Author's Note
It's been a bit since I wrote on this, so I want to thank everyone for their patience. Also, holy mother of god. The reception on this is incredible, so thank you to all who've enjoyed it so far. Also, I can't recall if I mentioned it or not, but Ash and Gary are 16 in this fic. With that being said, Chapter three.
Warnings: Adult Themes, Swearing, Supernatural Events
I don't own Pokemon except in the alternate reality where I was born in Japan. And worked for Game Freak.
Chapter 3: Familia
Ash awoke within his abode in the Pokecenter and blinked wearily. The sun was peeking through a window he'd been too tired to notice the night before and had cast a beam of harsh light onto his face. Ash slowly came around, noticing the presence of Lux resting on his chest, his tongue poking out of his mouth slightly in deep sleep, and Nox not quite sleeping, but also seemingly unfocused as he hovered over his young trainer's bed. Ash silently mused that most people would likely shit themselves to see a Gastly watching them sleep but sighed and began to rouse the resting Eevee as he mentally cataloged his journey so far.
Ash went through the motions of getting up, Lux leaping from his chest as he shuffled into a waking position and yawning tiredly, and started to take out a basic breakfast for his two companions. Half of the prodigy duo from Pallet realized that he needed to find a training field and hash out combinations with his pokemon that day. He'd already picked out a few major strengths of his starters from the two fights they had gotten into and knowledge of their individual species, and wanted to double down on that. Lux, the Eevee in question digging into a bowl packed with sweet pokeblocks, was extraordinarily fast and evasive. Ash knew that he could make Lux into a hit and run tactician with incredible finishing power using Lux's proficiency with quick attack and detect as well as his surprisingly powerful double kick. Ash eyed up his normal-type starter and pulled out a notebook from his pack. He quickly wrote in a simple training program to start with his excitable starter, maintaining an emphasis on speed and sudden power. He then made a separate list for TMs he would want to pick up for Lux, noting in particular an idea he'd had rotating around his head for a while based on what he'd seen from Glacia of the Hoenn Elite Four; weather manipulation. Though Eevee would never be able to learn Hail unless he eventually evolved into the rare variation of his species Glaceon, he could learn Sunny Day and Rain Dance. Paired with another possibility he'd seen in the 'Dex, Weather Ball and Dig, Eevee could very well play a particularly demented game of Whach-a-Mole with his opponents with enough training. Until Lux's evolution however, the majority of his training would be conditioning to prepare for whatever evolution occurred with his happiest partner so as to make use of the burst of explosive power that made the Eevee line's final evolutions so devastating on the field.
He then turned to the ghost eyeing him with amusement, Ash noting he'd started mumbling out loud, and flipped a page on his pad writing down Nox's name and staring at the specter in deep thought. Nox was confusing. Normally, Gastly were used on teams as harassers, often starting fights by incapacitating opponents and finishing them through either attrition or subtlety. There were a few exceptions found in Ghost Masters, a few fights from the Indigo League's Agatha coming to Ash's mind, where they caused intense damage quickly or used other means to mutually assured destruction, but trainers didn't take those routes often as most ghosts naturally were hard to train in that direction. Most ghosts couldn't create pillars of fire ten feet high. The inclusion of ominous wind in Nox's move set opened an incredible number of doors to Ash. The poison that pervaded the Gastly line's fumes was extremely flammable, capable of ignition and/or explosion at the slightest source, not to mention the fact that it was still a brutal poison besides. Paired with Nox's knowledge of the staple Will-O-Wisp, he could easily go from ghostly evasion to a bombardier in moments. Not only that, Nox was already geared towards the ability to lock down an opponent, being equipped with Disable, Mean Look, Hypnosis, Spite and Curse. The Gastly in question was already well on his way to being the Ace of Ash's team going forward.
Ash wrote in some of his ideas to assist Nox in becoming the powerhouse he was envisioning, also noting in that he would have to find ways to teach Nox Icy Wind to augment his Ominous Wind, Dark Pulse to disrupt psychic types further, and Shadow Ball, a ghost type classic, though that would have to wait until Nox's evolution into a Haunter as the energy drain of the intensive move would likely scatter his less corporeal base state. Ash also jotted down two more things which he underlined; Fire, Ice, and Thunder Punch with a text box wrapping them all up which said simply "Tri-attack?" and an attack that was essentially rumors outside of Ghost-type master's fighting teams. Miasma. The attack became famous in many theory circles, generally from trainers too afraid to actually attempt the training of the often volatile and dangerous ghosts, because of the Gastly line. The ability to disperse into a noxious cloud of acid and explode repeatedly, the strength of a pokemon that could reform at astonishing speeds even inside of an opponent; it simply put was an unbelievably powerful asset of the Gengar line. Ash knew that Gastly likely wouldn't be able to utilize the moves he believed necessary to access the ability within any reasonable time frame or energy drain, but the foundations could be laid. If he did it correctly, then Nox may be able to do a limited version of the combo as a Haunter, and then as a Gengar... Unbeknownst to Ash, a dark grin started to work its way onto his face as the thought of the wanton mass destruction he could teach to Nox came to mind; a look that was quickly mirrored by the oddly intuitive ghost.
It would have further amused the young trainer to know that the other half of the dynamic duo was doing something strikingly similar in the room adjacent to him. Gary was watching Regent finish his own meal that morning and typing a trainer's plan into his pokedex. Gary had realized that Regent would be powerful. Any aspiring trainer in the Kanto and Johto region would be able to assure the nearest person of that watching Champion Lance decimate challengers with his team of dragons and particularly his starter and cornerstone, Kairyu, who often wiped entire teams of conference winners solo. But Gary was only now realizing how much potential had been handed to him in the form of the serpent smoothly eating in front of him. The twisters that Regent had thrown around at Gary's behest as an evasion method during their ill-fated fight against Fearow were full blown windstorms. He could generate enough mist to obscure an entire half of a pathway and was surprisingly mobile on top of the sheer power he seemed to hold even in his first evolutionary state. Gary also realized that the majority of Regent's moves tended towards wide-scale damage, really only having Dragon Tail and Wrap as targeted effects and those were decidedly too close range for what Gary was envisioning from his starter. Gary typed into his Pokedex several moves he wanted Regent to learn either from training or TMs, particularly noting Hyper Beam, Dragon Dance, Dragon Breath, Dragon Pulse, Hydro Pump, Flamethrower, Ice Beam and Thunderbolt. All of those would provide his serpentine dragon with the ability to barrage opponents with extraordinary strength and, with proper training, accuracy. The prodigal Oak also noted down Extreme Speed and Dragon Rush, noting that the combination would likely be strong as a Dratini, stronger as a Dragonair and a finisher with the sheer strength of a Dragonite.
Gary stopped typing for a second, looking at the dragon that was mostly finished with his meal and shook his head in amazement. A dragon had chosen him as a partner. Not just any dragon, but the pseudo-legend of Kanto. It still struck him as astonishing that his partner would one day be a Dragonite. A DRAGONITE. Gary had grown up watching Lance's Dragonites demolish trainers in a clear mark of how strong the species was. That same power was trusted to him by the lazily munching serpent in front of him. Gary smiled softly, eyes tracing Regent's beautiful scales and sleek form and vowing in that moment to be worthy of the strength his starter contained.
