Showdown

by MeepMeep7913

Delia Ketchum died before she could even see her son go on his journey - or the legendary she helped make abduct Ash briefly. Her death was merely the prelude to a sequence of events and challenges that Ash would battle through on his journey with the help of Oak, Lance and others. All before Red helped plunge Kanto into civil war against the Team Rocket insurgency.

16. Chapter 15 - Rockin' the Rock Gym

Pidgeotto cocked their head as it saw its trainer discussing something with his recently made friend that they remembered debuting in a battle against. It distinctly heard their trainer mention its name at least twice, and so was interested in learning what they talking about. However, it had learnt how Paul had a more reclusive personality than most other humans, and so had cooperatively acted in not getting in its trainer's face.

Ash and Paul had decided to take an hours break for lunch in a clearing of the forest, dragging a felled log into a clearer patch of ground to sit on. Synergy had taken to leaning against the trunk of a tree behind the trainers, the brittle log clearly not supportive enough for her heavy metal frame.

All of the other Pokemon were out too, the two trainers seeing the hour as a good period for them to get one another in. Or more accurately, Ash had suggested it and Paul had grunted his acknowledgment of it. Grotle and Peeper were in particular getting along as the serpentine liked to bask in the sun on top of the turtle's back - provided the semi-aquatic Dragonair didn't lose too much moisture. Two other groups had formed among the Pokemon, with Ash's two other Pokemon hanging out with Snorunt - and Pidgeotto resting in the branches above Synergy's head.

"Shall we take a look at this thing then?" Ash inquired as he pulled out the TM conduit and opened it to reveal the two ports inside of it.

"Might as well." Paul agreed as he looked over. "It'll be a good way to get some training in before the Pewter gym."

"Speaking of which." Ash stated. "Who are you going to use for the rock-type gym?"

Paul grunted as he put on an expression of thought. "That might be a bit of a problem." Paul admitted then. "Rock types are super effective against flying types, and they can deal double damage against ice types..." Paul thought about it for a few seconds more before an idea struck him. "However, rock-types are generally heavy creatures - maybe Snorunt stands a good chance if he uses his superior speed."

Ash looked to Paul before shaking his head, making Paul look curiously at him. "Don't forget about temporary stat changing moves, Paul." Ash began to explain. "The gym leader's Pokemon are bound to know rock polish. You might get a hit in as they use the move, but your plans gone as soon as they finish the move."

Paul cursed at that, before thinking some more. "Well, this forest isn't the only terrain that exists between here and Pewter. Maybe I can catch a new Pokemon..."

Ash obliged by pulling out his Pokedex and opening up the navigation software on it, pinpointing out roughly where they were along route two. Tracing it forwards to Pewter City, Ash found just what he was looking for.

"Here, Paul." Ash spoke to get the Sinnoh trainer's attention, who leant forwards slightly to see the Pokedex screen in Ash's hand better. "The river Dwin runs along the boundary of the forest, and its a good map point as it marks only a day's travel from Pewter City. You could even get a boat ride on the river all the way up to Cerulean City."

"...I think I get what your on about here." Paul spoke. "Cerulean City is the place most famed for water-type Pokemon in Kanto, right?"

"Exactly." Ash confirmed. "And the river Dwin plays a big part in that as it has one of the largest collections and many habitats of water-type Pokemon, where it runs right through Cerulean. I'm pointing this out to you because you could catch a water-type Pokemon from the river. But of course, you could always use a Pokemon from your time in Sinnoh."

It was Paul's turn to shake his head this time. "I left behind my Sinnoh Pokemon team so that I could expand how many I have as well as to catch other regional Pokemon. Not to mention that I don't have quite a few types, such as the water-type. It would do me well to catch one."

"Fair enough." Ash responded before motioning back to the conduit. "Anyway, I was thinking of doing a little exchange - I'll let you use my HM for your Pidgeotto if you let me use your HM for my Riolu. Sound good?"

"Perfectly good." Paul agreed as he pulled out his HM disc from his backpack. "Here's mine first."

The Sinnoh trainer handed over the box containing the disc to Ash, who took it carefully from the case and put it in the machine. "If you give me your Pokedex, I'll get it set up whilst you recall your Pokemon."

Paul obliged as he handed over his Pokedex before then calling out to Grotle and Pidgeotto, who hastened forth at his command as he recalled them. Ash had slid the green Pokedex into the TM conduit meanwhile, watching the screen light up in recognition of what it had been attached to. Selecting the correct processes and options for a short while, Ash was satisfied when it displayed that Grotle was to learn rock smash.

Ash then eyed Paul, before pointing to the Pokeball slot. "Just stick Grotle there." He instructed, getting a nod from Paul as he deposited a Pokeball onto the spherical station of the device. The Pokedex screen changed as it began the process of inputting the information, showing up a loading bar which was completed in under a minute. The disc and Pokeball were quickly replaced with Pidgeotto's Pokeball and the HM fly disc, which was also finished inputting within a minute.

Paul grunted as he took back his Pokeball, before then making Ash swap the discs over once more. "I do believe its your turn for a Pokemon to learn a move, Ash." He stated. "Fair is fair."

"Cheers." Ash replied as he looked over to Blue who was animatedly discussing some debate about Pokemon treats with Snorunt. "Hey, Blue, over here!" He called out.

Pricking his ears up at the mention of his trainer-given name, Blue looked over to see Ash waving at him before he hurriedly scampered over.

"Hey, buddy." Ash greeted as he rubbed Blue's scalp, much to the canine's delight. Ash smiled slighty at the portrayed happiness, having a secret soft spot for the Pokemon who had been his long-time friend throughout their training. When they had started six years ago, Ash had been just taller than Riolu, and certainly not up to Lucario's height. Now, he was taller than Lucario. "How would you like to learn a new move?"

"Sure!" Blue agreed enthusiastically, getting Ash to chuckle slightly before recalling Blue into his Pokeball and placing it in the TM conduit slot. Making sure to hand Paul his Pokedex back, Ash inserted his own into the docking station and went through all the motions of loading up the process once more. It was soon complete, as Ash clicked the manual release button on the capture device to let his Pokemon out.

"Well? How do you feel?" Ash asked as Blue stood before him. "Notice anything different?"

Blue looked at Ash before just shrugging. "I feel fine, and as for the move - it's like all I can think of right now. And yet, it's like I've known it my whole life."

"Yeah, that's pretty standard. It's going to be at the forefront of your mind for a couple of more minutes since you just learnt it in an unconventional way, but that should fade." Ash informed his Pokemon, with Paul looking in on the conversation in interest. It was one thing to hear of aura, and it was another thing to see Ash fully interact with his Pokemon as he could understand them - rather than just interact from their emotional gestures like every other trainer did. "We've still got forty minutes to practice the move however, as you have to feel comfortable using it. Plus, you have to practice using it in battle, which will take a while. Just learning it won't do."

Blue nodded, before Ash looked over as Paul nudged him. "What about your legendary friend back there?" Paul gestured behind them with a backwards thumb, making Synergy look over in interest. "She looks like she's compatible."

Ash gave a small chuckle. "She probably already knows the move."

"I already know the move." Synergy confirmed, accompanied with a dip of her head.

"Well, alright." Paul spoke. "What about Aron then? He's most likely compatible as a rock type."

Ash looked over to the stubby steel-type who was now lying down next to Peeper in the sun, relaxing. "Yeah, he could learn it, but I think I'll hold off for now. It's not so much because it'd be bad for him to use, but it is an energy-intensive move that could cause recoil damage. Plus, I don't want him to go around smashing his head into everything, his armour isn't that good yet." Ash gave it some more thought before nodding. "Yes, I think I'll wait until he's evolved before I teach him big, physical moves like that. Blue is different in that he's done a lot of work with his aim and close-quarters fighting."

Paul shrugged at that. "Whatever, they're your Pokemon." He spoke, before a thought occurred to him. Say, if Plasteel over there can use rock smash, does that mean she can help Grotle get comfortable using it?"

"Up to her." Ash stated in response with a dismissive wave, without even looking at either of them - more interested in pulling a chocolate bar out of his bag and eating it. Plus, it gave him a chance to see how co-operative the two would be with one another.

Paul just looked over to the robotic Pokemon, who stared back blankly. "Well?"

Synergy gave a hum before agreeing - with an added condition. "Bring Blue here too, and I'll do it for them both."

Paul saw no reason not to do that as he looked over to Ash, only to see that he had already locked eyes with the Riolu and was obviously speaking mentally to the Pokemon. Just a second later, the canine nodded and made his way over to Synergy, as the purple-haired trainer released Grotle from his Pokeball before him.

