Chapter 10

Water. Swim. Nice.

Nighttime.

Slow.

Relax.

Look. Human. Boy. Underwater.

Bag. PokeBalls.

Dead?

No, alive. Good.

Out of water.

Land.

Beach.

Lie down.

Wait.

Nap.

"Urghhh…" Ash moaned. The sun shined on his eyes, insistent on him waking up. His eyes slowly opened, and he felt a pain in his stomach and started coughing up seawater, pounding on his chest with his fist to force it out. He frantically looked around, his heart beating frantically in his chest. He was on a beach… had he been stranded? Why was he even here? That thing he could remember was… oh.

Images of the attack on the S.S. Anne flooded through his mind. The explosions, the panicked passengers, the fear coursing through him. Proton had almost killed him… twice that night. He had jumped into the water to save himself, but had passed out from exhaustion after struggling to overcome the waves. He was lucky to even be alive.

His teeth were chattering and parts of his body felt numb. His clothes still felt wet from the freezing cold seawater.

His eyes drifted over the landscape, mostly sand and shells, with trees in the back. He still didn't know where he was, but he didn't care at the moment. He was just happy to be alive, despite his clothes being drenched from being in the water for so long. He had also lost his hat, which was a shame, but that was the least of his worries.

Then Ash noticed the Pokemon sleeping next to him, and moved a few inches back. It was a pink Pokemon with curled ears and a round tan muzzle. It had four legs, each ending in a single white claw. Its long tail was hanging over it like a fishing lure, which was also pink with a white tip. The Pokemon's eyes were closed, and Ash could hear light snoring coming from it. Ash soon realized that it was a Slowpoke. Was it the one who brought him to dry land?

The Dopey Pokemon snuffled, and its eyes slowly opened, revealing its unfocused pupils. It just laid there for about ten seconds, before registering Ash's presence and turning to him.

"H-hey Slowpoke." Ash said. "Did you bring me here?"

The Water/Psychic-type just sat there, staring off in a random direction, before slowly nodding. Ash raised his eyebrows. It saved his life. A wild Pokemon he had never met before in his entire life had stumbled across him in a stroke of luck and prevented him from drowning.

"Thank you Slowpoke." Ash said with a small smile. "Y-you saved me."

The Slowpoke did not respond, and just sat there.

Ash sighed. If it wasn't for that Slowpoke, he wouldn't have been on this beach. It had probably used its psychic powers to lift him to safety. He laid his head on the sand, feeling it on his skin. He reached for his PokeBalls, anxious to see his team again, when he realized they weren't there.

Ash glanced at his belt, and a wave of fear replaced the relief he had. His Pokemon must have washed away when he jumped into the water. He was so focused on his own safety that he didn't even realize if his Pokemon were okay. They could be anywhere. His breath quickened and he started to panic. He lifted his head and turned to Slowpoke. Maybe it would know where they were.

"Slowpoke, do you know where my PokeBalls are?" Ash said frantically. The Dopey Pokemon just laid there, not moving a muscle, and closing its eyes. He heard a rustle, and saw his bag floating toward him, as well as three red and white PokeBalls. Slowpoke laid them gently on the ground. Ash ran toward them, ignoring the aching feeling in his legs. He scooped the spherical capsules up and held them close to his chest. His Pokemon were alive.

Ash clicked the release buttons on each of his PokeBalls, the forms of Dexter, petal, and Kit manifesting in flashes of light. Ash could see the wounds they had sustained from the day before. Kit had bruises lining her body, and seemed to be leaning on only three legs. Some of the leaves on Petal's flower had been cut off, and a gash on its forehead. Dexter had numerous cuts lining its body, but didn't seem to be bothered. Each of them laid their eyes on their Trainer, and once they saw that he was okay, crowded around him.

Ash laughed as he was surrounded by his three best friends. "I'm fine guys, really!" he said. Once they stopped crowding around him, the boy sighed.

"Thank you guys for everything." Ash said. "You guys put your lives on the line to protect me, and I can't thank you enough. Especially you, Kit." The Eevee blinked before grinning triumphantly.

"You guys all deserve better than me." Ash said with his head down. "I failed you all as a Trainer. I wasn't strong enough to fight Proton and Petrel, and we almost died. If it wasn't for Slowpoke saving us, I would have drowned and you guys probably would have been in your PokeBalls for a long time. I'm sorry everyone."

Ash's Pokemon looked at him in shock as he gave his speech. He… he… was apologizing? For what? He had done nothing wrong!