The young Oak spent another couple of moments, identifying the need to emphasize Regent's ability to move and learn targeted moves rather than A.O.E. style attacks then closed his pokedex and leaned forward on the bed with a heavy sigh.
"Regent, we have a new partner today. After you're finished, I'd like if we could go down and meet him. I think he had a rough time of it, so we may need to be careful at first alright?" Gary said carefully. He wasn't sure how the dragon would receive a new teammate, particularly one that wasn't proven in combat yet. Dragon's were notoriously prideful and sometimes even hostile to other members. Luckily for Gary, Regent seemed thoughtfully receptive, a surprising amount of trust already formed for his trainer early on. The young Oak nodded resolutely and finished sorting himself out; dressing and allowing Regent to curl up his arm and around his shoulders then exiting his temporary bedroom and moving into the hallway.
Ash started as he heard a loud knock on his door before realizing it was likely either the nurse or Gary. He stood, tucking his notebook into his pack and walking to the door, allowing Gary in. Ash noted his resolute stance and understood what the morning game plan was.
"There's a field behind the center. I remember Nurse Joy mentioning it. We could go back there, I can make sure no one gets too close to you and give you some privacy. That way there's no pressure and you can start off easy. I imagine it's going to be a tough situation for the little guy." Ash stated solemnly. He still didn't like the thought that a trainer could just abandon a pokemon so easily. Nurse Joy had already sent out a warning to bring information of the trainer to the authorities that morning, a message that was received by both Ash and Gary on their pokedex that they had checked and noted the name of Jakob Fortez as the previous owner of Charmander.
Gary nodded in response, having a similar plan to start with. He didn't want any of the trainers that were in town coming back to use the field for training and put Charmander on alert and the presence of Ash was a good deterrent for most folks. "That'd be good. I want to make sure he knows that he can take time to get used to me and Regent. We should head down and check his status."
Ash grabbed his pack and followed Gary out the door of his room, Lux hopping onto his shoulder and Nox sinking into his shadow as he closed the door behind him. They made their way down the stairs and walked down past the waiting lounge where they'd collapsed last night. Nurse Joy was inside, grabbing a cup of coffee and turned, surprise on her face at seeing the two trainers.
"Good morning boys! I'm guessing you'll be wanting to see Charmander? He is awake, though evidently confused. If you have the pokeball I keyed him to last night I can put him inside it and you can take him outside to release him if you like?" Nurse Joy said calmly. Gary nodded in response and passed over Charmander's pokeball, currently absent from its inhabitant over to the Nurse. She walked out of the lounge, going into the futuristic stasis room and walking in, the door sliding shut behind her. Ash and Gary waited in tense silence until Nurse Joy returned and passed over the pokeball to Gary once again, a heavy look in her eyes.
"He… may be tough to handle. He seems to want to leave more than anything, likely to find his old trainer."
"I'll be gentle with him ma'am." Gary responded, firmly grasping her hands and the look that only true resolve can bring to one's eyes appearing in his visage. The nurse searched those same eyes for a moment and then nodded, mentally thinking that she had made the right decision the night previous. Nurse Joy walked out of the lounge, the boys following her as she led them out to the main reception area which had a few more trainers than the empty reception area they'd barged into the evening previous, and led them through a set of sliding glass doors off to the left of the lobby. Outside was a medium-sized, fenced off area of field and hill with a large tree on top of it, a few picnic benches scattered around and varied pokemon toys in parts of the yard completing a picturesque scene, only counteracted by the resolute air of the two trainers.
Ash and Gary shared a look, then began making their way over to where the tree sat at the back of the pinned off zone. Ash split from Gary and alongside Nox and Lux, moved to one of the benches at the base of the hill; nothing but the picture of a trainer sitting with his pokemon and beginning basic instruction if one also ignored the ominous feeling of dread that accompanied him and the careful gaze Ash kept on the younger Oak as he ascended under the shade.
"Hey," Ash called softly, his eyes full of concern. "Be careful. Charmander is going to be hurting and I don't want to see something happen to you. I'm here."
"I know Ash," Gary responded, making his way up in a moment of rare seriousness, "besides, I've got Regent here to back me up and I'm going to make this Charmander's decision, not mine." Regent uncurled from his arm and slid down to glide along the grassy ground next to his trainer adopting the same serious air as the Sun-Touched he followed.
Gary took a moment to gather his thoughts, staring at the early morning light flitting through the leaves of the tree in front of him leaving arcs of shadow and dancing glimmers of sunshine, then gathered his resolve and with a burst of red light, Charmander stood in front of him.
There was a moment of silence between the two parties; Charmander taking precious seconds to accommodate to his new situation and Gary not expecting the specimen that he found himself viewing. SImply stated Charmander was far more draconic in appearance than he'd expected. The line had always famously had minute levels of dragon DNA passed through the species, a point of pride even for famous trainers of the Charizard lineage, but this Charmander had somehow forgotten that he was supposed to be a fire type first and foremost. Instead of the smoothed lines of a snout, Charmander possessed sharp angles that almost seemed to form a canine-esk jaw, claws that were far longer than were generally present of the species and the sleek lines of his form were closer to his evolution, Charmeleon, than a Charmander should have had. And was his tail fire tinged a different color?
Gary assessed all this in only a few seconds, all while raising his hands slowly in the universal sign of peace. Regent had done something similar, positioning himself near Gary should defense become a necessity, but not in an overtly aggressive angle. Charmander seemed to gauge this after looking around and eyed them cautiously.
"Charmander, my name is Gary Oak and this is Regent. I'm a trainer." Gary started cautiously. Gary was many things, but an idiot was not one of those and he wanted nothing to do with provoking a fire-breathing lizard that was currently standing ten feet from him. "You don't know us, but myself and my friend Ash who's down the hill found you last night outside and brought you here. Your tail was pretty close to going out."
Charmander took another moment to assess this. Gary mused internally for such a ferocious looking variant of his species, he was rather thoughtful. Or possibly just slow. After some thought Charmander seemed to reach a conclusion and nodded measuredly while still keeping eye contact with Gary.
"Hopefully that's a thank you and not an I'm now going to burn the skin off your face." Gary thought dryly. Gary slowly moved his hands to his side and kneeled down so he was closer to Charmander's height level, eventually settling on the grass. "You're here at the pokecenter now. I'm sure you were here with your trainer before. They healed you from what your… trainer did to you. We think he left you on that rock on purpose."
Charmander tensed and a manic look briefly flitted across his eyes. Evidently, the topic of his trainer was a sore subject.
"I know this might be difficult for you," Gary said haltingly, "But I'm supposed to become your new trainer. I don't want this to be too hard on you so if there's something I can do, please help me to do so. I want this to be a family for you; myself and Regent, and any other partners we run into on our journey."
This was the breaking point of peaceful negotiation unfortunately. Charmander, realizing what was occurring in shock, took several steps back, nearly tripping over one of the exposed roots in the process. A snarl replaced the wary look on his face and his claws extended out of his paws and the fire on his tail flaring in the species' warning sign of a fire attack coming. Regent quickly coiled in between Gary and Charmander, intent on protecting his trainer, but Gary sighed and stood up slowly keeping eye-contact with the on edge draconid.
