Chapter 4: Pewter City and Brock

As I said, I will do updates when I have two chapters ready for posting. Thank you for all the support for this story.

I will include Mega Evolution, and Ash will probably get Y charizard, as I got Pokémon Y and while maybe it's not as good as X, I still really like the form. I will not include Z moves though, because I think they're stupid. Also, as far as I'm concerned beyond Kalos does not exist. For one, Ash is too experienced to need to go to school, two: everyone looks dorky, and half his friends are trial captains which I don't like. and finally, I don't like how Lillie started off. Ash still should have won Sinnoh, though. I quite like Tobias, but he should not have been there.

I have fun times ahead: my sister is having a shoulder reconstruction, which means for six weeks I am going to have all the duties of looking after the outside animals to do. Which will mean less writing because there's more to do, or more because I can do everything whenever nd I get everything done much earlier. At least I can choose which comps I can go to, though. Maybe have to try and go to one every week!

By the way, anyone who steals animal is a horrid person, no matter the reason.

Why do people hate review? It seems like a waste of time if you ask me. I don't really like the people who tell you there are mistakes but don't List any.

Rant over, here's the chapter.

Pokémon:
Ash:
Charmander, Pidgeotto, Metapod

Misty:

Starmie, Staryu, Goldeen

Leaf:
Bulbasaur

Gary:
Squirtle

Jessie:
Ekans

James:
Koffing.

I will supply the Pokémon for reoccurring characters. Jessie and James will leave team Rocket, so they will have some time there without appearing on this list. When Ash goes to Hoenn, Misty will leave the list, and so on, and any other re-occurring rivals of Ash will be on the list.

"Hello! Would you like to buy some Pewter City Souvenirs?" a man wearing greyish pants, a yellow sleeveless shirt and a beanie said: which was an odd mix, and the beanie was odd considering it was quite warm here. The cold air from Mt Silver got blown to Johto rather than Kanto. He had black hair and a dark beard. He was wearing white gloves and was looking rather worn: to be honest, his clothes were a mish mash mess.

After glancing at the rocks, Ash frowned: what was so special about them? They just looked like normal everyday rocks, and they were way overpriced, judging by the price tag of one small enough to fit in Ash's hand. They might have more pewter in them then normal rocks, but that would be it. "They just look like normal rocks to me," Misty remarked.

"They might look like it: but their Pewter City rocks. The name's Flint," the weird man said.

"What's so special about them?" Ash asked.

"Their rocks only found in this city," Flint replied.

"But what is so great about them?" Misty asked, getting frustrated.

"I just told you," Flint replied.

"Can you give us directions to the Pokémon centre?" Ash instead asked, giving up on trying to find out why you would want to buy some of the Pewter City Rocks, this man was selling.

"Straight ahead into town, and you will eventually pass it," Flint said, his voice void of all emotion.

"Thanks," Ash nodded. "Here that, Charmander? We're almost there!" he then said to his fire lizard.

"Yay! I'm going to get to have a shower!" Misty exclaimed. "Thanks, Mister!"
"Char, Charmander!" Charmander said cheerfully. Then the two trainers and Charmander all burst into a run into the city to the centre. Flint sighed: more people passing without buying.

"Alright!" Ash and Misty exclaimed. They both were now standing just outside the Pokémon Centre.

"Come on! Let's go in!" Ash said, eager to have a rest so he could get training for his battle with the gym leader.

"Don't need to tell me twice," Misty said as she walked forward. Ash soon followed.

"Hello, and welcome to the Pokémon centre," Nurse Joy said nodding.

"Wait, you look exactly the same as the Nurse Joy in Viridian City! How did you get here so fast?" Ash exclaimed.

"That's my younger sister! How's she doing?" Nurse Joy asked, overjoyed.

"Err, fine. How come you look exactly the same?" Ash asked. He had heard that all the Nurse Joys looked the same, but he had not believed they did or not to such a degree, until now.

"That's a family secret, young man: I can't tell you even if I wanted to. Now, do you have any Pokémon that need looking over?" Nurse Joy asked, giggling slightly.

