A Boy and His Cat:
AN: Taking your reviews into consideration, I promise to try and proof read more carefully. One, maybe two, people might have mentioned grammar.
Also, this is the first chapter where OC's play a decent role. I'm only using them to further Ash and Giselle's story, but I might create someone important for the plot later on.
Ms. Allie (and a lot of other people): I'm sorry, but I've had Ash's Kanto team planned from the beginning so I'm not going to add another pokemon there unless there's a ridiculous amount of asking for it. So I had an idea: Johto. If you guys want, you can suggest pokemon from there for him to catch on his next journey! I won't make any polls, but give me your ideas and reasons why and I promise to read and consider.
Mr. weathersageK: The idea behind Meowth knowing so many moves, is that Ash has beeing working with her for years now. He had time to see that Meowth is not the strongest species of pokemon, nor the fastest or the one with the best defense. So he had to find a good way to battle with her. He chose to make her a jack of all trades, since she can't be a master of any.
Thank you for the reviews and I hope you enjoy this chapter.
Chapter 4: Meowth's Stubbornness
"I tried calling every Pokecenter and every police station in every city I could think of! Do you have any idea how worried I was? You've been gone for a whole month, Ash Ketchum! And you haven't called me once!"
A soft and very cute giggle was heard for the third time since the beginning of the rant. Giselle had decided to give her traveling companion some privacy to get lectured, so she stepped away a little. But even if Ash was using the phone to try and keep things private, his mother was still yelling loud enough for anyone in the room to hear.
"I should make you come home right now, young man!" Delia Ketchum threatened loudly "I can't believe you didn't even think of how worried I would be!"
That threat had worried Giselle at first, she had to admit that traveling with Ash was fun, but that was the third time Mrs. Ketchum said it and it didn't look like the woman would go through with it. It wasn't like Ash would obey her anyway.
But what amused the young girl the most, was that Ash seemed to have turned off. The boy was really looking apologetic at first, guilty and willing to listen to the verbal lashing.
When Delia started repeating herself for the third time, her son just stopped listening and stared at the screen. He held the phone to his ear, probably because the mother could see him, but didn't really do anything.
Deciding that she had gotten all the blackmail material that would come, Giselle wandered off. There were plenty of trainers in this Pokecenter and she wanted to know what kind of pokemon she could find around here.
A few hours later found Ash outside, training his new Abra.
"Ok, buddy, I want you to calm down. Breath in and breath out until I tell you what to do next." he told the pokemon, who nodded and got to it.
Despite already being in a meditative position, Abra visibly relaxed. His muscles lost tension and his, already closed, eyes seemed to drop a little more.
Before his pokemon could fall asleep, Ash got to work "Ok, I want you to lift that boulder as fast and as high as you can." he ordered, pointing at the target.
The show the Physic type put on wasn't very impressive, he failed quite miserably at the task. Until he got annoyed. Hissing it's name, Abra launched the boulder twenty feet in the air, but wasn't able to hold it there for long.
When the rock fell, it made quite a crater on the ground, but Ash didn't even look at it.
"What's easier? Pushing or holding?" he asked the Psi Pokemon, who answered by trusting his palm and making the same boulder roll always without much trouble.
The young trainer took a moment to think on that, he also tried to bring back any memories he had from watching Physic pokemon do battle 'Until he evolves I won't be able to teach him any other damaging Physic moves, except of Dream Eater.' he thought, remembering the research he had already done on Abra 'I don't think he would mind learning something like Iron Tail but it's best if I can get him to evolve soon... Maybe if-'
His musings were cut short when someone called his name. Ash turned around to find Giselle coming towards him and he smiled brightly at her.
"Hey, Giselle! Is everything ok?" he asked, not bothered that she interrupted his training, as long as it wasn't for long.
The girl nodded and said "Everything is fine. I just wanted to let you know that a few trainers are going to visit some caves a mile away from here." she explained, looking back at a group of kids around their age "There are supposed to be a lot of Diglett and few Dugtrio there. Do you want to come?"
Ash took a moment to think, but came to his decision quickly "Nah, I don't really want either of those... I'll stay here training Abra. But thanks for the offer." he told her, with the usual easygoing smile.
