If you could live in any Pokemon region, what region would it be?
If upon waking up that morning, someone had told Ash that he was going to be tracked through the city by an Absol, who would then corner him in an alley so that her trainer could try and catch him, he would have been mildly concerned.
If that same person had then explained to him that after this confrontation he'd be sitting in a Unovan-themed restaurant with this trainer, having a discussion with her, he would have just been confused.
But that didn't change the facts of his current situation.
"Are you sure that's all there is to be a trainer? Just the age, permission from a parent or guardian, and someone to sponsor you and give you your first Pokemon?" Karen, somehow, seemed to be unable to process his straightforward explanation.
"You're a trainer, he's a trainer, I'm a trainer." Misty pointed at each of them in turn, "I really can't figure out why you're having a hard time understanding this."
"Oh, I don't know!" The older girl leaned back, "Maybe because he is a Pokemon," She pointed at Ash, "and also a trainer, and that just… doesn't happen?"
"But it did happen." Ash reminded her. "Professor Oak gave the go-ahead and everything." He thought back to the conversation they'd had when the Professor and Delia had confronted him with his application. "I think he said that he 'couldn't think of a reason to say no' or something like that."
Karen opened and closed her mouth for a moment at his words. "That's really all you had to do isn't it? You just went through the normal ways of becoming a trainer, and no one had a reason or desire to stop you and that was it?"
Ash thought for a moment and nodded. "Yep! That sounds about right."
The other trainer's expression was curiously blank now. "I think I need a minute… or several."
"Sure thing!" Ash agreed quickly and nibbled at a few of the fries on his plate. They didn't taste great to him, but they were serviceable. He shot a glance at Misty who was poking at her own food.
"Making use of the time you have?" He asked as she shoveled food into her mouth.
"Absolutely!" He could barely understand her, normally she was a bit neater about eating than this but considering they were only planning to stay a few more days he cut her some slack. "It doesn't help that I'm missing out on the cooking lesson to keep an eye on you two."
Ash huffed. "You didn't have to, I can take care of myself!"
Misty scoffed at him as she downed a gulp of soft drink. "Getting yourself cornered in an alley while leaving your team behind says otherwise."
"I thought it through! I figured it'd be easier to lure out whatever was following us if I were by myself!" He protested.
She leveled an unamused glare at him. "Congratulations, you lured her out, and got yourself cornered by her and completely cut off from help."
The disguised Zorua refused to concede defeat but also couldn't think of a good comeback, instead, he just prodded at his human food. "At least Pikachu and most of the others got to go back to the class."
"I'm pretty sure he wanted to stay." Pidgeotto reminded him. She was occasionally diving into her berry blast shake. Other than that she was mostly acting as the unofficial watchdog in this scenario. "But he also really wanted to cook, this is mostly a compromise."
"Hopefully they can help him figure out he doesn't need to cook the food until it's charred." Misty fantasized.
Ash glanced at their tablemate who was still staring off into space, although her brow was now furrowed so maybe she was just deep in thought now instead of just blanking. "I think you took the whole me being a trainer thing a lot better than she is."
Misty hummed at his words. "I'm pretty sure the absurdness of that whole situation is what got me through it. That and you immediately dropped a crisis in my lap so I didn't have as much of a chance to freak out."
"Chased by a flock of Spearow." Pidgeotto mused. "Sounds like it would have been really exciting."
"Exciting is a word for it." Ash acknowledged. "So is mind-numbing terror."
"I think that's three words." Misty helpfully pointed out.
"Come to think of it, I think I took the whole, my trainer is a Pokemon thing without any problems," Pidgeotto added, giving herself a bit of a metaphorical pat on the back. "I didn't know any other trainers before you so you're kind of setting the standard there."
"Apart from being a Pokemon, I think I am pretty standard." Ash agreed with his flying-type friend. Misty snorted at his words but did not elaborate.
After what seemed like an eternity, but could also have been five minutes, Karen finally seemed to reintroduce herself to the world of consciousness.
"Alright, Zorua trainer, with a team, and also a trainer of his own. Neat. Okay." She breathed, and then slumped over. "What are the odds your trainer is willing to trade?"
"About the same odds of me saying yes," Ash told her with as much neutrality as he could muster.
"...and the chances of that are?" She prodded hopefully.
"Currently zero!" He smiled at her.
She sighed. "I should have expected that I guess."
"What gave you that impression?" Pidgeotto asked sarcastically despite the girl not being able to understand her.
Karen stirred her melting milkshake sullenly. Ash felt a little bit bad for her but she'd been pretty forceful about this whole situation so he didn't feel too hung up about it. "Look, I'm sure you're nice to your Pokemon and all, but I don't want to leave my trainer-mom, or, well-" he realized that technically he had left her but he was still her Pokemon and he still called, it was complicated. "Sorry, the point is I don't want a new trainer."
"Not much I can do about that is there?" Karen sighed. "I don't suppose you know any other Zorua or Zoroark who might be interested?"
