Thanks for the reviews guys I really appreciate you taking the time to write one.
Here's chapter 12 I hope you enjoy.
In conversations:
'- Translation of Poké Speech – No human unless otherwise stated can understand it.
"- Human speech
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.
After his conversation with Professor Oak Ash went back to Mr Stone and apologised for the GS Ball destroying the machine.
"Don't worry Ash this isn't the first time something like this has happened. It won't take very long to rebuild the machine. So stop worrying about it." Mr Stone said.
The scientists then left the room grumbling about having to build the scanning machine again. Ash watched them walk out feeling incredibly guilty again.
"Ignore them Ash. They're always cranky when they have to build something. So Ash is there anything else we can help you with?"
Ash then remembered Professor telling him to ask Devon Corp to look at the Pokénav he gave him.
"Actually if you don't mind there is one more thing Mr Stone."
"What is it Ash?"
Ash took out his Pokénav
"Well Professor Oak gave me this Pokénav and I was wondering if you have any upgrades for it?"
Mr Stone took the Pokénav from Ash and studied it for a moment.
"I see that Professor Oak gave you the more advanced version of a Pokénav. Follow me Ash and I'll give you a couple of experimental upgrades we have for the Pokénav. Before you argue I insist that you have them. Whether you believe it or not you've earned them. The only condition is that because these upgrades won't be available to the public for a few months you will have to keep quiet about them."
"Thank you that's very generous of you and I won't tell anyone about the upgrades." Ash said gratefully.
"I know you won't Ash." Mr Stone said as he smiled.
Mr Stone led Ash to the research lab responsible the development of Pokénav technology. Mr Stone passed the Pokénav to one of the scientist who walked off with it.
"So what are the upgrades?" Ash asked.
"Well have you have seen a stone and wondered if it contained a fossil Pokémon?"
Ash nodded and thought back to when he was searching for fossils back in Kanto.
"Well the first upgrade allows you to scan them and see if they do contain fossil Pokémon. The second upgrade gives the Pokénav three dimensional demonstration videos of every known move. It should be a helpful for teaching your Pokémon new moves."
Ash was fascinated by these upgrades. Both of them would be extremely useful. Thinking of the fossils again made Ash think of something.
"Wait why wasn't the fossil upgrade taken by Team Firestorm? Surely it could have been incredibly useful in finding Ksher."
"I agree. Luckily this part of the facility is a much more secure department than the rest of the building." Mr Stone stated.
Ash nodded seeing that these were more secret than what Team Firestorm took. But it still didn't seem enough to up the security for this specific part of the building. Ash then saw a door in the corner of the room which had authorized personnel only it.
"What's in that room?" Ash asked as his curiosity took over.
"Well that's our top-secret project. The technology we are developing in that room is the reason this part of Devon Corp is far more secure than the rest of the building."
"So what are you making in there? Sorry that was rude. I shouldn't have asked that. After all it is top-secret for a reason."
Mr Stone smiled. Ash's curiosity reminded him a bit of himself at that age.
"It's okay Ash. You have my trust come on I'll show you."
Mr Stone led Ash to the door and took him inside. Once in the room Ash looked around and saw several scientist. Some of them were at tables working on some very small devices and the others appeared to be talking with Pokémon.
"What are they doing?" Ash queried.
"The people at the desks are working on the prototypes for a translator. The translator will allow humans to understand Pokémon speech. The scientists talking to the Pokémon over there are testing them."
Ash's jaw dropped.
"R-really?" he asked in disbelief.
"Indeed. We have been working on this for years. So far we have been able to program it to translate one Pokémon of your choice. Sadly we have been struggling to advance beyond that."
"They must be expensive to make. How would you ensure that they wouldn't get easily broken?"
"Well it's made of flexible materials. The materials we use means that although it is flexible it is very sturdy. Also it's almost impossible to see it due to use making the colour of the translator blend in with human skin tones. So unless you are looking for it the translator won't be seen. This was done more as a safety precaution in case anyone got images of what we were doing in here. As for how it works well I won't bore you with the technical terms. So basically the translator moulds to the shape of your ear. When a Pokémon talks the Poké speech is translated into human speech."
Ash was astounded that something like this was being developed.
"That's incredible. Does anyone have one of these outside of this building?"