Giselle just shrugged and answered "Your loss, since your missing my company." she told him, before remembering something "Oh, yeah! I've already asked Nurse Joy for our rooms, here's the key to yours."
Taking the key and thanking the girl, Ash started trying to figure out a way to get Abra sad. Then he sighed, there were still so many emotions for them to get through...
While she walked through the tunnels, Giselle couldn't help but compare this little adventure to traveling with Ash. It was different, she decided. Different, in this case, meant worse.
It wasn't that much worse, really. But her traveling partner was simply more fun to be around. And while Giselle wasn't, oddly enough, as picky about her pokemon as Ash, she really couldn't respect trainers who just threw their pokeballs at the first ones they saw. There was also the fact that she liked her crush's compliments more. Not a lot more, but one of Ash's was probably worth three of Kevin's.
Kevin was the one, of three guys, whose name she remembered while the other girl was called Clarice. He had shoulder length brown hair and was kind of cute, but wasn't much of a trainer. His Sandshrew had to work really hard to beat an average Diglett, which Kevin had promptly tried to gift Giselle.
"No, thank you. I want to capture my own pokemon." she told him, and the other two boys who offered later and seemed to think she was just refusing that one Diglett.
Clarice on the other hand, wasn't pleased at all with Giselle's presence. Her face was getting red enough to match her hair just from jealousy, thanks to the attention Giselle was getting. But the brunette was used to that by now.
By the time the brunette found a pokemon se wanted, she was really tired of walking. Still, patience some times pays off and this was one of those times. Giselle wasn't rewarded with a healthy and strong looking Diglett, it was a Dugtrio.
"Step aside!" she told the rest of the group "I will catch that one with... Vulpix!" she announced, launching her Fire type's pokeball.
The Fox pokemon had barely touched the ground when the Ground type turned towards her and launched a Tri Attack. Unlike the rest of the group's, Giselle's eyes didn't widen at all.
"Use Will-o-Wisp and dodge, quickly!" she ordered pointing a delicate finger forward.
Her Vulpix spit out a small ball of fire before jumping to the side. The fire attack flew straight between the three parts of the Tri Attack, which didn't even come close the Fire type, and hit Dugtrio in it's middle head.
The Dugtrio did it's best to ignore the burn and started vibrating. And as soon as Giselle understood what was going on, Vulpix was hit by a hard Magnitude. She cried her name in pain, while the wild pokemon launched a Mud-Slap.
"Vulpix!" Giselle yelled, bringing the pokemon's attention to her "Jump high and hit it with a Confuse Ray!"
The jump was enough to dodge the Ground type's attack but it would have dodged the Fox pokemon's counter, if it hadn't been burned by the Will-o-Wisp just then. Acting on Giselle's next orders, Vulpix charged and struck Dugtrio with a Quick Attack while it was wobbling around. That was when the wild pokemon was hit by a pokeball and sucked inside.
It fought hard against capture, but gave up in the end. Giselle gave a little cheer and ran forward to grab the ball but before she could, one of the boys whose name she didn't know picked it up and gave it to her.
"Congratulation, Giselle! That was great!" he told her with a smile. And she would have answered if the other two hadn't ran up to shower her with praise. Acting on instinct, the girl accepted the compliments and didn't even notice the ever growing frown on Clarice's face.
When she returned to the Pokemon Center, Giselle wasn't surprised at all that Nurse Joy told her Ash was still training behind the building. She was still not surprised when she got there in time to see Meowth dodging the small stones a very frustrated Abra was hurling at it. The Cat Scratch pokemon also took every chance she had to taunt the poor Physic type.
Ash was sitting back and starring intently, noting any and everything he could about his pokemon but nothing of the world around him. He did seem very pleased that his Abra was able to launch the rocks fast and hard enough that they would probably break a bone if they hit. There was also the fact that Meowth was escaping them with ease.
"Ash!" the girl called, not to loudly but it was enough to bring the trainer's attention to her,
He blinked once, getting out of his daze and smiled at her "Giselle! How did it go? Catch anything good?" he asked.
The pretty girl ran a hand through her hair and placed the other on her waist "Of course I did! I'm Giselle." she told him haughtily.
