Okay, Google. How do I write things?
Ash and most of the team were pleased with their victory over Lt. Surge and the Vermillion City gym.
Pikachu was not.
Perhaps this was a tad inaccurate. He was happy for his teammates winning of course and it was fun to see Raichu get knocked down a few pegs by Selene, but he had wanted to fight too! He had been looking forward to beating Raichu into the dirt with a mix of Iron Tail and Thunder Bolt.
He didn't care what Eevee said about typing advantages and disadvantages, that chart was more a guideline than actual rules for battle.
Regardless of the logistics of his ability to fight Raichu, he was still disappointed he had not even had the chance to fight him again. With that in mind, he made sure everyone nearby knew about his feelings on the matter.
"I'm just saying." He pronounced gravely. "That it was supposed to be a three-on-three fight, and instead it was a two-on-three fight. Therefore we need to go back at some point and I need to fight Raichu."
They had left the gym and were on their way back to the Pokemon Center in order to have Sunny and Selene healed.
Unfortunately, for some reason, no one else was willing to hear him out about the unfair treatment he was being subjected to.
"At least you got a chance to fight." Pidgeotto, of course, was the least sympathetic ear. "I had to sit back and watch both times."
Ash entered the conversation, "I am sorry you two didn't get a chance to fight this time, or last time in your case Pidgeotto, and Eevee you've been interested…" he trailed off and hummed in thought, obviously trying to come up with something.
"I'm not too upset about it," Eevee admitted. "That gym seemed a bit… harsh. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed a fight there." Pikachu could get that on some level, but on the other paw, it being a rougher gym just made him want to fight it harder.
Pidgeotto chirped in semi-agreement. "I can't say I wouldn't have enjoyed a fight back there, but you are right. That battle was definitely different on some level compared to the other ones we've been in. Brock tried to make it a bit of a spectacle to give us some good memories, Misty tried to drown me…"
"She tried to do what!?" Eevee squeaked with apparent alarm and shot a nervous look at the water-type trainer.
Misty spotted the look, still none the wiser to the exact contents of the conversation, unfortunately. "Did I do something to scare Eevee?"
Ash scratched at his cheek. "Well, not recently…" He said diplomatically.
Pikachu decided to step in since Ash clearly didn't see the route that this could go down. "She and Starmie were using Psychic on the water as part of a new attack, it worked, a little too well."
Pidgeotto nodded. "If anything it's a good reminder to get better at close quarters flying, I just couldn't maneuver with the floating water bubbles around me."
The normal-type considered and hummed. "Instead of using Psychic on you, they used it on the water? That is an intriguing strategy if a bit brutal."
"Now that you've mentioned it I don't think I've seen them use it since, not even while training." Their aerial teammate considered.
Pikachu swung his tail from side to side as he debated speaking his mind. With a sigh, he spoke up. "It has come to my attention that some humans don't like hurting Pokemon even if they like battling, so some of them, like Misty, will try to be less ruthless in battle, instead trying to make the Pokemon involved happier."
His newest teammate nodded at his words and seemed to take them to heart. Good for her, he wasn't going to say anything nice about humans anytime soon after that. Unfortunately, Ash was grinning at him so he gave his best friend the stink eye. He was not getting a repeat performance for a while.
Then again… he could leverage this.
"Then again, I'm not entirely sure." He tried to lay it on thickly. "Maybe humans and battles are always bad, I should fight as many battles as possible as soon as possible. You know, just to make sure."
However, somehow, Ash seemed able to see through his cunning stratagem. "I already told you we would do some battles when we got back to make up for the fact you didn't get a rematch with Raichu. You don't have to try and trick me into it."
"Obviously I know we'll do some battles when we get back." The electric-type acknowledged. "But I want to do as many as I can!"
Misty watched this back and forth, and once more spoke up. "Do I even want to know what Pikachu is trying to do?"
The Zorua spared her a glance. "He's trying to take advantage of the fact he's warming up to humans as a reason to have more battles."
Pikachu could do nothing but glare at his friend as Misty turned her gaze to him. "Oh right, I forgot you said he didn't like us much. He's never really seemed to have much of a problem with me, but he's starting to change his tune?"
"Uh-huh!" Ash nodded and returned to smiling. "Just now he was talking about how you-" Pikachu moved quickly to stop the traitorous dark-type Pokemon before he could start spilling secrets.
He swung from Ash's shoulder around his head, grabbing onto the sides and shoving his head against Ash's forehead so he could look at him in his illusionary eyes. He felt a little bad when he noticed Eevee lost her balance in his peripheral vision and Pidgeotto moved to catch the other Pokemon, but sacrifices must be made.
"Do not utter another word or I will shock you right here and now!" He hissed at his friend.
Unfortunately, his friend seemed to not understand the full gravity of his threat and just scrunched up his face in annoyance. "What? I was just going to tell her that you liked her better than other humans."
"That is misinterpreting my words!" Pikachu was aghast at the accusation. But the damage had been done by the poisonous language.
"That's very nice of Pikachu." Misty smiled at him. "I think you're my favorite electric-type Pokemon too!"
Ugh, now he feels a little bad. Defeat rested heavily on his heart, he returned to his place on Ash's shoulder, ignoring the glares from the other riders.
Despite his words though, he didn't shock Ash. Yet at least, they were in public and he would break the dark-type's illusion.
He'd just have to do it tonight when he wasn't expecting it.
Despite Pikachu's desire for violence, it was not the first thing they did when they got back to the Pokemon Center.
That honor was given to dropping off Sunny and Selene with Nurse Joy, but it would take some time for them to be fully healed up. With this knowledge, Ash was a bit reluctant to really do anything, as he didn't want to leave his two friends out of what they did. Especially after they managed to get them the win against Surge.
