《Pokemon: Radical Redux - Johto Arc》


 Finally in Johto

    They were all on the ship, they left mainland Kanto a few hours ago and boarded a ship, it wasn''t as large as the S.S.Anne obviously but it was big enough for them to all stay on comfortably, especially since this would only take a few hours.


    They spent most of those hours just relaxing and enjoying the sea. Ash also found out that during the break Misty managed to get at least understanding with her Lapras, so he''ll at least train and battle for food sometimes when he feels like it, which just makes him feel like the new Charizard with that level of disobedience.


    But at least it''s not as bad as with Brock and Aerodactyl, unlike with Lapras, Aerodactyl is actively trying to hurt Brock at any given moment, the only reason it cooled down is because over the break they had, Brock beat the bricks of this thing.


    Other than that not much else, they allegedly did some extra training but other than Yellow he doesn''t really believe them, and that''s more or less how the trip went, along the way Ash introduced them to Lapras which everyone not named Brock and Yellow looked jealous about that he just found one.


    Misty also let out hers so that they could meet, but told Pikachu to be ready and shock him if anything happened.


    As soon as Lapras came out of his Pokeball, he looked around frowning with a scowl on his face as he saw Misty and other humans, then his visions was caught by another Lapras, it wasn''t clear if this was love, finally being able to see one of his own, or just surprised, but Lapras'' expression lightened when he saw her.


    ¡ª


    {a few hours later}


    The captain called out as they finally docked on land, "We are now here, welcome to Cherrygrove City, and welcome to Johto,"


    Everyone walked off and stretched finally, at that moment as soon as they were out Abra appeared again with Scizor and Scyther now that they didn''t have an Egg.


    Ash nodded, "Got everything you wanted to do?"


    They nodded so Ash returned them to their Pokeballs and strapped them back to his belt before turning over to Green and Gary, "So I guess we''re all getting hotels and going our separate ways,"


    "Probably," Gary said, "I''m going to go further ahead and both of you need to go to New Bark right, Green for Silver and you to go ask about Kurt,"


    "Seems about right," Green said crossing her arms, "But I was planning on just going now, I think I should be able to make it before midnight,"


    "I mean probably, New Bark town isn''t that far of a walk, if you fly over you should get there in like 3 hours I guess, maybe less," Gary said.


    Green smiled as she sent out Wigglytuff and grabbed her foot as she became a balloon and started flying away, "Alright then boys, I''ll be seeing ya, don''t have too much fun without me!"


    As she flew away Ash and Gary stood side by side, "you think she switched shorts because wearing a skirt was a bad idea while she flys like that,"


    "Oh almost definitely," Gary said, "But we both know she''ll never admit it, we''ll never let her live it down,"


    Ash chuckled agave a light punch at Gary''s shoulder, "By the way I''ve been meaning to ask, what''s up with you being alone, where are your cheerleaders, don''t tell me they left after you became number 2,"


    Gary rolled his eyes, "Uhh, don''t remind me, turns out I found out that they were hired to ''protect'' me by the mayor, Gramps'' brother,"


    Ash nodded, one thing he was surprised to learn when he got here was that Oak had 2 brothers, the town mayor and the postmaster. Which was wild to him, because that didn''t include Samson who was his cousin, not a brother, these were 2 completely different People.


    Thankfully when he did see them as a kid they weren''t monsters like the Professor, in terms of battling the mayor was worthless in a battle and the postmaster only had 1 Pokemon he could beat by the time he was at the third Gym.


    Probably for the best that they weren''t champion-ranked trainers like their brother. Kanto was already the one that produced the most and didn''t need more reason for other regions to think something was up with the water here.


    Ash nodded and smirked, "So in the end, remember what I said way back, golddiggers~"


    "Uhhh, I hate it when your right, but they didn''t stop because they didn''t get paid anymore, I told them to stop, if they weren''t genuine I didn''t need them," Gary said


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    Ash elbowed him again, "And you have a girlfriend now~"


    "You shut up you, Grace, and I haven''t made anything official," Gary said blushing


    "Come on, you like her and she likes you, it''s so painfully obvious, more than Pink," Ash said as Pikachu nodded laughing at Gary trying to deny it.


    "I hate you," Gary said as he walked off.


    Ash chuckled and waved him goodbye, "I know and I''m your best friend," then he walked back to his friends to sleep through the night, but first he had to call his mom since he made that promise.


    ¡ª-


    {The next day}


    Green arrived at New Bark first during the night and met with Silver, of which he was happy to see her since she was like an older sister, both figuratively and literally since she encouraged him to call her big sis.


    But that didn''t matter at the moment as after that she went over to his hotel and grabbed a room and got some much-needed sleep.


    The next morning when they got ready they checked out since Silver would be starting and according to what he told her, 2 other kids were also getting one today, but he didn''t know anything about them.


    As they were walking he explained everything, Green sighed, "Silver I swear you need to learn to be more sociable, you can''t just have us as friends, we aren''t always going to be around,"


    Silver sighed, "I know I should, but I''m just not used to it, talking to people I mean¡­"


    "But I mean you talk just fine with me, or Ash, or a lot of people we know, and I''m still not convinced you and Paul don''t have a psychic connection," Green jokes.


    "Those are different, they approached me, I pushed them out, and then they gave me a second chance¡­ even though I know that''s not a healthy way to start a friendship,"


    "Yeah, you do have a point," Green said bluntly


    Silver waited for a bit, "...And?"


    "And what, you''re right, that''s not a way to form relationships, the best thing other than us you had was those guys who called you ''boss'' and I''m not convinced all of them weren''t there just because you paid them,"


    "Err..well they chose to do that on their own¡­so I gave them some money...it''s not a big deal"


    "No, 5, the first 5, were there on their own, the next ones were there because you paid the first 5," Green said


    Silver sighed, "You know aren''t you supposed to make me feel better and encourage me I''m going to do better,"


    "Why?" Green said with a smile, "Besides, we both know that doesn''t work on you, besides isn''t it better if you learn like this,"


    Silver shook his head, and gave up, "Fine, I get it, but still some advice would be better than whatever you''re doing right now¡­I mean at least Ash would,"


    Green laughed, "Psssh, Ash, yeah right, he would do much worse, those little speeches he did when we were kids, they were good but they aren''t the norm, most of the time he takes nothing seriously, I think I only ever saw him serious 1 time, maybe 2 if you count the League."


    "Really is that bad?" Silver asked


    "Oh yeah, compared to how I''m treating you¡­. actually no it would be about the same, only I bully you like an older sister, he''d bully you as an older brother even though you''re older than him."


    Silver shook his head, "I see, well then c-" Then he stopped as he saw something in the corner of his eye, something blue.


    Green noticed Silver stop, and also stopped, "Hey what''s up?"


    Silver walked over and went into an alleyway where he saw something ruffling in the trash, as he got closer he looked down and saw a small blue crocodile munching on whatever food there was, it was a Totodile.


    Silver looked confused and went down to grab it, it tried to bite him but he dodged and grabbed it by the back of its neck and held it out, Totodile looked up at him curiously.


    Green walked over, "Wow a Totodile? And out here, good catch, those are crazy rare in the wild."


    Silver nodded but looked confused, "What''s it doing out here, does it have an owner or something, was it abandoned?"


    Green shrugged and handed Silver a Pokeball, "Check,"


    Silver took it and tried pressing it on Totodile, but the defense system that captured Pokemon had activated and a thin forcefield appeared around Totodile, preventing him from being caught.


    Silver shook his head, "Seems like it belongs to someone," as he did Totodile got a good sniff of him and stopped trying to struggle now just looking at him expectantly.


    Green looked cursorily, "Aww, looks like he likes you,"


    Silver rolled his eyes as he now held the Totodile closer ready to pull back if it tried to chomp, but it didn''t instead it just looked up at him.


    As they walked out of the alley, Green held her hands behind her head looking at the Totodile curiously, "Well what should we do with it, should we take it with us to the Lab?"


    Silver was still holding the Totodile, and nodded, "Seems like we should, what if we-"


    "Stop Thieves!" another voice called out,


    When Green and Silver looked over they saw a boy on a skateboard, he had a red jacket and a yellow and black hat on his head as he approached them, this was Ethan, or just Gold if you knew him from the Manga.


    Ethan stopped in front of them and pointed at them, "Stop right there, that Totodile doesn''t belong to you!"


    "Aibo!" Then he threw out a Pokeball releasing an Ambipom that clenched his tail fists ready for an order.


    "Hey, we aren''t th- we aren''t Pokemon Thieves, we found this Totodile in the alley!" Green said positioning herself in front of Silver as a hand went to a Pokeball


    "A likely story, just because you have a pretty face doesn''t mean you''ll get away that easily, now hand over the Totodile and come with me or we''ll have to do things the hard way!"


    Green frowned at how he was acting, she was willing to just hand over the crocodile but now she was annoyed, "Listen, we didn''t steal this Totodile, and besides that, we found this Totodile in the alley so you can either let us go or we can do things the hard way,"


    "Is that a threat, i know it that pretty face of yours hides a nasty personality, Aibo get ready!" Ethan said as the Ambipom got ready.


    Green frowned and pulled out a Pokeball, "Silver watch closely I''m going to give you a crash course in schooling overconfident narcissists," she said as she threw out Nidoqueen.


    "Aibo use [Low Kick]" Ethan called out as the Ambipom ran forward, his two tail arms charging red as he aimed for Nidoqueen''s feet.


    Green smiled, "Too easy, [Ice Punch] on the ground!"


    Ethan was surprised by the sudden attack and as Nidoqueen punched the ground the floor around her was covered in a thin sheet of ice making Aibo slip and unable to continue as he flew passed.


    "Now [Earth Power]!" Green commanded, taking advantage.


    Nidoqueen stomped her foot on the ground as the sheet of ice cracked and shattered. A surge of energy flowed through the ground and exploded under Aibo sending it flying high.


    Ethan was surprised, "Aibo no!"


    As Aibo fell to the ground and got back up, Green looked at them, "I can see, both of you are strong, infact you might be as strong as me in terms of raw power, but I can see it, you have no creativity."


    Ethan flinched at that, "H-hey, is this a lecture or a battle!"


    "Tell me, have you ever been in a serious battle," Green said


    "Y-yeah, plenty, I battle my friends all the time!" Ethen defended himself


    "Really, and is that it, no wonder, you''ve been fighting comfortably, you haven''t had to change how you fight for more than just your friends," Green said crossing her arms


    Green looked back at Silver, "Silver remember, battles aren''t about who has the strongest Pokemon, they are much more complicated than that, if you fight with brute force you''ll never reach your full potential,"


    Silver and Totodile looked at each other then back at Green and nodded in unison.


    Ethan felt like he was being ignored, and as much as he didn''t want to admit it he was a bit of a show-off, "Hey don''t ignore me, Aibo use [Return]!"


    Aibo used one of his handtips to throw himself into the air and then got close to Nidoqueen sending a double punch at her, and even though they connected and Ethan celebrated, Nidoqueen took it and showed no reaction.


    Green frowned as she swiped her arm, "Nidoqueen let''s finish this, use-"


    But before she could say something a web came out of nowhere and wrapped Nidoqueen''s hands together and tied Aibo up before picking him up and gently taking him back to Ethen


    Then as they looked up they saw Ash sitting there on a rooftop with Abra on one shoulder, Pickchu on another, and Beedrill flying over,


    He looked down and frowned at them like a father, "I think that''s enough, both of you stop fighting."

 3 Johto kids

    [You are probably wondering how Ash was here, welll¡­.]


    Last night, Ash, Misty, Brock, and Yellow went to get a hotel and had a good night''s sleep, then Ash woke up and had Abra teleport to where Green was to mark a place, then she went back for Ash, and that''s it, that''s how one gets in this situation.


    Anyway, Ash was now breaking up the fight that quite literally happened for no reason, he jumped down from his spot and walked to the center of their battle.


    "You two are acting like children, why did you decide to fight in the middle of town," Ash said


    Green immediately spoke up, "Hey, it was self-defense, he attacked us first!"


    "And that was a reason to [Earth Power] the ground," Ash said, pointing to the new cracks on the road caused by her attack.


    Ethan spoke up, "Well, I was trying to stop these Pokemon thieves from getting away, they stole that Totodile that was supposed to go to one of the trainers leaving today!"


    Ash listened, then looked back at Green and Silver, seeing the Totodile, and sighed, "Now, what''s your side,"


    "We found this Totodile here in the alley," Silver said, "We didn''t steal anything,"


    "A likely story! That seems like something a Pokemon thief would say!" Ethan said, "And who are you, why did you get in the way!"


    "I got in the way because you idiots were doing a lot of property damage for fighting in the middle of the road. You''re lucky it''s so early, or some people would be out, and best case, you guys get reported."


    "W-well, it doesn''t matter, I''m on a mission, I need to recover that Totodile!!"


    "You know we said we were going to take the Totodile to the lab, right!" Green yelled out, but Ethan was dead set at the moment.


    "So, who are you, and are you going to help me or stand in my way from completing the mission the Professor gave me!" Ethan said, holding out a new Pokeball.


    Before Ash could say something, Green came up and grabbed Ash, pulling him to her side, "Isn''t it obvious he''s my boyfriend, and he''s here to protect me~"


    Ash just looked down at her, doing the disgusted Tanjiro face as she mouthed the words, ''Sorry''


    Ethan frowned, "I see, then that means you''re going to stop me, which means you''re an Accomplice as well, oh then," Ethan said as he spun the Pokeball in his hand, "Then let''s b- Gah!"


    Suddenly, before Ethan could throw out that Pokeball, a small stone came up and hit him on the head, and a girl''s voice called out, "Ethan! Stop being an idiot!"


    Over where it came from, a blue-haired girl was bouncing another rock on her foot like it was a soccer ball, ready to kick it again, it was Kris,


    "W-wha, but Kris, I''m trying to get the stolen Pokemon!" Ethan tried explaining himself as Kris kicked the other small rock, hitting him on the head again.


    "You ran out before the Professor told you, you idiot, that Pokemon wasn''t stolen it ran away!" Kris said as she started walking up, seeing everyone else and the destruction caused by the earlier battle.


    "*sigh* you got yourself into a fight, didn''t you, you idiot," Kris said as she came up and punched Ethan on the head.


    "OW ok, ok, yeah I did, but in my defense, I thought I was doing the right thing I''m sorry," Ethan said, rubbing his head.


    Kris sighed and then saw that Silver had the Totodile she walked up to him and smiled at him, "Hello there,"


    Silver was momentarily stunned, but he managed to speak still, "Uh, hi¡­ I''m Silver,"


    "Kris, it''s a pleasure to meet you, unfortunately, that idiot behind me is my friend, and he was coming after that Totodile you have, you see it''s supposed to go to one of the new trainers that are going to come today to start their journey, so do you mind if I can get it back?"