"Yeah, I guess it was expected..." he admitted as a matter of fact, to her pleasure, before turning back to his pokemon. Abra's stones were getting faster and faster, he would probably hit Meowth if it kept going, so Ash chose to break it up now. After all, it would give his Physic type a goal and plenty more frustration to work with.
He returned both his pokemon and turned to his traveling partner "So, want to go have dinner? It's getting late."
Giselle took a moment to pretend to think, before nodding "I suppose I can grace you with my presence." she told him.
To which Ash answered "Great, thanks!" with no sarcasm whatsoever.
The pair had dinner with Giselle's new 'friends' and it was kind of a tense affair. The boys' envy when they learned that Ash was traveling with their crush was palpable and Clarice still hadn't forgiven Giselle. Not that either the brunette or Ash minded. The boy wasn't easily bothered and Giselle was used to this kind of thing.
"So, Ash, why didn't you come with us today? Are Diglett too much for you?" asked Roger, a rather short dark skinned boy from the group.
Missing the jab by a mile, the young trainer answered happily since it had been a while since he just talked to a boy his age "Not really, I just don't want one. They always looked a little like cowards to me." he admitted with a shrug, then turned back his meal.
Everyone but Giselle was surprised by that statement, the only reason she wasn't was because the girl was expecting something like this.
Bringing everyone's attention to him, Kevin coughed before saying "Well, you should have seen Giselle battling. Her Vulpix was amazing and she captured a Dugtrio!"
That surprised Ash a lot. After all, Vulpix was Giselle's weakest since she had just captured it. Never one to try and solve problems on his own, when there was no need, Ash turned to the brunette "Really? Tell me about it."
Smiling slightly, the girl boasted/told him about the battle. It took Ash just a few sentences to the realize that yes, Giselle did well like always, but the other boy might have exaggerated a little.
"Good job!" he told her when the tale was done, before admitting "I also didn't know how a Dugtrio used Magnitude. Better keep this in mind the next time we battle."
The third boy, a redhead named Eric, chose this moment to speak up "Oh? So you guys battle often? I can only imagine how badly it ends." he taunted, after seeing how good Giselle was he was sure she wiped the floor with this looser daily.
But Ash shock his head and answered "Not really. Giselle's getting pretty strong, it's gets harder to beat her every time."
What surprised Clarice the most, was that the other girl didn't look ashamed at all of loosing often. Meeting her eyes, Giselle raised and eyebrow before defending herself "What? Nobody beats Ash." she told the listeners.
It was Kevin who spoke first "Really? Then why don't I try?" he asked, looking more at the pretty brunette than at the person he was challenging.
"Let me do it, it sounds fun." said Roger, before Ash could answer. Eric said something similar.
When Ash answered he surprised everyone but Giselle, again "I can battle all of you. We'll be staying here for a few days so we have time." he told the group.
Now the three other boy's just had to agree who would fight first.
The arguing took so long, it was decided that Giselle would chose who battled Ash first. Naturally, she chose Kevin, the only one whose name she knew.
"So... Who do you think is going to win?" Eric asked everyone, but mostly Giselle.
After two "I don't know"s, the pretty girl gave her answer "Ash." it sounded almost like she was talking about the weather around them. An undeniable truth.
It was Eric who asked, again, the question that the others also had "How come you're so sure? You've seen Kevin's Sandshrew and it's not even his strongest."
The brunette shook her head, but didn't take her eyes of the field where the trainers were just about to begin "You can't compare a normal pokemon to one of Ash's little monsters." she told them.
Before anything else could be asked, it started.
"We'll do this two on two, free substitutions." Kevin declared, to which Ash nodded and both threw their pokeballs "I chose Pidgeotto!"
"And I chose Abra!" the other boy announced, loudly.
Neither pokemon touched the ground. Abra floated a few inches above it while Pidgeotto flew high in the sky, until "Pidgeotto! Use Quick Attack!"
The Bird pokemon turned sharply and flew down, straight towards Abra, leaving a white trail behind it. But before it could even get close, Ash made his move "Use Teleport, outside of his eyesight!" he told the Psychic type.
