Gotta write it all, gotta write it all~ Fanfiction!
On the Road…
To be fair, Ash really should have been expecting Misty to challenge him as soon as he found out she was a Gym Leader. The idea had just not really truly formed in his mind, yeah she was a Gym Leader, but she wasn't at her gym.
But they were heading to her gym and approaching it fairly rapidly. They were less than a day from Cerulean City now and with Misty's leg in much better shape she was pushing them at a faster pace.
Ash didn't mind the increase in speed, and certain others who used him as a mode of transportation had no complaints at all. But it did reduce the amount of time he had to reconsider strategies and figure out what Misty would expect him to do in a battle and how she would counter it.
Although, Pikachu might just be able to sweep the whole gym with some luck. But he'd feel bad leaving Pidgeotto and Selene out of the event. Maybe he should leave Pikachu for last? Kind of an ace in the hole?
Speaking of Selene, it became rapidly obvious very quickly that she had a minimal knowledge of the outside world. She knew what trainers were, and knew some types of Pokemon who had come through the mountain in the past, but her knowledge of the world beyond that was fairly lacking.
Even after explaining the Gym Challenge and what it was that trainer's did she still had plenty of questions. A pattern formed for these. There were rapid fire questions for a few minutes and then followed by a period of silence as she processed the answers, then she'd repeat. But she seemed to be gaining a better understanding of how things worked as they continued.
"So a gym battle is a test of sorts, to show off what you know about battling and strategy and also to show off how strong you are right?" Selene checked, they had explained this to her the previous night when she had first asked what a gym battle was.
"That's right." Ash confirmed for her.
"But is that the only way to test it? I mean aren't there other ways to figure it out than just having a fight about it?" She pressed her current line of thought.
Ash considered her question. "I mean the gyms are just part of the Gym Challenge, which lets you compete in the Pokemon League for that region once you get enough badges. But not all trainers do the Gym Challenge."
Misty nodded. "Instead of doing the challenge itself you could apply to be a gym trainer which will let you gain experience for battling with that type and open some doors for actually becoming a Gym Leader yourself."
"There's contests too!" Ash remembered suddenly. "Mom said she won a ribbon once when she was a trainer. It's more about style and performance than actual battling, but there's some of that too."
"That sounds fun." Selene admitted. "But you're doing the Gym Challenge, and I did want to come to get stronger so I can protect my home. But since we'll be far from home I guess I'll need to protect everyone else too!"
Pikachu went cross eyed as he thought about that. "That is a lot of people. Maybe just focus on Pokemon?"
"But what about humans who need help?"
"They have humans for that." Pikachu stubbornly replied.
"Pikachu…" Ash's voice was low and warning. The electric-type just huffed.
"Fine! Help whoever we run into!" His friend gave in without any more prompting. He really was a good person, he did help when push came to shove in the past but he had his biases.
"Forcibly inserting ourselves into potentially dangerous situations aside." Pidgeotto cut in. "We do need to talk about training, which allows us to become stronger." She clarified for the Clefairy's sake.
Selene nodded. "Ah! That makes sense! How do we start?"
Ash considered for a moment. "Well given our current pace I think Misty wants us to get to Cerulean City before night time?" he glanced at the girl in question to confirm.
"That's right." She agreed. "It'll probably be a bit late to have a gym battle but we don't have to stay in the Pokemon Center either, my family has a house and you could stay there while we're in the city."
"Oh!" Ash blinked with a sudden feeling of gratitude. "Thank you!"
"Don't mention it. Just don't make too much noise or too much of a mess." Misty acknowledged.
"Well, Pidgeotto might make some pillows into a nest…" Ash muttered and Misty glanced at the bird with an air of authority.
"Do not tear up our pillows."
"I promise nothing." Pidgeotto announced, no doubt taking advantage of the fact Misty couldn't understand her.
The disguised trainer shook his head. "Sorry we got off topic there, we'll have to start training tomorrow."
"A house is like a home right?" Selene checked and with a nod of confirmation said. "Thank you for letting us into your home Misty!"
Ash translated and the orange haired girl smiled. "I'm happy to have you Selene, you're one of the more pleasant Pokemon I've met on this trip."
Wondering if that was a dig at himself or his other teammates Ash continued, "Just to get an idea of what we need to work on, what moves do you know Selene?"
"Moves?" Selene thought for a moment. "Well I know Metronome which is basically every move rolled into one. But specifically I also know Disarming Voice and Sweet Kiss."
Her trainer gave her a moment, waiting for her to continue but it became very clear that she was not going to. He shared a glance with pikachu. "Okay, three moves, we have a lot to work on then."
The poor Clefairy looked rather put out by this verdict. "I'm sorry. I guess it's not a lot."
Hearing her tone, Ash worked quickly to dissuade her of any failings on her part. "It's fine really! Metronome can be used for a lot of things, we just have to come up with some more specific ideas of what you can do, sometimes being random can help though!"
"Speaking from experience of course." Misty prodded with mirth.
Ash did not pout and continued. "I'll need to do a bit of research on what moves you can learn, we can get started on them tomorrow morning, maybe we'll have to wait an extra day to challenge the gym but I don't want to leave you out." He paused. "Unless you don't want to battle, then that's okay."
"That's an option?" She checked.
"I mean, yeah." Ash shrugged. "I'm not going to force you to fight if you don't want to, who does that?"
Misty shot him a sad look. "I can think of some trainers who would do that."
He scowled. "That's messed up. Did you stop them?"
"I haven't seen any in person." Misty admitted. "But I've been lucky there. I've heard stories and seen clips of battles where one of the Pokemon clearly does not want to fight or does not want to keep battling."
"I'd never do that." Ash stated firmly. "And if I see someone who does, I'll give them a piece of my mind. And Pikachu will probably help."
"And you say you're not really heroes." Selene mused at this declaration from her trainer.
With that somewhat sobering ending note they continued on their way in silence for a time. No one seemed to have anything else to say, lost in their own thoughts for the most part. Despite the silence they kept making good time, and Cerulean City awaited them.
Cerulean City was different from Pewter City. While Pewter was divided into city blocks and didn't have any particularly tall buildings, Cerulean was a much more open city. There were recognizable city blocks here and there throughout the city and a few skyscrapers that dwarfed anything from Pewter; it felt less closed in and more open. There was certainly a lot more green to it.
