Island Chapter

While the rest of his pokémon were warming up awaiting his instructions, Ash waltzed over to Riolu.

"Hey buddy" he said as he beckoned on the fighting type. Riolu stopped his warm up as he turned to acknowledge his trainer.

"You're going to be working on this little routine." Ash showed him a diagram that displayed a simple fighting routine that displayed a series of kicking and punching patterns. Something that seemed to excited the fighting type.

"Get used to it. It will open more ways for your training. I'll be with you a little while later."

Riolu nodded, ever eager to start the little training exercise that he was tasked with.

Ash turned his head just to hear Riolu's cry as he walked away. The raven-haired trainer made his way to his next stop which was Emerald.

"Emerald, how are you holding up?" the Dratini made a low rumbling sound. He eyed the little dragon type as he flicked through some thoughts.

"We're going to work on your fluidity. That is your movement." Emerald tilted her head a little to the side as if asking him to explain himself.

"I want you to practice darting around the training area. You must avoid any attack that the others may use in their practice. I want you to do that until your movement becomes much more graceful."

Emerald nodded as she awaited Ash to give the orders. "Ready. Set. Go!" and she was off, darting round the field as fast as she could.

The boy smirked as he watched her. For the next thirty minutes, he had gone round his team as he explained what he expected them to achieve.

Days Later

About four days had gone by since the training. Ash had constantly rotated his team as he opted for better training. Currently, Primeape, Clefable, Tyrunt and Zorua we're back home. They were replaced with Volt, Butterfree, Beedrill and Porygon were with him.

So far, his team had progressed a lot. Clefable had improved a bit martial arts wise. She had sparred with Primeape whenever both of them were on his team. She was getting really good at using her fists to fight too. Clefable had a wicked left hook. As she practiced fighting with just her fists, Ash had her work on her maneuvering skills. Primeape was more than happy to throw blows at the Fairy type. With the rate at which Primeape was going at it, it sure was hard for Clefable to evade the rapid punches. It got so hard that at one time, Clefable tackled Primeape to the ground and was about to use drain punch on Primeape. Ash was able to break them up before they got too serious.

Since then, Clefable had rather improved in her outmaneouvering skills. It wasn't easy, but she was getting there.

Primeape had improved and Ash knew that for certain. Primeape had been paired up with Blaze who was more than happy to attack the fighting type, albeit with reduced power. Primeape definitely had a hard time taking the flying type moves from Blaze, but slowly and surely, he was building up resistance to the flying type.

Overall he went on to challenge Blaze to a fight. Ash was scared of the damage that they may cause to the area, but was pleased to find out that the fight didn't cause much damage and destruction. Apparently the fight was more of a fist fight which much to his annoyance he lost. Blaze just had more firepower behind his blows. And given the fact that he had wings it was, according to Primeape, a handicap. This however was disproved by Blaze who once attributed Primeape to been better on the ground than he was. At least that had gone slightly well.

Tyrunt had worked tirelessly to make sure that his moves were all that refined. He lacked technicality and instead opted for brute force in his techniques, something that while it was necessary would prove disastrous later on. The dual rock and dragon type had learned how to use his moves with as minimum power as could be possible.

Speaking of power, there was the training that Tyrunt had undergone training to improve his own power regardless of genetics, something that had gone well.

Night's training proved rather useful. She ran through all her moves non stop. Ash had been giving her obstacles to take on and improve. She ran this course until she dropped and then she would continue going at it, repeating the cycle over and over again.

Ash made several stops to the Pokémon Center to have her checked on, he had to be certain that she wasn't using her darkness too much. Luckily she hadn't used it up, and her attack power had improved. If this improvement was good enough, once she became a Zoroark, then she would be lethal.

Porygon had managed to learn psychic. It was just yesterday that he had learn it. The waves of psychic energy were very clear to Ash's eyes. Aside from that, Porygon had been using the training opportunity to practice his moves speed which was surprisingly slow. Its improvement was also at a slow rate, but at least there was an improvement. Ash had it running laps around the training area. He hoped that that would at least do something to the mon's speed.

