Misty sat by Ash's bedside, her head on the edge of his bed making it easy for her to stare at him. He had almost died, again. He would always be the martyr; he always chose to put himself in danger to help others, people and Pokémon alike. He did it because he cared.
He almost died because he cared. She frowned; if they hadn't been separated she could have protected him. Nobody knew what happened after Brock and Captain Ectoplasma left him, they said that he had decided to fight on by himself. He was trying to do everything by himself.
It was typical!
He needed to learn that he had limits; he needed to learn that sometimes you need help to survive. Why didn't he just stall until back up arrived? He didn't even try to call her for help. He never used her help; he just acted like he would to make her feel better.
He pitied her. She hated being pitied, especially by Ash. What was the point of them being on a team together if he didn't trust her when it really mattered? Clearly he didn't respect her as a trainer, he just saw her as a weak fragile little girl who would crumble under the slightest pressure. He needed to trust her!
She looked back at his body, lying peacefully while he slept. This wasn't working, she wanted to be angry but it just felt … wrong, forced. She knew that if she wasn't angry then there was only one other thing she could feel. She needed to feel angry to protect herself.
Didn't that just prove Ash right though? If she wasn't strong enough to even handle what she was feeling, if she had to hide behind false emotions to deal with Ash's condition that just proved she wasn't strong. She needed to really be strong, to deal with this properly.
She looked at Ash, fighting the urge to get angry. She felt everything, all the emotions hitting her at once. It hurt. She didn't even notice when she started crying, grabbing Ash's limp hand on instinct and hiding her face in his blanket.
"Ash you id…just wake up"
Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon
Misty didn't realise that she had fallen asleep with her face down; she had been so lost in thought that she wasn't even able to notice the transition from being awake to being asleep.
She would have stayed asleep for hours if she hadn't heard a low groan.
It was faint but unmistakable, the low noise only just sounding like Ash; but it was more than enough to bring Misty back to reality. She almost didn't believe it, she was afraid to look in case she was wrong, but this proved to be unnecessary as she was greeted by the sight of the raven-haired boy stirring.
He was okay! He was going to be fine and everything could return to normal. The idea of anything being normal when she was with Ash seemed a little bizarre but she knew she ignored this. She was too happy to think right now.
After he stirred there was a pause, and for a second Misty thought she might have just imaged the whole thing. Then his eyes fluttered open. There was no way she was imagining this, right? He raised himself onto his elbows flashing Misty a grin that made her chest ache. But it only lasted a second as it was replaced with a look of concern. "Hey Mist, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"
"I'm not crying" despite her words Misty soon felt water around her eyes, apparently she had cried in her sleep; perfect "It must be from sleeping or something I don't know" she didn't make eye contact as she rubbed her eyes to dry them off. She hated how weak she felt.
Silence fell on the room, neither one knew what to say so they just said nothing. Avoiding making eye contact altogether. "….dammit Ash, you almost died for the third time!"
"It can't be that much-" he was cut off by an irate Misty.
"The St Anne, the battle against Dr Vile ad now this, that makes three" Misty counted glaring at him "What's wrong with you? You shouldn't be putting yourself in danger like this"
"Now that you mention it…" Misty stopped looking at him wondering what he was going to say "…that is a little worrying, I'm sorry I keep putting you in danger."
Misty glared at him surprising the boy slightly; she looked about read to hit him. "You think I'm worried about my own safety!" Ash didn't get the time to respond as she continued talking without pause "I'll have you know I can take care of myself, you're the one who's always getting injured!"
She turned with a 'humph' refusing to look at the boy, but Ash saw right though her façade. She didn't do a good job of hiding it at all, she practically said it outright. She was worried about him! Ash couldn't help but smile at this, she was worried and she wasn't hiding it.
Misty may refuse to say it outright, but she wasn't denying it either. But something was off; something seemed very, very strange. "Oh Ash your finally awake" Brock said walking into the room smiling "Good thing too, Misty was refusing to leave you alone so if you didn't wake up soon…" Brock drifted off in response to Misty's death glare moving back a little to be on the other side of Ash's bed; the injured boy would make an excellent human shield.
Ash turned to Misty grinning but she refused to look at him, apparently the pattern on the ceiling was much more interesting.
"Ah, so my senses were correct. It's good to see that you're awake" Sabrina spoke calmly as she entered the room sitting on the desk.
