Outcast Chapter 1: Rocket Pride, a pokémon fanfic

Chapter 1- Rocket Pride

Ash had waited so long for this day. This year marked the year of his 10th birthday, which meant he would be able to get his first Pokemon. He was so excited and prepared to become the very best like no one ever was. He had been dreaming about this day for as long as he could remember, and it finally came. It was time for him to join Team Rocket.

All incoming trainers had to join Team Rocket, it was a requirement to owning any Pokemon. The kids who didn't join would be made fun of by their peers, but more importantly would be banned from owning any Pokemon. Ash wasn't about to let that happen, and he was hoping to make quick progress through the Team Rocket ranks.

Ash had spent countless hours learning everything that he could about the fundamentals of Team Rocket. He practically memorized the Team Rocket handbook, as well as any other piece of Rocket information he could get his hands on. It was during this study process that he made a spectacular discovery.

In the footnotes on the section for ranking up in the organization, he read how there were actually two ways for a Grunt to become an Agent. The first was the standard route, which meant the standard year of classes and a field mission. The second, however caught Ash's eye. The footnote read

If a Grunt manages to evolve pokemon twice, the second should not be taken from them. The Grunt should rather be promoted to Agent, and allowed to keep his newly evolved pokemon.

This was a surprising discovery because normally a trainer's rank did not magically increase to what the power ranking of their pokemon was. So if a Grunt (rank 1) had a Magikarp (also rank 1), and it evolved into a Gyarados (Rank 4), the grunt would not be promoted to Executive. Instead, the Gyarados would be taken from the Grunt and given to an Executive, or left in its Pokeball until an Executive desired it.

This was a major drawback to evolving your Pokemon, and as such most Team Rocket members refused to train or evolve their Pokemon until after they had achieved the ranking that their evolved form Pokemon corresponded to.

Pokemon training and battling for the youth was largely a thing of the past, and the only trainers around who had powerful Pokemon were high up in Team Rocket. This was Ash's dream, to become a Team Rocket Admin and eventually even beat Giovanni and become the boss.

However, the Rocket Academy wasn't really designed for Pokemon training. Sure, if you wanted to own a Pokemon you had to swear fealty to Team Rocket and go to their academy, but the academy was much more about learning politics and mathematics than battling Pokemon. There wasn't even a class offered on Pokemon until a trainer reached the third rank, Officer.

So most Grunts didn't train at all. Ash however, was going to be different.

He had devised his plan from the time that he was 6. That was when his mother and him were walking in Viridian forest and saw a terrific display.

Ash watched as a large Fearow, surrounded by a flock of Spearow came at a Beedrill hive. There were probably 10 to 15 of the birds, and over 30 of the Beedrill, but that didn't stop this Fearow from charging straight in to the hive, seeking blood.

The Beedrill stormed out with their stingers ready and started firing poison stings at the attacking birds. The birds were easily outnumbered, and it looked like the angry bees would chase them away but the Fearow was not having any of it. It flew with incredible speed and would snatch one Beedrill after enough up, splitting them in half with its incredibly strong beak.

Within no time, all of the Beedrill were either dead or close to it. A few of the Spearow were twitching on the ground as well from all of the poison they had been hit with, but most of the birds were still in the air. The Fearow let out a sharp cry of victory before going with the remaining Spearow to take the plunders of war.

Ash watched in horror as the Weedle and Kakuna population was decimated by the birds. After they were full and had grabbed enough to take back to their nest, they left the area, albeit quite a bit slower than they came in.

Ash ran forward with his mother in tow, trying to see if any of the Beedrill were still alive.

Ash went round and round looking from corpse to corpse until he found one Bee that was larger than the rest, laying on the ground with a huge gash on her striped abdomen. Ash figured she was in really bad shape already, as the usual yellow stripes held a greenish hue to them.

"MOM!" Ash screamed, as he knelt beside the Beedrill.

The Beedrill eyed Ash wearily, but was obviously in too much pain to decide if he was a threat or not.

His Mother came running up with a potion in hand, mortified by what had just happened.

"Stay back now Honey," Delia said to Ash. "It looks like you found the queen. See how she is more of a greenish color than the others? That's how you can tell. We will see if this can heal her, but she took a lot of damage." Delia stated as she assessed the wounds. "There are still a few Kakuna left in the trees and a couple Weedle on the ground, but without her they won't know how to fly properly or what to do. If she doesn't make it, that might be the last of the Weedle line in Viridian forest."

The Beedrill stared into Ash's eyes with determination after she heard that. Her species would not go down that easy. She would raise up the next generation, and they would grow stronger.

It was from that moment that Ash began to have a great relationship with the Beedrill hive in Viridian forest. The queen bee recognized that she was only alive thanks to Ash, and that he himself was still a youngling, and thought it would be fitting if he were to spend time with the Hive. Ash bugged his mom about going to the forest so often that within a couple of years they sold their house in Pallet town and moved to the northern edges of Viridian, so Ash could be closer to his friends.

He had learned many things over the 4 years since then, and he considered himself something of an expert on the Weedle line. Bug Pokemon grew fast, especially in the wild where they were the most vulnerable in their infant stages. Wild Weedle would grow into full Beedrill within 2 months if left unchecked, but that was what had caused the problem with the hive in the first place.

The issue with this quick of an evolution was that the exoskeletons of the Beedrill were extremely weak. The bugs were never given the time to fully come to their power in the previous forms, and it showed once they evolved from Kakuna. That was the reason that the Fearow and Spearows could so easily rip open the hides of the Beedrill. Sure this worked fine for areas where the hive was hundreds and hundreds, as the sheer numbers were enough to protect themselves. But the Viridian forest hive had been demolished year after year from Team Rocket coming in and taking large multiples of the bugs, and after the Fearow attack, now it was close to extinct.

Ash had talked to the Queen about all of this shortly after the Fearow attack, and also told her what he thought would be the best idea.

"If we encouraged the Weedle to stay in their form as long as possible, they could develop stronger poison" Ash said to the Bee. "Furthermore, they would be bigger and stronger, allowing a bigger Kakuna, allowing for bigger Beedrill. And if we make the Kakuna's use harden constantly, that should help the exoskeleton become permanently harder even after evolution!" Ash exclaimed. He was proud of himself, as he came up with those thoughts on his own.

With this as the game plan, Ash and the Queen went to work trying to start a much stronger hive. The process was much slower, but with the lower numbers it meant they could hide for longer and would be safe from the bird types.

The two Kakuna that were left from the bird raid both had taken serious damage and evolved with deformities, the first of whom was missing one of his lances and the second one that had wings that were just too small. It meant for the former that battles were basically out of the question and that the second could not fly very far without having to stop and rest his wings.

The Weedle that had hidden were totally fine though, as well as the eggs that were not robbed, and so they served as a trial run to see how Ash's hypothesis would turn out.

The results were spectacular. The first batch of Weedle were able to hold out for a solid 4 months before evolving into their cocoon form, and another two months of hardening the shell before they came out as Beedrill, but the difference was unbelievable.

For one, the newly evolved Beedrill were already the size of the two that had evolved months before them, but the difference in their hide was even more ridiculous. Instead of the softer and flimsy exoskeleton that the previous bugs had that would break easy, these new ones felt much sturdier, almost like wood. Ash began to wonder if this is what Pinsir's body felt like.

