I know it's been a long time but I hope you haven't forgotten about me. The last year+ has been rough on so many different levels, so I hope this chapter finds you well and brightens your day at least a little bit.
Housekeeping items:
Starting this chapter if there's any background information that I feel you need to know (or anything interesting I come up with that doesn't necessarily fit in the story) and I can't find a way to sneak it into the chapter without it looking hamfisted in, I'll make an excerpt at the start of the chapter
Also starting this chapter I will start cross posting this to AO3 under the screen name Ryoichi_Halloran
I will also have the team and their movesets up to the current chapter posted either on my profile or in a separate story from now on.
I'll also be addressing questions/comments from the reviews on a limited basis depending on the volume of them. I'll also do so in a way that hopefully won't spoil future events unless you also go look at those reviews
Reviews:
Jerrend: It will happen but it will be awhile and she won't agree to it automatically
Now onto the story
On the controversy of Technical Machines
As Pokemon training began gaining steam as a legitimate profession, companies began throwing their resources into the research and development of trainer support items. Pokeballs. healthcare items, supplements, and food storage and preservation methods all grew in leaps and bounds over the course of a decade. The only thing that hadn't improved significantly in that time frame was how Pokemon were taught Moves. Early in that decade, Technical Records were created to give Trainers a visual guide to the basics of Moves, but otherwise they were learned through the hard work of the Trainers and Pokemon alike. So when The Silph Company introduced the first Technical Machine to the market 5 years after the big Trainer tech boom ended, it was met with shock and suspicion. After all, a disk that when used in conjunction with a special machine that can interact with a Pokemon's stored data in its Pokeball to directly download the knowledge of how to use a Move directly into its brain had to have some sort of major drawbacks. SilphCo however managed to assuage the majority of the populace's fears by releasing the methodology for the TMs creation, including the fact that the initial plan that set out to create a means of learning any move regardless of whether Pokemopn could learn it naturally or not was dropped due to projected success rate of the device without cause(causing) permanent damage being unacceptably low, and that the had sat on the technology for a full decade to guarantee there would be no long term health issues in the Pokemon they were used on. While the younger generation began to embrace the new technology, many older trainers felt it made training to easy for those who had the money to pay for them and were Pokemon training as a hobby. And as with all new technology, an unscrupulous few took to making black market versions that could do what Tms were initially intended to do,despite the risks, and all to make a quick Poke.
"Ashy-boy, I challenge you to a batt- WHAT?! HOW DO YOU HAVE 2 POKEMON ALREADY!" Ash heard the nasally voice of Gary Oak shout out as he left Professor Oak's lab.
"I should have known he'd be waiting here to challenge me to a battle." Ash thought
"What can I say, the ladies love me." Ash nonchalantly stated as he scratched under Rowlet's beak, earning a relaxed trill from the owl-like Pokemon. "Now are we battling or not?"
"Fine with me. Even if you somehow got another Pokemon already, I'll still show you who the better trainer is. We battle with our starters!" Gary said as he pulled out his Pokedex and sent the battle request to Ash, who accepted with his Pokedex and set the rules and prize amount "Standard? What are you afraid to put down some real money, Ashy-Boy?"
"Not all of us have trust funds to fall back (on)." Ash thought, a deadpan look on his face.
"Let's do this, Rowlet!" Ash exclaimed as Rowlet fluttered down from his shoulder and took an aggressive stance.
"Go Squirtle! Use Tackle!" Gary called out as he released his starter. The tiny turtle Pokemon immediately charged at Rowlet.
"Dodge and Growl" Ash countered. She dodged her opponent, the feral noise emanating from the grass quill Pokemon causing the Squirtle to shudder.
"Shake it off and use Water Gun!" Squirtle hesitated for a split second before firing a stream of water from its mouth.
"Counter with Tackle and follow up with Leafage" Rowlet surged forward, narrowly dodging the Water Gun, and slammed into her opponent. She then threw leaves at her opponent, causing further damage.
"No! Squirtle get up and use Tail Whip"
"Confuse Ray!"
As Squirtle got up, Rowlet's eyes glowed red, catching her opponent's eyes and causing it to begin to look around fearfully and sway slightly.
"Squirtle, snap out of it! Withdraw!" Squirtle shook its head forcefully before running head first into the wall of the lab and knocking itself out. Both trainers stared in shock and Pichu snickered.
"Well that was anticlimactic. Good work Rowlet." Ash said as Gary returned his starter and their Pokedexes chimed. He glared at Ash.
"You got lucky. It won't happen again Ashy-boy." Gary declared as he ran back into the lab, bumping into Leaf as she was leaving it.
