Josh told Ash about his battles with Misty and Surge, but he felt massively one-upped when Ash shared her story of the Game Corner. Josh was too awe-struck to notice the way that Ash clenched her fists when she talked about Giovanni.
"He makes me sick," she said, "he's a monster."
"But you beat him," Josh offered.
Ash scoffed. "I did not beat him. I got lucky."
"You beat Team Rocket twice," Josh said, "I don't think it's all luck. You should try battling actual Trainers for once. I think you'd be great."
"I don't care about battling," Ash said.
All I care about is making sure Team Rocket goes down for good, Ash thought. But she couldn't say that to Josh. Instead, she simply looked away. "I don't even care about the Pokedex much anymore."
Josh shifted uncomfortably. "The Professor said you stopped calling."
Ash said nothing. She looked across the grass field on Route 7. They were sitting on a hill overlooking the field, and the Saffron City skyline was visible on the horizon. Josh wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words. After an awkward silence, he stood up and brought out his Poke Balls.
"Hey, you know what I just thought of?" he said, "Our Pokemon haven't seen each other since Mt. Moon. Don't you think we should introduce everyone?"
Ash looked back at Josh, and she lit up. "Yeah, that's a great idea!"
They called out their Pokemon, and Josh marveled at the fact that they both had full teams of six Pokemon. His Ivysaur, Pidgeotto, Jolteon, Golbat, Primeape, and Graveler were now joined by Ash's Clefairy, Wartortle, Nidoking, Parasect, Wigglytuff, and Porygon.
"Wait, you have a Porygon?" Josh gawked.
"Yeah," Ash said, "it put itself on my flash drive when I left the Game Corner."
"So that's why Erika said it was important."
Ash looked away. It felt wrong lying to Josh, but she had to do it.
"You seriously are the coolest," Josh said, "does he have a name?"
"It."
"What?"
"It's an it," Ash said, "and I was thinking Tarrant. How does that sound?"
Ash turned to the Porygon, and it gave a high-pitched hum of approval. Its pupils formed heart shapes as it nuzzled Ash's cheek and she giggled. Ash's Nidoking, Lory, still towered over all the Pokemon in the group, but after Zeus's evolution Josh didn't feel quite so inferior. Zeus's fur bristled in Tarrant's presence, and the Normal-type beeped excitedly every time some static electricity shot between them. Josh's Golbat shot him a sidelong glance, but didn't immediately reenter his Poke Ball. Pan and Pat greeted each other excitedly and hugged. Ash felt a pang of guilt for not returning Professor Oak's calls. She owed him a lot, after all.
Dinah caught Ash's eye, and she knelt down in front of her Clefairy.
"I hope your family is okay," Ash said.
Her Fairy-type nodded and smiled at her. Ash wondered how Dinah could know for sure, but she didn't press the issue. Seeing Dinah smile again was reward enough. "I still have a Moon Stone for you," she said gently. This time, Dinah didn't scowl at the mention of it, but still shook her head. "Okay," Ash said quietly, "only when you're ready."
Their impromptu picnic was interrupted by a Growlithe which emerged from the tall grass. It froze mid-step and mid-bark when it saw the 12 Pokemon gathered on the hill, and immediately ran back towards the grass. But Josh sent Zeus after it.
"Zeus, Thunder Wave!"
The electricity dance along the grass towards the Growlithe, and the Fire-type's legs froze up, stopping it in place. Ash raised her eyebrows at Josh, and he shot a grin at her. Finally, Josh thought to himself, something that she can't do.
Suddenly, a tongue of flame hit Josh's arm, and he yelped as he felt the heat race up the sleeve of his jacket and up his arm. Josh threw his jacket to the ground and desperately tried to stomp out the flame, but it only spread to the grass around him. Ash giggled, and Josh felt his face burn with embarrassment as her Wartortle put out the fire with a Water Gun.
Josh flung a Poke Ball at the Growlithe. It shook once, twice, and thankfully clicked. Josh ran forward to pick up his latest catch, but then stumbled as he remembered his party was full, and the Poke Ball blipped away in a flash of white light.
"You gonna name that one?" Ash asked.