And just like that, Ash spent the next four years of his life with the Hive, raising Weedle, keeping them longer and longer in form before evolving into Kakuna, and having the Kakuna harden its shell repeatedly before evolving.

Now that Ash was 10, he could officially own his first Pokemon. Of course, he would have to join Team Rocket, as they were the only ones allowed to have Pokemon, but he couldn't imagine it any other way. Ash would join the academy, break the record for fastest to become Agent, and then continue to rank up until he was the strongest member of Team Rocket. Eventually he would be even stronger than Giovanni, but that would come with time. For now, he needed to go down to the converted Pokemon gym in town and sign up for Team Rocket.

Ash left his house in a rush, so excited that he almost forgot to tell his mom bye. He didn't, however, and she quickly reminded him to pack fresh underwear. Ash turned bright red with embarrassment even though nobody was around as he shut the door to his house and headed south.

Ash stood in line with all the other kids as he listened to their conversations. He had always been a loner, so he was pretty good at eavesdropping when he had nothing else to do.

"My dad said his starter was a Charmander back when he was a trainer!" One boy said to another.

"Well wasn't he just a lucky one? I'm sure he kicked all the other trainers butts because he got to start with such a powerful pokemon." The other kid responded back.

"Oh come on Dan, you know better than anyone that I think fairness is important. I'm glad that Team Rocket restricts starters to only the most common Pokemon. Rattata, Zubat, Koffing, Ekans. I just think it's so cool that he had a Charmander!" The kid responded to his friend.

"Don't forget about Weedle." Ash interjected hurriedly. "They are one of the starting pokemon too."

"Haha get a load of this kid Jonathan!" Dan responded back to his friend. "Yeah they are, but what kind of idiot would get a useless little caterpillar?" He said mockingly.

"Yeah!" Jonathan replied. "I'm going to go for a Rattata, that way after I make it to agent he can still hang around with me."

"Well I don't know if Weedle are as weak as you think they are, but I guess we will see," Ash said as he turned away from the kids behind him. He didn't care what anybody else thought. He had spent years watching, learning and perfecting how to train those little bugs. He had seen multiple generations come through and saw the power level increase with each fresh batch of Weedle. Ash knew what they didn't, and he was ready to show them what that was.

Ash's thoughts went on like this until he was at the front of the line.

"Next!" the man called from inside the building.

Ash walked inside and looked around at the dark interior of the giant building. It was pretty plain on the walls, but there was a giant R hanging above the entrance to the room where there were three Officers waiting behind a table.

"Well come on in, we don't have all day runt!" One of the three said.

Ash walked inside of the giant room that at one point had been a practice field. This was where Giovanni would fight challengers to his gym, as thought to himself as he walked up to the table and read the piece of paper that was sitting on it.

Contract for Unending Fealty to Team Rocket

By signing this, I hereby give myself fully to Team Rocket. I will voluntarily leave my family behind if necessary and join the academy, and all of the Pokemon that I train will belong to Team Rocket. At any moment I may be called into action, and I must be ready to serve with the Pokemon under my supervision. If my Pokemon's strength outgrows my ability to handle it, I will give it back to Team Rocket until I have shown sufficient ability to handle a more powerful pokemon.

Our mission is to protect the world from devastation. To Unite all peoples within our nation. To denounce the evils of truth and love.

Your Signature _

Ash quickly signed the piece of paper and handed it to one of the men sitting behind the table.

"Excellent!" The man said as he stood and walked over to a case full of Pokeballs. "Now what shall your starter be? Rattata has been pretty common for your friends, so maybe an Ekans or perhaps a Zubat?" The man asked as opened the case.

Inside the case were over twenty miniaturized Pokeballs, each with a label in front of it stating what Pokemon it was.

"Actually, I would like a Weedle!" Ash responded with a grin.

The two Officers still at the table laughed as the third grabbed a pokeball out of the case.

"A Weedle, eh? Haven't had too many people asking for these lately. They're pretty useless, but if you insist…" The man said as he looked at Ash.

Ash thought it quite hilarious that nobody took him seriously. 'They would all learn soon enough' he thought to himself as he smirked.

"Yes, I'll be taking the Weedle. And we will see just how useless it is." He said as he grabbed the pokeball from the man and stormed out of the room.

Ash grinned as he approached the hive with his Pokeball in his hand. There were Beedrill flying in and out of the tree that the hive had taken over, some bringing back food and others carrying back scouting reports from the surrounding areas. This spot was off of a side trail from Viridian forest, so it was rarely ever travelled and perfect for the Beedrill hive to rebuild. However, the hive was just about outgrowing this area, and the drones were having to go further and further each day to bring back nutrient rich food. Of course the Weedle could just eat any of the grass on the ground, but by gathering other nutrients and berries from the surrounding areas they were able to further increase the strength of their Weedle. Ash smiled as he looked around at all the commotion. It had been years, but once again the hive had grown to around 30 Beedrill, and these ones were much more powerful than before. There were another 10 or so Kakuna hanging around and a dozen Weedle on the ground. It was nice to see a thriving hive back in Viridian forest.

Ash looked up into the tree as he saw the one armed Beedrill notice him from inside. The Beedrill flew down immediately, excited to see Ash and the pokeball that he had. Ash had, of couse, told any member of the hive who would listen about his ultimate plan.

"Well then, shall we see how it looks?" Ash asked the Beedrill as he expanded the pokeball.

The Beedrill nodded swiftly as he clicked for the Weedle to gather around, and Ash released the bug from inside the pokeball.

The little Weedle looked around surprised. He had not been outside of the pokeball in so long, but he was around a bunch of other Weedle. What a treat!

The other Weedle gathered around him and cheered happily, as if welcoming Weedle to the family. Perhaps this was his new family now.

Ash was flabbergasted by how small this Weedle was. Of course he wasn't expecting it to be full grown or trained at all, but this thing literally looked like it hatched right before being shoved into stasis in the Pokeball.

The Beedrill clicked at Ash to get his attention.

"I had no idea it was going to be that small!" Ash protested, already knowing what the Beedrill was trying to communicate. "Imagine if I actually had to train with that! It would be a full year before I got a good Beedrill out of it!" Ash replied as a much larger Weedle made its way to Ash's feet.

Ash knelt down to pet the bug type underneath its mouth. "Hey there Buzz! It's good to see you too buddy. Are you ready for our adventure?" Ash asked.

Buzz was by far the largest Weedle in the bunch. While the one Ash released from his pokeball was only 6 inches long and weighed about 5 pounds, this one was closer to 2 feet in length and pushing 20 pounds. Buzz was the oldest Weedle in the group, already over 10 months old and at his prime.

Buzz would have evolved a couple months ago with the rest of the Weedle that hatched at the same time he did, but him and Ash had made a special bond. Buzz decided he wanted to travel with the foreign member of the hive. He was not like the other Weedle or Beedrill, and instead of only thinking about the hive he desired to grow strong and ferocious. No that he didn't feel Hive loyalty, but he knew he was meant to leave.

So Buzz had waited to evolve until after Ash got his Pokeball and swapped Weedles. It was a simple plan really, and all it required was for Ash to make sure that nobody saw the old Weedle before they swapped.

