Ok so what has been going on people? You know it feels very weird to write this author note, because I've just written the last author's note and there's pretty much nothing new to say.
But something great has happened in my personal life so I'm over the moon for that. I've received an acceptance offer from a college that has been on the top of my list and I'm still so happy about that.
You know, last month before I began writing fanfic stories instead of just reading stories, I used to think that you required an incredible level of skill to write amazing fanfic stories such as Legend, Traveler, and others.
But I promise you that it is not that hard. If you have been thinking about writing stories, then you should start today. I mean look at me, my stories aren't all that amazing and yet more than a thousand different people have read it.
Also, to the readers, if there's any aspect of the story that you feel can be improved then please review or message me about it. I promise I read all the reviews that I get, and it really spurs me on.
SS Anne, later that Day
The battle between Gary and Leaf had been one of the best battles that the spectators had ever seen. The amount of skill and dedication that both had shown was truly incredible. In the end, Gary's Wartortle had managed to eke out a win against Leaf's Eevee and the crowd had exploded cheering.
Even Ash had to admit that it was the most impressive non-League battle that he had ever seen. It was truly a battle between equals and rivals certainly and it had earned Gary and Leaf some new lifelong fans.
Ash was sure that their battle would be posted on Poketube and would become a massive hit. Especially because it contained Gary, the son of Blue Oak, the Champion of Kanto, and the grandson of Samuel Oak.
He went to both of them and congratulated Gary on his win while hugging Leaf. "That would an amazing battle, seriously. I'm looking forward to our match tomorrow where I'm going to whip your butt Gary" teased Ash. Gary laughed and told him that he was dreaming.
Ash was thankful that he had been watching all of Gary's matches during the tournament and had made detailed notes about all his pokémon, regarding their moves and abilities. That would allow him to prepare a great strategy for tomorrow match, though he knew that no matter what Gary would be a fearsome rival.
SS Anne, Next day
Ash was right about their battle becoming popular. It had become a viral hit amongst trainers and had been watched tens of thousands of times. Leaf had even received romantic proposals from trainers all over Kanto and all Ash could do was feel amused.
Ash was looking forward to his trainer battle against Gary. Their rivalry and friendship went back years and years, back when they had first met each other at Professor Oak's summer camp. Ash was looking forward to notching his first victory against Gary, in fights that would span years and years.
He had even called up his mother, just to check up with her and tell her about today's match. While his mother wasn't still totally on board with Ash being a trainer, she had always made sure to support Ash in whatever way she could, unlike his absentee father.
Ash had even made sure to talk with his team before the battle to prepare he strategy for today's match and to explain to them how important today's match was. His talk had cheered all of them up and they were all raring to go.
He was waiting with Leaf in the trainer break room, prepping himself up for the match when the announcer called his name. He stood up, kissed Leaf, and started walking towards the biggest match of his career so far.
"Well folks are you pumped for this match yet? This is a match between the two rivals of Kanto. This is their first official match and both of them have been hailed as prodigies of Pallet" told the commentator, hyping up the crowd.
"This wil match between Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak. Substitutions and Held items are allowed but item usage is not allowed" explained the referee for the thousandth time.
The digital scoreboard showed that Gary had lost the toss and had to send out his pokémon first. Gary smiled and released a growlithe on the field. Ash was surprised to see the growlithe because Gary had never used him before.
He sent out Trapinch but ordered him to be cautious. Growlithe's intimidate weakened Trapinch's attack, which was unfortunate but bearable. He released Gary's plan as he ordered Growlithe to use Sunny Day while Trapinch was able to launch a powerful Bulldoze on Growlithe.
The attack damaged Growlithe quite a bit but Gary just recalled it and sent out his Exeggcute. Unfortunately, that put Ash into a bind, because with Exeggcute's heightened speed state due to its ability Chlorophyll, none his pokémon were fast enough to deal with it except Kadabra and he would be unable to damage it properly.
Ultimately, Ash decided to recall Trapinch and sent out Faye. He ordered Faye to use Thunder Wave on Exeggcute and paralyze it. Thankfully, Faye was able to land the attack on Exeggcute but was hit with a Mega Drain in return.
