A writer is never late. Nor are they early. They post exactly when they mean to.
Ash and his friends did not get to go straight to the Pokemon Center.
This is because they were arrested.
Well, technically they weren't arrested. They were detained, and there are subtle differences between the two. For instance, instead of being placed into a jail cell and then taken to an interrogation room, they were brought directly to the interrogation room to answer questions!
Separate rooms. They were questioned individually.
After emerging from the Game Corner they'd been surrounded and carted off by the police. Someone must have called the cops to say something was going on at the Game Corner.
The first thing all the trainers had done was insist that their Pokemon teams be taken care of and that any questions could wait until after their friends and teammates were okay. This might have earned them some brownie points among some of the officers.
Contrary to popular belief, the police force was not only made up of Officer Jennys. There were certainly a lot of members of that family in law enforcement around the world. But there were other police officers as well.
It was past midnight by the time they finally finished up at the police department. They had each given their accounts of what had happened. There had been numerous points made by multiple officers about how they shouldn't have been there in the first place.
Apparently, 'But it was the right thing to do!' was not a good enough response.
While the specifics were still being worked out and in light of the ongoing investigation, the trainers had been told not to leave Celadon City until told otherwise. They had also been informed that their relatives would be informed of the day's events.
Trainers technically have more freedoms and permissions than normal children, but they were still under the age of eighteen, which meant while they were allowed to wander far afield from their legal guardian, they still had one.
Ash, however, was feeling a bit too tired to worry about what his Trainer-Mom would say for the moment. The questioning had left him completely drained. Running over the day's events multiple times. They even made him recount his gym battle with Erika!
He was filled with secret doubts by the time he arrived back at his room. Pikachu had been taken with the other Pokemon to be checked. Ash didn't like the idea of leaving his friends downstairs overnight, but he was willing to bet they were already sleeping, and he was exhausted himself. Lying face first on the bed, the illusion collapsed and he curled into a more comfortable position. But he didn't fall asleep immediately.
Going over everything that had happened over the day had the side effect of making him second guess every decision he had made. Currently, he was running over the fight with Nidoking again, trying to figure out if he had reacted faster, and whether Eevee would have been able to avoid getting hit.
It made him worry and second-guess himself. Earlier it had just made sense to keep going and rooting out Team Rocket. He didn't regret that part, they were pretty bad, but he was wondering if Karen had been right about getting the police. But then more Pokemon and people might have gotten hurt.
Had he made the right call?
That was the question that echoed in his ears as he entered a fitful sleep. He dreamed that night. He and Pikachu were fighting Shelldon, then Eevee and Sunny were there helping, but Shelldon crushed both of them into the ground far more brutally than normal. Then Shelldon turned into Nidoking, who turned into Nidoqueen, who turned into Archer…
Ash woke up to the morning sun shining on his face. He squirmed and tried to settle back into the bed but the dream had rattled him a bit more than most of his bad dreams. After a few more minutes of lying there unable to return to sleep's blissful embrace, he groaned in defeat and began his day.
It was still pretty early in the morning, barely past eight. He wished he had his friends with him, he'd become used to having them around him when he woke up. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait too long to see them.
After reapplying his illusion he wandered down to the lobby, there were some other trainers up and about but not too many. None he recognized at least, meaning the girls were probably still asleep. Or getting ready, Karen always took longer than Misty.
His friends were rested, healed up, and just about as happy to see him as he was to see them. There were questions though, mostly for him since Eevee and Sunny had been filled in on some of the details after they had recovered.
"...and they just kept saying it was irresponsible!" Ash complained with a huff. "That we should have let the adults handle it or something like that. But we were being responsible, but you guys got hurt and…" he sighed.
"It's bugging me." He admitted. "Nidoking and Nidoqueen were really strong. That Magnezone, Omega, was pretty tough too."
"Scary strong." Selene agreed. "I didn't know Pokemon could be that strong. I mean, I guess there was that giant Dragonite and the legends about the Crystal Caves. But those felt different."
"We didn't have to fight that Dragonite." Pikachu pointed out. "And a legend is a legend. Even if August said he actually found the caves."
