Better Late Than Never
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon. Nintendo does. Don't sue me!
This story is rated T for teen. It will include cursing, sexual themes, innuendo, violence, and other such tomfoolery. Viewer discretion is advised. Unless you don't want it to be. Then in that case never mind.
(A/N: This starts off prior to Ash ever going to Hoenn, to be exact, at the start of his fight against Gary. Expect a bit of difference in characters, as well as slightly modified ages. Take note that Ash will not be heading for Hoenn until he is 16, assuming he is 12 by the end of Johto. Therefore, May will not be leaving for her journey until she is 14. Many interactions throughout the story will be significantly different than the ones that took place in the anime, however, since this is essentially a remake of AG, it will still follow the story arc, only scrapping the movies [save for Lucario and the Mystery of Mew] and adding new episodes that will grant Ash new Pokémon. Most of my A/Ns won't be this long, but this is merely a notice.)
Prologue: The Fight of a Lifetime
As much as she hated Pokémon, she loved to watch them battle.
"The second battle in this round will be between two trainers of the same age and from the same hometown!"
May Maple, a 10-year-old student of the prestigious 'Rustboro School of Pokémon Trainers and Coordinators', loved watching all the Pokémon League Conferences and Grand Festivals, if only for the cute (in her opinion) guys she'd always see, the ones she had posters of all across her bedroom walls. Winston Prycen, Ice Monotype Trainer from Unova, Nando Valkerhei, Star Coordinator in Sinnoh, Jim Caesar, Aggron Specialist from Hoenn, and the two battlers today, Gary Oak, and Ash Ketchum (whom she thought was the best of them all), both semi-experienced trainers from Kanto.
"Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town," the announcer exclaimed excitably, whilst also zooming in on the 12-year-old trainer's face.
Noticing the look on his daughter's face, Norman Maple decided to butt in, "You do realize that you'd likely never meet him…" He didn't like to disappoint his daughter, but she was going a bit far with this. One second she hates Pokémon and never will ever use them, the next she is drooling over pictures from the latest Conference, the headshots of the teenage trainers to be precise.
May sighed wistfully in response. She looked at her father, saying, "I know daddy, it's just that…"
After a long pause, likely to help many fan girls of Ash have sufficient drooling time before they would have to suck up their drool and put on their smug faces when the next person came up. "And Gary Oak," once again zooming on his face, "also from Pallet Town!"
Norman was honestly not watching to drool over people, instead to watch the martial prowess of the Pokémon sent out to battle. He didn't choose who he thought was going to win over who had the biggest muscles, he used statistics. "You know, May, Gary is the favoured competitor in this match. But who knows, maybe Ash will be able to scrape a win out of this match."
"Yeah, whatever Dad, I still think that Ash will win!"
The battle was intense, to say the least. Their choices were good, but Gary seemed to constantly be gaining the upper hand over Ash. All of Ash's Pokémon seemed to have a good counter on Gary's side, but the reverse did not seem to be true. Norman merely smiled at that. If she was going to be voting for the guy with a terrible disadvantage, he already told her she'd be disappointed…
After a lot of battling, they ended up with a 1v1 – Ash's Charizard, and Gary's Blastoise.
"Well, May, I must say, Ash has honestly impressed me this match. But, he still has a major type disadvantage here, and considering how good Gary is… it could be messy." Norman stated, not looking at his daughter in fear of missing the devastating defeat of Ash.
Caroline had joined them halfway through, after having put Max to bed. It was 8:00 when it started, after all, so it was only natural for a 4-year-old to go to sleep early. She also admittedly thought that Gary was going to win, but wasn't so disapproving of May's obsession with famous trainers. Looking at her daughter, she said, "You know, dear, maybe sometime we could take you to one of these competitions, and you could see all these trainers in person!"
"Really?" May's face lit up like a chandelier upon hearing that. With a massive grin forming across her face, she responded, "That'd be amazing!"
Norman shook his head, and quickly added, "It's starting, you know. Now to see who is a better trainer…"
The announcer's voice finally came in, "After that short break, we are finally on to the final match – Charizard versus Blastoise!"
The two Kanto Starters glared viciously at each other, waiting for the other to make a move.