    Silver nodded and held out Totodile, but Totodile seemed to not want to let go and was holding onto Silver''s arms as Kris grabbed it by the feet. It took some pulling, but eventually, Kris managed to pull the crocodile off Silver as it started chomping.


    Kris frowned as Totodile tried chomping her, so she threw the crocodile at Ethan, "Here you carry it, Mr Hero,"


    Ethan barely caught it but immediately got chomped on the arm, "YOWCH!"


    As that was happening in the background, Kris looked at everyone, "Again, sorry for the trouble he caused, he has a good heart, just a stupid brain,"


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    "I hear that, I have a friend who is the same," Green said, smirking at Ash.


    Ash rolled his eyes, "I know you''re not talking about me because last time I checked, I had better grades than you when we were in school, or do I need to remind you how you begged to help you cheat so you could pass,"


    "Hey, it''s not my fault I knew you would help me out. Besides, I made it up to you,"


    Ash sighed and looked back at Kris, "Whatever, anyway, it''s fine, but you better go that Totodile is trying to eat your friend''s head,"


    As Kris looked back, she saw that Ethan was jumping around, trying to pull off the Totodile from his head as he was also running into objects.


    She sighed, "Yeah, sorry again, I have to get these two back to the lab and don''t worry about the property damage, I''ll tell the Professor he''ll take care of it after probably not scolding Ethan as he should."


    With that, she came over and, grabbed Ethan''s wrist and dragged him away as she waved goodbye, and they all waved her bye as well.


    As she did, Ash and Green looked back and saw that Silver was still waving her bye for a few seconds longer, both Ash and Green looked at each other and smiled.


    Green sneaked next to Silver, "Ohh, what''s up you, you''re acting differently,"


    Silver flinched, "Uhh, no, I''m just thankful that she cleared up that situation with that guy,"


    "But you never act so, let''s say, nervous like that infact this is the first time I''ve seen you nervous," Ash added fuel to the fire.


    "That-"


    Green gasped overdramaticly, "Don''t tell me you like her!"


    Silver''s eye twitched, but he didn''t deny it, so Ash continued, "Oh, You totally do, never thought the day would come where our Edge lord would have a crush,"


    Green''s eyes sparkled, "Oh, the pain an older sister feels when her little brother will be taken by another girl, but I''ll accept it, just be sure to make me an Aunt soon~"


    Silver started walking away, as a faint blush could be seen on his cheeks, Ash and Green laughed as they held onto each other for support.


    After a moment, Green looked over at Ash, "Hey, by the way, I just realized you''re here didn''t you plan on staying at the other town,"


    "Oh, while you were traveling, I got a good night''s sleep, and I sent Abra over once you got here," Ash said smugly as they walked after Silver.


    "That''s just cheating, you bully," Green said with a deadpan face


    "Hey, don''t hate the player hate the game,"


    Green pouted at him, frowning, "I demand compensation for my suffering,"


    Ash waved her off, "Sure, fine, I''ll buy everyone lunch if you want, but I''m gonna go get everyone else, you wanna meet up at the lab?"


    Green''s eyes lit up, "I''ll hold you to that, and sure,"


    ¡ª-


    A while later, Ash got Abra to bring the other 3, Misty and Brock chose to go explore the town since this was their first time outside of Kanto, for the most part anyway. Brock did come to Johto once, but that was more for gym leader duties,


    Meanwhile, Yellow decided to go with Ash to go see Silver since she remembered him, and what they had can almost be called a friendship, it was more of two introverts in the middle of a school of extroverts.


    As they got to the lab, they walked in since Ash also needed to talk to Elm, not just see Silver off, and as he did inside, he saw seven people already inside, there were the People he knew: Green, Silver, and Professor Elm.


    But then there were also the people he knew about but didn''t know personally. Like Kris, Ethan, Vincent, and then there was Lyra.


    As soon as they walked in, the attention was on them, and Yellow reflexively hid behind Ash as they walked in, they each had their own reactions: confusion, shock, and interest from a certain girl,


    Elm''s eyes lightened up, "Oh, Ash! It''s you. I hardly recognized you, and Yellow is behind you, too,"


    Ethan looked at the Professor, "You know them too?"


    "Yeah, I met them all once back when they were kids, it''s a shame you 3 were just barely older otherwise, I would have recommended you all go to Kanto as well to study with them."


    Ash walked in and smiled as he came closer to the Professor, "Yeah, it''s great to see you, you seem to be doing well, I heard from the Professor you''re married now,"


    Elm smiled, "And with a kid on the way!"


    With that, everyone except Ash looked shocked and collectively said, "EHHHH!!!"


    Ash and Elm looked at everyone, Ash looked at them, "What did you expect, he studied Pok¨¦mon breeding, did you think he didn''t know how to have kids? I''m more surprised it took so long,"


    Elm chuckled, "Well, I think that''s enough of that for now, but right now, we only have 2 of the three kids that will receive their Pokemon,"


    Ethan scratched his head and looked at Silver again, "Sorry again, I didn''t know you were one of the people getting a Pokemon today."


    Ash noticed him say that, "Why do you say that did something else happen,"


    Ethan looked embarrassed, but Lyra spoke up this time, "Oh, it''s nothing, it''s just as soon as he came in, Ethan there may or may not have tried to kick him out because he thought he came to Steal a Pokemon,"


    Kris elbowed Lyra in the side, "Not the time to be cheeky,"


    Lyra rubbed her side, "Ow, sorry, but it''s true, sis, your boyfriend tried kicking him out,"


    "First, he''s not my boyfriend. I''m not dating anyone, and you know that second, just because he did something stupid doesn''t mean you have to call it out,"


    Elm chuckled, seeing those antics he''s all too familiar with, "Don''t mind them, that''s how they bond, siblings sure are wired like that,"


    Ash shrugged, "I wouldn''t know, only child here,"


    "Right, anyway, while we wait for the last new trainer, the Professor said you had some business for me, we can st-"


    Suddenly, the door to the lab was kicked open, and from it, an energetic girl with purple hair came marching in wearing baseball clothes and a jacket that was about two sizes too big for her, she came in chanting a chant from a baseball team.


    "If you think you''ll win the game You are in for quite a shock, Electabuzz will electrify And then will rule and rock..."


    As she came in, she finally noticed she wasn''t the first like she thought, she was the last, "W-what! I came in last¡­.no, this can''t be," it was Casey.


    Lyra elbowed her friend and teased her like she always does, "Yep, in last, just like the Electabuzz~"


    Casey shook her head and slapped her cheeks, "It doesn''t matter! I won''t give up then; I''ll just have to be better, just like the Electabuzz!"


    Yellow leaned over to Ash and Green, Chuchu still on her shoulder, looking strangely, too, "Do you guys know what she''s talking about,"


    "I think it has to do with Baseball, but I never really got into it that much," Ash said as Pikachu nodded, still on Ash''s shoulder, as he considered going back in the backpack.


    "Pika¡­."


    As soon as he said that, Casey''s ears perked up as she looked over and saw Ash and Yellow with their Pikachus, without a word, she ran up and grabbed them, looking excited,


    "Oh my gosh! Pikachus! And there are 2 of them, oh look at their soft fur and that beautiful color *gasp* don''t tell me are these two together are they gonna make a Pichu soon, ohh I want to see that!!"


    Pikachu and Chuchu blushed at the mention of that as their cheeks started sparking from embarrassment.


    Elm recognized that they got stimulated, which meant they were about to shock Casey, "Casey, no quick, put them down!"


    But Casey didn''t listen as she was too amazed by the mice then, as they were about to shock her, Ash came over and grabbed them both as they released their electricity at Ash.


    Everyone was worried, but after seeing Ash was fine, they calmed down, Ash put Chuchu back in Yellow''s arms and showed his gloves, "Electric proof gloves, don''t think too much about it, you should be careful, I''ve gotten shocked enough to get used to it, you haven''t."


    Casey scratched her cheek in embarrassment, "Sorry, I was just so excited seeing a Yellow and black Pokemon,"


    After Elm calmed his own nerves, he looked up, "Well then, after that minor heart attack, how about we start? There are 3 of you that need your first Pokemon."


    Elm went to a shelf and, brought out a tray and pressed the buttons on each, releasing a Cyndaquil, Totodile, and a Chikorita.


    But as soon as they did and before Elm could call on someone to choose, Totodile saw Silver and immediately jumped at him, he still remembered him, and he was snuggling against him.


    Silver was surprised as the Totodile showed affection as everyone chuckled, and Elm spoke, "Well, it seems like Totodile likes you, why don''t you take him then,"


    Silver pulled Totodile off his face and looked at the croc, "Fine, I don''t hate this¡­"


    Kris walked over and grabbed the Pokeball before leaning down to Silver and handing it to him, "That means we started with the same Pokemon then,"


    Silver took it but didn''t quite look Kris in the eyes he just nodded. Meanwhile, Lyra and Casey looked over the last 2, and after a moment, they decided


    "I chose Chikorita! X2," they said in unison, only after did they realized they wanted the grass type.


    "So I was here first, you should get to choose last!" Lyra said


    "Hey, I should get the Chikorita! You have your sister to help you. I need all the help I can get!" Casey responded


    As they argued, Elm chuckled and put Cyndaquil back in its Pokeball, "Both of you relax,"


    He went back on the shelf and grabbed another Pokeball, releasing a second Chikorita, "You can both get it, I''m more than prepared for all of you,"


    they immediately stopped arguing and instead talked about who should get which. Chikorita, Ash and Green looked at each other, then back at Elm.


    "Can you be our Professor instead!"

 The After Party

    After it was decided who got what Chikorita, they all looked at their new partners happily, Ethan, Kris, and Vincent were watching everyone intently; it reminded them of last year when they tried going on their journey.


    They did cut it short because Kris needed a reality check after¡­.''The incident, but after a few kind words from her friends, a few slaps from her mother to knock some sense into her, and going back into the Mountains to train, she was good to get back and catch Pokemon, getting her spirit back.


    Ash stood next to Yellow as Elm gave out the Johto model Pok¨¦dex to the newbies. Lyra went back to her sister Kris, looking excited, and she smirked, "Hey, sis, now that I have my Pokemon, be careful, or I might be able to beat you closer than you''d expect."


    Kris rolled her eyes and took Lyra''s hat to ruffle her head, "Come on, you idiot, you know I''m not battling, no duh, you''re gonna catch up to me eventually, but just because you are don''t mean I plan to make it easy for you,"


    As they chuckled at that, Green came over and grabbed Silver in a headlock, "Hey, I hope you don''t plan on acting that way towards me~"


    "Gah- ok, ok, I won''t talk like that to you, come on, let me go," Silver said as he was getting held by Green, and Totodile was literally in his face.


    As they chuckled, Ethan shuffled over to Ash, "Hey dude, I don''t mean to judge, but are you ok with your girlfriend being so ''friendly'' with another guy?"


    Ash rolled his eyes as Green stopped and started laughing, "I see she didn''t clear things up, ok first, she isn''t my girlfriend, I don''t have a girlfriend, she said that so I would step in to take care of you because I''m stronger than her and she beat you pretty easily,"


    "Second, even if I was dating her, why would I be insecure about that? Besides, they have a more brother-sister relationship," Ash said


    "...Huh¡­ So she''s single, is what you''re saying?"


    Silver glared at him, "Don''t you dare even think about it going after my sister!"


    Ash shook his head and just let them argue, ''I guess even here, Silver is gonna hate him,''


    After a while, Kris stepped in and pulled the two apart; she suggested they should all go celebrate since three more trainers were going on their journey, which they agreed to, and Ash, Green, and Yellow were also invited.


    Lyra was the one to suggest Ash join them, she came over and stood next to Ash, "So what do you say? Up for a party!" she said, giving a wink.


    "Sure, but I''ll have to catch up, I have some business with Elm," Ash explained as he walked over to Green and Yellow.


    He pulled out his card and was about to hand it to Green, "Here you ca-" but he stopped himself and then changed his mind, giving it to Yellow instead, "Here, Yellow, and find Brock and Misty to see if they''ll join you guys."


    Yellow took it and nodded, holding the card close, "Alright!"


    With that, Ash walked back over to Elm while everyone else left the Lab, as they left, Vincent went over and grabbed Ethen on the shoulder, "So you like the new girl, right, ok then, I''ll support you, and don''t worry I''ll take care of Kris~"


    Ethan rolled his eyes and elbowed Vincent in the stomach, "You wish, dude, I ain''t giving up, besides you heard Lyra, she thinks I''m Kris'' boyfriend, so I''m better,"


    As that started a back and forth between them, Yellow was trying to text Misty and Brock so that they could meet up, while she was distracted, Green turned to everyone, "So, do any of you know a good place?" she held up the card Ash gave to Yellow, "Its Ash''s treat~"


    Yellow flinched, realizing that Green had the card, and panicked, "W-wha, Green, but Ash gave me that. I was only supposed to pay for you and me and Misty and Brock!"The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    "Well, technical, he didn''t say that, he gave it to you to pay, right~" Green said, nudging Yellow.


    "W-well¡­I guess, but we know what he meant."


    "Hey, I can''t read minds, besides he said he was going to pay for my lunch, so I''m inviting everyone, and he''s Paying for it~"


    "B-but-"


    "Come on, Yellow, in all seriousness, do you really think Ash didn''t think this would happen when he gave you his card instead of Cash," Green said


    "... ok, but still, it seems wrong," Yellow said, rubbing her arm nervously.


    "So just make it up to him for letting the evil Green steal the card he gave you," Green laughed.


    "So it''s decided, let''s go find someplace nice!" Green announced.


    ¡ª-


    Back with Ash, he sat down across from Elm as they finally got a moment to talk, Elm came back with a kettle as if offering to make tea, Ash shook his head, "No thanks, this won''t take that long, and you know it,"


    Elm chuckled and still put the water to boil, "I suppose you have a point, though I have to ask, you gave your card away, aren''t you scared they''ll spend more than you think,"


    "Oh, I know they will, Green probably already stole it from Yellow and is announcing she''ll invite everyone, but I don''t care, not like I''m short on money, winning the Indigo League gave me a lot of Cash," Ash said


    "Yes, I suppose it would, although a little tidbit: none of them know you are this year''s winner, most people in Johto don''t, and most people don''t watch another League other than their own unless someone they know is in it,"


    "That''s what I''m hopping on; I''m tired of wearing a mask every time I want to get lunch over in Kanto, tho thankfully, by the time I''m done here, that should die down,"


    "I suppose, but you caused quite a storm with your performance, you and Gary both, I don''t think there ever been a case where the entire arena has been destroyed as a side effect of the battle."


    "Maybe, but no point in calling it out now. Besides, I''m here to win the Silver Conference, you know my trophy shelf is looking pretty lonely with just one," Ash chuckled.


