Ch 61: Fire and Ice.
It was 11:20 in the morning in the Indigo Plateau and Ash was in the rock stadium facing off against his opponent.
Ash had knocked out two of his opponent's pokemon, but as his Haunter was knocked out when he beat the red trainer's second pokemon.
"The red trainer Charles Garfield is now down to one pokemon while trainer Ash Ketchum still has 2 left. Who will our trainers choose next." The first announcer said.
" We're not out of this yet. Go Pidgeot!" Charles shouted as the massive bird pokemon came out and flew above him.
Ash took out another pokeball and held it to his face before throwing it forward.
"I choose you Tauros!" Ash shouted as Tauros came out and slammed his hooves into the ground.
"Moahh!" Tauros shouted.
In the stands, Serena, Red, Korrina, and the others were watching him.
"Ash is doing great, he's just got to beat Pidgeot and he still has two pokemon." Serena said.
"I believe Ash has this. But no match is over until the last pokemon is out." Oak said.
"Pidgeot use Sand attack."
"Ott!" Pidgeot shouted as he unleashed a powerful gust of wind that forced the sand on the ground around Tauros, trying to blind him with sand.
"Tauros keep your eyes closed, listen to exactly what I say. " Ash said.
"Moahh!" Tauros shouted as he shut his eyes tight.
"Pidgeot use Air Slash!".
Ash saw Pidgeot fly down at Tauros with his talons held out.
Ash waited until Pidgeot was close and low enough.
"Tauros lunge forward and up with your horns." Ash said as Tauros forced his horns up and forward and caught Pidgeot in his horns.
"Force him into the ground." Ash said.
"Pidgeot use fly!" Charles shouted.
Pidgeot forced himself up and out of Tauros's horns before flying straight up and high into the air.
"Pidgeot definitely has an advantage here. He is airborne and Tauros still can't open his eyes because of the sand on his eyelids." Lucy said.
"I've seen Tauros in action. If he can land a hit then the battle could be over." Serena said.
"Fly!" Charles shouted.
"Ott!" Pidgeot shouted as he flew straight down at Taurus's back.
"Wait for it, now! Tauros lurch back then use Horn attack!" Ash shouted.
Tauros lurched back just enough for his head to be in line with Pidgeot. He then lunged forward and slammed his horns hard into Pidgeot, hurling him back several feet.
"Now use Giga impact!" Ash shouted.
"Moahh!" Tauros shouted as he charged forward glowing red as he slammed into Pidgeot and carried him inside his horns as he smashed the large bird through a rock formation, crushing it into pebbles.
"Pidgeot!" Charles shouted.
"He got him!" Serena shouted.
Pidgeot landed in front of Charle's platform with swirly eyes.
"Pidgeot is unable to battle. Tauros and the green trainer are the winners." The ref said.
"It's over folks, the green trainer Ash Ketchum is the winner!" The second announcer said.
"We did it!" Ash shouted.
"Pika!".
"Moahh!".
"Yes, that's round two." Serena said.
"We came so far." Charles said as he returned his Pidgeot.
"Great job Tauros." Ash said.
"Moahh!" Tauros shouted with a happy expression.
After the match, Ash took Tauros and Haunter to the pokemon center before heading back to his condo to feed each of his pokemon.
"Just two more battles until the Indigo stadium." Serena said as she and Ash sat on the coach watching their pokemon eat.
"How long until the others find out we're here?" Serena said in with her head resting on his lap.
"Not long enough." Ash said rubbing the back of her neck.
"Not that I don't appreciate seeing the whole group. But there's time I just want you to myself." Serena said.
"We had plenty of alone time on our honey moon." Ash said.
"Before Kal came for a visit and brought the others with him." Serena said as Ash sweat dropped.
"Alright you have a point."
"Can't we just get them to hang out with each other?" Serena asked.
"Maybe not today. I talked with Red earlier, he said that he'd like to hang out with me just the two of us. He'd also like you to spend some time with Korrina. She's been giving him some more 'subtle hints' and he's like you to try and get her mind off it." Ash said.
