Rise of a Champion

by Astral Kitsune

Welcome to the world of Pokemon. A world filled with both delight, despair, hopes and dreams... and of course Pokemon! In this story Ash starts off on his journey around Kanto without Pikachu, instead starting with a different Pokemon who will take him to the very top...

5. Chapter Five

Rise of a Champion Chapter Five:

The Pokemon centre's TV was crowded with trainers as they all struggled to find room in front of the device. Ash sat near the front, cross legged as he watched the TV.

A single reporter stood in front of the Indigo Plateau, the home of the Elite Four and the champion, located in the mountain that surrounded both Indigo and Mount Silver.

"I am pleased to announce that after nearly five years of absence, Champion Red Ketchum is returning to Kanto!"

Whispers of surprise bustled around the room, no one dares to be too loud in fear of missing any important details.

"The Champion has announced that in two weeks' time he will once again be taking challenges from people who wish to fight for his title. As this two-week period comes to a close, the Pokemon League has also announced that Red Ketchum will also battle in an exhibition match again Lance Wataru, the stand in Kanto champion and current Johto champion!"

Trainers started to shout in surprise at this, making Ash bury his head into his jacket in order to drown out some of the noise.

"-this has been Saffron News, please tune in again later as we interview Professor Elm of the Johto region about his recent research into the new species that recently appeared around Kanto; Ditto."

As the news ended many of the trainers dispersed, leaving Ash with a scarce few trainers sitting in front of the TV, but he wasn't really interested in the shows now.

His father had finally come back to Kanto.

He didn't know how to react to the news. Had he at least visited his mother before the announcement? But more importantly, why had he left for five years…

"Would Ash please come to the main desk and collect his Pokemon?" Nurse Joy asked over the building's intercom. At that Ash got up and walked over to the desk, where Nurse Joy was waiting with her Chansey, who was carrying a tray with his Pokeballs on it.

As he went to pick up his Pokeballs from the tray Nurse Joy leant over and whispered into his ear: "I figured after that announcement you wouldn't appreciate everyone knowing your surname."

The raven-haired trainer gave the nurse a smile of gratitude as he clipped the Pokeballs to his belt and checked they were secure.

"Anyway, all of your Pokemon are now back to perfect health, although you may want to give your Beedrill a few hours out of its Pokeball before you battle with it, just to allow his wings to dry out."

That was right, Beedrill evolved from a Kakuna and the increase of power was not unnoticed. Whilst Ash realised that the head start given to the bug type would disappear in time and their opponents began to evolve their Pokemon too, the early increase in power had help him win many battles already. However, during a few of their battles, Beedrill failed to grasp flying, and his manoeuvrability was poor. Nurse Joy had told him it was because Pokemon that came from pupa needed a few hours in the sunlight to dry their wings out and get rid of any fluid that they had been soaked in during growth.

"Also there has been some mutations with your Ivysaur," the Nurse began, making Ash crease his brow in worry.

"It seems that all of your recent battling has led to the start of chloroplasts developing in your Ivysaur," Nurse Joy began. Ash looked at her quizzically and the woman kept going.

"Chloroplasts will allow Ivysaur to photosynthesise, it'll have a lot more energy than other members of its species so be sure to expect him to be a lot more agile on the battlefield."

"That's amazing…" Ash breathed as he stared at Ivysaur's Pokeball. The grass type had changed so much since Ash had met the lone Seed Pokemon back in Viridian forest. They'd been together for such a short time and yet she'd grown so strong.

"You're insanely lucky, only certain Pokemon have the capability to develop secondary abilities like this and they have to train extensively to do so," the nurse finished as Chansey turned around and walked back into the treatment rooms.

"I guess that's Chansey's signal for me to get back to work, thank you for waiting and we hope to see you again!"

The nurse walked off, leaving Ash to himself, choosing to avoid the crowds in the Pokemon centre he left the building and made his way towards the north of the city. It was nearly midday now and Ash was sure that there'd be trainers over there ready to give him a battle.

- Victory Road-

"Snorlax, end it," Red muttered as he walked past his Pokemon. The large, dark blue bear growled angrily as it ripped into the rock shell of a Graveler and tore its solid body to pieces. Snorlax growled again as it looked around for other targets before lumbering over to Red's side. The Champion patted the large Pokemon on the side affectionately, leading to the previously hulking beast rumbling affectionately as its trainer petted its side.

"Return old friend, we're going to need the rest," Red said as he recalled the Snorlax. The man then removed another Pokeball from his waist and released the Pokemon inside.

A large roar erupted throughout the cavern, attracting the attention of any Pokemon in the next few miles of the underground cave system.

A monstrous Charizard materialised in a flash of white light, easily reaching 13 feet tall. It looked as if it weighed at least several hundred pounds, which whilst not as heavy as Snorlax it was still impressive, and the flame on the top of its tail glowed with raging blue fire. Hanging around the pseudo-dragon's neck was a small amulet with a dark blue stone set in the centre of it.

"Easy buddy, we're nearly there now," Red said as he patted the Charizard's side, making the fire type relax slightly.

"We're here," Red stated as he climbed over a rocky ridge and peered over into a crater below.

Lava trickled freely down the edges of the crater, pooling near the centre. A single ring of rock laid untouched in the centre of the crater that was easily a hundred feet wide that was alright with fire. From where he was standing Red could see large slug like creatures slithering over the lava, their bodies leaking magma which solidified across the platform. They were Magcargo, a species thought to be native to the Hoenn region. However, instead of having large, rocky shells their bodies were simply all magma, with their shells simply made of the volcanic substance.

They seemed docile so Red took the opportunity fly down to the platform on his Charizard's back. The fire type grunted as steam erupted from beneath its feet, sizzling slightly.

"Easyyy buddy," Red soothed as he slowly slid off the pseudo-dragon's back. The ground around him hissed as it came into contact with the cold soles of his shoes, steam roaring up from the ground as he took a step.

Yeah ground was littered with feathers, glowing with molten fire that was attached to obsidian frames. Some of the feathers had gone out, only leaving the brittle obsidian skeletons behind.

*Crumble*

Part of the edge of the crater crumbled away, catching the champion's attention. A single man was crouching behind the crumbled edge, who looked alarmed as he was spotted. His hair was dyed a cyan blue and he wore the familiar dark uniform of Team Rocket.

"Wait!" Red shouted as the man began to run away.

*BOOM*

The cavern shook as something was set off in the distance, rubble began to fall from the ceiling as Red shielded his eyes from the dust gathering in the cave. Wild Pokemon growled throughout the cave as they turned towards Red, growing aggressive. Without flinching Red removed another two Pokeballs from his belt and threw them.

"Blastoise, Venusaur."

The two Pokemon roared as they were released from their Pokeballs.

Blastoise was a behemoth of its species. The cannons on its back were ginormous and looked as if the water they fired could punch through steel. The water type's shell was rock hard and covered in scratches from hardy battles. Around its wrist was a bracelet made of stone which had a dark blue stone set into the centre of it which glowed with power.

Venusaur, like Blastoise and Charizard before it, was a giant of its species. The flower on its back occasionally spurted thick clouds of pollen which flowed with gold and purple energy. Thick vines erupted from the sides of its flower, which slammed the ground. Unlike Charizard and Blastoise the grass type dinosaur lacked any extra gear attached to its body.

"Looks like we're going to have to fight our way out of here and we're on a time limit old friends," Red told the three, who growled in preparation for battle.

Red tapped the centre of his hat, which had a shining stone embedded into the centre of the Pokeball design. The helical design in the centre of the stone began to glow with raw power as Red touched it with his finger. Blastoise and Charizard rumbled as the stones that were set into their armour flowed in response.

Tendrils of energy flowed between Red and the two Pokemon, making Blastoise and Charizard glow with power. Venusaur in the meantime was shielding them with a frenzy plant attack, the thick vines creating an impenetrable wall even against the overpowered fire attacks of the wild Pokemon, also blocking out any of the light that came from the lava around them.

Eventually Charizard and Blastoise seemed to stop changing shape, their silhouettes hard to make out in the dim light of Charizard's blue tail flame.

Wait blue?

The two Pokemon roared as Red smirked. Venusaur's vines eventually removed themselves, showing the trainer the small army they had to face.

"Give them hell."

And all hell broke loose.

- Cerulean City -

"What!? The gym is closed!"

Ash groaned as he fell over onto his backside. Larvitar sighed in his arms and patted his trainer's head patronisingly whilst Ash sobbed anime tears.

According to the signs on the front of the gym, the gym was closed due the gym leaders putting on a show, inside he could hear the roar of a crowd as the show went on.