    "Well, I suppose with your strength, you should be able to do it easily, although the Professor told me about how you are planning on restarting for this,"


    "Yeah, what''s the point, it''s no fun if I know I can just win, maybe I''ll call them out once I''m there, but I left a few of them back with Oak for the time being,"


    "Well, in that case, do you want a new starter," Elm said, pointing at his shelf of Pokeballs, "I have plenty, you can have one since you''re restarting,"


    "Thanks, but no, I''d rather find my own Pokemon for now, besides I already have plans on having all 3,"


    "Oh, you did your research, that''s impressive, most people still think that the Pokemon we Professors give out are not found in the wild, which technically is true since we specifically breed the starters to give every kid an equal chance."


    "Yeah, I get that, as a kid, I used to think they were like legendary Pokemon and that having 2 of them was already a show of how special you are. Color me surprised when I ran onto a clan of Squirtle chilling in my backyard when I was 5,"


    Elm chuckled "Sounds like a fun story, but I think we''re off topic a bit, you said you had some stuff to talk to me about,"


    "Right, well, I assume that Professor Oak already informed you more or less about most of it, so I''ll cut to the chase," Ash said, to which Elm nodded.


    "I''ll start with the start, you see¡­."


    ¡ª-


    {About an hour later}


    Everyone was at a nice restaurant; Yellow managed to meet up with Brock and Misty, so now ten people were sitting at a table enjoying themselves.


    Although Yellow was the least enthusiastic of them since she still felt guilty that she let Green take Ash''s card and paid for everyone''s meal with it,


    As they were eating, they were talking about stuff, and it eventually led to their Kanto Adventure and, eventually, Ash.


    "Wait, so you''re telling me that cute guy not only participated in the Indigo League but also won it?" Lyra asked


    "Yep," Green confirmed, leaving everyone more shocked, "He won, and I only ended up getting 3rd place of all things,"


    "Jeez, no wonder you''re so strong," Ethan said, "How much stronger is he than you if you don''t mind me asking,"


    "Well, that''s pretty tough to say in terms of training. I''m only a little bit better than him, but he makes up for it in battles and how creative he gets. The main thing, though, is that he is smart, really smart, but he acts like he isn''t."


    "Wow, really, it seems like he is a walking cheat code, I wouldn''t have ever guessed, he doesn''t look like the serious type, I thought he was a slacker like my two friends here," Kris said, pointing at Ethan and Vincent.


    "That''s how he gets you. He pretends that he never pays attention and that he never takes anything seriously, but when he does, you don''t want to be the one that made him go serious," Misty said


    "Yeah, he made plans specifically to counter each of the Gyms weeks before he actually took them down, he actually has a notebook with ideas and plans he always keeps with him," Brock added.


    "Yesh, sounds like he''s either overly cautious or completely crazy about that," Vincent said


    Casey was too busy trying to feed Chuchu something, so she wasn''t paying attention. Meanwhile, Yellow still had a complex expression until she felt her hat fall in front of her face.


    When she fixed it, she saw that Ash snuck up without any of them noticing and pushed her hat down, "Hey, why the long face, Yellow, you know you''re never fully dressed without a smile,"


    Ash hopped over the booth and sat in the center, grabbing a menu, then he held his hand out to Green as he looked at the Menu.


    Green tried playing it off, "Oh, you know, if you wanted to hold my hand, you could just ask~"


    "No, my card, give it," Ash said, not looking away from the menu.


    "Whaaaatttt, but you gave it to Yellow why would I have it," Green said, feigning incident.


    "Because I know you, and I know you paid for everyone with my card, I don''t really care, so can you just give it so I can get something," Ash said


    Green sighed and gave Ash his card back, "You know it''s no fun when you always know exactly what I''m going to do,"


    "And you''re no fun when you try to steal my stuff, so your point?" Ash said, putting in his order, "Besides, I let you buy everyone lunch with my card, didn''t I,"


    Green mumbled, "I can never get a rise out of you,"


    "Why do you people want to see me angry so much? I promise it''s not as good as it sounds,"


    "I dunno, why do people want to see the pyramids, cuz you don''t see it every day why else," Misty added.


    "Please, if you guys want to see me angry, you''re going to have to do more than just use my money,"


    "Well anyway, what did you and the Professor talk about?" Kris asked, trying to change the topic, "Not much, just some¡­let''s say business I had with him, we had to exchange some notes per say."


    "....well that''s not ominous at all,"

 Strange Change

    {With AshTwo}


    Ash was back in the town where Akihabara lived in; he sat at the table reading through research papers Akihabara had lying around while Akihabara was getting ready putting on a suit.


    "You know you could have called ahead of time, you caught me just as I was getting ready to go on a date with Joy," Akihabara said as his robot fixed his tie.


    "Oh, you and Joy are officially going steady, congrats," Ash said as Meowth was napping on his lap, "But in my defense, you never pick up my calls."


    "Hey, maybe you have a point, but after everything that''s happened, I hate to say it, but I trust you now," Akihabara said begrudgingly.


    Ash chuckled. "Aww, are you admitting I''m your best friend, Aki~,"


    Akihabara sighed, "Don''t push it, but I''ll say we are friends, afterall I got you, Porygon, and you helped me out with the Aster situation,"


    "Don''t forget I gave you a lot of money, like a lot lot," Ash added


    "Right, well, that too, but still, thanks, it''s a shame our operation is over now that our deal is done,"


    Ash chuckled and walked up to him, "Yeah, shame, but you still got a lot, and now that you have the Porygon plans, you''ll get it back and more soon enough, besides you still got one more," Ash said as he gave him a card.


    "Thanks, and yeah, probably, but I hate to admit it, but this has been a fun experience," Akihabara said as he finished getting ready and took the card, "Also, do you want the upgrade we talked about?"


    "Yeah, sure, why not," Ash said as Meowth jumped up on his shoulders, "What is it anyway?"


    Akihabara went to his computer and pulled up a model it was Porygon, but not one Ash was familiar with, "This is the upgrade for Porygon those eggheads over in Sinnoh have been working on, they call it Porygon3,"


    "But it is purely in theory. They haven''t used their own Porygon to test it, so there''s no way to know if it would work, so do you want to try it?"


    Ash took a moment to think, but after a moment, he opened his eyes and nodded, "Alright, let''s do it, Aki,"


    Akihabara pressed a few buttons on his computer, and then, after a moment, a purple disk came fresh off the press, and he held it out.


    Ash let out Porygon2 as Akihabara inserted the disk in the place where its mouth was after some processing, the Windows XP loading sound played for a bit, and then Porygon2 started glowing.


    Porygon2 started changing as it began to grow and stretch, but then, about halfway through the windows, an XP crash sound played as the glowing started shifting the body back, leaving it only halfway.


    As the glowing disappeared, there was not Porygon2 or this so-called Porygon3, now floating in front of them was Porygon-Z.


    Akihabara blinked in surprise as he looked over at Porygon-Z, "This is...I don''t even know what to say¡­"


    Ash was also slightly confused but less than Akihabara, "What happened? It looks like it crashed, or maybe there was a virus on it,"


    "That''s not a bad theory," Akihabara said thoughtfully, "This was never tested, so there''s no telling this version of Porygon it looks like... a glitch¡­ May I?"


    Ash nodded as Porygon-Z jumped into Akihabara''s computer and he pulled up its code to look it over, "It''s strange; it looks like Porygon is fine, but something happened,"


    Ash leaned over Akihabara, looking at the computer, "What do you mean, will Porygon still be able to hack into Team Rocket''s computers?"


    Akihabara put his hand on his chin, "It looks like everything is fine. It should still be able to do that, and it seems like it is stronger, but it''s strange I don''t know how to describe it, whatever this is, this is not what Porygon3 was meant to be."


    "Hmm, well, do you think there would be a way to find out what happened, I''m not a scientist, but from what I can see, it looks like that up-grade your grave, Porygon might have been corrupted in some way."


    "That is a good theory," Akihabara said as he started typing things into his computer, then he put a USB into it, taking a fragment of Porygon-Z, "I''ll take this. I''ll get in contact with the researchers and see if we can find out what went wrong,"The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    Ash rubbed his chin; this was always one thing he was always curious about what happened with the original Porygon3, what did it glitch into Z, "Ok, then I''ll take Porygon and keep doing what I''m doing, I''ll contact you if I see anything strange or if it is unable to even function anymore."


    Akihabara nodded, "That''s good. I''ll try to find an anti-virus to potentially see if we can fix Porygon-. Well, I guess we can''t call it 3,"


    Ash smiled under his scarf, "Then how about Z, Porygon-Z,"


    "Hmm¡­I like it, alright then, let''s see if we can find the secrets of Porygon-Z!" Akihabara said excitedly as suddenly he heard a knock at his door, and he froze.


    He could hear one of his robots approaching the door as he started frantically fixing himself again, "ShootShootShootShoot, well, research can wait, I have my date!"


    Ash shook his head and helped Akihabara fix his tie, "Alright then, I''m off. I got deployed to Johto, but don''t worry, I can always get back,"


    Akihabara nodded as he looked at himself in the mirror, "I guess our cooperation isn''t over, huh D."


    "Nah, it isn''t Aki, now go get her tiger," Ash said, patting Akihabara on the back as he walked towards the back.


    ¡ª


    {In Kalos}


    Calem was a young boy; he liked Pokemon a lot, he especially loved his Kanga and Li''l Kanga, the Kangaskhan mother-and-son duo. Although he was too young to get his League license, he did have a trainer license, which are two separate things.


    Thanks to that, he entered the Kalos Junior Tournament, and despite having no formal training, he won, he beat people who were considered prodigies even if he was literally a no one, he had no connections to the professor, and his parents were almost always out on business trips.


    Call it luck, natural talent, or whatever, but he did it, and that made Calem excited, little did he know that was the worst mistake in his life.


    Since he had no connections to special people or parents around to advise him, adults saw their opportunity to exploit him in his innocence the press constantly followed him for interviews, the paparazzi took pictures of him everywhere he went, and recruitment agencies followed him every day.


    At first, Calem thought nothing of it and let them do what they did, posing and doing interviews, but that made things worse and attracted more, Adults started swarming him, using his status to exploit him to make money,


    It got bad every day he couldn''t go out, and what''s worse, his friends, Tierno, Trevor, and Shauna, were gone most of the time in another region, but during weekends and breaks a Alakazam would appear to drop them off and pick them up, it became a cycle.


    Calem asked them about their experiences, and they told him all about it, but as they did, he only thought one thing, ''I wish I got to go¡­''


    Then there was Serena; things were complicated; they were neighbors and friends along with everyone else, but a few years ago, something happened, it wasn''t big enough to say they had a falling out; they were still friends, and Serena''s mother Grace would regularly make him dinner since his parents were never around¡­but things were complicated¡­


    Then, one day, another Adult had him go to Lumiose City for a gig, since he was a kid and he was tricked into signing a contract, he couldn''t do anything thankfully, after this one, the contract would expire, and Calem knew better now, and he wouldn''t sign anything else.


    He powered through this last gig, after this, he was free and would go do his own thing. Maybe he would prepare for when he goes on his journey, or maybe he would do these jobs on his own terms, the thoughts excited him.


    But as soon as he finished, he was free, which wasn''t good because a lot of adults heard about it, now that he was done with that contract and wasn''t planning on renewing his old one, so many people wanted to try and take advantage.


    This led to Calem being chased by a mob of fans, press, and other agencies wanting to use him; he was running like his life depended on it because, in a way, it did, eventually, all that running led him to a building, he had no idea what it was he just saw there was no one inside so he ran in and immediately went to hide in the second floor.


    As soon as he was there, he could hear the mob outside. He sat down in one of the dark corners and, curled into a ball, and was barely holding back tears.


    "Why me¡­" was the only thing he could mumble over and over again as he waited, but he thought to himself that things would get better, he''d stay positive, and once he got home, he''d work on himself going outside every day.


    As he got his new resolve suddenly he heard something, the sounds of an eerie whine, he was scared as he looked around, finding nothing at every side then when he finally looked back in front of him, there was a Haunter that had a scary face and laughed.


    Calem''s face turned pale; he wanted to scream, but the wind left his mouth a long time ago, he was paralyzed in fear as he could fear tears flowing from his eyes.


    As he was paralyzed, the sound of a girl spoke up, "Stephen¡­ stop that, your troublemaker¡­."


    From the side, a girl with long, purple, messy hair and a black dress came up and grabbed the Haunter; Haunter scratched his cheek as the girl stared at him.


    Then the girl looked at Calem, she had heard about him. She came here specifically to see him in hopes he was the one she was looking for, and at the moment, she was¡­ disappointed, no, that''s not the right word.


    Calem, on the other hand, could not see the girl; the room was dark, and in combination with Haunter, he could only see a creepy silhouette staring down at him.


    Then the girl frowned and looked down at him, ".. No, you''re not the one. ... *SIgh*¡­"


    She turned around and started walking away as she went into the shadows, in one moment, she was there, and the next, like she never existed, leaving Calem shivering on the floor.


    Whatever semblance of a plan he had left to try and improve his situation was gone, he only thought of one thing, ''The world is Scary¡­ I want to go home¡­''


    ¨C


    Meanwhile, with the girl, she appeared in another area with her Haunter, sighing sadly, "Another fail Stephen¡­"


    Haunter came up and bumped her shoulder, "Jei Jei,"


    "Yeah, I know I have you¡­but you know I want something more¡­I want real friends..people who aren''t scared of me¡­that we can have fun," the Hex Maniac said


    "So this one was also a failure. Any other ideas?"


    Haunter thought for a moment, then he smiled mischievously and started turning his own gas body into shapes as he explained, "Jei Jei, Jei Jei, Jei Jei!"


    She heard everything and could understand him, but her face darkened hearing his suggestion, "What! Are you crazy, you stupid Ghost, how is that a good idea?"


    "Jei Jei," Haunter said, trying to explain himself.


    "No, I will not hear you out, that''s insane, chaotic, the most stupid idea I''ve ever heard¡­I love it let''s do it!"


    ¡ª--


    {Unknown location}


    A hooded figure, the same one as before, was holding the same piece of parchment, now it was much more clear what those two figures were, the one shadowy figure that had no real details was Giratina, and the other that seemed to look like a black figure with white smoke that looked very similar to his own robes, was Darkrai.


    He still smiled as he took off his hood, revealing his long blue hair, and smiled, he was Tobias, "It''s almost time," he mumbled.


    "Hey, Tobias!" a voice called out


    When he looked, there was a girl with white hair; she wore a hoody that seemed even more inspired by Darkrai, "Sister Persephone,"


    Persephone frowned, seeing Tobias here, "What are you doing here, the ritual is about to start, you are needed," she said coldly.


    "Of course, I was just reminding myself what we are after," Tobias said as he followed Persephone.