"What's wrong with him?" Leaf asked, as she watched Gary's retreating back through the closing door of the lab.
"He challenged me to a match and didn't like it when Rowlet beat his Squirtle." Ash said as he cleared the money transfer notification from his Pokedex.
"Well considering Gary would want to prove he had the superior starter, how did you get a Rowlet as a starter? And isn't that the Pichu that was with the professor earlier?" Leaf asked.
"A former intern of the professor just became the regional professor in Alola and gave me the Rowlet for helping him with his research. Though I'm still trying to figure out how I did that. And the little princess here wanted to come with me. So much so that she decided to catch herself in one of my Pokeballs before I could even touch them." Ash explained.
"That's so adorable! What moves does she know?" Leaf asked.
"Why don't we have a training battle? You can find out that way." Ash replied. Leaf moved away from Ash, grabbed her Bulbasaur's Pokeball, and released it.
"Sounds good to me! Alright Bulba we're about to battle!" Leaf shouted out.
"Pichu let's do this! Start with Electric Terrain." Ash said as he kneeled to let the tiny mouse down from his shoulder. Pichu put some distance between herself and Ash, then stopped and electrified the field.
"Bulba use Growl. Follow up with Tackle." Leaf called out. A primal sound leaves the Bulbasaur's throat as it charges towards it's opponent.
"Dodge and use Tail Whip" Pichu avoided her charging opponent and shook her tail at it.
"Vine Whip"
"Play Nice" came Ash's simultaneous call. As Bulba shot 2 vines towards Pichu, she dodged the vines, grabbing them with slightly glowing paws as they came to a stop after striking the ground, and proceeded to shake and twirl them in a playful manner, humming as she did so.
"That's not what I meant to happen but it works." Ash thought.
"Nuzzle" Pichu takes the 2 vines she's holding and rubs them against her sparking cheeks, sending an electric shock down them to Bulba's body.
"No! Pull your vines back and attack anew" Bulba managed to pull its vines back but before it could renew it's attack it's muscles seize up.
"Charge" Sparks begin flying off Pichu's body as she begins to generate electricity.
"Bulba use Nature Power!" The Seed Pokemon's muscles unseize as it begins to exude a pale energy. The energy interacts with Pichu's Electric Terrain, turning it pale yellow as it formed a crackling ball in front of Bulba.
"Keep charging" Ash called out as Bulba fired the electric-infused Nature Power. Pichu maintained Charge as it was struck by the Thunderbolt that Nature Power became, doubling the electric aura surrounding her.
"Thundershock" Pichu released all the pent up electricity in a massive bolt right at her opponent. Bulba screamed in shocked pain as the attack hit and both Pokemon fainted as it ended. Both trainers returned their Pokemon and headed back into Professor Oak's lab to use his restoration machine.
"I didn't expect to see you 2 back here so quickly. What happened?" Professor Oak asked. The 2 new trainers recounted what happened in their practice battle.
"Well both Pokemon will be fine. Pichu is just exhausted and Bulbasaur's injuries are nothing the restoration machine can't handle. Although his injuries seem to be more consistent with a Thunderbolt than a Thundershock." The professor said as he monitored the restoration machine's progress. Ash checked his Pokedex and found a notification.
"It seems that Pichu learned Thunderbolt in that moment." Ash said as he cleared the notification, Leaf staring at him incredulously. He looked at Pikachu .
"Any other moves you were trying to teach her?" Ash asked. Pikachu's response was to make his tail begin to shine like metal.
"Iron Tail?" At Pikachu's nod Ash continued; "Well that certainly shortcuts things if she already knows the basic idea."
"Your luck is crazy," Leaf commented, shaking her head in disbelief. The restoration machine finished running, allowing the 2 new trainers to reclaim their Pokemon. Both immediately released their charges. Pichu gave her head a quick shake as she was released. Ash got down on one knee.
"Don't like being in your Pokeball?" Pichu shook her head no, "Then I won't put you in it unless you're injured, ok?" Pichu cooed affectionately.
I'm heading home now. Meet you at the town border on Route 1 tomorrow morning." Leaf said as she and her starter left.
"Yeah see you tomorrow Leaf." Ash said. The two of them had decided to take a day to get to know their new partners and leave the next morning, traveling together until at least Cerulean City. "We should head home as well."
Ash bent down and allowed his Pokemon to hop up on his shoulders again. He said goodbye to the Professor a second time and left for home. As he walked through Pallet Town, allowing Rowlet and Pichu to take in the sites of the small town, Ash's face began taking on a thoughtful look.
"Would you 2 (two) like names?" Ash asked his Pokemon. Rowlet trilled happily, while Pichu took a minute before nodding her assent.
