Note: This chapter was originally two. It's one of two sets I combined, changing the total from 72 to 70, if anyone had been wondering. It seems to fit, especially with how long these chapters have been. But there's a lot going on, some having been referenced already since this story makes liberal use of nonlinear narrative. It's the final Ritchie-centric chapter, which, you'll see in coming was definitely necessary and not just a side trip. Well, on with the chapter.

58: Charizard vs. Charizard

The roar of the crowd sent a wave of numbness through Ritchie, which settled as he was again announced as the league winner. Two times in a row, the announcer and others declared.

Wouldn't that mean it was just anticlimactic, disappointing that they couldn't meet a new face? But far from disappointed, the crowd seemed even more excited than the previous year, and everyone Ritchie spoke with afterward also seemed excited, congratulating him as he walked through the venue.

Even Ash. "Hey Ritchie, that's great you won," he said as they met outside afterward. "I guess I've got a lot more training to do myself..."

"Pikachu," the pokemon by his feet called.

"You did great too, Ash," Ritchie offered. Even though that sentiment might have seemed hollow, it was the truth.

Ash hadn't even made it as far as the previous year, only getting in the top 32. But that wasn't because of a lack of skill. He'd just made a few mistakes his last match, while his opponent hadn't. He also wasn't the only one more talented than Ritchie that hadn't gotten lucky enough to rank higher. There were plenty of trainers that Ritchie had observed who seemed like they were talents superior to him, and hadn't gotten to face off against. Instead, his luck had continued, leading him to be number one again.

It was embarrassing, though of course he didn't say so. Some probably knew it was just luck, and for those that didn't, that just made things worse. They may think Ritchie was just entering the league again for bragging rights, knowing he'd win. In reality, the two time winner knew he had a lot more to learn.

Instead, he became even busier with all of the demands of being a winner. The media wanted to interview him, various trainers wanted to battle him, many even on popular TV programs. Ritchie accepted a few of those, though preferring to travel at his own leisure to find battles rather than go off a producer's schedule. Though maybe that would be better, as even traveling for new opponents, he'd most often won. No one would like someone that bullied less experienced trainers.

One day as he exited the TV studio, a tall woman approached him. "Hey, you," she spoke abruptly. Her expression was pleasant enough, though she seemed to be sizing him up. As they made eye contact, she asked the question. "Why don't you come and battle me?"

He'd had an inclination to reject such offers as of late, but something told him to accept this one. "Alright," he said.

The woman led him to an arena in town he hadn't heard of. "My name's Prima," the woman said. Ritchie gasped. "Oh, so you've heard of me," she realized from his response.

"Yeah," Ritchie confirmed. Prima was part of an elite that shied away from the media, most of them aiming to gain the title of champion. The champion, Lance, was very well known, though he also avoided the media other than to participate in select events. He also held invitation only conferences where he provided guidance to trainers that were said to hold exceptional potential. Was Ritchie about to get invited to one? Being a two time league winner, that wouldn't be too surprising.

But first, it seemed he had to prove himself to this ultra elite trainer outside the confines of flashy venues like the league and various TV shows. "Shall we just begin? Full battle," Prima invited. Ritchie nodded. He threw out his first pokeball at the same time as her.

Though never seeing a battle with her, Ritchie knew of her well enough from talking to other trainers. He outsped her with Sparky before using Zippo to burn through the rest of the mostly ice types. At the end, he used Gale. Though more vulnerable to ice type attacks, the pidgeotto could see through the haze easier, and besides, this slowbro used mostly water-based attacks. Pidgeotto dodged and finished off its opponents quickly.

As Prima returned her struggling pokemon, she smiled, at the same time narrowing her eyes at Ritchie. "I can't say I'm not embarrassed," she said. "I've been able to humble past league winners, and here you defeat me without much trouble."

"I'm-" Ritchie paused. He'd been about to apologize, but of course, that may seem condescending. "I'm very honored to have battled against you." Ritchie bowed. "I admit I knew about you and your strategies before, so that gave me an advantage."

"Oh, but I've been watching your matches closely as well," Prima said. "Well, it is what it is. Will you go against the next of us, then?"

A muscular man stepped next to her. "Are you Bruno?" Ritchie guessed his identity. He was a former gym leader specializing in fighting types, though he added various 'tough' pokemon to his roster before joining the elite.

"That's right. You ready?" Bruno invited.