Ash was so pleased when the Queen bee agreed to his plan. Judging by Buzz's willingness to leave the hive, Ash also guessed that the Queen somehow put that desire in Buzz when she made his egg. He didn't know how, but he knew Queens could control when to create another Queen egg, and so he figured it couldn't be too much different than that.

Ash was still rubbing the little bug under its mouth when it tapped its horn on the center of the Pokeball in his opposite hand. Ash watched in awe as it got sucked up in a bright red stream of light before the pokeball twitched and clicked as Buzz got settled in.

Ash looked up to the Beedrill that was in charge of watching over the little ones.

"I'm going to try and battle one of the other kids today who got a Rattata. Buzz should be a Kakuna by tonight. I'll bring him back here as soon as he gets his wings so you guys can show him how to use them properly."

The Beedrill clicked excitedly at Ash. He knew these Weedle were stronger in the long run for staying in that form for so long, but it felt so odd to him still. It would be good for Buzz to evolve.

"Tell the Queen I said hi!" Ash said as he ran out of the woods, a determined look in his eye.

Ash was out of breath by the time he got back into Viridian city. He looked around as he stopped to take his breath, and realized that the entire new round of Grunts had received their pokemon, and were out showing them off in front of their friends and family.

"Doesn't she just look so ferocious? We are going to have so much fun!" Ash heard a familiar voice saying. He looked around the town until he located the source of the voice, and his eyes narrowed in on Jonathan, the boy from earlier.

Ash walked up to the boy with a smirk on his face. "I see you got that Rattata you were talking about!" Ash said cheerfully.

Jonathan looked up from his family as he saw the dark haired boy approach. "Yes I did! She's ferocious, she's gonna be a killer once we make Agent and I get her to evolve!" He said confidently. "Did you get that Weedle you were wanting?"

"Yes I did! I remember you guys saying something about how pathetic they are, I didn't know if you wanted to test that out with a battle?" Ash answered back.

Jonathan looked around and saw that his whole family was watching. "Well, I would try to convince you otherwise, but it's pretty obvious that everybody wants a show. Don't worry, I'll try not to embarrass you too much!" Jonathan stated as he cleared everybody out and had them form a circle around the two boys.

Jonathan called his Rattata to the middle of the circle, and Ash laughed as he saw the size of the little thing. Apparently all of Team Rocket's starter pokemon were fresh out of the egg, because this was possibly the smallest Rattata he had ever seen.

Ash maximized his Pokeball and released Buzz onto the field. All of the people around the field gasped as they took in the worm that was easily twice the size of the Rattata he was facing against.

"Woah, that thing is huge," Ash heard some of the people standing in the circle saying.

"Well, I will say that's the biggest worm I've ever seen, but that won't stop us from kicking your butts! Right Rattata?" Jonathan asked to his little pokemon.

It growled and bared its teeth, eager to tear the bigger Weedle apart.

Buzz had lifted the front half of his segmented body off the ground, and was looking at the Rattata with his head cocked sideways. He knew the Rattata wasn't a threat, but he thought it was funny that it didn't know that yet itself.

"Go get it Rattata! Use Tackle!" Jonathan yelled as he pointed a finger at the opposing Pokemon.

Rattata started running towards the Weedle, fully intending to crash into it and bring it down with one shot. However, Ash saw it running at Weedle and quickly barked his own commands back.

"String shot! Immobilize it and then hit it with a poison sting and then bug bite to finish it off!"

Buzz opened his mouth and shot a thick strand of silk out from it. The Rattata tried to dodge around it but was too slow and got its front legs caught in the silk and tumbled forward.

Buzz didn't stop there, as he continued to shoot silk at the Rattata until it was covered from head to toe with the silk, unable to get up from the ground.

As the Rattata was writhing on the ground trying to free herself from the string, Buzz quickly (As quickly as a Weedle can move, at least) charged the poor Rattata head first with his giant poison horn.

Ash heard the Rattata cry out as the sharp stinger was thrust into the pokemon, but watched with glee as Buzz pulled the stinger out from the Rattata and latched onto it with his mouth. He lifted the smaller pokemon into the air, shook it around a few times and then threw it in front of its owner's feet.

Ash smiled as he saw the look of pure astonishment of everyone around them, but especially on Jonathan's face.

"He just… and then… but… what?" Jonathan muttered, still shocked by what had just happened.

"You might want to take your Rattata to the pokemon center," Ash said to the other boy "if any of Weedle's poison got into its bloodstream then it could die without any antidote."

"Yeah… yeah I should do that," Jonathan said dejectedly as he recalled his Rattata and made his way towards the Pokemon Center.

Ash looked down at Buzz and saw what appeared to be a victory dance. Buzz was flinging strings of silk in the air, and spinning around in circles as they came down upon him. Ash had seen this many times before but was so happy that his own Pokemon was finally doing it.

"Look!" Ash said to the others still around, "It looks like Buzz is evolving!"

Everybody looked with glee as the Weedle finished covering itself with the string and started pulsing a bright white energy. Ash watched as the form underneath shifted and grew, becoming less segmented and more and more rigid.

Finally the glowing energy stopped and Buzz appeared as a ginormous Kakuna. He was over three feet long, and as Ash went over to pick him up and celebrate, he noticed how heavy he was.

"Holy cow Buzz! You must weigh over 30 pounds! There's no way I can carry you everywhere with me." Ash said as he looked at the magnificent Kakuna.

Buzz chittered back happily at Ash, obviously pleased over his new form. He had been a Weedle for so long he was almost afraid that he wouldn't know how to evolve, but it came easily enough.

"Congratulations!" Ash heard someone say. He was shocked at that, because in his excitement he had totally forgotten that there were other people watching. It looked like there were more people gathered around now than earlier, and he knew they must have seen the light from evolution and made their way over.

That was perfect for Ash, because the people who had seen the battle were now telling all of the others around.

Ash smiled. So far his plan was going according to schedule. Obviously it would have been near impossible to defeat a Rattata with a brand new Weedle, but Ash and Buzz had been working together for close to 10 months and that foundation paid off. However, nobody else knew that. All they knew was that Ash had just gotten a Weedle and was able to defeat a Rattata and evolve it all on the same day. Quite an impressive feat.

Ash recalled Buzz and started walking back to his house. He needed to tell his Mother about his day, and he felt like leaving the group that was standing around and talking about him before somebody started talking to him. He didn't mind the popularity, but he wasn't going to jinx it by talking too big too soon. In time, he would be the only thing anyone was talking about or wanting to talk to. But for now, he was okay with leaving.

"Mom, Get in here! I have something to show you!" Ash said as he entered his house. He sat down on the couch and released Buzz to sit on the cushion next to him.

"Just one second!" Delia said as she came running down the stairs. "Did you get your first pokemon? What is—OH that's huge!" Delia stated as she came down the stairs and saw Ash and Buzz on the couch.

"How did you get your Weedle to evolve already? You just got it today! There's no way…" Delia said as she examined the Kakuna. Ash just grinned as he waited for his mom to figure it out. Delia glanced over the giant Kakuna and noticed something familiar about it. She reached down to grab it and met its gaze with her own.