Each of them voiced their disapproval toward Ash in the form of growls and calls. Even Dexter warbled angrily, unpleased with how its Trainer was feeling.

Ash lifted his head up and looked at his Pokemon. They weren't mad at him? But why? He had failed them!

Kit limped toward her Trainer and started gnawing on his hand with her teeth softly. Ash chuckled and pulled his hand away, looking at the marks her teeth had made. That really seemed to hate the idea of him feeling bad about himself.

"Alright, alright," Ash said, holding his hands up. "Sorry guys, I shouldn't feel bad about what happened. Thanks."

The boy looked over at Slowpoke, who still laid motionless a few feet away from him. He approached the Dopey Pokemon and crouched near it, flashing it a smile.

"Slowpoke, I can't thank you enough for saving my life." Ash said sincerely. "I'd do anything if it means repaying you for what you did. Is there anything I can do for you?"

Again, the Slowpoke laid there motionlessly. It took ten seconds for it to process what Ash had just said, and it crawled over to the boy and butted its head on his knee.

"You… want to come with me?" Ash asked, perplexed. There was a long pause before Slowpoke nodded slowly.

"Well, if that's what you want…" he said as he took out a PokeBall. He touched it to Slowpoke's head, and the capsule sucked it in and dropped to the ground.

*Shake*

*Shake*

*Shake*

*Click*. His other three team members watched with curious expressions as Ash picked up Slowpoke's PokeBall. He smiled and attached the PokeBall. The Pokemon that was known as the dullest Pokemon in existence had saved his life, and was now part of his team. It was funny how that worked.

Ash rummaged through his bag, sorting through the contents. Almost everything was wet, apart from his rations. His Pokedex was soaked, and Ash tried to turn it on with no avail. Hopefully the Professor had a new one he could use.

Ash tried to stand up, but his legs wobbled. He probably needed to go to a doctor soon. Dexter took the initiative in helping Ash by supporting him with its head. Slowly he walked with his Pokemon, looking for any traces of civilization.

It was just another day at the Pokemon Center for Nurse Joy, nothing too out of the ordinary. It was around three PM, and she was sitting at the counter as usual. That was until a boy hobbled into the Pokemon Center, his clothes completely drenched, a strange red and blue Pokemon supporting his back. The pink-haired woman rushed toward him, eyes widened.

"Oh my Arceus!" she yelled, startling a few people waiting in the lobby. "What happened to you!? You look like you just fell off a ship!"

"Need… healing… Pokemon…" he said weakly as he withdrew the levitating Pokemon supporting him and gave her three other PokeBalls. After a few seconds of standing up on his own, he collapsed on the floor.

"What's your name?" Nurse Joy asked as she took his three PokeBalls.

"Ash… Ketchum…" the boy managed to sputter out.

"I'll heal your Pokemon, but could someone please help this boy onto a chair while I call a doctor?" Nurse Joy called. A teenager with black hair, a white hoodie, and glasses stepped forward and lifted Ash onto a chair next to him.

"Thanks…" Ash said.

"No problem." the teenager said. "You look terrible though. Hopefully a doctor will come here soon. The name's Harvey by the way."

"Ash." Harvey held out his hand and Ash shook it weakly, before slouching on the chair and taking a breath. His eyes lingered toward the TV in the lobby, where a female reporter was covering a news story about the catastrophe of the S.S. Anne.

"...At least forty people dead and one hundred injured from the attack on the S.S. Anne. Officials were able to save some passengers in time, thanks to a distress call sent out to Professor Oak by an unknown source. It has been confirmed that Team Rocket was the cause of this attack, boarding the ship at around 9:46 PM, attacking passengers and crew members. The attack was led by two executives of Team Rocket, who are only known as Proton and Petrel. The Pokemon League delivered a statement earlier this morning, officially declaring Team Rocket a terrorist organization, and discouraging any attempts to engage with them. Some passengers also remembered seeing a large spiky Pokemon flying above the ship, although many of them were unable to give further details. We now go live to… "

"Wow." Harvey said. "Scary stuff. Too bad I wasn't able to make it in time."

"What do you mean?" Ash asked tiredly.

"I'm a part of the league." Harvey said. "ACE Trainer Harvey, at your service. Official member of the Indigo League."

Ash raised his eyebrows. It wasn't every day you got to meet someone who was powerful and trusted enough to be part of the Indigo League. Harvey must have been extremely powerful if he was an ACE Trainer.