Abra obeyed and simply disappeared, appearing again right in front of Kevin. The Flying pokemon came out of his dive and started flying higher. When it reached it's favorite flight altitude, it caught sight of the opponent again.
"Use Agility! Then Quick Attack again!" Kevin ordered quickly.
The dive was much faster this time, almost too fast to follow, but it still wasn't enough. Just as Pidgeotto was about to reach it's target, Ash spoke "Teleport again, Abra!"
After trying a third Quick Attack with the same results, Kevin finally decided to try another strategy "That's enough, Pidgeotto! Use Twister!"
The Bird Pokemon called it's name loudly, stopped and followed the order. Just like Ash hoped.
Seeing his chance, he acted quickly "Teleport above him and use Psychic!"
Before anyone, but Ash and Abra, could really understand what was going on, the Psychic type was above Pidgeotto with a palm opened towards it. He cried his name and used the frustration, that came from having to just move from spot to spot for so long instead of fighting, to push his enemy way. And straight into the ground.
Pidgeotto crashed head first, twitched a little and fell unconscious. There was silence for a moment, before Kevin asked "What?"
It was Giselle who answered, loud enough for both competitors to hear "Pidgeotto moved too fast for Abra to do that, so Ash had to wait for it to stop." she explained, surprised only by the passive strategy Ash had employed. She expected this kind of push after she saw the Psychic type training with Meowth the other day.
'Then I need to move fast and do a lot of damage quickly... I know!' having come to his decision, Kevin released his next pokemon "Next, I chose Beedrill!"
As soon as the Bug pokemon was out, he gave the first orders "Beedrill, don't stop moving at all! And hit him with a Twineedle!"
Ash could have had Abra dodge the same way as before, but if you use the same strategy enough times even a moron would learn to counter it "I want Protect, now!" he told his pokemon.
Abra obeyed quickly, muttering his name and creating a light blue energy shield in front of himself. The Beedrill hit it hard, but wasn't able to get through and soon enough, both moves where over.
"Iron Tail, now!"
"Use Rage!"
Both pokemon moved quickly, but the fact that Abra received his orders first and that he moved faster then anyone thought his species could, made sure he hit. The Psychic pokemon rolled forward, out of his cross-legged position, and smashed a shinnying white tail against the other pokemon's head. Sending Beedrill to the ground, hard.
Much to everyone's surprise, the Bug pokemon buzzed loudly and completed it's attack. It jabbed Abra's stomach with one of it's needles. The Psychic type cried in pain and was thrown back.
"Great job, Beedrill!" Kevin told it, smiling "Now use-"
But suddenly, Abra was behind it clenching a glowing green fist which he drove into the back of Beedrill's head. The Bug pokemon fell down again and the wound in the other pokemon's stomach seemed to get a little smaller.
The loser of the match pointed a shaking finger at Ash and complained "You didn't tell it to do that!"
The winner shrugged his shoulders with an easy smile "A Psychic type can pick up your thoughts if you think loudly enough." he explained, before adding to himself 'Sometimes.' after all, he tried that again and again during the match but Abra was only able to hear him right at the very end.
The next day, Ash fought Roger and the result was the same. Except this time it was Primeape that did did all the work. The Fighting type beat three pokemon with no sweat and that got Ash thinking.
Then, the boy decided to test his theory and was now watching a heated battle between his Champ and his starter.
Meowth had just hit Primeape with a powerful Thunderbolt but the larger pokemon just ignored it. He charged straight at her and tried a Karate Chop, which Meowth dodged easily. Then she hit him with a quick Water Pulse but was frozen for just a moment, courtesy of Primeape's Leer.
The Fighting type moved quickly and tried Fury Swipes that Meowth dodged again and again. Then, the Cat Scratch Pokemon used Iron Tail, but it was blocked by a forearm. It looked like it hurt, but Primeape just slapped her away with a glowing purple paw, Assurance.
Ash frowned as he watched his starter pick herself up and try Pay Day. She hurled a few golden coins that hit Primeape hard, but the Fighting type just ignored them and used Bulk Up. Then he screeched and charged again. While the Normal type pokemon was able to dodge a Cross Chop, she couldn't get away from Fury Swipes, thanks to her new injuries. Not the first hit, the second or the third.
