Ash was traversing the forest pretty easily, surprising himself. He saw a few bugs in trees and bushes. He mostly saw some caterpie and an occasional weedle along with their evolutions. Surprisingly, he even saw a spinarak in a tree. He knew that johto pokemon sometimes traveled over into kanto, but they weren't common to see or find. So it was a pleasant surprise to see one.

Eventually he stumbled into a clearing in the forest. Pikachu snickered when he stumbled and received a glare for it. It seems Pikachu is finally being cordial with him since the team rocket incident. Maybe he's worthy of being its trainer now or something.

He released his pokemon into the clearing, each one stretching out before looking at him for instructions.

"I'm going to get lunch ready, you guys just relax for now." Each pokemon nodded before walking away to do their own thing. Poliwag ran towards the tree line to find a river. Ash learned he had a third sense for finding water sources. Spearow went to perch in a tree and pick at his feathers, while Pikachu just stayed with him and helped him gather some ingredients.

Ash quickly finished their lunch, and asked spearow to go and find Poliwag so they could have lunch. Soon Spearow reappeared with poliwag and a massive weedle scurrying behind.

Ash raised his brow in question towards Spearow but received no answer. He turned to poliwag before poliwag gave a sheepish look before seeming to introduce weedle. Thank god he managed to learn poliwag's signs when he was younger.

The Weede that came along with poliwag was a giant. The guy almost reached his knee, and was about 2 feet long. He squealed his name out and squirmed around Ash and poliwag. He could only chuckle at the energy the big worm was displaying.

"Hey weedle, want to join us for lunch?" The weedle cried out in agreement before sitting next to Ash and poliwag waiting for food. As Ash started handing out their lunches, and splitting part of his apart to give to the worm, they started to dig in.

He was looking at his team eating and smiled. His spearow was eating quickly, poliwag and spearow were relaxing, and taking little bites of their food, and pikachu was eating… ketchup? He and Pikachu made eye contact, holding each other's gazes while licking the ketchup bottle Ash looked away not knowing how to approach the situation.

After lunch, he asked if his team wanted to get some training right now, or later. Poliwag opted to train later, when he and weedle were done playing. Spearow and Pikachu, not having anything else to do, chose the training.

Ash began instructing Spearow to help Pikachu get the basics down of summoning the steel type energy for iron tail. After he was finished, he was to try and increase the amount of time steel wing could be held. Poliwag and weedle ran back into the forest to play.

Ash had been doing light physical training, while giving suggestions and tips to pikachu and spearow to help streamline their training. Suddenly, 2 cries of fear reached their ears from the forest. Pikachu reacted a bit faster than the 2 due to his superior hearing, turning to face the noise and rusling coming towards them charging up a thundershock. Spearow started to fly above Pikachu and himself when a Poliwag and Weedle came charging out of the brush with massive pinsir on their trail.

It was a massive pokemon, reaching somewhere around 5'5. About 5 to 6 inches bigger than the species usually grew too. He quickly shook his head and called out his commands.

" Weedle, Poliwag, jump out the way . . . NOW!" As soon as they moved out the way jumping to either side, he called out his next move.

"Pikachu! Use thunder wave then a thundershock!" Pikachu shot a swirling spiral of electricity at the bug, making it tremble in place for a moment before getting hit by the thundershock.

It made the bug cry out in pain as electricity traveled through his body. Seeing his chance, he threw a pokeball. It shook once, twice, and a third before snapping open in a burst of light.

He clicked his tongue at wasting a pokeball but quickly issued his next command. "Spearow, charge in with a peck! Poliwag hit it with a water gun once Spearow backs up." Following his orders quickly, Spearow landed three pecks on the pinsir before being backhanded away.

Poliwag fired a water gun at the pinsir after it smacked Spearow away. It tried to move out of the way but spasmed due to the previous thunderwave. The attack hit him in the head, pushing him off balance sending him onto the floor.

Not wanting to miss his chance to inflict more damage, he called out his next command. " Pikahcu! Keep shooting thunder shocks!" Pikachu started firing off thundershocks while the pinsir was getting up.

" Poliwag, shoot water guns at pinsir in bursts!" He was more specific on Poliwag's command, not wanting him to get shocked by the electricity being fired at pinsir.

Seeing how it wasn't very effective, he formulated a new plan. " Poliwag, get its attention and use hypnosis. Spearow, Pikachu; once it goes down, hit it with peck and iron tail."

Poliwag started firing off mud into the Pinsir's mouth, causing him to look over. Poliwag then started to emit physic waves making the bug start to get drowsy.

Ash couldn't believe how tough the damn bug was. It was still moving, albeit slowly, through the hypnosis. The damn thing wouldn't stay down. If he managed to capture it, Pinsir would be a big asset to his team.

