Ash: Frogadier (M), Vulpix/Seraphine (F), Mankey (M)
Leaf: Ivysaur/Forest (M), Magikarp/Misty (F), Nidoran (M)
Ritchie: Charmeleon/Zippo (F), Spearow/Beakster (M), Butterfree/Happy (M), Pikachu/Sparky (M)
"Ash…it's been an hour, time to rest." Ritchie panted as he called out.
"It's no use, the Indigo Conference is starting soon. He might just not rest." Leaf readjusted her straps.
Ash turned back in surprise, "It's been that long? Are you sure?" Ritchie and Leaf frantically nodded, "Alright then, how about we rest, have some lunch, and talk about the plan."
The group found a large flat rock and settled down. Ritchie collapsed on the spot, groping for his water. Leaf was slightly better, only dropping her bag and massaging her legs. Ash on the other hand grabbed out his map, compass and released his friends. Once everyone had released his pokemon and taken out their food, the group started discussing.
"The Indigo Conference was delayed to the start of July, it's June 16 right now. Every three km is an hour and—" Ash bit into his salami-cheese stick-cracker-sandwich, "—accounting for contour lines, it should take us around a bit more than two weeks."
Leaf quickly did the numbers, "It's fine if we miss a bit of the Conference Ash, it's just the opening ceremony and the early preliminary rounds." Ash pouted as he tried brushing Sera's soft red fur, who rejected him.
"The real question here is," Ritchie put away his bento box, "how you're so good at this stuff Ash!" Ash looked up in surprise. "I mean you're really good with navigation, and your stamina is insane!"
Ash rubbed his neck and laughed nervously, "Thanks man, but it's nothing insane—"
Leaf snorted, "Ash has always been like this, he spent most of his free time in Professor Oak's corral and got top marks in these kinds of classes." Ritchie gave Ash an appraising—and slightly jealous?—look. "Plus, it wouldn't hurt that his dad is—" Leaf stopped.
Ash grimaced while Ritchie looked between the two confusedly, "His dad is what?"
"Nothing. Just drop it." Ash had an uncharacteristic scowl.
"Sorry." The silence was loud, yet they finished lunch in it anyway.
The silence carried on like this for the rest of the day. Any attempts at small talk fizzled out without Ash's contributions. There were some trainers to battle but since it was near the end of this year's season, most were either preparing for the Conference, had given up, or were off the road, about to watch the annual conference.
At around six, before sunset, the trio set up camp at a clearing on the edge of the valley. Ash took a minute to appreciate Route Three. It was a deep valley, tall rocky mountains on the left and forested mountains on the right. He could see large craters caused by rocks and alleged meteorites scattered around. Instead of scarring the land, it seemed to richen the route, providing it with more depth and beauty.
Ash set up his tent, spraying the repel around their campsite while Ritchie tended to the fire and Leaf set up the other two. Once this was done, they separated for their own training. Ash wandered downstream with his team until he found a good place.
Frogadier slipped into the stream, watching Ash. With his hat, Mankey leaped from rock to rock. Meanwhile, Sera, the vulpix, trotted away from Ash, ignoring him when he called for her.
"Sera, why are you angry?" Ash leaned down, trying to pet her. "Hey! Don't flick your tail at me. Did I do something?" When Sera didn't respond, Ash grabbed out a pecha berry and placed it in front of her. "Do you still want to ignore me?" Sera turned to Ash and begrudgingly bit into the fruit.
Ash grinned, placing his hand on her head while asking her again. This time she flicked her tails at Frogadier and Mankey. Ash frowned in confusion, what did that mean? What did they do to—jealousy—Ash blinked in confusion. What was—betrayal—uselessness—that?
Ash eyed Sera uncertainly, then at his hand. His eyes widened as he stumbled back, tripping onto his butt. That…that was impossible. Those were not Sera's feelings, they were just him being weird. But, it would make sense. It would fit!
Ash spoke softly, "Sera…are you upset you didn't get to do the gym battle?" Sera's head darted up, eyes widening. "So you are!" Sera turned away, head bowed, causing Ash to chuckle. "You're being silly, you think I didn't pick you because I thought you were weak, or that I liked the other two more? I picked the other two since they had a type advantage, nothing else." Ash picked up Sera and rubbed his nose with hers. "You're not useless, and I don't have favourites alright?"
