Journey to Fuschia

'Where am I?' A voice said. It was Ash's. He saw himself in a dark void, an empty space. He slowly and reluctantly began to move around the place to see if he could find anything. Nothing.

"Do not fret my child," a voice boomed into existence. Suddenly, a part of the dark void shone so bright that it covered a majority of the void.

The presence that soon covered the entirety of the void was something that shook Ash to the very foundation of his existence. Ash couldn't bear to stand as the ground shook violently and furiously. The bright part of the void soon became flooded with clouds as something reminiscent of the rays of the sun shone through them.

"It's a pleasure to meet you… well partially meet you since I can see you but you can't see me," the voice said before laughing and causing Ash even more tension.

"Who are you?" Ash mustered up the courage to ask.

The being stopped laughing and answered his question. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you who I am just yet just to keep things kind of interesting, but I must say that I am pleased to make your acquaintance Ash Satoshi Ketchum."

"H-How do you know my name?" Ash asked.

"It's kind of a long story, so let's just say that ever since one of my children was befriended by a human, Jeremy Ketchum, I had to look into that. That's why I gave your clan the ability to use aura."

Ash nodded, taking in the information very seriously.

"I am going to be quick as your time is almost up." The voice lost all traces of play and became very serious. "Be brave and don't lose hope. The times ahead of you are going to be tough and eventually you'll need to be prepared for the future. I need you to continue doing what is right even if it seems the world is against you. Hold tight to your friends and I don't mean your pokémon friends but your human friends. There are things that you'll need your human friends for that your pokémon friends won't be able to solve. Work hard and groom your skills as they will help you in the coming times."

"Why are you telling me that?" Ash asked.

"In time everything will come to light and you won't be left in the dark anymore. Apparently you're waking up and our time is up. See you later."

"Wait!" Ash yelled but he was slowly fading away. "I have more questions to ask-"and he faded away.

Out from the brightest part, a figure stepped out. It was a white equine resembling centaur with a grey, vertically-striated underside. The striated pattern has similar recurrences on the underside of its mane, tail and face. Its four pointed feet are tipped with gold hooves. Around its torso was what appeared to be golden wheel with four spokes sticking out of it. It was Arceus, the creator of all that is pokémon.

"Well that went better than expected." Arceus chuckled as he said that. He had invaded Ash's subconscious and had spoken with him. He had not told him who he was so as to not upset the balance of things. Even though he could fix things if they got out of hands, it was best to avoid a scandal. The first part was done. Arceus needed to act fast but according to the time stream, if not he would be escalating things and constantly rewinding time back to base again which would be a real drag. He already knows all that will happen and that the fate of the world was in the hands of Ash, something he could not interfere with because he had written it and never went back on his word.

Ash opened his eyes to the real world. He was in the Pokémon Center. He knew that much because all their ceilings were made with the same material and in the same pattern. He blinked as his eyes took adjusted to the brightness of the area. He tried to remember the events that caused him to be knocked out. He remembered and his hands subconsciously moved to the base of his neck just below his shoulders. That was where Gengar had slashed him. If the ghost type wanted to kill him then, it would have done so.

He thought back to when Blaze had been extremely pissed and had activated blue flames in the heat of battle. ' Looks like he just hit another milestone in his growth.'

The door flung open and in walked Erika and she was accompanied by a Nurse Joy. Ash pretended to be asleep as Nurse Joy began talking to Erika. She was basically explaining Ash's vitals to Erika and after she was done she left Erika alone in the room.

Erika was silent for some seconds before she spoke up. "I know you are awake Ash."

"How did you know?" he said as he opened his eyes.

"Years of practice. How are you feeling Ash?"

"I'm fine. How long have I been out?"

"It has been roughly a day." She took a pause, allowing Ash to process everything. After she was sure that he was okay she took a deep breath and sat on the bed beside him. "What were you thinking breaking into a Team Rocket hideout? You could have been killed."

Ash took a deep breath at the change in her tone. "I couldn't have just stood by and let Team Rocket just have their way stealing pokémon."

Erika understood what he meant by that. She was actually more surprised at how Ash had uncovered the hideout in the first place. "So," she began after Ash had visibly calmed down. "Care to explain how you found out about the hideout."

