Yo, sorry for the late update. Things have been busy, not helped by writers block and the like. Still, in light of the not so recent events, I'd like to dedicate this chapter in loving memory of Rachael Lillis. Gone, but not forgotten.
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"Misty, are you feeling alright?" Ash asked as he, Brock, and Cedric looked at Misty with concern as the Vaporeon looked like she'd been run ragged.
"Oh I'm fine. Just regretting my life choices in the last two days," Misty said dryly, causing the three of them as well as Pikachu and Jeffrey to wince as they knew the cause. It had been two days since they left Hop Hop Hop Town…and Misty was very much regretting agreeing to take in Psyduck. It was a known fact that Psyducks had latent Psychic abilities that manifested in the form of a headache that they always had, hence them constantly holding their heads, but as far as Misty had been aware, most Psyducks could at least still listen to commands and the like. This one however? So far with a few exceptions it seemed like he didn't even notice she was talking to him many times. Needless to say that made trying to train Psyduck a LOT harder than it needed to be, and on top of that Psyduck seemed to be…a little odd. Among other things how often he'd pop out of his Pokeball the moment a Battle started, effectively forcing himself into the lineup even when Misty was planning to send out someone else. He was also VERY insistent many times which would be a problem for her if she were in an official battle and not just practice.
Still, Misty didn't grow up in a Gym dedicated to Water Pokemon without learning a few tricks…a few tricks that were falling flat with this Psyduck, seeing as aside from being dense as a brick wall thanks to his headache, he…was a little unbalanced combat ability wise. For starters, his headache needed to be REALLY bad before he could tap into his powers, but when he did well…Onix was still keeping his distance from the water fowl after the last practice match. But in exchange well…Psyduck was below average without his Psychic powers. Seriously, this was the first time they'd ever seen a Water Gun that wasn't purposely made to be little stronger than an average garden hose. In short, as things were Psyduck was basically little stronger than the average Magikarp unless his headache was bad enough to tap into his Psychic abilities…of which they had no reliable means of doing so, and with his headache still being bad enough to basically distract him from almost everything…yeah. Misty was NOT having a good time trying to train her new Pokemon.
"Well uh…if it makes you feel better we're almost at our next stop, and I think you might like it too," Brock said.
"Brock wants to be a Pokemon Breeder, right?" Cedric whispered to Ash, who nodded in confirmation. "Ah, that explains why we're going to Scissor Street then," he nodded.
"What's so special about Scissor Street?" Ash blinked.
"Scissor Street?" Misty blinked, hearing him. "Oh right, aside from where there are a whole lot of salons and a few spas even, that place is also called Breeder's Lane."
"That's where we're going, yeah," Brock nodded. "And I figured you could probably enjoy a trip to one of the places there," he added a bit wryly.
"I think I'll take you up on that," Misty said a bit wryly.
The group soon entered their latest destination. The place itself didn't seem all that impressive, but the people walking around…well…you knew this was a fashion street considering the various interesting fashion styles and even hair styles that several Pokemorphs were sporting…with Pokemon that had matching styles to boot. As they walked, Brock began explaining a bit about this place…more for Ash as he had always been clueless to fashion. Seriously, the closest thing he had to a fashion statement was his hat considering it was an official Pokemon League hat. "Some of the best Breeders have shops here. There are a lot of terrific makeup and fashion salons too here, some of them are even especially for Pokemon."
"Sounds like fun," Misty said, before noticing an advertisement nearby. "And this must be the latest fashion," she said. "How cute," she chuckled.
The boys came up and well…they all looked at the image a bit funny. "Well…its something alright," Cedric said a bit dryly, seeing as the image in question…it was an Ekans and a Koffing…dressed up like well…like a circus act more than anything else.
"Come on, let's take a look!" Misty said, quickly following the directions the add had to the salon in question, the boys following after her.
"I'm never gonna understand fashion," Ash deadpanned as they followed.
"You're not the only one," Cedric deadpanned. The salon the add was pointing to was a place called Salon Roquet, and well…it certainly seemed popular what with the line in front for people to get in.
