Chapter Sixteen- the final blow

It was four days after they had left the lighthouse that Mason, Ash, Misty and Brock finally set eyes on the gateway into Vermillion City. All four of them looked exhausted, and filthy, after their long journey. The past four days especially hadn't been easy after they had once more gotten lost on their travels.

As Mason set eyes on the gates into the city he dramatically dropped to his knees as he threw his hands into the air, "this is proof! There is a god out there and he is merciful!"

"Oh I can't wait to take a bubble bath," Misty said as her eyes sparkled, her face looking grimy and her hair an absolute mess.

"I have to hit the laundry mat" Brock said as he hefted a secondary bag atop his first that was full of his filthy clothing.

"Forget both of those," Mason said, as he stood up waving them off, "first thing on the list if a long hot shower and a fresh set of clothes, then I'm hitting the cafeteria in the Pokémon Centre and chowing down on three… no four bacon cheese burgers and as man fries as I can get my hands on." he declared passionately, "three days, three days of nothing but dry rations after our fresh food supplies ran out," he stated, his tone as if he was speaking of a great horror, "never again."

Brock nodded, "Good plan," he said agreeing, "I'm going to have to get another storage pod to see about bringing more fresh supplies with us before we leave, three days is a bit too long to be surviving on just dry rations alone."

"Well I'm going right out to find the Vermillion City gym," Ash declared, "my third badge is calling my name!" he said and went to start heading off into the city, only to be pulled to a stop by Brock.

"Hold it Ash," Brock said as he hauled him back by his collar before pointing down at his feet, where Pikachu had slumped to the ground, "going by how weak Pikachu looks, you'd better go with Mason's plan first and get your Pokémon checked into the Centre to get a check up," he stated, "we've had to ration their supplies as well, though not as badly as we would have had if Mason and I hadn't stocked up before we left Cerulean."

Ash bent down and picked up Pikachu who was looking none too energetic and sighed, "I guess you're right" he said before his own stomach grumbled, and he chuckled sheepishly, "I guess I could go for one of those bacon cheese burgers as well, come to think about it."

"Then what are we waiting for," Mason said with a hungry look in his eye, "let's get a move on!" he cheered as they all started to leg it into the city to look for the Pokémon Centre.

-Time skip-

Luckily enough it didn't take them long at all to find the Pokémon Centre, but when they got there they were met with a rather hectic sight. One that Mason was not expecting.

A plethora of Chansey were running back and forth pushing gurneys with injured Pokémon on them with the Pokémon's trainers running behind them, as Nurse Joy stood atop a chair calling out orders in the chaos.

"What's going on?" Mason asked confused for a moment before realization struck him as he remembered how Surge liked to thrash his opponents, 'guess he's taking it a step up this time for some reason or another, or are we just here early' he thought to himself before their arrival was noticed by Nurse Joy.

"Oh no," Joy said as she jumped down from the chair and came over to them, "is this another one of Surge's doings, I swear I am going to ring that man's neck at this rate, he's been like this all week with challengers."

"Um, no we just got into town, and our Pokémon are exhausted from the trip," Ash said as he held out Pikachu to her.

Nurse Joy took Pikachu and checked him over, nodding, "I see, exhausted and looking to be a bit on the hungry side," she sighed in relief, "nothing a good meal and a long nap won't fix" she assured him.

"Um we were hoping to get our other Pokémon checked over as well," Ash supplied.

Joy nodded, "alright but you'll have to get in line as your cases aren't critical like some others," she told them and gestured to the waiting area as she turned away, "I swear if this goes on for one more day I'm going to go down there myself and tear that Surge a new one." she scowled as she walked off.

That made it click in Mason's mind, they were early, Surge must have just slowed down his thrashings later on after he got his ear chewed off by Nurse Joy for making her job so difficult.

'Guess I must have sped things up when I wasn't paying attention' Mason thought to himself, before he called out to Nurse Joy, "then can I get a room Key then, I'd like to shower change and rest while things calm down."

Nurse Joy looked over her shoulder and nodded, "sure, just go to the front desk and a Chancy will be along to see you when one's free." she told him.