Ash seemed thoughtful for a moment. He was thinking of the best way to lie without getting caught. "Before you lie, I know you are an Aura Guardian in-training."

Ash sighed. "You didn't think our beloved Pokémon Master would notify the Gym leaders of his home region that his son had aura."

"Damn you dad," Ash muttered to himself. "I used my aura sight to read some dudes in trench coats and I was able to uncover that they were secretly Team Rocket grunts and they were handling stolen pokémon. I followed them and hacked their door with my Porygon. I made my way into the building, mapping the hideout as I did so."

"After I had taken out a couple of grunts, I came across a laboratory and read a journal that revealed that they were creating a Super Pokémon and an army of other pokémon that I don't actually know the purpose of."

"That's… interesting," Erika said. "Guess Team Rocket has some big plans."

"Yeah."

They were silent for a few minutes before Erika spoke up. "So… what are you going to do now?"

"Well I was thinking of heading down cycling road and going to Fuschia City to challenge Koga, but the thing is I don't know when I'll be discharged from here."

"You'll be discharged in two days and then you can go on your journey. Make sure to stay on the right path and take care of yourself. You seem to have a knack for getting into trouble."

Ash rubbed his head sheepishly at the comment. "What about Misty?"

"She's already out. She said she wanted to go get some things before coming to see you. She's pretty fine, just needed to rest."

Ash nodded as Erika got up.

"You've obviously proven yourself to me and no doubt I'd like to see how you fare in the Indigo Conference. Then maybe when you're good enough, you can come take on my elite team."

"Thanks Erika," Ash said as he beamed at her. "I'll make you proud."

And she left. For the next two days, Ash rested and gathered his strength. He received his pokémon during the last days and after that, he and Misty prepared to go to Fuschia.

Ash and Misty stood on the road that would lead them to the Cycling Road. Ash turned to Misty and nodded towards her as they began their journey once again. They made their way to the gate and paid the gatekeeper for the tickets.

As they reached the other side, they brought out their bicycle cubes and unpacked them. Before they began, Ash called his mom.

"Hey mom," he greeted with a smile.

"Hi honey. How are you doing?"

"I'm fine mom. I've just earned the rainbow badge from Erika and I'm on my way to Fuschia City."

"That's good to know honey. Hope your pokémon are doing well?"

"They're all fine mum. Just called to see how you were doing."

"Thanks honey. Now remember, the Cycling Road is filled with trainers that are itching to battle. Be prepared for anything."

"Okay mom. Bye."

"Good bye honey. Remember to change your-"Ash cut the call before she could complete her statement.

"Change your what Ash?" Misty asked slyly. The raven-haired trainer ignoring her as he spoke up.

"Alright Misty, let's go."

Cycling Road was a long cycling district that linked Celadon City and Fuschia City. The road was about 50km long and while some would prefer to take the forest route to catch pokémon or battle them, a majority would rather take the short route and battle trainers as they go.

Ash and Misty began to cycle across the road. They came across trainers occasionally and had some battles here and there. Ash left most of the battles to Misty who needed the experience more. He knew the way the Cycling Road was, so he made sure to stock up on supplies. The journey on the Cycling Road took two days at the least, so they would be sleeping on the road for at least two nights. It was soon night fall, reason being that it was customary to accept any and all battles on the Cycling Road.

They packed up their bicycle and set up camp.

"How's training going?" Ash asked Misty as they huddled around the fire.

"Pretty well. I think I would be ready to take on the Gym Leader position by next year," she said happily.

"That's nice. I think you should consider catching more water types to add to your team."

"How's that?"

"Well… basically your team consists of water types that don't have a natural counter to electric attacks. What's best would be to catch more water types with diverse typing systems and can also cater for water type weaknesses."

"Oh I get it now."

"I'm gonna call Professor Oak and ask him to review your pokémon… physically at least."

"Thanks Ash."

"No problem Misty and then we can have a little sparring practice. Xceed call the Professor."

It didn't take long for the Professor to answer the call. "If it isn't Ash my boy… how are you doing?"

"I'm fine Professor, good evening."

"Good evening Professor," Misty chimed in.

"Good evening to you Misty, where are you guys now?"

