Chapter Seventeen- Sparking a resolve and a ghostly conclusion

After their talk, Misty and Brock had left Mason to continue to oversee his team's training in peace. He made sure to keep a close eye of each of his Pokémon, all the while he was working on other small things.

After a couple of hours he had finished grinding up his entire stock of berries into various colored Pokéblocks. It had taken him a few failed attempts before he had managed to understand the trick behind it.

After he had that done, he moved on to applying the various labels to each of his team's Pokéballs, making sure to Centre each of the labels, or align them if a Pokémon had two types.

After two straight hours of training Mason called his team in to take a short breather and to try some of the Pokéblocks that he had made, while doing so he made sure to note down what flavors each one of them preferred, planning to make and keep a stock of them as treats to give them during training sessions when they showed improvement. He may not have approved of Darwin's whole stick and carrot methodology, but he had to admit the carrot method seemed like a good idea to him.

As his Pokémon rested up, Mason went to check on the results of two of his latest additions, Cubone and Growlithe. He knew both of them… as well as a growing majority of his team, had rather poor backgrounds with their previous trainers, so he wanted to make a good impression on them both.

Looking over their training areas, Mason couldn't help but smirk at the sight of the multiple wooden reinforced targets had been reduced to stumps and splinters under Cubone's Bone club. For such a tiny guy he can sure pack a mean swing.

Growlithe's training area was even more devastated looking. While he had first observed his only fire type Pokémon, he had seen her practicing her flamethrower on the five inch thick sheet metal wall. He had been expecting to see great big bouts of flames at first, but instead Growlithe only let out short thin streams of flame. He put it off and didn't let himself get disappointed as he had thought that perhaps it was only a recently learned attack, and it would take time for Growlithe to gain any proficiency with it.

But now looking at the sight before him, Mason couldn't stop his jaw from dropping open as he looked at the thick wall of metal. It had no scorch marks what-so-ever, but each spot where Growlithe's flamethrower had hit… was melted clean through leaving small rings of molten metal dripping to the ground.

That was when it clicked, her flamethrowers weren't thin, they were condensed. Growlithe had such efficient control over her flames she was able to condense them down into a thin powerful stream of flames that could melt through five inches of solid metal in a short burst.

The realization made him grin, but that grin fell when he remembered Growlithe's last trainer… Damian, and how he treated her, how hard he must have pushed her for her to reach this level of control, he doubted very much that it was a natural skill.

And he knew it would have been the same with Cubone, how hard he must have worked to become that strong, only for Giselle to see him as a weakling.

The thought of both them pissed Mason off big time and he turned on the spot as he called out. "Cubone! Growlithe!" he snapped out, getting all of his Pokémon's attention as they looked at him.

Both the Pokémon in question, visibly flinched back when called but hesitantly came forward when he raised a hand to call them to him.

As soon as he reached them, Mason smirked as he lowered himself to a knee and reached his hands forward, hesitating for only a second when they flinched back from his hands, the action sparking further anger in his gut for their former trainers, but continued on to put his hands atop their heads to rub and pat them.

"Good job both of you," Mason said, his words and actions making the two of them look up at him in shock, he smiled back at them, "I can see you are both working hard, keep up the good work, but don't push yourselves too hard, we're going to be training for a lot longer, you both have a lot of power, but our training sessions at the moment are focused more on building everyone's stamina, so it wouldn't do to have either of you exhaust yourselves to the point of collapse before we're ready to turn in," he smirked.

Mason could see the looks of shock and disbelief on their faces towards his actions and words, but he knew that he needed to show both of them that he wasn't like their former trainers, that he cared for them more than he did the results of their training.

With that said Mason rose to his feet again and looked around, "Alright everyone, it's time to move on to the next step in this training session, and something I know a good few of you have been looking forward to in the past few weeks" he told them all with a grin, "I went shopping earlier today, and I got a batch of fresh new TMs"

That made each of his Pokémon light up at the prospect, he had told them all about TMs and what they could do at the end of one of their past training sessions, each of them had been very eager for him to get them, the prospect of learning new moves and becoming even stronger appealed to each of them.

"Now before you all get too excited, I only picked up five of them this time around, and I chose them with my plan for the next gym in mind, so not all of you will be getting a new move this time around," Mason told them all, "but each of those who do will be training in their new moves after this and I will be paring you up with others who I think could learn from you to develop the move themselves. It will be your job to pass on the knowledge the TMs give you to help to strengthen everyone. We are a team, we are only as strong as our weakest member. And when one of us falls, we rally and make the one who hurt one of us pay."

Each member of his team let out a cry, except Squirtle, Growlithe and Cubone as the newest additions to his team. It was understandable why, he had been pushing the whole unity angle with his team at some point in each training session they had in an effort to bring his team closer together, it had shown results back in Cerulean when Dratini had faced Misty's Gyarados, so much so that he made sure to push the idea even harder. He wanted his entire team, no matter how large it got to be a close knit family. That if one of them fell in battle, whoever came out next to take over would push even harder to get revenge for their defeated team mate. His three latest additions hadn't been in many training sessions like this, so for most of them this was only the first time they were hearing him talk about it. But Mason could see the looks in their eyes, the fire in them, and knew immediately they would fit right in.

"Alright," Mason raised his hand to silence them, "Line up, and I'll recall those of you who are going to be getting the TMs this time around. After which I'll let you back out, so we can talk further about training and strategy. After which I will be filling you all in on my plan for taking on LT Surge and his Pokémon." he said with a wicked grin on his face, indicating just how devious a plan it was, making his team grin back at him in response.

-Time skip-

Come the early hours of the next morning, Mason and his team were still training, having gone the whole night. Mason did not want to waste a second of their time to practice and train in their new moves as well as perfect the system that he had been slowly working into his teams sessions for when they were in battle.

