Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Legend:
"A human or a Pokémon is talking."
'A human or a Pokémon is thinking.'
"A machine is being used."
"A technique/ability."
Chapter 28:
It had been two days after the so-called "Battle for Saffron City" that reconstruction efforts began to rebuild everything that Team Rocket had destroyed. As much of Saffron City's warehouses and storage areas had been scorched by Team Rocket, it was the neighboring cities and towns that sent needed supplies and people to help. The help was much appreciated by the citizens of Saffron City and lightened the somber atmosphere that had descended over the city.
As the first newspaper articles were printed out and word of the attack spread, people began to arrive at Saffron. President William Weston arrived at the city with a small number of his special guard, a couple of government officials, and troops from Kanto's National Army. The President met with the mayor of the city and several members of the city's council to discuss what would happen now and what they would do to prevent another attack.
Troops would be stepping in to temporarily help Saffron City's police force until its decimated numbers could be replaced and trained. In addition, while the police force recovered the troops would be taking over the patrols throughout the city. The presence of the troops would, President Weston had said, try to ease the feelings of insecurity that had awoken within the people after Team Rocket's attack.
While implementing the troops, President Weston also told the mayor that several more groups would be arriving to help the city get back on its feet. That included the reconstruction of the city, helping restock the newly-built warehouses, and generally make sure that Saffron City had anything it would need in the future. And, considering that Saffron City was a major tourist attraction/shopping city, there was a lot of stuff that would benefit from such help.
To prevent such actions in the future, President Weston encouraged a policy of increased security and vigilance. He talked about how security officers could be trained to detect nervous or suspicious-looking people and question them before he talked about bringing in new advances in technology to help out.
In addition, President Weston had also officially listed Team Rocket as a terrorist organization and would issue a national statement about penalties for being a part of or joining the organization: increased time in prison, increased fines, etc. He would also allocate a specific number of troops from the army set up patrols on the country's routes and around the country's many cities.
President Weston closed out the meeting by saying that the government of Kanto would not stand for terrorist activities and would do everything they could to bring down Team Rocket. It wasn't anything new but the mayor and city officials understood just how powerful Team Rocket had become by sitting in the shadows. Taking such a huge organization down would take time and a lot of effort. So they simply nodded to President Weston and then set out to start the processes that would put the president's plans for the city into action.
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(Saffron City—Administration Building—City Recorder's Office)
"Is that really...?" Harold Dems asked.
Was even such a thing possible anymore? Harold knew that humankind had yet to unravel every mystery in the world, but he had thought that all of the Pokémon in the world had been discovered already. Well, if he was to believe the young man in front of him, then that belief would still be true, but... How could someone so young have discovered it when countless others had been searching the world for a chance to stumble upon a new Pokémon?
"If you're worrying about the paperwork that my dad said we would need, Nurse Joy already filled it out." Ash Ketchum from across Mr. Dems' desk. Eevee, sitting on the right arm-rest, blinked at Mr. Dems while his Baby Pokémon made a sound until Ash moved his arms to better support her. "... Mr. Dems?"
Mr. Dems startled before managing to force himself into focusing: he had a job to do. "So, you have the papers that Nurse Joy was supposed to fill out Mr. Ketchum?" Ash nodded slowly and offered the requested papers which Mr. Dems took before glancing through them. "... Everything seems to be in order, then... What are you going to call her?"
That was something that Ash had been thinking about after his mom had asked him about it once they had booked a room in a nearby hotel a couple of days ago. He hadn't really thought, before then, what he would call his Pokémon, believing that she would tell them its name like all other Pokémon did when they spoke.
Sadly, that wasn't the case. His Pokémon was more human-like than most and, instead of saying her name, she talked in gurgles and other noises that one would expect from a human baby. So the burden of naming her fell unto Ash.
Ash had thought about it for a while and had eventually decided on naming his Pokémon on something from outer space. It was only fitting since she had originally came to the Earth from outer space. He had come up with several different names that could've worked and discarded them, as they didn't really seem to fit. That was until he had went out early in the morning and saw one fading star close to the sun.
"Her name is Deoxys. You know, like the Deoxys star?" Ash said.