"You're awake too"
"Yes, thanks to you. I didn't get all the details but I understand you and Black Fog bonded" Ash looked at her strangely "Those visions you saw, I saw some of them too and woke up when they were finished. I was a little surprised when I could no longer sense Black Fog though."
Ash's eyes went wide with horror as he looked at the eerily calm psychic "You're not saying...your saying Black Fog died…"
"Oh no of course not, Black Fog is still alive…he's just not here, he must have used teleport" she tapped her chin with her finger her eyes glowing blue but only slightly.
"What Team Rocket did to Black Fog, it's just… nobody should ever treat Pokémon like that… I can understand why he was so angry" she sniffed her eyes shining with tears.
"Not one day, not one day in all this time have I stopped hating Black Fog for what he did. I was so blinded by my anger… that I didn't-I didn't even consider the possibility that Black Fog needed help… a real psychic would never make that kind of mistake"
"You shouldn't feel so bad, no one else figured it out" Brock consoled slightly worried that she would start crying.
"Perhaps…but even if that is true I won't accept it… I'm-I'm going to become a stronger psychic, although I don't know how" she admitted looking down in shame.
"I'm sure you'll do it, you're already a very powerful psychic and you'll continue to grow stronger if you work hard" the psychic looked up at Ash giving a firm nod; she knew she had a lot of hard work ahead of her. But if that meant she would be able to stop something like this happening again or even just assist in the protection of a single Pokémon that would be enough.
She had to redeem herself.
Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon
It was only a few days before Ash was back in the gym ready to face Sabrina for his rematch. He had initially been a little worried, half expecting her to turn him down. But she didn't, if anything she was a little too enthusiastic. Clearly she was excited to grow stronger.
She had already sent out Kadabra-who was fully healed-so all that was left was for Ash to pick his Pokémon. He had originally planned on Gyarados but now he was going to do something different.
"Krabby I chose you" the small crab Pokémon appeared clicking its claws menacingly, or at least it would be menacing if he wasn't so tiny compared to Kadabra. Sabrina didn't comment on his strange choice of Pokémon though; clearly she could tell Ash had a strategy. He just hoped she couldn't figure out what it was.
"The gym battle between Ash the challenger and Sabrina the Saffron city gym leader may now begin" the referee announced lowering his flags to start the battle.
"Krabby start off with bubble attack" small bubbles escaped the crab Pokémon's mouth, slowly drifting across the battlefield towards Kadabra. Kadabra reacted instantly, raising his hands enveloping the bubbles in blue light. Clearly Sabrina was serious.
Ash wasn't worried though, he already knew Sabrina could do this and was ready for it. The bubbles were speeding back towards Krabby, but the small Pokémon didn't react just staring at them unflinchingly as he awaited further command. "Counter with mud shot!"
Krabby nodded slightly as he opened his mouth just like he did for the bubble attack. But instead of small bubbles drifting out of Krabby's mouth, thick mud shot out. The bubbles violently bursting as soon as it made contact kicking up a thick cloud of dust. "Now use leer attack"
Even though the dust cloud Kadabra could see the glowing blue eyes of the crab Pokémon, it was as if he was looking into to Kadabra's very soul.
"Now Krabby you know what to do" Ash couldn't see it thought the dust but he knew that Kadabra faltered for a second before its eyes started glowing. He shot powerful red beams from his eyes aimed right at Krabby, but Ash wasn't worried.
Misty smiled from her position up in the stands without even realising it, her mind drifting back to when Ash had discovered Krabby's ability.
Flashback
Shortly after he woke up Ash was discharged from the hospital, Ash checked into the Pokémon centre. Almost immediately after Ash had gotten his Pokémon back with Nurse Joy telling him they were in excellent health he was out training.
"Ash your training already, you just got out the hospital" Misty chipped in crossing her arms as he began releasing his Pokémon.
Ash just shrugged "If I don't train I'll never get stronger, if I don't get stronger I won't be able to deal with the dangerous situations I keep getting in" he turned to look at the Pokémon he would be training with; Gyarados, Charmeleon and Krabby.
"Ok the plan is to figure out a way to defend from multiple attacks at once so that we can beat Sabrina's Kadabra if it reverses out attacks" the small crab Pokémon turned to look at the large imposing water type and smiled, small bubbles forming around its mouth. Charmeleon just looked bored, not threatened by the two Pokémon it was with at all despite the type disadvantage.
