CH 58: Showdown at the Po-Ke Corral

It was late in the mourning on route 1 and 3 young adults walked down the path towards Pallet town.

"You know I don't think I've ever been to Pallet town before." Brock said.

"It's a good place. I spend the first 14 years of my life there." Ash said.

"It will be nice to see the professor and our other pokemon again." Serena said.

"It will." Ash said.

Pikachu remained silent.

Ash noticed this. He could tell that Pikachu was still upset about having to leave the female pikachu behind.

"It's alright Pikachu. You'll see her again some day." Ash said rubbing the side of Pikachu's head.

They kept moving down the route until they reached the top of a hill. From there , they could see the town below, all the houses spread out and the many grassy hills.

"Well we're here. Where we set out a year ago , now we're back." Ash said.

The 3 walked down the main street and saw a few people outside their homes, tending to their yards, reading, feeding their pokemon.

"So where is the professor's lab?" Brock asked.

"There." Ash said pointing to a large house on top of a hill with a windmill behind it."

The group made their way up the staircase on the hill to the lab's door before Ash knocked on it.

Almost a minute passed before the door opened and they saw the professor on the other side with Muk on top of him as he fell to the ground. Standing behind the professor was Tracy who was sweat dropping at the sight.

"Professor." Ash said as he, Pikachu, Serena , and Brock sweat dropped.

"Muk, get off me! This is getting old!" Oak shouted.

"Muk get off the professor." Ash said before Muk leapt off Oak and onto him.

Pikachu quickly leapt onto Serena's shoulder before Ash was forced onto the ground with Muk on top of him.

Tracy helped Oak get up as he shook his head.

"You need to use that Muk of your's more. Keep him out of my hair." Oak said.

"Muk!" Muk shouted happily as he stayed on Ash.

"Ok Muk it's good to see you to, now I need you to get off." Ash said.

"Muk!" Muk said again before he slowly got off.

Ash got up as PIkachu leapt back onto his should.

"Regardless, it's good to see you again Ash my boy. Did you two enjoy you're honeymoon?" Oak asked as Ash and Serena sweat dropped.

"It was quite, memorable." Ash said.

"Well I'm glad you enjoyed it. I remember my own honeymoon many years ago. We went to the Orange islands, there was a strange cross dresser."

"What?" The 3 said.

"Oh you don't want to hear that story. Come in come in." Oak said.

"Trust me you don't." Tracy said before as Oak lead them inside.

As they walked inside , Oak lead them to a living room where they saw none other than Gary sitting down on a couch with Leaf sitting next to him.

"Gary." Ash said.

"Geez I was wondering if you'd ever get here Ashey boy."

"Gary, you're here." Ash said.

"Course I am, I figured I had enough badges and thought I'd rest up and train back home before the Indigo league." Gary said.

"Enough badges, you just need 8." Ash said.

"8 , ha I got 10 Ashey boy." Gary said.

"Why 10?" Brock asked.

"Why not, I had extra time." Gary said.

"Gary you don't have to boast." Leaf said.

"But why get 10 badges if you can't." Gary said as Leaf sweat dropped.

"Well you both have what you need to enter the pokemon league. That's what matters most." Oak said.

Ash and the others sat down.

"I've set up everything for you three in the house in Pallet. Here is the key." Oak said as he set the key down on the table.

"Thanks professor." Ash said.

"So now that you're both here with you're badges, there is someone who would like to check on your progress." Oak said as they heard someone walk in.

Standing on the other side of the room was none other than Daniel Rian.

"Hello Ash, Gary."

"Daniel!" They all shouted.

"Nearly a year ago you two were both here starting our on your journeys across Kanto. Now you're both back." Daniel said as he walked in.

"A few weeks from now the Indigo league starts, you two will face off against over 200 other trainers. If one of you can make it to the final round and win the whole thing, you'll get my recommendation for the elite 4." Daniel said.

"That's gonna be me." Gary said confidently.

"We'll see about that." Ash said.

"Since I'm here I'd like to look at all your pokemon as well. Since I sent you both out with only 2 pokemon you had before , you must have caught some new ones along the way." Daniel said.

"I certainly did. In fact I caught 50 pokemon since I started on this journey." Gary said proudly.

"50 pokemon?" Brock and Serena said sweat dropping.

"Yes 50, I counted them as they came in." Tracy said.

"I bet you barely caught any Ashey boy." Gary said.

"It's not about how many you catch, it's how well you train the ones you do." Ash said.

"Regardless, I'd like to see them." Daniel said.

"Well it just so happens I have them out. Let's go see them." Oak said.

He lead them outside behind the lab to the vast enclosure where dozens of pokemon were grazing around.

"Here are all of the pokemon Tracy and I take care of for my trainers. Well those who still need me to." Oak said looking at Daniel.

"My pokemon spent plenty of time here. They liked it well enough." Daniel said.

