Well like I said folks, for now I am going to be skipping the Mt Moon chapter as right now I don't have a clue what will happen in it besides which Pokémon people catch. For now, until I can figure that chapter out, know that Molly now has a Clefable, Brock has a Sandshrew alongside his zubat, and Serena now has Jigglypuff. I do have the beginning of an idea for that, but not right now. Also, next chapter, I plan on revealing why Delia went by Yellow for a while and plan something that would be good enough for a movie. Anyway, we get reintroduced to a rival and 2 Pokémon are going to be evolving in this chapter. So, let us get to it!
Pokeriders OOO and Build: The Rival Battle
To say the mood had been killed would be correct. After the gang had gotten out of MT Moon, they had found a sign that pointed the way to Cerulean City. On that sign, however, really didn't sit well with anyone.
"GARY WAS HERE, ASH IS A LOSER!"
Ash wasn't angry with Gary, as he had noticed that the handwriting was not his. Gary had a more cursive handwriting if he wrote something like that. No, the one who wrote that was John.
If Luxray hadn't been out of its Pokeball, Serena would have torn the sign to shreds with Molly, Brock and Misty were not happy that John would even attempt to try to play it off as his son.
"Seriously, are we sure they're related at all? I mean, Gary and Blue have made it clear to him they don't want to act like him. So why does he keep doing this?" Ritchie couldn't help but ask since no one could understand what had happened to make John act like an entitled brat.
"That's something Dad is still trying to figure out to this day. John had acted like this but not to such an extent that he would try to force his way of thinking onto his kids." Ash replied with a facepalm as they entered the City of Cerulean.
They first headed towards the Pokémon Center as during the trip through MT Moon, they had gotten into some scrapes, nothing they couldn't handle but better safe than sorry.
"So do we go for the Gym first, or do we have Serena do her first official Battle Chateau attendance?" Ritchie asked as he had noticed a sign that had times for when there were performances and Gym challenges at the Cerulean Gym.
"The Battle Chateau, if what Misty says about Violet and Lily are true." Ash said since the only one of the so called "Sensational Sisters" worthy of being called a gym Leader was either Misty or Daisy.
"If you don't mind, I would like to take on Daisy, since Misty said she would battle you once we got to the gym." Ritchie responded as he didn't want Daisy to think she was a bad gym leader thanks to those 2 knuckleheads.
"Agreed, and thanks Ritchie, Daisy goes through enough headaches trying to make sure those two don't try to pull a stunt with the money that's supposed to be for gym repairs." Misty responded.
Once they had gotten their Pokémon back from Nurse Joy, everyone headed over to the Battle Chateau. However, they immediately knew that they would have to wait.
"Currently closed for repairs. Will open tomorrow at 7 am at the earliest." Serena read it and while she was a little disappointed that she could not take it on today, she could understand them closing it to make sure the building was up to code for battling since it can get VERY hectic occasionally.
They had all turned to head for either the Pokémon center or a hotel when they heard something.
"Trust me Chespin. I did not see that one coming either. So do not blame yourself for getting blindsided by that overgrown Fearow. And Eevee if I had known that this tablet had a phone application on it, I would use it more, I just hope we run into them so we can exchange numbers."
Ash and Serena only knew of one guy whose voice sounded like that alongside who had that specific combo of Pokémon. Turning to the side to see a bridge going out of the town they saw HIM coming back into Cerulean city. "GARY!?"
Hearing that name, he turned and saw who called him. "Ash!? Serena!? Hey, looks like you caught up with me!" Gary cried out joyously as he rushed over to his friends.
"Yeah, but not for lack of motivation. We had a few weird run ins with some stuff." Ash answered back as he and Gary clasped hands together eagerly.
"Yeah, I heard you got attacked by a creature from Grandad. So how has it been so far on your journey?"
"Well, our eggs hatched, and I want to have a rematch though let's try to keep collateral damage to a minimum. I am not paying for damages to a Pokémon Center." Ash replied happily.
"Agreed but I want the rest of the story first Ash." Gary said huffily not wanting his curiosity distracted now.
"After that, our little sister joined us as well as Misty Waterflower, Brock Harrison, and Ritchie. We have had run ins with Team Rocket, and Uncle is currently trying to help us out with our Rider Duties. That clear thing up?" Ash said in rapid fire as he did not want to dwell on these things.
