Surmount

by HDK315

Although they travel down a long, merciless road that has overwhelmed all but the very strongest to eventually throw in the towel, they do so with unrivaled resolve and convictions. This is the story of Ash Ketchum and his beloved family of Pokemon, and how they became the greatest of all time. Cover by Atenburgh.

9. At the Base of Mt Moon

"Everyone!"

Five year old Ash Ketchum quieted down, as did the numerous other kids that were chattering away as they reached the base of the large hill.

Still within Pallet Town, although away from most of the buildings. It was the closest that they ever got to entering into the outside world of Indigo,

Until they all became Pokemon trainers, of course.

In front of the sizable group was Gary Oak, standing proudly with his fists against his hips as everybody immediately directed their attention onto him.

Everyone followed Gary. Grandson of Professor Oak, the man who practically ran the town. The children saw Gary as someone who was to them what his grandfather was to everyone else in the town.

Ash wasn't particularly close to the boy, but they got along fairly okay. They were mostly friends due to being a part of the same exact group. Ash wasn't sure if there were any sort of specific kids that he was closer to than the others.

Gary had quickly taken to his status as the leader of the children. Not to mention how much he clearly enjoyed it.

Much like everyone else in the group, Ash simply went on with whatever Gary did.

And today, Gary had picked a fun game.

"Today, everyone…" said Gary with dramatic build up. He slowly extended his index finger outwards towards the large hill behind him. "We are going to climb Mt. Moon!"

The children cheered.

"Now then…" Gary continued. "This is going to be a very important expedition, so we will need to split into groups. And be wary of the wild Pokemon that shall attack us!" he continued dramatically. Pointing towards a section of the kids, he continued. "All of you! You are wild Pokemon! Bloodthirsty creatures who want to eat all of us!"

The kids cheered enthusiastically as they began making animalistic noises, doing their best to sound intimidating.

Gary next pointed to the group of kids that Ash was a part of. "You guys are all powerful trainers of the League! You must protect everyone else! Researchers who are here to uncover the Moon Stone!"

"I want to be a Rhyhorn!" one of the wild Pokemon kids.

"My partner's a mighty Dragonite! Like Lance!" One of the League Trainer kids.

"I'll dig up the Moon Stone up first!" one of the researcher kids.

Smiling to himself, Ash happily prepared himself for the upcoming game.

As he did so, he continued to look out towards the hill, where Gary still currently stood.

Mt. Moon… he couldn't wait to go there for real someday.

/

Ash eyed the quadruped creature carefully. In the same vein, it eyed him with a great deal of steel caution.

Of all the Pokemon that he could have run into here… an Eevee?

It hadn't taken long to reach the Pokemon Center that rested at the foot of Mt. Moon.

On the road in between Pewter City and Mt. Moon, Ash and his team were lucky enough to run into a decent amount of fellow trainers to battle. Not only did this give Nebula the perfect chance to break in her evolution, but it supplied them with a fair amount of prize money as well.

The newly evolved Staravia had received incredible boons in every single regard since evolving. Her abilities were incomparable to that of when she was a Starly. She saw the most action on the road thus far, easily winning every battle that she fought in.

Pikachu and Valiant had won all of theirs as well, apart from when Valiant had been defeated by a Drowzee. The creature had a much better handling of its own Psychic Abilities than the young Ralts did. Thankfully, Nebula had pulled off a comeback.

Now they had arrived at Mt. Moon's foot. The Eevee had emerged from the last of the tall grass and forest trees to give way to the rocky landscape that stood before them.

Ash had arrived in the morning, but wasn't going to Move out with his team just yet. They needed some time to recuperate first, so he figured that a day or two at most would suffice.

Amazingly, if he hadn't made such a choice, he never wouldn't have had this encounter. He had simply just been exploring some of the area outside of the Pokemon Center with Pikachu, not really expecting to find anything…

But then this had happened…

A few trees surrounded them. There had been less and less of them as they had continued to approach the mountain. Right now, they were in a grassy area off the beaten path, not too far away from the Pokemon Center itself.

Eevee were revered Pokemon in the training world. Famous for their quality of evolving into one of many different Pokemon, each of them with a completely different Typing.

They were also among the Pokemon that the League would give out as substitute Starters. Karen of the Indigo Elite Four had received one as her first ever Pokemon. That Eevee had Evolved into an Umbreon.

They were incredibly rare, however. The discovery of one out here was the greatest stroke of luck.

Ash wasn't one to let luck go to waste.

Nebula appeared in front of him and Pikachu.

From his position of Ash's shoulder, Pikachu offered a friendly wave to the Staravia, which she returned as she prepared herself for battle and locked eyes with the Eevee, who began to tense up almost immediately.

The chance to capture an Eevee, of all Pokemon…

It was… exciting.

"Alright, Nebula! Get ready!" As Nebula took to the skies, Ash watched her for a brief moment before turning his attention back to the Eevee, who was frantically attempting to track the flying Staravia's movements.

It was time.

Nebula easily had the best chance of capturing Eevee due to the boons that her evolution had granted her. A Pokemon with such versatile Evolution options was too good of a chance to pass up as a member of the team, so Ash wanted to go all out right from the start.

"Alright then Nebula, Wind Blast!"

Nebula's blast of wind just barely missed its target as the Eevee sprinted away, eyes locked onto the Staravia with an angry glare as Nebula soared downwards.

"Aerial Ace!"

Eevee just barely managed to jump over Nebula's attack as the bird swooped downwards, but was grazed and lost its balance in the air. It did not give up, however, turning in midair and opening its mouth to fire a series of golden stars at the rising Staravia.

Ash blinked. Swift. He hadn't expected that.

Swift was a decently powerful ranged attack that could be fired with very great and easy accuracy and precision. Particularly high leveled variations of the attack could even zero right in on the target, homing in on them and being very difficult to avoid as a result. Even lower level versions of the attack had these same exact qualities to at least some certain extents.

Thankfully, this version of the attack wasn't too much of a problem. Ash wasn't quite sure just how well Nebula would fare against advanced variations of the technique, but her maneuverability in the air allowed her to avoid the incoming attack all the same.

Eevee landed on all fours and glared up at Nebula as she dive bombed downwards with Steel Wing.

Nebula was too fast for Eevee to reliably avoid. That was a good sign, but they couldn't let their guard down.

Nebula yelped as the Eevee suddenly assaulted her face with sand. A Sand Attack. Nebula's vision was blinded for a moment, making her unable to properly strike with Steel Wing, but she still collided head first into the Eevee, sending both Pokemon tumbling across the ground together as Nebula lost her balance, already off balance due to the Sand Attack blending her vision and still not quite ready for the sudden impact.

Nebula recovered first, but was still the the midst of trying to get the sand out of her eyes before taking off, leaving her open for Eevee to leap upwards and chomp down on her head.

The Staravia shrieked in anger and pain, but the struggle was brief as she ignored the pain in her eyes and slammed a Steel Wing into the Eevee, forcing it off of her. Now with painful teeth marks and tears in her eyes from the Sand Attack, Nebula glared after the Eevee as it tumbled into a tree, making its way to its feet and charging forward again.

Nebula hadn't been able to put her full force into that Steel Wing due to being preoccupied with the Sand Attack and also caught off guard by the Eevee's assault, but Ash took note that the attack still seemed to hurt Eevee quite a bit, as the evolution Pokemon had staggered to its feet, despite still getting up quite quickly overall.

Eevee lowered its head as it charged head first towards Nebula, but was met with a painful Steel Wing that blocked its assault. Pushing back against the metallic feathers, Eevee eventually lost the struggle, and was forced backwards, skidding across the grass on all fours as Nebula took to the skies yet again.

"Whirlwind!"

Eevee found itself growling in frustration in agony as the large gust of wind almost immediately overwhelmed it. Nebula's raw power was just far too great, and the quadruped Normal Type Pokemon could do very little to resist the win as it was picked up off of its feet, sailing back first into a tree trunk.

"Wing Attack!"

Before Eevee could recover from the painful impact, Nebula was already upon it, slamming her wing downwards into the opposing Pokemon's cheek, leaving the Eevee laid out in the grass as Ash prepared his Poke Ball.

Tossing the orb at its target, Ash watched with a glint of satisfaction as Eevee wa scuked inwards. After a few seconds of struggling, the Poke Ball beeped, and Eevee was caught.

Excitement surged through Ash's heart as he rushed forward to pick up the Poke Ball, looking at it triumphantly as Pikachu leapt off of his shoulder to congratulate Nebula.

Just like that…

"Way to go, Nebula!" Ash praised, turning to his bird companion as she soaked up compliments from Pikachu. "Once again, we didn't even need to use your Reckless Ability!"

Nebula's Evolution had allowed her to get a better handle on Reckless. It wasn't perfect, but with practice, she was now mostly able to activate it at will, although some times took longer than others.

Nebula's Evolution had already granted the Staravia an astronomical increase in physical capabilities, but Reckless only further added onto that to an even greater extent; unlocking the inner reserves of Nebula's body and physical strength in order to quickly bring all of it out to the forefront at once.

Obviously, it wasn't without its drawbacks, of course. Given that bringing out said reserves would inevitably tire out Nebula much more quickly, and that Nebula and Ash did not yet know how to turn the ability off (or even if it was possible to do so at all, for that matter) Ash was currently determined to save the ability for a last resort, especially since Nebula still wasn't completely perfect at activating it just yet.

Not to mention the fact that Reckless would completely change Nebula's behavior during a battle. Making her significantly less cautious. Little to no self preservation. Very easily something that could backfire, especially combined with how she would also end up being tired out much more easily. It was an incredibly powerful Ability for sure, but certainly not one to be abused. They hadn't even completely mastered it yet. Ash wasn't even sure what a mastered version of the Ability would look like.

They were still quite far off from perfecting it, and it would most certainly be a very long time until they actually did so. So for now, Ash felt that it was best to only use Reckless in moments of necessity. Against opponents that Nebula couldn't possibly hope to defeat without it. So that it would only be used when all other alternatives were no longer viable. That was the best course of action… for now. And Nebula and the others seemed to agree.

Thankfully, they hadn't even needed to resort to the ability just yet. Nebula had won all of her fights without it. Ever since evolving, anyway. Just like with the Eevee.

Nebula chirped happily at Ash's compliment as he pointed his thumb over his shoulder.

As much as he wanted to celebrate, they needed to get Eevee checked up on quickly. Thankfully, Pikachu and Nebula both seemed to understand.

"Come on, you two. Let's go."

/

A decent amount of trainers were staying at the Pokemon Center.

Mt. Moon was a popular tourist attraction during certain times of the year, but at the moment, Ash noticed a distinct lack of people who weren't his own age. He wasn't sure what times of year that Mt. Moon's tourist attraction status was at its most active, but this time of year apparently was not it.

The boy took a moment to watch the other trainers going about their daily business. Some of them were mingling amongst themselves, others exiting the Pokemon Center, either to head on over to Mt. Moon or to explore or train.

It was certainly a blessing that the League had stationed a Pokemon Center at the foot of Mt. Moon. Not just for trainers, but for tourists as well. As a result, the Pokemon Center was larger than what one would normally expect from one that was on the road. It was, however, still not nearly as big as in the city.

Thankfully, the line to the front counter wasn't very long, so checking in Eevee didn't take too much time. Ash was told by Nurse Joy that the recovery should probably be quick.

Eevee had been completely overwhelmed by Nebula, not able to do much against the Staravia's newfound power. However, the injuries that the Evolution Pokemon had received were fairly superficial and would heal easily after an hour or two at the most in the Pokemon Center's machines.

Before long, Ash was back in his room, with Pikachu, Nebula, and Valiant all out and ready to greet their new teammate.

Eevee had a bit of a confused expression on its face when it appeared out of its Poke Ball. Looking around to take in its surroundings, it suddenly started as its gaze settled on Ash and Nebula.

With a bit of a yelp, it took a step back as a low growl escaped its throat, eyes locked onto Nebula.

Ash frowned at that. Either Eevee was holding a grudge or it was afraid of the Staravia. Either one made sense.

"Hey…" Ash cautiously approached the Evolution Pokemon, who tensed up as he knelt down to look at it at eye level. "It's fine, we're not here to hurt you."

But right after saying that, Ash felt like a blatant liar. Did they not just attack Eevee unprovoked? All of a sudden he felt selfish. It was common for trainers to attack Pokemon out of the blue. That was part of what being a trainer was, after all. To capture Pokemon. But his reasonings for attacking Eevee and wanting to capture it essentially amounted to being excited about acquiring a Pokemon with so many different evolved forms. Putting it that way…

Ash's encounter with Paul suddenly flashed back into his mind.

That other boy… hadn't really gotten inside of his head, had he? The knee jerk reaction to capture such a valuable Pokemon on sight was just a natural feeling that just about any other trainer would have felt. An opportunity to be taken advantage of. Right?

Or was it really just because of all of Paul's talk about potential?

Pushing those thoughts aside for now, Ash returned his focus on Eevee. He would worry about determining whether or not his motives were problematic later. Right now, this was more important. The deed had been done, and now it was his responsibility to calm Eevee's nerves.

The Evolution Pokemon was not growling at him, thankfully, but it didn't seem entirely trusting, either. Its uncertainty remained as Pikachu approached the pair, although as Eevee turned its gaze over to the electric mouse, Ash noticed that the doubtful expression on its face wasn't as strong.

Probably because Pikachu wasn't the one who attacked Eevee, Ash realized. Or, he thought with renewed guilt, the one that had told Nebula to attack Eevee in the first place.

The two small Pokemon locked eyes for a few moments, before leaning forward cautiously and sniffing each other.

Behind Pikachu, Valiant had begun to approach as well, but still kept his distance and chose to leave it to the mouse. Nebula hung back, likely realizing that she was the member of the group that their new member trusted the least.

Looking over at the Staravia, Ash could feel the guilt on her expression, too. As Pikachu began to try and make conversation with the Eevee, Ash approached Nebula and crouched down next to her.

"Hey, you okay?" he reached out and patted the bird's head.

She seemed to appreciate the gesture, easing up a bit, although her expression remained the same whenever her gaze turned to Eevee.

Trying not to frown, Ash did his best to console his feathered companion. "I know you're guilty, Nebula…" he spoke slowly, softly, hoping to sound comforting. Was he good at this? " I am too. It's just…" his words trailed off as he found it a bit hard to come up with any justifications.

He knew the answer was simple. He was a trainer. As a team, they were supposed to capture Pokemon. But how was he supposed to give Nebula an explanation like that? It certainly wouldn't make her feel better.

Nebula herself had been captured against her will. Ash suddenly found himself mentally slapping himself at the realization. The hypocrisy that Nebula likely believed herself to be guilty of was probably the main source of her guilt, not the simple fact that she had attacked a wild Pokemon unprovoked.

And Ash, instead of realizing that, had thoughtlessly chosen Nebula of all Pokemon to make the capture. All because it would be easy with her. A pragmatic decision, for sure, but one that had completely disregarded his own Pokemon's feelings.

"Nebula…" he locked eyes with his bird friend. "I'm… sorry… I didn't realize…. But I should have. You went through this same thing when Pikachu and I caught you, didn't you?" At her solemn expression, Ash gently wrapped his arms around her. "Don't worry." he whispered softly. "I won't send you out to capture any more wild Pokemon if you don't want me to."

A small smile made its way to his lips as he felt Nebula's feathered wings wrapping on him in response.

/

"Eevee, the Evolution Pokemon of the normal type. By altering the composition of its body, it can suit the surrounding environment, and its unstable genetic makeup gives it many potential evolved forms.