Misty took the lead proper now and strode down the streets like she owned the place. She paused to wave at an occasional passerby she recognized and normally got a friendly smile in return. Notably this was mostly from older folks and a few street sales people they passed. Ash wondered at the lack of people their age but shrugged it off for now.
The green space he had seen from the hill at the edge of the city was now closer up and he was surprised how much it varied. Some of those spots were simply backyards of houses. He was actually surprised how many regular looking houses there were in this city but they did look bigger than the ones he'd seen in Pallet town, and some of them seemed to have multiple doors to enter from.
There were numerous park spaces alongside these backyards and many, many, fountains dotted throughout. Ash was relatively quiet as he took it all in, but he was not completely ignorant to the strange looks he and his team sometimes got. Was it really that strange for a trainer to have all of their Pokemon out of their balls?
After a relatively scenic walk in the sunset they arrived at a middling sized house that only had one door. It was two stories and was literally painted cerulean with a white roof. It wasn't anything special looking, the grass was cut and it all seemed well maintained.
Misty walked up to the porch and lifted up the mat, and picked up what must have been a key. She paused before using it and tried the doorknob and breathed a sigh. "Oh good they're not here."
"'They?'" Ash muttered but if Misty heard him she didn't answer, instead entering the house and holding the door open for the rest of the group.
The inside of the house was much different from what Ash had been expecting. The floor was entirely tile, not a wood plank in sight. This tile crept up the base of the wall a few inches before giving way to the typical plaster. Misty flicked on the lights without a word and they walked down the entry hall into a larger and open space.
"Is that a pool?" Were the first words out of his mouth as they entered the house proper.
Misty cringed. "More of a tub really." It was big and implanted in the ground. Or floor really. Whatever it was, it was not something Ash expected to see in the house. "We're water type trainers, even if my sisters sometimes forget the trainer part, if we take any of our Pokemon home and want to let them out of the balls we need a place for them to stay."
"Wow!" Selene was staring around in awe. "The walls here are much straighter and cleaner than back home! We should do something like this in the non sacred tunnels, make them nicer to travel through!"
The pool/tub was a bit of a centerpiece for the open plan but there were still the typical household amenities,like a kitchen and living room, they were just part of the same big space instead of separate.
"Make yourself at home," Misty told him, releasing her Pokemon, Goldeen directly into the tub and the two star shaped Pokemon on the floor. She continued walking, kicking off her shoes and heading towards the kitchen. "I'd ask you to take your shoes off but…"
"I mean, I can do this." He dropped his illusion and stretched in his true form. Without a proper warning Pidgeotto scrambled to catch herself before she hit the ground but Pikachu had a bit more practice with it and managed to land on his feet.
"A bit of warning would be nice!" His flying type friend complained.
"Sorry." He said and Misty considered his real shape and sighed.
"It should be alright for now but when my sisters get home you might want to reapply it. I doubt you want to try and explain it." She elaborated.
Ash contemplated her words. "You're pretty trustworthy though, and they're your sisters so it might be okay?" He felt a little uncomfortable at the idea but it was her family and they were in her house. He didn't want to inconvenience her.
Misty got a strange look on her face. "Yeah, no, I wouldn't recommend it. They may be my sisters but we're really different. I'm already dreading all the comments they're going to make when they think I brought a boy home."
"You did bring a boy home though." Ash pointed out. "Two boys, and two girls. Not counting your own Pokemon."
She shot him an exasperated look. "Sometimes I can't tell if you're actually that dense or if you're just playing it up."
"What's that supposed to mean!" Ash raised his voice with indignation.
"Figure it out!" Misty called back and started digging through cabinets. "I got some Pokemon chow in here for everyone. I hope there's something in the fridge for me though."
After everyone ate, their discussion turned towards plans for the next day.
"I'd like to head to the gym." Ash admitted. "But Selene needs training before she can do a battle properly."
"I would be using a team of three." Misty admitted. "Typically the challenger should also have that many and usually they have that or more. I know there have been exceptions made in the past though."
"I want to participate." The newest member of the team put forth. "Training will help me get stronger and the gym battle will prove it."
"I mean there is another option." the local gym leader continued, not understanding the Clefairy's words. "Which is a bit unique to you. I could let you participate in the battle."
Ash stared at her, eyes wide. "B- but that's against the rules!"
"Typically but I also know that you're a Pokemon and well you have everyone else battle for you, I was wondering if you would want to be involved as well." Misty shrugged. "It's just a suggestion and we'd need to take extra steps to make sure the battle is private."
"I… don't know." Ash admitted. "If I do it, someone would need to be left out, and Selene wants to battle, and I don't want to make Pidgeotto or Pikachu sit on the sidelines."
"I want to fight." Pidgeotto immediately claimed. "I missed out on a lot of opportunities on our way here and I'm not missing this."
Pikachu surprisingly was more quiet. "I… might have an idea. Let me think about it."
Before Ash could press his friend for details about this 'idea' there was a noise at the door and Misty sent Ash a panicked look. Realizing what was happening, he quickly put his illusion back on, wearing socks instead of shoes, and pushed his bowl with leftover crumbs aside.
The noises near the door continued, some muffled talking and whispering, the Pokemon and Gym Leader shared a confused look before suddenly a blonde haired girl leaped out of the hallway, wielding a high heeled shoe like a weapon.
"Alright you thieves! Get ready fo-" Her words fumbled as she saw who was sitting at the table. She got out of her fairly ridiculous fighting stance and sighed. "False alarm girls. It's just Misty."
Misty frowned and started tapping the table with her finger and a scowl on her face. "And so it begins." she said quietly.
"Misty's back?" Another girl appeared behind the blonde and looked at the room. A third quickly joined them. Ash waved sheepishly at them, catching their attention. "And she brought home a BOY!?"
"I knew this would happen. I knew this would happen." Misty repeated herself and let her head fall to the table in a weak variant of the faceplant.
"Look at you baby sister!" The second girl, who had blue hair, stepped forward and wrapped an arm arounds Misty's shoulders, pulling her into a tight one armed hug. "Finally growing into your true inner beauty!"
"Get off of me!" Misty squealed and pushed the other girl off her but was caught up in the grasp of the third sister, this one with pink hair. That was quite a variety of hair colors, Ash thought. Golden Blonde, Deep Blue, Red-Pink and Ginger Orange, at least one of them must be dying it surely?
