POKEMON SI
Dying is not how anyone though it would be. I should know I have experienced it. It is filled with pain, blood, fear, desperation, and the loss of control on your bodily functions.
But that did not stop me from enjoying terrifying and near life threatening activities with a smile on my face and giddy spring in my feet.
One such example was right now when I was flying over the back of a massive Pidgeot with an equally large Charizard hot on our tails. The sun had risen a few minutes ago and the sky was a beautiful orange colour. My eyes were covered by goggles and I was grinning like a loon as the air speed across my face. The sun was to our right side and its glare was shining off the Charizard's scales.
Millennium, my Pidgeot, had to dive downwards at the sudden appearance of a Metagross, who made an odd metallic sound as we escaped his clutches.
"No cheating, Skynet," I screamed at the Psychic type who had teleported in front of us. The steel Pseudo Legendary made a sound of acknowledgement to me even if I knew he would still try to do it.
Metagross were not Pokémon who would ignore the obvious solution in front of their eyes for following some arbitrary rules. Their super computer minds depended more on efficiency and results and not teleporting to make the game fair was not a concept the creatures understood.
It had taken time to have Skynet listen to my commands and not fight in ways that broke the rules of the League. I only used him in Gym Battles or official battles after he had evolved into Metagross in Fuschia.
The battle that caused his evolution had been a bad one for us. A team rocket officer had infiltrated the Fuschia Gym as a Gym Trainer and had escaped with league secrets. I had intercepted the man and engaged him in a fight. I defeated his Goldbat and Ratticate with Princess.
The man had snarled and released a Rhyperior and a Houndoom and none of my team were ready for such a fight. I had only Skynet.
The Houndoom shut down his psychic moves and evolution had been the only thing that had saved us that day.
It had been quiet a surprise to find a colony of these Pseudo Legendries in Mt. Moon. I had just helped a Clefairy escape from some poachers who were looking for their colony. They were threating the Clefairy to reveal the colony's location. Inferno had been large and strong enough to scare them away.
The Clefairy had led me to their colony and right beside it was the Metagross hive, protecting the Moon Stone along with the Cleffable community.
The poachers though had a Diglett follow us and the Diglett had led them to the centre. I had defended the community and the hive against the poachers and some of the Metang there had shown an interest in joining me.
I chose to take on the largest of the available choices and defeated him.
It had been a lot of work to have Skynet listen to me. I used him in mostly battles against wild Pokémon or the occasional encounter with one of the gangs of Kanto or poachers since those battles did not follow any rules. I had managed to have him listen to my commands completely on the way to Fuschia. I did not know why he stared doing it but I was glad.
Professor Oak was off the opinion that it was a gradual process. Metagross and their line were known to be observant and it picked up on how fast my Pokémon were growing in strength as compared to the wild and was eager to listen from then on.
I screamed at the top of my lungs as we descended towards the ground. I could make out a speck flying towards us at speeds that could rival a Fighter Jet.
My keen-eyed flying buddy picked up the creature that was approaching us too.
What I did not notice but she did was the other creature rushing us from the ground. I never knew what calculations went through my girl's head for her to time her dodge so well to have the Scyther and Aerodactyl collide like that but hey what I did not know I could not spoil.
She flew off with a huff of amusement her chest puffed out in pride and I was grinning at her expression. I looked down from my position to see a Machamp and a Gallade putting an Electabuzz through his paces.
The Electabuzz looked like a magnificent specimen of his species. He was five feet tall and looked on the cusp of evolution, once I figured out how I could do that without having to go all the way to Sinnoh.
Electrivire were not Pokémon generally found in the wild. Highly trained Electabuzz who have been in such a stage for atleast two year or more became Electrivire through an unknown process that too only in Sinnoh.
It has been a tradition in Sinnoh. Trainers with Electabuzz that was older than two years would suddenly find them missing. They would return about two to three months later as an Electrivire.
All they had managed to summarize was that they went to Mt. Cornet. Nothing more. What triggered the evolution is unknown, since the trainers tended to lose the Electabuzz in the forest and the hilly slopes around the mountain or they died due to wild Pokémon there.
Electrivire was only found in the Sinnoh region. There has never been an evolution of Electabuzz outside of Sinnoh except for once in the Orre region during the Cipher wars. That Electrivire belonged to Gym Leader Lt. Surge. The man was not sure what caused it though since he was knocked out during the evolution.
Some of the people thought it might have been the shadow energy. Such experiments had not ended well.
The Electabuzz fur was pristine and the black stood out prominently with static running over his fur. His arms looked capable of ripping apart metal as he practiced what looked like a Focus punch and his tail was thick with muscles. His antenna ears were shiny the tuft of hair prominent.
But the other two Pokémon around him put him to shame.
The Machamp was easily nine feet tall. His sheer presence was enough to probably cover some Pokémon in fear.
His bluish skin was covered by some superficial scars. His four thick arms were showing the Electric type the proper technique for the punch. Each muscle under his skin ripples as he moved them and the ridges over his head shined.
His legs were just as thick and corded with muscles and his lips were spread in a vicious smirk that struck a primal part in my mind telling me to run for the woods. But I had nothing to fear.
I had found this guy as a Machop outside the mouth of Mt. Moon on route four battling it out with three Rhydons without an ounce of fear in his body. I stood there watching as his dished out as much punishment as he got on each Rhydon and never did he falter. There was no fear in his eyes, just sheer determination and will to see this fight through.
I stepped in when a much larger Rhydon, probably the leader had showed up and tried to kill the little fighting type yet he had not stopped. I had to save him before he got himself killed. That had not been fun.
I later found out from the Ranger Post nearby that his father a Machamp had set territories for each Pokémon and had been the peacekeeper for this little stretch of the forest. With his death, these Rhydon had been causing all sorts of Chaos. The Rangers were barely able to keep the peace and until the leader Rhydon was defeated they would be stuck as such.
I had helped them, with motivating the little Pokémon to stand up to their adversaries before I had talked with Tetrax and helped him learn Ice Punch. The attack with a combination of Fire Punch and Brick Break proved to be devastating against the lead Rhydon.