"What are we gonna do now Larvitar?" Ash groaned as he got to his feet, holding the rock type in his arms. The small rock type had gotten larger since they'd left Mount Moon, his armour had hardened considerably also, leaving it all the more difficult for opponents to damage the Rock Skin Pokemon. Ash knew that it meant the rock type was getting closer to evolution as he had also started to eat large amounts of dirt to get the necessary minerals for evolution.

"Tar…. Larvi…" the rock type mumbled as he sighed and held his head in his stubby arms. The two sat there for a while, contemplating what they could do.

"Hey! Are you two new to Cerulean!" Hey heard a voice shout nearby. Turning around they were faced with a tall muscular man, who loomed over him, making the young trainer flinch back in surprise.

"Y-Yeah? Why'd you ask?" Ash stuttered as he composed himself once again. The man stood up to his full height and gestured towards the north of the city.

"Why don't you try taking on the Nugget Bridge?"

Ash looked at him in confusion as he absent-mindedly stroked Larvitar's head.

"Nugget Bridge? What's tha-"

"ONLY THE MOST EXCITING BATTLING EXPERIENCE IN CERULEAN!"

Ash jumped back in fright, nearly dropping Larvitar, as the man took on a louder voice and bellowed to him.

"TRY IT NOW AND WIN YOURSELF AN AMAZING PRIZE!" the man continued to shout. A few people were now starting to stare at him in interest.

"A prize?"

The man snorted and bent down slightly to come onto eye level with the new trainer.

"We're giving out a nugget to commemorate our opening to anyone who defeat our five trainers first. And then we're also offering an extra special prize."

He then straightened up again and coughed to clear his throat.

*COUGH* *COUGH* "AND TO SIGN UP IT ONLY COSTS $50! $50 FOR THE OPPORTUNITY OF A LIFETIME!"

Larvitar tried to bury its head into Ash's jacket to stave off the noise as his trainer sweatdropped at the man's antics.

"He's definitely just shouting so more people can hear him advertise…" Ash thought to himself before getting out his Pokedex and checking his balance. He expected to be broke after all the supplies he stocked up with as he entered Cerulean city but his balance was still fairly high.

$6500

That was enough cash for him to get into Vermillion at the very least, not to mention he could pick up more money on the way. Holding out his Pokedex he allowed the man to charge him $50 before handing him a ticket. It had the number 43 printed on the side of it and a peculiar orange coloured 'R' on the top left corner. Not thinking too much of it he pocketed the ticket looked up at the man again.

"Show that to the first trainer kid and they'll give you your first battle. I've noticed you've got an extremely strong Pokemon there with you so I expect good things," the man finished before turning around to look for other battlers. However, as he was turning around Ash caught a look in his eye of pure envy that made him shiver.

"Let's go Larvitar," Ash mumbled as he moved away and started to walk towards Nugget bridge. The rocky type grumbled in agreement and buried himself further into Ash's jacket to stave off the uncomfortable he was feeling.

The two walked in silence for a while as Ash thought about what he could do whilst in Cerulean. The city was known to have hordes of Pokemon up north just past the nugget bridge on Routes 25 and 26, so with any luck Ash could pick up a new team member there. Not to mention with Route 6 just south of the city he'd be able to find all types of Pokemon nearby.

The trip to Nugget Bridge ended quicker than Ash expected and he had reached the golden crossing in a mere twenty minutes, only stopping to pick up a fishing rod from a nearby vendor.

The bridge gleamed in the rays of the sun, measuring easily a solid 60 feet across and easily stretching backwards for a mile.

And trainers filled every single part of it.

Battlefields stretched across the bridge, the markings of each field engraved into its golden surface. In a couple of the fields you could see trainers battling with each other, some of which he expected to be the trainers he would be facing in the Nugget Bridge challenge he'd signed up for.

"Here goes nothing," Ash murmured as he walked into the bridge ready to battle.

A trainer walked up to him with a confident look in his eye, holding a Pokeball in his hand.

"You look strong enough, wanna battle?"

Ash smiled and shook his head for a moment, making the other trainer snort in frustration.

"I'm looking for the first trainer of the Nugget Bridge challenge," the raven-haired trainer replied. Almost instantly the other trainer cringed and pointed to the first battlefield along the bridge. From where he was standing, Ash could see a girl dressed in punk clothes sneering at passers-by. Taking a deep breath and readying himself he walked forward and held out his ticket.

"Hey my name is As-"

That was as far as he got before the girl snatched his ticket and held up his hand to quieten him. She studied the ticket for a while, Ash guessed it was to see if it was authentic before pulling out a Pokeball.

"What're you waiting for then? Get to the other side," she sneered. Ash snorted quietly and walked over to the other trainer box.

"Let's see how you handle this one," the girl said as she released her first Pokemon.

Ash glanced at the small purple rat which was standing in front of him baring its teeth. For someone like the girl with her attitude, to have a Pokemon like this was almost laughable.

"Beedrill, let's go!" Ash shouted as he released the bug type onto the battlefield. The Bee Pokemon buzzed in the air as he was released, his wings now starting to dry off. The bug type's manoeuvrability in the air was still shaky at best but he was getting the hang of it, and what better time to test his abilities out than in battle?

"We'll start this off with a hyper fang Rattata!" the girl shouted as the small rat sprang into action with its teeth glowing a bright white. Ash didn't need to tell Beedrill to dodge it, who narrowly avoided the attack as it hovered clumsily to the side.

"Right let's try something new! Use fury attack!" Ash shouted across the battlefield. Beedrill buzzed angrily as his stingers began to glow in white light, similar to the energy that covered Rattata's fangs earlier. Without any hesitation the insect lunged forward, jabbing at his normal type opponent and sending it sprawling as it tried to dodge, only to be clipped on its flank as it tried to move out the way.

The Rattata had the makings of a strong fighter, but it lacked the training.

"Tackle it Rattata!"

"Don't hold back, give it a twineedle!"

Rattata lunged again at Beedrill with a feral look in its eye. The bug type didn't have time to dodge before it was hit with the normal type attack, cracking its exoskeleton slightly.

The bug type buzzed furiously as its stingers began to glow a viridian green. The bug type retaliated with a powerful blow to the rat Pokemon's side, knocking it out before he even landed his second strike. The girl sneered as she recalled the downed normal type and threw out her second Pokemon.

The Pokemon looked similar to Bruno's Primeape, leading Ash to think it was the pre-evolution. It's small body was covered in white, shaggy fur and a pig's snout protruded halfway out of its body with raging eyes sitting above it. Its spindly limbs kept moving, as if it couldn't stay still, and brown, triangular ears on its head laid flat against its head as it prepared to fight.

"Mankey, use karate chop!" The girl sneered. Beedrill dodged as Ash devised a strategy to take it down. He presumed Mankey was the name of Primeape's pre-evolution.

"Alright Beedrill, use a string shot and try to bind it!"

The Bee Pokemon buzzed as it readied silk in its mouth and spat it at the fighting type. Mankey dodged most of it, stopping it from being stuck to the floor, although a bit did splatter onto its shaggy coat, making in his in anger.

Beedrill weren't known to be accurate when firing string shots in comparison to their pre-evolutions. They instead relied on more direct methods of harming Pokemon, such as injecting them with venom up close or simply stabbing them with their twin stingers. Whilst moves at range would be out of the bug type's grasp for now, Ash wanted to make sure it was something he worked on in the future.

"Mankey get in close again and use seismic toss!"

The monkey started to bound closer to Beedrill, its arms outstretched ready to grasp the bug and haul it into the air.

"Poison sting, then twineedle straight after!"

Beedrill shot off a volley of poisonous barbs from its body, impaling the monkey, which grunted as it lost its focus for the fighting type attack. Before it could react, Beedrills twin stingers slammed into it, knocking it out before its body even hit the ground.

"You did a good job Beedrill, take a break," Ash said as the bug Pokemon hovered back over to his side and clicked its mandibles.

"Tch, I guess you're not so bad after all," the girl sneered before walking off and pointing to the next field down, where a boy dressed in shorts and a t-shirt carrying a bug net was waiting.

"He'll be your next fight."

No further words were exchanged, partially because Ash couldn't think of what to say and partially because the girl couldn't be bothered.

Meanwhile the boy who was waiting for him eagerly beckoned him over, a big change compared to his previous opponent. Ash walked over, returning Beedrill to his Pokeball.

"Heya! Are you ready for battle number two of the Nugget Bridge challenge?" the boy asked as he grinned happily at Ash. Ash nodded and walked over to his side of the arena, allowing Larvitar to drop out of his arms onto the battlefield.

And then the bug catcher's smile dropped.

Looking as if he was about to cry, the boy released a Butterfree onto the field, who cried out in happiness.

"Butterfree use gust, keep it away from you," the boy mumbled as he looked at the battle hopelessly.