Mason nodded his thanks and looked to the others, "well, I'm gonna go clean up before I get something to eat and then start strategizing" he said gesturing to the Pokémon on gurneys, "if the gym leader around here is this rough on his opponents I want to be prepared," he said as he turned and started to walk to the front desk, "I'd suggest you do the same Ash once your Pokémon are healed up, don't go jumping in before you have a plan."

Ash just dumbly nodded as he looked at all the injured Pokémon being rushed around as Mason walked away, not really paying attention to anything else.

-Time skip-

Luckily it had only taken about twenty or so minutes before a Chansey had been free to come to get Mason a key for a single room to use for his stay. Taking the key Mason left the still chaotic front of the Pokémon Centre for the quiet of the trainer sleeping area.

Getting in Mason was quick to strip down and hop into a warm shower, taking time to wash all the grime off himself and pull on his last set of clean clothes, making a note to ask Brock to take his washing out to the laundry mat when he was going with his own.

Now feeling much better Mason decided it was time that he sorted his team out before he did anything else, he hadn't had a chance to get his other two Pokémon from Professor Oak while on the road, so taking out his Pokégear he called the professor up.

"Hello, ah Mason is that you?" Professor Oak said as his face appeared on the small screen of Mason's Pokégear, "where are you calling me from, you're a little close to the screen."

"We just arrived in Vermillion City, Professor. I'm calling you from my room via my Pokégear that Bill gave me after he signed me up as an AF move researcher," Mason explained.

"Ah I see, that's excellent news, I had planned to sponsor you for such a position myself, but I didn't know if you would be interested in it yet or not," Oak explained, "I take it you're calling me to transfer you your Squirtle and Growlithe then, as you can carry a team of eight now?"

Mason nodded, "yep, I'll be strategizing for my next gym battle shortly and I want to have all my options available to me for that."

Oak nodded, "very well, Growlithe has recovered enough now to be battle fit, but she still needs to be kept on the new diet for a few more weeks yet, will that be a problem?" he asked.

Mason shook his head, "nope, I'll call you back later once the transfers are complete and Brock is around to know about what supplies we'll need"

Oak nodded once more, "alright, I'll see to it that both of them are transported to two of your free Pokéballs for you, good luck strategizing my lad, I've heard the vermillion gym leader can be quite the brute and a real challenge for new trainers, but I'm sure you'll do fine."

"Thanks professor," Mason said as the call ended.

Less than a minute later Mason saw the lights on the front of two of his free Pokéballs start to flash before going out and he nodded, that was that, handy tech Pokéballs, he picked them up and was about to call his two Pokémon out when his stomach growled louder than before and he groaned.

"Food first, strategize later," Mason said to himself before putting his Pokéballs onto his belt and heading back out to the front of the Pokémon Centre.

Fortunately it seemed everything had calmed down, but Mason couldn't find Misty, Brock or Ash anywhere and shrugged, they had likely gotten a room, hopefully they were helping Ash to strategize as per his advice earlier.

Putting them from his mind, Mason went to the front desk where a Chansey was sitting waiting, apparently Nurse Joy had gone out.

"I need to have my Pokémon given a check over and healing please," Mason asked as he put his eight Pokéballs out onto a tray at the desk along with his Pokédex for a moment to let it register his legal right to carry eight Pokémon before taking his Pokédex back.

The Chansey nodded and took the tray and left to take care of its task while Mason turned and made a beeline straight for the cafeteria, with his Pokémon being seen to it was time to see to his next priority, filling his stomach.

-Time skip-

Three extra large bacon cheese burgers later Mason let out a satisfied sigh, as he sat in his seat, his stomach now pleasantly full as he relaxed looking through his Pokédex as he checked his roster over, he was definitely happy at what he saw.