"I thought of this one when I saw your information on my Pokedex. Artemis?" Ash asked Rowlet. The tiny owl took a moment before hooting happily. "Artemis it is. Now we need to find one for Pichu."
Unfortunately that was easier said than done. By the time Ash and his team had covered the rest of the distance to his home, Pichu had rejected several names. Ash let himself into the house. Pichu hopped off his shoulder and started to explore the house, running into the kitchen first.
"Oh aren't you a little cutie! Now where did you come from?" a female voice in the kitchen asked.
"Mom, I'm home!" Ash called out, "Though that may be obvious at this point."
"Very obvious." Delia Ketchum answered back dryly as she entered the front room, Pichu and a Mr. Mime on her heels. "Oh 2 Pokemon already?"
"Artemis here is my starter and a gift from Kukui. The little hyperactive princess at your feet decided she wanted to come with me right after that." Ash explained, gesturing to each Pokemon in turn, giving Pichu a thoughtful look.
"It does make sense. I have seen this little one watching you around the lab." Delia stated. Ash's thoughtful look turned into a smirk.
"Pichu, how about Nora?" Ash asked. Pichu thought for a minute before nodding happily.
"What a pretty name! Lunch will be ready soon Ash." his mother said as she moved back into the kitchen.
"Come on you two. Mom's the best cook. We can start your training after we eat." Ash told his team.
After a lengthy lunch where Ash regaled his mother with the story of his team's first battles, they headed out behind his house to begin training.
"Alright I saw what the two of you were capable of during the battles earlier so we can skip that part. On the road the first hour and a half after waking up each day we'll work on refining your moves. The hour before dinner each night we'll work on learning new moves. Traveling time will mostly be endurance training. Simple enough, right?" Ash explained. Both Pokemon nodded enthusiastically.
"Artemis, I want you to begin working on Razor Leaf. Start by trying to make the leaves you make with Leafage sharp. After that make those sharp leaves fly from you." Ash instructed. Artemis nodded and flew over to a nearby tree and began training.
"Alright Nora, I know you're working on Iron Tail, so let's see what you have so far. Use it against that tree." Ash said, pointing at another nearby tree. Nora concentrated for a minute, as a silvery sheen enveloped her tail. She then charged the tree and with a battle cry struck it with her silvery tail. A small scratch was in the bark of the tree.
"You have the basics down. I want you to focus on channelling Steel-type energy into your tail without attacking. It should really shine when you have it right." Ash told Nora. She nodded and began concentrating, her tail taking on a silver color. Ash pulled out his Pokedex and began looking through his Pokemon's entries to begin coming up with training plans for each of them.
"Artemis should learn Shadow Sneak and then Synthesis. She'll need to learn Sucker Punch, Pluck and Feather Dance before she fully evolves and her typing changes. Peck and Nasty Plot will be a good starting point for learning those. After all of those will be Leaf Blade. Nora's potential move pool isn't all that great until she evolves into Pikachu, I'll have her learn Nasty Plot at the same time as Artemis. Until then I'll have her learn Sweet Kiss and Charm and have her try and learn Thunder Punch, since it will be a good starting point for Mega Punch and Volt Tackle after she evolves." Ash planned out in his head. A happy trill from Artemis brought him out of his thoughts.
"Maybe Artemis should learn Leaf Blade sooner," Ash mused as he watched Artemis begin flinging leaves with her wings at the tree she chose to practice on, only a few leaves sticking into the trunk. "I didn't expect her to get this far in 20 minutes, so she clearly has either an above average affinity for Grass energy manipulation for even a Grass-type, an affinity for sharpening leaves or is extremely intelligent. Shadow Sneak and Synthesis will help determine which it is."
Ash turned to check on Nora's progress. Her tail hadn't gotten any shinier and if Nora's sparking cheeks were any indication, she was getting frustrated with the situation. Ash went over to her and took a knee.
"Alright Nora that's enough for now. Getting frustrated right now is only going to hinder your progress. Iron Tail is going to be a long term goal for now. What I want you to do right now is reduce the Steel-type energy running through your tail." Ash directed. Nora's tail started shining less, until it was half of what it was. "That's good. I want you to remember that level of Steel energy. Tomorrow while we're travelling, I want you to gather that level of Steel energy in your tail and maintain it as long as possible. Hopefully that will let you get a feel for it. For now I want you to start learning Charm. It's effect is similar to Play Nice, but it uses Fairy-type energy as opposed to Normal-type energy and it will be twice as effective. I want you to start by raising the power of Play Nice and see if you can feel a different type of energy as you're doing it."
