Stay in school kids. Or become a trainer and leave home. One or the other.
Eevee was not exactly surprised to wake up in a Pokemon Center.
She had vague recollections of smacking into the ground at a high speed, and a much clearer memory of being picked up via Psychic right before that happened. With a bit of deductive reasoning, it became clear what had happened.
She was a bit confused about why she wasn't in her Pokeball but that was easily overpowered by the disappointment that she had lost the fight.
Her brain supplied plenty of reasons for why it wasn't a big deal. It had been her first gym battle, the other Pokemon had been a lot more experienced. The entire vibe of the gym had been throwing her off.
It was only slightly comforting as it didn't magically make her feelings disappear.
The Pokemon stretched, carefully. She wasn't currently in any pain but didn't want to accidentally upset any lingering injuries.
With no hidden pains making themselves known she took a short look around. It seemed that she was in some sort of space set aside for recovered Pokemon that had yet to be picked up. There were certainly plenty of Pokeballs neatly lined up in groups. There was even another Pokemon too…
Wait, she recognized that other Pokemon!
Specifically, it was Ash, apparently asleep, lying on a similar table to herself, it was slightly cushioned but not overly plush or luxurious.
Her mind began to work, trying to put together the pieces of how this had happened. She was out of her Pokeball but also had been taken to a Pokemon Center despite this. Except for Ash, none of the team seemed to be here. Ash would normally not be here unless he'd gotten seriously hurt and Misty had to check him in.
So what did this mean?
The most likely conclusion was that Sabrina had done something that led to Ash interfering and battling directly. Although why was still up in the air, possibly something to do with her psychic abilities.
Rather than starting to dig down the theory rabbit hole of what could have happened, Eevee decided to take the more reasonable route.
She jumped over from her table to Ash's. They were barely a foot apart, just slightly too big for her to step, and observed him. He seemed to just be sleeping and she didn't spot any injuries and thus judged it safe to carefully prod him awake.
"Ash." She poked him. "I have questions."
"Gah." He looked up and glanced around, still half asleep. "Wha-"
It took a second but his eyes focused in on her. "Eevee?"
"Are you alright?" The first question and debatably the most important.
Her trainer stood up and gave himself a quick shake. "Now I am. I think." He took a proper look around. "Where…" He blinked as memories seemed to return to him.
"Oh right." He switched out of the human language. "Misty dropped us off here." He gave Eevee a once over. "I'm alright, but how about you? I didn't get much of a chance to check on you after your battle."
"I gathered that much." She acknowledged. "I'm feeling fine now. I've mostly been trying to piece together what happened after my battle. I'm guessing Sabrina did something and you had to step in?"
The dark-type sighed. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised you worked that out. After you were knocked out Sabrina teleported all of you away before I could even return you. It didn't work on me."
Eevee nodded, that made sense. "What exactly happened?"
"I…" Ash trailed off, he seemed… different than his usual self. Less boisterous or happy certainly. He swallowed, "I didn't know what happened to you guys, all I knew is that you had disappeared and Sabrina was still acting completely in control. I got angry. No angry doesn't cover it. I hated her, I wanted to hurt her and make her give you all back."
He put his head down, looking ashamed. "I lost control, I ran into fight, I beat Kadabra, and then I beat her. Then the guy outside came in and talked her down. He got you guys out, by the way, she'd been sending people she beat to this doll town thing. He was the one to get them out but me beating her let him destroy the whole thing."
She wasn't quite sure how to respond to all that. It wasn't what she'd been expecting. Well, not entirely, Ash fighting Sabrina made sense but admitting to actively hating her?
In a way, Eevee was still a bit new to the team, although it was a bit relative considering the whole team was fairly new. But from what she'd seen in his actions he was a good trainer and more than that a good person.
Maybe he wasn't the smartest but he had his moments of strategy and tactics, not to mention that miniature Pokemon encyclopedia in his head. Needless to say, she quite liked him and was happy to be one of his friends.
So what could she say now to help him? Actually, what exactly did he need help with?
"You won, you saved us and beat Sabrina," Eevee noted out loud, summing up his achievement to him. "So what's wrong?"
"I don't feel bad," Ash told her. "I'd do the exact same thing again in a heartbeat. I'd always save you guys. But… I still hate Sabrina. I enjoyed beating her. More than I should have. And I don't feel bad about it. I feel bad that I don't feel bad."
He looked at her. "Does that make any sense?"
"Hmm." Eevee carefully mulled over her answer. "I admit I don't have a lot of worldly experience. I try and focus more on what's rational than emotional. Maybe it's wrong to hate people, maybe it's not. But why does the motivation matter more than the result?"
Ash's brow pinched with confusion and she elaborated. "Think about it like this, if someone tried to do something good but failed, people will say it's the thought that counts. But that thought doesn't achieve the good thing. But that's a scenario where nothing went wrong."
"Instead, what if someone tried to do something good, but it went wrong somewhere and people got hurt?" She continued her thought experiment. "Then the good intentions don't matter at all, because the result was a bad one."
"Hang on, let me see if I understand." Ash stopped her before she could go onto another example. "What you're saying is even though I hated her since I still fixed everything it's okay?"
"That's simplifying it a bit, but yes!" She nodded at him.
"I mean I hate her but I still wanted to save you guys, that was why I was so angry after all." Ash pointed out. "I always wanted to help you guys, it's just that I don't like how I felt while doing it. How I still feel."
"I'm not good with emotions," Eevee admitted. "I just think you should focus on the fact you helped us instead of how you felt while doing it."
"Thanks, Eevee," Ash told her with a slight smile. "I am glad you're okay by the way. You were doing really good fighting Abra before he evolved."
"Not good enough though." She sighed remembering her defeat.
"It was bad luck mostly." He comforted her. "You know how you were saying that intentions don't matter and all that? I don't believe that. I think your reason for doing something matters a lot. Although I guess the result does matter too…" He hummed in thought.
"I guess both matter!" He decided with a nod. "Maybe the result matters a bit more, but if you intended to do a good thing and failed then you might try and do another good thing, and succeed! You may not have won, but you did your best and that means you'll keep doing your best! And the better you get the better your best is!"
Huh, was he trying to turn her comforting him into him comforting her? It still left a warm fuzzy feeling inside her, even if she didn't quite believe it.
"Well, I suppose I do appreciate the effort." She accepted gracefully.
There wasn't much else to do other than talk as they waited for Nurse Joy to come back and discharge them.
It took a minute to find common ground they were both interested in but once they reached it there was loads to talk about.
"I know you're more focused on what the changes are and how they work, but I'm a lot more curious about how they happened." Eevee asserted.
Ash nodded, "That's important too, I guess they kind of feed into each other. Why does Alolan Executor have such a long neck? What does it have to do with it being dragon-type."
"Exactly!" She nodded enthusiastically. "I bet it has something to do with how they evolve in Alola as opposed to Kanto, maybe it's more difficult so they need to be stronger in general?"
Before their discussion on regional variants could expand any further though, Nurse Joy returned for them.