    After a short walk, they arrived in a large circular room with a sigil on the floor, Many of her people wearing similar robes as Tobias were lying on the ground, Tobias walked up and also laid down,


    Persephone walked up to the altar, "It is time, all of you will be sent to the Dream realm! What is your goal!"


    "To find the fragments of Darkrai!" all the people on the floor said


    "Yes, we will obtain Darkrai for our goals. We may not be able to get the original for now, but if we get at least 1, we will succeed!" Persephone said as the others shouted.


    "And if you can''t find or acquire Darkrai, then don''t bother coming out of the Dream Realm, or I will kill you myself!" she said coldly.


    In unison, all the people yelled out, "Right!"


    "Good, we will succeed, and do you know why!"


    "Because we are the Cult of Darkrai!" they said in unison as the ritual began, and soon they all fell into a deep sleep.

 Crystal what?

    A while later, Ash and the gang went their separate ways from the other gang; Green went off with Silver. Kris and Lyra went together since they were sisters, and Casey went off on her own, marching in victory as she kept singing her team''s song.


    Then there were Ethan and Vincent; they went on their own to race to try and qualify for the league first. They both already had two badges, and they wanted to beat the other one, although there was a subtle hint that Vincent was going to follow along with Kris while Ethan was more serious, even if he was also a goofball.


    Brock, Misty, Yellow, and Ash went their own way, mainly led by Ash since he knew where he wanted to go to get what, so they traveled through the day, and it''s worth noting that as of now, no one knows what Pokemon Ash caught in the Orange Islands.


    Once they finally stopped for camp and set everything up, Brock started bottle feeding Bonsly as he put his Egg safely in his bag next to him. Yellow let all her Pokemon out, and it looked like her Omanyte evolved into an Omastar over the break.


    Meanwhile, Brock and Misty''s teams didn''t change, but it looked like Misty got a Poliwag. But other than that, everything stayed the same.


    As for Ash, when they stopped for camp, he finally threw out his Pokemon, besides the ones he saved from Kanto to use now: Oddish, Zubat, Growlithe, and Vulpix.


    There was the Pokemon that caught them by surprise: Lapras, Snorlax, Togepi, and Fuecoco for obvious reasons, but with just that, it didn''t knock their socks off.


    Brock walked up next to Ash, "Looks like you got some good Pokemon, but a Snorlax? Are you sure we have the supplies for that?"


    "Yeah, don''t worry about it, still got that Oak Black card, we don''t have to worry about feeding this big guy," Ash said, patting Snorlax''s stomach as he was sleeping peacefully, as he did, his hand sunk inside, it was almost like memory foam.


    Obviously, they saw how soft it looked, so Yellow walked over and leaned on Snorlax, almost falling inside, "Wow, he''s so warm and soft¡­"


    Misty, upon seeing Yellow do that, went over and got on his stomach and relaxed, "Hey, you''re right, this feels nice¡­like a teddy bear¡­I could take a nap right here,"


    Ash and Brock looked at each other looking, concerned, "Well, that''s fine, but we''re going to make dinner. I don''t think you''ll want to be next to him then¡­"


    "Mhhh, I''ll deal with that later¡­just let me take a nap here¡­" Misty said as she started dozing off.


    Brock wanted to say something but stopped when Ash put his hand on his shoulder, "Don''t bother, let her live with what''s going to happen, anyway, I have one more Pokemon I wanted to show you." Ash said as Fuecoco was riding in his hood.


    Brock sighed helplessly but nodded, "Alright, what Pokemon is it? Can''t be any more impressive than a Pokemon from all the way from Paldea,"


    Ash smiled as he held up one more Pokeball, "Well, it''s an Onix,"


    Brock''s non-existent eyes lit up, "Oh really, an Onix, that''s great I can help you train it too, bring it out I want to see what we''re looking with!"


    Ash smiled and tossed it out as the light from the Pokeball released a large snake-like creature, but instead of the grey, rough, rocky skin it usually has, it had a light blue, shiny, and smooth crystal body.


    Immediately, Brock''s eyes opened in shock, his actual eyes, this is something he''s never seen, heard, or even dreamed of, "A-a-a-a-sh, that''s the Onix you''re talking about?"


    Ash smiled innocently, acting like nothing was wrong as he pat the big snake, "Yep, caught this big guy over in the Orange Islands, real interesting place, and this guy also loves water like yours,"


    Brock looked like his brain was about to fry, he only snapped out of it when Bonsly headbutted him because the bottle ran out, "Oof¡­ right thanks Bonsly¡­ so, Ash this Onix¡­ it¡­"


    "Yeah, it''s entirely made of crystal," Ash said casually, "Don''t know if it''s a new species or something, but that''s just how I found it,"


    Brock got Bonsly on his lap and just decided to sit down for a bit, Onix looked at Ash confused, thinking he did something wrong, Ash just shrugged back, "I dunno, he''s acting kinda weird, I guess I''m cooking for everyone alone,"


    Fuecoco looked excited, "Coco!"


    "Oh, you wanna help?" Ash asked, to which he nodded happily, "Alright, let''s get started," he said as he rolled up his sleevesEnsure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    ¡ª


    Later, as Ash was starting to prepare food, he set apart a big pot where he was making a large curry specifically only for Snorlax; you see, Snorlax train in a strange way..they don''t.


    The way they get stronger is entirely dependent on two things: the quality of food they eat and how much they have to eat. In the wild, they have to eat more, which you''d think would be better, but it''s not because it gives them less time to process the food.


    So, to train a Snorlax, it needs to eat and then sleep, and it will naturally get stronger, in fact, training it actually makes things worse, which also means the only real way to Ev train them is with Pokeblocks.


    As he was thinking that, Fuecoco lit up the fire to start cooking it, and Ash put a lid on it to not let the aroma get to Snorlax too soon as he went back to cooking for everyone else.


    As he started cooking, he saw his Pokemon starting to get ready seeing him cook, and eventually, Brock accepted the reality that a new Onix was here and went over to help with the cooking as well, but Misty and Yellow were napping on Snorlax still along with a bunch of other Pokemon.


    As time went on, he eventually went back to the pot and opened it to stir and add more ingredients at that point, the fragrance came out and flew over to Snorlax, as soon as he smelled the aroma of good food, his eyes lit up, and he got up knocking all the Pokemon and Misty and Yellow off from him.


    "Waaaa!!!" everyone that was thrown off by Snorlax yelled as they hit the floor.


    Snorlax didn''t bother looking at them as he rushed forward to Ash and Brock cooking. He was about to reach down to take the food Brock was preparing since that was the first thing he could see, but before that, Ash slapped his hand.


    "Hey, Snorlax, that one isn''t for you, that one is," Ash said, pointing to the large pot where the delicious smell was coming from,


    Snorlax didn''t complain at all as he smelled the food and walked over, seeing it was a delicious Curry. He was about to grab it, but Ash stopped him again.


    "Snorlax, it''s not ready yet, give it a few more minutes!" Ash said, putting some Aura into his hand as he patted Snorlax


    Snorlax calmed down and nodded happily like a kid before sitting down. Waiting over by Brock, Misty and Yellow walked over, holding their backs after falling off Snorlax.


    Misty grunted, "Oh come on, he made a Snorlax wait for food, this is just getting ridiculous."


    Brock sighed, "But if anyone could do it, it is probably Ash, right," at this point, after seeing the Crystal Onix, if Ash said he could fly, he might believe him.


    Yellow nodded but was starting to heal Misty, "Still, I wished he woke us up so we didn''t fall,"


    A moment later, once Misty''s back was better, she sighed happily, "Still, it was comfy sleeping on Snorlax,"


    Ash, they discussed that Ash had Fuecoco stop shooting fire, and he put handles on the side of the pot, "Alright, Snorlax, here''s yours,"


    As soon as he said that, Snorlax grabbed the pot, not even caring about the heat since he did have Thick Fat, and he started guzzling it down happily. It took a few seconds, but eventually, Snorlax put the pot down, giving a satisfied sigh.


    "Snorrrrr¡­(©¤??©¤)," he said, rubbing his stomach.


    Then Snorlax grabbed Ash and hugged him tightly; Ash didn''t fight back, enjoying the sensation even if he could feel that he was getting crushed and probably got a broken rib.


    After he was put down, Ash had to take a moment to steady himself as he patted Snorlax, "Alright, bud, go get some sleep,"


    Snorlax smiled as he walked over to a nice, comfy tree and laid down, falling asleep immediately.


    Ash stumbled over to the table set up and sat down, almost falling, everyone looked over at him as Yellow asked, "Are you ok?"


    Ash waved his hand, "Yeah, I''m fine, Snorlax just is a tight hugger, I think he broke a rib, but it''s fine, it''s only the 3rd most painful hug I''ve ever had,"


    They were about to panic, but they realized Ash said that last part with full seriousness, so they dropped it, but Yellow did still walk over and put a hand on Ash to heal him.


    ¡ª-


    After they all ate, they started relaxing. There was still sun, but not for much longer. But as they relaxed, suddenly, they heard some ruffling from the forest, they weren''t worried since they still had their Pokemon out.


    And from there, Rattata jumped out, looking around as if in a panic, and the reason why was made clear as beyond it came a Chikorita wearing a yellow headband and a purple-haired girl that was wearing her yellow uniform, Casey.


    "Rattata is trying to steal, but star hitter Chikorita won''t let that happen!" Casey said, "Chikorita, decide the outcome with a straight shot! That''s it, use [Tackle]!"


    Chikorita started running, but because Casey spent so much time talking, Rattata easily dodged,


    But Casey didn''t give up, "The first throw was a bad one, but Chikorita still has a second chance! Chikorita, use another [Tackle]!"


    Chikorita didn''t waste time and rushed forward, hitting the rat and knocking it out, finally.


    "Success! Rattata was defeated by Chikorita''s direct attack! It''s time to be captured now!"Casey said as she threw the ball and caught Rattata easily.


    From the side, everyone was watching as Casey started singing the Electabuzz theme song, Yellow was looking especially¡­.let''s say, concerned.


    She leaned over to Ash, "Was that how I was when I caught Ratty?"


    "Less singing and more acting like a Headless Chicken, but yeah pretty much," Ash said bluntly, making Yellow blush in embarrassment seeing how different things became after she learned, she couldn''t even imagine acting like that anymore.


    Then Casey stopped singing and finally noticed them as her eyes lit up, and she ran towards them, specifically Ash and Yellow, who both had their Pikachu out, "It''s you two! The guys who have those super cute and fluffy Pikachu!"


    Ash and Yellow sweated helplessly since it hadn''t even been 5 hours since they saw each other, but she only remembered them as trainers with Pikachu.


    As Casey was fangirling over Pikachu and Chuchu, Casey felt a lightbulb go off in her head.


    "Hey, battle me!" Casey said confidently


    Everyone: "..."


    Casey scoffed and nodded confidently, "Yeah, I want to battle an experienced trainer, this is a Pokemon battle there is no difference between a Rookie and an experienced trainer! So I will beat you!"


    Ash had to hold back a laugh, and he could see Misty glaring at him as if telling him not to do it, but behind her, Brock was also holding back a laugh, and when she noticed, she pulled on his ear.


    Ash took a breath, "Ok, but first, do you want me to use new Pokemon or-"


    "No way, don''t underestimate me, use your strong Pokemon!" Casey said with full confidence.


    Ash was really trying his best not to laugh, so he looked at Pikachu, "Hey bud, take care of this one and go easy on her she doesn''t know what she''s doing,"


    Pikachu sighed and walked up on two legs, not four like he usually does. Casey seemed happy and pulled out a Pokeball, "Don''t think because your Pikachu is adorable, I''ll go easy on you!"


    "Sure, let''s do this," Ash said, finally getting his Composure back


    {1 minute later}


    Casey was on her knees, almost having an existential crisis; she was beaten so easily Ash didn''t even call out on Pikachu to use attacks.


    Ash walked over and leaned down close to her, "What''s wrong, You crying?"


    Misty was about to go over and yell at Ash, but Brock stopped her, knowing what Ash was doing.


    Casey flinched and looked like she was about to run away, but Ash stopped her, "What''s wrong, you lost once, and your''re torn up about it, that''s stupid,"


    "S-shut up, you don''t know I have more than just myself I''m fighting for, my family there cheering me on, and I-" Casey said, her voice shaky.


    Ash flicked her on the head, "And what are you gonna give up? What about the Electabuzz they come in last every year, but they don''t give up, there''s no such thing as starting strong, everyone becomes strong their own way, and losing is something that helps us grow,"


    Casey looked up at Ash, "B-but¡­I''m the only other thing they''re rooting for, how can I-"


    "Casey, you''re not listening. Losing is natural, and being weak is ok, staying weak isn''t, you want to prove them right in believing in you, then get stronger, learn from your loss, and just like the Electabuzz, don''t give up,"


    Casey wiped her nose. She didn''t even realize she was crying; she looked over at Chikorita, who was shakily getting up and nodded at her encouragingly, "You''re right. I shouldn''t give up, and I won''t!"


    Casey got up, "I''ll get better, and next time, Ash, I''ll beat you!"


    Ash gave a smile, "I look forward to seeing you try,"

 Heracross and Pinsir

    The day after they saw Casey, the gang started moving again, led by Ash since before he could even get to the first Gym, there were 2 Pokemon he was going after, the current target, Heracross.


    Now, from what he knows from his other side, he knows that Jesse, James, and Meowth are on a ship on their way to Johto, so he can''t use that to abuse it, He''s probably going to have to do it the old-fashioned way.


    Speaking of which, as he was walking, he thought about them: Jesse, James, and Meowth. It always made him wonder why they kept trying to be Pokemon thieves when they were so bad at it; it was even revealed that they don''t actually enjoy being bad like that.


    Jesse wanted to be a nurse, and James wanted to be literally anything as long as he made that choice himself, and Meowth just wanted love. We knew that from the anime and even some data books, they were doing this because they have nothing else, but they aren''t bad people, let''s be honest.


    Especially in the new seasons when they are just making money by selling food or doing other stuff, but even back during the beginning, sure, sometimes they try to steal Pokemon, but most of the time, they just try to legally catch wild Pokemon, but Ash ends up stopping them.


    The thing is, they are horrible criminals, but they are good at almost everything else they do, they were great battlers and at raising Pokemon since they were always able to keep up with Ash more or less, and sometimes they even get the upper hand on him.


    And then there was the random stuff they were great miners, actors, cooks, cleaners, hackers, builders, gardeners, infiltrators, and probably a lot more he can''t remember.


    And there was probably the most impressive thing they were great mechanics since it has been said that they build all their own robots, they don''t buy them, with what money would they? The fact they can make fully functioning robots that can do everything they do it is a miracle that they aren''t millionaires just on that.


    The point is, it makes you wonder why they don''t get the confidence to do their own thing, he doesn''t really know, but it''s not like he can do anything for them right now, but maybe later.