"To begin with I was thinking that Charmeleon and Krabby would attack Gyarados together, everyone ok with that?" a roar from two and a small nod from the last showed they were more than happy with the set up.
The three rushed into position using the small dirt battle field outside the Pokémon centre for their training. "Ok let's go" Charmeleon and Krabby responded instantly shooting a bubble and ember combination at the much larger Pokémon.
"Gyarados use twister" an orb of wind appeared in the powerful Pokémon's mouth shooting out and forming a tornado. The fire and bubbles were effortlessly sucked into it making it even more imposing "Don't hit them with it" Gyarados nodded guiding the attack away.
"That worked well but I want to check its limits, this time use flamethrower Charmeleon and Krabby you use water gun" the two Pokémon nodded preparing the attacks before shooting the flames and water from their mouths "Now twister again!"
Once again the powerful tornado was formed heading for the attacks and once again they were sucked in making it glow powerfully as the stored energy swirled around inside it. "Ok, guide it away again Gyarados."
Gyarados's face contorted in concentration as he tried to control the attack. But despite his best efforts the attacks continued on its path barley slowed down by his attempts to control its flow. "Huh, maybe this isn't perfect yet then. Krabby, Charmeleon avoid it." Charmeleon jumped out the way quickly not wanting to deal with the attack. But Krabby didn't move.
"Krabby what's wrong? Get our the way" still the small crab Pokémon stood still just watching as the powerful attack came towards it, fire and water swirling around inside it violently "Krabby return" Ash yelled shooting the beam at the Pokémon but the vortex of fire, air and water stopped it in its tracks the small Pokémon disappearing from view behind it.
Ash continued shooting the beam at the twister hoping that it would get through but it was clearly in vain, the combined attacks were stopping it effortlessly. Ash was shocked by what happened next, all he saw was a flash of blue followed by the twister attack exploding.
A large swirl of dust, water and rocks shot out if all directions with amazing speed almost hitting Ash. But he wasn't worried about himself. "Krabby" Ash ran forward without a second thought, trying to see though what the dust to find his small Pokémon.
Fortunately a gust of wind came shortly after he began revealing Krabby; more surprising still was Krabby's condition.
Ash rushed forward picking up the small Pokémon to check it over but no matter how hard he looked Krabby was completely fine "Wow, this is amazing. You took all three attacks and didn't get a scratch on you."
The small Pokémon just smiled bubbles forming around its mouth as it enjoyed the attention it was receiving from its trainer.
End of flashback
The psychic attack was still heading towards Krabby but the small Pokémon wasn't scared, it simply stood still crossing its claws in front of its face as if to shield itself. To Brock- who Ash hadn't explained the plan to-this looked bad.
He was convinced Ash was making a mistake, trying to have Krabby take on the move head on. The small crab Pokémon had good defence, but it defiantly wasn't strong enough to brush off an attack like this.
But Brock was soon proved wrong when Krabby-still moving-summoned a blue barrier that took on the attack. The powerful attack psychic attack was completely negated, the shield nullifying it so completely it was hard to believe Kadabra had even launched an attack.
"Now follow up with crab hammer" Krabby's eyes were glowing blue as it approached the tired Pokémon scaring Kadabra as its claw then began glowing bright white.
"Teleport" Sabrina yelled, the first command she had given verbally this whole time. But before Kadabra could obey the powerful claw hit into it smashing it into the ground. Everyone watched the psychic Pokémon with baited breath, no one but Sabrina knew whether or not the Pokémon would be able to keep on battle.
It had been a clear hit, the powerful attack hitting the psychic Pokémon right on the head and into the ground. But one hit wins were rare, so it defiantly wouldn't be surprising for Kadabra to make a comeback.
But after a brief moment it became clear Kadabra wouldn't be getting up, small spirals in its eyes showing its defeat. Surprisingly Sabrina didn't seem upset by this as she returned her primary Pokémon whispering some encouragement whist lowering both trainers' boxes.
"Kadabra is unable to battle, so Ash and Krabby are the winners" the referee announced lowering his red and green flags.
As soon as Krabby heard the news he raised his claws in the air proudly. It was amazing; he had never had such a big in before. He liked it. It was with these proud thoughts swirling though his head that Krabby started glowing bright white.
He briefly didn't know what was happening, thinking it may be an attack from Kadabra. But that thought was abandoned when he noticed his body beginning to grow and his claws growing larger. Its left pincer grew so big it became bigger than the crab Pokémon's body itself when it opened.
