Chapter 4: Of Specialties And Training

Ash laid down on the bed in the room that Brock was letting him use with an exhausted sigh. It had been a great day, his first real day of training, and he was learning to love his Pokedex. The thing was like a well of knowledge that never ran dry, and Ash was lapping it up. After he sent Buzz to learn Double Team from the Sandshrew, Ash ran through the information on Beedrill again and figured out the next couple moves they would work on.

The first and easiest one was Poison Jab. While Poison Sting involved Buzz firing small stingers from his lances at opposing Pokemon, Poison Jab was a move that physically used his lances to stab into opposing Pokemon. It was able to carry a lot more power behind it, with the obvious drawback of being short ranged. While all Beedrill were technically able to do this, for the move to be perfected it required them to focus on seeping poison throughout their lances and much stronger arm muscles than Beedrill had naturally. Most Beedrill in the wilds attempt at Poison Jab was much more similar to Poison Sting due to the lack of power.

The next was Pin Missile. Another simple upgrade from an already existing move, Pin Missile was just a stronger version of Twineedle. With Twineedle Buzz would shoot two stingers out from his abdomen in quick succession, while Pin Missile improved on this power and allowed for a well-trained bug to shoot up to 5 stingers. Other than the number of stingers, the velocity behind the attack was the main difference.

With this in mind, Ash had waited until Buzz made good progress on Double Team before interrupting the training. Buzz was able to form a couple blurry images that came straight from his own body. Far from perfect, but definitely progress. Once mastered, Double Team could create duplicates out of thin air and each duplicate would be able to have unique movements, thoroughly confusing opponents and making it easier to dodge and land would definitely disorient opponents, but Ash was also hopeful that Buzz could make it look like a whole entire hive had come, not just illusions of Buzz. While far from that level, Buzz had a basic grasp down and Ash wanted to try out something else.

So Ash had Sandshrew practice Iron Defense while Buzz used Poison Jab. The poison wouldn't be able to harm the Alolan Sandshrew thanks to his steel typing, but the jabs would if he didn't have the Iron Defense up. This incentivized the Sandshrew to work even harder to master the move.

That was how Ash had spent the day. An hour working on Double Team, Switch to Poison Jab for an hour, and then back. They had only done two repetitions of this before calling it a night, but it was more training than Buzz had done before and it showed.

Buzz was sprawled out on a blanket that Ash had put on the ground, already half-asleep even though they had only been in the room for minutes.

"Maybe I took it too easy on you as a Kakuna huh? It looks like you've never worked a day in your life!" Ash laughed as he regarded the tired bug-type.

Buzz simply replied with a quiet chitter, too tired to banter properly.

"Well, what do you think about what Brock said? Should we be bug-type specialists?" Ash asked Buzz, although mainly he was talking to himself.

"We could see if we could get a couple Kakuna that know Electroweb from the hive," Ash went on, mind swarming with ideas. "We could get a Caterpie to bring along with us too," Ash said as he looked at Buzz.

Buzz looked back at him at the mention of Caterpie and chittered an annoyed tone. "I know, no Caterpie, they're worthless, yadda yadda," Ash said, amused. He didn't know why the hive had so many issues with the Caterpie line, but they straight up hated the other bug types. Maybe one too many stun spores from the Butterfree, Ash mused to himself.

"Anyways though, there are a few other bug types in Kanto. We could get a Paras, a Venonat, and Scyther and Pinsir. From what I understand the last two are fairly strong. And if we ever make it over to Johto they have a lot of strong bugs too!" Ash said as he looked at Buzz. The bug type had fallen asleep after hearing that Ash said no to Caterpie. Apparently he was fine with any bug as long as it wasn't descendant from a Butterfree.

Ash smiled as he made up his mind. He would be a bug type specialist. With his decision made, he went into the Pokedex and looked for battle clips with bug types. Most of the old gym leaders had their matches recorded, so even though it had been over 10 years since the last Indigo league, he was able to search all of their archives. He found few clips that showed any serious trainer using a bug type, but he held onto any information he could find. As Koga had mentioned in his book, the few clips of him battling with a Beedrill ended rather quickly, with a surprise electric attack knocking out the opponents' Pokemon.

Ash wasn't disappointed by this, however. It made him even more hungry to be the first one to prove that bug types were able to compete. He also spent some time looking over some of Brock's old battles. Brock was typically one of the first gyms trainers would battle, so he was almost always using his newer Pokemon in his gym battles, so they weren't as exciting. Ash knew Brock had a monster Golem, but he normally only used Geodude, and the occasional Onix that was rather young. Ash did see one clip that made him burst out in laughter.

