Ambition

by StandingMan

The Indigo Conference. Held each year in gilded stadiums beneath Mt. Silver, it is a gathering of the trainer elite. Ash stands among the most promising rookies of the season, and his starter – a Vulpix as white as snow – is a prodigy herself. Together they have one year to earn entry to the tournament, yet their ambition is far grander. Together they have one year to win.

2. The ACE

The trip to Viridian was relatively uneventful. Aside from light practice with Aurora, he hadn't done much training with the Alolan Vulpix. There were hardly any wild Pokemon around and he hadn't gotten a chance to battle anyone yet. So far, his trip to Viridian was turning out to be a disappointment. He hoped to get a battle or two in before reaching Viridian City to give Aurora some battle experience.

"You'd think we'd at least have found a couple trainers to battle by now."

Aurora whined dejectedly.

Ash eyed a silhouette in the distance. Perhaps they could finally get some work in. "Get ready, we might finally get some real practice in." he whispered, pointing out the person far ahead of them on the road.

Aurora yipped in excitement, her eyes widening with a sense of glee. Ash couldn't help but chuckle. She must have been as eager to redeem herself after the narrow loss to Gary as Ash was.

Just as he expected, they would have their chance at redemption. Ash waved to a trainer his age standing on the side of the road and flashed him a smile. "Hey, how's it going?"

The boy waved awkwardly back. "Good, a bit uneventful. Even Sparky has been bored." he replied, pointing to the Pikachu next to him.

"Wonderful weather, isn't it?"

"Very sunny," he said tersely.

Ash paused, having run out of small talk. Judging by the puzzled look on the other trainer's face, he had run out of stuff to say as well. It made Ash feel incredibly awkward. What exactly was the proper way to ask for a battle?

"Are you a Pokemon trainer?" Ash asked rather abruptly, deciding just to cut to the chase.

"Yeah, I am," the trainer replied.

"Then would you like to have a Pokemon battle?" Ash asked.

The trainer with the Pikachu nodded. "Yeah, I'd love to battle! I wanted to let my partner Sparky get some practice; but I haven't really been able to find anyone to battle."

Ash smirked. The perfect scenario.

"What's your name?" the auburn-haired boy asked. "I think it would be kinda weird to not even know the name of who I'm battling."

"Ash – my name is Ash Ketchum,"

"My name is Ritchie!" the boy flashed Ash another grin as he pointed to the Pikachu standing beside him. "And this is my partner, Sparky!"

Ash pointed to his Alolan Vulpix. "This is my partner, Aurora; she's the only Pokemon I have so this will have to be a one on one battle."

"No problem, I don't have any other Pokemon beside Sparky anyways," Ritchie replied.

"Looks like we've finally found a challenger," Ash muttered softly, just loud enough for the fox to hear.

"Think you can handle this?"

Aurora woofed an affirmative and took a battle stance in front of Ash, although he couldn't help but notice her slight tremble.

He couldn't blame her for being nervous because he was anxious himself. He held his breath to calm himself down as he watched Ritchie reach for a Pokedex and quickly point the device at Aurora. Judging by the confused look on Ritchie's face, Ash assumed that either the Alolan forms weren't registered in his Pokedex or that he was stunned by the information about Alola forms. Whatever the case might have been, his opponent's perplexed look didn't last long.

Ritchie gave his Pikachu a quick nod, causing the electric mouse to tense up and release yellow sparks from its cheeks.

"Alright, time to get this battle started!" Ritchie declared. "Show 'em your Tail Whip!"

Before Ash had time to react, Ritchie's Pikachu rushed towards Aurora and jumped before twirling through the air.

"Agility!" Ash instructed.

Aurora yipped, darting away from her foe to narrowly avoid being smacked in the face by Pikachu's tail.

"Powder Snow!" Ash shouted.

The Alolan Vulpix retaliated and gathered air into her lungs before exhaling powerful gusts of cold air at the electric type.

Pikachu shivered slightly as the frigid winds lashed out against it.

Shrugging off the icy winds, Pikachu charged towards Aurora again. Ash frowned as the mouse lowered its shoulder and slammed into Aurora before the ice type could react.

Aurora winced slightly and eyed her left shoulder as she skidded backwards, indicating that her shoulder was hurting from Pikachu slamming into her.

Ash cursed under his breath. He expected Pikachu to be fast, but the electric type was even faster than he expected. During Pikachu's last sprint, he couldn't help but notice that the electric type was a step or two faster than usual.

Had Pikachu used Quick Attack?

"Hit 'em again with Quick Attack!" Ritchie exclaimed.

Pikachu darted towards Aurora again and slammed into her, knocking her backwards and forcing the air from her lungs. Aurora panted frantically as she struggled to catch her breath again.

Ash gritted his teeth – he hated Quick Attack. It made evasion too easy and hit and run tactics easier.

"Keep 'em on the defensive with Thunder Shock, Sparky!" Ritchie exclaimed, swinging his arms wildly to emphasize his command.

"Agility!"

Aurora zipped back and forth to evade each of the lightning bolts hurled towards her, and retaliated with bursts of cold air. The electric type hesitated briefly, swerving out of the way to avoid the gusts of air.

Ash gritted his teeth. Most people wouldn't be able to notice it, but Aurora had lost a step or two from her shoulder injury. It was looking like the battle with Gary all over again. They needed to take command of the fight.

"Aurora, knock Pikachu off balance!" Ash shouted, switching tactics.

Aurora yipped her acknowledgment and sprinted towards Pikachu. Twirling through the air for momentum, Aurora slapped Pikachu in the head with her tail, causing the electric type to stagger backwards from the blow.

"Powder Snow!"

Showing no mercy, Aurora followed up Tail Whip with a frigid blast of cold air mingled with snow flurries aimed at her stumbling foe. Pikachu grimaced as the chilly air engulfed it and left it covered in ice crystals.

"Pikachu, shake it off and put them back on the defensive with Thunder Shock!" Ritchie declared. "And don't let up!"

"Disable!" Ash exclaimed. "Follow it up with Moonblast!"

Aurora's eyes flickered with an unnatural violet glow for a split second as she cast her gaze upon Pikachu. Her weak telekinetic abilities disrupted Pikachu's attack for a split second, giving Aurora a chance to fire off a sphere of light.

The energy blast didn't miss. A flash of dazzling pink light forced Ash to shield his eyes as the sphere of energy exploded. Pikachu tumbled across the ground, thrown backwards by the concussive force of Aurora's Moonblast.

A smirk formed on Ash's face as his lips quirked upwards. This match was over.

"Aurora, Freeze-Dry!" Ash exclaimed, wanting to try out the technique.

Aurora barked an affirmative. Her chest puffed out slightly as she took air into her lungs. A fierce gust of wind far stronger than the previous winds she exhaled battered Ritchie's Pikachu. Ash felt a twinge of guilt over having Aurora use Freeze-Dry on Pikachu. He hated seeing Pokemon in pain and Ritchie's Pikachu was definitely hurting. The mouse looked absolutely miserable from the subzero wind gusts lashing out against it.

Ash was convinced that Ritchie's Pikachu was so exhausted that if Aurora merely bumped the electric type with her nose it would cause Pikachu to fall over.

Even Aurora seemed to notice how exhausted Pikachu was, she gave the mouse a sympathetic look as the mouse collapsed.

Ash fixed his gaze on the Pikachu laying on the ground unconscious. A rush of thoughts flooded Ash's mind all at once, ranging from concern about Pikachu's health to reflection about how exciting his first win was. It started to give him a headache.

Ritchie's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "That was fantastic! That Vulpix of yours is phenomenal!" the trainer beamed.

"Thanks, I'm actually impressed by how much she's progressed myself."

"She looked like a pro, she must be a quick learner!" Ritchie complimented causing Aurora to swell with pride.

Ash rolled his eyes as Aurora puffed out her chest with pride and held her head high adopting an air of superiority.

"That she is," Ash replied, pausing briefly to glance at Ritchie's Pikachu. "Your Pikachu was fairly strong too, its Quick Attack had me a little worried."

Ritchie nodded as he knelt down beside his defeated partner before returning Pikachu to its Poke Ball. "I recently had Sparky learn Quick Attack to take advantage of his species' speed and agility. It's nowhere near as polished as we'd like, but I can see that Quick Attack will be useful in the future."

"That will give you a goal to work towards."

Ritchie nodded. "Yup, we're just starting out so we've got a lot to work on; but looks like we're off to a good start." he replied, pausing momentarily before changing the subject. "I also have to admit it was really cool to get to see one of the Alolan forms in person!"

Ash raised an eyebrow. He expected questions to be asked, but he didn't expect Ritchie to know about the Alolan forms even if he just looked it up on the Pokedex since the information was fairly new.

"My parents are Pokemon researchers that work for Blaine," Ritchie explained with a hardy chuckle, noticing the perplexed look on Ash's face. "They hear all the latest information in the scientific community. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have had any clue about them and would probably be freaking out right now over seeing a white Vulpix."

Ash snorted in amusement at the parallels that he shared with Ritchie. Both of them were just starting out on their journey and both of them had relatives involved in lab work. Even their tastes in clothing were similar. Their wardrobes consisted of a plain t-shirt, a light athletic jacket, and blue jeans. They even had similar circumstances arriving at Route 1.

If Ash didn't know better, he would have thought that Ritchie was like one of the doppelgangers in anime that were created to mirror the protagonist and provide a foil at the same time. The thought in and of itself caused Ash to scoff. It was an absurd concept and a rather foolish thought. This was the real world, not an anime. He found it ridiculous to believe that anyone would follow a series about children traveling the world alongside superpowered animals.

"I hope we can battle again some day." Ritchie smiled.

Ash gave him a quick nod in response. "Me too,"

Ritchie hesitated momentarily as he turned to leave and quickly spun back around. The auburn-haired trainer fished into his jacket pocket and pulled out leather wallet.

"I almost forgot!" Ritchie muttered as he pulled out a crisp hundred dollar bill and held it out to Ash. "To the victor go the spoils!"

Ash frowned at the gesture and shook his head. He was getting the most overwhelming sense of deju vu. "I don't need it, the battle was reward enough."

"Come on, take it!" Ritchie groaned. "You won fair and square."

"I can't take it, you'll need it more than I do. You're going to need to buy some potions for your Pikachu." Ash sighed.

Ritchie huffed as he forcefully placed the money in Ash's hand. "Take it, I'll be fine."

Ash clicked his tongue and reluctantly took the money from the auburn-haired trainer. He knew that he wasn't going to win the argument and tucked the money into one of the pockets of his jacket.

"Think of it as a loan more than anything else, because the next time we battle I'll be winning my money back!" Ritchie boomed with confidence. "That's a promise!"

"We'll see about that," Ash fired back playfully.

Ash tucked his hands into the pockets of his jeans and smirked as he meandered down the road. He was quite pleased with himself and quite pleased with Aurora's battling prowess. They needed to work on a lot of things before they would even be close to prepared for facing the gyms, but they had a good start.

And victory felt good. It was nice to have his first win, hopefully the first of many. He would definitely be heading to Viridian City on a high note.

---

Ash had the impression that he was at least getting close to Viridian because the lights on the horizon were too low to the ground to be stars in the sky. It had to be either streetlights or lights from buildings.

He looked forward to arriving in Viridian and sleeping at a Pokemon Center in a soft bed. Ash was beyond exhausted and every muscle in his body felt like it was on fire. It was only by sheer willpower that he was still able to move.

If the look on Aurora's face was any indication, the ice type was feeling just as tired and was aching just as much. While he had offered to let Aurora rest in her Luxury Ball, the ice type declined the offer, opting to endure the trip alongside her trainer.

Ash's suspicions that they were close to Viridian City were confirmed. A wooden sign on the side of the road showed that he had entered the boundaries of Viridian City. As he entered the center of the town, he glanced around.

Viridian City had more restaurants and businesses than he remembered. In fact, the city itself was bigger than he remembered – not that he could bring himself to care at the moment. The only thing he cared about was finding to a Pokemon Center to get cleaned up and a soft bed.

Ash yawned as he peered down at his PokeNav and pulled up the GPS function on the touchscreen. Judging by the small yellow arrow on the screen representing his current location and the bright red pin on the screen representing the Pokemon Center, he was getting close.

Finally, Ash reached exactly what he had been searching for – a large white building with an orange roof and the signature Poke Ball shaped seal on the front of the building.

Civilization had never felt or looked so good.

"We are here!" the trainer rejoiced.