"I was skeptical when we saw the ad, I'm even more skeptical seeing the real thing," Ash deadpanned, not just at the line but also at seeing the Pokemon that came out of the salon. Let's just say some of them had a look of 'kill me now'.
"Yeah…I'm with Ash and Cedric on this one," Brock sweat dropped, looking at the Koffing and Ekans on display…the Ekans in question looking more like a Christmas Tree than a Pokemon at this point.
"Oh you three just don't understand fashion trends," Misty waved off.
"We're good thanks," the three boys deadpanned, while Pikachu and Jeffrey looked ready to run away after seeing a few more of the Pokemon who'd been put through the 'treatment'. Fortunately before Misty could actually try to convince anyone to get in line, Brock noticed something…and provided a good distraction.
"Hey, there's the shop I've been looking for!" he said, pointing at a decidedly less eye catching shop…though to be fair, no shop could possibly match Salon Roquet on this particular part of the Scissors Street. Either way, he quickly went over to the shop, allowing the others to see it, and noted that the most notable thing about the shop was the Vulpix printed on the door. Brock reached out for the door handle but well…nerves were getting to him.
"Okay, this is funny when it's on TV. In real life, it's kind of sad," Cedric said a bit dryly as he grabbed the door handle and opened it for Brock. "You're welcome."
"Hi, can I help you?" a voice said from inside, causing Brock to flinch a bit but ultimately go in as the others went in as well. Inside they found a female Furret with long teal colored hair. She was dressed in the type of uniform one would expect from someone working in a salon. Though she said that, her attention was focused firmly on the Pokemon on the massage table in front of her as she continued to massage the Chansey laying on it…and if they weren't seeing things this Chansey's skin was so well taken care of that it looked like she was glistening in the light. "There, now you'll have more energy," she said with a smile as the Chansey examined herself in front of a mirror and boy did she look happy.
That was a feeling shared by the Chansey's trainer who came to pick her up soon after, looking just as pleased as their Pokemon. The two soon left, but not before the Trainer thanked the Furret, referring to her as 'Suzie'. With that done, she turned to the group. "May I help the next customer?" she asked.
"Uh…we're not really sure why we're here," Ash said a bit awkwardly, Pikachu also shrugging from where he'd decided to settle on Ash's head.
"Though he might be able to tell you why we're here," Cedric chuckled a bit, pointing his thumb at Brock who looked like he was still trying to get his head on straight. Before he could though…
"Hey, that Vulpix is adorable!" Misty said as she saw a Vulpix curling up for a nap on a nearby chair, quickly walking over to it, Ash following after her as he took out his Pokedex and scanned the Vulpix.
"Vulpix, the Fox Pokemon. Vulpix is a Fire-type Pokemon first discovered in the Kanto Region. The flame sacs within a Vulpix are said to burn with an eternal flame, and as such Vulpix can grow into one of the strongest Fire-type Pokemon with the right training."
Misty stopped short from picking up the Vulpix at that bit of info. "...why do I feel like I just dodged a bullet?"
"More like a flamethrower to the face," Ash sweat dropped.
"Yes, I'm afraid that Vulpix isn't very fond of strangers touching or picking her up," Suzie said. "You would not have been the first person she's reacted…badly to," she winced.
"Glad I didn't do anything stupid then," Misty gulped.
"Uh…Suzie?" Brock spoke up, apparently FINALLY able to get his head on straight.
"Yes?" Suzie asked.
"M-my name's Brock. Nice to meet you Suzie. I want to breed like you-I mean I want to be a Breeder like you!" Brock said…particularly frantically at the end.
"Smooth," Cedric sweat dropped, while Brock looked like he wanted the Earth to swallow him up right now.
Fortunately for him it seemed that Suzie didn't particularly mind. "That's very nice of you to say, and I'm flattered you want to make me your model, Brock," she said. That prompted more stuttering from Brock which frankly just confused everyone listening, till finally he got his head on straight. Again.