In Riolu's case, for their proper growth, both of them had sparred and they would continue sparring until the training was over. Riolu's combat speed was pretty quick. He struck fast but not as hard enough, that was until the fighting type improved his attack power. Riolu usually had more stamina than the average pokémon, and that was because out of all other pokémon, they were the ones that were more closer in tune to aura.

Riolu had become increasingly strong enough to begin sparring with Primeape. Ash too had sparred with the Pig Monkey. In Riolu's case, he had worn Primeape out after he had gotten the hang of it. Currently he was working on the moves that Ash had given to him. Ash smiled. He would soon need to get back to the spar.

A funny thing had happened during Emerald's training. She had begun to shed her skin. Ash frankly was frightened when the process started. She had started feeling restless and was constantly scratching her body all over. Her restlessness worried Ash, and the boy had to call Professor Oak for assistance. With the Professor clearing everything out, Ash was able to assist the Dragon type in shedding.

The process was slightly long as Ash felt his hands being fidgety. It was his pokémon and he didn't want to hurt her. In the end though, they were able to shed the skin. But that meant something else. No more training in the mean time. It would take about two weeks for her scale to harden, a little bit faster if he was able to apply the lotions on her body. He sighed. Currently she was resting in the small body of water near their clearing.

Beedrill's training was centered around two things. Attack and defense, well mostly defense. That was why for the past days, she had been paired with Butterfree for sparring. Butterfree didn't relent in blasting his best friend with psychic attacks. Beedrill was holding up as much as she could against the psychic moves, something that Ash commended. He knew that Beedrill was really a bad pair for Butterfree, as she was weak against both of his types, so that meant improvement.

Butterfree had spent time nailing Beedrill with wing attack and his other physical moves. He also alternated to striking trees with his wings. All in all a somewhat productive training for the bug and flying type. Ash was pleased with the training.

Ash had definitely surprised Volt in his training. The Electabuzz spent most of his time on the receiving end of Blaze's attacks. Despite the fact that the fire type was holding back, the attacks were still painful, especially the flamethrower attacks. Volt had to admit that it did help him. During the first day of the training, he was only able to take a couple of attacks from Blaze, but now he could take a lot more and still stand. Ash would bet anything that Volt's defense had improved to a much better stand than it was. And with this boost, he would become much stronger if he was ready to be an Electivire.

Volt also got to unleash his anger by helping out in Golduck's training. Since the water type had to work on his evasion, Ash had him forget thunderbolts from Volt who was determined to land a hit to ease his own frustration at being hammered by Blaze. Golduck had learnt the hard way, but it helped a lot given that his evasion at long range had improved. It wouldn't help against faster opponents but it was a start. After all, they were going after Blaine next and the guy was no push over.

Glaceon had been aided by Blaze once again. But not before working on her ice moves. Launching them over and over again. Ash wanted the speed behind the moves to increase to a decent level. He was very much aware that her ice related moves lacked the raw power that she was known for so she worked on that and she would trade that by having a brawl with Blaze's flames once she was tired enough. The training was as expected successful as she could flash freeze moisture faster than normal.

Aside from been blasted by a plethora of fire type attacks, courtesy of Blaze, Scizor had also tried learning how to activate Light Metal. Normally the ability was activated through the rush of a battle, but it wouldn't be a bad thing if the dual bug and steel type could activate it on his own. The multiple battles with Blaze had been to push Scizor to enable him get a feel for it. He was only allowed to dodge by flying so that Ash knew that Light Metal was activated. Over the first two days, it had proved unsuccessful as either Scizor would run to avoid the attack or he would just plain be blasted by Blaze and launched into a tree. The third day however, he was able to grasp something and has since clung to the feeling in hopes of one day activating the ability on his own.

Blastoise and Venusaur had improved in their tanking abilities as they pummeled each other with various techniques. Occasionally when things got going, they would pause and take a break and sooner or later they would have a go at each other. This also served to strengthen their bonds as a team. Whenever they would feel too cocky, Ash would send in Blade, Glaceon and Volt until both starters were too tired to move. It had been an amazing experience.

Blaze's training had also been fruitful especially due to the fact that Blaze hated it. When Ash had told him about his training he was furious. To be denied usage of his wings for the entire of their stay was absurd. He saw the point to it, but he had to admit that he hated how he moved on the ground. He was like a clutz and that was saying something because as a Charmeleon he moved faster than this. He soon realized the point and committed to being able to run on land for sometime in case anything ever happened to his wing. Ash also had Golduck teach Blaze how to swim to which the fire type was grateful for.

