A/N: Alright, time for the good stuff! I know squat happened last chapter in terms of battling, but sometimes you just need a "down" chapter.

frankieu: Nope, no Mudbray or Mudsdale for Ash until much later. That's because I have a Ground-type in mind already early on, which hopefully you all will like.

PK - SPRINGTRAP HUG MEH: I have actually seen Sylveon in a few stories, but still not that often. But you have given me an idea for Leafeon, at least. Glaceon I am still thinking of, but I may give it to one of Ash's rivals. Corsola, huh... Maybe in the future, yeah, but we'll see. I may go with the Galarian form in that case. As for Clampearl... I dunno. I'll think about it. I mean, I like Gorebyss, but I'm not the biggest fan of the line overall. As for Leavanny, Ash had one in canon, so that's a no-go I'm afraid. I have other Grass-types (and Bug-types) in mind though, no worries.

devilwanab: Ah ha, you'll see! He's not going to become a specialtist, no. Actually, I had a fic idea in mind years ago of him becoming a Poison-type specialist. I wrote some of it, but lost interest quickly, so it has never seen the light of day.

StormWolf150: In the future, probably. I quite like the Dreepy line, so it's a very distinct possibility for him to get one.

LSoul6: Glad you agree! :)

MoonWolfAtlantis: I actually was thinking of using Marill at some point. I still might, but we'll see.

Immortal Fafnir: Don't worry, it comes to a head this chapter, you'll see.

Silverwing23: Aw, I'm glad you found Joltik so likeable as a Pokémon and as a member of your team! And it seems people like his future team member, which is good.

Guest: Yes, I'm well aware that I have given him only Unova Pokémon thus far, and he has one more to get, but after that it's species from other regions. I always write about Ash starting in Kanto because that was a huge part of my childhood back in the 90s. To be honest, I was never a fan of the Unova region itself. Oh I love the Pokémon, as you can probably tell, but the region? Not so much. It's a good region, but it just isn't to my taste.

Curious Reader: Good question! And your answer is... because I can and I want to. Also, most of Kanto's Pokémon have been used in other stories, but some of the ones that haven't will come into play later. And because I know Kanto the best out of all the regions, I like writing about it. It's a fanfic, nothing has to make sense, and I'm free to write whatever I want. It's not as if I'm getting paid for these, you know.

President Abraham Lincoln: That is your opinion, and you are entitled to it. Gary goes through his own growth in the story, but you wouldn't realize that because it's still incredibly early on, duh. I like Gary as a character, though I would argue he isn't the best character. Also, did you just skip over Ritchie? Whom I introduced in chapter 3? He's supposed to be Ash's intellectual equal in terms of battle prowess, which is why he and Ash tied. Those two will meet multiple times throughout the story, same with Ash and Gary. As for the rest of your review, it's whatever. Not all the characters look down on Joltik at all, what gave you that idea? Gary? Ms. Blackthorn? She wasn't looking down on Joltik, she honestly thought she was a novelty hat that Ash had bought because of how tense Joltik had gotten. As I said, it's your opinion and you are entitled to it, I don't have to agree though, especially when people make judgements on things early on in the story. I don't mind constructive criticism in the slightest, as I use that to improve, but this was not constructive criticism. Also, it's fanficiton, I write this stuff for free, why do you complain? There's stories I don't like to read, yeah, but I don't go into the reviews and do this kind of stuff. I just skip over it. (Also, this story is heavily based on game mechanics and plot in a way, which I mentioned in chapter 1.) I also never said my story was superior, now did I? I just got sick of all the stories using the same Pokémon over and over again when there are over 800 to choose from. Maybe rag on others' stories when you write your own, which you haven't, I noticed.

Sorry about that, enough ranting, on to chapter 5. (Thanks for the other reviews as well!)

Chapter 5: The Pewter Conspiracy: Part 2

Two weeks had gone by. Two weeks of training, training, and more training with just a day or two of relaxing in one of the nearby parks Ash had discovered a few days in. There was also the plus of his leg finally healing, his limp completely gone, much to Ash's utter relief.

As the trainer had predicted, Ferroseed was very unhappy about the lack of new attacking moves at first, if his fast and frenzied whirring and grinding noises were anything to go by, but in the end he relented after Ash explained things to the seed. Ferroseed had put in a lot of effort to not only finishing mastering Vine Whip, which he could now use with complete confidence, but Toxic and Double Team as well, which did take him the full two weeks to master, much to his dismay. Ash had him working on Rock Polish now, and afterward the spiky seed could begin on Acid Spray, which Ash was saving as a surprise.

Joltik, on the other hand, had a bit of difficulty learning Feint Attack, which Ash had rightly assumed she would. Double Team, though, she got down in just a couple of days. She had also finished mastering her Thunderbolt, which was easy for her, but had only gotten Feint Attack down by the end of the second week. Ferroseed had mocked her relentlessly for it, if her glaring heatedly at him was anything to go by.

Ash had begun to slowly understand his Pokémon over the past month or so, but he was still a long ways away from comprehending their language entirely. That would come with time, he knew. The young trainer did learn, however, that Ferroseed's high pitched whirring noise was his way of saying he was aggravated and/or upset, so there was that.