"Only one person does and that is my son Steven."
Ash looked around the room again in awe. It was killing him to be so close to something that could let him actually talk to his Pokémon He desperately wanted to ask for one of the prototypes but he couldn't. He'd already asked a lot from Mr Stone and one of the things he had asked for had resulted in destroying a valuable piece of machinery.
Mr Stone looked at Ash and could tell by the longing look on his face that he wanted one of the translators. But then who wouldn't? What was was even more obvious was that Ash wasn't going to ask him for one though. The poor boy probably still felt bad for what had happened to the scanner earlier. He'd offer one to Ash but knew that he'd refuse the offer. He'd probably say that we had done more than enough for him already. But maybe Ash would take one if in return he did us a favour.
"So Ash would you like one of the translators?" Mr Stone asked.
"No, no I couldn't. Thank you for the offer Mr Stone but I couldn't just take one. You've already done so much for me."
"You didn't let me finish Ash. I was going to ask for your help in exchange. You see I have a couple of things I need delivered to people and after Team Firestorm's attack I believe it would be safer for you to take them instead of a regular courier."
Ash was intrigued about what could be so important.
"Okay what needs delivering?" Ash asked.
"There are two data disks I need you to deliver. The first disk contains the schematics for the submarine Captain Stern has been working on. He sent us the original designs so we could improve it and make sure it was safe for extreme deep diving. We have made several modifications which means he will be able to start his underwater studies soon. So when you get to Slateport go to the port and you should find him in no time"
Ash nodded. That wasn't too hard he needed to go there after Dewford anyway so that was easy.
"Okay and where does the other disk need to be delivered?"
"Well the power plant outside Mauville has been malfunctioning a lot recently. It is very old now and needs its systems updating. Meet up with Wattson the gym leader there and he will know what to do."
"You know you could have asked me to do these things and I would have done them. You didn't need to give me one of your translators."
"I know but this was the only way you would take one of them."
Ash had smile on his face.
"You're a very devious man Mr Stone."
"Well in my position you have to be able to recognise that kind of behaviour and I guess I picked some of it up along the way."
They both chuckled. Ash then looked at Mr Stone again with gratitude in his eyes.
"Thanks Mr Stone."
"It's no problem. Now remember Ash this can only be set to one Pokémon for now. So Ash which Pokémon should it be set to?"
Ash didn't even have to think about it. He looked to his oldest Pokémon sat on his shoulder.
"It's got to be my best buddy Raichu."
Eevee and Ralts whined a bit at Ash's choice. Both of them wanted to be able to talk with their dad. But they knew Raichu was their dads oldest Pokémon so they understood why he choose him. Mr Stone went over to one of the scientists and told him to program one of the translators to a Raichu. The scientist started doing something else to the translator he had been working on. Presumably changing the translation setting to Raichu. The scientist closed the translator and handed it to Mr Stone. Now that he had a closer look at the device Ash was amazed how small it was. After a bit of fiddling and adjusting the size if fit snugly around Ash's right ear.
"Ok Ash try talking to Raichu." Mr Stone said.
"Okay Raichu say something."
'Um let's see. How about where the hell is my ketchup?' Raichu said as he looked at Ash.
"Awesome I completely understood you." Ash said as he scratched behind Raichu's ear.
Raichu happily rubbed his cheek against Ash's making him chuckle. Mr Stone smiled at Ash and Raichu's interaction. He was happy that a bond between a Pokémon and a human can exist. Mr Stone took the data disks out of his pocket. Ash looked at them and saw that both were clearly marked which disk was which. He also saw that there was a note attached to them which were presumably a set of instructions for the receiver. He placed the disks in the most secure pocket he had and looked back to Mr Stone who was still smiling.
"I'm glad that the translator works. Now Ash there is a cruise ship leaving from Isaya Town in three days time. It will stop in Dewford for about a week and then head to Slateport. To get to Isaya Town head out the western exit of Rustboro and it should be about a days walk north."
"Ok I'll leave as soon as Nurse Joy will let me take Noctowl."
"Goodbye Ash. Remember you're always welcome here."
"Thanks Mr Stone I appreciate everything you've done for me. I'll see you around."
