"So, where do we wanna go first?" Ash asked. He looked down at Flamekist, who was walking beside him. "Is there anywhere you'd like to go before I continue on my Pokémon journey?"
The Houndour thought for a moment, a strange pensive look on her face. Finally, she nodded, "Dour." Then she elaborated: How about we continue going this way for a while? I'll let you know when to stop.
Ash, while he didn't catch every word of it, got the gist of what she said, and he replied, "All right, then. We'll keep on this path for a while."
If Brock and Misty were surprised that Ash could understand the Houndour, they didn't show it. Togepi merely trilled, "Prriiiii."
And so the group continued on the path they were walking on (while Ash, in a low voice, acquainted himself with the moves that Flamekist knew). It wasn't long before they ran into another Pokémon trainer, as they were prone to do.
But this was a somewhat unusual trainer.
This trainer, a female dressed in a hot pink shirt with the words "Hot Pink For Hot Pokémon Trainers" on it in a lime-green which matched the color of her pants and her long straight hair, stepped out of the bushes and pointed at them, yelling, "Hot Pink Pokémon trainers rock! My fab colors can beat your drab dog any day! You and your canine companion care for a battle?"
Ash and Misty stood blinking at her (while Brock made a saliva waterfall out of his tongue) for about five seconds. Finally, Ash looked down at Flamekist (ignoring the angered grumbles of a certain Electric mouse). "You up for a battle? It's okay if you don't want to."
The Houndour looked at him and then at the new trainer. After a few more such exercises of her neck, she frowned and looked down at the ground. Yeah, I guess I am, she said quietly.
Grinning, Ash went into battle pose, answering the trainer. "You bet we wanna fight!"
Giving a big smile of her own, the trainer threw a Pokéball. "Pinkqueen! Go!"
Out of the ball popped one of the ugliest looking Pokémon in Pokémon history. It had a white snout, a white chest, a white mane tuft, and a white tail. Certainly all that white was seemingly innocent enough. The trouble came in the principle color of its body: hot pink. It wasn't a Jigglypuff or a Clefairy or some such round pink ball of cute Pokémon fluff; instead, it was a Growlithe.
"Grooowlll," howled the hot pink Growlithe.
The three humans, Pikachu, and Flamekist all fell to the ground out of shock. Luckily, Togepi had been set down on the ground, or he might have been squashed. The egg Pokémon said obliviously, "Togepriiii!"
"Isn't Pinkqueen cute?" the girl asked, completely misinterpreting their shock. "Oh, by the way, my name's Taffy."
Ash and company, having gotten to their feet, stared.
You ever dare compare me to that thing, and I'll rip you limb from limb, muttered Flamekist to Ash.
The dark-haired trainer laughed (though his laughter did have a somewhat uneasy note in it), and Brock and Misty looked at him curiously, wondering what the Houndour had said.
"Ready to fight a one-on-one battle?" Taffy asked.
"Uh, yeah," Ash murmured. He looked at Flamekist. "Flamekist, let's go!"
"Dour!" howled the Houndour as she moved closer to the Growlithe. She would prove she was better than this pink monstrosity.
"Flamekist, Headbutt!"
"Hound," the Houndour said, ramming into the hot pink Growlithe.
"Grooowwl!" Pinkqueen complained loudly as she was thrown back.
"Pinkqueen, hang in there," said Taffy. "Use Leer!"
"Watch out," Ash inserted quickly, "and use Faint Attack."
The Houndour disappeared and reappeared, avoiding the Growlithe's attack and hitting her with the Dark-Type move.
"Good job, Flamekist! Now, Crunch!"
Pinkqueen whimpered; she was already weak, though the battle had barely started.
"Pinkqueen, use Agility, quick!" the Growlithe's trainer called.
The Pokémon used the speedy attack, zipping all over the battlefield quickly and dodging Flamekist's attack.
"Take Down, now!" Taffy ordered.
The Growlithe threw herself at her opponent, hitting Flamekist back a bit but barely affecting her.
"All right, Flamekist," Ash said, "use Swift!"
The Houndour threw a barrage of stars at her opponent, then used Mud-Slap at Ash's command, finally knocking Pinkqueen out.
Taffy gaped at the Fire- and Dark-Type. "Your Pokémon's strong," she said to Ash. "Pinkqueen's never been beat by another Fire Pokémon..."
"Flamekist's amazing," the dark-haired trainer offered simply.