    As Ash was thinking, they kept walking, and they got to the part of the forest Ash recognized the part that was supposed to be sucked dry, but unsurprisingly it was completely normal, and looking at some of the small trees, young Heracross and Pinsir were eating in harmony.


    They were young enough so that they didn''t do anything harmful to the environment like adults would, and they were too young to care about anything else, even though Heracross and Pinsir are natural enemies, these ones haven''t been filled with hatred yet.


    Of course, Ash started scanning all of them just to see if there was one that caught his interest. But of course, there were a few, but none that made him drop everything and go take it, so he kept walking.


    All the while, Misty was pale in the face seeing so many bug Pokemon she was too scared to even speak, if it wasn''t for Ash quite literally pushing her, they would have stopped.


    Brock and Yellow were much more relaxed seeing the baby bugs. Brock looked them over, checking all of them and taking notes for later use, and Yellow just liked bug Pokemon.


    As they kept walking, they eventually got to a bridge, in the anime, this one was destroyed because Team Rocket came, but now they weren''t here yet, so it was fine. However, it didn''t look stable nor where they were over the last time they tried crossing a bridge.


    And as soon as they got there, a familiar voice yelled out, "Yo, Ash, I wouldn''t if I were you,"


    Looking back, it was Gary who walked up to them, behind him his Blastoise was carrying a log that was broken off a tree, "Sup,"


    Ash smiled and walked up to him, giving each other their usual handshake, "Gary, you got a lot of nerve showing your face round here, what are you doing,"


    Gary shrugged with a smile on his face, "What else, exploring, same as you, trying to build a new team and all that, and filling up the Pokedex for gramps,"


    "You would, you researcher," Ash teased, getting a punch to the arm from Gary.


    "Shut up, you anyway, that bridge looks older than Gramps, so I wouldn''t that why I went over and got this tree," Gary said as Blastoise flexed by picking it up and taking it over the ledge and making a makeshift bridge, then shooting an [Ice beam] at the base to 1 make some makeshift steps and 2 to make sure the log doesn''t roll while they''re walking on it.


    "All aboard," Gary said as he started walking, "You can follow me if you want, but I don''t know if the so-called number 1 wants to follow the number 2," Gary teased back.


    Ash chuckled and rolled his eyes as he also climbed up, "Keep telling yourself that I just wanted to give you some small victories when I inevitably beat you again,"


    All the while, Brock, Misty, and Yellow looked at each other as the two bantered, but they were pretty used to this dynamic by now and followed behind, some more scared than others, but they did make it across.


    Once they got to the other side, Gary joined them as a temporary companion, and they made their way deeper into the forest, Misty was still scared, but by this point, she knew that asking to go back wouldn''t do anything and as much as she was scared of bugs, she was scared of being alone with bugs more, so she followed beyond keeping her head low.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.


    As they walked, Gary looked over at Ash, "So tell me the truth, why are you really around here, this isn''t exactly a well-known spot,"


    "I could ask you the same thing, this place isn''t exactly put on a map, you''d have to know, especially since we''re going so deep in their territory," Ash said, putting his hands beyond his head.


    "I asked first, but if you must know, I am actually here to look at the clan. The Rangers contacted me, and Gramps asked me to check this place out to make sure none of the Pinsir or Heracross are taking too much territory." Gary said, impressing everyone.


    Ash chuckled, "Classic Gary, only a true Professor in training would think of that," he said, getting another punch in the arm, this one slightly harder, "But my goal isn''t as noble. I''m bored, and I wanted a new Pokemon, so why not,"


    That got a chuckle out of Gary, "Why am I not surprised? I swear sometimes I forget out of all of us, you''re the strongest for now; I also forget that you''re even capable of being serious,"


    "I don''t know what you mean. I''m always super serious," Ash said purposefully, acting as childish as he could, getting a sigh out of everyone.


    As they kept going, they entered a clearing and that was really open other than two large trees that were each covered by Heracross and Pinsir, respectively.


    "What''s going on?" Brock asked, taking a better look, "I thought the adults hated each other, why are they so calm here,"


    "Isn''t it obvious this place is neutral ground," Gary said, continuing to walk,


    They all looked confused, so Misty asked, "What do you mean by that,"


    This time, Ash spoke up, "They must have some kind of agreement so that as long as they keep their tree with sap, the other gets their''s, as long as the other doesn''t do anything, the others won''t retaliate, it''s like a case of will they won''t they."


    Yellow looked at all of them, "So then why don''t they live together if they''re doing just fine like that, shouldn''t that mean that they can live in harmony?"


    "Not how it works, they can''t really help it, Heracross and Pinsir just naturally don''t like each other," Ash said, "It isn''t evil, nor is it personal, just the way they are you can''t really blame them,"


    But seeing Yellow''s face turn onto a frown, Ash continued, "But that doesn''t mean they are enemies or that they can''t be friends, it just means that they have a bad impression of one another,"


    Yellow nodded her smile slightly, coming back with a little hope, as she did, they got closer, and observing this, they suddenly heard 2 Pokemon crys


    "Herooo!"


    "Pinsss!"


    In the center, a single Heracross and Pinsir, while most of the ones eating the sap were normal, these were obviously warrior versions.


    They glared at each other and started arguing before they ran in and head-butted each other, trying to take the other one down in the tree. Some of them were yelling to break up the fight, some were cheering on their respective warrior, and some were just watching.


    Over with everyone, they were watching from a safe distance, wondering why they started fighting even though this place was supposedly neutral ground.


    "What''s going on," Misty asked, seeing two big bugs starting to be aggressive as she hid behind a tree.


    Gary clicked his tongue, "This is what the Rangers told me about, every now and then, sometimes, there is one that wants to take over these trees,"


    "Wait, but didn''t you say they had an understanding?" Brock asked


    "Yeah, the same as with me and Ash. We have a vague deal going on, but we aren''t actively punishing each other if we break it," Gary said as he looked around, checking the tree in case anyone else was going to start fighting


    Ash was already ahead of it, "None of those look like they are going to jump in yet, but if those two keep fighting, then that might change,"


    "Right, we need to stop those big guys," Gary said as he smirked and looked at Ash, "You thinking what I''m thinking?"


    Ash smiled back, "I call the Heracross," Pikachu got a shocked expression looking up at Ash but then was immediately reminded that this was Ash, so he jumped down over to Yellow and Chuchu.


    Ash and Gary got up and started walking forward as they gave each other a fistbump and ran in opposing directions, leaving the other three sitting there confused and shocked.


    As the warrior Heracross and the warrior Pinsir continued battling, sending a [Megahorn] and [X-Scissor] respectively at the other, the battle continued on, showing no signs of wanting to give up.


    Just as they were knocked back and sled into the dirt, they fixed themselves to reposition and where started charging again, just as they were about to meet each other, suddenly, a voice called out.


    "Venusaur [Grass Knot]!"


    From the ground, vines extended that wrapped around the two bug types'' legs and stopped them in their place as the vines extended, catching their arms, then another voice yelled out.


    "Electivire [Dual Chop]!"


    From the side, Electivire ran up with his two arms glowing purple The two couldn''t run, so Electivire hit them with a close line and knocked them back.


    As they went flying, the vines were still on their legs, so Ash and Gary continued,


    "Venusaur [Power Whip]!"


    "Electivire [Thunder Punch]!"


    As Venusaur still had their feet stuck in vines, he pulled back, slamming them onto the ground then, as he came up, he brought them up and threw them back, only to be met by a [Thunder Punch] from Electivire.


    Heracross and Pinsir took heavy damage as they got thrown off the vines and fell to the floor, all the other Heracross and Pinsir were watching from the trees.


    Heracross and Pinsir struggled to get up as they faced the two new opponents, for a moment, they looked at each other, agreeing on something: they would postpone this match for the moment.


    Venusaur and Electivire stood strong as they walked circles around the two bug types, and Heracross and Pinsir were now back to back, seeing a much more dangerous threat.


    Heracross and Pinsir shot a [Rock Blast] and a [Rock Slide], respectively, sending stones flying at the 2 Pokemon.


    Ash called out, "Venusaur"


    Venusaur stomped on the ground as two walls of vines rose from the ground, backing both him and Electivire, and as soon as the attacks crashed against the vines, Electivire jumped out from behind and clapped his hands together, causing static to charge between it.


    Gary pointed at the two and snapped his fingers, "[Thunderbolt]"


    From Electivire''s clasped hands, a blast of electricity was shot out and covered the two bug types with bright electricity, leaving them both barely even standing.


    Ash and Gary smiled as they stood across from each other and each threw a Pokeball, Heracross and Pinsir saw the Pokeballs, so they moved their heads, dodging the ball.


    However, as the balls kept going, they hit each other and bounced off, going back and hitting the Heracross and Pinsir in the back of the head, making them go inside.


    1 Roll, 2 Roll, 3 Roll, Ding


    Ash and Gary caught Heracross and Pinsir, meaning that the mission was a success.


    Ash and Gary walked up and grabbed their respective new catches they gave each other a fist bump as now they stood in the center of the clearing between the two large trees.


    "Nice work, my dude, I didn''t think you had it in you," Ash said, teasing Gary.


    Gary rolled his eyes, "Please, let''s be honest, Electivire would today beat your Venusaur,"


    Ash didn''t give him the satisfaction, "You''re probably right; you''ve been training, and Venusaur went on a break,"


    As they laughed, Brock and Yellow walked up with Misty slightly further back, "So, is it over?"


    "Yeah, with these two gone, the Heracross and Pinsir won''t have people that want to try to take over the territories," Gary said, looking at the trees with all the bugs looking at them, none of them looked particularly keen on trying to fight them.


    Ash shook his head, "Yeah, it''ll probably be fine for a few months until another rando gets strong enough. Honestly, the fact that there were two at the same time is genuinely wild to me, knowing the nature of these guys,"


    "Yeah, might need to go talk to some Rangers about that just to make sure there isn''t anything pushing these guys, probably going to increase surveillance on this area," Gary agreed.


    As Ash was looking at the trees, a glint was caught in his eye at the base of the trees, one on each, "Yo, Gary, you see that?"


    Gary wasn''t as naturally perceptive as Ash, so he had to take a few steps forward, but he eventually saw it shine, "I dunno,"


    Their curiosity peaked, and Ash went to the Heracross tree and Gary to the Pinsir tree to look at what it was. And looking at it, embedded in the tree were Mega stones, it didn''t take a genius to know what they were for


    Ash took the one in the tree. None of the Bugs did anything other than watch him, and it was the same on Gary''s side.


    Then they walked back to meet with each other, it was a Heracronite and a Pinsirite, they looked at it in awe, everyone did, other than Ash no one knew this is how Mega stones were found or if they even looked like that when they were found.


    This time, it was Ash''s turn as he looked at Gary, "Hey, you thinking what I''m thinking,"


    Gary gave a knowing smile, "Bet I can make this Pinsir stronger than you can make that Heracross before the Silver Conference!"


    "You''re on!" Ash said back, accepting the challenge


    Everyone, including Pikachu, looked at each other and sighed helplessly, but at the same time, they were also used to it by this point.

 Stantler

    {Ashtwo}


    It took a bit, but currently, Ash was standing at the tip of a ship holding a bunch of Team Rocket Operatives, including him, Jay, Enid, Jesse, James, and Meowth. Sayoko was also on the ship, as she had said she''d be.


    It took a few days since they left, and now they are arriving at the cover of night approaching Goldenrod City.


    As they docked in the night, they didn''t land at the dock; they went around in a secret entrance around from the back where the rocky area went into, as their captain approached the rocks, a secret button was pressed, and the rocks split apart revealing an entrance that they went into.


    Going inside, they saw that this place looked like it was probably the main base in Johto, and they could see that they were located under the radio tower, speaking of the base.


    After Aster was captured, Giovanni ordered an evacuation of the Celadon branch, the only reason they could previously be there with no fear was because of Aster, with him out of the picture, it was best if they left it behind for a while.


    They abandoned the Celadon branch for the time being until they were sure that they could guarantee their safety or they were sure no one would go after that base, although they kept the game corner running, that is a good source of income for them.


    As they went inside, they were greeted by the sight of a bunch of grunts looking at them and cheering that the new transfers were here, and as they landed and they started getting off the ship, they were led to a larger room.


    As they went in, they stood and saw a man wearing a black cloak and a mask walking up, and next to him were two people Ash recognized as Carl and Sham, walking next to him.


    The masked man looked over at them, and his face was unreadable, but Ash could see he had the emotion¡­ numbness..he wasn''t feeling any emotions like he barely even wanted to be alive levels.


    "Well, what do you all want," he said coldly, "A welcome party with cake¡­."


    He walked to the side as the mask seemed to make some of them uneasy, "This is our base in Johto, we do things differently here in Johto here I have jurisdiction, I say what goes, these two next to me are my Executive,"


    The man walked up first, "Carl,"


    Then the woman, "Sham¡­"


    Then the masked man looked back, "You all can call me leader, you do not have the right to know my name¡­"


    As he said that, suddenly, two more men walked up, one with a black hat, Proton, and another with light blue hair and a white suit, Archer.


    Archer walked up and put his arm on the masked man''s head, "Now, now, you know that''s no way to talk to our new members, and what''s this about you being in authority here, last I checked since the last time you messed up I''m the one over you~"


    The Masked man showed no reaction, but Ash didn''t even need Aura to tell he was gritting his teeth angrily, but he said nothing.


    Carl and Sham looked at Archer angrily, but they knew they couldn''t do anything to him, he was stronger than them and even stronger than the Masked man, behind Giovanni, Archer was the strongest, and after that, it could be debated if the Masked man or Ariana were stronger.


    Archer chuckled and gave the masked man a slap on the mask slightly, after all, he knew who was behind the mask, "Don''t forget yourself~"


    Then he walked up to see the grunts that arrived, "Very well, everyone get to know this base, you will receive a map later detailing where other Team Rocket bases are, for now, have fun; you will be called upon when it is time, but I do have some missions for a select few of you."


    With that, Proton walked up holding a paper, "Will Agent D., Jay, Enid, Jesse, and James wait after,"


    Other than surprised mumbling, no one said anything, and Archer dismissed them, letting them stay behind, Meowth tried to walk out too but was stopped by Jesse grabbing him by the back of the neck, and of course, Sayoko also stayed.


    After it was empty, the masked man still stood on the stage as Archer and Proton walked up to them, first, he went to Jesse, James, and Meowth and gave them a paper, "This is your assignment, your task is to go to Violet City first¡­"


    All 3 of them gave a salute, "Right!" x3, and then they ran out of the room with a nod.


    Then he went up to them as Sayoko walked up and stood next to Archer, "So you 3 are the newest spies, I must say for 2 of you, you don''t look like anything impressive, just some kids¡­"


    Obviously, he was saying D looked like he was the most interesting, considering he covered his face and there was little to no background on him, but Enid immediately thought he was talking about her.