Serena sighed.
"Why doesn't Red just propose to her and get it done with. They both clearly want it." Serena said.
"I'll ask him tonight." Ash said.
"I also want it clear that tonight when we get back, you belong to me." She said.
"I think I've belonged to you since Nummel city." Ash said as Serena smiled and rubbed his thighs.
"Hard to believe that our first date started out so rocky." Serena said.
"Yeah that whole day just seemed a bit off , I mean 4 of our pokemon evolved in one day. That's almost seems ridiculous." Ash said.
"Well maybe we should give it a break. I was still our first date and our first kiss." Serena said.
"Not to mention things after that got a lot better overall after that. Especially after that battle club." Ash said.
Serena kept her head in Ash's lap as her expression changed.
"Hey Ash, I know we haven't talked about it yet. But we've been married for a few weeks now and well, we've been well.. Have you thought about us having children?" Serena asked.
"Huh?" Ash said as he gave a slightly freaked out expression. Upon hearing Serena, the pokemon all gave slightly freaked out expressions as well.
"Pika." Pikachu said sweat dropping.
"We said we'd have kids when we planned the wedding, now that we're here. Maybe we should talk about it again." Serena said.
Ash began to sweat drop profusely.
"Well." He said before the door opened and Red walked in.
"Ash I'm here, you ready?" Red asked.
Ash shot his head over to his brother.
"Yes! Let's go!" He shouted as Red sweat dropped.
Ash got up as quickly as he could before Pikachu climbed onto his shoulder.
Serena gave a frustrated look as Ash and Red walked out with some haste.
"Red you may have just saved me." Ash said.
"What happened?" Red asked.
"She wanted to talk about having kids." Ash said as Red sweat dropped again.
"Ok let's go." Red said.
Serena sighed.
"I guess I'll have to talk about it with Korrina. She'll certainly want to talk about it." Serena said.
Ash and Red had scaled the side of the Indigo stadium and now sat on the top of the edge looking down at it.
"The Indigo Stadium. How many times did we dream of battling here?" Ash asked.
"Enough, I've still never gotten to battle i this stadium. You will though Ash."
"I still have to make it here, 2 more rounds. Then the real trainers come out." Ash said.
"Unless you beat all the real trainers before you get here." Red said.
"What if I ended up facing Gary before the Indigo stadium?" Ash said.
"That would be a bit anti climactic wouldn't it." Red said before he noticed Ash had his focus somewhere else.
"Ash you seem a little shaken, considering what you told me Serena asked you I'm not too surprised."
"It's not that I don't want to have kids some day. It's just we're both 21 and " Ash started.
"Tell me Ash, since you two got married and 'started', have you two used any sort of 'methods' to ensure you aren't parents yet?" Red asked as Ash sweat dropped and Pikachu did the same.
"No." He said.
Red smiled and patted his brother on the shoulder.
"There you have it Ash." Red said.
"What about you, you're 21. When you finally propose to Korrina, do you want to wait to have kids?".
Red gave a nervous smile as he sweat dropped.
"I gave up that choice when I fell in love with her. She can be a bit, eccentric, but oddly enough it's part of why I love her." Red said.
"I have been wondering, when are you going to ask her to marry you. If you keep her waiting she may just drag you to a regious master and get it done with." Ash said.
"I know she doesn't want a big fancy wedding, and I can appreciate that. Hell I can even appreciate getting married the same day I ask her to marry me."
"Really?" Ash asked.
"You mean you didn't want to when you asked Serena. I mean we both knew she'd never let that happen, but you didn't want to?" Red asked.
"No. I wanted a decent wedding , a day we could remember. Have all of our family and friends there" Ash said.
"I want the same, just done in one day. I already told Gurkinn to come from Kalos." Red said.
"What?" Ash asked.
Red smiled.
"By happy coincidence, her grandfather and all our friends and family might just happen to be here on the day I propose. All my problems are taken care of and we can marry the day I ask her. All I have to do is wait until Gurkinn get's here and then I can propose." Red said.