"Yes please," both Misty and Ash nodded. After returning Charmander, Ash and Misty gave their Pokémon over to Nurse Joy. They then booked rooms: with that all out of the way, Ash and Misty went to have something to eat. Ash was going to ring his mother, but she could wait until he had had something to eat: he was starving!

The call to Ash's mother was pretty uneventful and very short: she asked him if he had taken his medication every day, and he responded yes: she also told him more would be arriving that evening: then she hung up, seemingly in a hurry. Just as he hung up, he noticed a poster for the Indigo League. "Wow! Their advertising for it already?" Ash said, surprised.

"Well, it takes most trainers eight months, at the very least, to get all eight gym badges, so they have to start sooner rather than later. Nurse Joy can sign you up now if you like: then you're free to start challenging the gyms whenever you like," Misty said, coming up behind him.

"Alright, I might just do that: good idea," Ash nodded.

Registering didn't take long: Nurse Joy just needed to scan his pokédex and that was it, basically. Then she offered him a badge case, and against his judgement, he took one: a blue one. At first, he was just going to clip them to the inside of his jacket, that was why he didn't have one: but then he realised that sounded like a great way to lose them, and Ash doubted many gym leaders would be happy to give him duplicates. If nothing else, it would be really embarrassing to ask.

After that, he was given a tour by Misty, and they went all the way to the gym. "Wow: it looks like rocks," Ash remarked.

"Well, it is a rock gym," Misty rolled her eyes. The gym was very old looking, and it basically looked as though it was made from solid rock.

"You're not planning to challenge Brock, are you?" a voice asked. Misty and Ash turned around to see Flint.

"Soon: I need to find a water Pokémon, or try to," Ash said.

"Smart idea: otherwise you'd stand no chance. Don't underestimate him: he's very strong," Flint said. With that, he walked away.

"Well, that was weird," Misty commented.

"Sure was. Can I go and see the rest of the town? Considering it is almost evening I might as well put off training until tomorrow: I'm sure my Pokémon won't mind another day off," Ash asked.

"Sure. Let's see: I think this way might be a good way to go," Misty said thoughtfully. Then she led him off.

All of Pewter City was stone-like and very rocky: most of the buildings were a similar colour to pewter. It was very interesting, and Ash and Charmander almost felt as though they had been warped to the cavemen era.

"And here we are, back outside the museum," Misty said as they stopped outside the museum.
"I will have to go in there: one day," Ash stated.

"If you want to. If I recall correctly, it was pretty boring inside," Misty shrugged.

Ash nodded, then suggested, "Shall we go back to the Pokémon centre?"
"Let's," Misty nodded. Misty and Ash then walked off towards the Pokémon centre.
As Ash's mother had said, there was a parcel for Ash, and it had his medicine in it. Misty looked curious about the parcel, but thankfully she didn't ask: in Ash's mind, what would be more embarrassing than someone like Misty finding out he was on medication until he was fully recovered from his 'incident?'

v

The next day, Ash released all three of his Pokémon for a bit of training. After getting Pidgeotto and Charmander to battle against each other, working on increasing strength and move power, Ash started concentrating on helping Metapod evolve. The other two were practising their attacks and battle styles, both of which would make them stronger. Ash would give them personal training as soon as Metapod evolved. That way, no matter if he was training with Charmander or Pidgeotto, there would always be someone for the other to train with.

Ash didn't know what Misty was up to: he had parted ways from her temporarily after breakfast, where she was going who knows where. In all honesty, Ash was surprised when Misty announced she had some things to do in the city: the red-head had no reason to stick around, did she? So why wouldn't she have gone off home by now, or wherever she was planning on going?

While Ash was having the very boring pastime of telling Metapod to harden with the odd order for her to use Bug bite, Ash decided to try and work out what Pokémon which lived around here, and which one he would catch to use in Brock's gym.

There were a few Magikarps and Goldeens, however, he was guessing it would not be a water arena, which would make those two Pokémon next to useless. There was the option of Bellsprout: grass was good against rock too, and the Bellsprout Ash had seen had seemed to know a rather aggressive vine whip.

