Part LXXXI: Lucy
Shocked was a massive understatement for what Lucy had just announced. Ash just gaped in a way that would make any Magikarp proud as he stared at the ring on the Pike Queen's left hand. It wasn't that Lucy was engaged, that was believable, no it was who she was engaged to that had everyone at the party broken. Well at least everyone who knew Brock and his personality well enough that is.
Ash knew he was probably the worst person around when it came to understanding romantic feelings. Not just his own, which had required extreme bluntness from Iris to make him realize, but others given the higher-than-expected number of girls who'd admitted to liking him in the past year. However, the was one thing even Ash could always see was whenever Brock fell for a pretty woman.
Brock was Ash's best friend and they had travelled together for 5 of Ash's first 6 years as a trainer so he knew how Brock could be with women. Anyone pretty and Brock was immediately love struck, including Lucy when they met if Ash recalled correctly. However, Brock had always had a chaperone protecting him from the women who never reciprocated his feelings be it Dawn, Max or Croagunk so it had never gone anywhere.
Apparently, Lucy was an exception to the rule that all of Brock's crushes were one sided. Ash had no idea if she'd liked Brock when they first met, he'd been too focused on having his battle with her to notice, not that he would have seen it regardless, or if it had happened while Brock was in the Fuchsia City area over the last year.
Clearly it had been going on long enough for him to propose to Lucy and Ash did recall Anabel saying that Lucy had a boyfriend, so it seemed to have been going on for a while. The only thing that Ash didn't get was why Brock hadn't told them when he and Misty had met up with him in Fuchsia City when Ash faced Janine in his full battle challenge against the gym leader.
Regardless, Ash was still too shocked to say anything as his brain kept trying and failing to rationalize the fact that Brock had not only gotten a girlfriend but that it was serious to the point that he was going to marry her. Fortunately, Misty wasn't.
"Why didn't you tell us about this." Misty said accusingly as she became the first to recover from the inexplicable being real and marched up to Brock and his fiancée, that fact would take months to get used to, and thrusting a finger in his face. "When we saw you in Fuchsia City that is as I am presuming this didn't start until after the last part."
"Er…" Brock began uncomfortably as he looked at a now angry Misty.
"That would be my fault Misty." Lucy said removing her arm from Brock's and offering her hand to Misty which she instinctively took and shook but not before a parting glare at her friend. "I wasn't in town when you and Ash were there so I couldn't introduce myself to you as Brock's girlfriend, though Ash already knows me, and I wanted to keep it a secret until I could be present as well. Please don't be angry at Brock for my request."
"You did?" Misty asked her anger vanishing as she looked at Lucy while those who knew Brock slowly began to recover. "Why?"
"For two reasons." Lucy said simply. "The first is that you wouldn't have believed Brock if he had just told you he had a girlfriend without me being present, would you?"
"No, I wouldn't have just believed him given the sheer improbability of it based on all the evidence I've seen." Misty said as she thought back to their time with Brock in Fuchsia City and suddenly remembered something strange from her time there. "Though now that I think back on it, Brock never once hit on a cute girl and we saw him with a Nurse Joy and Aya, Janine's aunt I believe, who looked like his type. He didn't hit on either of them, or Janine for that matter, which I did find odd."
"Well, he had me so he didn't need to look at any other women, not that Croagunk would let him even glance at another woman the wrong was." Lucy said with a smile. "Been real helpful has Croagunk, really kept Brock in line for me. Not that he needs to be kept in line, I know Brock only has eyes for me, but Croagunk likes to make it clear that he'd better cherish me."
"I'm surprised he didn't stop Brock from you as well." Misty said surprised by Brock's oddly protective Pokémon. "He did that in Sinnoh. Even jabbed Brock when he didn't deserve it just because of the women present."
"He actually stopped my assistant and number 2 Barbara from stopping Brock when we met again near the Battle Pike." Lucy said recalling the memory fondly as it was finally a moment she got with Brock without someone stopping it. "He must have known that I felt the same way about Brock and have since I first met him a few years ago so he gave me his blessing to date his trainer."
"Ah that would make sense." Misty said with a nod. "As a Pokémon Croagunk would be more in touch with attraction than a human would."
