Pokemon: Pokemon master!

by Fuyutaro son

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. Warning: Ash is a girl in this fic, if there ever is a pairing, it will be M/F, Please don't read if you don't like it

8. One foggy day

Chapter Eight

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: 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 Fuyutaro son.

Fuyutaro son: I want you people to understand something. I hate, with a passion, episode 8-12 (minus episode 9, I actually like that one a little). I think they suck. They have no real story to them, no real plot. So I decided to combine them into this one chapter. It also meant that the story wouldn't become 1,000,000 words by the time it's over, because that's what it looks like is going to happen if I keep making every other chapter 12,000 words. So I decided to cut back on some of the episodes, namely, the ones I REALLY don't like or episodes you guys tell me to skip.

(Some episode will be completely deleted. Like the episode where Misty caught Poliwag. It now has no point seeing as she already caught one. The school of hard knocks episode will be in the series, it's just going to come at a later date as I couldn't figure out how to work it into the story without it being the exact same.

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Ashley and the gang had been traveling for the past three days through a thick forest. They had gotten lost thanks to Ashley's many shortcuts, something that was starting to drive Brock, Misty, and Pikachu crazy.

"Don't tell me you got us lost again!" Misty exclaimed, trying very hard not to strangle the raven haired girl who's neck was now in her hands.

"We're not lost, we're- right where we're supposed to be." Ashley said in a panicked voice as she tried to pry Misty's hands off of her.

"And where is that? Huh?! Can you tell me that miss know it all?!" She demanded, shacking Ashley around like a rag doll.

"Pikachu help!" Ashley yelled, starting to understand how a maraca felt.

"Come on Misty, it's not that bad. I'm sure we can find a way out of here if we just figure out where we are on the map." Brock said, trying to calm the fiery red head.

Pikachu was starting to get really tired of being ignored. For the past few minutes he had been trying to get the others to look at the giant wall of fog that seemed to be moving their way. It wasn't until the fog was almost right on them that Pikachu finally lost his temper.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu yelled, sending a large thundershock at Ashley and Misty, causing Misty to let go of Ashley as they were both knocked to the ground in a daze.

"Thanks a lot Pikachu." The girls said in unison, both expelling a small amount of smoke from their lungs while their limbs twitched convulsively.

"Pikachu, why did you do that?" Ashley asked angrily as she got up from her position on the ground.

"Pikachu!" (Translation: That's why!) Pikachu said, angrily pointing at the fog that sat just behind him.

The group stared at the mass of gray smoke, unable to believe that fog could be that thick

"Is this fog?" Brock said, walking over and sticking his hand into it. It was so think that the part of his hand that he stuck into it disappeared from site, making it look as though he had just stuck his hand into a gray colored river.

"Huh. It is fog." He said, looking around at it. "I guess I wont be bringing any of my rock Pokemon out any time soon." He added, pulling his are out of the fog.

"How come?" Misty asked, confused on why the fog would make him want to keep his rock Pokemon in their Pokeballs.

"Because, a fog is a cloud that is on the ground. It's full of water vapor, and rock Pokemon don't do well in it." Brock explained in a teacher sort of voice, causing both Ashley and Misty to doze off half way through his explanation. "Hey!" He yelled, waking both of them up.

"Huh?" Ashley said while Misty straighted her self up.

"Sorry about that." Misty said, rubbing the back of her head in an apologetic way.

"Pikachu." Pikachu said, jumping onto Ashley's shoulder.

"Well," Ashley said, looking at the fog. "On one hand, it's not safe to walk through fog this thick, on the other hand, we kind of need to go through it to get to the next town." She said, still looking at it, trying to figure out if it was safe to go though it.

"Yeah, I say we sit tight and wait for it to move on." Misty said, not liking the idea of going into the fog. It was like trying to swim though murky water, not a very smart thing to do.

"Yeah, I agree. We should stay put and- Hey! Wait!" Brock yelled as Ashley walked right into the fog, leaving them behind.

"Don't worry! I'll be back in a little while!" She yelled back to them, moving slowly through the thick gray mass.

"Ashley! You shouldn't go into the fog on your own!" Misty yelled, unsure if Ashley was able to hear her or not. Apparently she could.

"Don't worry! I'll be fine!" She yelled back, still moving forward in the fog.

She kept on walking for several minutes, hoping that she would come across a grass Pokemon, knowing that they liked mists and fogs. (A/N: Did you really think she had any other reason for stupidly walking into a fog?)

"Sandshrew! Twenty more push ups!"

Ashley looked around in surprise. She hadn't expected to find anyone in the fog. 'What moron would go walking though a fog?' she thought, only to sweat drop when she realized that she was doing exactly that. 'Oh, right. I'm walking through the fog.' she thought, slightly embarrassed at having walked into the fog without thinking.

From the sound of the voice, she could tell that the person was both male, and from the country. He clearly had a thick southern accent, the kind you heard in old western movies.

"Again, and no screw ups this time!"

Ashley was moving toward the voice, hoping she might find someone to battle against when she found him.

"Hello?" She called, hoping that whoever was talking would answer.

"Huh? Who's there?!" The voice demanded.

"My name is Ashley Ketchum, I'm looking for someone to battle against!" She called, still searching for the person.

"Well, why didn't you say so?"

Out of the fog came a strange guy with green hair. He was wearing a black and red shirt with the colors making a zigzag across his chest, along with dark blue shorts. He was also holding a whip in his left hand, a fact that made him seem kind of creepy.

"Oh, so there you are." She said, surprised that he had been able to navigate through the fog so easily.

'Note to self, figure out how he did that.' she thought, wishing she could find her way through the fog just as easily.

"Well, if you want a battle, let's go!" He said, not even bothering to introduce himself as he cracked his whip, causing his Sandshrew to jump up out of the ground. "This will make my one hundredth victory." He added, causing Ashley's eye to twitch in annoyance.

'So, he already thinks he can beat me? He hasn't even seen my Pokemon yet, jerk!' she thought angrily, grabbing at her Goldeen's Pokeball.

"Oops." She said, putting it back when she realized that there was no body of water around for Goldeen to swim in. "Sorry, um?" She added, trying to decided which Pokemon she should use. 'Crap, I can't use Goldeen, and rock Pokemon are strong against flying and electric Pokemon. I'll just go with Pikachu then, since it doesn't make a difference on which one I choose.' she thought, making her decision. "Alright Pikachu, it's up to you." She said, sending Pikachu out into the battle.

"Pika!" (Translation: Alright!) Pikachu said, ready to battle.

"Come on Sandshrew, this is our hundredth battle, let's show these weaklings!" The kid said, causing Ashley's eye to twitch even more, one of Pikachu's eyes joining it in it's twitching spree.

"Come on Pikachu! We can beat them!" She said, remembering what Brock said about rock Pokemon being weakened it fogs and mists. If it wasn't for the fog, she knew she would have no chance of winning. 'Good going, getting your self into a battle that you have almost no chance of winning. Smart one.' she thought sarcastically to herself, starting to wish she had thought about it before challenging the guy.

Pikachu jumped onto the battle field while Sandshrew and the guy with the green hair walked a little distance away, making it almost impossible for Ashley or Pikachu to see them.

"You ready?" He called when there was finally enough distance between them to make a battle field.

"Ready when you are!" She called back, wanting to get the battle started. Even though it wasn't likely that she to win, she still wanted to have the battle. Any battle was great in her opinion.

"Alright Sandshrew! Get in there!" he shouted, the sound of a whip cracking punctuated his order.

'Jigglypuffs. That whip sounds horrible.' she thought, wincing when she heard the whip again. She squinted through the fog, trying to see where Sandshrew was through the thick mass.

"Sandshrew!"

Ashley looked around when she heard the shout, wishing she could see what was going on.

"Pika!" Pikachu shouted, apparently in pain.

"Pikachu!" Ashley called, hoping that her Pokemon would be alright.

"What's the matter? Can't you see in the fog? Only an idiot would go into a blind battle." the kid with the green hair called to hear, causing her to glare through the for at him, though she doubted he could see it.

"Gr! I'll show you!" She growled back, trying to think of something quick. It took her only a second to realize it, but when she did she felt slightly stupid. 'of course! If Pikachu uses his thundershock, the place will light up like a light bulb! I'll be able to see them.' she thought, hanging her head in shame, wishing she had realized it before. "Pikachu! Use thundershock!" She called, watching as Pikachu cause a bright yellow flash, illuminating Sandshrew and his trainer.

"Huh? What gives? A thundershock ain't gonna hurt my Sandshrew." the other trainer said, wandering if Ashley even had a brain or not. No electrical attack worked on rock Pokemon.

"I'm not trying to hurt it, just trying to see it!" She called back, deciding on a quick plan of attack. "Pikachu! Use scratch and bite!" She yelled, hoping that the attacks would have some sort of effect on the rock Pokemon.

Pikachu instantly took off and started scratching Sandshrew, biting him whenever he had the chance to do so.

"Sandshrew!" The guy with green hair called, "Don't just stand there! Scratch it back!"

Sandshrew did as he was told, scratching at the yellow Pokemon as hard as he could even though he was really hurting from the fog and the scratches.

