A/N: Greetings and hello my lovely readers! I apologize for not having this out last Sunday, but I actually forgot to put it up then. I realized this around Tuesday and decided to wait until today to submit this. I've had this chapter done for a while, too. I've been busy with college so my mind was focused on that. However, I hope you enjoy this chapter, though!
"I do know that the slickest way to lie is to tell the right amount of truth-then shut up." ― Robert A. Heinlein
Chapter 6: On the Road to Viridian City
Ash and Charizard made their way to Viridian City as quickly as they could. Once at the city, Ash had a few things he wanted to do outside of reporting some poachers, but he also wanted to get his team healed up. He wasn't at good at healing things with his aura like Serena nor did he have the hands-on experience using the herbs and berries around him like his mother. He knew he was a little more dependent on others to heal.
Charizard and Ash passed by the Indigo Plateau. He knew that building was the barrier for most trainers entering the mountain. Ash wondered if he would be questioned for being into a highly prohibited area. Ash sighed and shook his head to himself. He knew he had the badges necessary to enter. He also knew Professor Oak well. The boy was sure he would be fine.
Eventually, Ash and Charizard started to fly over Viridian City. Ash immediately began to scout for the Pokémon Center. Viridian City was a large town and Ash was never here for too long, so he didn't know where most things were. Ash found it after being in the air for a few moments. He directed Charizard to the Pokémon Center and landed him. Then, he promptly headed inside the center after returning the fire type.
At the middle of the center, there was a Nurse Joy. She seemed pretty busy helping other trainers out. He noticed there was a second Nurse Joy with a Blissey assisting her. This one noticed Ash coming in and wondered what was up.
"Hello young trainer! Do you need one of us to heal your Pokémon?" Nurse Joy asked.
"Yes, please." Ash nodded.
"Alright. Give me a moment to get a tray to put your Poke Balls on. Does your Pikachu go in a Poke Ball?" The Joy asked. Ash immediately shook his head 'no'. Although Joy thought of this as peculiar, she shrugged it off. She got a container of six different slots for Poke Balls. Pikachu sat in the last slot with a gentle smile. Joy then said, "We should have your Pokémon healed up in an hour. Do you need to get checked out yourself?"
"Huh?" Ash blinked his eyes.
"Your clothes… there's a hole in it at your chest. I also see you scratched and burned as if a Pokémon attacked you. Were you attacked?" The nurse began to inspect Ash more closely and grew more concerned. Ash suddenly grew a bit nervous. He wasn't sure how to explain himself.
"Oh… um…" Ash began to rack his brain for ideas. He decided that he shouldn't get too specific with Nurse Joy on his encounter with poachers, but decided to focus on his encounter with Tyranitar.
Ash responded, "I was trying to catch a Tyranitar, but it got pretty rough with me. I managed to catch it, but my Pokémon got roughed up in the process."
"That explains a lot, but… that also means you were just at Mt. Silver. Tyranitar aren't indigenous to Kanto, but I know Mt. Silver is where you can find Larvitar and Mr. Silver isn't too far from here. Most trainers can't enter it right now. You could get in big trouble for that. Can you tell me your name for the officer?" Nurse Joy eyed him suspiciously.
"My name is Ash Ketchum. Can you please heal my Pokémon? I'll explain more when I know they're going to be okay." Ash requested. Joy seemed hesitant to help Ash, but one look in his eyes told her that he wasn't a bad kid. Still, she wondered why he went out there in the first place. Only for a Tyranitar?
"…Very well. Just so you know… I'm going to call Officer Jenny over here to talk to you. You're not in trouble, but you definitely need to be questioned." Joy told him. Ash smiled upon hearing that.
"That's actually perfect. I need to talk to her about some poachers I found there." Ash said. Nurse Joy gasped. Then, her expression turned serious.
"Okay… I'm definitely calling her after I begin healing your Pokémon. Wait about thirty minutes." Joy said and walked off with his Pokémon and Pikachu. Pikachu waved goodbye at his trainer and Ash waved back with a small smile. Joy could see the adoration between the two.
"Thank you." Ash thanked.
Ash went to a bench and sat down to wait. He began to visibly look down and began to speak with his counterbalance to pass the time. Ash said, "Isn't it crazy that we have all our guardian partners now, Ashton? It's pretty exciting!"
