Old Pokemon fic ch2

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Chapter II -

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Ring-ring-ring! Ring-ring-ring! Phone call! Phone call!

Ash shook his head at the ridiculousness of the dial tone. He and his Pokémon were awake and refreshed now. They’d slept like the dead after all of the excitement of the last day. The Fearow chase to start off and the Rocket attack later on had them all utterly drained. He’d slept far longer than he’d intended as a result. Now, he was calling Professor Oak since he wanted to report in. He had hooked his Xtransceiver to the computer screen provided in his room at the Poké Center and was waiting for the old man to pick up, “Ash! How are you?” Looked like Samuel Oak was as spritely as ever.

“Hey professor!” Ash greeted him cheerfully, “I’m feeling much better now after a good night’s rest.”

Samuel peered at his surroundings, “Oh, did you finally hit Viridian? You took longer than expected. While I don’t suppose Gary actually counts in terms of travel speed, Leaf reported in after only two days.”

“Gible and I were training.” Ash shrugged, “There were a lot of Pokémon to see and obviously we were trying to find more partners. And I arrived yesterday, actually.”

“Yes, I did notice you had caught a Pidgey. Congratulations! Gary had bet me a million Pokédollars that you’d be empty handed.” Ash first scowled, then shook his head in exasperation. Samuel chuckled at his expression, “Still, for four days I’m rather surprised you only caught one Pokémon.”

“No one else caught my eye.” Ash shrugged, “I wasn’t interested in training a Rattata and I doubt mom would want one. I wanted a male Nidoran but none of them had any backbone to speak of.”

“Oho, so this Pidgey actually caught your eye huh? What did it do?” Samuel asked curiously.

“Flew towards our picnic site like it was a Pidgeot and demanded food.” Ash grinned, “And when I challenged it to a battle for said food, it started trying to make mincemeat of Gible with Air Cutter.” He started laughing at the utterly poleaxed expression on Samuel’s face.

“Well.” He stopped and cleared his throat, “Well, well. An excellent find. I wonder what the father was?” He mused to himself.

“You and me both.” Ash grinned, “Aquila’s feathers tend to be red and black more than the regular brown and cream, if that helps.”

“It narrows it down, at least.” Samuel confirmed, “Though I would only be able to tell for sure with a DNA test. So, we’ll shelve that for another day. I’m glad you had a good time on the first leg of your trip.” He paused and seemed to be considering something, “If you arrived yesterday why did you wait until today to call?”

Ash winced, “I was… exhausted.” Samuel’s eyes widened in alarm, “When I caught Pidgey, Gible’s Sandstorm beaned a Spearow in the head.” Oak groaned, “It called its entire flock and Gible had to use his strongest Sandstorm to knock them out. The leader evolved into a Fearow and chased us for literally miles trying to kill us.”

“What?!” Samuel nearly stood up, “Are you sure you’re alright?!”

Ash winced at the volume, “Yeah, I’m fine. Gible managed to figure Dragon Breath out and it was too injured from an altercation with three Pidgeotto to continue on. I healed it just enough for it to hopefully surv-”

“And you LEFT it there?” The bellow from the speakers quite nearly blew him backwards, “Why didn’t you catch it Ash Ketchum?!”

“I didn’t want anything to do with that psychotic thing!” Ash protested with wide eyes.

“Of all the irrespons- I COULD HAVE DEREGISTERED IT FROM YOUR ID YOU DAFT BOY!” Samuel was turning a very unpleasant red color. He guzzled down a whole cup of tea in an attempt to calm down. After a little gasp for air, he continued, “Ash, if this thing attacked you over a rock and survived a Sandstorm without falling unconscious and then EVOLVED just to kill you it is a danger to itself and others! You should have sent it to me immediately! I could have sent it off to the League for rehabilitation and you never would have had to worry about it again! Now I have to go get Dragonite and Fubuki to go out searching for it!” He groaned and started rubbing his temples.

Ash was pale and was stammering, “I-I’m so sorry professor! I just-”

“Weren’t thinking? No, you weren’t!” Samuel sighed and then slumped in his chair with a groan, “Though I can’t entirely blame you for not thinking. A Fearow trying to murder you and chasing you around the country over a pebble wasn’t what any of us had in mind for the first week of your journey.” He shook his head in bemusement, “I’d be impressedif the situation wasn’t such an annoying one.”

“Even still, I really should have thought about it! I’m very sorry, professor!” Ash bowed his head, chastising himself over the mess he’d created inadvertently for his mentor.

Samuel waved him off, “Too late now, boy. Just make sure if this ever happens again and you’re able to defeat the Pokémon in question, that you send it to me. Pokémon like this Fearow are dangerous. Not to experienced trainers with full teams, but one just starting out? Specifically, one without a strong Starter? That’s not a situation I would like to entertain.” He changed the subject, but made a note to make sure to get his Pokémon ready as soon as they ended the call, “Anything else interesting happen?”