There was a kid who confidently challenged Brock and sent out a Pikachu. Dumb choice, but it got even more funny when Brock released an Onix. The Pikachu literally ran away from it. After a while, the kid convinced his Pokemon to get back onto the field and battle. Finally, the match began and it was over just as quick. The kid tried using Thundershock on the Onix, which obviously had no effect. Onix simply used bind and the poor Pikachu was done for. Ash wondered how many silly battles like that Brock had to deal with each year.

Ash finished looking at battle clips and went back to researching the different Pokemon species he would encounter in Kanto. He also did some research on the Alolan Sandshrew, as he didn't want it to get the better of him again. Ash finally fell asleep while still clutching his Pokedex, deep in his research.

X

Ash looked all around. He was in Viridian forest, and the new Queen of the hive was standing next to him. She chittered and Ash saw the whole swarm come out of the trees, over fifty Beedrill flying around. With the Beedrill at his back, he turned to face his opponents.

Ash looked with horror as their eyes turned into pure flames.

"All your precious bugs are going to burn!" Proton said as he released a massive Charizard.

"Bye bye buggies! Don't worry, it will be short and sweet, don't say I didn't do anything nice for ya," Carl said as he released his Magcargo.

Ash watched in horror as the Magcargo grew and grew. It was bigger than the Charizard, then bigger than the trees, and it kept growing and growing.

With a laugh Carl directed the giant snail's attention towards the swarm, and it let loose an enormous flamethrower that engulfed all of the Beedrill in flames. Ash stared in horror as some were burned to crisps immediately, while the others were stuck writhing in agony as they slowly burned to death.

The Queen bee turned to Ash and grabbed hold of him. He could feel her lances digging into him, somehow cold despite her whole body burning. Ash looked into her eyes and saw-

Ash woke with a yelp in a cold sweat as Buzz softly shook him. Ash jumped at the sight of the Beedrill and Buzz took a couple steps away, seeing that Ash was awake. Buzz chittered at him nervously.

"It… It was just a bad dream buddy. I'm fine," Ash said shakily. He didn't know who he was trying to convince more, himself or Buzz.

"It's just, those fire types," Ash sputtered out. "I can't stand the thought of them always having an advantage over us, you know?" Ash said as he looked at Buzz. Buzz nodded back.

"I don't think I can be a specialist buddy. One glaring weakness, two if you count flying types staring at us. I don't think I can allow us to be at that much risk permanently." Ash said as he made up his mind. He would follow after Samuel Oak, not after everyone else.

Buzz simply looked at him a moment before nodding again.

"I know you were looking forward to spending time with more Beedrill, but I think this is going to be what's best for us. Besides, why do you think Brock has an Alolan Sandslash on his team?" Ash said as he regained some composure. "He was probably tired of Misty always kicking his butt with her water types and wanted something that would be basically immune to her attacks." Ash was proud that he figured this out all on his own.

Buzz chittered an affirmative and laid back down. "Fair enough, let's try and get some more sleep before training again tomorrow." Ash said as he tried to fall back asleep. He laid there with his eyes open for a long time before sleep finally overtook him.

X

"So, did you decide if you're going to specialize in poison types or bug types?" Brock asked Ash after he walked out of his room and into the big training arena.

"I think I did, but I have a question for you first." Ash said to Brock. With a nod from the latter he went on, "why do you have an Alolan Sandslash? They are Ice-Steel types, and normal Sandshrew is ground type, which doesn't fit in with your rock types."

"Ah yes. Well I guess there are a couple reasons. I've always been enamored by the Sandshrew line. I know they aren't rock types but they've always been a Pokemon close to my heart. Maybe it's because they almost pretend to be rock types, with their hard scales and defense curls, and I can understand wanting to be a rock while still having flesh and blood," Brock said as he patted his Golem on the top of his round body. It didn't look like the Golem felt it, but he could hear the loud clap that it made as flesh slapped into rock.

"But that's not really the reason is it?" Brock chuckled as he continued. "When I heard reports that they had Geodude with an Electric typing in Alola, I went to check it out as soon as I could. While I was there, I also heard about the Alolan Sandshrew. Misty and I always had a friendly rivalry, which means that we would spar every year and I would always lose.

Rocks just don't do well against water types. So when I had the chance to bring back and raise an Electric Golem and a Sandshrew that would be basically immune to water attacks, I couldn't resist. That was the year before everything went down with Team Rocket, so I never got to see them take her down." Brock finished.

"That's kinda what I figured. That's why I've decided I'm not going to be a specialist. Having one or two type weaknesses isn't for me. Besides, I don't think it's going to be that hard to train more than one type."

Brock raised an eyebrow at this, so Ash explained.

"With Buzz, we are working on powering up his current abilities. Poison Jab and Pin Missile are just stronger versions of moves he already knows. That's a pretty universal concept. Flamethrower is a stronger version of Ember, Hydro Pump to Water Gun, Slash to Scratch, etc." Ash thought he was revolutionary in his understanding and assumed Brock would be impressed. Instead Brock simply laughed.

