"What's up, loser?" Gary grinned. His arms were crossed and he had a cocky smile on his face. Wartortle stood by his side with a similar pose. "Where are the other losers?"
"We were separated." Ash scowled. He didn't like thinking about the circumstances of their separation. It always made him see rushing water and bright, ethereal light.
Gary smirked. "Guess they got a bit of common sense and dumped you. I know I would have, if I were stupid enough to go with an idiot like you in the first place."
Ash clenched his fists, but didn't respond. He would just sound like an idiot and add more fuel to Gary's fire. Besides, it looked like Gary was exaggerating his personality to try and get a rise out of him.
"Huh." Gary stated, the smirk vanishing. It was replaced by a superior sneer. "Looks like you actually managed to evolve one of your pokemon. Good job. Did it take you this entire time?"
He frowned in annoyance. "I don't have time for this. What do you want?"
Gary uncrossed his arms. "Let's see how much worse you've gotten. How many badges do you have?"
"Four."
His rival snickered. "Six. All from actually beating the gym. How did you get yours? Are you one of those losers that have to clean a gym to get its badge?"
Ash frowned. "No. Are you one of those losers that had to go to the minor gyms so that you can actually win?"
Gary colored in annoyance. Ash thought he might have hit a nerve. "No! You know what, let's battle. I've been needing a good laugh."
The trainer coldly smiled. "This is going to be pretty funny, isn't it?"
His rival sneered, but didn't say anything as he led Ash to a large, circular clearing a little further into the forest. Ash glanced around it, noting anything he could use to his advantage. There was nothing. It was just an average, empty section of the forest.
"How many have you got?" Gary growled. He snickered when Ash answered. "Only five? I had that many in my first week. Whatever, let's get this over with."
Wartortle stepped forward. It had gotten larger and looked to have gained quite a bit of power since they last met. Ash grinned.
"Nidorino, do it."
Nidorino stood across from Wartortle. Both glared at each other for a moment. Wartortle's furry ears were twitching, and Nidorino's barbs had extended, leaking their potent poison.
Ash made the first move. While Wartortle had the advantage in almost every area when he had faced Nidoran, now he faced Nidorino. Nidorino could at the very least match the turtle.
"Horn attack."
Nidorino instantly charged forward, tearing across the short distance between them. Gary called out for Wartortle to dodge, but the creature had only just begun leaping when Nidorino's sharp horn slammed into it, injecting a massive dose of venom into it.
Ash grinned at the shocked expression on Gary's face as Wartortle was thrown backwards by the force of the blow.
"Ice beam!" Gary shouted. "Knock that stupid Nidorino out!"
Wartortle quickly fired a massive ice beam at Nidorino. Nidorino used the agility he had gained since evolving and leapt out of the way. The beam slammed into a tree and completely froze it, covering the trunk in a thick shell of ice and coating the leaves in a fragile layer.
"Aqua pulse!" Gary roared, clearly annoyed. His fists were clenched and his face was turning red. "Then use aqua tail!"
The turtle quickly obeyed. A large ball of water flashed towards Nidorino, but was also dodged. Wartortle then charged towards Nidorino with surprising speed, although it was clearly getting slower and weaker due to the venom injected into it.
"Thunderbolt!" Ash shouted. Nidorino quickly unleashed the bolt of lightning, striking Wartortle directly in the chest. Wartortle looked surprised for a moment before crumpling to the ground. It was returned moments later by Gary.
"That was just luck!" Gary shouted in disbelief. "You won't do so well against this one! Go, Growlithe."
Ash grinned when he saw Growlithe. It was clearly experienced and excited to battle, as the fire-type instantly set into a pose. The Growlithe yipped and jumped before spurting out a few flickers of flame into the air. He let Gary start this round.
"Ember, then use take down." Gary shouted. Ash grinned – Gary was mad and making stupid mistakes. If he was thinking, he would have remembered Nidorino's poison point. Besides, there was no way Growlithe could take Nidorino close up.
Growlithe opened his mouth and shot several balls of fire. Nidorino resolutely took them. They clearly hurt him a bit, but didn't really any real damage. Ash smiled.
"Confusion."
Nidorino glared at Growlithe with glowing eyes. Growlithe yelped as he was pulled up into the air and heavily slammed into the ground. Ash half expected it to be knocked out then and there, but Growlithe proved resilient and stood up on firm legs.
Gary didn't seem too put out with this, though. "Overheat!"
Ash blinked – where had Gary gotten the TM for that? That was one of the very few moves considered powerful enough to limit. And for good reason – overheat was capable of knocking out many pokemon in one hit, even if they generally resisted fire.
"Dodge!" He shouted. Ash didn't want Nidorino getting taken out by a cheap move like that.
Growlithe began to glow a bright red as it accumulated the necessary energy. A few moments later, it opened its mouth and unleashed a bright orange blast of flame. Ash had to turn away from it – the intensity and power of it nearly burned him from twenty feet away.
Nidorino tried to dodge, but Growlithe managed to score a direct hit. Gary smirked, apparently expecting that to be the end of Nidorino. It fell from his face when he realized that Nidorino was still standing – tired and hurt, but ready to battle for at least another minute.
"Focus horn." Ash commanded. Growlithe was too exhausted by the powerful attack to do anything. Apparently Gary hadn't bothered training it with overheat very much. It just didn't have the endurance to fight back.
Nidorino quickly focused his power before charging at Growlithe. The fire-type feebly tried to dodge thanks to its trainer's shouted commands, but Nidorino easily adjusted his course and slammed into it.
Growlithe heavily landed on the ground, clearly knocked out. Ash had to hide a wide grin at the stunned expression on Gary's face.
"Still think it's just luck?" He taunted. Gary sneered but didn't respond in any way aside from returning Growlithe.
A moment later a Kadabra appeared on the field. Ash frowned at it – it made him think of the crushing defeat that he had received at Sabrina's hands – and recalled Nidorino. He would probably be able to knock it out, but he didn't want Nidorino getting hurt or weakened.
Instead he sent out Dazed. Gary scoffed at the smaller pokemon, but Ash just smiled. Dazed had a few surprises ready.
"Psybeam!" Gary shouted. Kadabra quickly shot a psybeam at Dazed, the psychic power bending its spoon. Ash winced as the power caused a minor head ache. He hoped that this would be over with soon.
Ash didn't bother telling Dazed to dodge the psybeam. She was too slow to avoid it at such a close distance and could take the hit easy enough. As he predicted, the psybeam barely even pushed her back.
He suspected that Gary hadn't spent much time training his pokemon aside from Wartortle. Most of them seemed strong enough, but they were undisciplined and wild. They only seemed to trained with the powerful TMs Gary had used on them once and didn't have the endurance to fight for very long.
"Shadow ball."
Dazed was shrouded in a light grey aura for just a moment before she hurled the shadow ball towards Kadabra. Gary's eyes widened and he quickly called out a command.
"Reflect!"
Kadabra closed its eyes and quickly summoned a golden panel of light. Ash fought back a wince at the sudden headache it produced before focusing on the battle. He thought the skill looked similar to the orb that Alakazam had enclosed itself in, but it seemed thinner and more brittle.
Despite the attempt to protect itself, shadow ball slammed through the wall before slamming into Kadabra's chest. Kadabra was slammed onto its back, although its massive, thick tail absorbed some of the force. It wearily pulled itself up before looking at Dazed.
"Psychic!" Gary roared.
"Shadow ball." Ash ordered at the exact same time.
Kadabra was obviously having trouble using the powerful ability. It was clear that it was able to use the attack – it was slowly being enveloped in a bright orange aura – but it was doing it extremely slowly. By the time its eyes began to glow and its spoon began to bend, Dazed had formed her shadow ball and threw it.
The shadow ball knocked Kadabra out. Ash sighed in relief and rubbed his temples when Kadabra was unconscious. That headache was finally going away. He would actually be able to focus now.
Despite the relief he felt, he couldn't hide his smirk when he saw Gary's face. It was red and twisted into a scowl. Apparently Gary wasn't that used to losing. Maybe the power some of his pokemon possessed let them muscle their way past most trainers. Or maybe he just didn't battle as many as he should, or deliberately picked out weaker ones.
Nevertheless, Gary continued their battle. He sent out a gigantic, powerful looking Pidgeot. Ash looked at the impressive pokemon before grinning. It looked like it was time for Plume to get a good fight in.