The elite didn't seem to want to waste time by mincing words. Ritchie took care of the pokemon that had battled before getting ready for the new challenge. Again, he relied on the speed of Gale and Sparky against the fighting types, the electric type also paralyzing its foes. Sparky did well until the onix. Ritchie returned the pikachu before it could struggle too much, then sent out his tangela. Though Vincent had the type advantage, there was also the size of its opponent to consider. It struggled to take the onix down, though Ritchie was able to direct it to do so.

Ritchie sighed as Vincent pulled itself together after the difficult battle. He went to take care of it.

"This new one's not bad," Bruno said. "Took me and Prima out so quickly. Ready to test him more?" Bruno turned to the door beside them.

An older woman that Ritchie actually recognized stepped out. "Oh..." he exclaimed, returning Vincent to its pokeball before he bowed to the veteran gym leader, of course also now an elite trainer. "Miss Agatha... You'll battle me too?"

"If you're up to it," Agatha said, her tone quite chipper.

"I am!" Ritchie exclaimed as he stood up straighter, his reaction inciting chuckles from both his defeated and upcoming trainer.

Agatha was well-known for working with the notoriously difficult to catch and train ghost types. She had several others outside that typing. What luck to go against her, getting the experience of not just going against the rarely seen ghost types, but the most powerful ghost types there were. Ritchie chose Happy to start, since his butterfree was the least likely to get spooked. It held up fairly well, but he soon had to return it. After that, he guessed Zippo might do best, and the pokemon indeed worked around the ghost type's tricky techniques, defeating one, and then another, and another. At the end, he switched to Jelly the tentacruel to help be more resistant against the other pokemon's poison typing, and soon won.

Winning again, Ritchie again felt embarrassed, and was sure to thank Agatha for the battle, then thank the others again. "It's just as invigorating to us to battle the new talents," Prima said. "Right, Lance?"

Though perhaps too nervous or involved in battles to notice him before, Ritchie certainly recognized the caped champion as he stood up in the spectator's area, making his way to the nervous dual league winner. "Hey. You're pretty energetic. You'll battle against me too, right?"

Ritchie paused. Was he really ready to go against the champion of all trainers? Well, since the man had gone to the trouble to invite and ask, refusing might seem rude. "Yes, I'll battle," Ritchie agreed. "Thank you for this opportunity."

Though he hadn't expected it, Ritchie ended up winning again, giving it his all with all of his pokemon. The elite trainers gaped after he'd finished. "I... I know that I still have a lot of work to do," Ritchie said, not wanting to seem like he was showing off at all.

"Seems like you might be able to overtake my role as champion," Lance said.

"I, oh, I wasn't trying to do that!" Ritchie exclaimed. Did the champion really think that his opponent would try and claim the title just from winning once?

"Why not?" Lance said, frowning.

"Come on now, this child is brand new. We were going to explain everything to him after we'd decided he was worthy," Agatha said.

"And after one of us defeated him," Bruno added.

"That's right." Lance smirked, then swishing his cape as he turned away. "I'll let this group explain things to you. But understand this." Lance stepped back toward Ritchie, sharply making eye contact. "Anyone accepted among us has a right to aim to be champion. That includes you. I'm here to compete to keep my title, I'd be highly disappointed if others didn't compete."

"Yes, sir," Ritchie said, his eyes flittering from the ground to the champion, trying to seem neither weak nor haughty.

"That's enough of that," Agatha said, chuckling to herself. "We haven't even officially accepted him yet."

"I vote to do so." Prima nodded.

"I'll second it," Bruno added.

"Well, of course we would accept this overly polite young man that defeated all of us at once," Agatha said. "Let's just make it official."

Lance left, but the other three stayed to chat with him. After getting more information, it became obvious that the offer would be unwise to refuse. He'd get a generous salary from their trainer society, well-funded by a variety of people interested in pokemon. This would eliminate the need for everyone back home to continue to sponsor him. There would also be many opportunities to battle against strong trainers in order to get better, which has been Ritchie's goal in the first place.

As far as the title of champion went, no, he didn't get it just from defeating them all at their first meeting. There were interviews from other elites, since character was one of the qualities considered for a champion. There were also plenty more battles. Ritchie felt the need to try his best with all of them, and ended up winning over and over again. Losses were rare, and Lance himself didn't defeat Ritchie even once. Several months later, even though it seemed far too soon, the group voted to declare Ritchie officially be declared champion.