Ash walked out of the research lab and found his way out of Devon Corp eventually. His poor sense of direction had gotten him lost a few times. As he walked outside Ash still had a massive grin on his face. He couldn't remember the last time he had been this happy. He started the journey back to the Pokémon Centre hoping that Nurse Joy would let him take Noctowl tomorrow morning. If not he knew that he might struggle to catch the ship to Dewford.
Ash got back to the Pokémon Centre and went to see Noctowl. He was both surprised and relieved to see that she was recovering really quickly. Noctowl was now easily able to move around without causing herself any pain which was a great sign. Nurse Joy seemed happy with her progress and told Ash that she believed that Noctowl would be ready to leave tomorrow. Both Ash and Noctowl cheered at that. Ash cheered because it meant that Noctowl was safe and almost fully healed. Noctowl cheered because she really didn't want to spend anymore time in this bed doing nothing all day.
Ash spent the afternoon with Noctowl and his Pokémon. He told them about everything Mr Stone had given him making sure to keep quiet so nobody overheard him. As the time passed he thought about how far behind he was on his training schedule. But to be honest that plan had been thrown out of the window on the first day he got to Hoenn.
As it got late Ash decided that now was a good time to switch his Pokémon. Ash left the recovery room and sent out all of his Pokémon so he could choose who would be rotated out.
"Okay guys it's time to rotate some of you."
Ash pointed to four of them and said Pokémon groaned.
"Sorry guys but I want to rotate everyone in now and again. So here's what I want you guys to do Marshtomp watch Totodile use Ice Punch and start practising that. Totodile keep working on the combo move and I know you'll be able to do it in no time. Nincada work with Heracross get him to teach you Metal Claw and you teach him X-Scissor. Phanpy remember when we tried working on Stone Edge would you mind giving it another go."
All the Pokémon nodded. Ash returned everyone and went to the phones. He dialled Professor Oak's number who quickly picked up and upon seeing the caller expected another bout of shouting.
"Hi Professor Oak." Ash said cheerfully.
Professor Oak was confused as to what has caused Ash's mood change. Whatever it was must have been good to turn Ash from infuriated to his usual calm and composed self.
"Hello Ash. I'm glad to see that you seem a bit calmer now."
"Yes well lets just say I've had a really good day."
"Well I'm happy to hear that. So what did you need?"
"Well I want to switch Marshtomp, Totodile, Nincada and Phanpy for Bayleaf and Wartortle."
"Okay Ash. I'll go get them."
Professor Oak return a couple of minutes later with two Pokéballs His lab coat was covered in dirt and he looked like he'd been trampled by something. But then considering he had asked Professor Oak to get Bayleaf wasn't a big surprise. The professor rubbed his head as he was now suffering from a terrible headache.
"I'm getting too old for this." Professor Oak said wearily.
"Sorry Professor. I've tried telling her to stop doing that but she just loves tackling people to show her affection."
"I know Ash. I appreciate the sentiment but she has to understand that I'm not as young as I once was. Anyway you know the drill place the Pokéballs in the machine."
"Already done Professor. By the way how Sneasel doing?"
"She's coming along nicely. She easily completed the weight training and has been regularly sparing with Heracross."
"That's good to hear."
Ash saw his four Pokéballs disappear and be replaced with Bayleaf and Wartortle's.
"Thanks Professor Oak. I'll see ya."
"Farewell Ash."
Ash put down the phone. He took his Pokéballs from the machine and placed them on his belt. He then went to his room to get some rest. He was feeling pretty tired as he still hadn't recovered from the restless night he had suffered a few days ago. So he would have to see Wartortle and Bayleaf tomorrow.
The next morning Nurse Joy gave Noctowl a thorough examination. After seeing how well she had recovered Nurse Joy said Noctowl was free to go. The news made both trainer and Pokémon happy. Ash returned her and thanked Nurse Joy for everything she had done. After that he left the Pokémon Centre and walked out of the western exit of Rustboro. He briefly looked out at the sea and then turned north starting the journey to Isaya Town. Shortly after leaving Rustboro Ash took two poke balls off his belt and sent out Bayleaf and Wartortle.