With Nurse Joy looking over his hurt teammates he had a little while to just sit there and think.
He now had three gym badges, of the eight needed to compete in the Indigo League. There were plenty of other gyms scattered throughout Kanto, but the big ones were in the major cities and towns.
The thing was, he had gone far longer in between badges than he'd originally planned. Well, maybe not planned, he'd mostly been pointing himself in a direction and traveling until he got to the next town and gym battle.
"I wonder if the other trainers are ahead of us now." He wondered out loud and got Misty's and Pidgeotto's attention. Eevee and Pikachu had gotten caught up in their own conversation while they'd been sitting silently.
"What do you mean ahead of you?" Misty asked him, not understanding his line of thought.
"Think about how long we were on the road between here and Cerulean." Ash reminded her. "It's a much faster trip to go from Cerulean to Saffron to Vermillion."
Pidgeotto gave him a lidded gaze. "I think we'd already established that."
"I mean, I guess, but what I mean is what if Gary, Leaf, and… bun-girl." he felt guilty about forgetting her name but he'd probably remember it later. "Already passed through here while we were on the road for so long."
"It's possible," Misty allowed, "but while I can't say anything about Gary and the third trainer, Leaf struck me as a little bit ditzy. She's probably wandering around the woods making friends with every Pokemon there."
Truth be told, Ash didn't know Leaf that well either, having interacted with the girl only a few times while they lived in Pallet, but based on what he knew about her and the state she arrived in Pewter City in, that seemed about right.
"I guess it's not actually much of an issue," Ash admitted. "Although Gary will probably brag and posture about it a bit, but as long as I get enough badges in time it doesn't matter how long I take, still can't help thinking about being left behind though."
"I get it." Pidgeotto helpfully supplied. "Now that you mention it, I feel like we should head towards the next gym today, but we do need to train more before facing that gym I guess."
"It's also good to relax a bit and enjoy the journey. Make sure to stop and smell the berries." Ash pointed out.
His human friend gave him a confused look. "You mean smell the roses?"
"No?" Now it was his turn to be confused. "Why would I smell roses? Berries smell much sweeter."
The response earned was simply a sigh, "Sometimes I'd really like to see exactly what is going on in your head."
"Assuming anything is going on in there at all." Pidgeotto tacked on and Ash was left to cross his arms in a huff.
"Alright, here's something that comes right out of my head, how long are we going to stay here and what are we going to do for the rest of the time?" The dark-type spoke up again after a few moments of silence.
"Well, there are the battles we're going to have once Selene and Sunny are back to full health." His flying-type friend reminded him.
"Of course, we're doing that first." Ash agreed. "Oh, I should take part too! That way we have three pairs of two for the battles!"
"Dibs!" Pidgeotto quickly squawked out, loud enough to disrupt Pikachu and Eevees' discussion. Ash hadn't been paying attention to their talk but Eevee looked more exasperated than Pikachu.
"What do you mean dibs?" He questioned.
"Everyone except for Selene and I has had a chance to fight you for training. Since she's not here right now, I'm calling dibs while I can." She explained her reasoning.
He considered her words and nodded enthusiastically. "Sure! I think you're right about us not having a training match yet so it should be fun!"
"Guess I'll just be off to the side watching?" Misty asked in a low tone and fed Ash some guilt.
"Sorry Misty!" He apologized quickly. "I didn't even think about you and your Pokemon!"
"It's alright, I don't mind too much. I'm gonna make a call home and then I can come out to the yard and do some training while you guys have your battle. Although, do you mind waiting until after I make my call? If I remember right, Pokemon can't be left unattended in the training field." She remembered.
"That's still so unfair!" Pikachu complained now that he was paying attention to their discussion. "It's like they think we can't look after ourselves!"
"I'd argue that it's the correct decision in the case of some Pokemon." Eevee was staring at him with lidded eyes. "Also who is 'they' in this situation?"
Pikachu only had a blank stare, "It's you know… them!"
"Right, he's still a lost cause." The newest team member decided and turned her attention to her trainer. "Who else is fighting who? I admit… I'm still a little nervous about having a real battle."
Ash bit his lip lightly, that was a fair concern, he didn't want to make her battle if she was worried about it, but he didn't want to make her feel left out. He also thought that she might feel a bit better about battling in general after actually participating in one.
"We'll talk about who is fighting who more once Selene and Sunny are here, Pidgeotto has already called dibs on fighting me but we can figure out the rest of the matchups later. But we got a bit away from my original point." He remembered. "How long do we stay in Vermillion and what else do we want to do while we're here?"
"Well, I'm sure none of you will be nearly as interested as I am, but I want to try some of the foreign food places while we're here. I've gotten a new appreciation for food while we've been on the road." Misty declared.
"I might give it a go," Ash suggested. "I've definitely never been the biggest fan of human food, but maybe I'll give it a go, I might like food from other regions more."
"I want to try cooking again!" Pikachu announced much to everyone else's horror. "I think I'm starting to get the hang of it!"
"I remember Bill mentioning a research lab was being started here, I want to see if it's opened its doors yet." Eevee listed her own desire.
Pidgeotto hummed in thought. "Come to think of it I don't remember anything I'm that interested in seeing while we're here. I guess I could fly around a bit and see if I spot anything that looks interesting to me."
"That just leaves Selene and Sunny then…" Ash nodded, it shouldn't be too much longer until they were fully healed.
"No, it doesn't." Eevee said, getting the group's attention, although Misty was just playing copycat so she wouldn't be left out. "You didn't say what you wanted to do Ash!"
