School of Hard Knocks
Fog covered the path before our heroes as they made their way to Vermilion City, the location of Ash's next Gym battle. They'd have to pass through Saffron City first and although the city had a Gym of it's own, the Gym Leader was said to be quite experienced and Ash had learned his lesson after Giovanni wiped the floor with him. It'd be best to wait until he had at least two more badges, not like they'd be going out of their way to return to Saffron as it was in the middle of the region and they could go back to Vermilion afterwards and take a boat straight to Fuchsia City!
"How much further until we get to Saffron City?" Ash couldn't help but ask as it felt like they'd been walking through the fog forever, all they could see was the dirt road in front of them. Thankfully vehicles had their own special pathing to take so that trainers wouldn't risk getting run over on account of natural or Pokemon related change of weather courtesy of Mist!
"Still another few days at least," Brock spoke up as he retrieved his Rotom Phone. "Thankfully we didn't accidentally take a wrong turn, it's almost impossible to see where we're going-"
"Aaah!" The three suddenly shouted out as they fell into a pit trap that somebody cleverly left in the middle of the dirt road.
"Ow!" Brock landed face first into the dirt, Croagunk landing directly onto his back. Chloe landed on her back with a light grunt before blushing heavily as Ash landed right on top of each other. The two stared into each other's eyes for a moment before Ash quickly stood up.
"S-Sorry!"
"Relax, it wasn't your fault." Chloe said as he helped her to her feet. The girl's gaze moved upwards towards the surface above. "Now who in the world leaves a hole in the middle of the street?! Somebody could have gotten hurt!"
"Hahahaha!" A familiar set of laughter could be heard as the Team Rocket trio gazed down the hole, troublesome smirks spread across their faces.
"Team Rocket!" Ash shouted out.
"Pi Pikachu!" Pikachu growled.
"Prepare for trouble, that Pikachu and Eevee are ours at last!"
"And make it double cause you're in for a blast!"
"To protect the world from devastation!"
"To unite all people's within our nation!"
"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"
"To extend our reach to the stars above!"
"Jessie!"
"And James!"
"Team Rocket, blasting off at the speed of light!"
"Surrender now or prepare yourself for a fight!"
"Meowth that's right!"
"You've got no way out of that hole for why don't you do yourselves a favor and give up?" James smirked.
"I don't think so, Spearow I choose you!"
"Spearow!" Spearow burst out and simply flew right out the hole, leaving Ash and company behind once more as everyone sweated at the sight.
"Spearow get back here!" Ash shouted out, frustration filling his voice as he watched Spearow perch atop a tree and simply leer down at them before looking away. "That Spearow..." Ash growled out.
"Sakura, use Confusion!"
Chloe's Butterfree burst out before quickly finding herself being electrocuted as Meowth held up a device. "Meet the Bug Zapper 3000, your Flying types won't be able to fly up and attack us with this baby!"
"Which allows us to do this!" Jessie eagerly hit a button as their Meowth Balloon appeared, a large mechanical hand extended from beneath the basket and reached directly into the hole, snatching Pikachu and Eevee straight out of their trainer's grasp before retreating out of the hole!
"Spearow do something!"
"Spear!" Spearow shook his head.
"That Spearow..." Ash growled out. "We'll get out of here somehow!"
"I'd like to see you try, there's no way that you'll-Eeee!" James shrieked as an electric string of silk flew above them, trapping the three in a net before giving them quite the shock!
"Huh? Was that Pikachu?" Chloe tilted her head as she heard the Rocket trio being electrocuted.
"Lectabuzz!" A loud explosion could be heard before the Rocket Trio were sent flying up to their balloon, bursting right through it causing it to quickly zip back and forth across the air!
"Aahhh!"
"That didn't sound like Pikachu!"
"Emol!" A black and white flying squirrel Pokemon flew down the hole, Pikachu and Eevee safely upon her back.
"Eevee!" Chloe was quick to threw her arms around Eevee, her partner Pokemon uttered a cry of joy upon being reunited with her trainer while Pikachu leaped straight back onto Ash's shoulder before giving him an affectionate nuzzle.
"Pikaaa!"
Emolga flew back up and gave the Bug Zapper 3000 a shock of her own, breaking it into pieces as a giant yellow spider appeared at the side of the hole and fired off a long silky string that appeared strong enough for the group to use.