"Alright Zorua, you're trainers here, and she'll be picking up you too Eevee." the redheaded woman announced and moved the two Pokemon to a separate cart with wheels.
"It's Ash actually," Said Zorua muttered despite not being understood. "I guess Misty is here to pick us up. Weird way to phrase it though."
As it turned out there was a reason for this phrasing. Misty was waiting at the counter, but with her was someone Eevee didn't recognize. A dark-haired woman wearing a pink blouse.
Eevee's trainer gasped beside her and let out what could be called a whoop of joy and excitement. It was a little loud actually.
They'd barely made it to the counter before Ash jumped off the cart, bounded off the counter and into the waiting arms of the woman.
Once again, Eevee had to rely on her deduction skills here. But she was fairly certain it was an easy answer. Nurse Joy had quite literally said it outright.
Ash's trainer was here to pick them up.
In a few minutes the whole group, Misty, Karen, Ash and Delia, and all their Pokemon were in one of the double rooms upstairs.
It was Delia's, apparently the second bed was for Shelldon.
Ash was completely overjoyed that she was here if a bit confused. He hoped it wasn't because of the whole Sabrina thing and she'd heard what happened and dropped everything to come out here.
Not to say he wouldn't have been happy to see her if that was the case! He just didn't want to bother her like that.
Fortunately, it turned out she had been planning to surprise him here in advance. She'd made the assumption he wouldn't get lost this time so she and Shelldon had made arrangements and had hoped to meet him at the Pokemon Center when he arrived.
A bit of bad luck and bad timing kept that from happening but she'd arrived just in time to get the whole spiel on what happened from Misty.
"This whole thing sounds insane," Delia admitted, Ash laying in her lap and Pikachu taking a place on her shoulder. "I can't believe anyone would give someone like Sabrina a gym. Everything you've told me makes me think she should either be in prison or a hospital."
"I'm a bit lost too," Misty admitted, kicking her feet and frowning. "I'm starting to wonder how lax the league is about the Kanto gyms. I know I threatened my sisters with calling them but the more I think about it, they should have known what was going on by the time I got back. It had been what? At least a few weeks of them shirking gym duties."
"And Sabrina was at it for three years," Karen complained, glaring at empty space, possibly imagining Sabrina's face there.
"I think her dad might have been partially responsible there." Ash had a sudden thought. "If trainers had been going missing then the league would have gotten involved. But he was saving them whenever he got the chance. So instead of people missing you get stories telling other trainers to avoid Saffron."
"Which would mean fewer people know about it in general." Misty nodded. "I don't like it but it makes sense. I've been running through my head wondering who to even call about this. Do I start with the police? Do I call the Elite Four office directly?"
"Who were you going to call about your sisters?" Ash asked her.
"The complaint office." the gym leader shrugged. "I wanted to get them to do their job, not arrest them."
Delia's eyes narrowed. "That reminds me, where is Sabrina now?"
Ash had not heard that tone many times in his life. Mostly because he was a good Pokemon who followed the rules and didn't cause (much) trouble. But every once in a while he had pushed his luck a bit too far and heard that voice. The slight edge to the tone that meant someone was in trouble.
The dreaded mom voice.
He was rather glad it wasn't directed at him.
"I told Nurse Joy she needed to be kept sedated and her parents backed me up. They were with her last I checked." she shook her head. "Gosh, I don't even want to think how they feel about all this."
Ash remembered the troubled conversation he had with Sabrina's father at the gym and found himself agreeing.
"This whole thing is a mess." Karen declared and stood up. "I'm going for a walk to clear my head and then I'm going to train. Don't wait up for me." She strode out of the room with a purpose.
"Wasn't planning to," Misty muttered as the door closed and Ash shot her a glance. That had a bit more bite to it than he expected. The two had been shooting barbs at each other but that one sounded a bit meaner than the others.
Had he missed something?
The remaining trainers and Pokemon sat in silence for a moment. Perhaps unsure of what to say, perhaps just lost in thought.
Eventually Misty surged to her feet in a rush of movement. "I need to do something." She declared. "Waiting around hoping for a solution to fall out of the sky isn't going to fix this. I'll talk to you later Ash." She nodded at him and looked at his trainer-mom. "It was nice meeting you in person Miss Ketchum."
"Nice meeting you too Misty, and good luck. I can't say I envy you right now."
With that, Misty was off, Staryu and the others hot on her heels.
"I guess that just leaves us," Delia stated the obvious and looked over Ash's team. "Well, I obviously know Pikachu and I've seen some of you over the video calls, but it's nice to meet you all properly now."
Pidgeotto inspected her trainer's trainer (grand trainer?) and tilted her head in thought. "So that's where you get the eyes from." She noted to Ash.
"What?" Pikachu looked confused. "No, they have different eye colors."
"Colors yes, but the shape?" Pidgeotto pointed out and Ash preened at someone having noticed that little detail.
"I'm happy you noticed!" Ash told her and addressed Pikachu. "Like I said, human-Ash is a bit of an amalgamation, but I knew Mom's eyes best so that's where I got the shape from."
"Already under inspection huh?" Delia chuckled as she picked up the context. She looked between Pidgeotto and Selene, shooting a glance at Shelldon too. "Doesn't this bring back memories." she mused.
"What do you mean?" Selene asked, perhaps not realizing the human couldn't understand her.
"Before she stopped traveling, Mom had Shelldon," He nodded at the lounging Blastoise, "A Pidgeot and a Clefairy on her team."
"Technically I had a Wartortle, a Pidgeotto, and a Clefairy," Delia remembered. "But Shelldon and Pidgeot evolved near the end I suppose."
"Huh." Sunny realized, "If Squirtle had joined you instead of Misty then you'd have the same Pokemon she had."
"I wasn't going to ask Squirtle to join." Ash shrugged, "I got where he was coming from but he didn't seem interested in having another trainer after whatever happened to his last one."
"I'm still a bit surprised he asked to join Misty," Pikachu admitted. "I mean it seems to have worked out but I was sure he was planning something else for a minute there."
"Squirtle is a good Pokemon." Selene declared. "He was playing the part of the bad guy because that's what he thought he had to do, but remember how he acted when Ash made some good points?"
Pikachu hummed in thought and Ash looked up at his trainer-mom. "I was wondering, why did you come out here?" He blanched as he realized how that might sound. "Not that I'm upset you're here! I'm really happy you are! But I meant why now?"
She chuckled at his slight panic. "Don't worry I get it. To tell the truth? It seemed like a good time to me. You're halfway through the gym circuit now, aren't you? Figured I'd come to meet you at the halfway point. Besides, there's someone I wanted to see and introduce you to and she's in Saffron right now."
Ash was about to ask about that but Shelldon decided it was time to stop loafing about.
"This is all sweet. But I got beef with you Ash." The big water-type stood up and looked down at Ash menacingly. "I have it from a reliable source that while you're doing a good job with their training," He gestured at Ash's team. "You've gone lax on your own. Care to comment?"
