Hydra

Amy let out a loud groan as Jet woke her from her sleeping bag. They were sleeping at a small wood just on the side of route four. They had been walking for a full day and had already completely by passed route three.

"Let's go, Amy. At the end of this road is a small Pokémon Center. We can stay there instead of sleeping on the ground all night."

Amy rolled over and mumbled sleepily, "Do they have a shower, Jet?"

Jet laughed and patted Amy on the head, "A nice, warm one with three speeds!"

Amy groaned again as she sat up. Amy was not the outdoorsy type that Natalie was. She absolutely loathed walking any distance over two miles, and was none too happy about sleeping on the ground. Jet grinned to himself as he remembered his annoyance when he first started camping out. Then he felt a little sad inside when he remembered Natalie teasing him for it.

"Get up, we only got five miles to walk."

"Ugh! How do people do this?"

It took a while for them to get packed and ready to go. Amy was grumpy when they finally set out. "Fuck, we need to buy bikes."

Jet smiled and said, "That's what I said to Natalie." Realizing he had mentioned she-who-must-not-be-named, Jet fell silent again. They walked for about twenty minutes, and then stopped at a large pond to rest Amy's aching feet.

"It's even worst today because we were walking all yesterday!"

She pulled off her shoes and socks to dip them in the water. Jet sat down next to her, "You have really nice feet."

"Thank you, but I think they're going to have a few blisters after today. Ah!" Natalie pulled her feet out of the water as a Poliwag appeared where her feet were just at. The Poliwag waddled out of the water and started towards Jet's bag, which still had some berries in it.

The Poliwag stopped when it heard some commotion behind it, and turned around to come face to face with Amy's Hoot-hoot. "Hoot-hoot, use Hypnosis!"

It seemed that Poliwag must've been thinking along the same lines, because both Pokémon used the same attack at the exact same time. Jet laughed as they both put each other to sleep. Amy sucked her teeth, "Laugh if you want," she said while throwing a Pokeball, "I just caught me a Poliwag!"

Jet grinned and said, "You know what, I could use a water Pokémon too. Good thing I taught Sora how to fish!"

Jet sent out his Pidgey and said, "Try and find a water Pokémon on the surface and bring them out for a battle!"

Sora nodded and flew into the air, circling the pond while searching for Jet's newest team member. Amy laughed, "You don't really think this is going to work, do you?"

Sora suddenly dived through the air. It pulled up right at the surface of the pond carrying what looked like a large fish. She flew the Pokémon over to Jet and dropped it in front of him; it was a Magikarp.

Amy burst out laughing, "There you go, Jet! Your new star Pokémon! Too bad you didn't have one while facing Brock, huh?"

Jet pulled out a net ball and said, "Yup, too bad."

Natalie stopped laughing, "You aren't actually going to waste a pokeball on that thing, are you?"

Jet pulled out his Pokedex and asked, "Now you're starting to sound like Natalie! Where's your sense of adventure? Let's see… Level; thirteen. Gender; female. Age; approximately fourteen months old. Height; three, four. Weight; thirty pounds. Ability; swift swim. Attacks; Splash."

Amy shook her head, "How does splash even count as an attack, it doesn't do anything!"

Jet shrugged, "It can be used to dodge an attack if executed right. But honestly, I think they just count it as an attack to give Magikarp a signature move."

Jet enlarged his net ball and Amy said, "What the fuck are you doing?"

Jet smiled and said, "I'm catching me a Magikarp!"

He threw the net ball at Magikarp. She was immediately sucked inside. The capsule rolled around for a little bit and then clicked. Amy rolled her eyes, "Complete waste of a perfectly good net ball. Magikarp are our food, they aren't meant to battle."

Jet recalled his Pidgey and said, "Whatever."

After recalling Pidgey he registered Magikarp under his name with the Pokedex. Once the new Pokémon was registered, Jet sent it out. Amy sighed as she put her feet back in the water. "Well, you just caught yourself a very expensive pet, I guess."

Jet bent down on a knee and said, "Hi, my name is Jethro, I'm your new trainer. And as such, I hear by dub you Hydra."

"Oh brother." Amy grumbled.

Jet grinned, "You Magikarp have been given a bad rep, mostly because no one knows how to train you to do proper attacks."

"And you do?"

"I got this, Amy! Thank you!"