From the next few minutes, it was a battle of attrition with both pokémon constantly healing themselves with Moonlight and Synthesis. Exeggcute was able to land a Leech Seed on Faye but due to her ability Magic Guard, the move was useless.
Suddenly just as things were starting to get boring, the Sunny Day ended, and Ash switched out Faye for Trapinch as soon as he was able to. He ordered Trapinch to use Bite on Exeggcute, who due to its far lower speed was unable to dodge.
But as Trapinch hit Exeggcute with a powerful Bite, Exeggcute was able to land a devastating Mega Drain on it, hurting Trapinch a lot and healing Exeggcute somewhat. The attack along with Life Orb's recoil, left Trapinch barely standing but Exeggcute wasn't in much better condition either. He ordered Trapinch to use one last Bite on Exeggcute, promptly Gary to tell it to dodge.
Fortunately, for Ash the paralyze effect flared up at that moment and Trapinch was able to hit Exeggcute with Bite. But the recoil from the Life Orb activated and Trapinch was knocked out as well.
Both Ash and Gary recalled their pokémon, smiling at thrill of the battle and sent out their next pokémon. Ash sent Faye back on the field and Gary released Growlithe back on the field.
"And both the pokémon have knocked out folks. This battle is evenly matched between Ash and Gary right now. But even a single mistake or slip up will tilt the match towards the other" yelled the pumped out commentator.
"Growlithe, show this Clefairy the meaning of power and use Retaliate on her" ordered Gary. Ash yelled for Faye to dodge in horror, but Faye was hit by the extremely powerful move, dealing a ton of damage to her. Thankfully, her eviolite had buffed her defenses up or she wouldn't be able to survive this attack.
Ash, happy that she wasn't knocked out ordered her to use Moonlight. But, while she was able to use it, the move had taken so much out of Faye, that this was the last time in the match that she would be able to use the move.
She regained her half health and Ash ordered her to use Thunder Wave on Growlithe. The move hit Growlithe, paralyzing it but Gary told it to use Howl. The move boosted Growlithe's attack a lot while Ash ordered Faye to use Disarming Voice, hitting Growlithe hard.
"Growlithe now finish off the Clefairy using Fire Fang" yelled Gary. While Ash ordered Clefairy to use Protect, surprising Gary and preventing Growlithe from landing the move. Ash told Faye to use Disarming Voice on Growlithe, hitting him hard and knocking it down to its knees.
Gary desperately yelled Growlithe to use Fire Fang on Clefairy and hit her. The move finally connected despite Faye trying to use Protect. The STAB move boosted by Growlithe's heightened attack knocked Clefairy out.
"And with that Ash's second pokémon has been knocked out. Has Gary secured the match for himself, or will Ash be able to turn it around?" asked the commentator.
Ash grimaced at seeing Faye knocked out and sent out Saur after recalling her. Taking the initiative, Ash ordered Saur to use Magical Leaf from a distance, to keep Saur out of reach from Growlithe's physical moves. Due to Growlithe's lowered speed due to paralysis, it had no choice except to get hit by the Magical Leaf, knocking it out after a second volley.
"And folks, Ash has managed to get the match back on track from himself by knocking Growlithe out. Will Gary's last pokémon be able to secure him the victory or will they fall to Ash and his Ivysaur" yelled the commentator.
Gary stonily recalled his Growlithe and sent out his ace, his starter pokémon Wartortle. Ash was surprised that Gary hadn't gone with a Pokémon that would have the type advantage but he assumed that Gary had a trick up his sleeve.
"Saur, start of the battle using Leech Seed and then use Sleep Powder" ordered Ash. Saur tried but Wartortle simply retreated into its shell, rendering the move useless. Gary pulled out his trump card when he smirked and ordered Wartortle to use Ice Beam.
The move surprised Ash and before he was able to react, Wartortle was able to hit Saur with the Super Effective move, damaging Saur heavily. "Saur use Vine Whip and slam Wartortle into the floor before throwing it into the wall" ordered Ash.