"Watch closely." Synergy instructed as she pushed herself off of the tree, gaining Grotle's attention and seeing Blue already attentive. The robotic Pokemon stomped the ground, pushing energy into the projected force to make a single stone pillar roughly less than a metre tall to rise before her in the usage of the move stone edge. Taking a step closer and closing her right hand into a fist, she spoke. "You may have learnt how to do it, but that does not mean you know how to do it effectively. That requires practice and conforming it to how it best suits you. The overall trick, so to say, is that as you conserve energy within the offensive body limb to both protect and strengthen it; you release this pent-up energy as you strike the rock, surface, or target."

Synergy then cleanly demonstrated this as she lined up her forearm straight with her elbow, fist held tightly closed in the aligned arm before she sent it surging forth at the rock pillar. The short white streak of light followed the Pokemon's arm as she hit the target pillar - and then made it implode as the stone construct was demolished into pebbles scattered on the ground.

Rearing her arm back from the stone, Synergy stood up straight as she opened and closed the fingers a couple of times, mechanical clamping sounds emanating from the action as she loosened the joints. Looking to the two Pokemon before her, Synergy just waited to see what they'd do.

Blue did nothing as he merely pondered what he'd been told - but Grotle seemed to show how different he was from his reclusive trainer as the turtle began grumbling. Even Ash looked over from his food to focus more on what the Pokemon was complaining about, before snorting at it. Paul looked inquisitively at his travelling partner since he could understand, but Ash merely gestured back to the three Pokemon.

Synergy just looked unimpressed at the Sinnoh Pokemon's conversing, which to Paul just sounded like a repeated string of the turtle's name - yet Synergy could fully understand the Pokemon's confused complaints. "Yes, I know full well you have to use your head as you don't have hands. You just have to use the core principles of what I just told you - release the conserved energies as you're doing it. Not before, not even just before as you need to protect your body from the impact of the rock, but not after either as it will have little effect then."

Paul looked a bit shocked at his starter as Synergy quietened Grotle, before scowling slightly. "You've been complaining when you do that, Grotle?" Paul asked aloud then, making Grotle look over to his trainer with an 'uh oh' look. "I'm doubling your training for the foreseeable future."

Ash couldn't help but laugh a little.

RIVER DWIN.

The river Dwin was one of the major rivers within Kanto, stretching down from the mountains that began at the rocky slopes of the mountains situated behind Pewter City and all the way forwards to the lake besides Cerulean City that the river fed. It could even be seen from the Indigo Plateau from its position up in those mountains.

As such, it was a geographical feature that was heavily used by humans. It was the direct main water source for the two cities it passed, not to mention all of the boat traffic that went up and down the river. Plenty of tourism occurred along the river combined with people using the river as a cheap method of transportation. Fishing was legal along most of the river, and many trainers went along the river to catch water-type Pokemon, as it was a very busy ecosystem for fish and Pokemon alike.

Sure enough, Paul was doing exactly that in staring at the river to first gauge what might be there. Occasionally consulting the Pokedex to get an overview of what was in the river, Paul would then look back to the water to see the more locally available catches. The point at which route two met the river was fortunately shallow with a wide length between the banks - making the water favourably see-through down to the metre-deep bottom.

Magikarp were as ever-present as ever, swimming in large schools along the river as smaller, more normal fish darted in and out between them. Smaller Pokemon like Goldeen also behaved in the same way, albeit more isolated as they preferred to move along in families rather than as a whole species. Paul even spotted more differing species, like the contentious Tentacruel drifting along solo.

As Paul stood along the banks observing the Pokemon and trying to decide who and how he should get about it, Ash was just leaning on the bridge that went over the river as a part of the route. He too had his Pokedex, and managed to get a pretty good picture of a Spearow swooping down into the river and yanking a Magikarp from the water. It was most likely that the poor fish was going to be the bird's dinner.

That was when a gleam of sunlight caught Ash's eye, which made him look over as it wasn't from the water. There, standing on the opposite river bank to Paul, was a Pokemon.

"You're going to piss him off if you catch one before him." Synergy intoned from beside Ash as she too, spotted the Pokemon that Ash was looking at.

Wagging his finger, Ash pushed himself off of the railing as he spoke. "You know, that's an excellent point." He stated with amusement. "All the more reason to do it."

Trooping along the bridge with Synergy behind him, Ash stepped down to the river bank to see the Pokemon whirl around to view the source of the oncoming noise towards it. Getting a better look at it himself, the trainer could see clearly that it was also a water-type - a starfish Pokemon. With a vibrant golden-brown body, it was walking upright on two of its solid five legs as it seemed to use the gleaming red jewel core attached to the central front of its body to see.

"Staryu, the star shape Pokemon." Ash's Pokdex informed him as he had pushed the 'scan' button on the device, pointed at the starfish. "Staryu likes to appear on land for recreational and hunting purposes before returning to the water. It is an enigmatic Pokemon that can effortlessly regenerate any appendage it loses in battle."

Ash hummed at that, considering it for a moment before giving into the temptation to catch the Pokemon that had caught his interest. The starfish tensed as it saw Ash pull out a Pokeball, before leaping up and starting a motion of completely rotating its body around its core - flying towards Ash as a part of the move rapid spin.

However, it was completely deflected off course by a wave of Synergy's hand, the rapid movements only adding to the recoil damage it suffered as it ploughed straight into the ground before them. Blue leapt up then, having been released from his Pokeball as Ash determined him better suited to this fight for an agile creature than Silver, who was slower.

Staryu quickly leapt up out of the small dent in the ground and sent an attack towards the opponent before him. Being at a much lower level than Blue, one of he best attacks Staryu had was water gun - which it sent the fast-paced, small stream of water from one of its appendages straight towards the Riolu. Blue dodged this, however, by rapidly strafing left and running around Staryu to stay out of range of the ranged attack - and getting ever closer.

"Bone rush." Ash ordered Blue mentally, who only carried out his orders as his aura training was put to good use - a shining blue aura construct in the shape of a bone promptly forming in his hands as he reinforced his legs with aura energy. The result was the canine shooting off right into the starfish - and landing a direct hit with his aura construct against the jewelled core of the Staryu. The water-type Pokemon let out a squeal of pain from the critical hit upon it, being blasted back into the river.

Ash scowled as he saw the Pokemon do that, knowing full well that if it wasn't knocked out, it would take the opportunity to flee. Either way, there was no way an empty Pokeball was going to penetrate through all of that water. Neither would he send Blue into a river notorious for holding large amounts of Pokemon, any one of which could be aggressive. There was a good reason humans only swam in the river within supervised zones.

But then, to his surprise, the very same starfish shot out of the water and into the air above them - employing the move rapid spin once more in order to keep its momentum. This time though, yellow star projectiles were launched from the Pokemon as it flew above them - raining down towards Blue with the move swift.

Knowing that swift was infinitely harder to dodge than water gun due to it being renowned as one of the most accurate Pokemon attacks, Ash put Blue on the defensive. "Use protect." Ash ordered, getting a corresponding move from Blue who complied. Fortunately, protect was a very simple to move and had few rivalling techniques in how fast it could be deployed - springing up a green screen before the Riolu before the stars slammed into it.

Completely untouched as the stars were merely rebounded or disintegrated against the protective screen, Staryu continued forth for a moment before stopping the usage of swift. Ash grunted as he saw the starfish almost land, not being able to indefinitely defy gravity as its body movements slowed - and Ash thought up a plan. "It will be busy landing." Ash informed Blue, who got more attentive as he awaited his next command. "Use quick attack right as it lands, then transition into thunder punch."

Blue did just that as he blurred across the river bank in a white streak of light, slamming right into the starfish as it landed - drawing a cry of surprise and pain from it. It wasn't over however, as Blue transferred the momentum of the quick attack into a moving fist, cackling with electricity that was sent right at Staryu's core once more. Having learnt from Synergy and received help in refining the move thunder punch, the canine landed a clean hit with the super effective move.

With a slow, pulsing red light coming from the core, the Staryu toppled backwards onto the ground - and Ash didn't wait to see if it was knocked out or not, merely just lobbing an empty capture device at it. With a single click of the hinge of the device opening wide, the Pokeball seemed to dissolve the starfish into a mass of red light and energy which was quickly sucked into the ball. Landing on the floor fully closed, the ball wobbled a bit for a little while as the Pokemon struggled - before the Pokeball settled down and stopped moving, signifying a successful capture.

"Oi! Oi, Paul!" A shout from the opposite bank sounded out then, making the purple-haired trainer look over in curiosity to see Ash waving at him. He looked over with an inquisitive stare, to then observe Ash hold out a Pokeball in his hand and gesture to it. "I got a Pokemon before you! Looks like I'm still winning!"

Paul scowled at that, before turning to Grotle and pointing straight into the river. "I don't care anymore. Razor leaf right into the water, draw them out."

