The exam
Ash had to wait for a couple of years while studying under Oak. He went from a young kid to a young adult and spent time studying under Professor Oak and mastering the Gomu Gomu no mi. His mastery of the basics at least allowed him to go toe to toe with wild Pokemon not that he wanted to. Out of everyone, he was someone who didn't need a Pokemon to beat the snot out of a wild Pokemon. By now though Ash was 14 years old and had developed a well-toned body with a 6 pack. It was an interesting time for Ash because out of all the kids he met, No one knew anything about Ash except his devil fruit power and the lies he told about his home. He never told anyone where he was actually from or that he's part human and part Pokemon.
Since his biological mom was an Umbreon with the power of the Hito Hito no mi, Ash did have access to the power that dark types had. A black energy that allowed one to hit anything intangible. Now Ash's older brother Red who had the Mera Mera no mi was able to call on this. His older sister Leaf could as well be coupled with her devil fruit which was the Zuma Zuma no mi. Ash meanwhile only had the basics down, he could call on some dark energy but not to the extent of his siblings or his mom. This also meant that he had partial dark typing and thus had the strengths and weaknesses of one. Psychic and ghost-type attacks had little effect on him but he was weak to bug, fairy, and fighting. Now the fighting type depended on the attack negated by the nature of the Gomu Gomu no mi.
A Hitmonlee using brick break, low sweep, low kick or double kick won't do much to Ash due to his body being made of rubber. However, a fairy type using a non-physical attack would do much more damage. Ash knew he should never assume he was invincible because he had a devil fruit. There was always a bigger fish in the sea, Ash always sought to improve himself and get stronger. The reason was to get back home, homesick and wanting to see his family again. Maybe they are looking for him or perhaps they gave up and are looking for the Gomu Gomu no mi instead. He does know one thing for certain and that is he is going to get back home.
"I don't care who I have to fight to do either," Ash told himself as he prepared for an important event today. The day he took the exam to get his license and start on his journey. Now he didn't want to win the league, but if he did, that was a bonus. However, it might raise some suspicion if he didn't at least attempt the gym run. Plus it would give him a good excuse to travel around Kanto to find a way home. Ultimately, he decided to do the gym run and take a shot at the Pokemon League.
"All right let's take this one step at a time. First, pass the exam" Ash shook his head to focus on the task ahead of him.
"That's right focus on the here and now. Worry about being a Pokemon trainer later" Oak nodded.
"Right, I'm going to pass this" Ash smiled.
The building was a large complex with a sea of people in front of it. Ash never really considered just how many people would show up. Whatever he just had to tune them out so he could focus on getting that license.
"So any last words of wisdom?" Ash asked.
"No just take your time and don't rush it" Oak responded.
"All right well I suppose this is where we part ways," Ash said.
"Indeed, good luck to you Ash" Oak waved as Ash walked into the complex. Entering through the door he saw some people sitting at a table near a large set of doors. Three people were sitting behind it, they had some paperwork on the table and looked pretty important.
"Hello," Ash greeted them as he walked up to the table.
"Name" One of the dude's asked.
"Ash Ketchum" Ash answered.
"Ok, Ash, Ash" The man muttered while looking for the name on a list.
"Ah, here we go. Take this card it will have a number on it. Look for the corresponding number on the desk inside. Any Pokeballs and electronic devices must be placed in the locker down this hallway. We are not responsible for lost or stolen items. Any questions" The man asked.
"None whatsoever" Ash answered.
"All right then good luck to you" The man turned to the next person in line. Ash had nothing to put in his locker so he went inside the large auditorium. The place was packed with people and each row had about 100 seats in each. Thankfully he was in the first row so finding his seat wasn't that bad. After finding his seat, he sat down and looked around just to take in the environment. The room looked like it was used for theater and the walls were a light brown color. The stage was pretty large and was not that far from where Ash was sitting.