Nora nodded dejectedly and turned to begin working on Charm. Ash stopped her with his hand on her head.
"Don't be so hard on yourself. Getting stronger will take time." Ash said. Nora looked over at Artemis, a worried look on her face. "Comparing yourself to Artemis right now isn't fair to yourself. The type of the move she's learning is one of her primary types. There is also taking her natural ability into account. Everybody learns at different rates. With hard work you'll get it eventually. I'd rather have my team work hard than try to get by on talent alone. Ok?"
"I need to keep an eye on this" Ash thought as Nora nodded solemnly and began trying to learn Charm. He turned to where Artemis was still learning Razor Leaf and began walking over. "Making sure Artemis is working just as hard as Nora should help stop this from ruining team cohesion."
"It looks like you'll learn Razor Leaf quickly." Ash said to Artemis. She trilled happily, flying around Ash's head.
"Don't get too excited. Learning a move isn't the same as mastering it and I fully expect you to master every move you learn. Alright?" Artemis settled down and nodded, a determined glint in her eye. "Good. What I want you to do while we're travelling tomorrow is work on Confuse Ray. It will be mastered when you're able to fire it off with no charging delay. But I want you to fire them into the air. DON'T use it on anything that doesn't attack you first. Understood?"
Artemis nodded solemnly. Even when used by a master of the move, Confuse Ray can cause severe mental trauma if they weren't careful. As a result, it was extremely frowned upon to use it outside of formal training and battle situations unless provoked. Ash knew however that they would need to train with Confuse Ray extensively if the idea he had for it had any chance of working so it was potentially worth the risk as long as they were careful about it.
"Keep working on Razor Leaf for now." Ash told Artemis. She trilled, turned towards the tree she was previously aiming at, and began forming and throwing leaves again.
"Artemis might finish learning Razor Leaf during tomorrow night's training session. Ash thought as he watched her for a few minutes. He turned to check on Nora and saw her glowing a pink-tinged white. "I honestly didn't expect her to get this far until tomorrow afternoon's training session. Does she have a talent for Fairy-type moves? I'll have to move Play Rough forward on the training schedule as a test. I was also planning on her learning Draining Kiss eventually, so this might push it forward as well."
"Ash, Dinner's ready!" His mother called from the house.
"Coming!" Ash called back, "Alright you two we're done training physically for the day!"
The next morning after an early breakfast and saying goodbye to his mother, including a promise to call home once a week with the latest model Xtransceiver she had given him the night before, Ash and his Pokemon headed to Route 1 to meet up with Leaf.
"Ash!" Leaf called out as he walked up with his Pokemon, her Bulbasaur Bulba at her side, "Ready to go?"
"All set. Artemis, Nora. You can explore around us but don't wander off too far from us. Artemis, keep an eye out for other trainers. And remember to do what I told you to do while we're traveling." Ash told his Pokemon. Artemis gave an affirmative trill and took to the air. Nora nodded, took a moment to gather Steel-type energy to her tail, and began exploring the immediate area. Leaf gave him a wary look as they started down Route 1.
"You sure it's a good idea to have them training on the go like this?" Leaf asked.
"Yeah. All Nora is doing is channeling a small amount of Steel-type energy through her tail to get a feel for it. I'll be keeping an eye on her to make sure she doesn't over do it. Artemis is working on mastering Confuse Ray so flying while doing that should make sure accidents don't happen." Ash answered. Leaf nodded, understanding his reasoning. Over the next few hours as the two new trainers traveled to Viridian City, a few wild Pokemon came to challenge them, which their Pokemon won easily.
"Nothing but Rattatas and Spearows. They're way too aggressive to be a second Pokemon." Leaf lamented as Bulba beat another Rattata.
"Are you sure you're not being too picky about this? I mean it's not like the perfect Pokemon is just going to fall from the sky." Ash grouched.
Suddenly a Pidgey flew in for a landing in front of them, but botched the landing. It tumbled for a couple of feet before coming to a stop and getting back to its feet. Other than being dazed from the rough landing, the Pidgey seemed physically fine. The 2 trainers could only stare in shock.
"Bulba, Tackle and then Vine Whip!" Leaf called out after coming out of her shock. As Bulba moved to attack, Artemis landed on Ash's shoulder and gave him an affectionate nip, snapping him out of his shocked state. He gained a thoughtful look as Leaf completed her first capture.
"It's not like 5 billion Poke will just fall from the sky!" Ash loudly proclaimed. Leaf gave Ash an incredulous look.
"Really, Ash?" Leaf sighed, her face in her palm and her back to Ash.