"Partially. Has he made any progress?" Gary inquired as while he wouldn't say this out loud, he wanted to be chosen to help Ash out as from what his grandfather described, these were best kept away from his father.
"Last I checked, there might be a belt being in the works that uses Cell Medals instead of Pokémon Medals, but he hasn't made any new progress."
"Do you think I could use it?" Gary asked with a hopeful expression.
"That is going to be up to my uncle, Gare. If he doesn't view you as worthy, he will not." Ash solemnly replied.
"Gotcha. Anyway, do you mind if I also challenge Serena? One of my Pokémon seems to be very eager to fight her." Gary told him, pointing out that his middle ball was wiggling very impatiently.
"I do not have a problem with that, but you will have to ask her yourself. Also did I hear you say that there is a phone function on our tablets?" Ash replied then pulled out his tablet since if it had a phone function, it would help knowing how the training was going.
"Yeah, I found that out when we arrived here in the city. Anyway, here's the number, call me when you get the chance." Gary said and then saw Serena walking up to him with Eevee on her shoulder.
"There's a good battlefield in the middle of the city. Let us take it there. Also, even though I want to be more of a performer, I will accept a battle from you Gary, though I am not going to be using Eevee."
Gary nodded and everyone headed over to the battlefield. Brock and Molly had come back and saw what was about to happen. "Do you guys' mind if I Referee?" They both shook their heads and Brock smiled.
"This will be a 2v2 between Ash and Gary. Substitutions are not allowed! Are both Trainers ready?" They both nodded. "Then send out your first choice!"
"Froakie! To the battlefield!" "Chespin! Let us bring the pain!" They both called out with Chespin leaping off Gary's shoulder while Ash threw Froakie's Pokeball releasing him.
Both saw each other and smirked, eager to see how they had improved. "Froakie! Use Water Pulse!" Froakie obliged and began throwing multiple balls of water at Chespin, who was dodging the best to his ability.
"Chespin! Use Vine Whip and aim for Froakie's hands!" Gary called as two vines came out of Chespin's neck and flung themselves at Froakie. But Ash had a counter that he and Froakie had been practicing on the way here.
"Froakie! Double Team on the double!" Froakie immediately dashed to the side cancelling out the Water pulse, but when he did, he seemed to split into two separate Froakies. Then two more showed up, and then it seemed like there was an army of Froakies.
Chespin immediately pulled his vines back just in case Froakie tried to grab them and swing him around and quickly tried to figure out where the real Froakie was. Gary looked nervous until he remembered a specific TM, he used on Chespin. "Use Swift! It never misses!"
Stars started appearing around the head of Chespin before starting to swirl around his body. He then let them loose and they flew at the Froakie that was in the middle of the pack. It connected launching him into the air and canceling out all the clones of him.
"I have to put it on the line here!" Ash thought then saw Froakie beginning to backflip. "FROAKIE! USE ARIEL ACE!" Froakie heard and angled the backflip to where he was facing Chespin. An aura appeared around Froakie as he launched himself directly into Chespin.
It connected and a plume of smoke shot up into the air. When it cleared, Froakie and Chespin were locked in a grapple, neither side giving an inch.
"Chespin! Use Pin Missile!" Ash's eyes widened when he heard that. Chespin's cheek spines suddenly aimed at Froakie and delivered a Barrage of silver sticks into his face. Froakie let go and was flung across the battlefield and came to rest in front of Ash.
He struggled to get up but failed to and fell to the ground with swirly eyes. "Froakie is unable to battle! Chespin wins!" Brock declared as Ash pulled out Froakie's Pokeball and returned him.
"Nice work with Froakie, Ash, but you might need to start looking for some TMs that can help him out. Just trying to help." Ash smiled when he heard Gary say that. "Will do, but for now let's get this started. I'm not using Pikachu this round, but here's someone who's eager to make up for a loss at the Viridian Battle Chateau. Riolu! Lend me a hand!"
Ash threw the ball and Riolu emerged. When he saw Gary, he at first thought he was Water until he saw the shiny Chespin in front of him.
"Let the battle begin!" Brock called out. "Chespin use Pin missile again!" Gary called out but Ash smirked.
"Use Copycat!" The yellow Riolu's eyes glowed and then started shooting out Pins and countering the ones Chespin was shooting. However, the previous battle damage Chespin had endured caught up. Riolu's Pin Missile overpowered him and because of his typing, it was super effective, and he was blown back over to Gary, with swirly eyes.