ACE Trainers were people employed by the League to guard certain areas and take care of certain jobs that involved their battling expertise. The League would usually look through each Trainer's records, and after picking the top five participants, would send them a letter offering them a position. It was a very selective process, and only the best of the best made it in. Apart from the Elite Four of course.

"Say, how'd you get those injuries?" Harvey asked, pointed at the bruises and gashes Ash had on his skin.

"... I fell off the S.S. Anne." Ash responded. Suddenly a scary thought appeared in his mind. His thoughts flashed back to Nate and Angelina jumping after him off the huge boat. "I don't even know if my friends are alive."

"O-oh." Harvey said, flustered by the grim response. "I'm sorry."

The two boys sat there in silence. Ash fiddled with his thumbs. The realization that he almost died last night still hadn't fully sunk in. What if one of his friends was one of those forty deaths? He wouldn't forgive himself, they were some of the only friends he had.

Suddenly three men came into the Pokemon Center, wheeling a stretcher. Ash and Harvey lifted their heads, and the commotion attracted the attention of the rest of the people waiting for their Pokemon. One of them looked at a piece of paper and scanned the room.

"Is there anyone in here named Ash Ketchum?" the man called to the entire lobby. Nobody gave a response besides Harvey.

"Here's over here." the older boy said with a wave of his hand, and pointed to the slumped boy sitting on the chair. Ash wanted to protest, but he was too exhausted from the long trek to the Pokemon Center to care at this point. The three workers lifted him up with Harvey's help onto the stretcher and wheeled him out of the Pokemon Center.

Ash sighed before letting his eyes close and falling asleep.

"Well Ash, you're very lucky to be alive." the doctor said, a tall red-haired woman holding a clipboard. "We're going to keep you in the hospital for another day just to make sure everything is okay, and then we can discharge you. Nurse Joy also sent me your Pokemon, who had also sustained some injuries.

"Your Eevee had a few cracked ribs and a broken leg, and your Gloom had some wounds on its head." she rattled off. "Your strange bird Pokemon's wounds weren't as bad however. Only your Slowpoke was unscathed. She asked me to tell you to not train or battle with your Eevee or Gloom for about a week. Understand?"

The doctor placed a tray of PokeBalls on the table beside him. Ash nodded, his head still on the pillow of the hospital. He couldn't care less that he couldn't battle with them right now. He was just happy they were alive.

"Excuse me miss, but where am I?" Ash asked. "When I washed up on the beach I didn't know where I was…"

"This is Cinnabar Island, young man." she said, walking closer to the door. She started writing on her clipboard after listening to what Ash said, and placed her hand on the doorknob.

"Anyways, I also have a couple of visitors waiting to see you." she said. "The police are also here to take you into questioning about the incident." She opened the door and stepped out of the room, and Ash barely had a split second to react before he was tackled into a bone-crushing hug.

"Ash I'm so glad you're okay!" Delia said as she held him even tighter.

"Mom… can't…. breathe…" Ash forced out. After a few seconds, she released her grip on her son, and stood by Professor Oak, who also walked into the room.

"Ash! It's great to see you're alive!" the professor said happily. "I was really worried when I received that distress call. I'm glad to see you're still kicking."

"Thanks, Professor," Ash responded. "Are… Nate and Angelina okay?"

Oak rubbed the back of his head and stared at a random spot in the hospital room. "I can't say for certain. However, I was able to track their Pokedexes, and Nate ended up on Camomile Island while Angelina ended up on the Seafoam Islands. It's not a one hundred percent guarantee they're alive, but there's a good chance they are."

Ash breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't a confirmation, but at least they probably weren't dead. Some of the worry that was present in him left his body.

Another person walked in, a green haired woman wearing a blue cap and a police outfit and white gloves. She was holding a notepad, and wore reading glasses. Virtually identical to the officer Ash met in Cerulean City.

"Ash Ketchum?" she asked. The boy nodded, and Officer Jenny took a seat.

"Good. Now I know this has been a crazy last couple of days, but I'm here to question you about the events that took place last night on the S.S. Anne. I will come back another time if you aren't feeling well enough to proceed. Are you ready?"

Ash nodded. He wanted to help the police as much as he could to bring these criminals to justice. He braced himself for a long retelling of the night before.

"Now, I would like you to relay to me everything that happened last night. I want all the details. Don't leave anything out." Officer Jenny said. She clicked her pen and opened up her notepad, to a new page, waiting for any details.

Ash nodded and proceeded to tell his mother, Professor Oak, and Officer Jenny everything that he had experienced during the attack. The surprise message on the loudspeaker. The explosions. The fear that coursed through him as he ran through the halls of the ship with his friends. All the while, Officer Jenny sat there listening, taking notes every few seconds.

