Three days has passed since Ash and Serena won their second gym badges in Johto Region, and have left Violet City to go to Azalea Town, where the third gym battle awaits them, as well as Leaf, who was already waiting them for more than a month to reach her.
Since they did a lot of training ever since they came in Johto, Ash thought that his and Serena's Pokémon deserve few days of break from training, so they decided not to train until they reach Azalea Town, where they will have few spars before the gym battles just to get their Pokémon warmed up for the matches.
Another reason Ash didn't want to stop for more training is because Leaf has been staying in Azalea for a while and he didn't want her to wait longer, as she probably wants to travel again, and staying in Azalea is just wasting time.
Serena of course, thought about Ash's suggestion, and after she realized he was right, and that their Pokémon have advanced far enough in such a short time, so they do deserve some rest.
Right now, the group is in the forest on the way to Azalea Town, and Serena is in the middle of the battle against a wild Mareep she saw, and wants to catch it.
"Donphan, use Magnitude," Serena said, and her Pokémon then became surrounded by brown aura, and lifted his front legs up in the air, while staying on his hind, and then slammed them onto the ground, which caused an earthquake, which shock the ground, and made Mareep loose balance and focus while trying not to fall down.
"Great, now finish it off with Rollout!" Serena said.
Donphan curled into a ball and rolled with incredible speed at Mareep, and slammed her with all the force he gathered from rolling, which sent crying Mareep backwards, and into the tree, where she passed out.
Serena then threw her empty Poke Ball, and caught another Pokémon for her team. The Poke Ball then shrunk down since she already has six Pokémon with her, but that's fine, as she can just exchange Pokémon with Ash's Pokedex whenever she wants, as he offered it to her, just like he did with Misty and Brock.
"All right," Serena yelled with her hand high in the air holding the Poke Ball with her new Pokémon, as she is happy with her catch! "I just caught a new Pokémon!"
"That's great, Serena," Misty said. "But is there really a reason to yell like that?"
"Oh, sorry," Serena said, when she heard Misty, and placed the new Poke Ball along with the others. "I'm just happy to get a new friend."
"If you say so," Misty said with a shrug, and then looked at Ash. "So, are we going to continue, or are we taking a break?"
"We just did take a break," Ash replied. "We should go for a while longer before we make a break for launch. It would be a waste of time to stop now, and then again in a few hours."
"Ok, then, let's go," Misty said, and they continued their journey.
XXX
Not even half an hour later, the group heard some flapping of the wings on the sky, and looked up, to see a Charizard, which was dragging a carriage behind it, descending toward them.
"What the hell?" Brock shouted. "Is that Charizard pulling a carriage, or am I seeing things?"
"Nope, you are not seeing things." Misty replied, while also surprised as she has never seen a Pokémon pulling something like that.
A few moments later, Charizard stood on the ground, and the carriage slowly stopped without being damaged, and then before anyone can ask anything, a familiar voice was heard from the carriage.
"Well, well, well, look who I'm seeing," the voice that the group recognized said, and they confirmed that they were right, when they saw Liza coming out of the carriage.
"Liza!" Serena and Misty yelled when they saw her, and Misty asked. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, I was on my way home," Liza replied. "I was in Blackthorn City until this morning, and so since my vacation is over, I'm going back to Charicific Valley."
"Well, anyway," Ash finally said something. "It nice to see you again. How has the vacation been?"
"Oh, it was nice," Liza replied. "I was finally able to rest a little from taking care of all those Charizard's in the Valley."
"I'm glad for you," Ash said, and Liza smiled.
"What about you," Liza asked? "Are you on the way to Azalea Town?"
"Yeah," Ash replied. "We went through Violet City three days ago, and are now going to the third gym."
"That's good to hear," Liza said. "Do you have time to stop by in the Valley? I would like to show you the place, and you can see a bunch of Charizard that leave there."
Ash and the others looked at one another, and after Misty, Serena and Brock nodded, Ash replied. "Well, we are in a little bit of a hurry to reach Azalea Town, but I guess we can refuse the invitation to see the famous Charicific Valley."
"Great," Liza said. "Then let's go."
She then walked to the carriage, and entered inside, while the others followed her, and also entered. After that, Liza's Charizard flapped its wings, and flew back in the air, while pulling them all inside the carriage.