If they were not practicing their moves, they were building endurance, evasion, and speed in the abandoned rock quarry that was north of the city. Many Rock-types lived there and were perfect opponents to practice against, especially for the upcoming battle against Brock. Ash was not worried about the first Pokémon he would be facing, it was usually a first-stage Rock-type of some sort that Brock chose at random, but his second? It was his Onix, a difficult match for any experienced trainer on the road, let alone a brand new one, but Ash, if anything, loved a challenge. He knew Ferroseed would be the best match-up against the rock snake, and the spiky seed would relish the challenge and to show his superiority.

That was another thing he learned about his Grass/Steel-type, he was incredibly self-absorbed with a superiority complex, on top of being a perfectionist. The trainer was beginning to wonder if he had left his previous trainer rather than the other way around. Ash was starting to seriously consider it.

Joltik's personality, on the other hand, was beginning to develop into that of a mother hen, as he had joked about before. She was still the power driven, protective Electric/Bug-type that she was, but the little spider had taken on the role of that of his mother in a lot of ways, which was a bit disconcerting at times. It annoyed Ferroseed to no end a lot of the time, to a point where he had to break up an argument and fight between them one day.

That had not been a good day whatsoever.

Some nights, he had traveled to the east of Pewter City to Route 3 in hopes of catching a Pokémon he has had his mind on for a while, but unfortunately, Ash had zero luck in spotting the creature he wanted to catch. On the plus side, he got to battle some trainers along that route, winning most of the battles, but losing to a couple of more experienced trainers, including one with a Sizzlipede that took out both of his partners rather easily.


Flashback

Ash deeply sighed as he sat down on a nearby fallen log, taking off his sweaty tank-top he had changed into before traveling to Route 3 for some training that day. He pulled out a water bottle from his backpack and started guzzling it.

April had finally turned into May, and with it, the temperature increase as summer slowly crept upon the region. Letting out a breath, the young trainer turned his gaze to his two team members as they rested from their morning training session.

Joltik was down by the stream that ran south of the route, drinking from the cool, crisp water to re-hydrate herself. Ash always kept jugs of water on him for his first partner to drink, but there was no need for it when they were near natural bodies of water. He smiled as he watched her begin to play with a Wooper that had gotten curious about her, playing a simple game of tag by what he could tell.

Ferroseed, however, was situated not too far from him, buried in a patch of dirt he had discovered and soaking up the sun's rays. Hot days like this, where the sun was shining bright in the sky, were the spiky seed's bread and butter so to speak. Like many other Grass-types, he thrived in hotter, more humid weather.

They had been working on their agility and movements out here on the open grass plains, which was easy enough for Joltik, but Ferroseed had a bit more of a difficult time as expected. Ash had him using Vine Whip as his way of moving around, but it still was not easy. The Grass/Steel-type had to find his balance, which took a couple of days on its own, then strengthen the vines enough that they could lift his body weight. As small a Pokémon as Ferroseed were, they were not lightweights. They could easily weigh up to fifty pounds (22.7 kg), though their average was around forty (18.1 kg).

Once he became a Ferrothorn, his three natural body vines would easily be able to hold up his massive body weight, but his, arguably unnatural, energy-base vines as a Ferroseed needed to be trained to do so, which he did without complaint. It was bitter work on his part, but Ferroseed was nothing if not persistent.

On this day, the seed had managed to 'walk' quite a distance before his vines gave out and he collapsed face-first into the dirt, much to his irritation. Ash gave him plenty of praise for his hard work, and after a bit of rest, his perfectionist Pokémon was back at it again, until the trainer called for a break, much to Joltik's relief.

Just as Ash was thinking of taking a dip in the stream to clean off the sweat and grime from his own workout, he heard footsteps coming from his right, causing him to turn his head and see an older boy, probably around the age of fourteen, coming his way. What stood out to Ash the most was his wild mane of white hair and fire-red eyes that seemed to blaze with power.

"Hey, mind if I rest here with you?" the teen asked. "I've been walking for hours."

"Uh, sure, I don't mind," Ash responded a bit awkwardly. The teen thanked him and sat down with a sigh, setting his backpack next to him and pulling out a bottle of water just as Ash had done. The young trainer noticed the six Pokéballs that rested along the other male's belt and grew curious, but withheld any questions for the time being.

"Hot one today, huh? Not as hot as a Fire-type's flames, of course, but hot enough to unsettle us humans," the white-haired teen casually said with a chuckle after taking a drink of water.

"Yeah..." Ash said, a bit unsure on how to respond. Though the teen's mention of Fire-types got the preteen thinking of getting his own in the future, and his two team members' huge disadvantage to said type.

"Sorry, I'm aiming to be a Fire-type specialist, so I tend to use a lot of puns like that. Runs in the family I'm afraid, ha. I guess I should introduce myself, huh? I'm Merlin, been a trainer for a couple of years now," the now named Merlin said with a smile and nod of his head. Ash must have pulled a face at hearing his name, though, because the teenager gave a short, but loud laugh. "I know, my parents named me that because of my white hair. Not one day has gone by where I question their naming choice, but what can you do, eh? What's your name, if I may be so bold to ask?"