"It was worth a shot and it's not like I wouldn't have shared it with you," Ash retorted. A feminine laugh behind them brought them up short. They turned around to see an orange haired girl around their age chuckling. Ash tensed when he saw her.
"Sorry didn't mean to sneak up on you. I saw your Rowlet flying around and followed it to see if I could catch it. I'm MIsty." the girl introduced herself.
"I'm Leaf, My friend here is Ash. The Rowlet you saw is his starter, Artemis." Leaf replied.
"Really? How did that happen?" Misty asked.
"I helped Professor Kukui with some research." Ash replied tersely. Nora came out of the tall grass along the route, looking between her trainer and the newcomer with a curious look.
"Is he always this tense?" Misty asked Leaf.
"No he just lllllikes you." Leaf teased, drawing out the L.
"That's not it at all so you wasted the Happy impression," Ash snorted, holding in a laugh.
"Happy's too adorable to ever be wasted." Leaf pouted. A confused Misty looked between the two.
"We're just referencing an old anime." Ash explained. "So what brings you this far down Route 1?"
"I was looking for water types just off the main route. I even managed to catch a Poliwag and a Staryu before a Magikarp suddenly evolved and tore up the area. I barely got out of there and had to leave my bike and my bag. By the time the Gyarados had calmed down and left the area my bike was completely wrecked." Misty said. "Luckily my bag survived. I decided to head back to Viridian after that. Do you guys mind if I travel with you?"
"I don't have a problem with it." Ash said.
"Sure! Trainers on the road have to help each other." Leaf stated. "By the way, considering you were capturing more than one Water-type, you're an aspiring Water-type Master, right?"
"Yeah, I plan on being the greatest one ever!" Misty answered as they started walking toward Viridian City.
"Then why did you try and capture a Grass/Flying type like Rowlet?" Leaf asked
"It's very rare for a Master-level Trainer to only have Pokemon of a single type. All the Master title truly means is that a person has learned all that is currently known about raising and battling with a particular type." Misty replied. "Brock is considered a Rock-type Master but he has a Crobat on his League registered team. And don't even get me started on the Persian that follows Giovanni around."
"But what if you had caught Artemis and the 2 of you didn't get along?" Leaf asked.
"The League doesn't advertise it but you can trade any Ppkemon you catch to them, either for different Pokemon, items or cash." Misty told them "Most trainers never need to do such trades unless they catch a Pokemon they have trouble controlling or if they can't find a suitable trade for an incompatible Pokemon quickly enough. There's also the upside of being able to get Pokemon from other the League."
"Wait, you can!?" Leaf exclaimed, as she began looking around her.
"Only if you and the Pokemon are completely incompatible and the Pokemon wants to be trained. Otherwise the League will buy it from you and release it into a wild area where it's unlikely to be caught again unless it decides later it wants to be caught." Ash answered, surprising both girls. "I looked into what services the League offered to trainers a couple of years ago."
"What were you going to catch a Rattata and see what you can trade it for?" Leaf teased.
"You mean like you were just about to?" Ash countered, causing Leaf to look away in embarrassment and Misty to chuckle. "Actually I was going to catch a Caterpie and see if I could get a male Burmy or a Cutiefly."
"Ugh I hate Bugs." Misty stated, visibly unnerved. "They creep me out."
"Viridian Forest is going to be fun for you." Leaf said sarcastically.
"I already had to go through it once to get here." Misty said with a grimace. "I can't wait to get my third badge. Then I can just go through the Wild area between Viridian and Celadon and avoid Viridian Forest altogether. But until then that's what Repels are for."
"I had a feeling you'd say that." Ash mused with a shake of his head, "I however hope to catch a Bug type when we go through there. So please keep the Repels to yourself."
"Fine but you're keeping the rest of the Bugs away from me." Misty fired back.
"So you're staying with us until we reach Pewter then?" Leaf asked her.
:"There's safety in numbers/" Misty replied.
"Especially when going through Beedrill territory." Ash added.
After a few hours of traveling, the 3 trainers stopped to set up camp for the night. Afterwards they separated a short distance to allow Leaf and Misty to introduce themselves to their new teammates. Ash in the meantime started training his team. After confirming that Artemis had learned Razor Leaf, Ash had her fly around to start getting a feel for Flying-type energy in preparation for learning Peck and Feather after checking Nora's progress with gathering Steel-type energy, he discovered that she had already finished learning Charm.
"Both of you are overachievers." Ash thought out loud, "I suppose we'll just have to see how far that goes. I want you to channel the Fairy-type energy you just learned how to use for Charm into your paws Nora."
As Nora followed her trainer's instruction, Ash called Artemis down from her flight.
