Journey I

It was autumn and Ash was in a good mood. He had spent the last month resting and teaching Chase the ways of pokemon.

Beating Giovanni was a brilliant play by him and he deserved the rest, correction, his pokemon deserved the rest. After all, they would be going on a long training journey so they needed all the rest they could get.

One month of rest and he was ready to start making plans for his training. He had roughly a year which was pretty much enough time to get everything he needed before the league would start.

"Good morning mum."

"Good morning Ash, how was your night?"

"Fine mum," he replied as he sat at the table. "Arceus, I love pancakes."

Delia merely smiled as she poured syrup on his pancakes.

"Good morning," a voice greeted.

Ash turned his head to the side to see his dad enter the room.

"Dad! I didn't know you were back."

"Guess your mum didn't want to alert you," he said as he ruffled his son's hair. "Now, what's this I hear about you going on a training journey?"

"I basically have a year until the Indigo Conference begins and I wanted to use it to maximize my pokemon's training by going to different places in the region."

"I see," Red replied with a light chuckle. "Reminds me of the time I trained on Mt. Silver after becoming Kanto champion."

"Yes, something like that."

"That's nice. I assume you'd be able to help me with training hotspots."

"That's a given. When are you leaving?"

"Today is the 28th, so I was thinking 1st of December."

"So that's two days." Red gave a nod. "Get ready, we're going out back. Let's walk on your aura a bit because you're going to need every bit of it before you go on your training."

"Right now?"

"Right now."

He got up from his chair and made his way up stairs.

-Break-

Ash made his way to the yard where he met his father who was dressed in his trainers.

"Okay Ash, we are going to be fast and thorough. We can't have you neglecting your aura training."

"Okay," came his reply as he did some squats to warm up.

"Good. Lotus position. Let's start with some light meditation. After that, slowly let your aura build and spread as wide as you can."

Ash gave a nod as he sat on the ground, eyes closed as he let his aura ebb and flow over him until he gradually started to spread it out.

-Break-

After a multitude of training sessions, Red sat Ash down to give him a rundown of some of the best training spots on the map.

"Cycling Road, has some good trainers. You can use them to build the smaller members of your team. There's Mt. Hideaway near Pallet Town where you may be able to spot some Giant Onix."

"Giant Onix?"

"Yes. That's where Bruno of the Elite Four got his Onix with which he uses to train his fighting types. Onix happens to be the biggest Onix in the entire world."

"That's interesting."

Red turned his attention back to the map. "There's Vermillion Forest filled with bug types…"

Ash listened intently as he made mental notes concerning the training areas he would have to stop by and maximize the training."

-Break-

It was time for Ash to leave after days of preparation. He had already seen the Professor, and Gary had pretty much gone running the previous day.

"Do you have everything?"

"Yes mum. I'll keep in touch with you and the professor and regularly be in contact with my pokemon."

"So where are you headed to first?"

Ash released Blaze from his pokeball, the fire type starter coming out of his pokeball with a roar.

"Since the Primeape horde has been cleared off, I'll be heading to Cycling Road. I'd want to try and get some of my other pokemon training as soon as possible."

"Stay safe Ashy-boy."

"I'll head over to the Professor's and then Serena's and then I'll leave. Let's go Blaze."

As he climbed on the fire type's back, Blaze gave a roar and took off for Professor Oak's.

"Ash my boy," the Professor called as Blaze touched down in front of him.

The eager raven-haired trainer embraced his grandfather figure.

"I see you're ready. Do you have any idea the pokemon you would want to go with first?"

"Yes. I've informed them but I'll be going with a standard team of six for the first six months."

"That's doable. I'll make sure to look after them well. Have you told Chase?"

"Yes I have. Send my regards to him Professor." With that he was off to Serena's, hopefully he would see get to see her.

Coming down from Charizard, he made to knock on the door of the house. He heard footsteps and the door swung open to reveal Serena.

"Ash," she called, giving him a hug in the process.

His arms snaked around her back, returning the hug. "Good morning Serena."

"Morning Ash. What brings you here?"

"I'm going on a training journey in preparation for the league and I wanted to say goodbye."

She seemed to be deep in thought. "So it's kind of like the one Gary and Leaf are going on."

His response was a nod.

"So," she said as she stepped forward a bit. "Would you like me to accompany you?"

That caught Ash off guard, but before he could say anything, she continued.

"I don't think that would be right though. It would be best to let you focus on your training and perhaps I'll just get in the way."

Ash laughed. "You won't get in the way, but it might not be the best of ideas."

It was her turn to laugh. "Then I'll see you when you get… no, you must come to the Grand Festival to see me."

"Of course. Wouldn't miss it for the world, besides, we'll pretty much be in touch."

Of course. Take care Ash."

"You too Serena." As he turned to get on Blaze, he heard her voice.

"Take care of him Blaze…"

The fire type roared but Serena's voice made him stop for a while. Ash turned to look at the both of them, wondering what was going on in both their minds. Suddenly, it hit him and at the moment it seemed Blaze was momentarily scared.