"I don't know any other Zorua or Zoroark at all," Ash admitted. "At least I don't think so, it's kind of the idea to keep our disguises up so I might have met some others who I didn't realize were in disguise. I know Misty isn't at least." he nodded at his friend.
"I can't believe you had to ask." She complained. "Seriously, that probably would have been something that came up when we first met, not to mention you met my sisters."
"You all could have been Pokemon in disguise though," Ash said defensively. A waitress walked by as he said this and gave him a weird look, but was hurried along by a glare from Pidgeotto.
"Ash's strange brand of idiot aside," Misty continued, ignoring his protest, "Why do you want a Zorua anyway? There are plenty of other dark-types out there."
"Honestly? Apart from being a…" She glanced around and coughed into her hand. "...a pretty cool Pokemon," she said a bit shamefully but it still made Ash preen. "I want to have one on my team because I want to try experimenting with the illusion ability. I mean, just look at what he can do with it." She gestured at Ash.
"I've only seen a Zoroark in action once and it was amazing." She elaborated. "It came out disguised as a Gardevoir and was fast enough that it kept up the illusion for long enough that it was able to use Nasty Plot to build up its power. Then it absolutely decimated the other team!" her smile was almost feral. "They took it down eventually but it still managed to knock out half of them all by itself!"
Ash shared a glance with Misty. "That's really impressive." the gym leader admitted.
"That's nothing!" Karen surprised them both with her words. "I've seen theoretical strategies and come up with some of my own. Does the illusion have to be visual? What about auditory illusions? Smell-based ones? Can you layer illusions on top of each other? I'm desperate to try and experiment!"
Ash stared at the blue-haired girl. Those were some pretty cool ideas. He kind of wanted to try doing them himself now. "That sounds neat, I never thought of those before." He admitted.
"Maybe not some of them but you did figure out the auditory illusions at least." She reminded him.
"No, I didn't?" His confusion was probably evident on his face.
"Of course you did, how else could we be having this conversation." She waved him off.
"How could- oh!" Ash repeated before realizing what she meant. "No, talking isn't an illusion, I figured that out myself."
She stared at him. "It's not? You just taught yourself to talk without an illusion?"
"Yep!" Ash nodded excitedly. "It took me a while and I had trouble with a lot of the sounds but I figured it out eventually! Mom was really surprised." He grinned at the memory of her shocked expression.
Her stare never left his face. "Can all Pokemon talk?" She asked, clearly flummoxed.
"Of course, every Pokemon can talk, it's you humans who can't understand us. Mostly at least, we met this one girl who could, and Misty has been trying to figure it out." He pointed out.
"I'm starting to get it, I'm beginning to pick up on some of the things Staryu says at least." She scrunched up her face. "Sometimes, other times it sounds like gibberish."
Pidgeotto glanced at Ash. "We should probably tell her that's just how he talks."
"Later." He told his friend before turning back to Karen. "But if you mean to talk like humans do? I mean if I figured it out, and Meowth figured it out, then I'm sure other Pokemon can too."
"Meowth?" She mouthed to herself but didn't say it out loud. "Okay, so this whole conversation has been very enlightening, learned a lot of things today I was not expecting to learn. But I still don't have a Zorua."
Ash wasn't exactly sorry but he still felt like he should say it. "Sorry, but I'm happy with the way things are for me. But your training ideas do sound pretty neat! Do you think you could show me some of what you were thinking?"
She blinked, obviously surprised at his request. "I guess I could, I'm not entirely sure how your illusion works exactly though. I figured it would take me some time with a Zorua to figure out how the ability functions in detail before I could start experimenting."
"But I could just tell you what I know about how it works." Ash pointed out to her and her eyes widened with the realization.
"That is a very good point." Karen rubbed her chin. "But it would still take time, not to mention, I'm guessing even if I helped you it wouldn't change your mind about becoming a part of my team?" She prodded.
"Probably not," Ash confirmed.
"Yeah, and if I took the time with you it would mean that I wouldn't be making any trips to get a Zorua or Zoroark of my own anytime soon." She considered.
"Maybe not, but we could still run into another in disguise." Ash pointed out, but Karen did not seem that enthused by the chances of that happening so he continued. "But it would give you a better idea of how to train one of your own if any others end up joining you. You said it would take time to figure out how the ability worked right?"
Misty shot him a glance, as though surprised he'd made a good point.
"That's true… where are you heading after you finish here?" Karen asked quickly.
"Oh… Ummm…" That was a very good question, he wracked his brain. "I guess the best option would be to go north to Saffron City, we could go to Celadon from there." Ash decided quickly.
"Ash." Pidgeotto started in a very strict tone. "Please tell me we are not inviting the person who tried to capture you and seems to still want to, on our journey?"
"What's the harm in it?" Ash asked her, "she doesn't seem that bad, just a little rough around the edges."
"Give me a few minutes with Pikachu, we could make a list," Pidgeotto told him.