"Alright Artemis, change of plans. We're going to hold off on learning to use Flying-type energy for now. Instead you and Nora are going to have a mock battle so that she can hopefully learn a new move. After that we'll see if you can learn a new move. (Does that) Sound good?" Ash explained. At Artemis' affirmative trill, he turned to Nora and saw her paws were beginning to faintly glow pink.
"Alright Nora, I want you to attack Artemis with the Fairy-type energy in your paws. Artemis, all I want you to do is stay low to the ground and dodge Nora's attacks. Don't fight back, just dodge." he instructed. After getting both Pokemon's acknowledgement, Ash retreated to a safe distance. At his signal, Nora charged at Artemis. For the next 30 minutes Ash watched an increasingly frustrated Nora try and hit an elusive Artemis, the pink glow around her paws slowly gaining strength.
"Mock battling already?" Misty asked. As she walked over, a tiring Artemis began deflecting Nora's blows with Leafage. "Most trainers usually do move training with new Pokemon for the first few days. Or have them learn moves from older Pokemon like I'm doing."
"Sometimes the best way to learn a move is in battle." Ash answered. At that moment, Nora's frustration boiled over, causing the pink glow to fully envelop her body as she barreled into Artemis. "Case in point, Nora learned Play Rough in just over half an hour. Alright Nora, Artemis that's enough!"
The Pichu jumped up happily. A thoroughly roughed up Artemis got up at a slower pace.
"Nora, you're going to start working on Thunder Punch. I want you to do the same thing you just did except this time I want you to channel your Electric energy to your paws. Channel a small amount then release it by punching a tree. Then add more power and repeat." Ash told her. Nora nodded and ran towards a nearby tree.
"So that's why he had her learn Play Rough that way." Misty thought.
"Artemis, I want you to try to learn Synthesis before I heal you. Channel your grass-type energy through your body and focus on the thought of healing yourself." Ash instructed. Artemis nodded her head wearily, then closed her eyes and began to focus her energy.
"This seems a little harsh," Misty spoke up, " You don't honestly expect him to learn Synthesis in a few minutes?"
"Not really. I just want Artemis to get an idea for the basics," Ash replied as a soft green glow began to envelop Artermis, "Then again both of my Pokemon have proven themselves to be overachievers, so I won't discount the possibility of them both learning the moves I just set for them tonight."
A few minutes passed before the green glow around the Rowlet faded. Ash grabbed some Oran berries from his pack.
"Did you figure out the basics?" Ash asked Artemis as he held out berries for her with one hand with a Potion in his other one. She nodded and began plucking berries tiredly from his hand. "I want you to make an attempt at Synthesis at the end of our afternoon training sessions until you've learned it. I want you to take it easy the rest of today. Just try and figure out how to harness Flying-type energy but don't do anything too strenuous to do it. Alright?"
Artemis answered with a trill and after giving Ash an affectionate nip flew to a nearby tree and closed her eyes to focus on her task.
"Come on, we should start making camp for the night while our Pokemon are training.": Misty told Ash.
The next afternoon saw the three teens entering Viridian City limits. After being confronted by the local Officer Jenny about their Pokemon being out of their Pokeballs and warned of possible Pokemon thieves in the area, they made their way to the Pokemon Center. As they entered the red roofed building, they saw a teen wearing a short sleeve button down shirt,suit vest and pants and dress shoes, holding court over a group of preteens as they fawned over a Dratini as their (probable) teacher watched on with a resigned look on his face.
The trio registered for rooms and handed their Pokemon to the Nurse Joy at the counter for a check-up. While the girls went to call home using the Center's phones, Ash used his Xtransceiver to do the same with the teen's continued boasting in the background. After he ended the call, Ash pulled his Pokedex out, scanned the Dratini through the crowd of preteens, and watched the teen contemplatively out of the corner of his eye as he went through the information. Leaf and Misty returned right as they were called by Nurse Joy to retrieve their Pokemon. Ash whispered something to Nora, who nodded and grinned at whatever he said. He proceeded to walk over to the braggart teen.
"Ash?" Leaf questioned as Misty looked on in confusion.
"Don't worry. Just going to practice my head deflation technique." Ash answered Leaf's unasked question. Ash hurriedly whispered a few instructions to Nora, who nodded along. The teacher narrowed his eyes as Ash approached the group.
"My family was generous in the gifts they gave me for my journey. I've already taught my Dratini Agility and Swift using the TMs they gave me" the boy boasted to the students as they stared at the Dragon-type Pokemon in awe.
"Oh you're just starting out." Ash called out sarcastically, "The way you were acting I thought you had … more experience."