"Well we're currently on the Cycling Road and we're headed for Fuschia City. I just earned the Rainbow badge from Erika and I'm hoping to challenge Koga for the Soul badge."

"That's good to know Ash. Y'know Gary said he is in Lavender town. He says he wants to spend some time meditating in Pokémon tower and hopefully catch a ghost type there. From then on he would head to Saffron City to receive some tutoring from Sabrina and hopefully defeat her. Leaf's in Fuschia City now as she is currently working with Daisy to perform routine checks on the Safari Zone."

"That's good to know," Ash replied.

"So why did you call me Ash?"

"Uhh… we need your help in reviewing some of Misty's water types… physically."

"Okay, let's see those pokémon then."

Misty took a pokéball and released her Kabuto. The dual rock and water type came out with a bored expression on his face.

"Well for starters, his shell seems shiny enough. Not much can be expected from Kabuto by only physical examination alone, but the Shellfish Pokémon's health can be determined from the look of their shell and I can say for sure that yours is pretty healthy."

"Thanks Professor," Misty replied.

"Before you release your Omanyte, please also know the same thing also applies for him. So if his shell is shiny enough, then he's healthy."

"Oh okay," Misty said as she returned Kabuto and sent out Politoed. The water type came out with a hop in her step. She croaked as she sprayed Misty with bubble. Misty giggled at the action and Professor Oak stroked his chin.

"I'd say, Politoed is looking quite well and she is also of a good enough size. Her pouches are also red enough. She is a fine looking Politoed."

"Thanks Professor," Misty said as she returned Politoed.

"Is that all?"

"Yeah, that will be all."

"Thanks Professor," Ash said as he cut the call.

"Okay Ash, ready for a training session?" Misty was clutching Gyarados' pokéball.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Ash replied with a wide grin on his face.

Misty tossed a pokéball into the air and released her Gyarados. The water type roared as he came out and trashed wildly. It was a miracle that Misty could command such a powerful water type without issue. Ash smirked as he ran his hands over his friend balls before settling on one. He tossed his friend ball into the air as he released Emerald. Instantly, Gyarados' glare caused Emerald to falter as her attack was lowered.

"I believe it is ladies first," Ash said with a smile.

Misty giggled before issuing her first move. "Gyarados ice fang."

"Remember Misty, when beginning a battle: take into account the opponent and then the terrain, if it favours your pokémon. Emerald I want you to use agility to dodge and come back at him with thunderbolt."

Emerald nodded as she slipped into agility, easily evading the attack from Gyarados' incoming form. She came back at Gyarados with the gem on her head sparking with electricity. The bolt escaped her gem as it came right at Gyarados.

"Gyarados dodge and iron tail."

Gyarados was able to use his body to evade the attack. His tail attained a metallic sheen as he brought it at Emerald.

"Use agility to dodge once again, and flank him with flamethrower."

Slipping into agility, Emerald dodged the iron tail that was swung towards her. Her throat filled with flames and she began spewing them at Gyarados.

"Keep your opponents at bay if they are stronger than you physically and come up with a plan. If they are weaker than you physically, engage and draw them out."

Emerald kept up with attacking Gyarados with flamethrowers which didn't actually hurt the water type, but just served to irritate it.

"Twister," Misty called out.

Gyarados slammed his tail on the ground as he brewed up a twister of pure draconic energy that slammed into Emerald and picked her up. The attack dealt some super-effective damage to Emerald.

"Emerald use agility and then rhyme your movement with the twister," Ash called out of the blue, after watching the twister ram into Emerald.

Emerald slipped into agility once again as she rhymed her movement with the twister and aligned herself a little. "Now dragon rush to break free and slam into Gyarados."

The Dragon Pokémon was soon shrouded in draconic energy as she broke through the twister and made her way towards Gyarados. The Atrocious Pokémon roared as he slammed his tail at her incoming form, but she evaded and slammed into the maw of the Atrocious Pokémon.

Gyarados reeled back from the impact and took a few seconds to regain bearing.

"It's always a good thing to surprise the opponent in battle and then, time each attack either sequentially or randomly, making sure that each attack connects."

"Gyarados, use earthquake."

"Emerald, into the air and use dragon pulse."

