Do I seriously have to go over this every chapter? I don't own them, damnit! Uh, anyway…
In case you were wondering why the rating went up (if you even noticed), I became aware that I cursed three times. So, yeah; that's pretty much it.
Oh, and also, I know that in the anime, Brock's parents sorta took over the Gym, but let's just pretend Brock decided to come back after Ash became a Pokémon Master, shall we?
GXGXGX
"I'll see you soon! Remember, you can always contact me from any Pokémon Center!" Professor Oak called as he waved goodbye to Ash and the new Pokémon trainers. "Good luck!"
"Thanks, Professor!" Jaden replied.
They walked a little ways in silence, until Adrian broke it. "So, Ash, where's the first Pokémon Gym?"
"Well, there's eight Gyms," Ash started. "The first is the Pewter Gym, led by my friend, Brock. We might meet up with him before we get to Pewter City, but it only counts as an official Gym battle if you actually battle at the Gym."
"What's after that one?"
"…Cerulean City. You'd normally have to battle my other friend, Misty, but…" Ash looked at the ground. "…that's too dangerous. You'll have battle one of her older sisters, Daisy, Lilly, or Violet." Ash bit lip.
Everyone understood this sign: Misty got roped into Team Light. Well, almost everyone: "Wait, why—"
Aster elbowed Jaden in the ribs. "Why do you think?" he hissed.
Ash attempted to ignore them. "Um, now, we need to prepare you for your battle with Brock. He uses Rock/Ground-type Pokémon and only uses two Pokémon when he battles in a Gym: Geodude and Onix. Tell me what your Pokémon are, and I'll tell you how strong you need to make them or if you need to catch any more. Syrus, you first."
"Piplup and Togepi," Syrus answered.
Ash winced slightly at the familiar Pokémon, but no one noticed. "Piplup will give you a major boost when you battle Brock, but Togepi isn't the best Pokémon to use against him. You'll need to make your Togepi a bit stronger than your Piplup. If you don't do anything, you might make it past Brock, if you make Togepi a lot stronger and your Piplup only a little stronger, you will beat him, but may crash and burn later on. Your best bet is to make them both stronger and catch another Pokémon—"
"Wait! Ash!" Syrus protested. "I'm not gonna battle Gym Leaders, I'm gonna be a coordinator!"
"Oh." Ash blinked. "Who else is gonna be a coordinator?"
"I am," Atticus replied. "But that's it."
"I see." Ash laughed. "I'm not the best person to help you with that, but my friend Dawn will be here soon; she'll help you out. So you can just disregard the information I gave you, Syrus. Or you can listen; it might make you a better coordinator, who knows? So…how about…Chazz? What Pokémon do you have?"
"Misdreavus and Ghastly," Chazz answered callously and crossed his arms.
"Great! Those are completely immune to his Ground attacks because of their special ability! If it weren't for his Rock moves, he wouldn't be able to touch you! As it is, however, if he uses a Rock move and you don't prepare, you're dead. Other than that, you can't do major battle damage, but you don't suck against him. You're sorta…neutral. I'd suggest training both your Pokémon a lot more, but catching a Fighting, Grass, Ground, Ice, Steel, or Water Pokémon will increase your chances by a lot. Jaden? What about you?"
"Chimchar and Munchlax!" Jaden cheered.
"Hmm…Fire type? Not your best bet. Normal type? Even worse. Train them a lot and catch one of those Pokémon I told Chazz; maybe catch two. Focus on Grass and Water. Now let's hear…Jesse's."
"Eevee and Meowth," Jesse answered.
"Same advice as Jaden. Those are both Normal, and don't do too well against Rock or Ground. Jim?"
"Cubone and Geodude," Jim responded.
"Good, good. Cubone will do well, but Geodude will only do well with Ground attacks, but it's also susceptible to Ground attacks. I recommend—"
"Training some more and catching a Pokémon fitting the same requirements you told Chazz?" Jim guessed.
"Uh, right." Ash seemed taken aback. "Adrian?"
"Swablu and Nincada," Adrian answered while laughing slightly at Jim.
