Time for the deviation from the anime to become even bigger. YAY!. Also sorry about Venusaur, but he kinda needs it, since things will go downhill quite soon and Charizard can't do everything… yet. Be on alert!. Also, this chapter may be very long in comparison to the others.

(Chapter 6: Road to Victory)

Ash woke up with…

…

He is not awake…

…

…

I can't proceed with the story unless he is awake…

…

…

"PIKA CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

"AIGDIWUDOHWHBDLWBDKUWHBDKBHNGAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Nevermind. Back to the story.

Ash woke up early in the morning, courtesy of Pikachu. Outside was still quite a bit starry and the sun was almost up. Everything was still, most of Pallet Town were still asleep. He yawned and shot a quick glare at his cheeky little starter. Getting out of bed, he got dressed for the morning and then noticed a certain date on his calendar.

The calendar reminded him exactly why he was awake much earlier than usual. It was 2 days before the Indigo League, and he needed to go register in the Viridian City Pokemon Center… something he should have done when he was at Viridian City, but since it was on the way to Victory Road, it wasn't that big of a deal… as long as he didn't blow it up again.

After changing, brushing his teeth, and eating a quick breakfast, he quickly said his goodbyes to his mother and left the house. He walked to the laboratory to pick up the five other Pokemon he would bring on his journey to Victory Road. He entered the lab, quickly greeted Professor Oak and grabbed his Pokemon—Muk, Krabby, and Tauros preferred the lab over travelling, so he didn't take them. He grabbed the Pokeball for his Fearow, Charizard, Pidgeotto, Squirtle and Haunter. Unfortunately, due to a hatchling war between the Gloom and Victreebel on the ranch, Venusaur was forced to stay behind and peace-keep. Ash sighed, he remembered when he was little, those two factions in the ranch fought constantly, and was the main reason he and Gary couldn't go on the ranch and play with the Pokemon there. Soon, Ash got to the edge of Pallet town, Misty and Brock were waiting for him.

Misty was the first to speak up, "There you are Ash, are you ready to go?"

Ash looked around and replied, "Yeah, but where is Gary? I thought he would travel with us."

Brock said, "He left before us. He wanted to get there early."

Ash sighed, "Whatever, we first go to Viridian City to sign up, then we go to Victory Road."

Misty yelled, "Why don't we just get going! We are wasting time!."

So the gang began to travel to Viridian City, quickly getting there before noon. Just like before, the route was peaceful and this time, had a lack of killer birds in the air. Soon, the three friends saw Viridian City approaching them. Ash immediately ran into the Pokemon Center and immediately registered for the Indigo League, showcasing his 8 badges. After getting registered and getting a check up on their Pokemon, Ash and the gang left for Victory Road.

Victory Road is a very dangerous part of Kanto. It is well known for having powerful and large Pokemon there as well as a very scary path. Then again, those who called it scary were also scared of a Pichu's Thundershock, so nobody ever took that opinion seriously. The caves are not as annoying as other caves in Kanto, as they are very straightforward, but Onix tend to make their own caves as well, so getting lost is definitely possible. The road runs from a cave into a large, mountainous canyon which is also full of powerful wild Pokemon. At the end of the winding path in the canyon, is a large valley, where the Indigo League stadiums are present.

Ash walked up to the entrance of Victory Road. It was about evening, but inside the humid and moody cave, that would not matter as it ran quite deep into the ground and never had a hole open into the sky. Ash looked to Pikachu, and Pikachu looked to him, nodding as well. The others understood their signals and took precautions. Victory Road was not a place to mess around. Wordlessly, they entered the cave and disappeared into its depths.

Ash and the gang walked quite a bit, through the winding paths inside the cave, occasionally battling wild Golbat. Ash's Pidgeotto was more than happy to tear through them. Squirtle was also sent out to stop attacks from the wild Onix, who sometimes attacked. The trip took them awhile, but eventually they made it to the canyon. At the exit was a young boy who had set up camp.

The boy noticed them and jumped, "Hey! Are you trainers?"

Brock and Misty looked at eachother, vainly attempting to not make eye contact with the oblivious trainer that stood before them. Why else would they be at Victory Road, if they weren't trainers? For what reason would anyone who was not challenging or a friend of a challenger go through Victory Road?

Ash said, "Yeah, I'm participating in the Indigo League, what about you?"

