Chapter 29 – The Very Best
"We were all just swimming in the calm water, the still lake. But there was a storm coming, and it was there, brimming on the horizon and the air was heavy and clouds rolled overhead. Yet somehow, the whole world managed to ignore it." Lance
("Finally, after six months or so without a goal, without a purpose, I had been offered a chance on a silver platter. And this time, I was not going to let it slip through my fingers. I headed back to Kanto, stopping off at the ranch in Pallet to switch Infernape and Gabite for Feraligatr and Swellow, and picking up the Feebas which I had, until then, had no idea what to do with, before heading to Cerulean City, or to be more specific: Cerulean City Gym."
There was a coo from Leaf and Dawn. "That is so sweet," the blunette sighed dreamily.
"Hey Gary?" Leaf asked, "Why don't you give me cool Pokémon?"
Said researcher spluttered. "I… I didn't know you wanted anything…" he blustered, ignoring the snickers from Ash, Lance and Brock.
"He's wrapped around her little finger." Lance shook his head. "Poor guy..."
His elite shot him a look. "You can't talk – some of the stuff May drags you into…" he trailed off, shaking his head and trying not to laugh. "At least I protest when Misty tries something like that with me."
"You're just nice and caring anyway," Misty chirped, with a smile, making Ash actually blush slightly. Rai snorted from his rug.
"Only when you're concerned!" Ash winked at her.)
[16:04PM]– 19th November 2004 – Kanto - Cerulean City – Cerulean Gym
Ash swallowed, one hand raised to knock on the door of the Cerulean Gym.
"Are you sure she won't kill me?" he asked Rai for what was probably the sixth time.
The mouse rolled his dark eyes. "KaaChu!" he chided, pointing at the door. (Just knock already!)
Ash took a deep breath, and brought his fist down in a sharp knock on the door. With each thud, his heart pounded louder in my chest and for a moment, he wondered if it wasn't going to beat out altogether.
The guardian could hear the frustrated snap of annoyance, and a pitiful quack and he smiled, even as the door creaked open to reveal the gym leder, standing in front of him, one hand on her hip, wearing a pale blue tracksuit with a swimsuit underneath. Her fleece was only half zipped up, and her eyes, blues and greens of the sea, bore into auburn brown, so dark they were almost red.
She blinked.
"Ash?" her voice was layered with disbelief. "Ash Ketchum?"
Ash felt himself grinning at just being there once again with her. It gave him happiness high as he shot back, "I think I know my own name Mist."
Pikachu chirped out a greeting, even as Misty narrowed her eyes, in evident annoyance, and reaching for what was probably her mallet. Ash wanted to avoid a scene, or making her angry, because Mew, this was the first time he had seen her in a long while. He raised both hands in air, "Hey! Whoa!" Ash yelped, at her burning gaze, which stung. "Please don't hit me! I swear! It was Riley's fault! He's the one who brought the explosives! I didn't know what he was going to do with them and I didn't really question it when he asked me to put them in the Eterna base! I swear it's all, his fault." The trainer had lost track of what he was babbling, words just kept flowing out of his mouth no matter how much he wished for them to stop.
The gym leader paused, arm dropping to her side. "You what?" she asked, still slightly in shock at seeing Ash standing there, a new blue hooded jacket, dark cargo pants and the usual peaked hat, white with a red peak and blue League symbol on it. Her first reaction of anger had thankfully been averted, and now he had to deal with the confusion. "Gee Ash it's been… months since I last saw you and you waltz in going on about explosives."
Ash winced; not his best move.
"It was Riley's fault." he repeated stubbornly; mind doing little happy dances and not really concentrating on words, because this was Misty! Here, after several years, it was just Misty and him together once more. He had missed her so much and… when had he started staring at her eyes?
He blinked at the oceanic turquoise. He had thought them blue before, but they really weren't. You'd think they'd be blue, the colour of the water she loved so much, but they weren't. They were a deep blue-green. Green was the colour of life, and he couldn't think of someone who had more life and spirit in her than Misty. Then he could no longer stare at them – why was he staring anyway? – because Misty had leapt forwards to through her arms around him, pulling him close, her head buried against his neck.
"Uh… Mist..?" Ash asked, shifting so the pair did not both fall sprawling across the ground. Pikachu had leapt to the ground for safety, and was cooing happily.
"You couldn't even write a letter? I missed you. Git." she mumbled into his shoulder, and Ash patted her back, trying to silently apologise.
"I missed you too." He admitted voice thick, "I never stopped thinking about you. Got you a present - hope you like it - it's nothing much but still… I know you deserve more and I'm sorry about the letters. I did send you a postcard but I think it got lost in the mail." Lost in the mail – it never actually reached the mail because Ash couldn't figure out how to talk to her, and it ended up being eaten by Torterra. The other various letters were either burnt by Torkoal, screwed up in the bottom of his bag, or had been confiscated by Riley as blackmail material.
Finally she stepped back, and Ash found himself missing the comforting warmth in his arms. "You might as well come on in." she said, glancing around the street to check nobody saw her public display of affection. "I have a challenger later." She added, stepping aside to let the guardian in, "But you can stay and watch."
Stepping into the building, Ash automatically stepped past Pysduck who was sleeping by the umbrella stand, the stand itself not holding any umbrellas. The silence was thick and awkward, and he tried to think of a topic of conversation, if only to avoid the inevitably angry outburst. "You still enjoy running the gym?" he asked, seemingly in response to her comment about the challenger.
