Thanks to Alex TF for his suggestion!

Grunu - Kommo-o

Surya - Charizard

Girac - Aggron

Astarot - Garchomp

Drakon - Dragonite

Deadary - Dragapult

For other pokemon not nicknamed yet, but as they are they will be added.

P.S. All credit to respective owners.

P.P.S. I will add the nicknames to the new pokemon from here on this chapter and 'when applicable' as a list of names at the beginning of each chapter will be excessive, and I will put the list on my profile.

Ash was a bit miffed that Noah had already gone to the Viridian Forest without him, but was happy that he didn't just take off without him and not come back. He was also happy that Noah got his Pichu and was relieved to see the tiny yellow mouse wasn't anything like the Pikachu back in Oak's lab and — while timid— was friendly enough. Noah insisted they stay here and give their pokemon a day or two of training since they had the time and rushing into the fight would not give them better chances even with Poliwag on Ash's team. The trek through The Viridian Forest was tough enough without considering the surroundings full of bug types and trainers. A flying type would be a good investment for the future and there were plenty of Pidey and Spearow around that would definitely hold up well into the later side of a trainer's career.

The Indigo Conference was more than a year off and team optimization would help in the long run, and definitely would matter if you redid the circuit and fought the Gym Leaders when they pulled out all the stops.

Hell, doing that was practically a must for any aspiring trainer even in the start even if they didn't know it. Rushing through the gyms would only hold up — if you were lucky — till you got to Surge. Noah did his basic research for every gym leader he would have to fight to earn the badges and be eligible to compete. Knowledge was power after all, and waiting a week while he had pretty much nothing to do while in Oak's lab meant he had time to look up general opinions and ideas.

Gym Leader credentials were all well and good, but didn't allow for an immediate seeding into the Indigo Conference. You needed all eight badges to allow to even be considered, if you tried to apply without all the badges?

No dice.

Things changed once you hit Vermillion.

There was where there was no difference if you had any luck left to spare because it would barely matter anymore. You faced leaders who often crushed the newbies even with their league-appointed team because they were those who saw the uppers echelons of their type and earned their gym leader spot. They knew the ins and outs of their gym type in-and-out, how best to counter and how best to hit. They didn't know the word known as mercy for anyone, if you didn't win definitively, you don't the badge no matter what. Their teams ran like a well-oiled machine and their gym trainers themselves were no slouches as they had been personally trained by them as well.

Noah knew that he couldn't just fight them with a plucky attitude and prayers.

Well, that could wait till they got to that point and then figure out how to shatter through those that would try to stop them.

Noah sat in front of his two pokemon who were both resting after a session of conditioning as he had a good way to work both his teammates. The dragons of his team happily welcomed the new family members and Pichu was ecstatic to see Surya and realized he would now be able to snuggle up to the fire-lizard whenever he wanted.

Noah laughed at the exasperation on Surya's face as he was now forced to carry Pichu. Karma truly felt good.

But back to work.

Noah had been especially pleased with he scanned Pichu's moveset,

Aside from the expected moves like tackle, thudershock, and nuzzle, Pichu had the rare move Wish.

"You have a fairy parent?" Noah murmured, "That's… that's just awesome!"

Wish was incredibly rare for pokemon to know, it was a move similar to life dew, grassy terrain, or aqua ring. Wish was a bit too… delayed as of now to use in the battle scene reliably, but a move didn't have to have useful applications in battle to have value. If any of his allies were hurt, Pichu could heal them using Wish and it could even work on pokemon locked in the stasis of their poke ball until they got to a Pokemon Center so they would only get healed while sealed. It was incredibly uncommon and undervalued move because generally people tend to write off moves that wouldn't do amazing damage in battle or guarantee a total win. Pichu wasn't quite a the level where he could mould the fairy-type energy to get the most out of the move, at most he could heal those on his level. That was fine for now, Noah knew it only get stronger and faster if he put the time into it and once Pichu evolved all his abilities would become much stronger.

