Essence

by vincentgrey21

Ash has always wanted to be a pokemon master. When the time comes for him to pick out his first pokemon, he shocks Professor Oak with a peculiar request. One thing leads to another, and he ends up with a loyal Growlithe. How will this unique situation affect the boy's destiny?

17. Kanto 17

Kanto 17: Essence

Upon entry, they walked into a large reception room completely inundated by tourists. To the left of the entrance was a long, sleek information desk made out of a material that Ash didn't recognize, where people were purchasing tickets and being directed where to go. Straight ahead — a ways beyond the receptionist — there was a sturdy looking wall that appeared to be constructed out of the same strange element as the desk. The wall had one singular door with a thick, steel constitution. There was some kind of electric key pad where a handle would typically be, and in the center of the door was as a bronze plate that read: Restricted Access.

"Bloody hell, what's happened to this place?" queried Bill with a look of disgust.

Ash wasn't sure what it was like before, but going off of Bill's reaction, he assumed that at least this part of the Cinnabar Lab had undergone some recent changes.

Everyone that purchased tickets passed through a long hallway to the right of the entrance. There was a young, thin, brown-haired man in a white lab coat that stood at an open ticket booth, allowing access to the paying visitors. Due to the sheer volume of tourists, Ash couldn't see too much of what was located down the corridor, but from his vantage point there looked to be at least a couple of rooms that the public was allowed access to.

"I'm going to have to buy a ticket," said Ash with a sigh before pointing down the packed hallway, "I'm assuming the microscope that I need to find is somewhere down that hall."

He looked down at his pup with a soft expression, "are you going to be okay?"

Growlithe nodded before divulging a groan.

The pup had made tremendous strides when it came to his social anxiety around large groups of people. In most cases, it was nearly non-existent. However, his progress didn't change his preferences. The days of debilitation were long gone, but Growlithe would likely never enjoy an environment like this.

"What a damn shame," said Bill, shaking his head, "Dr. Fuji never used to charge money to access the East Wing, and they've completely closed off the rest of the lab."

The dark-haired boy pointed towards the steel door, "you mean they used to let people back there?"

"I was here a couple of years ago," explained Bill, "that entire bloody wall is new. They used to let visitors take a look at some of the non classified experiments. Only the upper floors used to be off limits to the public."

"Weird…" said Ash in an elongated manner, "so, what's in the East Wing?"

"It's just a small museum that highlights some of the lab's well known discoveries and inventions," said Bill as he let out an exasperated sigh, "quite a few of them are replicas though, and it's rather paltry compared to the Pewter Museum of Science."

"What a bummer. Even before the riddle, I was kind of looking forward to coming here," said Ash as they got in line to get a ticket, "I wonder why they've made all of these changes?"

"Charging money for the East Wing is probably just a cash grab. It's possible they've lost some of their funding while the doc's been on leave," muttered Bill with his hand on his chin, "restricting access to the rest of the lab could be for a number of reasons…"

"Like what?" asked the young trainer.

"It could be space related," said Bill with a shrug, lowering his voice, "I don't know what's been going on since the doc's been gone, but beforehand they were doing some riveting work. Maybe they've made some significant progress and need the entire lab for the experimentation phase."

"What kind of work were they doing?" queried Ash quietly.

"I'll tell you about it later, my friend," whispered Bill, "there's too many bloody people here. Besides, more than likely the damn nutters just want to be left alone. The doc is more dedicated to his research than anyone I know, but fostering young minds has always been his greatest passion. When he founded the lab, it was his idea to open it up to the public. He hoped that by exposing people to the essence of scientific discovery and research in relation to pokemon, it would inspire the next generation to take an interest."

Bill paused with a frown, "but, not all of the scientists here have always agreed. As a matter of fact, most of them view the public as a bloody nuisance. I can't say I completely blame them. Coming from someone who's in the same field, I can honestly say that people can be a huge distraction. It's the reason I originally sequestered myself at the lighthouse, but closing off this much of the lab goes against the doc's philosophy."

"I see…" muttered Ash, "Dr. Fuji seems like a good—"

"How will you be paying for your tickets?" interrupted the red headed woman working behind the desk as they arrived at the front of the line.

The freckled receptionist wore a pair of slanted, pink glasses, and she had on the same white lab coat as the man that was taking tickets at the booth.

"I'll be the one paying," said Bill, stepping in front of Ash, "here's my card."

The woman looked at Bill for a moment as if she were trying to place where she'd seen him before.

"Are you B—" she started to say before shaking her head as she inspected his outfit, "no, you couldn't be."

She checked the name on Bill's card before swiping it.

Ash shook his head in disbelief as Growlithe rolled his eyes. Apparently, Bill's disguise was thorough enough to include a pikachu themed debit card with a fake name.

After the transaction went through, she handed over two standard, red admission tickets that read: Admit One.

"Really!?" questioned Bill in a sardonic tone as he looked down at the two cheap looking tickets, "isn't this one of the best research labs in the world!? Can't you do better than tickets you'd find at a local fair!?"

Ash grabbed Bill by the back of the shirt, pulling him away from the front desk.

"Sorry, mam," said Ash apologizing while waving one of his hands in a contrite manner, "my friend didn't get much sleep last night. He's a little cranky today."

The woman looked at them in a confused manner before shaking it off and helping the next person in line.

"Jeez," chided Ash, "what was that about? Why does it matter what the tickets look like?"

"It's the principle," spat Bill as they made their way over to the East Wing, "if they're going to charge people for something that used to be free, they should at least put some bloody effort into it."

"I get it," replied Ash, "but that lady is just doing her job. No need to take it out on her."

Bill took a deep breath before calming himself down, "you're right, my friend. I'll say something to her on our way out. I'm just frustrated that I can't truly speak my mind because I've gone utterly incognito."

He quickly shifted his tune, flashing Ash a smile, "did you see that? she almost figured me out, but the shocking power of pikachu protected my identity."

"If you mean the power of weirdness," said Ash, nudging Bill with his elbow, "then you are absolutely right."

"It's a disguise…" reminded Bill — slightly offended by Ash's blunt remark, "it might be a wee much. But, you can't deny results."

"Whatever you say, Bill," said Ash in-between laughter, "thanks for paying. I appreciate it."

"No problem, my friend," replied Bill, disheveling Ash's hat.

After handing their tickets over to the bony, young man at the ticket booth, Ash, Growlithe and Bill began to pass through the hallway belonging to the East Wing. Due to the substantial amount of tourists that were visiting the lab, it was a bit of a struggle to get to the first room.

Along the way, the young trainer examined a few framed photographs that were hung up on the walls. There was one of a group of scientists posing and smiling at an archeological excavation site. When Ash asked Bill what it was that they were standing behind, the pokemon researcher explained that it was the preserved remains of an extinct pokemon from the Sinnoh region called a bastiodon that walked the earth more more than a hundred million years ago. In the center of the group was Dr. Fuji. Despite his younger appearance in the photo, the founder of the Cinnabar Lab's lengthy, pointed, wavy hair that hung down in front of his eyes in addition to his angled face and long nose were unmistakable from the man that Ash had grown up seeing on TV.

The other photograph that Ash spent some time looking at was an even older picture of Dr. Fuji. He had his arm slung around the shoulders of another young, vibrant man. They both had a wide grin on their face as they stood in front of a large unfinished structure consisting of countless steel beams. Bill pointed out to him that the other person in the photo was Blaine, and that the construction site that they were standing in front of was none other than the Cinnabar Lab. It made Ash wonder how the gym leader was handling Dr. Fuji's absence.

If Blaine hasn't heard from Dr. Fuji just like everyone else, he has to be worried, right?

In Ash's opinion, the first room that they entered in the East Wing was incredibly fascinating. It was entirely dedicated to Kanto's non organic pokemon. There were several models, videos and even virtual simulations on how the various intentional and accidental species were created. For obvious reasons, the spotlight was on porygon; the Cinnabar Lab created it after all. However, Ash found the information about the magnetite line to be the most interesting. It was the only one of Kanto's non organic species that still had an unknown origin. All scientists had uncovered in regard to its steadily growing population was that it had existed for at least three thousand years, and at some point it had learned how to reproduce by means of electromagnetic duplication.

"Magnemite is awesome," said Ash — in an excited manner — as they continued down the East Wing after exiting the first room, "they can evolve by combining, or by getting stronger. I learned about it while studying for the exam, but seeing it happen virtually was crazy."

"The way that they duplicate when their electromagnetic nature achieves a certain level of potency is certainly compelling," replied Bill as he adjusted his pikachu hat, "you still don't have an electric-type. By the way that you're talking about the magnetite line, I'm assuming you're interested in training one."

"Yeah!" replied Ash with enthusiasm, "the two electric-types I'm on the lookout for are the elekid line and the magnemite line. I'd be fine with either of them."

"You really don't have any interest in pikachu, eh?" asked Bill, raising an eyebrow, "I don't know why, but I've always thought you'd catch one at some point."

"Meh…" said Ash in an elongated manner, "they're cute, but I've never really been interested in training one."

Growlithe let out an affirmative bark, seconding his trainer's opinion.

Ash shook his head while laughing, "besides, like I've told you before, apparently Growlithe has a problem with them."

The canine nodded, confirming his unexplainable infirmity to the idea of Ash adding the electric mouse pokemon to his team.

After conversing about non organic pokemon for a little while longer, Ash, Growlithe and Bill entered the second room of the East Wing. This time around, the exhibit was focused on the concept of evolutionary items. They had an abundance of natural evolutionary stones that were mounted into display shelves. Visitors could touch them, so the dark-haired boy had to be mindful of Growlithe when they approached a shelf that held a bunch of fire stones. He had no idea if they were still active. Once a compatible pokemon absorbed the evolution triggering properties in the minerals of each stone, they became dormant. Active or not, Ash didn't plan to risk finding out. If his pup were to accidentally trigger an evolution right now, it would be a disaster. Growlithe still had several techniques from his natural moveset that he had yet to learn that would become instantly unattainable if he were to prematurely evolve into an arcanine.

Just like the first room, the biggest emphasis was put on the lab's own creations. Namely, the protector, electirizer, magmarizer, and metal coat. Due to the information that Walker — the safari zone employee — had shared with him, Ash knew that a rawer version of these items could be found in the wild. However, even though it could be viewed as unnecessary, it was intriguing to see the process that the lab used to make them more presentable.

The exhibit even had moon stones for the public to examine and touch, but Bill quickly pointed out that they were replicas. On second look, Ash was disappointed in himself for not being able to tell right away. The replicas didn't have the same sheen and glow as the authentic one that he had stored away in one of his depository cases.

"I find it hard to believe that the lab couldn't get their hands on a real moon stone," said Ash as they exited the evolution themed exhibit.

"They have them," informed Bill, "but, they'd never put them out for the public to see. Even a dormant moon stone is worth an exorbitant amount of money. Besides, most people wouldn't be able to tell the difference."

"Oh," said Ash, looking down to see how Growlithe was doing, "what about the rest of the evolutionary items? Were there any others that were fake?"

"There were some replicas mixed in with just about all of them," answered Bill, "likely just for the sake of presentation, but the moon stone display was the only one where there wasn't a single bloody real one."

A look that conveyed eagerness appeared on the pokemon researcher's face as he brought his hands together and twiddled his fingers, "speaking of moon stones, what are the chances that I'll be around when you decide to use yours on Clefairy, my friend?"

"I guess it depends on how long it takes for the egg to hatch," answered Ash, keeping his voice down."

He let out a frustrated sigh, "it doesn't help that we just spent more than a month ironing out a TM move. We started working on Lucky Chant this morning. I was hoping I'd be able to evolve her before the tournament, but I don't know if six months is enough time…"

"Well, you never know," said Bill, patting Ash on the back in a friendly manner, "maybe, she'll breeze through the rest of her learnset. What was the TM move?"

"Psychic."

"Didn't Sabrina give that to you after your gym battle?" asked Bill, raising a suspicious eyebrow.

"She did."

"Have you ever considered that the damn witch tampered with it?" asked Bill with a scowl.

Ash shook his head in an exasperated manner.

Although Bill and Sabrina's never ending sibling-like feud could be amusing at times, more often than not it was exhausting.

"Not even once," answered Ash, "besides, Haunter figured it out right away."

Their conversation about moon stones, Clefairy, and Sabrina came to an end when they reached the final room of the East Wing.

"This is the fossil exhibit," explained Bill as they entered the largest room thus far.

The first thing that Ash noticed was the large, fully assembled fossil of what he recognized as an aerodactyl that was hanging from lengthy, sturdy cables that were connected to the tall ceiling. The aerodactyl fossil cascaded down into the center of the room, and it was low enough that if it weren't for the lab coated employees that guarded the roped off area underneath it, someone could reach up and touch it.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" queried Bill, gazing at the preserved aerodactyl remains with adoration in his eyes, "not all of the fossils in here are genuine, but that one is. It's the most complete aerodactyl fossil in the world. Dr. Fuji dug it up near the southern base of Mt. Cinnabar nearly thirty years ago. If it weren't for that fossil, he never would have gotten the funding that he needed to build the lab."

He'd seen pictures of the famous fossil before, but seeing it in person was an entirely different experience.

"It's awesome…" said Ash in an elongated manner as he tried to imagine what it looked like when it used to roam the skies of Kanto millions of years ago.

After admiring the aerodactyl fossil for a while, the young trainer noticed a collection of microscopes at an interactive station on the far right side of the room. There were a handful of people waiting in line behind each one.

"Let's go over there," suggested Ash as he started to walk in the direction of the counter with the microscopes.

"Oh, yeah, Blaine's riddle…" replied Bill as he followed his young friend, "I almost forgot. It's got to be over there. Those are the only damn microscopes in the East Wing."

Lined up along the lengthy counter were five heavy duty, compound microscopes. The two on the left and the two on the right were both currently in use. The four occupied pieces of scientific equipment all had short lines of people waiting to take a look at what laid underneath each objective lens.

The one in the center had a sign in front of it that read: Out of Order.

"I bloody guarantee you that it's the one that everyone thinks is broken," said Bill, pointing at the microscope in the middle.

"It's got to be," replied Ash as he, Growlithe and Bill made their way over to the lone unoccupied object on the counter.

Bringing his eye sockets up close to the two gray, tubular ocular lenses, Ash saw…

…Nothing.

"I can't see anything," said the young trainer, turning his head to look at Bill, "it's black."

"You mean there's black dots?" questioned Bill, "if it were digital maybe, but there should be no reason for a model like that one to be completely blacked out."

"Nope," replied Ash, shaking his head, "when you look through, it's dark."

"Let me see," said Bill as he made his way over to the compound microscope.

Ash stepped out of the way, allowing Bill to take a look through the two eyepieces. He adjusted the focus, shaking his head with an amused smile.

"Check the lens," said Bill, moving away from the scientific equipment, "there's no bloody way the staff wouldn't have noticed this. Blaine must have convinced them to go along with his daft games."

As if on cue, the dark-haired boy noticed a handful of employees in white lab coats, pointing over in their direction with amused smiles on their faces.

Listening to Bill's suggestion, Ash felt the microscope's objective lens.

"I see…" muttered Ash, "it's the same color as the lens, so I didn't notice it."

He peeled off a piece of silver tape that was wrapped around the bottom of the objective lens. Inspecting it, he saw that the sticky side was black, explaining why it was dark when he looked through the eyepieces.

Ash smirked. Etched into the silver, nonsticky side of the tape was a short sentence.

"Luxurious no more, look outside the front door," read Ash with a look of confusion.

He paused as he let out a sigh, "this one seems more like a hint than a riddle."

"Considering it's Blaine, I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this one," said Bill with a smirk, "it's got to be the —."

"Don't give it away!" interrupted Ash, "there's no rush. Let me try to figure it out on my own."

"But it's—"

"Bill!" blurted Ash, cutting off the pokemon researcher once more, "please, keep it to yourself for now."

"Alright, alright," replied Bill with a playful smile and a look of anticipation, "I won't share the answer with you unless you ask me to. Anyways, that should just about wrap things up here. Let's head to the Inn, so I can take a look at the egg."

"Not yet…" answered Ash in a prolonged manner, "we're already here. I want to see the rest of the exhibit."

Bill groaned, "ugh, you're killing me, Ash!"

The dark-haired boy let out a burst of laughter as he crouched down and pet the tuft of fur on Growlithe's head.

"Bill needs to learn how to be patient," said Ash to his pup.

The canine let out an affirmative bark as he glared at the pokemon researcher's outfit.

Bill scratched the back of his head as he lowered his eyebrows, "I'm starting to get a sense of what it's going to be like to travel with you two blokes."

XXX

It was early in the evening. After Bill checked them into the Big Riddle Inn, Ash coincidentally found himself staying in the exact same room that he had the night before. Bill's place of stay was right next door, making it easy for them to go back and forth.

They were currently in the pokemon researcher's room. It was essentially a carbon copy of the one that Ash was residing in. The only difference was that the artwork on the walls varied slightly. The inked calligraphy art pieces consisted of different kanji — one of which read: Inferno. And instead of a water color painting of Mt. Cinnabar, there was a similar styled art piece illustrating the Seafoam Islands.

"This miso soup is brilliant," crooned Bill after swallowing a spoonful of one of the room service dishes that he had ordered for the two of them while he was checking them into their rooms, "aren't you going to eat, my friend? It was your suggestion that we have dinner before I take a look at the egg."

Digging through his backpack, Ash pulled out one of the two depository cases that held his friends' food.

"I will in a second," said the young trainer, "Growlithe is clearly hungry, and I have to feed some of my other pokemon that haven't eaten today. They need to be ready to go first thing in the morning. We have a lot of training to do before we'll be ready to battle Blaine."

He sighed as he looked around the room, "there's not a lot of space in here, though. So, they're going to have to eat in shifts."

"The Chosen One puts his friends' needs ahead of his own," said Bill with admiration in his eyes, "I am truly proud to have you as a friend."

Ash shook his head. Leave it to Bill to make such a big deal out of the simplest of things.

The young trainer started off by withdrawing four standard pokemon food bowls and four big, red bags of the premium, custom made food that he got using his Silph Co. Platinum Card at Gourmet Pokemon. Each standup bag had the face of a different pokemon in the center of it. The four that Ash withdrew corresponded with the growlithe, charmander, bulbasaur and squirtle lines.

The pup salivated as he waited for Ash to pour his meal into one of the bowls.

Bill continued to slurp down his soup as he watched Ash dump out enough food to fill up each bowl.

Growlithe immediately began to chow down as his trainer unclipped Charmeleon, Ivysaur and Wartortle's pokeballs from his trainer belt that was laying beside him on account of the fact that he was currently wearing one of the inn's complimentary, brown kimonos.

The dark-haired boy deposited the bags of food back into his depository case before letting his three friends belonging to Kanto's original elemental trio out of their pokeballs. Wartortle gave Ash an acknowledging nod before digging into his bowl of food, while Charmeleon and Ivysaur took a moment to say hello to Bill before following suit.

"Wow, they all look fantastic," said Bill quietly, trying not be overheard by Ash's friends after getting affectionately smothered by Charmeleon and Ivysaur, "Wartortle is real bloody close to evolving, and Ivysaur isn't far behind. I'm most impressed with Charmeleon, though. He's come a long way from the abused little charmander that I met back at the lighthouse."