    If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.


    Archer continued, "But results don''t lie, you three have made yourselves useful, some more than others," he said, sending a side eye to Enid and Jay, "But useful nonetheless,"


    He then walked over and gathered some papers, "Agent Jay and Enid, these are your personal assignments. You will work individually, and I expect a report,"


    Then he turned to Ash, "As for you, Agent D., there is a special circumstance, seeing as you got a promotion, you will now need a grunt to be your partner, someone under you you command but someone you can use,"


    "Thankfully, we are receiving a new batch of recruits, and so you will be going over there to oversee it, and after that, you will select anyone that catches your interest."


    Ash nodded and didn''t say anything, Enid obviously looked smug to her, while Ash stayed here in the base waiting on some dumb newbies she''ll be out getting stronger and more renowned in team Rocket, soon she''ll take a promotion too and overtake him after.


    "Very well dismissed, Proton why don''t you show them around? I have some business here," Archer said, receiving a nod from Proton.


    Proton walked up, "This way," then he started walking out, the three following. Meanwhile, Archer turned to Sayoko, but before that, he sent a glare to the stands where the Masked man was looking over,


    The Masked man scoffed as he walked out of the room finally,


    Sayoko looked mischievously at Archer, "You know if you wanted me alone and defenseless, there were easier ways~"


    Archer paid no attention to that, "Not the time, the Boss informed me about your situation, how are things with ''that''?"


    Sayoko''s smile didn''t falter, "Oh, they seem to last less and less as time goes on, but it doesn''t matter. I''m doing all this work, so the boss is more than happy to supply them for me,"


    Archer nodded, but he didn''t have a smile, "Very well, just know here I take a more hands-on approach, if I see you abusing ''that'' or wasting it, I''ll cut it myself, and there will be consequences for you,"


    Sayoko nodded but kept her smile as her left eye shined, "Loud and clear~"


    ¡ª-


    {Back with Ash}


    After going their separate ways from Gary, they kept going further while Gary went off to do his own thing. They passed through a certain valley, but Ash had no reason to go there, so he went around, and eventually, they got to the dark forest.


    Maybe if he didn''t have Aura, this would be a problem with the ghost-types that live here, but with Aura, Ash had no problems and even found and knocked out the random Gengar trying to scare them, so they got past with no problems.


    On their way, they got to the Pok¨¦mon Exhibition and stopped to watch it, but nothing more than that, well, Brock tried hitting on girls, but nothing out of the ordinary. Then they kept walking, going past Catallia City and Palm Hills, but because Jesse, James, and Meowth weren''t there, they had no reason to stay in either.


    As it was a new day, Ash walked, keeping his arms over his head, thinking he really had been able to skip a lot. He has trained on the road, but still, he''s been able to get through most of this with a combination of him planning ahead and just Jesse, James, and Meowth not being around every 5 minutes.


    Speaking of which, when was the last time he, himself, saw them¡­well, not counting when he saw them at the League, probably way back when he was at Fuchsia¡­no, no, he met them back in Vermilion City right before he left for the Orange islands!


    Admittedly, without them, things seem to get a bit more boring, which makes him wonder how much of the events from the Manga, he doubts the events of HeartGold & SoulSilver will happen since Groudon and Kyogre haven''t been awoken yet, so Arceus isn''t planning to destroy all of humanity.


    But then again, things are different here, he doesn''t know if the Masked man will try to take Celebi, and if he does¡­


    Ash looked down at the GS ball, this Pokeball was the key to Celebi, if the Masked man got it, he would get Celebi, but even if he didn''t want to risk it, he couldn''t just ignore Oak and keep the ball, especially with no good reason, it''s not like he could tell him about the GS ball, there is no way he would believe him.


    His best bet is to monitor it after he gives it to Kurt and have Abra mark it so he can try to take it back in case the Masked man gets it.


    As he was thinking about his future plans, suddenly he was taken out by a cry, "Chhhh ~"


    When they looked around in surprise, they saw a horn peeking from a nearby bush, as they took a moment to process that, the horn went up and reveling attached to it was a little Baby Stantler looking at them scared.


    "Aww, look at that little guy¡­" Misty said, looking at the cute, Deer


    "Yeah, it''s so small, and it looks scared," Brock said as he approached slowly


    Yellow, who understood what that Stantler said, was slightly surprised when Brock started approaching, she whispered quietly, "Brock¡­wait, why are you getting close? Stantler is afraid¡­"


    "Don''t worry, Yellow, I know, so I''m going to get close to Stantler and make sure it isn''t afraid," Brock said as he got on all fours.


    "That''s¡­not how that works¡­ Stantler is-" Yellow tried to explain as Brock started trying to act like a Stantler by doing every animal except a Deer, bold strategy we''ll see how it plays out.


    Needless to say, Stantler was just confused and scared now, if it could, it would have run away, but it couldn''t, something Brock realized when he got closer and saw a bruise on the baby Stantler''s leg.


    Brock focused his nonexistent eyes on that, and Stantler noticed and was scared, thinking Brock would take advantage now that he knew that it couldn''t run, so then its horns started shooting out a sweet, relaxing smell that entered everyone''s noses.


    As they enjoyed the smell, Ash, for once, closed his nose with his hand. He knew what was coming, once the smell stopped coming, Brock was about to take another step, but then they heard the sound of hooves on the ground.


    Looking up, everyone saw a herd of angry-looking Stantler. Brock''s face went pale as he took a step back, Misty, Yellow, and every Pokemon they had out, including the Pikachus, were also scared at the sudden appearance of probably hundreds of Stantler.


    Then the Stantler started charging and grunting towards them; Brock started running, yelling, "Stampede!!!"


    Misty and Yellow followed behind quickly, but Ash didn''t move, much to Pikachu''s surprise, as he started pulling his hair, trying to convince him to start running.


    "Pika Pika!!!"


    But Ash ignored it as he walked forward, finally making everyone review what he was doing and making them yell out for him.


    "ASH WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!"


    Ash didn''t answer yet as the Stantler got closer. Pikachu was about to shoot a [Thunderbolt], but Ash raised his hand and stopped him as the Stantler finally reached him.


    Everyone expected Ash to have gotten gored, but as the first Stantler hit him¡­ nothing as the Stantler kept running, Ash was still standing as they went through him, and because of that, when they got to everyone else, they didn''t move as it went passed them too.


    Ash kept going and reached the baby Stantler and used Aura as he gave it a pat on the head, "Calm down, I know it''s scary, but I''m not going to hurt you,"


    As Stantler received the head pat, the Army of Stantler started to dissipate like they were ghosts, leaving only Ash crouching next to the baby Stantler.


    "Let''s see what we can do about this," Ash said as his palm glowed blue and he took it down to the baby Stantler''s leg, at first, Stantler was scared, but when he realized Ash was helping him, he tried to relax.


    It took a moment, but Stantler felt a warm feeling spread through its leg and over its body, when Ash removed it, the bruise was gone, and Stantler was back to normal.


    Stantler gave a happy noise as it started nuzzling against Ash. Pikachu was still on his shoulder, trying to process what just happened, and the other three walked up, wondering the same thing.


    Ash looked over at them and smiled, "What you can''t see through illusions~"


    Misty''s face twitched in annoyance, but Yellow looked embarrassed since she could, she just forgot she could,


    Brock walked up next to Ash and tried to pat Stantler, which was only allowed when Ash assured him it was ok.


    Brock felt the Stantler''s soft fur, "I guess this little guy must have gotten lost, most Stantler live up that mountain way up there, it''s not likely that this Stantler could have ever gotten back on its own,"


    Yellow walked over and patted Stantler, much easier without Ash''s help, "Aww, Stantler must have been so scared, it must miss its mom¡­"


    "Yeah, but unfortunately, that''s the way nature works, it''s sad, but Stantler migrate this time of the year to colder weather, in closer places, it''s not likely most Stantler would waste the energy to find one fawn when they have more, so this little one was probably left behind."


    "That''s very sad," Yellow said as the Baby Stantler looked down, still scared to be alone, "Can''t we do something¡­"


    Stantler never stopped nuzzling against Ash, the more they talked they could see tears forming in Stantler''s eyes and falling on Ash''s shirt,


    "We probably can''t get this one back to his family, unfortunately." Brock said, rubbing his chin, then he saw how attached Stantler seemed to Ash, "Why don''t you catch it then, it seems to really like you,"


    Ash looked at the Stantler, "Well, you wanna come with me then, you won''t have to be alone anymore,"


    Stantler didn''t hesitate and nodded happily, so Ash took a ball and booped Stantler on the nose, and it closed and ''dinged'' immediately, meaning Stantler was caught.

 Chikorita

    After Stantler was caught, they kept going on their journey after stopping to rest in town they kept going, along the way, Stantler didn''t want to go back in his Pokeball yet, so he would be out walking next to them, and since Stantler was still a baby Ash could just put the deer over his shoulders when he got tired.


    And along the way, he checked it in the Pokedex.


    ¡ª-


    [Stantler(M)]


    [Nature: Lonely (+Atk, -Def)]


    [Ability: Intimidate, Hidden Ability: Sap Sipper,]


    ¡ª


    He also checked Heracross since he never looked at him earlier.


    ¡ª


    [Heracross(M)]


    [Nature: Relaxed (+Def, -Spe)]


    [Ability: Guts, Hidden ability: Moxie]


    ¡ª


    Overall, both were not bad, and he could work with this, the natures were¡­fine, they weren''t the best, but not the worst, nothing the mints can''t fix, although the good ones like Jolly, Timid, Adamant, and Modest where still growing, which explains why they where so hard to get, such big effort for 1 or 2 if he didn''t have his cheat then he wouldn''t bother.


    Anyway, the point is he had some ready, but it wasn''t urgent, so he was saving them and planting more so he never had to worry about it later, even if some of his Pokemon *cough**cough* Abra *cough**cough* needed it.


    Besides that, he started more serious training, Falkner was his first target, so even though he was training all his Pokemon, he pulled some select few out,


    First, there was obviously Crystal Onix, who he trained in HP, not defense, just HP and Attack, the reason being that Onix already has high defense, and he liked a meat shield over a rock also. Remember that thing about preserving the Mints, yeah, forget about that because Ash gave this thing a Jolly Mint.


    Its nature was Calm, which isn''t the worst, but it is the most useless nature due to Onix''s laughable special defense, although due to this being Crystal Onix, it did get an extra 50 in its stats, so its attack and special defense aren''t as bad anymore, but it''s still not good.


    Anyway, next, he was taking in Lapras, who was much simpler, just Special Attack and Speed, there was not much to say after that.


    Now, the last pick was a curveball; he was bringing in Fuecoco, yes, a fire type, but there is a reason for this. Anyway, he trained Fuecoco in specifically HP and special defense, with a little in regular defense, mainly since once he evolves, then Attack won''t be a problem at all.


    Also, you may notice that Ash was only preparing 3 Pokemon back when he battled Brock it was a 4v4, it''s not that he was planning to 3v4, but something Brock told him a while ago.


    {Flashback}


    This was during the time Ash and Brock were on the ship heading toward the Orange Islands; Ash was watching the vids of the Gym Battles over in Johto to get ready. Currently, he was watching the ones for Violet Gym.


    Although it was interesting, Falkner wasn''t the Gym leader in these; it was Falkner''s father, Walker, a man who looked to be in his 30s and wore a pilot uniform with his ace Skarmory.


    The battle he was watching was Walker''s official last battle before he retires and passes it on to Falkner, something he only knows happened because Walker posted on Pidgey way too much and leaked he was retiring.


    But there is something else; Ash vaguely remembers that in the Manga, this wasn''t how it happened; Walker disappeared, and so Falkner took over. He wasn''t sure because, in the Manga, he was attacked by Suicune and presumed dead, but that wouldn''t make sense now because- GAH¡­this is all so confusing.


    But that''s beside the point, what Ash found interesting was that in every 1st gym battle team, it was a three-on-three, and they had items, unlike how it was back with Brock, where it was a four-on-four without items he looked through most of the Kanto leaders and most of them their first battle was a three on three.


    Ash looked at Brock, "Hey dude, I gotta ask, why did you use 4 Pokemon instead of 3 with items? From looking at other 1st Gym battles, they almost always do it that way"


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    Brock scratched his cheek, "Well, you see¡­hehe, per League rules, Gym leaders are allowed to add another Pokemon in exchange for the challenger to get to do the same as long as neither uses held items, and well¡­let''s just say Pewter doesn''t have many shipments of Held items I can use."


    "The person selling them was a girl, and you hit on them, so she refused to do business with you, right," Ash said bluntly.


    "Yeah, pretty much, but hey, it was harder, right," Brock said, trying to defend himself.


    "No, dude, it would have been way harder if it was a 3 on 3 and you used items, I didn''t have any back then, the only thing making it a 4 on 4 did was make it easier for me!"


    Brock scratched his head, "Well, I admit, it may be an easter challenge, but it does force any trainer to get past me to have to train up more Pokemon to get strong, if they only had 3 Pokemon that were strong, they would lose since they wouldn''t have a 4th,"


    Ash shook his head and rubbed his temple, "Dude, don''t defend yourself like this, seriously I love you, man, no homo, you''re like the brother I never had, but I can''t defend you for that, Misty I get she wasn''t a gym leader she just didn''t have items, you were the official one you don''t have an excuse,"


    {End of flashback}


    ¡ª-


    So yeah, Brock was in the minority with how he did his gym, it''s not likely most other Gym Leaders will do the same, so Falkner would probably only use 3 Pokemon with Items. But if he doesn''t, he''s always like Snorlax or something.


    As they kept walking, they eventually reached a Mountain near the outskirts of Violet City, the path split, going right would lead them to town, and to the left was up the Mountain, where they could see it was snowy due to the high altitude.


    As they were walking, Ash kept his eyes peeled for any sign of what he wanted when suddenly Misty called out to him, "Hey, why don''t we go skiing! I''ve always wanted to, but Kanto doesn''t have big mountains like this!"


    Brock smiled as his imagination started going wild, "Great idea, Misty, Maybe there are many beautiful ladies in the ski resort on vacation! So Many¡­beautiful¡­ladies ...."


    Misty closed his mouth and was too excited to be annoyed, "Careful there, Brock you''re starting to drool,"


    Yellow looked like she wanted to nod and try having fun, but she also knew Ash was kind of leading the way, so she held her mouth shut for now.


    Ash saw her struggling and chucked, "You don''t have to ask me for permission, half of the journey is having fun, I think we need that after what happened over in Kanto,"


    Misty sighed, "Oh yeah, S.S. Anne, the Black something, Cinnabar island, and whatever happened in Viridian, not to mention Team Rocket, I want my vacation,"


    Ash chuckled as they made their plan to go skiing, "Didn''t I take you to the Island of Squirtle as your reward for dealing with that, or did you forget because you went feral,"


    "Hey, I wasn''t that bad¡­." Misty said before looking at Yellow, "Right?"