"Saffron and then Celadon…" She muttered to herself. "Assuming the journey doesn't have any major bumps that would probably be around a month for a round trip. That would probably give me enough time to at least test all my ideas, assuming you explain your ability well enough."
"Wait, you're actually going to come?" Misty asked incredulously, she had clearly expected the older girl to say no.
"As I'm fastly discovering seems to be the motto for humans around your Zorua here." She jabbed a thumb at Ash. "Sure, why not?"
As it turns out, Pikachu and Pidgeotto did end up making a list. Most of the points were just general complaints from Pikachu against humans but some of them did raise good points. Namely, the ones about her taking her chances and trying to run off with him in the middle of the night.
This just meant he had to find a way to assuage their concerns…
And also the concerns that their concerns were raising in him.
But he had a plan! He was going to call home, and call Professor Oak, that way if she tried to run off with him, they'd be ready to do something about it!
In related news, Misty was quickly realizing just how vital she was to making sure Ash did not get himself killed or kidnapped. She debated asking Delia for his Pokeball just so she could return him if he got himself in too much trouble but figured it might be rude to ask about that.
Regardless, both Ash and Karen had decided she was going to come with them. Ash was excited not just for the ideas she had for illusions (that he had never thought to try before) but also because she had other Pokemon with her! Dark-type Pokemon!
Ash didn't get to interact with many other dark-types, Kanto did not have too many natural species so his only encounters with them tended to be at Professor Oak's lab. A lot of them didn't seem that interested in him but maybe this time would be different.
On more mundane matters Pikachu had finished his class, and through some bizarre miracle had finally had it drilled into his skull that the food could be removed from the heat source it was cooking on before it caught fire. This revolutionary new technique in the food preparation process allowed the yellow mouse to improve by leaps and bounds.
This mostly meant his food was edible now. Not necessarily good, but edible. Considering his earlier attempts this was a vast improvement that deserved to be celebrated.
Misty's own skills had improved too despite needing to cut her class short. This means that she now knew how to open a can of food, put it in a pot over a fire and stir it until warm. Once again, this was a vast improvement that deserved to be celebrated.
All in all, the group's stay in Vermillion City had been a bountiful one, a new gym badge, new cooking skills, and some new friends!
On their last day there, Ash made his phone calls, to the professor and his trainer-mom.
"You sure do like to take your time in between calls Ash." Professor Oak fake scolded him. "In all seriousness, I did hear from Delia about your wrong turn, you do need to be careful about those. It seemed to have worked out in this case but it can be dangerous."
"I'll try and remember that," Ash promised, he felt Pikachu climb up onto his shoulder and take a peak at the video call screen. "Anyway, how much else did she tell you?"
"Just about all of it, I am sorry to hear about your experience with Damian and AJ though, I will admit that not every trainer, or I suppose human, is a good one, I'm just sorry you had to go through that discovery the way you did." the professor explained to him.
"I've met plenty of other humans, most of them seem pretty good to me!" Ash told him and got to the main focus of his call. "You see, we met this girl named Karen who specializes in dark-type Pokemon. She'd been interested in catching a Zorua or Zoroark so when she saw me talking to my Pokemon at the Center she got curious, and then when we were doing some battles in the yard I was in my real form and she wanted to try catching me."
"Oh dear, I take it that didn't end too well?" the man on the phone worried.
"I think it worked out pretty well." Ash disagreed. "She had her Absol corner me and she tried catching me, but that obviously didn't work. So afterward we sat down and talked for a bit and she had some really interesting ideas about my illusion ability. Long story short, she's coming with us now and she's going to help me train a bit!"
"He could use it, is Shelldon there? I need to tell him something!" Pikachu said from his shoulder and Ash in a panic flung his friend from his perch. This action did nothing to stifle the electric-types cackling though.
Professor Oak was a bit too distracted thinking through Ash's words to pay much attention to his and Pikachu's antics. "Are you sure you want to travel with her after that?" He checked.
"Misty tried to capture me too." Ash thought back. "Although she thought I was a Floatzel at the time."
"I don't think you mentioned that to me…" The professor pointed out. "But I'm still not sure it's the best idea."
"I thought about it though! I'm going to call you and Mom so you'll know we're with her, so if she tries anything, which I don't think she will, she only tried to catch me once and only asked about trading after, you'll be able to do something!" Ash explained.
The Professor just rubbed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "'Something,'" he repeated. "I'll see what I can do for a safety net but I feel like you should speak to Delia more about this before you leave."
"I was gonna call her next!" The Zorua claimed truthfully. "But since it's been longer since I called you I figured I'd call you first."
"In that case let's talk about your journey, you made it to Vermillion based on the call's location? Have you beaten the gym yet? And you mentioned an Absol correct? Tell me more about your stay!" Oak told him with a bit of excitement creeping into his tone.
Ash explained everything that had happened in a bit more detail, his first match with Lt. Surge and the training he and his team did, the rematch, the mock battles, and returned to Karen and Absol. The Pokemon Professor listened with rapt attention to all of it.
