Lavender Town Pokemon Center

It was another early morning in Lavender Town. Unlike other mornings though, the sun shined brighter in its ascent, the air felt warmer, and no fog permeated the town whatsoever. Most of the town's residents were still asleep, and still unaware of the improvements. However, like in most instances, Ash Red Ketchum was wide awake and ready to go.

After checking over his supplies for the day, Ash walked out of his room and headed for the main counter, where Nurse Joy was already there, working away. Do Joys ever get any sleep, wondered the boy.

"Excuse me Nurse Joy? asked Ash.

"Yes Ash?" said the Nurse without looking up at all.

"Are my Pokemon ready to go?"

At this, she looked up and smiled. "They sure are. Let me go get them for you real quick."

Nurse Joy left through the standard double doors and soon returned with 4 Pokeballs, a Pikachu, and a Pokemon Egg.

"Here you are Ash. You might also be interested to know that your egg is showing signs of being close to hatching," added Nurse Joy as she handed everything over.

"Really? That's fantastic!" exclaimed Ash, excited at the prospect of his Eevee finally making an appearance. Thanking the nurse for her time, Ash made his way over to the video phone for an important call. Dialing the number, Professor Oak's aged face soon appeared on screen.

"Good Morning Ash. I had a feeling you might be giving me a call soon," mysteriously said the professor as he sipped his morning coffee.

"You did?" Ash asked in confusion.

"Yes. I received a very interesting phone call the other day from a certain regional champion. Just last night, I received another phone call from a hospital in Lavender Town. It was my old friend Mr. Fuji, and he had quite the tale to tell," explained the Professor. "Do you have anything you want to tell me young man?" Oak asked with a stern look at the young boy.

"I-I-I... Yes. I guess I do need to catch you up on a few things," Ash responded with guilt. Over the next half hour, Ash described the events aboard the S.S. Anne and in Lavender Town in great detail, leaving nothing out. At the end of it, Professor Oak was indeed looking rather cross.

"Ash, do you remember what I asked you to do on the day before you left Pallet Town?" questioned Oak.

"Please try to be more careful in the future Ash. You have friends and family at home that will worry a great deal about you, myself included." Ash remembered those words clearly. "Yes sir..."

"For your sake, I will not be telling your mother what you have been up to, but I will say it is selfish of you to put yourself at risk when you know you have loved ones waiting for you at home," lectured Professor Oak.

"I can't promise I won't help a person or a Pokemon who needs it, but I will not go looking for danger professor, and I'm sorry for making you worry," answered the contrite boy.

"Ok Ash. Now, why don't you tell me what you need this morning my boy," smiled the professor.

Ash's eyes widened as he had momentarily forgotten why he even called the man in the first place, thanks to the tongue-lashing he had just received. "Of couse. I am in Lavender town to catch a Ghost Pokemon for my upcoming battle with Sabrina in Saffron City. The only Ghost Pokemon that I know of here in Lavender town are Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar. They all have a poison-type component and Butterfree's Psybeam attack would be a great help in catching one of them. Not to mention, bug attacks are super-effective against Psychic Pokemon," reasoned Ash.

"You would like to swap out a Pokemon for Butterfree then?" asked Professor Oak.

"Yes Professor. Nurse Joy also mentioned that my Pokemon Egg will be hatching soon. With that and the Ghost Pokemon I am going to catch, I will need to send you another one too."

"Understandable. Which Pokemon will you be sending over?" the curious professor asked.

"Pidgeotto and Ivysuar," Ash said right away.

"Ivysaur? Congratulations Ash, and very well. Send them over and I will transfer Butterfree." The transfer was quickly commenced and the Pokemon were exchanged.

"Thanks Professor! Please say hi to Clefairy for me," Ash said with a wave.

"I will. Take care young man," Oak said, severing the connection.

Butterfree in hand, Ash prepared to make one final trip to the Pokemon Tower.

The Pokemon Tower

Walking into the tower, Ash was happy to see several townsfolk inside, paying their respects to the departed. It was a nice contrast to the previously empty tower from yesterday. Figuring Pokemon were not likely to appear with so many people around, Ash decided to go higher. It was when he reached the the fifth floor that Ash noticed he was alone. Seeing this, he released Butterfree at once.

"Hey Butterfree! How have you been?" Ash asked his bug Pokemon, giving it a pat on the head.