The Zorua stared at the Blastoise as the words (and the fear) processed. Then his head whipped towards Pikachu, still on Delia's shoulder, and still snickering.
It took a moment for the magnitude of this betrayal to truly sink in. When it had, Ash scrambled to his feet. "I knew it!" He jumped at Pikachu, tackling him off his trainer and onto the bed. Delia yelped in slight surprise. "I knew you told him! How could you?!"
Despite Ash's furious assault Pikachu just kept laughing. This continued until Shelldon plucked Ash up by his scruff and held him at eye level. "Don't rag on the rat too hard. It's a good thing he told me! What could have happened if I didn't know you needed immediate remedial training?"
"Nothing!" Ash protested as he was carried toward the door. "I started training with Karen! I learned Revenge! I don't need more training!"
"Nonsense!" Shelldon started tramping down the hall and out of earshot.
Eevee stared after the two other Pokemon, a look of vague concern on her face. "Should we… help him?"
"Oh no, this is normal." Pikachu asserted with a shrug, smoothing out his fur a bit.
"This is the one who fired blasts of water at you two for training right?" Pidgeotto checked and received a nod of confirmation. "In that case, I want to see this for myself."
"I want to train with Shelldon too!" Selene decided and started skipping and hopping after her trainer.
"I kind of want to but water is bad for my health." Sunny pointed out but followed nevertheless.
As the rest of the Pokemon trailed along to the training field after Ash and Shelldon, Delia was left shaking her head. "I guess we can stay here today. There's plenty of time to explore the city tomorrow."
As the sun began to dip in the sky, Karen mused she probably should just head back to the Pokemon Center and pass out. It had been a fairly trying day for a variety of reasons.
Not the least of which was someone had used what seemed like borderline magic to shrink her down to the size of a doll and trap her in some play town thing.
She had been a trainer for a while now and had seen her fair share of weird things and gone on a variety of misadventures during that time. The Trap House she'd experienced with the others hadn't been her first run-in with ghost-types looking for some kicks. She'd run into various gang members trying to steal Pokemon or cause trouble.
Once she even thought she saw a Legendary Bird. It was hard to say though, all she'd seen was a flash of blue as clouds began to churn into a blizzard. She liked to think it was Articuno though but had never told anyone for fear of being laughed at.
But this? With a gym leader using her freaky powers on her for what seemed to be her own entertainment? That was a new one.
And she hadn't been able to do anything about it.
That part stung the most honestly.
She wanted to rest and just wake up the next day and pretend this had all been a dream but her thoughts were a bit too chaotic right now.
Without her Pokemon, she had been less than useless. She should have sent Umbreon or Absol out the moment the door closed but no, she'd decided to try doing something about it on her own.
It had worked out in the end, because Ash, the little Zorua that could, had beaten both Kadabra and Sabrina. She was fairly impressed by that achievement and there was a smidgeon of pride that believed it was partly thanks to her training him.
Thinking about Ash though triggered a different train of thought that brought her mood back down to zero.
Karen didn't think much of Misty. Just some kid who happened to be born into a family of gym leaders. That was the only thing the girl seemed to have going for her. At best she could respect that she seemed to care about becoming a better trainer instead of whatever her sisters were doing.
But the younger girl seemed insistent on making digs at her. She had mostly shrugged it off, figuring it for jealousy over her spot as the oldest member of the group being usurped or something like that.
The conversation they'd had in the fake town had been a bit enlightening on that front.
Maybe there was something else to it, but Misty seemed to just be overly protective of Ash. Karen wasn't entirely sure of the full story but the bits and pieces she'd gathered painted an interesting picture.
Misty goes off for a fishing trip on her own, she meets Ash in disguise with Pikachu and tries catching him. After that, they start traveling together and Misty realizes that she enjoys traveling with Ash more than staying home with her family.
Whatever that said about the ginger girl's home life wasn't as important as the realization that had sunk in for Karen somewhere between the electric shocks and the Pokemon Center.
In Misty's eyes, Karen was the bad guy, because she was trying to take her first real friend away.
The worst part about it? She was technically correct.
She was of course keeping up her end of her agreement with Ash and training him like she said she would. Learning a bit more about his illusions and how they worked (even if they had a long way to go on that front), and generally helping him get stronger.
But in the end, she wanted to convince him to join her team. Why shouldn't she? He was a dark-type Pokemon who had the urge to get stronger! And while the whole trainer aspect was a bit confusing, it wasn't like she would forcibly stop him from doing his thing, she just wanted him on her team too!
So when exactly had it started to bother her? Was it just Misty calling her out or was this just the natural result of how she'd been feeling about this whole adventure?
In the end, Karen wasn't even sure how this whole thing made her feel. A part of her wanted to just talk to someone about all this and get it off her chest. No way was she calling back home though, not in a million years.
That didn't leave her with many options. She wasn't going to go and rant to Misty about this, she wasn't about to exposit all of her feelings to the pipsqueak gym leader. Ash was out too, considering he was one of the main focuses of what was bothering her. She'd only just met Delia and it seemed like a poor decision to go to her…
Karen stopped walking and stared ahead for a moment, glancing at a side window and her reflection. Was she truly this alone? To the point that she didn't even have a friend to talk about her problems with?
Her hand trailed to her belt and her Pokeballs. She did have friends to talk to. It just felt wrong in a way to dump all her feelings on them when they couldn't even talk back to her. But…
She started walking again, looking for a park or some small space where she might get some privacy where she could let Umbreon out. She could go back to the Pokemon Center and her room but she'd been walking for a while.
A few minutes layered she'd found a small grove. Karen hesitated to call it a park, it was just a few trees and some grass, and it wasn't even the size of a full city block.
The sun had mostly gone down now as she sent out Umbreon. Her starter gave a quick stretch and looked at her, almost expectantly.
"So…" She was unsure of how to even start this. "How much about today have you overheard or figured out?"
Umbreon made a gesture that by her guess meant a little bit.' She sighed and gave him the abridged version of everything that happened. From them entering the gym with the weird pressure thing to Ash's real trainer showing up, and leading up to right now.
"I just…" she sat down on the sole bench. "I just don't know who to talk to or how to feel about this. I hated how helpless I felt today. I hated how Misty sees me as some sort of villain. I hate how I'm starting to feel guilty about trying to get Ash as my Pokemon. Why does it bother me at all? It never did before."
She sighed and looked up. No stars, not when she was in the middle of a city, all the light pollution easily blotted them out. "I'm sorry for just dropping this all on you, I just needed to let it all out."
Umbreon hopped on the bench and looked at her. It was a strange look and she couldn't quite recognize the emotion behind his eyes.
"I wish you could just tell me what you think." She mumbled, thinking about how convenient it was for her to understand Ash. "I don't suppose I should start working on that too?" She wondered, thinking again about Misty and her efforts to understand her Pokemon.
"Breon." Umbreon told her simply. It was hard to tell if it was a yes or not but the slight hint of pride she'd detected there might mean he expected her to figure it out.