Then Ash got to the part where he told Dexter to send a transmission to Professor Oak, and Officer Jenny raised an eyebrow.

"Did you use some sort of device to do this?" she asked.

Ash shook his head. "No, my Porygon2 sent it for me." He reached for Dexter's PokeBall and tapped the release button. The Normal-type appeared next to Ash's hospital bed and looked around. Its eyes settled on Ash in his hospital bed and gown and looked at him in concern.

Officer Jenny moved closer to Dexter and looked at it. The Porygon2 noticed her and stared back into her eyes unblinkingly. It warbled and looked back at its Trainer, making sure he was okay.

"So you said this… Porygon2 sent out the distress call?" Officer Jenny asked. Ash nodded in confirmation.

"It was my starter." Ash said. "Professor Oak gave it to me."

The policewoman turned to the professor. "Is this true?" she asked.

Oak responded with a nod. "Yes, I was the one who gave Porygon2 to him. I saw he had potential, and gifted it to him on his first day as a Trainer. One of the main reasons was to keep him safe."

Officer Jenny thought for a moment before settling back down in her chair. "Alright then." she replied. "Please continue."

Ash then talked about their encounter with the executives, in which Officer Jenny raised her eyebrows and started writing furiously. Any information on the executives was crucial information to the league. So far, very little was known about them apart from their identities.

"So you battled with them, correct?" Officer Jenny asked. "What kind of Pokemon did they have?"

"Proton had a Crobat and a Weavile, and Petrel had a Weezing and a Raticate." Ash responded. "I remember Proton saying he was going to kill us for destroying his operation in Mt. Moon before we battled."

"Wait, you've engaged with Team Rocket before?" Jenny asked with an eyebrow raised.

Ash nodded. "Four times including during the S.S. Anne. The first time was in Viridian City, then my friends and I stopped them in Mt. Moon, and then I met another Team Rocket grunt on Nugget Bridge."

"So you and your friends were the ones responsible for leading the League to their Mt. Moon hideout?" the officer asked, still writing a lot on her notepad. "That explains a lot, actually. Continue."

Then finally, Ash went into detail of him, Nate and Angelina jumping off the ship, passing out, and ending up here. After Officer Jenny stopped writing, she closed her notepad and stood up.

"Thank you for the information, Ash." she said. "The League will definitely be happy to use this. I wish you well." With that, she briskly walked out of the room, leaving Ash with Professor Oak and his mom.

It was then that Ash noticed the blank expression on his mother's face, and he gave her a worried look. "Mom… are you mad at me?"

She shook her head and started to rub her temple. "Ash, you know I could never be mad at you." she said with a sigh. "It's just… I'm worried about you. All I wanted was for you to have a normal journey. Now you're in the hospital, being questioned by the police. It's just too much to handle."

Professor Oak put a hand on Delia's shoulder. "Delia, I wouldn't have sent Ash on this journey if I didn't think he was prepared. Your son is smart, hard-working, and headstrong. Just like his father. He can do this, you just have to believe in him."

Delia sighed for the umpteenth time and looked at her pride and joy on the hospital bed. "You're right, Samuel." she said. "Ash, just promise me you'll be careful."

The boy gave his mother a thumbs-up. "You got it, Mom." Ash then remembered something, and he reached into his bag and pulled out his soggy Pokedex.

"Professor, my Pokedex got soaked when I fell into the water." Ash said as he handed the wet device to him. "Do you think I'll be able to get a new one?"

Oak frowned as he tried to turn it on, but failed. "Yep, this one is busted." he confirmed to Ash. "I'll have to take it back to the lab and fix it. It shouldn't take too long, and I can get it back to you by the time you're discharged."

"Sounds good." Ash said. "Thanks a lot."

"No problem, my boy. Stay safe." With that, his mother and the Professor exited the room, leaving Ash by himself. Dexter floated up onto the hospital bed and levitated next to its Trainer. Ash smiled. It was good to be alive.

A few days later, Ash was released from the hospital. He sighed in relief as he walked through the double doors. Freedom at last. The numerous tests, constant sitting in bed, and smell of the chemicals they used to clean the rooms had made him restless. He wanted nothing more than to be outside, training for their next gym battle.

He was currently in the woods by the Pokemon Center, looking at his new TM case, as well as the three TMs that came with it. He was finally able to get a good look at them, and took out the TMs for Double Team, Protect, and Hyper Beam.

