Chapter Five.
NOTE: I Am saying now that this fic will be het, as in M/F when the pairing actually gets started (By the way, who should Ashley be with?
Summery: What if Ash had Been Ashley? Would anything have changed in the series? Find out!
Ever wander 'What if Ash had Been Ashley? Would anything have changed in the series?' well I have, and this is the answer I came up with.
Disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever, owned the rights to Pokemon or pocket monsters in any way, shape, or form. Please do not sue me, if you do, I think you should know that I do not have a diem to my name. I am also not affiliated with Nintendo, Gamefreak, or any other establishment. The only thing I own is my original content such as my OOC and such.
Note: Please remember my other user names: Yaoimutt, Dreamer531, and son.
Fuyutaro son: Fifth chapter. I'm great ain't I?
Pikachu: AHAHAHA Pihihihi! (can't stop laughing)
Fuyutaro son: Grrrrr! Hey! Stop that!
Pikachu: hahhahaha pihhihihihh haha (Is still laughing)
Fuyutaro son: phh, what ever, let's start the chapter.
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Ashley, Misty, and Pikachu were excited when they finally saw the end of the trees of the Viridian, hoping that they had finally reached Pewter city. When the saw that there were roof tops just on the other side of a large hill, they all immediate started jumping for joy. While Misty was happy for simply being out of the forest and away from the bugs, Ashley and Pikachu were both happy for a different reason.
Food.
They were both starving. They had traveled all day and wanted something to eat, and there just had to be a restaurant in Pewter city.
Ashley, Pikachu, and Misty both ran over the hill and stood on top of a massive rock to get a better look at the city.
"Yeay, Pewter city!" Misty said happily, glad to be out of the forest.
"Fw. For a while there, I thought I was going to be in this forest for the rest of my life." Ashley said as she sat down, causing Pikachu to sweat drop.
"Pewter city is gray. The color of stone. This town has always been famous for stone." a voice said, causing Ashley, Misty and Pikachu to look down, only to fined a strange man it a red snow cap standing below them.
"Huh? What the- who's this strange guy?" Ashley asked, turning her head and looking over at Misty to see if she knew.
"How am I supposed to know?" Misty asked, wandering how Ashley could possible expect her to know when this was her first time in the city as well.
"Name's Flint, and you're sitting on top of some of my merchandise, young man." Flint said, apparently thinking, like so many people before him, that Ashley was a boy.
"Hey! I happen to be a girl!" She said angrily, jumping up and pointing down at him in anger.
"What?! No way!" He exclaimed in shock, as Pikachu and Misty sweat dropped at the exchange.
"Yeah way you jerk! Wait-" She said, looking down at the rock she was standing on. "You mean, you sell rocks?" She asked in a confused voice.
"There Pewter city souvenirs, want to buy some?" Flint said, quickly getting over the shock of Ashley's gender. He had really thought she was a boy.
"No thanks." Misty and Ashley said in unison, causing flint to sweat drop. They didn't mean to sound rude, it was just that the thought of actually buying something they could pick up off the ground did seem like a very good idea to either of them.
"Sorry, but no thanks. We're traveling to become Pokemon trainers, we kind of need all the money we have. Then again, we are actually kind of broke." Ashley said, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. It was at this point that Pikachu went to sleep on a step that was leading down off of the hill and on to the side of the road where Flint was standing.
"Well, your Pokemon sure looks worn at, why don't you follow me? I'll show you to the Pokemon center." Flint said, standing up and heading off in the direction of the Pokemon center.
"See, looks can be deceiving, he's a nice guy." Ashley told Misty, not realizing that she was implying that he looked creepy.
"Are you sure?" Misty asked, not sure that they should trust him. He wasn't just a little creepy, he had the feel of someone that was hiding something.
"By the way." Flint said, looking back at them over his shoulder. "That will be a two dollar charge each for resting on my rocks." He said, causing them all to fall over in shock.
"Hehehe. I said we're broke, remember?" Ashley said, trying to laugh off the charge like it was a joke.
"Fine, I'll let you off, just this once. Now follow me." Flint said, turning back to the road head of him and walking off.
Pikachu, Ashley, and Misty all followed him, hoping that they would get to the Pokemon center soon. It didn't take them long to get there either.
When they got inside, Ashley and Misty immediately took their Pokemon up to the front desk and asked the woman at the front desk to heal them.
"Sure, right away Ashley." The woman said, causing Ashley to instantly look up at her.
"Huh? Nurse Joy?" she asked, shocked to see the same woman that had healed her Pokemon in Viridian city.
"Yes, I'm Nurse Joy." She said, smiling at her, already knowing what was going through the young Pokemon trainers head. She was used to it, a lot of new trainers had no idea that there were so many Nurse Joys in the world, and she always got of kick out of it when she got to be the one to tell them.
"But this isn't Viridian city, this is Pewter city.." Ashley said in a confused voice.
"The Joy in Viridian city is my little sister. I'm the older Joy. I've heard some nice things about you, very nice." She said, smiling at her as the confusion in her face seemed to grow.
'She'll get it eventually.' she thought still smiling.
"Ah... thank you." Ashley said, not really sure what she should say. It wasn't every day that you met people with such a strong family resemblance that it was nearly impossible to tell them apart.
"Well, if you're a Pokemon trainer, you might want to take a look at the poster over there." She said, nodding her head at the opposite wall before walking off to take care of Ashley and Misty's Pokemon.
"The Pokemon league regional championships, eh?" Ashley said as a smile came on to her face.
"To compete in the regional championships," Misty read, "A trainer must have beaten at least eight gym leaders and receive their badges as proof." She finished, thinking about it for a minute. "It sounds kind of hard, do you really think you can do it?" She asked, looking over at Ashley, who stood next to her.
"Of course we can do it!" Ashley said, causing Misty to jump in shock.
"What do you mean 'we can do it'?" She asked, hoping she had heard Ashley wrong.
"What do you think I meant? We're both trying to become Pokemon masters, and this is just perfect! We can both get badges and enter!" Ashley said excitedly, hugging Misty and jumping around in excitement.
"What? But I don't-" She started, only to be cut off by Ashley.
"It's ganna be great!" She said, dancing around like an idiot, only to stop when she heard Flint laughing at her.
"Hey!" Misty said, not liking the fact that someone was laughing at her and her friend. "What's so funny?"
"Don't tell me you plan on challenging Brock, the Pewter city gym leader?" He asked, walking over to them.
"Of course we do! As soon as all our Pokemon are better, we'll have no problem." Ashley said, glaring at the man as she once again included Misty in her statement.
"Hahaha. You two? Beat Brock? Hahaha." He said, laughing as he walked away from them.
After Flint left, Ashley was galled up her fists and made a silent promise that she would prove him wrong, even if it took her a life time to do.
"Grr... Let's get something to eat." Ashley said in annoyance, stomping off to the nearest restaurant.
When she and Misty had gotten their food and found a table, Misty decided it was time to vice her thoughts about facing a gym leader.
