Ash sighed. They were behind schedule, but they finally arrived at their destination. Or at least were close to reaching their destination.
The trip from Vermilion to Celadon was long without delays but two straight days of downpours forced them to wait out the storms and three days to navigate flooded roads in the aftermath of the storms made the trip even longer. What should have taken six or seven days had taken ten days.
He felt sorry for anyone who lacked the means to navigate the flooded roads. Some of the road had been washed away and the rest was more like swamp than road. If not for Aurora freezing the stagnant water and Orion evaporating flooded paths with fire, he wasn't sure he would have been able to navigate the roads at all.
Not that had gotten out completely unscathed. They would need to clean up once they got to a Pokemon Center because both he and his teammates were absolutely caked in mud.
Fortunately, Celadon City was just on the horizon. Another forty-five minutes and he finally arrived at his destination.
Ash glanced around. Celadon was far different than he remembered it, although he and his mother and they stayed in the upscale part of the city near the university.
He remembered Celadon for its luxurious apartments, its world class university campus, and its massive shopping center. However, the rest of Celadon was nothing like what he recalled or imagined.
The city was restless – people moved about like it was daytime, visiting every venue there was to explore ranging from the bars and restaurants to pachinko parlors and arcades.
Celadon was bright – somewhat of a sensory overload even. The skyscrapers and stores around him glowed due to the gaudy lights and neon signs decorating them, beckoning travelers to stop in and visit. Streetlights illuminated every street corner like the sun itself. If not for his PokeNav displaying the time of day, he likely wouldn't have believed it was nighttime.
Celadon was also incredibly commercialized. Posters of famous coordinators, Lisia being the most prominently displayed figure who he only recognized because of the magazines celebrity magazines at the Pokemon Center, adorned virtually every building in sight. What wasn't an advertisement of coordinators was generally an advertisement for Nintendo, some new game, anime, or manga.
If one wasn't careful, they could easily blow a lot of money playing pachinko, hanging at an arcade, or buying the newest anime or manga. Not that Ash had any interest in those types of things.
First, every trainer worth their salt knew the importance of traveling light. Even with Poke Balls to store items and void storage backpacks, one could only store so much. Second, when one only had a year to prepare for the Indigo Conference there was no time to goof off. What time training and workouts did not consume was consumed by sightseeing. Third, he was trying to save money. Even if he found anything interesting, he had to prioritize.
It was why he passed on most of the goods sold at the Vermilion markets. While the TMs had interested him a bit, he passed on because they didn't have anything he wanted. Quash wouldn't be of much use to his team, he already had Double Team, and he wasn't even sure what the purpose of a technique like Swagger was. They were all virtually useless techniques.
However, he had indulged a bit in buying some fruit for both him and his team. They deserved a treat for their effort against Surge.
Besides, he had something else in mind. His team needed more options in battle and TMs were the best way of learning techniques. While it was possible to learn techniques without TMs, establishing the foundations for using a particular technique and learning techniques that required elemental abilities outside of the norm for a particular species could be time consuming. Time wasn't something they had a lot of, considering the time until the Indigo Conference.
The only downside to TMs were the cost to buy them. He'd have to be very choosy about what he bought. Fortunately, he had a decent chunk of change from his wins at the Cerulean Gym and Vermilion Gym along with the few battles he managed to squeeze in on the way to Celadon.
It also helped that he was in Celadon now, the Pokemon Center would be crowded which meant he would have a lot of trainers he could challenge. All the more reason he needed to find the Pokemon Center.
Ash ran his thumb across the center of the Thunder Badge and grinned. He couldn't believe he had three badges already. They had come a long way from the start of their journey – he came a long way from the start of his journey.
Gone was the rash and impulsive rookie that started his journey. Gone was overconfidence and arrogance that blinded him and made him make stupid decisions based on his overconfidence.
While still nowhere near his goal of becoming as strong as the men he looked up to like Lance, the First Champion, and his father, he was getting closer. He was taking incremental steps to becoming a strong trainer that could help look over the region.
His younger self would probably not have put in the long hours spent in the wilderness outside Rota to prepare for the gym battles in Cerulean and Vermilion. He probably wouldn't have worked on the fundamentals of strength and speed training to build the extra stamina they needed to go the distance with an opponent like Surge. His younger self also would likely have tried to overpower Surge rather than approach the battle strategically and he would have failed miserably.
However. after his failure in Pewter against Team Rocket and his lapse in judgment where he overestimated Titan's abilities against Gary's Rhyhorn, he learned to evaluate and plan.
And he definitely had a plan.
They were going to win the Rainbow Badge from Erika, but in order to do that they needed to prepare. While Erika and her team were far from the juggernauts Surge and his team were, only an absolute idiot would underestimate an opponent.
What Erika lacked in raw power, she made up for in cunning and tactics. Her knowledge of botany wasn't limited to the classes she taught at Celadon University. It carried over into battle where her grass types mixed spores and chemicals together to completely disorient foes.
Above all, Ash and his team needed more versatility along with a way to deal with Erika's nasty tricks.
It was time to do some shopping. He had saved up for TMs and now was the time to buy them, but before they could do that they needed to finish their morning routine.
He and his team were clean and well-rested. He washed his clothes, bathed, and had Orion and Aurora bathed the night before. He also called home to talk to his mother to update her once more on the progress of his travels.
While he called her before leaving Vermilion, he figured it was a good time to check in on his mother. Furthermore, he had wanted some advice about training.
His mother was practically a walking encyclopedia from years of work with Professor Oak. He was learning to rely on them more. Professor Oak and his mother certainly could fill the gaps in his knowledge about training and Pokemon.
He needed ideas regarding Orion's development with Flamethrower and wisdom regarding how to handle Typhoon. Fortunately, she had given him quite a few ideas.
He had a general idea of how he wanted to handle both situations even before the call.