"Free! Free!" exclaimed the jolly Pokemon, very happy to see his trainer and Pikachu, who gave a little wave.

"That's great buddy! Right now, we are looking to catch a Ghost Pokemon for an upcoming Gym Battle, which I also want you to take part of by the way," Ash added. "Ready to take a look around?" Butterfree nodded and the two Pokemon and trainer began their search in earnest.

By the second hour into the search, Ash was starting to worry that he might never catch a Ghost Pokemon. The boy moved to scratch his head when he noticed something odd. Ash's hand connected with his hair, missing his absent hat completely. Then the giggling started to happen. Ash, Butterfree, and Pikachu whirled around. Floating in mid-air was a purple mass with two disembodied hands, eyes, and a mouth... and it was wearing his hat. Ash identified the it in question as a Haunter.

At first, he didn't know whether to laugh or get angry at the sight, but logic quickly won the battle and he refused to waste this chance.

"Butterfree, use Psybeam!" Ash called out. Butterfree emitted psychic purple waves, easily connecting with Haunter, who had been distracted with his own goofy behavior. The Ghost Pokemon wailed in pain at the attack, before deciding to get serious.

Haunter aimed its fists in Butterfree's direction and hurled them away from its body, towards Butterfree, for a Shadow Punch attack.

"Send those fists right back with your Gust Butterfree!" yelled Ash. With a mighty wave from its wings, Butterfree blew Shadow Punch back to where it came from, scoring another super-effective hit on Haunter.

Seeing the Ghost Pokemon was weak, Ash grabbed a Pokeball from his belt. "Pokeball Go!" The ball flew from Ash's hands and hit Haunter on the head, sucking it into the Pokeball. Ash's hat fell out of the middle of the air along with the Pokeball.

Ash, Butterfree, and Pikachu had a terse few moments, while the Pokeball shook, but the end result was the same as Ash's previous attempts. The ball gave a ding and Ash had yet another Pokemon on the team.

"YEAHHHHHHH!" Ash exclaimed with a might fist pump. Running over to grab his Pokeball, and retrieve has fallen hat, Ash proceeded with HIS, AND NOT MISTY'S, pose. "We caught a Haunter!"

"Free! Free!

"Pi! Pikachu!"

On the Road - Route 8

Having finally caught his Ghost Pokemon, Ash and the gang left Lavender Town behind them. They were currently traveling west, on Route 8, towards Saffron City. The route largely consisted of a long dirt road with forests of trees on either side. The middle of the route contained acres of gated fields with wild Pokemon roaming the area. It was around here that the group was currently camped out at, after a few days of travel.

When not taking care of his egg, Ash had been largely focusing on training Butterfree, Haunter, and Krabby. The former two for the upcoming Gym Battle, and the latter due to the Pokemon's limited experience. Haunter had a bit of an attitude problem at first, wanting to goof off more often than not, but he finally seemed to be coming around, to Ash's relief.

At the moment, Butterfree was off trying to learn Silver Wind for the upcoming battle, with encouragement from Pikachu and Charmeleon. Ash had other plans for Krabby and Haunter.

"Hey Misty," Ash said, trying to get the red head's attention.

"What's up Ash?" questioned the girl.

"What do you think about having a battle here and now with some of our new Pokemon?" proposed the boy.

"That sounds like fun!" exclaimed Misty. "How many Pokemon did you have in mind?"

"I was thinking 2 on 2. I want to give Krabby and Haunter some real battle experience," explained Ash.

"I guess that will work. Horsea could use some experience, but I can't really use Magikarp, since it only knows Splash," sighed Misty

"Would you mind using Starmie?" asked Ash. "Haunter could use some practice against a Psychic type," clarified the boy.

"Starmie doesn't exactly know any Psychic type moves, but why not," agreed Misty.

With the logistics out of the way, the two took their places opposite one another and prepared for battle.

"Misty calls, Horsea!" Out popped the blue sea-horse Pokemon on Misty's side of the field.

"Let's do it Krabby!" Likewise, the red crab Pokemon appeared on Ash's side of the field.

Krabby has done well picking up the new moves I wanted him to learn in training. Time to see it put into practice, thought Ash.

"Krabby, use Mud Shot," called Ash to start the battle. Krabby aimed a claw at Horsea and launched a fast blob of mud towards Horsea.

"Stop it with your Water Gun Horsea!" countered Misty. Water spouted from Horsea's nose and met the Mud Shot head on, cancelling out both attacks.