Species: Dratini

Gender: Male

Ability: Shed skin

Moves:

Wrap

Thunderwave

Twister

Dragon Rage

(new move) Dragon Breath- Move discovered by Mason Storm

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Species: Poliwhirl

Gender: Male

Ability: Swift Swim

Moves:

Water Gun

Hydro pump

Hypnosis

Bubble

Bubble beam

Double slap

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Species: Spearow

Gender: Female

Ability: Sniper

Moves:

Peck

Fury Attack

(new move) Aerial Ace- Move discovered by Mason Storm

Agility

Double team

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Species: Scyther

Gender: Male

Ability: Swarm

Moves:

Vacuum Wave

Quick attack

Agility

False swipe

Wing attack

Slash

Razor wind

Double team

(new move) X-scissor- Move discovered by Mason Storm

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Species: Golbat

Gender: Female

Ability: Infiltrator

Moves:

Bite

Supersonic

Wing attack

Toxic

Hyper Beam

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Species: Cubone

Gender: Male

Ability: Lightning Rod

Moves:

Headbutt

Bone club

Bonemerang

Growl

Leer

Dig

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Species: Growlithe

Gender: Female

Ability: Flash Fire

Moves:

Bite

Roar

Ember

Take down

Flamethrower

Dig

swift

Agility

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Species: Squirtle

Gender: Male

Ability: Rain Dish

Moves:

Tackle

Tail whip

water gun

bite

bubble

Ice beam

???- Undocumented move

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

He hadn't taken the time in the past few weeks to view his newest Pokémon's move sets, but he was glad that he had now, each of them were impressive for what they were. Clearly their old trainers had taken the time to try to improve them by adding to their strength with TMs before he got a hold of them, he was very happy with that.

However one thing caught his eye when he looked to Squirtle, and he saw an undocumented move, it only took him a few moments to connect the dots, rapid spin. That confirmed one thing for him, that Pokémon when left to their own devices could learn and discover new moves on their own without a trainer's assistance.

He made a mental note to call Bill about it and get the move added to his next batch of move submissions, he may as well be the one to report it and make money from it before someone else did, he was rather happy that Professor Oak hadn't done so already, this way he could take the credit.

After eating another bacon cheeseburger Mason rose from his seat and made his way back to his room. He had planned to do some strategizing but now with a full stomach all he wanted to do was sleep for a while, just a few hours to refresh himself. His team would be ready to start training when he woke up right.

So getting back to his room Mason fell face first onto the single bed letting out a pleasant groan from the feeling of the comfortable mattress, pillow and sheets underneath him and he agreed all the more, yes a few hours sleep would be great. Less than a minute later he was peacefully snorting, happy to be back in civilization.

-Time skip-

It was after a brief but satisfying two hour nap that Mason woke and pulled himself from the blissful heaven that was a modern bed, after so many weeks of sleeping in a camping bag, and his room towards the front hall of the Centre, planning to get his team and then go and find the others so that he could see what Ash's plan was for him taking on the gym.

However when he walked into the entrance hall, the front doors opened, and a Chansey came rushing in with a stretcher, on it… was Pikachu.

Mason froze when he saw Ash's partner on the stretcher, its fur was singed and its body was badly bruised, it looked in worse shape than Mason had seen it after the attack by the flock of Spearow back before Viridian City.

Misty, Brock and Ash, came rushing in a few seconds after the Chansey, with Nurse Joy leading them. When Mason saw them and the state of Pikachu, he knew just what had happened, and he saw red.

For the second time, since Mason had known Ash, his bare fist slammed hard into the other trainer's face, knocking him off his feet and putting him to the ground faster than a stone falling.

"You fucking idiot!" Mason snapped, his fists balled, "you god damn, thick skulled, fucking moron!" he yelled at him as Ash clutched his nose on the ground.

"What did I tell you! Don't go in without a plan! Strategize! Prepare! Train!" Mason yelled angrily as he took a step towards Ash only for Brock to quickly move forward and hold him back, "Did nothing I say sink into that mountainous thick skull of yours!"

"Mason that's enough," Brock began to say, only for Mason to break out of his hold and turn on him.

"No it's not enough!" Mason yelled at Brock, "Not until this idiot stops pretending to be a Pokémon trainer!"

"I am…" Ash began to say though it was muffled with his hand over his nose.

"Oh you are are you?" Mason snapped as he turned on Ash again, holding himself back from lunging at the idiot again, "then you're the worst excuse for one I've ever seen" he said, but when Ash didn't respond he stepped forward and grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and pulled him towards the gurney Pikachu was on, "Look at this!" Mason snapped, "that's your partner laying there!" he growled, "he's in the worst state that I've ever seen him, and why is that Ash!"