The humbling title would have been terrible to refuse, but Ritchie didn't feel he was ready. He tacitly shared this with his fellow elites, who assured Ritchie that with his battling skills, he was certainly worthy, and they'd be there to support him. Lance in particular, showing no grudge regarding how he'd been usurped, was very helpful. Ritchie was incredibly grateful for the support.

Even so, the fact they went so far for him incited guilt. Winning wasn't everything, and Ritchie felt incredibly unqualified beyond his win/loss record. Of course, he knew how to be polite and speak well, but there were plenty of ways he was lacking as well. One day at a well-attended exhibition event, Ritchie was given a glaring reminder of this.

He noticed them before anyone else. This particular event wasn't open to the public, but there was still a sizable crowd, so it seemed they were trying to blend in. But Ritchie still recognized the two rocket agents that had ambushed him when he'd seen Articuno. As the match ended, the next one starting, he stared their way. They appeared to notice that he had noticed them, making their way over to the hall.

The current champion followed. Sparky was at his feet, but he felt compelled to have a different pokemon help. "Go, Zippo!" he threw the pokeball, which released. Standing in front of the exit, Zippo called out, then extended its arms and wings as much as it could, blocking the rockets from the exit. Ritchie glared at them. "I don't think you two were invited," he said.

"Told you someone else should have come," the man said to the woman.

"The observations they reported weren't helpful," she said. The rocket woman had a pokeball in her hand as well, but didn't throw it. "We were just leaving," she said, staring coldly at Ritchie. "The champion wouldn't want to start trouble with random trainers, would he?"

Did they not remember him? "I know who you are. I know you're part of Team Rocket," Ritchie declared.

"You would have been pretty dumb to forget that, huh," the man mocked.

Ritchie flinched, realizing that of course they remembered him. It had only been two years, and he hadn't grown much, unlike Ash. "I'm not going to let you get away with whatever you're trying to do here," he said.

"What could that be?" the man countered. "We're just watching some pokemon battles."

"No one here would have invited you! You're part of the evil Team Rocket," Ritchie declared. "Everyone here is actually legitimate."

"Is he saying we're not part of a legitimate organization?" the man said to the woman next to him, smirking.

The woman raised her eyebrows in response. "I haven't heard of any crimes any Team Rocket has committed recently," she said.

"Yeah. We're reformed. Or was it that any crimes were done by some imposters? Take your pick."

Now they just lied without caring they wouldn't be believed, putting their lies on display as mockery. "My pick is that you're criminals that need to be punished!" Ritchie declared.

"You gonna try that, champ?" the man challenged.

The woman put her hand on his shoulder, shaking her head before she turned back to Ritchie. "Why don't you just back off," she said. "We crashed your event, but that's all for now."

"For now?" Ritchie repeated.

She briefly looked away, seeming to realize her mistake, but didn't clarify, instead saying, "The champion is expected to be respectable, correct? Picking random fights would be a scandal, so don't waste your efforts on us."

Her argument seemed sound, but these two, along with most of the rest of Team Rocket, were very manipulative. He'd stepped aside for these two specifically before, and now the three legendary bird-like pokemon had stopped being spotted at all. Standing up to them was what needed to be done. Ritchie turned to Zippo, ready to give an order.

"Who's here? Champion Ritchie?"

Before the champion could initiate his strategy, Bruno interrupted. "They're from Team Rocket!" Ritchie summarized the problem to his fellow elite.

"Wondered who they were," Bruno said, raising an eyebrow. "You're not just here uninvited, but picking on our mini-champion? What kind of people are you?" the large, muscular man continued. The rockets took a step back as he approached.

"I don't know exactly why they're here, but it's to start something bad, or maybe make plans to," Ritchie explained.

"What could we possibly do?" the man from Team Rocket said, bringing sinister possibilities to mind. "There's nothing we're planning now, unless you want to help," he again mocked the champion.

"What are you expecting from our champion? He may be young, but he's smart enough not to get involved with people like you," Bruno said. "I suggest you leave."

"That's what we were trying to do," the woman informed.

After a moment of silence, Ritchie returned his large pokemon to its pokeball, freeing the area for the rockets to leave. They went out the door with another word. Ritchie and Bruno watched until they were out of sight. "So they were trying to recruit you?" Bruno guessed, chuckling at the idea. "Hardly surprising that shady entities would be trying to gain influence over you, given your power and status. But they have no idea what kind of person you are."