Just as Ash was about to intervene, Primeape grabbed hold of his opponent and jumped high. The trainers eyes were wide when he saw his two first pokemon fall down, and only the Fighting type get up.
"That's enough, Champ! You won!" Ash shouted, before he could do anything else.
Primeape celebrated for a moment before he was returned to his pokeball, then Ash turned to the unconscious Meowth and did the same. Then he turned back to the pokemon center.
"Dammit, Kitty... We should have seen this coming." he said, more to himself then anything.
Giselle had also taken the day to train her pokemon, maybe introduce Dugtrio to the rest of her team. But her new friends didn't seem to want to leave her alone.
"I can see why you travel with that guy." Roger told her "If you can learn how he raises his pokemon..." he trailed off when he noticed the girl was glaring at him.
Her answer was short and simple "I would not lower myself to that!"
The one most surprised by that was Clarice, who quickly asked "So why are you traveling with him?"
Taking her eyes, again, off her Vulpix, who was trying to learn how to make turns during a Quick Attack, the brunette took a page from Ash's book to answer "Because it's fun."
Eric met the two other boy's eyes, before asking for an explanation "Fun? What do you mean?"
"Vulpix! Use Flame Charge!" the pretty girl shouted, all of the sudden, before turning back to boy "What?" she asked, one eyes still on her pokemon.
A little frustrated for losing her attention to the Fire type, Eric repeated his question.
Giselle pouted and took a moment to think, looking cute enough to distract the three boys so much they didn't catch her answer. When they asked for it again, she turned back to her pokemon and huffed "I'm Giselle, I don't repeat myself."
Clarice shook her head at the trio's behavior but told them "She said that Ash is a good trainer, that he's easy to get along with and then she mumbled something I didn't understand."
Anything they could have said, was interrupted by the other girls outrage "I don't mumble! You just failed to hear!" she didn't yell, but spoke rather loudly.
The redhead might have asked her to say it again, but Giselle had already turned back to Vulpix and ordered her to use Flame Charge again. Tired of having her training interrupted, the brunette chose to ignore anything else they said. Not that they said anything useful, the four just sat there telling horror stories about the two pokemon they saw Ash use.
'Huh! Imagine if they ever meet Meowth.' she thought, before focusing on Vulpix again.
A few hours later, Giselle entered the room that Meowth was occupying. The Cat Scratch pokemon looked pretty beat up but was wake and didn't seem to be in much pain. Obviously because she didn't want to show any weakness, but still if she could act like nothing was wrong it wasn't as bad as it could be.
Having never seen Meowth loose, the brunette was understandably shocked when she heard the pokemon was being treated so she tracked down the pair.
"What happened?" she asked Ash, before turning her eyes to Meowth.
The boy never stopped looking at his starter, but he answered "I had her spar with Primeape and she lost. Badly." he was completely serious and took notice of Meowth's twitch.
The girl's eyes widened comically "But how? She's Meowth! She beat an Arcanine and a Magneton!"
Ash shrugged his shoulder and answered, still focused on the depressed his pokemon "That's because I was telling her what to do. Up front, with no strategy, she can't keep up with an evolved pokemon. Specially-"
His explanation was cut short by Meowth, who repeated her name numerous times sounding angry and defiant.
Giselle looked between the trainer and his pokemon, before asking the only thing she could "Ash? Do you know what she's saying?"
The boy nodded "She's probably talking about a battle she had a few months before we left for our journey. It's the reason she doesn't want to evolve, if I'm not wrong." he stopped to gather his thoughts, but continued without any prompting "I don't know how it started, but when I got there she had beaten a Persian. She probably thinks evolving will make her weaker then she is right now."
Meowth said her name once, almost as if saying "That's right."
Her trainer rolled his eyes and proceeded to destroy that line of thinking "The Persian you beat was wild. It wasn't fed as well as you, wasn't trained and probably didn't know more then Scratch, Quick Attack and the like." he explained to the wounded but defiant pokemon "The only think could you naturaly beat it in is maneuverability while it could have beat you in speed, strength, defense and stamina, if it was properly fed and raised."