"Are you really sure we can win? I mean, Gym leaders are different from your everyday Pokemon trainers. They much, much tougher." She said, still not sure about weather or not she should enter the Pokemon championships, and not sure that Ashley cold actually win against a Pokemon leader.
"Come on! It will be easy, flint said it himself. Pewter city is famous for it's rocks, which means that the gym leader probably uses mostly rock Pokemon. You'll be able to beat him in a snap. The only problem is, I don't have any Pokemon that are strong against ground, or that ground is weak against. hm... That's going to be a tough one." Ashley said, already trying to formulate a plan.
She wasn't really sure what she was going to do, but she knew that it would be nearly impossible to beat rock Pokemon with the Pokemon she currently had.
"Hey, I know," Misty said. "You can use some of my Pokemon, everyone knows that rock Pokemon are weak against water."
"What? No way! I can't use your Pokemon." Ashley said, shaking her head at the very idea. It wasn't that she didn't like Misty's Pokemon, it was just that it would feel right to win something while using someone else's Pokemon.
"Hey! What's wrong with my Pokemon?" Misty asked, feeling slightly offended.
"It's not that I don't like your Pokemon, it's just that I want to win with my Pokemon. I know it's going to be hard, and I might need to do a bit of trainer, and catch some more Pokemon, but I still plan to do it with mine." Ashley said, taking a few bites of her food.
After the two finished eating, Ashley paid for the bill with the last of her money. Deciding now would be a good time to go sell the stuff she had found in the forest, she and Misty set out to find a shop that would buy them, it didn't take them long either. After only a few minutes of searching, they spotted a Pokemon Medicine shop, which they decided to check out. Once inside it, the quickly found the shop owner, who seemed more then willing to buy the items, seeing as they were rare medicinal herbs.
Ashley and Misty looked around in the shop for a few minutes, seeing what items they could find. As it turned out, it was a lot cheaper to buy Potions and Antidotes at the shop, then to buy them at a normal Pokemart, something both of them were happy to find out.
"If we get these here, we'll save a few pokes, which we can use to buy something else later." Misty said, astonished that the medicine was so much cheaper, and happy when she found out why.
"Hahaha! I lot of people say stuff like that when they first come here." The shop owner said, having over heard Misty's comment. "We can sell the stuff so cheep because we're the once that make it in the first place. Most of the shops in town get their Pokemon medicine from us, so they end up charging more for it to make a profit, while we can charge less." He said, smiling at them as he started putting new bottles of random Pokemon medicine on the shelves.
Ashley and Misty searched the shop for a few more minutes, finding a couple Paralyze Heal that they thought they should get, just in case.
After paying for six potions, seven antidotes, and three Paralyze Heals, Ashley was happy to find that she still hand enough to by more Pokeballs, which she thought she might need, seeing as she only had seven Pokeballs, five Air Balls, four Grass Balls, three Net Balls, one Ice Ball, and one Premium ball ball remaining. Which didn't seem that bad, but she wanted to have some more normal Pokeballs, wanting to save the others for times that she really needed them.
Thinking that she needed some Pokeballs as well, Misty agreed that they should get some. When they finally found the Pokemart, Ashley and Misty decided to buy the Pokeballs and get back to the Pokemon center, wanting to check up on their Pokemon and go to bed.
"Excuse me." Ashley said as she and Misty walked up to the check out counter.
"Yes?" Asked the woman standing behind it. The woman was short with closely cut short brown hair and glasses that were slightly to big for her face, and she had a kind look to her.
"We would like to buy some Pokeballs." Misty said, handing the lady her Trainer id so that she could scan the code into the Pokeballs. The trainer id code was what told the Pokeballs where to transfer to when a Pokemon was caught, so most Pokemarts and Pokeball shops scanned them in for you when you bought a Pokeball. if you ordered a Pokeball by mail, the place that you had ordered them from would usually call you to confirm your id number.
When the lady was done scanning Misty's trainer Id, she asked her how many Pokeballs she wanted.
"What kind do you have?" Misty asked, Wandering if they had any of the special Pokeballs she had seen Ashley use.
"Sorry, but all we carry are the standard Pokeballs." The lady said, shrugging at there in an apologetic manner.
"Um, I guess I'll take ten then." She said, a little disappointed that she wasn't going to be able to buy one of the cool looking ones that Ashley had. She would have to ask her about them later.
The lady behind the counter grabbed ten Pokeballs and set them on the counter, putting Misty's ID with them.
"Here you go." The lady said, handing the Pokeballs and the ID to her as she Paid for them. "And what will you have?" She asked, turning her attention to Ashley.
"Oh, here's my Pokedex." Ashley said, handing her Pokedex, which was also her ID, to the lady. "Um.. I'll take twenty Pokeballs please." She added, putting the money on the counter.
'That means I'll still have some money left over for some supplies later.' Ashley thought as the woman opened her Pokedex and pressed a few buttons.
When she came across the information about Ashley's name and gender, the woman looked from the Pokedex, to Ashley, and back again, repeating the process several times in surprise.
"What?" Ashley asked, confused about what the woman was looking at.
"Oh! Nothing, sorry." She replied, finishing up the scan and giving Ashley the Pokeballs and Pokedex. "Please come again." She added, trying to be polite to cover up her moment of rudeness.
Ashely and Misty looked at her for a second before the left the Pokemart, both wandering what the big deal was, but neither able to come up with anything to answer the question.
Once the were back inside the Pokemon center, they both walked over to the front desk where Pikachu was now taking a nap.
"He wasn't to much trouble, was he?" Ashley asked, picking up the Pokemon she was tempted to nickname 'the Fuzz master'.
"Not at all." Nurse Joy said, handing both her and Misty back their Pokeballs.
"Thanks, is it ok if we have our room now? We're both kind of tired." Misty said, sticking her Pokeballs on her Pokebelt as Ashley did the same.
Pokemon Centeres existed for a couple reasons. One was to heal injured or weakened Pokemon, and another reason was to act as a free hotel for Pokemon trainers to stay in. Pokemon trainers also used them as a gathering place to talk about new tips on training, or the latest scoops on where to find hard to get Pokemon.
"Sure, let me get you your key." Nurse Joy headed to the back room to get the key to the room for them.
After about a minute, she came back and handed the two the key, smiling at them as they headed for the room to turn in for the night. When they got into the rooms, Both of them undressed and got into night gowns.
Well, Misty got into a night gown and Ashley got into light green and yellow pajamas. After the both got washed up, they crawled into their beds and went to sleep.
It was around 7:05 am when it happened for the first time. Ashley had just turned over in her sleep when she suddenly got an electifing message. Get off.
"AH!" She screamed as she went flying onto the floor from the force of the Thundershock, causing Misty and Pikachu to wake up.
When they looked over at her on the floor, both of them sweat dropped.
Misty had sweat dropped because the scene was kind, and she didn't want to laugh at her friend.
Pikachu, on the other hand, sweat dropped because he knew that he was the reason that she was laying on the floor. While he had been dreaming, he had felt this strange pressure suddenly come over him and he had released a thundershock in order to try to get rid of it.
"Thanks for the wakeup call, Pikachu..." she said in a daze on the floor, looking a little extra crispy.