"Hey guys it's great to see ya." Ash said happily
Wartortle nodded in response and gave Ash a thumbs up. Bayleaf on the other hand did what she usually does and tackled Ash. She affectionately nuzzled him completely ignoring the Pokémon who had been on his person. Luckily for Ralts and Eevee Raichu knew what was coming and took them out of Ash's arms and jumped clear before Bayleaf tackled Ash. Meowth on the other hand wasn't expecting it so he was knocked off of Ash's shoulder. Meowth crashed to the ground but he quickly got up although he was pretty annoyed at what happened.
"Hey watch it you stupid plant." Meowth yelled in annoyance.
Bayleaf looked up at the cat and glared at him. She started charging a Solarbeam and although Meowth had toughened up since joining Ash he didn't really want to take a Solarbeam from Bayleaf Raichu tried to defuse the situation by standing between the two. Bayleaf knew that Raichu wasn't going to back down so she stopped the Solarbeam and went back to nuzzling Ash. Meowth looked at Raichu grateful that he had stood up for him. Meowth let out a sigh in relief.
"Thanks Raichu." Meowth said gratefully.
'No problem Meowth.' Raichu replied.
Ash left out a few chuckles at Bayleaf's nuzzling. He finally had enough of Bayleaf's nuzzling and tried escaping but she was too heavy was unable to.
"Okay Bayleaf I missed you too. But can you please let me get up now?"
Bayleaf reluctantly allowed Ash to get back on his feet and the group carried on. Ash decided to let Bayleaf and Wartortle stay out of their Pokéballs It would give them the chance to get to know the young ones and allow him to tell them about everything that had happened in the past few days.
Ash and his Pokémon were enjoying the journey to Isaya Town. It was so quiet that the only sounds that could be heard were that of the ocean crashing against the rocks.
"PICHU!" a girl nearby screamed shattering the peace.
Ash and his Pokémon ran to where the scream originated and saw a girl that he would guess was about his age. She had a slender physique. She had long blonde hair which was in a high sleek ponytail that fell just past her hips and her eyes were silvery grey. She had long black fingerless gloves with yellow laces. She wore a short-sleeved long yellow shirt under an open black vest. She had black pants with and black knee-high lace up boots. She also had a black and yellow messenger bag across her chest.
Four electric Pokémon were stood next to her. The Pokémon were being attacked by a group of Golbat which where being led by a particularly big Crobat. On closer inspection Ash could see that the Crobat appeared to have a small yellow Pokémon in its grasp. Ash ran to help the girl and saw that her Pokémon looked exhausted. There were several unconscious Zubat and Golbat on the ground showing that they must have been attacked by a large swarm of the bat Pokémon. He looked into the girl's eyes and could see that she was terrified.
"Listen if we're going to save Pichu I need your help. Tell all of your Pokémon to use Thunderbolt. They don't have to hit anything they just need to distract them." Ash said in the calmest voice he could.
She nodded and told her Pokémon to as Ash said. Several bolts of electricity shot off her Pokémon making all the bats quickly dodge the attacks. Ash then looked to his Pokémon.
"Okay when I say now Bayleaf I want you to use Vine Whip to get Pichu and place him on the ground. Then hit em with Razor Leaf. Raichu I want you to get on Wartortle's back. Then Wartortle use Aqua Jet and Raichu when you are on course to hit the Crobat use Volt Tackle."
Ash waited for a moment for the perfect time to strike. He wanted to start his attack when Crobat dodged as it would be much easier to execute this plan if he had lost his focus due to dodging an attack. Then the opening came as a very powerful looking Thunderbolt fired by the girls Jolteon made the Crobat dodge.
"Now!" Ash yelled.
Bayleaf shot her vines out and they wrapped around Pichu pulling it out of Crobat's grip. She gently placed the baby Pokémon on the ground and began firing a barrage of razor sharp leaves at the swarm of Golbat. Raichu jumped on to Wartortle's back. The water type then became surrounded in water and shot into the air headed straight for Crobat. When he was on course to hit Crobat Raichu leapt off of Wartortle's back and became surrounded in electricity. He rammed straight into Crobat who was still stunned from what he had just witnessed and the bat plummeted to the ground landing in a heap. The Golbat seeing their leader beaten fled picking up fallen comrades as they flew away. One went to get their leader but before it could get there Ash threw a poke ball at Crobat easily catching the unconscious bat.
