Hello, everyone. A new week. A new chapter. This one's a little bit of a small filler for the series, because a handful of you wanted Ash to acquire a Scyther, so that's what's going to happen here. I was done with this about halfway into the week, so I've gotten a little extra work done on the next chapter but I'll still have one or two questions for you at the end of the chapter. No more deaths have been reported to me, luckily, so well done everyone else on your good health. Now, on with the chapter.
Short-sized Scyther
Ash, Misty, Gary and Pikachu were walking down the path Samurai told them would take them to Pewter City, unaware of the painful torture a certain evil trio was undergoing this morning. However, there was soon a sound that alerted them to another poor soul's torture. A sound of clanging and slashing, almost like knives being scraped against each other, came echoing through the trees. This was a sound that Ash didn't enjoy hearing. Clanging and slashing normally meant knife fights, and that wasn't going to end in happy smiles all round. He turned to Gary and Misty, who seemed to share his concern.
"We need to check what that is, guys." Ash told them, as if they had no other choice. And, actually, they did. Because Ash was off in a flash the second after he spoke, leaving his friends to rush after him.
Ash ran through the forest until he came across the source of the terrifying knife fight sounds. There, in the forest clearing, was a pair of Scyther competing, cheered on by a gang of at least a dozen others. The whole scene was horrific to watch; two mantis Pokémon fighting so ferociously, looking to draw blood from the other. The thing about this that horrified Ash the most, however, was how unfairly matched the competitor Scyther were. One measured around a metre tall, about a third shorter than a Scyther should be, and was a darker shade of green than any other Scyther nearby. The other was twice as tall, and had blades more than twice as big as normal Scyther blades on its arms. An unfair matchup, no matter which way you tried to sugar-coat it. Ash pulled out his pokédex, and turned the volume down so he could hear the data, but not get caught by the warring bugs.
"Scyther, the Mantis Pokémon. Its claws are sharp as swords, and it is a powerful flyer. This Pokémon is rarely seen by humans and almost never captured."
Misty, Gary and Pikachu managed to catch up to Ash, only to witness the end of the battle. The large Goliath Scyther struck down on upon his smaller opposition with merciless spite. The weakened, and very heavily bloodied, bug fell to the ground, smacking its head hard on the dirt as it landed. The rest of the Scyther cheered for the victor, who scoffed mockingly at his fallen foe, and lead the rest away without another interaction. With the group gone, Ash broke away from his hiding spot, and crouched down by the stricken Scyther's side. He checked for a pulse. Luckily, there were still signs of life, but they were weak. He shrugged off his backpack, and fished out a medical kit he'd packed. The Scyther opened one eye weakly, and eyed Ash as if he were a dangerous well-known, terrorist. Ash noticed this, and showed to the Pokémon he meant no harm, by bowing in respect, with his arms curved back. This was a sign of surrenderance in Scyther 'culture'.
"I'm not going to hurt you." Ash promised in a hushed whisper. "I only want to help."
Scyther, however, are very stubborn Pokémon. The mantis pushed Ash away, and shakily rose to its feet, eyes set on the direction his tormentor had gone. He made to pursue but found himself grabbed from behind by the persistent raven haired human. "No!" Ash shouted, pulling Scyther carefully to the floor. "I'm not having you trying to finish this. If you take one more hit from that Scyther, you'll never get up again." He warned. The Scyther tried to fight back, but was too exhausted, and slumped onto his back. Ash stood, and retrieved his medical kit. "Now, please. Let me help." He pleaded. Scyther, too weak to resist, just nodded, before settling to rest. Ash pulled out a bottle of antiseptic, a white cloth and a needle and thread, and set to work.
