Ok, the next mainline games have been announced. They're going to be called Pokémon Violet and Scarlet. While I don't have a Switch or PC to play these games on, I am still excited for the Ninth Generation of Pokémon. The graphics are still pretty bad from the first trailer, but what can you expect from Gamefreak?

I think that is the last generation on the Switch. The 3ds only had 2 generations and I think the Switch will the same. Instead of replacing the Switch completely, I'm thinking that Nintendo will replace it with the Super Nintendo Switch, like the NES and SNES. That will hopefully spell a major graphical upgrade for the pokémon series.

Also, a new animated series based in Hisui from Legends Arceus has also been announced. I wonder if this a continuation of their efforts to replace Ash Ketchum as the main protagonist and face of Pokémon. It could also be them admitting defeat from trying to replace Ash and instead splitting the pokémon fandom into two.

One, for the little kids, where Ash would the protagonist and pokémon series would T rated. The other for more teenage kids and adults, where someone else is the protagonist and the series is more mature with violence, romance, and stuff.

We'll see in a few months but I'm personally hoping for the second option. 2022 is shaping up with a major turning point for the future of pokémon.

Also, after I posted the last chapter, some people's review said that I was betraying the original premise of the story. That the power of Logic beats Friendship. Assuming that this complaint was stemming from my decision to have Ash lose to AJ, I would like to explain my thought process a little bit.

Ash's loss here is simply due to the fact that AJ was much stronger than he should have been, due to him having won a hundred matches. Ash winning against such an opponent would be completely illogical and break the rules of the pokémon universe.

Also, people were angry that Ash was travelling with Leaf. On that point, I would like to reassure you that she is simply a temporary companion and they will part ways after the SS Anne.


Route 6, 10 days later

The past week had been one of the best weeks of Ash's journey. Travelling together with his new girlfriend was a novel and enjoyable experience for him. Even though he was in a relationship, that didn't mean that he was slacking in his training.

His defeat at the hands of AJ still stung. His first defeat ever had been a humiliating and eye opening one for him. He had starting training again with a fire, focusing more on power and speed. All of his pokémon had made significant progress, with Kadabra making the most.

He had been using Kadabra and Trapinch for most of his matches against the local trainers found on these routes. They both were his weakest pokémon at the moment and needed the experience desperately.

Trapinch had used the time to learn the move Laser Focus. The move when combined with Trapinch's bulldoze would help him to inflict devastating damage on rival pokémon. Ash had used it to great success against the local trainers and had even named the combo to keep it a secret from others.

Kadabra had learnt the move Disable, mostly using it to prevent rival pokémon from using their best moves. He had also started learning Psybeam, however it required a level of concentration and power that was out of reach for now. He would be able to perform it reliably when he finished crafting his silver spoon.

Ash had gotten him the chunk of silver in Saffron City, and he had made significant progress in shaping it to a spoon. Ash had also gotten a bunch of new stuff in Saffron, selling his big nugget for a lot of money. He had used the money from that and from his savings to the get the new Rotom Phone.

The Rotom Phone was a new invention from the Galar region, inspired from the Rotom Pokedex from Alola. The phones were expensive due to the presence of Rotom in every one of them. While the Rotoms inside it were far too weak to bother using in battle, they did enable the phone to perform a ton of new things.

The phones were able to connect to the internet, allowing them to perform phone and video calls from anywhere. They were also able to connect to the Pokémon Storage system, allowing Ash to change his pokémon whenever he wanted.

Unfortunately, Ash and Leaf had to speed through Saffron, not staying to challenge Sabrina or the fighting dojo because of their hurry to get to Vermilion. The SS Anne would reach Vermilion in a week, and they wanted to defeat Lt Surge before that.

Leaf had used her winnings to buy a bunch of evolution stones. She had gotten Everstone for her Eevee, who had decided that she wanted to evolve into Slyveon in the future. The everstone would stop her from evolving until she was ready and preventing her from evolving into Espeon or Umbreon.

She had also gotten Fire and Moon Stones to evolve her other pokemon. The moon stone would be used on her Nidorina while the Fire Stone would be used on her newly caught Growlithe. Leaf had caught Growlithe on Route 5 and he was an excitable little fellow.