"Oh, yeah," Josh said as he turned back to her, "his name will be Helios."
Ash nodded with approval. Then she looked down at the ground.
"Your jacket's totally ruined," she said.
#
Josh silently thanked Erika a million times as he and Ash trekked through Saffron City. He struggled to keep up with Ash as they pushed their way through the sidewalks of the massive city. He marveled at the way she barely had to glance at the street signs before taking a turn. He tried to mend his wounded ego by mentioning the Underground Path he had taken, but this earned himself another 'country boy' jab from Ash as she pointed out that those were meant for flood control and not transit.
Ash took a moment while they were in the Poke Center to check the computer for any news about the Game Corner. There was only a short article from The Morning Sun website that mentioned 'suspected illicit activity', but made no mention of who was involved. Ash breathed a sigh of relief that her name wasn't in it, but her face quickly soured when she read that an office chair with 'real leather' had been confiscated from the building.
The skin, meat, eggs, honey, and almost anything else that could be derived from Pokemon had been strictly outlawed in every country on the planet. Ash remembered the day she had watched a documentary at school on what the consumption of those things used to entail, exactly where it came from, and what happened to the Pokemon that were used for it. The footage had made her sick to her stomach, and she had to excuse herself to go to the bathroom. Everyone in her class, including Josh and Ryan, had left school that day in a muted daze.
Ash's mother, and a few other parents, had made a big stink about it over the next few days. "It's too graphic," they had said, "it's traumatizing." Ash's mother had always tried to baby her. But Ash thought that things like that shouldn't be covered up, even if it hurt to think about.
All those things were made artificially, nowadays. Ash sometimes wondered how long it had taken for that change to be made everywhere. How expensive it was, and what exactly went into making things like fake meat, fake milk, fake cheese. It must cost a fortune to get all the details right. The look, the color, the taste. Whatever it costs, Ash had concluded years ago, it's worth it.
There were still leftovers from the old days, however. Ash's father had told her once, quietly while they had been watching a movie, late at night.
"Every now and then, the police find something," he had said to her, his face grim. "From a politician or some rich, shady guy. Leather boots. A fur coat. And one time… antlers, hanging on a wall."
Why anyone would want something so disgusting hanging from their wall, Ash would never understand, even after her father explained it to her. Ash could tell her father had regretted telling her that the moment he had said it. Her father always tried to baby her, too, in his own way. He had tried to say it in a way that would make it sound comforting, but he had failed.
Ash thought of how Giovanni must have felt, sitting in that chair, behind that ostentatious desk. She knew a man like him not only didn't feel any guilt about where that leather came from, but probably felt proud to own something like that in this day and age.
Ash closed the browser window. She imagined herself pushing that chair off a cliff with Giovanni in it. But the memory of her battle with him in the Game Corner reminded her what a fantasy that was. Instead, Ash plugged in the flash drive she had used in the Game Corner. There were more than a hundred files on it, and Ash couldn't make sense of any of it. Ash pulled out the small plastic Pikachu tail from the computer, put the cap back on the USB connector, and put the flash drive back in her bag. Then, she turned to look at Josh, who was chatting with some local Trainers. They were showing off their Badges. Josh had the most, but none of them had the Marsh Badge.
Ash thought about Josh's brother. Ever since Jake Dale had left on his own journey, Josh had talked about him constantly. Jake had been training for three years at this point, and had seven Badges. He was the golden boy — an Ace Trainer — everyone in Pallet Town knew that.
Josh noticed Ash watching them and waved her over with a smile. Might as well start somewhere, Ash thought to herself.
#
The two of them sat waiting in a ramen shop, huddled against the bar, with only a small half-length curtain dividing them from the bustle of Saffron City. Like in the restaurant on the S.S. Anne, Josh felt as though the menu — printed entirely in Kantonese — was mocking him. If he had paid more attention in school he wouldn't have been so helpless in this shop, or Saffron in general. Eventually, he resigned himself to simply copying Ash's order.
The chef came by to take their orders, and Ash quickly rattled off an order in Kantonese. The chef nodded and got to work.
"Don't say it," Josh said as he caught Ash's smug look.
