DarkFoxKit: Ahem… hey readers! Thank you so much for your patience, I really should stop apologizing, by now you guys know this story takes a while to update… well… good stories tend to take longer to update, right?

ChuckTheEon: Well, its really only been about 17 days since you last updated, but it has been much longer SINCE I WAS HERE! Hey guys, nice to be BACK!

Key2DestNE: E-eheheh… *smiles sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck* Yeah, sorry Chuck- we've only been able to do ANs when you weren't here. But hey, he's back for another chapter, everybody!

DarkFoxKit: Yup! Sorry that Chuck isn't always here, but he likes to be a part of this whenever he can. And this chapter involves the ninja gym once again! About time too, huh? Did you guys like Mew's little backstory?

ChuckTheEon: I feel like I'm only ever here when it involves ninja's or me pranking you guys…

Key2DestNE: Well we've only DONE the ninja bits yet, silly Chuck! *grins, ruffling his hair* So don't worry, you'll be back to being here every AN before you know it!

ChuckTheEon: It feels weird being here after I've evolved… I'm so much taller than I used to be…

Key2DestNE: Yeah, now he's a white Umbreon everybody. Why white? … *shrugs* I dunno, and I doubt you really care, hungry predato- I mean, readers. Let's get on with the story! Who wants to do the disclaimer this time?

DarkFoxKit: Oh and just so you know, I'm not a Zorua. People seem to think I'm a Zorua but I'm not. I'm just a small, black fox.

Key2DestNE: Oh silly DarkFoxKitten, yes you are~! *ruffles her fur* Anyways, wanna do the disclaimer Chuck?

ChuckTheEon: *quickly before anything happens* Kit and Key don't own the pokemon universe. Just their own ideas and characters. Oh Key, I got you a- *static*

Chapter 14: Strategic Thinking

Ash was outside of the Pokemon Center- he had gotten Dexter the Porygon, who was floating beside him currently, to help him switch out his team again.

"Are you sure you want to use her now, Ash? She doesn't have a lot of battle experience yet." The Porygon said in a robotic tone but spoken in human language.

Ash nodded, giving his Porygon a smile. "Of course Dexter, I want each of my Pokemon to be able to be the best they can be. I hadn't been able to use Foxfire much, if at all, lately with all that's been going on." The boy threw the Poke Ball and released a Vulpix, which gave a lazy stretch under the sun.

"Ahhh, it feels good to be under the sun again…" Foxfire said with a yawn, scratching the back of her ear. "So, uh… are we training today or something, Ash?"

Ash nodded, "Yes, we're going to train you today. I'm hoping to be able to use you against Koga's Pokemon, he's the Poison type Gym Leader here."

"A Gym Leader? Then why use me? I'm not that good of a battler yet…" The Vulpix gave a small frown, clearly worried.

"I know, that's why we're going to have some training, but I know you're much stronger than you know." Ash said as he gave her a smile. "Don't worry about it, okay? Besides, your Drought ability would come in handy in this fight."

"...W-well… okay, I suppose…" Foxfire was clearly still worried, but she nodded, giving an unsure smile back. "So… what are we doing for training, Ash?"

"First, we're going to train on what you know." Ash said, frowning thoughtfully. "What moves do you know?"

Dexter then spoke up, surprising the Vulpix. "Foxfire's moves: Ember, Will-O-Wisp, Safeguard and Confuse Ray."

"That's it?" Ash frowned a bit, those were some handy moves, but she'll need to learn stronger moves in order to take on Koga.

Mew, as a Meowth, giggled a bit, "I know a great way to help get her into shape, you did the same with Remi and Storm, remember Ashy?"

"W-wait… how did you know that?" The Vulpix looked at Dexter, still shocked. "I… y-you're a Porygon, not a Pokemon reader!"

Ash grumbled a bit, crossing his arms. "Yeah, I remember, but I don't want to be too hard on her… Especially since it'd just be one Pokemon, and not two like it was before!"

Dexter gave a proud spark as he said, "I was once originally a Pokedex, an electronic Pokemon encyclopedia that gives information on any Pokemon that it scans."

"W-wait, what?" Foxfire blinked, still shocked. "I… you were a Pokedex once? But you look just like any other Porygon now! What happened?"

Dexter floated around the curious Vulpix, actually looking rather happy that someone asked that. "It's a long story, but-"

"Dexter, we can tell her later, we've got some serious training to do." Ash said before looking at the Meowth. "Nya, get the dimensions ready- I think I know where to train her and my second Pokemon for Koga."