"It's kind of like the difference between a wall and a rolling boulder. The wall will only hurt you if you run into it, but the boulder is coming straight at you and it's kind of hard to fight." Eevee tried to summarize.
Ash twisted his mind, trying to wrap it around the metaphor. "I'm not sure that lines up."
"Not really." Pidgeotto agreed with him. "But I think I kind of get it? This was a different fight than what we normally have. Gym battles can be tough but there's the assumption that even if we lose everything will be alright."
Sunny had been quiet so far. "Are you okay Sunny?" Pikachu had noticed his silence.
"I want to get stronger," Sunny said simply. "I don't want that to happen again."
It was a sentiment everyone agreed with, even if they weren't quite sure what to say in response. Eventually, Ash settled on, "We will get stronger. I promise. The next time we face someone that strong we'll be ready for them."
A little after noon Officer Jenny came to the Pokemon Center to have the trainers brought back in. They had some questions for her on the way to the police station.
"Are we still in trouble?" Leaf got right down to the point.
"With the law?" Jenny checked, "not really, for a few reasons. Partly because Team Rocket was involved and since they are a recognized criminal organization there are fewer restrictions about self-defense in regards to them."
Karen, quickly sensing a possible disaster, slapped her hand over Leaf's mouth before she could start digging herself into a hole.
"Secondly, because she's with you." Jenny pointed at Misty. "Gym Leader's have some special privileges regarding this kind of thing. That said…"
They were now in the lobby of the station as the officer whirled to face them. "What you did was incredibly, mind-bogglingly, completely, and unacceptably stupid. You're lucky you're all alright."
"The grunts weren't that tough," Ash muttered and earned a glare for his trouble.
"That's beside the point." She snapped. "I appreciate that you kids were trying to help, I really do. But sometimes you need to step back and let the adults handle things."
"Now, we've reached out to your families, and you'll be able to speak to them too. As I said, you're not in any legal trouble, but I'm willing to bet they'll have some words for you. Before that though, we just need some closing statements and Gym Leader Erika requested to speak with you."
Ash raised his hand. "Did you manage to find Archer?"
Jenny frowned. "No, we did manage to figure out how he go away, but he was long gone by the time we got around that tempered glass in the office. We had to cut into the walls. Erika should be able to answer any further questions you might have."
While the closing statements were taken by other police officers, once again in separate rooms, they were all brought together to a large one to speak with Erika. She was still wearing the same formal kimono that she had the previous day, but the exhaustion in her eyes took away some of the properness.
She looked at the four of them and sighed. "I'm not sure you can appreciate both how much trouble you've caused and how much good you've done."
"We beat up Team Rocket!" Leaf declared. "I'd say that's a pretty good thing!"
"Yes." She nodded. "You successfully discovered and put a stop to a Team Rocket operation that has been ongoing in my city for the past two years without my notice." Her serene expression turned furious for a moment. "I'm both ashamed and infuriated that they escaped my notice. I never paid much attention to the Game Corner, it seemed like a fleeting trifle, not worth my time."
"They didn't make it too obvious what was going on there." Misty suggested, "I mean, things were a bit of a mess by the time we arrived but we didn't see anything that screamed Team Rocket until we got into the back and lower levels."
"The workers weren't wearing the outfits," Leaf recalled. "I only spotted one guy wearing that and that's how I figured out what was going on."
Erika shook her head. "That doesn't matter. I'm going to be raked over coals for both this and the Hypno situation. Which is why I can't decide whether to thank you or throttle you." The casual threat of violence from the woman was a bit alarming.
"I'm certainly glad that things have been solved, but I don't think you can appreciate the amount of work that needs to go into wrapping this up. Processing all the arrested Team Rocket members, figuring out what needs to be done with their Pokemon. Tracking down the original owners of the stolen Pokemon and figuring out how much money they actually stole and how much was earned legitimately. They may be a criminal organization but the Game Corner itself was perfectly legal." She listed some of the things that needed to be done, but stopped herself and shook her head.
"That's not why I wanted to speak with you though." She fixed them all with a look, particularly Ash and Leaf. "A part of me wants to take your Rainbow Badge and refuse to let you partake in the challenge." She said to each in turn. "But I doubt that would solve anything. I need to know, do you actually understand why we've been telling you off for getting involved?"