"Buzz! Is that you?" Delia asked as the Kakuna chittered back happily.

"Ash, what did you do? Tell me you didn't bring Buzz in to the Rockets to have them capture him for you for your first pokemon! How could you just take him out of the hive like that?" Delia started as her anger began to rise.

"Calm down mom!" Ash pleaded. "I've already talked to the Queen; this was the plan the whole time. I didn't just steal Buzz, I got a regular Weedle from Team Rocket and then took it back to the hive to switch places with Buzz. Buzz has wanted to travel anyways so it's a win win!" Ash exclaimed.

"Oh…. Okay then. As long as you didn't take him in first and leave the hive a Weedle down," Ash's mom said back.

"Don't worry, I thought it through! Buzz and I are so ready for our first day of Academy after the weekend! Let's go upstairs and work on Harden buddy! We've gotta get your shell maxed out fast so we can get you evolved again!" Ash said as he carried the Kakuna up the stairs and into his bedroom.

The weekend passed by fairly quickly. Ash spent all his time up in his room with his Kakuna, having it attempt to Harden its shell every so often to increase its defenses. It was a monotonous task, but one that Ash knew was necessary for Buzz to start off on the best path once he evolved into a Beedrill.

But now, it was time for the Academy. Ash was so excited that he could hardly wait. He was outside the front of the old gym with the rest of the new recruits, eagerly waiting for the first announcement to find out what classes he would take. There were still 15 minutes before anything official happened, but Ash and around 15 others were too excited not to show up early.

"Attention incoming grunts! I heard one of you evolved a Pokemon over the weekend, who was it?" Ash heard a voice call out from closer to the stage.

"It was me!" Ash responded as he made his way towards the voice. Ash saw Dan and Jonathan there and smirked as he saw Jonathan telling Dan the story about how his Rattata was destroyed by Buzz.

Ash looked up and found the owner of the voice he had heard. It belonged to a boy only a few years older than Ash, with sandy blonde hair and an athletic build.

"That was me," Ash said again as he got face to face with the stranger.

"Awesome!" The boy replied, an evil look in his eye. "I'll be taking your Pokemon now." He said matter of factly.

"And why is that?" Ash asked back smugly. Ash knew that in most circumstances evolving a Pokemon brought it to a higher ranking, which meant it had to be taken away and held until a trainer of equal ranking wanted it. Some Pokemon like Rattata evolved into Rank 2 Pokemon, while others like Machop or Charmander evolved into Rank 3 Pokemon. There were only two Pokemon who evolved into Rank 1 pokemon, and those were Caterpie and Weedle.

"Well, you silly little Grunt, you aren't allowed to own a Rank 2 Pokemon. It is too powerful for you and it wouldn't be fair to the other first years if you had something that strong and they didn't. So fork it over kid before I make you." The older boy spat back with some venom.

There were a couple of other boys his age with him, and they laughed behind his shoulders. Apparently, this was their ring leader.

"Well actually Sir, the Pokemon that evolved was a Weedle. And since Kakuna is still a rank 1 Pokemon, I'm definitely still allowed to keep it." Ash said back.

"A Weedle? Oh nobody told me that!" The other boy laughed. "Your little 4 inch worm got excited and decided to power up huh? Well that's real nice for you," The boy said as the others behind him started to burst into laughter.

Ash didn't understand what was so funny, and apparently neither did Jonathan because he responded next.

"His Weedle was way bigger than 4 inches man, It has to be the biggest Weedle I've ever seen! Ash beat my butt hard with that Weedle of his, I was not expecting it to be so dang hard!"

The older boys were basically in hysterics now, but their leader managed to get another retort in between gasps for air, "He saw your Weedle too? Don't go around showing that thing to everyone, you might get in trouble!"

Ash didn't understand why the older boys were laughing so hard, but he was quite done with their attitude. "I have no issue showing my Kakuna to anyone who asks. The only reason I would do that would be because I was embarrassed of my Pokemon. Maybe you are embarrassed of yours? Is it deformed or something, is that why you don't want people seeing your Pokemon?" Ash snapped back.

The older boy glared back at Ash after that, and the boys behind him desperately tried to hold back their laughter. "You better watch yourself kid. You're lucky I'm getting promoted today and can't risk messing it up, otherwise I'd throw down with you right here and now and send you crying to mommy. Watch yourself loser. Next time you see me, Gary, coming your way, just walk away or else you'll be sorry. " Gary said as he stomped off, his minions in tow behind him.

Well that could have gone worse, Ash thought to himself. The thought was quickly pushed aside as one of Team Rockets Officers stepped forward onto the stage outside of the old gym to address the young students.

And just like that, Ash began training as a Team Rocket Grunt.

Ash's first day of classes consisted of orientation, a history class, and then a class on Team Rocket rules and bylaws. Ash learned that these would be the only classes he would have for his first trimester. He was saddened that he wouldn't get to get into anything more exciting, but he figured he would be fine for a month or so. A trimester lasted a full three months, but Ash didn't plan on waiting that long to evolve Kakuna. Out in the forest it had only taken the Kakuna about a month before they could no longer harden their shells, and he assumed Buzz would be at least that fast.

Now that his first day was over, he hurried over to the library to do some extra reading on Pokemon battling and training.

The library was across the street from the old gym, which served as the main teaching rooms for the Academy. The battle field was rarely used, but occasionally Officers were allowed to spar on it. And if Ash was lucky, he could even see a couple of Executives sparring if they came into town. Now those were matches to watch!

However, there were no such matches going on today, and so Ash walked across the street to the library. As he stepped inside the building, he noticed a couple of things. The first thing he noticed was the tall gentleman with dark hair and dark eyes, wearing a black shirt with a giant R on it standing in-between the entryway and the actual library. The next thing he noticed was that there were four specific areas, each separated by a tall wall. The only way in or out from each of these areas was via the tall man and the desk that he was at.

"Well hello there! First time here?" The man asked with a friendly smile as he looked at Ash.

"Yes it is!" Ash replied, "Is there something special I have to do?"

"Oh no sir! The library is split up by section depending on your rank. Since you are a Grunt, you can enter in to the far right side."

"Oh… is there something different in the other libraries?"

"Why yes. There are certain books that are banned to you because of your rank and inexperience. For instance, it wouldn't be fair if you were able to learn more about battle tactics than an Agent just because you want to go to the library and read while said Agent wants to hang out with friends. Team Rocket is all about fairness, and so the library has to be restricted." The man said back matter of factly.

"Oh… um okay I guess!" Ash said. He was confused, but he didn't want to upset the bookkeeper.

Ash walked into the section that he was allowed to go into and noticed how bland it was. There were only a handful of books on the shelves. Ash read through the titles-

Team Rocket Rules and Regulations

Team Rocket Mission Statement and Vision

Team Rocket's foundation

Your Beginner's guide to identifying pokemon

Can Meowth really talk?

Ash sighed as he continued looking at the books. There seemed to be nothing useful for him here, until he finally saw something that caught his eye on the bottom shelf.

A Practical Guide To Raising Your Beedrill.

Ash grabbed the book and inspected it closer. It looked a little dusty, as if it hadn't been handled in years. Ash flipped it open to the first page.

A Practical Guide To Raising Your Beedrill.