"... Wait… what do you mean 'dimensions'?" Foxfire gulped, suddenly getting a bad feeling about this.

Meanwhile, back in the Pokemon Center, Blue was looking at the computer for messages. Last night someone was giving him messages to check something out, but he didn't get back until midnight that night, he was pretty surprised to see Ash was still awake. Blue wanted to make sure everything was okay now, but when he clicked on the message board, he was surprised and nervous when he saw the inbox message was written by none other than Professor Oak, his grandfather.

"..." He hesitated upon clicking it, still focused on the person who wrote it. Then he looked over at the message subject and blinked. "...About Shadow Pokemon? What in the world…?" he muttered to himself, not expecting his grandfather to talk about that of all things. The only region that ever had Shadow Pokemon was the Orre Region, and even then it's not really well known for those living outside of the region. "When did he find out about Shadow Pokemon?"

Blue was getting a bit worried, he remembered that Noibat that Ash kept in his backpack, he remembered Team Rocket calling it a Shadow Pokemon. Were they spreading now? Are Shadow Pokemon being made outside of Orre too? This was bad. Blue then noticed there was more under the message of Shadow Pokemon… it was Oak's words talking to him as a grandson.

The message said, 'I know you don't want to come back home, Blue, but we all miss you and we want to know if you're okay out there. We hadn't heard from you since you left home shortly after your loss at the Indigo Plateau. We just received a phone call from your younger brother Gary that he ran into you and that you had taken back your Ninetales for a short time before sending it back here. Please Blue, if you get this message, try sending us back one or call us.'

The boy just paused as he kept reading that part of the message before he sighed, clicking out of the Inbox. Sorry Grandpa… I rather that you have still thought I just disappeared rather than knowing I was still out there. I've got a lot on my mind right now, but I don't know if I'll be coming home anytime soon. I miss all of you guys, but I've still got stuff to do before I can bring myself to face you.

Blue looked down at the keyboard, and he wondered to himself if he should tell Prof. Oak… Ninetales understood, but… would the old man think the same? Professor Oak had always favored Red over him, and he didn't know why. Blue sighed- he didn't want to deal with his grandfather right now, but he still wondered, how did Prof. Oak know about Shadow Pokemon? Are they really being spread to other regions now? And by whom and why?

Clicking on the Shadow Pokemon message in order to open it, he found that it read, 'It has come to my attention that Shadow Pokemon are starting to be used by more criminal organizations. Since this is occuring, I thought that I might as well inform you about them. A Shadow Pokemon is a Pokemon with the door to it's heart closed- either artificially or on it's own. Of course, the likelihood of a self-closed heart is incredibly low, so oftentimes they are closed due to someone else's interference within their heart. However, it is still possible for such a thing to happen, despite the chances being astronomically low.'

'They are known to attack trainers and Pokemon alike and thus are extremely dangerous, meant to stay within their Poke Balls at all times. I'm currently studying on how to reopen the door to a Pokemon's heart, and the efforts of another Pokemon Professor, one named Krane, have been quite a breath of fresh air to this difficult field of study. He has already created an artificial purifier, to push the final lock of a Pokemon's sealed heart open, but his assistant's son, Michael, has been the main- if only- driving force for his knowledge in the initial purifying process. If you run into one of these dangerous Pokemon, please alert the other Professors immediately.'

The message had ended there, Blue blinked at this new information, but he wondered, why did his grandfather entrust him with this information? And why now? I never know what he's thinking… Then he blinked, noticing the other receivers of the message. …The other Pokemon Professors? Why am I the only one who isn't a Professor yet I get the email? … Grandpa, what are you thinking?

Blue shook his head, grumbling a bit. I guess this is his way of telling me he trusts me… Then he walked outside and looked out at the woods. Feeling the breeze blowing by, Blue spoke to himself, frowning thoughtfully. "I wonder how stormy the waters will get soon…" Then he shook his head, turning and walking back inside.

Later that afternoon, Ash and Blue quickly found themselves outside of the Gym again, and the raven-haired boy was quickly growing pumped. He grinned, patting two of his Poke Balls. This time… this time I'm prepared- and nobody will interrupt our fight again! He opened the doors… and paused, blinking. "Huh? He's… not here anymore?"

Blue shook his head, frowning. "If I know Koga, it's that he wants to challenge your mentality this time. He may be a Gym Leader, but he's also a ninja- he wants to test you and make sure you're worthy for this re-match."