Grotle gave a cry as he complied, shooting many green leaves with an enhanced sharpness from the energy supplied to them straight into the water. Soon enough, just a few seconds into firing such a widespread attack into the river, Paul had drawn out a variety of Pokemon from the water that were either panicked by the super-effective move or angered. Four of them landed on the river bank with Paul and Grotle - that the purple-haired trainer didn't give a chance to retaliate.

"Giga drain." He ordered, getting an affirmative grunt from the turtle who covered the area in front of him with a green sheen that looked like it was drawing essence from the environment and Pokemon. The four Pokemon were instantly caught under its spell, and two of them were weakened within a second - the Magikarp on the right being knocked out in the next. The other three couldn't resist against the wide-sweeping, super-effective move, and although they didn't succumb to it, it weakened them. Which was enough for the Sinnoh trainer to launch three emp[ty Pokeballs at them.

"Alright, Grotle, that's enough." Paul stated to his starter, who complied in ceasing the draining attack. Looking over, Paul took a moment to be satisfied at the fact that all three thrown Pokeballs had been on target, and more importantly, captured all three Pokemon. Moving over to them, he looked observingly down at the three successfully filled Pokeballs on the ground before him, before looking over to the Magikarp - and without a single further thought just booted the unconscious, big red fish back into the water.

Stooping down and picking up all three Pokeballs, he brought one up to his Pokedex to take a look a his stats. He had just taken a moment to read the base attack and defence stats of the caught Pokemon, Horsea, when he pulled a grimace at how low they seemed. Pushing a couple of buttons on the Pokedex concerning the status of the Pokeball, Paul then manually released the Horsea back into the river with a spare thought of explanations or second looks. Hefting up the second Pokeball and bringing it up to the scanner, he discovered it to be another Horsea.

Paul was caught up in observing the stats and information of his newly caught Pokemon on the screen of the Pokedex, to the extent that he never noticed the female trainer behind him until she shouted at him.

"Hey!" She called out to the Sinnoh trainer, who turned round quietly to observe this angry-sounding trainer. Grotle looked over curiously from beside his trainer to see what the fuss was about. "You can't just release a Pokemon for being weak!"

Paul just looked bored at that, looking down with an indifferent face at the angry trainer that contained a hint of a sneer. "Oh? And why not?"

The female trainer seemed to bluster somewhat at that, before pulling herself together and jabbing a finger at him. "Because it's wrong! Pokemon are meant to be supported, loved and trained; and in turn they'd fight just for you!" The trainer ranted in a furious attempt of an explanation. "What sort of message are you setting to your Pokemon by doing this? That they'd be replaced as soon as something better came along? You could just train them to be strong!"

Paul looked utterly bored now. "I do train my Pokemon." He answered back once silence had returned. "It's just a simple matter of deducing if they have natural talent and strength, or not. If they don't, then it would be a waste of my time to train them when I could spend it training more able Pokemon."

Grotle gave a grunt at that, knowing full well what his trainer was like - once Paul started training a Pokemon, then that was that. He saw the opportunity and strength in a Pokemon, and worked to exploit it. Paul was a trainer wanting to build up power, but that didn't mean he treated his Pokemon badly - he was just strict. It was just a matter of first impressions to him - if you had what he wanted, then he would help. And that was that.

But, of course, not everyone agreed with such ways. "Just a simple matter?" The trainer before him repeated, seemingly flabbergasted. "That's not how-"

"Says who?" Ash spoke out then as he joined them, having crossed the bridge with Synergy right behind him and now butting his way into the debate. "It's perfectly legal, it hurts nobody, the Pokemon gets to go about it's day like it was never captured and it's up to my friend here to decide. The question is, why's it any business of yours?"

The female trainer was really put out now, before just huffing. "Whatever. It's wrong, but clearly-"

Paul smirked then as the trainer was interrupted for the second time. "Do you have an empty Pokeball?" He inquired suddenly.

The trainer just looked confused at that as she pulled out one of such empty capture devices, something Paul had been counting on. "Yeah, but why would you care?" She asked back, before Paul suddenly swiped it from her hands. "HEY!"

"You're loud." Paul stated sarcastically, before then holding up the Pokeball with the caught Horsea and lightly chucking it at the female trainer. "Take it. I don't want to waste my time with it." With that, Paul turned around and began walking off, considering the conversation ended. The trainer didn't change that, merely looking at him strangely as he walked off, Ash having joined him as she just clutched the Pokeball - before pocketing it with a scowl and walking in the opposite direction.

Ash looked over to Paul, who was holding up the las Pokeball he'd caught. "So you're keeping the Poliwag?" Ash questioned.

"Yeah." Paul affirmed as he put away his latest catch. "Now that one is worth my time. It has a good special attack stat as well as the fact that it knows bubble beam, meaning its at a higher level than average."

"...You're also playing a longer term game here." Synergy spoke out then, drawing the attention of the two trainers. "You also want Poliwag's final evolutionary form, I'd stake a lot on that. Though whether you want the form of Politoed which is renowned for its strong water attacks combined with agility, or Poliwrath with its fighting-type, I can't tell."

Paul considered that before answering. "I think I'd prefer Poliwrath. A dual typing would allow more variation and moves to be learned, as well as the fact it has a higher attack stat. Those sorts of things."

Ash looked at Paul as he said that, before quipping at him. "Plus that evolutionary form looks cooler than a happy, green amphibian."

"That too." Paul agreed. He wouldn't deny that.

THAT EVENING.

The Poliwag looked over to Paul, who stared back with a considering gaze, before a look of satisfaction came on his face. "Good. You're a high enough level Pokemon." Paul remarked. "I hope your up for a gym battle."

The small, spherical Pokemon chirped at him at that statement, the wide black eyes of the Pokemon seeming to look excited at the mentioned prospect. That made Paul feel further satisfied with the Pokemon - it wanted to prove itself.

The purple-haired trainer pointed at a tree ten metres away. "Water gun." He calmly ordered of the Pokemon, who gave a small chirp before its cheeks bulged outwards. An instant after that, a small stream of water was spat from the Pokemon's mouth, pressurized enough that leaves were stripped from whatever branches were hit, even pushing them aside.

"Now bubble beam." Paul switched up the attack as he directed his arm to point at another tree, and although the timing of the transition for Poliwag in cancelling and starting a new attack was lower than he liked, it was sufficient.

The bubbles struck the bark of the second tree, and although they didn't do as much direct damage as water gun did, it was more spread out. Thus, it did just as much damage, if not more owing to the fact it struck the opponent more - if the opponent was susceptible.

Paul was satisfied with the Poliwag's agility, to the level at least of the upcoming gym. Although he was sure Grotle could wipe the floor with the gym leader's standard team (not their main), it was always better to adhere to caution. Thus, the Sinnoh trainer had decided to use Poliwag as his first Pokemon in the 2v2 battles the rock-type was known for, with Grotle as his second. Since he couldn't change a Pokemon's physical strength or agility overnight seeing as how they'd be in Pewter tomorrow, aim was another matter and so Paul was putting the Pokemon through an hour of quick training.

Ash, however, was having more frustration with his Pokemon. He had planned to use Staryu in the battle tomorrow given its natural type advantage and how Peeper, his second-strongest Pokemon, could pick up any slack of the newly caught Pokemon. However, this was looking less and less feasible as it seemed the starfish did not want to cooperate.

"Let me get this straight." Ash began as he looked to the Pokemon, who had gotten over the surprise of a human understanding it. "You don't want to take part in any Pokemon battles, and you're still somewhat mad at me for capturing you?"

"Exactly." The starfish confirmed, with a somewhat feminine pitch signifying the fact that it was a female. "I've always been the prettiest one in the river, darling. I'm all about style, not gusto. It helps to attract a good mate, and then I have better things to do than fight everything around. That, combined with what you did, hasn't left me in a good mood."

Ash sighed at that. "Blue may have beaten you, but your agility and speed allowed you to drag out the fight. You could be a great battler if you wanted to."

The Staryu shook its body to and fro. "Sorry, darling. It just ain't my style."

"Well, I guess we can always involve you in the lighter side of training for now, and we can talk more about this after the gym battle. I can' force you to fight." Ash conceded. "I guess that throws the schedule I had planned out the window. What would you like to do then, Staryu?"

"Sleep. I'm still tired." The starfish stated. Ash nodded at that before pulling out a Pokeball and recalling the Pokemon into it. As the red mass of energy was sucked into the device, Synergy spoke up.

"At least she wanted to talk to you. If the Staryu really was mad, she could've just snubbed you." Synergy remarked, being optimistic.

"That is true." Ash stated. "But that doesn't change the fact that my plans for the gym battle will have to shift."

"You could use any one of us for the battle." Synergy intoned at that, with an informative tone as she laid out the options. "Peeper is, of course, undoubtedly stronger than any of the standard Pokemon at the gym. And the other two hold a natural type advantage."