"I just hope Korrina can wait until then." Ash said as Pikachu laughed a little. Red gave a nervous expression as he sweat dropped.
"Yeah, so do I." Red said.
"When you do get married and start having kids, what's your plans. I mean you two clearly want to stay full time guardians." Ash said.
"Korrina won't be doing much guardian work when she get's pregnant. We both agreed to temporarily become less active guardians until our baby is older. We'll probably have to break up the duo for a while, we'll have to take turns doing work for the guardians." Red said.
"You're nervous about being a father some day." Red said.
"Aren't you?"
Red then saw Pikachu on Ash's shoulder and smiled.
"I like to think my entire life of being a trainer has prepared me for fatherhood."
"Really." Ash said.
"Just think about it. You love your pokemon, you feed them, take care of them. Plus you have to take care of many at a time." Red said.
"Pokemon are a bit more self reliant than human babies. " Ash said.
"Still, I feel everything we've done as trainers , us and the ones we love, has prepared us to become parents." Red said.
Ash smiled as he rubbed the side of Pikachu's head.
"Pika." Pikachu said.
"Maybe I did overreact. I suppose I shouldn't avoid talking to Serena about it." Ash said.
"Glad we could have this talk. I miss the old days when we travelled together. The two of us, our pokemon, our close friends, and the girls we love. What happened to that?" Red asked.
"The journey ended, you won the Kalos league. Then we both had different ideas of what we wanted to do with our lives." Ash said.
"I guess you're right. Still I wish we it didn't have to be that way. We're brothers, we shared a womb together. We came into this world together, well I came first." Red said as Ash gave him a look.
"We were trained together, and we journeyed together. I even slapped some sense into you when you didn't realize Serena liked you." Red said.
"I would have figured it out eventually." Ash said.
"Right. Seriously Ash, how did you not figure it out. It was so obvious Bonnie figured it out before you. Why do you think she never proposed for you, or asked her to marry Clemont?" Red said.
"I remember Bonnie asking Korrina to marry you." Ash said.
"I'll admit, I certainly wasn't expecting her to do that. But I'm happy about it in the long run. But seriously, imagine if you still hadn't figured it out after this much time." Red said.
"Red I'd have to be a half wit to not have figured it out by this point." Ash said.
"I don't know Ash, you were so oblivious that Shauna could have asked Serena if she liked you, then Serena accidentally blurted something out , and you still wouldn't have gotten it." Red said.
"I think you're beating to death the fact that I was oblivious to it Red."
"When someone was as oblivious as you were, it's actually quite hilarious." Red said.
"Not as hilarious as a little girl getting you your first and only girlfriend." Ash said as Red gave a sheepish look and sweat dropped.
Elsewhere inside the condo , Serena and Korrina were with the pokemon.
"So why aren't the others here?" Serena asked.
"Clemont got dragged along with Shauna, and Bonnie when they went shopping. Oak and Tracey went to see Gary and Leaf. Brock and Lucy had some wedding to do." Korrina said before Serena noticed Korrina's fist tighten and her voice get a little harsher.
"Uh Korrina, are you ok?" Serena asked.
"Huh, me. Oh I'm just fine. You know with you and Ash married, now Brock and Lucy getting married. Me and Red still not married. I'm just fine." Korrina said as Serena and many of her pokemon sweat dropped.
Even Korrina's pokemon gave nervous expressions.
"You know Korrina, Red is clearly just waiting for the right time. I mean, there was definitely a time I wanted Ash to propose to me. But I was patient and he did it at the right time. Trust me when I saw you want your proposal to be at the right time and not just whenever " Serena said.
Korrina sighed and closed her eyes.
"I just want that time to be now. I've been in love with him for so long, I'm about ready to drag him down to a regious master and."
"Easy there Korrina, that's not the way you want to remember the happiest day of your life." Serena said.
Korrina sighed again.
"What do I then?" Korrina asked.