"I've heard stories about Surge and yours seems to match most of them, although… never mind it's not important, I am glad you managed to win though. Although I would advise against using Metronome, it's not a reliable move." Oak warned him
"You're right, but it is a fun one. Also confusing, remember the mock battles?"
"Yes, a strange move that one, I can't say I'm familiar which is fascinating!" He sounded eager at the prospect. "I'll need to do some research! But moving on, how about Absol?"
"I don't have much to say there, I didn't see much of her," Ash admitted.
"Absol is relatively rare and tends to keep away from humans which is a shame, misinformation can spread like a plague, unfortunately." The professor seemed saddened at his own words.
"What do you mean?" He pressed the researcher.
"How about quick quiz Ash? What do you know about Absol." He posed the question.
Ash thought for a minute. "Well, they have white fur and purple skin, yellow eyes from the ones I've seen, oh and they sound like this." He switched to Pokemon speech, specifically Absol speech.
Professor Oak blinked at him and then chuckled. "I suppose those would be the details you'd pay attention to Ash. But are you sure it's purple? I remember reading it was black."
He thought about it. "It was dark, might have been a purplish kind of dark blue? I don't know exactly actually. I'll see if I can figure it out."
"I see, back to my point, Absol is referred to as the disaster Pokemon, this is primarily because they show up when disasters happen, natural or otherwise. This has led to a long-held superstition that they are the cause of these disasters. It has been determined by researchers like myself however that they are actually just sensing the disaster and rather than flee from it, they get closer to try and warn others. It adds a certain tragedy to the entire situation if I do say so myself." He said mournfully.
It was from that sobering explanation that the conversation began to wind down. Soon Ash was saying goodbye and swearing up and down that he would remember to call when they made it to Saffron City.
He hung up and had one more call to make, but felt trepidation and looked over at the smirking face of Pikachu.
"You wouldn't dare…" Ash warned him, although he was mostly putting up a front.
"Would I dare?" Pikachu asked back. "Better question do you dare that I would?"
It was a risk he would have to take. It was much more likely that Shelldon would be at home rather than in the lab, so had Pikachu made his move before just to prank Ash and fill him with alarm? Or to try and lull him into a false sense of security?
Maybe he was putting too much thought into this. Putting the fear of Hydro Pump based retribution for his shoddy training habits, he dialed up the house and called his mom.
Delia was of course delighted to hear from him and see him. Immediately she began peppering him with questions about what had happened since he last called her.
"An Eevee now too?" She was pleasantly surprised to hear about his newest teammate. "You're almost at a full team of six now. Any ideas for who to look for next?" She asked him.
"I don't go looking," Ash recalled. "I kind of just run into Pokemon who want to come with me or I ask them if they're interested in coming. I've never really thought 'I want this Pokemon!' and then tried to find one."
"True enough," she conceded. "That Lt. Surge sounds like a real piece of work though, I'm glad you managed to beat him without anyone getting seriously hurt."
"Me too." Ash admitted, "I've been a little bit more worried about the team getting hurt since AJ but everyone has made it clear if they had a problem they'd let me know. Communication is really helpful."
"I can imagine it would be. It's certainly helpful when you can just tell me what's going on in that fluffy head of yours instead of me trying my best to guess. Although I think I had a pretty good read on you before you started speaking." She claimed.
She was right on the money there, but Ash was a little reluctant to admit she was able to pick out his real innocent expression from his 'innocent' expression. Instead, he changed the subject to the topic of the hour, Karen, and her attempt to catch him.
His trainer listened as he explained what exactly had happened. When he finished she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "And you've made up your mind about traveling with her?"
"Sure have!" Ash agreed. "She's a dark-type specialist with a bunch of ideas about illusions, I can probably learn a lot from her!"
She nodded. "Alright then, can you go and get her? I'd like to speak with her for a few moments."
Ash blinked in surprise at the request, "Uh, I guess I can." He glanced around the room, "I don't know where she is right now, I'll go and get her, Pikachu watch the phone!" He told his friend and darted off.
Pikachu hopped up on the counter and waved at one of the few humans he could admit to almost liking. "Pi-pi-ka!" He greeted.
"Hi, Pikachu!" She waved back with a smile. "Are you taking care of him?"
Pikachu grimaced and did his best approximation of a so-so gesture with his paw. "Pika." He responded.
"I'm hoping between you, the rest of his team, and Misty, you all might be able to keep him out of too much trouble but that might be too much to hope for." She sighed. "Unfortunately I probably won't make for a good conversation partner for you and I don't want to talk your ears off, do you want me to grab Shelldon while we wait for Ash to get back?"
Pikachu's nod might have been a bit too enthusiastic, but if she noticed Delia didn't say anything.
Ash returned with a bemused Karen and blanched at Pikachu's mischievous grin that he'd probably shot at the electric-type countless times before. He shuddered at the prospective water-type attacks he'd need to deal with in the future, but for now, he was going to let Karen and his trainer-mom talk.
