Chapter 3: Samurai and Beedrill

Yes, I am back! It is I! Err, I will stop sounding like I am full of my own importance, quite the opposite really. If anyone has any better ideas for a cover, feel free to drop them. I could not really come up with any ideas, so this was the best. I know I am not the best drawer, but I think I do very well for having no teaching of drawing. As for my writing, I try my best for drawing.

By the way, I support farmers who farm everything: fish, cows, cooks, veggies etc. I am not one of those discriminatory people who don't like people who farm animals. I enjoy some chicken in my noodles and a good beef steak. I don't really like cows and sheep anyway, though I do feel bad eating chicken and turkey every now and then.

Teams:
Ash: Charmander (male)

Misty: Staryu (Genderless), Goldeen (female) Starmie (genderless),

Leaf: Bulbasaur (female)
Gary: Squirtle (male)

Jessie: Ekans (male)

James: Koffing (female)

Feel free to put in any ideas for this story, my sister gives me too many, so why not you guys?

Ash and Misty entered Viridian Forest and slowly made their way through, constantly looking around. Both knew it was easy to get lost in here, and that was the last thing either of them wanted. Not to mention it was a little creepy.

"I don't suppose we will get out of here until a couple of days at the earliest," Misty sighed.

"Yeah. Hope we find some good Pokémon: this place is horrid and would have no redeeming features otherwise," Ash said, looking around. It was all very dark and gloomy, even in the middle of the day.

An hour later, Ash was starting to feel a little annoyed. If a bug even looked at them even a kilometre away or breathed at them, Misty would be screaming. She was allowed to be afraid of bugs, but this was ridiculous. And considering how many bugs there were, Ash's ears were beginning to hurt.

"Please, Misty, could you keep it down? Some of these bugs are a long way away," Ash eventually said.

"Char!" Charmander agreed.

"It's alright for you! You're not scared of bugs!" Misty almost screamed at Ash. Ash thought screaming at him was a little unfair.

"Please?" Ash asked again.

"Oh, alright," Misty huffed. She did, however, send out Staryu: Ash didn't mind if it made her feel safer and less inclined to scream.

Indeed, it did make it a lot quieter, which Ash was thankful about. Ash and Charmander could enjoy a nice quiet walk in Viridian forest, through a quite light part of the forest, until….

"YAAHHH!" Misty screamed. Ash and Charmander jumped and looked behind him to see Misty had fallen back with a Caterpie right in front of her. "I thought it was at least a Beedrill," Ash remarked.

"ASH!" Misty cried.

"Alright, sorry. Charmander, use Ember on that Caterpie! I'm going to catch it!" Ash ordered. Since it was here, he might as well catch it.

Charmander used Ember and hit right on target: being a bug, Caterpie was not very strong, so it fainted in one attack, not to mention fire was super-effective against bugs. "Pokéball, go!" Ash said, throwing a Pokéball.

"What?! Oh, that's right," Misty said, remembering Ash said he was going to catch one.

The Pokéball rocked twice, before donging. "Yes! I caught my first Pokémon!"
"Great, a Caterpie," Misty said, unimpressed as Ash danced around holding the Pokéball. She had seen beginner trainers excited about their fast catch, but at the moment he was acting more like a seven-year-old on their birthday than a ten-year-old who had caught a Pokémon. Though, Misty's experience with trainers and their first capture was limited.

"Hey! Weren't you excited about your first Pokémon?" Ash asked, a little upset about Misty's lack of interest.

"Well, yes…" Misty admitted. Then she said, "Can you at least act your age?!"

"Why aren't I allowed to be excited?!" Ash said, looking annoyedly at Misty.

"Okay: great for you! I mean it!" Misty said quickly. She silently sighed.

"Well, thank you. Caterpie! Come out!" Ash said.

"You're not releasing it?!" Misty cried, looking horrified. She was petrified.

"I need to heal it, and how else am I going to train it?" Ash shot back as Caterpie came out. Then he said, "Why don't we set up camp here so I can go and start training?"
"Alright: there's a pond over there, so I can let Goldeen out," Misty said, agreeing.