Orion needed to work on lung capacity and the proper air intake and expulsion of air, making some form of aerobics a potential path to look into; but his mother recommended deep breathing exercises.
Typhoon, on the other hand, was trickier. Beyond repetition and trying to integrate him with the team through meal times and getting to know him more, he wasn't sure how to get him to bridge the gap between them. He hadn't ever encountered a Pokemon so distant and independent. Even his mom had few ideas how to handle the situation beyond setting boundaries and establishing good habits.
It was like Titan's reclusiveness all over again, even if it was for different reasons. And unfortunately in this case, he didn't have a team member that could break the ice with him.
He glanced over at the water type sitting in the far corner of the room with his back turned to the group. He hovered over his bowl, guarding it and occasionally even snarling at the shadows to try to intimidate them.
Totodile were very territorial by nature; but were even more so when they had extra hormones flowing through them due to Sheer Force. It seemingly enhanced Typhoon's negative traits such as his aggression. He was still always picking fights. However, that gave him an idea he'd definitely have to try his idea later today after training. Perhaps, he could turn his weakness into a strength.
He turned his attention from the aloof Totodile to the rest of his teammates.
Orion glowered at him and peered behind a chair, still somewhat upset at him for allowing Nurse Joy to bathe him the previous evening. Allowing themselves to be sprayed by water was about as unnatural as it got for Ponyta.
Aurora practically smirked at him, occasionally opening an eye and peeking up at him from her spot at the foot of the bed – all too eager to taunt him for still pouting.
Titan, seemingly oblivious to the feud or outright ignoring it, shoveled his last remaining bite of food into his mouth. It always took him longer to eat, mostly because of the double portions he gave him for his growth. Titan patted his stomach and grumbled to Ash to voice his contentment.
"Good, you're done, that means we can get started!"
Titan nodded.
Ash reached for the blue coffee mug beside his bed and downed the last gulp of his hot chocolate. After some breakfast and the caffeine and sugar rush from his hot chocolate, he was ready to take on the day.
They had a substantial amount of training to do and he wanted to challenge a few trainers while they were at the Pokemon Center. Not only could they use the money so they could buy some TMs but his team could always use the experience to keep their battling instincts sharp.
Ash stood up. He certainly wasn't going to get anything done just lazing in a Pokemon Center room. It was time to attack the day with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind.
"Raticate, Bite! Wigglytuff, Pound!"
The brown rat darted ahead of his slower battling partner – a portly rabbit with pink fur – and lunged at Orion only to receive a kick to the head from one of Orion's front hooves. Raticate shrieked, staggered by the blow.
Typhoon channeled weak draconic energy and a surge of adrenaline through his body to increase his speed, strength, and reflexes. The Totodile sprung on his stunned foe and slashed at him with his claws, leaving numerous cuts in his chest.
Wigglytuff lunged at Orion and thrust her left fist into his skull – at least she would have if Orion hadn't darted away and circled behind her.
The Ponyta slammed his hoof into the back of Wigglytuff's head, knocking the rabbit Pokemon backwards before spewing a massive jet of flame from his mouth that engulfed his foe.
Ash smirked. The deep breathing exercises were working. It was a simple trick to get Ember to become Flamethrower, but it made all the difference.
"Switch!" The opposing trainer shouted.
His Raticate darted at Orion with blinding speed and slammed into him, knocking him backwards. Wigglytuff curled into a ball and rolled towards Typhoon, threatening to ram into him and knock him over.
Typhoon intercepted the attacker, meeting her head-on with a Water Pulse in his left hand. Foam and water sprayed everywhere and the explosive force from the sphere of water launched both fighters backwards.
"Orion, Typhoon – finish this!"
Orion whinnied and dug his hooves into the dirt to halt his skid. He galloped towards Raticate at full speed and cloaked himself in flame just as he dropped his shoulder, sending the rat flying through the air into the wall behind his trainer with a loud thud.
Ash's opponent growled, knowing he was fighting the inevitable. "Wigglytuff, fry that Totodile!"
Wigglytuff rubbed her stubby arms together to generate charge and fired off a weak arc of lightning from her arms.
Typhoon snarled and charged straight into the lightning bolt, pushing through the pain of the electrical shock and ramming his fist into Wigglytuff's chest with his full might.
The balloon Pokemon sputtered and gasped for breath from the jarring force of the blow. The opposing trainer reached for both Raticate and Wigglytuff's Poke Balls to recall the defeated Pokemon.
"You guys were great out there!" Ash beamed.
He was pleased to see Typhoon was adapting to teamwork. The first few double battle matches were rocky due to Typhoon trying to take on both opponents by himself, but to his credit he was adapting to work with his teammates.
However, he wasn't sure how much of the cooperation stemmed from competitive drive to outshine his teammates or sheer pragmatism. Getting smacked around a bit seemingly made Typhoon more cooperative.
Ash quickly turned his attention to his opponent. "That was a good battle! Your team fought hard."
"Good match." The teen replied begrudgingly as he reached into his green sports coat for his wallet and met him on his side of the battlefield to hand him his winnings.
Ash took the fairly large stack of bills and did a quick count of the money before tucking his winnings into his pocket. He now had three thousand dollars more to add to his account.
He did the math in his head. Between the two single battles he had, his most recent battle, and the two other double battles he had, he now had another eleven thousand to spend which meant it was likely in his best interest to quit while he was ahead. His team was likely tired anyway since they completed strength and speed training exercises in addition to the trainer battles.
Earning extra spending money and keeping his team in top physical shape was important but the absolute last thing he wanted was to run them into the ground.
Besides, he was positive they had enough for most of the TMs they needed. It was just a matter of visiting the store and finding what they needed.
The neighborhood and scenery around the Celadon Department Store and Celadon University was closer to what the ideal picture in his mind.
Large, multi-story Unovan style homes and ranch homes with yards and high-rise apartments. Fine dining appeared to be a staple for those that lived near the campus, judging by the extravagant restaurants. Towering over the upper class opulence was the department store.
