AN: .............I'm so ashamed.............
Of Flame and Ash
Chapter 7: Psychofish
"Sounds like you and Misty have a thing for each other..."
Ash, Blaine, Pikachu, and Growlithe were walking down the road with Blaine teasing Ash, which wasn't very unusual.
"We do not! We're not even friends!" Ash said. "Besides, everything she said about me was said about you, too."
Blaine said thoughtfully, "Hmmm, masters of fire and water... Wait a minute, what am I saying?!" He shuddered and said to Ash, "Alright, I'll lay off," then muttered under his breath, "for now."
Ash chuckled, not having heard the last two words. "Where are we headed anyway?"
Taking out his map and showing it to Ash, he pointed to the route they were on. "We're on Route 5 headed to Saffron City. Once we get there, we'll keep going to-"
"Wait, what about the Gym in Saffron?" Ash interrupted.
Blaine shook his head. "The Gym Leader is Sabrina. She is a psychic who trains psychic Pokemon, which also happen to be psychic. To beat her we would have to be-"
"Psychic?" Ash interjected.
"No, better trainers than we are now." He frowned at Ash. "Now as I saying before I was so rudely interrupted, we'll keep going past Saffron to Route 6 and take that to Vermilion City. We should get there in about a day if we walk straight through Saffron."
"Hey!" A dual voice rang out, causing the two boys to raise their heads. A boy and a girl were walking jogging towards them. As they got closer, Blaine could see that they were twins.
They both had light brown hair and were dressed similarly in black T-shirts with plain blue jeans. They also wore wristbands, red on the girl and blue on the boy.
"Can we help you?" Blaine asked.
The boy nodded. "My name is Christopher, Chris for short."
The girl continued, "And my name is Kristin, also Kris for short."
"Blaine."
"I'm Ash."
"We were wondering..."
"...if you want to battle."
"Sure thing," Ash and Blaine said in unison.
"How about..." Chris started.
"...a 2-on-2?" Kris finished. When the other two nodded, they both threw a Poke Ball forward.
"Go, Nidorino!"
"Go, Nidorina!"
Blaine raised his eyebrows. "I guess they mean at the same time." He pulled a Poke Ball from his belt. "Charmeleon, go!"
"I choose you, Squirtle!" Ash shouted as his own ball flew out.
Two rhinos, one aqua and the other purple, a red lizard, and a blue turtle stood between the two sets of trainers as the battle began.
"Nidorino/a, Tackle attack!" the twins shouted together. The male charged at Charmeleon, while the female at Squirtle.
"Squirtle, use Withdraw!"
"Flamethrower, Charmeleon!"
Squirtle pulled inside his shell as the racing aqua blur rammed into him. He flew through the air in a very ungraceful arc, pulling out of his shell after smashing into the ground, completely unharmed. The same could not be said for Nidorino however. He charged right into the blast of searing flame. Quickly rolling out of its path, he Tackled Charmeleon from the side, knocking the Pokemon away.
"Charmeleon, use Tail Whip!" Blaine shouted. But Charmeleon wasn't listening anymore. He blasted another stream of flame at Nidorino, missing as the Pokemon leapt to the side.
Ash, on the other hand, was faring much better than his friend. "Squirtle, Water Gun attack!" A jet of water shot from the small turtle's mouth, smashing into Nidorina.
"Use Fury Swipes, Nidorina!" Kris yelled, unknowingly into her twin's ear.
Chris brought his hands up to his head and said, "Owww... Do you have to be so loud?" Kris grinned sheepishly.
"Sorry," she said as she watched her Pokemon bring her claws across Squirtle multiple times, "but I just can't help it."
Squirtle launched an unannounced Headbutt directly into Nidorina's unprotected belly, then blasted another jet of water at the face of the Pokemon, and finished by delivering a jarring Tail Whip to the side of the head. Due to the small size of Squirtle's tail, the attack did nothing more than stun his opponent for a second, but it was all the time Squirtle needed. He pulled back his hand and curled it into a fist as it began to glow with a fierce blue light.
Ash stared at Squirtle with a look of amazement. " Is... That's... He's using Ice Punch!" he finally stammered.
Sure enough, the turtle unleashed a freezing blow as he performed an uppercut, connecting with Nidorina's chin. Frost erupted from Squirtle's hand and snaked around Nidorina, leaving her in a thin, yet durable chunk of ice.
Ash thrust his fist into the air. "Victory!" he declared. He and Squirtle turned and watched the outcome of Blaine's battle.
Charmeleon was by now in full blown rage. Both trainers knew that if Charmeleon hit Nidorino, the match would be over. Unfortunately, (for Blaine, mind you) Nidorino was too fast for the flame Pokemon. Every time Charmeleon attacked, Nidorino would dodge and deliver a Tackle to any open part of his opponent's body.
