Chapter 4

"So, what's the plan?" Brock asked as he and Ash walked out of the Cerulean City Pokémon Center. "Planning on challenging the gym today?"

Ash gave it some thought before settling on a decision. "...Nah. I'm not sure if my team is quite ready for it yet. I'm thinking we could head up to the Cerulean Cape and do a few days of training before taking it on. I plan on using Pikachu for sure. Butterfree as well." He paused for a moment. "I'm not sure who I'll use if it's a 3-on-3 match. Maybe Pidgeotto, but we'll see. Either way, Butterfree and Pidgeotto are nowhere near ready to face a gym yet, so I'll be working with them the most."

Brock nodded in understanding. "That seems like a good idea. But, uh, Ash? Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Ask away."

Brock pinched the bridge of his nose. "What was all that in the Pokémon Center?"

"What do you mean?" Ash asked, confused.

"You know, the whole adding yourself to your own team?" Brock asked, exasperated. "How in the world will that even work?"

"Oh, that…"

"You want to do what?!"

"I want you to register my Pokeball to my trainer ID," Ash repeated. "Why? Will that be a problem?"
Professor Oak groaned on the other side of the line. "It's too early in the morning for this…" he grumbled. "I haven't even had my coffee yet…"

"Er, Professor?"

"Alright, I'll do it. But why in the world would you want me to do that? The whole point in you leaving early was so that you could avoid attention," Professor Oak warned. "Participating in battles would require you to give up your identity to whoever you battle, and word will spread extremely quickly. You don't want Team Rocket catching on."

Ash gave the aging professor a sheepish grin. "Err… It might be a little late for that…"

Professor Oak groaned in exasperation, resting his face in his hands. "Oh Mew… What did you do?"

"Brock and I ran into a group of Team Rocket grunts in Mt. Moon harassing a scientist. There wasn't any way for us to get by unnoticed, so we chose to fight them off. The grunts were ridiculously weak, surprisingly, but then one of their admins showed up and nearly took out our entire teams with a single Pokémon. I managed to take out his Toxicroak, but my illusion had already burst. Er, oops..?"

"...That's… definitely not good. Wait, you took out a Toxicroak?"

Ash blushed. "Yeah. I'm honestly not sure how, though. One second I was on the ground barely conscious and the next I was lunging at Toxicroak in a ball of Dark-Type energy. Nothing else up to that point even scratched it, but that attack took it down immediately. I was actually hoping you would have an idea as to what it was."

Professor Oak frowned thoughtfully, before typing something on his computer. "Hmm… I might have one possibility. You said that it was a physical Dark-Type attack where you were covered in energy, correct?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"Hmm… Well, there is only one move that both fits the description you gave and could be strong enough to take out that Toxicroak as you claim. It just so happens that Zorua can learn it as well, although they typically don't learn it so quickly."
Ash looked surprised. "Really? What is it?"

"It's called Foul Play. As you observed, it is a physical Dark-Type move that can be extremely powerful under the correct circumstances." Professor Oak explained. "The attack works by turning the strength of the opponent against them. The stronger the foe, the stronger the attack becomes. However, the opposite is also true. When facing weaker opponents, the attack will do very little damage."

"Foul Play…" Ash repeated, testing out the name. After a moment he shook his head and gave the Professor a nod of gratitude. "Thank you Professor, that's really useful information." After a moment, he realized the reason he had called. "Oh right. About registering my Pokeball to my ID…"

Professor Oak sighed. "Fine, fine. You're lucky your mother insisted on keeping your Pokeball at the lab for safekeeping." The professor said before he stood up and walked off screen.

Ash could hear him fumbling in a drawer for a few seconds before the man reappeared on the camera with the Pokeball in tow. Professor Oak entered something into his computer and a 'ding' was heard over the call. The aging man then placed the ball onto his transporter. With a flash, the ball, his ball, materialized in a flash.

Carefully, Ash picked it up and clipped it to his belt. Once it was secure, he turned back to the professor. "Thanks, Professor Oak."

"Think nothing of it, my boy. Oh, and I'd like to remind you that the other Pallet trainers will be setting off in four days. You'll probably run into them at some point. I haven't told Gary of your… condition… so I'll leave the decision of whether or not you choose to tell him to your discretion. Stay safe out there, lad. I have to get back to work now, so I'll talk to you some other time."

