Chapter 10:
We left Cerulean early the next day. It is again a beautiful day outside and I can't help but smile in pleasure as the soft, slightly chilling morning breeze caresses my hair, giving me a feeling of freedom. Milo by my side also seems to be enjoying this fine morning, as he lets out a happy and excited cry. As for Zion, who is the only other Pokemon I have out of their pokeball, along with Milo right now, is too occupied with sleeping on my arms to enjoy the scenery with us.
Sadly, or more like, humorously, two of our new companions don't seem to like mornings very much, as Misty and Ash stumble along the path still groggy from sleep. But as expected, Brock is not showing any signs of exhaustion and appears unaffected by being up so early. Although it is very obvious that he would have gotten used to waking up early by now, as he had to take care of all his siblings, I still feel a little smug for getting it right. Ah, and if you are wondering, which you probably aren't, but I will say anyway, is that Ash drools when he sleeps, which I find mildly amusing, to say the least.
But anyway, we continue to trek forward along the dirt path at a steady pace, appreciating the landscape. Something inside my mind tells me that I will get bored of them later on my journey, but I can't see why not enjoy it for now.
"Where are we going?" Ash asks when we are already far away from the city. How clueless can this kid be? There goes my hope that he could be a bit more aware than the anime canon.
"We are going to Vermilion City." Misty informs, looking excited, "It is a port city that has various luxury ships that I'm dying to see."
"We won't have time for sightseeing." Ash declared with a frown, sounding irritated.
"I heard that there is a great gym in Vermilion," Brock tells Ash, making him stop and shout thrilled.
"A gym?!" I wince, as he screams right next to my ear, "Alright, I'm gonna win my third badge!"
"Yes, it's an electric type gym," I say with my ears still ringing. "The gym leader is a guy named Lt. Surge."
Thinking about the next gym, what should I use? Well, it is still quite a while until I challenge him, but I do want Rapier or maybe Zion to take on the gym. Hopefully until then, Rapier will have evolved and I will have taught him some better moves?, as his current move set is lacking. And as for Zion, he doesn't necessarily need to evolve, just learn some new moves and practice some strategies. If it's like the anime, Lt. Surge will use his Raichu and it will easily be defeated, if Zion can teleport around while spamming moves. That is an overpowered tactic, now that I think about it.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Ash asks impatiently before he starts to turn to run ahead. "Let's go!"
"Don't get your hopes up, there are a lot of tough trainers around here," Misty called out.
"Ah, bring them on. I bet none of them has even one badge," Ash exclaimed with confidence, while smirking arrogantly.
I let out a sigh, "Ash, while having a badge proves your strength, you don't need them to be strong. Some people are super strong and still don't have any badges, simply because they didn't want to compete in the Pokemon Championship." All three of my companions looked at me strangely, before Brock gave me an approving nod.
"Aaron's right, Ash, not everyone challenges gyms." He says with a contemplative look.
"That doesn't matter! I'm still gonna beat them all." He yells seemingly ignoring everything I and Brock said.
"Why doesn't he ever listen?" Pikachu lets out, sighing while giving his trainer a disappointed look. Thanks Arceus, it appears Ash still wasn't able to dumb down Pikachu.
"Wow! Your trainer is dumber than a Pidgey." Milo mocked, acting impressed.
"Yeah, I know right?" Pikachu said, while hanging his head low.
"Just be careful to not get infected by his stupidity," Milo smirked, taunting Pikachu, "You know the phrase, Like Trainer like Pokemon."
Pikachu's face fell and he let out a growl, "What did you just say?!" Obviously, Pikachu doesn't like being like his trainer, but I guess, who would with a trainer like Ash?
Milo is probably going to keep fueling Pikachu's ire to entertain himself. But right now, I don't want a fight to start. So I scoop Milo with one of my hands, while I keep holding Zion with the other.
"Enough Milo, stop angering Pikachu." I scolded the small furball in my hand.
"But Aaronnn…" He whined, while giving me big puppy dog eyes. But as I am already developing immunity to such a tactic, as how Milo abused it, I just scoff at his antics and ignore his trashing.
Looking up, I see Ash running off to try to find trainers to battle. Letting out a groan I put the now calmer Milo on my shoulder, and reluctantly join Misty, Brock, and Pikachu to follow the over-excited kid. I can already tell that Ash will be a common source of headaches during our time together.
"And I win! That's number ten." Ash shouted, as he finished beating another eight-year-old kid. Really? There is nothing to be proud of winning against someone who doesn't even have a trainer's license yet.
It has been three days since I started to accompany Ash and co. Nothing eventful has happened, and I'm starting to get a consistent migraine with Ash screaming at literally everything. I'm fairly happy with my everyday routine of waking up, doing some light exercises, breakfast after waking Ash and Misty up, and then hit the road again. Sadly I'm finishing to read all the books, I currently have on hand, and I fear I will die of boredom without them. Let me tell you, there is nothing fun in watching Ash fight some kids that just started their journey, or don't even have a trainers license yet.