"Well, Ash proposed to me after I won a showcase in the Seafoam islands. It was a special moment I'll never forget it. It really cumulated how much we loved each other. Maybe if you can have a moment like that with Red, then maybe he'll get overcome with passion he'll propose." Serena said.
Korrina's expression did an about face.
"Hey that could work. But what could I do to make that happen?"
"Well just try to bring up all the great moments you have had together and show him why you both want to be together for the rest of your lives." Serena said.
Korrina stood up.
"You're right, I need to do that! I will do that!" Korrina almost shouted.
Later that night, Ash returned to the condo with Pikachu.
"There you are." Serena said as he walked back in.
She walked up to him and kissed him after wrapping her arms around him.
"So how was Korrina doing?" Ash asked.
"She's going crazy waiting for Red to propose to her."
"Really, well she don't have to wait much longer. Red told me he's waiting for Gurkinn to get here and then he'll propose."
"Oh boy. So he did have a reason for waiting, he wants both families to be there." Serena said nervously.
"Wait what's going on?" Ash said.
"I told Korrina that she should try and get Red to propose by making him want to immediately." Serena said.
"Well, let's just hope Red has willpower, I wouldn't wan't Gurkinn to miss his own granddaughter's wedding." Ash said.
"Me either, but you should have heard Korrina Ash. She's on the verge of a heartbreak. She wants to be married to him now. As someone who was in her shoes once I don't blame her. I couldn't imagine still waiting to this day." Serena said.
"Well, can she wait a few days. Gurkinn is on his way." Ash said.
The following day Ash was on the ice field facing his opponent.
His Pidgeotto had already knocked out one of his opponent's pokemon and was now facing her second pokemon.
"Starmie use Confuse Ray. " Ash's opponent said.
"Pidgeotto use Agility!" Ash shouted.
As the Starmie's center jewel glowed red as he unleashed a pair of spinning glowing lights at Pidgeotto who used his great speed and Agility to avoid the incoming attack.
After avoiding the confuse ray, Pidgeotto continued towards Starmie with his talons held out.
"Pidgeotto use Air slash!"
"Starmie slide across the ice and use swift."
Starmie got onto the ice and quickly slid across the ice as Pidgeotto slashed across the ice where Starmie was.
"And the red trainer Sana Minomi's Starmie takes advantage of the ice field to avoid the incoming Air slash." The first announcer said.
"Sana's Starmie is doing well on the ice field." Brock said.
"Pidgeotto is still doing better. He can fly and he's already knocked out one Sana's pokemon." Serena said.
Starmie slid across the ice until he flew off a piece of ice and soared into the air, unleashing a furry of sharp stars at Pidgeotto.
"Steel wing!" Ash shouted.
"Otto!" Pidgeotto squawked as he turned his wings metal and he flew right into the spikes , knocking them aside with his metal wings.
With Starmie in the air, there was nothing he could do to avoid Pidgeotto, he was slammed across his front by Steel wing before being hurled back.
"Air slash!" Ash shouted as Pidgeotto capitalized on the advantage and flew forward before slashing Starmie across the center.
Starmie landed on the ground and shook.
"Starmie is unable to battle." The ref said.
"Alright that's too down." Serena said.
"Just one more and Ash is onto round 4." Clemont said.
"Let's just see what Sana has last." Oak said.
"Great job Pidgeotto." Ash said.
"Pika!".
"The green trainer has now defeated 2 of the red trainer's pokemon." The second announcer said.
"Starmie return, alright let's see how you handle my next pokemon. Go Dragonite!" Sana shouted as her Dragonite came out and landed on the ice.
"Dragonite." Ash said.
"It looks like Sana is taking this very seriously. Could this be enough to turn it around." The first announcer said.
"Dragonite, this should be interesting." Red said.
"Pidgeotto use Agility."
"Otto!" Pidgeotto shouted as he gained some speed.
"Dragonite use Twister."
"Gar!" Dragonite roared as he unleashed a furious tornado of dragon energy that easily sucked Pidgeotto inside.
"Pidgeotto!" Ash shouted.