Ash could see the way her eyes brightened, and then dimmed slightly. "I wish sometimes my sisters would help but if I wasn't a gym leader I don't know what I would be."
"Water Pokémon master?" he teased, reminding her of her own long time goal.
She laughed, quipping back, "I'm quite happy being the best water Pokémon gym leader in Kanto…but what about you … you were in Sinnoh for a bit right?" Yeah, quite a bit, before being dragged off to Johto. "I watched your battles for the conference." She had? "But where did you go afterwards? Brock thought you were going to Unova." She pushed open the gym door and Ash stepped through, into the open airy poolside of the main gym.
It looked just like it had last time he was here, two floating platforms and a lifeguard seat at the far end, beneath a painting of the cascade badge. "I - ah - missed the boat back to Kanto." he admitted, nervously, "So I decided to stay in Sinnoh and explore a bit. Mount Coronet mostly."
"Catch any new Pokémon?" she asked brightly, interrupting his story, and Ash perked up, easily able to talk about his new team.
"Sure thing." he chirped. "It's like you don't know me at all Mist!" the trainer joked, "I have got a new team built up and I trained up some older ones. Want to see?" he offered, gaze still flitting around the pool.
Misty had perched near the edge, and Pikachu hopped forwards to say hello, while Ash moved towards her new Pokémon swimming within. . "I see you got some new Pokémon too." he breathed, looking at them – the large transport Pokémon, a dual type ground and water and a small blue fluffball. A rumble from the pool startled him slightly as her Gyrados emerged, water glistening off its blue scales, reminding him of Lance's own, red specimen. "Well I've met you before big fellow." The raven haired trainer smiled at the sea monster, before gesturing over his shoulder. "And I saw Psyduck on the way in." His gaze fell on her purple star and pink rock, "Starmie and Corsola too." He nodded at them.
"Meet my Lapras and Quagsire." Misty smiled. "Oh, and you met Marill - but she was an Azurill back then."
Said blue fluff ball scurried forwards, hopping into Ash's arms and he caught her, stroking her soft blue and white fur. Ash mentally winced at her cry of "Marrilll!" (Daddy) and shot Pikachu, who had the gall to snicker, a venomous glare.
The water and ground type waddled up. "QuagQuagsire." (Nice to meet you).
Ash smirked at the sight. "Sorry buddy." he shrugged to Rai. "Misty's got a ground type now to counter your electricity. She must be tired of all those kids with Pikachu's winning against her."
"You did not win!" Misty snapped, stubbornly.
He didn't want to fight. "Of course not." he sighed, "We drew, remember?"
"Pah." She still looked annoyed. "You wish."
Oh yeah, that reminded him. "Want to meet the Totodile we were fighting over?"
She glanced at Ash warily. "Is he going to do his crazy dance again?"
He laughed at the image of Ferligatr dancing a tap dance. "Hah. Hardly." he scoffed, tossing forwards his Lure Ball. His large crocodile emerged, blinking at his surroundings. "Galatr?" he asked his trainer curiously. (This is Cerulean?)
Misty gasped. "He evolved! Wow – Feraligatr is so…" she seemed to be struggling for a word, and instead hopped forward to give the water type a hug. Said water type looked bemused at the red headed water fanatic. "Gaa?" (Is this normal?)
"Yes." Ash chorused, along with several other Pokémon. Misty stepped back from the croc, glaring the group into silence.
Ash hurriedly changed the subject, trying to keep on her good side so she didn't remember how much she was annoyed at him and decided to beat him up with her mallet. Where she kept the bloody thing was always a mystery.
The guardian pulled out Feebas in her premier ball. "Found this little gal in Mount Coronet." He enlarged it in his hand. "They have some pretty pools up the mountain. She's for you Mist, to raise and train, being a water type and all. Anyway, she's not much to look at now but I'm sure she'll evolve soon…" he trailed off, letting the ball burst open in a cloud of red light, as Feebas materialised on the floor.
"Fee…" the fish chugged, happily. Ash saw Misty's eyes widen in shock, then joy, and then he once again found himself with Misty in his arms. Some part of him was beginning to enjoy the feeling.
"Gah! Mist!" Ash stumbled slightly under the force of impact. "I can't breathe!" he protested, and she hastily let go.
"Thank you." she said, turquoise eyes brimming with emotion. "My sisters will tell you how long I've been looking for a Feebas. How did you know?"
He felt a sense of relief wash over him. She did actually want to poor thing, and had space in her rota for it. "Know? I guessed. Wallace of Hoenn, the coordinator, specialises in water Pokémon and I figured you'd probably idolise him. Luxray almost electrocuted her…" the trainer paused to wince "…so I had to capture her to take her to a Pokémon centre. I thought you might like to train her."
"Like to?" Misty squealed, "I'd love to. You hear that little girl? You're going to be a brilliant Milotic one day!" this seemed to cheer the fish up, as she clapping her fins together happily. Misty glanced back at Ash curiously. "Wait. Luxray? What Pokémon do you have?"
He smirked, fishing his other four Pokémon from his magnetic belt and tossing those forwards, releasing his team. Luxray looked unbothered by his surroundings, while Eelektross skipped happily over to his best friend – Feraligatr. Lanturn ended up in the water, next to the Lapras, while Swellow stood on the side, next to Misty's Marill.