It wasn't very long before Charmeleon fell. After one final Flamethrower, Nidorino hopped to the side and rammed Charmeleon full force, knocking him into a nearby tree.
"Charmeleon!" Blaine's face had gone pale. He slowly pulled out a Poke Ball and recalled Charmeleon. His arm fell limp and he looked at the ground.
"I...lost."
Ash walked over and patted his friend on the back. "It's okay, just look at me, I've lost plenty of times."
Blaine didn't look up. "But the difference is that I haven't. I always win."
"But what about Brock? Didn't you lose to him?"
"The first time I faced him was after I met you." Blaine said.
"Oh." Ash seemed lost for words. "Um, well..." Inspiration suddenly struck him. "As long as you realize the mistakes you made, you didn't really lose, you won!"
Blaine looked at Ash and raised an eyebrow. After a tense silence, he burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" Ash asked.
Blaine stopped laughing long enough to answer. "You! You - do you have any idea how stupid you sounded?" Ash just crossed his arms and frowned.
"Um, excuse me?"
Ash unfolded his arms and turned around as Blaine wiped his eyes and did the same.
The twins were standing next to each other. "We have to tell you the real reason we wanted to battle." Kris said. When neither of the boys said anything, she continued. "We live in a small village near Vermilion City."
"Our village is being attacked by a Pokemon from the sea, and we volunteered to go find some help," Chris said.
Ash nodded. "So that's why you battled us," he said. "You needed to find good trainers."
The twins nodded as Blaine's eye twitched. "Did you say from the sea? As in water Pokemon? As in WATER?!"
-|*~*|-
After a couple more hours of walking, Ash and Blaine had been given a rundown on what they would be facing.
It wasn't very large, about the size of a Ponyta, but it used a variety of elemental attacks, ranging from its obvious water attacks, to the rare Dragon Rage.
"Well," Blaine said slowly, "normally I would say that it is a dragon, judging by the range of attacks known only to dragons and those similar to them. However," He paused while everybody watched him, "the only known small dragon Pokemon are Dratini, Magikarp, and Charmander.
"Charmander only learns its dragon moves at its highest evolution, Charizard. And even then, it still cannot learn water moves. Magikarp is incapable of learning anything even resembling a strong move. The only Pokemon that could learn those moves at that size would be Dratini. But it would have to be extremely powerful, and the chances of finding a Dratini like that un-evolved are very slim. Approximately 6847 to 1, to be exact."
Everyone, bar Growlithe, stared at him with open mouths. "How do you know all that?" Ash asked.
"Ash, we've been over this before. Just because you don't use libraries doesn't mean anybody else does either. I've been studying Pokemon for about seven years now in between training," Blaine said. "How else do you think I would be able to become a Gym Leader? If I didn't know how to handle different Pokemon, I'd never make it."
"Yeah, but-" Ash started.
"We're here," Chris said shortly.
The two trainers stopped bickering and looked up at the village. It was smaller than any city that either of them had been to, including Pallet Town. The houses were made out of bamboo, but in no way looked primitive. They ranged in size from the size of one-room to the size of a three-story house. The roofs were made of large dark-red leaves from nearby trees. A wide river ran into a large lake in the middle of the town, and a dam could be seen some distance down the river.
Blaine and Ash, along with the Pokemon, gaped at the sight. "Where are we?" Blaine asked.
Kris smiled. "Welcome, to Maroon Village, about twenty miles from Vermilion City."
Blaine looked around. "Where is the Pokemon Center?" Kris pointed to the building next to them and Blaine and Ash ran inside. They came out a minute later, each one Poke Ball lighter.
Blaine looked at the lake. "Is that where the attacks have been coming from?"
Chris nodded. "Lake Jeboinya? Yeah. We think that it stays farther down the river, because we've searched the lake and found nothing."
Ash raised an eyebrow. "How come the two of you aren't finishing each other's sentences anymore?"
"That was just our battle show, to make people think we'd do it during battle too," Kris admitted sheepishly. "The thing is, it usually worked."
Suddenly, Ash noticed a slight fog coming in. Even as he looked, it grew thicker and thicker, until they lost sight of most of the city. "Uh, guys? Nothing serious, but what is going on with that fog?"
Blaine watched it for a minute, and then said, "No fog comes in this quickly. This is a Pokemon's Mist attack." Everyone's head snapped toward the lake. "Yeah, I think we found our friend."
-|*~*|-
Once they reached the lake, they looked frantically around to try and find the mysterious Pokemon.
"Hello? Anything out here?" Blaine yelled in the direction of the water, which, fortunately, he couldn't see very well.
"Blaine!" Ash hissed. "Be quiet! It'll find us!"
"Well, duh. That's the idea. How are we going to help if we don't find it?"
"Um, well, maybe if we all go inside it will just go away," Ash said meekly.