"Wait. Dammit, I'm shit at this." Gary said aloud almost wistfully. Gary turned partially, still keeping his eyes on the battle-ready Charmander and indicated for Ash, who was starting to make his way up the hill with a trail of shadow in the form of Nox and a blur of Lux, to stop. Charmander eyed him warily.
"Look, Charmander, I don't want to fight you and, while it's against my better judgement, I don't want to force you on this team even if I think it would be better for you. So, I want to help you find your old trainer. If you really want to go with him, I won't prohibit it. I'll hand over this pokeball and you can go. But, you have to promise that if he doesn't take you back you'll at least consider becoming one of my team, ok?" Gary said, blazing ahead with his normal Oak courage.
Charmander stared at him for a moment in deep thought. After some time, he seemed to see the sincerity in Gary's suggestion and eased himself; his claws sheathing slowly and his snarl receding into something close to a look of grudging admiration, followed by a nod. Behind the two parties, Ash sighed a breath of relief. He had already geared himself up to have Nox use hypnosis on Charmander if it should be required to pacify the stressed fire-breather and while he wasn't personally thrilled with Gary's solution, it was likely the only way to settle Charmander's issues with his prior trainer. A dark part of Ash's mind also realized that Gary knew what he did as well, Charmander's trainer wasn't going to take an abandoned pokemon back. Hopefully it wouldn't snap the poor Pokemon's sanity.
Ash slowly made his way up the hill followed by his starters, now receiving approval from Gary to enter the picture. Ash reached the top and Lux, still somehow completely oblivious to any form of social tension outside of life or death threats and imminent battle, ran past Ash and directly up to Charmander. Lux greeted the new arrival with the general energy that an exasperated Ash began to understand was just the personality of his pokemon; by circling the now baffled pokemon and yipping happily, bouncing back and forth on his feet and nudging his head against the shell shocked lizard in an adorable scene that would have ended in charred Eevee if it had been any other but Lux.
"I'm going to have to work on that." Ash said with the tone of a defeated man to Gary.
"Yeah. Yeah you are." Gary replied in a tone dryer than dust.
"At least Nox isn't involved ye-" Ash began to say only to realize that Nox had left his shadow to trail Lux as a coat of terrifying vapors.
"You were saying?" Gary asked sardonically, raising an eyebrow in amusement, finally content that the situation wouldn't escalate to violence despite the level of drugs required to comprehend it.
"I wasn't saying. I was hoping." Ash finished, now palming his face heavily. "Regardless, we have to find Charmander's trainer if I heard right. He was last sighted out on the fringes of Route 1 based on recent reports, but he hasn't been seen again yet. Probably realized he's on borrowed time."
"Agreed. We'll find this fucker, get Charmander to realize what we already did and move on."
"Mhm."
"Ash?"
"Yeah Gare?"
"I'm fighting him. Don't touch him. At least not till his team is dust. Charmander is my pokemon."
"I get what's left afterwards."
"There won't be anything left afterwards."
આગળ ઉપરાંત
After Ash had managed to calm down his chaotic duo, Gary provided food for a bewildered but hopeful Charmander and they set out to wander the town in search of Jakob Fortez. Viridian was a fairly modern city, something of interest to Ash and Gary who'd spent most of their lives in the frontier town of Pallet. It featured many highrises, a fair bit of technology and, while nowhere near the size of the mega industry towns such as Saffron, it certainly held its own right as one of the eight major cities containing a mainline gym in Kanto.
The trainers made an odd sight to be sure as they wandered the streets back towards the woods of route 1, where Fortez was thought to be last sighted. After leaving the pokecenter, Gary had Regent coil back around his preferred position in an odd facsimile of a scarf that started at his left wrist. Charmander marched resolutely in front of Gary and Ash, looking anywhere he could down the gray brick roads that dominated Viridian's paths in search of his yet to be found former trainer. Next to Gary walked Ash, cloaked again in Nox's version of comedy, emitting the same dread aura that followed him nearly everywhere accompanied by the dark vapor trails of his ghost type. Also as usual, this terrifying visage was only disturbed by the now regular perch of Lux, who sat atop Ash's hat clad head with his tongue out excitedly bouncing back and forth happily surveying every new visual he was greeted by. Outside of some light conversation and the occasional surveying glance, the trek out of the city was uneventful. They spent the next few hours talking to nearby trainers, passers and even the routine cop, but they didn't have much luck in their search and, after managing to convince Charmander that they needed to eat in order to continue searching, decided to rest and eat lunch under one of the shaded areas by a lesser used path that led to the main routes.
Ash and Gary fell into an easy rhythm, soon having sets of poke food and two bowls of quick chili mix made up for consumption. As their partners dug into their meals, Nox having been relegated to continuing some reconnaissance as he didn't need sustenance in the conventional way as a ghost type, the two boys allowed themselves a moment to relax.
"So I was thinking Gare." Ash started, eyes tracking a cloud passing in the sky, a look of deep concentration on his face, "I could probably find him pretty quick if I tapped into, ya know, that." Ash finished his statement, and though vague in reference, Gary instantly knew he was referring to the darkness that seemed permanently fixed to his person. Gary also consciously knew Ash was likely right.
Over the years, Ash had discovered that with adequate focus he was able to get a feel for the life around him that wasn't natural. It made him uniquely good at locating humans in general and provided a form of awareness that was closer to a sixth sense than anything else. More importantly, he could feel the leftover of a person or even pokemon that was emitted to his senses and follow it, though not to any incredible range. It still provided him something of a personal radar and there was even a bit of Fortez left as an imprint on Charmander. It wasn't perfect, Ash having to focus particularly hard to garner the awareness at distance and it also had the effect of giving him a monstrous headache and putting him into something of a trance afterwards, seeming to drain out his own humanity. Regardless, to Ash it was an easy solution. Even so, Gary felt what could be considered slightly strongly about Ash using that boon/curse.
"Hell fucking no you absolute half-wit! Whenever you tap into that shit too much you turn catatonic! Not to mention what it feels like! It's not natural Ash. People don't meditate and make a twenty yard radius feel like the back half of a funeral with a serial killer presiding! I don't care that it's part of you, but I'm not watching you knock yourself into a trance just to find some jerkwad who we already know is close by." Gary yelled, practically exploding in rage.
"It would make this much faster Gary." Ash cooly responded, "We could wander around on these back routes since he would have been seen on the main routes. If I start to feel something close to the imprint I'm getting off of Charmander then we can track him down that much faster."
"And I said no Ketchum." Gary responded, the heat of his anger only being superseded by his concern. "We'll find him, get this sorted, and drag him back into town to get his license revised or rescinded. No spooky voodoo bullshit needed."
"It's not voodoo Gare. I don't need to use a doll or speak an enchantment to do it."
"Well it sure as hell ain't natural. Sixteen year olds don't gather shadows like clothes and if they do then I missed that class." Gary riposted quickly, "Also, I'm pretty sure you own dolls anyways."
"Action figures Gary. They're action figures." Ash said exasperation sneaking into his voice.
"Whatever you have to say to sleep at night." Gary snidely responded. "Anyways, we should start packing up. Our pokemon are done eating and Nox is back."
Ash looked around and nodded in agreement. "Agreed. We won't find him sitting around here. Not like he'd just stumble into our camp."