Gyarados slammed his tail on the ground as he caused the ground to shake violently. Emerald jumped into the air and formed a dragon pulse before launching it at Gyarados. The orb of draconic energy exploded upon impact with Gyarados' face and sent him reeling back.

"Follow up," Ash commanded.

Emerald didn't let up as she continued launching dragon pulse after dragon pulse at the Atrocious Pokémon.

Misty steeled herself and gave a command. "Deflect with iron tail and use ice beam."

Gyarados' tail once again attained a metallic sheen which he used to deflect a dragon pulse and then launch an ice beam at Emerald. The ice attack lanced towards Emerald who darted off with agility, avoiding the ice beam. Gyarados continued to chase after Emerald with ice beam until Ash called out to Misty.

"Misty you're just wasting power. Think of a way to hit your target without wasting power. That's what you should do."

Misty nodded as she thought of a way to nail Emerald with ice beam. "Gyarados use earthquake."

Gyarados cut power to ice beam and slammed his tail on the ground as he caused an earthquake. Emerald jumped up to avoid the attack.

"Ice beam!"

Gyarados quickly used ice beam to blast Emerald who couldn't dodge while in the air, resulting in a direct hit.

"That was a nice tactic and a super-effective one at that. You really picked up on that pretty fast."

Emerald reeled at the ice type move and soon collected herself. "Now use earthquake."

Gyarados rammed his tail on the ground as he sent an earthquake at Emerald's form. The dragon type once again launched herself into the air to avoid the attack. "That's enough for the sparring," Ash said as he called Emerald back to him.

"That's it for today's sparring," Ash said as he held out another pokéball. He tossed it and released Golduck.

"Send out all your pokémon." Misty released her entire team albeit she was a little surprised at why Ash said she should do so. Out came Starmie, Seaking, Poliwrath, Politoed, Kabuto and Omanyte.

"I hope you're ready for a long training session," Ash said as he held six friend balls. "It's going to be a one-on-one session between each pokémon." He released all six pokémon from their balls.

"Golduck you're going to be working with Poliwrath. You guys will be working on improving your fighting moves; basically you'll be helping Poliwrath work on his attacks." Both pokémon nodded as they went off to begin their training.

"Volt I want you to work with Starmie on defense. Make sure to brush up on blunt moves while helping Starmie improve its resistance to electric attacks." Volt nodded as he walked up to the more experienced battler. Ash was sure that Starmie would knock Volt out in a one-on-one fight while Volt still held the type advantage.

"Emerald will be working on extreme speed alongside Seaking who will also be working on getting used to fighting on land. Try to hit Emerald with everything you got." Both pokémon quickly made their way to a separate place to begin their session.

"Tyrunt will be working with Politoed. I want you guys to brush up on attack power together and also throw in a little speed training."

"Kabuto and Omanyte will be with Butterfree and Beedrill. There are no specifics of your training, but you're required to improve." They nodded and went off to work.

"Gyarados and Scizor you'll be together. Just have at it." Both powerhouses nodded and took a large clearing to spar.

Ash turned to Misty and gestured to a tree. Basically, while their pokémon were sparring, they would be researching on them. Ash was slightly ahead in his training, so he dedicated his time to help Misty.

"Alright Mist, let's first look up Omanyte," he said as he turned on Dexter.

"Give me Omanyte's file entry."

"Right away Ash."

As the page came up, they began to read up about the fossil pokémon. One could count on Professor Oak to deliver on the most robust and accurate pokémon encyclopedia. This was actually the main reason the Professor went on his pokémon journey. He wanted to accurately understand all pokémon, and hence became a trainer. He journeyed the world and made entries every day of his life, something that promoted his once love interest, Agatha Shikimi, to tell him that pokémon were meant for battles. It was a wonder how he was able to even document all those details, even though limited in some areas as in legendary and mythical pokémon.

Omanyte was a fossil pokémon, a pokémon category that have been extinct for years, but were able to be revived through stimulation of their fossils and bombarding with carbon particles in order to reconstruct their physical bodies. It was a process that took a whole day and must be taken with caution. The Fossil Generator as they called it, was developed by the lead tech company in the Kanto-Johto peninsula, Silph Co. Ash wondered how they were able to even come up with such ideas.

