Ash and his friends decided to spend the night at Ritchie's parents house-Pokemon ranger Jack and Breeder Mary before continuing on their way to Pewter city the site of the Pewter city gym where Ash will challenge the Pewter city gym leader and earn his first gym badge. The next morning, they were gathering in the kitchen eating breakfast, well everyone except….
"Ash! It's time for breakfast!" Serena called; they were waiting for Ash so they could eat breakfast. "Let's go see what's keeping him." Suggested Ritchie. He and Serena went into the guest room where they saw Ash still sleeping. "Wake up Ash!" yelled Ritchie. Ash only rolled a little in his sleep and continued snoring. Then Pikachu climbed onto the bed. "Pikachuuuu!" Pikachu zapped Ash with electricity shocking him awake.
"I'm up!" Ash said alarmed at being woken up like that, he looked around the room confused while, Ritchie and Pikachu held back their laughs. "What's so funny?" asked Ash. "It's your hair." Said Ritchie after he and Pikachu had calmed down. Ash's hair was spiky and puffed up from the electricity.
After getting dressed and heading to the kitchen they started eating breakfast and talking about their plans for the day. "So where are you kids going once you leave here?" asked Jack. "Well I want to go to pewter city and challenge the pewter city gym leader." Said Ash before he continued to stuff his face with food, "Right Pikachu?!" "Pika!" Pikachu agreed and continued eating like Ash. Everyone laughed at this.
"Alright then you better be prepared the pewter city gym uses rock type Pokemon, so you better watch out. "advised Jack. "I'll pack you guys some supplies for camping, do you have any specific needs?" asked Mary. "No mom I got everything I need." Responded Ritchie, "Me too." Said Ash after he had finished eating. "Um, I don't really have any camping supplies." Said Serena shyly. "You don't have any camping stuff?" asked Ash. "Well I've never been camping before and I really don't like staying out in the forest lying on the ground." Said Serena. "But camping is great!" responded Ritchie. "Yeah relaxing out in the forest and looking up at the stars is amazing." Added Ash. "Why don't I give you some of the old camping gear we have just in case you decide to camp out so you can try camping with Ash and Ritchie and I'm sure they'll show you how amazing camping can be." Suggested Mary. "Um… okay." Serena agreed.
Once they were done eating Mary, Serena and Ritchie cleared the table and did the dishes while Ash, Jack and Pikachu went into the storeroom and got together their camping stuff. The Ash, Serena and Ritchie packed their bags and got going. "Bye!" "Thanks for everything!" "See you soon!" "Pika!", Ash, Serena and Ritchie said their goodbye's to Jack, Mary, Flare and Fang. "Goodluck on your Journey!" called Jack. "Come home Soon!" said Mary.
They went straight to the viridian forest and as they encountered Pokemon Ash decided to battle them and of course Ritchie decided he wanted to join in. "Okay here's the rules who ever beats the most Pokemon wins." Said Ash. "And you can switch out your Pokemon." Responded Ritchie. "Deal! Go!" they both said and ran off to start. "Hey! Wait up!" called out serena as she ran up to catch up with them.
Ash and Ritchie had spent an hour running through the forest battling different kinds of Pokemon and they were finally exhausted and decided to take a break and give their Pokemon time to rest. "Okay how many did Pokemon did you beat? I got 10." Said Ritchie. "Aww I got 10 too. Maybe we could have a battle to break the tie." Suggested Ash. "Yeah then-" "There you guys are!" yelled Serena, "I've been looking for you guys everywhere. You both stopped paying attention and just left me behind." "Sorry Serena we just got excited and lost track of everything." Apologized Ritchie. "Yeah we are really sorry." "Pika." Added Ash and Pikachu. "Well until we get to Pewter city no more battling for you too and-" an explosion nearby interrupted Serena from what she was saying the saw a pillar of fire go up into the sky and some Pokemon were running from there.
"What was that?" asked Serena. "That looked like flame thrower and a powerful one." Responded Ritchie. "Let's check it out." Ash stated as he stood up and the started going towards where the saw the explosion coming from. They came to a clearing and saw a some Pokemon like Butterfree, Nidoran and Pidgeotto's running from the area and there was a trainer with orange hair wearing a sleeveless jacket with a white T shirt and black pants with matching sneakers. Next to him was the Pokemon that had started the fire, "Who's that Pokemon?" asked Ash then he pulled out his Pokedex and scanned it Houndour the dark Pokemon It uses different kinds of cries for communicating with others of its kind for pursuing its prey. Houndour was battling a bug Pokemon Ash hadn't seen so he scanned it too. Whose the other Pokemon?" asked Serena and then she used her Pokedex and scanned it Pinsir the stag beetle Pokemon if it fails to crush the victim in its pincers it will swing it around and toss it hard. "Now! Use flamethrower once more!" Houndour shot flames from it mouth and Pinsir body started to glow and tried to stand its ground but the flames knocked it down and it fainted from the attack. "Whoa that attack was really powerful." Said Ash amazed at that power. "Guys look over there!" called out Ritchie, as he pointed to the bushes behind Pinsir there were some other smaller Pokemon there that had either been badly injured or were hiding.