Blaine was about to pull out his hammer when he caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. A shadow in the lake was swimming towards them through the fog. Within seconds, it emerged into full view. It had orange scales and white fins, two long, yellow whiskers, and a large gaping mouth.
"No way," Blaine said slowly. "You brought us out here for this? For a MAGIKARP?!"
True enough, the Pokemon was a Magikarp. It looked at everyone in turn. At Chris and Kris, who were inching away slowly, at Ash, who had an eyebrow raised while watching the twins, and at Blaine, who had a look of extreme displeasure on his face.
"I mean," Blaine started, "it's only a fish. "How can it do anything to-" He was cut short by a blast of water that threw him backward ten feet. He got back up and saw Ash looking at the fish with an expression of amazement on his face. That was all the evidence he needed.
"THAT'S IT!" he screamed. "WE'RE HAVING FISH STICKS FOR DINNER TONIGHT!"
He threw a Poke Ball forward and shouted, "Ponyta, Growlithe, go! Toast that stupid fish!" He glared at Ash and shouted, "Well, are you going to help or not?!"
"Right," Ash said as he quickly threw out a Poke Ball. "Pikachu, Diglett, I choose you! Give it everything you got!"
A flame jet, a flame spiral, and an electric shock crashed into the fish. Diglett, who had no attacks to launch, just sat back, hoping that the fish would be blasted onto land. No such thing happened however. Magikarp merely shook off the attacks and launched a new attack: Dragon Rage.
The small fish began to swim rapidly in a circle, forming a whirlpool as it swam. The whirlpool suddenly erupted into a large swirling cyclone of water. Magikarp looked at its opponents to smash them with its new terror, only to find that they had disappeared. It let the typhoon die down, and then submerged itself again, retreating to darker waters.
-|*~*|-
Back at the Pokemon Center, Ash, Chris, and Growlithe were trying to dissuade Blaine from going back outside, where it was now pouring heavily, to face the water
Pokemon. That meant that they were using all their strength to hold him back.
"You can't go out there Blaine!" Ash was yelling. "One, it's pouring. Two, we don't stand a chance against that thing! And three," he put his mouth next to Blaine's ear and said softly, "you'll get wet." Blaine calmed down considerably.
Kris, who had been standing back watching them while trying to suppress a laugh, said, "Well, at least now we know what we're up against."
Blaine slumped down into a chair and said sullenly, "Yeah, the equivalent of a fully evolved and powerful Gyarados. Because that's what that thing is."
"There's one thing I don't understand though," Chris muttered. "How did a Magikarp get that strong? Even the strongest Magikarp have trouble taking out a low level fire Pokemon."
"That's because fire Pokemon are more intelligent than that stupid fish," Blaine mumbled, but no one heard him. He continued louder. "Long ago, Magikarp were as powerful as Gyarados are today. But over time, their power weakened, until they became the useless fish they are today."
"Which would make this an ancient Magikarp."
Everyone looked at the new person in the room. He was tall, about 6 feet, and wore a dark blue sweater over a black t-shirt, and wore plain black jeans. His medium brown hair was very bushy and stuck up at odd angles. A flowing black cape adorned his back, and was held together in the front by a small, metal button, decorated with a five-pointed star.
"Hey Matt," Chris said casually. "Guys, this is Matthew. He's a well-known trainer around here."
"I would have dealt with this myself," Matt said, "but I was away training for a while. But now that I'm back, I say we deal with it right now."
"Here, here!" Blaine jumped from his seat and walked briskly to the door. He paused at it, grabbed a raincoat from the door, yanked it on, and looked back. "Well, sitting around here isn't going to get rid of that psychofish, so let's go already!"
Everyone nodded and followed Blaine except for Ash. He remained in his seat, looking puzzled. Finally, he said to himself, "Psychofish?"
-|*~*|-
The rain had lightened up slightly, but there was still a considerable amount of it coming down. Halfway to the lake, it was realized that Ash wasn't with him. "Where is he?" Blaine yelled.
"I think he said something about protecting the Center," Matt replied with a hint of amusement.
Blaine simply looked at Growlithe and jerked his thumb in the direction they had come from. Growlithe trotted off, and a minute later was seen nipping at Ash's heels, herding him forward.
"Now if we're all set," Blaine said dryly, looking straight at Ash, "we can get this over with now."
-|*~*|-
In the dark depths of Lake Jeboinya, only one thing moved. Everything else had fled with the coming of the horrific creature, which now swam swiftly to the shore. "So the humans want a fight?" it thought to itself. "Even if he is with them, they can't defeat me! Mwahahahah!"
