Author's Note: Here is the next instalment of RTBPM. However, my friends, we have a slightly different kind of chapter this week. It's not a proper chapter but more like a refresher to all of you who have forgotten the events of RTBPM or useful for those people who are reading this fanfiction for the first time.
Chapter 0.5: Road to be a Pokémon Master (RTBPM)
AUTHOR'S PREFACE & EXTRAS
Road to be a Pokémon Master began as a side project back when I was still working on my first multi-chaptered fanfiction, Legend of the Dark Prince, but has quickly caught up with it in terms of popularity and has far surpassed it. As an amateur fanfiction author, the response received for this fanfiction made me very happy.
The fanfiction is primarily a tournament fic centered on our beloved protagonist, Ash Ketchum. RTBPMII: The Secret to Victory is part of a five book series, all of which completely revolve around the world tournament.
The Setting:
Road to be a Pokémon takes place in an alternate setting of the canon after the events of Black & White's final season with a few minor changes. Iris and Cilan come to Pallet Town along with Ash and briefly join the rest of the travelling companions, who await his return. Delia invites each of his travelling companions so that they could meet up for a surprise she had in store for him.
The surprise turns out to be his father, Alexander Ketchum. Alex abandoned his family for a long gap of ten years in order to vigorously train for the Champion's League but makes a casual return at the beginning of RTBPM, one year before the actual tournament begins. Naturally, Ash doesn't get along with him.
Alternate Ages:
The following are the ages of the main cast at the beginning of RTBPM, at the end of BW.
Ash 15, Misty 16, May 14, Dawn 13, Brock 18, Cilan 17, Iris 16, Max 9 (soon to be 10), Delia 33, Alex 34.
The following are the current ages of the main cast including the one year time skip.
Ash 16, Misty 17, May 15, Dawn 14, Brock 19, Cilan 18, Iris 17, Max 10 (soon to be 11), Delia 34, Alex 35.
The Pokémon League Association and The World Tournament: The Pokémon League Association, a flourishing organization deep rooted in the main regions of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova, started as a small association seventy nine years ago in Kanto. At the age of seventeen, Charles Goodshow, who was a great fan of Pokémon battles, helped in organizing small tournaments in the Viridian City. In his words:
"I made small time tournaments in Viridian City. I thought: Why not start something big?"
Those thoughts were the foundation for the Pokémon League Association. He collected three great trainers, Eric Waterflower, a water type master, Masara Oak from Pallet Town, and his brother, Adrian Goodshow. He gave them the title 'Gym Leaders', forcing trainers challenging the league to groom their Pokémon to defeat these type specialists. Those who were good enough to complete the challenge were pitted against each other in an annual conference at Viridian City.
The tournament received recognition in a small amount of time. The number of Gym Leaders rose from three, to five, and finally to eight. The annual tournaments took place in the League Village set up on the Indigo Plateau. The sport slowly expanded to the regions of Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova, each region establishing up its own set of gym leaders, Elite Four, and Champion.
"We slowly expanded to Sinnoh, Johto, Hoenn and Unova. I make it a point to visit all these regions every year to watch all those wonderful battles," Goodshow said, in the elite battler's conference.
The Champions League, held once every ten years began sixty years ago as a mega event that collected named trainers from all the five leagues. The first Champions League was held between the four champions of the five regions at the Indigo Plateau. But in the following tournaments, after the PLA headquarters was shifted from the Indigo Plateau to Rose-Red Island, the number was greatly expanded. The Island, located to the north east of Kanto near the Decolore Islands, was chosen as the ideal spot for the tournament as it was geographically closest to both the Unova and the Kanto region. The credentials required for participation were really high, leaving the tournament accessible only to a select few top-class trainers.
However, upon Scott's (owner of the Battle Frontier) suggestion, the seventh Champion's League was changed into a much bigger mega event.