Ash gave a chuckle as he replied. "No offence, Synergy, but I think we can safely rule you out. You're just overkill, and it'd deny the others a chance to gain experience." He paused to think, before turning around and calling out into the field. "Peeper! Blue! Silver! Come over here, please."

There was silence for a moment, before Peeper was the first one to appear before them - the sunlight glinting off of her cyan scales in the dusk light. Blue was not far behind with Silver trotting alongside him towards their trainer and his strongest Pokemon, before then sitting down as it was obvious he had something to say. The fact that his arms were behind his back meant he was about to lay out his plans, which any one of them would bet was of the gym battle.

"The plan has changed. Staryu does not want to battle tomorrow." Ash informed the gathered Pokemon, getting Peeper to cock her head round. Seeing that, Ash elaborated. "Apparently, she does not like battling at all. Thus, I will have to use two of you." Considering it for a moment, Ash then pointed to the two smaller Pokemon. "Blue, Silver, you're up. You could use experience in official battles unlike Peeper who often battled against Lance."

The Dragonair seemed to understand that as Blue became excited at the prospect of a good battle, ready to prove what he'd been spending years training for. Silver just looked determined, not needing to prove himself as much as Blue but still ready to take part in battle and do as Ash said.

"There's no need to train you two anymore for the battle tomorrow." Ash stated simply. "Go back to the camp and rest. Tomorrow we will be in Pewter."

The three Pokemon did as he said, making their way over to the active fire where the two trainers had set out their bed rolls, as Ash walked back there with a slower pace. He knew Paul would spend some time training his newest Pokemon to at least make sure he was satisfied with their abilities. So, he just turned his head as Synergy got his attention.

"Why those two, exactly?" She inquired. "They too, have fought against Lance. Plus, Peeper has a couple of water-type moves as well as iron tail that would work well against Rock-types. It is just as well that they will only take half damage, but surely assault will matter more here?"

"That may be so." Ash answered. "But there is the longer term future to think of. the truth is, Peeper would always take longer to evolve than the other two. Silver will evolve first, then Blue, and it is therefore important I give them the experience to hasten it. In their pre-evolutionary forms as they are now, Blue could never use aura to its fullest extent and Silver cannot fight against tough opponents like that his whole life. His species is built around great defence and close combat. Their pre-evolutionary forms do not allow them to exploit this fully."

"I see." Synergy responded, glancing at Ash with her crimson optical sensors to see him heavy in thought. "Just keep them to their strengths. Both of them are oriented towards close combat, and Blue will be best utilised for his speed and agility. Silver, his defence."

Ash glanced to Synergy, before smiling softly. "Wise words." He remarked.

THE NEXT DAY, PEWTER CITY.

Pewter City was the largest settlement in North-western Kanto, making it a very busy place. Its architecture obviously stemmed down from one of its main professions - mining. The city itself was built around the slopes of Kanto's Northern mountain ranges, and many mines were situated just a few miles outside of the city. Thus, many people were employed in the mining sector, which allowed for cheap materials to be utilised by the populace.

There were also other attractions available in the city, the Pokemon gym being the indisputable most visited by both trainers and tourists seeking to watch battles. A close second was the museum of science set in the North of the city, opened after the discovery of a large amount of fossils within the mines. The museum was host to range of fossils, historical finds as well as technology such as even a rocket ship was on display within the museum.

However, the two trainers were more interested with their upcoming gym battles. Having gotten into the city at about eleven o'clock, they had already stopped at the Pokemart to stock up on the basic essentials. Now, Paul and Ash were waiting within the cafeteria of the local Pokemon Centre, getting lunch as Nurse Joy checked over their Pokemon just before they planned to go the Pewter gym. Synergy was sat right next to Ash, having been thoroughly sincere about staying with him from now on, not caring for what Ash had to say in counter-argument.

"You all ready, Ash?" Paul inquired then, making Ash look up from the bowl of pasta he'd been eating. "All prepared to face the gym?"

Ash thought on that for a moment before just shrugging. "It'll be my first gym battle, unlike yours. I know I stand a good chance of winning, but I can't lie, I'm still nervous."

Paul just snorted at that. "You've fought against a Champion, Ash. Sure, he held back, but that's still something bigger than a gym leader. You'll be fine."

Ash nodded. "Thanks. Good luck with your battle."

Paul just looked at Ash, before chuckling slightly. "I don't need luck. You don't need luck. Let's just win this thing."

Ash gave a smile at that - not that anybody saw it behind the mask. "If you say so."

Synergy just glanced to Ash then. She hadn't spoken up at any time in their conversation to allow themselves to get ready for the gym battle, but now she felt to reassure her trainer. "He's right, Ash. You haven't spent over six years training just to lose to the first gym. You'll do more than fine."

It was then that the two trainers heard the announcement to collect their Pokemon as they were pronounced fit and healthy, making them rise up and walk out of the cafeteria. Ash collected his Pokemon as Paul did the same, adding the three normal Pokeballs to the case besides the ultra ball and then thanking Nurse Joy. Walking out of the Pewter Pokemon Centre, the two of them then began heading straight for the gym with Synergy in tow - the robotic Pokemon ignoring any glances she got. Nobody overly obtrusive or even questioned it, given the culture of the world that had lived with Pokemon for generations now.

It was a relatively simple affair in finding the building, as the signposts throughout the city had the direction of the gym emblazoned on them on every major street corner. Being not too far from the Pokemon Centre, it took only five minutes to reach it. The gym itself was truly was modelled after the type of Pokemon found within it, with the entire front entrance of he building seeming to be a big slab of stone from one of the Pewter mines. The rest of the building was shaped like a hall, rectangular with a sloped roof that curved round to both sides.

Walking in, they found themselves in a small entrance area that had doors on the left and right of the back wall, with a desk in between the doors. A receptionist sat the desk looked up briefly and saw the two boys, looking just the part of Pokemon trainers. "Are you both here to challenge the gym?" They inquired.

Paul nodded as Ash replied in affirmation. "Yes."

The receptionist nodded and then indicated a machine on the desk to the left of them. "Please insert your Pokedex into the slot on that machine and then your battle will be officially registered."

The two trainers did so, one at a time as the receptionist stated then that they were satisfied that the details had been registered. "Take the door on the left then please." The receptionist finished, already looking back down to their work as the two trainers took the specified door. They were greeted with a set of stairs just a metre in, which after just one flight levelled out to reveal a viewing gallery. There was viewing galleries on both sides actually, but the one on the right was filled with local residents and tourists viewing the battle as well as a what appeared to be a whole group of siblings on the end of it. Meanwhile, just Ash and Paul occupied the viewing gallery on the left as Synergy actually started to compute what moves had been used from the previous battle given the evidence like scorches on the ground.

"Charmander has been knocked out, and so the battle goes to the gym leader!" A voice rang out then, making Ash and Paul look down to the ground in the middle that the galleries overlooked. below them was a battlefield, which was mainly made up of levelled out, smooth dirt. Rocks jutted out from the dirt however, ranging from lots of small trip hazards to large upward spikes just as big as Ash was. It was a rocky terrain battlefield.

Brock the gym leader was just taking a seat on his side of the battlefield as he saw he was done, a young man with a scrutinising expression and spiky brown hair. He eyed the young trainer before him who was just recalling their unconscious starter, and gave them some advice. "You did well in trying to exploit Charmander's strengths. However, you need a Pokemon who can also exploit an opponent's weaknesses, for Charmander as a fire-type naturally only dealt half damage to my rock-types. I suggest you do your research and training, even catch a new Pokemon before coming back here."

The defeated opposing trainer looked better at that, thanking the gym leader before turning round and scurrying off through the large exit door. Brock turned to his left then, seeing a person just like him - likely a sibling - approaching him and offering him a tray. Brock placed a Pokeball on the tray and then picked up two more capture devices from it.

Then looking up to the side of the gym challengers occupied, he called out. "Could the next challenger please come down."

Taking a look at Paul and shrugging, they both decided to walk down to the battlefield - walking down the stairs to it and emerging before the battlefield. Paul moved up first to occupy the painted out white box marking where the trainer would go as Ash then leant up against the wall near the doorway to watch the battle. He tugged the brim of his cap in an idle motion as he saw the referee to the battle checking their tablet before stepping up to the podium to the side of the battlefield.

"The battle between Brock Takeshi the gym leader and Paul Shinji of Twinleaf Town will now commence." The referee began. "This a two on two Pokemon battle, with only the challenger being allowed to substitute their Pokemon. This battle will end when one side's Pokemon has been completely knocked out." Taking a look between both sides, the referee then threw their hand forwards. "Begin!"

Brock revealed his Pokemon first as was the standard for Pokemon Gym Leaders. "Go, Geodude!" Brock called out as he tossed the Pokeball onto the battlefield from his seated position. With a flash, a levitating rock Pokemon appeared - a Pokemon that looked like a small spherical boulder, with large eyes and two strong-looking arms. It announced a deep call of its name as it appeared on the battlefield.