But something unexpected happened in the night during the first day of walking. While testing my new brushes on everyone, I gave a quick brush on Zion, and let's just say that he loved it. I guess it makes kinda sense, as he loves comfort and laziness. I remember Brock, Misty, and Ash edging away from me, while I had an evil aura from having discovered something to use to convince Zion to join our training.
It is actually quite frustrating that I'm finding little time to train. I tried some methods on the road that showed some decent results, but not nearly as efficient as our normal training. So I ended up settling with having some training time with everybody before and after sleeping, with the disadvantage of me starting to have bags under my eyes. One thing that I was able to remember and replicate was the Iron Tail training, which doesn't matter if we are walking or not, just having a big weight. So two days later Milo and Zion added that move to their move set, might I say with a lot of promises of brushing to Zion, as I learned that he doesn't enjoy physical activities. Does it have something to do with his natural affinity with special moves? Well, it doesn't matter.
"You are a really great Pokemon trainer." The kid congratulated Ash looking impressed.
"Well, I guess I was pretty good there." Ash proclaims arrogantly, while opening his jacket to show his two badges. Can you be more shameless Ash? Note the sarcasm.
"Wow, you got badges!" The kid exclaims surprised.
"Oh, you mean these~" Drop it, Ash, everyone with a right mind can see you purposefully let the boy see them. You weren't even closely discrete about it!
"I think giving him those badges might have been a mistake." Misty comments drily, eyes narrowed. Brock murmurs in agreement by her side, and I can't help, but nod as well.
"This is too much Milo," I whisper to my fluff ball, "how can he act so smug about being better than a kid two or so years younger than him." Milo seems to look at me with something akin to 'you chose to follow them, now deal with it' look, before turning his head away. He ended up getting hit by a Poliwag's Water Gun and now he is in quite a grumpy mood.
I'm currently trying to avoid talking with my Pokemon to not reveal my ability to my current companions. As much as they are nice, the reason I acquired this power could lead to some problems if heard by the wrong people, and I think I'll jump off a cliff before sharing with Ash, or at least when he just started his journey, an important secret. I doubt it would stay being a secret for long with how Ash likes to gloat.
"I bet you can even beat AJ." The kid exclaims excitedly.
"AJ?" Ash asks in confusion, clueless as ever.
"Yeah, he lives over there," he says while pointing towards where I assume AJ's gym is, "AJ trains savage Pokemon, he has his own gym. He never lost a single match."
"Don't all Pokemon are savage when they live in forests?" I ask the kid, "with the exception of Pokemon bred by humans or that live around them, all the Pokemon trainers catch their Pokemon in the wild are by definition 'savage'." The kid looks shocked at my direction, while Ash seems to be trying to remember exactly what savage means. But he quickly gives up and turns to the kid with confidence.
"Well, he should be preparing himself to lose, he hadn't come up against someone like me." The arrogance in which Ash said those words are more than enough to make me roll my eyes. I was expecting this to happen as I watched the episode I will probably live right now, but seeing with my own eyes and living the moment is very different from watching a show, and it feels completely different.
"He's getting a big head after all these matches," Misty commented with a grimace.
"Yeah, but his brain is still the same size." Brock, you're totally right and I could agree with you more.
Getting up and walking to them, I give Misty and Brock a side glance before looking back at Ash, "Do you want to bet that he's going to lose to this AJ guy, and then throw a fit?" I asked them. Might as well have some entertainment from all of this.
"I don't doubt it, if this AJ is as strong as he is making him be," Misty says, referring to the kid, who was now walking away after he finished talking to Ash.
"He said that AJ has a gym, but I never heard before of this AJ fellow, much less of a gym being around here," Brock commented thoughtfully with one hand on his chin. I expect the gym leader to know themselves, so this makes sense.
I give him a nod "Yeah, It must be an unofficial gym."
AJ is for what I remember a decent trainer, actually training his Pokemon. Different from Ash, who just expects them to learn the attacks naturally, which works, but is inefficient. So I'm kinda interested in seeing his Pokemon and strength, and how he trains them. This may even be a good learning experience for me.
Anyway, Ash, excited to prove that he's 'the best' by his words, decided to visit AJ for a battle. The gym is kinda bland, and not very interesting, not that it matters. I'm just questioning if it really was necessary to put a big counter marking of the wins and losses. How does it even get energy up there? I don't see any cables, like, anywhere.
As we were looking at the gate, a boy around our age comes from the side with a bag on his shoulder. I noticed the movement and turned to face him before he could say anything. Milo on my side also sensed the guy and looked at him.
"So you are my next victim?" He asked full of confidence and arrogance towards Ash, who was just some seconds ago yelling how he 'goes for quality, not quantity'. And he says that after beating some younger kids.
"You must be AJ, the wild Pokemon trainer," Ash asked back rudely. And, wild trainer? I already explained that all of us train wild Pokemon, so why, Ash?
"That's my job, but beating up chumps like you is my hobby. Ready to lose?" He exclaimed with a taunting look, as the doors to his 'gym' opened. Wait, how does that work?