"This Eevee is female and knows the moves Tackle, Sand Attack, Quick Attack, Swift, Bite, Take Down, Dig, Shadow Ball, and Body Slam. Its ability is Adaptability, which gives it a significantly easier understanding of moves that match the user's type, which consequently greatly boosts their power."

Putting the Pokedex away, Ash glanced down at the Eevee, who was looking up at him a bit more calmly, albeit curiously, right now. Sitting in between Pikachu and Valiant, she seemed fairly indifferent to him, not expressing any real dislike towards the young boy, but not really giving him the impression that she liked him, either.

It was a step up from before, however. While Ash was busy consoling Nebula, Pikachu and Valiant seemed to make decent enough progress with their newfound teammate. It helped that Valiant could sense Eevee's emotions, and had occasionally coached Pikachu on how to approach the conversation. Eevee seemed appreciative towards Valiant's inherent understanding of her own feelings, almost gravitating towards the young Ralts to a degree. Overall, she wasn't the most open so soon, but he and Pikachu seemed to have passed whatever test she was trying to give them when checking them out.

The only one that she didn't seem to trust was Nebula.

The young Staravia hadn't made any real attempts to converse with the Evolution Pokemon, due to Eevee's very clear dislike towards her.

Ash was frowning at that. Up until now, everyone on the team was getting along just fine, Pikachu and Nebula were inseparable, and both of them were quite fond of Valiant.

Would things become any more difficult now that Eevee was very clearly not fond of Nebula?

He'd have to talk to Professor Oak about it. Or his mother. He was cursing himself for not thinking far enough ahead. Did he really expect to go through his whole entire journey with no drama between his team members.

He was getting stronger, and yet he was still making a lot more mistakes than he thought. Was this a common issue that all rookies went through? Yet another oversight that beginners were often prone to?

For now, he'd talk to Eevee for a bit and help her get settled in. Now that she'd calmed down, she seemed to be more open to conversation, despite not being completely accepting of the situation, understandably.

"You okay now?" He asked, not sure how to start the conversation. He kept his voice gentle, soothing, hopefully. He wanted her to know that he was friendly, despite her first impression.

She sniffed his hand as he kneeled down next to her, and seemed to grow a bit more at ease as she did.

/

The night had grown a bit more progressively smoothly afterwards.

Although Nebula kept her distance (Pikachu keeping her company) Ash and Valiant made good progress with Eevee, although in Ash's case it was simply that she had accepted him as her trainer, rather than actually liking him or seeing him as a friend. Ash wasn't offended by it, given that he had gone through the same thing with Nebula and had a much worse start with Pikachu back on Opening Day. A lot had happened since then as he abruptly found himself realizing, and all of a sudden, it felt surreal to say that he had four Pokemon on his team.

Valiant's ability to read emotions was a massive boon for interacting with Eevee, as Ash realized sooner rather than later. The young Ralts had a better understanding of how to approach a conversation and ease the newcomer into things, which was perfect given that she had been understandably on edge after being captured. They were all still strangers to her, but Ash was given hope that the overall dynamic of the team would still be positive.

He just needed to figure out how to work things out between Nebula and Eevee. Thankfully, Professor Oak was just a call away.

Ash had risen early and left his team in the room. All of them were still sound asleep at the time, so he chose not to disturb them as he made his way to the video phones.

He wondered if Professor Oak would be up this early, as it wasn't quite 8:00 AM yet. Thankfully, he had picked up.

"Hello, Ash! Wasn't expecting to hear from you." The Researcher's face appeared on the screen and smiled at the boy, who returned the expression quite quickly. "Where are you calling me from, might I ask?"

"I'm at the Pokemon Center just at the foot of Mt. Moon." Ash replied. "We got here yesterday morning. I'm planning on going through the mountain tomorrow, although I might wait an extra day to get things situated with my new teammate."

The Professor perked up. "Oh, yes! The Eevee! I noticed that she was added to your roster yesterday. A surprising catch."

Ash nodded with a grin. "Yeah, I felt really lucky. Although, that's actually why I'm calling."

The man's face was curious, but not concerned. "Is there an issue?"

Ash subconsciously scratched the back of his neck. "I'm hoping it's not too serious, but I had Nebula fight Eevee when we found her. She beat Eevee pretty easily and now Eevee seems to hold a grudge. She was okay with me after a while, and she seems to get along fine with Pikachu and Valiant, but she hasn't opened up to Nebula. She keeps shooting her glares or dirty looks."

The Professor nodded understandingly "Yes, that's not too surprising. Not every Pokemon is going to be happy about being captured, and even though you're the one who gave the order, she likely associates Nebula with her loss of freedom. Or maybe the humiliation of being beaten the way she was is the real issue, if she's not hostile towards the rest of you."

Ash frowned. The guilt was coming back now. "What do you think I should do? This hasn't happened with the other three before. At worst Nebula was just neutral towards me and Pikachu when we first caught her. I don't want there to be too much drama between the team."

"Understandable. Team dynamic is everything for a variety of aspects to Pokemon training. Unfortunately, it's not always going to be this simple. I'm afraid an issue like this was unavoidable. Whether it be because of a grudge or really anything else, it would have been miraculous for you to never run into conflict between any of your teammates." he paused a moment. "As for advice, there's no miracle cure, but that doesn't mean it's hopeless. She's only just joined, so it'll inevitably take some time for things to cool down. I wouldn't worry about it too much, but for now, just try to have them give each other some space. Give Eevee some time to get to know Pikachu and Valiant better, and yourself, of course. Once things have had time to cool down, start prioritizing training exercises between Nebula and Eevee to hopefully build some camaraderie between them. Once you get through Mt. Moon, it shouldn't take you too much longer to reach Cerulean City, so I'd recommend getting started once you've gotten there. By then, a few days or so will have passed, and I'm sure the upcoming Gym Battle will be giving your team motivation. If Eevee herself takes interest in it, that would be especially helpful. Try not to worry about it too much for now, but that's my recommendation." He gave Ash some time to take it in.

After a few moments, Ash nodded, and smiled gratefully. "Okay, thanks Professor. But what do you think I should do if things haven't settled down by then?"

"Good question. I unfortunately can't say much in that regard but you may just have to give it more time in that case. Every case will always be different. But for now, I'd recommend not letting it stress you out too much and just try to focus on integrating her into the team. A new capture will always be a very big moment for everyone in your group. The dynamic will never be the same. If it takes a long time for things to settle down, try to observe their behavior and interactions and see if you can determine any additional root causes. I can help you out with tha myself, of course."

Ash nodded, but was also deep in thought. The dynamic will never be the same…

Those words echoed in his thoughts for the next few moments as he contemplated the true meaning of the Professor's words.

...It was true… wasn't it? Up until this point, Ash's team was a well rounded trio. Pikachu, Nebula, and Valiant were all very good friends with little to no drama between them. And they had been his new family along with that too.

The overall simplicity of the group dynamic had been easy. Convenient. They were all just a small group of friends traveling together and fighting battles. Helping each other train. Conversing with each other.

Things would become much less simple, and much less convenient, as the adventure went on. New Pokemon would be joining their team. New relationships would be established and would inevitably have to be taken account for. This was just the beginning. Eevee was far from the last teammate that they would ever have.

"You okay, Ash?"

Realizing that he had spaced out and had spent longer contemplating on his own inner thoughts than he had initially anticipated, Ash shook himself out of his stupor and grinned awkwardly at the Researcher, a slight tinge of red appearing on his cheeks.

"It's fine. Sorry about that." Trying to forget the embarrassment, Ash quickly changed the subject. "So… ummm. Where's Clefable?" he asked awkwardly, thinking of the first thing to come to mind.

"Oh, she's asleep. We were both up late last night watching movies, but I still woke up early somehow. I chose not to disturb her, so I'm letting her sleep in."

Ash grinned a bit at that. Professor Oak wasn't always one for free time, but he certainly made good use of it whenever he took a break from his work. Despite being a workaholic, he could at least effectively relax whenever he gave himself the chance.

The two of them didn't talk for much longer, after that. Oak was a busy man, and along with not wanting to keep him for too long, Ash was hungry for breakfast. It was still early, but he would need to wake his team soon so that they could eat.

/

The cafeteria was modestly filled with other rookies this morning as Ash and his team made their way in.

Eevee stuck by Valiant on one side of Ash while Pikachu and Nebula occupied the other. The Evolution Pokemon was still displaying some coldness towards the young Staravia, which only furthered Nebula's guilt, but much to Ash's gratitude, Pikachu was there to console her.

At the moment, Ash was concerned with filling his team's bellies, as well as his own. Professor Oak's advice continued to replay through his mind, so he was sure to make sure that Eevee had time to adjust before rushing into things. Right now, everyone still seemed to be equally excited to eat. Ash had explained the Pokemon Center's cafeteria to Eevee after waking everybody up and she seemed to have perked up at it. The rest of the team's enthusiasm seemed to have been contagious, too. They had all certainly taken a liking to the Pokemon Center's cafeteria food while in Pewter City, and each Pokemon Center was essentially the same in that regard. At least in Indigo, that is. It hadn't taken too long to get ready to head out of the room.

It was still rather early when Ash had woken his team. Pikachu had been the first to respond, while the others got up shortly afterwards with help from Pikachu.

His call with Professor Oak hadn't lasted too long, but it had shaved off some time. Still early in the morning, but past 8:00 AM.

Ash had always enjoyed the simplicity of morning, even back in Pallet Town. Before the day got fully started, before it was time to progress with their agenda. Just an enjoyable breakfast as they all got settled in. That was how it always was, and he always looked forward to it.

At the moment, he wasn't sure which food Eevee liked, so he tried some experimentation with berries and a couple of different assortments of traditional food. Eevee seemed to respond quite positively to the berries, but only seemed to be mildly interested in everything else.

It was a start. He would get a better grip on the Evolution Pokemon's diet in time. Meanwhile, the rest of his team devoured their food happily, Pikachu especially eating quite fast, much to Eevee's bewilderment, and everyone else's amusement.

The mouse never did take the time to enjoy his food when he liked the way that it tasted. Not that Pikachu ever seemed to mind, of course.

Enjoying his own food, Ash opted to eat a bit more slowly as he went over his plans for the day. Taking a bite into one of his pancakes, he thought about it for a moment.

Eevee had just joined them.

Outside of her brief scuffle with Nebula, Ash didn't know much about where she stood in terms of capabilities. Going over her moves and taking the ti9me to observe her would be a good way to get started on that. At the moment he only knew what she was capable of using, but not really anything else. He'd have to base his training regimen for her on his findings in that regard.

Pikachu was now working on Thunderbolt. Although Electro Ball could still use some fine tuning, he was in a position where Ash felt that he could start working on Thunderbolt in hopes of having it ready for their upcoming Gym Battle in Cerulean City.

Getting Pikachu to actually use the move was simply enough. It was essentially a more powerful version of Thunder Shock at the moment. However, Pikachu couldn't use it as reliably just yet. He was still in a position where it took longer to charge up, and although it was still much more powerful than Thunder Shock, he still had yet to access the full power of the move, and it seemed to be a bit more draining on his stamina.

It could still be used more practically in battle, but it couldn't be abused. The longer charge time meant that they had to be a lot more careful about the timing, and that, in addition to the stamina issue, made repetitive use of it a no go. It was a nice trump card to pull out and surprise the opponent for big damage, but not a signature technique at the moment.

At the current stage that Pikachu was at, there weren't any other specific moves that he was desperate to teach the mouse that he felt that his Starter was ready to learn. He wanted to work on Volt Tackle eventually, but he doubted that Pikachu was ready for it yet. He had tried Double-Edge with Nebula recently, but despite her having a far physically superior body post-evolution, it was still not a very practical Move for her to use. Lots of power even without her being able to tap into the full power of the technique (which Reckless admittedly helped to make up for), but she had injured herself quite notably with just one use. Nebula had much better control over her techniques, as well as power in general, after evolving, but even she still had a great ways to go. Pikachu likely wouldn't be able to tap into nearly as much power with Volt Tackle as Nebula could with Double-Edge, and yet he would still probably injure himself a lot more. Ash was planning on starting work with the technique once they reached Cerulean, but it still wasn't a priority just yet.

Apart from that, teaching Pikachu Agility should hopefully be quick and easy given the young mouse's experience with Quick Attack. But even then, it was a psychic type move with a necessity for understanding those elements as well, so it would likely require Valiant's guidance. Ash planned to have Pikachu and Valiant help each other out once it was time to teach Valiant Thunderbolt, but for now, Ash and the young Ralts were still working on Dazzling Gleam, which was progressing quite well.

That left Nebula. Rather than teaching her new Moves for the moment, Ash was planning to have her work on Double Team a bit more. Her evolution had given her a bit of a boon with the move, now allowing her to split into four instead of just two, but the Staravia was still only able to move one copy along with herself, and only if she was split into two and not three or four. Maintaining any other copies took up too much effort for her to allow one of her copies to also move along with her simultaneously.

For now, Ash's plan was to have her keep working on producing more copies of herself. At a later date, maybe they could train to get her to move more than one copy along with herself, but Elacia had warned him that that would be much more difficult and also take much longer, and had advised him to simply start focusing on increasing the quantity of the clones for now.

Speaking of Elacia, the Egg that she had given him still had yet to hatch, which didn't surprise Ash too much. According to her, it wasn't too far off, but that didn't translate to "any second now!". Valiant had quickly taken to helping him take care of the Egg. The dedication that the young Ralts showed was still quite admirable. Ash had always been touched by how quickly Valiant had hopped on board with him and the rest of the group, and the Feeling Pokemon seemed to be determined to do anything that he could to help them with just about anything, really.

Ash still hadn't opened the folder that Elacia had given him, which would reveal the species of the Pokemon that the Egg would eventually hatch into. He really wanted to. It was tempting. But he could live with the suspense for now. As agonizing as it was to not know what the Egg would hatch into, it would be much more satisfying to find out when it hatches, rather than from simply reading it.

The rest of his team seemed to agree, too, although Valiant had apparently wanted to peek into the folder himself, without giving away the surprise to anyone else, which Ash eventually deduced was because the young Ralts wanted to see if there were any recommended ways to take care of this specific kind of Egg. After Ash had assured him that the method of taking care of Pokemon Eggs was pretty much universal among every species, however, the Feeling Pokemon had changed his mind, and had simply resorted to waiting anyway. As a whole, care for the Egg seemed to be going along smoothly, although Ash and his friends were still all anxiously waiting for their new teammate to finally hatch.

"Is this seat open?"

Ash and his team perked up at the voice and turned to see a girl about Ash's age standing in front of them, holding a tray of food consisting of orange juice, applesauce, and crepes.

Her hair was a bright orange, tied into a single ponytail on the side. She probably would have looked quite pretty if the look on her face was a bit more positive. It seemed like a mixture between a frown and a scowl, not necessarily looking sad or angry, but just not in the best mood. Ash couldn't even really place what was putting her in a down mood. She didn't look annoyed or irritated… just not happy.

Perhaps she was masking whatever the source of her unhappiness was. Ash couldn't say that he was the best at reading people. His social skills still needed work, despite them getting better from spending time with Rick and Emily (and Janine to an extent).

"Hey, are you listening?!" her voice grew a bit more aggressive, causing the boy to flinch out of his inner thoughts. The sharp tone behind her tongue had caught him off guard.

Realizing that he hadn't answered her question yet, an embarrassed Ash shook himself from his inner stupor as that familiar sensation of a tinge of red in his cheeks returned to him. Looking up at her and trying to make eye contact (her scowl did seem a bit more irritated now), he gave her an awkward, apologetic smile in response. "N-no, it's fine."