After the defeat, the Rangers had set up a new guardian in the form of one of the larger Machoke who they would train themselves. I had suggested Tetrax but the fighting type insisted on joining me.
He had evolved after our third gym battle. We participated in the P1 Grand prix (why cause the prize money was huge) and won the final against Anthony who had a Primeape (the irony is not lost on me). Thankfully he did not offer to train Tetrax (not that I would have given him to the man) but I did help him reconnect with his family. The result of that good dead still made my lips tingle. His daughter was hot and the kiss was heavenly.
His final evolution had been a scientific discovery, so to speak. Till that point, a trade evolution had not been done.
Machamp were very rare in the wild cause it took them years to build up the muscle mass and energy to sustain such an evolution. Years they did not have cause Machoke were commonly killed as they acted as guardians for smaller Pokémon.
Machoke that had trainers needed at least one and a half year to develop enough to become Machamps naturally. One and a half year full of a special diet and exercises.
I had worried about the fact that Tetrax might be affected badly from my decision and hence had held back the evolution for much longer then needed.
It was only when he had reached a height that could rival most adult average Charizard's (6 feet) did I evolve him. There were no side effects. He was just as good as the Machamp that became so the normal way.
I did so by transferring him from one Pokeball to another. It was common practice, when trainers were handling larger teams, they tend to have specifically designed pokeballs to make it easy to remember which is which. There had been many embarrassing situations where Trainers had called their Pokémon back with the wrong pokeball.
I had studied the energy for the trade mechanism and the pokeball transfer mechanism and realized it was the same.
When I transferred him from a regular poke ball to special blue poke ball with his name on it, I had a Machamp instead of a Machoke. Tetrax had been shocked and elated.
The research paper taking about the energy used in transfer systems and trading triggering evolution in Pokémon had been well received. There were tests going on to find out which Pokémon could do so and why.
Professor Oak was leading these tests since it was research that had come from his sponsored trainer. I enjoyed working with the old man.
Until now, Genagr, Slowking and Politoad had been confirmed Trade evolutions with two of them needing items. He wanted to check with Electabuzz but I held him back citing he was not still completely listening to me. Scyther he was not even considering.
It was true. The method I had gotten him was a little odd to say the least. I had been in Dark City and it was being torn apart by two rival gangs. I had hated what they were doing to prove themselves stronger and join the central crime family of Fuschia, the Crimsons.
I had, with the aid of Gary Oak, systematically dismantled both gangs in the city and then challenged the leaders. Skynet had taken care of Electabuzz while Millennium had wrecked the Scyther. Given their loss they had been forced as by tradition to gift me their strongest Pokémon and I had gotten Thor and Reaper.
Reaper, the Scyther had been delighted to be rid of his trainer and had taken to me like a Tympole to water.
Thor, the Electabuzz was much more difficult. He had been the top of the food chain with underlings with his previous trainer. Now he was on the bottom of the ladder where he was given less than even the baby who did nothing except chirp annoyingly.
It had been a hit to his pride and he had lashed out a few times. Only to be beaten to the ground each time by someone from the party. Even his rival Reaper had defeated him only in a few weeks with me.
He was better now, after he realized that if he continued to be a dick, we would be a dick to him. Also, all the advantages of being my Pokémon became clear to him when Machoke had evolved without all the extra hardwork and Aerosmith my Aerodactyl had bowed down to me.
I tried to steer the man towards the metal coats regarding Onix and Scyther instead of Electabuzz but he was off the opinion that they would have to evolve naturally collecting the metal energy for the exoskeleton and skin.
Item evolution was much easier to document. Most of the times it was an accidental discoverey. Like it was with Gallade. A male Kirlia touching a dawn stone at the right time and viola-Gallade. It had taken them a few years to confirm that it was a male evolution a counterpart to the Gardevoir. One thing was common in between both. Their powers in the arcane types of energy.
If the Machamp had an overwhelming physical presence, then my Gallade was the opposite in the fact that his presence was more a mental pressure.
Gallade was a little over six feet tall. His legs were probably where he is most muscular allowing the psychic/Fighting type Pokémon to jump great heights.
His rounded hips were in perfect ratio to the body, while his chest and back spike were sharp and clear to see and his swords were retracted to his elbows.
He sat Cross legged not far from both the other Pokémon meditating. His head spike glowed indicating his use of psychic powers.
The air around him was heavy with his powers and presence.
He looked up as if sensing my presence, I gave him a smile, he returned before I bellowed, "Great work guys, keep up,"
Both the practicing Pokémon grunted their acceptance the Electabuzz a little slower than Tetrax, my Machamp and Galahad my Gallade nodded his head once.
Galahad, I found on the outskirts of Viridian before heading into the forest. I did not know what a Ralts was doing there but he had been insistent on joining me despite not knowing me. I had taken him in and he had evolved after our second gym badge.
He had informed me he was ready to evolve when we were training for our 7th Gym badge and Mr. Blaine had been kind enough to give us a dawn stone.
A roar sounded from behind us and the Charizard, my friend and starter (it still gave me high to say that) Inferno was closing in on us.
Millennium squawked something at him making the fire type roar and chase harder. The snicker I heard from her made me feel bad for my starter.
The bird was a proud little thing when I was travelling through Viridian Forest. I had battled it with Galahad and won its loyalty. It was my most steadfast supporter. Even Inferno had a few moody patches and Princess would throw tantrums but Millennium was ever reliable.
She was a Pidgeotto when I caught her and she had evolved during the Celadon City Gym battle winning the last round.
Millennium stood at about 6 and feet tall with three feet long wing span. She was massive when compared to the usual Pidgeot's and might grow even larger. Her crest looked majestic and her tail feathers clean. Her beak was sharp and shiny and her eyes were lit up in happiness at the chance to cut loose after some time (meaning three days).
We flew closer to the hilly areas of Professor Oaks coral and I could make out the slithouse of a massive Tyranitar lumbering around the mouth of a large Cave.
If Machamp could be classified as intimidating, Tyranitar was downright terrifying.