"What is that Pokémon?"
Ash followed her gaze. "That's Eelektross." he explained. "He's a Unova Pokémon, electric type. Someone gave me a Tynamo, his first evolution, and he then evolved into a Eelektrik. He found a thunder stone buried in some rocks on Iron Island and eventually evolved into his final form."
She whistled, impressed. "Four electric types?" she asked. "Pikachu, Luxray, Eelektross and Lantern..." Ash could hear the curiosity in her voice.
"I decided to specialise after I realised I had four." Ash admitted. "Then Lance offered me a challenge and I picked electric. My challenge is in about six months. I still need to find two more but I reckon I could manage with just five provided I find the right one."
"Wait, wait, and wait? An elite challenge?" he could hear her mingled shock and excitement, as he continued to muse over the upcoming elite four challenges.
The aura guardian nodded absentmindedly. "I was thinking of maybe raising an Elekid but Paul already has one and it's not that appealing. I was going to go to Johto and look for a Mareep maybe… a Jolteon would do to but Eevee's are so rare it'd be hard to find one. I also wouldn't want to force it to evolve - it might prefer to be a Vaporeon or Espeon - Heck - even a Leafeon." he was rambling again, trying to work out what other electric types would fit with his current team.
"An elite challenge?" she repeated. Ash wondered if her hearing was okay after spending so much time swimming.
"Yes. Ampharos are quite powerful. There was this Flaafy I ran into a couple of months back. She might want to tag along with me…" That was quite a good idea actually… she had wanted to come along last time but was too young, but surely an exception could be made…
"An elite challenge against the Kanto elite? Against the champion? Against Lance?"
Ash wondered if Misty was entirely clear on what they were talking about. "Yes. The moron. You know he tried to go off on his own to take down these Hunter renegades and got into trouble." Ash and Riley had refrained from telling him how they had actually been caught for several hours, and allowed the champion to believe they were 'staking out' the safari zone. "Riley and I had to bail him out as usual. That's not counting the Mahogany Underground Rocket circle we broke into only to find Lance already there. We told him we were handling it!"
"Agatha, Lorelei, Bruno and Lance? Dragon Master Lance? Water Master Lorelei Prima? Lorelei?"
Was she repeating the line-up of elites he had to face just to make him nervous?
"Yes, her too. Haven't met her since the Orange Islands. Haven't been there in a while." Maybe that would be a good place to train… wasn't Mount Ember meant to harbour Moltres? Wait… what was Lorelei doing in the Orange Islands? Lance had said she was native to Sevii…
"Ash!" Misty's voice snapped him into focus.
"Yes? Misty?" he asked, amiably, before noting her pissed off expression.
"You are going to explain to me right now what in Kyogre's name you are talking about! Got it! Right! Now start talking you prat!"
Uh oh. So much for not annoying her.
("Misty allowed me to stay over, and spend some time with her, in between her frequent and many gym battles. She had, despite my attempts for her not to, given me the silent treatment for a little while after that, until I eventually gave in a popped over to Pewter on Pidgeot to visit Brock. Wherupon I was ambushed and forced into a topic that I had heard more than enough of from Riley.")
[13:45PM] – 12th December 2004 - Pewter City – Pewter Gym
"So," Brock began, in a voice the preluded a talking to. "You and Misty huh…?"
Ash glanced up, blinking. "Me and Misty what?" he asked, not quite sure what his friend was getting at.
"You like her."
Ash frowned. "Well, yes. She's one of my best friends, along with you of course." He shot the breeder a lopsided grin.
The quint eyed man sighed. "Well I hope you don't like me the way you like Misty. No, Ash, don't try to hide it. It's obvious you like her a lot."
The raven haired man nodded. "Well yeah, we have known each other for about six years or so."
Exasperated, Brock snapped, "We've known each other for six years too but it's not my house you're staying over at!"
Ash shot him a bewildered glance. "Gee, Brock, if you wanted me to stay over you just needed to ask. I thought though with your siblings, your studying, the gym… and I haven't seen Misty for ages…"
"See!" Brock was almost crying at his friend's thick head. "It always comes back to Misty. So just admit it already! You love her!"
"I …what…?" Ash blinked. "When were we talking about love? And who are you to advise me on love?" He'd already had to sit through the most awkward conversation of his life when Riley decided to talk about girls, and for some reason the aura guardian seemed fixated on the Sinnoh Champion. Riley had taken it upon himself to lecture Ash on the subject (both girls in general and Cynthia Shirona) and the poor trainer now knew far too many things he wished he had never heard of before.
Croakgunk was sitting in the corner of the room and Brock shot his poison fighting type a nervous glance. "Listen, Ash, so I may not be able to get a girl, but you have one already and you don't even realise it."
"Me … and Misty…?" Ash laughed. "You've got to be kidding."
"How do you feel about her?" Brock challenged.
The raven haired teen frowned. "She… she's Misty. She's the irritating red-head with a hot temper that can look after herself, a brilliant battler, fierce and proud and…" he paused in his list of adjectives. "She's Misty." He finished shrugging.
He so did not want this conversation.
"Is she pretty?"
"Yes." Ash narrowed his eyes. "Which brings about the question as to why you never flirted with her?"
The Pewter Gym leader waved it off. "I know not to broach upon another man's woman." He said, before turning back to Ash. "Don't change the subject." He warned, "We are still talking about you and Misty and I am going to sit here until you admit it to me. Pikachu get the door."
