After walking at least a mile, and bickering for half of it, Ash, Squirtle, and Pikachu finally arrived at the waterfall. The falling water cascaded into a large pond at the foot of a small cliff. The pond lay adjacent to a large, open field that was scattered with dozens of Pokemon of all kinds.
Ash readied himself. There were so many Pokemon in one place. He had enough self control to block out drifting fancies, but he wasn't sure how many thoughts he could block out from this many Pokemon.
"Cold feet?" asked Pikachu.
"Kind of. I'm afraid that I might be overloaded with thoughts from all these Pokemon. Plus, I'm walking into a large area consisting of about fifty different creatures that could all kill me with a thought."
"If it makes you feel any better," said Squirtle "these Pokemon don't have jack on us."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, but it's not you guys I'm worried about."
"Look at it this way." Pikachu said. "We're close enough to the Professor's lab that we could probably drag you halfway if you lose your legs or something."
"Wow, Pikachu. You're right. I feel so much better."
"Don't be a wuss. Just follow us."
Pikachu and Squirtle walked side-by-side down the middle of the field. All the while, Ash was reeling from the variety of Pokemon all in one place.
"I guess more people know about Professor Oak then I thought." he thought to himself. As they walked down the slight hill, they passed dozens of Pokemon sunbathing, including an Arbok, several Pidgeys, and one very large lump of grass that forced Ash to confirm that it was, in fact, breathing.
"Snorlax?" he said to himself. Pikachu stopped and turned his head to look in the same direction.
"Where?"
"Are you blind? He's right...Oh. You're messing with me."
"No, of COURSE I'm not messing with YOU, Ash." he said sarcastically.
"Hang on...are you messing with me by pretending to be messing with me?"
"Add another layer to that sandwich."
"So you're messing with me by pretending to be messing with me messing with me?"
"Bingo-bango."
"I can't tell if you're an idiot or a genius, Pikachu." said Ash, exasperatedly.
"I think I could pick a side." said Squirtle. The two began bickering again while Ash opened his mind to read his Snorlax's. He had to bat aside the errant driftings of the Arbok and nearby Raticate to reach the mind of the sleeping giant.
Much to the surprise of Ash, instead of thoughts, all he found was the light sound of waves crashing on a beach. This sound then gradually shifted into that of a calm forest grove, and then into wind blowing through a field.
Then, as the sounds were starting to make Ash himself sleepy, a single thought cut them off abruptly.
"There's someone in here."
Snorlax lazily sat up and turned to look at him.
"It's Ash. Cool. I hope it wasn't him that disturbed my meditation."
"Hey! Snorlax! Long time, no see! Sorry if I woke you up, but I can read minds now and I wanted to find out as much about Pokemon as I could."
"That's pretty cool. You disturbed my meditation time though."
"Oh...I'm sorry." Ash said. Snorlax shook his head.
"Don't be. It happens. I'd be happy to talk, but I've got to finish today's cycle." He lay back down and rolled over, his back facing Ash. "Just come back a little later."
"Okay. Sure thing!" said Ash. He turned to see a Rattata facing him.
"YoucanunderstandPokemon?" It said, rapidly.
"Uh..Yeah." said Ash, startled.
"That''sreallycool.I'''-" it suddenly stopped talking, staring off into the distance. It then jumped a little, and turned back to Ash.
"YoucanunderstandPokemon?" it asked, again.
"No."
"'Kay." it said. It then ran off into the woods, thinking "WHOOSH!" to itself as it ran. Ash was close enough to the dark cover of the trees for a Zubat to flutter out and land on his shoulder. He looked at it, pleasantly startled as it looked back at him.
"I have not tasted the blood of humans for some time now."
"AHHH!" Ash shouted as he smacked the Zubat off his shoulder. It fluttered in the air for a second before flying back into the woods thinking "Someday, I will feed again..."
"Well my, my, my! Look who turned up in this neck of the woods!" Ash heard this thought emanate from over near the waterfall, fifty feet behind him. He was amazed at how far the thought had traveled and how much of its strength had been maintained. Upon seeing the sender, he knew why.
It was a Wartortle. It was extremely muscular, even among the standards of its own kind. It was lumbering toward Squirtle and Pikachu, the latter of whom wore a look of grotesque shock on his face at the approaching Pokemon. Squirtle simply stared at it, trying to silently ponder who it was that found him in this neck of the woods.
"C'mon, bro! Don't tell me you don't remember one of your boys!" it said, patronizingly.
A dawning look of comprehension came to Squirtle.
"YOU! You're from the Squirtle Squad, aren't you?" he asked.
"No kiddin I'm from the Squirtle Squad, man! We were best buds, back in the day!"
"Yeah, man. I remember when you were on the team. Except...I don't really recall us being 'best buds.'" Squirtle turned his entire body to face the Wartortle with a wide stance. "Come to think of it, I seem to remember you kicking your stupid butt OUT of the Squirtle Squad. Isn't that just the craziest thing?" He laughed. All the Pokemon within earshot went silent, shocked at Squirtle's declaration. Half of them looked at Wartortle to see what he was going to do to the little Squirtle and the other half watched Squirtle to make sure they didn't miss it.
"Yeah." the Wartortle said, fists clenched. "Yeah, you kicked me out, ya little half-pint." The Pokemon knew the procedure. This is when the insults began. Once the victim switched to the offensive, then the show would begin.
"Half-pint?" said Squirtle, laughing. "Me? Nah. I'm not that small. You just underestimate how much of a big boy you've grown into, man."
"Yeah." it said, standing tall and puffing its chest out. "I guess you're right. You still seem pretty small to me, though."
"Well, I guess you weren't really one of the brightest bulbs in the box."