"Oh. I suppose a peasant such as yourself is a grizzled young veteran?" the boy sneered.
"Nope! I just got my starter 2 days ago." Ash cheekily replied "But from personal experience I know that guys who boast as much as you do tend to be mostly bark (a lot of bark?) with very little bite."
"I'll have you know I was considered a prodigy from a young age and graduated top of my class from Pokemon Tech. All of my teachers and tutors said I will be the Champion one day." The boy proclaimed as if his last statement was set in stone.
"Then put your money where your mouth is." Ash fired back.
"Are you proposing a battle, peasant?" the boy asked arrogantly, "I suppose I can lower myself to face you but I only battle those willing to wager 2500 Poke per Pokemon in the I doubt someone such as yours-"
"50,000 Poke, 1 on 1 between Nora here and your Dratini." Ash interrupted him. The shock that followed that proposal lasted a few seconds before the students began whispering excitedly. Big money matches like this usually don't happen in Viridian until the end of the League season when the trainers come to make their attempts at Giovanni, and even then they are incredibly rare and rarely go over 5000 per Pokemon.
"After all 50,000 should be a paltry sum for someone like you, and you wouldn't want to deny letting these students see a future champ in action, would you?" Ash sarcastically explained his reasoning.
"Yeah Blake, we want to see a battle and he's asking for it!" one of the students exclaimed, the other students quickly chimed in to encourage the Dratini's trainer.
"Well I shouldn't disappoint my admirers." Blake said out loud as he internally sneered, "This peasant is looking down on me! I'll destroy his little rat and crush him under foot!"
"If you wouldn't mind, could you be the referee for our battle?" Ash asked the teacher.
"I will." the teacher swiftly replied. "I see what you're doing kid and I hope you can back it up. Otherwise you're just going to come off as arrogant as this kid has been acting."
"The battle between Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town and Blake Royce of Saffron City will now commence!" the teacher proclaimed after they moved to the training field outside of the Pokemon Center. Blake had scoffed when the students noticed Ash's Pokedex as he sent the battle request. and began to whisper excitedly about seeing one of Professor Oak's sponsored trainers in action.
"The trainers will now release their Pokemon to the field" the teacher knelt down to allow Nora to hop off his shoulder as Blake re-released his Dratini onto the field. Beside the teacher, the students and Leaf began cheering the two on as Misty looked on worriedly and Artemis, who Ash had released to watch the battle, did so intently.
"Begin!"
"Dragon Breath!" Blake called out. Blue fire shots out of his Pokemon's mouth.
"Geppo" Ash called out. Nora dodged the fire, sending a wink at her opponent as a faint pink glow covered her.
"That's not a move!" one of the students called out as the others began laughing.
"Professor Oak must be going senile if one of his chosen trainers doesn't even know his Pokemon's moves!" Blake taunted as his Dratini continued to fire Dragon Breath at Nora, who continued dodging while faintly glowing pink.
"Idiot doesn't realize he's already in trouble." Leaf thought, a feral grin on her face. Nora's continued dodging began to frustrate both Blake and his Dratini.
"Scale Shot!" Blake called out. Dratini began shooting it's scales at Nora, who had lost the faint pink glow but managed to just barely dodge the scales. She immediately used Tail Whip the moment Dratini stopped firing Scale Shot.
"ENOUGH! USE SWIFT!" Blake screamed out. Dratini fired golden stars by swinging its tail.
"Dodge and charge in," Ash called out. Nora dodged right and charged at her opponent as the stars passed her. Blake started to laugh until Ash's next order.
"Play Rough!"
Blake's panicked order to dodge came too late as the pink light of Fairy-type energy erupted from Nora as she tackled the Dragon Pokemon. The two Pokemon tussled for a moment before Dratini ended up on top of Nora, worse for wear and preparing to fire Dragon Breath at point blank range.
"Nuzzle!" Ash called out. The Pichu's cheeks began to spark as she latched onto the Dratini and delivered a short shock to it, getting her opponent off of herself. "Jump back and hold position, but be ready to dodge."
"Why would he-" Blake thought before seeing what Ash's plan was."WHA-? DODGE!"
His warning came too late as Dratini's returning Swift plowed into it from behind the smoke cleared, Dratini was knocked out.
"Dratini is unable to battle! The winner is Ash Ketchum!" the teacher announced. Nora gleefully ran across the field into Ash's arms as Leaf and Misty cheered.
"Good job, Nora!" Ash praised his Pokemon with a laugh. Just as Artemis landed on his shoulder and gave her own hooted congratulation. his Pokedex let out notification beep.
"Hold it right there, Blake!" the teacher called out. He had released a Tangrowth, who had wrapped up the clearly retreating trainer. "Where do you think you're going?"