"I agree with you, but we're not out of the woods yet. I'm not sure how we're going to explain how a sixteen-year-old kid managed to take down four armed poachers. Even with Pokémon, you would expect one of our Pokémon to have gotten shot. It's kind of miraculous how no one got shot and that the only damage you took was from Tyranitar… whom you weren't trying to retaliate back against." Ashton pointed out.
"Hmm… you have a good point." Ash put a hand on his chin in thought.
"There's also the problem of explaining how we managed to subdue the whole group on own lonesome. We can't exactly talk to them about our guardian status. You can't mention me, either." Ashton told him.
"Dang it, Ashton. I hate when you make sense." Ash inwardly pouted.
"I almost always make sense. I'm your counterbalance, after all." Ashton snickered.
"Hey… I can make sense… most of the time." Ash growled. Ashton laughed at how unsure he sounded at that last part.
"You don't think about a situation as much as I do usually." Ashton pointed out.
"I mean… you don't think much when you're anger crazy." Ash said slightly in retaliation. Ashton grew slightly irritated. He knew Ash was referencing when he first came out resentful of the world.
"Watch it. You're even worse than me. You're hella scary when you're angry." Ashton growled.
"…" Ash didn't respond to that. Ash visibly closed his eyes in thought. He also sighed to himself. Ashton knew that he referenced Ash's rage, but also knew that Ash grew scared of himself whenever that happened. Ashton knew Ash was more sensitive to losing control of himself and temporarily forgot that when retorting back. Ashton immediately felt guilty for reminding him of the past.
"Sorry, Ash. I didn't mean to remind you about…" Ashton started to apologize, but Ash cut him off.
"No, no. You're right. I need to control my emotions so if I do get angry, I don't want to go overboard again. I started our bickering, anyway. I shouldn't have mentioned how you first came out… you had every right to be upset at the time. As for my side, I never want Serena to look at me so terrified again…" Ash solemnly said.
"Oh boy. Ash…" Ashton didn't know how to make him feel better. Ash focused on Officer Jenny again.
"I'm going to think of something to tell Jenny when she comes. Just you wait." Ash huffed. Ashton smugly laughed.
"I already have something you can tell her, though. While you were talking to Joy, I was thinking about a good story to say while mostly still being true." Ashton told him.
"Wow. You're handy." Ash grumbled, both impressed and annoyed that Ashton had already thought of something. He still appreciated it, but wanted to try on his own.
"Haha… leave the overthinking to me, dude. I'm going to transfer my thoughts to you in the form of aura. Go to a bathroom to hide yourself so people can't visibly see it. There's a lot of scenarios I thought of and I don't want to discuss them all. Not sure if I would have time to." Ashton instructed.
"Why can't you use the subtle influence trick on me and explain yourself?" Ash questioned.
"That's a good point, but I want to try out something Mother taught me. If it works, I won't need to disguise my voice to match yours. Besides, they could notice the slight red gleam in your eyes if I did subtle influence on you. Wanna try?" Ashton asked. Ash found himself curious and decided there wasn't much to lose.
"I'm up for it, I guess. I'll go now." Ash nodded to himself and immediately tried to look for a bathroom to use.
Subtle influence was when a counterbalance temporarily took control of their balance without the balance knowing. There's usually a slight tint in the balance's eyes, but it's almost undetectable unless someone looks closely. Ash never remembered if Ashton took control with subtle influence and he felt slightly dazed afterward.
Ashton and Ash decided to call Aurora 'Mom' and her counterbalance, Aru, 'Mother' to avoid confusing the two when talking with them. However, Ash also called Aurora 'Ruru' and Aru 'Aruru' sometimes. He'd somewhat grown out of doing that as he saw those nicknames as more of his childhood nicknames for them, but he slipped up when either side of Aurora embarrassed him. Ash visibly had an indescribable expression upon finding out Ashton had been taking over their body when he wasn't aware.
Ash decided to look around himself. He remembered that this Pokémon Center had been rebuilt quite a few times since he was ten. He knew he was he reason why it needed to be rebuilt about six years ago. Though it was stressful losing Pikachu at the time to Team Rocket, he still found himself chuckling at the memory. It's crazy what's happened since obtaining Pikachu as his first partner. They shared so many memories.