Delia didn't exactly send Ash away when she and Karen started talking but he was more of a spectator than anything else. There was no shouting or screaming from Delia, instead just a calm and ordered series of questions. They were done in her best customer service voice which made it hard for Ash to get an accurate read of her emotions.
They were fairly standard questions to start with.
"What's your name?"
"Karen Yamikage."
"How long have you been a trainer?"
"Since my tenth birthday so five years."
"Who was your starter?"
"Eevee, now he's an Umbreon."
After that, her questions became a bit more detailed and focused though.
"When did you become a dark-type specialist?"
"A few months into my journey, I had other types but I realized that I found dark-types more interesting and the sneaky and underhanded tactics that came with a lot of the moves fit the style I was developing so I decided to go all in."
"Where do you want to be at the end of your journey?"
"Champion of course!" She snorted. "Maybe I'll settle for Elite Four, but that would be more of a stepping stone than anything else."
"Why did you try to catch Ash?"
At this Karen gave the same rundown that she had given Ash and Misty back at the restaurant nothing new for him.
Delia sighed, "You seem alright, honestly, but Ash, you want to stay my Pokemon right?"
"Of course!" He said immediately without even thinking about it.
She smiled at him a bit sadly. "I'm not much of a trainer anymore Ash, you and Shelldon are the only ones I can really say are my Pokemon still. I wouldn't stop caring about you any more than I stopped caring about Pix and Arnold when they left. You'd still be my Pokemon at heart. But you've already made up your mind and I won't argue with you about this."
Ash mulled her words over and nodded. He didn't change his mind but it was something for him to think about and remember.
She turned her attention back to Karen. "You have my full permission to train him in whatever way you want for as long as you're traveling together. That being said though…" She didn't raise her voice but the 'mom' tone had entered her words. "If you hurt him in any way beyond training or battles, you will wish you'd chosen to be a fairy-type specialist."
"Yes ma'am!" Karen said almost automatically, she didn't quite sound like she was afraid, but maybe a little cowed.
"Thank you for your time!" Delia smiled brightly once more, "I hope you all get along, now do you mind letting me say goodbye to Ash?"
Karen wandered off, maybe a little dazed at the sudden tone shift, and Ash took center stage in front of the video screen again.
"Did you mean what you said?" Ash asked her. "About not being much of a trainer anymore?"
She sighed. "Of course, you'd focus on that. I was never much of one, to begin with, Ash, I had a team of three at my peak and I never even made it to a league. I love each of you and I'm proud of what you've accomplished but I'm content with where I am, running my diner and seeing you have your adventure and new trainers come through the lab. I may not be a researcher or a champion, but I'm happy."
Ash was quiet for a moment. "If you measure it like that maybe you're right. But if you ask me you're the best trainer for me, and I can't imagine anyone else in your place, even if Karen is better at training, I'd still choose you."
Delia smiled softly at his words. "That's very sweet Ash. Thank you, I love you, and good luck!"
"I love you too, bye mom." He said his goodbyes and ended the call. Immediately he grabbed Pikachu off his shoulder and held his so-called 'friend' in a solid grip.
"What did you say to Shelldon?" He hissed in his natural voice.
"Guess you'll have to wait and see." Pikachu's grin was predatory.
The rest of the day was mostly relaxation for most of the team. Misty and Pikachu made one final trip to the bakery for lessons while Ash and the others decided to take a peek at the 'Pokemon Fan-club' as it was called.
It was… interesting to say the least.
There were a lot of Pokemon out and about, as well as trainers, but also a group who called themselves 'Poke-maniacs.' This apparently meant they spent most of their time walking around in costumes that made them look like Pokemon.
"So this is where Bill goes on Sundays!" Eevee claimed, sounding like she'd just finished putting together the pieces of a puzzle. "It must be how he gets all those costumes of his."
"How many does he have?" Sunny asked her. "We only saw the Kabtops costume, and he was stuck in it."
"I don't know how many exactly…" She admitted. "But I've seen at least fifteen different ones on him."
None of the others knew what to do with that information. Rather than dwell on it for too long they ended up just milling and wandering around the club.
Slowly everyone got drawn away to their own little corners. Eevee found her attention locked on a game called 'Voltorb Flip.' It seemed to be about getting points by flipping cards but flipping a card with a Voltorb was game over. It all seemed like it was random chance to Ash but the evolution Pokemon insisted there was a pattern to it and got caught up in a game of her own.
Sunny ran into a group of fire-types who were practicing their fire moves and joined in with his own. Some of them seemed pretty surprised he was able to use Flamethrower despite just being a Charmander and congratulated him on his firepower!
Pidgeotto got invested in a race with other flying types, surprising no one. She was defeated on her first attempt by a Crobat and insisted on a rematch, which her new rival immediately accepted. Ash, realizing that this would go on for a while left them to it.