Bruno patted Ritchie on the shoulder with a wide smile, obviously thinking highly of the boy. "Thank you," was all the current champion could say in response as he looked to make sure the rockets were really gone. Accolades like this seemed undeserved in the best of circumstances, but in this situation only incited guilt. After all, the people that had just left understood probably better than anyone in the world what kind of cowardly, self-serving person Ritchie really was. But that didn't mean he couldn't change, did it?

Not that long later, when the gym leaders had their pokemon stolen, Ritchie thought it was really his chance to prove himself, as a righteous trainer in a real world situation. Instead, he'd just run around spinning his wheels, while Ash had stepped in and saved the day yet again. Of course, just solving the problem was what was important, but being such a useless champion really wasn't acceptable. Ritchie, along with the other elites, accepted the job of helping transport the recovered pokemon to their grieving trainers around Kanto.

At his first stop, the old man thanked Ritchie profusely for returning his pokemon, even becoming teary-eyed as he bowed several times during the exchange. Ritchie was sure to point out that this was the result of the efforts of many. The champion eventually ended up just saying "you're welcome" before moving on to the next gym. It felt weird to be returning the pokemon himself and getting this reaction, since these pokemon had been returned through no effort of Ritchie's own.

And everyone recognized Ritchie as the young champion. In the last gym, he'd even had the young daughter at first being shy, then openly showing her enthusiasm while asking for his autograph. Ritchie gave it of course, though all the attention he'd been getting was far from deserved. No one knew who Ash was, even though the other boy had participated in the league twice. Even so, Ash's efforts were the ones that led to these pokemon being recovered.

Misty had spoken ill of Ash, both before they'd met up with him, and even after. He'd crossed a line, she'd said. Ash himself admitted maybe that was the case. But the fact was, he'd done what needed to be done, figured out what would be effective instantly while everyone else floundered around. Why had she berated him, when he'd been the one to get her pokemon back?

The better question was, why did everyone still praise Ritchie, bring him up to champion status even, when all he could do was win within tightly controlled battles where the rules were known? The answer might be that they only saw him in the structured, predictable situations where he could think through much of what might happen beforehand. Meanwhile, the current champion didn't know what to do at all in real world difficult situations where Ash figured things out, seemingly without even trying.

Winning at the sport was fine, but how could Ritchie become more like Ash?

The boss was really browbeating them that day. He'd told them they were late, even though they'd been early, and had just been called into his office that moment. He'd made a comment about the marks on their uniform boots, telling them to clean up afterward and show some pride. Then he'd pointed out a typo in Cassidy's otherwise informative and well-written report, telling her to be more careful. Their leader was only offering comments they had to apologize or "yes, sir" through, until he'd brought up the recent past.

"And I don't recall seeing either of you helping that day we were raided. Where were you then, if not working on protecting our assets?"

Cassidy tensed up. Really? What was the point of the question? The boss had to already know the answer to that. Was he going to expect her to justify her location?

Though Cassidy was usually the one to speak up during meetings like this, her partner answered before she did. "At the hospital," he informed.

The boss glared at them silently after hearing that fact. However, the short comment had been enough that he moved on to a different topic, seeming to excuse them. "You're still working on your most important project, I imagine?" he said to Cassidy.

"Yes, sir. As I have been for years," Cassidy said. "I think I've made a lot of progress, actually. Finding the right information can be both tedious and time consuming." Maybe she was ready to take the next major step soon, which would be in the field instead of poring through foreign language news reports and other documents, though she hoped to send others in her place to do that.

"You keep at it," the boss said, smiling as he seemed to get out of his bad mood. "I'm trusting you to find the answers. Your progress seems much more promising than even so-called experts. Let me know when you require more resources. I'll expect a detailed update on my desk within the week."

"Yes, sir," Cassidy replied.

"And now," their boss began, taking the pokeballs out of his desk.

"You have pokemon to give us?" Butch asked in surprise.

"Yes, loaners from our dedicated battle practicing pokemon," the boss explained. "You were right that we're quite lacking as far as supplies of pokemon is concerned, at least for now," he admitted, glancing at Cassidy. "But for an important mission, I'll supply what's needed."

"Is this mission that important?" Cassidy asked.

