A/N: Thanks to everyone that has reviewed this and voted in the poll. Also thank you to everyone that had favorited and/or followed this story, I honestly didn't think this would have nearly this many people liking it. After this chapter I will be going back to rewrite chapter one since I honestly am not that happy with it, so chapter 10 will be a fair ways off, but I don't plan on stopping this story.
this is the beta'd version of chapter 9.
As always, Thanks to Uranium235 for beta reading this story, since I am always likely to miss a couple things here or there.
Reviews:
Vibrolux61: Ash will be capturing more Pokémon than in canon minus the thirty Tauros since I think everyone agrees that was pointless and ridiculous. As for Ash bonding with his Pokémon, I'm going to be trying to avoid having Pokémon just fade into the background like the anime did since it does seem to support what you say about the mixed message the anime seems to give off (not sure if it makes sense, this question is actually really hard to figure out how to answer without a long paragraph of text -_-").
Asfor Milotic, this is actually fairly simple to explain since Milotic had a number of things going for her, first, Gabite has only been seen fighting Pokémon that are being commanded by a trainer (in this case, Jessie and James) while Milotic was fighting a golem that had to work on instinct alone. Second, Milotic is a stronger Pokémon than Gabite naturally, so she would be stronger than Gabite for a while, unless there was a drastic difference in experience, which wouldn't suit Cynthia's style of building a team. Third, ice beam if you will read a bit more closely, you will see that it was charged, meaning that it was a more exhausting attack, but had more power (before anyone says anything about this, ice beam is really just energy being condensed into a beam of ice, so it would be simple for moves like this to have more power pumped into them if you already know how to use the move in the first place).
Cerberus13: I know that I could use this idea, but the problem is that I would have to have had a reason for Cynthia to leave, with the only one being to take on the champion again, which I am trying to avoid doing since I have yet to see a story with Cynthia never becoming the champion.
"Insert words here" normal voice
'Insert words here' thinking
"Insert words here" machine voice
"Insert words here" telepathy
Disclaimer: these things get old after almost no time at all, but I don't own Pokémon.
Chapter 9: Moving down the journey of a thousand miles
Clearing,thenext morning…
Ash stood across from Cynthia barely able to stay standing while he waited for her to explain why they were here at this unholy hour of the morning, and even then the wake-up hadn't been even remotely gentle. This was evidenced by the occasional droplets of water that fell from Ash's clothing every now and then.
Half an hour ago…
Ash and Pikachu were both sleeping contently, oblivious to the world, when the serpentine form of Milotic poked her head through the folds of the tent. With a mischievous smirk on her face, she began inhaling as if to launch an attack before she spat a low powered water gun at the sleeping duo, instantly causing both to shoot up with a yelp, and Pikachu being launched off of Ash. Both trainer and Pokémon looked instantly at Milotic when she began laughing at the antics of the two.
Now…
Ash shot up straight when a shiver from the cold morning air sent a chill up his spine, though it might have been in fear from the look he was receiving from his blonde haired friend.
Across from Ash, Cynthia eyed the trainer and Pokémon with a blank face, giving away none of the thoughts in her mind. Eventually she spoke up startling the duo before her, "Since we're going to be training today, we'll be starting with morning exercises. Before you ask, this is both to help improve conditioning as well as warm-up, most importantly however it will give an idea of where you stand in terms of your limits," she stated as she looked to make sure Ash understood, receiving a nod she continued, "You will also be going through a few exercises alongside your Pokémon after this morning's warm-up, I will explain why once we begin the exercises," Cynthia concluded with a stern look that ensured that both trainer and Pokémon knew there was no room for argument.
45 minutes later…
Ash, as well as his entire team were all laying on the ground panting and sweating while Cynthia was finishing up the rest of the warm-up with her own team. The workout had consisted of several laps through the area, ultimately leading back through the clearing they had started in, followed by several exercises geared towards each of the Pokémon as well as several for the two trainers (crunches, sit-ups, push-ups etc.). Ash and his team had managed to last for just over a quarter of an hour before they literally dropped from exhaustion, prompting Cynthia's team to carry them to the clearing they had spent the last half hour resting in. Cynthia then proceeded to continue the routine which now she was entering the clearing with her team who now looked genuinely tired.
