Hey Nuggies! Well I really shouldn't be doing this, but here I am writing another fanfiction since I have writers block on a few of my other ones, and because this won't leave me alone. Here is your warning this will be SLASH! Not to sure on if it'll be M!Preg or not, but at this current moment I have not thought about it.
Main Pairing: AshxPaul
Side pairing: AshxGary (One sided on Gary's part)
Rating: M (to be safe)
Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon it belongs to Game Freak, Nintendo, Creatures, The Pokemon Company, etc, nor do I write this for profit. This is for entertainment use only.
Enjoy! And don't forget to leave a review!
Ash wiped his forehead of sweat as he looked down at his Xtransceiver to make sure he was on the correct path. He hummed softly letting his arm fall down to his side. It was the middle of the day and it was really hot with not a single breeze blowing through the trees making the forest he was in weirdly silent. Well, it was silent until he heard a feminine scream.
The scream even made his Pikachu perk up before running off to it making Ash follow quickly behind the yellow mouse. They rushed through trees and bushes until they made it to a large lake, though it wasn't as large as the lake he caught Horsea at, and a girl cowering in front of an angry Gyarados.
"Graaaaaa!"
"Pikachu! Quick Thunderbolt at the Gyarados!" Ash called out startling the girl and making the Gyarados turn to him. Pikachu let out an affirmative before shooting a high powered streak of lightning at the large water serpent making it shriek in pain. Ash watched out of the corner of his eye as his Pikachu shot bolt after bolt at the Gyarados as he helped the girl away from the water.
"You okay?" Ash asked looking her over for any injuries. Her orange hair, jean shorts, red suspenders, and yellow tank top were soaked, but he didn't see any injuries.
"Yeah, yeah," she said a little breathlessly as she clenched at his shirt, "Wh-What about your Pikachu?" She asked as she watched the little mouse tease the already angry Gyarados. The large water serpent had started attacking back sending large bouts of water trying to hit Pikachu.
"He's fine. He's just playing around," Ash said as he chuckled knowing his Pikachu was having some fun. During the last few days with Pikachu he knew the yellow mouse wasn't even using his full strength in the Thunderbolts. That was why he decided that Pikachu would be a last resort pokémon in gym battles until the others caught up with Pikachu in terms of strength. "Pikachu it's time to stop playing!" he called out and saw Pikachu send him an affirmative with a wag of his tail, "Volt Tackle! Send it back to the middle of the lake!"
The girl couldn't help, but think that it wasn't possible for a tiny pokémon like Pikachu to send a larger pokémon like Gyarados back that far until she actually saw the yellow mouse do it. "Kyaaa!" Pikachu yelled as he charged up electricity to surround his body before running and tackling Gyarados sending the twenty foot pokémon back towards the middle of the lake just like his trainer wanted. Pikachu waited tense at the edge of the lake in case Gyarados would come back, but after a few tense moments he relaxed and shook out his fur before turning around and ran back to his trainer.
"Good job," Ash said as he handed Pikachu an Oran berry. He gave the electric charged fur a scratch before turning to the girl. "I'm Ash," he said introducing himself as he held out a hand for her to shake.
"Misty," she said as she was helped to her feet before commenting in a slightly unbelievable voice, "Um that's one powerful mouse you got there."
"Thanks, but I can't be credited with any of it. I just got Pikachu a few days ago," Ash said as he watched Misty grab her things, "So how did you end up being almost eaten by an angry Gyarados?"
Misty shrugged on her bag as she folded her fishing pole and put it on a clip on her hip before responding, "I was fishing and got a bite. When I reeled it in it was Gyarados and none of the pokémon I have on hand could defeat it. I wasn't expecting a Gyarados to be in a lake that small. I thought they were all in oceans, but nonetheless thank you Ash for saving me. If it weren't for you I'd be Gyarados food."
"No problem," Ash said as he walked with her back to the path with Pikachu back on his shoulder, "I would suggest that you don't fish there until your pokémon are ready to fight it."
