A.N. Thanks for reading! There will also be a bit of physics bending. And I wrote new fics called "Mew's Hugging Problem'' and "Mew Catches the Flu". You may be wondering why it takes longer to write this versus the others, but this is because a story like this takes diligence and a lot of thinking, while "Mew's Hugging Problem" seems to come naturally for some odd reason. Anyways, I have set in mind which Pokemon Ash will catch next, and it will help balance out the team some. It's based on a hypothetical situation of something that occured in the game. You will find out in the upcoming chapters, I promise. :-D
Disclaimer:
Dear Gaige's Peppy Sweetheart:
We are denying your request to own Pokemon, even though you've been a fan since 1998.
Sincerely, Nintendo
P.S: Keep buying more of our franchise.
Ash and Misty both went to separate ends of the pool and took out a Pokeball. Erika went and sat down on the bleachers and observed the two exchanging fighting glances at one another.
"So, here are the rules for this gym," started Misty. "As I had just stated, a two-on-two battle. You may switch at will and use items as well as use the water to your advantage. I won't be using any items since I am more than confident with the potential of my new partners. There is no time limit. Any questions?"
"So I heard that you got your new partners from Johto, eh?" said Ash with as he cracked his knuckles and grinned. "Show me some of the fruits of your journey there and I will show you my recently caught Pokemon!"
Misty took a Pokeball out of her pocket and enlarged it and chuckled. "Cocky one, aren't ya? I will swipe that smirk off your face with pleasure and just keep this in my mind that I will not show any mercy on you because you are handicapped. Go, Qwilfish!" She tossed it into the swimming pool and caught the ball that returned to her. The puffer fish-like Pokemon swam in the water and looked at Ash with a fearless glance.
"Let's took a look at you," said Ash as he pulled out his electronic encyclopedia.
"Qwilfish, the balloon Pokemon," started Dexter. "This Pokemon is duel water and poison-type. Despite weighing just 4 kg, this Pokemon is easily capable of expanding its body and quadrupling its weight by absorbing water. Once it does so, it can fire a barrage of needles or a powerful hydro pump."
"Right. I choose...you!" shouted Ash as he threw out his Pokeball onto a floating platform in the pool. Out came Dratini.
"Wait a minute. That isn't right; that's Zorua's Pokeball I just sent out," thought Ash. "Wait! That black tail. Dexter did say that they like to transform into other Pokemon."
"A Dratini, never seen one of those in my days as the gym leader," started Misty, "then again, I'm only 12 and a half and had the position for only five months. Nonetheless, I'm going to defeat you and uphold the honor of Cerulean gym! Since dragons are resistant to water-types, that doesn't mean I won't use them, but let's go with an all-out strategy using other types for now. Qwilfish, use poison sting!"
While half of her body was submerged, Qwilfish inhaled some air then exhaled a torrent of sharp toxic needles towards "Dratini".
"Z-I mean, 'Dratini', dive underwater!" ordered Ash. "What's with gym leaders using poison sting? Neither gym leader specializes in poison types, but this one is both water and poison, and there is no type advantage for Zorua. Hehe. She's gonna be in for a surprise when she realizes she isn't fighting a Dratini!"
The disguised Zorua dove underwater as soon as the purple needles headed his way, infuriating the pufferfish Pokemon and she dove down as well. Despite the impressive agility that Zorua utilized in plunging into the pool, Misty was able to see a flash of black as he entered and gasped.
"That's quite a unique look your 'Dratini' has over there," she smirked. "Use a full-powered aqua tail on 'Dratini'!" Qwilfish's tail started to glow and the surrounding water began to churn as she flung it towards Zorua!
"She has seen through your disguise! Dodge it then rake Qwilfish with fury swipes!" ordered Ash. Zorua swam as fast as he could, but the end of the puffer-fish's tail managed to hit him on the rear with quite a bit of power and touched his black tail, revealing his true canine self. He began struggling for air and started to swim to the surface when Qwilfish swam in front of him to block his way. With a glowing tail, Qwilfish struck Zorua again, this time right in the gut and he brushed aside the tail. He extended his claws out and scratched Qwilfish's hard body, being careful to avoid the sharp spines that were pertruding from the fish's skin. As he did so, he froze for a second in pain and Ash gasped.