It was just nearing the point where Mason knew he would soon have to call his team in for a rest again when he heard the doors of the Centre open behind him. Mason didn't pay it any attention as he was focused on his teams training, watching each one of them closely to make sure they weren't overdoing it or were on the verge of collapse.

As he did so, he noticed Ash come up and stand beside him watching on also, he caught sight of him out of the corner of his eye, and his eyes widened a fraction at the sight of the nasal splint bandaged to his nose. Crap, had he actually broken Ash's nose when he punched him, the thought made him feel a little bad about his actions now, but not enough to regret them.

The two of them stood in silence for another minute or so before Mason eventually broke the silence.

"How's Pikachu doing?" he asked, deciding to break the ice with a fairly neutral topic.

"He's doing better," Ash replied, his voice a little rough, "Nurse Joy says that he should be fully recovered by this evening."

Mason nodded, "that's good." he said as they fell back into silence once more, neither of them knowing what to say to the other now. What could be said after what had happened.

Did Mason regret what he did? Hell no.

Would he do it again? Abso-fucking-lutely.

He had deliberately told Ash not to go challenging Surge without a plan and he'd gone and done it anyway, and Pikachu was the one suffering for it. Hell he'd probably slug him even harder now that he thought about it.

So was he going to apologize for what he'd done? Fuck no.

If that was why Ash had come out to him, expecting him to drop to his knees and say he was sorry for punching him and yelling at him, he had another thing coming.

But before he could outright say as much. Much to Mason's surprise. Ash was the one to turn to him and bow at his waist to him. Making Mason freeze at the gesture.

"I'm sorry," Ash said, causing Mason's brain to reboot for a second as Ash continued, "I didn't listen to you, I didn't listen to you even though you were only trying to help me. I disregarded the things you said because I thought that they didn't matter, and now… and now Pikachu is suffering because I didn't listen to you. You were right, what happened to Pikachu is all my fault. I'm to blame for everything."

Hearing Ash's words, Mason could feel the raw emotion and pain behind them, he could tell that Ash really regretted the way he had acted. Turning to him, Mason looked at his still bowed figure, his lips pressed thin as he thought carefully about his next words, remaining silent for several seconds before he finally spoke.

"It takes a certain kind of strength to admit one's own mistakes." Mason stated, "to recognize your own shortcomings. But another kind entirely to have the determination required to change yourself to fix them, to overcome your own flaws and to do what is needed. So my question to you, Ash, is, do you have what it takes?"

Ash straightened up as Mason finished speaking, and Mason was honestly impressed and a little startled by the look in Ash's eyes. They burned with passion and determination, with a will that he hadn't ever seen in them before, and Mason had to fight back a smirk that wanted to form on his lips at the sight. He had finally gotten through to him.

"Yes," Ash said a second later, "I don't want to ever feel like this again, to see my partner hurt like that, to know it was all my fault, because I wasn't taking things seriously enough. I don't want to see any of my Pokémon suffer because I wasn't treating them as a real trainer should."

Hearing Ash speak with such conviction in his voice brought a small smile to Mason's lips, this was what he wanted to hear.

"That's good Ash," Mason said before turning back to watch his team continue their training, "But right now their just words, if you want to convince me, then you need to fix your mistake, you need to prove you are going to take things seriously." he said plainly.

"I will," Ash said as he turned to watch Mason's team continue to train, and for another few minutes they just stood like that, in mutually satisfied silence, before Ash spoke again.

"I heard you before," Ash said breaking the silence, "earlier tonight, when you were talking to Brock and Misty," he revealed making Mason stiffen slightly, "I wanted to say I'm sorry. I had no idea my not taking things seriously made you feel like you did, like I was insulting your every attempt to get stronger, I didn't mean it."

Mason took a breath as he closed his eyes, he should have seen that coming, of course Ash would have overheard them, him and his fucking bullshit protagonist luck to be in just the right place at just the right time, such fucking bullshit.

"I understand Ash," Mason said after a moment, "you get excited at times and you want to rush into things, but it's..." he began to say, but Ash cut him off.

"No, it's not okay," Ash said shaking his head, "I know I'm worse than that, I know I act childish and immature, I know I don't even act like a trainer at times, I let my excitement get the better of me, I just…" he went to continue but Mason cut back in.

"If you'd let me finish," Mason said getting a little annoyed at being cut off, "I know how you are Ash, we've been traveling together long enough now for me to have a good understanding of you," he stated, "and you giving in to your excitement at times is understandable," he explained, "But, its okay, it's alright to be excited and to enjoy yourself. But you need to learn that there is a time and a place for it. But when it comes to training your team, preparing before a gym battle, or any battle in fact. Those are the times you need to learn to curb your excitement and be a trainer, so that your Pokémon don't suffer because you didn't have the self discipline to do so."

Ash simply nodded to Mason's words, taking in each of them, it really was that simple wasn't it. "Alright, I promise you, that from now on I'm going to act like a proper trainer should," he said before looking at Mason, "Can.. can I still ask you to help me?"

Mason sighed, "I want to believe you Ash, I really do, but no. Not this time. Get through this gym, prove to me that you mean what you say, that you are serious about turning over a new leaf, and then I'll start to help you again. Not before it." he said plainly.

Ash took a resigned breath and nodded, he could understand why Mason didn't want to help him, after he had offered him so many times in the past, only for him to waste them like he did, he could understand why he was hesitant to offer his help again.

"Alright, I will, I'll prove I'm not just talk," Ash said resigned to his task before he turned and walked back inside leaving Mason to oversee his team's training.

Mason heard the doors shut behind him and let out a sigh, he really hoped that this would be the turning point for Ash, to become the trainer that Mason knew he could be, to become the rival that he wanted. If this didn't stick Mason was about ready to just give up on him.