"Haha, I take it you rolled over on him, didn't you?" Misty asked, smiling at her from her position on the top bunk.
"Ug." Ashley replied, sitting up and dusting her self off, sad that her favorite pajamas were now ruined. "Great, now I have to buy new ones." She said sadly.
This statement caused Misty to instantly perk up for two reasons. One reason was that she had decided the moment she started traveling with Ashley that she was going to get her to actually look like a girl if it was the last thing she did. The second reason was a simple fundamental fact. She liked to shop.
"Cool! That means we can go shopping!" Misty said, jumping down from her bunk and getting dressed.
Ashley got dressed to with a smirk on her face, she had no intension of going shopping today, she had something else planned for the day instead.
Managing to get dressed first, Ashley told Misty that she was going to go ask Nurse joy something, and that she would wait for her at the front desk. So Ashley grabbed her bag and slung it over her shoulder as she walked out of the room with Pikachu following her closely behind.
When Ashley got to the front desk, she quickly got her plan in motion. She was planning to get Misty to battle Brock first, so that she could have more time to figure out what she was going to do for her own battle.
"Excuse me, Nurse Joy?" She asked, getting Nurse Joy's attention.
"Yes Ashley?" Nurse Joy said, smiling at her like she always did to Pokemon trainers.
"Can you tell me where the Pokemon gym is?"
"Why certainly. It's right down the street to the left, it's the building that looks like it was built out of a bunch of square boulders." She stated, pulling out a town map and handing it to her.
Ashley thanked her and took the map, looking at it closely. When she heard footsteps behind her, she turned around and gave Misty what had to be the worlds most evil smile.
"What?" Misty asked, very suspicious of her friends smile.
'She's up to something, and I have a feeling that I'm not going to like it.' she thought, looking at her friend through narrowed eyes.
Ashley simply grabbed Misty's arm and started dragging her to the door.
"Come on, The Pokemon Gym is this way. We don't want you to be late for your first gym match, now do we?" She said, still dragging her off with an evil smile.
"What do you mean, my match?!" Misty asked, struggling to get away, only to be ignored as Ashley dragged her off.
"Oh, come on! You know you want to do it! And with your water Pokemon, it will be easy!" Ashley said encouragingly.
"Well, I guess it would be easy..." Misty said, thinking about it for a few minutes before deciding that she did want to battle Brock. "Yeah! This will be easy!" She said, now walking along with Ashley willingly.
When they finally reached the gym, having gotten lost only once thanks to Misty's window shopping tendencies, Ashley was shocked to find that it really did look like it was made of nothing more then a bunch of square boulders.
"Huh. So this is the Pewter city gym, eh?" Ashley said, looking up at it. She hadn't expected it to be so big. The out side of it looked massive, like it was built to be a new mounted, but someone had turned it into a gym instead.
"Wow." Misty said, her nerves starting to creep up on her. She knew that the battle would be easy, but that didn't stop her from getting nervous, it was her first gym battle after all.
"Yeah." Ashley said, just as amazed by it as Misty. "Well, I guess we should go in." She added, walking toward the front door.
"Yeah, I guess."
And with that, the two girls entered the building. The inside of the gym was dark with all the lights turned off. Stepping further inside, the three of them, which included Pikachu, started looking around to see if anyone was there.
"Hello?" Ashley called, hoping it would get someones attention.
"Anybody there?" Misty shouted, also trying to get someones attention.
It was at this point that a light flickered on, illuminating a man sitting on a the top of a small stage, which was mostly covered in rocks.
"Who goes there?" He asked them, looking down at them.
The man was sitting with his legs crossed on the stage. He was wearing an orange shirt with a green vest, as well as brown pants. He had short spiky brown hair and dark skin, and his eyes looked looked like they were narrowed at Ashley and Misty, though they could tell that it was how they usually were. Not ask them how they knew that, they just did.
"My name is Misty, and I'm hear to challenge you!" Misty said, her bravery coming in to full swing. She might have been nervous, but when it came time to actually battle, she wasn't going to show her nerves to he opponent. She knew better then to do something like that.
"Is this your first gym match? This match is for Pokemon league authorization, there are special rules." Brock said in a superior voice. (A/N: I know, don't you hate these a/n? I do one or two every chapter, anyway, if you watch this episode, Brock really does say it like that, so don't worry, he will be the same old Brock, and he'll join them later.)
"Um? What do you mean by special rules?" Ashley asked before Misty could. She had no idea that there were special rules for a gym battle, maybe she should have payed more attention in school.
"We will both use only two Pokemon each, and Spectators will have to go to the upper level to watch." He said, pointing at some stairs in the far corner of the room.
Ashley and Pikachu walked over to the stairs, Only to be stopped by a question from Brock.
"You don't plan on challenging me too, do you?" He asked her.
"Yeah, why?" She asked, wandering why he had stopped them.
"How long have you been with that Pikachu?" He asked, completely ignoring her question.
"Um...about a week." She stated, a little annoyed that he had ignored her question.
"Yes, your Pikachu is in it's cutest stage." He said, causing Pikachu to smile and rub the back of his head happily. "It can't win." He said with a laugh, causing Pikachu to fall over.
"Firstly, if you want to be rude. Shut up. Secondly, my Pikachu is a lot stronger then he looks. And thirdly, He may be cute, but he still has more girls that love him then you do." She said, glaring daggers at him, causing him to hang his head.
She didn't know how right she was. Sure, he had a lot of sisters that loved him, but they didn't count. He was always trying to find a girlfriend, though he never managed it, and he especial liked all the Nurse Joys and Officer Jennys, who completely ignored him.
Ashley smirked as she and Pikachu walked up the stairs and into the rafters, happy that she had gotten the last word.
'If he wants to insult my Pikachu, then it's fair game to insult him.' she thought happily.
"OK Misty! Knock him dead!" She cheered, causing Misty to wave up at her, saying that she would beat him in no time flat.
"Since this is a official gym, I have to accept all challengers, so let's just get this over with." Brock said, snapping his fingers and causing the lights to turn on, lighting up the room.
When the girls got a good look at the room, they were shocked when they saw that the room was empty, but it didn't stay that way for long.
Misty had to run out of the way as giant doors on both sides of the gym opened up, and two massive terrain slabs were pushed into position. The new area was covered in sand, dirt, and massive boulders that were bigger then a human.
"Amazing." Ashley whipped, looking down in amazement at the gym floor "It's like a massive desert with sand and rocks." She stated. This confirmed her's and Misty's suspicions that Brock used rock Pokemon. The terrain was prefect for them. There were rocks and sand everywhere, so that the rock Pokemon would have a field advantage.
Misty was happy to see the new terrain for the same reason Ashley was. Rock Pokemon were weak against water Pokemon, that was just a fact.
Brock suddenly jumped down onto the field from the stage he had been sitting on, holding out a Pokeball in his right hand.
"Let the match begin!" He said, indicating that Misty should go first.
"Ok, in that case, Misty calls Staryu!" She said, throwing the Pokeball with her Staryu in it onto the field. The moment that Pokeball hit the ground, Staryu was released.
