I was opening my fridge when I had a thought. The Summer Camp just ended, why did I make him have an English essay homework when the school year just started?
Then I remembered, Kanto's in Japan. The school year is from April to March, there's the summer break from July to August about a month long, and another break over the winter. They give homework to kids over the summer break all the time so that they don't forget the stuff they did in the first term.
Yeah, remembering to do your summer homework is one way to end any weird time-related issues. Even brain farts like this. That's nice.
(November 27, 2023) - Edits done. Next chapter is about 3000 words in. That's all, thanks.
"…I'm gonna be giving you a very practical endurance test. No more games, just you, me, and a whole lotta electricity. Hell, I'm even gonna start counting!" Pichu shouted, pushing in as much energy as he possibly could into his attack.
Ash watched in horror as large beams of electricity sparkled around Pichu. The energy slowly morphed into a massive, nigh primal, and monstrous recreation of the electric mouse. An aura of pure evil and malice was permeating around its features.
"I hope you're ready for this!" Pichu practically screamed manically.
Despite the casual tone in his voice, comparable to innocent banter between friends, there was a very menacing feel to him. Sparks continued to coalesce, going back into the thing floating above him.
Ash's face, despite being covered in fur, seemed to turn paler and paler. His eyes, turned into pinpricks, as the boy's heart raced to scramble for anything, absolutely anything that could bring him safe haven.
His eyes shot to his mother. Her face was seemingly nonchalant despite the demonic caricature of the Pokemon before them. She seemed to be more focused on her cellular than anything else.
Now out of options, Ash started looking around in a panic. He could tell that Pichu remained determined to maim him, but he still thought he could get through to him. The goal was: avoid conflict, and maybe keep himself alive.
"N-Now Pichu, don't be so hasty…! We can figure something out, I'm sure we can. There's no need for things to degenerate into wanton violence like this!" Ash shouted back, his feet shivering, fear plain in his eyes.
For a moment, Pichu stopped pouring energy into his attack, and the sparks stopped circulating the room. The Zorua in front of him dared to believe and dared to hope. "P-Pichu? You s-stopped!" Ash excitedly replied, looking around the room as he slowly calmed down.
Unfortunately for him, Pichu kept his course. His face turned into a weary smile, even as he rolled his eyes.
"I already told you. You'll get used to it!" A deafening pause. "Eventually."
The sparks started up for the second time. Ash's eyes widened even more, and he ran out of the bedroom not a moment later.
The silvery white fox scrambled around the laboratory complex, jumping into places like the restroom, the back door, and the lounge. But for whatever reason, he kept running back into the bedroom. He could see the monstrosity of a Pichu above the mouse getting bigger, and bigger.
The charge-up felt like it would have taken an eternity. And Ash just waited for the end in quiet acceptance.
With one last spark, the bolt of lightning shot up from Pichu flew up to the sky, and went back down to him.
His vision turned black.
And he did not wake.
Ash woke up with a start.
He shot up, shaking off the charred fur and dust matting his features. He shivered and looked all around him for the monster that put him down. For a moment, he thought he was still in the laboratory, but the room was in was… pretty familiar.
The sound of shuffling alerted him to someone on the other side of the couch. It was a woman, humming a tune, watching a TV show of some kind. It sounded like some kind of variety show. Ash walked over to her side.
He looked up, noticing that his mother was busy knitting a sweater. In the middle of August. For some reason. That part confused him a lot, but that wasn't the real pressing issue at the moment.
He blinked. "I'm home? When did that happen?" His yips and barks alerted the older woman to Ash shuffling around the floor.
"Oh, Ash, you're finally awake! When Pichu knocked you out a few hours earlier, you got so tuckered out I was afraid you wouldn't wake up till a day later." She stood up, putting her sewing kit and unfinished sweater on the coffee table.
"Come on, I'll whip up your dinner for the evening. I got Pokemon food for young fox Pokemon, the Professor handed it to me before we left for the day." Her smile was weary. "Something meant for Fennekin and Zorua, mind. They're pretty common back in Kalos, so their experts made something specialized for them."
Delia Ketchum nodded at him, then stood up to walk away.
Alarmed, the Zorua ran in front of her before she could leave. The confused mother tried to move around him, but he kept her from moving either of her legs.
"…Ash?" Delia asked questioningly.
Ash yipped.
Nodding, he sat down, offering his mother a hand. Delia Ketchum crouched down and sighed, picking up the Zorua by the two of his front paws.
"Alright, Ash. What's the problem this time?" She gave him back a smile.
Ash barked back twice, and a wave of energy formed above his head.
It slowly morphed into the image of a question mark, then into a bandage, then finally a caricature of a Pichu head with pointy, devilish horns. Ash barked again, his foxy mug waiting in anticipation, tail wagging furiously.
Delia Ketchum stared back. Her brows furrowed. It took another moment later for her to realize what he was asking for.
She sighed. She massaged the space between her eyebrows, then picked him up. Walking over to the dinner table, she set him down on the other end from her plate, thinking for a moment about where she should start her story.
"Well, Ash! Here's what you missed." She began, washing her hands, and going back to pick up a pet bowl from one of the cabinets.
"It all started after Pichu knocked you out cold…" She narrated, and the Zorua sat down, tail wagging, listening in anticipation.
When Ash fainted from Pichu's Thunder attack just the day before, his mother was busy treating his wounds. He didn't wake up until a few hours later.