Plume shrieked out her arrival before taking off into the air. Gary shouted for his Pidgeot to follow.
Ash was thankful for his hat as he looked up at the sky. It managed to block out the worst of the sun and let him see the battle better than Gary could. He suspected that it would be a boon – this might be the only battle he had any real trouble with.
"Twister." He muttered, trusting Plume's keen ears to let her catch the order. She heard, as she quickly launched a small tornado at Gary's Pidgeot. The Pidgeot managed to fly out of the attack's way, although it was clear that it had difficulty. Gary's Pidgeot was made for power, not speed.
"Whirlwind!" Gary yelled, waving his arms as he spoke. Ash frowned when the Pidgeot sent a large gust of wind at Plume, catching her in it and throwing her out of the sky for a few seconds before she recovered. "Now, use wing attack!"
Plume had only just recovered when the massive Pidgeot slammed into her. She was sent flying through the air, but recovered again. Ash frowned and came up with a strategy.
Just like last time, Gary's Pidgeot was just too large and powerful to take on physically. It also seemed quite well-trained and skilled, so it wouldn't be as simple of a fight as the others were. He didn't have surprise on his side anymore – Gary knew that Ash was better than him, and wouldn't be careless.
But he had managed to perfect a move that would magnify his advantage exponentially. If Plume had to win through speed and agility, then that's what she would use.
"Tailwind!" He ordered with a slight grin. Although he hadn't used this in an actual battle yet, the training he had done with Plume ensured that it would be impressive.
Plume quickly kicked up a massive whirlwind around her. Ash honestly didn't understand how it worked, but he knew that Plume could somehow make the powerful winds speed her up while slowing down and buffeting the enemy.
All he knew was that it worked wonderfully. Plume was fast before, but now she was tearing through the air so quickly that Ash could barely track her. And that meant Gary had no hope of doing so.
"Quick wing, followed by aerial ace."
Ash had to wince at how effectively Plume carried out his order. She almost instantaneously slammed into Gary's Pidgeot, slamming it out of the air thanks to the incredible speed she had already gained added with that of the quick attack. The wing attack was almost overkill.
He had to admit that Gary's Pidgeot was impressive. Had it been a fair fight, then it might have defeated Plume. Unfortunately for Gary, he seemed to think that air battles were the same as land ones. While land was mostly static and one could easily win without using abilities to alter it, in the air wind and speed were key, although bulk and power could be just as useful if one knew how to use them.
Pidgeot remained flying, and seemed to have a surprise of its own. It sent a challenging cry to Plume, showing that it wasn't defeated yet.
"Hyper beam!" Gary shouted desperately, apparently realizing that Pidgeot was already half-defeated.
His Pidgeot quickly followed the command, finding Plume and locking on. An instant later it shot a massive blast of energy, swerving it through the air in the hopes of defeating Plume.
Ash shouted for Plume to dodge, but he was too late. Despite her speed, the Pidgeot was lucky and skilled enough to catch her in the beam. She was almost defeated by the blow, but still had a little more in her.
He cheered her on as she completed the last order he gave her: aerial ace. She dove at Pidgeot from her lofty height before suddenly disappearing. A moment later she appeared behind the Pidgeot and used the attack.
Although the aerial ace knocked Pidgeot out, it seemed to drain the last of Plume's energy. She slowly began to descend, struggling to remain in the air. Ash quickly took notice of this and recalled her, thanking Plume as he placed her pokeball back on his belt.
"Good girl." He muttered. Then he turned back to Gary. "Come on, Gary. One more."
"No." Gary sneered. "I'm done here. I don't know how you've been beating me, but you have to be cheating somehow."
Ash had to hide a smirk as Gary stormed out of the clearing with a face red from rage. As his rival turned his back to him and walked back onto the road, Ash couldn't hold back one last quip.
"Smell ya later!" He called to Gary, snickering all the while. It felt good to win.
He quietly left the clearing a few moments later. While beating Gary was fun, he had a journey to attend to. The journey to Fuschia City was a long one – the terrain was rough and could take anywhere from two to three weeks, depending on the weather.
So it was best to get started.
XX
The first week of his journey led him to Vermillion. It was a standard journey – a few wild pokemon attacked or investigated him, and he fought them off. None were any that he wanted, although they provided a fun break from the trained pokemon he usually fought. Both were prevalent on the road from Saffron to Vermillion.
Aside from wanting to get a shower before embarking on a journey that would be at least two weeks, Ash also needed to stock up on supplies. He had just used the massive amount of spare food and essentials to get him by during the journey to Vermillion and needed to restock.
Along with the usual food and necessities, Ash also bought supplies that might be needed for the mountains and harsh conditions. He didn't want to be stuck somewhere and wanted his journey to continue smoothly.
He bought ten new pokeballs as an afterthought. While he didn't plan on catching many pokemon, they would be useful if he needed to outrun something and needed a bit of time. And if he did end up catching any pokemon, the pokeballs would be able to serve their intended purpose.
Ash had thought about going to battle Surge, but opted not to. The areas that he would be traversing over the next few weeks would be draining on his pokemon. Even the regions a day away from Vermillion would be harsher than the norm for Kanto. He didn't want any of his friends being tired out. And he didn't think Surge would be so easy to defeat this time, not after the lucky win Ash had gotten.
In addition to his trainer-based activities, he took the time to call his mother. While the PokeNav worked extremely well, he wasn't sure how well it would be able to work out in the wilderness of southeastern Kanto. He just wanted to let her know his plans and not to worry.
When all of that was over, he went to bed. He was going to have a long day tomorrow.
XX
He left the Pokemon Center early. Ash wanted to stop relatively early at night and see just how far he had gotten. Progress would certainly be slower than usual thanks to the rugged terrain and bad weather that plagued the southeastern reaches of Kanto.
Ash quickly made his way through the bustling city. Even in the early morning, it was full of people laughing and talking as they made their daily commute. He watched them with minor interest as he passed by, wondering how could they live in such a large city.
The trainer shrugged it off as he finally reached the gates. Several trainers passed him by, joking and making odd gestures as they walked in. He glanced at them for a moment before stepping out into the wilderness.
Nidorino and Plume were quickly released. They greeted him affectionately before taking their usual positions. He smiled and set off down the worn dirt trail.
Fuschia City awaited him.
XX
Nothing remarkable happened for the first nine days of his journey. The roads were mostly empty in the areas he travelled in, and most wild pokemon either ignored him or were too busy surviving to bother with a single trainer.
Ash had seen glimpses of the powerful pokemon that roamed the mountains he was currently hiking through: onix, geodude, graveler, and machop were common sights. They always ran away or hid when they became aware of his presence, however, so he never really got to study them.
He resolutely trekked down the rocky path. It was slowly declining in quality as he went further into the mountains. Although there were quite a few small towns and villages in this area, most were too busy with their own lives to maintain the roads. He'd only stopped in one so far, and they'd been quite hostile. Apparently they liked their solitude.
A storm was brewing. Dark clouds had slowly begun to encroach on the mountains, although they hadn't yet begun to release their water. Ash wasn't looking forward to the time when it finally poured down rain.
Aside from the obvious annoyance, it would also cause the narrow paths to become slick and muddy. If they got too dangerous, he would have to slow his pace down or even stop for a while until it became safer.
Even as he thought about the potential dangers of the rain, he felt a raindrop fall onto his nose. Then another. And another. Soon enough a light, steady drizzle was falling from the sky.
Ash sighed. It looked like this wouldn't be a pleasant journey. He supposed that he should find a cave or some other shelter for the night – it was already nearing nightfall. Sleeping in a pleasantly dry place and waking up in the middle of a swamp wasn't the best experience.
Although it took a while, he eventually found a large, dry cave that had more than enough space for him and his friends to comfortably sleep in. It was dark, so he released Infernus. Thanks to Magmar's intense tail flame, there wasn't a great need for wood.
Strangely, however, Infernus was wary as he took in the environment. He quickly whipped his head towards the back of the cave and spit a massive blast of flame into it. Ash leapt back and yelped in surprise.
"What did you see?" Ash asked. He was afraid that they had stumbled into a swarm of zubat or something. That would be more than dangerous enough for Infernus to attack.
Then he got his answer. A shrill, angry cry alerted him to the fact that there was something else in the cave. Something that was much larger than a zubat.