"Charmeleon has been working really hard," replied Ash, glancing at his fire lizard before slurping down some of the miso soup that was laid out on the floor table, "I'm really proud of him, and he was so brave while we were exploring the Seafoam Islands."

The young trainer gazed at the painting of the twin islands that had impacted him in such a profound manner.

"Obviously, I know the outcome, but what exactly happened in those bloody caves?" asked Bill, raising a solitary eyebrow.

Starting from the beginning, Ash proceeded to share with Bill what had taken place in the Seafoam Island's sprawling cave system. The pokemon researcher only interrupted a handful of times, solely to get the young trainer to elaborate about specific details that piqued his interest. Once he was done, Bill looked at him in a comforting manner.

"How many other times has this other persona surfaced?" asked the pokemon researcher with a sense of care evident in his voice.

"Twice," answered Ash as he recollected on his recent experiences, "while I was dealing with Gyarados."

"Fascinating…" said Bill in an elongated manner, evidently processing, "Have you tried talking to it?"

"I don't even know if that's possible," replied Ash, "it comes out when it wants, and Mew made it seem like it's just as much a part of me as I am."

"Well, going off of what you've told me," said Bill, placing his hand on his chin, "it seems like it only shows up when you're in a dangerous situation."

"I think that's part of it," said Ash before letting out a deep sigh, "but there's more to it than that. I've been having these strange urges that I can't explain, and it knows things."

"What kind of things?" asked Bill, leaning forward in an attentive manner as he took a bite of some of the soba that he ordered.

"It demanded the egg before the articuno had even revealed it," explained Ash, "and it mentioned something about the first trial being in Kanto."

He paused for a brief moment as a gobsmacked Bill was trying to wrap his mind around what Ash was talking about, "it even told the articuno that it was making the 'Original One' proud by giving me the egg."

"The Original One!" blurted Bill, spitting noodles all over the place, "it's—"

He stopped himself before giving Ash a stern look, "have you read any more of the prophecy?"

The young trainer gave Bill a look that conveyed guilt, "no, but I know I need to."

The pokemon researcher face palmed, "look, my friend, I know you've been busy, but you've got to bloody read through it soon. A lot of this stuff will make more sense once you have. I could paraphrase some of it for you, but I've got a feeling that I'm not supposed to. You need to read it yourself."

"I know, I know," said the dark-haired boy nodding in agreement, "I've already decided that I'm going to read a big chunk of it while we're in Pallet."

He took a deep breath before checking to see if his friends were almost done with their food, "Charmeleon, Ivysaur — once you guys are finished, I need to return you so that some of the others can eat. Wartortle, I'm going to need your help to keep the egg frozen."

All three members of the elemental trio nodded as they continued to indulge in their meals.

The young trainer quickly slurped down the rest of his soup and scarfed down some of his soba before beginning to rummage through his backpack.

"Alright…" said the dark-haired boy, "I'm gonna take it out now. Do you think anybody can see in here?"

"Nope, they might be able to see vague shapes through the paper on the shoji doors, but other than that I think we're fine," replied Bill as he got up and walked over to Ash's side of the floor table.

"Good. Can you grab me a couple of towels, Bill?" asked Ash as he removed the depository case that held the egg from his backpack.

Nodding his head, the pokemon researcher lightly jogged over to the bathroom before quickly returning with two large, white towels.

Ash took the towels and laid them out on the floor's red tatami mats just in case the ice that Wartortle had sealed the egg in started to melt. He proceeded to tap on the depository case's touch screen, maneuvering the menu before selecting the option that had been labeled as 'unknown item'. Pointing the depository case in the direction of the towels, he pressed withdraw. Appearing in wake of the blue light that the depository case emanated, was a block of ice. Inside of the ice was a pulsating, translucent egg made of living hailstone that enshrouded the shape of a pink and black embryo.

"B-b-bloody hell…" muttered a wide eyed and slack jawed Bill, "it's not like I didn't believe you, but wow…"

"It's incredible, isn't it…?" replied Ash with a similar facial expression, "this is the first time I've seen it since I put it in the depository case, and I was too cold to really process it at the time."

At this point, Growlithe and the elemental trio had finished up eating, making their way over to take a closer look. His pup, Charmeleon and Wartortle had already seen it, but this was the first time that Ivysaur had been made aware of the legendary egg.

"A new friend is in there," said Ash as he stroked the back of Ivysaur's head, "I need Bill's help to figure out how to get him to hatch."

Ivysaur let out a grunt that conveyed comprehension as he took in the egg's stunning form.

The pokemon researcher was down on all fours, inspecting it from every which angle. Every so often, he would stop, sitting up in a cross legged position as he looked at in deep thought.

"Just like other eggs belonging to ice pokemon, it obviously needs to be kept cold in order for it to properly incubate," said Bill with his hand on his chin, "so good job keeping it frozen."

"Thanks," said Ash with a sigh as he scratched the back of his head, "I'm kind of stumped, though. I don't even know if Wartortle's Ice Beam is cold enough. It was absolutely freezing in the cavern that the articuno was in. Even if the temperature does work, the ice will melt, and it's not realistic to have Wartortle constantly monitor it. I can't use a normal ice-type incubator because it's too risky to carry it around in the open, but if I always have it in the depository case, it will never hatch."

"I see what you're saying," replied Bill, rubbing his temples with the tips of his fingers as he racked his brain.

Ash gave Bill a moment as he had Wartortle use a soft, low-velocity Ice Beam to maintain the block of ice's solidity.

The pokemon researcher stared at the egg, clearly trying to come up with a solution. After about five minutes of letting him ruminate, the dark-haired boy couldn't help but ask, "what are you thinking?"

"I know what needs to be done," answered Bill with a look of frustration, "I'm just not sure how to do it yet…"

"What's your idea?"

"Somehow, I need to make a bloody incubator that can emanate and maintain an extreme subzero temperature."

He let out a sigh as he continued to analyze the egg, "it also needs to be able to be stored away in a depository case without its animation being suspended."

"Is something like that possible?" asked Ash, raising an eyebrow.

"I wouldn't be considering it if it wasn't…" said Bill, "I brought some things with me, so I should be able to get started here. But, I'm not going to get very far without working in a lab that has all of the equipment I need."

"A lab…" muttered Ash in a prolonged manner, "what about the Cinn—"

"That's not going to work," interrupted the pokemon researcher, "I already considered that, but there is no way those bloody nutters would let me use their equipment without knowing why. Besides, we're going to need to be able to take the egg into the lab."

"Oh…" said Ash, trying to come up with another idea.

"I've got a solution," said Bill as he reached over and playfully scratched Growlithe's side, "but, it's up to you whether or not you want to go through with it."

"If we can't take it to the Cinnabar Lab, then we can't take it to Silph Co.. Everyone will wonder why you've unexpectedly returned from the lighthouse," said Ash, figuring he'd guessed what Bill was going to suggest as he proceeded to withdraw Clefairy, Eevee and Dratini's pokemon food out of the depository case.

Bill held his thought as the young trainer prepared to feed more of his friends.

"Charmeleon, Ivysaur — I'm going to return you now. We're training first thing in the morning, okay?"

His fire lizard and saurian grass-type nodded as they each divulged a confirmatory outcry.

Once he returned them, the dark-haired boy clipped their pokeballs back to his loose trainer belt before detaching Clefairy, Eevee and Dratini's capture-devices.

"That wasn't what I was going to say," replied Bill, shaking his head.

The young trainer released his friends. Clefairy, Eevee and Dratini affectionately nuzzled up against their trainer before making their way over to Bill.

"Greetings, Clefairy," said Bill with a laugh, allowing himself to get sidetracked as he scratched behind one of the fairy pokemon's ears, "it's good to see you again."

The fairy pokemon emitted a soft murmur. It was obvious to Ash that she was happy to see Bill.

The pokemon researcher pivoted his attention to Eevee, carefully examining her silver coat, "you're even more beautiful in person. To think that Ruphus kept an eevee as bloody special as you a secret from my dad and I."

Bill gave Eevee a smile as he gently scratched underneath her chin, "oh well…we can be friends now that Ash is your trainer."

The typically haughty evolution pokemon let out a jovial squeal as she snuggled up next to Bill.

"Wow…" said Ash as he filled the bowls with food for his friends, "Eevee usually only acts that way with me. She likes you."

"I like her, too," replied Bill, laughing as Dratini slithered up to him and plopped the anterior half of his body over the pokemon researcher's shoulder.

The dragon-type hummed as he joyfully and repetitively sniffed Bill with his round snout.

"What a friendly fellow," said the pokemon researcher as he stroked the elegant serpent's smooth skin, "I think he smells Dragonite, Ash."

"Maybe Dragonite's scent is as notable as his size?" joked Ash, getting a laugh out of Bill.

"By the way, my dad mentioned to me the other day that the old geezer hasn't bloody shut up about you since you left the Safari Zone," said Bill, "apparently, he's convinced that you're the next JR Tanner. He and Logan are planning on making a trip to the Indigo Plateau to watch you battle in the tournament."

The dark-haired boy sheepishly scratched the back of his head, "great…let's add the Baboas to the long list of people I better not disappoint."

"Ehh, you're going to bloody kill it," said Bill, waving off Ash's nervous comment as Clefairy, Eevee, and Dratini made their way over to their food.

"Anyways," muttered Bill, "let's get back on track. I wasn't going to recommend that we take the egg to Silph Co. I'm in agreement with you that it would be a daft idea."

"What other options are there?"

"There's a pretty famous lab where we're headed next," answered Bill with a smirk.

It hadn't even crossed Ash's mind.

"But, that would mean…" mulled the dark-haired boy.

"You'd have to tell Professor Oak about the egg," replied Bill in a blunt manner.

The young trainer felt a wave of anxiety.

From a logistical standpoint, Bill's suggestion made sense. The professor was one of the most trustworthy people he knew, and his lab would without a doubt have everything that they would need. But, if he told Professor Oak about the existence of the egg, he would be forced to share with him how he got it.

"I don't know, Bill…" said Ash with hesitancy in his voice, "the professor will ask a lot of questions."

"Like I said earlier, it's up to you," replied Bill with a shrug, "but, it's the only thing I can think of. This is a big project. I need a legitimate lab, and you trust Professor Oak."

Shit.

Bill wouldn't have come to this conclusion if there was a better option.

He was going to have to tell the professor.

XXX

"I've been holding off on this one for a while," said Ash as he crouched down, looking Growlithe in the eyes, "but, I think you're finally ready to learn Agility."

The fire-type looked back at his trainer with determination in his eyes.

"Do you remember when Pidgeot learned it back when he was still a pidgeotto?" asked Ash, recalling the grueling process, "there's no other way around it. We're going to have to push you harder than you've ever been pushed before."

The canine nodded, signifying his remembrance of the agonizing grind that the avian had to endure.

"We've got to destroy your current comprehension of your own speed," explained Ash as he pressed his pointer finger up against Growlithe's forehead, "it's more about your mind than it is about your body."

Leaning forward while pointing his snout towards the sky, Growlithe stretched out his hind legs in preparation for what was about to come.

"The sand is going to make it even harder," said the young trainer, crossing his arms as he stood up from his crouched position, "you sure you're up for it?"

Growlithe divulged an affirmative bark as he began to dash back and forth across the beach using Quick Attack.

"I'm going to take over Charmeleon's training for the time being!" shouted Ash as his eyes followed his starter, "so, you just focus on Agility for now! You're going to keep using Quick Attack until you feel like you can't anymore!"

He paused as he let out a deep sigh, "and then you're going to keep going!"

Under his best friend's watchful eye, Growlithe repeatedly used Quick Attack until he collapsed into the sand.

XXX

"You see that boulder?" queried the dark-haired boy as he pointed at a tall, jagged stone that protruded out of a particularly craggy part of the beach.

Charmeleon let out a confirmatory grunt.

"If you can fully sink your teeth into that with Fire Fang, I think we're ready to move on."

The fire lizard spat out a wisp of flames as he sauntered up close to the large, uneven stone.

"It'll be more even more forceful if you ignite your teeth right before you make contact," suggested Ash as he too made his way over to the boulder, "and just like Growlithe has been teaching you, don't forget to step into it."

Charmeleon looked at him with eyes that portrayed understanding.

"Let's see it," said the young trainer as he gestured towards the stone target.

The fire-type powerfully stepped forward with his right foot, slightly bending both of his knees as he lunged his whole body forward. While rapidly snapping open his jaws, Charmeleon stuck out his neck. Right before his teeth collided with the boulder, he vigorously ignited his fangs. There was a loud initial screech before the boulder gave way. Having bitten clean through his target, the large chunk of rock that the fire-type bit off fissured before disintegrating from the potency of his scalding flames.

With wide eyes, Ash whistled in a way that indicated that he was impressed.

"Wow…" said Ash in a prolonged manner, "I guess we can start working on something new."

Raising both of his arms above his head, the fire lizard flexed.

"I already know what your next move is going to be. How about we get started on it right now?"

Charmeleon let out his habitual, corroborative spate of flames.

"Did you pay any attention while I was teaching Growlithe Flame Burst?"

The fire lizard smirked. Slowly but surely, he was catching up.

XXX

"It needs to be bigger and carry through the air more once it leaves your scythe," said Ash having just watched a burst of wind fizzle out after propelling off of the mantis's blade, "you're relying too much on your strength. You've got to manipulate the air."

Scyther gave his trainer a slight bow as he reeled his scythe back in order to try again.

The dark-haired boy reached out and grabbed the fleshy end of Scyther's blade, causing the bug-type to look back at him with a befuddled expression.

Ash brought it down lower before tilting it diagonally, "let's try it from this angle. Start off by thinking of the wind as part of your blade. Then push it outward as you slice down and across."

The young trainer let go of Scyther's arm before taking a couple of steps backward. With scrupulous eyes he watched as the bladed bug-type moved forward, letting out a resonate murmur as he sharply swung down his blade at a downward angle. A sharp rush of wind surged forth from the mantis' scythe, carrying through the air for a short distance towards the ocean before suddenly dispersing. Once again, the shape and directionality were good, while the size of the slash and the distance in which it traveled were lacking.

The mantis let out a frustrated outcry as he stabbed one of his bladed appendages indignantly into the sand.

Ash placed a comforting hand on one of Scyther's round shoulders.

"Air Slash is a high level technique," explained the dark-haired boy, "it's going to take time. Your moveset is already the most developed on the team. We'll just keep working at it, and eventually we'll have a breakthrough."

With his blade already in the sand, Scyther lowered one knee before bowing out of respect for his trainer.

Ash moved his hand from his mantis' shoulder to one of the blunt horns on his head as he looked down at him with a soft smile.

"Scyther, you were already strong before I caught you," explained Ash as he stared out at the limitless ocean, "but the level of strength we are striving for is way beyond anything that we can see right now, and it's not going to be easy to achieve."

Scyther stood up as he locked eyes with his trainer.

"The only way we're going to get there is by moving forward one step at a time."

With an adamant expression, Scyther emitted a resounding whirr.

The bladed bug-type looked forward to taking those steps alongside his trainer.

XXX

Four days had passed since Ash had been teleported to Cinnabar Island by Mew. They had trained hard, laid some of the groundwork in preparation to create the incubator, and explored the vast majority of the island. While the young trainer and Bill we're sitting at an outdoor restaurant in the northwestern part of Cinnabar Town — with Growlithe resting on the ground by their feet — Ash overheard a conversation that was taking place at the table to their right.

"The mansion is still owned by Dr. Fuji," said the young man at the table, "but when his daughter tragically died all of those years ago, he started sleeping at the lab."

"What about his poor wife?" asked the dark-haired woman that looked to be around the same age as the man that she was sitting across from.

"She left Cinnabar," said the man, "apparently, they're still married. But, when he became too consumed by his research, people say that she couldn't stand to live in that big house all by herself."

"How sad…" muttered the woman, "how could he let his wife grieve all alone like that?"

Ash's attention was drawn away from the gossiping couple when he noticed his friend's clenched fist and the scowl on his face.

"Don't, Bill," said Ash, earnestly looking the pokemon researcher in the eye, "they're just spouting a bunch of nonsense."

Bill loosened his fist and let go of the nasty expression on his face as he let out a sigh, "they're not, though. Everything he said is bloody true."

Growlithe lifted himself up into a sitting position, listening to his best friend and Bill.

Ash's eyes widened, "I thought you said that your dad called Dr. Fuji's wife?"

"He did," replied Bill with a frown, "but, that doesn't change the fact that they've been separated for a long time. They still stay in contact, though, so my dad gave her a call to see if she knew anything about his leave of absence."

"So, the stuff about his daughter...?"

"Yeah…" groaned Bill, nodding his head in a sorrowful manner as he adjusted his bucket hat, "Amber passed away from an incurable disease about fifteen years ago. We used to play together when we were little. She was a friend."

"Oh…" said Ash in a prolonged manner with tenderness evident in his inflection, "I'm sorry to hear that, Bill. I didn't know even know that Dr. Fuji had a daughter…"

"Most people don't know," replied the pokemon researcher, "the doc has always tried to keep his private life a secret from the public. However, rumors always spread. Even with the recent emergence of JR Tanner, Dr. Fuji is still the most famous person in the world from Cinnabar, and some of the townspeople knew Deirdre and Amber, so it's inevitable that there are those around town that know the truth."

"But, Dr. Fuji has always seemed so lively on TV," said Ash, "I never would have guessed that something like that had happened."

"He's got a big bloody personality," answered Bill with a smile, "in the fifteen years since Amber passed away, he's never once shown even a sliver of depression while I've been around him. But, some of his other actions and the things that my dad has shared with me contradict the behavior that I've seen. So, it doesn't surprise me that people that only know him as a celebrity wouldn't pick up on the fact that something was bloody wrong."

"It's hard to believe…" muttered the young trainer before pointing north as something came to mind, "so, I'm assuming that Dr. Fuji's old place is that giant, rundown mansion over there."

"Yeah…" said Bill with a frown, "everyone calls it the Pokemon Mansion these days, though."

"The Pokemon Mansion?" queried Ash, raising an eyebrow, "are there pokemon that live there now?"

"I don't know, maybe…" muttered Bill with a shrug, "it's a gigantic abandoned property, so there might be a rattata or two scurrying around the place. But, the stupid name just kind of popped up on its own. I'm sure someone from town just started calling it that and it stuck. I'd also bet that it derived from the fact that Dr. Fuji is a 'pokemon' researcher and scientist. But, who bloody knows?"

"Interesting…" said Ash in a prolonged manner, "have you been there before?"

"When I was a kid," replied Bill with a slight nod, "we used to stay there when we'd come to Cinnabar. Back then it was a beautiful home. Nowadays, it's hard to even look at."

The words scratched into the back of the silver piece of tape wafted through his mind.

Luxurious no more, look outside the front door.

A half-smile appeared on Ash's face, "I need to look outside the front door of the Pokemon Mansion, don't I?"

"Yuppers," replied Bill, reciprocating Ash's half hearted smile, "I'm glad this conversation was good for something."