"Same advice as Jaden and Jesse. Aster?"
"Riolu and Poochyena," Aster replied.
"Riolu, huh? That's a pretty rare Pokémon, even in the region it came from. But it'll do real well against Brock. As for Poochyena…it'll come in handy later on, but for now, it won't cause a lot of damage. If you make them both stronger, you shouldn't have to catch another Pokémon, but you can. And, finally, Axel. How about you?"
"Cyndaquil and Magby," Axel said.
"Same advice as Jaden, Jesse, and Adrian. Now that everyone has their advice, let's get to training. You make Pokémon stronger by battling other trainers, but only if you win. So, why don't you just battle amongst yourselves? If you can't seem to win, look for wild Pokémon. Use your Pokédex to see what type they are, and if you don't need them, just battle them for practice. Alright? Go!"
GXGXGX
About three hours later, everyone had made their Pokémon considerably stronger and had beaten at least one of their friends. Then they had separated to find wild Pokémon.
After a few moments of searching, Aster came upon a small Pokémon that looked like an acorn with eyes. He quickly reached for his Pokédex, opened it, and scanned the strange Pokémon:
"Seedot: the Acorn Pokémon. It evolves into Nuzleaf, then Shiftry. If it remains still, it becomes impossible to distinguish from real nuts. It delights in surprising foraging Pidgey."
"Let's see…" Aster murmured. "Yes! A Grass Pokémon! And it says that this one happens to be close to evolution! Even better!" Aster pulled put a Pokéball. "Go, Poochyena! You haven't had a chance to help me catch a new Pokémon, have you? Let's fix that."
GXGXGX
Another five minutes later, Aster had come back with his Seedot and challenged Jaden to a battle. Halfway through, everyone became shocked when Seedot began glowing white. However, Ash explained to them that it was merely evolving into a Nuzleaf. They continued the battle and Aster, having the advantage of an extra Pokémon, won. Feeling that his Pokémon still weren't strong enough (he had just barely beaten Jaden), Aster ventured out into the woods to train some more.
"Nuzleaf, attack!" Aster cried as his Nuzleaf finished off an orange worm-like Pokémon (the Pokédex called it a "Wurmple").
"Hello, there." Aster wheeled around to see a girl behind him. She had orange hair, which was pulled in a ponytail on the side of her head. She was also wearing a light blue cloak, which covered the rest of her clothing.
"Um…can I help you?" Aster asked awkwardly.
"Yes, actually." The girl smiled sweetly. "I'm looking for someone to battle. I'm trying to make my Pokémon stronger and, while battling wild Pokémon helps, battling with a fellow trainer's Pokémon helps even more."
"Well, uh, I may not be the best person if you're looking for a challenge…I just started out this morning…" Aster backed away a little; this girl kind of creeped him out. It was something about her eyes…
"Oh, that's okay," the girl chirped happily. "I just started, too!"
"Uh…well…okay. Let's battle. Nuzleaf, you start out." Nuzleaf obeyed and hopped in between Aster and the girl.
"Go, Starmie!" the girl cried, barely moving her cloak as she released her Pokémon: a purple star with multiple points and jewel in the center. "Say, what was your name?"
"Aster. What yours?"
The girl ignored his question. "I must admit, Aster, you had me a bit confused. I took one look at you and your clothes and figured you were a friend. But then I saw your Nuzleaf. Those Pokémon are Grass and Dark. None of my friends use Dark-type Pokémon."
"Your…friends?" Aster was pretty confused, to say the least.
The girl nodded. "My friends. And since you aren't, I won't feel bad about this: Starmie, Ice Beam!"
"Nuzleaf, dodge!" It was too late; the Ice Beam attack slammed into Nuzleaf and pushed him straight into a tree.
"Misty!" Aster heard another girl's voice shriek. "Get out of here!"
"Oh, if it isn't little Dawn." Misty smirked. "Visiting from Sinnoh, are we?"
Aster saw a girl with raven hair, a white hat, pink skirt and boots, and a black shirt burst through the trees. "Call off the battle and get out of here! Or do you want me to challenge you myself?"