The chef placed identical bowls of ramen in front of the two of them. Josh knew he probably couldn't name even half of the ingredients in the bowl of whatever Ash had ordered, but he immediately understood why it was Ash's favorite as he tried the first spoonful.
Ash slurped her noodles noisily, then brought the bowl to her face to drink the broth when she was finished. Josh was still fumbling with his chopsticks when Ash poked him. Josh turned around to see his brother brushing the curtain out of his way to step inside. Ash watched as Josh sprang out of his seat and the two brothers hugged.
Jake was almost a foot taller than Josh, but the resemblance between them was obvious. They had the same shaggy black hair, blue eyes, and dimples in their cheeks when they smiled. For some reason, the memory of a summer day in the public pool of Pallet Town came to her mind. Ash had been lying face-down on an inflatable raft, balancing on her elbows. The sun was so bright it reflected off the yellow plastic of the raft and stung her eyes, but she had been loving the weather all the same. It reminded her of the days she used to spend sunbathing on Cerulean Cape.
Then, the force of someone jumping in the water and doing a cannonball had thrown Ash off of her raft. It had only taken a moment for Ash to reorient herself and swim up for air, only for her to realize there was another raft blocking her. Looking back, it would have been easy to simply swim around the raft and come up for air that way. But Ash had only been about eight years old at the time, and she had panicked at the thought of not being able to reach the surface.
Jake Dale had been the only one who had noticed, and had pulled Ash out of the pool, earning himself the eternal gratitude of Ash's mother. She still sent Jake a gift every Christmas. Ash always hated whenever her mother would bring it up later at home. Jake had made a joke as he set Ash down that day, and rustled her hair in a way that Ash hardly remembered what she had been so scared of.
Jake rustled Josh's hair as he sat down in the ramen shop.
"Early dinner for you, I see," he said.
"We got tired of waiting for you," Josh shot back with a grin.
"Hey, Ash," Jake said with a wave.
"H-hey," she stammered.
"You've got a little something there," Jake said as he indicated to the corner of his own mouth.
Ash's hand flew to her cheek, and she felt a leftover chopped green onion stuck there. Ash's face burned with embarrassment as she quickly wiped it away with a napkin, and then elbowed Josh hard in the side for laughing.
The three of them traded stories, although Ash couldn't seem to speak clearly when Jake asked her about her journey so far, and then they laid their Poke Balls out on the bar of the ramen shop. Ash's and Josh's were entirely Poke Balls, but Jake's were an assortment of all types: two Poke Balls, a Great Ball, an Ultra Ball, and even two Safari Balls. Josh reached forward and twisted the tops of the two Safari Balls, and peered inside to see a miniaturized Scyther and Kangaskhan.
"I've got to get to Fuchsia City," Josh murmured as he marveled at them.
"You better hurry," Ash said, as she watched Jake's Dodrio run laps inside his Ultra Ball, "Ryan is definitely going to be headed there."
Josh grimaced at the thought of Ryan with a horde of rare, powerful Pokemon from the Safari Zone.
"So you two are competing, huh?" Jake said, "what's the head-to-head count?"
Josh looked down. "Zero and three."
Jake put a hand on Josh's shoulder, but said nothing. Josh reached forward and picked up Jake's Poke Ball. He twisted the top, and saw Benz looking up at him. The last time Josh had seen him, he had been just a little Poliwag, but Josh still recognized the look in the Poliwrath's eyes.
"I'm over it now, mostly," Josh said, "Ryan picked a Fire-type when I got Pan, and he got a Kadabra. It's only natural that he's ahead of me right now. But I'm not giving up."
"That's great, that's the right attitude," Jake said.
"Speaking of which," Ash said, "I was wondering if we could watch your Gym Challenge?"
The two brothers turned to Ash with identical looks of surprise.
"I want to try," she said, "I want to learn to battle."
#
The Saffron Gym was easily the largest Gym Josh had ever been to, and the least inviting. It was dimly lit, and the walls were covered in an usual pattern that was hard to look at. Most of all, it was well-known throughout Kanto that Sabrina's apprentices were all espers.