"What's going on!" yelled Ash in surprise and the trainer noticed them and asked, "What are you people doing? Do you want something?" "What happened to those Pokemon.? Did you do this?" asked Ritchie as he ran to help the Pokemon and Ash and Serena followed him. "Oh? That was just me doing some training with my Pokemon. It was just some light battling." Responded the trainer like it was something obvious. "But the Pokemon are so badly hurt. Its one thing to battle them and chase them off but's another thing to hurt them so bad." Argued Ritchie, "Yeah that was too much." Added Serena. "I don't see the problem strong Pokemon rule the weaker ones these Pokemon were weaker than my Houndour, so I was trying to show them just how much stronger than them he is. There's nothing wrong with that." Responded the trainer. "Nothing wrong with that?" said Ash as he looked the trainer in the eye, "You think its okay to do this to Pokemon? That's no way to treat them. Even if it was a battle there's still going to far. You need to apologize to those Pokemon." The trainer smirked, "I like the look in your eyes. Fine how about a battle. If you win, I'll apologize but if I win you apologize to me for bothering me." He suggested. "That's fine with me, I'm Ash from Pallet town and these are my friends Ritchie and Serena, and this is my partner Pikachu." Said Ash. "I'm Cross and this is Houndour. What do you say we make it a one on one battle and just end it there?" said the trainer-Cross- to Ash. "Okay let's Battle!" Ash responded.
"Charmander I chose you!" Cross sent out his Charmander. "Pikachu, I chose you! "Ash sends out Pikachu. "Charmander Use flamethrower!" Charmander shot flames from its mouth at Pikachu. "Pikachu use electroball!" Pikachu fires a sphere of electricity and the two attacks clash and cancel each other out. "That Charmander's flamethrower is pretty strong." Said Serena. "Yeah. Ash better be careful." Responded Ritchie. "Not bad, try this one, Charmander use Outrage!" Charmander's eyes Tuned red and it charged at Pikachu with full force. "Pikachu use iron tail!" Pikachu's tail started glowing silver and he tried to strike Charmander but Charmander repelled the attack and smacked Pikachu back. "Huh!?" Ash exclaimed. Charmander then came around and rushed Pikachu again with rapid strong swipes and smashes Pikachu into a Tree. "Pikachu!" exclaimed Ash. But Pikachu was fine he stood up and jumped forward ready to fight back. "Nice now Charmander slam your head into the ground." Ordered Cross. Charmander forcefully bashed his head against the ground and then stood up and shook his head.
"Why'd you make him do that?" asked Ash. "I think I get it." Said Ritchie, "Outrage makes a Pokemon confused after they use it so to counter that confusion Cross is making Charmander hurt himself before the confusion takes effect the prevent that." "That sounds really dangerous for Charmander." Said Serena. "If he can't handle that then he'd be too weak to win against a stronger Pokemon. If we do this right, then Charmander will become a lot strong." Explained Cross. "But there's a better way to get stronger and that's by making friends with your Pokemon and learning to be stronger together. What you're doing will just make them hurt themselves and they'll never be your friends." Said Ash. "Friendship is overrated. Power Is the only thing that matters and if a Pokemon can't get that then there's no point training them. That's why having Pokemon with powerful makes is all that matters." Responded Cross. Ash clenched his fist in anger.