Even as Gary told Wartortle to dodge, Saur was able to wrap his vines around it, throwing it into the wall after slamming it into the floor repeatedly. After getting up from wall heavily damaged, Gary ordered it to use Ice beam on Saur.
The Ice beam knocked Saur back, damaging him again, Saur struggling to stand out. Ash yelled to Saur that he could do it, encouraging him. The encouragement gave Saur strength, allowing him to stand up. As he stood up, his ability Overgrow activated.
"Well folks, just as it looked like the match was lost for Ash, his Ivysaur has managed to get up and its signature ability Overgrow has activated" yelled the commentator, clearly on the edge of his seat.
Both Ash and Gary knew that the next move would decide the battle and they both ordered their pokémon to use Magical Leaf and Ice Beam, respectively. The moves collided in midair, creating a big explosion, releasing smoke and shockwaves. Every person watching the match, from Ash's mother to Professor Oak to Red Ketchum, to Leaf and all the spectators on the SS Anne were on the edge of their seats, waiting for the outcome.
The air cleared and it revealed the condition of both pokémon. Wartortle was knocked out, swirls in its eyes while Saur was on his last legs, struggling to get up but still clearly conscious.
The crowd exploded and people watching from all over cheered on for Ash, from Professor Oak to Delia. "Wow, folks this has been one of the most intense battles that I've ever seen. Both of these trainers have a bright future ahead of them and I'm looking forward to seeing more of them" cheered the announcer.
Both Ash and Gary smiled under the effusive praise and shook each other hands heartily, signaling that though they were rivals, there were no hard feelings between them.
SS Anne, Two Days Later
Well, if Ash had been a little surprised by how popular Leaf and Gary's battle had become, he was a lot more surprised by how popular his and Gary's battle had become.
With the battle trending on Poketube, the magazines had started to write a profile about the new Pallet prodigies. When they discovered that Ash and Gary were sons of the Kanto champions Red and Blue, the media had gone crazy.
The Pokémon section of all newspapers the next day contained a big section about how impressive Gary and Ash's battle had been and whether they would follow in the footsteps of their fathers and be able to dethrone Lance as the Kanto champion.
Ash was overwhelmed by the messages from fans and the hundreds of requests he had received from trainers looking to buy or trade for his pokémon. While Ash had been a little tempted after seeing some of the offers, mostly he had just angry and frustrated. This had resulted in a Karmic situation, with Leaf spending her time laughing at Ash.
Today was the awards ceremony and the commencement event for the Intermediate category. Leaf had won her battle against Tyson yesterday and thus was going to receive Third Place.
Ash was looking forward to receiving the amazing prizes that the SS Anne tournament was known to give out. Last year, the winner of the Advanced category had received a specially bred Deino, which was a legendary prize.
The awards ceremony was first, and Ash, Gary and Leaf had to stand on a podium to receive their trophies while the announcer announced the prizes they were going to receive.
"Leaf Green, the third place trainer will receive a cash prize of 25,000 pokedollars and the full set of League grade evolutionary stones" boomed the announcer, while adorning her with a bronze medal.
"Gary Oak, the runner up will receive a cash prize of 50,000 pokedollars and a Platinum ticket for a week pass to the Safari Zone" said the announcer, while adorning him with a silver medal.
"Ash Ketchum, the winner of the novice category will receive a cash prize of 100,000 pokedollars and will receive a specially bred mystery pokémon" pumped the announcer, while adorning him with a gold medal and handing him a Cherish Ball.
Cherish balls were expensive pokéballs, used only for special occasions or for catching precious pokémon. Given how expensive the pokéball itself was, Ash was extremely hyped to see what pokémon was within.
As was the custom, Ash released the Pokémon on the stage to show the crowd what pokémon he had received. The pokémon that materialized was a small bunny like pokémon with red ear tips.
"Folks, this pokémon is called Scorbunny from the faraway region of Galar, it is the Galarian equivalent of Charmander. It has been specially bred to have great potential and the rare ability Libero, which changes the pokemon's type to the type of move it's about to use" explained the announcer to the spectators.