By Koga of Fuschia.

This book is meant to help trainers improve the strength of their Beedrill. It is my belief that the Weedle line has been extremely underestimated in terms of power and potential. The goal of this book is to detail some of that hidden talent.

Ash turned the page eagerly. He didn't know who Koga was, but this guy was speaking his language.

Table Of Contents

A general overview of Bug Types

Weedle in the Wild

Picking Your Weedle

Should I evolve early?

Raising your Weedle

Raising your Kakuna

Raising your Beedrill

Advanced Battle Tactics

Conclusion and Acknowledgments

Ash found a red chair with puffy cushions to sit down in and released Buzz from his pokeball on an identical chair opposite him.

"Hey Buddy!" Ash said as the Kakuna appeared. Buzz chittered back a greeting.

"I found a book all about the Weedle line! I'm going to spend some time reading this, why don't you practice hardening your shell while we are in here?" Ash said to Buzz.

Buzz chittered back in acceptance. Using Harden over and over was monotonous and generally boring, but Buzz knew that Ash knew what he was doing and trusted him. He would put up with this lame training, because he would become the strongest Beedrill there was.

Ash turned back to his book when he saw Buzz begin to harden up. Ash skimmed through the first few chapters, as he already knew most of the information. The way that Koga talked about Beedrill in the wild seemed a little foreign to Ash and flat out wrong in some spots, so Ash assumed that Koga had never been invited in as a member of the hive before.

Ash smiled at that. Even though Koga might have spent more time raising Beedrill and wrote a book about them, there were a few things Ash knew that he didn't.

Ash kept skimming past the Pick your Weedle and Raising your Weedle sections. He already knew all that information, plus Buzz was a Kakuna now anyways so it didn't matter. He slowed down as he got to the next chapter.

Raising Your Kakuna

Once your Weedle evolves into a Kakuna, it enters a very intriguing phase of its development. As we've already mentioned, in the wild they stay in this form for only 7-10 days, but there are many reasons why it is beneficial for them to stay in this form longer.

Ash continued to read, seeing information that he already knew. They needed to be raised until they couldn't harden anymore, blablabla –

After Harden has no more affect, one might think it is time to evolve the Kakuna. Its shell is as hard as possible, allowing the Beedrill to have the strongest exoskeleton possible, in theory. However, they would actually miss out on a lot of other opportunities if this was the only goal. Most likely due to their immobility, (They can sort of get around by using string shot to jump from place to place, but normally stay tied up to one spot on a tree) Kakuna have the unique ability to harness both Steel and Electric energy, which they can carry with them to their final stage.

Ash paused and gaped. Electric and Steel energy? What in the world?

For the Steel ability, if Kakuna continues to attempt to Harden after it no longer has any effect while simultaneously being hit by another Pokemon, Kakuna will begin to have a bright gray gleam against its shell. This is the beginning of Iron Defense, which is a move that Beedrill will also be able to harness, unlike Harden. This increased hardening of the shell will also have an effect on the evolved form. By my calculations, the shell of a Beedrill who learned Iron defense as a Kakuna is 50% more durable than one who only went until harden had no effect.

Ash was in complete awe. He had no idea about this Iron Defense, but if it helped that much he would be sure to train Buzz that much. He shared the news with Buzz, but was surprised when Buzz chittered back to him with an angry expression.

"No I'm sure it works Buzz. This will be how you are the strongest." Ash said to the Kakuna. Buzz was not budging, and continued to chitter angrily at Ash.

"Are you concerned about the hive?" Ash asked. Buzz seemed to think for a second before letting out a soft chitter. "Okay, we will go and tell them too before we do it. Don't worry buddy."

Buzz chittered an affirmative at that. Ash was still confused, but he shook it off as he went on reading.

As for the Electric energy, this is used in conjunction with a modified form of string shot. On a side note, String shot is a unique ability that every Weedle has, and in fact is necessary to evolve. However, if not utilized by a Kakuna then the silk pouch will shrink and after a Kakuna evolves it will become non-operational for a Beedrill. This is why most Beedrill in the wild are not able to use string shot, because they simply do not utilize the silk pouch as Kakuna.

Anyways, the first step is to get the Kakuna to be able to shoot out a string shot in the form of a web. This takes a lot of concentration, but the Kakuna should be able to get the gist of it down fairly simply. It will take multiple days before it comes in as a good web, but the completed web should be at least large enough to capture a young Rattata.

The second step is when the electricity comes in. Kakuna is able to utilize electric energy to create the move Electroweb. However, a Kakuna cannot create its own electricity at first. It literally needs to be shocked by a weak electric current while shooting the web out. When this is done correctly, the web will spark as the silk carries the current. After this point, The Kakuna or Beedrill will be able to produce its own electricity for the electroweb. This is a very potent move, and my Beedrill has ended battles before they started with a well-placed electroweb at unsuspecting water types who foolishly try to launch water guns.

Ash was so excited by what he just read. He explained this to Buzz as well, and this time Buzz chittered very excitedly back. Ash couldn't believe that his Kakuna could learn an Electric type move! He had never heard of this anywhere before, and he knew with this information he could definitely surprise a ton of people.

Ash spent another hour reading through the rest of the raising your Kakuna section, hoping to find another secret but with no luck. Ash also read the Raising Your Beedrill section, and was very fascinated by all the information in that. He was especially interested in what seemed to be the last paragraph on the bottom of the last page before the next chapter.

If you have read this far, then you are on track to raise an amazing Beedrill. Not only will your Beedrill be at full power, but nearly everyone will underestimate it, which will allow you to do a lot of damage before they even realize what hit them. My Beedrill has only lost a few matches, and those only by challengers who had seen us in action before. However, in the next chapter we will explain the best practices for battles. I will also release information on how my Beedrill was able to go beyond his regular form into something much more dangerous, something that could even challenge one of the Champions dragons.

Beyond his regular form? Challenge a Dragon? Ash was very intrigued and he turned the page to learn more.

Conclusion and Acknowledgements

I would like to thank-

Ash paused as he looked at the next page. There was a whole section missing, and as Ash looked closer he saw that the pages were ripped out of the book. "Hey Buzz are you ready to go back in your ball? I need to check in with the librarian.

Buzz chittered back in agreement, ready to be done with the monotonous task of trying to harden his shell. Ash recalled him as he walked back up to the librarian with the book in his hands.

"Finally done huh? I was wondering if you fell asleep in there, most students don't spend near that much time in there." The librarian said to Ash as he walked up.

"I actually have a question! I was reading this book and there is a section that seems to have been torn out." Ash said as he handed the book to the Librarian and showed him the place where it was gone.

"Ah yes, some of the books are like that," The Librarian began to explain. "Like I was saying before, there is certain information that would create unfair advantage. For instance, this section seems to be titled Advanced Battle Tactics you see. Now we try to have all the same books in all our libraries, but let's say we didn't have this particular book in Celadon. Reading this section would create an unfair advantage for you over that individual in Celadon. But more than that, you are a person who actually reads through things! Most students don't stay in here that long and they only skim at best. Some only look at pictures. Anyways, you coming in here and spending all your free time reading could give you an unfair advantage over your classmates who maybe can't read as well as you or don't want to. That wouldn't be fair, you see and that's why we have to ban certain things."

