Chapter 47

The crowd's cheers were deafening, but it didn't matter to Ash. Standing in the middle of the stadium with the spotlight on him, he ignored the thousands upon thousands of people packed into the arena's stands and only stood with his eyes to the ground and a smirk on his face. Their cries of delight were inaudible, but one thing was for sure: they were cheering for him.

"Well, I'm finally here. It's time to take on the Pokémon League... and become a Pokémon Master!" His itching fingers reached down for a Poké Ball on his belt, and he pressed the control button on its face before throwing it forward. "Poké Ball, go!" he cried. The red and white sphere left his hands and flew through the air, but like a boomerang, it came back to him. His smirk faded and melted into a look of confusion for a split second before turning into fear. The Poké Ball was growing in size as it soared back to him. The shadow of the giant Poké Ball enveloped him, and the Pallet Town native flailed his arms uselessly in horror as the ball opened in front of him. A huge suction of wind dragged his feet toward the ball, and he held his hands over his hat as the ball threatened to pull him inside the Poké Ball. "Hey, cut it out!"

But as he was lifted off the ground and flew toward the center of the capture device, everything soon became black, though the suction still remained as he shifted upward. The sound of wind rushing past his ears became apparent, and reality set in. Pulling whatever was blocking his vision off his face, he breathed in a sigh of relief. It was the mouth of the vacuum cleaner, and it was all just a dream.

Ash blinked the sleep away from his eyes before reality set in. Looking at his mother's Mr. Mime, the Psychic Pokémon was humming loudly to itself while dragging the vacuum across the carpet of his room. He was back in his room in his childhood home after a year of being gone on his Pokémon journey. He had given up his bed to Brock the night before, and lay on a small futon mattress on the floor underneath it. The Pokémon Breeder was already awake and gone, leaving Ash in the room all alone. Or he would have been had Mimey not been in there. Realizing it was all just a nightmare, Ash let out another sigh of both relief and annoyance, but before another conscious thought could form in his fogged mind, Mr. Mime looked at him and then smiled and brought to vacuum to his face once again.

"HEY CUT IT OUT WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

o 0 o

"Mooorrning..." Ash yawned loudly as he entered the kitchen, where Brock and his mother were. Brock had shed his vest for his familiar frilly apron he wore when he was cooking, and was doing just that at the stove. His mother, on the other hand, was enjoying not cooking for a change and was placing freshly-picked daisies from her garden in a small vase of water, and she turned around and smiled warmly at her son as he entered the room. His hair was a mess and uncovered, but he had dressed in his otherwise normal outfit.

"Well good morning, honey," she greeted. "Did you sleep well?"

"I slept okay," he replied with a sideways frown. "Until your Mr. Mime came in and woke me up."

"Oh? What happened?"

"That crazy clown used the vacuum on my face!" he complained as she placed the flower vase on the center of the table. Just then, the accused entered the room, still carrying the portable vacuum and hurried over beside Delia.

"Mr. Mime!" it said, smiling up at the woman as if expecting praise. She returned its smile and turned back to her son.

"When Mr. Mime sees something dirty, he has to clean it! Right, Mimey?"

"Mr. Mime!" it replied, and snuggled up against her. The response annoyed him and he glared daggers at the Barrier Pokémon before pointing to the stairs behind him.

"Mr. Mime, go finish cleaning my room now that I'm awake!" he ordered, but the Psychic Pokémon blinked at him as if he had just spoken a foreign language to it, and continued to snuggle up against Mrs. Ketchum. The woman chuckled and rubbed the top of its head.

"I'm sorry, Ash, but Mr. Mime only listens to me!" Ash's head fell to the side and groaned, but the action went unnoticed as she turned her attention to her Pokémon. "Oh, Mimey, would you go and pick some more vegetables from the garden, please?"

"Miiime!" Dropping the vacuum onto the floor, Mr. Mime wore a wide grin on its face as it hurried out the front door with a task now given to it.

"Hey, that used to be my job..." Ash murmured with a hint of saddened jealousy in his voice as if he had been replaced. Until this point, he was an only child, after all.

"We better eat fast," Brock suggested, and sipped from the ladle to taste the stew he had been working on. "We've got a lot to learn about the Pokémon League from Professor Oak."

"Right! Professor Oak!" The Pokémon Trainer's face lit up as he was reminded of the day's task. How could he have forgotten; it was the whole reason they had come back to Pallet in the first place!

o 0 o

A quick breakfast was digesting in their stomach as Ash made the familiar journey to Professor Oak's lab. While he had traveled to the lab many times in his childhood, it had been just over a year now that he had arrived with the intent of getting his first Pokémon and starting his journey. It was nostalgic for Ash, but Brock seemed to be excited as well. The Pokémon Breeder was trying not to show it, since he had only met the Pokémon Professor on the video phone and this would be the first time he would meet him face to face and in person.

This seemed to be the only time throughout his journey that Ash actually knew where he was going, and it didn't take long for the pair to arrive at the huge plot of land at the edge of town, where the professor's lab was beckoning them at the top of a hill. Hurrying up the stairs to the front door, Ash reached up and rang the doorbell. The chime echoed through the building even from the outside, and they could finally hear the older man's voice call. "Come in!"

A gloved hand twisted the doorknob, and it easily opened. "Professor Oak! It's me, Ash!" the black-haired boy announced as him and Brock walked into the hallway leading inside. They didn't have to wait long before Professor Oak appeared around the corner with a big smile on his face, deepening the wrinkles on his face.

"Oh, what a surprise! It's great to see... your Pokédex!" The older man surprised Ash by reaching into the pocket of his jacket and snatching up the red device that could be seen poking out and plucking it out. The action caught Ash off-guard and he stumbled to the ground as the professor opened the case and started to go through the information in it.

"Glad you... like it..." he murmured with a disappointed frown.

Professor Oak invited them in, and led the way toward his parlor. "It just so happens you're not the only Pokémon Trainer to stop by today." The three walked inside, and Ash and Brock's eyes settled on the fourth person in the room: Gary. Though he was hardly recognizable without the cheerleaders that usually crowded around him, he was sitting on the sofa with a teacup in his hand, and he glanced at the pair before his trademark smirk pulled the corners of his mouth up.

"Well now, I'm not surprised you showed up late; I'm surprised you showed up at all!" Ash's rival sneered with a shrug.

"Hey!" Ash snapped, stomping forward angrily, but the pending argument was cut off by Professor Oak.