The cat was looking a lot more downcast now, and Giselle almost stopped Ash from saying anymore, but this was his pokemon and it wasn't her place to stop this "I will never give you up, Kitty." he said, surprising the two girls who thought this was going to be a straight lecture "If you want to stay a Meowth then I will find a way to counter your weaknesses and work on your strengths. But I want you to know that you will never reach your full potential and that you are making both our jobs a lot harder then they have to be. I won't nag you or bug you to evolve, in fact I won't ever talk about this again, but what you are doing is stupid. It might be your choice, but you are choosing wrong. Being a Persian won't make you weaker and it won't make you any less you."
Then he got up and walked out of the room without another word.
Giselle knew she was somewhat of an intruder on this scene, but she needed to make sure things worked out between those two.
"He really loves you." she told the pokemon, who looked at her with a little surprise and none of the indifference she usually regarded the pretty girl with "Just a little more then it's healthy and I think it really shocked him to see you hurt like this."
Then the brunette left. She also wanted to talk to Ash.
Ash left the Pokecenter and, as soon as he was far enough, released Graveler and told her "You still haven't mastered Bulldoze. Keep practicing."
The Rock type could easily tell there was something wrong with her trainer, but choose to just do was she was told. Graveler wasn't the most sensitive pokemon out there and she doubted she could help. It was a matter of seconds before she was jumping up and stomping down on the area around them.
The young trainer from Pallet Town used that time frown and think.
One of the reasons he didn't want to catch weak pokemon, besides the obvious one, was that, like any other trainer, he hated to see his pokemon hurt. And he had just allowed one of his pokemon to hurt another. He hadn't made Meowth spar with either of his heavy weights since he thought that they would get better training from each other, and he was right. Primeape and Graveler had grown strong and left Meowth behind. The Cat Scratch simply didn't have the firepower to damage them, without super effective moves and an excellent strategy.
His eyes chased one of Graveler's jumps and the impact afterwords. The Rock type's attack power was truly impressive, but it was easy to see that it had little to no chance of catching a pokemon as fast as Meowth 'That's where the trainer comes in... Figuring out how to hit with that or how to use the opening it leaves when the opponent tries.' he thought to himself, deciding once again that he would work with Meowth's strengths instead of wishing for Persian.
"I-Is that what you're going to use against Roger?"
Turning around, the boy found the only girl amongst Giselle's new friends, Clarice. She wasn't looking at him, but at his Graveler with fear and awe "It's huge." she said quietly.
Ash took one glance at his pokemon before shrugging his shoulders "I just might." he told her in a bored tone. Then he raised an eyebrow at the Rock pokemon, who had stopped her training to look at the newcomer. Graveler got back to work with no more prompting.
"How come all your pokemon are so strong?" she asked him, bringing the boy's attention back to her.
Grateful for the distraction, Ash explained himself "I don't just catch any pokemon and I work really hard at raising them."
She looked at him with big curious eyes "So you only capture strong pokemon?"
He quickly denied it "No. I only catch pokemon that want and like to be strong. Pokemon that don't mind working hard and fighting a lot. If they're working for something they want, it makes my job a lot easier."
It sounded nice, until you remembered just what they wanted. Meowth wanted each and every pokemon around her beat up, Graveler wished to be strong enough that nothing would threaten her territory, Primeape's goal was simple power and Abra wanted a nice long rest.
The girl nodded slowly, absorbing the meaning of his words before asking another question "And what do you mean with 'work really hard at raising them'?"
Ignoring her for a moment, Ash told his Graveler "Curl when you stop going up and fall on only one of your feet!" then he turned to the girl "I make a special type of pokemon food for each of them, figure out their advantages and weak spots and practice everything a lot." he told her with a smile, before turning back to the Rock pokemon.
Not willing to believe in any thing good about Giselle, Clarice quickly acted on her suspicion from earlier "So... Do you cook for Giselle's pokemon as well? Maybe help her train?" she asked, looking like the picture of innocence.
And Ash fell for it "Not at all." he told her, smiling again "She's too proud to ask for help. We don't really train together, we just battle every once in a while."