"What's going on?" he exclaimed with a worried voice. "Pull yourself up to safety on the floating raft, Zorua." Weakened, the vulpine Pokemon managed to use his quickly draining strength to get on top of the raft and panted weakly.
"Poison point: Qwilfish's ability," explained Misty. "Physical attacks can lead to poisoning the attacker. Now use pin missile!" The teal and cream-colored pufferfish was completely underwater and began sucking in water. When she resurfaced, she had grown at least twice her size!
"Fire!" ordered Misty as Qwilfish started "pushing", sending out hundreds of white needles towards Zorua.
"Pin missile is a bug-type, Ash, be careful!" warned Erika from the bleachers.
"Right! Thanks, Erika," said Ash. "Even if Zorua dodges that attack, he will eventually faint from the poison. I may as well make him give Qwilfish his all with one last attack...Wait! I have a Pecha berry, and those are used to cure poison."
"Dark pulse!" shouted Ash with desperation filling his tone. Zorua opened his mouth and fired a beam of blackish-purple energy rings directly towards the needles, causing a large explosion that produced vision-hindering smoke.
"I, like, can't see a thing that is going on," said Violet as both the humans and both Pokemon were completely hidden among the smoke. Erika looked and saw a faint silhouette of Ash reaching into his knapsack. She had an idea of what he was doing and a smile crept on her face.
The tension was building monumentally as the smoke finally faded away after another five seconds passed. Once the visibility had returned to normal, all the humans saw that Qwilfish was lying belly-up with x's in her eyes, knocked out cold. Zorua, on the other hand, looked completely fine thanks to Ash's strategy.
"Like, no way!" said Lily. "Qwilfish sadly is unable to battle. Ash wins this round."
"That dark pulse must have been a lot stronger than that pin missile attack, thefore, it canceled out her attack and then managed to damage her!" said Ash with a gleeful smile.
Misty blinked several times with widen befuddled eyes. "How...What...How is it that your Zorua is still standing after being poisoned? He should have fainted at this point."
"During the confusion of the smoke, I tossed a Pecha berry over to him and it cured him of that status problem," answered Ash with a smile. "You said I could use items, so I am just using the privilege you gave me."
"Smart move, indeed, a very smart move on your behalf," said Misty with a small frown as she returned Qwilfish to the safety of the Pokeball. "But I'm afraid your luck will have run its course once I send out my next Pokemon."
"What do you have planned?" inquired Ash as he firmly gripped his crutches.
"This. I explored the Whirl Islands of Johto and I feel that this is the strongest Pokemon that they have to offer," said Misty as she enlarged the ball. "I'd like to see just how well you can handle this one! I'm entrusting you to uphold the gym's image, Mantine!" The contents of the Pokeball spilled out into the water and showed the figure of a Pokemon that looked like a manta ray-the only difference between it and an actual manta ray was that underneath the Pokemon were two identical fish-like Pokemon.
"Dexter, what is that?" said Ash as he once again took out the device. He pointed it towards the manta ray whose back was completely above water.
"Mantine, the kite Pokemon. This docile giant is capable of "flying" for about 300 feet with one great leap. However, they show agression when defending themselves."
"We're not gonna let that thing scare us. Zorua, jump onto his back and give him a dark pulse!" issued Ash. Zorua leaped off the floating platform and landed on top of the manta ray. He then planted his feet into the slimy and thick skin of Mantine and grinned mischievously.
"Quick! Dive and shake him off!" ordered Misty. Mantine obeyed and immediately breached water and swam to the bottom of the pool. The T.V screen showed that Zorua was still holding for dear life onto Mantine.
"Hang in there, Zorua!" shouted Ash in fear although his canine Pokemon couldn't hear it from being underwater. "Don't you dare try to drown him!"
"Who do you think I am, a member of Team Rocket?" asked Misty with a confused look. "I would never do such a thing. Mantine, use agility and then take down!"
Mantine's body glowed and then he swam at a speed that was impossible to keep up with; the monitor showed a blue and a black blur that kept dashing around the pool. Soon, Zorua was no longer able to hold onto Mantine's back and fell off. Zorua was completely underwater and vulnerable; his doggy paddle swimming style would not be anywhere near fast enough to dodge the charging Mantine that collided with him. It was too much for Zorua to endure and he stopped struggling to reach the surface.
