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! I have decided though that this will not have M!Preg.
Main Pairing: AshxPaul
Side pairing: AshxGary (One sided on Gary's part)
Rating: M (to be safe)
Chapter Warning(s): None
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon it belongs to Game Freak, Nintendo, Creatures, The Pokemon Company, etc, nor do I write this for profit. This is for entertainment use only!
A/N: So I've gotten mixed reactions to me doing a new Eevee Evolution. Some are saying yes while others are, I would say hesitant, as these Fakemon aren't portrayed correctly or they're a side characters pokémon. I do want to reassure you that if I do write a new evolution it would be a part of Ashs' team and given screen time just like all of Ashs' pokémon are.
ALSO! This Chapter is a bit graphic, as in gore-ish, towards the beginning, but it gets better. SO, if that makes you squeamish you can skip the part that starts with "The man led them further into the mountain" and ends with "Ash stepped out into the main cavern."
Abomination009, I honestly cannot wait for Legends of Arceus (I'm planning on getting it with my birthday money since it comes out a month after my birthday) and I'm unsure if I will put any Hisuian forms at this time. Perhaps after getting the game and exploring it and seeing what it has to offer, I might. I do not, like many, have enough information to portray the Hisuian pokémon in a correct light. (Although Hisuian Zorua and Zoroark have stolen my heart). Thank you for adoring my story! I hope I can keep everyone entertained!
Roxel, As Ash already has ghost, dragon, and poison types, I would lean more towards the other types. I've had a few ideas bouncing in my head, but thank you.
Griffon Blackwood, Thank you!
Twilightsagarules, Perhaps in a different story in the future. Let me finish this one first and let me tell you it's got a loooooong way to go before it's done.
Fanfictionranger, You'll just have to keep reading to find out.
Enjoy!
Ash let out a huff of air as he leaned back onto his feet where he was kneeling beside Ninetales and Persian. He adjusted his head lamp and took a sip of water from the bottle he had in its holder attached to his bag. They had been in the mountain for two days now looking for the stones Doublade and Eevee needed and he had food enough for a few more days if it took that long to find them.
A few events had happened since entering the mountain.
First, Riolu managed to hit a Rattata with a pure ball of condensed Aura without meaning to and thus sent a horde of angry Raticate after them.
Secondly, he found a strange colored Leaf Stone for Eevee and he wanted to get it checked out by Professor Oak and Bill before letting Eevee use it. He could just get them on a video call to check it out when he leaves the mountain. As well as found a Dusk Stone for Doublade, but he wanted to continue to look for other stones for Mikey.
And lastly, Vulpix managed to find an Ice Stone that had been covered up by layers of stone and dirt, thus evolving into a Ninetales.
Don't get him wrong, he was happy that Vulpix evolved, but he had expected it to happen the way the one passenger he spoke to on the ship had told him it was going to happen. Here he was happily digging into the dirt trying to find a Dusk Stone and then BAM! He was struck on his side by a blast of freezing cold air and particles of ice. When he looked over to where his Vulpix was, after the cloud of dust from the ice and dirt settled down, there was only a beautiful Ninetales and the remnants of an ice stone laying at her feet.
It had been an interesting couple of days at least.
A loud bark sounded from further down the tunnel where Riolu, Zoroark, and Eevee were at, catching Ash's attention by its tone, and as he got up and started walking towards them Ash heard Zoroark let out a snarl. He picked up his pace and when he rounded the bend in the tunnel he saw a man standing there holding Eevee by the scruff of her neck with Zoroark snarling at him.
"Put her down!" Ash said, catching their attention. Persian let out a deep growl beside him and Ninetales let out a sharp yip along with placing ice spikes along her tail that she could throw if she needed to. Pikachu leapt down from his shoulder and ushered Riolu behind them to get the pup further away from the man in case there was any confrontation.
"And why should I do that? It's not yours," the man said with a sneer on his face, "There's no way it is. It's mine."