"Larvitar, rock slide," Ash said as he looked at the boy guiltily. The boy knew he had been beat as soon as he sent out Larvitar, something that his strongest Pokemon most likely would've had no choice in facing.

Larvitar materialised rocks above Butterfree and sent them crashing into the bug type, knocking it out easily. The bug catcher sighed as he returned his Pokemon and pointed to the next field over.

"My other colleagues are over there, thanks for battling with us."

Ash replied with his own thanks and gave the boy a potion for his Butterfree before walking off to his next battle.

For his next battle Ash used Nidoran to completely wipe out his opponent's Bellsprout and his Pidgey. Since they'd left Mount Moon he'd focused on getting the small rodent's stamina up to scratch and teaching him how to use his egg move, confusion. It wasn't perfect just yet but it let him throw an enemy back a couple of feet if they got too close for Nidoran's liking.

The next battle he got requested to do it over the water, so the fourth trainer could use his water type Pokemon. Ash ended up using Magikarp against another Magikarp, who hadn't even learnt how to tackle yet. Needless to say the battle was pretty one sided as Ash's own Magikarp rammed its opponent onto dry land, forcing his opponent to recall it.

A Goldeen was next, and the Goldfish Pokemon nearly knocked out Magikarp as it rammed into the fish with a strong horn attack. If not for Ash calling for Magikarp to tackle it out of the water and then ramming it onto the shoreline he was pretty sure he would've lost.

The battles hadn't really gotten tougher as he progressed, so Ash decided to take a small break before he carried on. He only had one battle left anyway.

Nugget Bridge had a ton of small paths leading off of it to the mountainside on the east of the bridge. Located somewhere over there was Cerulean cave, an area patrolled heavily by Pokemon Rangers where trainers were forbidden to go. It was known to be incredibly dangerous down the depths of Cerulean Cave and none- barring the Elite Four and very few others- were allowed to venture inside.

However, the low lying land nearby held a such a massive range of Pokemon nearby, so it'd be great for finding new team members.

Ash scoured the lowlands, weaving in and out of the tall grass. In the few hours he been there, he'd found a single Bellsprout which had run away as soon as it'd been spotted. Apart from that he'd seen a couple of Oddish which buried themselves into the ground and began to soak up the sunlight for photosynthesis.

With a sigh, Ash sat on the grassy floor and sighed, disappointed. The grass types were common in the region and didn't amount to much. Vileplume, one of Oddish's final forms, was known for being a glass cannon without any speed behind it. Slow and not being bulky meant that a lot of other Pokemon could easily take it out.

Bellsprout wasn't much better. It lacked the defences Ash wanted, similar to Vileplume, and instead relied on hard, physical blows to wear down their opponent, not the kind of range you wanted your Pokemon to be in if their opponent could easily blast them with a powerful flamethrower or ice beam.

In both of those cases Bulbasaur, who eventually evolved into Venusaur, was the much better choice with a much more rounded level of bulk and also a better attacking arsenal. It had access to spores and powders which could be made use of by the Oddish line and the powerful vines that were of the Bellsprout vines. Not to mention Ash's own Ivysaur would move much faster than any others of its species given its recent change. The only issue for most trainers was that they were extremely rare, with only a few being found in the wild, so you either had to pick one as your starter or find a breeder willing to sell you one.

The only other grass type that was a considerable substitute was Tangela, but they were under strict observation due to low numbers in the Safari Zone. Trying to get one of them would be next to impossible.

As Ash continued to ponder a single Pokemon moved into the clearing. It was clearly sleeping, as Ash could tell by the bubble that was slowly growing and shrinking coming from its nose. It looked like a bipedal fox, with yellow and brown armour covering its body. A small tail coiled around its body with a brown band near the end whilst its small arms and legs were sprawled out as it snoozed.

Sweat dropping at the Pokemon, Ash took out his Pokedex and scanned it, making it stir slightly. If this was what he thought it was, then that wouldn't be good.

"Abra, the Psi Pokemon. Abra needs to sleep for 18 hours a day to recharge its telekinetic powers. If it doesn't then its powers become greatly diminished."

Abra could be a pain to catch, they were known to teleport away from Pokeballs if they didn't want to be caught, and then they'd have to find them again.

If an Abra didn't want to be caught, it'd make sure it wouldn't be caught.

However, they were also one of the strongest Pokemon you could find in Kanto. Alakazam were known for having amazing battle prowess, their opponents couldn't touch them.

Literally. They couldn't get close.

Close combat fighters had no chance, being unable to get close to their psychic powers. Alakazam could create barriers to block attacks and inflict the likes of paralysis and even poisoning their opponents. They'd be a valuable addition to any team. Professor Oak had one back in Pallet Town and from the times the Professor had to go out to the sea and quell raging Gyarados that threatened Pallet he knew that the Psychic type was strong. And he desperately wanted his own.

"Well here goes nothing," Ash muttered as he enlarged a Pokeball from his pack and primed it before throwing it at the psychic type.

And it looked like his luck wouldn't help him out today.

The Abra let the ball reach a mere foot away from it before catching it in its psychic grasp. With a smirk plastered across its face the Psi Pokemon crushed the Pokeball into a mound of unusable metal, which sparked as the electronics ceased to work.

It didn't teleport away however, it simply stayed there glowing with psychic power. Taking his chance, Ash released his Larvitar and the two got ready for battle.

"Larvitar, use bite, disorientate it," Ash commanded as the rock type charged forward, dark energy gathering along its jaws.

Dark types were known to be the ultimate counters to psychic types. Psychics couldn't sense them, leaving them blind to their locations and immune to their psychic powers. Their energy also disorientated them and disrupted their powers if hit with it.

By using bite, Ash was hoping it'd hide Larvitar from the Abra and prevent it from seeing where the rock type was.

And as he hoped, Abra seemed unable to locate Larvitar and cried out in a mixture of shock and pain as the rock type hit him. The Psi Pokemon rolled on the ground for a minute before getting up, its limbs no longer sprawled everywhere. Instead it had chosen to wake up and fight.

"Alright Larvitar, he's actually trying now," Ash said. Abra looked at them and snorted in humour. Ash stared at him for a moment for venturing with a guess.

"She?"

The Pokemon nodded and lifted up Larvitar with its psychic powers before throwing him into a nearby tree. Larvitar's hard shell protected it from the impact but the tree he landed on wasn't so lucky and was reduced to splinters.

"Alright, get in close with bite again and switch to iron head!"

Larvitar released more dark energy from its body and ran at Abra. The bipedal fox teleported away as she lost track of the rock type, forcing Larvitar to change course. This time he clamped down hard on the Abra's torso, poisoning it with more dark energy, before sending it flying away with an iron head.

The Abra line wasn't known for having good physical defence, their bodies were frail as the species had sacrificed their physical strength for that in the mind arts. So when Abra took the two attacks from Larvitar she went down easily, collapsing into unconsciousness.

Without hesitation Ash threw a Pokeball at the downed Pokemon. As he was doing so another Pokeball shot out of the forest nearby, nearly striking the downed Abra, but Larvitar used an iron head to headbutt it away, making it into scrap metal as it collided with a nearby tree.

As Ash's Pokeball clicked, signifying the capture another boy stepped out of the undergrowth, looking frustrated. He stared at the Pokeball lying in the floor and went to grab it, only to be met by Larvitar snapping his jaws at him angrily.

"Hey what's the big idea! Call off your Pokemon!"

The boy started to shout at Ash, who glared at him and picked up the Pokeball himself, much to the boy's displeasure. As he got closer he took note of the boy's strange appearance.

He could see flaming red hair under his hat, and his eyes were a pale grey which showed his cunning and intelligence.

"Tch, I'll get an Abra another way," the boy growled as he ran off.

"Hey wait!" Ash shouted as the boy ran off, disappearing into the long grass that lined the mountainside.

"What was that about?" Ash mumbled as he picked up his new Pokeball. Larvitar had shuffled over to his side and started to growl at where the boy had disappeared.

Taking out his Pokedex, Ash scanned Abra's Pokeball and listened to the relevant information.

"Abra, the Psi Pokemon. Abra needs to sleep for 18 hours a day to recharge its telekinetic powers. If it doesn't then its powers become greatly diminished.

This Abra is female and has the ability: Synchronise.

Abra knows the moves: Teleport and confusion

Abra has no egg moves."

Ash stared at the last sentence in surprise. Pokemon species breeding with each other was an extremely common thing, as long as they were in what was classified as their 'egg group' then chances were they could breed together. Whilst that wasn't always the case- Ash shivered as he remembered the news bulletin a few years back about a Skitty dying trying to breed with a Wailord as they were both in the same egg group- it had meant that moves that usually wouldn't be accessible to a species was now plausible.