As she made her way over to him, Ash noted that this was the first time he'd seen her genuinely look worn out by anything that wasn't a situation like their meetings with team rocket. Her hair was somewhat messy, yet still not in such a way to interfere with her field of vision, and she had droplets of sweat scattered across her face. He was shaken from his observation when he realized she was talking to him, causing him to look at her confused.
"You didn't hear any of what I said did you?" she asked exasperatedly, causing Ash to chuckle sheepishly and give a nervous grin.
"Um... No, sorry, I was thinking. Could you repeat that?" Ash asked nervously causing, Cynthia to put a hand to her face and sigh.
"I was saying that my Pokémon are going to be sparring and yours are going to be doing the same while we go and begin the exercises that I was talking about," Cynthia explained drawing a nod from the younger trainer.
Next clearing over…
Ash stared clueless and confused at the layout for the "exercise" that Cynthia was having him do.
Before him on the ground lay each of the Pokéballs of his team, while across from him, Cynthia had hers in a similar manner. (1)
"What is this supposed to be for?" Ash askedconfusedly.
"One of the key points of being a trainer is the ability to make snap decisions for a battle," Cynthia began, receiving a nod of understanding from Ash, who opened his mouth to speak before being cut off as she continued, "The purpose of this exercise is to be able to make those snap decisions the instant that you are given an opponent to fight against, you won't always have time to think things over, you have to be able to quickly choose the right Pokémon for the situation and have a move planned for the moment you release the them," Cynthia concluded.
Ash nodded in understanding, though he only partially understood what Cynthia meant. He decided that he would understand it better if he actually attempted the exercise.
Seeing the nod, Cynthia took her place by her Pokéballs on the ground, clueing Ash in to do the same. Once they each stood across from each other, Cynthia gave a signal that Ash interpreted to be a "go".
Ash grabbed the Pokéball from the middle and made a move like he was going to release the Pokémon from it when he realized he had no idea which of them belonged to which Pokémon, save for Pikachu's.
Cynthia, from her place, saw that Ash was clueless as to which of his Pokémon he "held", seeing a look of mild understanding spread across his face, She spoke up again, "Another purpose of this exercise is to be able to tell which Pokéball is which, since you won't always be able to look through all of them to find the proper Pokémon. At the moment though I guess I should tell you, the Pokédex can scan a Pokéball to find out the Pokémon in it, including its gender, nickname, owner, and known moves," she explained, causing Ash to retrieve his trusty red box from his pocket.
Lifting the Pokédex to the Pokéball in his hand, Ash looked over the buttons on the box and found a button that said summary that he pressed. The screen lit up on the Pokédex showing an image of Pidgeotto followed by a symbol showing her gender and his name as the owner. Seeing a couple of dots in the corner with one lit up, Ash tried pressing one of the buttons that pointed to the right, causing a new screen to show up, listing the known attacks of Pidgeotto and her ability. Curious about the last screen, Ash looked over it again and was greeted with a much longer list of moves that was titled "possible moves" causing Ash's mouth to drop open slightly at the volume of them. (2)
Ash got over his shock as he made a mental note to look over the moves later to see what each of his Pokémon could learn. Realizing that they still needed to go through the exercise, Ash set the Pokéball back down and put his Pokédex away.
Cynthia nodded at Ash when he resumed his place to wait for a move to be made. Cynthia decided to move first this time since the first lesson that she was trying to teach Ash seemed to have been learned. Grabbing the second Pokéball from her right, Cynthia picked it up and made the motion of throwing it, "Roselia, go," she said, causing Ash to scramble to grab a Pokéball to respond while she mentally counted.