Unfortunately, buying the stones meant that she was unable to get a Rotom Phone like Ash since evolution stones were very expensive. Ash had wanted to stop her from getting a moon stone, remembering what he had learnt about them from the Clefairy Tribe in Mount Moon. But he was bound by his promise that he wouldn't reveal their secrets and thus, watched helplessly.

Ash buying the Rotom phone had turned out to bite him in the ass. The newspaper Indigo Post had published a groundbreaking story about Ash's adventures in Mount Moon.

The Indigo Post

Team Rocket Defeated, Red Returns?

The League has scored a major victory against Team Rocket. The capture of one of their high ranking "Executives" has dealt a severe blow to the organization and revealed stunning new information. Our sources report that Proton's capture was due to an anonymous tip reported to the Task Force. Apparently, a mysterious trainer was able to singlehandedly able to take out an entire Team Rocket base on their own. Based on Proton's own confessions and the level of destruction, the League believes that Champion Red may have returned from his voluntary exile to defeat Team Rocket. Red's return could have a massive effect on the region, starting with Lance being stripped of his temporary powers. Though we don't know for sure whether Red will indeed take over his old position again, it does seem likely. Whatever the case, readers can rest assured that Red or a similarly powerful trainer is going to eliminate Team Rocket and restore peace to Kanto.

Ash was a little amused by how much the paper had gotten wrong but he was far more pissed that his actions were being attributed to his father. He had called up his mother to tell her truth, to spare her the false hope that his father had returned.

What he had forgotten though, was his mother's tendency to go overboard in trying to protect him. After learning that Ash had been the one to eliminate the Rocket base, she had spent an entire hour berating Ash for his recklessness. She had then spent the next hour guilt tripping him about putting himself in unnecessary danger and what she would do if something happened to him.

She had been on the verge of forcing Ash to abandon his journey and return home. But the truth about the situation and Professor Oak had managed to convince her to not stop his journey. Unfortunately, this meant that Ash had to reveal the truth about the Clefairy Tribe to his mom and Professor Oak. Though, he had gotten Oak to promise that he wouldn't publish the truth of the Tribe's existence and location to the world.

His mom had been delighted to know that he had a girlfriend, which resulted in a very embarrassing situation when she wanted to talk to Leaf. His mom had been very glad that Ash was dating his best friend and she adored Leaf even when they were younger.

Ash had also gotten the chance to talk to Professor Oak and informed him about his decision regarding the fossils. He had chosen to have old Amber revived, while selling the Helix fossil for the money. Oak had warned that the process would take time and he would need 6 six badges before he would be entrusted with the Aerodactyl.


Vermilion City, 5 Days Later

The past two weeks had seen Ash's pokémon grow by leaps and bounds. Ash had reflected over his loss to AJ and was determined not to make the same mistakes again. Beside stepping up the training of his pokémon, he himself had started reviewing his knowledge of pokémon battles.

He was embarrassed about having forgotten that Raticate's ability was Guts and that he had relied too much on Faye's pre learned move set instead of teaching her new moves. He had started memorizing the common moves an abilities of Kanto pokemon and would often quiz himself to make sure that he was learning properly.

Ash had also started using a battle simulator to better learn about the common strategies that were used in League and Gym battles. He had also started viewing League battles of trainers using pokemon that he himself had, such as Saur. These battles would help him understand the optimal moveset and usage for his pokemon.

Saur had learnt the move Seed Bomb to gain a hard hitting STAB move and had started learning Take Down. Saur needed a posion move but unfortunately, his line didn't learn them naturally, so Ash had decided to pick up Toxic and Venoshock at the earliest opportunity.

Luxio had spent the time learning the move Roar and working on the combo move Charging, the move combined Charge and Spark for a devastating combo. The move roar would help Luxio switch out pokémon she was weak to and help break the momentum of the opponent.

Trapinch had already learnt the move Laser Focus earlier in the week, but Ash had pushed him to learn Dig as well. Dig was a powerful STAB move for Trapinch and would provide him an advantage against pesky Electric Types.