Sera yipped and licked Ash's nose, eliciting a laugh. Before long, Mankey landed on Ash's shoulders while Frogadier stood by Ash's side.
The training went under way, the first half being focused on their fitness. Frogadier focused equally on endurance, strength and speed, doing laps while carrying nearby rocks, changing from long pacings to short bursts. Ash noted down that he would have to buy some weight bands at Cerulean. Vulpix focused almost entirely on speed and some endurance. Her fighting style was to fire attacks from a distance, and relying on her speed to not get hit. Mankey's endurance and strength was pushed to the limits, carrying disproportionally large boulders and leaping tree to tree non-stop.
In the second half of the session, the three practiced their moves while Ash gave pointers he found online.
Frogadier's Water Pulse was better than ever. The secret was the compression, swirling and water volume. The compression and volume increased the power while swirling made it easier. His Frubble was made in larger and more stickier quantities, while Quick Attack needed no improvement for now. His next stepping stone was the move Double Team. It was very versatile, able to project images of the user to trick and distract opponents. Currently, Frogadier was able to create something next to him. It had the general shape, but it blurred too much and gave Frogadier a disproportionately large mouth.
Sera's Ember and Quick Attack had no issues, while her Disable needed more work. Ironically, Spite was making more headway than Incinerate, able to empty some of the opponent's energy reserves. Incinerate on the other hand needed help with the amount of raw power inputted. Sera had great control and manipulation, but she needed more power.
For Mankey, he was the most unbalanced with his moves, all attacks being physical. The only special attacks for him were through TMs, but that was for later. For now, he could only refine his technique and improve his speed until Mankey evolved or until they could get some TMs.
The training went on for almost two hours. By the time they started eating, the sky was dark while Ritchie and Leaf were getting ready to sleep.
Ash gazed at the two guiltily. He had practically shut them off the entire day, all because of a mention of his father.
"Hey…guys?" Ritchie and Leaf's heads popped out of their tents. "I'm sorry…"
Leaf smiled, "All is forgiven, Ash."
Ritchie sat down, "Same here, besides…" He licked his lips, "I…I get where you're coming from."
Ash's eyes glinted with realization. He awkwardly nodded as he started feeling an odd kinship with Ritchie.
Ash glanced at Ritchie and Leaf, "Do you guys want to train together tomorrow? I think we could help each other a lot."
"Sure! That sounds great!" Leaf grinned, "Having another water type would help my magikarp Misty a lot."
Ritchie yawned, "Well then, we should go to sleep earlier shouldn't we?"
Ash agreed, and after washing up, he retreated into his tent with his team. Ash crawled into his sleeping bag, with Sera curled up near his head, emitting warmth. Mankey snuggled inside the sleeping bag while Frogadier lay beside Ash. The Feather glowed bright that night.
Spite: The user lowers a specific 'fraction' of the opponent's energy reserves with Distortional energy, a 'black box' among the trainer and scientific community. For example, if the enemy just used a fire move, then the user activating Spite will lower the fraction of the opponent's infinity energy that is fire energy. This means the opponent's use of that move—and others of the same type is much more limited. The amount of energy taken away is equal to the amount of energy inputted by the user into the move.
"Poison Sting!"
"Quick Attack away!" Frogadier ran from the incoming Beedrill, dodging the stingers.
He did a somersault over the opponent, countering a Fury Cutter with Water Pulse. Frogadier fired another Water Pulse, which Beedrill flew away from.
"Quick Attack-Frubble-Water Pulse!" Frogadier glowed as he streaked to the retreating Beedrill, going past it and hampering its movements with the sticky Frubble.
Beedrill tried to dodge the Water Pulse but this time it was too slow. A large Water Pulse exploded on it's abdomen, blasting it away and knocking it out.
"Damn't, I lost!" The young trainer pouted as he returned his beedrill.
"That was fun, your Beedrill was fast." Ash grinned as he fist-bumped Frogadier.
"Heh heh, thanks," The boy grinned as he forked over the money, "How are you so strong? Do you have any badges?"
Ash's eyes glinted, "Actually I do, and it's from Pewter, a major gym," He unconsciously puffed his chest out as he showed off his badge case. "And guess what, I didn't lose a single pokemon."
The other boy's eyes widened, "What! No way! And you're a rookie like me? You must be a genius!"