Ash had to laugh when he saw Blaze struggle with in the water. Not that he was drowning, but it was just so funny. Ash too had to get in to help at one point and he and Blaze had a race. He seemed to notice something though. Blaze was an excellent diver.

Ash was currently resting when a growl diverted his attention. It belonged to Glaceon and it sounded like an intruder. Ash knew that it wasn't Misty because the redhead was having the time of her life on the beach. Needless to say he was surprised when he saw Ritchie with his hands held up.

"Glaceon," he called the ice type and she backed down, deciding to turn her attention to grooming herself. Giggling at the taste of her fur, something she loved doing.

"Ritchie. What brings you here?" Ash asked the boy.

He noticed Ritchie take a deep breath before he spoke up. "I wanted to apologise for the last time. I was mean and definitely didn't have to do that. I…"

"No need. Apology accepted."

Ritchie blinked before letting out a breath he didn't know he had held in the first place. His eyes darted around as he took note of Ash's pokémon.

Ash noticed. "So…"

"Oh sorry. I was just surprised at your pokémon. I've only ever seen Charizard."

Ash nodded before turning around and began to point at each pokémon. "That's Venusaur, Blastoise, Glaceon, Golduck, Scizor, the Electabuzz is Volt, Butterfree, Beedrill, Riolu, Porygon, the Dratini is Emerald, and finally Blaze. I have a Primeape, Tyrunt, Clefable and Zorua named Night at home."

Ritchie whistled. "That brings your total to sixteen."

Ash nodded. "This number is enough so I don't plan on catching anymore until after the League."

"I currently have a team of nine. I may catch more but I'm not sure about it yet."

"That's still good. It gives you time to focus on a smaller team."

Ritchie nodded. Ash was right about that.

"So…"

"So…"

An uncomfortable silence settled between them. Despite their hyperactive natures, neither one of them knew what to do in this situation.

A bark drew him out of his thoughts as Glaceon gave him an idea.

"So, what have you been up to?" Ash asked, and talk they did.

Once Ritchie started, there was no stopping him. He told Ash in detail that Ash didn't think the boy was known for, everything so far about his journey.

Ritchie currently had four badges. Two which where from main Kanto gyms with two others been from other gyms. He had conquered the Cerulean gym after he caught Sparky, his Pikachu, at the Power Plant near Cerulean City. He also revealed that he had beaten Erika too and earned the Rainbow badge.

Luckily he had no run-ins with Team Rocket. They had talked for a while, trading stories and neither realised it when night had come.

"So what do you say?" Ritchie said to Ash.

"Fine," Ash said as he sighed in defeat.

Ritchie had invited him on a little hike tomorrow into the forest. According to him, there were rumours of a powerful pokémon in the area and it would be good training for them. It was a long argument, but Ash eventually agreed to it.

Morning

Morning came fast and it was already time for Ash to meet with Ritchie.

"You ready?" Ash said to the brunette who nodded in response.

While Ritchie had opted to take all six of his pokémon, Ash simply took Volt and Glaceon.

Both boys began their hike into the forest, taking note of the road they traversed. If there was a powerful pokémon, it would be good because largely due to the fact that Seafoam Island was a resort and relaxation areas, it lacked the abundance of trainers and was usually filled with average people not interested in battling.

Ash had a vague idea about what the pokémon may be, not species wise, but power wise. He remained what his dad had told him sometime ago.

In the wild, pokémon formed hierarchies. There was one pokémon that every other individual pokémon or pack pokémon responded to. It was their leader. Ash had remembered his father addressing them as Domain Pokémon. They were extremely territorial and we're fierce protectors of their own, especially if they were under attack.

Two hours into their hike and they had found nothing. They were about to give up when they heard a shriek. Ash's hand instinctively clutched his pokéball as he turned to watch.

Nothing appeared and they continued their trek. Ash was feeling somehow. There was definitely no point to this little trek of theirs but he saw it as a way to make up to up to Ritchie.

This time, a louder shriek was heard as they turned to the side to see a Fearow.

"Was that the pokémon you were expecting?"