Mr. Dems nodded and jotted the name down onto the forms Ash had given him. "Yes, I am familiar with it. Seems fitting, too, considering that your Pokémon... came from outer space..." He paused to pick up the paper and move to a nearby machine, opening the lid, and placed the paperwork down face-first. "I'm sending this paperwork to the capitol where, there, they'll formally recognize your Pokémon, assign her a number, and add her to the PokéDex."
"Do you know what her number will be? Or what the PokéDex will say about her?" Ash asked as Eevee took a step forward on the arm-rest before she placed a fore-paw onto the edge of Mr. Dem's desk. Ash noticed it and frowned, "Remember what I said, Eevee."
Eevee's ears lowered before she took a step backwards and sat down, chastised "Ve Eevee, Ee-V-Ee."
"It's alright, Mr. Ketchum. I'm certain that your Pokémon was just curious. But, as to your questions..." Mr. Dems did a quick calculation in his head, "Your Pokémon will probably be #147 in our National PokéDex. I wouldn't know what the PokéDex entry will say—or if she will have one—as you just discovered her and not a lot of information is known about her species."
"Alright." Ash nodded.
"Now, if there is anything else...?" Mr. Dems said, trailing off.
As Ash got ready to stand, Eevee moved from the arm-rest and back to her customary place on Ash's right shoulder. He got up and smiled at the older man. "No thanks, Mr. Dems. I just came here to give you the papers that Nurse Joy signed so that we could register Deoxys as an official Pokémon."
"Very well."
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As Ash walked out of Mr. Dems' office, he caught sight of a familiar group of people waiting for him in the waiting room. Only, there were more people waiting for him then before he had went to hand Deoxys' registration paperwork to Mr. Dems. And, while they were not unwanted, their sudden appearance was surprising.
"What're you guys doing here?" Was the first thing that Ash managed to get out.
The group of people looked up at the sound of his voice, smiled, and got up to greet him and ask him how things went. Ash answered them easily enough, telling them how Mr. Dems seemed to space out a bit and how he was passing the paperwork along, but continued to glance at the new additions to the group. They, seeing this, stopped asking him questions about what had just happened and finally decided to answer his own question.
"I heard about what happened on the news and came to see how you were doing. I didn't know if you were still here, but Nurse Joy told me that she had seen you yesterday about getting your new Pokémon checked out." Willow Black explained, "It wasn't that much of a leap to figure out where you were going after that... Only too bad that I didn't get to see you before you went to see Mr. Dems."
The second person grinned, "I've heard from Professor Oak about some of the hot-shot battles you've been in since the last time I saw you, so I'd thought that I'd come to test it for myself." He shrugged, "Would've been sooner but I got attacked by those Team Rocket creeps when I came into the city. Woke up a day ago and got checked out, saw Willow leaving the Pokémon Center, and followed her. But... for you to have done so much since we've become Pokémon Trainers... you must be a scorching Pokémon Trainer!"
"I'd like to think so, Harry." Ash laughed.
Harry Cinn was a pale-skinned boy with straight black hair, crimson eyes, and a fair splattering of freckles across his face. He was dressed in a bright-red shirt, baggy black pants with red stripes on the sides of them, and red-and-white sneakers. On his shoulder hung a strap to his red backpack while a trio of Poké Balls hung from his belt.
"Let's battle, Ash!" Harry said before moving to grab one of the Poké Balls on his belt. "After hearing all of those stories, I really want to see how fired up you can become in-person!"
Delia cut into the conversation before Ash could respond, frowning in concern. "You just got out of the hospital, Harry. Don't you think that it would be best to wait to have your battle with Ash when all injuries are fully healed? I wouldn't want either of you two to overtax yourselves."
"I'm fine, Mrs. Ketchum. I just need to see just how hot Ash's Pokémon training skills are." Harry answered before he looked at the other boy. "You want to see how fire-up I can get too, don't you Ash?"
"Yeah, I do." Ash nodded.
Harry's grin grew as he pumped his fist, "I knew it!" He unclipped and enlarged the first of his three Poké Balls, "Let's have a hot battle!"
"There is to be no fighting in this building. Remember?" Jonathan asked.
"Well then we'll find a place that can handle our hot fight!" Harry huffed before he reluctantly put away his Poké Ball and began to walk towards the exit as fast as he could. Ash's dad would probably remind him that there wasn't supposed to be any running and he could get in trouble with the security officers. So, walking it was. "C'mon, Ash!"