Magikarp emerged from the waters and saw the group of humans standing on the edge of the lake. Nine Pokemon stood in front of them, ready to attack. Magikarp's small eyes swept over them quickly, taking count. "The Growlithe, Ponyta, and Charmeleon will be easily taken care of, as will the Diglett, Squirtle, and Golbat. The Nidos shouldn't be too much trouble, but it would be best not to underestimate them. The Pikachu is the only one that would pose a threat, so it'll be the first to go."
Immediately after seeing the orange fish, the Pokemon launched their respective attacks. Three flames, a lightning bolt, a jet of water, many small needles, and supersonic waves were released upon the fish. Rather than sit and get hit by them, Magikarp leapt into the air and fired a burst of water at the incoming flames, extinguishing them. The thunder struck the water below him, as did the poison needles. It was hit full blast by the Supersonic, though, but the re-impact with the water shook the confusion off quickly.
Magikarp countered by surfacing, inhaling deeply, and then expelling a blue- green flame at Pikachu. The mouse quickly sprung to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack, but Ponyta wasn't so lucky. The flame wrapped around her as she shrieked, casting an aqua light around everyone. When the flames subsided, Ponyta was on the ground, unconscious.
"Ponyta!" Blaine was at her side, trying to wake her up, or at least get a response, as the others moved went on the defensive.
"Be careful of its Dragon Rage attack," Matt warned. "It can take on different elements, depending on how the user, um, uses it. Now, Golbat, Hyper Beam!" Golbat flew up over everyone else's heads, out of the range of Magikarp, and started charging her beam.
The prehistoric fish noted this and chuckled to itself. "Do they think they can actually defeat me? Hah! I will show them what true power is." It began glowing with an eerie yellow color, then let off an enormous burst of electricity at Golbat. But Golbat had finished charging by now, and flew lower to avoid the lightning and get closer to Magikarp.
"Now!" was the only command Golbat needed. In a blast of white light, the fish was sent flying - and landed right next to Blaine.
Blaine started smiling, but this was the type of smile you would expect to see on a deranged killer right before he gets his next victim. Even Magikarp cowered slightly. Blaine reached over and picked up the orange Pokemon slowly. He held it over his head and proclaimed, "Victory is ours!"
"Uh, Blaine?" Ash said meekly. "I don't think that's such a good-" He was cut short as a freezing gale passed over the fire trainer, encasing all but his hands in ice, and enabling the attacker to flop free.
Then Magikarp became very still, even though he was on land. The rain suddenly came to a halt, and the clouds turned black.
Ash started shouting. "This must be Dragon Rage, but of the thunder type! It's creating a thunder storm!"
Closing its eyes, Magikarp began calling the power of the storm to itself. Eight bolts of lightning crashed downwards to the Pokemon still conscious. Right before they hit, though, Magikarp's concentration was disrupted - by an Ultra Ball. The lightning disappeared as soon as it hit the fish. Magikarp was so taken aback, it didn't even get a chance to struggle. The ball hadn't shaken once. Its only thought as the ball closed around it was, "How?"
-|*~*|-
The next morning, Blaine was in another one of his good/bad moods. He was happy that 'psychofish', as he had dubbed it, had been taken care of, and thus his thirst for revenge had been satisfied - partially. "I ain't showing any more mercy to those stupid fish," he was heard to mumble occasionally.
Add that to the fact that it had taken three hours to unfreeze him, and you have a very grouchy, yet pleased, pyromaniac.
"Are we leaving yet? I want to get to Vermillion some time before I die, you know." Yep, *very* grouchy.
"All right, all right, hold your Ponytas."
"I only have one, and besides, I can't even lift a Ponyta, let alone hold one."
Ash turned back to Kris, Chris, and Matt. "Well, we've got to get going, or else I'm going to be incinerated, smashed with a mallet, and God-knows-what- else." He turned to Matt. "Congratulations on catching that Magikarp. It'll be a great way to lower your opponent's guard."
He reached out and shook each of their hands and turned to walk back to Blaine. "Hey, wait." Ash turned around in time to duck as a book went flying over his head. Blaine leaned forward and snatched it before it hit the ground.
"I think the idea was to catch the book, Ash," Blaine said with a grin.
Matt spoke up, indicating that he threw the book. "That is a book of all the Gym Leaders in Kanto. I saw the badges and figured you were taking the Pokemon League Challenge." He continued as they nodded. "So are you competing in the tournament or facing the Elite Four?"
Ash raised an eyebrow and looked at Blaine. "What tournament?" Blaine just shrugged.
"I guess that means the Elite. Well, good luck, whichever path you may take."
As Blaine and Ash left, the twins went home, but Matt stayed and watched the boys until they were out of sight. "I have a feeling that we'll meet again someday, but under much different circumstances..."
~~~~~
AN: 5 months... It took me 5 months to write this chapter... I'm pathetic... Oh well, hopefully chapters will come out faster now that I crushed my writer's block into itty-bitty pieces with Blaine's hammer.
