Training, Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village

Ash and Misty had been on their journey for three hours. During those hours, they had battled six trainers. Ash battled two of them with Cleffa and came victorious. The first battle Ash had was against a Rattata. Cleffa's usage of metronome was able to grant them victory. As the battle began, Ash ordered Cleffa to use metronome which turned out to be Blizzard. The attack froze the Rattata before he could dodge, and Cleffa broke him out of the ice with rollout. Cleffa came back again with rollout, scoring two direct hits, but on the fourth roll, Rattata nailed her with Quick attack. The impact sent Cleffa flying. As Ash saw Rattata coming at Cleffa with a Bite attack, he quickly ordered another metronome, and it turned out to be Brick break. Cleffa's hand slammed against Rattata's mouth and she knocked out the two upper front teeth. Rattata was also knocked out.

The second battle was a bit difficult. It was against a Koffing. As the battle began, Koffing quickly used poison gas to cover the field and poison Cleffa. Ash ordered Cleffa to spin in a circle while using rollout. The result was the field becoming clear in an instant. Cleffa used the momentum from the spin to slam into Koffing. Koffing used sludge which hit Cleffa and was super-effective. Ash was out of luck. As Cleffa tried a metronome and it turned out to be water gun. The water type move slammed into Koffing. Cleffa's poison kicked in, giving an opening for Koffing to slam into her with tackle. As Cleffa got up, Ash ordered her to use sing which brought Koffing down. Cleffa used another metronome, and lucky for Ash it was psychic, and the move was a critical hit. Cleffa continuously slammed Koffing into the ground until it was knocked out. Cleffa's poison kicked in once more and she fainted.

And that brings us to where they are now, and that is resting.

Ash had released all of his pokémon alongside Misty's. It had been almost an hour since they started resting and Ash decided it was time to try out the new weights. He reached into his bag and brought out some of the weights. He synced it to his Xtransceiver as he placed them on each of his pokémon, except Eevee, Cleffa and Scizor.

"Xtransceiver."

"Yes Ash?"

"Calibration menu for training weights."

"Calibration menu open."

The holographic screen shifted to a menu. Ash pointed the screen at Blaze and began calibration. For each of Blaze's arm, four kilograms. His legs another four kilograms. His tail, three kilograms and his neck, two kilograms. For each of Volt's arms and legs, two and a half kilograms. For each of Psyduck's arms and legs, four kilograms. For Butterfree's wings, seven and a half kilograms each. For Beedrill's wings, five and a half kilograms each and two more each for her stingers. For Tyrunt's arms and legs, three kilograms each. As soon as he activated all the weights, they all felt it.

"I want all seven of you to do laps around the field. Stop when you feel you can no longer continue. Understood?"

Different cries of affirmation were heard.

"Eevee and Cleffa, come with me."

The mentioned pokémon immediately followed him.

"Pokédex scan."

"Scanning

Eevee, the Evolution Pokémon. Possessing an unstable and unbalanced genetic makeup, it conceals many possible evolutions. It's genes are the ke to solving the mysteries of Pokémon evolution.

Type: Normal

Abilities: Run away; Hidden ability: Anticipation

Moves: Tackle, covet, growl, tail whip, sand attack, baby doll eyes, hyper voice, quick attack and bite.

Egg moves: Yawn, Flail, captivate, endure, fake tears, natural gift, tickle. (Note: egg moves except yawn are yet to be unlocked)"

"Thanks pokédex. Cleffa I want you to start working on zen headbutt."

The fairy type nodded as she turned and walked to where the others where training.

Ash turned towards Eevee. He needed to test out her moves to know where she stood on his team power wise.

"Alright Eevee. I want you to show me your moves. I want to get a feel of how strong you are. So Eevee, how about you show me your sand attack."

Eevee raised her right forehand and slammed it into the ground in a lifting manner. The result was a cloud of dirt been launched forward. Ash watched the attack execution and made his conclusion. The sand attack was pretty much refined, indicating that Eevee must have had some level of training at one point in her life. Also, the sand attack was thick and would be able to cloud an attackers eyes with ease.

"Well done Eevee. Next use hyper voice."

Eevee turned towards a tree. She stood tall and took in air, before letting out a loud shout. From her mouth, she launched blue sound waves that slammed into the tree and causing it to shake. All of Ash's pokémon, Misty and her pokémon stopped to hold their ears because of the loudness of the attack. As Eevee stopped her attack, they all turned back to their various activities.

"Eevee, that was amazing. You're really strong."

Eevee blushed from the praise as Ash scratched her chest. She wagged her tail, indicating that she liked it.

"Now, use quick attack around the site."

Eevee crouched down before shooting off, leaving a trail of white behind her as she shot off around the site at blinding speed. Ash was in awe at her speed. She might even rival Volt in terms of speed, and he was only slightly faster than Beedrill and Butterfree.

"Awesome Eevee. You're really fast."

The Normal type blushed from the praise.

"Alright, let's wrap it up with bite."

Once again, Ash was surprised at the speed at which Eevee lunged at the tree in front of them and bit into it. She took a sizeable chunk of wood in her mouth.

Ash was shocked to see the wood in her mouth. She had taken it with ease. Eevee stood talk as she spat the wood out of her mouth. She knew she had done well and Ash knew that too.

"Eevee, that's enough. You've done well. Go and rest a bit."

Eevee barked as she trod over to where Cleffa was training and lied down.

Ash sat down on the ground and began going over his pokémon's strengths and weaknesses. Blaze was definitely his strongest by a mile and he didn't like the gap that was between him and the rest. Blaze had a strong affinity for fire and dragon type moves, executing them with relative ease. He had yet to perfect fire blast and flame burst. Bis dragon type moves were far from perfect and he won't be able to use air cutter until he evolved. He had no advantage over his type disadvantages, although his ground type weakness would be eliminated when he evolved.