Ash gave Bill a slight nod, "are you good with us heading over there once we're done eating?"

The pokemon researcher tilted down the big green sunglasses that were a part of his current disguise, "I'm sorry, my friend, But I'm going to have to sit this one out."

Bill frowned as he shook his head, "Too many memories…"

"No problem," replied Ash with sympathy evident in his eyes, "I get it. Do you want to borrow Pidgeot, so that he can fly you back to the inn?"

"No thanks, I'm good," answered Bill, "I think I'll look for a coffee shop somewhere around here and work on some formulas for the incubator. Just give me a call when you're finished, and we'll meet back up."

"Alright, will do," said Ash as he looked around for their server.

He was starving, and it was taking forever.

As if on cue, the middle-aged blonde woman that was their server exited the indoor kitchen, carrying a serving tray that held their food. She approached from behind Bill.

"Where the bloody hell is our food?" complained Bill — unaware of her presence, "the service here is awful."

"Ahem!" said the server, clearly peeved, "here's your food!"

She slammed the serving tray holding their tofu tacos into the center of the table before storming away empty handed.

Growlithe looked at the two of them with a bewildered expression.

"Woah…" muttered Bill, "she must have heard me."

"You think!?" chided Ash in a mordant tone of voice.

XXX

Growlithe had been showing subtle signs of distress throughout the duration of their commute to the Pokemon Mansion, but the moment that they stepped foot on the property, the hair on the canine's back suddenly stood up.

"What is it, boy?" asked Ash as he took in the appearance of what was once the Fuji family's place of residence.

The front of the giant, multi-storied, dilapidated mansion looked like something straight out of a horror film. The tall, white, wooden porch cover appeared to be on the verge of collapsing. Several of the big arch windows had been busted in, and many of the red tiles from its mansard roof were littered amongst the humongous front yard's dead grass and weeds. The wooden post that held up the surprisingly modest-sized mailbox was rotten, and most of the brick pavers that led all the way up to the front door were cracked.

It was a depressing sight to see. Even in its current broken-down condition, all it took was a quick glance to see that at one point it had been a gorgeous home. If Ash were Bill, he wouldn't have wanted to come here either. The dark-haired boy could only imagine what it would be like to see the full scope of its current state, while having memories of what it was like before.

The pup looked up at his trainer with intense eyes. He was behaving in a manner that was similar to the time that they'd found Chance Chapman's blood sprayed across the hallways of the SS. Anne, or when Skylar had been beaten to a pulp by Team Rocket grunts just outside of Celadon City.

"Is something bad happening in there?" asked Ash, pointing at the decrepit mansion as his pulse hastened.

Growlithe hesitated for a moment before shaking his head.

"Then what is it?" asked Ash, raising an eyebrow, "is it a pokemon?"

Once again, the canine seemed uncertain at first before moving his head from side to side.

"Hmm…" mumbled Ash, unsure of what to make of the way that Growlithe was acting, "let's go take a look around the front door like Blaine's hint suggests. Then we'll get the hell out of here."

Divergent from his starter's typical behavior, he didn't respond, sniffing around as he followed Ash to the front door.

Weird…

Due to the rickety nature of the giant, overhanging front patio cover, Ash was anxious as he and Growlithe climbed up the creaky, wooden steps. He felt like at any point the structure could come crumbling down on top of them. To make matters worse, when they got to the top of the stairs and stepped out onto the decaying wood flooring, the young trainer could feel each individual plank bend underneath his feet, causing him to fear that they might fall through.

Ash's eyes darted around the extensive porch, trying to quickly find something that didn't belong. With little effort, the dark-haired boy noticed a small sheet of red paper, sticking out of a large pile of aged soil and shattered porcelain.

"There it is," said Ash as he carefully made his way over to retrieve what had to be another riddle.

After picking it up, and shaking off the old soil, the young trainer read aloud the words that were written in black ink, "find me in the belly of the beast that's too hot to handle."

Ash smirked.

It was the last riddle.

And he was pretty sure he already knew the answer.

Blaine's gym has to be inside of Mt. Cinn—

The dark-haired boy's self congratulatory rumination came to an abrupt end when Growlithe started snarling and scratching at the front door.

"Buddy, what is going on?" asked Ash, confusedly scratching the back of his head as he neared his friend.

With the hair on his back still raised and intensity in his eyes, Growlithe let out a firm bark as he gestured with his head towards the door.

"But, we can't go in there," said the young trainer, hoping the decrepit flooring didn't give way while crouching down to Growlithe's level, "it's trespassing."

The canine barked once more, emphatically trying to get the point across that they needed to enter.

Out of nowhere, Ash began to feel the same unnatural, overwhelming urge that he felt while exploring the Seafoam Islands.

Even though his mind was clear enough to understand that it was unsound from a logistical standpoint, all of a sudden it was like he didn't have a choice.

They had to go in.

However, this time…it was Growlithe's idea first.

XXX

After taking some time to survey the perimeter of the Pokemon Mansion, Ash chose a tall, arch window on the right side of the building as their point of entry. To ease his paranoia, he made sure that there were no unexpected bystanders before further inspecting the window. For the most part, other than some jagged glass protruding downward out the top of the frame, it had been entirely blown out, making it easy for the young trainer and his pup to climb through.

On the other side of the window there was a long, ramshackle corridor. Due to the mansion's many broken windows, there was enough sunlight to ensure that everything was visible. There were many holes in the drywall and even the parts that had remained untouched by what had to be intruders were warped and shredded, likely caused by the island's frequent tropical storms. Several of the old light fixtures that lined the ceiling were shattered, leaving glass all over the creaky wooden flooring.

"C-careful of the glass," said Ash, coughing as he breathed in a cloud of dust.

Mindful of the glass as he moved swiftly down the hallway, Growlithe was locked onto the scent of whatever it was that had been causing his odd behavior. Ash carefully followed, stepping around, or over, any large chunks of glass that he thought might be big enough to penetrate through the bottom of his shoes.

There were several open doorways that the boy peaked through, some of which were missing a door in its entirety. The doors that remained were decrepit and nearly falling off of their hinges. Taking into consideration that the outside of the mansion was in such horrendous condition, the young trainer didn't think that it was possible that the inside could look any worse, but it did. All down the hallway of where they had originally entered, each room looked to have been ransacked and pillaged. It had been ravaged to the point where he was starting to wonder what reason Dr. Fuji could possibly have for keeping it.

Were people wrong in thinking that he still owned the place?

If in fact he still did, was it possible that for all these years he had been so consumed by his own research that he forgot about the existence of the mansion itself?

Someone had to have asked him at some point why he had zero regard for the condition of the home that he once lived in with his wife, right?

For heaven's sake, didn't they raise their daughter here?

It was just too bizarre to make any sense of.

As they exited the long corridor, and entered a large, open living room, Growlithe moved with zero hesitation in the direction of a wide, curved staircase. The tall, torn up walls had several canvas paintings and photographs that were somehow still hanging. Most of them were crooked, and had been damaged to the point where their contents were nearly impossible to decipher. The one photo that could still be made out was of a little girl. She looked to be around four or five. The color of the picture was faded to the point where Ash couldn't tell exactly what color her hair was, but it was long and seemed to be dark.

It had to be Amber.

Dr. Fuji hadn't even bothered to try and salvage photographs of his own deceased daughter?

Something was off…

Ash focused on Growlithe. As they maneuvered around a sizable, fallen chandelier, their current setting was beginning to genuinely disturb him.

"We're not going to run into someone up there are we?" asked Ash, reaching for Haunter's great ball as they began to make their way up the dusty, wooden staircase.

The canine shook his head as he bounded up to the second floor — a couple of steps at a time.

"Well, that's relieving…" said Ash in a prolonged manner, taking his hand off of his ghost-type's capture-device.

It wasn't a person?

It wasn't a pokemon?

And nothing bad was happening…

What the hell were they going to find?

Once he reached a certain height, Ash was careful to check each step while consciously sticking to the path that Growlithe took. Surprisingly, unlike the other parts of the mansion that he had already seen, the stairs were still rather sturdy.

At the top of the stairs were two enclosed hallways — one to the left, and one to the right. Growlithe went left, so the young trainer had no interest in seeing what was to the right. This was not an adventure, and they were not exploring.

The goal was to answer two questions — both of which likely had the same answer.

What was bothering Growlithe?

And why was he getting the same compulsive feeling that he had experienced in the cave system?

They originally only came here because of Blaine's riddle, so once they got the answers they were looking for, they would be leaving.

As Ash and Growlithe continued to make their way towards their unknown objective, the dark-haired boy caught a handful of peripheral glimpses of the insides of the second floor's plundered rooms. There was one in particular that caught Ash's attention, causing him to stop dead in his tracks to take a better look. The room's walls were plastered with fragmentary jigglypuff themed wallpaper, and there was a white, full, upholstered bed that was halfway collapsed. There were several stuffed animals made in the image of some of Kanto's cuter species that were littered all over the room — some of which were still whole, while others had been torn to shreds.

It had to be Amber's old room…

Ash stood there for a moment, imagining what it must feel like to lose a child. There had already been several moments throughout his journey, where if things would have taken a turn for the worse, he could have put his mom through something like this. That was the last thing he wanted to do. But considering who he was, and what that meant, there were bound to be many more close calls in the future.

Sorry, Mom…

Moving forward with a frown, the young trainer picked up his pace for a brief moment when he noticed that Growlithe was no longer in sight. After hearing a series of beckoning barks, the dark-haired boy took a right through the last doorway on the right. He entered a sizable room that he assumed to be the master bedroom. There was a broken, king sized bed frame that was pressed up against the far wall. The two wooden night stands on each side of the bed were missing their drawers, and the smudged white walls were completely bare. Through an opening in the wall on Ash's right was a big, dilapidated bathroom with a cracked tub and two rusty waist high sinks. On his left was what looked like an unnecessarily large walk-in closet that his canine was demanding that he enter.

"Is it in here?" asked Ash — his adrenaline starting to rise as he stepped into the walk-in closet.

Growlithe looked at him intently before emphatically nodding.

"Where?" queried Ash, seeing nothing but old, grimy clothes — a few still hanging, but most laid in piles on the ground.

Trotting over to the opposite side of the oversized closet — underneath of a low hanging closet rod — Growlithe pressed his nose up against the wall.

The pup started to whimper.

Even though the bottom portion of wall was covered in dust, it was one of only a handful of spots in the whole mansion where the drywall looked to be in good condition.

"Behind the wall…?" asked Ash in a prolonged manner as he started to get an ominous feeling.

Why would there be something behind the wall?

Ash reached for Scyther's safari ball, unclipping it before letting out his bug-type.

The mantis looked like he was about to lower his head for his usual welcome bow when his eyes suddenly intensified, darting in the direction of the wall.

Great, Scyther sensed it right away.

That couldn't be a good sign…

"Scyther I need you to slice open that wall. Don't cut too deep. We don't know what's behind there."

In a matter of seconds, the bug-type had successfully used his bladed appendages to cleanly cut out a wide, rectangle shaped hole in the wall. The dark-haired boy's sense of smell was immediately overwhelmed by a foul, peculiar odor as the loose drywall fell to the ground. It wasn't comparable to the repulsive stench that he had smelled when Haunter and Rhyhorn battled against Koga's giant muk, Venin, but it was up there in terms of the nastiest scents that had ever invaded his nostrils.

"Ugh, what the hell is that?" groaned Ash as he looked back at Growlithe and Scyther.

The canine and the mantis each shook their head, signifying that they had no clue.

Both of them seemed somewhat perturbed, but their facial expressions didn't portray disgust in the same way that Ash's did, surprising the young trainer, considering Growlithe's acute sense of smell. Instead, his fire-type and bug-type appeared to be simultaneously curious and unnerved.

Breathing through his mouth as he summoned his resolve, Ash pulled his flashlight out of his backpack before flipping the switch. Getting down on his hands and knees, he pointed the light straight ahead as he peered into the dark hole.

…What is—

"Shit!" yelled the dark-haired boy as he jerked his body backward, falling into a dusty pile of old clothes.

His heart pounded.

His breath shortened.

His stomach turned.

And a chill ran down his spine.

Ash wasn't sure what he expected to find when they entered the Pokemon Mansion, but this wasn't it.

Placed next to a stack of journals was a collection of large glass jars filled with dead fetuses.

They looked like something he'd seen when Mew penetrated his mind in the dragon lair.

They all resembled the abomination.

XXX

Despite the fact that Bill wanted to avoid visiting what was once the home of Dr. Fuji and his family, he assured Ash that he would hurry over as soon as it was explained to him how urgent it was. While the dark-haired boy waited for his friend, he mustered up the courage to pull the stack of journals out from the hole in the wall. With Growlithe and Scyther sitting by his side, he skimmed through them.

Most of the journals contained a bunch of scientific jargon that Ash didn't understand, and there were some sketches of DNA diagrams as well as formulas that he couldn't decipher. However, there was one journal that's content was as clear as day, and right from the first page, the young trainer could not believe what he was reading.

Journal Entry No. 1: I am a monster. Clouded by grief, for years I have foolishly attempted to recreate my precious daughter, Amber. Along the way, I was approached by a man named Archer, who made empty promises to me. He swore that in exchange for my help with a project, he would provide me with the resources needed to successfully clone my daughter. Instead, he has stolen every morsel of Amber's DNA and used it as leverage to control me. I've known from the very beginning that what Archer wants me to create is too dangerous, but I have been consumed by the idea of seeing my little girl alive again.

-Nathaniel Fuji

Flabbergasted — Ash flipped the page.

Journal Entry No. 2: Using the legendary Mew's DNA, Archer wants me to intertwine my cloning research with the fossil restoration research my team has been working on at the lab. A perfect clone of Mew is not achievable, but an alternative version is not out of the question.

-Nathaniel Fuji

"Oh, god…" muttered Ash as he flipped another page.

Jornal Entry No. 3: The process keeps failing. Archer has provided me with a team of scientists that are attempting to help me figure out what is wrong with the formula. The specimens die when they enter the fetal stage, and with no way for us to recreate Mew's fabled transformative abilities, Archer wants me to focus on enhancing its power. He will not settle for a being that is inferior to Mew. I am being forced to make changes that could compromise the clone's morality. Creator, if you exist, please forgive me.

-Nathaniel Fuji

Ash's nausea was getting worse as he continued to read.

Journal Entry No. 4: I have become vaguely aware of who it is that I am truly making this monstrosity for. The man I know as Archer is a member of the dormant terrorist group known as Team Rocket. Archer is merely following orders. I do not know the name of the person that directs him, but I do know that he is the one that is behind everything. I cannot figure out what this man, referred to as the Boss, insists on doing with such a creature. I want to stop this asinine project, but they have threatened to hurt my wife. If I cannot convince them to let me make some changes, I will be forced to take my life. This needs to come to an end. As is, this creature cannot be born.

-Nathaniel Fuji

"Dr. Fuji…" said Ash in a prolonged manner as he turned the page, placing his other hand on his forehead in utter disbelief.

Journal Entry No. 5: After trying to end everything, my last resort was unsuccessful. They now have their sights on Deirdre. I cannot allow her to suffer on account of my own foolishness. I have done everything within my power to stabilize Mewtwo's morality as much as possible before it is born. For their own convenience, they have allowed me to settle some matters here in Cinnabar before they send me to an unknown island for its birth. They say I am not being watched, but I know that they are lying. I had to put some of the failed attempts in a depository case in order to take them out of the lab. Hopefully, it was not long enough to initiate decomposition. My hope is that what I have left here will be of some use. By the time this letter is read, I will likely be dead. Once Mewtwo is born, I will be nothing but a loose end. I no longer expect forgiveness for what I've done, but none of this was ever my intention. I just missed my little girl. My dearest friend, Blaine, if by chance it is you that comes across this journal, I am truly sorry. Archer has kept a close eye on you. He made it clear that if I made any contact with you Deirdre would be killed.

-Nathaniel Fuji

The rest of the journal was blank.

"Bloody hell…this place is in even worse shape than I thought it would be," muttered Bill from just outside of the walk-in closet, "Ugh, what is that dreadful sme—"

Bill paused, plugging his nose as he looked down at the young trainer's disquieted from, "Ash…what the hell did you find?"

The dark-haired boy handed over the flashlight as he pointed to the hole in the wall, "look in there…"

"Is there a dead body in there?" asked Bill with an expression that portrayed a combination of fear and concern.

"No, just look."

Getting down on all fours, just as Ash had before, Bill pointed the flashlight into the hole in the wall.

"What is…oh god!" blurted Bill, leaning back with a mortified expression.

The pokemon researcher took a moment to gather himself before crawling back into the hole.

"W-what in the world are these?" queried Bill as he scooted his way back out, bringing one of the large jars with him.

"Fetuses," answered Ash, remaining in a state of consternation.

Growlithe and Scyther paid close attention. Also, trying to understand what it was that was inside of the jar.

"I know that! I'm a b-bloody pokemon researcher for God's sake!" shouted Bill, clearly perturbed as he pointed at the lifeless being inside of the glass container, "but, what is this!?"

"It's the abomination…" muttered the dark-haired boy as he looked at the gray, feline-like fetus floating in some type of preservative solution, "they're failed specimens."

"Th-the abomination!?" blustered Bill, staring at the fetus, "b-but, why would something like this be here!?"

He bit his bottom lip as he tossed the journal at Bill, "read this…"

Placing one hand on Growlithe's back and the other on Scyther's shoulder, Ash braced himself for Bill's reaction.

Putting the jar down, Bill opened the journal.

Over the next several minutes, the young trainer watched as his friend's demeanor erratically shifted between a myriad of emotions.

Curiosity.

Shock.

Anger.

Sadness.

Shock.

Anger.

Sadness.

Disbelief.

Anger.

Sadness.

Realization.

"D-doc, you bloody fucking idiot…" mumbled Bill, clearly feeling sick as he covered his face with his hands, "w-what have you done…?"

"Bill…" said Ash in a prolonged manner, feeling for his friend, "what are we supposed to do with all of this?"

With a deeply disturbed expression and a disappointed tone of voice, Bill took a deep breath before responding, "you need to call Sabrina, and I'll call Lance. The Cinnabar Lab needs to be searched."

XXX

"Ring…"

"Ring…"

"Ring…"

"Click."

"Hello, Ash Ke—" started Sabrina before taking in the young trainer's harrowed countenance, "what happened?"

"Bill and I found something," muttered Ash — still shaken up.

"You're with Bill Montgomery?" queried Sabrina with a blank expression, "what are you doing with that idiot? Shouldn't you be in Cinnabar right about now?"

The gym leader paused as she examined the dark background behind Ash with her pink eyes.

"Where are you?"

"I am in Cinnabar," replied the dark-haired boy with a sigh, "Bill came to visit me. Right now we're inside of the Pokemon Mansion."

"Dr. Fuji's old house?" questioned Sabrina, lowering her thin eyebrows, "what are you doing in a place like that?"

"One of Blaine's riddles led me here, but I didn't plan on going inside until Growlithe caught a whiff of something," he said, looking at Sabrina intently, "we decided to check it out."

Sabrina leaned forward, resting her chin in one of her palms as she waited to hear what Ash had to say.