    "I had to carry you out. I put you on my back," Ash said, testing Misty, "And not to mention what you said, and I quote, ''Being normal, who needs it? I have Squirtles; while you were being normal, I was catching Squirtles!''"


    Misty blushed into her hands, remembering how she acted, "Ok, I get it, just stop bringing it up, and you better not have told my sister about that, they''d never let me live it down¡­"


    Ash gave an evil smile, "You know I didn''t even think of that, not a bad idea,"


    Misty ran over, grabbed him by the collar, and started shaking him, "No! Don''t you dare! Please, anything but that!"


    As Ash was constantly being shaken¡­.again, he tried talking, but it was hard with the back and forth motion, "Oh¡­k¡­just¡­.sto¡­.shaking¡­.me!"


    But Misty only stopped when they heard a squeal of a Pokemon, which is when Misty stopped shaking Ash, and they looked around for the source of the noise.


    Up ahead, there was a Chikorita resting on the grass, napping. She knew they were there, but she didn''t do anything yet. She was lying lazily on the grass, spreading the big leaves above her head and basking in the sun.


    At this moment, Pikachu climbed out of Ash''s backpack after he got woken up from his nap and jumped out, stumbling over to a tree and throwing up from being shaken so violently.


    "Hey, look at that, it''s another Chikorita!" Brock said, "This one seems different though,"


    Ash pulled Misty''s hand off him and walked over to Brock, "Yeah, around these parts, there is a clan of warrior Chikorita, and they''re protected by the league, you''re not allowed to go in the woods to go get them, you can only try to capture them by waiting for them to exit the forest."


    Yellow, who was taking a picture with a Pokedex, smiled, seeing it, "It''s so cute, hey Ash, are you going to catch it!"


    Ash smiled back, "You know me so well, yep, I call dibs," Ash said as Brock and Misty were considering trying their luck, but since Ash had done a lot for them, they stood down.


    Ash looked over at Pikachu, who was still throwing up, and sighed, "Well, he''s out, what a drama queen, he can run at the speed of sound but can''t handle a little brain trauma,"


    Ash grabbed another Pokeball, "Alright then, let''s do this, Fuecoco!"


    From the Pokeball, Fuecoco stomped out, jumping around happily, "Coco!"


    "Alright, Fuecoco, let''s have your first battle!" Ash said, giving a thumbs up, and Fuecoco nodded happily and waddled forward, seeing Chikorita.


    Chikorita saw this and got up and was ready for a fight, even if she knew she had the type disadvantage, she wasn''t backing down as she dragged her foot in the dirt.


    Ash waved his hand, "Alright, let''s start this, [Ember]"


    Fuecoco''s cheeks puffed as he spit out a small fire, throwing it at Chikorita, Chikorita saw this and waved her leaf and dragged it across the ground before using that momentum to swipe away at the fire.


    Chikorita then shot a [Razor Leaf] at Fuecoco, sending out three leaves.


    Ash smiled, seeing this was getting interesting, "Alright then, counter with [Round]!"


    Fuecoco took a breath and then started singing loudly, creating a sound wave that collided with the leaves, making them lose momentum, and then it hit Chikorita, making her stagger.


    Ash continued the attack, "Now get in close and [Bite]!"


    Fuecoco took a running start and jumped up, only then did Chikorita look up to see the fire croc falling on her. She tried to dodge, but it was too late, and Fuecoco bit down on her leg as she tried to jump out of the way.


    Chikorita grunted in pain but raised her head as a [Energy Ball] was formed in her mouth, and she shot it out, hitting Fuecoco point blank, but Fuecoco tanked it and didn''t let go.


    Ash flipped his thumb down, "Alright then, let''s end this, Fuecoco [Ember]"


    Fuecoco, while he was still holding Chikorita in his mouth, charged up the fire and shot it point blank at Chikorita, making her fall back and out of his mouth.


    Ash smirked as he grabbed an empty Pokeball and threw a curveball. Chikorita saw it coming and tried to use her leaf to block it, but Ash was prepared for that as the ball curved in mid-air due to the spin Ash put on it, hitting Chikorita in the side of the head instead and making her go in.


    1 Roll, 2 Roll, 3 Roll, *Ding*


    Chikorita was captured.


    As Ash went over to take the Pokeball and his friends were congratulating him, from the sky, a boy riding a Skarmory came down and landed in front of Ash. He had blue eyes and blue hair, which covered his right eye, and wore a blue jacket. Ash recognized him as Falkner.


    Falkner jumped off Skarmory and looked at Ash, "Wait right there, I need to ask a few questions¡­"


    They all blinked in surprise, Misty was the first to walk up, and in her aggressive tone, "Hey, who are you to tell us what to do!"


    Falkner didn''t seem to be annoyed, in fact, he expected this, "I am Falkner," he pulled back his jacket, revealing a Police uniform underneath, "And I am with the Police,"


    He looked back at Ash as Misty froze she just opened her big mouth to a Police officer, "There have been reports about Pokemon poachers, I need to ask you a few questions about that Chikorita you captured and your trainer license,"

 Legendary beasts

    {Jessie, James, Meowth}


    The trio finally arrived in Violet City after a few days of non-stop travel; they walked in.


    James and Meowth were almost falling over from how hungry and tired they were since they didn''t stop to eat or sleep, so they were looking forward to finally getting a rest.


    Jessie, however, looked fine as she walked casually behind them, holding her Cubone in her arms as they were both snacking.


    Meowth smelled the food and turned back, and only then did he see that Jessie was eating, "Hey, what gives Jessie!"


    James finally turned back and also saw Jessie and Cubone eating casualty, "Hey, why are you eating, you told us we couldn''t eat to get here faster!"


    Jessie rolled her eyes as she took another bite, "I said we couldn''t stop to eat, I never said you couldn''t eat, the fact that you weren''t smart enough to eat as we walked is your fault."


    "Why I odda-" Meowth said as he was about to walk towards Jessie, but James stopped him and shook his head.


    "We both know there''s no point,"


    Meowth sighed, "You''re right, whatever we''re here, so let''s go and find something to eat, I''m about to lose one of my nine lives,"


    Jessie looked through her standard-issue phone, looking at a map of the town, "Sure, we can get something. We could always find a restaurant, or if we don''t want to pay, we could always go to the Poke-" Jessie stopped as she saw something.


    James and Meowth didn''t notice that Jessie stopped, "I think we should go to a restaurant. I want a burger, here in Johto, they use more meat!"


    Meowth nodded happily, "Yeah, yeah, that sounds great!"


    As the boys were planning, Jessie looked into the Pokemon center more, "Hey¡­guys, you go on ahead, I have something I want to do¡­"


    Even if they were hungry, they could see that something was up with Jessie, "You need to do something? We can go with you if you want,"


    Jessie shook her head, "No, it''s fine, i-i think I just need to go¡­meet an old friend, come on you guys go eat, get me a veggie burger, by the way," then she walked away, leaving James and Meowth looking at each other.


    "...Should we follow her?" Meowth asked


    James looked at Jessie''s beck as she was walking away, "No, I think this is something she wants to do by herself, come on, let''s go get burgers." Meowth nodded as they walked in another direction.


    Jessie kept walking to the Pokemon center and took a deep breath, walking inside. Currently, it was more or less empty with a few people around but no one specific, the Joy wasn''t around and probably went on a break.


    But on the counter, there was the person or rather Pokemon, she was looking for, a Blissey who had a broken Egg necklace.


    Jessie walked up and smiled, "Hello there,"


    Blissey didn''t recognize Jessie at first, so she just smiled, "Blissey~!"


    "That''s a nice necklace you have," Jessie said


    Blissey''s smile grew as she nodded and held it like it was a precious gift, "Bliss-Blissey~!"


    "That''s just like you, isn''t it¡­"


    Blissey looked slightly confused as she tired her head,


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    Jessie pulled out another piece of a broken egg, "It''s good to see you, I knew you would always end up evolving into a Blissey, my best friend¡­"


    Blissey looked shocked, but then a smile grew on her face as she jumped over the counter and started hugging Jessie and nuzzling into her shirt, "BlisseyBlissey!"


    "I know, it''s good to see you, how have you been¡­"


    ¡ª--


    Ash had to let Chikorita out of the Pokeball and showed Falkner his trainer ID he also showed a record of the battle. After pulling everyone aside and making them give individual statements, Ash was declared innocent.


    Falkner rubbed his head as he put on his jacket again, "Sorry for this, it''s just the area beyond those trees is a protected area, we don''t have rangers, so it''s my responsibility to look out for them,"


    "Nah, it''s fine," Ash said, trying to pet Chikorita, but she rejected it, it''s probably because he didn''t save her like OG Ash did, but maybe that will be better in the long run, "You said it yourself, poachers have been seen in the area."


    Falkner sighed and rubbed his head, "I know, but I really should be able to see it easier, I just stopped you and your friends when you did nothing wrong."


    Brock walked up and put a hand on Falkner''s shoulder, "It''s fine, everyone makes mistakes, you look like you''re not even older than me, so you''re going to make mistakes what''s important is that you learn,"


    Falkner took a breath, "Yeah, you''re right, it''s just that I''m trying harder since I''m the new g-"


    Suddenly, Falkner was interrupted by the voice of an older man loudly interrupted, "Yo, Bro, you guys find any rare Pokemon!"


    From a distance, a short man with a mohawk walked up with a Hoothoot on his shoulder and what looked like an ice box on his side,


    Everyone except Ash looked confused at what he was talking about,


    The man chuckled, "Don''t give me that ''I don''t know what you''re talking about'' look like you''re all not doing the same thing thing as me"


    "Same?" Falkner mumbled,


    "Other than capturing wild Pokemon, what else can you do when you''re right next to the protected zone for wild Pokemon?" He said, opening his case where tons of Pokeballs were held, "Look at all these!"


    Falkner frowned and started reaching into his jacket while Yellow looked sheepishly at the man, "Does that mean you''re a Pokemon poacher,"


    He chuckled and looked proud, "But of course, I know you kids must be aspiring to be great poachers like me," then he looked at Ash, who had a struggling Chikorita in his arms, "Ah, a Chikorita! Good catch. It''s impossible to separate them from the group, but you did it, you did good work, bro, that will be worth a pretty penny!"


    Falkner was walking forward about to pull out his badge when suddenly storm clouds formed in the sky above them,


    The man looked up, "Huh, a sudden storm, I guess we should all come back another day-"


    But he was interrupted as suddenly a bolt of lightning struck a tree and united it in a bright light, surprising everyone, then, at the top, there was a four-legged Pokemon.


    "What a Pokemon¡­?" Falkner mumbled


    As the smoke dispersed on the top of the tree, Raikou was standing there and looking down at them; the surprise gave Chikorita the chance to jump out of Ash''s arms.


    "Raikou!!" the man said excitedly.


    "Hey, there''s another one!" Brock yelled out as they looked, and beyond them was Entei, walking on a stone and looking down at them.


    "Make that three!" Misty called out as she over by the lake Suicune looked at them as well


    "The Legendary Beasts¡­." Falkner said as they were surrounded


    The man looked greedily, "Must be my lucky day! If I catch them, I''ll be on easy street forever!"


    As he was about to try to pull out a Pokeball, suddenly Falkner grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him back as Entei almost stomped on him.


    Chikorita was focused on Raikou as this happened she was interested in fighting the strong-looking Pokemon, so she started shouting out in Pokemon things that were probably not family-friendly,


    Raikou looked annoyed as she suddenly charged up a bolt of electricity and shot it through Chikorita, the bolt came from the sky, creating a [Thunder] only in that split moment did she realize something: she messed up.


    As the [Thunder] came down, she tried bracing herself, but now that she saw it coming, she knew she wouldn''t be able to take it, she braced her legs and closed her eyes


    Suddenly, though, she felt an arm grab her, then the sound of a shout, "Pikachu [Iron tail]!"


    As Chikorita opened her eyes, she saw Ash holding her, protecting her from the top. Pikachu jumped up and made his tail silver, hitting the [Thunder] and starting to absorb it as he backflipped back down


    Usually, Ash wouldn''t try this because, in most cases, he knows even Pikachu couldn''t handle electricity from a legendary, but as soon as these three arrived, he noticed something with Aura, these are not the same trio he met with Ho-Oh.


    Meaning these three are weaker, so even though he can''t beat them, he can fight them,


    Chikorita looked up at Ash, who was holding her in a hug as he got ready to start fighting back, "Chikorita, this isn''t safe go back in the ball," Ash said, holding her Pokeball.


    This time, she looked at Ash and nodded. As she pressed the button going in again, Ash put her away and pulled out another Pokeball.


    The whole time, Suicune was just watching and not doing anything yet.


    "Looks like we can''t run, we''re surrounded!" Ash said, "So we need to fight them off at least!"


    Falkner nodded as he made the man hop on Skarmory with him, "I can deal with Entei!"


    Brock jumped on as well, "I''m going with you,"


    Misty looked over at Suicune, "I call Suicune. Yellow, you''re with me!"


    "R-right!" Yellow said, then looking back at Ash, who looked up at Raikou.


    "I''ll take care of Raikou then," Ash said, but between everyone, there was an unspoken truth they all knew: none of them could beat these beasts.


    Skarmory took to the sky, and Misty grabbed Yellow''s hand and ran to the lake while Ash stayed in place and looked up at Raikou, still holding onto the Pokeball he grabbed from his bag earlier.


    "Let''s do this, Nidoking!" Ash yelled out as the familiar purple Pokemon came out and punched his hands together, sending a roar in the air. Pikachu climbed up Nidoking and was perched on his shoulder now as it was time to try their luck.


    -


    In the Sky Falkner, the Poacher and Brock flew over as Entei started chasing them, Brock pulled out a Pokeball and looked at it, taking a deep breath, "Please listen¡­"


    He pushed the button, releasing Aerodactyl, as Aerodactyl came out and flapped his wings, he looked around and glared at Brock it looked like he was about to lash out at Brock, but then he saw Entei,"


    Brock had a bit of hope, "Aerodactyl! Listen, that Pokemon is really powerful, let''s fight it together!"


    Aerodactyl didn''t like Brock that much, but he did like the sound of that fighting someone strong, someone worthy that would be nice, so for just right now, he would cooperate with Brock.


    Brock smiled, "Right then, let''s do this," he said as Aerodactyl flew over, and he jumped on his back, all while still in the air.


    ¨C


    By the lake, Misty and Yellow looked out and saw Suicune, even though they were both running here to fight off Suicune enough so that Suicune would at least leave them alone, but as they grabbed their Pokeballs, they both saw Suicune as it just looked at them.