"All right, calm down, you two," he said with a cocked eyebrow. "Why can't Pallet's two top Pokémon Trainers get along?"

"Top Trainer?" the two questioned at the same time, and then pointed at each other. "Not him!"

"That's right! You're both such fine Trainers that you'll be Pokémon Masters before long! You might even be able to learn from each other." Oak's words fell upon deaf ears, however, and the two both huffed and turned their faces away from the other with their noses in the air.

Gary stood and sat on the opposite sofa beside his grandfather while Ash and Brock sat on the couch that the auburn-haired Trainer had been sitting on. While Professor Oak put Ash's Pokédex into the computer in the back of the room, a scuttling could be heard across the linoleum floor, and the gray-haired man smiled as a Krabby walked in carrying a tray containing cups of tea. "Here's your Krabby, Ash," he said to the Pokémon Trainer as the Water Pokémon placed the tray on the table. The Pokémon was almost unrecognizable, as it had grown quite a bit since Ash had exchanged it for his Tauros on his journey.

"How 'ya doing, Krabby!" Ash greeted with a wave. "Long time no see!"

"So that's his, huh?" Gary observed quietly as Krabby gurgled happily in response of seeing its Trainer, and then smirked.

"Ash, four Pokémon Trainers left Pallet Town on their Pokémon journeys," Professor Oak began with a warm smile. "But you and Gary have earned the most Badges, and I'm very proud."

"What happened to the other two?" Ash asked. It had been a very long time since he had seen Marina, the blue-haired girl who started her Pokémon journey at the same time as him and Gary, and he had yet to even meet the other Trainer who started after them, who had been late that day – or on time since everyone else seemed to be early.

"They both got off to an excellent start, but they just didn't have the skill," Professor Oak replied. "Now that I think about it, I think one of the Trainer's family moved off to a faraway region, so he must have followed."

"Oh, that's too bad..."

"They just wimped out," Gary piped up as he crossed his arms across his chest, and his grandfather turned and looked at him.

"But Gary has ten Badges, and you earned eight Badges, Ash! That's really quite remarkable!" he praised, turning back to the Trainer across from him.

"Well, gee, thank you!" Ash thanked, and scratched his cheek bashfully. "But my Pokémon deserve more credit than me."

"In any case, I'm glad you're here. It's time for you and Gary to participate in the Pokémon League!"

The praise instantly went to the boy's head, and he stood up and raised a fist excitedly as his eyebrows clashed together with determination. "All right! I'm on my way to becoming a Pokémon Master! Let's go, Brock!" Ash went to step away from the sofa and out the door, but Gary's voice singing his name mockingly grabbed his attention.

"Oh Aaaash!"

"Yeah, what is it?!" Ash shot back with an annoyed look, and found Gary sitting with a knowing smile on his face.

"Just one question: where's the Pokémon League meeting this year?" Realization ran his blood cold, and Ash moaned quietly in thought, but no answer came to him.

"That's one of the things we came to find out," Brock spoke up, attempting to cut through his friend's embarrassment.

"I assume you know the Pokémon League only meets once a year in the exact same place-"

"Where is it?! When is it?! You gotta tell me!" Ash begged, throwing himself onto Gary and gripping both of his rival's shoulders in his hands.

"Atop the Indigo Plateau – exactly two months from today." It was the young boy's grandfather that answered him, and Ash peeled himself off of Gary as he went on. "And they'll be more than two hundred Trainers competing."

"Two hundred!" Instead of frightening the Pokémon Trainer, Ash seemed excited by the number, and his arms began to shiver while a grin stretched across his mouth. "I'm gonna beat 'em!"

"You and Gary should take this time to work hard, train your Pokémon, and get ready for the tournament."

"He can try," Gary commented, peering at Ash with one of his eyes. "But even if Ash had a year to train, I'd beat him with both hands tied behind my back." The look of excitement that was scrawled on Ash's face was quickly replaced with one of anger.

"You wish..."

"I'm not saying you're a bad Trainer, Ash," Gary elaborated, standing up and shrugging. "It's just that you don't have what it takes to beat me!"

"We'll just see about that!"

To prove his point, a shadow fell over Gary's face and he turned back to Ash. "So Ash... I guess you're happy with how your Krabby's doing here?"

"My Krabby's fine!" The youngest Oak chuckled and pulled out a Poké Ball from his belt.

"Check out mine." He held out the ball and it opened in his hand. The plasma surged out from the inside of it and condensed besides Ash's Krabby. When the glow faded, Gary's Krabby stood behind it, but it was double the size of Ash's; maybe even triple. Seeing the side-by-side comparison made Ash recoil as his lips peeled back from his teeth, and Brock hummed in appreciation.

"Hmm, gigantic!"

"I keep rotating my Pokémon so they all get to battle and get bigger and stronger," Gary said, looking down at the pair of Krabby. Ash's Krabby was trying not to make eye contact with Gary's, as if embarrassed for its Trainer. "Good Trainers have to be smart enough to help all their Pokémon grow and be the best they can be." Ash's body seized up as if he were paralyzed from a Stun Spore, and he looked at Gary with a sideways glance.

"He's right about that, Ash," Brock agreed with arms crossed.

"When you said you hadn't seen your Krabby in a while, I figured you weren't using it to battle," Gary continued, and sneered at him with a wink. "I bet you use the same Pokémon over and over, don't 'ya?" Once again, Ash was rendered speechless as his chin sank deeper and deeper into his chest with a low growl. "Maybe I shouldn't have said anything, but I thought you might want to know how real Trainers work."

As Gary shrugged nonchalantly, Brock leaned across the table to Professor Oak who was quietly enjoying a tea snack. "You've got to stop this, Professor; there's gonna be a fight..."

"I'm sorry, Brock, but I'm a professor, not a referee," the researcher replied, and now it was Brock's turn to sink in defeat.

"And here's another little tip," Gary went on, "different Pokémon types do better against different Gym Leader's attacks. If you study the leader's attacks before every match, you can choose the best Pokémon to beat 'em!"

"Excellent strategy! That's my grandson!" Professor Oak praised quietly before putting another cake into his mouth.

"That's why it's so important to know what kind of Pokémon can beat your opponents' attacks!"

"What kind of Pokémon would you use against my Geodude?" Brock quizzed, but Gary had the answer right away.

"I'd use a Water Pokémon against a Rock-type, but I'd have a Grass Pokémon ready for backup," the auburn-haired boy answered with his hands on his hips. "What would you use, Ash?"