He planned to teach Double Team to Kit once she recovered from her injuries. She was pretty frail, so a move like this could definitely help her on the battlefield. It was a useful technique that could confuse opponents by producing exact copies of the user. The opponent wouldn't be able to distinguish between them, which made the move good at causing chaos and disarray.

Protect was even more useful, since almost every Pokemon could learn it and allowed the user to manifest a shield that could stop almost any attack without fail. The move itself was quite taxing, but allowed the user to stop an attack and counter with their own. Ash thought back to when Gary used it with his Wartortle. It was a pretty useful technique that could come in handy in many situations. He was planning to teach it to Petal once he recovered as well, and possibly Dexter too.

Hyper Beam was a very surprising move for Ash however. It was one of the most powerful moves discovered, and was utterly devastating when it met its mark. Any Pokemon hit by it would take huge damage, with a very good chance of knocking them out in one hit.

However, the move was even more taxing than Protect, since the user had to rest for about twelve seconds before it could use another move. If it was pulled off in the right situation however, it could be very effective.

As of now, Dexter was the only one who could learn it, and Ash had taken to teaching it the new move right away. He took out Dexter's PokeBall, and turned around. On the other side was a small slot. He pushed the disc inside, and part of it went through. Dexter's PokeBall started to glow bright white, and the glow continued for about eight seconds before stopping. Ash took the TM out of the slot and put it back in the case.

He released Dexter from its PokeBall. It warbled and turned to its Trainer.

"You ready to try out your new move?" Ash asked, waving the TM in front of Dexter with a smile. Dexter nodded its head rapidly, looking at Ash intently. He looked around, trying to find a suitable target for practice. His eyes settled on a large tree out in the open.

"Use Hyper Beam on that tree!" Ash commanded, pointing toward it. Dexter nodded and started charging up whitish energy in its beak, the energy particles collecting to form an orb as it grew little by little. It launched the devastating beam at the tree, engulfing it in white light and causing a large explosion, snapping the tree in half and scaring some poor Pidgeys half to death as they flew away from them. The tree fell to the ground with a crash, and Ash winced.

Dexter fell to the ground, too weak after the attack to continue its levitation. It lowered itself on the ground and sat there, whirring and humming, before being rested enough to continue levitating.

Ash checked his stopwatch that he bought a few hours ago from a nearby store. Dexter had taken about seven seconds to charge up the attack, maintained it for three, and had to rest for sixteen. It wasn't terrible considering this was Dexter's first time using the move, but it still needed some work.

"Nice work, Dexter." Ash said. "We can practice that later. For now, I need you to work on Agility." Dexter nodded, and floated about ten feet away to practice the move.

Agility involved relaxing a Pokemon's body to greatly increase their speed. The user had to swerve back and forth to gather enough energy to pull off the move, and after seeing Eric's Beedrill use it, Ash wanted to take advantage of the move too. Most of the time, Dexter had to use Conversion 2 to shrug off damage, which took about four seconds to activate, so this would give another way of avoiding damage.

While Dexter was practicing, Ash released Slowpoke from its ball. The Dopey Pokemon just laid there, unmoving with unfocused eyes.

"Hey Slowpoke." he said. "Now that you're with me, I wanted to know if you would be okay with battling with me and my team. I'm traveling the Kanto region in order to become a Pokemon Master, and I was wondering if you would be okay with battling for me. If not, you can still stay with us and travel. I won't force you."

A long pause and a slow nod later, Ash beamed. "Thanks so much, Slowpoke!" he said cheerfully. "I promise I'll make you the strongest Slowpoke ever! Now let's see your moves…"

Ash took out his shiny new Pokedex delivered to him just a few hours ago by Oak. He was able to fix it and had teleported to Cinnabar Island as soon as possible to give it to him.

While Oak was there, he had confirmed for Ash that Nate and Angelina were indeed alive, and he felt all the worry flow out of his body. The professor had gotten an earful from both of their parents, especially Angelina's, for not supervising their adventure. Ash chuckled when he heard that. He knew from stories told by both of his friends that their parents weren't as lenient as his mom.

Ash scanned Slowpoke and the Pokedex proceeded to rattle off information about the species.

"Slowpoke. The Dopey Pokemon," the device read aloud. "Slowpoke uses its tail to catch prey by dipping it in water at the side of a river or ocean. However, this Pokémon often forgets what it's doing and often spends entire days just loafing at the water's edge. It is also incredibly slow and dopey, and it takes 5 seconds for it to feel pain when under attack, and even longer for it to notice if its tail has been bitten off."