The Gojira inspired Pokémon was almost eleven feet tall and looked capable of eating a human whole with no problem.
Its spikes were the length of my forearm (and I am not a short guy mind you) and protruding from behind his head, neck, back, shoulders and tail. The patch of scales covering it's belly were shiny and well maintained.
Her teeth were sharp and capable of biting through Metal. She has seen us and reacted as I had instructed her too. She started throwing boulders at us and Millennium dodged them with glee putting on a show.
She looped, dipped, flew above, made hard turns and at one point went completely Vertical to escape in between two boulders coming at us. She even blew some of them up with Air Slash and a single concentrated blast of Hyper Beam. It was a testament to her ability, training, tenacity, and power that she could shrug off the after effects of Hyper Beam so easily.
Too bad Inferno did not see the rocks coming.
The growl of pain was music to my majestic bird.
Gaea shouted an apology to Inferno who shook his head before growling something back.
Gaes was a shock addition. A large group of Tyranitars lived in the hills surrounding Lavender Town. She had gotten lost from the hills and was rampaging through the Town when I had visited.
I had defeated her and captured her. I was off the plan to tell Professor Oak to let the monster out in Mt. Silver but the Tyranitar had dragged me to her home within the mountains. I had found Team Rocket there looking for something and having captured most of the Tyranitar living there.
I had defeated the Officer on the mission along with most of his grunts while Gaea had rescued the rest of her family. She had joined me after the rescue and I was not stupid enough to say no to that.
I heard a whoosh and looked to see Reaper closing in on us.
Millennium flew low next with Reaper in hot pursuit. We flew across the plains of the Coral and I could see a large Luxray lounging lazily on the grass.
The feline was large enough for me to ride, meaning it bordered on six feet both in length and breadth. I had realized very early in my new life that game measurements were useless.
Its shaggy black fur was clean showing a well-kept and groomed Pokémon. Its mane was wild and a few statics could be seen spread across it. His tail with a star shaped end was swishing lazily. His legs looked powerful and ready to pounce while ears twitched with the noise we were making.
He raised his head to see the ruckus and I waved my hand at the great electric lion.
"Morning, Spark,"
The feline grumbles as it rolled into a different position to get comfortable. Lazy thing.
I had got him after Damien had been exposed as the shit he was. He had abandoned a Growlithe this time and I had taken the poor thing to the Pokémon Centre.
That had been strike three for the young man and his licence had been terminated. All the Pokémon he captured were let free and all his achievements were stricken from record.
He had a bunch of rare or foreign Pokémon to his name and a Luxio was one of them. The poor beast was just as badly treated as the Growlithe was and Nurse Joy had allowed me to catch both as they needed proper specialized care then the Safari Zone.
I had sent Growlithe home cause the poor thing was traumatized while Luxio still held his spark showing a surprising amount of mental strength and resilience. I had decided to train the lion and he had proven my hypothesis true. He had won me my fourth badge and had evolved during the battle to defeat Surge's Eelektross after beating his Raichu.
The Growlithe had become a pet for the Ketchum household and my mom and my younger twin siblings had loved the fire type so much there was no trace of the traumatized creature I had found on my way to Celadon.
Reaper was closing in on us and we were flying so low I could touch the ground with my feet.
When the bug types scythe almost touched Millennium's tail feather, she took off into the air sharply.
The buy type lost its prey, lost its balance, and then crashed into the floor while the both of us watched in horrification as this happened.
We descended immediately to check on the bug type. I ran across to the large Mantis Pokémon as Millennium shuffled forward. The bug type looked to be unconscious and I could make out Spark heading towards us. Galahad teleported both Tetrax and Thor while Skynet landed too. Inferno was here along with Gaea and Sleepy my Snorlax also lumbering towards us.
Spook, Princess, and Grace were still at home while Jormun had taken to staying in the harbour.
Aerosmith was the last to descend, the prehistoric Pokémon making a worried squawk.
I was by the side of the bug checking him over. I was never gladder for my lessons in Pokémon healing.
Sure, the lab could heal his injuries and given the bug types general accelerated healing it should not be much of a problem but checking for serious alignments was my duty to ensure we could give some first aid and prevent the problem worsening while heading to the coral.
I touched and prodded in all the vital and dangerous places and nothing seemed out of place. In suspicion I started checking it all over and found no sign of an injury. Yet, maybe the shock had knocked him out.
Nonsense, we were not even past the sound barrier then. Reaper should be able to shrug it off, unless.
"Millennium," I turned to her but it was too late cause standing beside her holding her wing was Aerosmith, my Aerodactyl with a mischievous grin on his face.
His expression, said it all, got you.
Millennium squawked in protest while Inferno chastised the Dragon and Bug who woke up when the task was accomplished.
I leaned back into Sleepys mass who had promptly gone back to sleep when the threat of injury was cleared. Spark took to lying down beside my feet and I rubbed under his ear.
He purred in pleasure melting into my hand and becoming more of a house cat and less of an apex predator that could harvest one of the natural elements.
I looked to see my other Pokémon.
Skynet was lounging to the side while Inferno chewed out Aerosmith and Reaper.
Inferno's scales were shining in the sun and his tail swished around the fire on it burning brightly.
He looked down at the six feet tall bug type and the prehistoric Pokémon. An average Charizard was about six feet tall. A well trained one eight feet tall. A monster like Professor Oaks or mine would easily reach ten feet.
Inferno is eight and half feet tall now but Professor Oak was off the opinion that he would easily reach eleven feet tall (which was how tall Professor Oaks Charizard Magnus was) .
Even Lances Charizard was only nine feet tall. Professor Oak was off the opinion that Inferno much like his starter Blaze had strands of the King's Nature. The King's Nature also called the Titan Phenomenon in Paldea, referred to the fact that a Pokémon could be much larger than the average size. The number of strands of the Titan DNA the Pokémon had decided it is size. The Largest Charizard ever known was said to be almost fifty feet tall and lived a long time ago. It's skeleton was still said to be buried in the Charicific Valley.
Sleepy when he stood was about nine feet tall. He was fat and heavy yes but he was also strong. Oh, so strong. The memory of him throwing the truck across the city came to mind. Professor was sure he would grow a little more given how inactive he tended to be.