"Are you sure you want to battle Harry right now, Ash?" Anabel asked.
"Yeah. I've wanted to battle Harry ever since that battle I had with Gary." Ash said as he looked towards Harry's retreating form. "He's the last one of us from Pallet Town that got a Starter Pokémon from Professor Oak. And while he doesn't look to have a lot of Pokémon, Harry is sure to have trained his team to make up for that."
Anabel looked confused so Willow took pity on the other girl and told the purple-haired empath that "it was a guy thing".
XXXXXX
In his haste to start his match against Ash, Harry had quickly took off from City Hall, forcing the rest of the group to follow him as the black-haired Trainer made a beeline for the closet intact building where the battle could take place. That building just happened to be the Saffron City Pokémon Center whose roof could be used as a training grounds/battleground for Pokémon Trainers and their Pokémon.
On the way to there, it was hard not to notice everything that was going on. Burned, broken, or otherwise destroyed buildings were slowly being repaired by a ragtag mix of construction crews while the debris were loaded onto the garbage trucks that were parked nearby.
Aside from that, though, there was little to no activity. It was strange, creepy even, as the sidewalks were normally filled with people—residents and tourists—but... today there was none. It spoke of how damaged the city had become during the "Attack on Saffron City" and the people's fear of coming across a long-gone Team Rocket.
The only reason that the group had stayed in Saffron City was due to the fact that Anabel had to fully learn how to control and master her powers. With Sabrina busy with rebuilding destroyed portions of her Gym, comforting the families of those people who had been killed in her Gym, and her other duties the hours that she was able to help Anabel had dwindled while also increasing the amount of time that they had to stay in the city.
... Not to mention that Ash had planned to challenge Sabrina to a battle before the attack. That plan had been derailed by the attack but, eventually, when the Gym got back on his feet Ash would challenge her. And if he wasn't strong enough to defeat Sabrina then, he would train some more and try again until he did.
Ash's mind was so occupied thinking about all that had happened that he didn't notice that they had even made it to the Pokémon Center until he had gotten onto the roof. He blinked and looked around, seeing Harry tapping his foot impatiently, before he handed over a sleeping Deoxys over to Anabel. The purple-haired girl gave him an encouraging smile before she moved to sit on a nearby bench with Willow and his mom.
"A two-on-two battle sound good to you?" Jonathan asked, wordlessly volunteering to be the referee of the match between the two.
"Yes."
"Okay. The first one that has no Pokémon that are able to battle anymore will lose. Okay?" Jonathan looked at the boys who responded in the affirmative. "Alright, then. Call out your Pokémon!"
"You up for it, Eevee?" Ash asked. Eevee looked at him like he was crazy before jumping off his shoulder and then landing on the ground in a crouch. "Let's do this, then!"
At the same time, Harry grinned and pulled off the first Poké Ball off of his belt, enlarged it, and tossed it into the air. This was followed by a red light shooting out of the Poké Ball and towards the ground as the Pokémon within was released onto the battlefield. "Show them all your fire!"
The Pokémon that Harry has called out to battle was three feet in height with crimson scales, violet eyes, a cream underbelly, and expanses of cream coloration on the soles of its feet. The back of its head was adorned with a horn-like protrusion while, lower, a small puff of smoke exited its snout. Wicked-looking claws gleamed on the Pokémon's paws and feet while, most notably, a bright red-orange flame burned at the tip of its tail.
"Charmeleon!" The Pokémon roared.
Ash grinned, "So you're Charmander evolved, Harry?"
"Yeah." Harry said with a matching smile, "You better watch your back, Ash, because Charmeleon and I are going to show you just how scorching we really are!"
"Don't think that we'll go so easy on you, Harry!" Ash responded.
"Trainer's ready?" Jonathan asked. Both boys nodded, "Okay, then... Begin!"
Harry was immediately on the offensive, "Charmeleon, use Fire Fang!"
"Eevee, use Quick Attack!" Ash countered.
Charmeleon's mouth became filled with orange-red flames before it began to run towards Eevee at the same time that Eevee began to sprint towards Charmeleon. The two Pokémon met in the middle of the battlefield with Eevee managing to hit Charmeleon in the stomach and knock it back. While tumbling backwards, Charmeleon growled and moved to bite down on the brown-furred Pokémon. The attack connected and caused Eevee to howl with pain as the flames bit into and singed her fur and skin.