"My Blastoise, of course!" Ash retorted, finally wearing a smug look of his own, and Gary's eyebrows raised slightly at that, though he quickly tried to hide it.

"So you got your starter Pokémon all the way to its final evolution?" he questioned. "And here I thought a loser like you would still have a little Squirtle."

"I'm no loser! I earned eight Badges!"

"Maybe so, but how many Pokémon did you capture, Ash?" he asked, and leaned his head forward with a single eyebrow raised. "Or are you too embarrassed to tell me?"

"O-of... course I'm not embarrassed to tell 'ya..." Ash trailed off, though in reality, he knew that Gary had captured a lot more than he had. Luckily, he was saved from saying it aloud before Professor Oak spoke up against his computer.

"Very interesting..." Everyone's heads turned to the older man just in time to see him pull two Pokédexes out from the tower. Turning around, he looked at the inside covers to see who belonged to who. "I just scanned both of your Pokédexes and the results show that Gary has seen sixty different Pokémon, and Ash has seen over eighty!" Gary's frowned for the second time that day, and finally having something to gloat over Gary, the black-haired Trainer pumped his fist in the air.

"All right! I beat him!" he cheered.

"But Gary captured many more Pokémon than Ash," Professor Oak quickly added, which deflated the younger boy's cheering right away and regained Gary's composure at the same time.

"You use your Pokédex every time you see a Pokémon, but I know so much about them I capture them first and ask questions later."

"Is that the best way..?" Ash whispered, and Gary gave his rival a narrow-eyed sneer.

"Of course it's the best way; if you know what you're doing." The sentence didn't sit well with Ash, and the Pallet Town Trainer glared at him once again. "Grandpa, let's go to your lab and show them all the Pokémon I caught!"

"Yes, good idea," Professor Oak agreed with a nod. "Let's Poké-round in my laboratory!" He gave each recipient their Pokédex back and led the way to the other side of the house.

Ash had never been in this part of the professor's lab before, and when the Pokémon Professor brought them through the mechanical doors and stepped from carpet to polished flooring, it was hard to believe that they were still in the same building. The room here was giant, and the entire length of the the walls of the room was filled with lines and lines of Poké Balls. Divided into sections that only Oak could probably understand, there were even some shelves in the middle of the room like a library, but instead of books, there were more Poké Balls. All the shelves were connected by some strange and complex machinery at the roof that Ash couldn't even begin to imagine what they were for.

"Well, here they are," Professor Oak said, turning around and gesturing his arms out all around him. "These are the Poké Balls that hold the Pallet Town Trainers' Pokémon."

"Wow, Professor! There must be thousands of Pokémon in here!" Ash exclaimed. Professor Oak nodded and led them to another section on the far end of the room.

"And these..." Professor Oak stopped and turned around to face them, but gestured one of his arms out to a shelf that was mostly empty, save from two Poké Balls and a single Safari Ball. "These are the ones I've received from Ash." It was made apparent by the picture of Ash's face from his Pokédex I.D. taped to the top of the shelf.

"As I figured, there's dust collecting on these shelves instead of Pokémon," Gary sneered, and Ash could feel his cheeks reddening though he tried hard not to let it creep past his neck.

"On the other hand, Gary's captured more than two hundred Pokémon."

"Not too bad," his grandson added with crossed arms, and both Ash and Brock both gasped in shock.

"Two hundred?!" Ash blurted.

"You can never have too many Pokémon: that's my motto!" he said. "The more Pokémon you have, the better position you're in to win battles." A thought popped into Ash's head that brought a smile to his face, and a chuckle escaped his throat.

"You may have a lot of Pokémon, but I bet you're not their friends!"

"Friend?" The word rolled off Gary's tongue as if it were a foreign one.

"Having lots of Pokémon isn't important: it's what you teach and what you learn," Ash said, crossing his own arms across his chest and raising his nose in the air.

"I'd say that too if I had as few Pokémon as you."

"Oh yeah?! That ones I have are ten times better than yours!"

"You're not as good a Trainer as I am," Gary shot back with a shrug. "Why don't you just admit it?"

"I'm a better Trainer than you'll ever be!"

The argument was interrupted by a thoughtful hum from Professor Oak, and when they looked at the older man, he was nodded with his hands folded behind his back. "You both have very different but valid views on training Pokémon." The two boys dropped their guards and looked at him curiously. "On your journeys, you have each captured different Pokémon, and with your different personalities, you learned to understand and care for them in different ways."

"Yeah..." Gary admitted quietly.

"Guess you're right," Ash agreed, and Oak nodded thoughtfully.

"Pokemon are special, and they need our special care. Just like every other living creature, they deserve our consideration and our respect. If we care for them the way we care for those we love, we'll be able to live in peace; as we learn about them and ourselves!" Everyone was quiet as they listened to the older man's wisdom. "My research has taught me that we need to deal with Pokémon like we need to deal with people – as individuals – if we want to discover their mysteries."

"Is that why you decided to take care of so many Pokémon, Professor?" Brock questioned.

"Yes, it is. And not only does every Pokémon I care for become part of my research, but they also become part of myself."

"A part of yourself?" Gary wondered, and both him and Ash wore the same look on their face.

"I'll explain as I bring you out to my habitat area," Professor Oak stated, and together, they followed him toward another door in the giant room. "Every morning, I start my day by checking on all the Pokémon. Then, I let the Pokémon out of their Poké Balls, so they can get a bit of exercise and fresh air. Of course, I created special habitats for each type of Pokémon.

"Then, it's time to feed the Pokémon their breakfast. You can imagine how long it takes to feed so many different Pokémon! As soon as I'm done... it's time for lunch!" He chuckled to himself and continued.

"In the afternoon, I begin my research. For example: I've recently been studying the variations of individual Pokémon of the same types. The findings are extremely interesting." They finally exited the Poké Ball storage room and fresh air hit Ash immediately. Next thing they knew, they were outside.

"Then there's dinner, and back into the Poké Balls they go," Professor Oak concluded, and Ash looked around the giant field that surrounded them. He had been in these fields before as a child, so this was nothing new to him, but being on his journey gave him a new appreciation of all the different types of Pokémon that were running around in the area. "And that's basically what I do every day."

"You must get to learn a lot living with so many Pokémon!" Ash commented.