Shaking his head and putting Ash from his mind Mason turned his full attention back to his team, looking over their progress on each of their new moves and smirked as he saw the results, he had thought it might take a day or even two more before he was satisfied with their progress enough to say they were ready to take on Surge. But seeing what he did now, he was more than confident that they would be ready by the following night at the very earliest.

"Alright, that's enough, everyone fall in, we'll pick up our training for a few hours in the evening, but for now you all need rest" Mason said as he began to detach his Pokéballs from his belt and recalling each of his team to their balls before he turned himself in, wanting to get some sleep before he would force himself up to get back to training.

-Time skip-

It was just before lunchtime when Mason came out of his room stretching and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, having just woken up from his sleep, he was ready to get a bite to eat and get his team fed before they went back to the training area to get in a couple more hours training in before he went to challenge Surge himself.

When he rounded the corner to go into the cafeteria he bumped into Misty who was coming out.

"Wow, easy there," Misty smiled, "I'm not nearly as sturdy as the rest of you guys." she joked.

Mason yawned, "Sorry Misty, just woke up" he said as he walked around her.

"Just now?" Misty asked, "when did you stop training last night? it was at least two or three in the morning when me and Brock left you, and you were still going strong."

Mason shook his head as he walked over to the table full of lunch food and began to make himself up a plate, "I think it was about five… maybe six, before I turned in for the night."

"You mean turned it in for the morning," Misty shook her head, "it's nearly two in the evening."

Mason yawned again as he took his plate over to a table, "good, then it's not too late for lunch, and after this I can get my team fed before going back to train for a few hours more then before we rest up for Surge."

"You're planning to challenge him today?" Misty asked, her eyes widening slightly.

Mason nodded as he took up one of the bacon baps he had lifted, "Yep, I was going to hold off for a few days but after seeing the results from last nights training, I'm pretty confident that we can handle him," he said before taking a big bite out of his bap and swallowed a few seconds later, "plus I have a couple of strategies in mind to handle whatever he throws at us."

Misty nodded, "I see, well then, need a hand after you eat? Brock and Ash are, hold up, back in our room, as soon as Ash woke up earlier he asked Brock and me to help him strategize for when he plans to challenge Surge again. I gave what advice I could before I left them to it. When I left they were talking about how to go about training Pikachu to make better use of it's speed to counter Surge's Raichu."

Mason looked up at her when he heard that, swallowing the last of his first bacon bap. It would seem that Ash was actually getting serious about things now, that was good, but if he would stick with it was still to be seen.

"Sure," Mason smirked, "given that I have eight Pokémon who need feeding now, I could use the extra hands," he said before he began to devour the rest of his food.

It was twenty minutes later when Misty and Mason were out in the training area, with bowls full of specially mixed Pokémon food were all laid out and ready.

"I've got to thank Brock for going out and picking up the extra supplies yesterday evening," Mason said with a smirk, "it completely slipped my mind while I was out."

"Well you did have a rough afternoon yesterday," Misty told him, "so it's understandable."

Mason sighed and nodded as he took his Pokéballs from his belt and tossed them all out, "Alright everyone, grub time~" he said as his team appeared in a burst of red flashes of light.

Hearing his words, his Pokémon all gave a cheer and all came over to their designated bowls, another thing he had to thank Brock for.

"It looks like they all worked up quite the appetite," Misty commented as she glanced from them to the training grounds, seeing all the damages from their training the night and morning before.

Mason nodded, "yea, a lot of that was just getting them to get a handle on, and then perfect the new moves I taught them with my monthly batch of TMs" he said as he sat down at the picnic table.

"So you cashed in your first allowance?" Misty asked, "what moves did you get?"

Mason smirked, "a few that will all but guarantee our win when we face surge, I've got contingency plans for whatever it is that he tries to throw at me," he said with confidence, "the market had the full selection of TMs, even the rarer ones, I was able to make take my pick from everything currently available, not that it was a lot."

Misty nodded, "Yeah, last I checked there were only fifty or so moves on the current TM listings, but those are the rarer moves that are harder for Pokémon to learn" she explained, "they wanted to release more, but pricing and ownership of certain moves came into question, some people wanted credit for discovering certain moves, others claimed they learned them first, it got testy when TMs were first introduced."

Mason snorted, "Yeah I can see why they chose to go down the route that they did with making it so that only move researchers being able to submit moves for TMs, and us only getting a cut of the profits to keep people from arguing, if we want to keep claiming royalties we have to keep submitting moves or a our royalties slowly trickle down," he said shaking his head, it had been a part of the contract he had to sign with Bill when he signed up. Every move researcher had a twelve month grace period between submitting moves, after which their royalties are cut by half, and if they don't submit one a further six months after that their royalties are cut off completely. But since he had submitted so many moves at once, his grace period was twice that as he was deemed to be a high quality asset.

"It's what was best," Misty mused, "with so many trainers from so many regions making claims it was the only way to prevent further arguments, and given that any move researcher needs to have someone of high standing vouching for them to get the position, the job is very hard to get,"

Mason snorted, "Yeah or wait the twelve month period it would take for both Silph Co and Devon Corporation to do a deep dive on your whole life before that point to make sure you aren't just trying to rip them off," he mused, yet another thing Bill had told him, and one reason he was more than pleased with Bill for vouching for him, given his lack of history in this world, he didn't want people looking into his nonexistent past. It would mean a lot of questions would be asked that he didn't want to answer, at least not yet until he had a good reputation behind him so that people wouldn't make him disappear.

It wasn't long after that when Mason's team finished eating and he clapped his hands to get everyone's attention once more.

"Alright, now that everyone's eaten it's time to get back to some last minute training, we are challenging Surge tonight, so I want everyone at their best" Mason stated plainly.

"Squirtle, Poliwhirl," Mason ordered, "I want you two into position practicing your aim with Bubblebeam, now that Squirtle has it down, I want the air filled with bubbles everywhere."