He cleared his head of all thoughts and directed his focus to Omanyte's entry. Omanyte was basically similar in appearance to an ammonite. It was also known as the Spiral Pokémon and was a dual rock and water type, with rock being its primary type. It was vital to note that Misty's Omanyte was male and were slightly aggressive. Omanyte moved by storing and releasing air within their shell, while also controlling the direction with their tentacles. Basically their shells were hollow in some ways to compensate for air storage, thus allowing them to float.

The reason was because their shells had lots of chambers. And the chambers increased as they grew in age and size. Through the chambers, they can control the amount of water and air that enters, it was called a hyperosmotic active transport process. And with it they could control their buoyancy.

Shell armor was Omanyte's ability, Misty's at the least. Shell armour protected Omanyte against critical hits. Shell armour coated the shell with chemicals that prevented attacks from going over a range that would damage the Omanyte beyond normal or super-effective hits. A second or hidden ability was Weak Armour, another ability that utilizes its shell. The weaker part of the shell's ability actually. Being hit by a physical attack causes its defense to fall, but its speed increases due to the unseen loss in mass of the shell. That was pretty easy to understand and Ash opened the move page of Omanyte. He wanted to see which ones appealed to Misty so that they could work on it.

While Misty ran her hands over the moves, Ash released Blaze. The fire type came out with a roar and quickly flexed his wings and took off into the air. Thanks to been able to see through Ash's eyes while in the pokéball and the Aura bond that him and Ash share, he instinctively knew what to do. He was going to practice battling in the air on immobile targets, aka, trees.

Ash turned his attention back to Misty and nudged her. She was currently running all the moves that Omanyte knew in her head. He knew withdraw, bite, constrict and water gun. He also had the egg moves bubble beam, muddy water, whirlpool and water pulse, none of which were unlocked by the way.

"What move have you decided on?"

"I've decided on earth power. The move would give him an edge over electric types."

Ash nodded. Earth power was a tricky move to learn, tricky but not impossible. Plus, Omanyte had rock type as its primary type so that was a good thing.

Misty and Ash made their way to where Omanyte, Kabuto, Butterfree and Beedrill were training.

"Omanyte," Misty called to the dual type and it scurried over. "I have a move for you to work on, but Ash is going to explain it to you." It was best for someone more experienced than her to explain the move. "With it," she began. "We will be able to floor electric types!" She declared enthusiastically, with Omanyte joining her too.

Ash smiled as he opened earth power on the pokédex. Earth power: a ground type move that involves exploding the earth under a desired target. There were no detailed descriptions that showed how to perform the move. The entries that Ash was able to ascertain after looking at the screen for so long all pointed to one thing. 'Letting the pokémon get a feel for earth energy'.

"Beedrill come here." The bug type buzzed over to Ash. "I want you to help Omanyte get a feel for ground energy. Can you do that?"

The bug type spun his drills in an affirmative yes before gesturing to Omanyte. Beedrill used drill run to show Omanyte how ground energy was. After the demonstration, Beedrill began buzzing commands to Omanyte who thrilled in response.

"Well... Beedrill has everything under control. So next is...?"

"Kabuto," Misty said.

"Dexter."

"On it," The Pokédex said.

Kabuto's page came up not long after. Kabuto was the Shellfish Pokémon, a Pokémon that evolved into the powerful Kabutops. It lived closely with the Omanyte all those years ago and could only be revived by their dome-like shells. Apparently, there was a rumor that Kabuto still lived to this day. Who knows?

Kabuto was, like Omanyte, a dual rock and water type. They also had eyes on their back. Their real eyes were ominous red and apart from their eyes, shell and legs, the rest of their body could not be seen. They were also fast swimmers.

Kabuto, Misty's Kabuto had the ability battle armour, which functioned exactly as shell armour. It also had the hidden ability, weak armour. Ash switched over to the moveset of Kabuto and let Misty go over the moves. Ash whipped his head to see Blaze covered in flames hurling a dragon pulse into the air, and causing it to explode with a fire blast.

Ash smiled and turned to Misty who had chosen earth power. He called Butterfree over to supervise the training.

They moved on to the next pokémon on Misty's list, Politoed.