After Ash had healed Caterpie with some potions they had brought, he and Misty set up a tent and fireplace for Charmander to light later. After that, Ash and Misty split up to train separately. Misty was getting her Pokémon some air time, and doing some training with Goldeen. Ash meanwhile…

"Alright, now your registered, you know String Shot and Tackle, are a female and have Shield Dust: Well, I've seen worse," Ash said, getting psyched up more than he really should. Caterpie looked sad. "I don't mean it like that! Caterpie: Tackle on that tree, and just not too hard, because who knows what lives up it," Ash called.

"Cat!" Caterpie cried, rushing at the tree. As Caterpie hit, the two were suspended in the air for a while, then Caterpie fell down onto the ground.

"Oh no: this was going to be harder than I thought. Charmander, would you mind helping Caterpie get stronger?" Ash asked his partner.

"Cha!" Charmander nodded.

Ash then arranged a mock battle of sorts. Unfortunately, even with Charmander not really attacking, he still defeated Caterpie easily.

He swapped to a different tactic: getting Caterpie to run laps and practice her attacks as strong as possible.

"Here you are," Misty said, coming it as Ash healed Caterpie. Then she asked, "How's it going?"
"Not well: Caterpie is very weak," Ash sighed.

"You know it won't be any good at battling until it becomes a Butterfree. What about Charmander?" Misty asked. Instead of screaming at Caterpie, Misty was just giving her a wary glance all the time.

"I am about to start now. Huh? What's that?" Ash asked, hearing a rustle. They both looked around until they spotted a rather large bird Pokémon.

"Pidgeotto: the bird Pokémon. This Pokémon is full of vitality. It constantly flies around its large territory in search of prey."

"Wow! A Pidgeotto! I have to catch it. Now, who should I use…" Ash said, looking at his two Pokémon. "Caterpie! Go!"

"He's seriously not going to use Caterpie, is he?" Misty asked, looking shocked. Then she realised: "He is! Ash! What are you doing you idiot? Pidgeotto is a bird, Caterpie is a worm, and in case you've forgotten, Mr Pokémon Master, birds eat worms!" Misty couldn't believe how thick Ash was being!

"What? Oh yes! Thanks, Misty: I had forgotten! Caterpie, just watch! Charmander! Use Ember!" Ash ordered.

"Char!" Charmander said, using Ember on the wild bird.

"I can't believe he forgot," Misty facepalmed. If only she knew the truth.

"Pid!" Pidgeotto exclaimed, being hit dead on. It then flew over, looking extremely angry.

"Here comes Gust!" Misty cried.

"Charmander! Dodge it!" Ash called. Then he said, "Use Ember again!"
"Charmander!" Charmander said, using Ember again.

This time the Pidgeotto dodged the attack and flew in to use Tackle. "Wait until it gets close, then use scratch!" Ash called.

"That's risky," Misty said, looking unsure.

It happened like this for a while, until eventually Charmander came out on top: just as well, as Ash was starting to get panicked. "Pokéball, go!" Ash said, throwing a Pokéball.

As Pidgeotto was swallowed into the Pokéball, Misty said, "Wow, Ash is on fire today." She was looking a bit winded.

Dong! "Yes! I caught a Pidgeotto!" Ash cried, running to pick the ball up.

"Well done, Ash. Now, come on: let's get back before the bugs start eating our tents," Misty said hurriedly.

"Good idea," Ash nodded. The two trainers walked back toward where the tent was. It was starting to get dark, so while Misty made dinner, (Ash was making breakfast,) Ash did his training with Charmander and healed Pidgeotto.

As they ate, (after Pidgeotto had met everyone,) Misty said, "You're getting better rather quickly, Ash. Though, I am confused: sometimes you seem very knowledgeable, and others you seem like you know nothing about Pokémon."
"Thanks, Misty. I just wish I could come with a good training routine for Caterpie. I have a lot of difficulties with my memory: it's supposed to get better as I get older, well, that's what I tell myself," Ash said, looking a little down and spinning the truth slightly. He was slightly unsure if what Misty had said was a compliment or not.

"I have never trained up a bug type for obvious reasons, but I am sure you will work something out!" Misty said, trying to cheer Ash up. It didn't work. "Well that didn't work," Misty sighed. She then frowned: something was really up with Ash.

"Do you want me to keep Pidgeotto out to keep the bugs away?" Ash asked.