"Butterfree, go," Ash called causing Cynthia to make a mental note before starting another count in her mind, "Roselia use stun spore," she called as if they were actually battling while she continued the count in her mind.
Getting the idea Ash made a command of his own in a similar fashion after thinking it over for a short time, "Butterfree use confusion on Roselia," he "commanded".
Cynthia set down the Pokéball and called Ash over, causing him to start at the suddenness of the change of pace. Once he was standing across from her, she looked at Ash before speaking up, "That was better than most people who have just started, but it was still slow," she stated bluntly, causing Ash to blink before opening his mouth to protest. Holding up a hand, Cynthia cut him off. "The purpose of this was to see where you stand Ash, while you were making your responses I was counting the time it took. The time for you to choose a Pokémon was 18 seconds, while the time to counter the move I made took 9 seconds. This is by no means a bad reaction time, but an experienced trainer can easily beat it. The purpose of this exercise is to help cut that time down to help you react faster to a situation," she explained causing Ash to close his mouth and eventually nod his understanding.
With the intent of the exercise now firmly understood by both of the trainers, both of them began to work on the slow process of improving Ash's skill as a trainer. (3)
1 hour later (camp clearing)…
Ash and Cynthia both walked back into the clearing where they saw all of their Pokémon sitting in the campsite resting. All of Ash's Pokémon seemed to be especially worn out, though on Cynthia's end, Riolu looked equally worn out.
After all the exercise they had been doing, Ash's time hadn't really improved, but he had a grasp of the concept of the exercise, meaning it was only a matter of time before he started becoming faster. Looking over their Pokémon and supplies, Cynthia concluded that they had enough to last the rest of the way to cerulean city, but they would need to head out soon, preferably today. After making sure their Pokémon were in good health, both trainers finally settled down to have breakfast before they began packing up their camp.
Another hour later…
After finishing the camp and returning all of their Pokémon, Ash, Cynthia, and Pikachu all proceeded to walk along the path that they were staying near until they finally were out of the wooded area at the base of the mountain they had left behind. They eventually made it to a sign that pointed to the two cities that they would be able to go to from the fork in the road, with one path leading to CeruleanCity, while the other lead to Vermillion city.
At the base of the sign was a small bit of graffiti that meant little to anyone, except Ash unfortunately.
"Gary was here, Ash is a LOSER?!" Ash started reading before finishing with an angry yell before he began to take off. Cynthia took the time to grab the collar of Ash's jacket, causing the trainer to start toppling backwards before he forced himself to stop.
"Getting worked up won't do you any good Ash, he obviously wanted to rile you up, so don't give him the satisfaction," Cynthia said, though internally she was beginning to like this Gary less and less. She had heard Ash mention him a few times when they were talking.
"I know but still…" Ash trailed off while he started to slowly calm down. He knew that he was being childish about this, but still, it hurt to constantly have things like this rubbed in his face by someone who used to be his best friend. After finally calming down he internally thanked Cynthia for getting him to do so.
Having finally shrugged off the incident, both trainers resumed walking along the road to Cerulean.
Cerulean City…
By the time they arrived at the city, it was just reaching the afternoon and the crowds were starting to pick up, with businesses having customers begin entering them. Ash and Cynthia began to make their way to the PokémonCenter to have their Pokémon examined before they did anything else.
After arriving, they were somewhat surprised to see several trainers getting their Pokémon treated. Seeing a line, both of them took a place in it to begin the wait for service.
45 minutes later…
After having waited in line for the majority of an hour, both Ash and Cynthia walked up to the nurse who stood at the counter to greet them.
"Hello, welcome to the Cerulean CityPokémonCenter, how can I help you," the nurse asked in a somewhat forced tone, causing Ash and Cynthia to share a glance.
Cynthia decided to speak up, "We were hoping you could look over our Pokémon, we just got here today," she asked causing a slightly shocked expression to cross the face of the nurse.