"Yes, living here certainly gives me a unique opportunity to research and communicate with lots of interesting Pokémon." Their conversation was interrupted when a brown bird Pokémon with no wings but two heads came trotting up to the four of them, and squawked happily at Gary.

"Hiya, Doduo! How's everything going today?" he greeted the Pokémon, and the Twin Bird Pokémon gave a cry back.

"Is that your Doduo?" Ash asked excitedly, pushing through Gary and Professor Oak and scanning the Pokémon with his Pokédex.

"Doduo, the Twin Bird Pokémon. It runs faster than it can fly."

"Professor, this is such a great place; the Pokémon must love it!" Brock said with an easy smile on his face once he pulled his eyes away from Gary's Doduo.

"I hope so, Brock," the older man responded, and looked out onto the miles and miles of land. "I designed this place so I could study Pokémon the proper way: in their natural habitats living free. When Pokémon live in an environment like the one they were born in, it's easier to observe how they're affected by their Trainers. In fact, I've just made an interesting discovery in that area."

"Uh, what was it?" Ash asked as Gary gave a heartwarming smile to his Doduo and waved as it walked away to go back to its running around.

"Pokemon frequently take on the characteristics of the humans who capture them!" Professor Oak answered, turning around and pointing a finger in the air. Ash was quiet for a moment as he thought, and he chuckled and mimicked Professor Oak's finger with one of his own.

"Hey, that's true! Like Brock and Psyduck!" The Pokémon Breeder ignored his friend's playful jab, however, and another flash of light appeared beside him.

"You know what that means?!" Everyone all turned to see that Brock was holding his Vulpix in his arms. "I think I might have a girlfriend!" When silence passed over, the former Gym Leader continued. "Suzie loved her Vulpix and gave it to me; now if the Vulpix is like me, and she still loves it..." A blush turned Brock's face red and he stared into the sky in a daze that was only familiar to Ash. "...then that means she loves me..."

"Hey, what's up with this guy?" Gary asked, giving Brock a curious look while Vulpix looked up at its Trainer.

While Brock stayed in his stupor, they all turned back to Professor Oak as he continued. "Of course, this effect only occurs when a Trainer keeps regular contact with his or her Pokémon. Because Ash always uses the same Pokémon, his Krabby and Muk stayed here, and so it's not surprising that they've become somewhat attached to me."

A flash of movement caught everyone's attention and snapped Brock out of fantasy land, and they all turned to see a glob of purple goo hurrying toward them with an elated look on its face and arms held up high and wide. "Muk! Muk-muk muk!" Ash let out a cry of surprise, but his was completely overshadowed by Professor Oak's as he was tackled by the Sludge Pokémon and thrown to the ground by it.

"Oh Muk! How many times have I told you not to do that!" Professor Oak scolded as the Poison-type Pokémon slowly enveloped his body in what was supposed to be a hug. "You're mucking up my favorite lab coat!" Wincing in pain while he was crushed further into the ground by Muk, he winked at the three looking down at him. "You see? I told you Pokémon get attached to you, didn't I?" But suddenly, he let out one last cry before Muk's entire body covered over his face.

Ash and Gary each let out a cry, and hurried over on either side of the professor. They managed to grab one of his arms sticking out from underneath Muk and pull the researcher out from under the glob of sludge. The gray-haired professor took in a breath of fresh air and shooed Muk away, and Ash waved good-bye to his Pokémon as they continued past a pair of Nidoran and a Paras and finally stopped at a large lake. The lake was filled to the brim with a huge variety of Water Pokémon that Ash both recognized and had never seen before. They all peered up at the spectators happily, and it was hard not to smile back at them.

"Professor, I bet you have every kind of Pokémon in the world here, don't 'ya?!"

"Definitely not, Ash," Professor Oak replied quickly. In fact, he replied so fast that both Ash and Gary turned back and looked at him with a cocked eyebrow. "We believe there are lots of Pokémon that no one's ever captured, or even seen!"

"Yeah," Brock agreed. "Some people used to say there were only a hundred and fifty Pokémon. But it seems like more and more are getting discovered every day!"

That triggered a sleeping memory in Ash's head to awaken, and he thought back to the first day of his journey. "Yeah, come to think of it..." he thought aloud. "The day I left Pallet, I saw a Pokémon that Dexter didn't even know about!" In his mind's eye, he saw the glittering, golden Pokémon whose feathers shone brilliantly in the sunlight that was freshly peeking out of the clouds above and flew right under a large rainbow that hung in the sky.

"It's still a great mystery," Professor Oak agreed, and closed his eyes as he crossed his arms and pondered the thought. "No one knows how many kinds of Pokémon there are in this world. Finding new and different Pokémon is a never-ending quest."

"Y'know, Professor!" Ash spoke up, grabbing the two Oaks' attention. "I'm gonna find as many new Pokémon friends as I can!"

"Me, too!" Gary added, and the childhood rivals exchanged smirks. "And I'm gonna train them to be as strong as they can be." The two locked eyes and stared at each other in an unspoken conversation, but the smirks on their faces showed that they had seen each other in a new light.

"They really love Pokémon," Brock commented happily, saying what was on everybody's mind. Despite Ash and Gary's differences, they both had one thing in common.

Finally, Gary spoke up in a sentence that surprised everyone. "C'mon, Ash. What d'ya say we have a Pokémon battle?" he challenged. "We could both use a little practice before the Pokémon League."

"All right, Gary. I'm ready when you are." Ash nodded, and with the grassy field perfect for their makeshift battlefield, the two Pallet Town Trainers separated and made room for their Pokémon to battle. Off to the side, Brock and Professor Oak stood, both of them wearing smiles on their faces. A friendly competition to get their aggression out was just what the rivals needed.

"Let's use three Pokémon each," Gary proposed, and pulled out a Poké Ball of his own. "I'll even give you an advantage and choose my Pokémon first."

"A three-on-three sounds good to me!"

"Then let's begin! Arcanine, I choose you!" Gary whipped his arm forward and the Poké Ball in his hand left his fingertips and spun through the air before popping open and releasing the light it stored inside it. It condensed into a large dog-like Pokémon with orange fur striped with black. The Pokémon barked as it appeared, and waited for its opponent.

"Gary must have evolved the Growlithe he had back on Grampa Canyon..." Ash murmured quietly, and already knew which Pokémon he was going to have go up against Arcanine. The answer was obvious. "I choose you! Blastoise!" The pop and light on Ash's own side gave form to his starter Pokémon.