"Because we're just some kids." Ash recited dutifully. He'd heard that enough.
She fixed him with a look. "Yes you are, but I need you to understand this. What you did was dangerous. It was brave too, yes, but did you at all consider the consequences? What would have happened if your Pokemon were defeated? Team Rocket would have taken them all from you and who knows what they would have done to you! They are criminals, they do bad things. The Police, the Rangers, the League, we go through training for this kind of thing. If I had found out about what was going on I would have gone for backup from the Police before raiding the base, as you should have done." She glanced at Misty.
"And before you say, that it all worked out. Yes, it did, this time. But even though you won, you're not out of the woods. Team Rocket will remember this, they will look for you. If an agent spots you they will go out of their way to target you or worse, alert their allies and gang up on you." Erika elaborated.
Her words floored Ash. He hadn't thought about any of that kind of thing. Even with Nidoking and Nidoqueen, he had been focusing on how to win and what he could have done better. What would have happened if they lost had never even entered his mind. Nor had the idea of Team Rocket hunting them down, he already had the ones in the Meowth Balloon after him, even if they were a bit incompetent.
He hugged Selene a little bit tighter, glad that he had his friends with him right now and he knew they were safe.
"See this is why I said we should have gone to the police." Karen nodded and quickly found herself under scrutiny.
"If you thought of it why didn't you?" The gym leader demanded and looked at Misty. "The same goes for you too. You should have known better." The ginger girl didn't answer.
"These two raced in as I was trying to convince them!" The oldest trainer defended herself. "I thought it would be better to keep an eye on them and try to convince them to leave!"
"Why didn't you just call the police? Or go to the police and send them! Your friends might have been a little roughed up but they would have been in good hands."
Karen found the floor immensely interesting. "I don't exactly have a phone…" She admitted.
"You don't have a… how long have you been a trainer?" Erika looked at the others. "Do none of you have phones or Pokegears?"
Receiving shaken heads in answer Eriak muttered what sounded like a prayer. "For the love of all things green in the world, go and get some Pokegears or something from the shopping center before you leave the city. Please. For my sanity."
The gym leader was about finished chewing them out and sent them back to the lobby. Officer Jenny had set up some video calls they could use to talk to their families.
"I think I'm good." Karen leaned back. "I don't want to hear from them and I doubt they want to hear from me."
"That's not how it sounded when I spoke to… your mother? I think. She didn't specify but I assumed and she mentioned your father." Jenny mentioned.
"Aunt, not my mom." Karen corrected and shrugged. "Look if they want to talk to me they know how to find me."
"How would they find you?" Ash asked, confusion filling him. "You don't have a phone and travel around."
"I might sit this out too." Misty considered.
"You might want to try and give your family a call yourself. We left some messages for them but haven't gotten any answer."
The girl growled and followed along with Ash and Leaf as they made their calls.
Ash wasn't sure what to expect from this call, but Delia picked up on the second ring, so she'd been expecting it.
"Ash!" She studied him through the camera. "You're alright? Your team is alright?"
"We're all okay." Ash nodded, she didn't seem to be that mad…
"Oh thank goodness!" Her relief was evident, but then her expression changed and Ash felt true fear. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?"
He yelped and almost dropped his disguise. "I'm sorry!" His friends also trembled under the righteous fury.
His Trainer-Mom took a deep breath. "I'm glad you're okay, but what were you thinking attacking criminals like that? I know Professor Oak warned you Team Rocket was dangerous!"
"I was thinking they were bad people and we had to do something!" Ash defended his actions. "Leaf was in trouble too! We helped her and we beat them!"
"Ash you know there are bad people in the world!" Delia reminded him. "Team Rocket is filled with people like that! It's organized crime that exploits whoever they can! They are exactly the kind of people that you keep your illusion up to protect against!"
"I didn't show any of them my real form!" Although he had used his ability while there… perhaps not his smartest move.
What followed was a rather similar rundown of the consequences to what Erika had given him, although tailored more specifically out of a sense of worry for his wellbeing. If nothing else it helped the lesson sink in.
