A/N: I am so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so Sorry it took so long. I wanted to get Battle Frontier and a bit of Sinnoh written first before I really started posting and then I got writers block for my Pokemon work and the Harry Potter plot bunnies have been breeding as have every other genre!

So, that didn't happen. Because it's been so long, I decided to go on and post Chapter 2.

Now, I just HAVE to ask this random question: as I was going through the Sinnoh episodes to get started on the Sinnoh part, I realized something. In the Episode where Dawn catches Buizel, did ANYONE else notice that Ash was being EXTREMELY protective of his Misty lure?

Chapter 2: Fight Against One's Own

(Please read A/N at end of Chapter)

Two months later,

Brock and Andy were exhausted by the time they got to Viridian. Mainly due to the fact they had to LITERALLY drag Mary, Marie, and Misty away from Emily and Elizabeth and Mark away from Oak's lab. Of course, the fact that Ash and Aaron weren't really fighting their girlfriends for the past two months wasn't really helping.

Brock ended up getting them back on the road by mentioning that Scott's waiting for them and the sooner they hit the road, the sooner they can get back to Pallet Town. That kicked the spark back into the older Ketchum twins (A/N: I recently realized I had been spelling 'Ketchum' wrong in my original stories).

With Ash and Aaron's help, they managed to get the females away from the babies (though the female Ketchum twins waving 'bye-bye' WASN'T helping).

"Okay" Andy said at the Pokemon Center while Ash and Aaron were reminding Misty and Marie of some of the perks of being away from parents and Mary was calling her parents. "What's the route?"

"Well," Brock said. "Scott told me that there are seven facilities. Six of them are known and once Ash and Aaron get the sixth symbol, we'll learn the location of the last"

"Sounds good. Where did he recommend first?" Mark asked

Brock pulled out a map and pointed to just outside Cerulean City.

"The Battle Factory" Brock said. "So I figured we can cut through Mt. Moon again. This time making SURE we're tied together or something"

"Right" Andy agreed recalling his last adventure at the mountain

"What happened?" Mark asked

"We got separated." Brock explained. "Andy and I in one group, Marie and Misty in another, and then Ash and Aaron were separated as well. Aaron ended up catching a Clefairy and Ash caught a rather annoying Jigglypuff."

"The one with the microphone?" Mark asked recalling seeing the Pokemon at the lab.

"That's the one" Andy said recalling his first encounter with the Pokemon

Flashback

"So, your Jigglypuff thinks it's a superstar?" Andy asked after the re-battle against Sabrina.

"Yep" Ash confirmed as he released it.

"Hi Jigglypuff!" Misty greeted the Pokemon she had once planned to capture, before the whole drawing-on-the-face thing

"Jiggly" (Hi).

"It's so CUTE!" Marie squealed

"Hey Ash?" Aaron called. "Can I have a word in private?"

"Sure. Jigglypuff. Stay with the group"

"Puff" (Sure) Jigglypuff said

Ash left the Pokemon Center with Aaron to discuss their plan for once they get done reading the diary of Sir Aaron (A/R (Author's reminder as it's been…four-five-six years): Aaron's namesake and the owner of the Lucario that Aaron's Lucario, thanks to its connection with Mew and the Tree of Life, was a reincarnate of despite it thinking that Sir Aaron's Lucario is its parent)

"Jigglypuff?" (wanna hear me sing?) Jigglypuff asked innocently

"Sure" Andy said before Misty and Brock could react

"I've always wanted to hear a Jigglypuff's song"

"Wait!" Misty started

"Ji-ga-ly-i-puufff, Ji-ga-lyyyy-i-i-puufff, Ji-ga-ly-i-puufff, Ji-ga-lyyyy-i-i-puufff, Ji-ga-ly-puff, Ji-ga-ly-puff, Ji-ga-ly-puff, Jiga-lyyyyyyy, Ji-ga-ly-pu…"

Andy felt his eyelids grow heavy and he fell asleep.