"That would be great if you could, just don't leave Caterpie out, okay? The reason I am scared of bugs is when I was a child, I got covered in Weedles: Augh! I can still feel them," Misty said, shivering.
"Wow, that sounds horrible. Sure, I will return Caterpie, I don't mind as long as you don't scream all the time," Ash nodded.
"Char!" Charmander cried, jumping into Ash's lap.
"Ah, Charmander," Ash said, stroking Charmander.

"So, are you going to challenge the Pewter Gym?" Misty asked.

"Yeah, but I have either got to teach my Pokémon a super-effective move or catch a water, ground or a grass-type first," Ash said.

"I could lend you some of mine," Misty offered.

"That's very kind, Misty. I might take you up on that if I don't find anything. For now, let's go and gets some rest. Return, Caterpie," Ash said, pulling Caterpie's Pokéball out and returning it.

"Now, Pidgeotto, can you please keep look out for bug-types?" Ash asked his new bird, and Pidgeotto nodded.

"Now, let's get to bed," Misty said standing up.
"Yeah, Ash nodded. Ash didn't go straight away: he waited until Misty was out of sight before having his medicine. Misty spotted this and grew suspicious about what was wrong with Ash. He seemed as though he was taking medicinal drugs, which meant he had a condition of some sort. She grew concerned and resolved to find out.

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The next day, they moved on again. "Hey, are they what I think they are?" Ash asked, seeing a whole heap of yellow Pokémon hanging from trees as they came into a clearing. They looked like they were in a cocoon of sorts.

"EECK!" B, b, bugs!" Misty stammered as Ash pulled out his Pokédex. She then jumped behind Ash.

"Great, Kakuna: um… let's go around another way," Ash suggested, recalling how Beedrill would keep an eye on the Kakuna.

"I can agree with that!" Misty nodded: she didn't need telling twice. They doubled back and found another route thankfully. They avoided the Kakuna, however, they're time in the forest would increase, which was not so good.

Along the way, Ash was training with Caterpie. He continued to work on the stamina and attack power, along with trying to make Caterpie more durable. It was doing something, as Caterpie had even started biting! Ash quickly realised it was Bug Bite his Pokémon was using.
"Is that what I think it is?" Misty said as Caterpie started to glow. They were almost back were they before, before they headed down the path where the Kakunas were hanging out.

"it's evolving!" Ash cried happily.

"Char!" Charmander said in awe.

"Metapod," Caterpie said, revealing what it was now.
"Cool! A Metapod!" Ash said, pulling his Pokédex out.

"Metapod, the cocoon Pokémon. Hardens its shell to protect itself. However, a large impact may cause it to pop out of its shell. It is a female and knows Bug Bite, Tackle, String Shot and Harden."
"That's horrible!" Ash exclaimed.

"You have to be very careful with it until it evolves again: it will be not too long, though," Misty said.

"How I am going to train it? Don't Pokémon at this stage not move much?" Ash asked.
"Most trainers use Harden in battle, and it does eventually evolve. You just have to be patient. From what I can gather, the only good thing about bugs is their easy to catch, and easy to evolve," Misty said, being the wise one.
"Right, thanks, Misty. You're very helpful," Ash said gratefully.

"No problem: I'm glad someone appreciates me, unlike my sisters," Misty said, smiling. Then she muttered some dark words, presumably about her sisters.

They stopped again a while later, and Ash did more training. "Alright, so you know Gust, Sand Attack, Quick Attack and Tackle. Well, let's try all those moves full power!" Ash told Pidgeotto.

After giving Ash a look that said, 'I knew that, you idiot,' it took off into a lighting fast Quick Attack. Then it used Gust, Tackle, and Sand Attack. Quick Attack turned a bush into mere leaf dust.

"Wow! That's pretty awesome. Right! Let's practice using Quick Attack doing sudden inclines up and down," Ash called.

Pidgeotto complied, doing it easily. "Wow. I think that's all a little easy for it, Ash," Misty commented.

"Yeah. Right, let's try learning Whirlwind! Just flap as fast as you can! It is like a stronger gust that is almost at Hurricane force," Ash called.

After a good half hour of working on Whirlwind, with bouts of practising speed, Ash called it a day with Pidgeotto. It was making good progress on its new move, and he had started teaching it wing attack so then he could learn Steel Wing. Ash then released Metapod.