Ignoring this strange gate, we pass through the arch and I see the elevated battlefield and the big tent behind. Milo seems quite excited with his tail swinging behind. I let out a chuckle of amusement and put a hand on his head, softly petting him.
Truth be told, I don't agree with all this battle record of wins thing that AJ is doing. All trainers passing through this area are mostly just starting, and have the same Pokemons. So winning against a lot of them will not improve much of your strength and experience at all. Well, you may become a master in defeating Rattatas and Pidgeottos, but your knowledge and experience will stay limited to those. It seems to be more something to gloat than to actually prove your strength and knowledge. Well but that's just me, so whatever I guess.
"Wow, not too shabby." Misty and Ash look around impressed with the 'gym' setup.
Suddenly a Butterfree flies down and grabs the backpack AJ put on the floor, before taking off again in the direction of the big tent in the back. It was very hard, but I could actually tell some differences in this Butterfly and Ash's. For starters, it was definitely a little bigger and its color was slightly more vibrant. Does this mean it is stronger, healthier, or simply chance? Maybe I should give it a look at Virmilion's library, with Rapier's evolution probably coming up sometime soon, it is best to be prepared.
"What's in the backpack?" Ash asked, after we couldn't see the Butterfree anymore.
"The wild Pokemon that I just caught. There's a bunch more in the tent." AJ replied while walking toward the raised platform.
"Hey, can I see them after the match?" Ash asked excitedly at the prospect of seeing more Pokemons.
"If you want," he says, apparently not caring, after turning back to look at Ash. "So which Pokémon are you going to choose for my ninety-ninth win," he grinned.
Ash ran to the other side of the battlefield irritated with AJ's taunt, "You'll have to change the sign after this match. You'll be formally undefeated," he stated confidently with his fist up.
"You may think your hot stuff, but you're not playing in the Pokémon little leagues anymore," AJ commented before cracking a whip on the floor making Ash jump back surprised.
I frowned, as much as I know AJ doesn't abuse his Pokemon and really loves them. I just don't feel comfortable with a trainer using a whip. It just feels wrong, as the whip is a tool originally made to cause pain, no matter who is using it. Also, not only does it paint a bad image of him, but he could actually get in trouble for using one, even if he didn't hurt any Pokemon.
"After I win one hundred matches in a row, I'll start competing for badges." AJ declared with a serious look in his eyes, while holding his whip tight in his hands.
"That means he's only two wins away," Brock commented.
"Ninety-eight wins and you still don't have a badge, that's tough luck AJ," Ash said before opening his jacket showing off his two badges, "I only have ten wins and I have two badges." What did I say before about you don't need to have badges to be strong, Ash?
"Did you buy those badges or steal em, either that or you competed in some loser gyms, where were they, failure city or whimpsvile?" AJ mocked. Misty and Brock gained a dangerous look as those words left AJ's lips.
Misty turned her head towards me, making my instincts scream for me to burrow myself, "Aaron, it has been a while since I saw you battle, but I do not doubt that you have a bigger chance of winning than Ash. Show this guy that our gyms are no joke." I whimper nodding as Brock and Misty seem to be on fire.
"What do you two mean by that, I'm obviously much stronger than Aaron!" Ash yelled to Brock and Misty, while shaking his fist and having an annoyed look on his face.
"Yes, yes, now hurry up so Aaron can show this guy his place, after having insulted our gyms," Misty replied, waving her hand for him to hurry up.
Ash falls on his face at the lack of confidence in him, "I'll show you all." He says while turning back to face AJ, "You ready to be defeated?"
AJ smirked, looking amused. "Let's get started then, go Sandshrew." He throws his pokeball, releasing the small ground type Pokemon.
I watched as the battle went without much difference from canon, meaning AJ mopped the floor with Ash. Although I flinched every time I heard AJ crack his whip, as that thing really is getting to me. As predicted, Ash started whining about having the badges and being stronger, going as far as to accuse AJ of cheating.
I sigh, "Ash, he won the battle fair and square. Flying Pokemon do have an advantage against ground types, but that doesn't mean they will always win."
Ash turned to me irritated, "I want to see you doing better then!" he shouted.
"So, I get to have my hundredth win already?" AJ questioned with a smirk, "you better be stronger than your friend here, the last battle was too easy." Both of us ignored Ash yelling indignantly in the background, as I got up on the spot on the platform Ash was occupying before.
"I do hope I am, or I'll lose all my self-confidence." His smirk seemed to grow even wider.
"Then what are we waiting for, go Sandshrew," the Pokemon, who didn't leave the field after its battle with Ash's Pokemon got ready.
"If you're using your partner, I guess I should use mine too, go, Milo, show them what we got." His eyes widened at my statement in surprise.
"Impressive, but you're right, Sandshrew was my first Pokemon, " he says mildly surprised. "But that's not going to help you to win this match, Sandshew, go for Fury Cutter."
"Milo, Quick Attack." The two Pokemon run against each other, and I'm looking carefully for the right moment to order Milo to avoid Sandshrew's attack and land a hit of his own.