"I don't know what I could have done against Sabrina," Karen admitted eventually. "I felt so helpless when I realized I was trapped in the play town. I couldn't release any of you, I couldn't do anything to get out…"
"And then Misty, this little twelve-year-old girl, comes in and immediately starts working on problem-solving and solutions. Sure she had her Pokemon out but she was working with her head too. More than I was." She sighed again.
"Do you think she had a point about me?" Karen asked her partner. "Should I give up on trying to get Ash on the team?"
"Bre." Umbreon nodded at her and she certainly did not pout.
"You're just saying that because you don't like him." She chuckled but Umbreon shook his head. "You're not? Then why?"
"Umbreon…" The dark-type murmured, and looked thoughtful, likely trying to figure out how to make his point.
After a few moments, he seemed to have settled on charades. He pointed at his Pokeball with a paw, and then at himself and nodded. He pointed at Absol's Pokeball and then nodded. He pointed at an empty Pokeball she kept on her belt in case she needed it at a moment's notice, and shook his head.
"I'm still a bit stuck," Karen admitted and tried working out the pieces. A stroke of inspiration struck her though. "Wait, is this about the whole agreeing to join the team thing?"
"Bre!" Umbreon nodded enthusiastically and Karen let her shoulders sag.
"That's what it boils down to in the end isn't it?" She asked, now half rhetorically. "Ash said he didn't want to join. That's that I guess."
Her starter nuzzled into her side, possibly in some attempt to comfort her and she smiled softly. "Thanks, Umbreon. I… I'm really glad you're with me, you know that right?"
"Umbre." He flicked his tail and settled down against her.
She rubbed him behind his ears. "Don't get too comfortable, it's getting pretty late we should probably head back to the Pokemon Center soon." But she didn't get up just yet, instead starting to consider her relationship with her Pokemon.
Umbreon and Absol had certainly joined her willingly. But the others she had caught normally. They had never complained before, then again if they had she wouldn't have been able to understand them.
Were they honestly happy with her?
Maybe… maybe it was time she started rethinking her approach to being a trainer.
Misty was having a bad night.
Well, to tell the truth, she had been having a bad day in general. First the whole thing with Sabrina, then rushing her friend and his Pokemon to the Center for treatment and now she was dealing with the misery that was call centers.
"Your call is very important to us-" The phone began repeating and she bashed her head into the table.
"If it's 'very important' to you THEN LET ME TALK TO SOMEONE!" She screamed into the receiver. It was futile and she knew it though.
If this was the first time she'd been put on hold, she probably might have maintained some semblance of calm. But she'd been transferred to multiple different departments and people as she had been desperately trying to talk to someone higher up on the food chain about everything happening with Sabrina.
The first person she talked to was some poor pencil pusher on the bottom rung. He had put on that fake customer service voice when she first spoke to him. At first, he had been unwilling or perhaps uninterested in trying to push her call up the line so she had gotten into the details about a gym being wrecked and the gym leader being sedated because she'd been trying to kidnap people.
That actually got some emotion in his voice. A bit of confusion, concern, and even excitement. It was probably the most interesting call he'd ever gotten. Once she had convinced him to run her card number she had finally moved up the line.
Next, she talked to a manager for the department of the incident who said they could have someone look into the problem in the next week or so. She wasn't having that though and may have threatened to hunt down the man on the line and torment him and his bloodline for the next thousand years.
It should be noted she had been on the phone for almost an hour and a half at that point.
Misty had then been transferred to another manager who seemed a bit more willing to lend an ear, or maybe she was being nice so the scary girl on the phone wouldn't threaten her family. Finally, she was transferred up to the office of the Elite Four, not quite as high as she'd been expecting to reach but it was better than she'd hoped for.
Unfortunately, she'd now been on hold for a full hour since the last call transfer. A part of her was wondering if they'd just put her on hold and left her there until she eventually got sick of waiting.
The gym leader refused to hang up though. At this point, it was a matter of pride.
Her Pokemon were out and about in her room as she sat at the desk. Goldeen was in the provided tank with Starmie and they seemed to be playing either chess or checkers using rocks as the pieces. She wasn't sure which and was too far away to focus on them.
Staryu and Squirtle at least were providing her a constant source of entertainment. Apparently, Squirtle had taken to the Battles and Behemoths idea with gusto and they were now trying to work out his character and backstory.
Staryu had managed to talk him out of the murderhobo rogue who had already stabbed everyone who had ever wronged him and seemed to be trying to gently guide him towards either a Warlock or a Paladin.
"I don't know if I want to be under the thumb of some higher power," Squirtle muttered darkly.
Staryu did his best to cut off that line of thinking. "That's the fun of it! If you were a Warlock you could have been forced to make a pact under duress and now wish to break free of it! Think of all the plot hooks that could provide!"
"Uh-huh." Squirtle seemed unconvinced and Staryu took up the Paladin angle instead.
"Paladins on the other hand are honestly more beholden to oaths than deities. At least in the current version. There's also a thing called fallen Paladins who are forced to break their oaths and become evil or something. Normally that's caused by the Battle Master being a jerk though."
"Alright, I'll bite, what type of oaths are there?"
"Loads!" Staryu perked up. "There's Oath of Conquest, Oath of Glory, Oath of Devotion, Oath of Vengeance…"
That last one got Squirtle's attention. "Oath of Vengeance? Tell me more…"
Misty was debating whether or not to join the discussion when the phone line suddenly clicked and immediately had her full attention.
"Hello?" A voice on the other end asked, sounding feminine but ancient. "Who is this what do you want?"
"Yes! Hello!" Misty was relieved to finally be talking to a real person again instead of yelling and mocking the robotic answering machine. "I'm Misty Waterflower! I'm trying to reach the office of the Elite Four."
"Well gee, I hadn't figured that out considering this is the phone line for the Elite Four." The woman mocked her and Misty scowled.
"I'm sorry." She ground out. "I've been on hold for the last hour I wasn't sure if they had actually transferred me or not."
"Good news for you! They did. And be glad it only took an hour. It rings until one of us notices it, not like we have a secretary around here. You'd think Lance would have either stepped up and done it himself or found one by now. Bruno sure isn't able to sit still that long and Lorelie? That girl is more CEO material than a secretary." The old woman complained but Misty barely heard most of it.
This was the Office of the Elite Four. They did not have a secretary. That meant… that meant… Misty started hyperventilating
"Are you okay girl?" The woman sounded mildly concerned. "You seem to be breathing pretty hard there."
"This- that is to say you-" Misty stammered. "Am I currently speaking with Agatha?"
Agatha, the Crone. Master of ghost-types, the terror of the night, one of the longest reigning members of the Elite Four. Supposedly she'd even been the champion at some point. And Misty was talking to her.
Apparently, if you wanted to talk to some famous trainers all you had to do was sit on the phone for a few hours.
"Who else would you be talking to?" The woman- Agatha, asked.
"Sorry, just… not what I expected. I'll get to the point." Misty decided to force herself to contain her fangirling.