"Hey, Pidgeotto!" Ash called, leaving Metapod to her own devices for a while.

"Pidg?" Pidgeotto asked.

"I was wondering if you would like to help me catch a Bellsprout after lunch?" Ash asked Pidgeotto.

"Shaw," Pidgeotto nodded, and a small gleam appearing in his eyes. Ash wasn't quite sure what to make of that. In the small about of time he had known the bird, he'd worked out Pidgeotto was one for fighting, so maybe he liked the idea of that.

"Cha," Charmander said sadly.

Ash quickly worked out what that meant. "I'm sorry, Charmander, you are going to have to sit it out. You did help me catch Pidgeotto and Metapod though, and I really want you to focus on building up defences against rocks and learning metal claw to help me defeat Brock. I'm going to ask around at the Pokémon centre tonight to see if I can find someone to help us learn Focus Punch. I am pretty sure you are able to learn that move with some special training," Ash said, bending down and putting his hand on Charmander's shoulder.

That cheered Charmander up. "Char! Charmander!" Charmander said brightly. Charmander was going well: his metal claw was slowly starting to look like the move metal claw.

"Would you mind doing a bit of practice battling with Metapod, please?" Ash asked Charmander, and Charmander nodded.

"Right, you return, for now, Pidgeotto: you did good work," Ash said, returning Pidgeotto.

"Okay, Charmander, I just want you to use Scratch and growl, while I get Metapod to use harden. Judging by the increase in size and the stretch of the shell, I'd say she is about to evolve, which would be nice," Ash told Charmander. He recalled that some Pokémon had visible signs when they were about to evolve.

"Cha!" Charmander nodded, a fire burning in his eye. He would not let Ash down.

"Okay! Start off with scratch and harden you two!" Ash said, after releasing Metapod and standing where he would hopefully be safe from the attacks.

While it gave them both valuable training experience, it was the most boring battle ever. When they were both looking a little tired, Ash called it off.

"Charmander," Charmander said to Ash.

"Right, you want to do some practice on your own, do you?" Ash asked, guessing what the lizard Pokémon was asking.

"Char!" the fire Kanto starter nodded.

"Okay: I wouldn't normally, but you are very trustworthy so I will let you train on your own, Charmander. In the meantime, I might try and see if I can get Metapod to evolve. Just don't over do it, okay?" Ash said.

He and Charmander split up then, with Charmander going to the further end of the training area to practice, while Ash stayed basically in the same spot. Soon after he started training, Nurse Joy came out and went over to talk to Ash.

"I overheard you talking to your Charmander, and I wanted to share some useful training tips with you before you made a mistake," Nurse Joy said.

"What do you mean?" Ash asked nervously.

"Pokémon need to train by themselves because otherwise they don't learn new moves, or it becomes harder for them to do so. So, have a training session every now and then just let your Pokémon have a chance to do their own training at least once a week, more would be preferable," Nurse Joy explained.

"Oh, right: sorry," Ash said, putting his head down in shame.

"It's a mistake a lot of beginners make, Ash: so, don't worry. Not a lot of people know it," Nurse Joy said smiling.

"By the way, do you know of anyone who could teach my Charmander Focus Punch? I think Charmander can learn it with some special training," Ash asked, thinking it was worth a short.

"Well, my Scrafty knows it," Nurse Joy offered.

"Really? That would be awesome! Thanks! Wait, isn't Scrafty a Pokémon from another region?" Ash asked.

"Yes, she is an Unova pokémon, to be exact. How about tomorrow morning, earlyish? It is usually late morning before I start getting a lot of trainers," Nurse Joy suggested.

"Okay, that would be good," Ash nodded.

After thanking Nurse Joy, Ash got back to training with Metapod. Sadly, lunchtime rolled around and he was yet to have a Butterfree. Ash was going to stay positive though: Metapod must be close to evolving by now, surely?
After leaving his Pokémon with Nurse Joy, Ash went off to buy lunch and then he started planning his afternoon. Apart from catching a Bellsprout, he didn't have anything planned. He was hopeful he would meet a few trainers wanting a battle before taking on Brock, too. Other than catching a Bellsprout, Ash only had training it a bit defiantly slotted into his afternoon.