For Abra to have no egg moves meant it's ancestors must not have bred with other Pokemon species, which was a rare occurrence. Some Pokemon couldn't pick up egg moves, for example Magikarp, because they hadn't evolved as a species to do so, but for those that did they were at a major advantage against competitors.

Stopping himself from mentally rambling anymore, Ash decided to battle the last trainer on Nugget Bridge and then call it a day. Maybe the gym leader would be back in the city tomorrow.

Walking up back onto the golden bridge, Ash made his way over to the final trainer. He was dressed in entirely black clothes; a black t-shirt, black jeans and even black trainers. His arms were heavily tattooed and his eyes showed little to no interest in his surroundings.

"Are you that challenger who fought my colleagues earlier?" The man asked, although it sounded more like a statement judging from his tone.

Ash simply nodded and the man shot him a dirty look before walking over to his side of the field.

"You made me wait two hours to battle you, everyone else has gone on crying."

Ash chose to say nothing to that, simply standing in his box and releasing Ivysaur. The man grunted and released a Graveler, who pounded its four limbs together and snarled.

"Ivysaur start it off with a leech seed, then follow up with sleep powder," Ash told the grass dinosaur calmly. The grass type snorted and fired off three leech seeds in quick succession, each smacking into the Graveler's hide and sprouting vines that started to drain its energy. The rock monster simply took it and growled as its energy was siphoned away. Ivysaur released her sleep powder but it didn't even come close to the rock type.

"Flex."

The other trainer smirked as his Graveler tensed its body and snapped through the majority of the vines with ease. Ivysaur's eyes widened as one of his most versatile moves was easily nullified.

"Now hit it with a rock blast, don't let up."

The Graveler started to summon rocks from the nearby mountainside, which appeared in piles around it on the battlefield. The rocks floated into the Graveler's open hands before being fired out at high speeds.

Ivysaur barrelled to one side to avoid the barrage of rocks coming her way. Using her vines she managed to bat most of the vines coming her way, although one managed to smack into her, making the grass type cry out in pain.

"You good to carry on girl?" Ash asked as the grass type winced. The Seed Pokemon growled in conformation before releasing her vines once more, ready to slam into Graveler.

"Vine whip! Release your sleep powder!" Ash shouted as Ivysaur barrelled forward, using the extra energy granted to her by the sunlight to move a little quicker.

Ivysaur slammed into Graveler with her vines, cracking its rock shell with sheer force. As she was doing so her bulb was releasing a thick, green powder, which made contact this time and made the rock type's eyes drop slightly.

"Bulldoze Graveler," the man shouted, his leaving no room for error. The Rock Pokemon launched its entire body up into the air before slamming it down with masses of force.

The ground shook with such force that Ash was sent toppling over from the relative safety of his trainer box. Ivysaur was sent to the floor, legs splayed out beneath her as she fell over.

"Saur…" Ivysaur grumbled as she got to her feet. Unlike most other poison types, Ivysaur didn't have any liquid poison sacs which meant she wasn't as affected by what should have been a super effective move. Instead her poisonous spores and powders were stored in her bulb which was considerably hard to rupture, not to mention the toxins were solid, it'd be much more difficult for them to get around Ivysaur's body.

"Alright, fire off some more leech seeds and then try a giga drain!"

Ivysaur fired off more leech seeds, something she had gotten consistently better at over the past few weeks in training. Out of the barrage she fired off, only three hit their mark. Yeah… accuracy wasn't exactly the grass type's strong point right now.

However, the seeds which did hit managed to bury themselves deep into the Graveler's rock shell before exploding into a flurry of vines. The rock type roared in agony as its energy was siphoned again before flexing its body and breaking free of its binds.

It was visibly beginning to tire now, the powerful muscles that moved its body seemed to be dragging it now and its arms had drooped.

Ivysaur then released her vines again, entangling the Rock Pokemon and used giga drain. The vines pulsed green as they stole away the Pokemon's energy, leaving it unconscious on the floor. It wasn't perfect however, Ash could see the glow of the vines trail off towards Ivysaur failing to replenish her energy with that she stole from her opponent. It looked like they'd need to do a bit more work on the move before it was perfect.

"Graveler, return," the man said with a grin across his face, he walked up to Ash and put a hand on his shoulder and pointed to the very end of the Nugget Bridge, where a man was waiting for him, waving.

"You're the first person to beat me in nearly a week, congrats kid," he said as he patted Ash's shoulder.

"If you head over there and collect your prizes and you'll have completed the Nugget Bridge challenge."

Ash nodded and said his thanks before walking off towards the other man. Compared to the thuggish looking man he had battled before, this man was wiry and his head was covered by a black cap which obscured part of his face.

"Congratulations on beating our Nugget Bridge challenge!" he praised with a nasally voice. He held out two items for Ash which took him by surprise.

Well the first one didn't, considering it was called the 'Nugget' bridge, getting a nugget as the prize wasn't really a shock.

However, as the man also handed him a TM case which already had some TMs loaded in it.

"You're the 5th person to complete the Nugget Bridge challenge so we thought it'd be a good way to remember that by filling up your TM case with a few TMs," the man finished with a smile across his face.

Ash check on the front of the case and read the digital display to see what TMs had been installed.

Aerial Ace

Incinerate

Icy Wind

The TMs probably wouldn't be that useful right now, he was pretty sure none of his team could learn icy wind, or even incinerate. Aerial Ace would be insanely useful though, it'd give Pidgeotto and even Beedrill another way to attack whilst in the air.

"Thanks!" Ash said with a grin. This was where the man's face darkened and he started to smirk.

"You know there's an easy way to get plenty more TMs like that…"

"Huh?" Ash replied, confused as to where this was going. The man put an arm around the young trainer and grinned impishly.

"What would you do if I said you could get every TM you could possibly ever want, and even more," the man carried on, his grin becoming bigger and bigger.

"How? That'd cost thousands?" Ash asked, his suspicions growing larger.

"Well you see I work for a little organisation-"

It made sense.

The ticket had an 'R' stamped on the corner of it, the shady dealings this man was hinting at, the promise of whatever he wanted.

There was no doubt this man worked for Team Rocket.

"U-Umm I'll think about it," Ash stammered as he took a step backwards. The man frowned as Ash stepped away.

"Alright kid, chill out, I was just wondering if you'd like to join Team Rocket. We're an up and coming organisation who want to expand, if you want to join up any point, give us a call on this number," the man finished as he gave Ash a card and walked away. Ash could still see the malicious glint in the man's eye and he toned down his speech, making the whole calming down of his demeanour easy to see through. Not to mention saying their up and coming was a complete lie, they'd been the leaders of Kanto's criminal underworld for over a decade; or that's at least what his dad had told him.

"Ok thanks bye!" Ash said as he all but ran off towards Cerulean. Maybe before he checked into the Pokemon Centre for the night he'd go to Cerulean's police department and tip them off.

With that in his mind and also his newly caught Abra that needed healing up he set back off into Cerulean, he'd explore the rest of Route 24 and Route 25 another day.

- Timeskip -

"Good morning Ash! Your Pokemon are fully healed and we hope to see you again!"

Nurse Joy turned around and went back into the medical bay of the Pokemon Centre and got back to work as she finished saying goodbye to the young trainer.

Ash stared at his seventh Pokeball with concern etched across his face. The Pokemon League had a rule that frustrated many trainers to no end; you could only carry six Pokemon at a time.

As soon as you caught a seventh Pokemon it'd be transported to your sponsor, who in Ash's case was Professor Oak. To avoid this he would need permission from the league to bring more than the six Pokemon they limited trainers too, and that wasn't going to happen any time soon even if his dad was the champion.

Ash studied each of his seven Pokeballs in turn, trying to think logically about his turmoil, who would he leave behind?

It was tough. Who would really want to send away their friends who'd they'd bonded with over time just to accommodate another. It seemed almost cruel. And then you couldn't simply leave them there alone. Without anyone else to talk to they'd grow lonely and antisocial in isolation.

Larvitar had to stay, that was what first came to Ash's mind. The rock type had been with him for years now and that wasn't going to change anytime soon. He was a glue in his team that kept them all together, being able to get on well with all of his team members so far.

Ivysaur was needed as well, with Cerulean city's gym being known to favour water types he'd need every advantage he could get.

Not that he had many, which was painfully obvious to the new trainer right now, his team was extremely pitiful against water types. He had Ivysaur and that was it. He'd have to remedy that in the future.

After a while Ash decided to send back Nidoran and Pidgeotto. Both were close combat fighters primarily and this meant they'd have a tough time against Cerulean who primarily used water types. Kanto's water types, with the exception of a couple, were all long ranged fighters so getting into striking distance would be a challenge for them. He was sure Magikarp could get some valuable experience whilst here in Cerulean which he wouldn't get elsewhere. On the road the Fish Pokemon had a tough time finding suitable battles as the routes taken weren't very coastal and had very few usable bodies of water.

