Ash exhaled slowly as she extended her leg farther, settling into a full split. She and her companions were about a day's trek away from Mt. Moon, camped out a little ways off the path, and she was just finishing up the new routine of exercise she'd given herself. Just a few hours after they'd left Pewter, Ash had developed the irresistible urge to start working out. She didn't question it; the last time something like this had happened, giving in to the urge had saved her life from one of the Tauros that was rampaging in the Corral. All she knew what that training her own body could only be of use, and so she refused to wonder how she already knew exactly what to do.
Oberon slunk over with a cheerful greeting, her hat slung over one side of his head. He'd run off with it earlier, and she gave him a flat look before lifting it off of him and putting it back on her own head. He just purred louder, draping himself over her shin.
"Dork," she muttered fondly.
"Ash," Brock called, "food's ready!"
In a flare of soft light, Oberon was sitting right next to the teen, licking his lips eagerly. Ash rolled her eyes. Of course he would use Teleport to ensure he got the first taste of Brock's cooking; Oberon loved her baking, but Brock's cooking skills were unparalleled. Getting to her feet, she walked back to the campfire. Misty was already there, and once everyone and their Pokemon were eating the redhead sat up a bit straighter.
"Alright, since the three of us are traveling together, I figured we should get to know each other a bit," Misty announced, eyes bright.
Hiding a sigh, Ash slouched where she sat and waited.
"We all know each others goals, and where we're from," Misty nodded to herself, "so let's just say a couple things about ourselves, like hobbies, a few likes or dislikes, or some side goals. Stuff like that! I'll go first… I enjoy swimming, I like sweets, and someday I'd like to take some ballroom dance lessons. You guys?"
Brock spoke next, agreeable as ever. "Well, one of my main hobbies is actually learning about history, and I also enjoy baseball. My likes… I'm a fan of savory dishes, if that counts. As for dislikes… running away from responsibility. And a side goal of mine is to hatch and raise a Pokemon, not just catch them."
Ash smiled at that. These two seemed like decent humans, at least, so she may as well humor them. She hummed in thought when they turned to her expectantly.
"I like taking pictures," she offered. "And baking. Going with the food theme for likes, I like pastries. I dislike arrogance. I have two side-goals; I want to learn to play a flute or ocarina since I like how they sound and they have more notes than grass whistles, and I want to learn how to go rock climbing, free-handed."
"That sounds fun! You know, Cerulean has shops that sell seashell flutes and ocarinas, they're beautiful and each one is unique," Misty sighed longingly, before shaking herself. Something about home, Ash guessed. "Anyways, what's a grass whistle?"
"Yeah, I haven't heard of it before either," Brock piped up.
Ash turned to her team. "Titania, sweetie, can you grab me a good leaf? I'm gonna whistle."
"Syl!" She trilled, immediately going over to the nearby bushes to find one big enough and with the right shape. She loved it when Ash played a grass whistle; in fact, Ash had yet to meet a Pokemon that didn't. It must have been something about the sound of the leaf, more natural that most instruments. Ash accepted the offered leaf when Titania trotted over, stroking along her spine before holding it up for her two human companions to see.
"You take a leaf, put it tight against your mouth－"－she paused here as she did so, and then continued, voice a little muffled－"－and you tilt it when you blow to get different notes."
With that, she started to play, a simple melody that she often defaulted to when she had no songs she was interested in learning. Her mind whispered, Oracion, but that hardly mattered when the soothing yet almost haunting notes carried away all her thoughts.
The light evening breeze added to the suddenly peaceful atmosphere, and when the melody repeated Swablu decided to join in with her own crooning, mellow voice. To the side, Pikachu closed his eyes and enjoyed the little performance, joined by the two Eeveelutions and Houndour. Ash resisted the urge to smile, since it would force her to stop playing.
The song slowed, clearly coming to an end. Ash opened her eyes as she let the last note trail off, a slight motion of her fingers causing Swablu to do the same. She smiled down at her Flying type.
"You've got such a pretty voice," she praised, smiling when Swablu chirped and fluttered over to sit on her lap. "Would you mind if I nicknamed you Alto?"
Swablu's eyes widened, and she trilled happily. Alto it was.
"Whoa… where did you learn that? Can you teach me?!"