Her mood softening a bit (although she still didn't smile), the girl placed her tray down on the table and sat down next to him, his team eying her for a moment before returning to their food once they were done sizing her up.

Ash found himself eating a bit more slowly as he awkwardly stole a glance at the newcomer every now and then. She wasn't paying them much mind, simply taking to digging into her crepes and applesauce, while sipping the orange juice on occasion.

Something about her seemed a bit intimidating. Maybe it was just her more hardened, moody features. It was a stark contrast from Janine, Rick, Emily, or even Gary (despite him not being friendly), all of whom were a lot more cheerful in comparison. This girl seemed to be a bit temperamental, based on the brief first impression that Ash had from her behavior. She didn't give off the same unsettling vibe as Paul, at the moment, although he still felt intimidated by her.

Which, Ash realized, could have also been because she was right next to him.

Apparently his attempts to look at her weren't as secretive as thought, as in his latest attempt, he was met with a piercing stare as she suddenly turned her head to face him. The boy found himself flinching as her fierce, viridian eyes locked onto his.

"Any reason you keep staring at me? I'm trying to eat."

'She's the one who wanted to sit next to me.' Ash thought out loud, but knew better than to voice it. It wasn't like that gave him an excuse to keep staring at her anyway, even out of curiosity. She was right.

"S-s-sorry." he stumbled out pathetically.

"Hmmm…" she almost seemed disappointed by his submissive response, the look in her eyes briefly losing some of its inherent irritation to temporarily replace it partially with one that somewhat resembled that of pity, before reverting back to their usual hardened gaze.

As she turned back to her food, taking a bite out of one of her crepes and chewing silently, Ash worked up the courage to say something else.

"So… ummm…." he flinched a bit as she paused her chewing and turned her eyes to him, although she didn't turn her head. Regaining his bearings quickly, he continued. "Is there- I mean… why do you seem so upset?"

'Damnit. Was that question too personal?' he quickly thought to himself. He braced himself for an aggressive response, but thankfully got none.

The girl took the time to swallow the food in her mouth for a moment, before letting out a quick sigh as she craned her head towards him slightly, not looking at him directly but offering a bit more acknowledgement than before.

"Some older Trainer goaded me into battling him and poisoned my whole team. Now they're recovering and I have nobody to eat with." she turned away again, taking another bite into her crape. After chewing for a bit, she swallowed and continued. "Jerk probably just wanted some easy money from me. Probably preys on rookies all the time. Too afraid to pick on people on his own level so he has to antagonize the newbies like some lowlife."

Her words quieted into angry mumbling as Ash shifted in his seat uncomfortable. He returned to his food for a bit before he heard her voice again.

"So… you're going through the mountain, I'm guessing?" mercifully, her voice sounded a bit softer and less irritated than before, although it still didn't carry a very friendly tone.

Swallowing down the bit of pancake in his mouth, Ash looked over to her and nodded, a bit surprised that she was trying to make conversation so suddenly. "Y-yeah. Either today or tomorrow. To get to Cerulean, of course…" he said awkwardly.

"Obviously." her voice was blunt. She finished the last of her crepes before turning to her applesauce, which was half done. "Glad I don't have to deal with any of those annoying tourists right now. They can be obnoxious."

Ash... wasn't sure if he would put it that way, but it was no secret that tourists could get a bit out of hand with their behavior sometimes. He didn't want to assume the lowest of them, however.

Deciding not to contest the girl's statement, he simply nodded along with her. Looking over to his team, he could see that they seemed to be a bit interested in her, particularly Valiant, but kept to themselves for the most part. Pikachu and Nebula seemed to be engaged in some sort of discussion, which Eevee seemed to be listening in on at the current moment.

Taking a leap of faith as he turned back to the orange haired girl sitting next to him, Ash managed to croak out. "U-Um… I'm Ash." he managed to get out.

The girl stopped eating her applesauce just long enough to answer.

"Misty."

/

Breakfast was over not too long after, with Ash and Eevee now outside of the Pokemon Center with Pikachu and Valiant. Misty had returned to her room after they were finished, offering Ash a curt nod and a quick goodbye before she was gone.

The girl had opened up just a tad bit during their conversation, but remained blunt and somewhat aggressive throughout. Her dismissive attitude left Ash a bit confused about why she wanted to eat with him in the first place, unless she just wanted someone to sit next to in place of her team, rather than simply being left alone.

Nebula was flying overhead to continue working on her aerial mobility for the time being, with Ash planning to start the day by assessing Eevee and her capabilities. He had gotten a brief glimpse of them on the previous day from when he and Nebula had captured her, but he needed more in order to be able to truly properly gauge her.

Pikachu and Valiant were both at his side as Eevee stood in front of him, both Pokemon offering her encouraging smiles as she looked up at her new trainer with a sort of unsure gaze adorning her face.

She seemed ready, at the very least, Ash assumed. That was something. The boy wanted to see each of her moves in action at least once. Even the Moves that he had already seen before, he should probably see again, now that his focus was solely on her, herself, and not a battle.

The young trainer nodded to Eevee.

"Alright, you ready to get started?"

Eevee nodded.

He offered her a friendly smile. "Good. Pikachu and Valiant are going to be your sparring partners for this. You'll be testing your moves out on them."

Eevee nodded again, eying her new teammates carefully. They both gave her encouraging looks (particularly Valiant) before taking their places.

First up, Valiant stood face to face with Eevee as the two teammates locked eyes.

"Okay, first use Tackle!"

Eevee took off running, her quadruped body being carried at a decently fast rate towards her opponent by all four of her feet. It wasn't her top speed, as she was not using Quick Attack, but Ash was relatively pleased by her agility.

THUNK!

Eevee winced painfully as she crashed head first into Valiant's erected barrier, the Reflect easily absorbing the impact and leaving the young Ralts unharmed. She plopped down on her butt, giving her new teammate the stink eye as she made her way to her feet.

Offensively, her Tackle attack hadn't been strong enough to even remotely damage Valiant's barrier, but that could have been saying more about Valiant than Eevee herself.

Ignoring the small bruise on the top of her head, Eevee returned to her stance and awaited further instructions. Valiant casually dropped the barrier and crossed his arms professionally, viewing the Feeling Pokemon with a hint of an analytical attitude.

Next up, Pikachu locked eyes with Eevee as Ash gave his next order.

"Alright, Sand Attack!"

Eeveem dug her paws into the ground and flung multiple large patches of sand consecutively towards the electric mouse. Pikachu's tail became cloaked in metal as he deflected the onslaught with precise swipes.

Eevee's Sand Attack was traveling pretty far. And fast. She was very good with the technique. However, Ash also took the moment to take pride in Pikachu's reaction time.

Next up, Pikachu and Eevee stood side by side, eying each other on occasion as both Pokemon got into their own respective stances on all fours, ready to take off into a sprint the very moment that Ash gave the order.

"Quick Attack!"

Now it was time to test Eevee's top speed. What better way to do so than to see how she stacked up against Pikachu? He had practically made his name on the team with his speed and agility.

Both Pokemon took off in a blur, putting everything that they had into their own respective top running speeds as Ash and Valiant watched excitedly from the sidelines.

The moment he took off, Pikachu was already ahead of Eevee, and the Evolution Pokemon growled in frustration as the electric mouse trailed further and further ahead of her as the race progressed. She kept pushing herself more and more, doing everything that she possibly could to add more and more effort into her sprint, but the distance between them just wouldn't close. It kept widening, and widening, and widening even more until the mouse completed his lap and waited for her to finish.

To Eevee's credit, she was definitely really fast. Ash didn't fault her for losing the race to Pikachu. Nevertheless, she obviously didn't see it that way, if the somewhat dejected expression on her face as she made her way back to Ash and Valiant after finishing her own lap was of any indication. Ash could also see her breathing a bit heavily, having been a bit notably more fatigued from the exercise than her Electric Type teammate.

"Hey, it's fine." the boy commented, reaching down to gently pat her on the head in assurance. She flinched at first, but soon accepted the touch, closing her eyes for a second, just long enough to briefly nod her head. "Pikachu is really fast. His speed has really got us places in the past too." he thought back to the decisive battle against Brock and Onix. A fight that would have been impossible for Pikachu to win without his amazing speed. "You'll get there, don't worry. You're already quite fast yourself. We'll work on your speed for sure."

She seemed to be mildly encouraged by that, although the disappointment of the loss was still clearly there. Not too unexpected, Ash supposed. It wasn't like it was just going to go away with just a few simple words of encouragement.

He knew the feeling.

Shaking off his frown, Ash called for a quick break, offering Eevee some water and some extra time to catch her breath.

After a few minutes of drinking and resting, Eevee was facing off against Valiant again, with the young Feeling Pokemon already preparing for himself to erect a barrier.

"Swift!"

Ash had gotten a glimpse of Eevee's control over the technique when she had used it against Nebula. He had considered testing it out once again against Pikachu, by having the young mouse try to maneuver around it, but he figured that they could get back to that after going over all of the other techniques. For now, he just wanted to see how powerful that it was, and if it could stand up to Valiant's impressive barriers.

The golden stars escaped from Eevee's now open mouth as the glowing projectiles sailed over towards Valiant at impressive speeds as Ash and Pikachu observed from the sidelines in interest.

Valiant's Light Screen intercepted the long ranged attack, which pelted against the glowing, golden cube with a good deal of might, but couldn't break through it. Ash took note of the tiny crack in the barrier, however, and smiled at the sight.

Eevee's Swift was actually pretty potent, at least offensively.

After Valiant dropped the barrier, it was Pikachu's turn again.

"Bite!"

Eevee's mouth opened as wide as she could manage as she sprinted forward towards Pikachu. The young mouse's response was to raise his now metallic tail and hold it outwards defensively as Eevee bit down on it.

The young Evolution Pokemon yelped as her teeth painfully clamped down on the metal, not strong enough to handle it. Ash winced a bit, and gave Eevee a few moments to gain her bearings.

Next up, Valiant stood in front of Eevee.

"Take Down!"

This was the move that Ash was interested in the most. Take Down wasn't quite as potent as Double-Edge, but it was still, all the same, a very powerful move with an absurd amount of offensive potential. However, much like Double-Edge, recoil damage would be a problem.

Eevee became cloaked in a bright, white light as she charged forward with her head down, taking aim at Valiant as she let out a battle cry and leapt forward.

BAM!

Valiant's Reflect was raised to block the attack, but the impact from Eevee's assault was strong. Ash and Pikachu could mildly feel the shockwaves as Eevee's charge clashed with Valiant's protective silver cube, and although the Evolution Pokemon staggered backwards growling in pain from the impact, a large hole was left in the part of the cube that Eevee had just shattered.

To his own credit, Valiant seemed mostly unharmed from the assault, although the wind pressure seemed to have reached him, as he was still reeling just a little bit.

Ash grinned, and made his way towards Eevee with Pikachu in tow.

"Good going!" he said excitedly. "That Take Down of yours sure is powerful!" he knelt down to make eye contact with the Evolution Pokemon, who's cheeks reddened a bit as Pikachu seemingly voiced his own compliments to her.

In front of them, Valiant was also grinning, impressed by the destruction of the portion of his barrier that Eevee had struck. With just one hit.

"Alright, next use Dig."

Valiant's barrier was back up as Eevee began clawing away at the dirt, burrowing her way underground. Ash noticed that it took her a decent bit to do so. It wasn't instantaneous, and left her wide open. It wouldn't be practical for battle yet.

And when Eevee surfaced, she was nowhere near Valiant, looking around in confusion to find her opponent.

Understandably, she couldn't tell where she was going underground. It would need practice.

A few minutes later, Eevee and Pikachu were facing off again. Pikachu had an Electro Ball at the ready, waiting on the tip of his tail to be fired.

"Shadow Ball!"

Eevee opened her mouth, and a series of purplish black, distorted energy appeared within her jaws. At first a tiny speck, the mass of energy began to gradually grow, eventually concentrating itself into a perfect sphere.

The charge time wasn't perfect, but the form was great.

And the ball itself was actually quite large. It looked pretty potent.

As Eevee fired off her attack, Pikachu flung his Electro Ball into the Shadow Ball to intercept it. Ash and Valiant flinched at the explosion, bracing themselves from the shockwaves and the wind that was kicked up from the impact.

Although Eevee remained perfectly fine, some of the shockwaves reached Pikachu, who held an arm out in front of his face as he was suddenly pushed a few inches backwards by the wind force.

It seemed like Eevee's Shadow Ball was the attack with more power behind it. Eevee herself seemed to realise this, grinning cheekily at the sheepishly grinning mouse who had upstaged her previously in their race.

That left just one more move…

"Body Slam!"

Eevee ran forward towards Valiant, leaping in the air into an effort to pounce on him. Once she reached her maximum height, she repositioned herself, and suddenly came rocketing down at high speeds.

Body Slam seemed to be a move that she was quite good with.

POW!

Eevee crashed down on top of Valiant's barrier, with a tiny crack forming in the Reflect. As she bounced off of it, Ash took note that her Body Slam was certainly quite strong. Take Down was definitely her best move, but along with Shadow Ball, this attack also gave her a lot of offensive potential as well.

"Good work, Eevee!" The boy approached her, accompanied by Pikachu and Valiant. Eevee grinned at them, the overall success of her training seemed to have improved her mood. That was a good sign. "I just wanted to go over what could do a the moment real quick. You did great." she allowed him to pat her head, this time smiling a bit more. Standing back upright again, Ash eyed his team for a bit. "Alright, we'll take another break, and then we can-"

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

Ash froze on the spot, and so did Pikachu. Valiant and Eevee were mostly curious than anything else, but the difference is that they did not recognize the voice.

Whirling around, Ash faced the source of the sudden voice, and his stomach became a pit.

Gary Oak.

Looking smug as ever, he locked eyes with Ash, his arms crossed the way he usually liked them.

Coincidentally, Nebula had chosen to take a break from her flying, landing next to Pikachu and eying her friend with concern as he snarled at the newcomer on all fours.

Eevee and Valiant both grouped up behind Ash as the two eyed the newcomer with a good deal of scrutiny Both of them could sense the tension in Ash and Pikachu (particularly Valiant) and so neither of them were comfortable with this new boy.

Ash didn't snarl. He didn't grit his teeth. He didn't even glower. The glare on his face was simply a normal one, one with some anger but mostly annoyance.

Awkwardness with Misty aside, he had actually been having a really good day. But one of Gary's greatest talents (and boy did he have a lot of them) was instantly bringing down his mood just by being there.

"What do you want, Gary?" Ash managed to get out. It wasn't in an angry voice. It wasn't in a fearful voice. It wasn't in a devastated voice. It almost came off as a half groan. As though Gary's very presence was just a mood killing inconvenience.

Gary snorted. "You sound a lot less cheerful than you did just a few seconds ago. I'd like to say you're less annoying like this, but…" He straightened himself up. "I was just taking a walk when I overheard whatever this training of yours was supposed to be. I just got here."

"And you couldn't just… I don't know… pass by?" Ash tried to sound as exasperated as possible. But maybe that was just making it worse.

Gary flinched in mock offense. "Hey now, is that any way to talk to an old schoolmate? You should be honored that I've even considered making the time for you."

Appearing in front of Ash, Pikachu growled aggressively at Gary, settling down a little bit when Nebula walked back up to him and placed a wing on his back, but never losing his angry face.