Medapod's training consisted of a lot of using the move Harden. Eventually, Ash worked out it could use Bug Bite, so he got Pidgeotto out so his Metapod could practice that move, much to Pidgeotto's disgust.

Ash quickly discovered that Pidgeotto was a proud bird, and he didn't like being used as a practice punching bag. He decided to switch to Charmander then, as his Charmander was happy to help Metapod get stronger so it could evolve. Ash did a little bit of teaching Charmander metal claw: his starter had to continuously use scratch until his claws started to get extra strong, then the next part came in. Once the claws were hard enough, Charmander could start trying to put a silver coating on them, which was what made the steel part of the move.

As they walked on again, Ash said, "When we get to Pewter City, I am going to get Charmander and Pidgeotto to go head to head in a battle."
"That's a good idea," Misty nodded.

The rest of the walk through the forest was pretty quiet for a while. At one point, they were attacked by Team Rocket from the Pokémon centre. Unfortunately, this was an area full of sleeping Beedrill, and the Team Rocket motto would almost certainly wake them.

"Prepare for trouble,"
"Make it double,"
"Keep it down, or you will wake the Beedrill!" Ash cried, hushed.

"Never interrupt the team Rocket motto!" Jessie said angrily.

"Ash, let's get out of here!" Misty said, dragging Ash off. Ash and Charmander followed quickly as soon as they heard the sound of Beedrill's wings buzzing.

"Hey! Come back! Ugh!" James shouted.

A few minutes later, Ash and Misty heard, "Team Rocket's blasting off again!"
"Seems like the Beedrill got rid of them," Ash commented.

"They did one thing right," Misty sighed.

When they thought they were safe, the two collapsed in a heap. "Well, they're gone now," Misty sighed.

"Yeah, that's nice," Ash agreed.

"Watch out!" Misty cried.

Ash spun around to see a sword pointed inches from his head. Attached, was a samurai. "Greetings: are you a trainer starting from Pallet?" the samurai asked.

"Yes… you know it's rude to point things at people's heads," Ash remarked.

"I challenge you to a battle! One trainer has visited me already. He especially came in to battle me! I was told of three more to come! I decided I would defeat them all!" Samurai declared.

"If you wanted to battle you could have just come out and asked," Misty said, looking put out.

"Misty's right," Ash nodded.

"Alright, I apologise: I was just doing what the other samurai told me," the samurai nodded.

"But, I accept your challenge. My name's Ash Ketchum, and that's Misty," Ash said.

"You may just call me Samurai. Does two on two sound okay?" Samurai asked.

"Sure: Misty, will you referee?" Ash asked.

"I'd love to!" Misty said, jumping up. At the same time Ash stood up.

A few minutes later when Ash and Samurai had themselves sorted out, Misty said, "This will be a two on two Pokémon battle. The battle will be over when both Pokémon on either side are unable to battle. Release your Pokémon!"
"Metapod go!" Samurai said, releasing a Metapod, a bit bigger than Ash's.
"Fine, I will use mine too!" Ash said, sending his Metapod out.

"Oh well: this I going to be a boring battle," Misty sighed. "Begin."
"Metapod! Get close and use Bug Bite!" Ash commanded.

As Ash's Metapod started to inch forward, Samurai cried, "Use Harden!"
Samurai kept asking for Harden, even when Ash's Metapod reached his and was attacking, Samurai still asked for Harden. Ash told her to keep using Bug Bite.

Half an hour later, Samurai's Metapod fainted from weariness more than anything else, and Ash's looked on the brink. "Samurai's Metapod is unable to battle: the victor is Ash's Metapod!" Misty said.

"Well done, Metapod. Return," Ash said, finding that a boring battle. He was surprised bug bite hadn't done more, but then he remembered bug moves against bug didn't do that much against other bugs.

"You battled valiantly, Metapod," Samurai said, returning his Pokémon.
"Charmander, are you ready?" Ash asked. As Charmander nodded, Ash said, "Go!"
"Pinsir, go!" Samurai cried, releasing his Pinsir.

"Begin!" Misty cried.

"Use Tackle!" Samurai ordered.

"Use your scratch attack! Try and practice what we have been working on!" Ash called.

As Pinsir and Charmander headed towards each other, two mechanical arms came out of nowhere and grabbed both Pokémon before pulling them into the air.