"I'm sorry I didn't think about the consequences." Ash was honest about that part. "I'm not sorry we did it but I'm sorry I didn't consider what could have gone wrong or what else it means."
Delia rubbed her forehead. "That's the best I'm going to get out of you, isn't it? I know you can take care of yourself, Ash, you're strong and smarter than you think you are. But promise me you'll be more careful, and get the police involved if you run into Team Rocket again."
"I promise." He agreed.
"And the rest of you, please promise me you'll take care of him. I know how much trouble he can be." Delia requested his team.
"When was that ever a question?" Pikachu demanded. "Of course, we'll take care of him! He needs it!"
"And we need him!" Selene added with affirmations from the others.
The rest of the day was rather quiet. They didn't have to stay in the city anymore but no one was ready to move on yet. Nor did anyone feel like going to explore after the events of the previous two days. Everyone was feeling pretty worn out.
Misty had tried and failed to contact her sisters. "I'm guessing it's some sort of show they're doing, but it is kind of bugging me." She admitted after questioning around the dinner table.
"How would a show stop them from answering a phone call?" Sunny asked with translation help.
"A lot of work goes into the shows they do," Misty admitted. "There's a lot of planning, script writing, advertisement. Especially if they're doing something new. I'm gonna keep calling them though, ignoring the Team Rocket thing, I want to make sure they haven't started slacking!"
"The shows are pretty nice though," Leaf claimed and Misty gaped at her like Goldeen. Karen and Ash snickered.
"We should find out how much those Pokegears things cost." Ash decided after a few minutes. "It would be nice to have a way to contact people when we're away from Pokemon Centers."
"Tomorrow." Karen decided, rubbing her face. "I'm not tired as in, physically tired, but the last couple of days have been a lot to deal with."
"Agreed." Leaf nodded. "I was gonna challenge Erika today but now I might wait another two days. Ash, you got your badge right? How was it?"
He thought about it. "Interesting, it was different than the other battles I've done so far, how many badges are you at?"
"This will be my fourth," Leaf claimed.
"Did you go through Saffron City at all?" Misty asked, likely wondering if the cheerful girl had a run-in with Sabrina.
"No actually, I was going to but I ran into this one road with a toll booth thing and the guy wasn't letting anyone through. I'm not sure why, he just kept talking about how thirsty he was." She explained. "So I took the underground path, which was interesting, kinda dark. I found some weird stuff down there." She dug through her bag for a moment and pulled out some kind of large gray and black ring with a pearl embedded in it. "Ever seen this before? I think it's some sort of bracelet."
The conversation began turning to other places before Leaf gasped and stood up. "I completely forgot about the science guy! I forgot to look for his device!"
"What device?" Eevee's interest was piqued but Leaf was running off.
"Bye guys it was nice hanging out with you!" She ducked out of the room.
Ash stared after her and then looked at her Pokemon. "Did she…"
"Give her a minute," Fanghorn stopped him.
The girl came running back in and collected her team. "Sorry! Bye again!" And then she was gone.
For the second time since they arrived in Celadon, everyone got to sleep at a reasonable hour, a small miracle.
It was perhaps not to last though, a few hours into his rest Ash woke up from a very action-packed dream. He'd been chasing… someone, or something? He could remember, but then Diglett (that Diglett) had shown up and said something like "The giants will not rise again!" And the ground fell away under him.
Fortunately, Ash knew to wake up before hitting the ground in a dream. He blinked and looked at his sleeping friends, and nearly went back to sleep. Then he frowned and recounted. Pidgeotto, Sunny, Eevee, and Selene. Four.
Where was Pikachu?
He didn't have to look far this time. Pikachu was still in the room looking out the window at an almost full moon. Ash quietly escaped the bed and came over to join his best friend, wondering what was up.
Pikachu twitched his ears in acknowledgment of Ash's presence. "Hey." He said quietly.
"Hey yourself," Ash whispered in kind. "What's up?"
"Just thinking."
"A bold new world for you then?" He snickered and Pikachu gave him a lidded gaze.
"Hardy har. You're one to talk. Then again, you seem to be doing a lot of thinking too, these days."
"There's a lot to think about."