"Growlithe led us to the closet in the master bedroom," explained Ash, "he pressed his nose up against a part of the wall, so I had Scyther cut a hole in it…"

He took a deep breath, "I found a bunch of journals and eight jars…"

"What is in the jars?" asked Sabrina with a concerned inflection.

"I'll show you…" said Ash, pointing a flashlight at one of the jars while holding out his wrist in a way that the camera on his xtransceiver was facing the wet specimen.

"…What—is that…?"

The dark-haired boy heard Sabrina gasp for the first time.

"Th-that's…it."

"Yeah…" groaned Ash, "it's the abomination. There are seven other similar looking fetuses."

"Wh-why would they be in the Pokemon Mansion?" asked Sabrina, trying to gain her composure.

Even though he'd never met him, there was sorrow in Ash's eyes.

"Dr. Fuji put them here," replied Ash with a frown.

"Dr. Fuji…" muttered Sabrina before suddenly covering her mouth with her dainty hand.

The dark-haired boy let her process. Considering her relationship with Robert, he figured she knew Dr. Fuji just like Bill.

"D-did he—"

"He did…" interrupted Ash in an elongated manner, "he created it."

Her face turned even paler than normal.

"A-are you sure?"

"Yeah…" said Ash, nodding as he bit his bottom lip, "he admits it in one of the journals. Bill says it's definitely his handwriting."

Tears formed in the corners of her eyes — a sight that the young trainer never thought he'd see.

"Wh-why?" questioned Sabrina, "wh-why would he do something like this?"

"It's complicated…" answered Ash, anxiously grabbing his pant leg.

Sabrina's tears bothered him. Even though the news he had shared was unavoidable, he hated the fact that the words that came out of his mouth had caused someone he cared about to cry.

"Do you want me to read you the journal entries?"

"Please…" she muttered.

Over the next handful of minutes, Ash read Dr. Fuji's journal entries to his friend.

Unlike Bill, there was no variation in Sabrina's emotions.

From start to finish, she cried. Ash didn't know the extent of her relationship with Dr. Fuji, but it was clear that she cared for him deeply. The raw emotion that his normally unflappable friend displayed was enough to cause him to choke up.

This call had been way harder than he thought it was going to be.

"Where's Bill Montgomery?" asked Sabrina as she wiped the tears from her puffy eyes.

"Bill's down the hall," replied Ash, "he's talking to Lance. He thinks the Cinnabar Lab needs to be raided. Going off of the journal entries, it appears the abomination was created there. Bill thinks Dr. Fuji didn't go anywhere during most of his leave of absence. Plus, the majority of the lab has been closed off behind a strange wall."

"I see…" said an aggrieved Sabrina, "I agree w-with Bill Montgomery. It needs to be s-searched."

"Do you think you'll come down here?" queried Ash.

"I don't know…" muttered a sniffling Sabrina, "I've j-just recently made some headway with Ariana's mental barrier. We're starting to learn things. Since Bill Montgomery has called Lance, it depends on what he decides needs to he done."

"What have you learned?"

"There's two other executives," answered Sabrina, starting to settle down, "Archer, the man mentioned in Dr. Fuji's journal entries, is one of them. The other one's name is Proton. I've only pried loose names. I haven't been able to retrieve their faces."

"Archer and Proton…" grumbled Ash, "so, there's two more plus the Boss."

"Yes," replied the gym leader, "we've also confirmed our suspicion that Team Rocket wanted the master ball to maintain control of the abomination. I have shaken loose several conversations in which Ariana compares the mission in Saffron to an insurance policy. I would assume that the abomination — or should I say Mewtwo — is no longer acting in accordance with whoever this Boss is."

"You mean it's not associated with Team Rocket anymore?" asked Ash for the sake of clarification.

"Exactly," answered Sabrina, "I don't think so. I believe it is now acting entirely on its own behalf."

"Do you think that's a good thing, or a bad thing?" asked Ash with curious eyes.

"I think it's a good thing…" muddled Sabrina, "Team Rocket is clearly an evil organization. There's no telling what they wanted to achieve with the help of the abomination. However, up to this point, it hasn't done anything that has been overtly detrimental to Kanto. As we've discussed before, according to Mew and Willow, it is in a state of confusion. My assumption is that it doesn't want to be used by Team Rocket. That doesn't necessarily mean that it's not evil, but it does convey that the abomination at the very least doesn't know what kind of impact it wants to have on the world."

Ash nodded, signifying that Sabrina had his attention as she continued.

"If the abomination was purely interested in destruction, more damage would have already been done. Taking into account when the islands and Nurse Joys vanished, it has been well over a year since it was born. That is a lot of time…With the type of power we assume it wields, It's not hard to imagine how easy it would be for it to devastate a city or two. I don't think confusion is the only reason for its idleness. Going off of Dr. Fuji's journal entries, I would assume that he was at least partially successful in stabilizing its morality. It would be naive to think that it is no longer a massive threat, but considering what we know about Team Rocket, I believe our chances of reasoning with it have increased, especially if it has in fact disassociated itself from that terrorist group."

"I see," replied Ash, "I guess that makes sense…Have those twins from the Hoenn region made any progress with Petrel's mental barrier?"

There were some things that Sabrina said that he didn't quite agree with. He understood her deduction, but in Ash's opinion, the revelation that Dr. Fuji created the abomination was causing Sabrina to have some twisted, misguided optimism. He knew it was coming from a place of denial. Sabrina knew in great detail the contents of Mew's visions. If the abomination had truly severed its ties with Team Rocket, he didn't think it improved their chances whatsoever of reasoning with it. Besides, his other self mentioned something about the first trial being in Kanto. Obviously, he could be wrong, but he didn't think the word trial equated with peaceful negotiation. Hopefully, they could get to that point, but it would at the very least be after a showdown between Mew and the abomination. Sabrina knew most of this, but the involvement of Dr. Fuji was causing her judgement to become clouded.

"The twins have made some progress, but they haven't uncovered any new information. So far, it's been what we've already learned from Ariana's mind, just from Petrel's perspective."

"Dammit," groaned Ash, "these mental barriers are so irritating."

"Tell me about it," said Sabrina, shaking her head.

She paused. It was evident to Ash that something had crossed her mind.

"Since we did the mental barrier training with Haunter and Clefairy, how many of your pokemon have you prepared to be able to defend themselves against psychics?"

Ash sighed, "so far, just Ivysaur. I plan on making sure that everyone has a mental barrier by the time we confront the abomination, though."

"I'm glad it is on your radar," said Sabrina as she twirled her jet black hair, "but you should not procrastinate for too long. I know you are focused on getting your badges and preparing for the tournament, but remember, not all pokemon grasp mental barriers quickly. Make sure you give them plenty of time. Otherwise, they will be unusable in the presence of such a being. We also need to make sure that your mind is protected as well. It wouldn't be a bad idea to start exposing yourself to low frequency psychic energy. Build up your tolerance, and I will help you construct a formidable mental barrier before we encounter the abomination."

"I understand," answered Ash, grasping the importance of the gym leader's suggestion, "I'll start working on it soon."

"Good…" muttered Sabrina with a soft smile that portrayed both gratitude and sadness, "anyways, I need some time to meditate on everything that we have just discussed. I'm sure I'll be talking to you again very soon. We'll see what Lance does with the information that Bill Montgomery has provided him with."

"Alright…bye, Sabrina" said Ash with compassion in his voice, "I'll talk to you soon."

"Goodbye, Ash Ketchum," replied the gym leader, "it was hard to hear what you had to say, but thank you for keeping me in the loop. You are a good friend."

"Click."

Ash let out a deep sigh as an intense feeling of guilt overtook him.

He knew that now wasn't the right time, but he would have to tell her about what happened in the Seafoam Island's cave system soon. It didn't feel right to keep secrets as big as his other self and the articuno egg from Sabrina for too long.

XXX

"Are you sure putting them in there was a good idea?" asked Ash, looking back to see Bill bumpily dragging his pikachu themed suitcase full of dead abomination fetuses through the small forest just south of Mt. Cinnabar.

Growlithe looked back as well, keeping an eye on the suitcase for the same reason as his trainer.

"What other bloody choice was there?" groaned Bill, "we couldn't put them in a depository case, otherwise they'd decompose, and it's not like we could just carry them around in the open."

"Dr. Fuji mentioned that in the journal," said Ash curiously, "why would a depository case cause them to decompose, but the shrinking technology that your suitcase uses is fine?"

The puppy pokemon cocked his head, trying to follow the conversation.

"I don't know," said Bill, "a depository case shouldn't cause deceased organic matter to decompose in the first place. It could be something unique to the abomination's constitution, or maybe it's clone related. I'm not even sure if the suitcase is going to prevent something like that from happening. I just know that it's not a depository case, and we had to carry it to the inn somehow."

"I get it, but aren't you worried that they're going to break in there?" queried Ash, shuddering at the thought, "I mean…that would be disgusting."

"I wrapped them up pretty good, so we should be fine" replied Bill, "besides, we're almost there, and I don't smell anything so far."

After pulling all of the jars out from the hole in the wall, it didn't take long for them to figure out that the seals on several of them were broken, which explained the smell. Before they left the Pokemon Mansion for good, Bill had made a trip to a local store to buy some new jars before nauseatingly transferring them over. The last thing they wanted to do was draw attention to their rooms at the Big Riddle Inn because of an abhorrently foul odor.

"By the way, did you manage to find Blaine's riddle?" asked Bill as they reached the other side of the forest.

"Oh, yeah," said the dark-haired boy, "after everything that just happened, I almost forgot."

Ash pulled the piece of red paper with Blaine's riddle on it out of his coat pocket before handing it over to Bill.

"This one's pretty straight forward," said Bill after reading what was written on the paper, "I'm assuming you've already solved it."

"Yeah," said Ash with a smirk, "although, it doesn't make it any less surprising. To think that Blaine put his gym inside of a volcano. He's even crazier than I thought."

"I told you," said Bill before bursting into laughter, "the old man's a bloody nutter. There's no way the League would approve of him putting his gym in such a dangerous place. Unless you're the first trainer he's led to this location, he must have had his previous challengers sign NDAs."

"How do you think he moves his gym so often?" asked Ash, raising an eyebrow, "it seems like a lot of work."

"I'm pretty sure he just wants people to think that he moves it," explained Bill, "I bet he's got a bunch of them set up all over the island. That way, all he has to do is switch the riddles around."

"Ahh, that's got to be it," replied Ash, "that makes a lot of sense. I wonder how many he has?"

"Enough to where even if trainers start leaking locations as the League year progresses, he always has a different one to pivot to."

All of a sudden, Bill's countenance and inflection became much more serious, "how much longer until you are ready to face him?"

"Hmm, I don't know…" said Ash in an elongated manner, "three or four days."

"Do you think you can make it happen the day after tomorrow?" asked Bill, causing Ash and Growlithe to stop dead in their tracks.

"Um…maybe. We'd have to train late tonight and all day tomorrow, though," answered Ash, looking at Bill in a quizzical manner, "why?"

"Blaine's going to find out about Dr. Fuji once the Cinnabar Lab is searched," explained Bill, letting out a sigh, "Lance said he has a couple of people that are perfect for the job, but it's going to take a few days for them to get here. If you want to guarantee yourself a chance to earn the Volcano Badge, you should battle Blaine before they arrive. I would imagine the old man is going to be in bloody awful shape once he finds out that his best friend has betrayed Kanto. I wouldn't be surprised if he stops taking challengers for a while."

Ash took a deep breath. He hadn't even thought of that.

"You're right," said the young trainer as the Big Riddle Inn came into view.

He quickly unclipped Growlithe and Pidgeot's pokeballs, "Growlithe, we're heading to the beach. I'll let you out as soon as we land."

The pup let out an affirmative bark as Ash returned him to his capture-device.

Bill smirked, "I'm assuming I'll see you in a couple of days?"

"Yeah," replied Ash with determination in his eyes as he grasped Pidgeot's pokeball, "I'll probably sleep on the beach. Every second counts. Give me a call if something important comes up. Otherwise, I'll see you the day after tomorrow."

He lightly tossed Pidgeot's pokeball out in front of them. When the white light faded, the avian let out a discordant squawk.

As expected, the flying-type was still in a foul mood. Ash didn't foresee that changing until he allowed his temperamental friend to start training again.

"We're heading to the beach," said Ash as he approached his sadistic friend, "can you lower yourself so I can get on?"

The avian let out another irritated squawk while squatting down low enough for his trainer to hoist himself onto his back.

The dark-haired boy hadn't even bothered taking off Pidgeot's saddle since they'd been in Cinnabar. They had been flying all over the island for the past four days, so it hadn't been worth the trouble.

"Every time I see that saddle, I'm reminded of my brilliance," gloated Bill as he puffed out his chest.

Ash couldn't even come up with a retort. The pokemon researcher had every right to brag.

"Do you want to be there for my gym battle?" asked Ash from atop Pidgeot.

"Of course," replied Bill with a widened smile, "there's no way I would miss it, my friend."

Bill took a moment as he brought his hand up to his chin, "in the meantime, I'll work on the incubator and figure out where Blaine enters Mt. Cinnabar from. If you haven't spotted the gym while flying over the top of it, then there's got to be a tunnel that leads to a volcanic cavern large enough to host a gym battle."

"That would be awesome," said Ash, flashing Bill a smile that conveyed gratitude, "see you soon."

Pidgeot beat down his wings before taking to the skies.

"Good luck, my friend!" shouted Bill, wrapping his hands around his mouth in attempt to make his voice carry further.

The dark-haired boy smiled, hearing the encouraging voice of his friend.

XXX

The young trainer walked around and inspected the craggy, ascended slab of rock. Slowly but surly, it was getting sharper. Unlike when they first started out learning Stone Edge, it was no longer flat. It maintained a jagged edge that went all the way across the apex of the stone mass. Even though each individual point still lacked the depth that they desired, he was confident that they were getting close.

"Much better," crooned Ash as he gently stroked the dual-type's horn, "the amount of stone that you are raising is more than enough, its speed is almost perfect, and the shape is getting better."

Rhyhorn let out a trumpeting squeal as he soaked in his trainer's praise.

"What we need to do now is work on lengthening and sharpening each individual point that's coming out of the top," explained the dark-haired boy, gesturing towards one of the jagged tips, "it'll do a good amount of damage as is, but once you master its shape, Stone Edge will be devastating."

The brute nodded, divulging a low grunt that conveyed comprehension.

"Take some more time to feel the surface with your hooves," suggested Ash as he looked into Rhyhorn's eyes, "the better you understand the make up of the ground you are manipulating, the easier it will be to shape."

The rock plated mammal sauntered around the elevated mound of stone, choosing a new patch of terrain to tear up. With a focused expression, he pressed his hooves into the ground for a brief moment before abruptly lifting them back up. He then thrusted them back down with tremendous force, bludgeoning the earth's surface. Bursting forth from the ground was another hulking, petrous mass. This time, it was even sharper, bearing several protruding edges.

"Yes!" shouted Ash as he clenched his fist "that was the best one yet!"

The young trainer ran in front of his brute, gently placing a hand on each side of his friend's face, "remember that feeling. Just a little more length, and you've got it. You're the best, Rhyhorn."

The bulky dual-type rocked back and forth as he emitted another gravelly squeal.

XXX

"Is that the best you can do?" queried Ash after a modest burst of purple flames exited Gyarados' large, agape mouth.

The leviathan snapped her head around, peering at her trainer with resentful eyes.

"You can glare at me all you want," replied the young trainer with a shrug, "I'm just telling you how it is."

He pivoted his attention to his mantis, "what do you think, Scyther? Were you impressed?"

Following his trainer's lead, the keen, bladed bug-type let out a soft, aloof murmur as he shrugged both of his shoulders.

In response, the serpent let out a menacing outcry before lowering her head towards the mantis in a threatening manner.

Scyther began to raise his blades, taking a defensive stance.

Ash shot Gyarados an assertive glance, causing her to let out an amused burst of cackling laughter before backing off.

Truthfully, Gyarados' progress with Dragon Rage was even better than Ash expected it to be. She already knew how to conjure draconic energy on account of her mastery of Twister. However, he expected the learning curve to still be somewhat challenging due to the fact that Twister was initiated externally, while Dragon Rage was activated internally.

By the end of their first training session together, she had already figured out how to draw out draconic energy from deep within her long, serpentine body. Now, it was just a matter of strengthening the power of her purple flames by means of practice and repetition.

"I hope you can do better than that when we face off against Blaine," chided Ash with a smirk, "that's not going to cut it."

Gyarados made a deep guttural noise, fidgeting her lips while bearing her fangs.

"Let's try it again," said the young trainer, folding his arms, "show me a real Dragon Rage this time."

The reason for Ash's coarse attitude was that so far he seemed to get better results out of Gyarados when he got a rise out of her. Unsurprisingly, his serpent was cut from a similar cloth as Pidgeot. Her arrogance needed to be challenged. He hoped that one day their relationship would soften, but right now this was the best way to get her to obey while simultaneously stimulating her desire to get stronger.

Gyarados' eyes widened — a sign that she was sharpening her focus. Ash could tell the sea serpent was straining hard by the way that the entirety of her lengthy body expanded as she took a deep breath. There was a radiant purple glow that hastily traveled up her cream colored underbelly before draconic flames began to leak out of Gyarados' maw. When she started to exhale, her body constricted, causing a salvo of purple flames to explode outward towards the ocean. It traveled a fair distance before fizzling out right before it hit the water.

"That was better," said the dark-haired boy, "but, it still wasn't as good as Charmeleon and Dratini's Dragon Rage."

Gyrados divulged another husky, indignant clamor before preparing herself to try again.

A sly smile crept across Ash's face. He was starting to figure out his atrocious pokemon.

XXX

"I know you're getting tired, but keep moving Ivysaur!" shouted Ash, "make him come and get you!"

Having boosted his speed with Chlorophyll, the saurian grass-type continued to painstakingly dash across the beach, working hard to evade Wartortle's water enshrouded tail. The rapid streak of highly condensed water spiraled around the turtle pokemon's tail diagonally as he tried to sever the distance between himself and his sparring partner.

"Keep your concentration as you close in, Wartortle!" demanded the young trainer, "hold on to your Aqua Tail while trying to control where Ivysaur goes using Water Gun and Water Pulse!"

The turtle pokemon intermittently sequenced Water Gun and Water Pulse, strategically aiming in a way that kept Ivysuar from creating more space between the two of them. All the while, he maintained his Aqua Tail, proving to Ash that it was becoming more natural.

"Let's test your concentration even more, Wartortle!" bellowed Ash, "Ivysaur, try to restrain him with Vine Whip!"

The saurian grass-type expeditiously extended his vines, attempting to grab ahold of his teammate. Responding quickly, Wartortle lunged out of the way before hastily bounding in Ivysaur's direction. With Aqua Tail still activated, Wartortle flipped forward while swinging his tail downward at the grass-type. Upon impact, Ivysaur winced. Despite the type-disadvantage, Aqua Tail's revolving, pressurized water in combination with the blunt force of the attack was enough to cause noticeable damage.

"Alright, that's enough!" yelled Ash with a smile as he ambled over to his friends, "good job, guys!"