Ash took a moment to resist the urge to walk away. She'd shown off a skill, she should honestly have expected this.
XxXxX
Mt. Moon was bigger than Ash ever imagined.
It soared towards the clouds, a great stone giant that watched over the surrounding forests. If Mt. Moon was this massive, and wasn't even the tallest in Kanto, Ash had to wonder what kind of Pokemon lived on the far taller Mt. Silver. The faint cries of Pokemon seemed to fade as they approached the opening to the tunnels, only to come back with a vengeance as a swarm of Zubat came screeching out into daylight, wings battering a man who was frantically trying to escape.
"Pikachu, wide-spread Thundershock," she ordered as soon as the situation processed in her mind. With a sharp nod of acknowledgement, her partner launched off her shoulder and charged up. With a cry, he send a wave of controlled electricity shooting forwards, just strong enough to paralyze the Zubat. They dropped to the ground, and Brock jogged over to the man, absently capturing a fallen Zubat as he passed.
"Are you alright?"
As it turned out, Seymour the scientist was fine, if shaken. The man was more concerned about the Pokemon in the tunnels, and the terrible lights that kept getting put up. It was causing all sorts of chaos for the local Pokemon.
After the group had returned the still out of it Zubat to the safety of the cave, where their sensitive skin wouldn't be burned by daylight, Ash offered to help take down the lights again. It wasn't that hard, with Oberon's psychic powers. She had the Espeon out beside her, and tucked her trainer belt beneath the hem of her hoodie. She had a bad feeling about the situation, like she'd been through this before and had been caught off guard by something. She didn't like it.
Seymour was rambling on about the Moon Stone and Pokemon being alien, and the two Gym Leaders were humoring him by just nodding along. Ash didn't envy them; Seymour seemed nice, but weird. She was much more interested in the comforting resonance that caused her bones to hum and heart to flutter. There was power, in Mt. Moon, and it sung to her. A quick glance at Oberon confirmed that he felt it too, although he wasn't nearly as affected by it. Before she could focus on that, however…
Drilling. Someone was drilling into the rocks, the sound harsh and unrelenting.
"You three stay back a bit," Ash instructed lowly, knowing that Brock's Pokemon were either too big or too loud and Misty's were useless on land, and ducked into the shadows of the tunnels. "Looks like someone's mining illegally."
"They're ruining the habitat," Seymour whispered, distressed.
She shushed him and hauled herself up onto a nearby ledge, carefully making her way higher on the tunnel walls, getting closer to the source of the drilling. Peering around the next bend, she scowled at the trio who were haphazardly yanking rocks from the walls of the cave. Red 'R's were branded across the equipment and the front of the two human's clothing. Team Rocket, then, a group of criminals with more financial backing than they'd right to.
"Oberon, use Psychic to disable them, Confusion to knock them out as soon as you can. Evade with Teleport and defend with Swift if necessary," she breathed out the commands, watching in satisfaction as a pale blue glow surrounded the Rocket grunts and their strange Meowth. Their shrieks of protest were easily silenced by being slammed against the wall they'd just been trying to mine, and Ash slid down to the ground as Oberon strutted over to the downed criminals. "Are they out?"
"Espe," Oberon nodded, taking farther security measures by using Psychic to call rope to him and tying the grunts' hands and ankles, doing the same for the Meowth, and then stringing them up together to hang off of their own equipment. He also took the liberty of removing their Pokeballs, stuffing them in a nearby sack.
"Good work," she said at a normal volume, walking into the cave. She heard her companions trail in behind her, little gasps of shock as they took in the scene. Ignoring them, Ash studied some of the open crates scattered around. There were chunks of some kind of ore, Moon Stones, and what looked like... fossils? She scowled. "Brock, do you have a way to contact Pewter? I think Officer Jenny should take a look at all this."
"Yeah, my Badge has an emergency communication radio," he replied, pressing a hidden button on it and causing it to light up briefly. When it beeped, he spoke. "This is Brock Harrison, previous Gym Leader of Pewter City. I'm currently inside of Mt. Moon, and there's been some Rocket activity. Requesting a clean-up crew and transport for detained Rockets."
It was a mere few seconds later that the badge lit up again, and a woman's voice crackled to life.