Infernus roared and blasted flame at the source of the cry again. Ash was able to watch this time and saw a large, humanoid shape in the midst of the flames. It was sprinting towards Infernus, taking long leaps and bounds instead of humans' quick, choppy movements.
"Flamethrower." He ordered, settling to the back of the cave. Ash didn't want to get caught in the middle of it.
The fire-type gladly accepted the order, unleashing yet another stream of flame at the humanoid figure. It seemed to hurt whatever it is, but didn't knock it out. Ash began to get worried when it finally came within striking distance of Infernus and launched a brutal, yet graceful, punch into Infernus' chest.
Infernus easily took the blow, but it clearly made him angry. Ash decided to take control of the situation before Infernus lost his temper and burned everything around him.
"Fire punch!"
Ash grinned as Infernus launched his powerful fire punch into the side of the humanoid's head. It sent the creature sprawling onto the ground, although it quickly recovered and kicked Infernus' legs out from under him.
He had a good feeling of what the creature was. From the general shape and fighting style it was using, it seemed to be a machoke. That meant he needed Infernus to use his fire abilities to their maximum potential – machoke were dangerous foes in close combat and could unleash a huge amount of damage.
Infernus might be tireless and practically indestructible – as Ash had learned in the times when he had to battle the powerful pokemon - but he wouldn't be able to beat a machoke at its own game unless he cheated.
"Flamethrower!" He shouted. Infernus growled and quickly followed the command, unleashing the massive stream of flame when the Machoke was preparing to punch it. Machoke – Ash was able to confirm it in the light of the flame, thanks to the hulking body structure and subtly reptilian face – stumbled backwards from the flames before recovering a bit.
"Fire punch."
The Machoke quickly dodged the burning fist and retaliated with another chop to Infernus' stomach. Infernus just snarled and blasted another cone of flame at the fighter. It hit Machoke squarely in the chest and made the fighting-type shield itself from any further flames.
Infernus quickly launched another fire punch, knocking Machoke back into the stone walls of the cave. Ash put a hand on a pokeball and got ready to throw it. He briefly thought of using one of his ultra balls, but figured that a pokeball would be more than sufficient. Machoke weren't powerful enough to necessitate one.
Machoke would be pretty useful to the team, and it was strong enough to stand up to Infernus for more than one hit. At the very least he could train it to match up with the rest of his team. He needed a fighting-type to balance things.
"Flame burst." Ash shouted. The roaring and crackling of the flames was drowning out some of the noise he made, so he had to raise his voice. Infernus quickly followed through with his order, roaring and stamping his foot down. Flames exploded from his mouth and bathed Machoke.
Machoke's muscular form sunk to the ground from its position on the wall, clearly unconscious. Ash grinned. It was nice fighting these pokemon. Unlike that monster of a Rhydon, Machoke was actually capable of being defeated. Machoke was powerful, but not ridiculously so.
"Good job, Infernus." Ash called out before wiping a few beads of sweat from his brow, just now realizing how hot it had gotten. He'd have to remember to not use Infernus so much in enclosed areas. Infernus caused his flames to blaze up in response. "Get ready. I'm about to catch it and revive it."
Ash lightly tossed the pokeball at the unconscious creature. It quickly caught the fighting-type. Machoke had no chance to resist.
He opened his hand up, causing the ball to float up to his hand. Ash glanced at it for a second. Although he could tell that Machoke wouldn't be as rebellious and angry as Infernus had been – it hadn't attacked until Infernus did, for one –, he expected Machoke to put up some sort of a fight.
So he released Dazed and Nidorino. They would both be powerful weapons against Machoke.
They wouldn't have any trouble with a single fighting-type. Ash relentlessly drilled all of his pokemon at night – they weren't battling very much, so he either set them against each other or made them practice for several hours – and they had all mastered their TMs.
Dazed had finally managed to perfect psychic since they set out from Vermillion. He'd had her use it in one of the scarce battles they were forced into, and it was just as powerful as he had expected. Although it was incredibly powerful and she had mastered it, he used her weaker attacks more often. Psychic drained her rather quickly, although he hoped that that weakness would be overcome when she evolved.
Nidorino still couldn't learn drill horn, but he had instead become incredibly proficient at both ranged and close combat. He was more than capable of hitting far away targets somewhat accurately, and had also begun to improve the power behind his TMs.
Of course, Nidorino still favored physical fighting. That was what he was built for. His tough hide, sharp horn, and powerful venom made him Ash's best physical battler. Nidorino could even match Infernus, although it was always close.
So a lone Machoke would be child's play.
Ash smiled at his friends as they materialized and accepted whatever affection they decided to give him. When they were done, he held out the pokeball. Both of the new arrivals understood and prepared to battle if necessary.
Machoke was unconscious when it was released. Ash took the moment to scan it with his pokedex.
Machoke. It began. The Superpower Pokemon. Its muscular body is so powerful, it must wear a power-save belt to be able to regulate its motions. Because it is so dangerous, no one has ever removed the belt.
This Machoke knows the moves: Focus energy, low kick, karate chop, low sweep, seismic toss, revenge, vital throw, and submission. Its ability is Guts, which causes it to become more powerful when hurt or put under an effect.
Ash figured that it would turn out to be pretty useful. Machoke would definitely be getting up in the thick of things, so it would be useful for it to be able to get an extra bit of power in tough situations.
He checked Machoke's gender after that. Ash didn't like to refer to any of his pokemon as "it" when they actually had a gender. Machoke was a male.
After he had all the information he wanted, Ash took out one of his revives and kneeled by the unconscious pokemon. He carefully snapped the diamond-shaped container over Machoke's mouth, releasing the restoring powder.
When Machoke stirred, Ash stood up and backed away. He didn't want to be too close to Machoke if he was angry. Ash didn't think that he could take a hit from something strong enough to lift boulders with one hand.
Infernus tensed up when Machoke wearily pulled himself up and looked around. Ash glanced at him and motioned for the fire-type to relax. Nidorino would be more than sufficient to protect him and he didn't want Machoke to be intimidated.
Machoke didn't take long to realize that there were several pokemon around him. He quickly tensed up and looked as though he were about to make a run for it. Ash stepped forward, serving to both attract Machoke's attention and to hopefully calm it.
"Don't worry." He said in a soothing tone. "We aren't going to hurt you unless you try to hurt us."
The fighting-type looked at him with narrow eyes. He didn't lose the tension in his body, but didn't look as though he were about to attack or flee. Ash smiled.
"Good. Look, I caught you. You know what that means."
Machoke snorted and nodded. Ash noticed that he slackened and let himself lean back on the cavern wall with crossed arms. He guessed Machoke realized that he couldn't escape or make any real attempt to fight back.
Now that he was sure that Machoke wouldn't cause any trouble, it was time to start making peace with his newest friend. Ash didn't want to go through the same troublesome process he had with Infernus.
"I don't know if you're upset with me right now or not, but if you are, you'll get over it." Ash said confidently. "You're one of my partners now, and I promise that I'll do my best to make you as strong as you can possibly become. As long as you don't cause trouble and do your best, you'll get stronger than you could ever have imagined."
Machoke look interested, but still kept its lazy pose. He just looked at Infernus and nodded with a bored expression. Ash figured he was asking if he would be better than the Magmar. The trainer voiced it, and received a nod in return.
"I can't answer that." He admitted. "I don't know if you'll be as strong as Infernus, but you'll definitely have a better chance than if you just stayed out here and trained in the wilderness. So, are you willing to work with us?"
The fighting-type looked surprisingly thoughtful for a moment before shrugging and nodding. Ash grinned.
"Awesome!" He exclaimed, gleeful that he wouldn't have to worry about Machoke trying to attack him in his sleep. Fighting-types generally tended to be honest and upfront. Machoke probably wouldn't break his promise, although Ash would still be careful. "Do you want a nickname? All of my other friends have one."
Machoke shrugged and nodded again, apparently not caring that much. Ash sat down and started to come up with names. He would throw them out to Machoke whenever he thought of one, although the fighter tended to quickly shake his head.
After a few minutes, the rest of his pokemon got bored with his attempts. Infernus went to the back of the cave and curled up, his bright tail flame leaving just enough light for Ash to be able to see. He was obviously bored.
Dazed just turned to stare at the heavy rain pelting the ground outside, lost in thoughts that Ash couldn't hope to decipher.