"Yes, it's to investigate the officer who filed the report that led to our base getting raided," the boss informed. "Thanks to her, this location no longer has such high security. They know where we are, and can always make an excuse to be here. Even so, I don't want them to feel safe invading our space at any time. You two can go to her academy to intimidate her. I'll have you try on a day when students aren't scheduled to be at her training center. Look for more details in this report." He handed a stack of papers to Cassidy. "I give you permission to take the police-assigned pokemon as well, or not. Use your best judgment."

"Yes, sir. I understand," Cassidy said. "We should be able to tell if the pokemon will be worth the effort once we're there. We'll prioritize making sure that officer doesn't feel comfortable interfering in our business."

"Good," the boss barked, giving them the pokemon before dismissing them.

"A charizard, huh?" Butch said, holding up the pokeball he'd been given as they walked down the hall.

"Every boy's dream," Cassidy said with a smirk.

"Not your boy... Anyway, I won't get that attached, since we're not keeping them." He looked toward Cassidy's loaned pokeball. "A rhydon for you? You think it's the boss's?"

Cassidy shrugged. "That's more than possible. He doesn't need it for the gym any more."

"Well, we're ready with these and our regulars," Butch said. "I'll train this thing to be sure it'll be used to listening to me. Let me know if you need me to do anything else before then."

"Nothing related to this new assignment, but I want you to go to Viridian for me while I train mine, and deal with writing that dumb report he wants," Cassidy said.

"Sure, of course," her partner agreed. She gave him the instructions before going to work on the requested update report and complete the other prep for the upcoming mission.

The day of the mission was a pleasant spring morning, clear and already temperate by the time they arrived. Cassidy and Butch would still continue in the rain, but maybe there would be no point if the workaholic decided to actually stay home on her day off, leaving no one to be intimidated by their visit. But the weather was nice, so the officer would likely show up according to their information. They split up to take one more look around, avoid any surprises as much as possible, and found nothing. A more thorough visual investigation the day before, and monitoring of the comings and goings had been done by a different agent. If all went according to plan, the target should be there alone catching up on her paperwork.

Butch swore as they took another look into the training yard. It seemed everything wasn't as expected. There were two boys there, one older, one much younger, neither one the officer. They were interacting with several arcanine and growlithe. "Looks like it's day care day," Butch said. "Look! They're even leaving that one alone," he noted, motioning toward where the older boy meandered away, leaving the younger one by himself. "It's like they're asking for something bad to happen."

"He looks like he'll be fine," Cassidy commented. The pokemon were very well trained, as they had to be for their job.

"They're the ones being dumbasses, right?" Butch continued the commentary. "We don't have to bother with any of those things, right?"

"The pokemon? I don't think so," Cassidy said, frowning. "They do look like they've had ample training, but I'm not sure they'll be cooperative with new trainers. Then imagine how they might about face if we run into uniformed officers they trained with."

"Yeah, I can just picture some of our dopey co-workers crying as those pokemon drag them into their cells instead of following their orders," Butch said with a smirk.

Cassidy chuckled. "Yeah. That would be an even bigger disaster than the whole gym leader thing. Good thing he left getting them or not up to us. Let's avoid another sure mess and be done with the first priority of the mission."

"I'm good with that. We can just bypass the pokemon and the kids then, right?" Butch asked, glancing toward his partner.

"Right. It shouldn't take that long to give this message." Cassidy put away her binoculars, then motioning for Butch to do the same, and follow her.

Before talking to the officer that had helped him be sure the rockets would be confronted in their own secret base for their crimes, Ritchie took the time to talk to her enthusiastic son. Apparently, the young boy visited the mother's work on off days like this, being able to play with the police assigned pokemon while she finished up tasks before they took off the rest of the day. The kid introduced each growlithe or arcanine one by one, knowing the differences and how long they'd been there. "This is the champion!" was added to the end of each introduction.

The younger boy seemed pretty excited about that fact. Ritchie spent a while answering questions about what being a champion was like before listening to the kid talk about the details of the training program for pokemon. After giving this kid the attention he'd wanted, Ritchie went off to find the officer he'd come to talk to.

That was when he saw them.

He'd thought it was in his head at first. He was anxious about seeing Team Rocket agents in general, and had sometimes mistaken other uniforms for theirs. Other times, he'd actually seen other Team Rocket agents, then thought it might be these two before realizing they were different people. He hadn't seen these two since confronting them when they'd come to that event. But here they were, most unexpectedly in an area known for law enforcement.