By then, he was already at home with his human body on the couch, which is where we left off.
Supposedly, the amount of damage he sustained was enough to burn a tiny bit of fur above his left eye, an injury his mother believed to be enough to scar him for the rest of his life. When told this information, Ash reflexively put a paw over that same brow, feeling the freshly healed flesh, matted and dry.
The satisfied Pichu, attempting to leave, got interrupted by Daisy Oak running in with a pair of Pokemon. She brought them out, and Pichu faced possible imminent death.
After Pichu was sufficiently cowed by the combined threat of Gothitelle and Rhydon, he was made to sit down on a chair while the two Pokemon kept watch. Daisy took a photo of Pichu on the chair, and sent through a messaging app on Delia Ketchum's cellphone.
Delia opened up her phone to show the image to Ash.
In it, Pichu was frowning and crossing his arms, remaining visibly tense. Daisy's Pokemon were posing next to him. Rhydon had a peace sign over the chair, and Gothitelle had a thin smile.
He couldn't help but chuckle. It was a piercing, shrill laugh.
Moving on, while Pichu was kept under watch, Delia Ketchum saw an opportunity. Remembering what Professor Oak did earlier, she went through the same mental crisis he went through for the briefest of moments, and recovered on the spot. She decided after that moment to chuck his fox kit son inside of his human body.
And, somehow, he phased through, miraculously staying inside. The two women excitedly stopped what they were doing, and ran towards the bed to wake him up. But just a few scant seconds later, the Zorua rolled off, and they could've sworn his human body stopped breathing the moment it happened.
A confused Delia picked him up and put him back in again. A few more seconds, and he rolled off his body for the second time. She did it two more times before she just palmed her face, gave up, and walked home with her son in tow.
When she arrived, she tried slapping both of his son's faces.
After she did, she took note of the fact that Ash's face turned into a grimace. She already knew he was getting a nightmare, the fact that he kept running away and he made increasingly desperate groans of frustration, but she didn't budge or try to make him wake up. Mostly because she wasn't able to.
She pulled out her phone, texted a message to the Professor's phone, and made the decision to toughen her son up by trial through combat…
Delia grinned. Ash couldn't think of anything to respond to her with.
"…And that's why we agreed to start training you tomorrow! I was going to tell you that first thing in the morning instead, but I guess telling you now would've been a better idea so that you could mentally prepare yourself a little better." Delia rubbed the back of her head awkwardly.
She stuck her tongue out, and made a sound that vaguely sounded like "tehepero".
Ash's face grew more and more perplexed, especially since his mother started acting out a bit like she wasn't about a decade too old for that archetype.
Despite half of his face being covered in a fur scarf, Delia Ketchum swore he made the same confused face he made when he got stuck on a math problem. She quietly didn't voice that part, however.
When all that ended, he quietly continued eating his dinner. Then, he climbed up the stairs, and into his bedroo, and found his body sleeping face down. The head was slightly ajar to allow him to properly breathe, sure, but… Really.
Rolling his eyes, he jumped on top of himself and then went back to sleep. He was mildly disappointed when he didn't wake up inside of his human body the next morning.
He mulled over the fact that they were going to bring him outside to train him. Primarily to maybe find a way to get inside of his body on his own, but also to train him up for battle. He noted that Zorua and Zoroark were never known for their defensive capabilities, but it never hurt to keep himself battle-ready in case he needed to be out in the field or whatever.
Especially in case, his semi-homicidal rat friend decided to attack him again. His mom was insistent on that before they went out, and he couldn't blame her. He got knocked out for several hours, after all.
They didn't want him getting permanent damage because of that.
On a warm and sunny Sunday, a silver-white fox was sitting on a bench under a large open-air pavilion. A collar was on his neck and a bandage on his forehead, bits of scar poking out. The pavilion was outside Professor Oak's laboratory, on the ranch near a field. Outside, high in the sky, a white ghastly figure floated around, bringing with it chilly air wherever it went.
This big shed was previously in severe disrepair and planned for demolition. However, some recent events transpired that convinced the professor to do some quick renovations like a quick coat of paint and some cleaning. He had to, considering the impromptu usage of the building for his granddaughter's use, especially since its proximity to the small training field in the ranch made it useful for spectators to hang around in.
Daisy kept the place close to her heart and mind. It used to be a regular place of gathering when she was younger, and she certainly had enough of it looking so dingy compared to the rest of the town. With permission from her grandfather, they went ahead and started restoring it.
Daisy Oak was still there, of course, doing some cleanup in the rectangular field just next to it. She was wearing a pair of daisy dukes and a crop top she kept around for the hell of it and was currently cleaning up the field which moonlighted as an arena if a situation called for it.
Accompanying her was her Rhydon, holding an umbrella to keep her shaded. He was wearing sunglasses. They were fitted slightly bigger to fit on his profile.
As for the fox himself…
Next to him was a boy was sleeping on a reclining chair, baseball cap over his face and his hands over his chest. If you didn't know the context, you'd have thought the boy was dead. The way he didn't seem to breathe at all, and the pale pallor of his skin reflected that conclusion fairly handily.
And, well, in a way, you would be right.
Ash Ketchum, still a Zorua, sat still on the chair, panting heavily over the absurd humidity outside that day. An electric fan at maximum speed attempted to fan away the heat to no avail. He figured that his fur was nice to play around in the comfort of his home and laboratory, both regularly air-conditioned, but the limitations of having a Pokemon body more acclimated to the colder Sinnohan climate transferred over to a warmer locale were showing. Worse yet, it was the middle of summer still.