“Oh yeah!” Ash jumped, eager to leave the topic of his reaming behind, “After we beat the Fearow, the strangest thing happened!” Ash grinned, “A Pokémon the Pokédex couldn’t recognize flew overhead!” Samuel stared at him, uncomprehendingly. Ash’s smile grew a little strained as the seconds flew by without a response, “Err, professor?” He asked finally, after nearly half a minute had passed with no response.

“C-can you repeat that?” Samuel stammered, which made Ash give him a weird look.

“A… A Pokémon the Pokédex couldn’t recognize flew overhead?”  That definitely wasn’t a statement.

“Ash…you have a National Pokédex, remember? There shouldn’t be any Pokémon that it doesn’t recognize!” Samuel exclaimed, in rapidly overflowing excitement, “Tell me everything!” He demanded.

Ash gaped for a moment as he remembered that fact, “Well… it dropped a feather?” Ash got up and grabbed his bag, taking the feather out of it. He walked back to the computer and showed it up on the camera.

Samuel’s jaw dropped, and he stared at it unblinkingly for a good moment. “Ash!” He croaked, “Stay right where you are! Don’t leave that location and don’t show that to anyone you don’t trust without my say-so!” The screen went black.

Roughly three minutes later, there was a knock on the door, “Professor?” Ash’s eyes went wide as the man burst in without so much as a half-second of waiting for his reply.

“Show me your Pokédex!” Samuel demanded – quite rudely as well – as soon as he was inside the room. Ash hurried and gave his Dex to his mentor, who immediately went into the video files and found the one he was looking for. Ash was almost creeped out at the look of sheer reverence on the old man’s face as he watched and then rewatched the recorded video without saying another word to Ash.

“Professor, will you tell me what has you so excited?!” Ash finally lost his patience when the old man started playing it for a third time.

Samuel almost dropped his Pokédex as he suddenly remembered Ash was there, “Ash! This is Ho-Oh! It’s a Legendary Pokémon from Johto! In terms of rarity it’s the equivalent to our Mew!” Ash’s jaw dropped as the old man almost started dancing, “It hasn’t been seen in over a century! It’s never been caught on camera before! Most people were of the opinion that it had simply left this world entirely! Ash! This is a momentous occasion! I almost literally can’t believe my eyes!” He slumped, all the adrenaline leaving him and sending him crashing onto the bed, “Oh Ash, I’m not sure my poor heart can take all the excitement and headaches your adventures are apparently going to bring me.” He exclaimed, though he still had a massive grin on his face.

Ash winced a little bit, “Would this be a bad time to say Team Rocket tried to rob the center last night and I fought them off?” He cringed harder as Samuel Oak stared at him unblinkingly, with that smile still frozen on his face. “Professor?” He poked the man, who fell back onto the mattress, clearly unconscious and still grinning madly.

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They stood outside the Poké Center now, Ash having said his goodbyes to Joy who had been smiling a bit more than normal at him, “Well, this is where we split, my boy. I have to go see about that Fearow. Good thing I have the coordinates of the video.” His voice dropped low when he got to the last part of the statement.

“Will you really have to put my name on it?” Ash asked back lowly, fighting the urge to fidget a little, “I just took the video. I didn’t even know it was anything special.”

Samuel started to laugh, “Getting a little stage fright, O Pokémon Master?” Ash’s answering blush had him guffawing a little more, “Don’t worry. It won’t be released to the public very soon at all, so you’ll have plenty of time to get used to people gawking at you. Or did you expect to get to the Pokémon League and just be another face?” Ash looked away. He shook his head in bemusement, “It’ll get easier boy. My first Conference my nerves were so wild I almost whacked a referee in the face with a Poké Ball. You learn to either enjoy the attention or ignore it.”

“Thanks, professor.” Ash chuckled at the image Samuel had painted for him.

“Anytime, my boy.” Samuel turned and released Fubuki and – surprising Ash – the biggest Charizard he’d ever seen. It might even have given Lance’s Dragonite a run for its money. The old beast merely rumbled, and his eyes were drawn to its blue flame. Just how powerful was this thing for its flame to be burning that hot? “Sorry to bring you out, Infernus, but we’re going to need an aerial view. We’re searching for a – what did you call it Ash? – a psychotic upgraded murderbird?” Infernus chuffed in laughter and easily allowed Samuel onto it, “Good luck Ash! Try to catch some more Pokémon!”

“Only if they’re awesome!” His answering shot went unheard as one second they were in front of him, and the next he was on his back, blown away by the Charizard’s insane speed. “Holy cow! How does the professor ride that thing?” He gaped.

“Sure beats me!” Jenny had raced up and was gawking just as much as him. She giggled after a moment, “Well, I suppose there’s a reason Team Rocket never tried anything with Pallet Town.” She helped Ash up and put her fists on her hips, “I sure hope you weren’t planning on leaving before seeing me, Ash Ketchum.”