The crowd of Pokemon drew in breath at this new insult. They knew that this Squirtle was asking for it, but they didn't realize how brutal this was going to be.
"Sorry, my ears ain't what they used ta be. Repeat that?"
"I said that you're a flaming idiot who couldn't find his hand's way out of a glove. Sure, you had muscle, but you never deserved to wear the shades." said Squirtle. Ash noticed that Pikachu was starting to back away very slowly.
"Look who's talking now, short-stuff! I'm more of a Pokemon now than you could ever be! You know it! You just won't admit it!"
"Yeah, okay." Squirtle said, still laughing. "We'll roll with that. Lemme guess...after you got dropped like a bag of rocks, you wandered off into the wilderness with nowhere left to go. Some trainer found you and you were so used to being my lackey that you couldn't bear the thought of being alone! So you train, and you fight, and you get all that angsty-aggression out until ding! One day, you up and evolve into the strapping young lad I see before me. I get the summary right?"
"You left out the part about me versus the Elite Four." it said.
"Wow. The Elite Four?"
"That's right. My master and I got all the way to the third trainer without breakin' a sweat."
"And..." said Squirtle, "I'm guessing that you guys bombed it on the fourth?" The Wartortle hesitated, clenching its fists in fury. "I guess that's a yes." continued Squirtle.
"It doesn't matter, shrimp. I'm still better than you ever were. I'm stronger. I'm more powerful. I know double the techniques you ever could. It wasn't me that didn't deserve the shades, man. It was you! It's easy to see why such a worthless team had such a worthless leader."
Squirtle shut his mouth in a grimace, clenched his fists together, and took a step forward.
"One chance, idiot. Take back that crack at my Squad and I won't be forced to give it back."
"Was that a threat, pipsqueak?"
"No." said Squirtle, glaring menacingly, "That was a promise." Pikachu had now backed up far enough to be out of any immediate danger of getting caught in the crossfire. He looked around frantically until his eyes stopped on Ash.
"Come on! Do something!" he pleaded. "Squirtle talks a big game, but he's not as awesome as he thinks he is. He might get seriously hurt."
"I know, but this looks personal. Should I get involved?" Ash asked both Pikachu and himself.
Pikachu raised his eyebrows incredulously.
"It'll become even more personal once you have a dead Squirtle on your hands." he said.
"Yeah, you're right." Ash said. He determinedly marched forward, spinning his cap around on his head.
"HEY!" he shouted. All the Pokemon, startled, whipped their head around to look at him. Save for Squirtle, who continued to stare down the Wartortle.
"And who is this?" it asked Squirtle. "Your 'master?'" it looked at Ash up and down. "Looks like a wimp to me." Squirtle took another step forward. The Wartortle folded its arms and stood its ground.
"Don't." hissed Squirtle.
"Hey, back off!" Ash shouted at the Wartortle. "Don't force us to battle you."
"Ash." Squirtle whispered through clenched teeth while still glaring at Wartortle. "Please back away. With all due respect, this does not concern you."
"You're my friend, Squirtle. Of course this concerns me!"
Squirtle sighed. "Thank you for that, but sometimes friends let their friends fight their own battles. Just let me handle this."
"Fine. But if it gets too bad, Pikachu and I are finishing this."
"If you do," said Squirtle decisively, "I'll never speak to either of you again."
Ash had no choice but to back up beside Pikachu and helplessly watch what happened. Pikachu was shifting his weight back and forth and rubbing his hands nervously. The field remained dead silent save for the low thunder of the waterfall.
"Looks like we got this place all to our sel-"
"Are you gonna keep babbling on and on or are we gonna tango, because I'm not leaving here without seeing some blood." Squirtle threatened.
"Eager, aintcha?"
"Always."
"You never deserved to be the leader." the Wartortle said with an air of finality. It backed up a step and puffed out its chest.
"HYDRO PUMP!" A monstrous jet of water rocketed out of the Pokemon's mouth. Squirtle, with speed surprising even Ash, simply sidestepped the attack. It hit the ground where Squirtle had been standing, tearing a hole in the dirt.
Squirtle darted behind the Wartortle. As it turned with a look of surprise, he kicked it as hard as he could in the side of its knee. The Wartortle shouted as it felt it dislocate and fell on its back. Squirtle backed up, ran at the fallen Pokemon, then vaulted into the air and onto its stomach. Even through the thick shell, the Wartortle's breath was knocked out. Squirtle left it wheezing on the ground and struggling to regain its stance as he calmly plodded over to the bank of the pond and picked up a sizable rock.
"Ice...hrrkk...ICE BE-" the Wartortle's attack was cut short as Squirtle smashed the rock against its teeth. It staggered and fell to its back, spitting out blood and a tooth. Squirtle clambered up on its chest and started to repeatedly slam the rock against its face. When he dropped the rock, he used his small fists. When the skin of his knuckles broke, he used his feet. He over and over again pummeled the Wartortle to the brink of death, knocking out teeth like they were icicles.
Finally, Squirtle's fury was tapped out. He stood triumphantly on the unconscious body of the Wartortle with bloody knuckles and a look that could kill.
He powerfully pumped his fists into the air.
"HALF-PINTS!" He shouted into the air. "SHOW ME YOUR WEAPONS!"
All the small, first-stage evolution Pokemon in the field pumped their various appendages in the air and cheered. The other Pokemon soon joined in, adding to the maelstrom of applause and excited shouting of various Pokemon voices. Ash and Pikachu could only share a look of shock.
Squirtle calmly reached behind his neck, pulled out his sunglasses, and put them on.
"THAT...is why I'm the leader." he said calmly as he stepped off the Wartortle's chest to wash his hands of blood.