At that moment, from around the bend came a man about the same age as Gary and Ash. He had short dark hair, was wearing a beanie and a pair of glasses, as well as trainer fatigues and a t-shirt with a bead necklace. Topping it off was a set of surprisingly clean boots considering what he presented, and a Growlithe and Machop accompanying him. Ash and Gary may have only given him a passing look if it weren't for the stiffening of Charmander. Gary took a moment and pulled up the image of Fortez then groaned, though a vicious grin appeared on his face soon after. Lux was recalled and Gary allowed Regent to stay out of the eyeline, ready to come out when he was needed.
"He walked into our camp Ash, he didn't stumble. So you only get half an irony point."
Ash didn't respond, having stood slowly and pulling his hat low over his eyes, Nox having returned to his form and casting him in a dark visage, looking for all the world like a beast made human.
Fortez saw the two trainers and seemed to be about to make a greeting which quickly died on his lips as he sighted the extremely familiar Charmander and the terrifying appearance of what should have been a boy his age, though a bit taller than him, who was cloaked in moving darkness and emitting the strongest sense of murder and death that he'd ever felt in his life. And was that chanting coming from his shadow?
Fortez shook his head and cautiously went to move past the two trainers, but much to his misfortune the one accompanying the secret eldritch death god was now moving towards him with a smile that seemed as volatile as an angry Electrode.
"You wouldn't happen to be Jakob Fortez would you?" Gary called out in a faux cheery tone. "I think we have a friend who's been looking for you."
With that ominous introduction Fortez was convinced the Grim Reaper would emerge from the now writhing shadows of the trees around them and smite him there. Even his pokemon were cowering behind him at this point. What actually occurred however, was the Charmander that he now recognized as the weak fire-type he'd left to go into the wilderness came forward on shaky legs, obviously as bothered by the devilspawn behind him as Fortez was and wandered forwards to him, stopping about forty feet away from Jakob. Fortez watched the small fire-lizard square himself and looked him in the eyes and in that moment he thought he understood.
"Oh sweet Arceus, I get it! You guys are his trainers and he was too weak for you so you want to give him back? Well you can keep him, he isn't any good at fire type moves and that's the whole point of his breed isn't it?" Jakob took a moment and turned to make eye contact with his former starter, a sneer crossing his face. "Look Charmander, I don't want ya. I found a real fire-type here. I'm gonna be the best and I need the best with me and you aren't it. So if these guys took you in as one of theirs then y'all must be alike." With that he turned to Ash who was still deathly quiet. "And you with the creep factor! I don't know how you're doin all this murder in the air, but stop fuckin around. I ain't scared of anyone who thinks this Charmander is strong enough to be on his team."
Charmander fell backwards off of his feet. The shock was more than he could take. He was abandoned for being weak? What trainer wanted a weak pokemon? He was going to be abandoned for the rest of his life, only to die in the woods to the stronger predators in the area! As a darker and darker vein of thought crossed his mind, he almost didn't notice Gary Oak stepping forwards to stand in front of him until the feeling of light caressed him almost physically. Charmander looked up to see the trainer who'd offered him a place in his family and, though only visible to him and Regent still waiting in the wings to show himself. Gary seemed to be glowing with a visible rainbow of power. Charmander wasn't sure if that was comfort or rage, but either way, it felt warm to him as it wrapped around him in an ethereal hug.
"He's actually mine." Gary said, interjecting into the atmosphere. "I'll make ya a deal though. Charmander here really wanted to go with you. You obviously don't want that so I'll take him happily. He's a part of my family now. However, I don't really like being called a weak trainer, so I want to battle you. Official. I'll take both your pokemon with my starter and if you win, I'll give you the maximum amount of credits I can transfer in a match. If I win," A dark grin came out from the wide smile that Gary had maintained nearly the entire time he'd been speaking, "then you come with us back to town and transfer me a grand, then you'll apologize to Charmander."
Most people would have been suspicious of an offer of that nature. It was obviously a honey-trap that would only work on the dumbest of the dumb. Gary was banking on Jakob underestimating him to an extreme degree, thus why he'd hidden Regent from sight till an acceptance. What Gary didn't know was that all his machinations were nearly entirely unnecessary. Jakob was for plain and simple terms, extraordinarily stupid. So stupid in fact, he wasn't even aware that he was being looked for by law enforcement for pokemon abandonment despite the alert being issued to every trainer's pokedevice including his, and so stupid that upon reaching his conclusion that Ash and Gary had to be weak by sheer association with the Charmander he'd decided wasn't "fire-type enough", he was able to ignore the otherworldly presence of Ash. He frankly would have accepted purely for a paycheck and a free win on his record.
"You're on loser! Bring out your starter so my Macho can stomp him into the ground and I can rake in your cash!" Fortez announced with his hands finding their place on his hips and a confident grin on his place. Both trainers logged in the official start of the battle making it irreversible and a grin spread on Fortez's face. That grin lasted until Gary's grin turned savage as he took a pokeball off of his belt and zapped an unseen pokemon out of the forest into his ball and released it in front of him, an incredible specimen of a Dratini emerging from the ball with a cross between arrogance and fury on it's serpentine visage.
"Official battle between Gary Oak, Lab Trainer and Jakob Fortez, Novice Trainer authenticated. Special battle rules, 1 vs. 2. A wager of 1000 credits has been made by both parties. Gary Oak has wagered an additional 7496 credits. Witness Ash Ketchum has verified. Wager is valid. Gary Oak has selected Dratini as his pokemon. Jakob Fortez, please choose your battler." Jakob's device intoned from his wrist.
"Ah shit. Fuck. Whatever. Bet it still sucks. Macho, beat the hell out of him!" Jakob yelled loudly, his Machop moving forwards a resigned look crossing over it before he stood in a basic fighting stance staring down the angry dragon he had to fight.
"Jakob Fortez has selected Machop as his first battler. Battle begin." Fortez's pokedevice intoned robotically.
A maniacal grin spread across his face as he envisioned the sudden fortune he was about to come into for very little effort.
"Macho! Charge down his Dratini! Don't give it any room to getcha! Brick Break that thing!" Jakob yelled quickly, having decided the best strategy was to just beat the young dragon into the ground with his pokemon's fists. Machop quickly followed instructions, charging across the little over ten yards separating him and his opponent as fast as he could. It may be noted that against other trainers so early into their journey this may have even worked. Most novice trainers were still working out their pokemon's capabilities and more importantly, their battle styles, thus a frontal charge, particularly one from a fighting type, would have sent most new trainers into a panic. Gary Oak was not most trainers. Upon seeing the charge of his opponent, Gary's violent grin eased into a cocky smirk paired with a squint; the only thing betraying his rapid thoughts and tactics.
"Regent. Water Pulse then supersonic into the water. Sweep him away with Dragon Tail afterwards." Gary commanded firmly. Regent responded, quickly cataloging what his trainer wanted and firing the Water Pulse directly into his running opponent. Gary took that moment to idly note that Regent was likely pulling water from the atmosphere to charge that much of a wave as there was easily one hundred plus gallons in each pulse that was sent out from his Dratini. Once Regent's attack had slammed into the charging fighting-type, it was quickly followed with a shrill wave of sound. Supersonic was generally rather effective against most pokemon due to their heightened senses, but by channeling it through the waves of water pounding into Machop it was even more effective than normal, changing from a mildly disorienting feeling to pure unadulterated nausea. Macho was washed backwards, tumbling backwards off of the path and gaining a bit of purchase in the grassy ground off of the lesser used walkway. This lasted all of a split second until the last of the water lingering between him and his opponent was gathered by a Dratini with glowing eyes and a glowing tail that swung a renewed wave into Macho again. Macho impacted against one of the tall trees he was close to hard enough to leave a dent in its surface.