"To transfer necessary funds?" Blake tried to convince the teacher.
"Idiot!" the teacher harshly rebuked. "You know the league's rules. If you can't pay the wager, you pay it off with items from your pack of your opponent's choice!"
"The system shouldn't allow you to do it in the first place!" Blake complained.
"The moment you got your Trainer's license, you legally became an adult," the teacher replied, " You should have known better than to make that wager! Now act like an adult and own up to your mistake before I get the police involved! Now then I need to see your Trainer account, Mr. Ketchum."
"Of course, sir," Ash said as he handed over his Pokedex. "I made sure the funds were in my Trainer account before I made the challenge."
"Everything checks out," the teacher proclaimed after checking Ash's Trainer account balance. "The battle results stand!"
At that point the Tangrowth put Blake down but kept a vine on him as he reluctantly began pulling items from his pack. Ash immediately picked up Blake's TM case after he set it down, much to Blake's dismay.
"Let's see what he has." Ash thought as he browsed through the TM case. "So Swift and Agility are permanent copies. He also has a permanent copy of Protect, but let's see what else he has."
As Ash looked through the TM case, he became mildly disgusted by the thought of how much money had to be spent to get the TMs Blake had, especially considering how few healing items Blake had pulled from his bag. The TM with a hand written label that Ash found tucked in behind another TM in the same slot just made his blood run cold.
"Sir, I need you to see this." Ash said coldly as he held the case out to the teacher.
"Tangrowth, Restrain him!" the teacher ordered, "You can explain how you got the Explosion TM to the police when they get here."
"Well I guess I'll have to wait to get the Professor to answer that question." Ash thought.========================================================================
It took several hours to sort out the situation with Blake and get his winnings from their battle. Afterwards, Ash went to his room in the Pokemon Center, where he called Professor Oak to run a theory by him.
"Yes, you're right Ash. We were actually trying to breed Dedenne with the move Volt Tackle when we found her egg among the others. It completely surprised us considering how rare it is for a Pokemon to not be of the mother's species." Oak explained. "Your Pichu has truly found it easy to learn Fairy type moves?"
"Nora learned Charm in about a day and Play Rough in an hour." Ash answered as he made a mental note to check his Pokedex's setting after this call. "She also has had trouble learning Iron Tail but that could be attributed to her age as well. That's why I wasn't sure."
"It's most likely age. Young Pokemon rarely have the power to use a high level move like Iron Tail." the professor stated. "It was a miracle she lear-"
A sudden crash from the lobby of the Pokemon Center interrupted the conversation.
"Professor .." Ash started to ask as he headed for the lobby.
"I'm calling the police! Don't do anything rash!" Professor Oak warned urgently.
"I won't," Ash promised as he hung up.
"Meowth, that's right!" the Scratch Cat Pokemon proclaimed at the end of Team Rocket's introduction. 2 members of the infamous gang had crashed through the roof of the Pokemon Center looking to steal the injured Pokemon in the Center's care. Leaf and Misty were in the lobby retrieving their teams after having them checked over by Nurse Joy before turning in for the night.
"Now turn over all the Pokemon here before we get serious!" the red-haired Rocket said as she and her blue haired partner released an Ekans and a Koffing."We will attack you if we hav-"
"Did that Meowth just talk?!" Misty exclaimed.
" I don't thi-" the blue-haired Rocket started.
"Oh god! Ash was right!?" Leaf whined, "He's going to be insufferable if he finds out!"
"You should really worry about yourse-" the female Rocket started through her gritted teeth.
"So which one of you trained him to talk?" Leaf asked.
"THAT'S IT! NOT ONLY ARE NOT TAKING US SERIOUSLY, NOW YOU'RE GOING TO INSULT MY INTELLIGENCE ON TOP OF DAT!. LISTEN YOU DAMN TWERP! I TAUGHT MYSELF HOW TO TALK LIKE A HUMAN. I AIN'T EVER HAD NO TRAINER AND I AIN'T EVER GONNA NEE-" the Meowth's tirade was interrupted by a Swift attack raining down from above on him followed closely by a Luxury Ball beaming him in the head and sucking him in. Everybody in the lobby stared in shock as the Luxury Ball shook a few times before chiming a successful capture. Before the Rockets could react, Artemis swooped in, grabbed the Ball, flew up to the upper balcony of the lobby, and dropped it into Ash's hand.
"I have to apologize to the professor for this later." Ash thought as the Rockets shocked looks turned into angry glares at him.
Next Time: "You can't do that!", Navigating forests, a bug, "This is going to be a thing isn't it?"