While he was excited to start training, Ash was slightly concerned at first about people just barging in all of a sudden. When he asked, making a rudimentary illusion of a stick figure kicking open a door illustrating his question, both adults pointed to a massive sign stating that the Oak Ranch was private property. It was also warning that any trespassers would be at risk of either grave bodily harm, or a lawsuit. Mostly lawsuits, though.
The bodily harm wouldn't be done by the staff, of course, rather it would be the Pokemon. There were a lot. A good chunk of them were owned by the Professor, leftovers from his tenure as League Champion, and some more from people the Professor sponsored.
Most of them usually found a different storage provider to handle their Pokemon storage later in their career. That's because there were pretty strict limitations going around to accommodate all of the sponsored trainers. But in the meantime, a very large population of dangerous, highly trained Pokemon ran around the laboratory, ready at a moment's notice in case some idiot decided to barge in.
Anyroad, Ash wasn't sure who or what to blame for his current temperature problems. Well, actually, he did, it was probably his thick coat of fur. The same fur he was currently shedding by the truckload, thin sheets of white covering the wooden floorboards.
He didn't want to blame them, he liked it. It was soft and fluffy. Shedding it did cool him down a bit while it fell off, though, despite being visibly being a certain kind of hell to clean up later. Small glories, he supposed.
There wasn't much they could do about it, he supposed. He muttered under his breath that at least they didn't live in any of the big cities. Akiba was nice, but all the cars and the smoke made him feel like collapsing on the spot.
Just a few days ago, according to the weather forecast, the worst of the summer heat wave should have ended already. That was true enough. He noticed that the midday wasn't as hot as before. That didn't mean the summer heat wave would end just yet, however. Some part of him even believed that if he left the saucer in front of him out in the sun, the water would start boiling.
Though he didn't hate the concept, he hated being covered in this much fur. He wasn't sure if regular Zoruas or Zoroarks grew coats for the winter and shed them over the spring, but it was clear that the Hisuian Zorua he currently seemed to have no capacity to shed said winter coat. It sucked.
The fact that the other Pokemon running around seemed to handle the heat much better than him made him feel inadequate, to say the least. Pichu was outside, too. He saw him walk into the forest earlier that morning a little forlorn, then came back a bit more confident.
He was following after Daisy. The mouse ran over to her while he was busy fanning away the heat. Perhaps it was to make amends, and Pichu seemed to be handling the heat even better than he was. Not a single movement was wasted despite several rays of light pointing directly down at him.
Pichu dropped down for a moment to pick up a bottle of water from the icebox, then paused, his head slowly facing the shed.
Noticing Ash staring, Pichu waved back with an awkward smile. Ash shook his head in acknowledgment, smiling at Pichu wryly. With such a response, Pichu rolled his eyes back at him, then went back to helping Daisy put down the fencing.
He picked up a piece of wood, keeping it vertical with some quick help from Rhydon. Then he jumped and slammed down on the post several times, embedding it deeply down the ground.
He did this several more times. It was a process that wasn't as quick as Rhydon's, however, who simply had to push the cuts of wood down with a fist. Nonetheless, his presence was felt all the same. From what he could wager, he was probably getting really good exercise for his leg and abdominals.
"Good for him." Ash supposed. Then it all fell apart in the blink of an eye.
Not a moment later, Pichu botched one of the jumps. Falling face first, his head was buried in a mound of dirt and sand. Pichu's legs twitched, as he tried to push himself out to no avail. It took a few more moments before Rhydon noticed the issue at hand, then gingerly pulled him out of the ground.
Several beads of sweat fell down Daisy's face as she looked at Pichu's mud-covered features in exasperation. The same went for Ash, whose mouth was open and agape.
As an aside, Ash certainly had other things to keep his mind off the oven-like heat if Pichu kept this act up. He'd have entertainment for years.
Stifling a giggle, he sighed.
As Ash lapped on the saucer of cold water, ice cubes floating atop, his eyes drifted back to the unconscious body lying on the reclining chair. Its temperatures were steadily cool despite not a lick of sweat dripping down from it, a supernatural cool permeating around it. It was rather uncanny, seeing himself like this.
He'd become oddly used to the sight of his human body at this point. And the whole idea of being a Pokemon on the inside was something he had adapted to very quickly. Terrifyingly so if he preferred to be frank about it.
This is part of why being near himself, knowing that he couldn't just jump back in for the sake of it, was making him very irritable. The fact that the leash his body was holding onto led back to his collar made it worse. It made him feel like a pet.
This, the leash, was all as if to insinuate that Ash was the pet while also being the owner at the same time. A rather rudimentary, if ineffectual, way to stop people from asking any questions while he practiced outside. The fact that he was still an incredibly rare variant of an already rare species meant the questions wouldn't stop anyway was the unsaid statement.
He was pretty unamused, to say the least.
On second thought, maybe it was just the portable air conditioner next to his body. It was deliciously cold, but maybe too cold, somehow. He wanted to jump off and run over to himself to cool down, but that would have meant walking through the parts of the pavilion that weren't being cooled down.
Especially the bits covered in tile. They hurt. They retained far too much. He was still hurting down in his paws.