"Yes."

Three Days Later

Three days had passed since Ritchie had captured the Fearow. Man was that Fearow tough. Ritchie had used his entire roster to bring him down and then with added advantage from Pikachu's electric attacks.

Training had been good and it was his last day on the Island. He had promised to join Misty on the beach and he was going to make the most of it.

His eyes shut open as he heard his name.

"Ash, how about a race?" it was Misty.

"Wouldn't that be unfair. You are a water pokémon trainer."

"Aw… c'mon. You can definitely match that."

Ash smiled as he agreed. He had promised to spend time with her. Maybe knocking her down a peg or two would be good for her.

He got up from his chair to look at her. She was atop her Gyarados.

"Golduck," Ash said to the water type that was swimming cheerily. He looked up to meet his trainer's gaze. "What say you to a little race?"

The water type nodded enthusiastically as he looked at Misty and Gyarados. They were going down.

Ash approached Golduck from behind and sat on his back as he faced Misty. "So how are we doing this?"

Misty smiled as she called her Poliwrath. It flexed it's arms and tensed up a bit before shooting a jet of water into the air. Both pokémon shot forward as they weaved through the water.

Gyarados was swimming as fast as he could and it was taking all his energy to keep up with Golduck. Speaking of which the duck was having the time of his life and Ash wasn't too far off. He was giggling madly.

Misty was beginning to realize that this may have been a mistake, but she wasn't about to loose. Gyarados seemed to focus as the water around him seemed to rise until it became a wave and he and Misty were atop it.

Ash yelped as the wave swallowed him and Golduck before receding. He swam up a little while later as he spat water. "Why did you do that? That's not fair."

"My rules," Misty said as she stuck out her tongue.

"Fine then," Ash said as he got atop Golduck. A new determination in his eyes as he held on tight.

The Duck swam forward as Gyarados was passing the turning point in the race. An ice beam escaped his mouth as he froze his tail. Gyarados paused at the feel of the additional weight. He raised his tail up to inspect just as Golduck approached him.

A flamethrower shut out from Gyarados' mouth as Golduck passed him. With the ice melted, Gyarados shut forward as his tail spun, releasing a twister that threatened to suck Golduck in. Been an experienced swimmer, Golduck was able to maneouver himself away from the twister path as an ice beam froze the water surface.

This enraged Gyarados further and frustrated Misty. She called out to Gyarados who was trying to fight his way through the ice. Immediately, the Atrocious Pokémon used an iron tail to smash the ice.

She called forth Gyarados to use an ice beam on Golduck. The beam of ice formed in front of Gyarados' mouth and raced towards Golduck. Ash noticed the impending danger and tapped Golduck's back. Golduck dove down as the beam shot past him. Golduck turned back and shot off towards Gyarados. He surfaced with a hydro pump that missed Gyarados and alerted the water type of his presence.

Gyarados growled and Misty sighed. Ash was going to taunt them. Before Gyarados could do anything, Golduck shot off as he used agility to lighten himself further, racing across the surface with Ash laughing madly in his wake.

Gyarados gave chase after Golduck, trying his best to keep a good enough distance between both of them, but it was proving to be futile as Golduck was a far agile swimmer. Golduck suddenly stopped as if giving Gyarados a chance to catch up. Before Gyarados could catch up however, Golduck shot off with a far greater speed than he had showcased before, reaching the start line before Gyarados could reach where he once was.

"That was amazing Golduck!" Ash exclaimed. The speed had shocked him slightly too, but Ash was happy to see improvements. The Duck Pokémon nodded with pride as he fell down to rest his muscles before went for another swim.

Misty was sulking slightly as she approached with Gyarados.

"Why the long face?"

She glared at him with intense anger.

"Calm down now," Ash said as he cringed slightly.

Suddenly, something clicked in Misty's head. "Another race. Me and you."

Ash looked up at her as he went into Dee thoughts. "I've never actually been a good swimmer."

Misty jumped down from Gyarados and walked up to him. "Oh c'mon, don't tell me that the great Ash Satoshi Ketchum is a chicken." As she said this, she got in his face, scaring him for a bit. Ash never knew that Misty could be this intimidating.

