitating or control moves like Supersonic or Thunderwave to slow Primeape down enough to hit with some heavy damage.

Likely a higher level magneton under his control would have had Lock-on to get around this issue, I wagered, but that's what made gym battles fair. Leaders had to use pokemon with power within a certain range for the number of badges the challenger had. Though admittedly some leaders had their gym trainers face the weaker trainers. Giovanni only showed up for badges seven and eight for example. And Sabrina from five onwards. Blaine used to show up for every challenger until tourism got bad. Now he had his gym trainers at his fake gym take on anyone with five or less, and six plus trainers still had to beat those gym trainers to get the location of his real gym.

In short, thanks to our training the previous few days, the battle went very favorably for Ash from the beginning. In fact the longer it went the more I could see Primeape's typically uncontrollable battle rage focus and hone itself. It was a miraculous thing to see, it was almost as if his state of mind was reflecting Ash's as the young trainer became more and more laser focused upon the fight himself.

A final, brutal Brick Break sent the magneton flying into the wall of the arena, knocking it out. While it had landed a few Shock Waves, Primeape seemed still rearing to go.

"Great job, Primeape!" Ash called out, flashing his ridiculous victory sign as his pokemon danced about before being returned.

Everyone took a quick break in the gym's lobby while Surge and I prepared ourselves for our battle. It would be my six pokemon against his five on his eight badge team. I quickly used the PC system to swap Artagnan out for Alexei, my scyther, while certainly confident enough to try, wouldn't stand a chance against Shock Wave in particular. I wasn't sure about Alexei's chances either, but I needed him to have more battle experience in order to evolve, which using him as my lead would certainly allow.

Plus while he wasn't the strongest fighter, I had taught him a few tricks that would help out with him in the lead.

"Oh wow!" Ash exclaimed, "I can't believe I am going to get to see Lt. Surge's eight badge team in action! Think we can pick up some tricks, Pikachu?"

"Pika-pi!" The yellow rodent enthusiastically punched a fist into the air in excitement. It would be interesting to see how Pikachu developed. I had single-handedly caused him and Ash to dodge the anti-evolution bias that had developed in the canon that I could hazily remember. However, Ash also very much wasn't the type to go around throwing evolution stones at his partners unless they asked him to or a spontaneous situation occurred. Thus, if Pikachu ever did evolve, I fully expected it to be in the middle of some stressful or life and death situation. As far as I knew Ash didn't even have the Thunderstone he'd been given to evolve Pikachu on hand, as he'd never lost his initial match in the first place.

In fact…

"Hey, Brock…" I whispered to the gym leader.

"Yes, Isaac?" He said back, dropped his volume to match mine.

"From the stories I heard while we were training…am I wrong or is this not Ash's first standard victory in his gym battles?"

Brock nodded, "Yeah it is. Though he did beat at least most of Misty's team before Team Rocket intervened and he got the badge for helping out."

"I think he's getting a taste for it." I mentioned as I casually gestured at where Ash had called Primeape back out and was doing a move by move reenactment with his two pokemon of the battle.

Chuckling, the Pewter City gym leader nodded at my assessment.

"Mr. Cedar, the Lieutenant is ready for you!" The receptionists announced.

Nodding I went to the challenger's entrance and the rest of my…friends? I was friends with Ash and the gang I guess, that felt odd.

I didn't know a lot about Surge's eight badge team. What I did know was that it included a powerful electabuzz and raichu. Which probably meant my strong physical defenders should be saved for them. Alberich, my rhyhorn, and Huckleberry, my quagsire would shine there. I could use Estella, my marowak, and Brinker, my Alolan Sandshrew, for any of the lightning fast electric pokemon that could be thrown my way.

Cleo, my nidorina, wasn't quite ready for this kind of fight without her immune body she would get as a nidoqueen, but she could reasonably get some good damage and status effects in to soften something up.

Gripping Alexei's pokeball in my hand I walked out onto the field.

"Ah! That's a fighter's look in your eyes, kid! I think I'll enjoy this! Not only did you whip that brat into shape-"

"Hey!" Came from the stands.

"But you seem to take training far more seriously than the average student of those soft academies I have seen the last few years!"

"We all get out of life what we put into it, Lt. Surge." I replied, "Unfortunately you can't teach work ethics to trust fund babies."

The man laughed, "Oh? And you're different? You go to that blueblood school as well."

I shrugged, "I didn't start out that way, my dad just sold out to Silph."

"Cedar…I thought I recognized that from some stuff Cerise was telling me a while back. Fossil Project right? Got any of those on your team?"

I laughed, shaking my head, "I wish, but the only one I would really benefit from would be an aerodactyl and those are sanctioned at the moment." Though…I did know where to find one. That was an interesting idea.

"Ambitious! Good! That'll get you places, alright, let's get this party started. My five to your full team. Gym leader sends out first, go Jolteon!"

With a bark the prickly fox-like eevee evolution took the field. Electricity crackling along its spines.

I nodded and threw my pokeball, "Alexei, set the stage!" I called out, letting him know his initial strategy as he was called out.

Alexei appeared in a flash of red light, he was not a small swinub. His brows had thickened, he'd gained some bulk, and if one looked closely small bumps under his pink snout could be seen where his tusks would emerge. He was so close to evolving.

But considering we were fighting an eight badge team the most I could expect would be for him to set up well.

Which he immediately did, icy mist began leaking from his pores, enveloping him and the field.

"Ah, both a ground type and reducing visibility! Good choice. But we've been through this rodeo a few times! Cover the field with Pin Missile!"

My smiling face thinned into a stern look as I observed the field get peppered with the bug-typed missiles. I did, however, trust Alexei to have followed his directive. To make up for his slow overland speed he was currently burrowing beneath the field with Dig. And the timing was just about right that…

"Nub!" A cry came out from the field as scores of shrapnel ricocheted up from the swinub's exit tunnel.

Only instead of crashing back down, it remained there hovering.

"Clever! Not enough, but clever! Dual Screens, now!"

I balked, that wouldn't be good, "Disrupt it, Alexei! Icy Wind!"

As the screens went up Alexei blasted a frozen gust through the misty battlefield, hitting the jolteon with increased power from the extra material, but still not doing much more than slightly slowing it down.

The screens went up, then Surge did something I didn't expect out of him.

"Agility into Baton Pass!"

His jolteon was a freaking Baton Passer.

The purplish-pink glow of Agility surrounded it then it zipped back to its pokeball, with Surge's powerful Electabuzz hitting the field, with dual screens and an Agility up.

"Ah…crapbaskets."

"I thought Gym leaders couldn't switch pokemon?" Ash said, confusedly turning to Brock and Misty.

"They can't, but that was a special move that switches your pokemon. So it gets around the rule." The redhead explained.

"U-Turn and Volt Switch are both high expertise moves that do similar. Some trainers make entire teams built around a strategy called 'pivoting'." Brock added.

"Oh…that's bad for Isaac isn't it?"

"Very bad. We might actually see him lose this one."

A viciously super-effective Low Kick slammed into Alexei, making the swinub cry out in pain.

"Yeah…very bad."