Ash adapted a constipating look of haughtiness, "Huh, I guess I am—hey!" He exclaimed as Leaf slapped his arm.
"Don't get cocky you idiot, you're still a newbie, remember?" Leaf fixed an uncharacteristically stern expression.
"What? I'm not being cocky, right Ritchie?" When Ritchie avoided his eyes, Ash groaned, "I'm not cocky, I'm just proud of our," he gestured to Frogadier, "achievements. That's all."
Leaf sighed, "Just be careful alright, too much pride is dangerous."
"Okay, okay, I get it," Ash rolled his eyes as he waved goodbye to his opponent.
As the trio continued travelling, they encountered more trainers, most of them they won, some they lost. Ritchie had a win streak of nine battles but lost on the tenth one to a three-badge opponent. His name was Pete Pebbleman, and he had used a cloyster to defeat Zippo. Ritchie was slightly upset, but that was quickly cast aside when Pete offered some advice.
"When yer training, ya wanna separate what yer training each day. Pokemon are still creatures, and they still need time fir their muscles to recover. It's only a day fir them but still, ya don't wanna risk hurting them. Switch from all-round training one day to just move training the next." Ritchie's eyes shone as he jotted down some notes.
"Thank you very—"
"And another thing," Ritchie almost salivated, "make sure yer pokemon know how to take a hit, a super effective hit," the trio frowned, "it may sound cruel, but when yer facing bad odds like type disadvantages, every little advantage is needed." Once he finished, he nodded his head before continuing on his path.
The three started on their journey once again, "This is gonna be very helpful for our training later," Ritchie muttered to himself.
As the hours went past, the group engaged in small talk to pass the time.
"—no doubt that Giovanni is the closest to the Elite Four's level, he even was during the war." Ash argued.
"Was being the key word. He's still powerful but he's stagnated, Koga on the other hand is getting stronger, in fact, some say he is becoming an Elite Four." Leaf countered, raising her eyebrows.
Ash started on something, but then stopped in defeat. Leaf smirked in success.
Ritchie rolled his eyes, "Did you guys hear? About a Master in the mountain ranges?"
Ash's ears perked up, "Really? Who? When?"
Ritchie held his hands up, "I—I don't know, I'm just saying what I heard. Apparently, the guy has an aerodactyl and a tyranitar."
Leaf and Ash's eyes bugged out, "You're kidding! That—that's sick!" Ash started gazing hard into the mountains, perhaps hoping to find something.
"Speaking of Masters," Ritchie started, "what do you guys want to do?" He clarified at their confused expressions, "Like what's your ultimate goal? What do you want?"
Leaf mulled over it for a while, "At first…I didn't know. I was still deciding between becoming a gym challenger or a professor, but—" Leaf glanced at Ash, "I made up my mind to go this route. As for what I want in the future…I'll probably work for the League, maybe as a gym trainer, or ACE, maybe even as a gym leader if I'm lucky." Leaf laughed nervously.
Ritchie glanced at Ash, "How about you?"
Ash gazed into the clear blue sky, "I want to be the very best, like no one ever was." Ash chuckled at Ritchie's confusion, "It's been my dream since I was young. I don't really know what it means, but I know that the Gym Challenge is a part of it."
Ritchie whistled, "It sounds ambitious, but I think you could do it. For me, I want to build a strong team and compete in leagues all around."
Leaf eyed a jigglypuff nearby, "Sounds like you've got it all sorted out, it's pretty concrete as well."
Ritchie rubbed his head, "Yeah, it was all planned out before I started."
"That's pretty impressive, you came up with all that when you were that young?" Ash sounded impressed.
Ritchie's expression rapidly morphed from angry to sad, "Well, my father did most of it, I helped with…being part of the dream."
Leaf narrowed her eyes, "Doesn't sound like you had much of a choice." Ritchie seemed to be debating with himself, "It's okay if you don't want to talk about it," Leaf added.
"It's fine. My father was never able to become a trainer when he was young, and my mum left us when I was young meaning becoming a trainer wasn't an option for him. So instead, he passed that dream to me, and pushed me to that goal. He never asked what I wanted, and had me studying during free time instead of playing or socialising."
Ash frowned, "Are you angry with your dad?"
"…No, I'm not." — resentful—bitter—angry— Ash stumbled.