"Use Tail-Whip, Eevee!" Ash ordered. In response, Eevee quickly swung out towards Charmeleon's face with her tail, hitting Charmeleon's eyes and irritating them. It was enough for Charmeleon to open its mouth to release another attack on its aggressor, which was all that Ash needed. "Again!"
Eevee whacked Charmeleon across the face with her tail again, forcibly closing its mouth before moving away from Charmeleon. Harry frowned, "Use Dragon Rage."
Charmeleon quickly got back up onto its feet and opened its mouth to reveal a ball of energy forming within it. Neither Ash nor Eevee got a chance to do anything before this energy was unleashed in the form of a seemingly flaming beam of purple energy. The attack scorched the cream collar around Eevee's fur before she managed to jump away, noticeably slower, before she began to run as Charmeleon launched another Dragon Rage at retreating back.
"I thought you were hot stuff, Ash!" Harry taunted.
Instead of rising to the bait like Harry expected him to, Ash didn't. He knew from previous experience watching shows on the Pokémon Fight channel with Harry that Harry preferred an all-out attack strategy. And he had just proven he had kept to that same ideal and was trying to encourage him into having Eevee charge in and get within Charmeleon's range.
Still, despite knowing all of this, Ash would have usually done it anyway... before he had come to Saffron City. Or, more specifically, the Saffron City Pokémon Gym. The Psychics there were able to read his mind and knew just how to push his buttons so that they could encourage him to act in a certain way that helped them achieve a win. And it hadn't help any that they could also read his mind to see if he had any strategy to counter them. So, he had to learn how to not always rise to obvious taunts and to think on the fly.
"We'll see, Harry." Ash said before looking towards where Eevee had rolled to avoid another burst of Charmeleon's Dragon Rush. "Eevee, use Charm."
Eevee yipped to show that she had heard and understood the order before she got back onto her feet. Her tail moved to cover her snout as she looked up at Charmeleon through slightly tearing, wobbling eyes that only seemed to accent her cuteness. It stunned Charmeleon and Harry long enough for the pink orb Eevee had been forming underneath her tail to come to competition and be launched towards Charmeleon in the form of dozens of small, pink hearts.
"Burn them all with Ember!" There was no way that Harry was going to allow Ash to use that move on his Pokémon. This was supposed to be a battle where Ash's Pokémon clashed with his burning Pokémon in a fiery display that would ignite the feelings of awe in those watching. Not a battle ended through the use of cheap tricks!
Charmeleon opened his mouth and unleashed a series of small fireballs towards the approaching hearts that made up Eevee's Charm. When the two techniques collided in mid-air, the Ember could be seen biting into the Charm before the techniques destabilized. The result: miniature explosions rocking the air as smoke began to obscure the middle of the battlefield.
Harry pointed his fist towards the smoke, "Now use Fire Fang!"
The Flame Pokémon opened its mouth and fire rushed upwards from its throat, coating its sharp teeth in fire. It all happened very quickly so, before the sound of explosions stopped, Charmeleon rushed towards and into the smoke. There was a flash of red that pierced through the smoke and illuminated the two figures within. The taller one could be seen rearing its head up while the shorter one, limping slightly, charged forward. Then the glow faded.
"Eevee, use Take Down!" Ash ordered.
Seconds later, Charmeleon flew backwards out of the smoke with a pained look on its face. It slammed into the ground where it bounced and then slid until it came to rest one foot away from Harry. In the middle of the battlefield, the smoke cleared enough to let Eevee be seen. She was standing up straight and panting, fur blackened in multiple places, bleeding from where Charmeleon had bit her, and had one of her eyes closed.
"It's finally starting to heat up!" Harry laughed even as his Charmeleon slowly managed to get onto its knees and stand up again, "I thought that it wouldn't after you pulled that trick... but having your Pokémon use Take Down after Charmeleon scored a direct hit with Fire Fang? That was scorching!"
"I was going to have Eevee use Quick Attack on you, but your Charmeleon's Fire Fang caught me off-guard. Quick Attack wouldn't have worked after that, with how exhausted Eevee is getting, so I had Eevee use Take Down to inflict the most damage we could." Ash admitted.
There was a moment of silence and then—
"Charmeleon, use Dragon Rage!" Harry commanded.