But on the other hand…
Ash looked at the figure beside his body, a floating, stark white Pokemon with kimono sleeve-like hands. It was slowly breathing out cold air, creating tiny snowflakes in the atmosphere. The figure floated over to a nearby table, picking up a tray with refreshments, and very swiftly distributed it to Daisy and the Pokemon outside.
Watching it return, he thinks of its presence here. This Froslass that Agatha lent the Professor for one reason or another. Her aura decreased the temperature near the air conditioning unit to almost tundra levels, which would also explain the frost on the floorboards. He wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not.
The important-looking Pokemon League guy with a cape and red hair who was delivering her Pokeball seemed nonchalant about it. He rode on a Dragonite that looked and felt fiercer than the one hanging out around the lab, and the message he sent was along the lines of a personal request from the woman herself.
Ash might have also overheard the cape guy talking about his "condition" in the background while they spoke with Professor Oak. Which meant Miss Agatha relayed the information to someone else in the League, and probably some of the other Elites.
To keep an eye on him, he heard, especially when he would start traveling in the next few years. That was somewhat comforting. On the other hand, also a little foreboding.
As for the Froslass, she was still bouncing around gleefully despite the intense heat piercing through the atmosphere. For a species known for being pretty reclusive, she seemed very outgoing. Asked around for some things, details on where Pokemon would rest, and other stuff like that.
The fox stretches a little, spreading his body as much as possible to push as much air around himself. He sighs, muttering in disbelief. "I still can't believe I have to wait here till Daisy's finished prepping the field. Couldn't she have left me inside till she finished setting it up? She said that she'd be done in about half an hour, but it's well past that and she's still putting up those fence posts..."
Ash panted, looking jealously at the air conditioning unit. "Besides, it's barely been past 8 AM. Why the hell is it so hot already…?"
He mustered the strength to form an illusionary paper fan, but it broke as soon as he tried to will it to fan him down. He groaned in frustration.
The Froslass seemed to notice him staring and chuckled to herself. She beckoned to Ash with a voice that sounded educated yet cheerful. "Ah, Master Ash. Hop on over, there's plenty of room for the both of you."
Both of you, of course, referring to him and the 'him' currently bearing the full brunt of the AC. If he was still in his body, he'd probably be shivering. As it is, the Zorua seemed to take this offer bashfully.
He could swear that Froslass rolled her eyes when he muttered a quick denial, but it was too quick a movement for him to tell when his gaze wasn't focused on her. "I'll be fine. Really. I-I think they really should've left me both inside the lab till they finished, but I'm just going to stay around till they're done."
Froslass tutted and floated over to where Ash was. "Now now, Mistress Agatha told me to watch you over while I was here. And didn't they already say they had to bring your body over to make sure there weren't any destabilizations?
"And I say this once again, you will be one of my wards. You needn't feel so bashful around other ghost Pokemon. I've had to guide other Pokemon through their newly acquired supernatural nature, in the past many a time, and you will- rather, are no exception." She floated around, a humming sound as she kept her gaze on Ash.
"Your situation is rather unique among Ghost-type Pokemon, mind you, having the capacity to be fully alive and dead at the same time. It's a rather strange occurrence, but I believe I have the experience needed to push you through it."
She slowly approached Ash's body, shuffling it with some energy on her hand and some quick uses of Poltergeist. His body didn't twitch, he noticed. It had no breathing, almost no pulse, and yet it was alive all the same.
"I have to say, when I first heard it from my trainer, I couldn't believe it myself." Froslass took a brief moment to think. "While I have heard cases of Ghost-type Pokemon possessing living creatures at least briefly, I'd never seen someone actively require the presence of a Ghost-type Pokemon to be animated."
She floated over to the bench where Ash was sitting and closed the fan despite his protests. Lifting the fox boy, he kicked and wriggled around her grasp, to no avail. "She would be rather cross if one of her 'new research projects' hurt himself in any meaningful way while I was here. So I would certainly appreciate your cooperation while I keep both of your temperatures low."
For the sake of proving her point, she decided to put her hand over his forehead to test for his temperature. "Hmm. No fever. Do you mind coughing up for a brief moment, Master Ash?" Ash rolled his eyes but complied.
Somehow, Froslass snapped her fingers. "Ah, no sore throat either. 'Tis good to see that not a single malady slipped mine or Mistress Daisy's touch. Very well then." She nodded.
She dropped him over the reclining chair, the Zorua recoiling over his body's stomach. Ash glares up briefly at Froslass, then begins walking around in a circle before lying down.
Even if he did enjoy this position more, he wouldn't vocalize it. He had his pride.
As he did, Froslass waited in anticipation.
A few moments later, she was still staring at him. Ash had to ask…
"Why are you still staring at me?" Ash asked.
Froslass blinked back. "Would this not be the part where you go back inside of your body? I'd heard from my superiors that you were capable of such a thing just the day prior, so I wasn't sure why you seemed hesitant to return."
Mouth open, he took a moment to process the question before awkwardly chuckling to himself. "Ah, aha, right. That." His eyes focused on something unimportant in the background.
"…I don't know how to do that yet. They have to force me inside to make it work, but it's a little unstable. The Professor picked me up all of a sudden then I felt a lot slipperier and stuff, then he pushed me back in." He looked down.
"Yesterday when the Professor tried, I started smelling some spicy curry outside, sneezed pretty hard then I popped out. If that makes any sense." From there, Ash's expression was sheepish.