Ash's eyes widened. He was partially convinced that one could touch the clouds if they stood on the roof.
Maybe that was an exaggeration, but it was certainly the largest building he ever saw. The Celadon Department Store was six stories tall, including the roof, and the largest store in Kanto. It made him wonder if the store was as large inside as it was outside.
He supposed there was only one way to find out.
Ash stepped through the automatic doors and into the department store, giving the room around him a once over.
Racks of clothes and displays of shoes spanned as far as the eye could see. A greeter – a girl somewhere in her mid-twenties – flashed him a grin and a wave.
He waved back with a smile of his own. He wished his teammates could see it. The store had just about everything.
A service counter along with glass display cases filled with earrings, necklaces, bracelets, pendants, and watches were among some of the first things customers would see upon entering the store. He passed countless display tables of t-shirts, dress pants, and dress shirts on clearance. Another part of the store had racks of sports coats, fleeces, jackets, and sweatshirts both for men and women. He'd have to remember to stop in if he ever needed new clothes or wanted to change his look, but it was hardly what he was looking for currently.
He stopped upon finally finding what he was looking for in the form of a floor by floor map of the store. From the looks of the store layout, he needed to head to the second floor to find what he was looking for. The second floor, known as The Trainers' Market, had everything a trainer could ever need and hope for.
A brisk ten minute walk and a climb up the staircase at the back of the store led Ash to the second floor.
The Trainers' Market was everything he thought it would be and more. He couldn't help but notice the capture ball section with its display cases filled with countless exotic versions of the standard Poke Ball. It was practically the first thing one saw after climbing up the stairs.
He didn't recognize most of the capture balls beyond some of the most basic models. He recognized the Poke Ball due to its iconic colors along with the blue and red top of the Great Ball and yellow and black upper half of the Ultra Ball. He also recognized the shiny black exterior, the thin golden ring around the center of the capture ball, and the red halo on the top of the Luxury Ball because it was what he was given for Aurora.
Beyond that, he had no idea what any of the other capsules were called or how they worked.
He strolled past the capture ball display cases and through the medicine department which seemingly had as many medical supplies as a Pokemon Center. The shelves were stocked with potions, revives, antidotes, burn heal, ice heal, and paralyze heals – if it was a medicine, an antiseptic, or salve, it could be bought.
It didn't take him long to reach his destination and it was even easier to find. Practically the rest of the second floor aisles were nothing but TMs. Endless rows of TM display cases spanned as far as the eye could see.
That only left him with one question. Where should he start? Because the store had every TM someone could possibly buy from the most powerful techniques like Hyper Beam, Solar Beam, and Overheat to the most basic of defensive techniques like Protect, Reflect, and Light Screen.
He supposed it would come down to need and price. And they certainly had a lot of needs.
Orion needed something beyond just fire type techniques, preferably some sort of ranged technique. While his speed let him close in on an opponent rather quickly, there were some things not meant to be fought up close and while he had Flamethrower and Ember, fire could only do so much. He had hoped Swift would be a viable option as a ranged technique, but Orion still was having trouble with mastering the technique which meant he likely needed to look in another direction in the mean time..
On the other hand, Aurora had the complete opposite problem. If the Surge battle showed him one weakness she had, it was that she needed something beyond ranged elemental strikes. In a close range fight, she didn't have much besides Ice Shard that packed a real punch; and aside from Tail Whip, Aurora did not have any techniques that would help her in a melee. Their wits helped her against Electabuzz, but he imagined they might not be so lucky in the future.
That left him with Titan and Typhoon and planning out what to do for them. He had a basic idea of what he wanted to do, but the specifics weren't something he had figured out quite yet.
Titan needed something to either further his defensive capabilities to continue making him into an unbreakable wall, some sort of counterattack to retaliate against a foe that allowed him to go from defense to offense, or something to shift battlefields in his favor.
Fortunately, Typhoon was a bit simpler. He just needed more firepower since it was a waste to have an offensive-minded attacker with few options to go on the offensive with.
Unfortunately, he wouldn't likely be able to get all of the TMs he wanted. He wanted to buy a TM for each of this teammates but due to the TMs being more expensive than he anticipated, that idea had long gone out the window.
Instead of the TMs being in the three thousand to five thousand dollar range like he expected, all of the TMs were around ten thousand dollars aside from some of the rarer techniques which were priced even higher at thirty thousand.
He'd have to be very selective and reevaluate from there.
Ash moved from aisle to aisle and display case after display case, skimming over all the TMs available for purchase and making sure to keep track of any that caught his eye on his PokeNav.
He grabbed two TMs upon circling back through the aisles. For Aurora and Titan, he chose Payback. While the damage absorption part of the technique likely would help Titan more than Aurora since he could take more hits, the ability to unleash a devastating counterattack would be useful for both. For Orion, he chose Solar Beam. Now that they figured out Flamethrower, Ash wanted to move onto flame absorption with Flash Fire. If Orion could figure out that, he could also learn how to take in sunlight as well since Solar Beam worked by a similar principle as Flash Fire in the sense that outside energy was to be internalized.
While he wanted to buy something for Typhoon, 20,000 was a hefty strain for him. He would either have to save up again through a bunch of battles or get TMs elsewhere.
But that was something he could think about later, for now he had some TMs to buy.
He frowned at the sight of flashing lights, digital screens, and endless advertisements. The entertainment district of downtown Celadon was just as overwhelmingly bright as imagined it being and far more chaotic. There was more foot traffic than when he first visited it. Countless teens and young adults scrambled haphazardly about the street, often taking pictures in front of stores and wandering into the various tourist attractions, which probably wouldn't bother him if they had any awareness of their surroundings and didn't practically shove him as they pushed through the crowd.
He hoped to avoid the rush by visiting in the daytime when he imagined most would be at work or at least avoid the rowdy sort. While he hadn't encountered the disorderly sort, the tourists were apparently just as insufferable.