With that, the professor ended the call. Ash stood up and stretched, before stepping out of the private phone booth. Pikachu jumped up onto his shoulder from where he was standing guard. "How'd it go?"

"I got the ball." Ash confirmed. "Let's go find Brock."

"...None of that answered my question," Brock pointed out.

Ash sighed, before his face took on a determined expression. "Now that Team Rocket knows I'm on the move, it will be nearly impossible to avoid them any longer. In a way, I'm glad. I don't want to always be hiding in the shadows anymore. I'm going to start training just as hard as the rest of my team. I've learned a few moves here and there, but I haven't done any form of physical training whatsoever. The next time we run into Team Rocket, I'll be ready."

Brock nodded hesitantly. "I… see where you're coming from, but are you sure you want to purposely get tangled in Team Rocket's affairs? That is a very dangerous game to play."

"Yes," Ash replied immediately. "If I do nothing, then they'll find me eventually anyways. I thought that simply leaving town and avoiding them would be enough to get them off my back, but I know now that that was stupid of me. Team Rocket won't stop until they get what they want, so the only way I will be able to live safely is to take them out."

"I can see I won't be able to talk you out of this…" Brock said with a sigh. After a short pause, he nodded. "Alright, I'm with you. Let's just focus on getting stronger before we try anything though. We don't stand a chance against them now."

Ash grinned. "Alright, let's get moving."

The trip to Cerulean Cape took a few hours on foot. Ash passed the time by going over possible strategies for the Cerulean Gym. Before leaving the Pokemon Center, he had looked up information on the gym. He found that the Gym Leader was currently a girl by the name of Misty. It also mentioned that she trained Water-Types, but Ash was already aware of that. Sadly, the website had no information on her second badge team, so he wasn't able to learn much of note.

Even so, he found himself strategizing with Brock and his team. "Pikachu, I want you to start working on Electro Ball. Even with Thundershock, I want you to have another option just in case. Plus, Electro Ball has a bit more of a punch compared to Thundershock, and you aren't ready for Thunderbolt quite yet. I've also decided to teach you Nuzzle. It doesn't have the range of Thunder Wave, but it does a bit of damage in exchange. If we have time, I'd like you to start on Double Team, but that can wait." At Pikachu's nod of understanding, Ash turned to Butterfree and Pidgeotto.

"Alright, Butterfree, I want you to focus on learning Confusion and Gust. I'll also give you the Shadow Ball TM. That should be a good start for you. Pidgeotto, I want you to focus on learning Quick Attack from Eevee. After that, see if you can figure out Aerial Ace."

After double checking to be sure his Pokemon understood, he turned to Eevee. "For you, since I won't be using you in this gym battle, I'd like you to focus on strengthening your current moves. I'm going to try to learn Dig, so if you get a chance I could use some advice on that. Once I've gotten that down, I also want to work on some endurance training. When I was fighting those rocket grunts, I was worn out after only using a couple attacks."

Eevee listened attentively, before nodding. "Sounds good. Anything else?"

Ash thought about it for a moment, before shaking his head. "Nope, I think that's everything. Do you have anything to add, Brock?"

Brock gave a small smile. "No, you seem to have a pretty good plan laid out there. There isn't much else I think you'll need for Misty."

Ash grinned. "Alright, let's get started then."

It was on the second day of training that something interesting occurred. Ash had just finished learning Dig and was about to move on to endurance training when a Bubblebeam slammed into him from behind. It didn't do much damage, but it definitely stung. He swung around to face his attacker and came face to face with a Krabby, clicking its pincers challengingly.

Ash narrowed his eyes, shifting back to his human form. "Hey Pikachu, you want to take this one?"

Pikachu glanced at the Krabby and grinned, cheeks sparking. "With pleasure."

The Krabby didn't seem too keen on waiting for them to finish and launched a Mud Shot. Pikachu didn't hesitate to leap out of the way of the attack and spun around to launch a Thundershock at the Krabby. The attack hit home, doing a decent amount of damage, but the Krabby fought through it and leapt forwards with it's claws taking on a metallic glow.