Josh remembered watching a documentary on TV that said it was estimated around 10% of the population had some sort of psychic ability. Of that 10%, only a fraction of them possessed an ability that was considered 'of note'. 'Of note' meaning, actually interesting. Most espers simply got a hunch when it was about to rain, or could immediately find something they had lost, or seemed to have good luck with coin flips. Nothing cool, like in the movies.
But the espers in Sabrina's Gym were different. Josh could see them levitating their Poke Balls in the air with simple hand gestures. A young boy held out his palm, a playing card was floating in the air, jittering with every twitch of his fingers. One woman sat kneeling on the ground with a circular rope suspended from nothing in the air above her. There were long, zigzag-shaped papers dangling from the rope. Josh stared as the woman sat there with her eyes closed for a moment, before suddenly opening them and turning her head in Josh's direction. Josh nearly jumped in place.
"Don't let them creep you out," Jake said, "most of them are pretty nice… but don't bother them either. They don't like to be interrupted."
"What are those things?" Josh murmured, as he watched the paper zigzags — which had been motionless a second ago — begin to sway with a nonexistent breeze.
"Shide," Ash said, "they're supposed to ward off negative energy."
"Do you believe in that stuff?" Josh asked.
Ash shrugged. "Espers are one thing. But the spiritual stuff, not so much."
Josh was keenly aware of the woman staring at him as he and Ash made their way to the stands and sat down. There were more than a few other Trainers there as well, and even a reporter. Jake introduced them to a friend before leaving them to go see Sabrina.
Jake's friend, Sayaka, was tall and thin, with auburn hair that seemed to glow from the overhead lights of the Gym. She was wearing an aqua blue jumpsuit and a specialized belt on her thigh to hold her six Ultra Balls. Most impressive of all, she had all eight Badges.
"Finally beat Misty on my third attempt," she said, as she shut her Badge case closed with a satisfying snap. "And I'll be entering Victory Road at the end of the year."
Josh gaped at her until Ash gently slapped the bottom of his jaw closed.
"You're getting drool on the floor," she said with a smile.
"So Jake tells me you're challenging Gyms too?" Sayaka said.
"Yeah, I've only got four Badges," Josh said.
"In less than a year? That's very impressive," Sayaka said.
Josh blushed, and Ash's eyes nearly rolled out of her skull.
"Do you have any advice for someone who doesn't have any Badges?" Ash asked.
Sayaka put her feet up on the empty seat in front of her as she thought for a moment. "If you're not challenging Gyms, the best way to learn is under a Gym Leader. That's how I did it. I practically grew up in this Gym, learning from Sabrina. Do you have any Psychic-type Pokemon?"
"I have a Clefairy."
Sayaka frowned. "That won't be enough. You should try to add a Psychic or Ghost-type to your team, to sweeten the deal. Then I could talk to Sabrina for you."
"I would really appreciate that," Ash said.
The audience quieted as Jake Dale and Sabrina emerged and took their places on the battlefield. The young boy let the playing card drop from the air and quickly took up the referee position.
"Four-on-four, free substitutions, the Challenger opens," Sabrina said.
Sabrina was beautiful. She had shiny black hair that fell to her waist. She wore a pink crop-top and white jeans. Four Ultra Balls floated alongside her as she moved. She didn't raise her voice when she spoke, but Josh could tell she commanded the respect of everyone in the Gym.
"Cadi, I choose you!" Jake Dale said as he tossed his Great Ball in the air.
Jake's Electabuzz emerged. It howled and swung its arms like a turbine, it moved so fast its arms became blurry, yellow wheels of motion like in a cartoon, crackling with electricity.
"Go, Exeggutor," Sabrina said.
One of the four Ultra Balls floated forward and snapped open, and Sabrina's Exeggutor jumped forward. Its three heads chattered among themselves quietly as the Grass-type shifted its body so each head could get a look at the Electabuzz.
A Grass-type to counter an Electric-type, Josh thought to himself, I guess Gym Leaders stop letting you counter their specialty once you get enough Badges.
"Cadi, Fire Punch!"
"Exeggutor, Toxic."
Cadi ran forward while swinging its right arm, but this time the arm suddenly erupted with flames. The Exeggutor planted its feet and threw its weight forward, its three mouths opened and a purple cloud of smoke emerged. Cadi ran into the cloud and hit the Exeggutor, sending it stumbling backwards.