Finally when the glow stopped the happy Pokémon snipped its pincer; pleased with his new body. "Krabby, you evolved into Kingler" Ash cheered hopping over the rail of the trainer box to run over and congratulate Krabby.
His celebration was cut short though when he noticed Sabrina.
As soon as she reached ground level Sabrina exited her box and began walking towards Ash, the poor lighting of the room casting a shadow over her face making her expression unreadable. Ash would be lying if he said he wasn't at least a little scared, she wouldn't look up at him as she moved forward and it was starting to worry him.
It got even more unnerving when she started walking even more slowly, still not looking up and carrying her dark aura with her the whole way.
Then she looked up, and if looks could kill…Ash would feel even more relieved than he already did to see her smiling.
Sabrina wasn't upset at all! This alone was enough to make Ash smile as she reached into her pocket and got a badge out.
Sabrina had suspected she would need to have one ready, she knew Ash was going to do something special to win and was pleased by what he did. She actually didn't know his plan-she never read the minds of challengers when they thought about battle strategy out of fairness-but she knew enough about him to know that he would have some kind of a plan.
"I am not surprised to lose, ever since you woke up after your battle with Black Fog your aura has been…different…interesting…" she handed him the badge smiling eerily making Ash worried briefly, he had no idea what she was talking about!
"Don't be alarmed, it's not bad…it's interesting" Sabrina responded to his thoughts before he could even vocalise them again, but by now Ash was starting to get used to it. He still didn't understand what she was saying though!
"Oh and Misty, here take this" Ash frowned, he wins the gym battle and Misty gets a gift, that's not fair!
Misty-who had just walked up to congratulate Ash- looked at Sabrina's outstretched hand only mildly surprised when a book appeared out of nowhere. It was a black hard cover book with no writing or decorations of any kind. "Your Starmie had lots of psychic potential, this book should help you unlock some of it" she explained as Misty took the book.
"Hey, why does Misty get the book? What if I need to learn about psychic Pokémon" Ash whined before Misty could even say thank you.
"You don't have any psychic Pokémon, and I can sense Starmie's desire to get stronger" Sabrina answered simply with a dismissive wave of her hand "Besides if you ever need to train a psychic Pokémon you'll be with Misty so you can simply borrow it from her"
"What if I don't need it soon? I might need it when we no longer travel together" Sabrina stifled a giggle turning away from them slightly.
"I don't think that'll be a problem…I can see the future…you don't realise it yet but Misty will always be close to you." Sabrina answered smiling with a slight mischievous glint in her eye.
Ash blinked "…what?" Sabrina continued smiling, although it now had a new smug undertone to it now.
"Maybe she thinks we're going to be neighbours or something" Misty tried her understanding of the situation just as bad as Ash's making Brock sigh, he had a feeling he knew what Sabrina was hinting at, and it defiantly wasn't Ash and Misty becoming neighbours.
Pokémon-Pokémon-Pokémon
After they left the gym Ash and his companions were once again on the road. While on the road Ash had found a phone so had decided to call the professor. Right now Professor Oak was on the edge of his seat listening to the tale of Ash's last battle.
"…so you by lowering Kadabra's already naturally low defence-a common trait among psychic types-with leer I was able to get a one hit knockout after using protect" Ash concluded proudly, it really was a great victory.
"You know Ash that's really interesting" Ash smiled at Misty, clearly she was starting to respect him a little now that he had shown his true power "Or at least it was the first five times, now it's just annoying. We get it, you did something smart, well done." The red head clapped sarcastically giving him an infuriating grin, clearly she was jealous.
"I was talking to Professor Oak not you."
"He's only told me twice" the man on the screen added calmly. Ash could practically feel the smug look Misty was giving him but he refused to look at her; that would mean she won! Fortunately Professor Oak started speaking again.
"So that's how you got your fifth badge huh" Ash blinked, why would the professor think he had five badges?
"Actually that's only his fourth" Misty oh-so-helpfully chipped in from the side smirking at Ash's glare.
"Only four huh, I just assumed it was your fifth since just the other day Gary called to tell me he got his fifth. He's also passed though Celadon city too" the elderly man explained upsetting Ash, the only reason Gary was moving so quickly was because he had a car. It wasn't fair! "You might also want to know that Gary has already caught thirty Pokémon, but you haven't sent any recently. Is something wrong?"
