Chapter 9: Practice with Torchic

Duke Harley got himself some clothes that were modern, though he felt they were not very good compared to his fine tunic from back in his time. But they would suffice to disguise himself and blend in. He now wore a cloak that covered his face and most of his body from view. That would allow him to not attract attention to himself and hopefully gather information. He needed to find the false knight and his fiancé first though. He'd watch the thief and learn about him as much as he could.

He soon arrived in the city. It was getting close to sunset. Harley looked around, seeing the houses that had developed over the several centuries since his time. Many of them were up in trees. Though Harley wasn't too impressed.

"Hmph. Trying to make themselves feel high and mighty by living in trees," Harley scoffed. "Now, I need to find out more about this place. I need all the information I get about magical creatures and people who use them."

He went off to find some peasant who could give him the information he needed.

Ash and May spent the night in Fortree city before getting back on the road again, leaving the day after the gym battle. They'd hoped to take some more time to relax but with the word out that Ash's friend and his wife would be heading to Lilycove they had to head out as soon as possible.

They awoke the next day, their clothes on the floor of their room. Pikachu and Eevee lay in bed with them while Plusle and Minun took the nearby couch. Ash was the first to wake up, looking down to see May's brown hair as her head rested on his chest. Ash smiled at her for a moment and slowly moved, hoping not to wake his girlfriend… no… she was his fiancé now. He'd proposed to her just yesterday. Their rings lay in the bathroom where they'd taken them off before taking a shower. Ash slowly sat up in bed looking at May who slowly opened her eyes that matched the sapphire on her new necklace that Ash had gotten her in addition to the ring.

"Morning Sir Ash," May said with a smile.

"Morning my princess," Ash said as he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

She smiled deeper and sat up. They kissed and held one another for a few precious moments and then began to shower and put their clothes on. Ash threw out the condoms he'd used the night before which he'd purchased here at a store. He'd promised his mom he'd be responsible after all, and while he loved May he still wasn't sure he wanted kids just yet. Pikachu and Eevee as well as Plusle and Minun had all mated the night before as well. It had been quite a room full of love with three different couples having sex.

Ash and May showered then lead the Pokemon that they'd let out last night out to the dining room for breakfast. They let out their other Pokemon as well and let them eat Pokemon food.

"We'll need to get stock up on more Pokemon food for the road," Ash said as he checked their supply which was now nearly empty of the supplies from Petalburg.

"Guess we'll be heading to the market then," May said.

"Yeah," Ash said.

They recalled most of their Pokemon. May decided to keep Torchic out today since she'd had Eevee and Minun out for a while and didn't want to show too much favoritism. She carried her newest Pokemon in her arms while Pikachu kept his usual perch on Ash's shoulder. They headed to the Pokemon Mart near the center. As they walked into the Pokemon food aisle, Ash noticed a man in a hood kept was speaking to a clerk at the counter.

"I'm sorry but I can't take this money as it's not modern," the clerk said.

"Its solid gold!" the customer in the hood said.

"You might be able to trade it at our local precious metal shop just a few blocks down that way," the clerk said pointing.

"Fine, have a good day," the mysterious man said.

There was something familiar about his voice that Ash couldn't place. The man turned away, his hood blocking any view of his face from the side.

"Something wrong Sir Ash?" May asked noticing him hesitate while looking at the food.

Ash looked from her to the hooded man who simply walked out.

"It's nothing May," Ash said, though he couldn't shake a bad feeling he had.

Pikachu had sensed something off as well. He looked out the window as the hooded figure walked completely out of sight. They bought enough Pokemon and human food to last till Lilycove City. Ash checked his other supplies which were in order.

They stepped outside and didn't the notice the hooded man. He smirked as he watched them from behind.