"Oh, there's a lot more to training than simply powering up. Let's say Buzz becomes the strongest Beedrill in history. You think he's going to be able to go head to head with a Dragonite? No way, they have way more raw power. Increasing power is important, but you have to have strategy with your Pokemon. You have to figure out what your win condition is and play to that. If you just want to straight up over power everyone you're better off trying to get a team full of dragons." Brock stated.

Ash hadn't thought of that, but he was too stubborn to admit that to Brock. "Yeah, I was just using the moves as an example. I can't formulate strategy around Pokemon I don't have yet, and it's going to be years before we even come close to a power level like yours. It took us almost a year to get to where we are now and your Golem acted like Buzz was little more than a nuisance." Ash said. Brock had some monsters on his team, but there were plenty of other trainers that were just as strong if not stronger. And if Giovanni and Sabrina were noticeably stronger than Brock…

"Golem and I were actually surprised at how durable Buzz was when you guys first fell into our base," Brock said, "We've never had to use that much force to take down a Beedrill. I don't know much about their line, but I do know a few things about Pokemon training in general.

It is hard for a Pokemon to train to a level that it hasn't encountered before. Buzz was probably the strongest Pokemon you had encountered. If I had to guess, even as a Weedle he was destroying the other starter Rocket Pokemon, correct?"

Ash nodded with a smile as he remembered his first battle against Jonathan's Rattata.

"Buzz probably reached a pseudo-limit. He would have still gotten a little bit stronger as he grew, and you could still teach him new moves, but he was pretty close to maxed out training against the weaker Pokemon. This is part of the reason why the gym leaders were set up the way they were. Each leader was slightly stronger than the last, allowing trainers to have a goal to reach. If they lost a battle, they would have a standard that they needed to train for in order to get stronger. Normally this happened with Koga or Surge." Brock paused as he basically spat Surge's name, anger obvious in his voice for the betrayal.

"Anyways, now that you guys have encountered Golem it should have broken the faux limit on Buzz and he should continue to grow. Training is good and all, and learning new moves is important, but Pokemon really grow stronger by battling. If you want, I can have a few of my siblings spar against you. A couple of them are at Officer rank, and I think their Gravelers would be a good challenge for your Beedrill." Brock finished.

"That would be great!" Ash exclaimed. "If what you're saying is true, then Buzz and I will train harder than anyone and become the very best! Even you won't be able to stop us!"

"Haha, that's the spirit kid! I'll talk to my Brothers and then it'll be on tomorrow. You'll have today to try and get yourself ready for it."

"Okay deal! Your brothers Graveler won't know what hit it!" Ash said as he released Buzz and started to walk to a corner of the arena to begin training.

"Oh, one more thing. If you think it's so easy to train multiple different Pokemon, why don't you see if you can teach my Sandshrew Slash? It took me quite a while to do so with its mother, so this should humble you well enough." Brock said as he handed Ash a Pokeball.

Ash waited until he was in a corner of the old battlefield before releasing the Sandshrew. "Okay guys, this is what we are going to do. We will start training with a warmup. Buzz will continue working on Poison Jab as you'll work on Iron Defense Sandshrew. After that, we'll get into Pin Missile and we will work on Slash for you Sandshrew." Ash said to the two Pokemon. They nodded as they started their training, and Ash opened up the Pokedex and scrolled through it. He had a couple of other ideas for the Sandshrew and Buzz…

X

"So, did you get Slash figured out?" Brock asked as he approached Ash a couple of hours later. Ash had been training hard and was allowing the two Pokemon under his care to rest, which they graciously accepted.

"I don't know, why don't you send Timmy and his Geodude over and we will see?" Ash challenged.

"Haha, I like it kid. But if you think a normal type move is going to be enough to take down a Geodude you're going to be in for a surprise. Timmy!" Brock yelled throughout the arena. A boy who was training in the corner came running up.

"Yes brother?" Timmy asked.

"Your Geodude is going to spar against the Alolan Sandshrew again alright?" Brock asked.

"Haha, sure, it should be an easy battle just like last time!" Timmy responded back as he leered down at the Sandshrew.

Ash looked surprised at this as Brock explained, "Timmy has trained his Geodude against that Sandshrew quite a few times before. The Sandshrew has never won," Brock laughed as he led Ash to the center of the arena.

Ash looked down at the Sandshrew and said "Don't worry buddy, he won't know what hit him. You've got this."

Once Ash and Timmy stood on opposite sides of the field, Brock signaled for the start of the match and Timmy released his Geodude. It landed on both of its arms and stared at the Sandshrew across from it.

"Super roll! Let's end this before it starts!" Timmy yelled to his Geodude.