"You had best, I'm not getting any younger you know." the Elite Four member warned her.
"Right, sorry." She should stop apologizing. "I'm Misty Waterflower, I'm one of the gym leaders from Cerulean City and I'm currently traveling with a friend who is on the league challenge. He challenged the Saffron City gym today and…" She thought about how best to word it. "Sabrina is incredibly unfit for duty."
"And why is that?" Agatha asked skeptically.
"Well, at the moment she's sedated," Misty admitted and the woman on the other end coughed at the unexpected announcement.
"Why is she sedated?!" The ghost-type master demanded.
"She's been using her powers to kidnap her opponents and place them in a play town for her amusement. The only reason no one's been reported missing is because her father kept freeing them. When my friend challenged her today she sent most of us to the play town and my friend ended up fighting her, she apparently blew up parts of her own gym and her father was finally able to put her to sleep and destroy the town." Misty gave the spark notes version of events.
"Then we brought her to the Pokemon Center and I asked the Nurse to sedate her because I have no idea what she'll do if she wakes up." And she was more than a little scared to find out.
"That…" She heard Agatha swallow. "Right, okay. One second." Misty braced herself to be put on hold again but thankfully she wasn't, instead, she just heard yelling.
"LANCE!" Thankfully the woman on the other end had moved the phone away from her mouth before she started yelling. "LANCE! GET OVER HERE YOU MORON! THIS INSTANT!"
Misty continued listening and heard muffled sounds in the background. Possibly someone else talking. "Of course, you didn't do anything! You buffoon! That's the problem!" Misty winced as she heard a cracking sound that sounded suspiciously like a cane hitting someone's skull. "When was the last time someone checked on the Kanto Gym Circuit?"
Someone, it sounded like a man said something. "I don't care if you just had Johto checked last year! What about Kanto?"
Something else was said. "FIVE YEARS? OF ALL THE-" Agatha then said a number of things that Misty had only ever heard out of the mouth of a sailor and had been told never to repeat in her lifetime.
Another cracking sound resounded over the phone. "Get on it! NOW! Send that one Nurse Joy, you know, the cool one. The one with the dragon. Oh, of course, that gets you moving." Agatha muttered something Misty didn't quite catch and seemed to bring the phone back up. "Sorry about that. Thank you for bringing this to our attention."
"Uhhh, no problem." Agatha had just firmly cemented her position as the coolest Pokemon Trainer Misty had ever heard of.
"Ugh, I guess this means Saffron City is out a gym leader right now? Fine, I'll be right over. Have a good night." The phone clicked as it hung up and Misty stared blankly at a wall and then at the phone in her hand.
That was possibly one of the coolest things to ever happen to her. She wished someone had recorded that conversation.
As she debated what exactly to do next a knock came at the door. She leaned back in her chair and breathed, prepping herself for proper social interaction. "Who is it?" She called.
"It's me," Karen answered. "Can I come in?"
Misty scowled and momentarily considered telling her to get lost. But that would probably just make things worse. "Fine."
The door opened and Karen looked around the room. Taking note of Squirtle and Staryu scribbling on some paper on the floor, and Starmie and Goldeen in the water tank, before she settled her eyes on Misty. "So…"
Misty quirked an eyebrow. If she expected her to start then she could wait. The other trainer had come here after all, if she had something to say then she could say it.
After a moment where it became clear to Karen that Misty wasn't going to say anything, she continued. "I've been doing some soul-searching tonight. Walked around the city for a while, and talked to Umbreon. And… I'm sorry."
That… was not what Misty had been expecting to hear. "Sorry for what?"
"I'm sorry that I tried to capture Ash and was still trying to make him join my team even though he said he didn't want to. I'd apologize to him too but I'm not sure he'd even realize there was anything to apologize for." Karen admitted.
Misty stared at her, half expecting something else ridiculous to happen. First Agatha on the phone and now this? Were Seel going to start falling from the sky?
"Thank you," Misty responded tentatively but honestly. "I can't say I'm not surprised."
"Yeah, I know." Karen sighed. "I realized that I haven't exactly been the most friendly on this trip and I've been doing a pretty good job of making myself feel alone in a group of social Butterfree."
"That's more Ash's thing than mine," Misty admitted. "I've been somewhat introverted until I met him."
"Huh, never would have guessed it." The blue-haired girl shook her head. "Regardless, I've been thinking about how I interact with Pokemon and people and realized I don't like how it left me feeling like the bad guy. So the first step in not being the bad guy is to start mending bridges instead of burning them."
Misty felt a grudging nugget of respect form. And also had a realization. "Is that how I made you feel? Like the bad guy?"
"Something like that." Karen took a seat in the spare chair. "I realized that I inserted myself into the group, tried to take your friend away, and then admitted I was sticking around to try again. Not really the nicest picture there."
No, it wasn't, but still… "I guess I've been a bit confrontational about it. Today just helped everything boil over with everything that happened. I'm sorry if I took it out on you too much." She sighed.
"Today's just been a pretty big mess huh?" The gym leader pointed out.
"What better way to make someone reevaluate themselves than a crazy psychic gym leader and a dollhouse?" Karen quipped.
"I think I'd prefer therapy," Misty answered.
"Yeah…" it was Karen's turn to sigh. "I don't suppose you made it through to the league?" She asked glancing at the phone still in Misty's hand.
Misty immediately lunged at the chance to talk about her phone conversation. "I did! It took a few hours but I finally made it up to the Elite Four's office."
"Really?" Karen looked surprised. "Dang I didn't even know they accepted calls there, or that they had a phone even."
"They do have a phone." Misty grinned. "And you'll never guess who picked up…"
If there was any solace to be taken in the nightmare that Shelldon called trained, it was that he and Pikachu were not the only ones traumatized this time.
Shelldon had decided the entire team needed to do some training and taken them all on at once.
You'd think six Pokemon who had taken down half a regions worth of gyms could beat a single Blastoise who had been out of action for years.
As it turns out Shelldon took his own training just as seriously as he took everyone else's.
He didn't brutalize them and they did pretty well for themselves. None of them had been knocked out but the water-type was tanky enough that he even managed to withstand Pikachu's Thunder Bolts.
The Light Screens he threw up at the beginning of the fight probably helped though.
By the end of the training, everyone was soaked and exhausted. Except for Sunny, he was just bruised and exhausted. Since Shelldon didn't want to do serious damage to the fire-type instead of blasting him with water, he just punched him. A lot.
Delia stepped in before it got too late thankfully and made sure everyone dried up, got treated, and had a full delicious dinner.
"Ash can we all have your mom?" Sunny asked as she carefully measured the spice added to the fire-types food with the exact eye of a chef.
"I think I'm willing to share her with you guys," Ash admitted with a grin, feeling immensely pleased his team liked his trainer as much as he did.
That night Ash was caught between sleeping with his team and sleeping with his trainer. A part of him wanted to just move his whole team so they could all sleep together but the bed might get a bit crowded then.