"This is Officer Jenny, we've received your coordinates and will be with you within the hour. Please exercise caution with the detainees, and stay alert."
"Will do, thanks," Brock mumbled in a dazed fashion. Confused, Ash glanced back at him, only to see what looked like literal hearts floating around him. Bewildered, she glanced at Misty, who only seemed annoyed by it. So… Brock did have his faults…
XxXxX
After being given a two-man escort to the other side of Mt. Moon and bidding farewell to Seymour, Ash considered her journey so far. On one hand, she was well on the way to building up a powerful team that specialized in absolute control and precision over every move they knew, granting them near-limitless possibilities in using said moves, and had two human traveling companions that weren't the worst humans around. On the other, she had two human traveling companions, and had already had an encounter with the dreaded Team Rocket, albeit an anti-climactic one. She had also lost the chance to go look at the Moon Stone.
Glancing up as Alto gliding overhead, she let her eyes wander. Alto would let her know if she saw anything from her vantage point in the air. Pikachu, comfortable as ever on her shoulder, was acting as a sort of center guard, keeping eyes, ears, and nose alert to their surroundings. Titania walked along about a yard beside and behind her, one ribbon extended and loosely wrapped around her trainer's wrist and feigning disdainful apathy while really guarding the groups flank.
They were pretty much safe, right now. The current issue was Misty.
The redhead was fidgeting, and was obviously anxious. She got worse the closer they got to the fork in the road that separated the paths between Celadon and Cerulean, and since Ash had already voiced her intent to travel to Cerulean, it wasn't that hard to figure out the issue. Well, part of it. But Ash was nothing if not a lover of a challenge.
"I wonder what the Cerulean Gym Leader is like," she mused out loud, catching Titania's gaze and winking. The Sylveon only rolled her eyes, a tiny smile flitting across her muzzle before the disinterested and holier-than-thou expression returned. The Queen never did approve of showing any emotion but 'regal' when they were in public.
If only her King would get the memo.
"... There's actually four Gym Leaders," Misty sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "The older three are only in it so they can use the Gym's pool for their water ballet shows. I don't know how well they're holding up, honestly."
"And the fourth?"
Misty squirmed in discomfort, avoided Ash's expectant gaze and Brock's awkward grimace. Her eyes lacked their usual spark, and she fiddled with her suspenders aimlessly.
"She… decided to travel, and prove she could be a Water Master before going back."
Ah.
"Would she be willing to hold the battle somewhere besides the Gym, so long as all League requirements are met?" Ash prodded with a knowing look, relieved that things finally made sense. Misty's reluctance to go to Cerulean could have proved troublesome if not properly addressed, and as averse as Ash was to making human friends, she didn't want to cause Misty any extra stress or hurt. That would just be cruel.
Misty stared at her, dumbfounded, like the solution had never occurred to her. Ash gave her a deadpan stare. Surely it wasn't that uncommon? It was in the League rules for a reason, after all.
From the look on the other girl's face, Ash knew she'd have some convincing to do, but a good battle would always be worth the effort.
XxXxX
Lance raised an eyebrow when he saw the non-League related email from Bugsy. He was the champion of Indigo and thus both the regions that made it up, but he was hardly close enough to the younger Gym Leader for chitchat. Still, he opened the email and read through it, lips twitching upwards at the corners as the reason for the message became clear.
She shows great promise despite having been a trainer for less than a month, although that's no doubt partially due to the fact that her Sylveon and Espeon have been with her for several years. She's highly intelligent, her Pokemon respect and care for her dearly, and I may have hung around out of sight and observed how she handled the Houndour I traded her…
Let's just say she has a way with Pokemon, and had she a bit more experience the Scyther would have become a powerhouse on her team (although I'm pleased she was willing to trade him to me, he's a skilled battler and I have my work cut out for me in training him). Her Pokemon show an incredible mastery over their moves, and I've no doubt she'll go far.
She's got the same look in her eyes when she trains her team as you do when you battle, Lance. I'd keep an eye on her progress if I were you.
A wide grin spread across the young Champion's face. Gym Leaders rarely spoke so highly of new trainers, and said trainers almost always were in the top 16 at least in whatever Conference they entered. And this trainer sounded like she might be a fitting challenger for him someday.
If only Bugsy had actually mentioned her name.