    For some reason, they didn''t feel like they should, this wasn''t some mind control because if it was, Yellow would be immune to it, this was more like they felt a connection with it.


    For Yellow, it was easy because of her power she had a connection to every Pokemon, but there was also something more faint, and with Misty, well, it was hard to say what it was.


    But one thing was clear: Suicune wasn''t planning on fighting them, and they didn''t want to fight Suicune.

 Vs. the Legendary beasts

    Brock and Falkner were flying in the air, dodging the constant fire blasts from Entei. The Poacher was still holding onto Skarmory for dear life as they were barely dodging the blasts.


    "Hey, are you trying to get us killed?! What is your plan!" he said as he was putting out an ember that fell on his pants.


    Falkner, not even looking at him, "We can''t risk it, we need to get to an opening, it''s too comfortable with the current environment!"


    Brock nodded as he looked up at a perch above the ground with nothing nearby, "There, that will work!"


    Falkner saw it and nodded, "Good eye, let''s go," he said as he pulled Skarmory up as Aerodactyl followed behind, dodging another blast of fire.


    "Ahhh, move this bird faster, I don''t want to be sauteed!" the Poacher panicked as his pants lit on fire, and he smothered them to extinguish it.


    "Relax, just wait¡­" Falkner said as Skarmory made evasive maneuvers, "Brock now!"


    "Got it, Aerodactyl [Ancient power]!" Brock commanded


    Aerodactyl grunted as he spun around, and stones gathered around him, and he started shooting them like a machine gun.


    Entei saw the stones coming and narrowed its eyes as it easily started dodging all of them, jumping from the ground and up as he started using them as platforms and climbed up in the sky, meeting Skarmory as his jaw ignited as he was about to use [Fire fang]


    The poacher screamed in terror, but Falkner wasn''t scared this was part of the plan, and it was good to see Brock was smart enough to understand this was the best-case scenario.


    As Entei was coming down, ready to bite, Falkner called out, "[Agility]"


    Skarmory''s figure faded into an afterimage as Entei bit down on nothing, and Skarmory appeared behind him, this time, due to the momentum, Entei could not turn around, so Falkner and Brock took advantage.


    "[Steel Wing!]" x 2


    Skarmory and Aerodactyl rushed in and delivered a duo slash at the lion''s back, although it was resisted. The point of this was not to deal damage, but instead, they knocked Entei back onto the perch with no trees or other rocks around or places to run,


    As Skarmory and Aerodactyl flew around the rock, Entei couldn''t move around as much as it used to since it didn''t have a place to run to, though that did not mean they were safe, they knew full well Entei was still a big threat.


    And almost if on cue, Entei began splitting apart as it started creating after images of itself as they all started charging blasts of fire that started shooting at them,


    They couldn''t tell which one was the real one, so they had to switch to defense, moving around in panicked ways, even Aerodactyl got his right wing singed as he barely dodged the real one.


    "Not good!" Brock said, "We can''t fight like this, we don''t even know what we''re fighting!"


    Falkner grit his teeth, "Dang it, I left my Noctowl at home!"


    The poacher heard this and saw that they were panicking. He was useless right now, and he was in the middle, he couldn''t just stay here and wait to be fridge as he went to his belt, "Then let me, bro!"


    As he took everyone, even Entei, by surprise, he threw out his Hoothoot, which flew into the air, and he yelled with everything he had, "Use [Foresight]!!!!"


    Hoothoot''s eyes released a red beam as the light came down like a spotlight, and as soon as it covered the area Entei was standing, the after images disappeared, leaving Entei standing alone.


    Brock and Falkner looked at each other and nodded. Falkner pulled out another Pokeball and released his next Pokemon, a Pidgeot, and he hopped off Skarmory and onto Pidgeot, taking the poacher with him.


    "Alright then, let''s do this, let''s beat Entei!" Falkner said as he opened his jacket, revealing a Keystone embroidered in his jacket like a button.


    He pressed on it as it began glowing, "Pidgeot, Mega Evolve!"


    Pidgeot grew as his feathers plumed out, creating a beautiful blue and red pattern flowing against the air, now there was Mega-Pidgeot.


    Brock nodded as he swiped his arm, "Aerodactyl [Stone Edge] on the ground under Entei!"


    "Pidgeot follow up with [Hurricane]"


    Aerodactyl''s eyes glowed as he slammed his wings, and the ground under Entei began spiking up, Entei tried jumping around and dodged most of them until a stream of strong air came down on him and slammed him onto the stone where a spike came up and stabbed it.


    Falkner didn''t give Entei any chance to get up, "Skarmory use [House of Murder!](Double Team + Brave Bird)!"


    Skarmory split apart into multiple clones that surrounded the area in its metal feathers, Entei got up, but then he received a stab from the back, he turned around and saw another coming in, he swiped only to see it was a clone, then he got another stab from behind.


    This kept going as the Murder of Skarmory was surrounding and blocking the sky with their sheer number each time Entei didn''t know if a clone or the real thing was coming, and Aerodactyl using [Stone Edge] and Pidgeot using [Hurricane] didn''t help, and due to Hoothoot, he couldn''t confuse them.Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    It seemed against all odds, they were winning.


    ¡ª


    Ash was pulling off the 1v1 against Raikou with Nidoking and Pikachu. The Pressure that Raikou was giving off was almost suffocating, but Ash could resist it with Aura, and Nidoking just said no.


    "Nidoking [Earth Power]!" Ash commanded


    Nidoking''s fist glowed as he punched the ground as golden energy started cracking through the ground and shooting through the tree and shattering it as it went towards Raikou.


    Raikou glared down, seeing this, and jumped off the tree while in the air, it charged up an orb and shot a [Aura Sphere] at Nidoking.


    As the bright blue orb came towards Nidoking, Pikachu was at the ready and threw himself off, hitting the orb with a [Iron tail], hitting it like a baseball bat and making it crash into the ground in an explosion, covering them in the dust.


    As Raikou landed on the ground, it looked around. The dust affected his vision, so it shifted to seeing the bioelectric field around living creatures, just like how all living things have Aura, their bodies also produce a small amount of electricity that Raikou can see.


    As Raikou switched, it immediately saw something charging and aiming a fist at it, so it jumped back as the first punch missed, revealing the Pokemon was a Machamp, and it was smiling as it looked at Raikou directly in the eyes.


    Another hand came and grabbed Raikou by the foot and pulled it back into a second punch, hitting the sabertooth in the stomach before the force sent it flying to a tree.


    As Raikou hit the tree and as opened its eyes, it saw Nidoking shooting another [Earth Power], shattering the ground and shooting toward it.


    Raikou tried to jump but was immediately caught when, behind the tree, Pikachu jumped out and hit it with an [Electroweb], tangling its feet. The electricity didn''t hurt Raikou, but that wasn''t the purpose because now Raikou was trapped, and he lost his legendary resistance due to Pikachu''s thing, so he got hit with a hard [Earth Power].


    As the blast sent Raikou flying in the air, it also gave it enough leverage to rip the webs holding its feet and landed back safely, but Raikou was starting to show signs of damage, and he was still good to go.


    Raikou''s eyes glowed bright yellow as it roared in the air, creating a [Electric Terrain], and started Charging back down towards Machamp with a [Wild Charge]


    Ash didn''t let it happen, although it looked like Ash was overwhelming the sabertooth. In reality, he is playing this safe as hell, Raikou only needed three good hits, so Ash didn''t want to let it have that chance.


    "Pikachu [Extreme Speed] then [Volt Tackle]!"


    Pikachu jumped from the tree and, with extreme speed, ran up and passed Raikou, reaching Machamp and jumping in his hand where Machamp was ready and like he was a baseball. Machamp threw Pikachu at Raikou.


    Pikachu ignited in electricity as he met Raikou head-on, and the thing was, while Raikou was resistant, he was not immune, and Pikachu was beginning to steal the electricity from its [Wild Charge] so slowly Pikachu was starting to push Raikou back.


    Ash saw this and didn''t want to waste it, "Nidoking, use [Thunderbolt] at Pikachu!"


    Nidoking slammed his fists together as electricity charged, then from his horn, he shot out a blast of bright yellow electricity that hit Pikachu from behind, and Pikachu started to absorb it as well as Raikou was getting pushed back.


    Raikou began to try harder, but the more electricity he released, the more Pikachu absorbed, his original plan was to overload Pikachu; after all, even Pokemon with Lightning Rod have a limit before they self destruct on themselves, but Pikachu didn''t even look like he was anywhere close to his limit.


    Machamp didn''t want to be left out, so even though it would hurt him, he ran up and charged at least 4 [Thunder Punch] and pushed forward the pressure made it hard to move, but he didn''t stop as he got behind and put his arm behind Pikachu and started to push hard giving Pikachu all the electricity he had even if the pain was searing his skin.


    With the combination, Raikou couldn''t help but start to feel something, fear, he was being pushed back, no, he was being overpowered he tried to find something, but it was too late as with one final push, Pikachu broke through, and hit Raikou in an explosion that shook the forest.


    Raikou was sent crashing into a tree, and the force broke it, making it fall over and burying it under.


    Pikachu fell down and was breathing heavily as he looked up at Machamp, whose hand was now visibly scarred, but even still, he gave a cheeky smile and a thumbs up.


    But before they could celebrate, the tree that fell over Raikou exploded in electricity as Raikou stopped out, looking tired but still able to go because now he wouldn''t underestimate them like he was.


    ¡ª-


    Yellow and Misty were face to face with Suicune, and none of them wanted to fight as they saw each other, it was almost like something was making them connected with this version of Suicune.


    For Yellow, it was obvious, but for Misty, it was different as she felt something specific that she couldn''t explain, it seemed like they had an entire conversation in their minds without ever saying a word, sometime between them, Psyduck jumped out of his ball, but Misty didn''t scold him, that''s how far gone she was.


    Suicune gave them a nod as it seemed like it saw something it liked or maybe their Presence matched something it was looking for, it wasn''t clear, even when Yellow tried to read Suicune''s mind, she could only hear nothing, Suicune''s mind was completely clear.


    Suicune then looked up in the air, and even though Misty and Yellow couldn''t hear anything, Suicune heard the pained grunts from its two companions.


    Suicune gave the girls one final look and jumped up to a tree, releasing a loud roar that contacted its comrades.


    ¨C


    Entei was breathing heavily as it continued getting assaulted by the constant attack of Pidgeot and Aerodactyl as Skarmory kept hitting him with constant [Brave bird], never benign able to hit the real one, and because of Hoothoot, he couldn''t use his own afterimages.


    Whenever he tried jumping off the rock he was on, he got hit and knocked right back. If he tried attacking Hoothoot, the other Pokemon would defend it.


    Entei was considering using something he didn''t expect to use for something like this as the fire began to exit from every corner of its skin.


    But before that, Entei heard a roar from Suicune and stopped, instead, he stopped and, with all his stretch, released a roar that created such strong changes to the air it made Hoothoot fall back, meaning for a moment, Entei had a chance and created countless afterimages that ran everywhere, Brock and Falkner tried to stop them, but they couldn''t get the real one as it escaped.


    ¨C


    Ash was staring down Raikou. He was weakened, but he didn''t think he could get a chance like that again, as he looked at it, he noticed after everything, he might have a glimmer of a chance to do better than he thought.


    He came here thinking he wouldn''t stand a chance, but looking at Raikou now, he just might, he just needed to use one move.


    Ash looked at Pikachu and looked at him seriously, "Do you think you have enough to use ''that''?"


    Pikachu had to stop for a moment; he knew what he was thinking, and Pikachu also knew that if he did, they might be able to win, but the cost would be great since he wasn''t sure if his own body could handle it.


    This move is the very definition of a crash out. Ash could tell if they could pull it off; they could take Raikou down, but he didn''t want to risk it if he didn''t have to.


    Pikachu took a breath and felt the electricity that he stole from Raikou, with it, he was confident he could at least pull it off, but what would happen after is the question.


    Pikachu looked at Ash and nodded, "Pika!"


    Ash took a breath as his hand reached up to the brim of his hat, "Alright then, let''s do this"


    As Ash was about to turn his hat backward, he started, "Pikachu use-"


    But before he could say the next thing or finally turn his hat back, the sound of a roar came from the trees, and over by the trees, Suicune was standing proud as soon Entei jumped next to it, looking beat up, and Raikou also jumped away.


    As soon as they were together, a soothing energy came out of Suicune, healing its comrades, and then they jumped away.


    As Ash was looking at them, they jumped away, meanwhile, Misty and Yellow came running over to watch them, and Brock and Falkner came back, by this point, seeing them jump away, Pidgeot went back to base.


    "Looks like we lost them¡­" Falkner said as he jumped off Pidgeot, helping the poacher get off, too.


    "Yeah, it seems like it," Ash said, he was definitely more stressed about this since he was fighting Raikou alone, and Nidoking, Machamp, and Pikachu were all tired.


    "You guys, ok?" Yellow asked as she walked up to the boys


    "I''m fine," Brock said


    Falkner nodded, "Yeah, just a bit tired"


    "Same here," Ash said as he put Nidoking and Machamp in their balls and grabbed Pikachu to put him inside his bag so he could nap.


    "What was that about, I know there the legendary beasts, but why did they show up and attack us?" the poacher said


    "I dunno, I guess they might have been testing us¡­" Misty said thoughtfully, "I mean, Suicune didn''t fight Yellow or me, it just looked at us approvingly about.. something¡­"


    "Well, whatever the reason, I''ll need to report this," Falkner said, reaching into his jacket and walking up to the poacher, "By the way, before I forget,"


    Falkner pulled out a pair of handcuffs and put one on his arm, taking him by surprise, "Hey, what are you doing!"


    Falkner pulled out his badge, "Sorry, I am part of the Police and also the Violet City Gym leader, so for illegal poaching, I have to take you in,"


    "W-what h-hey come on bro can''t you let this one go, I mean, we''re comrades in battle now, right? I helped out!"


    "Now, now I can''t say I didn''t appreciate your help. You were useful, so I might be able to put in a good word for you and get you a comfy cell along with a reduced sentence, as long as you help us, you must know where poachers sell their Pokemon, right."


    The man thought to himself, "You know what, that doesn''t sound too bad, yeah sure, why not, I''ll help you out,"


    As Falkner put the man on his bird, he looked back at the gang, "You guys, too, you were a huge help here, I hope to see you again, come around to the Gym sometime, and I''ll be ready for you," he said specifically looking at Ash.


    Then he flew away, leaving them on the ground; they stayed silent for a moment before Ash turned around and looked at all of them, "So, you guys still up for skiing?"


    Immediately, their moods changed as they looked excited, almost as if the entire battle had never happened.


    Ash was taken from each side on his left, Brock took his arm, and on the right, Misty took his other one, "Let''s go!"


    They picked Ash up and started dragging him along, leaving Yellow to follow along, chuckling at how Ash looked unamused at being picked up.