"Pikachu use thundershock!" Pikachu fired electricity at Charmander. "Charmander use Flamethrower." Charmander shot flames that overpowered Pikachu's thundershock and hit Pikachu. "Now Outrage!" Charmander rushed Pikachu again. "Use thunder wave!" Pikachu fired waves of electricity that flew into Charmander and paralyzed him. "Now use electroball!" Pikachu fired the attack and knocked Charmander back. Cross didn't say anything and just watched as Charmander was in Pain. "Pikachu use quick attack." Pikachu ran and struck Charmander knocking him off his feet again but, Charmander just got back up and tried to keep fighting. "Use outrage!" ordered Cross, to the surprise of everyone. Charmander charge at Pikachu but due to paralysis Pikachu easily avoided it. "Pikachu finish this with iron tail." Pikachu struck Charmander on the face and knocked him down, and when Charmander wanted to stand up again Ash couldn't take it anymore. "That's enough! Can't you see that Charmander can't keep going." "Look again." Cross responded. Charmander looked weaker but then the flame on his tail that had been about to go out suddenly started burning even brighter and Charmander looked full of energy. "What's going on?" asked Serena. "That's blaze, Charmander's ability. When its health is low its fire attacks get stronger. This must be what Cross was aiming for." Responded Ritchie. "Now Charmander use flamethrower." Charmander shot flames that were even brighter and hotter than before at Pikachu. "Use electroball!" Pikachu fired the attack, and it was cancelled, and Pikachu got burned by the flames. "Pikachu!" Ash cried in worry, but Pikachu stood up and his sighed in relief. "Use quick attack!" "Flamethrower full power this time!" Before Charmander could attack Pikachu struck first with the speed of quick attack and knocked Charmander back but Charmander was still about to shoot the flames. "Pikachu Iron tail!" The two attacks collided and the two Pokemon were sent flying back. "Pikachu!" When the smoke cleared the two Pokemon were unconscious.
"Pikachu!" Ash ran up to Pikachu and picked him up. "So, since it's a draw then neither of them have to apologize." Said Serena. "Yeah. But what's Cross going to do now that Charmander lost." Wonders Ritchie. Cross scoffs and starts walking away with Houndour. "Hey where are you going?" asked Ash. "I'm heading to Viridian city." Responded Cross as he kept going. Charmander stood up and tried to follow him but Houndour bite Charmander and threw him back. "I don't have any place for weaklings. Come back when you're stronger." Cross said while looking down coldly at Charmander. "Hey, are you just going to abandon your Pokemon!?" Ash angrily said to Cross. He threw Charmander's Pokeball at Ash, who caught it in surprise. "If you want him take him. I have no need for him." Cross said as he walked away. Charmander looked at Cross as he left and collapsed and the flame on his tail got smaller. "OH no! Charmander!" cried Ash and he moved to pick Charmander up. "We have to get him to the Pokemon center now." Said Ritchie. "Okay!" responded Ash.
As they started moving towards the Pokemon center in Pewter city it suddenly started raining so they took shelter in a cave. "The rain came out of nowhere." Said Ash. "Well we can rest here for a while until the rain stops." Said Ritchie. "Aww my clothes got wet." Complained Serena. "Well we need to start a fire to warm up. I'll go back out and get some firewood." Suggested Ritchie. "Okay!" said Ash. "Oh! We have some Oran berries from your house that should help heal Charmander." Said Serena. "Good idea Serena." Said Ash, and Serena blushed at the praise. So, she went over to her bag and got some berries while Ritchie left to gather firewood. After feed Charmander Ash held him close to try to use his body heat to keep him warm, even when Ritchie came back with firewood Ash still held Charmander and kept him close to the fire. Charmander fell asleep in Ash's arms and after a while woke up looked around and when he tried to Move Ash held him closer, so Charmander snuggled closer to Ash and Pikachu who was asleep on his shoulder. After an hour, the rain had stopped so the decided they should keep going. "Hey Charmander," Ash said to Charmander who looked at him, "Do you want to come with us? We'll help each other get stronger and then we can show Cross how strong you really are. What'd you say?" Ash held Charmander's Pokeball to him with a smile. Charmander smiled and tapped the Pokeball open and went inside. "Alright! I got Charmander!" said Ash and stroke his signature pose and Pikachu jumped up and cheered. "So, you have a Charmander now Ash, congratulations." Said Serena. "Way to go Ash." Added Ritchie. "Thanks guys."
As then stepped out of the cave they looked up and saw a rainbow and say a Pokemon with rainbow colored feathers fly past the rainbow and a single feather fell form it in front of Ash. "Who's that Pokemon?" asked Ash and he brought out his Pokedex and scanned it. No data found. "There's no information on that Pokemon in the Pokedex, that's strange." Said Ritchie. Ash bent down and picked up the rainbow-colored feather. "Maybe the Professor will know more about it. We can ask when we get to pewter city." Said Ritchie. "Yeah. I'll carry the feather." Said Ash, "Okay let's get going!" "Pika!" said Pikachu and they all started heading towards pewter city.
Meanwhile in the distance Cross was looking up at the Pokemon that flew away and then he flashed an angry look at Ash and his friends as they leave.