Ash noticed how renovated the center was as he was searching. The beige tiled floor looked clean and the center felt more than just a healing facility. He noticed there was also a Poke Mart inside here now. He liked this change. He felt like the Pokémon Center was more of a hub area for trainers to utilize and he appreciated that. Ash eventually managed to find a bathroom while inside the Poke Mart portion of the center. Fortunately for him, it was open and there was only one toilet to use.
Ash quickly closed the door and locked it. He nodded to himself. His eyes turned red as he encased himself in blue aura. Ashton concentrated as he sent his thoughts to Ash. Internally, Ash took it all in. He realized how carefully Ashton thought everything out, but hoped everything will be fine. Ashton switched back to Ash when he was done.
As he left the bathroom, Ash asked Ashton, "How did you learn to do that?"
"Sometimes, when you're asleep, I take control and go to Mother for guidance. She's been teaching me some things only counterbalances can do. Mom doesn't know that she does this, too. It was like a little secret until I told you just now." Ashton revealed.
"I… I don't know how to feel about that." Ash said, somewhat jittery. That made him wonder what Ashton might do when he's asleep. Ash felt curious, but also slightly nervous. He trusted his counterbalance completely, but he still felt odd about the situation.
"It's best you don't look into it. Mother has helped me hone the subtle influence technique on you, too. It's really fun finding out how counterbalances can manipulate the body's inner space both to benefit and hinder the balance. It's really useful." Ashton cackled deviously.
"Uh… I'm really scared now." Ash said immediately.
"Hahaha. As you should be." Ashton continued to cackle. He began to feel Ash's anxiety become more pronounced. Ashton sighed. He said in a serious, but relenting tone. "I don't think we'll get to a point where I'm stupidly angry at you enough to try using what I learned against you, so please don't worry. Despite my taunting or teasing, I care a lot about you."
"Aww… Ashton. I care about you, too." Ash chirped. Ashton huffed. Ash found himself blushing uncontrollably and figured it was because of Ashton feeling a little embarrassed. Ash laughed at his counterbalance.
"Don't expect me to turn this conversation into a peace and love thing. I still can't stand you, too." Ashton grumbled. Ash continued to laugh. Ash knew Ashton wasn't the warmest person, so he anticipated him to say something rude.
"And I wouldn't have you any other way." Ash responded.
Ash started to focus on his surroundings again and noticed that Joy was looking for something. She was with Officer Jenny. Ash assumed they were looking for him. Joy pointed to him upon noticing Ash was leaving the Poke Mart and directed herself and Jenny toward him. Ash forced himself to become calm.
Jenny said, "You're the trainer who went to Mt. Silver, correct?"
"Yes." Ash nodded.
"Alright… let's go to somewhere more private so I can question you further. Joy, do you mind us using your personal room so no other trainer can disturb us?" Jenny asked.
"Sure. Follow me." Joy said and started to direct them back into the Pokémon Center area.
Ash, Jenny, Joy walked to the Pokémon Center area and then went behind the main counter of the center. Joy took out a pink card and had it scanned by the door. The door unlocked and opened on its own. Joy gestured Ash to go in first. Then, Jenny went in and finally Joy. Joy already had some chairs out for everyone to sit down in. Ash noticed how cozy it was in here. It felt like a living room in a way. Ash promptly sat down. Jenny decided to say standing while Joy sat adjacent to Ash. Jenny took out a tablet and tapped on the screen a few times. Then, she gave her undivided attention to Ash.
"Now that we are alone, I want to let you know that I took the liberty of looking up your Pokémon League profile. It says here you have quite the number of accolades including being a finalist in the Kalos League and a semifinalist during the Sinnoh League. Looking you up further, I see that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree." Jenny said.
"Huh?" Ash blinked his eyes in confusion.
"It says that your father was the former Indigo League Champion Redrick Ketchum while your mother is the current Hokorian Champion Auroralia Ketchum. Red was a notable trainer in Kanto, beating Team Rocket the first time and catching every Kanto Pokémon. He was a true Pokémon Master. As for your mother, Hokori is one of the toughest regions in the world so to have the Champion as your mother speaks volumes of what you might have been exposed to. You have quite a bit of notoriety behind you by your heritage alone." Jenny noted.
"Uh… how did my profile update?" Ash wondered in an innocent, but suspicious tone.