Ash sighed, crossing his arms with a small pout. "Oh great, so now we have to get through his gym and find him?"

"Wow… ninjas are tough." the Pikachu from the boy's shoulder grumbled. "Then again, maybe not as tough as SOME Pokemon." Storm eyed the Meowth beside Ash, making Blue blink as he wondered where she came from.

"Wha… when did she…?" He raised an eyebrow before quickly shaking his head. "Whatever… come on- let's head in. If you're so tough as you say, Ash, this shouldn't even be a challenge for you."

"Oh, so people say I'm tough now?" Ash raised an eyebrow, beginning to grin. "And here I thought I was still some unknown Trainer." He chuckled, shrugging. "Maybe I'm finally starting to gain a reputation." he said as he went into the Gym.

The Gym itself was like a maze but with invisible walls. Because of this, Ash could not see them and kept running into the them. Blue was smart, however, and he stayed behind Ash so he wouldn't come into a collision course at the walls.

"Come on Ashy, don't just blindly keep walking and hope for the best. Despite being 'invisible', the walls are actually made of glass. You can see them with the right amount of light." Nya, the Meowth, said to the boy after his fifth smack to the face.

Ash blinked a bit before smiling sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "O-oh… right… guess I could try that…" This time, he began looking closer, and to his surprise, he was actually able to see the walls, just like she said! Huh… I wonder how they're not smeared, actually.

Ash began walking again, much more carefully. Blue leaned against a wall while Ash was trying to find where some of the invisible ones are, but the brown-haired boy suddenly fell through the flip wall! "Whoa!"

"Huh?" Ash turned, blinking in surprise. "Blue? … Blue? Where'd you go?"

Storm became a little nervous, and he looked around as he snapped, "I'm telling ya, this place is booby trapped! Ninjas always booby trap their homes!"

Ash sweatdropped, crossing his arms with a small frown. "Storm, usually I'd say you're just being paranoid… but you might be right this time- let's keep an eye out for any more tricks."

Blue groaned as he landed on his back on the floor before he looked up to see the wall he fell through was a revolving one. Revolving walls… classic. He stood up and frowned as he tried to push it again to get back to Ash, only to see it was locked up tight. Oh great, are they trying to test me too?

The boy sighed before he turned around, and he suddenly saw a certain female ninja appear in front of him! Aya gave him a small smirk, pointing at him. "So, you're Blue Oak… I'll admit, I couldn't help myself this time, knowing who you are- so I challenge you to a Pokemon Battle!"

Blue blinked, surprised- Aya hadn't said anything about him being Blue Oak when they first met… or when he met her while he was with Ash. "You know who I am? Strange how everyone else seem to have forgotten I existed… and yet you know about me."

The ninja shrugged, pulling out a Poke Ball. "Perhaps… But not many people knew what you looked like- not even me. It was only when your friend called you by your first name that it made me start to think…" She smirked a bit before tossing out her Poke Ball and revealing a Golbat! "Now, are you ready for a battle or not?"

Blue frowned, raising an eyebrow at that. "Why are you challenging me to a battle? I'm not a Trainer anymore and none of my Pokemon are trained to fight."

Aya scoffed, crossing her arms. "Maybe not, but my brother has told me from time and time again to learn from others' examples, including yours. So since you're here…" She smirked, shrugging. "Why not see what he's been talking about?"

The spiky brown hair boy frowned, it didn't look like he was going to get out of this without a battle. Why is it that ever since I joined Ash on his journey I find myself being forced to battle every Trainer we run into? "Fine! I'll have my Spearow fight your Golbat!" He quickly threw out his Poke Ball, releasing the Spearow.

Aya blinked at that, leaning back and raising an eyebrow. "Hmm? A Spearow? No offense, but that isn't the strongest of unevolved Pokemon out there." Then she shrugged, dismissing it. "Eh… whatever- it's your choice on what Pokemon you use. Golbat, use Wing Attack!"

"Take this!" Golbat flew at the Spearow with it's wings glowing.

Before either of Blue's side could react, Spearow was hit! It cawed in pain as it almost hit the floor, but it managed to hang in there and flapped its wings to stay airborne. "Annoying bat."

Golbat was a fast Pokemon, there's no question, and Spearow had no way to dodge it. Blue glared in annoyance, knowing his Pokemon weren't that strong, so he'll have to try and use strategy instead. "Use Growl!"