"Mantine, help Zorua out; bring him to the surface," said Misty and Mantine caught Zorua on his broad back and lifted him up to the surface, swirls circling his eyes with his tongue hanging out.
"Good job, Zorua, I'm proud of your skills you displayed on your first battle," said Ash as he took out the Pokeball and transformed Zorua into data that got sucked up. "Take a nice, long rest; you deserve it."
"Nice to see that you take care and treat your Pokemon so well," said Misty. "I've battled a few trainers in Johto who train their partners like crap and it makes me feel really bad that someone could be cruel to their Pokemon." As soon as those reached his ears, Ash couldn't help but think of Melanie and the way that she treated him not only in school, but in front of that group of people yesterday in the Pokemon Center.
"If trainers treat their Pokemon like that, they don't deserve to have them in the first place!" shouted Ash from across the pool. "I am striving to be the number one Pokemon master and I will do so by the strength that results from kindness and bonding, not abuse!"
"I support that philosophy greatly, as I treat my Pokemon the same, but only one of us will be the victor here!" said Misty with a smile on her face. "Go on ahead and choose your next Pokemon if you dare."
"Oh, I dare, all right," said Ash with a smile as he clipped Zorua back to his belt and got another Pokeball ready. "I caught this one yesterday, but I have confidence in her strength. Go, Pokeball!" The technological sphere was released from his fast-moving arm and it landed on the platform, opening up to spill the energy/data of Clefairy.
"Clefairy! Clefairy!" she said as she jumped up in down with a happy face and her little wings on her back flapping.
"Clefairy? That's your secret weapon? It's so cute, I may not even attack it!" laughed Misty a bit nervously, causing both Ash and Clefairy to both frown.
"Why is that funny?" asked Ash a bit angrily.
"Ah, just...nothing," said Misty as she shrugged her shoulders, leaving Ash completely speechless. "All right, let's get this started! Use bubblebeam, Mantine!"
"We're gonna use a tactic like we did on Beedrill this morning. Clefairy, jump into the water to dodge it then get ready to use sing to put him asleep!" ordered Ash. "I could easily defeat Mantine with a thunderbolt, but that would eliminate the fun of a challenge. I wonder if it's too risky to try metronome; there's no telling what would happen."
Clefairy inhaled to prepare her lungs for her mesmerizing lullaby that would soothe even the most savage of all Pokemon.
"Mantine, dive to the depths of the pool and use bubblebeam from there!" ordered Misty.
"Change of plans, Clefairy, jump up into the air to avoid bubblebeam then dive into the water and start the process of metronome!" ordered Ash. Mantine went to the bottom of the pool and from there fired large bubbles that were about the size of a 16" beach ball sped through the water towards Clefairy, but she luckily was able to dodge the oncoming attack. She pencil dived about five feet underwater without much of a splash into the cool water all the while moving her fingers back in forth in the mesmerizing fashion until a bright light engulfed Clefairy.
"This is it; the moment that could change the battle!" Ash yelled with chattering teeth to amplify his nervousness.
"Mantine! Go in for a take down before it finishes metronome!" ordered Misty who was getting more and more anxious with each passing second. Her manta ray Pokemon swam as fast as possible to Clefairy, but it was too late; the attack had already initiated and nothing could stop the devastating results of what was happening. The light expanded around Clefairy and everyone gasped at what the monitor was displaying. Clefairy had used self-destruct and had knocked out herself as well as Mantine! The water began to churn violently and a combination of smoke and steam began to seep through the water.
"Mantine!" shouted Misty.
"Ugh, Clefairy!" shouted Ash. "I had a bad feeling something like this might happen."
"Whoa, like, we have a double knockout!" said Lily.
"And, with accordance of the Indigo League, if the challenger's Pokemon uses self-destruct and knocks out the opponent with the move, the challenger loses because said Pokemon faints before inflicting damage," said Daisy. Therefore, Misty wins this match!"
Misty and her three sisters jumped up and down in enthusiasm due to the technicality that lead to their victory. Ash sat down on the ground disappointed and looked at Clefairy's Pokeball with such despair filling his eyes. Erika was already by his side and helped him up to his feet with a arm filled with support as the Pallet Town trainer had small beads of moisture around his eyes and sniffling.