After lunch, Ash headed out to where he had seen the Bellsprouts on the way into the town. As he had hoped, he met several trainers and battled them. His Charmander and Pidgeotto had some good battles, the hardest being Pidgeotto against a Ralts: a Hoenn origin fairy psychic-type. Charmander's flame had gotten stronger, brighter and larger, which meant he was close to evolution and getting strong. Pidgeotto had perfected Whirlwind during the battles, and Ash's wallet got that bit fuller.

When Ash eventually reached the Bellsprout, he had Pidgeotto by his side. He carefully surveyed the Pokémon. He was looking for the strongest looking Bellsprout. While he had other grass types in mind, Bellspourt was useful now and would be useful down the track, even if he caught others. Victreebel was a useful Pokémon, and while Ash wanted a Bulbasaur which were very, very rare in the wild, there was always room for another grass poison, and not to mention he might not find a Bulbasaur.

After scanning for a while, something caught Ash's eye: a blue elephant-like Pokémon with spots of red on it. If he was not mistaken, it was the Johto ground-type by the name of Phanpy: It wasn't too unlikely that the elephant Pokémon could have wondered over here from Johto, then been chased here: Beedrill were always chasing Pokémon. It did look a bit lost, after all.

Ash and Pidgeotto slowly crept around until they were close to the Phanpy: this was even better than a Bellsprout, Phanpy was an uncommon Pokémon, in Johto or not. Other than Mt Silver, they had very few other locations where they were findable.

"Now: use Wing Attack," Ash asked.

"Shaw," Pidgeotto nodded. He flew up and used Wing attack at the rare Pokémon by the name of Phanpy.

"Phan!" Phanpy cried in pain. Then it used tackle on Pidgeotto: it jumped on a few rocks to get high enough to try and hit.

"I should probably register it to find out any dangers for Pidgeotto," Ash said, pulling his Pokédex out as Pidgeotto avoided another tackle attack, followed by a good old growl.

Phanpy, the long nose Pokémon, on level seven. As a sign of affection, it bumps with its snout. However, it is so strong it may send you flying. This Pokémon is male.

"PHANPY!" the wild Phanpy roared. Then the Bellsprout came over to help out the Phanpy Ash wanted to catch. He supposed the grass-types must be friendly with Phanpy: not uncommon.

"Pidgeotto, blow them away with Gust!" Ash ordered. "Then Quick attack on Phanpy!"

Pidgeotto obeyed the command. As Pidgeotto went in, Phanpy used Defence Curl then Flail.

Ash pulled out his Pokédex, and saw the Phanpy must have been fairly strong because it had to be above level five to learn Flail: he whacked himself: of course, it would know that! It was on level seven!

That was unusual: as rare as a Phanpy was, to find one in any area, usually ones like this: a grassland, but they were still rare: Donphan were the most common on Mt Silver, as the Phanpy were normally kept hidden from trainers, so either they were about to evolve if you found a wild one, or they were quite young and rebellious.

In this area of Kanto, of all the Pokémon were weak because of the weak trainers, it was thought: the strong wild Pokémon moved to where the trainers and other Pokémon might give them a challenge, or so Professor Oak believed. Ash was a little worried Pidgeotto might think him a weak trainer and not listen to him, then again, he thought that was only traded or gifted Pokémon that could decide to refuse to listen, but you never know.

Back to the battle, Phanpy was strong, but no match for Pidgeotto. "Use Tackle!" Ash said. His bird dodged the Mud-shot the Phanpy sent his way.

"Phanpy!" Phanpy cried, falling to the floor. This was Ash's chance!
"Pokéball, go!" Ash cried as he threw a Pokéball. As it made contact, the device sucked the ground-type in. After two rocks, every trainer's favourite dong was heard by Ash and Pidgeotto. "Alright! We caught it!" Ash exclaimed, picking the Pokéball up.