Skynet had joined the argument now. My Metagross was a prime example of his species with a brain power faster than a supercomputer. I had seen him do some amazing things when left alone. He was still developing some of his psychic powers but he was heading in the right direction.
He was six feet tall and his centre body was five feet wide. He occupied enough area to rival Sleepy in size. His four legs were much better used for crushing and gripping then for walking. He was awkward as he did the walk but Galahad corrected him into his daily exercise to develop his psychic powers. He lifted off into the air a little and glided across to the argument.
I had shown him a video of Steven Stone the scion of the Stone family and the champion of Hoenn's, Metagross fighting against one of his Elite Four. The mechanoids are not known for their speed but Steven had fixed that problem using their massive psychic prowess.
They glided across the field using their psychic powers at speeds that could rival a ninjasks. They could fly, yes and they were fast when in the air too but some of their attacks that needed the limbs were lost to them in such situations.
Galahad joined the argument that looked ready to turn into a fight and after a few words stopped the argument.
So ended the game of catch the thief with my Pokémon arguing the legality of the maneuverer performed by the crafty bunch.
My six feet tall Aerodactyl was the major voice on the other side with Reaper who was a little shorter than Aerosmith and was giving his opinion on occasion.
We would be back at it again tomorrow with Aerosmith being the target and Pallet Town would have to wait for it to again watch the grandest game of catch the thief they had ever seen.
It is good to be home.
Line Break.
"Mom, I am home," I announced as I got in through the door of our two-story house three streets down Professor Oak's laboratory.
Right in the hall sleeping on our sofa was Cleo my moms Persian. I had lived for a grand total of fifteen years in this world and never in my whole life had I seen a lazier creature. Even Slaking tended to move more than that beast.
Yes, if you had not guessed before I have essentially been inserted into the body of a young Ash Ketchum. Or atleast my memories were. I am not entirely sure.
Why do I say so? Cause I am not quiet what I was before I came into this world but neither am I the carefree kid we see in the anime. I was different.
Anyway, it was not the time for all this philosophical bullshit.
Grace, my little baby on hearing my voice floated down the steps with a smile on her face.
"Toge, Togetic," she said cutely as she flew towards me with all the grace of a ballerina. I immediately melted upon seeing my baby and hugged the cutie to my chest and cooing at her.
"Oh, baby, did you miss me," I asked her with a baby voice I remember talking to during my rounds.
You must be wondering, Ash, she is a second stage evolution, why you talking to her like she was still a Togepi. Well, the fact is that she had barely been a Togepi for a month. She had evolved almost in the first month since her hatching. Friendship Evolution. That was the answer.
She was a baby and I carried her in my hands for the whole month and playing with her while the rest of the team was training and one month later, I had an underdeveloped Togetic. It had been a pathetic sight. Her wings dropped and barely able to sustain her very weak and small body.
I was lucky the final one was not a friendship evolution. An underdeveloped Togekiss, I could barely imagine.
When the team had realized what had happened, they had stepped in all their own ways. Millennium taught her flying while Inferno had kept a tight watch. Galahad had been her knight while Gaea had shown a lot of motherly instincts in feeding my baby girl. Skynet had designed a regime to help her regain her strength and I had given the notes to Professor Oak combined with my own observations.
Those notes were known called the Ketchum Regime, a method for underdeveloped evolutions to regain their strength. It was quite popular with item evolution Pokémon. The money being rolled in for my contributions for the Trade Evolution and Ketchum Regime was… substantial. I was no Richie Rich but I could afford to splurge on occasions, like getting my mom new earrings or buying that ridiculously expensive Majo berries to help boost the inner flame of Inferno.
A good chunk of it had gone into getting TM'S and some of them had been already been in effect like Inferno working on Solar Beam or Skynet learning Shadow Claw and Brick Break. This chunk was already half filled in a week.
Anyway, the effect was that Togetic was in much better health. Healthy enough to probably start training and preparing for his inevitable evolution into Togekiss. I will give it a two more weeks before our first training exercise.
"Who is my best girl, who is my best girl, yes you are, yes you are," I tickled my best girl and she giggled in happiness.
I heard a tiny growl from the end of the staircase that led to mine and the twin's room. I looked up to see an Eeeve, my Eeeve standing there glaring at Grace.
Princess was a perfect name for her causes she was spoiled rotten and threw tantrums. She was also one of my most loyal Pokémon. If I pointed her to Arceus and told her to attack the God of Pokémon, she would ask me if she must use Shadow ball or Swift.
She also hated how much attention I gave Grace. Hell, she hated me giving attention to any of the females in my roster. It was not jealousy, if it was, she would hate me spending time with anyone other then her. So, I had asked Professor Oak first about it.
The man had laughed and said I had to figure that out myself. Mr. Blaine had been even less help in that aspect and even Uncle Gio had been no help at all.
Oh, yes. Giovanni was my uncle, my mothers' elder brother. That eliminated one of the theories about Ash's dad in my world. A dad I did not even remember. I had been five when the man had vanished. The twins had been born nine months later. My mom declared he was dead. His Pokeballs (they were tied to Aura, it is a whole thing) had broken and each of his Pokémon (except his Nidoking, Edward) had left Pallet Town.
It was ten years since that day and there was no information about the man.
I had been highly suspicious about Giovanni during my younger years but the man had even Professor Oak's approval. No psychic scan from my mom's Delphox had revealed anything and not even Professor's Alakazam was strong enough to pierce whatever Occlumency the man had.
But what won me over was the absolute delight on the man's face whenever he interacted with the twins.
He and Professor Oak had been the major father figures throughout my life and my uncles first gift, still hung from my neck. I did not know if the man gifted me a Persian Claw Necklace with a keystone imbedded in it willingly or by accident but I do not look a gift horse in the mouth.
My uncle and mom also had similar necklaces with gems but none of them were keystones. He promised to get the twins necklaces like these (which was apparently a family tradition and so was owning a Persian) during his next visit.
I had not captured a Meowth yet but both my mom and Uncle were sure one or a Persian would find me sooner or later.