Ash chuckled after hearing that Slowpoke had a delayed reaction time to pain. The funny thing was that quirk could actually be useful in a battle. He clicked a button showing the moves it knew and the Pokedex read aloud once more.

"This Slowpoke is male and knows the moves Curse, Tackle, Growl, Water Gun, Confusion, Disable, Headbutt, and Surf. Its ability is Own Tempo, which prevents it from becoming confused or being affected by other attacks involving damage to the mind."

Ash nodded his head approvingly. Slowpoke's moveset was actually pretty solid, and he had a few ideas on how to expand upon it. Zen Headbutt was a move the species could learn, and involved focusing psychic power through its skull to deliver a powerful blow. Slowpoke already had Headbutt, so he was confident he could get it down in a day or two. He also remembered that he had the TM for Water Pulse from Misty, so he withdrew Slowpoke back into its ball and repeated the same process he had done for Hyper Beam.

Ash released Slowpoke back out and looked around for a suitable target. He finally found a medium-sized rock a few feet away.

"Okay, Slowpoke!" Ash said. "Water Pulse on that rock!"

Slowpoke was able to process the short command rather quickly, and its eyes glowed light blue as it summoned a large orb of water from its maw and shot at the rock. The orb exploded when it came in contact with the rock, blowing a large chunk of stone off of it.

Ash grinned. It lacked the power of a more refined Water Pulse, but it still had potential. A couple more days of practice and he'd be able to use it in battle.

"Again." he commanded.

A few days later, Kit and Petal had recovered from their injuries and had joined the team in training, practicing their new TMs. Kit was focusing on creating as many copies as she could while Petal was focusing on holding Protect for as long as possible without tiring out.

Dexter was having some trouble with Agility however, and couldn't seem to get the technique down. Ash watched as it struggled to manifest the glow that Agility created around the user's body. It frustratingly warbled at another failed attempt and lowered its head.

"Hey Dexter." he said. The Porygon2 looked up at its Trainer as he walked toward it. "Don't give up just yet. Try pretending you're shaking Kit off your body as you swerve."

Dexter nodded and kept that in mind. The Eevee had taken to using Dexter as practice for her Bite attack as well as Double Team, so the Porygon2 often had to shake her off during sparring practice. The experience was not enjoyable for it to say the least, but the tip helped it visualize what it needed to do.

Ash looked over to see Slowpoke and Petal sparring with each other. Petal's Grass typing was effective against Slowpoke's Water typing, and its Psychic typing was effective against Petal's Poison typing. It was a good matchup that helped both Pokemon stay on guard around each other. Slowpoke was trying to master Zen Headbutt while Petal blocked it with Protect, helping each other practice their moves.

Suddenly, six Eevees ran up to him and started jumping up on him, knocking him down to the ground. Ash waved them away and all of them dissipated except for Kit. He chuckled.

"Nice work mastering Double Team." Ash said with a chuckle. "You better not use it for trouble though. I don't want hundreds of Eevees flooding my room."

Kit giggled and trotted off him. Ash put his hands on his hips and smiled. Things were slowly turning back to normal.

"Oh hey Ash!" a voice said from behind him. "I didn't think you'd still be here!"

Ash turned around and saw Harvey walking toward him, a large Arcanine accompanying him through the forest. The Legendary Pokemon looked to be at least Elite Four level, and was slowly walking by its Trainer, each step seeming to scorch the ground when it placed its paw. Ash waved to him and grinned.

"Hey Harvey." he said. "I'm just doing a bit of training."

The older boy nodded. "Thinking of challenging Blaine?" he asked. Ash paused and thought for a moment. Blaine was often known as an eccentric man by most, and preferred to hide away who-knows-where working on inventions. Still, another gym badge would be nice.

"Probably." Ash said. "I'll probably train for another week before I challenge him though."

"Mind if we help?" Harvey asked. "Arcanine's been wanting to stretch her legs, and she's a fire type like what Blaine has. I'll even let you use all four of your Pokemon against mine."

Ash stopped to consider this. Harvey's Arcanine looked really strong, and would provide some really good practice for Blaine. It would also give his Pokemon a chance to test out their new moves on an actual opponent. Who knows, maybe he'd actually win.

He grinned. "Sounds like a plan."

A few minutes later, Ash and Harvey were able to find a large clearing with enough space to battle without setting the whole place on fire with Arcanine's attacks. Harvey motioned for the fire dog to step forward, and Ash admired how majestic it looked under the sun.