Nidorino just curled up next to Ash, still somewhat wary of the Machoke. Ash absentmindedly patted his friend's tough, leathery hide as he brainstormed, so used to being around Nidorino that he didn't need to look in order to avoid the poisonous barbs.
It took nearly thirty minutes to find a name that Machoke found acceptable. Ash had generally focused his nicknames around subjects applicable to fighting-types.
Both of them found Warrior to be dull and unimaginative. Machoke had quickly shaken his head when Ash suggested Champion. Ash almost suggested Brute, but he knew that it didn't describe Machoke at all. Hulk was almost accepted, but Machoke eventually shook his head. Goro just popped into his head from somewhere, but he didn't like it that much. Countless others were passed between them, always rejected after a brief moment of thought.
Ash was starting to grow weary and tired when they finally picked upon a name that Machoke liked: Bruiser. It didn't carry negative connotations like Brute, didn't seem to be a title that Machoke hadn't earned, and it was more original than Warrior.
So, Bruiser it was.
"Alright, Bruiser." Ash said, trying out the new name. "I don't know if you're tired or not, but I am. So, pick somewhere to sleep. I can put you in your pokeball if you'd rather be in it, but I won't make you go in."
Bruiser shook his head. Ash was surprised that he could – his grey, tough neck was so thick with muscle and hard skin that it looked like it couldn't move. He nodded in response to Bruiser's answer and started pulling out his sleeping mat from his pack.
As he did so, he looked at Bruiser, who still hadn't moved. He just stared at Ash curiously, judging him in some way that Ash didn't understand.
"If the storm has let up by morning, that's when we'll leave. We need to get a move on," Ash said, ignoring whatever Bruiser was staring at him about. He didn't want to feel self-conscious. "Get some rest in. Tomorrow's going to be a long day.
Bruiser nodded and looked around for an unoccupied spot. Ash watched him curiously until the fighting-type found an area to his liking and sat down, leaning on the cavern wall and relaxing. It seemed as though he was asleep the moment he closed his eyes.
Ash returned his focus to his own mat. He brushed as much of the dirt and muck from the road and cave as he could before laying down on it. It was a little chilly inside the cave, so he stood up and moved by Infernus. Nidorino loyally followed, curling up when Ash had gotten back into a sleeping position.
The steady crackling of Infernus' tail flame and the pattering of the rain outside put him to sleep quickly.
XX
The next morning, the storm still hadn't abated. Ash had decided to tough it out anyways, but the moment he stepped out of the cave he realized that it was impossible.
Overnight, the storm that was still surging through the mountains had turned the hard, packed trail into a mudslide. His shoes were almost completely engulfed the moment he stepped outside. There was no way that he would make more than a few miles in this weather.
So he sighed and went back into the cave. It looked like he would be stuck here for a while. That mud made it way too dangerous and pointless to even try to go. Coupled with the heavy rain still pelting the ground, he couldn't see any point in soldiering through it.
Ash released his friends once he had dropped his pack to the ground. It was already soaked. He was extremely thankful for Infernus when the fire-type materialized. The cave was already acquiring a noticeable chill, but Infernus' tail flame helped to banish it. A quick burst of flame into the cave heated it enough to be comfortable.
The others looked at him questioningly, confused as to why they were already released.
"Storm's too bad. Can't travel today."
Ash frowned as he answered their wordless question. He had hoped to get out of these empty mountains and make some serious headway on his journey to Fuschia. According to the PokeNav's map, he was only five days from Fuschia. It would probably be more than a week now, thanks to the mud and this delay.
Oh well. He couldn't change the weather. It looked as though he would have to make the best of this miserable situation. His pokemon could still dramatically improve through training, although the cramped quarters of the cavern would inhibit the training somewhat.
He turned to his pokemon with a grin on his face. They wouldn't be getting out of training today, even if it wouldn't be too difficult.
This was going to be fun.
XX
The next morning, he and his friends were ready to go. None of them were drained from the workout, which merely consisted of them using their most powerful moves over and over. They were shot into the rain, so he couldn't see how strong they were. But that wasn't the point – what mattered was that it worked on his friends' endurance. He wanted them to be able to use any of their moves at any time, no matter how tired they were.
He was just glad that the storm had finally broken up. It had stopped raining late last night, so he could at least try to make some progress. The mud would make it a miserable experience, but he would still be moving forward.
Ash left early in the morning. The weather was notoriously volatile in these parts, and he didn't want to get trapped again. That cave was horribly boring – he and his friends ended up trying to sleep the moment training was over just to kill time.
The sun was bright and hot when he went outside, which made him squint. It also made everything even more miserable. Thanks to the heat, the massive amount of water deposited by the rain was starting to evaporate, causing horrible humidity. Ash had been sweating even before he left the safe confines of the cave.
In addition, the mud was still thick and deep. Ash frowned when it tried to swallow his foot, although he was able to pull it out with a yank. He dearly hoped that the rest of the path wasn't this bad.
Before he began, he released Plume. All of his other friends would be bogged down in the mud, and he would like to have at least one of them out if he ran into trouble. Plume would be more than powerful enough to deal with any threats he might encounter.
He stared at the long, winding path ahead of him with trepidation. Although he knew it wasn't the case, he hoped that part of it would have magically avoided the immense storms wracking the region.
Ash shook his head out of those thoughts. He had to deal with it, so he might as well not complain. A moment later he set off into the muddy area.
Fuschia awaited him.
XX
He arrived at Fuschia six days later. The storms had left almost the entire area soaked, so for the first two days his journey was hot, humid, and muddy. It was one of the most miserable times he had weathered so far. Most wild pokemon had become highly active after the storm, so he also had to be on constant vigilance.
But he had finally arrived. He was on a hill that overlooked the small, secluded city. It was far less ostentatious than Celadon and Saffron, and its private nature provided a nice contrast to the large, sprawling cities he had recently travelled to.
The buildings were pretty small. There was nothing really outstanding about the place, although he could see the confines of the massive Safari Zone from his viewpoint. It was gigantic in comparison to the small city that stewarded it.
Ash wasn't sure he was going to visit the Safari Zone. He wanted to get all of his badges as quickly as possible so that he would have plenty of time to train his existing team and possibly find new members that wouldn't be weak in comparison by the time of the Conference.
He had planned out his route. After defeating Koga, he would head towards Cinnabar Island. Ash decided to take the sea route instead of travelling all the way around Kanto. Fuschia had several ferries in its small harbor, so it wouldn't be too difficult to find transportation.
During that time, he would try to stop in the Seafoam Islands. He wanted to find a water-type that could operate on land as well, although one of the rare ice-types would be great as well. Ash didn't have anything that could hope to counter one of the powerful dragons, which he was sure to see if he made it to the advanced stages of the Conference.
After he defeated the Cinnabar gym, he had decided to go back to Sabrina. By then he would hopefully be powerful enough to defeat the psychic leader. If he wasn't, he would train until he was.
And when he defeated Sabrina, he would head to the widely feared and widely avoided Earth gym. Its leader, Giovanni, had a reputation for being ruthless and brutal during battles. He had a worse reputation than Surge when the electric leader was fully unleashed. More pokemon were injured battling him than all of the other gyms combined.
That was also why Ash wanted to defeat the mysterious gym leader. It was the ultimate test of strength until one entered the upper echelons of the Indigo Conference or was lucky and skilled enough to face the Elite Four. To defeat the Earth Gym was the ultimate status symbol amongst most trainers, a sign that the trainer was truly powerful.
But that was a long way from now, Ash thought. For now he just needed to focus on Koga.
He looked down at Fuschia for a few more moments before setting off. It was too late to battle – it was almost dark – but he wanted to get plenty of rest before this battle.
XX
The Pokemon Center was probably the largest structure in the town aside from the gym. Unlike the small homes and modest offices and buildings, the Pokemon Center was massive. It was the size of five or six of the buildings around it and was two stories.
Since the Fuschia gym wasn't very popular amongst trainers due to Koga's unforgiving nature and brutal strategy – the gym leader normally poisoned a pokemon and then either put it to sleep or paralyzed it, leaving it completely helpless – Ash supposed that it was for trainers visiting the Safari Zone.
He didn't really care about that, though. All Ash wanted was hot food, a shower to get rid of the dried mud and muck from the horrible journey, and a bed that didn't wasn't covered in a layer of dried, cracking mud.