To the tough Machop's credit, he managed to stagger up after that meteoric hit, though blatantly badly injured and sporting the mother of all migraines as well as being nearly unable to walk due to the earlier Supersonic that had scrambles his brain and stomach like eggs.
"Come on Macho! You can't be that weak! It was just some water!" Fortez called out angrily seeing his pokemon nearly taken out in one fell swoop.
Gary simply shook his head. "I imagine you wouldn't do well if a pond's worth of water slammed into you at eighty plus kilometers an hour either dipshit."
"Twice I might add." Ash added quietly from the sideline.
Fortez was incensed. This lab trainer shit was stupid! Kid just thought he was good because he got some special credit? He'd show him! "Macho! Get in there! Big Jump combo!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.
Macho responded to this order by taking a moment to gather himself, something that Gary and Regent allowed for reasons beyond him, until he managed to gain enough fortitude to gather Focus Energy into his legs so much so that they began to glow faintly, then kicking off into the air towards the dragon that had visited quick punishment on his earlier. What should have happened from there in Fortez's head was his kick-ass pokemon would land directly on top of the Dratini and deliver a Low Sweep that would pin his opponent. From there, Regent would be helpless as his Macho delivered hit after hit until it was down for the count. What actually happened was far from that.
"Regent, Twister once it's close. Full power, finish it." Gary stated with finality. As Machop descended towards his target, he was astonished to find that in the roughly three seconds it should have taken to make impact, three things happened that spelled his doom.
The first was on his jump, the Dragon's trainer issued a command and the winds started to kick up.
The second was that a visible twist of air began to spiral at high speeds around Regent that began to rise towards the sky.
The third thing that happened is upon his descent towards his target that same spiral of wind swept up at astonishing speeds catching him mid fall and oh sweet Arceus he was spinning around in midair, why was he spi- blegh.
Gary watched impassionately as Regent spawned a tornado of draconic energy fast and large enough in a few seconds to catch a pokemon weighing roughly twenty kilograms out of a midair fall and proceeding to release that same energy twister fast enough to spike said opponent into the ground so hard Machop's head sunk into the path up to the shoulders.
"I think you might be a bit more powerful than normal Regent." Oak muttered under his breath watching his starter calculatively.
Fortez meanwhile was working extra hard to reboot his brain which must have had a stroke because he could have sworn that the pokemon in front of him had summoned an F1 TORNADO TO TAKE OUT HIS MACHOP.
Jakob shook his head and recalled Macho, then pointed imperiously at Gary. "So what if your dragon can cause natural disasters!? He's probably super tired now! Face it kid! You blew your wad early! Finish him off Growly! Show him what a real fire-type can do!" Fortez yelled loudly with either confidence or on the verge of a mental breakdown.
"First off, we're the same age." Gary said with a quirked eyebrow and his vicious smirk back in place. "Second off, disgusting. I never want you to mention to me "blowing a wad again." Third, your naming scheme sucks, and lastly, dragon-type. Not a fire-type. Are you always this stupid or do you have to actively try to be as inbred as possible?"
Fortez saw red. No two-bit trash trainer was going to insult him! He remotely heard his pokedevice intone out the loss of Macho, but it didn't matter, he was going to crush this wannabe here and now and make tons of money in the process! "Growly! Take out that overgrown snake!" He yelled.
The Growlithe in question trotted forwards despondently. "Growly" as she was so creatively named, knew a loss when she saw one. Her fighting compatriot was dispatched in moments without even landing a blow. Not only that, but the normally happy-go-lucky fire-type was almost positive that Regent's eyes were glowing with draconic power. That did not look like a weakened opponent to her. Regardless, she marched forward resolutely and faced down her opponent with all the dignity she could muster. Maybe her trainer had a plan to get her a victory.
"Growly! Bite that snake in the ass! Flame Wheel and Bite!" Fortez yelled.
Or not. Growlithe issued the equivalent of a sigh and then took off at max velocity towards the battle-ready dragon across from her. Regent eyed the rushing canine who's bloodline lended to speed, culminating eventually in one of the fastest pokemon on the planet after evolution, Arcanine. Unfortunately for the speeding pup, she was not nearly fast enough to cover the distance between them before Regent released another wave of water from his maw smashing into the blazing dog in force. There wasn't even a command to issue the attack, it was just common knowledge that if the tactic worked the first time, it would likely work again.
Gary's smile became far more malevolent as he watched Fortez gape in disbelief seeing his Growlithe being buffeted into the ground by continuous waves of high pressure water. "Regent. Keep up the pressure, get close and Thunder Wave and Wrap. Keep up the Water Pulses until you're close enough to latch on."
Regent slithered forward towards the resilient canine, firing off a continued series of attacks keeping the fire-type pinned down until the powerful dragon was roughly four feet from his target. In a sudden burst of speed, Regent surged forwards after one last shot and wrapped around the severely weakened pokemon, constricting tightly and releasing surges of electricity into the struggling beast.
"You can still win this Growly! Burning Jaw!" Jakob called frantically. Growlithe, hearing the command through her fading consciousness, ignited her fangs and bit into the body of Regent with a half-hearted snarl.
"That's just Fire Fang." Gary muttered with a sweatdrop. Regardless of what the move was or wasn't, Regent didn't take too kindly to being bitten, a fierce look of anger crossing his serpentine face as he tightened far harder than he had been. Growlithe released her grip with a yip and a crack sounded from her body like a gunshot then, with all the grace of an explosive going off in your grandmother's nursing home, was dropped to the ground unconscious and heavily injured.
Fortez viewed this particular event in shock. This had to be a mistake! He couldn't lose to these half-assed trainers! They were newbs! They'd adopted that weak Charmander! They couldn't possibly be-
A hand. Colder than the depths of the darkest pits of the frozen oceans, colder than the lowest levels of Seafoam Islands, more weighted than atlas' burden and oh Arceus it was burning.
"I think you lost Fortez. So why don't you come back with us to town so we can hash out the details?" Ash said, somehow imbuing the essence of death he'd been oozing the entire time from the sidelines to come out in his vocal tones.
"Guys, can't we like, talk about this?" Fortez said, stuttering through his sentence in fear. He barely had enough cognizance to return his Growlithe to its pokeball with a flash of red. He did however have enough awareness to catch the disparity of the death god that had snuck up behind him and laid his hand on his shoulder and the panting, smiling Eevee that was sitting in front of him with barely restrained happiness. Jakob would not be deceived. Any pokemon of this trainer's was sure to be possessed by pure evil. When did this demon even release that thing anyways?
While this was occurring, Regent had slithered back over to Gary and slid back up to his normal perch around his arm and over his shoulder. Gary raised a hand and rubbed it underneath Regent's head, scratching the scales lightly, eliciting a low pleased growl from the young dragon.
"You did good, Regent. Not so bad to fight pokemon that are supposed to be on our paygrade as opposed to flying bullshit machines huh?" Gary asked sardonically, but kindly. He was proud of Regent. He'd done well and was likely tired at this point. Not nearly to the degree he was after his performance against Fearow, but it still wasn't an easy feat to blast enough water into the ground that there was noticeable condensation on the ground forming puddles as well as tracts of dirt that had been carved out of the ground from his earlier Twister.