"Traitor," Ash grumbled at the mouse, which waved cheekily at him.
"So… May..."
"I thought we were talking about Misty?"
"We are." Brock shrugged. "But let's do this my way first. How do you feel about May?"
Ash frowned. "Isn't she dating Drew?" he asked.
Brock blinked, quite an achievement for someone with closed eyes. "Really?" he asked. The aura guardian opened his mouth to respond but Brock interrupted. "Stop changing the subject!"
"But I'm not…"
"No."
Ash sighed in defeat.
"How do you feel about Misty?" Brock pressed.
"I don't know." Ash was staring glumly at the table. "I mean… I haven't seen her for ages. I missed her, in Sinnoh and Hoenn, and she runs the gym now. She's a brilliant gym leader. I gave her a Feebas and she's working on evolving it into a Milotic. She's practically stolen Ter to help train her Chinchou up to a higher level. She the girl whose hit me with a mallet and then rush over in concern if I tripped over a rock. She's like fire and water at the same time, fierce and brave and yet calm, loving and…" he stopped, glaring at Brock. "Stop looking for so smug."
"You love her." The breeder teased him. "Finally - It only took you six years to realise the truth in your heart." He sighed with relief, and Pikachu hopped away from the door, face palming slightly. Ash's eyes drifted towards the unguarded door. "Now all we need to do is to get you two together."
"What?" Ash's gaze snapped back to Brock. "No way; she's my best friend. I'm not going to mess that up by doing something I'll regret."
"But Ash…"
"No." he said firmly, "Absolutely not! I am not talking about this with you Brock. I am not taking any advice you might give me. No. No. Enough said. If you continue to persist upon this path then I shall vacate the premises."
The breeder blinked. "When did you learn such big words?"
Ash ignored him, and turned around to stalk towards the door.
Once outside, and safety hidden next to Shard, he let himself slide down to the floor. "How did you know?" he asked his Charizard, "That you were in love with Charla?"
The dragon paused for a moment to consider it. "CharSzard," He growled softly. (There was no other.) "Charr," (Only her)
Ash ran a hand through his hair, pulling his hat off. "It… it has always been her." He admitted. "But love? Really…?"
"ZardCharr…?" (You love Misty…?) Shard asked, craning his neck around to peer at his trainer.
"Gah!" Ash flung his hat on the ground. "How come everyone can guess its Misty?"
His dragon laughed, "ZaarrArr." (Maybe because it's obvious)
"Is it though? I don't think it's obvious." Ash sighed.
Charizard crouched down, blinking slowly. "CharraZarrArdCah. CharrZardShaarr…?" (Think of it this way. If there was one person that you could not live without, who would it be?) The fire lizard paused. "ZarrArr GrahCharr?" (Or when you were in Sinnoh, who did you miss the most?)
The aura guardian sighed. "Misty." He admitted, leaning back against Shard's flank. "So this is what love feels like, huh?"
("That's so sweet!" Dawn squealed. She'd been saying that a lot at intermittent points throughout the tale.
Ash rolled his eyes, but smiled down at the red-head in his arms. "Still, it's a bit embarrassing I got love advice from my Charizard."
Misty shrugged. "Don't worry. I had my sister's teasing me about it for so long, I actually believed myself when I denied it. Then, when we actually started dating and I told them, they didn't believe me anymore."
May finished typing at her computer, and glanced around. "What next?" she asked, scrolling down the page.
"Brock and Rai somehow engineered a reservation at a fancy restaurant in Viridian, and took me and Misty there, separately of course, and left us there, with the threat that if we didn't sit there, he'd force us to pay. So we agreed, and made the most of Brock paying for a fancy dinner, and after an awkward start, we did actually have fun.")
[20:02PM] – 30th December 2004 - Kanto – Viridian City – Restaurant
The dark haired trainer awkwardly pushed his spaghetti around on my plate with a fork. "This is all Brock's fault, isn't it?" he said, glancing up at the red-head opposite him.
She laughed, "And that rat of yours. Forget what I ever said about him being cute."
"A bit like Togepi then." Ash laughed, "Who would try Metronome and throw out an earthquake."
Misty winced slightly.
"You must miss him." he swallowed, wishing he thought sometimes before blurting stuff out, "I'm sorry."
"It's okay. You must miss some of yours… like Butterfree, Squirtle…"
"I was so happy to get Pidgeot back." Ash admitted, thinking about his large flying type, "She's so much stronger now and her flock can take care of themselves."
The Cerulean leader shot him a cautious smile. "Well that's good. Personally I like your Floatzel."
"Of course you would." Ash refrained from rolling his eyes. "He's a water type. On that matter … My Corphish is a water type. He's a bit young for the kind of training I'm doing with Luxray and the others, but I thought you might want to look after him a bit, maybe."
Blue eyes met auburn. "Really? Sure – I'd love that. Hoenn region right? Why aren't you training him though?"
Ash swallowed my mouthful, dropping his fork on his empty plate. "Misty – just last week my Luxray managed to work out how to use hydro pump."
She gaped at the electric user and he winced. "Yeah. According to him, because water is a polar molecule, if he runs a light charge through the air the water will be attracted to it and form along the path of his weak thunder fang. Don't ask me – I don't think it's physically possible but he managed it."