Froslass's face lit up in understanding. "Ah, very well then. I suppose that's just one of the things we'll have to work around in the near future." She floated down, sitting on one of the arms of the chair.
"…Now that I think about it, why didn't you just point the air conditioner so that it would hit both me and me on this lawn chair? It probably wouldn't hurt me that much, especially with that thing on." Ash's eyes seemed to drift towards the bench he was on earlier, and the electric fan especially.
Froslass tilted her head, reading the subtext. "If you're insinuating that I allowed you to stay in that bench with both the electric fan and air conditioner pointed at you, I would like to point out that the electrical bills have become increasingly prohibitive as of late. You and I wouldn't wish that kind of stress on the Oak family, correct?"
His eyes widened, and then he looked down apprehensively. "Oh… Oh yeah, right. Sorry, I didn't think about that. I might've been just a little too excited."
Froslass huffed and smiled appreciatively. "No offense taken. That you're at the point where you understand the consequences of your actions means that you're already more mature than most of your peers."
She leaned in closer to him, a hand cupped near his ears. "That rare quality of yours is something to be proud of, paradoxical as it may sound. So allow me to be proud of you instead."
His ears shot up, stars in his eyes. His mouth opened. "R-Really? Oh man, that means a lot, I never got those kinds of compliments back at school. Sounding more mature, huh… A-And being mature means looking a lot older and stuff to other people, then they'd start treating me more like a grown-up, then that would mean… Ah."
Ash realized that he was rambling. Within seconds, his face was flushed, and he pointed his head down on the floor.
"Ah, erm…" He muttered under his breath. "I should be humble, mom told me to be humble… Mom always told me to practice humility around other people. Even if they start complimenting me and stuff. That way, I wouldn't get as big of a head as Gary does during a bad day, and I'd look a little better around our relatives from abroad…"
The frost spirit shook her head. "Ah, come now. That's nothing to be ashamed of either." She gestured to her mouth. "You're still a growing lad, and you'll learn important things as you go every day. The least you could do is understand the limits of your human nature."
She ruffled his head, despite his displeasure. Her hand circled and circled, then it focused on his forehead. With a quick flick, she poked his forehead. Ash glared back but went back to sulking not a moment later.
"I guess…" He muttered. She continued fondly petting him.
Sounds of a megaphone being tested echoed outside of the shed. The two Pokemon looked out into the sunny weather. There, Daisy stood, holding a megaphone with her right hand.
"Hey Ash, come on out! The battlefield prep's over, we can start training you now!" Daisy grinned, waving a notebook she was holding in her other hand. It was green, and the colors were heavily faded through the years.
"This training manual is pretty awesome… I'm surprised I never found it the first time around! Some pretty cool training tips, to-dos, what-not-to-dos, exercises to keep your Pokemon ready all the time, and so on. I know the technical stuff sounds boring, but believe me, these are going to end up helping you a lot!"
"That's because those were my old training notes, Daisy! Don't tear off any of the pages, Daisy, I beg of you!" Professor Oak shouted from the laboratory, exasperation in his voice. "I get that the pages aren't in the best of shape, but you don't expect yellowed pages to live through most of the stuff you put your Pokemon through in the first place!"
Daisy's mouth slowly opened, and she giggled. With a quick teehee, she shouted back at him. "Don't worry, Grandpa! We'll take good care of it!"
She gave Ash a side look. She whispered, knowing that his enhanced hearing would probably hear it. "We probably won't, this thing feels like it'll fall apart at any moment. I swear, the way things are going, it almost feels like it's made out of scrap paper. Well, I mean, I guess, but you get the idea." Shrugging, she chuckled to herself.
Then she winked.
Rhydon, standing beside her and still holding the parasol, palmed his face. He made several gestures that were probably supposed to say something. It was most likely along the lines of exasperation and fond annoyance.
"Maybe you could end up using some of these training tips on your own Pokemon journey! Ain't that right, Pichu?" She gestured to her feet. The yellow mouse Pokemon nodded furiously.
Ash looked up at Froslass. She smiled, and with a quick flick of the switch, she turned off the air conditioning. She picked up the fox Pokemon, still irritated by her rough handling, and they both floated outside.
Daisy, just about finished with her work, wiped her brow with a towel. She curtly accepted a cool water bottle from Froslass floating over next to her and patted the suffering fox Pokemon on the head. He dropped down and sat down while panting.
"Okay, Ash. Go over there on that side of the field." She pointed at the side of the field bordered by a forested area. "Don't worry about the weather. I had the foresight to ask Miss Froslass here to use Snowscape over the arena. She should be starting it up right about… Now."
Froslass's eyes glowed with an ethereal energy as the parted clouds above them fused. Vapor from the atmosphere coalesced into steam floating into the sky. A dark cloud materialized above them, the newly formed nimbostratus slowly pitter-pattering a steady stream of snow and ice.
"It should cool you down a bit. And as it turns out, she's experienced enough at using it that you don't need to worry about the weather patterns getting screwed over." Daisy hummed.
"I was going to ask her to use Hail at first, but it turns out she already knows how to use Snowscape. Means we get to avoid the hurty little bits of ice falling from the sky. Isn't that right?" Daisy looked expectantly at Froslass floating next to her, maintaining the cool weather with both arms pointed at the sky.
Froslass slowly faced Daisy, and shrugged, returning to her focus immediately after.