Ash was quick to counter this by ordering his Pokémon to, "Dodge and then use Covet, Eevee!"
By that time, Charmeleon had opened its mouth to unleash another Dragon Rage in Eevee's directions. While slower and limping a bit, Eevee was still fast enough to dodge Charmeleon's attack; zigzagging as she quickly made her way over to him. An order from Harry had Charmeleon rushing forward to try and scratch Eevee with its wicked claws, which partially succeeded. Ash had Eevee use Tail-Whip in the nick of time to take less damage, leaving the two Pokémon in a standstill. Only, Eevee had been ordered to do something else while Charmeleon hadn't...
Eevee pulled back her tail just enough so that Charmeleon's claws managed to get a couple of inches closer to her main body before she lashed out with her right fore-paw. The attack hit Charmeleon straight in the chest and made it stumble backwards a bit. Taking advantage, Eevee took a step forward before lashing out with another blow and then another, managing to push the evolved Pokémon back.
"Scary Face." Harry ordered with thinned lips and an angry, tight tone to his voice.
In Charmeleon's current situation, the Flame Pokémon couldn't use any offensive moves to escape as Eevee would hit Charmeleon with Covet. Not only would this disrupt the techniques that Charmeleon could've used, and run the risk of the techniques backfiring and injuring Charmeleon, it would just be wasting Charmeleon's remaining energy. So that had left Harry with a choice of Charmeleon's defense or supplementary techniques, which went against his favored all-on offensive strategy.
When Eevee knocked Charmeleon back again, the iris and pupils in Charmeleon's eyes vanished as its pained expression morphed into something terrifying. It stumbled a bit as it regained its footing but lifted its head as Eevee came forward to hit it with another Covet. The Scary Face made Eevee's eyes widen in terror and her legs lock in place as her body began to shake.
"Fire Fang." Harry commanded.
Charmeleon opened its mouth and, once again, fire rushed in from the back of its throat and coated its teeth in fire. Seeing this, Ash shouted towards Eevee to move, but it was too late. Charmeleon's flaming teeth bit into Eevee's shoulder and caused Eevee to cry out from the pain. Still, despite what had been intended as a finishing blow, it hadn't been enough. Eevee glared at Charmeleon before using her right fore-paw and the last of her strength to use Covet one more time on the side of Charmeleon's head.
The blow made Charmeleon open its mouth to release Eevee as it stumbled backwards and fell. At the same time, Eevee's legs buckled and she collapsed into a heap. In a few short moments both Pokémon had closed their eyes and surrendered to the blackness that was sweet, sweet unconsciousness.
"As both Eevee and Charmeleon are now unable to battle, this round is a tie." Jonathan announced.
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"Both of them have really grown a lot, haven't they?" Delia mused with a small smile on her face. While neither of them had actually won, Harry and Ash's battle had showed just how far they had come in mere months and hints of the type of Trainers they could grow into. At the moment, Harry seemed to favor a full-on offensive strategy while Ash favored fast attacks followed by reactionary movements.
Willow nodded, "Yeah, I think they have. Both of them look to have trained their Pokémon really hard since I last saw them. And, to think, that Ash would actually manage to hold off a Fire-Type Pokémon with a Normal-Type..."
"Ash has a team composed mostly of Normal-Type and Bug-Type Pokémon with Pidgeotto being his only Flying-Type Pokémon. That is mostly due to the Pokémon we've encountered so far and his growing bonds with his team." Anabel said before she moved to hand Mrs. Ketchum a bottle of formula moments before Deoxys began to whine. "He's made up for it, though, by training them really hard."
"Yeah. Like that new move that he made." Willow said.
A slight frown appeared on Anabel's face, "I really don't know why no one has ever come across or developed a move like that before. Quick Swim is mostly just using Quick Attack to propel a Pokémon underwater. The closet move that we've been able to find is Aqua Jet and that move just creates a shell of water around a Water-Type as it moves towards an enemy."
"There has been plenty of variation among moves and how a Trainer preforms them—such as the moves employed by Pokémon Coordinators in Contests—but there is rarely ever a chance to discover something new as opposed to rediscovering, recreating, or finding a new way to use another move." Delia said as she continued to feed little Deoxys.
