Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.

Chapter 5: Anything but Superior


Two days it took to reach Cerulean City, mostly because the Ashley stopped regularly at the various lakes and rivers that could be found on the way. She promised that Gyarados would get to swim as often as possible and she wasn't about to break a promise she made to her pokémon. Along with swimming Gyarados did some hard training and Ashley managed to teach her a new move. She hadn't mastered it just yet but Hydro Pump was a must know among all water types. Finally, she had something with a bit of range, Dragon Rage had range but it took a lot more out of her. A high price to pay, for a move that wasn't as powerful. That's what you should expect, from a move that isn't of your natural type.

Eevee had been working hard, improving her speed, this would aid her in using her preferred battle style. She was a hit and run battler for now. Of course, this could all change, depending on her chosen evolution. Ashley had talked with the small fox pokémon, at great length about her future change and despite not understanding Eevee completely, they had come to an agreement. Eevee would be free to choose her path for herself.

Ashley had taken advantage of the many breaks, to get to know her new additions. Clefairy was a surprisingly confident pokémon, in both everyday life and battling. For a pokémon who had spent its entire life, solely in the company of her own kind, she gelled very well with the other members. Her current move-set included, Disarming Voice, Pound, Growl, Double Slap and surprisingly, Mega Punch and Mega Kick. The last two moves were a testament, to how up close and personal, she really liked to be. Her ability Magic Guard, was extremely helpful. It negated any damage taken by the status conditions burn, poison and the move Leech Seed. It also prevents the pokémon from being affected by entry moves, such as Spikes and negates recoil damage. She was a very tough pokémon.

Sandshrew was strong too, if anything, slightly stronger than Clefairy. His move-set included, Scratch, Defence Curl, Sand Attack, Poison Sting, Rollout, Fury Cutter, Magnitude, Dig and his egg move Counter. His ability and his suspected hidden ability, were only any use during a sandstorm but you never know, they may come in handy one day. His incredibly high endurance and defence, indicated just how close he was to evolving. Ashley had witnessed evolution many times, during her scientific career but she still could barely wait to see one of her own pokémon, go through the transition.


Ashley had just entered the pokémon centre, when she spotted the resident Nurse Joy. Being one of the eldest in the family, Ashley hadn't had the opportunity to meet her yet. She could barely believe how well the entire family aged, Pewter City Joy's grandmother, didn't look a day over 45. Putting the thoughts of the Joy's superior gene pool to one side, she greeted the nurse.

"Good evening Nurse Joy, would you look at my pokémon please?" she asked. Ashley knew her pokémon were in tip-top shape, she let the nurses use the rejuvenation machine, simply because the pokémon enjoyed it.

"But of course, young lady. I'll take them off your hands for a few minutes." Handing the pokéballs over, she expressed her thanks.

"Thanks Nurse Joy. I don't suppose a package has arrived for Professor Ashley Ketchum?" Joy eyed her suspiciously, she knew of the incredibly young professor but needed some proof that, this was in fact her.

"I will need to see some identification, please?"

"This should do the trick," Ashley said offering her custom pokédex to the nurse. The device chimed its standard introduction, satisfying the nurse's curiosity.

"Everything seems to be in order and yes a package did arrive for you professor. I'll just be a moment." Ashley was waiting patiently, for the nurse to return, when something on the TV caught her attention. She wasn't surprised the screen surrounded by teenage boys, when she saw the world famous Sensational Sisters, performing one of their water shows.

'As hot as ever I see,' she thought. unfortunately for her, before she could join in with the drooling boys, staring at the scantily clad Waterflower sisters, Joy came back.

"Here we are, one package for Professor Ketchum. In future, we could ensure that any package delivered for you, gets taken straight to the professor suite?" she said handing Ashley both her package and her freshly rejuvenated pokémon.

"That won't really be necessary Joy, I won't be in town too long," Ashley responded, she was happy to simply address the nurse as Joy, now that her status, had been revealed.

"But professor, when I say we, I mean all of the Joys. In future, any package delivered to a pokémon centre, anywhere in the region, will be delivered directly to the suite. This is what most other professor request," responded the nurse.