"Don't worry Ritchie, at least you have your partners and us right?" Ash pat his shoulder.
"Yeah, Ash is right, we'll be there for you, because we're friends." Ritchie smiled, and after a moment of hesitation, wrapped his arms around the two of them.
"So how do you guys train? And for how long?" Ritchie pulled out his notebook, blocking out the dying sun.
Ash sat down with Frogadier, Sera and Mankey with Leaf nearby, surrounded by Forest, her male nidoran, and Misty who was in the river.
Ash tapped the ground, "Well, I start off with physical training, maybe 30 minutes or so? Then my move training carries on for about an hour or two."
Leaf scratched Forest's bulb, "I do the same, though my physical training is a lot shorter. How about you Ritchie?"
"I do physical training for 20 minutes, since only half of my team needs it, Zippo and Sparky, my pikachu. Then I train their moves for the same amount as you guys."
They started off with training their athleticism. Zippo dragged large rocks with rope around, prompting Sera, Frogadier, and Sparky to do the same, albeit with lighter ones. Mankey, Forest, Happy the butterfree and Beakster the spearow lifted heavy rocks instead. Ritchie noted down—and Ash quickly followed suit—that Mankey was the strongest, followed by Zippo, Forest, Frogadier and then the others.
During speed training, it consisted of sprinting 100m, resting, then running 400m before resting. The difference was that one would train the explosive speed in short sprints while the longer distances were for endurance. Ash smiled at how well his pokemon were doing, with Frogadier being first. Sera, Sparky and Beakster trailed behind while the rest of the pokemon trailed behind.
This new routine ended up lasting 45 minutes, and the pokemon had to end up resting for five minutes before the next half of their training came.
Ash marveled at Ritchie's training ideas. Instead of having warm ups and then spend extra time later on with target practice, he combined the two to save time, leaving time for other things. They used pebbles, logs or rocks as targets and by the end of that quick session, the targets were all decimated.
They started off with practicing and their known moves. Pokémon with Quick Attack raced along the riverbank while moves like Dragon Breath caused regular explosions. Before evolution, Frogadier's Quick Attack was not nearly as fast as Sera but now, he was meters ahead.
In terms of perfecting new moves, the three quickly realized that they were able to help each other in different ways. Ritchie showed an exercise to help with Sera's Incinerate. It was to burn as many things down as fast as possible. This would increase their fire intensity and power, which was what Sera lacked. Ash gave Leaf the inspiration to help train Misty. She would have Misty Tackle Mankey, who wasn't happy until Ash promised him two hours with his hat. Leaf helped Ritchie with Happy's powder attack, which wasn't concentrated enough.
Frogadier and Sparky got along surprisingly well, Frogadier's quiet attitude complimenting Sparky's cheerful and mischievous personality. So, they practiced Double Team together, both sharing advice and in the end, their Double Teams improved immensely.
Mankey trained fighting-type attacks with Nidoran, uncharacteristically being calm and guiding Nidoran with posture, focus and power. Along with Misty, Nidoran seemed to be the only other pokemon who befriended Mankey, the others either hating or disliking him.
The training clocked two hours in the evening. The trainers brought out the food and started eating with the famished pokemon. They conversed about everything, their childhood stories, training observations and the plan for once they reached Cerulean City. At night, they collectively decided to go to bed, too tired to socialise any longer. After checking the Repel circle, Ritchie had Zippo sleep outside with a tarp blanket to prevent accidental fires and retreated inside his tent with Sparky sleeping inside near the entrance. Butterfree hung upside down on a branch while Beakster slept in a pile of clothes. Leaf slept with Nidoran inside. Magikarp stayed in the river while Forest, who was getting a lot bigger, had to sleep outside the entrance, its head stuck inside the tent.
Ash once again crawled inside his tent with all of his team. As the sky got even darker, everybody started falling asleep except for one. Ash tossed and turned, but he couldn't sleep. He slowly got up and shook his head.
What, what was it that I felt? Those emotions, they…weren't mine. Am—am I a psychic? Ash concentrated on his sock, and tried to lift it.
Nothing happened.
Ash sighed, That proves nothing, if only there was—Ash jerked his head suddenly— The gym leader Sabrina! When I get to Saffron, I can ask her! Ash smiled then frowned again, eyes wandering to his rucksack.