“Hehe, of course not.” Ash rubbed the back of his head as she dragged him back into the Poké Center. It was only after another two hours had gone by did he leave once more, looking a little bit ruffled. The grin on his face was pretty bright though, as he started towards the Viridian Gym.

When he got there, the doors had just closed and there were armed guards holding spears of all things holding point in front. When he got there, they crossed their spears and asked in creepy unison, “Are you here for a Gym Battle, Trainer?”

“Err… I guess?” Ash hesitated, honestly a little creeped out by how in sync they were.

“You will have to come back later. Only one Challenger is allowed in the Gym at a time. I take it you have the requisite number of badges?” The one on the left asked him.

“Requisite badges?” Ash blinked owlishly, “Oh, I didn’t know the Gyms had something like that.”

The one on the right nodded, “That is correct. Master Giovanni doesn’t have time to waste destroying newbies. He only takes in Challenger with seven badges or above.”

“Wow!” Ash exclaimed, “Huh… seeing as how I am therefore NOT a Challenger, can I watch his current battle?”

They eyed him harshly, before one entered the Gym with a quick, “Wait here.”

Ash fidgeted slightly as the other kept his unblinking gaze on him, “Err… Maybe I should just-”

“Very well.” The other guard came back out, “Master Giovanni has allowed it. Do NOT draw their attention away from their battle, or else I will drag you out myself.” He led Ash inside and up a small elevator. The entire Gym’s supports seemed to be made out of thick steel, contrasting its Ground Type focus. They were brought up to an extremely sturdy-looking mezzanine.

Ash peered below. Giovanni was almost instantly recognizable. He was a distinguished middle-aged man with short hair who wore a rich, red suit. His opponent was probably in his early twenties. He wore… shabby clothes at best and had clearly been overindulging quite often. “So, Mr. Stevens, how many badges have you collected?”

“Seven, sir.” The boy replied nervously.

“And how many of those were from the Main Series Gyms?” Giovanni asked him next.

“M-main series?” Neither boy had heard the term before.

Giovanni let out a little sigh and closed his eyes. ‘Another boring battle.’ He lamented, “Yes, from the major cities. The Original Eight that formed the League. There are other Gyms in Kanto which have met the requirement to become official, though they aren’t often well regarded. I speak of the Saffron Gym, the Cinnabar Gym, the Vermillion Gym.”

“Err…” The Trainer definitely looked to be uncomfortable, “Three, sir.”

Giovanni gave him an inscrutable look, “That is not to your favor.” Why did that sound like a death warrant? “This shall be a three on three match. The Challenger is allowed to substitute, while the Leader is not. The Challenger shall release first.”

“Right! Go Venusaur!” The trainer yelled as he tossed his Poké Ball. Ash grinned in excitement. This would be the first time he ever got to see Bulbasaur’s final form in person. It had a flower growing on a massive stalk on its back and was a light-ish green. His grin faltered a moment when the light cleared. Had this guy taken care of his Pokémon at all? Its flower drooped slightly, and it wasn’t even Ash’s height.

‘Hmm, maybe it’s a runt?’ He mused and took a closer look. No… it wasn’t holding itself up at full height and it looked slightly skinny. He quickly took his Pokédex out – in mute mode, of course – and quickly read through the information. He frowned deeply, ‘It SHOULD be ordinary size! Has this guy been training it in Rock Tunnel for a month? It’s either malnourished or hasn’t seen sunlight in weeks! Did this idiot race straight here?’

He looked at Giovanni and he didn’t look impressed either, “Very well. I call out… Rhyperior!” Ash couldn’t quite suppress the gasp. His eyes bugged out when he saw the Pokémon in question. It was massive. If it wasn’t at least four meters tall Ash would… well, he didn’t have a hat to eat but he would if he did! It had slate gray skin – armor more like – and massive orange plates on its body. Two drills adorned its massive face, one bigger than the other, and both spun with an aggressive whirring sound. Each arm had two digits and its elbows protruded quite a bit from where the lower arm connected to the upper arms. It slammed its club-like tail into the ground and roared. It clearly terrified both the boy and his Pokémon. He quickly scanned it as well.

‘Four times weakness against Grass and Water?’ Well, the Solid Rock ability would cut that by a quarter, but it would still be a hard hit to take. And it was definitely gigantic and extremely well trained from what he could see. As it was someone else’s Pokémon, the Pokédex redacted its moveset. He quickly checked that it was okay with the guard and then turned on recording mode. Gible would definitely appreciate it.

“R-right!” Watching a grown man’s voice crack in fear probably should have been funny, “Sunny Day!” A bright ball of light shot out of Venusaur’s flower and rose into the air before bursting. An intense light and some fair heat shot across the battlefield.