"This is the Luxray which uses flame charge right?" she asked cautiously. "And also coming from you who is somehow managing to teach Pikachu surf, fly and magnet rise? Ash, you're a good trainer – you know that? And when you have your elite challenge I'll be there – cheering you on!"
"That'll mean a lot." Ash smiled nervously. "Even Dawn's cheerleading couldn't compare to your shouting 'Ash Ketchum stop thinking about food and start battling!'. Dawn and May are very similar – coordinators and very…" he struggled for the word, "Girly?" Seeing her expression, he corrected himself. "Not that you aren't, and I love your new hairstyle, but they're more like your sisters than you are."
Self-consciously Misty ran a hand through her short hair, no longer tied up in its usual pony tail. "My gym nickname is 'the tomboyish mermaid'." she admitted. "I think Brock is the 'rock-hard trainer'. It's more annoying, because all these guys appear asking me out on dates. I actually went with this one kid, but he was this little wimp who kept staring."
Ash choked slightly on his drink. "You have a boyfriend?"
"Had." She corrected. "One date doesn't really count though. It was mostly him, just agreeing with everything I said. I was so relieved when I was interrupted by a challenger – this cocky kid from Johto – Ethan – with a Typhlosion, Magmortar, Aipom and Politoed. Pretty good challenger for someone with two fire types – won the badge to. Actually you know I think the only reason I liked the other kid was because he reminded me a bit like you."
"A cocky kid from Johto?" the aura guardian raised an eyebrow.
She shook her head. "The kid I went on a date with. He had an Elekid which followed him around like a lovesick puppy."
He frowned. "He didn't have purple hair did he?" It sounded an awfully lot like Paul, but it had been years since the rival turned friend had been in Kanto.
She shook her head. "No, why?"
"No reason." Ash let his gaze wander for a few seconds, before realising that he was staring at her eyes again. Had they always been so pretty? "Wait, are you saying you only went on a date with that kid because he reminded you of me?"
She chewed him lip in a very, un-Misty-like fashion.
"I still have your lure." The raven haired teen blurted out, without thinking again. "And your handkerchief. Dawn tried to borrow it – the lure, not the hanky – and I wouldn't let her because it meant too much to me." She gazed up at Ash with wide eyes and the awkwardness seemed to appear again. And like an idiot words were still spewing out of his mouth. "Although for that matter I still have a set of Brock's cutlery – all bent up. I think I used them to climb out a hole Team Rocket dug. And I have that drawing Latias drew… or was it Bianca…"
"Ash." She said, calmly. "Shut up."
He closed his mouth.
"We can do this again." She said, and for the first time the aura guardian let himself reach out, to sense her aura, the pulsing waves of blue, brimming with emotions that he could not discern.
Ash took a second before opening his mouth again – to make sure the right words came out. "I'd like that – to spend more time with you. And maybe it would work better than your last boyfriend."
She blinked at him, bemused. "Ash, are you asking me out?"
"We're already out." He quipped, settling back into a rhythm with a lopsided grin. "Can't get you more out that this."
"You know what I mean." She sighed.
"Yeah." he laughed. "I do. And I think the answer is 'yes', but if you agree then we are not telling Brock or Pikachu – got it? It wouldn't do to let them think their plan worked."
("Dawn! Stop squealing! You're making my ears hurt. I'm just going to skip that six months until I reach my elite challenge. I could even skip the battles – you know what happened and all…"
"Ash!" May complained. "I need them for the records!"
"You've got records!" Ash snapped.
"Do we?" Lance hummed. "I thought the data from battles was deleted what with all those power cuts we had."
"And," May added happily, "It will be historically valuable to have your view on it."
Ash, Misty, Dawn and Lance stared at the chirpy brunette slightly worried. Ash raised his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay! Fine – I'll recount them for you. Lance, your girlfriend is such a historian."
The red-headed champion seemed to be realising this, but he didn't seem to mind much.
"Well you were all there." Ash began. "It was one of the last… no the last challenge…"
"We rank them in order of how good we think they are." Lance added. "Since Ash had the record of helping me knock out Cynthia's Pokémon in the tag battle, he was shuffled off to the last battle."
"Just out of curiosity..." Ash frowned. "What happened with the other battles?"
The red-head frowned. "We had one who made it to Bruno before losing. Lorelei took down most of them and the ones she didn't because they had fire-types or ground-types, Agatha knocked out pretty quickly."
"I invited you guys, obviously," Ash rolled his eyes. "You all came too, and it was great to see you again. Max was beginning to travel around Kanto, May was going through some of the smaller regions with Drew and Dawn was in Johto."
"Did you pick up Amps then?" Erika asked.
"Yeah, Flaafy came along. She was called Amps, along with Arrin, my Eelektross, Rai, Lux and Ter. I tried to start with the intimidation factor against Lorelei, by sending out my psycho Luxray…")
[10:06AM] – 21st May 2005 - Kanto – Indigo Plateau – Elite Battle Stadium – First Field – Ice - (NB: All Pokémon speech will be temporarily translated).
"Oh crap." The battle hungry Luxray dodged out of the way of a sheer cold attack from the Lapras opposing him. "What happened to playing fair?"
"Playing fair is for gym battles." The transport Pokémon said smugly. "This is an elite challenge."
"Lapras! Use ice beam!" Lorelei called from her end of the field. Ash remained silent, letting Luxray fight his own battle. They seemed to do better, without him screaming his head off at them.