Ash remained silent, but that didn't stop Mason from hauling him back from the bed and brining him face to face with him, "because of you Ash Ketchum, because you rushed in, because you didn't think, because you didn't strategize, you ran in there without preparing and now your partner is hurt and it's all your fault"

"That's enough," Nurse Joy interrupted him and stepped in to force them apart, "I don't know what this is about, but I.." she went on to say but Mason wasn't having it.

"Forget it," Mason said as he turned to walk to the front desk and pick up his Pokéballs, "I've said all I've had to say, I'm not going to waste another breath, if my message hasn't gone through by now it never will" he said before walking towards the doors as he attached his Pokéballs to his belt.

"Where are you going," Misty asked him looking troubled at the violence she had just seen.

"Out, I need to clear my head before I do something that I regret," Mason replied as he walked out onto the streets and away from the person who was making his blood boil more every second he looked at him.

-Time skip-

It was near an hour of walking later that Mason had finally calmed himself down after his blow up. He knew that he shouldn't have gotten that rough with Ash, but seeing Pikachu like that, it just made him snap. He could never forgive himself if Dratini or any of his other Pokémon got hurt because he didn't think things through.

An image shot across his mind, of Dratini injured and in that cage, him without any means of healing him at the time. He gritted his teeth. No, he just didn't understand why Ash just wouldn't take things seriously.

It took another half an hour of walking before he was finally able to put the matter to rest in his mind, and focus on what he knew he needed to do. Lucky enough he found himself near the market at the time and was able to go inside to get the things he needed.

He had checked his trainer account a day or so after they had left Bill's lighthouse, having just been working with cash by hand since he first started. Only to be surprised to find a lot more than he had expected to be in there.

Seventy thousand in cash was just sitting in his account untouched. It was only after he did a little poking through his Pokédex that he discovered just where all the money had come from. Twenty thousand of it was his monthly payment from Silph Co, and a further thirty thousand of it was his bonus for the three moves he had submitted with Bill.

The other twenty thousand was actually two payments, his winnings from both the Pewter and Cerulean Gyms. After talking to Misty and Brock about it when he first discovered it, they had explained how when a trainer enters a gym, scanners search for any form of identification on his person, either his Pokéballs or his Pokédex, its through them that his trainer account is found, and upon the results of any battle in the Gym he was paid directly into his trainer account. And even though he didn't technically win at Cerulean, Misty explained that since he received the badge by her decision the system would have counted it as his win.

So over all, he had seventy thousand in his account, and nineteen thousand in cash on him, and he knew just what he was going to spend it all on, not to mention he still had his monthly allowance of five free TMs for being an AF move researcher, oh yes he was going to have some fun spending his money.

-Time skip-

It was an hour later that Mason was leaving the store with bags in his hands, his stockpiling done, and he had spent his money well.

He had taken his time to make his selection on just what TMs he was going to redeem for his team first, taking each of their move pools into account, on just how he was going to utilize them in battle before making his choices.

After that the first thing he did was stock up on the essentials, buying twenty Pokéballs, twenty great balls, ten ultra balls, twenty potions and twenty super potions and ten hyper potions. He had even found the selection of type labels for Pokéballs that he had been looking for back in pewter city.

In all he had blown sixty one thousand on everything, and after putting what loose cash he had left into his account, he could see he had a solid twenty eight thousand still left over.

He didn't want to blow all his cash now; however, he knew he would need to keep some for when they were preparing to leave… if he left with them, after that blow out with Ash… he didn't think traveling with them was going to be such a good idea any more.

Hell he had never planned to travel with them for so long, he supposed he just wanted to feel like he was a part of the story with them, while also going off on his own adventures from time to time. He couldn't deny that it had been fun, but Ash was grating on his last nerves, and if he didn't change now after seeing Pikachu in such a state… he just didn't know.

He took his time walking back to the Pokémon Centre, it was just starting to get dark when he got back. He didn't care though, and made his way to the training grounds at the back of the Centre, he still had to plan and get his team ready, he had everything he needed, he wasn't about to lose when he challenged Surge.

