Hello, everyone, and welcome back to "A Long Distance Ship"! In the last chapter, Ash and his friends headed off to Dewford Island on Mr. Briney's boat, with Brock befriending (but not catching) a Sharpedo (he isn't a water-type trainer, Misty is). Anyways, this chapter will see Ash try to win a gym battle without using his Pikachu. Can he do it? If you watched the episode this episode is named for, you probably know the answer, but let's find out anyways!

ashketchum497
To: misskwaterflower049
Subject: Vs. Brawly

Hey Misty… I just battled Brawly… and after practically dragging him away from his surfing, I have to admit… I couldn't win without Pikachu… I started the battle off with Taillow against Brawly's Machop, but thanks to the endurance that the Pokémon built up by surfing, Taillow couldn't knock out the opponent with brute strength before getting knocked out. I then switched to Treecko, and, not listening to Brock, kept up with the strategy of using brute strength to knock out Machop. It worked, but Treecko was exhausted from the battle. But Treecko and I still wanted to battle against Brawly's Makuhita, and my Pokémon ended up paying the price with a trip to the Pokémon Center's ER. After running into Brawly again later, who was surfing with his newly evolved Hariyama, I learned that his surfing was to help train his Pokémon, and there are a lot of places to play and train around the island. I apologized to Brawly for what I did earlier before deciding my next path: I plan on staying on Dewford Island for a little while before challenging Brawly to a rematch, and do what I should have done earlier and address the weaknesses of my Hoenn captures. I hope it all goes well…

Ash

PS: Don't roast me for my stupidity, please. Three of my friends have already done that for my choice to push Treecko too hard. I don't want four of them doing it.

PPS: You know you didn't need him to prove that Pokemon could be just as strong when unevolved. Just look at my Pikachu. Or my Bulbasaur. Or Bayleef. Or Cyndaquil. Or Totodile… Still, happy for his new badge.

misskwaterflower049
To: ashketchum497
Subject: Vs. Brawly

Ash Ketchum, what you did against Brawly was incredibly stupid and cocky of you… but at least you learned from the experience at the Dewford Gym and decided to take some time and train your Pokémon before challenging Brawly to a rematch. Remember in Kanto and Johto how you usually rushed into a rematch after losing? The longest time I think you spent between losing and rematching a gym leader before now was Sabrina, and then again, did you even deserve the badge? Anyways, I wish you good luck with your training, Ash, and have fun on Dewford Island!

Misty.

And that just about does it for this chapter of "A Long Distance Ship" as we head into the Dewford Island Training Arc. And while it is good for Ash to train up his Pokemon... it does mean he is going to be away from the Pokemon Center (and thus, a computer) for long periods of time during his training, so I will be forced to clump several episodes into one chapter for the next couple of installments. Anyways, thanks again Ian for leaving a comment on the story. And thanks to the user "Jeannot2978" for choosing to follow the story, and for "lunadalla" for adding it to both their favorites and follows list. Remember very favorite, follow, and review shows you care and keeps me motivated to keep on going, so make sure that you do so! I will see you next time, and have a great weekend and Pokemon GO Tour 2023!