"Oh, I'm Ash. Been a trainer for only a few weeks, but I'm not really investing into a single Pokémon type, so I guess you can call me a generalist? It's just been me and my two partners since I started."

"Ah, not expanding the team too fast, that's good. I've seen my fair share of rookies just catching whatever walks by, and they end up with a full team and then some by their second badge," Merlin stated with a grimace. "I've only just caught my sixth Pokémon a couple of months ago while I was down in the Sevii Islands exploring."

"You sound as picky as I am," Ash said with a lazy grin as he drank some more water. 'The Sevii Islands? I don't remember too much about them, I'll have to research them later.'

"Well yeah, you gotta be in all honesty. Not every Pokémon is going to be compatible with you, but some people just don't get that I suppose," Merlin said with a shake of his head. The raven-haired trainer could agree with that easily. A big question was on his mind now, though.

"If you don't mind me asking, what did you catch in the Sevii Islands?" Ash asked with a bit of hesitance. It tended to be bad manners to ask another trainer what they caught, but he was just so damn curious!

"Nah, I don't mind. It was a Sizzlipede. I really wanted a Larvesta, but they didn't import those like several other Unovan Pokémon, but that's okay. I've found Sizzlipede to be awesome in his own way, and we've bonded quite well, but he has a lot of catching up to do to the rest of my team."

'Sizzlipede, huh? Those are native to Galar, if I recall correctly.' Ash thought as he took another sip of water. A grin slowly etched across his face as he looked at the young Fire-type specialist sitting next to him. He knew the teenager had two years more experience on the road than he did, and Ash was bound to lose, but he could not turn down a possible challenge.

"Would you mind if I battled your Sizzlipede?" He never saw the looks of wide-eyed shock that his two partners were giving him at the question.

End Flashback


In the end, as Ash had predicted, Merlin had kicked his butt in battle quite handily. They had put up quite a fight, though, managing to severely weaken the Fire/Bug-type, but their huge weakness to fire was what did them in in the end. He was not upset at the loss, far from it. They learned quite a bit from the battle, as well as the other battles they had lost against experienced trainers. In the end, that was what mattered the most.

On the big positive side, he had made a friend of Merlin. They had exchanged numbers, Merlin telling him to give him a call whenever he wanted to, especially concerning any Fire-type Pokémon he would manage to acquire in the future. Ash was more than happy to fulfill that request, he really enjoyed talking to someone he got along with that was not a potential rival.

Good or bad, the two weeks definitely progressed all of them in some way, and Ash could not be any happier.

Today was the day, however - the day of his first gym battle. He stood nervously in front of the imposing building alone, as he did not want to give away Joltik as one of his partners to Brock. Ash took a deep breath to calm his nerves, but his hands still shook in anticipation and a slight bit of fear. The young trainer knew he should not be afraid, they had prepared for this battle quite well, but he still could not help it. Fighting regular trainers with confidence was one thing, but gym leaders were a whole other ball game. Ash did not even want to think of how he would be feeling if he was about to face off against one of the Elite Four, it would only make his current nerves worse.

With one more deep breath that he exhaled slowly, Ash steeled his nerves and strolled forward towards the front door with as much confidence as he could muster. He slowly grabbed the handle and opened the door agonizingly slow, a blast of cool air hitting him in the face causing him to flinch reflexively.

He pulled the door open all the way and made his way inside, glancing around the lobby and taking in the interior. To no one's surprise, the whole lobby was decorated with Rock-type Pokémon in mind. Tastefully, at least in Ash's opinion.

Walking up to the front counter, Ash cleared his throat quietly to get the bespectacled secretary's attention. She blinked in surprise at seeing him in front of her for a moment before putting on a professional smile.

"Hello! Welcome to Pewter City's gym, what can I do for you, young man?" She asked in what was probably a practiced voice.

"Uh, y-yeah, I have a battle scheduled with Brock at 9:30?" Ash responded nervously. He had called to schedule the battle yesterday, choosing the earliest time possible.

"Ah, right. Name?" She turned back to her computer and began typing.

"Ash Ketchum."

"Ketchum... Ketchum... There you are! Can I see some identification, please?" Ash obliged and pulled out his Pokédex, bringing up his trainer profile before handing it over to the secretary. She glanced at it for verification, typed some info into her computer, nodded, and handed the device back to Ash.

"Perfect. If you head through those double doors to the left, you'll head towards the battle floor. Brock will be with you in a few minutes." Ash nodded and began heading to the doors, before the woman's voice stopped him. "And honey? Don't be nervous, I'm sure you'll do great." She gave him a sincere smile this time, which calmed Ash down a bit. He returned the smile and gave a short nod of thanks before heading down the hallway to the actual gym.

In only a few seconds, he was standing in the gym. The raven-haired trainer blew a stray hair out of his face as he looked around. It was a plain battlefield that had a few rocks strewn around here and there, which was not a surprise. Seeing as Brock was not there yet, Ash took a seat on of the benches along the back wall, his leg shaking as his nervousness returned.