"You made it through Mt. Moon? Then I take it you were the pair of trainers that were attacked by the Golem that the nurse reported yesterday?" she asked causing both trainers to nod. "Well I'd be happy to look over your Pokémon," she said before grabbing a pair of trays for Pokéballs to be held in.
With a quick thank you for the help, Ash looked around at the trainers before asking what was on his mind, "What happened to all the trainers here?" he asked.
The nurse gave a grimace at the question, "The gym leaders finally decided to take their responsibilities seriously after their sister came back after hearing the rumors," she said. Seeing the confusion on the trainers faces, she explained, "We have three gym leaders here since the gym is owned by the Waterflowers. Since they had three daughters they decided to split the responsibility of being gym leaders between them, they later had a fourth daughter, who later left to train herself. Recently the three older sisters began handing out badges because they weren't taking the battles seriously, their sister came back last week and she wasn't exactly pleased by the way they were handling their parent's gym. Since then they have stepped up their game dramatically," she said causing both Ash and Cynthia to share a glance.
"Looks like you have your work cut out for you Ash," Cynthia said as they left the counter with their Pokémon.
"Nokidding," Ash said looking slightly nervous. He knew that he was lucky to receive the badge he did from Brock, but he couldn't rely on impressing the gym leaders alone to get him through the league.
The two trainers left to get their supplies from the Pokémart before they then left for the Cerulean gym for Ash to make his challenge.
On the way to the gym, Ash was internally panicking. After all, while he had faith in his Pokémon, he was still worried about the upcoming battle he would be facing.
Cerulean Citygym…
Looking at the theme of the building before him, Ash concluded the gym leader would be using water Pokémon, seeing as the building itself had the designs of a small water park on it and even had a small ticket booth by the doors.
Walking up to the ticket booth, Ash looked around to try and find someone to talk to while Cynthia looked around at the building in further detail.
"Hello?" Ash called, looking into the ticket booth to see if anyone was there.
"If you're here for a gym battle come in, the door's unlocked, but there aren't any showstoday," a young woman's voice called back from the building.
Walking over to the door, Ash took a deep breath, and walked into the gym. Inside both he and Cynthia noticed a sign that directed them to the gym's battlefield.
After walking for a short time, both trainers came into a large stadium that had an equally large pool in the center of it, with two somewhat large platforms on each side.
On one side of the pool stood three young women that looked to be training a Pokémon that was in the water.
Walking over to the three women, Ash noticed that they all were definitely attractive, though he didn't really look to much more for fear of seeming perverted due to them all wearing form fitting swim suits. He instead turned his attention to the Pokémon they were training. The Pokémon resembled a large dinosaur with flippers on its sides. It had a large shell that looked to have enough room to seat a full grown human. The Pokémon's face was much gentler looking than its size and appearance would have one believe, with a small somewhat blunted horn coming up from the bridge of its nose, with two spirals that seemed to resemble ears. As he got a look at the Pokémon from in front of it he noticed the lower half of it was a lighter cream color.
After looking over the Pokémon, Ash turned back to the three women and noticed that they were watching him expectantly. He blinked before chuckling sheepishly, "Sorry I've never seen a Pokémon like that before," he explained.
The woman in the middle smiled before she spoke up, "No harm done, and she's a Lapras," she said, which said Pokémon punctuated with a cry and a little splashing in the water, "We just recently had her hatch from an egg a family friend brought here," the she explained. "Anyway, my name's Daisy, this is Violet and Lily," the now named Daisy said gesturing to the women on her left and right respectively.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town," Ash said introducing himself while Pikachu spoke up, "And this is Pikachu," Ash said with a smile at his friend's antics.
"My name is Cynthia Shirona, I'm actually here from Sinnoh, and I've been traveling with Ash," Cynthia said concluding the introductions.
"Well it's nice to meet , which of you was here to challenge us?" Daisy asked causing Ash to step forward.
"Well I was hoping you'd battle me," Ash said clearly nervous.
"Alright, how's a 2 on 2 match sound?" Daisy asked causing Ash to nod in agreement.