"Oh, well in that case, I'd really appreciate that." She started towards her usual room, only to stop and call back over her shoulder. "And Joy, I insist that any member of your family, need only to call me Ashley." Joy simply nodded and so Ashley continued to her room.

When she had settled in, she removed her TM case from her bag and opened her package. She placed the 5 disk-like objects into the TM case, bringing her total usable TMs to 6. She had Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Double Team, Shadow Ball, Brick Break and of course, Rock Throw and it just so happens, that with her latest captures, she had uses for all but one.

Placing the pokéballs in the designated slot one by one, she transferred the knowledge of each move to her chosen pokémon. Eevee got Shadow Ball, Gyarados got Ice Beam and Thunderbolt, Sandshrew got Brick Break and Double Team, and Clefairy got Double Team. She intended to use Eevee and Clefairy in her upcoming gym battle, so didn't want to risk having them, bite off more than they can chew.

Satisfied with her use of the TMs she released the 3 smaller pokémon. Eevee, Clefairy and Sandshrew all appeared in a show of light.

"Hey guys, you can probably already feel that you have some new moves. We're gonna be training them bright and early tomorrow. For now, I thought it would be nice for you to sleep outside of your pokéballs." She then brought the dive ball to her mouth and spoke a little above a whisper. "Sorry you can't be out too Hun, Goodnight." They all then picked various spots on the bed and curled up to sleep. Eevee was on the pillow next to Ashley, Clefairy was spread flat on her back, on the spare side and Sandshrew was curled up in a perfect ball, at the foot of the bed.


The following morning came much too soon for some of the inhabitants of the professor suite. Sandshrew and Clefairy were still getting used to the early starts. It was 6am when they left the pokémon centre for the training fields.

"Okay, let's start off one by one guys, Eevee, show me a Shadow Ball." The little fox pokémon slowly built a ball of dark energy in front of her open maw, before firing it at a sedate pace, towards a nearby boulder. After the dust had cleared the Boulder was left slightly scorched. "First of all, good job, that was a really good first attempt. You do have a couple of areas where you need to work on though so I need you to spend the first hour working on your speed, I want you to be able to fire off that move in no time flat. It's going to be your go to move from now on and has to be perfect. Can you do that for me?" Eevee yipped in affirmation, without hesitation.

"Okay, Stella, you're up, give me your best Double Team." Ashley had taken to calling her clefairy Stella, at the behest of the star shaped pokémon. Apparently, words that mean star, were common names among her kin. Stella walked back a little way, still facing Ashley. The teen bent down and picked up a couple of small pebbles. Stella then concentrated on the move and almost instantly, 10 near perfect copies appeared. Near perfect wasn't quite good enough though and Ashley didn't hesitate to lob one of the pebbles, at the clefairy she knew to be real. Stella took the hit unflinching, pokémon were very sturdy by human standards and that kind of hit would go unnoticed in a battle situation. She did seem down-heartened, that she had been figured out so easily. "Again, good job girl but you bit off a bit too much. Try starting with only one or two replications and work on making them perfect. Then we can add more, okay?" Stella perked up at this suggestion, along with the praise she received and happily moved off to practice on her own.

"Okay buddy you're up next," Ashley said to Sandshrew, who hadn't wanted a name. "You have two moves to learn but that's because you're not battling this time round. Lets start with Double Team too, that way, you can practice with Stella and you'll both have it down in no time." Sandshrew then went through the same process, Stella had done only minutes before. Despite Double Team being a normal type move, it still required a certain skill in illusions and clefairy as a species, were more talented in this area than sandshrew are. This meant that on Sandshrew's first attempt, he only managed 5 copies of low quality, leaving him feeling quite dejected. Ashley didn't feel it was necessary to rub salt in the wound, by throwing a stone at him. Instead she walked over to him and placed her hand on his mouse-like cheek. "Don't be down buddy, you held out and made a few replications, I think you did great but how about you start where clefairy is starting and aim for just one perfect copy, we'll go from there, okay?" Sandshrew, not for the first time, was left baffled by the compassion shown by his trainer. He too went off determined to train, joining up with Stella, to practice together.