"It's finally happening! You're beginning to reach the flower of maidenhood!" The current hugger cooed.
"They'll never find your bodies! Let go of me!" Misty started kicking as she was lifted off the ground in the unreciprocated hug. Pikachu started cackling so hard he rolled over, Pidgeotto just looked amused while Selene seemed concerned.
Ash was just lost. Not to mention, worried about when they would inevitably take interest in him. He hoped they wouldn't squeeze him too tight, that would break his disguise.
It seemed the blonde sister, who had yet to do any hugging, was the first to actually pay him real attention. She slipped into the chair next to him and leered down at him. He didn't think humans could use Pokemon moves but he definitely felt his defense dropping.
"So then Mr. Boy." She teased. "I'm Daisy, and these two are Violet and Lily." Gesturing at each in turn. "What's your name and how did our sweet baby sister manage to ensnare you?"
"I'm not sweet!" Misty denied. "I'm the sourest of sour!" She was back in Violet's grasp now, the older girl had clasped her hands to lock Misty in the hug and rested her chin atop the shorter sister's head.
"I'm Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town." He introduced himself and she hummed.
"Name and hometown! How polite!" Daisy beamed at him. For some reason, Pikachu just started laughing harder at the word 'polite' and Ash had to resist the urge to pout. He was too polite!
"I met Misty on our way to Viridian City, we were attacked by some Spearow and she helped us get away." Ash explained.
"Does this have something to do with her bike getting destroyed?" Lily had separated herself from her other two sisters and sidled up on Ash's other side. "She whined about that a lot when she called us."
"Pikachu may have turned her bike into a crispy mess when he shocked the Spearow." Ash admitted. "I'm sorry about that! I'll get a new one really!"
"Polite and responsible!" Lily blushed. "Oh he's a perfect compliment for you Misty! Opposites do attract afterall!"
Misty had abandoned all forms of speech and was now hissing like an angry Persian.
"She must really like you too!" Daisy agreed. "She followed you all the way back here and brought you home with her!" her look turned serious and she wagged a finger at him. "You better not try and take advantage of her!"
Ash's eyes went wide as he thought back to the trip here. "I don't think I have?" He worried out loud. "I mean there was the bike and I asked her to help me with training… I wasn't trying to if I did at least!"
The three older sisters were quiet for a moment before bursting into giggles. "Oh that is precious!" Daisy clapped. "How old are you Ash?"
"Te-" He started but Misty seemed to remember how to speak and screamed "Don't tell them!"
Unfortunately the damage was done and Violet smirked. "Ten huh? Just started your journey then? Looks like we're worried about the wrong one girls! I guess Misty here is just into younger men!"
Misty scream of pure agony and suffering would have woken the ghost-types had any lived nearby.
A very ruffled and embarrassed Misty eventually managed to lead Ash upstairs. She had eventually tried tackling Daisy to get her to stop talking but Violet had taken that opportunity to dogpile on top while Lily snapped pictures. At some point in the scuffle she had lost her hair tie and now had her hair hanging loose. Somehow it managed to rise to three peaks in the front. Ash thought it looked kind of interesting but had enough self preservation to avoid mentioning it.
"Everytime!" She groaned. "This is why I don't have friends!"
Ash shot her a worried glance but she wasn't looking at him. "I'm your friend." He spoke up kindly.
She relaxed and sighed. "Thank you Ash really. Sorry about… all of that." She gestured downstairs.
"It's fine really!" Ash tried to placate her. "They seem… nice?"
"That's a word for them." Misty muttered and rubbed her face. "The guest room is to the left, you can lock it so they can't sneak in on you, they only have the key to my room after all." she finished darkly.
"Seperate rooms you two~!" A voice called from downstairs and Misty growled.
"NEVER! FIND! THE BODIES!" She repeated loudly and stomped down to her own bedroom and slammed the door.
Ash and Pikachu glanced at each other and shuddered. With that, Ash and his team entered the guest room and with a click the door locked and he dropped his illusion once more.
"Are all siblings like that?" Selene asked. "I'm an only child but I know plenty of Clefairy who aren't. But I've never seen that before." She said with a shiver.
"As someone with more siblings than I can count I can positively say that sibling relationships vary WILDLY." Pidgeotto explained.
"I got along with my brother." Pikachu admitted and Ash stared at him.
"Since when do you have a brother?" Ash asked him.
"Since I got adopted by a Kangaskhan for a while. It's a long story and it does involve humans being awful multiple times." Pikachu elaborated, he sighed. "I hope they're doing alright."
Ash rubbed his friends back with his paw. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Not tonight." Pikachu stretched and yawned. "Too tired. We can talk more tomorrow, and about the idea I had."
The three who had done this before got into their usual bed positions, Pidgeotto making a nest for herself out of the pillows, Ash curling up in a ball and Pikachu just flopping onto the covers. Selene wandered around the soft surface, not immediately sure on what to do before she eventually decided to sleep near the edge of Pidgeotto's nest, leaning back against one of the surrounding pillows and letting herself sink into it and into sleep.
Down the hall, Misty spent a good five minutes screaming into one of her pillows. When she had finally got that out of system she sat up and blew one of her hanging bangs out of her face.
She still couldn't decide if it would have been better or worse if she had brought an actual human boy home for her sisters to make her miserable about. After a moment of consideration she decided not to commit any more thought to that eventuality and instead rolled under her covers.
The familiar feeling of her own bed brought a sense of calm and she relaxed. After days on the road and a few stays in Pokemon Centers it was nice to get home. Even if only for a little while.
That final thought made her blink awake for a few more minutes.
She really didn't have to keep traveling with Ash. He'd proven trustworthy enough for her to believe he'd replace her bike as soon as he could afford to. Not to mention she was home now and based on a few comments her sisters had made she was very concerned about how the gym was being run while she was gone.
But when it came down to it, traveling with Ash was fun. Plain and simple. She hadn't gone on a proper journey herself when she became a trainer, instead hanging around the gym and only going out for the occasional fishing trip. Something about traveling around with Ash made it feel like a real adventure though, and she wanted to keep that feeling.
He'd also been making her see things differently, even if it had taken her a little while to notice. She had called Pokemon she didn't know 'it' before she met Ash and then she meets a talking Pokemon who treats both humans and other Pokemon like friends and individuals and now she was having a hard time doing differently.