Ash was pleased that his expectations had paid off and that Scorbunny was an incredible pokémon. He recalled it for now, until he could check it out using Dexter later.
Captain's Quarter, Next Day
Gary was looking to talk to the captain to ask him about when the SS Anne would reach Saffron City when he heard menacing voices coming from inside the cabin. He leaned against the door and tried to listen in to the conversation going on within.
"So, Captain, do you understand what we're saying. Keep out of way during our takeover of the ship or you will face terrible unintended consequences, such as something happening to your wife or son" a woman's voice said from inside the room.
"Yeah, I understand what you're saying, and I won't interfere with Team Rocket's plans. But please promise me that you won't harm any of the people abroad the ship" said the defeated "Captain".
"Good that you know what is in your best interest, Captain," said the venomous female voice.
By now, Gary had heard enough and understood that Team Rocket was on board, and they were planning to take over the ship, though Gary was still confused as to what their goal was. He needed to inform Ash and Leaf about this, and they needed to stop Team Rocket.
Ash and Leaf's suite
Ash was going to check out Scorbunny and then he and Leaf were going to go swim or sunbath, which he was really looking forward to. He pulled his trusty Dexter which he was still using even though he could use Rotom Phone, because he wanted to have a backup device in case, he lost the smartphone somehow.
He pointed the pokédex towards Scorbunny and waited for the pokédex to gather the data and display. Soon, it beeped reading out Scorbunny's information.
Scorbunny – The Rabbit Pokémon
A warm-up of running around gets fire energy coursing through this Pokémon's body. Once that happens, it's ready to fight at full power.
Gender – Male
Ability – Libero
Known Moves – Tackle, Growl, and Ember.
Egg Moves – High Jump Kick, Sand Attack, Sucker Punch and Super Fang.
If Ash had been impressed with Scorbunny before, he was gob smacked by how good Scrbunny's pedigree was. He was truly a pokémon with immense potential and Ash was excited to have him on his team.
"Hey buddy, you are truly an incredible pokémon. Do you want a nickname?" asked Ash. Scorbunny nodded his head and after trying out multiple different names, they finally agreed on the name Bugs.
"Wow Ash you really lucked out with Scorbunny. His ability and egg moves are incredible and I'm betting that his potential is extremely high too. I really wish that had been strong enough to win the tournament" said a jealous but mostly happy Leaf.
"Oh, you did incredible baby. If you hadn't lost against Gary, you would have definitely beat me. Plus, you did get the potent evolutionary stones for your pokémon" reassured Ash.
Just as they were getting ready to leave the suite for sunbathing, Gary burst into the room looking pale and scared. They both surrounded him, concerned about what was troubling him.
"Hey, Gary what happened to you. You look like you just saw a ghost, or did you see an actual ghost type pokémon" asked Ash trying to make a joke to lighten the mood.
"Ash this is no time to make jokes. This a serious situation and you both need to help me" reprimanded Gary. He then explained to both of them what he had heard in the Captain's Quarters and how Team Rocket was planning to attack the ship.
"Shit, what should we do. If Team Rocket is looking to take over the ship, there's not much that we can do to stop them," said an upset Leaf.
Ash went and hugged her while speaking animatedly "Guys we can't just give up. We need to stop Team Rocket's nefarious activities and we can stop them."
Ash then told them about his adventure in the Mount Moon to cheer them up while leaving out the Clefairy tribe in his explanation. After being cheered up by Ash's story, they began discussing possible options to stop Team Rocket.
They discussed calling the League or Professor Oak for help, but they knew that he would be of little help. The League wouldn't' believe them without solid evidence, which they couldn't produce right now.
They decided that their best plan of action to stop Team Rocket was to learn what Team Rocket's plan was and then sabotage it. They decided to search through the ship to find the temporary base that Team Rocket had set up.