The freezing beam hurtled towards Lux who sighed. "Well if that's how you play – take this!"
"What are you doing?" the ice and water type looked worried.
"It's called flame charge. Enjoy!"
A flaming Luxray encountered the ice beam and kept on running forwards, melting the field beneath his paws. The Lapras was too large to dodge, so she let out a sheer cold instead.
Lux charged right through it.
"Oh that isn't fair!" she whined, a moment before she was sent sliding out of the field.
Luxray blinked dizzily. "Did anybody catch the name of the Torterra I ran into?"
Ash frowned. "Did you use strength as well as your flaming wild charge variant mark iv?"
"Might have. Or maybe it was a take down. There was a lot of recoil." The electric type shook his head, trying to clear away stars. His vision was clearing, revealing a large and lethal looking Mamoswine glaring him down. The lion glanced at him. "And now I'm hallucinating. Because I could have sworn that was a ground type."
A red beam caught the confused Pokémon before the earthquake could knock him out, the dark haired trainer throwing out Flaafy.
Mamoswine blinked at the small pink sheep. "You're not very big." He observed.
"Cotton spore."
Irritably he shook of the white cloud which seemed to stick to his tusk. "What are you doing?"
"Cotton spore."
"Your electric type moves won't affect me." He sighed, beginning to charge for a take down. Although he was feeling unusually slow and heavy.
"Cotton spore."
What did that move do again? Oh… yeah…
"Signal beam!"
The bug type move hit him dead centre. He winced. "Okay little sheep. I actually felt that. Now eat ice beam."
Amps looked unconcerned at the dual type as he struggled to move. "Power gem."
The paralyzed, slow mammoth was hit with a collection of flying rocks, which knocked him out cold.
Lorelei sighed. "Okay Ash, I got the message. I won't underestimate you anymore. Now can you start calling out attacks?"
"And give you an advantage?" Ash called back, "Yeah right. I'll just leave it up to my team to choose what to do."
"You mean…" Lorelei Prima frowned, "You aren't giving them silent instructions?"
The aura guardian laughed. "Does it look like I am?" he shrugged, as Lorelei tossed out her Jynx to the mix of ice and rock in front of them.
Flaafy shifted slightly. "Okay… let's try a power gem." The rocks did very little, bouncing off a psychic shield. The little sheep looked perturbed. "Ah well. Just need some more fire power. Thunderbolt."
Jynx winced at the attack. "This time, little one, you're going down. Psychic!"
"Dodge it Amps!" Ash called out a warning, and the electric type obeyed, dodging to the side out of the way of the pink wave.
"If that's how you want to play… thunderbolt, thunderbolt, thunderbolt!" the pink sheep fell to four paws, scurrying across the field and firing off multiple electrical layers, cocooning herself within an electric bubbling, which creating a web further afield.
"What are you doing?" Jynx asked, firing off a lovely kiss which was brushed off by the electric shield over Amps' body.
The field was now lit up with several shields of electrical sparks. One coated the sheep's body; another was spinning wildly around the corner of the field, all wildly connected to the sheep at the centre.
"Okay… now let's try thunder!" the electric type let loose a large portion of static, ripping up the ice and top layer of rock with the force of the attack, which shook the field in a manner similar to an earthquake. The Jynx struggled for a stable footing, throwing another ice attack or two towards the sheep.
"Psychic. Blizzard. Ice beam. Avalanche." The psychic was getting annoyed with long ranged shots. "Screw this, wake up slap!" she moved closer, preparing a wring out with the other hand, but a stray bolt hit her, carrying Amps' static ability.
"Ack. Not again." Jynx moaned, as her muscles seized up. "Uh oh… that shield… what's it doing?"
The various dancing electron pulses were gradually drawing into one central point, spinning circles of lightning. "Well…" said Amps. "I reckoned since there were attacks based on thunder, there shoulder an attack based on lightning too, right? And I set up a rain dance while you weren't looking, allowing me to conduct the electricity in the air and now… it's all going to collide."
"But lightning can't strike the same place twice!" Jynx complained.
"They just say that to make you feel better." Amps reassured her, as the voltage tendrils all gathered together into one, burst of light. When people managed to blink the glare from their eyes, Jynx was lying fainted on the ground.
Relaxing, Amps let her inner static shield drop. "I didn't think that would work." She admitted, and then frowned. "Wait… why was she singing?" then the perish song triggered, and she tumbled to the ground.
Ash collected her fainted sheep. "Not bad." He congratulated her. "You've been taking tips from Lux I guess." He sighed. "Never mind. I'd tell you it's a bad idea but if those are the type of things you come out with I'm not too bothered. Anyway, like some of those contest girls like to say, Lanturn, spotlight."
A ball capsule, attached to his quick ball, allowed Luxray to gather the water in the air, and as he landed a pool of it formed among the cracks and holes in the rocky field. Across from his a Dewgong materialised, twirling his body in the now water field.
"Dewgong use toxic!" Lorelei called, and then paused frowning as the poison attack dissipated into nothing. "Where…"
"…return." Ash blinked as his Pokémon returned itself. "Alright, I guess that works. Luxray! Thunder!"
The seal Pokémon sighed. "Not again." He grumbled, just before the field erupted once more in a dazzling light.
Lorelei recalled her fainted Dewgong. "Okay, so far I've been impressed. But your electric tricks won't work on this Pokémon! Cloyster!"