"Spearow, I want you in the air seconds after they start, combo one, clear the bubbles as fast as they can send them, your goal is to prevent them from turning the sky above into a bubble bath" Mason ordered.

The three Pokémon nodded before they began moving off into the training area to start. Mason then looked to his other Pokémon.

"Dratini, I want you with Growlithe, she almost has Fire Blast down packed after your first few hours together, once she has it up to par I want you practicing with thunderbolt," Mason told his partner, "just because you got two of the five TMs I got, doesn't mean you get to slack, they were to give you better coverage, now you have to master them, get to work, once you have thunderbolt down to an art, I want you practicing your combos, got it."

Dratini and Growlithe nodded and went off to get to work. Mason then looked to Golbat and Scyther, "you two back to sparing, remember wing attacks only, focus on hardening your wings as hard as you can and make sure to pace yourselves, trying to learn a new move that isn't the same typing as either of you won't be easy but I have faith in you both"

Scyther and Golbat nodded and went off just like the others. And Mason looked to the last member of his roster, Cubone.

"You know what to do little guy, get to work, we'll all be counting on you if things go as I think they will," Mason told him with a smirk.

Cubone gave a cry and raised his club in a salute and went off to get to work on his own training.

Misty looked quite impressed as she watched Mason give out his training orders, "well you certainly seem to know exactly what you're doing, that was impressive."

Mason smirked, "thanks, I do try to keep them all active with aims in mind when we are training."

Misty nodded, "I do have a couple of questions though, like what you meant when you told Spearow to use Combo one, and then again when you told Dratini to practice combo one and two."

Mason chuckled, "its my future strategies for battles, calling out multiple moves can take a bit too long so I've made up combos of various moves they know that work well together, so in battle I'll only have to call out the combo number and they will know what to do, and at the same time it keeps my opponents clueless about what's going on."

Misty gawked at him when she heard that, "that's… actually, that's pretty smart, tricky but very smart."

Mason nodded, "yep, it's tricky to arrange good combos that work, but each one that I've come up with so far work really well together in practice so far."

Misty nodded, "so what's the combos then?" she asked.

Mason grinned and pointed to Spearow, "see Spearow's combo one for yourself." he said as Spearow dove head first towards a stream of bubbles that was spreading out.

Misty looked up and watched, as Spearow suddenly sped up drastically in the air before multiple copies of itself appeared and then each one of them began using aerial aces to pop bubbles one after the other faster than she could track.

"Was that Agility followed by a double team and then that move Aerial ace?" Misty asked as she pieced everything together.

Mason nodded, "yep, I call it Mirage Ace," he stated, "Agility makes Spearow even faster, then using double team right after makes it nearly impossible to track him when he and all his doubles start using aerial ace all over, if Aerial ace was impossible to dodge when it was just Spearow, doing it when there are multiple each of them going much faster than normal makes it completely impossible, and when done on repeat…" he said as his smirk turned into a Cheshire cat grin as the dozen Spearow above shot around above at insane speeds popping all the bubbles as fast as Squirtle and Poliwhirl could make them, "well I think the results speak for themselves."

Misty swallowed, "multiple fast attacks, that can't be dodged, hitting over and over again…" she said as she looked at Mason with a little trepidation, "is it wrong to be grateful that you are only just coming up with these combos now, after you beat me" she chuckled, "dare I ask what the two combos are that you told Dratini to practice."

Mason smirked, "well you know how Dratini now knows both Fire Blast and Dragon breath?" he mused, "what do you think would happen if you combined either of them with a powerful draconic wind attack, like say Twister?"

Misty's eyes went wide as she found her mind racing at the kind of damage a combo attack like that could do and Mason chuckled, "precisely" seeing her gob-smacked look.

After a few seconds Misty came back to herself and looked at Mason, the images of his combo attacks in her mind, and instantly any worries she had about him ever possibly losing to Surge vanished completely. So leaving him to his training she went in search of Brock and Ash, Mason clearly didn't need her help as much as Ash did.

-Time Skip-

It was two hours later that Mason finally called an end to his teams final training session, he knew everyone was ready for whatever Surge could throw at them, and he wanted each of them to take the next while to rest up inside their Pokéballs for the next few hours before the fight in order to be ready for whichever one of them he would choose to battle with.

As he came back into the front entrance hall however he was met with the sight of Ash, coming in from the front of the Centre, wearing a pair of black running shorts and a black vest top, looking very out of breath as Pikachu came running alongside him.

Mason had to blink twice to make sure he wasn't seeing things, "Um what?" he began to say before Ash spotted him.

"Oh… Hey Mason… you done… training…" Ash panted out as he hunched himself over to lean on his knees as he tried to regain his breath.

"Um yeah… what's…" Mason was about to ask when Brock came in with a large bottle of water in his hand.

"Oh hey Mason," Brock greeted him before handing Ash the bottle of water, "here ya go Ash drink up, best to stay hydrated"

Ash took the bottle and began to drink it like a man who hadn't had a drink in weeks, leaving Mason even more dumbfounded at the sight.

Brock shook his head before looking to see Mason's confusion and he chuckled, "Ash settled on a solid strategy for the next time he faces Surge, since Pikachu doesn't want to evolve, we're going to use his smaller size and speed to his advantage, So as soon as Pikachu was cleared by Nurse Joy, Ash has been out helping Pikachu train up his speed, having him run ahead of him using quick attack and then doing the same coming back, while he ran five miles himself" he explained.

Mason nodded as he let that sink in. It would appear that things had went the same way as in the canon events, with Pikachu refusing to evolve in order to beat Raichu, and Brock had suggested the same strategy of using Pikachu's higher speed and maneuverability to his advantage, it was a solid play.

