The Pokémon Journey
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.
Just to remind everyone who has what Pokémon.
Lita's Pokémon:
On hand- Vulpix (Hestia), Meowth (Stilely), Dratini (Emerald), Rockruff, Bagon, Pidgeotto
At the Lab- Eevee (Nova), Cubone, Poliwhirl, Scyther, Primeape, Tauros (4)
Ash's Pokémon:
On hand-Espeon, Pikachu, Charmelon, Dratini, Alolan Vulpix, Skarmory
At the Lab- Nidorina, Nidorino, Rattata, Butterfree, Muk, Magnemite, Riolu, Hypno, Gible, Oddish, Ryhdon, Tauros (10), Exeggcute, Litwick, Honedge
Misty's Pokémon:
On hand- Totodile, Vaporeon, Krabby, Buizel, Dewgong, Lotad
At the Lab- Goldeen, Feebas, Shellder, Psyduck, Horsea, Staryu
May's Pokémon
On Hand- Torchic, Butterfree, Skitty, Ponyta, Absol, Tyrogue
Challenging Sabrina Again
Misty watched as Ash trained with his Pokémon. He had brought his two new ghost Pokémon to the team: Honedge and Litwick and had returned Butterfree sending all three Pokémon he caught at the safari zone to the professor. He had also taken Hypno for the day having to transfer Charmelon so he could use Hypno to train for the psychic gym.
Misty on the other hand had checked out the TM store. The win against Sabrina had given her a bit of funds and she wanted to give Totodile and Vaporeon a treat. Especially Vaporeon who was still sour over the defeat at Janine's gym and wasn't too happy over her performance at Sabrina even if she had given Misty the win. Vaporeon wanted to win without being knocked out. Misty able to find a rock smash for Vaporeon and focus punch for Totodile. Reusable for both. Fighting type moves being cheaper but effective. She could see both were happy with the new moves as they started attacking dummies.
Misty then had to look over money. She still had a bit left over from Sabrina and other gyms but she still hadn't fully recovered from draining her money to buy Vaporeon. Ash's money wasn't much better, especially since Ash had just cleared out most of his money to get a one time use Hyper Beam to give to Butterfree. Something Misty knew Ash wanted for a while, but had cost a lot.
Misty sighed as she watched her Pokémon. Ash would not admit it but Lita extra income had let them do a lot. Lita had paid for good meals and some extras they couldn't afford otherwise. The two were going to need to have another source of income not battles to continue. Misty knew she couldn't rely on her sisters sending her anything and she got that Lance was making Ash and Lita finance their journey on their own besides the times they randomly bumped into each other.
"Gym trainers," Misty mumbled. Gym trainers who trained inside gyms could be challenge by the public as well and if lost like gym leaders it was risk free. You do not pay if you lose but if you win she would get some money reward. It wasn't a permanent solution but if she won a few battles against Sabrina gym trainers she could increase their money reserve and get valuable training for her rematch with Janine. "Ash, I'm going to go do something."
"See you later," Ash said, but his attention was still on his Pokémon.
Misty walking towards the gym and entering the building. "Hello again," it was Sabrina's father. "Daughter, you have a visitor I think your other visitor would like to see." He called confusing Misty.
Sabrina appeared in the room and who was next to her made Misty smile. "Lance," Misty said.
"Come here," Lance said giving Misty a hug. "Anyone who can put up with my niece and nephew the way you have been is family." Misty tried not to laugh. "I did hear Lita left on her own with a coordinator. I think that was the right choice."
"Definitely," Misty said.
"I do not see Ash. I assume this is not for a rematch," Sabrina said.
"No Ash is training," Misty said. "I was wondering if I could challenge some of your gym trainers."
"Any reason why?" Sabrina asked.
"Practice for my rematch with Janine and well…" Misty paused. "We need the money winning would earn with no risk of losing money."
"My gym is open to you," Sabrina said with a nod.
"Ah, before you go," Lance said stopping Misty from following Sabrina. "Can I have a word?" Misty raised an eyebrow but nodded as Sabrina took a step back. "You know Kanto is down to 10 gyms." Misty gave another nod. "It's the least amount of gym of any of the official regions. I was hoping I would be able to get another one or two up and official before this coming Indigo league but it's not looking good. Need to build gyms and other red tape."
"Where is this going?" Misty asked.
"If anything were to happen to two gyms we would be down to the exact amount needed for the conference. If three went we're in trouble. I was hoping you'd be open to letting me reopen your gym putting a trusted water Pokémon specialist in charge as gym leader," Lance said.
"What would that mean for me?" Misty asked.
"Nothing. The gym license would still be in your families name. This would be temporarily until you were ready to take over. Your sisters water shows could still happen around gym battles. We would redesign your gyms badge so none of the people your sisters just gave badges to could claim victory and reset the gym stats to zero. Which would honestly help your gym. Your sister did tank the stats," Lance said. "It would be helpful to Kanto, but if your uncomfortable at all…."
"No, honestly I think it would be a good thing," Misty said. "You have my permission."