"Now use Thunder!" .
"Graa!" Dragonite roared as the antennas on his head sparked and he unleashed a massive bolt of electricity at Pidgeotto, hitting him dead on.
"Pidgeotto!" Ash shouted as Pidgeotto landed on the ice with Swirly eyes.
"Oh no." Serena said clasping her hands.
"Pidgeotto is unable to battle." The ref said.
"There you have it folks, the red trainer finally beats one of the green trainer's pokemon. Could this be the turn around she needs?" The first announcer said,
"Pidgeotto return, you did great Pidgeotto. Alright Pikachu you've got this!" Ash said.
"Pika!" Pikachu shouted as he leapt onto the ice.
"Pikachu, now I'm really interested." Red said.
"Well folks we've seen the green trainer carry this Pikachu on his shoulder since he got here. Now we get to see what he can do."
"I'll tell you one thing Stark, I've seen what this little guy can do in the NPC. Appearances can be deceiving."
"Dragonite take off and use Dragon pulse." Sana said.
Dragonite flew up into the air and unleashed a massive pulse of dragon energy.
"Pikachu use Agility." Ash said.
"Pika, Pika!" Pikachu shouted as he easily avoided the incoming blast.
Sana saw this and had an idea.
"Dragonite keep using Fire blast!" Sana shouted.
"Graa!" Dragonite roared as he unleashed a furry of symbol shaped blasts of fire that Pikachu easily avoided.
"Geez Robb that Pikachu is as fast as lighting."
"Maybe Stark, but I think I see what Dragonite is doing."
Serena and the others noticed the ice field begging to melt away.
"Oh no." Shauna said.
"Ash you have to do something now!" Serena shouted.
Ash saw pieces of ice were still in one peace and decided to go for broke.
"Pikachu volt tackle!" Ash shouted.
"Pika!" Pikachu shouted as he charged up all his electricity and glowed blue as he sprinted forward and leapt from melting iceberg to iceberg.
"Keep using fire blast!" Sana shouted as Dragonite continued to blast at Pikachu, but could not match Pikachu's speed.
Finally Pikachu reached the last iceberg which was the tallest and leapt off it.
"Dragonite look out!" Sana shouted.
Draonite's eyes widened as he saw the small Pikachu crash into his stomach.
"Graaaa!" Dragonite shrieked in pain as he felt the electricity surge through him.
Dragonite fell down and crashed into he water after Pikachu leapt off him and landed on the last iceberg.
Dragonite floated back up with swirly eyes.
"Dragonite!" Sana shouted.
"Dragonite is unable to battle, PIkachu and the green trainer are the winners."
"Alright we did it Pikachu!" Ash shouted.
"Pika!".
"Amazing folks, simply amazing! One hit from Pikachu brought down that mighty dragonite. He's more than just for show folks. That's one powerful pokemon."
"Ha ha, that little Pikachu still impresses me, just like his trainer." Oak said.
"Pikachu broke through Mewtwo X's defenses with that attack, there was no way Dragonite could take it." Serena said.
"Now he's on to round 4. One more before the Indigo stadium." Korrina said.
Later that night Ash returned to the condo from he pokemon center with PIkachu and Pidgeotto.
"Ash there you are." Serena said as he walked in.
"That line was horrifically long. I'm lucky I didn't retire there." Ash said.
Serena sat him down on the couch as Pikachu and the other pokemon rested on the floor.
"You did great out there today Ash, just one more battle before the Indigo stadium."
"I know." Ash said before he took a deep breath.
"Serena, yesterday you wanted to talk about something serious. Something serious about our future, and I just avoided it. " Ash said as Serena turned to him with great interest.
"I think we should talk about children." Ash said.
Author's note
So rounds 2 and 3 done, one more to go before the Indigo stadium.
For those wondering why there are no Fairy types here. I have tried to make this story closer to the original anime. This includes having less non generation 1 pokemon where I can.
The favorite villain poll is now closed, the winner is Seir/Kal.
So until next time, please review, comment, suggest, or ask(via PM)