Pokémon: Master Journey

by Blandusername

Ash and his mother Delia moved to Pallet right before Ash began his Pokémon Journey. Beginning his journey with a trusty Squirtle, Ash sets out to conquer the Pokémon league and defeat the Champion Lance. Will the roaming threat of Team Rocket, Wild Legendaries and Rivals stop him from achieving his dream? AU. Smart!Ash. Serious!Ash. Realistic World. Mixture of Game and Anime.

3. Cerulean City

World of Pokémon #3

Silph Co., the largest Conglomerate on Earth. They were responsible for the very first Pokéball, the ones that didn't always work and would rival the size of car trunks. Many, many years later they were responsible for a variety of inventions that revolutionized the way people and Pokémon live.

After the miraculous invention of Potions and different more potent versions of the Pokéball, d their Billions became trillions. The only company in the world that could rival them was the Devon Corporation, who were responsible for the Pokémon fossil revival technology as well as a variety of different Pokéballs such as the dive ball and lure ball.

Other companies have rose throughout the decades that have tried to stand on their levels, but never came close and were subsequently bought out by either company keeping their monopoly on most of the world's products.

No one, other than Mr. Goodshow, had the same level of political power as the CEO's of Silph Co. and the Devon Corp.

---

Ash sipped his water shakily, his team was being looked at by the nurse Joy, but they were more injured than he's ever seen. He was rattled by the events in the mountain, he was outclassed and relied on a literal legendary Metagross and a stray Champion to save him.

But he was more worried however about his Pokémon, who were hit by the incredibly powerful Flamethrowers.

They far outclassed his entire team, not only did Hydro's water completely evaporate but they were instantly taken out. Training will be even more intense from here on out, otherwise something like this could happen again. He mentally swore as he took another sip of his water. Ash was so entranced with his thoughts he didn't notice Steven approach.

"Food for your thoughts?" Ash looked up to see Steven holding two plates with sandwiches on them.

Thanking the former champion Ash started eating the food with gusto. He didn't realize how hungry he was until he took the first bite. Not to mention he hadn't eaten since this morning and it was already two.

"You did well," Said Steven suddenly with a gentle smile on his face. "I thought I should reiterate that. The man in charge back there was an executive in the Rocket organization. There are only four of them and they are the strongest trainers we've seen that are employed in the organization. Don't think that because he beat you that it was because you are weak. If Team Rocket didn't have Elite trainers in their employ, then they wouldn't be a threat after all."

Ash mentally grumbled couldn't fault Steven's logic. He had only started his journey two months ago and while he has made progress, he wasn't near Elite level yet. Nowhere close as it seemed from the confrontation in the mountain.

"But I should congratulate you, not many get to meet that Metagross." Steven said with a strange look on his face that Ash couldn't decipher.

"It has only been seen - to my knowledge - four times, when my family first started their Beldum plantation sixty years ago. When I was traveling on my first journey and another when I became champion and then now. The power of that Metagross is off the charts, he is more powerful than mine and it's my strongest Pokémon." Steven didn't seem put off by that fact if the admiration in his voice was anything to go by.

But that didn't mean Ash wasn't shocked.

"Your best Pokémon is weaker than a wild Metagross?" Ash asked in shock, it was well documented that Pokémon in the wild usually plateaued after a while. No matter their genealogy.

Steven nodded easily as he chewed his food. "Oh yeah, that thing is easily on par with legendary Pokémon, it is the oldest Metagross in the world. I only know that because when I first met it, it saved me from a Darkrai that went wild and put it down. Despite it having a type disadvantage with a legendary Pokémon. Metagross also don't really age normally so unless they're killed, they can live for a very long time, that thing could be centuries old." Shrugged Steven as if he didn't just casually mention a titanic battle of legendary Pokémon.

Again, Ash couldn't believe what he was hearing. "I didn't think non-Legendary Pokémon could become that strong, especially in the wild. But if it is that old, I guess I could believe that." Even if he was starting to rethink all of his prior Pokémon knowledge.

"But that isn't to say my Pokémon are weak. My Metagross has some pretty sweet moves!" Steven laughed getting a snort out of Ash.

Sweet moves didn't do that Metagross or Steven justice. Ash had caught several of Steven's matches on the PLN and it wouldn't be a stretch to call Steven's Metagross the second strongest in the world. That thing took down fully evolved fire types without much effort. Not something steel types could do easily or should do for that matter.

"I hope I can raise Metang to that level one day." Ash said with a smirk toward the Steel Master.

Steven returned the gesture and leaned forward. "You have a powerful team already, a Dratini and a Metang. I would recommend buying some moves from Silph Co. I'll even take you so you can use my Champion discount and privileges, think of it as a thank you for helping with the Mt. Moon incident."

"Really?!" Ash shouted making Steven nod. "Thank you so much and it was no problem, like I said it was the right thing to do." Said Ash again.

Ash wolfed down the rest of his food and stood up and quickly cleaned himself up. All depression regarding his team forgotten at the prospect of getting them new moves.

Steven easily followed his lead with a laugh and finished off his meal. "Well let's go, I have a few suggestions in mind." Steven told the rookie getting a mental sequel out of Ash, it must have been visible on his face as Steven started laughing fully.

---

The local Silph Co. outlet store was a large building that was both a lab and store. The ground level had all the Silph products that a person could want and the floors above was where the labs and research departments were. Naturally, only the first floor was available to the average person and non-employee.

Ash and Steven arrived at the store and began looking around. Ash immediately walked over to an empty terminal that he could pick the technical machines he wanted.

"I would propose Ice Beam and Dark Pulse and maybe Flamethrower. With my discount they won't be too expensive for you." Suggested Steven. "Also, Psychic and some Punch attacks. Then whatever you think is best. Physical and Special attacks have separate defenses so it's good to have a variety."

Ash thumbed through the terminal, he had picked Ice Beam, Flamethrower, Dark Pulse and Psychic. On Steven's recommendation he also got Brick Break, while not an elemental punching move it was a fighting type attack that Hydro could use. There were other attacks that he wanted but for now this would be more than enough. Not to mention if he added all of them together it was more than twelve thousand Pokédollars after the discount which was three thousand less than what he currently had on him. Thankfully he already had a TM case and Technical Machine to use the moves.

Steven Stone nodded at the choices; he also slid a sleek black box on top of the pile making Ash turn to him. "It's a gift." Ash was about to protest but Steven stopped him with a pat on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, winning a League tournament comes with a Pokédollar prize of at least five hundred thousand. I've not only won several but was a former champion, I'm not counting pennies." Chuckled Steven, he didn't mention that his family was pretty well off even before he became a champion. A Beldum farm, only of its kind, brought lots of money. Selling Pseudo Legendries was a seller's market after all.

Steven typed into the terminal as he inserted Ice Beam and Flamethrower. The machine worked for a moment before dinging and the move disks were released from the machine.

"I have made those two moves permanent, meaning you can use them over and over if you want." Steven explained as he handed the moves back to him.

Ash nodded thankfully and payed for his TMs. Steven handed him the black box and gestured for him to open it. Inside was a Pokégear on it the box said it was model 4.0, Ash never heard of the newest model so it must be a prototype since Silph loved to advertise their product even before release to build hype and preorders.

"I may have asked for the latest model and they gave me that one, don't worry I got one too!" Laughed Steven, being a Champion, former or otherwise came with several benefits apparently.

"Now, hand me your Pokédex and follow me to the terminal." Steven sat down at the computer and plugged in both devises.

"I'm transferring over all your Pokédex's data and trainer info to the Pokégear. The newest model serves as a Pokédex as well if it has the chip and yours does. Other uses are a map that is hooked to the Silph Co. Satellites, an inter-Regional phone, a radio and it tells you the status off all your Pokémon that are in your trainer box and on your person if they're in their Pokéball. Now the reason this one is special is the addition to the back, you put a Pokéball to it and it can transfer your Pokéball to your sponsor and receive transfers from said sponsor. You won't have to go to a center to transfer your Pokémon anymore!" Finishing the data transfer, Steven handed the devise back to Ash.

"I also put my Pokégear number in there. When your Metang evolves give me a ring, I'd love to have a battle with you. See you around Ash!" Steven gave him a thumbs up and was gone.

Ash stood still trying to wrap his head around the turn of events. He was sure that the Pokégear in his hands cost upwards of thirty thousand dollars and he was given it as a gift!

Adding in his home number as well as Professor Oak's before he forgot. Ash then walked back to the Pokémon Center to see his Pokémon's status. It was time that he got Pidgeotto back too, she'd been gone for too long.