Pikachu and Sandshrew traded scratches for a few minutes with Sandshrew taking most of the damage thanks to the fog.

"Alright Sandshrew, dive under ground!" The green haired guy called, causing Sandshrew to start borrowing into the ground, leaving only a big hole behind.

'Crap, I can't see where it is, and I can't send Pikachu in either,' She thought, panicking slightly.

"Sandshrew!"

Sandshrew jumped out of the ground, hitting Pikachu with what could only be discribed as an uppercut. Though Ashley couldn't see this happen, she was able to hear Pikachu's shout of pain, giving her all the information she needed.

"Pikachu! Use tackle!" She yelled, still trying to come up with a way to beat Sandshrew.

Pikachu did as he was told, lunging forward and hitting Sandshrew with everything he had.

The trainers both got a little worried when neither could hear any sound or movement coming from the Pokemon. Luckily, the fog started to clear a little, allowing both trainers to see the battle field. What they saw shocked them. Even though the battle had only lasted a few minutes, the result shocked both trainers.

It was a tie.

Both Pikachu and Sandshrew were laying on the ground, both with their heads against one anthers. It was clear to both trainers what had happened. Pikachu had used it's head to hit Sandshrew on the head during the tackle, turning the attack into a Headbut and knocking both Pokemon out.

"A draw?!" The green haired guy exclaimed, shocked and slightly annoyed at the results of the battle. He hadn't thought that his Pokemon would loose at all. He had even been planing what gym he would finally head to first, having decided a long time ago that he would set out for gym battles after his one hundredth win.

"Sandshrew, return!" He said, holding up his Pokeball and returning Sandshrew to it.

"You put up a good battle." He called through the fog, nodding his head at Ashley before turning and walking away.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Ashley shouted, running over and picking up Pikachu before running after him.

"Ashley!"

Ashley paused at the shout, and turned to see Misty and Brock running up to her through the fog. Apparently, they had followed the sounds of her battle in order to find her.

"Ashley! There you are. We heard your battle. Ah! Pikachu!" Misty said, shocked when she saw the condition Pikachu was in. "What happened to him?" She asked, taking a closer look at him while pulling out a potion to use on him.

"I take it that the battle didn't go the way you wanted it to?" Brock said, thinking that she must have lost the battle.

"Yeah, it ended in a tie." She said, looking down at Pikachu as he started to sit up, the potion healing him.

"A tie?" Brock asked, a little surprised.

"Yeah, Pikachu tied with a Sandshrew." She explained, smiling when Pikachu shock himself off and got up, the potion having apparently finished it's job.

"I'm surprised he didn't loose. Sandshrew's a rock Pokemon, they usually beat electric types." Misty said, rubbing Pikachu on the head as she talked. "You're lucky, you know that, Pikachu?"

"Pika!" Pikachu said, jumping up into the air, only to fall back down and pass out in Ashley's arms again.

"Ah! Pikachu?!" Ashley exclaimed in horror.

Pikachu didn't respond to any of Ashley's attempted to wake it.

"Don't worry, I think he's just tired." Brock said reassuringly.

"Well, I guess you're right." Ashley said, still a little worried about Pikachu. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do. On one hand, she wanted to head to the nearest Pokemon center and get Pikachu checked out, but Brock said that he would be OK and that he just needed some rest. On the other hand, she really wanted to go after the green haired guy and talk to him.

"Well, if you're sure he's going to be fine, then let's go find that guy." She said, turning around and heading into the fog, happy that it was now clear enough to see though it a little.

"Hey, what guy?" Misty asked as she and Brock followed after her.

"The guy I was battling against. He uses a whip to train his Pokemon, I wanted to ask him about it." She said, thinking about how cruel it had looked.

"Ah whip? Well, that's not so strange. Some Pokemon trainers do use whips in training." Brock said, though he didn't like it when people used whips on Pokemon either.

"Yeah, it ain't like it's new or nothin'."

Ashley stopped in her tracks, surprised to hear the green haired guy's voice.

"Hay! Who's there?! Show your self!" Brock demanded, not liking the fact that they were being watched.

"The names A.J." he said, walking out of the fog and over to them.

"What do you mean 'It ain't like it's new or nothin'? Don't you even care about your Pokemon?" Ashley demanded, poking him in the chest with a free hand

"Course I do! The whip's just for trainin. It ain't hurt them none." A.J. Told her, waving the hand away from his chest.

Ashley continued to glare at him, not believing him in the least.

"Then why do you use the whip?" She asked, continuing to glare.

"Like I said, the whip's just for trainin." He said, shrugging at her annoyance. He didn't really care what she thought about his training techniques, his Pokemon were fine with it and that was all he needed to know. If his Pokemon could handle his training, then he was happy.

"But-" Ashley started, trying to argue with him, but being cut off by Brock.

"Well, your Pokemon seem happy enough with the training." He said, spotting an Oddish walking up to stand slightly behind A.J. And a Beedrill that came up to him to take his backpack for him. From what Brock could see of them, he could tell that they were very happy.

Ashley simply glared at him for a few minutes, ignoring the Pokemon and wishing she could take the whip out of his hand an break it into a million little pieces.

Misty and Brock both looked at Ashley, knowing that there was something stupid going through her head, and neither wanting her to act on whatever the thought was.

"Well, it was nice meeting you A.J.." Misty said, grabbing the back of Ashley's shirt and dragging her off. She wasn't to happy about the whip either, but knew that if his Pokemon were happy, then he had to be treating them well. She also knew that if she didn't get Ashley away from him, then the raven haired girl was probably going to do something very stupid.

"Yeah, see you around some time!" Brock called to him, helping Misty drag Ashley off. He agreed with her that they needed to get the very short tempered Ashley way from him and the whip.

After they were a decent distance away, Misty and Brock let go of Ashley, thinking that it was safe now that she was far enough away from A.J. And his whip.

"Hey!" She shouted, turning on them in anger. "Why did you drag me away like that?!" She demanded, stomping her foot in the dirt childishly.

"Because, we didn't want you making a scene." Misty said, ignoring the fact that even if Ashley had made a scene, there would have been no one around to see it other then themselves and A.J..

"Yeah, A.J.'s Pokemon seem to be really happy with him. Even if he does use a whip on them, they didn't exactly seem to mind. It wouldn't be right if you started yelling at him for something his Pokemon seemed to be perfectly happy with." Brock said, trying to ignore the death glare Ashley was sending him. If looks could kill, he would probably be nothing more then a pile of tattered clothes with some blood stains.

Ashley glared back and forth between them, more annoyed with the little voice in the back of her head that was telling her that they were right then at them. After a few more moments of glaring, she slowly turned around and started walking, ignoring the fact that the fog seemed to be getting thicker again.

Misty and Brock followed closely behind her in silence, wanting to let he cool down before they spoke to her again, knowing that she would get over it quicker if they just left her alone.

The group walked in silence for the better part of an hour, fighting to see through the fog so that they didn't trip over anything. It seemed to get thicker the further they walked, which told them that they were nearing the fogs center, or at least that was Ashley's theory. Pikachu had woken up during the hour of walking fully healed, only to turn over in Ashley's arms and go straight back to sleep. Something that they group thought was very funny.

"Is that a fire?" Misty asked, causing the group to stop.

The grouped over in the direction that Misty was pointing in, shocked when they saw a faint glow through the fog. She was right, it was definitely a fire, though the group was unable to tell how big or how far away it was thanks to the fog.

"Huh, maybe it's a camp fire with people around it." Ashley said, hoping that there was someone around that could give them directions.

"If that's the case, maybe there is someone there that can tell us where we are." Brock said, voicing Ashley's unsaid thought. He had a map and was very good with directions, but the fog made it almost impossible for him to figure out where they were.

When the group got near the light, they were shocked to see that it was the tail of a rather starved looking Charmander. It had been walking down the road toward them, though it seemed more like it was crawling. It definitely needed some good food, and fast.

"It's a Charmander!" Ashley said , running over to the poor thing in order to try and help it, only to get a flame attack in her face.

"I thought I ordered the original recipe, not extra crispy." She said, falling over onto the ground, covered in smoke and ash.

"Ashley! Are you OK?" Misty asked, helping her chard friend stand up.

"Ach, I thought it was to week to battle." She said in shock, dusting herself off.

"I think it is, that flame attack seems to have taking up the last of it's energy." Brock said, causing the other two to look over at the Charmander who was now laying on the ground.

"Ah! Poor thing." Misty said, though she wasn't stupid enough to try and get close to it like Ashley had. Just because it looked week, didn't mean that it couldn't attack.

"I think we should get it to a Pokemon center." Brock said, doing the unthinkable.

He tried getting close to it.

After about two steps toward the Charmander, Brock wound up laying on the ground, covered in soot and ash. Apparently he hadn't learned from Ashley's mistake.

"Um, I think the best bet would be to catch it before trying to get close to it." Misty said, rolling her eyes at Brock and Ashley. 'doesn't anyone here have a brain besides me?' she thought, shaking her head at them.

"Haha, I knew that.." Ashley said, rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment while Brock dusted himself off.