"Hey, Princess, done with your beauty sleep," I asked her and the normal type huffed in irritation. She settled into a mask of indifference after that
I gave her a smile and she softened slightly before her expression of indifference returned. I placed Grace on the sofa and my little baby went on towards Cleo and hugged the cat. It returned the gesture and licked at the fairy types face making her giggle.
I got down on my knees and spread my hands for my Princess. She wagged her tail slightly and looked ready to sprint to me before holding herself back. I just put on my most earnest expression and gave her a pout at the indifference.
She lasted ten seconds before rushing into my arms and tackling me to the ground. She licked my face and I gave a large laugh at her action. She smiled cutely at me and I kissed her over her forehead and she melted further into me.
I carried the normal type in my hands while Togetic flew around me in circles and chirping her name. I rubbed Princess over her fur and she purred in pleasure. I grinned as I walked to see my mom and her Mr. Mime cooking a ton of food for the people and Pokémon found in this house.
There was my mom's Delphox, Witch, and her Mimey. Her Persian Cleo and Elizabeth her Nidoqueen and her mate Edward. There was Tank her Azumarill and her Boltund Bolt (who did not get along with Cleo) and her Leavanny, she called Cassandra.
The rest of my mom's Pokémon lived in Professor Oak's coral.
There was also Zoom, the Growlithe I had sent home.
Adding to them were Princess and Grace. Spook despite living in the houses shadow when not training did not have to really eat. Whenever the Gengar had to recharge he would head to Mt. Hidaway for a few hours before coming back all ready to prank the daylights out of people.
I was quiet smart in finding the abandoned building that became Cerise's Lab in Ash's last series. There had been only three such locations in an Industrial Belt like the Vermillion region that had enough area to be converted into the coral in the series that housed all of Goh's captures and only one of them was said to be haunted.
From there it had been hard sailing. I had barely managed to get out of there with my life when I went in there as Gengar had been a revengeful ghost. But I did leave him with a message before I ran off about my offer and what had happened.
"You must be from Lavender Town, probably from the Tower, some trainer must have come to the Tower and you being a strong final evolution must have been his go to option. He must have captured you, feed you some kind words and then used you to win the Saffron Gym Battle before abandoning you here telling you he will return,"
"So, to summarize, some jackass stole you from your house, used you and once he was done with you had thrown you away. His loss if you ask me. I collect the beast, Gengar not the species. If I want a Gengar, I can go to the tower find a Gastly and add him to my team. Heck, I could probably find something else entirely but I want you. To have all that done to you yet not go out on a killing rampage speaks of a certain amount of resilience and character. Its those traits I want, not your power or which stage you are. Power, I can help you gain but personality, that is all you and you are great,"
"I will come back for you Gengar, when you willing to be more than this, I will come for you and have you join me,"
I had come back before heading to Saffron City from Fuschia and added the Gengar to my team after a long nightmare in the hall that I realized later was a test and was not life threatening in any way.
Spook had not been easy to train. I had read several theories and papers about the ghost type and from these so called "Ghost type experts" that had been useless.
Training Ghosts types was difficult, cause well not much was really known about them. This was why people like Agatha and Allister were so well regarded. Even Morty's opinions were apparently important for the League.
Somethings though had been common in all these papers. The first was that the emotions of the ghost type were warped. Emotions did not work the same for us and them and it was important to make this distinction.
The second was that they were the most dangerous and difficult type to raise, even harder than dragon or steel types. Atleast with the Dragon or Steel type you had certain rules you could follow that could help.
For a ghost it was different. Each Pokémon was different and needed its own rules. Especially ones that were not inhabiting any objects like Gengar or Mismagius and especially Sableye. And when I said Pokémon, I did not mean a species I meant each individual ghost type.
This was true. My Gengar never lost his large grin on his face. When he was entertaining my siblings, it was the same smile and it just gained a slight manic edge when he was hunting a Raticate in the Pallet woods. It was creepy as fuck and I had allowed Spook to spend as much time as he wanted in Mt. Hideaway.
The third was that the fire was hurtful to most ghost types and so was sunlight to a certain extent.
The fourth was that Ghosts had no morality and it was the duty of the trainer to set a boundary to the amount of viciousness that can be let out and how this viciousness can be managed. This was the part where most trainers genuinely trying to work with a ghost type falter and loose their life to their very own Pokémon.
I had found a balance but barely. I found Spook had two sides to him. A mischievous, prank happy ghost and a brutal, vicious, and sadistic beast. I let out his dark side in the wild. I let him out into the wild and let him enjoy which only leaves the other personality for the battles.
This fell perfectly into the fifth and final rule so to speak. Ghosts are not heavy hitters, glass cannons or tanks. They were a class of their own and you cannot expect them to fight like these Pokémon.
I was yet to really develop any style for the Gengar and I felt like I was friends with a psychotic suicide bomber with a timer and a trigger. He might explode when the time was up or when he was bored and clicked the trigger. The results would be horrifying in both cases.
Of course, I had asked Professor Oak for help but the man had only trained one Ghost Pokémon in his whole life, a Houndstone and that beast was a ghost type Growlithe. It was the first time my sponsor had not been able to help me and this more than anything had shown how difficult it was to train Ghost Pokémon.
Rest of the team spent their time in Professor Oak's ranch and as much as I wanted my friends with me, I should also look out for their benefit and it was better to stay at the large ranch. Not to mention the house would not fit all of them.
"Ash, you are here early," said my mom as she looked to me from the huge stack of pancakes she was preparing. She walked away from the stack forcing Mimey to shift focus and balance the pancakes while working on pouring the orange juice and Grace's special diet.
"Aerosmith and Reaper cheated," I told her simply and she giggled.
"Millennium must have loved that," she said with a smile continuing to pile pancakes.
I groaned at the remainder of what I had to promise the proud Avian. I had to go write a letter to both Serena and Miette. Unlike the Ash in the anime, I had kept in contact with most of the children I had met and befriended during Professor Oak's summer camp. It was quiet a kick to become friends with some of the game protagonists like Brendan, Hilbert, and Hilda. Goh had no interest in being my friend. He kept screaming about how he would capture Mew. Stupid Fool.