Aurora yipped in agreement as she sprinted alongside her trainer, seemingly as eager to enter the Pokemon Center as her trainer.

Instead of entering the lobby like he had anticipated, he was met with pain after colliding with the automatic doors. He groaned in agony as he fell backwards.

Aurora whimpered and nudged Ash with her freezing cold nose, seeing if he was okay after his collision with the door. Ash shot up and dusted himself off.

"I'm fine, but these doors..." Ash muttered, stopping himself in midthought.

He waved his hand up and down in front of the door repeatedly, but the sensors were unresponsive. Something was definitely wrong. The trainer frowned as he pressing his face against the glass of the automatic door to look into the lobby. It looked empty and cluttered. Scorch marks were visible on the tile floors, chairs were tossed about, and tables were tipped on their sides.

Ash frowned. The lobby looked more like a battlefield than a hospital.

Suddenly, a face appeared in front of him, causing the trainer to flinch and nearly fall backwards from fright.

Aurora tensed and growled at the young woman with pink hair staring at them through the window. Ash shook his head and nudged her side. "It's just Nurse Joy," he assured her. "She handles the medical procedures for the Pokemon Center."

Aurora relaxed slightly, but continued to watch Nurse Joy with suspicion.

"Who are you?" the physician asked in a rather icy tone instead of the cheery tone that the caretakers were known for.

He raised an eyebrow. That was definitely not the norm.

"My name is Ash Ketchum, I just arrived in Viridian City and I'm tired. I want to stay at the Pokemon Center for the night." Ash answered, his eyes shifting to the equally hostile Chansey looming behind her.

"Trainer ID please," Nurse Joy prompted.

Ash nodded as he whipped out his Pokedex and held it up after pulling up the ID section of the device. The pink-haired caretaker examined the identification information on the screen and the photo ID on the screen carefully.

"Come in," Nurse Joy declared as she pressed a series of buttons on the wall beside the door, causing the automatic doors to open. "Quickly!"

Ash motioned to Aurora as he stepped into the messy lobby of the Pokemon Center with Aurora trailing behind him. The moment he and Aurora entered the Pokemon Center, Nurse Joy quickly tapped a series of buttons on a keypad on the wall to cause the doors to close instantly and lock.

Ash gulped. He hadn't ever seen someone lock the doors to the Pokemon Center. Something really bad had to have happened for Nurse Joy to enact elaborate security measures.

The woman's hostile expression softened as he entered the Pokemon Center. "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but today hasn't been a normal day." Nurse Joy said, faking a smile.

He nodded, glancing to the caretaker. She looked awful – there were dark circles under her eyes and her eyes were bloodshot. His curiosity only continued to grow as he glanced around the room.

The damage was even worse than he had thought. There were burn marks on the walls, there were cracks in the ceiling, and there were entire chunks of floor that were missing.

"What happened here?" Ash asked, dumbfounded by the devastation.

"Nothing good," a young man interjected, entering the room.

Aurora yipped at the teen, unnerved by his presence. Ash tensed as the man marched forward and stared at him. His emerald eyes felt like they were piercing through him. He gave the man a once over. The first thing he noticed was the man's outfit. His sense of fashion was eccentric to say the least. Large maroon cloaks weren't exactly in style. He also couldn't help but notice how stoic he was. His face showed no emotion and even his eyes seemed lifeless.

"Did a Pokemon try to escape or something?" Ash asked, still not sure what would be capable of wrecking the room.

The mysterious man flicked at the long strands of gray hair covering half of his face. Ash double-checked. Was the man's hair actually gray? In the light it actually looked like it was a very dark shade of blue.

Nurse Joy glanced to the gray-haired man.

"The information will be discovered at some point, it is advantageous to be upfront rather than misleading and mysterious. Keeping people in the dark will only breed conspiracy theories." he paused. "That being said, it is to our advantage to let this information be told on our terms lest it send the region into a panic."

Nurse Joy pointed a finger at Ash. "What we're about to tell you must not be spread around, we don't want people to panic."

Ash grimaced. "Nothing will leave this room." he promised.

"The Pokemon Center was attacked," the gray-haired man stated.

Ash shook his head. "Well, that much was obvious," he interjected.

The older man ignored the snarky remark, continuing as if he wasn't interrupted. "Viridian City officials and the league are preparing to address the situation."

"Do we know who attacked the Pokemon Center?"

"Yes, two Team Rocket operatives and their Meowth staged an attack on this Pokemon Center in hopes of swiping the Pokemon here." Nurse Joy answered.

"Nurse Joy and I managed to evacuate the Pokemon Center before we subdued the attackers. We called the police, Officer Jenny and Giovanni apprehended the attackers and are taking them to the police station here in Viridian City." the man interjected.

"Hold on a second, run through all that again!" Ash waved his arms frantically. Perhaps it was because of how tired he was, but the overload of information was too much for Ash to process all at once.

"Two Team Rocket operatives and their Meowth made an attempt to steal Pokemon from this facility," Nurse Joy repeated.

"Hold on, what exactly is this Team Rocket that you're talking about?"

The gray-haired man changed gears. "Are you aware of Team Rocket activity in Kanto?"

Ash shook his head. While he thought he had heard the name of the organization mentioned a few times on the news, he had little knowledge about the group or the group's activities.

"Team Rocket is a crime syndicate that uses Pokemon as weapons to achieve their goals." Nurse Joy said, her face contorting into a grimace at the mere thought of the organization.

"And their goals are?" Ash asked, growing more and more curious about the organization.

"Control," the man answered bluntly. "Team Rocket wants control over people and groups and Pokemon are the weapons they utilize to accomplish their goal. The organization has quite the list of charges – they are on the books for at least twenty cases of genetic experimentation, of poaching, a hundreds of cases of abuse, and countless thefts."

"Then they must be stopped." Ash gritted his teeth.

"The Indigo League has kept tabs on them for a while now and suppressed the uprising with force. However, the syndicate is emboldened and their legion is only growing larger." the man declared.

"So what do I do if I encounter their operatives?" Ash questioned.

"Do not attempt to be a hero, run and contact the authorities. Team Rocket members are extremely dangerous and they will not hesitate to use lethal force on anyone who gets in their way, including trainers your age demographic." the man replied. "They do not care about what actions they have they must take to accomplish their mission, as long as they complete it."

Ash nodded and felt a shiver go down his spine upon hearing the words lethal force. He kept a mental note to steer clear of the Rockets. While he was already beginning to hate Team Rocket just by their mere description and loved the idea of getting involved with the league to help crush the crime syndicate, Ash knew it was unrealistic for the time being. Aurora was currently his only Pokemon and the ice type was nowhere near the level it needed to be at to deal with a force as strong as Team Rocket. However, once he had a bigger and stronger team, he would help make Team Rocket pay.

"You have a lot more knowledge about Team Rocket and league operations than most trainers." Ash remarked, glancing at the mysterious man.

The man nodded. "I have confronted them on occasion," he said. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Tobias Takuto."

"Ash Ketchum," the trainer from Pallet Town declared abruptly as he held out his hand.

Tobias nodded and extended his own hand. "As you have already determined, I am contracted out by the league. Perhaps you have heard of ACE?"

Ash whistled. Tobias' position in the league was just as high as he expected. In fact, his rank was only exceeded by Elite Four trainees, full-fledged Elite Four members, and the regional champions.

Ash nodded. "Let's see if I have my facts straight," he began. "ACE trainers are considered some of the most powerful trainers in the land and their responsibilities reflect their title. While their day to day jobs usually tended to be fairly mundane, ACE trainers are essentially the special forces of the Pokemon League. Whenever the Elite Four and the champion are called to deal with a threat to the region, ACE trainers are deployed alongside them to serve as boots on the ground. Do I have that right?"

Tobias's eyes widened, glowing with something akin to glee. It was the first emotion he had shown since he arrived.

"No wonder the Rockets that attacked the Pokemon Center didn't stand a chance." Ash chuckled.

Tobias smirked at the remark and nodded. "The Rockets that attempted to seize the Pokemon Center were not terribly strong. Bronzong and I managed to dispatch their Arcanine and Arbok quickly."

Ash raised an eyebrow at the mention of the foreign Pokemon.

"So your partner is Bronzong, huh?" Ash commented.

"Yeah, Bronzong are..." Tobias answered, before stopping briefly to consider his words. "Somewhat of a specialty in my family."

"Your family trains them?" Ash asked.

"Affirmatory,"

There was a long silence between the trainers. Ash wasn't sure if his silence was simply a result of exhaustion or whether the older trainer just didn't enjoy conversation much.

"I apologize for giving off antisocial tendencies, but I am exhausted and have had a long day. I would love to talk again, perhaps in the morning would be a time more apropos for us both?" Tobias said, glancing at Aurora from time to time.

Ash chuckled. "I've been on the road for a while now, so I'm pretty tired myself."

"You two should probably get some rest then," Nurse Joy interjected.

"The lobby is a mess, I should probably lend a hand and aid in the clean up duties." Tobias refuted.

"Yeah, I could lend a hand as well." Ash added.

Nurse Joy shook her head as she meandered over towards the service desk at the Pokemon Center and pulled two key cards from the drawer. "Cleaning can wait until morning," she chided. "It's late and we could all use some sleep."

Ash glanced over at Aurora. Nurse Joy was right, it was late and Ash and Aurora could use rest.

Reluctantly, Ash took the key card from the nurse and glanced at it before he tucked it into his pocket.

"Thanks, Nurse Joy, I'll see you in the morning."

The physician nodded.

Heading down one of the hallways, Ash used the card on the corresponding room's lock and stepped into the room with Aurora by his side. The exhausted trainer didn't even bother with taking a shower like he originally planned or changing his clothes. He plopped down on the bed and took a deep breath, snickering as he watched Aurora yawn and stretch out on a plush rug in the corner of the room.

He sunk into the bed and smiled. It was far more comfortable than he ever imagined it would be. He felt like he was floating on a cloud which was a welcome contrast from the cold, hard ground he slept on while on the road.

Ash's eyes started to grow heavy from exhaustion. He didn't bother fighting the overwhelming feeling of exhaustion since he knew it was a battle he would lose. Instead, he surrendered to his exhaustion and closed his eyes before drifting off to sleep.

---

Ash wasn't exactly a morning person, but today was an exception. This morning was different than the others. He felt refreshed and well rested, which was a welcome change. He was nowhere near as stiff and as sore as he had been the previous day, partially due to the hot water from his shower soothing his aching muscles.

And boy did he enjoy the shower!

In the past Ash wouldn't have given taking a shower a single thought prior to his days as a trainer because of how mundane it was. After spending a few days as a trainer however, Ash could barely describe how delightful it was to rinse away the filth he had accumulated from three days of travel. It was amazing how the little things in life could be taken for granted, and the perspective that one gained if the essentials were taken away for even a short period of time.

The only thing better than a good night's sleep and a hot shower was having breakfast in the Pokemon Center cafeteria. He hadn't eaten a hot meal in days and was tired of eating nothing but sandwiches.

He missed his mother's meals. Frankly, he missed anything that even remotely resembled a home cooked meal and was ecstatic when he visited the Pokemon Center's cafeteria.

The quality of the food at the Pokemon Center was amazing – although he wondered how much of it was just due to him being able to appreciate the food more.

Cafeteria food was often the butt of many jokes for its poor quality and equally poor taste; however, Ash was convinced that the cooks at the Pokemon Center were experts at their craft.

There was an abundance of choices at the breakfast buffet.

Ash snagged large helpings of eggs, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and pancakes. While the food wasn't quite as good as his mother's breakfasts, he would have been hard pressed to find a bigger or better tasting breakfast anywhere in the city.

After breakfast, Ash decided to check to see if Nurse Joy needed help cleaning up the lobby of the Pokemon Center and volunteered to help with whatever tasks needed to be done to get the place running again. While there was plenty of work, with the work split between him and Nurse Joy, it only took an hour or so to get the Pokemon Center into presentable shape.

There were still plenty of repairs and improvements that needed to be made to the lobby, ranging from fixing the drywall to setting new tile floors. Those were things, however, that would more than likely be a job for a contractor. Ash doubted that Nurse Joy could set new tile, put in new drywall, or repair the cracks in the ceiling; let alone find the time to do so.

Besides the obvious renovations that would have to be made, the Pokemon Center had been restored to its original shape and was usable. The chairs and tables in the lobby were returned to their positions, the floors were swept and mopped of the soot that had stained them, and decorative plants that had been knocked over were set back up.