The boy replied, "Cool, me too. My name is John. You should probably set up camp; the canyon is quite long and it's nearly sundown."

Brock turned around and looked at the sky, confirming the boy's words.

Brock then dropped his bag and began to pull out equipment, "I'll set up our camp—you guys can do whatever you want."

Misty decided to go rest and sit down on a rock while Brock set up camp. A sudden scream coming from Misty alerted everyone. The rock had a Paras on it. Everyone else sweatdropped as Misty ran away. Ash sighed. "She will come back. Hopefully."

John snickered, "Hope she realises that there is a nest of Parasect in that direction."

Another bloodcurdling scream rang out and Misty ran all the way back, collapsing beside Brock inside the tent he just set up.

With a look of complete dread on her face, she whimpered, "I'll just stay here, thank you very much…"

Ash looked at the sun. There was still quite a bit of time before nightfall, so he decided to test his strength. "Hey, John, wanna have a battle? One versus one."

John smiled, "Why not? Perfect warm-up for the Indigo League."

They quickly ran to an open area, far away from both encampments. Both had a Pokeball in their hands.

(ASH VERSUS JOHN)

[1 v 1]

Ash yelled, "I'm going first. Fearow, I choose you!"

Fearow jumped out of its Pokeball screeching loudly, it landed in front of Ash, ready to battle.

John smirked, "In that case, I choose Rhyhorn!"

He threw a Pokeball and his Rhyhorn came out, leering at Fearow.

Ash made the first move, "Fearow, fly up and dive down with your Fury Attack!"

John followed up, "Rhyhorn, let's make this an easy win. Thunderbolt!"

Fearow heard that command and quickly flew up. It was a bit too slow as the attack struck it's wing, but it pushed through and began to descend straight for Rhyhorn. It squawked and rammed its beak into Rhyhorn's hide multiple times before flapping its wings powerfully, sending it back into the sky.

John yelled, "Thunderbolt again!"

Rhyhorn focused again and shot another thunderbolt from it's horn towards Fearow, striking him again, but Fearow just shook its head a bit and kept flying, surprising the Rhyhorn and it's trainer. Ticked off, Rhyhorn began unleashing as many Thunderbolts as it could towards Fearow. Most of them were easily dodged and the few that hit seemed to have no effect.

Fearow turned to look at Rhyhorn smugly, and said to Rhyhorn with a hint of mockery. "Pikachu shocks harder."

Ash then called his command, "Heh, that won't work. Fearow show them your strength, Drill Run!"

Fearow began to spin mid air, spinning so fast it looked like a drill. Not to mention that at this point, Fearow was practically a drill. A drill that was in free fall and had a nice red tip aimed towards Rhyhorn.

John panicked and cried, "Rhyhorn! Dodge it!."

Unfortunately for him, Rhyhorn couldn't get out of the way as the crazy bird smashed into it from 6000 feet above, knocking out the poor rhino Pokemon.

Ash smiled, "Alright Fearow! We won! Looks like all that training with Pikachu payed off."

Fearow just stood above it's foe, face full of pride.

John sighed, "Well, I guess I lost… Great job Rhyhorn."

He promptly returned his Rhyhorn, and turned to Ash who returned his Fearow as well. He looked at the sky and noticed the sun was almost down. "Guess we should head to bed dude."

Ash looked at him and smiled, "Yeah, good battle though. Your Rhyhorn was pretty stron-"

His friendly smile quickly turned into a frown, and then into a face of sheer shock. "John! Behind you, look out!"

John quickly ducked down as a Dragonite flew in and nearly took his head off. "Gah! What's a Dragonite doing here?"

Ash quickly pulled out his Pokedex and scanned it.

-DRAGONITE. THE DRAGON POKEMON. IT IS SAID THAT THIS POKEMON LIVES SOMEWHERE IN THE SEA AND THAT IT FLIES. HOWEVER, IT IS ONLY A RUMOR-

Ash took a confused look at the Pokedex. Somehow it responded, but only briefly.

-NOTICE! POKEDEX REQUIRES UPDATE. UPDATES REMAINING: 1349841 -

Ash facepalmed internally, he had not once updated it since he got it. It had data from when he wasn't even born.