He was pretty sure that the Fish Pokemon was actually fairly close to his age. With its slightly tattered but thick scales and long whiskers it must've have been nearly a decade old by now. And by those standards she must be getting ready to evolve soon. However, Ash didn't expect that for a while so for now he simply wanted to get as much experience with the water type and bond with it as much as possible, Gyarados could remember everything from their lives as Magikarp and could be particularly difficult to bond with after they evolved.

Ash was pretty sure Magikarp liked him now so he wasn't to worried, there had been stories in the past of Gyarados attacking their trainers if they had been abused but that was very unlikely in his scenario.

To be honest, in the short time he'd been with his team they'd all grown exponentially, he couldn't ask for anymore. So for now he'd get drop off Nidoran and pick him up as he went back on the road, where'd there would be less water for Magikarp to fight in.

With that he also decided to send off Pidgeotto. She was considerably more docile than his other option, Beedrill, and would socialise much better with the Poison Pin Pokemon.

Going into one of the booths in the Pokecenter, Ash called up Professor Oak and waited for him to pick up. After a few moments the screen flashed white before revealing the familiar face of the regional professor.

"Ahhh Ash my boy! How're you doing travelling around Kanto?"" He asked eagerly, his aged face lighting up with excitement which Ash couldn't help but grin at. He heard barking to his left, indicating the Professor's Arcanine had heard them.

"It's going great! I've caught seven Pokemon and I'm about to fight the gym leader for my second badge," he replied, rubbing his eyes a little to stave off his morning tiredness.

"Ahh I see," the professor said with a frown. The man himself had known these problems when he was creating his own team before he became the regional professor and had his roster cap removed.

"So I was wondering if I could give you Nidoran and Pidgeotto for a while, it'd be a couple of days at most," Ash added quickly.

Professor Oak sighed as he switched on his transporter machine. The huge machine whirred to life as its control panel flickered on. The professor tapped some of its settings before typing into his computer a large string of code.

"Alright, I've added the transfer machine to your Pokedex database, just select it and plug your Pokedex into the Pokemon Centre's transporter, put your Pokeballs in the machine and press go," the professor summarised. The professor started to say something else but was barrelled over by a flash of orange fur.

*RUFF*

"Ahh Arcanine! You know your slobber doesn't wash out very well!"

Ash started to laugh as he watched the regional professor get kicked by his Arcanine. The Legendary Pokemon was huge for its species, easily towering over the man. It had pinned down the Professor with its front paws and was licking the man's face intensely, playfully 'ruffing' as it continued.

Eventually Professor Oak managed to push the huge canine off of him and got to his feet, panting from moving the heavy Pokemon. Arcanine tipped happily before barging in front of the camera and yipping excitedly to Ash.

"It's good to see you too Arcanine!" Ash cheered, mentally thanking Arceus he wasn't on the other side of the camera. The fire type was known to be incredibly playful for its age and Arcanine's saliva was incredibly hard to get out of clothes, Ash had learnt the hard way when he was helping at the corral back in Pallet Town.

Arcanine yipped once more before speeding off again, probably back to the corral. Whilst it acted playful, Ash knew the old canine could pack a punch, having watched some of Professor Oak's old battle videos. It's speed was legendary, being able to tap into the extremespeed, an ability only gifted to a very limited number of species.

Extremespeed was an insanely powerful ability for any species that inherited it. They essentially removed the limiters placed on their bodies in order to force their muscles to contract and relax faster, thus giving them the capacity to run at god-like speeds. However, it put a great strain on the user's body and it could pull or even tear muscles if overused. Pokemon needed a lot of training in order to use it without hurting themselves, and some could eventually stay in extremespeed without injuring themselves indefinitely.

There was much more complex biology behind it but Ash couldn't remember it, not to mention it was always the parts of the Professor's speeches he tuned out of.

That man could talk for days on end. Literally.

"So how often do you reckon you'll be switching out your team members?" The professor asked as he wiped at the Arcanine slobber.

"As much as possible, I never really wanted a small team, and I don't want there to be massive gaps between my team," Ash replied thoughtfully. Professor Oak sat there in silence contemplating for a minute.

"Alright Ash, I'm going to give you special access to your Pokemon storage."

Ash's eyes lit up in surprise.

"Special access? What do you mean professor?"

However, the professor was too busy typing on a keyboard nearby to reply. Ash noticed that once again his nearby monitor was filled with strings of code that were indecipherable to him.

"Alright there we go! You're all set up!" The professor explained cheerily. Ash sweatdropped and rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"Ummm, Professor... You didn't really explain what you set me up with," Ash said with a awkward chuckle.

Professor Oak spluttered in embarrassment before clicking away at his keyboard once again.

"Ahh and there we go! Check your Pokedex," the researcher urges Ash, who pulled the device out of his pocket. Opening up its main menu he saw a new option next to the database.

Storage

Looking at it in surprise, Ash selected the option and was taken to an entire new screen.

"Whoa," Ash breathed as he looked at the detailed storage screen. To the right hand side of the screen it showed the current Pokemon he had on him. On the left hand side of the screen were boxes of Pokemon storage, with Abra filling the first slot of the first box.

"It's something new I've been working on, it's still in the prototype stage I guess," the professor began and he started to put together more strings of code.

The backgrounds of the boxes started to flash to different designs, indicating Professor Oak experimenting with it.

"Basically each of your Pokeballs stored here will be put into a specialised transporter which can be accessed remotely by you. Your Pokemon will still be allowed to roam the Corral here as they usually would, instead the transporter will forcefully activate the return feature, returning them to their Pokeball and getting them ready for transportation!" Professor Oak managed to get out in one breath, panting slightly. Ash knew from when he'd worked in the lab for a few years the man was passionate for what he did.

Thirty years earlier he'd created the Pokedex, a now worldwide used tool which allowed trainers to learn more about both the Pokemon they were training as well as out in the wild. Where to find Pokemon, how to raise them, how to teach them moves. It was all there, hand pieced together by the professor himself and by far his greatest discovery. He revolutionised the way people raised Pokemon.

And now he was doing it again.

"So as I was saying before you dozed off," Professor Oak continued as he raised a grey eyebrow at Ash, who went bright red in embarrassment.

"Basically each slot in one of those boxes corresponds to an actual slot on the transporter. So right now you've got access to one box, which holds thirty Pokemon. If you need any more then just call me and I'll sort it out. Anyway for this to work you need to transport your captured Pokemon to the lab first. This should work at any Pokecenter as well just so you know, just plug your Pokedex into the transporter there and it'll do the rest." The professor was really trying to cram as much information into this call as possible, giving Ash all the details he'd need in order to work this prototype system.

"And that should do it, you got all of that Ash?" Professor Oak asked as something clattered around behind him.

*RUFF* *RUFF*

"Arcanine! Stop chasing Pikachu!" Professor Oak shouted as he rushed off the screen. More crashing and clattering could be heard as the giant canine chased after a small rodent around the laboratory, who was squeaking loudly as it avoided the playful fire type.

"Ash, hang up please I'll talk to you another time I need to stop this-" Professor Oak shouted before he was accidentally tackled by Arcanine, bowling him over. Not wanting to see how Professor Oak trying to stop the overly playful Arcanine destroying his lab would turn out.

"Alright then…" Ash said to himself as he took out his Pokedex and started to play around with the storage option.

He quickly selected his Nidoran and his Pidgeotto, placing them into the box for storage, before pulling Abra out into his party. Walking over to the Pokeball transporter machine he plugged in his Pokedex and placing the two Pokeballs on the transporter machine.

Almost instantly the machine whirred to life, teleporting the two Pokeballs safely to Professor Oak's laboratory, where they'd be free to roam the corral until they got called up again. The two were some of the more sociable members of his team. Nidoran got along well with the majority of his team, and being the 'baby' of the group meant that had all looked out for him whenever possible. But because he was young didn't mean he was tough, the young poison type could pack a serious punch in battles with his deadly toxins, sharp horn and powerful hind legs. Ash could tell that when he got older and evolved the poison type would be a powerful Pokemon.

Pidgeotto, on the other hand, had a type of grace not seen in any of his other Pokemon. Most of the clomped along on the ground with very little finesse unlike the flying type. She could hit fast and hit hard with her momentum she built up.

The bird Pokemon was extremely talkative to his other teammates and seemed to get along with them all well enough. However, had picked out one little flaw in the normal type's demeanour that seemed to grate on his other teammates occasionally.