But back to conditioning.

He simply had Nidoran start playing tag with Pichu as a way to have fun and get warmed-up for the rest of the exercises. It was something that Pichus often did with their littermates and it had the added bonus of increasing both of their speed. Then it was onto move training, and he brought out Deadary, and Grunu to help the both of them in their own respective moves. First, Noah had Grunu was refining Nidoran's finesse with double kick; while it may not generally be able to learn the move itself, Grunu was able to improve on Nidoran's focus and general technique as he had , Deadary played a version of catch with Pichu, in which Deadary would send a small thundershock — thunderbolt would be too much for the little mouse — and then the Pichu would 'catch' the attack before sending it back. Rinse and repeat. Even with Deadary not being an electric-type, he had no problem with handling the minor bolt of electricity and sending it back. He would've thought Pichu to have to constantly take breaks, but the mouse seemed intent on getting stronger and pushing himself hard so he would be able to contribute to the team. Deadry may be a troublemaker, but he took he didn't try anything funny when it came to making sure his teammates were going to be strong.

"So, how was it?" Noah inquired, "I hope it wasn't too much was it?"

Nidoran huffed contentedly and Pichu lay flat on the floor but responded with an appreciative squeak.

"Great!" Noah said happily, "You both did very well and you both exceeded my expectations, I can tell Brock won't know what hit him if we keep that up. But now I want to do something that I feel is very important."

Both pokemon looked at him expectantly.

"I want to give you a name." Noah said simply.

Both pokemon deflated at that so Noah decided to explain why he thought names were important to him.

"I know you both may not think it's important to you or what you can do, but it matters to me a lot." Noah said with nothing but honestly, "But your not just my pokemon or just my teammates. You are now a part of my family and I don't want to refer to you in way that is so impersonal, so bland. I want you to know that no matter what happens from here on in, you have an identity beyond 'that guy's pokemon'. You are so much more and are far more deserving of respect than the tools you see some people treat their pokemon as."

Both looked at him, eyes wide and Noah smiled softly; he knew that most wild pokemon never really considered themselves special and that wasn't something he liked. He had no problems with trainers who didn't name their family if the love was there, but he wanted to make sure his pokemon had more.

He started with Nidoran, throwing out names that none seemed to resonate with the poison type until…

"How about Kezite?" Noah offered, running names off the top of his head as the well went dry.

Nidoran cocked his head in thought and nodded, letting out a pleased huff.

Noah tried not to sigh in relief and ran a hand over Kezite's head, "Alright then. How about you, Pichu? You ready?"

The electric mouse nodded eagerly, and Noah chuckled as he began listing names.

"Bijli?"

Nope.

"Tesla?"

Definitely not.

"Ohm?"

Shake of the head.

"Maybe… Strom?"

At that, Pichu perked up.

"Got it."

With the abundance of pokemon willing to scrap with other pokemon, Ash and Noah found plenty of chances to help their pokemon get some more practical experience. Strom's stamina definitely needed work as it would have to find a way to withstand its own electricity, and Kezite needed to work on his defenses, but overall Noah was happy with them. Ash even matched to catch a rather tough and experienced Pidgey that managed to nearly knock out Poliwag in one hit and forcing Ash to sub Abra in to it take down. Despite Pidgey being strong it hadn't been a walk in the park, Poliwag had only been in Ash's team for a day but Ash had already devised a way to help the water-type's mobility. Poliwag generally were more used to swimming in streams and rivers, walking on land was difficult for the tadpole. Poliwag used watergun to make the ground into mud rather than hard dirt, using the new terrain to glide and slide around the agitated flying-type constantly knocking it down with Water Pulses and Water Guns. It had been bad luck and lack of observation that Poliwag allowed itself to be directed towards the base of a tree where it could no longer freely move. Pidgey screeched in victory and slammed the fragile water-type with a relatively strong Wing Attack. The attack sent Poliwag skidding onto it's back and barely managing to roll out of the way from an Air Slash that carved a divot in the earth. Poliwag weakly stood, obviously in pain but wasn't built to take hits and Ash quickly called Abra to switch in and Psyshock the Pidgey down.