"Again, Fire Punch!"
Cadi let out a nasty cough, but stepped forward to deliver another flaming punch. The Exeggutor disappeared into its Ultra Ball and Sabrina sent out a Slowbro. Cadi struck the Slowbro in the center of its face, but it only stared back at Cadi with a blank expression, seemingly unaffected.
Josh heard the sound of Sayaka's foot tapping impatiently against the seat in front of her.
"Switch out, switch out, switch out," she murmured to herself.
"Cadi, Thunderbolt!"
"Light Screen."
Josh glanced to his left to see Sayaka shaking her head silently. He watched as Cadi sent forth a bolt of lightning, but the Slowbro stood there motionless as a strange, pale green screen appeared in the air in front of the Slowbro. The lightning struck the screen, which somehow made no noise, but Josh could see clearly that the lightning that made it through and reached the Slowbro was only half as powerful. The Slowbro took the attack again without reacting, and the screen slowly faded away.
Jake opened his mouth to give another order, but Cadi coughed again and his hands went to his throat as he struggled to breathe. Jake hesitated for a moment, then brought out one of his Safari Balls.
"Cadi, return. Let's go, Audi!"
Cadi, who was now on his knees gasping for breath, disappeared and was replaced by Jake's Scyther. Audi crouched down, claws resting on the ground, with his wings fluttering restlessly behind him.
"Use X-Scissor!"
"Ice Beam."
Josh grimaced as he watched. Audi flew forward with blinding speed and slashed the Slowbro across the face with both claws, but the Psychic-type only stared back with its mouth agape as it sent forth an icy-blue beam that sent Audi flying back. The Scyther landed on Jake's side of the battlefield with half its body frozen.
"Scyther is unable to battle!" the referee said, holding up a red flag.
Josh watched as Jake withdrew Audi and stood there holding his Safari Ball. Josh had seen Jake's entire team while they were in the ramen shop: Poliwrath, Scyther, Dodrio, Sandslash, Electabuzz, and Kangaskhan. None of them had any obvious answer for Psychic-types, as far as Josh knew. With Slowbro's incredible Defense and a Light Screen, Josh couldn't think of any way to beat it.
"Let's go, Royce!"
Josh sank in his seat as he watched Jake's Dodrio emerge.
She literally just used Ice Beam, what are you thinking?
For a moment, neither did anything. The Dodrio shifted on its legs while its three heads sized up the Slowbro. The Slowbro, as always, stared back with a blank expression and a bit of drool hanging from its open mouth. Then, Sabrina opened her mouth to speak. Jake immediately reacted.
"Royce, Endure!"
Jake's Dodrio hunched down and drew his three heads close to his body. Its body glowed red and its feathers puffed out. Josh understood the idea: Jake was planning to allow Royce to get hit by an Ice Beam, and then use a max-power Flail to counter — it was brilliant. But as Josh perked up in his seat and marveled at his brother's plan, he missed what Sabrina had told her own Pokemon.
Josh felt Sayaka sink into her chair. Instead of attacking, the Slowbro got down on all fours and lifted its tail. The shell on its tail sizzled with electricity, and a wave of sparks emanated from the tip, spreading across the battlefield. Instead of absorbing the attack, Royce squawked in pain as its legs locked up and it fell over, its heads each twisting in a different direction.
Jake fumbled with his Safari Ball, but it was too late. The Slowbro unleashed another Ice Beam, and defeated Royce in one shot. Josh could see Sayaka and Ash had both lost interest in the battle, and he could hardly blame them. He almost wanted to look away as Sabrina ordered her Slowbro to use Calm Mind. The shell on the Slowbro's tail clamped down, and the Slowbro finally closed its mouth. Something almost resembling purpose came to its eyes. It defeated Jake's Kangaskhan and the still-poisoned Cadi with one Psychic attack each.
