Hey y'all! Coming in with Chapter 4 here. Hopefully everything is going swimmingly for y'all! The only new thing that I really have to announce is that I am going to be lengthening my chapters a bit. I liked having the space needed to add in some more fluff and things like that so I think I'm going to keep it around this length for the smaller chapters and then really dive into the meat and potatoes of things in the longer chapters.

besides that there's nothing else that I can think of to add in! Hope y'all enjoy!

(I do not own or claim to own Pokemon. Otherwise we wouldn't have followed Ash around for the past 8 regions. I feel like around Diamond and Pearl I really just wasn't about it with him as the MC anymore. Hopefully this new show for Gen 9 is good and can bring some fresh air.)


I walked out onto the court and felt the lights blind me for a second. It took me a few seconds to adjust but eventually, I was able to adjust and observe my surroundings. It was a fairly large dirt court that was standard-sized for battling. Some stands surrounded the court with a referee box on the side to my left however it was mostly empty with a few people lazing about. In front of me, I could see another girl that looked about my age. She had dull purple hair that was pulled up into a messy bun. Sporting a flower print T-shirt over some black leggings. As I walked closer I noticed that I was taller by a few inches she had to raise her head a bit to look at me. As I stopped in front of her I held my fist out toward her and introduced myself.

"Hey! I'm Cindy from Saffron City! It's a pleasure to meet you! The girl looked towards my hand and reached out to fist-bump me.

"I'm Ashley from Ecruteak City. It's nice to meet you!" At this, she pulled out her phone and I got a notification on my phone that I was being challenged to a battle.

"My roster is currently at two so a 2v2 battle? And how much do you want to wager? I'm good with the standard 500." I looked up at Ashley and waited

"That's fine with me. I had a tough battle earlier so my third member is a bit tired. And the standard 500 works for me." At that, we both put in our respective info and sealed the deal at the start of the battle.

I walked over to the red-colored competitor's box and waited as the referee flipped a coin to see who would send their pokemon out first. The ref took a moment to grab the microphone and test it before beginning with relaying the rules.

"This will be two on two matches between Cindy from Saffron and Ashley from Ecruteak. There will be no substitutions for this match. The toss goes to the Red trainer so the Blue trainer will send their pokemon out first. You have thirty seconds to make your selections before I begin the match." I let out a small sigh of relief. I had managed to luck out and get a glimpse of her team before having to respond in kind. I waited patiently as Ashley considered her choices before choosing one of her Pokeballs. She tossed it onto the field and out came a Sentret. "Sentret give it your all!"

I stood for a second and considered my options. Kong unfortunately had yet to learn an actual Fighting type move so while he would be the obvious choice, I decided to go with Polli and see how she would stand up in a battle. With a second consideration, I chose Polli's ball and tossed it out onto the field. "Polli! Take the field!" Polli burst out and locked eyes with the Sentret. She slapped the ground a few times with her tail almost as if she was taunting it.

The ref upon seeing that I had released my Pokemon began to speak into the microphone once more. "Ashley has chosen Sentret with Cindy choosing Poliwag. Without further ado, let the match…BEGIN!" The barriers that surrounded the field hummed on as the referee began the fight.

"Sentret! Use Defense Curl! Afterward, dash in close with a Quick Attack!" The Sentret curled in on itself quickly raising its Defense. Sentret quickly burst forward with a dash. Closing the distance between itself and Polli in the blink of an eye.

"Brace Polli! And then respond with a Hazy Knockback!" This was a move that we had practiced a few times the day before. Polli let out a grunt as she took the hit from Quick Attack. After, she spewed out a dark cloud of smoke that enveloped the Sentret. It dissipated relatively quickly but the shine that was previously on Sentrets fur was gone. Quickly spinning around, Polli slammed the Sentret with her tail in a powerful Pound attack that sent Sentret rolling backward in the dirt. We had devised this combo if a pokemon was able to close in using stat-boost moves. They would get the hit off if Polli couldn't dodge in time but would find themselves losing their boosts as well as taking some damage in return. It was simple. But in the beginning sometimes simple works.

The Sentret sprang back up off the ground and glared at Polli. It seems that they weren't fond of getting slapped across the face.

"Polli! Keep at range with Water Gun and Bubble!" Polli let out a yell of agreement and started to shoot off the water-type attacks. Learning from her training this morning with Kong, Polli began to try and corner the Sentret by staggering her attacks. It showed a lot of promise by dodging around most of them and even utilizing Quick Attack to get a few near saves off. Polli however continued to press the advantage and soon had the Sentret pushed toward the edge of the arena. Polli then shot off an arc of Water Guns almost guaranteeing a hit.