“An interesting start.” Giovanni said indulgently, clearly not impressed from the way his face didn’t change, “Rock Polish.” Rhyperior roared and punched its fists together. Its orange plates began to glow a bright red.

Ash frowned, ‘What was the point of that? There’s no way a Rhyperior this big is going to have anything resembling speed.’ Rhyperior hadn’t even moved from its place yet.

“Let’s get him Venusaur! Solar Beam! Max power!”

“SAUR!” The Pokémon roared, and the tip of its flower glowed for a moment, before an immense beam of light shot from it. The air had a heat haze through its path, and still its opponent didn’t move.

What in the world did Giovanni order a Rock Polish for? It wasn’t even attempting to move! And then Ash swore he felt a violin string snap inside his head as the gargantuan Pokémon negligently raised its hand and caught the triple-effective move without a single sign of struggle. The beam struggled against its massive paw, spraying bits of beam and light every which way. Rhyperior negligently tossed it up and out of the way with a jerk of its arm in complete and utter boredom.

‘Oh. That’s why he ordered Rock Polish.’ Ash thought dumbly as the Solar Beam impacted the ceiling of the gym and broke some tiny bits of rock away, ‘It didn’t matter what he ordered, so he just tossed out a throwaway move.’ Holy hell… “This isn’t even a battle…”

“No…it isn’t.” The guard grinned sinisterly, though Ash didn’t see it.

“Your Sunny Daywill not be to your favor, Mr. Stevens. Fire Blast.” Giovanni’s voice was as tepid as you could get. And then a second sun burst into existence on the battlefield. Ash and the guard threw their arms up to protect their eyes, and therefore could only hear the roaring of the inferno. When it finally died down, Ash chanced a glance and his jaw dropped. Rhyperior hadn’t even aimed for Venusaur. It had aimed right in front of it. The blast had sent the big – admittedly small compared to its proper size, but big all the same – fully-evolved Pokémon straight into the wall behind its trainer. The stone walls had crumbled and practically buried the Pokémon. The floor where the Fire Blast had hit was a bubbling pool of magma. Poor Stevens didn’t even manage to hit Venusaur with the recall beam on his first try, with how badly his arms were shaking. “Round one goes to me.” He said silkily, “Release your next Pokémon.”

“P-P-Poliwrath, go! Rain Dance!” The Pokémon that showed its face was again fully evolved. It was big, blue, and its stomach was covered with a white and black swirl. It had a pretty muscular body and immediately heeded its trainer’s call. Even it wouldn’t survive a Fire Blast like that. Ash quickly scanned it and turned the recorder back on. This one had Swift Swim, so it was bound to be massively fast. The interior of the building started to downpour. Pokémon Moves were strange and amazing things, weren’t they?

“Weather again?” Giovanni almost let his boredom show.

He didn’t get a chance to retaliate as his opponent quickly yelled out, “Dynamic Punch!” Poliwrath’s fist began to glow a bright white and it charged forward at blistering speed. A Fighting Type move was again super effective, but Rhyperior’s ability would cut the damage by a fourth. The massively powerful punch smacked right into Rhyperior’s gut… and the behemoth didn’t even slide back so much as a foot. Stevens gawked as Poliwrath stared at its smoking fist in confusion. “CLOSE COMBAT!” Poliwrath’s eyes began to glow and evil red and it began pounding away at its opponent. Punch after punch. Kick after kick. Its muscles bulged with effort as it attempted to crack Rhyperior’s shell.

“Hammer Arm.” Giovanni called out casually.

“GET OUT OF THERE!” Stevens called out shrilly. Poliwrath dodged backwards and backflipped away as Rhyperior raised its arm with surprising speed and slammed it down. The ground cracked and flipped like a cartoonish pancake with laughable ease. The behemoth finally moved, lumbering ponderously forward like a predator stalking its prey. “SURF!”

“WRATH!” Poliwrath started generating an insane amount of water from its stomach, quickly creating a massive wave that rushed forward, looking to trample anything in its path.

Rhyperior looked exasperated if anything as it braced itself. The wave smashed into it and finally succeeded in pushing it back a few feet. It roared furiously, though not truly in much pain at all. It was the first injury it had taken all day, and even then, it was more of a mild annoyance than anything that could have given poor Stevens a chance.

“End this, Rhyperior.” Giovanni didn’t quite yawn – that would have been unbecoming – but it was clear that it was how he felt. Rhyperior’s two drills started spinning and a charge built up quickly. Ash almost turned blue as he eyed the raining clouds inside the building, “Thunder.” Poliwrath didn’t stand a chance.

The sound of screeching electricity rang through the building as harsh, yellow light bathed them in its harsh glow. When it ended, the water drained away through drain ports and away from the gym. Poor Poliwrath was as fried as that Venusaur would have been if it had been hit directly. Its muscles spasmed and its whole body twitched occasionally, “I forfeit!” Steven yelled shrilly as he recalled his Pokémon, “Get me away from that monster!” he had backed up as far as he could and was pressed up into the wall.