Ash narrowed his eyes a bit as he looked at the man. He was tall and lanky with thinning hair and a crusty beard. His clothes had seen better days and he wore no shoes. "I'll give you one more chance to let her go before I let Zoroark do what he wants to get his pack mate back." Ash warned as he subtly took a picture of the man to show Jasper when he left the mountain.
If there was someone in the mountain taking another's pokémon then they needed to be taken care of. Ash didn't know if the man was delusional or if he had taken a hit to the head to make him think that Eevee was his.
"NO! IT'S MINE!"
"Go!" Ash yelled as the man turned tail and ran back the way Ash assumed he had come from. Zoroark let out another snarl before chasing the man with Ash and the others right behind him, after he had recalled Riolu. Ash could hear Eevee letting out barks and whines every so often to keep Zoroark on their tails.
The man led them further into the mountain until they reached a large carved out cavern. Zoroark had the man pinned to the ground with Pikachu standing beside them while sparking his cheeks and Persian had Eevee tucked up close to her side. Ash stood at the entrance feeling horrified by what he had seen.
Strung up on the cave walls were, for the lack of words, different parts of pokémon bodies. Skinned, decapitated, drained of blood. There were furs piled into a corner of the cavern where Ash assumed the man slept in. As Ash further investigated the cavern, all the while ignoring the pinned mans' cursing, Ash discovered a self built kennel that had been concealed by a large, thin rock that he had to roll away.
Inside of the kennel were several pokémon covered in their own bodily waste. He held back a reflexive gag as he knelt and turned his head lamp towards the kennel to make sure he was seeing everything right. From what he was able to see there were three fully grown and evolved pokémon, a Luxray, a Houndoom, and an Absol. All three had collars on and muzzles on their snouts and they were just laying there with drooping, glazed eyes like they had been drugged.
Laying further in the back was a soiled nest of hay that had eggs laid in it, all but two were deflated and molded over, and beside the eggs was a tiny slightly deformed Houndour and a Shinx. He couldn't tell if they were still alive, but he didn't want to chance going in there and angering the other three fully evolved pokémon. Drugged or not they could still cause some damage.
Ash stepped out into the main cavern and stalked over to the man only to crouch down beside the pinned man and gave him one anger filled word.
"Why?"
The man chuckled and gave Ash a smirk. "Kid a man's gotta do, what a man's gotta do, to live," he said before groaning when Zoroark moved a back paw over his groin, "You'll get desperate enough too and it pays fucking bank. A few more months and I will be laying on the sands of Alola drinking a fruity drink out of a coconut and with all the women a man could want."
Ash couldn't contain his anger as he yelled at the man about how despicable he is and how much of a monster he is to do all of this. "THEY'RE FUCKING ALIVE! THEY LIVE AND BREATH JUST LIKE YOU AND ME! YOU'RE TORTURING THEM FOR WHAT? A QUICK BUCK?! ILLEGALLING BREEDING , NEGLECTING THEM, AND KILLING THEM TOO?! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Ash's yelling echoed through the cavern and the teen did his best to not let the tears of anger and grief fall from his eyes. He could feel how hurt the pokémon were through his Aura and it felt as though he was feeling what they were. It was sickening and he was surprised that he hadn't thrown up what he had in his stomach.
"They're just fucking animals," the man said cockily as if the teen in front of him couldn't do anything about what he was doing. He had enough money to make this kid scared and run away to his mommy. The man didn't take account of the pokémon, that had him pinned down, to knock him out with a well placed kick to the neck.
Ash took a few deep breaths before pulling out his watch to take pictures and videos of what he had found. Upon further investigation he found paperwork detailing who he sold to, who he bought his drugs from, and other illegal activities. He also found a clunky laptop and a device gave the man cell reception. Ash used it to call the police from his Xtransceiver.