Of Flame and Ash
Chapter 7: Psychofish
"Sounds like you and Misty have a thing for each other..."
Ash, Blaine, Pikachu, and Growlithe were walking down the road with Blaine teasing Ash, which wasn't very unusual.
"We do not! We're not even friends!" Ash said. "Besides, everything she said about me was said about you, too."
Blaine said thoughtfully, "Hmmm, masters of fire and water... Wait a minute, what am I saying?!" He shuddered and said to Ash, "Alright, I'll lay off," then muttered under his breath, "for now."
Ash chuckled, not having heard the last two words. "Where are we headed anyway?"
Taking out his map and showing it to Ash, he pointed to the route they were on. "We're on Route 5 headed to Saffron City. Once we get there, we'll keep going to-"
"Wait, what about the Gym in Saffron?" Ash interrupted.
Blaine shook his head. "The Gym Leader is Sabrina. She is a psychic who trains psychic Pokemon, which also happen to be psychic. To beat her we would have to be-"
"Psychic?" Ash interjected.
"No, better trainers than we are now." He frowned at Ash. "Now as I saying before I was so rudely interrupted, we'll keep going past Saffron to Route 6 and take that to Vermilion City. We should get there in about a day if we walk straight through Saffron."
"Hey!" A dual voice rang out, causing the two boys to raise their heads. A boy and a girl were walking jogging towards them. As they got closer, Blaine could see that they were twins.
They both had light brown hair and were dressed similarly in black T-shirts with plain blue jeans. They also wore wristbands, red on the girl and blue on the boy.
"Can we help you?" Blaine asked.
The boy nodded. "My name is Christopher, Chris for short."
The girl continued, "And my name is Kristin, also Kris for short."
"Blaine."
"I'm Ash."
"We were wondering..."
"...if you want to battle."
"Sure thing," Ash and Blaine said in unison.
"How about..." Chris started.
"...a 2-on-2?" Kris finished. When the other two nodded, they both threw a Poke Ball forward.
"Go, Nidorino!"
"Go, Nidorina!"
Blaine raised his eyebrows. "I guess they mean at the same time." He pulled a Poke Ball from his belt. "Charmeleon, go!"
"I choose you, Squirtle!" Ash shouted as his own ball flew out.
Two rhinos, one aqua and the other purple, a red lizard, and a blue turtle stood between the two sets of trainers as the battle began.
"Nidorino/a, Tackle attack!" the twins shouted together. The male charged at Charmeleon, while the female at Squirtle.
"Squirtle, use Withdraw!"
"Flamethrower, Charmeleon!"
Squirtle pulled inside his shell as the racing aqua blur rammed into him. He flew through the air in a very ungraceful arc, pulling out of his shell after smashing into the ground, completely unharmed. The same could not be said for Nidorino however. He charged right into the blast of searing flame. Quickly rolling out of its path, he Tackled Charmeleon from the side, knocking the Pokemon away.
"Charmeleon, use Tail Whip!" Blaine shouted. But Charmeleon wasn't listening anymore. He blasted another stream of flame at Nidorino, missing as the Pokemon leapt to the side.
Ash, on the other hand, was faring much better than his friend. "Squirtle, Water Gun attack!" A jet of water shot from the small turtle's mouth, smashing into Nidorina.
"Use Fury Swipes, Nidorina!" Kris yelled, unknowingly into her twin's ear.
Chris brought his hands up to his head and said, "Owww... Do you have to be so loud?" Kris grinned sheepishly.
"Sorry," she said as she watched her Pokemon bring her claws across Squirtle multiple times, "but I just can't help it."
Squirtle launched an unannounced Headbutt directly into Nidorina's unprotected belly, then blasted another jet of water at the face of the Pokemon, and finished by delivering a jarring Tail Whip to the side of the head. Due to the small size of Squirtle's tail, the attack did nothing more than stun his opponent for a second, but it was all the time Squirtle needed. He pulled back his hand and curled it into a fist as it began to glow with a fierce blue light.
Ash stared at Squirtle with a look of amazement. " Is... That's... He's using Ice Punch!" he finally stammered.
Sure enough, the turtle unleashed a freezing blow as he performed an uppercut, connecting with Nidorina's chin. Frost erupted from Squirtle's hand and snaked around Nidorina, leaving her in a thin, yet durable chunk of ice.
Ash thrust his fist into the air. "Victory!" he declared. He and Squirtle turned and watched the outcome of Blaine's battle.
Charmeleon was by now in full blown rage. Both trainers knew that if Charmeleon hit Nidorino, the match would be over. Unfortunately, (for Blaine, mind you) Nidorino was too fast for the flame Pokemon. Every time Charmeleon attacked, Nidorino would dodge and deliver a Tackle to any open part of his opponent's body.