The Geodude immediately responded, pausing for a second as it curled into a ball. Ash watched in amazement as it seemed to polish itself, removing some of the outer bumps allowing it to spin with incredible speed for a rock towards the Sandshrew.

"Double Team! Hit it with Icicle Spear to slow it down!" Ash commanded.

Sandshrew immediately summoned duplicates of itself that began running around, throwing icicles at the spinning Geodude. The Geodude harmlessly crashed into a few of the duplicates before Timmy called off the attack.

"Enough! Use Magnitude to get rid of the duplicates and then use Rock Throw once the real one reveals itself!"

The Geodude stopped rolling as it jumped into the air and slammed a fist into the ground. Ash watched as the copies of Sandshrew disappeared and it yelped as the ground type move took effect. With the real Sandshrew revealed, Geodude let loose a battle cry and started throwing rocks at the ice Pokemon.

"Iron Defense!" Ash yelled as the rocks came flying at Sandshrew. Even though it was still hurt from the Magnitude it dutifully covered its body with the steel energy as the rocks bounced harmlessly off of it.

"Super Roll again! Let's end this!" Timmy yelled as the Geodude prepped itself again and began rolling at the Sandshrew again.

"Icicle spear to slow it down, then dodge and use Metal Claw once it gets close enough!" Ash said.

Geodude rolled towards the Sandshrew but was slowed down by the Icicle Spears constantly thrown at it. When it was almost at the Sandshrew, the latter Pokemon jumped to the side and slashed at the rolling rock with claws glinting with steel.

Geodude let loose a grunt as it stumbled out of its roll from the super effective attack. Ash saw his opportunity.

"Quick, use Iron Tail on it! Follow up with Metal Claw if that doesn't knock it out!"

Sandshrew raced towards the other Pokemon as its tail began to glow with the steel energy.

"Magnitude!" Timmy yelled desperately.

Geodude sluggishly lifted a fist and pounded into the ground weakly, creating a much weaker magnitude than before. It didn't matter, however as the Sandshrew had already leapt into the air and was performing quite a spectacular front flip before smacking his Iron Tail straight into the Geodude.

The impact forced the Geodude further into the ground, creating an indent where the Geodude's body laid. Sandshrew was on top of the Geodude with one arm raised, claw glinting from the steel energy ready to slash through the Rock type if necessary.

Timmy saw that he had lost and recalled the Geodude as the Sandshrew let loose a victorious cry.

"Good job buddy! I knew you could do it!" Ash said proudly.

"Metal Claw and Iron Tail? How did you teach him both of those so quickly?" Brock asked with amazement as he made his way over to Ash.

"I mean, it was simple really. He could already harness the steel type energy from Iron Head, and then with Iron Defense he learned how to cover his whole body with it. Iron Tail was just focusing all of that energy from Iron Defense into the tail, and then Metal Claw was simple once he got Slash down." Ash responded to Brock as he reached down to scratch the Alolan Sandshrew behind his ear.

"You taught him three moves in one day? And Iron Defense yesterday…." Brock said. Ash could tell he was astonished, but didn't think it was warranted.

"I know that's a lot, but really they were all basically the same thing. He's a steel type so he's more in tune with the steel energy which makes those attacks easier. He seems to have had Iron Head mastered for quite some while which made Iron Defense and Iron Tail a lot easier. After getting the Slash down the rest was simple really. We also started working on Ice Punch, but he seems to be having a harder time with that. He wants to use his claws instead of his fist."

"I guess you're right, but still…" Brock trailed off as Timmy approached them.

"That was awesome! Geodude has never lost to that Sandshrew before! How did you make it so strong?" Timmy asked.

"I mean, steel type moves are super effective against rocks so I just played to his strengths. Geodude's weak to ice also, so either way you were in trouble. Your Geodude put up quite a fight though, what was that Super Roll move? I didn't see that as a move in the Pokedex." Ash said back.

"Oh, that's because it's a combination of moves that I came up with myself!" Timmy said proudly. "It's Defense Curl, Rock Polish and Rollout. It allows Rollout to hit harder and faster. Once Geodude learns Iron Defense we will throw that in with it, which will make it even faster and stronger!"

"That's an amazing idea. I never thought about combining attacks and having a name for it," Ash said. He had beaten the other kid in a battle, but the other kid obviously knew his Geodude better than Ash knew Brock's Sandshrew.

"Yeah, it's really handy! One of our brothers even renames his Pokemons' moves to confuse the opponent. He will yell Ice Beam for Rock Throw and stuff like that," Timmy said amusedly. Ash thought that was an interesting idea, but would get confusing if you had more than one type of Pokemon.

"Well Timmy, can you take your Geodude and the Sandshrew to the Pokemon Center? I'm sure they would both like to see Nurse Joy," Brock said, practically drooling when he mentioned the nurse.