Paul observed that, and mentally approved his pre-arranged plan to go ahead. "Poliwag, stand by for battle." Paul intoned as he launched his own Pokeball onto the field, divulging the small water-type onto the rocky terrain in a flash of light. Blinking as it looked around, the small Pokemon quickly saw how it was clearly now in a battle as it tensed itself.

"Water gun." Paul started out with, immediately beginning with an offensive move. If Paul was honest here, he was defying his usual strategy here as he liked a Pokemon that had a good amount of health so he could utilise longer-term strategies. It was partly why he satisfied with Poliwag, as its evolved forms fitted that bill. However, that wouldn't work here in its pre-evolved form against a type of Pokemon that had some of the greatest defence stats of any type. He had to hit hard and fast, relying on Poliwag's natural type advantage and agaility to dodge and land some good hits.

There was, of course, also the fact that he had acquired Poliwag for this battle to assess Brock's style, have a Pokemon with a type advantage and to use as his first choice to soften up Brock's Pokemon. The more damage Poliwag dealt, the more easily Grotle would sweep through the remainder of the battle.

Seeing how rock-type Pokemon were also the slowest on average of any type, Brock decided to play defensively at first. "Defence curl!" Brock ordered of his Geodude before the water stream hit it, getting the Pokemon to cry out its name before flying to the floor and bracing itself into a huddled position.

This served the dual purpose of reducing some of the damage taken as the water stream hit Geodude, who still winced slightly at the super effective move, as well as raising its defence stats a stage. For when it rose up from the ground, Brock felt more confident. "Return the favour, Geodude!" Brock instructed. "Rock throw!"

With a call of its name, the rock Pokemon gouged out clumps of stone and dirt from the battlefield using its impressive strength, grinding them together to form a solid mass before throwing them directly at their opponent. Whilst this also meant the rate of fire was perhaps a little slow, the power behind such projectiles would do a lot of damage, and Paul knew that.

"Begin running whilst using bubble beam in a wide arc towards Geodude." The Sinnoh trainer ordered, just as Poliwag fortunately ducked a particularly well aimed rock throw. Dashing forth at a speed three times more than what Geodude could produce, Poliwag began to race across the battlefield to throw the rock-type off with its aim. As the water-type did so, a whole screen of bubbles were shot out of its mouth towards Geodude.

Brock grunted as he saw what his opponent was doing. The screen of bubbles would, by nature, weaken the rock projectiles, and if he didn't move now, when the bubbles were upon Geodude there would be very little room to run. Which could win the match by default of dealing a lot of damage. Fortunately, Brock had faced this situation before and knew that Geodude could outrun the luckily slow attack. "Geodude, dodge to the left whilst using rock polish!" He ordered.

"Cancel the attack and use water gun!" Paul countered, which got a chirp from the blue Pokemon as it hurriedly stop spitting out bubbles. Instead, it sucked in a large breath of air before expunging another stream of water directly towards Geodude. At first, Geodude managed to dodge due to the enhanced speed stat leant by the rock polish move, but Poliwag quickly corrected its aim and managed to land another hit. This resulted in an outcry from the Pokemon.

Brock knew that if he let Paul continue to stay at range, then Poliwag would undoubtedly win with both its higher speed allowing it to dodge and its type advantage moves. Thus, he came up with a way to turn the tables - but it involved a lot of risk. Nevertheless, brock could sense Paul was no novice trainer, and so decided to test his mettle.

"Send Poliwag back with mud sport, Geodude!" Brock ordered his Pokemon as he pointed to the water-type.

Paul frowned as he heard that. Mud sport was renowned for greatly weakening electric-type moves, but that was about all it did. It would do next to no damage to any Pokemon, given that all it was was some tossed mud that wasn't enhanced by any technique or strength. Nonetheless, he quickly realised why brock did that as the rock Pokemon dug its hands into the rocky terrain and sent a whole deluge of loose mud and dirt at the Pokemon.

"Get back!" Paul ordered, seeing as how Geodude hadn't aimed the move at the whole battlefield like the technique normally was used for, but rather at the opponent. Whilst this would still deal little damage, it succeeded nin driving back Poliwag who stumbled away.

"Rock polish!" Brock ordered once more, getting an affirmative grunt from Geodude who was overtaken by another sheen that enveloped its body before dissipating again.

"Stand up and use water gun again!" Paul commanded, as his eyes narrowed at the repeated order. He knew Brock was gearing up for something.

Brock countered that before Poliwag could unleash another water attack. Geodude had already taken two streams of water, and he didn't know if his Pokemon could withstand a third. It was now down to the wire. "Use rock throw as quickly as possible towards Poliwag! Drive it to the right!"

Unlike Poliwag who had to take a second to line up the shot and then spit out the ranged move, Geodude did exactly as ordered as they forfeited all accuracy without even correctly forming the move. Rather than grind up the rock into a solid projectile, Geodude just straight up tossed the mass of stone and dirt in its hand towards Poliwag. Whilst this weakened the move greatly as much material was lost mid-flight as well as a lot of it didn't impact the target area, it began to work as Brock intended at striking to the general areas left of Poliwag.

Paul gritted his teeth slightly as he knew his Pokemon was unprepared for this. It was the downside to using a newly caught Pokemon, as Poliwag didn't have the training or moves to completely mitigate this. Like protect for instance, which would've weathered against the hail of rocks nicely. Thus, he just ordered his previous move to once more weaken the incoming deluge of projectiles. "Dodge to the right and use bubble beam again!"

The screen of bubbles began once more as Paul knew he had to keep his Pokemon from being hit. Whilst rock-types were slow, they were hit hard - and sometimes it could all be ended in one shot. More material was lost from the incomplete projectiles as they collided with the bubbles, further weakening them, but the weak integrity of the move still meant that Poliwag was being driven right.

After a minute of the back-and-forth exchange, Brock looked satisfied upon seeing Poliwag successfully driven into the little area of rock spikes he had spotted before hand. Taking advantage of the now confined area his opponent had been driven into, Brock ordered his Pokemon to use its strongest move. "Take down!"

Geodude instantly abandoned the projectile it had picked up as a sheen overtook it - and rocketed off towards Poliwag. Aided by two elevated stages of speed boosts, Geodude closed in on Poliwag in only a second.

"Poliwag, dodge!" Paul ordered, but it was too late as his Pokemon was hindered by the enclosed space. Hindered long enough that the now fast-enough rock Pokemon could plough right into Poliwag. The collision smacked Poliwag right into the battlefield terrain, as well as causing a lot of recoil damage from the move to Geodude as it too landed roughly against the terrain, unable to stop after hitting its opponent. A small dust cloud, having been thrown up by the collision, momentarily obscured the Pokemon from view.

"Both Pokemon are unable to battle!" The referee announced as they saw through the thinning cloud. "Both sides, please choose your final Pokemon!"

"I have to hand it to you Paul." Brock commented then, drawing the attention of the purple-haired trainer. "That was a good strategy for a perhaps relatively inexperienced Pokemon from what I can perhaps see. It's a shame for you, though, that I had seen such a use of bubble beam before, and could thus think up a counter."

Paul smirked slightly at the praise. "Yeah, well, don't think this next round is going to be easier."

"Oh, I am counting on that Paul." Brock responded, before hefting up his second Pokeball and lobbing it onto the battlefield. "Go, Onix!"

Paul full-out smirked as he saw the giant Pokemon. The Pokemon looked to be made up from a line of smooth boulders to form a large snake body, with a flattened snout for a face with big black eyes. A spike sat on top of its head as it unleashed a roar of its name before glancing down to Paul as it saw it was on the battlefield.

Sure, the giant rock snake was undoubtedly faster than Geodude, given how one of the favourite moves that both trainers and wild Onix alike utilised often was bind. That also meant that the Pokemon liked to get up close, which served Paul well.

"Grotle, stand by for battle." He announced as he tossed his own Pokeball onto the battlefield, unleashing the happy turtle Pokemon within it onto the rocky terrain.

"Onix vs Grotle, begin!" The referee started the second round of the Pokemon battle.

"Onix, begin with screech!" Brock ordered then, hoping to knock his opponent off battle. Unlike with Poliwag, Brock knew he had the speed advantage this time and sought to strengthen that hand with an infliction of confusion.

"Protect." Paul countered. The pulsating waves unleashed from Onix's snout were successfully blocked by the green, translucent screen that popped up before Grotle, stopping any status infliction in its tracks.

As soon as the green screen fell, Brock decided to seize an advantage in the fact of if Paul decided to use protect again, it might fail. "Rock slide!" He commanded.

Onix reciprocated with a roar and a swing of its tail end, careering right into one of the rock spikes which sent a wave of rocks rolling speedily along the ground towards Grotle. Paul knew how to counter that too, however.