Luckily, he got all of that extremely quickly. Afterwards, he let out all of his friends that were allowed to be released before collapsing into the bed. They were just as exhausted as he was, and all quickly found comfortable areas to sleep in.
Ash glanced around the room one last time, smiling as he saw the sleeping forms of his friends. The trainer felt Nidorino's large body at the foot of his bed and patted his friend one last time before lying back down. He fell asleep almost instantly.
XX
Late the next morning, Ash found himself outside of the Fuschia Gym. It was a fifteen minute walk from the Pokemon Center, but that just gave him time to examine the simple city more carefully. He liked the small buildings and architecture. Saffron was impressive, but it was just too big for his liking.
The Pokemon Center wasn't in the best condition, he noticed, but everything worked well. He had remembered to call his mother before leaving, updating her on his status. Ash hadn't spent very long speaking to her, though. He was much too anxious to challenge the gym.
Ash liked the Fuschia Gym. It didn't have the elegant beauty of Sabrina's gym, but wasn't as plain as Brock's warehouse. The building possessed a simple style that reminded Ash more of a cleaned up version of the Dojo than anything else.
He stepped into the gym. The battlefield was clearly visible in the background, although a small desk was set up in front of the door. It was occupied by a young woman, appearing to be just a few years older than Ash. She looked up at Ash and smiled.
"Hey there." She greeted casually. "I'm guessing you want to battle my father?"
Ash nodded, assuming that she meant Koga.
"Ah, the strong silent type, are you?" The girl asked with a grin. Ash stonily looked at her, not sure how he was supposed to react. Gyms were usually all business. "We don't get too many of those. Not that we get too much of anyone, nowadays." She drily remarked.
He cautiously nodded. She smiled again and stood up.
"Anyways, my name's Janine." She offered as she slid the chair back to the desk. Ash could see that she wore a martial arts uniform, although the odd purple hair in an even odder style and the cape made it seem less practical.
"Ash." He replied to her as she turned around and motioned for him to follow.
She bobbed the back of her head in a nod. "Nice name. Anyways, my father's the gym leader here. I'm training to use Poison-types just as well as he can. Usually my Aunt Aya is the receptionist since she doesn't battle anymore, but she was sick today."
Ash was a bit overwhelmed. He had gotten used to the silence of the wilderness. The only communication he had was with his pokemon, who he didn't need to talk. He understood them just fine. Even Dazed was becoming easier to read.
"That's nice." He offered, privately hoping that he could just battle Koga and get out of here.
"Yeah, my father's usually checking up on the Safari Zone right now, but you're lucky. He got back just a few minutes ago." She chattered, not seeming to realize that he'd spoken. "Good luck with my father. He'll probably beat you."
He frowned. "Thanks."
"You're welcome." Janine replied, evidently not understanding the sarcasm or just ignoring it. "Anyway, he's here –"
A shadow leapt out from nowhere and choked Janine before kicking her legs out from under her. Ash put his hand to Nidorino's pokeball, but he stopped when the figure turned towards him. He recognized the odd man as Koga.
Koga nodded at him before returning his focus to the helpless Janine.
"You're getting lazy." He chided with a raspy voice as he placed a thin, booted foot onto her throat. "You must be aware of your surroundings even when distracted. I will have to put you through more rigorous training after this challenge."
Ash blinked.
Koga took his foot off of Janine's neck and helped her up. "You cannot be a true member of this gym until you can fight as well without pokemon as you can with them. There are only twelve members of this gym. I would like to see a thirteenth soon."
"Of course, Father." Janine said almost reverently. She was rubbing her neck a bit, but didn't seem to mind the attack. "I've been getting lazy. I'll train with Bruce later."
Ash watched the odd family dynamic curiously, although he took the time to take in Koga.
The man was obviously a fighter. His tight martial arts uniform showed that he wasn't particularly bulky, but he was built lithe and strong. Ash could see that he moved with the fluid grace of a trained fighter. His fierce eyes and angular face made it all the more noticeable.
"Good." Koga replied to Janine. He turned to Ash. "Who are you, challenger?"
"I'm Ash Ketchum."
Koga nodded. "I believe I've heard about you from Surge. Good. This will be a good fight."
Ash nodded, a determined expression settling on his face. He would live up to what Surge had claimed. Koga would be defeated.
Janine stepped forward, her voice shifting into the professional tones of a League referee. She looked at Ash.
"Challenger, take your place on the battlefield."
He nodded and walked over to the nearest box. Koga quickly travelled to the opposite side.
"This will be a three-on-three battle." Janine called out as she took her own position. "The challenger will send out the first pokemon."
Ash frowned at the disadvantage, but quickly sent out Infernus. Although he wanted to use Dazed at some point in this battle, he wanted to hold her back for a while. She would definitely be his trump card should he need it. Brute still wasn't quite up to his standards. The Machoke was improving quickly, but still couldn't match his other friends.
Infernus roared as he was released onto the bare battlefield. He stamped his foot and spit a long stream of flame into the air, attempting to intimidate Koga and whatever pokemon he would send out.
Koga examined Infernus curiously. He scratched his chin as he thought.
"Your magmar is impressive!" Koga shouted, his raspy voice loud and clear even from across the battlefield. "But can he defeat my own ally?"
He released a gigantic muk onto the field. Ash gagged as the putrid, rotting odor of the pokemon hit him. It reminded him far too much of when he was trapped underneath Pierce's own monstrous muk.
Koga didn't wait for the normal formalities. He instantly began giving orders.
"Use poison gas, then sludge!" Koga ordered coolly. Muk quickly followed the orders, producing a large quantity of purple, poisonous gas from its toxic body. It then spit thick, dark sludge towards Infernus. Ash could smell the poison from his box.
"Dodge, flamethrower." Ash said. Infernus quickly leapt out of the sludge's way and blasted a massive stream of flame towards Muk. The fire burned away the poison gas, leaving the area around Muk safe. It also temporarily stunned the poison-type, dealing some damage in the process.
Ash figured that it would be easy to press his advantage. "Flamethrower, close in and fire punch."
Infernus charged towards Muk, dodging three more sludges and sending a steady blast of flame towards the putrid creature. Koga was calling out attacks, but none of them managed to land on Infernus. Soon enough, the fire-type had closed in and slammed his flame-covered fist into Muk.
He grinned when he saw Muk recoil. At least he knew that it wasn't too overwhelmingly powerful. It wouldn't be able to take hits with the power that Infernus possessed.
"Lava plume, follow with fire punch. Flamethrower if conscious."
Infernus stamped his foot to the ground, ignoring the poisonous gas that Muk had begun to produce. An explosion of lava and flame burst around it, coming up from underneath the poison-type and badly burning it. A moment later the ruthless fire-type slammed his flaming fist into the injured Muk, knocking it out for good.
Ash grinned. This was just as easy as he had hoped. Koga had a reputation for being difficult to defeat, but most pokemon weren't as powerful or as well-trained as Infernus.
Koga had a frown on his face. "I see that I will not be disappointed. You will not so easily defeat my next pokemon, however. Go, Weezing!"
He hadn't faced many weezing before. One or two had been in the service of the more powerful Rockets he had fought, but weezing weren't particularly popular. Their gas was incredibly dangerous, and the smell didn't help. But he did know that they were incredibly dangerous if they released their poison and also that they were incredibly durable to physical attacks.
He recalled Infernus. While he didn't think the fire-type would have a difficult time with Weezing, he didn't want him getting poisoned. Nidorino would be a much safer choice.
Koga didn't say anything about Nidorino. He just stared at him for a moment before calling out a few random words to Weezing. The smelly pokemon puffed up a bit more.
Ash frowned. He knew Koga was laying some sort of trap. It would be best to take Weezing out from a distance just to be safe.
"Ice beam, thunderbolt."
Nidorino quickly blasted Weezing with the ice beam. All three energy beams struck their target, encasing Weezing in a thick shell of ice. Ash grinned as the poison-type fell to the ground, its gasses unable to keep it aloft when covered with ice.
His friend grunted as he released the thunderbolt. Ash had to avert his eyes, but could hear Koga's single command. He felt a surge of real panic.
"Nidorino, get out of the way!" He screamed, hoping that Nidorino could react quickly enough.
An instant later a massive surge of energy blasted out from Weezing. Ash felt a momentary, bright flash of heat and light. He had to cover his eyes and turn his face away, but looked back at the battlefield as soon as he could.