---

"Please wait for a moment Mr. Ketchum." Nurse Joy said politely before she walked off, Ash waited nervously for what could be severe burn damage or worse. He didn't want to think about worse.

Nurse Joy returned with his Pokéballs and handed them over. "Metang and Umbreon are fine, they didn't suffer much more than fatigue." Ash nodded impatiently; he already knew that. "Now Dratini, and Wartortle are more or less fine both are pretty hardy despite Dratini not having the best defenses. Pikachu was hurt pretty bad, no scars or permanent damage since you put it into its Pokéball so quick and used a burn heal but I want you to let him rest."

Ash nodded numbly and asked for a room key, after receiving it he walked towards the stairs to go to the trainer rooms. Ash wanted to talk with his Pokémon to make sure they were alright.

The room was the same as any other in any other Pokémon Center- a bed, a dresser and small bathroom. Medium sized and since his Pokémon were still relatively small could all fit. Ash tossed out all of his Pokémon who popped up in the room with Pikachu emerging on his bed.

Dratini slithered to a corner and curled up and laid its head down while Hydro sat with his back against the wall while looking at his fellow Pokémon and trainer. Metang hummed and looked around the room curiously. Umbreon jumped up on the bed and laid her head on Ash's lap, purring when Ash started petting her. Pikachu sat next to him on the bed and relaxed when Ash started rubbing his head.

"I'm sorry." Said Ash getting shocked looks from his team. "I put you in a situation you weren't ready for and you all could have been seriously hurt, I won't be so stupid again!" The Pokémon looked at him quietly for a moment.

Surprisingly Blast was the first of his team to speak and seemed angry at his words. The dragon slithered up to him and stared at him fiercely before letting out a low growl.

Ash raised his hands in the air making Umbreon glare at the dragon for taking her trainers hand from her. "I'm not calling you weak, but we've only been training together for a few weeks and that guy was one of the strongest in his organization."

Hydro stood up but couldn't meet his eyes as he whined at Ash's words. Blast shot Hydro a look but didn't say anything in response to what Hydro said.

Trying to figure out what his starter was saying Ash stared at him, "No! Don't blame yourself, those Pokémon have years of experience and training on us. Hydro you did your very best and I couldn't be prouder. But I promise that we will be training much harder from now on." He promised all of them firmly.

The Pokémon were happy to hear that and cried out to show it. Blast nodded to his trainer and went back lay down in his corner while Hydro sat down against the bed and drifted off to sleep. Metang was still floating around the room enjoying the quiet atmosphere.

Ash patted Pikachu getting the electric type to look up at him. "I'm sorry you were hurt by the fire Pokémon, but you should know that the only reason your injuries were healed so well was because of your Pokéball."

Pikachu looked at him shocked getting Ash to elaborate. "A Pokéball puts a Pokémon in a sort of stasis and a relaxed mindset letting their injuries stay in their current state giving a trainer time to have them healed without the wounds getting worse."

While Ash was talking to Pikachu, Umbreon kept nudging Ash's hand with her head trying to get more attention. She didn't stop until Ash started petting her and laid back down on his lap content.

Pikachu jumped up to Ash's shoulder to nuzzle his cheek before laying down on a pillow. Ash fell back down on the bed and chuckled when Umbreon nestled next to him. Ash may have wanted to sleep in the bed by himself, but he couldn't bring himself to make Umbreon move.

---

Professor Oak answered a call from a strange number with a raised eyebrow. But after seeing the face of Ash he smiled. "Ash my boy! What number are you calling me from? It isn't one from a Pokémon Center."

Ash grinned, "This is my new Pokégear! I got it as a gift yesterday."

Oak 'hmmed' but didn't ask for Ash to elaborate, "How was Mt. Moon? I'm quite surprised that you got through so quickly."

At the mention of the mountain Ash's sobered up, he didn't want to tell the professor what happened but knew that he had to. He wasn't thrilled with how most of his time played in the mountain played out but knew that keeping this from the professor was a bad idea.

"Not good." Ash said in a low tone, Oak noticed the shift in attitude and frowned. "There were these criminals called Team Rocket there."

"Team Rocket!" Roared Oak getting a jump of shock out of Ash, the professor's face hardened into steel, but he quickly pushed that down with a mix of emotions in his eyes that Ash wasn't capable of deciphering. "Tell me everything!"

Ash hesitated for only a moment but started on the events of Mt. Moon. "I was confronted telepathically by an enormous Metagross when I entered the mountain. It asked for my help in saving the rest of its colony. I agreed and while the Metagross was attacking the criminals I freed the captured Beldum and Metang, then began to assist in taking them down."

Throughout his explanation Oak was typing into a device but all of his attention was on Ash. Although, he did look up when Ash said that he fought the rockets.

Ash quickly continued before the professor could talk. "The rockets weren't tough, at least all of them other than their boss, his Pokémon were way stronger than mine and if it weren't for Steven and Metang I would have died."

"Ash!" Shouted Oak in surprise his device long forgotten as he looked at him with worry. "What happened to the executive? Who is Steven?"

Ash saw his error and explained, "Steven Stone, he showed up as well. Apparently the wild Metagross told his what was happening, and he was already on the way. The executive escaped through teleportation."

Professor Oak's eyebrows raised in surprise, "I suppose that he would be enough for any of the executives, he was a phenomenal champion and his Metagross is the strongest of its kind." Oak didn't bother bringing up the executive and Ash was grateful that he wouldn't have to focus on him any longer.

"Actually, it isn't!" Interrupted Ash with audible excitement in his voice, "That wild Metagross is, Steven told me that it was as strong as a Legendary Pokémon. Also, it was shiny!"

"Really?" Asked Professor Oak with a shocked look on his face, "I've never heard of such a Pokémon before. This changes several theories and well documented studies regarding wild Pokémon."

Ash nodded, glad that someone as knowledgeable as Professor Oak was as shocked as he was. "Apparently the Metagross has only been seen a handful of times, all of which were by a member of Steven's family and now. Steven said that it could be centuries old."

"But not all was bad! I caught one of the Metang who wanted to stay with me. I think it was one of the Beldum I freed that evolved to fight the rockets." Exclaimed Ash with elation.

Oak didn't look too surprised and Ash realized that as his sponsor, Oak was likely notified whenever he caught a new Pokémon.

"But the reason I called was to tell you I have a Pokégear that can transfer Pokémon and that this was my number." Finished Ash with a sigh, the conversation draining his energy.

Oak nodded and started typing into his terminal, "I have Pidgeotto right here, I'm guessing you want her back?" Ash nodded happily and Oak set the ball on the devise and sent it over.

Ash caught the Pokéball as it popped into reality in front of him. Smiling, he placed his final team member on his belt and was happy that he had a full Pokémon team with him.

"Thank you, professor. If you need to call me, you have the number for my Pokégear." Ash said his goodbyes and hung up before dialing another number.

He was sure his mother would be over the moon now that he had a way to be contacted at any time. She wanted him to have an Xtransceiver, but they were too expensive to buy in Kanto since the company that sold them was based in Unova.

His Pokégear let out a ring as the call went unanswered, after a minute of waiting his mom finally answered. "This is Delia Ketchum?" She clearly didn't recognize the number, not that she should have.

"It's me, mom!" Greeted Ash with a grin on his face.

Delia smiled and looked at the screen more closely. "Oh! How are you calling me? This isn't a Pokémon Center number."

"A friend of mine gave me one." Ash decidedly did not want to tell his mother about Mt. Moon, that wouldn't end well.

Delia's eyes lit up, "Be sure to tell then thank you from me and call me every day!"

"Well maybe not every day." Muttered Ash, now nervous. "But I will check in far more frequently than the two times we spoke since I began my journey two months ago." He promised.

Delia calmed down and seemed pacified at his answer, "Ok, well I will save your number, and tell your friend that I said thank you, again." With nothing left to speak about they said their goodbyes and hung up.

With everything settled, Ash actually found himself ahead of schedule. Mt. Moon should have taken a full day of travel, the pitch-black labyrinth of stone was difficult to navigate even for experienced trainers. Even further was the time from Mt. Moon to Cerulean, which was a week of walking at a steady pace. Ash – in the course of 6 hours – made it from the Pokémon center before Mt. Moon to Cerulean City.

Ash was by no means in a hurry. He had more than enough time to get all eight badges for the league, but this time save – no matter the circumstance – was a welcome advantage. For now, he'd ask about the tournament that Professor Oak told him about.