The new Pokémon World Tournament system has a much easier criteria for participation. Any trainer with a simple trainer card registration (with or without a Pokédex) having six or more Pokémon can participate, unless said participant was banned by the trainer's association. The tournament currently has forty-six thousand one-hundred and twenty-six participants.
The tournament is seven-staged, each referred to as a tier. Trainers who aren't certified Gym Leaders, Elite Four and Champions of the PLA are placed in tier seven by default. The gym leaders directly join the tournament in tier five, the elites in tier two and the champions in tier one.
Naming:
Tier Seven-Six: The Pokémon World Tournament, Rosenburg Cup.
Tier Five-Three: The Gym Leader's World Tournament.
Tier Two: The Elite Battler's World Tournament.
Tier One: The World Champions League.
In Tier seven, the forty-six thousand, one-hundred and twenty-six trainers are divided into nine-thousand two-hundred and forty-eight groups with four or five trainers in each group. The top two in each group are selected into tier six.
The Rosenburg Culture: For past Champions Leagues, the criteria for participation was excellent performance (top four) in a regional league and forty badges earned in the five main regions. Trainers who don't have the required merits may also be drawn randomly by Goodshow if they displayed excellent skill in local tournaments. Rosenburg City was built around the headquarters of the PLA in Rose-Red Island, serving as the gathering place for all such trainers who aim to enter the Champion's League. Most trainers usually spend around one to two years in the Rosenburg City.
The city is filled with training facilities, dojos, Don George's battle clubs and many other services related to Competitive Pokémon Training. Since most people are trainers dedicated to battling, the atmosphere and culture in Rosenburg City is completely different from any of the five main land regions. Trainers are much more competitive, though they rarely indulge in unofficial battles in the city. The Eye-Contact battle rule is not applicable inside Rosenburg City.
The Rosenburg Stadium Complex: Constructed specifically for the Pokémon World Tournament, the entire complex was built after deforesting a huge amount of land in the Rose-Red Island. The entire facility is divided into seven different regions: The Indigo, Silver, Evergrande, Lily of the Valley and Vertress Regions along with the entrance region for administrative purposes. The Central Region that contains the main stadium: The Rose-Red Region.
Each 'region' consists of a main stadium, surrounded by five smaller stadiums. In addition, each of these regions are provided with hundred battle nets for practice purposes. These practice grounds also serve as battlefields for minor matchups.
A ranch facility is also provided for storing the Pokémon, usually handled under the supervision of an expert Pokémon Doctor. The doctors usually can have up to eight interns or Nurse Joys under them for assistance. Brock Harrison currently works as a Junior Doctor in the Lily of the Valley region's ranch.
The T-Dex: The T-Dex, or the Trainer Dexter, is a handy device provided by the league to all participants. The various functions include providing the matchups of every trainer in the tournament, a map showing the location of the various stadiums, a GPS locator and all data related to the trainers taken from their previous Pokémon League records. The data, however, doesn't update any new information revealed about a trainer during the tournament as a part of the tournament conduct. Also, the various Pokémon registered by a trainer are kept a secret between the ranch facilitators, the doctors and the trainer. In case the policy is breached, severe action is usually taken against the employees and doctors will have their licenses taken away.
Food Stalls and Other Such Facilities: The spots are usually sold in an auction. Spots are usually ranked by the closeness to the stadiums and various other factors. The food stalls in Rose-Red region are usually sold at an unimaginably high price, but the bidders would have to bear through losses for the first couple of weeks as the Rose-Red region isn't usually open until the later Tiers.
Hotels: Much like the food stalls, the areas are sold well beforehand by auction. However, these are permanent facilities built owned by the bidding company timelessly until they sell it back to the league. The PLA's rules don't allow directly selling to a third party. Trainers are provided residences on a first-come first-serve basis. It's only possible for a person to book one room at a time.
The Train System: The seven regions of the Rosenburg stadium complex are separated by a good amount of the forest land and usually takes hours of travel by walk. Vehicles aren't allowed inside the complex, so driving is not an option. Trainers and audience alike are required to use the train facilities, personally supervised by the Subway Masters of Unova: Emmet and Ingo.