"Pins!" Pinsir cried.

"Char!" Charmander cried.
"Pinsir/Charmander!" Ash and Samurai cried.

"Haha!" three people laughed. Ash, Misty and Samurai looked up to see a Meowth shaped balloon: Ash quickly saw it was Team Rocket, then they started their Team Rocket motto.

"Release them, now!" Misty cried.

"Why would we do that?" James asked while Jessie blew a raspberry.

"Augh: go, Pidgeotto! Release Pinsir and Charmander with Quick Attack!" Ash said, releasing Pidgeotto from his ball.

"Pidg!" Pidgeotto chirped. Then he used Quick Attack.

"Err, Meowth: are those arms bird proof?" Jessie asked Meowth.

"I am not sure," Meowth said, looking unsure.

Of course, Pidgeotto went through both arms. "Return!" Ash and Samurai cried, to save their Pokémon from a painful fall.

"Now! Pop their balloon, Pidgeotto!" Ash ordered.

"Pidgeotto!" Pidgeotto said, obeying.

As Pidgeotto flew through the balloon, the air started seeping out and the balloon went berserk through the sky. "Look's like Team Rocket's blasting off!" Jessie, James and Meowth all screamed as they disappeared into the sunset. Ash briefly wondered if they landed where there were some Beedrill.

After thanking Pidgeotto, Ash returned the bird as Samurai thanked him for rescuing his Pinsir. They continued the battle after that, and Charmander defeated Pinsir in a few moves.
After getting directions from Samurai (they were about a day from the edge for the forest to Ash and Misty's excitement, as they had been in here half a week at least,) Ash said, "Now, no more challenging people by pointing swords, okay?"

"Yes, Ash. If you come through again, we will have to battle so I can reclaim my honour," Samurai said. Losing hadn't damped his spirit much when there were at least two more trainers to come through.

"I look forward to it," Ash nodded. Then he and Misty called as they walked away, "Goodbye! Take care!"
"Bye, my friends!" Samurai waved.

Misty and Ash continued to walk until sundown and it was hard to see anything, where they stopped and camped for the night, with Charmander keeping watch this time. Ash did a bit of training with his Pokémon: mostly working on the moves they were learning.

During this last leg of the forest, Ash found a lot of berries, and a few other useful items, such as leftovers and potions. It seemed a lot of trainers dropped things in the forest.

By the next evening, they were out! "Yay!" Misty cried as she and Ash left the forests clutches.

They continued to walk until they got to the edge of the city, where they came across a lot of large rocks and met a rather odd man selling said rocks…

Yes, I know, a slight cliffy: sorry! but it works so well. Do you like my version of the forest? I have tried to keep the interactions between Ash and Misty pretty similar, but Ash is a bit different, which will make them a bit different.

Reminder: this is a eventual Ash X Dawn, and there will be no Slash. I will have the fairy type, despite the fact Kalos and behind doesn't exist in this story. It's just I really like Togekiss being typed something other then part normal, and several other pokémon and moves I like are fairy. I might however change it slightly: fairy is supper-effective against dragon, and dragon is supper-effective against fairy.

Nothing else I can think of adding, so this will do. We will see Leaf shortly, and Gary again sooner than in canon, but not yet. By the way: for a Kanto gym for Ash to lose at, which one do you want it to be? the Viridian gym is too complicated, so it's out, as are the first two. I was thinking Koga, or maybe Blaine, or both?

Ash will lose a few gyms: one in Johto and Kanto, one or none in Hoenn, and none in Sinnoh. By Sinnoh, he should have enough pokémon that he doesn't fail at the gyms, as he will rotate in this story!

Other pairings, let me know if I have gotten confused with some:
May X Ritchie? I am not decided, not Drew though.

Gary X Leaf

Steven X Cynthia (a pairing I have not read, but like the idea of, especially in this story.)

Misty X Rudi

Brock X Susie

And that's it for the time being. Please note there will not be much Max in this story. And Paul: he will be in it very occasionally, or OOC like. I would personally rather swap him and Conway around for Ash's main Sinnoh rival. Conway is a creep, but at least he is likeable. I don't really like Paul, and he is only passable when Ash defeats him at the league. It is my story, and I don't want to write much about characters I don't like.

I think that is all, so bye!