Psyduck was the second strongest pokémon he had. Psyduck had a nice move pool though not vast. Over electric types, he bad only one move in his arsenal and getting a direct hit would be tricky since muddy water was not perfect. Psyduck still needed to work on ice chop and his egg moves. Ash knew he had to start resistance training soon as all his pokémon needed it.

Scizor was next on Ash's list. He had only just evolved moments ago, and his scope had been widened. Due to him gaining the steel typing, he can now access a variety of moves and his flying type moves won't be dormant, thanks to the relationship between him and his previous evolution. Scizor was yet to perfect aerial ace, metal claw, iron spear slash and iron defense, but Ash had a feeling they'll be able to get it down.

Next on Ash's list was Butterfree. The dual bug and flying type was also his most accurate member, able to launch attacks on target at a distance, but he still had a long way to go. Defensive wise, Butterfree was quite weak and that was caused him to tie with Volt. Butterfree was still working on perfecting silver wind and wing attack.

Tied with Butterfree for fourth position was Volt. The little electric type further boosted by his shiny Gene is very formidable and a prankster by heart, though he hasn't shown it. Definitely Ash's fastest pokémon thanks to thunderspeed. Though he has still yet to perfect thunderbolt, thunderspeed and sky launch. Defensively, Volt was also weak.

Ash sighed. Most of his pokémon, if not all, have defense issues.

As for Beedrill, Cleffa, Tyrunt and Eevee, he had not had that much one-on-one time with them.

He took a deep breath. Bill was right, he had basically rushed through his journey up until this point. The only pokémon he had truly bonded with was Blaze and that was because he had had him for a year before his journey. This had to change now.

"That's enough," Ash said stopping them. "It's getting dark. Blaze, prepare a fire pit."

The fire type nodded and went to work while Ash brought out cooking utensils. The rest of his pokémon just sat down and watched. Moments later, their dinner was ready. Ash noticed Misty was still out training, so he made sure to save some for her and her pokémon. He served all of his pokémon while he ate two sandwiches.

After he was done eating, he turned on his Xtransceiver and called Gary and Leaf. One amazing feature of the Xtransceiver was that it allowed for multiple-way calls at a time. The maximum been eight. The Xtransceiver rang for some time before Ash saw the faces of Gary and Leaf.

"Hey guys."

"Hey Ash," they both responded.

"Where are you guys now," Ash asked. "I'm heading for Vermillion City."

"We're also on our way to Vermillion City and I think we're on the same route. We haven't crossed the wooden bridge yet. In fact, we're some distance away from it," Leaf responded.

"Yeah. We're together," Gary responded.

"Well aren't you happy," Ash said with a smirk, causing Leaf to blush and Gary to turn away in embarrassment. "Anyways," Ash continued. "Send me your coordinates so I can catch up."

"Okay," they both said as they disconnected the transmission.

Ash's Xtransceiver soon beeped, indicating that he had received a message. He opened it and his Xtransceiver began.

"Received GPS coordinates of Gary Oak and Leaf Green. Approximate distance in a straight line is about Seven hundred meters north of here." As the message ended, the Xtransceiver showed Ash a mapped image of the area.

"Good," Ash said as he recalled all his pokémon. At that moment, Misty walked into the clearing.

"Perfect timing Misty. I might have just left you on your own."

"That better be a joke Ash Ketchum. And just where are you going?"

"Not me. We. And we're going to meet my childhood friends that I've been telling you about. They're about Seven hundred meters from here."

"I'm too tired to walk and it's already dark out."

"I think I have the solution to that," Ash said as he dug into his bag and brought out two cubes. He tossed one to Misty and she caught it, but with a dumbfounded look on her face.

"What's this?"

"Remember how your bicycle was blasted into the lake when we first met. Consider that a replacement of the one I destroyed."

"I don't know what to say, thank you Ash."

"No problem Misty."

"How do I open it?" she asked.

Ash gave a deadpan look as he fell down comically.

"So yo don't know how to open one, but you had it."

"Well excuse me, but I didn't open it when it was bought and I never planned on someone destroying my bike!" Misty yelled.

Ash snickered. "Touché."

"So how do I open it?"

"Easy. Just press the center and it will unfold on its own," Ash said as he pushed the center and his bike unfolded.

"Okay, thanks," Misty said as she unfolded her bike.(Insert description of both bikes).

They both got on their bikes and began following the trail drawn to them by the Xtransceiver. They rode for about half an hour, before they reached Leaf and Gary's clearing.

As Ash stepped into the clearing, he was immediately tackled by two blurs. As he looked up, he noticed them to be both species of the Nidoran family. An Onix roared in his face as he tried to get up. Soon enough, Ash was surrounded by pokémon on all sides.

"Stand down you guys," a voice said. The pokémon lowered their guard as two humans came from behind them.

"Ash!" one of them exclaimed.

"Leaf," Ash said as he hugged the person, now recognized as Leaf.

"Well if it isn't Ashy-boy. Long time no see."

"What's up Gare-bear," Ash said as he shook the hand of the other kid now recognized as Gary (a.k.a Gare-bear).

As he and Gary shook, Ash started hearing voices behind him. He turned around and discovered that she was talking with Misty.

"Who's that?" Gary asked.

"That's Misty. She's an aspiring Water Master and is currently traveling with me."

"Oh. Hi, am Gary Oak."

"Hi. Misty Waterflower," Misty said as she held out a hand to Gary who shook it.

"So you're an aspiring Water Master. I'm a Field Researcher for Professor Oak, and perhaps Gary Oak. I'm also aiming to become a Pokémon Ranger."

As she said this, both Ash and Gary laughed. They laughed not because she couldn't do it, but because it was hard to imagine Leaf researching pokémon and giving feedback to Gary at this age. They would probably get into a fight and she will most likely knock him out.

