So this chapter introduces Ash. Just to be clear, this story will have a skewed timeline for a while, until later in the story. Some of you may be disappointed by the end of the chapter, but more about that later.
To Saiyan-Styles: Thanks for the support! Glad you like what I've been writing. Even one person taking the time to review means a lot.
Without further ado, here's chapter 5!
"Ash, wake up!"
"Mmhmmmhmhmph"
"Pikachu, wake him up!" Said the feminine voice, smiling mischievously.
"Pika!" Pikachu walked up to Ash. "PIKACHU!" Pikachu let off a bolt of electricity, instantly jolting the poor teen awake.
"WHAT THE FUCK?" Ash yelled, surprised at his electrical wake up call.
"You're gonna be late for the ferry, Ash," a bluenette said.
Ash looked at the clock. "Oh shit. Dawn, can you get my bag? I'll be in the bathroom changing and getting ready. I'll be out in five."
Dawn sighed. "I guess so, just hurry up. I don't want you to be late."
"Okay, mom," Ash replied. Dawn blushed at the comment.
Ash headed towards the bathroom. "I'll be waiting for you when you get out!" Dawn exclaimed. "Brock and your mom just finished cooking breakfast."
Ash opened the door slightly, peeking out, shirtless. "Why didn't you say so?" He closed the door again.
Dawn's face turned red at seeing her crush shirtless, glad he couldn't see it.
Not even thirty seconds later, Ash reappeared, carrying his singed clothes and wearing a fresh change of clothes.
"Time to eat!" He exclaimed.
"Pika!"
"Piplup!"
They walked down to the kitchen, and immediately perked up to the smell of pancakes.
"These smell great mom, Brock!" Ash exclaimed.
"Just try and leave some for us, please" Brock chuckled.
"Like that's gonna happen," Dawn commented.
"These taste as good as they smell, too!" Ash muffled mouth full of pancakes.
"Ash, what did I tell you about talking with your mouth full?" Delia scolded.
"Sorry."
After eating, Ash, Dawn, Brock, Pikachu, and Piplup all headed out the door to make their way to the ferry, which would take them to Vermilion City.
Once they got there, they heard a familiar voice behind them.
"So you're headed to the Tournament too, Ashy-Boy?"
Ash turned around. "Gary!? What are you doing here?" He asked.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm going to the tournament. After traveling through the new Kalos Region, I decided to try my hand at a tournament again." Gary replied.
"If we battle, I'll have you know that you're going down!" Ash said.
"Here we go..." Dawn sighed.
"And as much as I'd like to battle you right now, I need my Pokémon to rest for tomorrow." Ash continued.
"What's this? Ash using his head? Who are you and what have you done with Ash?" Gary mocked.
"Cut it with the smart-ass comments. Let's just get on the boat."
The group arrived at the ship and climbed aboard.
"The trip is gonna be a few hours, so what do y'all wanna do for the time being?" Brock asked.
"I don't know, maybe we could walk around and tour the ship?" Dawn suggested.
"Seeing as we have nothing better to do, why not?" Ash replied.
The group started to walk around the ship. As they were walking, they heard sounds of a battle going on. Ash instinctively followed the sound. He arrived at a battle taking place.
On one side of the field was a tall girl with an hourglass figure. She had on blue shorts that only came down a few inches from her waist, and a pink tank top. She wore her brown hair in a ponytail. She was commanding an Infernape. It had an orange body, with white feet and torso. It had golden pads on its joints, as well as a flame flowing from its head.
Upon seeing her, it took all of Dawn's strength to hold back Brock, as to not interrupt the battle.
On the other side of the field was a boy who looked to be no older than twelve. He wore blue skinny jeans and a simple black t-shirt. He wore a blue hat covering his short, blonde hair. In front of him was a Meowstic. It was a male, due to its primary blue coloration. His arms and legs had no visible hands or feet respectively, and his head was feline in appearance.
"Meowstic, psyshock!"
"Dodge, then use Shadow Claw"
Meowstic's eyes glowed a bright blue, and seemingly out of nowhere three orbs of psychic energy appeared and shot towards Infernape. However, Infernape swiftly dodged them and charged towards Meowstic with her arm reared back, her hand glowing in a dark and purple aura. She then struck Meowstic square in the stomach, sending him flying back. He didn't recover.
"Meowstic is unable to continue battling, Infernape is the winner and the match goes to Susan!" The person acting as ref stated.
"Wow she's amazing Brock exclaimed." I could stare-UUUGGGHHH!" Before he could finish, his Croagunk appeared, giving him the old Poison Jab to the stomach, dragging him away even before he could make a scene.
Dawn giggled at the sight. "Same old Brock."
Ash walked up to the girl, who was recalling her Infernape. "So you're Susan?" He asked.
"Yep. Susan Blalock from Viridian city."
"Cool. I couldn't help but notice that you're Infernape looked really strong out there. Care for another match?" He asked.
"Sure, I could use the warm up for the prelims tomorrow." She replied.
"Uh, what happened to the 'I need to save my Pokémon's energy for tomorrow' that you said earlier Ash?" Dawn asked.
Ash blushed a little in response. "Like she said, it's just a warm up. Besides, I wanna see how we'll my new team member will do since he evolved." He turned towards Susan. "One on one?"
"Sure."
Brock, appearing out of nowhere, offered to be the referee. Both people agreed.
"Same old Ash, can't keep his nose out of anything that involved Pokémon battles," Gary remarked.
"I know, but that's one of his best qualities!" Dawn defended.
Gary gave a knowing smirk. "Whatever you say, Dawn."