"Hey Liza, what's up with this Charizard," Misty asked? "Why is it pulling this carriage? I have never seen a Pokémon doing something like this."
"This is Charla," Liza introduced her Pokémon, and then explained. "Unlike all the Charizard in the valley who are wild, she is mine, and I have been training her for a long time, and she can pull the carriage because of all that training. I guess it is a little similar to how some trainers are riding on their Pokémon, only in Charla's case, she can pull more weight like this, then to carry it on her back."
"I see," Misty said. "That's interesting to learn."
"Is there any special training needed for this, or not?" Brock asked.
"No, not really," Liza replied. "All that is needed is good physical training, and that's about it. Of course, Pokémon has to want to do this, as not all of them would let trainers ride on them, or pull a carriage like this."
Brock and the others nodded, and Liza asked.
"Does any of you have a Charizard? You could show them in the Valley, and even leave them to train if you want, I'd have no problem with that."
"I have two of them back in Pallet Town," Ash replied, and Liza razed her eyebrows surprised.
"You have two of them," she said. "That's weird. They are not that easy to find in the wild and capture, so how did you find two?"
"Well," Ash started to explain. "I got Amaterasu from Professor Oak when I started my journey, and I found Ra not long after that abandoned by his previous trainer, so I managed to convince him to come with me, and he did."
"Is that so," Liza asked? "Well, that's interesting. But I'm curious why you named them, as you didn't call the Pokémon you used in battle against Clair by the name?"
"When I caught Ra, Amaterasu was still Charmander, and since they were always together, every time I would say Charmander, they would both answer, so I decided to name them, and not have that problem," Ash explained. "I also did the same for one of my two Butterfree. The female one wanted a name, so I named her Magenta."
"Those are a nice name's you gave them," Liza said. "I assume you named two Charizard's after the Sun god's, right?"
"Yeah!" Ash replied.
After that, they continued to fly in silence, and after few more minutes, while they were coming close to the Charicific Valley, and could see it in the distance, they heard a big explosion coming from it, and then a smoke rose from it, and into the air.
"What the hell was that," Misty yelled?
"I don't know," Liza replied, getting worried about what could have been happening in the Valley.
"Did you leave someone there when you left on the vacation," Ash asked?
"Yeah, there are some people who take care of the valley and the Charizard there when I'm not working," Liza replied. "I guess you can call them my occasional substitutions."
"Then let's hurry and see what's going on, they could be in danger or are the cause of this, for all we know," Ash said, and after Liza nodded, she told Charla to hurry up, and she did.
XXX
It took few more minutes of flying to reach the valley, and when they did, they all saw the entrance to the valley destroyed, and smoke coming from several places as well as fire all around the valley.
"What the hell is going on," Liza yelled? "Charla, go right inside!"
Charla flew over the gate, and entered inside of the valley, to see several people dressed in black suits, with Team Rocket mark on them, attacking the Charizard and were trying to capture them, while the handlers who were left by Liza there, were all defeated and tied up.
"Team Rocket," Ash spit out! "I should have known!"
"Who are Team Rocket," Liza asked, while Charla was descending down?
"It's a long story, and I'll explain it later," Ash said. "Now we have to defeat them, and save the Charizard's from being captured."
"You are right," Liza said. "Let's do it!"
Just then, Charla descended in the valley, and stood on the ground, and the others came out of the carriage.
"Hey, what happened," Liza asked one of the tied-up workers, while the battle between Team Rocket and Charizard was going a little further away, and rockets didn't notice them yet?
"I don't know," one of the guys replied. "Everything was normal, and then suddenly the entrance was blown up, and we were attacked."
"How many of them are there," Ash asked, as they didn't exactly count them from above?
"There are several dozens of them, and they are led by some guy with a mask, and some weird black Poke Ball," the guy replied.
"Wait," Misty said, and looked at Ash. "It can't be that Marauder guy, can it?"
"Who is that?" Liza asked.
"He is one of Team Rocket higher up's," Misty replied. "We encountered him several weeks ago when he captured the entire herd of Stantler, but Ash defeated him, and we took out all of his Pokémon, and then handed him to Officer Jenny. He was supposed to be in jail."
"He must have somehow escaped," Brock said. "That's the only explanation how he is here."