He glanced around, trying to regain his bearings and figure out where he was going amid the sea of tourists. The entertainment district of downtown Celadon presented yet another unique labyrinth to navigate. In addition to the arcades, restaurants, otaku themed stores, the neighborhood near the Game Corner offered entertainment for the young adult crowd – massage parlors, host and hostess clubs, maid cafes, cosplay stores with very questionable advertisements, and the occasional exotic hotel.
Ash sighed. He hoped the TMs offered at the Game Corner would be worth it. He sped up until reached his destination.
The Celadon Game Corner looked bigger than the pictures on the internet showed it to be, although how much of that was due to the prize center and gaming floor being merged recently was yet to be seen. Bright neon signs were plastered on the front of the building and displayed in the windows, enticing trainers and tourists alike to visit.
The playground for trainers. Celadon's hub for a good time. A slice of paradise. Win big at the Game Corner.
The Game Corner was practically an arcade or pachinko parlor on steroids. The allure of prizes drew people in to spend money on tokens to wager on their games.
Ash stepped forward through the open doorway as the automatic doors parted. One look around and he quickly realized the prizes likely weren't the only thing that pulled in visitors.
A fancy dining hall – with some sort of buffet if the signs were any indication – was visible from the entrance with a line of people waiting to enter.
A blonde in a black satin dress carrying a tray of drinks passed him by, heading out onto the main floor of the Game Corner. He couldn't help but notice afterwards how many waitresses there were taking orders and handing out the drinks people had ordered.
Probably another reason people liked the place. The place had plenty of waitresses that were easy on the eyes and they kept the drinks coming. At least, he imagined that was how some people saw it.
Ash continued forward, heading towards the array of games. He stopped a moment to take in his surroundings.
The interior was just as gaudy as the exterior if the dark red carpet and golden chandeliers lighting the room were any indication.
It was easy to lose oneself in the Game Corner.
Flashing lights of slot machines, card tables, reminders to relax and order drinks from one of their bars, and signs encouraging people to buy tokens were posted everywhere. It also was no secret where the prize counter and service desk to purchase tokens were. The kiosks for both had massive glowing neon letters prominently displayed above them that could be seen from the entrance.
The Game Corner was a double-edged sword – it could be a quick way to snag some TMs at a huge discount or a dangerous money pit that could empty one's wallet.
Like most things, balancing the risk with the reward required careful deliberation. Ash wasn't going into the Game Corner blind. He thought things through and more importantly only had interest in one game.
He glanced over at the scores of people sitting over at the slot machines and shook his head. Only an idiot flushed their money down the drain at the slots or at Voltorb Flip.
The best bet for winning prizes at the Game Corner was by winning coins playing card flip. It wasn't a game based entirely on random chance, but rather on averages and probability. Even when the cards were stacked against the player or multiple decks were used, the game still had tangible statistics to base decisions on to improve one's odds of winning.
And no one had memorized the statistical numbers of the game more than he and Gary had. Several variations of card flip were school favorites that some of their class used to con others with and gain some pocket change. Unfortunately for the schemers, he and Gary learned how to turn the tables on the con artists pushing the games.
He never would have guessed his ability to count cards and determine statistical probability in his head would come in handy later in his life.
Ash quickly made his way past the card flip tables, the slot machines, and the Voltorb Flip tables to stand in line at the service desk in the back of the room.
If he was going to win tokens to buy TMs, he needed some tokens to wager.
Ash yawned and got up from his seat momentarily to stretch, taking advantage of the change in dealers to get the blood flowing again.
"Hope you don't mind, starting to cramp a bit," he said, giving the new guy a once over.
He was younger and stockier than that previous dealer and cheerier too, if the smile was anything to go by. The older guy who was the dealer previously scowled the entire time.
White dress shirt, black dress pants, bow tie, black vest – new dealer, same professional uniform.
"Not at all," the newcomer standing at the table replied as he picked up a new deck of cards and shuffled them. "How's it going?"
"Pretty good, having fun, aside from my rotten string of luck these last few draws. Maybe that will change soon." Ash chuckled. "Think you can give me some better cards?"
"I'm pretty sure that's not how it works," the dealer laughed.
"Can't blame me for trying," Ash replied with a mischievous grin.
"Bet, sir?" the dealer asked, placing a card face down in front of Ash.
Ash slid a token across the table towards the dealer. "One token, calling Pikachu."
The dealer flipped the first card over, revealing a Poliwag.
"Sorry, not Pika," the dealer stated, putting the card in a discard pile before putting another card face down in front of him.
"Bet?"
Ash pushed two tokens across. "Two, calling Pika,"
The dealer flipped over the first card, once again revealing a Poliwag.
"Sorry, wrong card," the dealer said, scooping the tokens over to his side of the table.
Ash slid two more coins across the table from his shrinking pile of golden tokens. "Two coins, Pika," he instructed, prompting a surprised look from the dealer.
"You sure?"
Ash nodded. "Positive."
The dealer flipped the card up to reveal a Jigglypuff. "Another miss, guess you're right that it just isn't your day,"
Ash shrugged. "Guess not," he answered, eyeing the deck to mentally count the amount of cards left in the deck.
Each miss only gave him better position, there was a trick to card flip – stick to one or two suits and bet low on early flips. There were always five cards of each suit in the deck of twenty-four and four wild card doubles that applied to potential winning draws in the subsequent hand after drawing a multiplier. It was best to anticipate which suit would have the highest probability of appearing once there were few cards and betting on the ones with the highest probability.
It wasn't a perfect strategy and still relied on chance, but winning at card flip was less hitting the jackpot and more a process of bleeding someone dry with incremental gains. Unfortunately, it would definitely take a while although no one could say he wasn't patient. The reward would be worth it.