Attacking from a distance won't work. We're going to have to get closer, concluded Ash. "Start heading towards Horsea at full speed Krabby!"

Faster than one would think possible, Krabby began to to speed towards Horsea on four legs. The early morning running was clearly showing dividends.

"No way I'm letting you get close to pull off one of your crazy stunts Ash! Use Smokescreen Horsea," smirked Misty. The Water Pokemon released a great quantity of smoke in Krabby's direction, surrounding Ash's Pokemon and stopping it in its tracks.

Good thing Krabby knew a certain egg move already, Ash thought with a small smile. "Disappear Krabby!"

"Water Gun!" Misty followed. Once again, water sped out of Horsea and headed straight into the smoke where Krabby presumably waited. The sound of the attack making contact was absent though, confusing Misty, while Ash continued to smile.

When the smoke cleared, Misty's eyes widened as a great hole was revealed, and Krabby was nowhere to be seen. Before she could say anything, Krabby burst through the ground below Horsea and delivered a powerful Dig attack, slamming Horsea in the air.

"Jump after it Krabby and finish up with Vice Grip!" yelled Ash. The crab Pokemon leaped with its claws open, ready to squeeze the small blue Pokemon.

"Aim down at Krabby and use Bubblebeam Horsea!" Misty desperately responded.

I think I see an opportunity here, Ash thought. "Adjust the aim of that Vice Grip and squeeze Horsea's nose shut!"

Just before Horsea was about to release the water, Krabby arrived and sealed the nasal passage up, building up water pressure within Horsea.

"Use your other claw and send Horsea back to the ground with Metal Claw!" ordered Ash. Krabby's other claw glowed and collided with Horsea at a high speed, while simultaneously releasing its grip on Horsea's nose, rocketing the blue Pokemon towards the ground. The momentum from Metal Claw and the vast of amount of water spewing out all at once resorted in a hard and fast crash into the ground for the poor sea-horse Pokemon.

"HORSEA!" cried out Misty in worry. When the dust settled, her Pokemon was buried in a small crater with swirls on its eyes.

THAT WAS OVER THE TOP ASH!" Misty yelled, angry at the poor state of her Pokemon.

A mixture of emotions, both annoyance and sorrow, flashed through Ash's face. "It's a battle Misty... I'm not going to hold back. I'm sorry Horsea is hurt though."

Misty didn't know how to respond to that, so she simply called back her Pokemon instead. "Fine then. Go Starmie!" called out the peeved Water Pokemon trainer.

Meanwhile, Ash recalled Krabby. "Good work on your first battle Krabby. You deserve a good rest. Ok Haunter, I choose you!"

Haunter emerged on the battlefield with a smile that promised mischief and mayhem, which Ash of course noticed. "It's battle time Haunter, you can fool around later." Haunter gave his trainer a quick nod and his smile turned into something more malicious, as he focused on the Starmie on the other side of the battlefield.

"We're making the first move this time. Bubble Beam Starmie!" Misty ordered with a remaining hint of anger. The tip top of Starmie's body aimed straight ahead and a stream of bubbles poured out, making a bee line for Haunter.

Time to try out one of the strategies we have been working on, Ash thought. "Double Shadow Punch Haunter!"

"Double?" Misty said in confusion.

"One fist headed straight for the oncoming Bubble Beam, while the other disappeared. Though the fist did slow the stream down, Starmie's battle experience proved to be the difference, as it was soon overpowered, and Bubble Beam connected with Haunter, albeit with less power. Haunter took some damage, but managed to hold its ground.

"Hah! Nice going Starmie," smirked Misty.

"You might want to wait before you celebrate," Ash smirked back. The second fist materialized right behind Starmie, and slammed into the Pokemon's back, driving it to the ground, and sliding towards Haunter.

The smirk indeed transformed into a scowl on Misty's face. "You and your stupid convoluted plans," Misty muttered with annoyance.

"That's not the end of it either," Ash continued. "Hypnosis Haunter!"

Misty, distracted by the sneak attack, hadn't noticed that Haunter had slowly floated towards Starmie, who was already closer to the Ghost Pokemon thanks to the attack to the back. As a result, Starmie had no chance to dodge as psychic waves slowly lulled the Pokemon to sleep.

"DANG IT ASH!" cried out Misty in frustration.