Moments later the ground began to shake as something moved closer towards them.

"Oh my." Oak said, knowing what is was.

Moments later, Ash's Tyrantrum came sprinting over.

Tyrantrum knocked Ash onto the ground before sliding his massive tongue across Ash.

"What the?" Gary said having never seen a Tyrantrum before.

"He's amazing." Leaf said with stars in her eyes.

"Impressive, how big is he?" Daniel asked.

"14 feet tall, and weights 5 tons." Oak asked.

"Feeding him is a hassle, he eats almost as much as a Snorlax. But since Tyrantrum's were carnivores he eats with a certain , violent tendency." Tracy said.

"I know how Tyrantrums are, I have one." Daniel said.

"Ok Tyrantrum I missed you too." Ash said.

"Grawww!" Tyrantrum roared before he got up. He was soon joined by Ash's other pokemon.

Most of them, Brock had never seen before the wedding. Pokemon like his Talonflame, Hawlucha, Lucario, and Mightyena.

Ash's other pokemon that he caught from Kanto , like Pidegoto, Haunter, Krabby, and Tauros.

They were also joined by his Trevenant, Goodra, and Crawdaunt.

'It's good to see you all again." Ash said.

The ground started to shake once again as Aurorurs who slowly lowered her head down.

"Aurorus." Serena said as the massive ice dinosaur nuzzled her head against Serena.

She was also soon joined by her pokemon from Kalos. Furfrour, Delphox, Zoroark, Spritzee and Shellos.

"So these are all your pokemon. Geez, it's worse than I thought. Come take a look at all of my pokemon." Gary said as he walked over to another area of the enclosure. The group followed him where they saw over a hundred pokemon from Kanto and Kalos.

"One hundred and six pokemon, all of them mine. Gary said.

"Woah." Brock said as they saw all the pokemon.

Ash noticed Gary had caught many of the same pokemon. In fact he saw he had 4 pidgeotos, 5 Nidorinos, 3 Nidorinas, 2 Acanine, 3 Pyroars, and 6 Digletts. Those were't the only ones either.

"Why did you catch so many?" Serena asked.

"You can never had too many." Gary said confidently.

Ash disagreed. Having so many pokemon meant he couldn't spend time with each of them properly. The purpose of being a trainer was to raise and care for your pokemon. Not just to catch as many as you could.

Ash and Pikachu wondered how many of Gary's pokemon he actually spent time with.

"I always like spending time with his massive family." Leaf said.

"I've seen enough for now. I need to do some consideration. In the mean time I'm sure you have some catching up to do with your pokemon. I'll be back in an hour of so." Daniel said before he walked off.

Twenty minutes later he was in a large hill overlooking the entire enclosure.

Beside him were 6 of his pokemon. His Charizard, Lucario, Feraligatr, Torterra, Aggron, and Tyrantrum.

The 7 watched Ash and his pokemon as well as Gary and his.

"They're both good trainers, there's no denying that." Daniel said.

His pokemon all nodded.

"Between the two of them, Ash is definitely more like me. He understands the importance of truly bonding with the pokemon you have rather than catching as many as you can and trying to be the strongest. Still, Gary has gone considerable things. he's made it as a professional trainer. I can't give Ash the edge just because he's more like me. That would be unfair."

"Grauu." His Charizard growled.

"You have a good point, but keep in mind it's not just them winning the Indigo league. That's just to get our recommendation, Lance still has to give the ok."

"Gatr." Feraligatr growled.

"I know our recommendation means more than anyone else's. I guess what I'm trying to say is what do you guys think. I'm not just the best in the world. We all are." Daniel said.

"Grouu." His Lucario growled.

"Graaaw" His Tyrantrum growled.

"Grown." His Aggron growled.

"Terra." His Torterra growled.

"Gatr." His Feraligatr growled.

"That's 2 for Gary and 3 for Ash. What about you Charizard?"

Charizard turned his head back to the enclosure and the young man he admired more.

"Grauu." He growled.

"I see." Daniel said.

Later that day, as Ash finished a training session with all his pokemon he wiped the sweat off his face.

"Good, you guys haven't been slacking off." Ash said.

His pokemon wanted to laugh a little, but were so tired they simply couldn't.

Ash sat down as his pokemon rested all around him.

Seeing all his old Kalos pokemon made Ash think more and more about his first journey in Kalos over 6 years ago. He had some experience from his training with Felix, but he was still just a new trainer, just starting his journey. Him, his brother, his friends, and the girl he would fall in love with, but most of all his pokemon.

They were the ones who stood by him through thick and thin. They were more than just friends at that point.

"Well guys, we've come a long way. Some of you I met back in Kalos, others here in Kanto. We got close in Kalos, but we gave everything we had and that's what matters. Now we have another chance here. We've trained hard and now we're going to prove that we're worthy of the elite four. We're going to the Indigo plateau, we're going to beat everyone against us, and we're going to become legends." Ash said before his pokemon shouted out.