Selene was just excited to see all the new and interesting Pokemon and stuck with Ash for a little while, asking him about all of the Pokemon they spotted. Eventually, though, she saw a group of young children being introduced to Pokemon through a teenager reading a picture book and decided to investigate there.
This left Ash alone for a little while. He glanced over his shoulder a few times but didn't see any signs of Absol following him. He knew he was just being paranoid but better safe than sorry.
His distraction did almost get him into a spot of trouble, he almost walked into a girl who had been looking around herself.
"Oops! Sorry about that! I was a bit distracted." She apologized first despite neither of them actually bumping into the other. She bowed her curly pink-haired head.
"It was my fault really," Ash told her. "I was looking over my shoulder, sorry."
"Guess we both need to watch where we're going then." She decided and held out her hand. "I'm Mina Copsil!"
"Ash Ketchum!" he smiled and took it.
As they held each other's hands something a little strange happened. Ash put the normal amount of pressure he put into a handshake, it had taken him a bit of practice but he'd gotten it down eventually. But when he shook Mina's hand it almost seemed to contort, like clay if you tried to mold it.
As he noticed this Mina had her own surprise, the hand she held certainly seemed human, but it felt a little bit off. It didn't have the normal skin irregularities that most humans had. It felt a bit too unnaturally perfect. Most people wouldn't have noticed it…
The two drew back their hands rather suddenly and looked at them and then at each other.
They started sputtering with excuses. "Err sorry that was… umm."
"I mean your hand and mine and uhh…"
They paused for a moment unsure of what to say to each other. "Your skin-" They both said at the same time and paused.
It was Mina who took the risk and took a plunge. "That's a…good disguise you have Ash."
Ash's eyes went wide and his mouth formed an o-shape, he probably was doing a pretty good Magikarp impression, without even transforming.
He recovered quickly though, "I… uh… thanks." He settled on and felt his brain speeding along. "Are you..?" He couldn't quite put his thought into words.
She glanced around, a little nervously, and then leaned in and blinked at him. When she did so, for a split second the details on her eyes vanished and became two little dots. She blinked again and they were back to normal.
"Ditto." She told him in a whisper, with a language that was most definitely not human.
Ash's excitement beat his surprise in this case. "Zorua." He hissed back.
The two leaned back, almost in awe of each other, and then just started laughing.
"I can't- I had joked about it with Pikachu but-" Ash struggled to finish over his laughter.
"Vulpix and I-" She couldn't finish either.
The two kids got a few strange looks from passersby as they cackled and giggled like maniacs but no one stopped to listen in or say anything.
The two dragged eventually managed to drag each other to the side of the room and started talking animatedly.
"Where did you start from?" Ash asked her as they found a couch on the side.
"Cinnabar Island, you?" The two were just grinning at each other, unable to keep the mirth off their faces.
"Pallet Town." Ash told her. "You're a trainer too right?" He nodded at the Pokeballs lined up on her belt.
"Yep, managed to convince Blaine to sponsor me and Vulpix, that man loves his riddles." She said fondly.
"Professor Oak knew about me already and thought the idea was exciting and wanted to see how I and Pikachu did and what we could accomplish," Ash explained his beginnings.
"He knows?" Mina gasped at him. "I couldn't bring myself to tell Blaine, I was too nervous he'd change his mind."
"I guess I understand that," Ash admitted. "I was trying to be stealthy about the whole thing but he and my Mom… er, my trainer figured it out pretty easily and confronted me."
"No trainer here, well not technically." She waved her hand side to side. "I mean, officially I have a Ditto…"
"Ah." Ash nodded. "Mine offered to let me take my ball with me but I didn't think I was ready for that."
"It's a bit weird." She agreed, "it means I can only really have a team of five unless I come up with a way to keep seven balls on me without one automatically being transported."
"That sucks, but you might be able to make friends who don't want a ball, Pikachu has one but doesn't use his," Ash told her.
"Maybe that could work, leave the ball somewhere safe and just bring the Pokemon, or myself I guess." Mina considered.
They quickly just dove into a conversation about their journeys, Mina was working her way in the opposite direction, with a planned homecoming to Cinnabar where she'd challenge Blaine for her eighth badge.
"I already beat Fuchsia's gym." She told him. "I haven't fought this one yet, but I've heard some things…"
"Surge is pretty rough, he doesn't pull punches. Be ready for him to throw everything he has at you and then some." Ash told her.
"Thanks for the advice." She nodded. "How many are you at now?"
"Three, I'm going to head to Saffron next, and then probably Celadon, I'm not sure where I'll head after that though," Ash admitted.
"I was thinking of taking a detour on a bit of a side adventure after this, I was thinking of heading towards Diglett Cave, either I'd take that and end up near Pewter or I'd keep going around to Lavender Town, I'll decide when I reach the fork in the road." She explained her travel plan.
"We probably won't run into each other for a while then." Ash felt a bit dejected but didn't let it get him too far down.