"But, it's not an unfair advantage if I'm working harder than them?" Ash asked back, perplexed by the situation he was in.

"That would be your thought, but the only reason that you work harder is because you were born with a drive to work hard. Not everybody was born that way, so it's actually unfair that you work harder. That's why people can't skip ranks in Team Rocket, or own Pokemon above their ranks. It wouldn't be fair for younger students to hold higher ranks than older students just because they trained their pokemon more or spent more hours in the library. Ultimately we don't control our drive, we are just born with it and it isn't fair to put some at a disadvantage because of that." The librarian said.

"Don't worry, you'll learn this in your classes and it will begin to make sense," The librarian added as he saw the confused look on Ash's face. "It didn't make sense to me at first either, but after being here awhile and hearing it enough it begins to click. Now, with that being said Beedrill is only a Rank 2 Pokemon so I'm sure that this information is available to Agents and above. I'm an Officer so I should have clearance. Would you like me to read it and then paraphrase the parts that wouldn't cause advantage to you?" The man asked Ash.

"Um, sure" Ash said. Half a loaf is better than nothing, Ash thought. At that his stomach grumbled and he realized how hungry he was. He had been in the library reading for quite a while.

"Huh. That's interesting…" The librarian said as he was looking at the computer screen. "It seems like the remaining content of this book is classified at Rank 5, so only the Admins can see it…. Not even our Executives could crack a look…" The man was thoroughly confused as he trailed off.

"Sorry kid, there must be a glitch in the system. It looks like I can't access it right now. I'll put in a help ticket and you can come back in a couple days and see if it is fixed. It makes no sense on why a book about Beedrill would be that classified."

Ash thanked the man and left the library, eager to grab something to eat.

Ash's first couple weeks of classes went by similarly. The only interesting class he had was history. He learned how Team Rocket had come into power about 10 years ago. Before that, there had been a series of trainers known as the Elite Four who acted as the governing body of both Kanto and Johto. Back then, the regions were separated but operated under the same system, each having gym leaders at most towns to protect them, and trusting in the Elite Four and their Pokemon League as the highest form of government. However, their leader, a Dragon type specialist named Lance went crazy and started terrorizing the towns in Kanto and Johto. With his three overpowering Dragonite he smashed through the League forces that tried to stop him. Finally, the other members of the elite four confronted him at the Indigo Plateau. The result was a bloody confrontation that ended with all the Elite four and their pokemon mortally wounded. With Lance having decimated the league forces prior to that event, there was no order left in the joined reasons. As chaos was beginning to form, Giovanni and Sabrina, two of the most powerful gym leaders in Kanto formed Team Rocket to protect the regions. They knew that after Lance had lost control it was not safe for any one trainer to have so much power unrestrained, and that is why they made the Pokemon ownership requirements. Hearing that they would have to give up their strong Pokemon in order to bring peace back to the regions, Johto stubbornly rebelled against the Rocket rule. Cinnabar also seceded from the Kanto government, just as most of the stubborn gym leaders went into hiding. Giovanni, Sabrina and Team Rocket had been working to bring peace back to Kanto for the past 10 years, and were mostly successful in doing so through the rocket academies. As more and more members of Team Rocket were being trained morals first, and Pokemon battling later, they were able to safely handle more advanced Pokemon as they ranked up in the academy. Ash had learned that since Kanto was now under peace and prosperity thanks to Team Rocket, the next move would be to bring that peace to Johto and Cinnabar.

Other than that, classes were pretty boring for Ash. He had tried going back to the library a few times, but none of the books in the Grunt section were worth reading, and Ash found out that the librarian had to take Koga's book off the shelves to send in a help ticket.

So Ash spent most of his free time in his room with Kakuna, teaching him how to shoot a web and working on hardening his shell. He couldn't remember if he had to wait to add the electricity until after the shell was fully hard or not, so he decided to play it safe.

So it was that Ash found himself messing with his lamp in his room on a Saturday when Buzz started chittering loudly at him.

"What is it buddy?" Ash looked up from his project towards Buzz.

Buzz tried to clench up to harden his shell but showed Ash that it was no longer having any effect. His shell was as hard as it could be.

"Awesome job Buzz! I knew you were getting close! That was only two weeks, I'm so proud of you!" Ash said triumphantly. "We are getting so close to evolving you and ranking up! Let's get the electroweb working and then take you back to the hive! I'm sure they will be excited to see you and learn our new trick!" And I can figure out why you don't want to learn Iron Defense, Ash thought to himself.

Buzz chittered excitedly, but then gave a confused noise, almost as if to ask Ash where they would find the electric type to provide the electricity.

Ash had been thinking about the same thing for the past two weeks. He quickly realized that none of the other Grunts had any electric types. He knew the librarian was an Officer so he had asked him, but he learned that the librarian frowned on helping to train a Grunt's pokemon, especially to learn new moves. He had said something about how it wasn't about the battle's win or lose, but the people you meet and the friends you choose. Teaching his pokemon extra moves would lead to "Unfair advantages" and anyone who had spent the four years in classes it took to become an Officer would know not to provide that unfairness to a Grunt. No, the librarian had told him it would be a bad idea to ask around, because not everyone would be as forgiving as he was to someone who was trying to be unfair.

So Ash was left without an electric type to help Buzz learn Electroweb. But that didn't stop Ash from having other ideas. That was in fact, why Ash had been messing with his lamp. He was trying to find a way to disconnect the power cord without making the lamp unusable. He knew he could just cut the cord and then hopefully stick it to the Kakuna as he shot a web, but Ash was fairly certain his mom would kill him if he destroyed the lamp like that.

So instead, Ash was going to try something else first. Buzz needed to learn this move, so if he had to he would cut the cord, but Ash started by unscrewing the light bulb from the lamp.

"Okay buddy, here's what we are going to do." Ash said as he moved over to pick up the Kakuna. "First, you are going to put your stinger out the bottom of your shell as if you were using poison sting. Then I am going to place you on the lamp and your stinger is going to go right where the light bulb does. As soon as you feel the electricity course through your body you're going to spit out a web. Does that sound good?"

Buzz chittered back an uneasy confirmation. He was slightly taken aback by the approach, but he wanted to gain this ability.

"Okay buddy, here we go!" Ash said as he put the Kakuna on top of the lamp.

"Huh" Ash said as nothing happened. "Maybe if I kinda twist you in there," Ash muttered as he tried to twist the Kakuna a little further into the socket.

Still nothing. Ash took a step back and looked thoughtfully.

"Maybe if you try to release some poison from your stinger? If it drips down it might-" Ash was cut off as Buzz shot a web straight at his face. Ash barely had time to duck as the web landed on the bed. Ash turned to look at the bed and shouted with glee!

"You did it buddy! I can see the electricity sparkling all over that web! It looks pretty powerful too! I don't know why you had to shoot it right at me though, that could have been real bad." Ash said as he turned around to look at the Kakuna.

What Ash didn't realize at first was that the whole entire time he was talking Buzz was still being shocked by the lamp.

"Oh no!" Ash cried as he ran and unplugged the thing. "Are you okay?" Ash asked as he pulled the Kakuna out of the light socket.