"Chespin is unable to battle! Riolu wins! Gary, please send out your last Pokémon for this match." Gary had pulled out Chespin's green ball and returned him when he heard that. Gary thought about which Pokémon to send out, then smirked having a feeling there was only one option for this Pokémon.
"Ash. I honestly thought I would never encounter this Pokémon in Kanto, but fate wants us to be equal rivals, and not only do I accept that, but I also look forward to it. And this Pokémon I believe is a counter to yours. It might be weak due to typing but I do not care. LET'S GET THE PARTY STARTED!" and with that Gary threw a Darkball out into the air and released his choice.
What came out was a tiny fox Pokémon that was colored dark brown and had blue highlights on the feet, 4 spots on the face, and on the top tuft of hair, however what caught Ash's eye was the fact that this Pokémon had a Symbol on the chest area. Curious, he pulled out his Pokedex to see what it was.
ZORUA, THE TRICKY FOX POKEMON. ZORUA HIDES ITS TRUE FORM BY CHANGING ITS SHAPE INTO PEOPLE AND POKEMON, AND LOVES TO SURPRISE PEOPLE.
Ash was incredibly surprised by this, as Zorua were native to the Unova region. "Where had you caught him? Also, you do know this is a dark type while Riolu is a Fighting type right?" He could not help but ask.
"I found HER in the Viridian Forest, it looked like someone, or something had beaten the tar out of her, and given what you told me has happened, I wouldn't be surprised if it was one of those things you were fighting." Gary replied putting emphasis on gender so that way Ash was not being offensive.
"And I chose her because she was determined to beat my Mankey. So, I thought it would be a good idea to have her do this to get better."
"Let the battle commence!" Once Brock called that out, Zorua and Riolu began to pace around in a circle not letting the other out of their sight in case a sneak attack occurred.
"Riolu! Use Force Palm!" Ash called out as Riolu charged at Zorua. "Use Scary face! Then follow it up with a Feint attack!" Gary called out as Zorua made a massive face appear, but Riolu just charged through it. The Force Palm connected, but so did the Feint attack.
"Why did Riolu not get affected by the Scary face?" Gary asked as Zorua got back up on its feet glaring at Riolu.
"Riolu's ability is Inner Focus. Moves that affect stats do not work on it, Gary. Even then we are both holding back. What do you say we put it all on the line for the next move?" He said smirking at Riolu, who immediately got the idea and got ready.
"I agree Ash. ZORUA! USE NIGHT DAZE!" "RIOLU! USE AURA SPERE!" Riolu sent out said attack to Zorua, whose eyes glowed light blue and then lifted her front paws into the air, while a crimson aura surrounded her. When the Aura Sphere was halfway across the field, she brought her paws down onto the ground, sending a pink and crimson force field across it. Both attacks collided and the Aura sphere was briefly pushed back when it went through the force field and collided with Zorua. However, the force field also connected with Riolu who was blown back.
Everyone held their breath, not sure if they were knocked out, then Riolu began to stand up finally pushing itself off the ground and stood tall.
Zorua … got back up for one second before falling to the ground with swirly eyes.
"Zorua is unable to battle! The winner is Ash Ketchum!" Brock called out as Ash high fived/pawed Riolu for a job well done. Gary picked up Zorua. "You did good, Zorua. We will get better and get the drop on them next time." Zorua smiled at that and then let herself return to the ball.
Gary then saw Ash walking over to him, then stopped one foot away, just looking him in the eyes. Then he smiled and offered his hand out to Gary, who smiled and shook it. They then saw Serena getting on the other side of the field.
"Before I fight Serena, I recall seeing a picture of Riolu from Water, and the coloring was just a lighter blue than the yellow it is now. Did something happen to it?" Gary inquired.
"I do not know. Sometimes, he comes out like that or sometimes he comes out the usual shiny colors. We do not know why that is happening." Ash replied then went to sit next to Ritchie and Molly.
"This will be a 2v2 between Gary and Serena! Are both trainers ready?" They both nodded. "Then present your first Pokémon!"
"Ralts! To the field!" "Pidgeotto! I need your assistance!" With that command Serena's Ralts appeared and a normal Pidgeotto was out.