Shaking his head, Jet turned to Hydra and said, "Anyways, me and you are going to do a lot of training together. I know you have hard scales, that will be ideal defensive wise, let's see your jumping ability."

Jet stood up and said, "Hydra, use Splash!"

Hydra jumped about twelve feet in the air before flopping back down unceremoniously. Jet smiled and said, "You got some hops! Now let's see how you can use this move defensively!"

Jet sent out Thorn and Spark. He had them take turns trying to attack Hydra while the ladder used splash to avoid their attacks. In theory it seemed like a good idea, but Hydra was not able to time their attacks right and got hurt a lot.

While Jet fed Hydra some berries so she could regain her strength, Amy said, "You know this could be considered animal cruelty, right?"

Jet, ignoring Amy, pulled his binding brace from his bag, "You just have too many unnecessary movements. You need to calm down. Take a rest and try to stay still until I say otherwise."

And so she did. Like a dead fish, Hydra just laid there as Jet got to work modifying the binding brace. After he got finished, he fastened it on to Hydra. He placed the rings that were supposed to go to arms and legs around each of Hydra's four fins. The head and tail rings went where they were supposed to.

Jet said, "Ok, now try using Splash."

Hydra tried and only jumped up about three feet. Jet smiled and said, "Good, now keep using splash until I say stop."

Hydra did as she was told, and the rest of Jet's Pokémon were put to the task of practicing their close combat techniques. Amy, who was now eating a berry from Jet's bag, asked, "Just what do you got cooked up in that devious little mind of yours, anyway?"

Jet, who was closely watching Hydra's progress, said, "I've got some plans. I'm not sure whether or not they'll work, but I'm definitely going to experiment. Why are you slowing down? That's another thirty seconds!"

After Hydra was absolutely exhausted from using Splash, Jet said, "Ok, more avoidance training. Everyone gather around Hydra, it's game time!"

Sometime around night fall, they arrived at the Pokémon Center. Jet went to the infirmary and said, "Hi, my Magikarp is in desperate need of rejuvenation, about how long will that take?"

This Pokémon Center was relatively small. Instead of individual rooms, it had to bays. One for the males, and one for the females. In the bays were about twenty bunk beds, a locker for each bed, and a bathroom. Jet had checked in and put his bag in a locker. After that he met with Amy in the lobby.

"The ladies room is gross, and there are only two girls staying here!"

Jet shrugged, "It's better than camping out. Besides, tomorrow we'll go exploring Mt. Moon, it's a three minute walk from here!"

"Well, what are we doing tonight?"

Jet laughed, "I don't know what you're doing, but I'm training my Magikarp."

Amy frowned, "Don't you think you're working that thing a little too hard? I mean, it's not like it's going to get any stronger!"

Jet smiled, "I worked all of the rest of my Pokémon just as hard, including your Ivysaur! You only get as much out as you put in. Hydra will get a break, once she's strong enough to defend herself."

Amy shook her head, Just what does he see in that thing?

Jet got his Pokémon from the infirmary and took it out side to train. "Ok, you made a little progress with dodging. At least you're starting to get the fundamentals; wait for the opportune moment and then execute! Now I'm going to teach you an offensive move, One that most of your species may have trouble with."

Jet positioned himself and said, "For the way you move, I suppose you would Splash sideways you propel yourself forward, like this."

Jet did a kind of cartwheel and said, "The idea is to use Splash to turn your body and smack your opponent with your tail. It's a modified version of the move, Slam. Now you try."

Jet watched Hydra and said, "You've got the basic idea, I just want to make one adjustment. Instead of jumping so high, like you usually do with Splash, try using all that force for the attack rather than gaining height. Don't waste energy that you could be using for your offense."

Hydra modified her attack and Jet said, "Much better, again!" When she did it again, Jet said, "Take your time. Focus on building technique, and we'll worry about speed and power later. Now use Slam, Hydra!"

She did it again, this time slower and more deliberate. It started to rain. Jet said, "Looks like nature is on your side tonight! We aren't stopping until you can't move anymore. Now, show me your true strength, use Slam!"

Author's Notes:

Next chapter will get into the exploration of Mt. Moon. What kind of training does Jet have cooked up for his Magikarp? Will he be able to turn it into a fighter? Or is it a waste of time like Amy suggests? Stay tuned to find out!

And as always, Please Review!