That… was a good point that he had not even considered. He just sat there staring blankly for a minute. "I didn't even think of what I wanted to do. I wanted to go to the gym, and we did that. I can't think of anything else to do while we're here. I guess I can put a bit of thought into it."
"Why don't you look at the bulletin board like I did?" Misty suggested to him. "You might see something interesting, I know it mentioned something about a Pokemon Fan Club."
Just as the disguised Pokemon was about to take her up on that offer, the light near the desk flashed and he heard his name called. All other thoughts were immediately banished from his mind as he went to pick up his now healed friends from the Nurse.
Sunny had taken the worst of the damage, having been knocked out by Electabuzz, but the fact he'd beaten Electrode all by himself and still been able to do some damage to Electabuzz had done wonders for his confidence and sense of self-esteem!
"Did you see me? I was like 'raawr!' and Electrode just went 'kablow!'" The little Charmander explained while waving his arms in a dramatic fashion. His excitement about the battle was infectious.
"You did a spectacular job Sunny!" Ash told him and helped him climb up to his usual place hanging off of his back.
Selene was out of her ball next and while she was still rather happy was not nearly as excited over the victory as Sunny, probably because she had done this before.
"I didn't expect to fight Raichu though." She admitted as they walked back to the room. "Our battles normally have a pretty standard flow, one Pokemon on our team fights one Pokemon on the other team, if we win we do damage to the next one before being knocked out and the cycle continues until we win or lose."
Pidgeotto opened her beak to dispute Selene's breakdown of their history but was forced to close it when she realized she couldn't argue. "I don't like you simplifying it like that, but also you're not wrong…"
They didn't spend too long in the room, just long enough for Ash to drop off his bag and hat (it was unlikely that most people would be able to make the connection between a hat-wearing trainer and a hat-wearing Zorua but still). While they were making the short trip though, Misty had started her phone call back home.
She was still in the middle of the call as Ash and his team met back up with her. The Center was actually fairly quiet despite it being the middle of the day, so not too many people were around to give a group of apparently unsupervised Pokemon a confused or concerned look.
"...don't know whether I'm impressed or upset at how helpful the Squirtle Squad is being." The youngest Cerulean sister was saying as they approached her.
"What's that supposed to mean?" The voice of her sister, possibly Violet, answered her. "Are you saying you sent us a group of Pokemon that you expected to give us problems?"
"I mean… a little? It was the best option I could think of and I do think they could help out at the gym in their own way. But they used to dig holes in the middle of the road to prank and rob Pokemon trainers so I figured there would at least be some teething issues." Misty admitted.
"Gee, thanks." Violet's deadpan was evident even over the phone. "Where's your boyfriend?"
"And I'm hanging up now." Misty slammed the receiver down and ended the call. She glanced down at Ash who was standing next to her now. "Why do people keep assuming that?"
"I honestly have no idea." The Zorua answered honestly. "Probably good to just keep ignoring them."
Misty let out her own Pokemon on the training field, she didn't need to be solely focused on Ash and his team while they did their mock battles, just close enough that no one would say anything about them being on their own.
Ash switched out of human speech in case anyone wandered a bit too close. "Alright, so Pidgeotto already said she wanted to fight me, does anyone else have any preference for who they want to fight?"
"I'm okay with whoever." Sunny claimed.
Those words proved to be the general consensus for the group, which had the unfortunate side effect of leaving them right back at square one.
With no clear way to pick who would fight who, and no real preferences from anyone Ash decided to just get it over with and had Sunny and Eevee fighting each other, and Selene and Pikachu.
With the matchups decided that left the matter of how to decide the victor, theoretically, they could just go to the knockout but this was more of a friendly battle and no one wanted to get a serious injury that would send them inside to Nurse Joy and disrupt the proceedings.
The deciding factor in this case would be a bit of an honor system. Whenever a Pokemon felt like they were at the end of their rope or just couldn't win the fight, they would surrender, and their opponent would be the winner!
This did lead to some pointed glances at Pikachu and Pidgeotto who seemed most likely to keep pushing themselves to the point of getting knocked out.
But it was the best they were going to get, with those very basic rules decided, the fights began!
Pidgeotto and Ash had their battle first. Maybe they could have done the fights all at the same time but that would mean no one would get to watch the other matches.
"Our long-awaited meeting has come at last!" Pidgeotto declared as they stared each other down. "When I left you I was but the longer, now I am the master!"
"Have you been taking notes from Staryu?" Ash asked her.
"He has a good line now and then." She admitted and the battle began.
The flying type took to the air immediately, soaring into the sky, before lancing herself down towards Ash with a blur of Quick Attack.
Ash had barely any time of his own to react with his own version of the attack, he quickly realized that he was completely outmatched in the speed department. If he wanted a chance at winning here he'd have to willingly take a few hits and use the opportunity to hit back harder with an attack of his own.
It was easy enough to say (or think) that, but forcing himself to stand still and get hit with an attack was another matter entirely.
On the bright side, Pidgeotto had not been expecting this turn of events either, her Quick Attack hurt him, but his Night Daze?
That hurt her a lot more.
His strategy did have the side effect of making Pidgeotto more cautious in her attacks though, she needed to hit him in order to win the battle but every time she hit him he could just blast her with Night Daze or Dark Pulse.
She was able to use Gust at a range but it wouldn't hit him as hard as her physical attacks and might leave her open for a ranged Dark Pulse from the Zorua at the same time.
It left their battle at a bit of an impasse and made it clear that for the battle to continue it would need to turn into a war of attrition.
Pidgeotto did end up risking a Gust and kicked up dirt which threw Ash's aim off and left his Dark Pulse just off target allowing her to dodge it. The damage he took was minimal though but his collection of minor hurts could add up to a lot more the longer this went on.