He pulled back and pondered on the thoughts. "Well... Okay." Ash had something going on in his mind. He wanted to try something out and now would be a good time than ever.

Misty gleamed as he said this before pulling him to the starting line. She nodded to her Poliwrath who was more than happy to give the go for the race. As the water gun escaped his mouth, Misty shot off.

Ash's mouth was wide agape as he saw Misty swim. She was fast and Ash finally understood what gave her the confidence to challenge him.

Misty turned back to look at Ash. He was still by the starting line and hadn't moved since. She had given him a good enough distance. She smirked but at the same time she wondered why he was unmoving. She watched him intently and saw him close his eyes. When he opened them, they were glowing an electric blue. 'Aura'.

Ash smirked as he poured aura throughout his body. He shot off too and began to tail Misty. "That's not fair!" Misty yelled as she increased her pace.

Ash didn't bother to reply as he was focused on beating Misty in her own element. Misty was having none of it. She reached the turning point and began to make her way towards the beach. She met Ash who was increasing his pace too and she turned away. She was determined to win.

Misty tore through the water like a mermaid, elegant and graceful, while Ash was just... Like a Gyarados raging as he tore through the water sending it flying everywhere.

He was approaching Misty from behind and she was beginning to fear that Ash would pass her. The raven-haired trainer wore a smirk on his face as he began to approach Misty.

Soon enough, he passed her and crossed the finish line just before she crossed. His eyes faded back to reveal their chocolate brown colour.

"Wow... That was some race." He said with his face beaming with happiness. He turned to Misty and cringed.

The redhead was seeing red... Huh funny. Misty slowly walked up to Ash and the teen in turn slowly stepped back, but before he could go further, she dove at him.

"I am going to kill you Ash Ketchum!" She held him tight and continuously bashed his head against the water. "Cheater, cheater."

"I'm sorry," Ash said but always his sentence was cut short when his head would submerge and then he would be brought back up.

The whole thing went on for some time until Misty decided that he had had enough. She got up and walked away.

"Jeez... You'd think the sky was falling."

She slowly turned back to look at him, but he began to sprint. She chased him down. "I'm gonna kill you Ash!"

Ash giggled as she chased him in the water. It was an odd chase. Seeing as she couldn't catch him, Misty just slumped down on the sand, panting heavily.

Ash in turn slowed down at this and walked up to her. He sat down next to her. "So... How's training coming along?"

She smiled. "Very well. Pretty soon we'll be at your level."

It was Ash's turn to smile. "I'd love to see that, because I still got Blaze." Ash noticed Misty's face begin to contort. "Then there's Venusaur and Blastoise and Scizor and Golduck and Glaceon and most effectively, Volt."

Misty's face contorted even more as each pokémon was listed, and deep down she knew he was right. Against his top tier pokémon, she stood no chance. She would only be able to hold her own against the rest of his team and some of them like Clefable and Primeape would give her hell.

She sighed and Ash felt kinda bad. "Don't worry," Ash said with a sigh. "I think you should be pretty good from here on out. It's basically a matter of just more training and improvement."

"Thanks Ash."

The raven-haired trainer smiled as he paused to think. They'll be leaving tomorrow morning and they would be making their way towards Cinnabar Island. He'll have to get some training done with Misty and her team. He knew she had Starmie, Gyarados, Poliwrath, Politoed, Goldeen, Kabuto, Slowpoke, Omanyte and a Wooper. It shouldn't be that hard, and from what he knew, Misty probably had a training regime of her own.

"How about we train a bit this evening?"

Misty turned to look at Ash and smiled. Training would be nice, definitely. She nodded fervently. She would like that.

"Then that's settled then," Ash said as he dove down again for a swim. He needed to contemplate a bit in his battle against Blaine.

The Next Day

The previous night had been strenuous. Ash had trained with Misty from six till it was about midnight. The training was however worth it as Misty's pokémon had improved further.

Ritchie had even showed up at one point to let Ash know that he was leaving the island. He was going for Koga apparently. Ash had seen him off before returning to his own devices.

It was now ten in the morning and it was time for the Ferry to arrive, the one that would be taking them to Cinnabar Island. It would take about an hour's time before they would arrive at the home of the Fire type Gym Leader.

Ash smirked. He was going for his seventh badge and he was going to win it.