The oyster Pokémon grinned evilly at Luxray, who growled threateningly, releasing a thunderbolt at him. The clam slammed shut, the attack having no effect.
"What?" Luxray snarled.
"Calcium carbonate!" Ash called. "It doesn't conduct electricity!"
Lux paused, glancing around. "How do you know?" he asked.
Ash guiltily held up his Pokédex. "Turns out it is actually quite useful." He admitted. "Who knew?"
Luxray growled something under his breath, turning back and eying his opponent. The good thing was that at least when it was hiding like this the Pokémon couldn't do much damage.
"Spike canon!"
"Uh oh." Luxray staggered backwards, away from the missiles that were being launched from its armoured shell. His iron tail flickered and broke one heading for him, before he ducked underground in a dig attack.
Ash stared at the battlefield, closing his eyes to try and see where his Pokémon was. At once, the world flickered into blue pulses, two in front of him, from the Cloyster and his own Luxray. He opened his eyes again, waiting for Lux to make his move, while trying to think of a strategy that might help his Pokémon out.
Lux however had no need for a strategy, as a powerful thunder attack ripped through the waterlogged rock. It tore up the remains of the field, sending debris flying, one rocky sheet by chance hitting the Cloyster dead on and sending him tumbling across the jagged rock.
When the form came to a halt, the Cloyster was knocked out, eyes faint swirls.
Annoyed, Lorelei threw out her final Pokémon as Lux cautiously climbed out of the ruined field. Seeing the damage he winced. "Oops?" he asked, tail flickering nervously. "Maybe you should send Lanturn back in?"
"To this..?" Ash gestured towards the mix of ice, rock, ground and water that lay in front of them. "No way… Her Slowbro is water typed – you can take it down. Wild charge should do it, or maybe a thunder fang."
The ice elites Slowbro had been stocking up on amnesia's, when Luxray whirled around in a yellow aura. The dopey Pokémon sighed. It was one of those days, wasn't it? He usually only got to experience them when Lorelei was fighting Lance, and on occasions Bruno.
"Conduct it!" Lorelei shouted wildly.
Her Pokémon obeyed, oyster tail reaching towards the ground, but Luxray was quicker.
The ice queen sighed. She hadn't had a defeat like that in a while, but she had to admit, staring at the ruined field, at least he did it in style.
[11:13AM] – 21st May 2005 - Kanto – Indigo Plateau – Elite Battle Stadium – Second Field – Grass - (NB: All Pokémon speech will be temporarily translated).
When Agatha had been told that Lance had a new challenger for the elite rounded up and prepared, she had been expecting an easy battle. The last few had been easily crushed; this one would go down the same way as the other cocky trainers had.
When she was told the identity of said challenger, she had been surprised. The kid had potential, but he hadn't yet harnessed it, and from what she had seen a year and a half ago; he still had a long way to go.
When the lady observed his unorthodox battle with Lorelei, using only three Pokémon, a small Flaafy, a Lanturn which looked more suited to a contest that a battlefield, especially considering the mess they had made of the first elite's ice field, and a Luxray who seemed to dominate the show.
Her strategy was formed, and it seemed simple to look at, even if it took a lot of scheming. Take down the Luxray. The rest would fall easily enough.
Yet Gengar was staring down the Luxray, and it wasn't as easy in reality. The monstrous electric type had already managed to take down her Golbat with a well-aimed spark, and now seemed to be inventing new moves for his own species.
Did he just use flamethrower?
"Ha-ha!" Lux crowed triumphantly at the ghost. "Eat fire!"
The poison and ghost type became intangible as the flames shot right through him. "No thanks. Sucker punch!"
"Quick attack!" Luxray darted away, zigzagging across the field. "Now electric iron tail!" he spun around, knocking away the demon projection with a sparking metal tail.
The Gengar blinked, dazed. "Oh well." He sighed. "Curse."
Shackles appeared to materialise from the demon's hands, creeping across the ground like mist and wrapping themselves around the cat's forelimbs. He let out a yelp as the pulled him down, digging painfully into him. Static ran over his body, but to no effect. "Gah!" he growled, "And no returning me!" he snapped at Ash, who held his Pokéball ready, but respected his Pokémon's wish. "You think you can chain me down?" he snarled. "Nice try. Fire fang!"
Gengar yelped, "But you can't learn that!" he whined.
"Houndoom ancestor," Lux shrugged, snapping the chains and staggering to his feet, electrically charged. "Rain dance."
The ghost laughed, pulling a face. "Not going to do anything!" he crowed, eyes flashing red and he threw a nightshade, which Lux failed to dodge. He followed up with a shadow ball which impacted brutally with Lux's chest, sending him flying backwards.
The lion landed in a huddle, struggling to one paw, before his weight gave in. "Damn ghosts." He muttered, "Tricksters, the lot of them." Then a red beam called him back.
Ash eyes the Pokéball thoughtfully. "Next time I'm not listening to you when you said you want to continue fighting." He chided, before motioning to Pikachu. Go and finish it."
Pikachu's red cheeks sparked as he darted forwards, already forming a volt tackle attack. Lightning flickered down from the sky, increasing the voltage, and sending Gengar hurtling out of the ring and into the stands, only to be caught by a Gardevoir who was trying in vain to not only keep the field in order, but to protect the audience from the rain and lightning.