Millennium loved carrying the letters for me ever since she evolved cause honestly, she loved flying and such long-distance flights really allowed her to stretch her wings and test her limits. Professor Oak had also been a huge fan of the idea and that had sealed it for me.
If you are wondering why I cannot call her well, that is a long history lesson we can get into later. Just understand that it has barely been 5 years since Kalos has opened its borders to the League and the Sky-High Dragon was very territorial.
It was much easier to talk to Brendan, Hilda, and Hilbert. Brendan had started out with a Treecko, Hilbert with a Tepig and Hilda with a Lillipup.
I had not seen Selena in a long time and I was not sure why I had kept contact with her maybe it was because I had a hard time making friends given my situation and held onto those, I had with all my strength.
Gary Oak was also another shock given that the boy was quite friendly yet competitive. Last I heard he was in Sea Foam Island looking for an Ice Type after collecting all his badges. His twin sister and arguably my best friend Daisy Oak was still collecting the badges. She had seven now. There were still 3 months for the Indigo league so she had plenty of time.
"Don't remind me, I had to promise her five letters for both Serena and Miette to convince her to not peck Reaper in the face," I grumbled.
Princess growled something that had Cleo turn to the smaller normal type with a reproachful look while Mimey had teleported to Grace and covered her ears and barked something to the cute fluff sleeping in my arms.
She disregarded both and had me rubbing her head still. I laughed at the interaction. My mom also gave a smile I returned whole heartedly. Grace fluttered around us with a large smile and I loved seeing her like this.
"Well, you can get to writing letters for Serena and Miette after you help me set the table for breakfast. Cassie are the little terrors up," asked my mom.
"Leva, Levanny," came the reply from upstairs followed by a loud bark from Zoom. He came rushing down with Bolt hot on his heels. Cleo gave the two rambunctious doggies a disgruntled look before heading to her place on the couch. She gave one final reproachful look to Princess before laying down for her nap.
The Eeeve was unconcerned about whatever it was that Cleo had told her preferring to burrow into my body. I continued to caress her body and she responded by purring and her eyes closing in pleasure.
My mom shook her head at the display before giving both Zoom and Bolt their food. The dog Pokémon dug into the food with gusto. My mom placed a bowl of Cleo special Pokenip in front of the Persian who acknowledged her with a nod of her head.
A fourth bowl was placed down for Grace with her special diet. I placed Princess down on the couch after she feel asleep before leading the little fairy to her food. I sat my baby in my lap before feeding her the vitamin supplements.
She hated eating the supplements when she was very young and that fact continued even if she understood why it was needed. This was the only way I could get her to eat the damn things. Grace made a face at the supplements but a stern look had her eating it with a grumble.
She had barely started her supplements when the twin terrors came rushing down the stairs screaming.
"Mom, mom Ashley stole my pencil case," screamed my little brother Raymond Ketchum.
"I did not, mom Raymond is lying," screamed my sister Ashley Ketchum (the irony is not lost on me).
This more than any other differences confirmed my fears that this world and the anime were different. Sure, some the facts were similar but just as many were different. No rather the basic premise was the same the rest of the stuff was as different as it could be.
Closed borders, differing Elite Fours, Undiscovered Pokémon, and danger levels through the roof. It was the perfect realistic representation of a fictional universe.
"I did not," argued back Raymond
"Did too," Ashley stuck her tongue.
"Did not,"
"Did too,"
"Did not,"
"Did…," the argument was interrupted by Cassandra my mom's Leavanny's chastising sounds.
It was one thing to read the dex entries but seeing the motherly and caring instincts was wonderful. Cassandra had been our baby sitter whenever mom had to work either at the restaurant or at Professor Oak's Lab.
I still used the green tent that Cass had woven for me when I was leaving. It was extraordinarily sturdy and had saved me from being soaked and sick on my way too Saffron a bunch of times.
Princess and Cleo growled at being woken up while Grace greeted the two terrors with a large smile and was about to fly towards them.
"Oh no you don't, little Lady," I stopped her. She was not getting out of her until her supplements were done.
Grace gave me a pout that almost melted my heart. Almost.
"Sorry Princess, sorry Cleo," apologized my brother while Ashley just went for the food.
Princess just huffed before starting to groom herself. That reminded my I had to give some of them baths and clean up their fur. Cleo just drawled a lazy meow before going back to her nap.
Cass stopped my sister before sitting down for breakfast and gave her a stern look. Ashley huffed a breath before apologizing to all of us. My mom watched all this with a smile.
"Come, big bro, let's eat," said Raymond.
It was a very enjoyable breakfast.
LINE BREAK
The dock of Pallet Town was small and modest.
Given all the technological advancements as compared to my old world, I had expected something a lot larger and grander.
The Pallet Docks did not fit any of these categories.
It could not hold more than twenty moderate sized ships at once. The largest ship that ever docked in the Pallet Docks was the weekly ferry that carried people across the sea to Cinnabar Island or carried people back to the mainland from Cinnabar.
The only people who used this ferry were generally the lab assistants, lab aids, researchers, gym trainers and sponsored trainers that were under Blaine White or Samuel Oak.
There had been talks of expanding the docks some eight years ago but the generally isolated nature of Pallet Town, the availability of the Viridian Port, Terracotta Port and Commerce City Port, and the higher frequency of the ships to Vermillion City made it pointless.
It had been revisited five years ago when the mayor changed but a new problem arose then. A large school of Carvanha had made their home in the bay. By the time the mayor had convinced everyone, the school changed from a nuisance to a problem.
Dock Master Garret had been having trouble with these vicious Pokémon ever since. The mayor had multiple relocation tries and a lot of money was spent to remove them but the school had proved much more resilient always coming back
They had started construction in belief that they had been successful only for the Carvanha to come back more vicious in their attacks. The remnants of these attacks could still be seen around the small docks.
All of that changed with the arrival of Jormun.