"Violet, do you mind refereeing?" Daisy asked turning to her sister.
"Sure, no problem," Violet said before she turned to walk up to the post that resembled the chair a life guard would sit in. during this time, both Ash and Daisy took a spot on a side of the pool while Cynthia and Lily took a seat in the stands to watch.
Seeing that the two trainers were in place, Violet cleared her throat, "This is an official battle between Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town and the gym leader Daisy Waterflower of Cerulean trainers will use 2 Pokémon, with the challenger being able to use substitutions while the gym leader may not," she announced looking at both trainers, receiving a nod from each, she gave the go ahead for the match to begin.
"Since I'm the lady here, I'll go first," Daisy said as she lifted and threw a Pokéball that released a Pokémon. The Pokémon that appeared seemed to resemble a large goldfish, with one of its most distinguishing features being the large pointed horn on its head. The Pokémon immediately dove into the water and disappeared from sight before surfacing to await an order.
Before choosing a Pokémon, Ash took out his Pokédex and used it to examine the Pokémon before him while Daisy waited patiently. "Seaking, the Goldfish Pokémon. Thehorn on Seaking's head is sharp like a drill, which is capable of crushing even stone, this Pokémonbores holes in boulders to form its nests," the Pokédex said.
Ash put the Pokédex away before grabbing a Pokéball from his belt, "Pidgeotto, I choose you!" Ash called before tossing the Pokéball into the air to release the bird Pokémon who then took her place in the air in front of him.
"The battle between Pidgeotto and Seaking will now begin," Violet called before Daisy yelled the first attack of the battle.
"Seaking use Supersonic!" Daisy yelled, which was followed by an extremely high pitched sound that had Pidgeotto cringing and fighting to stay in the air. A fight that the bird was slowly losing as she slowly descended towards the water, where Seaking currently resided.
Seeing his Pokémon was struggling Ash called an attack "Pidgeotto use aerial ace!" he yelled, hoping that the bird could hear him. Thankfully she did, since in the next instant, where she would have touched down on the water, she shot into the air before seeming to disappear before she smashed into what little of Seaking was above the water, causing the high pitched sound of the supersonic to stop.
"Seaking use scald," Daisy called seeing her strategy wouldn't work again on the same opponent. Seaking opened his mouth before a stream of water poured out of it, with steam coming off of it.
"Dodge it!" Ash yelled as the water rushed towards Pidgeotto, who moved quickly to avoid the stream, but was lightly clipped on the wing, causing her to wince in pain as she continued flying to avoid a number of streams of water that were launched after the first. Ash quickly noticed that Pidgeotto's wing was starting to darken where she had been hit, and what seemed to be a blister was forming on the spot, a clear sign of a burn.
"Pidgeotto return," Ash called as he lifted the bird's Pokéball, causing the bird to disappear in a red light. "Pikachu you're up," he said as the electric Pokémon jumped over to the platform.
"The challenger substitutes Pidgeotto for Pikachu, the battle between Pikachu and Seaking will now continue," Violet announced.
Daisy eyed the electric type critically before she called another move, "Seaking, use poison jab," she ordered, which caused the large water type to dash through the water to launch himself at Pikachu.
"Pikachu use thunder wave," Ash called, causing Pikachu to charge and moments before the attack hit, launch a pulse of electricity that knocked the fish slightly off course.
"Seaking use flail!" Daisy called as Seaking was about to fly passed Pikachu, causing the fish to start doing just that, and smash its tail into Pikachu, sending the mouse flying to the edge of the platform.
"Pikachu use thundershock!" Ash called seeing the fish struggling to move into the water after its change of course. Pikachu pushed himself up before he charged up a thundershock that he fired at Seaking, making the struggling fish begin flailing around wildly before flopping to the platform and passing out, which caused Pikachu to stop.
"Seaking is unable to battle, Pikachu wins," Violet announced as Daisy returned Seaking in a flash of red before pulling another Pokéball out.