"Blastoise!" it cried, its hydro cannons already out of its shell even when it appeared. Gary's eyebrows raised momentarily, but like the other times, he tried not to let his surprise show and quickly swallowed this emotion, covering it up with a smirk.

"So, you weren't kidding when you said your little Squirtle had evolved all the way to a Blastoise."

"Nope! And I'll show you just how powerful Blastoise really is! Blastoise, Hydro Pump attack!"

"Blaaaast!" Ash's Pokémon cried, and it released a blast of water from its cannons out at Arcanine. The dark-haired Trainer smirked as the attack soared toward Gary's Fire-type Pokémon. It looked like it was going to hit.

"Arcanine, dodge it!" Gary's command broke Ash's confident grin, and the Legendary Pokémon jumped to the side as the Hydro Pump hit the ground where it stood previously. "I know you only picked Blastoise because of what I said back in Gramps' lab, and that was test number one. But you should also know that I trained my Arcanine to move so fast that Water-type attacks won't hit it!" Now it was Gary's turn to smirk. "Now Arcanine, Take Down attack!"

"Arrooo!" Arcanine howled as it dashed forward, and drove its body into the sturdy Water Pokémon. The attack was powerful enough to push Blastoise backward, but the Shellfish Pokémon stayed on its feet.

"Blastoise, BubbleBeam attack!" Ash countered. Arcanine wouldn't be able to run with it being so close to Blastoise. His starter Pokémon took in a deep breath, and fired out a blast of bubbles from its maw.

"Arcanine, use your Fire Blast!" Gary's Arcanine was obviously well-trained, as it didn't take long for the Fire-type to draw in its own breath and fire out a star-shaped blast of flames. The two were fairly close to each other, so the attacks collided at point-blank range, and an explosion rocked Oak's corral and sent some of the Water Pokémon in the lake diving underwater in fright. Steam and dust kicked up from the explosion covered the battlefield, and both Arcanine and Blastoise stumbled backwards out into the open.

"Blastoise, are you all right?!" Ash asked his starter. The Water Pokémon grunted. It had managed to block the brunt of the attack, but the strange shape of the Fire Blast attack managed to singe its skin and cover it with burns.

"Shake it off, Arcanine," Gary instructed his Pokémon, and Arcanine shook the water off its thick fur like a dog just out of a lake. "I told you, Ash! Your Water attacks won't work! Arcanine, Fire Spin attack now!" Arcanine howled again, throwing its head back before releasing a powerful red and yellow stream of fire from its mouth. The attack shot at Blastoise before curling around it. Blastoise's eyes glittered in confusion as the flame curled around and rose into the air, forming into a fiery tornado that completely enveloped Blastoise and blocked it from view.

"Well, if Water-type attacks won't work..." Ash murmured, and then his face lit up as an idea sparked in his brain. "Then we'll just have to try something else! Blastoise, go!"

"Get ready, Arcanine; they're gonna blast through that with a Water move, and when they do, use your Take Down," Gary warned his Pokémon, and the Fire-type got down and its lips peeled back from its teeth. But seconds turned into a minute, and finally, the tornado of flames disappeared. But much to everyone's surprise, Blastoise wasn't either. "W-what?! Where did it go?!" Gary's eyebrows raised to his forehead, and he looked closer to see that where Blastoise had been standing, there was a hole leading underground. "It used Dig?!"

"Blastoise, Dig attack now!" Ash cried. The ground underneath Arcanine upturned, and Arcanine was just as thrown off by its Trainer, and a loud yelp was let out from the Legendary Pokémon as Blastoise rose and attacked Arcanine, throwing it high into the air. Gary's Pokémon landed with a thud, and as Blastoise steadied itself and the dust settled, Arcanine struggled to stand but ultimately fell.

"Arcanine!"

"You did it, Blastoise!" Ash cheered with his fist raised in the air. Blastoise smirked, but the others still noticed that it was breathing heavily. The back and forth battle had done a lot of damage to the Water Pokémon despite being victorious.

This time, Gary couldn't wipe the look of surprise off his face so easily, and he scoffed and frowned before holding out Arcanine's Poké Ball. "Arcanine, return!" he called, and drew his fainted Pokémon back into its ball. "Well, Ash, maybe you're not quite as terrible of a Trainer as I thought you were. But that was just a lucky break, so don't get too confident." He drew another Poké Ball from his Trainer's belt and, before throwing it forward, he brought it to his lips and kissed it. "Venusaur, go!"

Ash felt the breath leave his mouth and his eyes widened as Gary's Poké Ball burst open, and the Pokémon inside was let out. While it wasn't quite as large as the Venusaur he had seen at the Mysterious Garden, the large Grass Pokémon that was Gary's starter Pokémon was still an intimidating Pokémon, and it let out a loud cry that showed this off. "Saaaauuuurrr!"

"Venusaur..." Ash breathed.

"Well, this is certainly an interesting match-up," Professor Oak commented. The old, dormant Pokémon Trainer in him was making him smile upon seeing the battle, and Brock noted this quietly as the older man continued. "Both Trainers are using the Pokémon they first left Pallet Town with on the first day of their journeys against one another."

"But Ash's Blastoise is pretty weak from its battle with Arcanine, and it's at a type disadvantage," Brock pointed out.

"Do you remember what I told you when we first picked our Pokémon, Ash?" Gary asked with a smirk on his face. "I told you I picked Bulbasaur because it beat your Squirtle when it came to typing." Ash bit his lip. He did remember Gary mentioning something like that, but at the time, he didn't know what his childhood rival meant. But it was something he often thought about on his journey, and halfway through it, it all clicked. Now, they were at that bridge, and it would be up to Blastoise if they were to cross it.

"Blastoise, do you think you can keep going?" Ash asked his starter Pokémon. Blastoise took in a lungful of air and nodded.

"Blast!"

"Then let's do this!"

"Bad mistake, Ash!" Gary said confidently. "Venusaur, Razor Leaf!"

"Venu-zaur!" As his Pokémon cried out, it unleashed a flurry of leaves that sailed toward Blastoise. Both Trainer and Pokémon were surprised by the speed of the attack, and Blastoise only had time to raise its arms to block its face from the strike. The leaves sliced past the Shellfish Pokémon, and Blastoise let out a cry and stumbled forward, but managed to steady itself.