"Charizard! Use flamethrower!" Charizard complied with the order with a massive burst of flame.
Gary smirked, quickly responding, "Blastoise, counter with rapid spin!"
The rapid speed at which Blastoise was rotated caused the flames to disperse prior to impact, resulting in no damage. Gary smiled at this, then quickly added, "Now, Blastoise, hit him with a Hydro Pump!"
Halting the spin, Blastoise quickly retargeted Charizard with both of his cannons, and let loose a barrage that would send most Tsunamis into a shameful crying fit in the corner. Hitting dead center on Charizard, it looked like it hurt big time.
As if the pain wasn't obvious enough, the announcer quickly added, "Well, looks like Charizard is getting torn up by the vicious cannons! What will Ash do to get out of this?"
May's face was in panic; Norman's was in happiness. This was already looking bad for Charizard – if he got hit by even one more, he might end up going down. Caroline was silently critiquing the looks of the techniques in her head, even though it was not a battle, not a contest. Some would say it was just natural for her.
"Fly, Charizard!"
Opening his eyes, Charizard opened his wings, and set off for the air, where it'd be harder to be targeted. Dodging plenty of weaker Water Guns meant to throw him off balance, Charizard finally reached a level at which only Hydro Pump would be able to hit him, but it'd still be terribly inaccurate.
Unfortunately, so was Charizard's Flamethrower.
Neither side was gaining any upper hand with the wildly inaccurate attacks, both missing more than an untrained boy misses a urinal from 10 metres away.
"It appears that these two trainers are locked in what seems to be a stalemate! When will Ash's Charizard come down to fight Blastoise? When will Blastoise hit? Who knows?" the announcer quickly stated, despite how painfully obvious his observation was.
Ash's brow was furrowed – eventually Charizard would be out of energy, and fall to the ground. He looked around the battlefield; maybe Charizard could throw a rock at Blastoise or something…
There! Ash found a significantly large rock, and was about to order Charizard to go down and pick it up, when a Flamethrower engulfed the rock in fire. Ash was slightly surprised to see the rock melting.
Gary was in a similar state of distress, but only because he was hungry. He had Ash in a checkmate waiting to happen, he just needed to wait for Ash to make his bad move, and sweep in. This would be perfectly easy for him, as evidenced by the cock-sure look on his face. He decided to add in his two-cents, "So, Ashy-boy, what're you going to do now? Tell Charizard that he should go and do an acrobatic freakin' pirouette or something?"
Ash finally got an idea, having seen the rock melt under Charizard's Flamethrower, and as such, a nasty smirk on his face. "Charizard! Use your Flamethrower on the ground, but don't try to target Blastoise!"
Gary was, needless to say, confused. 'And I thought Misty was only teasing him when she said he was a dumb as a Rhyhorn,' he thought, after all, it wasn't like he could do anything by attacking the ground…
That thought was thrown out the window about a minute after the start of the immolation of the ground. The ground was no longer a safe haven for Blastoise. The floor was lava.
The announcer didn't even have any obvious or snarky comment to add, he was so confused.
"Blastoise, cool down the ground with your Hydro Pump!" Gary yelled, hoping that Blastoise was not panicking too much to pay attention. Luckily for Gary, he was listening.
Although the result of the Hydro Pumps did cool down the field to reasonable temperatures, it left a massive layer of steam. Nobody seemed to notice Charizard's swift entry into the massive blanket cast over the battlefield.
The steam finally cleared… to show Charizard and Blastoise locked in close combat, punching, kicking, head butting, blocking, everything that they could do to hurt the opponent. Charizard was the obviously better combatant, as he was unleashing a majority of the offensive attacks.
Gary was about to order Blastoise to use his most powerful attack, when he suddenly realized; Blastoise was too close to aim with his cannons! He'd miss! Shaking his head, Gary finally got an idea. "Blastoise, Skull Bash Charizard to get range, then use dual corkscrew Hydro Cannons!"
Blastoise, nodding at the order, followed through perfectly, and started to shoot two powerful streams of water in a corkscrew fashion, both heading clockwise to ensure that Charizard would be hit.
Ash only had two choices – tell Charizard to fly up, and leave him open to another barrage of Water Guns, or do a risky manoeuvre. He opted for the latter.