"So which one's whose?" Ash asked.

"Let me start off first," Gary said as he stepped forward.

"Now, now Gary. We all know it's ladies first."

"Fine," Gary said with a sigh of defeat.

"To start things off. Here's Saur, and he's pretty much close to evolving."

The proud Ivysaur growled deeply, causing Leaf to chuckle.

"Hey Saur, remember me?" Ash asked the grass type.

"Saur, saur, ivysaur," the grass type said as he held a vine out for Ash to shake. Ash returned the gesture, causing the grass type to make a low grumbling noise.

"That's the Skitty that hatched from the egg Nurse Joy gave me."

Ash smiled at the Skitty who swayed it's tail back and forth.

"That's Spearow. Next is Paras who I caught at Mt. Moon, alongside Clefairy, Sandshrew and Onix."

Ash waved to all of them and they returned the gesture in their own way.

"I caught Pinsir, Pineco and Raticate in Viridian forest. As for the two Nidoran, I caught them just outside of Cerulean City."

"Nice team you've put together Leaf. Already reached the twelve pokémon limit," Ash said with a laugh.

"Yeah. I've also got a Slugma and King's Species Houndour at home."

"That means the rest are all Gary's."

"Yep. Say hi. I'm sure Blast still remembers you," Gary said, gesturing to his Wartortle.

As Gary said this, a white light emanated from one of Ash's pokéball and materialized into Blaze. As soon as the fire type came out, it locked eyes with Blast. Blaze launched a flamethrower into the sky. Blast responded by launching scald into the sky. Realizing that their plan to one-up each other failed, both pokémon butted heads.

"Right on cue," Leaf muttered while shaking her head.

"Some things just never get old." This comment was from Gary.

"Back off everyone. Those two are about to duke it out, and they mean business."

The others cleared the way for the two pokémon, before a voice was heard. "Saur, saur ivy."

Ash laughed at what he heard.

"What did he say Ash?" Gary asked.

"He said that he wanted to join the fray."

Saur ran to where the fight was about to take place. He brought out two vines from his bud and took on a fighting stance. Blast and Blaze also did the same. Time passed before they all dashed at each other.

"So who's next?" Ash said as he drew everybody's attention from the battling starters to his self.

"Alright. Here's the Eevee that was given to me by Nurse Joy. We have Geodude who I caught in Pewter. My King's Species Growlithe that was also a surprising catch just before I entered Mt. Moon. Next is Krabby who I caught in Cerulean."

"Here's Mach, my shiny Pidgeotto. I caught her in Viridian forest. Mareep, and Nidorino I caught also in Pewter. I caught Horsea in Cerulean and Abra just outside Mt. Moon."

"All are nice catches. Guess it's my turn."

"Of course it is. You don't expect us to show ours and don't expect you to show yours."

"Fine," Ash said as he released eight pokémon from their balls. The lights condensed and materialized into the eight pokémon.

"These are my pokémon. Meet Psyduck who I caught in Viridian forest. A shiny Elekid who hatched from the egg Nurse Joy gave me. Scizor, who I caught as a Scyther in Viridian to. Butterfree and Beedrill who I caught in their pre-evolved forms in Viridian forest. A King's Species Tyrunt who I got as a fossil in Pewter City, and finally Eevee who I got from Bill's lighthouse."

"Wait, you mean to say that's the same Eevee that bit me at Bill's?"

"What? Eevee bit you."

"Yeah. And it was a nasty bite also."

"What did you do?" Misty asked.

"I just said hi and bent down to scrub her fur."

"And she bit you? Nice job," Ash said to a laughing Eevee.

"To break this all up I'm also guessing Bill told you to enjoy your journey," Leaf said.

"Yeah. And he's right. It's only been a few days and we both have two badges and this number of pokémon. I know I'm not the only one who hasn't spent time with his pokémon and gotten to know them. The Indigo League is in a year and eleven months, so there's no need to hurry."

"Yeah. You're right," Leaf and Gary admitted.

"Anyways," Ash started. "Serena's back in Kanto."

"Really?" Leaf asked, almost like a squeal and Ash nodded.

"Yay," Gary cheered. "Ashy-boy's girlfriend is back."

"She's not my girlfriend," Ash protested. "And besides, I'm too young for that kinda stuff."

"She may not be, but you definitely have a crush on her. I'm psychic y'know."

"Is that so? Then tell us you don't have a crush on Leaf."

As he said this, the mentioned girl blushed while Gary stuttered with his answer. "It's ...not that,...I don't. Urgh, damn you people," Gary said as he turned away with a blush on his face.

At this moment there was a flash of light. All eyes turned towards the direction of the battling starters. The light was emanating from Ivysaur.

"It's happening," Leaf squealed.

Ivysaur was covered in blinding light as he grew bigger. The bud on his back blossomed fully. As the light died down, he was now a Venusaur. Saur bellowed loudly, shaking the entire area.

"Yay Saur. You evolved," Leaf said as she ran into the vines of the grass type who embraced her. He was now taller than her, as he was now the height of an average Venusaur.

Blaze and Blast looked at the newly evolved grass type. He had reached his final form before either of them and they wanted to test his strength upon evolution. Saur looked at them and made the Venusaur equivalent of a smirk. Blaze growled and challenged him to a duel, with Blast joining in. At first they had only had a fist fight, but now they were going to use moves.

They all turned their eyes away from the battling starters.

"Congrats Leaf," they all sides to their fellow trainer.

"I'm going to train," Gary said as he recalled all his pokémon, save Blast.

"I'm coming too," Ash said as he too recalled the rest apart from Blaze.

"Guess it's you and me," Leaf said to Misty.

With Ash and Gary

"Alright," Gary started. "Out of the Pallet trio, we both are the battlers, and might I suggest we pick our elites."