Misty couldn't help but nod and laugh before asking, "So you said you got Pikachu a few days ago, how long have you been a trainer? How did he get so powerful so quickly?"
Ash bit his lip as he reached up to scratch Pikachu behind his ear, "Professor Oak had him before I did, but before that Pikachu had a trainer that abandoned him after getting an injury. Pikachu survived fevered and infected until Professor Oak found him and got enough trust from Pikachu to help him. Professor Oak had to use Ditto Cells to heal him, but after being healed Pikachu agreed to be my pokémon," he explained as they walked down the path towards Pewter, "I'm kind of glad the trainer abandoned Pikachu, as bad as it is to say, but if they didn't I wouldn't have the opportunity to have such an amazing pokémon as Pikachu as one of my best friends."
He heard Pikachu chitter softly in his ear as he felt the yellow mouse nuzzle against his head making his hair stand a bit from the static. He knew his buddy felt the same, and he was glad that Pikachu gave human companionship a second chance. He cleared his throat softly as the atmosphere between the two humans and pokémon fell into a comfortable silence. They walked together for a few hours before the trail they were on split and they parted way from Misty who decided to go to another fishing location.
He bade her a farewell before walking the way his map told him would take him to Pewter. He checked the time on his watched and decided that he could talk a bit more since Pewter was so close and sure enough he made it to the town right before nightfall. "What do ya say Pikachu? To the PokéCenter first or see where the Gym is before going to the Center?" he asked Pikachu as he walked on cobbled streets.
"Kya," Pikachu cooed softly as he ruffled his fur and tapped Ash once on the head.
"The Center it is then," he said as he looked around for any signs for the Center and saw one to follow. It didn't take him long to find the red roofed building to enter. Going inside he was greeted with a cool breeze and loud chatter from a few trainers in the waiting area.
One trainer was a brunette with a large mouth and dark eyes while the other two trainers were identical to each other with blue hair and green eyes. He rolled his eyes at their loud chatter before ignoring them thus not seeing the brunette narrow his eyes at him. "Hello Nurse Joy," Ash said as he reached the counter and saw her coming from the back.
"Hello dear," she greeted with a smile, "How can I help you this evening?"
"Can I have a room?" he asked as he put his hands on the counter with his pokédex ready for when she needed it to sign him in for a room.
"Of course. I just need some form of identification," she said before being handed the 'dex, "Thank you." she slid the 'dex into a reader slot and signed him in before telling him his room number.
"Thanks Nurse Joy," he said taking back his 'dex and grabbing the key for his room. When he turned around he was greeted with the brunette and the twins that were talking loudly when he walked in.
"Got a 'tude with us kid?" the brunette asked as he crossed his arms over his chest all the while popping gum in his mouth.
"No. I don't even know who you are," Ash said as he felt Pikachu get tense on his shoulder.
"Well when you came in it seemed like it, boy-o," the brunette said as he popped his gum again, "You know with you rolling your eyes. So I'll ask again, you got a problem with us?"
"No," Ash said as he met the dark eyes with his own, "Now, if you don't mind I would like to go to my room for the night."
"Oh I do mind," the brunette said as the twins moved to either side of Ash, "I do think you got a problem with us and there's one of two ways we can deal with this. I can either beat the shit out of ya or my pokémon can beat the shit out of yours. How would you like your beating?"
Ash bit his lip softly and before he could answer he heard Nurse Joy behind him speak up, "There won't be any beating up anyone boys," she said sternly, "if you don't want the cops being called on you that is. However, if you must settle this with a pokémon battle there's a field out back. I won't have any fighting in the Center."
Ash sighed softly at this before telling the jerk that he'll battle with him if it'll get him out of his face. The twins chuckled as they escorted Ash to the back field with the brunette leading them. "So," Ash said as he went to stand on one side of the field, "What are the requirements for this battle?"
"One against three. No subs. No potions. No revives or other items," the brunette said as he smirked thinking that they had this battle in the bag, "Oh and the name is Dylan Graham. These two are Jacob and Joshua Byrne."