In the end, after a deep and painful internal battle Ash stayed with his team. It wouldn't feel right to leave them on their own.
The next morning brought good news. Misty had gotten in contact with the league, and not just any part of the league but the Elite Four themselves!
Ash was practically squealing so hard that he almost gave away his disguise as Misty excitedly told him about her conversation with Agatha.
Karen also said she had to say something to him. "I'm sorry I tried to catch you. And I'm sorry I was still trying to convince you to join my team, even if I wasn't quite as brute force about it."
"You mean how you acted like I was already one of your Pokemon while we were training?" Ash asked skeptically.
"Yeah, I had all the subtlety of a flying brick there huh?" Karen admitted sheepishly. "I already apologized to Misty for antagonizing her and causing trouble but I'm rethinking how I interact with Pokemon and you deserve an apology too."
Delia silently poked at her food as the two talked and Ash felt a twinge of guilt as he remembered their conversation back in Vermillion City.
"Thank you, Karen." He told her a bit quietly. "You're a good trainer but I don't need another okay?" he hugged Delia for good measure, startling her out of her thoughts. She softly smiled and returned the hug.
"I ask again, how are you this touchy-feely and still a dark-type?" Umbreon complained as he ate his breakfast.
Ash just stuck his tongue out at the other Pokemon.
After breakfast, Delia announced her plan for the day and invited Misty, Karen, and their Pokemon as well.
"I was going to take Ash and his team to the Saffron Shopping Center." She admitted as they started walking. "It's far beyond most stores and has just about everything under the sun. From clothing to food to potions to evolutions stones. It's been a long time since I got to go."
Shopping may not have been number one on the list of things Ash wanted to do today but shopping with his trainer at the biggest store in the region? That sounded pretty good.
The shopping center was truly massive. Dozens of floors were all filled with various goods and items The first floor was more a reception than anything else with a massive food court. Every seating area even had cushions and chairs made for Pokemon! They had just eaten though so they skipped this part for now.
The second floor was clothes, Karen seemed the most interested in this part but Misty took a look around as well. Delia seemed fairly happy with her wardrobe but still looked at a few nice dresses and skirts.
Ash actually found something here that caught his attention. An entire section of hats, not too dissimilar to his own, but a bit nicer looking material-wise, and all had some sort of symbol on them, almost all Pokemon themed.
He stopped and looked at one that had the same red and white style as his current hat, but where he had a black and white Pokeball penned in by a detailing pen, this one had a green shape that vaguely resembled a Pokeball on its own. If a bit more esoteric.
Displacing Eevee for a moment, he swapped out the hats and looked in the mirror. He thought it looked pretty good on him. Delia walked over to check up on what he was doing and nodded with approval.
"I didn't say it before but you look good with a hat on." She told him, "it's almost like your head is made for hats."
Her words sealed the deal and Ash had a new hat now.
They traversed the building into the afternoon, getting traveling supplies on the fourth floor, and food rations on the sixth, and inspecting the TMs on the seventh floor caught them for a moment.
"What's it like using a TM?" Selene asked as they looked at the discs. "How do they even work?"
"I've never used one myself," Ash admitted looking at a TM for Blizzard.
"Me neither, but I know how they work," Eevee spoke up. "There are two ways, one is faster but ironically a bit less helpful in the long run. You can use it directly, by placing it with the running device on the Pokemon's head and it essentially plops the data on how to use the move directly into your mind."
"Directly into your head?" Sunny asked. "That sounds like it would hurt."
Eevee shrugged. "I've never used to myself so I don't know for sure. But while it teaches you how to use the move it doesn't teach you all the tips and tricks you might have learned by training it yourself. The other method is if you run the TM like a normal laser disc it will play a training video. That gives a lot more information and explains all the details for how the move works."
"So really using both in tandem would be the best method?" Pidgeotto realized.
The normal-type thought for a moment and nodded. "Yeah that sounds about right, I don't know why I haven't heard of anyone doing that before."
As they were wrapping up their shopping trip and planning to head down to the food court for lunch Ash realized there was one more stop to make.
The eighth floor of the shopping center sold stones. Mostly evolution stones but there were a few other types as well. Mostly move-boosting ones. But Ash wasn't there for any of the stones that would help his Pokemon evolve, quite the opposite in fact.
"Just the Everstone?" The clerk lady asked him, sounding half bewildered. "Are you sure you don't want a Thunderstone," she looked at Pikachu, "a Moonstone," she looked at Selene, "or…" She looked at Eevee and back to Ash. "Are you sure?"
"Yep, I'm sure!" Ash smiled and nodded, taking his purchase.
As they took the elevator back down Ash handed the oval-shaped rock back to Sunny. "Here you go Sunny, all yours until you're ready to evolve!"
"Thank you, Ash." His Charmander responded and took the rock. "I guess I could get a necklace or something to hold onto it?"
"We'll figure out how to make something for you." Pikachu promised the fire-type.
Down at the food court, Delia apologized but she wouldn't be able to take Karen and Misty with them to their next stop. In fact, she was a bit worried Ash's team wouldn't be able to come in with them.
"It's harder than you would think to get an appointment." She complained. "Even I was almost turned away when I called until she heard about it and insisted Shelldon and I be given special permissions."
"Who is 'she?'" Ash asked, remembering his trainer-mom briefly mentioning a 'she' the day prior.
A laugh rumbled in Shelldon's throat and Delia smiled. "I don't want to ruin the surprise."
They separated from the others and traveled further downtown, towards the office building area. Entering the lobby of an impressive skyscraper they were met with a beautiful fountain with fairies dancing atop it and what seemed like an artistic recreation of the night sky overhead a full moon directly over the fountain.
Ash was so caught up in staring at this impressive design he almost didn't notice his trainer start bickering with the security guard at the elevator.
"Look, I don't care if you have permission, I can't let that many Pokemon go up the elevator outside their balls!" He told her.
"Why not?" Ash asked, walking up and finding himself curious.
"Hazards of this many Pokemon in one place aside," The guard started. "The elevator literally can't hold that much weight!"
So it was that Ash and Delia were forced to return (almost) everyone to their Pokeballs. Pikachu of course refused and given Ash was currently in his disguise he stayed out as well.
Up the floors, they traveled, and nearly at the top, they walked down a well-lit and fairly fancy hallway.
"She certainly likes her luxury." Delia muttered, sounding amused and a bit fond. Ash tried to place the tone, he'd sworn he'd heard it before.
At the end of the hall, they arrived at double doors leading into a big fancy office. Tiny lights hung from the ceiling like stars, surrounding a big ball of what looked like silver.
At the other end of the office was a desk, and sitting behind that desk… was a Clefairy.
The disguised Zorua shared a confused look with Pikachu as the Clefairy looked up from some paper on the desk and immediately perked up.
"Bonjour mademoiselle!" She exclaimed in a Kalosian accent and leaped out of the chair and across the room, practically flying, into Delia's arms.
"Hi Pix." Delia smiled and hugged the Clefairy. "I've missed you!"