Gary's smirk widened. "Whoa there! Isn't that Pikachu that pathetic starter of yours from before?" Nebula and Valiant both glared, while Eevee simply narrowed her eyes. He put a hand behind his head and laughed a bit. "Guess you still haven't gotten the little thing's behavior under control! I'm surprised you even survived getting this far. You have a taxi surface of bodyguards escorting you past all of the dangers?"

Ash's glare deepened for a moment, but suddenly, the image of the Boulder Badge flashed through his mind…

...No… He wasn't going to get worked up over this. Gary didn't know what he was talking about.

"Or maybe he just realized that you kill the mood wherever you go." Ash spat back.

Gary's brow raised at that. "You're… awfully quippy there, Ashy boy." his face scrunched up. "You better watch what you say."

Hardening his gaze dangerously (at least, he hoped it looked that way) Ash crossed his arms and tried to eye Gary on an even level, doing his best to remain hyper focused on the other Trainer and stand upright in the face of the slightly taller boy.

"Why's… that?" he did his best not to be intimidated. "I have a badge now, I'll have you know. Why should I listen to you." he did his best to ensure that his voice remained even. Trying to hide the anger in his mood, and not come across as though Gary was intimidating him.

Gary's lips tugged upward again. "A badge? From Brock, you mean? What sort of favors did you do for him? How many toilets did you stick your head into? How many boots of his did you kiss before he finally agreed to give you a freebie?"

Ash's fists tightened, and behind him, Valiant began backing away a bit as the tension in the air turned fiercer. Denser. Doing his best to ease up, the boy kept eying Gary.

The other trainer seemed so… relaxed. Like he could do this all day. This was all just a game to him, wasn't it? A game that he had beaten Ash at so many times before… until Ash stopped even trying.

Not trying anymore was a mistake. Ash should have kept arguing back against Gary in the past, but lost all his nerve eventually. Ever since that stupid incident with the Poke Ball…

It didn't really matter much, anyway, he supposed. It's not like he was ever good at arguing back, in the first place, as it ever was. The fact that he had eventually just stopped and given up still did nothing to change that.

But that was still a mistake. And he was done making mistakes. Gary had had his fun for far too long at this point.

"What did you do?" he growled back a bit. Did he sound intimidating? His tone of voice was always so timid by nature. If he came across as squeaky or gentle Gary would probably just be laughing on the inside. "Flash your stupid grin at him, lean against his wall with your arms crossed, and talk to him in your nasally voice that makes him want to throw up until he tossed ten of them at you and told you to get the hell out of his Gym?"

There… that was serviceable… right?

To his surprise (and, to his shame, his delight) Gary's eyes widened. He almost took a step back, but the spikey haired kid stopped himself from doing so, glowering at Ash with blazing fury in his eyes.

The smugness was gone.

"You… you little prick!" His hand went to his belt as a Poke Ball was pulled out and enlarged. "Have the past few weeks seriously been enough for you to suddenly forget your place?! Maybe I'm going to have to remind you of where you stand. It'd be a real shame if your memory had given out from whatever rock you must have tripped on while on the way here."

Ash's glare tightened as Pikachu's cheeks crackled. Nebula and Valiant both began to sink into stances while Eevee, while reacting less, eyed the scene carefully.

"Fine." said Ash. "I won't lose to you this time, so remember that you asked for it."

Gary's grin was back, although it was much more malicious than smug this time. "I think… I'm gonna enjoy this. How many Pokemon do you have?"

"Four." Ash stated simply, gesturing to each of his team.

It was at this point that Gary froze, as if suddenly noticing everybody else that was currently with Ash and Pikachu.

"You… have the same as me…"

Ash wanted to say that he technically had more. That he had an Egg in his backpack. But… no, he wasn't just going to start rubbing things in like that.

Something like that was practically trademarked by Gary in terms of behavior. No way Ash would start practicing it too. He'd get enough satisfaction when he put Gary in his place on the battlefield.

"Something wrong, Gary?" Ash grumbled at the boy's somewhat pale face, Gary's eyes slightly distant.

Shaking his head furiously and then glaring at Ash with a somewhat reddened face, Gary snarled at the boy.

"Nevermind. Let's just get to the Pokemon Center already. And keep your damn tongue in check, you hear me?"

Ash's gaze stiffened as Gary turned around. He waited for the boy to clear a few extra feet between them before he followed.

/

After reaching the Pokemon Center, Ash quickly looked over his team before returning them.

Gary was waiting for him at the battlefield just outside. The boy's arrogant attitude (or at least the smug form that it normally took) was gone from his face as he watched Ash make his way to his own side of the field. Instead it was replaced by a glare, an offended one.

Ash could spot Misty sitting in one of the chairs, staring at a booklet in an absentminded manner. She perked up when she saw him pass by, and Ash noticed her setting the booklet down and focusing her attention on the battlefield. She was the only audience member.

"Took you long enough." Gary grumbled. "This'll be four on four, understood?"

Ash nodded, a Poke Ball already in hand.

This was his first time seeing Gary since that… humiliating excuse for a battle.

But things were much different now. He had a badge on his record. Apart from the newly caught Eevee, he was in perfect sync with everybody on his team this time. He wasn't the same person from a few weeks ago, and neither was Pikachu.

As if to emphasize this point, Ash sent Pikachu out first. The mouse perked up and immediately began crackling his cheeks as he locked his eyes on Gary.

"This is it, Pikachu." Ash said somewhat quietly. "This is our chance to make up for last time. He won't make a fool out of either of us today."

That just increased Pikachu's morale even further, the young mouse tensing himself up, pushing his legs against the pavement as if to spring forward at any minute.

Gary allowed a callous grin to occupy his face. "Heh. This brings back memories to Opening Day. I wonder what kind of tantrums you two are going to throw this time."

Ash did his best to ignore that statement,

'Stay focused.' he thought to himself.

Ash blinked at the Pokemon that appeared on Gary's side of the field. It was humanoid, and it was mostly blue, but with a white, onion shaped head. Its cheeks had pink ovals on them.

Gary snorted. "Never seen a Meditite before? Guess she has a lot to teach you."

Meditite… a fighting/psychic type Pokemon native to the Ever Grande territory, to Ash's knowledge. Ash didn't know much about the species regarding its reputation or capabilities, but if it was anything to go off of based on its Typing, it would be tricky to deal with by nature, and would likely have martial arts abilities.

At the same time, that also depended on the Pokemon's experience. Fighting types were naturally gifted at martial arts, but how many moves did Gary's Meditite currently know that could help the Pokemon capitalize on that?

Ash noticed that the Pokemon was sitting cross-legged in some sort of meditative position, and was levitating slightly off the ground. So the Pokemon could float, too...

With a raise of a hand, Gary snapped his fingers and pointed forward. "Let's get this show on the road, already. Brick Break!"

Leaving her meditative position, Meditite rushed forward, raising a glowing, orange fist towards her rodent opponent. Pikachu sprung into action immediately, sidestepping out of the way as her fist stuck out, then flipping over to bring an Iron Tail down upon her head.

But Pikachu's efforts were met with a glass barrier in the shape of a cube. Much like Valiant himself, this Meditite also knew Reflect.

A large crack was left in the barrier as Pikachu returned to the ground on his hind legs, before descending down onto all fours. Meditite dropped her barrier as she turned to face Pikachu, bracing herself as he rushed forward with a Quick Attack.

Meditite's eyes glowed a deep, bright purple as she stretched her hands outwards. Pikachu began enveloped in an outline of the same purple color as he suddenly slowed down and then came to a halt. Frantically wriggling his limbs in the air, he was left suspended a few inches off the ground as panic appeared on his face.

Gary smirked. "Confusion. Now give him a toss!"

The glow in her eyes flashed even deeper and brighter as Meditite let out a quick battle cry, sending a yelping Pikachu flying through the air and slamming back first into the barriers to the side of the battlefield where Misty was currently watching from the sidelines in silence. The attack had sent Pikachu quite a bit far. And at a surprisingly high speed at that. Ash winced a bit at the painful impact, but thankfully, Pikachu caught himself with Iron Tail as he fell down to the ground, able to right himself and regain his composure jus tin time in order to successfully pull off the Move.

Meditite's Confusion was pretty well developed, but could she use it consecutively? They didn't really have any effective way of dealing with it, but that was assuming that she wouldn't just tire herself out by just using it over and over again.

Either way, they needed to proceed with caution.

"Thunder Shock, now!"

Pikachu's bolt of lightning, fired from a long distance, was blocked by a golden barrier in the shape of a cube. Ash grunted. Light Screen. Between that, Reflect, and Confusion, Meditite and Gary both now had three different answers to any offensive Moves that they used.

"Double Team!" commanded Gary.

Ash blinked as Meditite split into four copies. Pikachu's cheeks crackled with intensity as the young mouse growled in frustration.

"Force Palm!"

To Ash's note, only two of the Meditite moved forward. So she could still move her copies even when split into four, but only one copy could move along with her…

He didn't have time to contemplate that, however, as he needed to respond.

"Double Team! Quick Attack!" Two could play at this game, and as Pikachu split into two, both the real one and the copy bolting around the advancing Meditite and her clone, neither of the combatants were able to tell who the real one was.

Stalemates weren't nearly as satisfying as outright triumphs, but a the very least, Ash and Pikachu had forced an even playing field.

If Ash had spared her a glance, he would have noticed the look of intrigue on Misty's face as the battle unfolded.

Deciding to take a leap of faith, Ash called out. "Brick Break!"

Both Pikachu rushed forward, each one targeting one of the two Meditite that had previously been moving. One of them was the real one…

The real Pikachu chose wrong, and the clone of Meditite immediately fizzled out and dissolved upon contact from the young mouse's orange, glowing fist. However, the real Meditite had also taken the time to erect a glass barrier with Reflect, which proved to be a waste of energy as the clone of Pikachu targeted it, fizzling out uselessly upon impact with the glass cube.

Ash and Gary both winced.

It hadn't gone well for either of them, and the stalemate hadn't been resolved. With her cover blown, Meditite allowed the remaining Double Team clones to disappear as she and Pikachu both turned to face each other.

Dropping the Reflect barrier, Meditite eyed her opponent with what could only be described as analytical scrutiny. She was quite stoic, in stark contrast to her Trainer, much like Gary's Starter, in fact, as Ash had recalled.

Pikachu displayed a lot more emotion, however, a low growl of frustration rumbling from his throat as his cheeks continued to spark, the mouse looking on at his opponent with gritted teeth.

This was not an easy opponent for sure. Unsafe to attack her up close, seemingly ineffective to attack her from a distance, and she knew Double Team just like Pikachu did, and was more skilled with the Move to boot.

Nevertheless, there still had to be a weakness. If not that, then at least a way to reliablyu get past her. He could just try to exhaust her barriers. Much like Valiant, there was no way that she could keep using them forever.

Pikachu's Thunderbolt could help out with that, but even then, using that move in rapid succession would tire Pikachu out just as much…

But Ash wasn't willing to risk going in close just yet, and it was their strongest long ranged attack. Electro Ball would also work, so maybe just use Thunderbolt if they needed a decisive hit…

"Hidden Power!"

Ash blinked as aqua colored, blue glowing orbs materialized in the air around Meditite, the Pokemon floating in the air once again as she prepared her latest attack against the growling electric mouse. They very clearly were made of water, signifying this move as the water type variant of the Hidden Power technique. Ash wasn't entirely sure what determined the Typing of the Move. But that was hardly his concern right now.

"Thunder Shock, now!"

Pikachu's lightning bolt was fired defensively as Meditite, having raised her hands in front of her to levitate the Hidden Power orbs surrounding her, pushing her arms outward, firing the Move at her rodent opponent at surprisingly quick speeds. The lightning clashed with the glowing, aquatic orbs and quickly destroyed them, but Meditite was already rushing forward with an orange, glowing fist.

Brick Break.

The boy's Starter reacted with a quick Iron Tail. Ducking under Mediitite's punch, Pikachu drove his metallic tail painfully into her gut. A loud, high pitched cry escaped her lips as she felt the wind being knocked out of her, the attack propelling her backwards and sending the humanoid Pokemon painfully bouncing across the ground for a brief moment before she regained her composure, landing upright on her feet but still holding her stomach in pain with one hand, glaring at Pikachu and lightly gritting her teeth.

A brief moment of victory, but Ash knew that now wasn't the time to get cocky. So he followed up as quickly as he could.

"Electro Ball!"

Because she was still reeling from the previous blow, the Light Screen that Meditite had surrounded herself with a the last minute was a lot more feeble to the previous one, the side of the cube that was struck by the orb of electricity almost completely shattering (and being very cracked) upon impact.

Seeing his chance, Ash called out. "Double Team and Iron Tail!"

With Pikachu split into two copies, Meditite wouldn't know who to focus on, even if she regained her composure in time to use Confusion…

But Gary had a different plan. "Use Bide!"

Ash's eyes widened. Bide was a power stockpiling move that absorbed the damage dealt from enemy attacks to build up energy for a powerful counterattack. Although the user would still sustain damage upon getting hit, charging up the move also heightened their durability, making them more difficult to faze even if the attacks dealt them great pain and damage to their bodies.

Striking Meditite with Iron Tail would be doing a lot more harm than good now, but before he could call off the attack, Ash's mouse partner was already upon their opponent, his clone fizzling out as it struck Meditite, while the real Pikachu bright down a powerful, metallic tail against her.

Meditite, now once again floating in the air, had curled up into a ball-like form, her body glowing in a bright, white. As Pikachu's powerful, metallic tail struck, she was sent back a few feet, but remained composed, ignoring the large bruise that now occupied her body as Gary called out to her.

"FIRE!"

Spreading her arms and legs out wide, the still floating Meditite let out a cathartic cry as she released all of the built up tension from the energy that she had stored from Pikachu's attack. A large blast of pure, blinding white light catapulted at the mouse faster than he could react, and a small explosion kicked up dirt and dust as the young mouse was sent catapulting through the air and into the barriers in front of his trainer, crying out painfully upon both impacts.

The young mouse had not been expecting the blast, evident from the shout of shock that had escaped his throat just before being struck.

As the dust cleared, Pikachu's body was filthy and bruised, the mouse staggering to his feet as he stood on his hind legs, gritting his teeth defiantly.

Ash was quite proud of his Starter's resilience, but the blast had clearly taken a lot out of him. Looking on over to Meditite, however, he saw that the same was true for her, too. The damage that she had sustained from that Iron Tail was still quite significant, and if her panting was anything to go by, that Bide attack was still quite taxing for her, even with it only absorbing just one blow.

It was a gamble… but she might not be able to reliably use Confusion right now. If they could just get in close...

Pikachu was a bit tired himself, but wasn't panting nearly as much. He had clearly sustained quite a bit of damage from the blast, coupled with the previous damage from before, but his reserves were still (for the most part, anyway) good to go.

"Pikachu…" said Ash, giving his starter a thumbs up as the young mouse looked back towards him with a curious expression. "Great job. Now, let's end this."

A confident grin made its way to the electric rodents face as he pumped his arm out and returned his attention to Gary and Meditite.

Compared to their first battle with Gary's Squirtle, the difference was night and day.

Gary's fist was clenched tightly and outstretched as the young mouse returned to all fours.

"That… that was supposed to finish him off!" he snarled aggressively. Meditite herself also looked quite frustrated, but was keeping it together much better than her Trainer, who was practically trembling with fury at the new development.

It was rare to see this kind of frustration being exhibited by Gary. Ash tried not to take too much catharsis in it. He didn't allow himself to smirk.