"Let's go and take care of this," Ash said, and walked toward the battle, while the others followed, except the Charizard handlers, who stayed back.
XXX
After they arrived in the hearth of the battle, there were several battles going on, with some of the more powerful Charizard's having the lead, as the Rocket grunts were having a hard time, and several of them were even on the ground, burned by the fire, along with their Pokémon.
Ash saw Marauder in the distance, standing and watching what's happening, and Ash decided to go and face him again.
"I'll go and take care of Marauder, while you help those Charizard's," Ash said, and after everyone nodded in understanding, they called their Pokémon, and went to battle.
Ash walked toward the Marauder, who by now saw him, and had several Poke Ball's ready to fight against Ash, again.
"Well, well, who do we have here," Marauder said. "How lucky for me to encounter you so soon, so I can have my revenge."
"I wouldn't say you were lucky, it's more, unlucky, because you will not defeat me, I assure you of that," Ash said, with narrowed eyes, and venom in his voice.
"Is that so," the Marauder asked? "Well, let's see who is right. You, or me."
He then threw three Poke Balls in the air, and released three Pokémon from them, which were again two Tyranitar from last time, as well as Aggron.
"You know, Marauder," Ash started saying, while he took one Poke Ball from his belt. "I am tired of you."
As soon as he said that, Ash threw the Poke Ball, and out came Lugia, who after she came out screeched, and floated ready to battle, judging by the narrowed eyes that were looking at Marauder and his three Pokémon.
"W-W-What, the h-hell," Marauder stuttered, while backing away? "H-How d-do you have Lugia?"
"It's not important," Ash said, but then asked. "Before I finish you of, tell me this, how did you escape from prison?"
Marauder looked at Ash with some fear in his eyes, but then he fought it back, and after he coughed and took a deep breath to calm down, he said.
"I never made it to prison. My colleagues helped me escape during the transportation. After that, we broke in the station in that Town where you left me, and I took my Pokémon, and then left."
"Is that so," Ash said? "Then I guess I should make sure this time you can't escape.
"Lugia, use Aeroblast on all of them at full power!" Ash said, and Marauders, as well as his Pokémon's eyes widened at that.
Lugia opened her mouth and gathered blue energy inside it. She then fired a massive beam of energy from her mouth at Marauder, his Aggron and two Tyranitar's, who were hit by the beam, and it caused a colossal explosion that destroyed a part of the valley, and unfortunately, sent Marauder and one of his Tyranitar flying in the sky all covered in wounds and burns, while the other Tyranitar, and Aggron collided with the wall of the valley, and fell unconscious.
Ash and Lugia looked at where the Aeroblast hit Marauder and his Pokémon, and then up in the sky, where one human and one Pokémon are flying in the distance, and after few moments, they looked at each other, and Ash sighed.
"Well, I wasn't expecting that to happen," Ash said, and Lugia blushed at her mistake, if it can even be called a mistake, as Ash did tell her to use Aeroblast at full power.
"Sorry about that." Lugia said.
"Don't worry," Ash replied. "It wasn't your fault. I just wasn't expecting them to be sent flying by that explosion."
Lugia smiled, and then Ash returned her to the Poke Ball, and went to see the two Pokémon that belonged to Marauder, and were now lying on the ground defeated.
He checked them, and saw that besides burn marks, they are not physically injured a lot, but their minds might need some repairs, as they were under control by the Dark Balls for a long time.
Several minutes later, the noise of the battle in the distance ended, and he heard his friends, minus Liza, coming toward him, so he looked at them, and saw they were all ok, and none was injured.
Not that he thought they would be injured by some rocket grunts and their Pokémon.
"I take it everything went ok," Ash said, after they approached him.
"Yeah, we defeated them all, and Liza stayed behind with her helpers to tie them up, and then call Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy to come," Serena said.
"But what happened here," Misty asked, when she saw two Pokémon, but no Marauder? "Where is the Marauder?"
Ash sighed and explained what happened.
After he finished explaining, his friends looked at him with deadpan expressions.
"Seriously," Misty said? "He just flew away, just like that."
"The explosion was too powerful, and the force sent them flying, while the other two Pokémon collided with the valley wall," Ash said, and they all sighed.