Ash smiled. He was proud to know that he had helped get the place running again. His work wasn't a huge contribution, but it was better than doing nothing. Nurse Joy seemed to appreciate all the help she could get.

Not that he was surprised, running a Pokemon Center and treating hundreds of Pokemon a day seemed like a grueling task without having to handle the aftermath of an attack on the medical facility.

The trainer frowned at that thought. He couldn't help but wonder where in the world Tobias had been during all the work. He swore he had remembered the older trainer promising to help clean up the lobby the previous night.

It seemed rather unlikely to Ash that a trainer of Tobias' status would intentionally go back on his word, being that ACE trainers and the ACE organization were typically known for strict discipline. The only thing he could figure was that the older trainer had slept in.

Ash shrugged off the thought. It wasn't really any of his business, and he could check up on the ACE trainer later. He had more important matters to attend to.

He meandered to the service counter and stared at the doors leading to the back of the Pokemon Center. He glanced down at his PokeNav to check the time.

It was taking Nurse Joy a while to finish her checkup.

As if on cue, the pink-haired Pokemon Center physician pushed open the swinging doors that led to the hospital floor of the facility and returned to the lobby with a familiar snow-colored fox trailing behind her.

Ash snickered at Aurora's hurried trot. He had never really taken time to watch Aurora move around, and because of it had never seen how funny her walk was when she hurried. She looked like the caricatures of animals in cartoons that shuffled their stubby legs to get from one place to another.

He started to laugh even more as Aurora hunched down and barked at him playfully before springing straight at him and pouncing his feet. "Someone's happy this morning!" he declared, ruffling the fur on her head.

"She's been pretty excited ever since I gave her a few treats as a reward for behaving during her checkup." Nurse Joy explained.

"Ahh, so that's why you're so worked up, looks like the way to this one's heart is through her stomach!" Ash chuckled, eliciting a bark from Aurora. "How is her health?"

"She had a few bruises and contusions that I treated with some full restore to increase the healing process, but other than that she seems to be in good shape," Nurse Joy answered, pausing briefly as if she was in thought. "However, I don't think I can say that I've seen a white Vulpix before."

Ash shook his head and smirked. He had been expecting to get the question quite often and had prepared a short exposition about Aurora's genetics for this very purpose.

"According to Professor Oak, my Vulpix has different genetics than most other Vulpix." he explained, making sure to use as little information as possible.

Despite the fact that Nurse Joy could likely be trusted with the actual information about Aurora, he wanted to keep the information given about Aurora to a minimum.

Vague or not, Nurse Joy seemed to accept the brisk answer and quickly moved onto a different subject.

"Thanks for helping me clean up the Pokemon Center! You've really saved me quite a bit of time, it would have taken me forever to get this place in presentable shape without your assistance. Thanks to you, I'm going to be able to get this place back open a heck of a lot faster."

Ash nodded to Nurse Joy before his mind quickly drifted to the videophones in the corner of the lobby.

"Do you mind if I use the videophones?" Ash asked.

Nurse Joy flashed him a quick grin. "Go ahead, it's not a problem at all!"

"Thanks, Nurse Joy!"

Ash shuffled over to the phones.

He hadn't talked to his mother since he left Pallet Town and he imagined that she was starting to get worried. He owed her a phone call to see how she was doing and there would be Distortion to pay if he didn't call her soon to update her on his status.

Ash examined the videophone to try to familiarize himself with the device. While he had used the one at his house and was familiar with videophones, the videophone at the Pokemon Center had a slightly different interface than the one at his house. The videophones at the Pokemon Center lacked the keypad that his videophone had, and instead was equipped with a touchscreen interface. Despite finding it to be a neat feature, Ash was still used to having to dial phone numbers on a keypad.

It took him a minute or two to figure out how to work the monitor's touchscreen controls, but after messing around with it long enough, he got the hang of the controls. Pulling up the digital keypad, the trainer from Pallet Town punched in his home phone number on the touchscreen.

Ash leaned back in his seat as the faint chime of the dial tone indicated that the videophone had placed the call. The trainer winced as the screen lit up.

He blinked quickly to get his eyes adjust to the bright glow of the screen before focusing on the familiar face on the screen.

"Hello, this is the Ketchum residence," Delia said.

"Hello, Mom, can you hear me?" Ash asked, testing the connection.

Delia's face lit up and a wide grin formed on her face. "Ash, it's so nice to hear from you! How are you doing? I haven't heard from you for a while!"

"Everything's great, Aurora and I arrived in Viridian City last night!" Ash beamed.

Delia nodded. "Wow, you two must have been booking it to Viridian City!"

"We could have camped out one more night; but we were pretty tired of being on the road and we wanted to get back to civilization. Aurora and I decided to endure the last couple of miles to Viridian instead." Ash laughed.

"Don't tell me you're getting tired of the life of a trainer already." Delia teased.

Ash snorted. "Not yet, but I did get a lesson about the difference between a sleeping bag and a bed."

Delia gave Ash a sympathetic look. "Ooh, that's not a very fun one – I can still remember the first time I learned that lesson myself. My parents took me with them on an expedition through Mt. Moon. I remember being unable to sleep because of how uncomfortable I was in my sleeping bag and I was nervous about the Zubat cries I heard in the cave," Delia paused. "I'm hoping you fared better,"

"Well, there weren't any Zubat to wake me up; but I couldn't sleep. I also felt as stiff as a board when I got up in the morning." Ash replied. "I guess walking long-distances and sleeping on the ground are a bad combination."

"At least, you're in Viridian now, it'll give you a chance to recuperate before heading back out on the road." Delia said.

Ash nodded. "I can't tell you how glad I am to be in a city again. This morning I had my first hot meal since being at home. It wasn't as good as your cooking, but it still was nice."

He paused and changed the subject to keep his mother from worrying. "How are you, Mom?"

"Good! Professor Oak and I have kept ourselves busy while you've been gone." Delia beamed.

"What have you two been working on?" Ash asked.

Delia held a large, silver textbook with the picture of a Poke Ball on the front up to the lens of the camera on the videophone. "Well, remember how Oak wanted to see the biology textbooks updated?"

Ash nodded and laughed a bit at the memory of Oak's vow to see his previous school textbooks replaced with textbooks containing the current findings.

"Yeah, I remember!"

"We finally finished the new textbooks and they are awaiting approval from the league and the school board!" Delia chirped.

"That's fantastic!" Ash exclaimed, genuinely excited to hear that the project had finally been completed.

"Yep, we're pretty stoked about that," Delia declared, hesitating for a second before smirking. "Have I told you that Oak has me involved in the Mt. Moon Meteor Expedition?"

"You are?" Ash's eyes widened.

He knew that his mother was often involved in cutting edge research and the latest advancements in technology, such as the Cinnabar-Pewter fossil restoration project and the cooperative work of Oak and Silph Co. to develop the Ultra Ball; but he hadn't expected her to be involved in the upcoming Mt. Moon excavation.

The project was supposed to be huge if he recalled Professor Oak's incoherent rambling about the expedition correctly.

Delia nodded. "I'm going to be on front lines helping extract the meteors."

Ash raised an eyebrow. "Those are the meteors connected to mega evolution, right?"

He couldn't remember much about the meteors, aside from Oak telling him there were unstable energy signatures at the meteor crash sites and that the energy had something to do with mega evolution.

"That's right, multiple scans indicate that the energy signature radiating from the crash sites are the same as the energy that radiates from the sundial in Kalos and mega evolution in general." Delia confirmed.

"You'll have to tell me all about the expedition next time I call." Ash said.

"You can count on that, I think it will be huge." Delia said.

"Let's hope it is!" Ash chuckled.

"It's actually good that you called when you did because Professor Oak and I are going to be at Mt. Moon for the next couple of days, so you wouldn't have been able to contact me at the house. I was going to send you an email to notify you about the expedition to prevent you from worrying, but this works out even better!"

"If I was closer, I'd try to meet up with you since I have to head to Pewter City for my first gym badge."

"We're not going to be at Mt. Moon for more than a couple days," Delia sighed. "Professor Oak and I are going to help with the excavation and drop some of the samples off at the Pewter Museum for further analysis. We're going to take the rest of the meteor samples back to the lab in Pallet Town so we can examine them further."

Ash shrugged. "It was worth a try,"

"We'll have to meet up another time," Delia suggested. "It's somewhat strange not having you around."

Ash frowned and felt his heart sink from the weight of guilt. He still hated the thought of leaving his mother on her own no matter how many times she assured him that she was okay.

As if she could read his mind, Delia shook her head and clicked her tongue. "Don't you start up with that moping again, Ash Ketchum! I am capable of handling myself on my own and I have plenty of people to keep me company. If anything, you should be finding yourself some friends."

Ash's frown quickly shifted back into a smile. She always had the right words to say to encourage him. "I'll be sure to do that!" he promised, flashing his mother a quick thumbs-up.

An icy cold nose prodded his leg, reminding him of her presence.

"Now that I think of it, I already have one good friend!" Ash scooped up Aurora and held her up to the camera.

Aurora greeted Delia with a cheerful yip and licked the screen.

"Ah, yes, a very good friend indeed!" Delia giggled. "So, have you been keeping an eye on Ash for me?"

Aurora barked and held her head up with pride, seemingly answering the question, causing both Ash and Delia to laugh.

"Speaking of good friends, now that we're on the subject, Professor Oak wanted to give you something since he gave a gift to Gary. I'll leave it at the Pokemon Center in Pewter so you can pick it up when you get there."

"He didn't have to do that," Ash objected.

"He insisted upon it, he figured that you would get a lot of use out of it in the future." Delia explained.

Ash raised his eyebrows. Now he was curious. "What exactly is Professor Oak sending?"

"You'll just have to find out when you get to Pewter City." Delia trilled in a singsong voice.

"Not even a hint?" Ash groaned.

Delia shook her head. "That would spoil the surprise."

Ash sunk down in his seat out of disappointment. He wasn't going to get anything out of her and he knew it was pointless to try to change her mind.

An awkward silence fell between the two as the mother and child struggled to find something else to say – one last tidbit of information before they said their goodbyes.

He frowned. There wasn't anything left to cover other than the Viridian City Pokemon Center attack, but that information was off-limits.

Besides, Professor Oak likely had the information already.

The pause was abruptly interrupted by a buzzer in the background that Ash recognized as the clothes dryer.

"Looks like my laundry is done, I should probably go grab my clothes!" Delia laughed.

"Alright, I'll let you go," he said.

"Thanks for calling, I've really missed talking to you. You'll have to call more often!" Delia beamed. "Stay safe on your journey, find lots of Pokemon, and have fun!"

"I will!" Ash promised.

"Love you, honey, I hope you win at the Pewter City gym!" Delia exclaimed.

Ash nodded and watched as the screen faded to black. The trainer sighed a felt a dull pain in his chest. He swore his heart had skipped a beat. Seeing his home and talking to his mother made him a bit homesick.

It was a strange dichotomy – he couldn't have been more thrilled to be a trainer, yet at the same time he missed Pallet Town. He missed talking to his mother about the latest findings at the lab, he missed going for walks down by the shore, he missed seeing the simple cottage homes in Pallet Town, and he missed visiting Professor Oak's lab.

He supposed that still caring about his hometown, his family, and his friends was a good thing. It meant that he hadn't forgotten the people or the place he left behind.

Ash had heard a few stories of trainers that spent all their time alone in the wilderness after leaving on their journeys and lived for nothing more than the next adventure, forgetting completely about the things that they left behind.

The trainer frowned. He would never become one of those trainers.

An icy chill on his face snapped Ash out of his thoughts. A small, cold nose tapped him on the cheek, causing the trainer to flinch from the bitter chill. Ash absentmindedly stroked the fur on the ice type's neck.

He glanced at his watch.

There was still plenty of time left before it was nightfall, but finding a good way to spend that time was proving to be a challenge.

Aurora tilted her head and whimpered, seemingly asking Ash the same question he was thinking in his mind.

Ash's eyes lit up as his mind shifted to the battlefields outside the Pokemon Centers. He had recalled seeing them in the online descriptions of Pokemon Centers and when he had passed a few of them while shopping with his mother in other cities.

Ash and Aurora had yet to go through their daily training regimen. Their time would likely be best spent training. After all, if they were going to challenge the Pewter City gym and beat Gary someday they would have to get stronger.

Of course, that all hinged on whether or not Aurora wanted to train today.

"From what I remember, the Pokemon Center has a battlefield out back; we might be able to get some training in if you want to."