"Your mother updated it about a couple of weeks ago. She didn't change much outside of your family information." Jenny noted.
"Considering how much effort it took for Mom to find and reunite with us, I'm not surprised she did that. She's proud of you and wants to show you off a bit, haha. She also wants to show that you're not one to mess with, from what it seems." Ashton said in their head.
"The main reason I looked up your profile was to see if you had collected all the Kanto and Johto badges because you need them to have permission to enter. I realized reading your accomplishments that you have those badges and more. You won't get into any trouble for entering Mt. Silver, Ash." Jenny said with a smile.
"Thank Mew…" Ash sighed in relief.
"However, I still want to know about those poachers. Did you know they were going to be there? Why did you go to Mt. Silver in the first place? I know your father used to hang around in the mountain, but there's no reason for people go there when the Silver Conference isn't coming up." Jenny questioned.
"I didn't know that they would be there. I had went to Mt. Silver to reunite with Tyranitar, a Pokémon I had found five years ago. After I ate some food with my Pokémon, I found some cages further in the woods that lead to the mountain and there was a lady with no Pokémon caging the wild Pokémon there. She had a gun as a way to threaten them." Ash explained.
"A gun?!" Joy and Jenny widened their eyes.
"Yeah. My mom taught me some hand to hand combat, so I subdued her before she could shoot me. I then released the Pokémon with the help of Pikachu and Lucario." Ash said. It was still true, but he still felt uneasy not explaining himself further. Just like Ashton predicted, this explanation played to their concern for him.
"I'm just glad you didn't get too injured. How did you manage to get here?" Joy asked.
"Despite being weakened by Tyranitar, Charizard managed to fly us over here. How are the Pokémon, by the way?" Ash asked, genuinely curious.
"I'm done healing them with Blissey. Pikachu, Tyranitar, Charizard and Lucario took a lot of damage, but your Bulbasaur and Greninja didn't. None of their injuries were too much for us to handle! I'll give them back to you once Jenny gets the information she needs." Joy informed him. Ash sighed in relief.
"Was there only one poacher? Was Tyranitar the main prize?" Jenny questioned.
"There were four in total. Three of them were trying to subdue Tyranitar when I got there and he seemed to be the main Pokémon they were going after. With the help of my Pokémon, I was able to subdue those three as well." Ash recalled.
"Did those three also have guns? Were they using Pokémon or did they not have Pokémon like the first poacher you encountered?" Jenny asked further.
"Yes. The three poachers that was together had their Houndoom weakening Tyranitar." Ash nodded.
"You must be quite the trainer to not have gotten hurt from that. I imagine you were frightened going against all those people, too. Can you give a detailed account as to what they did to you and Tyranitar as well as how you managed to not only subdue Tyranitar, but get here afterward? I noticed you were being a bit vague." Jenny narrowed her eyes.
Ash took a deep breath and calmed himself. He began to say what happened, but Ashton's version of it. He talked about how he used his Pokémon to defeat the poachers' Pokémon first and then talked about how his Lucario knocked down each person one by one while they were preoccupied with him. He told them how he used himself as a distraction for them to shoot, but he didn't mention that they almost shot Tyranitar to prevent him from retaliating. That would have forced him to think up an excuse as to how he managed to get out of that situation. Ash said after all the poachers were knocked unconscious, his focused his attention on Tyranitar.
Ash then talked about trying to calm down Tyranitar as he was rattled because of the poachers and because of his mistrust of humans. The boy told them that Tyranitar resisted him at first, but he eventually managed to earn enough of his trust to catch him. Not once did Ash go into detail on his guardian powers. Jenny listened intently.
Ash hated that he had to lie about Lucario knocking the poachers unconscious, but also knew it wasn't completely false. He hoped Jenny would believe it. One look in her eyes told him that she did. Ash sighed in relief internally, but kept a serious outward expression. Once he was done, both Joy and Jenny seemed horrified, but relieved that Ash was okay.
"What you did was super dangerous. You could have been shot using yourself as a bait!" Jenny reprimanded him.
"I know, but… I couldn't just stand there and do nothing!" Ash argued. Jenny sighed.
"Well, I thank you for saving those Pokémon. The poachers used the fact that most trainers can't go to Mt. Silver to begin capturing the wild Pokémon there. Are the poachers still unconscious?" Jenny inquired.