"Wait you liked Brock back when we were all at the Battle Pike?" Max asked having recovered enough to walk over with May in toe, though she was still gaping a little at the sight as she looked between the two trying and failing to understand the situation. "I just thought your actions were discomfort at Brock's advances."
"No, it was shyness as I was instantly attracted to him and that quickly became a crush when I saw how great he was." Lucy said as she looked over the young boy of around 12ish in a green polo shirt with a white collar and dark shorts that she remembered really well. "And I never forgot you Max."
"You didn't?" Max asked confused.
"How could I." Lucy said. "I may have been a blushing, stuttering mess around Brock thanks to my feelings for him but I will always remember the young boy who twat-blocked me before I could get a word in. It may have been for the best in the long run as Brock was still needed with you guys, and I couldn't leave the Battle Pike to travel with you no matter how much I wanted to, but it still pissed me off."
"Oh, I…" Max began before he suddenly yelped as a sharp, stinging pain struck him in the gut and drove the breath from his lungs.
Max looked down to see Brock's Croagunk there, his fingertips glowing with purple poison type power as they were buried in his gut. He'd just been hit by a Poison Jab from the Sinnoh Pokémon and the pain was overloading his system.
"Guess I deserved that." Max said as he crumpled to the ground, twitching slightly as he passed out.
Croagunk just nodded and grabbed Max's ankle before dragging him away and into the ranch to wherever Croagunk wanted to take him, no one ever knew where Croagunk took the people he jabbed. The others just blinked in surprise at the latest development going on.
"I guess Croagunk is protecting Lucy as well as Brock now." May said finding her voice as those who'd gathered around the pair or had seen the action began laughing at it.
"Well, I am Brock's mate, so I guess Croagunk's protection extends to me now." Lucy said with a chuckle. "Not that your brother didn't deserve that May. He did misread that situation."
"Given how you actually like Brock back I think I agree." May said with a nod before she too shook Lucy's hand. "Good to see you again Lucy, even if this isn't how I expected it to go."
"Likewise." Lucy said smiling at her.
"Wait what was the second thing that you mentioned?" Misty asked Lucy bringing the topic back to the initial reason she was annoyed at Brock. "There was a second reason you kept it a secret."
"Oh yes that." Lucy said before she gestured around the marquee. "This. I wanted to see the surprise when Brock showed off his hot girlfriend to all of his friends, well hot fiancée now, and see how you all processed, or more exactly failed to process, it."
Misty looked around and she couldn't quite disagree with Lucy's reason. Only her, May and Max had recovered enough to approach them. The others were still grappling with the earth-shattering revelation before them.
Ash was still gaping like an especially stupid Magikarp. Angie was staring non plussed at the situation having failed to understand it. Zoey was still where Misty had left her trying to process this while Georgia attempted to help her to no avail. Even some of the Unova lot were surprised though that could have been confusion at the situation as they barely knew Brock. Still nothing compared to Dawn.
She wasn't moving, her mouth hanging open and eyes wide at everything before her. The dark haired girl who had spent years stopping Brock had shut down the moment Lucy had revealed her engagement. Brock, the Brock, had a fiancée. Dawn had truly been broken it seemed and Misty had a feeling that an eruption could be imminent. Thankfully, Sabrina was still with her so maybe something was going to come of that as Sabrina was Dawn's sponsor of some sort with her anger issues.
The Cerulean Gym Leader was so surprised she hadn't realized that Psyduck had popped out of his Poke Ball and was now staring dumbly at her looking even more confused than usual due to not be scolded for appearing. Misty just shook her head at the sight and turned back to Lucy.
"Fair." Misty said to the other Frontier Brain present. "You got a great reaction from this as none of us saw this coming. It's certainly better than when I revealed to most people that I was Ash's girlfriend last year."
"That is just as implausible I take it." Lucy said with a chuckle. "Ash is basically the inverse of Brock from what I've been told."
"Totally." Misty said laughing as well. "Ash is clueless while Brock was hopeless before you. Well, it's great to have you here though expect a lot of questions once the others have recovered given the accomplishment you achieved in actually falling for Brock and letting him know that you had."