"W-what I'm trying to say is…Suzie, I'm begging you to accept me as your pupil!" Brock said.
"...is it wrong I'm kind of impressed he hasn't gone into that flirt mode?" Ash whispered to Misty, earning a rather half-hearted elbow from her.
"Well…I'm flattered you're asking, but I don't have pupils, Brock," Suzie said. "Breeding takes up all of my time."
Nobody really paid attention to Cedric choking on air, save for Ash who quickly went over to him and slapped him on the back. "Not to sound completely ignorant, but how do you even know her?" Ash asked. THAT got Brock's attention, to which he…regaled them on Suzie's accomplishments as a Breeder, including the accomplishments of her Vulpix. He sounded like a serious fanboy honestly.
A short while later saw Suzie serving everyone some tea while the group released their Pokemon to enjoy a meal, Pikachu and Jeffrey in particular enjoying a nice bowl of Pokemon food that Brock made next to the table their trainers were sitting at. "So you four are on a journey together?"
"More the three of them than me. I'm gonna need to get back to the research soon enough," Cedric chuckled.
"Still, I can tell you've been enjoying this journey," Suzie chuckled, before looking at the two Pokemon. "Your Pikachu and Girafarig have lovely coats," she said and then turned to Brock. "Are you the one who prepares all of their food?"
"Y-yes I do!" Brock said, standing at attention.
"Brock's Pokemon Food is his own recipe, and its WAY better than the store bought stuff," Misty chuckled.
"It's so good me and Cedric have been trying to learn how to make it ourselves for our Pokemon. Still a work in progress though," Ash chuckled, earning a nod of agreement from Cedric.
At that moment, Vulpix came over, looking at the Pokemon Food curiously, to which Pikachu offered her a piece. An offer she took and found the food to her liking as the three Pokemon were now eating out of the bowl.
"Oh my," Suzie said, sounding rather impressed, earning confused looks from the others, so she quickly explained. "Vulpix usually doesn't eat any Pokemon Food unless I prepare it. The fact she's enjoying Brock's Pokemon Food means a lot," Suzie smiled, which in turn made Brock even more flustered at the praise Vulpix had just given him indirectly.
The group had a slight chuckle at that, before Cedric spoke up. "Though speaking of Breeders and Salons, what was up with the tacky place nearby?"
"If you mean Salon Roquet, then it opened up recently, and ever since then, its started something of a trend that focuses on making Pokemon as flashy as possible. While I have nothing against wanting to accessorize, this trend is FAR too focused on outward appearances at the cost of completely ignoring a Pokemon's inner strength and beauty," Suzie frowned.
"Is it really that bad?" Misty blinked. "I thought the outfits looked pretty cute."
"They look like they'd trip up the Pokemon the moment a Battle started," Ash deadpanned.
"I'm operating under the assumption most people wouldn't make their Pokemon fight in something like that," Misty deadpanned right back.
And somewhere over in Hoenn, someone sneezed as their Pikachu ran around while wearing a frilly pink dress.
"Still…with how quickly the trend started, I've been wondering whether or not I need to rethink how I've been doing things," Suzie sighed.
"Don't say things like that!" Brock suddenly said, surprising everyone a bit. "Suzie, you have to keep following the path you believe in!" he encouraged.
"Though with how that Salon is taking all the customers, she'll definitely still want to try and do something," Cedric commented idly, causing Brock to deflate slightly.
"But what can we do?" Suzie frowned.
"If only there was a way to get everyone to know the benefits of your style," Ash mused, and his words seemed to give Brock an idea.
"That's it! If they're selling Style without substance, then we'll just have to show people Substance with Style!" he said, earning a few blinks of confusion from the others.
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His idea turned out to be a lecture/demonstration on methods of Pokemon Care, aiming to show the style and spirit of Suzie's way of being a Breeder. And from the crowd they were gathering, it was working. Everyone was very much intrigued as they watched Suzie work on Pikachu as she gently massaged him, Pikachu clearly enjoying it as she knew just where to apply some pressure, while her hands glided over other parts, all the while she was explaining every step she was doing in the therapeutic massage.