He cautiously maneuvered to it, avoiding Frogadier's legs. Ash gently pulled out a bundle of cloth and unraveled it, revealing the glowing Feather.
Ash gulped at its beauty, admiring it from different angles. It felt silky soft, yet wasn't fragile at all, despite being in his bag for so long. It gave off a weird aroma, almost like the smell of the air after rain. It was odd, but the Feather seemed to change with how Ash felt. If he felt intense emotions, whether it would be happiness or anger, the Feather's colourful glow would also intensify quickly.
Ash had gone online and looked for a pokemon like the one that had saved him and had given him the Feather. The closest he had gotten to (which wasn't far) was a braviary, a bird of prey from Unova. There were a lot of forums with possible answers, but Ash avoided them in light that a lot of them were conspiracy theorists.
Maybe I should check them out, I haven't been able to find any hints from verified sources. Ash sighed as he made up his mind.
He put back the Feather and tucked into his sleeping bag again. The tent was warm from Sera, and Ash slowly drifted off to Mankey's snoring.
Mt. Moon: the second highest mountain in Indigo, behind Mt. Silver. It's named after the frequent meteor falls there, which leaves behind moon stones. On top of that, clefairies are found there, pokemon that are rumored to have come from the moon.
It is famous for its extensive cave networks that link Route 3 and Route 4. Many trainers have died going inside, by getting lost or worn down and eaten. Golbats and golems are just some of the dangerous wildlife that lurk inside the caves. To reduce risks, rangers have scoured the networks thoroughly, providing maps and warnings of any dangerous pokemon. Since artificial light messes with pokemon's circadian rhythm, retroreflective material is used so that when light from head torches bounce on it, the strips shine back meaning it's the right path.
Rangers regularly patrol the routes around it, the mountain above and the cave system to make sure the routes are clear, that there aren't any dangerous pokemon.
Soon enough, days had passed by into a week after they had left Pewter City. The training had been going well, as they started getting used to the program. Their bodies were gradually becoming stronger, faster and more durable while their power's had improved as well. Frogadier had mastered Double Team while Sera's Incinerate was getting close. Finally, Mankey had started on mastering Cross Chop, which implemented a short Focus Energy for the high critical hit ratio.
All of the pokemon's resistances against super-effective attacks had increased as well ever since they had implemented the resistance training on the second day of training. It was done very carefully, starting with weakened hits. The three starters, Frogadier, Forest and Zippo would take turns hitting each other. It was painful and tiring, but their rivalry as the oldest members meant they never backed down. This had prompted the other pokemon to push through and the group had gotten stronger as a result.
Ash had also made improvements to how he trained, including jotting down progress in a notebook and taking even better care of his pokemon than before by brushing them more often and feeding them with their necessary nutrients.
Battles were frequent, some with other trainers that they challenged but mostly between each other. The group had added practice battles at the end of their sessions, putting their training into practice as well as testing out what worked and what didn't. On the fourth day, Leaf had caught a female jigglypuff named Adele that had been following them since the beginning. She was quite obedient, and it didn't take long for Leaf to incorporate Adele into their training sessions.
When they reached the daunting cave entrance of Mt. Moon, they equipped their head torches, checked their spare batteries, pulled out the map and stepped in. The darkness quickly became something they were used to and their eyes adjusted. The squeaks of zubats sounded whenever light shone on them, and distant rumbles signalled frats of geodudes and gravelers. The path winded up and down, passing through subterranean lakes and deep canyons. They stopped for lunch, and checked the map again.
Leaf shivered as she felt something brush her back. "I really don't like this. Surrounded by darkness, pokemon that I can't see. Where is the sun? And the plant life?" Leaf bemoaned as she bit into her cheese crackers.
Ritchie smiled, "It's kind of refreshing for me. No distractions, almost alone with my thoughts."
Leaf and Ritchie turned to Ash, expecting him to say something. Instead what they found was him staring off into the darkness, mindlessly petting Sera, who provided light.
Ritchie frowned, "Ash, what's—"
"Do you guys see something?" He pointed to the path ahead of them. "A flicker of light?" Ritchie and Leaf squinted into the distance, but couldn't see anything.
"I don't see—wait!" Ritchie got up abruptly, "There was something, just for a moment!"
Leaf's eyes widened, "I see it too, what is it?"