"She's right. Flamekist is unusually strong," Brock observed.
"She's a Houndour that doesn't hold back," Ash said proudly.
As Flamekist looked at him, she couldn't help but think about her time with his father...
She stared at her "trainer." Hah. Trainer. What a word to apply to him. Brutal monster was more like it...
Oh, how she hated humans.
"Houndour," his deep voice said, sparking a flash in her eyes. "Why are you holding back? You should have evolved by now. He won't like the fact that you haven't. He'll think I'm not training you hard enough..." He sighed. "You're leaving me with no choice." His hand moved to the Pokéballs at his waist, his voice gaining an edge. "Charizard, Gyrados, Alakazam, Tyranitar, Machamp, come out. Teach Houndour the meaning of the word "power.""
And she found herself faced with five fierce opponents. She, who was less than two feet tall, was to battle all of them.
Growling, she steeled herself. She wouldn't evolve for him. She wouldn't. He could never make her.
"I thought I saw something on TV that said Houndour evolves at level 24 into Houndoom. Pinkqueen's over level 24. How did your Pokémon beat her?" Taffy asked, pulling Flamekist out of her reverie. Questions were written in the female trainer's eyes.
"I don't think Pokémon should evolve if they don't want to," Ash said truthfully. "Pikachu didn't want to evolve, and I didn't make him, but he's still just as strong as any Raichu. Right, ol' buddy?" He looked at the electric mouse.
"Pi," Pikachu said without enthusiasm.
Taffy looked at Flamekist, admiring her. "That was a great battle. I'll have to train even harder now." With her new goal in mind, she recalled her Pokémon and disappeared into the distance, determined.
"That was amazing," Ash emphasized, gazing down at Flamekist.
Your father trained me hard, she said simply, before walking forward as if they had already started their journey again.
Ash looked down at his clenched fists. His father...
Ash was watching a show on Electric Pokémon on TV. They could do some pretty amazing things, he'd been thrilled to discover.
"Low-level Electric Pokémon usually know Thundershock, which can be especially surprising for Water-Types," the narrator said.
The screen showed a wild Pikachu shocking a Goldeen that had disturbed it.
"Electric Pokémon are also effective against Flying-Types."
A Voltorb Thundershocked a Spearow which was flying around and taunting it.
"Ash," a soft voice called, interrupting his musings on Electric-Types.
The young boy turned. "Yeah?"
His mother came and sat beside him. She refused to meet his eyes with her red-rimmed ones. "You know how your father...resigned his title and left to go on his Pokémon journey away from Kanto?" This last part was hard for her to say. He'd left Kanto, where he could still have Pokémon battles while defending his title, to go elsewhere, away from his family. It still stung.
Ash nodded, tears springing to his eyes. Ash had been so mean to him when he'd left. All Ash wanted now was for him to come back...
"Well..." Delia Ketchum was crying again. "He...He died in an accident. Oh, Ash," she gasped, burying him in her arms, finally sobbing without any restraint.
The boy embraced his mother for a long while as the news sank in. His father was dead? How could Ash prove his worth as a Pokémon trainer to him if he were dead? He couldn't really be dead, could he?
Finally, the boy began to melt, and his tears began to join that of his mother's.
Ash's father wasn't really dead.
After all these years of acceptance concerning his father's death, it felt weird to think about it.
His father was still alive out there, somewhere, cruelly abusing Pokémon.
Ash hung his head in shame as he continued to follow his friends.
He hadn't told his mother that his father was still alive. He thought it better that she thought of him as dead rather than as a Pokémon abuser.
"Where are we going, Flamekist?" he asked, trying to keep his mind off the subject.
Viridian, answered the Pokémon simply.
"So, what are we doing here, Ash?" Misty asked when they arrived at Viridian City. She didn't look too thrilled and clutched Togepi much tighter than usual. She had a strange feeling...
Pikachu grumbled something as Ash replied, "I dunno...Flamekist wanted to come here." He looked at the Dark Pokémon.
Follow me, she said simply, and they did. Soon enough, she brought them to the Viridian Gym.
"Ash has already gotten his badge here," Brock noted, as if to say to Flamekist: 'What are we doing here?'
Ignoring him, the Houndour said simply to Ash, Inside.
Despite sudden misgivings, the Pokémon trainer opened the door, and they all stepped inside.
"Uh, it's kinda dark," Ash observed.
I'm sorry, Flamekist said briefly, before everything really went dark.