Ash ignored her, focused on finishing things up. "Now finish up with a Shadow Punch barrage!" Floating right over the asleep Starmie, Haunter began to pummel the poor Pokemon with rapid punches. Soon enough, the constant super-effective punches had the intended effect, and Starmie fainted.

"Way to go Haunter!" Ash jubilantly replied, giving his Pokemon a high five. Haunter took it a step further though and grabbed his trainer, spinning him around while laughing.

All the while, Misty's rage was beginning to boil over. Those poor fools were about to find out what it meant to anger her.

"ASH RED KETCHUM!" the girl yelled one final time. Ash and Haunter turned towards the girl and noticed a fire in her eyes, as she began to loudly stomp towards them."

"Come on now Misty, nobody likes a sore loser," Ash said offhandedly.

Big Mistake... Misty walloped Ash with a big bonk on the head, sinking him to the ground and creating a nice big red bump.

"Ow! What was that for? H-Hey, what are you doing?" Ash asked, as he tried to crawl away and Misty walked forward again.

"BROCK! HAUNTER! SOMEBODY! HELP!" cried Ash. Brock ignored the pleas of his young friend, busy feeding Cubone from a bottle. Haunter on the other hand, was just laughing and making faces at his helpless trainer.

Traitor, thought Ash about his Pokemon. He had no more time for thoughts though, as Misty descended once again with a flurry of bonks and bruised. Ash would remember that day as a painful one... But also as the one where he resolved to never purposely antagonize the future Water Pokemon Master again.

Saffron City Entrance

A week had passed since the battle with Misty's Pokemon and Misty herself. Luckily, Ash had healed quite nicely, while apologizing profusely for whatever he did wrong. Not that he actually knew what he did wrong, but he wisely kept that last part to himself. Ash also made good use of his time to continue training. The morning runs continued to build up team speed and endurance for one thing. Butterfree seemed to have gotten Silver Wind down as well, which would be a big help against Sabrina. Most importantly, in Ash's opinion, he was able to give Haunter and Krabby more battle experience against several trainers the group ran into along the way. These trainers didn't beat Ash up when he won either, which was another boon for the boy.

Today, the group finally found themselves at the eastern entrance to Saffron City. This was a far cry from Lavender Town, which was a small and peaceful settlement. Huge buildings towered over the group, as they marveled at the major metropolis that was Saffron City. Big businesses, clubs, a train station, and even an additional fighting type gym, which Ash would certainly be checking out at some point, were just some of the landmarks that made up the city. It was late though, and there would be time to explore later. With that in mind, the group stepped through the gates, intending to find the local Pokemon Center.

As the group crossed the barrier and stepped into Saffron City, Ash's backpack violently began to shake.

"What the heck?" muttered Ash, who put down his backpack.

"What's going on Ash?" questioned Misty.

"Somethings up with my backpack," Ash muttered, pointing at the shaking bag.

"Gee, it can't be the Pokemon Egg trapped inside, could it?" sarcastically pointed out Brock.

Ash sweat dropped at his momentary stupidity. "Right... My bad." Opening the bag, he found that Brock hit the nail on the head. Ash's egg was shaking fast.

"I-I think it's about to hatch!" Ash said excitedly, pulling the egg from the incubator. A few second later, the egg glowed a shining white light and cracks formed rapidly. Right before the groups eyes, the Pokemon Egg broke apart.

When the light broke down, the brown eyes of a baby Eevee looked at the human who was holding her and smiled. Ash would have smiled back, but he was momentarily stupefied, as were Brock and Misty.

After all, Eevee did not normally possess a silver-grey coloring.

END CHAPTER

Surprise! Bill did say that this wouldn't be a normal Eevee, did he not? In other news, Ash catches a Haunter, which he will not let go! I also threw in a battle with Misty to spice things up. Hopefully I captured her temper and Haunter's playfulness. Finally, Butterfree is back and will get to participate in a Gym Battle!

Next Time - We catch up with another character, Ash and Co. react to the newly born Eevee, and Ash battles Sabrina.

Artist1990 - Thanks for the review! I like to think that Pikachu is aware, but is strongly uncomfortable around Clefairy. This is similar to the crush Buneary had on Pikachu in the anime. Besides, his focus, like Ash's, is to get stronger. I will try to find a way to bring back Clefairy soon, but having a hard time thinking how TBH.

Remember to review with your thoughts/critique :)

Smell ya later!