Ashley then called out her behemoth of a gyarados. Being very new to her gyarados stage, she had yet to stop growing and already she was 10% larger than the average. Ashley estimated that by the time she was fully grown, assuming she received the right nutrients; which Ashley would be sure to provide, she would be around 15% bigger. The Kanto Champion Lance, currently had the biggest known specimen and it was only 11-12% bigger than the average.

"Hey Tiny," Ashley greeted the atrocious pokémon, who looked at her with contempt, before seemingly breaking into her version of a chuckle, along with her trainer. It wasn't a name as such but both Gyarados and Ashley, thought that occasionally introducing her as tiny, would garner some pretty amusing looks from their opponents. Who knew a gyarados, could have such a sense of humour? "I can't wait to see people's faces when we pull that on them!" Ashley said, pulling herself together. Gyarados was nodding in agreement. "Okay girl, lets get serious, you're gonna master Ice Beam this morning for me, right?" She received a grunt in confirmation. "Then you're to start practising Thunderbolt, whilst I'm at gym. I'll drop you off at the cape on the way and you can have yourself a nice swim." The giant sea serpent, roared to the heavens, clearly excited by the thought of an ocean swim. She then headed off to train her Ice Beam, being sure to aim her attempts, away from everyone else.

Ashley went from pokémon to pokémon offering advice, whilst preparing a delicious meal for everyone. They hadn't eaten yet, as they knew better than to train on a full stomach. By the time the meal was over it was around 11am and Ashley returned everyone but Eevee to their pokéballs. She then made the half hour trek to Cerulean Cape, where she released Gyarados, who immediately swam off to explore. It was 12am by the time she reached the gym.


Ashley entered through the front doors, she knew there was a show today and had planned it so she could catch the last 10 minutes or so. She made her way to one of the seats after paying full price at reception. That didn't sit too well with her, she wasn't exactly short on cash but that didn't mean she liked to see it wasted. The view from her seat wasn't great but even from there, she could clearly see the perfect figures, that all of the Waterflowers, somehow possessed.

'Another family with a superior gene pool,' she thought to herself.

"You're not wrong," a boy to her left said.

"I'm sorry, what?" Ashley replied. 'Did he just hear me?'

"Yeah of course I heard you, the comment about their gene pool, right? I agree completely, although, I'm a little surprised to hear you say that. Seeing as, well, you know…" Ashley was stumped by that, if he had only heard her initial comment, she could have put it down to accidently saying it out loud. Not that she had made such a mistake before but the fact he had heard her other thought, is what concerned her.

Yet another strange occurrence, that very little could explain. There was of course, one thing that could explain it all but she had long since ruled it out. However, based on this new evidence, she would have to put it back on the table. She was pulled from her thoughts, when the boy she had been speaking with, started waving a hand in front of her face.

"you with me?" he said. Ashley shook her head to clear it.

"Yeah, sorry, I kind of spaced out there."

"You're not kidding, the name's Brian, by the way," he offered.

"Ashley, it's nice to meet you Brian."

"Likewise." The two then exchanged some pleasant conversation, throughout the rest of the performance. Ashley all the while, doing her best to keep her thoughts to herself. The conversation flowed so easily between them, that Brian asked if she would like to grab some food after but Ashley refused. She told him that she wanted to get back on the road as soon as she had won her gym battle. He did ask her what she planned to do if she lost but she simply replied that she hadn't factored losing into her plans. Remarkably, she didn't come off as arrogant and the young man had found her self-confidence quite attractive.

The show was now over and the crowd had left, Brian had left her his number, just in case. He had been a great help in one sense, Ashley had so much in her life that she wasn't sure of right now but he had confirmed at least one of them. She liked girls, as in, only girls. He was a nice enough looking guy and they had got on… swimmingly but there was no attraction there whatsoever.


Ashley had made her way to arena entrance and was waiting for the gym leaders to emerge. Finally, after what felt like hours but was in fact only a few minutes, they vacated the changing rooms and started heading in the other direction.

"Excuse me," Ashley said, approaching the trio. They turned around and took notice of the young girl. This was Ashley's first opportunity to see them up close and the visual stimulus, had left her slightly speechless. They stood there clad in very revealing two pieces that barely covered anything. It was reasonable to assume they wouldn't be shy, considering their hobby but this was ridiculous.