She had spent a significant amount of time since she met Ash just talking to Staryu and trying to understand him. To less than stellar results but her starter definitely seemed to appreciate it. She felt closer to him than she had before at least.
Misty doubted Ash even realized what effect he was having on the people around him. That thought gave her a chuckle. Just a Zorua wandering around, completely throwing the status quo to the wind and not even noticing he was doing it.
With that amusing idea on her mind, Misty finally was able to drift off to sleep.
Misty was gone when Ash woke up the next morning but she left a note saying that she had gone to the Gym with her sisters to make sure things were running properly there. The message left directions to the Pokemon Center so they could train there as the Waterflowers' backyard just had a big pool for water type Pokemon training, or just for being a pool.
"Hey, before we get started on training, what was your idea, Pikachu?" Ash asked the electric-type as they walked.
"Alright, so here me out. You're the trainer normally, and you can't command yourself in a battle." His friend started.
"Following so far." Ash agreed.
"What if, we take up Misty's offer and you battle her yourself, with me giving orders."
Ash considered. "That actually sounds cool!"
"Right?!" Pikachu eagerly confirmed.
"But you don't have much practice directing a battle." Ash pointed out.
"How hard can it be?" Pikachu brushed off.
Ash scrunched up his face a bit. "To start, I had to get used to watching you get hurt and not being able to run up and help."
Pikachu blinked. "I did not think of that."
"We can still make it work though!" Ash pointed out. "Misty will probably be a bit more understanding about it. But it will mean that you can't participate in the gym otherwise, you know that right?"
A groan met his question. "Shoot, you're right. I was really looking forward to battling this gym."
"You still can." Ash pointed out. "This was all just an idea and as much fun as it sounds we're probably not going to be able to do it well without some practice."
"You might not get another chance to do an official battle like this." Pidgeotto warned.
"Never say never!" Ash answered.
"I didn't say never." Pidgeotto shrugged. "But I have to agree with you about not being ready for that kind of thing yet. You're a decent fighter from what I've seen Ash, but Pikachu doesn't have any experience as a trainer."
"All that stuff didn't seem important!" Pikachu whined.
"It might not be official but Misty will probably still let us try it out with her at some point." Ash pointed out. "And I'm sure there will be other opportunities someday."
With the decision made and the Pokemon Center in sight the team hurried up a little and headed straight to the training grounds to begin work.
Ash set Pikachu and Pidgeotto up for a mock battle, putting to work all of Pidgeotto's evasion training, using both Quick Attack and her normal speed, as well as trying to increase the frequency and power of Pikachu's electric attacks. It was nothing super complex but it gave them something to do while Ash focused on Selene.
"I did some checking with my Pokedex and there are a few attacks we can work on that don't seem too training intensive." Ash began explaining to her.
"I'm ready to learn, captain!" She saluted him.
Ash chuckled. "Well to start simple, there's Pound. It's basically exactly what it says, you use your limbs to pound something, but really hard."
The Clefairy looked down at her rather stubby arms. "I'm not sure how good I'll be at that."
"Probably not the best at it." Ash admitted. "Pokemon with bigger arms and a longer reach will have you at a disadvantage, but if you do have to get in close I want you to have a way to fight off your opponent."
"Makes sense." She agreed. "What else?"
"We'll be working on Pound until you have it down." Ash told her. "But there are two other ideas I want to work on. One is Defense Curl! It's balling yourself up to help defend yourself, it's not too hard so we'll practice after Lunch. But there is one other thing, how many songs do you know?" She gave him a confused look at that but with some explanation her eyes widened.
With the plan made they began training. It took all morning for Selene to get Pound down but she was managing it consistently by lunch time.
"Rock Smash!" she cheered as she used her new move on one of the rocks repeatedly until it shattered under her barrage.
"That's a different move." Ash laughed as she stood victorious.
They went at it again after lunch with full bellies. Ash checked in on Pikachu and Pidgeotto to see how they were doing but apart from being a bit tired they were doing well.
"She is getting a lot faster." Pikachu muttered to Ash quietly before he could turn back. "I actually have to try and hit her now."
Ash had Selene practice Pound a few more times but took a break from it to focus on Defense Curl. It was not a complex move by any right and she had it figured out in less than an hour. They spent an extra half hour working on keeping it up for longer before moving on.
Next, they started work on some of her existing moves. They couldn't exactly practice Disarming Voice at the moment, because Ash would get hit with it and it would break his illusion but they could work on Sweet Kiss and Metronome.
Sweet Kiss was simple, Selene just had to leap in, kiss her opponent and get out of the way. It was a bit hard to do in the rush of battle though so Ash had her practice on both Pikachu and Pidgeotto for a bit until she was able to do it more times than not.
Metronome was a different beast entirely.
It was a completely random move. It could turn into literally anything. That made it both potentially useful in a pinch, or alternatively a fatal mistake.
Ash wasn't going to try and bring order to chaos or some madness like that. But he was going to help Selene speed up the attack. When she first used it, it took almost ten seconds to use and turned into what looked like Flamethrower.
The disguised Pokemon took his hand off his chin after watching the demonstration. "It's simple really, you just need to work on building up the energy faster."
"It's hard to gather it together though, and then make it change and let it transform into an attack." Selene explained the windup time on it.
"Which is why we're practicing." Ash told her. "I don't expect you to do it in a second or anything like that yet. But the faster you can do it the more useful it could be."
By the time they stopped the fairy type could manage it in eight seconds, not much more useful in a fight, but noticeably faster than when they started. They did a bit more training with other attacks on the field, Ash having his other Pokemon run through their movesets a few times as well just to keep practice. But eventually they called it a night and returned to Misty's house.
The door was open but neither Misty or her sisters appeared to be home. There was a new note for Ash though, so they had been back at some point. Ash read the message in full.
Ash,
You probably won't see me tonight unless you stay up past midnight. I was right, my sisters made a real mess of things at the gym and I've spent all day sorting things out. I'll explain more when I see you tomorrow but it's kept me busy. I'm basically strong-arming them to stay here with me and help so you're welcome for that.
Chow is in the top cupboard on the right, clean up after yourselves when you're finished eating.
-Misty
P.S. Come to the Gym even if you don't end up challenging me tomorrow, I'm going to head back at the crack of dawn so you might not see me otherwise.