Anabel and Willow nodded thoughtfully, having never really thought about that before. They both knew that were hundreds of possible moves, or ways to use them, that Pokémon could use... but Ash's development of Quick Swim had left them believing that it was possible and thinking if other Trainers had missed out on inventing new techniques because they hadn't tried hard enough. Only, they were trying hard enough. They just weren't lucky enough to stumble across a new move like Ash had.
"Looks like they're about to start again."
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"Having your Pokémon use one last attack to knock out my Charmeleon just before it was also knocked out due to the damage that my Pokémon inflicted on it..." Harry mused with a thoughtful expression on his face before grinning. "So, are you finally starting to turn up the heat, Ash?"
"I'm just getting warmed up." Ash joked.
Both Pokémon Trainers then pulled out the Poké Balls that would contain their next Pokémon and threw them up into the air. Twin beams of red light flared and raced towards the ground in front of the two Pokémon Trainers and, upon hitting it, began to take shape. In mere moments, both Pokémon were revealed to the world. On Ash's side of the battlefield was his Paras while on Harry's side stood a Magby.
"Magby: The Live Coal Pokémon. This species possess a unique, magma-like blood that circulates throughout its body. They are found in or around volcanic craters. In addition, a Magbys' body temperature can reach is over 1100 degrees Fahrenheit."
Magby had red fur, a yellow flame-shaped marking on its stomach, a single spike on its back, stubby arms, and a short red tail. Its head was covered with large lumps that resembled curly hair while, on its neck, black metal in the form of a shackle resided. "By! Mag-by!"
"See how hot my Pokémon is, Ash?" Harry asked.
Ash smiled back, "We'll see if what the PokéDex says holds up."
"... Are you both ready to battle?" Jonathan asked. When Ash and Harry replied in the positive, Jonathan nodded once before he took a step backwards and opened his mouth to then announce the start of the net match, "Begin!"
Like before, both Trainers sprang into action and ordered their Pokémon to use their first moves—Ash ordering Paras to use PoisonPowder while Magby was ordered to use Fire Spin. Spiraling red-yellow flames sped from Magby's mouth and towards the cloud of glittering purple-colored powder of Paras'. When the two collided in the middle of the battlefield, the Fire Spin easily burnt through Paras' attack before moving on towards Paras.
"Dodge it, Paras!" Ash ordered. "Then use another PoisonPowder!"
"Ras!" Paras chittered in confirmation. Scuttling to the left, he managed to avoid the spiraling flames that scorched the area where he had been standing only moments before. The mushrooms on Paras' back began to shake and purple powder began to gather before Paras sent it towards Magby again.
Magby, however, jumped backwards on Harry's orders before unleashing a couple fireballs towards the cloud of poisonous substance. Once again, the powder was ignited and reduced to nothingness. What was new, though, was when Paras came charging in from behind. Just as Magby went to unleash another fireball, Paras' two front legs came up to begin slashing Magby's chest as it began use Fury Cutter. Magby flinched at the sudden attacks but stood strong, grimacing as it held its ground against the sudden onslaught.
"That trick again?" Harry scoffed to himself before raising his voice and ordering, "Magby, Smog and then Fire Spin!"
"Paras, use Stun Spore!" Ash ordered.
Two things happened at once. Magby, stumbling backwards, opened its mouth to release a burst of black-green smoke towards Paras. Paras stopped using Fury Cutter and released a cloud of yellow powder towards Magby before jumping off to the side to avoid the Smog. It was a good thing Paras had done that for, not a couple of seconds later, a flaming whirlwind burst through the smog and impacted against the ground where Paras had been.
"Ember, Magby!"
"Paras, Spore!"
Paras released a cloud of white spores from his back at the same time as Magby spewed over a dozen tiny fireballs towards Paras. While Magby's Ember did burn through a fair amount of Paras' spores, Paras had been smart enough to send the cloud towards Magby horizontally. Magby's Ember burned through the middle of the attack, hit Paras, and sent the Bug-Type Pokémon backwards but Paras' spore began to close in on Magby.
"Fire Spin." Harry ordered. He then watched as his Magby released a super-hot whirlwind of flames towards Paras' location, burning through Paras' Spore. It was starting to get annoying, really, how Ash was trying to catch Magby in one of those spore techniques that Paras had. Especially after he had Magby keep burning through them, over and over again. 'You better think of something, Ash, or I'm gonna end this un-hot battle.'