Ash tapped his foot on the floor and clutched the pouch of coins in his hand tighter. The wait in line at the prize corner was taking about as long as it took to gather enough tokens to cash out. Fortunately, he wouldn't have to wait too much longer since he was now third in line.
Another ten minutes and he finally stood at the service counter where a young brunette greeted him with a grin.
"How may I help you today?"
Ash eyed the large sign on the wall displaying the prizes available along with the price of the item. While they appeared to only offer TMs, he was impressed by the wide array of TMs offered and how cheap they were.
Three to four thousand coins was a drop
in the bucket when one had 17,000 coins saved up from about three and a half hours of card flip card counting. Not a bad deal considering he only started with one hundred coins worth two thousand dollars. Two thousand and time spent was a more forgiving price than twenty thousand dollars.
"Can I exchange coins for Ice Beam and Bulldoze?" Ash asked.
The clerk nodded. "Give me just one second," she said, reaching into a drawer and rummaging around a bit before setting two floppy disks inside plastic protective cases on the counter. "That will be eight thousand coins,"
Ash nodded as he reached into his coin and set multiple paper wrapped rolls of coins down on the counter.
The woman's eyes widened for a moment as she pulled the rolls of coins across the counter and put them into some sort of cash register. "Anything else?" she asked while running a sequence of touchscreen inputs on a handheld tablet linked to the register.
Ash gave the list of TMs another glance to weigh his options.
He bought Payback for both Aurora and Titan along with Solar Beam for Orion at the mall. He added Ice Beam for Typhoon and Bulldoze for Titan at the Game Corner, but now was left with the tricky decision of determining what to buy next.
Toxic, Agility, Bide would be a waste of coins. Only two of his teammates could even use Agility and one already knew it and the other could likely be taught it without a TM. Toxic was primarily for stall tactics, something his team wasn't exactly suited for at the moment. Curse was a little more promising, but he wasn't sure how useful it would be compared to giving them more techniques. The enhanced defense and offense might be nice, especially for Orion; but the technique was tricky to master even with a TM. Not that he ever let that stop him. It also helped that it was cheap.
"I'll take Curse,"
"That'll be two thousand coins." the clerk said, prompting Ash to slide more rolls of coins across the counter to her that she quickly put into the register after inputting the total.
"Anything else?" she asked after sliding another TM over to him.
Ash rubbed his chin in thought. Orion finally figuring out Flamethrower made Flamethrower unnecessary and Hyper Beam wasn't something any of his team could probably use.
"How about Protect?"
The woman nodded. "That will be two thousand coins."
Ash slid across more rolls of coins, causing the clerk to slide the TM for Protect over to him. He pocketed the other two disks and looked down into his pouch of tokens.
He had 5,000 left from his initial total of 17,000, more than enough to snag himself one last deal. He skimmed over the list of TMs for a third time, but nothing stood out to him. He pretty much bought all the good stuff and the rest of the stuff like Horn Drill, Earthquake, and Dynamic Punch were either too expensive or unnecessary at the moment.
"You wouldn't happen to have anything else, would you?" Ash asked.
"Well," the clerk began, hesitating momentarily. "We've started offering Pokemon as prizes, maybe that's something you're interested in?"
"The Game Corner offers Pokemon as prizes?" Ash asked, giving the woman a perplexed look.
"Management thought it might be a fun new prize and a good way to get more trainers to visit the Game Corner."
Ash frowned. It never crossed his mind the Game Corner offered more than TMs, although it made sense since other venues offered similar prizes. Breeders had all sorts of connections ranging from gym leaders to professors to tournament officials.
"How much?" Ash asked.
"I'm not sure what you mean." the woman replied.
"How much for Pokemon and what Pokemon are offered at the Game Corner?" Ash asked, clarifying his question.
"Oh, depends what you are looking for," the clerk replied, pushing a small pamphlet across the counter. "Common Pokemon like Magikarp, Pidgey, and Caterpie are priced in the three thousand to five thousand coin range. The more uncommon Pokemon we offer like Abra and Pinsir are priced at around six to nine thousand coins. Rare Pokemon like Eevee, Dratini, and Scyther can be had for around ten thousand coins."
Ash winced as he skimmed over the information in the pamphlet. All the worthwhile Pokemon were on the expensive side which meant he'd likely have to spend more time at the card flip table. More time spent at the card table didn't seem worth it, especially considering it took him a good three hours to accumulate the coins needed for his TMs. While he needed to expand his team soon, he imagined it'd be faster to catch a Pokemon than trying to gain the coins to buy one.
He could also visit the Safari Zone in Fuchsia to find some uncommon Pokemon.
It also didn't help that he would have his hands full working with his current team members. They had a lot of techniques to work on in the days ahead. It wasn't good timing to add to the team now.
"See anything you like?" the woman asked.
"Thanks for the information, but I think I'll pass." Ash replied, pushing the pamphlet across the counter to the clerk.
"Anything else you need?" the woman asked.
Ash shook his head. "No thanks, I think this will be all." he replied before turning to leave.
He could always come back in the future if he wanted anything else; but for now he was content with what he had. Ice Beam, Bulldoze, Protect, and Curse were a very good haul.
Ash checked his PokeNav to see what time it was as he made his way out of the Game Corner and back out onto the streets of Celadon. It was an hour past lunchtime and probably best that he head back to the Pokemon Center to get something to eat.
His stomach growled. It was definitely time to get something to eat then. Besides, it wasn't like he was missing much. He didn't care much for the Game Corner beyond the prizes. It looked nice but nothing drew him in like it did with other people. He was too young to drink and wouldn't want to even if he could and he certainly wasn't going to pay to eat at a buffet when he could grab a hot meal at the Pokemon Center for free and not wait in a long line.
The sight of a Raticate scampering across the street snapped him out of his thoughts and turned his attention to the frantic Pokemon zigzagging around through the crowds of people.