Kingler suddenly appeared on the screen looking happy. "I'm very glad to see Kingler's evolution by the way; we've become very good friends you know. We especially like tea time and writing poetry, and some of its not that bad either"
Ash went to speak but was cut off by a 'great' poem. "Every day its cake and tea, just my Pokémon and me" Ash sweat dropped at this unable to look up for a second. At least Kingler seemed to like it; that was enough for Ash.
"Now, listen here Ash, writing poetry is a lot like Pokémon training. I can't write a good poem without rhymes and you can't be a good trainer without catching more Pokémon. Have to go now, my teas getting cold" and with that the professor hung up not letting Ash say a word.
After a moment to recover from having his accomplishments belittled so casually, the depressed trainer hung up the phone and was immediately greeted by Misty's smirking face. "I don't want to hear it!"
"I wasn't going to say anything" Ash glared at her weakly before turning to Brock "Maybe what you're hearing is the sound of ego deflating. Whoo-oo-oosh"
Ash frowned, as she made air based gestures whilst smiling. He hated that he couldn't think or a comeback.
"Don't worry Ash you'll catch up, Celadon city is only a couple hours away" Brock reassured taking a bite out his donut. It was then that Ash noticed Brock had set up a full picnic.
"What are you doing? We've got to get to Celadon city" Ash yelled gesturing at the food wildly.
"Yeah your right Ash, wasting time on lunch is silly" Brock said looking at the food with mock anger "It's just stupid having so many jelly filled donuts for you to eat!"
Ash wasn't listening, as soon as he had noticed the jelly filled donuts he had started eating ignoring Brock completely. "We're leaving as soon as we're done" he shoved another donut into his mouth "There's no way I'm losing to Gary"
Sitting up on a boulder-the only way she could be sure Ash wouldn't eat her food-Misty decided to speak up "Just remember Ash, unlike all the other wannabe-trainers out there, you've got to make it the league your own way."
"Right, remember its quality over quantity, especially with Pokémon" Ash nodded half listening; he had heard this spiel so many times he could probably guess everything they would say if he wanted too. "So you really should be trying-"
"Hey look a Mankey. Poke ball go!" Ash jumped throwing the closest ball on instinct. Mankey just raised one hand catching the rice ball effortlessly before taking a bite.
"Awww, it appeared to be captured" Misty drawled shooting Ash a smug look as she took a bite out of her donut.
"At least Mankey likes my donut," Brock said smiling proudly as it ate. He blinked when something white fell on his eyelash "Snow, that's weird its way too early for snow"
"Huh, why's there no empty poke ball on by belt?"
"Yeah, its barley even winter," Misty agreed catching a flake that fell near her face. "And isn't Celadon city supposed to be really warm?"
"Yeah…it's strange. I had heard about it being cold in the city recently, but I didn't expect snow"
"Ahh, there's none in my bag either" Ash yelled out in frustration making Mankey jump back. After a moment the pig monkey Pokémon became to approach the boy. "This is just great; I had six poke balls before, where are they?"
Mankey patted the boy on the back, clearly the fighting type didn't understand what Ash was so upset about but the gesture was still nice. "Oh come on Ash, I'm sure you just misplaced them" Misty said leaving her boulder to look over his shoulder.
"No, they should be here instead there are only donuts" the sad boy grabbed the package planning to eat one to forget his unhappiness. Unfortunately Mankey seemed to have similar plans, moving swiftly the small Pokémon swiped the sugary treat right from under Ash's nose before retreating to the safety of a tall rock.
"M-my donuts" Ash frowned as he turned to see the Pokémon happily eating his treat. He had already given Mankey one-sort of- and now he stole all the rest. Ash didn't have anything to eat.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you" Ash ignored Misty, hoping to somehow sneak up on the fighting type while it ate. "Seriously Ash, taking food away from a hungry Pokémon is never a good idea!"
Ash hesitated briefly, he hated to admit it but maybe Misty had a point. This thought was forgotten though as a loud growl from his belly reminded Ash of what was really important. "You'll be sorry" Misty sang taking a bite out of her lunch.
Just one more step, just one step and Ash could take the donuts. The anticipation was killing him, could he really do this? Mankey still wasn't paying attention, just munching on a donut happily ignoring the young boy.
He reached out, his hand was so close. He grazed the bag, shooting Mankey a look to confirm his status; still eating. Ash grabbed the bag. The sound of paper crumpling ringing though the air, his heavy handed approach had backfired.