"Let's go back to Liza's house, and wait for Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy there," Brock suggested. "I'm sure it will take them a while to come here."
"You are right," Ash said, and then caught Tyranitar and Aggron in his Poke Balls, and placed them on his belt. "Let's go."
"Why did you capture those Pokémon?" Serena couldn't help but ask, as they were walking toward Liza's house.
"They also need Nurse Joy to heal them, and I couldn't leave them outside, so I thought it would be better to capture them," Ash said. "Also, they will probably need some mind healing because of the influence of the Dark Balls', and I'm thinking of sending them to Urahara to take care of that."
After that, they continued to walk toward Liza's house in silence.
XXX
"Hey Ash, did you get that Marauder guy?" Liza asked after the group entered inside of her house, while on the way passing a bunch of rocket grunts who were tied up and guarded in front of the house by people who work with Liza?
"Well..." Ash then explained how the things went, and Liza was also surprised by how the Marauder and one of his Pokémon were comically sent flying by the explosion.
"What about you," Ash then asked? "Did you call Jenny and Joy?"
"Yeah, I did," Liza replied. "They will be here later today to check on all injured Pokémon and arrest those guys."
"Ok then, all we can do now is wait," Ash said, and the others agreed, so they then went on to start preparing launch, since it's almost time, and Liza joined them.
Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy came later in the afternoon, and went to business right away, and while Officer Jenny quickly arrested all the Rocket grunts who were already tied up, which made her job easier, Nurse Joy was checking the Charizard's in the valley, and later after she finished with them, she checked Tyranitar and Aggron that belonged to Marauder and that Ash caught, and she confirmed that they will need an extensive medical treatment to deal with the mind damage they suffered from exposure to the Dark Ball's.
So, Ash decided to send them to Urahara who will take care of them, and the medics in Rota Kingdom will be able to help them better than any Nurse Joy, as they are specialized in all sorts of illnesses and injuries, but also will have more time to focus on them then Joy's.
He also sent Serena's Butterfree at Oak's Ranch so she can use Mareep, and also brought back his own Pidgeot for some reason, and sent back Tyrantrum.
After Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny finished, and left, it was already night time, so Ash and friends stayed at Liza's house for the night, where they all again made dinner, and after that, they talked a little, and went to sleep, since in the morning they must continue their journey, and don't want to be tired.
"Don't tell me we are lost again," Misty asked Brock, as she and the others are walking through the forest on the way to Azalea Town.
"Ahhhm," Brock muttered, while looking at his guidebook, and some map he always has with him. "OK, I won't tell you."
"You've got to be kidding me," Misty said, with a shake of her head in disbelief! "How does this always happen?"
"I don't know," Brock sighed. "But I swear we were on the right path not that long ago."
"You know," Ash started to say. "We have been traveling together for two years, Brock, and I still don't understand why you are using a simple map, when my Pokedex has a navigation app."
"I guess it's easier for me this way," Brock replied. "But you can take over the navigation if you want."
"Ok, I will," Ash said, and was about to pull out his Pokedex, when right in front of him and the others, some guy appeared.
"Hey you," he said, as he approached them, and the group noticed he has a scowl on his face. "Have you seen any Cyndaquil here?"
Ash and the others looked at one another, and Ash said. "Sorry, but no, we didn't."
The guy scoffed, and walked away, leaving the group behind.
"That guy was weird," Serena said, and the others agreed.
"Seeing him almost reminded me of Damian," Ash said, and Misty and Brock agreed, while Serena was confused.
"Who is Damian?" Serena asked.
"Oh, he's just some trainer we met in Kanto," Ash replied. "He was poor trainer, and was abusing his Pokémon, and if they don't win, he abandons them. He was the original trainer of Ra, and several other of mine, Misty's and Brock's Pokémon, which I took from him, along with his trainers license."
"I see," Serena said. "Well, I hope this guy is not like Damian, as I wouldn't want to see someone abusing their Pokémon."
"I hope so as well," Ash said. "I wouldn't like it to have to take away his trainers license like I did with Damian."
After that, they continued to walk through the forest, while Ash was looking at this Navigation app on his Pokedex.
XXX
About 15 minutes later, the group came out of the forest, and found themselves in front of a rock wall dotted with many small caves.
"The hell is this place," Misty asked? "It almost reminds me of Swiss cheese."