"Huh. Woman of a few words, I see." Daisy nodded. "Oh well. Either way, you can see the clouds she's forming are only big enough to cover the arena and a little bit of the shed behind us. Pretty neat, eh?"
True enough, the gray clouds floated above the sky, dripping snowflakes slowly but surely. They slowly began covering the dirt and grass with a thin layer of white. The clouds covered a small amount of land area, kind of like when a cloud close to the surface floated above you and a big shadow formed below it, except the cloud wasn't moving this time around.
The sun pierced through the cloud nonetheless, but its effects weren't as notable anymore. It was rather surreal to see the summer sun at the same time as feeling the chilling cold of a winter morning, but it wasn't a bad kind of surreal.
Ash liked it this way. It was way better than dealing with the heat wave, at least. If Ash had to estimate, it was about as cool as the air conditioner back home in the living room on a low setting. Which was to say, comfortably cool.
He ran over to the other end instantly, his mood improving slightly.
Daisy grinned, and it seemed she finished patting herself dry. She snapped her fingers, twirling around, and she suddenly changed back into her usual green dress using a party trick she learned back at school.
Coughing into her fist, she pointed towards the end of the arena closest to her.
"And Pichu, go over there." Pichu obliged, going into fours and vanishing into the other side. "…And of course you had to show off, huh." Daisy sighed.
Breathing in, Daisy shouted. "Hey, Pichu! What was that?" She looked at the yellow rat sitting down next to her. Pichu, blinked, and tilted his head towards her.
"I mean like, the move you just did. What did you do to run over to that side, anyway? Was it, uh, Extreme Speed?" Daisy asked with a hint of sarcasm. Pichu shook his head.
Daisy furrowed her brow. "Uh huh. That… Wasn't? Really? That doesn't make any sense, that looked like any other Extreme Speed I've seen before. Does that mean you did like a souped-up Quick Attack or something?" And Pichu nodded to that instead.
Daisy released the breath she was holding in. She put her hand against her face, feeling her skin stretch as she slowly pushed it down. "Of course Grandpa ended up catching the one Pichu that turned out to be the overkill specimen of its family… Ah, whatever. We can discuss this another time."
Shrugging it off, she walked over to Ash's side of the arena, ruffling his head when she arrived. Ash was looking at her quizically, but didn't make any other reaction otherwise. There, she stood waiting, leaning against one of the posts.
Pichu raised his eyebrow, then shrugged himself. Pichu didn't seem to notice the implicit worry in her face, however, and started doing some workout prep right on the spot. Some stretches, squats, and a few quick backflips.
Ash noticed him doing it and did his best to imitate him. It's rather difficult to do squats while being quadruped and equipped with stubby legs. But hey, he was going to try anyway.
For the record, you can imagine a Zorua plush trying to stand up. It was pretty adorable.
"Hi, Ash." A pause. "I figured that was your name, right? Heard it from the lady friend over there a few times when we were cleaning up this field."
A moment later, he awkwardly added. "Sorry about kicking your butt yesterday. Might've felt a little too fired up, in hindsight. Bit rash of me to do that, considering how young you are."
Again, what went unsaid was the fact that both were about the same age.
A weak smile reached Ash's lips. "…Hi Pichu. Yeah, it is. If you're wondering, I don't have any hard feelings. I wouldn't hesitate to punch myself either if I heard that sort of junk from someone." A grimmer smile crawled into his mouth. "Especially if they were also me."
Ash sulked afterward, but there was an air of self-deprecating satire in his tone.
Pichu's face was concerned over the way Ash worded it, but was relieved, nonetheless. "Yeah, I guess you would. Seems like the kind of person to."
An awkward beat.
Ash looked around the surrounding area. He raised a brow. "My mom left already, didn't she? I thought she would've wanted to stick around and watch me fight. She's usually pretty strict in keeping me safe and stuff."
Pichu's face turned back Ash's way. "Yeah, your… mom, already left. Last I heard, she went home to clean some stuff at your place, then she'll come back to pick you up after lunch or something. Close to that, at least."
"Oh. Okay, I guess that would make sense." Ash began readying himself in what he thought was a decent battle-ready stance.
Daisy clapped her hands. The tension between the two of them lifted momentarily as the two waited expectantly for her. "Are you two boys ready? Alright, we can get started!"
"The rules of engagement are this. One of you two will act like a wild Pokemon that's itching for a fight, and the other will pretend to be a starter Pokemon fresh out of a lab." Her mouth went to a frown. "…That technically describes Ash and Pichu respectively, but uh. Well, let's pretend that it goes the other way around."
The looks of vexation from the Pokemon on opposite sides were palpable, but she just put them in the back of her mind.
"I don't think I'm all that good at Pokemon battles and stuff since I gave up the tournament circuit after about 2 and a half years, but I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. So I'll be Ash's 'trainer' for this spar."
"Ash is technically an uncaptured Pokemon at the moment. We'll probably figure something to fix that issue later since we wouldn't want him getting caught or anything…" She paused, cupping her chin as a scenario played in her mind."…Butfor now, I'll be giving him orders. Pichu over there can play things out like he was the wild Pokemon. Which means mostly improvising and figuring stuff out.
She made a scathing face, glaring over at Pichu. "All I'm asking is that you hold back a bit. I don't want you hurting him any more than you have to. Please."