Summary of Road to be a Pokémon Master: The following is a list of events that took place in RTBPM.
Chapter 1-3: Alex offers to train Ash for the upcoming world tournament. Ash refuses the offer for two reasons. One being that he's bitter about his father for abandoning the family, and the other being that he didn't acknowledge Ash's erratic battle style.
Alex manages to have a conversation with Ash and the two agree to a Pokémon battle. If Ash were to lose the battle, he would have to take up Alex's proposal. The two-on-two match, witnessed by his friends, the Professor and his mother, begins with a disadvantageous matchup for Ash. Ash's Bulbasaur manages to put Alex's Rapidash in a bind but loses to the fire type's scorching flames. However, in the second round between Pikachu and Dugtrio, the mole Pokémon's dig attack accidentally causes the river to flood the bank, leaving the result of the match undecided.
Alex commends Ash for his performance and asks him for some time to acknowledge his erratic way of battling. Later, Alex reveals to Ash that he won't be participating in the very tournament he abandoned his family for. He keeps the reason in the dark.
The next day, with Gary Oak joining them, the gang reach the Viridian City for the primary registration process. Right after the registration, they run into Paul along with a trainer named Vincent (OC), a childhood friend of his. Ash challenges Paul to a battle and loses against his Torterra.
After watching the battle, Alex acknowledges Ash's methods and agrees to train him in his style.
Chapter 4-6: The training between Alex and Ash begins. Dawn returns back to Sinnoh for her own training.
Gary takes May on a date, with Misty and Iris stalking them. The two run into Agatha, who asks them for help.
In a press conference, Giovanni, the missing gym leader who has recently been identified as Team Rocket's boss, surrenders at the Viridian Gym. He, however, makes a claim that Team Rocket was never a criminal organization to begin with, and any names committed under that name weren't related to him or his industry. He also plays innocent to Cynthia's claims that she had encountered him in Unova.
Alex is revealed to have a past history with Giovanni.
Chapter 7-9: On their journey through the Viridian Forest, Ash and Alex run into a forest and end up finding an injured Pidgeot, which he realizes when Pikachu points out, was his own Pidgeot. They learn that an injured Zapdos hid inside the forest. Ash and Alex save the Zapdos with the help of Pidgeot. Pidgeot returns with Ash after leaving its friends under the care of five newly evolved Pidgeot.
A few days later, taking a break from their journey throughout Kanto, Ash and Alex go to the Elite Battler's Conference conducted on the occasion of the upcoming world tournament. Ash runs into Flint and Volkner, both of whom decide to have some fun along with him in the otherwise boring party. They run into a man named Veteran Clarke (OC), who is known for his uptight attitude and dislike towards Alex. Flint accidentally reveals Ash about Alex being banned from the world tournament.
Later, Alex explains Ash that he was indeed banned from the world tournament on the accusation that he tried to inject Pokérus into his Pokémon. While some trainers including Cynthia believed that Alex was innocent, others like Veteran Clarke voted for his ban from the Pokémon League. Ash states that he believes in Alex's innocence, much like Cynthia. Despite his bitter feelings towards Alex as a father, he had always seen him as a role model when it came to Pokémon. Ash's words make Alex happy. After that, Ash decides that he'd re-challenge all the gyms of Kanto during the year gap.
Ash returns home with his father after a year of training, a growth spurt boosting his height well above his mother's. Ash and Gary decide to head to Rosenburg Island where the tournament was about to take place together. Alex reveals that he didn't want to set foot in Rosenburg again.
Meanwhile, Paul who meets Dawn in Snowpoint, captures a Rhyhorn after saving her from an accident. The Rhyhorn was abandoned in the snowy region for being weak. Paul wants to mimic Ash's methods in raising Chimchar, in order to develop a similar determination in Rhyhorn like Infernape had.