The rat Pokemon snarled at anyone that approached him or even dared to look at him, going as far as to rear up on his back legs and try to scratch at them with his front claws. A child foolish enough to try to pet the Raticate nearly got his arm bit off as the rat lunged and snapped at him only for his father to yank him away by his collar to safety. Any remaining gawkers quickly cleared out and fled, not wanting to deal with the aggressive Pokemon.
Ash frowned and reached for Titan's Poke Ball. He saw everything he needed to see. Raticate was a problem and since no one else would take care of the issue, he'd do it himself.
He tapped the release twice on Titan's Poke Ball. The red and white orb grew before the armored Pokemon emerged in a flash of light and grumbled at his trainer.
Ash pointed to the deranged Raticate pacing back and forth rapidly and snarling at its own shadow. "Think you can handle that Raticate?"
Titan grumbled in affirmation.
"Good, stun it with Screech then knock it out with a quick hit to the head." Ash instructed.
He would have used Rock Tomb but doubted people would appreciate the street torn up.
Raticate hissed at Titan only to crumple to the ground from the sound of Larvitar letting out an ear-splitting shriek. Titan rumbled ahead and closed in on his opponent, pulling back his right arm.
Despite being dazed by the sound, Raticate lunged at Titan and rammed headfirst into his chest. Titan channeled a weak pulse of energy through his body to reinforce his armored body further and braced for impact. Titan stood his ground, shrugging off the strike and retaliating with a quick jab to the side of the head with one of his stubby arms. He batted Raticate away and rammed into his foe, launching the rat Pokemon through the air. Raticate twirled through the air and rebounded off the side of a building.
Titan cloaked himself in bright light, channeling weak traces of energy through his body again as Raticate darted at him and tried to take a bite out of Titan's chest with his fangs. The rat hissed in frustration as his teeth clamped repeatedly on Titan's stone abdomen only to find that Larvitar's armor protected him from even his razor sharp fangs.
Titan screeched letting out an even louder cry to stagger the Raticate from point blank range before drawing back his left arm and delivering another blow to his head with a loud smack. Ash almost felt sorry for the downed Pokemon lying unconscious on the sidewalk.
Titan's bulk and armor made it that the rat never stood a chance, The retribution from the rock type was always going to be worse than whatever Raticate could dish out.
Titan shuffled towards the defeated rat to make sure it was subdued, only to freeze in his tracks. The Larvitar stumbled backwards as if he saw a ghost and lay on the ground protected by Iron Defense.
Ash frowned. He hadn't seen that sort of reaction from him in a while. He reluctantly moved towards the rat to check on him, curious about what Titan saw that had him spooked.
Ash gagged and his mouth tasted of acidic bile from suppressing the urge to vomit. Raticate's tan fur was stained red from the caking blood from a nasty gash in his side that definitely wasn't from Titan fighting him. Worst of all, the cut was deep enough he could see muscle and bone.
Utter destruction, the mangled bodies of wounded, a dead Arcanine.
Ash repressed the thoughts and cursed under his breath as he fumbled with a potion from his pocket. Ash grumbled under his breath, kicking him for seeing his grotesque wounds earlier.
He knelt down by his side to treat the wounded Pokemon and sprayed the wound hoping to disinfect the cut before he could get him to a Pokemon Center, but it was too late.
One last rattling breath and his breathing stopped.
Ash gritted his teeth and smashed the pavement with his fist, scraping it up and drawing blood. Had they caused that? It didn't look like a wound from one of Titan's attacks, but could he be sure? Cold logic kicked in. It definitely wasn't from them. Not that it made him feel any better. He should have caught on sooner. If only he noticed the wound sooner, he could have potentially saved the rat Pokemon. While he didn't have any connections to him, that didn't stop him from wanting to do what was right or wanting to help the innocent.
Connection or not, the Raticate was a wounded Pokemon that needed medical attention and he hadn't caught on fast enough.
Not that he could do anything about it now; although it made him wonder where the Raticate came from, why he was so frantic, and just what exactly gave him that gash?
He supposed he could investigate that later since Titan was still on the ground, likely shell shocked from seeing Raticate's gaping wounds.
Ash helped Titan up, eliciting a thankful grumble from the rock type. "Sorry, I wish you didn't see this," he muttered, a pensive and mournful tone in his voice.
Titan's eyes fixated on the bloodied corpse of the rat and tears rolled down his face. Ash cursed under his breath.
He was frustrated. Not with Titan, but rather frustrated at himself for his inability to shield him from the grim realities of their world. He knew he'd learn eventually about death, but wished it hadn't been so soon.
Not that there was really any good time to learn about death.
"It's not your fault. If it makes you feel any better, he was wounded before we fought him." Ash assured, wiping the tears from his eyes. He winced from rubbing his hand across Titan's abrasive stone body. "Probably a wound from a wild Pokemon or he got into a fight with someone's Pokemon? Occasionally wild Pokemon get in scraps with someone's pets or a trainer's Pokemon that is roaming free. I was thinking about looking into it since it's a bit unusual."
Titan grunted and tried to rub away the tears streaming down his face.
Ash reached for Titan's Poke Ball. "Bet this is a lot to process for you, do you want to return to your Poke…"
Titan shook his head and tried to reach out to Ash's hand with his stubby arms in an attempt to stop him from reaching for his Poke Ball. Ash cocked his head. "You want to go with me?"
Titan grumbled in agreement.
"No, I don't think that's a good idea. We don't even know what did this,"
Titan grumbled and stamped his foot in protest before pointing to the corpse of the Raticate. He was also adamant on investigating what killed the rat. Judging by the pensive expression, perhaps he felt he owed it to the rat? He was the most sensitive of the group. Maybe he believed he needed to make sure there wasn't imminent danger to anyone else? Or was he just projecting his own feelings onto Titan?
Ash grumbled under his breath. Whatever the reason, he knew he wasn't going to be able to talk him out of it. Why did all his team members have to pick up his stubbornness?
"Alright, if that's what you want," Ash acquiesced with a sigh.