"Yeah…" Pikachu sighed. "Ash, do you think I'm a good Pokemon?"
Ash stared at his friend with bewilderment. "Of course I do!" He barely managed to keep his voice a whisper.
"I think I am too." Pikachu scratched his head. "Or I thought I did. I try to do the right thing but sometimes I think that the worse thing is my first reaction."
"What brought this on?" Ash demanded, worried for his friend's self-image.
"A couple of things. For starters, I'm not sure you've noticed but Eevee and I don't exactly get along. We can work together in battle well enough, but otherwise…" Pikachu winced but Ash nodded.
"I've been wondering about that. Before there wasn't a good time to bring it up but the past several days you two have seemed fine." The Zorua admitted. It didn't answer his question though but he let Pikachu continue.
"We've kinda learned to stay out of each other's way mostly, we still trade a few barbs though. But anyway she thinks I'm annoying and I can't say much better of her. But one of the things she pointed out is how I don't… didn't… my thing with humans."
Ash was quiet and let his friend talk. "I don't remember much about my birth parents. I think my mom was a Raichu and my dad was a Pikachu. I do remember what took them. Humans. Big, loud, scary. I didn't understand what was going on. Just that dad hid me and that was the last time I saw him. I don't even know if he was my dad though, he could have been my older brother. I don't know."
This was roughly along the lines of what Ash guessed had happened, even though Pikachu had never explained it in detail before. He carefully leaned into his friend to try and provide some comfort. Pikachu didn't shove him off.
"Have I ever told you about Kangaskhan? I must have mentioned them in passing at least. She found me, a little lonely, scared, and hungry Pichu and she took me in. She didn't have to, she already had a baby of her own, but she did and she was kind and wonderful. And so was my new brother. We would argue sometimes but they were little things and we got along mostly."
"But over time I got bigger, and so did he. And the two of us were too much for her. She would get tired of carrying us both around and it was too much and I realized that it was time to go."
Pikachu was quiet for a minute. "And then I got caught by a human. Just like my birth parents. Trapped in a little ball with no escape. I was so angry, I hated it. I'm happy we met but I wish it could've been a different way."
"But it's been so long since then. I've met good humans, like your mom, Professor Oak, Misty, and Leaf… but there are bad ones like Damian, Surge, Sabrina, and Team Rocket." Pikachu sighed. "I want to just say all humans are bad and be done with it but that's not right. I don't want to admit some humans are good because it makes me mad that no good human came and helped me or stopped my parents from being taken away."
"You're worried that if you keep thinking humans are bad that makes you bad too?" Ash tried to clarify.
"Something like that," Pikachu admitted. "Mostly because I know they're not all bad but I want to say they are and make fun of them for it still."
"Well, that's a habit you need to break then," Ash announced. "You're not a bad Pokemon Pikachu. You're my best friend and you do the right thing, even when you complain about it. You've messed up but so have I. Mistakes happen. But if you know it's a problem and you don't like it, then you can change it. I believe in you."
"Thanks, Ash." Pikachu smiled softly. "That was the thing that's mostly been on my mind but there's something else. I've been thinking about the fight yesterday too. With Nidoking. Have you thought about it at all?"
"Yeah." He switched gears. "I was worried during that. I didn't think about what would happen if we lost, just that we might."
"I didn't think about that until after either. But I didn't like how little I could do. Tackle, Quick Attack, and Iron Tail. Not exactly my heaviest hitting moves." Pikachu stared at the moon. "What are we doing Ash?"
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"You wanted to be a Pokemon Trainer. And you became a trainer and we've been on an adventure. But it feels like we're going through the motions. We're doing the Gym Challenge because it's there. Not because we want to win the League. Or at least you're not. You want to help people, and that's a good reason to travel around. But…"
Now it was Ash's turn to think. "I guess we are just kind of going through it. I want us to get stronger but I haven't thought about trying to be the best."
"I have." Pikachu declared. "I want to be strong. We all do. For different reasons though. Sunny wants to prove Damian wrong. Pidgeotto just wants to get stronger and faster for herself. Selene wants to be a hero. Eevee is… Eevee. But the more I think about it, the more I want to be number one. I want to be the best of the best. I want to stand atop a pillar and challenge the world, come and get me!"