Gary, with a pleased Dratini, turned to the shocked Charmander who had watched the ongoing proceedings in a continued state of disbelief. Gary got down in a crouch and smiled lightly to the awestruck fire-lizard.
"I want you to be a part of this family of ours. Regent, myself and Ash and his partners. We are family. I don't want you to listen to anything that dumbass trainer said to you. You are strong." Oak finished, his voice strong with sincerity. Charmander looked at this young man, no, trainer, that was still extending his hand to him, a weak pokemon. A pokemon who wasn't worthy of one trainer already and had been left for his inequities. Gary seemed to read his mind as he placed one of his hands lightly on Charmander's head and rubbed it in a friendly manner.
"Hey, I'm serious. You're strong. There is no such thing as a weak pokemon, only weak trainers. I can't promise I won't have moments of weakness, but I will train you and help you reach the peaks of your capabilities. You will be my partner, and we can start by getting back to town and sitting down to go over your moves. Sounds good?"
Charmander eyed him in absolute awe. After a moment of thought, passing his gaze behind Gary where Ash seemed to have somehow reduced Fortez to tears on his knees with a few words and a hand on his shoulder and flicking back to the young Oak's caring eyes, he nodded resolutely and took a few steps forwards, tapping one of his claws against his new pokeball. With that, he disappeared into his container with a zap of red and a sense of amazement that the Sun-Touched would offer him a place to prove himself.
Gary stayed crouched for a second, his soft smile staying in place. "Well Regent, looks like you have a new brother officially. We'll have to name him when we get back to Viridian; make his place official."
Gary stood and turned, his smile turning arrogant upon sighting the target of his first official battle nearly catatonic under the weight of Ash's ire.
"Oh Jakob~," the prodigy Oak from Pallet called out in a sing-song voice, "I believe we should start going back to town. You owe me some money and there's some people who may want to speak to you. Unless you want me to go back first and wait while my friend here can talk to you more privately?"
Fortez snapped out of his fetal position coma quickly, almost in military fashion and started hightailing it back towards Viridian. "No no! That's fine, let's just go fast so I can pay you! I don't need to be alone with the demon. I mean, uh, friend!" He replied quickly walking to what he deemed as safety which as far as he was concerned, was anywhere that wasn't in the same room or area as death incarnate.
Gary looked at Ash and quirked an eyebrow in inquiry. "What the hell did you do the minute I wasn't looking at him?"
"I let him know I was displeased with his choices." Ash replied dryly,
"I think he knows." Gary said sarcastically, following the terrified former trainer along with a trailing Ash and co, afraid he would try to duck out of the necessary series of events if they lost eye contact.
"I didn't get to remove any of his limbs." Ash intoned in a flat voice.
"Let's just turn him into the authorities, Ashy."
"The only true authority is pain. He would know that if you'd let me keep one of his fingers." Ash said, his eyes glowing a depthless eldritch black.
"You scare me Ash. And turn that shit off when we get back into town. You're already overdoing it for theatrics."
"He's going back into town with us isn't he?"
"He's running away from us."
"Details."
The boys continued bickering while following Fortez who stayed ahead of them as far as he could. After about an hour's march, they made it back to Viridian and started making their way to Jakob's last acts as a trainer and final destination as one; the Pokecenter.
આગળ ઉપરાંત
"What the fuck do you mean I'm on probation!?" Fortez yelled from his spot under supervision by two officers and Nurse Joy, all seated in her rarely used office hidden away in a less used hallway at the back of the Pokecenter. The office was blatantly built for function and not comfort, a stark difference in color and tone than the rest of the Pokecenter geared to making anxious trainers more relaxed as they waited for their pokemon to heal. The office was a simple space designed in dark hues of gray and white, the only difference being Nurse Joy's desk, a rich brown that indicated foreign woods used in its construction. The only furniture otherwise were the three chairs that sat across from Joy's own larger swivel chair and an oddly placed sofa that Ash and Gary found themselves on, their pokemon momentarily returned to each respective pokeball that contained them.
Ash had to admit to a certain amount of disbelief all things told. They'd hightailed it at a rather expedient rate back to town, Jakob boldly forging forwards at what would have been an admirable march if it weren't for the fact that it was nearly entirely motivated by fear of Ash and Gary's angry dragon that kept giving him evil eyes. It didn't help that Nox often would ghost past him creating the sounds of rushing winds and horrors beyond human imagination with a gross overuse of ominous wind. They'd gotten as far as one of the gateways when several officers wandering the streets had quickly recognized the idiotic trainer and moved towards him. After a short conversation in which Fortez realized that he may have possibly done something stupid that warranted the attention of the law, they were escorted with Ash and Gary as tagalongs to the center so that the errant trainer could be reprimanded and the depth of his crime interrogated out of him.
The two prodigies of Pallet watched as Nurse Joy grilled a cowering Fortez on his absolute stupidity for abandoning any pokemon without actually releasing it and that he wasn't permitted to make any actions as a trainer for the next year, as well as a hefty fine and remedial classes he would have to attend in a strange form of parole. Ash was astounded by the fact that Jakob hadn't seen this coming. Gary was simply bored, even if he wasn't sure why Nurse Joy was the one delivering the punishment or why they were even there at that point. Didn't they do their job with this asshole? And why were the cops even here, moral support?
Eventually, Fortez handed over his pokemon which were promised to be transported to one of the holding ranches used for trainers to leave their teams at when they exceeded capacity, though in this case it was being used to provide a place for Jakob's pokemon to be safely housed until he turned around his odd ideas on training or at least improved to a point that he would understand it was wrong to leave pokemon behind in a state that could lead to their death nigh on purpose. In fact, though Ash and Gary didn't know it in particular, the only reason Fortez's punishment wasn't immediate revocation of his license and imprisonment was due to the fact that Nurse Joy, who was in fact one of the higher ranking members of the league in Viridian, had discovered much as the two boys had, that Jakob was simply an incredible idiot. Intentional abandonment was still far better than what she'd assumed was tantamount to a murder attempt in the guise of a parting lesson.
After some moments, the officers presiding left with Fortez in tow, evidently going to finish the reading of rights he would have to memorize in hopes of returning to being a trainer at some point at the station located deeper into the center of Viridian. Nurse Joy let out a sigh and took a moment to steady herself, then looked over towards the two trainers who she had entrusted Charmander with earlier that day and had gone so far as to resolve the situation with his old trainer in a single day.
"Boys, would you come over here for a second?" She beckoned softly, burned out from having to bring out the rarely used steel present in her personality.
Ash and Gary looked at each other and moved over to Nurse Joy, sitting in the now vacated chairs across from her. Nurse Joy looked them in the eyes with a strong gaze. "You've both done a good thing today. I want to thank you personally for assisting the Viridian force with this. With his… mental capacity he likely would have turned up either sometime tonight or tomorrow, but you've saved us time and effort as well as, arguably more importantly, helped that Charmander heal from this somewhat."
Ash sheepishly rubbed his hand on the back of his head. "It was no biggie miss. What anybody would have done given the same chance really."