It did not take long before the door that was at the back of the gym opened and an older teenager with spiky hair and tanned skin walked in with an air of confidence surrounding him. He spotted Ash and smiled before walking closer to him.

"Ah, you must be Ash. I'm Brock, the Pewter City Gym leader," Brock said, and shook hands with Ash when said trainer stood up from his sitting position.

"Y-yeah, that's me!" Ash responded with a bit of a squeak, causing the gym leader to chuckle deeply.

"You must be a newbie considering how nervous you are. I'm guessing this is your first gym battle?"

"Uh huh," Ash replied smartly, his brain having gone blank from nerves at this point.

"No need to be nervous. Whether you win or lose, you will have learned something by the end and hopefully had fun, that's what Pokémon battles are for, after all," Brock explained with an easy-going friendly smile.

"Sorry, I'm not usually this nervous when it comes to battles, but this is so... official, so it's a bit nerve-wracking, you know?" Ash said, rubbing the back of his head. Brock nodded in understanding.

"Understandable. Well, seeing as this is your first gym battle, this will be a two-on-two battle, but the referee will explain the rules in more detail," Brock said, nodding in the direction of the referee that had just walked in from where Brock had. "Go ahead and get in position while I select my two Pokémon."

Doing as he was told, Ash took his place on the challenger's side of the field and exhaled deeply as he thought, watching Brock choose two Pokéballs from a mechanism in the wall across the gym.

'We can do this. We trained for this. We'll stick to the plan as much as possible and we will win this battle no matter what.' With that, Ash nodded to himself and put on a confident look just as Brock turned around, two red and white balls in hand that he swiftly clipped to his belt.

"Are you ready?" Brock asked, his face set into a determined look. Ash nodded and mirrored his look, clasping his right hand on Joltik's ball. The referee looked between the two of them with his flags raised.

"If both trainers are ready... this will be an official battle between Gym Leader Brock of Pewter City and challenger Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town. This will be a two-on-two battle, only the challenger may substitute Pokémon at any time. The winner will be declared when one side has lost both Pokémon. Gym Leader Brock, you will choose first. Ready? Go!" With that, the referee lowered his flags, signaling the start of the battle.

"Let's go Rockruff!" Brock called out and tossed the Pokéball on to the field. The Rock-type wolf cub emerged with a happy bark and got into a fighting stance. Ash grimaced when he saw it as he had been hoping for a slower Rock-type to take advantage of Joltik's speed. Oh well, he had made back-up plans for a reason.

Wordlessly, he tossed Joltik's ball out on to the field and she emerged ready to fight immediately. Brock lifted an eyebrow in disbelief, but did not say anything in regards to his opponent's choice of Pokémon.

"Change of plan, Joltik, we have a fast opponent," Ash said under his breath so that only his partner could hear him. Well, Rockruff could probably hear him, but what was it going to do about it?

Joltik chirped in affirmation and stared down her opponent, who growled at her in challenge.

Deciding to get the battle underway, Ash called out his first command.

"Double Team!"

"Rockruff, Tackle!" Ash watched in shock as Rockruff connected with Joltik without any issue and cursed under his breath. 'It has Keen Eye, dang it. Well, Double Team is out of the question as is my back-up plan...'

"You're going to have to do better than that, Ash," Brock said, a small smirk on his face. Ash growled a bit under his breath before taking a calming breath.

"Agility, and keep moving! Slam into it when you can," Ash commanded. Hopefully it would buy him time to think of something to get around a fast oponent with Keen Eye, as he had not been prepared for it. He was good at coming up with plans in advance and on the spot most of the time, but his brain went numb under pressure. He knew it was something that he had to work on, but right now Ash needed to think of a completely new plan.

"Agility as well, use Rock Throw when you get the chance." Ash gasped when he heard the order from Brock. He needed a plan now!

"Joltik, keep away from it!" So far she had been doing fine with that, zig-zagging around the small wolf cub who kept chucking rocks at her when it got close, but it would not last forever.

'Think think think! What do I know about Rockruff?' Ash thought frantically as a rock grazed Joltik's side, causing her to twist around and lose her footing. She went tumbling as Rockruff closed in on her, its canine teeth glowing black as it prepared to use Bite at Brock's command. 'Wait... duh, sensitive hearing! All canine Pokémon have super sensitive hearing.'

"Joltik, Screech, now!" She quickly regained her bearings and began vibrating, letting out a terrifyingly high-pitched Screech attack right before Rockruff could latch on to her with its fangs. It immediately canceled the attack to let out a pitiful-sounding howl of pain, much to Brock's shock. The poor thing tried to cover its ears to block out the noise, to no avail. 'Gotcha. Rockruff are fast and powerful, but like Jolitk, they have poor defenses. Time to end this.'

"Feint Attack into Giga Drain, end this!" Joltik did as asked with a chirp, disappearing before reappearing and slamming into Rockruff, knocking it off balance and sending it sliding across the gym floor. It stood up, trying to shake off the Screech attack, but Joltik was closing in on it, her fangs glowing a menacing green color, causing Brock to panic a bit.