Now that I think about it, I always use Quick Attack more for the boost in speed than for the attack on itself. Sadly, Milo can't learn Agility, I don't think it would've been too hard to teach him. If I'm right, we just need to find a way for him to transform the boost in speed from Quick Attack in something constant and more free, as when he uses Quick Attack he is limited with not being able to turn while running, like when Pikachu used the attack, he would do a zigzag pattern, always stopping when changing the directions. The possibilities are incredible, but sadly that isn't a move he can learn, maybe next time.
"Now Milo, jump and hit him with Covet!" I shouted as Milo and Sandshrew are about to collide. As ordered, Milo quickly jumped, avoiding Fury Cutter, before hitting Sandshew's back with Covet. I don't know what gender Sandshrew is, but calling him/her an 'it', just feels wrong, so I'll go with him for now.
AJ's face morphed in surprise as he was probably underestimating me and had lowered his guard, making me able to hit my move more easily. For that Ash, thank you for being so bad that all opponents happen to underestimate me, because I travel together with you.
"You got me by surprise, but don't think this will happen again," he said before cracking his whip, the shrew Pokemon dived into the earth, using Dig.
After flinching from the whip sound, I couldn't help but smirk, making my opponent look at me with suspicion, "Milo, use Iron Tail on the ground, full force." If you are wondering, yes, I totally did steal this idea from the anime.
AJ's eyes widen once again as Milo hits the ground with his steel coated tail, making the grond crumble and sending Sandshrew stumbling out of the underground. He grits his teeth as our small audience watches with dropped jaws.
"Milo, Swift." I use his moment of shock to attack, while Sandshrew is still recovering from the hit.
AJ shook his head before looking back quickly to the battlefield while cracking his whip again. Sandshrew seemed to understand what AJ wanted him to do as he curled into a ball before he starts rolling at high speeds from the target following stars of Milo's Swift.
"Milo, underground, now," I whisper/say to Milo, while AJ is distracted with Swift. Understanding, Milo used Dig to disappear beneath the earth.
Cracking his whip one more time, involuntarily making me flinch, AJ made Sandshrew hit the stars with an accumulated Rollout, before finally realizing that Milo was nowhere in sight. Glancing around with his face showing as clear as day his panic, he is caught in surprise, when Milo appears from beneath Sandshrew, landing a direct hit.
"Sandshrew!" He exclaimed worried, his calm and confident demeanor from before completely lost after my last attack.
"Milo, finish this with Iron Tail," I called out. With his tail glowing white, Milo hit Sandshrew, while the poor Pokemon was still in the air, launching it to AJ's feet.
"No!" AJ shouts in desperation, but the swirling eyes of Sandshrew tell that the battle is over.
Getting on one knee and opening my arms, I receive a happy and excited Milo full force tackling into my chest. While it does knock the air out of my lungs, I just laugh it off and hug my over-energetic ball of fluff that is still brimming with adrenaline from the battle. Self note, never feed too much sugar to Milo. Once when he got sugar high, he was jumping and talking without a stop for hours. I, Professor Oak, and his assistants had nightmares days after that experience, and not even Gary was able to escape.
"You were great there, Milo," I laughed, and he looked up to me smiling happily. Opening my arms I petted his head, "Tonight I will brush you, ok?" He nods rapidly before jumping on my shoulder and rubbing his head against mine.
Looking back to my opponent, I see him holding Sandshrew on his arms with a dejected look. Although, I think Cerulean Gym was a harder battle, he is pretty good himself. I walk towards him and put a hand on his shoulder while wearing a smile on my face.
"It was a great battle, you should be proud of Sandsrew." He looks slightly startled, before his face falls again and his gaze turns back to his Sanshrew, who is starting to wake up.
"But it wasn't enough, we lost," He spoke with sadness evident in his voice. "I'm sorry buddy, we lost because I messed everything up, all our training for nothing."
I frowned at his words, "AJ, just because you lost once, you shouldn't throw all your hard work out of the drain!" I exclaimed, "Where I come from there is a saying that goes 'It's fine to celebrate success, but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure'. It means that it's nice to win, but it is more important to learn from your failures." His head snapped in my direction in shock. I then gave him the brightest smile I can muster, "so that's why it doesn't matter, if you loose, just get back up again, and use that experience to learn, to improve."
He slowly turned back to Sandshrew, "do you think that's okay, buddy?" He asked, almost shily. I smile as Sandshrew nods with confidence.
Thank Arceus, I don't think I have any more inspirational speeches, if he still wasn't convinced. With his confidence back or at least part of it, he released Sandshrew from his arms letting the Pokemon softly fall on the ground.
"Although, I would like to suggest you to stop using a whip. Not only does it paint you in a bad image, but there could also be someone who would incorrectly think that you are abusing your Pokemon," I state seriously.
His face turns a little white thinking about it that way, "But how am I supposed to get the attention of my Pokemon then?"