"Pidgeotto, use Quick Attack!" Following the command, Pidgeotto zig zagged across the field towards Ralts. However, just before the impact, Pidgeotto suddenly froze right in front of Ralts with a pink outline around its body.
"Huh? Why did Pidgeotto get stopped by Ralts? Wouldn't it have connected before Confusion was fired?" Molly asked. "Ralts knew it could only attack its front since it would sense where it was going so Ralts waited until the last second before Pidgeotto connected to use it." Ash explained.
"Now use Play Rough!" With that Ralts jumped on top of Pidgeotto and began punching and kicking it like it was a toy beat up bag. However, Pidgeotto was not down yet and its wing glowed silver and struck Ralts across the face sending it back to the ground.
"Now use Toxic!" Pidgeotto then suddenly disturbingly vomited purple ooze all over Ralts. When it was done Ralts jerked signifying it was poisoned. Ralts then smirked as suddenly, Pidgeotto suddenly glowed purple as well.
"What just happened? How did Pidgeotto get poisoned if Ralts does not have a Toxic move?" Ritchie could not help but ask.
"Serena's Ralts has the ability Synchronize. When a Pokémon with Synchronize get Burned, Paralyzed or Poisoned, the opposing Pokémon gets it as well." Misty replied as she had gone up against a few Psychic type Pokémon and learned that the hard way.
"Does Big Bro's Ralts have Synchronize?" Molly asked as Ash's did not paralyze an opponent's Koffing earlier that week.
"It is either Trace or Synchronize that's the primary ability of Ralts. I don't know if my Ralts has it as a secondary ability, but my Ralts copied a Bulbasaur's Overgrowth ability one time." Ash answered her overhearing the conversation.
Gary saw this and knew he had to defeat Ralts before Pidgeotto fainted from the poisoning, so he put it all on the line. "PIDGEOTTO USE BRAVE BIRD!" Pidgeotto then flew up high and somersaulted, becoming surrounded by a blue aura and charged at Ralts.
"Ralts! Us Draining kiss!" Ralts jumped and got hit by Pidgeotto but not before kissing its beak and draining some energy into it. They both crashed on the ground and Pidgeotto was hit by the recoil damage from Brave Bird. Then they both just stared at each other, not moving a muscle. Then they both jerked and glowed purple with the poison taking effect. They glared once more before both fell face first onto the ground.
"Both Pidgeotto and Ralts are unable to battle! The match is a draw!" Brock declared as Serena and Gary returned their Pokémon. Serena was in deep thought about who to send out next.
"Rattata! I need your assistance!" Gary called out, releasing the Rat Pokémon that one could catch on route 1. However, it was colored yellow instead of purple. Serena then smiled seeing this, knowing exactly which Pokémon to use. "Spearow! To the field!"
Serena's Bird Pokémon cawed to the sky, ready for battle and glared right at Rattata, Gary impressed that Serena had a shiny of her own.
"Rattata! Use Quick Attack! Then use Iron Tail!" Rattata charged at blinding speeds towards Spearow but before it used Iron Tail, Serena gave the word to Spearow. "Use Assurance!"
The Iron Tail connected but when it did, Spearow suddenly shot its beak into Rattata's face, and seemed to really damage it.
"Why did the move look like it really damaged it?" Molly asked. "Assurance does double the damage if the user took damage before the attack hit, as such when Rattata hit first Assurance was powered up." Ash told her. Then everyone was surprised when Rattata began to glow. Alongside Rattata growing bigger.
What replaced it was a bright orange rat that looked beefier than the previous yellow rat. It's fangs and whiskers were longer, and it was clear it was much faster than before. "Looks like Rattata evolved into Raticate. This just got harder" Ash solemnly reacted as it was clear that Raticate now knew a move that he could screw Spearow.
"All right Raticate! Let's see what we can do now! Use quick attack!" Gary ordered Raticate, with much faster speed than when he was a Rattata. It successfully rammed into Spearow knocking him onto the ground but not out of the fight.
"Spearow! Use Fury attack!" Spearow got back up and got in close to Raticate and began viciously pecking him. It was enough to make Raticate back up, but he just glared at Spearow when it was over.
"Alright Raticate. Use Super Fang!" Raticate's teeth glowed bright white and chomped down on Spearow. Spearow cried out in pain, and remembered the last time he felt this kind of pain, when the Fearow Yummy had him in a similar death grip. Raticate then threw him to the ground, yet Spearow shakily stood back up.