Politoed were a branched evolution of the Poliwag-line. It was as a result of giving a Poliwhirl a King's Rock to hold. The rock emitted a strange energy that resonated with Poliwhirl's DNA. Politoed were the weaker of the two final evolutions and opted to be a ranged fighter rather than a close ranged fighter like Poliwrath. They were usually at a disadvantage when it came to close combat battle. Misty had already decided on a move just as Ash showed her the move list.

"Focus blast."

Ash smiled at the choice. Focus blast was a very powerful fighting type move. It required the user focusing all their fighting energy into a single orb of power.

Ash pulsed his aura as Misty would probably have both Politoed and Poliwrath learn the move. Maybe Tyrunt should learn it too Ash thought. He pulsed his aura as he called the Pokémon to where he was.

"Golduck, I want you to teach Politoed, Poliwrath and Tyrunt focus blast. Think you can help them get a grasp of fighting energy."

The water type nodded as he gestured to his students to follow him. Ash smiled. All that was left was Gyarados, Starmie and Seaking. Misty was currently going about their move set so that when Ash came back, she would let him know. Volt was going to teach Starmie rain dance, Scizor would help Gyarados learn bounce and finally Emerald would help Seaking work on agility. That was the plan and they were going to follow it to the tee.

Ash and Misty were back on the road with Blaze flying overhead. The night before was productive and Misty was glad about that. Her pokémon had improved, even if it was a little, it was still an improvement. Omanyte and Kabuto had gotten a grasp on earth power; enough to make the ground around them vibrate ever so slightly. Focus blast was relatively easy for Poliwrath to grasp, Politoed not so much. The water type seemed to lack the focus that made focus blast what it was. The result was the attack exploding in his face every single time. Tyrunt had a better grasp on the move, though it was nowhere near the level of Poliwrath's, it was something that would give it an edge when facing steel types. Starmie had pretty much mastered rain dance, enough that it was able to control the clouds with ease. That stood to show that it was the strongest in Misty's arsenal. Gyarados had gotten the hang of bounce in a way that he was able to launch his entire body forward by using bounce. He was still a bit too heavy to carry his entire body forward. Agility was a perfect move for Seaking and the water type had been able to grasp the move.

They continued their journey towards Fuschia City, riding their bikes and taking in the cool breeze as night was approaching. They talked, occasionally even laughing about past things and generally sharing stories. They cycled in peace for a while, but sadly all good things must come to an end-"

Blaze swooped down as he spotted something making its way towards his trainer. He wasn't going to stand by and let something like that happen. He swung his claws in a slash attack as he cut through what appeared to be a focus blast. The force at which he came caused the attack to divide.

He roared a challenge, daring whoever had the guts to come out and face him. "Thanks Blaze," Ash said as he recovered from the mild shock at almost being hit by the fighting type move. Ash activated his aura sight as he located the perpetrators. Ash's eyes widened in shock, deep in the forest, just by the road, were a group of Primeape and Mankey.

"What was that Ash?" Misty asked, a bit taken aback by Ash's shocked expression.

"We've wondered into Primeape territory." He remembered the pokédex giving him a bit of warning at the possible appearance of swarms of pokémon. "Misty, pack your bike," Ash said as he let his mind flick through the possible options they had. They had wandered into Primeape territory and their numbers were just too numerous. He kept on using aura sight as he increased his range. The number of pokémon was too much and given the fact that their pokémon were tired from training, he and Misty had to run. He gestured to Starmie's pokéball and Misty understood what he meant. Thing was that the moment she released Starmie, the Primeape went into a frenzy.

"Run!" Ash shouted as he got on Blaze's back and Misty got on Starmie.

The entire horde of Primeape poured out from the forest like some sought of flood. They gave chase to the two trainers, hell bent on catching them and beating them into oblivion for no apparent reason. Some members of the horde were jumping from tree to tree and slowly gaining on Ash and Misty. One Primeape leapt from the tree as it charged a mega punch in its arm. Blaze swerved as he avoided the fighting type while Ash released Butterfree and Beedrill.

Both pokémon already knew what to do. Ash knew that escaping the horde was impossible, but fighting them was even more impossible. He wanted to buy as much time as possible so that he and Misty could stand their ground against them. Butterfree were perfect for the job of buying as much time as possible.