The ice type sprung out of Ash's arms and face-planted on the floor with a loud thud. Dusting herself off after her tumble, Aurora held her head up with pride as if nothing had happened and yipped at her trainer excitedly.

He took that as a yes.

---

A bright smile formed on Ash's face as he glanced up at the sky upon exiting the Pokemon Center. He couldn't have asked for a better day. The air was crisp and cool, and the sun peeked out from the clouds just enough to provide warmth without creating harsh sunlight and sweltering heat.

The trainer took a deep breath, filling his lungs with as much air as he could before slowly expelling it from his lungs. It may have been one of the most refreshing things he had ever done in his life.

Spending time outside to train was going to be beneficial in more ways than one. Not only did Ash and Aurora need to train, but Ash needed some fresh air. He found the smell of the Pokemon Center to be sickening.

While he had acclimated enough to the scent of harsh cleaning chemicals wafting through the Pokemon Center to somewhat tolerate the scent, he swore the fumes were shaving years off of his life. He could only imagine how much worse it was for Aurora considering that the ice type had a far more sensitive nose than he did.

His mind shifted gears as he refocused on his upcoming training session with Aurora. Ash's mind raced through a long list of things that he wanted to work on with Aurora.

He hoped to further hone her skill with her ice attacks since they were her primary offensive techniques. He especially hoped to work on Freeze-Dry because of the immense power behind Freeze-Dry had behind it.

It would be essential to perfect that technique before challenging Brock.

He also wanted Aurora to work on improving her speed and evasion by working on Agility. Even though Ash had beaten Ritchie, Aurora's reaction and speed needed to be improved. Had Ritchie's Pikachu been more experienced and had Ritchie's Pikachu relied on Quick Attack more, the electric type would have made quick work of Aurora.

The battle with Ritchie showed Ash that speed could be a deciding factor in battle. Quick Pokemon could not only leave their opponent off-balance with a string of combo attacks, but they were less vulnerable to attacks. Hitting a moving target, especially a speedy moving target, was much tougher than hitting a sluggish target or a stationary target.

He figured that a combination of long distance sprints and working on Agility would help Aurora improve on her speed.

In addition to the speed training, Ash wanted to continue improving upon Moonblast. The Moonblast that Aurora had used against Magby was small compared to the Moonblast attacks he had seen on television capable of incapacitating a Dragonite.

In addition to perfecting Moonblast, he hoped to try to work on her telekinetic abilities to further improve them.

Disable would be a valuable asset in battle for immobilizing foes and considering that mastering telekinesis was the primary requisite for the Vulpix line learning Extrasensory, Ash had even more incentive to have Aurora master Disable.

Lastly, Ash hoped to begin training Aurora to utilize her Snow Warning ability even if it was somewhat impractical since he doubted that she could even use the ability properly or sustain it. In an ideal world, he would be able to help her grasp the concept of how to whip up a snowstorm and teach her how to control the environment around her.

If he could teach her the fundamentals of controlling the temperature and how to generate a snowstorm around her, Aurora could possibly use the technique in the future once she gained the stamina to sustain a snowstorm.

At the very least, it would help her improve her on using Powder Snow and Freeze-Dry.

Ash meandered down the sidewalk circling the Pokemon Center and stopped upon arriving at his destination, taking a moment to examine the Pokemon Center's battlefield.

The Pokemon Center's battlefield wasn't anything spectacular and it wasn't anything like the polished battlefields that gyms had. It was practically nothing more than a patch of dirt that had been packed down until it was smooth with white lines painted on it.

Nevertheless, it was all he and Aurora would need to train.

Before he could sprint out onto the battlefield, his eyes shifted to a hovering cobalt-colored bell.

Aurora tensed up and growled at the giant bell.

Ash raised his eyebrows. Where had that come from? He was positive that the bell wasn't there a few seconds ago and he was certain he would have noticed it. Bronzong, after all, were impossible to miss because of their oddly shaped bodies and large size.

His question was quickly answered as a figure stepped out from behind the cobalt bell. Ash recognized the teen instantly. Tobias' long grayish-blue hair was just as difficult to miss as the Pokemon he was standing beside.

Noticing Ash's arrival, the teen gave Ash a friendly wave. "Hello," Tobias declared formally, hesitating momentarily as if in thought. "It is Ash, right?"

The trainer from Pallet Town nodded.

Tobias smiled. "Ahh, so I managed to remember!"

"Where were you this morning?" Ash asked abruptly. He cringed at the way his question sounded since it sounded harsher than he intended.

"You noticed my absence this morning?" Tobias chuckled dryly. "I fully intended to help clean up the Pokemon Center, however, the Viridian City gym leader summoned me for additional questioning about the Team Rocket incident. I also had to file a report for my ACE unit regarding my involvement in defending the Pokemon Center."

"I didn't mean to sound confrontational," Ash sputtered before being interrupted.

"Oh no, you have absolutely no need to apologize! It would be somewhat strange if a trainer of my rank reneged and outright disappeared at the first sign of work. I would be interested to find out what happened as well. Analyzing a situation is actually a good thing to do, both in everyday life and as a trainer."

"Giovanni must be taking the incident incredibly seriously to have brought you in for more questioning." Ash remarked, quickly changing the subject.

"He does not seem terribly happy about Team Rocket establishing a presence in his city. He has a full scale investigation underway and has vowed to do everything in his power to aid the league's crackdown on Team Rocket." Tobias replied.

He paused briefly. "I would tell you more, but I think you have already heard too much. The things I have told you are not classified information, but it is not something that needs to be circulating as public knowledge either. Besides, you do not have to worry about this kind of stuff yet. You will have plenty of time to do this type of stuff when you get older."

Ash scowled at the older trainer. He couldn't help but be disappointed that Tobias wouldn't be sharing any more information.

Tobias shook his head. "I know this stuff is probably exciting to you and you wish you could be doing stuff like this – it was enthralling for me when I was your age and I dreamed about getting a lofty position with the league – but you should enjoy your freedom while you still have it. Rank comes with loads of responsibility and what the league requires from you can be exhausting."

Ash nodded, partially acknowledging Tobias' words. He hadn't ever stopped to consider the weight that an official of the Pokemon league shouldered. While it hardly deterred Ash from his desire to aid the league, it definitely gave him a new perspective.

Shaking off the thoughts of possible futures, Ash glanced over at Tobias' Bronzong. "So this is your Bronzong?" he mused.

"Yes," Tobias answered tersely, despite maintaining a polite tone. "Bronzong was my first Pokemon and is a magnificent Pokemon at that."

"Is Bronzong very strong?" Ash asked, cringing after realizing how stupid the question sounded.

Tobias shrugged. "Strength is relative. While strong in its own right and likely capable of at least giving some of the Elite Four's Pokemon a run for their money, my Bronzong pales in comparison to the cornerstones of the champions."

Ash sputtered. Had he heard that correctly? The ACE trainer implied that his Bronzong was Elite Four level in strength in one sentence, but had been quick to diminish his abilities as a trainer in another. It was an accomplishment for a trainer's Pokemon to match the strength of Elite Four's Pokemon. If Tobias wasn't so formal and stiff, he would have counted it as false modesty.

"I would also be hard-pressed to believe that my Bronzong is superior to my cousin's Bronzong."

"Your cousin owns a Bronzong as well?"

"Yes, Bronzong was his first Pokemon as well. Perhaps you are familiar with him, have you heard of Lucian?" Tobias replied, tilting his head slightly.

Ash's eyes bulged in shock. While he didn't have as much knowledge about foreign Elite Four members as he had knowledge on the Kanto Elite Four members, Ash had watched televised Pokemon battles and kept up to date on the happenings of the Pokemon League enough to know who Lucian was.

Lucian was many things – a psychologist, a scholar, a genius tactician, and a recent addition to the Sinnoh Elite Four. His psychic type Pokemon were considered to be among the best in the entire world with his Bronzong being the chief example of his team's abilities. The steel bell's defenses were impenetrable and its ability to generate mental barriers was said to be on par with Steven's Metagross. Ash had seen a few of Lucian's battles on television and the steel type had wrecked a Luxray with a single Flash Cannon.

Ash stared at Tobias incredulously, barely able to believe what he had just heard. The ACE trainer had just claimed to be related to one of the strongest trainers on the face of the earth. Either Tobias was the biggest liar Ash had ever met, or the ACE trainer was telling the truth.

"You're related to Lucian?" Ash sputtered, still dumbfounded by the claim.

Tobias nodded casually.

"We had a friendly rivalry when we were younger, I believe it helped push us to improve and reach the lofty places we are today." Tobias answered.

Ash examined the ACE trainer head-to-toe and frowned.

Now that he examined Tobias closer, he could see many of Lucian's features. Tobias had similar facial expressions to his equally stoic counterpart, his hair color was similar even if it was far darker, and even chose a similar hair style to that of his cousin. They also seemed to have a similar taste in fashion. Tobias' dark maroon cloak reminded him of Lucian's signature maroon suit that he always seemed to wear.

"Still skeptical? Perhaps, a battle will help convince you," Tobias chuckled, noticing the perplexed look on Ash's face. "My team's battling style is said to partially resemble that of my cousin's team, even if I prefer a bit more of a direct approach."

Ash paled slightly at the suggestion. As tempting as a battle was, Aurora wouldn't last a second against an ACE trainer's team – let alone against an ACE trainer whose team was supposedly Elite Four level. One hit from one of Tobias' Pokemon would probably be enough to knock out Aurora easily, if not maim or kill the young ice type.

"I don't know if Aurora could handle facing one of your Pokemon. She barely has a week of battling experience."

Tobias shook his head. "Perhaps, I should be more specific, I will not use one of my main team members," he clarified. "I think your Vulpix could handle facing my Froslass. My Froslass is only about a year old and was recently evolved. She is co notmpletely acclimated to her new body so she lacks the speed that an older Froslass would have and her battling experience is limited compared to my other Pokemon. I think that would make for an even battle."

Ash glanced over at Aurora. "Think you can handle this?"

Aurora barked excitedly and darted onto the battlefield.

"You're on!" Ash exclaimed, flashing a thumbs-up to Tobias before taking his place on the battlefield.

Tobias quickly followed suit and stepped forward. "Bronzong, consider this the training session we were going to have. I want you to maintain a barrier around the battlefield to block any stray attacks."

The steel bell grumbled its acknowledgment. Bronzong's scarlet eyes flashed greenish-yellow momentarily as the steel type tested its ability to generate shields by forming a bright yellow wall of light to surround the battlefield.

Ignoring his Bronzong's test of its telekinetic powers, Tobias smirked as he unclipped a Poke Ball from his belt. "Let us begin, shall we!" he declared as he pressed the button on the orb to release a humanoid-like Pokemon comprised primarily of a hollow torso.

The creature's bright blue eyes seemed to glow from within the violet circles around its eyes. Upon eyeing her opponent, the mysterious Pokemon let out an ominous giggle. "This is Froslass," Tobias introduced with an air of confidence. "And she will be your opponent."

Ash whipped out his Pokedex and aimed it at Froslass to scan the mysterious Pokemon to gain more information on her. Instantly, the screen lit up and displayed a picture of Froslass on the screen before beginning to describe Froslass in a familiar robotic monotone.

Froslass – the snow land Pokemon and the evolved form of Snorunt. Froslass are capable of freezing enemies with an icy breath of negative sixty degrees Fahrenheit. While it appears to have a body, its body is actually hollow.

Ash glanced at Froslass and frowned. Because Froslass were ice types, most of Aurora's attacks were useless against Froslass. He would have to find another way to take down the ice type.

"Do you want the first move?" Tobias asked politely.

Ash nodded.

"Then let us see what you can do!" Tobias declared.

"Aurora, Powder Snow, let's go!" Ash shouted.

Aurora yipped an affirmative and took aim at her foe. Opening her maw, the ice type exhaled to release a fierce blast of snow flurries and chilly wind gusts. Unaffected by the chilly gust and the snow flurries, Froslass shrugged off the arctic blast and fired a small orb of white light into the sky.

Ash felt goosebumps form on his arms and a violent shiver shook his body as he felt the temperature drop dramatically. Large, fluffy snowflakes began to fall from the sky reducing visibility substantially with white-out conditions.

The heavy snow made it nearly impossible for either trainer to see the Pokemon on the battlefield thanks to Aurora's white fur and Froslass' white body that seemed to blend in seamlessly with the blizzard-like conditions.