"Ash, are you gonna be okay?" asked Erika with a mutual disappointment that he was feeling.
"I'm more concerned about my Pokemon; I feel like I let them down miserably," he replied after exhaling deeply.
Misty couldn't help but display a sympathetic frown on her face as she watched as Erika and he were leaving the gym and ran after them. She held out her hand and displayed a tear drop-shaped item and he looked at it.
"This is the Cascade Badge; you did beat my Mantine, after all, so I want you to have it," she said.
Ash just shook his head and stopped his teary-eyed expression and changed back to normal. "As much as that would make my journey of becoming a Pokemon master that much easier, I'd prefer to earn my badges fair and square," declined Ash as he started to head for the door.
"How about this: let's go rest our Pokemon and get lunch together and we can resume afterwards, okay?" suggested Misty as she walked with them.
"Thanks, but it would be kinda awkward to get acquainted with the gym leader you're about to beat, wouldn't it?" said Ash with a chuckle and a smile.
"Seems like you already have," said Misty with a sly grin.
"What?" said Ash, a bit confused at what she had just said.
"I'll be waiting for you then, Ash! Be sure to bring your A-game, 'cause this water-type leader is gonna beat you if you don't give it your all!" said Misty with a competitive lilt in her voice as she completely changed the subject.
Ash and Erika finally arrived to the Pokemon Center where Ash gave Nurse Joy the Pokeballs that contained Zorua and Clefairy. She handed them back to him once she was finished and Ash sat down next to the indigo-haired girl on the three-seater couch.
"I know that I asked you earlier, but are you sure you are going to be okay?" inquired Erika as she placed a hand on his shoulder. Ash merely nodded and looked down. "You don't need to feel ashamed that you lost a gym match; many trainers do on their first go; it was just that Clefairy's metronome was so unpredictable and there was the remotely distinct possibility that that could have happened. Don't beat yourself up over it. Please?"
"It's just more of a disappointment for letting my Pokemon down, that's all," said Ash. "And you're absolutely right; throwing a pity party won't make me any stronger and I'm willing to try out some of the new moves I taught my Pokemon via TM."
"That's the attitude I was hoping to hear!" cheered Erika as she helped Ash get off the couch. The two of them made their way towards the lift that would descend to the cafeteria. Once they reached their destination, they saw that it was jam-packed full of trainers who were at the buffet. Ash and Erika ordered a table and the waiter directed them to it. They paid for the table and Erika was going to get her a plate while Ash looked at the menu that had all the items that were available at the buffet and nutritional facts and whatnot. Erika came back with a plate that contained a lot of vegetable dishes and tofu and even a fillet of Magikarp. (Yes, you read that correctly. They over-spawn and have a ton of protein and omega-3 fatty acids, so it's okay to eat them. lol)
"What would you like, Ash?" said Erika with a smile that could potentially illuminate the darkest of hearts.
"Some of that grilled Magikarp that you got there, the yakisoba noodles, and the spinach with onions," requested Ash with a smile. Erika left the table and Ash took out his Pokegear to call his mother, whom he hadn't called since the day of his accident.
"Hello?" said his mother.
"Hi, mom, I'm at the Cerulean City Pokemon Center," said Ash with a smile on his face.
"Oh, really? Have you challenged the gym leader yet?" she responded.
"I did, but I lost on a technicality," answered Ash with a huge sigh.
"What was it, dear? Did you do something against the Pokemon League rules and they voided the battle?" asked Delia.
"No, my Clefairy I caught at Mount Moon used metronome which then turned into self-destruct," explained Ash sadly. "It knocked out her Mantine, but it was against the Pokemon League rules."
"I'm sorry, dear. Are you going to try again later today?"
"After I have lunch, I'm going to do it again and I hope I win," said Ash with a promising uplift in his spirit.
"I hope the same for you, sweetie. How is your foot?"
"Healing nicely, I must say; the Nurse Joy in Pewter City took care of it and gave me medicine," said Ash.
"That's good news, I'm glad to hear that you are doing okay," said Delia and the sound of a doorbell could be heard from her end of the line. "I gotta go. I'm having lunch with some of my gal pals." The voice of several women were overlapping as the door was opened. "Thank you so much for calling me, sweetie, and I'm proud no matter what you do! Love you!"