Along the way she even called volunteers, Ash being the first as he soon got into a good rhythm for the massage, Pikachu enjoying it arguably even more than when Suzie did it. The session continued on as more people joined in, and even Brock got to get some hands on practice, working on a few volunteer Pokemon, and even got to work on Vulpix after some coaxing from Suzie and acceptance from Vulpix. All in all, it was a huge success.
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"Wait, are you serious?" Brock asked in surprise. The reason being that Suzie had asked him to take care of Vulpix. With everything that happened today, she'd decided that she wanted to go on a journey of her own to expand her horizons, yet she'd also asked that he take care of Vulpix as well.
"Of course. You're the first person other than me that Vulpix has been friendly with, and right now I believe you could do a better job of raising her than me," Suzie smiled. "Can I count on you?"
"L-leave it to me, Suzie! I won't let you down!" Brock said, tears of joy in his eyes at her acknowledgement, while Vulpix rubbed against his leg.
"Thank you, Brock," Suzie smiled before giving him the Pokeball that was tied to Vulpix, Brock accepting it and soon recalling Vulpix, smiling as he promised he'd take very good care of the Pokemon she'd entrusted to him.
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A few days soon passed, and the group was once again on the road. "The next City we're aiming for should be Fuschia," Brock said. Currently the Rhydon was keeping an eye on the nearby pot as he let the food simmer, while taking the time to brush Vulpix's coat, the fox Pokemon clearly enjoying it.
"I hope Ash has a plan, or Koga's gonna give him a bad time," Misty chuckled a bit, the Vaporeon leaning against a nearby tree.
"I think he'll be alright," Brock mused.
"What makes you say that?" Misty asked.
"Now that you mentioned Koga, didn't Mrs. Ketchum's fight with you feel familiar?" Brock said.
Misty blinked before her eyes widened as she realized what he was getting at. "Hey, now that you mention it…her style DOES remind me of how Fighters from Fuschia would fight. Do you think she's from there?"
"There is a similarity, but its a bit different," Brock mused. "Well, if you want to know for sure we could always ask Ash," Brock said, the two looking to where Ash was currently in the middle of sparring with Primeape, while Pikachu was with Cedric and Jeffrey watching the spar.
"Sorry I haven't been giving you much exercise. It's just been one thing after another lately," Ash chuckled apologetically as he redirected a punch from Primeape.
Primeape just shrugged, before blocking a kick from his Trainer. He didn't mind too much, and he was getting some exercise now. Speaking of which he had to focus seeing as Ash quickly disengaged from the kick, and closed the distance with another punch, Primeape just barely evading the attack. The two continued to trade blows, evading or blocking as necessary. However, their spar was cut short when Pikachu's ears perked up, to which he alerted Cedric. "Something's coming?" Cedric blinked, having a rough idea judging by the ears.
"Not something dangerous I hope," Misty frowned as the spar was abruptly ended.
"Doubt it. If it was, we'd probably be seeing more signs of that," Brock shook his head.
"True," Ash mused, but the group still looked to where Pikachu's attention was and soon saw a Pokemon come running down the road. The Pokemon in question quickly revealed to be a Hitmonchan.
"There's something you don't see every day," Ash blinked as he took out his Pokedex.
"Hitmonchan, the Punching Pokemon. Hitmonchan is a Fighting-type Pokemon first discovered in the Kanto Region, and is one of the Evolved forms of Tyrogue. Hitmonchan are nimble Pokemon with a powerful affinity for punches be they Moves or otherwise. The punches of a trained Hitmonchan have been known to be so fast they are seemingly invisible.
"Yikes, wouldn't want to get punched by one of those," Cedric winced. "Still…first time I've seen a wild Hitmonchan," he mused as the Hitmonchan, completely ignoring them, stopped its jog and started shadowboxing.