He disinfected the Pokémon's wounds, and started to sow them together once they were dry. Misty, being very squeamish around needles, as well as the obvious, stayed well away, while Gary and Pikachu stood close by, handing Ash any equipment he required when asked. After half an hour, Scyther was treated, and Ash was just finishing tying up the final piece of gauze on a particularly nasty gash on Scyther's hip. Scyther opened its eyes and checked Ash's handiwork. He gave a grateful nod, but still tried to set off in pursuit of the other Scyther for doing this to him. Again, Ash stopped him, looking the mantis dead in the eye. "Scyther. I'm not letting you go and try your luck again with that other Scyther." Ash hissed, seriously. "I know that you don't like to lose, no one does, but if you try to put up another fight so soon, you'll end up dead. And that's not a threat, it's a fact." Scyther stayed silent, looking rather uninterested in what Ash was saying. He wanted revenge. And that wasn't about to change. Ash sighed as he saw the resemblance between the Pokémon's intentions and his own. Scyther wanted revenge on the bastard who took over his swarm, and left him for dead. Ash wanted revenge on the bastards who killed his mother, and left him for dead. Their situations were very much alike. "Look…" Ash began. "I can see I'm not gonna be talking you down any time soon. Trust me I understand how you feel. I suffered a horrible loss, not that long ago. And I've sworn revenge on those responsible. But… I took my time preparing before I set out to take my revenge. I can help you, Scyther. If you'll let me, I'm sure I can help you train yourself into an excellent fighter. And, maybe one day, you may meet up with that other Scyther, and exact your revenge. What do you say? Deal?" He asked, offering his hand. Scyther looked at the human's hand, then into his face. He seemed to be genuine. He was offering him a chance at redemption, and in an honourable manner too. However, Scyther are stubborn, and don't particularly like hand-outs. Scyther weighed up his options, though, and realised this kid was right. He wasin no fit state for revenge, so probably be wise to take his advice, and train. He placed his sword-like claw in Ash's hand, carefully, and the two shook, sealing the agreement.
Night fell. When the Sun rises tomorrow morning, Ash will train Scyther to become stronger and fitter. Today, however, was all about recovery. Ash cooked for everyone, and did a damn fine job if he did say so himself, and aided Scyther's recovery process. While everyone was hunkering down for the night, only two figures stayed awake. Scyther was positioned away from the group, but still in eyeshot of them, thinking about how much he was going to humiliate the git who did this to him. And Ash was lying in his sleeping bag, keeping a wary eye on the bug, in case he decided to try and slink off without training.
The night passed uneventful. Scyther and Ash had managed to fall asleep, Scyther mercifully cracking first before Ash slipped off. When the morning came, Ash was the first to wake up. First point of order; check Scyther's still present. Luckily, yes. Still propped up against his tree. Ash shrugged himself out of his sleeping bag, and dressed himself for training before gently awaking Scyther and Pikachu. "Ready to start training?" He whispered to the mantis, who nodded eagerly, although he didn't allow his face to show this. The trio, silently, slipped out of the campsite and left Misty and Gary to sleep in.
The two figures stood at the edges of the clearing, silently staring each other down. On the right edge was Scyther, intently scraping his blade-like claws together to get them sharpened. On the left edge was Ash. He was dressed in his white dojo training trousers, top half naked, showing his toned washboard of a stomach. Strapped onto each hand, he had a pair of Tekagi-shuko gloves. And on his waistline, he had a pair of metal-bladed Korean fighting fans draped on a string. Ash broke the silence as he laid down the ground rules. "OK, Scyther… this is going to be a simple sparring match. I'd like to see your best techniques. Don't hold back." Scyther nodded, smirking as he thought of how to bring this kid down. Ash adopted his fighting stance, and nodded to Pikachu, who was stood in the middle of the sparring ring, to signify he was ready.
"PIKA!" The mouse shouted, raising his paws above his head to mark the start of the sparring match.
Misty and Gary were jolted awake by an awful clanging of knives. Misty, not being a morning person, tried to ignore it. Until she noticed Ash and Scyther were gone.
"Gary? Did you see Ash or Scyther leave this morning?"
"No." Gary looked around the camp, noticing a third absence. "And Pikachu's gone too." The pair decided to follow the clashing noises to find Ash and Scyther; they had a fair hunch that they were behind the ruckus.
As they followed the sounds through the trees, a series of grunts and screams started to become audible along with the metal slices and clangs. They continued to follow the noises until they came across the clearing in which Ash and Scyther were training. Standing in the bushes at the edge of the clearing, Misty found herself fighting back a nosebleed at the sight of Ash as he ducked and dived from Scyther's attacks. For a young boy of ten, he had a very well-toned upper body, with an impressive set of very defined abs. His arms were toned and muscular, but not sickeningly bulging or rippling like a steroid-pumped bodybuilder. The only blemish on his body worth noticing was a large scar running down most of the length of his right arm, most probably from the operation he'd have needed when he was five years old, and that Ekans had bitten him.
Scyther couldn't believe it. This human had been blocking his attacks left, right and centre without so much as batting an eyelid. This kid was not going to be as easy a challenge as he originally thought.