"Love you, too, mom! Bye!" replied Ash and the line disconnected. By coincidence, Erika arrived with the plates of food and a selection of berries from the table. They let out their Pokemon and the 10 of them began eating their food. Ash loved the way the grilled Magikarp fillets tasted and felt almost a bit odd that he was eating the pre-evolved form of the monster that attacked him. Erika left to get seconds and Ash looked down at his Pokemon and spoke.
"Guys, Misty was a bit challenging; a direct hit with her Qwilfish caused Zorua to get poisoned, which I am terribly sorry for, little guy," said Ash as he patted the black canine's fluffy head.
"It's okay, but I want to sit this one out, if that's fine with you," said the small dark-type with a mouth full of Rawst berry.
"Sure, no problem; I am very proud of the effort you put in today," said Ash as he rubbed his head and ears. "Scyther, I'm afraid that means you aren't the choice against Qwilfish since all your moves make contact."
"Scy," said the mantis as Ash rubbed his head.
"How about me, Ash?" suggested Dratini with telepathy and a smile. "Why not let me have a go?"
"I should check out your level and see how well you are doing," said Ash as he took out his Pokedex. "Dratini's current level: 21."
"You leveled up four levels since yesterday!" said Ash proudly. "You must have gained quite a lot of experience from your battle with Onix and the Beedrills you knocked down earlier today. I'm proud of you, girl."
She rubbed her cool head against Ash's hand and received his pats of affection.
"Moves known include thunder wave, slam, wrap, twister, and thunderbolt," continued the Pokedex which Ash then put in back into his jacket pocket.
"In about two months, you will evolve into Dragonair, and it will probably take at least a year until you become your full form of Dragonite," said Ash. "Erika made me think of this; do you wish to evolve when the time comes, or would you prefer to stay in your current form? As long as we are together, that's all that matters, as I care more about your needs than mine."
"I have always wished to fly, so I will continue my best to reach my final form," said Dratini with a nod. All the sudden, a teenager who was carrying a plate of spaghetti and meatballs walked past Ash with his attention fully directed at the crippled boy.
"Hey, you got some cool Pokemon there," he responded, not looking ahead of him. He collided with another teenager who had a wondering mind a plate with a blue Jell-o mold that looked like it was made in a bundt pan except it didn't have a hole in the middle.
"Hey, you jerk, look what you just did!" said the teenager as he showed the guy with the spaghetti what had just happened. A meatball landed into his Jell-o and was suspending in it! "Do you expect me to eat that?"
"It was an accident! Sheesh!" said the spaghetti-carrying boy.
Ash was holding back laughter at the obnoxious behavior that was being displayed in front of him. A waitress came buy and told them to break it up, which they did.
Ash reflected on the battle that he had earlier with Misty and thought of something. "Metronome is an extremely risky move, and it could cost me the battle like last time. I don't want Erika to know that they know thunderbolt because I will be compelled to tell her that I "stole" it...Wait a second. I have an idea.
"Hey, Clefairy, I have a strategy to make this battle much more easier," said Ash.
"Clefairy?" said the pink normal-type as she tilted her head.
"This is what you're going to do..." started Ash then began to whisper in her ear. She smiled after she heard the plan and nodded.
Erika finally arrived with a plate with a garden salad. "Sorry that took so long; the restroom lines were crazy!" she said as she sat down and finished it. "Are you almost set to go back and face Misty again?"
"You bet I am!" said Ash eagerly.
"Great!" said Erika. "I'll be your personal cheerleader. Metaphorically, that is. There's no way I could wear one of those skimpy outfits."
Ash chuckled and finished the rest of his glass of water. He left a tip for the waitress and the two of them left the Pokemon Center and headed towards the entrance of the gym. They entered and saw Misty was at the opposite end of the pool, waiting for the next challenger.
"Well, well, well," said Misty in the akimbo position. "Looks like you finally came back. I was starting to get real bored from waiting, but now that you're hear, let's have ourselves a good battle, okay, sweetie?"
"You bet!" said Ash as he enlarged a Pokeball. "Come on out, Clefairy!"
"Qwilfish, vindicate your lost!" said Misty as she tossed out her Pokeball. Qwilfish submerged her lower half into the water and awaited further orders.