"Charizard, if he's going to corkscrew, follow the corkscrew, and fly directly towards Blastoise!"
Norman was shocked. "Is he… really trying that? It's common knowledge that doing that is nearly impossible. It's so close to the ground that one slight error and Charizard will be out cold…"
Hesitating for a moment, but then nodding in approval, Charizard flew valiantly through the powerful barrage, corkscrewing through the entire water streams. Not even he could believe he was doing it, but he knew that Ash was sure he could do it.
Most people were, at the very least, impressed. After all, such a risky manoeuvre was certainly not expected to be ordered, never mind completed. Even Gary's jaw slackened a bit in the sheer awe of the moment.
After finally reaching within a few metres of Blastoise's position, Ash called out, "Charizard, lift Blastoise into the air!"
Complying with his order, Charizard gripped the sides of Blastoise's shell, and took to the skies, a very surprised turtle now being completely immobilized.
"Blastoise, bite his shoulder!"
Despite the sharp mouth of Blastoise hurting Charizard, it was nothing serious, and so Charizard listened for a next order.
"Charizard! Seismic Toss with everything you've got!"
Nodding in silent recognition, Charizard roared ferociously into the air, startling at least a few hundred viewers, and started flying around in controlled circles, steadily increasing his speed until it was sufficient. Wrapping his wings around his foe, Charizard dived towards the ground with reckless abandon, ditching the poor turtle just before impact.
Smoke was everywhere. When it finally cleared, all that could be seen was a massive crater, with two large beasts on either side of it. One of them, Charizard, was standing tall and proud, his head high in the air in the knowledge that he was the likely victor. The other, Blastoise, was trying desperately to get up, but no matter how much luck Gary had prior, it all seemed to wash away with that combination.
Most of the audience were left slack-jawed, unable to comprehend the quick and vicious action taken against the Shellfish Pokémon from the Flame Pokémon. Ash was smirking at Gary, who had a look of desperate panic on his face. Gary seemed to be mouthing, 'Get up, please get up…'
Hell, Misty and Brock were both just staring blankly, amazed by the performance Ash pulled off. Not even the announcer had anything particularly 'enlightening' to say.
Ash decided to break the silence. Deciding to mimic his rival's condescending tone of voice, and joke about the nickname that he often gave Ash, he inquired, "What's the matter, Gary-boy?".
Gary's brow furrowed, but instead of getting angry as hell, he just sighed. Ash deserved to say that. Lightly shaking his head, Gary knew something that most others would oftentimes say otherwise about – Ash had a hell of a lot of potential. 'Even if he doesn't win this tournament, he's still got a lot more talent than anyone else,' Gary thought to himself, 'I can't hold it against him, it's not his fault that he's got a lot of natural talent.'
After a lot of struggling, Blastoise's arms finally gave out from beneath him, leaving him sprawled across the battlefield.
"Blastoise is out! Ash and his Charizard are the winners of this match!"
Charizard looked back at his master, smirked, and blasted a heated breath of fire into the air in happiness. He had proven his worth, for sure. All he had to do now was finish off the rest of the fools in this tournament and then… uh… create lots of little Charmanders with Charla.
Ash smiled back at Charizard, his hands over his ears to block out the loud, obnoxious clapping. He finally yelled, "Charizard! You did great!" The whole audience kind of overwhelmed the poor trainer, who was truly considering what he'd do next. Aside from beating Harrison, of course. But with the skills he was planning on training into Charizard, he was sure he'd be fine with whatever he did.
May had the smuggest face a ten-year-old could possibly have on. She just beat her own Dad at a bet. Still proud of herself, she asked, "So, dad, Gary did great, didn't he?"
Norman was flabbergasted, and relatively shocked at the outcome of the battle. Sighing in defeat, he responded, "He did… great. But Ash really pulled through with that Charizard of his. He… I don't know how he did it. Most Charizard are just not that powerful to do that…"
Caroline snickered, "Look, May, you really should go to bed. I know it's the weekend and all, and that your father," she gave Norman a quick glare, "is often more than happy to let you stay up as late as you want, but if you don't get any rest you'll have no time to watch your father challenge his opponents!"