"And me as well my dear!" The Clefairy, Pix, looked up at her. "These meetings, these photoshoots! They are glamorous and fabulous but sometimes I long for simpler times!"
Shelldon burst out of his Pokeball. "Well pipsqueak, you seem to be doing rather well for yourself." He noted looking around the room.
"Monsieur Shelldon!" She greeted the other Pokemon. "Still as blunt as a particularly colorful boulder. But yes." She nodded. "The life of a mascot of one of the most successful cereal chains in the world is how you say, rather well endowed."
It had taken Ash a minute but he now understood who this was and why it mattered. This was one of Delia's other Pokemon, her Clefairy who had become the mascot for Moon Flakes and the affiliated cereals, Pix.
"Uhh, hi there Pix." He waved slightly, not quite sure how to introduce himself. The pink fairy-type turned to him and squeaked for joy.
"This is him yes?" She leaned in and inspected Ash. "Marvelous! If I did not know this was illusionary, I would have thought Mademoiselle Delia had produced a delightfully cute child." She jumped from Delia's arms to Ash's free shoulder and poked at his illusion.
"Hmm, more solid than I expected." She noted. "But you are the one who decided to become a trainer yes?"
"That's right." Ash nodded.
"I never thought of such a path myself! After my debut at the Contest in Fuchsia my fame unexpectedly surged! I found myself signed to this spot and quickly learned that if I did not wish to be taken advantage of I had to learn to play the game." She nodded and a glint of steel briefly flashed in her eyes.
"Um…" Ash wasn't quite sure how to respond to that.
"Alas! Enough about the troubles of the past! You are a trainer yes and I wish to meet your friends! I am told one is from my former home! Also, you! I wish to know what you truly look like!" Pix insisted.
A bit overwhelmed, Ash, sent out his Pokemon who all marveled at their current location. Pix hopped down as Ash dropped his illusion and after surveying him for a moment moved on to Selene.
"It's been a long time since I met another Clefairy." For a moment the accent dropped and was instead replaced by a wistfulness. "I'm happy with where I am and what I've achieved but I need to know, how is home?"
"Ash mentioned that Delia had a Clefairy." Selene remembered. "Mount Moon is still a mountain last I checked, the Moonstone still shines every night, and the Cleffa and Clefairy still hatch every six months."
"There was a bit of a scare a little while back with some people called Team Rocket coming in and making a mess but Ash," She gestured towards her trainer. "And his friends helped stop them! After that, I wanted to go with them and be heroes like them!"
"My word!" The accent was back again. "This is news to me." She turned to Ash and did a little bow. "It seems I have more to thank you for little brother."
Shelldon spoke up again. "Alright, what's with that."
"Quelle?" Selene looked at him.
"That!" Shelldon gestured at her. "The accent! I know for a fact you didn't use to talk like that!"
"Ah but do you not see monsieur Shelldon? Like I said I had to do a lot to achieve my current spot and make sure I was not tricked and misled by some despicable suits who wished to take advantage of my adorableness!" She explained.
"But one must not only walk the walk but also talk the talk! I have slowly learned how to speak with this phrasing. It makes me sound more refined in commercials and more impressive to both other Pokemon and the humans around me!" Pix continued elaborating.
"It feels like there are easier ways to do that." Shelldon pointed out.
"Wait, how does the accent help with humans?" Ash asked. "I mean they wouldn't hear it would they." He looked at Delia, "Do you?"
"I actually did think you sounded a little bit different Pix." She admitted and looked at her fairy-type. "Something about the way to you said your name."
Pix nodded. "Exactement! Just because they cannot understand all I say, doesn't mean they don't notice and besides, I have had a thought bubbling that I can finally have reach fruition."
She suddenly moved up into Ash's face and grasped him by his cheeks. "Wonder, brilliant, beautiful bouncing baby brother! You have learned how to speak as humans do! I must know how! Teach me all your secrets!"
Ash was a bit alarmed by this but also was always happy to help. "Sure!"
"Merveilleuse!" Pix exclaimed with a grin.
They spent a fair amount of time with Pix after that. Learned a bit about the company in between giving her some tips on the basics of human speech. Obviously, Ash didn't have the time to stay and teach her everything but once she had an understanding of the theory she should be able to figure most of it out on her own.
It was dark by the time they got back to the Pokemon Center. Pix had treated them all to a lovely (if far too fancy) dinner.
Apparently, while Moon Flakes was the biggest commercial product, the company also produced a wide variety of Pokemon Chow. Go figure.
Nurse Joy called for Ash when they arrived. Ash looked to Delia, feeling a bit reluctant to separate after getting to spend the whole day with her, and went over to see what was up.
"There's a patient who wants to speak with you." Nurse Joy told him. "In room 301. She asked for you by name."
Ash was a little confused but followed the direction to the room. The light was on inside, and he walked in to find some familiar faces.
Sabrina's father sitting by the bedside, her mother, who he barely met, was sitting with him, and sitting upright in bed, now awake, was Sabrina herself.
Ash felt every muscle inside him tense up and his team reacted similarly.
The young woman looked at him. "Hello, Ash Ketchum." She said his name for the first time. "I think we should talk."
He was reluctant to go anywhere near her after everything that happened and already the hatred was beginning to burn inside him again. It was only slightly dulled by the fact his team was with him and okay and he felt them and they were okay and fine and safe and here.
"It's alright." Sabrina's father spoke up. "Neither of us can do anything right now, you're safe." He nodded at a series of tags hanging from Sabrina's bed. Ash had no idea what they did, probably something relating to psychic powers though.
The Zorua was still reluctant but moved into the room.
He sat down and Sabrina looked at him. She seemed… different. Softer in a way. Her features seemed less harsh and cold.
"I suppose congratulations are in order." She swallowed. "You beat me."
"You took my friends." Ash spoke, perhaps a bit harsher than he meant to but he didn't regret it.
"Yes." Sabrina said softly. "I did. I don't suppose a sorry will fix that wound?" A single glance at him and she nodded. "No, I didn't think so. But I still owe you the apology all the same. All of you." She looked at his Pokemon as well.
"I have been… busy while unconscious I suppose. I had split my psyche rather thoroughly between myself and my doll, reuniting the two has been a… painful process." She clutched the bedsheet. "But it had to be done and I believe I am better for it.
Gee, good for you. Ash thought bitterly.
"It will likely please you to know that the league revoked my gym leader license and taken my gym away." She told him, and honestly? Yeah, it did please him a bit. "I am to be sent to an asylum that specializes in… difficult patients. Dad… is going to be coming with me. But Mom… well I was told it would be good if she spent some time away from me."
"I did have one request though when I was told I was going to be losing my gym." Sabrina sat up straighter. "I have not given away a single badge in my time as a gym leader, I was able to predict the moves of all my opponents before they made them. All their strategies were laid bare. Even if they had a dark-type leading their team, their own thoughts were always wide open to me."
"Until me." Ash concluded and she nodded.
"Until you." She repeated. "So it is, I believe I have to give you this as my final act as a gym leader." She held out her hand and Ash tentatively reached out his own.