Ash sighed. Nidorino hadn't been able to avoid the explosion. His friend was laying unconscious not too far from him, his stomach exposed and his eyes shut.
He had been afraid of the possibility of Koga using self-destruct, Ash thought as he returned his friend. It was a common tactic for those that used koffing and weezing. The poisonous gasses inside of the pokemon were extremely volatile, and could be exploded at will. It didn't cause any permanent harm to the koffing or weezing either, so it was barely sacrificial.
Still, had hadn't expected Koga to use it. The gym leader generally focused more on inflicting conditions that would slowly weaken his foes or simply overpowered them with whatever pokemon he used. Ash hadn't been expecting him to use the sacrifice tactics that most trainers found annoying at best and cowardly at worst.
"Your Nidorino was too powerful for Weezing." Koga said calmly. Ash started and looked at the gym leader. He hadn't been expecting any sort of justification – normally it was only idiots that explained their strategy. "I chose to do at least some damage."
Ash frowned, but nodded. He just wanted to get on with the battle.
He didn't waste any time in choosing his next pokemon. Dazed was quickly sent out. Koga had managed to equalize this battle and Ash didn't want to give the gym leader any chance of victory.
Koga's stern expression twisted into a frown when he saw the drowzee. Ash grinned at the expression. He had Koga afraid.
Then the gym leader smiled. "Thank you, Challenger. You have given me an opportunity to try out my newest pokemon. It's quite exotic, and I doubt that you have seen it before. Go, Seviper!"
Now it was Ash who was frowning. He had heard the name before and knew it was going to be something like arbok, but he wasn't sure of the extent of its abilities. Ash didn't even know what it looked like.
It had to be a poison-type, however. That gave him confidence. Koga's newest twist didn't matter. Dazed still had the advantage.
Then Koga sent out the pokemon.
The first things he noticed were the fangs. They were at least six inches long and were a bright crimson, matching the serpent's eyes. Seviper's long body was tightly coiled, although he could easily see the power hidden in the scaled muscles. Its tail ended in a massive blade, with the black scales slowly shifting into a crimson.
All in all, it looked extremely dangerous. Ash certainly wouldn't give it a chance to get close to Dazed.
"Sludge bomb!" Koga ordered. Seviper was fast. It managed to spit the poisonous substance at Dazed before Ash could blink. "Then attack with Poison Fang and Poison Tail."
"Block that sludge." Ash ordered, knowing that the toxins would probably take Dazed out of the battle. At the very least they would make her easy prey for Seviper. "Then psychic."
Dazed created a thin, telekinetic barrier that blocked the sludge bomb. The poison slid around it, falling to the ground with an audible hiss. Ash smiled, glad that he had avoided the immediate danger.
Despite its quick reaction time, Seviper wasn't particularly fast. It was taking longer than he'd expected to wind towards Dazed, although the glowing, poison-dripping blade and fangs promised danger and pain when it finally arrived.
That wouldn't happen. It made itself easy prey for Dazed's psychic. Seviper was hurled to the other end of the battlefield by the wave of psychic force, causing immense damage to it when it landed. Ash could see that Seviper couldn't take much more.
Koga didn't seem particularly worried. "Use Sludge Gas!"
Seviper quickly followed the order. First it spit a massive amount of poisonous, purple sludge into the air – Ash was amazed it could even store that much in its body, although pokemon and their abilities were always a mystery. It was heading towards Dazed, but Ash figured that there wasn't enough to break Dazed's barrier.
Then Seviper opened its maw and released a large stream of hot flame, hitting the sludge with perfect accuracy. The sludge quickly shifted into a gas form, surrounding Dazed and forcing her to breathe it in. No barrier would protect her from it.
Ash began to panic – he hadn't expected anything like that. Dazed didn't seem to take too much immediate damage from it, but he knew that it would probably slow her down and begin to drain her soon.
"Get out of there!" He shouted. His order snapped Dazed out of her trance and she quickly heeded his command. Dazed used some of her power to blast the toxic gas away, although it was an imperfect process. There was still plenty spreading throughout the battlefield.
Koga ordered Seviper to go after Dazed. Ash felt a sinking feeling in his stomach at the thought of Dazed being anywhere near the long, sharp fangs and gigantic blade. He was almost ready to forfeit the match. Dazed just couldn't handle that kind of physical damage.
"Use psychic on it when you can. Block anything it attacks you with!" Ash ordered, too worried about the stumbling, weakened Dazed to shorten his orders. She slowly nodded and turned her squat form to face the serpent. It was halfway across the battlefield.
"Flamethrower." Koga commanded. Seviper's stream of flame quickly raced across the field towards Dazed, although she managed to raise a telekinetic shield to block it. The heat still did a bit of damage, but it was far better than the alternative.
She sent a psybeam in response, proving to Ash that she was weakening. Dazed was always good about following orders. The psybeam meant that she was too tired to use a psychic.
Seviper took the beam. It knocked the serpent back a bit and stunned it, but Seviper quickly continued winding towards Dazed. The serpent dodged a second psybeam and sent another flamethrower in response.
Dazed's fragile barrier shattered beneath the onslaught, allowing the full force of the flamethrower to hit her. Ash had to turn his face from the intense blast of heat. The sinking feeling in his stomach only got worse.
When he turned back, Seviper was just about to lunge at Dazed. Dazed looked ready to collapse, but pulled herself up from the position the flamethrower had forced her into. Ash quickly called out for her to use a psybeam. He didn't think that she had the focus required for a zen headbutt.
Her psybeam lacked any of the usual intensity. It barely affected Seviper, only serving to annoy it as it swiped its blade – which was glowing a bright purple and leaked massive quantities of poison – at Dazed. The blade easily injected the poison into her, and Ash got ready to forfeit. He wouldn't put any of his pokemon through this.
Then Dazed unleashed a massive wave of psychic power, hurling Seviper back. Ash blinked and stared at Dazed as she stood upright and began glowing, the power now suffusing her banishing the effects of the toxins.
A wide grin slowly split his face as he realized what was going on. This battle wasn't over – Dazed was evolving!
He felt a brief surge of thanks towards whatever gave him such a great piece of luck, but soon began to simply observe Dazed's transformation. Dazed was glowing so brightly that he had to shade his eyes – and even then it still caused a decent bit of pain and an overwhelmingly strong urge to snap them shut – but he forced the pain back and got the best look he could.
From what he could make out, her form was rapidly shifting and growing, although sometimes reverting back to the form of a drowzee. Gradually, however, she stayed in the taller, leaner form of a hypno longer and longer before reverting back.
After nearly a minute of this, the white energy suddenly intensified beyond belief. Ash remembered the great surge of light that had nearly blinded him when Nidoran evolved and turned his head. Even with the warning, the white light that burned with the power of a sun could be clearly seen through his eyelids.
Then it disappeared. Ash rubbed his eyes for a moment before opening. He still saw stars, but now he could see somewhat decently. The first thing he did was look towards his friend.
Dazed was far taller and more human-like than she had been as a drowzee. Her previously rotund form was now tall and lean. She now had fully yellow skin, the murky brown of her drowzee form having completely vanished. Two cat-like ears had sprouted from her head, and her eyes were just as sleepy as before. A large nose had appeared in place of her trunk, although it was roughly the same size as the trunk had been. Dazed had also grown a long, white mane of fur. It seemed longer than the other members of her species, but Ash remembered that the pokedex had said females had longer manes.
He noticed that she didn't have the pendulum that all hypno possessed. Perhaps she would have to fashion it herself somehow. Ash didn't pay much attention to it, however. Even though she would be weaker without the pendulum, Dazed's psychic powers would still be amplified.
Koga still seemed a little bit shocked, so Ash decided to take advantage of it. Seviper was angrily hissing at Dazed, but seemed too well-trained to make a move without its trainer's command.
"Psychic!" He called out. Dazed's new ears twitched and she stared at Seviper. Ash could see a bright blue light emanating from her face – presumably from her eyes – and that Seviper was now surrounded by an icy blue aura.
Koga quickly recovered and tried to call out orders, but Seviper was helpless to do anything but futilely struggle against the psychic power controlling it. Dazed then released a massive blast of telekinetic force, sending Seviper flying across the battlefield and into the invisible barrier surrounding it.