"We've got to attack, Blastoise!" Ash told it with panic in his voice. "Use Hydro Pump!" Aiming its hydro cannons at Venusaur, it glared and sent out another powerful blast of water, this time aiming at the Grass Pokémon. Venusaur didn't hesitate or flinch in fear, and only closed its eyes and lowered its head without an order from Gary. When the water stopped, Venusaur was soaked and it had been pushed back a few feet, but otherwise it shook the water off the flower on its back.

"Thanks for the spritz, Ash," Gary thanked sarcastically. "Hey Venusaur, why don't we show him what a real attack looks like? SolarBeam!" Venusaur obeyed, and it lowered its head while sunlight started to glitter and pour into the pistil of Venusaur's flower.

"SolarBeam is the most powerful Grass move; if it hits Blastoise it's over!" Brock exclaimed aloud. Ash's eyes widened, and his head whipped over to Blastoise.

"Blastoise, we've got to stop it before it can gather enough energy for the attack! Hurry, use Skull Bash!" Blastoise grunted in response, and a faint silver aura shimmered momentarily around Blastoise before the Shellfish Pokémon blasted at Venusaur like a rocket. Venusaur stood its ground, and Blastoise collided with it, bashing its head into its opponent's. The aura from the Skull Bash had faded, but the two still continued to fight for dominance. Their heads against each other, they pushed to try and knock the other off balance. It was almost like how Ash and Gary fought, but instead of verbally, this one was physical.

"Venusaur, fire your SolarBeam now!" Gary commanded whilst pointing forward.

"Blastoise, look out!" Ash screamed, but Venusaur hunched its back upward and a bright white beam of pure sunlight and energy blasted out of the center of Venusaur's flower like a bullet train and connected with Blastoise's stomach. The Grass-type attack took Blastoise off its feet and sent it soaring backward until the attack finally faded and Blastoise skidded to the ground just inches away from Ash with swirls in its eyes. "Blastoise!"

"Blast..." his Pokémon moaned. Ash knelt down and patted the Pokémon on the shell. His eyebrows were lowered from the defeat, but he still smiled best he could.

"You did your best, Blastoise. Good job, buddy," he said to it, and recalled it back into its Poké Ball.

"Well Ash, do 'ya give up?" Gary questioned with a cocky smirk and his arms crossed across his chest.

"Of course not! We're just getting started!" Ash shot back, and twisted his cap backwards before retrieving another Poké Ball. "Charmander, I choose you!" In a flash, the small Lizard Pokémon appeared in the air, and landed on the ground.

"Chaar!" Ash had never really thought of Charmander as small before, but compared to the mighty Venusaur before it, this would certainly make for a tough match, even with the type advantage.

"Charmander, Flamethrower attack!" Ash brought out his command as fast as he could before Gary could comment on his choice. The last thing he needed was for Charmander to lose confidence here. Luckily, his little orange Pokémon was brave, and it drew in a deep breath before sending a stream of fire from its mouth at Venusaur.

"Venusaur, Double-Edge attack!" Gary countered. Instead of dodging, Venusaur charged straight at Charmander. This move once again surprised both Trainer and Pokémon, and as the flames licked at Venusaur's body, Charmander gave a cry of surprise, cutting its Flamethrower short just in time for Venusaur to slam into the Fire-type. Charmander went soaring backwards, but landed back on its feet and shook off both the pain and the initial shock.

"That may have worked the first time, but it won't catch us off-guard again!" Ash told his opponent. "Charmander, Fire Spin now!"

"Chaaaaaaarrrrr!" Charmander cried, throwing its head back and releasing a spiraling flame from its mouth at Venusaur. The thin flame reached Venusaur and slowly started to spiral around it skyward so it couldn't move without the risk of getting damaged.

"Break through it with Vine Whip!" the auburn-haired Trainer declared, and with a cry, Venusaur sent out two vines from its body and whipped them around. The sheer power from the vines broke apart the Fire Spin attack before it could come together to form the fiery tornado, and embers that rained over the pair of Pokémon was all that remained of the attack.

"That Venusaur is powerful!" Brock complimented with surprise.

"My grandson raised it very well indeed," the man beside him agreed with a nod.

"Now, grab Charmander!" Gary ordered. Without drawing its vines back into its plant, the two dark green vines turned their heads down to Charmander, and like a snake lunging for its prey, they launched themselves at Charmander. The Lizard Pokémon jumped aside from the first vine, but the second vine caught it in mid jump. The Pokémon was brought high into the air by the vine, and Charmander was helpless to do anything.

"Charmander!" Ash yelled, and Charmander threw its head back and cried out before suddenly its body began to glow brightly. Surprised and nervous looks were covered over with confusion temporarily.

"What's it doing?" Gary asked aloud.

"It's evolving!" his grandfather answered, his mouth a wide 'o'. "This is quite an interesting development."

"Charmander..." Ash stated quietly, and watched as the Pokémon grew larger in shape, and finally, the glow faded and a new Pokémon was wrapped in the vines. Its skin had darkened to a red color now, and its paws had developed into powerful white claws. As a Charmander, its head was rounded, but in this new form, it had a single spike jutting out from the back of its skull.

"Evolved into Charmeleon!" Brock announced happily. The evolution and surprise of it made Venusaur loosen its vine, and this was enough for Charmeleon to break free of its hold, and as it did, it soared down at the Grass and Poison Pokémon with one of its claws drawn back. The white of them began to glow, and as it reached Venusaur's head, it slashed forward and raked it across its blue skin. Venusaur flinched in pain from the Slash attack, and Charmeleon landed on the ground before jumping back and landing firmly on its feet in front of its Trainer.

Right away, Ash fished out his Pokédex and scanned the new Pokémon with it. "Charmeleon, the Flame Pokémon. It has razor-sharp claws and its tail is exceptionally strong."

"Charmeleon, you evolved to help beat Gary's Venusaur!" Ash said, and Charmeleon turned back to its Trainer and gave a thumbs-up. "Then let's do just that! Charmeleon, Flamethrower!"

"Char... meleon!" his Pokémon cried, letting loose an orange-yellow stream of fire from its mouth out at Venusaur. It was clear that, unlike Arcanine, Venusaur wasn't built for speed, and Gary couldn't even order it to dodge the attack as the flames kicked up and traced Venusaur's underside from the grass lit ablaze.

"Don't let it beat you, Venusaur! Razor Leaf attack!"

"Venus! Saur!" Letting a bellowing cry come from its throat, Venusaur shifted its body and a flurry of leaves spun out from the sides of the plant on its back. The leaves shot past Charmeleon, striking it and knocking it onto its backside.