"The Marsh Badge is yours, the only one of its kind. Congratulations. You earned it." Ash stared at the badge as her words registered. He closed his fist and sighed, angrily almost.
"I wish you weren't doing this." He told her. "I wish I could just go on and only ever think of you as the person who tried to take my friends away from me. I hated you and a part of me wants to keep hating you. But now I'm going to remember this whenever I think of you."
Sabrina nodded solemnly and he continued. "You hurt people, a lot of people. I think it's right for someone to hate you. I don't like hating. It hurts and burns and it just wants to eat me up." Ash spoke darkly.
"Even right now, I want to jump at you and keep fighting even though there's no point to it. That's not right. Maybe you deserve it, maybe you don't. But it doesn't change the fact that nothing would change because of it. It wouldn't fix anything" He stood up and looked her in the eye one last time.
"So I hate you now, and I might for a while longer. But you know you were wrong and maybe you'll never hurt anyone again. I'd like that. But I don't know for sure." Ash thought out loud.
"Sabrina. I hate you right now. And I probably will keep hating you. If we meet again though… I hope you're someone I don't hate anymore."
They were silent for a moment and Ash turned and walked to the door. "Goodbye, Sabrina."
"Farewell Ash Ketchum." She paused. "I don't think I'll ever forget you."
"Good." Ash left the room with his friends.
That was a doozy of a chapter huh?
Back to ten thousand words! Choo choo!
The hatred stuff is coming from experience. There is someone I hated, and still do. I don't know if I'll ever forgive them. Sometimes I want to bury the hatchet but in the end, they're the same person they were and still go out of their way to cause problems and try and hurt me.
Sabrina is on a path that can lead to change, but Ash isn't quite ready or willing to forgive her now.
Ash hates Sabrina now. He probably will for awhile. But maybe someday if they meet again and she's not the person she was before and Ash's hatred has burned to dull feeling in his chest whenever he remembers, he might be able to stop.
Now onto the fun stuff! This chapter had lots of fun stuff! Right? Remember Pix? What a cool Clefairy! And Delia makes a return!
And ladies, gentlemen and that technicolor rainbow in between, for your reading pleasure AGATHA!
Elite 4 tend to get shafted in the anime so it's always a bit exciting when one actually shows up. And Ash fought her! Like, one of the only times he's actually fought an Elite 4 member I think? I'm sure there are others though.
Also, and drumroll please, we have a new cover art! Courtesy of Eb3yr from my discord! It is Ash! In a hat! That I gave him this chapter and was definitely always planned exactly the way it happened!
Here is Eb3yr's deviantart, spaced because fanfiction doesn't like proper links still: deviantart com / eb3yr
Welp, let's dive into all those reviews now.
ThePilotArchangel: Here, have your digital cookie. It's not great to have passive characters. I mean sometimes a character might be a bit frozen as they process whatevers happening but if you do that too much it feels like the character is less a character and more a camera for the audience. As neat as it might have been to have the others watch the fight, there was really no way to make that happen and make it work.
Storyreader21: Giant Ash sounds entertaining! Unfortunately I'm not sure how I would have made that work. He had to fight both Sabrina and Kadabra, even with his type advantage he was running on fumes by the end of it.
Gwynx: Thank you.
Tfguy330: I disagree! That was chapter 25 of the story, barely halfway through the Kanto region. If that had been how Ash evolved, sure it might have been exciting in the moment but in the long run? Looking back from events like Mewtwo and Lugia and all the other wild stuff coming up and realizing it was Sabrina he had evolved against? That would feel like almost a waste.
Rosescientist: I'm glad you enjoyed the details even if the outcome was expected! I'm not one for subverting expectations just for the sake of subverting expectations. The momentary surprise is not worth the lack of narrative cohesion and entertainment. Just because something is expected does not make it less interesting. We saw some of those personal struggles come up this chapter in the form of Karen, she has a way to go but she's on a better path now that won't see her butting heads with everyone else.
LEGOBRICK13: Sabrina going for worst possible choices on todays show! The Kanto gym leaders are… kind of a mess. A big mess. Like Giovannia flat out was using Mewtwo for a while to fight and then had the TRio take over when Ash showed up. Erika refused to battle Ash because he insult her perfumes (kind of rude to insult her hard work but it's literally her job to battle him). We already saw what was up with Sabrina, look at what was up with Misty's sister. Blaine hid his gym for kicks. Surge was Surge and beat the snot out of all the Pokemon who challenged him. Koga had these weird trials before you could battle him. Brock was like the only gym leader who fought legitely. Also don't worry, I get how you feel about those kind of characters. Something about them really screams *punch me in the face*
Shaonics6: I don't think hatred is a good thing, but it is a real and relatable thing. That's not to say because hatred is bad you should forgive and forget all the time. Hatred isn't great but forgiving someone who would do it all over again is worse. Pretending it doesn't exist and characters don't feel it does nothing but make them feel less real. (I mean Ash is a magical fox creature in this story who can create solid illusions but still)
Pecan Crisp: Perhaps less the difference between Zoruash and Human Boy Ash and more the fact I'm allowed to let Ash have more emotions because I said so.
Skullkingvon: *crunch crunch* tasty evil dolls yum!
Shine375: You know, I did actually consider this. Briefly. In the end I decided not to go that root because Sabrina needs Help with a capital H and Ash and the others are still kind of hostile towards her. Fixing her split psyche certainly helped her gain a better starting point but she has a long way to go.
Pokemonever1994: I'm not sure I'm going quite the 'get stronger if you beat other Pokemon' route. I mean he's more experienced now and picked up on some tricks for fight psychics but still. Yeah Ash had a rough time, thankfully he got a nap at the Pokemon center to emotionally recover a bit.
Greatazuredragon: Oh definitely, but that man is her father. He holds himself partly responsible for her actions since he feels like he directly inspired them and the league gave her a position she could abuse. She's the villain there but it's hard for him to accept that even if its true.
Dracoog101: She's got room to grow.
Guest: Not necessarily leave all that behind, she's not a bad person but she realized this chapter that's how others (especially Misty) see her and she doesn't want to be seen that way. Ash hated Sabrina, and wanted to hurt her and get his friends back. But in the ends he's still Ash and he's not that bloodthirsty. Ash is pretty strong and the training with Karen helped but he also had the type advantage in that fight so Kadabra and Sabrina had to rely on their surroundings in order to actually attack him.
Diatmoic Rex: Ash has a lot of issues buried under years of love and affection from Delia. Sabrina decided to do the exact right things to bring them to the surface and make him snap. I'll look into a contest chapter, we'll probably get at least one by the end of Kanto. Ash might not even need to cross dress with Erika this time, I've been putting some thought into it. Depends on how it feels when we get to the moment.
Fantasy92: Very angry indeed, and Karen decided to go and get some character development on her own after last chapter!
That's about all for now everybody. See you all next chapter!
Discord link: discord gg kESdTfhAwG
~FriTik
R&R