He went back to the kenneled pokémon and spoke to them softly that help was on the way, but it was only the Luxray that reacted to him with a soft growl that ended in a whine. The Houndoom and the Absol merely blinked slowly before they closed their eyes. It was as if the two had given up.
Ash went back to the main room again and sat down to lean against the wall, a wall that had no pokémon meat, bones, or fur hanging from the ceiling, before letting the tears from earlier loose. He heard Zoroark whine from where he was still pinning the man down and a bit of shuffling before Eevee curled up in his lap and Persian nuzzled his face. He held Eevee close to him. If Ash hadn't told the others to stay in groups then Eevee wouldn't be here right now, and he would never have found her or the others in the cave.
He felt Persian lick his tears away and he gave her a small wobbly smile before he began to hear the sounds of people getting near. He had told the police the fastest way to the cavern since they weren't far from the entrance. He didn't care to stand as several officers entered the cavern setting Zoroark off. Before any of the officers could pull their guns out Ash whistled and told his illusionist to calm down.
"Mr. Ketchum?" One of the older officers asked as he slowly approached the teen, no gun in hand, and a small sad look on his face.
"Yeah."
"Can you tell us what happened?"
"O-Of course. It all started-"
Ash let out a sigh as he looked through the observation glass to the only two pokémon left from the cavern. After everything that had happened at Evolution Mountain Ash had followed the entourage of officers out of the mountain where they were met by a team of Pokémon Control Officers and Emergency Pokémon Veterinarians. Ash had asked if he could follow them to their facility on Cinnabar Island, seeing as he was the one to find them and wanted to make sure they would live.
He was especially worried over the eggs and the two little pokémon that he had seen beside the eggs. On the way to the Island, via a boat, they had lost the Absol and the Houndoom. There was too much of the drugs in their system and paired with the neglect, malnutrition, and dehydration it was a wonder they had survived as long as they did.
The little deformed Houndour had to be put down after they reached the facility as her tests showed that she had a severe heart defect, a brain defect, and the bones along her spine and legs couldn't be fixed enough to give her a good pain free life.
The Luxray must have been a new acquisition as it wasn't as malnourished or dehydrated as the other two and a simple run through the system showed that Luxray was a missing pokémon. His owner had been contacted and was on their way to the island to get Luxray. The Houndoom was a wild pokémon and the Absol was the, now arrested, mans' own pokémon. The little Shinx was thankfully healthy, as much as one could be under those conditions, and could leave the facility after gaining a bit of weight and after it passed a behavioral test.
There was a little oddity to her that everyone noticed after she had been given a bath. Instead of her normal black and blue coat there were patches of white fur here and there. When Ash asked about what the patches were about he was told that it was a big possibility that Shinx had a condition called Marie Antoinette Syndrome. It's a condition in which the body, mostly the hair or fur, begins to lose its pigmentation due to high levels of stress. It turns hair and fur white, and there was a possibility that it could regain it's color when the person or creature reduces said stress.
At the moment Ash was watching the little cub scarf down food. The Shinx was a bit wet and fluffed up from the bath a nurse had given it. From its chart outside of its room the little Shinx was a girl and about four months old. Ash knew he couldn't keep her, as much as he wanted to. He had Riolu to train up and two little ones on the way. He would be too busy to give her the time she deserved and he didn't want that for her. She has already had enough going on in her short life.
He let out a sigh as he turned away from the glass and walked away, only to not notice the looks the little cub and the Luxray sent him. He needed to get going and do what he needed to while he was here on Cinnabar Island. The Island itself was large, and the town that lived there was loud and very tourist-y. Ash was barely able to walk around without bumping into someone and he hadn't been able to find a place to stay since the local inn and the Center was completely full with tourists. Apparently there was a festival happening in a couple of days and the members of the town were frantically going around trying to get everything up.
He had found the abandoned building of the gym, it having looked vandalized and burnt, and when he asked Nurse Joy and the local police department they couldn't tell him where the gym had been moved to. It was recently moved, within the last year, and Blaine hadn't told anyone where to find him. From what Nurse Joy said that it was a game the old man liked to play and that he would need to figure out a riddle to find where the gym is.