"Ash Ketchum," Ash simply said before letting Pikachu jump onto the field knowing that his other two pokémon wouldn't have the stamina or strength to fight three on one. He hoped his Pikachu was ready.
"Growlithe/Machop/Geodude!"
Ash took note of the pokémon in front of him. The first one was a black striped orange puppy pokémon with tan colored fur on its head, chest, and tail that he knew if trained right could be really hard to beat once it was evolved. The other two he didn't know a lot about. The second pokémon was short and stood on two legs like a human would and had a strong muscled build to its body while the third pokémon looked like an ordinary rock he could walk past, but it had arms.
"Pikachu, let's get the Growlithe out first," he said softly at almost a whisper so the trio couldn't hear him, "Iron Attack." Pikachu twitched his ears letting Ash know he heard before be burst into action letting his tail glow a silver gleam as he dashed toward the unsuspecting pup. Pikachu smacked his iron hard tail into Growlithe's side making the pup yelp as it flew back knocked out for the count from the attack and impact to the ground before he had to dodge as the Machop kicked out at him.
Pikachu dashed back to his trainer as he kept an eye on the other two pokémon. "Dodge!" Ash yelled as he saw the Geodude use Rock Throw to send sharp rocks Pikachus' way, "Use Electro Ball on the Machop then Iron tail on the Geodude."
Ash watched as Pikachu charged a ball of electricity on his tail before sending it Machops' way just barely hitting it as it dodged before the yellow mouse dashed his way to the Geodude whacking it away with his tail.
"Take Down!"
"Brick Break!"
Ash narrowed his eyes as he saw an opportunity then smirked, "Pikachu hold!" he yelled, "Wait there until I say!" He saw Pikachu give him a confused look before nodding and staying where he was at. Ash's smirked widened as he saw the Machop and Geodude get closer and closer to Pikachu from either side of his pokémon. He also saw the twin smirking watching the same thing happen before the smirks fell when Ash gave Pikachu the command, "Jump!"
Pikachu quickly followed through and jumped high just as Machop and Geodude would have hit him, but instead hit each other making the other pokémon faint from the powered collision. When he landed Pikachu rushed to Ash's side slightly ruffled and dirty, but not injured.
"I would like my winnings now," Ash said as he held out his hand with his 'dex in it knowing that since this was an official issued battle in front of a witness, and seeing as how said witness watched the battle through the window, the three had to give Ash his winnings of one hundred and fifty dollars each.
Ash stood there as the three grumbled and transferred the winnings to Ash's account before hightailing it out of the field after collecting their pokémon. He chuckled softly as he picked up Pikachu and carried him into the Center all the while praising him on the fight. He let a very happy Nurse Joy check Pikachu over before bidding her a goodnight. He walked tiredly up the stairs to the next floor to his room where he released Nidoran on the bed and Horsea into a filled water tank in the room where his water buddy had enough room to swim.
"Pikachu, you need a bath before you can go to sleep," Ash said to the dirty Pikachu with a little smile of his face knowing Pikachu didn't like getting wet. Pikachu protested showing Ash he could get clean by licking his fur, but Ash knew he was too dirty and just licking wouldn't get him clean. "Not this time Buddy. You need a warm bath and soap," he said as he pick Pikachu up to carry, "Nidoran do you want a bath too?" he asked before entering the bathroom and hearing a soft thump and some movement let him know that Nidoran was following him.
Once the poison type pokémon was in the bathroom he closed the door so Pikachu couldn't escape then turned the water on so it could warm up as he searched for shampoo. He hummed softly as Nidoran flopped down on the rug in front of the tub and Pikachu perched himself on the counter. "Mint or Apples," he said as he found two bottles of unused shampoos in the cabinet under the sink. Grabbing both he turned to Nidoran to let him sniff both to pick from and surprisingly the poison type picked mint.