Ash blinked, in awe of how powerful the attack was. He knew that drowzee and hypno's power was mainly held in defense against psychic and elemental attacks, but the offensive power displayed by Dazed was impressive. It was probably just related to the overall boost in power she received from evolution.
Seviper couldn't handle the powerful psychic assault. It weakly tried to struggle back up and return to the fight, but Koga recalled it.
Koga looked at Ash. "You did well. It is clear that your drowzee cared a great deal for you in order to evolve. You have proven worthy of the Soul Badge."
"Thanks." Ash replied. He walked out of the box before jogging over to Dazed. She was only an inch or two taller than him, but it was odd. As a drowzee, he had towered over her.
"You did great!" He said with a grin. Dazed had no mouth now, but he could see in her eyes that she was smiling. His tone shifted to one of concern. "Are you alright? You took a real beating out there. Is the poison gone?"
Dazed slowly nodded. Her eyes no longer seemed exhausted as they had as a drowzee, Ash noticed. Instead they merely seemed sleepy.
He smiled again and patted her on the shoulder. Dazed stiffened at the contact, but quickly relaxed. Ash turned to Koga, who had left his own box and was patiently waiting for him.
Ash walked over. Dazed stayed in her position, blankly staring into empty space.
Koga had a badge case out and was in the process of removing one when Ash walked up. He patiently waited for Koga to give him the badge.
"I can see that Surge was not exaggerating." Koga said as he handed Ash the badge. Ash examined the badge for a moment. It was in the smooth form of a fuschia heart. "There's still many months left before the Conference. Should you continue advancing at this rate, I believe that you will do very well."
Ash nodded. "Thank you."
Koga nodded. "I expect you to return here in several months." The gym leader suddenly smiled widely, exposing his teeth. "I want a rematch, and I will use my true team against you."
That made Ash grin. "I'm looking forward to it. I'll return when I'm ready." He promised. Koga nodded.
"Very well, then. But for now, I must leave. Janine requires training, and there is much to do. I bid you farewell."
Ash said his own goodbye before leaving the gym. He returned Dazed – who was still staring into space with glazed eyes – and hurried to the Pokemon Center. Even though Dazes seemed perfectly fine, he wanted to get her checked on. It was best to get it over with – that poison might cause minor complications in the future.
He reached the Pokemon Center soon enough. Unfortunately, there was no one at the front desk at the moment. Ash frowned and picked out a seat. It might be a while.
XX
Ash didn't have to wait too long. After about ten minutes, a tired, worn-down Nurse Joy emerged from the back. She was clearly exhausted, but managed to keep a surprisingly sincere smile on her face as he stepped forward.
"Hello! How may I help you?" She asked. Ash coughed before answering. He had been congested for the past few days, probably a result of the horrible weather and the many different areas he had passed through. It wasn't a problem though. Not yet, anyway.
"Some of my pokemon were hurt at the gym. Also, my drowzee just evolved, but she had just taken a pretty bad beating and breathed in poison before she did." He replied. "I just want to make sure she isn't going to have any problems."
Nurse Joy clucked her tongue disapprovingly when he mentioned the gym. "I've told Koga a million times to stop using poison so much. He's giving me more work than I can handle." She growled to herself. The nurse's tired face shifted from the annoyed look quickly, however. "You made a good choice. That poison might be in your drowzee's system. Just leave your pokemon with me. They'll be cleared as soon as I can work with them."
Ash nodded his thanks and handed over the necessary pokeballs. He would probably get Nidorino and Infernus back in just a few hours. Nidorino might need a potion or two, but he was tough. Once he was conscious he would be ready for battle in a day or so. Infernus hadn't even been hit, although he might have been mildly poisoned by the contact with Muk.
He went back to his room. It was a little bit dirty and had an odd, musty odor pervading the air, but Ash didn't really care. Compared to the conditions he had been sleeping in for the last few weeks, however, it was wonderful.
Since it would be a while before he could get his pokemon back, he would only be paying his room a brief visit. He needed to collect his pack, which held all of his money. While his friends were being healed, Ash was going to go down to the harbor and see if there were any ferries that he could take to the Seafoam Islands. He wanted to get out of this city, so he might as well get all the arrangements out of the way.
XX
Before he left for the harbor, Ash went to the Pokemon Center's small library and computer room. He sat down at one of the PCs and quickly placed a large portion of his money into a slot on the side of the PC. It quickly transferred the money to his trainer identity, which meant that he could use it anywhere and didn't have to worry about it being stolen.
Once he had put most of the money onto his account, Ash logged off and went to the main desk. Nurse Joy was gone, but one of her assistants had taken her place. She was only a few years older than him and was just as exhausted as Joy was – the girl was currently face planted into the desk and snoring softly.
Ash lightly tapped her shoulder. When the girl resolutely stayed asleep, he sighed and shook her shoulder. That woke her – the girl instantly snapped up and looked around with wild eyes.
"I'm awake! I'm awake! I wasn't sleeping!" She said frantically, eyes quickly glancing around before settling on Ash. When she saw him, she visibly relaxed. "Oh, sorry. I thought you were Nurse Joy. Anyways, how can I help you?"
"I'm going to be heading to the Seafoam Islands soon." He explained. "Do you know where I could find a ferry?"
The girl looked thoughtful for a moment. "There's a ferry leaving for Cinnabar in a few days. You could probably buy a ticket. It would be expensive, though." She warned. "It's a long trip, and there have been a few gyarados in the area as of late."
"Thanks for the tip, but money's not an issue." He said with a shrug. "Could you tell me where to get a ticket?"
"Give me a minute." The attendant said. Ash nodded and patiently waited as she scrounged through a few flyers and pamphlets sitting on the table. Soon enough, she found what she was looking for and handed it to Ash. "Captain Stewart. This will give you the information to find him. Do you need anything else?"
Ash shook his head. "No, but thank you."
"We hope to see you again." The attendant replied as he left. Ash was too focused on reading the flyer to acknowledge her. He only looked up to exit the Pokemon Center.
It took a few seconds to decipher the writing on the crumpled piece of paper, but it gave him everything he needed to know. Ash quickly folded it up and put it into his jacket's pocket, just in case he needed it in the future.
Now that he knew where he needed to go, he headed off. Ash wasn't in a hurry. He had plenty of time.
XX
Half an hour later, Ash found himself at the harbor. He felt uncomfortable around the ocean, no matter how calm and peaceful it looked. The memories of churning, icy water and the drowning ship were always at the forefront of his mind. Ash did his best to ignore it, but he only had limited success.
It didn't take long for him to find a sailor that could point him to the ferry he was hoping to catch – the Roaring Wailmer. An odd name, he thought, but who was he to judge. He named one of his pokemon Dazed.
Ash felt somewhat awkward as he waited on the dock by the gently rocking ship. He tried to stay in the very center of the wooden pier, but that was just attracting more odd looks. Eventually one of the sailors on the Wailmer casually leapt off and walked up to him.
"Ya need something, kid?" The large man asked in a scratchy voice. It sounded like he had been swallowing extremely coarse sand. He had on a long overcoat and had a pipe in his mouth. All in all, he appeared to be the stereotypical grizzled sailor.
Ash nodded and straightened up his posture.
"I need to buy a ticket for this ship to get me to the Seafoam Islands. Can you tell me who to talk to?"
The sailor laughed. "That would be me, actually. Captain Stewart of the Roaring Wailmer at your service. Anyways, tickets are two thousand each."
Ash winced at the steep price but nodded and began to count out the money. The only other vessel going to the Seafoam Islands and then to Cinnabar was a bit more than sketchy, and appeared to be barely seaworthy. Each of the three sailors he had spoken to since arriving had warned him away from it as well.
"Hold on, kid." The Captain said, placing one of his calloused hands up in the air. "I'm just messin' with ya. It's only a thousand. And before you shell out that kind of money, you should know the dangers. The route to the Seafoam Islands is tricky, and I don't want you getting into a situation you can't get out of."
"Is it the gyarados?" Ash asked. "A few people have already told me about them."
Captain Stewart shook his head. "The sea serpents? They aren't a big deal. I've got one of my own, and a few other surprises for the nasties. No, I'm just talking about the sea. Its prone to storms and freak weather this time of year. Lots of corsola colonies set up as well. I won't have much trouble, but I figured a kid like you should know of the dangers."
"I'm fine with it." Ash replied. He held out the money.