When she looked a little surprised, Ash noticed but didn't say anything "I see... I might challenge her before I move on." she commented, to which Ash just nodded, not looking at her "She's not that good is she?"
Giselle found the other two kids just in time to hear the last few sentences. Lacking any fear and having no shortage of pride, she answered in the only way she could think of "Of course I am! I suppose you'll see, won't you?"
The brunette looked like the personification of arrogance and while Ash found it amusing, Clarice just got angry.
"Yeah! I will! Tomorrow at ten!" the redhead told the other girl, and left in a hurry without another word.
Not that Giselle minded "Now that she is out of the way, I want to talk to you." she told her traveling partner, who nodded and told his Graveler to keep working.
The girl took a deep breath "I know you have your own way of raising and training your pokemon, I'm not telling you to do anything." she clarified and waited for him to nod again, once he did Giselle continued "But I think you might have been a little too harsh on Meowth... She was already injured and-"
"It's because she was injured." Ash explained, not acknowledging the fact that he interrupted her "Because she was weakened that I had a chance to drive my point home. If I talked to her about it in a few days, when the pain was only a memory, she would forget how bad things got because she was too stubborn."
Giselle took a moment to understand what he said, before admitting that there was nothing she could do right now "Do you think you convinced her?" she asked, no longer looking at Ash but joining him and staring at his Graveler.
The boy from Pallet Town closed his eyes and ignored the sound of a pokemon being released and of his companion telling her Graveler to copy his "No, I don't think so."
Ash woke up late the next day and when he found Giselle, she was already in the middle of her battle.
Her Cubone was fighting a Clefairy and dodging the Rock Tomb it's Metronome created. After the attack was done, the Lonely pokemon used Bonemerang.
"Clefairy, use Minimize to dodge!"
The pokemon obeyed and shrank to a quarter of it's previous size for a moment, after the danger had passed it returned to it's normal form "Now use Metronome again!"
Shouting it's name in agreement, the Fairy pokemon used the move and it's ears started glowing white. They seemed to be gathering energy from the air around them. Since she used to be the best student at Poketech, Giselle was the first to identify the attack.
"Good! Cubone, use Dig, get behind it and hit it with Double Edge!"
The Ground type obeyed his trainer without question and disappeared underground, leaving the Clefairy to charge up and launch a Solarbeam at absolutely nothing. Next, he appeared a few feet behind it and charged straight ahead, crashing into it so hard that Cubone also took a bit of damage.
Giselle smiled to herself, having already seen her victory and gave her next order "Use Bonemerang again! Before it can recover!"
But Clarice countered with the same move as last time "Clefairy! Minimize, quickly!" This time, when both pokemon were done with their attacks, the redheaded trainer tried something different "Use Sing, now!"
All the trainers were fast enough to cover their ears, but Cubone fell fast asleep.
"Good job, Clefairy! Now use Moonlight and Wake-Up Slap!"
Giselle did shout for her pokemon to wake up, but he didn't, not until the healed Clefairy gave him a hand.
"Dammit it! Cubone, use Headbutt!"
With a sound of something hard hitting soft flesh, the Lonely pokemon pushed his opponent back, in time to hear his trainers next orders "Now, Sandstorm!"
In a matter of seconds, both trainers could barely see their pokemon. But what they could see, was enough for Clarice to notice Cubone was gone.
"What?" she asked, just in time for him pop out of the ground behind Clefairy.
With no prompting from Giselle, he used Trash and clubbed his opponent as hard as he could.
Getting over her shock, Clarice shouted "Clefairy! Use Metronome again!"
It's fingers quickly gained a white glow and the Fairy pokemon shouted it's name. Then Cubone smashed his bone against it's face, knocking her out. The Lonely pokemon began stumbling around while his trainer laughed haughtily "I'm not that good, am I?" she asked the other girl.
Clarice ignored her and returned her downed pokemon "You did well, Clefairy! Thank you for your hard work." she told the pokeball, before putting it away and launching another "Now, I chose Butterfree!"
As soon as the Butterfly pokemon was flying above the field, the redhead started the battle "Butterfree, use Stun Spore!"
Despite taking a little damage from the Sandstorm, the attack actually helped carry the Stun Spore everywhere it reached, including Cubone.