Had they followed him here? They didn't seem to have even noticed the champion's presence, their attention directed toward the main building as they used binoculars to peek inside. No, their presence here had nothing to do with Ritchie himself. They were probably there to somehow harm the officer that had helped him, helped all the gym leaders. Her name had been the one used to report the location of their formerly hidden base after Ash had explained where it was. These Team Rocket affiliated agents were being really bold to come after her like this, but at the same time cowardly, since there weren't really any other people there that day.

Luckily, knowing the officer wouldn't be busy, this was the day the current champion had also chosen to come. Instead of just using words to officially thank her, he could do something about this situation. Maybe going inside and alerting her would be best, or calling for others to help, or perhaps both once inside the building. Of course, the rockets were closer, and there wasn't much time. Acting decisively now would be best. If confronted, perhaps they wouldn't have time to do anything related to whatever their plot was, while if Ritchie relied on others, that would give them an opening.

So he ran forward, deciding to confront them. "Hey!" Ritchie shouted to get their attention as he got closer. "You need to stop right there! Go, Zippo!" Ritchie released his charizard into the open area between them.

The duo was definitely surprised by Ritchie's presence, standing up, their eyes widening as they turned around and stepped back toward the building. "Hey champ," the man spoke, seemingly trying to cover up his initial startled reaction. "We saw you before. I didn't recognize you."

Had they noticed him before he'd found them? The thought was disconcerting. Maybe they'd have gone away upon recognizing Ritchie, but he'd adapted a more formal style of dress for certain events, including visiting the officer he'd relied on in going against this group, and had recently cut his hair to try and appear more professional as well. But what they'd do if they had recognized him didn't matter. At the moment, Ritchie only had to react to what was happening now in front of him. "What are you two up to?" he decided to demand knowledge.

The man shrugged. The woman looked away before turning back and meeting the champion's eyes. "I suggest you leave us be to continue with our tasks. You're outnumbered. There's no need to put yourself through a confrontation," she said.

The calm statements only induced anger. Did they really think Ritchie was so cowardly? Of course, despite any title or status, he really was, and they knew it. But things could change, were going to absolutely change. How he reacted today wasn't going to be the same as how he'd reacted before. Abandoning the officer that had stood by those going against Team Rocket was out of the question. "I suggest you leave," Ritchie shot back. "This place isn't anything to do with Team Rocket. It's the opposite, law enforcement. The officer here today even hates you all personally."

The man rolled his eyes. "And what did she expect, being so open about her opposition?" he said.

So that really was what their visit was about. Ritchie stepped forward, Zippo also doing so in front of them. The rocket agents backed away, now almost right against the wall of the building. Ritchie pointed forward as he spoke. "Zippo, let's go!" he said, wanting his charizard to move forward to intimidate them like before. "Get ready," he ordered.

The man in the Team Rocket uniform threw forward his own pokeball. "Charizard! Let's fight!"

"Oh." Ritchie stood up straighter as the other charizard appeared in the small space between his pokemon and the enemy group. He hadn't seen them use this pokemon before. Maybe they thought their charizard could compete, but Ritchie was fairly sure his was stronger. "Zippo, slash!"

"Charizard, flame thrower!"

Ritchie's opponent didn't even know that using the same type technique against the same type pokemon. Though they could still be used at times, that wasn't a very good starting move. Even so, the rocket charizard took the hit surprisingly well, its expression hardening though still standing tall as Zippo's claw hit it. The other charizard's flamethrower had some minimal effect on Zippo, who turned briefly as it got a face full of flames. There was some strength to the opponent as well. Even so, Ritchie was almost positive he could win. "Zippo, fire spin!" he shouted.

"Charizard, rage!"

So the rocket agent would have his pokemon try a normal type technique too. The fire spin didn't have much effect, but Zippo was able to dodge its opponent's move. "Zippo, slash," Ritchie repeated the first attack as the sparking remnants of the fire spin danced around, hopefully distracting the other pokemon even though it wouldn't affect the other fire type much.

The two charizard hit each other in unison. All of a sudden, the man directing the other charizard's eyes widened in dismay as he looked to the side, stepping in that direction before he stopped. Did the rocket agent realize he was outmatched? Good. It was time to finish off the opponent's pokemon and show how weak they were. Maybe they'd never try anything like this again. "Stop! Send it back!" the man shouted desperately toward Ritchie. "Stop the battle!" Ritchie's enemy now stepped away.

As if the now champion was the type to do something on their say so. Ritchie wasn't about to do anything for them. "Zippo, fire punch! Now!" he ordered. Zippo called out in a roar before stomping forward.