The rest of the battle began to become a give and take, Ash was able to hit Pidgeotto harder and she had to slow down to use Steel Wing which gave him enough time to move out of the way.
In the end, the deciding factor came down to training, while Ash had done plenty before the journey started, it had been a long time since he'd trained in a truly serious way. Sure he'd helped his teammates with their training constantly but he hadn't been pushing himself as hard or putting as much thought into his own, instead focusing on ways to help them.
This meant that while Ash was technically hitting her harder, Pidgeotto was able to take the hits better and get more blows of her own while he was recovering from some attacks.
The honor system came into play when Ash realized that he could technically keep going, but he probably wouldn't win. At best he could hope for a tie by pulling off a few well-timed dodges and getting one last Night Daze in.
As Pidgeotto was reeling around for another pass, he called it. "I'm done, I don't think I can win this."
The flying type flapped her wings to stop her approach and flew down at a less alarming speed. She now bore some injuries of her own after their fight but Ash was clearly the worse off.
"Does this mean I get to be the trainer now?" She asked somewhat cheekily.
"If you want," Ash told her in a teasing manner of his own. "You just need to get registered first."
They made their way back to the rest of the team and Pikachu gave a smirk at Ash. "I'm going to tell Shelldon you're slacking."
Ash flinched at the thought and felt an involuntary shudder pass through him. "Please don't, I swear I'll train harder!"
Pikachu, the vicious monster, didn't assuage his concerns. No, Ash's only answer was his oldest friend sticking his tongue out at him mockingly.
Next up was Sunny and Eevee, this matchup was a bit interesting and the trainer had taken a bit of a gamble matching them up. Sunny was fresh off a victory so he had a bit of confidence in himself and his abilities now, while Eevee was quite the opposite.
He was hoping that Sunny's newly found love for battle would help Eevee understand why so many Pokemon enjoyed it. If she still wasn't feeling it afterward that was okay too, but he'd need to think about what they could do so she wouldn't feel like an extra wheel.
Contests were a thing, maybe he could look into those? There had to be more too, he might have to do some research, but he'd let the battle play out first.
"Have fun you two!" Ash called from the sideline, Sunny certainly seemed to be and Eevee looked cautiously excited.
"You can go first," Sunny announced, maybe it was overconfidence, or he just noticed that the normal type was still a bit nervous about this.
She nodded. "Okay, here I go…" her eyes closed and she took a deep breath.
Whatever they had been expecting to come next, was not what they got.
Eevee's eyes opened and sparkled in what could only be Baby-Doll Eyes, the opposing fire-type faltered a bit at this opening move and she immediately closed the distance and crashed into him with Quick Attack.
Sunny stumbled back from the brunt force of the attack but even as he did so, Eevee was kicking up dirt to use Sand-Attack, kicking up a cloud right into his face.
Rather than take the time to try and rub at his eyes and leave himself open to another attack, the Charmander blasted blindly with a Flamethrower, coating the field in a wild wave of fire that lashed back and forth.
With the attack's accuracy being random, Eevee managed to avoid the worst of it but still got a little singed along its edges, but overall she made out pretty well damage-wise.
Now that he'd managed to get an attack off, Sunny tried to rub the dirt out of his eyes, but his normal type opponent was already back on the attack.
Ash watched with interest as she used Quick Attack, not to attack or dodge, but to maneuver into position. She was circling around the Charmander using the move, stopping sometimes to Tackle him. It was a bit weaker but also wasn't energy intensive.
This style of fighting was going well for her, or it seemed to be until he noticed Sunny flash red and realized he was about to Rage.
Eevee must have seen it too because she jumped back and kicked up another Sand Attack as the Charmander roared and crashed forwards.
She barely managed to slide under him as he crashed into the ground which shattered under the attack that had been building up power. He lay there breathing heavily for a minute before finally pulling himself up.
"Okay, I'm done." He announced with a huff. He seemed put out by the loss, but probably not nearly as much as he would have been if he hadn't just won a gym battle earlier.
"Oh good, I was beginning to get worried. I was running out of ideas, and I had no idea what I would do if you had used Smokescreen." Eevee sighed with relief.
"Smoke-" Sunny whacked his forehead. "Why didn't I think of that? Also what the heck was that? I could barely even touch you!"
"That was by design!" His teammate explained as they made their way off the field. "You obviously have me beat in raw power, so the simple solution was to make sure you couldn't hit me!"
Having his strength complimented probably helped soothe the sting of defeat a bit. But there was a lesson to be learned as well. "I guess sheer strength isn't everything. I should strategize more like you I guess."
"Honestly, that was a lot more fun than I thought it would be," Eevee admitted with some satisfaction. "It was like I was solving a problem, except the problem was violence, and the solution was specialized violence."
"That's an… interesting way to put it," Ash told her diplomatically.
Last and certainly not least, Pikachu finally got his chance on the battlefield. In fact, he had already rushed out to take his place on the field as Eevee and Sunny had been walking back to the others.
"Come on Selene let's go!" He called over. "What's taking so long?"
"Eager isn't he?" The fuzzier of the two most recent combatants observed.
"I think it's an endearing quality of his." Selene decided and made her way out to take her own position.
"When do we start?" The Clefairy asked her opponent as they stood facing each other.
"Hmm, how about the count of three?" Pikachu suggested.
"Okay!" She nodded but then paused. "Wait, on the number three or three, and then go?"
"Three then go. Hey!" He called to the peanut gallery. "Can one of you give us a countdown? Or count up I guess?"
Sunny took the floor here. "One! Two! Three!" The opponent got into their battle stances, Pikachu down on all fours and Selene put her arms at her sides. "Go!"