"Stop it with earthquake!" Paul ordered, getting the happy turtle to let out out a cry as it heaved its front legs off the ground, before slamming back down onto the earth with a concentrated pound. It may have only been half as effective as it would've been as if it had done so in its final evolved form, but Grotle's move was enough to stop or redirect the rocks away from it. Thsi was combined with doing some bonus damage to Onix too as the shaking ground jumbled beneath the rock Pokemon, making Paul the first to inflict damage.

Brock decided to switch up his tactics upon seeing Paul nullify two of his ranged attacks, and press his speed advantage. "Onix, swerve around the side of the battlefield and get close to Grotle!" He shouted out then, getting Onix to begin moving off round the battlefield.

Paul saw the giant Pokemon beginning to move, and pointed at it as he ordered his own first ranged attack. "Grotle, use razor leaf!"

Grotle let out a grunt as he did as he was commanded, sending a storm of sharpened leaf projectiles right at the moving form of Onix. Though he had aimed for the head, the better speed of the rock Pokemon meant they missed that region - but Onix was so large that they struck it in the mid-section anyway. This drew out a roar of pain from the Pokemon as the super-effective move battered its body.

"Keep going, Onix!" Brock urged as he stood up, anxious for the battle and concerned for his Pokemon. It wasn't like with Poliwag where it had landed only two shots of water, but rather this was a continuous landing of super-effective hits against his Pokemon. "They can't do that anymore if you use bind on them!"

Hearing that, Onix poured in more effort to surge forth and get behind Grotle, blocking Paul's vision of his own Pokemon as the hail of leaves against it halted. Brock watched as Onix began the bind move, Grotle letting out a panicky yelp as the giant rock snake wrapped around it and began to constrict the space between them - but he also observed how Paul didn't look bothered either.

"Mega drain." Paul announced Grotle's strongest move. He heard how Grotle had stopped using an attack and was thus prepared for another.

Grotle immediately calmed as he heard his trainer's command and instead focused on going on the offensive - as a green glowing aura surrounded the turtle, and began drawing in energy from Onix. The rock Pokemon let out a roar of pain as a couple of seconds passed of Grotle sapping energy from it, healing the damage dealt by the bind and leaving Onix in the worse-off state.

"Onix, disengage!" Brock ordered. "Get away and tail strike it instead!"

"Withdraw!" Paul snapped out the defensive move, getting Grotle to quickly dive his limbs within his big shell and brace for the impact. It was a solid blow that shook the Pokemon within as Onix slammed down his tail end upon Grotle as it had disengaged from the bind, inflicting more damage than the bind had done.

"Again!" Brock commanded, getting Onix to heft its tail up once more, but Paul took advantage in the pause between moves.

"Use bite!" He quickly instructed, which was speedily enacted upon by the gormless looking turtle. It shot its head out from the shell and munched down upon a joint between two of the boulders in Onix's body, landing a critical hit upon the giant rock snake.

"Shake it off, Onix!" Brock shouted, with the rock Pokemon needing no further incentive as with a powerful jerk, it flicked that section of its body out of Grotle's jaws and backed away slightly. Paul took advantage of this new found breathing room by ordering, hopefully to him, the last blow of the battle.

"Another razor leaf!" Paul instructed, with the Sinnoh Pokemon doing just that as he rose to his full height and unleashed another barrage of sharpened projectiles. This time, the damage was even more accumulative as, in the smaller space between them, the leaves raked over Onix's head and frontal body.

With a noisy roar of pain and another second during which dozens more projectiles landed against the rock Pokemon, Onix eventually wobbled; before swirls appeared in the Pokemon's eyes as it toppled over. With a loud crash and the raising of a large cloud of dirt, Brock's Pokemon lay defeated as the rock snake lay unmoving on the battlefield.

The referee lifted their flag to point to Paul's side of the battlefield. "Onix has been defeated, which means the win goes to Paul Shinji of Twinleaf Town!"

Clapping sounded out from the viewing gallery which was filled with dozens of spectators, though as Ash looked at the people who had been enthralled at the particularly higher level of battling compared to normal; the children at the end looked unhappy. The gym leader stood up fully as he took out a Pokeball, and recalled his unconscious Onix.

Brock stepped down from his side of the battlefield, crossing the terrain to join Paul who just glanced neutrally at him. The gym leader offered forth his hand, which the purple-haired trainer glanced to before taking it and shaking hands.

"That was a good battle, Paul, certainly one of the more challenging battles I've had in months." Brock stated out, impressed. "Your use of strategies was excellent, especially with letting me bind Grotle only to turn that against me. You've fully earned the boulder badge."

Paul took the offered badge, viewing the shiny square badge that reflected a dark black sheen before he pocketed it. "Thanks." He simply stated.

Brock nodded at that as Paul then recalled Grotle silently, before he turned round and marched back off to join Ash. "One second please." Brock spoke as he motioned for Ash to remain where he was, before clicking his fingers as he viewed the field.

The entire gym lit up more brightly as a few more rows of lights switched on, highlighting just how damaged the battlefield had become. Scorches from the battle before Paul's was still visible in areas, as rock debris from smashed spikes lay strewn across the terrain. Wide marks were gouged across the field from where Onix had run rampant across it, with even the cracks from Grotle's use of earthquake obvious in the smooth centre.

It was then that the entire battlefield began to shift, the material on it jolting and vibrating as the entire field began to sink from view, a dark hole in the centre of the gym now having took the place of the terrain. However, mechanical noises sounded out from within the gap as soon the bright light caught the top of a new battlefield. Smoothened and cleaned up, the terrain looked good as new as the replacement terrain rose to replace the previous battlefield.

Whilst that was happening, Ash looked to Paul. "Congratulations on the win." He spoke.

Paul smirked at that, before shrugging. "I'll admit, it was more challenging than I thought it'd be, but that's what I get for using a newly caught Pokemon. At least Grotle won his fight hands down."

Synergy nodded at that. "Brock seems to utilise a style of trying to hit hard whilst relying on the high defence stats of his Pokemon, as befitting the rock-types. You did well to exploit that with Grotle." Glancing her crimson eyes towards Ash, she passed on some advice. "You'd do well to make Silver use harden to stay in the game longer. If it turns into a close-combat scenario, you may face trouble. Aron cannot exploit his moves to the fullest with his short stature."

Ash nodded at that. "Hence why I wish for him to evolve as soon as possible, to be honest."

Ash looked round as he saw the battlefield click into place, and Brock sitting back down on his side of the battlefield. Knowing it was his time for battle, Paul stood beside Synergy as Ash walked up to the white painted box.

"This is a battle between Brock Takeshi the gym leader and Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town." The referee announced, before looking to the two trainers. "Both sides, please reveal your Pokemon."

Brock narrowed his eyes as he contemplated on that name for a second, before he recognised it. "The apprentice of a champion himself graces my gym." He stated aloud, making the several children along the viewing gallery gasp. "This is an unexpected surprise."

Ash just looked up to Brock. "I suppose." He stated, not really sure what to say.

Brock gave a small chuckle at that, before speaking. "How about we change up the normal rules, Ketchum?" The rock-type gym leader asked.

Ash eyed Brock for a few moments before replying. "State your wager."

Brock smiled slightly as his offer was received with interest. "You look like you could handle the standard rock-type Pokemon this gym has. Therefore, it is legal under Pokemon League rules that if the opponent agrees, they can face the main team of a gym leader. I offer a battle against one of my main team Pokemon for two of yours for a better battle. A 1vs2."

The raven-haired trainer looked intrigued, before looking to Paul - who merely smirked and gave him a thumbs up. Ash looked back to Brock and nodded. "Alright, Brock, let's do that."

"Excellent." Brock responded before he turned slightly and made a motioning gesture to one of the children that were standing just a few metres left of him. They nodded before hurriedly exiting through a door, reappearing moments later with a tray of six Pokeballs. The gym leader spent some time perusing the tray before eventually selecting one of the bottom Pokeballs. Glancing round, Brock then nodded to the referee who inputted something into the tablet computer he was holding.

"The conditions for this battle have changed." The referee declared then. "It will now be a Pokemon battle where the challenger gets to use two Pokemon against one of the gym leaders'. However, the gym leader is now utilising a Pokemon from their main team rather than a standard Pokemon of the gym, meaning that should the challenger lose, the loss will not be recorded on their League record. Standard battle rules still apply, where only the challenger will be allowed to substitute their Pokemon. Both sides, please reveal your Pokemon now."

With no time wasted, Brock tossed his Pokeball straight onto the battlefield. "You're up, Golem!"

Ash reciprocated as he threw his own onto the terrain. "Go, Silver!"