It wasn't very long before Charmeleon fell. After one final Flamethrower, Nidorino hopped to the side and rammed Charmeleon full force, knocking him into a nearby tree.
"Charmeleon!" Blaine's face had gone pale. He slowly pulled out a Poke Ball and recalled Charmeleon. His arm fell limp and he looked at the ground.
"I...lost."
Ash walked over and patted his friend on the back. "It's okay, just look at me, I've lost plenty of times."
Blaine didn't look up. "But the difference is that I haven't. I always win."
"But what about Brock? Didn't you lose to him?"
"The first time I faced him was after I met you." Blaine said.
"Oh." Ash seemed lost for words. "Um, well..." Inspiration suddenly struck him. "As long as you realize the mistakes you made, you didn't really lose, you won!"
Blaine looked at Ash and raised an eyebrow. After a tense silence, he burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" Ash asked.
Blaine stopped laughing long enough to answer. "You! You - do you have any idea how stupid you sounded?" Ash just crossed his arms and frowned.
"Um, excuse me?"
Ash unfolded his arms and turned around as Blaine wiped his eyes and did the same.
The twins were standing next to each other. "We have to tell you the real reason we wanted to battle." Kris said. When neither of the boys said anything, she continued. "We live in a small village near Vermilion City."
"Our village is being attacked by a Pokemon from the sea, and we volunteered to go find some help," Chris said.
Ash nodded. "So that's why you battled us," he said. "You needed to find good trainers."
The twins nodded as Blaine's eye twitched. "Did you say from the sea? As in water Pokemon? As in WATER?!"
-|*~*|-
After a couple more hours of walking, Ash and Blaine had been given a rundown on what they would be facing.
It wasn't very large, about the size of a Ponyta, but it used a variety of elemental attacks, ranging from its obvious water attacks, to the rare Dragon Rage.
"Well," Blaine said slowly, "normally I would say that it is a dragon, judging by the range of attacks known only to dragons and those similar to them. However," He paused while everybody watched him, "the only known small dragon Pokemon are Dratini, Magikarp, and Charmander.
"Charmander only learns its dragon moves at its highest evolution, Charizard. And even then, it still cannot learn water moves. Magikarp is incapable of learning anything even resembling a strong move. The only Pokemon that could learn those moves at that size would be Dratini. But it would have to be extremely powerful, and the chances of finding a Dratini like that un-evolved are very slim. Approximately 6847 to 1, to be exact."
Everyone, bar Growlithe, stared at him with open mouths. "How do you know all that?" Ash asked.
"Ash, we've been over this before. Just because you don't use libraries doesn't mean anybody else does either. I've been studying Pokemon for about seven years now in between training," Blaine said. "How else do you think I would be able to become a Gym Leader? If I didn't know how to handle different Pokemon, I'd never make it."
"Yeah, but-" Ash started.
"We're here," Chris said shortly.
The two trainers stopped bickering and looked up at the village. It was smaller than any city that either of them had been to, including Pallet Town. The houses were made out of bamboo, but in no way looked primitive. They ranged in size from the size of one-room to the size of a three-story house. The roofs were made of large dark-red leaves from nearby trees. A wide river ran into a large lake in the middle of the town, and a dam could be seen some distance down the river.
Blaine and Ash, along with the Pokemon, gaped at the sight. "Where are we?" Blaine asked.
Kris smiled. "Welcome, to Maroon Village, about twenty miles from Vermilion City."
Blaine looked around. "Where is the Pokemon Center?" Kris pointed to the building next to them and Blaine and Ash ran inside. They came out a minute later, each one Poke Ball lighter.
Blaine looked at the lake. "Is that where the attacks have been coming from?"
Chris nodded. "Lake Jeboinya? Yeah. We think that it stays farther down the river, because we've searched the lake and found nothing."
Ash raised an eyebrow. "How come the two of you aren't finishing each other's sentences anymore?"
"That was just our battle show, to make people think we'd do it during battle too," Kris admitted sheepishly. "The thing is, it usually worked."
Suddenly, Ash noticed a slight fog coming in. Even as he looked, it grew thicker and thicker, until they lost sight of most of the city. "Uh, guys? Nothing serious, but what is going on with that fog?"
Blaine watched it for a minute, and then said, "No fog comes in this quickly. This is a Pokemon's Mist attack." Everyone's head snapped toward the lake. "Yeah, I think we found our friend."
-|*~*|-
Once they reached the lake, they looked frantically around to try and find the mysterious Pokemon.
"Hello? Anything out here?" Blaine yelled in the direction of the water, which, fortunately, he couldn't see very well.
"Blaine!" Ash hissed. "Be quiet! It'll find us!"
"Well, duh. That's the idea. How are we going to help if we don't find it?"
"Um, well, maybe if we all go inside it will just go away," Ash said meekly.