Giovanni recalled Rhyperior without a care nor a word of praise for his Pokémon, “The smartest decision you’ve ever made, Mr. Stevens. Leave, and do not return before you defeat my fellows.”

“Forget that!” Stevens yelled out as he was racing for the doors, “I’m never facing that demon again!”

Giovanni finally let a little scowl of displeasure show through, “Then I suggest a new profession. One such as yourself will never get anywhere as a trainer. Never darken my doorstep again.” Stevens probably didn’t even hear the whole message in his urge to escape. Giovanni turned his attention to Ash and the guard, “Well?” He asked, his dark, beady eyes glinting dangerously, “What did you think, young…?”

Ash had hurried down as soon as the match had been declared over and now stood in front of the man, “That was amazing! I never thought I’d see a Pokémon able to just tank quadruple-effective moves like that!”

A thin smile graced Giovanni’s lips, “Indeed. Rhyperior has been with me for quite some time.”

“I’m guessing he’s not your strongest though!” Ash grinned, and then blushed, “Oh, where are my manners? I’m Ash Ketchum!”

Giovanni’s eyes flashed slightly, “A pleasure. You were the one who stopped Team Rocket last night, weren’t you? What is your dream, young Ketchum?”

Ash grinned and clenched a fist in front of him, “To be the best that ever was! And yes, I am. I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing!”

A chuckle finally broke through Giovanni’s sternness, “Well, well, a trainer with a backbone. We seem to be in short supply of that these days. To be able to say that after watching that match… How long have you been training?”

“Ehehe…” Ash rubbed his head nervously, “I started like a week ago.”

“Well you have quite a way to go then, don’t you?” Giovanni asked him rhetorically, “Then allow me some advice, young Ketchum. Don’t bother with the weaker Leaders unless you want bragging rights for the number of badges you have. As you saw… his seven badges were barely worth four. He may not have been able to defeat Erika with that little strength and he most certainly would have fallen to Koga and Sabrina.”

“Yes sir!” Ash agreed. After seeing the relative strength between the two, he now knew where he had to reach for. He couldn’t wait to get on the road and training again! He wouldn’t step foot in this Gym again until he was certain he could defeat the titan that was Giovanni.

Giovanni nodded at him, “Off you go.” He turned and started walking back to his throne without another word. He sat down and looked at the entrance just as it was closing behind the boy. The ray of light was snuffed out and the gym dimmed just that little bit more. His expression darkened, and he somehow ended looking even more severe. “Ash Ketchum…” He mused lowly, “I do hope you will not become a nuisance.”

“Shall I give the order, Master?” The guard bowed to Giovanni. The Leader looked askance at his guard but said no more.

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Ash awoke early the next day, when the sun had just started peeking up over the horizon. The rest of the day had been spent taking in the sights at Viridian. He’d stopped by the Trainer House and watched another battle, though he hadn’t seen anything nearly as impressive as the battle inside Viridian Gym. The Poké Mart had similarly been somewhat lackluster as the items he could buy were limited to his badge count. Though he supposed it was a good thing that newbie trainers weren’t trusted with Ultra Balls.

Tired as the day ended, he’d gone back to the Pokémon center for the last time. The next day, he said his final goodbyes to Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny looking a little more ruffled, haggard, and happy than normal once more, and was on his way. He had been tempted to go down Route 22 to take a peek at what he had laying before him, but ultimately decided to just get a move on. He was more likely to find trainers to battle and he was eager to see how he would stack up. He started down Route 2 laden down with some gifts from Nurse Joy; a couple potions and some other small healing items. It was her way of giving him a little extra ‘thank you’ for saving the Center. Gible and Aquila were both out of their Poké Balls and chattering away.

Yet again, they’d been rather disappointed by the Pokémon they faced. The other Pidgey were ‘cowards’ according to his little Aquila and the rest hadn’t improved much from what he could see. And unfortunately, he was similarly disappointed by the first trainer he faced.

It was a rather pimply-faced boy named Robert; his age. Their eyes met, and they pretty much simultaneously challenged one-another. “Two on two?” Ash called out at his opponent.

“Sure! One battle for each Pokémon, and then we have to switch?” He called back. Ash agreed, and they both released their first Pokémon.

Ash sent Aquila forward and Bob sent out… a Caterpie. The poor thing looked utterly terrified at the sight of the tiny Pidgey. “Caterpie! Use String Shot!” The poor thing took careful aim and… missed Aquila by about a mile. Give or take.

Ash scratched the back of his head sheepishly, “Uhhh… Quick Attack?” That shouldn’t hurt the poor bug too badly, right?

Even Aquila was sweatdropping slightly, but it obediently raced forward and tapped Caterpie with a wing. The bug was out like a light. Ash opened his mouth as Aquila landed on his shoulder and then clicked it shut. He really had no words. Yeah… the Pokémon around here were weak, but he shouldn’t have sent it out to battle if he wasn’t confident in it.