The man looked to the other side of the two charizard, shaking his head, perhaps realizing how he was unable to escape. "Champ, look, you need to stop right now," the rocket agent shouted before swearing, calling Ritchie by a vulgar term.

Such words from such an awful person weren't about to sway the champion. Ritchie kept his gaze focused on his opponent, closely monitoring both him and the location of the loud, battling pokemon, filtering out background noise the roars of the pokemon and the Team Rocket affiliated person continuing to yell. He'd teach them a lesson, so they'd go away and stay away after being soundly defeated. The opponent's charizard turned out to be stronger than expected, but it was about to get knocked down with a sure blow with them literally backed against the wall like this.

"Charizard-" the rocket agent began, stopping as he apparently remembered that his charizard probably wasn't about to listen when it had already begun a 'rage' attack. Ritchie grinned, realizing his win, no matter what this person said. The rocket charizard's actions couldn't be redirected in its current state. Ritchie stood and watched, expecting and ready to see the opponent's pokemon faint as the sure result of the battle.

Instead, something outside the routine occurred. His uniformed human opponent raised his pokeball, returning the enraged pokemon right before the heated attack would have finished it off.

Zippo tried to stop. Anyone who'd been around pokemon for long knew the monsters always did their best to avoid hurting humans. But the laws of physics didn't allow it to cancel its ongoing attack. In an instant, the fire-type pokemon moved through where its pokemon opponent had been, and kept going, hitting the human that had been directing the now absent pokemon instead.

Butch stood motionless as he listened to the argument between his mother and the newcomer. The man that had shown up was apparently his father, though Butch had never seen him before. The topic of their loud argument was if their son should exist or not. They seemed to agree the answer was no, but that wasn't enough for them to get along. They still couldn't agree on whose fault it was, and what should be done then. Listening to them lay out the reality of the burden of his existence so clearly, Butch couldn't say anything. He couldn't move at all.

Except he was alright - that was a long time ago. He shouldn't think about those people any more. His father hadn't been seen since, and his mother had eventually left overnight without a word, leaving Butch with her sister and her family. His aunt and uncle couldn't agree what should be done with him, but they didn't seem to hate him completely. If Butch made himself useful, maybe they wouldn't throw him out. As young as he was, he needed to rely on them. He just needed to be good, be helpful, and never make trouble. If he minimized his burden, maybe they'd keep him around.

So he was sure to do his best with any chores. Any effort needed to be above and beyond. Finishing any homework and studying early, without even being asked, he'd been sure to clean everything, knowing his aunt and uncle would both be working late. He wasn't allowed to cook on his own yet, but he could get everything out for them to do so. When it was on the counter, ready for when they'd come home, his cousin came in, frowning.

She was jealous of the praise he'd gotten for everything lately, even though she ought to just be appreciative that she didn't need to worry as much about being useful herself. "What's with you?" she asked, sitting down and scowling further. "Dumbass. You're annoying," she commented further as he refused to respond to her goading.

Sensing she was in the mood to lash out at him as she often did, Butch remained quiet, not even looking at her. She then swiped her arm across the counter, causing all of the ingredients he'd placed out to tumble over on the floor. A bottle of sauce shattered and splattered on the wall. "Stop," Butch spoke, though the damage was done.

His cousin just laughed, pushing over more, her volume increasing. She then went and got his uncle's old battling pokemon, releasing it from its pokeball. "Go, go," she encouraged it to misbehave as it was prone to do. The dodrio walked through the kitchen, knocking things over before the bird-like pokemon's three heads started to pick through the trash at once, throwing things everywhere.

"No, no, no," Butch repeated. In just a few seconds, a few hours of work was undone. No, things were even worse than before. Even if he managed to return the pokemon and stop it from its current actions, nothing could be done to fix the state of the place before the people he'd been trying to please came home.

"Mom, Dad!" his cousin shouted from the other room. "Come look. Look at what he's doing!"

"No!" Butch screeched this time. Falling to his knees, he screamed and repeated it over and over again. Was he going to be blamed for all of this? He couldn't prove he wasn't responsible. This was the opposite of useful. This scene could prove him to be absolutely worthless. Despite knowing that the sight of a screaming child could only make things worse, Butch couldn't stop shouting, breaking down at the thought of how angry they'd be.

Instead, his aunt and uncle had been concerned. "What's going on? It's not like him," his aunt had said.