The two continued talking, about their teams, their adventures, being trainers, the good, the bad, and the ugly of the world. Ash was pleased that Mina had come to a similar conclusion to him about what to do about the problems she found. Fix them out how she could, when she could.
Eventually, they had to part ways though, Mina wanted to challenge Surge before it got too late and Ash wanted to explore a bit more before it was time to leave. They waved their goodbyes.
"See you at the Pokemon League!" He told her as she waved goodbye.
"Our battle will be awesome!" She agreed and went on her way with a skip in her step.
Nothing could quite match the highlight of that meeting and subsequent conversation so Ash continued to explore the clubhouse a bit more. He probably had an hour before he had to leave and meet up with the others at the Pokemon Center in order to get going.
Somehow he found his way to a quiet table near the back of the room with a middle-aged gentleman with a hat on. The man was pouring over a notebook and seemed to be debating something with himself. Ash was almost going to walk by but noticed that the notebook had sketches of Pokemon in it.
"Rapidash and Fearow?" Ash wondered as he glanced. The man had not noticed his approach and seemed surprised at his unexpected words.
"Why yes of course! They're my two favorite Pokemon." He confirmed. "I could prattle on for hours about them, but sometimes I make an effort to decipher what it is about them that makes them my favorite Pokemon. Is it Fearow's fearsome yet proud appearance? Is it Rapidash's flowing main of fire and powerful legs?"
Ash thought about it, "Maybe it's not just their shape but also their personality? I mean no two Pokemon are alike any more than two humans, but sometimes certain Pokemon have traits that appear more often. Like Rapidash has a Galarian form right? That doesn't make it any less of a Rapidash than a Kantian form Rapidash right?"
He chuckled. "Well said my lad, in the same vein I suppose many people might consider Fearow cruel, but I composite that rather than cruel they are ruthless."
"What's the difference?" Ash asked, genuinely curious.
"Most people couldn't tell you I think." The gentleman stroke his beard. "But in my own definition cruelty is meeting out pain and violence without necessity while ruthlessness is dealing it out in the exact amount required, no more and no less. There is no kindness in ruthlessness but there is a brutal efficiency to it."
Ash had never heard it defined like that. "It still doesn't seem right." He admitted.
"Maybe, maybe not. Perhaps to some but to a Fearow who is protecting their flock they must be forceful and final. An enemy defeated but not destroyed could come back and threaten the flock another day, and maybe Fearow might not be able to protect them that day." He sighed, "humans maybe put morality on it, but to Fearow it is a way of life."
"Is that why you like Fearow then?" Ash asked. "Because they do what they think they need to do to get their job done?"
"I can respect it at least," he admitted. "As for Rapidash, it's perhaps a bit simpler, there is a grace to Rapidash, all forms of Rapidash as you helpfully pointed out. A pride to them, they are not ruthless like Fearow but they are forceful in their own right, they are the wind that rides across the plains like a fiery storm."
He chuckled and shook himself. "Listen to me prattle on, just like I said. Thank you, my lad, for the conversation brief it may be, I have other things to attend to, being chairmen does not allow for much freedom of time I'm afraid. But thank you again for sparing a few minutes to discuss my favorite Pokemon with me."
The apparent Chairman closed his notebook and stood up gracefully, as he stepped away from his table he reached into his jacket. "Ah, something for your time, it's not much but I have no use for it and perhaps you may find yourself in Cerulean sometime soon. Much luck to you on your journey young trainer." He handed Ash a piece of paper and strode off, swinging his cane and humming a tune as he walked.
Ash stared after him and glanced down at the piece of paper in his hands. His jaw dropped.
This was how Selene and Pidgeotto found him moments later.
"Ash I think Pidgeotto needs a trip to the Pokemon Center," Selene told him, the flying type was draped over her, apparently boneless.
"Best… *huff*… 25 out… *cough*... of 48." The bird Pokemon managed, apparently not registering them.
Ash shut his jaw, "Alright, let's get the others, we probably needed to get going anyway."
Sunny had thoroughly impressed the other fire-types and they had been trying to teach him Blast Burn, which he was definitely not ready for but was trying anyway. They still managed to pull him away without too much trouble.
Eevee had managed to get Voltorb Flip down to a science and was going through 'levels' in no time at all. She'd lost only a few times at some of the much higher levels but she'd increased her score every play.
It was almost a shame to leave, but they'd all had a lot of fun, Ash was truly glad that they'd gone and checked it out.
They did end up needing to wait a bit for everyone to gather at the Pokemon Center, even after they had put Pidgeotto through the check-up. Karen had been off making her own preparations and Pikachu and Misty had wanted to let their projects finish cooking.
Misty had made a loaf of bread, she'd had some help from the teachers but it was still a loaf of bread that she'd put a lot of work into and was proud of. It apparently tasted pretty good to boot and it would last a couple of days of travel.
Pikachu had gone for a less healthy but also tastier option. Something called Pokemon Biscuits. These were supposed to be the Pokemon answer to cookies and they tasted good. Ash was stunned that the same Pokemon who had been charring who knows what over Charmander's tail just a few days earlier was now making this.