"Same could be said for the girl who got through to Ash." Lucy said. "That is an accomplishment in its own right."
"We all blame Iris for that, Misty was just the beneficiary of that situation." May said keeping the pain from her voice as she spoke. "She was the one who made Ash see his own feelings."
"Ah and Iris is the Dragon Master or Buster?" Lucy asked. "I watched the Wallace Cup with Brock, so I know some of you who I haven't met before, but he barely knows the Unova lot. I know Iris has something to do with dragon types though."
"Master, don't lump me in with Georgia and her messed up crusade to beat all dragon masters." Iris said approaching Lucy and offering the woman her hand. "Pleasure to meet you Lucy and I am only a Dragon Master in training."
"Still impressive given how challenging and strong dragon types can be." Lucy said. "I have a Dragonair so we should discuss it sometime tonight. I'm always looking for tips on how to make my Pokémon stronger so having a dragon expert's help will be useful."
"I'd love to." Iris said with a grin. "All dragon types are great, and I'll help in any way I can."
"Good though there is one thing I really want to request before there are any more questions." Lucy said before turning and locking her piercing red eyes with Misty's blue ones in a way that made Misty feel a little intimidated. "I want to challenge Misty to a battle."
"Me?" Misty asked confused, that had not been what she was expecting. "Why me? Usually, I end up in battles with, er, specific rivals and you clearly aren't one of them."
"Given why you faced Anabel I have feeling I know what those rivals are after she explained that situation to me." Lucy said with a grin. "As for why, well I love a good battle and I really want to test myself against you in particular Misty."
"Why me though?" Misty asked again still confused. "I'm a coordinator, not a traditional trainer. There are plenty of strong trainers here to battle so I don't get why I am so important."
"I'm a Frontier Brain." Lucy said in response before she nodded to Misty's arm. "I know what the symbol in your arm means and I know which one of us gives it out."
"Oh." Misty said as she glanced down at the leather holder on her upper right arm that held her Ability Symbol from her win over Anabel in it for the world to see. "Yeah, you would know what this then."
"Yup and I saw it when Brock and I watched you win the Grand Festival; it was a real shock to see it on a coordinator competing for the Ribbon Cup." Lucy said. "I knew at once what it meant but I still had to confirm it with Anabel because I couldn't believe it. After hearing about your battle with her, I knew that I had to test myself against you. Anyone who can out strategize Anabel to the point of making her forfeit the final matchup, something she never does, is a worthy opponent. Add in that you are a Top Coordinator, and I can't resist battling you."
"When you put it like that how can I not face you, but it will have to wait until tomorrow when we have the battles." Misty said finally understanding Lucy's reason for a battle, she was a Frontier Brain so naturally she'd want to compare herself to another Brain. "Tonight, is about Ash and catching up with old and new friends before we all go on our next journeys."
"Of course, I am looking forward to meeting all of Brock's friends and we have some requests for people here as well." Lucy said with a nod. "Though there is one more thing I want to ask of you for our battle."
"What?" Misty asked.
"I want you to use your Spiritomb against me." Lucy said surprising Misty. "Surprise me with your second Pokémon but I want to face that Pokémon first."
"My Spiritomb?" Misty asked. "Really?"
"Yes, really." Lucy confirmed. "I know how hard it is to take one down as only those few newly classified fairy type attacks are super effective, so I really want to test my Pokémon against one. I also know how good yours is from what I saw on TV. In fact, I'd never even seen one before you pulled it out in the Grand Festival and Anabel couldn't fight it, so it is a truly worthy challenge for me."
"Alright I can use him but on one condition." Misty said.
She was more than willing to agree to this, but she did have one caveat if Lucy was to know her first Pokémon. It was a simple request, and she had a feeling the older woman would honor it, especially if it meant facing Spiritomb.
"Name it." Lucy said.
"You tell me your first Pokémon and let Ash explain it to me, so we are on an even footing for this match." Misty said surprising a few people but not Lucy. "I'm not sure how long the battle has to be but any after the first matchup should remain unknown."
"Agreed, I would have done so anyway to make it fair after my request." Lucy said. "Very well, I will use my best against your Spiritomb as that's who deserves the challenge. I will start with my Seviper. Ash has faced it so he can explain it to you.