Ash squinted as he tried to find Aurora and Froslass inside the blizzard. He caught a quick glimpse of a white corporeal silhouette zigzagging through the haze before a bright flash of light engulfed the shadow to lock it in place.

Ash grinned as he saw two glowing violet orbs inside the haze.

Froslass let out a sharp shriek as her position was revealed by Aurora's telekinetic momentary telekinetic prison. The fox barreled towards and twirled through the air to slap Froslass with her tails. Much to the fox's dismay, her tails seemingly phased through Froslass' body.

Ash gritted his teeth in frustration as Froslass disappeared without a trace. "How did it not hit!" he gasped.

A calm voice rang out on the other side of the curtain of snow, explaining his mistake. "Froslass are not mere ice types, but they also have the traits of the ghost type. Physical attacks will do little to harm a living shadow capable of turning itself intangible. Besides, not all is as it appears."

Ash groaned upon noticing copies of Froslass within the snowstorm. "Double Team?" he muttered, still not entirely sure what he was looking at.

Before he could figure it out, a white silhouette revealed itself behind Aurora and formed a small sphere of ice in her hands. Froslass giggled mischievously as she hurled the projectile at Aurora's head.

The Alolan Vulpix yelped as the chunk of ice hit its mark and smacked her in the back of the head, stunning her momentarily. Twirling around to try to find her foe, Froslass disappeared in the curtain of snow flurries again. Aurora's natural camouflage was practically worthless. While her fur made it difficult for either Ash or Tobias to see her, Froslass was able to get close enough to Aurora to see her and harass her with attacks.

Ash looked around rapidly, looking for any trace of Froslass.

He couldn't tell where Froslass was. The ghost-like Pokemon blended in with the snow too well. Not that it would do Ash and Aurora any good to find Froslass, Aurora's ice attacks were completely useless against it.

A familiar white silhouette formed to the left of Aurora and exhaled a weak burst of wind gusts that seemed to be more of a nuisance to the Vulpix than an actual attack.

"Aurora, Freeze-Dry!"

Glancing over to her left, Aurora locked onto her foe and took in as much air as she possibly could. The ice type whined as she exhaled and unleashed a powerful gust of cold air that dispelled two more of the illusionary copies before hitting the actual Froslass. Not bothering to dodge the attack, Froslass giggled as she took the attack head on and merely shrugged it off before forming a violet ball of fire in each of her hands.

Ash grimaced as the ghost vanished in the snowfall again before reappearing behind Aurora seconds later.

"Aurora!" he shrieked.

Before she could react, the spheres of fire struck Aurora and engulfed her in bright violet flames. She yelped in pain from the intense heat suddenly overwhelming her. In an effort to douse the flames, the ice type puffed cold air on herself.

Froslass giggled mischievously again before exhaling icy winds from her mouth that put out the flames.

Ash examined Aurora briefly and let out a sigh of relief. While Aurora's fur seemed to be singed, the flames hadn't managed to actually burn Aurora.

Although, at this point, it seemed like Froslass was just toying with them. It made him wonder how much of that was because of her trainer going easy on them.

"Aurora, Powder Snow!" Ash commanded.

Aurora woofed an affirmative before spewing out icy cold winds at her opponent's face. She puffed out her chest proudly, seemingly enjoying getting back at Froslass for hitting her with flames even if her icy winds had little effect on the ghost.

Aurora's moral victory was short-lived as Froslass quickly disappeared into the snowy haze again.

Ash felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as Froslass let out a series of terrifying trills, reappearing repeatedly around Aurora before morphing into a silhouette again and disappearing into the blizzard to try to confuse her opponent.

Ash clenched his fists. He was growing tired of the Meowth and Rattata game that Froslass seemed to be playing with him and Aurora.

Judging by Aurora's heavy pants, she couldn't keep this game up much longer. She was clearly exhausted and unaccustomed to fighting for long periods of time.

Ash took a mental note of that. He would also have to work with Aurora on improving her endurance in addition to her basic training.

For now, they just needed to adapt.

"Don't try to look for it, listen to its giggles. The moment you hear Froslass is close trap it with Disable." Ash whispered just loud enough for Aurora's sensitive ears to hear.

She whimpered in acknowledgment and closed her eyes. Relying on her keen hearing, the fox listened to the shrieks of her opponent waiting for the cries to get closer.

Aurora growled as she heard a giggle to her left and whipped around to face the ghost. Before Froslass could react, bright violet light shrouded her body to trap her in place long enough for the Vulpix to fire off a Moonblast.

Ash shielded his eyes from the bright flash accompanying the detonation. Thrown down like a ragdoll by the explosion, Froslass landed on the ground with a loud thud and skidded across the battlefield.

Shaking off the hit, Froslass zipped back up into the air and attempted to disappear into the snowstorm like the ghost had done so many times before.

Before Froslass could completely fade away in the blizzard, the snowstorm started to die down before coming to a complete halt.

Changing plans, the ghost shifted gears and ditched the camouflage gambit for the much simpler task of forming a chunk of ice between its hands.

Ash tensed up as he felt his heart racing inside his chest. They were reaching the moment of truth – the next few attacks would likely decide the outcome of the battle. "Get ready, Aurora," he muttered.

As Froslass raised her arms and prepared to hurl the chunk of ice, Aurora opened her mouth and began to charge up another sphere of radiant pink light.

Just as both Pokemon fired off their attacks, a bright yellow wall of light formed in front of Aurora and Froslass. Instead of hitting their intended targets, Froslass' ball of ice and Aurora's energy blast crashed into the golden wall and burst upon impact.

Ash shut his eyes to prevent himself from being blinded.

Tobias smiled. "Thank you, Bronzong,"

The giant steel bell grumbled.

Aurora and Froslass eyed the barriers with a perplexed look on their faces. Ash couldn't blame them since he was just as puzzled as they were.

"I hope you do not mind me interrupting our battle. Things were starting to get fairly intense and I did not want to risk either of our Pokemon getting injured." Tobias explained. "Your Vulpix is very young and my Froslass is somewhat frail,"

Tobias' Froslass glared at him for his unflattering remark.

"I want to take extra precautions to prevent injury."

Ash nodded, flashing a quick smile. "I understand," he said, despite inwardly feeling very disappointed to have the battle end so anticlimactically.

He wanted to finish that battle, but it apparently wasn't meant to be. He supposed that was what rematches were for.

"I am impressed that you two managed to last so long. Most trainers would have been completely overwhelmed by Froslass' ability to camouflage itself in a snowstorm. You two managed to handle that well." Tobias complimented.

"To be honest, Froslass had me pretty worried," Ash chuckled. "Most of Aurora's attacks didn't do anything to Froslass and it was nearly impossible to track Froslass. If Aurora didn't know Moonblast we would have been in a lot of trouble."

"I was a bit surprised that you two managed to pull off a successful Moonblast attack. Young Pokemon tend to have struggle with a technique of that magnitude."

"It's not perfect, but we're working on it."

"I would have her practice it more," The ACE trainer advised. "It's obviously nowhere near full power, but she seems to have a decent grasp on the concept."

Aurora barked at Tobias cheerfully, clearly pleased with the ACE trainer's praises. She seemed to enjoy having her ego stroked more than Gary.

"The perfected technique has a larger blast radius, hits harder, and should take up less energy. Even though your Vulpix can use the technique, her form is sloppy and it uses more energy than it needs to. You need to work on compressing the energy."

Ash raised an eyebrow. That wasn't something he had heard of before, but it was certainly something he would have to look into.

"I was equally surprised that she could use Freeze-Dry. That is something you will want to work on too. Freeze-Dry is a very handy technique because it is especially effective on water types because it chills them to the point of freezing their internal organs." Tobias said.

"We've just started working on Freeze-Dry, I think it'll help us in our first gym battle."

Tobias nodded. "Good, mastering those attacks will help you reach new horizons. I would advise that you continue working on Disable as well. Alolan Vulpix have access to a wide variety of ice, telekinetic, and illusion techniques. If she can master Powder Snow and Freeze-Dry she can use it as a reference point for learning future techniques."

Ash flinched. He probably shouldn't have been surprised that Tobias identified Vulpix, but it still caught him off guard.

For whatever reason, the thought never even crossed his mind that Tobias would be able to identify Aurora.

"I believe that you could use your Alolan Vulpix's knowledge of ice attacks and Disable to help teach her Ice Shard and Confuse Ray," Tobias began before Ash abruptly interrupted him.

"How do you know about Alolan Vulpix?"

Tobias paled at the question, his face contorting into something akin to a scowl. Ash frowned – it looked out of place on the usually stoic trainer. Had he overstepped his bounds?

"The league got a report about an illegal Pokemon mill run by Pokemon traffickers a couple months back and they sent my unit to investigate," Tobias stated, his voice devoid of all emotion.

Ash clenched his fists tightly, cutting off the blood flow to his knuckles turning them white. He wasn't sure what Tobias had found on his mission, but judging by his reaction it was something very serious.

"I will keep the discussion short – what we found was not pretty," Tobias said, disdain visible on his face. "We found quite a few exotic Pokemon cooped up in a dingy warehouse. We couldn't ID them at the time, but we were informed after taking them to headquarters that they were species from the Alola region that were relatively unknown to the other regions due to Alola's isolation from the rest of the world. Quite a few of them were Pokemon native to Kanto that had undergone genetic transformation in Alola – Alolan Vulpix being one of them."

Ash nodded in understanding and relaxed, somewhat contented with the explanation. He would have appreciated details of the investigation and details of the raid; but he figured that there was reasons for Tobias gave him limited information.

"Alolan Vulpix can learn Confuse Ray?" Ash asked, shifting the conversation back to the original topic.

The ACE trainer's iciness melted away and was immediately replaced with the stoic expression that he typically displayed. "Yes, Alolan Vulpix are capable of learning both Confuse Ray and Ice Shard fairly early on in their development."

Ash nodded, adding that to his mental notes. The techniques were definitely worth looking into and adding to Aurora's training regimen. "Actually, I originally came out here to train with Aurora."

"What were you two planning on working on?" Tobias asked.

"We wanted to work on Agility and Aurora's overall speed to help with evasion, we wanted to continue perfecting Disable, we wanted to continue working on Powder Snow, and wanted to practice Freeze-Dry a little bit." Ash answered. "However, after hearing that Aurora can learn Confuse Ray and Ice Shard I'd like to look into teaching those techniques to her."

"Convenient," Tobias said, pointing to his Froslass. Ash snickered slightly as he glanced over at the ghost type that had apparently taken to pestering Bronzong while they had been talking. "I actually came out here to work with my team."

"What were you going to work on?" Ash asked.

"I mainly wanted to help Froslass continue to acclimate to her new form and help her improve upon a few techniques. We're trying to perfect Will-O-Wisp, Ice Shard, and Confuse Ray." Tobias said. "The techniques are still in the developmental process, but she's improving every day."

Tobias glanced at Aurora and smirked. "In fact, it just occurred to me, since your Alolan Vulpix is capable of utilizing Ice Shard and Confuse Ray, would you be interested in having my Froslass teach your Vulpix the techniques?"

"Seriously?" Ash exclaimed with a manic grin.

"Sure, I figured it only made sense to train together since we're both going to use the battlefield to train with our Pokemon. I am going to be working with Froslass on perfecting Ice Shard and Confuse Ray, it's not really any trouble to teach them to your Vulpix." Tobias replied.

Ash rubbed his hands together excitedly. He knew this was going to be fun.

---

Ash groaned and rubbed his temples. He was exhausted both mentally and physically, and he would have done anything to go inside the Pokemon Center to unwind. Judging by the look on Aurora's face, she was equally exhausted.

While he was still incredibly grateful for Tobias' offer to train together with Ash, he didn't exactly realize how detail oriented that the ACE trainer was.

Ash's head was throbbing from the amount of information he was trying to remember. All the information was almost too much to process. The ACE trainer was like a walking encyclopedia. Tobias had rambled on about everything from the data about techniques stored in the Pokedex to the physiology of the Vulpix line, to the physics behind Pokemon attacks to the fact that trainers were only to give instructions to their Pokemon rather than micromanage them.

He didn't realize how driven and perfectionistic Tobias was prior to training with him. He was even more like his cousin than Ash imagined. When the ACE trainer had suggested training together, he expected them to train together for quite a while; but he didn't expect to still be up training at ten o' clock at night.

They had literally gone through everything. Tobias had Aurora work on Moonblast, Freeze-Dry, Powder Snow, Disable, and Agility in addition to keeping his promise of teaching Ice Shard and Confuse Ray to Aurora.