He wanted to criticise him for his tactic. For using up too much of Meditite's power on the assumption that it would finish Pikachu off. But he bit back his tongue. Now was not the time for banter.

"Aim for the back of Meditite's head! Zap Tail!"

"Shadow Ball!" Gary quickly countered.

As Pikachu ran forward, Meditite charged up a ball of distorted energy between her palms. Despite her fatigue, she fired it off quickly, powering through her newfound exhaustion.

The ball wasn't that tlag, but nevertheless, Pikachu avoided it by pressing an Iron Tail against the ground and catapulting himself upwards. Somersaulting over the Shadow Ball and over his opponent, Pikachu channeled electricity into his Iron Tail as he brought it downwards, colliding with the back of Meditite's head.

CRACK!

A sickening sound made itself known as Pikachu's attack collided with its target, Meditite immediately catapulting face first into the pavement. No sounds were made from her, and she did not get up.

Pikachu had won.

Not noticing the small grin that made its way to Misty's face as the orange haired girl continued to watch the battle from the sidelines, Ash grinned widely at his starter as Pikachu quickly made his way back to him, a wide grin on the young mouse's face to match his trainer's own as the electric critter chirped in delight.

"Way to go, Pikachu!" Ash complimented excitedly. The adrenaline rush was beginning to kick in.

This was it. They actually stood a chance. Gary still had three Pokemon left, but win or lose, this fight would not be like last time!

Pikachu's grin only grew wider as he shared in his trainer's enthusiasm. Turning back to the battlefield, his triumphant expression remained, but his eyes were still filled with just as much determination as Ash's.

Ash could tell that the mouse was tired, but not on his last legs. That Bide attack had taken a lot out of him, but he was still raring to go. Ready for whatever Gary sent their way next. And so was Ash.

Gary's face was murderous as he returned Meditite to her Poke Ball. Glowering at Ash and Pikachu with bright red fury in his eyes, he snarled menacingly at them.

"Hmph. So you actually DID pull something off for once. You've heard the idiom about the broken clock, right?"

Ash couldn't prevent the light scowl from arriving on his face at that, but did not respond. Nor did he clench his fists.

They would just keep battling. To prove their point to Gary one way or another.

As Gary returned Meditite's Poke Ball to his belt, he was fuming.

Truth be told, the battle had actually given him some indication on where Medititie still had to grow… but he would never say it out loud. Just the mere thought of that pissed him off to no end at all.

Gary took out his next Poke Ball and held it out in front of him.

"Don't get cocky, Ashy boy. This is still just the beginning for you. You and your pathetic rat."

Pikachu snarled at that, but had no time to retort as his next opponent appeared in front of him.

Ash blinked in surprise, and so did Pikachu.

It was another Eevee.

This one stared at Pikachu blankly, its eyes wide but unmoving. After a few seconds, the Evolution Pokemon suddenly perked up, as if finally registering the fact that Pikachu was there.

Pikachu's head tilted to the side as his face displayed genuine confusion.

"You're not the only one who's managed to get their hands on an Eevee, Ashy boy." Gary grunted. Crossing his arms yet again, he allowed a small smirk to creep up on his lips. "And I'm pretty sure that mine is better. He'll just have to prove it to you."

Ash eyed the Eevee with caution as he assessed the situation.

Pikachu still had energy left, but with his injuries he was running on finite juice. Using Thunderbolt would be too risky because of this, coupled with the yet to be mastered Move's longer charge time…

Gary made the first order. "Shadow Ball!"

In response, Ash immediately countered. "Iron Tail!"

Pikachu bolted forward as Eevee charged up his attack. To Ash's surprise, Gary's Eevee fired much quicker than his own Eevee did, although the Shadow Ball was also a lot smaller, potentially as a result.

Pikachu leapt over the ball and continued his advance, allowing the attack to strike the ground where he once was and kick up some dust in its wake. However, Eevee was already charging forward himself, shockingly at a speed that was quite comparable to Pikachu's own, and the Evolution Pokemon's tail was also metallic.

Thankfully, Pikachu had built up more momentum, likely due to Eevee having not started running until afterwards. As the two metallic tails clashed, Pikachu quickly pushed his opponent back, sending the Evolution Pokemon skidding a few feet across the battlefield, albeit perfectly unharmed.

"Brick Break!"

Hoping to strike before Eevee could regain his bearings, Pikachu bolted forward again, his fist glowing orange as he reeled his arm back and socked Eevee in the jaw.

As Eevee tumbled painfully across the battlefield, Pikachu immediately followed up with a bolt of lightning. However, the Thunder Shock was sidestepped by the Evolution Pokemon, who, just in time, used all of the willpower that he had to ignore the pain from the previous attack and land on his feet, bolting out of the way with Quick Attack.

"Shadow Ball!"

At Gary's command, Eevee circled around Pikachu and fired the ghostly orb into the mouse's back. Pikachu, having just finished firing off his Thunder Shock, was caught unawares as the ball painfully exploded against him, sending him tumbling head over heels with a loud cry.

Now Eevee rushed forward to Pikachu with an Iron Tail. Much like Eevee himself, Pikachu ignored the pain in his back, regaining his bearings and turning around in time to raise his own Iron Tail to block. However, Eevee's momentum carried him, and Pikachu quickly found himself grunting as he was knocked onto his back, his Iron Tail shielding him from the damage but not from the impact itself.

"Great work, Eevee! Body Slam!"

Pikachu rolled out of the way as quickly as possible as Eevee came down towards him, but the first thing that the Evolution Pokemon did upon landing was fire off a Shadow Ball in the fleeing mouse's direction.

That could have been yet another hit to Ash's Starter Pokemon, but luckily, Ash found himself breathing a sigh of relief as Pikachu raised a hasty Iron Tail to absorb the damage from the blow. Pikachu was pushed back ever so slightly, but by barely even a few inches at most.

This Eevee was almost as fast as Pikachu was, and he seemed to hit decently hard, too. His Shadow Balls weren't as powerful as the one used by Ash's own Eevee, but they also came out a lot more quickly. A weaker, yet more efficient form of the technique.

What's more, Pikachu's efforts to combat the pain of his injuries in favor of going all out were sure to be taking their toll on him. He wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer, which meant that they needed to make this count.

"Double Team and Zap Tail!"

Pikachu split into two, and Eevee likely wouldn't know which one to defend against. Only the real Pikachu could actually pull off the technique itself, but with both the clone and the real Pikachu rushing forward at once, Eevee's chances at being able to notice were slim due to the franticness of the situation.

Instinctively, Eevee raised an Iron Tail to block, but ended up blocking the wrong target, the clone of Pikachu that had been created by Double Team phasing out of existence as the real Pikachu raised a metallic tail, now coated with electricity, and rammed it right into Eevee's broadside. A loud cry escaped the Evolution Pokemon's mouth as he was sent rocketing across the field, rolling painfully across the pavement before balancing himself.

Pikachu was breathing heavily now, and wasn't able to go on without catching his breath. Ash and Gary could both see some deep breaths from Eevee, too, the latest attack doing quite a number on him.

Pikachu was running out of energy. They needed to finish this quickly.

"Thunder Shock!"

"Headbutt!"

Pikachu's bolt of lightning took too long to charge up due to the mouse's exhaustion. To Ash's frustration, Eevee was already circling around, the Thunder Shock missing its mark as Eevee swiftly advanced, charging forward with Quick Attack with his head downward as he took aim at Pikachu.

SLAM!

Eevee slammed head first into Pikachu's side. A loud, high pitched cry escaped the mouse's lips as he was sent flying into the barriers in front of Ash, his other side slamming directly into them.

Ash winced at the sound of the impact, and sadly wasn't surprised when Pikachu did not get up.

With a bit of a solemn expression, Ash took out Pikachu's Poke Ball and called back his starter.

"You did great, Pikachu." he said soothingly. "Take a rest for now."

Clipping the Poke Ball back onto his belt, he returned his focus to Gary and Eevee.

The Evolution Pokemon certainly wasn't in perfect shape anymore. He was confident that any of his team could defeat him now, but he knew he couldn't let that go to his head.

Gary seemed visibly frustrated despite the victory. Pikachu had single handedly beaten one of his Pokemon and injured another. Ash allowed himself to feel a small glint of satisfaction at that, but the battle wasn't over yet.

Ash removed a Poke Ball from his belt.

This Eevee knew Iron Tail and Shadow Ball, which could put Valiant at a disadvantage. However, Reflect and Light Screen could help make up for that. Not to mention Teleport and Shadow Sneak could help trip Eevee up.

The young Ralts appeared in front of him, crossing his arms and analyzing Eevee as he took note of his opponent.

"Pikachu's been knocked out." Valiant tensed up at that, but nodded. "You ready, buddy?" another nod.

However, Gary returned Eevee and took out another Poke Ball.

"You're really pissing me off, Ashy boy." he grunted with annoyance. Suddenly, a sadistic smirk formed on his lips. "Maybe an old friend of yours can knock you down a peg."

In a bright flash of light, a large, blue, bipedal turtle appeared.

Ash's face stiffened. A Wartortle.

Gary's Squirtle had evolved. In and of itself, that wasn't too surprising…

So… just how much stronger was Wartortle now?

His mind flashed back to Pichu's battle with Squirtle, but he immediately shook his head.

No. That was then. This is now. Win or lose, they certainly wouldn't be going out like that.

The water type was as stoic as ever, perhaps even more so. Valiant's analytical gaze was met with one of pure stoicism, the large turtle looking at the young Feeling Pokemon not as though he were strong, or weak, or interesting, or boring… just… looking at him.

The glare on Wartortle's face contained little emotion. Just a piercing gaze that notably put Valiant quite a bit on edge, the young Ralts continuing to tense up under the intensity of the gaze from his significantly physically larger opponent.

"Valiant…" said Ash, the young Ralts quickly looking back at him. "Don't be afraid. That Pokemon beat Pikachu before, and he's much stronger now, so don't underestimate him. Just remember, we can't be intimidated." a nod from the young Feeling Pokemon, as Valiant returned his gaze back to Wartortle, looking a little bit more determined now.

Gary scoffed. "Pep talking from one pipsqueak to another, I see. Whatever floats your boat, Ashy boy."

Just an empty insult. Nothing more. Ash had proven his worth before against Brock, and Valiant had even moreso.

As the two combatants sunk into their stances, Ash adjusted his cap and, as if by accident, glanced over to Misty for the briefest of seconds. Maybe it was out of curiosity, he wasn't sure. However, he had quickly looked away again out of fear of being noticed, so he hadn't caught sight of her facial expression.

Returning his focus to Gary and Wartortle, Ash began to think…

No doubt that Wartortle had a lot of raw power going for him now. And his defenses were probably far exceeding that of when they had previously fought back in Pallet Town. Could Valiant even hurt this thing?

They'd have to be tricky. Valiant had been practicing his Telepathy ability a bit, making him a bit more skilled at reading his opponent's, which was something that he was already naturally good at, and he had some versatile techniques at his disposal, but he wasn't sure how effective that Hypnosis or Confuse Ray would be, given his lack of mastery towards them, particularly the latter.

Shadow Sneak and Teleport would certainly be the key. They could catch Wartortle by surprise.

But it looked like Gary was finished with his planning, so he would have to spring into action.

"Valiant, that Wartortle's defenses aren't going to be easy to deal, so be careful. Magical Leaf!"

Valiant responded right away, holding his hands up and allowing the brightly glowing leaves to fire towards his opponent.

But Wartortle was ready, quickly retreating into his shell, which began spinning rapidly.

He was using Rapid Spin.

As the leaves uselessly bounced off the seemingly impenetrable shell, Wartortle advanced toward Valiant, aiming to smash into the young Ralts with the full force of his rock hard, spinning shell.

Valiant ceased Magical Leaf and erected a glass cube to surround him. He winced and strained himself as Wartortle's rapidly rotating shell grinded against the Reflect, the cracks slowly beginning to form on his barrier.

Ash gulped. No doubt weaponizing that hard shell was one of the first things that Gary tried to do while training Wartortle. As good for offense as it was for defense…

Gary switched orders. "Ice Punch!'

Exiting his shell, Wartortle reared a fist back. Although the barrier was cracked, it was stable enough for Valiant to not feel the temperature around the two combatants drop as as the frozen aura formed around the tortoise's fist.

SMASH!

The already damaged barrier didn't stand a chance as Wartortle's frozen fist was sent flying straight for the cracked part of the glass cube, Valiant flinching from the wind force as the Reflect shattered and left him exposed.

Valiant could feel the cold air radiating off of the frozen fist as Wartortle reared back and shot a jet of water from his mouth.

The Water Gun would have cleanly struck Valiant's forehead if the Feeling Pokemon hadn't teleported away, appearing several feet behind the tortoise in an effort to catch his breath.

But Wartortle was already turning around, and Gary was already giving his next order.

"Aqua Jet!"

So Wartortle had learned to use one of his Egg Moves…

Water appeared beneath the blue tortoise's feet, and quickly rose upwards to engulf him. Although it didn't surround him completely, as Ash briefly took note of, the Wartortle was still quite skilled with the technique, almost capable of using it in full.

Aqua Jet was a fairly useful technique that would surely add to Wartortle's speed despite the Pokemon's notable bulk. It would likely give him a lot of aerial potential as well.

Engulfed in water, the blue tortoise launched himself head first towards Valiant, flying slightly above the ground towards his target.

The Feeling Pokemon yelped in surprise just before his bulky opponent smashed into him, and Ash (and Misty) winced painfully as Valiant was sent tumbling several feet away as Wartortle dissipated the water vortex surrounding him and landed firmly on his feet.

Gary pointed a finger towards Valiant as the green headed Pokemon began making his way back up to his feet, his hands resting against the ground to keep himself propped up.

"Wartortle's never lost a fight before, Ashy boy. Your little Ralts will be the perfect addition to his winning streak."

Ash held back a grimace as he called out his orders to the now standing Ralts. "Shadow Sneak and Magical Leaf!"

Valiant was in aching pain from just one blow, his body quite frail compared to the bulky monstrosity that was Wartortle.

Nevertheless, he did what he could to power through the pain. This opponent was clearly far stronger than him, much like that Grotle from before. But Valiant was resilient. He wouldn't let one big blow stop him.

Wartortle looked somewhat bewildered as Valiant sank into the ground, absorbing himself into his shadow to travel behind the large, blue tortoise, resurfacing to fire the leaves at his target.

Valiant knew that this Wartortle was durable. Not just the shell, but the entire body He was behind Wartortle right now, so firing at his back would just result in the leaves uselessly clanging of of the shell again.

Regardless of whether he was attacking from the back or the front, however, it was clear to him that the head was probably the best place to aim. His opponent would be tough to put down regardless, but it would be more effective to aim there than the rest of the tortoise's bulky body.

Wartortle let out a pained cry as the leaves hammered against the back of his head. Stumbling forward, and nearly losing his footing, he turned to glare at Valiant as the young Ralts prepared to fire off a second round.

"Icy Wind!"

Just as Valiant fired off his second barrage, Wartortle, ignoring the momentary pain in his head, opened his mouth. Out fired a strong gust of cold, snowy wind. It was a concentrated blast of air, similar to Wind Blast. But some of the blunt force was traded for a frozen iciness.

Valiant yelped as the wind froze over the leaves and continued onwards towards him. Although parts of the gust painfully slammed into him, and left him shivering as a result, he managed to power through the pain and gets his Light Screen up before he could suffer the full brunt of the assault.

As the snowy wind pushed against the golden cube barrier, Valiant grunted from the strain of the assault, the Light Screen successfully holding up but clearly being challenged. Just as the tiniest of cracks began to form, Gary switched his orders.