Pikachu wasted no time in unleashing a Thunderbolt on Selene, the bright glow and clap of sound filled the field as soon as the starting word faded from the air.
The fairy type was however still standing, or rather crouching when the light faded. "My turn!" She declared and used her new Defense Curl technique to launch herself at Pikachu.
Maybe he had been expecting it, or it could have just been instinct drilled into him by a year of dodging Water Guns and Hydro Pumps, but Pikachu zipped out of the way, but added a twist to the dodge, both metaphorically and very literally, by spinning around and whacking the rapidly approaching Pokemon with an Iron Tail as she passed.
Rather than trying to hit her to the side or out of bounds though (they hadn't exactly planned for that eventuality), Pikachu instead directed his attack downwards on her. This caused her to crash to the ground and bounce upwards and out of her curl.
She cried in pain and tried to right herself as she hit the ground but Pikachu was already on top of her with Quick Attack.
The damage was done but she took advantage of the close combat and used Pound as soon as she was able to get a bit of balance so she could swing.
Pikachu hissed as he was knocked back, his opponent followed up with Disarming Voice pushing him back further. This might not have been the best idea though, considering how dangerous Pikachu could be at a range.
A Thunderbolt lanced across the field as soon as Pikachu had regained his footing and Selene had no chance to dodge and had to take the blast head-on.
She managed to tank this attack too but was looking worse for the wear, she had one final trick up her sleeve though, and didn't want to call the fight until she'd tried it.
Selene opened her mouth "~I…" She started singing.
Pikachu's eyes went wide and he quickly covered his ears to avoid being put to sleep.
This, however, was all a part of her master plan.
"~...tricked you, tricked you, tricked you~" She continued, rocking back and forth in what was actually a Metronome rather than Sing.
Pikachu realized his mistake a moment too late. He rushed forwards but Selene finished her chant before he could reach her.
For a moment nothing happened and then, aglow was a soft light Selene glowed and raised off the ground about a meter.
The sky seemed to darken save for a single beam of light shining down on the Clefairy. A quick glance up showed that rather than a mid-afternoon sun, was a full moon shining down.
As the team watched, they too were suddenly surrounded by the moonlight, it seemed to dance in waves around them. As it did so, the wear and tear of battle seemed to fade away.
The glow faded and the sky went back to normal, as though nothing had happened, Selene was softly lowered to the ground, and she opened her mouth to say something…
…and promptly collapsed to the ground, unmoving.
Pikachu, summed up what they were all thinking pretty well. "What. The heck? Just happened?!"
Selene was quickly brought into the Pokemon Center, Nurse Joy was a bit confused by her state, she was injured certainly but not enough to have been knocked out like that. The fact that all the other Pokemon had been healed just raised more questions.
Ash truly had no idea what move Metronome had turned into and resolved to call Professor Oak the next chance he got.
Whatever the case was there, Selene was back on her feet in no time and seemed rather pleased with herself that she had apparently turned day into night and summoned the moon itself to heal her friends.
"But it knocked you out though." Eevee pointed out to her. The fairy Pokemon was more than happy to ignore this point though.
Apart from the unexpected ending though, the battles had gone pretty well and everyone had some fun doing them. So that was a win in his book. They were probably going to stick around for two more days, three at the most, so they had some time to relax, do a bit of light training, and get to everyone's activities.
Everyone was a bit tired after this day's events and activities though so they had dinner at the Pokemon Center and turned in a bit earlier, talking until they felt too tired and then proceeding to pass out.
After spending a good chunk of time the day before in his real shape and body, Ash had begun to realize just how stuffy being in an illusion all the time could be. He ended up forgoing the human disguise today and instead rely on Misty for things they needed a human for.
"I'm okay with you guys following me around like a troop of lost Houndour, but unlike you Ash, I am not a mode of transportation." She insisted as they left the Pokemon Center.
"We can still ride on him though!" Pikachu insisted. "Watch!" Without another word of warning he jumped on Ash's back and knocked him to the ground.
"Gah!" He yelped as he hit the pavement. "Iffffff…" Starting in the human language out of habit he quickly switched to his original mode of speech when he realized there were other humans nearby. "If I couldn't hold you up as a Pichu, what makes you think I can carry you around now?"
"The fact you're stronger?" Pikachu suggested in a coy tone.
Misty had been staring at them intently as they talked and let out a disappointed sigh. "Nothing, I'm getting a few Staryu's words and meanings now but I still can't pick up on anything you guys are saying."
He wished he could say something to encourage her but given they were walking down a busy street right now, he didn't want to risk it, they could talk more later.
Pidgeotto spoke up not long after they started. "I'm going to fly around and get a look at the city myself, is there a place I can meet back up with you?"
"How about back at the Pokemon Center around noon? I'll find a way to let Misty know." He waved off the flying type who took to the skies.
There were plenty of sights to see around the city and while she couldn't understand them for the most part, the Pokemon could understand Misty so she gave them a bit of a walking tour of the places she had visited and seen over the past few days in Vermillion.
"This place specializes in Alolan cuisine, the owners moved here about fifteen years back or so and brought a bunch of Alolan Pokemon with them. I've only seen a couple of them, like that flying-type in the window." Misty pointed at the red Pokemon who was dancing, likely to help garner attention for the restaurant.
"What Pokemon is that?" Selene asked Ash, who narrowed his eyes in thought.
"I think it's Oricorio, but I don't remember it being red…" He dug around in his brain for a moment before his eyes widened with remembrance. "Wait no I remember now! It's definitely Oricorio, they look different depending on what island they're from. Something about the nectar on each island affects how they look."
"Huh." Eevee sounded impressed. "I didn't know that myself actually, I'm a little surprised you did Ash."