That was rather worrying that the gym was so bad Misty had to spend all day working on it. He hoped everything was okay but he'd find out tomorrow for sure.
He and his team ate before heading back to the room. Once there, as he had planned with her earlier, he had Clefairy run through some of the songs she knew until she found a tune that was quiet and relaxing and she started singing that.
"Merry-go-round~ spinning in a world of dreams~" She sang. "The profile you left behind is chasing after the morning sun~" She continued the song for a bit before ending with a sigh.
"I don't think it's working, Ash. I like singing but I don't think I can get Sing to work." There was no response. "Ash?" She looked at her trainer and the rest of the team. Who were all fast asleep.
"Oh, I guess it worked then."
They went to the gym the next day, ready for battle. Selene was nervous, but excited and Pidgeotto and Pikachu seemed pretty sure of themselves. Ash did too to be fair, he had seen Misty training and while some of the battles might be a little hard, he had faith that they would pull through.
The gym was interesting looking. Almost like a giant carousel with a rainbow colored roof and a giant billboard Dewgong on the front. When they reached the door Ash noticed a paper taped to the inside, facing outwards.
It read: All Shows canceled for the foreseeable future! See front desk for refunds and details.
Ash, not quite sure what to make of that, shrugged and walked inside. The front room looked a bit like a box office, with ticket booths and everything. There was, as mentioned in the notice, a front desk, one of the sisters, Violet, was sitting behind it looking notably unhappy.
"Oh, Ash right? If you're looking for my little demon of a sister, she's in the main arena." She propped her chin in her hand and sighed with misery.
Ash shared a glance with all his Pokemon and continued onwards.
The sounds of battle greeted him as he entered and he saw the two other older sisters battling each other. On one side was Daisy with a Seel, on the other was Lilly with a Goldeen.
The trainer watched as the battle began and couldn't help but notice they seemed a bit out of practice. Taking long moments of hesitation that you normally couldn't afford in a battle. Before he could become too absorbed in it, he was distracted by a familiar voice.
"There you are! It's about time you got here." At Misty's call he turned to face his friend.
She strode up to him looking mighty proud of herself. But what really caught his attention was her outfit, her ponytail had returned with a new hair tie but beyond that she had changed from her yellow tank top to a white one and removed her shorts with suspenders for a new pair that looked like she'd rolled the legs up a little. Instead of her old casual sneakers she now wore a new pair that looked like they were designed to be waterproof.
"Did you change your clothes?" Ash asked upon seeing her and she facepalmed.
"Of course I did, we were on the road for days and I had to use the washing machines at the Pokemon Centers we stopped at. I wanted to get out of those and put something fresh and clean on." She explained as though talking to a young child.
"Oh right." Ash realized. "Sorry I forget sometimes about all that clothes stuff."
"Anyway," she looked at her battling sisters. "I was right and they'd made a big mess of things. They were literally handing out badges to anyone who was willing to do minor chores around the gym. Or trainers who came to their shows! They haven't even done a proper Gym Challenge since I left apparently!" She stomped her foot, and Ash wondered if that crack in the tile had always been there.
"What did you do then?" Ash asked her as she led him around the edge of the biggest pool.
Misty sighed with obvious frustration. "I threatened to call the league on them if they didn't get into shape. I hate to do it but this gym means something you know? Our grandparents founded it together. Grandpa was a fisherman and Grandma was a professional swimmer. One day Gramps got pulled off his boat by something he hooked and hit his head as he went over. Gran saw what happened and saved his life and that's how they met. They bonded over their love of both water and Pokemon and eventually started the gym."
She scowled at her sisters. "I can get the shows, Dad started doing them when he was around my age, he was a real showman, but even then he kept up his duties as a Gym Leader too. So until they get into shape and show they can treat this seriously they're going to have to stop doing their shows."
Ash nodded in understanding. "I get it. Also, I am planning to challenge you now. I think we're ready."
"I figured." Misty hummed. "Any thoughts on my idea?"
"Not yet." Ash shook his head and then blinked, realizing the wording might be misinterpreted. "I mean we decided and we're not going to do something like that yet. Everyone else wants to participate and Pikachu and I want to practice a bit before we do a role reversal like that. But if you're up to it in the future we'd like to battle you like that!"
"Role reversal?" Misty wondered and shook her head. "Nevermind, I'm sure you'll explain it later." They arrived at one of the pools made for challenges, it had various pillars and flotsam in it so landbound Pokemon had places to stand.
She positioned him at one end of the pool and went to the other. "This is going to be a three versus three singles battle." She announced. "Withdrawing a Pokemon counts as a forfeit. All participants must stay within the space above or under the water. Any questions from the challenger?"
Ash shook his head, regardless of who she sent out, Ash knew who he was using first. Still though, he took the chance to return Pidgeotto to her Pokeball before it was her time to battle.
"Alright, let's go Goldeen!" She released her first Pokemon.
"Selene! It's your turn!" Ash sent out the Clefairy who jumped from the edge of the pool to one of the pillars where she caught herself precariously.
"Surrender by order of the moon!" Selene declared as she managed to balance with her arms stuck out.
Goldeen surfaced. "I'm not going to do that."
"Open up with a Water Gun! Take her off that pillar!" Misty ordered.
Ash winced, this was going to be rougher than he expected, he really should have planned for being stuck in the water. He wasn't just going to throw in the towel though. "Use Disarming Voice! Get ready to swim!"
Clefairy's call struck Goldeen, and the fish ducked under the water but not before firing off her Water Gun. Clefairy was sent splashing into the water. Ash clenched his fist as he watched her paddle her way to a piece of flotsam and pull herself up.
"I am okay!" She announced and Ash considered the situation. She definitely was not the best swimmer but he had an idea or two.
"Do you think you can keep your balance if you jump around?" He asked her, surveying the various footholds around the pool.
She frowned. "I know I can land on them for sure, it's keeping my balance that will be the hard part."
"Aim for the more solid looking ones in that case." There were a few larger pieces that looked like they could hold her weight.
"Don't forget!" Misty warned. "The battle is still going, Goldeen use Horn Attack!"
"Defense Curl!" Was Ash's reply as Goldeen leaped from the water and plowed into Selene with her now glowing horn.