"I suggest whistling, and if you can't do that, maybe a whistle," I say. He seems to think about it, before nodding and walking towards the big tent.
"Thanks, I'll show you my other Pokemon, if you want." I gave him a friendly nod, and he continued his way with me and the rest of the group joining a little behind.
"That was a very nice thing to say, Aaron," Brock commented on my speech before, when he reached my side.
"I didn't know you had this side, Aaron," Misty added.
I chuckled awkwardly with a half-smile, "yeah, but I didn't do very much. AJ is the one who has the determination to continue even after losing being so close to his one-hundredth win"
I kinda feel a little bad from taking that away from him, but losing is also an important lesson. And maybe this will help him in the future, who knows? In the anime, he's never seen again, even after he says he's going to see Ash again at the league, but that just might be because of the developers, but now that everything is more real, the world might just give a reason for his disappearance.
Anyway. Turning back towards AJ, we entered the big tent that he used for training. The place is quite interesting, with all the training equipment. Looking at the Pokemon training around, I think I should look for some weights to train my Pokemon myself. While very exhaustive in the beginning, it will no doubt help them improve a lot in the long run. But just to be careful, I should ask Professor Oak, or look for a book on the subject to see how much weight is safe for the Pokemon to not cause harm, because that is the last thing I want.
"What do you think?" He asked proud of how he trains his Pokemon.
I hummed, as I gave a glance around, "color me impressed, this is better than I had first imagined."
"Yeah, I and my Pokemon worked really hard to build this." He said while walking toward a big shelf, where he picked what I recognized as a potion. "There you go, buddy." He said while spraining the potion on Sandshrew.
"Now let's get back to work," He let Sandshrew down after putting his armor/strengthening device kinda thing, who in turn ran up a diving board ant at AJ signal dived into a big pool he had set up.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing?!" Ash loudly exclaimed, angry.
"What do you mean?" AJ said, more annoyed than anything.
"You have to stop this," Ash shouted at the same time that Sandshrew jumped out of the water spinning, "you're hurting Sandshrew!"
"I don't need training advice from an amateur," AJ yelled back.
I sighed, why did I choose to follow Ash again? "Ash, AJ is just training Sandshrew to be able to resist better against water type attacks, there is nothing wrong."
Ash looked at me surprised, but quickly became annoyed, "Why are you taking his side, Aaron, this is clearly wrong."
"Ash, this is training, and actually something I have yet to see you do with your Pokemon." This seemed only to fuel his anger, as he is nearly shouting now.
"But this hurts the Pokemon!" I could not help, but sigh aloud.
Couldn't he be at least a little bit more prepared than the Ash from the anime? How did he even get a license? Thinking about it now, I didn't have any tests myself. Are the requirements so lax, or Professor Oak thought that I had already received classes about the subjects since I explained to Milo all his evolution?
I'm pulled out of my thoughts with AJ talking, "Maybe, but all real training will hurt or exhaust. We just have to pull it through, I'm not tougher with my Pokemon than I am with myself."
"No pain, no gain," I stated with a half-smile.
"They are right Ash," Misty joined in, "you need to train your Pokemon for them to become stronger." Thanks Arceus, someone with common sense. Well, I guess Brock also has common sense as he is nodding, and maybe it's only then that Ash really who is completely out of the loop.
As Ash growled, unsatisfied, Brock chimed in as well "AJ, if you don't mind me asking, but what are these gadgets on your Pokemon?" I diverted my gaze, to look at the gadget. It seemed quite simple, with some steel wire connection to make it harder to move.
"Oh, these?" He pointed toward the armor kinda thing Sandshrew is wearing, "that is a strength intensifier. My grandpa works with gadgets that help strengthen Pokemon and he gave me some." Huh, I'm pretty sure in the anime he is the one to make them. But I guess, a ten-year-old making functional gadgets that help in training Pokemon is a little too unreal, even, if the people in this world mature faster.
"I also couldn't help but notice that all of your Pokemon seem to be in excellent condition. Do you make your own food for them?" Now that got my attention. I doubt AJ will share his recipes, but there's nothing to lose, so why not try to learn something new.
"So you noticed. Yes, I make my own recipe. Come on, I'll show you." He walked to the side and opened a big cabinet that is filled with different jars with food inside. Every single one of them also has a sticker signaling what Pokemon they are for. I just use different colored covers to differentiate the foods.
"Impressive," Brock looked at the jars, studying the food up close.
"It is very nice to see another trainer making their own Pokemon food," I smiled, while giving the food a calculative gaze as well. Not that I really could identify much just from the looks, it would be better, if I could taste or at least smell it. "Sadly nowadays it is quite rare."
"Thanks, Aaron. But of course, the recipe is secret," AJ said. You could buy food recipes in the market, but they normally are very expensive, especially if they were developed by some famous Pokemon breeder or professor.
After that, we stayed discussing it for quite a while. Talking with AJ and Brock about Pokemon care, while not enlightening, did help me in solving problems, I'm facing while giving me random advice that will surely come in handy. I can also say that it was a very enjoyable experience. I'm very interested in learning more, and talking about these kinds of topics always seems to make me get deeply into the conversation and make me enjoy the trade of knowledge and ideas.