"There sure are a lot of people here" Ash muttered to himself. After 20 minutes of waiting he noticed a small group of people in lab coats walk up to the front of the stage while some others were standing off to the sides of the auditorium.
"Quiet now" The voice called out with a microphone. The crowd quieted down before the man continued.
"Thank you, now let me introduce myself. I am Professor Sycamore and I'll be the one in charge of handling your test today" He smiled as he said it.
"So let me start by saying that there are some rules that everyone will need to follow" Sycamore started.
"This is the written portion, you will each be given one. The people off to the sides are there to watch for any cheaters. If you are looking at another person's paper that is cheating. If you use your own Pokemon in the practical portion that is cheating. If you are caught cheating then you will fail the exam and be asked to leave the building." Sycamore's voice was serious, Ash knew full well that they had a zero-tolerance policy on cheating and they always made sure to catch cheaters in the act.
"You will have two hours to complete this part of the exam. Please take your time, if you finish early then wait for the allotted time to pass. If you need anything then raise your hand and someone will come by to assist you. Good luck" Sycamore motioned for the tests to be handed out. As soon as Ash got his test he went straight to work. The questions varied from simple questions about types and type match-ups to more complex ones about physiology and how that affects Pokemon. Then there were questions about medicine and first aid to scenarios that trainers will find themselves in. Finally, there were questions about the laws that trainers have to know, such as Pokemon welfare laws, Pokemon conservation laws, Trainer self-defense laws, and nothing on devil fruits which didn't surprise Ash.
"Good thing I studied for so many years," Ash thought to himself. Some of these questions were quite difficult so if one didn't study well enough then they weren't passing. Ash meanwhile had a strategy in that in the event he didn't know the answer entirely then he would use the process of elimination.
"If I can get it down to at least two possible answers then at that point it's a 50/50 shot" Ash then got to such a question.
"In the Orange Islands, is it legal for trainers to harvest corsola parts?" Ash read the question. Well, that depends on a few things. Population size, Location of the corsola, Condition of the corsola, and finally the gender and age of the corsola. Looking through all the answers on the test Ash started marking which ones were incorrect until he got it down to two possible answers.
"Well might as well guess here" Ash closed his eyes and then picked one.
"I hope that was right" Ash muttered to himself. After finally completing it he waited for the two hours to pass until a bell rang out.
"All right the two hours are up" Sycamore declared. People walked up to the test takers and took their tests.
"Now it's time for the practical portion of the test. We will split up into several groups" Sycamore said before a massive explosion ripped into a side of the room sending the bodies of humans flying.
"Hello everyone we are Team Rocket and we are here to steal Pokemon now hand them over" A rather large dude declared while being flanked by a large number of grunts.
"The hell is Team Rocket?" Someone asked.
"They're a bunch of crooks that steal Pokemon" Another person answered.
"Oh we do more than steal Pokemon we are also going to kill every last person in this room. Now Nose Cannon" The guy picks his nose before tossing it at the group. A huge explosion ripped through the room killing a lot of people, sending their bodies flying into the air.
"DID HIS BOOGERS JUST EXPLODE" Someone yelled.
"THE HELL IS THIS GUY?"Another person yelled.
"Halt" A few of the people who were standing off to the side moved to confront them until their grunts intercepted them.
'This guy must have the Bomu Bomu no mi' Ash thought to himself until he noticed the guy looked at the large group of people standing in front of him.
"Breeze Breath Bomb" The guy exhaled and as soon as he did that Ash ducked out of the way while everyone else was consumed by the explosion. The room was wrecked and corpses of wannabe trainers littered the room.
"That bastard he killed everyone" Ash wanted to beat this guy to a pulp. Looking around he saw that everyone else was incapacitated or dead.
"All right now time to" He got cut off by Ash.
"Gum Gum Whip" Ash's leg stretched out and caught the guy in his ribs sending him flying through the debris and into a wall.
"The hell is this guy?" A grunt asked.