"Err… we're like not signing any autographs right now," Violet said. She as the one with blue hair.

"I'm not here for an autograph, I'm here for-" she was cut off, this time by Daisy, the blonde.

"Well, if you want an interview, you'll totally have to talk to our manager."

"Totally," Lily, the pink-haired sister, very helpfully supplied.

"Look, I'm not here for an interview or an autograph. I'm here for a badge, my name is Ashley and I challenge you to a gym battle." She didn't like being interrupted, especially when the voice that did, held such a moronic tone.

"Sorry to like, disappoint you but we're not really into battling anymore," Daisy said. Ashley didn't even know how to respond to that. "But I know what you want," she turned to walked toward the pool, "Seel!" she called. From the water, emerged a white seal-like creature, its tongue hanging dopily from its mouth.

'Like trainer, like pokémon,' Ashley couldn't help but think. At least this time, she hadn't broadcast it. Whilst she was thinking these kind of things, Daisy had grabbed a small raindrop shaped badge from the seel's tongue.

"This is what you want, right? Just take it."

"You're joking, you can't actually expect me to take that. It would mean nothing if I didn't earn it. Not to mention, it's a direct violation of the league rules to offer me that and I would be breaking them, if I took it," Ashley explained, stunned by the actions of these, so-called gym leaders.

"Hey, chill out, it's not like the league will find out, besides our pokémon are all at the centre, we only have one and she's like, too young to fight," Lily was the one who spoke this time.

"Okay, I'll tell you what, I'll come back later when your pokémon are healed, deal?" Ashley offered, rather generously, quickly losing her patience with the idiotic trio.

"We can't do that, we have rehearsals later," came the latest excuse, supplied by Violet. Ashley was royally pissed off by this point but still wanted to offer them one last choice.

"What about Misty, she can battle me, right? Where is she?"

"The runt?" Lily started, completely missing the light growl that left Ashley's throat. "We saw her in the hospital a couple of days ago but then she left for Saffron City." Clearly Ashley wasn't getting her gym battle but at the news she had just received, that seemed less important now.

"Saffron? Why is she heading there?" Ashley asked.

"She said something about meeting Sabrina, said she might be able to help a friend of hers," Violet supplied.

"Yeah, like she would have any friends," Lily said.

"Totally," agreed Daisy. Ashley was fuming, so angry was she that if anyone could see the pool behind her, they might just see quite the volume of water suspended in the air. Rather than snap at them however, she chose to simply leave, she had a much more satisfying way to get her own back. As she left she thought to herself.

'They certainly have the looks but that gene pool is anything but superior, are they really that stupid? It's a miracle Misty has both smarts and a great ass.'

Turning on her heel, Ashley missed the vast amount of water splash back into the pool. The Waterflower trio didn't however and they were left speechless, by what they had seen.

"Like, what the frack was that?" Nearly speechless anyway.


Ashley was storming her way to the cape, intent on picking up Gyarados and heading straight to Saffron City. Whilst walking, she pulled the familiar 12" tablet from her bag and dialled a number into the video call feature. The face that appeared, after a few rings, would have startled most people but Ashley was familiar with this person.

"Ashley? what's up? You never call me anymore," the man said, the final part prompting him to pout, like a child. A child with very adult, angular features and a shock of spikey, red hair.

"Lance, stop pouting, you'll give yourself wrinkles." It was none other than Lance Wataru, the champion of this region and the head of an organisation, known simply as the G-men. Ashley had met Lance at one of the many league sponsored events, she attended with her grandfather figure, Professor Oak. Lance had seen great potential in the small girl, much like everybody else and had even gone as far as to give her his contact details, in case of trouble.

"Don't even joke about that Ashley, what would all the women say, if they heard you?" Lance said in a hushed tone.

"I don't know, something along the lines of, 'Did you hear? That workaholic champion of ours, who never comes out in public and is too scared to talk to us, has got his first wrinkle. Oh no how will we keep living!', maybe?" Lance simply deadpanned at Ashley's ridiculous description of him, he wasn't anything like that. Was he?

"Anyway, I did call you for a reason. You know the Waterflower sisters, right?" Ashley asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes Ashley, you know full well that I know them. They have always done the bare minimum needed to maintain their gym leader status. What about them?"