When talking to the two it just seems that when one of us would say something interesting about some topic, the other would give their own opinion, and we would keep throwing ideas and theories until another topic was mentioned and we abandoned the last one and focused on the next one. We seemed to swim through topics, that although rather simple and basic, are quite interesting and fascinating.
As much as the conversation is nice, I think this will be a great opportunity to train with new opponents. So after we finished talking about what ratio of Rawst Berry is better suited for a flying type food, I decided to intervene.
"AJ, how about we train a little, I'm quite impressed with your setup, here. And I'm sure that training together will be beneficial to both our Pokemon." He put a hand on his chin thinking, before smirking.
"Sure, Aaron. I'm curious about what other Pokemon you have." My face changed into an excited smile as I released all of my Pokemon. I carefully piqued Rapier in my arms as his current form is most unconventional for movement. And when I say that, I mean that he can't move.
"You have quite the team, I see." He said, while looking closely at every one of my Pokemon.
"Oh, child, didn't your mother ever tell you that it's wrong to stare?" Kayda asked, probably a little unnerved. He completely ignored her, as he can't understand one thing she said.
When he finally landed his eyes on Rapier he frowned, "That's strange, I'm sure Kakuna's color is different. I've never seen one that is… well, green." He said almost hesitantly.
I chuckled, "Don't worry. Rapier here is just a little bit more special than normal. He's shiny," I explained. Although his confused face is enough to tell me that he doesn't have the smallest idea of what a shiny is.
Surprisingly Brock is, who answers, "I read about them once. Shiny is the name we give when a Pokemon has a different color than normal, because of a genetic mutation. It is very rare."
"Yes, but that is the only thing that changes, so in a battle Rapier here, is as good as any normal Kakuna," I added, while hugging Rapier. "Of course, to me, no other Kakuna could ever replace Rapier."
AJ nods in understanding, but we are interrupted hearing Misty scream in glee, "Aaron! You didn't tell me you have a Horsea," she exclaimed excitedly, with Kayda in her arms. "Isn't she the most beautiful girl."
"While I appreciate the compliment, I don't like very much when someone so much younger than me calls me girl," Kayda says and I can't help but chuckle in amusement.
Thinking now, I only brought Kayda out when Misty and Ash were still sleeping. Brock had already seen her as he always wakes up early like me, to prepare breakfast and do some simple morning stretches.
My amusement falls when she turns to me seriously, "And you little sir, I see you still have bags under your eyes. If you don't take some real rest tonight, I will personally knock you out. Don't test me, Aaron." I nervously scratch my cheek, while trying to look anywhere but at her."
I notice the others giving me strange looks, so I just quickly invent some lie, "Ah, she's just angry about something that happened this morning." I smile sheepishly, hoping they would buy the lie. Thankfully, they seemed to accept that and don't bother me, besides Misty looking at me curiously, probably wondering what happened.
"Anyway, Rapier is still out of commission until he evolves, but the other three are free to train. Although Zion is a bit of a lazy bun." I pet his head softly in amusement, "So I guess, Kayda can train in the pool, Milo can join your Rattatas and Zion, well Zion doesn't really fit anywhere. I'm still trying to teach him some new moves, but until now he only has Teleport and Iron Tail that he learned not too long."
"Wait, but Abra can only learn new moves after he evolves," AJ exclaimed, confused.
"That is what people normally think, but Abra can actually learn a variety of moves, if the trainer tries to teach them the move." I might have been sending a judging gaze towards Ash at this moment. "People normally think he can't learn new moves, because he doesn't learn new moves on his own."
Everyone, even Brock looked awestruck at that piece of information, "I didn't know that," Brock said slowly, before turning to look in my eyes. "Aaron, is there any other Pokemon that can only learn a move if they are taught it?" He asked eagerly.
I'm a little taken back by his excitement, but answer anyway, "Y-yeah, all Pokemon have moves that they can only learn, if their trainer or in the case of wild Pokemon, another Pokemon teaches them." Everyone seems even more speechless now. I'm sure this information is already 'discovered', so to speak. I did read a ton of Professor Oak scientific theories, data, research, and books that he already published. Maybe it's simply not common sense? Or my companions just lack the interest in books to search for new information.
AJ seemed to recover and he rushed to me, grabbing my shoulders and he starts shaking me. "Really? Then some of my Pokemon could learn new moves?" his voice laced with excitement. Because of how mature he is, I forgot that he's still a ten, maybe eleven-year-old kid.
I try to speak, but with him shaking me, it's a very challenging thing to do. Thankfully, Milo jumps on him, making him let me go free. Coughing a little, I look up and clean my mouth with the sleeve of my hoodie.
"Y-yes, I didn't look up all your Pokemon, but since I have Rapier, I do have a lot of information on Beedrill moves," I said as I showed him poor Rapier, who also had been shaken with me. "But I'm surprised you all didn't know about this. This isn't some incredible new information. Actually Professor Oak and Professor Kukui in a joint project released their research about this seven years ago."