Duke Harley watched them as he leaned against the building of the Pokemon Market. He'd heard his beloved May's voice when she asked the false knight if something was wrong. He'd glanced them for a split second and seen them. He'd looked away quickly before the thief could recognize him. They didn't notice him behind them as he followed. He'd been on several hunts in his life, and knew how to avoid the greater senses of magical creatures, falsely named Pokémon by the modern people. He would have his bride back; he'd initially planned to obtain some magical creatures of his own. But that might take time. He wanted to get back to his own time where he had a castle and things weren't strange. The shop hadn't even accepted his gold coins! What sort of ridiculous currency did they use today?

Ash and May made their way through the city surrounded by woods. They crossed wooden plank bridges. It took a couple hours of walking but soon they stood outside the main area of the city and were back in the tropical forest. They continued forward along the path until they saw a sign. It read Lilycove city and had an arrow pointing further down the path.

"It will be two days to get to Lilycove," Ash said.

May looked around at the path. "Well, its's pretty here with all the trees and the sunlight."

Ash smiled at her ever-positive attitude. "Yeah, after spending most of our trip to Fortree in the rain I agree."

They passed through the endless rows of trees. Pikachu scanned them from Ash's shoulder.

"Pi?" he exclaimed looking into the trees on the edge of the forest.

"Something wrong Pikachu?" Ash asked his partner noticing his small exclaim.

Pikachu looked around at the trees. Something rustled in one of them.

"There's something up there," Ash said.

May looked up uncertainly. Ash got in front of her protectively. But May was not scared, at least not too badly. She'd faced Dialga numerous times by now. Compared to him few things could be as terrifying since he was a legendary Pokemon.

"Torchic! Tor!" Her new Torchic wiggled out of her arms and jumped to the ground.

"Torchic?" May asked.

"Looks like Torchic is eager to be in battle," Ash said.

"Torchic! Torchic!" it said confirmation.

May gave a small smile at the brave little Pokemon. But her pride was short lived as a large Pokémon suddenly emerged from the tree. It was a sauropod like creature with a mostly brown body covered in green leaves. Wings that also resembled leaves sprouted from its back and it had a section of fruit resembling bananas growing from its chin.

"Tro!" It roared at them challengingly.

"A Tropius!" Ash exclaimed pulling out his Pokedex.

Tropius, the fruit Pokemon. It flies using the leaves on its back and grows stronger in sunlight. Can be territorial if approached.

"Tro!" Tropius roared down at them.

"Torchic! Chic!" Torchic said back defiantly.

"Looks like Torchic is trying to challenge it!" Ash said.

"Torchic don't," May said in concern. "We don't need to start a fight!"

"Yeah!" Pikachu said as he leapt from Ash's shoulder and got between May's Torchic and the wild Tropius, looking up at the latter. "Sorry if we are trespassing Tropius! We're just on our way."

Tropius looked down at the little electric Pokemon and nodded. "Tropius. Pius!"

It backed down. Ash and May both sighed in relief. While they were confident that they, or at least Ash could take on that Pokémon, they didn't want to see little Torchic getting hurt looking for a fight. It was still pretty inexperienced.

The little chick Pokémon looked back at May with a frown. "Torchic! Tor!"

"Torchic what's the matter with you?" May asked her newest partner.

"Pika Pikachu!" Pikachu tried to translate, making a serious of gestures that Ash could understand. "Torchic feels like May doesn't care as much about him as she does Minun and Eevee so he wants to prove himself in battle."

Ash translated for May who looked at Torchic with remorse.

"Torchic that's not true! It's just that, Minun and Eevee are both mates with one of Sir Ash's Pokemon! I'm sorry for not including you as much these past few days."

"We should probably battle with Torchic to raise his level though," said Ash. "A trainer needs to make sure their Pokemon keep getting stronger after all."

Tropius looked down at the little Pokemon from its tree.

"Tropius! Tro!"

Ash looked back up at the Pokémon. "What's up Tropius? Oh, we'll get out of your territory don't worry."

"Trop! Trop!" it shook its head and flew down slowly, but not in overly aggressive manner. "Tropius! Tropius!"

Pikachu's eyes widened and he translated for Ash. "Tropius says it welcomes Torchic's challenge and admires her spirit. It wants to battle her for some practice."