"Wait here," Serena replied as she ran back inside. She came moments later holding a pokeball in her hand. She released the pokemon inside and out came her Charizard with a roar.

Ash sidestepped as Charla barreled into Blaze and what followed next was a series of berating by a very angry Charizard.

"She seems… calm."

"What do you expect? She hasn't seen him in months and I am scared because I haven't stopped by the lab in a while, so it's partially my fault."

Charla left a rather flustered Blaze and turned to face her trainer and Ash, shooting both of them a glare.

"I'm sitting this one out," Ash called to the fire type. "She's all yours. Let's go Blaze."

Blaze kicked off from the ground at high speeds, afraid of the terror the fire type held. Ash almost felt sorry for Serena but what could he do.

-Break-

Ash gave Blaze a full restore as he dismounted the fire and flying type. He had arrived in Grampa Canyon, which was his first stop on his training journey.

The pokemon he had with him at the moment were his elites, a team consisting of Blaze, Blastoise, Venusaur, Scizor, Glaceon and Volt.

"Alright everyone, we're sticking with our improved training regime so begin your warm up."

As he gave the command, each of them began to stretch, flexing of claws and wings, bouncing on their feet, some just squatting and all that.

Minutes went by and Ash saw it fit to start the training.

"Scizor, Venusaur and Blastoise, you guys are on guard duty. Evade by any means necessary but you are not allowed to attack. Blaze, Volt and Glaceon, feel free to attack them whichever way you feel but remember, you lot are not allowed to use power but make sure the stakes are high."

They gave a cry, instinctively knowing what to do and switching over to their training.

Ash pulled back a safe enough distance to observe and take notes while also glossing over moves that they should be working on.

-Break-

A week had passed since Ash and his pokemon had visited the Grampa Canyon and currently, he had them working on some move refining.

His team consisted of Blaze, Emerald, Golduck, Tyrunt, Riolu and Night. Riolu and Night were together, both pokemon were working on agility. Tyrunt was working on earthquake. Golduck was improving shadow pulse, because it still took some time to launch. Emerald was working on a combination of dragon dance and extreme speed. Blaze was just letting attacks lose as fast as he could and as powerful as he could muster. His attacks were pretty refined enough so he had no need to work on refinement.

Ash took the opportunity to sit down and levitate. Few minutes into his meditation, he heard a yelp. It belonged to Night and Riolu. He sprung to his feet in an instant.

"Blaze to me!"

The fire type followed after his trainer who was currently using aura to try and locate both pokemon. He soon arrived at a fissure in the ground.

"They must have fallen through here. Let's go Blaze."

Hopping on the fire type, Blaze descended into the chasm in search of both. Landing on the ground, Ash activated his aura sight and the instant he located them, trouble washed over him. "Let's go Blaze."

Ash ran with his might to see both pokemon surrounded by a couple of fossils, Kabutops, Omanyte, Omastar and Kabuto. The standard fossils that were native to the Kanto region.

This was a surprise for Ash because he had no idea who must have revived them and there seemed to be a lot of them, about seven. One was knocked out, possibly a combination of Riolu and Night, but they were tired. After all, they had been training all day.

"Blaze handle them. Try not to get hurt."

The pseudo-dragon roared, shaking the cave and alerting them to his presence before barreling into them, unleashing a combination of dragon pulses and flamethrowers.

Ash took the opportunity to usher Riolu and Night out of the way as he sprayed potions on their injuries and left them to rest.

By the time he was done, Blaze had pretty much knocked out all the fossil pokemon. Ash had no interest in catching them though. He was more interested in what may have caused this. He was expecting other rock or ground types around Grampa Canyon but not prehistoric pokemon. This was something he would have to report to the professor.

"Good job Blaze."

He puffed his chest and snorted out smoke in response to the praise and immediately his eyes narrowed. Before Ash could ask what was wrong, he heard a roar unlike any he had heard before.

Ash turned around to meet the apex predator of the prehistoric era. A monster composed of rocks and blessed with the ability of flight. A beast whose serrated fangs could not be missed even if one tried, and to make matters worse, it was a shiny.

It roared again, this time a challenge. The meaning was clear. "Why have you disturbed me?" He noticed the pokemon's eyes narrow and it growled again.

Ash put the pieces together. Basically, whatever had opened that fissure, Blaze's roar and the battle must have woken Aerodactyl from its slumber. For how many years had this pokemon been asleep? He had doubts that just those once would have woken it up.

Ash was pulled out of his musings when Aerodactyl lunged at him with a growl. "Prey."

The fire and flying type met the charge with his own and brought Aerodactyl to a standstill. He was furious.

Blaze roared and Ash backed up. It would seem that his starter wanted to do this by himself.

A jet of flames escaped Blaze's mouth, Aerodactyl countering the attack with dragon breath. Dark energy filled its fangs as it lunged once again at Blaze, the fire type responding with a fire fang of his own.