He nodded and plugged the water so the tub could fill before he grabbed a towel and a rag to wash and dry his pokémon. He stopped the water and carefully picked up and placed Nidoran in the water making sure not to prick himself on the poison barbs. He let Nidoran get use to the water before he started washing the pokémon noting that there were a few loose and dry scales ready to shed and after picking those off he saw slightly darker purple scales underneath. Ash smiled when he saw those. It meant that all their training was paying off and that Nidoran was getting close to evolving.
"I need to check how big your horn is getting Nidoran and see of there are any stretched scales around the base as well as check your front teeth," Ash commented, "You look like you're going to evolve soon with all these darker scales coming in." Nidoran nodded excitedly as he saw a few scales float past his head in the water. He let out a few grunts as he tapped foot to foot wanting the bath to hurry so Ash could measure his horn and check his front teeth. Ash chuckled and unplugged the drain so he could rinse Nidoran with fresh water.
After rinsing and drying Nidoran off he grabbed his back pack from where he dropped it by the door for his journal, pen, and a measuring tape. He knelt by his clean Nidoran and opened the journal to the page he needed. This journal was filled with pages about his Nidoran that he wrote for Professor Oak to look over next time he was in Pallet. He picked up the measuring tape and measured the girth from base to tip before measuring length wise of the pokémon's horn before looking to see if there were any stretched scales before checking to see of there were any shrinking on his front teeth. Professor Oak had told him a few years ago that a Nidorans' front teeth, also known as their egg teeth, would shrink a bit before evolution since they would need to get use to smaller front teeth and longer back fangs upon evolution.
"Well Nidoran, your horn has gotten a bit longer, but the thickness hasn't changed any. Your egg teeth haven't started shrinking either," Ash said as he wrote a few things down in the journal, "I'll look at them again in a couple of days to see if anything changes, but I think you're in the very, very early stages of evolution."
Nidoran nodded and let out a soft grunt before trying to look down his snout to see if he can see his own horn. Ash chuckled and left Nidoran to do what he wanted as he rinsed out the tub and got it ready for Pikachu's bath. "Come on Pikachu, you saw how fast it was for Nidoran," Ash said as he picked up a protesting Pikachu, "I'll use the blow dryer afterwards," he tempted Pikachu knowing how much the yellow mouse liked the heated air on his fur.
He felt Pikachu go limp in his arms and he knew he got the yellow mouse to agree with a bath. "Now mint or Apple?" he asked holding out the bottles for Pikachu to sniff not surprised that the electric type picked apple, "Alright let's wash you quickly so we can get to the blow dry."
He saw Pikachu give him pleading eyes to hurry once he was set in waist high water. Chuckling Ash did hurry to bathe Pikachu glad that despite how dirty he was he didn't need to change the water. Once Pikachu was out of the water he shook his fur out causing water droplets to fly through the room. "Chu!" Pikachu exclaimed as he sneezed from a drop of water falling on his nose making Ash chuckle once more.
"Okay I think it's blow dryer time," he said as he set Pikachu on the counter to use the built in blow dryer on its low setting to dry the wet fur. Once dry and fluffed up Pikachu set to the task of taming the fur down as his trainer picked him up only to place him on the bed.
"Nidoran do you want to sleep on the bed?" Ash asked as he gestured to the bed before getting a small nod from the poison type. He smiled and picked up the pokémon to put him on the bed before showering quickly so he could go to bed himself. He smiled as he fell asleep to the soft rumble of his Horsea sleeping in the water and the smell of mint and apple gracing his nose.
The next morning greeted Ash to the site of a busy town and people singing along the streets as children played not too far from parental vision. Everywhere he turned he saw someone doing something and not a one was just sitting down enjoying the nice breeze. He wasn't much better as he made his way quickly to a good training area Nurse Joy was all to happy to give him directions to. He had decided that morning after he got up that he could give his pokémon some training before they challenged the gym. He wants to make sure Nidoran was sure enough of himself that he could fight and win.