The three packed their bags and cautiously went to check the light out. It turned out to be coming from a steep side path on the left of the main path. Ash placed pebbles in an arrow shape to the path before the three cautiously took a look. Ritchie stumbled and was caught by Frogadier before he could roll down.
Sera's ears perked up and nodded forwards, causing everyone to move a lot more quietly. The closer they went, the more they heard the faint echoes. Faint echoes steadily became louder as they turned into screams and explosions. Ash's breath hitched as he rushed forwards.
The path opened up into the wall of a huge cavern. It was well-lit, with large machines and crates everywhere, but most importantly, trainers with a red R cornering a smaller group of trainers.
Team Rocket! Ash shuddered, And almost 50 members!
There were only 20 or so trainers fighting against Team Rocket. Attacks were flung everywhere. It was pure chaos. Amidst it all was a single Team Rocket member. A tall man with teal hair. He had a crazed grin, as if he had heard the funniest joke. His single pokemon, some kind of two-headed dragon, seemed to be equally as crazy, facing off against multiple trainers at once. It roared and screeched, firing off blast after blast.
Ash's eyes widened at the dragon's adversaries: a wartortle, politoed, an unknown pokemon with leaves on a golden shell, and other pokemon. He focused on the pokemon's trainers, and his eyes widened as he recognised the uncharacteristically desperate face of Gary Oak, Leaf's friend Misty, and the purple-haired boy from the pokemon center.
They seemed to be in a semicircle protecting something, and were one of the many trainers commanding attacks at the dragon. Despite the numbers, it didn't seem they were doing anything and that the crazy-looking man was just toying with them.
Ash started hyperventilating at the horrific sight. The rockets outnumbered them, and even more so as trainers were defeated. He almost jumped out of his skin when he felt something brush his hands. It was Leaf reaching out for comfort, her eyes widening and chest heaving.
I'm not alone. I can't afford to be weak right now.
"We—we have to do something." The trio stuttered out, then looking at each other stunned.
Ritchie's lips trembled, "One person needs to get help, we aren't enough."
"I'll stay, my team has a lot of firepower!" Ash exclaimed, tightening his fist, eyes never leaving the battlefield.
Leaf bit her lip, "Is that a good idea? The tunnels take too long to go through, and by the time the runner gets outside, Team Rocket would have already won and disappeared. We can send a SOS signal with the satellite messenger feature of the pokedex right?"
"No," Ash interjected, "We're too deep underground."
"Then we'll help fight a path out," Ritchie growled as released Zippo, "Team Rocket's back is against us, so we have the advantage, we should attack the weak point and join up with the trainers."
"Then the trainers can join us in battling out an escape!" Leaf exclaimed, releasing Forest, Nidoran and Adele.
Ash released Sera and Mankey. "Let's fucking do this."
The small group of trainers fought fiercely and ferociously. They were outnumbered and Team Rocket had no qualms in targeting trainers themselves. Already, many trainers had been hurt, either critically injured or worse.
The rocket leader laughed maniacally as his dragon fired two Dragon Breaths. It headed towards Gary directly, who's breath hitched as his life flashed before his eyes. It came closer and closer and—
"Dragon Breath!"
Water Pulse!"
Ash grinned as the Dragon Breath was deflected. He and his friends charged into the weak flanks. Their ten pokemon carved a path to the trapped trainers, leaving behind a trail of only burnt bodies, caved-in skulls and cracked ribs.
"Gary! We're here!" Ash sprinted on, holding in his vomit as he passed the downed rockets. No! They're evil people!
Before long, they had fought their way to the trainers. Mankey's fatal blows shattered human bones while Frogadier's Water Pulse blasted away any enemies.
Gary did a double take in surprise, "Ash! Leaf! What the hell are you guys doing here? Where's the backup?"
"We are the backup!" Ash positioned himself in the front, his pokemon protecting him. "What's going on here? How long have you been down here?" On closer inspection, Ash noticed Gary's face was unnaturally sunken, with dark eye bags.
"A while, lost track of time down here. There was a group of palaeontologists down here excavating. Team Rocket came and took over." He flinched at an explosion above them. "I got caught and they tied me up in a cage with the others. Paul," Gary pointed to the purple haired boy, "came later on." Gary commanded a Water Gun to counter a houndour's Flamethrower.
"How did you guys escape?" Ash stumbled back as an ekans leapt at him.