Blaine was about to pull out his hammer when he caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. A shadow in the lake was swimming towards them through the fog. Within seconds, it emerged into full view. It had orange scales and white fins, two long, yellow whiskers, and a large gaping mouth.
"No way," Blaine said slowly. "You brought us out here for this? For a MAGIKARP?!"
True enough, the Pokemon was a Magikarp. It looked at everyone in turn. At Chris and Kris, who were inching away slowly, at Ash, who had an eyebrow raised while watching the twins, and at Blaine, who had a look of extreme displeasure on his face.
"I mean," Blaine started, "it's only a fish. "How can it do anything to-" He was cut short by a blast of water that threw him backward ten feet. He got back up and saw Ash looking at the fish with an expression of amazement on his face. That was all the evidence he needed.
"THAT'S IT!" he screamed. "WE'RE HAVING FISH STICKS FOR DINNER TONIGHT!"
He threw a Poke Ball forward and shouted, "Ponyta, Growlithe, go! Toast that stupid fish!" He glared at Ash and shouted, "Well, are you going to help or not?!"
"Right," Ash said as he quickly threw out a Poke Ball. "Pikachu, Diglett, I choose you! Give it everything you got!"
A flame jet, a flame spiral, and an electric shock crashed into the fish. Diglett, who had no attacks to launch, just sat back, hoping that the fish would be blasted onto land. No such thing happened however. Magikarp merely shook off the attacks and launched a new attack: Dragon Rage.
The small fish began to swim rapidly in a circle, forming a whirlpool as it swam. The whirlpool suddenly erupted into a large swirling cyclone of water. Magikarp looked at its opponents to smash them with its new terror, only to find that they had disappeared. It let the typhoon die down, and then submerged itself again, retreating to darker waters.
-|*~*|-
Back at the Pokemon Center, Ash, Chris, and Growlithe were trying to dissuade Blaine from going back outside, where it was now pouring heavily, to face the water
Pokemon. That meant that they were using all their strength to hold him back.
"You can't go out there Blaine!" Ash was yelling. "One, it's pouring. Two, we don't stand a chance against that thing! And three," he put his mouth next to Blaine's ear and said softly, "you'll get wet." Blaine calmed down considerably.
Kris, who had been standing back watching them while trying to suppress a laugh, said, "Well, at least now we know what we're up against."
Blaine slumped down into a chair and said sullenly, "Yeah, the equivalent of a fully evolved and powerful Gyarados. Because that's what that thing is."
"There's one thing I don't understand though," Chris muttered. "How did a Magikarp get that strong? Even the strongest Magikarp have trouble taking out a low level fire Pokemon."
"That's because fire Pokemon are more intelligent than that stupid fish," Blaine mumbled, but no one heard him. He continued louder. "Long ago, Magikarp were as powerful as Gyarados are today. But over time, their power weakened, until they became the useless fish they are today."
"Which would make this an ancient Magikarp."
Everyone looked at the new person in the room. He was tall, about 6 feet, and wore a dark blue sweater over a black t-shirt, and wore plain black jeans. His medium brown hair was very bushy and stuck up at odd angles. A flowing black cape adorned his back, and was held together in the front by a small, metal button, decorated with a five-pointed star.
"Hey Matt," Chris said casually. "Guys, this is Matthew. He's a well-known trainer around here."
"I would have dealt with this myself," Matt said, "but I was away training for a while. But now that I'm back, I say we deal with it right now."
"Here, here!" Blaine jumped from his seat and walked briskly to the door. He paused at it, grabbed a raincoat from the door, yanked it on, and looked back. "Well, sitting around here isn't going to get rid of that psychofish, so let's go already!"
Everyone nodded and followed Blaine except for Ash. He remained in his seat, looking puzzled. Finally, he said to himself, "Psychofish?"
-|*~*|-
The rain had lightened up slightly, but there was still a considerable amount of it coming down. Halfway to the lake, it was realized that Ash wasn't with him. "Where is he?" Blaine yelled.
"I think he said something about protecting the Center," Matt replied with a hint of amusement.
Blaine simply looked at Growlithe and jerked his thumb in the direction they had come from. Growlithe trotted off, and a minute later was seen nipping at Ash's heels, herding him forward.
"Now if we're all set," Blaine said dryly, looking straight at Ash, "we can get this over with now."
-|*~*|-
In the dark depths of Lake Jeboinya, only one thing moved. Everything else had fled with the coming of the horrific creature, which now swam swiftly to the shore. "So the humans want a fight?" it thought to itself. "Even if he is with them, they can't defeat me! Mwahahahah!"