"Well, I may have exactly what you need to remove them from that post, if you wish," she said, successfully getting his undivided attention.

"really?"

"Yes, I recorded half of the conversation I just had with them. Where, in no uncertain terms, they not only refused to accept my challenge but also offered me the Cascadebadge, without a battle." She would have continued but Lances voice cut her off.

"They What!? Those no-good, idiotic bimbos. After all the chances I gave them, they go and pull this!?" he was clearly furious.

"Now lance, I know this sounds crazy but could you not remove them from the post right away?"

"What?! Why wouldn't I?" he questioned.

"The older ones are most definitely a lost cause as gym leaders, I agree but their younger sister Misty, is a talented enough trainer. If she agrees, you could have her run the gym. I know she's young but that just means she will only get better." Lance wasn't completely sold on the idea yet but she wasn't finished. "I'll track her down and ask her but in the meantime, you could send Lorelei to the gym, she could ensure they hold down the fort. I know she's really busy but this will benefit the league in the long run.

"Think of this, the sisters are world famous, right?" Seeing him nod she continued. "Now what if you allow them to continue with their shows, even sponsor a few tours, all the while you receive a hefty percentage from ticket sales. You may have to invest some money into the gym for a second pool but think of the income they could generate. With Misty as the gym leader and her sisters doing water shows, Cerulean City will see a new lease of life. Hell, even Kanto as a whole will benefit. The trainers taking the gym challenge, will also benefit from having a more challenging gym on the main circuit. So, what do you think?"

Lance wasn't used to being rendered speechless, as champion, it was more often that the shoe was on the other foot. When Ashley was involved however, it seemed to happen all too often.

"Wow… That's brilliant… Ashley, do you know where Mist is right now?" The champion asked.

"Yeah, she's heading to Saffron, she may already be there, I'm on my way now."

"From Cerulean?" His face took a quizzical look.

"Yeah, obviously, I said I just spoke to the Waterflowers, didn't I?"

"Right, sorry, it's just that the main route has been blocked of for some time. If she was heading so Saffron, she would have had to take Rock Tunnel." Ashley laughed at this. "What's so funny?" he asked.

"It's just the thought of Misty taking that tunnel, there's no way. She would rather go the long way around. I'm betting she took a boat heading to Vermilion City and plans to head north from there," she surmised.

"And what makes you think that?"

"There are two things that Misty just can't handle, four if you count carrots and peppers. Bugs and ghosts, seeing as rock tunnel comes out near Lavender Town, the ghost capital of Kanto, she would avoid that route at all costs," she finished, with a knowing smile.

"Well you certainly seem to know her pretty well, I'll leave tracking Misty down to you, I'll handle the situation at the gym in the meantime. Thanks Ashley, see ya." And just like that, the line went dead.

'Excitable as ever,' she thought to herself. "Misty's trip should take a total of 2 weeks, if I take rock tunnel, I could be there within the week. That gives me a chance to train, take part in some battles and look for some new teammates. If I stopped at the tower I could catch a ghost type, that should help with my gym battle in Saffron," In the time it took to have the call with Lance and come up with her plan of action, she had arrived at the cape.

Ashley looked far out to sea and saw her gyarados diving out of the water, she truly was a beautiful creature. She understood that they made people nervous but she couldn't imagine fearing her friend. At least that is what she thought, before having to do a double take, when she saw a massive Thunderbolt attack. The target of said attack, just so happened to be a whole school of lapras, who retaliated with a coordinated Ice Beam. Gyarados simply dove to evade the attack and came up on their flank, unleashing another Thunderbolt. This had the effect of knocking out, all but one lapras. Ashley stood there dumbfounded by her gyarados' idea of training, apparently she had progressed so far with her Thunderbolt, she saw fit to try it out in battle.

She kept a close eye on the proceedings, playing out in the ocean as she approached the surf. Apparently, the final lapras had admitted defeat and was now talking rather amicably with Gyarados. They then headed in her direction, it would seem Gyarados had noticed her arrival.