Clefairy had spent the week learning the move Moonlight, allowing her to have a reliable recovery move during battle. She had also spent time improving her defenses and resistances, to tank more hits in battle.

Kadabra had finally managed to complete his spoon and after gaining the power boost it provided, was now able to use the move Psybeam without problem. Ash was going to have him work on the move Recovery next.

They both checked into the pokémon center, blushing when they requested a single room instead of two rooms and saw the smile that Nurse Joy gave.


Vermilion Gym, Next Day

Ash was walking to the trainer side of the field since it was his chance to challenge Lt Surge. Leaf had gone before him and had pulled off a commanding victory with her Eevee and Nidorina.

"So, are you going to challenge me boy? Don't seem like a weakling like you can do very much against me" taunted Lt Surge.

After spending the morning trying to reach Lt Surge by solving a complicated puzzle involving switched present in garbage cans, Ash was annoyed at the gym. After hearing what Lt Surge said to him, Ash was now officially pissed. He promised that he was going to make Surge eat his words.

"This will be match between Ash of Pallet Town and Lt Surge for the Thunder Badge. The challenger is allowed substitutions, but the Gym Leader is not" explained the referee.

Lt Surge released a Voltorb as Ash had expected. He released Trapinch and ordered him to perform the strategy that they had worked on beforehand. Lt Surge was befuddled with what Ash's pokemon was doing. Trapinch was digging through the field, but not attempting to hit Voltorb.

"Voltorb keep dodging that Trapinch's dig. Don't let it hit you,"said a confident Surge. Ash smiled as Voltorb spent the next few minutes attempting to dodge his moves instead of retaliating. When he saw that Trapinch had achieved his goal, he ordered him to stop.

"Trapinch now used Bite on Voltorb and try to knock him out," said a smiling Ash. Surge ordered his Voltorb to keep dodging and to use Swift on Trapinch. The Swift stars kept hurting Trapinch, but Ash's strategy soon became obvious.

Ash had ordered Trapinch to keep digging all over the field, because he wanted to prevent Voltorb from dodging all of his moves with its superior speed. The holes were deep and numerous enough that Voltorb was soon trapped in one, with no way to get out.

"Shit boy, that was a decent strategy. Voltorb keep using the Swift and knock that pokémon out" complimented Surge. However, Voltorb was helpless, with no option other than to keep spamming Swift. Trapinch used the opportunity to use Focus Bulldoze. Focus followed by the name of a move, was a codename Ash had come up with. Focus was the secret command for Trapinch to use the move Laser Focus before performing the attacking move.

This strategy guaranteed a critical hit on the opponent, resulting in Trapinch dealing massive damage and confusing opponents. Trapinch's high attack, STAB, critical hit, and Sheer force resulted in the move knocking Voltorb out in one hit.

Surge recalled his Voltorb and sent out a magnemite. Ash had expected this and kept Trapinch out on the field. Ash simply ordered Trapinch to keep using the move Bulldoze.

On some occasions, no strategy was the best strategy, and this was one those occasions. Magnemite's 4 times weakness to ground moves and lack of options prevented it from doing much to Trapinch. Magnemite was knocked out in record time, only managing to damage Trapinch with a Sonic Boom.

Surge recalled magnemite without a word and sent out his signature Raichu. Ash recalled Trapinch and sent out Kadabra. This was Kadabra's first Gym battle and Ash hoped that his strategy would pay off.

Lt Surge's Raichu was a strange creature, he only knew attacking moves, due to Surge's belief that Status moves were for weaklings. Ash had carefully thought out every move of this battle, using the information about Surge on the internet to craft the perfect strategy.

"Kadabra use Psybeam on that Raichu and knock it out. Dodge its move using Teleport," said Ash. Raichu avoided his attack and Surge ordered him to use Thunderbolt on Kadabra knock it out.

Kadabra was unable to dodge the move due to Raichu's speed and dealt significant damage to Kadabra.

"Yes! Kadabra use Disable to stop him from using Thunderbolt and then keep using Psybeam while dodging using Teleport" yelled a pumped up Ash. Kadabra disabled Thunderbolt, forcing Raichu to rely on its physical attacking moves like Double Kick and Quick Attack.