Walking up to Nurse Joy, he waited until she had a chance to answer his question. The polite face of the Pokémon Center turned to him with a kind smile. "How may I help you Mr. Ketchum?"

"I would like to ask about the upcoming tournament. Professor Oak said that the Devon Corp. was sponsoring one." Inquired Ash.

Nurse Joy nodded and pulled out a flyer from behind her desk. "Yes, the tournament will be a week from tomorrow, here is the flyer. Would you like to sign up? The requirement is at least two badges but no more than four and a Six Pokémon team."

Ash nodded as he heard the requirements, "Yes, but I still have to get my second badge, so I will sign up tomorrow." Ash thanked her for her help and took the flyer.

The Devon Corporation sponsored Cerulean City Tournament would be one on one battles until the semi-finals which would be three on three then the final which would be six on six. The prize was money, of course, and a large sum if the multiple dollar signs were any indication and a mystery Pokémon from the Corporations home region of Hoenn. That was the most exciting prize to Ash, a Hoenn Pokémon wasn't something you could usually find here. The irony was not lost on him that he managed to catch one of the rarest Hoenn Pokémon in Kanto earlier today.

Overall, Ash had to win this tournament. He wanted the Pokémon, whatever it was, and he needed the money for more TMs and better Pokéballs. Speaking of, he needed to buy some more since he used his last one on Metang.

---

Near the large river that surrounded the city of Cerulean, secluded from anyone else, Ash set out his things to get ready to train his team. He would be giving his Pokémon their new moves, then work on mastering them and working on strategies.

Pikachu hopped down from his shoulder and absently ate a berry. First up he loaded Dark Pulse into his TM gadget and inserted Umbreon's Pokéball, setting everything to the appropriate setting he initiated the device.

The disk began picking up speed until it started shaking then the device clicked, and the disk's color drained showing that the disk was no longer usable. Seeing that it was done Ash released Umbreon who looked around confused.

"Umbreon use Dark Pulse." Ordered Ash while pointing to the water next to their spot.

The Moonlight Pokémon tilted her head in confusion for a moment before her eye brightened in understanding. Ash watched as she faced the water, energy from the abyss was brought forth and coalesced in an orb of pitch-black energy that crackled with purple lightning. In the next instant Umbreon released the attack that cut through the air toward the water, on contact with the stream the attack exploded in a wave of water that was large enough that the mist hit Ash several meters away.

"That was great Umbreon! I want you to practice building up the power for Dark Pulse. You were a little slow and in a battle your opponent won't give you that long to charge." Ash instructed to Umbreon who listened intently before she stalked off to practice her new attack.

Next up, Ash put the move Psychic in and pulled out Metang's Pokéball and repeated the process.

Releasing Metang from his ball the steel type waited for its order.

"Use Psychic on the water." Metang's eyes brightened with psychic energy and the immediate area was saturated with power. The water in front of Metang was lifted into the air, the enormous glob of water looked rough and choppy but not a single drop escaped Metang's psychic grasp.

"Excellent Metang! I want you to practice manipulating water to increase your psychic control. This will make it easier for you to learn Agility later." Metang hummed and floated over toward the water to continue training.

Next was Ice Beam, first up was Hydro. After using the devise, instead of releasing Hydro he put Blast's ball in and reinitiated the process before removing the Ice Beam disk. Adding the disk for Flamethrower he used the device on Blast's ball teaching him the second attack and releasing the dragon Pokémon.

"Blast, I just used a device to teach you two new moves. Ice Beam and Flamethrower, these are powerful ranged attacks." Explained Ash with the small dragon listening seriously to every word. "I want you to start with Ice Beam."

Blast slithered in the direction of the stream and leaned his head down in focus. In front of his snout a pale ball of frosty energy grew until it was the size of Ash's head. Once the attack was charged three jagged arching beams of icy energy flew through the air toward the water. Instead of an explosion like with Dark Pulse, the instant the attack made contact with the water the stream started to freeze over until it was a large block of ice.

"Now use Flamethrower on the ice!" Shouted Ash.

Blast called out an affirmative, from his chest a red glow shone through his scales as his fiery energy built up. After a moment of charging Blast roared out a stream of red-hot fire that burned through the air. On contact with the block of ice, the two temperature extremes exploded into steam.

"Great Blast! I want you to practice your moves to make sure that you can use them perfectly and be able to quickly use them. Don't forget to practice Thunderbolt, you were sluggish in the cave." Blast turned away at the truthful admonish but went out to practice his moves by himself.

Putting the last move he bought into the machine he used it to teach Hydro, Brick Break while just a powerful chopping attack, was powered by fighting energy that increased the user's muscles' potential to the point that they could shatter stone.

Hydro was released and grunted up at Ash, ready for his orders. Ash smiled at his starter who was more than ready at a moment's notice to further improve himself.

"Show me Ice beam then brick break!"

Hydro – with visible excitement – started to charge up the ivory energy of Ice Beam that built in power until it was the size of Ash's head. Three jagged crossing streams of sub-zero energy cut through the air toward a tree. The energy hit the tree and started to freeze over the bark until Hydro cut the attack. Hydro's right arm raised and Ash could make out a dim orange light from within his arm, Hydro rushed forward, and with a roar of exertion he chopped the frozen tree that caused it to crack and tumble to the ground.

Ash and some of his team had to quickly move out of the way to avoid the collapsing tree. Hydro rubbed his head and let out an apology to his fellow Pokémon as he walked over to his trainer to apologize.

Instead of what he expected, Hydro received a pat on the head and saw his trainer grinning at him.

"That was amazing! You froze a tree and snapped it in half like it was nothing!" Ash praised his starter who then beamed back up at him. "We have work to do, like everyone else you can use the moves, but they aren't battle ready. You take too long to charge them up, we need to master them before using them in a serious battle."

Ash waved all his Pokémon over and they stood in front of him ready for orders. Ash was happy with his team so far; they were a strong five. Decent coverage but he could use a few different types to get an all-around team, he didn't want to catch every Pokémon since he wouldn't have time to train them but ten maybe a little more would be enough.

"I think it's time we brought our favorite bird back." Said Ash getting happy cheers from the team members who remembered Pidgeotto. Pikachu and Metang looked at the others wondering what was happening.

Ash tossed his first capture's Pokéball high into the air and the Pokéball released its contents, the golden Pidgeotto let out a cry as she soared through the air. Far faster than before she swooped down and landed next to Ash with a happy coo at being reunited with her trainer.

Ash put out his hand and rubbed her beak affectionately, "Sorry again for sending you away so suddenly girl, but you wouldn't have like Mt. Moon, no room for you to fly. Thank you again for agreeing to go to Professor Oak's for a few tests." Pidgeotto cawed and Ash thought she told him it was no problem.

Getting down to business he put on a game face. "Now the next gym we have is Cerulean, they are Water specialists. So, Pikachu and Blast are going as they have electric attacks to use, anyone willing to sit out of the battle since it is only three on three to help me decide on the team? Keep in mind that we will be in a tournament afterwards where everyone gets to battle."

Hydro was the first one to walk over and sat next to him, he beat the massive Onix, so he'd give someone else a go. Metang then levitated over and let out a metallic hum and settled itself next to Hydro. Ash nodded to the two Pokémon thankfully, they made his decision much easier.

Unsurprised at the last two who didn't budge Ash sighed, one of the girls were going to be angry.

"Umbreon," Said Dark type perked up and his Pidgeotto looked ready to smack him with her wing. "You got to battle at the last gym and Pidgeotto just got back let's give her the battle."

Umbreon looked ready to throw a tantrum for not getting her way. But it was Hydro that stopped the situation from deteriorating. Ash watched proudly as his starter Pokémon went into what seemed to be a lecture, Ash watched as Umbreon's ears were starting to fall further and further down. Umbreon, fully cowed, patted over to Ash and laid next to him on her haunches.

She whined piteously and Ash was very much aware that she just wanted attention, something that he was more than happy to give.

"That being said, we're going to be training all day today and have a mock battle tomorrow before going to the center and then finally, the gym!" Shouted Ash revitalizing his team.

"Pikachu, you are naturally fast but have low defenses so we're going to work on speed and evasion, your partner will be Metang. Blast you have power, but we need to work on accuracy and the speed you send out your attacks, you will work with Hydro. Pidgeotto, I want you to work with Umbreon, she'll come at you with everything she's got and you need to know when to dodge or counter."

Later, Ash settled into his sleeping bag next to a small campfire. Pidgeotto, Metang and surprisingly Pikachu had asked to sleep in their ball for the night with Umbreon, Blast and Hydro all sleeping nearby.