Once he was a bit a ways back in Viridian Forest near a small pond he let out Nidoran and Horsea. "Alright guys! Let's get some training in today and if we're at a good enough point we'll try the Gym tomorrow," Ash said once he got their attention, "Nidoran I want you to try and get started on Horn Attack so pick a tree and start ramming it with your horn as you focus all your strength and energy into it. Horsea I want you to work on Bubble Beam. Use your Bubble attack, but instead of just one bubble at a time try making into a stream of bubbles. Pikachu, I want you to learn Slam the name explains all you have to do to learn it. I got a combo move planed if you can learn that move."
After his pokémon got their training plans they moved away from each other to start working on their moves as Ash moved to sit under a tree to plan out their route after they leave Pewter. He would like to visit Rota since it was close by and he had a year and a half before he could enter the Indigo Plateau Conference and before that he needed the eight badges to even qualify, but as he thought before he had a year and a half before the Conference started.
He sighed before resting his arm on his knee and called Professor Oak to get his opinion.
Bring…
Bring…
Ding!
"Ah Ash! I was beginning to wonder when you were going to call!" Oak said as he smiled through the screen at Ash, "How's it going? I don't seem to know where you are at."
Ash laughed and smiled back, "It's going Professor. I'm in the Viridian Forest. I made it to Pewter last night and slept before entering the forest again to train for the Gym."
"That's good Ash, but I must say Gary has already gotten two badges and is heading for his third," Oak replied as he sat back in his office chair.
"Of course he is. He's always in a rush while I, myself, am not," Ash said as he looked up as he heard a soft bang and saw Pikachu get up from a small crater before going back up a tree to try it again.
"Are you in the middle of training?" Oak asked as he saw Ash look up.
"Yeah! Just seeing what the bang was," he said as he looked back down, "I have Pikachu working on Slam. I want him to learn it to we can work on a combo move."
"I see. Have you caught any other pokémon?"
"Mhm," Ash hummed, "A male Nidoran right after I left Pallet and then I ended up at this really big pond off one of the paths in Viridian Forest and caught a Horsea."
"A Horsea?!" Oak exclaimed as his eyes went wide, "the pond isn't connected to the ocean is it?"
Ash shook his head, "It's too in land for it to connect. Either two Kingdra made a nest there or someone moved Horsea from its natural habitat by the Seafoam Islands. Oh, also in one of the smaller lakes in Viridian Forest a few miles from Pewter is a really aggressive Gyarados. It got angered by a girl fishing and if Pikachu and I weren't there she would have been Gyarados food."
"Hmmm, that is troubling. I'll call someone from the League to take care of it. That, my dear Ash, is really good work for an ORFT," Oak said giving Ash a sly smile making the teen hold in a blush, "Now are these bandages I see in the corner of the screen?"
Ash sighed before explaining what happened in Viridian and how it was handled by himself before the police could even show up. It was him being at the right place and at the wrong time. "Well, all I can do is report it to the League. They've been trying to keep a record of Team Rocket and where they attack," Oak said, "I would say stay away from anything Team Rocket related, but I know you Ash. Just," he took a deep breath as he gave Ash a look, "Stay safe. If not for yourself then for your mother. You know she worries."
"I will. I don't want to go near them again," Ash said softly as he gave the older man a smile before changing the subject and saying, "I do have a few questions about my pokémon and their evolutions." Ash and Oak spent the next few moments speaking about Nidoran and the changes Ash observed before coming to the conclusion that Nidoran was in the very early stages in evolution while Ash hadn't seen any changes in Horsea and Pikachu didn't want to evolve.
"So Professor I can't decide my next move," he said as he looked up to watch his pokémon for a moment.
"What can't you decide," Oak asked before taking a sip of coffee.
"Well since I'm on this side of Kanto and it's so close to my location I want to go visit Rota because of those ruins you told me about," Ash said as he looked back at the screen, "But on the other hand I do only have a year and a half before the next Conference, which I do want to be a part of. I don't expect to win, but I do want to try my hand at it."
"Well, as you did say Ash, you do have a year and a half," Oak said as he put his mug down, "So how about after you journey to Rota I'll have Alakazam teleport you back to Pewter where you can continue on your journey to Celadon for the next badge."