"Climb up!" Chloe blinked as the voice sounded familiar but different which was to be expected as she hadn't seen any of her old friends since before they'd have hit puberty.
Brock gave the string a strong tug to test it's strength before giving Chloe a light bow. "Ladies first."
Chloe latched onto the string and began climbing it while Ash followed with Brock coming up last, Croagunk latched onto his back. The three emerged to see a trainer their age and Ash had to admit the trainer looked fairly familiar. He had a fairly light skin tone, a blonde buzzcut and his eyes were hidden behind a pair of black tinted sunglasses which Ash found weird seeing how it was foggy out but he could only assume the boy always wore those regardless the weather. His upper body was covered by a black leather jacket while his lower body was covered by a pair of green camo cargo pants and a pair of black combat boots.
"Flash!" Chloe's eyes lit up as she raced towards her old friend and quickly threw her arms around him. Ash twitched lightly from the interaction. Flash returned the hug in a friendly fashion before pulling away from her.
"You're the Pewter Gym Leader's son, ain't cha? And you look familiar too but I can't place it." Flash pointed towards Brock before pointing at Ash.
"And you're the Vermilion Gym Leader's son, I heard that you were starting your journey this year."
"That I have but not quite the way you think, ya see I was accepted into Pokemon Tech!"
"That's great, Flash!" Chloe had a mixture of surprise and pride upon hearing the fact.
"That's the boring school that allows trainers to immediately enter the Pokemon League upon graduation?" Ash yawned out with a look of disinterest. He recalled Chloe, Leaf and Gary all qualifying but Chloe shot it down out of disinterest as the League wasn't her thing while Gary and Leaf both wanted to travel. Leaf for the adventure while Gary wanted to prove himself to be the overachiever he was known for, vowing to beat every Gym within the Kanto region!
"Yep, my goal is to become the first ever Elite Four member that specializes in Electric types!" Flash waved his arm towards his Pokemon. "However I want to show that people are wrong about me and my father, we're not muscle heads! I aim to train and study hard so that I can graduate and prove that my brains are just as strong as my muscles!" Flash pulled up a jacket sleeve and flexed his arm showcasing quite the muscular arm, Ash glanced at his own arm and frowned. Ash certainly wasn't weak but compared to Flash, his arm looked like a noodle! He glanced towards Chloe but the girl didn't seem too interested in muscles.
"I didn't even know Surge had a wife let alone a son..." Ash couldn't help but sound a bit confrontational causing Chloe to raise her eyebrow at him while Brock struggled to hide a smirk as he knew exactly what was going on in Ash's head.
"That's because he doesn't have a wife, I'm an illegitimate son!" Though he was wearing sunglasses it was easy to tell he was glaring at Ash based on how his eyebrows slanted. "Back when he lived in Unova, he had plenty of women over and let's just say that one of them winded up having me. She wanted nothing to do with me and pawned me off to him!"
Ash immediately felt bad about acting out the way he had. "Oh Arceus... sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"It's fine," Flash held up his hand. "Besides there's a girl in my life that I care far more about than that piece of turd." Ash's heart started racing again before Flash pulled out his Rotom Phone, which was yellow with black stripes much like his Electabuzz, and showed off a picture of a fairly beautiful girl trainer their age. She looked fairly upper class and had a light skin tone similar to Flash and Chloe. She had long silky chocolate brown colored hair along a similar shade of beautiful brown eyes! Her school uniform only seemed to add further to her natural beauty and she had quite the attractive physique and build!
"This is Giselle, the love of my life!"
"That's wonderful, Flash! I'm so happy you've met somebody!" Chloe clasped her hands together.
"Well actually, she doesn't know I exist." Flash sweated as Chloe immediately face faulted.
"She sure is beautiful!" Ash spoke up, his cheeks burning bright red. Chloe shot up, flames burning brightly in her eyes as smoke appeared to be raising off her head.
"She can violate my rights anytime!" Brock spoke up as he stared at the picture with his usual goofy lovestruck expression.
"Cool off you two, she belongs to him!" Chloe hissed as she yanked harshly on both their ears!
"Well not yet but hopefully soon." Flash smirked. "Winning the Pokemon League will be a sure fire way of winning her affection!"