Pikachu's sudden change of heart regarding Pokéballs was a result of his injuries from Mt. Moon. While he was healed by Nurse Joy since they were seen to so quickly, Pikachu realized the benefit of resting in his ball. The technology behind a Pokéball has advanced thousands of times over since their first iteration. Now a Pokémon was put in a psychological trance that calmed them while simultaneously putting them in a stasis to keep injuries from progressing. Some Pokémon found them comfortable, others found them necessary evils as it was part of the life of a Pokémon battle partner and resigned their fate. No Pokémon that wasn't wild could stay out of their ball preeminently.

So, Ash liked this development, he didn't want to favor Pikachu over his other Pokémon so heavily by never making him return to his ball. Now that he was over his distaste of Pokéballs like most wild Pokémon eventually did, Ash could treat him like any member of the team.

Training went well, TMs really sped up the process of learning new moves. The only one having a problem was Hydro with Brick Break, not that he couldn't use the move he just didn't have any experience at fighting with his fists. Something some training and battle experience will help rectify.

Metang was coming into its body well, its supercomputer brain made learning Psychic and mastering his other moves quick work. He'd have to think of what he wanted the steel type to learn next. Umbreon, using the anger of not fighting in the gym battle mastered Dark Pulse in a single day. Blast didn't disappoint, and finally he had Pidgeotto shake off the rust of not battling for a few days.

Falling back into his sleeping bag, Ash drifted off to sleep.

---

The Cerulean City Gym wasn't as large as its Pewter counterpart, it seemed to only be one floor and instead of the league brown it was ocean blue. Ash walked inside and was met with a lounge almost exactly the same as the Pewter Gym.

The only differences were the pictures on the wall of exotic water Pokémon and large water tanks in the walls with a variety of water Pokémon swimming in it. Also, unlike the Pewter Gym was the amount of people here, several trainers were in the lounge either watching the televisions or watching the water Pokémon in the tanks.

Ash noticed that there was a school class touring and he realized that this wasn't the only tank and was likely part of an aquarium which would make the popularity of the gym make more sense. After all, most Gyms received an average of two to three challenges a day.

Noticing the Pokémon League official standing by a golden door, Ash approached.

"Name?" The man asked briskly making Ash raise his eyebrow. "Ash Ketchum."

Typing into the device he looked up again and nodded. "Ok proceed, this is a three on three match. Do you have the appropriate number of Pokémon?"

Ash's eyes narrowed, "Yes, I have a full team." The man looked down again and began typing before nodding again and opening the door. "The Pokémon League wishes you good luck trainer." He said absently before turning back to the TV on the wall.

Ash withheld a snort, he guessed it would be false to say that the league didn't care for the trainers competing in the league, they just didn't seem to care too much.

Walking forward, Ash was met with a red headed woman sitting in a lifeguard chair absently drying her hair with a towel. She noticed him and jumped down to stand on the trainer square.

"Welcome, I'm Misty the Cerulean Gym Leader, hope you're ready!" She challenged while toweling off. The battlefield was a large pool with many small platforms and a long narrow bridge connecting the two sides and giving decent space for Pokémon to maneuver on.

"You bet I am!" Responded Ash and released Pikachu who landed on all fours ready to battle.

Misty chuckled and pulled out a Pokéball from nowhere and tossed it forward. Out came a Squirtle who looked ready to battle despite the type disadvantage.

Ash and Pikachu smirked; Hydro made this guy look like a runt. Pikachu's cheeks sparked and he readied himself for battle.

"Squirtle! Scald!" Ordered Misty.

"Agility then Electro ball!" Responded Ash.

Pikachu used his biggest strength to his advantage and sped around the boiling water then raised his tail. The lightning bolt shaped appendage sparked and crackled with yellow static that compressed into a bowling ball sized orb of lightning. Spinning and throwing the static ball toward the tiny turtle the golden ball closed the distance in a blur.

Squirtle, on instinct, pulled its head into its shell nullifying the sure knockout to a critical hit. More determined, it heeded its masters order and used another Ice Beam and took satisfaction when the attack landed. Pikachu grunted at the pain from being hit by the ice attack but didn't' go down. Ash called out for a follow up giving him renewed purpose, Pikachu used Agility and blinked between the different platforms in a yellow zig-zagging blur.

Ash watched as his Pikachu moved with the speed of lightning like his species was known powered up his cheeks and released a powerful Thunderbolt that hit Squirtle who was too slow to react. Pikachu jumped back over to the center platform and waited for his next opponent.

Misty didn't seem surprised or upset at the turn of events Ash noticed, she was more focused on drying her hair. Ash wondered what Pokémon would be using next, he would keep Pikachu in the battle until he was beaten, either Pikachu would wipe the Gym itself or he would do enough for Blast to finish off her team. It wasn't overconfidence in his dragon, more he knows that what Blast is capable of and that Misty has to use her weakest Pokémon since he only has one badge. After this the gym battles will get much harder since gym leaders can use more mid-tier power until his sixth badge.

Misty tossed another Pokéball out, and this one went directly into the water confusing Ash, he could have Pikachu electrify the water, ending the battle and he was sure Misty knew that. When the Pokémon resurfaced Ash grunted, it was a Chinchou a Johto Pokémon that was a water and electric type. It would seem that Misty wasn't dumb enough to ignore the clear weakness of electric attacks to her water Pokémon. If only he had a grass type then this would be much easier, but he would give the battle over to Blast. Pikachu could come in later if he was needed.

Seeing Ash recall his Pikachu made Misty smirk, "I hope you weren't planning to walk out of here with just a Pikachu, I would have to be pretty stupid to let such a weakness go unchecked."

Ash was well aware of that, to become a gym leader one had to defeat all eight current gym leaders with their strongest teams with their chosen type. No one would be able to accomplish such a feat by not catching dual types to cover weaknesses.

Tossing his next Pokéball out, Blast in all his six-foot glory landed and smirked at the Chinchou that looked taken back, slightly intimidated by the dragon. Misty gazed at the blue dragon with wonder, appreciating its beauty. She's always loved the beauty of the Dratini line, shame they weren't part water so she could use them.

"Blast Ice Beam the water, full power!"

"Thunderwave!"

Chinchou, being an electric type managed to charge up and release its attack first, but Blast let loose an Ice Beam toward the aquatic Pokémon a second later. The two attacks met and Thunderwave was overcome by the subzero beam of energy. Chinchou cried out in pain and dove deeper into the water to avoid the attack but Blast kept up the attack and began freezing the pool over.

Chinchou resurfaced on the other side of the pool and used Thundershock, hitting Blast in the back of the head.

Ash narrowed his eyes at the Chinchou, Dragon types resisted basic elements like electric, so Blast would be fine. It was time to finish this. "Blast Ice Beam again and follow up with Dragon Rage!"

"Chinchou use Scald then Thundershock!"

The two Pokémon jumped right back into the battle with Chinchou again using its superior speed, fired a Scald that hit Blast center chest successfully inflicting a severe burn on the dragon type. Blast, ever determined, followed through with the Ice Beam that missed Chinchou but froze the water. With step one done, Blast charged up the golden draconic energy and released a powerful Dragon Rage at the water and electric type knocking it out.

Blast snorted at the small Pokémon and growled toward Misty taunting her into releasing his next prey. Ash let out a sigh at the overconfident dragon, this battle showed that they needed to train speed, but he'd let Blast fight until he was out of steam otherwise the dragon would complain all day during their next training session. The dragon could throw a tantrum almost as well as Umbreon and his girl was spoiled rotten. Thank goodness for Hydro otherwise his Pokémon would walk all over him.

"Your Dratini is quite strong, but I know how to handle them." Misty called out, completely confident in her skills to take out the dragon type. Reaching into some hidden pocket her swimsuit must have, she tossed out her third and final Pokémon.

Emerging from the Pokéball was a water and ice type that shocked Ash. On the platform, ready to battle, was a large blue dinosaur-like Pokémon with a large shell on its back, from bottom to top it stood a little over eight feet tall. Misty's Lapras howled out filling the room with a sound similar to a horn.

Ash didn't know where or how she obtained a Lapras seeing as how the sheer number of laws and regulations around them made it so that it was almost a felony to interact with them in the wild. In his class at trainer school they made it very clear that the rangers would come down with a vengeance on anyone attempting to catch one without written permission. Something that never happened.

Misty's Lapras stared down at Blast with no apprehension or worry. It knew that its ice typing made it the dragons worst enemy. Ash could tell that the Lapras had been in its fair share of battles but the look in its eye betrayed its adolescence, he doubted that it was over a year old.