Ashley started digging around in her Pockets for a Pokeball. She didn't want to battle the poor thing, from the way it looked, she doubted that it would be able to put up much of a fight, and she didn't want to hurt it anymore then it already was.

The moment the Pokeball hit, Charmander was sucked up inside it. It instantly started clicking and shaking, Charmander was clearly fighting it.

Much to everyones surprise, the Pokeball popped open at the last second, releasing the Charmander inside.

"Wah? Oh, come on! It's half starved for crying out loud, I can't exactly battle it." Ashley said, shaking her head in annoyance. There was no way she was going to have Pikachu attack something that was clearly to weak to battle, that would be very cruel to the poor thing.

"Wait, try you're Pokeball again. I don't think it can hold up against it again," Brock said, pointing out that Charmander was now breathing really hard.

Ashley looked at the Charmander for a few minutes, noticing how it wasn't getting up from it's position on the ground. If it was to weak to stand up, then Brock was right. There was no way it would be able to fight off another Pokeball.

After a few minutes of debating with her self, Ashley finally decided to try another Pokeball on it. She picked up the Pokeball that she used last time and through it at Charmander again, causing the Pokemon to vanish in a red light and get sucked up into the Pokeball one more time.

When the Pokeball closed this time, to everyones relief, Charmander didn't come back out.

(A/n: Charizard hating ash in the later episodes never really made any sense to me, so I am giving Charmander a slight reason to hate all humans for a while.)

"I caught-" Ashley started, only to get cut off by Brock.

"I know you want to do your victory pose, but I really think we need to get to the nearest Pokemon center." He said, causing her to hang her head in shame. She had been so happy that she had caught it that she had completely forgotten that they needed to get it to a Pokemon center. Not exactly something you should forget when there's a sick or injured Pokemon involved.

Brock consulted the map, trying to find the shortest rout to the Pokemon center. They were in luck, there was one only about a mile up the road from where they were. If they started running now, then they might be able to get there in just ten minutes or so.

Not feeling like running a mile, Pikachu jumped on Ashley's shoulder and hung on tight, knowing that if he fell off then he would have to run there on his own. Not exactly the worlds easiest thing to do when you have short legs.

Brock was right when he said it would take them an fifteen minutes to get there. When they walked in, the clock told them that they had been running for just over sixteen minutes, which would explain why their legs hurt so much.

" Nurse Joy! Nurse Joy!" Ashley called, running over to the front desk. "I Just caught this Charmander, it looks like it was half starved, can you help it?" She asked, handing her the Pokeball.

"A Charmander? I bet it's the same one that Damian just got rid of. I'll take care of it right away." She said, taking the Pokeball into the back room to heal Charmander.

Ashley and the gang decided that they would go talk with some of the other trainers and try to find out whatever they could about whoever this Damian person was and why he would abandon a Pokemon like that.

It didn't take them long to fi9nd out either, apparently Damian had left the center the day before, and everyone their had met him.

"He abandoned a Pokemon? Not surprised, he was kind of a jerk. I think that any Pokemon he abandons is better off without him." One guy said when he heard about the Charmander. No one in the center seemed to have liked the guy much, which was saying something since there was so many people there.

It only took them about fifteen minutes to get all the information that they needed to decide that whoever this Damian guy was, was a complete jerk that they each hated completely. They sat around and talked about him for a while, talking about how horrible he must be and wandering how Charmander was doing. After a while of talking the conversation was changed to other random topics, the group didn't want to thing about what Charmander might be going through. They had seen how starved he was, and that was enough for them.

"So, what do you think everyone is up to back at your home town." Misty asked, not able to think of anything else to talk about. She wasn't really able to think at the moment, to busy worrying about Charmander.

"I don't know, I haven't checked in with my mom in a while." Ashley said, not able to think of anything else to say. The group sat in silence for a while, unable to think of anything else to talk about. After about twenty minutes of silence, they finally decided that they would get something to eat.

Getting up, the group walked over to cafeteria and ordered some food. Pokemon centeres really were great for just about everything. If you had some money you could order food from one of the cooks, or you could just get a room and sleep for a while if you were tired.

After they were done eating, the group decided to check their e-mails while they were there, not really having anything else to do.

The group got up and headed into the main lobby and over to the video phones, which also just happened to be the Computers.

Misty checked hers first, and was slightly annoyed when she found that ever single one of her e-mails were from her sisters begging her to let them borrow her Pokemon for a while. Apparently they thought that they would start winning if they had them, implying that her Pokemon were the only reasons why she beat them.

"Gr!" She growled, tapping on the record button to send her sisters a video e-mail instead of typing them one.

"What the heck do you mean I never would have won if it wasn't for my Pokemon?!" She shrieked into the monitor, causing everyone in the Pokemon centers lobby to turn and stare at her. "Gr! I'll show you! And no, you can't have my Pokemon!" She said, clicking the send button and turning around to look at Ashley, Brock, and Pikachu with a bright and sunny smile on her face, scaring the crap out of them almost instantly.

"OK, you guys can have it now." She said, moving to the side so that one of them could check their e-mails.

A still slightly scared Brock moved over to the Pc and started checking his e-mails, finding that there was several from his father.

"Huh, dad sent me some, I wander why?" He said thoughtfully, opening the e-mail and reading it out load. :

'Dear Brock, I hope you are having fun on your journey. I was wandering if you have any idea on where Timmy might have hid his sister. Please right back as soon as possible, Officer Jenny and I can't get him to tell us a thing. "'

When Brock finished reading the message, he simply stared at the screen for a minute with his lips twiching slightly. The e-mail had been the oldest one, which meant that whatever happened to his sister had happened a few days ago, which made it even more strange that Brock would be half laughing at the information.

When Brock opened the next letter, the group found out why it had been so funny in the first place.

'Dear Brock, hahaha. Very funny. I wish you would have told me that Karen and Sharon like to pretend to be the same person, and act like one of them are missing. It would have saved me from a few gray hairs. I never realized how hard it was to take care of two sets of twins. Please message me back with anything you can tell me about the kids, I'm a little lost here.'

'Dear Brock, Susy keeps loosing the bell you said to tie to her wrist when she sleep walks, please help.'

'Dear Brock, the kids wont stop fight, message me as soon as possible.'

'Dear Brock, I am starting to remember another reason why I didn't come back. Please message me soon.'

'Dear Brock, My fingers are covered in bandages, Susy ripped her dress again, Timmy and Jimmy wont stop hiding things, Karen and Sharon got into a fight with each other, Mat got called down to the office at school today, and Lucy nearly burned down the house. How was your day?'

'Dear Brock, if you could send someone to kill me sometime soon, that would be nice.'

'Dear Brock. Help.'

Brock was half rolling on the floor laughing when he finally finished reading the last letter. He had dealt with all of that everyday for his entire life, and knew how the man felt. Eleven is a hard number of kids to take care of, and having two sets of twins made it even worse.

Brock half felt bad for the man, and the other half of him was just glad that he was not the one dealing with it. He mist his family a lot, but it was nice not having to look after eleven kids for once, now he actually got a chance to have fun and maybe even find an Officer Jenny or Nurse Joy to spend some free time with. Well, a guy could dream, couldn't he?

When Brock finally composed himself and stood up, he wrote a quick letter back to his father, and a few letters to each of his siblings, who had also written him e-mails as well. When he finished reading reading the e-mails, and responding to them, he signed off and let Ashley have the PC to check her e-mails.

When Ashley signed into her e-mail, she was happy to see that she had gotten a message from her pen-pal in Johto. She had been waiting for her to respond to her last message since just before she set out on her journey as a Pokemon trainer. She was happy that the girl had finally gotten back to her, she had been waiting over a month for it.

'Dear Ashley, Oh my Jigglypuffs, you're finally traveling? That's so cool! I wish I could travel, but I have to stay hear with my grandpa. Anyway, here's the new order form you've wanted, just print it and fill it out when you can.

So, what Pokemon did you pick? Did you get a Bulbasaur like you wanted, or was t already taken? I can't wait to see what you got, but whatever it is, I bet you two have already become good friends. I can't wait to get my own Pokemon.

Anyway, the Pineco are getting bad hear, it's one of the worst infestations in years. They're everywhere! One fell on my head and exploded T-T. Selfdestruct has got to be one of the worlds most annoying moves ever. It hurt like a Blastoise. Grandpa wouldn't stop lecturing me on being more careful around them. Anyway, send me a line when you get the chance.'

Ashley stared at the screen for a few minutes before turning to her Pokedex and trying to look up whatever a Pineco was while Brock, Misty, and Pikachu leaned in to find out to.

"Pineco... Processing... Processing... No data found."

the group stared at dexter for a minute before the Pokedex finally added some more information.

"Not found in this region." It said in what had to be the equivalent to an annoyed voice before clicking off.

"Huh, well... Prof. Oak said it had a AI." She said, commenting on the fact that it had been annoyed with them. The fact that it had gotten annoyed with her reminded her of the fact that it had called her stupid when she had first set out on her journey. It was a little unsettling to think that her Pokedex had it's own little personality. It was kind of creepy when she thought about it, it was a machine that apparently didn't like her. How were you supposed to get a machine to like you?