When Brock saw that she was using water Pokemon, he reevaluated his opinion of the battle. It wasn't going to be as easy as he thought it would be.
"Geodude, Go!" He called, sending out his first Pokemon. When his Pokeball hit the ground, a large rock with eyes, a mouth, and arms appeared, causing Ashley to emedietly go for her Pokedex.
"What the heck is that thing?" She asked, flipping open the Pokedex and scanning Geodude.
"Geodude, the Rock Pokemon. A Geodude's body is made almost completely out of living rock. It can harden it's body, making it impervious to most attacks. Most people may not notice, but there are always many Geodudes around, though they may be hard to find because they usually remain half buried in the ground while keeping an eye on travelers."
As her Pokedex clicked closed, Ashley turned her attention back to the battle, wandering how she was going to beat a rock Pokemon when all her Pokemon were weak against them.
"Staryu! Use water gun!" Misty shouted, sending her Staryu to attack.
"Geodude! Dodge it!" Brock fired back, ordering his Geodude to get out of the way of the attack.
Staryu moved forward and started spraying water at Geodude from the top of his head, missing as Geodude jumped out of the way.
"Don't let up Staryu! Keep giving him everything you got!" Misty said, cheering on her Staryu.
Brock just stood there, letting his Geodude keep dodging as he formulated a quick strategy. Finally coming up with a plan, Brock started shouting commands again. "Quick Geodude! Get away from it and bury yourself!" he shouted, causing Geodude to start dodging the attacks faster so that he could get away at the right moment.
Geodude jumped out of the way of another spray of water, jumping behind some rocks and burying himself in the dirt so that Staryu would simply zoom right by it. It worked.
"Now!" Brock shouted as he saw Misty's Staryu spin right past Geodude.
Geodude instantly jumped out of the ground and started punching at Staryu, sending the star shaped Pokemon flying into one of the boulders.
"Shake it off Staryu!" Misty shouted as Staryu spun around. "Us Water Gun!" She added, causing Staryu to start spraying at Geodude again.
This time, Geodude wasn't able to dodge the attack. He had been to close to Staryu to dodge it when it started, meaning that he got sprayed with a direct hit.
The single hit was enough to knock him out. Being a rock Pokemon meant that he was completely defenseless against water.
"Yeah! You did it Staryu! " Misty said jumping up and down in triumph.
"Return, Geodude!" Brock said returning his Geodude back to it's Pokeball. He quickly grabbed his only other Pokemon's Pokeball and throw it into the arena. "Sorry, but that Staryu of yours just ran out of time." He said as an Onix appeared out of the Pokeball.
It was huge.
The long snake like rock Pokemon was huge, it's head was as large as one of the massive boulders that littered the battle field, which were larger then a man. Like always, Ashley quickly opened her Pokedex and scanned it, wanting to know more.
"Onix, the Rock Snake Pokemon. Onix are said to be among the worlds largest rock Pokemon, able to reach lengths of over thirty feet. When it burrows into the ground, it causes a sound similar to thunder." It said, clicking off as Ashley closed it.
Ashley once again turned her attention back to the battle, seeing that nothing had happened yet.
"Onix, use tackle attack!" Brock shouted.
Onix tackled Staryu instantly, causing the much smaller Pokemon to get smashed into the ground.
"Staryu! No!" Misty said, calling it back into it's Pokeball after seeing that it was knocked out. After calling Staryu back into it's Pokeball, she instantly went for her strongest Pokemon. "Starmie! Go!" She shouted, tossing it's Pokeball onto the field, causing the Pokemon in question to appear.
"Still want to fight? This match is over. Onix! Mind it!" Brock shouted, causing the long snake like rock Pokemon to wrap itself around Starmie.
"No! Starmie!" Misty shouted as she watched the rock Pokemon wrap around her Pokemon and start squeezing it. "Starmie! Use Water Gun!" Misty shouted, hoping that the attack would cause Onix to release Starmie. It did.
The moment Starmie heard the attack, it started shooting as much water as it could at Onix, causing Onix to let out a howl of pain and release the Pokemon it had been trying to crush to death.
When Starmie was free, Misty ordered it to not let up the attack.
Starmie kept spraying the large rock Pokemon with water, causing it to thrash about wildly in pain. One of Onix's wild thrashes almost hit Starmie, missing only by a few inches and causing the Pokemon to jump back and restart it's attack.
When the second wave of water hit the rock Pokemon, Onix couldn't take it anymore and crashed to the ground unconscious. When Brock saw this, he returned Onix to it's Pokeball and walked over to where Misty was standing. Ashley ran down to where they were standing
"You won fair and square." He said, holding out a strange octagon shaped badge to her. "I award you the boulder badge." He said, handing the badge to her, only to see her get tackled by Ashley.
"You did it! You really won!" Ashley said, hugging her friend and jumping up and down with her.
Both of the girls were really happy. They had known that Misty was going to win, but it had gotten a little hairy when Onix had wrapped around Starmie. They both had been worried when that had happened, but they didn't have to be, because Misty had figured out a way out of the situation.
Brock stared at the two for a few minutes before he began to speak Ashley.
"I'm sorry, but our battle is going to have to wait until tomorrow." He said, turning around and walking away from them.
Several hours later, after Ashley and Misty were done celebrating by Misty forcible dragging Ashley off to go shopping, which cost Ashley all of the money she was planning to use on supplies, they were both sitting in the room they had gotten at the Pokemon center while playing cards and talking, with Ashley sitting in a new outfit that Misty was forcing her to wear.
Ashley was now wearing a new tank top that Misty had forced her to wear instead of the black shirt she loved so much, she was also wearing a new pair of blue jeans that fit her much better, though she still had her jacket and cap because she had fought tooth and nail to keep them.
"So, what are you planning to do about your match tomorrow?" Misty asked as she and Ashley both pulled seven cards off of the tops of their decks.
Ashley barely heard the question, thinking about the very same thing that had just been asked of her.
She had no idea what to do.. Even after watching the battle, she could think of anything she could do about her match. She could always go out and try to catch a rock Pokemon, but they were incredibly hard to find and there was no way she would be able to find one in time. She was stuck. There was nothing she could do.
"I don't know." She said, picking up her cards and finding that she had gotten three all normal and electric Pokemon in her hand, which mirrored her current situation. The only Pokemon she currently had, were normal types, flying types, poison types, and an electric type. Not exactly the best Pokemon to use against rock Pokemon.
"Hm... I'll play a Geodude." Misty said, putting the card down, and looking at her friend for a few moments, only to see Pikachu and Ashley both sweat drop at her action. "What?" She asked, not realizing that she had just added to her friends problems by playing one of the same Pokemon that Ashley was having trouble trying to figure out how to beat.
"I'm sorry, I don't really feel like playing." Ashley said, putting her cards back on top of her deck and getting up. "I think I'm going to go for a walk." She said, putting her shoes on and heading for the door.
"Wait, let me come with you." Misty said, getting dressed as fast as she could. "Maybe we can come up with something you can do to beat Brock." She said, walking over to her.