Gary was less impressed. "Yeah sure, whatever. Why are we back here? And why did you have the final verdict on that bullshit? Shouldn't that have gone to the police chief or a judge or something?"
Nurse Joy weathered Gary's callous commentary without batting an eyelash, even smiling lightly in response. "Well if you don't know, I can explain it to you. I would have assumed they covered the league chain of command considering you're both Lab Trainers."
"We got a basic understanding of it, but a lot of the local rulings of the major areas weren't covered in detail." Ash responded quietly. Gary nodded as well, curious how this had ended in what amounted to a hospital of all things.
"Well, it's a little bit complex but I'll try to keep it simple. You boys obviously know that Champion Lance is in charge of the entire Indigo League. His decisions are essentially final, though he is heavily advised by the Elite Four who are directly under him as far as order goes. Under the Elite Four are the Ace squads and particularly the Ace Captains, of which there are eighteen. Most of them consist of veteran trainers who are either Masters in their types, or close to it. Those positions are nigh non-negotiable though there are some exceptions. When it comes to local governing is where it gets messy.
Ash and Gary nodded in understanding. That followed what they had been taught in training.
"Gym Leaders are the first step when it comes to that local hierarchy." Nurse Joy continued, a lecturing tone coming from her that contrasted with the smile she was now wearing. "See, Gym Leaders receive missives and orders from the league like anyone else, however they hold more weight than most people know. They are effectively league appointed guardians of an area. Since they hold such important positions, they're orders can supersede even the Elite Four when it comes to their internal regions they defend. As an example, Giovanni could issue a command to lock down the gates of Viridian or issue bounties for the area even if Agatha or Bruno were to instruct against. Admittedly, his decision would then be reviewed by Lance and Lance could still veto the order as the Champion, but each of the leaders has a considerable amount of power along with incredible responsibility."
"None of this explains why you can revoke and suspend licenses, Nurse Joy." Gary said dryly.
"Patience young Oak!" Nurse Joy responded with a chuckle. She had to privately admit that it was amusing to see the teenager get more irritated by the second by her long-winded rambling. "As I was getting to, the gym leader can effectively be considered a local area champion. As such, most Gym Leaders establish their own version of the Elite Four if you will; a collection of the strongest or most knowledgeable pokemon trainers and/or professionals to run decisions by. Of those, generally the police chief, as you so kindly mentioned earlier, is in charge of human crimes and attacks, pokemon involvement included, the strongest Gym trainer handles drastic local pokemon changes, similar to a town Ace captain, another trainer, generally an expert or retired trainer is offered regular pay to assist with emergency services in the form of structure damage or disaster relief and the head of the Pokecenter, that being me, is assigned to be in charge of pokemon abuse or trainer negligence; sometimes even just handling misinformation or misunderstandings of training concepts. Is that semi-understandable?"
Ash narrowed his eyes in thought, digesting what he'd been handed. "So," Ketchum started slowly, "you all report actions to the Gym Leader, Giovanni in this case, but you are relegated activities under your assigned jurisdiction to lessen his work?"
"That's basically correct, yes!" Joy exclaimed happily. She did always enjoy when bright young men learned quickly. "And much like when actions are made by the Elite Four or a Gym Leader, our actions are still recorded and reviewed but generally, we are given a fair amount of leeway as long as it was of reasonable action."
Gary leaned forward. "So where do we as trainers fall into this local hierarchy then?"
"Good question!" Nurse Joy responded. "As trainers of any kind, you are assigned a skill based on evaluation from Gym Leaders and other league leadership. As you progress, that skill level climbs assuming you do your job well enough as trainers! You can receive work in the form of bounties, errands or even preparations for different cities that correlates directly to your ability. Different cities will have different missives available most of the time that are either not pressing enough for the local heads to chase after or are so pressing that any and all hands are accepted to assist. You won't ever have to accept jobs unless the situation is rated as a threat to an entire city, region, or even nation."
Gary nodded, digesting the info dump but Ash froze, having caught the hidden meaning in her explanation.
"You mean we can be enlisted into war protocols. We can be drafted, we earn money by improving our value as soldiers and we work as local mercenaries for a series of connected autocratic states in order to learn how to handle different possible mission variants. We're being trained as frontline battlers." Ash said grimly. His head was pounding already from the earlier abuse of his odd powers in order to corral Fortez but this felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head.
Nurse Joy reevaluated the boy sitting in front of her who had deduced the original purpose of the training circuit from a simple explanation. She mentally noted that it was likely the reason that he'd been chosen as a Lab Trainer outside of any combat prowess or practical knowledge he may have displayed. That level of intuitiveness was nearly supernatural.
"Yes, that is the original reason that the circuit was created and the formula for a trainer's life made. We were in a much more precarious position on the world stage at the time, the Unovan nation always being one pointed comment away from invading our shores and Johto not being entirely submitted to the Kanto League when all this came into being. It's a bit more reformed now, allowing trainers to branch off into research, exploration, teaching, healing and bureaucratic positions."
"But the heart of it remains." Gary finished solemnly. "Not only that, but Lab Trainers are separated from other trainers. Set apart as an addition to any ranking. The only reason you'd do that is if our job went beyond being employed as mercenaries. It would have to mean… no. ARCEUS FUCKING DAMMIT OLD MAN!" Gary yelled suddenly standing so quickly his chair nearly hit the ground. Ash started slightly, though Nurse Joy seemed to have somehow expected his violent reaction.
"Tell me I'm wrong, Joy! Tell me we aren't fucking trainer internal affairs!" Gary shouted, running his hand through his hair in dismay.
Nurse Joy found herself instead amazed by the two young men in front of her. They were obviously darkened by the revealing of a trainer's true purpose and more relevantly, the original purpose of lab sponsored trainers, but the ability to piece it together off of so little information was incredible. She couldn't help but feel the old sparks of the ruthless trainer who had toured the circuit fifteen years prior and taken her rookie team all the way to being a quarter finalist in the Plateau Conference come to life, eagerly visualizing the battle these two teens could provide given a few years, nay, maybe even six to nine months. In her head, she swore to pay more attention to the Conference that year just to see this new set of Lab Trainers. They were something different.
"You're correct, but only partially. You are sponsored because it opens doors. That same ability means that you will be asked to fill the most difficult roles. In the past when war was on the doorstep, you'd have been asked to discover traitors for other nations; befriending them then removing them in whatever method required. You'd have been molded into symbols of hope and power for the Indigo League and into avatars of death and destruction for our enemies. These days, the idea may still be there; you have been entrusted with great responsibility but you have access to resources some trainers couldn't ever dream of. Full restores at centers, direct access to training from the best gym trainers and breeders, healers and scientists. You are even permitted should you prove the investment in you two boys is worth the time, gain enough influence to work directly with Gym Leaders and in rare cases the Elite Four in order to mold you in the directions you wish to go. Lab Trainers of the past years have been directed into incredible influence; You may recognize such names as Scott Gehirn, Tate and Liza Furan, Jeremy Sycamore or even Lusamine Aether. They chose specific paths as Lab Trainers and were groomed into them. That is the pedestal you have been placed on. Is it any wonder the weight on your shoulders is so heavy?" She said, her smile finally dropping at the severity of the subject, though the spark of fervor never leaving her eyes.