May leaped up, ran up the staircase, and rushed to the bathroom to get ready for bed.
Norman, shaking his head, said, "I'm still surprised it works so well. If only she was interested in actually battling…"
Looking over towards the staircase, Caroline couldn't help but point out, "You know, we still need to ask her if she'll be going on a journey this year."
"Yeah, I mean, she is ten after all."
"You're saying that like all people start at ten. I didn't."
Sighing, Norman decided that it'd be a lot better to go with the flow rather than fight with his wife, "Yeah… I'm sorry for making it sound like that."
May ran back down stairs in her pyjamas, quickly adding, "Mom, Dad, good night!" before she took off towards the stairs.
"May, wait!"
Stopping right at the banister, she inquired, "What is it, Dad?"
"Well, you know, this reminded me of something…"
May's face went pale. It was this talk again.
Caroline quickly added, "Yeah, your father wanted to ask you something very important."
"W-what is it, Dad?"
Norman just looked at her, and asked, "May, with Pokémon on my mind right now, it reminded me of something I needed to ask you."
Still nervous, May nodded, "And that is…"
"Since you are ten, after all, I want to know when you plan on going off on your journey, conquer all the badges, probably even becoming a great trainer!"
May looked at her feet, quietly responding, "Dad, I don't want to go yet."
Caroline decided to butt in, "Although I am not as anxious to see you on your journey, I do agree with your father, you should probably tell us when you plan on going, if at all."
"I'll go… in a few years."
Norman grinned, "Any exact age?"
"Fourteen."
And with that, May went up the staircase and into her bedroom.
"Norman, whenever you have that grin on, I know something fishy is going on. What is it this time, dear?"
"Max'll be eight around that time, won't he?"
Caroline merely nodded.
"If he stays as interested in Pokémon as he is now, we could probably let him out on a journey early, albeit without his own Pokémon…"
"That's a terr-" Caroline paused; she thought about it a bit. A smirk growing across her face too, she continued, "Sorry, I meant to say that's a great idea."
"It'll be good for the both of them."
"I hope…"
Ash cruised through the rest of his foes. Harrison was an absolute push-over once Charizard came out. Blaziken didn't stand a chance. As tough as it was, the type advantage alone was enough to overwhelm it, never mind a very proud and very confident Flame Pokémon behind the power.
His next opponent obviously got lucky over the prior draws – he was a 'monotype' Flying-type user. Pikachu was the only one used in the battle. Fearow, one-hit-knock-out with Thunderbolt; Gyarados, missed with Hyper Beam, knocked out in a single Thundershock; Skarmory, attempted to get a hit on Pikachu by using Fly, got hit by Thunder; Aerodactyl, quickly dispatched with a Thunderbolt; Pidgeot, same fate as Fearow and Aerodactyl; and Gliscor, who managed to hurt Pikachu a fair bit, only to fall into a precarious trap set up earlier on, involving a massive amount of water, a lot of electricity, and a bit of ingenuity. Ash refused to comment on how it worked.
His final match was against a person who specifically requested a one on one. Although league rules were normally against it, the man only had two Pokémon, so it wasn't like he'd be able to battle otherwise. It was also a quick match. The man, Loren Creed, was apparently expecting Ash to use Pikachu, as he sent out a Grass/Fighting-type, a Breloom. He didn't expect a Fire/Flying-type to come out. The battle ended in the blink of an eye. Poor guy barely had a chance.
On his way back to his hotel, Ash was bombarded with questions about how he won so much considering that he only got Top 16 in Kanto, how Charizard got so powerful, if he was single, if he'd take their virginity, if he could help them train, all sorts of silly tomfoolery. Ash made haste, he didn't like the crowd. He hated crowds so very much.
Finally back at his hotel, Misty and Brock walked in.
"You did amazing, Ash!" Misty said whilst hugging him. It was a little too long for his own comfort, but the thought-to-be dense Ash was fully aware of her childish crush on him. His only solace and safety from her rage was the fact that she wouldn't ever ask him out, since she would be sure that he'd only disappoint, after all, he was, at least in their eyes, the densest life form on the planet.
Brock patted his friend on the back, and asked him, "So Ash, what're you planning on doing next?"