"Not bad, but I still have one more," Daisy said before throwing the Pokéball. "Go Shellder," Daisy called as the Pokéball released the Pokémon onto the platform this time.
Ash couldn't help but stare at the Pokémon that as far as he could tell was a clam, nothing else, he was slightly disturbed when the clam opened and a tongue rolled out of it with two eyes above the tongue.
"What is that?" Ash asked genuinely confused by a Pokémon for once. Retrieving the Pokédex, he scanned the clam in front of him. "Shellder, the Bivalve Pokémon. Theshell on this Pokémonis harder than diamond, however when it is open the tender body is exposed. Shellder hides in sand on the sea floor and catches prey with its soft tongue, this Pokémon swims backward by opening and closing its shell it is surprisingly fast," the Pokédex answered Ash's question as he still was baffled by the Pokémon. He was removed from his questioning of nature when he heard Violet speak up again.
"The battle between Pikachu and Shellder will now begin," the referee spoke up.
"Shellder, use icicle spear!" Daisy commanded, causing the little clam to cry out as shards of ice formed on its shell that it proceeded to fire at Pikachu at an insane rate.
On Pikachu's end, he didn't need to hear the order from Ash to dodge the spears that seemed to shower around him.
Seeing the rain of ice shards starting to come to an end, Ash called out a counter attack, "Pikachu, use thundershock!"The mouse fired another bolt of electricity but it was intercepted by a field of green energy after Daisy called out a move called protect.
"Shellder, use brine!" Daisy called after the barrier let up, prompting Shellder to open its mouth and launch a large jet of water that flew towards Pikachu. The mouse had nowhere to go except into the water to avoid the attack, causing a somewhat evil look to cross Daisy's face. "Use whirlpool," She ordered, which caused a horrified look to cross Ash's face as he couldn't see any way to avoid this.
Shellder hopped into the water, which shortly after began to swirl into a whirlpool that swept up Pikachu and shook him around this way and that. Before long the little mouse was knocked out and seemed to be floating in the center of the pool, before Shellder brought the mouse over to Ash who picked him up carefully.
"Pikachu is unable to battle, Shellder wins," Violet announced seeing Ash walk over and hand Pikachu to Cynthia, who she took with care.
"Pidgeotto, I choose you!" Ash called out, re-releasing the bird, who he noticed no longer had as severe of a burn on her wing, though she still had one that was somewhat hindering her.
"The final battle between Pidgeotto and Shellder will now begin!" Violet announced as Daisy called out for another Icicle spear to open up.
Seeing the shards coming again, Ash was better prepared for them this time, "Pidgeotto, use gust to knock the shards out of the air!" he commanded as the bird flapped her wings to kick up a strong wind that knockedaround the shards of ice, and even sent a few of them back at Shellder, though Ash noted that the attack aggravated the burn on Pidgeotto's wing.
On her end Daisy was planning her next move, 'We haven't perfected it, but it might be enough,' she thought after debating, "Shellder use aurora beam!" she called out causing both of her sisters to look at her in shock while Cynthia called out to Ash, "Dodge it ASH!" Which Ash had already complied with.
What Ash saw shocked him greatly, from Shellder's tiny body a massive jet of cold that closely resembled the ice beam he saw yesterday tore through the air. Though the attack wasn't anywhere near the power of Milotic's Ice beam he still knew he had to end the battle as he watched the beam leave a large stalactite of ice hanging from the ceiling where it struck. "Pidgeotto use aerial ace!" he called out urgently seeing Shellder starting to gather the energy for another Aurora beam, though he thankfully cancelled it out before it could fire the beam. Looking at Shellder again, Ash noticed the little clam was exhausted.
"Shellder use icicle spear again!" Daisy called out, hoping to end the battle as she similarly noticed her Pokémon's state. The shards of ice launched towards Pidgeotto, who dashed out of the way as Shellder slowly began to turn to try and hit her. The stream of ice shards steadily began to gain on Pidgeotto until one of them struck her, though to the shock of all of those watching the shard shot through the bird, which instantly vanished causing Daisy and even Ash's eyes to widen in shock.