Ash almost took a step back. Not out of fear but out of awe. This was a tone he'd never heard from Pikachu before. A driving passion. When had this developed? Had it always been there?
Pikachu had agreed to join him after the Summer Camp after he realized how well they worked together and how much stronger he could get. Being the best, that was an interesting goal.
There was a long way to go.
But Ash didn't dislike the idea.
He wanted to be a trainer, and he was. Then he wanted to go on an adventure, and the Gym Challenge seemed the easiest and most familiar way to do it. Then he wanted to help others and since they were already on the Gym Challenge he figured they would stick to it.
"Not exactly the kind of goal a good Pokemon would have is it?" Pikachu asked and Ash blinked out of his thoughts.
"Who said that?" Ash answered with another question. "Pikachu that's an awesome goal! I… You're right you know. I got what I wanted by becoming a trainer and we've kind of just been going through the motions of it. I want to keep helping people, but you know what? You're my friend and so is the rest of the team! That means if you want to be the best, then I'll help you do it!"
Pikachu grinned, his mood finally turning around. "Wrong!" He bopped Ash lightly on the nose. "I don't want to be the best, I want us to be the best! All of us!"
Ash stared at him and began snickering. "You want us to be the best? Alright! Where do we start?"
The electric-type stared at him. "I don't know you're the trainer, isn't that your job to figure out?"
"It was your idea!" Ash shot back.
"Yeah but now you agreed with it so it's your goal too!" Pikachu smirked at him.
As the night passed on the two friends kept bickering good-naturedly, and slowly worked out the start of a plan to work their way to the top.
Together.
"I'm disappointed Archer."
Archer stood rigid, but the words nearly made him physically flinch. The sweat dripped down his forehead and he managed to limit himself to a gulp. "I understand, sir."
"No, I don't think you do." The Boss sneered at him. "The Game Corner was one of our best money makers. People gamble their money away, find themselves broke, and sell belongings, Pokemon, and everything else they have, to our well-placed agents. Then gamble it away again. It was perfect."
The word 'perfect' hung in the air for a moment. "Sir, the grunts-"
"Silence." Archer shut his mouth and for a moment the only sound was the quiet purrs of the Boss's Persian. That cat gave Archer the creeps, it seemed smarter than other Pokemon. Always thinking. He was willing to bet it was smarter than most of the grunts at least.
"If the grunts are not meeting your expectations, improve them. Run them through the wringer and produce a stronger fighting force. Pokemon, money, people. All assets to Team Rocket. Team Rocket has not, and will not, toss aside assets needlessly. We refine them. Take a strong Pokemon, break it, and make it stronger. Get a loan, invest, and buy out. Get a soldier, train them." The Boss explained. "The grunts' incompetence is your incompetence, Archer. And your incompetence is my own. You wouldn't call me incompetent would you Archer?"
"No, sir! Of course not!"
"Then prove it. I would discipline you myself but my current project requires my undivided attention. A weapon beyond anything the League or Rangers could stand against. I cannot take time from honing my weapon to play professor with you." The Boss narrowed his eyes at Archer.
"Here is what you are going to do. Are you listening? Write down my every word so if you fail again you can read it back to me and I can explain exactly what you did wrong."
Archer began writing, too terrified to protest anything. This base felt different than the last time he had been here. There was a presence to it. A pressure in the back of his mind that threatened to break him. The sooner he had received the Boss's directions the sooner he could get out of there.
"You are to retrieve Nidoking and Nidoqueen immediately. The balls are of course not registered to me but they are valuable tools in my arsenal. The fact you allowed them to be beaten by children who haven't even finished their first gym circuit is pitiful."
"Second, rebuild your forces and train them. I want you men to be the best of the best and nothing less. If you can't do it yourself then find ways to improve them, and for good measure improve yourself. The fact you jumped straight to my gift is worrying enough."
"Lastly, track down those trainers who collapsed your operation..." The Boss paused for long enough that Archer looked up and met his gaze. He nearly stumbled back at the sheer and unbridled fury that burned through his retinas.
"...and erase them."