"Paras, dodge it!" Ash hurriedly said.
Paras scuttled to the left to avoid the twisting flames, straight into Magby's path as the Fire-Type Pokémon appeared. The Bug-Type was barely able to get his front legs up in time to block Magby's claws from scoring a direct blow against him but at the expense of further wounding his semi-burned legs. Magby saw the wince Paras made and, motivated by Harry's order, pressed forward to try and take advantage of Paras' weakness to break through its defense.
Though, defense wasn't all that Ash had in mind. The distance between his Pokémon and Harry's Pokémon left him with an opportunity to finally have Paras land a move (excluding Fury Cutter). "Paras, use Sleeping Powder."
"Magby, Ember!" Harry ordered only seconds afterwards, having noticed like Ash the position their Pokémon were in and having predicted what Ash would have Paras use next. It wasn't that hard to determine that it wouldn't be Fury Cutter, as Paras was using those limbs to block, and it couldn't have been Leech Life either since Paras wouldn't be able to use it without first receiving damage from Magby.
Unfortunately, the time it took for Paras to shake his back to release the yellow powder from his mushrooms was less than the time it took for Magby to launch an Ember. The cloud of yellow spores hit Magby in the face just as it opened its mouth to unleash its Ember. The effects of the move could be seen as Magby stumbled backwards from the cloud, eyes already drooping.
"Leech Life, Paras!"
Paras lunged forward to bite Magby on the leg, causing Magby to cry out in pain, before Paras began to suck out Magby's energy. This, coupled with the effects of Paras' Sleeping Powder, was what caused Magby to lose consciousness in the following seconds. Perhaps, if Magby hadn't already been hurt or it had been able to use Clear Smog, it could have continued on... but it didn't.
"As Magby is no longer able to battle, this round goes to Paras." Jonathan announced as Paras, looking much healthier, scuttled over towards Ash and Magby was recalled by a frowning Harry. "And that means that the winner of this two vs. two battle is Ash."
Ash pumped his fist, "Yeah!" Seeing Paras so close, he quickly closed the distance between them before he moved to pick up the small Bug-Type Pokémon. "You did amazing, Paras." He praised as he began to scratch Paras' back, "I knew you could do it!"
"Ras-ras Paras." Paras chittered happily, proud that he had been able to prove himself to his Trainer. There hadn't been a lot of chances for him to do that since his Trainer had captured him (besides repetitive loses to those weird Humans in that one building) and he had been useless when his Trainer needed him. So this victory, and seeing how happy it made his Trainer, made Paras like proving himself a good Pokémon.
By this time, an unhappy-looking Harry had made his way over to Ash. "That was an un-hot move you used to end our battle, Ash..." He frowned, "You know that I wanted a scorching hot battle and you kept using those un-hot moves..." A sudden thought occurred to him. "But I'll let it slide, this time. You must've been using those un-hot moves because you didn't have any other hot moves to use against my scorching Pokémon."
"... Okay, Harry." There was no way that Ash was going to try and refute that statement. If he did, then Harry would probably challenge him to another battle or just get angry at him. He would probably react in a similar manner if he lost (which was more than proven with his losing streak against Sabrina's psychic Trainers), so... he really couldn't hold it against Harry either.
"Why did you use Paras, Ash?" Willow asked as she Anabel, Delia, and his parents made their way over. "Your Pidgeotto or Beedrill would've been better suited to face off against Magby..." Her Bulbasaur nudged her foot as she trailed off, bringing her attention down where she came to notice the somewhat hurt look on Paras' face, "I-I'm sorry, Paras. I didn't mean to say that you weren't good, because you really were, but..."
"I could have used Pidgeotto or Beedrill, but then I wouldn't have given Paras a chance to battle. With all that's happened recently, it's been a little hard to find battles where Paras can show everyone how amazing he really is." Ash answered, earning a grateful chitter from Paras.
"Paras certainly put on a good show." Anabel said with a small smile.
Ash looked down and grinned at his Pokémon, "Yeah. Me and Paras will have to watch out for Harry in the future, but we're looking forward to it. Right, buddy?"
Paras chittered in agreement, determination evident in his blue eyes. Next time, he would be much stronger and able to defeat Magby, or any of that black-haired Trainer's Pokémon. Even if those Pokémon were like Magby and held natural advantages over him and his type, he would do his best to get stronger than he was so that he would be able to beat them.