"Protect!" Unfortunately for Ash and Joltik, Rockruff had managed to erect the green shield right before the yellow spider lunged to unleash her attack. Ash frowned in frustration. 'We had this, ugh. Alright, Protect rarely works twice in a row, so we'll use something else as I don't want her getting close to Rockruff until we knock it off kilter again.'

"String Shock," Ash said, and Joltik flipped around and shot her string at Rockruff, who had unfortunately dodged at the last second. 'This is getting annoying.'

"Fire Fang, take it out now!" Brock yelled out, causing Ash to pale a bit. Of course it would know Fire Fang! Why would it not?

"Jump and flip over it!" Joltik did as instructed, dodging the devastating attack with ease. He did not account for the fact that Rockruff could act on its own as it turned around and slammed into Joltik with a Tackle, sending her flying into the wall on the opposite side of the gym. Ash gasped in disbelief.

"Joltik! Are you alright?!" His little spider recovered quickly and shook off the pain from the attack, ready for more. He sighed in relief, glad that all of the endurance training he put her through paid off.

"Your Joltik is quite resilient," Brock complimented, as he looked at Ash's partner with a bit of surprise.

"Thanks, I spent weeks training up her endurance," Ash said. Brock nodded in approval with a smile, but quickly turned his attention back to the battle, as did the young trainer.

"Alright, let's try this then... wide-spread Thunder Wave, cover the entire field!" Ash shouted out, causing Brock to frown and sigh in resignation. He knew Rockruff would not be able to dodge that, and he was right. The wolf pup let out a bark of pain as it bent over, the paralysis taking hold.

"Now, one more time, Giga Drain!" Joltik surged forward, her fangs once more glowing green. Giga Drain could be performed at a distance, but it was far more effective with direct contact, which Joltik preferred when it came to the Grass-type attack. She struck true this time, Rockruff failing to put up a Protect in time, and her fangs sunk into the wolf pup's back, causing it to cry out in pain as blood was drawn and its energy was sucked right from it, the effect being stronger since it was a super effective attack.

In no time at all, the Rock-type pup fell over unconscious and Joltik backed off, her whole body vibrating with energy. The referee looked at Rockruff and held up the flag for Ash's side.

"Rockruff is unable to battle, the winner is Ash!" Cheering, Ash ran out to pick up his first Pokémon and hugged her in happiness.

"You did amazing Joltik! I'm so proud of you!" Joltik chirped and clicked as she snuggled into Ash's chest, feeling wonderful after her victory.

Brock sighed and returned his Rockruff with a small smile.

"I'm surprised, Ash, I wasn't expecting something like that from you. However, we still have one more battle to do before this is over," Brock announced as he unclipped his final Pokémon from his belt, causing Ash to gulp as his nervousness came back. He knew what was coming, and he was proven right when an enormous Onix emerged on to the field with a mighty earth-shattering roar.

Ash put Joltik on his head as he stared up at the rock-snake behemoth with determination. Taking in a deep breath, he grabbed Ferroseed's ball and was about to toss it out when the doors to the gym suddenly slammed open, startling all three human occupants inside. Brock frowned in disappointment as he saw who it was; his secretary.

"Nancy, I am in the middle of an official league battle, what is the meaning of this interruption?" Ash noticed the slight bit of anger in Brock's voice as he said this.

"I apologize Gym Leader Brock, but the police just called, they need your help over at the museum immediately! Those protesters have gone absolutely insane!" she said out of breath, having run into the room, evidently.

This time Brock let a full-blown scowl cover his face as he returned his Onix, turned around, and quickly grabbed five more Pokéballs before turning to look at Ash, who was standing frozen in his spot, Ferroseed's ball in hand ready to throw.

"I'm sorry, Ash, but this is an emergency. We'll have to postpone our final battle for the moment," Brock stated as he began marching towards the front door of the gym clearly in a hurry. Ash snapped out of his daze quickly and ran after the gym leader intent on helping out.

"Wait! I'm coming with you, my Pokémon can help!" Brock turned to look at him, opened his mouth to deny the young trainer's company, but thought better of it. He really had no time to argue with him.

"Alright, but be careful, I have no clue how bad it is out there." With that, the teenager turned around and continued his way out of the gym with Ash following at his heels.


Oh, it was bad alright. Really bad. Ash stared in shock as he observed the chaos that was happening in front of the museum. It appeared to be an all out brawl between the protestors, the police, and each side's Pokémon.

Before Ash could say or do anything, Brock had already taken off at a run, throwing out the Pokémon he had brought with him without haste. The young trainer observed as an Aerodactyl, Steelix, Golem, Gigalith, Tyranitar, and what looked like a Drednaw, were released into the fray. All Pokémon Ash knew he was not ready to face in any capacity for quite some time.

"All of you, subdue the protestors and their Pokémon!" Ash heard Brock call out in instruction.

'I might not have to do anything after all, but I'll wait here just in case,' he thought as he stepped back a bit to get out of range of the danger zone.