Pikachu jumped up from his position on the bed as Ashley reached over and grabbed her bag, not wanting to leave her Pokeballs behind. Prof. Oak always said that you should always be prepared, you never knew when a new Pokemon would show up.
As Ashley, Misty, and Pikachu exited the Pokemon center, they came face to face with flint.
They group simply stared at each other for a few moments as Flint slowly started to realize that they were the same group from before. He had been sure that Ashley was a guy, but had now changed that thought, seeing the new close she was wearing. After he finally got over his shock, he began speacking.
"Follow me." H said, turning around and walking away.
The two girls looked at each other for a minute before they started following him, not sure about what he wanted to show them.
Once they finally reached a house with a large fence around it, flint told them to be quiet and had them follow him around back. Once they reached the back of the house, Flint finally told them why he had brought them there.
"I want you to see something, so that you can understand Brock more." Flint said as he got on top of a large trashcan. "Come on, it's big enough that we can all stand on it." He told them, indicating that he wanted them to look into the house as well.
They both stared at him for a moment before the finally agreed. As they climbed onto the trashcan, Pikachu jumped up onto Ashley's shoulder so that she could see whatever it was that flint wanted to show them to.
Ashley, Misty, and Pikachu were shocked at what the saw when they looked over the fence. The house on the other side was small, but full of children. Ten children to be exact. There was also a man in an apron cutting some vegetables at a counted. Suddenly, one of the little children ran up to him, a little girl that was crying about her skirt. Apparently, she had ripped it some how. When they saw the man in an apron turn around to sow up the girls skirt, they were shocked to see that it was Brock.
They watched him for a few more minutes before jumping down from the trashcans, malling over what they had just seen.
"Wow, I never thought of Brock like that." Ashley said, feeling kind of bad for the guy.
"So, Brock takes care of all those kids? All by himself?" Misty asked, looking at Flint.
"Brock has ten little brothers and sisters to take care of, so he could never leave town for regional championships." Flint said, leading them away from the house and back toward the Pokemon center.
"What about his parents?" Ashley asked, causing Misty to hit the top of her head with her fist.
"Obviously they aren't around." She said, embarrassed that her friend had asked such a stupid question.
"Yeah, his good for nothing father left to become a Pokemon trainer, and he heard from him again. Brock's heart broken mother tried to hold things together, but sadly she past away. Brock's the only one his little brothers and sisters have left." Flint said sadly.
"I better not listen to any more, or I might not have the heart to beat him tomorrow." Ashley said, looking off into the distance ash she continued walking. It was a really sad story, and she didn't want to hear any more.
"Huh? I thought you weren't going to battle Brock, didn't you loose a match with him earlier today?" Flint asked, slightly confused.
"Huh? No, I haven't battled with Brock yet." Ashley said, looking over at him.
"Huh? But I thought-" He started, only for Misty to cut him off.
"I had a battle with Brock today, and I won, see." She told him, holding out the badge she had won so that he could see it.
"You beat Brock?" He asked in astonishment. He hadn't expect for either of them to beat him, so he was kind of shocked to find that one of them already did. "How?" He asked, looking at her.
"Oh, I'm trying to become a water Pokemon master, so I use pretty much only water Pokemon." She said happily.
"Oh, and you? Do you have any water Pokemon." He asked, turning his attention to Ashley.
Ashley hung her head at the question. "No, I don't. It's kind of why we are walking around tonight, we're trying to think of a way for me to beat Brock. I don't have any Pokemon that are strong against rock Pokemon." She answered, looking back up at him in misery.
Flint thought about her statement for a minute before he finally thought of a way to help her. "Wait, that's your Pikachu, right?" He asked, looking down at her Pikachu.
"Yeah, why?" She asked, not understanding his question, there was no way Pikachu could ever beat that Onix, he might be able to beat the Geodude, but that was about it.
"Hm... I might know a way that you can beat Brock." He said, walking off in a new direction, one that lead away from the Pokemon center. "Follow me." He added.
Pikachu and the girls followed Flint as he led them to another part of the city. When they finally reached where he was leading them, they were shocked to find that he had led them to a dried up river with a strange watermill at the edge of the river.
"What is this place?" Ashley and Misty asked in unison, looking around at the strange watermill while Pikachu peaked over the edge of the riverbank.
"It's a hydroelectric plant. The river turns the-" He started, only to be cut off by Misty.
"Hey, the rivers dried up." Misty said, looking over the edge of the riverbank with Pikachu.
"Yeah, I can see the bottom of it, there's only an inch of water in it." Ashley said, joining them in their staring.
"Yeah, it dies up during the dry season." He sold them. " But, like I was saying, the river-" He started only to realize that he was being ignored.
'Dry season? I bet you can catch a whole bunch of Pokemon when it's- That's it!' Ashley thought excitedly. She had just figured out a way to beat Brock, though it was still a long shot.
"Hay Flint, How often is this river full?" she asked, looking at the sandy and rocky river bottom, hoping that she was right.
"About eight to nine months of the year, but it drys up every summer. There is still about an inch of water at the bottom because we just hit the dry season. So I don't think it will be any help to you. Then again, I have an idea that could help you beat Brock." Flint said, thinking about the watermill that he had brought them to see.
Ashley ignored the comment, thinking about the facts she had just heard.
'If the river is full for eight to nine months out of the year, then there might be some down there.' she thought, rubbing at her chin ash she looked down into the sandy bottom of the river.
"Flint, when the river is full, can you catch any Pokemon in it?" She asked turning her head to him.
"Ashley, even if they did, how would that help you now? The rivers dried up." Misty said, completely confused as to why she wanted to know stuff that wouldn't help them now.
"Your friends right, I don't see how the information would be able to help you now, the river's dried up." He started, pointing over at the watermill. He really wanted to help her, but it was starting to look like it would take forever before she would finally follow her. Not only that, but he also could understand why she wanted to know so much about a river that was dried up. "But if you follow me, I think I can-" He said, only to get cut off by Ashley.
"I know it's dried up, but I still needed to know. Does anyone ever catch Pokemon in this river when it's full?" She asked again, cutting him off. She was really getting tired of people pointing out to her that the river was empty. It was really starting to drive her crazy.
"Fine." He said, finally resigned himself to the fact that he would have to play twenty questions before he could tell them about the watermill. "When the river is full," He started, emphasizing the word full. "People do catch Pokemon, though it's mostly just Magikarp." He finished, hoping that it would end her questioning. It didn't.
"Do people ever catch any Shellder in it?" She asked him, still hoping she would have a chance to catch one.
'I remember reading somewhere that when Shellder live in places that dry up, they borrow deep into the sand and hibernate. If the river just dried up, then there might be some close to the surface of the sand, since there is still and inch of water.' she thought, hoping that Shellder were in the river and that she would be able to fine one.
"Oh! I get it!" Misty said, finally catching on to her friends train of thought. If the river was wet for most of the year, a Shellder could sleep for a couple of months to survive the dry season, which meant that there would still be Shellder in the river bed if they were their when the river was full.
"Yeah, rarely, why do you ask?" Flint asked, looking between the two of them. He had no idea what was going on, and now the red head was starting to act weird as well.