"How come?" He asked her.
She looked a bit shamefaced. "Well outside of battle you don't always seem to be the most… knowledgeable about textbook information like that."
"Is that just a polite way of calling him dumb?" Pikachu asked her.
The normal type blanched. "No! I didn't mean that- it's just-"
Ash rescued her. "No it's alright, I don't know much about things outside of what I'm interested in, but I made a habit of learning about every Pokemon I could in case I needed to create an illusion based around one."
After his explanation, he shot Pikachu a glance. "Also, you call me dumb all the time."
"Yep!" Pikachu said proudly. "I just wanted to let her know she doesn't need to be so nice about it."
Ash scowled and gave his friend a swift kick, "And you say Raichus are jerks, you sure don't need a Thunderstone to be one!"
They eventually made their way to the place Eevee had wanted to visit, the Cerise Research Lab, unfortunately, it hadn't opened its doors quite yet. There was a sign on the gate at the base of the path up that there would be a grinding opening in a few weeks.
Eevee was disappointed but didn't mind too much. "I do wish we could come back though, I am curious what they're researching there."
"Maybe we can double back in a few weeks? We'll see where we are." Ash suggested.
Misty glanced at the sign and up at the house and scratched her head. "It's weird, I remember reading this place was supposed to be a known haunted house, who would ever open a research lab there?"
"They could be researching ghosts." Squirtle suggested.
"Or the poor scientists could have their wills and souls controlled by the malevolent spirits who haunt the halls of their laboratory!" Staryu raised his concern.
Misty shot her starter a glance. "Maybe I don't have this whole understanding Pokemon thing down…"
As they walked away Ash could have sworn he saw a flash of something white behind him. He shuddered and hoped it was just his nerves.
Their trip around the city led them to all sorts of interesting places.
They wandered through a park that had plenty of paths and Pokemon. It wasn't too big but it had plenty of trees and felt natural enough despite being in the middle of a big city.
The slight privacy of the pathways through the park did give Ash a chance to let Misty know that they would meet up with Pidgeotto around noon at the Pokemon Center. He was a bit excited to learn if she spotted anything interesting.
Overall though, the park was a nice place if not too exciting.
Although, there was a Mr. Mime and two Mime Jr.'s holding an impromptu performance on a small stage.
They were all juggling which wouldn't be too interesting except for the fact that Mr. Mime juggled both Mime Jr. while they juggled their own sets of balls. Ash thought it was pretty impressive.
After leaving the park they took a short trip on a coastal path that led around the docks and seawalls of the city, it had some nice views of the ocean and the port. Misty and her Pokemon seemed to enjoy it the most.
"If no one else is going to say it, I am, the ocean is amazing looking." Squirtle declared as the water-focused Pokemon and trainer stopped to enjoy the view, even though the others weren't too interested in it.
"I'm going to say that it is definitely not for me." Sunny declared, swinging his tail around and glancing at it, as though to make sure the fire was still lit.
Misty seemed to want to stay longer and look around more but with five Pokemon who were eager to move on she was forced to surrender to the majority.
"If Goldeen were out we'd have an even split." She muttered to herself sullenly.
Eventually, they reached the Bakery where Misty and Pikachu had gone to the cooking classes. It was around eleven o'clock so they still had some time for a quick lesson or two before they had to meet up with Pidgeotto at the Pokemon Center.
Once again though, as they went in, Ash thought he saw something fast and white move nearby. His head whipped in the direction this time, but he saw nothing, not even a stir of dust or dirt.
A bit spooked now, he quickly followed the rest of the group into the bakery.
Immediately upon entering his fear was forgotten as he was assaulted with a vast myriad of pleasant smells, some savory but overall fairly sweet.
They had cakes, cookies, loaves of bread, biscuits, muffins, doughnuts, poffins, and gourmet Pokemon Chow. The tile floor didn't have any cracks although there was a thin layer of crumbs sprinkled across it, probably from patrons who couldn't wait to get out the door before nibbling on their snacks.
The cooking classes were open to both humans and Pokemon, although Ash himself wasn't too interested in giving it a try. Misty and Pikachu were welcomed back, Pikachu with a bit more trepidation than Misty in this case. Those who weren't participating were invited to watch.
The lead class instructor introduced himself with a Kalosian accent as Zeff. He sorted the class into beginners, intermediate, and expert. Then he and his assistants broke off and helped the individual groups. Misty and Pikachu were still in the beginner group (they had only been there once before) but they already had the very basics down so they got right to the recipe.
Ash got to watch with some amusement as once again, Pikachu started burning something, and the assistant in charge of their section of the class rushed over to help.
However, he was interrupted by a shape at one of the show windows nearby. His head once again darted towards the form but it was gone again. This time though, he knew he had seen something for sure.
"Are you okay?" Sunny asked him as he got to his feet, eyes unmoving from the spot he'd seen the shape for a brief moment.
"I've been seeing something out of the corner of my eye for a little while now, I thought it was my imagination at first but I know I saw something just there," Ash explained his actions.
Selene spoke up, "I thought I saw something following us in the park but I never got a good look at it and didn't see it after. I thought it might have been a wild Pokemon investigating us."
"What do you want to do?" Eevee asked him.
He thought about it for a moment. "I'm gonna go take a quick look, it might run off if all of us go out and look at once, if I'm not back in two minutes come after me. Let Pikachu know what's happening as soon as you get a chance."
The others nodded and watched closely as Ash pushed the door open with his forehead and walked onto the sidewalk outside. He looked back and forth down the street. There was a woman wearing a white blouse but she was walking towards the Bakery and not moving nearly fast enough.
Ash did a slower scan, looking for anything out of place when he heard a rattling in a nearby alley.