"Shaw!" Pidgeotto cried excitedly.

"Thank you, Pidgeotto," Ash smiled.

After returning his bird Pokémon, Ash made his way back to the Pokémon centre to drop Phanpy off to be healed. He then went outside to the training grounds: he released his three Pokémon, then spoke, "Right, we have a new member who is currently being healed."
Charmander cheered, and Pidgeotto looked proud: he was proud to have helped his trainer catch a Pokémon. Metapod was just being Metapod. "Do you still have some energy left for fighting?" Ash asked, and all three Pokémon nodded.

Ash nodded, then got Pidgeotto and Charmander to find each other: they could use any moves they wanted, as long as they practised the ones they were learning. Ash then found some targets for Metapod to use strong shot and bug bite on.

With all his Pokémon sorted out, Ash sat down and looked at Phanpy's details.

"Phanpy is a male and knows, Odor Sleuth, tackle, growl, defence curl, Mud-slap and flail. The ability is Pickup." As far as Ash could make out, they were about the best moves it could know. Plus, pickup was a useful ability which would give Ash the chance to find extra items.

Ash sighed: if it were not for the Pokédex, he wouldn't be able to remember any of this stuff, and he would be hopeless. With all the data on the device, though, he could check moves, Pokémon, and remember everything.

Ash then decided to check his other Pokémon's moves to recall what exactly they knew:

´Pidgeotto is male and knows, Wing Attack, tackle, gust, whirlwind, sand attack, quick attack and learning steel wing. The ability is Keen Eye.'

"Metapod is female and knows, harden, string shot, bug bite and tackle. The ability is shed skin."
"Charmander is male and knows, Ember, Scratch, growl, smokescreen and learning metal claw. The ability is blaze."
Ash was happy to see the two steel-type moves were coming along well enough that the pokédex recognised they were being learnt. He then frowned: since when had Charmander known smokescreen? He glanced up right then to see Charmander use said move: since yesterday in his private practice, evidently. He was glad Nurse Joy had explained about the training to him.

"Ash Ketchum, please report to the front desk," the voice of Nurse Joy said through the loudspeakers. There were speakers all through the centre so when a trainer's Pokémon was ready to be picked up, she could inform them as soon as possible.

"Keep going guys, I will be right back!" Ash told his Pokémon as he stood up and rushed inside, stumbling as usual.

"I am pleased to inform you Phanpy is in good health now, Ash," Nurse Joy said, handing Ash Phanpy's ball.

"Thanks," Ash said, taking it.

However, Ash's hand for whatever reason didn't listen when he went to wrap his fingers around the round object, so as soon as the nurse let go, the ball went tumbling towards the floor to be caught by his other hand.

"Careful," Nurse Joy warned.

"Sorry, my hands do that sometimes. Thanks for healing Phanpy: do you think he will be up for some training?" Ash asked.

"No problem. Well, health wise yes, but you should ask Phanpy first if he feels up to training. If your hand keeps up acting like that, I would go and see someone," Nurse Joy suggested.

"Will do. Thanks again!" Ash said, rushing out and almost falling over once.

As he exited the door to the training ground, Ash noticed Pidgeotto and Charmander having a break, he then looked to Metapod, but Ash couldn't see her! He frantically looked around for where his bug could have gone.
"Bre," a Pokémon's cry chirped. Ash looked to just above him to see a Butterfree flying down to be at eye level: his Metapod had evolved! Ash was very excited.

"Yay! You evolved! Well done!" Ash exclaimed, acting the way he had when he had first caught Butterfree. He had a strong grip on Phanpy's ball though, thankfully.

"Bree," Butterfree nodded.

"Right, let's find out about you and what's changed," Ash said, pulling out his Pokédex.

´Butterfree the butterfly Pokémon. Its wings, covered with a poisonous powder repel water. This allows it to fly in the rain. It is a female with the ability compound eyes, and knows: gust, String Shot, Bug Bite, Tackle and Harden."
"Wow, you learnt gust. But I thought bugs had to wait a bit before they could fly, though? Because their wings are all fragile and wet," Ash wondered.