'Must be a girl thing.' he thought, shaking his head.
"Come on Pikachu, we have us some Shellder to dig up!" She said, jumping down into the riverbed, getting the hem of her new jeans all muddy.
Misty jumped down to, and started searching as well, digging through the mud and trying to find a Shellder.
"What? But the river's dried up, there aren't any Shellder in it right now." Flint said, looking down at them with a confused look on his face.
"Yeah there are." Ashley said, moving the dirt, mud, sand, and water as she searched. "Shellder that live in places that dry up every year burrow under riverbeds and sleep so that they can survive the dry season." Ashley said, still searching.
"And if there is still a little water in the riverbed, then the Shellders will be near the surface, trying to absorb as much water as they can." Misty added, erasing the look of confusion on Flint's face.
Pikachu was searching as well, trying to find anything he could, they he only managed to find a few fresh water clams, which didn't really help any.
"So if you really want to help, get down here and start looking." Ashley said, pausing to smile up at him.
It was at that moment that she had mud squirted right in her face.
"Plq! Ack!" She said, spitting out some mud that had gotten into her mouth, causing everyone to look at her.
"Did you hit an air pocket?" Misty asked, before her and Ashley realized what the mud meant.
A Shellder.
"Ashley!" Misty said, running over to her, not realizing that Ashley knew what it meant.
"I know!" Ashley shouted, digging in the bud where the shot of mud had been as fast as she could.
When she finally hit something solid, she did something very stupid.
She grabbed it with her hands.
The moment her hand grabbed onto the solid object, it instantly clamped closed on her right hand as hard as it could, causing her to call out in pain.
"AH!" She shouted, pulling on her hand as hard as she could.
Misty came over and grabbed her from behind, pulling her in order to try and help her. After a few tugs, Flint jumped down and did the same, helping them pull Ashley's hand, as well as what ever was currently clamped down on it, out of the muddy river bottom. They each braised them selves before giving one last tug with all their combined strengths. There was a sudden squelching sound as the large object that was clamped on to the end of Ashley arm was yanked from the river, revealing a very muddy Shellder.
When everyone let go of her to look at the Shellder clamped on her arms, Ashley jumped up and started dancing around in paint, waving her arm franticly.
"Get it off! Get it off!" She cried over and over again, trying to dislodge it by shaking her arm as hard as she could. It didn't work.
"Freeze!" A vary familiar female voice said, shining a flashlight at them. The womans face was impossible to see thanks to the flashlight she was shining on them, but they could tell that she was crouched and aiming at them with a gun. They could also tell that she was wearing an officer's uniform.
When the woman with the Flashlight saw what was going on, she slowly straightens up and lowered her gun. "What in the world?" She said, jumping down into the riverbed.
Ashley was still jumping around in pain with the very muddy Shellder clamped onto her arm, when Misty realized who it was that had yelled freeze.
"Oh, officer Jenny!" She said, still trying to get Ashley to stay still so that she could get the Shellder off of her arm.
"What's going on here?" Officer Jenny asked, looking from one to the other.
"Oh, we came down here to catch a Shellder, but it kind of caught us." Misty said while Ashley kept yelling in pain, screaming 'Get it off! Get it off!' over and over again.
"How did you manage to find a Shellder during the dry season? I thought they all left when the river dried up." She asked, stopping when she saw Flint. "Flint? What are you doing down here?"
"I was trying to help them with their Pokemon, but it seems like they knew a little something about Pokemon that I don't." He answered her, with a slight laugh in his statement.
The edges of Officer Jenny's mouth twiched a few times before she turned back to the girl with the Shellder on her arm.
"So? The Shellder?" She asked again, watching in amusment as the girl continued jumping around in pain.
"Oh, that. Shellders borrow under riverbeds when dry seasons hit, if you dig for them, sometimes you'll get lucky and find one." Misty answered. It was at this moment that the Shellder finally let go of Ashley's arm, flying off and hitting the side of the river bank in the process.
"Now Pikachu!" Ashley shouted, causing everyone to suddenly get a horrified look on their faces.
"No!" They shouted, but they were to late. Pikachu already started to release it's thundershock.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu shouted as the Electrical bolt left it's body and hit the Shellder, causing everyone in the area to get shocked.
"Water conducts electricity..." they all said, laying on the ground as stars floated in front of their eyes.
"I forgot..." Ashley said, laying on the ground as well, after a few seconds, she quickly got up and started searching for the Shellder again, only to find that it was knocked out right where it had been when Pikachu had attacked it.
"Pokeball! Go!" She shouted, throwing a Pokeball.
When Shellder was absorbed into the Pokeball, all of them held their breaths, wandering if it was going to get free or not.
The Pokeball shook and beeped for several minutes before it finally stopped. As Ashley walked over to the Pokeball, it disappeared in a white-blue light, causing her to sweat drop.
"I forgot that about that." She said, straightening up and looking over at the others.
"Officer Jenny? Why aren't you in Viridian city?" Ashley asked in shock, having only just realized she was there. She had been in to much pain earlier to pay attention to what was going on.
"There is an Officer Jenny in most towns and cities. Don't you know that?" Flint said, answering her.
"Yeah, the officer in Viridian city is my cousin." Officer Jenny said, smiling at her as she put her gun away.
"Yeah, Just like the Joys. There are also Nurse Joys in most towns and cities as well." Misty said.
"Oh. OK..." Ashley said, wandering how it was possible for so many relatives to look so much alike.
"Now, can you tell me what's going on?" Officer Jenny asked, looking at the three of them as Pikachu ran over and crawled on Ashley's legs and back and got onto her shoulder.
After they explained everything to Officer Jenny, the girls and Pikachu all headed back to the Pokemon center. Misty had forced ash to clean the new clothes she had gotten muddy before they went to bed, when they finally got into bed, they both instantly fell asleep.
The next morning, both of them got ready and headed for the main lobby. That morning Pikachu hadn't shocked Ashley, but it was safe to say that it may happen again in the future, so Ashley happy about her day off from her 'electric alarm clock'.
When they entered the lobby, Ashley and Misty immediately went over to the Pokemon transporter and called Prof. Oak. It took several rings before Prof Oak finally picked up.
"Hello?" he asked,wandering who was calling him. When he realized that it was Ashley, he couldn't believe his eyes. "You changed your wardrobe!" He said in surprise. "Your mother will be so happy that you are finally dressing like a girl instead of a guy." He added, smiling at her through the camera.
Ashley was horrified at the prospect of her mother finding out about that she had changed some of her clothes. She really hated when her mom gushed over her, and it was a sure to make her do just that.
"Ga! No! Don't tell my mom! Come on, you owe me, don't you? Remember! I won that bet for you, the one you had with Gary! Please don't tell her! I can't stand it when she gushes!" Ashley said franticly, trying to convince him not to tell her mom. It worked.
"Fine, fine, I wont tell her." He said, calming the girl down instantly. "So, why are you calling?" He asked, wandering what it was she could possible want.
"I was wandering if I could trade my Rattata out for the Shellder I sent you last night." She said, putting her Rattata's Pokeball on the transport pad.