Elites were the six most powerful pokémon a trainer had in his arsenal. They were composed of his most Experienced pokémon, most likely starter, his most powerful attacker, his most defensive pokémon capable of tanking attacks. His most accurate pokémon. His fastest pokémon in terms of raw speed, and an all-rounder, one who is well versed in each of those areas and should be able to cover for any missing part. Elites were the ones Champions and Elite fours used when they battled each other. During Gym leader Conferences, the gym leaders battled themselves using their elites.

"Yeah, you're right," Ash responded as he and Gary released their pokémon. Gary moved to a separate location from Ash's to choose his Elites.

"Hey guys," Ash said to them. "Today I'm gonna pick my Elite team."

Seeing the confused looks on their faces, Ash explained to them what the Elites were.

"Understood?" He asked as he finished his explanation.

"Yeah, but what about the rest of us?" Cleffa asked.

"Don't worry, you guys would still be with me to battle and train, and fight and grow. Elites change with time and depending on your performance, you would be promoted to the Elite team. And also, there would be lesser elites. But one elite that would never change is Blaze. Next up is the most powerful in terms of raw power, which is Psyduck."

The water type shot a water gun into the sky and quacked loudly.

"Next up is Scizor for the most defensive pokémon."

The calm bug/steel dual type just nodded his head as he went over to join Psyduck.

"For the fastest pokémon, we have Volt and it's all thanks to Thunderspeed."

The little Electric type's antennae sparked with electricity as he shot a thundershock into the sky and joined the rest.

"Title of most accurate goes to Butterfree."

The dual bug/flying type did loops in the air, before resting on Ash's head.

"And finally, the all-rounder goes to Tyrunt."

The Royal Heir Pokémon jumped up and down before bounding over to Ash.

"And that's all. You're my new elites. All done over here Gary."

"Me too," Gary said as he walked over to Ash. "So, who are your elites?"

"For experience, Blaze. For power, Psyduck. For defense, Scizor. For speed, Volt. For accuracy, Butterfree. And for all-roundness, Tyrunt. What about you?" Ash asked.

"Well most Experienced is definitely Blast. For power, Nidorino. For defense, Geodude. For speed, Pidgeotto. For accuracy, Abra. Finally, all-roundness, Eevee. Growlithe is approaching when I would evolve him. Once he reaches there, all that's left is to use a fire stone. I want to start working on them individually."

"Yeah. Me too. They have good movesets, but the gap in power is huge. Blaze is definitely the strongest by a milestone due to the fact that I worked with him for a year with very limited resources. But now I'm on the road with all my resources. All that's left is to use them."

"Yeah."

"Wait. I have an idea. How about we have our elites spar with the other members. That should leave us with time to work on the weakest members of our teams."

"Nice one Ash," Gary said as he and Ash turned to address them. After giving out the instructions, Gary took Mareep with him while Ash took Eevee and they began trekking away from the training pokémon.

Few minutes into their walk, they started hearing voices.

"I don't think there's anything here," a voice said.

"What was that?" Gary asked.

"I don't know," Ash responded.

"Come on man. The boss sent us here, so there must be something," another voice said.

"Why do we need Ditto anyways? Damn pokémon's useless," the first voice said.

"Executive Proton said it's for the 'New Project'," the second voice said.

"Urgh. Damn Team Rocket Projects," the first voice said.

Ash and Gary gasped. Team Rocket was here. They automatically brought down their voices and kept on listening further.

"Look. There's Ditto around here. That's about sixty now," the second voice said.

Ash and Gary couldn't keep calm anymore. Their bloods boiled and they were filled with a rush of anger.

"I don't think so," they both said as they jumped out of where they were hiding.

"Who are you?" one Grunt asked.

"Doesn't matter. Release the Ditto's or we'll make you."

"You've got guts kids. Tell us your names and we might just consider making you a part of Team Rocket," one Grunt said.

"Names don't matter and we're not considering becoming part of Team Rocket," Ash said with glowing blue eyes.

As the Grunts saw this, they were shocked.

"That's the kid from the Mt. Moon incident. Looks like this is our lucky day. Killing you will get us a reward. Go Ekans," the first Grunt said.

"You too Nidorino," the other Grunt said.

"Eevee get ready."

"You too Mareep. Ash I'll take Ekans."

"No problem Gary. Eevee use growl."

The Normal type growled deeply, lowering Nidorino's attack stat.

"That won't help you. Nidorino, tackle that puny pokémon."

Nidorino ran at Eevee with full force. Ash ordered her to dodge the attack. He knew that if Eevee came in contact with Nidorino, she would be poisoned if he had the Poison point ability.

"Eevee use yawn."

"Dodge it and use poison jab."

Nidorino easily evaded the yawn, before slamming Eevee with poison jab. Eevee was thrown back by the brunt of the attack. As she got up, she attained a purple glow. She was poisoned.

Ash analysed Nidorino's horn. It was drenched with poison. Poison jab had a thirty percent chance of poisoning the target and Eevee was poisoned in one shot. He came to his conclusion that Nidorino had poison point as an ability.

"Use horn attack."

"Dodge."

Eevee tried to dodge but she was not fast enough. The attack slammed into her left leg and she was sent skidding on the ground.

"Use horn attack and follow up with double kick. Knock her out," the Grunt ordered.

Before Nidorino could reach Eevee, Ash had returned her.

"Oh. Is little baby giving up?" The Grunt asked with a smirk. " Looks like you don't have any other pokémon on you."

"No I don't," Ash said with gritted teeth. He looked towards Gary and saw that Mareep was also down. "You aren't going to attack kids, are you?"

"Ha. If you think that, then you definitely don't know who you are dealing with. Nidorino, poison jab."

Nidorino's horn became drenched with poison as he ran at Ash. Ash just stood there with arms crossed.

"Flamethrower," were the words that escaped Ash's mouth.