As Ash went and picked up Crobat's Pokéball he wondered what the hell he was going to do with it. Meanwhile the girl picked up her Pichu and tightly hugged the young Pokémon.
"Pichu I'm so happy you're safe."
The girl walked over to Ash who was now praising his Pokémon for their work.
"Thank you for saving Pichu." the girl said gratefully.
"Your welcome. But if anyone should be thanked it should Raichu, Wartortle and Bayleaf"
The girl smiled at Ash and then knelt down. She rubbed Raichu, Wartortle and Bayleaf's heads and thanked them all. Pichu then jumped out of her arms and hugged Raichu who was surprised at first but hugged the young Pokémon back. The girl got back up and looked at the boy who had helped her.
"My name is Salem Ashni. What's your name?"
"I'm Ash Ketchum."
Ash looked at Salem's Pokémon and could see by how heavily they were breathing that they were all exhausted. But considering how many Zubat and Golbat that had been beaten by them it was hardly surprising.
"Hey your Pokémon need a break. So how about we stop here and have lunch so we can let them have a rest." Ash suggested.
"Yeah that sounds good." Salem replied.
"I have plenty of Pokémon food in my bag so yours can have some too."
"That is very kind of you Ash. Thank you."
"No problem."
Ash took his backpack off and rummaged through it finally pulling out the Pokémon food he had made and started preparing it for each Pokémon. As Ash was making the food he saw Salem watching their Pokémon intently. He did the same and was happy to see that they all seemed to be getting on really well. Salem's Luxray, Jolteon, Zebstrika, and Galvantula were talking with Zangoose, Bayleaf, Treecko, Meowth and Noctowl. Her Chinchou was with Wartortle and Snorlax was you guessed it sleeping. He heard giggling to his right and saw the baby Pokémon playing with Raichu.
"Okay everyone lunch is served." Ash yelled getting everyone's attention.
Ash's Pokémon broke off the conversations they were having and started scoffing the food. Salem's Pokémon wondering what the big deal was went to the bowls Ash had put out for them. They took a bite of the food and then started ploughing through the food as quickly Ash's Pokémon
"That must be really good. I've never seen them eat like this before." Salem said.
"Thanks." Ash replied.
As the Pokémon continued eating Ash thought back to when he first saw Salem and had to ask her something.
"So Salem why are you afraid of Zubat, Golbat and Crobat?" Ash asked although he quickly regretted the rather blunt way he asked.
She looked at him gobsmacked. Nobody had known about that not even her parents.
"H-how did you know?" she asked in shock.
"Well when I looked into your eyes I could see that you were afraid. You were obviously scared for Pichu but I could see that you were afraid of something else. The bats just seemed like the logical conclusion."
Salem sighed and then looked at Ash,
"Well you see it all started when I was seven."
Flashback
A young Salem was walking towards a cave on the outskirts of her home town. She had found the cave a while ago when she had been playing hide and seek with her friends. It had become a routine for her to come to the cave every weekend. She would explore deeper into the cave each time and she would keep finding more interesting things the deeper she went. As she walked through the tunnels today she went farther than ever before. She was astounded by the cave walls which seemed to sparkle with the various gemstones embedded in them. Suddenly to her surprise she saw a ruby sticking out of the wall. She thought that it would be a nice gift for her mother. So she grabbed on to it and pulled as hard as she could. She eventually managed to yank it free which made her stumble back and crash in to something.
She turned around and saw an incredibly angry Woobat glaring at her. She knew that any Pokémon when angered was dangerous. So she turned around and ran straight back towards the entrance of the cave trying to flee from the swarm of Woobat behind her. By the time she got to the cave entrance there must have been about fifty Woobat chasing her. As she exited the cave she thought she'd be safe as Woobat tended to stay in darker places. However she had really pissed them off and they flew out of the cave not caring about the daylight.
Salem was exhausted and couldn't gather the strength to continue running. The only thing she could do was scream as they got closer and closer. She knew that she wouldn't be able to get away now. So she put her arms in front of her hoping it would protect her as tears streamed down her face. The attack she had expected never came as a lightning bolt shot out of a nearby bush shocking several of the Woobat. The attacker walked out of the bush and was revealed to be a shiny Shinx. The battle didn't last long and the Woobat quickly fled from the Shinx that had defeated them.