"Meet that attack with Iron Tail!" Ash called. Pikachu leapt up, his tail glowing, and spun forwards. The Iron Tail met the Metal Claw, and for a moment the two were at a standstill. After a moment, though, Krabby began to be pushed back slightly, causing it to lose its footing. Pikachu capitalized on Krabby's vulnerability and used his Iron Tail to slam Krabby into the ground, knocking the crustacean out cold.

Ash wasted no time securing Pokeball and throwing it at the downed Krabby, pulling it in with a flash of red light. The ball bounced twice before rolling to a stop, shaking rapidly.

One shake.

Two shakes.

Three..!

Click

Ash let out a small cheer, which his team happily joined in on. After a moment he released Krabby onto the shore and began to apply a Super Potion. Once Krabby was back in decent shape, he pulled out his Pokedex and scanned his newest team member.

Krabby, the River Crab Pokemon. Living on beaches in burrows it digs, Krabby can regrow its pincers if they break off in battle. This Krabby is male and knows the moves Mud Sport, Bubblebeam, Vice Grip, Leer, Harden, Mud Shot, and Metal Claw.

"That's a really solid moveset," Brock said, giving a whistle.

Ash couldn't help but agree. Krabby had a really solid amount of versatility despite being freshly captured, and he was sure it would be a fierce battler once properly trained.

Ash ended up training with his team for a total of five days before feeling confident enough to challenge Misty. His team had made great progress, with each Pokemon having learned the attacks Ash had requested of them.

Ash himself had managed to learn Dig after only a day and a half, and found that he could use it as both a Pikachu and an Eevee. He settled on teaching the technique to Pikachu on the way to Vermilion City. After finishing with Dig, he had begun working on his endurance. He decided to pair it up with Eevee's training, and had her try to hit him with Shadow Ball while he attempted to dodge as many as he could. Being in his Zorua form, the Shadow Balls didn't do much damage individually, but over time they quickly began to wear him down.

As for Krabby, Ash had yet to teach his newest team member any moves, instead opting to see where it stood with its current attacks and focused on getting them to peak performance. Ash had to admit to himself that if he hadn't already chosen his team for Misty, he would have highly considered using Krabby for it.

After one final stop at the Pokemon Center to heal his team, Ash and Brock found themselves in front of the Cerulean Gym. Brock placed a hand supportively on Ash's shoulder. "Don't worry, you'll do fine."

Ash took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. "Right. Let's do this."

Stepping into the gym, the pair found themselves in a rather standard lobby. At the booth was a young woman with blue hair who looked like she wanted to be literally anywhere but there.

"Name, hometown and number of badges please," She said in a completely monotone voice.

"Ash Ketchum, Pallet Town, and 1 badge so far," Ash replied.

The woman nodded, typing the info into her computer. "Alright, head on back. Misty doesn't have any challengers at the moment, so she can get to you immediately."

"Alright, thank you."

"This will be a 3-on-3 battle between the Cerulean Gym Leader, Misty, and the challenger, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town," The referee stated. Ash glanced across the field at the orange haired teen he was facing. This was it, no turning back now. He shook the thoughts aside as the referee continued. "The battle will be over when one side is out of remaining Pokemon. The challenger may make substitutions at any point while the gym leader cannot. Are both trainers ready?"

"Ready," the trainers said simultaneously, each grabbing their first Pokeball for the match.

The referee nodded, raising his flags. "Trainers, select your first Pokemon!"

"Misty calls Goldeen!" Misty called, throwing her ball.

Ash sized up the Water-Type as it materialized and nodded to himself. "Butterfree, you're up first!"

The Butterfly Pokemon appeared in a flash of light, and Ash immediately hopped on the offensive. "Sleep Powder, Butterfree!"

Butterfree nodded, giving a cry as he produced the bluish powder from his wings, scattering it over the battlefield.

Unfortunately, Misty had a rather easy way of countering this. "Dive underwater!"

Ash swore under breath as Goldeen vanished under the surface of the water, avoiding the Sleep Powder entirely. Misty grinned. "You're going to have to try a lot harder than that! Goldeen, use Water Pulse!"

"Dodge it, Butterfree! Keep your distance!" Ash called. It would not be good if Butterfree's wings got wet. Having difficulty flying would put them at a major disadvantage.