Ash stunned at the offer nodded as he thanked the Professor, "Is there anything I need to know of when I reach Rota? Like is there any regulations or procedures I need to know about to visit the ruins?"
"You'll have to get permission from the ruler of Rota so you'll need to acquire entrance into Cameran Palace to speak with her," he said after a few moments of silence, "I believe her name is Queen Ilene."
"Okay, um doesn't sound too hard," Ash said as he nodded, "All I can do is try."
"That's the spirit," Oak said as he chuckled, "Now, I've taken enough of your time so I'll leave you to your training. Let me know of any further developments."
"I will Professor," Ash promised as he ended the call. He stood up and stretched before going to see his pokémons' progression. Pikachu was doing great in making small creators in the ground from his slams, but it wasn't perfect yet, which he didn't really want Pikachu to perfect in one go seeing as he was in no rush for Pikachu to learn the combo move. Horsea had the idea of trying to use Bubble and Water Gun together which kind of got the same effects as Bubble Beam so it was a great start for Horsea. And Nidoran was almost there in his Horn Attack, but his horn was beginning to bruise so he called off training for the day to get them all looked at by Nurse Joy.
Ash decided to walk around town as his pokémon were getting seen too when he ran across a child crying softly next to a fallen ice cream cone. She had coarse looking auburn hair in pigtails and dark narrow eyes. Her orange tank top was stained with the fallen ice cream as well as her cargo shorts and black tennis shoes. "Hello," he said softly as he crouched down beside her.
She looked over at him while sniffling, "Hello," she said watery as she wiped her cheeks.
"Where's your parents?" Ash asked as he pulled a few tissues out of his bag for her to use to clean up. He had watched her for a few moments, but no one approached her.
"Dunno. Big Brother looks after us," she said softly as she used the napkins to wipe her hands and face off, "Big meanie knocked into Suzie and made Suzie spill her ice cream."
"So your name is Suzie," Ash said softly, "Well, where does your Big Brother work or live? I bet he's looking for you."
"Suzie's Big Brother is the Gym Leader," she said as Ash took the used tissues to throw away in the trash cans nearby.
"Well Miss Suzie," Ash said as he held his hand out, "My name is Ash and why don't you lead me to the Gym so we can find your Big Brother." Suzie giggled softly and nodded as she took Ash's hand into her slightly sticky one. On the way to the Gym Ash asked Suzie why she was out by herself and that it was dangerous to be out with no one to look after her. She told him that he Big Brother wouldn't let her have ice cream before dinner, but she really wanted some so she took some money out of Mr. Binks, her piggy bank, and went to go get some. She told him about how hard it was to choose just one flavor and topping so she had a chocolate vanilla swirl on a cone that was topped with rainbow sprinkles and m&ms.
It was a few moments after her story ended when they reached the Gym. In the front of the gym was a tall man with eight other children of different ages. "Suzie!" one of the girls yelled out causing the others to look over then rush over to Suzie. Ash smiled as he watched them get reunited before the eldest of the bunch walked over to him.
"Thank you for finding her. Where was she," he asked as he kept an eye on the others. It was quite obvious that all of them were related with the same hair and squinty narrow eyes.
"Over by the ice cream shop," Ash replied before adding, "She told told me the whole story about how and why she was there as she led me here. You the Big Brother?"
"Yeah! Brock's the name," Brock said as he held out a hand to introduce himself.
"I'm Ash," he said shaking the hand, "Suzie said you were the Gym Leader."
"Sure am," he said with a smile, "Battle's gotta wait until tomorrow. I got take care of these guys."
Ash chuckled and sent him a little smile, "That's alright. I was gonna say for you to be prepared for a morning battle. Coming here bright and early."
Brock sent him a small chuckle and a smile, "Got places to be?"
"Yeah, I'm going to head on to Rota," Ash said as he walked with Brock and his siblings for a bit until they were almost in front of the Center, "Then to Celadon."
"Well," Brock said as he folded his arms over his chest as he smirked already getting pumped for the morning, "I'll be waiting then. Bright and early."