When he woke up, Aaron was shaking him awake trying so hard not to laugh while Ash was apologizing left and right to all the other trainers and Nurse Joy

"What happened?" Andy asked

Aaron only pointed to a mirror not trusting himself to speak. Andy got up and looked around. EVERYONE, except Ash and Aaron, had their faces drawn on. Andy ran over to the mirror and saw a ticktacktoe board on his face.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO MY FACE!" Andy screamed

"Sorry Andy" Ash apologized. "When people fall asleep during Jigglypuff's song, it draws on them as 'punishment'"

End Flashback

"I'm always scared I'll wake up with marker on my face now" Andy admitted

"Only if Jigglypuff sings" Ash said as he and his brother and their girlfriends came to join the group

"So, are we ready to head North and not South?" Brock teased the girls

"Yeah" the girls admitted

"How'd you manage to talk them into it?" the clueless Mark asked

The two twins and their girlfriends all simultaneously blushed.

"There was no talking involved, was there?" Andy asked

"Yes there was" Ash defended

"We told them that with Mom around we couldn't do this…and then we demonstrated and…that's it" Aaron stated

"That was 30 minutes ago" Mark argued

"So?" Ash and Aaron chorused much to Brock and Andy's amusement

"Oh" Mark realized that there were two different matches of tonsil hockey going on during the past half-hour

"Okay guys" Mary said coming up to the gang. "Where to first?"

"Well, the first facility is just outside of Cerulean" Brock stated. "So, I figured we stop there, say Hi to Misty's Pokemon and sisters, and then hit the Battle Factory"

"Sounds great!" Ash and Aaron chorused

"For ONCE can you not do that?" Andy exclaimed

0000

A few days later,

While Misty, Marie, Mary and Mark were at the gym visiting with Misty's sisters, Brock and Andy went to go stock up on supplies and Ash and Aaron went on to the factory.

Little did the others know, Ash and Aaron were a bit confused as they had seen Articuno the night before.

"Hey guys" Scott greeted them from outside the facility.

"Hi Scott" they chorused

"Sorry it took so long" Aaron apologized.

Getting away from the family was harder than we thought" Ash said

"It's cool. HEY NOLAND!"

"Yeah Scott?" the Frontier Brain asked as he came out of the factory and stood in shock at the sight of the identical twins.

"Noland. These are Ash and Aaron Ketchum" Scott introduced. "Boys. This is Noland. He's the Frontier Brain for the Battle Factory"

"Pleased to meet you" Noland said tipping his hat a bit

"Same here" the Ketchum twins chorused

"So what are the rules?" Aaron asked eager to get his first Frontier symbol

"Easy" Noland told the boys. "We fight a one-on-one battle. If you win, you get the Knowledge symbol. If you loose…better luck next time"

"Sounds good." Ash said

"Oh. And one more detail" Noland said with a smile before whistling.

There was a bit of an Earthquake as a bunch of Pokemon came running.

"Whoa!" the twins chorused at the sight of the numerous Pokemon

"Are all these yours?" Aaron asked

"You bet" Noland confirmed as the four looked over the Venusaur, Golduck, Sandslash, Machamp, Rhyhorn, Rhydon, Pinsir, Breloom, Lairon, Camerupt, Manectric, and the Trapinch. "And you two get to choose which you battle"

"Really?" the twins chorused

"Wow" Aaron said as this was a first. He was so stunned that he, and Ash, already had a bit of an upperhand. Of course, years of traveling had taught him not to go into things lightly. ESPECIALLY after hearing about all of his brother's near death experiences, not to mention his own. Noland's Pokemon were no doubt well trained and would do well against Pokemon they were typically weak against.

"PIKA!" (Aaron)

"PIKAPI!" (Ash)

The humans turned to the Pikachus who were pointing inside

"What is it?" Noland asked as he opened the door

"You fly?" Aaron asked seeing the plane in the factory.