-Time skip-

It was approaching the extreme late hours of the night, when both Misty and Brock entered the training area to find Mason and his team hard at work. Each of Mason's Pokémon were practicing various moves in various practice battles. While Mason himself sat at one of the picnic tables, with various bowls filled with berries in front of him while he worked his Pokéblock maker, turning the handle as fast as he could to turn the berries he put in, into Pokéblocks.

"Finally putting that to use I see," Brock comments as they come over to sit down at the table opposite him.

"Yeah, figured it was about time I did so, finished my own training for now so I figured I might as well," Mason said without looking up at them as he worked the machine.

Both Misty and Brock shared a look with each other before looking back to Mason.

"Look Mason, we.." Misty began to say before Mason cut her off.

"I know what you're going to say," Mason stated, "It's okay, I know I went too far earlier and I understand if you guys don't want me to travel with you any more, I get it." he said plainly.

He had been thinking a lot about his actions, and what his next steps should be. He knew he couldn't keep tagging along with them, not with how much Ash grated on his nerves. He figured he'd split off from them sometime, maybe at the next gym or the gym after that, but if they were uncomfortable with being around him, then he'd just as soon do it now.

"That's not Mason," Brock sighed, as Misty shook her head.

"We don't want that at all, we just… we just want to understand where all this is coming from," Misty said, "we know you've been irritated by Ash's laid back attitude, but we just didn't think it was that bad."

Mason gave a half hearted chuckle as he finished spinning the Pokéblock maker and began to open it up, "Yeah, I guess I just didn't let it show most of the time," he said before sighing, "it just grates at me, you know…" Mason said as he began to lift handfuls of the small blocks out of the machine.

"I have spent so long, worked hard, studied for more hours than I can count," Mason stated, "all to be as good as I am, to know all that I know. Because I want to be the best I can be." he said plainly, "But Ash… he just skates by, he doesn't train, doesn't push himself, he doesn't even put any real effort into things most of the time, and yet here he is, two badges just like me, one Pokémon less than what I have, going on and on about his accomplishments, half of which he never properly earned, and to top it all off he still says he wants to be a Pokémon master."

Mason's voice had risen as he talked until by the end he was full on yelling as his emotions rose, before he stopped to take a breath to calm himself down, before shaking his head.

"It just gets on my nerves, constantly, and I just don't get it," Mason sighed, "how he can go at things the way he does and not see the problems with how he is doing things. He treats everything like it's just one big game. His own partner got hurt because he ran in without a plan. I could never forgive myself if Dratini got hurt like Pikachu did as a direct result of my own stupidity, hell, I'm still beating myself up after that whole Seaking incident a few weeks back." he said plainly before shaking his head, "I honestly don't know how much longer I can keep going with you guys if Ash keeps treating this all like he is."

Brock and Misty were silent the whole time while Mason was talking, both listening intently to his every word.

Brock for his part understood where Mason was coming from, he knew he wouldn't be able to take it either if he was so passionate about something and saw someone else constantly just playing about with it. It was like Ash was silently saying all of the work Mason was putting in was pointless, all of his training and preparation, strategizing and planning was all for nothing, he'd snap as well eventually at some point.

Misty understood what Mason as saying immediately, she knew how serious he took his dream to be a master trainer, she saw him at night when Brock and Ash had fallen asleep, going into his bag and getting out this strange screen machine from his bag, and saw him sit for hours reading through what she assumed were his training plans and move ideas for his Pokémon.

She knew he worked hard to be as good as he was, and as someone wanting to be a master water type trainer she could relate to him, if she saw someone striving to reach a similar dream to hers but was on the same level as her after putting in not even half the same effort, it would make her want to scream and pull her hair out in frustration.

When they both heard how Mason was questioning how much longer he could keep traveling with them, if he had to put up with Ash not taking things seriously, they both knew it was worse than what they had thought. And if something wasn't done then Mason wasn't going to be leaving Vermillion with them. Ash needed a wake up call, and, hard.

However unseen by any of them, was the open window into the room that Pikachu was staying in, and Ash stood inside next to it, with his eyes shadowed by his hat as he kept watch on his injured partner as he heard every word.