"How'd you get that? I heard it was illegal to catch them?" Ash couldn't contain his curiosity and asked with wonder in his voice. The only other Lapras he's seen battle was Lorelei's, who caught hers in her homeland of the Orange Islands over a decade ago.

Misty reached out and rubbed her Pokémon's head who leaned into the gym leaders touch. "She was born to my Lapras that I caught during my first journey a few years ago, the League knows about her. Lorelei's Lapras is actually the father, we both kept one of the babies."

That made sense, obviously she had Pokémon that she caught years ago and the ban on catching Lapras was only two years old. Not to mention, Lapras trainers came together quite often to breed their Pokémon to help with their population. But an Elite Four trainer and a Gym Leader having their Pokémon breed made Ash nervous. Breeding did come into play when considering how powerful a Pokémon could become and those were two of the highest levels one could get to.

Seeing as this was a natural weakness for two of the three Pokémon he'd picked for the battle, Ash grunted in annoyance. Pidgeotto could maybe take one Ice Beam but Blast couldn't, he just didn't have the constitution as a Dratini to weather hits like that yet. Maybe as a Dragonair he'd be able to power through them but as he was it was going to knock him out. So, he'd try and do as much damage as he could as fast as he could.

"Blast, Twister!" Ordered Ash.

"Ice Beam finish the dragon!" Shouted Misty

Blast roared and the room saturated with the draconic power Blast was born with, wind an energy picked up and spiraled around Lapras, after a moment the energy birthed a cyclone of wind and energy.

Lapras growled in pain, it built power and blasted the cyclone of draconic energy with an Ice Beam. The foreign energy met the draconic energy powering the tornado and caused and explosion ending the attack. Right as the twister was dealt with Lapras was blasted with a Dragon Rage to its face knocking it off balance.

Lapras charged an Ice Beam, Ash noticed that unlike when a member of his team was using the signature Ice attack, Lapras' charged its power instantly and the pale energy was noticeably denser than any of his Pokémon's. Three jagged arching bolts of subzero energy cut through the air toward Blast all the while the room's air was cooling at an alarming rate.

Blast listened his shouts and managed to slip into Agility fast enough to angle away from the attack.

Ash called out for a final attack and Misty did the same.

Knowing that this would be it, Blast charged his strongest Thunderbolt. Yellow lightning charged on his two antennas, crackling and sparking wildly. At the same time Lapras charged another Ice Beam.

The two attacks fired toward one another and met in the middle for a battle of dominance.

Lapras' Ice Beam was incredibly powerful for its level. Ash noticed as the extremely hot and wild lightning that powered the Thunderbolt was cooled and overtaken by the Ice Beam. Blast was unable to avoid the attack and was hit in the chest by the powerful Ice Beam sending him to the ground unconscious.

Ash sighed, knowing that Blast was at a disadvantage and keeping him in was a mistake, just because Lapras was the last Pokémon he needed to beat shouldn't mean that he should sacrifice Pokémon.

Pulling out Pidgeotto's Pokéball, he stared at it with a serious face. He'd promised her a chance to battle but he wasn't going to send her out to an opponent that could take her down as easily as Lapras would. While not the most mobile of Pokémon, Lapras were known to have extremely resilient physiology and Pidgeotto didn't have the attacking power yet for Ash to send her in to a disadvantageous situation like this.

Ash thought hard about his next move, Hydro would be able to slug it out but Lapras was capable of learning Thunderbolt and with its impressive offensive capabilities Ash didn't want to send him against it. Umbreon would be able to withstand its attacks well but at the moment might not have the offense to take it down, Dark Pulse was strong, but she didn't have the mastery of it to match Lapras' mastery of Ice Beam. Pikachu and Metang were his only options, so he'd give his newest team member a chance to battle.

Metang emerged on the field with a roar of distorted electronic sound, it seemed interested in the situation and turned to look at Ash curiously.

"I didn't want to send Pidgeotto against Lapras, she would be taken down by Ice or Electric attacks. I know you can do this!" Assured Ash with a confident smile. If it came down to it he still had Pikachu but he would try and whittle Lapras down and get a better understanding of its battling style.

"You certainly have an impressive team." Praised Misty while looking at the second pseudo legendary Ash had on his team. Ash could understand the surprise, he must seem like one of those trust fund trainers that bought a team before even setting out on a journey.

Lapras glared at the steel and psychic dual type with confidence that Ash was starting to believe was earned. Metang didn't have any feelings, either in general or towards the battle as it just floated in place silently.

"Scald!"

"Remember your training!" Called Ash, he didn't need to call out his specific command for this instance, Metang had spent the better part of yesterday manipulating the river with Psychic.

Lapras howled and spat out a compact stream of boiling, steaming energy that crossed the distance in a flash. Metang's red eyes glowed with overflowing mental energy and the area around it saturated with psychic power.

The water attack stopped midair as if it hit an invisible wall and fell harmlessly to the ground. Instead of stopping, Metang push its Psychic attack toward Lapras who looked around puzzled at the strange feeling. Lapras, despite its size and weight was lifted off the ground and slammed back down onto the arena floor.

"Metal Claw!" Ordered Ash.

Metang let out a metallic growl as it crossed the area toward the downed Lapras. Metang's right arm was covered in silver metallic power that further hardened the limb and moved in for attack.

Lapras was forced to watch the attack hit as it tried to right itself before Metang got to it. Before Lapras could get back right side up, Metang stuck. Lapras let out a lowed horn like scream of pain and knocked further on its side.

Misty shouted commands but Ash disregarded them to send his own orders to Metang, "Psychic then Take Down!"

Lapras righted itself as its mouth opened and in front of it a yellow crackling orb of energy started to build up, arching bolts of lights crisscrossed along the orb. Before the Thunderbolt could be released Metang lashed out with another Psychic attack, this time it was a wave of energy that destabilized the electric attack causing it to explode in Lapras' face.

Down and hurt, Lapras was unable to counter or block Metang's Take Down and was sent sliding over to Misty, who returned the Pokémon with a resigned smile.

Metang hovered back over to Ash who smiled at his newest team member and recalled it. Letting out a breath of relief, Ash walked across the bridge toward Misty who nodded sadly at the Pokéball containing Lapras.

"That was a good battle," Said Ash truthfully, he held out a hand that Misty gladly took and shook. "I didn't expect a Lapras, I was hoping to use my Pidgeotto."

"I didn't have any other Pokémon at the less than three badges level." Shrugged Misty. "My Staryu evolved and is too strong for this level, Lapras is right at the edge of this level but I wouldn't have held it against you if you lost to her."

Ash nodded, "I'm just glad I remembered that she could use electric attacks and didn't send out my Wartortle Hydro."

"Good foresight." Misty said impressed, Lapras' move pool wasn't something many people knew considering they were so rare and hardly used. "Now for your victory, I give you the Cascade Badge, three thousand Pokédollars and good luck in the tournament next week."

"Thanks!" Smiled Ash as he took his winnings and walked out of the gym, but before he could leave, he was stopped by Misty.

"I think we should have another battle, come by here tomorrow afternoon after my challenges if I have any and we can have another battle, I want to see the rest of your team. You're only the second person to beat me so far this circuit." Misty proposed making Ash's eyes widen.

"Sure! But why? Aren't you too busy to train with me?" Ash asked and Misty waved a hand dismissively.

"Not really" She shrugged, "I don't do much during the Kanto Circuit other than take challenges and train my new Pokémon. Also, the tough trainers don't come out for a few months, so I don't have anything to worry about for a while."

"Tough trainers?" Wondered Ash, while he didn't think she meant him he was curiously none the less.

Misty grinned with a viciously, "Those that I get to use my real team on, repeat challengers."

"Trainers that have competed in a league conference don't come around until about halfway into the circuit. Sometimes I'll get one that wants to get their badges as soon as possible to keep training but most of the time they train for a while before getting their badges." Misty explained as she set her Pokéballs onto the arm of her chair, they were transported away, and new ones took their place.

"I never thought about those who have competed before, I guess they wouldn't care to travel by foot if it wasn't necessary." Mused Ash thoughtfully, if he were to be honest, he liked the slow journey of walking from town to town. Unless he had a deadline, he didn't see a reason not to walk, it was a good way to explore and train on the way.

"Well, get out of here, I have another challenger coming up. Come back tomorrow around noon for some training." Said Misty as she put her new team into her hidden pocket on her swimsuit, Ash still wasn't sure where it could be, she was practically in a bikini.

---

"Wing Attack!"