Ash smirked as he saw Scyther's defences begin to waver. His defensive strategy had worked. Now it was time to go on the offensive. He snatched the fans from his beltline, and started to swing the metal fan blades towards his sparring partner, backing Scyther into a corner as the mantis tried to avoid the slicing blades that were now coming within millimetres of his body. With a final flourish, Ash slammed one of his fans shut, trapping Scyther's right claw in the blades, and holding it against the tree the bug's back was now pressed hard against, and raised his free fan to the Pokémon's neck in such a way that he could puncture his jugular if he applied any more pressure. Scyther knew that when in this position against a Scyther opponent, there was no getting out of it alive. This signified your inferiority, and meant you were to die. However, the killing blow was never delivered, as Ash backed away, calming his body down out of its aggressive state, and offered a hand to Scyther in peace.
The bug was quite perplexed by this gesture. Ash let him live. A Scyther would never be so forgiving. Ash, however, kept his hand outstretched, with a wide smile on his face.
"Commiserations." He said, as Scyther placed his claw in the offered hand, and hesitantly shook it. "You fought well, I'll give you that. But… you need a fair amount of work on your technique." Ash critiqued. He walked over to his backpack, and picked up his waistcoat, slipping it on over his shoulder and buttoning it up. "Isn't that right, Misty and Gary?" He called, without looking back at Gary and Misty, despite the fact that neither Misty nor Gary had announced their presence. They walked out of their hiding place, with Misty looking quite perplexed by Ash's seemingly psychic abilities.
"That's right, Ashy-boy." Gary agreed with his younger brother, coolly. Ash turned back to Scyther smiling.
"The problem is you rely too heavily on outright power, and don't try to reserve enough energy for sneak attacks when your foe isn't prepared." He lectured. "I apologise for saying this… but you're clearly smaller than a Scyther should be. And that puts you at a disadvantage on the power front." Scyther looked a little disheartened by this comment. But Ash soon put an end to that. "But that doesn't go to say you're inferior. Being the smaller party means you can be a lot more nimble than a larger foe. All we have to do is work on your agility."
Why did he agree to this? Why didn't he refuse to take Ash's help, and just pursue that other Scyther and end up dead? Believe it or not, only an hour and a half had passed since Ash and Scyther's sparring session, and for an hour of that time, Scyther found himself desperately ducking and diving between throwing stars, boomerangs and Kestrosphendone arrows. How could Ash keep producing these things from his little backpack? Scyther stopped thinking so much a boomerang came into view, on a direct course for his head. He raised a claw in defence. The boomerang smacked against the sword-like blade, and was sliced in half. With that final event, Ash stopped throwing his weapons. He straightened his back from his throwing stance, a satisfied smile gracing his lips. He stood still for a minute, making everyone wonder what he was thinking. Slowly, he began applauding Scyther, his smile growing slightly wider. "Congratulations." He said, making Scyther breathe a sigh of relief. His training must be over now. Ash walked up to Scyther, and patted the mantis on the back. "I'm very proud of you." Ash complimented. "Now what we need to work on is your timing of your attacks." He smirked, slipping his waistcoat off again, making poor Misty fend off another nosebleed.
Ash ran his tantō knives together in challenge, spurring Scyther into combat. "Now watch my movement." Ash instructed. Receiving a nod from Scyther, he lunged for the insect, knives at the ready to strike. Scyther observed Ash's movements, and calculated his optimum moment to strike back. Ash prepared his right arm to stab its tantō into Scyther's side. Noting Ash's preparation, Scyther readied himself to parry. There was an almighty metallic clang as the mantis successfully blocked Ash's swing. But he hadn't considered the second blade. Now that Ash was close to Scyther, he was able to swing his left arm underneath Scyther's blade, and rest the flat face of his second tantō blade on the bug's chest. The short spar was ended. "Good try." Ash said, smiling as he stood straight. "But you failed to anticipate my free hand. Never expect a single attack." Ash warned. "Battles aren't always as simple as that. Now let's try again."
Another hour of training followed. And, this time, Scyther was on the offensive, having worn Ash down. Ash was now the one sweating, if a whole lot less than Scyther was when he was the one backed into a corner. Eventually, Scyther found an opening in Ash's defences, and went for it. He flipped his body over Ash's back, and held a claw to his throat, pinning him against a tree. Ash smiled as he relaxed his arms, knowing full well Scyther wasn't going to kill him. Scyther smirked, and relaxed, earning himself a congratulatory pat on the back from the proud raven haired human. "You're ready." Ash congratulated. Gary pounded a fist into his hand.
"Now let's go find that arsehole who beat you yesterday." He exclaimed.