Spearow let out a caw at the Golbat, making the bat look at it curiously. The Spearow is female, so her voice sounded a bit high pitched.

Aya raised an eyebrow as well, surprised. "That's a female Spearow, eh? Hmm…" She frowned thoughtfully before shaking her head. "Use Bite on it's right wing!"

"Use Aerial Ace to dodge!" Blue quickly ordered, pointing to the other side of the room.

Spearow's body suddenly became super fast as the Golbat came in for a bite with its huge mouth! Spearow flipped to the side, barely avoiding its teeth and then hitting it with her own attack. The Golbat flinched a bit but didn't seem to be hurt much.

"Use Leer." Blue said, crossing his arms as Spearow flew above the Golbat and her eyes glared harshly.

The ninja narrowed her eyes, clearly suspicious as to what the boy was up to, but she decided to take the chance. "Golbat, use Confuse Ray to get back at that Spearow!"

Blue gritted his teeth in annoyance as the Golbat shined a bright light at Spearow, making her confused. Spearow's eyes were glowing red, indicating that she is indeed confused, and she began moving around in erratic patterns and slapped herself with her wings. "Spearow! Come on, focus…" Blue hissed softly. "Use Leer again!"

Spearow was still confused, but she managed to turn back at the Golbat and glare harshly at it. She didn't let up and kept glaring, beginning to unnerve the bat. The ninja didn't notice, however, and she began to chuckle. "Wow… You may have defeated my brother, but it must have been a fluke- you're using moves like Leer and Growl? Growl!?" Finally, she couldn't take it anymore, and she began to laugh.

Blue frowned but didn't respond to her, instead he just looked at his Pokemon. "Come on Spearow… use Growl again!"

Spearow smacked herself again, but she managed to focus enough to let out a loud caw at the Golbat once more. The Golbat looked at her, incredulous. "Seriously? That's all you're going to do? Growl and Leer? How pathetic."

"I'll show YOU pathetic!" Spearow snapped… at a wall as she hit said wall. "Ow…" But after that, her eyes returned to normal- she was no longer confused.

Blue noticed Aya hadn't told her Golbat to attack during Spearow's confusion, and he raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you take advantage of Spearow's confusion? You didn't order to attack…" he asked.

Aya snorted, still chuckling in amusement. "Why bother? It'll lose anyways- at least this way it can growl in the right direction!" She laughed again before pointing at the bird Pokemon. "Golbat, use Poison Fang!"

Golbat flew at Spearow with its fangs covered in dripping venom. "Growl!" Blue commanded.

Spearow let out another caw just before the Golbat bit down on her body! Spearow crowed in pain, but thankfully she wasn't poisoned, otherwise Blue may find himself in an even deeper hot water than he was already in. Spearow glared as she flew back a bit after Golbat released her. Aya frowned though, that Poison Fang should've been enough to take down the little weak bird Pokemon.

The ninja crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow. "How did you do that…?" she muttered to herself, clearly thinking. "That Spearow's clearly untrained- yet it's still somehow surviving against my Golbat?"

Blue just gave a bit of a smirk, clearly amused now."Why do you think I had Spearow use Growl? It may seem pointless to the more advanced Trainers with higher level Pokemon that can take hits, but Growl makes your Pokemon's attack to become weaker, allowing my Spearow to fight another day. Now then, use Aerial Ace!"

"Incoming!" Spearow shot herself at the Golbat and sliced right through the bat Pokemon! Golbat, who once treated the attack like it was nothing more than a weak Tackle from a Caterpie, was now screeching in pain!

"Golbat!" Aya's eyes widened, as she now realized what Blue had been planning from the start! "No way… You used my disregard for a weaker Pokemon… as a way to weaken it!?"

"That's right. Leer lowers a Pokemon's defenses and softens them up. You didn't think I wasn't going to use this strategy against your Golbat, did you?" The boy smirked, pointing straight at the floundering bat. "Spearow, use Aerial Ace again!" Spearow sliced through the Golbat again.

Aya's eyes widened, and she desperately cried out, "Golbat, use Leech Life! Don't let yourself get knocked out!" She gritted her teeth, suddenly finding herself in a tough situation.

Blue knew he had her on the ropes- she was panicking, and Leech Life was a bad move to use on a Flying type, especially after being Growled three times. "Spearow, finish it off with Fury Attack!"

Spearow flew at the Golbat again and began pecking it's eyes out with her beak multiple times! Golbat shrieked before it fell to the floor, and it's eyes spiraled, unconscious.