Ashley shook her head and decided that she would call Prof. Oak later and ask him about both dexter and whatever a Pineco was.

"Well, I think we now know where you got the phrase from. I take it you got 'Oh my Jigglypuffs' from her?" Misty asked, rolling her eyes at the Pokedex's attitude. It was strange that it had a personality, but then again she had never seen any of the newer models, she had only ever seen the really old ones that didn't even speak. The older ones only brought up a screen with typing on it about whatever Pokemon you were trying to analyze.

"Yeah, I guess I just picked it up from her after a while." Ashley said, turning her attention back to the PC in front of her.

Pushing a few buttons, Ashley printed the order form and started typing a short message back to her friend. It had always been a problem for the two of them, they lived in different regions and didn't know anything about the Pokemon in each others areas, though they both knew about a few of them, like Magikarp, which seemed to live everywhere in the world.

She had been planning on writing back a short message, but with everything that had happened since she started traveling, it didn't turn out that way.

'Dear Maisy, thanks for sending the order form. Anyway, why did it take you so long to get back to me? Having problems with your PC lately?

Anyway, yeah, traveling is great, and don't worry. You'll get to go on your own journey someday, just be patient. Oh, and I didn't get a Bulbasaur T-T, I ended up getting a Pikachu =D. I'll attach a picture of him when I get the chance, he's kind of cute. And yeah, we've become great friends.

Oh! And speaking of friends, I'm traveling with some people. Their great, though Brock tends to bug out a bit whenever he sees a pretty girl, especially when it's an Officer Jenny or a Nurse Joy, he seems to like them the best. And Misty afraid of bugs, which makes it hard to catch bug Pokemon, though I did manage to catch a Caterpie, four Weedles and twelve Beedrills. Oh my Jigglypuffs, I have my own little bug army. XD I caught a bunch of other things to, I'll attach a list to.

I also managed to get two badges, a Boulder badge and a Cascade badge. It was great, we're actually heading to the next town to get our third badges. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Misty is a water Pokemon trainer from Cerulean City and Brock is a Pokemon Breeder that used to be the Pewter City gym leader. Isn't that cool? Anyway, Misty and I are collecting badges to get into the Pokemon league here, is there one in your region?

Oh, and I caught my very own Charmander! It's in really bad condition though, it was half starved when I caught it and I had to rush it to the Pokemon center on route 24. Apparently some jerk named Damian abandoned it because he thought it was weak. Don't you hate people like that?

And, what's a Pineco? ?.? We don't have them hear. Anyway, get back to me as soon as you can.'

When she finally finished writing her the e-mail, she used the video phone to take a quick Pikachu, who was holding a ketchup bottle that it had probably stolen from one of the tables in the dinning hall.

Ashley showed the others the digital picture, giving it a name as she did so.

"It's a picture of Pikachu, I call it a pikachure." She said, causing both Misty and Brock to fall over, apparently they didn't like her made up name she gave the picture. "Huh? Oh well, I guess not everyone likes cute pictures.." She said, pressing a few buttons on the keyboard and attaching the picture to the e-mail before writing up a small list of Pokemon she had caught.

1 Pikachu, 1 Pidgey, 1 Pidgeotto, 1 Rattata, 9 Spearow, 1 Fearow,

1 Caterpie (which evolved into Metapod and then into Butterfree),

4 Weedle, 12 Beedrill, 1 Shellder, 3 Zubat, 2 Paras, 1 Sandshrew,

2 Giant Magikarp, 1 Giant Goldeen ( Hey, is it true that you guys

have a fishing contest for catching giant water Pokemon there?),

and 1 Charmander.

Ashley attached the list to the e-mail when she finished typing it, reading it over and wandering if her Butterfree and her other Pokemon were doing OK back at Prof. Oak's lab.

After she sent the e-mail, she decided that she would call her mom and then Prof. Oak, wanting to see how everyone was doing.

"Ring-ring-ring, ring-ring-ring, phone call, phone call."

Ashley waited for a few minutes, wandering what was taking her mother so long to answer the phone, she was always home around this time, so she should be there. Just when she was about to hang up, her mom finally answered the phone.

"Hello?" She said, not turning the video on, something that she did when she didn't know who was calling.

"Hi mom, it's me." Ashley said, getting her mom's attention instantly.

"Ashley! Oh, it's so nice to finally hear from you." Delia said as she turned on the video so that she could see her daughter. "How have you been?"

"I'm doing good, how about you?" She replied, smiling back at her mother.

"Huh? And who are these two?" Delia asked, pointing at Brock and Misty through the screen.

Ashley had completely forgotten that her mother had never met either of her traveling companions, she had completely forgotten to call her mom in the last two towns.

"Oh, hi, I'm Misty." Misty said, waving at the screen with a smile plastered on her face.

"And I'm Brock. It's very nice to meet you." Brock said waving with his own smile on his face as well.

"Oh, I'm so happy that you're traveling with people! You're father will be so proud of you." Delia said, gushing over Ashley like always and causing the raven haired girl to turn red from embarrassment. She hated it when her mother gushed over her, it was so embarrassing.

"Thanks mom." She said, giving her mother a look that said 'stop it' before moving on in the conversation. "Anyway, I was just calling to check in, I know I was should have called you when I was in the last town, but I kind of forgot."

"Last town? Where are you?" Delia asked, wandering where she was calling from if she had already been to another town before the one she was in.

"Oh, I'm calling from the Pokemon center on route 24." She explained. She told her about everything that had happened since the last time they spoken to each other when she was in Viridian city. When the conversation ended, the group said their goodbyes to her before hanging up.

"OK, and now to call Prof. Oak." She said, dialing his number and waiting for him to answer.

It only took three rings for Prof. Oak to pick up.

"Hello?"

"Hi Prof. Oak, it's me, Ashley." She said, waving at the screen with Brock, Misty, and Pikachu mimicking her in the background.

"Ah, Ashley. How are things going?" He asked, smiling at her as a Sandshrew ran by behind him.

"Hey, isn't that your Sandshrew?" Misty asked Ashley, pointing at the screen as it ran by again.

"Yeah! He looks a lot better then the last time we saw him." She said, smiling as it ran by a third time.

"Yeah, it doesn't look like it's been drying out in the light lately." Brock said, remembering the last time they had seen Sandshrew. It had been the same day he had gotten his own Sandshrew. Both of them had gotten ill thanks to all the lights that Team Rocket had put in the cave they lived in.

"Huh?" Prof. Oak said, turning around to see what they were talking about.

Sandshrew was just making another pass when he turned around, causing him to stare at the little rock like Pokemon.

"Sandshrew, what are you doing in here?" He asked, looking around to see how he got in. "What?! Not again! I already fed you so stop stealing my food!" Prof. Oak said, chasing Sandshrew out of his lab.

The group glanced at each other before turning their attentions back to the screen, wandering what was going on.

They got their answer when Prof. Oak came back carrying bags of chips that looked as though they had been slashed and chewed on.

"Um? Prof. Oak? What's going on?" Ashley asked as the Pokemon researcher sat back down in his chair in front of the PC screen.

"That Sandshrew of your's wont stop stealing food from my cabinets." he said, holding up the torn remains of the chip bags that Sandshrew had recently stolen.

"Hehehe, I guess she was just hungry..." She said, rubbing the back of her head nervously as Pikachu, Misty, and Brock sweat dropped at the look Prof. Oak was giving her.

"Well, there's no use crying over spilled milk I guess." Prof. Oak said, throwing the bags away before turning his attention back to Ashley.

"Anyway, I was just calling to see how things were going." Ashley said, glad that he seemed to have calmed down.

"Huh? Oh, everything going fine here, though I'm sure some of your Pokemon wish they were with you right now." He said, smiling at the screen.

"Speaking of Pokemon, I caught a Charmander." She said, showing him her patented victory sign

"Really? Where did you find it? It's extremely rare to find a wild Charmander in Kanto." he said, astonished that she had managed to find a wild Kanto fire starter Pokemon.

"Well, it was exactly wild. A trainer named Damian abandoned it because he thought it was to weak." She explained, causing Prof. Oak to sit back in his chair slightly with a slightly saddened look in his eyes.

"Ah, yes, you'll find that some trainers are like that. They don't want to be bothered with training and raising a Pokemon. They simply catch the strongest ones they can and get rid of the weakest ones." He said, shaking his head at the thought of trainers just abandoning Pokemon because they weren't as strong as what they wanted them to be.

"Speaking of training Pokemon, I was wandering if I could switch my Goldeen out for Butterfree or something, there isn't a lot of water around here for her to swim in after all." She said, pulling out Goldeen's Pokeball and putting it into the transport tray.

"Ah, sure, I'll go get your Butterfree right away. Is there any other Pokemon I can get for you?" he asked as he stood up, waiting for her to answer.

"HM..." She said, trying to think of a Pokemon she might want to train soon. "I know, why don't you send Sandshrew too, it might be nice to have a rock Pokemon around just in case."

"Ah, I'll get right on it. It would also get her out of my hair and food for a while." He said, walking out of view of the camera and off to find the Pokemon she had asked for.