Gary paced around the office taking several deep breaths. It had always been a thought in the back of his head how big of a deal it was for his Grandpa to award him the title he now wore proudly, but he somehow had always ignored how much of an impact it would have on the rest of his life. The only thing that kept him from buckling at the weight of the knowledge that he was effectively consigned to greatness or death was the odd comfort that he at least had his brother to lean on.
Ash meanwhile, on a very similar stream of ideas, much more simply leaned forward with his hands clasped together in his chair, simply delved into his thoughts. He'd always had an acute awareness of the strikingly military organization of the leagues. How could he not? Only an idiot wouldn't realize that trainers were essentially walking armies armed to the teeth with creatures that could literally destroy houses, streets and even whole towns if trained correctly. It made sense to keep that sort of power contained in an organized structure. What he hadn't considered was the depth of that structure. And he certainly hadn't anticipated being blindsided by the sheer impact of it. Why hadn't Professor Oak at least given them some sort of inkling as to what they were meant to be? Or was it a test of sorts? Maybe he was planning on weaning it into their knowledge or even just seeing if they would come to the conclusion on their own? He shook his head, choosing to not dwell on it anymore and handle what they could at the moment.
"This has been enlightening to say the least, Nurse Joy. We appreciate the talk, but Gary and I still have a few things that need done before we head towards Pewter for the first gym assessment. We don't intend to stay in Viridian any longer than we have to and neither of us feel particularly comfortable facing off against Giovanni without a deeper understanding of our teams." Ash said, a grimace crossing his face as he stood. His headache was really getting quite bad.
Gary likewise, shook off the doom and gloom of the conversation they were in and decided, similar to Ash, to focus on one thing at a time.
"Likewise Joy, besides, I want to name Charmander soon. Personal far too early midlife crisis or not, I can contemplate my new found existential dread later. My family comes before all this shit." Gary said resolutely.
Nurse Joy smiled again, this time one of understanding and compassion for the young men who had handled their more in depth discovery of their lot in life with such maturity. She wryly recalled one famous story that had circulated the league when a young Wallace Mikuri had allegedly flipped the desk of Steven Stone and then socked him in the face for revealing what the true purpose of coordinators in the league was to him in a private meeting. She stood slowly as the boys gathered themselves and walked to them, standing in front of them and offering one last sincere smile in the privacy of her office. "You're right, this was a lot to give you all at once. Regardless, I still wanted to thank you boys for your service. I think that you made an approved wager of 1000 credits in your battle Mr. Oak? We will transfer that plus the finders fee we would have issued regardless to your account. And Mr. Ketchum, thank you as well for assisting. We likewise will give you the same finders fee." She said resolutely. To finish it off, she leaned forward and kissed both the young men on their cheeks much to Gary's amusement and Ash being reduced to a stuttering, blushing mess.
"Yeah! No problem Nurse Joy! Let me know if you ever need anything at all! I'll make myself available!" Ash said, his face redder than a Cheri berry and his voice nearly breaking several times.
Gary shook his head in amused exasperation. "Sure, swear eternal servitude to the gal that just shattered your worldview while you're at it why don'tcha? Thank you Nurse Joy." He said, forcibly escorting the lovestruck Ash out of the office by the scruff of his neck. Joy giggled behind them. For two boys she thought would one day reshape the world around them, they were awfully fun to mess with.
આગળ ઉપરાંત
Gary and Ash parted ways for a bit after they left Nurse Joy's office; Ash citing the need to take an afternoon nap to try and alleviate his building migraine and Gary using that opportunity to name his newest partner. Gary made his way back out to the back padded in the training/communal area of the Pokecenter and amused himself with the thought that early that morning he'd been approaching the same spot for his meeting with a significantly different ending. He shook his head and pulled Charmander's pokeball off of his belt, releasing the fire lizard in a burst of red light. Charmander looked around briefly, obviously disoriented by his new found location then relaxing once he'd realized where he was. His gaze met the strong, kind eyes of his new trainer and he stood with uncertainty. Had he maybe dreamed of this trainer taking him under his wing? Before the thought could even ferment for a moment, Gary bent down and rubbed his hand on the top of Charmander's head affectionately.
"Well Charmander, welcome to our little family. I'll bring Regent out in a moment but I wanted to have a quick conversation with you. I want you to have a unique identity separate from your previous trainer. This is your new life, and I figured that a new name would be a good start to it, so, sound good to you?" Gary said, his voice conveying a sincerity that was so strong Charmander's tail quite literally flared up in response.
Indeed, Charmander very much liked that idea. A new name given to him by the trainer who was willing to help him be worthy of a team like he was being offered? Maybe he could be as strong as the Dratini that was often draped around his new trainer's shoulders. A small traitorous thought in the back of his mind even whispered that he could be stronger than him; able to do the same blasts of wind but scorching, able to immolate the ground and raze his trainer's enemies.
Charmander nodded vigorously with the same energy as a zealot being offered to vessel their God.
"Good. That's good then. We should come up with some names then." Gary said, inwardly sighing with relief. He was afraid of what to do if Charmander had said no. Not that it would have been any particularly terrible thing to work around, but it was really the only thing he could think of to bridge the last of the gap into making Charmander feel accepted.
Gary released Regent who quickly curled around Gary, though on the ground unlike his general location and seemed to quickly ascertain the situation; relaxing rapidly and surveying the proceedings with a lazy eye. Gary began to throw out names though he quickly realized that he would have to rely on the level of enthusiasm as a mark rather than the creativity of the name, as Charmander seemed to just be happy to receive anything resembling a title. As such, Gary discarded many choices including Blaze, Draco, Burst, Char, Salamander and Torch. It was only after several minutes of suggestions did he land on one that had any noticeable difference in affect to the little fire-type.
"What about Ignis?" Gary said inquisitively. Normally, Charmander would respond to a name suggestion by wagging his tail and grinning widely, just thrilled to be accepted, but with this his tail stopped moving and his eyes widened. Gary could almost see the name running through his head over and over again and Regent even seemed to approve based on him lifting his head from the lazy perch he'd placed it in and butting against Gary in friendly approval.
"Ignis it is then. Welcome to the team Ignis. Welcome to the family."
Ignis sat down against the base of the tree where he'd, even that day, been introduced to his partners unwittingly. As he pondered the amazing turn his life had taken, Gary took out his pokedex, taking that moment to finally scan his newest pokemon.
"Charmander, the Lizard Pokemon. From the time it is born, a flame burns at the tip of its tail. Its life would end if the flame were to go out. This Charmander knows the moves: Growl, Scratch, Ember, Smokescreen, Dragonbreath, Fire Spin, Dragon Dance, Endure." The pokedex intoned. That's when Gary was struck by incredible deja-vu as his pokedex, in his humble opinion, started flipping shit.
"ERROR. ERROR. This Charmander species is detected to contain unnaturally high levels of draconic energy. Typing is confirmed Fire-Dragon with 95% certainty. Pokemon to be taken to the nearest lab for immediate analysis. ERROR. ERROR."
Gary blinked several times, then his jaw dropped as Ignis, in his excitement, lifted his head and blasted out a strong burst of Ember that was blue. Even Regent seemed to blink a few times as though clearing the impossible sight he'd just seen in the form of a Dragon-type Ember.
"I think," the prodigal Oak said slowly, "that we might need to figure out what you can do Ignis. I get the strangest feeling you may be bullshit."
