Kezite - Nidoran

Stromm - Pichu

P.S. All credit to respective owners.

While walking through Viridian Forest, the group of electric mice decided to listen to why one of the humans seemed uneasy. It took a bit of time with Stromm doing a brunt of the translating, but eventually Noah managed to explain Ash's wariness of the situation. Many of the colony seemed to drop their wariness at this and didn't hold it against Ash; he hadn't done anything wrong and was attacked for no reason. Ash's nerves slowly unwound over time and before long he was carrying a relaxed Pikachu in his arms while a Pichu hung out of his pocket half-asleep. Noah smiled as Stromm was happily spending time with his family, convincing them he was in good hands, and they didn't need to worry.

Ash hadn't hated the Pichu line just from having one bad experience, but that wasn't to say he hadn't been a bit apprehensive about the species.

Stromm had definitely helped him cement the idea that the Pikachu in the Lab was not what he should base the entire species by, and the rest of the pack showing sympathy and affection made all of his previous reservations go. He did wonder what had happened with the Pikachu to make it hate him or just attack him for being there, but he supposed it didn't matter in the end.

He would love an electric type as they were pretty strong if you knew what you were doing and how to raise them. Lt. Surge was proof enough with his reputation of crushing rookies who swaggered in thinking they were the next Champion. His league-appointed pokemon was already a shockwave of pain and power when they got going, and his personal team was a thunderstorm all unto themselves. Ash didn't even need to point out that an electric-type would only be a benefit when he got to Cerulean. The only thing that really needed to be decided was whether or not the Pikachu or Pichu wanted to join him. His wariness had intimidated the Pichu, but the Pikachu seemed to be made of sterner stuff and stayed to listen to his experience. The Pikachu that was currently nestled into his arms seemed particularly inclined on trying to give him a better opinion.

Which he liked.

Pikachu still had plenty of speed and power without ever becoming a Raichu and if he could get his electric-type to learn iron tail, a Pikachu would really help in Brock's Gym not to mention Abra being able to learn it as well. It was unrealistic, but a guy could hope right?

"So?" Noah queried, "That Pikachu seems to like you, do you want it? That Pikachu may have the potential to use Volt Tackle, which was the move I mentioned earlier. It actually is the whole reason why I was hoping for a Pichu for. Don't get me wrong, even a Pikachu has the capacity to be a powerful partner if you do it right, but Pichu's have a bit of hidden ace. When small, Pichu had to grow their electrical capabilities quickly, and once the electric sacs had become strong enough and numerous enough, they would evolve to become a Pikachu. However, when a Pichu stayed in the infant stage for longer, the sacs would continue to develop and grow, outstripping those who evolved at the baseline. With evolution, those extra electricity-generating organs became to store excess electricity and would dispel it around the user to shroud them in the electricity that was part of Volt Tackle."

Ash looked visibly interested, but shook his head, "That sounds awesome, but I don't want a pokemon just because it has the potential to use that. I want one because I am aiming to be a pokemon master! I said it before, every pokemon had value, you just need to help it bring out its best."

The Pikachu snuggled into his chest and let out a small and comfortable, "Pika…"

Noah smiled.

The two trainers had left the Pika population of the Viridian Forest with a Pikachu hanging from Ash's belt. They set up for lunch and let out their teams, prepping their food before pulling out their own pre-wrapped sandwiches. Ideally, they would've offered food to the pack, but neither trainer had enough food for that many pokemon. With the large group of pokemon keeping away any of the possible threats from approaching, their meal was a quiet and peaceful. The pack couldn't accompany them any further as they were straying a bit too far from their portion of the woods but Noah and Ash didn't mind. It was somewhat bittersweet for the mice to run off back to their section of he forest, but Ash and Noah knew that though most of the trainers in this area were bug catchers — mainly because there was an overabundance of bugs in the forest and they were fairly easy to catch — they would never turn down the electric types if they strayed too close. For being 'Bug Catchers' they still would try to catch any pokemon which is why some caught some pidgey and spearow that wandered too close.

They were opportunistic kids who were even younger than Ash that hung around the forest with a pokeball and pokemon hoping that one victory would prove they were meant to be a champion. Bug pokemon were tricky and strong when you trained them well, but honestly a freshly caught one wasn't really much to brag about.

It was a bit funny to think they hinged all their dreams on whether they won a battle with newbie trainers. Defeat was a part of the journey and adventure of being a trainer, no one won all of the time, Noah himself had a few losses on his belt when he first started out and even when he officially took over as Gym Leader. The trick was to use that loss as a way to improve and find out what weaknesses you did have and then polish them out. Either way, those trainers provided some workouts for their team and give their team members some more practical battle experience. Ash's Pikachu was surprisingly skilled thanks to having observed many of the battles the bug trainers had with each other while with his pack. Poliwag had worked on refinement and practiced more with his Water Gun to put more force behind it and took full advantage of changing the terrain to help his mobility. Pidgey easily swept most of the bugs and their trainers away and out with Air Slash and Gust at its disposal. Abra was holding up especially well with his attacks beginning to form much faster and causing less and less strain.