He grinned as he was about to order his next set of commands but stopped when he saw the pinsir finally fall over. He waited for a second before throwing a pokeball. Even when downed, the pokeball still shook a lot, until finally it dinged signaling his capture.

He cheered as he ran to pick up the pokeball, before going to check on his team. " We did it! Good job, when we get to pewter, I'm going to treat you guys!" His pokemon, despite their exhaustion from the battle, cheered at the prospect of good food.

Speaking of food, he couldn't help himself from chuckling as Spearow's stomach growled. The bird averted his gaze but kept his head high, refusing to show his embarrassment.

Ash could only shake his head at the bird's pride. It was funny to see in action at times like this. He figured now would be a good time for food. He thought they could relax for the rest of the day.

NEXT DAY

He was trekking his way through the forest before stopping in another clearing for lunch. Weedle was following along behind him with Poliwag. Pikachu was on his shoulder, and Spearow was flying around somewhere.

His legs were tired from walking most of the morning, and he was starting to get hungry. So began to prepare and told his pokemon what he planned to do.

His preparations were interrupted by a wild Pidgeotto. It seemed to be a healthy bird that reached his waist in height. He only grew worried when it seemed to stare at the weedle hundrily.

Suddenly, it flew straight towards the weedle, they barely had time to act when Spearow suddenly dived down and hit Pidgeotto with a steel wing from above. The momentum added to Spearow's already great power sending the pidgeotto into the ground with a cry of pain.

Ash could only sigh in relief that Spearow was ready to react. " Nice hit Spearow, make sure it stays down." Spearow squawked in acknowledgement while keeping his gaze fixed on the bigger bird's previous location.

The bigger bird flew out from the top of the dust from the hit, and cried out angrily while charging Spearow with a quick attack. He tried to get out of the way but was clipped in the wing, causing him to lose altitude, putting him below the tree line.

Realizing his new advantage, he shouted out his order. " Spearow! Stay where you are. You can outmaneuver him here." Spearow eyes widened slightly, before he nodded and tried to lure pidgeotto to come at him.

The bigger bird was still angry at the smaller one for getting a sneaky shot in on him. So despite his better judgment, he charged with another quick attack while surging flying type energy into his wings, causing them to start glowing a bright color, creating wing attack.

Ash cursed when he saw this if Spearow gets hit with this combo, he'd suffer heavy damage. It wouldn't make the battle unwinnable per say, but it makes it a lot harder. Spearow's smaller size and Pidgeotto's bigger size and strength aren't a good combo.

" Spearow, don't let that attack hit you no matter what! Do whatever you need to do to avoid it."

Spearow squawked in acknowledgement and started weaving through branches and making sharp turns around the bigger trees. He even sent leaves and branches flying towards his opponents head, to try and slow him down.

It managed to slow the bigger bird down when a stick smacked it in the eye causing it to stop and let out a cry in pain. Seeing it's chance to strike, Spearow formed another steel wing and hit pidgeotto on its wing, grounding it. With an injured wing, pidgeotto was easy to beat.

All Spearow needed to do was hit and run tactics wearing the bigger bird down. It finally went down when Spearow got fed up with it still standing, and just started pelting it with pecks. The bigger bird couldn't put up much of a fight with how exhausted it was.

Ash threw his pokeball and grinned when it dinged, signaling his catch. He grinned at capturing another strong pokemon. His team was beginning to get stacked. " Good job Spearow, we might've found you a rival." Spearow huffed and looked away.

Ash grinned and continued to prepare their lunch. While Ash ate he pondered when to deal with Pinsir and Pidgeotto. He decided to confront them when he arrived at the pewter city pokecenter.

They began training again after lunch, while walking down the path. Spearow divided between trees and branches, while Pikachu, Poliwag, and Weedle shot weak water guns, thundershocks, and string shots at Spearow.

Speaking of Weedle, he was pretty sure he was going to ask him to officially join the team. The little worm stuck with them ever since Pinsir showed up. He sometimes trained with us when we did.

Speaking of which, he never checked what moves weedle had. He took out his pokedex quickly and scanned weedle, earning a curious side glance at what he was doing.

[ Weedle, The Hairy Bug Pokemon. Its ability is Shield Dust. Its moves are Poison Sting, String Shot, Bug Bite, and Electroweb.]

His eyebrow arched at Electroweb. He knew that bug pokemon can learn Bug Bite during their first stages. He had no clue what electroweb was and that weedle could learn learn something new everyday.

"Weedle, can you use electroweb?" Ash asked after a moment of thought. Weedle cast a curious look, before an expression of realization spread across his face.

Weedle shot a web from its mouth that threw barely noticeable sparks before reappearing. Now he realized why he didn't know weedle knew it. Even when being called out, it could easily be mistaken for a string shock.