He directed his attention towards his tired grass-type first, bending over and stroking his bud, "thanks for helping us out, Ivysaur. I know it's not fun being the target, but you did a good job."

The saurian grass-type nodded as he let out an exhausted grunt. On account of his advantageous typing, Ivysuar had been asked to help Wartortle prepare for his gym battle by acting as a moving target. So far, he had taken the job seriously, treating it as training to improve his ability to evade.

After praising Ivysaur, Ash approached Wartortle.

"That was great," complimented the young trainer as he knelt in front of the turtle pokemon, "I'm never going to ask you to hold Aqua Tail like that in a live battle. But, the more stress we put on it now, the more natural it will be against Blaine."

Wartortle let out an affirmative grunt while maintaining a placid expression.

Ash placed his hand in-between Wartortle's feather-like ears as he softly smiled, "the battle is tomorrow. I want you to keep working on it for the rest of the day. I'm confident that it's good to go, but the extra practice won't hurt. You've been waiting a long time for this. I can't wait to see all of your hard work pay off."

The water-type confidently smirked. If the battle was right now, he would be ready to go.

XXX

Flicking his tongue down and exhaling sharply, Charmeleon fired a condensed burst of flames. They whistled through the air, whisking their way towards the large, stone target. Falling a fair distance short of the boulder, the fusillade of fire expanded outward with an adequate amount of breadth.

"You're picking it up fast, said Ash, looking down at his fire lizard, "you must have practiced quite a bit with Growlithe while I wasn't looking."

Charmeleon grunted before spitting out a spate of flames.

Ash could tell that the fire-type wasn't exactly satisfied with his most recent Flame Burst attempt, but the young trainer was pleasantly surprised by its current state considering that he had only been working on it for a couple of days. It had taken Growlithe weeks to figure out how to get a delayed reaction when it came to expanding his flames. The fire lizard had figured it out quickly in comparison; however, his accuracy as well as his ability to alter Flame Burst's initial acceleration still needed quite a bit of work.

Flame Burst wouldn't be ready for his battle against Blaine, but as soon as the date of his gym battle had been expedited — due to the forthcoming raid of the Cinnabar Lab — Ash no longer had the same expectations that he had before. He was going to have Charmeleon take part in the gym battle instead of Growlithe. After how hard his fire lizard had worked, he couldn't deny him the opportunity to showcase his skills.

Furthermore, Growlithe was drained from his current training. The canine's exhaustion could easily be fixed by one of Nurse Joy's restoration machines, but Ash felt like his pup was getting close to making his first breakthrough with Agility. If his gym battle with Blaine was anything like the one he had with Koga, Growlithe wouldn't be able to train for a while afterwards. The dark-haired boy didn't want to slowdown the momentum that his pup was starting to build towards breaking his current comprehension of his own speed unless he absolutely had to.

"Before we keep going, I want to let you know that you will be taking part in the gym battle tomorrow," explained Ash to his fire lizard, "this one's going to be a lot tougher than your last gym battle against Erika. I want you to show me how much you've grown."

Charmeleon's entire disposition lit up as he processed the news.

The dark-haired boy raised his arm above his head, flexing his bicep, "remember, you're strong."

A widened smile spread across the fire-type's face as he responded to his trainer by lifting both of his arms above his head while squeezing his muscles.

XXX

"You guys have done a really good job the past couple of days," said Ash, stretching out in his sleeping bag as he listened to the tide repetitively rise and recede, "even though none of you are battling tomorrow, you trained hard."

Growlithe let out a low, muffled bark already half asleep on Ash's left.

Eevee let out a jovial yip as she snuggled on top of her trainer's chest.

Clefairy emitted a soft murmur as she gently stroked a humming Dratini's smooth scales to the right of the young trainer.

And Haunter — who technically hadn't trained since the battle against Koga — aimlessly wandered around close by, waiting for Ash to fall asleep, so he could feast on his nightmares.

"The tide can be fickle…" said Ash aloud as the words Mew articulated to him in the articuno's roost resonated in his head.

What Speaks is you. What watches is you. Witness the essence of who you are.

"Will it recede, or will it linger…?" muttered Ash, rubbing his eyes.

The thought of slipping back and forth between himself and his other self wafted through his mind.

"We try to predict, but can never know for syuuuuure," he yawned as his eyelids began to feel heavy.

'If I'm me, and it's also me, then why don't I know what it knows?,' thought Ash as the sound of the tide began to soothe him to sleep.

"Tomorrow's a big dyayyyy," mumbled Ash, yawning once more as he started to drift off.

All of his friends except Haunter divulged drowsy, confirmatory murmurs. They too could no longer keep their eyes open.

For a split second, an image of eight grotesque, dead fetuses grated against Ash's unconscious mind before being wiped away by a familiar, comforting veil of blackness.

Holding back his ghoulish laughter, Haunter began to eat.

XXX

"Perfect timing," said Bill as he led Ash and Growlithe to where the inn's hot springs were, "the trainers that Lance is sending to search the Cinnabar Lab are arriving this afternoon."

"Do you know who's coming?" asked Ash curiously as he simultaneously wondered why Bill was taking them through the changing room that led to the same bath that he had warmed himself up in when he first arrived in Cinnabar, "Sabrina called me yesterday and said that Lance ordered her to stay at the Indigo Plateau in order to keep working on Ariana's mental barrier."

Growlithe energetically looked up, listening to their conversation. It was obvious to Ash that his starter was feeling great after a trip to the pokemon center.

"I'm not sure who Lance is sending," replied Bill with a shrug, "he was about to tell me, but then you called, so I told him I'd call him back later."

Ash facepalmed, "you hung up on the Champion to answer my call?"

"I did," replied Bill matter-of-factly as they passed through the exit of the changing room, accessing the open air bath, "you're a better friend. Besides, in my opinion, a call from the Chosen One is more important than hearing what the Champion of Kanto has to say."

Feeling awkward after Bill's comment, Ash changed the subject, "what are we doing over here? I thought you were taking us to a place where we could enter Mt. Cinnabar?"

"This is where the entrance is," answered Bill with a smirk.

"Huh?" he folded his arms and raised a skeptical eyebrow, "all that's here is the bath and some boulders by the base of the volcano."

"I didn't pick up on it either," replied Bill as he walked around to the far side of the bath where the stone faucet shaped like a gyarados was, "but after using the hot spring yesterday morning, I noticed a fully clothed old bloke wearing a long, blonde wig and some outrageous sunglasses enter the bath while I was changing. I had enough of my disguise on to where I don't think he recognized me, but I could tell he was Blaine. There's no way a bloody awful disguise like that would fool a master of deception like me."

Ash shook his head with an amused smile. Of course Bill would refer to himself as a master of deception.

"I waited for a bit before following him," resumed the pokemon researcher with a shrug, "but when I entered the hot spring, he had bloody vanished."

"You've got to be kidding me," said Ash, placing a hand on his forehead, "there's a secret passageway, isn't there?"

"Bingo!" exclaimed Bill as he used both of his hands to put pressure on the gyarados faucet.

All of a sudden, there was a loud reverberating sound as two neighboring boulders at the base of the volcano began to tremor. While making a screechy, grating noise the two large stones slowly moved away from one another, revealing a rugged, petrous corridor.

Ash shook his head in disbelief, "all of those damn riddles, and it was here the whole time."

"I hate to keep repeating myself," said Bill with a laugh, "but, like I told you, Blaine is a bloody nutter."

"He's definitely interesting…" replied the dark-haired boy in a prolonged manner as he and Growlithe walked around the small, steaming body of water towards the tunnel, "how'd you figure out that the entrance was behind the boulders and that the gyarados faucet was a lever?"

"There's tracks," answered Bill as he pointed towards the ground — over by where the boulders were before they moved, "you can't see them from the bath. The only way someone would notice them is if they walked over here, and I can't imagine why anybody would do that unless they were looking for something. As for the lever, there's a noticeable notch in the sculpture. I didn't test it out until just now, though. So, thankfully I was right. I was all worried I was going to look like a bloody idiot in front of you if it didn't work."

"I see…" said Ash as he looked down at the wide, shallow tracks in front of the rocky volcanic tube before curiously inspecting the gyarados faucet, "thanks, Bill. I'm not sure I would have figured this part out without you."

"Ehhh, you would have gotten it," said Bill, waving off Ash's gratitude, "besides, there's other ways to enter Mt. Cinnabar that you would have been able to spot from atop Pidgeot. This one is likely just the shortest route to the gym."

"Regardless…" said Ash earnestly, "I appreciate it."

"No problem, my friend," replied Bill with a smile.

Snatching his attention, the young trainer noticed that Growlithe was sniffing around with a bewildered expression. He could tell that the pup was perturbed by the fact that he was just now smelling the existence of the tunnel that Blaine regularly frequented.

"The boulders must have blocked your aromatic awareness, bud," reassured Ash, crouching down and scratching behind his friend's ear.

"Actually, it's the sulfur smell coming from the hot springs," informed Bill with a know it all expression, "that's a strong scent to sift through. Growlithe could probably do it if he knew what he was looking for. But, since you blokes didn't know about the existence of the entrance, it's not surprising that he didn't notice."

"That makes sense," replied Ash with a light chuckle as he, Growlithe and Bill entered the torch lit tunnel, "don't worry about it, Growlithe. Your nose works just fine."

Upon entrance, there was a stone, sculpture of a magmar that protruded out of the craggy, natural wall on their right. Ash figured it was a lever just like the stone, sculpted Gyarados faucet.

His suspicions were confirmed when Bill compulsively pulled it.

As the magmar sculpture shifted slightly down the wall, the boulders made the same loud noise that they did earlier as they moved back to their original resting place. The cave darkened significantly, but there was enough light from the torches that lined the walls of the volcanic tube to see all of their surroundings.

"What's that little green light?" questioned Ash, pointing just above the sculpture.

"Hmm, it must be an indicator of some kind," said Bill as he looked up at the small, mounted light, "when it's green, it probably means that nobody's using the bath. That way, Blaine knows when he can come out."

"Like a motion detector?" asked Ash.

"Maybe…" answered the pokemon researcher, "but, I doubt it. People aren't usually all that active when they sit in a hot spring."

"Oh, well…" muttered Ash with a shrug, "it doesn't matter. Let's go find the gym."

The heat emanating from the volcano was apparent from the moment that they first entered the earth made corridor, but as they made their way through the rocky tunnel, the temperature kept rising. It was the complete opposite of the plummeting temperatures of the Seafoam Island's cave system. After traipsing a short distance, they came across a descending, stone staircase. It was clearly man-made, and at first glance, it appeared to cascade deep down under the earth's surface.

Before they began their descent, Ash took off his sweatshirt, stowing it away in his backpack. Bill followed suit, storing the thick, brown coat that he was wearing in a small depository case that he was carrying in one of his pockets. In preparation, the young trainer momentarily removed his canteen from his backpack, taking a sip of water. It was evident that they were about to experience some extreme heat, so he would have to be mindful of his hydration.

Growlithe was in heaven. Unlike the Seafoam Islands, this was a perfect environment for a fire-type. If it weren't for the fact that he was about to take part in a gym battle, Ash would let Charmeleon out as well.

"Ready to go down?" asked Ash, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Let's bloody do it," replied Bill as he gestured towards the staircase, "after you, my friend."

An excited Growlithe let out an enthusiastic bark as Ash took the first step down the staircase that led to Blaine's gym.

XXX

It was hot.

By the time they reached the bottom of the long, stone staircase, Ash and Bill's clothes were completely soaked in sweat.

"Bloody hell, it's miserable down here," complained the pokemon researcher as they began to travel through another tunnel.

Bill paused as he clenched both of his fists, "Blaine, you bloody nutter! What the hell is wrong with you!?"

"This is brutal," muttered Ash as he continued to trudge forward, "but, I'll take this any day of the week over the freezing lower levels of the Seafoam Islands."

Growlithe looked up at Bill as he nodded in agreement with his trainer.

"I can only imagine," groaned Bill to Ash before turning his attention towards the puppy pokemon, "but your opinion doesn't count, Growlithe. You've been trotting around like you're in paradise."

Growlithe rolled his eyes at the pokemon researcher.

"You know…" grumbled Bill, "I really don't appreciate it when you guys roll your eyes at—"

"That's got to be it!" interrupted Ash, pointing forward with a big toothy grin on his face.

Up ahead was a double entry door made of pure steel that was wedged in-between the narrow tunnel's two cragged, natural walls. As they got closer, Ash could feel the intense heat that radiated from it. He examined the handles, which were made of the same steel as the metal doors.

"There's no way we can touch those handles unless we cool them off," said Ash with a sigh.

Bill nodded, "You might have to use Wartor—"

All of a sudden, there was a loud mechanical clicking sound before the doors expeditiously swung open in the opposite direction of Ash and his friends' position. They were immediately hit by a harsh wave of heat that made Ash feel like his skin was being set on fire.

"Shit!"

"Bloody Hell!"

Growlithe divulged a joyful bark.

On the other side of the door was an immense, vaulted, volcanic cavern. There were pools of sweltering, red lava all around the perimeter, and an innumerable amount of lava rocks, obsidian, pumice, ash, and cinder intermixed with the petrous terrain. In the center was a large battlefield made of slate that dwarfed the standard sized arenas that he and his pokemon had battled on thus far during his journey.

Leaning against a brown, wooden cane in the trainer box on the far side of the arena was an old man with round, black sunglasses. He was wearing a white fedora with a crimson band and a long sleeved button up dress shirt that was the same color as the band on his hat. Over the top of his dress shirt, the man that Ash recognized as Blaine had on a sleek white vest that pristinely matched his dress pants. The gym leader's pointed shoes looked to be made of brown leather, and around his waist was a black trainer belt that had several shrunken capture-devices clipped all around it.

"Welcome to Mt. Cinnabar, Ash Ketchum!" shouted Blaine with a gravelly inflection.

His voice was distinct from the breezy intonation that the young trainer recalled hearing when he unknowingly first met the old man while using the hot spring nearly a week ago.

The gym leader smirked before continuing, "It took you long enough!"

As he made his way towards the empty trainer box, the rush of adrenaline that suddenly surged through Ash's body distracted him from the extreme heat.

"It's good to see you again, Blaine!" replied Ash with a smile, "you look a little different this time!"

Blaine's cane rattled as he laughed, "So, you figured me out, young man!? Well done!"

He paused as a big smile formed on his face, "I knew that it was you back in the changing room, Bill!"

With Growlithe walking alongside of Bill as they trailed behind Ash, the pokemon researcher cursed under his breath before responding, "you're just saying that after the fact, old man! My disguise was perfect unlike that shoddy wig and mustache you were wearing!"

Blaine gave Bill a wry smile, "a coat and a baseball cap barely even counts as a disguise!"

"I was bloody changing!" bellowed Bill, "it wasn't even half on!"

Ash turned around, raising an eyebrow, "didn't you say that you had enough of your disguise on that Blaine couldn't have recognized you?"

"No!" scoffed Bill, "I said I had enough of my disguise on that I didn't think he recognized me. Besides, the old man's full of it. He's only realizing it in hindsight."

Ash laughed before redirecting his attention back to Blaine as he entered the trainer box, "I'm here for a gym battle, Blaine! You and Bill can talk about disguises after we're done!"

"I like your confidence, young man!" hollered Blaine as he slowly walked across the arena while gesturing for Ash to join him.

The young trainer moved forward, meeting the old, seasoned veteran in the middle of the stone battlefield.

"You're handling the heat well," said Blaine, lowering his sunglasses while looking at Ash with his hazel eyes.

"It's hot," replied Ash with a smirk, "but, I can handle it."

The boy took his pokedex out of one of his pockets and handed it over to the gym leader, "I'm guessing you need to record the battle."

The old man nodded as he removed a portable pokedex reader that was connected to a small device from one of his vest pockets.

"Unfortunately…" replied Blaine as he connected Ash's pokedex to the reader, "the League doesn't exactly appreciate the way I do things. I've got to hit my quota if I want to remain one of the eight major gym leaders."

"Not a problem," said the boy as Blaine disconnected the reader from Ash's pokedex after the small device made a dinging noise.

"Let's make it a battle to remember, young man," said Blaine as he tucked the device and the reader back into his pocket before handing Ash's pokedex back to him, "how many badges do you have?"

"Five," replied Ash with confidence as he turned around and began to make his way back to his designated trainer box.

"I already expected big things out of you after our conversation in the hot spring," said Blaine, causing Ash to look back, "but the fact that you are friends with a Montgomery is intriguing…"

The young trainer put his pokedex back in his pocket as he ignored the old man's comment. The fact that he was friends with Bill had nothing to do with his ability as a trainer.

"One more thing before we get started!" shouted Blaine, "will that growlithe be battling!?"

"Growlithe's going to sit this one out!" replied Ash, turning around as he stepped back into his trainer box.

Blaine frowned, "Ah, come on! I've been looking forward to seeing what he can do ever since we first met at the hot spring!"

Ash shook his head, "sorry, Blaine! I've got four other pokemon that have worked extra hard to participate in this battle!"

Blaine muttered something under his breath as he brought his hand to his chin. With the help of his cane, the old man slowly made his way back to his trainer box. As soon as he stepped into the white rectangle etched into the slate battlefield, he turned around, wearing a wide smile.

"I've got a simple solution then! This will be a five-on-five gym battle!"

Ash let out a sigh.

Pidgeot and Haunter were off-limits.

Clefairy, Scyther and Ivysuar were at a disadvantage.

Even though the sun was concealed by the cavern's ceiling, it was still too risky to battle with Eevee during the day.

And Dratini wasn't ready.

Ash didn't want to slowdown his pup's progress when it came to Agility, but now that it was a five-on-five gym battle, he didn't really have a choice.

Growlithe was going to have to battle.

Dammit, Blaine…

"Fine!" groaned Ash as he turned to Growlithe, "looks like you'll be battling after all, buddy!"

The pup divulged a determined bark. As expected, he had zero qualms.

"Hang back there with Bill until I decide that it's your turn!"

Growlithe nodded, sitting on his haunches.

While Ash was facing their direction, Bill smiled, pounding his right fist into his left hand, "show that old bastard what you've got, my friend!"

Ash reciprocated his friend's smile, "I plan on it!"

Turning his attention back to the opposite side of the arena, the boy looked at Blaine with intent filled eyes, "are we using standard rules!?"

"Yes!" exclaimed Blaine with a nod, "you've done this a few times already, so there's no need to go over them!"

With a smile on his face, the old man unclipped a pokeball from his belt.

Ash smirked, mirroring Blaine by detaching a safari ball from one of the slots on his waist.

They both enlarged their capture-devices as Blaine waited for the young trainer to make the first move.

Taking a deep breath, Ash tossed the safari ball out onto his side of the arena. Right before the capture device hit the ground, it snapped open, emanating a bright beam of radiant white light. In concurrence, an identical surge of energy bursted forth on the opposite side of the battlefield. When the two outbursts of light faded, Rhyhorn and a flareon were hastily charging towards one another.

"Rock Blast!" commanded Ash

"Dodge, and use Fire Spin!" bellowed Blaine.

