Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and follows. I'll address some of your comments and concerns here...

Paul will definitely get some typings he didn't in the anime. Dragons, psychics, and fairies will be coming. As for Mega evolution, Z-moves, and gigantamaxing, I will more than likely implement the first one. The latter two are not my favorite.

Pairings should not be a big deal. I don't have any plans for a pairing right now, nor do I see it becoming a big part of this story. It might come in the future, but I'd wait a bit before speculating anything. With regards to Ash not having Chimchar, another Pokemon will be given to make up for it. That goes for any Pokemon Paul takes from another.

Edit: Formatting and spelling.

Chapter 3

"Come on out Torterra, Magmar." It's a new day. A day I'm going to dedicate to training. I managed to find a clearing near the Pokémon center. A perfect spot to kick start my plans to get stronger.

"Torterra, even though you are very powerful already, I want you to continue your training for now to push you even further. We're going to prepare to go beyond even Brandon, the Battle Pyramid King. This starts with you getting stronger. I want you to get better at resisting fire-type attacks. Are you up for the challenge?"

"Tor!" Torterra nodded his head and grinned.

"Perfect, stick around then. I'll put you to work." Turning to Magmar I ask, "Do you think you can train Chimchar Fire Punch, Flamethrower, and Will-O-Wisp? It'll be a difficult and slow process and you'll be teaching it to Chimchar who you need to keep your patience with. He has potential, but he learns best through different methods and at a different speed. He needs to get better at unraveling that potential and I think you'd do a good job at helping him do that. Do you think you're up to the task?"

"Mar!" Magmar shot out a flame and gave a cocky shrug.

"Good, you can use Torterra as your target," I said, to Magmar's pleasure and Torterra's solemn resolve. "You already know not to hold back. Torterra is strong enough to take it. Before you start though, I'm going to bring out the trainees."

Holding all 4 Pokeballs, I throw them up, saying, "It's time to get to work Chimchar, Elekid, Starly, and Shinx." All four materialize and appear to have a questioning expression. Guess I should explain. "Today is for intensive move training. You'll each be given a task to do to help you all have more coverage when you battle. Whether it be your speed, endurance, or move set, I expect everyone to work their hardest today!" A variety of Pokémon cries is my response. Let's get started then.

"Elekid, you'll be learning thunder punch. You already know Brick Break, so you're already got a step done with learning the move.. You just need to replace the fighting energy that you use with Brick Break and conduct your electricity centered around the end of your arm. This'll give you more physical pressure with the utilization of your electricity. Can you do this?"

Elekid thought about it for a few seconds and then nodded his head, responding with, "Kid!"

"Get to it then. I know you won't disappoint me. Once you're done learning Thunder Punch, you'll be learning Thunder Wave either from Shinx or with Shinx."

I turned my head to Shinx, addressing her, "As I just said Shinx, you'll be learning Thunder Wave. You're tough, but Thunder Wave will make you even tougher allowing you to paralyze every Pokémon in your way. I suspect that you can learn it through manipulating your electricity. Charge can help you there. So, using Charge, try to work on your electricity. If you need further help, ask me. Got it?"

"Shinx," she said eagerly.

"Good, stay around Elekid then. He'll be learning from you if you master it quickly. Chimchar, you'll be learning from Magmar. He'll teach you Fire punch, Flamethrower, and Will-O-Wisp. As you are right now, you need more powerful fire moves to use in tandem with your blaze ability. I know this'll be hard to do, but I believe that you can do it. I expect a lot from you. Don't disappoint, ok?"

"Char!" Good. He's psyched up to learn.

"Magmar, Torterra, you two can take over Chimchar's training from here. As for you Starly, I have some special training for you. I hope it'll help you. Your training is the most experimental, but that doesn't mean you don't have to give your all. If your training has noticeable changes, you'll eventually be learning from my brother's Staraptor. I'll be handling your training personally."

Starly had no response except a tilt of the head. He looks confused. I'm sure he'll realize what I plan to do once I get the rope.

(-)

"Star-ly?"

"Yes, you're going to have rocks tied to you. If you get used to the weight of the rocks while flying, you'll not only be stronger and faster, but you could learn Steel Wing from this training. I prefaced with this being more experimental because unlike with Elekid, Shinx, and Chimchar who are learning moves from types they specialize in, you'll be learning a type of move that is unlike anything in your arsenal."

Starly looked confused at my words, so I clarified.

"To learn Steel Wing, you'll be making your wings as hard as steel. Not only will it give you a hard-hitting attack, it'll make you tougher so you can take more hits." While tying the last of the rocks that'll be attached to Starly, I comment, "I'll be with you every step of the way with your training. Are you ready?"