"Water Pulse!"

Pidgeotto sped toward Squirtle with impressive speeds swooping and barrel rolling around the nonstop water attacks. She closed the distance between them in a flash and Pidgeotto slammed her right wing into the shell of Misty's Squirtle knocking it back into the water.

Known for defense, Squirtle jumped back up and charged up a powerful Scald that hit Pidgeotto's chest ruffling her feathers and making her cry out in pain. Ash ordered her to use her new move and she flapped up into the air and called upon her flying type energy to utilize Roost. Misty and Squirtle both groaned at the revitalizing move and went to attack.

"Steel Wing!" Shouted Ash.

"Aqua Jet!" Ordered Misty.

Again, both Pokémon clashed. Violent swirling aquatic energy met a shiny metallic wing that cut through the water and slammed into Squirtle. Squirtle was taken off its feet and fell to the ground unconscious.

Pidgeotto screeched proudly at her victory and landed near Ash, cooing happily when her trainer rubbed her beak.

Misty recalled Squirtle, muttering words of encouragement to the ball then put it away. "Yet again a great battle, you and your Pokémon have really improved these past few days. I bet you might last against a minute or two against my Blastoise now." She said with a smirk.

Ash rolled his eyes at the remark, for some reason Misty felt it was necessary on their first day of sparring to test his team's full capability and used her starter, Blastoise, against him. His whole team fought it as hard as they could but none of them managed to do any real damage despite having two Pokémon capable of using Thunderbolt.

It was a clear sign that he still wasn't anywhere near his goal, but it filled him with determination, and he trained his team into the ground every day and then battled with Misty every afternoon.

Surprisingly, the water specialist seemed to enjoy his company and invited him back every day.

Today marked his fifth day of sparring with the gym leader, Ash managed to win when she used her weaker Pokémon but Blastoise and Starmie usually wiped his team. Both had years of experience and training behind them, far outclassing his team and their two and half months of experience battling.

Fortunately, his Pokémon were improving rapidly and managed to add some new moves to their arsenal.

For now, this would be his last battle with Misty since the tournament was tomorrow and afterwards, he was going to leave for Vermillion.

"Thanks Misty, seriously, having battles with you every day has really helped me improve." Ash said, genuinely grateful to the gym leader who smiled back.

"Well, it's not often that a trainer comes by with real skill and it's not like I haven't been benefitting from this. Squirtle and Lapras are coming into their own and Chinchou should evolve soon." Misty replied to the rookie with an easy smile.

"Also, I wouldn't be mad if you came back to challenge my team after you get your eighth badge." She said with a wink.

Ash sputtered a bit before nodding to the gym leader, who he tried not to notice was still in her swimsuit, that Ash found very appealing to look at. Knowing it was time to leave, Ash and Misty said their goodbyes and transferred numbers before parting ways.

On the streets of Cerulean City, it was a bustling fast paced city. People filled the sidewalks with Pokémon flying overhead and cars drove in the traffic filled streets. Ash walked over to the local Pokémart that was only a few blocks away from the gym.

A few days ago, Misty recommended transferring his Pokémon to different balls, while more expensive, there were Pokéballs that required fingerprint recognition for a Pokémon to be released. All veteran trainers used them to keep their Pokémon from being stolen or used by people they didn't want using them. With his experience with Team Rocket in Mt. Moon, he thought it was a good idea to buy some.

Inside the Pokémart Ash bought twelve new balls six for his team and the other six in case he found more Pokémon to catch. He needed some more coverage to be happy, but for now he was looking good. Also, with his current amount of money he purchased the TM for Protect, he would give it to Hydro and have him teach it to the team.

"Hey!" A familiar voice shouted getting his attention.

Ash turned around to see someone on the street calling out to him, Ash recognized him, and his face broke out in a grin.

"Gary! Nice to see you again." It really was to; Ash didn't see many people that he was interested in talking to for more than a few minutes.

Gary Oak looked the same as he did on the first day of their journey, although he looked more confident if his easy-going smirk was anything to go by. "I'm guessing you're here for the tournament?"

"Yeah, I've been training my team into the ground every day to win it." Replied Ash with a confident grin that Gary returned.

"I know you'll win; I missed the deadline to sign up after all." Groaned Gary, "I heard from gramps that there was a tournament here, but the deadline was two days ago, and I just got here."

"Good, wouldn't want to beat you again. You wouldn't believe the Pokémon I've caught." Smirked Ash.

Gary rolled his eyes in response, "Well, I guess I should wait around for the tournament to see your team." The Oak had his signature arrogance back and waved as he walked off.

---

The city of Cerulean seemed to close during the day of the tournament. Devon Corp., with their hundreds of billions built a huge arena in record time, thousands of people were in the stands to spectate. Ash felt his palms begin to sweat and regret fill his body at the prospect of battling in front of this many people. Even worse, his mother and the professor said they were going to be watching on the PLN.

With the badge and time requirements to sign up, there were only thirty-two contestants. All battles up to the semi-finals would be one on one, the semi-finals would be three on three and the finals would be a full six on six. Ash knew that his team was ready for this, that he was ready for this, all he needed to do was go out there and do it.

If only his crippling fear of the thousands of eyes watching his every move didn't make it hard to move. But he managed to follow all of the other contestants to the waiting area.

The stage lit up and a man in a business suit walked out onto the arena stage. Ash recognized him as Mr. Stone, the CEO of Devon Corp. and Steven's father, it suddenly made sense why Steven was so close to Mt. Moon last week. He was likely making sure that everything for the tournament was ready.

Tapping the mic to make sure that it was on, Mr. Stone began. "Welcome Cerulean City!" Cheers from the audience became deafening for a few seconds and thousands of flashes went off from the many in attendance hoping to save the memory with photos. When the crowd settled Mr. Stone began again.

"Yes, I love the excitement! Now we have thirty-two contestants and the winner walks away with this Pokéball" The CEO held up a Pokéball for the audience to see, "Inside contains a Pokémon from Hoenn that only migrates between Hoenn and Sinnoh, so I'm sure that no one here has it. Now the first battle will be between, Marten of Vermillion City and Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!" With that the Man walked over to one of the side exits.

Cheers filled the arena as even though both trainers were unknown rookies, Pokémon battling was by far the world biggest and most loved sport, so any battle was a welcome one. Ash walked with as much confidence as he could muster and stood in his trainer square ready to battle. His opponent, much Ash's opposite, swaggered out to his spot all the while he was glaring at Ash. He wore expensive looking clothes and lazily took out a luxury ball ready for the battle.

"Trainers! This will be a one on one battle; forfeits are allowed and there is a ten-minute time limit! Release your Pokémon!" The Pokémon League official referee ordered the two trainers. Ash noticed that on the side of the battleground were two Alakazam that casted a powerful barrier around the crowd.

Ash lobbed his Pokéball out and released Pikachu, a common Pokémon caught in the Viridian Forrest that could keep him under the radar, using Blast or Metang would give him too much attention at this point.

Marten, his opponent, laughed at his Pokémon before releasing a Clefairy. The crowed 'awed' at the sight, taken aback at the sight of the rare fairy. Ash was more taken distracted by the blank look in the fairy's eyes, it looked like it had no personality.

Clefairy, absurdly rare and extremely hard to come by, also based on his attitude and type of Pokéball he was using it was likely bought. It was troubling to Ash since the Clefairy seemed to have been conditioned for obedience, it spoke of the breeders it was bought from being less than nurturing, not to mention Marten who seemed like a prick.

Ash took a deep breath and called out to Pikachu to ready himself. Luckily, he wasn't at a type disadvantage and that his opponent wasn't a ground type.

"Begin!" Shouted the Referee.

Orders flew out of the trainers to their Pokémon who responded instantly. Pikachu was off in a Quick Attack hoping to utilize his static ability to paralyze the Clefairy who raised a hand for a Double Slap. Pikachu, far faster than the fairy avoided the Double Slap and slammed into the pink Pokémon's gut with a Quick Attack.

"Sing!" Shouted Marten angrily.

"Thunderbolt!"

Clefairy cleared its throat and began humming a tune, but before the melody could affect the yellow rodent it was zapped by a powerful lightning bolt causing it to cry in pain. Feeling sympathy for the fairy Pokémon Pikachu jumped, spun mid-air and coated his tail in metallic energy before he slammed it down on the pink fairy's head knocking it unconscious. Iron Tail quickly was becoming Pikachu's go to close quarters move and Ash was pleased to say it was worth every hour it took to learn.