"Well you better watch out cause I'm winning the Pokemon League!" Ash shouted.
"No way cause love conquers all, I'll best you where it counts!" Flash shouted as the two growled lightly at each other, it appeared that Ash had made himself a fourth rival that day and although Chloe loved Flash dearly in the most friendliest way possible, this was one rivalry that made her uneasy. She couldn't bear the thought of Ash winning the League and Giselle's affections, she knew that Ash stood a fairly good chance at winning if he kept it up and she hated the thought of being forced to root against her best friend if it meant not losing him to that rich snob!
"Forget that, I'm going to ensure you win her heart by the end of the week!" Chloe latched onto her friend's arm. "Take us to this school, I want to meet this Giselle girl for myself!"
Ash narrowed his eyes at how close the two now were as Flash guided the way through the fog and towards Pokemon Tech.
"So that's Galvantula and Emolga, neat." Ash pocketed his Rotom Phone as he cast the spider and flying squirrel another look. He had the desire to battle against both of them but right now his desire for a Pokemon battle was strangely at odds with a desire to get Flash away from Chloe, which would be delayed if he stopped to battle the guy.
The school soon came into view and several male and female students could be seen walking across the schoolgrounds in the school uniform. Chloe cast Flash a look of concern. "Aren't you going to get in trouble dressing up differently?"
"And mess with my good looks? Nah, advantage of having a Gym Leader as your father. He pulled some strings so I can dress how I please here!" Flash smirked. "The sunglasses stay on!"
Ash gazed around the school as he tried diverting his attention elsewhere, his eyes soon came to focus on what appeared to be that Giselle girl engaged in a battle with a Charmander that looked quite familiar.
"Cubone use Bonemerang!"
"Bone!" Cubone hurled his bone across the field, conking Charmander upside the head and knocking the fire lizard out. Cubone then raised his hand to catch the bone as it came flying back to him. "Cubone bone bone!" He chanted.
"There she is, isn't she something?"
"I'd say!" Brock gushed.
"Croa..." Croagunk croaked in a threating manner causing Brock to quickly sweat. "Not this time Croagunk, I know not better than to interfere with true love!"
"Croa..." Croagunk diverted his attention towards the Charmander as a frustrated shout could be heard.
"Oh this is absolute Tauros, you clearly cheated!" Damian shook his fist at Giselle who waved it off with a snobbish laugh.
"Oh please, I've had plenty more experience when it comes to Pokemon than you ever will!"
Some of her fellow students laughed while Damian shot them all murderous looks as he returned Charmander to his ball. "You'll be sorry for laughing at me, I promise you that." Damian turned and muttered a few choice words to his two buddies as they left the school grounds.
"That was Damian, what was he doing here?" Ash questioned.
"Probably trying to get accepted into the school?" Chloe shrugged before sweating nervously as Giselle's gaze turned to their direction, the girl's eyes focused upon the Rainbow Wing that sat within Chloe's hair as a look of interest flashed within her gaze for a brief moment. Giselle began making her way towards the four resulting in Flash forming a bright smile that quickly faded into a rather furious look at her attention was focused upon Ash and Chloe rather than himself.
"Pardon my intrusion but unless I'm mistaken that is clearly one of the Legendary Pokemon Ho-oh's mystical feathers, and based on how it's shining within the sunlight it's clear that it is no mere replica! I must have it, how much do you want for it?! Money is no objective!" Giselle held out a blank check to Ash causing him to sweat before pushing it away.
"Sorry but it belongs to Chloe and it's not for sale."
"Then I'll battle you for it, my Cubone versus your Pikachu. Shouldn't be too difficult to wipe the floor with that rat."
"Pika..." Pikachu's ears flattened.
"No way, I won't battle you!" Ash growled out.
"Oh but I must object!" Giselle smirked. "You see we're both Pokemon trainers and it is illegal to refuse a battle challenge unless it's an emergency regarding your health or the health of your Pokemon or another being. So by refusing to battle me you're therefore breaking the Pokemon League official rules and all I have to do is report you! And it's not for a lack of evidence." Giselle gestured to the crowd around them whom were all recording.
Ash clenched his fists. Although she was beautiful on the outside she was most certainly not on the inside. He had no idea what Flash saw in her!