"His legs stretched though" Another grunt pointed out.
"Who are you" The bomb guy coughed while getting up.
"I'm Ash Ketchum" Ash declared while glaring at the bomb guy.
"So you must have a devil fruit then" The bomb guy assumed.
"Yeah the Gomu Gomu no mi" Ash answered.
"Oh, a devil fruit user interesting" The guy had an evil grin on his face.
"And you have the Bomu Bomu no mi don't you" Ash glared.
"Indeed, all right you grunts kill everyone still standing and steal their Pokemon. Rubber boy is mine" He then cracked his knuckles.
"Rubber boy?" A grunt asked.
"The Gomu Gomu no mi is a Paramecia type like mine. It grants its user a body made of rubber and immunity from the Goro Goro no mi and blunt force attacks" The bomb guy explained.
"All right you heard him" The 2nd in command yelled. Ash cracked his knuckles ready for the fight.
"Now bomb palm" The guy held out his palm facing Ash and an explosion released from his palm.
"Crap" Ash stretched out his arm and grabbed a chair that didn't get destroyed and flung himself out of the way.
"Bastard" Ash gritted his teeth.
"Breeze Breath Bomb" The man breathed and another explosion ripped through the auditorium straight at Ash who backflipped out of the way. However, before Ash could do anything else he got hit with an explosive booger sending him flying into a wall.
"As if someone like you could defeat me" The man crackled as he walked towards Ash.
"Gum Gum Nutcracker" Ash ran out of the smoke with his arm stretched. Running at the bomb man full speed before retracting his arm and slamming it at the man's groin causing him to collapse in pain. He couldn't even activate his devil fruit in time either.
"That was a cheap shot" The tried to say through the pain.
"There is no such thing as rules in a fight," Ash said seriously before grabbing the bomb man and starting to rotate his body. As Ash rotated himself he stretched out his arms allowing the bomb man to get dragged through the debris and the wall. Ash then let go and the momentum sent him flying into a wall.
"You're right about rules" The man coughed as he got up.
"Gum Gum rifle" Ash charged as he started stretching his arm into a corkscrew.
"Bomb Shield" As soon as Ash's fist made contact with the man's chest it exploded sending Ash flying backwards.
"Don't take me lightly runt" The man sneered.
"Don't…. Cough…think…..that I'm out yet" Ash coughed as he got back up from the explosion.
"Now I believe that it's time for you to die" The man began to walk towards Ash.
"Gum Gum ricochet" Ash had managed to stretch his arm and have it on the side of a wall before hitting another and finally bouncing off a third wall before landing a solid punch on the guy's face causing him to stagger. Ash used this chance to land a Gum Gum bazooka on the guy. He got up and coughed up some blood before pulling out a pistol.
"Huh," Ash was confused as he knew that a pistol bullet would bounce right off of him. The man fired anyway and Ash got caught up in another explosion that was enough to send the entire room down on top of them. Ash though managed to climb his way out of the rubble and he saw the bomb man get out of it too.
"Gum Gum whip" Ash did not let the man recover and hit him with a Gum Gum whip causing the man to get dragged through the debris and into a part of the building still standing. Ash then winced in pain as a piece of debris impaled itself into his shoulder. Ash yanked it out as blood dripped down his arm.
The bomb man walked out breathing heavily as was Ash. They were both spent and it was a matter of who would collapse first. Ash barely had the energy to stand and was on fumes at this point until the bomb man collapsed first. The explosion that ripped through the room causing its collapse also killed several Team Rocket grunts still inside. Some were buried alive in the rubble though and who knows how many injured test takers were buried alive as well. Fortunately, there were people like Oak who waited nearby to make sure that they weren't helping any test takers cheat. One of them saw the explosion that caused the room to collapse and called for help.
"ASH" Oak yelled as he ran towards the rubble. He managed to catch Ash in time as his body finally gave out after using up all the energy he had left.