Misty, despite not being asked, decided to answer it as though it was directed towards her, "I've got to go back to my gym, I've heard that my damn sisters are going off on some stupid trip again."
Still in deep thought, Ash finally responded, "Well, I think I'm going to take on the League again in Kanto, and maybe be a Champ for a few years."
Brock didn't get it. Didn't Ash like adventure?
"Admittedly, it's mainly so that I can really think about what I plan on doing later on, and also so that I can train my Pokémon a lot better."
Misty also seemed confused. "Heh. Ash and going on an adventure not in the same sentence for once. Imagine that! What, want to just wait on a mountain-top like some sort of hopeless loner for a majority of your life just to see a lot of busty girls one week per year?"
"Oh shut up Misty."
"No, Brock, you shut up!"
And so the two of them started bickering over nothing. Not that Ash was surprised or anything. At least he didn't need to bicker with them.
"How about this, you guys – both of you, shut up. Okay?"
Both staring over at Ash, they simply gave sheepish grins.
"Heheheh… sorry Ash."
"Yeah, me too."
The only thing that was more powerful than the attacks Charizard did that day was Ash's palm impacting his face from all the failure.
4 years later…
Looking over his Pokémon at Professor Oak's Ranch, Ash couldn't help but be proud of how far most of them had come along. But then again, he did too. Being a four-year Champion of Kanto did mean at least a bit. Misty was now dating Tracey Sketchit, and she was also an Elite Four member. Brock had just finished most of Medical School, although he needed to do a bit more qualifications and the like to graduate. Gary Oak was done with battling, but was more than glad to give Ash some practice.
More importantly, Ash had mastered something his rarely-talked-about father should've taught him. Aura, that is. Of course, he was glad that he had to experiment with it rather than get it taught to him. He wasn't as stable Aura-wise as most other users of Aura, but he was able to use his instability to create stronger attacks. He still didn't like talking about his father. It was a good way to get on Ash's bad side very fast.
Ash's tireless wanderlust finally decided to kick in again, and now he found himself wanting to travel again. Maybe it was Brock's incessant nagging about finding himself a girlfriend, maybe it was just him getting restless, maybe he was going insane.
He decided to head off to Hoenn. It met all the potential criteria that anyone could ask – the women there were typically very nice looking, the beaches were great, the Pokémon were strong, and most importantly, it had answers. Answers to his life. What he couldn't remember. Who he couldn't remember. He might've hated talking about his past, but he certainly couldn't help wanting to find more about it.
His mother had a double-take when he told her that. When Ash did in fact confirm it, she seemed very distressed. She prayed to Arceus that he wouldn't see his father. Not after all that had happened with him.
Currently, he was only a few minutes away from Hoenn. But of course, nothing ever goes to plan…
May was a great student. Depending who you asked, they'd give different reasons. Her teachers said she was very keen and focused. Her parents said that she was very hardworking. A few of her peers said she was very cooperative. Most of her male peers said she was smoking hot.
She had been given the mixed blessing of being naturally 'top-heavy'. She also was given the mixed blessing of an hourglass figure. Puberty started early for her, and it wasn't a surprise that the dwindling amount of older students often asked her out.
As the years went on past the age of ten, class sizes were drastically reduced, with most kids being sent off on journeys. May almost wished she was too, now. She hated all the harassment she got from all the boys. Always trying to get a feel in or two. She was very good at slapping.
She still went to the same school in Rustboro, taking the Petalburg/Rustboro Bullet Train both ways. She now also had to go with her brother, much to her dismay. She hated the little bugger.
Her room hadn't changed much. It was still red, with a red bed covered in little Torchics, and a few other pieces of furniture. Aside from the fact that there were new guys on the walls, most of her previous posters had stayed intact. Most were updated though. She still had a crush on a lot of the guys she watched on TV.
She had recently watched the Kanto Champion's quick and simple victory against a surly bastard named Paul Sommatt. He was a cocky one, and treated his Pokémon like crap. Ash S. Ketchum pulled through soundly, however, and likely bruised his already strained ego.
She was finally broken out of her trance by her mother calling her.
"Mom, I'll be down in a second!"