Gary pointed to the orange-haired girl. "Misty. She came and freed us."
"Dragon Breath! Confusion! Aerial Ace and Thunder Shock!" Ritchie ordered before quickly turning to the rest. "What's your plan?"
"Well, originally—"
"—We were going to break out by concentrating on a single point. But too many of these weaklings are injured. They're holding us back." Paul moved over. "Who are you guys? Any of you have fairy, ice, fighting, bug or dragon types or attacks?" The trio quickly introduced themselves and answered his question. "Then head to the front. We need help taking down that zweilous. Misty! We need to support them!"
Ash, Leaf and Ritchie shifted to face the rocket leader. He noticed this and his face split.
"Hey kids! It seems you're joining the party? So eager to die!" He mocked, not even flinching when a Water Pulse came close. "What are your names? Proton is my name! Remember that when you die alright?"
It was a single zweilous against a group consisting of Politoed, Grotle, Electabuzz, Zippo (Charmeleon), Happy (Butterfree), Adele (Jigglypuff), Nidoran, Mankey and Sera. Yet for some reason, it felt like it wasn't enough.
Proton yelled, "Dragon Pulse!" Zweilous fired off a sphere of dragon energy.
The attack came closer and closer, moving forwards despite many moves attempting to counter it. It was a couple meters away before Adele jumped up and got hit.
Leaf screamed. Ash's stomach dropped. The smoke cleared and Adele stood up unharmed.
"What…what happened?" Leaf gripped her chest.
"Fairy type." Paul grinned, "How did you not know that?" Ash glared at him.
"Cross Chop Mankey!" Mankey's forearms glowed as he rushed in, leaping and ducking over attacks.
"Support him!" Misty cried as Politoed countered Flamethrower with Water Pulse.
More pokemon joined the efforts as Mankey got closer to Zweilous. He leaped up and swung down. A golbat swooped in and snapped up Mankey in it's jaws.
"Mankey! Break out!" Ash screamed, yet it was no use.
Mankey struggled as Golbat's teeth sunk into his flesh. The golbat was going to fly away when Beakster—Mankey's biggest hater—zipped in with Aerial Ace, tearing apart the golbat's jaws and freeing Mankey.
Beakster then gripped onto Mankey's tail and swooped over Zweilous, swinging Mankey down. His forearms, still glowing with Cross Chop swung down and striked Zweilous' two heads. Mankey quickly retreated and everyone watched with bated breath. Zweilous looked slightly bruised but roared challengingly.
That thing is so strong! We somehow need to get more power! Ash gritted his teeth.
Leaf called out, "We made a breakthrough, let's charge out!" Ash twisted his head in shock, the rockets on their right were defeated and the trainers started moving that way.
Ash noticed the slower movements of the critically injured trainers, "Protect the injured, make sure they're safe!" Ash yelled out as Frogadier blocked Rocket's attempts.
"Dragon Rush!" Zweilous stomped the ground, his body glowing as an aura of dragon energy enveloped it.
"Adele! Get ready!"
Ash yelled, "Guys! We all have to attack it together!" Misty nodded, calling for Ice Beam.
Grotle fired Leafage while Electabuz, Nidoran and Mankey charged in with Low Kick, Double Kick and Cross Chop. Adele braced herself and cried a Disarming Voice. Happy flapped his wings with Gust and Zippo used Dragon Breath.
The attacks slowed down Zweilous, making him stumble. But he kept on going. The pokemon repeatedly threw attacks but Ash realised that they needed to do more.
"Ritchie, remember what we did back in the forest? With Sera's Flash Fire?" Ritchie nodded, "Guys, use your fire moves on my vulpix! Sera, use Incinerate!"
A multitude of Embers and Flamethrowers were absorbed by Sera, who started glowing as steam was emitted from her body. Her jaws opened as an absolutely massive ball of blazing fire hovered over her.
Ash could feel the uncomfortable heat from afar, but none of that mattered as Ash admired Sera's power. Even Proton's expression changed for a moment as the fireball collided with Zweilous.
The explosion that occurred after shook the entire cave sending loose stalactites crashing down. Ash almost collapsed as much of the air combusted.
The rockets were distracted, some fainting while others cowering fear. Misty saw an opportunity.
"Run!" Everybody started stumbling out, carrying the injured.
There was a cackle. "Outrage! Full speed!"