Now, it was probably a smart idea at this point, to go back inside and get the rest of his team to investigate the sound. But Delia Ketchum didn't raise any quitter, although she might've raised a fool or two.
Into the alleyway, he went only to be met with no sign of life. Not even a Rattata or knocked-over trash can to explain the noise (although there were a couple of cans there). The far end of the alley was a solid brick wall, so nothing could have gone out the other end unless it had climbed over.
He was about to turn around and head back to the bakery when a shadow passed over him, and he realized two very important things.
One, that someone or something was standing behind him, blocking the entrance to the alleyway.
And two, he was now trapped in an alleyway.
Not the best situation to be in…
He slowly turned around and was met with a white and purple Pokemon, one he recognized quickly as an Absol.
"There you are." The larger dark-type announced, sounding rather pleased with herself. "I was wondering how to get you alone."
"What do you want with me?" Ash crouched, ready to leap forward, he was debating whether he should leap and attack Absol herself, or try and get around her and back to the street. How long has it been? A minute? How much longer until the team comes out to back him up/
"Now calm down there." Her tone left it a question of whether she was patronizing or placating. "I don't want anything, I just need you to stay here for a few minutes."
"And if I don't want to stay?" Ash asked, already preparing to blast the larger Pokemon with a Night Daze and see if it did enough damage to give him either a better opening for attack or an escape route.
Absol took a step forward. "I'd rather not, but if it comes to it I will make you stay here." her tone was calm enough but there was an undercurrent of warning to her words.
Ash sucked in a sharp breath and was about to attack when a shape lashed out of the sky and hyper speeds and crashed into Absol with a blur of what looked like metal.
The other Pokemon, who had been preparing for an attack from Ash, had not expected an attack to come from above. She was sent hurtling into the trash cans with a yelp and crash. On the bright side, that would probably get his team's attention pretty quickly.
Speaking of his team, Pidgeotto flapped her wings and landed gracefully where Ash had been standing.
"Ash, I'm not sure if you're aware but you're being followed." She told him, her tone dead serious.
"I just figured that out." Ash told her, "Thanks for that, I wasn't sure how easily I was gonna get out of here."
Pidgeotto glanced at the now garbage-covered Absol who was pulling herself out of the mess. "We should move now, I wasn't talking about Absol, I meant-"
"Aha!" A human voice called as a girl raced around the corner, blue hair and a yellow shirt made Ash blink as he recognized the trainer from the Pokemon Center. Which meant that this was probably her Absol they'd just knocked into the garbage.
"-her." Pidgeotto finished somewhat lamely.
The teenager pointed at Ash with a victorious grin. "I knew it! There you are Zorua! I've been keeping an eye on you! And now you're mine!"
With those words, she drew out a yellow and blue Pokeball and hurled it at Ash with impressive accuracy.
Ash, however, already had a Pokeball sitting safely at home in Pallet Town, so instead of bursting open and sucking him inside, all it did was crack against his skull with an unpleasant thump. The ball rolled away, unopened as the wind went out of the teenage trainer's sails.
"That… you… you're already caught?" She sounded so incredibly disappointed that if Ash hadn't just been hit in the head with a hard metal object by her, he might feel a bit sorry.
"Yes, I am!" He snapped at her. "What the heck was that about? You have Absol corner me in an alleyway and then just throw a ball at me with no questions asked? Who does that?"
She blinked at him. "Oh wow, you really can talk! It looked like you were talking to that other girl but I was too far away to hear for sure." Her shoulders slumped, "And I bet she's your trainer too? I doubt she's willing to trade?"
Ash scowled at her. "Misty is not my trainer, she's my friend. And even if she were, why would I want to go with you? I don't even know you!"
Absol had now pulled herself out of the garbage and trudged over to her trainer looking very unhappy the whole time. She sat down next to her and leveled an intense glare at Pidgeotto.
"Wow, this entire situation is not going at all how I planned." The trainer muttered, mostly to herself it seemed. "If you want to know who I am though that's easy, my name's Karen and I'm a dark-type specialist. I've been looking for a Zorua for a while, I was literally debating whether or not to buy a trip to Alola or Unova while I was here, and then boom! This dark-haired kid who talks to Pokemon never changes outfits, and has his hair in the same style every day just shows up at the Pokemon Center!"
Karen just sighed, crossed her arms, and leaned back in a strange stretch. "It almost seemed like fate. I wasn't one hundred percent sure until yesterday when I saw you and the Pokemon with you battling in the yard."
She stood straight back up and looked at him intensely. "Where is your trainer anyway? It seems like a bad idea to leave six Pokemon wandering around with minimal supervision."
Ash was about to give his answer, that he was the trainer when more noise from behind Karen reached them. In seconds the rest of his team, and Misty's dogpiled on top of her and Absol.
"Get away from our trainer, you stalkers!" Eevee demanded as she did her best to wrap her paws around Absol's head.
"Stranger danger!" Sunny chanted, as he pulled on Karen's hair.
Ash let them go on for a minute as Misty rounded the corner. "What happened? Ash, are you okay? When did Pidgeotto get here?"
"Absol cornered me, then her trainer tried to catch me, then we started talking and everyone showed up and jumped on her and Absol. I'm fine, and Pidgeotto got here between Absol cornering me and her trainer trying to catch me." Ash answered her questions in order.
Deciding to have mercy on Karen he called his team off. "Guys it's fine, get off of her, we were just talking now."
His team made their way back to him in a protective formation around him. He was honestly a bit touched by it. Misty's team returned to her side as well, which gave Absol and Karen a chance to struggle to their feet.