"Aqua Jet!"

The sound of the cube shattering was loud and clear as Wartortle rocketed head first into the small, forming cracks. The bulk of his body, and his overall brute strength, combined with the speed of the Aqua Jet easily managed to overwhelm the slightly damaged barrier.

Wartortle reared his fist back for an Ice Punch, but Valiant's Telepathy ability allowed him to get a better reading on the large, blue tortoise's body language. With his battle senses heightened by the Ability, Valiant found his Water Type foe's actions to be quite telegraphed, and easily ducked under the powerful blow that would have surely put him down if it had struck him in the head.

Valiant grimaced uncomfortably from the freezing cold air radiating off of the turtle's fist, but persevered as he sidestepped around to Wartortle's side, quickly firing a bright pink beam of light into the side of his opponent's head before the water type Pokemon could have time to react accordingly.

The Dazzling Gleam sent the unsuspecting tortoise staggering backwards, but the turtle righted himself quickly as Gary called for another Aqua Jet.

As Wartortle dashed forward yet again, Ash was in awe. Valiant was attacking his opponent by aiming right for the head, probably the most viable strategy for dealing with Wartortle, and yet the blue tortoise was still able to shrug it all off. Just how much stronger was he than Valiant?!

Valiant wasn't able to completely form a Reflect barrier in time, and staggered back from the painful shockwaves as Wartortle easily smashed through the incomplete glass cube.

As Wartortle exited his Aqua Jet, Gary cried out. "Water Pulse!"

Extending his hands outward, Wartortle concentrated as an orb of glowing, bright blue water materialized in between his palms. As the orb grew in size, he raised his hands upwards, before fiercely throwing the orb downwards, slamming it point blank into Valiant.

Ash cried out as Valiant was blasted backwards, the Ralts shouting in pain as he tumbled across the ground.

Gary smirked victoriously, but his eyes widened as Valiant began staggering to his feet once again.

Ash blinked. Valiant was definitely the least durable member of the team. He needed Reflect and Light Screen to make up for his lack of natural defenses, and Teleport and Shadow Sneak to make up for his lack of agility.

Yet despite the powerful blow that he had taken, Valiant refused to give up. Covered in bruises and dirt, and completely drenched in water, the young Ralts rose to his feet, glaring defiantly as he clenched his teeth.

Gary's eyes lit up in frustration. "Just go down already, pipsqueak!"

Instead of complying, Valiant gathered Psychic energy in his hands as fast as he could, and fired off a Psybeam in Wartortle's direction.

After the attack proved futile, easily deflected by Wartortle's Rapid Spin, Gary aggressively let out an order as Wartortle exited his shell.

"Bubblebeam! Now!"

Wartortle opened his mouth, allowing a barrage of bright, glowing, blue bubbles to escape from his mouth and rocket towards their target. Valiant, in response, did his best to erect a Light Screen, but in his wounded state, wasn't able to manage a full barrier. The feeble cube was easily shattered by the incoming bubbles, the shockwaves from the projectiles knocking the Feeling Pokemon over as Gary, unwilling to allow Ash and Valiant any breathing room, barked out another order.

"Ice Punch! Increase your speed with Aqua Jet!"

"Confusion!" Ash quickly countered.

As his now clenched fist was once again surrounded with snowy energy, Wartortle engulfed the bottom half of his body in water. He did not keep it that way permanently, however, simply utilizing the Aqua Jet to propel himself forward, rather than fully committing to it.

Aqua Jet was a great way to make up for Wartortle's bulkiness, being capable of launching his otherwise bulky body forward at high speeds that many might not expect a Pokemon of his build to be capable of moving at. Although Ash figured that he could probably run at a decent pace regardless, the usage of Aqua Jet ensured that he would never be easily outpaced.

As Wartortle sailed through the air, advancing upon Valiant and rearing his fist back for the final blow, the young Ralts quickly shot his hands outwards as he rose back up to his feet, eyes glowing a fierce, deep purple as Wartortle's body was suddenly engulfed in a purple outline.

Ash grimaced as Wartortle struggled against the Psychic hold, his icy fist trembling in the air as it moved forward ever so slowly, trying to break free and deal the final blow to Valiant.

Both trainers were shouting words of encouragement to their Pokemon as Misty looked on, one combatant doing everything that he could to deal the final blow, and the other doing everything that he could to halt his opponent.

Valiant's teeth were clenched tightly, grinding together as he strained himself to hold the powerful, bulky body of Wartortle in place, fighting against both the tortoise's momentum and the water type Pokemon's brute strength. As well as the Feeling Pokemon's own exhaustion and pain from the rest of the battle.

Valiant's arms began shaking, and a deep frown appeared on Ash's face a she realized that the young Ralts was giving out.

Whether he gave in to exhaustion or pain, nobody was quite sure. But the purple glow of Valiant's eyes began to flicker, and the weakening hold of the Psychic energy allowed Wartortle's body to successfully break through, the turtle letting out a frustrated shout as he brought his frozen fist down upon Valiant's forehead.

A loud CRACKING sound was heard as Valiant was propelled downwards onto his back, the smashing blow to his head annihilating the young Ralts' consciousness and leaving him still on the ground.

Snorting triumphantly, Wartortle rose upwards, his hands firmly pressed victoriously against his bulky hips as he stood over to the unmoving body of his latest fallen foe.

Disheartened, Ash returned Valiant to his Poke Ball as quickly as possible, looking a the small orb apologetically as the young Ralts was quickly sucked into it by the beam of red light.

"Thank you for giving it your all, buddy." he spoke soothingly to his companion, despite doubting that the unconscious Feeling Pokemon could hear him. "You never gave up, even when it was clear that you were outmatched. I couldn't ask for anything else from you."

Returning the young Ralts' Poke Ball to his belt, Ash immediately prepared himself for Gary's inevitable insults.

"How was that, Ashy boy? Brings back memories, doesn't it? Just replace that Ralts with a Pichu and this was pretty much a reenactment-"

"Enough, Gary." the other boy snarled as Ash had the sheer audacity to cut him off. "The battle isn't over yet. Save your trash talk for later."

As Wartortle stoically crossed his arms in patient preparation for his next opponent, Gary glared daggers into Ash's eyes from across the battlefield. Although Ash flinched a bit from the ferocity, he did his best not to make it visible, standing steadfast as he returned Gary's glare, albeit probably not quite as fiercely.

"I told you to keep your tongue in check, Ashy boy." Professor Oak's grandson snarled. "Don't forget, right now, I'm the one in the lead."

Ash grimaced at that. He was right, but…

"Not for long." he spat back, sounding more determined than angry. Unclipping another Poke Ball, he held it out in front of him as he eyed the orb carefully.

That Wartortle was a juggernaut for certain. Probably comparable to that monster of a Grotle that Paul had sicked on them back in Pewter City.

Enough raw power to easily overwhelm Valiant's barriers, even when they were at their best. Enough durability to shrug off just about anything, even blows to the head that didn't have to deal with his absurdly tough shell. Pokemon always received massive boons upon Evolving, he'd seen that first hand with Pikachu, and especially with Nebula.

Eevee wouldn't stand a chance. As much as Ash hated to admit it, her attacks would just be ineffective against this bulky monstrosity. Even Take Down would probably struggle against the durable might of Wartortle's shell, and would also leave Eevee herself injured in the process.

"It's time, then."

It had to be Nebula. She was a lot stronger than anybody else on the team right now, easily overshadowing all three of her teammates in terms of physical capabilities alone. If anybody could bring down Wartortle, it was her.

And if that still wasn't enough, they always had their trump card…

"You sure you don't want to just forfeit and give me my money in advance, Ashy boy?" Gary's insufferable voice sounded out from across the battlefield. "You'd be saving you and your team a heck of a lot of trouble!"

Gripping Nebula's Poke Ball tightly, and preparing to toss it outwards, Ash shook his head.

"Can it, Gary." Gary glowered as the ball sailed through the air, but couldn't fire back as Nebula emerged in a flash of bright, white light.

The Staravia was ready, immediately locking her eyes on her opponent, who did so in turn.

"Careful, Nebula." Ash warned her. "That Wartortle took out Valiant easily. He's really strong, and even more durable. Watch out for his shell, that thing's practically invincible."

As Nebula nodded, she glared forward upon hearing about the defeat of her friend. As she spread her wings outwards, in preparation for battle, Wartortle sunk into a fighting stance as he awaited Gary's orders.

"So it's the bird now, then." the other boy commented. "No matter. Wartortle! Blast that beak brain with Water Gun!"

The jet of water shot at Nebula, who launched herself into the air to quickly avoid the attack.

"Wind Blast, then Wing Attack!"

Gary blinked in surprise as Nebula fired her blast of concentrated wind at the Wartortle, who clearly wasn't expecting such a move as he quickly held his arms protectively in front of his face. He fought against the force of the wind, but the condensed pressure of the blast pushed him backwards and left him staggering in the process.

Which gave Nebula the perfect time to charge forward with Quick Attack and smash a wing, which was glowing with white light, into the large tortoise's cheek. Ash grinned at the impact of the attack as Wartortle was knocked off of his feet.

The triumph was short lived, however, as Wartortle surrounded himself in a watery vortex, using the aerial mobility provided to him with Aqua Jet to reposition himself and land on his feet.

No doubt, one of Gary's ideas.

"Rapid fire Water Gun!"

The series of continuous blasts of water spat out by the large, blue tortoise wasn't nearly as individually powerful as a single, concentrated Water Gun, but it was in much greater quantity. Had Nebula not greatly improved her aerial mobility since the battle with Brock, Ash might have been a bit worried, but he allowed a surge of pride to fill up in his chest as his bird friend skillfully dodged blast after blast.

But, upon realizing that this wasn't working, Gary quickly switched tactics. "Icy Wind! Full blast!"

The large gust of freezing cold, snowy wind that escaped from Wartortle's mouth was much bigger than the small, narrow jets of water that he had been firing at Nebula previously. Taken aback by the sudden change in tactics, Nebula abandoned dodging and flapped her wings to create another Wind Blast, which clashed against the Icy Wind.

Gary smirked. Perfect. The bird was in one place now.

"Wartortle! Aqua Rush!"

Abandoning Icy Wind, Wartortle retreated in his shell and began spinning. The Wind Blast slammed harmlessly into his rapidly rotating shell as his shell suddenly became submerged with water. Ash and Nebula both gasped aloud as Wartortle suddenly rocketed forwards, sailing upwards towards Nebula, his still spinning shell remaining engulfed in the water as he rushed towards her at incredible speeds.

A combination of Rapid Spin and Aqua Jet, an aquatic technique that fully weaponized the incredible strength of Wartortle's shell by utilizing the high speed momentum from Aqua Jet.

Nebula shrieked as she coated her wings in steel, crossing them out in front of her in a protective manner as Wartortle's water-engulfed shell slammed into her at full force. Even with the metallic coating of the feathers shielding her from the damage of what would have been a positively devastating impact, the sheer force of the blow sent her flying backwards and towards the barriers in front of Ash.

However, she kept her wings coated in steel, and slammed one of them into the barriers in order to catch herself, halting her flight.

The Iron Tail tactic that Pikachu always used to break his falls. But this time, with Steel Wing.

Ash was flabbergasted. What WAS that attack?! He hadn't expected a combination move like THAT.

And it was definitely potent, too. He wondered if Nebula would even still be conscious if she took a direct hit from that…

Wartortle was most certainly the real deal. As Nebula resumed her flight, Wartortle exiting his shell and landing on his feet after the previous collision with her Steel Wing, Ash called out his next order.

"Double Team! One copy!"

Nebula complied, splitting herself into two, both the real one and the copy flying around in opposite directions as they circled Wartortle from above.

Gary quickly responded.

"I see what you're doing, Ashy boy! It won't help you! Rapid Spin! Stay in place!"

Wartortle complied, and Ash grimaced as the stoic tortoise quickly retreated into his shell. Spinning at high speeds while Nebula circled around.

Gary and Wartortle had no idea which Nebula was the real one that they actually had to defend against, so instead, they had just resorted to Rapid Spin, so that Nebula couldn't hurt them regardless. Paul and Elekid had used a similar tactic against him and Pikachu back in Pewter City.

Changing tactics, Ash remained steadfast. "Drop Double Team and use Steel Wing!"

Wartortle had a natural resistance against Steel Wing, but at the same time, the added durable that the attack provided her wings with would allow Nebula to fair better against the incredible exterior of his shell.

Rushing forward with a burst of speed provided to her by Quick Attack, the clone vanishing in the process, Nebula slammed a wing with feathers coated in cold steel into Wartortle's shell. The metallic wing was unable to penetrate the blue tortoise's monstrous defenses, but Nebula herself felt no pain as the two clashed.

The force of Nebula's attack pushed Wartortle back a bit as Nebula sped back upwards. As Wartortle exited his shell to fire a quick Bubblebeam in her direction, Ash shouted out another order.

"Aerial Ace!"

Nebula gracefully flew under the incoming barrage of bubbles as she took aim at her water type opponent.

Coating herself in a glowing white aura, she began to speed her way downwards, but Gary had already shouted a counterorder.

"Aqua Jet!"

Engulfed in water, Wartortle propelled himself upwards towards the advancing Staravia.

BAM!

The two combatants both smashed into each other head-on, Nebula's sharp beak colliding with the top of Wartortle's sturdy head. Both of them bounced off of each other, descending through the air. However, Nebula, with a pained expression on her face, was knocked off balance from the impact, while Wartortle remained in control.

Even with Nebula's greater speed and momentum, Wartortle's bulk and the overall strength of his attack had given him the edge in the clash. Taking advantage of his opponent's newfound vulnerability, he opened his mouth to fire off a quick Icy Wind while still falling in midair.

Before Nebula had the chance to recover from the clash, she was struck head on by the snowy gust of wind, shrieking in pain as she was blasted backwards. As Wartortle solidly landed on his feet, however, Nebula was finally able to power through the pain just in time to break her fall with a Steel Wing, smashing a metallic coated wing into the ground to save her from being further hurt by the impact.

As Wartortle crossed his arms, Ash clenched his fists tightly.

Nebula had the advantage in speed and overall mobility, especially because she could fly, but Wartortle was clearly still stronger than her. And his overall defenses and great durability both complemented that greatly. Apart from the bruise on his cheek from Nebula's Wing Attack at the beginning of the fight, he was still mostly unscathed. Meanwhile, Nebula had just taken a painful hit from an ice type move, and was unable to come out on top whenever their attacks clashed against each other, even with her greater speed and momentum.

For the first time since evolving, Nebula had finally met her match…

There was no other choice then… they had to do it.

"Nebula! It's time, use Reckless!"

Gary and Misty both perked up at that, while Wartortle tilted his head curiously at the mention of the Ability.

Nebula also perked up at the mention. At the signal.

Nebula's eyes flashed red, and her whole body began to tense up as a glowing red outline surrounded it.

Pokemon had natural reserves of strength, that they continuously tapped into while exerting themselves in physical activity. These reserves allowed them to continue onwards with longevity, being tapped into overtime.

With Reckless, however, Nebula was now tapping into them all at once. She had no more reserves to fall back on for later. She was throwing all of her eggs into one basket, and using all of her inner energy at the same time. No worry or concern for tiring herself out. No worry or concern for getting herself hurt. No worry or concern for how her opponent might respond.

She had, quite literally, become reckless.