As he bounded forward, the brute rapidly penetrated the slate battlefield with his horn a handful of times, scooping and launching multiple medium-sized boulders at the flame pokemon. They ripped through the air at a high velocity, but the deft flareon expertly maneuvered around them, using Quick Attack while inhaling sharply and spewing out a wide ranging, revolving spiral of flames. Rhyhorn responded by immediately digging up a smaller, more condensed stone that flew forward at an expeditious rate. Smack Down pierced through the swirling billow of flames, dispersing enough of the Fire Spin that Rhyhorn was able to create a large enough window to barrel through without taking any damage.

After Rhyhorn bypassed the eevee evolution's Fire Spin, the flareon darted across the arena as it used Ember to propel a barrage of fire. The dual-type intercepted the fusillade of flames by pivoting back to Rock Blast and Smack Down, briskly flinging a multitude of various sized stones in the direction of the outburst of fire, causing an explosion of smoke.

"Slow it down with Bulldoze!" shouted Ash.

"Jump!" ordered the old man, "and use Swift!"

Rhyhorn raised his anterior hooves before crashing them into the slate surface. Ash took a wide stance, keeping his balance as the entire arena fissured. The flareon leaped up into the air right before the ground underneath it rushed forward like a drubbing wave. Avoiding damage, the flame pokemon fired a burst of star shaped energy that Ash was very familiar with on account of Eevee's mastery of the technique. Rhyhorn grunted as he charged straight through the flareon's Swift while digging his horn into the battlefield once again, heaving another condensed stone in the direction of his opponent. This time it partially connected, clipping the nimble fire-type in the side. After being narrowly hit by Smack Down, Blaine's flareon yelped out in pain while landing on its feet. Showing its toughness, it angrily snarled at Rhyhorn for a brief moment before taking off once again.

All of a sudden, the flame pokemon's eyes intensified and its body ignited as an inferno of scarlet flames surged outwards in the direction of Rhyhorn. Ash immediately recognized the powerful technique as Lava Plume. His brute would be able to withstand it due to his significant type-advantage, but taking it head on wasn't a good idea.

"Block it with Stone Edge!"

Without taking the time to shape it, Rhyhorn quickly lifted his forelegs before slamming his hooves into the ground as hard as he could, raising a large slab of stone. Lava Plume immediately collided with the erected rock wall, causing it to glow red from the intense heat. The rock plated mammal wisely hunkered down. Ash could tell that his dual-type was doing his best job to protect himself while being mindful of the fact that the flareon could strike at any moment.

Ash spotted the flame pokemon as it used Quick Attack to try and flank his brute.

"Scary Face to your left!" demanded Ash.

"Smog!" yelled Blaine.

Contorting his face in a frightening manner, Rhyhorn turned his head to the left. There was a small amount of dark energy that enshrouded his expression as he tried to get the flareon to freeze.

Simultaneously, the fire-type coughed up a sizable cloud of dark purple gas that spurted right in the brute's face, reminding Ash of his battle against Koga. Due to Rhyhorn's advantageous typing when defending against poison-type techniques, the young trainer wasn't concerned about the damage, but he was curious to see if it obscured his dual-type's ability to land Scary Face.

"Stone Edge!" shouted Ash — unsure of the flareon's position because the cloud of poison.

"Get out of there!" bellowed Blaine.

Unable to move laterally quick enough, Rhyhorn creatively leaned to the right, lifting both of the legs on the left side of his body before forcefully stomping them into the ground. There was a mass of semi jagged stone that bursted forth from the ground on the left side of Rhyhorn that pierced through the flareon's Smog, dispersing most of it.

Unfortunately, the flame pokemon was no where to be found.

"Dammit," cursed the dark-haired boy under his breath.

Scary Face was unsuccessful.

"Above you!" shouted Ash as the flareon leaped up from over the top of the elevated mound of stone that Rhyhorn had raised in order to block Lava Plume, "Chip Away!"

The dual-type got up on his hind legs, something he was capable of doing sparingly on account of the fact that he was nearing evolution. He quickly bucked his horn up with force, attempting to jab the descending flareon with the quick hitting normal-type technique. He made contact with the fire-type's side once again, causing the eevee evolution to cry out in pain. As Rhyhorn attempted to swing his horn for a second time, the airborne flareon opportunistically stuck out its hind legs, pushing off of one of the two residual Stone Edges, while activating Quick Attack in order to avoid taking another hit from Chip Away.

"Rock Blast!"

"Lava Plume!"

Before the command had left Ash's mouth, his brute had already begun to move. Thrusting his horn into the arena's surface yet again, he catapulted three average-sized boulders at the sweltering fire-type. Right before one of the large stones was about to make contact, an outburst of flames detonated outward from the flareon's body. There was a significant explosion in the middle of the battlefield, consisting of fire, rubble, smoke and cinder. Ash covered his mouth with his elbow to ensure that he didn't breathe in too much smoke. Squinting his eyes, he attempted to descry what was going on between Rhyhorn and the flareon within the smoky obscuration.

The dark-haired boy suddenly had to find his balance as the underground arena shook from what had to be Rhyhorn's Bulldoze. The flareon cried out in pain from somewhere within the smoke, but it sounded like it still had some fight left in it. Proving Ash right, a large, bright red-orange glow appeared within the expanding dark cloud. At the time, the smoke was too thick for the young trainer to make out what technique the flame pokemon was using, but the glow was big enough for him to deduce that it wasn't something rudimentary like Ember.

Ash heard Rhyhorn bellow in pain for the first time, likely being hit by the unknown, potent fire-type move that the flareon had used. However, the dark-haired boy was relieved when the smoke dissipated enough that he could make out the state of the battle. Rhyhorn had quite a few scorch marks on his rock plates, but overall he seemed to be doing just fine. Blaine's flareon was worse for wear. Albeit, it was in better shape than Ash had anticipated. The flame pokemon had taken a noticeable amount of damage and was panting heavily, but it stood up resolutely, glaring at the brute with tenacious eyes.

Ash let out a deep sigh.

This was going to be a long gym battle if all of Blaine's pokemon were as tough as his flareon.

"Wait to hang in there, Piper!" cheered Blaine, "Fire Spin! Follow it up with Flare Blitz!"

The young trainer's eyes widened.

He's going to use Flare Blitz…

Against a rhyhorn?

Is he crazy?

"Smack Down then meet it head-on with Drill Run!" commanded Ash as Blaine's flareon bolted forward while breathing out a swirling billow of flames.

As he had already done multiple times throughout the battle, Rhyhorn dug into the ground with his horn, shoveling up a large compacted stone. He heaved it with tremendous force at the flareon's Fire Spin, dispersing part of it before stampeding forward as fast as he could.

Rhyhorn began to lean to the right as Blaine's flareon concurrently engulfed its entire body in torrid flames.

Ash nervously bit his bottom lip as they severed the distance in-between one another.

Right before they collided, Rhyhorn shifted his plates harshly to the right side of his body before leaping forward, causing him to revolve horizontally at an expeditious rate. The loud, discordant sound that they made when they clashed made Ash quiver. They stalemated for what felt like forever — even though the dark-haired boy knew it was only a couple of seconds — before the fire-type was predictably launched backwards, losing the exchange.

As the brute's Drill Run came to an end, Ash's eyes followed the flareon — who was somehow still enveloped in flames — as it torpedoed towards its trainer.

"Look out!" shouted Ash as his pulse hastened.

Without flinching, Blaine stood in his trainer box with confidence as a pillar of flames erupted from his fire enshrouded flareon. The elemental outburst streaked right by Blaine, who leaned up against his cane without a care in the world. Using the force of its fire, the evee evolution halted its momentum and extinguished its flames, landing right beside its trainer.

The flareon was haggard and had accumulated a surplus of damage, but it was still conscious.

"You've got to be freaking kidding me…" muttered Ash as he gazed at the fire-type in awe.

What an incredible pokemon.

Ash shook off his astonishment as his eyes darted back to Rhyhorn. His brute had left the exchange with even more scorch marks. It was evident that the dual-type had been burned, and by the way that the back of his head kept swaying up and down as he faced Blaine and the flareon's direction, the young trainer could tell that the rock plated mammal was panting heavily.

Rhyhorn needs to put an end to this soo—

With intense eyes, Blaine's flareon took a step forward, yearning to continue the battle.

It suddenly collapsed.

Ash breathed a massive sigh of relief while wiping a layer of sweat from his forehead.

Blaine's indomitable flareon had lost consciousness.

Rhyhorn let out an exhausted, but triumphant grunt as he slowly turned around and made his way back to his trainer.

"Great job, Rhyhorn!" exclaimed Ash, clenching his fist, "you were incredible!"

Ash looked back when he heard Bill cheer and Growlithe howl a fair distance behind him. The young trainer showed them a smile before, reaching out and stroking his brute's battered horn.

Shifting his attention back to the other side of the arena, he gazed intently at Blaine.

Having already returned his valiant flareon, the gym leader clipped its pokeball back to his belt before detaching another red and white capture-device.

"That's quite the Rhyhorn you've got there, young man!" complimented Blaine with a smile, "I can't believe it beat Piper! He doesn't lose very often, especially against a pokemon that's still in its primary form! Well done! If all of your pokemon can battle like that then I might need to rethink my strategy!"

"Thanks!" replied Ash as he continued to pet Rhyhorn, "Piper was unbelievable! I was starting to think he could battle forever!"

"Believe me if he could he would!" bellowed Blaine in-between laughter.

"Ash!" shouted Bill from behind him, "be prepared! The old geezer looks like he's having a great time! I've heard that's when he's most dangerous!"

The dark-haired boy looked back, giving Bill a confident smirk before waiting for Blaine to make the next move.

The gym leader casually lobbed his next pokemon's capture device onto the battlefield. When the surge of energy from the release subsided a dignified, horned, cream-colored equine that was covered in reddish-orange flames divulged a vigorous neigh.

Leaving the company of his trainer, Rhyhorn ambled forward ready for combat. For a moment, Ash debated returning his dual-type to give him a break, but his brute conveyed fortitude. He'd stick with Rhyhorn until he could no longer battle.

In an abrupt manner, the rapidash seemingly disappeared, using Agility to try and ambush Rhyhorn.

Shit! It's fast!

"Bulldoze!" commanded Ash, hoping to diminish its speed.

"Inferno!" ordered Blaine.

As Rhyhorn stomped his anterior hooves into the ground, causing the entire arena to shake, rapidash nimbly reappeared on his right flank at point blank range. Minimally affected by Bulldoze, the equine unleashed a highly concentrated outburst of flames from its mane and fetlocks, completely engulfing the brute. The dual-type let out a loud anguishing bellow from within the torrid Inferno, causing Ash to wince.

The young trainer raised Rhyhorn's safari ball, preparing to return him before suddenly stopping himself. He watched as the shadowy form of his brute leaned to the left, lifting the legs on the right side of his body up off of the ground before subsequently crashing them back down, punishing the slate arena. As a result, the largest Stone Edge that the dual-type had ever raised bursted forth from the ground, catching Blaine and his fire-type off guard. The rapidash was able to avoid taking a direct hit by briskly utilizing Bounce to launch itself into the air, but the jagged mass of stone clipped enough of its hind legs to cause it to divulge an agonizing neigh.

"Rhyhorn, just a little more!" shouted Ash after making sure his brute was still conscious the moment rapidash's Inferno had ceased, "use Smack Down!"

"Finish it off!" commanded Blaine, "Fire Blast!"

Hanging on by a thread, the dual-type painstakingly dug his horn into the Cinnabar Gym's battlefield for what would likely be the last time, catapulting a large, condensed stone straight up into the air. In concurrence, the rapidash's entire body was enveloped in fire before a large star shaped assailment of scorching hot flames came plummeting down towards Rhyhorn.

Smack Down had picked up enough speed that most of the compacted stone cut through the Fire Blast, making direct impact with the equine's underbelly. It let out an uncomfortable gasping sound, having likely gotten the wind knocked out of it as it began its descent back to the arena's surface.

When the Fire Blast struck the brute there was a momentary low-pitched groan before it went silent. Ash didn't need visual confirmation, but he waited for the smoke to clear anyways. As expected, when his vision was no longer obscured, he saw that Rhyhorn was laying charred and unconscious in the middle of the battlefield. A ways beyond him was Blaine's rapidash. It was hacking and trying to catch its breath after taking Rhyhorn's Smack Down straight to the gut. It also appeared to have a slight limp, evidently favoring its right hind leg on account of the contact that the young trainer's unconscious dual-type had made earlier with Stone Edge.

The dark-haired boy could hear the sound of Bill clapping and Growlithe cheerfully barking out of respect for Rhyhorn's stalwart performance. Clicking the return button on the safari ball, a ruby red beam of light enveloped the brute before pulling him back into sequester.

"You did more than enough," muttered Ash with a smile, raising his friend's safari ball up to his lips, "great job, Rhyhorn."

While he reattached Rhyhorn's safari ball back to his trainer belt, he watched as Blaine mumbled something to his rapidash. The equine nodded, showing its trainer an adamant expression as the gym leader directed his attention across the arena towards Ash.

"What a gutsy Rhyhorn! My compliments from earlier don't do it justice! It's going to be a hell of a rhyperior one day!"

"He sure is!" replied Ash with a big toothy grin as he detached a pokeball from one of the clips on his belt, "that's a good looking rapidash! This next battle should be interesting!"

Ash tossed the red and white capture-device out into the center of the arena. When the billow of incandescent energy dissipated, Charmeleon spat out his habitual wisp of flames while zeroing in on his opponent.

"Dragon Rage!" commanded Ash.

"Dodge and use Flame Charge!" bellowed Blaine.

Bursting forth from the fire lizard's maw were a multitude of purple flames that howled as they streaked across the arena. Despite the rapidash's hobbled hind leg, it adequately evaded, igniting its entire body in flames as it closed the distance between itself and Charmeleon. Right when Ash thought that the equine was going to collide into his fire lizard, Charmeleon dove to the right, rolling across the ground before vaulting himself back up onto his feet. He unleashed another salvo of draconic flames that pelted the rapidash's side, causing it to neigh in a harrowing manner.

When the rapidash angrily turned its head towards Charmeleon as it prepared to charge once more, the fire lizard showed it a malignant expression that oozed dark energy. Blaine's fire horse's eyes abruptly widened.

The rapidash had been momentarily crippled by fear.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Charmeleon darted forward, winding back his arm before delivering a crushing Focus Punch to the side of the equine's head.

It involuntarily rolled across the arena in a violent manner before coming to stop just shy of one of the volcanic cavern's walls. For a moment, Ash thought that Charmeleon had knocked it out, but he let out a disappointed groan when it determinedly willed itself back up onto its hooves.

In-between blinks, it was gone. Ash's eyes darted across the arena as he tried to follow the slew of afterimages that the rapidash left as it quickly closed in on Charmeleon. The fire lizard bent his legs and raised his arms, bracing himself for the moment that the rapidash decided to attack.

"Stomp!" howled Blaine from across the arena.

"Fire Fang!" bellowed Ash as Blaine's speedy rapidash appeared on Charmeleon's left.

Having already raised its anterior hooves, the equine thrusted them down on top of the fire lizard, bludgeoning the top of his head and one of his shoulders. Without making a sound, Charmeleon's eyes intensified as he ignited his maw, chomping down on one of the rapidash's forelegs, causing it to cry out in pain. Albeit, despite its neigh of anguish, the flames on the fire horse's body suddenly amplified.

Dammit. Its ability is Flash Fire.

"No more fire-type techniques!" yelled Ash as the rapidash repeatedly pelted Charmeleon with a barrage of Ember in attempt to get him to let go of its leg.

Spewing out draconic flames as he let go of his Fire Fang, Charmeleon rolled away from the equine in order to avoid getting hit by its Stomp. While still on the ground, he suddenly released a massive outburst of black smoke, using Smoke Screen to obscure the majority of the arena.

Ash squinted his eyes as the black cloud expanded outwards. Amidst the Smoke Screen was a collection of purple and reddish-orange glows that seemingly clashed against one another. Even though Ash couldn't see, it was apparent that Charmeleon and the fire horse were partaking in an intense exchange that involved the fire lizard's Dragon Rage and a flurry of the rapidash's fire-type moves. The young trainer grimaced every time he heard a painful outcry belonging to one of the fire-types echo from within the billow of black smoke.

When the Smoke Screen abated enough for young trainer to properly decipher the current state of the battle, it was clear that Charmeleon had maintained the upper hand. Blaine's rapidash's legs quivered as it attempted to trap the fire lizard within a spiraling pillar of flames. However, due to the amount of damage it had sustained in combination with its exhaustion, the equine's aim was way off.

"You've got this! Finish it off with Focus Punch!" bellowed Ash.

"Mercury, watch out!" warned Blaine.

Bypassing the off target Fire Spin, Charmeleon sprinted forward, closing the distance between them quickly before landing a full power Focus Punch right below its horn.

The rapidash's eyes went blank, and its legs folded before it inertly fell to the ground.

A tired Charmeleon lifted his arms up above his head, flexing his muscles as he let out a victorious outcry.

The young trainer pumped his fist while Bill and Growlithe made an enthusiastic commotion behind him. A red beam of light streaked across the arena before Blaine's unconscious equine was returned to its pokeball.

"Way to go, Charmeleon!" praised the dark-haired boy while the fire lizard made his way back over to him.

As his fire-type neared, Ash was able to quickly recognize that he had accumulated quite a bit of damage during his battle against Blaine's rapidash. His breathing was heavy and his body was haggard.

"Hell of a battle," complimented Ash with a soft smile, grasping Charmeleon's pokeball as he crouched down to his level, "you've grown."

The fire lizard let out an earnest grunt as he looked up at Ash with rapturous eyes.

"Take a rest for a little bit," said Ash, clicking the button on his fire lizard's pokeball, "I might need you again later on in the battle."

Charmeleon's countenance displayed a steadfast resolve up until the moment he was returned to his capture-device.

"There's nothing I admire more than a resolute fire-type! You've trained your Charmeleon well, young man!" praised Blaine from the other side of the arena, "Is he your starter!?"

"No, Growlithe is!" replied Ash, turning around and pointing at his canine, "but, Charmeleon's been with me for a while! He's come a long way!"

Blaine held his hand up to his chin, talking to himself before he lowered his sunglasses. His hazel green eyes expressed recognition.

"You said you were from Pallet Town back at the hot spring, right!?" queried Blaine with fire in his eyes.

"Yeah!" replied Ash, raising an eyebrow.

"So, you got your Growlithe from Professor Oak!?" asked Blaine as a smile started to form on his face.

"I did!" responded the young trainer, wondering why the old man was suddenly questioning him in regard to where he got his pup.

"Is it related to Samuel's arcanine!?"

Ohhh, so that's what he was getting at…

"He's her son!" answered Ash with a smirk.

Blaine's smile widened into a humongous grin, "no wonder he seems so familiar! I battled against Samuel's arcanine more times than I can count back in the day! Do you realize how fortunate you are to have a growlithe that shares that powerhouse's genetics!?"

Ash's eyes widened.

Blaine's battled against Growlithe's mother?

I guess it makes sense…

Professor Oak was a big time trainer back in the day, and he and Blaine were probably close in age.