Goldeen leapt out of the pool, firing a sphere of water at Butterfree, which he managed to avoid by mere inches. As soon as he was in the clear, Butterfree spun around and fired a Shadow Ball in retaliation, managing to clip Goldeen as it fell back to the pool.

Unfortunately, Goldeen was far from beaten, and Misty ordered another Water Pulse. This time Butterfree was unable to get out of the way in time, the orb of condensed water slamming into him.

Butterfree gave a cry of pain before managing to correct himself. Ash gritted his teeth. Even from his spot in the booth, he could see Butterfree swaying as he struggled to keep himself airborne, the water weighing down his wings. 'We need to end this quickly…' he thought.

Misty grinned. "It's on the ropes, Goldeen! Use Horn Attack!"

"Catch it with Confusion! Throw it!"

Misty's eyes widened as she realized her mistake. With Goldeen completely out of the water, it was out in the open for Butterfree to snag. Butterfree's eyes glowed, and Goldeen was halted mid leap, before being thrown clear out of the pool, unconscious.

Misty sighed as she recalled her Goldeen. The referee spoke quickly and professionally. "Goldeen is unable to battle! The winner is Butterfree! Gym leader, select your next Pokémon!"

"Don't think you're going to beat me!" Misty called across the field, before throwing another Pokeball. "Misty calls Horsea!"

Ash eyed the sea horse Pokémon as it appeared, before sizing up his own Butterfree, Making a decision, Ash recalled his tired Butterfree. "Return for now Butterfree, You did good, but you can't do much with your wings wettened like that." Butterfree gave a tired nod as he was retrieved by the beam of red light, and Ash quickly grabbed his next Pokeball.

"Pidgeotto, you're up next!" Wasting no time, Ash called out a command before the bird was even properly materialized. "Use Quick Attack!"

Pidgeotto let out an eager screech, diving towards Horsea in a streak of white light, and Horsea cried out in pain as it was slammed backwards before splashing into the pool.

"We won't be beaten so easily!" Misty yelled. "Use Dragon Breath!" The tiny Water-Type shot an impressive blast of green and water fire from its trunk.

"Dodge it Pidgeotto and use Twister!" Ash commanded, and Pidgeotto shot out of the way of the Dragon-Type move with ease before firing forward, flapping her wings and creating a large tornado in the center of the pool.

Not one to be deterred, Misty yelled out a command. "Show them a real Twister!"

The resulting tornado wasn't quite as large as Pidgeotto's, as she could power her's by flapping her wings, but regardless the two Dragon-Type attacks clashed at the center of the pool. Ash reached up and clutched his hat to prevent it from flying off in the intense winds.

After a few moments of clashing, both Twister attacks cancelled each other out with a burst of energy, flinging both Pokemon back several feet before they corrected themselves.

"Horsea, use Smokescreen!" Misty called, seeing her Pokémon beginning to struggle.

Unfortunately for her, Ash had the perfect move to counter that. "Use Aerial Ace!"

Misty's eyes bugged out as Pidgeotto dove straight into the smokescreen, trails of light flowing alongside her. She slammed directly into Horsea despite the limited visibility. After a moment, the smokescreen quickly faded to reveal a fainted Horsea floating at the top of the pool.

"Horsea is unable to battle! The winner is Pidgeotto!" The referee declared. "Gym Leader, select your final Pokémon!"

Misty gritted her teeth as she grabbed her final Pokeball. "Not bad, but I won't go down without a fight! Misty calls Starmie!"

The powerful star-shaped Pokémon appeared on the floating platform in front of Misty. Ash eyed Pidgeotto. "Do you think you can keep going?"

"Tch… Of course!" Pidgeotto claimed with a nod, sounding a tad offended.

"Good," Ash said with a nod. "Use Aerial Ace!"

"Not this time!" Misty yelled. "Starmie, use Water Pulse!"

Pidgeotto let out a squawk of alarm as Starmie fired a Water Pulse directly into her face. The blow pushed her away from Starmie, giving Misty time for a follow up. "Finish it, Starmie! Use Swift!"

"Look out!" Ash cried, but it was too late. Pidgeotto tried to correct herself, but was barraged by the Swift attack, resulting in an explosion.