Ash's team was coming along well.

"Stromm disengage and thundershock." Noah said calmly as Stromm was being chased by a rather aggressive weedle.

So far Stromm had already taken out the catcher's caterpie and while tired, Stromm insisted to keep fighting so Noah let him stay in battle. He knew Stromm was determined but didn't expect the mouse to push himself so hard in the fight. It was almost as though the little mouse was trying to prove himself as a capable fighter — and for all his generalized knowledge on pokemon interaction — he wasn't quite sure if that was just his personality or something more driving the mouse. It may have had to do with Noah wanting Stromm to learn the move quick attack as he wanted to see if Stromm could use it in the air to move. It would open up a whole new range of movement and versatility as most of the time if a non-flying pokemon was in the air they would be generally vulnerable.

Stromm leapt into the air and let out a arc of electricity that struck the weedle directly in the face that knocked it out. Stromm landed and let out a harsh exhale before collapsing into a heap of tired fluff that Noah wasted no time in scooping into his arms and smiling at.

"That was amazing." He murmured in the tired pokemon's ear, "Fantastic work."

"That's all its got?" The catcher jeered, pulling out another poke ball, "What weakling do you have next?"

"Says the one who lost two of his esteemed pokemon to said weakling?" Noah said cheerfully, masking the smoldering ember of anger as the catcher's face flushed with humiliation.

Stromm gave an ugly glare at the other trainer, but was too tired to do more than chitter what would definitely be a curse.

"Well we both have one left, let's make it count." Noah said, recalling Stromm to rest in his pokeball and pulling out Kezite's ball.

Kezite materialized in a flash of light and the catcher faltered at the angry look the pokemon was leveling at him.

Kezite was protective of his new pack and the trainer made the rather stupid decision of mocking the little electric mouse and Kezite did not take kindly to that. The poison-type may not have known the other pokemon or even Noah that long, but that didn't mean he didn't consider them his new family. Noah saved him when he was abandoned and gave him a home despite seeing him at his lowest and promised to make him strong. Stromm was a pichu and everyone should know that baby pokemon weren't all that strong yet, even taking out even one pokemon was not something to sneeze at!

The catcher threw out a pokeball and let out a spearow.

"Tag it with Poison Scatter then follow with Poison Spear." Noah murmured quietly.

Naming the variants that Kezite had come up with wasn't hard, spear and scatter instead of sting were simple and easy to remember.

The bird glared and hopped in place before taking to the skies, Kezite's eyes tracked it as it darted through the sky. In speed and maneuverability there really wasn't a contest, Kezite was not going to be able to match the Spearow. The thing that the Spearow didn't know is that Kezite had been dealing with a faster opponent ever since Stromm joined the team, and playing tag and doing movement exercises had only sharpened his ability to be able to follow faster opponents even if he couldn't hit them. He didn't waste his energy trying to chase Spearow but simply probed his oppoent with light attacks, trying to goad it in to making the first move. Kezite fired off scatter shots of poison stings, forcing Spearow to weave around and avoid the barbs to keep from being poisoned. It had good maneuverability, but aside from frustrating the bird, he was also using it as a way to goad the Spearow's trainer in to making a rash decision.

"Quick Attack!" The catcher commanded, his patience running out as a the seconds ticked by in their bout.

"Intercept with Poison Spear!" Noah called, "Then Poison Sting!"

The Spearow let out a cry as a white glow outlined it before it tucked its wings in and dove at Kezite as little more than a blur of brown. Kezite quickly created a Poison Spear and launched it at the oncoming bird with no chance to miss his shot. The bird was knocked off course and crashed into the ground, leaving it dizzied and confused as it tried to stagger to its feet. Poison Spear was stronger than the barrage of barbs — acting more like a piercing sludge bomb — but it wasn't able to inject the normal amount of venom upon impact. The venom wasn't nothing, but it was more of a damage-based-on-power move than than the status-effect-over-time like poison sting. Kezite didn't dither and sprayed the dizzied avian with a blast of poison stings, taking advantage of it not being ready to retaliate. The bird recoiled and launched itself back into the sky, but it was already too late as the poisonous barbs had already began pumping venom into the bird's system and the exertion of flying while injured only caused the poison to spread faster.

The catcher glared at Kezite, but knew he couldn't win this battle now that Spearow was so badly poisoned, the situation had deteriorated to quickly for him to fight back.

The catcher recalled his Spearow with a sigh and stomped away.

A solid few hours of trekking and battling trainers, the two finally hit the midway point of The Viridian Forest trail, and decided to make camp for the day.