"Sentret! Jump over them to dodge!" Ashley yelled out frantically. I could see that this was a pokemon that was relatively new at battles like my own. Thankfully I had been working with Polli on fighting against melee types. As the Sentret jumped into the air, Polli let out a Water Gun that she had been holding for the dodge into the air. It rushed forward and slammed into Sentret's front. Sentret let out a cry of pain and slammed back into the barriers before falling back into the ground.

"Another Polli! Don't let up the pressure!" Polli shot another Water Gun that managed to graze one of the Sentret's arms as it tried to dodge after getting up. It showed a lot of agility for being able to recover so quickly but Polli was aggressive in her attacks. The slight off-balance from being grazed opened the path for another graze. And finally, another connected fully pushing the Sentret back towards Ashley where it collapsed in a heap. The ref immediately began an announcement after a few seconds of waiting to see if it would rise to fight once more.

"Ashley's Sentret is unable to battle! The first bout goes to Cindy and Poliwag! Ashley has thirty seconds to send out another Pokemon!"

I couldn't believe it! Polli's first-ever battle debut and she comes out with a win! I took a second to look over at Polli to see how she was holding up. While she hadn't received too much damage physically, I could tell she was starting to feel the drain from shooting off so many moves in rapid succession. While she may have taken to her current role of a Mage very seriously, I knew she was still a long way away from not feeling the drain of all the move spamming. As much as I wanted her to clean sweep, Polli probably wouldn't last very long against Ashley's second pokemon. So we'd have to make sure that we get as much information and damage on her second Pokémon as we can for Kong to clean up.

I looked towards Polli and motioned, putting on a cloak. She nodded and looked towards the other end of the court in determination. We had made a few cues for certain situations that might come up in a battle. If I motioned while putting on a cloak, it meant that I wanted whoever was fighting to try and sabotage or damage the opponent for a good setup into a switch. While some may frown at not believing in your Pokemon to win it, I would say grow the fuck up and get ready to make tough decisions. I and my team only care about reaching the top of what a Fighting Specialist can be. And if that means giving everything you have to set up victory for a teammate? Then we were ready to do it.

Ashley sat for a few seconds looking deep in thought. Her hand kept moving between two Pokeballs as if she was unsure which to use. Finally, as she came close to the end of her allotted time, she grabbed one and tossed it forward onto the field.

"Abra! It's all on you!" An Abra appeared from the energy of the Pokeball and levitated in place.

Shit. If she sent out an Abra to right it must know more moves than just Teleport. Neither of my Pokemon had experience fighting with an opponent that could move instantly. We would have to play this smart and hopefully, Polli could do enough to let Kong finish the battle quickly. I knew that if Polli fell quickly without getting any hits in, Kong would surely fall soon with the type disadvantage.

The buzzer sounded signifying the beginning of the second bout. The Abra immediately started by raising its arms to form an attack. Soon enough star-shaped rays flew forward from Abra in the form of a Swift attack.

Shaking off my surprise at the unannounced command, I remembered that Swift was a tracking move. I couldn't simply order Polli to dodge as they would simply follow her around until they impacted. After a split second, I decided on a plan of action.

"Polli! Try and make a wall in front of you with Bubble! Intercept as many of the stars as you can!" Polli let loose with the Bubble, swaying left and right in hopes of building an obstacle between herself and the incoming attack. In all fairness, she did a splendid job of trying to utilize her move in a defensive way that she had never tried before. However, Polli was unused to directing her moves in such a way and two rays managed to slip through and slam into her. She rolled backward and managed to climb back onto her feet. She wouldn't be able to remain fighting for much longer so I had to come up with a plan soon or the decision to keep her in the fight would be useless.

Ashley waved her hand forward and shouted "Teleport!" Abra nodded and proceeded to teleport next to Polli in an instant. I could see Abra pulling back a fist that was slowly beginning to glow white. I shouted out in warning and Polli turned to see Abra beginning the motion of its punch toward her. I knew there was nothing that I could do. Any command would reach Polli with too little time to react. I watched in slow motion as Abra's fist moved closer toward Polli. With only inches of space before it connected, Abra suddenly flew back from the force of a large ball of mud courtesy of Polli herself. With the sudden change of tempo, I knew we had to move quickly before it could regain its senses.

"Polli! Hit it again and then get ready for a setup!" Polli shot off another of what I believed to be a Mud Shot attack and then dashed forward to close some distance. The second glob slammed into Abra and sent it crashing back to the ground after it had tried to shake off its disorientation. Polli managed to get about ten feet away before she shot off a wave of energy in a Hypnosis. Abra managed to shoot off a few more stars in a Swift that connected with Polli in a desperate effort right before the Hypnosis hit. The Abra tried to rise from the ground only for it to sink slowly back down as little snores escaped from its mouth. It looked pretty rough after taking the two Mud Shot attacks so I knew that Kong would be able to capitalize and bring us the win. Polli was unable to dodge the Swift in response and took three impacts this time. They proved too much for Polli as she collapsed backward onto the court in exhaustion.