"Starly!"

"Then get to flying, I'll be following on foot!" Starly begins his flight with some wobbly wings. He's not used to the added weight, but soon he will be. I'm fit enough to where I can keep pace with Starly on foot while he has the rocks attached to him. Hmm, maybe I could use some strength training. "Hey, Starly. Are you getting slower? I seem to be running faster than you are flying. Don't tell me this is all you got?" Starly tenses up and then pushes harder to fly. Ah, so he's the type to get motivated through taunts. Good to know...

After running for a solid hour, I called for a break to check on the others. Not only was he tired, I was. Although this body was fit enough to travel across the region, it was not built to run for that long! Thankfully, the others' training doesnt include any running on my end, so I could just spectate and give pointers.

Walking over to the area with electric sparking, I gave a look at Elekid and Shinx. Elekid was making progress at focusing the electricity at his paws. It looks like he's concentrating intensely to get it just right. Shinx on the other hand is using Charge repeatedly, trying to get a sense of her electricity. Hmph, looks like they're working hard.

"Good work you two. Keep up the progress. We'll be traveling through route 203 tomorrow so get as much training as you can out of today." A sense of urgency can make or break them, but this'll show which one they perform well with.

"Kid/Shinx," they both nodded. Hm, they have the resolve.

Moving towards Chimchar's training, my eyes are drawn to the blazing fire fuming from Chimchar's mouth. Torterra looks damaged and burned but is keeping strong. After the last of that huge Flamethrower is out of Chimchar's system, I decided to comment. "You're making great progress with Flamethrower. That should be the easiest one for you to learn with it being just a continuous stream of intense flames. It's a bigger Ember essentially."

Chimchar put a finger to his chin as he likely was visualizing my words.

Kneeling down to his level, I said, "Chimchar, you have the power for Flamethrower. Just try to pace yourself when it comes to using it, alright?"

"Chimchar Chim," Chimchar grins in excitement at being praised.

"You should be proud of yourself. You're performing well. Make sure to keep it up. Magmar, you're teaching him well. Take this opportunity as a teacher to make your own fire-based moves stronger. You're near ready for evolution, so I hope you'll be able to show what fire-types are made of!"

"Magmar," Magmar snorts a flame out of his mouth.

Moving past those two, I walked over to Torterra who was to the side. He's just taken a Flamethrower, but he looks relatively ok, if a little hurt. Looking at my partner I comment, "You're showing them why you're my most powerful Pokémon, right?"

A simple nod is my response. Torterra and I have been through so much together. I know he'll surpass my expectations. He's just that kind of Pokémon.

Now to get back to some running…

(-)

With the sun setting, that's my indication to stop training for the day. Looking at the now-exhausted Starly of mine, a grin makes its way to my face. He's worked hard today, they all have. It almost makes me forget how exhausted I am.

After calling over Starly to untie the rocks, I compliment Starly saying, "Training is ending today. You've made a lot of progress. Keep it up. Return for now."

Running my way back to where I had Chimchar, Magmar, and Torterra train, I arrived to see a drained Magmar and Chimchar. They look to be worn out by their use of fire attacks. Chimchar tried to push out another Flamethrower, but only a few embers came out. Looking past them towards Torterra I blink twice. Torterra is standing strong even while being burned a lot in the front and a little bit in the back.

"I have to say, I'm proud of all three of you. Chimchar and Magmar, you both have been pushing yourselves very hard with this training. Magmar, you might wanna watch out. Before too long, you might have competition for best fire-type," I say teasing Magmar. "All jokes aside, you two have done well today. Return, knowing you've done amazing," I say, raising their pokeballs.

There's only one explanation for Torterra's performance and it's something that I took for granted it seems. "Torterra, you never stopped training, even when I left you at Reggie's, have you?"

"Tor," he responds, making an expression similar to a smirk. He's just as much of a fighter as I am.

I kneel down so our faces are at the same level. "You've done well. You'll be amazing when we finally face Brandon." Thinking it over, I added, "Walk with me while we go round up the last two."

With Torterra by my side, I walk over to Elekid and Shinx's training area. I find various rocks and sticks sparkling with electricity. A tree nearby looks to have been hit and with that impact, is a small spark of electricity. Hmm, Elekid's Thunder Punch is coming along well by the looks of it. Not far from all this, is Elekid striking another tree close by.

"Elekid, you can stop for now. Training is over for today." Elekid ignores me and charges another strike at the tree. "Elekid, you've done well. Take a rest and leave it for tomorrow." Elekid ignores me once again, charging his paw with another strike that pierces the tree. The tree falls over as a result of his punch and Elekid looks back at me with a crazed look on his face.