Before they started searching the ship, they made sure to heal their pokémon back to full health and stock up on recovery items. Ash and Gary had sent out Saur and Drowzee, to incapacitate any rocket members they might come up against using Sleep Powder and Hypnosis.
SS Anne Top Deck
After hours of searching for suspicious activity within the ship, most of which was spent searching in the hull, because all shadowy and illegal activities happen there, they finally found it. Surprisingly, it was on the top deck of the SS Anne hiding in plain view.
They had found out the location of the base and Team Rocket's plan after finding a lone Team Rocket member wandering the hull of the ship. After interrogating him using Drowzee's hypnosis and forcing her to reveal the terrorist organization's nefarious plan.
For what the grunt had told them and their own logical reasoning they managed to figure out roughly what Team Rocket's plan was. "Ok, so what we've learnt is that Team Rocket's plan is to steal all the rare and powerful pokémon aboard the ship from their trainers and then escape" summed up Ash.
"Though one piece of the puzzle is still unclear to me and that is Team Rocket's escape plans. How are they planning to transport all the stolen pokémon and how are they going to escape from the ship without the police chasing them?" asked Gary.
"Ok, so we don't know all aspects of their plan right now. But we need to focus on stopping them right now somehow" said a still upset Leaf.
"But what I don't understand is how they're going to steal all the pokémon in the first place. Why would trainers give over their pokémon?" pondered Ash.
They decided to contemplate about this after they had searched through Team Rocket's base. Team Rocket had gotten on the ship posing as a travel group and were doing activities together.
They were mostly likely going to be present as today's big event in the main hall of the SS Anne. Most of the people on the ship were going to attend since it was the main event of the SS Anne, and a lot of famous and important people attended every year. Even Prof Oak and Bill had been invited to this event, but they had chosen not to attend and had given away their tickets.
While Team Rocket was busy at the event, doing whatever evil teams did when they were off duty, Ash and group would be raiding their base.
SS Anne Rocket Base
While nearly everybody else on the ship was busy having fun or rather suffering through the stuffy event in the main hall of the ship, Ash and group were busy riffing through Team Rocket's base.
They had managed to find it quite easily after only few minutes of searching. They had gone in cautiously, with their most powerful pokémon out front to act as guards, only to find the base mostly abandoned.
While there had been a couple of rocket members present throughout the base, they had been mostly likely left for safeguarding the base or because they were terrible grunts. Ash had managed to knock out them out with Saur easily, tying up the purple haired man, pink haired woman and meowth to prevent them from alerting their fellow team members.
Suddenly a shout from Gary drew their attention. They rushed to him to find out what had happened, "What's wrong Gary," said a worried Leaf.
"I figure out Team Rocket's plan guys. Team Rocket has somehow managed to get one of the transmitters that prevent pokéball usage on the SS Anne. Here it states that they've turned on the transmitters and they're stealing all the trainers pokémon right now" explained Gary.
"Ok so that is how they are going to prevent the trainers from resisting. If the trainers can't use their pokémon, then they will be helpless against Team Rocket" understood Ash.
"Guys, we need to figure out where this transmitter is and destroy it before Team Rocket finishes stealing all the pokémon" said Leaf to make Ash and Gary focus on the problem at hand.
On that note, all of them started searching through the command room again. Looking for the location of the transmitter and how they could turn it off.
Thankfully, Leaf was able to find it in a couple of minutes and they gathered around the computer reading it to find out what Team Rocket's plan was. After reading, they all started rushing up to the deck of the ship.
Team Rocket had set up the transmitter on the uppermost deck of the ship, so that it would cover all of the ship in its range. Thankfully, they had released some of their ace pokémon beforehand, otherwise they would be helpless right now.
All three of them ordered their pokémon to use their most powerful moves on the transmitter. After only a few seconds, the transmitter was destroyed, and they started rushing down to the main hall.
"Hey before we confront Team Rocket guys, we should probably split off into two. Me and Gary will confront the Team Rocket leader while Leaf you stay in the shadows and try to find the pokémon they've stolen and give them back to their trainers," said Ash.
Leaf looked like she was going to argue against this, but she decided to let it go and split from the group to try and find the stolen pokéballs.