Ash smirked, buying a rare Pokémon didn't make you unbeatable and it certainly didn't buy skill as the trainer from Vermillion just learned.

Knowing that the battle was over Pikachu jumped and cheered out getting even more cheers from the audience for his cuteness. Ash chuckled and recalled the electric type, thankfully Pikachu was comfortable resting in his ball now that he'd been using it more often. Now nobody would know what kind of Pokémon he had since they all were willing to wait in their ball.

Marten predictably stormed off making Ash snort, being spoiled likely didn't help prepare you for a crippling defeat. Ash made his way over to the waiting area and watched the following battles.

So far, he'd seen some surprising trainers take the field, interesting enough another guy was using his Pikachu and another guy was using a foreign Pokémon that his Pokédex he didn't recognize. Strangely he didn't see anyone use dark, steel or dragon types, the latter was understandable as it was rare to find in Kanto, but dark wasn't, giving Ash the idea to use Umbreon. He didn't want to reveal Blast or Metang before the semi-finals if he could help it.

"Good battle Ash, your Pikachu looked great out there." Ash looked up to see Gary leaning over the railing to look at him.

"Thanks Gary, he's been working hard." Replied Ash, proud of his electric type. He really lucked out by finding a Pikachu that knew Thunderbolt in the wild. "Wait till you see the rest, Hydro is really strong now. How's Bulbasaur?"

"Oh, he's great, Ivysaur's got some real power now." Ash grinned at the new information; he didn't expect it to still be a Bulbasaur but was glad to have it confirmed. "Congratulations, I can't wait to battle it."

"Ash Ketchum report to the battlefield!"

Ash looked up at the arena to see them waiting on him, "Well, wish me luck Gary." Not waiting for the snide remark that likely came, Ash walked onto the field and retook his position. This time he was met with more applause, after his quick victory in the first match he picked up some fans. But it wasn't like that Clefairy was well trained or Marten knew what he was doing, anyone could look great beating a bad trainer.

"This will be Elena of Saffron City and Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town! Trainers release your Pokémon!"

Ash tossed out Umbreon getting applause from many who admired the dark type, Umbreon predictably soaked up the attention getting a sigh out of Ash, she was too vain. Knowing that it was his own fault for constantly spoiling her by letting her do what she wanted and constantly praising her he just shook it off. His mother certainly didn't hold back when she called him and saw the dark Pokémon on the screen, so he could put most of the blame on her.

Elena's Pokéball opened at the same time as his and her Pokémon took the field, a Nidorino. The poison type lowered itself to the ground looking fierce and ready to battle. Ash was happy to note that Elena looked serious and not like she bought this Pokémon, so he hoped for a good battle.

"Begin!"

Nidorino crossed the distance between it and Umbreon in a flash, surprising many at the poison types speed. Umbreon look unfazed as she waited for her instructions. Getting close she heeded Ash's orders and fired a Dark Pulse directly at Nidorino before it could tackle her. The Poison type was knocked off its feet but got up and shook off the pain, a direct hit but it didn't look ready to give up.

Instead of waiting this time, Umbreon's eyes lit up and attacked the enemy poison type's mind with a well-executed Confusion. It took her a while but with Metang and Misty's Starmie, she was able to get the move down quickly enough. Nidorino stumbled for a bit before calling out and releasing a Poison Sting that hit Umbreon's neck getting her to hiss at the Poison type.

"Swift! Then Blitz Tail!"

"Nidorino use thunderbolt!"

Both Pokémon were eager to please their trainer and started on their tasks. Umbreon used swift, the sparkling energy unique to the move Swift surrounded the Moonlight Pokémon before taking shape as six sparkling stars that raced toward Nidorino. The poison type in question sparked with yellow electrical energy and blasted away at the heatseeking stars before trying to aim toward the dark Pokémon.

Umbreon raced around using Blitz Tail, a simple combination that was Quick Attack mixed with Agility to get close enough for an Iron Tail. So far, she was the only one on the team to master it, much to her pride. The two speed techniques made her so fast that Nidorino couldn't get a shot off in time and was on the receiving end of the steel type move.

"Horn Attack now!"

"Move out of there Umbreon!"

Unfortunately for Umbreon she was too close and was hit by a powerful horn attack. She quickly jumped back to her feet and Leered at Nidorino. Dark types were by their very nature vicious, they were kind when trained and excellent Pokémon to have. But when in the wild they were to be avoided at all cost since they were the types that usually caused travelers to die for getting too close. It was in their nature, and while Umbreon was more of a spoiled pampered Pokémon than a rabid beast, she was still a dark type and felt fury fill her. Without prompt she fired a powerful Dark Pulse that exploded on impact getting a cry out of the poison type.

Ash stared at Umbreon, 'There's that temper of hers, well it's working in my favor, so I'll roll with it.'

Nidorino's ability activated sometime during the battle because Umbreon's fur took on a slightly purple tint showing that she was poisoned. Ash knew that even though she was a very sturdy Pokémon a prolonged battle while poisoned was very stupid. With that in mind he ordered her to attack, no use holding back if she was already poisoned.

Umbreon used Swift again but this time it was a diversion so that the Moonlight Pokémon could concentrate while Nidorino was dodging or destroying the never missing stars. After a couple seconds of focusing Umbreon used another Confusion on Nidorino causing it to stumble mid dodge and the last of the stars hit it on the side further damaging it.

'Poison types are weak to psychic type attacks so with two Confusions, Swift and Iron Tail this should be done.' Thought Ash before looking over to the panting dark type. 'I need this to end now because I don't want to reveal Moonlight yet. I might need to use it during the finals.'

Luckily for Ash, Nidorino was indeed taken down by the two-attack combo and was laid out on the ground unconscious. Elena was a good sport and recalled her Pokémon then walked over to Ash and Umbreon to shake his hand.

"That was a good battle, you two make a good team." She said while holding out a hand.

"Thanks! You were good too, you and Nidorino really gave us a workout." Replied Ash while he shook her hand.

Both trainers parted and as they walked off the main area the cheers filled the arena once again. Ash was embarrassed at all the attention but took a deep breath and continued to walk off the stage, he looked down at Umbreon who still looked out of it because of the Poison and brought her to the healing station which had a nurse joy there for the tournament.

Recalling his Umbreon he handed her the ball while telling her that he wasn't going to use her till the semi-finals if he made it there, she nodded and got to work. Ash went and sat down at an empty bench to observe the competition.

The boy who used a Pikachu before was using a Charmander now, the fire type looked well trained and boasted a very powerful Flamethrower attack. Another boy used his Charmander against a Syther but just barely lost and angrily glared at the ball as he stormed off with promises of pain. Ash, knowing what was in store and the type of people out there followed the boy.

They exited the arena and the boy Ash was tailing released two Pokémon, first was the frightened Charmander and the second was a Rhyhorn that glared down at the small fire type. Ash waited for his suspicions to be confirmed before revealing himself, all the while clutching Hydro's ball.

"You useless piece of shit!" The boy lashed out with a kick and looked to order his Ryhorn to attack but the large rock type was blasted by water and knocked off its feet before it could.

"Hey!" Roared Ash, truly angry at the guy who would abuse his Pokémon because he was a shitty trainer. "Charmander lost because you aren't a good trainer, NOT because he is weak!"

The guy glared hatefully at Ash, "Who the hell do you think you are! You have no right to tell me how to discipline my Pokémon!" Charmander flinched at the tone causing Ash to snarl.

Ash stomped forward with Hydro following beside him silently. "You don't deserve to be a trainer if this is how you treat your Pokémon." Ash growled coldly to the guy making him seethe.

Done with the prick who attacked him and the weak pathetic excuse for a Pokémon he took out its ball and crushed it under his foot. "There you waste of space, your free to burden someone else!" He shouted before returning Ryhorn and stomping off.

Charmander's eyes filled with tears and Ash kneeled down next to it. "I'm sorry that you were captured by such a despicable person." He said softly.

Taking a chance Ash reached out and patted the fire type on the head. It flinched at first before it relaxed under Ash's touch. "I don't know what you want to do but I would never do that to you, I treat all my Pokémon with kindness." Wartortle spoke up then to agree and to show Charmander that he wasn't lying.

"If you want you can come with me, I would love nothing more than to show you that not everyone will treat you horribly. I will never make you do anything you don't want to and will never blame you for losing a battle since it would likely be my fault." Each word further convinced the Charmander that this would be the right choice and it jumped into Ash's arms wailing.

Wartortle smirked at the fire type who was already looking better than before and at his trainer who was proving more and more that he couldn't have gotten luckier with his trainer.