Bob himself was wailing, “Noooo! Caterpie! Wake up buddy! You did great!” He held the weak bug in his arms and continued being melodramatic.

“I didn’t even hit it hard.” Aquila started to wonder if she shouldn’t just go put it out of its misery.

“At least he’s using positive reinforcement.” Ash sweat lightly.

“Grrr!” Bob called out, “How dare you do that to poor Caterpie! I’m sending out my Starter! Go Pidgeotto!”

Ash got excited at the word ‘Starter’ but crashed and burned when he saw the bird. That meant he had just been aided in catching whatever Pokémon he saw first by a League Official. Clearly, he hadn’t even rated a slightly rarer Pokémon. “Er… have fun?” That was definitely not a statement.

Gible sighed and waddled forward, “Aquila looks bigger than this thing.” Ash estimated it to be about .8m – which definitely made it a runt – but not quite as small as Gible was suggesting.

“No, I don’t!” Aquila herself started to chitter in amusement, “Could definitely beat him though.”

“Wing Attack!” Bob yelled out, pointing imperiously at Gible, “What is that thing anyway?! I’ve never seen it before!”

“My starter, Gible.” Ash said blandly as Gible let himself get smacked by the bird’s wing, “And he’s a male.” Hilariously, Gible was so much sturdier and heavier than the Pidgeotto that the bird simply crashed to the dirt when it hit him, unable to keep flight. It started cawing in pain over its bruised wing.

“Ow.” Gible deadpanned, “You know, I kinda feel bad about this.” A tackle ended the battle.

“Yo-you cheated!” Bob yelled at him as he pointed, tears in his eyes.

Well, didn’t that just set him off, “Maybe if you had applied yourself in school you wouldn’t have a Pidgeotto for a starter.” He shot back snidely. “Then again, I would have felt bad for a real Starter with skills that pitiful.” Overly mean? Yeah, probably. But nothing set him off quite like being accused of cheating.

He raised his Pokédex and waited as it beeped for a moment, “The battle between Ash Ketchum of Pallet and Robert of Viridian is over. Ash is the winner! Calculating… Ash wins 86 Pokédollars.” The funds transferred electronically.

“Thanks for the cash, kid!” He left Robert behind as the boy started throwing a tantrum over his lost money.

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Another day or two passed and he was starting to get close to Viridian Forest. He’d defeated near a dozen trainers on the way here and not one of them had been exciting so far. He had no idea before this that so many trainers paid so little attention in school. How the hell did these kids even manage to earn their licenses? Why did SO MANY OF THEM love sending out tiny, baby bug Pokémon against his bird? Who doesthat?

He had actually started getting a little irritated with the effortless battles so far, because it meant he had almost no way to gauge how much his team had actually improved. The only reason Gible vs Aquila was not as bad of a mismatch as Aquila vs all-of-the-bugs was that Aquila was actually strong.

Well, that and Ash had banned Sandstorm in their spars. No sense in allowing that move against the poor bird when it was – if not an instant win – pretty much a battle ender. Aquila was always on her last legs if she got hit by one, though Gible had started needing to hold it for much longer.

But Ash didn’t quite want to go into Viridian Forest yet. He wanted to catch a Nidoran damn it! He took out his PokéNav Plus and booted up the search function. He wasn’t quite sure how the Pokéradar actually worked – since it was apparently able to distinguish between species – but hey, this was an excellent time to try it out. And seeing as it was one of the primary reasons he bought the damn thing, he really hoped it was as good as was claimed. He got a ping on the radar immediately, and grinned, “Aquila, make sure you watch out for anything trying to attack us, okay?”

“Sure, though I kinda doubt anything will be brave enough to.” Aquila chittered in amusement. A single loud (deadpanned) ‘caw’ from her had scared off a Rattata pack yesterday.

It took nearly ten minutes to actually find the Nidoran, and it didn’t even end up being worth it. The Poison type tried to run the moment it spotted them, and a single Quick Attack from Aquila took it out. “Well… I mean it worked?” He shrugged half-heartedly. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to catch it, but if it was terrified of even the sight of him who knows how long it would take to become comfortable? Or if it ever would become comfortable. Some Pokémon just weren’t battlers.

It wasn’t like he was looking for a super powerful Pokémon in particular either. He knew that wasn’t going to happen around these parts and honestly, it would take the fun out of training it if he did. He just wanted one that wanted to come with him. One who would fit in better with his teammates. If that meant a feisty wannabe Nidoking who could be blown over by a stiff breeze, then damn it he would catch it! He loaded up the app again and continued his search.

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Ash let out a tired, depressed sigh as he threw in the towel. He’s spent the last three days hunting around and met only with failure. Not a single Nidoran had taken more than a single move to beat, and all but two or three had run away the second they saw him. He had no idea they were that easily frightened. Even the ones that hadn’t immediately run didn’t have that spark he was looking for.