"Okay. I think that's enough excitement for today." Delia said as she and Jonathan approached the group of pre-teens with Ash's Deoxys sleeping comfortably in her arms. "I also think that it is time for us to follow little Deoxys' example and go to get something for us to eat."
In the following moments, the air became filled with the sound of several hungry stomachs growling. Jonathan and Delia shared small smiles as the group of pre-teen Pokémon Trainers looked down, embarrassed that they hadn't noticed that they were hungry.
Ash's Pokémon Team:
Eevee (Female): Level 28.
Attacks: Tackle (Normal), Sand Attack (Normal), Scratch (Normal), Tail-Whip (Normal), Helping Hand (Normal), Growl (Normal), Bite (Dark), Charm (Normal), Quick Attack (Normal), Covet (Normal), Take Down (Normal), and Quick Swim (Normal).
Pidgeotto (Male): Level 24.
Attacks: Sand Attack (Ground), Tackle (Normal), Gust (Flying), Peck (Flying), Whirlwind (Flying), and Twister (Dragon).
Rattata (Male): Level 23.
Attacks: Bite (Dark), Tackle (Normal), Quick Attack (Normal), Hyper Fang (Normal), Scratch (Normal), Pursuit (Dark), Quick Swim (Normal), and Sucker Punch (Dark).
Beedrill (Male): Level 22.
Attacks: String-Shot (Bug), Poison-Sting (Poison), Bug-Bite (Bug), Fury Attack (Normal), Pursuit (Dark,) Twineedle (Bug), and Rage (Normal).
Clefairy (Female): Level 19.
Attacks: Sing (Normal), Pound (Normal), Encore (Normal), Metronome (Normal), DoubleSlap (Normal), Defense Curl (Normal), Follow Me (Normal), and Bestow (Normal).
Paras (Male): Level 21.
Attacks: PoisonPowder (Poison), Stun Spore (Grass), Sleep Powder (Grass), Spore (Grass), Leech Life (Bug), and Fury Cutter (Bug).
Anabel's Pokémon Team:
Kadabra (Male): Level 27.
Attacks: Teleport (Psychic), Psyshock (Psychic), Confusion (Psychic), Psychic (Psychic), Disable (Normal), Miracle Eye (Psychic), and Ally Switch (Psychic).
Butterfree (Female): Level 22.
Attacks: Confusion (Psychic), Poisonpowder (Poison), Stun Spore (Grass), Harden (Bug), Sleep Powder (Grass), String Shot (Bug), Gust (Flying), and Supersonic (Normal).
Harry's Pokémon Team:
Charmeleon (Male): Level 25.
Attacks: Scratch (Normal), Growl (Normal), Ember (Fire), SmokeScreen (Normal), Dragon Rage (Dragon), Fire Fang (Fire), and Scary Face (Normal).
Magby (Female): Level 20.
Attacks: Smog (Poison), Leer (Normal), Ember (Fire), SmokeScreen (Normal), Faint Attack (Dark), Fire Spin (Fire), and Clear Smog (Poison).
Growlithe (Male): Level 15.
Attacks: Bite (Dark), Roar (Normal), Ember (Fire), Leer (Normal), Odor Sleuth (Normal), and Helping Hand (Normal).
A/N: Author's Note: And so closes Chapter 28 of Pokémon: Eevee Chronicles. We got a basic overview of what Kanto's government is planning on doing, got to see Ash give the files that will lead to Deoxys being registered as an official Pokémon, and met the final Trainer to receive a Starter Pokémon from Professor Oak: Harry Cinn! And he's quite the hot-head! ... *A cricket chirps only to be silenced by its peers*...
W-Well! I've read everyone's comments about the trip to Hoenn and I've decided what I'm going to do about it. So, while he will eventually go there, Ash will be staying in Kanto for a little while more. After all, he still has some Gym Leaders to challenge, Kanto Pokémon to train, the Kanto Pokémon League, and... Wait for it... a Movie-esque special that I will ask you guys about it the future.
Also, some people have left reviews and private messages about how "dark" this story is becoming with the involvement of Team Rocket. As they are a villainous organization (and that I try to be realistic as possible), well, they have to be. They're the first really major obstacle that the people in Kanto will have to overcome... if they can.
Now that that's over... please review.