"Finish it off with Double-Edge!"

"Fight back with Skull Bash!" Both Pokémon bounded towards each other, both with their head lowered, and finally, they collided in the middle of the battlefield. Unlike the collision of Venusaur and Blastoise, however, Venusaur had its bulk on its side when compared to Charmeleon, and the Fire Pokémon was thrown off its feet and landed on the ground.

Breathing heavily, Charmeleon peeled itself off the ground and held its shoulder. It was covered in scrapes and dirt, and while Venusaur was starting to look out of breath as well, Charmeleon didn't have the strength to go on. Letting out a final breath, Charmeleon fell onto its stomach. It was unable to battle. "Charmeleon!" Ash cried, running forward to help his Pokémon. Flipping the Flame Pokémon around, he held the Fire-type in his arms, and its eyes slowly drifted open.

"Char..."

"It's okay, Charmeleon. You did your best, and I'm so proud of you." Charmeleon smiled and its eyes drifted shut again, and Ash held up its Poké Ball. "Now, take a good, long rest." In a flash of red light, the Pokémon was pulled into its Poké Ball.

"Just face it," Gary taunted. "Not even your Fire Pokémon could beat my Venusaur. It doesn't matter what Pokémon you send out next – it won't win."

"I'm not going to give up!" Ash retorted, standing up. "I believe in my Pokémon!" The next question, though, would be who he would send out next. He debated for a few painstaking moments before going with his gut and plucking a third Poké Ball from his belt. This was his final choice. Pressing the center button, the Poké Ball enlarged in his hand, and he reared his arm back. "Bulbasaur, I choose you!"

The ball soared through the air momentarily before opening, and the blue and green Seed Pokémon appeared. "Bulba-zaur!" it grunted. Gary looked at the little Bulbasaur but only let out an exaggerated sigh and shrugged, almost as if saying Ash's Bulbasaur wasn't worth his breath or time. Bringing his eyebrows together, he called for his first attack. "Venusaur, Razor Leaf!" Venusaur bellowed loudly at the command and the plant on its back rocked back and forth before razor-sharp leaves spun out from the larger leaves at Bulbasaur.

"Dodge it, Bulbasaur!" Ash called confidently. If there was one thing he was proud of about his Bulbasaur, it was its determination. As Venusaur's Razor Leaf shot at Bulbasaur like a pair of spinning blades, Bulbasaur jumped out of the way, successfully dodging the attack. "Bulbasaur, use your Vine Whip!"

"Venusaur, you use Vine Whip, too!" Gary mimicked. Both sides shot out a pair of vines from their bulbs and they met in the middle of the battlefield. They wrapped around each other and started to struggle for dominance, almost like a hand-grapple. However, Venusaur had strength behind its Vine Whip attack, so Bulbasaur was quickly being pushed backward. That was when Ash countered.

"Bulbasaur, now's the time to hit it with your Leech Seed!" His Pokémon grunted and instantly, a seed sprouted from its closed bulb. With Bulbasaur holding its vines, Venusaur could only stare as the seed shot into the air and arched its way toward it with a single white streak in its wake. The Leech Seed embedded itself on Venusaur's forehead, and the seed instantly sprouted into vines. While the vines didn't wrap around Venusaur's entire body, they did wrap around a good majority of it. A sizzling sound like bacon being cooked on a skillet reverberated through the air as the vines did their duty of sapping the Seed Pokémon's energy, glowing red whilst doing so. Gary's Pokémon winced as energy was drained from it, and when it did, it let up its grip on its vines, and Ash's Pokémon was able to pull its own vines back. As if it were anticipating its Trainer's next move, Bulbasaur jumped into the air.

"Now Bulbasaur! Razor Leaf, right now!"

"Bulbasaur!" his Pokémon responded, and a tornado of leaves spun out from the bulb on its back. Venusaur only stared as the leaves rained down upon it. Finally, when they settled, Venusaur collapsed onto its stomach with a crash. To rub salt in the wound, the Leech Seed sucked at the last of its strength.

"Ha! Great job, Bulbasaur!" Ash celebrated, and the smaller Grass-type standing smiled happily.

"Venusaur, return!" Gary said, pointing his Pokémon's Poké Ball at it. Moments later, his starter Pokémon was pulled back in. He gave the Poké Ball a long glance before turning back to the battle at hand. No longer did he wear his trademark smirk on his face, but he didn't seem angry either. His face was calculating, pondering from the way his eyes were narrowed ever so slightly.

Replacing Venusaur's Poké Ball with his final choice, he pressed the center button and swung his arm. No taunt, no smart remark. Only threw his Poké Ball forward. "Nidoking, I choose you!" The Pokémon that emerged from the Poké Ball was large, and the roar it let out scared away from of the field-dwelling Pokémon around them. It was purple and lined with deadly horns both on its forehead and down its back.

"Careful, Bulbasaur," Ash warned, and Bulbasaur agreed by kneeling down into a more defensive position. The odds were against them, but they needed to try their hardest – to prove to Gary that he wasn't some loser.

He needed to start strong, and try and finish the battle in one go. "Bulbasaur, let's give 'em a SolarBeam!" Like Venusaur had done before it, glittering sunlight began to pour into the center of Bulbasaur's bulb.

"Bulbabulbabulbabulbabulbabulba..."

Gary reacted right away, using the same strategy Ash used and ordered an attack. "Nidoking, Horn Attack!" A beast-like growl rumbled the Drill Pokémon's throat, and it stampeded toward Bulbasaur, who was helpless as it gathered energy for its attack. Nidoking lowered its head and drove it into Bulbasaur's body and bucked it upward, sending the Seed Pokémon high into the air. Bulbasaur spun through the air and its lips peeled back in pain, but then its bulb flashed light blue, and it flipped.

"SolarBeam!" Ash's cry echoed through the corral, and a blast of solar energy shot out as a beam from Bulbasaur's bulb. Nidoking looked up to see the attack soaring toward it, and raised its arms just in time to become enveloped by the Grass-type attack. The move making contact seemed to rock the ground underneath their feet, and when Bulbasaur landed beside its Trainer, the dust was just starting to settle. There, Nidoking stood – its body smoking slightly but otherwise it looked okay, much to Ash's dismay. "N-no way!"