Pidgeotto was a very vain Pokemon, and considering he'd met Professor Oak's Dragonite that was a very bold statement to make. Ash had caught her preening herself occasionally whenever she thought none of the others were looking, and also admiring her reflection in any bodies of water they passed. So far the bird Pokemon was keeping it fairly under control, it hadn't gotten out of hand yet and fingers crossed it wouldn't get worse when she evolved into a Pidgeot.

Ash tore himself from his thoughts to watch Abra's Pokeball in his hand unlock, ready for normal use now he had transferred his other Pokemon. However, that would have to wait. Ash had overheard some other trainers talking in the Pokecenter earlier saying that Cerulean City's gym leader had returned and was taking battles today. The sooner he faced the gym leader the sooner he could move onto the next town, although he wanted to finish exploring what was north of Nugget Bridge before he left for Vermillion City.

Making sure he had all of his Pokeballs and other equipment on him, Ash set off towards the gym, ready for whatever the gym leader decided to throw at him.

The cascade badge was as good as his.

- Meanwhile in Pallet Town -

Professor Oak sighed as he placed his coffee mug gently on the table, careful to avoid spilling any of it on the laptop sitting in front of him. The storage system he'd given Ash access too was his latest piece of work that he'd be releasing to trainers everywhere; to have two trainers in his grandson and Ash testing it for him would be a godsend as they could tell him how to improve it.

It had taken him the best part of three years to develop the system amidst his other research, and helping Red and Blue track down his biggest mistake…

Team Rocket had been very persuasive all those years ago when they'd requested his help with their project all that time ago. Building their own legendary Pokemon. Even now it seemed surreal to the professor. It had taken them nearly of a decade of work, him and his other two associates, with all of their scientific prowess combined. And now it was coming back to haunt him. However, with Red coming back to Kanto that meant that their search was over. Whatever corner of the earth his creation had hidden in; it was far from his grasp now. Maybe they'd locate it in Kanto.

The professor wasn't ashamed of their creation though. Creating life was beautiful and it was his finest work.

His finest... but also his most shameful work.

- Cerulean Gym -

Ash stood outside the gym, which was only a few minutes away from the Pokemon Centre, and looked at the building. It looked more like a theatre from the outside than a gym in all honesty, as it was decorated with gold styled in the shape of water Pokemon.

As he walked into the gym he noticed that it was fairly desolate compared to what he heard earlier, with only one other trainer sitting on a waiting bench in the reception. Following a few signs, after getting a rather unhelpful groan from the receptionist who was sleeping on the job, he came to a massive room dominated by a large swimming, easily as big as Professor Oak's laboratory back in Pallet Town. A couple of floating islands were dotted around the pool, giving non-water type Pokemon to have a chance on the battlefield.

Three teenage girls were leisurely swimming in the pool, their Pokemon darting around them playfully. Even from the other side of the pool, Ash could tell they were beautiful as he fought to hide a growing blush. As they saw him enter they swam to the edge of the pool and started to climb out, revealing their slender bodies covered only by their bikinis.

"Are you here for a gym battle?" One of the sisters, the one with honey blonde hair, asked him. Her voice showed signs of surprise, Ash presumed they didn't get very many challenges this early on in the conference season, which made sense. Cerulean was seen as an easy badge to a lot of trainers, who left it for the middle or end of the season after training their team.

"Y-Yeah," Ash stuttered, still blushing. The girls giggled slightly at his redness and held out her hand.

"W-Wait you're just giving me the badge?!" Ash shouted in surprise. The girl nodded as she kept her hand held out, in the palm of her hand was a light blue, raindrop-shaped badge.

"Yeah, you don't have to defeat a gym leader to get the badge, they just have to think you deserve it, plus all of our Pokemon are tired from the show yesterday," the blonde girl replied as she continued to hold out her hand.

Ash shrugged his shoulders and went to grab the badge, why not after all. A badge was a badge no matter how you obtained it. He reached out to take the badge.

*SLAP*

"Now wait just a second!"

A girl, probably only a year or two older than Ash, stood between him and the blonde girl that gave him his badge; glaring at the older girl.

"I'm challenging you to a Pokemon battle! As a gym leader here I don't think you're ready for the cascade badge," she all but shouted at him, her face bright red in anger. Ash took a step backwards as she stood too close to him, making his ears ring as she shouted.

"Jeez… You don't need to shout so much," Ash groaned as he rubbed his head to stave off an oncoming headache. The girl huffed and took a step back, her red face not calming down in the slightest.

"Misty…" the blonde haired teenager began as she shook her head in embarrassment.

"Shut up… Go get in the challenger's box," the girl shouted again, making Ash wince at the volume. Misty glared even harder at her sister before stomping over to her side of the field.

"Alright, alright... Arceus almighty…" Ash mumbled as he walked over to his side of the swimming pool and readied Ivysaur's Pokeball in his hand. Luckily for him the roof over the pool was glass, and with the sun shining through it Ivysaur would be able to make use of its energy and utilise her growing chloroplasts in her skin. The extra energy would be sure to help.

"Alright, this will be two on two battle. No substitutions will be allowed and the use of stat enhancing items is forbidden," one of the three teenagers, the girl with dark blue hair, announced as she acted as the referee. Ash looked at her strangely at the last rule and she shrugged her shoulders.

"We've had trainers who thought they could use them in our gym before and get away with it, it makes sense because you can't use them in the conference anyway," Violet explained to him. Ash nodded and went back to facing Misty, who had already released her first Pokemon.

It was a strange Pokemon to say the least, its entire body was a dark shade of violet which stood out in contrast to the pure white platforms it was standing on. It looked as if it was made of two sea-stars stuck together, with the back star rotating very slowly as it balanced on the front star's bottom limbs. Electricity sparked from the glowing jewel core on the centre of its front star, which flashed a multitude of colours before settling on a very dark red.

Ash knew Starmie had the potential to be a dangerous opponent so he'd have to start with his Ivysaur straight away, utilising her type advantage to the best of their abilities.

"Alright Ivysaur, get ready for battle!" Ash shouted as he released the Seed Pokemon. Ivysaur looked around the watery battlefield for a moment before turning around a warbling to Ash for reassurance.

"It's alright Ivysaur, we're in a battle. Make sure to stay out of the water," Ash told her as the grass dinosaur walked over to him, petting her bulb to calm her.

"Are you done?" Misty asked from the other side of the field, failing awfully at masking her annoyance.

Ash sent her a glare as Ivysaur walked back onto the floating platforms and released her powerful vines, poised to strike whatever was thrown at her.

"Anddddddd… Begin!" the blue haired sister shouted as the two Pokemon sprung into action.

"Alright Ivysaur use sleep powder! Try and make it fall asleep!" Ash shouted, desperate to end the battle before it really begun.

Starmie were known for being able to regenerate lost limbs with their amazing speeds of regeneration, so any damage done to the water type had to be either so crippling it stopped it from fighting or somehow prevented it from fighting otherwise.

The water type didn't simply let the move hit it, instead diving under the water, hiding completely from view in the dark depths of the pool. The sleep powder formed a harmless layer on the top of the water, where it wouldn't harm the starfish.

"Alright surface and use confusion!" Misty shouted with a smirk across her face.

"Well shit," Ash mentally groaned as he watched the Starmie fly up and out of the water before firing a wave of telekinetic energy at Ivysaur.

Starmie were also part psychic type, with their jewel core at the centre of their bodies being able to generate masses of psychic power from within itself. However, unlike psychic species, such as the Abra or Hypno lines, Starmie lacked the finesse with their psychic powers that the other two species had. They could fire off waves of telekinetic energy, but that was about it. Without extensive training the Mysterious Pokemon would not improve much more than that.

However, the jewel core on their bodies allowed them also to utilise other powers other than psychic ones, being able to discharge bolts of lightning and beams of ice from the gem. They had versatility that not many other species could claim to have.

Luckily for Ivysaur, the wave of energy was slightly off target, allowing for her to dodge the attack. Ash subconsciously sucked in a breath as he watched the grass type roll dangerously close to the edge of the platform she was standing on. Using her vines to steady herself, Ivysaur ran back to the centre of the platform and lashed at Starmie, who simply took the hit, its jewel flickering slightly as the only sign it felt the damage.

"Alright, fire off some leech seeds, we've got to wear it down!" Ash shouted as Ivysaur began to fire barrages of the seeds towards Starmie. The water type's back-star span rapidly as it managed to zigzag through the volley of seeds. Misty smirked as she simply let her Pokemon dodge the shower of seeds.

"Thunder wave, paralyze it Starmie," Misty shouted, her tone much more relaxed as a smug grin overtook her face. She thought had this battle in the bag.

Ash inwardly winced as he saw the weak sparks of lightning fly towards Ivysaur. Hopefully that move he and Ivysaur had been working on whilst they were at Nugget Bridge pulled through.