He stood there watching, one hand on Ferroseed's ball just in case, when suddenly he was on the ground in pain. Groaning, Ash clutched the side of his head as he slowly sat up on the pavement, realizing that someone had blindsided him with a punch to his temple. As he sat up, the trainer heard the unmistakable sounds of his two Pokémon as they angrily made noise at his attacker.

'When did they come out?' Ash wondered as he looked up and finally saw who punched him- it was the nerdy-looking guy from the protest he broke through two weeks ago. With a scowl, Ash stood up, a bit wobbly, and glared at the teenager across from him, who was backing up a bit as his two partners advanced on him threateningly.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Ash nearly shouted, causing his two Pokémon to look back at him. They were both happy to see him standing up and looking fine, at least from what they could tell.

The teen, noticing that the two Pokémon were distracted, regained his bearings and stood his ground once more and gave a fierce glare towards Ash.

"That was for breaking through our protest two weeks ago you punk! And don't think I didn't notice you come here with the gym leader; I know what you are here for and I won't stand for it!" The guy yelled, and Ash looked at him like he was a crazy scientist. Which, in Ash's opinion, was a perfect description as the guy was wearing what looked like a lab coat for some reason.

"Dude, you're two cherries short of a Cherubi. I'm only here because you and your merry band of protestors interrupted my gym battle! I wouldn't even be here right now if you guys hadn't started causing trouble for no reason," Ash said with a huff as he crossed his arms. His two partners were now at his side, and they were in attack mode once again. They, too, were annoyed that their battle had been interrupted, Ferroseed especially as it had been his turn to battle Brock. It was something he had been looking forward to for two weeks.

"Trouble?! No reason?! We weren't doing anything wrong until the cops showed up and started attacking us!" The guy rebutted with indignation, and Ash rolled his eyes in disbelief.

"Somehow I highly doubt that," Ash said in a bland voice. It seemed to irritate the teen who growled and lunged at him, completely forgetting about the two Pokémon at Ash's feet. Deciding this was a golden opportunity to put the finger snapping training they started a few days ago into practice, Ash snapped his fingers in a quick fashion twice in a row, the signal he had come up with to mean 'attack with low power output' and hoped his two Pokémon remembered what it meant. Thankfully they did.

Joltik let out a weak bolt of lightning which stopped the guy in his tracks, after which Ferroseed wrapped him in a vine and held him aloft in the air upside down, before slamming him down on to the ground. The auburn-haired teen laid groaning in pain in the spot he was slammed on to.

'Okay, he definitely picked up that move from Joltik,' Ash thought with a mental chuckle. He walked over to his attacker and looked down at him with a small glare.

"That's a maneuver I like to call 'don't mess with me and my Pokémon'," Ash said simply and walked back over to his Pokémon and smiled down at them in pride. "Good job, guys! I know we only worked on the finger snap commands for a short while, but you did great!"

Joltik and Ferroseed looked quite proud of themselves as they let out happy sounds at the praise.

"Take a short rest, guys, I'll let you out if I need you again," Ash said and returned the two to their Pokéballs despite their protest at the action. Just as he clipped their balls back on to his belt, he heard his name being called.

"Ash! Ash! Are you alright?" Said trainer turned around at the sound of his name and saw Brock running up to him. The gym leader stopped in front of him and looked down at the teen, who was still on the ground moaning in pain, and shook his head in disappointment. "I saw this guy make a beeline for you, but I was in the middle of a battle and couldn't get away fast enough."

"Yeah, I'm alright. He blindsided me with a punch," Ash rubbed the side of his head that still smarted from said punch, "but I think he learned not to mess with me." He chuckled a bit at that. Brock raised an eyebrow at that and sighed.

"Yes, I can tell. Let me escort him to an officer then we'll head back to my gym, if you are still up for the rest of the battle today." Ash nearly snorted at that.

"You bet I am! I've taken worse hits than that and walked them off, I'll be fine," Ash retorted with a small shake of his head, wincing in slight pain that the action caused. Brock just grunted in response.

"If you say so. Come on, get up," the gym leader said with force as he lifted the nerdy teen from the ground and started to haul him towards the nearest police officer amidst protests.


A short while later, both Brock and Ash stood across from one another at the gym once again, faces set in determination. His head still stung a bit, but it was quickly fading away, much to Ash's relief.

"The battle between Brock and Ash will now recommence! Gym leader, release your Pokémon!" The referee shouted and lowered his flags to indicate the start of the battle.

"Onix, time to rock and roll!" Brock shouted as he released the rock behemoth. The terrifying rock snake gave a mighty roar to try and intimidate its opponent, but Ash firmly stood his ground.

"You've got this, Ferroseed," Ash said calmly and released to spiky seed Pokémon. He landed confidently in front of his trainer and whirred in excitement as he eyed his enormous opponent.

Now this is what Ferroseed had been waiting on- a good battle with a strong opponent. At least he hoped his opponent was strong.

Across the gym, Brock eyed the Grass and Steel-type with a bit of trepidation. 'If he had a Ferroseed the whole time, why use his Joltik at all? Well, it doesn't matter at this point, I'm going to have to start off strong and end off strong if I plan to win this battle. I don't know much about Ferroseed, but I do know Onix needs to avoid touching it if possible.'