Flashback end
"After that I hated and feared all bat like Pokémon. After defeating the Woobat Shinx stayed with me. He became my starter Pokémon when I began my journey."
Ash looked at Salem amazed at what had happened. He saw tears were now in her eyes and he instinctively pulled her into a hug which she returned. She wiped the tears from her eyes.
"Sorry about that. I shouldn't be crying about something that happened so long ago."
Ash released her and looked into her eyes.
"Don't apologise. I shouldn't have asked really. Besides you're not the only one who has a hatred for a certain species. I have a history with Spearow and Fearow."
Ash told her about the incidents starting with Raichu not obeying him to leaving Pidgeot with the flock to protect them. His story had lifted her spirits and she had laughed when he described his first attempts at catching a Pokémon.
Once everyone finished their lunch Ash started packing up as he didn't intend on stopping long. He wanted to get Isaya Town today and that would mean he had to get going as soon as possible. He looked at Salem and wondered whether she was going the same way. If so he wouldn't mind having a human travel companion for a little while. At the same time Salem was hoping Ash was going to catch the cruise from Isaya Town. She wanted to get to know Ash a bit better. By the way he interacted with his Pokémon she could tell he was kind and based on the battle earlier he was clearly a strong trainer.
"So Ash before you saved Pichu where were you heading?" Salem asked.
Ash finished packing everything away and turned back to Salem.
"I'm going to Isaya Town. I want to get to Dewford by going on the cruise. What about you?"
"Same. I beat Roxanne a week ago but I missed the last boat to Dewford. So I had to wait for the one leaving in a couple of days time."
"Hey since we're both going the same way maybe we could stick together." Ash suggested.
"Sure. I'd like that."
Ash recalled his Pokémon and Salem did the same the exceptions being Pichu who was now sat on her head and Luxray who walked by her side. They continued the journey to Isaya Town trading stories about what had happened to them during their years as trainers. Salem told Ash that this was her second year as a trainer. In her first she started in Unova and she managed to reach the top 8 in the Vertress Conference.
They got to the Isaya Town Pokémon Centre at around ten pm. They were surprised that they both managed to get a room as the ship would be setting sail in a couple of days. But Isaya Town did have several hotels so the people were in all likelihood staying in one of them. They went up to their rooms and got into bed to get some sleep.
Time skip (about 2 days).
Ash and Salem left the Pokémon Centre and headed to the docks. They had spent the last couple of days together and found they were really quite similar. The first day they had explored Isaya Town but found that it was a rather boring town. Most of the buildings were hotels and the only thing of interest being the docks. They had gone and got their tickets and found out that the ship would set sail around four thirty pm and passengers could begin boarding at four pm.
When they got to the dock they saw the cruise ship and they were both speechless. Ash stared at it thinking how much bigger it was than the S.S Anne. The thought of that nightmare made him shudder. He just hoped that something like that wouldn't happen again but knowing his luck something ten times worse would happen. As it got closer to four pm the crowd of passengers got bigger. Ash and Salem were amazed at how many passengers were going to be on this cruise. Ash looked at them and saw that not many appeared to be proper trainers. They were in general just regular people with Pokémon as companions.
As the clock struck four they started letting the passengers on to the ship. Ash and Salem hung back not wanting to get crushed among the crowd. As the number of people dwindled they made their way to the ship. They handed their tickets in and got on the boat.
Notes
Please give a review telling me what you liked/didn't like.
If you have any questions I am more than happy to answer them.
So how will this cruise go for Ash? Will it be another nightmare like the S.S Anne?
Ash:
Kanto – Raichu, Meowth, Ivysaur, Wartortle, Charizard, Pidgeot, Kingler, Muk, Tauros(x29), Snorlax & Eevee (Shiny)
Johto – Totodile, Bayleaf, Cyndaquil, Heracross, Noctowl (Shiny), Phanpy, Crobat & Sneasel
Hoenn – Marshtomp, Nincada, Treecko, Zangoose & Ralts
Pokémon on hand – Raichu, Meowth, Snorlax, Bayleaf, Wartortle, Treecko, Zangoose, Noctowl, Crobat, Ralts & Eevee