"Poison powder Ivysaur, make a dense cloud in front of you!" Ash shouted, praying his idea would work. Poison powder wasn't a particularly difficult move for the grass type to learn, with the species' naturally solid powders and the ability to expel both seeds and powders through the bulb on her back.

Ivysaur got to work almost instantly, and the area in front the Seed Pokemon was engulfed in poisonous powder and they were forcefully expelled from her bulb. Ivysaur took a step back towards the edge of her platform as the thunder wave hit the powders, igniting them. The fire raged for a moment before dying down, as the powder was quickly used up as fuel.

"Way to go Ivysaur!" Ash shouted as the Seed Pokemon warbled happily. However, their successful use of poison powder to defend from the electric attack was short lived as Starmie came spinning towards the grass type and struck it with a powerful rapid spin.

"Retaliate, grab it with your vines and giga drain!" Ash shouted as he saw an opportunity. As she was at the moment, Ivysaur wasn't particularly adept at long range combat, instead preferring to use her vines in combat. Hopefully with a couple more moves in time he could solve that and make her an even more versatile fighter.

"Starmie dodge it!" Misty shouted with panic in her voice. The starfish tried to dodge but its momentum from the earlier rapid spin made it hard to turn so the water type was easily ensnared in Ivysaur's vines. The vines immediately began to glow an emerald green as they sapped the water type's energy. Starmie tried to struggle away from the vines but with its energy rapidly being drained away it was fighting a losing battle.

"Rapid spin!" Misty shouted in desperation as Starmie's jewel core began to flicker slower and slower, showing it nearing unconsciousness. The Mysterious Pokemon tiredly began to spin the star on its back, severing the vines holding it down and making Ivysaur cry out in a mixture of shock and pain.

"Ivysaur!" Ash cried out as the severed vines fell to the ground, twitching slightly before falling limp. The Bulbasaur line's vines were known to be able to regenerate after a matter of days, given the correct nutrients, and even quicker if helped with modern medicine. However, their vines were extremely sensitive so to have them severed would have been extremely painful.

Ash could see that with the energy Ivysaur had stolen from Starmie earlier, the cut vines were slowly regenerating even now, using the excess energy coursing through her body. The photosynthesis from her still developing chloroplasts would also help restore her energy and could give her the boost she needed right now to finish this battle.

"Way to go Starmie! Now use recover!" Misty shouted, her smirk returning as Starmie began to restore its lost energy.

Recover was a strange move, it allowed certain species of Pokemon to restore their energy lost during battle by regenerating cells and increasing the amount of energy produced by their cells for a short amount of time. Scientists hadn't yet figured out how it worked, most thought it was by starting certain chemical reactions in Pokemon's cells, but they couldn't be sure.

Starmie's core began to flicker less as its energy was replenished, its back star started to spin rapidly at the energy boost.

"Don't let it fully recover! Use leech seed; full power!" Ash shouted, if Starmie was allowed to regenerate it'd be over for the Seed Pokemon.

Ivysaur cried out as she released a barrage of seeds towards Starmie, each of the seeds pelting into the water type and disturbing its recovery. Most of them exploded into a tangle of vines, which ensnared Starmie and stopped it from moving once again, draining even more energy and replenishing Ivysaur's own. However, some didn't release vines and instead pelted the Starmie with amazing force, making it drop down unconscious from the combination.

"What was that…" Ash mumbled as he looked at some of the hardened seeds left over on the platform near Misty's side of the arena. They seemed much bigger than the usual leech seeds and had darker shells than normal.

"And Starmie is unable to battle! Could the gym leader please release their second Pokemon," the blue-haired teenager requested as she looked at Misty expectantly. The orange haired girl growled as she grabbed a Pokeball off of her belt and threw it into the water.

*GYAHHHHH*

The water exploded upwards as whatever was contained in the Pokeball was released, sending water everywhere. Ash began to freeze as he looked up into the gaping maw of an 18 foot long Gyarados; an apex predator of the sea.

Its teeth, which were the same size as steak knives, gleamed in the light shining down through the glass ceiling, whilst its eyes radiated fury and anger only present in very few species of Pokemon worldwide.

Gyarados were known to have large quantities of hormones pumping through their bodies after evolution, which Ash suspected the water type had recently gone through, which increased their aggression to rarely seen levels. This effect was lessened after a couple of months' post evolution but until then it would be a very temperamental Pokemon. And with their powerful jaws and plated armour that could grow up to eight inches thick they were a force to be reckoned with. Its fins were razor sharp and looked as if they could slice easily through flesh.

Ash looked at the creature in awe, this is what his own Magikarp could evolve into, given enough time. Misty's Gyarados was small for its species; they could grow over 40 feet long, but it had a lot of time to grow and reach its full physical maturity.

"And this is my strongest Pokemon. He only evolved a few weeks ago," Misty said as she stashed the Atrocious Pokemon's Pokeball away on her belt.

Ivysaur groaned in sadness at the lack of feeling she was experiencing from her vines. They were already growing back with the excess energy she stole from Starmie; it'd still be a couple of hours until she was fully recovered. Ash prayed that it wouldn't be a problem in the future, as severing her vines could easily cripple the Seed Pokemon in a fight. Ash had heard of Venusaur being able to regrow their vines in mere seconds once they reached full physical maturity, but Ivysaur was a long way from evolution, let alone reaching her maximum size.

But for now, whilst she wouldn't be able to battle at her full capabilities, she could still deal some damage to the huge beast before she went down.

"Let the battle commence!" the referee shouted as she took a step back to avoid getting splashed as Gyarados splashed around in the water.

"Ivysaur use leech seed!" Ash shouted as he took a step back to avoid a wave of water which lapped at the edge of his platform and splashed up, drenching the first half of it.

Ivysaur growled as she released more seeds, this time the seeds looked more normal and lighter in colour. They collided with Gyarados' thick armour and burst into vines, forcing themselves into the chinks of its armour and draining its energy.

*GYAHHHHH*

Gyarados roared in anger as it felt its energy get sapped before it even started, lunging forward with its jaws glowing with dark energy. Gyarados tried to bite Ivysaur, only for the Seed Pokemon to dodge.

"Gyarados use flamethrower!" Misty shouted as the sea serpent roared again, straightening up as flames started to manifest in the back of its throat. Misty must have taught it flamethrower by using a TM, it was the only way the Atrocious Pokemon could learn the move.

"Ivysaur!" Ash shouted as the Seed Pokemon was engulfed in a bright the fiery inferno. The extreme heat of the flames could be felt from his challenger box.

"Alright Gyarados hold it!" Misty shouted as she looked at the platform bathed in flames with increasing worry. The monstrous water type growled as it obeyed her command, its loyalty triumphing over its primal instincts to roast its opponent into oblivion.

The flames eventually died down to reveal Ivysaur. She was still standing, albeit on shaky legs, as her body was charred from the intense heat. Ash blinked back tears as he returned the Seed Pokemon to her Pokeball.

"Thank you Ivysaur…" Ash whispered to the ball as he stashed it away. He would be sure to give the grass type a large portion of Occa and Rawst berries tonight after they went to the Pokemon Centre. Occa berries were her favourite and Rawst berries would help lessen the pain of its burns.

"That was a bit overkill Misty…" the referee muttered as she signalled for Ash to release his second Pokemon. The trainer however stood there, tilting his head forward so that his eyes were hidden in the shadow of his hat.

He didn't have many other choices right now. Nidoran and Pidgeotto were back at Professor Oak's laboratory, most likely exploring the corral right now, and Beedrill would be at a serious disadvantage if his wings got wet. He recently caught Abra and still had to get her settled and Magikarp was a definite no against its much more powerful evolution.

So that left…

"Larvitar, I choose you!" Ash shouted as he released the rock type onto the platform. The rock type blinked slightly before looking around at his surroundings.

And he froze.

Memories of trying to stay above the water as it fought against the raging current flashed across the Rock Skin Pokemon's mind, water filling its body and weighing it down and pulling it beneath the surface…

"Tarrrr…." Larvitar moaned as he began to quiver uncontrollably. He turned around and looked Ash in the eye as he shivered in fear.

Ash cursed as he forgot Larvitar's greatest fear. Water.

Ever since that fateful day they met in the woods on the outskirts of Pallet Town, Larvitar had been deathly afraid of water. He'd refused to go into it from the first day Ash had taken him home and had even refrained from drinking the substance for the first couple of days before his father had gotten worried and forced the little rock type to drink. Since then that was the only interaction Larvitar had with the liquid, he couldn't handle anything bigger than a bowl full of water at best.

"You've got this buddy, stick to the centre of the platform and you'll be fine," Ash encouraged the rock type, receiving a glare for his efforts. Larvitar cringed as he took a tentative step and the platform began to wobble beneath him.