The Dragonite landed in front of the two boys, it's eyes had a look of sheer rage and its body twitched as it flew into the air again. With a ton of power, it launched a powerful Hyper Beam at the two boys. Ash and John ran for their lives, barely making it out of the blast radius. Unfortunately, their exit back towards the encampments was now covered in rocks. They were left in an open area of the canyon, with no escape from the crazy dragon. Things got even worse when John realised a certain thing that was missing from his belt. "Crap, I left my Pokeballs back at the camp!"

Ash sighed, "Guess I gotta do all the fighting, that Dragonite looks like it's really mad and it's attacking everything in sight!"

John looked at Ash with shock, "Your going to battle that thing? Dragonite is one of the most powerful Pokemon in Kanto, what Pokemon do you possibly have that could stand up to it?"

Ash sternly said, "It's not like we have a choice! But first things first, Pidgeotto, I choose you!"

He threw Pidgeottos Pokeball into the air, releasing the bird. He quickly said, "Go past the rubble and find Misty and Brock, this is an emergency!"

Pidgeotto took one look at the deranged Dragonite and promptly flew as fast as it could, dodging a few Ice Beams on the way. Dragonite flew up and tried to chase the bird Pokemon. Ash on the other hand, took another Pokeball from his belt. He had no choice, he knew Dragonite was a fearsome opponent, but since when has that stopped a Pokemon Master? Unfortunately. he only had 4 Pokemon available for the battle since Pikachu was still at camp, and Pidgeotto just left.

He took a breath, he was fighting on his own. He glared at the Dragonite and threw a Pokeball.

"I wish I knew why you are so angry, but dragon-type Pokemon are too dangerous when in rage, so I'm sorry but I have to beat you! I choose you! Haunter!"

Haunter came out of the ball and looked at the angry Dragonite chasing and attacking Pidgeotto, instantly realising the severity of the situation. John quickly ran behind Ash, with only an injured Rhyhorn, he could do nothing but watch.

Ash yelled, "Haunter! I don't know why that Dragonite is so mad, but I know it's too dangerous to leave alone, so use Lick to paralyze it!"

Haunter nodded and disappeared. Dragonite suddenly stopped as it felt a tingle on it's back. It turned around and fired a Hyper Beam… and it did nothing to the ghost who disappeared immediately. Dragonite roared in frenzy and blasted a Flamethrower into the sky, clearly fine but getting angrier. At this point, Pidgeotto was nowhere to be seen.

Ash sighed in relief and commanded, "Pidgeotto is safe. So blast it with Night Shade!"

Haunter reappeared and shot a pitch-black laser out of its eyes from underneath Dragonite. Dragonite saw this and flew out of the way. It then shot a powerful Flamethrower at Haunter at close range, giving it no time to dodge. Haunter landed on the ground, knocked out. But Dragonite didn't look like it was done.

Ash noticed this and yelled, "Haunter! You did great, return!"

Before Dragonite could do anymore damage, he returned Haunter just as Dragonite launched an Ice Beam towards it. The dragon set its sights on Ash again. Ash stared back and thought, "What could have caused this Dragonite to go on a rampage? Did we do anything wrong?"

Ash then pulled out another Pokeball, "I need you! Fearow!"

Fearow came out of its Pokeball screeching and ready to fight, but looked shocked at it's opponent. One look at the terrain and surroundings told it that this was not a normal battle, rather a fight that risked both it and it's trainer. Dragonite leered at it and then fired a Flamethrower at Ash. It landed by Ash, wings outstretched.

Ash realised Fearow couldn't dodge or else he would get hit. He quickly yelled, "Fearow, Drill Peck! Go into the Flamethrower!"

Realising it's trainers plan, it started to spin like a drill and shot towards the Flamethrower attack, blasting it around Fearow, instantly destroying the attack. It managed to strike its beak into Dragonite at a high speed.

Dragonite roared in pain and shot a Dragon Rage attack, followed by two Ice Beams. Fearow flew up into the air and dodged them.

Ash quickly moved out of the way of the attacks and commanded, "Fearow, Hyper Beam!"

Fearow nodded and began to charge the attack in its beak. Noticing this, the Dragonite looked at Fearow and charged it's Hyper Beam, but it was much quicker. Fearow squawked in surprise as the beam was shot at him, knocking him out of the sky. He landed unconscious in front of Ash.