"Cindy's Poliwag is unable to battle! The winner of the second bout goes to Ashley and her Abra! Cindy has thirty seconds to send out her second Pokemon!"

I practically ripped the strap off of my bag as I grabbed Kong's Pokeball off of it. Polli hadn't trained her Hypnosis move very much so I knew that the window I had for Abra to remain asleep was very limited. I quickly returned Polli and tossed out Kong's Pokeball. As soon as he materialized and the buzzer sounded, Kong rushed forward toward the sleeping Abra.

"Right before you hit Abra, use Spite! Close off its option of distance!" Kong dashed forward and glared at Abra. A dark cloud of energy flowed into it which prevented it from being able to fully utilize its Swift attack. Upon reaching the Abra, Kong let loose with a strong Fury Swipes attack. He managed to connect twice before Abra managed to wake up and Teleport away from him. Immediately another cloud of dark purple energy flowed into the Abra with another Spite and I knew that it would find itself running dry on energy to Teleport soon. Not only that but it now had two decently sized scratch marks along its side. It was huffing in exertion from the combination of damage and having its energy taken forcibly from it. I knew that one or maybe two more hits would seal the deal for our victory.

"Just like tag Kong! Make sure to be wary of its Teleport and keep the distance close!" Kong shot forward towards Abra not wanting to give his opponent any opportunity to catch his breath. Abra teleported away but was unable to move as far due to the effects of Spite. Kong pivoted and made another mad dash toward Abra. He shrugged off a couple of weak Swift rays as he managed to come face to face with Abra. I had expected another Scratch or Fury Swipes but another pleasant surprise surfaced. He swung around and let loose a mighty Low Kick at Abra's legs. Due to its exhaustion, Abra had switched from floating in the air to standing on the ground to preserve its energy. The kick sent it crashing toward the ground in a heap and it stayed there.

"Ashley's Abra is unable to battle! As such the bout and the match goes to Cindy from Saffron! Thank you trainers for an amazing display of battle!"

I couldn't help the tears that threatened to spill from my eyes. We did it! We won our first Pokémon battle! I recalled Kong after pulling him into a tight hug and congratulating him for learning a new move. I moved forward to shake hands with Ashley and made a mental note to rescan both Kong and Polli after we had healed up and gotten some much-needed rest.

I met Ashley back in the middle of the court and bumped fists with her.

"Thank you so much for the battle! Your Sentret and Abra seem well-trained! And if you had pulled out any Psychic moves we would have been done for!" I couldn't help but praise Ashley for the skill that her pokemon had managed to show. I knew that Abra's were hard to train as most moves they could learn were TMs until they evolved. So having two combat moves as well as showing the ability to use Teleport in a combat setting at this level was astounding. And her Sentret had done very well too in showing its use of Quick Attack to dodge Polli's Water Gun so well. Such moves showed that Ashley had spent some time training her Pokemon well.

"Thank you! Your Poliwag and Mankey are amazing as well! It was almost like fighting three pokemon at once with how quickly she was using some of those attacks! And it did splendidly in getting that Hypnosis off for Mankey to use! While I may have not been able to use my Starter due to the field and Abra being a recent catch, I still thought we had trained enough to win! It looks like I have a bit more training to do before I take on the Johto league haha!" Ashley rubbed the back of her head as I showered her in praise at the skill her pokemon displayed.

We quickly hit it off and decided to grab some dinner at the Poke Center food court. After I took a moment to confirm with the receptionist that I would get my points from the win we headed over to the Poke Center.


Poke Centers are probably the greatest blessing for trainers in this world. They had a free healing service for trainers as well as a reduced rate for room and board for trainers as well. I know in the future I'll be more than happy to part ways with my money for a soft bed, a hot shower, and a plate of warm food. Ashley and I headed to the main desk where we deposited our teams and made our way over to the dining area. It was a nicely sized cafeteria with a handful of people eating and conversing. We both loaded up our plates with what appeared to be cafeteria-style Butter Chicken and made our way over to an empty table. We both dug in for a few minutes before Ashley picked up the conversation again.

"So what was that shadow thing that Kong did? I had never seen that move on a Mankey before." It took a second before I fully realized what she was asking.