Rhydon shouted over in Pichu's direction. When Pichu looked over at him earlier, he was sweeping the grass, but now his fist was curled up. Then without missing a beat, he went back
Pichu rolled his eyes. "…Yeah, got it. Low accuracy moves, low power moves in general, and Thunder Shocks. Gotcha. I really shouldn't be able to use most of the moves I've got under my belt anyway, but it's not like you needed to know that."
Ash blinked. "What do you mean by that?"
Pichu waved him off. "Nothing you need to know, Ash. Just some stuff to keep in mind, I guess."
Daisy stared.
Pichu groaned, and he beat his chest. "And hold back the entire time. Right. I swear on it." Raising his hand, he made an impromptu pledge.
Still staring at the mouse, she finally sighed.
"I don't know what you just said, but I certainly hope you got the gist. I'm just asking you to let Ash go first no matter how fast you actually are since he's still new to this thing… And I'm pretty sure actual Pokemon battles are gonna be a lot faster than this either way, so..."
She waved it off. "Ah, whatever. Anyways, we can start! Ash, do a…" Daisy's mind went into a blank. She sighed.
"Wait, what do you even know to use, anyway? Grr…" She sat down and pulled out another pocketbook from her bag. Swipping through the pages, she found one full of moves that a Zorua should be able to use, from birth to evolution.
"I know that you can use Scratch, you broke open the wall last time because of that. The issue, of course, is that you're a Normal-Ghost type according to all those old notes, meaning we can't use this thing one-to-one. Hmm…"
"Uhh… Ash use Leer?" Daisy ordered Ash, reluctantly. The Zorua blinked, his eyes glazing over as they turned red. He then instinctually glared at Pichu.
The mouse parried the Leer. Somehow.
Pichu followed his move with a Tail Whip, approaching Ash and flapping the stubby black tail on Ash's face enough to lower his guard. He seemed to have kept some of the dirt earlier still as the tail batted some dust clouds into Ash's face, making him sneeze. The annoyed Ash looked back at Daisy for her next command.
"Huh, so I guess you do." She shuffled through even more of the page, turning another leaf. Her head shot up. "How about… Torment? That could be a pretty good move, right…?"
Nodding to herself, she shouted at Ash. "Okay, Ash! Come on, use Torment!"
Ash stared back at her. Then he blinked, his mouth popping open.
A few seconds later, he started shouting several expletives over at Pichu, some words that he wasn't even aware of before spitting them out. A cartoony speech bubble with angry tick marks and illegible text floated above him, though Daisy wasn't sure if Torment always looked like that, or if Ash's case was just special since he learned how to use his Illusions like that.
She nodded along, nonetheless.
The confused Pichu was rather perturbed by the long string of oaths that he almost forgot a detail. Torment was supposed to stop him from being able to use the same move consecutively, and feeling the numbness on his tail when he wanted to Whip it on Ash again seemed to do exactly the trick.
It was a weird mental block, and Pokemon moves were weird. What a surprise. Sighing, Pichu Charged up instead, energy floating around him and filling him with power.
While Pichu was busy giving him a side-eye, Ash had a sheepish, especially apologetic look.
"So you used Charge, huh… Alright, that works out! Should keep him from spamming the same move over and over. Makes it easier to keep an eye on his attack patterns." She then looked down at her book again and frowned.
"Only up to Hone Claws when he's young like this… I guess we can figure things out as we go. I would ask you to use Shadow Ball, but I'm pretty sure you don't know how to use that at the moment…"
The confused look on Ash's face seemed to confirm her suspicions.
"Yeah, fair enough. Okay, Ash, use Hone Claws!" She ordered him.
Ash's paws glowed as spectral claw marks sharpened his claws around the air. In response, Pichu ran close to him, Nuzzling him with static electricity.
"Ack! W-What was t-that?" Ash stammered past the feeling of stiffness all around his body.
"That was Nuzzle, Ash. A secret technique we cute electric forest critters use to Paralyze other Pokemon in an instant." Pichu jeered. "You'd be helpless in a real combat situation, you know. And that's why I'm here to help train you."
Ash gritted his teeth, feeling the electricity bouncing around his mouth like tiny needles.
She shouted at him. "Our game plan's to set up a little bit then hit him with a volley of Scratches. Your goal is to dodge most of his attacks, then hit him back harder. It's pretty much the basics for every Pokemon battle ever."
Then she blinks, noticing the sparks flying out of the Zorua's profile. "Oh. You got paralyzed… Well, that shouldn't be a problem. Pichu, you can go ahead and move first instead now!"
Pichu gave her a hard look. "She does know that telling your opponent what your strategy is out loud is a pretty stupid idea, right?"
Ash tilted his head, shivering all the while. "I dunno… Maybe if you say one thing, but do another thing, the other guy might get thrown off?" Ash said in a quiet, jittery voice. "I mean, you could win with brute force, but knowing how to bluff's just about as important."
Froslass lapsed in her concentration for a moment to remark. "I wouldn't put it thus so simply, but yes. Pretty much. If the amount of pivoting that extremely high-end Pokemon battling didn't tell you that, I'm not sure what will." Then she returned to maintaining the Snow around the environment.
Daisy tilted her head, looking at Froslass. "I'm pretty sure all three of you said something pretty important, but I still didn't understand a singly word any of you were saying. Ah well. Ash, use Hone Claws again! Try to dodge the Thunder Bolt he's charging up if you can!" She pointed at Pichu's tail, sparks flowing out of his cheeks.