Strom used Wish on Poliwag and Ash looked appropriately amazed at the electric-type knowing that move. As Poliwag was still in the 'baby' stage itself, Strom's Wish healed it up to practically good as new.

The remaining mankey teetered between scared and angry that a good number of them were lying defeated in the plains from their fight with Kezite. Apparently Kezite wasn't really challenged by the Pidgey and Rattata of the forest, being able to knock out all of his opponents with little trouble. He needed a bigger challenge as it was now obvious he wanted to grow faster than Noah previously anticipated or expected. Still having plenty of time to find more capable combatants, Noah decided to try to let it all out of his system by fighting the aggressive mankey that populated the way to Victory Road. The fightng-types were much tougher and experienced than most of the pokemon that inhabited route one and always like to find worthy challenges. Ash would've come, but he needed to hash things out with his newest teammate before anything else so he stayed at the Pokemon Center.

Before, when Noah had gone to Victory Road, the mankey weren't interested in a lone human who didn't seem to have any pokemon with him for them to fight. This time though? The mankey had challenged him and Kezite had only been too happy to accept their proposal as he readied himself. Noah would've used Strom, but the mouse wasn't ready for this level of combat quite yet. He had enough trouble facing some Spearow and Pidgey and they weren't nearly as tough as the one Ash had captured and that was factoring in he had a type advantage against them. Instead he had the baby electric-type perch on his shoulder to see how higher level battles would go. As Noah expected, Kezite wasn't able to dodge the quick-footed fghting types so instead he focused on weathering their attacks and attacking with punishing counters. Noah was happy to see Kezite beginning to roll with their attacks as much as possible, mitigating the force and damage and using their momentum against them. If he kept that sort of instinctive combat going, he would be an absolute monster in his own right once he had finished evolving.

Bruised and battered as it was, Kezite had never looked more proud and fulfilled as it had in that moment since Noah met him.

Noah nodded with a smile, "Are you done?"

Kezite cocked it's head and nodded once.

Noah returned him and pulled out a sack of Pecha Berries that he had bought from the Pokemart and placed it on the ground, "These will help with any of the poison my pokemon left. You can have them as… payment for letting my pokemon fight you."

He turned on his heel and quickly walked away, he didn't want to stick around in case the mankey decided to avenge their wounded pride.

Ash and Noah both trained and rested one last day before stocking up on supplies and beginning to walk into the Viridian Forest, Ash grinning as this was the last leg of the journey before tackling the Rock Gym of Pewter City. Ash honestly couldn't wait and hoped that he could get some last minute training in before he had to face Brock, already planning what pokemon he would use. Noah had given him a brief synopsis on how he should never rely on luck and always make sure to have a good idea of what he was walking into.

So, Rock-type gym?

Poliwag was an obvious choice, the water-type would be a ringer for taking on the rock types due to its inherent type advantage. Water Gun and Water Pulse would definitely down Brock's Geodude and could definitely hurt his Onix. Of course, typing — while certainly helpful to grease the wheels — didn't determine the outcome of any fight. The problem lay in making sure he had a backup if Poliwag got too injured or was too tired to face both, as fighting two gym pokemon in a row as it was a tall order for he tadpole. If his Poliwag it evolved into a Poliwhirl it would work out better, but Ash didn't exactly care to have his pokemon evolve just to do better. That was unfair and made it seem like he only cared for pokemon so long as they were strong and nothing else.