"Alright, I want you and Vulpix to run through everything one more time." Tobias declared.

Ash groaned, eliciting a sympathetic look from Tobias.

"I know you are exhausted and I am exhausted myself; but improvement only comes through lots of hard work. There are a lot of trainers that think spending an hour or two is sufficient practice time, but I am going to tell you that only spending a few hours to run through the basics is not going to help your Pokemon get the muscle memory and practice they need to improve. There were times that I devoted practically every single hour of the week to training with my team." Tobias said.

Ash sighed, begrudgingly accepting that Tobias was right. If he was ever to become a Pokemon Master, Ash and his Pokemon would have to put in the work to improve.

"What will we start with?" Ash asked reluctantly.

"Start with the offensive techniques, afterwards we shall test your Vulpix's instincts and her other techniques," Tobias answered confidently. "And do not hold back, Bronzong can take whatever you throw at it."

Ash grabbed the bridge of his baseball cap and flipped it backwards. He didn't need to block out the sun at night and figured the extra visibility would be beneficial.

"Aurora, let's wreck Bronzong's shields and show Tobias what we're really made of!" Ash exclaimed excitedly.

While he knew that there was absolutely no chance of Aurora's attacks actually shattering Bronzong's shields, he thought that putting the goal in Aurora's mind would help motivate her and get their minds off their exhaustion.

Without hesitation, Aurora sprung into action and dashed towards her opponent. Tobias nodded in approval as Aurora picked up a noticeable burst of speed. She wasn't a burner like Ritchie's Pikachu was, but Agilty certainly helped her move faster.

"What are the principles behind Agility?" Tobias exclaimed.

Ash felt a lump form in his throat and cursed under his breath. He knew Tobias stressed mental training and expounded upon the details of each of Aurora's techniques, but he hadn't expected a quiz.

"Agility is primarily an evasion tactic and a technique used to build momentum. A Pokemon that uses Agility releases a dose of adrenaline through their body to increase the rate at which their internal organs function. The adrenaline rush can often cause the veins to increase in size from increased blood flow, causing the muscles to expand in size. This allows the user to reach speeds that they are otherwise incapable of reaching and enhances lateral mobility." Ash said. "Additionally, psychic techniques may be used by more experienced users to cut down on drag and increase aerodynamics."

"And what are its downsides?" Tobias asked.

"Agility has the downside of tiring out the user due to the increased strain placed upon a Pokemon."

Tobias clapped approvingly as Bronzong raised a bright yellow wall of light to block Aurora's attempt of slapping the steel bell with her tails. Ash shielded his eyes to prevent himself from being blinded by the bright flash of light accompanying the very minor strain of the energy wall.

"Powder Snow!" Ash shouted as the ice type sprung off the barrier.

Aurora woofed her approval as she took in a quick breath of air and exhaled a jet stream of chilly air that clashed with Bronzong's shields to cause them to light up again with a barely noticeable flicker.

"And what are the physics behind Powder Snow?"

"Powder Snow is an attack in which a user takes air into the lungs!" Ash cried, coming to a loss for words shortly after.

He cursed under his breath. Why couldn't he remember the rest of process?

He watched Aurora land on her feet and fire off another blast of icy gusts that struck Bronzong's telekinetic wall and caused the yellow barrier to flicker again. The information was slowly coming back to him, but he didn't quite have all the pieces together yet for a detailed report.

Tobias gave him a disappointed look. "I am waiting for an adequate response."

Ash gritted his teeth, he'd have to wing it.

"The air is chilled inside the body to subzero temperatures by specialized cyro organs inside the lungs and throughout the body. The air taken into the body is chilled in a process similar to refrigeration!"

Tobias rubbed his chin in thought. "Not bad, but I feel you could have provided more information regarding the cyro organs."

Ash ignored the critique and plotted out his next move. He glanced up at the moon. He definitely knew what he was going to use next.

"Aurora, Moonblast!" Ash commanded promptly.

Aurora yipped her acknowledgment as she opened her mouth as wide as she could. Particles of bright pink light began to coalesce inside her mouth and slowly shifted into a tiny moon.

Ash took a quick mental note – Moonblast was slightly stronger at night. Aurora's Moonblast had to be at least twice the size it was during the day.

"Tell me, how does Moonblast function?" Tobias questioned, feigning curiosity.

"Moonblast is an attack in which a Pokemon absorbs lunar light," Ash cringed at his statement. The sheer absurdity of the concept was laughable and it took everything in him not to laugh about it.

Ash covered his eyes again to prevent the flash accompanied with the strain of Bronzong's telekinetic barrier from blinding him. "The Pokemon using the technique channels the light into an attack and fires it at their opponent."

"Poor exposition – you left out the fact that lunar light is the primary energy source for fairy types," Tobias chided. "You also failed to expound on how the energy is processed and how the energy is compressed and rotated to form a sphere."

Ash swore under his breath. Moonblast was the one technique he was positive he would be able to explain clearly due to all the information Tobias had given him.

"Aurora, Freeze-Dry!" Ash clenched his fists, growing increasingly frustrated.

Aurora inhaled and puffed out her chest, filling her lungs with as much air as possible. Hoping to catch Bronzong off guard, the ice type quickly released several waves of adrenaline through her system to enhance her speed.

Aurora darted sharply to Bronzong's left and opened her mouth.

Fierce wind gusts poured from Aurora's maw and froze the water vapor in the air, leaving a dusting of snow on the ground where the arctic blast had traveled through the air. A bright yellow wall of light formed in front of Bronzong mere seconds before the icy gusts could hit their intended target.

Ash flinched. Bronzong's telekinetic barrier flashed yellow from strain, blinding the trainer momentarily and leaving him seeing stars. He blinked rapidly, hoping that it would remedy his blindness.

Ash dug his fingernails into his palm and he clenched his fists in frustration. He had lost his night vision.

"Freeze-Dry – what is it and how does it work?" Tobias asked.

Ash scowled and bit his tongue to prevent himself from saying something that he shouldn't. It took every fiber of his being not to start ranting. Why of all the times to ask about Freeze-Dry had Tobias managed to pick the particular second that Ash was practically blind?

He was convinced that Tobias was asking him about Pokemon attacks just to tick him off at this point.

"Freeze-Dry is similar to Powder Snow! The user inhales air that is chilled by the cyro organs inside the lungs! The cyro organs release chilled gases into the inhaled air that has a sublimation effect and chill the air!" Ash blurted out as fast as he could. "The major difference is that the oxygen is chilled to a lower temperature for Freeze-Dry."

"Fantastic," Tobias declared, giving Ash a brief congratulatory round of applause.

Tobias motioned towards the shadows. A white silhouette streaked out from its hiding spot and formed a small chunk of ice in its hands. "Tell me about Ice Shard,"

Ash frowned.

Apparently, Tobias wasn't even going to wait to use an attack before asking him to expound on it this time around. Just as Ash's night vision returned to him, a chunk of ice whizzed past Aurora's head only missing her by a few inches.

Aurora growled and tensed up slightly as Froslass formed another chunk of ice and threw it. Aurora quickly followed suit and intercepted Froslass' Ice Shard attack with tiny chunk of ice of her own. The attacks collided with each other at full speed resulting in a loud crack echoing through the air and the shards of ice shattering into dozens of tiny ice chips that fell to the ground.

"What is Ice Shard?" Tobias repeated with a hint of impatience in his voice.

"Ice Shard is a technique in which a user chills the water vapor in the air by exhaling cold air to form a chunk of ice. The ice chunks are held in place with telekinesis and thrown via telekinesis." Ash answered confidently.

"Very good!" Tobias nodded and flashed Ash a quick smile. "Your Vulpix's form wasn't bad, considering that your Vulpix just learned the attack."

Froslass giggled mischievously as she formed two lavender spheres of fire in her hands and casually tossed the fireballs up and down like they were her playthings. Froslass' giggles intensified as she hurled the lavender orbs of flame down around her opponent.

Lavender flames rose towards the sky and engulfed the battlefield for a brief second as the fireballs hit the ground, trapping Aurora in a ring of lavender flames.

Ash gritted his teeth. If there was something ice types didn't like, it was fire.

Ice types generally had thick fur or thick fat reserves to keep them warm in the cold, which tended to be counterproductive in the heat. Because ice types had adapted to stay warm in their arctic habitats, when exposed to higher temperatures they tended to overheat.

Combined with the fact that many ice type techniques required the water vapor from the air to be utilized properly, fire was all the more problematic since it reduced or eliminated the water vapor in the air.

Knowing that she needed to act, Aurora took a deep breath and unleashed a gale of chilled air upon the flames. Ash grinned as the flames were reduced to smoldering embers. The wall of fire was gone which meant Ash and Aurora were free to go on the offensive again.

Froslass giggled again as she hurled several more lavender fireballs down at her opponent that left scorch marks on the ground where they had hit.

Aurora zigzagged back and forth, relying on Agility to increase her speed so she could dodge the fireballs thrown her way. Focusing her gaze on Froslass, the fox trapped Froslass in a weak telekinetic prison to fire off another Moonblast to stun the ghost.

"Ahh, Disable again!" Tobias paused. "Tell me, how does it work?"

"Disable is a technique that relies on telekinetic abilities and telekinetic abilities alone to trap an opponent momentarily. It is best used to throw off the timing of an attack, but can be used offensively to immobilize foes to buy extra time to attack." Ash said. "Pokemon can use more of their brain than mankind and as a result have access to specialized parts of the brain dedicated exclusively for sensory perception. This can be used to utilize telekinetic abilities."

"Impressive, you really know your stuff!" Tobias applauded. "However, let us see how prepared you really are – Froslass, Confuse Ray!"

Froslass shrugged off the Moonblast and locked eyes with Aurora. The ghost type's pupils flashed red before a dark crimson light took over her eyes. Aurora flinched after being exposed to the bright flash of light.

Aurora groaned in anguish and fell to the ground in a series of convulsions like she was having a seizure. Ash hated Confuse Ray because of how brutal the technique was.

"So tell me, what is Confuse Ray?" Tobias asked.

Ash gritted his teeth and reached down for Aurora's Luxury Ball, mulling whether or not to return the ice type to the safety of stasis inside the orb.

Before Ash could withdraw her, Tobias' Froslass ended the illusions, leaving a mentally and physically exhausted Aurora lying on the ground.

"Confuse Ray is a dangerous illusion-based technique that utilizes one-hundred percent of the user's mind and hypnotizes the opponent's mind into perceiving a false reality." Ash answered with a scowl. "While in effect, the mind of the opponent is at the mercy of the user since the user controls the illusions. It is frowned upon by the league because if not controlled properly or used without limiting the power, the illusions can cause permanent insanity."

Tobias' face turned solemn. "Remember that Confuse Ray is a very dangerous technique. It is not something you want to resort to frequently because it is both taxing to the user," he pointed to Froslass who looked like she was on the brink of falling to the ground. "And even in small doses it is very potent."

Ash nodded as he glanced down at Aurora who had only regained a small fraction of her strength. The fox looked like she was in terrible shape. Her body was quivering, she could barely stand up, and she seemed to be out of breath.

He doubted that he would be forgetting how powerful and how dangerous Confuse Ray was anytime soon after seeing what it had done to Aurora and Froslass. The images of Aurora's suffering and Froslass' fatigue imprinted on his mind served as more of a warning than Tobias' verbal admonishments ever could.

He knew the ramifications of using the technique and would try to use it only as a last resort.

Tobias yawned as he reached for a Poke Ball and aimed it at Froslass. A dark crimson beam of light pulled the ghost type into the stasis of the orb, allowing him to tuck the orb into the pocket of his overcoat. "I think that it's time to call it a day, it's getting late and I'm very tired. We put in a lot of work today."

Ash smiled as he quickly followed suit by returning Aurora to her Luxury Ball. He would definitely have to reward her hard work with a treat later, but for now the only things he could think about was getting her checked for injuries by Nurse Joy and getting some sleep.

"Thanks for everything today," Ash beamed. "I really appreciate that you took the time to train with me and Aurora! It was really cool!"

Tobias waved off Ash's praise as he returned his Bronzong to its Poke Ball. "It is nothing really, I actually enjoyed working with you two. Besides, it is the job of league trainers to pay it forward,"

"Pay it forward?" Ash echoed, somewhat confused by the ACE trainer's reply.

"Back when I was your age I got all sorts of advice and training from veteran trainers, I consider teaching someone else payment for everything I was taught. I imagine that one day you will likely be doing the same thing." Tobias clarified.