"Oh! Do you mean Spite? Yeah, it's not regularly a move that a Mankey can learn but sometimes it can show up as an Egg Move! It's really neat to use when faced with moves you aren't well-matched for. It's a Ghost move that messes with how your type of energy flows. It's like if you had a sink on full blast and then closed the knobs a little bit. It doesn't make using a move impossible like a Disable would, but it does make it require more effort and energy to pull off the move. It's really useful in tripping up an opponent and making the moves that are more troublesome a bit easier to deal with." I experimented with Spite a little during our training sessions. It had a lot of similarities to Disable but it hindered rather than blocked a move. It would make the formation of energy for a particular move harder to do. It could still be done as evidenced by her Abra still being able to use her moves. But I pointed out that when Abra had used Teleport after Spite had connected, there was a noticeable difference in the distance traveled as well as the energy used up to use the move. While it may not affect a Pokemon who has highly developed type proficiencies, it does help tire out Pokemon who haven't developed their energies well enough.

When I pointed out that her Abra hadn't been able to move as far, her face brightened in understanding. "I thought it was weird how your Mankey was able to get so close in such a short amount of time. Now I know that it wasn't just some freaky speed training on your part haha!" We had both finished our meals at that point so we returned the trays to the washing area and returned to our seats. I then shot a question that had been itching at me for a while.

"You said you had a third Pokemon that was roughed up right? What is it if you don't mind me asking?"

"Oh! Yeah, my third member is my starter which I got from the Ecruteak Theater! They're the ones that I'm under sponsorship for since I've volunteered there since I was a kid. They do this weird tradition where each sister will take turns mentoring and providing the starter for their sponsored trainer. This year was the Water Sisters' turn and she ended up giving me a Feebas! She told me if anyone could evolve it into a Milotic it would be me!" At this Ashley sat back a bit and looked down at the table. "But…I honestly don't have a clue how to do that. Milotics are rare. And even then there isn't a sure way that we know of that can help them evolve. There's the leading theory that those who use a Feebas in contests will have a higher chance of evolving it into a Milotic. But I don't have that kind of time! If I want to make it to the Indigo Championship and not just wash out in the Johto Prelims, I have to dedicate my time to widening and strengthening my team. I can't spend three months traveling around Hoenn or Sinnoh for a possibility…so I'm honestly not sure if I'll be able to keep that promise." Ashley slumped a bit in her chair and fiddled with a small pendant on her neck. At closer inspection, I could see a blue gem shaped like a teardrop dangling from a silver chain. I could only guess that it might be a present from her sponsor but I didn't want to pry too deep into her life after just meeting her.

I sat for a minute and debated how much I wanted to show my otherworldly knowledge. I knew that Feebas would evolve once they raised their beauty to a high enough level, or if exposed to a Prism Scale. It seems as though however that many in this world don't know about the use of a Prism Scale in regards to evolving a Feebas into a Milotic. This was something that I could exploit if I wanted to…but I liked Ashley. I hadn't had many friends in this life nor the last and I was hoping that Ashley and I could bond over our journeys. After a bit of inner debate, I had come to a decision.

"Hey just on the off chance, if you ever find a Prism Scale, don't sell it. Give it to your Feebas." Ashley looked at me as if she wasn't quite sure why she would give the equivalent of an expensive paperweight to her starter but shrugged her shoulders.

"Honestly I've been debating weirder things on how to get her to evolve so it doesn't sound like something that would be too much trouble to try. I don't have the funds to get one now, but I can always stop by the markets in Olivine to see if any pop-up. Let me give you my phone number so I can yell at you if it doesn't work." She slid her phone over to me and I punched in my contact info. I also looked at the time and noticed that there was about another hour or so of daylight before it would start to get dark.

I offered a place for Ashley to crash for the night but she declined. She would be making her way to Vermilion for a boat back to Olivine tomorrow morning and she didn't want to be late. After a few more minutes of small talk, we bid each other farewell and retrieved our Pokemon. As I walked home I grew excited to face off against her again. I knew she would make it through the prelims and we would see each other again at the Indigo Tournament.

I managed to get home a little after the sun had set. I regaled my tale of my first battle to my family and got some tips from Uncle on how to increase my Pokémon's speed and maneuverability. I knew that was something I needed to work on King with as we got really lucky with Ashley's Abra not knowing any damaging psychic moves. Afterward, I climbed the stair to my room and collapsed onto my bed.

I was starting to make my way up the ladder and I wasn't going to stop until I couldn't climb any higher


And that's Chapter 4! I really wanted to take some time and introduce Ashley a little bit. She'll definitely be popping up throughout the story so expect to see more of her! On a different note Cindy won her first battle! While it may have been a bit on the lucky side, if you've ever played a nuzlocke you know not to leave things to RNG. That's how you get double crit baby!

Anyways I hope y'all enjoyed! Feel free to leave a review on what you think! Only a couple more chapters left on our pre journey training so soon we'll be off into the wilds of Kanto and wherever Cindy can reach.

As always take care and remember to hydrate!