"Surely there's something against blatant blackmail..." Chloe muttered as she glared at Giselle.
"Fine, I'll battle you!" Ash growled out in defeat. After all how hard would it be to beat Cubone? It was a Ground type and therefore would be weak against Pikachu's Splishy Splash attack!
"Pika pika!" Pikachu raised his paws as his tail aggressively flickered back and forth.
"Heh, that Pikachu of yours doesn't look too tough. This battle will be over in seconds!" Giselle turned to face Cubone. "Alright Cubone, use Bonemerang!"
"Cubone bone bone!" Cubone hurled his bone club at Pikachu as soon as Pikachu leaped onto the field, Pikachu let out a grunt as the club smacked across his face and dropped to his knees before slowly raising back up.
"Splishy Splash!" Ash quickly shouted out.
"What...?" Giselle raised her eyebrow in a questioning manner before her eyes took note of the large wave that started forming beneath Pikachu. "...Thunder Punch!"
"Bone!" Cubone's fist sparked with electricity as he rushed forward and quickly punched at the water causing it to glow and spark a bright yellow color as electricity would flow through Pikachu's body as he received a taste of his own medicine! Pikachu then fell backwards into the electrified wave as it'd come crashing down on top of him!
"Pikachu?!" Ash called out with worry as his best friend disappeared. The water began evaporating after it crashed against the ground revealing the defeated form of Pikachu, his eyes swirled as he uttered out a "Chaaa!". Ash stood there in visible shock for a moment before growling out as Giselle began laughing at him.
"What? You thought 'Splishy Splash' would be an instant win? Sorry but most trainers out there are quick to adapt to situations, perhaps you'd have had better luck if you struck Cubone's Bonemerang away with Iron Tail!" Giselle laughed before waving her hand towards Chloe. "Now... give me that Rainbow Wing!"
"...I don't think so." Chloe threw out her hand as Eevee leaped from her shoulder. "I challenge you to a battle double or nothing!"
"Seriously? You want to battle against me?!" Giselle let out a snobbish laugh before she shook her finger. "Foolish girl you don't stand a chance against me but if you insist then I accept your challenge, but what do you possibly have to offer me in return?"
Chloe thought for a moment before pushing Ash forward. "A date with him!"
"W-What!?" Ash stammered out as his cheeks turned a dark shade of red. Chloe hardly reacted as she pushed him forward, Flash on the other hand was twitching like crazy as he flashed Ash a murderous look. "S-Surely you're not serious?!" Ash hissed out.
"Well he is cute... very well."
"But if I win then you have to date him!" Chloe pushed Ash aside as she reached for Flash and threw him in front of her with surprising strength!
"The Gym Leader's son?"
"So you do know me!" Flash's face lit up.
"Of course, you're quite attractive... but I can't be seen dating somebody with a C average. I'm an A+ student!" Giselle boasted before giving a light shrug. "But I suppose I accept, after all there's no way that runt of an Eevee is gonna beat my Cubone! In fact I am so confident in my chances that I'll allow you to make the first move!" Giselle offered Chloe with a mocking smirk.
Fire shined in Chloe's eyes while her whole body appeared to be shimmering in flame as she shouted out. "Was hoping you'd say that, Eevee use Sappy Seed!"
"Eevoi!" Eevee stretched herself out as the ground began shaking beneath Cubone, Cubone quickly backed away and looked up as the large vine burst from the ground and went up to the sky above!
"You missed, hahahaha!" Giselle threw back her head as she laughed. "What sort of attack was that anyways, a-what the?!" Giselle gazed towards seeds that began falling from the top of the vine and onto the ground below, erupting into a series of explosions that began blasting Cubone all across the field as he cried out!
"Cubone?!" Giselle gasped out with shock as her fellow students murmured out excitedly. The explosions soon died out as Cubone laid on the ground, eyes turned to swirls as his bone laid inches away from his body.
"Cubone..."
"I-I lost?! No that's... that's impossible, I don't lose!" Giselle shouted out.
The other students turned away and left her be as Giselle pulled frustratingly at her hair. "H-How's that even... how did..."
"If it helps, I got no explanation either!" Chloe shrugged. "You'll keep your word, right? You'll date my friend?"