They went back and forth, neither striking the other until Blaze switched to a thunder punch. Aerodactyl was launched back by the attack but seemed to slam his claws on the ground, sending the rocks in the cave tumbling down.

"Get him out of here Blaze!" Ash yelled, seeing the danger.

Shooting a stream of flames to distract the predator, Blaze picked Aerodactyl up by the wings and flew them out of the cave.

Ash followed suit after having recalled Riolu and Night.

Aerodactyl clamped down hard on Blaze's shoulder eliciting a cry of pain. Reaching the outside, Blaze flung Aerodactyl away before charging a thunder punch.

Energy outlined Aerodactyl and he raced at Blaze's incoming fist, both pokemon collided in a loud impact that made Ash wince.

Aerodactyl flew away from the collision and launched the breath of draconic energy to which Blaze responded with ease. Both attacks clashed, neither side giving in.

Another chilling cry escaped Aerodactyl as it slammed its tail into the ground causing glowing white rocks to spiral around it before shooting at Blaze. It glowed shortly after and Ash's eyes narrowed.

This time, dark energy enveloped Aerodactyl and it made for Blaze. That wasn't all Ash could see, as he could still see the faint outline of double-edge. It would seem Aerodactyl may have learned how to combine moves in the past.

The dual fire and flying type enveloped himself in draconic energy as a response and both pokemon met in a collision of energy. This alerted the rest of Ash's pokemon to where they were since soon after they started to arrive at their location.

It slammed its claws into the ground and small boulders were sent flying at Blaze. Blaze maneuvered around the attack but was blind-sided by Aerodactyl's thunder fang. His response was a thunder punch.

Aerodactyl glowed again as he sped around Blaze. The pseudo-dragon took the opportunity to use dragon dance.

Emerald energy wrapped around Blaze as he shot himself at Aerodactyl. The fossil pokemon responded, cloaking itself with energy as it rammed into Blaze once again. Shockwaves expanded from their resulting collision. Both pokemon were thrown from the sky and sent flying into the ground.

Blaze pushed himself up as he stared at Aerodactyl, anger still fueled him. As Aerodactyl fought to his feet, Blaze's thunder charged fist drove itself into its jaw and he spat flames at his fallen foe.

"That's enough Blaze."

The fire lizard stood down as he watched Ash walk up to Aerodactyl and begin to spray at his wounds, trying to heal it. "Stand close in case it tries something."

Blaze gave a growl and nodded. Ash released Riolu and Night to join the rest in watching Ash.

Aerodactyl's eyes opened slowly and it watched Ash rather cautiously. It gave a growl.

"Relax. I am trying to help you."

Another growl came and it rested its head back allowing Ash do his work. Few minutes and a full restore later, Ash was done.

"There. All better."

Aerodactyl seemed to examine its wounds before growling a thank you.

"You're welcome."

Aerodactyl turned to Ash and then over to Blaze who stared down at him. The stares turned to growls as both pokemon exchanged words with each other as Ash just watched.

The conversation was nearing its end and Ash took the time to pick up some important details from the conversation. Basically, Aerodactyl wanted to challenge Blaze until he beat the fire type.

"That's doable enough," Ash replied. Aerodactyl seemed to accept this with a growl.

-Break-

The remainder of Ash's time in the canyon was spent training and Blaze and Aerodactyl continued their spar. After the week was done, it was time for Ash to leave and surprisingly Aerodactyl wanted to come with him. It seemed the rivalry with Blaze was stronger and it opted to come with him, though Ash had some rules to put in place.

After catching Aerodactyl, his next stop was the Rock Tunnel.

This time, Ash wanted to train against the wild pokemon in the area. So he went out with one as he gave instructions to the others. Blaze was in charge of the camp while he was away. Currently, Aerodactyl was away so Blaze was left to give command to the ones under him.

Ash took Tyrunt with him in hopes of running into a strong wild pokemon.

Soon, they came across a Machop and Tyrunt issued a challenge to the fighting type. Machop ignored Tyrunt but the rock and dragon type wasn't having it.

"Nope Tyrunt. Not Machop. I want you to have a challenge."

Machop took the words at face value and responded by slamming his fists together. Ash smirked. He had Machop in the bag.

"Are you ready Tyrunt?"

Before the dragon type could respond, Machop shot forward, its fist a glowing silver sheen as it went for a punch. Tyrunt rolled out of the way of the attack as it turned to face the fighting type.

Ash leered at the little fighting type. "Dragon dance and stone edge."

As Tyrunt danced around, Machop ran forward. The reckless charge, Ash understood to be close combat. Just as the fighting type reached him, dragon dance ended and Tyrunt's jaw was caught in the onslaught.

"Cancel stone edge and use bite."

Tyrunt tanked a couple of punches before chomping down hard on Machop, shaking it before sending the fighting type flying.

"Dragon pulse and let it rip."

The sphere of draconic energy slammed into Machop and sent it flying. It would seem that Tyrunt was having the time of his life.