"Good and I spent the majority of a year beating up on a Seviper that belonged Jessie of Team Rocket, so I know the Pokémon well." Misty said. "We'll start off on pretty even footing."
"I remember that Seviper, it pales in comparison to mine." Lucy said with grin. "As for the battle itself, well you faced Anabel under official conditions, so I'll ask the same. The only difference it that you will not get the Luck Symbol if you beat me as this is not an official battle. It will be a two-on-two battle, we start with Spiritomb and Seviper while the next one is a surprise."
"Alright you're on." Misty said holding out her hand to Lucy again to shake on it. "I look forward to it."
"Good because I'm not going to hold back." Lucy said shaking Misty's hand again. "Show me what that Spiritomb can do."
"I will when we go second." Misty promised as they broke the hand shake. "As with last year Ash and Max are staring with a full battle of sorts."
"Oh, they're doing another one of those?" Brock asked finally speaking as he'd been too amazed by everyone's reaction to Lucy to speak yet.
"It's a little different from last year." Ash said joining them now that it seemed like Misty and Lucy had finished whatever they were talking about, and his brain had finally given up trying to understand the situation before him. "It will still be a full battle, but I will use Pikachu and the 5 Pokémon I caught this year against Max, his Gardevoir and the 5 Pokémon he used in the Ever Grande Conference quarters where he was knocked out. It will also be 6 one on one matches with the winner the one who wins the most head to heads rather than an actual full battle."
"Huh?" Brock asked confused.
"What Ash is trying to say is that he and Max will have 6 individual battles." Misty explained as she and May had helped hash out the details of the battle. "With the winner being the winner of more individual battles. If they both win 3 battles each then they will do a sudden death using one of their remaining 3 Pokémon."
"Oh, that makes sense and saves time." Brock said getting what Ash and Max had planned. "So what Pokémon are you using? I know of Pikachu, Gengar, Dragonite and Porygon2 are definitely in, and I can guess that the Aerodactyl you used in the quarterfinals is also new this year but who's the 6th? I didn't see any other new Pokémon in the Indigo Conference unless you count Mimey's first battle, but you caught him at the end of your first year as a trainer."
"No, I don't count Mimey." Ash said shaking his head. "The last one is Riolu. Cynthia showed up the day after the Conference to give me an egg she had that she thought would hatch for me. Turned out she was right and that it was a Riolu."
"Oh, so that was why she was there." May said. "That makes sense now. I was confused as to why the Sinnoh Champion was in Kanto but that explains it."
"Actually Ash, you should probably check this before the battle." Professor Oak said surprising them by approaching them and handing a Poke Ball to Ash. "When Max explained how you two would be battling, I knew that you would have to deal with this first. I went to get it after Brock showed up so you could address it now."
"Porygon2?" Ash asked recognizing the ball as he took it. "Why do I need to check this out?"
"Well, I haven't opened it since you sent it back after the semifinals." Professor Oak said simply. "The scanners picked up something in the ball with Porygon2 and given what you've told me about how you got it, and what Dr. Akihabara explained to you regarding its evolution, figured it might have your Dubious Disk so you should be the one to open it."
"Oh, yeah, I should probably open it." Ash said realizing what the Professor was talking about. "I always kept that item in my bag since Dr. Akihabara gave it to me just in case, I needed it. I guess Porygon2 picked it up at some point when I didn't notice having decided it was time."
"Um what are you talking about Ash?" Brock asked confused as pretty much everyone except Dawn and Sabrina were now gathered around them.
"I think it is best if I show you." Ash said and Misty knew what was about to happen having picked up on what Professor Oak was saying. "It's hard to explain really."
Ash then opened the Poke Ball in the middle of the party as everyone backed up to give him some room for the Pokémon inside it. Porygon2 materialized a second later and as Ash expected it had something with it.
In its, er, beak thing it held a peculiar transparent box. Almost as soon as Porygon2 appeared the box, which Ash knew was the Dubious Disk that the rather insane scientist had given him, disappeared into Porygon2. A second latter everyone gasped as it glowed a bright white and began to change.
The Virtual Pokémon morphed into an upright position, its tail thing dropping down as its arms spread to the side. The freakiest thing was that its head detached and seemed to float there as the beak elongated and a horn grew out of its head. When it was done the white faded to reveal Porygon-Z, Porygon's final evolutionary form.
It still retained its color and scheme of sorts. Its arms, tail and beak were still blue but the blue underbelly that Porygon2 had was now a band around its body bisecting the pink body. Its head was still pink, as was the new horn, but there was one key difference, it's now freaky looking eyes. Porygon-z had yellow eyes with a black ring in the middle of it and black pupils.
As soon as it was done evolving it began to spasm in the air but calmed down after a few seconds. It still twitched a little occasionally and Ash remembered that Dr. Akihabara had said that Porygon-Z wasn't exactly the most stable of Pokémon. It was going to be interesting using it because while it was more powerful it could also be more unpredictable.
"Woah that is what Porygon's last evolution looks like." Lyra said as the evolution ended and pulling out her Pokedex to scan it. "So that is what I can look forward to if I can get the material, I need to evolve my Porygon."
"Porygon-Z, the Virtual Pokémon and the final evolved form of Porygon." The Pokedex chimed as Ash returned Porygon-Z. "Its programing was modified to enable it to travel through alien dimensions. Seems there might have been an error…"
"You need something called Upgrade to evolve Porygon." Ash said to Lyra. "And that's just the first step."
His Johto friend was the only other person he knew, or had met, who had a Porygon having gotten it in Celadon City like he did from the same oddball that Ash had gotten Porygon2 from. Lyra had debuted it in her battle with Ash in the Indigo Conference semifinal at the same time he had used Porygon2 in the second most surprising battle of the Conference.
"What else do I need to do?" Lyra asked curiously.
"After you have an Upgrade, Porygon has to hold it while being transported somewhere through the Pokémon Transfer System." Ash explained. "Once that is done it will evolve after emerging though I don't know why that is the case. It is the same with Porygon2 to Porygon-Z only with something called a Dubious Disk as the required piece of tech to trigger the evolution. I had one that I got at the same time as Porygon2 and well I guess Porygon2 must have taken it after the semifinals so that it could evolve."
"I see, I will have to try and find it and then have my mom transport Porygon to me in Kalos when I get there to evolve it." Lyra mused. "I know it wants to evolve, it's strong enough, I just need this Upgrade thing. I guess I will have reach out to that odd scientist who put Porygon up for a prize when I won it, he might know."
"Dr. Akihabara will have one for sure seeing as he created Porygon and how to evolve it." Ash said with a nod before what Lyra said clicked. "Wait you're going to Kalos?"
"Yeah, me and Khoury are heading there the day after tomorrow." Lyra confirmed. "That way we don't miss the battles. I'm going to challenge gyms there and enter the Conference. After how well I did in Indigo I need to ride that wave into Kalos."
"While I am going to try my hand at reaching their inaugural Grand Festival." Khoury said. "I'll be mainly focused on my studies as a breeder, but I want to qualify this year and Kalos was the best place. We were deciding between Unova and Kalos and the latter was the one that just felt right to us."
"No way, Misty and I are going there as well." Ash said surprising them. "I'm entering the Kalos League while Misty is joining May as a roving judge for the Contests."
"Yeah, we know a few coordinators there so it should be interesting to see how Kalos's first Contest season goes." Misty said. "That's great that you will be there as well."
"And my brother Max is coming and entering the League too so looks like all of you will be rivals." May added. "It's the happening place apparently."
"Sweet." Lyra said with a grin. "And this time Ash, I won't lose to you."
"Bring it, I'm there to win." Ash said grinning back. "I was so close last month so I know that this year is my year to finally win it all."
"Speaking of defeats." Stephan interrupted as he looked at Lucy in confusion. "Aren't you the Fuchsia Gym Leader? I remember you beating both me and Trip when we were there on our first attempts. That would make 3 gym leaders here as I recognize Dawn and Sabrina from my matches with them as well."
"Gym leader?" Ash asked Lucy in confusion. "What's that all about? You're a Frontier Brain not a gym leader, right? I faced Janine in a full battle, I know she's the Fuchsia Gym Leader."
"Under normal circumstances I'm not a gym leader and after being one briefly I know that I don't want to be one full time." Lucy said. "But when either Janine is unavailable or when there is such a rush that even the backup is overwhelmed, a gym has the option of activating an emergence leader who can step up if the backup has to take a break or needs relief."
"Oh yeah I serve in that role for Sabrina." Anabel said with a nod. "It's a little more active though as she takes a mandatory week off a month so when that happens, I'm technically the backup when her father takes over as acting leader but for the most part, I am just the emergency. I've only once had to serve though, about 18 months ago during a rush period that struck during Sabrina's week off, so I came to Saffron and ran the gym for 2 days."
"Well, that is better than me." Lucy said to her friend and fellow Frontier Brain. "Fuchsia is often one of the last 3 gyms and the only one of them that is reliable given how Silver runs Viridian and Blaine's riddles holding things up in Cinnabar. Plus, neither of them has a backup so if one is out it's a nightmare in their gyms."
"Oh yeah that was annoying." Stephan said while the others who'd experienced it that year either grunted or nodded at that. "Really delays your journey."
"Are they going to do something about the Viridian Gym?" Ash asked. "It can't keep being run like that. Hearthome was bad but somehow Viridian is worse."
"There is one solution that I have heard of." Sabrina said joining them after having managed to confirm that Mt. Dawn wasn't going to blow her top, she was still too shocked to move but she was safe from an explosion to rival an Electrode. "We discussed it the other week in fact at a conference in Saffron with all the leaders that, no surprise, Silver didn't attend. It is a drastic one, but it is one that would work if we decide to go with it."
"What is it?" Ash asked curiously. "I never got a full battle there. I want one sometime as I faced the other 7 major gyms."
"The Kanto Pokémon League has reached out to their Galar counterpart to see if one of the two retiring leaders there would be interested in coming over to run the Viridian Gym." Sabrina said surprising them.
"Galar?" Ash asked confused. "Why that region?"
"Because of the way that Kanto and Johto are tied, the Pokémon League here wants the Viridian Gym's specialty to be one that is not in Johto as well as being different from the other Kanto ones." Sabrina explained. "Which isn't easy as that makes 16 gyms in total. As such, there are only 2 types the Viridian Gym could be, well 3 now."
"Dark, ground or fairy." Ash said realizing the problem and what types it could be. "Viridian has always been a ground type gym but if they are seriously thinking of changing it then a dark or fairy specialist would make sense but there aren't many fairy specialists, it's too new a type."
"There are two recognized fairy type specialists." Sabrina said. "The Laverre City Gym Leader out in Kalos, a woman called Valerie whose entire Pokémon roster either became or added a fairy type following the discovery, so she had to be declared a specialist. Last week a second was officially recognized, the retiring Ballonlea Gym Leader out in Galar, Opal. Her gym is being taken over by some young psychic specialist called Bede who is changing it to a fairy type gym next year when he officially takes over and Opal is too old so she's out as a candidate."
"That means that it has to be dark or ground." Ash said thinking and coming on a problem he'd never actually thought about before. "Is there even a dark type gym out there? I've been to 5 regions and never found one. I've seen at least 2 of each of the other types even if I haven't faced the Unova dragon or water type gyms and yet I've never seen a dark type gym."
"There is only one known dark type gym in the world." Sabrina said. "The Spikemuth Gym in Galar. The leader there is a punch rocker called Piers who actually fits the profile that Kanto is looking for in a gym leader. He also wants to hand his gym over to his younger sister Marnie who fits what the Galar League wants as he refused to do something specific to Galar in his gym that I don't understand. It will probably take two years to sort everything out but it's looking like he'll come over and take over the Viridian Gym and make it a dark type gym."
"That would be pretty cool." Ash said. "I may have to face him either here or in Galar if I end up there just for the experience."
Before anyone could speak there was a sudden sound of a Poke Ball opening and Lucy groaned as a Slowbro appeared next to her and looked around stupidly. Everyone just looked at it in surprise as Dawn's Psyduck waddled over for a chat with it.
"Um Lucy, when did you get a Slowbro?" Anabel asked. "It's not exactly your style. You may not specialize in a type, but you do specialize in body type."
"No, it's not and it was a complete accident that I caught him." Lucy said with a sigh as she recalled her Slowbro surprising Psyduck who just waddled back to its still stunned trainer to try and get her out of her stupor. "But I like him and with his inability to stay in his Safari Ball I have to take him with me whenever I leave home."
"How do you accidentally catch a Slowbro?" Trip asked confused. "I don't get it. Pokémon catching is pretty basic, you don't do it by accident."
"Well remember how you and your friend faced me in Fuchsia City." Lucy said nodding to Stephan as she spoke. "And then faced Aya, the backup leader and Janine's aunt the next day to win your Soul Badges."
"Yeah, what about it." Trip said. "I did find it odd that the backup wasn't as good as you when I faced her."
"And that was the problem." Lucy said. "Aya is great in her chosen discipline but that's Pokémon martial arts and not Pokémon battles. She only returned to become the backup leader when her brother Koga left the gym to Janine to become part of the Johto Elite Four and Janine needed someone she could trust to be the backup. It worked until recently as she had never really needed to rely on Aya before and it showed. She made it through the first rush but then a second one hit."
"And the League made you the backup for that." Anabel said and Lucy nodded.
"Yup for the last few weeks of the season I was the backup Fuchsia City Gym Leader while Aya was the emergency leader." Lucy said. "My skills are good enough for the role, hence why I was the emergency leader, but I had one limitation that caused a problem if I was to be the backup. I only had two poison types. I'm great with the type but my preference means I only have Seviper and Arbok."
"Wait that means that the Croagunk we saw earlier and the one you used to bead my Persian was Brock's?" Stephan said. "Because it looks just like the one, I faced."
"Yup I borrowed Croagunk and Crobat from him to use when I first had to help out at the gym." Lucy said. "I was already familiar with Steelix as I used him in the Battle Pike from time to time and as I'm Brock's mate they trust me enough to let me use them. Well after explaining to a confused Crobat that yes Brock had a mate."
"Seriously all my Pokémon were surprised I had a mate." Brock complained. "Even Ludicolo didn't believe me until he met Lucy the other day when we went to tell my parents and family about our engagement."
"Brock babe can you blame them?" Lucy asked him. "You had failed with all those other foolish women who thankfully didn't see how amazing you are."
"Well no." Brock admitted. "Still, their lack of faith in me was annoying."
"They are all supportive now and that's what matters." Lucy said before returning to her story. "Anyway, I needed poison types for those last few weeks as I had to have 3 as the gym leader so I went on a catching spree to make sure I had enough to do the job reliably. I ended up with a Gloom that reminds me of Brock's beautiful eyes, a mating pair of Nidorina and Nidorino, a Tentacool that decided to evolve mid battle so now I have a Tentacruel, a really angry Beedrill."
"All Beedrills are angry." Ash said with a shudder. "I've never met a calm one."
"No Ash you just piss off every Beedrill you meet." Misty said causing some laughs.
"True I do do that." Ash admitted.
"I mean most of them are angry and aggressive." Lucy agreed. "Which is good and mine loves to battle so it all worked out for me. Then there was a Weepinbell that took my Leaf Stone as soon as it saw it to evolve. Lastly, I caught a Venomoth as there are plenty in the area and it's basically the Pokémon of the Fuchsia Gym, so it was fitting to have one. I caught a few of them while I was in the Safari Zone for some of them so that is where I got Slowbro."
"Is that nutcase Kaiser still there?" Ash asked with a shudder. "He's why I refuse to visit it again."
"Yup and he's still armed." Lucy said. "But he was civil to me, and I only needed to visit it once. That's where I caught Nidorina, Nidorino and Venomoth. I also caught a Chansey to help out in the Battle Pike and the gym as Brock's had been really useful, so I wanted one of my own. The bonus was the accidental Slowpoke."
"Yeah, how did that occur?" Ash asked. "I don't think I've ever accidentally caught a Pokémon. A couple of Tauros basically threw themselves in front of my Safari Balls the one time I was there, and Dawn's Psyduck caught himself but that is it as far as I know."