Magikarp emerged from the waters and saw the group of humans standing on the edge of the lake. Nine Pokemon stood in front of them, ready to attack. Magikarp's small eyes swept over them quickly, taking count. "The Growlithe, Ponyta, and Charmeleon will be easily taken care of, as will the Diglett, Squirtle, and Golbat. The Nidos shouldn't be too much trouble, but it would be best not to underestimate them. The Pikachu is the only one that would pose a threat, so it'll be the first to go."
Immediately after seeing the orange fish, the Pokemon launched their respective attacks. Three flames, a lightning bolt, a jet of water, many small needles, and supersonic waves were released upon the fish. Rather than sit and get hit by them, Magikarp leapt into the air and fired a burst of water at the incoming flames, extinguishing them. The thunder struck the water below him, as did the poison needles. It was hit full blast by the Supersonic, though, but the re-impact with the water shook the confusion off quickly.
Magikarp countered by surfacing, inhaling deeply, and then expelling a blue- green flame at Pikachu. The mouse quickly sprung to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack, but Ponyta wasn't so lucky. The flame wrapped around her as she shrieked, casting an aqua light around everyone. When the flames subsided, Ponyta was on the ground, unconscious.
"Ponyta!" Blaine was at her side, trying to wake her up, or at least get a response, as the others moved went on the defensive.
"Be careful of its Dragon Rage attack," Matt warned. "It can take on different elements, depending on how the user, um, uses it. Now, Golbat, Hyper Beam!" Golbat flew up over everyone else's heads, out of the range of Magikarp, and started charging her beam.
The prehistoric fish noted this and chuckled to itself. "Do they think they can actually defeat me? Hah! I will show them what true power is." It began glowing with an eerie yellow color, then let off an enormous burst of electricity at Golbat. But Golbat had finished charging by now, and flew lower to avoid the lightning and get closer to Magikarp.
"Now!" was the only command Golbat needed. In a blast of white light, the fish was sent flying - and landed right next to Blaine.
Blaine started smiling, but this was the type of smile you would expect to see on a deranged killer right before he gets his next victim. Even Magikarp cowered slightly. Blaine reached over and picked up the orange Pokemon slowly. He held it over his head and proclaimed, "Victory is ours!"
"Uh, Blaine?" Ash said meekly. "I don't think that's such a good-" He was cut short as a freezing gale passed over the fire trainer, encasing all but his hands in ice, and enabling the attacker to flop free.
Then Magikarp became very still, even though he was on land. The rain suddenly came to a halt, and the clouds turned black.
Ash started shouting. "This must be Dragon Rage, but of the thunder type! It's creating a thunder storm!"
Closing its eyes, Magikarp began calling the power of the storm to itself. Eight bolts of lightning crashed downwards to the Pokemon still conscious. Right before they hit, though, Magikarp's concentration was disrupted - by an Ultra Ball. The lightning disappeared as soon as it hit the fish. Magikarp was so taken aback, it didn't even get a chance to struggle. The ball hadn't shaken once. Its only thought as the ball closed around it was, "How?"
-|*~*|-
The next morning, Blaine was in another one of his good/bad moods. He was happy that 'psychofish', as he had dubbed it, had been taken care of, and thus his thirst for revenge had been satisfied - partially. "I ain't showing any more mercy to those stupid fish," he was heard to mumble occasionally.
Add that to the fact that it had taken three hours to unfreeze him, and you have a very grouchy, yet pleased, pyromaniac.
"Are we leaving yet? I want to get to Vermillion some time before I die, you know." Yep, *very* grouchy.
"All right, all right, hold your Ponytas."
"I only have one, and besides, I can't even lift a Ponyta, let alone hold one."
Ash turned back to Kris, Chris, and Matt. "Well, we've got to get going, or else I'm going to be incinerated, smashed with a mallet, and God-knows-what- else." He turned to Matt. "Congratulations on catching that Magikarp. It'll be a great way to lower your opponent's guard."
He reached out and shook each of their hands and turned to walk back to Blaine. "Hey, wait." Ash turned around in time to duck as a book went flying over his head. Blaine leaned forward and snatched it before it hit the ground.
"I think the idea was to catch the book, Ash," Blaine said with a grin.
Matt spoke up, indicating that he threw the book. "That is a book of all the Gym Leaders in Kanto. I saw the badges and figured you were taking the Pokemon League Challenge." He continued as they nodded. "So are you competing in the tournament or facing the Elite Four?"
Ash raised an eyebrow and looked at Blaine. "What tournament?" Blaine just shrugged.
"I guess that means the Elite. Well, good luck, whichever path you may take."
As Blaine and Ash left, the twins went home, but Matt stayed and watched the boys until they were out of sight. "I have a feeling that we'll meet again someday, but under much different circumstances..."
~~~~~
AN: 5 months... It took me 5 months to write this chapter... I'm pathetic... Oh well, hopefully chapters will come out faster now that I crushed my writer's block into itty-bitty pieces with Blaine's hammer.