"Fine. But only if he wants to." Misty jabbed her thumb at Aster.
"Call it off!" Dawn yelled frantically at Aster.
"Huh? Why should I?" Aster raised eyebrow.
"Because…" Dawn grabbed onto Misty's cloak and ripped it off. "…that's why."
Aster's mouth dropped open—the girl he had been battling was dressed entirely in white. In fact, Aster remembered Ash and Professor Oak mentioning a "Misty" in the same context as Team Light a few times.
"You wanna call it off now?" Dawn asked pointedly. Aster merely nodded. Dawn grabbed his arm and stomped towards the others, calling over her shoulder: "Get out of here, Misty. Now."
GXGXGX
Aster and Dawn left the forest to find Ash battling with a boy with green hair, who was also dressed in white.
"Uh-oh…" Dawn murmured. "Ash! What do you think you're doing?!"
"Dawn!" Ash yelped, surprised. "When did you—"
"Roserade! SolarBeam!" the boy Ash was battling cried. His Pokémon, a small, plant-like, green Pokémon with a tuft of white on its head began to absorb energy for its attack.
"Pikachu, dodge and use Thunder!" Ash countered. Pikachu was successful, dodging the SolarBeam and striking Roserade down. Everyone watched with baited breath as Roserade struggled to get up. Finally, it collapsed. Ash, however, failed to notice that its trainer also collapsed, unconscious. "Alright! He won't mess with me again!"
"Of course he won't," Chazz pointed out. "He's on our side."
"But…" Ash looked confused. "He's part of Team Light…"
"Don't tell me you've never beaten any of these guys!" Atticus exclaimed incredulously.
"Well, I was kinda scared that I'd…you know…get brainwashed, too."
"You can't let that stop you!" Jaden cried. "You gotta take chances sometimes!"
"And now we have a new ally." Axel smiled grimly. "Um…who is he, by the way?"
"Oh!" Ash gasped and ran over to his defeated opponent, who was just waking up. "Drew! Are you…you?"
The green-haired boy—Drew—groaned. "Ash? Wha-What happened?"
Ash blinked. "You don't remember?!"
"Oh, yeah," Syrus piped up. "We forgot to mention, when they get un-brainwashed, they don't remember actually being brainwashed."
Ash rolled his eyes. "You could've mentioned that before! Anyway…" Ash turned to Dawn and Aster. "…Dawn. When did you get here?"
"Just a few minutes ago." Dawn gestured toward Aster. "My first action in Kanto was to save this guy from…Misty."
"Misty?" Ash repeated hoarsely.
"Wait, who's Misty?" Drew looked from Ash to Dawn. "Your girlfriend?"
Ash glared at him in response. "I think I liked the white-obsessed Drew better. At least he didn't make stupid comments."
"What was that?!"
"You heard me!"
"Guys!" Dawn yelled. "Stop it! Now's not the time!"
"You're right, Dawn." Ash sighed. "What did Misty do?"
"She challenged him. I got there just in time to get him to call it off; he didn't know who she was at first, plus she was wearing a light blue cloak to cover up those tacky white clothes," Dawn explained.
Ash rolled his eyes. Tacky white clothes…same old Dawn…
"I have a name, you know," Aster snapped at Dawn.
"And what would that be?"
"Aster. Aster Phoenix."
Dawn and Drew took one look at each other and collapsed from hysterical laughter.
Aster's face turned red. "It's not that funny!"
Ash laughed too, mostly at the look on Aster's face. "Yeah, it is. I would've laughed too, but I was too angry. Seriously, dude, your name is a flower."
GXGXGX
Finally! A girl showed up! Plus, Drew showed up! Wait a second…Drew…+ Ash…+ Aster…=…Uh-oh. Stay tuned for about 20 arguments per chapter, people!
Also, in case you haven't noticed, I'm paying more attention to Aster than most of the other characters; that's cause I like Aster the best, as proven by every single one of my other YGO GX stories. XD
And I know all these characters are supposed to be in Johto or Sinnoh right now, but…I'll explain it next chapter.