Fascinating…

Ash glanced back at Growlithe, who was cocking his head in a manner that portrayed bewilderment.

"Of course I do!" replied Ash with a smile.

Blaine gave the boy an emphatic nod as he raised his sunglasses back over his eyes and unclipped a pokeball from his belt, tossing it onto the battlefield, "now's as good a time as ever! I want to see how strong that canine is!"

When the radiant white light from the release dispersed, another member of his pup's species was unveiled. Blaine's growlithe immediately zeroed in on Ash's canine. For a moment, it appeared to be overjoyed to see another of its kind until it suddenly registered its surroundings. Comprehending the reason it was called upon, the growlithe suddenly bared its fangs, conveying eagerness to battle.

The young trainer didn't even get the opportunity to signal over his pup. With determined eyes, Growlithe bounded onto the battlefield. Ash caught a glimpse of his expression as his canine raced by. His countenance showed resolve while his tail wagged all over the place.

Growlithe was excited.

"This is my arcanine's daughter, Vesta!" explained Blaine, gesturing towards the other growlithe, "she hatched about six months ago! I can't explain to you how fired up I am to get the opportunity to test her strength against that arcanine's offspring!"

The dark-haired boy's pulse began to hasten. Blaine's fervor was starting to rub off on him.

This should be fun.

At the onset of the battle, both of the growlithe got into an aggressive stance, snarling as they showed each other their teeth. Ash could tell that his pup was trying to activate Intimidate, but it was to no avail. Without either trainer giving a command, the canines were suddenly on the move. They maneuvered around one another in a large circle, starting things off by exchanging a multitude of Embers. Accurately reading each other's movements, neither of them came close to being hit.

After getting a feel for one another, they gradually closed the distance in-between themselves before it was time for one of them to make the first real move. Growlithe attempted to strike first. Trailing behind a barrage of Ember, he activated Flame Wheel. With his entire body engulfed in sweltering flames, the young trainer's canine spun vertically at an expeditious rate, barreling straight towards Vesta. She responded by quickly firing off multiple rounds of Flame Burst. A couple of them made contact with the fire that Growlithe had enshrouded himself in, but it didn't seem to have any effect.

Right before Growlithe was about to collide into Vesta, she darted out of the way. Picking up speed, she initiated her own Flame Wheel before drifting across the battlefield as she strained to turn herself around. By the time she pivoted directions, Growlithe had extinguished his flames, electing to momentarily prioritize side-to-side maneuverability. Flanking Blaine's ignited canine, Growlithe dove head first into the side of her Flame Wheel. Setting his maw ablaze, he dug through her flames with his teeth until there was a loud yelp. As her Flame Wheel lost speed, the young trainer spotted dark energy in the center of it — a sign that Growlithe had shifted from Fire Fang to Bite.

Vesta's Flame Wheel suddenly came to an end as she involuntarily rolled across the arena's slate surface for a brief moment. Having already unlatched his fangs, Growlithe landed adroitly before charging towards her at full speed. Gathering herself mid roll, Blaine's canine abruptly stopped on a dime before bolting forward to meet Growlithe head-on.

The two canine's clashed.

Having both used Take Down, Ash grimaced as they let out high-pitched yelps. The force from the simultaneous recoils caused each one of them to be flung backwards in the direction that they originally came from. When Growlithe and Vesta got back up on their feet, it was evident that the reckless collision had caused noticeable damage to both of them.

However, in the brief moment that Ash got to examine them while they were stationary, it was clear that Growlithe had come out of the exchange in better shape. His body appeared to have taken less overall damage, and it didn't seem like he was disoriented. Vesta, on the other hand, had struggled to find her balance, and she was favoring the side of her body that Growlithe had chomped into with his powerful maw.

As they each tried to give themselves an opportunity to recover, Growlithe and Vesta engaged in a mobile, long range battle in which they exchanged numerous Embers and Fire Bursts. Under ordinary circumstances — while his opponent's pokemon was clearly struggling to keep up — Ash would typically seek an opportunity to end the battle.

But, this was different.

There was an insurmountable amount of pride involved in a battle amongst pokemon of the same species, and Growlithe had the upper hand. He wouldn't intervene unless he had to, especially since up to this point, Blaine had also remained quiet.

All of a sudden, the long-distance exchange came to an end when Vesta made her move. Using an explosion caused by two colliding Flame Bursts as cover, she sprinted in the direction of Growlithe's left flank, positioning herself in his blind spot. It took Ash every ounce of self control that he had to stop himself from warning his friend. He likely couldn't have done it if there wasn't a small part of himself that wanted to see just how keen his canine's senses were.

Closing in on Growlithe, Vesta's body was consumed by her internal flame as she triggered Flame Wheel. Spinning vertically at a tremendous speed, she abruptly extinguished her flames, using the momentum of the fast paced technique to slingshot herself forward. Enkindling her maw with scorching hot fire, her intentions were obvious.

"Grow—"

His canine disappeared.

"Did he just—"

The dark-haired boy watched in astonishment as Growlithe abruptly reappeared after using Agility. While sprinting towards Vesta at a speed that Ash had never seen his pup achieve before, the canine grabbed ahold of her with all four of his legs. Turning his opponent's momentum into a weapon of his own, his canine flipped backwards, using Reversal to punishingly bury his opponent into the arena's slate floor.

Vesta divulged a sharp, ear-splitting outcry that lasted for barely a second before she lost consciousness.

…The cavern was silent.

There was something about the way that the battle abruptly ended that shocked everyone that witnessed it.

Before the two canines battled, they appeared to be at a similar level.

Growlithe's Intimidate didn't activate, so why was it so one-sided?

A beam of red light enveloped Vesta as Growlithe looked back at his trainer. His expression portrayed satisfaction while his eyes depicted mild disappointment.

"W-woah!" exclaimed Blaine, breaking the silence while clipping Vesta's pokeball back to his trainer belt, "I knew it would be strong, but I wasn't expecting that!"

"That was bloody brilliant!" shouted Bill from behind him.

Blaine lowered his sunglasses yet again, "how old is that growlithe!?"

The dark-haired boy remained speechless for a moment as Growlithe scampered over to him.

A semi perturbed Blaine began to ask again, "how old—"

"He's a little more than seven months old!" answered Ash, pulling himself together.

Once again, Blaine mumbled words that Ash couldn't hear as he reached for another capture-device that was fixed to his belt.

"I thought that I was handling this gym battle appropriately, but I was wrong!" shouted Blaine as he casually grasped the capture-device in his hand, "you're not an ordinary rookie! So, I'm no longer going to treat you like one!"

With overwhelming confidence, Blaine gently tossed a great ball onto his side of the arena. When the white light from the release faded, a noble ninetales was revealed. The golden-white fox peered at Ash and growlithe with its pressuring, red eyes, scrupulously examining them. Its presence was nowhere close to as domineering as Willow, but there likely wasn't another ninetails in the world that wielded that kind of power.

Nevertheless, there was no mistaking it…

The gym leader's ninetales was strong.

"Growlithe, return," said Ash while unclipping a safari ball from his belt.

The pup lowered his head — disappointed that he wouldn't get to face off against the compelling fire-type.

"Oh, come on!" groaned Blaine, "I wanted to see how he would fare against Solaris!"

Ignoring the gym leader's complaint, Ash focused his attention on his pup.

"You did great, Growlithe," praised Ash as his canine ambled back over to where Bill stood, "We'll have to test out Agility now that you've had a breakthrough later today."

The pup let out an affirmative — albeit dissatisfied — bark.

"Don't be like that," said Ash with a sigh, "you know the others have worked hard to compete in this gym battle. Besides, who knows what will happen, I might still need you."

Growlithe reluctantly nodded. Even though he'd rather be battling, he understood where his best friend was coming from.

As he overheard Bill congratulating Growlithe behind him, the young trainer pivoted his attention back to Blaine and his ninetales.

Despite the fact that he had four pokemon remaining compared to Blaine's two, the battle was far from over. All he had to do was take one good look at the high level fox pokemon's dignified appearance to be reminded that there was still a lot of work to do.

Ash looked down at the safari ball in his right hand with anticipatory eyes.

It was time for their first battle together.

"Let's go, young man!" shouted Blaine impatiently, "since you're not going to let your growlithe battle against Solaris, you might as well show me what else you've got up your sleeve!"

Electing not to respond to Blaine for the second time in a row, the dark-haired boy took a deep breath before launching the safari ball out into the middle of the arena. When it clicked open, a large, extending mass of white energy filled the center of the arena. The moment that it dispersed, Gyarados let out an ear-shattering outcry that echoed throughout the volcanic cavern.

"A gyarados!? Well aren't you full of surprises, Ash Ketchum!" bellowed Blaine, removing his sunglasses before tossing them aside, "I hope your ready, Solaris! This kid isn't playing around!"

Ash could hear Bill laughing behind him. Apparently, the pokemon researcher was amused by the gym leader's reaction.

Solaris bent its knees in anticipation while resolutely gazing up at Gyarados' towering form.

The sea serpent divulged a low, guttural rumbling sound as she swayed her head from side-to-side in an intimidating manner.

"Twister!" commanded Ash.

"Intercept it with Dazzling Gleam!" bellowed Blaine.

The sea serpent conjured a giant, swirling vortex of draconic energy outside of her gaping mouth before firing it at the ninetales. Simultaneously, Solaris enshrouded itself in multi-colored thaumaturgic energy before blasting it towards the water-type. The two mystic powers clashed for a brief moment before the ninetales' fairy-type technique inevitably sliced through. Moving swiftly for her size, Gyarados lowered the anterior half of her serpentine body, ducking underneath the Dazzling Gleam. Maneuvering her body in a wave like motion, she closed the distance between herself and Solaris. Dark energy leaked from her fangs as she rapidly thrusted her head downward towards the fire-type, attempting to use Bite.

Solaris used Quick Attack to dodge to the right, avoiding Gyarados' sharp, menacing fangs. All of a sudden, the fire-type's entire body glowed orange as it manifested multiple dark purple, modest-sized flames that circled around it. The fox pokemon launched the Willow Wisp at the sea serpent with the intention of burning her. Gyarados responded by spewing out purple flames of her own, triggering Dragon Rage to intercept the ninetales' status technique. In the wake of a small explosion that occurred when the opposing purple flames smashed into one another, Solaris dashed around Gyarados' flank before firing off multiple Flame Bursts that pelted the sea serpent's long body.

Gyarados divulged an irritated roar as she enveloped her tail in a spiraling streak of water and swung it across the arena at Blaine's ninetales. There was a loud bang when the water type's Aqua Tail crashed into the battlefield's slate surface right where Solaris was before it dodged with Quick Attack. After missing the first time, Gyarados didn't stop. She repetitively cracked her tail like a whip, holding Aqua Tail throughout the entirety of her assault. While evading, Solaris used a slew of long-distance fire-type techniques such as Ember, Flame Burst, Flamethrower and Inferno in addition to a psychic-type technique that Ash didn't recognize to try and slowly wear down Gyarados. It was evident that the ninetales was doing damage, but it wasn't enough to put an end to the serpent's assailment. As a matter of fact, it seemed to be enraging Gyarados to the point where her Aqua Tail was getting faster and stronger. With each swing she got closer to connecting.

"Scary Face!" bellowed Ash, trying to create an opening.

"Don't look at its face!" howled Blaine, "focus on its tail, and keep attacking!"

Obeying her trainer's command, while continuing to use Aqua Tail, Gyarados started to contort her face in order to suspend her opponent. Keeping its eyes focused on the serpent's impending water enshrouded tail, Solaris chained Flamethrower, Flame Burst and the unknown psychic-type technique, working hard to pile on more damage. As she was bombarded by the ninetales flurry of attacks, Ash noticed a hint of recognition in his water-type's eyes. Realizing that Solaris was completely disregarding the anterior half of her body, she hastily conjured a half finished Twister before launching it at Blaine's ninetales.

"Solaris, move!" shouted the gym leader.

Ash smirked.

Blaine was too late.

Entirely consumed by its evasion of Aqua Tail and its long-distance counter attacks, by the time Solaris comprehended its trainer's warning, Gyarados' undercooked Twister was already on top of it. As the swirling draconic tornado smashed into Solaris' back, it let out a high-pitched outcry before being bludgeoned by the sea serpent's sweeping Aqua Tail. The ninetales was sent flying across the arena towards one of the volcanic cavern's walls. For a moment, it looked like its flailing form would involuntarily crash into the wall, but it somehow gathered itself in mid air before kicking out its hind legs, using the wall as a spring board to fling itself back in the direction of Gyarados.

As it rocketed towards the sea serpent, Solaris' eyes glowed pitch black for a brief moment before its entire body was suddenly engulfed in dark energy. Ash immediately recognized that the powerful ninetales had used Nasty Plot prior to triggering Payback.

"Don't let it get close!" yelled Ash as the ninetales' feet gracefully touched down on the ground before it hastily sprinted towards Gyarados like a breakneck jet.

With limited long-distance options, Gyarados used Dragon Rage sequenced with another half formed Twister to try and keep Solaris at bay.

She was unsuccessful.

Barreling into Gyarados' underbelly at full speed, the fire-type punished the leviathan with Payback. She let out a harsh gasping sound, having had the wind thoroughly knocked out of her. However, the sea serpent didn't fold. While hacking and wheezing, an indignant Gyarados caught Solaris off guard when she fought through the pain, lunging her agape maw at the ninetales with dark energy oozing from her fangs.

"Fire Spin!" commanded Blaine.

"Fight through it!" yelled Ash.

The water-type penetrated her head straight through the desperate billow of fire, digging her sharp fangs into Solaris' side. The fox pokemon let out an ear-shattering screech as Gyarados added insult to injury by unleashing a point blank Dragon Rage from her maw while her teeth were buried into the ninetales' flesh. Showing astonishing grit, Solaris' eyes flashed with white light as it blasted Gyarados with the same psychic-type technique as before, forcing the menacing sea serpent to let go. The ninetales proceeded to quickly put a fair amount of distance between itself and Gyarados, clearly exiting the exchange having taken a significant amount of damage. Albeit, his sea serpent was in worse shape. Gyarados' eyes were beginning to show noticeable signs of tiredness, and her breathing was becoming heavier and huskier than normal. The intensity of the battle was undoubtedly wearing on both of them, but despite the savagery of her attacks, his leviathan was barely hanging on.

Regardless of the outcome, he was proud of the way that Gyarados had battled. While obeying the commands that he'd given her, she had kept her rage under control and showed strategical intelligence. In terms of battle prowess, there was no denying that Solaris was operating on a level that was way beyond what Gyarados was currently capable of at this point in time. If it weren't for her significant type-advantage, endurance and innate raw power, his sea serpent wouldn't have stood a chance. Nevertheless, she had pushed Solaris to the brink. Even with a lack of experience and a limited moveset, her potential was on full display.

"Twister!" shouted Ash, "then follow it up with Aqua Tail!"

"Dazzling Gleam then get in close with Quick Attack!" ordered Blaine, "finish it off with Hex!"

Hex?

Is Gyarados burned?

As the sea serpent launched a full-power Twister, and Solaris intercepted it with a radiant Dazzling Gleam, Ash quickly inspected Gyarados' body. He zeroed in on a collection of significant scorch marks on the right side of one of her spiky, lower dorsal fins.

Shit.

Hex was a bizarre ghost-type technique that did more than double the damage when a pokemon was inflicted with a status condition. If it landed, the battle was likely over.

While Dazzling Gleam once again predictably cut through the water-type's Twister. Gyarados maneuvered out of the way of the fairy-type technique just like she had at the beginning of the battle. She quickly activated Aqua Tail before swinging the posterior end of her serpentine body in a wide arching motion, attempting to pummel Solaris with her tail fin. The ninetales waited until the last moment to dodge. Barely avoiding Gyarados' Aqua Tail with Quick Attack, it severed the distance in-between them in a heart beat before vigorously leaping up at Gyarados.

"Gyarados, use Dragon Rage!" howled Ash.

He was too late.

An outburst of ominous, ghoulish energy emanated outward from its body, striking the sea serpent right underneath her jaw. She divulged a loud guttural shriek as her consciousness started to fade. Solaris landed on her feet in front of the sea serpent's reeling form. It was panting haggardly — exhausted from a brutal battle. The young trainer let out a deep sigh before raising his serpent's safari ball. However, right when he was about to press the return button, the serpent's pupils abruptly dilated as she began to uncontrollably buck her long, serpentine body in the center of the arena.

"Solaris, get out of there!" screamed Blaine with desperation in his voice.

Ash wasn't even sure if Gyarados was conscious as she viciously struck Solaris with Thrash. For a second time, the ninetales was launched across the arena. Despite being curious about Solaris' condition, the young trainer kept his eyes planted on his water-type, ready to return her if she incidentally started moving towards either of the occupied trainer boxes. However, Gyarados' violent outburst came to an abrupt end when she confusedly slammed her head into the arena floor as hard as she could while being simultaneously blasted by a wave of psychic energy emitted from a battered and exhausted Solaris. This time Gyarados' eyes rolled all the way back into her head, and her long serpentine body went limp as she crashed to the ground, causing the entire arena to tremor.

Ash let out a deep sigh, wasting no time as he pressed the return button on his sea serpent's safari ball. A ruby red beam of light stretched out across the arena, enveloping Gyarados' lengthy form before pulling her back into the confines of her capture-device.

While doing his best to ignore the dizziness that he was starting to feel from the intense heat of Mt. Cinnabar, Ash raised Gyarados' safari ball up to his face, "we've got a lot of work to do, but well done. You battled hard."

Once again, Ash heard the sound of Bill clapping and Growlithe howling as he clipped his serpent's capture-device back to its assigned slot on his belt.

"I've got to say, young man, I haven't been this impressed by a rookie in a long time!" praised Blaine with a widened smile, "you remind me of a young JR! Getting a gyarados to submit to you at your age is no easy feat!"

"Thanks!" replied Ash — unsure of what else to say in response to the glowing compliment, "your ninetales is really strong!"

"Solaris and I have been battling together for a long time!" answered Blaine, "I'd normally never use him against a rookie, but you were starting to make me look bad!"

"He sure was, you old geezer!" chided Bill from behind him, causing Ash to cringe.

"Keep your idiotic comments to yourself, Bill!" retorted Blaine, furiously shaking a fist in the air.

The old man cleared his throat before redirecting his attention back to the dark-haired boy, "Now, what's your next move, Ash Ketchum!?"

Ash detached Charmeleon's pokeball from his trainer belt before tossing it out onto his side of the arena. Upon release, the fire lizard divulged an intimidating roar before spitting out a spate of flames. He looked better than he did before Ash returned him, but Charmeleon was still in pretty bad shape. Be that as it may, Solaris was on her last leg, and Ash wanted to ensure that Wartortle was at full strength to face off against whatever Blaine's final pokemon was.

"That ninetales is beaten up, Charmeleon, but don't let your guard down! It's really strong!" warned Ash.

The fire lizard bent his knees and raised his claws in preparation for battle.

"Solaris, use Fire Blast!" yelled Blaine.

"Dodge, and use Dragon Rage!" demanded Ash.