Ash stared in horror. During training, he learned that Fearow was one of his strongest Pokemon, and now it had fallen to the dragon. Granted, the battle against Rhyhorn probably weakened it but now Ash only had 2 Pokemon left. Suddenly, Dragonite launched another Hyper Beam, aimed towards the fallen Fearow.

Ash quickly swapped Pokemon, returning his Fearow and sending out his Squirtle.

Squirtle looked at the Dragonite and stood its ground. Dragonite looked at it, eyes still full of rage and launched a Dragon Rage at the poor turtle.

Ash quickly intervened, "Squirtle, dodge with Rapid Spin, then slow it down with Bubble!"

Squirtle immediately went into its shell and spun out of the giant ball of dragon energy aimed at it. He then jumped back out and shot bubbles out of its mouth at the dragon. The bubbles smacked Dragonite in the face, but all it did was make it angrier as it shot yet another Hyper Beam at Ash. Squirtle saw this and jumped in the way of the attack.

Ash gasped as the smoke from the attack dissipated. Squirtle was unconscious in front of him, taking the attack for him, it was in pretty bad shape, charred black in most areas and with cracks in its shell. It was clear that Squirtle would not heal anytime soon. Ash looked down at the unconscious and mangled turtle. Ash had tears in his eyes as he raised it's Pokeball.

He stammered, "S..Squi...Squirtle… return…"

He looked at the Dragonite and pulled out his last Pokeball. "CHARIZARD! I CHOOSE YOU!"

Charizard left it's Pokeball, about to lie down and rest until it saw its opponent. A Dragonite.

Ash cried, "Charizard please, I need you to beat that Dragonite."

Normally, Charizard would have scoffed at it's weak trainer and refuse to obey, but this time was an exception. A Dragonite was a perfect opponent for it. It flew into the air and launched a Flamethrower attack at the dragon. Dragonite dodged it and shot a Dragon Rage attack back. Charizard saw this and shot his own Dragon Rage, briefly overpowering Dragonite, sending it back towards the ground. Dragonite quickly recovered and flew towards Charizard, charging up an Ice Beam. Charizard was prepared however and fired a Fire Blast at the dragon Pokemon.

Ash and John watched in awe and horror as Dragonite and Charizard continuously battled each other in the sky. The battle destroyed the barren landscape, as the two Pokemon smashed into canyon walls and shot attacks in every direction, charring and even melting the landscape. Ash and John were also constantly forced to dodge attacks due to the intensity of the battle destroying the area they were standing on.

John commented as he ducked out of the way of an stray Ice Beam, "Wow, mighty Charizard you got there."

Ash dodged a stray Flamethrower and replied, "Yeah, wish it would listen to me thought."

John smiled in sympathy, "With a Pokemon that powerful, it would take a trainer with exceptional skill to tame it. Don't be too hard on yourself. It will listen to you eventually."

(Meanwhile)

Pidgeotto flew as fast as it could, twisting and turning through the canyon, looking for Misty and Brock, though that was proving difficult due to the darkness in the sky. Then, out of the corner of its eyes it saw a little campfire. It decided to hedge its bets and go for it.

It flew towards the campfire, but Pidgeotto didn't see Brock or Misty. Instead, she saw another Dragonite. She froze in fear, which made her forget for a crucial second that she was flying. She fell into the ground and squawked. The Dragonite turned around and looked at her. Then a voice Pidgeotto had never heard of before spoke, "Dragonite, what's wrong?"

A man in his twenties came up beside the Dragon Pokemon. Pidgeotto, realising that this Dragonite was a trainer's Pokemon, sighed in relief. She then remembered about Ash, and began to frantically squawk to the Dragonite. The Dragonite listened and looked at it's trainer. The trainer put a hand on Dragonite and closed his eyes.

Quickly, the man let go and turned to Pidgeotto. "Quickly, where is your trainer right now?"

Pidgeotto flew off, Dragonite and it's trainer right behind her.

(Back to Ash)

Suddenly, a loud boom rang out knocking the boy's off their feet. Ash and John looked up and saw Charizard falling from the sky.

Ash's eyes widened, "Oh no…"

John screamed, "ITS OVER! WERE DOOMED"

Ash grimaced, "Not if I can help it"

And Ash began to run towards the falling Charizard.