As soon as he said it, a stream of flames slammed into Nidorino and launched him towards the Grunt.

"How?" the Grunt asked as Nidorino struggled to his feet. He was burned at his horn and his face.

Ash pointed over to some bushes nearby, and Blaze and Blast came out of them. Blaze took on a fighting stance in front of Ash, while Blast ran to aid Gary.

"So you had a secret weapon on you?" the Grunt asked rhetorically.

Ash didn't answer but instead attained a smirk. He had alerted Blaze and Blast at camp using his aura. He wasn't seriously going to face Team Rocket using untrained pokémon. He mentally snickered. "Now I'm serious."

The Grunt immediately became angry. "Nidorino double team and horn attack."

Nidorino almost immediately multiplied itself and all of them began charging Blaze with the horn move. Ash's eyes glowed blue as he discerned the real one from the rest.

"Dragon pulse on that one," Ash ordered shortly.

Blaze formed the draconic sphere in his mouth and launched it at the Nidorino Ash pointed at. The attack hit Nidorino and it was sent flying. The double team copies also dispersed.

"How did you know which one was original?" the Grunt asked.

"Easy. Double team created copies of the user. Those copies were more like illusions than actual clones. They could perform the moves of the pokémon, but they packed the living aura of pokémon. It was just a matter of noticing which one was actually a pokémon."

Ash lied. He knew that it was only true sensing that one could ascertain the real one.

"Nidorino get back up and use sludge bomb."

Nidorino slowly got up and fired the poison blob at Blaze.

"Deflect it with metal claw and use Triple Pulse."

Blaze's hands attained a metallic sheen. He swiped the incoming blob and changed its direction of motion. After deflecting the attack, Blaze charged dragon pulse in his mouth before launching it at Nidorino. The attack hit head on and Nidorino was sent flying from the super-effective attack. Before Nidorino could recover, another sphere hit him, and then the last one. He was knocked out.

"Grr...," the Grunt said as he returned Nidorino. "You'll pay. Onix destroy them."

The familiar stone behemoth was unleashed from its pokéball. As it came out, it let loose and ear-splitting screech. Ash looked at Gary and saw him facing a Victreebell with Blast. Ash released Eevee and gave her an antidote to heal her poison before speaking.

"Rest up girl and watch how we battle."

Eevee looked at Blaze who turned back to her and gave her a thumbs up, before facing the Rock Snake Pokémon.

"Blaze," Ash said, getting the fire type's attention. He slowly turned his cap backwards. "Go wild."

Blaze's tail flame increased drastically as he heard Ash's words.

"Onix rock smash."

"Meet it head-on with aerial ace."

Onix's tail attained a red glow as he swung it at Blaze. Blaze shot off at a fast pace as his feet glowed white. His feet and Onix's tail collided, with both attacks cancelling each other.

"Rock tomb."

"Dragon pulse."

Onix slammed his tail on the ground as rocks were sent flying at Blaze. Blaze evaded each rock before shooting a dragon pulse at Onix. The super-effective dragon type move slammed into Onix's head and caused it to roar in pain.

"Now metal claw."

Blaze's hands attained a metallic sheen as he ran at Onix.

"Dragon breath."

"Dragon pulse."

Blaze cancelled metal claw to meet dragon breath with dragon pulse. Both attacks cancelled each other. Blaze quickly used metal claw to slash into Onix's sides causing the rock type to roar in pain.

"Onix earthquake!" the Grunt shouted.

The ground type move hit Blaze and brought him to the ground.

"Dig."

"Blaze flamethrower down the hole."

Onix tunneled into the ground but Blaze followed and shot a flamethrower into the hole. Some seconds later, Onix resurfaced, screaming in pain.

"Blaze, dragon rage."

"Dragon breath."

"Dragon pulse."

Dragon rage and dragon breath cancelled each other out, but Onix couldn't account for the dragon pulse that slammed into his horn, breaking it.

"Dragon pulse."

This time, instead of forming it in his mouth, Blaze formed the sphere between his mouth before fuelling it with flames and launching it at Onix. The attack nailed Onix in the face and sent him down.

"Dragon rush into metal claw."

Just as Onix was slowly getting up, Blaze crouched down and was soon covered in draconic energy. He ran at Onix before jumping and nailing him in the jaw with dragon rush. Before Onix could fall over, Blaze gave him an uppercut him with metal claw. Onix was knocked out. Blast had also knocked out Victreebell with skull bash.

"Damn you kid. Abra com out," the Grunt said as he released an Abra and returned Onix. As the other Grunt came running towards him with the jar of Ditto, Blaze shot an ember at his hands, burning it and causing him to drop it. Blaze launched a flamethrower, but before it could reach them, they had teleported away with Abra.

"Nice job Gary."

"You too Ash."

Ash looked at Blaze, his scales were getting redder and he was getting much more aggressive. Few more battles and he'll evolve. Even Blast was close to evolution, more so than Blaze.

Ash looked down at Eevee who was pulling at his trousers. He bent down to her level and patted her on the head.

Eevee smiled at him before bounding over to Blaze who was trying to catch his breath. Blaze smiled at her before scratching her fur. Ash watched the two of them interact and had the feeling that they would both be awesome friends.

"So Ash. What do you think they wanted with these Ditto."

"I don't know, but we can't just leave them here. Anything related to Team Rocket isn't bound to be good, and besides, Team Rocket might come back for them."

"How about we catch them and send them to Professor Oak."

"Yeah, but do you have any spare pokéballs. I left mine in my bag."

"Same here. Let's head back then."

At an Unknown Location

"Report," a deep yet calm voice said.

"Sir. We found the Ditto but we were stopped by two other trainers. Their names were Ash and..."

"Gary," another voice said. "His name was Gary."

"I hope you don't mean the same Ash that thwarted our Mt. Moon plans," the man whose face was hidden in the shadows said.