Ash turned around for a split second, only for a Zweilous to close the large distance immediately. He faintly remembered almost pissing himself as the putrid breath of the snapping jaws came close. Other pokemon tried taking it down but it brutally knocked them down.
Ash screamed as the attack—
BOOM! The ceiling opened as a tyranitar dropped down and took the hit. All the trainers and their pokemon widened their eyes as it wasn't phased at all. Proton's eyes widened at the pokemon, before narrowing at the trainer on the monster.
Tyranitar was behemoth, towering over everyone there and garnering fearful looks from rockets and trainers alike. It was scarred with chipped armor and a fearsome expression graced its face.
The trainer had dark skin, close-cropped hair and narrow eyes in an expression like his partner. He was dressed like a hobo, but that didn't stop power from emanating from him.
He reminded Ash of someone but before he could continue that thought, Proton's arrogant voice called out. "Flint Harrison! And here I thought those rumors about a master were false." Ash heard a few gasps.
"Maybe next time, be a bit more discreet. We could sense the vibrations from the surface. Well," Flint scratched his messy beard, "it's not like there will be a next time."
What went on was a haze to Ash. He had just almost died. He collapsed along with many of the other trainers, watching the resulting battle in awe and horror.
Tyranitar and Flint were brutal. Clusters of huge rocks constantly assaulted the rockets and many of them and their pokemon soon had their bodies cleaved through. Zweilous was the only one who had a chance and even then, his uncontrolled Dragon Pulses didn't even faze Tyranitar.
Flint tapped the ground and Tyranitar burst forwards in a frightening speed, before raising his claw and slamming Zweilous into the ground.
Proton stepped back in shock as he reached for more pokeballs. At least he tried to. Tyranitar roared at him point-blank, causing him to involuntarily piss himself and faint.
Ash's hands shook. This was the power of a Master. Overwhelming strength. Could he ever get close to that level?
Yes, he drifted off while embracing his pokemon, Yes I will.
And that's a wrap! Damn i hope you enjoy this whopper, i usually don't write this long but since I can't upload in three weeks because of the mock exams, I wanted to make this one extra longer.
I hope the battle against the rockets was satisfying. As I said before, writing battles like these are fun but pretty tiring. I also hope I depicted the tramping and camping right, because I really didn't want to gloss over that. I personally go hiking and camping so I really wanted to pass those ideas along. I viewed Ash as more outdoorsy than indoorsy knowledgeable. I mean we see that in flashbacks, where he goes exploring a lot. I didn't want him to be the stereotypical dumb protagonist. Instead I wanted him to have his strengths and weaknesses, like any other human being.
In regards with the training, there's so much to do, even just with their athleticism. Like specific muscles to train, front, side and rear delts, with all requiring different movements. Honestly, there's so many nuances and complexities in working out. But alas, it's too much to put all that, so it will mostly be generic strength training.
Finally, are there any criticisms about my writing style and structure? I'm ultimately writing this to both fuel my imagination and help with my skills so any advice is appreciated!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please like and leave a comment! And I hope y'all make good choices!
Review Replies:
Megan Lyle: Thanks man, btw, are there any particular gens with a good story that you prefer? Obviously, I cant have Ash go through all of them in the span of a couple of years before reaching adulthood so I was wondering if there are any that stand out to you.
RKF22: Hey dude, thanks a lot for your continued support, it's really appreciated. What's your opinion on OC's? Do you have a particular one you've created? I try not to add them since I have already established canon characters that I could work with. But still, maybe during Ash's brief tenure as a Viridian gym trainer, I could slip 'em in.
Shaonic: I'm so glad that I was able to properly display their different mentalities! Thank you so much for pointing that out, it's what I was going for. Im glad that you enjoyed the battles, and yes: Ritchie's head is out of his ass. Ik he wasn't like that in the series but I wanted to show early on that there are many different mentalities towards pokemon and that Ash's isn't as widespread and common as you may think.
ScienceAlienDude: Don't worry, I don't intend to have Misty travel with Ash, you're right, she doesn't have any reason to. And thank you so much for the advice about nicknames! I'll add a list of the team so it's easier to remember, and I'll try to decrease the amount of nicknames.
Poke-ranger21: Thanks, I love your profile pic and I'm glad you're enjoying the story. As with the other commenter, I'll put up the team at the end of each chapter so it's easier.