Charizard was falling fast and it knew it. It battled as hard as it could, but the foe was just too powerful. It landed on it's back on the ground with a loud crash, roaring in pain. It tried to get up with little success, only managing to bring it's neck up. Dragonite landed and Charizard's eyes widened.

Dragonite was charging up a Water Pulse.

But that's not what surprised it. What surprised it was Ash.

Ash ran up in front of Charizard, arms spread. With determination in his eyes, he jumped in front of the attack just before it hit Charizard, taking the brunt of the attack. Ash fell to the ground in pain, but he stood up again. He ran back to Charizard with his arms spread, trying his hardest to protect Charizard.

During the situation, Charizard noticed one detail out of the corner of his eye.

His Pokeball. It was cracked. The sudden realization came to him, that Ash could not return him, and instead of abandoning him, he chose to try to protect him.

Abandoning…. That word…

…

It reminded him of Damien…

He mentally roared at that name. If it wasn't for Ash, that fu-

Wait… If it wasn't for Ash….

Ash…

…

Memories began to flood into Charizard. It remembered how it was abused and abandoned by Damien, how Ash had saved him, how he changed when he evolved. He thought that his trainer was weak and unworthy, but now that he thought about it, why did he ever think that?

It didn't matter now. His impression of Ash changed back to what it was as a Charmander. Not a weak and lousy trainer, but one that truly cared.

Dragonite, on the other hand, was already charging up it's next attack.

Ash looked back to Charizard and said. "Go and escape, I'll take care of this."

He then turned to Dragonite and yelled. "All right, you! I don't think you know who you're dealing with! But I'm Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town! And I'm gonna be the world's greatest Pokemon Master! Mess with me and you're gonna lose! I fight for my Pokemon, for my friends, and for tomorrow. NOW HAVE AT ME!"

Dragonite obliged and charged up a Hyper Beam aimed at Ash. Charizard closed its eyes, it couldn't look at what was about to happen. Everything fell into slow motion.

But then, he heard something else.

"Dragonite! Strike that wild Dragonite with Ice Beam!" an unknown voice said.

Charizard opened its eyes. Both it and Ash watched as another Dragonite stood in front of them, along with a red-haired man. John was standing behind him, also looking surprised.

The wild Dragonite was struggling in a block of ice!

Ash took one look at the man and recognized him immediately. "Wait a second! You're Lance from the Elite 4!"

Lance replied, "Are you alright? This Dragonite is the one I've been searching for. It's trainer abandoned it on Victory Road as a Dratini and it absolutely despises humans. The trainer was arrested a while ago, but the Dratini was never found."

Lance turned back and looked at the now weakened, wild Dragonite. "You have caused enough trouble here, so prepare yourself to be captured!"

Dragonite's eyes widened as a Pokeball was thrown. The capture was immediate. Lance picked up the Pokeball and sighed. "Hopefully I can help you."

Lance then turned around said, "Now we need to take care of you. It's evident that your Pokemon require immediate medical attention. The nearest Pokemon Center is at the Indigo Plateau. Return your Pokemon and let's go.

Ash replied, "I can't return Charizard, his Pokeball broke during the battle.

Lance sighed, thought for a bit and then said, "Then, I think I can bring a Nurse Joy out here to help. Stay put and make sure Charizard doesn't get hurt even further.

Ash nodded.

Lance immediately jumped on Dragonite and flew off in the direction of the Indigo Plateau. Ash and John watched as sped off towards their destination. In the meantime, Ash went and sat beside Charizard, who was still lying down. Pidgeotto also landed right beside them. Ash sat and watched his weakened Charizard with tears on his cheek. He said in a weak and quiet voice, "I'm sorry. Your hurt because of me."

Charizard heard this and with the last of his energy, he shook his head and growled a bit. Then, his injuries got to him and he fell unconscious.

"CHARIZARD!"

All time stopped for Ash at that moment.

First of all, this was planned. There is no way I'm BSing Ash's battle against Ritchie. No way is his Pokemon getting taken out for disobedience and sleep. That was stupid. Ash in this story is not stupid. Just dense, naive and hyper. Ash to me, won most of his battles in the anime with strategies, that were surprisingly effective. Unlike many other writers, I would rather he keep that way, since that is one of his two specialties, with the other being his bond with his Pokemon. Also, Ash will not be an overpowered trainer, he will become smarter over time, but not overpowered.