The Clefairy balled up and as the attack collided with her. There was a brief glow but when it faded Goldeen flopped backwards into the water and his Pokemon stood back up not much worse for wear.
"Nice!" Ash cheered. "Let's get some movement though! Jump to wherever looks stable! Disarming Voice towards the water every chance you get!"
Selene followed the direction and jumped to a nearby pillar, it was close enough that she was able to do a small bounce without gaining enough force to tip her over on landing. Mid-jump she let out a light shout towards the water that caused ripples to spread across the pool. She repeated this action, moving across to a larger piece of flotsam.
The trainers watched this impromptu ballerina act and Misty scowled. "That is getting annoying real fast. Goldeen, hit her with Supersonic!"
"Dodge it!" Ash warned, the good news was Supersonic was a relatively slow moving attack, the bad news was they had limited places to dodge.
His teammates reacted quickly and as the waves began to move towards her she leapt to a new platform, narrowly avoiding the edges of the expanding attack. As she moved through the air she let off another Disarming Voice, with no water to muffle the sound Goldeen took the full brunt of the attack.
"Would you stop yelling at me?" Goldeen begged. "I know it's not even that loud but I'm not doing that great."
"You can still surrender!" Was her opponent's response as she faced the water type Pokemon and took a quick bow.
"Let's wrap this up! Use Sing like we practiced!" Ash announced. As he made the call he covered his ears and Pikachu did the same. He had returned Pidgeotto to her Pokeball in preparation for this exact move.
Clefairy began her lullaby again "Merry-go-round~" She started.
"No!" Misty's panic leaked into her voice. "Quickly dive down! Don't listen to it!"
Unfortunately the music was beginning to take effect and Goldeen was a bit slow to react, every second she listened to Clefairy's lullaby put her further into sleep.
She still managed to get underwater before she completely passed out, but her relative lack of movement showed that the move had still taken enough of an effect to be detrimental.
"That's enough!" Ash said and waited an extra couple of seconds before uncovering his ears just in case. "Nice work!"
"My voice is a surprisingly effective weapon in this battle." Selene contemplated.
"It's not your only weapon! Use Pound!" Now that Goldeen was out of it, using a physical attack to make contact with the swimming Pokemon was worth the risk.
His Clefairy jumped into the air again and came down in a move resembling a pile driver.
There was a large splash as she hit the water and apparently Goldeen as well. At least it looked that way and from Misty's weak cry of disappointment he took it as a sign the move had made contact despite the water.
Selene burst to the surface of the water again and swam towards one of the platforms. Behind her, Goldeen floated back up the surface, belly up, and clearly out for the count.
Misty scowled and returned her Pokemon. "That's one but can you keep it up?" She questioned. "Starmie, your turn now!"
Misty's Starmie emerged from the ball with a spin of her fins. "Sorry sweetie, you've done well but the battle is over now!"
"I don't know." Selene admitted. "Could I Sing a song first?" She prodded, showing off some developing cheek.
"None of the sass!" Starmie warned as Misty began giving her orders.
"Use Confuse Ray! Don't let her get away from it!" At her words, Starmie's gem began to glow.
"Get under the water!" Ash warned, "Don't let it hit you!"
Unfortunately, Selene looked nervous at the idea of going for a proper underwater swim and hesitated. This was enough time for the spiraling balls to surround her and leave her confused.
She started wobbling on her platform. "Huh… what?" She muttered and blinked repeatedly.
"Take her out of the pool and out of the match Starmie! Use Surf!"
A surge of water burst forwards at Misty's call and ejected the platform, and more importantly Selene, from the pool and the match.
Ash rushed over to the downed Clefairy who was staring upwards and squinting. Not quite knocked out but very close and still confused.
"I see stars but no moon. Where'd the moon go?" She asked in a dreamlike tone.
"You did great Selene, take a nice rest." Ash told her and rubbed her head (or head area) gently.
"Ash, when did you turn into the moon?" She had enough sense to notice him before he returned her and turned his attention back to the battle at hand.
Without a spare word Ash sent out his next Pokemon. "Pidgeotto it's your turn!"
Pikachu pouted next to him. "Why do I have to go last again?"
"You know why." Ash told him. It was mostly because he figured if he used Pikachu first, then the chances of someone else getting a turn dropped down to near zero.
"I have to stay over the pool right?" Pidgeotto checked in just to be sure.
"Pidgeotto wants to make sure that she has to stay over the pool." Ash forwarded to Misty who nodded.
"Yeah, it's a standard rule in most of our battles here." She scowled. "Or at least my battles here!" She raised her voice and looked over towards her sisters. "Don't think just because I'm not paying attention you two can take it easy!"
There were a couple of yelps and Misty turned her attention back to Ash. "Sorry about that." She gave an obviously fake smile. "Shall we continue?"
"Peck Pidgeotto! Aim for the gem!" Was Ash's response, giving no chance for Misty to order another Confuse Ray.
The attack hit dead center and Starmie dived into the water.
"Starmie keep on the move and jettison from the water to attack! Let's keep her on the move and get her to make a mistake!" Misty directed with a snap of her fingers.
The spinning shape of Starmie could be seen darting around under the water and Ash did his best to keep an eye on her. "Quick Attack to dodge if you need to, you know the strategy, but hit Starmie with a Wing Attack or Peck if you see a chance to knock her down!"
Like a discus, Starmie burst from the water and flew at Pidgeotto in what could be called a Tackle, in the same way a bath tub could be called a bucket.
Pidgeotto glowed with speed and dove below the arc of Starmie's attack and wove back around and narrowly missed with Wing Attack as the starfish Pokemon dove back below the surface of the water.
Pidgeotto barely had time to prepare herself as Starmie repeated the maneuver from the side. The flying type narrowly managed to roll out of the way and still nearly got a clipper wing for her efforts. Starmie hit the water again but without an attempted attack from Pidgeotto this time.
The third strike from Starmie differed however, instead of coming at Pidgeotto in an arc, she burst from the water straight upwards in an attempt to hit Pidgeotto dead on from below. This proved to be a mistake however as Pidgeotto dodged the attack in a flying somersault and sped forwards to hit Starmie's gem with Peck for a second time.
Starmie landed on one of the pieces of flotsam this time and managed to push herself up with a strange bending maneuver.
"Alright Starmie, no more playing around! Let's make them work for this badge!" Misty plotted. "Like we practiced Psychic!"