Buzz chittered weakly back, as the smell of slightly burnt bug started to fill the room. Ash recalled Buzz and ran out of his house to the Pokemon Center.

After his trip to the Pokemon Center, Ash was on the road to Viridian forest. It turned out that Buzz hadn't sustained too much damage from the electricity. He was more stunned than anything else. Nurse Joy gave Ash a stern warning not to do something that stupid again, but also complimented him on how large Buzz was. She was not used to seeing Kakuna, but she was sure that Buzz was close to twice the size of any others she had seen in the past.

Ash was filled with pride as he heard this statement. He had spent almost a year playing and training with Buzz, and it showed. Although everyone thought he had only gotten his Weedle two weeks ago, Buzz was a lot older and stronger, and that showed by his size. They had really come a long ways, and it was getting close to time for him to evolve again into a powerful Beedrill. Especially if he could talk Buzz into learning Iron Defense…

Ash was so deep in his thoughts that he almost tripped over a rock. He looked up and saw that he was almost at the forest, and so he darted to the side of the main entrance towards the little hidden path that he took to get to the hive. It was out of the way and hidden from the rest of the forest, and Ash was pretty sure that him and his mom were the only ones who had been that way before.

Ash made his way through the barely visible path and came out to the clearing that contained a giant tree in the center. Ash moved with purpose as he approached the tree, knowing that the hive was inside. Ash looked up and saw a few Beedrill going in and out of the tree. They looked down at him ready to fight, but quickly recognized the boy and chittered happily at him.

Ash laughed as he found himself in a better mood than he had been in weeks. Ash had personally played with all of the Beedrill in this forest when they were Weedle. It was his idea that strengthened their exoskeleton. He had helped the Queen find this tree. And he would help the new ones learn Electroweb. Ash thought about how different their next confrontation with a Fearow would be.

As Ash reached the bottom of the tree the two guardians came out to meet him. The guardians were the two oldest Beedrill outside of the Queen, the one with the missing lance and the other with the small and slightly cracked wings. It was ironic that Ash considered them the guardians, as they were also the weakest among them, but they were the ones in charge of watching over the Weedle and Kakuna.

Ash knew, however that if any harm presented itself they would immediately call for and receive back up, so maybe sentries was a better term for them.

Or babysitters Ash mused as he saw a few Weedle crawling over one of them.

"Good to see you guys!" Ash said. "I have some news I would like to share with the Queen if that's okay. Can I go into the tree?" Ash asked as he began to walk forward. He had climbed the tree and into the heart of the hive many times before, so he didn't really think of it so much as a question.

The two guardians held out their lances to stop him and chittered a short denial.

"Oh" Ash said, taken aback. "Well can she come down here? What I have to say is very important," Ash said as he looked at the two Beedrill. Something was different and he didn't like it.

They looked at each other and chittered back and forth before looking at Ash and shaking their heads to say no.

"Um okay, I'm a little confused so I'm going to release Buzz. I think we should talk to the Queen, but if Buzz thinks he can relay the message to you that will work!" Ash said as he reached for his pokeball. He unleashed Buzz with a burst of red light.

"Hey Buzz, do you want to tell them all the news that we have and why we need to see the Queen? They aren't wanting to let us see her," Ash told his Kakuna.

Buzz started chittering towards the Beedrill as they chittered back. Ash lost track of the conversation as he couldn't understand any of it anyways, and began to wonder if Buzz could take these guys on if he wanted to. Obviously the other Beedrill would take Buzz out with ease, but these two were the weakest and Buzz had Electroweb…

It seemed the conversation was finished as the two Guardians flew up into the hive.

"So… are they going to bring the Queen down?" Ash asked Buzz. He chittered back what sounded like an affirmative.

Ash waited a couple minutes before he saw the three Beedrill return.

The Queen was by far the largest Beedrill in the whole hive, and also the prettiest with the green stripes instead of yellow. Ash looked at the giant scar running across the abdomen of the old Queen, the physical reminder of the attack that decimated the old hive.

"Hello your highness!" Ash said with an air of respect. He wasn't normally this formal with the queen, but after his earlier confrontation with the guardians he wanted to be as polite as possible. "We have two new techniques I would like to share with the group! These should help out tremendously, especially with any Spearow or Fearow who decide to attack.

The three Beedrill looked very intrigued at that, so Ash spent a few minutes describing the process of how electroweb would work and how it could only be learned in the Kakuna phase.

"Buzz can probably teach the other Kakuna before we leave, and then you guys will be able to teach yourselves after that." Ash finished.

"Now, Buzz was acting weird about the second one. I learned that we can increase the strength of the exoskeleton even more than we already have by -"

Ash was interrupted as all three of the other Beedrill began chittering. The Queen chittered loudly and shot a poison sting in front of each of the other Beedrill's legs to shut them up. The Queen looked Ash in the eyes as she chittered an affirmative and patted herself on the chest. Then she patted one of the other Beedrill on the chest and chittered a negative.

"I don't understand," Ash said, very confused.

The Queen chittered again and patted herself again. Ash watched as her abdomen glinted a bright gray color briefly. Then she patted one of the other Beedrill with her lance and shook her head no.

"You already know this? But they aren't allowed? I don't…." Ash began as realization struck him. "The Queen bee needs to be dominant and more powerful… is this only a technique for the Queen?" Ash asked with understanding. Of course she had a tougher hide, otherwise she would have been torn in half like all the other Beedrill were years ago.

The Queen chittered an affirmative, obviously pleased that Ash understood. The first thing to cross Ash's mind was that Koga was wrong about the Beedrill in the wild not knowing this technique. They did, but it was reserved for the Queen only. Of course, how would anyone know that unless they were a part of the hive like Ash was?

"That explains why Buzz refused to learn it… But would it be okay if he did? I know he isn't the Queen but he is going to be representing our hive to the whole world so he should be as powerful as possible to prove how strong we are!" Ash said very hopefully. If Buzz couldn't learn it that would be alright, but Ash couldn't help but dream about him being 50% more durable than he was already going to be.

Ash's question started another arguing match between the three bees. For his part, Buzz looked absolutely mortified that Ash would ask such a thing. Or at least, Ash thought Buzz looked mortified, Kakuna don't exactly have too many facial expressions.

After a couple minutes the Beedrill finally quieted down. Ash looked expectantly towards the Queen bee. He knew he would have to respect her answer no matter what, but he was hoping for the best.

The Queen approached Buzz and began to circle around him, inspecting his shell. She chittered a couple of times in a low tone to him, to which he responded with a couple of low chitters back. The Queen bee finished her evaluation of Buzz and walked over to Ash to stand face to face with him.

And in fact, the Queen's eyes came up to just about Ash's. Ash was about average height for a 10 year old boy, coming in at about 4 feet 6 inches, so he wasn't too surprised that the Queen was as tall as him. He knew that while most wild Beedrill were about a foot shorter, the Queen and any Beedrill who trained hard enough as a Weedle and Kakuna could easily get over 4 feet tall.

The Queen stared into Ash's eyes for the longest minute in Ash's life before stepping back and hovering over to be between the other two Beedrill. She chittered an affirmative then and nodded her head to confirm.

Ash shouted "Oh yeah!" as he put a fist in the air in triumph.