"Yeah," Ash said having gotten his breath back, and wiping the sweat from his brow, "now I'm gonna head out to the training area to have Pikachu run lap and change direction every few seconds when I call out, get him used to changing direction quickly so he doesn't develop tunnel vision."

Now that brought Mason up short again, tunnel vision, maneuverability, changing direction, these were things the old Ash would have never have thought about in the canon… hell Mason doubted when even at his best in the canon he would have thought about those things… then it clicked. In the canon… Ash was ten, he wasn't smart enough to think about those things but here.... Ash was fifteen. Here, Ash was smarter. Just what kind of potential this Ash would have now that he was taking things seriously from this early on… It made Mason want to grin with anticipation and a need to see it.

Ash handed the water bottle back to Brock, "come on Pikachu, we need to get started if we want to have any rest time between training and going to challenge Surge later for our rematch" he said as he walked toward the back training area.

Mason blinked when he heard that, "wait, you're planning on challenging Surge again, tonight?" he asked as his words registered.

Ash stopped and looked back at him, "Well yea, now that we know how to win, and we have a solid plan, once I'm sure Pikachu can change his direction instantly I plan on going back to challenge him again after dinner, why?"

"Um," Mason said smirking, "It's just I was planning to challenge him after dinner also," he said, making both Ash and Brock look at him in shock.

"You're planning to challenge him already?" Brock asked, "Don't you normally leave it a few days after you've arrived somewhere to make your challenge?"

Mason shrugged, "well yeah, I can see where you're coming from, that was my plan when I faced both you and Misty" he stated, "but here it's different, we've been on the road for weeks, I've had plenty of chances to train with my team on the way here, plus I knew in advance what Surges gym specialized in, so I've had plans in place on how to counter him in a battle. And after seeing how ready my team is I don't want to wait much longer before I issue my challenge" he explained.

Hearing him explain things both Ash and Brock could see his way of thinking, he had been preparing well in advance and now he was confident that he could win he didn't want to wait.

"Um, do you mind if I battled Surge before you then?" Ash asked, "it's just Pikachu really wants to get a rematch against his Raichu, and if you're so confident you're going to win, then chances are Raichu wouldn't be able to battle again anytime soon after."

Mason thought for a moment before shrugging, "if you want a shot at Raichu, and Surge has more than one Pokémon" he said before grinning, "then I say go for it if you think you and Pikachu are ready, I'm not going to get in your way of getting your payback as long as it's guaranteed that I can have my match after yours"

Brock nodded, "I wouldn't worry about that, Gyms are required to have more than just one Pokémon, it would mean that trainers would have to wait every time the leader lost a single match"

Ash grinned at that, "great," he said before looking down at Pikachu, "come on, lets get to training," he said as they both turned and ran off to the back training area.

Mason shook his head as he watched him go, "Damn, he really is taking this seriously now isn't he."

Brock looked at him with an arched eyebrow, "I thought that was what you wanted, him to take things seriously."

Mason grinned, "Oh I do, I just wish he had done it sooner, it's now I'm going to have to wait for him to train the rest of his team up before I can challenge him to a proper battle," he said before shaking his head as he started to walk towards the cafeteria, "Oh well, the waiting will just make the battles we'll have that much sweeter~" he laughed

-Time skip-

It was after a hearty dinner, and a quick freshening up that Mason joined the others as they headed to the Vermillion city gym. Since the others had already been there before, Mason just followed along behind them, content enough to let things fall as they may, he'd get his battle one way or another.

But as they walked Mason looked around expectantly. He remembered this episode of the canon. How Team Rocket had witnessed Pikachu's defeat at the hands of Raichu, and how they originally ambushed the group on their return to the gym disguised as "the challengers cheerleading squad" wanting to cheer Pikachu along and support him in his desire to defeat Raichu. But when the gym came into sight and there was still no sign of the three idiots, Mason brushed his worries about them off. With any luck Alakazam had thrown them to another region when he psychically blasted them off the cliff back at Bill's lighthouse since they hadn't seen them in days.

When they came up outside of the gym, the doors to the gym opened and Mason had to actually look up as LT Surge stepped out with a smug look on his face. Mason had to give him this, the guy was huge, easily seven foot tall, and built like a brick shit house. The guy looked like he could bench press three Ash's and that wasn't even being generous.

"Well well, what do we have here," Surge grinned as he saw them, "did the baby come back for another beating?" he asked before he saw this, "and look you even brought another baby to watch you take your beating before getting one of his own." he said smugly.

"Things aren't going to be like last time Surge," Ash said with narrowed eyes.

"Ha," Surge barked out a laugh, "I wouldn't be so sure about that," he mused before jerking his chin at Pikachu, "you didn't even make your Pikachu evolve, this wont even be a fair fight." he smirked before looking to Mason, "and what about you baby number two."

Mason gave him a flat look, "I came to kick your ass once Ash gets through pulling your head out of it."

Surge threw his head back in a great big belly laugh after mason finished speaking, "Ha, you've got balls to say that to me ya brat" he laughed with a glint in his eye, "just for that I'll make your friend here lose quick so I can get to your beating extra quick" he added before turning and waving them inside as he went in himself.

Mason followed the others inside the gym, only to discover the place was one giant stadium battle field, spotlights above lit up the field even brighter than it would have been in the middle of the day with the sun coming in from the many windows around the upper area of the large room. But given that it was now getting dark outside that would have been difficult.

Surge walked over and took his place on the Gym leader's side of the battlefield as his Raichu got up from the spot it had been relaxing in and came running over. That was when Mason first got a look at it, and he could see how it had been strong enough to remain undefeated here for as long as it had. Mason could tell just by looking it was well trained and powerful.

"Well let's not waste any time shall we, let's do this thing" Surge called out as the referee who was sitting on a side bench next to the battle field stood up and looked between them as Ash stepped forward with Pikachu next to him.