The bird shrieked violently towards the sky as she spread her wings outward, red lightning sparking across the surfaces of her body as her voice loudly echoed throughout the battlefield. The glowing, red outline lining across her body flashed brighter and brighter, radiating off of her body with unrivaled intensity as she set her sights on her opponent. A feral snarl escaped her beak, her bloodlusted and now animalistic noises directed towards the large, blue tortoise standing in front of her.

Surprisingly, Wartortle actually seemed quite caught off guard by the sudden change, slightly tilting his head to the side with his arms still crossed, a look of mild confusion on his face as he carefully assessed the bird from afar, still not yet moving from his position.

Gary and Misty were even more surprised, the former taking a small step back at the sound of the noises escaping from the bird's beak. Even ASH found himself perturbed by her sudden change in behavior, images of Nebula's friendly smile flashing throughout his mind as he struggled to take in… that.

An angry, somewhat crazed grin made its way to Nebula's face. With one more loud and violent shriek towards the sky above, blatantly reveling in her newfound power, she spread her wings out yet again, before flapping them furiously, making her way towards the air as she prepared to take her newfound strength (and bloodlusted killer instincts) out on her formidable opponent.

Ash immediately called out an order before Gary could.

"Wing Attack!"

The response happened fast.

The boy then grinned.

Gary's eyes practically bulged.

Nebula's speed was carried by Quick Attack, but whatever agility she had before paled in comparison to the blur that she was now.

Ash would have felt the wind force from her quicking off of the ground if it hadn't been for the barriers.

Before either he, Gary, or Misty could register it, a loud SMACK sounded throughout the battlefield, as a yelping Wartortle was sent flying back first into the barriers in front of Gary.

As Nebula kicked off into the air, flapping her wings to gain altitude, the tortoise got to his feet as a notable bruise appeared on his front. The water type staggered a bit, but was otherwise still ready to go.

Gary's face was pale as Nebula hovered above the battlefield. Ash considered using Wind Blast, and was just about to give the order, but suddenly decided against it.

Now that Reckless was in effect, Nebula's actions would become far more taxing on her energy than usual. She no longer had any reserves, and an overuse of Wind Blast and Whirlwind surely wouldn't be doing her stamina any favors, given the sheer amount of vigorous wing flapping that they both involved.

Nebula wouldn't realise this, of course. She wasn't being cautious anymore. Which meant that Ash now had to be cautious for her instead.

But before he could switch tactics, he heard Gary shouting.

The other boy was livid. From just one attack, Nebula had put him on edge.

"Wartortle! Blast that thing with Water Gun! Rapid Fire!"

Normally. Nebula probably would have skillfully avoided the barrage of blasts being spat upwards her way, but in her new state, things were different. She'd much rather smash through, charge through, or deflect incoming attacks than avoid them. Whatever was the most convenient. Cautiousness was not an option anymore.

She was out for blood.

The Staravia shrieked another violent shriek as she charged downwards towards the incoming barrage, her wings glowing with a bright, white light as she sliced through each and every blast of water in her way with Wing Attack.

She winced in mild pain as her wing smashed into Wartortle's now rotating shell, the blue tortoise having used Rapid Spin just in time to block her attack. However, the sheer force of her blow catapulted the spinning shell a good distance away.

However, as she began to charge after it, Wartortle exited his shell and hit her with a barrage of bubbles, the young Staravia being struck by them just as she was closing in.

She grunted in frustration and pain from the blow, being propelled backwards a good few feet, but was back to rushing forward the moment the momentum ceased, undeterred by the attack.

This time, Wartortle, having just finished using Bubblebeam, had no time to retreat into his shell, and was smashed head on with an Aerial Ace, the tortoise crying out in agony as he was painfully tackled across the battlefield.

He could only keep Nebula at bay temporarily, but could never hold her off for long. As Nebula cleared the distance between them to prepare for her next attack, Gary's body was shaking, his knuckles white as he clenched his fists with increasing tightness.

"NO!" he shouted to his temporarily downed Starter. Pointing a shaking finger at Ash, he snarled in a manner that almost came across as animalistic. "This moment of glory's finished! I'm not gonna have you humiliate us any further!" he looked to Wartortle, who was in the process of picking himself up, albeit much more slowly this time. "Get up Wartortle! We're not losing to some worthless failure and his beak brain!"

Wartortle made his way to his feet, and, picking up on Nebula's hyper-aggression, immediately retreated into his shell, spinning with Rapid Spin in preparation for Nebula's inevitable next attack.

As Nebula prepared to charge forward, Ash called out. "Steel Wing this time, Nebula!"

Nebula complied, coating her wings in metal as she descended towards her guarded opponent. With another animalistic shriek, she smashed one of her metal wings into the spinning shell, sending it sliding across the battlefield, the impact of the blow disorienting Wartortle and leaving him to involuntarily retreat from his shell.

The momentum of Nebula's blow didn't stop as Wartortle exited his shell, though, and, unprepared for the velocity, and, ultimately, unable to maintain his footing, he the blue tortoise found himself staggering backwards as he struggled to stay upright, teetering back even as his movements began to slow to a halt.

Ash had to admit that Nebula's behavior was… unsettling. This wasn't the same Nebula who usually greeted everyone in such a chipper tone every morning. Who was practically everywhere with Pikachu and even gave him free rides on her back to check out the view from the sky together. Who felt so guilty about her role in Eevee's capture just yesterday.

This Nebula was entirely different. As though she had been swapped with another Staravia altogether. Reckless was certainly a terrifying Ability. Not just because of the boosts that it gave, or the drawbacks to the user's stamina that it involved, but, most of all, because of how it altered the mind.

He wondered how Pikachu would react to Nebula's sudden and abrupt change in personality. The thought of the young mouse's potential reaction to his best friend's sudden mood shift was both an amusing and concerning one.

Ash would have to look up the exact cause of this later. Was it an adrenaline overdose? A sudden anger? Was her brain just going haywire in general?

They were questions that were flowing through his mind throughout the battle, but also ones that he knew would need to be addressed later, and not immediately.

Because for now, they had an advantage that they needed to capitalise on.

"Nebula! Quick Attack, then Wing Attack!"

The young bird shrieked in response, bolting head first into the still staggering Wartortle as she forcefully drove him to the ground. Pinning him onto his back with her talons, she drove a glowing wing into his face with another battle cry escaping from her beak.

The SMASHING sound echoed across the battlefield as Wartortle was slapped cleanly across the face, Nebula's glowing, bright red eyes glowering down at him as her glowing wing struck its target.

Gary was screaming at the top of his lungs now. "Icy Wind!"

Had she not been in her Reckless state, Nebula probably would have been able to avoid the blast of icy air that struck her at point blank, but with her newfound aggression, she wasn't in nearly as much of a hurry to clear the distance between herself and her opponent.

An enraged shriek sounded across the battlefield as Nebula was catapulted upwards, the direct hit from the Icy Wind agonizingly assaulting her body. But as the attack ceased and she was left hanging in the air, she quickly righted herself, hurt but far from down, as vengefully blitzed forward with another Wing Attack. Wartortle was still in the midst of getting up, struggling his way to his feet, when the attack smashed into him, sending the back of his shell smashing into the barriers in front of Gary as the tortoise wheezed in agony.

The large, blue turtle slid downwards onto his butt, shell leaning against the barriers as his bruised and battered body struggled to pick itself back up.

Gary looked like he was going to puke. "W-Wartortle…"

This couldn't be it, right? They wouldn't lose to Ash-

The small grin making its way to Ash's face immediately disappeared as both he and Gary were visually reminded of something.

Nebula wasn't the only one here with an Ability that greatly powered the user up.

And Wartortle's just so happened to take effect in moments like these.

This time, it was Wartortle's body that glowed brightly as a powerful, ocean blue aura engulfed his body.

Torrent was an Ability that activated when its user was on the ropes. When they were on their last legs.

And when it did, the power of their water type moves increased exponentially.

Wartortle's eyes flashed a bright, ocean blue to match the rest of the aura surrounding his body as he discovered newfound adrenaline, making his way back up to his feet with a facial expression that conveyed much more enthusiasm than Ash had ever seen from him before.

He could feel the energy coursing through his veins. Pumping through his bloodstream. Flowing throughout his body. And it felt GOOD.

Ash's face suddenly became uneasy. Up until now, Nebula's Reckless ability had given her the edge. The power to overwhelm Wartortle's defenses while smashing through his attacks. But now, with Wartortle's newfound power boost…

Had they just lost the upper hand?

In spite of his usual stoicism, Wartortle could NOT help the widening grin that made its way to his face as he let out a triumphant battle cry towards the sky occupied by his powerful, feathered opponent. Above him, Nebula let out a fearsome shriek in response, as if accepting a challenge.

Gary was starting to feel just a little bit more eased up now, but not by much as he pointed forward at Nebula, who flapped her wings above them while aggressively eying her opponent.

"Wartortle! That feathered freak of nature is no match for your power! Put that loser down with Water Gun! Rapid fire!"

The jets of water that escaped from Wartortle's mouth were much bigger than before. And yet also more condensed. And they moved a lot faster.

"Out of the way, Nebula!" Ash shouted frantically.

Nebula should have dodged. Ash TOLD her to dodge.

But she didn't.

Nebula was already rushing forward, prepared to smash through the powered up blasts with her Wing Attack like before.

As the first blast of water collided with her wing, Nebula felt a sharp pain in her wing from the force of the impact. All of a sudden, it was as though she had smashed wing-first straight into a rock. She grunted out in displeasure as her now stubbed wing scattered the water that it had just struck, the droplet's raining down onto the battlefield, but could not right herself in time for the second blast from the barrage to strike her square in the chest.

Ash gasped aloud as Nebula shouted in pain, losing her balance in the air as Gary gave a follow-up order.

"Great! Now Water Pulse!"

Wartortle held out his arms again, this time, the sphere of liquid forming in between his hands growing much larger and glowing much more brightly than before.

ANd when he tossed it, it SAILED through the air and SMASHED into its target quicker than anyone currently present ever could have predicted, including even Gary and Wartortle themselves. Nebula's pained shriek of agony assaulted Ash's ears as the boy guiltily watched his airborne friend sailing towards the barriers.

Nebula couldn't regain her composure in time to slam a Steel Wing into the barriers in order to stop herself. And even if she could, she wouldn't have been cautious enough to do so anyway. She wasn't thinking about saving herself, only about beating down her opponent.

She smashed back-first into the barriers, and began descending downwards. Just before her body could hit the pavement, however, she regained her composure, stopping her fall with a mighty flap of her wings as she continued to flap and make her way back upwards. As she reached full height once again, a primal shout escaped from her beak, directed straight at Wartortle, her eyes practically pulsing with their red glow and her face livid.

Ash breathed a sigh of relief, but it was short-lived as Gary's mockery filled his ears.

"How's that, Ashy boy? Now that we're on an even playing field again, it's time to finish this with style!" he pointed accusingly at Nebula. "Your glorified feather freak won't be able to stop this one, and won't be smart enough to dodge with that ability activated! Wartortle! End this bird brained trash heap with Aqua Rush!"

Wartortle retreated into his shell yet again. As he spun, the water that engulfed him was much fiercer than before.

Ash's face was pale. Gary was right. Nebula wouldn't dodge it.

Blocking it with Steel Wing wouldn't work. Nebula had still been sent flying last time. And this time, she would lack the self preservation to stop herself with Steel Wing before she could slam into the barrier.

Wind Blast? Maybe, but she'd surely tire herself out, even if she could block the attack with it. She had already been using Reckless for quite a bit, and Ash wasn't sure if the attack would be enough to do true damage to Wartortle while he was still in his shell.

The rest of Nebula's arsenal certainly wouldn't work either. Which meant that…

...Nebula would probably knock herself out in the process, but hopefully, if she could overpower Wartortle and Gary's attack, at least she could force a draw on them.

Aqua Rush was clearly a very powerful technique. Probably the best one that Gary and Wartortle had.

So Ash and Nebula would just have to respond in kind.

"Cut loose, Nebula! Double-Edge!"

As Wartortle's rotation continued to increase in velocity, Nebula let out a loud cry as she engulfed herself in a bright, white aura.

The pale energy surrounded her body as she took aim at her target. Ash's breath caught in his throat as both combatants rushed forward, and if he had been paying attention to Gary, he would have seen a similar reaction from him as well.

Wartortle's Aqua Jet carried him far faster than it already had before, and had even more power behind it as well. As a result, this Aqua Rush was incomparable to the one that had previously been used earlier in the fight. The tortoise ascended towards Nebula in his rapidly spinning shell, at speeds far greater than Ash could have ever imagined the blue brute traveling at.

Nebula's spine-chilling cry sounded across the battlefield as she propelled herself downwards towards her advancing opponent. Traveling at an even greater speed than Wartortle, she put all of her might into her powerful charge in preparation for the upcoming clash.

SLAM!

The smashing noise echoed across the battlefield as the two attacks met with one another in midair. Ash, Gary, and Misty all would have felt the gusts of wind that were birthed from the shockwaves of the collision had it not been for the barriers separating them from the conflict.

The two attacks pushed against each other in midair, Nebula straining herself as she continued to push against the opposition combatant with a ferocious snarl. Wartortle's shell was beyond rock hard, and the momentum provided for it from the powered-up Aqua Jet was not something to be understated.

She felt the sweat flowing down her body and the fatigue slipping in. She had been using Reckless for a fairly good bit now, and had attacked several times at full force with her Moves being greatly powered up by the Ability. All of the energy in her body, being used up at once. And she was beginning to run out.

It had only been a matter of time, too.

But she would use all of the energy that she had left to win this battle. To demolish the opponent struggling against her and come out on top. For Ash's sake. And for Valiant.

Wartortle had been slowly pushing her back, but her convictions were too strong. Putting everything that she ever could have had into the clash, she shrieked angrily as she began pushing back against the might of her opponent, her body roughly shoving against the exterior of the hard shell that stood in her way.

Gary's eyes widened in disbelief as Wartortle began to slowly, but surely, be pushed back by Nebula's assault.

"No…!"

Ash didn't breathe. He didn't open his hands. He watched in silence and intensity as Nebula slowly but surely gained the upper hand. As she hammered against the advancing shell with her strongest attack, pushing it back and doing everything that she possibly could to shove it down-

And then her body gave out.

Nebula had been using Reckless for too long, and now she was out of steam.

As the might of her Double-Edge rapidly decreased along with her now deteriorating momentum, Wartortle pushed forward with his feathered opponent now at the mercy of his shell. With Nebula's resistance gone, she was rapidly launched into the barriers by the impact of her shelled opponent's attack, smashing against the barriers before falling to the ground.

Ash's heart sank as his feathered friend unceremoniously hit the ground with a thud. Her body was motionless, eyes closed as she lay sprawled out on the pavement.

Nebula had been using Reckless for too long. The boons of the Ability had allowed her to gain the upper hand, but in turn, the drawbacks were ultimately what had cost her the fight.

Exiting his shell, Wartortle landed on his feet and observed Nebula's still form, drawing deep breaths as his hands fell to his sides. He was tired, but his Torrent Ability meant that he still had plenty of power left.

Ash missed the deep sigh of relief that Gary breathed, only noticing him when the other boy finally spoke up again.

"Y-You see now, Ashy boy?!" he pointed to Wartortle, who began to stand upright again, albeit still breathing a bit hard. "That's power!" he pointed to the unconscious Nebula. "Your featherbrained loser was just a pretender!"

Back on the sidelines, Misty rolled her eyes at the boy's tone of voice. It almost sounded like this Gary kid was trying to convince himself more than Ash.

Ash paid Gary no mind as he returned Nebula to her Poke Ball. As the red light finished drawing her in, he looked down at the orb sympathetically and placed a hand on it.