The stubby form of Silver the Aron appeared then, opposite on the battlefield from Brock's own Pokemon. The Pokemon, Golem, that had appeared was a hulking rock-type a metre in height. it had a perfectly spherical body that looked like it a boulder with deep grooves running along it. It had a small face with red eyes, and little arms with three sharp clawed digits attached to it. Standing to its fullest height, almost double that of Silver, it released a bellow of its name.

The referee threw their hand down to signal the start of the battle. "Golem versus Aron, begin!"

Brock pointed to his Pokemon. "Starts this off with rollout, Golem!" He ordered.

With a cry of its name, Golem jumped forth to begin rolling forwards towards Aron at extremely high speeds, becoming a blur as the Pokemon charged towards Silver. The high-speed move allowed Golem to build up a lot of momentum as it revolved abundantly in a straight line towards its opponent - but that highlighted a weakness in the move to Ash. Whilst the move shouldn't be used at very close range due to the need to build up momentum, it was also better not to start at the far end of the battlefield. That was as it gave an opponent the time they needed to exploit the flaw in the move - the inability to turn or move elsewhere in a quick motion.

"Jump to the left." Ash instructed Silver via their aura bond, wary of the rocks on the right as he remembered what Brock had done to Paul's Poliwag. Silver did just that, leaping to the left and turning to see Golem flash right by, before the Pokemon then began to turn round the length of the field to shoot back. Ash frowned as he now saw that the Golem was taking a turning approach towards Silver, which would be more tricky to avoid. "Protect might not be good enough against this move. Use dig."

Brock frowned as he saw Ash give not a single command, yet the Aron had clearly made movements in the battle. Whilst a Pokemon was intelligent, it didn't mean they could react or exploit moves as fast as instruction by their trainers could. It was why the catch rates of wild Pokemon were as high as they were. Thus, Brock was confused as he saw the opponent's Pokemon digging into the earth to avoid the rollout move thundering towards them. Nonetheless, a Pokemon battle was no time to question the challenger as he just got on with the round.

"Halt, Golem, and use earthquake." Brock's voice rang out then.

Sure enough, the rolling Pokemon came grinding to a stop on the left side of the field, but that gave a pause that Ash exploited. "Quickly, get out of there. Use screech as soon as you see Golem above ground."

Just as Golem leapt up to begin its move, Silver emerged hurriedly out the ground and immediately spotted the rock-type. Instantly, his throat vibrated before he unleashed the sonic attack - pulsating, bright white waves streaking across the battlefield just as Golem slammed into the earth and triggered a localised earthquake. The ground cracked and shook the entire terrain, causing a lot of damage and sending much debris flying. Unfortunately for Ash, as Silver was a steel-type, the ground-type move was super-effective against the Pokemon who let out a cry of pain.

Golem wasn't let off the hook either, as the screech attack slammed into it and caused it to stagger. Although it dealt no damage, the dazed look in the rock-types eyes showed it had been inflicted with the status confusion. Brock cursed.

"I apologise Silver, but you need to shake that off. Use iron head against Golem whilst its staggered." Ash conveyed his message to his Pokemon, who affirmed by shaking his head to recover. Though battered now, Silver nonetheless looked towards Golem before dashing towards him using his strongest move. Lowering his head as he looked to be dead on target, Silver streaked forth as fast as he could to collide with the Golem.

"Golem, use protect!" Brock shouted out then, trying to get through to his Pokemon to avoid the incoming blitz of damage almost desperately. The twitch of Golem's head showed they'd heard their trainer, but their swinging arms showed just how stunned they were, unable to form enough coherent sense to deploy the move. As such, Brock could only watch on as Silver collided with the Golem.

Golem let loose a cry as the super-effective move slammed into it, fully knocked off of its feet and being flipped over by the force of it as it smacked face-first into the terrain. Silver ground to a halt as he saw his opponent toppled over, before Golem gave a groan as he began to get up.

Brock noted with relief that the dazed look in Golem's eye was gone, having obviously been knocked out of the confused status by the blow. However, it was still mostly a win for Ash as he had dealt super-effective damage to Brock's Pokemon using the confusion to make the collision unavoidable - evening the playing field from Golem's earlier move.

"Headbutt!" Ash ordered of Silver, seeking to take advantage of a still recovering Pokemon.

Brock turned the tables, however, as he saw that his Pokemon was still capable of some moves in the given time frame. "Bulldoze!" He countered.

Silver began charging forth and lowering his head once more to comply with his trainer's orders, but he was stopped completely in his tracks as Golem stomped their right foot into the ground. This caused a single, but powerful tremor to sweep over the terrain, making Silver stumble to a stop and take further damage - as well having an inflicted lowering of his speed by one stage.

It was Ash's turn to curse now as he saw his Pokemon fall again. He may have landed a super-effective blow against Golem, but it was clear that Silver had taken more damage in this battle and that he was outmatched. Ash could sense that Silver would soon be knocked out, and now it was just a matter of trying to land another blow to make it easier for Blue.

"Go forth and use brick break!" Brock ordered, getting Golem to cry out a deep-toned voicing of its name as it dashed forwards.

Ash knew he couldn't let that land, but he also saw that Brock was now to land a super-effective move in order to finish the battle in literally one blow. He could exploit that, especially given how Silver's small stature in his pre-evolved form could be quite a boon sometimes.

"Dash left slightly to get Golem to reach out to you, but then press yourself flat against the ground." Ash instructed through the aura bond, getting an affirmative response back. Golem charged forth with a glowing fist signifying his power-up of the fighting-type move, and Brock was confident it would work as the Aron had been slowed due to the previous move by Golem. If his opponent used protect, then it was a simple matter of just continuously keeping up the assault until his opponent cracked.

Thus, when Silver started to run slightly left, Golem let out a cry as it swung forth its glowing fist as the Pokemon was now in reach - only to be shocked as Silver then hugged the ground, watching as the glowing fist missed him by mere inches.

"Metal claw." Came the instructing voice in Silver's head, and he obeyed instantly as he sought to prove himself to his trainer by all means necessary. His right clawed appendage took on a metallic sheen as he swung it at the exposed legs of his opponent, scoring direct hits to both of the limbs and drawing out a cry of pain.

Silver would have pressed his attack had it not been for Golem acting on instinct - and lashing out with one of his clawed-at legs to send Silver flying into a rock spike. The steel-type let out a yelp as he impacted right into one of the rock formations, Ash's eyes widening slightly as he saw just how battered his Pokemon now looked. Covered in dirt and a few bruises, Silver looked exhausted as well as hurting all over as he collapsed from an attempt to get up from where he'd slid to a stop.

Ash would've said something then had it not been for his Pokemon suddenly evolving.

The white glow overtook Silver, whose stature obviously began to shift within the light. Becoming bigger and also longer, the white light soon died down to reveal a much stronger looking middle-evolution form of the Aggron line. Instead of a solid layer, there were now segments of iron armour that covered the entire top and most of the sides of the Pokemon, a single spike adorning the back of each segment. Where most of the torso was a metallic silver, the bottom was a dark grey as Silver's face had become even more heavily armoured. Two vibrant, light bleu eyes peeked out from the helmet of iron that made up its skull, before he stood up to reveal a stature not unlike a smaller form of Grotles', and let out a happy shout.

However, Silver's jubilation at evolving was cut short as he staggered forward slightly upon taking a step, revealing just how out of energy he was. The evolution may have healed him, but Silver's stamina and energy hadn't been replenished and it showed horribly at how much of an easy target the now tired Pokemon was.

"Golem, use-" Brock began to capitalise upon this, but was also cut short as Ash interrupted him.

"No need." Ash spoke out then to stop his opponent from engaging in the battle further, instead taking out Silver's Pokeball and recalling him into it. There was no point pushing his Pokemon further. "Silver can no longer battle."

The referee took note of that as he raised his flag towards Brock's side of the battlefield. "Lairon is no longer able to battle! Challenger, please reveal your final Pokemon!"

Brock smiled at that, nodding his head with respect at Ash at the recall of his Pokemon despite the technical legality of being able to push their Pokemon until they were knocked out or really couldn't move. Ash nodded back before unveiling another Pokeball in his hand, before he lobbed it onto the battlefield.

"Blue, it's up to you." He simply announced as the form of his Riolu emerged from the mass of red light, and immediately assumed a ready stance as he saw the Golem five metres from him in the centre of the battlefield. The Golem looked battered to a certain extent, a bruise on its face from where it had impacted the ground and two cuts on its legs - as well as deeply breathing. The Pokemon may not have been badly damaged, but it had certainly used a lot of energy. Ash could win so long as he didn't have Blue too badly damaged in the short-term or do anything stupid.

"Riolu versus Golem, begin!" The referee announced the final round of the Ash and Paul's battles.

"Rock polish." Brock immediately ordered, knowing his opponent now had the definite speed and agility advantage this time - the Lucario line was known for it, after all. Thus, to shorten the gap between the stats of the two may make or break the battle.