Ash and Pikachu broached the idea of aiming to be the best to the rest of the team at breakfast the next morning. Whether being the best meant becoming champion or just winning the league remained to be seen. But you had to win the league to become champion right?
Winning the Pokemon League was a good starting point then.
"I thought that was what we were already doing?" Pidgeotto seemed confused.
"It sounds like a good idea to me!" Sunny agreed. "I want to be a champion!"
"Champions are heroes too right?" Selene checked. "So this seems like a good idea!"
"Was that not what we were already doing?" The flying-type repeated.
"On paper, we were," Ash admitted. "We've been getting stronger and fighting gyms but well, how to describe it." He rubbed the back of his neck.
"Think of it like this." Eevee came up with another analogy. "If two people are trying to win a race, and they both have about the same amount of skill and talent, then who wins?"
"The one with longer legs?" Sunny guessed and that gave Eevee pause.
"No that's right actually. But I was going to say that it's how much determination you have when it comes down to it. How badly do you want to win? If we made it to the league and were just happy to be there, we wouldn't be pushing ourselves to try and come out on top."
"Huh," Selene nodded at Eevee's words. "I'd never thought about it like that before, but it makes sense. You have to want to win to actually win."
"Not always, unfortunately," Pidgeotto admitted. "Sometimes that's not enough and whoever you're fighting is just better. But having the drive certainly helps. And it would be insulting to whoever lost to you if you weren't that interested in winning."
"So everyone's okay with pushing ourselves harder?" Pikachu checked.
"I mean we've pushed ourselves pretty hard to begin with." Selene pointed out. "We've been training a lot."
"It'll be training like normal, but we're thinking longer term now than just the next gym." Ash summarized. "Pikachu was thinking about trying to expand his type coverage. He didn't want to feel like he did with Nidoking."
"I don't think any of us want to feel like that again." Sunny agreed.
"After we meet up with Karen and Misty, and get those Pokegears, we'll head to the training yard and get busy. Alright?" With a plan made the day began in earnest.
Pokegears were expensive but between them, they had enough money to get the three they needed. Misty got a blue one, Karen got a black, and Ash got a red. With some fiddling Ash managed to sync his new device with his Pokedex and upload the information onto it. He and the girls traded numbers on the way back to the Pokemon Center.
"I should add Mom and Professor Oak's numbers too." Ash thought out loud as they arrived at the Center. "Oh and I should get Leaf's too before we go!"
"Hopefully she's not picked a fight with another criminal organization," Karen muttered.
This was thankfully not the case, they met up with her in the training yard conveniently. She had gone off to get her Pokegear after running off last night, hers was, perhaps fittingly, green.
"Where did you run off to last night?" Misty asked after the numbers were exchanged.
"Oh, I went back to the Game Corner." The others stared at her incredulously.
"WHY?" Karen demanded.
"To get the Silph Scope!" Leaf pulled out a weird bulky set of goggles. "The scientist didn't need them anymore though. So now I can see ghosts, I guess?"
As they began training, Pikachu sought out Starmie. "Starmie, could you help me out with something?"
The water and psychic-type glanced at Misty who was trying to call her sisters again, now on her new device. "Misty seems a bit busy and Staryu and Squirtle are occupied, so what can I do for you?"
"I was wondering if you could help me learn Rain Dance…"
Misty growled as she got voicemail again, this was infuriating. "One day with no answer is too many but two?" She had half a mind to march back to Cerulean herself and give them a piece of her mind.
She almost put down the Pokegear but gave it one last chance and dialed the house phone. One ring, two rings, three- *click!*
"Violet? Daisy? Lily?" Misty quickly ran down the list, without a video call she couldn't tell who had picked up. "Finally!"
"Misty?" It was Daisy's voice but she sounded… off. Kind of like she did after her first boyfriend broke up with her. She had been planning to break up with him but then he broke up with her first and she was heartbroken,
"Yes, Misty!" She snapped. "Have you not gotten my messages? Or the police's?"
"Why would-?" Daisy sounded very confused. "We haven't been home in a couple of days. It's been... Oh jeez Misty, you need to come home right now!"
"What?" Now it was her turn to be confused, "don't tell me you can't handle the gym or something stupid like that. Just quit your dumb shows if you can't keep up with both."