"Well…normally the obvious training would imply he has a Trainer, but…Fighting Pokemon tend to train with or without a Trainer anyway," Brock sweat dropped.
"That honestly makes this all the more tempting," Ash sweat dropped.
"Hey, if you and your Pokemon want to get punched in the face, be our guest," Misty snorted, Pikachu already inching away. Yeah, he wasn't interested in fighting that if he didn't have to.
"Don't say that like we're gonna lose," Ash deadpanned, Primeape looking a little offended too. "Guess we'll just have to prove her wrong, huh Primeape?"
With a quick nod of agreement, Primeape jumped and landed in front of Hitmonchan who seemed momentarily surprised, but he could recognize a challenge when he saw one, and immediately got into a ready stance.
The Hitmonchan moved first, going for a Mach Punch judging by the speed of the punch. The distance made it too fast for Primeape to even try to dodge, so he quickly blocked by crossing his arms. However, to his surprise the force pushed him back a bit. It seemed this one was a strong one.
"We'll fight punches with kicks! Primeape, Low Kick!" Ash ordered. In response, Primeape quickly closed the distance and aimed for Hitmonchan's legs. However, the Hitmonchan reacted faster and quickly jumped back, causing the attack to hit empty air. Primeape quickly regained his balance, just in time to see Hitmonchan land on his feet before surging forward and launching several rapid punches his way, all of which he was forced to block by crossing his arms defensively.
Ash growled at seeing Hitmonchan take control of the battle like this. As things were Primeape didn't even have any openings to exploit. At this point he had a feeling they'd picked a fight with a trained Pokemon, but he wasn't one to back down either. "Primeape, Seismic Toss!" he ordered, hoping to take advantage of their close proximity, something Primeape realized as well as his eyes narrowed and he reached out, grabbing hold of Hitmonchan at the cost of taking a few hits. He moved to grapple Hitmonchan, but Hitmonchan acted quickly, and suddenly his fists ignited with fire, forcing Primeape to let go when he felt the heat suddenly at his hands…and was met with a flaming punch to the face, sending him tumbling back, Ash quickly moving to catch him.
"You okay?" he asked, Primeape shaking the daze off and some of the pain, before nodding in affirmation, immediately getting ready to fight again. "Alright, try a Cross Chop!"
Primeape nodded and charged forward, crossing his arms which glowed with energy. Primeape quickly lashed out at Hitmonchan, but Hitmonchan met the attack head on with a Mega Punch, the two attacks clashing with each other for a moment, before with a roar, Hitmonchan's attack broke through, sending Primeape flying back and skidding to a halt next to Ash.
Primeape growled as he quickly got up…but by that point the Hitmonchan had already surged in front of him…and proceeded to land a barrage of hits.
"Primeape!" Ash gasped, but couldn't do anything before Hitmonchan hit landed a strong uppercut that sent Primeape flying back, landing on his back with swirly eyes.
"Yikes, that's one well trained Hitmonchan," Cedric gulped a bit.
"He's not gonna go after us now is it?" Misty asked, looking a bit worried. Fortunately the Hitmonchan just shadow boxed the air a bit before raising an arm in victory.
"Nope, I think he's had his fill," Brock sweat dropped.
Ash was making sure Primeape was alright, before quickly recalling him. "You did great, Primeape. Take a good rest," he said to the Pokeball, before glaring at the Hitmonchan who looked rather smug with himself. "Okay, you're strong, but we haven't lost yet!" he said, hand going for another Pokeball.
"Actually I think you just did," came a new voice, as a Throh Pokemorph walked up next to the Hitmonchan. He was built like a tank, with short brown hair and the typical red, rock-like skin of his species. He was dressed in a white tank top and blue pants, while hanging on his neck was a red towel, giving him the look of a coach of some kind. "Your Primeape put up a half decent fight, but that's not gonna be nearly enough to beat my Hitmonchan," he smirked.
Ash looked a bit taken aback before he glared back. "Wanna bet?" he growled, while the Throh just smirked. This wasn't over yet.