"Brace yourself to break out of it Pidgeotto!" Ash warned, hopefully Steel Wing and Quick Attack would be enough for her to move with the Psychic power entrapping her.
He was both surprised, and alarmed, when the glow did not surround Pidgeotto and instead, large bubbles of water began emerging from the pool and floating into the air.
"There's more than one way to use Psychic!" Misty's mirth was evident in her voice and Ash's mind spiraled.
"Ash there's water in the air. It's not raining and there's water in the air." Pidgeotto's voice was not raised but he could hear her trying to keep the panic out of it.
"This is what you had Staryu and Starmie working on!" Ash remembered them throwing water at each other and catching it psychically while training.
"So you were paying a little attention." Misty smirked at him. "Let's see how much it helps you! Psychic!"
One of the large bubbles of water rushed forwards toward Pidgeotto who narrowly managed to swerve around it and barely managed to avoid diving into a second one.
"I am not used to flying in this kind of severe weather condition!" Pidgeotto bemoaned her situation as she flapped in place, clearly trying to plot out a path to fly around while staying over within the boundaries of the battle.
"We don't have much of a choice Pidgeotto." Ash admitted. "Rush Starmie, hit her with Peck again!" That would hopefully be enough to take Starmie out of the battle, Pidgeotto no longer had room to dodge so this was their only chance, and it was barely one.
Pidgeotto gave a few final flaps. "This won't end well." She prophesied and sped forwards. Her words were proven true as another bubble of water moved forwards and caught Pidgeotto within its confines.
The poor flying type had never experienced being underwater before and scrambled and flapped within the confines of the water. Ash reached for her Pokeball, ready to return her and accept the loss rather than leave her trapped in the bubble. Thankfully Misty had no wish to torment Pidgeotto and directed Starmie accordingly.
"Move her out of bounds and drop her! Quickly!" Starmie followed to the letter and let the bubble of water drop over the tiles outside of the pool near Ash's side.
The half drowned flying type hauled herself to her feet, soaking feathers dripping everywhere. "I don't think I'll ever be able to so much as look at a bird bath after that." She shuddered, obviously unnerved by the experience considering she didn't even complain about losing the battle.
Misty seemed to be in a similar boat, obviously not expecting her planned attack to be so uncomfortably effective. "Good job Starmie." She said, sounding slightly subdued. She shook off the remnants of her discomfort. "Down to the last Pokemon Ash, last chance to reconsider."
"Sorry Misty, but you know what comes next!" He said, letting himself smile again. He still had his ace in the hole for this battle. He bent over and checked over Pidgeotto briefly who after a moment of recovery shied away from his fretting a bit.
"I'm alright. Just beat that star-shaped menace into the poolside wall." She directed the second sentence at Pikachu who nodded with sparking cheeks.
"Finally!" Pikachu cheered and jumped forwards onto the nearest pillar even as Ash announced him as his final Pokemon.
"Pikachu!" As soon as the electric type landed he gave his attack order. "Thunder Bolt! Take Starmie out of this fight!"
Pikachu blazed with electricity and the massive surge leapt forwards and collided with Starmie in a brilliant flash of light. When the flash faded, Starmie collapsed, completely knocked out.
Misty winced on the other side of the field and the bubbles of water that Starmie had been holding up with Psychic fell back down into the pool and the water level rose back to its normal level.
"One to one again." Ash told her, probably sounding more than a little cocky.
"Starter versus starter." Misty confirmed and sent out Staryu. "Let's give it our all, Staryu!"
Staryu stood proud and tall on a pillar opposite Pikachu, the two facing each other down. The pillars now stood maybe a foot above the surface of the pool with all the water that had been drained out by Starmie.
"And so it comes down to this. Once we were comrades in arms, but your villainy knows no ends! It must end here my rival! Let no one say that I did not try to solve this peacefully but we have no choice now but to do battle." Staryu's words were spoken solemnly and would have almost been touching had they had any basis in reality at all.
Piakchu rolled his eyes at the speech. "Where do you come up with all this?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, you villain!"
"Enough messing around you two!" Misty called, not understanding the words precisely but getting enough a jist of what was going on. "Use Rapid Spin!"
Staryu tipped onto one arm and spun so that the points of his arms were facing Pikachu. Then he pushed off of the pillar and sped across the surface of the water, skipping like a stone as he went, and spinning into a dangerous disc of points.
"Quick Attack to move out the way, don't stay in one place and use Thunder Bolt indiscriminately!" Ash directed as the attack rushed forwards.
Pikachu blurred out of the way as Staryu cut through the pillar and caught himself with one of his arms before he could keep going and end up out of pounds. He swung himself onto the now slightly damaged pillar and faced Pikachu once more.
"Come back and face justice! For all your crimes against the ocean!" Staryu ordered.
"Protect Staryu! Every time you need it!" Misty told him as Pikachu began sparking in preparation to attack.
A glowing barrier surrounded the water type Pokemon and the electricity sparked off of it harmless.
"That's not fair!" Pikachu whined as he kept jumping from platform to platform, never staying in one place.
"All will be fair in this war!" Staryu warned.
Misty continued the battle, unaware of the banter. "Water Pulse!"
The water-filled attack bubbled from Staryu and rushed towards Pikachu, picking up speed as it moved. Despite this, Pikachu still managed to dodge it with relative ease. "Too slow!" He mocked and fired off another Thunder Bolt.
It met another Protect and Pikachu groaned. "Use Swift Staryu!"
The stars of Swift surged forwards and tracked Pikachu like homing missiles, but the rowdy electric type kept moving and stayed ahead of them as best he could. A couple hit the pillars and flotsam around the pool but Swift never misses and eventually they managed to hit their target.
Pikachu was knocked into the water, but without missing a beat the mouse Pokemon pulled himself back out and unleashed another Thunderbolt at Staryu. Once more it was defeated by a Protect.
Ash smiled even as Pikachu groaned in complaint. "This isn't working!"
"Yes it is! Staryu can't use Protect as frequently as they want us to think he can! Right, Misty?" Ash smirked at her even as she did her best to mask her surprise. "You'll need to tank this next attack but just keep firing Thunder Shock! He can't keep up Protect forever!" Ash unknowingly channeled the ancient strategy of gamers everywhere.