Making up his mind, he made a plan. " Weedle. When we stop for our next break I have training for you." Weedle looked up excited and was about to cheer before a stern look from Ash made him quiet down real quick. " Pikachu will help you learn to channel electric type energy for electroweb, while you try and help Pikachu learn it."

He remembered seeing a viridian pokecenter while looking at moves his team could learn. When he looked at his right shoulder, he gained an amused expression upon seeing Pikachu's surprised face at being able to learn electro web.

They continued discussing their training for a little longer, before they were interrupted by someone emerging from the bushes. It was a short boy, who wore samurai armor and carried a net and sword with him. His pokemon went on guard upon seeing his sword drawn.

He realized it and quickly put his sword away while quickly moving his hands up in a placating manner. " Tell your pokemon to calm down!" The boy yelled at Ash.

He was dumbfounded when he yelled at him to do so. The boy, a random person, appeared in front of them brandishing a sword, expected them not to be wary? What kind of stupid ass logic is this?

"Excuse me? You appear out of nowhere, wielding a sword, and expect us to not be nervous?" His voiced thoughts seemed to finally make the kid realize his position as he blushed with embarrassment and bowed.

" I'm sorry for my actions. My name is Samurai, and I am here to challenge you to a battle!" He called out loud, his proclamation being met by a deadpan stare of Ash and his pokemon.

" If you wanted a battle, you should've asked first instead of appearing with a sword." Ash's statement was followed up by all his pokemon nodding their heads.

"I'm down for a battle, how are we going to do this?" He asked while backing away to form space in between them.

Samurai responded quickly, wasting no time. " It'll be a two on two. Go, Metapod!" Soon, a metapod appeared on the field.

Ash sighed, as he was about to call out Poliwag, before Weedle cried out and rushed forward in front of Ash. Surprised, he asked with a raised eyebrow and small smile. " You want to battle Weedle?" The little bug cried out its name in confirmation. " Weedle weedle!"

Ash grinned before looking towards Samurai to see if he was ready. Once he received a nod, he called out an attack. "Weedle, keep using poison sting to poison it."

" Metapod, use Harden!" His statement was met with a groan by Ash upon realizing what the situation might be.

"Please tell me your metapod doesn't only know harden." He groaned out in an annoyed tone.

Oblivious to Ash's annoyance, he simply grinned before confirming his suspicions. " Of course it does, I caught him as a metapod." He proclaimed it with such pride, Ash could barely restrain himself from complaining out loud.

" Weedle just keep doing what you're doing, he'll go down eventually." The battle between the two bugs didn't last long after metapod got poisoned.

Samurai comically was surprised at how he lost. " HOW! I made sure metapod was as hard as it could be! It should've barely taken any damage from poison sting."

" …Just send out your next pokemon." Ash couldn't help but feel done with this already. But he did grin a bit when he saw what the boy sent out.

A pinsir, how ironic. He knew they were as rare as a needle in a haystack in this forest. "Weedle want to stay in?" He questioned even though he knew the answer.

Weedle confirmed this with a little call of "Weedle!" Before Ash could make his move, pinsir moved in at Samurai's command.

"Pinsir use vice grip!" Pinsir let out a clicking sound as it charged towards weedle.

" Quickly use string shot around its body!" Weedle quickly followed his commands as he shot multiple lines of string around pinsir securing trapping his arms.

Pinsir continued to run forward albeit, with more difficulty than before. Not wasting a moment Ash called his next command when he began to see Pinsir start to break out of the string.

"Weedle start hitting it with more poison stings!" Weedle followed with haste, trying to knock it out before it got free. While the poison stings did manage to inject pinsir with some poison, he managed to break free and charge weedle moments after.

" Pinsir! Use feint then follow up with vice grip!" Samurai called his order out while Weedle tried to get out of the charging pinsir's way.

Moments later weedle was hit by feint, being sent into the air, before being gripped in pinsir's horns. Weedle cried out in pain before beginning to glow a bright light.

Both trainers' eyes widened in surprise upon seeing the light. " NICE WEEDLE! YOUR EVOLVING!" Ash suddenly yelled out in pure joy upon seeing the glowing light emulate from weedle.

Once the light finished glowing, a new pokemon sat between pinsir's horns, a kakuna. Ash smiled before yelling. " Kakuna! Use harden then keep firing poison stings!"

Kakuna followed suit, its skin glowing a dull light before hardening, stopping pinsir from clamping down any more than it already did. Before Samurai could give his next command, pinsir was pelted by continuous poison stings. Already being weakened by the previous attacks and poison damage piling up, he went down.

Samurai sighed in defeat before recalling pinsir. " Good job Ash, you have defeated me. I bid you farewell." Samurai walked away from Ash and back into the forest after giving Ash his prize money.

Ash turned to his pokemon with a questioning look on his face. " Is it just me or was he kind of strange?"