"Ow…" Karen hissed as she shook her hand with a bite mark on it. One Ash was acutely familiar with having been bit with those teeth multiple times over the past six years. Pikachu was probably pretty pleased with himself. "I'll be honest, that was impressive, I didn't even hear any of them sneaking up behind me. But this is what I mean about supervision, if I'd known you had a trainer, I wouldn't have been trying to catch you at all."
Ash decided to take the initiative, she already knew he was a Zorua, might as well clear up the rest of it. "I do have a trainer, but she's back home in Pallet Town, Pikachu, Pidgeotto, Selene, Sunny, and Eevee aren't her Pokemon though they're mine." He puffed out his chest with a bit of pride. "My name is Ash Ketchum and I'm a Pokemon trainer!"
Karen was not quite impressed with his words, though, baffled might be a better word because the only word that came out of her mouth was. "How?"
Is it done?
…
I think it's done.
Well, that was a chapter!
Have you ever had a chapter where you know exactly what you want to happen but have no idea how to have it happen? Because I sure do! I knew I wanted Karen to meet Ash for a while now, but I had no idea how they were going to meet.
I also knew someone had to say "Stranger danger" so I'm pretty content.
Has it been a little while since the last chapter? Yes. Again. I don't know what else to say except that writing is writing and sometimes it flows better than others.
I've actually got like a full page and a half of text from this chapter that I've deleted and put to the side because I wasn't sure if I wanted to use it or not. But I think things turned out pretty well.
Oh and before I forget, while the Metronome usage may seem a bit random, I'm actually using a playthrough of SoulSilver where I have a Togepi with Metronome as a basis. That's where I've been getting all of Selene's moves. That includes Ice Beam last chapter and Lunar Dance (which was so fitting I knew I had to use it) this chapter!
Not much else to say, this chapter was spent more on character interaction and marking some spots on a few character arcs more than anything else. We'll see some actual adventures in the next chapter!
Anyway, time for reviews!
Storyreader21: Pikachu just needs more practice, as for Ash? Maybe!
Ultima-owner: Very true, honestly he still would have won if Metronome had been a dud, but Pikachu might have gotten a chance to battle if it had been.
Jonathan-Mandrake: Not quite a psychic, kind of the opposite actually since Karen is a dark-type specialist and dark-types are immune to psychics. Any actual Psychics Ash meets (including a certain gym leader) are going to run into some… confusion.
LEGOBRICK13: Chekov spent all of last chapter loading that gun only to fire it at the end of this one! I'm glad you like what I did with Surge here, I wish I could have found a different way to explain his reasoning, but Misty was the best way to do it without have a Surge POV. I could go into a whole rant about Aizawa because while they're similar methods, Aizawa is supposed to be a teacher they can go to and trust and Surge is a gym leader who is meant to challenge trainers. Not important to the story but I did want to mention it. (also I am still trying to figure out how to work a Hisuian Zorua into this story and I will figure it out so help me Arceus-)
Mike020389: Ash didn't find out but Pokemon gotta fight this chapter nevertheless, as for my top 3 favorite Pokemon? I'm afraid I am literally unable to limit myself to 3, so have ten instead (in no particular order because I can't decide which I like more than the others).
-Blastoise, Decidueye, Cyndaquil, Pelipper, Mewtwo, Zorua, Eevee, Salamence, Chandelure, Raikou
Your turn, what are your favorite Pokemon? (you can do three if you want or do ten as well!)
Phaleon: The show is going to start taking a backseat, I might still nab some plot ideas but yeah, it's time for that butterfly effect to really start kicking in.
Pecan Crisp: Congratulations on being the first person to figure out it was Karen! And she's not just a cameo, I have plans.
PhoenixWarriorFox88: You're absolutely right. I felt bad about how Misty had turned out in chapter 18 and wanted to bring her back into focus and make up for her just kind of being there in the previous chapter. But I think I showed my author's hand a bit too much by reminding everyone about that thing where she's learning to understand Pokemon and then have her immediately understand her Pokemon. I am trying to offset a little by having her understand the Pokemon she's most familiar with first, like her starter Staryu, and she'll slowly get more and more.
LordDrakonIII: I'm glad you like this one so much!
CorruptHero: Fossils will show up in this story, can't quite say when. As for his disguise? That's a bit complicated.
Lupercus1944: Ash already had his post-gym depression episode after Brock, while it was a bit more complicated back then this would have been a similar situation had they gone down that route. I want the team to be characters in their own right, not just mindless fighting machines. Surge has a method to his personality, I wanted him a bit more than just a one-note jock jerk. See my review to PhoenixWarriorFox88 for my full discussion on Misty and her ability to understand Pokemon. I could have probably had a Pikachu and Raichu rematch but I felt like there wasn't much to be gained character-wise there. Pikachu knows he's strong, he has friends who care for him the way he is and a trainer who lets him make his own decisions. Beating Raichu wouldn't change anything besides giving him a healthy dose of satisfaction. We're starting to get off the rails, with one big final nail in the coffin for the canon plotline. It might have been guessed at this chapter but it'll be much more obvious next time.
Jetray1000: Wait no longer for here is the next chapter!
Nightfiredragon: Thank you for the review but I'm not entirely sure I understand, do you want me to PM you with a question or do you have one you want to PM me with?
Bomslaer: I hope you had paper towels!
Guest: I'm glad you like the concept so much! And you need to wait no longer because here is the chapter!
That's the wrap folks! Also, on a completely unrelated note, I had an idea for Dragon Ball/My Hero Academia crossover after watching the new movie. I have a pretty good chunk of it planned but no chapters written so we'll see if that goes anywhere.
Oh and before I forget, here's the discord link again: discord gg / kESdTfhAwG
Until next time!
R&R
~FriTik