"Sure can!" Timmy replied, before adding, "Would you like me to tell the Nurse you said hello?"

"Get out of here you brat before I have Golem trap you in a Rock Tomb!" Brock yelled back as he blushed. Timmy smirked as Ash recalled the Sandshrew and gave the other boy the Pokeball. Brock and Ash watched him run off for a second before Brock turned to Ash.

"Well, I think it's about time for dinner if you want to come with me to the cafeteria here."

"I think Buzz and I are going to do a little more work, I want to make sure we are ready for tomorrow." Ash said back. He was hungry, but he needed to make sure that Buzz had his new move down before they battled tomorrow.

"Ah, can't say I'm surprised. You have that look in your eye that I've only seen in a few trainers. It's that deep determination to push yourself to your limits. Make sure you grab some food eventually, and don't stay up too late training. Your battle won't be better in the morning if you guys don't get enough sleep," Brock said as he walked off.

Ash simply smiled as he walked towards a corner of the arena that had a bunch of large boulders scattered around. He released Buzz and they got to work.

X

"Ash, this is Forrest. He is the oldest of my little siblings, and his Graveler is the strongest Pokemon here that I have not trained personally," Brock said to Ash.

Ash stared across the battlefield at the older boy. He was also strikingly similar to Brock, although a few years younger and less muscular, he had the same dark spiky hair. Forrest looked back at Ash, apparently unimpressed.

"Alright, let's get this over with kid. I've got real training to get back to," Forrest said as he grabbed a Pokeball from his belt and released it.

Ash watched as a boulder appeared on the field with four short arms and two stubby legs. It looked at Ash and let loose a roar, daring him to challenge it. Ash grabbed Buzz's Pokeball and released the bug type. Buzz stood its ground and stared down the Graveler, not intimidated in the slightest. They had trained for this, after all.

"Begin!" Brock boomed from where he stood off to the side.

"Rollout, let's end this before it even starts!" Forrest yelled. Ash had to choke down a laugh as he realized it was the same phrase that Timmy had used. Either Timmy stole it from Forrest or it was something they both learned from Brock.

"Fly out of range, use Pin Missile and Poison Sting, and let's test out its stamina!" Ash said as Beedrill took to the air. The Graveler rolled by harmlessly, and unrolled slowly, apparently confused by its lack of contact with anything. At that exact moment a few stingers smashed into his tough hide, two filled with poison from Buzz's lances while another 3 came with bug energy and more velocity from Buzz's abdomen.

The Graveler looked unfazed by the attacks and searched the sky until it found the Beedrill.

"You're going to have to do better than that! Poison and wait won't work against us!" Forrest said, still seeming too calm. While it was true Rock types were resistant to poison, and doubly so with their ground typing, Ash couldn't help but hope the poison would do some damage over the course of the battle.

"Smack Down, know it out of the sky and then use Magnitude once it's on the ground to finish it!"

The Graveler began to channel his energy to lift up dirt from the ground, attempting to use it to weigh down Buzz before being able to finish him off with the super effective ground type move. Ash couldn't let that happen.

"Double Team! Don't let him hit you with that dirt! Once you find the opening, get in close and use Poison Jab!"

Immediately Buzz split into 5 separate copies that all began flying around differently. Ash was glad they had worked so hard on getting Double Team down, as the Graveler was looking around confused and ended up throwing the dirt into one of the clones. It vanished just as the real Beedrill flew in close behind the Graveler and began jabbing its lances into the unsuspecting rock.

What happened next would have been very disturbing if it had come from a Pokemon with flesh and bone. While the Beedrill was at the Gravelers back side, it reached around with one of its arms and grabbed Buzz around the midsection. If it would have been a regular Pokemon that movement would have been impossible, as it would have completely dislocated its shoulder as the arm reached completely around its back and did a complete 180 degree rotation to grab the unsuspecting bug. As it was, Graveler just seemed angry as where its rotator cuff should have been just grinded.

Once it got a good hold of Buzz it tomahawked the bug in front of it, even as Buzz tried to fly away. Buzz did end up soaring through the air, but not on his own accord. The Graveler grabbed rocks with all three of his other arms and threw them at Buzz without even being told to, the rocks smashing into Buzz's body as he tried to get control of his body in mid-air.

"Incinerate!" Forrest yelled as the Graveler started charging a fire type attack in its maw.

"Iron Defense!" Ash yelled in horror. The fire would still burn through the steel covering, but it would provide some protection from the heat.

Buzz was barely able to cover his whole body with the light layer of steel before the small beam of fire slammed into him. Incinerate was weaker than flamethrower, but was also much more precise. It required less firepower as well, which made it ideal for Pokemon that had a harder time harnessing fire.