Chapter 10-12: Ash and Gary reach the Rosenburg Stadium Complex, where the tournament was about to take place, and head straight to the registration counter. They run into Katie, one of Ash's former opponents in the Hoenn league. A trainer named Richard (OC) attacks Ash, annoyed that the latter was moving closely with Katie. The two of them end up having a battle. The match between Pikachu and Escavalier is interrupted when Ash spots the former Team Rocket's members Jessie, James and Meowth.
Ash finds the trio behind a restaurant and attempts to snoop into their conversation when a teen named Silver, who proclaims that he hates Team Rocket the most, interrupts Ash and orders him to not poke his nose into their business. The boy is revealed to be Giovanni's son, who carries intense hatred for his father's organization. The trio explain that Ash couldn't take action against them because they weren't doing anything illegal. Later, upon lodging a complaint to Goodshow, the trio are fired from their jobs and kicked out of the world tournament.
Giovanni, now a board member of the Pokémon League Association, attempts to introduce the new "Hold Items" into the league system. Goodshow vehemently tries to stop the move from coming into action. However, Giovanni manages to convince the rest of the board into taking the action. Goodshow consults Cynthia, who introduces him to her long-time friend, Harvey (OC).
Harvey cleverly manipulates the board meeting with his words and convinces them to vote against Giovanni's proposal. As a reward, Harvey is given the control over managing the league.
Chapter 13-15: Ash, Paul and Tyson are invited by Harvey to participate in the five exhibition match series before the tournament begins. Ash ends up facing the top favorite, Jason Valentine and loses to his infamous Excadrill. After the battle, Harvey gets into a conversation with Ash and surprises him by mentioning his father's Pokérus ban. Harvey promises that if they were to work together, they could capture the person behind Alex's ban and with some good luck, even free him of the charges. Ash agrees with little hesitation. He asks why Harvey was helping him out for no reason. Harvey replies that he's doing it so that he could someday become the president of the Pokémon League Association and gain control over the whole system.
When Ash calls Alex and mentions the deal, he warns Ash not to take the offer. The resulting conversation leads to an argument between the father and the son. May, who comes searching for Ash, talks with him and learns about his secret. His father's ban was something he kept from everyone, with the exception of Gary, who learned it from Professor Oak. May promises to keep it a secret as well.
The matchups for the tournament are announced. Ash ends up facing Tobias right away in the first match of group C1.
Chapter 17-23: The full battle between Ash and Tobias begins. After a year of training, Ash is determined to, more than ever, defeat the legendary Pokémon trainer. Ash seems to dominate the match in the beginning, with Staraptor forcing Tobias to switch out Darkrai, and Raikou's defeat coming at the hands of Infernape. However, when Landorus enters the scene, the tables turn in favor of Tobias. Ash quickly loses Infernape and Glalie, while his Garchomp ends up taking critical damage. The dark type, Scrafty, finally puts an end to Landorus's rampage by letting the legendary succumb to its powerful Ice Punch.
The next matchup turns out to be between the bird Pokémon, Staraptor and Moltres. The legendary bird dominates the round until Ash calls out the dangerous combination technique, Brave Attack, after much hesitation. The combination move not only severely damages Moltres but also renders Staraptor crippled, forcing the raven-haired to switch the bird out.
Alex explains to the rest of the gang that during the one year of training, the father and son tried developing a tactic exclusive to Ash that would give him an edge in Pokémon battles. The result was a new style called combination moves. While some of them like Staraptor's combination of Quick Attack and Aerial Ace were easy to perform and came with no side effects, most of them were techniques that give high rewards in exchange for high risks. Staraptor's combination, Brave Attack was a combination of Quick Attack and Brave Bird. The powerful combination of these two techniques overwhelmed Moltres' Sky Attack, but left Staraptor severely burned.