"It's probably a cave system made by some Pokémon," Brock said.
"Yeah, I agree with Brock," Ash said. "Let's just continue, and not waste time here."
Before they could continue, Misty said. "Wait, aren't you interesting what kind of Pokémon are in there?"
Ash looked at Misty for a few moments, and eventually said. "I'm not going to go in there to search for the Pokémon that might or may not be inside. For all I know that cave can be unstable, and can collapse on me, and I'm not interested in finding out how long it will take me to dig myself out from there."
"But, aren't you at least interested," Misty asked again?
"You know, the real question is, why are you so interested in searching through that cave," Ash asked? "Water Pokémon don't leave in places like this, so I doubt there is one there."
Misty looked at Ash, who was looking at her, while Serena and Brock looked at both of them. After few moments of silence, Misty sighed.
"Maybe that Cyndaquil that guy mentioned is in there, and as you said, he reminds me a lot of Damian, and I don't want him to find and capture it," Misty said.
Ash continued to look at Misty for a while, and then he said. "You know, just because he reminds us of Damian, doesn't mean he is the same, he could be different. And even if he is like Damian, there is nothing I or any of you can do about it, as the only way I can take his license is if I catch him abusing his Pokémon. And even if we catch that Cyndaquil, there are still many other Pokémon out there, and we can't protect them all from people like that."
"I know, but ask yourself this," Misty said. "If one day you find out that this guy really is like Damian, and he captured and abused Cyndaquill, won't you feel bad because you could help Cyndaquil, and you didn't?"
"If I think like that, then I should feel bad about every Pokémon out there that was unlucky that it was captured by bad trainers," Ash said.
"Ah, yes, you are right, but there is a difference," Misty said. "In this case, if you catch Cyndaquil you though it can be in danger, you will know that you did something to prevent it, but you don't know which Pokémon out there are in danger and because of that, you can't protect them all. That's the difference."
"I don't think it makes any sense what you just said, but if this means so much to you, then I'll go and catch it if it is in there," Ash said, and Misty smiled.
As he said that, suddenly, Cyndaquill appeared from one of the caves and looked at them.
"Would you look at that," Ash said. "There really was a Cyndaquil in there."
"I guess I was right," Misty said with a smile, and Ash sighed.
Ash then walked toward the Cyndaquil, and started climbing on wall, while the others stayed back, and watched him.
As Ash was climbing up the wall, the guy from before appeared, and saw Ash going after Cyndaquil.
"Hey, where do you think you are going," the guy yelled, and pulled out a Poke Ball? "That Cyndaquil is mine!"
He then threw the ball in the air, and Sandslash appeared from it.
Ash looked at the guy while hanging on his arms from the cave wall, and then looked at Cyndaquil, who was standing a little above him in front of one of the caves. "Tell me Cyndaquil, is that guy your trainer?" Ash asked, even though he already knew the answer, he just had the desire to mock the guy.
Cyndaquill looked down at Ash, and then at the guy who said he belonged to him, and smirked. "No, he is not my trainer," Cyndaquil replied. "But can you understand what I said, or are you just going to guess what my answer was?"
Ash smirked under his chin, but said nothing, until Serena asked. "Hey Ash, what did it say?"
But then the guy also yelled. "What are you playing by asking Cyndaquil? It's not like you can understand what it says!"
"First of all," Ash started. "This Cyndaquil is a guy, so refer to him as 'he', and not 'it'. Second, I did understand what he said, and he said that you are not his trainer, so you don't have any right to say he belongs to you, and yell at me for trying to catch him."
Cyndaquil and the guy looked at Ash with surprise in their eyes, while Serena, Misty and Brock had smirks on their faces.
"Are you making fun of me?" The guy yelled at Ash. "I don't care if you somehow understand Pokémon language or not, I came here first looking for Cyndaquil, and I will be the one to catch him."
"You know. If you are some cute girl, or just about anyone else, then I would have walked away, and let you catch him," Ash said, and everyone's jaws dropped. "But I really don't like you, and because of that, I will not walk away, and you will have to go through me first if you want to catch this Cyndaquil."
As he said that, Ash jumped from where he was on the wall, and almost 5 meters down on the ground, and stood on his feet.