The Scyther clan's new leader was revelling in his gloating since yesterday. He'd humiliated the freak who lead these Scyther previously, and they worshipped the very ground his feet touched. He was stopped mid-gloat, however, when he saw a very familiar, and very annoying, figure standing not too far up the path. The figure approached, flanked by three humans and a Pikachu. Sure enough, it was that differently-coloured, short-arsed little freak he defeated yesterday. The goliath mantis snarled as he eyed the short fry up and down, menacingly.
'When I leave someone for dead, I expect them to die.' He hissed, in his native tongue. 'Are you so much of a freak that you don't obey your own kind's laws?'
'I'm not a quitter.' The shiny replied, venomously. 'I'm a fighter. And I have a claw to slash with you.' The Scyther colossus roared with laughter, making the smaller start to grind his blades together in defiant challenge.
'Very well.' The super-sizer roared, fearlessly. 'It'll be a pleasure to annihilate you a second time!'
The bugs adopted their positions. Ash stepped forward, and placed a hand on Scyther's shoulder, leaning close to him to whisper in his ear.
"Remember your training." He instructed, before retreating to a safe observation distance. With a Scyther battle cry from the spectators, the duel commenced. The larger bug thundered across the field, blades raised, wings buzzing intimidatingly. However, not intimidating enough, as Scyther stood his ground, calculating his opponent's every move. As his foe neared, he prepared himself for action. The colossal bug came within striking distance of the smaller shiny, and drew back his right claw to strike. Scyther decided now was the time to attack, and effortlessly blocked the oncoming claw. With the claw parried harmlessly, he shifted himself with ninja-like agility to stand behind the Herculean mantis. Once in position, he struck the large bug in the back, causing him to hiss in pain. The beast span round as quick as he could to retaliate, but was too slow as Scyther struck his foe in the stomach, doubling him over. With the bulky insect incapacitated, Scyther pushed the weakened beast against a tree, holding both claws against the creature's neck. One simple move, and he could scissor his foe's head clean off.
'Go ahead.' The oversized bug dared. 'Do it, freak. Kill me, if it'll make you happy.' Scyther snarled at the beaten, yet still cocky, creature. He lowered his blades, and stepped away, leaving all the other Scyther dumbfounded.
'I'm not going to kill you.' He stated, with total finality. 'I just wanted to give you the humiliation you deserve. I didn't fight for my clan back. They were very loyal to me, and I thank them. But this human shows great promise. He taught me everything you saw me do. Keep the clan. I'm going to travel with Ash, and work on improving myself.' And with that, he stalked away from his defeated opposition, and back to Ash and friends.
Ash looked down at the pokéball in his hand, smiling.
"Well, that certainly was a good capture, Ash." Gary stated. "You didn't even need to battle Scyther. He seemed to have taken a shine to you." Ash smiled at the comment.
"I know." He shrugged. "I seem to have that effect sometimes with Pokémon."
"Mostly bugs." Misty gagged.
"I'm sure it won't be bugs all the time, Mist." Ash reassured her.
"Pi, Pikachupi." Pikachu confirmed. Ash smiled at his friends and suddenly broke out into a sprint down the road.
"Come on, you guys!" He called to the bemused others. "I've been travelling a week and a half now, and I haven't even got my first badge yet. I wanna reach Pewter City by at least lunchtime, so hurry up!" And they all sprinted down the road to Pewter.
There he goes again. She thought to herself, shaking her head amusedly. Off on his journey, not allowing anything to stand in his way. Soon, Ash. Soon, we shall meet. And I will help you achieve your dreams. I promise.She wiped away a small tear, and trotted off towards Pewter City, with her nine tails flowing in the gentle breeze.
Right. Ash now has a Scyther on his team. Three questions for you all now, and I REALLY need answers for these ones. Oterwise, I'm going to struggle heavily.
1. Should I have Gary sneak off every once in a while to do some mysterious training, and/or earn some extra badges? Because, if you remember the first series, Gary got TEN badges, instead of just eight, and about half of them weren't the official ones we're all used to.
2. I want Ash and Ninetales to meet in an absolute dire life-or-death scenario, so Ninetales can save Ash's life dramatically. Can anyone give me suggestions? The winning suggestion, when I write the corresponding chapter, will be given a shout out, and a reccomendation of a fiction they want promoted, Pokémon or not.
3. Do you guys want to see Riolu return when Ash gets to Pewter City next chapter?
Thank you all for your attention, everyone, I really appreciate it. Please don't forget to leave a review, tell me what you think, give me some plot ideas and some more Team Rocket OCs are still accepted, and I'll see you next week.