He wished he could rely on his newly captured Pidgey, but that was just risking the pokemon to fight against a bad matchup. Flying-types were generally weak to Rock-Types, only moves like steel-wing allowed for flying pokemon them stand their ground against Rock-Types. Ash knew that without a doubt his Pidgey was strong and skilled for his current level, but it didn't know the move due to it only being learnable by TM and had no other viable options. Air Slash would only make the Rock-Types laugh as it would — at best — make a small crack in their exterior or not even effect them at all. As generally strong as pidey and their subsequent evolutions were, none of his pidgey's power would be enough to crack Brock's rock-types defenses until later.

Ash had nothing but the utmost faith in his starter's capabilities as a battler and as someone to watch his back. Abra's psychic abilities were growing stronger and he could consistently use Psyshock and Psyshard without strain, but Ash didn't know if his newly mastered moves would be enough to take on Brock's pokemon if he had no choice. He knew they psychic pokemon weren't vulnerable to rock pokemon, but — by that same thread — Abra were fragile, which is why teleport was their main method of avoiding trouble. He wished Abra did have more defensive capabilities and moves in his arsenal or even some varied moves. Even if Abra could create a decent barrier, he knew that it wasn't enough to stop an Onix from breaking it with no difficulty as his own Poliwag's attack caused it to crack.

Maybe he should've tried to catch one of the mankey to give himself a fighting-type advantage? It wasn't like they couldn't learn moves to help negate their weaknesses, either way he didn't want to backtrack when they only just started.

The Viridian Forest didn't have any real counters for a rock-type gym either, as bug-type were weak to rock-type.

Ash hummed, he had no doubt in his teammates, but he didn't want to take chances; he's have to see if any of the pokemon around Pewter had what he was looking for.

Noah enjoyed the feeling of stretching his legs.

He always had the itch to travel, even back when he was manning the gym in Umbal City, it was just his responsibilities kept him tied down. He had satisfied his itchy feet by traversing the region, find every twist of the road and the corners of every cave. He had always wanted to be a trainer, and now he was except he already had a team of eight and much more experience of handling pokemon in general. Roughing it through The Viridian Forest was almost a mythical experience to him, without the impetuous nature of a child, he could appreciate the beauty of light poking through the dense vegetation and the muffled cries of the bugs that created the concert of life in the area.

God, he missed so much due to factors outside his control.

Some nearby squeaking caught his attention and he grinned at the feeling of dozen of eyes on him. He didn't think that him capturing Pichu would warrant such attention, but he supposed the Pika population of the Viridian Forest looked after their own. Plus, now they thought he didn't notice them, better to get a read on his real disposition and attitude. He supposed they were being sneaky, but he had put himself through his paces on anticipating anyone or anything tailing him after he had been kidnapped.

He was happy it was working out for him.

Or maybe it had to do with the fact that the Pichu he didn't catch weren't made to do stealth and were pretty loud. And that might've had something to do with the random flashes of electricity in the bushes.

Meh, it was always a good idea to deal with everyone with a heavy dose of skepticism, made it harder to be played for a fool that way.

"So, any thought to adding a electric type?" Noah queried, breaking Ash out of his thoughts, "Because I happen to know a few that seem open to joining a team."

Ash grinned, "Sure!"

Noah turned and looked at where the brunt of the stares came from, "You can come out now, and just for future reference, try to quiet down or maybe try to keep the little ones from sparking randomly? The ozone is pretty noticeable."

There was a muffled commotion before the electric-types he befriended slinked out of the bush with what were definitely sheepish looks.

Ash inhaled sharply, paling and tensing at the sight of the multiple Pikachu and Pichu heading towards them. Regardless of what he thought of Strom, the Pikachu in Oak's lab had not left a good impression on him and even with his boundless love of pokemon, Ash was still a kid who had been electrocuted within seconds of meeting one of the electric-type pokemon. He didn't even know if he did something wrong or had somehow offended the pokemon before he crumpled from the attack.

Noah quickly reaches out and squeezed his shoulder, "Relax. They won't hurt you."

Ash relaxed slightly, but already the pack picked upon it and became wary.

Noah sighed at the explaining he was about to do.

He didn't mind, but he really hoped this wasn't the beginning of a trend.