"Double team?!" Daisy shouted in shock, before both she and Shellder began to look for Pidgeotto, who reappeared directly in front of Shellder in an already prepared aerial ace, which promptly slammed into the helpless Bivalve Pokémon. Shellder was left sprawled out as Pidgeotto struggled to remain in the air before finally settling on the ground with sweat dotting her body as the burn finally left her unable to stay in the air any longer.
Seeing Shellder not moving an inch, Violet made the call, "Shellder is unable to battle, the winner of the battle and the match is Pidgeotto and Ash Ketchum of Pallet town!" At the sound of her victory, Pidgeotto finally collapsed in exhaustion from the battle.
Making his way over to his Pokémon, Ash gently picked up the tired bird and thanked her for her work, before returning her to the Pokéball, making sure that he got her and Pikachu both treated as soon as he could. A tap on his should brought him from his thoughts as he turned and saw Daisy holding a small stone that he could recognize as the Cascade Badge.
"I don't think I need to say this, but as you're the winner, I am proud to present to you the official PokémonLeagueCascade Badge," Daisy said causing Ash to take the badge with a wide smile on his face.
"We did it!" Ash cheered in pride at his Pokémon as he held up his badge in triumph.
"Congratulations Ash," Daisy said as her sisters and Cynthia made their way over to them, "I have to admit, not many trainers have beaten us on their first try since we started actually training. I guess we just need to work more," Daisy concluded as her sisters nodded.
"That was a close match though Daisy. I didn't expect that to happen," Ash said, smiling at Pidgeotto's Pokéball in his hand. "I need to take Pikachu and especially Pidgeotto to the PokémonCenter though," Ash said as he and Cynthia started towards the door.
Pokémon center…
"You did well in there Ash," Cynthia commented, as they waited for Pikachu and Pidgeotto to finish being treated.
The nurse had been understandably surprised when Ash returned to have his Pokémon treated, though not without something to show for it as he held up the Cascade badge when asked how things went.
"To be honest, that was more Pidgeotto than me, I never expected her to use DoubleTeam," Ash admitted, since he knew that the win had been mostly luck.
"There isn't much difference between the afterimage from a double team and the speed of aerial ace though," Cynthia pointed out. She was glad that he wasn't letting the victory go to his head, but he could at least give himself some credit for the win.
"Ash Ketchum please come to the counter, your Pokémon are finished being treated. Ash Ketchum please come to the counter," The voice of the nurse called over the intercom.
After collecting his Pokémon from the nurse, Ash and Cynthia both got themselves a room for the night and turned in, planning to start the trip to Vermillion city the next day.
That's chapter 9
Sorry for the wait on this to everyone that wanted it, motivation was only one of the problems since I always have trouble with being overly critical on my writing as I do so.
As I said above, the chapter following this one will be waiting for a bit longer since my next goal is to go back and redo chapter one and use some of the constructive criticism (keep it coming btw) to get it more up to the level of the rest of this, since I was more trying to get this all started at the time.
I've decided to use the (#) AN's that some people do since it seems to work more often than not, so the (#) will be down here at the end of each chapter if I feel something needs to be better explained.
AN's
Semi-spoilers for Manga
1- This is the same thing Giovanni used in his first showdown with Red in the Manga, and I felt it was a great testament to his skill as a trainer to be able to do something like it.
2- This is the same as the summary page for Pokémon firered/leafgreen just replace the page that has stats with the moveset, and change where the moveset would be with move the Pokémon can learn.
3- This will be something that will be used as part of the training Ash himself goes through since it is fairly important in my opinion since it doesn't matter what Pokémon you have if you can't get them out fast enough to respond to an enemy.
As always, if you have constructive criticism, please tell me so that I can improve this.
Any suggestions for Pokémon, please pm me them so I can keep track of them, though try to keep them in region for the time being.
Thanks for reading,
Akkeiton