"Yes sir. The same Ash."

"Hmm," the voice said and typed on a computer. "Ash Satoshi Ketchum. Son of Red Ketchum. Has a Charmeleon, Scizor, a Shiny Elekid, King's Species Tyrunt, a Cleffa, Eevee, Beedrill, Butterfree and Psyduck. Two badges." The figure paused and typed further on the computer. "Which of these pictures is the boy?" He asked.

After studying them, one of the Grunts spoke up, " This one."

"Gary Oak. Son of Champion Blue. Has a Wartortle, Eevee, Geodude, King's Species Growlithe, Krabby, Shiny Pidgeotto, Mareep, Nidorino, Horsea, and an Abra. Two badges. Not bad for their age. They may have some use to us."

The figure turned his attention to the two Grunts. "As for you two. You know what happens when you fail missions more than twice."

"Commander Proton, please," they both said.

The figure now known as Proton pressed a button on his desk and spoke. "Torturess."

"Yes Proton," a female voice said from the other side.

"I'm sending two failures your way. Give them the standard forty."

"As you wish sir," and the line got disconnected.

"Now go!" Proton said with a stern but quiet voice. As the Grunts left the room, he laughed to his self.

"Ash Ketchum, for what's good for you, you better accept my proposal," he said as he kept on laughing.

With Ash and Gary

They were back at the camp with their pokémon and had already sent all the Ditto to Professor Oak.

"Gary, how about we check on the New Pokémon species update."

"Yeah. I saw it earlier today."

Ash opened his Xtransceiver and opened the Pokémon website. The first video that came up was the video concerning the new species. Ash played it. The Xtransceiver started.

The video began to play. On the screen were the regional Professors. Oak, Elm, Birch, Rowan, Juniper, Ivy, Sycamore, Kuikui and three pokémon-like creatures.

"' So what is the name of this species of pokémon?' 'After long hours of discussion,' Professor Rowan started. 'We agreed on calling it Meltan.' 'And what typing is Meltan?' 'Well,' Professor Oak started. 'After running some tests and looking at it physically. Its physiology is similar to that of liquid metal and has a nut on his head. We decided to classify it as a member of the Steel type.' 'And what may I ask is the rarity of this pokémon?' This it was Sycamore that spoke up. 'We're still running some tests on this pokémon, trying to figure out what rarity we should place it into. For starters, it's definitely not common. It may be uncommon, rare, mythical, pseudo-legendary or even legendary.' 'I highly doubt that it's legendary,' a new voice said. Everyone turned to see Pokémon Master Red. 'Why is that?' Professor Elm asked. 'Because legendary pokémon won't let a fellow legendary pokémon be under human care like this and in front of the whole world without acting up in any manner.' 'And?' Professor Birch asked. 'It is probably mythical or pseudo-legendary, but we won't know until it evolves. Pseudo-legendaries have three stages of evolution. It may be mythical like Zeraora. Anyways, I don't think it is an uncommon pokémon. That means we must research and study the Alola region down to the core. There may be something we needs.'

Red picked up one of the three Meltan and cradled it.

'If you accept, I'll be taking Meltan here with me to my island in order to see how he reacts with other pokémon and observe him. It would be most appropriate for Professor Oak and Sycamore to return to their respective regions. The rest Professors should stay in Alola to research further on Meltan.'"

"Well I guess that's that," Ash said as he exited the video.

"Yeah. How about we go to bed, it's almost nine o'clock."

"Okay guys, that's enough. Come here," Gary said to all their pokémon and Leaf's Venusaur.

All the pokémon stopped what they were doing and went to gather around Ash and Gary's tent.

"So guys. How was the battle between you three," Ash said, his attention directed towards Saur, Blast and Blaze.

As he said this, Blaze turned to the side with a puff of smoke. Saur laughed loudly as Blast lowered his head.

"Guess we know the answer," Gary said as both he and Ash laughed.

"Don't worry Blaze, you'll get him the next time."

"You too Blast."

"Anyways, from now on, training is going to be intense. We're also going to be doing individual training on all of you," Ash said to them.

"Yeah. Better prepare yourself."

"Hey guys, we're back."

"And where have you guys been," Ash asked.

"I was just out on a casual stroll with Misty," Leaf responded.

"For some reason I don't believe you. But I'm too tired to bother myself," Gary said with a yawn.

"Yeah. It's time for me to hit the hay," Ash said as he crawled into his sleeping bag."Goodnight everybody."

"Goodnight," they all called out as they went inside their sleeping bags. The pokémon also slept close to their Trainer's tent. And just like that, they were all out.

Sometime later, in the dead of the night.

A growl. Another growl, louder than the first. And another one far louder than the rest. Ash jolted upwards inside his sleeping bag. He looked outside his tent to see that all their pokémon were awake and we're on edge. He turned to his starter.

"What's the matter Blaze?"

"Wild pokémon," his starter simply responded.

"What?! How many of them are there?"

"I don't know, but we're surrounded on all four sides."

Ash closed his eyes and opened them after some seconds. They were now glowing blue showing aura sight. He was getting the readings of every creature around the area. The hostile pokémon were about fifty in total.

"Alright, wake the others."

Soon enough, the others were awake and fully aware of the situation.

"You guys ready?" Ash asked.

"Yep," Gary responded.

The wild pokémon soon came out of the bushes and every single one of them was ready to duel. Ash analysed them carefully, there were Raticate, Ekans, the Nidoran family, Oddish, Bellsprout and Weepinbell, Farfetch'd and one Bulbasaur.

'A Bulbasaur,' Ash thought. 'Why is it out here?'

"Bulba, bulbasaur, saur, saur, BULBA!" the Bulbasaur said.

'That can't be right,' Ash thought. 'Did it just say we have come to steal from them?'

"Bulbasaur you're mistaken. We have not come to steal from you."