"Go and make us all proud...Clefairy!" shouted Ash as he released his. The little normal-type fairy (remember, Clefairy is normal-type in this fiction, and so is her evolved form) landed on the platform.
"I hope you know what you are doing with that ticking time bomb," said Misty with a chuckle. "And speaking of bomb, start the battle off with sludge bomb!" Qwilfish inhaled and flung a torrent of toxic sludge towards Clefairy.
"Jump out of the way and use metronome!" said Ash with an eerie emphasis on metronome. Clefairy did as he said and jumped way high into the air as the sludge missed and wagged her fingers back and forth a couple of times. Then, Clefairy's body started to glow yellow and let loose an electric attack at Qwilfish!
"No way you got that lucky!" said Misty as the electricity was conducted by the ions in the water, zapping the entire pool. Fortunately, the other water Pokemon had been recalled and were not in the pool, so Qwilfish was the only victim.
"Qwiiiiill...fishhh~~" she said languidly with swirly eyes.
Misty gasped then groaned as she returned the puffer-fish to her ball. "You got lucky this time, but you know what's coming now! Go, Mantine!"
"Man!" said the cartilaginous Pokemon.
"Clefairy, get ready to do the same strategy again!" ordered Ash.
"Same strategy? You really are pushing your luck, aren't ya?" commented Misty with a grin. "Use bubblebeam to stop them!"
A storm of large bubbles escaped Mantine's mouth and they hit Clefairy; the range was simply too wide to avoid and the bubbles ended up knocking her to the ground.
"You can do it, Clefairy, I have faith in you!" cheered Ash.
"Mantine landed a critical hit! Now use take down!" barked Misty. The aquatic Pokemon "flew" out of the water and hit Clefairy with his full body, causing her to collapse before she even got the chance to sit up.
"Mantine is the winner! Good job, Misty!" said Daisy as she and her sisters cheered. Ash looked up at Erika who mouthed "You can do it."
Ash sighed as he withdrew Clefairy and thought of his options. That Mantine is so powerful, not to mention fast. I need to think of something that will keep Riolu on dry land, cause he doesn't stand a chance when he's in the water. I...About fifteen seconds passed of deep thinking until Misty broke the inactivity.
"Well? Are you going to make your move?"
"You bet I am. Do this for Clefairy, Riolu!" said Ash as he threw the Pokeball onto the floating platform.
"Rio!" said the blue and black Pokemon as he took a fighting pose and eyed his opponent.
"A Riolu, a Dratini, a Clefairy, and a Zorua," said Misty. "Quite an impressive team you got there, especially for a novice trainer like yourself. Show me what you got!"
"I wouldn't give anything but my best!" retorted Ash with a clench fist much like the one Riolu was displaying.
"Heh! Let's see how you handle this. Mantine, douse their spirits with water gun!" issued Misty. Mantine fired water at high pressure towards Riolu.
"Dodge it then use quick attack!" stated Ash. As soon as that was said, Riolu instantly did a somersault and landed into the water. He then jumped out of the water and swiftly dashed above the water and smacked Mantine across the head.
"Counter it with your take down!" said Misty, resulting in Mantine sending Riolu back to the platform that he was standing on originally. "Now use bubblebeam!"
I was hoping she would use that, thought Ash. "Now use rock slide on the bubbles!" Riolu obeyed and opened up an unknown portal to cause large boulders to slide into the bubbles like the meatball into the Jell-o! The bubble-encased rocks remained suspended in air.
"Use bounce; that's your ultimate flying move that will bring an end to this battle!" ordered Misty hastily.
"Riolu, use ice punch on two of the bubble rocks, and hurry!" said Ash as he panicked since Mantine had just left the water and flew about 50 feet into the air by "flapping" his wings. Riolu had just finished freezing two bubble rocks that somehow remained floating in air. "Quick! Use force palm on one of the rocks and stop Mantine's attack!"
The little aura Pokemon's palm began to glow and utilized maximum force against the frozen bubble-encased rock, causing it to smash into dozens of small chunks of ice and rock into the air.
Misty gasped loudly. "Mantine! Try to dodge it!"
Mantine sweat dropped and tried "flapping" his arms in order to get out of the way, but it ended in failure since his body was not aerodynamically designed to maneuver above the water. Also, due to his large size, more of his body got hit and he cried his name as he began spiraling down from the air. He luckily missed the platform that he was going to land on to smash Riolu.