Serena and her pokemon saw this. For Serena's Kalos pokemon they had not seen Ash for a long time. They had seen him at his wedding, but not in his normal ways. They had almost forgotten his optimism.

Serena turned back to her pokemon and took out her platinum tiara.

"This is what we won in Tarvel city. The Kanto queen tiara." Serena said as he pokemon looked at in with amazement.

"All our hard work payed off. I just wish you could have all been there." Serena said.

She let each of her pokemon hold it.

"Now that we have this we can get any performance job we could ever want." Serena said.

Her pokemon were more than excited to hear this.

"Serena." She heard before she saw Leaf.

"Leaf." She said back.

"I never got a chance to ask about your honeymoon. How was is?" Leaf asked as she sat down.

"It was amazing." Serena said sweat dropping. Knowing she was only speaking truthfully up to a certain point.

"So are you talking about your time in or out of the condo." Leaf said as Serena gave a slightly embarrassed expression.

"Relax , I'm just kidding." Leaf said.

"Anyway, there was a lot to do there. The lagoon and rain forest were beautiful. Plus there were plenty of wild pokemon to see." Serena said.

"That does sound great." Leaf said/

"So how is your situation with Gary going?" Serena asked as Leaf sighed.

"A little better I guess, he's just so caught up in winning the Indigo league so he can get into the elite 4 that it's almost all he cares about. I try to get him to act normal but you know how stubborn he can get." Leaf said.

"I'm sure once this is all over he'll snap out of it." Serena said as Leaf looked over at him.

"I hope so."

Brock was sitting at a table with professor Oak and Tracy as they drank some coffee.

"So you want to be a pokemon breeder." Oak said.

"That's right." Brock said.

"Well that's a path many of my old friends went down when I was much younger. In fact Dr. faraway was a great breeder. " Oak said.

"I'm a bit more interested in pokemon medicine and care than cloning and genetics." Brock said.

"Well if you are truly interested , perhaps I could find one of my old colleges that are looking for an apprentice."

"Really!" Brock almost shouted.

"It's no problem. Tracy can tell you the benefits of being an apprentice" Oak said.

Several minutes later Daniel came back to the enclosure with his pokemon.

"Gather around." Daniel said as Ash and his pokemon came other as Gary did the same with some of his.

"Alright listen up, since you have both clearly beaten trainers who have won pokemon leagues before I'm still only allowing you to use one of your previous journey pokemon per match." Daniel said.

"What? Aww come on, we're facing real trainers now." Gary said.

"I want to see what you've done with your new pokemon. Now that I've specified this, I need to get going. I'll be waiting for you and the Indigo plateau." Daniel said before he returned all of his pokemon except Charizard.

He climbed not Charizard's back as his Charizard gave Ash a confident looking expression before he took off.

"Oh Daniel, always having to be on the move." Oak said.

"So Ash, I assume you'll be spending all your time in the next few weeks training." Oak said.

"Yeah I'm not going to goof off and try to go around places when I should be preparing." Ash said.

"Yeah well if you're training I'm going to be training twice as hard." Gary said.

"You wish." Ash said.

Oak, Serena, Leaf, Tracy and Brock saw the two argue.

"They're like a Seviper and Zangoose." Brock said.

"Best stay out of it then. I've seen a Sviper and Zangoose go at it." Oak said.

Ash and Gary's pokemon all sweat dropped as they watched their trainers go at it.

Eventually it got so intense they were afraid it would turn into a pokemon battle without the pokemon.

"Maybe I can give it a try." Serena said before she walked behind Ash and grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Ok, well I think we've done enough training for today. How about get unpack out stuff." Serena said.

At the same time Leaf came up behind Gary and did the same.

"You still have to plan out your strategies for the first rounds."

Ash eventually walked away with Serena holding his hand as Leaf guided Gary away.

Later that night, miles away in the Indigo plateau , Daniel and his Charizard stood beside Agatha.

"So those are the two potentials you believe at the best?" Agatha said.

"Yes, they're young but they're unbelievably good." Daniel said.

"Well I've met the young Ketchum boy. He's got a good heart and a good connection to his pokemon. But I can't just pick him over Oak's boy because he's a guardian." Agatha said.

"No, that wouldn't be fair. But my first 6 told me who they think should get it. Tell her what you think Charizard." Daniel said.

"Grauu." His Charizard growled.

"I see, well we'll have to wait and find out to see if you're right." Agatha said.

Author's note

Yeah this chapter was shorter and not as exciting, but there wasn't too much to work with considering the source material combined with what I've done so far.

So expect the indigo league to start soon.

Also if you still want to submit a character to appear in a match, please do so via PM only.

So until next time, please review, comment, suggest, or ask(via pm).