Ash grimaced in thought though, he had six Pokémon and usually Pokémon caught after that were sent to the trainer's sponsor until a time came for the trainer to call them back. Unfortunately, he didn't have anyone he wanted to part with, and he certainly didn't want to send Charmander away after he was abandoned by his former trainer, that would really send the wrong message.

Only one option left, he pulled out his Pokégear to call Professor Oak.

"Ash my boy how can I help?" The Professor asked once he answered the call.

"I need to capture a Pokémon, but I don't want to send it away, is there any way I can keep him with me despite the team number limit?" Asked Ash hopefully.

The Professor hummed in thought while stroking his chin, "Well, technically trainers can hold as many Pokémon as they want but it's frowned upon for rookies to hold more than six since they may not be able to handle too many at the same time. The limit is there to keep both the Pokémon and the trainers well taken care of and safe."

Ash knew he had a chance after hearing that. "Professor! I promise I can handle it, none of my Pokémon are misbehaved and other than Umbreon being a brat sometimes all of them are great! I don't plan on having it like this forever, but I need Charmander with me so I can help him, I don't plan on using him in a battle for a while." Promised Ash while staring hopefully at the Professor.

Professor Oak was silent for a while before he nodded slowly, "Well fine, I will authorize you to carry a seventh Pokémon for the time being, but any more caught will be sent to me and wait until you call them back. I know you don't want to part with a Pokémon you just caught but these are the rules. Now tell me what has caused this Pokémon to need to be around you like this?"

Ash turned his Pokégear down so that Oak could see Charmander who looked at the screen curiously. "His trainer was abusing him, and I confronted him about it. After crushing its ball, I offered to take him in, but I didn't want to force him away after he was abandoned."

"I understand my boy." Professor Oak said with a tight nod, "I'm glad that he won't be abused anymore and good luck in your next battle, your Pikachu and Umbreon are looking good. I can hear your mother's cheers from here." Chuckled Professor Oak.

Ash rubbed his forehead in embarrassment, "Of course you can."

They said their goodbyes then ended the call.

"Now Charmander I am more than willing to capture you if you still want to stay with me." Ash wanted to make sure that the Pokémon didn't feel forced into this.

The fire type looked toward his new trainer and with a loud bark agreed. Ash pulled out an empty Pokéball and tapped it to Charmander's forehead capturing it instantly.

"Ash Ketchum please report to the battlefield!" The PA announced reminding him that he was up in the tournament. Ash returned Hydro and ran back to the field.

Now that they was in the final eight, the crowd was getting more and more excited for the battles and once Ash made his appearance, he was on the receiving end of a loud round of applause, it would seem that he had fans.

"This will be a one on one battle between Ash Ketchum of Pallet and Karen of Cerulean City!" Cheers became deafening when Karen was announced, hometown advantage went to Karen it seemed.

Ash thought on who he should use, luckily, he saw her first battle where she used a Vulpix then the second battle with a Ponyta. She seemed to favor fire types so Ash went with his trusty starter, Hydro. Karen tossed her ball at the same time and out popped a Magmar who's very presence raised the temperature in the immediate area.

Hydro glared at the living volcano while the Magmar stood stoically.

"Good luck Ash." Called Karen over the buzz of the audience.

Ash smiled at the trainer, "Thanks and you too!"

The ref nodded at the sportsmanship and raised both of his arms, "Begin!" He shouted while swinging his arms down.

Magmar raised its body temperature causing Ash to sweat from the heat. The audience started complaining to each other at the uncomfortable atmosphere, being a city surrounded by water, the heat caused a lot of the water to steam creating a humid environment.

"Rain Dance!" Called Ash.

Magmar puffed its chest to attack and stop Hydro from changing the weather but was too slow. Hydro shot a ball of energy into the sky that caused rain clouds to appear and a rain to fall. Ash noted that Hydro looked more comfortable in the raining environment and was standing up straighter.

Karen called out her order and Magmar spat out a wall of fire toward Hydro with a masterful usage of Flamethrower. The Wartortle was quick to respond with Aqua Jet and rushed through the flames toward Magmar. Hydro used as much of its speed and power training as he could as he closed distance toward Magmar.

The flame Pokémon lowered itself and raised both arms, both glowed with orange energy. Hydro used Aqua Jet and clashed with Magmar who caught the attack with two fire punches. The two attacks caused an explosion of steam to spread across the battlefield making it impossible for either Pokémon to be seen.

Ash fanned himself trying to cool off from hot steam he was hit with. "Hydro use rapid spin!"

"Magmar use Fire Spin!" Karen ordered into the steam filled arena.

In the arena, Hydro withdrew into his shell and began spinning as fast as he could. The steam began to spin with the turtle Pokémon causing a small steam tornado to form. As Hydro tried to blow the steam away Magmar blew out a stream of flames that spun in the center of the arena. The rotating fire attack mixed with Hydro's rapid spin caused a huge vortex of fire and steam to cover the battlefield.

Knowing that his Pokémon was in the center of the massive fire tornado Ash called out for Hydro's next move. Inside of the firestorm, Hydro was still spinning and started to build up water energy. The purple turtle spun faster before exploding with water out of his shell. The high-speed rotation mixed with the high-powered Water Gun made a buzz saw of water that cut the fire tornado in half and slammed into Magmar as well as the walls of the psychic barrier around the battlefield.

The fire and steam were dissipated to reveal a doubled over Magmar and a panting Hydro. Orders flew out of Ash and Karen to their Pokémon who immediately acted. Magmar formed a familiar fighting type attack, Brick Break, and shot forward hoping to take the Wartortle out. Hydro spat out a compacted ball of pulsating water that blurred toward Magmar.

Karen's Magmar was nailed with the Water Pulse attack knocking it back. The sturdiness of the fire type impressed Ash but it didn't stop him from ordering Hydro to attack with Ice beam. Wartortle charge the subzero energy immediately and hit the dazed fire type center chest.

With its body temperature of over two thousand degrees the ice attack melted and evaporated instantly. However, that was what Ash wanted, with the cover of steam Hydro was able to cross the distance and slam into Magmar with Aqua Jet. Magmar was knocked to the ground in pain and it was hit again when Hydro fired a point-blank Water Pulse at Magmar's face causing a hiss of steam to be released from Magmar's flames.

"Again! Finish this Hydro!" Ordered Ash.

The prone form of Magmar struggled to get to its feet from the pain of being hit by Aqua Jet. While very sturdy and powerful with regards to special defense the Magmar line had low physical defenses when younger. Ash knew this and order Hydro to use Brick Break.

Karen knew that Magmar was out of the fight and voiced her surrender. While the crowed was disappointed that the trainer from their hometown lost, they still cheered for the entertaining battle. Ash blushed from all the praise and recalled his starter hoping to leave the spotlight as soon as possible.

Both trainers shook hands and went to the Nurse Joy to have their Pokémon checked.

Mr. Stone came down to the arena and turned his mic back on. "And with an explosive battle to wrap up the last of the quarter finals we will take a short break to allow the trainers to have their Pokémon healed and we will have the first semi-final match in twenty minutes. It will be between Ritchie of Frodomar City and Matthew of Neon Town!"

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Author's Notes

(Updated 12-8-19)

Yup, I'll end it there before I have a 20k chapter. The semi-finals and finals will be next chapter. I hope that my battles are getting better, but with the Pokémon still hovering around level 25-30 most super effective attacks do massive damage. And before you attack me for suggesting levels, it's more of a reference to measure when the Pokémon should evolve, and which attacks it should know. Also, I hope my fights are getting more entertaining and less, ash says attack, opponent dodges repeat process then battle over. I take into account speed and defenses, stab moves, and attack power all from bulbapedia. Later on when the Pokémon are fully evolved and powerful, it will be more about their ability and power rather than type advantage but that will be in a while. For now such things play a big part in battles.

I would like to hear what Pokémon you want to be the prize; I'm torn between Treeko (my favorite grass type and one of my favorites of Ash's cannon Pokémon) or maybe Timburr a Fighting type. I don't mind recommendations, but they need to be from either Hoenn or Sinnoh.

Anyway, any questions or concerns toss them in a review. Please give me some feedback.

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FAQ

Will Ash catch a Legendary?

I don't know. Probably, maybe, not sure you'll see.

Will Ash catch Mewtwo?

See question one.

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Ash's Team

Hydro/Wartortle (Male)

Pidgeotto (Shiny) (Female)

Umbreon (Female)

Pikachu (Male)

Metang (Genderless)

Dratini/Blast (Male)

Charmander (Male)