Titan nodded.
Ash reluctantly motioned for Titan to follow him. The rock type plodded alongside him.
Ash grimaced. He hated that Titan was caught up in this and had seen the bloodier aspects of the world, but there wasn't much he could do now. Titan crossed a point of no return much like he had in Pewter and innocence lost was never regained.
And from the looks of it, Titan was ready to take on more responsibility and was less scared than he had ever been. He didn't like it but he also wasn't stupid. Hindering Titan's growth and maturation would do him no favors in the long run. Better he learn about death and brutality from something like this than the battlefield or during a raid.
He dialed the number for emergency services on his PokeNav to report the situation before hanging up and refocusing on the idea of a little detective work. He doubted he would find anything and even if he did he envisioned it would end in him finding a stray Pokemon or finding out someone's pet had attacked the rat. Still, it would give him and perhaps Titan some peace if they knew they tried their best and hadn't left any stone unturned.
He couldn't help but be morbidly curious what or who caused the wound and reassure himself that they weren't at fault. Peace of mind would always be worth the effort.
Ash eyed the pavement carefully, ultimately following the tiny droplets of blood left on the pavement by Raticate.
There was a blood trail – at least something resembling one – and the tiny droplets guided him to the edge of the street in front of an alleyway between two large storefronts.
Ash shook his head. He couldn't help but be amused that his chase led him to an alley. He felt like the detectives in films losing track of who they were supposed to be looking for due to the suspect escaping into a place the detective couldn't get to or vanishing into an alley for a clean getaway.
Ash sighed. The dead end was unsatisfying because he still didn't have the answers he wanted. What wounded Raticate? A stray Meowth or Persian, perhaps? They might lurk in an alley and strike.
Ash turned up the screen brightness on his PokeNav to help light the very few shadows around him as he wandered into the alley. He motioned for Titan, prompting the rock type to shuffle over towards him.
"Keep your eyes peeled, just in case you see anything," Ash whispered. "Use Screech if you see any Pokemon you think might give us problems."
Fortunately, the alley wasn't very dark due to the angle of the sun positioned almost directly overhead and he doubted there were any Pokemon since the alley was empty aside from some dumpsters where the stores likely dumped their trash. However, he still wasn't entirely sure what attacked the rat Pokemon and wasn't leaving anything up to chance.
Stray Pokemon and wild Pokemon occasionally moved in groups together and hunted together which was the only explanation he could come up with for this situation. While they weren't known to attack humans, he didn't know how territorial Pokemon like that were.
Ash leaned forward to shine the light from his screen on the ground to examine the cement for blood droplets. He frowned, pacing back and forth, going over every square inch of concrete to no avail before leaving the alley and returning to the last spot he saw blood. He checked fifty feet from the last few spots of blood in each direction – no drops of blood and no scratch marks or any other signs of Raticate's presence.
Titan nudged his leg, snapping Ash from his thoughts as he shuffled over to see what the trainer was looking at. The rock type grimaced.
"As you know there was a blood trail, but it looks like our trail ends here."
Titan nodded and let out a soft grumble, his voice giving off the slightest trace of frustration
Ash folded his arms. He was disappointed. Raticate's death filled him with a morbid curiosity to solve why the rat arrived mortally wounded. Although he supposed there were some mysteries never meant to be solved.
Unless.
Ash smirked and unclipped Aurora's Luxury Ball from his belt. Two quick touches of his thumb against the release prompted the device to expand and to open. Aurora emerged on the sidewalk in a flash of light.
The Alolan Vulpix yipped, greeting both Ash and Titan with a friendly bark before sitting and staring at her trainer intently.
"Need some help, Aurora, we're doing a little investigative work into what caused the wounds of a deceased Raticate. Found a blood trail but the trail ends here." Ash said, pointing to the stained concrete. "I was wondering if you can pick up the scent."
The fox nodded and sniffed the drops of blood on the street. Aurora looked back to see if Ash and Titan were following her before sprinting ahead to lead the way. She apparently got a whiff of something and locked onto it.
"Hold on!" Ash groaned in resignation, realizing it was of no use and opting to run instead in hopes of catching up.
Titan let out an irritated grumble. He hated running even if he had gotten better at it from their strength and conditioning routine. Stubby legs and an armored body – he wasn't exactly built for sprinting and running.
Aurora hesitated briefly only to sniff the ground again to make sure she was still on the right track. Fortunately, it gave him and Titan an opportunity to catch up; although Ash couldn't help but notice they had backtracked to where they started.
Ash panted from sprinting at full speed to keep up with his starter and gave the now winded Titan collapsed on the ground beside him a sympathetic look.
"Can you slow down next time? It was like racing Orion. We couldn't keep up." he chuckled.
Aurora gave her teammates an apologetic look and led them to the very back of the Celadon Game Corner. More specifically to the Game Corner's loading dock if the high ramps, gates, and semi trailers were any indication.
"The Game Corner? You sure that's where Raticate scent leads?" Ash asked, shooting his starter a skeptical look. The Game Corner was just about the last place he expected Raticate's scent trail to lead them.
Aurora nodded and trotted over to one of the docks, even pointing up to the gate. Ash stood on the tips of his toes to peek inside of the building thanks to one of the gates without a trailer connected to it being lifted just enough he could see into the building.
The interior looked a bit like a warehouse or storage, judging by the pallets of what he only could assume was food judging by the labels.
Still, nothing out of the ordinary.
"You're positive that Raticate's scent leads here?" Ash repeated.
Aurora replied with a soft woof.
Ash grimaced. "Of course it does," he groaned.
Thanks to the height of the docks designed specifically for the trucks, checking out the inside of the Game Corner's storage space wouldn't be easy to access.
Fortunately, just because it wouldn't be easy didn't mean he couldn't get in. Ash took a few steps back to get a running start before leaping up and grabbing the ledge. He winced from sliding, his fingertips scraping across the cement.