"So what's the riddle then?" Ash asked as Nurse Joy took a couple of pokéballs from a tourist, who had explained that he got into a battle and lost. He had already traded his pokémon out for those that he was going to use in the gym, but all he needed to do was find it. Before she turned around she handed him a small business card sized paper, told him the riddle was on it and wished him luck. He thanked her before walking out and when he found a bench he sat down and looked at the paper.
The thunder comes before the lightning,
And the lightning comes before the cloud,
The rain dries all the land it touches,
Wrapping the earth in a blood red shroud.
What am I?
"What am I?" Ash asked out loud as Pikachu slumped down onto his lap. The heat of the island was getting to them both. He opened his bottle of water and helped Pikachu take slow sips as he thought over the riddle.
"Thunder before lightning. Lightning before clouds. Waterless rain. Red light," Ash murmured as he ran his thumb over the lettering. It couldn't be a storm. The sound of thunder happens after lightning since the light travels faster than sound. Storms are also not dry, they're the exact opposite since they drench the earth with water.
It had to pertain to the Island of course. Ash looked around where he sat. There weren't any tall buildings on the island and the Center and the Medical Facility, Shinx was in, were the tallest of the buildings there. So he had a clear view of any landmarks the riddle could be referring to. There was a large statue in the center of town, an abandoned mansion near the edges of the town, and of course the volcano.
"The volcano!" Ash exclaimed startling Pikachu from where he was taking a nap in his lap as Ash tried to figure out the riddle. "Sound before lightning is referring to when a volcano erupts. You'll hear it before seeing the light of the lava. And the light can be seen before the clouds of soot and ash. Since ash and soot are heavier than the air it falls like rain onto the ground and dries everything it touches. And the red shroud is the lava that comes out of the volcano and covers the earth," Ash explained to himself and Pikachu out loud, "It's an absolutely brilliant riddle! But to put a gym in a volcano. Is it safe enough to fight in or around?"
"Of course it is!"
A loud voice sounding from behind them startled Ash and Pikachu. The yellow mouse let out a growl as he hopped up onto his trainers shoulders to face the potential threat. When Ash turned, just a moment after Pikachu jumped onto his shoulder, he was met with an older man in a red shirt, white vest, khakis, and a white hat on his head. The cane the man was using tapped on the ground as he walked around the bench Ash was sitting on.
"Of course what is?" Ash asked once the old man stood in front of him.
"Battling in the volcano," the man said as he tipped his hat, "Had the League come and check it out and everything after the old building was vandalized. My name's Blaine, and I'm Cinnabar Island's Gym Leader."
Ash's eyes widened as he stood up and held out his hand for Blaine to shake. "I'm Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town," he said, "How did you know I was trying to solve the riddle or was it just a happenstance that you were near when I solved it?"
"I came looking for you," Blaine said as he gestured for Ash to follow him, "Nurse Joy, bless her, lets me know when she hands out one of my riddle cards. It's the only way I will accept any challengers."
"Why?" Ash asked as the man led them further away from the town and towards the volcano.
"I was getting tired of always winning. In the last few years there have been less and less trainers that actually have the drive to train their pokémon for even a halfway decent battle," the old man explained, "So I proposed the riddle. Anyone who were actually serious in fighting me could find me for a battle."
By the time Blaine finished his explanation they reached an area before the volcano that had markings dug into the dirt. "The battles always take place outside of the volcano for safety reasons for both humans and pokémon while the main building of the gym is inside of the volcano," Blaine said as he stopped before the ground markings.
"Are you ready?" Blaine asked as he settled his cane down onto the ground and gripped its handle.
"As ready as I'll ever be," Ash answered confidently as he nodded to the old man.
"Good! We'll use normal gym rules, no subs, no item use, and the winner is whoever has their last pokémon still standing. We'll fight four on four," Blaine said as he threw his cane to the side and reached for one of the red and white balls he had on his belt.