Buzz screeched as he took the fire, unable to move or fly away due to the energy required to keep up the Iron Defense. If this were an actual fire type it could keep the Incinerate up long enough that the steel would begin to melt, which would mean Ash would have to recall Buzz immediately.

However, Graveler wasn't a fire type and after another few seconds the fire stopped. Forrest yelled "Magnitude!" as Graveler stopped, realizing the vulnerable bug was still on land.

"Get back in the air!" Ash yelled to Buzz as the Graveler jumped up and slammed all four arms into the ground. Buzz was barely able to get off of the ground with shaky wings before the immense power of the magnitude shook the arena.

"Double Team and Pin Missile! Keep it guessing as to where you are!" Ash said as he racked his brain for ways to take down the Graveler. It had proven itself to be very durable and powerful, and Ash was sure Buzz wouldn't be able to withstand against another ground or fire attack. Heck, he wasn't even sure if Buzz could take another Rock Throw.

Buzz still managed to summon three copies as they began flying around and shooting stingers at the Graveler. Pin Missile was still firing three at a time, a good sign that he still had some fight in him.

The Graveler roared as he was hit by the stingers, grabbing rocks and throwing them all over, trying to hit any of the Beedrill flying around.

"Iron Defense, just wait it out," Forrest said to Graveler. The Graveler covered himself in a thick layer of iron and Ash watched as the Pin Missile bounced off harmlessly.

"Quit the Double Team for now, just hit it with Twineedle. Once it leaves the steel go back to them both." Ash said to Buzz. There was no reason for him to waste his energy unnecessarily.

"This is boring kid." Forrest said after about a minute of the stalemate. Graveler had obviously mastered Iron Defense, and Ash didn't want to waste any of Buzz's remaining energy trying to break the rock out of it.

"What do you want me to do, have my Beedrill get in a punching fight with your rock? It's obviously stronger than my bug so why would I do that?" Ash spat back. He didn't like the older trainer's attitude.

"Well if you're admitting that your Pokemon is weaker then just forfeit kid. Let me get back to my day."

"Hmm, let me think about it. Gimme another minute." Ash said back with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"We can do this until night so whatever. Tell me when you've made your decision." Forrest said as he sat down and started messing with his Pokedex.

Ash looked at the Graveler and smiled. It was true that in theory Graveler could just sit under Iron Defense and shrug off the weak Twineedle attacks, but what Forrest didn't take into account was that Graveler had been sitting there poisoned for the duration of the battle.

In the beginning of the battle, Ash had intentionally used Buzz's poison attacks lavishly. Even though they were only a quarter effective against the Rock and Ground type, he had hoped that some of the poison would get into the Graveler's veins. Or, whatever it was that it had, as Ash wasn't sure if it had blood or veins. He hoped that the poison would take hold and slowly sap away Graveler's ability to fight. That was the reason that Ash had risked using Poison Jab instead of his new move, because he knew it would be a battle of attrition and in order to win he had to gain an upper hand somehow.

And now it looked like it was paying off. While Forrest hadn't noticed, probably because he was too confident in his own ability, the Graveler had slowly been feeling the effects of the poison as it coursed throughout its body. Ash didn't need to break the Iron Defense, after long enough the poison would cause the Graveler to pass out.

Apparently Brock had noticed this as well, because he was smiling at Ash and actually let out a soft chuckle as Ash stalled and pretended to debate whether or not to surrender.

After another minute passed, Ash broke the silence. He could have waited longer, but he was also getting bored at this point. "I'll tell you what. I'll give you the chance to surrender." Ash said to Forrest.

Forrest laughed as he responded, "Funny kid. Brock didn't tell me you were a comedian! You aren't in the position to be making demands. As you admitted, Graveler has the upper hand here."

"I said Graveler was stronger, I didn't say it had the upper hand. Have you looked at the thing recently? It seems like it might be getting a little sick." Ash said back as he told Beedrill to reactivate Double Team.

Forrest looked down to his Graveler as realization dawned on his face. The Graveler still held the Iron Defense, but it was wincing underneath it and looked a lot less vibrant than even a couple of minutes ago.

"Blast, you're going to pay for that! Graveler, we are playing on borrowed time! Incinerate, knock that annoying poison type out of the sky!" Forrest yelled, eager to end the battle fast now that he saw the shape his Graveler was in.

Graveler released the Iron Defense as he summoned the Fire in his maw and began shooting the beams through the air. The Graveler was really looking worse for the wear now, as it even had to start using its lower two arms to lean on as it fired Incinerate at the illusionary Beedrill swarming around.

The extra effort to use Incinerate only quickened the poison, and Ash was ready for the battle to be over. "Let's end this Buzz! Rock Smash!"