"Oh...you!" said Misty with annoyance. "Please hang in there, Mantine!"
"We've got the upper hand! Use low kick on the ice rock and knock out Mantine!" commanded Ash. Riolu used his small but powerful legs to send the object hurling towards the Mantine, knocking him out instantly.
"Oh, no!" cried Misty in sadness as she recalled her Mantine. "You did good and I'm proud of you. Well, a loss is a loss." She walked over to get the tear-drop badge from Seel's tongue and made her way around the perimeter of the pool and handed it to Ash. Erika walked down from the bleachers and placed a arm on Ash's shoulder.
"Thanks a lot!" he said as he clipped the badge onto the inside of his jacket.
"You're welcome. I'm guessing that your next challenge is to go to Vermillion City."
"That's right," Ash confirmed with a nod.
"The easiest way is to head south from here on Route 5 and pass through Saffron City, then south again through Route 6. It should take about four days."
"Thanks for the badge, Misty. If you don't mind, I need to head towards the Pokemon Center," responded Ash.
"No problem, but I want you to have this," said Misty as she received a TM from Lily. "This TM contains bubblebeam; it'll go pretty well for a water-type, but I think Dratini can learn it, too. You're gonna need a good water-type move, especially when face trainers who use fire-types."
"Many thanks, I greatly appreciated," said Ash as he nodded and placed the TM into his knapsack.
"And the prize money," said Misty as she gave Ash ¥2100. He placed it in his pocket and thanked her again as he and Erika finally left the gym.
Ash stepped out and saw smoke in the distance. "What's that?" he asked out of curiosity.
"Perhaps a forest fire?" guessed Erika with a skeptical look. "But it looks quite a distance away. But there isn't anything that we can do."
After finally reaching the Pokemon Center, a woman came rushing in and shouted in between heavy pants, "The...bridge into Saffron...from Route...5...Got blown up!"
"WHAT?!" shouted a multitude of onlookers as they went to assist the woman.
"Quick! Turn it to the news!" said a man to another who was sitting on a couch. The man who was sitting switched the TV from a sitcom to the news.
"Saffron City is currently under a dire situation as it has just had its northern bridge that connects Route 5 in the north. We have strong reasons to believe that Team Rocket took a part in its destruction and many people are critically injured with some reported casualties. We are putting Saffron City on lock-down and no one is allowed to enter or leave the city, as we will have the police surrounding all exits. We advise that residents in cities that connect to Saffron City, such as Celadon, Cerulean, Lavender, and Vermillion, stay indoors and be on the look-out for any suspicious figures. This is Captain Jenny of Saffron City telling everyone to keep us in your prayers."
Ash took all this in and sat down on a chair. "Just think, we could've been there when it happened," he said to Erika who sat down in a chair across from him.
"So that was the smoke we saw," she replied as she rested her head on her shoulder. "And I doubt it; it would've taken us a long time to reach the bridge at Saffron City, but..."
She got interrupted when all the sudden, a loud ringing echoed from Ash's pocket.
"Hello?" he said.
"Oh, Ash, did you hear about the news of Saffron City?" said Delia.
"Yes, I just came back to the Pokemon Center after I got my Cascade badge," replied Ash with a frown.
"That's good to here. I wish I could be a bit more optimistic, but this reminds me so much of your father dying," she sobbed.
"I won't leave the Pokemon Center like they said," reassured Ash.
"Good. You can use that time to talk to your Pokemon so that they can gain your trust. I love you, Ash. I'm so glad that you're okay."
"I love you, too, mom," said Ash as they said good-bye and hung up. He sighed and rested in the chair for a minute.
The rest of the day remained rather unproductive; Ash and Erika went to take a nap until dinner was served and they chose not to eat at the buffet and have a meal selected from the menu. Once that was done, Ash took a bath in one of the facilities of the Pokemon Center since he was not quite ready to stand up to shower. Once he was through, he released all five of his team members and played with them a little bit before going to bed. He knew that first thing when he got up was to figure out how to alter his plans to get to Vermillion City, but his mind was heavily worried on all the poor people in the explosion since it reminded him so much of his father that he never knew...
Well, what do you think? I hope you liked it! And please give me suggestions in the form of reviews!