"The challenger Ash Ketchum, from Pallet town, using a Pikachu, will now face the Gym leader, LT Surge, using his Raichu" the referee announced, "the Pokémon will battle one on one with no time limit, the battle will continue until either side's single Pokémon can no longer battle or either side forfeits the match." he continued as he took out a small remote from his pocket, "let the battle, begin," the referee then pushed the button and a bell rang out from above them.

"Let's go Pikachu, Agility go!" Ash commanded as Pikachu took off from his place beside Ash.

Surge just smirked as he watched Pikachu take off, "So you've been planning some new way to lose have ya, that's funny" Surge mocked, "Raichu, stop it dead with a mega punch"

Pikachu shot towards Raichu building speed as he went, as he got close Pikachu moved to evade the powerful fist coming towards him, putting in just enough momentum that he avoided the most of it, getting caught by the very edge and sent tumbling.

"Don't give up yet Pikachu, Agility, keep it going," Ash ordered as Mason crossed his arms as he stood by Misty and Brock watching. Something wasn't adding up with him.

Surge laughed, "you're not going to win if you don't attack ya baby, Raichu, rope it in and use Mega kick"

Pikachu once more took off, gaining speed at a faster rate than it had before, but as it neared Raichu it took a wider birth this time, clearly wanting to keep out of its physical range, but as soon as it was close enough Raichu's much longer tail lashed out and caught Pikachu's tail with and pulled it in as it's foot reared back and began to glow before it threw it out in a powerful kick catching Pikachu right in the gut and sending it into the air with a cry of pain.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried out in worry, as his fists clenched at his side.

Mason on the other hand was mentally running over things in his mind, mega kick and mega punch, Mason was sure that those two moves weren't something that Pikachu or Raichu learned just through training, and since that he had learned that TMs were a thing in this world, that made him worry about just what other TMs Surge had loaded his Raichu up with.

He didn't have to wait long, as Surge clearly wasn't playing around, "Go Raichu, end this Double Edge!"

At the order Raichu dropped to all fours and raced towards Pikachu who was struggling to get up after the devastating kick it had taken. As Raichu got closer it looked as though it was all over, when suddenly Pikachu's eyes sharpened and it shot off to the left with a burst of speed avoiding Raichu entirely.

Ash grinned, "there we go, now we can win" he said with a victorious smirk on his face as Raichu came to a halt and swung around to face Pikachu.

Surge much to Mason's concern didn't seem worried in the slightest, "oh? So you think just because you managed to gain a little speed and avoid one attack you think you've got this in the bag do ya" he said with a snort, "sorry to break it to ya baby but you have a lot to learn"

"We'll see about that, Pikachu let's go, quick attack!" Ash ordered.

Pikachu, even faster than before, began to race around Raichu keeping well out of his range before shooting in fast to tackle Raichu where he stood.

But Surge just smirked, "Raichu, Do your thing"

Pikachu was almost about to land his attack when suddenly Raichu blurred away it's speed increasing drastically as it did so.

Brock inhaled sharply when he saw that, "what, but Surge said he evolved his Raichu when it was young, how could it know agility too" he said his eyes narrowed as he tried to think how this was possible.

But it clicked with Mason sooner than it had with Brock, as he had already begun thinking about what TMs Surge could have had Raichu learn, and since he was Agility wasn't one that was currently available, that left only one option.

"Mimic," Mason said in plain tone getting his three friends' attention, "Raichu knows the T M move Mimic, it used it to copy Pikachu's Agility."

Surge laughed, "ha, a smart brat too, that's right" Surge said as he held his arms out, "you think you're the first to try and take advantage of my Raichu's speed weakness, I'm not some snot nosed punk your battling just for kicks, I've been at this a long time kiddies, well before TMs were a thing so when they came out you can bet I picked up plenty to help cover whatever weaknesses my guys had, so you're going have to do better than that if you think a little bit of speed is going to help you beat us, better luck next time baby," he grinned, "Raichu, light'm up, Thunderbolt!"

Raichu grinned as his cheeks sparked followed by its whole body as it showed just why it was the end of its evolution line, letting off multiple branches of lightning from its body that tore through the arena floor and ripped through the air, shattering the windows around the arena making Misty, Brock and Mason have to quickly move to avoid the falling shattered glass.

As the dust from the battlefield cleared Pikachu could be seen on the ground his body twitching from being hit by the powerful electric attack, but slowly it pushed itself to its feet, not willing to back down.

"Pikachu," Ash said in a low voice, he squeezed his fists by his sides as his expression hardened into one of determination, "if you're not backing down neither am I, I've got your back, The plans still on, Agility let's go"

Pikachu nodded and shot forward pushing through his pain as he sped around the uneven arena floor.

Surge snorted, "you're ballsy I'll give ya that kid, Raichu, use agility too, match its speed, then smash it with a double edge"

Raichu grinned as he threw himself onto all fours and took off as well, shooting after Pikachu who was moving in a blur of motions across the now uneven terrain.

"Keep going Pikachu, stay ahead of it" Ash called as Raichu started to bear down on him.

"There's nowhere to run to kid," Surge grinned, "Raichu end this, Double edge" he commanded.

Raichu gave a cry as it caught up with Pikachu, it's body pulsing with a powerful energy as he threw himself at Pikachu.

But just as it got close, Pikachu swerved out of the way pulling a sharp turn and dodging to the left, Raichu tried to follow but turned to slowly veering off, and not watching where it's feet were going causing it to trip on the uneventful ground and go face first into the ground, hard.

That was when Mason realized it, and he was sure Ash had as well if the look in his eyes was anything to go by, Raichu may be able to match Pikachu's speeds, but he was unused to them, he couldn't turn as sharply as Pikachu could. Raichu still had a weakness, one that his evolving too soon had left, and one that couldn't be covered up with TMs. They could still win.