"Bul, basaur?" the Bulbasaur asked.

"Yes it's true," Ash responded.

"Bulba, bulba, bulbasaur, bulbasaur!" The Bulbasaur said before using vine whip to raise up Ash's belt, revealing his pokéballs.

"You've got the wrong idea Bulbasaur. I don't mistreat pokémon. None of us do. Isn't that right guys?" Ash asked the pokémon who responded in Ash's favour.

Bulbasaur was a bit startled by the various answer the pokémon gave, but soon, his resolved hardened. He smiled.

"Bulba, saur, bulba. SAUR!"

"This is it guys," Ash said as the wild pokémon began their attack. "Don't seriously damage any of them. Use weak moves."

"You got it. Blast water gun. Eevee shadow ball. Geodude rollout. The rest of you defend."

"Saur, vine whip. Skitty double slap. Onix use rock throw. The rest on the defensive."

"Staryu water gun. Poliwag and Poliwag hypnosis. Gyarados bite. The rest of you stay with me."

"Blaze ember. Volt thundershock. Butterfree stun spore. The rest of you protect the campsite.

Each attack was exhibited by each pokémon in great succession. Wild pokémon were sent flying by the multiple attacks they executed. All were soon knocked out with the exception of Bulbasaur.

"Bulba," Bulbasaur said to his fallen comrades.

"Guess you have to fight now," Ash said to him. "Who wants to take him. How about Misty take him down."

"Me?" the girl asked in shock.

"Yeah. Your team needs the most work out of us all," Gary said.

"Thanks. Alright Staryu let's do this."

Bulbasaur smirked. They didn't know who they were dealing with. Bulbasaur shaked his body and caused purple powder to fall from it. He then used his vines to fan the poison powder towards Staryu.

"Whoa. Nice tactic," Ash said.

"Staryu protect."

The green barrier Staryu erected was more than enough for the poison powder.

Bulbasaur grinned again. He shook his body once more and sent sharp leaves at Staryu. He was using razor leaf.

"Counter with swift."

Swift and razor leaf cancelled each other out in an explosion of smoke.

"Rapid spin to clear the smoke "

Staryu used rapid spin to clear the smoke, before slamming into Bulbasaur. Bulbasaur easily recovered from the attack and used poison powder on Staryu. Staryu was poisoned Immediately as the infamous purple glow covered its body.

"Staryu spin with water gun."

Staryu spun itself as it used water gun, but Bulbasaur was able to counter it by binding four vines together and using it to pierce water gun.

"Bulbasaur!" bellowed the grass type as it's vines began to glow green.

"Is that a power whip?" Ash asked.

"Misty don't let that hit Staryu!" Leaf exclaimed.

"Staryu use psywave."

Staryu launched the wave of psychic energy at Bulbasaur. As Bulbasaur saw 4he wave of psychic energy, he blocked it with power whip before slamming the powerful grass type move into Staryu. Staryu was knocked into the ground and before it could recover, it was hit by petal dance.

"That is one strong Bulbasaur," Leaf commented. Ash and Gary thought so too. This Bulbasaur had probably received training in the past, but why would a trainer release such a potentially strong pokémon was the question.

Staryu was on it's last legs and Misty knew it. "Staryu use rapid spin and swift."

The water type began to spin rapidly before unleashing the barrage of spinning stars. The rapid spin only made them spin faster and made their landing unpredictable. Bulbasaur immediately used it's vines to defend itsrlf, but some stars made their mark.

Bulbasaur gave a cry of pain, but it soon turned into a war cry as Bulbasaur spun it's vines and summoned a tornado of leaves. It was using leaf storm. The powerful slammed into Staryu and knocked it out almost immediately. The storm didn't stop there, but continued towards the others. Blaze stood in front of Ash and used protect to block the attack.

Blast also did the same thing for Gary and his pokémon while Venusaur countered it with petal dance.

"Bulbasaur!" came a distant voice.

Bulbasaur stopped it's attack and turned towards the direction of the voice. Blaze and the others also stopped and looked in the direction of the voice.

"Bulbasaur. How many times have I told you not to attack trainers?" a young girl that looked to be about seventeen asked as she came into the clearing.

"Excuse me," Ash said, gaining her attention.

"Oh, hi. I apologise for whatever nuisance Bulbasaur may have caused," she said with a bow.

"Are you perhaps Bulbasur's trainers?" Gary asked.

"No, I'm not a trainer but I am responsible for Bulbasaur," she admitted slightly.

"Excuse me, but why did Bulbasaur attack us?" Leaf asked.

"I'm sorry, he's always like this whenever trainers are near the Hidden Village. I'll explain better if you all come with me to the Hidden Village so I can look at your Staryu."

"Oh, um thanks," Ash said to her.

The journey to the Hidden Village was pretty short. Soon they reached the house where Melanie was staying. They had introduced themselves properly on the road.

"Come in," Melanie said as she opened the door to a wooden house.

"Thanks," they all said.

"So what is this Hidden Village?" Ash asked.

"Well it's a sanctuary for pokémon that have been abandoned by their trainers. I don't know if you know about it, but some trainers sometimes abandon pokémon that they feel do not leave up to their potential. Bulbasaur and all of the pokémon here have all been abandoned by their trainers in one way or the other."

As she said this Bulbasaur growled deeply.

"Bulbasaur here, holds a sort of grudge all humans for abandoning pokémon like that. He seems to have won over the hearts of the stronger pokémon in the village to hating humans. I'm the only one who they trust to go near them, and although I may be able to calm Bulbasaur down, the moment he spots a human near the Village when my back is turned, he dashes off to confront them. That's the sad story of the pokémon in this Village."

"That's awful," Leaf said. "How would someone abandon pokémon just like that!"