"This will hurt you more than it will hurt me!" Pikachu counseled both himself and Staryu and unleashed a Thunder Shock. The attack was weaker but took less time to charge up, and a weak electric attack from Pikachu was still pretty strong.
"I will not give in!" Staryu tried shooting off a Water Gun but the Thunder Shock embraced him in its painful light before he could aim it properly and it spluttered into the pool uselessly.
"Protect Staryu!" Misty begged her Pokemon.
Staryu straightened but a small spark darted across his body and he found himself unable to move. "I can't do anything!"
"Paralyzed!" Ash smiled at their good luck. "Thunder Bolt Pikachu let's finish this!"
"Agreed!" Pikachu confirmed and glowed once more.
Staryu stood resolutely as the attack formed and began to arc towards him in a deadly lance. "I embrace my mortality."
With a flash of light, the attack hit home and Staryu collapsed, defeated.
Misty slumped and returned her Pokemon. "Nice work Staryu, you did good."
"Awesome job Pikachu!" Ash embraced his friend as he returned to him, not caring that he was soaking wet.
"Again with the hugs!" Pikachu complained verbally but made no efforts to escape it.
"I guess that's it then." Misty said as she walked around the edge of the pool to them. "Congratulations Ash, won fair and square this time, no rematches required." She handed him the badge.
Ash picked up the Cascade Badge as Pikachu replaced himself on his shoulder and gripped it with a smile. "Alright! Two down! Only six to go!"
"'Only six' he says!" Misty snorted at him. "I plan to keep up with you by the way, if you don't mind waiting another day or two for me to get this place in order." She glanced at her sisters who had stopped their battle to watch the finale to theirs. They both quickly turned away and got back to it.
"That's right!" Misty shook her fist at them. "You want to pick on me and tease me! Fine! But you're gym leaders and you got to work for it!"
"Did you just give them permission to tease you?" Ash asked her and she made a pained choking noise.
"You're not allowed to tease and pick on me either!" She called again.
"But you can't call the league on us for that right?" Violet peaked into the room from the front office and Misty glared at her.
"You're next! Get over here! You can fight Ash's monster of a Pikachu!" Violet ducked out of the room without another word as Misty stomped towards her, Ash following behind with a chuckle as he put his badge away.
The next leg of the journey awaited them!
Alright, so this chapter is pretty long but not as long as chapter twelve, it is however, longer than I expected it to be, so here we are.
Like I thought I was on track to get it finished before work and then time to leave rolled around and I realized "oh shoot, it won't be ready!"
Writing battles is hard, and a little frustrating. Like I can't speak for everyone but sometimes when I reach a fight scene while reading a fic I skim over it a little, I'm not just completely skipping it but I don't read as in detail as I might other parts. So I write all that down for myself and wonder how many people like me just lightly skim it to get an idea of what happens!
Hopefully I think of something to condense them because battles are just going to get longer and more complicated from here.
Anyway, I'm disappointed no one got my Moonquest reference from the last chapter so let's talk about references in this one.
First off, Misty's appearances. When she lost her hair tie and her hair stuck up in three spikes, I was specifically referencing her hairstyle from Heartgold and Soulsilver. Then when Ash faced her in battle I was using her outfit from Let's Go Eevee and Pikachu. I actually really like that outfit, it's close enough to the anime that it's recognizable but looks new and modern despite being fairly simple. I might have her switch between that and her classic one.
Secondly, Clefairy was singing Merry Go Round, one of the endings to Fairytail, I was never a really big fan of that show but for some reason that song has stuck in my head for years.
And thirdly, the ancient strategy of video gamers. "Hit it 'til it dies!"
There are a few others that are less obvious sprinkled throughout, or maybe moreso? I'll let you guys find them.
Moving on, let's do reviews!
PokeDan: Ritchie is an interesting option. I have a few ideas for a third trainer for the group and with the large variety of choices available I'm starting to develop a concept I want to try out. We'll see how it goes.
PenguinBandit523: I mean to be fair, what am I going to do if you aren't over 21? Tell the internet police? Jokes aside, yes meta humor, it's fun. James is fun to write, I've seen people make the argument about how great a Pokemon trainer he is and they're kind of right, he's great, to his Pokemon, not so much the ones he tries to kidnap. God, I'm already thinking how to get around some episodes, some are easier to shorten or avoid then others, some I am going to include because I have ideas.
The one who reads and writes: Clefairy being one of the options for the original mascot was something I remembered while writing the last chapter. Actually, I'd decided to give Ash a Clefairy earlier but it's funny how things work out. This chapter touches on Ash battling himself, we'll definitely see him do it, but some hoops need to be jumped through to do it in an official setting.
Phaleon: I have a few episodes I might do something like that with, or maybe a kind of waving goodbye and talking about "gee it sure is funny how things work out" we'll see how it goes.
LEGOBRICK13: All the references! I like them but people who don't get them won't get as much out of them so I try to space them out a bit. Yes Lord Helix, and all of that. As mentioned above, I'm not sure if Clefairy was planned for Ash but it was on the plate for the franchise mascot at one point.
PhoenixWarriorFox88: I mean OCs are going to have to exist in this story one way or another? I guess on some level all the Pokemon I use are OCs in their own way even if I don't like thinking about it like that. I have a few ideas for third trainers which is why I might be going with an alternative starting in the next couple chapters.
Patch6782: Jame's brain is an acceptable collateral for the sake of the story.
Lonelyboi69: Unique? What's that? Why settle for one cake made a certain way, when you could have two cakes made the same way?
Lupercus1944: The medical supplies is an issue I'm going to be touching on early next chapter so it's not too much of a spoiler to mention here. Hopefully I've managed to fight off your personal bias a bit in this chapter. I am working on the fish out of water with her and we'll see some more of that from her, and maybe a few others on the team as they see more of the world. I've not exactly tried to hide it but that is pretty much what I've been doing with Team Rocket and plan to keep doing them, they're going to come up with some grand scheme and stumble into accidental success a different way. Canon is good, and references to it even as the status quo falls apart is great. But let's see where this new timeline ends up shall we? Mewtwo? Where did you get Two Mews?"
All for now everyone! I have the same schedule next week so let's see if I can kick myself in the butt enough to make sure this chapter gets finished at a reasonable time next Saturday.
Discord:
https : / / discord . gg / PRTxHXBD
R&R
~FriTik