"I heard something about it." Brock reveals suddenly, catching our attention, "but I never went into detail, as at the time, I was occupied with something else."
"Well, I don't mind sharing my knowledge on the Beedrill moves, if you want, but let's do it while our Pokemon are training," I suggest, while scratching Milo on his chin.
"Alright, but don't expect my training to be easy," AJ exclaims, his confidence from before returning.
"No, Aaron, you have to keep Kayda closer to your opponent. Remember when underwater the pressure of the water will not only change the weight of the Pokemon, but will also affect moves," Misty exclaimed from the other side of the pool.
We had been training for a while, with Misty and Brock deciding to didn't, as he was sulking his defeat to the side. After I shared some of the moves Beedrill learned, and how I think would be the best way for them to learn them, Misty offered herself to teach me how to battle with Pokemon at a water terrain/stadium. My head is spinning with all the information, there are so many factors that affect the battle. Raging from pressure to density to speed and accuracy. Also, a lot of water type moves are actually weaker when used underwater. Because the density of water is obviously bigger than air, normally it is better to use direct attacks than raged ones, but of course, there are some exceptions like Whirlpool.
Looking around to see what everybody else is doing while gripping my head with one hand, I see Milo running with AJ's Rattatas and Zion sleeping in a corner. Brock seems to be cleaning his Onix, and AJ is having a special training with his Beedrill. After he learned some of the moves Beedrill could learn, he immediately started his training.
For some reason, I have this uncomfortable feeling that I'm forgetting something, and I just can't remember what. But I can't see anything wrong, so it mustn't be very important. I look back at Milo to see him practicing his reflexes with the Rattata, I think he already has a good grasp on the moves he already knows and it would be good, if I taught him something new. As cool as Copycat sounds, it is a very hard move to completely get right and it also depends too much on luck, like Weather Ball. So for now, I think Work Up would be nice, since Milo needs a move that ups his status.
I'm brought out of my thoughts, when the sound signaling that's break time sounded. Looking back to Kayda, I smiled softly as she surfaced looking very exhausted, her breathing mildly ragged. Reaching my hand, I pick her up out of the water and I chuckle when she shakes making water drops hit me.
"Are you ok, Kayda?" She looks at me with what I think is the Horsea variant of an indignant scoff.
"I may be older than you, but I'm not in any way old and fragile," she says.
"You're a grandma, and you know it." Milo decides to call out like he always does. He's wobbling a little, when he walks, while releasing paints under his breath. As always, he receives a weakened Water Gun on the face, which for once I think he enjoys, as the cool water refreshes him.
"Shush child, now go get a towel to get yourself dry. We don't want you getting sick," she exclaims. I think that now, she gets rather amused when Milo calls her grandma rather than angry. After their initial arguments, they grew rather close, with Kayda always worried about his health.
Hearing a splash on the pool, I see AJ and Ash fighting and arguing while in the water. I was so focused on training that I completely forgot that this happens. Kayda, not wasting any time, jumps in the water, and with the help of Misty Pokemon separates the two and helps to bring them out of the water.
She also gives them a big lesson on the dangers of fighting in the water, and how they shouldn't go for violence and talk it over. It was a very enlightening lesson, but unfortunately, both Ash and AJ didn't understand a word of it. But, even then you didn't need to have Pokemon speaking abilities to understand that Kayda was repriming them. At the end, I and Milo were laughing uncontrollably on the floor, their faces were just too good.
We all stopped to look at the alarm when it rang signaling the end of the break. Slowly getting up, I let Milo go back to train with the Rattatas, while I piqued Rapier up in my arms and walked towards AJ.
"Time's up, back to work, all of you," he shouted to his Pokemon, who got up from their resting position and started to get back to training with Beedrill flying behind him. "Hey, where is Sandshrew?" He asks, confused when he can't spot the familiar small Pokemon.
"Ash, what is your Pikachu doing?" Looking over I can't help but snort in laughter, as I see the Pikachu curled into a ball because of one of AJ's gadgets.
Thankfully for Pikachu, AJ quickly deactivates the device and Pikachu is free. "Pikachu, have you seen Sandshrew?" AJ asks in concern.
"Sorry, I don't know where Sandshrew is," Pikachu answers, while shaking his head.
"Sandshrew!" AJ calls, "where are you?!" Sadly he receives no response.
Now I remember, Team Rocket tried to steal Pikachu again, they ended up snatching Sandshrew instead. I forget how those three are completely incompetent.
"Maybe he ran away," Ash suggested suddenly, making all of us look at him in shock that he would suggest such a thing.
"What are you talking about?" AJ's frown deepens at Ash words.
"With the way you treat your Pokemon, I'm surprised they all haven't run away," at every word leaving Ash's mouth, I feel sicker. How can he talk like this like it's nothing?
"Sandshrew and I have been together for a long time," he stated confidently.