Ash did the same and threw his ball out at the same time as Blaine. The creature that came out of the old mans' ball stood on two legs and was covered in red and yellow fur. The creature had open flames on its head and tail and scales down the length of its arms. Kingdra let out a soft whinny as he popped out of his ball and saw his opponent. He could feel that the air was dry, but that was no problem for him.
"Begin!" Blaine yelled before sending out a command for his Magmar.
"Kingdra dodge its attack and wait for it to get closer before spraying water at it," Ash commanded just as the Magmar released a rope of bright flames. The large seahorse let out several streams of Ice Beam, not caring that it instantly melted due to the heat. It left puddles of steaming and boiling liquid in its wake. Ash watched as Kingdra grazed the Magmar with a Hydro Pump before dodging its Thunder Punch with Brine.
"Magmar use Lava Plume then Thunder Break!"
"Dodge and use Hydro Pump then Dragon Pulse!"
Ash didn't know what a Thunder Break was, but he didn't want it to hit Kingdra if the word 'thunder' was any indication. The Magmar let out a loud roar and it was only a few moments later that the earth erupted in a show of lava and earth debris. His Kingdra let out a torrent of water making the lava hiss and harden where it had been pushed up through the earth. As Kingdra managed to stop the lava the Magmar ran towards the large seahorse with one of its hands covered in electricity and what looked to be the beginning move of Brick Break.
"Kingdra!" Ash yelled and Kingdra turned and blasted the Magmar with a Dragon Pulse. The Magmar was sent backward and skid to a stop leaving clawed out gouges in the ground. The Magmar let out a growl and sent out an Uproar causing Ash to cover his ears from the sound. Kingdra let out a trill of pain and shook his head trying to get the ringing out of his ears from the noise.
The Magmar took the chance and threw a Thunder Punch at Kingdra making the seahorse to once again scream as electricity coursed through his body. Kingdra swirled around and blasted the Magmar with a point blank Dragon Rage.
"Kingdra! Use Mizuchi!"
The large seahorse let out a loud whinny as he gathered all his energy for his last attack. He had been working on this move in private with his trainer ever since he had evolved into a Kingdra. He had to use dragonic energy and water elemental energy to pull it off. Kingdra had only been able to pull this move off once. His eyes began to glow with a purple energy as a ball of blue and purple gathered in front of his snout.
"Magmar! Overheat!"
The Magmar was too late to release its attack as Kingdra released Mizuchi. The seahorse had been pushed back from the force of the move that left him, but he was proud of the large water dragon that formed and shot towards the Magmar. By the time the move had finished its course the seahorse was left panting and shaking and his opponent was face down on the ground and not moving.
"Magmar is unable to battle! Kingdra wins!" Blaine announced before he recalled his Magmar. "Next battle!"
"Kingdra are you still able to fight?" Ash asked as the seahorse shook its body and stretched his tail. Kingdra gave Ash a nod before turning to the next pokémon he was to fight. Mizuchi had taken a lot of energy to use, and he didn't know if he could defeat his next opponent, but Kingdra would give it his all.
"Ninetales! You're up!" Blaine announced as he released the fox. Elegant and poised, Ninetales was once it was out of its ball. Its nine tails swayed as if there was a wind that blew around and through them. The Ninetales let out a soft croon before bursting towards Kingdra in a Quick Attack. His Kingdra took the hit only to send back an Ice Beam. While the move wouldn't do much it could at least do something.
The two pokémon sent attack after attack at each other, but only Kingdra was slowing down. Ash watched and gave out commands when he needed to, but left the majority of the planning to Kingdra. By the time Kingdra had been announced to be out of the battle the field was covered in water, gouges, soldering embers, and some blood from where Kingdra had managed to use Ice Beam in a point blank attack and made Ninetales bleed.
"To the field!" Ash called out as he released Krookodile. He hoped that the croc would be able to take the fox down. "Earthquake!"
Krookodile let out a roar as he slammed his tail and feet onto the ground over and over to make the earth shake. The earthquake caused the Ninetales to become unbalanced, but it was still able to throw a Flamethrower Krookodiles' way. The flames just barely managed to hit one of the crocs' legs, but he paid it no mind as he charged for a Crunch.
"Sand Tomb!"
"Incinerate!"
Ash watched as a burst of fire from Ninetales met with the whirling sands from Krookodile effectively turning the sand into pieces of glass and ending the move before it had the chance to hit and trap the fox. He called out another attack and watched as Krookodile managed to hit Ninetales with a Foul Play.
"Heat Wave!"
Ash hissed as sweat dripped into his eyes from the overwhelming heat that came from the Ninetales. It was hot enough without the move. The teen could see Krookodiles' scales begin to dry up and shed as well as bleeding cracks forming between the larger scales.
"Crunch!" Ash called out as he watched the Ninetales get closer with its tails glowing silver. The croc let the attack hit him as he wrapped his jaws around the fox making it scream. Krookodile clenched his jaw tighter and heard a few cracking sounds before he shook his head back and forth as he alwasy did with his prey.
He kept up the pressure and the shaking until he felt the fox between his teeth fall limp. He let out a snarl as he threw the prey away and thumped his tail on the ground a few times as he saw the fox being recalled into its ball.
"Ninetales is unable to continue. Krookodile wins!" Blaine announced before throwing another ball. A large dog appeared from the red beam and let out a loud earth shaking bark. The Arcanine set off at once not caring if its trainer called out an attack. The dog was faster than the Ninetales and it didn't help Krookodile to keep up as it used Extreme Speed to land hit after hit on the croc.
Moxie had taken its hold on Krookodile, his red hazed eyes and ferocious demeanor had told Ash so, and so Ash didn't call out any attacks. He knew that his words wouldn't get through to the reptile at the moment and the pure adrenaline that Moxie was needed to run its course before he could call out an attack. He watched as Krookodile managed to hit and trip up the Arcanine with his tail a few times as he released attack after attack.
Ashs' furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he saw Arcanine attack Krookodile with fangs covered in a pink hue. While it did cause damage to Krookodile with its fangs, the attribute of the attack didn't hurt the reptile. He would have to ask Blaine what that move was after their battle.
"Krookodile! Use Assurance!" Ash called out just to see if he could get through to Krookodile. He had noticed the red haze beginning to fade from the reptiles' dark eyes. Krookodile let out a snarl as he rushed forward and with a darkly glowing palm smacked the panting dog with his hand. The yelp the dog let out rang in his ears for a moment before it charged at Krookodile.
"Arcanine! Fire Beam!"
Ash watched as the dog, exceedingly quick, let out a blast of fire and a light colored beam. The teen had merely blinked and within that second both pokémon were on the ground and out for the count. He was shocked at how fast that move Arcanine pulled off. It really was a split second.
"Both pokémon are out! Send out the next pokémon!"
Both pokémon that were released were large and Ash was surprised that the two could fit on the field together. Tyrantrum let out a roar as the Camerupt let out a short mooing sound accompanied by a snort.
"Go all out!" Ash called out as the camel released lava from its back to cover the ground. Ash just had to get through this last pokémon before winning the battle and he still has one more pokémon left if Tyrantrum was able to defeat Camerupt. From what he knew of Camerupt it stored lava in the two volcano like humps on its back, it was slow but could take its hits, and it had stamina. His best bet was to get it taken out before it could tire Tyrantrum out.
Tyrantrum let out a roar before lowering his head and charged at the camel. He didn't care for the lava under his feet. He could endure the heat for a bit. He bit at the camel with Ice Fang and clawed at its side with Dragon Claw. Tyrantrum managed to get hit with Strength, but dodged an Iron Head.