"Switch to Dazzling Gleam," bellowed Blaine, quickly pivoting his strategy.

As Solaris transitioned from taking a deep breath in order to trigger Fire Blast to hastily enshrouding his body in multi-colored thaumaturgic energy, Charmeleon fired a barrage of potent purple flames. The fire lizard's Dragon Rage almost made contact before Solaris was able to activate Dazzling Gleam, but the beaten up ninetales managed to get it off in time, slicing through the purple flames that Charmeleon had spewed out. Ash's fire-type dodged to the right, avoiding the multi-colored thaumaturgic energy before charging the ninetales while unleashing several more outbursts of Dragon Rage. The haggard ninetales intercepted the bombardment of draconic fire by blasting off a multitude of Flame Bursts. Taking advantage of the explosion, the fire lizard was able to get to Solaris' right flank.

"Scary—"

Reading Ash's mind, Charmeleon manipulated his facial appearance. Dark energy was visible as he showed the powerful ninetales a horrifying countenance.

Too tired to react in time, Solaris froze.

The dark-haired boy clenched his fist as Charmeleon closed in. Winding back his right arm, the fire lizard walloped Solaris across the face with Focus Punch — reminiscent of how he knocked out Blaine's rapidash. The exhausted fox pokemon crumbled to the ground, having never stood a chance after the grueling battle against Gyarados.

There was an uproar behind him as Bill and Growlithe celebrated Charmeleon's assisted victory.

Understanding that he had just performed clean up duty, the fire lizard simply spat out a spate of flames before sauntering back to his trainer.

"Great job, Charmeleon," said Ash as Blaine returned Solaris, "I know it was worn down, but you did what needed to be done."

Charmeleon nodded as he insistently gestured back towards Blaine.

"Sorry, buddy," answered Ash as he affectionately placed his hand on his fire lizard's head, "it's Wartortle's turn. He's waited a long time for this. If things don't go as planned, though, be ready."

Charmeleon groaned before he gave Ash an understanding grunt. He proceeded to point towards Bill and Growlithe, requesting to stay outside of his pokeball to watch the rest of the battle.

"You sure?" queried the young trainer, raising an eyebrow, "you won't feel all of the damage you've taken inside of your pokeball."

The fire lizard emphatically nodded.

"Alright," said the dark-haired boy with a soft smile, "go ahead."

With a gleam in his eyes, Charmeleon ambled over to Bill and Growlithe. Ash couldn't help but smile as he listened to his fire lizard be met with showering praise by two of his best friends.

Focusing his attention back on Blaine, he removed Wartortle's pokeball from his trainer belt.

Grasping a pokeball in his hand, the old man smirked, "you've got me on the ropes, young man! You know, I had a feeling this was going to happen when we first met! My guess is that you're about to release that stony wartortle that was sitting next to you in the hot spring!"

Blaine paused, "You've earned my respect, but you still haven't earned my badge! Let's see what that turtle is capable of!"

The old man causally lofted the pokeball that he had been grasping in his hand out onto the arena.

Following suit, Ash tossed Wartortle's pokeball onto his side of the battlefield.

When the two surges of incandescent light faded, Ash gulped.

Standing on the other side of the arena across from Wartortle was a large, vaguely humanoid fire-type. It had red and yellow wave-like stripes on its egg-shaped torso. Its pink lips formed a smirk underneath its dark face. There was a scorching yellow flame atop its head, and its shoulders were bulky, red and ablaze. It had two large cannons for arms that were the same color as the flame on top of its head in addition to three sharp, pink spikes that protruded out of its back. There were two black bands on its arms and two black bands right above its clawed feet. The imposing fire-type's tail was made of sizzling fire, and its eyes were black and composed.

Blaine's final pokemon was a monstrous magmortar.

"Very few trainers get to meet Vulcan these days!" declared Blaine, "good luck, Ash Ketchum! I hope that wartortle is as special as the rest of your pokemon!"

This wasn't going to be easy…

Vulcan raised its cannons while maintaining a snide smirk.

His turtle pokemon gazed forward at the magmortar while getting into a ready position. Ash couldn't see Wartortle's countenance from his angle, but he imagined the water-type was as placid as usual.

Wartortle wasn't one to balk in the face of a challenge.

The dark-haired boy could feel the temperature in the cavern suddenly rise. Vulcan's cannons glowed a sweltering reddish-orange before it blasted two highly pressurized streams of torrid flames in the direction of Wartortle. Without moving from his position, the water-type quickly fired multiple high velocity Water Guns and Water Pulses, hastily extinguishing the magmortar's Flamethrowers. As a result, there were several clouds of blistering steam that wafted throughout the arena.

After the stationary long-distance exchange, Wartortle took off. While on the move, he continuously sequenced Water Gun and Water Pulse, shifting his launch point to try and land one past Vulcan's repetitive Flamethrowers. The blast pokemon was quick and accurate though, effortlessly intercepting Wartortle's assailment. All of a sudden, it shot a thick cloud of dark purple poison out of one of its cannons while continuing to use Flamethrower with the other. The turtle pokemon proceeded to withdraw into his shell before using a combination of Rapid Spin and Water Pulse to clear the Smog and put out the flames. When Wartortle reemerged, Volcan was right in front of him. The magmortar had promptly taken advantage of the short period of time that the water-type had concealed himself within his natural armor to sever the distance in-between them.

"Protect!" bellowed Ash as the Magmortar ignited one of its yellow, tubular arms before swinging it powerfully at the water-type.

Tapping into his inner energy while manifesting his mental fortitude, the turtle pokemon projected a blue tinted energy barrier. It made a loud dinging noise as Vulcan's circular fist ricocheted off of it. After dispelling Protect, Wartortle blew out a large Bubble at point blank range that made contact with the magmortar, causing it to groan in pain.

"Low kick!" ordered Blaine.

"Jump and use Aqua Tail!" commanded Ash.

The magmortar planted its left foot into the ground before extending its right, forcefully swinging it in an arching motion. Following his trainer's command, Wartortle leaped up into the air in order to dodge the Low Kick while enshrouding his tail in a spiraling streak of condensed water. He flipped forward head first, attempting to pound the blast pokemon on the top of its head with his tail. After whiffing with Low Kick, Volcan quickly gathered itself before unleashing a sudden outburst of potent, scarlet flames. Wartortle was able to connect with Aqua Tail for a brief moment before being blown back by the intensity of the Magmortar's impressive Lava Plume. Both pokemon let out pain induced grunts as Wartortle landed in a coordinated manner a fair distance away from Volcan.

They immediately reengaged in a long-distance showdown. This time the magmortar elected to let loose some swift Embers in-between a handful of giant, blazing Fire Blasts. The turtle pokemon adroitly picked off the Embers with his fast-hitting Water Gun while simultaneously dodging the Fire Blasts. Every so often he tried to sneak a Water Pulse past Volcan's bombardment of fire, but each time it was to no avail.

After the magmortar suddenly connected with an Ember that just barely got by one of Wartortle's Water Guns — causing the shelled reptile to wince — the blast pokemon bounded forward before activating Flame Wheel. The wide, revolving mass of fire screamed as it expeditiously barreled towards its target. Wartortle bravely stood in its path for as long as he could, hitting it with several consecutive Water Pulses that sounded like they had been fired out of a heavy artillery turret. The last one that the turtle pokemon triggered managed to pierce through Vulcan's Flame Wheel. The magmortar let out a discordant, agonizing outcry from within the rotating inferno, but resiliently advanced forward like a smoldering freight train.

"Get out of there!" howled Ash.

Watortle hastily dove to the left, narrowly avoiding the magmortar's hellacious Flame Wheel. However, faster than the turtle pokemon could react, Volcan unexpectedly extinguished his flames without bothering to slow down. Flying through the air upside down, the blast pokemon pointed one of its cannons at Wartortle, unleashing an immense, coercive Fire Blast. It shrieked as it rocketed towards the turtle pokemon, who wasn't in a position to evade.

"Protect!" yelled Ash with desperation in his voice.

Manifesting the blue tinted energy barrier just in the nick of time, Wartortle ducked behind it. Ash watched as the wide-ranging mass of flames crashed into the sturdy shield. As expected, it held firm, forcing the Fire Blast to bend around and above it.

All of a sudden, Ash noticed a shadowy figure amidst the warping, star-shaped incandescence.

"It's on your left!" warned the young trainer as loud as he could.

The turtle pokemon had failed to detect its presence, and Ash hadn't noticed in time.

Dammit.

Emerging from its own Fire Blast, Vulcan viciously mauled Wartortle on top of the head with Fire Punch. There was a loud thud as the water-type harshly crashed into the slate floor. Despite the fearsome impact, he somehow managed to stay conscious, withdrawing into his shell when the monstrous magmortar that stood above him ruthlessly unloaded a full-power Flamethrower at point blank range.

The water-type shrieked from within his shell as he was mercilessly torched by Volcan.

The boy's stomach dropped.

Oh no.

"Wartortle!" screamed Ash, quickly raising his friend's pokeball with the intention of returning him.

As he began to put pressure on the return button, a large, bright outburst of luminous blue water and radiant white light exploded outward from underneath the magmortar's sweltering Flamethrower, extinguishing it before Ash could blink.

The young trainer somehow managed to swing his arm down fast enough to where the return light from the pokeball bounced off of the ground underneath of him.

Blaine's magmortar leaped backwards, putting space between himself and the expanding white light veiled in a gleaming hurricane.

Woah…

Torrent?

No…

Well, yes…

But, that's not all…

The shadowy form at the center of the lustrous light grew as the surging water began to constrict and glow brighter.

Torrent…

And evolution?

That's possible…?

When the white surging energy subsided, a large, blue reptilian beast with sleek, metal cannons protruding out of the top of his sizable, brown shell was unveiled. His limbs were bulky, and he had three sharp, white claws on each of his hands and feet. The fully-evolved turtle pokemon had two triangular ears at the top of his head, and his small brown eyes fearlessly glared at the magmortar. The rapid, gleaming water enshrouded his form, creating what looked like a dynamic aqua-based cloak.

Wartortle was gone.

Blastoise had arrived.

And Torrent was active.

Fully aware of Torrent's limited timeframe, Blastoise began to intermittently blast Water Gun and Water Pulse from his metallic cannons at a pressure and speed that was hard for Ash to follow with his naked eye. The magmortar struggled to adjust to the sudden shift in velocity. Failing to intercept the entirety of the water-type's enhanced onslaught, Vulcan was struck in the chest by a Water Gun. In immediate succession, a Water Pulse detonated with breadth right next to the side of the magmortar's head, effectively assaulting its inner ear. The blast pokemon let out a low, excruciating outcry as it attempted to shake off the super-effective barrage.

With indignant eyes, the magmortar responded by unleashing two extensive Fire Blasts. Their star-shaped forms howled as they jetted towards Blastoise. Without showing the slightest bit of hesitation, the hulking turtle pokemon sprinted forward. He let loose two extreme velocity Water Pulses — one out of each cannon — that collided into the center of the Fire Blasts, creating a gaping opening that was filled with scalding steam. Leaping forward at full speed, Blastoise withdrew into his shell. Utilizing Rapid spin, he revolved horizontally at a tremendous rate, taking on the appearance of a mighty, water-infused cyclone. Ripping through the vaporous opening he'd created, the shelled beast rocketed towards Volcan like a torpedo. There was a loud, wheezing sound as the reptile's Torrent enshrouded shell hammered into the fire-type's gut. As the monstrous magmortar stumbled backwards, Blastoise vigorously emerged from his shell.

"Aqua Tail!" commanded Ash with conviction.

In one smooth motion, he flipped forward, bludgeoning Volcan on the back of the neck with his spiraling water coated tail.

"Volcan, no!" shouted Blaine in an incredulous manner.

With stark white eyes, Vulcan collapsed, falling face first into the arena's slate surface. Blastoise leaned over the top of the fallen fire-type for a brief moment. While pointing his silver cannons downward, the turtle pokemon confirmed that it was unconscious before letting out a victorious grunt.

We did it.

We won.

A ray of red light beamed across the battlefield, enveloping Vulcan before vacuuming him into sequester. Ash raised his fist in the air triumphantly as Blastoise's Torrent ceased. Listening to the sound of Bill, Growlithe and Charmeleon cheer behind him, Ash started to run towards his turtle pokemon in order to congratulate him.

"That was awesome Wartor—I mean Blastoise!" praised Ash enthusiastically.

The dark-haired boy made it about halfway when Blastoise turned to him. Flashing him a widened smile, the reptilian beast fell backwards. The moment his shell hit the ground, there was a resounding thud that echoed throughout the volcanic cavern. As Ash approached his fully evolved friend, he placed his finger on the return button.

"You should be proud of yourself, Blastoise," said Ash softly with a gentle smile as he returned his unconscious water-type, "Rest up. That was a hell of a first gym battle."

As he clipped Blastoise's pokeball back to his belt, he felt a firm hand on his shoulder.

The young trainer looked up.

"You're a damn good trainer, young man," complimented Blaine with a grin, "that was the most exhilarating gym battle I've had against a kid your age in years."

The adrenaline was wearing off, and the young boy was starting to feel the full effects of the scorching heat.

"Th-thanks," replied Ash, wiping the thick sweat from his face as he was suddenly hit with an intense wave of dizziness, "i-it was a lot of fun."

"That turtle was even more impressive than I thought it would be," said the gym leader, "evolving while activating Torrent…I don't think I've ever seen that before."

Blaine paused while he examined Ash's condition, "it looks like you've been down here too long. Let's go up. I'll give you your badge at the Inn."

Ash nodded while on the verge of passing out.

XXX

The young trainer thanked an unknown higher power for the cool breeze that flowed through the mid morning air as he, Growlithe, Bill and Blaine stood just outside of the hot spring's changing room.

"You've really grown up to be a prick, Bill," chided Blaine after he and the pokemon researcher had just engaged in an intense debate about the essence of a good disguise.

"At least I'm not a nutty old geezer," retorted Bill, childishly sticking out his tongue.

The annoyed old man groaned, waving Bill off as he pivoted his attention to Ash, "you're starting to look a little better. Make sure you drink a lot of water over the next couple of days. After how much you just sweat, it's going to take you a while to rehydrate your body."

"I will," said the young trainer, feeling light headed as he raised his canteen up to his lips.

The old man reached into his vest pocket before pulling out a small, red flame shaped trinket.

"This is it, young man," said Blaine with a gravelly inflection, "I present to you the Volcano Badge."

The gym leader handed it over.

Taking it in his hand, Ash admired it for a brief moment before sticking it in his pocket. He'd put it in his badge case a little later. At the moment, the overheated boy didn't feel like digging through his backpack.

"So, my badge was your sixth…" muttered Blaine as he crouched down on his wobbly, old legs to pet Growlithe, "A trainer like you has to be aiming to defeat all eight of Kanto's major gym leaders, so who do you have left to beat before you can face Giovanni?"

"Brock Slate," replied Ash with a smile as he watched Growlithe's leg reflexively kick back and forth after the old man had found his favorite spot.

"Brock's a tough young man," replied Blaine, looking up at Ash with a sincere expression, "you're going to want to make sure your gyarados and blastoise are fully recovered before you take on the Pewter Gym."

"I'm going to head to the pokemon center in a little bit," said Ash with a sigh, "I have a feeling it's going to be a while before Blastoise can start training again."

"It's going to be tough to force a pokemon like that to take it easy," answered Blaine while slowly standing back up.

Ash shrugged as he thought of Pidgeot, "I'm sure Blastoise will handle it just fine."

There was no way that convincing him to rest would be anywhere close to as difficult as it had been with his avian.

"So, how much longer do you plan on staying in Cinnabar?" asked Blaine, raising one of his bushy eyebrows.

"I'm not really sure," replied Ash as an unpleasant image of the abomination fetuses popped into his head.

"Well as long as you're here, let me know if you need anything," said Blaine.

He paused as he gave Ash a sly smile and gestured at Bill, "I'd let you stay at the inn for free, but it's not like this spoiled brat is short on money."

"Brat!?" disputed Bill, "I'm a bloody grown man!"

"Grown men don't stick their tongue out at the elderly," quipped Blaine.

Ash couldn't help but laugh as the two continued to go back and forth for a short while.

"Well since you don't seem to be leaving Cinnabar for the time being, I'll save my farewell for later," said Blaine, having gotten tired of his exchange with Bill, "there's a couple of other trainers that are trying to solve my riddles around the island. I'm going to go check on their progress. I'm sure we'll run into each other again before you leave."

Blaine paused as his disposition suddenly got serious, "you don't seem like the type, but I don't have to worry about you telling other trainers about the arena in the volcano, do I?"

Ash shook his head emphatically, "I won't tell anybody. I promise."

Bill looked at the old man with a mischievous expression, "I'm going to tell everyone."

The old man glared at the pokemon researcher before looking at Ash and Growlithe with sincere eyes, "why are you two friends with this guy?"

XXX

It was late afternoon.

After making a trip to the pokemon center to have Nurse Joy restore his friends that participated in the gym battle, Ash, Growlithe and Bill we're lounging in the pokemon researcher's room, waiting for the trainers that Lance was sending to show up. Apparently, the Champion had told Bill on the phone early that morning that they would be coming to take a look at the failed abomination experiments before they raided the lab.

"I find it odd that the old man didn't ask what I'm doing here," said Bill, scratching the back of his head.

"Same," replied an exhausted Ash.

The dark-haired boy looked up at the ceiling while lying down on the tatami floor, "I kept wondering when he was going to ask how we knew each other, but he never did."

"What a bloody nutter," replied Bill with a sigh.

He rolled his eyes while reaching out and running his fingers through a patch of Growlithe's fur. In Ash's opinion, his friend could be just as much of nutter as Blaine.

"Why don't you call Lance back so we at least know who's—"

Knock.

Knock.

Knock.

"Can we come in?" asked a familiar intonation through the thin shoji doors.

That voice.

Ash and Bill jumped up.

Growlithe ran to the door. The pup's tail was wagging in an excited manner.

"The door's open!" shouted Bill — way louder than necessary.

When the door slid to the side, Ash smiled when two young men that he knew entered the room.

Trailing behind them was someone that he instantly recognized, but he'd never met before.

"Of course Lance sent you guys," stated Bill, "I should have guessed."

"Ash, Bill — it's good to see you guys again," said the yellow eyed man with a black ponytail.

Kent Barringer.

"What's good, kid?" said the stylish man with long, brown hair that fell down to his shoulders as he pointed at the belt on Ash's waist, "you've caught a few more since Celadon, eh?"

Andrew Gerdes.

"So, you're the rookie that everyone keeps talking about?" queried the young, brown eyed man with short, black hair underneath his backwards cap, "Ash Ketchum…"

The man's face was unlined, and his disposition was calm and steady. He wore a plain red hoodie, long black pants and white sneakers that matched his hat. Around his waist was a sleek, metal depository belt.

It was the newest member of the Elite Four.

JR Tanner.

XXX

To be continued…

XXX

A/N: This one felt more like some of my older chapters. It's by far the longest installment since I began writing again. It took a lot longer to construct, but I had a bunch of fun writing it. I hope you have fun with it as well.

Thanks for reading!

Much love, vincentgrey21