"Yeah" Noland confirmed "I also build machines"

"So…you MADE this?" Ash asked

"That's right" Noland stated

Suddenly, there was a chill in the air

"Funny" Aaron said shivering a bit. "This place doesn't appear to be air-conditioned"

A familiar cry then filled the room and a Pokemon flew over to the humans

"ARTICUNO?" the twins gapped

Aaron then turned over to Ash who was digging through his backpack pretending to be looking for his pokedex, but was instead checking on his Legend balls.

"You just couldn't stay hidden, could you?" Noland joked with the Articuno

"HOW did you catch Articuno?" Aaron asked amazed, though pretending to be amazed that the guy had a legendary, though he was really amazed that Noland CAUGHT a pokemon that technically belonged to his brother

"I didn't catch him" Noland explained. "Articuno and I are friends"

"Whew" the Ketchum boys sighed quietly.

Suddenly, Aaron got an idea.

The group, including Articuno, went back outside

"So…do you two need time to think?" Noland asked

"Yeah" Ash said

"No" Aaron said as he turned to Noland and Articuno.

"You know what you want ALREADY?" Noland asked amazed

Ash smiled having a feeling he knew what Aaron was going to choose.

"I want a go at THAT" Aaron said pointing to the Pokemon he wanted to battle.

After all, he and Ash weren't allowed to use their Legendaries for title matches and this could be the ONE opportunity he had to battle against an Articuno.

Noland and Articuno exchanged a glance. Articuno then looked at the Ketchum twins as if to size up Aaron, though it was really asking Ash if it was okay he followed Noland's commands against the second-in-command Master.

Ash slightly nodded interested in seeing what his brother had planned.

Articuno turned to Noland and gave it an affirmative answer

"This battle WILL count right?" Ash asked Scott.

"Sure" Scott said.

"Alright then." Noland said. "And what about you Ash? You wanna go at Articuno after your brother?"

Ash looked at the Legendary that was rightfully his. He had to admit the chance to battle against a legendary was EXTREMELY rare as he couldn't battle with them against Aaron due to Brock, Misty, Andy, Marie, Mary, and Mark.

"Sure" Ash said after getting an 'It's okay' from Articuno

0000

(A/N: You know me. I don't do battle scenes well)

After a close battle between Static and Articuno, Aaron won the Knowledge symbol. The twins decided to spend the night at the Pokemon Center near the facility.

"Hey Aaron." Marie said on the vid-phone. "So how'd it go?"

"Check it out" Aaron told her as he showed off his symbol. "Ash is going to battle tomorrow so he can battle the same Pokemon I was up against"

"And that would be…"

"Telling" Aaron teased

"AARON!"

"I've got to go Marie. Ash wants me to train with him a bit." Aaron quickly said. "LoveyouBye"

"Aar" CLICK

"Too close for comfort?" Ash asked his twin

"Just a bit" Aaron said "Nervous?"

"More psyched than anything else" Ash stated

"Know what you're going to use?"

"You bet" Ash said pulling out a pokeball.

The next morning,

Ash and Aaron had made the mistake of accepting Scott's offer to drive them from the center to the Factory. By the time they got to the facility, they felt as if they had just gotten off a pretty wild roller coaster.

"You two okay?" a concerned Noland asked the two trainers and the two Pikachus

"Just swell" Aaron said shaking a bit.

0000

That evening,

Marie and Misty were about ready to kill their boyfriends as they waited by the Cerulean Pokemon Center. Mary was registered to participate in the Kanto contests and was ready to go to Saffron

But they couldn't without Ash and Aaron.

Just then, the sound of screeching wheels came and a jeep drove up and stopped just in front of the center on a dime.

"Hi guys" Scott greeted the six travelers as Ash and Aaron fell out of the car looking relieved to be back on solid land.

"What happened to you guys?" Mark asked

"Pika" (Him) the two Pikachus stated as they pointed to the jeep and the driver

TBC

A/N: There is a poll in my profile about this story. Please take it. You have until April 8th, 2011