Mankey gave him a death glare; apparently he had forgotten they were initially Ash's donuts. "Although Mankey is usually calm, it does have a bad temper. Once Mankey begins to thrash, stopping it is impossible." Ash's Pokédex droned revealing the information just seconds after it would have been useful.
"What does it mean by thrash?"
"Let's not find out" Ash nodded bolting in the opposite direction to his furry attacker Misty and Brock following.
"You should have let him finish those donuts Ash; didn't your mother teach you any manners?"
"Well she never mentioned Mankey's" Ash yelled back briefly glancing over his shoulder only to see Mankey even closer than he was before.
"Maybe more donuts will stop it. Donut go!" Mankey didn't go for it though; instead he just smashed the treat with one hand not even breaking his stride.
"Ah, we wasted even more food" Ash whined watching as Mankey trampled what would have been part of his lunch.
Mankey continued chasing the scared teens as they ran not letting up at all, they couldn't risk stopping. Any hesitation would mean capture. They could let that happen so they continued pushing themselves harder and harder.
Then Misty fell.
Apparently Mankey wasn't interesting in the red-head though; instead of attacking he kept running using her head as a spring board to get on Ash's shoulders and begin his attack. Ash couldn't even try to defend himself and was soon on the floor completely at the mercy of the small Pokémon.
"Charmeleon help!" the powerful Pokémon appeared with a roar of flame, he turned slowly and saw…a small pig Pokémon he had been hoping to battle a strong Pokémon, and this is the best Ash can do; it was really disappointing, he might as well have just brought the three idiots.
Instead of helping Ash like the fool clearly expected Charmeleon instead let out a torrent of flames aimed at the boy-carefully avoiding Mankey as he hadn't done anything to Charmeleon-as punishment for wasting his time. Then he lay down and took a nap, waiting for Ash to find an opponent worthy of him.
"I honestly don't know what's worse, the beating or the shame of being completely ignored by Charmeleon" Ash thought aloud when Mankey relented walking away.
Ash rubbed his head, checking for any bumps and that's when he noticed. "Ah my hats gone, first my poke balls now my hat"
"He, he" Ash turned to the source of the noise and was horrified to see Mankey, proudly wearing his hat.
"You thief give me back my hat"
"You can get another hat Ash" Misty commented hoping he would stop, he had already been beaten up once and it looked like he was about to make the same mistake.
"It's irreplaceable Misty! I won it at the official Pokémon league expo; it's not easy to win y'know!"
"An official expo hat, wow" Brock muttered thinking back to the advert he had seen of a Charizard and Blastoise fighting over that same hat. "It's official"
"I didn't know that was an official expo league hat, I entered the same contest too."
"I had to send in about a million post cards to get that hat!" Ash screamed as he tried to climb up a tree after Mankey.
"Hn, no wonder I didn't win. I only sent in one."
"We-"
"Prepare for trouble" Ash groaned, clearly the universe hated him.
"And make it double"
"To denounce -pith" Jessie spat Mankey's fur getting in her mouth. "Buzz off we're not here for you" the woman yelled grabbing the Pokémon and throwing it back into the tree.
"Oh man, I wish she hadn't done that" Brock cried watching in horror as the eyes of the angry Pokémon began to glow.
"I-its evolving" the now terrified members of Team Rocket stuttered as the Pokémon grew bigger and angrier.
Charmeleon glanced up watching as the fighting type evolved. It looked much more impressive now. It was so much bigger and stronger; maybe he would be worth beating up after all. Maybe. Charmeleon would wait for a while to be sure.
"Primeape. If you make eye contact with this evolved form of Mankey, it will chase you forever." Ash's Pokédex droned having scanned the Pokémon.
"It's just a fur ball, let's stay focused on stealing their Pokémon, go Ekans"
"Go Murkrow, it's time for our first battle" the Pokémon appeared standing proudly before its master.
"Look James got a new Pokémon" Misty noted with mild interest.
"Yeah I bet he stole it."
"Ha, like Team Rocket could ever steal a Pokémon." Ash dismissed looking to Charmeleon who was still pretending to sleep; clearly this battle didn't interest him. Ash couldn't blame them though; he got bored of fighting them too.
"Hey don't make like of us" Jessie spat pointing dramatically.
"He is right though, I didn't steal Murkrow" James added timidly raising his hand as if to ask permission to speak.
"Shut up James, we're thieves who take control of Pokémon. You just stole Murkrow from the wild, and now we're going to steal the twerps Pokémon" the red head concluded proudly.