Grinning, I comment," Looks like you have the same hunger for power as I and Torterra do. Seriously, you've done well for today. Never lose that hunger, alright? Always strive to be the greatest."

"Ele, kid," he pants before passing out. He pushed himself too hard. Recalling him into his pokeball, I move on to the final exhausted Pokémon of mine. I found Shinx on top of a rock, using Spark once more. Hmm, she looks to have had some problems with learning Thunder Wave. I can help her more tomorrow. "Alright, Shinx. It's fine if you haven't had too much luck with Thunder Wave. I know I was asking a lot of my Pokémon by doing this training, but-" Before I could finish preemptively consoling Shinx, she roared and with all that electricity stored up with Spark released it.

Electricity flowed through the forest like a giant current. It looked to be too large of electricity to be controlled. It was flying out of control and it looked to be heading towards me. "Torterra take the excess electricity!" Torterra moved in the way of the electricity and with that, protected me. Being a part ground type, Torterra was unaffected by the attack.

That attack… It must've been Discharge. Shinx learned Discharge. Hmm, a powerful attack. Really powerful, in fact, yet it is very hard to control. It takes a great deal of skill and discipline to control Discharge, but I think Shinx can learn to do it.

"Shinx, that was Discharge, the move you just did. Do you have any idea what kind of move that is?" Shinx shakes her head with a bit of hesitation. "Don't worry, I'm not mad that you fired that Discharge. I'm very happy in fact. I'm glad you didn't end up getting sad about your small progress with Thunder Wave. It's a tricky move. Discharge actually is an even harder move and you pulled it off. Rest well, you'll have many chances to get stronger in the future."

Turning to Torterra who stood nearby, I joked with him, "Hey, you better watch yourself, Torterra. Those two are progressing fast. They might get even more powerful than you. It even looked like they ate more than you did during dinner." Torterra, unaffected by my taunt, simply shook his head and walked in the direction of the Pokémon center. Smirking, I walk towards there, myself, ready to register for another room for the night.

(-)

Another day, another time to train. I'll be leaving Jubilife city today so I can get started on challenging the gyms. Past route 203 is Oreburgh city, so my team and I will make our way through there. Having stocked up on Pokémon food, balls, and medicine, I'm fully prepared to get started on route 203!

On the road of route 203, I began to think of the Pokémon that were native here. None of the Pokémon here are really my style. Abra would be a nice addition to the team, being a psychic type and all, but I don't think I can utilize it to my fullest abilities. It's a very technical Pokémon, not my style. There're Zubat that are active during the night, but I need to watch how many flying Pokémon I have.

Pretty soon, I'll just be building a team of flying types. That wouldn't end well with the plans I have. I'm already struggling training Starly as is for now. Reggie is taking care of Ninjask for now. So Zubat is out… I guess I'll hold off from catching any Pokémon for this route unless I run into something that catches my eye. Today can be dedicated to training once again!

After traveling pretty far into route 203, I decided that it's time to not waste any more time walking "Stand by for training everyone," I called out. Torterra, Magmar, Starly, Shinx, and Elekid stand before me. "Shinx, Elekid, and Starly, you're with me today. Torterra, Magmar, and Chimchar, resume your training."

Bringing the three of them away from where I made camp, I discussed with them their revised training. "Elekid, I think you've gotten to a level of Thunder Punch to use it during battle. You just need to get used to using it in battle. I want you to use it in a mock battle against Shinx. Shinx, for you I want you to attempt Thunder Wave using Charge. Maybe during battle it'll come to you quicker. Both of you, do your best. Starly, same training as last time. Let's get to running."

Running through a forest is actually harder than running through plains. The obstacles you tend to encounter are numerous. Starly seems to have gotten better at pulling the rocks, but he now has to deal with trees in his way. His maneuvering will be tested here and hopefully improved by the end of today.

Both of us tend to tire after some odd hours of running even while pacing ourselves. Good thing for us, it's almost lunch time, so Starly and I turn around to head back to camp. Suddenly, the bush near us began to shake. Who or what is approaching us? Untying Starly, I get a feeling that whatever is behind the bush is going to be raring for a challenge. "Stand by for battle."

The wild Pokémon that came out to take my challenge came out of the bush and was none other than Croagunk. Wait, a Croagunk? Those aren't native to route 203. The only one anyway near here is the Croagunk that would get caught by Brock on route 202. Well, whatever you're doing here, I'm not going to let this chance go!