Ash tries to defeat the weakened legendary using Garchomp, an attempt that ends up being futile when Garchomp's Draco Meteor gets caught up in a hurricane attack and defeats the dragon Pokémon. The first half ends with Ash losing three of his Pokémon, while Tobias only down two of his legendary monsters.
The second half begins with Ash's sixth and final Pokémon, Sceptile, pulling a surprise Rock Slide over the fire type. Ash continues his winning momentum by defeating Latios with Scrafty and punches a great hole in Darkrai's defenses using a power-upped Ice Punch. Cornered by the Hoodlum Pokémon's advances, Tobias ends up switching out Darkrai and uses his sixth Pokémon: Deoxys.
Deoxys, with its ability to shift forms, overwhelms Scrafty and defeats Sceptile in a close fight. The match ends with Ash's weakened Staraptor falling to Darkrai.
Unable to digest the 6-4 defeat against Tobias, Ash broods over the result of the match, wondering why he was defeated and what he needs to become stronger. In an unexpected meeting with Paul, the Veilstone trainer leaves Ash with a vague answer.
List of Characters Appearing in RTBPM:
Major: Ash Ketchum, Delia Ketchum, Alexander Ketchum (OC), Gary Oak, Misty, Brock, May, Max, Dawn, Cilan, Iris, Harvey McMillan (OC), Cynthia, Giovanni.
Minor: Professor Oak, Norman, Caroline, Ritchie, Vincent (OC), Harrison, Morrison, Tyson, Silver (semi-OC based on the HGSS games' rival), Katie, Richard (OC), Barry, Paul, Conway, Nando, Zoey, Harley, Ursula, Drew, Solidad, Trip, Bianca, Georgia, Burgundy, Stephan, Cameron, Virgil, Silver, Dr. Zager, Jessie, James, Meowth, Charles Goodshow, The Gym Leaders, Elite Four and Champions of the five regions, Scott, Veteran Clarke (OC), Jason Valentine (OC), Mao (OC).
Original Characters Corner:
Alexander Ketchum:
Introductory Note:
Alex is easily one of the characters I like the most. Whenever I try to write him, I always attempt to make his next action or dialogue unpredictable. He was one of the most hated characters in the beginning of this fic, but was bumped down after a few chapters and was then replaced by Harvey McMillan altogether.
He is based off Silver, a CoTD from Pokémon Chronicles. However, many changes were made in his design (in my brain, duh) and a complete new character with an attitude has been created.
Physical Description: Alex has a good physical build. Being Bruno's co-student under Mao in Rosenburg, they are similar in a way that they train their bodies along with their Pokémon. Alex has a light-brown spiky hair that is in fact longer than his wife's hair ironically. He possesses eyes that are as black as coal. His standard attire before reuniting with his family was a green and weathered overcoat which he wore over a black sleeveless shirt.
Personality: Alex is a cynical person, who doesn't hesitate telling his opinion on a person or a given subject of discussion whether it is negative or positive. While he's simple-minded and slightly easy to agitate (like his son), his views on the world and people around him are not as positive as Ash's. This comes from the fact that he was betrayed, keeping him from achieving his biggest dream: becoming a Pokémon Master. What most people might find harmless and innocent seem dangerous to Alex. An example for this would be Dawn. While most people view her as a plain sweet girl who deeply cares about the people around her, Alex views her as the kind of person who would hide her pain and anger inside while being deceitfully nice on the outside.
Alex is a typical tough guy with slight superiority complex. When in a group, he always assumes he's the center of attention and tries leading the conversation. He's a chauvinist, and has a slightly low opinion on women. He often makes distasteful sexual jokes about women that has caused him to be at the center of many a woman's fury. However, as long as he is around Delia, Alex will think twice about doing something like that. One would wonder how a sweet, harmless woman like Delia could control someone like Alex. The answer happens to be her heels, as Delia says. Or her rolling-pin, as Alex adds.
Pokémon: All under Professor Oak's possession. He currently owns none of his old Pokémon as a result of his ban.
Next Chapter's OC corner: Richard.