It was her big day today – she was finally going off on her journey. With a new bike given to her by her parents, a crappy one, sure, but they said that they were afraid that some little Pikachu or something would fry the bike. May quickly reminded them that Pikachu weren't wild in Hoenn, and that she knew that the two of them were cheap.
She was wearing some red sneakers with some red and black socks, tight black biking shorts with a white miniskirt above them, a yellow fanny pack above her rear, a tight zip-up red blouse, and a red bandana. She wasn't doing it to look nice – she was doing it to reduce air resistance so that she'd go faster. Her hair was parted in an upside-down 'V' formation, as always, and she was sure she was ready to go.
"May, do you have your PokéNav?"
Never mind about that. Frantically searching for her PokéNav, she found it right under her dresser. It always showed up in the weirdest places.
Rushing down the stairs, she quickly finished her plate of food, a few pounds of bacon and four pieces of toast, no butter. She then proceded to wash it down with some Chocolate Milk, imported from Johto. Her favourite breakfast. Giving a kiss to her mom and a hug to her dad, she leaped on to her new bike, and zoomed off. She wanted to avoid any lecture her parents would decide to give her.
Max was still only half-way through his breakfast. "Something about her only saying good bye to you two tells me she's avoiding me."
Why, of all things, did Pikachu have to be sick?
Why?
Cooing weakly as Ash pet its fur, it was sparking uncontrollably. If it weren't for the fact that Ash had been shocked enough to be relatively resistant to electricity, he'd probably have leaped about 50 metres into the air by now.
He already called Professor Birch on his PokéGear. Professor Rodney Birch said he'd be there by 11:30, just a few minutes before the ferry was supposed to dock. Ash only hoped he was on time.
"So, Pikachu, trust me, you'll be all better soon enough. I'm sure of it."
Pikachu, not seeming to be thoroughly convinced, nodded anyways. It was Ash, after all. He'd pull through.
Ash decided to call Brock in the meantime, to see if he could give a basic assessment of Pikachu's symptoms.
A few short, loud, annoying rings later, a darkly-tanned man with spiky hair and what seemed to be tightly closed eyes appeared on the small screen of the PokéGear.
"Hey Brock."
"Hi, Ash, how're you doing? Meet any sexy ladies yet?"
"Look, Brock, I'm not even in Hoenn so would you ple-"
"Oh, so you still have to wait a while, well then, I'll give you a bit of adv-"
Sighing, Ash interrupted, "Brock."
"Hmm?"
Shaking his head, Ash continued, "Now's not the time to talk about girls. Pikachu has fallen ill. I want to know if you could tell me what he's got."
Looking surprised, Brock moved a bunch of miscellaneous bullcrap out of the way and quickly looked in a massive book. "So, Ash, what symptoms does he have?"
"High fever, unable to control electric glands, not eating a lot."
Brock looked up at the ceiling in thought, and started scanning the 'Pikachu' section of his tome. Smirking, Brock put his finger on something on the page. "Ah-hah! Pikachu seems to be suffering from what is called 'Zapchu Disease'. Its cause is an overreaction in a Pichu, Pikachu, or Raichu's immune system due to excessive amounts of electricity being introduced into their bodies. Common after Pikachu evolving into Raichu. Potentially can cause extreme gas, sparking, fever, loss of appetite, and…" He went pale upon seeing the last word there. Gulping, he finished, "And explosions."
Ash nearly crapped a golden-plated brick. "Wait what!"
"Yeah. I'm thinking the same thing. Who the hell writes this?"
"I bet it was some stupid literate Aggron."
"Ash, Aggrons don't write medical books."
Cracking his neck, Ash decided to end the call, they were almost docking. "Well, thanks anyways. See you Brock."
"See you Ash. And don't forget to wear a cond-" Ash hung up before he could finish that sentence.
"Brock, why must you always have sex on your mind." He shook his head and snickered a bit. "Well, Pikachu, let's go and get you all fixed up. And with that, they started to head off of the ship.
(A/N: This is officially the longest chapter I've ever written. Scratch that. The longest anything I've ever written. I think. So many damn words. Anyways, I'm glad to finally get this all finished. Well, guys, read and review. Next chapter will be up soon-ish. Sooner than my Nuzlocke. Happy Holidays, everybody!)