I remember an episode in the anime where Goh manages to catch a stupidly large Magikarp called the Lord of the Lake. Several questions had risen in my head when I had seen that beast of a Magikarp the most important ones being how the hell did this happen and how huge would a Gyarados that evolved from that Magikarp be.
When I had heard the words Lord of the Lake, during my stay in Cerulean City, I had jumped at the chance to find the answer to this question.
Heading North of Cerulean City across route 24 I had come across "The Lake of the Lord" as it had been named after this rumour spread.
The first-time sightings of the Lord of the Lake came three years ago and the number of people wanting to catch the Lord had been in the thousands. Both Rookie's and Elite is came searching for the Lord.
As the years passed the number of people wanting to capture the Lord came down drastically so much so that there were only four people trying to capture it that day and I was one of those people.
At first, I had been worried it might be a huge Luvdisc or Luminion but seeing a picture showing the Lord's large yellow top fin, I had been convinced it was a Magikarp.
I had sat down for a long day at the Lake of the Lord. As the day passed with me fishing out nothing but Goldeen and Shellder a new worry spread. There had been a lot of talk online about how the so called "Lord of the Lake" was a marketing scheme by the Cerulean Tourism Organization (CTO).
But, the existence of the Lord had been proved when one of the other trainers had managed to fish out a Magikarp the size of a mature male Great White Shark. For reference a male Great White is 11 to 13 feet long. A normal Magikarp was at best a 2 or maybe 2.2 feet long (from mouth to tail).
I had looked as the other trainer who was trying to catch the Lord with his Pokémon and my hand had moved to Skynet's Poke ball. On a normal day, I might have been disappointed at what had happened. On a good day, I might have congratulated the man.
This was neither. I was exhausted, I was hungry, I was grumpy not to mention I was still salty over my first official loss as a Trainer.
There was a tournament organized in one of the private battlefields peppered all over Cerulean by the CEO of the CTO in the occasion of his son's birthday. The kid enjoyed Pokémon battles and as the rich spoiling father that the CEO was, he organized a tourney. It was large one with almost 256 trainers participating in the contest. Its size rivalled the size of the Pokémon League in the Lental Region.
I had done well in the first three rounds before facing an older trainer by the name of Katey. She had a Misdrevaus with her. I would not have minded losing to her if she had not used moves like Hex, Curse, and Destiny Bond. She had burnt Millennium before using Hex on her. It was a sneaky good strategy that I had approved of.
What I did not approve was her using Curse on Inferno when he came out. Despite his best tries, the Fire Type could not do anything and lost its health too fast.
I had been pissed and considered letting out Skynet and seeing how she would do but before I could commit man slaughter or rather Pokémon slaughter, Galahad had cooled me down before entering the fight himself. He had evaded around the Misdrevaus with his speed and Teleports before defeating it with a super effective Shadow Ball.
The result of the battle allowed him to evolve and learn Moon Blast, which proved very useful against her Maschiff. She had defeated us using Destiny Bond. Fucking Destiny Bond.
I hated how broken that move was proving to be in the real world and was so happy so few Pokémon knew the move and most of them were ghost and dark types, arguably two of the hardest types to train.
Professor Oak had apparently seen the match and called me along with my mom. He had told me how during his son's younger years one of his rivals owned a Gengar and she was a monster who knew Perish Song, Hex, Curse, Destiny Bond, and other such moves.
He told me the same words he told his son,
"Each trainer has his own style, Ash and so does every Pokémon. You cannot expect a Alakazam to tank hit after hit just like you cannot ask a Blastoise to be nimble. Agatha's strategies are like these ones or rather these strategies are like Agatha's. Yet, she is commanded as the greatest Ghost Mistress since the Old King's days. Are they not amoral and dirty strategies then. So, I expect you to clean yourself up, congratulate that girl for training her ghost well and then figure out how to counter her,"
I still have no idea how to counter those moves.
But the loss had stung and I was very aggravated and offended over it then. So, I had let out Millennium instead to fight the man for the Lord of the Lake. I know, Ash how could you, the man caught the Magikarp and all that but I was not in the right state of mind.
When I had found it was Team Rocket, I just thanked my lucky stars and defeated them not revisiting the guilt I felt as I went after what could have just been an innocent man. Though feeling guilt was new given what I did during my last life.
Anyway, after Jormun, named after the Jörmungandr the Midgard Serpent, evolved he was almost forty feet long (I am sure, I measured him and so did Professor Oak).
Jormun could not stay in the Coral due to his sheer size so I had talked a contract with the mayor. He would allow the abnormally large Gyarados in the bay in exchange for protection against the Savage Pokémon.
I got a nice sum of money from the mayor and the man got his wish of expanding the docks. Of course, dock master Garret was also very glad with what was happening.
I stood at the edge of the dock and whistled for my favourite Sea Monster. It was a loud, clear, New York Taxi Whistle and he heard it clearly.
At about some hundred kilometres from the dock his tail appeared briefly. A minute later one of his fins popped out eighty kilometres from the deck. I made out some of his skin fifty kilometres from the deck two minutes later. The last ten kilometres I could clearly see his crest surfing above the surface of the sea at a speed that would make a Dragapult blush.
It was a commonly argued point by many water type specialists and researchers that the Gyarados species have some remnants of the swift swim ability seen in their pre-evolution Magikarp. Most important proof of this fact is the species' middling speed on the ground despite being able to keep up with the likes of a Ninjask when in the water.
Other Water specialists argued that it's natural habitat was the water and it was just awkward outside it.
Whatever the reason was given his size and speed Jormun covered about hundred kilometers in five minutes.
The great serpent rose out of the water and his sheer size was on display for everyone to see. Closing out at about sixty feet (from mouth to tail), the atrocious Pokémon scared the living daylights out of some of the Machoke, Cyclizar and Conkeldur working on the expansion. Those who were not scared by his sheer presence were when they heard him roar.
I smiled up at my not so little Sea Monster, whose eyes zeroed in on me. His head descended to my level and he gave me what could be considered a smile for the Pokémon that caused the highest number of shipwrecks in the world.