Almost brand new, there was a small but fresh clearing with one large lodge that had been recently set up by the league. The league had been less than pleased at the fact that there had been unfortunate instances of people being horribly lost after being being chased by bug pokemon after unknowingly stumbling over their nests. Sometimes they didn't realize they were being pushed too deep into the woods where the less tame and stronger pokemon roamed and didn't care who or what came into their parlor. You come into their home, you'd be treated as a thief, burglar, or a potential murderer and would dealt with as such.

Most of the time, those who got too lost in the forest didn't make it.

That was unacceptable no matter what, so the league eventually had to do something to bolster the safety of their citizens. This wasn't a city or anything, and it was nowhere near the space and facilities any city really had, but there was a center her for rest and recovery as well as a Pokemart here for supplies. While they weren't quite as stocked with the normal variety of items, they had a niche market for any trainer as they could find the supplies that really helped make traversing the forest easier. Once done with refilling their packs, they could take a break at the center to rest up and heal their pokemon before heading off to Pewter. The lodge had a transponder set up so if any person was in distress or lost, they could navigate their way here with any GPS device, which was standard in all equipment bundles.

It had taken a decent amount of parley with the local wildlife, but eventually the pokemon allowed for it since it was only to keep the humans from coming across their nesting areas and going too far in.

Ash had initially wanted to get through the entire the forest in one go, but Noah insisted they take a hour or two at least. Noah could have powered through the forest no problem, but he was doing this for more than himself. Noah saw a bit of himself in the young ten-year-old in how idealistic and hopeful towards the future Ash was. In lieu of that, Noah wanted to prep Ash to be the best he could be by the time the Indigo Championship rolled around. Noah was on the fence about competing himself as he was really more interested in traveling with his family and seeing all the world had to offer. What he knew was that Ash would be aiming for the top to beat everyone else, to be crowned the winner of the League. Noah wanted to help Ash become as strong as possible, and let Ash's creativity work on honing the club of power with the edge of precision.

Besides, their pokemon had already been worked out for the most part, anymore might be straining them a bit too much.

Going into Pewter half-dead was only going to force him to wait around until his pokemon were ready and the Gym wasn't running off anywhere. Ash even had the advantage of having been sponsored by Professor Oak and there getting priority in admission to all Kanto Gyms. Noah technically had endorsement by Samuel Oak that his Gym Leader credentials were legitimate, but that was not a sponsorship for this training account; he'd have to wait.

With their pokemon back at full strength after a short break, Ash and Noah continued down the path to Pewter when some weirdo in a samurai hat who demanded a fight with Ash and Noah to 'regain his honor' after having lost to three other trainers from Pallet Town. Noah was willing to take him on, but Ash was itching to prove he was just as capable as his peers in battling and was raring to go. With a shrug, Noah walked over to a nearby tree and offered to officiate the match if that was okay with them. He supposed any extra experience Ash could get right now would only benefit him later when he clashed with Brock.

The samurai threw out a pokeball and released a Pinsir, much to Noah's surprise.

Pinsir was not a pokemon you would normally find in the path that winded through The Viridian Forest and was pretty strong as it was at it's last evolution from birth, growing until it was fully matured. And if this Samurai grandstanding was not too much of an act, this would be a decent challenge. Ash eyes brightened at the potential for a good fight and released his Pidgey which glared balefully at the bug before taking to the skies, making sure to go too high for the Pinsir to attack it. Unfortunately for the Samurai, Ash and Pidgey knew better than to try to close the distance and put Pidgey within Pinsir's striking range. Pidgey expertly fired off it's long-range attacks to batter the Pinsir, the Samurai tried to help the pokemon avoid the attacks but Pidgey was simply too fast and accurate. The Samurai tried to insult Ash for being so dishonorable in his attacking strategy that wasn't simply clashing against each other, but Noah quickly interjected that if the Samurai didn't have a way to counter one his Pinsir's biggest handicaps, that was his failing and not Ash's.

"There are two long range attacks that Pinsir are capable of," Noah commented, growing bored of seeing a Pinsir literally try to leap up to bite Ash's Pidgey, "Focus Blast and Hyper are anything but weak. And yes they can be exhausting, but move tuning and adjustment are a trainer's responsibility."

The Samurai frowned when Pinsir collapsed, recalling him with a scowl before taking out his other pokeball and Ash grinned in anticipation. His Pinsir wasn't too impressive, but if he had another pokemon like that…

A metapod.

The Samurai threw out a metapod and Ash deflated.

Needless to say Ash beat the Samrai with little trouble.

Arriving in Pewter was a relief as the setting sun bathed he city in molten orange hues that reflected off the multiple rooftops. It was a bit late for Noah and Ash to hit up the Gym but neither of them minded as they both only wanted a shower and some sleep. Noah smiled in anticipation as he thought of clashing against a Gym Leader, maybe he would be able to convince Brock to go all out with his true team?

No.

Best he start with just his new team and then see if Brock was up to a real fight.