He decided he would let his Pokemon decide which moves they would use. Ash definitely couldn't command four Pokemon at once, and he wanted to see firsthand how they were able to function without a Trainer guiding them.

Before the battle, Ash knelt down and faced Slowpoke, who was lazing about, even on the battlefield. The boy felt bad for putting Slowpoke against an

"Okay Slowpoke." Ash said. "This is your first real battle with me. Just try your best, and don't worry about messing up."

Slowpoke nodded after about five seconds, and Ash smiled before getting up from his crouching position.

"You ready, Ash?" Harvey called from across the battlefield. Ash gave him a thumbs up. This would be the hardest battle his team would experience. Facing off an ACE Trainer's Pokemon was no joke.

"Go." They both said at the same time.

Arcanine rushed forward using Flame Charge, inginiting its body in flames, while Ash's Pokemon got into a battle formation. Kit rushed forward and met the Flame Charge with an Iron Tail, pushing the Legendary Pokemon a couple of inches back. As Kit was about to regroup with the others, she was blasted back by a Flamethrower attack.

Petal took this opportunity to use Spore Gas in hopes of shutting down Arcanine. Slowpoke decided to support Petal with a Water Pulse. However, the spores were incinerated by another Flamethrower, and Arcanine manifested a Protect to stop the Water Pulse.

While that was happening, Dexter used Conversion and fired a powerful Thunderbolt at Arcanine, catching it off guard and dealing quite a bit of damage. However, Arcanine was done with being defensive.

It shot forward with a Flare Blitz, and Petal barely had enough time to manifest a Protect to shield his teammates. It swatted Kit away with an Iron Tail before it could use Bite, and destroyed Dexter's Thunderbolts with a Dragon Pulse.

Arcanine jumped back and tried to use Flamethrower on Petal, but the Gloom stepped behind Slowpoke so it could take the blast, thanks to its typing. The Dopey Pokemon took the Flamethrower with ease, however, Arcanine rushed forward with grace and grabbed Slowpoke's tail with a Thunder Fang, her jaws sparkling with electricity, before throwing it toward a nearby tree. Slowpoke slammed into the tree and slumped, although it was seemingly unfazed by the attack. Then the pain set in and its eyes became swirls.

Using the commotion as cover, Kit used Double Team, and eight more Eevees appeared and leapt at the giant fire dog, who stepped back and unleashed yet another

Flamethrower, dissipating the copies and catching the real Kit in the blast. She finished Kit off with a Flame Charge, slamming her into a tree and knocking her out.

While Arcanine was distracted, Kit used Stun Spore, coating Arcanine with the yellow powder. The fire-type winced in pain at the paralysis, but closed its eyes and igniting its body once more, the flames much larger than when it used Flame Charge or Flare Blitz, and shot a supercharged fireball at Petal, which created a large explosion and blew Petal back at least twenty feet. Arcanine's body then started to glow a ghostly turquoise color, as it recovered from using the move.

Dexter, seeing its comrades fall, decided to go for a last ditch effort and charged up a Hyper Beam, the white orb of energy growing bigger and bigger by the second. As the fire dog was about to charge in for another attack, it was caught in the blast, the supercharged beam denting the ground beneath it and pushing back Arcanine, its face contorted in pain. The Porygon2 finally succumbed to the exhaustion it felt after releasing such a devastating attack, and it lost its levitation and collapsed to the floor.

Ash looked at Arcanine, who was breathing heavily. Her body was littered with bruises and scrapes, but otherwise she hadn't shown any signs of exhaustion throughout the fight before. It was clear that Ash and his team were outclassed.

"Good job, girl." Harvey said. "Take a rest." He pulled out a Luxury Ball and recalled her back into it. The older boy turned to Ash as he crouched over Petal, inspecting his wounds. The Gloom had probably received the worst of the injuries, and Ash was worried he'd have to go back to the hospital again.

"Your Gloom is fine, Arcanine didn't rough him up too badly." Harvey said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a spray bottle with a green liquid inside. "Use this burn heal on the scorch marks. They should heal in a few hours."

Ash nodded and applied the medicine to the fainted Gloom before recalling him and the rest of his party back into their PokeBalls. He shook his head and sighed. "I lost…" he mumbled.

Harvey gave him a sympathetic smile. "Hey, don't feel bad." he said. "We were going easy on you. For what it's worth, your Pokemon were able to hold their own against Arcanine quite well. They even forced her to use Burn Up."

Ash cocked his head. "Burn Up?" he asked.