The Captain grinned, his scraggly beard waving in the salty wind as he did so. He pulled a slightly soggy ticket out from his pocket and handed it to Ash, taking the money in return. "Glad to see some of you kids still have balls. Get here in two days at about eight in the morning. Everything will be ready by then."
"Thanks." Ash replied. He looked at the small ticket for a moment before placing it into his jacket pocket. It would be safe there – he always had his jacket on, and this way he wouldn't forget it.
Now that his business was done, he marked the location of the Wailmer on his PokeNav's map function. After that, he began the journey back to the Pokemon Center. Hopefully he could at least get Infernus back.
XX
Nidorino had more severe injuries than he had expected, but his friend would be ready to battle in just two days. He was tough.
Infernus had been mildly poisoned, but his own high body temperature had been more enough to destroy the tiny dose he had been given. Nurse Joy gave him an antidote just to be sure that all traces would be removed. Ash planned on taking him out to battle some of the trainers that hung around the area. The magmar needed to get rid of some of his aggression.
Dazed was covered in all sorts of medical scanners. Small pads were placed on her chest, apparently to check on her respiratory functions. Ash couldn't pretend to know what all of them were for, even if he had picked up a healthy amount of pokemon medical knowledge over the past few months. Steven had been adamant in making sure he knew the basics.
Ash was glad that all of his friends would be alright, but he had been hoping to test Dazed out on some of the unsuspecting trainers in the area. She had potent abilities as a hypno. He wanted to see just how powerful they were.
Since Nidorino and Dazed couldn't leave the Pokemon Center, however, Ash opted to stay with them. He could battle all he wanted tomorrow. Right now he would be with his friends.
He shrugged and looked around his small room. Nidorino was too exhausted to stay awake and, despite his best efforts to stay awake by Ash's side, had fallen asleep next to Ash's feet. Dazed was staring at the sleeping poison-type. Ash didn't know if she was merely watching Nidorino's dream or taking a bit of sustenance from it.
Torrent was restlessly swimming around in the large aquarium, head butting the nigh invulnerable glass every now and then. When it failed to even crack, he would angrily glare at the transparent material before returning to his swim. Ash knew that there was a large lake to the northeast of Fuschia, and he would definitely be taking Torrent to it tomorrow. His friend hadn't had many chances to battle or even swim over the past few months.
Plume was haphazardly perched on the back of his chair. She had finally realized that she was too heavy to perch on Ash's shoulder anymore – it had only taken four or five times of her massive bulk knocking him over to impress that fact into her head – but still tried to perch as near to him as possible. Ash just made sure to lean his weight forward in the chair a bit to balance it. He liked being close to Plume.
Infernus and Bruiser were too large and wild to have in the room. Bruiser was still just a bit too wild, although he was far calmer and more peaceful than Infernus. He also didn't have full control over his massive strength, although the restraining belt Bruiser wore helped. That led Ash to believe that he had only recently evolved from machop.
As for Infernus…he would probably get bored and burn the entire Center to the ground. Infernus was still far more aggressive than even Nidorino, and only Torrent's lust for battle matched his own. Combined with the fact that Infernus enjoyed exercising the great power at his control, and it added up to mean that he was best kept in a pokeball in a city.
Ash smiled as he thought of his friends, but it morphed into a thoughtful frown. He wasn't sure what he could do today. There weren't any books, and Ash wanted to stay with Nidorino and Dazed in the room.
Then he remembered the pokedex. He hadn't been looking at the wonderful little device as much lately, although he still checked up on entries that he wanted to investigate. Ash had probably read every entry in the pokedex he could at least once, but he figured that he might as well read it again.
He never knew what he might encounter in his journey, after all, and he would like to be ready.
On that note, Ash withdrew the pokedex from his jacket pocket and flipped it open. He decided to start at the first entry he could access: bulbasaur. It would be a long road from there.
XX
The next day he took his friends out to battle. Nidorino was healed enough to walk around with him, and Dazed had been cleared completely.
His first stop was the groups of trainers that hung around the roads into the city. They generally preyed upon newbie trainers or anyone that looked like they could beat. Ash tested Dazed out on them. She performed perfectly – her psychic powers were greatly amplified and easily eliminated most foes they fought. Some did quite a bit of damage to her, however, and she was knocked out once.
Ash gladly paid the prize money to the trainer that succeeded in defeating Dazed. The trainer had a powerful gengar and more than deserved the win. Besides, he still made quite a bit and learned just how far he could push his friend.
After that he moved onto another road, where he let Infernus battle. Although Infernus quickly overpowered most opponents, he had a few battles that posed a great challenge to him. An espeon and feraligatr were the most powerful foes, and Ash actually had to reassert his authority over Infernus when the enraged magmar began to try to take things a bit too far with the foes. That disappointed Ash a bit, but he realized that it would take a lot longer to fully fix some of Infernus' worst habits.
Torrent enjoyed the battles at the large lake. He proved that, despite being unable to battle very much over the past month, he was still more than able to keep up with the rest of the team. Ash couldn't wait until Torrent evolved into a kingdra and was able to take part in battles on land.
All of his other pokemon got in several battles as well. Bruiser performed admirably, although he still had difficulty in fights where he couldn't simply overpower the foe. Ash would have to remember to focus on training Bruiser's technique more.
Plume continued to show off her speed. While she didn't have access to many powerful moves, the sheer force and speed that she put behind them more than made up for it. All Ash would have to work on was mastering some of the most advanced moves that pidgeot could learn, although Plume would have to become far more experienced and powerful before that could occur.
By the end of the day, all of them were tired and ready to return to the Pokemon Center. They were all pleased with the day's outcome, however. It would be the last bit of battling they could get in for a few days.
Ash quickly fell asleep, although he remembered to call his mother and set several alarms before he collapsed into bed. The last thing he felt was Nidorino jumping to the foot of the bed before he fell into unconsciousness.
XX
He dragged himself to the dock early the next morning. Ash gave a groggy goodbye to Nurse Joy before leaving. She'd helped him out a lot during his stay.
It was horribly cold. Fuschia was in one of the colder regions of Kanto to begin with, but it was still summer. Maybe a cold front was coming in, although it might just be the early morning chill. Whatever it was, it made Ash wish that he had a much thicker jacket.
Ash had been sleeping in the past few days, so the trip to the dock was brutal. He wanted nothing more than to go back to the warm bed he had just left at the Pokemon Center and find another way to the Seafoam Islands.
Still, he managed to get himself there. He arrived nearly half an hour early, and had woken up an entire hour before that. Captain Stewart was waiting outside the ship, which was clearly ready for travel. The small crew was lazing about the ship, apparently having completed their work.
The Captain looked completely at home in the freezing weather. He removed his long pipe from his mouth when Ash walked up. There were only four other people waiting with him, all looking as miserable as Ash.
"Ahoy there!" He said cheerfully, blowing a long stream of smoke out of his mouth. Ash blinked. "I'm glad to see you, kid. You'll definitely be getting your money's worth – we're going to be sailing straight past a storm. Nothing dangerous, but it'll be fun."
Ash tiredly nodded and grunted. Stewart just laughed and turned to one of the other sailors. He was too tired to listen to their talk, and stared with trepidation at the cold, churning ocean. The Captain only interrupted him from his thoughts once in order to tell him the safety plans. At least that meant that Ash wouldn't have to focus when the Captain gave explained them to the rest of the passengers.
He dearly wanted to find any excuse to get away from the sea. Ash was sure he would try to stay inside and away from actually having to see the sweeping waves, but that didn't make much of a difference. The best solution would just be to sleep through the entire trip or not know that he was in a boat to begin with.
Thirty other people showed up before they boarded. The sailor that checked everyone's tickets just waved Ash through, telling him to pick whatever cabin he wanted. Apparently seeing him converse with the Captain was enough proof that he had a ticket.
Ash felt his heart pounding as he walked onto the smooth wooden deck of the ferry and almost fell over as the boat rocked. He found his sea legs soon enough, however, and managed to make his way to the first cabin he saw without falling over.
He quickly locked the door when he went in and set his pack down. Ash released Nidorino and Dazed before collapsing onto the thin, uncomfortable bed. The trainer barely noticed the springs lightly jabbing into his back before falling into unconsciousness. All he felt before blacking out was Nidorino settling at the very foot of the bed.
The Seafoam Islands awaited him.