But Ash continues, hid face smug "Yeah, I know. But when Sandshrew saw how well Pikachu and I get along, he thought-"
"Shut the fuck up, Ketchum!" I yelled, interrupting him. I'm sick of Ash sporting nonsense everywhere, "You always talk like you are already a master at training Pokemon, criticizing everyone else!" I hugged Rapier tighter, "but do you want to know what I think? I think you should open your eyes, because the real world is not rainbows and friendship. Becoming a Pokemon trainer is not easy, it is a way full of hardships and hard work! So, if you're gonna stay here saying so casually that Sandshrew abandoned AJ because he pushes them hard to become stronger, then you really don't deserve to call yourself a Pokemon trainer!" I stopped to breathe and looked around to see everyone staring at me with shock at my outburst.
"Look around you Ketchum, do all these Pokemon that AJ trained look like they want to abandon him?" I exclaimed a little more calmly, "they look worried, worried for Sandshrew, because they know he would never do something like this." I say, my voice now hoarse from screaming. I breathe in deep breaths to calm myself. Milo runs to me and rubs his head against one of my legs to comfort me. It has been quite a while, since I actually screamed and got so angry.
No one said anything, and we stayed in silence, until I looked up to them again, "I'm going to look for Sandshrew. AJ, send Butterfly and Beedrill to look for him from above." He nodded numbly and I turned my back to all of them before returning Kayda and Zion and running outside with Milo at my side and Rapier in my arms. I don't feel like spending time with them right now.
"Are you alright, Aaron?" Milo asked concerned, when we were already out of earshot from AJ's gym.
I shook my head softly, "Not really." I sighted, maybe I was too harsh on Ash. But I can't support how he so casually suggested that AJ's most close Pokemon decided to abandon him. Although, not showing, I know that Ash's words must have hurt AJ.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I looked at Milo's face, who was full of concern and worry.
"I guess." Maybe talking would make me feel better, and Milo is already with me for a considerable amount of time, so I feel like I can talk to him.
"I never saw you so angry before," he comments. Yeah, I'm not much of a screaming type of person.
"It's just that Ash is already an irritating person, always acting all mighty and know-it-all even when he doesn't even grasp the basics. He's lazy, never training his Pokemon, and expecting to win every match." I start, my voice a little more than a whisper, with my throat still not recovered from all the screaming. "But those things are just that, irritating, but when he suggested so easily that AJ's probably closest friend and partner abandoned him, it made me angry. Ash is naive and thick-headed, maybe he was just annoyed that AJ is a better trainer, but the words he said hurt. And when his before irritating bickering, starts to injure other people, then I just feel like he went too far."
Milo hummed while listening to me talk, "Well, I'm not very good with this kinda thing, but I don't think you were wrong to get angry," he exclaimed, before looking at me "I think you're a wonderful friend, Aaron," he smiled.
I couldn't help, but feel better at Milo's words, and smile back at him. Milo, without a doubt, is the closest friend, I ever had in both universes. I feel like I can count on him anytime. I guess he feels more like family than my real one ever felt after Max left us. It sounds nice, all my Pokemon and me, one big family.
I stopped, when I heard a big noise that sounded like the earth shattering. Oh yeah, Sandshrew comes back to AJ and he ends up battling Team Rocket. Turning around and signaling for Milo to follow me, I ran back towards the gym.
In the gym there is great fissure cutting the elevated platform in half, if I remember correctly, it's from Sandshrew's attack. AJ is celebrating his victory together with Sandshrew. He turns to me as he hears my footsteps.
"Aaron! You don't need to worry, Sandshrew is back," he says confidently, while wearing a smile.
"That's good. And congratulations on your win," he nods, before looking directly into my eyes.
"Thanks, but I wanna let you know that I really appreciate what you did back there." I can sense the genuine gratitude in his voice, as he speaks.
"Don't worry, Ash was being stupid again," I replied easily. Milo cries in agreement at my side.
"Hey!" Ash exclaims indignantly. "I'm not stupid, you're stupid." I can just sigh at his childishness.
Ignoring him completely, something I'm able to do with practice, I offer AJ a handshake, "I'll be expecting you at the Pokemon League." He grins as he shakes my hand with his own.
"You better be prepared, because I'm not going to lose next time." He says, mild arrogance in his voice. "And you Ash, you better be in shape, because I only wanna beat extra trainers."
"That's a deal," Ash exclaims, while also giving AJ a handshake.
"So long," he waves before turning away and walking off with Sandshrew at his side.
Ignoring Ash's monologue, I walk to Brock's side. I'm gonna say, it's a bit awkward to say anything to them after what happened. I sigh, as we start to walk towards our next destination. adly, it will be a long time, before we get to Vermilion City and I miss my sweets.
When I was starting to write this chapter, I was thinking that I would have two episodes per chapter, until they reached Vermilion. Since there isn't that much that happens, but I was surprised when it turned out so long. AJ is an interesting character in my sincere opinion, I think the anime should have made Ash meet him again. But like a majority of characters in these episodes, they appear one time before never to be seen again. Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter.