Edited 12/14/22
I don't know what I've been told, but Pokemon is really old.
After a full night's sleep, Ash was feeling noticeably better than he had the previous night. A decent rest and comfort from his team had him feeling better overall and ready to face a brand new day.
Hopefully with fewer people like AJ in it but he knew what he would do now.
He was going to talk to them, he was going to help them make their own choices and let them choose what they did with their lives. He was going to help humans and Pokemon get along better, one day at a time.
He had said as much to Pikachu when his friend had mentioned that he seemed to be feeling better and he was fairly certain his partner had to resist the urge to roll his eyes.
"So basically you plan to do what we've already been doing, but just more of it?" Pikachu summarized.
Ash frowned. "I guess. I mean, we have been helping people already so yeah, we'll do more helping, but also making sure people are getting along with their Pokemon and vice versa!"
"Heroes~" Selene chimed in from her place in his arms.
Misty shrugged next to them. "It's far from the worst goal you could have, but are you going to make it the only thing you focus on?"
"Uhhh…" That was the question, wasn't it? Sure, he now had a much stronger desire to go out of his way to help people than before.
He would have done that anyway of course but now he was going to be actively looking to help humans and Pokemon get along however he could.
But he had wanted to be a Pokemon trainer, to do the gym challenge and the conference at the end of the road. The journey itself was a huge adventure that let him see the world and meet new friends.
"I'm still going to do the Gym Challenge," Ash confirmed after a moment of thought. He wanted to do it and it was exciting, no reason not to. "It lets us travel too, why change it?"
"Fair enough." Misty agreed and they kept up their journey.
For the first part of the day, their walk was fairly uneventful, they met a few wild Pokemon that Ash said 'hi' to, which seemed to confuse many of them. But some said hello back! When lunchtime came around Ash decided they should probably try some training, even if a part of him still felt a little bit reluctant.
"It's probably safe to try and practice Metronome out here." Ash looked around the clearing they were in. "Although it could turn into a fire move…"
"That probably wouldn't mix well with the trees." The fairy-type agreed, looking at the forest around them.
"I'll be on standby with my team if you need a firefighter squad." Misty pointed out as she dug through her bag. She stopped her search with a groan. "Nothing but granola. Ash when I sent you shopping I was hoping you would pick out other flavors than just the same energy bar."
"You didn't specify!" He pointed out defensively.
"I didn't think I would need to." She grumbled and pulled out the unappetizing food. "Don't tell me you like eating the same Pokemon chow over and over again?"
"I sure don't." Pidgeotto agreed with her. "That's why I go scavenging for berries."
Pikachu glanced at her. "Is that where you keep flying off to? I thought you were just stretching your wings or something, not getting the good stuff while we subsisted off high protein, incredibly bland preserved chow!"
"You should have asked then!" She shot back at him, unabashed by his complaints.
"Maybe we could make something?" Ash suggested helpfully. How hard could cooking be?
Misty gave him the stink-eye. "Sure, let's cook some food with ingredients we don't have using cooking equipment we also don't have."
She sighed and hung her head. "This is just what it's going to be like on the road isn't it? No real food, just energy bars, and water until we reach the next town."
Ash agreed on some level, the preserved Pokemon food he bought in bulk was thankfully inexpensive but it was far from tasty and honestly got old after the first few bites.
The good news was that it didn't taste bad, just bland, so it was edible by virtually every Pokemon who was willing to eat it.
"We can ask around when we get to Saffron." Ash suggested hopefully. "Maybe someone can give us the basics of cooking or we'll meet someone who can cook and wants to come with us!"
"We can certainly dream." Misty wistfully murmured and began forcing the dry bar down her throat once again.
The training commenced properly thereafter, as Selene began working on speeding up her Metronome, Ash went over the training ideas he had for both of his other Pokemon.
"Pidgeotto, you had trouble when you got surrounded by those water bubbles right, you didn't have any practice maneuvering in tight spots like that?"
A shiver ran through her. "Please don't remind me, but you're right. I just had no room to fly!"
"Right, so I wanted to check something with you, when you fly through the forest, you normally don't fly through the trees, you go up above them to fly and only come down if you're looking for something?" Ash checked with her.
She kicked at the ground. "There's a bit more to it than that, but you have the general gist of it."
He nodded. "My idea is you could try working on maneuvering through the trees more to practice flying in tight spaces, it could be helpful for situations like what happened in the gym battle."
The flying type considered this with a cocked head. "That could work, but I'm a bit worried about going at high speeds through the trees, if I turn just a bit too slow I could crash into a tree at top speed, and since I'll need to fly around a lot I might be a bit too far for you to check up on me easily."
Shoot, that was a good point. "Darn, I hoped I was onto something there." he tried to run a hand through his hair only to hit his cap. He blinked at the feeling, he'd almost forgotten about that, it honestly felt kind of natural. "That idea is out then, do you have anything that you want to work on right now?"
Pidgeotto considered the question and got an odd gleam in her eye. "I want to work on my speed."
That decision was made and she took off and began flying circles around the clearing at top speed, trying to go faster and faster.
"Don't just stick to circles!" Ash warned. "You might get dizzy!"
"Would she?" Pikachu wondered out loud. "She's not just spinning in a circle but doing loops. I don't know if it's the same experience."
"She'll find out I'm guessing." Ash decided and then shivered as a sudden gust of cold air washed over him. He turned around to see Selene rubbing herself and shivering once more.
"I don't know which move that was but it was definitely ice!" She claimed and breathed on her hands and rubbed them together, trying to warm them up.
"Take a break if you need to!" Ash told her. He was not going to make her keep training if she didn't feel up to it, unlike certain other trainers…
He turned back to Pikachu, "I have a new move I think we should get started on, we talked about it when we were training in Pewter City but we didn't get started because it wouldn't be useful against Onix."
Pikachu's brow furrowed in thought. "Hang on… oh! Discharge right?"
"Yeah!" Ash nodded eagerly. "We probably should have worked on it for our battle with Misty too but we didn't need it so it worked out in the end. It's still a good move to know, it could be really useful in the future."
Pikachu agreed with this thesis but there was a problem, neither of them knew how to get started on practicing the move.
It was technically just an electric attack exploding outwards in all directions, that was all there was to it. This theoretically made it a simple attack to learn so they got started.
Pikachu flashed with light like he normally did before an electric attack and then promptly exploded.
He fell to the ground face first, still sparking. He held up a paw as Ash approached to check on him, "I am okay!"
Ash stared at his friend as he picked himself up. "What went wrong there? It looked fine and then you just kinda burst."
"I built up the energy like I normally do but instead of a direction I just kind of kept building it up to release all at once around me." He shook himself and patted his cheeks a couple of times. "I think I just built up a bit too much energy, let's give it some more tries."
There was only one more explosion after the initial one and by the end of it Pikachu was releasing the electricity around himself, but it seemed less like a wave and more like simultaneous Thunder Shock attacks.
To be fair though, that might have been a new move on its own and had potential uses in the future, Ash and Pikachu just needed to figure out what they were first.
By the end of the training exercises Selene had gotten her Metronome speed down to seven seconds and Pidgeotto proudly claimed she could circle the clearing almost a tenth of a second faster than she could before. How she was timing this, Ash had no idea but decided not to question her on it.
They continued on the road after lunch and had a bit more excitement than they had before, not much though. Just a few trainers who were looking for a battle.
Ash was sure he had confused both of these trainers when he asked them to send out their Pokemon first so he could ask them how they felt about battling. The second one they faced had gotten defensive and asked if he was going to refuse if he thought his Pokemon looked too weak.
The disguised Zorua had of course assured the other trainer, who was apparently out camping if the fact he claimed to be a Camper meant anything, that it had nothing to do with if he thought his Pokemon were weak or not. He just wanted to know if they wanted to battle too.
The Camper seemed like a defensive remark was on the tip of his tongue but then got a thoughtful look on his face and sent out his Nidoran .
She perked up eagerly. "Are we battling again?" She immediately asked looking around and Ash nodded, she certainly seemed ready to battle but he asked her anyway and got a funny look.
"Of course, I want to battle, why wouldn't I? Are you guys just Torchics?" She stood her ground.
"What's a Torchic?" Selene asked and Ash made a mental note to tell her about the fire type later, for now, he got ready to battle and sent out Pidgeotto, who was eager to fight, especially after her loss in Cerulean.
It was a quick fight but fun, the Nidoran was a good fighter and scrappy, using her kick attacks to help her bounce around the battlefield and into the air to try and hit Pidgeotto out of it. But the result was the same in the end with a victorious Pidgeotto and puffed out her chest, pleased to have another win under her belt.
The Camper checked on Nidoran as Ash congratulated Pidgeotto, he heard him apologizing to her. "I'm sorry I'm not a better trainer, I just keep holding you back don't I?"
Ash frowned at the disparaging words. "You were doing pretty well, and you obviously care about her! What have you guys done for training?"
The other trainer was not expecting such kindness and interest from his opponent and exposited the details of their training plan pretty quickly.
It was fairly basic, a little too basic actually in that it was mostly just exercising, relying on battles for experience instead of trying to gain it themselves outside of the fights.
The boy thankfully had potions with him and used one to help Nidoran back to her feet. She shook herself off. "Ow, alright bird, you win, but I'll get you next time!"
"Anytime rabbit!" Pidgetto jabbed back, but there was no detectable malice behind the words.
As the Pokemon bantered, the trainers talked. "You could set up an obstacle course or get some balls to throw and work on dodging, exercise is useful but you can't just rely on that if you want to battle," Misty explained to him.
"That makes sense." The Camper sighed. "I guess your ideas are better than those jerks at Pokemon Technical Institute anyway."
"That's a heck of a name," Pikachu muttered as Ash wondered about what it was.
"Pokemon Technical Institute? What's that?" Misty voiced his thoughts for him.
"It's a school that lets trainers who graduate go right to the league, but it's really expensive and snobbish, and the students there are some real jerks!" The boy complained. "They claim they're 'just helping' and pick on other trainers. I didn't even go to school there and told them where they could stick their help!" he crossed his arms in a pout.
Ash wondered if it was as bad as the Camper said it was, maybe they should check it out! He didn't say as much though and thanked the boy for the battle as they moved on.
They had granola and preserved chow for dinner that night, and for breakfast, the next morning, and Ash was starting to feel the wear and tear of the bland food. He longed for something with more flavor to it.
They came across a road post soon, one way directing on to Saffron City, and the other towards Pokemon Technical Institute. This left them with a decision.
"I admit, I'm a little curious about this school, the Camper made it sound kind of bad, a bit like rich kids can just pay to go to the Pokemon league, but I do want to see it for myself," Misty told him as they considered the sign.
"I want to see it too," Ash confirmed. "What do you guys think, keep on the road or go to school?"
"As long as they don't try and make us do any human work then it's fine!" Pikachu decided.
Pidgeotto and Selene had no complaints of their own so they turned away from the main road and followed the path to the Institute.
It was a rather abrupt change going from the forest to the campus. One minute they were walking through the woods and the next they passed a gate into a walled schoolyard with large white buildings with orange roofs and lots of windows.
It was nice looking, in an expensive sort of way.
"It certainly looks impressive…" Misty muttered as they slowly walked across the field. "Although they don't seem to have any kind of security system here, we just walked through the front gate with no problem!"
"That does seem like an oversight." Pidgeotto agreed with the human girl.
"Maybe the trainers here are just that good, that they don't need to worry about anyone coming in and causing problems?" Ash suggested. It was a possibility at least.
"We'll see, let's have a look around." Misty decided and they did just that.
The experience they received every time they encountered a student was universal, they all acted the same way. Looking down on them and asking if they were the new janitors and other stuff like that, it was ridiculous and almost cartoonish.
They also encountered more than a few situations where a group of students would gang up on one of their fellow students and force them to recite random Pokemon facts while doing some physical task, everything from running on a treadmill to balancing books on their heads.
"This place kind of sucks." Ash decided as they walked away from another mocking group, the worst part was it kind of reminded him of AJ, but differently. They had tried to stick up for the students getting picked on a few times but every time it was the one they tried to defend who stuck up for their bullies, saying they were just trying to help and it was for their own good.
The parallels were obvious and it just made Ash angry and sad.
"A few of them have mentioned Giselle, the ringleader or something, I say we go and have a chat with her," Misty ordered and stomped off, if she had sleeves she probably would have rolled them up.
It took a few wrong turns and Misty interrogated just about every student they came across but they finally found their target in what seemed to be a private dorm room.
The girl was pretty by human standards at least, and she looked at them with a fairly unimpressed look. "Just who are you two, to come barging into my room all of a sudden."
Ash looked her up and down, she sure didn't look mean but looks can be deceiving. "Are you the one who came up with all the 'helpful tutoring' ideas?"
"Oh don't tell me you're some concerned citizen or something." She shook her head and muttered something that sounded like 'poor people.' She threw her head back in a way that made her hair billow like a wave. "Of course I am, I'm the top student in the beginning class of the most exclusive prep school in the world, Pokemon Tech. It's sad that others aren't blessed with my beauty, my talent, my humble attitude. People call me a star, but I'm just Giselle."
"Who would ever call you a star?" Ash asked and got a glare directed at him.
"I can't help but notice you two haven't answered my questions, who are you two and why did you come barging in here?" She tapped her foot and crossed her arms.
"We heard that this place was supposed to be some top-notch Pokemon school that let trainers move, skip the Gym Badges and go right to the Pokemon League. I have to say though I'm not impressed." Misty explained.
She was met with a scoff. "Gym Battles are a relic of a bygone age, a bunch of savages who talk about bonding with Pokemon and challenging yourselves to get stronger. It's all a load of hooey."
"What the heck does hooey mean?" Pikachu asked only to receive no answer.
"Hmm, has anyone from this school actually won the Pokemon League?" Misty asked, sounding a little cocky.
"Not yet, but that's because I haven't graduated yet." She certainly sounded full of herself. "I know all there is to know about Pokemon and how to use them, clearly more so than you and your friend here, I mean look at him, he doesn't even know how to keep his Pokemon in balls."
"But they don't want to be in them?" Ash pointed out, sure Selene and Pidgeotto might not mind them but they would prefer to be out of them.
She stared at him before snorting. "They 'don't want to,' what kind of dumb rookie are you? Maybe you should just go home and take your brute of a friend with you." She waved them off, clearly expecting them to leave with their tails between their legs. Unfortunately, only some of them had tails and none of them were going to leave yet.
"You're just insufferable, you know that!" Misty snapped at Giselle, a fire now burning in her eyes.
"It's not my fault your friend doesn't know how to properly train his Pokemon, maybe they're training him instead?" She had a tittering laugh that only rich kids could properly pull off.
Ash opened his mouth to ask what the problem with that was, he and Pikachu had plenty of training sessions together before they started the journey but Misty shoved her hand over his mouth and glared at him. Wisely, he chose to back away before Mount Misty could erupt.
"That cooking equipment would probably be really useful right now," Pikachu announced suddenly as they took a few steps back.
"How come?" Selene asked the electric-type Pokemon.
"Because we're probably going to need a spatula to scrape whatever is left of that girl off of the walls," Pikachu explained his thought process.
"You want to just spend money to get to the league? Fine, but I'm a gym leader and we're the ones who are supposed to make sure trainers can handle the challenge, so why don't you prove just how much better this stupid school of yours is!" Misty challenged the top student, clutching Staryu's Pokeball in her hand and holding it out in a challenging gesture.
Giselle looked Misty up and down with a scoff. "You're supposed to be a Gym leader? Not much to look at are you? Well, my classes are over for the day, I guess I can take the time to show you how unnecessary you are."
The two squared up for battle outside on one of the fields. Giselle released her Pokemon, a Graveler.
"Oh cool!" Ash looked at Graveler, "That's the evolved form of Geodude right?"
Giselle gave him a funny look. "Of course it is, I guess I should be impressed you know that much!"
"I know lots of Pokemon." The Pokemon pretending to be a human muttered.
"Hey!" Misty shouted. "You're fighting me now, leave Ash out of it!"
Giselle shook her head and tutted shamefully "The way you talk, is he your boyfriend or something? It's only right I suppose losers should stick together after all."
Misty gagged at the suggestion. "Why does everyone keep saying that? What? Am I not allowed to be friends with someone without getting romantic about it?"
"Whatever, just send out your Pokemon already." The rich girl waved off the questions and Misty decided to just send out Staryu and not bother arguing anymore.
"Once more, the ocean requires defending from the vile forces of the rock empire! Flee now villain or face my cold and wet fury!" Staryu began with his normal spew of rhetoric.
Graveller just stared at him. "...What? Look I'm just happy to be out of my ball, we have to spend all day in those things here."
"You shouldn't have to!" Pikachu called from Ash's shoulder, "If you don't like it, don't do it!"
"But she can just return me!" The rock type pointed out.
"Then smash the ball and don't let her catch you again until she respects your wishes! Or just you know, leave?" Pikachu pointed out.
Graveler was silent for a few moments. "I did not think of that. But I do want to battle and she's pretty smart…"
"Do what you want! It's your choice!" Pikachu repeated his words from their meeting with AJ and if Ash hadn't already decided that Pikachu was the best friend ever he would have done so at this moment.
"Are you two talking to each other?" The top student looked between the three Pokemon. "That's weird, we're battling, Graveller, use Rollout, smash that stupid Staryu to bits!"
"Staryu dodge it and use Psychic." Staryu easily rolled out of range of the attack and caught the Graveller in Psychic before he could bring himself to a stop naturally, he pointed the spinning Rock type at the ground and let him go, letting him impact into the ground with the force of his own attack.
"Wait what?" Giselle blinked. "How did Staryu avoid that attack? Rollout is high accuracy and during our hands-on training I had Graveler practice until he could hit the target every time!"
There was silence from the other two trainers on the field. "Giselle… You do know that Pokemon can dodge, right?" Misty asked, sounding almost sorry for the girl. Almost.
She was staring ahead blankly as though her entire worldview had been upended. "But none of the textbooks…"
"H-have you ever actually watched an official Pokemon battle?" Ash pressed with rising concern.
"Why would I? The teachers here say those are full of rookie mistakes that would give us bad habits." Giselle pointed out, trying to reclaim some of her bravado.
"Wouldn't it make more sense to watch the videos and point out the mistakes and explain how to avoid them?" Misty suggested. As they spoke Graveler had pulled himself out of the hole he had burrowed into.
"That wasn't a Staryu I hit…" He muttered and scratched his head with one of his arms.
"Foolish fool!" Staryu declared with grandiose air. "Even as a defender and wielder of water, my repertoire of attacks varies greatly and allows me a wide range of abilities and talents!"
Pikachu's laughter cut in. "'Foolish fool!' What next? Dumb dumbo? Stupider stupid?"
Staryu turned to face the electric type and pointed with one of his arms. "Pikachu I swear by the Crown of the Sea, stop interrupting and let me have this!"
"But I don't understand, if you can do that and your Pokemon will be able to react..." Giselle seemed to be rethinking every strategy and plan she had ever devised.
"Are you okay?" Ash asked her.
"NO!" She cried and fell to her knees. "This doesn't make sense! This is such a basic piece of information! What else can you tell Pokemon to do that doesn't line up with moves?"
"With training, they can develop fighting styles and use moves in new and unique ways!" Ash's excitement welled up. "Just yesterday Pikachu and I were working on learning Discharge and while we didn't get it down we found out how to unleash multiple Thunder Shocks at the same time! And Misty and Starmie figured out how to do some scary stuff with Psychic and water!"
This did little to help Giselle and she started hyperventilating.
"Okay, so this school is clearly a scam right?" Misty checked with Ash.
"I don't know." He shrugged, "But it sure seems like it."
"No graduate has ever won the league, actually have any even competed? Is there a way to check that? They don't let their students watch battles and they don't go over something as basic as dodging, and this place is supposed to be wicked expensive." Misty counted down the list on her fingers.
"That sure does sound like a scam." Ash agreed.
At that point, Giselle stood up and shouted. "I NEED TO RETHINK AND REPLAN EVERYTHING!" And ran back into the school building without looking back at them.
"Should we follow after her?" Ash asked, "Make sure she doesn't do something stupid?"
"I don't know." Misty hummed. "I feel like something stupid might do this school some good in the long run."
"Uhhh." They turned to look at Graveler who had remained behind, his trainer not even realizing she had left him there. "What about me?"
"That's up to you!" Ash told him, able to speak freely now that Giselle was not watching over them. "You can stay here if you want, but you could leave and make your way in the world, it's all up to you!"
Graveler gave him a look that seemed to be questioning the fact that he answered his question but decided to shrug it off. "I don't know if I want to leave just yet, it seems like Giselle is having a bit of a crisis, it might make things worse if I leave."
"It's not your responsibility though," Pidgeotto pointed out to him. "She might be having a crisis but based on how she's treated you she hasn't done anything to earn your concern or care."
"Maybe…" Graveler seemed to think. "I think I will stay for a bit longer, whatever happens, she's going to be making some changes and they might be for the better, I guess I'll see if they are or not!" With that, he tucked his arms in and rolled away after his trainer.
"I think this went pretty well!" Ash decided cheerfully.
They exited the campus without any tearful or heartfelt goodbyes (obviously) and began their trek once more.
Fortunately, the road wound alongside the edge of the campus and continued onwards, so they were able to keep traveling instead of backtracking to the signpost where they split off from the main road in the first place.
After that, it was another two days of traveling, mostly running into wild Pokemon but there were a few trainers along the way. Interspersed they continued training, alternating what they worked on. Pikachu insisted he almost had Discharge down but he was still sending Thunder Shocks off in multiple directions.
Eventually, though they had to stop to refill their water bottles. They found a stream that seemed a good spot to take a break and gather water.
Misty released her Pokemon as Ash approached the stream, it looked clear and clean, and it wasn't still water so it was probably their best chance at decent water for a little while. He began filling his bottle as Misty approached, her Pokemon now enjoying the water themselves.
"This is a nice-looking stream," Misty commented, running her hand through the water and pulling out her empty bottle. "I'm a bit disappointed I didn't bring my fishing pole with me, I kind of want to take a go at it, might find an interesting Pokemon or two here."
"I was wondering about that," Ash mentioned as he relaxed on the shore, having filled his own bottle. "You haven't shown any interest in catching any of the Pokemon we've run into up to now. I know you're a water-type trainer but do you have to only have water types?"
Misty didn't answer for a moment, deep in thought. "I guess I could try expanding my type lists but I never really put much thought into it. I want to be a water-type trainer so I've been focused on catching and training water Pokemon. I didn't think of it beyond that."
"So you could theoretically." Ash pointed out. His Pokemon had approached the stream themselves to drink a bit more directly.
Pikachu had stuck his head under the water and Pidgeotto was using her beak to scoop up gulps of water to swallow. Selene had taken a more extreme approach and just flopped forwards into the water in a dead man's float.
He was a little concerned about it but she would flip over every few seconds to take a breath before spinning back around. "Be careful not to let yourself float too far away!" He warned one of the times she came up for air. He got a thumbs-up before she took another dive.
Misty sat back next to him after getting her bottle filled with water and continued. "I could bear to try and get some more Pokemon, maybe some that deal with water-type weaknesses."
"How about a fire-type?" Ash suggested.
She snorted and began laughing. "What?" He demanded it was a valid idea!
"Yes, let's give the water-type trainer a fire-type Pokemon, I'm sure nothing will go wrong with that idea!" She laughed some more and Ash chuckled a little, maybe it was a little funny but he still had a point!
"Okay, so it might take some time to get used to but think about it, a fire-type would be able to counter any grass types you have to fight but that would still leave electric types I guess… Oh, you could get a ground-type and fire-type dual typing!" Ash exclaimed. "Like Numel and Camerupt!"
Misty gave him a lidded look. "I'm not sure bringing a living volcano into a swimming pool is a good idea."
Ash huffed and crossed his arms. "If you're so smart, who would you catch if you had a choice?"
She threw up her arms. "I don't know! You were the one who brought it up, I haven't exactly put a lot of thought into it."
The rustling of bushes interrupted their conversation and as they watched an Oddish forced their way through and onto the riverbank.
A smile split the small Pokemon's face. "There it is! Took a wrong turn back there!" The grass type padded over to the stream and began taking a drink.
Misty looked at the Oddish and then back at Ash. "Is that fate or just happenstance?"
"That depends, let's talk to him," he told her and looked towards the grass and poison type and spoke up. "Hi there!"
Oddish yelped and barely caught himself before he fell into the river he searched around wildly before catching sight of the trainers and took a step back.
Ash held up his hands placatingly. "Woah! Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you, just wanted to say hi and Misty wanted to ask you something."
"Oh." Oddish blinked at the two trainers and took stock of the nearby collection of Pokemon, wondering how he managed to miss them all. "Hello there, nice to meet you. What did you want to ask me?"
Ash quickly translated for him and got an odd look. Misty took a deep breath and began speaking. "I'm a water Pokemon trainer and we were just talking about how I should start thinking about trying to train other types of Pokemon as well, and then you just wandered into the clearing. I was wondering if you might want to come with me?" She sounded a little awkward but her heart was in the right place.
Oddish stared at her with wide eyes. "You're asking me if I want to come with you? Instead of attacking me or just trying to catch me. Oh jeez, that sure is nice of you but I don't know." He kicked at the shore. "I'm not strong and I don't know about fighting, I kind of get scared by it sometimes. I know some of the others don't like trainers too…"
Ash translated as quickly as he could and Misty blinked before sighing. "It was just an idea, thanks for considering it anyway."
Oddish stared at her for a moment and smiled. "Thanks for asking, I hope you find someone who's interested."
Ash began translating but was cut off as a Bulbasaur suddenly barreled through the bushes.
"Oddish be careful there are humans and-" He cut off as he spotted the two sitting on the bank. "Stay away from him!" Twin vines raised out of the bud on his back and he stood protectively in front of the smaller Pokemon.
The two trainers held up their hands in surrender even as their teammates began coming back to investigate the noise. "We weren't doing anything except talking! Really!" Ash claimed.
"Wait Bulbasaur it's true!" Oddish stood between Bulbasaur and the humans. "They startled me a bit at first but just wanted to talk, the girl did ask if I wanted to come with her but when I said no she accepted it!"
Bulbasaur's hackles began to fade but he still looked suspicious. "How did she know you said no?"
"That was me!" Ash volunteered freely and got the Pokemon's attention.
"Can you understand me?" Bulbasaur pressed. "And Oddish too I guess. All Pokemon then?"
"I mean I better be able to!" Ash answered with a grin, ready for the reveal. "After all…" He let go of his illusion and took his real form. He pushed his hat out of his eyes with a paw and grinned at a flabbergasted Bulbasaur and Oddish. "I'm one too!"
The seed Pokemon stared at him for a moment longer before snorting with amusement. "Okay, that's pretty good. So you're a Pokemon who asks Pokemon to travel with you?" He glanced at Misty. "Is she one too?"
"I'm a trainer!" Ash confirmed and glanced at Misty. "I don't think she is, at least she hasn't told me yet if she is. Misty, are you a Pokemon too?"
Her look was deadpan. "No Ash, I am not a Pokemon too."
"Just me then," Ash confirmed and looked back to Bulbasaur who seemed to be weighing them with his eyes.
"I normally don't trust Pokemon trainers," Bulbasaur admitted to him. "I've seen too many Pokemon hurt, abused, betrayed, and abandoned by them. But you have a bit more insider knowledge than any I've met before"
"As far as trainers go Ash is probably the best a Pokemon could have," Pikachu spoke up in defense of his friend. "He may not be the smartest, or the strongest, or the fastest… Where was I going with this?"
Pidgeotto gave Pikachu a light whack on the back of the head with her wing. "The point is Ash is a bit unorthodox for a trainer in that he cares a lot about how we feel and what we want. It is spreading though." She shot a glance at Misty as she said this.
"Hmm." Bulbasaur considered and tapped the ground with one of his vines. "I appreciate that you didn't just go and attack Oddish but I still don't feel comfortable with you around here, I'll point you on your way as long as you stay away from the Hidden Village."
"The Hidden Village?" Ash asked, looking around as though he might spot houses and buildings if he looked close enough. "What's that?"
Bulbasaur groaned. "Oh me and my big mouth. I'm not used to needing to watch it around trainers. It's a place where Pokemon who were abandoned or hurt by their trainers can stay and be protected. The Pokemon there are safe and even if you seem harmless I don't want to upset them by bringing a trainer there."
"I guess that does make sense…" Ash admitted with a wilt before perking up. "Wait, you take care of Pokemon who had bad experiences with their trainers there?" He rushed forwards and got in Bulbasaur's face who took a cautionary step back.
"…Yes?" The response was almost a question and Ash giggled with delight.
"That's perfect! We've been running into Pokemon who don't get along with their trainers but I haven't had any good advice for them beyond leaving their trainer and they don't know what to do with that, the world is a big place, but if I could point them in a specific direction…" He began explaining
"Then you could give them another option than staying with the bad trainer or facing the world on their own!" Bulbasaur realized. "But I can't just give you directions and you can't just say go to this spot in the woods…"
"Darn it, you're right." Ash paced back and forth in thought. "I don't want to tell Pokemon just wander the woods for a few days until you meet a Bulbasaur either, what if they meet a different Bulbasaur? Or worse, they don't meet one at all and just get lost?"
The other Pokemon began tapping his vines again. "Wait here for a while, I have an idea. Oddish, come on we're going to get Melanie!"
"That's a great idea!" Oddish agreed, following after the other grass and poison type, "She'll know what to do!" He paused before entering the underbrush and turned around. "Bye Misty, bye Ash, it was nice meeting you!"
As they left Misty just stared after them in confusion, "What exactly just happened because I barely understood any of that, something about a Hidden Village?"
Ash explained his conversation with Bulbasaur and Misty admitted it sounded like a pretty good idea. They decided to wait then for this 'Melanie,' whoever that was, and talk with her. Based on the fact it sounded like a human name Ash reapplied his disguise just in case.
It took a while before they heard anything but the familiar voice of Oddish began to grow as someone approached.
"Right this way we're almost… Here we are!" Oddish led a teenage girl through the bushes and onto the river bank where the group was.
The girl was maybe a foot or so taller than Misty and had deep blue hair, tied in a ponytail by a big bow and overalls. She looked over the group and sighed. "So these are the ones Bulbasaur wanted me to meet? To be honest I wasn't quite sure I entirely understood him, something about a Pokemon who was a trainer and needing directions."
They stared at her as her words registered and Ash introduced himself first. "I'm Ash Ketchum and these are my friends, we met Bulbasaur and Oddish earlier and, I'm sorry, but it sounded like you can understand Bulbasaur?"
"I'm Melanie, I've been taking care of the hidden village and the Pokemon there for years." She began her introduction with a small bow. "As for understanding Bulbasaur, yes I can! A little anyway, I mostly pick up on his feelings and intentions but sometimes I can understand a few words or phrases, and I can recognize when he says my name at least. I guess you learn a few things surrounded by Pokemon most of the time. Now neither of you looks like Pokemon but Bulbasaur vouched for you, this might be the first time he's ever done that for a trainer."
Ash looked around nervously, glancing at Misty and his team.
Pikachu just shrugged at him, letting him make his own decision while Misty and Pidgeotto watched with interest, not trying to influence him but Selene made a gesture as though she was telling him to go on.
He took a deep breath and let his illusion go. Melanie gasped and squatted down to look at him at his eye level. "Oh my, you're… a Zorua! That's right, I think I've heard of you, what are you doing in Kanto?"
"I live here!" Ash answered, "and I'm going on a journey right now and I'm doing my best to help everyone we meet along the way but sometimes we meet a Pokemon whose trainer is… not good for them and try and help them out but we don't have any alternatives for them to choose."
"I see, so your idea is to try and send them to the Hidden Village where they can be helped and taken care of?" Melanie checked. "It is a good idea, in fact, you're not the only one who has had it. I have contacts with the Pokemon rangers who will sometimes send Pokemon here to help them recover."
"Does that mean you'll help us out?" Ash pressed her.
"If I can, yes." Melanie agreed easily, shockingly easily in fact.
"You seem awfully easygoing to this entire idea." Misty pointed out, picking up on it.
"As I said, you're not the first ones to come up with this kind of idea, but what sold me is Bulbasaur vouching for you, I don't think you know how rare it is for him to vouch for a Pokemon trainer." The older girl elaborated. "I worry about him sometimes, and he worries about all the Pokemon in the village, he's very protective of them to the point of stunting his own and sometimes their growth but his heart is in the right place. But I know him and I know he doesn't trust trainers, even after vouching for you he still came and got me rather than lead you there."
"We didn't do all that much though." Ash pointed out, not entirely sure why he was protesting their apparent good fortune. "All we did was talk to Oddish, and him, and I showed him this." He gestured at himself with a paw.
"Then that was enough," Melanie said. "You were probably the first positive experience with a trainer he ever might have had."
Ash was quiet at that thought so Misty took up the baton. "Alright, so what's your plan? I doubt you want to write out directions to get here or give us a map, even if we don't abuse it, we could have it taken from us."
"You're right, which is why I'm going to give you something simpler." She handed the girl a slip of paper. "My phone number, if you ever run into a Pokemon who needs a place to stay or help, contact me and I'll send one of the Rangers I know to pick up the Pokemon and take them to the village, or get them whatever other help they might need!"
That made a lot of sense and was a pretty easy solution. "Are you sure you're okay with us sending whatever Pokemon we find your way?" He checked with her, "We don't know who or what we might run into and I don't want to make you deal with something you're not ready for."
"Don't worry!" Oddish spoke up this time. "Melanie might be the only human in the Hidden Village but we're there too and we can help out with newcomers who need extra care."
Ash looked between the two and felt a weight begin to lift off his shoulders, metaphorically of course because his backpack was still there. "Thank you, really, I… I wasn't expecting too many people who treated Pokemon badly on my journey but we just kept running into them and I didn't know what to do."
"Sometimes you don't have to do much and sometimes you have to do a lot," Melanie admitted looking at him with a bit of pity. "But sometimes all you need to do to help someone, human or Pokemon, is just give them someone to talk to. It gives you a chance to understand them and might let them understand themselves a little better."
They left Melanie on good terms, phone number in hand a bit of a pep in Ash's step. He was feeling a lot better now.
It was three days of travel and training and battles this time and Misty was the one to bring up the growing background concern.
They should have reached Saffron City by now, so where was it?
Ash didn't know and he was beginning to share Misty's concern, it was supposed to be a shorter route between Cerulean and Saffron than it was between Pewter and Cerulean so they should have made it to Saffron by now.
They debated backtracking or trying to cut across the forest but those ideas were thrown out quickly, they needed to stay on track or they risked getting even more lost than they already were becoming.
The road led them out of the forest proper and into a bit of a hilly area, still surrounded by trees but less densely populated by them. Finally, they found a street sign and gathered around it, and made a rather alarming discovery.
"Vermillion City?" Misty exclaimed. "How did we completely bypass Saffron? I know we were heading in the right direction."
"I… I don't know." Ash admitted a little alarmed at the fact they had somehow missed an entire city at some point.
"It's pointing us in the right direction at least so we can keep following the road this way." Misty pointed. "And look," she tapped the sign, "It says there's a rest center ahead too, we'll be able to rest and restock on supplies there."
"One of us really should have brought a map." Pikachu decided as they began walking again.
"Why didn't you?" Ash asked him, the annoyance he felt leaking into his voice.
"There is a very simple reason," Pikachu spoke slowly and carefully as though speaking to a child. "I didn't think of it and I don't have money."
"That's two reasons!" Ash decried him.
"I also still can't do math," Pikachu added as an afterthought.
"Now you're up to three!"
As the two old friends began to bicker it was Misty who spotted something up ahead. "Hey, I think there's a Pokemon on that rock up there." She said, shading her eyes to look through the bright afternoon sun.
Ash and his team followed her gaze and found the Pokemon in question. They became more defined as the group approached the rock.
"Who's that Pokemon?" Selene asked as they arrived.
"I'm a Charmander." The fire-type greeted them. "Hello there, it's a nice day, where are you heading?"
"We were heading to Saffron City but none of us have a sense of direction, so instead it seems like we're going to Vermillion City," Pidgeotto explained to him.
The lizard Pokemon cocked his head at them. "That's a bit of a pickle, I think there's a Pokemon Center that way though." He pointed his tail down the path.
"We saw a sign, but thank you!" Ash thanked the other Pokemon who spared him a surprised glance.
"Can you-" He started to ask but Pikachu cut in.
"Yes he can understand you, no he's not a human he's actually a Pokemon, and yes he really is a trainer." The electric-type deadpanned at him.
Charmander chuckled. "Been through this before?"
"A couple of times, anyway what are you doing here? Just relaxing on a rock?" Pikachu asked him.
The fire-type sighed heavily. "My trainer asked me to wait here for him, it was a while ago though and I'm getting worried, can you check the Pokemon center for him?"
Ash blinked. "Sure, we can ask around, any idea why he asked you to wait here though?"
"Not really." Charmander admitted downcast, "Can you find him though? Please? His name is Damian."
"We'll check it out, do you want to come with us?" Ash suggested but the other Pokemon just shook his head.
"No, he might come back and I don't want to miss him." Charmander pointed out.
"Okay… will you be alright here?"
"I've been fine so far, but if he's not there can you let me know? I don't want to send anyone else with the wrong directions." Charmander admitted sheepishly.
"Don't worry about it." Pidgeotto said, "I'll be able to fly back with an update pretty quickly once we get there." She winced as she flexed her wing though. "Well, maybe after a quick healing session."
"I'll drop you guys off and ask around as soon as we get there." Ash decided and with a quick goodbye to Charmander they set off again, filling Misty in as they went.
They found the rest center pretty quickly, it was a cozy-looking place, a far departure from the concrete and metal ones of the big cities. If it weren't for the big red P on the roof they might have mistaken it for a regular old log cabin.
There was, perhaps unsurprisingly, a Nurse Joy running the place. It didn't have quite as many facilities as some of the other Centers they stayed at but it had the basics, medical services, room and board, and a small cafe connected to a lounge area for trainers.
As he dropped his friends off with Nurse Joy, Ash asked her if she knew anyone named Damian.
"Damian… Damian…" She muttered rubbing her chin. "Oh! I remember now, he came in yesterday. Hmm, I don't remember him dropping off any of his Pokemon…"
Ash and Misty shared a glance. Why would this trainer leave Charmander on a rock, only to travel down the road and stay at a Pokemon center for a night and a day without going back to get him?
The Zorua was beginning to get a bit worried but was still hoping on some level that this was all a big misunderstanding and they could work things out.
His hopes were quickly dashed.
As soon as they entered the lounge their attention was caught by a group of people gathered near the center, admiring a large pile of Pokeballs on the table and the boy sitting proudly in front of them.
"That's right, I caught them all! Only the toughest and the strongest will do for my champion team! Nothing less is worth the effort." A teen with sunglasses and blue hair a bit darker than Melanie's was saying.
"Pretty cool Damian, you'll tear the gym challenge apart for sure!" One of the other trainers spoke up, building him up more.
"Hey didn't you have a Charmander too?" One of the others asked and the teen scoffed.
"Yeah, but that thing was so puny and weak, I ditched it as soon as I realized it couldn't pull its weight." He might have shrugged it off, but his words made Ash see red as he stomped over to him.
"Damian right?" He demanded and the group looked at him even as Misty came up behind him.
"Who wants to know."
"A Charmander I met sitting on a rock a kilometer from here!" Ash snapped and glared at the older boy. "He's still waiting there and here you are bragging about how you ditched him!"
Whatever response Ash was expecting, it certainly wasn't for Damian to snort and start laughing. "That stupid thing is still there? Ha! Weak and an idiot, what do you know?"
Ash growled and grabbed the taller boy's shirt. "Do you even care that he could get hurt staying out there? He has no food, and no water, what if wild Pokemon attack him? What if it rains?"
"Look, if it's too stupid to survive on its own that's not my problem, it should've been stronger, then I'd have kept it even if it was just an idiot." Damian shrugged, uncaring, and shoved Ash away, not too forcefully thankfully, but Ash was too angry to care right now about his illusion.
"What if I asked you to sit on a rock until I came back? No food, no water? Nothing but waiting when no one is coming?" He kept spouting questions.
"You're as stupid as that Charmander, of course, I wouldn't do that, I'm not a Pokemon, I don't have to listen to a word a little runt like you says, now bugger off and let the real trainers talk." He tried waving Ash away but he wasn't having it.
"That Pokemon trusted you!" Ash wasn't finished yet. "He's still waiting for you and hoping you'll come back and all you can do is brag about ditching him?"
He whirled on the other trainers. "And you! Maybe he doesn't care but do all of you feel the same way? What if your parents decided you were too weak or scrawny for their tastes and decided to leave you on a rock until you died." He hissed.
"Hey." One of them spoke up, sounding as though he was trying to calm the situation "No one said anything about dying."
"What do you think is going to happen to him?" Ash shouted, and turned back to Damian, "You left him there to die and you've made it clear you couldn't care less! You shouldn't be allowed within a hundred meters of a Pokemon! Never mind be allowed to train them!"
He was shouting louder now and some of the other patrons were paying attention to their conversation.
"That's not for you to decide brat." Damian hissed through his teeth and grabbed Ash by his shoulder. "I'm going to be the greatest champion the world has ever seen and I don't have the time to waste on a weak little Charmander, so if you care so much why don't you go and join him on that rock until you both drop dead." With that final word, Damian dug his fingers into Ash's shoulder and began to squeeze.
It was at this point that Ash realized two things at once.
Firstly, Damian was going burst his illusion and there was nothing he could do about it, in fact, he could already feel it start to break apart, starting at his shoulder.
Secondly, if Damian was going to get physical and try to hurt him, he was completely willing to return the favor.
In light of these two epiphanies, the soon-to-be no longer disguised Zorua made use of the myriad of unpleasant emotions he was feeling.
Ash used Night Daze.
The dark-type attack burst from him even as his illusion flashed and exploded in a burst of light. The trainers around him (unfortunately including Misty) were knocked backward and off their feet.
The attack spread hitting nearly everyone in the lounge of the Pokemon Center and knocking over chairs and tables as it continued.
With this very convenient distraction, Ash (now in his real form) did the only thing he could think of, he ran.
Misty was not the first to recover, that honor went to the trainers near the edge of the attack who had taken the least amount of damage. But she was able to bring herself to her feet soon enough and realized what was happening to Ash as soon as Damian began to squeeze his shoulder.
The Night Daze had caught her off guard though, and she wondered if Ash had simply panicked and done the only thing he could think of, especially with emotions and tensions running as high as they were.
She looked around for him, not spotting heads or tails of him anywhere in the center, she quickly began looking under knocked-down furniture wondering if he was hiding somewhere.
"What the heck was that?" Damian was screaming near the middle of the room. "That trash flippin' exploded."
"Guys I think Damian teed off a ghost or something!" One of the other trainers declared.
"Yeah! He vanished and everything! He must have been some ghost that goes after bad trainers and makes them pay for their crimes."
"Served him right. Did you hear what he said? He told his Charmander to stay behind and left it for dead!"
"That's messed up!"
"Ghosts aren't real!" Damian was shouting at someone now, "Blasted runt must have been one of those Psychics, like that freaky Sabrina chick from Saffron."
Misty heard it all as she searched through the wreckage of the room, and more that she barely paid any attention to, just hoping to find her friend before someone else did.
She was having no luck though and Nurse Joy eventually came into the room, and upon seeing the mess demanded to know what had happened in there.
After checking behind one last table Misty decided that Ash must have run away from the Center, out of fear, anger, or panic, she couldn't say but he certainly wasn't here.
She glanced over at Nurse Joy and saw that she was sufficiently distracted as Damian had stalked up to her and demanded to know what kind of place she was running here.
The Gym Leader rolled her eyes at the clearly disturbed trainer and went back to the reception area, and with a glance around hopped the desk and went looking for her friend's Pokemon.
Thankfully, the Pokemon were kept together and labeled based on whose trainer they were registered to, even if they weren't Pikachu still refused to go into the ball so he was sitting on a cart with two Pokeballs, kicking his feet at the edge of the cart.
"Pikachu!" Misty called and raced up to him.
"Pika?" He perked up and looked at her and Misty once again found herself cursing the fact she hadn't figured out how to understand Pokemon yet. That Melanie girl could do it so it was possible. She just needed to try harder.
She grabbed Ash's other two Pokemon and released them and gave a quick rundown of what happened. "Turns out Damian's a real jerk and left Charmander there to die, Ash got mad and started yelling so Damian grabbed him and burst his illusion. Ash used Night Daze and now he's missing."
"'Fairy!" Selene sounded worried and Pidgeotto trilled sadly.
"I need you guys to help look for him while I try to do some damage control here. He might have gone back to where Charmander was but look around the center too, I might have missed him if he used his illusions again." She explained quickly, trying to hurry so she could get back to the main area before she was either missed or Nurse Joy came back.
Pikachu looked her up and down. "Pi pika?" He asked her and while Misty didn't know what he was saying she had a few ideas.
"Let's just say Damian seems to have more than one Pokemon and if he shows as little care for their lives as he did with Charmander, well…" She clenched her fist so tight she thought she might draw blood. "He's not going to get away with this, any of it."
At the very least she could probably make sure Charmander couldn't go back to him. As for the rest of his Pokemon… she would do whatever she could.
While Misty was doing her best to take control of the situation Ash had been running, hard and fast. Even interspacing Quick Attacks to increase his speed as he tried to put as much distance between himself and the Pokemon Center as possible.
He had almost just revealed himself to possibly one of the worst people he could. AJ had at least seemed to care about his Pokemon on some level, Giselle was misguided but not openly malicious to her Pokemon at least. But Damian had fully admitted he had left Charmander to die and had not a shred of guilt about it.
So he kept running, he hadn't planned on which direction he was heading at first so it might have been subconscious, but once he realized he was on the road back to where Charmander was he pushed himself all the harder.
He ran the whole kilometer at top speed, putting some career sprinters to shame, and found himself staring at the rock, Charmander still waiting on it. The sun was beginning to go down now and the other Pokemon's tail was burning bright enough to start casting long shadows.
Ash stared at him for a moment, unsure of what to do at first. He had run here without much of a plan, just wanting to find Charmander and make sure he was still alright but what now?
His conversation with Melanie came back to him and he did his best to relax a bit, just try and talk to him.
Charmander saw him before he could say anything though and stared at him curiously. "Hello, there." He squinted at him. "Your hat looks kind of familiar."
Ash blinked and realized that Charmander probably didn't recognize him. "It's me, Ash, we met earlier, remember how Pikachu said I was a Pokemon too? This is what I actually look like."
"Oh!" Charmander nodded. "I thought it was weird that a Pokemon looked so much like a human. So it was a disguise earlier."
"Exactly!" Ash confirmed and hopped up the rock next to him. "It's an illusion that I can apply, it's a little fragile though but I can make myself look like humans or Pokemon!"
"Wow!" The other Pokemon looked at him with interest. "That's cool! Can you do me?"
"Sure can!" Ash confirmed and made himself look like Charmander, his hat fell over his eyes once more and he pushed it out of the way. "Ta-dah!"
"That's cool!" Charmander laughed and sat up properly so he wasn't just lying there anymore. "Who's your human based on?"
Ash paused and thought for a moment. "You know I don't know? I started working on human-Ash years ago and the only changes I've made is making him taller. I don't remember where I got all the original details though."
"Well, it looks good!" The fire-type complimented him, "If Pikachu hadn't explained it I wouldn't have known you were a Pokemon!"
"That's the point of a good disguise!" Ash dropped the Charmander illusion and patted himself on the figurative back a little. "If you can't tell the difference then I'm doing something right!"
"Makes sense to me." Charmander agreed and perked up. "Oh did you find Damian? He hasn't come back yet, well obviously since I'm still here."
Ash fought to hold back a wince, "Uh, yeah, I found Damian," he admitted, trying to choose his wording carefully. "He's kind of busy though, Pidgeotto will be along soon with more details though!" he hoped that part was true at least. His team would probably start looking for him once they figured out he was gone.
"Oh good!" Charmander relaxed and sagged. "I was getting so worried, and I'm hungry and thirsty."
"Why didn't you say something earlier!" Ash exclaimed and maneuvered his bag off his back. "I've got water and Pokemon chow, the chow is not that tasty but it's got plenty of nutrients!"
"What's a nutrient?" Charmander wrinkled his nose as Ash tore open one of the bags.
"Stuff that lets you grow big and strong," Ash explained. "At least that's what I've been told by my trainer."
"You have a trainer too?" Charmander asked him as he began to eat and drink. "But you're a trainer!"
"I've had two technically," Ash admitted. "I don't remember much of my first one."
Charmander looked confused. "How can you have two different trainers?"
"I don't remember much about my first one," Ash admitted slowly, digging through half-forgotten memories of his first days of life. "I'm not from Kanto, not originally, I was born in a region called Unova which is far away." He was quiet for a moment as he recalled unpleasant memories.
"Are you okay?" Charmander asked him and Ash wanted to give the fire-type a hug and all of his love and attention. This poor Pokemon had been abandoned by his trainer and left to die and he was asking if Ash was alright?
"I'm fine!" He forced a smile. "I just… I remember being cold and scared. I didn't know what anything was and I just wanted to eat something, anything. But everything around was big and scary and loud. One day I see a big human who comes towards me and I get scared again and get ready to run, but he talks softly and quietly so I got closer to hear what he was saying and then he caught me!"
"He caught you just like that?" Charmander asked. "That's not happened to me and Damian…"
Ash glanced at him and asked. "How did you meet Damian?"
"I was on my own." Charmander admitted. "I don't know who my parents were but I was being taken care of by some other fire types. Some Growlithe, Ponyta, and we were watched over by an Arcanine. I got lost one night though and Damian found me. He had Electabuzz battle me and well I lost and he caught me."
"You didn't have a choice?" Ash checked.
Charmander shrugged. "It's how the world works, neither did you after all."
"Not at first," Ash admitted. "If I had been given the choice I probably would have run, humans didn't seem friendly, they were just big and loud, at first anyway. But he brought me to a Pokemon Center for the first time and had me taken care of. I had food and clean water and it was warm and I felt… safe." He continued.
"That sounds nice," Charmander admitted quietly. "I don't remember the last time I felt safe actually."
"Why not?" Ash asked him.
"Training with Damian is hard and battles are violent and fast and they hurt. And he yells at me when I mess up. I'm trying to do better though I just wish he would stop yelling."
"He yells at you?" The Zorua pressed him. "That doesn't sound nice."
"Do you yell at your Pokemon?" The lizard Pokemon questioned.
"Pikachu and I sometimes shout at each other," Ash admitted. "But not because either of us did anything wrong, we both just get loud when we feel strongly about something. Even then if he made a mistake in battle I wouldn't yell at him. That would just make him upset and might make things worse!"
Charmander was quiet and the light began to fade from the sky as the sun fell below the horizon. "So how did you meet your second trainer?"
"Right!" Ash continued his story. "So he wasn't sure how to take care of me, most of his Pokemon were already self-sufficient by the time he found me and he wasn't sure how I'd react to traveling around so soon after getting treated. He talked to an old friend of his who lives here in Kanto and she took me and took care of me. She taught me to feed myself and look after myself, she taught me moves and helped me get stronger and better. She's one of the reasons I wanted to be a trainer in the first place."
"She sounds great." The fire-type said softly.
"She is," Ash admitted. "I kind of started thinking of her as Mom a while back and she hasn't told me to stop and she does care about me a lot. She tells me stories about when she was growing up and what her journey was like. When she found out I wanted to go off on my journey she offered to release me and let me go. But even if I travel around I want to stay her Pokemon, on some level at least."
"That sounds nice." Charmander said and looked up as stars began to twinkle in the sky.
They sat there in silence for a few minutes before Charmander spoke up again. "Ash?"
"Hmm?" The Zorua glanced at the other Pokemon, using the light of his tail as a guide.
His lip trembled as he looked up at the sky. "Damian's not coming back is he?"
Ash said nothing for a moment. "No, no he's not."
Charmander sniffled and began to weep. "Was I just not good enough? I know I'm kind of scrawny but I tried! I tried so hard! And that battle against the Gloom was just so hard and he called me stupid and better off dead. But when he told me to stay here he sounded so much nicer and I thought he just calmed down and- and- a-" He stuttered to a stop and just started crying harder.
Ash leaned in and let Charmander use him to hold himself up as he sobbed. He bit his lip as thought of what to say. "Some people are just… mean. Sometimes they think they're being helpful, sometimes they're just angry and want to lash out, and sometimes… sometimes there's no reason and they're just not good people. There's nothing wrong with your Charmander, you're fine just the way you are. It doesn't matter if you're strong or not or smart or not. Everyone deserves someone who cares about them and you're no different."
Charmander just started sobbing even harder than before and Ash wondered if he said something wrong. But the way the lizard Pokemon clutched at him made him think he was just happy to have someone nearby who cared enough to talk to him and literally give him a shoulder to cry on.
They sat there for a little while and Ash kept watching the sky. He frowned as he noticed wisps of clouds begin to cover the moon and stars. A flapping of wings caught his attention and he watched Pidgeotto come into land next to them.
"Alright, it's time to head back to the Pokemon Center, before the rain starts." She told them.
"I was wondering if you'd find me." Ash said as Charmander began to calm down. Pidgeotto just rolled her eyes.
"Please, I found you a long time ago, I doubled back to let the others know where you were and then I let you two have a moment but we do need to get going." Pidgeotto pushed them to get going and with some effort, they began making their way back toward the Pokemon Center.
Pidgeotto flew slowly above them, doubling back when she needed to and Ash and Charmander walked. They did speed up a bit as the clouds continued to gather but they eventually made their way back.
Misty was outside waiting for them, tapping her foot and looking rather annoyed. Pikachu and Selene were standing on either side of her.
"Hi Misty." Ash greeted sheepishly. She said nothing and just looked at him, it was the same look she got whenever she brought up her bike. "Sorry I hit you with Night Daze before."
Her gaze shifted to Charmander and her look softened. She bent over. "Are you alright?" She asked softly.
He sniffled. "No…"
"I'm sorry you had to go through this." Misty told him quietly. She then pulled off Ash's hat and stuffed it into his bag and scooped both the dark-type and the fire-type into her arms. "Come on, let's get some rest."
She stalked into the Pokemon Center like she owned the place. Nurse Joy had long returned to the counter and stared at the Pokemon Misty had with her, including the three that had gone missing from the back earlier. The ginger-haired girl just met her gaze and held her chin high.
"These are my Pokemon, I'm taking them to my room." She stated this as a fact, daring the Nurse to challenge her.
For a moment it looked like she might, but a sound from the common room got her attention and she just sighed and shooed Misty along.
Misty entered her room and slammed the door behind her with her foot. She set down Ash and Charmander and looked at her main traveling companion.
"While you were gone I called Melanie and asked her to contact her Ranger friends. If anyone has the authority to take away whatever Pokemon Damian might be abusing it's them. They're going to be here to either start tracking him down or confront him tomorrow afternoon. That means we have tomorrow morning to get whatever revenge we're planning on Damian done."
"'Revenge?'" Charmander blinked shyly. "I don't know…"
"Don't think of it as revenge." Ash suggested. "Think of it as an incentive not to hurt any ever again."
"I have an idea." Misty admitted. "If you have any ideas feel free to add them but Charmander, I have just one question for you, do you know how to use Smokescreen?
Damian stomped down the path in a huff, filled with fury and a desire to take it out on something.
After that stupid Psychic brat had pulled his vanishing act, no one wanted to come near him. They acted like he was cursed or haunted or something stupid like that. They insisted it was a ghost that had come to make him pay for his crimes. Or something stupid like that.
Pokemon were just tools, objects for entertainment and fighting. A way for him to win fame and fortune, what did it matter if he tossed out the worthless ones? But no one wanted to listen to how great he was going to be after that fiasco.
So he left, plain and simple, and started heading towards Vermillion, he'd beat that Surge chump and move on. Maybe nab some new Pokemon along the way, and see if any were worth keeping.
As he walked though, the wind picked up. He looked around at the surrounding trees as they rustled and creaked in the sudden breeze. He frowned but shrugged it off. It was those stupid ghost stories getting to him, just a strong wind, it had stormed last night after all.
Then he noticed it began to get darker. He looked up and watched as black clouds covered the sun, they seemed pretty low to the ground though… as though they were just above the treeline.
"Damian…"A voice spoke his name and he whirled but no one was there.
"Alright, who's trying to pull one over on me!" He shouted. "Show yourselves and I'll make it quick!"
There was no answer but black smoke began to pour from the treeline and into the road. The wind picked up again and he grunted.
"Show yourselves!" he demanded again, louder this time.
"You left me Damian…" The voice returned, deep and foreboding.
The ground trembled and he looked around, spinning in circles now trying to find the source. "Who the heck is doing this, knock it off!"
"No one came for me Damian…" The ground trembled again and again. An earthquake? No… footsteps.
The path behind and ahead of him was now covered in a black mist from one of the clouds, a shape looming, and stepped forward, the ground quaking with every step.
Damian took a step back subconsciously, as the shape began to become recognizable. It looked like a Charizard, but bigger, maybe three meters tall… no four! Furthermore, it wasn't the familiar red and orange but instead black as the void.
"No one came for me Damian." It repeated. "And now? No one will come for you!"It roared and the trees shook and creaked as branches snapped and fell. Lighting bolts came off of the phantom Charizard as it roared at him, it may have been black as the void on the outside but those teeth glowed like stars on a moonless night.
Confronted with both overwhelming terror and the karmic consequences of his actions, Damian did the only thing he could think to do.
He ran for his life.
As Damian fled out the opposite side of the Smokescreen Ash dropped his illusion and huffed. "I'm not used to making illusions that big, that was harder than I thought."
"Good call on the Shiny Charizard Ash." Misty commented, coming out of the woods with Staryu and Starmie. "Made it look spookier I think."
Pidgeotto flew down through the upper reaches of the smoke with Charmander on her back. "The Thunder Shocks were a nice touch I think."
"Maybe I should name that attack." Pikachu wondered. "Simultaneous Shocks?"
"It does have alliteration." Selene acknowledged, from behind him, her hands filthy with mud from the Pounds she had used on the ground.
"That was… satisfying." Charmander admitted quietly. "Does that make me a bad Pokemon?"
"No." Ash comforted him. "Sometimes it feels good to see bad things happen to bad people. Just remember that the focus should be on helping those they hurt, not making them more miserable."
"I guess it did help me feel better." Charmander admitted. "What now?"
"That's up to you." Ash told him. "We know a place where you could stay, away from battles and trainers if you want. As for Damian the rangers will probably catch up with him within the next hour or two."
"I… would it be alright if I came with you? For a little while at least?" Charmander asked him. "I want to see what a good trainer is like before I decide."
"You're welcome to come." Ash told him with a smile. "Although I'm not sure what to do about your registration, I mean Damian caught you so I won't be able to, I don't know what will happen after the Rangers find him though."
Misty started whistling 'innocently' and immediately brought the group's attention to her. "Why do people even whistle like that all it does is get more attention not less." She complained to herself. "I might have nabbed Charmander's Pokeball last night in the confusion. I also might have cleared the registration on it. The Rangers will almost certainly find plenty of problems with Damian without knowing what happened to the Charmander he abandoned, but as far as the League is concerned, you're a free Pokemon Charmander, you can go wherever you want with whoever you want."
"I…" Charmander started tearing up again and his lip trembled again. "Thank you guys so much, is this what good humans and Pokemon are like?"
"Psst." Selene whispered and slid next to him. "We're not just good humans and Pokemon, we're heroes!"
This was a heck of a chapter.
Also, the longest one. Fun!
But hey! I covered three whole episodes! That's got to count for something?
I also realized it is harder for me to write rehashes of episodes even if I'm shortening them down, than it is to write something completely original. Something to remember for the future I suppose.
I had Ash and Charmander just talking to each other planned for weeks, I like the way it turned out and the payback for Damian with everyone helping out.
For those who didn't pick up on everything that happened Ash with the Charizard illusion, Pidgeotto using Gust to make the wind and help control the Smokescreen, Charmander using Smokescreen, Staryu and Starmie using Psychic to snap trees, Pikachu using the Thundershocks to make it look scarier, Selene pounding the ground to mimic footsteps. All in all, good showing from everyone!
Except poor Goldeen.
She has a very limited skill set, unfortunately.
Review time!
Andrewcople: Yep! It was a very dramatic moment but it confirms humans can do it! Somehow! I'm still trying to use Hyper Beam but it's just not working.
The One who Read and Writes: I mean that was kind of the point I was trying to make. What AJ was doing sure looked bad but was it really worse than what everyone else does for training? That was why Ash asked if he was a hypocrite, because Pokemon do get hurt during training, AJ was just using a much harsher training regime.
PokeDan: Shapeshifters have a lot of potential to both hide and do things, I look forward to exploring it more to be honest!
Lupercus1944: I'm glad I made your day a little brighter! Delia is Ash's mom. Also his trainer. She is both and therefore the Trainer-Mom! I'm glad you like the conversations he had with them! I was just so boggled by the AJ episode, I was so unprepared for it, it was like I was walking down a street and then an 18 wheeler comes out of an alleyway in a suburb. That was actually an issue I had a couple months ago when I started writing again. Ash's goal was to become a trainer now that he's done that, what next? I think I like the direction I've found. Don't worry, the hat is there now!
Jonathan-Mandrake: So Humans are Pokemon then, just a little cursed by legendaries. As for your questions, 1: It's an illusion he can make it look male or female with no problems, 2: I have a few ideas for contests but I'm not sure when to try introducing them, (you have 4 and then 3 listed but I will start with 3) 3: I have no desire nor plans to introduce a romance for Ash at this time, 4: I don't think I mentioned that Ash evolving is likely, only that I need to have the characters touch on it, which I keep forgetting to do… Oops.
Oakler: Still getting the weird auto-correct bug… But yeah it was extremely harsh and looks dreadful from an outside perspective, hopefully I did it well.
LEGOBRICK13: Yeah canon Ash is not exactly the brightest… I'm not exactly trying to write Ash here to be super smart or anything just a little bit more mature and understanding. See my reply to Lupercus1944 for my reaction to the AJ episode. I've been tempted to use the writing style used in "Master, Pokemon?" But I'm not sure what story it would be good for, if any. Maybe I'll think of something.
Nullspace: I'm glad you enjoyed it!
I'm thinking of taking a break from this story next week to write something else, not sure yet but I do have other stories that have not been updated in over a year. I'll think about it.
Whatever the case, until next time!
Discord: discord ggkESdTfhAwG
R&R
~FriTik