Ash willed himself up and pulled himself up to slide underneath the door into the storage area. Titan grumbled at Ash and tried to jump like he saw the trainer do albeit to no avail, prompting a snort from both him and Aurora. He was too heavy thanks to his armor to get much height but it certainly wasn't stopping the rock type from trying to follow Ash's lead.
"Hold on, I return you to your Poke Balls and let you back out."
Ash aimed Aurora's Luxury Ball at her and aimed Titan's Poke Ball at him causing the devices to pull them both into stasis. He pressed the release buttons on the orbs to let them back out.
Aurora greeted him with another shrill yip and Titan gave an appreciative grumble. Ash flashed them a thumbs-up. "Work smarter not harder, right?" he laughed, motioning for his team to follow as he turned and headed towards large pallets set out in rows on the floor.
Ash gave the pallet a once over. From the looks of it, someone unloaded a large shipment of flour and sugar. In fact, the more he looked around the more it looked like most of the supplies stacked up on pallets were raw ingredients used in baked goods.
Flour, sugar, baking soda, yeast. The few things that weren't baking ingredients were other cooking ingredients like vegetable oil, shortening, breading, pancake mix, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, bread, and a few wooden crates with bottles of what he could only assume was cooking wine. From the looks of it, everything stacked up around him on the pallets were food or drink related. Even boxes of apple juice were visible stacked on top of each other haphazardly.
Ash looked back at Aurora again. "Are you absolutely sure this is where the trail leads?" Ash asked.
Aurora nodded again and let out a soft yip, still adamant she led them to the right place. She sniffed the floor again for a moment and scraped at the cement floor by the gate..
"So anything else?"
Aurora shook her head.
"So it stops there?"
Aurora nodded, prompting a sigh from Ash. He wasn't even remotely sure of how to proceed. All that effort for this. They followed the blood droplets and a scent trail, but still didn't have a tangible conclusion.
The best he could come up with in piecing together what little information they had was that kitchen staff or a chef grabbing supplies could have sicced a Pokemon on Raticate for getting into something. A possible, if not likely conclusion, but it certainly didn't explain why the rat sustained a lethal wound.
Not that he necessarily needed to solve the case. He wanted to but ultimately some mysteries remained mysteries. They had done their best and he was fairly sure that there weren't any imminent dangers.
A perplexed grumble got his attention, prompting him to look over to Titan who was staring intently at something inside of one of the semi trailers connected to the dock.
"What's up, Titan? Something wrong?"
Ash turned up the screen brightness of his PokeNav for light before heading over to the trailer to see what had Titan so intrigued. Aurora scampered over to join him, forming a tiny Moonblast to help provide additional light. Their footsteps echoed on the metal flooring under their feet as they made their way to the very back of the semi trailer where Titan was. He blinked. It took his eyes a minute to adjust to the weird lighting from his PokeNav and Aurora's Moonblast.
"Well, that's definitely not food," Ash gasped, staring at steel cages stacked atop each other haphazardly.
Titan nodded and poked at one of the stacks of steel cages with one of his stubby arms, causing the precarious stack to wobble.
"Woah, careful!" Ash scolded, pressing against the cages to steady them.
He frowned, taking a closer look at the cages. He couldn't help but wonder why the Game Corner needed cages in the first place since Pokemon could generally be stored in a Poke Ball if they were to be given away as a prize. Especially ones that were this small. They seemed too cramped to store Pokemon in.
A quick look around the trailer revealed the cages were far from the only thing unnatural in this particular shipment. Several wooden crates were visible in the very back corner of the trailer. Out of sheer curiosity, he tried prying the tops off the crates with his hands but to no avail.
"Titan, can you bite through these so I can see what's in them?" Ash asked.
Titan grunted in affirmation and ripped the sides off one by one with his jaws. Each crate had different things packed inside with the first having nothing more than a shipment of assorted Poke Balls. However, it was the other two that were a bit more surprising due to them having metal batons and some sort of specialized collars that were crammed inside.
He focused on the batons and picked one up. It was remarkably light for a metal club although it appeared to have several buttons near the base of its handle. He pressed one of the buttons which caused the tip to spark. His eyes narrowed. These weren't just batons, they were electrified stun batons. The exact sort of weapons Team Rocket carried around.
What would the Game Corner do with a shipment of stun batons or need them for? He could understand Poke Balls and maybe even cages but it was the weapons and collars he didn't understand.
Ash flinched as he accidentally pressed a button on the electronic interface on the front of the collar, causing the digital screen on the front to activate and display a voltage amount. "Shock collars?" he muttered.
He knew they sold Pokemon as prizes. Were the prize Pokemon unruly? Did they use disciplinary measures to keep them in line? A more nefarious thought quickly entered his mind. Were the Pokemon sold at the Game Corner poached? He was clearly missing something that made this whole situation make sense.
Footsteps caught his attention and pulled his gaze away from the supplies in the back. Two lanky men meandered into the trailer – the one on the right trailed by an Ekans and the one on the left tailed by a Drowsee.
The red insignia on their jet black uniforms gave him his answer. Raticate's wounds, the cages, the electrified batons, the shock collars…it all made sense now.
"Oh crap,"
Author's Note: I'm alive...if one can call slogging through college alive, especially when your one class was probably the single most stressful college class I've taken due to nothing working right; but that's besides the point because I finally have a new chapter of Ambition done. After spending so much time on my excellent side project of Shadowed Paragon (forgive me for the shameless self advertising), it kind of knocked me out of my mindset for Ambition and made this really hard to get in a groove for. Unfortunately, I'm afraid it is nowhere near where I want it to be quality wise since my writing prowess suffers when in college and pressed for time. Anyways before I forget, I want to thank Jdragon19 from fiverr for the awesome Ambition themed PFPs. He's a great artist ladies and gentlemen, I highly recommend him.
Hope you enjoy the chapter folks and God bless!