It took him several minutes to get back, but when he finally did he had two Pokeballs ready for transport.

"OK, you know what to do." He said, putting the two Pokeballs in the transporter and pressing a few buttons.

Ashely did the same, putting the Goldeen Pokeball into the transporter on her end and pressing a few buttons as well, sending the Pokeball to Prof. Oak's lab as he sent her the two from his end.

"Great, take care of Goldeen for me!" Said, smiling happily at the screen as Prof. Oak said goodbye and hung up.

"Great, now we have two Sandshrews around." Brock said, pulling out his own Sandshrew's Pokeball and releasing it.

"Yeah, come on out guys." Ashley said, letting both Sandshrew and Butterfree out of their Pokeballs as well.

"Eevee." (translation: Finally.) Butterfree said, flapping it's wings happily. He was happy to be back with his trainer, all the Beedrills back at Prof. Oak's were starting to get on his nerves. They never really did anything other than try and pick fights with him, apparently they didn't like the fact that he could knock them all out with a single Sleep Powder.

"Sandshrew?" (translation: Sandshrew?) (A/N: the other Sandshrews name.) Sandshrew asked, looking at Brock's Sandshrew, wandering what he was doing there.

"Sandshrew!" (translation: Sandshrew!) (A/N: the other Sandshrews name.) Brock's Sandshrew said, rapping his arms around his friend, happy to see her again.

"Haha, it's kind of like a Reunion." Misty said, smiling at the sight of the two Sandshrew. The two rock type Pokemon seemed to be catching up with each other, talking about a mile a minute, though none of the humans had the faintest idea what they were talking about.

Sandshrew and Sandshrew continued talking while they followed their trainers to the front desk, happy that they were Together once again. (A/N1)

"Oh, hi Ashley, Brock, Misty. How may I help you?" Nurse Joy asked as the group approached the front desk.

"We would like a room please." Brock said. The group had decided that they would stay the night, not wanting to try traveling in the fog anymore, and not really having a choice as Charmander was still recovering from nearly starving to death in the first place.

Nurse Joy went to get a key to a room for them. she understood why they would want to stay the night, seeing as she was the one taking care of Charmander's condition.

"Here you go." She said, handing them the key and showing them where they room was.

The group let most of their Pokemon out of their Pokeballs as well, leaving only Misty's Goldeen and Brock's Onix in their Pokeballs because there was no where for either of the Pokemon to sleep thanks to Onix's size and the fact that Goldeen needed water to swim in.

Once everyone was situated, they all went right to bed, to tired to think about anything else.

Being used to Ashley and Pikachu's antics by now, the group wasn't even fazed when Ashley let out a shriek when she was woken up by a Thunderbolt thanks to Pikachu. After they all got up, the woke up their Pokemon and put them into their Pokeballs before getting washed up for the day ahead of them.

Once the group was out of the room, they all headed for the front desk to see if Charmander was healed up yet, he wasn't.

"Sorry Ashley, but it's going to take another day or so for him to get better." She said, looking at them sadly before think of something. She could tell that they were very trustworthy people, and she knew that her friend Melanie would like them. Plus Ashley seemed like just the type of trainer she could use to take care of a little problem she had been having for a while.

"Say, could you and your friends head over to the hidden village for me? It will give you something to do and it would really help me a lot if you delivered something for me." She said, pulling out a small box from under the front desk and showing it to them. "There's a woman there named Melanie that takes care of sick and injured wild Pokemon. I bought something for her but haven't been able to get away from the center to give it too her. It would really help me out if you would take it too her for me." She said, hoping they would help her out and deliver the box for her.

Ashley and Misty were about to answer her, when Brock stepped in with his usual bad Romeo impression.

"Of course we'll help you out, for there is nothing that would keep my heart from your bidding. You are the most beautif- ack!" He said, getting dragged off by Misty by his ears.

"OK Romeo, let's go." She said, dragging him through the front door and leaving Ashley to finish up at the front desk. They both agreed that they should help out, it was just that they didn't like Brock acting like an idiot all the time. It was really annoying.

Nurse Joy simply stared after the two, a little confused as to what was going on, though she had a faint idea. No man had ever been able to resist a Nurse Joy, it was something that all of them had to deal with.

"Anyway Nurse Joy, we're glad we can help. Can you tell me where this village is on the map?" She asked, pulling out the map they usually used and handing it to her so that she could park it for them.

"Sure thing, it's right there, just a few hours from here." She said, pointing to a spot on the map that was next to a river.

"OK, thanks." Ashley said, picking up the box and putting it into her backpack as she walked out the door and over to Misty and Brock, who was still trying to get back into the Pokemon center.

She had a feeling that this was going to become their routine whenever they were in a Pokemon Center.. Wake up in the morning, brush their teeth, get dressed, go to the front desk, drag a drooling Brock out of the Pokemon center. Yep, that sounded about right.

"Did you get the box?" Misty asked, finally releasing Brock when he stopped trying to get into the Pokemon center. He was pouting now while laying very still and unmoving on the ground, though both the girls ignore this fact.

Yeah, and she marked the map so that we would know where it is." Ashley said, handing her the map so that she could lead the way.

Pikachu jumped off of her shoulder and padded over to Brock, poking him in the head a few times to see if he was still alive. When Brock didn't move he decided that he would wake him up with his patented Pika-alarm clock. Something that no trainer really ever wanted.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu yelled, sending a thunderbolt through the unmoving man, causing him to jump up in pain from being electrocuted.

"Come on Brock, Pikachu. You don't want to be left behind, do you?" Ashley said as she and Misty entered the forest, completely ignoring the fact that Brock was now slightly crispy thanks to Pikachu.

When Brock and Pikachu caught up the them, Pikachu jumped into Ashley's arms and had her carry him. Just because he could keep up with them didn't mean he didn't want to be carried.

The group walked on for two hours with Brock acting as the navigator like always. Misty had given him the map as soon as he caught up, knowing that he was better at navigating then she was.

"How much longer?" Ashley said, getting tired of walking.

She had thought that it would only take them an hour at most and wasn't to happy about the trip so far. They hadn't seen a single Pokemon or sell-able plant since they had entered the forest. That meant that she hadn't gotten any new Pokemon and the only money she had was the 1500 pokes she had gotten from her gym battle with Misty's sisters and the 137 pokes she had left over from when she bought the tent and supplies.

Having Pokemon she needed to buy food for meant that it would all vanish very quickly when they went to buy new supplies in the next town. (A/n:10 pokes = 1 dollar. So 1637 pokes is only $163.70. )

"We still have a little ways to go. According to my calculations, we should be there in another hour." Brock said, causing Ashley, Pikachu, and Misty to hang their heads in despair.

"Can't we take a break?" Misty asked. Her legs were killing her, they usually took their time getting through a forest, but because they were doing a delivery they had been walking at a pace that was a lot faster then what they were used to, wanting to get back before nightfall.

"I second that vote. OK, that makes two votes for stopping, and since there is only three of us, we stop" Ashley said, walking over and sitting down on a rock, giving her so feet a break.

Brock simply rolled his eyes at the two girls and decided that there was no use arguing. He knew when he was out voted, and there was nothing he could do about it. It was something they had decided just after they had left Pewter City, since there was three of them, they would decide things by voting.

Brock had just sat down when Misty suddenly jumped up looking happier then ever.

"Ah! It's a Pokemon!" She said happily, pointing over to a small stream.

The group looked over to see what she was talking about and slightly surprised to see an Oddish drinking some water out of the stream.

Seeing the Pokemon, Ashley quickly pulled out dexter to see what he had to say about the Pokemon.

"Oddish, the Weed Pokemon. Oddish buries itself in soil during in the day to absorb nutrients from the ground using its entire body. The more fertile the soil, the glossier its leaves become. It can by found spreading pollen and planting seeds at night. It is said that an Oddish grows stronger by absorbing moonlight instead of sunlight."

"Huh, sounds kind of cool." Ashley said as dexter turned off and closed.

"I'm gonna catch it!" Misty said, pulling out Stormie's Pokeball and an empty one as well. It was true that plant Pokemon were strong against water Pokemon, she didn't want to try Clefairy's attacks, afraid that metronome would cause them all to blowup.

Ashely and Brock watched as Misty sent out Starmie and started calling out attack. While Ashley was slightly annoyed that she hadn't gotten a chance to catch a new Pokemon since they entered the forest, she felt happy for Misty, knowing that the girl was branching out of her water Pokemon comfort zone.

"Starmie, use Water Gun!" She called out happily, unable to hide her excitement at the thought of catching a new Pokemon.

Starmie sent a large jet of water flying at Oddish, causing the grass Pokemon to fly into the air and go spinning around from the impact.

"Alright, now tackle!" She called, causing Starmie to ram right into Oddish as hard as he could. The moment the attack was over, she grabbed the empty Pokeball and threw it.

"Go Pokeball!" She said, praying that it would work.

Sadly the Pokeball never reached it's target, getting knocked away instead by a Vine Whip sent by a Pokemon that Ashley was very, very happy to see.

"Ah! It's a wild Bulbasaur!" She exclaimed happily, practically drooling over it in the process.