"N-no… Golbat…!" Aya slowly fell to the floor, her eyes wide in shock. She shook her head in disbelief before looking up at the Trainer in front of her. "...You… even with a weak Spearow, you still managed to defeat me?" She shakily rose to her feet, returning her now unconscious Golbat. "You… truly do deserve your title…"

Blue held out an arm for Spearow land on and he gave her an Oran Berry to help replenish her from the battle. "I don't have a title, I'm just Blue. You could've beaten me if you hadn't become so cocky after you used Confuse Ray on my Spearow."

"But… but…" Aya floundered a bit, clearly still shocked from her loss. "..." She eventually shook her head, turning and beginning to walk away. "Hmph… I have to go on patrol now… but it was an interesting fight with you, I'll say that."

Blue watched her walking away before he said, making her pause, "You could make a great Pokemon Trainer one day, and a good ninja. Just remember to care for your Pokemon and those around you. Winning isn't always important, especially if you end up losing yourself trying to get to your goal- remember that, Aya." I had to learn that the hard way, even after all I've learned before…

"..." Aya looked back at Blue, a mix of emotions barely shining through her eyes. "...Thanks…" She took a deep breath before throwing down a smoke bomb, and when the smoke cleared, the ninja woman was gone.

Spearow smiled, stretching happily. "That was a good battle, I hadn't had such a good battle since I went against the Fearow Flock! Of course I almost died, but hey, at least I survived, and it looks like I'm getting stronger!"

Blue only chuckled as he tickled under her beak, shrugging. "You'd be surprised what a good strategy can do in a tough situation like that. Now we'd better find Ash… I hope he's doing okay- that guy's kind of a magnet for trouble."

Meanwhile… "WAAAAAAAAAAH!" Ash was hastily running from a few Voltorb, who were clearly angry as they were glowing like they were about to explode! HOW DO I GET MYSELF INTO THESE SITUATIONS!? He ducked behind an invisible wall, and sighed in relief as the Voltorb were tricked into finally exploding, leaving him and Storm on his shoulder unharmed.

"This place is trying to kill us!" Storm cried, his face pale as he trembled like a leaf on the boy's shoulder.

"Yes, yes it is! And where's Memma? She just disappeared, AGAIN!" Ash growled, clearly very annoyed right now. First Blue went missing and now Mew is gone too! Although unlike his human friend, with her being MEW, she could be ANYWHERE.

"Ugh… Look, let's see if Koga's in the same place as before- maybe the challenge is to head there unharmed…" Storm grumbled, a bit of his fur singed from a flamethrower booby trap set up beforehand.

"It's still trying to KILL us!" Ash shouted, waving his arms. "Okay, this is a Poison type Gym and it's full of ninjas… So why isn't it a Dark type Gym? Ninjas and Dark types goes so well together!"

"Maybe because there aren't that many, if any, Dark types in Kanto?" Storm pointed out, shrugging. "No wonder Psychic types dominate this region. And besides, technically Poison types ARE still related to ninjas as one of their tools…"

Ash pulled out a Poke Ball and thought to himself. A Poison type Gym… I wonder if one would need to use a Poison type Pokemon to help get through here? I remember hearing that Nidoran males can use their ears to sense danger, so maybe… The boy opened the red and white ball and it released Nidosaur, the blue shiny Nidoran male.

Nidosaur immediately looked nervous as he looked around the place before looking at Ash, tilting his head. "Ash… this place is FULL of traps!" He bristled a bit, gulping.

Ash nodded, easily seeing what the Nidoran was talking about. "Yeah, it is- so I was wondering if you could help us out. We're going to be fighting a Poison type Gym Leader… Do you think you could take him on?"

"Wait, weren't you going to use Foxfire and Trixie for this battle?" Storm asked Ash curiously. "That WAS why you were training her, right?"

The Trainer nodded again, giving his Pikachu a reassuring smile. "Yeah, of course- I'm just thinking… After all, Koga has already seen Trixie, he'll be expecting her. But he won't be expecting somebody else instead- so I may not even use her!"

"I… I don't know, I'm not that strong…" Nidosaur said with an unsure tone, rubbing one of his ears nervously.

"Hey, Nidosaur, it's not always the strongest who'll win- sometimes it's the smartest one, too." Ash said softly to the blue Nidoran male, patting his shoulder. "Don't worry, we can do this. Now I'm going to let you be our danger sign, so if you hear a potential booby trap, let us know right away."