The rest of the day was spent with Buzz working on Electroweb with the other Kakuna. It was pretty comical to see them get the basic shape of the web down and then watch as Buzz shot them with electricity. Luckily Buzz had only put a small amount of energy into the shocks, but Ash still brought a couple potions and had to use a couple sprays on a few of the Kakuna that had gotten shocked a little worse.

Once Buzz finished teaching the Kakuna, they said goodbye and headed back into town. The sun was beginning to set, and Ash wanted to get home and get to sleep as fast as possible. He had to teach Iron Defense to Buzz the next day, after all.

Ash knocked on the door to Jonathan's house.

"Hello?" Jonathan's mom said as she answered the door. "Can I help you?"

"Is Jonathan home? Can I come in? Is he in his room upstairs?" Ash asked as he slipped past Jonathan's mom. He wasn't really in a mood to talk. He had spent all morning telling Buzz to continue to harden and trying to figure out why it wasn't working. Finally he remembered the book said he had to be attacked at the same time. That was why he went to Jonathan's house, because he needed Jonathan's Rattata.

"Um, yes!" Jonathan's mom called out as Ash was already marching up the stairs. Normally Ash wasn't this blunt, in fact he was normally quite respectful and kind of shy, but his excitement to teach Buzz Iron Defense overruled all of that in this moment.

Ash knocked on Jonathan's door and walked in. "Hey Jonathan! It's Ash, I need to see your Rattata." Ash said eagerly.

"Hey now! How did you get in here?" Jonathan jumped as Ash came through the door.

"Through your front door, obviously. Anyways, where's your Rattata? Let him out I want to try something with Buzz." Ash said back impatiently.

"There is no way we are battling again! Your Weedle wrecked me and I'm sure it's gotten stronger since it's evolved!" Jonathan said back. "I am not going to make Rattata go through that again!"

"Don't worry." Ash said, trying to soothe the other boy. "I don't want to battle, I'm trying to teach Buzz a new defensive move that requires him to be attacked in order to learn." Ash explained.

"Oh. So Rattata will just be hitting your Kakuna and it won't hit back?"

"That's the plan! So what do you say, let your rat out and let's get this thing going!" Ash stated with excitement.

"Okay, but let's take it outside. That will give Rattata more room to run around than in my bedroom." Jonathan said as he grabbed his pokeball and walked out his bedroom door. Ash followed him.

"Hey mom! We are going outside to train; we will just be in the front yard!" Jonathan said to his mother.

"Okay, be safe!" She replied back, obviously worried about Rattata. "Remember Rattata is a lot weaker than that other boy's pokemon! Take it easy on her!"

"Don't worry, we will!" Ash said back as he closed the front door behind him. That didn't reassure Jonathan's mom at all.

"So how do you want to do this?" Jonathan asked. They had both released their pokemon and had explained the plan to them. Rattata had remembered Buzz and so it took some time to convince her to face off against the more powerful opponent, but once she learned that Buzz wouldn't be fighting back she got really excited.

"I guess just keep having your Rattata tackle Buzz. I have some potions in case he'll need some but his shell is already pretty firm. Buzz will just keep trying to harden his shell more while taking your hits until his shell glimmers a bright gray. I guess the only way to tell is by trial and error!" Ash responded.

"You heard him Rattata. It's payback time! Tackle!" Jonathan said.

Ash laughed as he saw the little Rattata move and tackle the much bigger Kakuna. Judging by how little Rattata had grown in the last two weeks, Ash had to guess that Jonathan kept her in her pokeball most of the time. It wasn't too surprising then that Buzz barely felt anything when Rattata landed its tackle.

"Keep going Rattata! No mercy!" Jonathan said.

This might take a while, Ash thought to himself as he watched the little Rattata charge and still do barely any damage.

A couple hours later and the boys still hadn't seen any improvement by Buzz. Rattata was starting to hit harder, and had needed a few breaks in-between to catch its breath, but otherwise there was little progress. The boys had stopped to eat lunch.

"Are you sure this is how it's done?" Jonathan asked in between mouthfuls of his sandwich.

"Yes, it's what the book said. Maybe Rattata just wasn't doing enough damage? Her attacks are already quite a bit stronger than they were this morning." Ash replied. He didn't know why it wasn't working but he hoped it would soon, otherwise today was just a waste.

"Yeah, maybe! I didn't realize how much fun training was! I'm going to let Rattata out more and we are going to keep training! Maybe I can convince Dan to train with us! He got an Ekans as his starter!" Jonathan replied happily.

Ash wolfed down the rest of his sandwich before responding. "Yeah, maybe next weekend the three of us can train together! Hurry up and finish your sandwich, I was to give this a few more tries before I head home." Ash said back as he stood up and walked over to where Buzz was eating some Pokemon food.

"You're so close buddy, I know it! Just keep trying; I'm sure you'll get it down!" Ash said cheerfully.

"Already Rattata, let's do this! No holding back, give him everything you've got! Tackle!" Jonathan said once he stood up from the table.

Rattata charged the Kakuna and rushed straight into the thick shell. Ash might have been making it up, but he thought for a second he saw the shell turn gray...

"Again!" Ash said excitedly. Buzz chittered excitedly as well, showing that he felt the energy too.

Rattata charged again and this time Buzz turned a bright silver just as the Rattata collided into him. The unexpected steel made the Rattata yelp in pain and look at the Kakuna more wearily.

"Yay! You did it! Great job Buzz!" Ash cheered excitedly. Even Jonathan looked please after he made sure Rattata wasn't too injured. The recoil more stunned the Rattata than anything.

"Now can you do it on command?" Ash asked. "Iron Defense!"

Buzz chittered to Ash and focused hard as his body changed to a silver color for a half of a second.

"Can you hold it for any longer buddy?" Ash asked, surprised by the shortness in duration.

Buzz tried again, but was only able to hold it for a fraction of a second longer while trying with all his might.

"Well hey, it's a starting place and now we have something else to work towards! It's going to be just like harden all over again, I know you loved that training!" Ash laughed as Buzz chittered dejectedly. Ash was pleased that he had learned the move. It wouldn't be very useful if it only lasted for a fraction of a second unless they could develop lightning quick reflexes, but if they could get it to last longer then it would be very useful.

"Woah that's so cool! I wish Rattata could do that!" Jonathan said as he watched Buzz cover himself with an iron coating again. "Iron Defense!" Jonathan shouted to his Rattata.

The Pokemon cocked its head sideways and looked at Jonathan like he had lost his mind. Jonathan laughed in response.

"Rattata actually has a lot of other cool moves she can learn," Ash said. "Quick Attack, Thunder Fang, Mega Fang, Bite, I think Crunch once she evolves maybe. They are pretty versatile too you just have to train them!"

"Yeah, I'll definitely do that!" Jonathan said.

"Well, thanks for the help! I'm going to head home, I'm sure my mom wants to spend some time with me before we head back to the academy. See you tomorrow!" Ash said as he turned to leave. Buzz had almost reached his max potential. A couple of weeks focusing and expanding the Iron Defense and Ash was sure Buzz would be ready to evolve, and then Ash would be the first Grunt ever to become an Agent in one month. All of Ash's dreams were coming together. What could possibly go wrong?