"Are you okay?" his uncle had even leaned down to try and console him.

Of course, Butch was physically fine. Would they throw him out after discovering that he was just a badly behaved child throwing a fit? They'd certainly be annoyed to find him completely uninjured and capable of picking himself up and cleaning the damn mess. He ought to stop and do so, showing them he was really as good as they'd thought he was before. Even so, he couldn't stop panicking at the thought that this couldn't be fixed, and everything that might happen to him after they threw him away.

Except it turned out he really couldn't move.

How useless would they find him now?

Hearing Cassidy's voice, Butch realized he was long past that scene. He'd managed to grow to be an adult, and didn't need to count on them anymore. Was he back home visiting? In that case, Cassidy probably wanted to spend some time with her baby by staying there, and why shouldn't she? She was a loving mother, valuing her child. The baby itself could be difficult at times, but was a joy overall. Butch hoped he was useful to her, taking on some of the all consuming tasks of child rearing so she didn't get too worn out as she tried to give everything she had left to this kid. Even so, she probably was calling out to him because wanted the baby back right then.

But Butch wasn't holding it like he'd thought.

What happened to the baby?

Wait, the kid wasn't exactly a baby anymore, but a walking, talking little boy. Cassidy was upset because he was missing when they'd shown up to visit while everyone else had been celebrating stealing all of those pokemon. Whatever assholes he was staying with now tried to blame the boy for his own absence, saying he often trailed behind everyone else when walking home. Any anger toward them could wait, finding where the kid had ended up was what was more important.

Even wanting to get moving right away, Butch couldn't move. He had to. Who knew what had happened to that boy. Someone needed to be searching. Why couldn't he make himself useful by standing up and doing so? Cassidy called out to him in distress, but he just couldn't stand up.

Wait, wait, there was another reason she was upset. Of course, they'd already been going around his path home to find him, but then stopped by Viridian Gym to call and demand their co-workers come and help them. Help had been refused since everyone just wanted to celebrate their so-called success. Cassidy had just calmed down from her upset and was ready to go out and search again when the phone rang, the message informing them the kid was right in the same building as them. Entering the communication room, they'd seen the sight of the crying and bleeding young boy, an absolute piece of shit of a human seeming to get ready to hurt the child again.

The only response to the sight of the defenseless, distraught boy Butch had watched grow being hurt like this was to attack the guilty party. There should be no hesitance in doing so, not even the poor excuse for a weapon the dumbass was still holding. Butch was more than prepared to punish the person responsible, and get the kid out of danger.

Except he couldn't move at all.

Cassidy still called out to him. What was wrong with him? He couldn't freeze up, not when that kid needed help. Was he still there? What would happen to the poor kid if Butch couldn't protect as necessary? He had to. He had to stand up and go. The kid needed help, an actually useful adult to get on his feet and do something.

Despite always being able to keep going, it seemed that was impossible at that point.

"Go, just go. Forget me, find Jonathan," Butch goaded, very obviously confused.

"He's fine," Cassidy assured, having trouble keeping a straight face next to her critically injured partner. She could hardly hide her own dismay at the sight of his wounds as he spoke. Butch kept telling her to keep looking for her son, even though it had been a different kid he'd just been trying to protect. Cassidy had also been alarmed by how close the angry child had come to the battling pokemon in the middle of the loud battle. The brat had wanted to berate Team Rocket while the champion fought, and run out to do so. The dumb kid was also completely fine now, but Butch didn't even remember that had been his goal in stupidly recalling his pokemon in the middle of a fight, or even that there had been a battle at all. He didn't even recall where they were, mixing up places and days before she finally brought him back to the present. After seeming to realize the truth of his state, he started saying some nonsense about karma. In her frustration and upset, Cassidy eventually just shouted at her partner to shut up.

The officer that they had come to intimidate had ended up being the one to help them, calling for medical attention. Despite the fact they were there to cause trouble, she made sure that medical staff arrived, taking the injured Team Rocket agent to the hospital. He died along the way.

End notes: I waited until this chapter to note my specific influence from The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga. I have critique of Ono's adaptation that I won't get into here, but there were parts I liked as well. Ritchie I think was a highlight. I really do have to note that Ritchie's story here is particularly influenced by that manga rather than the anime, specifically; his overall insecurity despite his competence, battling Gary in the league, and a disastrous Charizard vs. Charizard battle.

Next chapter: Ash vs. The Pokemon League