"Thank you and trust me you will love the guy I have in mind. He's from Sinnoh been training under the elite four there," Lance said. "He's a great guy and sees this as a good step forward in his career. Sinnoh already has a water gym so he's aiming to one day join the elite four and being a gym leader in Kanto for a bit is good for his resume."
"I can't wait to meet him," Misty said truthfully.
"And I'm going to go see what Ash is doing," Lance said and got up to leave as Misty turned ready to take on the gym trainers.
….
"Nice job Butterfree," Ash said after Butterfree used hyper beam.
"You did not get Lita to give you her hyper beam, did you?" Lance asked surprising Ash who had not realized he had walked up.
"You know about that," Ash mumbled but he shouldn't he surprised. He had called his mom. "No, I bought a onetime use."
"Ah, reason why Misty is concerned on money," Lance said confusing Ash but Ash didn't question as his uncle brought him in for a hug.
"What are you doing here?" Ash asked.
"I had some business with Sabrina," Lance said not going into details and Ash knew better than to ask. "She told me you would be coming in soon for a rematch. And since last I checked the Pokémon registered to you didn't include a Litwick or Honedge I am going to guess you went and caught those."
"Yeah," Ash said with a smile. "They're not bad. Litwick knows astonish, smog, ember, minimize, and confuse ray. Honedge knows fury cutter, tackle, shadow sneak, and aerial ace. Plus, an egg move of destiny bond which he can use."
"Not bad but going up against any gym leader with just caught Pokémon can be tricky. Especially when that gym leader is Sabrina. If you would take a suggestion from your uncle," Lance said.
"Always," Ash said eagerly waiting.
"Use Honedge and Butterfree. Honedge first because of destiny bond. If you see Honedge is failing and can get it on the first Pokémon you at least get one down. If Honedge gets through the first and you can get it on Sabrina's second then you win," Lance said and Ash nodded. It was a good strategy. "Butterfree has been with you for a while and I can tell is strong. Plus, that hyper beam is a powerful move. You know the one big drawback to hyper beam, right?"
"Afterward the Pokémon needs to recharge so if I use it too early it could be a death sentence for me," Ash said with a nod.
"Let's do some training with them," Lance said and Ash gave a smiled and called to his Pokémon to start training again. Wanting to impress his uncle.
….
Later that night when Misty came back from battling gym trainers Lance brought them out to dinner. "Misty, Lance said you were worried about money," Ash said as they sat down. "We'll be fine once we win some gym battles. We've been fine this whole time."
"Ash, I don't think you realize how much Lita photos helped us," Misty said.
"Especially now she got a photo of Ho-Oh," Lance added in. "She'll be fine with money for a long time."
"Since we had that income we haven't been saving money the way we should. Now Lita is gone we're not in a good position. Gym battles only get us so far. I managed to beat a couple of gym trainers in Sabrina's gym so that has refilled some of our money, but we need to be careful. Battling gym trainers are not a sure fire thing. They could be away or in the middle of some type of training they can't accept battles," Misty added. "And we can always lose when we take on trainers passing by meaning we have to pay."
Ash bite his lip not sure what to say to that. "If I may make a suggestion," Lance said. "There are always people willing to hire passing by trainers for small jobs to give extra income. There are websites for it. You can make an account and if you need money when you hit the Pokémon center look up who needs help with what. Could be as simple as getting rid of a Pokémon causing trouble or helping catch a Pokémon or bringing a package to a next town."
"It's a good idea," Misty said with a nod.
"Okay, but when I beat Sabrina tomorrow we'll save that money for a bit and then you'll rematch Janine and beat her," Ash said with a smile as food came and he started shoveling it into his mouth. Lance shook his head and laughed as he and Misty started to eat as well.
…..
The next day Ash and Misty walked into the gym. They weren't surprise Sabrina was waiting for them or Lance was there. Lance had mentioned when he dropped them off he would stick around to see Ash battle.
"Come along Ash," Sabrina said taking her spot on the battle field and Ash taking his.
"This will be a two on two battle. Only the challenger will be allowed to substitute Pokémon. The battle will be over when one side is out of usable Pokémon," it was Sabrina's father acting as refugee. "And begin."
Sabrina tossed out her Kadabra. Ash released Honedge. "I see you caught a ghost type. You will need more than that to win against me," Sabrina told Ash as Kadabra started to make moves. Ash knew Sabrina was directing him telepathically as a confusion hit into Honedge.
"Use shadow sneak," Ash said and Honedge seems to disappear into the shadows to appear to attack Kadabra. Right after Kadabra responded with an attack that hit Honedge away and seemed to deal a lot of damage.
"What move was that?" Misty asked Lance. Pikachu was sitting on her lap watching the battle from here and cheering on his team mates. Espeon was in his pokeball instead of being out.
"Knock off a dark type move," Lance said. "I told Ash you can't just rely on type advantage."
Honedge dodged a psycho cut attack and went to deliver an aerial ace on Ash's orders. Kadabra teleporting out of the way of the aerial ace. Kadabra teleporting out of the way of several attacks and delivering a few others.
Ash looking at his Pokémon knew he had only two options. Either switch out Honedge and use Butterfree or use destiny bond. Ash nodded. "Destiny bond," Ash said and there seemed to be a light between the two Pokémon. "Shadow sneak again."