"How did you do it?" Ash asked his friend as he shoved another biscuit in his mouth.
"It's just really fun honestly." Pikachu admitted. "The recipe can say a certain thing but you can change it to make a flavor you like more. It's more art than anything else. Like battling!"
"Battling and baking, his two greatest joys in life." Eevee mused.
Ash finished one more cookie and stared at Misty for a moment, his eyes widened. "Right! Misty before I forget, here!" He reached into his pocket and got the piece of paper the chairman had given him.
"What's this?" She asked him as she took it.
"A new bike." He answered honestly.
"Oh, thanks!" She smiled before the words properly registered. "Wait what?" She stared down at the Bike Voucher that was in her hands.
"I met the chairman of the Pokemon Fanclub and talked to him about Fearow and Rapidash a bit and he gave me that, he said he didn't need it." Ash elaborated.
"Huh, you meet some interesting people." Karen seemed to just be realizing.
"You have no idea." Ash grinned as he remembered his meeting with Mina, he could tell his friends about it but it wasn't his secret to tell, and besides, the best pranks needed a little bit of patience.
"I'll take your word for it, are we ready to go? We have everything we're bringing?" Karen checked with the two younger trainers.
"Of course we do, we've done this before," Misty grumbled.
"Is that why you were wandering around in the woods for over a week?" The older girl smirked at her.
Misty muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like 'sisters' but didn't rise to the bait.
"We're heading to Route 6 right?" Ash checked.
"Yep." Karen nodded. "Let's hope the love Pidoves aren't in session right now."
"Love what?" Misty asked as they started walking away from the Pokemon Center.
"Route 6 has a reputation for being a good place for couples, apparently the Butterfree gather there to mate and then migrate. It's supposed to be romantic or something." Karen shrugged. "I don't know, I normally only head there to get to the Underground Path, it's a lot more fun and entertaining than whatever's going on up topside. You can sometimes find cool things other trainers have left there, sometimes by accident, other times on purpose."
"Sounds exciting," Ash told her.
"It is!" She agreed, "but it skips Saffron so we won't be taking it, which is a shame, I know a guy down there who owes me a rematch. But enough babbling brats! Let's get going!"
She had chosen her timing well because, with those words, they stepped beyond the city borders, onto Route 6 and the road to Saffron City.
I made a chapter.
You read the chapter.
If you review the chapter this will have been a profitable transaction.
I liked this one much more than the last one. Lot more fun, and shorter, and I feel like more got accomplished in fewer words. Weird.
Not much to say this time except for the obvious, we are now off the canon rails, SS Anne? SS Naaaah.
Team Rocket is not following Ash around (knowingly at least) therefore they did not give him tickets, therefore he never got on the ship. Therefore none of that is happening.
Instead, we're going straight to Saffron City… and everyone's favorite psychic gym leader, Sabrina.
Although I do admit I like Liza and Tate's gimmick more. Sabrina is more interesting in the anime than the game and also the adventure manga. And the Electric Tale of Pikachu added some tragedy to the mix where her Pokemon were uh killed by a "high level Haunter" when she was younger and she was seeking revenge.
Why are the Pokemon comics so much more brutal than the show or games?
Anyway, review time!
Storyreader21: He's not quite Karen's Pokemon but he is going to be training with her for awhile!
Pokemonever1994: That is indeed Karen of the Elite 4, although not of the Elite 4 yet in this story. As for Absol, I have no idea. I'm actually colorblind and always thought it was purple but I checked the wiki and it says dark blue, and some people said it was purpley blue? Idk but I did bring it up in chapter.
Phaleon: Glad you like the premise!
UU Two: Kind of hinted but not really? Cerise's lab was brought up and was mentioned to be haunted which is the Gengar that Ash eventually gets in Journey's. But I didn't directly show it in the chapter.
ThePilotArchangel: I've no idea if it's viable but those are a lot of fun Pokemon, but why a cowboy? Also, I don't think Mangetsu is an official Pokemon but he is pretty cool looking.
LEGOBRICK13: As always your reviews are an experience all of their own my friend! The anime is a weird beast, what with Ash being perpetually ten over a 20-something-year period, Unova was kind of a 'soft-reboot' but it wasn't really? It's weird, I guess the I Choose You movies are kind of doing their own thing and have the some fun (if weird) bits. Like for a solid chunk of time, I and most other fans thought that Cynthia was Verity's mom but apparently this was said to be false by one of the writers. It does make you wonder why they made her mom look like Cynthia then. There are plenty of options for getting Hisuian Pokemon in here somewhere and I'll probably pick one of them eventually. Time travel is fun but can cause other problems, I don't think it's been long enough for fossils… hmmm….
That's all the reviews this time. Which is not many. Please review, I cannot tell you how much a review means to me but I will anyway. They mean a lot.
And that's all for now folks, until the next chapter!
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R&R
~FriTik