Chapter 10

I yawned. My eyelids slowly flickered open as I regained consciousness. I groaned as the events of the past night came back to me. 'At least it turned out well,' I thought.

"Man, I'm starving," I turned around to see Ash slowly getting up.

"You're always starving," said Pikachu, "but where have you guys been? After you and Michael shot off toward the wave you guys disappeared."

"Ash! Latios! Latias! Michael!" I then noticed Misty, Brock, Lorenzo, and Bianca.

"Where in the name of Arceus have you been?" asked Misty and Bianca at the same time before looking at each other.

"Well," said Ash, looking at us, "would you believe we just met Arceus?"

"Ash, are you sure?" asked Brock, "Arceus is known as the Alpha Pokemon, or the creator of the universe, and is said to live on Mt. Coronet in the Sinnoh region. We're in Johto right now, remember?"

"I'm sure," said Ash, "unless it was all a dream but…" Ash glanced at the Z-ring on his wrist.

"What's on your wrist?" asked Lorenzo, "It seems a little too bulky for a bracelet."

"This?" asked Ash, "Oh, It's a little gift from Arceus. He said I could use it with Pikachu to unleash this powerful move called 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt."

"That sounds like a lot of volts," joked Brock, "but anyway, why don't you tell us the whole story over lunch? Lorenzo, Bianca, and I prepared some just in case you guys showed up."

"Now we're talking!" said Ash and speed off.

A few moments later, he returned. "Uh, where exactly is the house again?"

"That way," Pikachu deadpanned.

As we ate, we talked about the events that had happened after Ash and I had sped off toward the tidal wave. Lorenzo and Bianca seemed shocked, but Misty and Brock acted like it was all normal.

"How can you take this so well?" asked Bianca.

"Let's just say," replied Brock, "there have been a lot crazier things that have happened to us during our adventures together…"

"May I ask what they are?" said Lorenzo.

"Hmm," said Misty, "where should we start? Ash?"

"Well," said Ash, "it all started on my first day as a trainer…"

As I listened to Ash's story I became more and more amazed at what the Pokemon world had to offer. I felt pretty good about my decision to let Ash catch me. After all, he was one of the few friends I had made here and Arceus, who was apparently the 'god' of this world had recommended him. I still had a few questions for Pikachu though which I asked as soon as I got a chance that night.

"Hey Pikachu,"

"Yeah?"

"I have a few questions for you, you know, about all this stuff,"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well," I said, "what does having a trainer mean exactly?"

"Oh that," Pikachu nodded, "having a trainer basically means that either the trainer defeated the Pokemon and caught it, or they agreed to a partnership. I assume it was the ladder in your case,"

"Yeah,"

"Well anyway," Pikachu continued, "a bad trainer might abuse their Pokemon and force them to battle, but a good trainer tries to deepen their friendship with their Pokemon and they are able to battle as partners."

"But do you have to battle?" I asked.

"Ash won't force you to," said Pikachu, "but it's super fun, just give it a try! Besides, you'll probably need to battle on this mission that Arceus assigned."

I sighed. "Alright, I'll give it a try,"

"Great!" said Pikachu, "I know, I'll ask Ash if we can do a little training tomorrow,"

"Ok," I yawned.

The Next Morning…

"Hey Michael,"

I turned. "Oh, hi Ash,"

Ash looked at me, "Pikachu said you wanted to do some training, so do you want to start?"

'Man, Pikachu sure is diligent' I thought. "Sure, how exactly do I start?"

"Well," said Ash, "normally, I train with all my Pokemon, so just meet me in the garden, I'll be there in a minute!"

I nodded slowly as he ran off, and switched to my lati-form. 'This will be interesting,' I thought as I head to the Secret Garden.

"Ok," said Ash, looking around, "we don't want to destroy anything… Hey Latios, do you mind if we used these rocks?"

"Sure," said Latios, "go ahead,"

"Okay Michael, what attacks do you know?" asked Ash.

"Um… I can use Luster Purge," I said, "but last time it didn't go too well,"

"Let me see…" Ash pulled his pokedex out. "It says here you can also use dragon claw,"

"Really?" I asked, then it dawned on me, those times when I made my claw shine must have been a partially formed dragon claw.