"I'm not sure, but they were when I left. I wanted to heal my Pokémon as soon as I can, so I left after catching Tyranitar." Ash responded.
"Okay. I'm going to survey the area with a few other Officer Jennies and bring them to justice. You don't have to worry about those Pokémon anymore. I commend you for your bravery, though reckless it was…" Jenny said. Jenny asked, "Do you know what their group was called? Or any of their names?"
"No, unfortunately." Ash shook his head. He added, "Everything happened so quickly… I wouldn't be surprised if the poachers are feeling a bit weak from Lucario's blows. Will they go to jail?"
"We'll make sure of it. Don't worry about it now. It's over." Jenny said.
Ash forced a smile. He was a bit nervous because those people would remember their encounter with him. He was sure that they would still get apprehended, but he wondered if any of the Jennies would believe their story. The young guardian doubted it. Kantonians thought that guardians were a myth so the chances were low that any native Kantonian would believe them.
"I'll get your Pokémon now. Thank you for being patient and I'm sorry I put you through that." Joy left the room to get the container with Ash's Pokémon. Jenny was inspecting Ash a bit further.
"Despite what you went through, you don't seem too injured. How did you get a hole in your shirt? It looks like you were stabbed since I see dried blood, but you yourself aren't injured." Jenny asked.
Ash gulped, but stayed composed. He had forgotten about Lucario's hug from earlier, but Ashton didn't. Ashton knew she may ask that. Ash said, "I know this is weird, but I wasn't expecting to go in a city before I headed back home. I thought I would find Tyranitar, catch him, then fly back, but… I got sidetracked with those poachers. This is an old shirt of when my Lucario hugged me and I got stabbed from it. The wound is healed now. My Lucario and some of my other Pokémon are super affectionate. I went out with this shirt because I was a bit too lazy to find something else. It's a little embarrassing being out like this."
"Ah, that makes some sense, but you should have worn something cleaner. I guess it doesn't matter, though." Jenny shrugged. "I need to head to Mt. Silver and apprehend those thugs. I'll leave you be. Thank you for the information."
"Thank you for dealing with these poachers so the wild Pokémon can be safer." Ash said in kind. Jenny curtly nodded at the boy and hurried out of the Pokémon Center to head to Mt. Silver. It was in this time, that Joy came back in and brought the container with Ash's Pokémon.
Pikachu immediately jumped toward Ash, tackled him and nuzzled his cheek affectionately. Pikachu seemed to be glowing with health. Ash laughed at the contact and slightly pleaded for him to stop. Joy watched the interaction in awe because Ash didn't show any sign of pain or paralysis being nuzzled by Pikachu. Ash stopped his partner Pokémon by rubbing Pikachu's cheek with his index finger.
Joy noted, "You seem to have a high tolerance for electricity."
"When you have a Pikachu as strong as this one, you kind of have to. You don't know how many times he's shocked me over the years." Ash laughed. He turned to Pikachu, "Right, buddy?"
"(Yep!)" Pikachu chirped in agreement. All Nurse Joy heard was 'Pika'.
Although she thought the duo was a little strange, she could see the genuine love they had for each other. It caused her to smile. Joy said, "Well, I hope you two and the rest of your Pokémon have a wonderful day."
"Thanks! Let's go, Pikachu!" Ash turned to his partner Pokémon. Pikachu nodded.
Ash hurried out of Joy's personal room and out of the center. Then he took out Charizard and asked him to fly them back to the Tree of the Beginning. The fire and flying type nodded and gestured the boy to get on. Ash noticed the sun was beginning to set so he needed to head back quickly. Ash mounted his trusty Charizard and flew high into the sky.
As he flew back, the boy couldn't help but think, "Mom, I hope you made it to Hokori safe and sound. Serena, I hope you're okay. Hopefully, I can get there and help you before Grandma and Grandpa does something stupid…"
A/N: The reason I had Mt. Silver be prohibited was because it references the Gen 2 games preventing trainers from entering it before you had all the Kanto and Johto badges. Hope you guys enjoyed the reference!
Let's see what happened to Serena while Ash was gone. The next few chapters will focus on Serena and her interactions with Ash's grandparents while Ash was gone, so we won't see Ash for a little bit after this. How will Mew get involved? Find out in the next chapter...
Next Chapter: Friend of My Enemy
~SPG123~