Smacking the camel with his tail sent the Camerupt back a few feet, but it charged with a Bulldoze managing to hit Tyrantrum in his gut. The ancient royal pokémon kicked out with one of his feet before letting out a Dragon Pulse. The two large pokémon kept hitting each other over and over and it didn't seem like either of them were going to slow down.
"Camerupt! Erupt!" Blaine yelled out and when Ash looked over at the older man he could see a large grin on his face.
"Tyrantrum, block it with Ancient Power!" Ash called out as he saw the large amount of smoke and embers beginning to come out of the volcanoes on Camerupts' back. His largest reptile roared and commanded the rock and debris around him to lift and form a wall before him. This wasn't usually what Ancient Power was used for, but as long as the energy was targeted towards the earth the pokémon using it could manipulate it much like a psychic type could.
Ash had to cover his face with his arms as the straw broke the camels' back and exploded with the heat and fury of a thousand suns. Ash could see literal heat waves when he was able to lower his arms and his own clothing was burnt in a few places and was cut up by the few small pieces of debris that had flown by him. Thankfully he wasn't injured, but just a bit burned like he had spent too much time in the sun on a beach.
The wall that Tyrantrum had managed to pull up barely survived with only a few clusters of rocks still up to cover his pokémon. A few of Tyrantrums' iron hard feathers were singed and his scales were more red than usual and raw looking, but he was standing up unlike Camerupt. The camel was laying on its side panting and twitching slightly.
"Camerupt is unable to battle! Tyrantrum wins! Ash Ketchum wins this gym challenge!" Blaine announced with a joy filled laugh, "I must admit my boy! That has been the most heart pounding, adrenaline inducing, and satisfying battle I have had in ages. Please take this badge to show you have beat me in battle and take this! This TM is Mystical Fire. It should come in handy."
Ash smiled as he took the items offered and thanked Blaine before the two left to go to the Center to heal their pokémon. He had asked, while they waited for their pokémon, what move Arcanine used with the pink fangs and was told it was called Psychic Fangs. It was a relatively new move that was discovered in Alola when a wild Bruxish used it against a trainer's pokémon. It had been studied and produced into a TM for others in different countries to get access to the move.
After their pokémon had been looked over Blaine had invited Ash to lunch, where the teen had picked Blaines' brain about fire types. He also learned how Cinnabar, a once small calm town, had turned into a bustling tourist attraction, much to Blaine's consternation. It was quite fascinating what the older man could tell Ash and the teen could see that Blaine enjoyed sharing what he knew. They must have stayed in that little cafe for hours sharing stories and such about their pokémon, history, and the towns they grew up in before they had to part ways.
He had even gained Blaines' private number in case he needed anything or just wanted to talk.
Ash had checked once again at the Center for a room, and was surprised as he was able to get one. He wondered if Blaine had asked Nurse Joy to hold a room earlier for him, but the room could have also been freed up by someone leaving. Either way he was happy that he got a room. He spent the next couple of hours feeding, bathing, and grooming his pokémon, well the ones that could fit in the room, before sending Tyrantrum back to Oak.
He was getting tired himself so after cleaning up, applying some after sun to the redder bits of skin on his face, arms, and legs, he curled up onto his bed. He did call and talk to Paul for a bit and was told that Paul had gone back to Sinnoh for a time, after earning his last badge, to help his brother before the League. Apparently a Glameow and a Growlithe, two pokémon his brother was looking after, had gotten into the area where his brother kept a loaner Ditto. Now his brother was expecting two new litters he didn't really have the room for and needed an extra pair of hands to help.
Ash laughed as wished him luck before having to hang up since it was after midnight where Paul was at. He wanted his boyfriend to get enough sleep after all. After setting up the tv, with a shut off timer, Ash closed his eyes and began to drift off. After such a long day he was exhausted and it was just enough to not notice the soft movement of something moving on the bed and the soft purrs that could just barely be heard over the sounds of the tv.