"Misty shut up!" Daisy snapped, "this is serious! I don't know why the police- are you alright? You're not hurt or dying or anything?"
"No, it was this whole thing with Team Rocket but what's going on, you're not making any sense," Misty demanded answers.
She heard her sister take a deep breath. "Okay, so the league sent out an official to test the gyms and make sure they're up to par. We passed the basic inspection of infrastructure and all that, but we lost the challenge."
It took a minute for Misty to process that. "What?" She said quietly.
"The League sent an official to test if we could handle powerful opponents and do our job, and we lost. All of us. None of us could win. None of us are gym leaders anymore. You are though since you haven't fought her yet. She has this super rare and strong dragon-type and… I'll explain more when you get here." Daisy rambled a bit.
As that information began to sink in Daisy continued. "Misty, if you can't beat her, we are going to lose the gym."
Chapter 31, aka the chapter of consequences for previous decisions.
That snowball effect really hits home this time huh?
Ash and co now have officially ticked off Team Rocket and put themselves in the eyes of the law and the league. Pikachu finally admits he wants to be a better person and that he doesn't hate all humans, along with formally declaring he wants to be the best (that no one ever was). And last but certainly not least, the unintended consequences of Misty calling the league on Sabrina.
Also, I proved I can write a chapter of reasonable length! Yay!
Before I get to reviews one more thing to mention. Ash and Pikachu have finished their run. It's over.
I don't know how to feel.
This story is of course going to keep going but it still feels… weird. The ending was open-ended (which I believe was on purpose) so that if they ever want to bring Ash back for some reason they can but… it still feels like an ending.
There's something else I wanted to write. A one-shot that I don't think I'm ready to write yet. I might do it next week but if I don't then it might never see the light of day. Maybe when the english version of the episode is released. For now though…
Goodbye Ash. Thanks for the childhood.
On that bittersweet note, let's get to the reviews.
Storyreader21: Not too much yelling, but some. A lot of getting told off though. And Delia's not on her way but she is worried. Ash is a strong and capable Pokemon, but she still worries about him. That wouldn't have been the best matchup, Leaf doesn't know what moves Ash can do or what his fighting style is. I did briefly consider him hopping in for a last-minute finisher at one point while planning though.
Lupercus1944: At last! I've missed your reviews, even if you tell me what you think in discord it's not quite the same. I don't have an issue with ditzy itself, I have a problem with annoying ditzy but also always right. That's a whole rabbit hole I could get into when a character acts like a total ditz, and does stupid stuff, but it turns out they were in the right all along. Leaf's ditziness has consequences, like nearly getting beaten and captured by Team Rocket. But to each their own. The grunts are grunts, the canon fodder, that might change though. We see what the Boss had to say about the poor showing this chapter. Poor Karen, she should probably get leashes for Ash and Misty, but they'd just use them to drag her along.
LEGOBRICK13: I've been mixing the games and anime and even a bit of the manga for a while. Leaf is a good proxy for the game stuff I don't feel like covering or addressing. Giovanni's identity thing is a bit confusing… you'd think the League would know that somethings up with the Viridian City gym leader. Political corruption maybe? Yeah he's not dumb enough to give a subordinate Pokeballs that are linked to him. I think we all wish we could have a Zorua irl.
ThePilotArchangel: I'm glad you liked the fight scenes. And it was elementary my dear archangel. Archer isn't out of things just yet.
Oblivionknight7: Beware preteens with metal pipes.
Pokemonever1994: Not quite how it went down but Archer was still chewed out quite a bit.
Lolistarkiller: Battle scenes are tough. I worry while writing them that people might skip over them but I don't want to skip over them so I try and make it interesting. It's tough though. Can't answer the question about Sunny but I will say I do plan to go into other regions. Eventually. It'll take a bit though.
Hoodedgenius98: If you want to take your own spin on the idea feel free! I'd love to see more ZoruAsh fics out there!
Fogman66: Perhaps…
That's all for now, see you guys next weekend!
Discord: discord gg kESdTfhAwG
TVTropes: tvtropes pmwiki / pmwiki . php / Fanfic / ZoruaTrainer
R&R
~FriTik