"Really?" Ash wondered. "Tropius wants to have a little practice battle with Torchic!"

May looked uncertain. "You mean, my little Torchic against that big Pokemon?"

"Size doesn't always mean victory," Ash said. "Pikachu has beaten lots of Pokémon that are bigger than him."

"But will Torchic get hurt?" May asked.

Tropius shook its head. "Tro."

"I guess Tropius will take it easy on Torchic," Ash said.

"Well, that's nice," May said. "Alright, if you really want that."

Tropius nodded. Ash hung back as May came forward to stand beside Torchic while Pikachu retreated to his trainer. That left May and Torchic to face Tropius in a practice match. May felt a little nervous as she'd never used Torchic in battle yet.

"Um, Sir Ash? What are Torchic's attacks?" she asked her fiancé, as they hadn't really looked into that.

He pulled out his Pokedex and scanned Torchic. "Quick Attack, Growl, Ember and Peck."

"Okay," May said. "Ember sounds like a fire type attack, right? And from the looks of Tropius its grass type, so that will be super effective right?"

"Right!" Ash confirmed. "And Peck is super effective against grass too!"

"Alright Torchic use ember!" May commanded.

"Torchic!" she said in an eager voice as he threw some small embers at Tropius who took to the air with a mere flap of its leafy wings.

Tropius looked below at its opponent. May had a feeling that Peck and Quick Attack wouldn't work since Tropius was in the air as those were obviously physical attacks and she doubted Torchic would be able to jump that high.

"Keep the ember up Torchic! Again!" she said.

Torchic sent out a few more sparks of fire. Tropius gracefully managed to dodge most of them. Though on the third spark it was hit. It groaned softly, the damage wasn't serious as Tropius was at a much higher level then Torchic. Narrowing its eyes, Tropius flapped its wings and created a Gust attack. It blew Torchic back and into May's arms.

"You okay Torchic?" May asked.

"Chic," she said with a small smile.

Tropius landed on the ground with a small grunt.

"I think that's enough," Ash said. "Don't to get too much damage for either of us."

"Do you want to catch Tropius, Sir Ash?"

Ash shook his head. "It seems like a strong and fair Pokemon, but I've already got six with me and that's the maximum a Pokemon Trainer can have at any time."

They thanked Tropius for the practice and then continued forward, looking to get a good distance done before nightfall.

Harley watched the battle unfold as his fiancé used her cute little fire chicken magical creature to battle the bigger winged sauropod one. He heard the words from his hiding place and found them interesting.

"So, these magical creature tamers can only have six creatures on them at once huh?" Harley said thoughtfully. "That's good to know. Then if I can get more than six, I'll have him outnumbered."

He looked at the last remaining enslavement device he had for forcing creatures to do his bidding. That would not do. But he had seen that the people in this day and age used strange balls that could hold the creatures. They didn't force them to serve the owner but how hard could a different device be? Harley would have to work on acquiring those somehow. Or perhaps steal some other peasant's balls with magical creatures inside. Yes, that could do.

May and the man who'd stolen her were on the move again, Harley looked up at the magical creature they'd called Tropius. It returned to its tree. It seemed like a strong creature alright. It could do nicely. Harley waited until 'Sir' Ash and May were distant figures then grinned as he advanced with his one remaining creature enslaving device at ready. The Tropius creature soon noticed him and roared as he threw it at the creature. A pained shriek echoed through the woods. Harley grinned. Now he would have a mount to carry him around here on. He climbed on the creatures back. With this it would be easy to catch up with his quarry when the time came. First, he needed to acquire some of those balls to catch magical creatures. He'd trade his gold for the present-day currency back in Fortree city then search for more strong creatures.

Happy Easter! I hope you are all enjoy this holiday. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to take a little break from this story. I'm currently working on juggling five of them and one of them is closer to being completed. So, I'm gonna take some time off of my other stories for a while and focus and that one so I can get back to doing just four stories, rotating two every week. It might take a month or so but we'll see. This won't be forever, please be patient and thank you all.