The guy looked like he was going to explode, and yelled. "Ok, if this is how you want to do it, then let's go!"
Ash then took a Poke Ball from his belt, and let out his Pokémon. "Come out, Bagon!"
Bagon came out of his Poke Ball, and looked back at Ash. "So, you finally decided to send me to some serious battle, ha?"
Ash looked at him, and replied. "Well, I don't know how serious it will be, but you have to start somewhere, right."
Bagon looked at Ash with narrowed eyes, while the guy, and Cyndaquil were looking at Ash with wide eyes, as they realized that Ash might actually be telling the truth and can understand Pokémon.
"You are mocking me, aren't you?" Bagon asked, and Ash smirked.
"No, actually, I was mocking that guy," Ash replied with a wide smile on his face, and pointed at his opponent, and Bagon looked at the guy with narrowed eyes, like he was judging him.
"This guy is pathetic," Bagon said. "Couldn't you have picked someone better?"
As he said that, both Ash and Cyndaquill started laughing like maniacs, and Cyndaquil even fell on his ass from how hard he was laughing.
The guy bristled and looked ready to explode because of Ash's and Cyndaquil's laughing, even though he didn't know why they were laughing.
"Why are you laughing?" He yelled.
After few more moments of laughter, Ash stopped, and Cyndaquil stopped right after, and they both whipped tears from their eyes.
"We were laughing because of what Bagon said," Ash replied, and then looked at Bagon.
"I'm sorry, Bagon, but as you said, he is pathetic, and since you and Chikorita are two weakest Pokémon I have, I had to choose one of you."
"I'm not your weakest Pokémon," Bagon yelled, insulted!
"How dare you insult me like that?" The guy also yelled at Ash.
"Shut up," Bagon yelled at the guy, and then looked back at Ash, while his face as red in embarrassment at being told he was weak.
"How can I be the weakest, when I have trained so much since I started traveling with you, and I was not weak even before that?" Bagon asked, not even paying attention to the other guy.
"Think about it, I caught you several weeks ago, but every other Pokémon I have besides Chikorita have been with me for a while, so how are you expecting to be stronger than them, when they go through the same training you do?" Ash explained and asked in the end.
Bagon stopped and thought about what Ash said, and after a while of thinking, he realized that Ash is actually right.
For the last few weeks since he joined Ash, he had doubled his power, but taking that into account, all the other Pokémon have been training much longer, and they must be infinitely more powerful them him.
After thinking few more seconds, Bagon sighed, and said. "I guess you are right, I can't expect to be stronger than Pokémon you trained for a long time."
Ash smiled, and said. "Good that you finally understand that. Now let deal with this guy, and try and convince Cyndaquil to come with us."
Bagon looked at Cyndaquil who was looking down at them from the entrance to one of the caves and then sighed.
"Let's do it," Bagon said, and looked back at the guy, and stood ready for battle.
"Are you ready," Ash asked the guy, who looked at him, and said.
"You finally decided to battle, ha?"
"Yeah, I'm done mocking you," Ash said with a smirk, and the guy bristled again.
"Sandslash, use Poison Sting!" The guy yelled.
Sandslash rolled into a ball and started spinning around quickly, firing white needles from out of the quills on its back at Bagon.
"Dodge, and use Dragon Claw!" Ash said.
Bagon jumped high in the air thus dodging Sandslash's attack, and did a front flip toward Sandslash, while one of his hands become surrounded in a light green, claw-shaped energy. He then fell in front of the Sandslash and strike it with the claw, which made Sandslash cry in pain, and rolled backward.
"What the hell," the guy yelled! "Sandslash, get up, don't lose like that!"
Sandslash rose up, and stood ready to continue the battle, though there were few bruises from Bagon's attack.
"Now, use Swift!" The guy said, and Sandslash rolled into a ball again, and spins, firing white stars out of its quills at Bagon.
"Let's see if you learned it," Ash said. "Use Protect!"
A turquoise force field appears in front of Bagon's body, right as Sandslash attacks reached him, and many stars collided with the force field around Bagon, and protected him from the attacks.
After Swift ended, Bagon released the force field, and breathed a little hard, and there was some sweat on his face.
"So, you can do it, but you didn't master it yet," Ash said, while Bagon looked at him. "But don't worry, you will. Soon."