"Work up." Ash countered with his own stat-raising move. Just as Golem was overtaken by a sweeping bright sheen to signify the raise in speed, Blue crossed his arms together as a small flicker of aura energy swept over his own person. His attack and special attack stats had just been raised by a stage.

"Rock throw." Brock ordered, wanting to provoke his opponent into moving. Whilst the speed could be dangerous, he did have options to defend and the battle would go no where if it remained static.

Golem obeyed as it began to hurl projectiles of rock at Blue, who merely dodge each one. However, Golem could move faster than Geodude ever could, and so each leap by Blue closer to his opponent was met by them backing away. Ash needed to formulate a proper attack.

"Form an aura construct and then use quick attack." Ash ordered Blue mentally, and then felt the Pokemon's doubt. "Quick attack may work in a straight line, but use the aura construct to bat aside any incoming rocks. Then aim for the head."

Reassured, Blue quickly formed a bone-like, glowing blue construct in his hand before being enveloped in a white sheen as he took off towards Golem. His speed was temporarily enhanced as a part of the move as he closed the gap between them.

'Bone rush?' Brock thought confusedly as he first saw Blue form the construct, but quickly cleared his head of distracting thoughts as he saw the Riolu streak towards his Pokemon using quick attack. He hurriedly called out to Golem in how to exploit the linear weakness of quick attack in a different way to how Ash had exploited the linear weakness of Rollout. "Hurl a rock directly at Riolu now, Golem!"

Golem did just that as he already had a rock in his hand which was hurled directly at the oncoming Pokemon. However, Brock was shocked as the stone was just knocked aside from the charging Pokemon in a way he didn't quite see, leaving Blue free to leap at Golem. The rock-type let loose a roar of pain as the bone construct smacked right on top of its earlier bruise, making it a critical hit as Blue deliberately aimed for the weak point.

Brock reacted as he saw Blue rear back for another strike, however. "Use protect!" He called out.

With a clawed limb still nursing its agonised bruise, Golem otherwise did as he was told as the green protective screen sprang up before him, blocking the second strike of the aura construct.

"Now, Golem! Use brick break!" Brock commanded.

This time, Golem's attack landed as Blue had been occupied with wielding his aura construct that had failed to land a successful hit - leaving him open. Blue was blown back, and took damage as he skidded into the ground, the aura construct in his hand dissipating as his control over it faded.

Blue quickly picked himself up as Golem drew back his arm and looked towards his opponent, giving a snort at the Riolu who growled back. Ash saw how successful that last attack had been though, and so tried to replicate that whilst staying wary for any other attacks this time. "Use feint to get close to Golem, and then use metal claw."

Blue obliged, immediately blurring across the space that separated them as multiple after-images were left behind by the speeding Pokemon or even split off in other direction. All in the aim of confusing the opponent to stop them landing a hit - the downside of which, of course, included that it stopped the user from landing a hit too as they were too preoccupied with spawning after-images. It was generally agreed that damage was only dealt by the move against protective moves like protect that slowed down the Pokemon long enough for them to lash out. Nothing stopped it from being used in conjunction with another move, though.

Neither did it stop Brock from halting Ash's attempt to replicate his earlier success. "Earthquake, Golem." He instructed. If he couldn't land a hit on the target, then he'd just target everywhere at once.

"Leap up, NOW!" Ash hurriedly ordered his Pokemon as he heard that, with Blue getting the urgency full pelt as he quickly leapt up off the ground - and just in time. The tremors unleashed by the earthquake rolled over the ground then, shaking it and cracking it in parts, something Blue had luckily just avoided.

Looking to Golem, Ash had to think of something, and fast. This was a rock-type Pokemon on Brock's main team, after all, and now it was withstanding the blows of a second Pokemon with a type advantage against it that Ash had trained with for six years. He needed a good shot to take it out to prevent the battle turning against him as Blue certainly didn't have as much health as Golem did, and Ash didn't care to estimate how much it still had. He needed to end this.

Thus, Ash glanced to Blue as he started to descend. "Force palm."

Force palm had the benefit, in this situation, of being a super-effective fighting type move as well the attack itself was slightly ranged. Ash was sure it would land before Brock could react with something like protect.

Blue gathered energy into his fist as it momentarily glowed white, seeing his opponent having just landed from using earthquake and beginning to recover his senses for a second - and a second was all he needed. Blue's fist lashed out and unleashed the energy within just a metre above Golem who had only just started looking up as he saw his opponent falling, and first saw the white rippling waves that were released.

The shockwaves unleashed in that instant from the move lit up the battlefield white for a second in silence, before they crossed the distance in just the next instant. The cracking sound unleashed by the compressed energy and air from the move quickly degraded into a rumble throughout the gym as the pressurised air waves slammed into Golem, and pounded them into the floor. They had just received the sheer brunt force of a fighting-type move.

Blue flipped over the dust cloud he'd created with his own attack and landed a couple of metres away with grace on the floor, arms outstretched. The canine Pokemon quickly turned their head to view what became of their opponent, seeing the dust cloud beginning to thin and settle after a couple of seconds - with no signs of movement within. Sure enough, it fully dissipated to reveal Golem strewn out in a small crater on the rocky terrain - with swirls in its eyes.

Brock rose from his seat to confirm what the referee was about to say, and adopted an impressed outlook on his face. "Golem is unable to battle!" The referee announced then, raising their flag towards Ash's side of the battlefield. "Therefore, the winner of the battle is Riolu and Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!"

Blue turned around then as he heard footsteps behind him, having to look up to see the form of his trainer peering down at him. They remained like that for a second, before Ash eye-smiled down at him. "You've just done me so proud, buddy."

Blue gave a big smile at that, especially when Ash lifted up the canine Pokemon into one arm and hugged him. "Look at you. Small enough to pick up, yet you've just knocked out some rock-type almost twice your size. You've just proven you excelled in those six years, buddy." Ash praised his Pokemon then, who just laughed slightly.

"It's also thanks to you, Ash." Bleu responded, trying to be modest.

"Maybe." Ash spoke then, before pointing to the unconscious Golem in the small crater as it was recalled by Brock from his side of the battlefield. "But am I the one who just put some 300 kilogram monster into the ground?"

There was no further time for praise, however, as Ash turned round then with Blue in his arm as Brock approached him. Same as with Paul, Brock stuck out his hand to the challenger of his gym - but it differed as Ash took it with no qualms, and Brock actually then seized Ash's hand with both of his own and shook it with gusto.

"Nice battle, Brock." Ash stated then.

"Are you kidding?" Brock questioned then, his face still holding an impressed expression. "That was an excellent battle. Best I've had in this gym for years. It's not a normal feat for a starting trainer to beat a main team Pokemon, Ketchum, let me assure you of that. Then again, you're not really a starting trainer..."

Ash chuckled at Brock's words. "Well, you pushed me really hard, Brock. That was one of the toughest battles I've ever had. I appreciate you not taking it easy on me, unlike Lance who has to."

"Yeah, I imagine." Brock murmured at that, before slapping a bade into Ash's hand as he let go. "Well, you've fully earned that boulder badge, Ash. As a token of my appreciation for that battle, I've also transferred an extra $4000 Pokedollars from the gym's funds to your account."

For winning a gym battle, a trainer would win $1000 Pokedollars under the League from the gym they'd won at to help them on their journey. Essentially, Ash had just won five times the standard amount in partaking in a much more difficult battle than compared to the standard Pokemon of the gym.

"Well, thanks Brock." Ash responded to that, sort of shocked he'd won so much.

"Don't mention it." Brock replied. "Take it as my thanks. Now, if you don't mind, there are no more challengers and I wish to close up the gym after that exciting battle. Good luck with your journey, Ketchum."

"Cheers." Ash thanked once more. "Good luck with your own gym."

Brock just waved back as he walked off, Ash turning around to see Paul and Synergy walking up to greet him and Blue.

"Well, that was a fucking impressive battle, Ash." Paul spoke then.

"Thanks." Ash responded then with a smile. "Yours' wasn't so bad either."

"Tch." Paul tutted aloud. "Come on, let's go back to the Pokemon Centre and get our Pokemon healed up. I wish to discuss our battles in greater length."

Ash just nodded his head at what was becoming a routine action of Pauls' in wanting to constantly review and improve, before he turned to Synergy. The crimson-eyed robotic Pokemon just looked down to Ash, before eye-smiling and ruffling the boy's hair. That made Ash laugh on instinct alone.

"Congratulations, Ash." Synergy stated. "A battle you can now claim as your first proper League battle turns out to be a most challenging one that you succeeded at. You've done us all proud."

Ash just smiled up to the robotic Pokemon who would always remain his first unofficial Pokemon. "Thanks, Synergy. Did you like the performance?"

Synergy just let out a laugh at that, a high-pitched mechanical chuckle. "That was just exceptionally pleasing to watch, Ash."