Forrest's eyes went wide as he watched helplessly as the real Buzz made himself known as he landed on the back of the Graveler. He released the energy necessary to maintain the copies as he put all of his energy towards the fighting type move he had been learning the day before. Buzz's lances glowed a white color as they smashed into the back of the Graveler's large body. It let out a groan and fell onto its face as Buzz landed another couple hits, knocking the larger Pokemon out.

Forrest recalled his Pokemon, dumbfounded by his defeat. Ash let loose a victorious shout as he congratulated Buzz before recalling him. "Take a rest buddy, you deserve it." Ash said to the Pokeball in his hand.

Brock and Timmy came running up to congratulate him.

"That was awesome! I didn't see how you had any chance of winning but then you had it planned out the whole time and it was awesome!" Timmy exclaimed.

"Thanks Timmy. I had no idea if it would work or not." Ash replied honestly. It had been a hard battle, and if the poison hadn't gotten through there was no chance he would have won.

Brock instructed Timmy to grab Buzz's Pokeball and take it to the Pokemon Center before turning to Ash to congratulate him.

"That was some smart battling, kid. I honestly didn't think you had any chance of winning that, but you surprised me again. And I see you were able to teach your Beedrill Rock Smash?" Brock asked.

"Yeah, that's what we were working so hard on yesterday. I knew we wouldn't have a chance without some move that could do good damage. I would love for Buzz to learn Giga Drain, but I have no idea how to teach that. There were enough rocks around so I figured Rock Smash, how hard can that be to learn?"

"Rock Smash is a pretty easy move to learn, but it's still impressive that you were able to get it down in a day. You keep surprising me, but I don't think that technique will work again against Forrest, and I'm sure he'll want a rematch." Brock said with a smile.

This reminded Ash of something that he had been thinking of the night before, and so he slowly asked Brock, "About that, how much longer do you plan on me staying here? If Team Rocket is looking for me this would be the first town they would come to. And I've got that package that needs to go to Samuel Oak…"

"Yeah. As much as I would like we can't keep you here forever kid. I was planning on making a trip through Mt Moon in a week; there are some supplies we need to send to Misty. The last few trainers that I sent through never came back, so I'll personally join you for this one. If I can find them that would be great, I'm out of my gym trainers now and I can't exactly send any of my siblings. If one of their cover gets blown then they all do, so we can't risk that." Brock said with a serious tone.

"So we leave for Misty in a week? And just train until then?" Ash asked.

"That's right. I'm sure Timmy will tell all my other siblings about how you defeated Forrest and I'm sure they will want to battle you also. Like I said before, I'm sure Forrest will want a rematch and I'm betting the results will be different." Brock said.

Ash simply smiled and nodded, glad to have a plan. He didn't realize how stressed out he had been the last couple days, but knowing that he wouldn't be getting kicked out or forced to travel alone made him feel better. Plus, it was Brock that would be escorting him, so he was sure he would make it to Cerulean city easily. After that, Misty could take him further east where they would hit ocean and be able to surf all the way around the rest of the land mass of Kanto to Cinnabar.

It would have been a much simpler and straighter route to just go south through Viridian and Pallet and then to Cinnabar, but there was no way he would risk being recognized. Besides, Giovanni used to live in Viridian, and while neither Ash or Brock were sure if he still resided there, they both recognized that he was one of the few trainers that could actually defeat Brock's main team in a battle.

But Ash wasn't worried about that. They would go the long way around, which would give Ash the opportunity to catch some more Pokemon and grow stronger and stronger. Next time he ran into Carl and Proton, they would pay for what they had done.

X

The following week passed by quickly, and yet it was the best week of Ash's young life. As Brock had guessed, Forrest wanted a rematch the next day and absolutely stomped Buzz. That didn't make Ash feel bad though, as he had earned the respect of the older trainer. After that, most of Brocks other siblings also wanted to battle against Ash and Buzz, and Buzz was able to get plenty of experience and wins. He was growing a lot stronger and had mastered most of his moves, including Rock Smash.

Ash had wanted to teach Buzz some flying type moves, but something about being underground and Ash's general inexperience with the moves kept them from being able to. Instead, Ash focused on working on Sludge Bomb with Buzz. The attack consisted of the Beedrill spewing a giant glob or globs or poison onto the opponent. Buzz wasn't used to bringing the poison up through his mouth, and was having a harder time bringing the poison up in the copious amounts that the attack required. Ash knew Buzz would get it down eventually, but it was frustrating that they had barely made any progress in nearly a week of working on it.