Ash gathered his courage and wits for a second before gesturing to Gary and they both burst into the hall. "Team Rocket we are here to stop you from stealing their pokémon" proclaimed Ash.
He could see that the entire hall was silent, with Team Rocket members stationed everywhere and the Team Rocket executive standing on the dais, apparently in the middle of telling the occupants something.
"So boy, you think you and your little friend can rescue these people here. Come up here both of you so I can crush you and show that no one can stand in the way of Team Rocket" maniacally ordered the female executive.
They both started walking up to the dais, trying to seem confident and strong to give hope to the hostages. "So, boys since you already have some of your pokémon outside their pokéball, I can destroy them in battle. You might not have noticed but we've shut down the usage of all pokéballs except ours right now," gloated the executive.
She released one single pokémon and they both ordered their pokémon to work as a team to take out her menacing Arbok. Thankfully, with Ash and Gary's great teamwork and them having two pokémon on their side compared to the executive's one pokémon, the Arbok was soon knocked out.
"You brats, I was going to leave you unharmed after I defeated you, but you've pushed me too far" said the admin in a manic tone. She released a Vileplume and Mukrow and ordered them to knock out Ash and Gary's pokémon.
Ash and Gary's pokémon tried their best against the admin's pokémon but they were knocked out one after another. Seeing Saur and Wartortle get knocked out sent a pit of dread in Ash's stomach and he hoped that Leaf came soon.
"So, brats, now that you're pokémon are knocked out, what are you planning to do? Well, Vileplume I think it's time to show these boys the meaning of pain" said the crazed rocket executive.
Ash knew that they both had no chance other than to accept whatever torture this executive was going to inflict upon them. Because they couldn't use one of the pokémon inside their pokéballs otherwise it would alert Team Rocket than they had already disabled their transmitters.
"Don't do anything to Gary, this was all my idea. I was the one that convinced him to help stop Team Rocket" said Ash as he stepped up to volunteer for Team Rocket's torture. Ash hoped that Leaf and Gary would be able to stop Team Rocket while he was incapacitated.
"Well, boy, quite the hero aren't you. Too bad that isn't going to help you" taunted the executive. "Vileplume teach the boy what happens to heroes and use Mega Drain" she ordered.
While Gary was yelling for Team Rocket to stop, Ash was calm as the Vileplume in front of him used Mega Drain. As the life started sucking out of him, Ash could swear that he saw a pink flash in front of him before everything went black.
Wow, this chapter was intense. Forgive me for gloating but I feel like this the best chapter in the story so far. Both the battle and story are the best I've written so far.
Also, I think this take of the SS Anne is unique out of the many hundreds that I've read. Some people wondering why Team Rocket is still so incompetent and comical is because this is a T rated fanfic, and they can't be too villainous.
Also, to the reviewer who left a review stating that I need to improve my dialogue skills, thank you for the review. Polite constructive criticism is always welcome and I'm always looking to improve my writing skills.
Are you guys surprised by Scorbunny though? I thought it was quite out of the left field and I wanted to do something. If you haven't gotten it yet, then Scorbunny is going to be one of Ash's ace pokémon replacing Charizard and Pikachu. Also, I feel that Bugs is a great nickname for hm, inspired by you guessed it, Bugs Bunny.
Speaking of Ash, I'm definitely convinced that he is being replaced as the Main Character of the anime. I think he is going to become the World Champion and then retire. This year is certainly a game changing one for Pokémon.
Also, I've nearly brought the story up to pace on Ao3 and for some reason, it isn't as popular as here of . Does anyone know the reason for that?
Is it because the Ao3 fandom for pokémon is smaller than of Fanfic or is it because Ash isn't a favorite character for the readers on that site? Comment and tell me what you feel is the reason for that.
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 25 - 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 23 – Teleport, Confusion, Disable and Psybeam.
Scorbunny (Bugs) – Lv 5 – Tackle, Growl, Ember, High Jump Kick, Sand Attack, Sucker Punch and Super Fang.