"Yeah!" said Ash, "Try to focus energy on your claw," he held his hand up like it was a claw, "and smash the rock like this!" he brought his hand down on the rock, "Owch!" Latios, Latias, Pikachu, and I sweatdropped. I guess Pikachu really meant it when he said Ash trained with his Pokemon.

"Ok," said Ash, "go ahead,"

I took a deep breath and focused all my energy on my claw, to my surprise, it instantly lit up and when I connected it with the rock, it shattered into hundreds of pieces.

"Great job!" said Ash, as I wondered how I did that. Then I realized something. When Arceus tapped me, it felt like power was going through my body. Was this the result of that power?

"Hey, not bad for your first try," said Pikachu, "want to have a battle with me?"

"A battle?" I asked.

"Yeah," said Pikachu, "remember, you said you would at least try once,"

"Ok," I agreed, remembering that Pikachu said if I didn't like it, I would have to do it again.

"Before we start," said Ash, "Latios, Latias, could you guys put a barrier around them? You know, just in case it gets destructive,"

"Sure Ash," said Latios.

"Okie dokie!" replied Latias.

"Alright," said Ash, after a barrier had successfully set up, "battle begin in 3, 2, 1, go!"

As soon as Ash gave the signal, Pikachu blurred toward me at a shocking speed (no pun intended) I didn't even have time to react as he hit me in the chest. I grunted before swinging my claw at Pikachu. However, Pikachu was no longer there. Instead, he was halfway across the field, charging up an attack. I desperately thought of what to do as Pikachu surrounded himself with electricity and charged at me. Quickly, I put my claws up in defense and braced myself, hoping it would lessen the damage. To my surprise, however, the attack never hit. I opened my eyes to see a glowing green barrier in front of me and a panting Pikachu a few meters past it.

"Hey, great job Michael, you just learned Protect!" Ash shouted from the side.

I nodded, excited that I was improving so fast. However, Pikachu wasn't letting up as he charged at me again. I tried to block it with another Protect, but it just wouldn't come. I grunted as Pikachu hit me. 'Why didn't that work?' I thought.

"Michael, protect is harder to do the more times you use it in a row!" Ash shouted.

'Darn it,' I thought. I would have to do something else first before I used another Protect.

At that moment, Pikachu shot a bolt of lightning at me. I quickly flew to the side, effectively dodging the bolt. I charged at Pikachu for another Dragon Claw, but Pikachu made his tail glow again, hitting me several times with an iron tail. I flew back up, panting from how tired I was.

'Come on Michael! You can do it!' I recognized Latias' telepathy.

'Thanks,' I flashed a smile in her direction.

With a shout, I concentrated my energy on the thunderbolt that Pikachu had just shot toward me.

Just as it was about to hit me the bolt slowed to a crawl, giving me plenty of time to dodge it before it struck the barrier behind me. Doing this gave me an idea, I focused on a fairly sized rock near Pikachu and concentrated on flinging it at him. I smiled as Pikachu was caught completely off guard and was unable to dodge the flying rock.

"Not bad," said Pikachu, "you're doing great for your first time, but can you handle this?"

Pikachu's body glowed white and he shot towards me. However, instead of ramming into me like he did before, he shot a yellow ball of electricity at me. I didn't have time to make a counter-attack, so I flew to the side, however, I had fallen right into Pikachu's trap. As soon as the Electro Ball flew by, Pikachu hit me square on the head with an Iron Tail before jumping to the ground.

I groaned. With pain coursing through my body, I knew I had to finish this off fast, otherwise, Pikachu would ultimately win with his immense speed and power. 'Alright,' I thought, concentrating all my energy on a final attack; Luster Purge.

I fired the beam at a startled Pikachu who tried to counter it with a thunderbolt. His attack stopped the beam for a moment but as I poured more and more power into it I was able to slowly overpower Pikachu. The attack connected, creating a large explosion. Before I could celebrate, however, I suddenly felt very tired. I tried to stay awake, but all the power had been drained from my body. I groaned as I drifted into unconsciousness.

The Chapter 10 update is complete!

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