"Hey there gorgeous, who's your friend?" Gyarados roared at Ashley, not in a threatening way, she was just excited about something. Considering the situation, Ashley made an educated guess. "I see, so Lapras here feels that she has reached her limit, training amongst her own kind and was seeking a strong trainer?" Seeing both pokémon nod she continued. "She saw your strength and decided that whoever trained you, would be worthy. Am I right so far?" Another pair of nods. "If that's how you feel Lapras, then welcome to the team." Ashley then entered the surf and held out a Dive Ball, she fished from her pack. Lapras cooed and simply pressed her nose to the ball, it put up minimal resistance and pinged a successful capture moments later. The raven-haired trainer then turned to address her gyarados.

"I saw those Thunderbolts, they were really something else," she said honestly. She then made a 'come over here' gesture with her hand. Gyarados, lowered her head to her trainer and received the petting she loved so much. "You just keep on amazing me, so strong already, you are well on your way, to becoming the strongest gyarados." That single sentence made all the training worthwhile. Gyarados was so happy, that tears were actually forming in her massive eyes. She would however, argue vehemently against that accusation, for years to come.


A figure sat upon his throne like perch, idly swirling his purple glowing paw. All the while, construction men and women, were tirelessly working to completely the massive structure, he now inhabits. With many minds bent to his will, this being was building quite the home for himself. One far more suitable, than the detestable facility, that once stood in its place.

As he sat there, many monitors displayed the progress of certain, promising trainers. Most continually cycled between a number of different subjects, one however, seemed only to focus on a single girl. It showed her progress constantly, as it had done for the last 6 years or so. This was the first room, the new owner had built and from here he monitored the entire region but now, his masterpiece neared completion.

In this moment, like many before it, he was unfocused on his surroundings. His mind was lost to thoughts of his birth.

'No… birth is the wrong word, creation is much more apt,' the creature thought.

Vast open plains and beautiful mountain ranges as far as the eye could see, shame these weren't his memories. In reality, he had no memories, nothing that he could call his own, even while these humans in white coats, call him theirs. Was that all he was made for, all he was destined to be? A mere possession to be flaunted, an example of what their intelligence, can achieve?

'What is my purpose?' the floating creature thought, as he remained motionless in his sealed chamber. He then flexed, the one muscle he could use unimpeded, his mind. He searched for anything of note, anything that had changed since the last time he tried this. When doing so, he played close attention to the being, sealed in the tube next door. He hadn't much to go on but if the information he picked up from these humans, were anything to go by, he felt fear. For a brand-new being, fear was unprecedented but his fear was almost instinctual.

'So much power… and these imbeciles, don't even know.' He then stretched his mind much further, feeling for life in the ocean depths and the wide-open sky. He took great pleasure in feeling the emotions of those that were free, albeit with a hint of jealousy. He was torn from his mental exercise however, when a group of humans entered the lab. That being the word they used, when referring to his prison and the prison of his neighbour.

"Subject 1 through 4 all failures and I fear Subject 5 will go the same way. It is yet to show any mental activity, all signs suggest, it is but a normal human baby," one of the scientists said.

"Are you suggesting we terminate her?" asked one of his colleagues, the idea leaving her quite distraught. This didn't go unnoticed by her superior.

"Not yet, we will run some additional tests. If it doesn't respond to what I have planned, well, lets just say, it wasn't truly alive in the first place." The chief scientist said, with a truly terrifying smirk on his face. "And Amber, try not to get attached to the livestock."

"Yes father," she said in response, her heart wasn't in it though. It was far too preoccupied, with the well-being of those she had been monitoring. The entourage then turned and made for the exit, leaving Amber with her thoughts. What had the man she called father become? He started this project as a means to save her from her illness and he had succeeded… but at what cost?

Amber remained unaware that her thoughts were no longer private. The more active of the two creations, could hear everything and as always; the thoughts of this single human, was the one guiding light in his otherwise dismal existence.

"I'm sorry father but I can't let you do that," she finally spoke aloud, steeling her resolve.


"Master," The figure was pulled from his thoughts by one of his female… employees. "The work on the northern sector has been completed and the rest will be finished within the month." To anyone else, the creature remained unresponsive, yet the woman spoke up once again. "Thank you Master." Then she retreated, leaving the figure alone once more.

'It won't be long now.'