"Onix, underground, now!" Brock commanded and the rock snake did as told, disappearing into the ground swiftly.

Ash chuckled lowly at that move. 'Big mistake, Brock. It might work for most Pokémon, but my Pokémon aren't your typical newbie ones. I guess you just forgot from our first battle.'

"Ferroseed, cover the entire floor in Toxic then use Iron Defense," Ash told his partner, and he heard Brock suck in a breath as he realized his mistake. 'I'm going to need to teach him Spikes and Stealth Rock soon, which he'll probably hate, but oh well. They'll be really useful in situations like this and in general.'

Ferroseed's spikes glowed a toxic purple for a couple of seconds before he unleashed the purple goo and spread it out all over the floor of the gym, after which he shined silver as he used Iron Defense. The spiky seed was curious as to what the giant rock snake was gonna do now. Curious, but also excited.

Brock cursed under his breath as he forgot that he was not battling a typical new trainer, this one actually knew strategy and how to utilize his Pokémon's strengths. His Onix was going to have to be poisoned, there was no way around it unfortunately.

"Onix, come out and use Bulldoze! Whatever you do, don't touch that Ferroseed!" Brock commanded and winced as his Onix came out of the ground and groaned as the toxic sludge imbedded itself in between its joints and poisoned it.

The gym leader then realized his Onix only had two attacking moves that could attack from a distance. He could not exactly teach the rock snake more powerful moves or he would have to bump the Pokémon up in power class to take on more powerful opponents. Well, he could do that, but then he'd have to find and train a replacement Pokémon, something he did not have time to do at the moment.

Ferroseed held his ground as the Bulldoze attack hit him, barely scratching the surface of his metallic body. Was his trainer just going to have him sit there while the poison whittled away at the Onix's health? If so, that was going to be so boring.

Thankfully for Ferroseed, that did not seem to be the case.

"Use Mirror Shot and aim for its head to distract it, then wrap yourself around its horn with Vine Whip and unleash a Bullet Seed barrage. Let's take it down as quickly as we can and show it who is stronger!" Ferroseed liked that sound of that! Quickly, he fired off a bunch of Mirror Shots with pinpoint accuracy as each one smacked into his opponent's head, causing it to cry out in pain and shake its head as it become disoriented.

"Snap out of it, Onix!" Brock called out, stunned at how outclassed his Pokémon seemed to be in this situation. Just how strong was that Ferroseed anyway? He could tell his Pokémon was trying to obey by continually shaking its head, but by the time it righted itself, its opponent was already wrapped tightly around the horn on its head. 'Uh oh...'

"Slam your head down into the ground, try and get it off of you!" Onix did as told, but all that did was make the poor rock snake even more dizzy and it swayed a bit as it rose from the floor.

"End this now, Ferroseed!" Ash called out from across the gym. Both Ash and Brock had to cover their ears at the ear-splitting roar that erupted from Onix as it was pelted with powerful Bullet Seeds into its already injured head. The last of its strength gave out as the poison in its system sapped any energy it might have had left and the poor snake crashed to the floor unconscious, causing the whole gym to shake from the force of it.

Brock stood there in shock as he stared at his fallen Pokémon in disbelief. He had not had such an upsetting defeat in quite some time. Most new trainers could not get past his Onix, or, if they did, it was after repeated attempts.

"Uh, right! Onix is unable to battle, the winner of the gym battle is Ash Ketchum," the referee said after snapping out of his shock.

"Woo hoo! Awesome job, Ferroseed!" Ash called out to his Pokémon as he threw his hands in the air in celebration. Said Pokémon was whirring in happiness at the utter decimation of his opponent as he sat atop the Onix. He knew coming along with this particular trainer was a good idea, even if he hated learning all those stupid utility moves.

"Huh, what do you know..." Brock mumbled to himself before smiling and returning his downed Pokémon, and Ash did the same shortly after. He walked across the gym to stand before the young trainer, who looked at him with a joyful grin.

"Well, it's been quite a while since Onix has been that easily thrashed. I guess I got too comfortable with where it was at in its training and got lazy," Brock said with a small chuckle. "I'm going to have to remedy that after today." Well, he was not going to be able to make the rock snake too strong, after all, it was meant to give new trainers a challenge to overcome. "Anyway, I think you definitely deserve this Boulder Badge." Brock pulled the badge out of his pocket and held it out to Ash, who took it with glee and clipped it to the inside of his jacket.

"Thanks, Brock! To be honest, I think Ferroseed was a previously trained Pokémon, which is why he's so strong, otherwise your Onix might have given him a bit more trouble. No offense, of course," Ash said as he held up his hands and Brock just chuckled.

"None taken, it does make sense though. Oh! I almost forgot, wait right here," he said and walked off, leaving Ash a bit befuddled. The gym leader returned soon enough with a jewel case in his hand that contained some sort of disc. Ash's eyes went wide when he saw it.

"Is that a-?"

"Yup! This is the TM for Bulldoze. Normally I give out one for Mud-Slap to new trainers, but I think you deserve this one instead."