Kadabra was able to dodge his moves easily using Teleport while hurting him with Psybeam multiple times. After only a few Psybeams connecting, Raichu was knocked out and Leaf cheered at his victory.

"Well, boy it seems like I underestimated you. Keep battling like that and you're going cream the trainers at the League" said Surge while shaking his hand. Surge handed him his badge, TM, and earnings.

Surge gave out the TM Thunderbolt, one of the strongest and best electric moves out there. He also handed Ash a "Good luck" scribbled on a piece of paper, with his signature underneath. Ash was unsure what use the Autograph was but decided not to ask.

After they had finished with the gym, Leaf had suggested that they visit the Pokémon Fan Club. Ash had gone along with it, expecting to be a club full of pokemaniacs like him and he was looking forward to challenging them to battle.

Boy, was Ash wrong, the club was comprised mostly of little kids, teen girls, and old people. On hearing that Leaf had an Eevee, the kids and the girls mobbed her. All of them trying to get closer to her, to fawn over how cute Eevee was. One of the girls had even given Eevee a special outfit.

While Leaf was busy with her found fans, Ash was stuck listening to the president prattle on about his favorite pokémon. Ash tried to polite and show some interest in his pokémon, only for the old man to start talking even more animatedly about them.

After suffering through 10 mins on the inanest babble imaginable, Ash was close to ripping his own ears off when the president finally finished. "My boy, you are a remarkable man. Most young people these days have no patience or manners but I'm glad to see that people like you still exist. I like to reward such commendable behavior. Here, take a bike voucher which you can redeem in Cerulean later" admired the President while handing Ash a voucher.

Ash was feeling a little guilty about receiving such a precious gift but soon put it out of his mind. The bike voucher was to be exchanged for a free bike in the Cerulean bike shop. Ash would have to go to Cerulean once he was finished with the SS Anne.


Vermilion Harbor, Next Day

The SS Anne had docked at the harbor last night and now they were beginning to let in visitors. Somehow, as he and Leaf started boarding the ship, Ash had a sinking feeling his stomach. The feeling vanished when they saw an old rival.

"How it's going Ashy boy?"


Ok, so this chapter was shorter than usual and that's due to the SS Anne receiving its own chapter. It's going a wild chapter, with Ash getting a new pokémon and finally battling an old rival.

Also sorry to the reader who guessed Sneasel and Vulpix for the pokemon. Unfortunately, its not going to be either one of them. But thanks for reminding me about trainers from the Mewtwo Strikes Back movie. Definitely going to use them in the future.

Since none of you sent OCs in time for the next chapter to be written, the SS Anne tournament is going to contain anime trainers. I've also started posting this story on Ao3 so check it out there.

The Ao3 version will receive frequent updates to bring it up to pace with this story. After both reach chapter parity, they will both be updated on the same schedule Fridays, and Sundays.

Also, owing to personal commitments and for the purposes of the story, chapter 9 will be delayed a little and released next week with chapter 10. That is why this chapter was released on Sunday instead of Friday.

Also, one final note about Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. The water starter is definitely the cutest of them all. Review and tell me whether you feel that this story is going downhill or which your favorite new starter is.

Ash's pokémon list:

Ivysaur (Saur) – Lv 23 - Tackle, Growl, Vine Whip, Growth, Leech Seed, Razor Leaf, Sleep Powder, Poison Powder, Protect, Magical Leaf and Seed Bomb.

Luxio – Lv 24 - Tackle, Leer, Charge, Thunder Shock, Thunder Wave, Charge, Bite, Protect, Fake Tears and Roar.

Trapinch – Lv 24 - Bite, Sand Attack, Bide, Mud Slap, Bulldoze, Protect, Feint Attack, Laser Focus and Dig.

Clefairy (Faye) – Lv 24 - Sing, Sweet Kiss, Disarming Voice, Encore, Charm, Pound, Copycat, Growl, Defence Curl, Stored power, Minimize, After You, Life Dew Metronome, Thunder Wave, Protect and Moonlight.

Kadabra – Lv 21 – Teleport, Confusion, Disable and Psybeam.