"...R-right…" Nidosaur nodded, still looking unsure, but at least he had a bit of determination in his eyes. "I'll keep an eye and ear out, Ash- you can count on me!"

So now Ash and Storm moved while Nidosaur stayed in the middle, listening for any danger. "Don't go through there, I heard buzzing… a lot of buzzing, I think there are Voltorbs that way." "Don't step on that floor, you'll fall into a pit full of gas." "Don't go that way, you'll run into a lot of Poison-Bug Pokemon." With Nidosaur's warnings, Ash and Storm were able to safely navigate through the maze of the Gym, until they reached the center. Ash returned Nidosaur since he didn't want Koga to see him.

Ash looked around, seeing nobody here… That is, until he looked up and barely dodged the ninja who had jumped down to tackle him, a kunai in the man's hands! "Whoa! K-Koga? Why were you up THERE!?"

"I was testing to see your reflexes, young Ash. It looks like you still have a lot to learn." Koga said as he stood up and put away his kunai. "We shall do battle, we will use two Pokemon each, agreed?"

Ash nodded as he stood up, Storm frowning since that ninja gave him quite a scare too- it was a miracle he didn't accidentally shock anyone. "Right, two-on-two then." Ash held out a Poke Ball, pressing the button to enlarge it.

The ninja pulled out his own Poke Ball, and to the boy's surprise, it looked like it was attached to a shuriken! "I will send my Pokemon out first. Go, Muk!" Koga tossed the Poke Ball shuriken to the floor, releasing the large sludge Pokemon in a matter of moments.

"MUUUUUUK!" The giant sludge hissed, not really saying anything in particular, or at least anything Ash could make out.

Dexter the Porygon suddenly popped out of Ash's Poke Ball and began scanning the giant sludged, this surprised Koga as he didn't know the boy had a Porygon and why it suddenly came out of the boy's belt Poke Ball when he clearly wasn't going to call on it.

"Muk, the Sludge Pokemon, it is thickly covered in slime. It's so toxic that even its footprints contain poison. It's smell is so awful it can cause many to faint." Dexter spoke after scanning the Muk.

"Thank you Dexter." Ash gulped, he was never a big fan of Muk, in fact he almost drowned and died of poison because of those things when he was swimming in some city water before. He remembered Mew was in a panicked frenzy when she saw her child was badly poisoned and almost didn't make it. But Foxfire might have an advantage… she knows a Psychic type attack…

Koga crossed his arms, clearly calm, yet not overly confident like other powerful Trainers may be. "Interesting… your Porygon can speak human language, however, that will not distract me. Now then, it is your turn- release your Pokemon for the battle, and we shall let the battle begin!"

DarkFoxKit: So Key, what did we learn about calling me 'kitten'?

ChuckTheEon: I think he learned the same thing I did from calling him SasuKey…

Key2DestNE: … *is being hung from his big toes* O-okay, okay, I'm sorry, now can you let me down Fox?

DarkFoxKit: You need to hang there a little longer Mr. Key! Anyways… yeah, this was mostly a chapter for Blue and to see how he battles. His Spearow was in a lower level than Aya's Golbat, but he used strategy to take it down. I did the same when I ran into a high level Pokemon unexpectedly.

ChuckTheEon: I want to make a joke about FEAR the strategy… t-trying to h-hold it b-b-back… Anyway, how do you like the ninja suit Key?

Key2DestNE: *is in the same ninja suit the others were in a few chapters ago, with the Kohonagakure headband from Naruto* Honestly, it's pretty dang cool. I wish I had gotten it BEFORE, but I'm still so pumped to use it when I get the chance!

DarkFoxKit: Well I'm glad you two are making up. But anyways folks, the next chapter will have Ash's rematch with Koga, I promise! Also, we're not using Trixie this time because we're trying to give the spotlight to Ash's other Pokemon too, Trixie already got a turn a few chapters ago, let's use another Pokemon Ash hadn't used in a while. And hopefully it won't take as long to update! But 17 days isn't that bad, right?

ChuckTheEon: Its one of the earliest updates of SoK in its history!

Key2DestNE: ...Wait, seriously? One of the EARLI- *sweatdrops* I really need to do the ANs more…

DarkFoxKit: Well, I believe we're done here. Until next chapter, I'm DarkFoxKit, these are my co-writers Key2DestNE and ChuckTheEon, and we all look forward to hearing from you!

ChuckTheEon: …How much longer will he be up there? *static*