Harvey nodded. "I'm not surprised you don't know about it." he said. "Burn Up is exclusive to only a select few Pokemon, and takes weeks, if not months of training to master. It involves a Pokemon exerting most of its energy into one attack, completely draining it of its firepower and causing it to lose its fire typing temporarily. I had to have Blaine teach me how to use it, and it took months for my Arcanine to learn while I was staying in that super hot volcano. Worst experience of my life, but it was worth it."

Ash nodded, unable to believe such a move existed. He had never heard of a move that caused a Pokemon to lose their typing. Conversion and Conversion 2 only changed typings, but losing it was another matter entirely.

"Anyways," Harvey said, clasping his hands together. "Back to your performance. Your Pokemon are strong for someone with only three badges. I'm especially interested in your floating bird, it has a lot of potential. I can't really give you advice on a Pokemon I've never seen before, but try teaching it a few new moves."

"Your Gloom is also strong, and the combination of Sweet Scent and Stun Spore it used in the beginning surprised me. Some speed exercises and teaching it Toxic could definitely give you an edge over Blaine.

"Your Eevee is fast, much faster than most of the other ones I've seen. Double Team is really useful for it, so kudos to you for teaching it that. I don't really have anything to say besides training it to be even faster and maybe evolving it soon. If it wants to, of course.

"And finally, your Slowpoke. It's able to take fire attacks very easily, but one Thunder Fang knocked it out, so try training it to take physical attacks better. Blaine is crafty, so he'll definitely have an answer to something like your Slowpoke."

Ash processed the information before hastily nodding. It seemed he still had a lot of work ahead of him before he was to challenge Blaine. He knew Gym Leaders scaled down their power against people depending on the number of badges they had, but if what Harvey said was true, he still had much to learn.

A beeping came from Harvey's watch and he looked at it, his eyebrows raising a bit. "Welp, guess that's my cue to leave." he said. "Good luck on your Gym battle, Ash. Tell Blaine I said hi."

Ash nodded and he watched the older boy run out of the forest. He had a lot to think about after Harvey's advice. He sat down on a rock and rested his chin on his hand.

He thought back to how fast he had been progressing. He had three gym badges and four Pokemon in a span of only two and a half months. He encountered Team Rocket more times than were funny and met many new and peculiar faces throughout his journey.

Ash wanted to get stronger. Strong enough that he could win all eight gym badges, strong enough to win the Indigo Conference.

Strong enough that he wouldn't let his team down ever again.

End of Chapter 10

Author's Note: Okay so… I lied. I was too excited to stop working on this story, so I started editing and making this chapter as soon as possible. Next chapter will be Ash's battle against… Blaine!?

Anyways, I made some edits to previous chapters, adding and deleting things I didn't like. I also added AJ into Chapter 7, although he's not going to be a returning character most likely, so as Dawn would say, no need to worry! You're all caught up even if you didn't read the re-edited chapters.

On another topic, I may hold a poll in the future concerning what evolution Slowpoke will evolve into. Do you guys want a smooth brain Pokemon with Ash, or a galaxy brain Pokemon? I still haven't decided yet, so maybe you guys will!

Also in terms of how I'm going to format Ash's team, he will have a team that is composed of all eighteen types. If I put a Pokemon in his team, that means the next team members will not have the same type as the Pokemon I added. So for example, since I added Slowpoke, he will not be getting any other Water or Psychic types. Kit is an exception though.

However, if I get a lot of people asking for the same Pokemon, I may consider deviating from this rule. I'm planning to limit the amount of Pokemon Ash captures, which is why I'm doing this.

Response time! Feel free to PM me with any questions, comments, or just to say hi! I respond to all of my PMs.

Reader: Ah. I did not know that. I personally prefer Iron Tail though.

Fearofvengance: Thanks! Yeah, Satoshi will improve, not as fast as Ash, but enough to make him decent. Also, Ash will catch Pokemon from other regions, I already have two ideas of which Pokemon he'll get. His original six will be from Kanto however.

Guest: ¡Gracias! Yo no hablo español muy bien…

Gouravsilentreader: Your wish has been granted.

Werewolf36: Hey! Thanks a lot for visiting, and I'm so glad you liked it! I already planned to split up Nate, Angelina, and Ash, but don't worry, they will be making appearances sooner or later. Since Ash is going to be battling them a lot, it would be boring to know what Pokemon and strategies they have throughout the story. Brock and Misty aren't hardcore progidies like these three, so it wasn't really a problem for them. You'll probably see them again by the time Ash gets his fifth gym badge.