She had always wanted a Bulbasaur, it had been the first Pokemon that she had tried to pick for her starting Pokemon when she had started out. She was very happy with Pikachu, but that didn't mean she was going to pass on a chance to catch one.

"Ok, the Bulbasaur is mine." She said, running forward and sending out Pidgeotto to battle it.

While Ashley was busy trying to battle Bulbasaur, Misty's chance at catching Oddish vanished as the little grass type Pokemon disappeared into the forest.

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Misty called, picking up the Pokeball and running after the Oddish with Starmie following her close behind.

"Misty wait!" Brock said, running after her, he didn't want her to run into the forest and get lost on her own, he wasn't sure she would be able to find her way back. He was fine with leaving Ashley where she was because he knew he could find his way back to the small stream after he found Misty.

Ashley ignored the others and simply moved on with her battle, knowing that Brock and Misty would be back as soon as Misty caught Oddish.

"Pidgeotto! Use Gust!" Ashley commanded, hoping that she would be able to catch the Bulbasaur at the end of the battle.

Pidgeotto did as she was told, sending a large gust of wind at Bulbasaur.

The attack didn't seem to do much to the grass type Pokemon as Bulbasaur simply held onto the ground and waited for the attack to end.

"Bulbasaur!" Bulbasaur said as the gust attack ended.

The moment the gust attack was over, Bulbasaur sent a Leech Seed at Pidgeotto which rapped around her and stared sucker her energy right out of her, causing her to fall to the forest floor.

"Ah! Pidgeotto!" she yelled, running over to her fallen Pokemon, pulling the Leech Seed off of her. It was at that moment that Brock and Misty came back out of the forest.

"Ah man, it got away." Misty said in a disappointed voice.

The moment the words left Misty's mouth Bulbasaur took off into the forest and out of site.

"Hey!?" Ashley shouted, sad that it managed to get away. "Pidgeotto, return." She said, sucking Pidgeotto back into her Pokeball.

"Huh, tough luck I guess." Brock said, staring in the direction that Bulbasaur had disappeared in.

Brock, Misty, and Pikachu all got very worried when Ashley didn't respond. When they turned around to look at her, they were all surprised to see that she had giant hearts in her eyes and was staring in the direction that Bulbasaur had run off in.

"Pika?" Pikachu said, wandering what was wrong with his trainer. -maybe she needs a thunderbolt.- he thought, tilting his head slightly from curiosity.

"Ashley?" Brock asked, wandering why she suddenly had hearts in her eyes.

"Are you OK?" Misty asked, waving a hand in front of the raven haired girls face, trying to get her attention.

"Bulbasaur." she said, still not moving or blinking.

What she did next shocked everyone, it wasn't something that any of them had every pictured her doing. It was the unthinkable, the truly horrible. She did the one thing that no sane human being had ever done before.

She evolved in to a fangirl.

"Bulbasaur! Come back!" She shouted running into the forest with a giant smile on her face and her arms wide open, clearly planing on hugging the Bulbasaur to death. (A/n: I maybe a guy, but I would probably do this if I ever saw a real Bulbasaur. Be honest, how many of you would go chasing after a Bulbasaur like that if you ever saw a real one?)

"Ack!" Misty said, jumping back out of surprise and staring in horror at her friend as she disappeared through the trees. "What's gotten into her?" She asked, horrified.

"Yep, she definitely has fangirlitus. Well, here we go again." Brock said, running after her with Misty following close behind. "Ashley! Wait for us!" He yelled, hoping that they would be able to find her in the forest.

Brock, Pikachu and Misty froze when they heard the shriek.

"Was that Ashley?" Misty asked, now worried about her friend. It had been weird when her friend had gone all fangirl on her, but it was even worse when she heard the scream.

"Yeah, and it came from over here!" Brock said, taking a quick left and running as fast as he could in the direction of the scream. .It had definitely been Ashley that had yelled, and she didn't seem like the type that would let out a shriek over nothing. Then again, she didn't seem like the type that would suddenly turn into a fangirl either.

Brock, Ashley, and Pikachu found out why Ashley had screamed the minute they exited the forest. The raven haired girl was dangling under a rope bridge about half way across a small canyon with a river at the bottom. The board she had stepped on had apparently broken under her weight and she was having trouble getting back up.

"Pika!" "Ashley!" Misty, Brock, and Pikachu shouted, running out onto the bridge and trying to help her up, not realizing that the bridge wasn't strong enough to hold them.

"No! Don't come onto the bri-" Ashley never got to finish her wanning as the bridge snapped the moment the others were about half way to her, sending them all into the river below.

"Ah!"

Everyone hit the water hard, knocking the wind out of them on impact, getting carried away by the rivers current. The current of the river was so strong that it carried the group all the way down stream in only a few minutes. Ironically though, it took them right to where they were trying to get to.

When the current finally weakened enough to where they were able to swim, the group all headed for shore, gasping for breath.

"I 'cough' said not 'cough' come on to 'cough' the bridge." Ashley said, crawling onto the grassy shore of the river, coughing and hacking each time she tried to speak.

"How were 'cough' we supposed to 'cough' know." Misty said, still trying to breath right.

Brock just ignored the two as they started arguing to busy staring up at a woman that was walking out from the trees.

"Well, the fact that 'cough' I fell through it should have 'cough' said something.." Ashley said, pointing out that if it broke under hear, adding weight to it wasn't exactly the smartest thing to do.

"Are you all alright?" The woman asked, getting the two girls attentions.

"Pikachu..." Pikachu said, popping out of Ashley's shirt and crawling onto the grass. "brrrrr!" He said, shaking the water out of his fur cutely before laying out on the ground. "Cha."

"Huh, I thought my chest felt a little heaver then usual." Ashley said, looking at the fluzzy mop now laying down in front of her. (A/N: Fluzzy = Fluffy + Fuzzy please note that I am coining this word. :D)

Misty rolled her eyes at her and sat up, checking to make sure that she hadn't lost anything in the river. Seeing this, Ashley decided that she should do the same thing.

"Please excuse my friends for ignoring you, they're just a little shocked from falling into the river. We were on our way to deliver a package to someone named Melanie when the bridge we were on broke. It was quite a fall from that bridge, but I'm falling again, and this time it's for you." Brock said, holding up a bunch of flowers for her that seemed to materialize out of nowhere and into his hand.

"Oh, um... thank you." the woman said, taking the flowing and smiling at him embarrassedly. "And sorry about the bridge. I set it up as a trap to stop trainers from coming here." She added, lowering here head apologetically.

"I take it that means you're Melanie?" Misty asked as Ashley started digging through her bag pack franticly.

"Yes. I run the hidden village. May I ask who the package is from?" She asked, wandering which Nurse Joy had sent it. The only people that knew about the village's location were a few researchers and a couple Nurse Joys that stopped by every now and then to give the Pokemon a checkup. She had become good friends with a couple of them, and any one of them could have sent her a package.

"The Nurse Joy on route 24." Brock said, still fawning over her, now grabbing a heart shaped box of chocolates from his backpack and handing it to her.

Melanie had just been about to say something when Ashley let out a shriek.

"It's gone!" She cried out, looking around franticly for whatever it was that was missing.

"What is it? The package isn't missing is it?" Misty asked, getting up and walking over to her to help her search for it.

"No, it's worse." Ashley said, tears running down her face. "My new tent is gone." She wailed, hanging her head in despair. She had been so happy when she had finally got it, and she only got to use it once before it went missing.

"What?!" Misty shrieked, pulling out four Pokeballs, releasing the Pokemon inside them. "Starmie, Staryu, Goldeen, Poliwag! Check the river for the tent!" She commanded. She felt the same way that Ashley did. The tent was very important to her, but for a slightly different reason. When she slept in the tent, she didn't have to worry about bugs crawling all over her, and she got her own room. Anything that kept bugs off of her and gave her her own place to sleep was something that she didn't want to loose.

"Your tent is missing? I'll go ask some of the Pokemon here to help search for it." Melanie asked, turning around and running off farther down the river. She came back a few minutes later with a large blue rolled up object in her hands, the site of which caused both Misty and Ashley to perk up almost instantly.

"You found it!" The both shouted, jumping up and running over to her, only to get beat by Brock.

"Oh thank you my dear, your skills at finding things is only matched by your beauty." He said, taking both of her hands into his and going down onto one knee.

He didn't get long to enjoy the contact as Pikachu came up and electrocuted him, causing him to fall to the ground a little crispier and dryer then he had been.

"Thanks, where did you find it?" Ashley asked as Melanie handed her the tent.

"On of the Tentacools found it. It washed a bit further downstream near the house." She said, smiling as Misty's jaw dropped. She had always wanted a Tentacool, and now she was so close to a wild one, but she knew she wouldn't be aloud to catch it.

"Thanks guys, return." She said, sucking the Pokemon up into their Pokeballs, ignoring the fact that she was missing out on a chance to catch a Tentacool.

"Well, if you were sent by Nurse Joy, then I guess it's alright for you to see the village." Melanie said, turning around and leading them down through the forest and to her little Pokemon care center. "It's actually less of a village, and more of a one man Pokemon center." She said when they finally got to the hidden 'village'.