"Pikachu, quick attack, keep on your toes" Ash called

Surge frowned, "Raichu, get up, show these punks just who you are" he growled.

Raichu got to his feet, a scowl on his face matching his masters as Pikachu raced around the battlefield making sharp turns and moves trying to confuse his opponent as he moved in to strike, but Raichu's eyes followed his every move as he planted his feet and squared his shoulders as he drew his head back, mouth open.

Mason's eyes widened when he saw the stance Raichu took, his mind racing, no Surge couldn't have, but he had.

"Raichu! hyper beam!" Surge roared.

Raichu's head shot forward and a powerful beam shot from its mouth toward Pikachu, who's eyes widened as it jumped trying to clear the blast.

The beam caused an explosion as it toot through the ground and the gym wall in its patch before it's trajectory continued upward, cutting off just before it reached the ceiling.

Dust filled the stadium as everyone struggled to see what had happened. Surge smirked, "and that's all she wrote" he said confidently, evidently not thinking any Pikachu could have survived that blast, and he would be right. Had it made contact.

As the dust cleared Raichu stood taking deep breaths on the field trying to recover from the massive amount of energy the Hyper beam had cost him. While across from him, Pikachu got to his feet, having just narrowly avoided the attack and only looking a little worse off than he had been.

"What!" Surge yelled in shock.

Ash however grinned, "your hyper beam was too slow Surge, that's what. Pikachu, end this, Quick attack into Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu gave a victorious cry as he sped forward and caught Raichu square in the gut with his quick attack, the larger electric mouse Pokémon still too exhausted to move, as Pikachu used him as a springboard to launch himself up and driving an thunderbolt charged tail straight into his face that knocked Raichu off his feet and backwards, crashing into the ground hard, knocking it out on impact.

The battlefield side bell rings instantly as the referee raised his hand into the air, "the battle is over, the winner is Ash Ketchum from Pallet town"

Mason grinned as he watched Ash throw his hands up in the air as he ran over to pick up Pikachu in celebration of their win, Ash had definitely pulled this win all on his own. And he couldn't help but feel his excitement growing, why, because he was up next.

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(Ha bet you thought I was going to leave it there didn't ya, na I'm not that cruel)

-Time skip-

After Surge awarded Ash's third gym badge, the Thunder badge. He turned his eyes on Mason.

"So how about it brat, you still feel like facing me after seeing how rough a time your friend had beating me?" Surge asked him with a grin.

Mason matched his grin, "oh you have to be kidding me, if anything watching that battle has left me even more pumped for our battle, I can only hope that it's as good after that show, all depending on you actually lasting long enough to put on the show that is"

Surge laughed as he walked back to his position on the battlefield, "we'll see about that, what's yer name brat"

Mason moved to his position as Ash took up his old spot with Brock pulling out some potions to start to tend to Pikachu's injuries.

"Mason, Mason Storm" Mason called as he moved his coat out of the way to show the eight Pokéballs on his belt, ready to pick one of them for when the battle began.

Surge grinned, "well then Mason, you're in luck cause I have a treat for ya, I don't often get to show this Pokémon off, but for a smart mouth like you I'll make an exception" he said as he reached around and plucked a Pokéball from his belt tossing it out onto the uneven battle field.

Mason watched to see what Pokémon he would be facing so that he could choose just which of his strategies he would be going with, but when it appeared he had to stop all together and think exactly about what he was seeing.

The Pokémon that appeared on the field was a very powerful looking Magneton, it's six magnets sparking with electricity as it hovered above the battlefield, but what caused Masons brain to malfunction was its color, it was gold.

'A fucking shiny Magneton!!!' Mason internally yelled, his inner Pokémon fanboy going off at the sight of a legitimate shiny Pokémon in front of him. It took him a couple of seconds to calm himself down internally, and to stop going ga-ga over it, to think and rationalize his thoughts.

One, shiny Pokémon exist in this world, check.

Two, this shiny Pokémon already has an owner, and Surge sure as hell wasn't about to trade him it.

Once those thoughts registered with him, his rational brain reasserted itself and he selected his choice of Pokémon for battle.

He plucked the correct Pokéball from his belt, and took a second to mentally prepare himself. As he was about to do the singular most painful thing that anyone who has ever played through a Pokémon game, and found themselves in this exact scenario, ever had to do. Face to face with a shiny Pokémon, one that they could not catch, and cannot run from, where they are left with only one choice, and that is….to make the shiny Pokémon faint.

"Cubone, Ready for battle!" Mason yelled as Cubone appeared from his Pokéball, holding his club at the ready, looking as fierce as something sixteen inches tall could.

Surge arched an eyebrow seeing Cubone and smirked, "So you're going with a typing are ya?"

Mason shrugged his shoulders, "I'd be an idiot not to use every advantage I have in a battle with someone who has years of experience in battles on me, I'm not about to give that up just because some people find it unsporting."

Surge gave a chuckle, "fair enough kid, but don't think just because my electric moves can't hurt yer Cubone that this match is going to be a walk in the park" he grinned, "Magneton, knock that little punk out with a Double-edge"

Magneton gave a buzzing confirmation before it shot forward at an impressive speed it's golden body glowing as it came in fast towards Cubone, but Cubone showed that his size wasn't just for show as he leaped off the ground and jumped right over Magneton as it shot under him.

"What the?!" Surge said in shock at the sudden jump, "fast little thing, ain't he" he commented making Mason smirk.

"That's not the only thing surprising about him," Mason said before his grin widened, "Cubone, heat things up!"

At Mason's command, Cubone opened his mouth and let out a billow of flames straight down at Magneton, catching the magnet Pokémon off guard and launching it across the battlefield and crashing into the gym's wall.

"Wow, since when could Cubone do that," Ash asked as Misty and Brock looked equally as stunned on either side of him.