Bagon shuddered a little at Ash's tone, but quickly recovered, and looked back at Sandslash and his trainer, who looked at them with wide eyes.
"Now, finish them with Dragon Breath!" Ash said.
Bagon breathed in, and released a light blue fiery blast from his mouth at Sandslash, who didn't dodge in time, not that its trainer told him to dodge, and got hit by the beam, which caused an explosion that sent Sandslash backwards again, and this time it didn't get up, so the battle was over.
"It looks like I win," Ash said, with a smirk on his face that was matched by Bagon.
"Like hell you win, that Cyndaquil is mine," the guy said, and took all of his Pokémon, and was about to release them all, but!
"You should stop and think about what you are about to do, because if you do it, there will be no turning back for you," Ash said in a deep tone of voice, while his eyes were narrowed and glowing.
The guy stopped, and shuddered at the tone of Ash's voice and because of his glowing eyes, so he quickly placed his Poke Balls back and returned his Sandslash, and then run away while yelling.
"This is not over! I will defeat you one day!"
And then he was gone in the forest, while Ash and the others, including Cyndaquil were looking toward the forest where the guy ran off to.
"That guy is a moron," Ash said with a sigh, and then turned toward Cyndaquil, who was now looking at him. "Let's have a battle, and if I win, you come with me."
Cyndaquill just stood there looking at Ash for a while without moving or saying anything, but after almost a minute he walked down to the ground, and stood in front of Ash.
"There is no need to battle, I know I can't win, and since you appear to be a great and strong trainer, and can even understand Pokémon language, then I will come with you, as I doubt I will ever find someone better to be my trainer." Cyndaquil said, and Ash rose his eyebrows for a second, before he smiled.
"Well, if that's your decision, then I won't push you to fight," Ash said, pulled out an empty Poke Ball, and taped it on Cyndaquil's head, and he got sucked inside of it, and few seconds later, the ball dinged, and Cyndaquill was caught.
Ash then returned Bagon after saying he did ok, but he needs more training, and then Serena, Misty and Brock approached him.
"You caught that Cyndaquil easily," Brock said, and Ash shrugged.
"He realized he can't win, and decided to just come with me, as he thinks he will hardly ever be able to find better trainer," Ash replied.
"Speaking about easily," Misty started, and everyone looked at her. "You let that guy get away easily."
"Don't worry about him," Ash said. "That guy is not like Damian. Damian was cruel, this guy is not, he's just… a moron, I'd say for the lack of better word. He needs to learn to control himself first, and then train Pokémon."
"If you say so," Misty said with a shrug, and then asked. "So, are we going to continue now, or are we making a stop for launch?"
Ash looked at the time on his Pokedex, and said. "I guess it is time for launch, so we should finish that now, and won't have to stop again later."
"Ok then, I'll start making launch, while you all can wait," Brock said, and started unpacking his backpack.
Serena and Misty decided to help him with it, but Ash didn't. "I'm going to call my dad, and ask him how the things with Tohjo Falls are going, while you make a launch."
"Ok, Ash," Serena said, and he walked a little away from the others to call his father.
After he dialed a number, and waited for a few moments, before Red answered from the other side.
"Hey son, what's going on," Red asked. "You didn't call for a while, I thought you forgot about me and the rest of the family."
"Hey dad, don't worry, nothing happened, and I didn't forget about the family, I just didn't have to talk about anything," Ash said. "Besides, none of you called me as well."
"Yeah, I guess you got me there," Red said while smiling. "So, what going on, how is the journey going?"
"It's ok," Ash replied with a shrug. "We are now close to Azalea Town, and should be there in about two days, so that going fine, I guess."
"I thought you would be done with Azalea by now," Red said.
"We went in Blackthorn first, and then in Violet, and now we are going to Azalea," Ash said.
"Ah, I see," Red said, and then changed the subject. "Ok, but anyway, I talked with Amber the other day, she told me you split up, why's that?"
"She met some friends in New Bark Town who are all starter trainers like she is, and decided to travel with them," Ash replied. "I will admit, I didn't like it, but I couldn't stop her, as she might end up resenting me because of that, and she was also right when she said she will learn to take care of herself better if I'm not with her, so in the end I accepted her decision."
"Ok," Red said. "I guess she is right that she will take care of herself better without you there to watch over her every move. You are a little overprotective."