"Well now, care to surrender? All it will take is another Super Fang and your done." Raticate arrogantly taunted Spearow, which made his blood boil. It was exactly like when the Fearow Yummy had gotten him in its grip and made him lose his entire life for 3 weeks. Still, it would never give up just because of that.
Seeing this, Gary decided to end it. "Raticate! Super Fang one more time!" Raticate's fangs once again glowed white and bit down hard on Spearow.
"How do I get stronger!? I failed to protect my flock, and I failed to protect my trainer when Blood Stark kidnapped her! How!? How!? HOOOOWWW!?" He practically shouted in his head, thinking that he could never help her out. Then he looked over and saw her looking at him. And she looked like she was about to cry.
"Spearow! You have helped me more than enough by staying by my side! If you feel you have done enough, then let me return you! I just don't want to see you in pain! We want to get stronger, yes, but not at the cost of our lives!" she shouted, unable to see him in this amount of pain, feeling useless and helpless.
Spearow didn't respond and then thought again, having realized something. "She never asked me to take on Blood Stark. She helped me when my family was mind controlled by that yummy. She has done nothing but stick by my side! If there is anyone holding back, it's me! She needs my help to win this fight. And I. am. DONE HOLDING BACK!"
Raticate was holding Spearow in his jaws, wondering why the little bird was not listening to his trainer. Then he noticed it was getting harder for his teeth to stay together. He tried to force them together, but they were not getting close. Then a bright light was suddenly in front of him, and he felt himself going up.
"What the- "was all Ritchie could say before a large yellow hawk stood where Spearow once was. Raticate was hanging off the side of the bird's neck before it suddenly whipped around and threw it to the ground.
Everyone stared at it while Serena brought out her Pokedex to see what had happened.
Fearow, the Beak Pokémon. The evolved form of Spearow. Its large, powerful wings allow it to fly for an entire day. The crushing power of its beak is tremendous.
"All right Fearow! You ready to turn this around!?" She asked her faithful flying type. Fearow turned back and nodded its head, then its wings glowed silver and smacked Raticate who was gapping at the giant bird who was in front of him. "That's awesome! You learned Steel Wing. Now let's see if you know this move! Use Drill Peck!"
Fearow swooped straight into the air and began to spin around and then divebombed towards Raticate. "Use Hyper Beam!" A glowing orange ball began to charge up in front of Raticate's mouth before he expelled it at Fearow. The attacks collided, but Fearow kept on pushing, overpowering the Hyper Beam as it began to go around him, till he collided with Raticate, and a massive explosion took place. When the dust cleared both Pokémon were glaring at each other till finally Raticate fell to the ground with swirls in its eyes.
"Raticate is unable to battle! Fearow is the Winner and that means that Serena is the victor of this match!" Brock called out as Serena ran over to hug her newly evolved bird Pokémon while Gary returned Raticate and thanked it for its efforts.
SOMETIME LATER
"So, what are the plans now?" Ritchie asked after a trip to the Center to heal the combatants.
"First we wait until tomorrow for Serena to take on the Battle Chateau, then we see when me and you can get our Gym Battles, Ritchie." Ash responded then noticed Gary walking up to them.
"I've already gotten my Badge from that Gym, though the blue and pink hair girls need a damn brain transfusion. But if you guys don't mind, I would like to stick around a little bit. Help you out with some tricks I learned for the tablets and see how Ash does. Also, I wanted to see what these Battle Chateaus are like." Ash nodded, which told Gary everything he needed.
They all headed into the Center and got rooms, waiting for whatever was to come tomorrow.
Folks, I apologize for the long wait for this chapter. Life has been really liking to screw me over. Last month I tested positive for covid and lost a lot of drive to continue stuff. And on top of that, my old laptop stopped working and I couldn't even work on stuff. I now have a new laptop and am looking up ways to work on it during breaks at my work and school. Hopefully once we get to the starter trilogy, things will start to pick up. I don't know when I'll start the next chapter but hopefully it will at least be next week when I update this story again. Until then, please keep sending reviews of each chapter so I know where to improve and what to keep. If I am doing well enough, please follow and favorite. Until the next chapter remember:
THE SABER IN YOUR HAAANND, IS A PEN TO WRITE IT DOOOOWWN! WORDS TO SAVE THIS WOOOOOORLD!