"This will be a one on one practice match between Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town, versus Susan Blalock of Viridian city," Brock started. "Each side will use one Pokémon, and the match is over when that Pokémon is unable to continue. No substitutions will be allowed. Are both trainers ready?"
Both nodded yes.
"Then please send out your Pokémon. "
"Altaria, let's go!" Susan cried. A Pokémon that had a white body that seemed to be made of cotton appeared. She had blue feet and tail, and on her head seemed to be two flowing ribbons.
"Perfect." Ash said. "Garchomp, I choose you!"
Out came the Mach Pokémon, it was dark blue with a long tail and a fin on its back, as well as scythe-like appendages on its arms. Its head resembled a hammerhead shark.
"Ah, a battle of the dragons, I see." Susan commented.
"Since when does Ash have a Garchomp?" Gary asked Dawn.
"Remember that troublesome Gible he caught in Sinnoh? Ash decided to bring him with him when we travelled to Unova, and after evolving early on into Gabite, he evolved again during the Unova league," she recalled.
"Ah."
"Garchomp versus Altaria, begin!"
"Altaria, Dragonbreath!"
"Counter with flamethrower!"
The green energy coming out of Altaria's mouth was matched by the flames emerging from Garchomp. The attacks caused a mini-explosion in the center of the field.
"Cotton Guard, followed by Double edge!"
"Counter with Iron Tail!"
Altaria summoned the fluff from her body, creating a cushion of sorts. She then swooped down towards Garchomp, leaving a streak of yellow light behind her. Garchomp had his iron tail at the ready, and when Altaria was about to crash into Garchomp, he swung at her with his tail and sent her flying back. However, the extra cushioning from the cotton guard protected her from any real damage.
"Garchomp, Dragon pulse!"
"Counter it with ice beam, then fly up into the air!"
Garchomp opened his mouth, and a turquoise ball of energy shot towards Altaria. She emitted a beam of ice, causing the attack to freeze over. However, the dragon pulse continued its way towards its target, striking a clean hit, the damage being multiplied by the ice. Altaria immediately showed signs of fatigue.
"Use roost!" Susan said desperately.
"Big mistake. Garchomp, Draco Meteor!"
As Altaria landed to rest her body, Garchomp prepared to fire the most powerful Dragon type attack. An orange glow appeared from his belly, before aiming his mouth straight up and firing off dozens of red comets into the air. The defenseless dragon type could only watch in horror as they made their way down to their target. She cried out in pain as she was stuck numerous times by the meteors. Finally succumbing to the pain, she fell backwards, knocked out cold.
"Altaria is unable to battle, Garchomp is the winner, and the victory goes to Ash!" Brock said.
"Great job Altaria, you were wonderful out there," Susan said, recalling her fallen Pokémon. She looked up at Ash. "Great match. I hope we get to face each other in the tournament."
"Me too," he replied, recalling Garchomp in the process. "You were excellent out there buddy, I'm proud of you. Take a nice long rest."
"Attention passengers, we are arriving at Vermilion City. We will begin debarking in ten minutes, so please make sure you have all of your belongings with you. To those of you participating in the Pokémon World Tournament, I wish you luck."
"We'll guys," Ash said, "the first thing we need to do is register." He looked at Brock. You never told me Brock, are you gonna enter?"
Brock didn't seem to hear him, as he was busy staring at Susan, who was walking away.
"Hello? Earth to Brock?" Ash asked, waving a hand in front of his face.
"Huh? What?"
"I asked if you were gonna enter the tournament."
"Now that I think about it, I don't see why not. I'd like to try my hand at battling again. It's always nice to take a break from trying to become the world's greatest Pokémon Breeder."
"Okay, first things first, we need to register at the Pokémon Center."
They disembarked from the ship, and started walking towards the Pokémon Center.
Dawn spoke up. "How exactly does this thing work?" She asked.
"Basically, there are qualifier rounds, each being held in each region. They narrow down the number of trainers down to 64, and then the real 'World Tournament' kicks in. then everyone is separated into groups, each based off of the seeds you placed in based on how well you did in the qualifiers. Due to the sheer amount of participants, each group has its own little mini-bracket, and the top sixteen from each group advance. After that, it's a whole lotta brackets. The whole thing is expected to take about a month, maybe more," Gary explained.
"Sounds complicated."
"It's not as bad as it would seem. Considering the qualifiers start tomorrow, they should end in about a week." Ash added.
Saying no more, the group headed into the Pokémon Center.
"We'd like to register for the tournament, please." Ash said.
"Certainly!" Nurse Joy replied. "Just fill out this paperwork, and you'll be good to go."
After registering, the group decided to split up, Gary going his separate ways, while Ash, Brock, and Dawn decided to eat lunch.
"Bye Gary, see ya tomorrow!" Ash called.
"Bye Ashy-boy!" Gary smirked.
Yes, I know, another battle on the ship, how original. But I spent a long time thinking about what I could write while they were on the ferry, and a battle was the only thing that came to mind. I mentioned Unova, and as far as I'm concerned, Iris doesn't exist. she is probably the most annoying person in the anime, even putting Barry to shame. The voice doesn't help either. Cilan won't make an appearance, except maybe in a flash back, but don't expect it. I don't have a problem with him. The way this goes for the story, Dawn and Brock never left Ash when he went to Unova, and his Pokemon will be altered to my liking, i.e. Garchomp. He hasn't gone to Kalos yet, so Serena and Clemont don't exist. Anyways, I'm still accepting OCs, so please send them in! Please R&R and see you next chapter!