"Since I loaded my team up with TMs this morning, I wanted to give Cubone something to cover his grass type weakness" Mason grinned over his shoulder, "Fire blast seemed to fit the bill for him and Dratini."

Surge snorted with a grin, "not bad brat," he said before throwing his thumb over his shoulder towards the wall Magneton was now rising out of, looking badly battered but still able to fight, "But not good enough,"

"What, but fire is meant to be super effective against steel types, and that was a direct hit," Ash said with wide eyes, "how did that attack not end this in one hit."

Mason clicked his teeth as he narrowed his eyes, "it would have, but that is one, Sturdy, Magneton" he mused with a grin.

Surge caught his word play and smirked, "good eye kid, not many can spot Magneton's ability right away, but then again, not many can boast of almost taking down my Magneton in one hit, you won't be getting a second shot, Hyper beam!"

"Not this shit again," Mason grumbled, "Cubone, Shake things up!"

Magneton buzzed and pointed all its magnets into a point as an ball of energy began to gather, but Cubone upon hearing Mason's order raised his club and struck the ground hard, causing the entire building to begin to shake, and large jagged spikes of rock to start to shoot up from the ground in a line heading right for Magneton.

"Nice try kid, Magneton, Teleport!" Surge smirked.

A second before the directed earthquake would have hit, Magneton disappeared in a flash as the attack missed, and a split second later Magneton reappeared in the air above Cubone, facing down its magnets still aimed and primed.

"What!" Mason said in disbelief seeing Magneton primed to fire still.

"Fire!" Surge ordered as Magneton let loose the powerful hyper beam directly downward.

The blast hit hard, causing a large explosion and a massive dust cloud to be whipped up, as everyone shielded their eyes from the blast.

'I'm getting sick of these freaking dust clouds' Mason grumbled in his mind as he tried to pier through the dust, he couldn't see Cubone anywhere, but then he saw it and a grin came to his face, 'clever little guy' he thought as he heard Surge on the other side of the battle field.

"Well that's that," Surge said with confidence as the dust began to settle only for his eyes to widen when he didn't see Cubone anywhere, only a large crater where he had been, "what the, where'd it go."

Mason grinned, "where he's right at home, Cubone, Fire Blast one more time!"

At Mason's command, the crater where Cubone had been erupted, as Cubone burst from the deep hole he had dug in order to escape the hyper beam's direct hit. Cubone launched himself from that very hole, looking battered and revealing he hadn't escaped the hyper beam fully but still had plenty of energy left, as he opened his maw and once again let out a torrent of flames directly from below Magneton who couldn't move due to being too exhausted after firing the hyper beam.

All Magneton could do was widen its eyes as it was hit directly by the torrent of flames for a second time and sent up into the air like a rocket, only to crash into the ceiling seconds after before falling back down and crashing into the ground with a heavy thud, its eyes swirling indicating its status.

Once more the bell rang, and with that the battle was over. Mason grinned and threw his hands up into the air, "we did it!" he yelled.

Cubone grinned and raised his Club up into the air with a pleased cry, a split second before his entire body began to glow and change.

The sudden evolution brought everyone up short for a split second, before Mason smirked, "It's about time," he shook his head.

Brock looked at Mason curiously, "what do you mean? Did you expect Cubone was close to evolving?" he asked

Mason grinned and nodded, "ever since I first saw the little guy battle, he knew moves that were very advanced for his species. Something tells me that his last trainer just didn't have what it took in order to…" Mason began to say but his words died off as Cubone finished evolving, Only he didn't look like Mason had expected him to.

Cubone, now Marowak, stood at a meter in height, but it didn't look normal at all, its skin was black and its features were darker. Its bone club was larger and blue flames engulfed both it's ends.

Mason, brought up short for a second time, recognized Marowak's form, but he was absolutely befuddled as to just how it was possible.

Surge arched an eyebrow as he recalled his magneton, "well well, that's not something you see very often," he mused as he walked over, "know what you got there kid?" he asked.

Mason nodded, "I do, but I don't understand how it's possible," he said, still trying to work out how his Cubone had evolved into a freaking Alolan Marowak.

Surge arched an eyebrow at his confusion, "Just how exactly did you meet that Cubone?" he asked.

And so Mason told him, hoping he could know just how this had happened, as one look at Misty, Brock and Ash, showed they were just as clueless as he was.

Listening carefully to Mason's story about how he caught Cubone after he had been abandoned by a student from Pokémon Tech, he snorted, "Well that right there's your answer then" he said as if it explained everything.

"Care to enlighten us then?" Mason asked, curious as to what his thoughts were.

Surge smirked, "Ain't it obvious? About ninety percent of those who go to that Pokémon tech are snobby brats who couldn't catch a Pokémon to save their lives. The only way they have one is if their rich mommies and daddies buy them for'em, the more expensive the better." he said with distaste in his tone towards the end.

Hearing that Mason nodded as he looked to Marowak who was still looking himself over, as well as his new club. It made since, it was never revealed in the canon where Cubone had came from, and he and Giselle were never seen after that singular episode, so it was possible. He certainly wasn't going to complain it was a welcome addition to his team as far as he was concerned.

"Congratulations Marowak," Mason said as he put his hand on his Pokémon's shoulder, "I bet you're way stronger now too"

Marowak looked up to Mason and gave him a grin before nodding his head. Making mason smirk, "Excellent," he praised, before Surge cleared his throat to get his attention.

"Yeah, congrats, and here," Surge said as he tossed Mason something.

Mason caught it in his hand before looking at it and smirked, it was the Thunder badge, his Thunder badge. Mason looked to Ash and the pair of them shared a smirk.

"that's three down," Ash said grinning

"And only five more to go" Mason added as he tossed his Thunder badge into the air and caught it again in a closed fist.