Butterfree shrugged. She had thought that too, and she had seen that with the other bugs in the forest, but upon evolving her wings had felt really good, and looked dry and strong, so she decided to try and fly. She was very pleased with herself. Maybe she was just special.

"Just one of those things, I suppose. Let's go over to Charmander and Pidgeotto. I have Phanpy now: It's time for you all to meet him," Ash said. Then he and his bug Pokémon walked over to the fire lizard and the bird who were chatting to themselves.

Upon spotting the Pokéball Charmander and Pidgeotto got attentive were focused solely on Ash, especially Charmander. "Right, meet Phanpy, your new teammate!" Ash said, releasing Phanpy.

"Phanpy?" Phanpy cried as he came out. He looked around at them all and cried cheerfully.

"Phanpy, I am your trainer, if that's okay: this is Butterfree, Charmander and Pidgeotto: they're your teammates, and we're going to become the best team ever! What do you say?" Ash said.

"Phanpy!" Phanpy cried excitedly. He then said a quick hello to everyone. Despite their previous encounter, Phanpy didn't seem to dislike Pidgeotto too much, which Ash was thankful for.

"Okay, Pidgeotto and Charmander work on your moves for a little longer: work on your in-progress ones and try to make the others stronger. Butterfree, you just practice them when you feel comfortable flying around: feel free to do other training for new moves, too: any of you three. Phanpy, come with me and we'll sort you out," Ash said, thinking it was better to leave his Pokémon to their own devices.

Ash and Phanpy walked a little way from the others, then Ash asked Phanpy, "Feel up to some training?"
"Phan!" Phanpy nodded.

Then Ash asked Phanpy to show him the moves he knew: Ash found a couple of spare targes for Phanpy to aim at. After seeing them all, Ash was impressed: they were all looking quite strong. However, the Pokédex said the Phanpy line was known for being quite slow, so he got Phanpy to work on speed and stamina in their training session.

An hour later, Ash and the four Pokémon collapsed on the ground, very tired and hungry. "Great job, guys. I will hand you over to Nurse Joy so she can heal you and feed you. Sound good?" Ash asked.

The four Pokémon nodded, Then Phanpy handed Ash something. Ash quickly realised it was a Sun Stone. "You picked this up, did you? Clever Phanpy," Ash praised, patting the blue Pokémon.

"Phanpy!" Phanpy cried happily. Then Ash pulled out four Pokéballs and returned his Pokémon. When he summoned the energy, or put it this way, he couldn't think of any more excuses to lie there any longer, Ash slowly stood up and trudged inside the building.

At the front desk, he met Misty; she was handing her Pokémon over to Nurse Joy for presumably the same reason as Ash. Misty quickly eyed Ash's fourth Pokéball and asked, "What did you catch?"
"A Phanpy," Ash replied as he handed Nurse Joy his Pokémon.
"Really? They're not common here, but they sure are cute. It should be useful for battling Brock, though," Misty said as she and Ash headed to the cafeteria.

"Yeah, he will be," Ash nodded as they sat down.

"When are you going to battle the gym, can I ask?" Misty asked.

"I want to do more training tomorrow, so maybe I will battle Brock in the evening, otherwise the next day. Then assuming I win, I will move on later that day," Ash responded.

"Good idea," Misty nodded.
"Hey, Misty," Ash started.

"Yes?" Misty asked.

"When are you leaving? Or what I want to ask is, why have you stayed?" Ash asked.

"Truth is, I don't really want to go back to the gym, I want to travel to fulfil my dream to be the best water Pokémon trainer there was," Misty said. Then she said, "I want to keep an eye on you too: you have potential but you forget things a lot."

"Fair enough, we could continue to travel together then? Can I at least battle you at the gym you're from?" Ash asked.

"Sure," Misty nodded, albeit begrudgingly. Ash and Misty then got on to talking to some other trainers, and they shared training tips.

A little later when they had collected their fed Pokémon, Ash, Butterfree and Phanpy went for a walk. Ash wanted to bond with these two, which was why they were walking with him. It was a nice evening and he fancied stretching his legs.