Ash looked up, his eyes widening, as a thin burst of lightning shot out from Pichu. He barely dodges it entirely, a small singe blackening a tip of hair on his tail. He shook his head, and Ash sharpened his claws again despite the struggle to move, feeling the pointed edges dig deep into the dirt.
Daisy's face grew into a grin. "That's the spirit, you're getting the hang of it already! Come on, let's beat up this little mouse, already! Use a Scratch attack!"
Ash jumped up onto Pichu's general location, the mouse Charging up another attack. The Scratch hit him square in the jaw, and the bruised Pichu rubbed it in mild pain. Ash looked at him apologetically, but Pichu brushed it off.
"Gah!" Pichu shouted. "You should be glad I'm doing this for you, Ash. I was never this good at taking hits in the first place." He sneered. "…If I wasn't holding back, you'd get your butt kicked. Honestly…"
Ash blinked, and he chuckled nervously. "Yeah. Yeah, I guess. Thanks for that."
"Alright, I could tell he's almost at KO range! One more Scratch to go! Use one last Scratch, Ash!" She shouted at him, as Ash deftly parried another Thunder Shock. He came closer to Pichu and Scratched him one last time.
The blow landed, and Pichu fell face down on the dirt, defeated. He slowly picks himself back up, massaging a shoulder. Walking over to the Paralyzed Zorua, left immobile for a moment, he smiled in apology, offering his hand.
The Zorua's eyes widened, and he accepted it.
"You'll do great, Ash." Despite the genuine warmth behind Pichu's words, his face fell deep in contemplation.
As Daisy ran over to Ash with a Paralyze Heal, also giving him well-wishes and congratulations, Ash was busy looking at Pichu, puzzled.
"Is something wrong?" Ash asked Pichu, the Paralzye Heal doing its work. "You look a little lost."
Pichu blinked back, and he rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Oh, it's nothing. Really, it isn't. Just remembering something I did earlier, an issue resolved already."
Still confused, Ash took the response as is and shrugged. He didn't resist when Daisy scooped both him and Pichu up as she began the process of bringing them both back up to the laboratory.
The Professor walked out slowly, watching them all climb up the path. He raises an eyebrow and coughs loudly enough for Daisy to hear.
"Oh, Grandpa!" She climbed up the steps a little faster.
As Professor Oak paced his steps, he looked at his granddaughter. He watches the other Pokemon pass him by.
He notices Froslass giving him a slight nod, and Daisy's Rhydon carrying Ash's body and waits for Daisy to come closer.
He stopped her from going inside for a moment with his arm, muttering that she should just let Ash and Pichu walk in. The confused Daisy drops the two Pokemon even as they look at her curiously, and they both run in to jump on the air-conditioned couch inside with deep, satisfied sighs.
After Professor Oak finished watching the two of them make themselves at home, he looked back at Daisy. "You didn't even use my notes to begin with, didn't you?"
"Ah." She dug deep into her purse, and pulled out the ancient green notebook, passing it over to the Professor. He took it gingerly, and slowly put it inside of his coat pocket. Daisy chuckled awkwardly.
"Oh, yeah, I didn't use most of it, we went straight to battling instead…" She cupped her chin, deep in thought. Then she blinked, looking at her grandfather suspiciously. "Hey, how did you even know that, Grandpa?"
He crossed his arms, closing his eyes. "I powered on the security cameras before you went out, Daisy. I could tell you took it out for the briefest of moments before going back to the Pokemon move listings that the Battle Tower released to look at what Ash could do."
It was Daisy's turn to blink again. "Ah."
"I suppose it's only fair, you know." Professor Oak looked to the side. "Most of the stuff I wrote down there was fairly general-use, and mostly assumed the reader was already somewhat familiar with rearing and raising freshly caught Pokemon."
A smile returned to Profesor Oak's face. "And in any case, Ash's mother is inside. She just came back, mind."
Just as he spoke of her, Delia Ketchum's voice boomed inside. "Ash, look at you! You're a mess! Come on, I'll get you cleaned up." The yip of an annoyed fox echoed, and Daisy's sharper hearing heard him getting picked up by his mother.
Peering inside, he resisted the urge to chuckle. "We should let her know what you were busy training him with. I'm certain it's pretty substantial, considering both of their disheveled states."
He put a step inside of his laboratory, inviting her to follow him. The clacking of his footsteps echoes inside the facility.
As he did, he pulled out the notebook one more time, peeling off the sticker on the front page. Wiping it off, the title was smudged by the water and ink over the years, rendering it illegible. Nonetheless, Sam could read it all the same.
He frowned. "Authored by Samuel Oak and… just Samuel Oak, apparently. Well, that's not quite right, is it? I never actually ended up publishing this old thing, anyway, didn't I… Phah."
He shook his head and put the notebook on a random bookshelf he passed by. Continuing to walk forward, over to the lounge, the Professor hummed a catchy tune he'd heard a thousand times in his radio show.
After she finished tying her shoes, Daisy followed after him. She curtly closed the backdoor and went in as the cloudy skies slowly cleared, letting the searing heat return to their quaint little part of Pallet Town.
There's a bit about Froslass improvising a way for Ash to phase back inside of his body that I clipped off since the chapter was already getting too big. He'll also go to school next chapter after that bit.
Then we can timeskip.
I'm mildly confident that's how it'll work out.
In any case, see you next time. Expect the clean-up soon (tm).