"My popularity is in shambles!" Giselle placed her hands against her head as she slowly nodded in agreement. "I'll honor your deal, not like I have anything else to lose!"
"I never cared about your popularity or your looks, well your looks do help some... but it's your brain and what's inside that speaks to me!" Flash spoke up as he approached Giselle causing her to peek around her hands.
"R-Really...? You don't care about my humiliating loss?"
"Nope! In fact you could be the least popular girl in school and I'd still want to date you! You're the perfect girl for me, Giselle! You're like the peanut butter to my jelly, the Agatha to my Oak, the Chloe to my Ash."
"What?!" Ash and Chloe suddenly shot red at what he'd said. Chloe blushed heavily as she gazed towards her old friend. He'd only spent an hour with them and he seemingly already shipped the two! Brock formed a light smirk and gave an approving nod before turning his gaze to his companions.
"You're certainly not great with words..." Giselle noted but flashed him an appreciative gaze as she leaned forward to kiss his cheek. "But I welcome those words nonetheless, very well let's go on that date!"
"Shall we get going then?" Brock asked his companions.
"Y-Yeah, let's go..."
"Right." Ash nodded before turning around as Flash called him out.
"Yo Ketchum, you better not stand me up cause I expect you to be at the Indigo League!"
"Electa!" Electabuzz raised his fist.
Ash flashed his new rival a challenging smirk before giving him a light nod. "Count on it, I look forward to battling you!"
"Likewise, I'm sure that Chloe had good reason to pick you as her boyfriend."
"We're not dating!" Chloe flushed.
"Wait you're not?!" Flash blinked in confusion. "But you two are so close... I could have sworn from the way you looked at one another that you were..."
"Heh, sorry but we're just best friends!" Ash nervously chuckled as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"Well friends or not, neither of you are winning the Indigo League cause I will be the new Champion!" Giselle boasted. "I've got more brains than the two of you put together!"
"Yeah well we'll see about that, girlfriend or not I'm not going easy on you!" Flash smirked.
"And I don't intend on losing, I made a promise to somebody that I'd battle them and I intend on keeping that!" Though he hadn't battled him yet he could tell that Flash was quite the strong trainer, his team already appeared to be fully evolved and Giselle although she'd let her ego get the best of her when she went up against Chloe, was quite the tactician. If more trainers like them were at the Indigo League then things would definitely be exciting for sure!
"Gary, Leaf, Flash, Giselle... just you wait I'm gonna beat all of you!"
"We lost again..." Jessie groaned out as she and the others walked through the streets of Saffron City.
"We'll get them next time, Jess. Just got to think positive!" James spoke with a smile as he raised a fist into the air. "Next time Team Rocket will succeed!"
"Meowth, we can't afford another invention for two weeks unless we starve ourselves though." Meowth crossed his arms as he stopped to look at a bulletin board. "Perhaps we should take up another odd job, we're ahead of the twerps so we can afford to stop and make some dough!" His eyes darted across the board as he looked for something that the three were experienced enough for.
"Man a lot of these want 'experience' but how can you get experience if everything requires experience?!" Jessie frustratingly growled out as she ripped a few papers off and threw them aside!
"Huh, apparently some hot shot trainer is back in Kanto." James noted as he eyed a picture of a blonde female that appeared to be the same age as the older twerp, Brock.
"James we're not looking at personal ads!" Jessie scowled, glancing at the paper before ripping it away.
"Meowth, I've got one!" Meowth ripped off an ad and lifted it up to show the two. "It's not a job but look at this, words are faded but I can still read most of it! 'Todd Snap Professional... I can catch anything in a snap!' This guy must be a Pokemon Hunter! His fees are quite reasonable too!"
Jessie and James looked to each other with glee as the three rubbed their hands together. "Well then let's call him!"
A door opened up nearby as a blonde haired woman stepped out with a bag full of garbage, she happened to glance in their direction and her purple eyes were quick to narrow as she gazed directly at them with a look of recognition. "What are those clowns doing here...?"
So Ash has met two more of his rivals! For Kanto and Johto I want to make each round of the Indigo League and Silver Conference be against an established character. Which is why I've introduced a few rivals and have been planting some seeds for the usual 'League rival' he gets.
Anyways I hope you all enjoyed this! :)