"I dropped the ball." Lucy said simply. "Literally. I had a Safari Ball in my hand to catch a Nidorina and it slipped out because of the wrappings I usually wear on my hands whenever I'm working. I was going to pick it up as it wasn't a throw but as I dropped it a Slowpoke appeared, and it hit it in the head. Next thing I know I have a Slowpoke who doesn't like staying in his ball."
"That is odd, but a catch is a catch." Misty said still trying to understand it. "So how did it evolve? The only one I've ever seen is Sabrina's, but I've heard that its evolution is different from most."
"It is, a Slowpoke evolves into a Slowbro by letting a Shellder bite down on its tail." Lucy explained. "A Slowking is a little different and I don't know how that works but I think a Shellder is still needed. Mine was fishing with its tail in a lake while Brock and I made our way to the Plateau to watch the Conference and so Brock could help out as all Pokémon Doctors in training have to help out. That was how he evolved, and I think he still hasn't realized it. He's not the brightest Pokémon but I love all my Pokémon, so I don't mind."
"I see." Ash said knowing that that could happen with some Pokémon. "Well…"
Before Ash could finish his sentence, his stomach let out a loud roar that the entire party could hear and laugh at. Ash just smiled, he was hungry, and they had been waiting for Brock to arrive for the cooking to start as no one wanted to miss out on Brock's cooking.
"I guess it's almost dinner time." Misty said. "Trust Ash's stomach to let us know when it's time."
"In that case how about round 2 Brock." Cilan said with a grin as he approached them and shook hands first with Lucy and then Brock. "We tied last time, I say this time we try and decide who is a better cook. Iris will help me while Lucy can help you."
"Wait why do I have to help you?" Iris asked indignantly. "I am a judge in the contest."
"You are helping me for two reasons." Cilan said to his friend. "The first is that you are so terrified of Mimey that he can't be here."
"Well yeah I don't want to be near a fairy." Iris said with a shudder. "Especially that one, that one scares me after what I saw."
"Ha I really need a fairy type now." Georgia said with a smirk at Iris who just glared at her.
"And the other reason." Cilan said making sure that Iris and Georgia didn't get into it again. "Is that you made me wear a skirt and a woman's cheerleader top to support Ash in the final of the Indigo Conference, so you don't have a say in this matter. Get an apron and come help me."
"Fine though that was still hilarious to see you in a skirt." Iris said dejectedly.
"You're on Cilan." Brock said with a grin. "But first I need to ask Ash something."
"You do?" Ash asked confused. "What?"
"I want you to be the best man at my wedding to Lucy." Brock said surprising Ash. "Please, you're my best friend Ash and you helped me find my true path in life. I would be honored if you were the best man at my wedding."
"Oh that." Ash said. "Of course, I'd be honored. When is the wedding by the way?"
"In a few years." Brock admitted. "We may have gotten engaged early but I still need to finish my studies so I am going to do that first and then we will be married once I'm established as a Pokémon Doctor so probably 2 years or so. I expect all of you to be there."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world." Misty said as Ash's stomach rumbled again. "But I think we should focus on Ash tonight now. It is his party, and his stomach has declared that it is dinner time."
"Of course, come on Lucy we have a cook off to win." Brock said grabbing his fiancée's hand and pulling her to the cooking area. "Cilan is almost as good as me so I need to really bring it."
"Oh, he's that good then yes let's show them that you're the best." Lucy said. "I won't let you lose this Brock."
Everyone just laughed at that as they went to the tables to wait for the food though Ash and Misty had to go and try and snap Dawn out of it. It took a slap from Misty, one she wouldn't admit she enjoyed delivering, but Dawn was back and instantly marching over to Brock to demand answers while he cooked, Psyduck running after her either for food or because he was just confused at what was going on.
Ash just laughed as he and Misty took their seats and awaited the delicious meals that Brock and Cilan would serve. Yes, it had been an interesting birthday with a major surprise that no one had seen coming but it had been a good one. Plus, there was no drama unlike last year which was a big plus.
Ash couldn't wait to enjoy the rest of the night and the battles the next day. After that it was onto Kalos and his next adventure with Misty. This time, Ash would win and become a master, he knew it.