"You were amazing, Nebula. Thank you so much."

Nothing Gary said fazed him. They all knew the truth. Gary knew the truth. That Wartortle had met his match every bit as much as Nebula had met hers. And Ash would never stop being proud of her for that.

Still, it meant that he now only had one teammate left.

The situation technically wasn't as bad as it seemed to be on paper. Gary's Eevee had taken a decent amount of damage, and Wartortle even moreso.

At the same time, however… Eevee had literally just joined the team. She had never battled with him before.

And as damaged as Wartortle very clearly was, his defenses and Torrent ability would still most certainly serve a problem. His Ability was still invigorating him, as far as his Water Type Moves were concerned, at the very least. Eevee would probably just need to land a few clean hits at most in order to finish the job, but the opposite was also true.

Gary's own Eevee, while certainly not in tip top shape, still wasn't completely helpless, and he also had one more Pokemon that hadn't even battled yet.

Ash clutched Eevee's Poke Ball in his hand as he found himself deep in thought.

This was a do or die situation. Maybe he was moving to fast to assume that he was ready to beat Gary yet…

But… quitting just because he would probably lose if they continued… was that what Trainer's did?

Was walking away when the odds were too against you to be worth it considered pragmatic or spineless?

He knew Gary would say the latter, if only to have an excuse to continue mocking him… but this wasn't about what Gary said. They weren't in Pallet Town anymore. Gary wasn't the "leader" anymore.

"What's taking you so long, Ashy boy?" the other boy scrunched up his face. "That bird was your ace, right? This won't take very long, then. Send out your Eevee so we can get this over with."

Ash glared at Gary, but said nothing.

He doubted he'd win at this point. But it wasn't hopeless, and although he didn't care what Gary's views were, and didn't consider surrendering to be spineless… that didn't mean that he would just give up.

Overcoming odds that were too great to be overcome… that was something that every rookie trainer strived to do. Perhaps the one thing that he and Gary both had in common, was the desire to achieve what no other first year Trainers ever had.

Win or lose, didn't matter at this point. If he spent his journey running away from battles like this, he'd never reach the Indigo Plateau.

Eevee appeared in front of him, immediately perking up at the sight of Wartortle.

"Eevee…" Ash knelt down to speak with her for a second. She turned her head towards him with a hint of uncertainty. "Our opponent is tough, but I believe in you, okay?"

His voice was encouraging, doing his best to hide his doubts. No need for Eevee to go into her first battle on the team feeling like she was in a hopeless position.

Whatever small chance that they had… they would capitalize on.

"Hmph." Gary grunted in an unimpressed tone. "For a moment there I thought you were giving up."

Ash's face grew stern.

"Rookies give up all the time, Gary." he said with an even tone of voice. "But whether you like it or not, I'm not going to be one of those rookies."

A hint of anger appeared in Gary's eyes, although his face quickly grew into a smirk.

"And what makes you think you're going to be the one to break all those records and achieve what the other first years hadn't? Hate to break it to you, Ashy boy, but you're a prime example of all the inevitable failures that are spawned with each Season. Only the exceptional trainers won't be forgotten."

"You mean that little speech you gave to me on Opening Day?" Ash's glare tightened. "Doesn't resonate with me anymore, Gary. So quit trying."

Gary's eyes practically flashed red for a moment. As he returned Wartortle to his Poke Ball, he snarled in Ash and Eevee's direction, which earned him a look of aggression from Eevee.

'Pipsqueak thinks he can talk back to me.' he thought bitterly to himself. 'He earns one little Gym badge, and he thinks he's not at the bottom anymore? He's not a future master. He's just a sub par failure who fluked his way through the Qualification Exam. Well flukes don't cut it in the world of professional Pokemon training, and they certainly don't cut it against me!'

"If you won't hold your tongue, then I'll just have to clamp your jaw shut, wannabe." Holding a fourth Poke Ball in front of himself, he spoke cooly. "My first capture isn't that far off from Wartortle, and I think she'll be the perfect way to put the curtain down on your little glorified fantasy dream."

Ash immediately recognized the Pokemon that appeared in front of Eevee.

It was a bulky, yellow, bell-shaped plant with a wide, gaping mouth and pink lips. A small, brown stem in the shape of a hook was on the top of its head, and three small green spots rested just above its eyes. On each side of its body were two large, green leaves that seemed to act as hands.

Gary's final Pokemon was a Weepinbell.

Gary crossed his arms confidently. "You like her? She'll be the one to put you down. You and your little furball."

Eevee snarled, but Gary seemed to be more amused than intimidated.

'Probably because he's got his teammate and the barriers protecting him.' Ash thought with an inward snort.

But back to the battle.

That Weepinbell was definitely bulky, but it also hopefully meant that Eevee was much more agile. They'd have to exploit their speed advantage to even stand a chance.

"Careful, Eevee," he spoke softly. "That Weepinbell is part poison type. She'll be lethal against us." at Eevee's acknowledging nod , he continued. "Speed around the battlefield with Quick Attack. Do your best to maintain your agility. Prioritize Swift and Shadow Ball, and keep your distance as much as possible. Got it?" at her second acknowledging nod, he grinned and gave her a thumbs up. "Great! Go for it!"

Eevee took off running, immediately dashing off to the side as Weepinbell attempted to track her.

"Let's end this with style, Weepinbell!" Gary's voice sounded out across the battlefield. "Catch that furball with Vine Whip!"

Weepinbell nodded to her trainer, as Vines quickly extended from her body and lashed out at the moving Eevee, who avoided them with ease. Jumping into the air, she fired off a quick Shadow Ball, not charging it up too much, but putting just enough power into it to faze her opponent. The orb of distorted, ghostly energy struck down on Weepinbell's forehead and pushed her back a bit, but she did little more than grunt in mild pain.

In response, the large, bulky plant opened her mouth and allowed a blast of glowing, purple powder to escape from it. Ash grimaced. Poison Powder, of all Moves.

Eevee immediately realised that the glowing, purple cloud advancing towards her was bad news, and quickly changed directions, firing off glowing, golden stars from her mouth that pelted the side of her opponent's body as she made her escape.

"Hidden Power!" Gary called out.

The glowing orbs that Weepinbell fired off were very clearly in resemblance to rocks. A rock type Hidden Power. However, as Eevee quickly changed direction in order to avoid the assault, she was struck by a vine to the face as Weepinbell predicted her movements.

Feeling a sharp pain in her cheek, Eevee tumbled away from the blow as Weepinbell took aim at her yet again.

"Energy Ball!"

Ash blinked. Energy Ball? That was a really powerful grass type move…

But the young boy immediately realized that Weepinbell was taking a good deal of time to charge up her attack, so he immediately went on the offensive.

"Jump up with a full power Shadow Ball!"

Eevee complied, charging up the ghostly energy in her mouth and jumping up just in time to avoid the bright, glowing, emerald colored orb that shot out of Weepinbell's mouth a few second slater. As the large orb slammed into the barriers in front of Ash, creating a powerful shockwave that surely would have knocked Ash off of his feet had the barriers not been there to shield him, Eevee fired off her attack, a large explosion being triggered by the impact as Weepinbell yelped out loud in pain, the powerful Ghost Type Move scoring a very clean, direct attack right on her forehead.

As Eevee pelted Weepinbell with more glowing, golden stars on her way down back to the ground, Gary grunted in frustration. Upon landing, Eevee immediately took off running once again, only for Gary to quickly give another order.

"Poison Jab!"

To both Ash and Eevee's mutual surprise, Weepinbell fiercely propelled herself forward with Vine Whip, her leaves glowing a deep, bright purple as she lashed out at Eevee. The Evolution Pokemon was caught off guard as Weepinbell swung forward with one of her leaves and quickly slammed it into Eevee, smacking the young Pokemon away as the poison excruciatingly entered her system.

Ash's breath caught in his throat. That Weepinbell was incredibly fast when she used Vine Whip that way...

As Eevee tumbled away, Weepinbell quickly took hold of her with her vines. Ash's face paled as she slammed Eevee up and down against the ground multiple times before Gary gave his next order.

"Bullet Seed!"

Weepinbell opened her mouth, and quickly blasted Eevee with a mighty barrage of glowing, golden seeds that completely pelted the Evolution Pokemon's body. Eevee cried out in unbearable agony at the aggression of the attack, her body practically being pierced by the mighty onslaught.

As if to top it all off, Weepinbell chucked Eevee into the air once she was done, leaving the young Evolution Pokemon to unceremoniously fall head first to the ground. Ash let out a deep sigh as his newest teammate lay limp on the ground, and quickly returned her.

"You did good, Eevee." he said soothingly. "Don't worry, this was just your first battle. We'll get stronger together."

Looking over to Weepinbell as he clipped Eevee's Poke Ball back to his belt, Ash could see that the grass/poison type Pokemon had not gotten out of the battle unscathed, in spite of how quick that it was. Her forehead was bruised from the Shadow Ball, and a few minor bruises outlined other parts of her body.

It was all mostly superficial, though. She was still certainly in much better shape than the rest of Gary's Pokemon were.

After showering his Pokemon with praise, Gary returned Weepinbell and made his way towards Ash, arms crossed and a triumphant look in his eyes.

Ash steadied himself, meeting Gary with an even look as the other boy's signature smirk reappeared on his face.

"We both knew how this would end, Ashy boy. But you were just in denial, weren't you?"

Instead of answering him, Ash removed his backpack and rummaged through a pocket. Pulling out some money, he strapped the backpack back on and extended his arm to Gary.

"Just take your money, Gary. You won, I lost, I get it already."

Gary frowned at him, but accepted the prize money nonetheless.

"You 'get it', huh? That's not the impression I got during our-"

"Because I'm not going to lose next time." Ash cut him off, crossing his arms and doing his best to remain steadfast and neutral, eying the other boy carefully. "You beat me this time. And last time, too. And right now, I'm okay with that. I'll be stronger than you eventually. Next time we run into each other, my team and I will beat you and your team, no matter what you guys throw at us."

At the end of the day, Ash and his team had knocked out one of Gary's Pokemon, and injured two. Weepinbell was the only one on Gary's team who had come out of it in good shape.

His teammates had given it their all against their opponents, and so had he.

Ash was… disappointed by this loss, but he wasn't broken by it. This wasn't the humiliating dumpster fire that his first battle with Gary was. This was a hard fought battle where he and his friends had simply come up short. They weren't weak. They were simply outclassed. But they won't be forever.

Gary's scowl almost made Ash flinch a bit, but the young boy quickly steadied the look in his eyes as the other boy poked him in the chest.

"You'll win next time? Keep dreaming, pipsqueak. I don't know what's gotten into you since you left Pallet Town, but I'm not liking this new attitude of yours. I'll beat you down as many times as I have to until you get the picture. I'm at the top, you're at the bottom. Stop acting like things are going to change."

Ash wanted to respond, but decided against it. It was one thing to fire back at Gary and not let him walk all over him anymore, but it was another thing to let it drag out into an argument.

He'd said his piece, and that was that. Anything else would just be dragging things out, or reiterating what he had already said. He wasn't in the mood for a shouting match.

Let Gary have his moment of glory. The latest of many. Ash was used to being upstaged by him, just like how everybody else in Pallet Town was.

'No… I can't let Gary of all people define what my journey is going to be like.' Ash thought to himself. As he watched the other boy leave in a huff, disappearing back into the Pokemon Center, he ran his hand across the four Poke Balls that were currently residing on his belt. 'Beating Gary is just a small part of our adventure. We have to focus on the greater goal too. Not just surpassing one person. Enough with the tunnel vision.'

He had already realized that before, when he had earned the Boulder Badge from Brock. That he could succeed, and that what Gary and the others all said didn't matter.

But he realized that even more now. Regardless of how the battle had ended, he knew he just couldn't keep dwelling on what Gary thought of him. Or what all of his peers back home did either.

This journey of theirs… that he and his team were on… it wasn't about beating Gary, or proving anybody else wrong, either.

It was about reaching the Indigo Plateau. The ultimate goal for every Trainer in Indigo.

He and Gary both shared in that goal. All of the other Trainers in Indigo did as well. And it was what should matter the most.

He wanted to be stronger than Gary, but that wasn't what was most important thing in play right now. If he limited his goals to just a single person, he and his team would never reach their true goal, the one that counted in the end.

Ash smiled to himself as he looked down to his Poke Balls.

"Thanks for fighting as hard as you can, guys. We'll win next time, I promise you that. For now, let's just keep training."

He was about to head back inside, when a familiar voice suddenly made itself known.

"He was quite obnoxious, wasn't he?"

A slightly startled Ash whirled around to see Misty approaching him, somewhat more casually than before.

Right… she was here.

"Oh… hey." Ash said, suddenly feeling a bit shy again as he remembered their previous… "interactions"... if he could even call them that.

She rubbed the back of her head a bit, sighing irritably.

"I was honestly hoping he'd lose. Just to shut him up a bit." she scoffed. "Although, I suppose he would have just thrown a crying fit if you'd beaten him. Would have just made it worse."

"U-um… yeah." Ash stuttered in response.

He supposed he'd never really thought of how Gary would actually react to losing… mostly because he'd never seen Gary lose before.

But Gary was already getting worked up within the battle itself, and Ash wasn't sure if the idea of him throwing a temper tantrum was cathartic or insufferable.

"So…" Misty crossed her arms a bit. "I'm assuming there's history between you two? Doesn't sound like it's pleasant."

Ash allowed a small, awkward grin to make its way across his face as his cheeks mildly flushed. "Y-yeah. I g-guess you could say that."

"Hmph."

A quick silence fell between them, Misty carefully looking Ash over as though she wanted to say something. Ash was still a bit uncomfortable in her presence, but waited to see if she still had anything else to say.

When she never did, he slowly turned to leave, assuming that she just wanted to be left alone again.

However, he quickly stopped upon feeling a hand on his shoulder. Turning around a bit to meet her gaze, he could see her frowning a bit.

Removing her arm from his shoulder, Misty looked him over again as a mild twinge of redness began to occupy her cheeks.

"Look… about… before…" she sighed. "I'm… sorry about my behavior from earlier today, Ash." she eyed him apologetically, her voice seeming to be sincere. "I was just… not in the best mood. I… shouldn't have taken it out on you."

Ash blinked a bit, but rubbed the back of his head with an awkward smile.

"N-no. I-it's… fine. It's fine. You don't need to apologize, I was never offended."

"Hmmm…" she didn;t seem so sure, but she also didn't press any further. Gesturing towards the inside, she spoke. "I'll make it up to you. It's a bit early for lunch, but you wanna go grab a quick snack while your team recovers?"

Ash was taken aback by the sudden invitation, but found himself quickly nodding. "Sure, if you want."

She grinned a bit. It was a bit friendlier than before. Not the most cheerful smile in the world, but certainly more appealing than Gary's, for whatever that was worth. And overall, it conveyed an effort to be welcoming. No hostility, or smugness of any kid. Just a small grin and nothing else to it.

"Great, let's go."

Ash nodded, allowing her to go first before following her in.

Mercifully, Gary was long gone by the time they got inside. After turning his team in to Nurse Joy, Ash followed Misty to the cafeteria for a quick bite to eat.

Their conversation was a bit more lively this time.

Next Chapter: Peril In The Caverns

Preview: Mt. Moon is the main roadblock between Ash's group and Cerulean City. There are a lot of natural obstacles for them to overcome within its intimidating caverns and overall rocky landscape, but as they make their way through its dark tunnels, another danger is about to rear its ugly head.