"Wow, you take care of all these Pokemon?" Misty asked, running over to the small lake and looking at the water Pokemon.

She was a little surprised to find some of them there, they weren't exactly known for living in places away from the ocean. For instance, there was a Horsea and a few Seels. They were never found anywhere but the ocean, and even then they were hard to spot. It was while she was looking at one of the Seels that she spotted the same Oddish that she had tried to catch in the forest.

"Hey, it's that Oddish we saw." She said in surprise, causing Melanie to look at her oddly.

"Oh, so you're the one that tried to catch Oddish." She said, smiling. She wasn't angry about her trying to catch Oddish, she actually thought that it might be good for Oddish if she had a nice trainer. "Oddish came here a few years ago when her trainer abandoned her. She's been here ever since. That's what happens to most of these Pokemon, people abandon them and they find their way here to rest and recuperate." She explained, looking at a few of the Pokemon sadly. Apparently there was a lot of them that had been abandoned by trainers.

"That's horrible!" Misty and Ashley said in shock. Neither of them could even imagine doing something like that.

If a Pokemon wanted to leave, they would let it, but neither of them would ever simply dump a Pokemon for any reason. A Pokemon was a friend, and you don't do that to friends.

"Some trainers can be so heartless." Brock said, still in his usual bad Romeo impersonation. He was currently on his knee's in front of her again, another box of candy held out for her. She pretended not to notice.

Ignoring Brock, Misty bent over and spoke to Oddish in a saddened tone. She felt bad for trying to catch it earlier and she told her that.

"I'm sorry about trying to catch earlier, but you should know that not all trainers are mean like your old one. Do you think you can forgive me?" she said, a single tear running down her cheek. She really did feel bad for her, both because she tried to catch her and because her's old trainer abandoned her.

Oddish had been about to reply when Bulbasaur suddenly appeared out of nowhere and use a Headbut attack on Misty's back side, sending the redhead flying over Oddish and into some bushes.

"Bulbasaur!" Melanie reprimanded, walking over to Misty and helping her up.

"Hey! What was that for?!" Ashley asked angrily, glaring at Bulbasaur, though the power of the glare was lessened by the fact that she had hearts in her eyes.

"I'm sorry about that. Bulbasaur was abandoned by his trainer a number of years ago, and he's been this villages protector ever since." Melanie said, bowing her head apologetically.

"It's not your fault, Bulbasaur was just protecting Oddish from Misty. It's really Misty's fault." Brock said, only to get kicked in the head by a very angry redhead.

"What did you say?!" Misty asked, her foot still on Brock's head.

"Nothing!" Brock said, hoping she would kick him again. She didn't.

Bulbasaur started pushing against Ashley's leg, nearly knocking her over in the process.

"Bulbasaur! Stop it. These people are our friends. They're only here to deliver something from Nurse Joy." Melanie said, trying to calm Bulbasaur down, though she didn't seem to be having any luck.

Bulbasaur continued pushing against Ashley's leg, trying as hard as he could to knock her over and force her to leave.

"Bulbasaur's kind of like the village protector...So cool." Ashley said, the hearts in her eyes getting even bigger.

It was at the same moment that the hearts in Ashley's as started to look as if they were going to come out of them that the group heard them.

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all peoples within our nation!"

Ashley turned and looked at Misty and Brock, hoping against hope that she was hearing things.

"Guy's, please tell me that was you guys doing Team Rocket impersonations." She said, hanging hear head when they both shook their heads.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

"Who are they?" Melanie asked, fearing that they were their to capture the injured Pokemon.

They all started looking for the voice, wandering what Team Rocket had up their sleeves this time.

"Jessie!"

"James!"

Realizing that the voices were coming from above them, the entire group look up, only to see Team Rocket on top of a massive machine.

"It's only Team Rocket. Don't worry, we take care of them on a regular basis." Brock told her reassuringly.

"Hey?! What do you mean 'It's only Team Rocket'?! I'll have you know we're part of the worlds lead crime syndicate!" Jessie shouted at them angrily. She hated being brushed off almost as much as she hated people with no fashion sense.

"Yeah, and we work really hard on this motto so you beater listen to it!" James shouted, putting his fists on his hips and throwing a slight tantrum at having been interrupted.

"Yeah, do you's have any idea what we went trough to get here?!" Meowth added angrily.

"Sorry, I didn't quiet hear you, what did you say?" Misty shouted back at them, pretending she hadn't been listening to a word they had said.

"Why you! We'll show ya's!" Meowth said, going to the control panel and turning the machine on.

A trap door on the bottom of the massive machine opened up, causing a massive whose to fall from it. Ashley, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu recognized the whose almost instantly. It was the same one that had been attached to a giant vacuum when Team Rocket had tried to drain the Cerulean City gym's pool.

The moment the whose was low enough, Meowth pressed another button, causing the giant whose to start vacuuming the air. The massive vacuum was definitely somewhere inside the machine, then again, it might just be the machine itself.

"Ah Oddish!" Misty shouted as Oddish went flying toward the whose thanks to the force of the vacuum. Misty ran after the small grass type Pokemon, rapping her arms around it when she was close enough and holding on to it for dear life. She was ripped off of her feet and was flying through the air when a vine rapped around her ankle.

It was Bulbasaur's.

Bulbasaur started pulling her and Oddish in, slowly moving back toward the door of the house, trying to get them in for safety.

Ashley grabbed onto Bulbasaur and started helping him, trying to get everyone to safety as well. It took them a few minutes, but they finally managed to get everyone into the house, Pokemon and humans alike.

The moment everyone was inside, Ashley started formulating a plan to teach team rocket a lesson.

"Hey Bulbasaur, do you think you can take care of that whose with a Razor Leaf?" She asked, turning to the large grass Pokemon and finding that Bulbasaur was staring at her.

Bulbasaur nodded his head, wandering what she was planning. He could easily take out that massive whose, seeing as it was mostly fabric of some kind. If she needed him to destroy it for her plan to work, then he would.

"Ashley, what are you planning?" Misty asked, looking at her friend through narrowed eyes. She had a feeling that Ashley was going to do something that was going to give her a bad hair day. She just knew it.

"Nothing two dramatic, you'll see. I'm just planning a going away party for Team Rocket, that's all." She said, an evil look appearing on her face as she moved to a window in the opposite direction that Team Rocket was in. "Ok Bulbasaur, take care of the whose, and I'll have Pidgeotto and Butterfree do the rest." She said, opening the window and letting Bulbasaur go out through it.

Ashley took it as her cue when the wind started to die down, indicating that the massive whose was nolonger functioning right.

She quickly walked out of the house, grabbing two of her Pokemon's Pokeballs as she did so. When she was outside and a few feet away from the house, she tassed the two Pokeballs into the air, letting both Pidgeotto and Butterfree out of them.

"Pidgeotto, Butterfree, Use Whirlwind!" She shouted. The two flying Pokemon both started flapping their wings as hard as they could the moment they were out of their pokeballs, using Whirlwind on the massive machine.

When the two Whirlwinds touched each other, they joined and became one massive one, spinning around with enough force that it caused Team Rocket's machine to spin around it.

"Ah! Get us off this crazy ride " they shouted, trying to hold on for dear life.

"You really want off?" She called out evilly, the creepy grin on her face widening when they answered.

"Yes!" They shouted, all of them starting to get very sick from the spinning. "Ok, you asked for it! Pidgeotto, Butterfree, use gust!"

Ashley's science lesson part 1 - Centripetal force:

There is something about centripetal force that had always fascinated her. The law of centripetal force states that an object will revolve around a center for as long as there is a force holding it in, but will begin moving in a straight line the moment that force is removed.

In plain English, Team Rocket had been spinning around the massive Whirlwind thanks to the whirlwinds air current. The gust attack that was sent by Butterfree and Pidgeotto dispersed the Whirlwind and the current of air it controlled.

Question: Any ideas on what happened?

Answer: "Looks like we're blasting off again!"

The group simply stood in front of the small house, waving at the disappearing forms of Team Rocket and the machine they had tried to use to suck up all the Pokemon.

"Good by Team Rocket! Have a nice trip!" Misty shouted, happing that Team Rocket hadn't gotten any of the Pokemon.

"Yaw don't come back now, ya hear!" Ashley said in a really bad country accent with Pikachu bouncing in her arms, Pidgeotto sitting on her shoulder, and Butterfree sitting on her head, all waving happily as well.

"Please use the Whirlwind airlines again some time!" Brock said, waving as well.

"Hahaha." Melanie laughed slightly, hugging Bulbasaur closely. She had never seen a group quite like them. They were so care free and seemed to be able to handle themselves really well. She hadn't been sure why Nurse Joy had sent them before, but she had a pretty good idea now. Nurse Joy had been able to see what she was seeing now. They were definitely the right kind of people, now it was all up to Bulbasaur. Though that didn't mean she was going to give him a little push.

"Ashley. I have a favor to ask." She said, getting everyones attention instantly.