"Of course, that's part of the fun of being a trainer, isn't it?" Ash replied. "We learn from each other and pass what we learned down to someone else."

Tobias smiled. "Remember what I showed you about your Vulpix's techniques and continue to practice using Ice Shard and Confuse Ray, but please remember not to practice using Confuse Ray on living things and remember not to look directly into Vulpix's eyes when she practices the technique."

Ash nodded. "We'll have the technique figured out in no time!"

As the trainers headed back towards the Pokemon Center to retire for the night, Tobias paused at the door and glanced back at Ash. "You mentioned to me that you were headed to Pewter City to challenge the Pewter City gym, did you not?"

"Yeah," Ash replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Since you are passing through Viridian Forest, I figured that you would want to know the latest information regarding the forest." Tobias answered.

"Huh?"

"It is stampede season for Ponyta and Rapidash." Tobias said

"Stampede season?" Ash echoed, not familiar with the term.

Tobias nodded. "Ponyta and Rapidash have seasonal ranges that most people call stampede season. Right now, they should be migrating from their breeding grounds in the remote regions of Viridian Forest and heading to their spring range around Route 17. Now is the perfect time to catch one if you want one."

Ash's lips quirked upwards into a grin at the thought of catching a Ponyta. His team needed diversity and a fire type would help make his team more diverse. Not only would catching one give him a Pokemon that knew fire type moves, but it would make his battling style more flexible. Ponyta were agile speedsters best suited for close to medium range combat that were capable of overwhelming opponents with their speed.

He would definitely have to keep his eyes peeled for Ponyta while traveling through Viridian Forest.

"Thanks for the tip," Ash muttered. Tobias nodded as he turned back towards the door and stepped into the Pokemon Center lobby.

"Actually, thanks for everything today! I really appreciate all your help." Ash yawned as he followed the ACE trainer into the Pokemon Center and held his hand out to the ACE trainer.

Tobias smiled for the first time since they had met as he shook Ash's hand. "It is no problem, I enjoyed battling with you."

Ash yawned again as the trainers turned and headed their separate ways, finding it difficult to even keep his eyes open. The trainer from Pallet Town felt a nagging feeling of exhaustion pulling at him once more as he meandered up to the service desk and rang the bell on the counter to signal for Nurse Joy.

He hoped that Aurora's checkup would be short.

---

Ash smiled. Viridian Forest was even more impressive than he thought it would be.

He never saw as many trees as there were in Viridian Forest. They surrounded the narrow dirt path before him and stretched out as far as the eye could see.

He wasn't sure he ever saw trees as tall as the ones in Viridian Forest either. Most of the trees towered above him like skyscrapers, the tops of which were far too high to get an accurate estimate of how tall they were.

The lush forest was a big contrast from the dull grays of Viridian City.

The trainer scowled at the mere thought of Viridian City. Although it had been nice to spend a few days in town to rest and recuperate, Ash quickly tired of the place once he realized how congested and noisy the small city could be. Being from Pallet Town, he wasn't used to the hustle and bustle of Virdian. People were always rushing in and out of stores, and cars were always zipping in and out of the parking lots of the Viridian businesses.

It was a bit overwhelming.

While he enjoyed shopping at the Viridian Poke Mart and checking out some of the local stores, there wasn't a whole lot he could do while in Viridian. He didn't have a team that was anywhere near ready to take on the gym leader, there weren't any special tourist attractions to visit, and there was no wildlife in Viridian City.

His run-in with a drunken homeowner that tried to prevent him using the street had also left him with a bitter taste in his mouth after leaving Viridian. Ash still couldn't believe that the old man had tried to tell him that the street was a part of his property, nor could he believe the string of profanity that had exited the man's mouth.

At least he got a Pokemon battle out of the situation. There was nothing more satisfying than watching the old man's poorly trained Rattata get absolutely demolished by Aurora and have the man finally let him pass.

Ash really enjoyed getting a chance to try out Confuse Ray in an actual battle. While Ash doubted that Tobias would have approved of Aurora using Confuse Ray in those circumstances, Ash felt that it was justified.

The old drunk had not only threatened to call the police on Ash for trespassing on his land, goaded Ash into a battle by suddenly changing his mind and wagering a free pass if Ash could beat him, but the drunk repeatedly boasted about how much stronger his Rattata was compared to Aurora while battling.

A mere second of exposure to Confuse Ray's illusions made quick work of the drunk's Rattata and shut him up pretty quickly.

A loud squawk snapped Ash out of his thoughts. The trainer from Pallet Town glanced around warily and looked up at the source of the aggravated chirps.

Two Pidgey squawked at each other from high up in the trees, apparently fighting over a small hole in a tree – likely a desired nesting area.

Ash let out a sigh of relief and relaxed as he realized that the birds weren't the menaces he was expecting. For a moment he thought that the cries were that of angry Spearow.

Pidgey were docile birds known for a calm temperament that didn't bother people. Spearow, on the other hand, were aggressive and territorial. Spearow tended to dislike anyone or anything that entered their territory, and they made that known in no uncertain terms by attacking perceived intruders.

Not all the Pokemon in Viridian Forest were friendly. Bug types fed on both tree leaves and often fed on trees themselves, making Viridian Forest the perfect habitat for bug types. Weedle, Kakuna, and Beedrill all found Viridian Forest to be comfortable habitat much like Spearow and they tended not to enjoy visitors either.

And unlike the wild birds that tended to be a minor annoyance, all three of the most common bugs produced toxins that if left untreated for too long could be debilitating or even deadly.

Actually, Spearow was likely the least of his concerns.

Many territorial Pokemon called Viridian Forest their home. Pinsir, Venomoth, and Nidoran found Viridian Forest to be a suitable environment, all of which were equally dangerous each for their own reasons.

Trainers navigating the forest needed to exercise extreme caution because of how many aggressive species of Pokemon lived in the forest. It was easy to wander off the barely recognizable and rather narrow trails that snaked through the forest without even realizing it.

Losing the path not only made it easy to get lost, but it also made it easy to stumble into the territory of wild Pokemon.

Fortunately, he wouldn't wander off the path and getting lost like some sort of idiotic novice looking for trouble. He had a PokeNav equipped with GPS and detailed maps that would make trekking through the forest a breeze.

With any luck at all, Ash would be in Pewter City in no time. He doubted that it would even take him the full three days it took to navigate Viridian Forest.

He frowned as his stomach rumbled, reminding him of how long it had been since he had last eaten. Perhaps it was time for him and Aurora to eat.

The trainer reached into his backpack for a plastic tray with a yellow covering, Aurora's food dish, and her Pokemon food.

He ripped off the lid to his Vulpix's food and dumped it into her bowl before focusing on his own meal.

Ash grumbled to himself as he struggled with the plastic seal on his food. He let out a sigh of relief as he finally yanked off the plastic cover and snatched the sandwich out of the tray.

Ash snorted at the pathetic excuse of a breakfast that the prepackaged peanut butter and jelly sandwich was, but took a bite of it anyways. The sandwiches contained in the prepackaged meals from the Poke Mart paled in comparison to the sandwiches that his mother made in both taste and size, but he had long since finished off those sandwiches.

Instead, he was left with a cheap substitute that had about a tenth of the flavor of a traditional sandwich and half the size. The bread was like cardboard and the stuff put inside the sandwiches was usually bland at best.

At least the meals had drink packets and chips to help get the main course down, although in hindsight he should have questioned why the meals were so cheap. Fifteen meals for one hundred dollars was unusual to say the least.

He glanced down at Aurora and smiled as he watched her devour her food. At least she was enjoying her meal.

The Alolan Vulpix peeked up at Ash from her dish and nudged the bowl closer to him almost as if to offer him a bite. He chuckled at the heartfelt gesture.

"I'm good." he laughed.

---

His trip through Viridian Forest was turning out to be just as disappointing as his meal. Getting to Pewter City was taking far longer than Ash wanted it to. He had hoped to arrive in Pewter in three days or less, but he was now on day four of traipsing through the forest.

He was definitely lost.

Ash lost the trail about halfway through the trip. The dense forest and vegetation erased all evidence of the trail's existence.

Worse yet, his backup plan of using his PokeNav to guide him through the forest wasn't an option. His device couldn't get a signal in the forest which rendered the device useless. Without signal provided from a cell tower, Ash was unable to pull up maps or use the GPS function as a guide.

His only real option at this point was to continue exploring the woods until he found the path or people that could point him to Pewter City and civilization.

Unless...

Ash smirked as his eyes settled upon the tall trees of the forest. Why hadn't he thought of that sooner? Higher ground would give him a better view of his surroundings and would potentially let him see the forest trails.

Ash looked up towards the tops of the trees and pursed his lips. The trees around him weren't any shorter than the ones he saw when he first arrived at the forest. A fall from that height would easily break bones, if not kill a person.

He had to find the right tree to climb.

Unfortunately, most of the trees around him couldn't be climbed without specialized gear. The trunks were just too wide. When climbing a tree the height of the trees of Viridian Forest, it was imperative to wrap your arms and legs around the tree to prevent falls – at least that was the technique, he and Gary used to use.

What Ash needed was a smaller tree that he could wrap his arms and legs around so he could climb up it without the use of gear. The trainer from Pallet Town scanned the forest briefly in search of the perfect tree.

Eyeing several maples with smaller trunks than the other trees, Ash darted over to the base of the tree to estimate its width. The trainer quickly wrapped his arms around the of one of the trees to see if the trunk was small enough to hang onto.

A maniac grin formed on Ash's face. The gnarled bark scraped his hands, but his arms fit around the trunk perfectly.

He had found the right tree.

The maples that had caught his eye were small but sturdy trees and had plenty of large limbs that he could rest at to prevent himself from getting tired.

It wasn't much different than some of the trees he had climbed when he was younger. Getting to the top would be a breeze.

Ash wrapped his arms and legs around the trunk of the tree and grunted as he pulled himself up the tree inch by inch. He was beginning to get an idea of what it was like to move like a Caterpie.

His muscles burned from exhaustion halfway into his climb. His hands were rubbed raw and his arms and legs were cramping.

Despite the pain, Ash doubled his efforts and climbed to the nearest branch. He sat down on the tree limb and hung his feet over the edge to take a break and let himself recuperate.

Ash gasped in awe at the view as he took a moment to take in the scenery. He wasn't even near the top of the tree yet, but just the height he was at made the world below look tiny.

He could finally see the peaks of the trees that had once seemed like giant skyscrapers. It made him wonder what the world looked like from space.

The trainer's excitement was short-lived after he made another discovery – he was not alone.

Ash's heart sank as he eyed several tan exoskeletons hanging on the tree bark further up on the tree. A grimace formed on his face and his urge to climb further up the tree completely disappeared.

Ash cursed under his breath as he looked around at the other maples and found the same tan exoskeletons hanging from the bark.

Why did I have to pick the trees with Kakuna?

What seemed like a great idea had deteriorated into one of the worst decisions that he had ever made. People that disturbed Kakuna had a death wish.

The slightest movement or the slightest sound could set them off into a frenzy and cause them to evolve into a furious swarm of Beedrill. Ash cursed under his breath again as he began the long climb down the tree.

He felt a lump form in his throat as he glanced down at the forest floor below and looked back up at the bug types hanging above him.

Climbing up and down a tree was tough enough when you knew that falling from the height could cause be possibly be a fatal mistake; however, knowing that the bug types above you could decide to attack at any second made the endeavor even more difficult.

A surge of adrenaline coursed through Ash's veins, giving him a second wind and helping him ignore his aching muscles. Inching his way back down the tree, Ash repeatedly looked up at the Kakuna partially expecting a swarm of Beedrill to emerge with each movement he made.

He grinned as he looked down and saw that he was almost back down on solid ground. He only had a good twenty yards or so to go. He only wished that he could dry his sweaty hands, as they were making it hard to grip.

Without warning, the world around Ash started to move in slow motion. It took him a moment for his mind to register what happened, but the moment it did he let out a sharp scream before landing on the forest floor with a loud thud.

Ash sputtered as he hit the ground.

Was he dying? Had his lungs collapsed from the fall? He couldn't even inhale the smallest breath of air. He couldn't possibly be dying, he hadn't fallen from very high up.

After thirty seconds of pure agony from lack of oxygen, Ash felt air rush back into his lungs. A smile formed on Ash's face from pure ecstasy. He could breathe again! The trainer let out a sigh of relief as he sat up and dusted himself off.