"Yeah, thanks' for that," Ash said with a frown, while Red laughed. "So, where are you now?"
"I'm in Rota with Riley and Urahara," Red replied. "We are going through some business, and researching the shards from Tohjo Falls."
"Is that right," Ash asked. "Well, that's good because that's why I called. I'm interested in knowing how the things went? Were you able to by the Falls, or is there a problem?"
"Nah, there was no problem at all," Red replied. "It didn't take long to convince Kanto and Johto leaders, as well as Pokémon League to sell the Falls to Ketchum Family after I promised to build a new passage between Kanto and Johto."
"Hah, told you there won't be a problem if you do that," Ash said, and smiled. "So, what did you discover?"
"Well, after we spoke last time, I went there with Riley and Urahara, and we investigated the entire Falls with some equipment, and confirmed you were right, the entire Tohjo Falls, are practically a big mountain of colored shards, Heart Scale's, Star Piece's, Revive Stone's and a shit load of Moon Stone's, but the shards are the largest in quantity.
"It was after that, that I had the meeting with the others, and bought the place, then we cleaned it up from all the Pokémon who lived there, and moved them to a different location, and then the mining started." Red explained.
"So, was it worth anything," Ash asked. "I know that shards are not worth a lot, but in that number, and with all the other stuff, I thought we can do something with them."
"And you were right," Red said, and Ash rose his eyebrows. "That's why I'm here with Riley and Urahara. Urahara discovered that those shards absorb the Sun's radiation, and can be used as a power source, so we are doing some research to see how much radiation it can hold, and how harmful it is to the leaving beings."
"And?" Ash asked.
"Well, we discovered that the shards can absorb radiation indefinitely as long as they are in the sun light, and the only way someone can be affected by it, is if they are in contact with big enough piece, but only in contact, as the shards don't spread the radiation around it, and is contained inside of it," Red said. "Also, we discovered that a big enough shard can be used as a power source, and can power up the entire City for a month. That's of course if the stone is not exposed to the sun during the entire day, if it is, then a piece the size of 10 meters in diameter, can power up the city the size of Saffron, forever."
"That's amazing," Ash said, really surprised by the discovery. "But wait. If they affect leaving beings with radiation when they are in contact with the shard, then how come it never affected anyone?"
"That's because the shard needs to be quite big to be affecting leaving beings with radiation," Red said. "They are usually found in small pieces, and pieces like that cannot affect anybody, unless you strap it to a string and constantly wear it as a necklace or something."
"That's good," Ash said. "Wouldn't want people to start getting sick because of something I suggested."
"Don't worry," Red said. "The Falls are closed right now, and there is a road around it, that will stay like that until we completely take down the Falls, and build a new road, and since no one is going there who doesn't know how to keep themselves safe, no one will get sick, and also, we won't release the shards in public if we discover that it would be too dangerous to use them."
"OK, dad," Ash said, and then he remembered something else. "Hey, how are Tyranitar and Aggron I sent to Urahara?"
"They are doing fine," Red replied. "Urahara told me they are in good care under some of the best doctor we have, and that they will be completely healed in a few months."
"Great," Ash said. "Well, I should go, the others must be waiting for me to have a launch."
"Ok, it was good to hear from you," Red said. "And try to call more often, you know how Delia is."
"Yeah, I know," Ash said with a sigh. "I'll try to call more often."
"Though now that you mentioned mom, where is she? Is she with you in Rota, or is she in Pallet Town?"
"She's here as well," Red replied. "But she stayed in the palace, while I'm in the headquarters with the others."
"Ok, tell her I said hi, and that I'll call her when I get the chance," Ash said, and after Red nodded, they both said a good bye to one another, and hanged up.
Ash then left his Pokedex in the backpack, and walked back to where the others are.
"Hey Ash, you took a while talking with your dad," Brock said. "Did something happen?"
"No, nothing happened," Ash replied. "It just took a while to explain me all the stuff he and the others discovered in the Tohjo Falls, and the research they are doing."
"So, what did they discovered," Serena asked, as they all started to eat?
Ash then started explaining what his father told him, while they were eating, so it took a while to finish both, and after they did finish with launch, they picked their stuff up, and continued their journey to Azalea Town.