"Cubone! Use Bonemerang!"
The pokemon tried to obey, but couldn't move and was left wide open. Something that Clarice didn't hesitate to explore "Now, use Confusion!"
The Butterfree cried it's name in agreement and Cubone cried it's name in pain. The attack was successful and left Cubone sprawled on the hard ground, but he still wasn't knocked out.
"Next, use-"
But Giselle had enough by then "Cubone, return!" she shouted, bringing the Lonely pokemon back inside his pokeball. Then she took a moment to ponder, while ignoring Clarice's smirk completely, and chose her next pokemon.
"Dugtrio! I chose you!" she shouted and released the Mole pokemon.
Dugtrio still hadn't been trained as well as her other pokemon, but he didn't hesitate to obey her orders at all.
"Butterfree, use Poison Powder this time!" Clarice shouted, taking notice of the damage that the Sandstorm had already done to her pokemon and trying to figure out how to end this quickly.
But Giselle had other plans "Dugtrio, use Dig!"
The Ground type was gone in a second and the Poison Powder was left to be scattered by the raging wind. Seconds passed and there was no sign of Dugtrio, which began to get on Clarice's nerves but when Butterfree cried in pain, she understood Giselle's pain.
The Insect type needed a moment to right itself from the last injury cause by the Sandstorm, but Giselle didn't allow it "Come out and use Tri Attack, Dugtrio!"
Butterfree was hit in the back by a triangle of fire, ice and lightning, before giving a pitiful cry of pain and falling down unconscious.
Ash didn't know the battle was two on two, so Giselle's three fans got to her and congratulated her first. Not wanting get mixed with the three that were showering the girl with praise, he just smiledand gave her a thumbs up from far. Then the boy decided to do his good deed for the day and followed the redhead who had stormed off.
The boy from Pallet Town found Clarice still outside, but on the other side of the Pokecenter. He approached her and said "Good battle, you could have won if you had a pokemon that wasn't damaged by the Sandstorm."
Not wanting to be too much of a sore loser, the girl turned around and thanked him. But when he spoke again, she wished she hadn't.
"You know..." he started "She didn't do anything wrong."
Giving the trainer a death glare and a chance to back off, the redhead asked, almost to nicely "Excuse me?"
Ignoring his fight or flight instincts, Ash explained himself "She just won a match. You shouldn't be mad at her."
"I'm not mad because she won! I'm mad because she's a spoiled daddy's girl who gets everything on a silver platter!" she yelled.
The boy frowned and asked "And how do you know that?"
Crossing her arms and huffing, she answered as if it was obvious "You've seen how those three treat her and then she tells use she used to go to Poketech! I doubt she had to work for anything her whole life!"
"Really?" Ash asked, tilting his head and looking confused "And what about the Dugtrio that beat you?"
Clarice grit her teeth when she was reminded of her defeat, before huffing again and asking "What about it?"
"You all told me she refused the Diglett those three tried to give her, because she wanted to catch her own pokemon."
That made the angry girl stop for a moment, long enough for Ash to continue "Giselle's really pretty and her family is rich, it's true that she had an easier life then most of us. But so what? That doesn't make her a bad person!" the boy wasn't shouting, but he had gotten pretty tired of this girl glaring at Giselle ever since they met, he was also saddened by the fact that his traveling partner was completely used to it "She's not using or taking advantage of anybody, she just enjoys being complimented."
Having no way to deny all that, Clarice was silent until she asked a question "Why do you travel with her? Can you tell me?"
"Yes." he agreed easily "I like being around her, it's fun. We both like strong pokemon, battling and have a lot of pride. It's easy to talk to her and traveling alone is boring."
The answer seemed to surprise her, but then again she didn't know Ash very well "Isn't it because you like her?"
The boy rolled his eyes but answered her question seriously "I do, but not the way you're thinking. We're both ten! I have no idea what those three idiots plan on doing if Giselle actually falls for one of them."
And Clarice didn't know what to say to that. Now that she thought about it, the three boys were being incredibly stupid, not Giselle. And she was as well.
"I have to apologize." she told the boy, who smiled at her and said "Please do."