The simple task of breathing had never been so beautiful to Ash in his entire life. He mentally filed the incident away as another example of appreciating the mundane after it had been taken away.

His excitement was short-lived.

A bright flash of light up in the canopy of the maple trees caught his attention and caused his eyes to widen. The Kakuna that he had tried so hard to avoid disturbing were evolving, likely due to hearing his bloodcurdling scream during his fall. As the bug types emerged from their cocoons, the Beedrill glared down at Ash ready to eviscerate the intruder in their territory.

Ash cursed under his breath, his face contorting into a scowl.

The trainer from Pallet Town darted back towards his campsite to fetch his things and grab Aurora. He mentally scolded himself for climbing the trees. How he ever thought that anything good could come out of it astounded him.

He was lucky not to kill himself by falling from a higher height or disturb the Kakuna upon climbing up to the top.

Eyeing his campsite, Ash scooped up his trash, his sleeping bag, and Aurora's now apparently empty food dish. The trainer frantically stuffed the items into his backpack in a panic.

"Get up, Aurora, we gotta leave!" Ash exclaimed.

The ice type peeked up at the trainer and tilted her head in confusion, far too groggy to comprehend what was going on around her.

"There are Beedrill headed this way," Ash explained, motioning for her to follow him as he took off into the forest.

Aurora sprung up onto her feet at the mere mention of the bug types and followed her trainer.

In any other situation, Ash would have cared about the direction he was headed; but with a large cloud of insects on the horizon he couldn't afford to think about getting to Pewter City at the moment. The trainer frowned as he stepped over logs and pushed small tree limbs back as he headed into the thick vegetation of the forest.

He could barely walk with all the stumps, logs, and slippery leaves on the ground, let alone run. Peering back at the Beedrill, Ash grimaced as they seemed to be getting closer. He estimated that the swarm was only about a hundred yards away.

Ash and Aurora forced their way through the thick brush to try to escape the Beedrill. He clenched his fists as he tripped over a log and landed flat on his face.

He cursed under his breath. The forest was too dense to run through.

Aurora whimpered at him to see if he was okay.

"I'm fine," Ash assured her as he stood back up and dusted himself off.

He felt his heart sink. The Beedrill were too fast and there was too much vegetation to run through to escape. Their only real option was to fight back.

"We're going to have to fight them off!" Ash exclaimed. Skeptical of Ash's plan, Aurora tilted her head and looked at him doubtfully. "I don't think we have any other choice, there's no paths to use and the undergrowth is nearly impossible to walk through."

Aurora whimpered softly, acknowledging her trainer's point and looked up at the swarm inching towards them. Ash unconsciously dug his fingernails into his palms out of anxiety as he turned to face the Beedrill charging towards them.

He pointed up at the cloud of bug types and nodded to Aurora. The Alolan Vulpix took as much air into her lungs as she could possibly muster and expelled the air into the swarm in the form of powerful arctic gusts.

Unable to tolerate the freezing cold wind gusts, a large portion of the swarm made a U-turn and flew away as quick as they could. With the attacking force nearly cut in half, Aurora turned her focus on the remaining attackers and unleashed another burst of arctic air upon the charging bugs, thinning their numbers even further.

The remaining Beedrill charged forward with even more vigor as they fired off dozens of venomous barbs at Ash and Aurora, forcing both of them to take cover behind a tree.

"Aurora, Freeze-Dry!" Ash cried.

Leaping back into the fray, Aurora exhaled icy wind gusts at the remaining Beedrill and forced the bug types back. Aurora continued her counteroffensive against the bug types, repeatedly puffing out blast after blast of arctic air at the swarm.

One by one each of the would be attackers fled, unable to handle the chilling winds Aurora unleashed upon them. Before Aurora could dispel the few Beedrill left that were foolish enough to continue their charge, a bright orange flash resembling a meteor rushed past Aurora and towards the Beedrill.

Bright orange dust singed the remaining bug types' exoskeletons, causing the wounded Beedrill to retreat in fear of their attacker. The orange silhouette that had taken down the last few Beedrill proclaimed its victory with a triumphant whine and skidded to a halt as it turned to look at Ash.

He felt his heart skip a beat out of excitement. A young colt with a bright orange mane of fire trotted up to the trainer and held out its leg to the trainer. Ash could hardly believe what he was seeing.

While he wasn't surprised that he had encountered a Ponyta since Tobias had told him that the horses were passing through the forest, what he was surprised by was the events that had unfolded before him. Ponyta's actions were a one and in a million occurrence.

Wild Pokemon rarely intervened on the behalf of a stranger and wild Ponyta were even less likely to intervene. Wild Ponyta were untamed creatures that generally avoided contact with people.

Aurora eyed the colt suspiciously and growled at the fire type; but Ash quickly waved her off, knowing that the colt wasn't a threat.

Examining Ponyta's leg, the trainer blanched as he eyed a large red scar on the colt's leg. "How did you get that?" he muttered, pointing to the infected wound.

The colt brayed in reply and winced upon setting its leg back down on the ground. Ash flung his backpack onto the ground and unzipped the bag. Reaching around in the bag, Ash grasped for the potions stored in his backpack and pulled out the first one he could find in his bag.

"I've got something here that will help you with your injury. Would you like me to use it on your leg?" Ash asked, offering a potion to the colt.

The colt whined at Ash and held up its leg again, seemingly comprehending that Ash was trying to help it. Ash marveled at the level of intelligence and trust displayed by the colt. If Ash didn't know better, he would have thought that he was dealing with a Pokemon owned by a trainer.

"This might sting a bit and might be cold, but I promise it will help that wound." Ash muttered, hoping that talking to the colt would help it to remain calm.

Ash pressed the tab on the top of the potion bottle, causing a light mist of antiseptic infused with Ditto cells to rush out from the bottle onto the injury. Ponyta flinched and backed away from Ash, startled by the chill of the liquid on its skin.

"I know it's cold, but it will help disinfect the wound and the compounds in it will help your injury to heal faster." Ash reminded.

Ponyta whined at Ash, not at all convinced by the trainer's explanation after having the potion sprayed on his leg. Aurora yipped at the colt cheerfully and nudged the potion bottle with her nose in an attempt to help sell the fire type on using the potion. Reluctantly, Ponyta meandered over to Ash again and held out its leg again.

"Alright, we'll try that again; but you have to hold still this time." Ash laughed.

Ash pressed the small button on the top of the bottle again to release another light mist of antiseptic on the wound to disinfect it. Ash smiled at the colt before tucking the potion back into his backpack.

"See, all done!" Ponyta whined at Ash and shook like a wet Growlithe. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Ponyta stomped its hooves excitedly and sprinted in a large circle around Ash. Aurora ducked down and slapped the ground before chasing the colt, letting out an occasional playful bark as she chased the fire type.

Ash chuckled at their game.

The more he observed Ponyta, the more he liked the colt and the more he was convinced that Ponyta had to have a trainer. The fire type reminded him a little bit of Aurora in a way – Ponyta had a happy-go-lucky type of personality and a friendly disposition.

Ash reached for his Pokedex and aimed the tablet at the colt in hopes of getting more information about the fire type.

Ponyta, the fire horse Pokemon – Ponyta are typically weak at birth to the point where standing up is a difficult task. However, through galloping, their legs are made stronger and tougher. This Pokemon knows the moves Growl, Tackle, Tail Whip, Ember, Flame Charge, Swift, and Skull Bash; and is the male gender. This Pokemon has the ability Flash Fire, which negates fire type attacks.

Ash squinted and double checked to see if he had heard the list of attacks correctly. While he expected that Ponyta would know basic techniques like Growl, Tackle, Tail Whip, Ember, and even advanced techniques like Flame Charge, Ash was shocked to see that Ponyta knew Swift and Skull Bash.

Swift and Skull Bash weren't techniques that Ponyta generally knew, without extensive training or use of technical machines. Either Ponyta belonged to a trainer or the fire type had previously been owned by a trainer and had been released.

Ash figured that it wouldn't hurt to check.

Ponyta whinnied and skidded to a halt upon realizing that Aurora had stopped chasing him to catch her breath. Seeing that the two had stopped playing, Ash took the opportunity to talk to the fire type.

"Ponyta!" Ash called out, motioning for the colt to come over to him with his hand.

The fire type huffed slightly before darting towards Ash at full speed. The trainer from Pallet Town grimaced and held out his arms to try to halt the colt, partially expecting Ponyta to crash into him. Ponyta neighed loudly before planting his hooves in the ground to skid to a halt, mere inches away from Ash.

Finally catching her breath, Aurora followed suit and rushed over to Ash to see what he wanted. The ice type whimpered as she sat down beside Ponyta and tilted her head to glance up at Ash.

"Are you traveling in a group?" Ash asked, pausing briefly before further clarifying his statement. "You know, with other Ponyta and Rapidash."

Ponyta shook his head.

"Do you have a trainer?"

Ponyta winced and held his head down dejectedly, seemingly hurt by the question like the memories were painful for it to remember.

Ash frowned.

He was becoming more and more convinced of his theory that Ponyta had been released by a previous trainer. Ponyta's body language confirmed it.

"How would you like to travel with me and Aurora?"

The fire type whinnied and bounced around excitedly at the suggestion. Aurora whined out of excitement and bounced around in excitement before licking Ash's hand to demonstrate her approval of the plan.

He was a bit surprised, considering that Aurora had shown a bit of distrust towards Ponyta when the fire type first approached them; but whatever disdain she had for the colt had long since disappeared.

Ash grinned as he reached into his backpack in search of one of the Poke Balls he had stored in his backpack after purchasing several of the containment devices from the Viridian City Poke Mart.

"Alright, then it's settled, we'll all travel together!" Ash exclaimed as he continued to rummage through a wad of clothes and random objects he had thrown into his bag. He made a mental note that he would have to organize the contents of his backpack once he got to Pewter City.

The trainer held up the Poke Ball he found triumphantly as he pulled out one of the red and white orbs from his backpack. Pressing the button on the front of the Poke Ball, the capsule expanded to twice its normal size.

"You're probably familiar with this, but this is a Poke Ball – it's a stasis pod for Pokemon to rest in. When you touch this orb, you'll be pulled inside and be officially be registered as my Pokemon. In other words, you'll officially be one of the team!" Ponyta nodded in understanding as Ash set the orb down on the ground in front of the fire type.

Ponyta quickly accepted the offered Poke Ball and tapped the orb with one of his hooves, causing the device to pull the fire type into the orb. Ash watched intently as the red and white sphere wobbled back and forth repeatedly before a loud click indicated that the capture was complete.

Ash knelt down and grabbed the orb. A flash of crimson light shrouded Ponyta's silhouette as Ash tapped the button on the front of Ponyta's Poke Ball to release the fire type from stasis. Ponyta whinnied and bobbed his head at Ash to greet the trainer.

Ash smiled at Ponyta. "Now that you're part of the team, would you like a name?"

The fire type huffed at the question and narrowed his eyes as if to give the question some thought. After taking a few seconds to think, Ponyta bobbed his head excitedly and let out a cheerful whinny.

"Alright, let's see what I can come up with," Ash muttered.

Ash rubbed his chin in thought as he sorted through the names swirling around in his mind. He immediately dumped out all of the commonplace fire type names he could think of such as Firestorm or Pryo.

After taking several minutes to think of a name, Ash's eyes lit up as a name popped into his mind. "How about Orion?" Ash suggested. "If I remember correctly, Orion means mighty or mighty hunter, and also means son of fire."

Ponyta's eyes lit up and bobbed his head excitedly at the name choice.

"Orion it is," Ash grinned.

Aurora let out a cheerful yip to her new teammate and tapped him in the side with her icy nose.

"This is going to be great, the Pewter City gym leader won't even know what hit him! Between you and Orion, we'll get a gym badge for sure!" Ash exclaimed, thrusting his fist up in the air triumphantly.

With the adrenaline rush of making friends with another Pokemon wearing off and the realization that he was still lost returning to him, Ash's grin faded. The trainer from Pallet Town looked around at his surroundings and refocused on the situation at hand.

If Ash and his Pokemon were ever going to challenge the Pewter City gym leader, they would first have to get to Pewter City. Unfortunately, Ash had no idea how they were going to navigate their way through the maze that was Viridian Forest without a clear path to guide them through it and without the aid of his PokeNav.

He frowned. The only real choice that they had was to comb through every inch of the forest until they came across people or found a distinguishable trail.

At least he had good traveling companions by his side to make the trip a little more tolerable.