Brock had also let Ash work with the Alolan Sandshrew, who took well to Ash's training. It was very determined to be strong, and Ash was able to help it harness more of its ice type moves. It picked up Ice Punch pretty easily, and was also able to master Ice Ball as well. Ice Ball was basically a large snowball that Sandshrew could create and then throw with incredible speed at an enemy. It was a lot more powerful that Icicle Spear, but it took longer for Sandshrew to form. By the time Sandshrew could form and throw one Ice Ball, he could have thrown four or five Icicle Spears, making the former attack pretty much useless. However, Ash thought it was a great way to help Sandshrew control the ice for the next move that they were working on, which was Icicle Crash. Icicle Crash involved Sandshrew creating a large column of stalactites and then allowing them to crash down onto an opposing Pokemon. Ash was sure he wouldn't be able to master it until after he evolved, but Ash wanted him to have the general concept down.

Ash also used the Sandshrew in as many battles as he could against the rock type trainers. The young Sandshrew needed the battle experience, and it was funny to watch him tear through all of the Geodude and some of the Graveler that had terrorized him in the past. Brock's siblings were dismayed at how much stronger the little Sandshrew had become in such a short time. Ash was sure with another week or two of training that the Sandshrew could even hold his own against Forrest's Graveler if it didn't use any fire type moves. It would be an extremely handicapped battle, with Sandshrew using all attacks that were super effective against Graveler while Graveler wouldn't be allowed to do the same back, but Ash thought that would still make it a fair battle given the age and experience difference.

Ash was explaining all this to Brock as they were getting ready to leave for Mt Moon. Brock looked back at Ash and laughed as he handed him a Pokeball.

"What's this for?" Ash asked. Brock had already given him a set of Pokeballs and potions for their trip, so Ash wasn't sure why he needed another one.

"You don't recognize it? That's the Alolan Sandshrew's Pokeball. You've done an amazing job training him over the last week and I'm honestly impressed. You did a lot better job than I did when I first got my Sandslash, and I'm sure you'll be able to give him the training he needs better than us rock trainers will."

Ash stared down at the Pokeball in awe. Of course he wanted the little guy, but he had never expected Brock to give it to him. It was extremely rare for the Alolan forms to be found in the Kanto region.

"Are you sure?" Ash asked. He wanted to make sure this wasn't another one of Brock's bad jokes before getting his hopes up.

"Yes I'm sure! If you need more convincing why don't you let the little guy out and ask him if he wants to go with you?" Brock said back with a chuckle.

Ash did just that, as he released the little Pokemon and looked down at him. "So buddy, would you like to journey with me? We will be going away from here, but I promise to make you as strong as possible!" Ash said honestly. The little Sandshrew looked up at him and nodded happily, accepting the invitation.

"Awesome! Now, do you want a nickname?" Ash asked. The Sandshrew nodded again, so Ash went through some of the names he had been thinking of for the guy for the last few days. He hadn't expected Brock to give it to him, but he had been dreaming.

"What about Blizz?" Ash asked as his third option. The Sandshrew squeaked at that name and vigorously shook his head up and down.

"Blizz it is!" Ash said as he chuckled at the Sandshrew's enthusiastic approval.

"Well, now that we've got that taken care of, are we ready to go?" Brock asked Ash. Ash looked around at the arena where he had spent most of his time the last week. They had put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into becoming stronger here, but Ash knew he could only stay for so long.

"Let's do it." Ash said as he turned his back once again on everything that was known to him and followed Brock down a large tunnel.

"I had one of my larger Onix carve this out," Brock explained. "It's about a days walk to Mt Moon, but this is safer than trying to go above ground at all. I know you probably miss the sun, but it's a lot smarter this way in case either one of us get noticed. Plus, we would stick out like a sore thumb bringing along this giant trunk," Brock said as he pointed back to Golem.

Golem was towing a wagon behind them, which had a solid wood trunk on top of it. Brock had shown Ash how to store items like Pokemon food inside of an empty Pokeball, but Brock also explained that some items couldn't be stored this way. What he was bringing to Misty was one of those things. Ash had tried to ask Brock what it was they were taking with them, but the older trainer refused to tell him.

Ash was very curious as to what the trunk held, but he knew it was of no use to try and pry the information out of the Rock type Master. So Ash simply fell in line with Brock, thinking of all the different techniques he could teach Buzz and Blizz. He knew they still had a lot of work ahead of them, but he was looking forward to the day when they didn't have to be afraid of anyone else ever again.

XX

A/N And there it is! Thank you guys for following and hopefully you've enjoyed the story so far! If you have any questions or thoughts feel free to comment! I've been trying to keep the chapters shorter so that I can update more regularly, so hopefully you appreciate that!

Sandford9687: Not sure whats reallly going on here are the rockets the good guys? or is ash just extreamly childish to think that they are?

So the Rockets are the bad guys pretending to be good guys. Imagine in the Star Wars universe if you were a Storm Trooper you would think you were one of the good guys, but actually you were working for the bad guys. Team Rocket has been able to take power and now are claiming to be the good guys even though they are not. Thanks for the question, I hope this helps clear things up!