"You're gonna have to do better than that if you want to beat my Nidoking!" Gary shouted. This acted as a form of encouragement for his Pokémon, as it flexed its massive arms and bounded forward once again, this time going in for a Tackle attack. Bulbasaur was determined not to lose, and it jumped into the air and fired out a Razor Leaf attack. The leaves sliced at Nidoking's armor, but the Poison and Ground Pokémon didn't flinch at all and continued forward like a tank.

"Bulbasaur, counterattack!" Ash shot back. Despite it being so little, Bulbasaur showed no fear in its red hues as it landed on the ground and jumped at Nidoking. The pair traded blows, colliding into each other only to turn around and do the same again. It seemed like neither were giving up, but Nidoking was quickly gaining the edge. The dark-haired Pallet Town Trainer bit his lip, his mind spinning a thousand miles a second as he tried to figure a way to win. When his and Gary's Pokémon exchanged attacks once again, Ash sucked in a gulp of air. It was risky, but he had to.

"Bulbasaur, Vine Whip now!" he cried. Bulbasaur spun around in the grass as it landed, and despite being covered in bruises and breathing heavily, it shot a pair of vines from underneath its bulb out at Nidoking. The vines wrapped around Nidoking's arms, but before Ash could follow up with another attack, Gary countered.

"Nidoking, pull it as hard as you can!" With a powerful jerk of both of its opponent's arms, Bulbasaur was taken off its feet and soared at Nidoking.

"Now Bulbasaur, pull in your vines!" Ash instructed, and not only did Gary gasp, but so did Brock and Professor Oak. Bulbasaur braced itself for what was to come, and quickly pulled its vines in. Doing so resulted in it speeding up more, and both Pokémon collided into one another. The crash was audible, and Bulbasaur instantly collapsed on the ground. Nidoking's face was facing the sky; Bulbasaur's body had collided with its snout hard. The Drill Pokémon rocked back and forth in the air momentarily before it fell onto its stomach.

Both Pokémon were unable to battle. The match resulted in a tie.

"I... I don't..." Gary murmured, his shoulders slowly lowering as he stared at his fallen Pokémon in disbelief.

"Believe it..." Ash finished. He looked equally as dumbstruck, but suddenly, his face lit up, and he hurried over to his Bulbasaur and scooped it up in his arms as he knelt down into the grass. Ignoring the grass stains that were rubbing onto his jeans, the Pokémon Trainer brought his Pokémon into a tight embrace. "You did such a good job, Bulbasaur! I'm so proud of you! You all did so well. I couldn't be happier!"

A flash of red light took away the mass beside him, and Ash looked up to see Gary had recalled his Pokémon into its Poké Ball. The prodigy Trainer had a hardened face on – he didn't seem angry, but mostly thrown off by the outcome of the battle. Ash studied his childhood rival's face for just a second, but Bulbasaur stirred in his arms, and he brought his attention back to it. "Bulba..." it muttered weakly.

"Don't worry about it. I was right to put my faith in you," he assured his Pokémon, and pointing Bulbasaur's Poké Ball at it. "Why don't you take a good, long rest?" The recall beam brought Bulbasaur inside, and Ash finally stood up.

The other three were quiet during this, not knowing how to react to the turn of the battle. But finally, it was Gary who broke the silence when Ash stood up. "I'm gonna head on home, now."

"B-but-"

"This has been a long day, and besides..." Gary looked at the stammering Ash and gave him a false smirk. "We'll have our tie breaker at the Pokémon League."

"You're on," Ash smirked back. "You can lose to me at the Pokémon League."

"You just make sure you train as hard as I do," Gary told him, and with a wave of his hand, and turned around. "See you in two months, Ash."

His grandfather offered to walk him out, and the two remaining watched the pair disappear with distance before Ash turned his hat back around and adjusted it over his dark locks. "In two months, I'll be competing in the Pokémon League!"

"Yeah, but you've got a lot of work to do," Brock told him.

"I'll be ready!" Ash assured him. Just tying his match with Gary proved how far he had come. Gary was a powerful Trainer for sure, that much was obvious. But he had a good lineup of Pokémon, and he felt confident in them. Taking in a deep breath, Ash couldn't help but smile and he clenched his fists with excitement. "Yeah... I'm gonna do it! I'm gonna start working right away!"

"Good!" Professor Oak said after coming back from his lab, and before Ash knew it, the Pokémon professor was placing a shovel in his hands.

"What's this?"

"You can start 'working right away' on the mess you made of my field with your Pokémon battle," the gray-haired professor answered. Ash groaned loudly, his dark eyes locking onto the holes that had been made from Blastoise's Dig attack. Professor Oak retrieved another shovel, and handed it to Brock as well. "Here, give him a hand." Brock's eyebrows raised as he looked down at the shovel handed to him, and sensing his questioning look, Oak nodded. "Believe me... helping others; sharing their burdens: that's the way to becoming a better Trainer, a better friend, and a better person."

The two young males had doubt written across their faces, but they went straight to work right away. After all, even if Professor Oak was just saying it to get his field fixed, there were some truth to his words: there was nothing like helping a friend.

-end-

Ash:

Party:

Blastoise (Poké Ball)

Moves: Skull Bash, Dig, Hydro Pump, BubbleBeam

Pidgeotto (Poké Ball)

Moves: Gust, Quick Attack, Whirlwind, Double-Edge

Bulbasaur (Poké Ball)

Moves: SolarBeam, Vine Whip, Razor Leaf, Leech Seed

Charmeleon (Poké Ball)

Moves: Flamethrower, Fire Spin, Skull Bash, Slash

Tauros (Safari Ball)

Moves: Fissure

Primeape (Poké Ball)

Moves: Thrash, Mega Kick, Scratch, Seismic Toss

At Professor Oak's Lab:

Muk (Poké Ball)

Moves:

Tauros (Safari Ball)

Moves:

Krabby (Poké Ball)

Moves: ViceGrip

Badges:

Boulder Badge

Cascade Badge

Thunder Badge

Marsh Badge

Rainbow Badge

Soul Badge

Volcano Badge

Earth Badge

Brock:

Party:

Onix (Poké Ball)

Moves: Tackle, Bind, Dig

Geodude (Poké Ball)

Moves: Seismic Toss, Tackle

Zubat (Poké Ball)

Moves: Whirlwind, Supersonic

Psyduck (Poké Ball)

Moves: Tail Whip, Water Gun, Disable, Confusion

Vulpix (Poké Ball)

Moves: Fire Spin, Flamethrower, Agility