I caressed under his head which alone was almost six feet tall, (excluding the crest). He made a cooing noise from the back of his head as his eyes closed in pleasure. His mouth was also closed as he enjoyed my attention. Did I mention that his mouth opens about 3 feet in length and width.
"How have you been? Have you been a good sea terror for Captain Garret?" I asked the beast and he nodded his huge head in agreement.
"The Sea Serpentwould like to tell you that he has eaten twenty-five Carvanha, three Sharpedo, and fifteen Krabby that were trying to cause trouble, my lord," announced Galahad who had accompanied me to meet with Jormun.
This whole exercise was not for the money alone either, even if that was an important factor. Jormun was my only water type and he needed the experience to fight Pokémon underwater. He was a beast on the ground, Mr. Blaine would confirm that fact but he had no experience underwater and he did not have me to help him underwater.
As I had learnt on my journey, experience tends to beat out stuff like raw power and strategy, just like it did in my first try for the Volcano badge.
So, this was a decent exercise for him to get used to battling underwater against Pokémon who have been living underwater their whole life.
The first week had been well slow. Jormun was getting used to his increase in speed and other factors while the rest of the Pokémon in the bay kept a wide breadth from the apex predator.
Once he got used to the sea he had gone after the school.
There was almost nothing of them left in the bay.
"Thanks for that Galahad," I nodded at the psychic type as my hand travelled to his crest. The beast collapsed onto the docks moaning in pleasure at the sensations spreading through him. He might have also caused some minor seismic activity but semantics.
"It was my pleasure, my lord," said Galahad.
Oh yes, Galahad could talk to me. Atleast in my mind. It was a skill he had developed when I had sent him to the Coral during the journey from Vermillion to Fuschia. He had spent his time with Professor Oak's Alakazam, Azam who had taught him this along with long distance teleportation, flight (to a limited capacity), telekinesis and psychic awareness.
"I told you to stop calling me 'lord'," I told him exasperated.
"As I have already informed you, you are my commander in battle, and I your humble knight, it is my prerogative to call you my lord, you can't ask me to not do that, my lord," said Galahad.
"See what I have to deal with every day," I told Jormun exasperated and he nodded his head in understanding.
"The Sea Serpent sympathizes with you and offers you a ride to clear your mind of this burden, my lord," said Galahad.
"A ride, you don't say," I thought about it for some time (as in three seconds), before saying, "Galahad head back to the Lab, I'll come by in some time,"
"As you command my lord," said Galahad as he teleported back to the Coral.
I climbed onto Jormun's head and sat behind his crest holding onto it for dear life as he took off into the sea making me scream in joy.
LINE BREAK
It was Skynet and Tetrax and not Galahad at the dock to receive me.
I encouraged my little sea monster to enjoy himself and walked away from the dock.
"How has training been going?" I asked Tetrax who enthusiastically retold his whole day to me with a bunch of Karate Chops, a few head butts, and some elemental punches.
I turned to Skynet after that, "Translations?"
The steel type rolled his eyes but obliged.
"The four handed brute got into a bunch of quarrels with the some of the residents of the rocks before trying and failing to pummel the Earth Mother," said Skynet.
I chuckled at hearing that. Gaea was a lot of things, patient with musclehead idiots she was not.
The names were one of Skynet's quirks, he had nick names for most of the team. Inferno was Non-Dragon, Thor was fried brain, Millennium was air head and so on.
"What of you and the other?"
"The airhead had taken the ancient and the for a few scraps in the air. It did not end well for the ancient and the bug. Fried Brain has kept to himself and not caused any problems. The idea of being ready to evolve has kept him quiet and focused. Non-Dragon and one of the old man's brutes had engaged themselves in a competition of strength. The Feline has left for your home. I think he said something about your mothers Cat and Pussies…,"
"What?" I asked incredulous.
"What part of that was difficult?"
"The part where my Luxray and my mothers Persain were doing stuff?"
"Oh don't be baby, especially after how you made that shinobi scream and that poor intellectual on that island loose her mind in pleasure," said my Metagross
I blushed at the remainder of what I got up to with Koga's daughter during my stay in Fuschia and the hours I spent every night making Juniper, a professor in training loose her mind and sing for me in pleasure when I was in Cinnabar.
I was never glad about how Galahad had basically called me his king but I did enjoy the fact he was a knight and was willing to shield the sounds from the room to the outside world. though given the knowing looks most people shot to me and Juniper I do not think we were able to hide the fact of what we were doing at night.
For those of you who are wondering, yes. She was part of the Black and White games.
"I have enough on my plate with all of you. I do not need a Shynx or a Meowth to train," I told them with a frown. It seems both my uncle and mom were right. Maybe a Meowth would find it's way to my team.
Machamp said something at this with a few gestures of his hands and fingers, including one for penetration and eggs.
"I guess you are right, Professor Oak might enjoy studying the result of a mating between a Luxray and Persian given how rare Luxray's are in our side of the world," I nodded at the fighting type.
"Besides, I remember your mom telling you that a meowth will come find you at some point of time in your journey. Maybe this is the one," said Metagross still gliding beside me.
"How was your day?" I asked the Steel Pseudo Legendary.
"Productive, I am getting better with the esoteric side of things and well brute strength has always been my forte even before evolution. The Glutton was helpful in keeping up my strength. The fire doesn't hurt as much now,"
I was about to reply before a chill crept up my spine.
"How was your day, Spook?"
A figure materialized out of my shadows, a Gengar, who was grinning and was five feet tall and at least just as wide. Purple fumes could be seen all around him and I could make out a slight scent of dried blood along with his general poison.
The poison was reigned in almost immediately and the grin on his face was the mischievous one not the murderous one (I got good at distinguishing which is which very fast).
The dried blood was gone too a few moments later and I could see Skynet's eyes glowing. Good he was getting better with his telekinesis and senses.
"Gengar," the sound was joyous and that was all I needed.
That is a wrap.
So, this is a new story, I have started that has been rolling around my head for some time now but I never got the time to really work on it or any of my other stories. Don't worry, I haven't abandoned Master Quest and an update is on the way. But the next update might be for the Blood Wyrm.
So, till next time. Toodles, MSKN