Sabrina was magnanimous in her victory. She placed on hand on Jake's shoulder as she shook his hand, but Josh knew all too well the look in his brother's eyes. It was the same feeling he had felt after those battles with Ryan. The feeling that you'd made a complete fool of yourself — with an audience, no less. The memory of the S.S. Anne came to mind. Of the Nugget Bridge. Of Route 22 — Josh's first battle ever. Josh sat there wishing he could disappear, or that Ash hadn't asked him to call his brother at all.
Ash watched Josh sulking in his seat and searched for the right words to say. She knew that Jake hadn't earned his eighth Badge, but she hadn't imagined his challenge would go so badly. And she knew Josh well enough to know when he was lying — he was not 'over' his rivalry with Ryan. It was the one thing she knew the best about Josh. Those two think about nothing else, she often thought to herself, it's like they don't know how to live without someone to beat.
Ash had thought it was silly. Those kinds of rivalries didn't do anyone any good, she often thought to herself. There were a few moments when Ash thought she had finally witnessed the end of Josh and Ryan's friendship, but something she couldn't understand kept it alive.
It was this thing, the thing that Ash couldn't put her finger on, that she was searching for as she watched Josh looking down at the floor, trying hard not to be seen. Sayaka had taken the hint and silently left them. It was just the two of them, and Ash felt a pang of guilt as she looked at him. Josh had helped her on Mt. Moon, bandaged her leg that still twinged even weeks later when she walked for too long.
"Sabrina will see you now," a voice said.
Ash looked up to see the woman who had been meditating under the shide. The one who had been watching them from the moment they had entered the Gym. Ash looked back to Josh. He hadn't even reacted. She tried to remember if Sayaka had even talked to any of the apprentices during the battle.
"Come, child," the woman said gently.
Ash took one last look at Josh, but finally sighed as she gave up on any attempt to console him. She stood up and followed the woman to Sabrina's office. She gave Jake a cursory wave as they made eye contact, but he didn't seem to notice.
Sabrina's office was sparse. There was only one framed photo on her desk, where she now sat. A large grandfather clock ticked away in the corner.
"I believe there is something you want to ask of me," Sabrina said.
"Did Sayaka talk to you?" Ash asked.
"No."
Ash gulped. Growing up, she had heard Misty complain — on a few occasions — that Sabrina's esper status was all talk. But standing in her presence now, Sabrina was more intimidating now than at any point in the battle Ash had just watched. Ash gestured to the chair opposite Sabrina. She nodded, and Ash sat down.
"I was hoping I could train under you, as an apprentice," Ash began.
"My answer is no," Sabrina said.
"Because I don't have any Psychic-type Pokemon?" Ash asked.
"Not necessarily," Sabrina said. Then, she picked up the photo on her desk to look at it. "An apprenticeship wouldn't suit you; your thoughts are elsewhere. You know what you want to do, but you're afraid to take the first step. You think you can avoid risk by taking an indirect path."
Ash bristled, but took a breath before she spoke again. "That Trainer you just beat was my friend's brother. You didn't need to be so hard on him. And I don't appreciate you talking to me like you're telling my fortune at a carnival."
"I don't mean to patronize you," Sabrina said coolly, "and my intention is never to end the careers of my Challengers. Jake Dale will challenge me again, and he will be stronger for it. I will meet his brother as well, in time. I don't enjoy battling all that much, but as a Gym Leader it is my duty to test Trainers' resolve as well as reward their hard work."
"What did you mean by me 'taking an indirect path'?" Ash asked.
For a moment, Sabrina said nothing. Then, she put the photo back down on her desk and looked at Ash. Her eyes were bright pink, but Ash could see something in her gaze. It almost looked like pity.
"The Professor told you to visit his friend in Lavender Town," Sabrina said, "that is where you must go."
"How do you know about that?"
Sabrina held up her hand. "Let me finish. I know you don't place much stock in what people say about me. So I'll put it this way: I will not allow you to train in my Gym until you visit Professor Oak's friend in Lavender Town. After you do, you will return to Saffron City. If you still wish to become my apprentice, you will be welcome here."
Ash felt as though there was more coming, but Sabrina fell silent. Again, Ash felt at a loss for words, and she couldn't see much of anything in Sabrina's eyes anymore. She stood up and moved to leave the office.
"And one last thing," Sabrina called after her, "take the briefcase with you."