Ash and the two Pokémon eventually made their way to a house behind the gym. Ash was looking around at the garden and design which was like the rest of the town, when he noticed an eighteen-year-old boy with what looked like a rather dark shade of brown hair and narrow eyes, surrounded by at least six younger kids, who all looked similar.

"That's Brock," someone said.
Ash and his two Pokémon jumped a foot in the air, and span around to see Flint behind them. Creepo really: what kind of person sneaks up on other people?

"What does he do? Run an orphanage?" Ash asked.

"Those are his younger siblings," Flint said calmly.

"What?! Doesn't he have parents or something?" Ash asked, gobsmacked. How could someone have so many kids? What happened to their parents? Maybe one died in childbirth and the other of old age? These questions and about one-hundred solutions were running around his head.
"Yes, but they both left," Flint said.

As he went off to say something else, Ash said, "Stop please, or I won't be able to beat him. Hold on, how do you know all this?"
"Err," Flint said, looking awkward.

"Heheh!" Butterfree cried angrily.

"Phanpy!" Phanpy stomped his foot. They both had worked it out, with Ash soon to follow.

"You're his father, aren't you?" Ash asked, and Flint nodded meekly. "You coward! Why don't you go back?! You should! No one should have to solely look after their siblings if their parents are still around! It's your job!" Ash was giving him a good dressing down.
That lasted for another five minutes, until Flint said, "Your right." He said it in a way which made Ash believe him.
"I'm going back to the Pokémon centre now," Ash said. Then without wasting another second, he, Phanpy and Butterfree walked back to the Pokémon centre.

Butterfree and Phanpy couldn't believe the human? Too scared to go back to your family? What was he even doing leaving them? Phanpy knew good parents always stayed with the kids until they could fend for themselves. Butterfree knew humans were different, and while her family might leave the caterpies when they catch, but that's different. She had observed humans, and they protected their young for a long time: until they were ten generally, as they let them start journeys.

When Ash got back, he almost straight away went to bed.

The end. Flint get's a good telling off in this chapter, and he deserves it, too. From writing my other story, I have only just realised how many more words adding another character needs. But I am enjoying them both: this one is quite close to Canon with plenty of differences, whereas the other one is written as a bit more of an AU.

BTW, were you expecting him to catch a Phanpy? He will get a different Pokémon in the egg for the race thing in Johto. Ash faces Brock in the next chapter, and Brock will join them, too. Sorry for those who are not Brock fans: and Misty will hang around for the same amount of time as in canon.

I will also plan a couple of out of region appearances from the Elite Four and Champion of Hoenn and Sinnoh. Not sure about Johto: I don't know yet if it will be Kanto and Johto share an Elite Four and Champion and Johto is only just getting its own, or there will be a separate on for both.

And sorry if the training is a bit boring, while I am/probably copying someone else, there is a limit to how creative I can be without copying someone else. If you recognise something, there is a chance the idea came from that, so therefore I don't own it.

WHo's excited for sword and shield? I am. I hope we don't have some "guide" like the Rotom dex again, and your "friends" are not too annoying, bossy or controlling. It would be kind of cool if you had to win a tournament before facing the elite four. I just want to be able to enjoy travelling around the region going wherever I want, with maybe running into members of the evil team and familiar faces every now and then.

I know they're probably going to do a Sinnoh Remake next, but I hope the remake Gold and Silver for the switch or crystal would be cool, too. I hope they make the Sinnoh Remakes better then the original, like what my family says they did for Ruby and Sapphire. But getting Spiritomb easier and being able to catch Shaymin and Darkrai without an event would be good.

I don't know where I mentioned it, but for most regions I will do a mixture of games and canon, except for Johto which will be basically games as there was not that much of a building plot in the TV series.

Who wants him to get a Rapidash? Should he just catch one, or after winning the flame-a-thon should what's her name (it's slipped my mind and I am too lazy to look it up) give him that one? Food for thought.

See you, and again, thanks for the support. Please check out the Rainbow Guardians if you need a read! It's my other Pokémon story