"Eat thunder!" Pikachu laughed, electrically empowered as he shot of several volts towards the Froslass that appeared.
"Hail."
Pikachu frowned as the increased voltage died. "I say rain dance."
"Hail."
"Rain dance."
"Hail."
"Rain… oh… Screw it." Pikachu leapt forwards in a volt tackle, leaping up at the last second and slamming his iron tail around to turn it into a volt tail.
Agatha would likely have been pulling her hair out in frustration had she enough of it left to waste. The Luxray was gone, but now this stupid Pikachu was back. No close range attacks due to static and now she'd just set up the indoor weather to hail. The poor safety Gardevoir had her work cut out for her.
"Sableye, haunt the field!" she cried, tossing out her prankster jewel eyes dark and ghost type. The field was hard to see through; the blizzard was thick and very, very cold.
Across the field, Ash squinted, huddled down besides Charizard, the dragon type curled up so that his wings sheltered them, and his tail sat in the middle like a campfire. "I can't see anything." He muttered to himself. "He isn't even using rain dance anymore."
"He's probably busy electrifying all of the particles to attract them to him and then plans to charge the Sableye with a volt tackle formed of several tonnes of snow."
Ash gave his fire flying an odd look. "Where the hell do you guys get your crazy ideas from?" he asked.
Charizard shot him a look. "With you as our trainer, who do you think?"
The weather was fading now, and Ash shielded his eyes, looking for his faithful mouse.
"Who are you looking for?" Pikachu asked, sitting next to him.
"Pikachu," Ash answered, wondering if the rodent was using dig… "Wait, Pikachu?"
"Yeah..?"
"Why aren't you on the field?"
"Oh? That? I charged the water in the snow and then turned myself into a giant magnet to bury Sableye in ice and snow before using dig to escape." He chirped, happily.
"Told you so," Shard looked smug.
"Shut up."
Midway across the field in a large snow dump the frantic Gardevoir was trying to shovel the snow of the poor, battered and swirl eyed Sableye.
"You don't want another round?" Ash asked, weakly.
Pikachu shrugged. "Nah, send in Lanturn to do some damage or Flaafy to use attract."
Ash nodded considering. "Not a bad idea." He agreed throwing in the small sheep's Pokéball.
A little while later Haunter found himself paralyzed, hit with multiple signal beams, and in love. He didn't seem to mind being electrified to unconsciousness too much after that.
When Spiritomb emerged, Amps took one look at it and scurried off, shoving Pikachu on in her place. "Your turn!" she announced cheerfully, before returning herself to her Pokéball.
The mouse grumbled. "Why is it I always have to take down the hard ones?" He sighed, before spinning into a counter shield to dodge a dark pulse. The shield ate up the dark energy, catching it and spinning it around, incorporating it into the shield.
"Interesting," Spiritomb hummed. "Shadow ball." The hurling shadows were caught as well and did the same thing. The ghost dark considered the mouse for a bit, before shooting of another dark pulse. Once again it was caught in the shield. "Are you going to attack any time soon?"
Pikachu continued his very awkward break dancing. "If you want," He grunted, spinning out of his shield, and letting it coalesce on his gleaming iron tail. "Electro ball and whatever else you threw at me!" For some reason Pikachu was feeling really slow, as he spun around to release the attack. There was a shimmer of air as Spiritomb appeared in front of him. "What-?"
"Trick room." The ghost announced smugly as he dodged the mix of attacks with a shimmer.
"Agility!" Pikachu tried to speed up, but found himself getting slower.
"Rai!" Ash called, "Trick room makes you faster the slower you are! Agility will only make you slower."
"Unless…" the mouse mused, "It wears off…" he winced as he was hit with a sucker punch. "Ow. That actually hurt."
Agatha smiled. Now her Pokémon was set up the remains of his team didn't stand a chance.
Then the Pikachu decided to use… was that reversal? How did the fighting type move even hit the ghost?
Pikachu grinned, static and dark energy running over his fur. "I kept some." He admitted to the dual type. "The dark pulse is trapped in my static, allowing any physical moves to hit you dead on. If I just keep using endure I'll hold on…"
Spiritomb chose that moment to throw a dark pulse at him. To his surprise, it flew right through the Pikachu, the yellow rat fading into nothing. "What?" he demanded. He spun around and searching for the rat.
"Substitute," Pikachu laughed from nearby. "Like it?" he laughed again as the dark pulse bounced of a shield in front of him. "That's light screen." He explained. "Not going to hit me. And now…" he paused a moment, as the purple lines in the air became visible before fading. "Your trick room is gone and I'm hyped up on agility."
Spiritomb tried to redo the trick room, but before he knew it the mouse had slammed into him, in a whirling hurricane of lightning and voltage. The world around him started spinning and then a gleaming iron tail knocked him out for good.
Agatha sighed as she recalled her fainted Pokémon. What was Lance thinking giving a trainer with monster Pokémon like this a challenge? The costs for the field were going to be enormous.
August 2013 – Hopefully that was what you were expecting. I don't like writing battles particularly, so I let the Pokémon fight their own battles. It was inspired by Saphroneth's 'Ashes of the Past' which I read prior to writing these scenes. I'll admit I was beginning to run out of techniques for the electric team to use. You'll see more in the next chapter, where Ash… well… where Ash's Pokémon take on Koga, Bruno and Lance's Pokémon.
Enjoy!
~ Eclipse