"Yeah," Ash said with deep blue eyes. "That kind of thing just pisses me off." This was not the first time Ash had been hearing of cases of abandoned pokémon. When he was still nine, he and Gary both witnessed Daisy Oak, Gary's elder sister rescue a Charmander that had been abandoned by its trainer. According to Daisy, the Charmander's flame had almost gone out when it was rescued. The Charmander was sent to Liza of the Charicific Valley on request from Professor Oak. The last time Ash heard of the Charmander, it was now a Charizard and was currently one of the strongest amongst those his age. Cases of trainers abandoning pokémon just made Ash fly off the handle. He was not the only one who felt that way.

Gary was also on edge. His eyes were an ethereal pink, and he was levitating. Leaf touched his arm to help him calm down while Blaze nudged Ash. As Ash saw the fire type, he calmed down.

"I apologise once again," Melanie said to them.

"It's not your fault Melanie," Leaf told her. "It's the fault of those damn trainers."

"I don't blame Bulbasaur for attacking us." All eyes were now on Ash. "He had a reason for attacking us that justifies him, but I promise to help him get over it and stop thinking that all humans are bad."

"Thank you Ash," Melanie said. "I've been trying to do that for a long time but I've failed miserably."

"No problem Melanie. If anyone can get through to Bulbasaur, it's Ash," Gary said.

"You're welcome to sleep here in the Village. This should make up for Bulbasaur's trouble," Melanie said as she cast a glare towards Bulbasaur, shutting him up before he could say a word.

"Thanks Melanie," Misty said to them.

Throughout the remainder of the night, Melanie showed them to guest rooms where they could sleep. Ash and the gang slept peacefully on soft beds that night, but there was someone who was not happy with them been there. It was Bulbasaur.

The Next Morning

Ash and the gang woke up a little after nine o'clock. They bathed and got dressed and ready to face the entire world.

"Ok guys come on out," Ash said as he threw his pokéballs I to the air, releasing all his pokémon. They all came out of their balls with friendly greetings.

"Okay guys, we're going to get in some serious training today. So who's ready?" Ash asked, and all of them cheered. Ash smiled warmly, his pokémon were all ready to train.

Gary was busy training by the lake. Leaf and Misty were training together.

"Blaze, I want you to take Eevee with you. You're both going to be working on iron tail. Blaze, it is simply gathering steel energy in your tail to make it stronger. Then teach it to Eevee."

"Got it," Blaze said as he walked away with Eevee.

"Psyduck, work on perfecting water pulse."

The Duck Pokémon quacked and he was gone.

"Volt, work on perfecting thunderbolt."

The little electric type revved his hands and ran off.

"Beedrill work on sludge bomb. Butterfree work on wing attack. Tyrunt, you're working on earthquake. Cleffa, you're working on Zen Headbutt. Scizor you're working on iron spear slash. I'll be over to check on you guys in a minute."

After some minutes of letting them train, Ash went to check on Blaze and Eevee.

"How's iron tail coming?" he asked.

Blaze made a deep grunting sound as his tail took on a metallic sheen. He turned towards a rock and slammed his tail into it, shattering half of it.

"That was nice. It has the raw power but isn't refined enough. Eevee?"

Eevee nodded as she concentrated her energy to her tail. The result was not what Ash expected, but she was off to a good start. Only the tip to halfway the length of her tail took on metallic sheens, the rest were normal fur.

"Blaze, we're working on that," Ash said to the fire type who nodded and began giving Eevee instructions.

Ash walked over to where Psyduck was training. "How's water pulse coming?"

Psyduck brought both of his hands together as he condensed the moisture in the air, to form a sphere of unstable water. He held the sphere for a time until it was the size of his head. He unleashed the sphere of water on the ground, and it burst into a small wave. Psyduck turned towards Ash for feedback.

"It was okay. There's definitely an improvement, but not enough power and not enough water in the sphere. Keep working on it."

Next was Volt. As Ash reached were he was, he saw Volt unleash a slightly larger thunderbolt than the one he used in the gym battle.

"Still needs more improvement and aim. As for power you've got it," Ash said as he held out a hand for Volt to fist bump. Volt folded and sent a small jolt of electricity at Ash through the fist bump.

Ash recovered from the electric shock to see Volt laughing at him. He smiled deeply. He had gone through all their moves that needed the most work and had brought all of them together for group training.

"All with the exception of Eevee, Cleffa and Tyrunt are going to skip the sparring matches for the now."

Ash felt a familiar presence near his range. It was Bulbasaur.

"I know you're there. You can come out."

The grass type starter slowly came out of the rock he was hiding behind and glared at Ash.

"Bulba, bulbasaur," it said.

"Why would I leave, I like it here."

"Bulba, saur, saur!"

"Hmph, no way I'm living. Not until you change that attitude towards humans in general."

"Bulba, bulba, bulbasaur."

"Not all humans are bad Bulbasaur. You can't judge one human because you were abandoned by your previous trainer."

"Bulba, saur!"

"You can ask my pokémon. I'm not evil. I admit there are a lot of bad guys in the world, but I'm not one of them."

"Bul-ba, bulbasaur."

"Alright, let's make a deal. If you win me in a pokémon battle then I'll leave. But if I win, you give me a chance to help you get over your fear of humans. Deal?" Ash said as he extended his hand.

"Bulba," Bulbasaur said as he shook it with a vine.

Ash got up and walked back to his pokémon. "Butterfree, how would you like to battle him?" Ash asked.

"Why. I would love to."

Ash knew Butterfree had always loved to battle like Blaze, but he'd never had a chance. Now was his time and he was gonna make Ash proud.

"You ready Bulbasaur?" Ash called to the grass type who responded by slamming his vines into the ground.

"Butterfree you ready?" The dual bug/flying type flew in front of Ash as he squared off against Bulbasaur.

Bulbasaur smirked as he sent his vines at Butterfree.

"Butterfree dodge and use bug bite."