"I... Thanks! I didn't know gym leaders gave out TMs, they're pretty expensive," Ash said in awe as he held the TM gingerly. He did not want to drop it and damage it by accident.

"Ah, well, the league officials decided it was a good reward and motivation for winning gym battles, so they send us a bunch of them every few months. Oh, speaking of reward, you should see your prize money deposited into your account later today. If it doesn't, contact the league and they'll fix the issue," Brock explained with a nod. "Well, I better get to the Pokémon Center, so follow me out if you would."

Ash nodded and did so after he put away his TM in his backpack and followed the gym leader out, and together they made their way to the Center.


Ash whistled as he walked down Route 3, a skip in his step as the excitement of winning his first gym battle had not worn off yet. It had only been a day since the battle, so the adrenaline and oxytocin was still coursing through him like rivers. The young trainer knew he was going to have to reward his two partners for a job well done, he just had not decided how yet. 'Maybe I'll ask them what they want, that will work.'

Looking up at the sky, he admired the beautiful hues of the evening sunset. 'Gonna have to set up camp, I won't make it to Mt. Moon any time soon, unfortunately.' With a sigh, Ash walked towards the nearest clearing, which looked to have been used by trainers previously if the logs and firepit were any indication. He sat down on one of the logs and put his backpack down beside him before he reached for the two Pokéballs on his belt and released his partners. He looked down at them with pride.

"You guys did awesome in your gym battles!" His Pokémon looked quite happy at the praise. "You definitely deserve an award, but I'm not sure what to give you. Do you want a couple of days relaxation from training?" Joltik seemed excited about that, if her hopping up and down was any indication, but Ferroseed did not look impressed. "Okay, two days off for Joltik then. Hmmm, what is it you want then, Ferroseed?"

Ferroseed gave a series of whirls and grinding noises, which Ash was still trying to learn in full, but the trainer picked up a bit of it.

"Er... you... want to learn a new attacking move, is that it?" At the excited whirls, Ash knew he nailed it on the head. "Well, luckily for you, I do have a new move in mind for you to learn. We'll get started on it as soon as we can, alright?" Placated by that, the spiky seed moved away to settle down somewhere for the night, while Joltik, as usual, climbed up on top of his head. Ash reached up and petted her gently, enjoying the silky feeling of her hairs on his fingers.

"I'll get dinner started for us soon, unless you wanted to hunt tonight?" At the whole body shake that he could feel, Ash knew that was a negative, and he chuckled in response.

As he was setting up his cookware, he heard a noise overhead and looked up, gasping in shock as he finally saw the Pokémon he had been wanting to find for the past two weeks: Woobat. It was a whole colony of them, as well, much to his surprise. Well, all the better, he would get to choose the best one for his team this way.

Ash stood up swiftly, but quietly, and observed the colony as they flew around each other in a pattern, likely communicating in some way with each other. That is when he spotted it- a young Woobat at the back of the colony who was struggling to keep up with the rest. 'And there's our new team member.'

Some might call him crazy for choosing the youngest and weakest Pokémon, but there was a method to his madness. Young Pokémon learned and grew quickly compared to older Pokémon, which is why they were given such young Pokémon at the academy to raise, and the results did not lie.

"Joltik, you see that Woobat that's at the back of the colony?" His spider friend looked up and gave a chirp of affirmation. "Give it a weak shock and knock it out, it's going to be our new team member." Anything stronger than that would likely kill the poor thing, after all.

Joltik could not believe it, they were finally going to acquire a new friend after all this time! To be honest, she thought it was just going to be her and that annoying, power-driven metallic seed the whole time, but she was glad she was wrong in this case. Letting loose a small jolt of electricity, it hit home and instantly the blue bat was knocked out of the sky, its colony not even noticing.

Ash enlarged an empty Pokéball and tossed it at the Woobat before it hit the ground. The ball landed and shook twice before signaling a successful capture. With a whoop of joy, Ash ran over and picked up the ball, holding it high towards the sky for a moment before bringing it closer to his face.

"Don't you worry little Woobat, we'll get you nice and powerful before you know it so you can show your old colony what you're truly made of. After all, we're your friends now, hopefully." The ball gave a small shake at that and Ash interpreted it as a positive thing.

Ferroseed just looked on in disbelief that his trainer would capture such a weakling, and want it for that matter. Whatever, it is his choice. With the whir equivalent of a huff, the seed settled back down for the rest of the night.

Seriously, though, why a weak little Woobat of all things?

END

A/N: What's this? An update? Yeah, I can't believe it either, but here it is! Woobat captured! This is the last Unovan Pokémon he gets for quite a while, so to those who were complaining, stop. His next team member is from Hoenn, and that's all I'll say. He does get a Kanto Pokémon after that, though, and it's one I don't think anyone has given him before, so that should be exciting! (I guess you could count Persian as it technically is his, but he won't get Persian back for a while.)

I know the gym battle wasn't too exciting, especially since Ferroseed steamrolled Onix (like it naturally would), but he'll have more exciting gym battles in the future.

Until next time, whenever that will be.