"Begin!" the blue haired girl shouted again as she cringed at the rock type's uncertainty on the platform.

Ash gritted his teeth as Larvitar dodged to one side of the platform in order to avoid a flamethrower that was sent towards it without any commands from Misty. The rock type looked to its side and noticed how close it was to the edge and scrambled away with fear in his eyes.

"Larvitar, come on buddy use rock slide!" Ash shouted as he prayed Larvitar would follow his commands and that hopefully, fear hadn't gripped the rock type so strongly.

The rock type began to materialise rocks over the top of both Gyarados and his own head. The sea serpent roared as it was pelted with boulders from both over its head and in front of it, courtesy of Larvitar kicking the boulders that should have landed on it into the beast.

Gyarados was a strange species of water Pokemon in that they were also classed as flying types. This was due to them being able to levitate on land slightly and due to a weakness that Ash was hoping to exploit.

Gyarados were weak to rock type moves.

Their armour, whilst built to withstand brute force, was very susceptible to the sharp, penetrating attacks of rock types. Rock type moves mainly focus on piercing an opponent's armour with sharp stones or crushing them with sheer force, and whilst it wouldn't be as ideal as having an electric type Pokemon, it'd hopefully be enough to knock Gyarados out.

Ash just had to get Larvitar to ignore its fear of water, seeing as the rock type was still shaking. He was able to battle; barely.

"Gyarados roast it!" Misty shouted as she saw the sea serpent reel back in pain. The Atrocious Pokemon's head reeled backwards before tongues of fire bathed Larvitar's platform.

Ash didn't seem to phased by the attack. Gyarados' main strength lied in their physical attacks, not what they could do at range. It also proved something to Ash that made him smirk in relief. As long as he kept Larvitar out of the water he had this in the bag.

"So," Ash shouted across the battlefield to Misty, who stared at him in confusion.

"How many water type moves does Gyarados know?" Ash asked, watching as Misty's face went pale as she refused to answer. Ash already knew the answer so it didn't matter if she answered or not.

Gyarados knew none.

The sea serpent had only recently evolved, like Misty said and Ash presumed she hadn't spent the time since then improving its relatively small arsenal of attacks it knew from being a Magikarp. Gyarados instinctively knew how to bite when they evolved, it was part of their basic behaviour, but that was it. Anything else they knew had to be picked up by either from other Pokemon in the wild or through their trainers.

So with Larvitar's biggest weakness out the way he could freely attack without the fear of being blasted by a hydro pump.

"Alright, Larvitar, use rock slide again!" Ash shouted as a full blown grin crept across his face. He'd got this.

Rocks manifested around Larvitar and above Gyarados, as they were all thrown full pelt at the sea serpent, making it roar in pain.

As the attack finished the sea serpent was engulfed in a green light and it writhed in pain, roaring as it tried to stop the pain. Ash noticed the vines from Ivysaur's leech seed glowing green, indicating this was a side effect of the leech seed. Soon after a ball of green energy was released from Gyarados' body and flew into Larvitar, who grunted as he felt the excess power course brought his body.

"Amazing…" Ash muttered as he saw the other effect of leech seed. Ivysaur had never left a leech seed on an opponent before and been knocked out so it was a shock to see the seeds still working.

"Gyarados! Torch yourself and then dive under the water and move the platform!" Misty shouted as Gyarados continued to thrash about in pain. The platform Larvitar was standing on moved about dangerously in the water, threatening to tip over. The sea serpent must have heard Misty's command as its entire body was alight with flames mere moments later, burning away the leech seeds burrowed into its armour. The behemoth then sunk under the water, dowsing the flames and helping cool the burns it had sustained by tacking itself.

"Larvitar! Use rock slide on the water, try and hit it whilst it's moving," Ash told the rock type, who grunted in confirmation and began to fire rocks at Gyarados, who managed to dodge the majority of them. Some of them managed to hit its hard body, the momentum jarring its body and making it flinch under the water. Gyarados swam closer and closer to Larvitar's platform, making the rock type grow nervous.

"Now up Gyarados!" Misty shouted as she raised her arms in the air like she was performing. The great beast rose out of the water but it's spatial awareness was pretty poor, knocking its head against Larvitar's platform as it rose.

Ash's blood went cold when Larvitar cried out as he was knocked backwards off of his platform into the water below.

"Larvitar!" Ash shouted as he tried to recall his Pokemon, only for the beam to disperse a couple of feet under the water, the water disrupting its recalling abilities.

Ash prepared himself to jump into the water, removing his shirt and shoes before Misty held up a hand.

"Wait a second, I see something," she murmured as the water began to glow an ominous red.

Ash took her advice and waited at the edge of the pool in anticipation. As he bent down, what was happening underneath the water was much clearer.

Larvitar was glowing as ominous red as he channelled the power of outrage, the rock type's face contorted into a mask of fury as it pulled itself up Gyarados' body with its stubby limbs.

The sea serpent started to thrash as Larvitar began to dig its hands into its still thickening armour, tearing off scales as its arms got into the small chunks between plates for a better grip.

"Larvitar…" Ash whispered as he watched the Pokemon climb up Gyarados' body with increasing speed.

"Larv…" Larvitar growled as his head popped out of the water, greedily sucking in air. The aura of outrage flared up even more as he exited the water onto a nearby platform.

"What is this power," Misty shouted in shock as she looked at the small rock type who was hunched over. Ash knew better than to respond right now, Larvitar was channeling more draconian energy than he'd ever seen before. And the finesse he held over his abilities was terrifying for a Pokemon with usually such little control over the move. His power was at an all-time high.

"Alright, let's finish this up with an iron head Larvitar! Let's win this!" Ash shouted with renewed vigour, although he winced as water began to pour out of the holes on his starter's body. Gyarados growled as Larvitar snarled at him.

"Gyarados tackle it!" Misty shouted in worry as she realised how close this battle was going to be.

Larvitar's skull once again glowed a metallic colour as he charged towards Gyarados. The sea serpent was cloaked in white energy as it met Larvitar with its tackle attack.

The two collided and Ash heard the cracking of Gyarados' scales as it met the overcharged Larvitar's iron head. The great beast roared before its body sunk under the waves, unconscious.

Larvitar stood there for a moment on the platform, water still draining from his body, before collapsing backwards and landing on his backside; too tired to move.

Misty said nothing as she recalled her Pokemon, staring at the Pokeball in her hand for a moment before walking over. Ash, who couldn't believe he'd won against the gym, also recalled his Pokemon and walked around to the side of the pool and stood next to the referee as he waited for Misty to walk over.

The orange-haired girl stood silent for a minute, clenching the Pokeball tightly and scrunching up her face as if she was about to cry.

After a few moments of composing herself, the gym leader walked forward, holding out the cascade badge he had seen earlier.

"Here… you deserve it," Misty said as she gave the trainer a half smile. Ash said nothing as he accepted the badge and pocketed it quietly. He'd store it in his badge case later.

At this point the violet-haired gym leader stepped forwards and held out both a disc and also a wad of cash.

"I think you'll find that to be suitable winnings for your second gym battle. And that is the TM for scald, it can burn the opponent so it can be extremely useful in battle," the girl told him as she gave him a warm smile.

Ash gratefully accepted the TM and the prize money, although he was in a hurry. He wanted to get both Larvitar and Ivysaur to the Pokemon Centre as soon as possible after such a gruelling battle.

"Thank you," Ash told her sincerely as the violet-haired girl giggled at him.

"Alright now, run along to the Pokemon Centre, we can't have you walking around with injured Pokemon can we," the girl said with a slight sarcastic tone to her voice. Ash had to refrain himself from rolling his eyes at her.

Picking himself up he said goodbye to the violet haired girl and started to leave the gym.

"Ash."

Ash looked over his shoulder and saw Misty looking up at him, determination in her eyes.

"Next time I see you, I want another battle. And next time I won't lose," she told him.

Ash smiled and gave her a grin, eager I see how she would grow as trainer over time.

"You bet Misty."

Ash set off out of the gym with his winnings in hand eager to get to the Pokemon Centre. With any luck his Pokemon would be out by the end of the night and he'd be able to sleep knowing they were recovering.

He'd most likely stay in Cerulean for a few more days, exploring Route 25 to the north, before heading south past Saffron City to Vermillion.

There wasn't much between Cerulean and Vermillion, but he'd be sure to battle everyone he could along the way. His team needed the strengthening right now so getting any experience would help them by the bucket load.

Also Ash wanted to start teaching his team some of their egg moves, they'd come in handy when Ash needed to face off against stronger opponents.

But for now it was off to the Pokemon Centre, and then onwards to Route 25!

- End of Chapter -