"Huh? Oh yeah!" Ashley said, misunderstanding Melanie's words. She started digging through her backpack until she finally found what she was looking for. "I almost forgot about this." She said, pulling the package out of her backpack and handing it to Melanie, noticing for the first time how light it was.

Melanie didn't bother opening, she had a feeling she knew what was inside.

"Thank you." She said, setting the box aside and turning back to Ashley. "But there's something else I need to ask you. Bulbasaur stayed here to protect the weaker Pokemon, but this village has gotten to safe. None of the Pokemon ever leave here, after they recover, the Pokemon are supposed to move on, but it's to safe here, so none of them want to leave.. I think it's time for Bulbasaur to move on, and I think you would be the perfect trainer for him. Please, will you take Bulbasaur with you?"

The words had barley left her mouth when the giant hearts appeared in Ashley's eyes again. Apparently she had no problem with taking Bulbasaur with her, in fact, she seemed to like the idea a lot.

She was just about to answer when Bulbasaur spoke, getting everyones attention.

"Bulbasaur." He said, hopping out of Melanie's arms and standing in front of Ashley.

"I think he said he wants to battle you. If you win, he'll go with you, right Bulbasaur?" She asked, getting a nod from Bulbasaur.

"Alright!" Ashley said, jumping up and down in excitement. She was finally going to get to catch Bulbasaur, that was enough to be happy about.

"Oddish!" Oddish said, jumping forward as well so that it was now standing next to Bulbasaur.

"Huh? Does that mean Oddish wants to battle too?" Misty asked, looking at the little weed Pokemon in suprise.

"Is that right Oddish? You want to fight as well?" Melanie asked, looking at the blue and green Pokemon.

"Oddish odd." It said, nodding it's head, that it looked more like a small bow.

"Alright, let's go!" Ashley said happily, only to be stopped by Misty.

"Not so fast! I want to catch Oddish. I was the one that battle it before and rist my life to save it, don't you think I should be the one to get the chance to catch it?" She asked, giving Ashley her biggest puppy dog eyes she could manage.

Ashley just stared at her for a few moments with half lidded lazy looking eyes before she finally shrugged her shoulder, causing Misty to hug her so tightly that it left her gasping for breath.

"Well, I guess it's a double wild Pokemon battle then." Brock said, getting everyones attention. He explained the rules, which were essentially the same as normal wild Pokemon battles, only with two trainers and two wild Pokemon. A normal double battle was rare in Kanto, and a double wild Pokemon battle was even more rare all around the world. This would be the first one he had ever actually seen.

After Brock explained the rules, Ashley and Misty moved over to one side of the small clearing between the house and the small lake while Bulbasaur and Oddish moved to the other end. When everyone was ready, the battle started.

"Alright Pikachu, let's go!" Ashley said, starting the battle instantly.

"Misty calls, Clefairy!" Misty called, throwing Clefairy's Pokeball into the center of the battle field.

"Clefairy airy." Clefairy said, ready for battle.

"Ack! Not Clefairy!" Ashley shouted, fearing for her Pikachu and soon to be Bulbasaur.

"Hay! What's wrong with my Clefairy?!" the red head demanded, glaring daggers at the raven haired teen.

"Haha, nothing. Sorry about that." Ashley said apologetically, turning her attention back to the battle. It was a good thing that she did because Pikachu was waiting for a command while dodging Vine Whips from Bulbasaur. "Ah! Pikachu! Run around Bulbasaur and try to get behind him!"

Misty was in better condition when she turned her attention back to the battle as Clefairy and Oddish were simply trying to stare each other down.

"Come on Clefairy, use Doubleslap!"

Clefairy hopped up to Oddish as fast as she could and tried to use double slap, only to have Oddish jump over the attack and onto her head, sucking the nutrients out of her with absorb.

"Pikachu! Use thunderbolt!" Pikachu did as it was told, sending a large bolt of electricity at Bulbasaur, only to miss when the grass type Pokemon dodged it.

"Ashley! Help!" Misty yelled, getting Ashley's attention.

Ashley looked over at Misty's battle and was surprised to find that Oddish was beating Clefairy by clinging to it's face and sucking all it's energy out of it, something she would have never bet on happening.

"Pikachu! Go help Clefairy!" She called, sending Pikachu over to Oddish and Clefairy to try and get Oddish off.

Bulbasaur intercepted him on the way their, using Razor Leaf to keep him away from Oddish and Clefairy. Apparently he wanted to finish their fight.

"Pikachu, try getting around it as fast as you can!" Ashley called.

Pikachu took off running at high speeds, leaving a white glowing trail behind him as he ran.

"That's agility!" Brock said, shocked that Pikachu learned the move in the middle of a battle.

"Agility?" Ashley whispered in surprise. He hadn't known that Pikachu had that kind of speed.

"Ashley! If Pikachu can use agility, then it can use Quick Attack!" Brock shouted out over the battle field, knowing that she wouldn't know that little fact if no one told her. (See A/N2)

"Huh? Oh! Pikachu! Use Quick Attack on Oddish!" Ashley called out, causing Pikachu to use it's agility to run around Bulbasaur and use barrel right into Oddish, knocking her off of Clefairy's head.

"Oddish!" Oddish yelled, hitting a try and falling to the ground with spirals in it's eyes, signaling that it could no longer battle.

"Alright, Pokeball go!" Misty shouted as she tossed the Pokeball, only for Bulbasaur to knock it out of the air half way to Oddish. "Huh? Wah?!" She said in shock and surprise. She hadn't been expecting Bulbasaur to do the same thing it had last time when she tried to catch Oddish, and she wasn't to happy about it trying it again. "Gr! I'll catch you first then!" She said, reaching for a Pokeball, only to be stopped by Ashley.

"Hey! Bulbasaur's mine, remember?" she said, causing the redhead to sweet drop in embarrassment.

"Oh yeah. I forgot. Anyway, Clefairy, use pound!" She said, deciding that if she couldn't catch Bulbasaur, she would at least use Clefairy to keep it busy while she caught Oddish.

Clefairy ran hopped as fast as she could toward Bulbasaur, fully intent on acting out her trainers order when Bulbasaur suddenly used Vine Whip on her, rapping her up in his thick vines, lifting her up into the air and smacking her down against the ground.

Misty took the opportunity of Bulbasaur's distraction to throw a Pokeball at Oddish while Ashley had Pikachu use the distraction as well.

"Pikachu! Use quick attack!" Ashley commanded.

Bulbasaur didn't even have time to react as Pikachu barreled into him, sending him tumbling across the grass.

Oddish was sucked into the Pokeball, which started clicking loudly instantly.

"All right, now use thunderbolt!" She said, causing Pikachu to send a large bolt of electricity at Bulbasaur. The large grass type Pokemon didn't have time to move out of the way of this attack either and was hit with it's full force, causing him to fall over onto his side, smoking slightly.

"OK, Pokeball, go!" Ashley shouted, throwing her Pokeball at Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur was sucked into the Pokeball at the exact same time that Oddish stopped struggling in hers, signaling that she was now Misty's Pokemon.

"Yes! I caught Oddish!" She shouted happily while Ashley waited to see if Bulbasaur was going to pop back out of the Pokeball or not.

The moment Bulbasaur's Pokeball stopped shaking and clicking, Pikachu and Ashley went into their patented victory poses.

"We did it! We caught Bulbasaur!" Ashley shouted happily

"Pi Pikachu!" Pikachu said happily, putting one of it's paws in the air and giving a piece sign.

"I knew you could do it." Melanie said, smiling at the two trainers and their Pokemon partners. They seemed to make a good team.

"Oddish/Bulbasaur, come on out!" Ashley and Misty said in unison, tossing the Pokeballs and releasing the Pokemon inside them.

The group stood around talking for a few minutes before everyone started saying their goodbyes, they had to get back to the Pokemon center before nightfall and it was quite a walk from where they were.

"Melanie, I can not bare parting with you, I shell stay here so that our love may-" Brock started, only to have Ashley and Misty both grab on to his ears and drag him away.

"Get real Romeo." They both said in unison, smiling as they dragged the lecher off.

"I'm real! I'm real!" He said, hopping backwards as they continued pulling him.

"Take care of Oddish and Bulbasaur!" Melanie called out as they disappeared into the forest. Once they were out of site, she opened the box that Nurse Joy had sent them to deliver to her, finding that her suspicions were right.

The box was empty. Nurse Joy had sent them to her to help out with Bulbasaur.

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Sorry it took me so long to update the fic. I've been really busy and plan to add another chapter as soon as possible.

(A/N1): in case no one has picked up on it, I keep referring to Brock's Sandshrew as 'he' and Ashley's Sandshrew as 'she'. This does not mean that there will be Sandshrew eggs in the future, it's just that I think I should point out that I could put some poke-eggs in any of the trainers pockets if I ever felt like it, though I don't think their pockets are big enough. XD

(A/N2): After watching the show all over again, I realized that Quick Attack is just agility with a tackle mixed into it.

(and please stop telling me what pairing you guys want, I am not going to even mention a pairing until the father poll is over, and it will be up for another chapter or two, so wait until it's over with.)

Please check my profile for polls and vote! (There is always one up)

Read and review people!