Pidgeotto fell limply from the cloud, and Ash recalled her before she could hit the water. The referee wasted no time. "Pidgeotto is unable to battle! Starmie is the winner! Challenger, select your next Pokémon!"

Ash considered his options. 'Butterfree would be a sitting duck out there with his wings wettened down, so that just leaves…'

"Pikachu, you up for this?"

Pikachu smirked. "I thought you'd never ask."

Misty swore under her breath as Pikachu leapt out onto the platform across from her. If only her Chinchou qualified for a second badge team. "Starmie, don't let it attack! Use Psywave!" She commanded. Starmie hummed in acknowledgement and launched off a wave of psychic energy.

"Jump over it with Quick Attack and use Electro Ball!" Pikachu nodded, leaping high into the air and completely avoiding the Psychic-Type attack, which passed harmlessly underneath him. Using his momentum, he formed an Electro Ball and fired it at his opponent.

"Not gonna happen! Stop it with Confusion!" Starmie made a sound of understanding and a blue outline began to shine around its body. Before the Electro Ball could reach its target, it was stopped in place, exploding and leaving Starmie unharmed.

"Good, Starmie! Now use Rapid Spin!" Starmie launched itself forward, spinning fiercely.

"Meet that with Iron Tail!" Ash called. Pikachu nodded, leaping forward and spinning himself around to give his attack more momentum.

The attacks collided, causing a small explosion and sending both Pokémon backwards.

"Follow up with Electro Ball!"

Starmie, still falling, was unable to avoid the Electric-Type attack, which struck it directly in its gem. The impact was enough to cause a second explosion which sent Starmie sailing into the pool with a splash.

"Good, now use Thundershock on the water!" Ash yelled, and Pikachu gave a savage grin.

Misty's eyes widened. "No, Starmie! Get out of there!"

Starmie, however, was still recovering from its last shock, and was unable to get out in time. The pool lit up with electricity as Pikachu fired off as powerful of a Thundershock as he could manage. The electricity faded after a few moments, and a smoking Starmie floated up to the pool's surface, gem blinking in defeat.

"Starmie is unable to battle! Pikachu is the winner! As the gym leader is out of usable Pokémon, the victory goes to Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!"

"Alright!" Ash yelled enthusiastically, Pikachu jumping into his arms in celebration. Misty simply sighed in disappointment as she recalled her defeated ace. She really needed to think of a good counter for that kind of thing.

Pocketing the ball, she went around the side of the pool to meet Ash halfway. "Well, you beat me…" She reached out a hand, opening it to show a teardrop shaped badge resting in her palm. "This is the Cascade Badge. It is proof of your victory here today." Ash happily accepted the badge, clipping it to the interior of his vest, before Misty reached out once again, this time holding a blue disk. "Here, you also earned this. It's the TM for Water Pulse. Use it well."

Ash took the disk and nodded in thanks, before saying his farewells and leaving the gym with Brock.

"That's two down!" Ash said as they left the Cerulean Pokémon center after healing Ash's team. "Next up is Vermillion, right Brock?"

Brock nodded, looking up from his map. "Yeah, unless you want to try Sabrina in Saffron, which I highly recommend not doing."

Ash shuddered. "Yeah, no thanks. I'm nowhere near ready to face her yet. She'd absolutely crush me."

Brock chuckled good-naturedly. "Good choice. Well, in that case, let's hit the road."

"Right," Ash said with a nod, and the two began heading south, eyes set on Vermillion City and Ash's third gym badge.

AN: I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I had a ton of fun writing it! Next up is the Kanto starters, and I have a bit of a twist in store, so stay tuned for that! Also, nope! Misty's not travelling with Ash whatsoever in this fic. Sorry if that disappoints anyone, but she just doesn't fit well into the story I'm wanting to write, and I never really liked her anyways, so I wasn't about to put in extra work to try to include her. Obviously, this will have some effects on the timeline down the road. Butterfly effect and all that.

A big shout out goes to SilverWolf1130 for beta reading this chapter! He really helped out with fleshing out the gym battle.

Please be sure to leave a review and let me know what you thought of the chapter, as it helps me out a lot. That's all I have for you all today, so until next time, have a good one and stay safe out there!