Honedge disappeared into the shadows and came out to attacked Kadabra. The attack landed and like last time Kadabra used knock off. The dark type was it for Honedge who fainted, but destiny bond came into effect and Kadabra fainted as well.
"Both Pokémon are unable to battle," Sabrina's father said as both returned their Pokémon.
"Sacrificing your Pokémon to put me down one. Not a bad strategy," Sabrina said as she returned Kadabra. "Let's see how you deal with this one." Sabrina let out a Jynx. Ash looked at the Pokémon for a moment before letting out Butterfree.
"Isn't Jynx also an ice type?" Misty asked Lance who nodded back. Misty sighed hoping Ash knew that. Ice type moves would seriously hurt Butterfree.
"Poison powder, cover the field," Ash said right away and Butterfree flew high cover the entire field in poison powder and even hitting in Jynx. The Pokémon clearly hurt by the powder, but Ash was surprised when he saw Jynx summon white powder and realized it was snow. The snow getting rid of the poison powder on the ground and going after Butterfree. "Harden. Butterfree."
Ash wanted Butterfree defenses up and Butterfree did managed to harden but the ice attack did some damage. "Confusion." Butterfree confusion was responded with Jynx own confusion. The two attacks meeting and causing a bit of explosion sending both back.
Both Pokémon seemed to shake it off though. "Bug bite," Ash had no choice but to get Butterfree in close. If he used Poison Powder again Sarina would just blow it away with powder snow again. Butterfree went in close and the bug bit hit but Jynx hand lit up and punched into Butterfree. Ash knew an ice punch when he saw it.
"Butterfree, are you good to continue?" Ash asked his Pokémon.
"Butterfree," Butterfree said injured but clearly ready to continue fighting.
"String shot," Ash said but Jynx dodged the attack and sent a physic which Butterfree dodge. Butterfree hit Jynx with a confusion only to receive one back.
Ash took a breath and looked at the battle. Butterfree could easily stay away from Jynx fist in the air but if Ash sent him in close for a bug bite he would receive an ice punch. And Sabrina could use powder snow again soon. Ash was expecting that. Jynx was hurt though and Ash knew he only had one choice.
"Hyper Beam," Ash said and Butterfree wings glowed a bit as the hyper beam formed in his mouth and the light came out. Jynx tried to dodge it but got hit and thrown back. Ash waited and then saw Jynx stand up. Ash took a deep breath. He used it too soon. Now Jynx would be able to hit Butterfree with powder snow or ice punch easily and win.
Ash waited for a second for the finale blow but it didn't happen. Jynx after a moment fell down and fainted. "Jynx is unable to battle. The challenger wins," Sabrina's father said as Sabrina returned Jynx.
"Take a nice long rest," Ash said returning Butterfree happily.
Sabrina walked over and handed Ash the badge. "Maybe you do have the possibility of becoming great like your father. If you can get over your ego like he did," Sabrina said after giving Ash his winnings. "If you see your cousin let her know I hope she comes my way."
"Hey you can't…." Ash started wanting to yell at Sabrina about disrespecting his father.
"Ash," Lance said taking hold of his nephew. "Do not disrespect a gym leader." Sabrina paused looking at the two seeming to wait to hear what Lance was going to say.
"But she has been saying nasty things about my dad," Ash said.
"I know exactly what she said about Red and she's right," Lance said and Ash looked like a fish out of water. "We've only ever told you the good stories about your father, but you need to hear the other side. Your father was arrogant and egotistical to start off with. He went through his first 5 badges without losing once. He started to feel unbeatable. Then he hit his 6th badge and he lost. Then he lost again and a third time. He went off into the mountains. Was gone for a while. No one heard from him. Not Drakken, not your mother. When he came back he was a different man. No one knew exactly what happened to him, but he won his 6th badge. He was a better trainer and lost the ego."
Lance took a breath. "I was happy when you lost early on to Loren. And when I heard you lost to Sabrina. Because I don't want you thinking your unbeatable like Red did for a bit. You need to know defeat and know how to use strategy to win," Lance said. "Don't be the bad in your father. Be the good."
Ash looked at his uncle and then nodded. He had a lot to think about.
…..
Ash and Misty were sitting the Pokémon center. Ash had returned Hypno to the lab and gotten Charmelon back. He also sent Litwick to the lab to have Oddish on the team for a while. He was going to keep both Butterfree and Honedge for a bit making his team: Espeon, Pikachu, Charmelon, Butterfree, Honedge, and Oddish.
"Ketchum," Nurse Joy said and Ash went up to receive his two pokeballs.
"Well if we hurry we can get the last bus back to Fuchsia City," Misty said.
"Oh yes Champion Lance sent this for you," Nurse Joy said seeming to remember and taking out the tickets which had a note.
Ash taking them. "Sorry I can't bring you myself. I got called away on an emergency. Enjoy the bus ride and good luck with the rematch Misty," Ash read. "Seems he paid for the tickets for us."
"Your uncle is sweet. Now we better run to catch the bus," Misty said and the two nodded before running out of the Pokémon center.
Post Chapter Note: well I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Karry Master OUT!