After three days, he had to admit defeat. He could tell his own Pokémon weren’t getting any stronger anymore fighting the Pokémon in this area, and that went for trained ones as well. How could they when every battle ended in seconds? The only thing getting any better was his bank account balance at this point, and even then he started feeling like he was taking candy from children. He and his Pokémon were craving a challenge by now and they just weren’t going to get it around here.

So it was with a heavy heart that he eyed the dense foliage of Viridian Forest. “Hopefully we’ll at least be able to find a good Bug Type Pokémon here, right buddy?” He said with as much cheer as he could muster.

“There are other places to find Nidoran, Ash.” Gible said as they walked down the path, “Maybe we failed this time, but we could find one later, right?”

“Yeah.” Ash nodded, “Thing is, a Nidoran would have been really helpful in the Pewter City Gym. They’re capable of learning Double Kick, which would have helped a bunch against a Rock Type Gym. We probably won’t see any until way after we beat Brock.”

“That just means we have to train harder then, doesn’t it!” Gible didn’t seem to care at all and was merely pumping himself up.

Ash started to chuckle, “You’re right of course. No more moping!” He clapped his cheeks before glaring forward, “Let’s go catch us a Bug Pokémon!” He released Aquila as they strode forward, with the Flying type happily landing on his shoulder with a chirp. “Let’s see here. Bug Pokémon are one of the easiest to find here in Kanto. Because they lay so many eggs, you can really find ones from any region. Viridian Forest has one of the highest concentrations of the type in the world.” He was going through his Pokédex and searching for bug types that had been spotted in the area. He knew the bigger ones like Scyther could only be found in the Safari Zone, but that didn’t mean there weren’t other relatively rare ones like Spinarak, Combee, or even Pineco here in Viridian. It was a shame that ones like Larvesta had never been spotted in the wild here. He’d heard extremely good things about Volcarona.

“We’re not going to try to find a Caterpie or Weedle, are we Ash?” Aquila asked with a bit of a dry tone. She certainly had not been impressed by any of the Metapod or Kakuna they’d faced the past couple of days.

Ash let out a chuckle at her almost-pleading tone, “No, we’re not. I haven’t liked Beedrill ever since one stung mom when I was nine. I would have said yes about Caterpie but…” Well, it was kind of hard to say yes when he’d spent the last couple days feeling embarrassed for the poor Pokémon. Objectively he knew Butterfree were great Pokémon, but that knowledge was kind of being overshadowed by experience.

“You there!” He was jarred from his thoughts by a shout, and bit back a groan when he saw the net on his back.

“Can I help you?” Ash asked evenly, hoping the guy just wanted directions.

“I challenge you to a battle!” The young boy exclaimed, pointing straight at Ash.

“Of course, you do.” He sighed blandly as Gible made his way forward, “Have you gotten the hang of it yet, buddy?” He asked his Starter.

“Not yet.” Gible admitted sadly, “Dark Type energy isn’t as easy to use as Dragon Type.” Over the past couple of days, Ash has taken a bit of a detour in Gible’s training. With Gible getting some good practice with controlling Dragon Breath – and by that he really meant controlling it. As much as these Bug Catchers annoyed him, he didn’t want to murder any of their precious Pokémon! – and already having a good grasp of some Rock and Ground Type moves such as Sandstorm, Ash had started him on the Dark Type move Bite. Once he learned that, he was going to move up a notch and learn Crunch as well. While neither move would be directly useful against Brock’s Rock Type Pokémon, they would surely be a boon regardless. Crunch was able to weaken an opponent’s defenses quite easily, which could be the key to winning without any Super Effective moves to rely on.

Ash shook himself, “It’s okay buddy. Keep practicing and you’ll get it. Have fun.” He was not being sarcastic with the parting words. Not even a little bit. Not the tiniest amount.

Gible rolled his eyes and lunge for the Kakuna that appeared the second that it had showed itself being ready. He clamped his jaws on it and did his best to break through it’s hurried Harden. “Hey, I had a much easier time with the Dark Type energy that time!” He cheered as he let go of the fainted Kakuna.

Ash blinked at his partner’s words. He had even been able to see the telltale black wisps on Gible’s mouth. What had changed? He scratched his head in confusion as he looked up, before facepalming, “Duh! We should have had you practicing at night! Of course you had a hard time learning it during the day! Am I an idiot?!” It wasn’t quite night, but the sky was definitely a deep pink as the sun was starting to sink past the horizon. Pidgey almost fell of his shoulder as she started laughing.

“Stop ignoring me!” The Bug Catcher whined before releasing his second Pokémon. This one was a Metapod, and thankfully it did at least look a bit stronger than the ones they’d faced on the road. “Harden and then use Tackle!”