"Oh, yes. I must say that I was quite surprised to see a Shellder in your inbox. It took me by surprise because there are nor rivers in the area your at right now. So the only way you could have gotten it was to dig through the mud, and I wasn't aware that you knew to do that." He said, with a smile on his face, apparently very proud of the fact that she had known that much about Shellders .
"Haha, yeah. I remembered reading about it in a magazine somewhere." She said, rubbing the back of her head as Prof. Oak went and got the Pokeball with Shellder in it.
"Oh, that explains it. You were always reading those things in class. Ah! Here were are." He said, coming back on screen with the Pokeball. "Ok, you know what to do." he said, placing the Pokeball on the transport pad.
Ashley and Prof. Oak both pressed a button, causing the Pokeballs to instantly switch places.
"There, all done." He said, looking back at the screen, only to pause when he noticed Misty. "And who might this be?" He asked politely.
"I'm Misty. Nice to meet you." She said, waving at the screen.
"Yeah,. Me and Misty are traveling together." She explained causing Prof. Oak to smile at them.
"That's good. It's always nice to see new friendships form." He said, smiling at them. "sorry ladies, but I have to go, there is a Arbok acting strange. Goodbye." He said, turning the screen off.
"Oh." Misty said, looking at Ashley. "so that was the famous Prof. Oak."
"Yep, that was him." Ashley said, picking of the Pokeball with Shellder in it and heading for the front doors.
By the time the three of them had finally reached the Pewter city gym, Ashley had already decided that she would first use Pikachu to prove Brock statement about that Pikachu was weak wrong, and then she would go with Shellder to actually win the battle.
As they walked in to the gym, they group couldn't help it when a feeling of deja vu washed over them. The place was dark, and the lights were out, but a light suddenly flickered on in the same place when they were far enough into the room, illuminating Brock as he sat on the stage in the same spot as before.
"Are you ready for our battle?" He asked as Misty hurried over to the stares and went out onto the balcony.
"Ready when you are!" Ashley shouted back, waiting for the battle terrain to be moved back onto the floor. It didn't take long either.
When the field was ready, Brock jumped down onto the floor and started speaking again.
"This is a gym battle! Both opponents are only aloud two Pokemon each, only the trainer may switch out her Pokemon- wait." Brock said, taking another look at Ashley. "Are you really the same guy as before?" He asked, confused about the sudden change in her wardrobe.
"Yeah, it's me. Now let's just get this battle started." She replied, a little annoyed at the comment.
"Oh. As I was saying, Only the trainer may switch out her Pokemon at will." He finished, grabbing the Pokeball with his fully healed Geodude in it. "Go Geodude!" he added, throwing the Pokeball into the arena, causing Geodude to appear.
"Alright Pikachu, let's go!" Ashley shouted as Pikachu ran onto the field.
"Ashley, what are you thinking?!" Misty hissed from the balcony, knowing that no one would hear her.
"Sending in an electric Pokemon? I feel sorry for your Pokemon, having such a weak trainer." Brock said, causing both Ashley and Pikachu to get angry.
"Alright Pikachu! Show him just how weak we are!" she shouted, pointing out over the field.
Pikachu had been storing up his electricity that entire morning, building it all up into one huge volt, waiting for the right moment to release it. When Ashley shouted for him to show Brock just how weak they were, he did just that.
Pikachu released the massive thunderbolt and sent it flying at Geodude, frying the rock Pokemon instantly.
Brock stared in shock at Pikachu as he called the now unconscious rock Pokemon back into his Pokeball.
"Your Pikachu is a lot stronger then I thought, but it is still no match for Onix!" Brock shouted the last word as he sent Onix out onto the field, the large snake like rock Pokemon filling up the stadium once again.
"Pikachu! Return!" Ashley called, making Pikachu run back to her said. "Shellder! I choose you!" She added, throwing the Pokeball with her newly caught Shellder in it.
When Shellder came out of the Pokeball and looked around, it was horrified to see a giant snake made of rocks standing in front of it.
"SHELLDER!" It shouted, hopping away from the rock Pokemon and trying to hide.
This action caused everyone in the gym to sweat drop, and in Misty's case, put her hand to her forehead and wander how Ashley was going to get through the battle.
"Oh No..." She whispered. She couldn't believe it, most Shellder would just start using water gun on the Onix, but this one had run away.
Feeling like she wasn't alone, Misty started looking around her, only to find all of Brock's brothers and sisters sitting around her.
"Shellder! Don't just stand there! Use water gun on it!" Ashley called, only to have Shellder shack herself at him, which was the same as shaking her head no.
"What? Why not?"
"Shellder!" Shellder said, causing Ashley to nearly fall over.
"does that mean you don't know water gun?" Ashley asked, hoping she was wrong.
"Shellder!" it replied, shaking it's head at her.
"But you hit me with that mud before! Remember?" She asked it, trying to figure out what was going on.
"If you are finished arguing with your Pokemon, we have a match to continue." Brock said, trying to get Ashley to do something. He would give her three more minutes, if she didn't make a move by then, he would.
In reply to Ashley's question, Shellder simply picked up a rock with it's mouth, and spit it out at her.
"You mean you gust spit it at me? Great!" She said sarcastically.
It was at that moment that Misty remembered an interesting fact about Shellder, one that she had forgotten completely.
It's can't use Water Gun.
"Um? Ashley!" Misty called down to her, wanting to tell her the information.
"Huh? What?" Ashley yelled back while ignoring Brock. As long as he wasn't attacking, she could take some time and figure out what to do.
"I just remembered, Shellder is one of the only water Pokemon that can't use Water Gun, apart from Magikarp I mean." She said, causing Ashley's jaw to drop.
She had ended up with a severely bruised hand after catching Shellder the night before, and now she had just found out that it was pointless.
"Great." she said sarcastically, turning back to the match.
'What can Shellder do. What can Shellder do. Come on, think.' she thought, unable to come up with anything.
Brock was getting impatient, and when the three minutes were up, he attacked.
"Alright, if you're not going to attack, I will! Onix, tackle it!" He shouted, causing Onix to dive at the small none-Water Gun-using Pokemon.
When Onix hit Shellder, the poor little clam like Pokemon was knocked out almost instantly, causing Ashley to quickly return it to it's Pokeball.
"Ok Pikachu, your up again, give it all you got!" She said, sending Pikachu back out onto the field.
"Pikachu again? Fine. Onix, use bind!" Brock shouted.
Onix dove for Pikachu, only to miss as Pikachu jumped out of the way.
"Pikachu, go for it's eyes!" Ashley said, knowing that eyes were mostly water, so if Pikachu electrocuted them, it would do a lot of damage.
Pikachu started running up the side of the long snake like rock Pokemon, heading for it's face. Onix, not one to let someone attack him, quickly shifted his his body a little, causing Pikachu to fall off of him. Onix immediately caught the electric mouse in mid air and started to squeeze, using bind on him.
"Pikachu! No!" Ashley shouted, worried for her Pokemon.
It was at this moment that Pikachu let out a strong thundershock, trying to electrocute the long rock Pokemon. While the attack failed to harm Onix, it did manage to turn the sprinklers on, causing the rock Pokemon to wail in pain.