"That's rig-ahh" Meowth screamed as Primeape punched to the ground.
Charmeleon briefly opened an eye before closing it, even Clefairy could be Meowth. It wasn't interesting at all.
"Grrrr, Ekans deal with that Primeape he's in the way" the woman commanded her snake Pokémon diving towards the fighting type. Things didn't go her way through as the fast Pokémon moved to the side avoiding the attack whilst grabbing the weak Pokémon around the neck.
"Prime-Primeape" it smashed the Pokémon in the face hard making swirls appear in its eyes.
"I still can't find any empty poke balls" Ash commented still searching his bag to no avail.
Primeape turned to Murkrow looking furious. "Ah, Murkrow return" James panicked reabsorbing the bird type in red light as he began to run away.
"James you coward what the point of having a Pokémon if your too scared to use it" Jessie scolded following after him. They tried to run, but they weren't fast enough and were quickly captured by the evolved Pokémon.
It wasn't long before the beating ended, the two rocket members lying in a head covered in newly formed bruises. Ash smiled at this, only to stop smiling when Primeape turned to his looking just as angry.
"Alright that's it, Gyarados go!" Ash yelled throwing the poke ball at the front of his belt. But Gyarados didn't appear. Instead a small cute pink Pokémon appeared, bouncing on the spot read to fight.
"Clefairy, this should be Gyarados's ball. Whys all my stuff messed up?" Ash yelled checking his belt to try to figure out where Gyarados really was. His panic ended when he found the ball-still marked with the tear drop. He made the top go see though and saw a small black Gyarados confirming he hadn't been stolen. He still couldn't figure out why all his stuff was moved though.
"Primeape prime" the powerful launched forward with a hard right hook read to take Clefairy out, but Clefairy dodged effortlessly by bouncing on the spot.
From his position on the ground he tried another attack but it was avoided with similar easy. "Clefairy"
"Try metronome Clefairy" Ash yelled hoping for a good attack. It was tense as Clefairy wiggled her fingers, still effortlessly avoiding all of Primeape's attacks. Soon her fingers began to glow and she…fell asleep.
"Clefairy used rest, that's not good" Brock thought aloud watching as primate loomed over the small Pokémon furious at being ignored. He reared back his fist ready to attack, blocking Ash's attempt to return the small pink Pokémon with his fist.
Primeape wasn't going to let her off so easily. She was treating him like he was no threat, and that was unacceptable. She had to learn her place. She had to suffer for what she did, and Primeape would be the one to make her.
He clenched gathering energy for his thrash attack. It didn't take him long to get the energy he needed, when he was a Mankey it would take far longer. But he was much stronger than that now. So with brutal efficiency he began the attack.
Clefairy had no way of defending herself, there was no way she would avoid this attack. Ash couldn't believe this, he tried to rush forward to defend her but he knew he wouldn't make it in time. But just as he was getting their something happened he never expected.
The attack was more powerful that Ash though the Pokémon to be capable of. Primeape was clearly surprised too, being knocked out cold in one hit. But it really had happened and Ash couldn't be prouder as he looked at his Pokémon standing over the downed monkey looking furious.
"Charmeleon!" Charmeleon took a defensive stance in front his small pink comrade looking at Primeape with disgust. He couldn't believe him, attacking an enemy who wasn't even fighting back was pathetic.
He was a little tempted to hit him again, but the Pokémon was clearly not getting back up. Charmeleon then noticed the look on Ash's face and groaned; Ash probably thought he did it for Clefairy.
Charmeleon wouldn't deny viewing the small Pokémon as a comrade, but that was it. Any interaction between them was brief and to the point, he didn't want any friends. But he had no way to communicate this to Ash, meaning he was forced to accept his praise.
He didn't mind though, he loved having his horn scratched after all.
A/N
Sorry it's been so long, a lot of things have been getting in the way.
The poll was surprisingly close, but by a single vote 3000-7000 words won so I'll be aiming for that from now on.
The next pole is whether or not legendary Pokémon are one of a kind. Before you vote you should know making them not one of a kind won't necessarily increase Ash's chance of catching one, it may even lower it (As another trainer will have one instead). It also doesn't mean more than one of that Pokémon will appear in the story necessarily, only if it's actually relevant to the plot.
Any guesses what happened to Ash's poke balls or what will happen to Primeape as Ash is unable to catch him right now.
Please review.