“Try Bite again!” Ash ordered, “You had something last time! Time to practice! We’ll definitely be continuing your training once we’re done here!” Gible obediently lunged forward and repeated his previous move as Ash once more started ruminating on the training they’d done since they left Viridian.

Aquila was learning how to use Steel Wing, but that was no doubt something Brock would see coming even if his brave bird was giving it her all to learn it. That was why he was only going to use the move as a stepping stone, since Aquila knew it as an Egg Move and only needed to train to be able to use it. Once she managed to learn to channel the Steel Type energy to her wings, he was actually going to try something completely different and have her attempt to channel it to her talons instead. It made much more sense to him for Pidgey to use her claws rather than risk her wings against a Rock Type. If he ended up creating a new move because of it, all the better.

His attention was drawn by a surprised chirp from Aquila. He eyed the battle and gave a little start in surprise at what he saw. The Bug Catcher had pulled out his trump card evidently, after the two quick and easy victories by Gible. Ash was staring – and after a moment scanning – a decently-sized Beedrill. He grinned, “Gible, that’s enough buddy. Let Aquila have a turn.” He scratched the Pidgey’s plumage lightly, “This is great! Finally a challenge! Let’s see if this battle pushes you over the edge!”

Indeed, Aquila had been showing the signs that she was close to evolution even before Ash had met her, though he hadn’t realized it at the time. Her tail feathers had lengthened a bit more, as had the feathers on the crest of her head. Her thighs looked much stronger and her feet had lengthened too. The week or so that she’d been with them at this point wasn’t really enough for her to grow much bigger, but unless he was mistaken her wingspan had definitely lengthened a few centimeters too. She would look amazing as a Pidgeotto. She let out a cry in agreement as she flew forward.

“Beedrill, use Twin Needle!” The bug catcher started off the battle.

“Dodge and retaliate with Sand Attack!” Ash ordered with a grin. Aquila didn’t hesitate and vanished with a Quick Attack, reappearing to the Beedrill’s side and flapping her wings hard, buffeting the enemy Pokémon with sand.

“Drill!” The bug hissed in pain. Even if its eyes were bug eyes rather than mammalian eyes, getting pelted with tiny rocks hurt. Aquila flew past it and banked, making a turn.

“Hit it with Quick Wing!” Ash ordered, and Aquila charged forward again, vanish with Quick Attack and then smacking the flying bug with Wing Attack. Again, the Beedrill hissed in agony as it was hit by the Super Effective move, hurtling to the ground and smacking into it. Surprisingly, it wasn’t of the fight yet, and struggled to take to the air again for a moment before succeeding.

“Damn it! We’re not going to lose to a novice!” Ash very much took exception to that statement from yet another Bug Catcher. “Beedrill use Poison Jab!” The boy cried out.

Ash’s eyes widened, “Don’t get hit Aquila!” He shouted to his second Pokémon.

But it was too late. Beedrill managed to scrape its long stinger against Pidgey’s wing, and she let out a pained shriek. Ash sighed in relief when he realized she wasn’t poisoned. They had lucked out. Clearly Beedrill wasn’t able to inject enough poison with the glancing blow, even if Aquila was bleeding a bit. He growled angrily, “Show that damn bee whose boss, Aquila! Air Cutter!”

“What?!” The Bug Catcher squeaked in shock, which was the wrong move. “How the hell does a Pidgey know that move?!” And again, he wasted his breath asking a question when he should have been ordering his Pokémon to evade instead. An angular, light-blue blade of Flying Type Energy smacked straight into the Beedrill and gouged its carapace. Thankfully Aquila knew not to overdo it, because the Pokémon only fainted. The bug catcher stared in shock, before howling in anger, “You cheater! There’s no way you beat my Beedrill with a Pidgey!”

Ash’s fist clenched as he started to steam in fury, “I’m getting really tired of you goddamn idiots getting all pissy after you lose. If you have time to mouth off you should be training harder, asshole! Now fuck off!” He raised his Pokédex to confirm his winnings before stomping off as his challenger burst into tears.

Aquila landed on his shoulder as he was leaving, rubbing her head on him, “Sorry girl. Looks like that wasn’t quite enough to help put you over the edge.”

“It’s okay Ash! I had fun for the first time in ages.” Aquila replied.

“At least one of us did.” Gible grumbled, “Stupid trainers. ‘Oh, I have a Metapod with harden! There’s no way you can break my defenses!’” He mocked the variety – or lack thereof – of bug trainers who had used that doomed strategy.

Ash chuckled, his Starter’s antics helping to settle his foul mood, “Hopefully we’ll be done with idiots like him soon enough. Come one guys! The Pokéradar is showing a clearing nearby. We can set up camp and get some late-night training before bed.”

“I’m going to Bite the shit out of some trees! I’m learning that move no matter what!” Gible looked excited to continue his training. Ash and Aquila tittered for a moment as the trainer led them to their destination.

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