"GUWA!" It shouted, releasing Pikachu and thrashing around in pain and agony.
"Ashley! Don't just stand there! Rock Pokemon are weakened by water!" Misty shouted.
"huh?" Ashley said, looking up at her before she finally got it."Right!" She shouted, turning her attention back to the battle. "Pikachu!" She shouted.
Pikachu didn't wait for the command, already knowing what to do. He quickly released all the electricity he could manage. Onix called out in pain before it finally collapsed to the floor. Ashley was about to tell Pikachu to finish it off when she suddenly stopped, feeling several little hands grabbing on to her.
Looking around to see who was grabbing her, she was shocked to see that it was Brock's little brothers and sisters. This fact caused Misty to look around as well, shocked to find that the kids had all managed to disappear from around her without being seen.
"You leave Onix alone! My brother worked hard to raise him you big bully!" One of the kids said, trying to keep her from hurting Brock's Pokemon.
"Believe me kid, I'm no bully!" Ashley said, trying to pry the kids off of her, but failing misserably.
"Stop it! All of you! This is an official match and we are going to finish it no matter what." Brock said, causing his siblings to give him their best puppy dog eyes they could muster.
"But Brock! We know that you love your Pokemon so much!" A little girl shouted, holding on to her left arm.
"That's why we can't watch Onix suffer from another attack!" A boy shouted, this one one her right arm.
While Brock was used to the puppy dog eyes and could handle them, Ashley wasn't and decided to just forfeit the match and get her first badge somewhere else.
"Pikachu, return!" She said, causing Pikachu to look at her oddly for a minute before running over to her.
"What do you think your doing? This match isn't over yet." Brock said.
"Yes it is." Ashley said, lowering the kids to the ground and getting them off of her. "I don't want to win because of some sprinklers, next to we fight, I'll win on my own, fair and square." She said, turning around and walking out of the gym.
Misty sighed heavily as she ran down the stairs and followed her friend out the door.
'Great, she nearly wins and she decides to play miss nice guy.' she thought, hanging her head as she caught up with Ashley.
When the two girls were out side, Ashley decided that it was time for them to leave the town and head on to the next one, not wanting to stay around to long. If she did that, they she would start to regret not finishing the battle with Brock, and she really didn't want that to happen.
"Come on, let's go." She said, heading out of the town and down the road through the forest.
"What? We're leaving?" Misty asked, shocked that her friend had given up the battle that quickly.
"Yeah, we have everything with us don't we? So let's go." She said, not stopping as she answered.
"Well... I guess so." Misty said, she was kind of sad that Ashley hadn't been able to get a badge, but she knew she was right. It was time to leave.
"Hey! Hey! Wait up!" Brock shouted from behind them, running toward them as fast as he could.
"Huh?" Ashley asked, looking at the man as he tried to catch his breath.
"Brock?" Misty said, wandering why he was here as well.
"Ashley, you forgot this." Brock said, holding out a Boulder badge and handing it to her.
"What? I can't except this, I didn't beat you, I forfeit the match, remember?" She said, trying to hand the badge back to him, which he refused to take.
"Nah, I lost to you. You beat me, in battle and in being kind to all Pokemon." He told her. "To tell you the truth, I get more pleasure from raising Pokemon, then from making them battle. I don't care about becoming a great Pokemon trainer, I want to become the worlds best breeder, but I can't leave here, because I have to look after my brothers and sisters. Ashley, I want you to go fulfill your dream, it's something I will never get the chance to do. With you do that for me?" He asked, finishing his long speech.
"I will, and I'll do my best to deserve this badge too." Ashley said. She was a sucker for emotional speeches, so she didn't feel like she would be able to tell him to take the badge back after that.
Flint suddenly appeared out of nowhere, coming up to them before he begun to speaking.
"Brock, you go follow your own dreams." He said, giving Brock a serious look.
"Flint!" Ashley said, wandering why he was there.
"What are you doing here?" Misty asked, practically reading Ashley's mind.
It was at this point that Flint took off the fake beard and the red snow cap.
"My father." Brock stated, causing Ashley, Misty, and Pikachu to look back and forth between Brock and Flint, astonished at the family resemblance.
"Huh? You mean you're the good for nothing father that left and never came back?" Ashley asked, using the same words Flint had the night before.
"That's right, it was me. I couldn't become the great Pokemon trainer I wanted to, and because I was such a failure I was to embarrassed and ashamed to go back to my family." He said, looking at them with a sad look on his face. "It's time I started taking care of our family. Your go fulfill your dreams, and mine." He told Brock, handing him a backpack full of random stuff.
"First, there are some things I need to tell you." Brock said, giving Flint his own serious look.
After all these years I understand how you must feel about me," Flint started while Brock stated diggin something out of his pockets. "so I understand how you must feel about this, so I want you to get everything off your chest." He said.
"Here." Brock said, surprising Flint as he handed him a needle and thread. "Suzy always rips her dresses so you better learn how to sow, and Timmy only eats cold spaghetti for breakfast, Tommy Likes corn flakes for dinner, and-" Brock said in one breath while Flint started writing as fast as he could.
"Slow down! Slow down! I can't write that fast!" Flint said, trying to keep up with his son.
"Cindy sleep walks so you have to tie a bell on her wrists, and the twins never want to take a bath so you have-"
Brock continued on like this until the sun started to set, trying to tell hist father everything he could before he left. After he was done telling his father all that he could, he went and said his goodbyes to his brothers an sisters before leaving.
Brock, Ashley, Misty, and Pikachu were now walking toward the the edge of the city, talking to one another.
"Hey, guys, are you really sure it's alright for me to join you on your Pokemon journey?" He asked the two girls.
"Sure were sure." Misty said, smiling at him.
"The more the merrier !" Ashley said as Pikachu jumped up happily, displaying how happy he was.
"Thanks." He said as the reached the edge of the city.
Brock turned around and looked at the city he had called home all his life, wandering how much would change while he was gone. After a few moments, he took one last look before turning around and taking his first steps on his own Pokemon journey.
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Fuyutaro son: Firstly, I think that I should point out that every time I went to type 'Shellder clamped on her arm' or something like that, I would end up writing 'Clamperl on her arm'. Don't ask me why, it probably has something to do with the fact that Shellder is a clam, and it was clamped on Ashley's arm, making it Clamperl in my head. XD
Fuyutaro son: Secondly, I would like to point out that this is my longest chapter ever, it's well over 10,000 words on its own. Come on, give me some props, it was fun to write, and it only took me a day, not to mention, it is the first chapter where their were MAJOR differences from the anime series. Is it great :D. I promise that the story will stay with the main storyline of the series, but it is going to become more and more of it's on thing.
Fuyutaro son: Thirdly, am I the only one that thinks that Giovanni actually stole the cloning technology from the Officer Jennys and the Nurse Joys? No, I do not plan to put something like that in this fic, it was just something that popped up into my head while watching this episode.
Pikachu: Pikachu!
Fuyutaro son: Pikachu said to READ AND REVIEW!
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