The Primeape responded to Butterfree and Beedrill by using rock throw. Both bug types expertly evaded the attacks before launching counter attacks of their own. Webs of bug energy were shot into the air, some sticking to the Primeape and some missing their target. Butterfree switched to using sleep powder but it was of no use thanks to vital spirit. Butterfree turned to Beedrill before releasing a huge load of poison powder, poisoning some of the horde. Beedrill followed up the attack with a powerful venoshock that was double the damage due to the fact that they were poisoned. Undeterred, the Primeape continued their pursuit. Butterfree and Beedrill still tried to keep them at bay, that is, until one of the Primeape's rock throw scored a direct hit on Beedrill, and knocked her out of the sky.

Butterfree followed and used psychic to blast some of the Primeape while he proceeded to escape their clutches. Ash recalled both of them, apparently angering one of the Primeape.

"Blaze, give me the thickest smokescreen you can muster. Misty, return Starmie."

As Misty returned the water type, Ash took her hand and pulled her atop of Blaze. The fire type opened his maw as he released a thick stream of smoke that clouded the vision of all, including Blaze. Ash was however not affected by the smoke; he used his aura sight to guide them over to a cave.

"Set us down Blaze."

The fire type nodded as he set them down at the mouth of the cave. He was kind of angry at the fact that he was not able to do anything to those Primeape. He growled as Ash led them inside. Ash and Misty were his priority so he couldn't actually stay to fight. But next time, those Primeape wouldn't know what hit them.

"Blaze, I will be going out to get some wood."

The fire type turned to him with a scowl in his face. He growled lightly and Ash perfectly understood that.

"I'll be fine," the raven-haired trainer said but Blaze did not even seem fazed at all. He growled at Ash and spewed a torrent of flames at the entrance of the cave. Ash got the idea that Blaze was not going to let him get out in any way. "I don't suppose you have a way for us to make fire huh?"

The fire type nodded as he ventured into the cave and came back some seconds later carrying a lot of dry wood. He nodded at Ash who kind of looked dumbfounded. He had not thought of the possibility of wood being inside the cave.

About ten minutes later they had a fire going and all their pokémon were out and about. Ash had Butterfree, Beedrill, Blaze, Volt, Riolu, Scizor, Golduck, Venusaur, Blastoise, Tyrunt, Clefairy and Zorua. Misty had all her pokémon with her, kind of like a temporary lift of the six pokémon limit.

"Okay everyone, food's ready." They all chowed down on the little snack that Ash made them. Each pokémon type had a particular berry associated with them. It was usually something that had a little taste of the type in them and Ash had made sure to make it to each type's liking.

"Now that everyone is full, let's get down to business. As we speak now, the Primeape are searching for us, and I'm certain that there is no way in hell we are going to make it to Fuschia without taking out this Primeape horde."

"Why don't we call the league and ask for help."

"I'm getting there. All the elite four members were out of Kanto for business. Basically the ace trainers and elite apprentices won't be able to make it now so we will call them in the morning right before we move out."

"So… you want us to fight the Primeape until help arrive? You're crazy you know that Ash Ketchum."

"Oh lighten up Misty. It's perfect training for all of us."

"If you say so." She knew he was right and they'd gain a lot of experience if they did just that. "Alright, so here's the plan…"

The Next Morning

After they had called the League and informed them about the situation at Cycling Road, they had made their move. One Ace Trainer may not be able to handle this… horde, so they had made up their mind to help out as much as they can until he\she came. Ash currently had Clefairy and Zorua out while Misty had Starmie and Politoed.

Ash had Zorua use illusion to shield them from the Primeape's lurking sight but that changed as they reached the road. They took the road because the Primeape would have an even greater advantage in the forest, but this was ridiculous. The entire road was crawling with Primeape and they were mad.

They continued their journey undetected, but Ash paled as he saw a Mankey talking to a Primeape and diverting the latter's attention towards them. The Primeape hurled a huge rock at their direction and it broke Zorua's illusion. The Primeape shrieked as they saw their targets. The good thing was that they had gotten a fair deal away from the horde and had gained a fighting ground of some sort.

The road broke into a frenzy as the Primeape came bursting from every corner. "Take the back, and I'll watch the front." Ash turned to guard the front area while Misty sent Starmie and Politoed to guard the back.

Clefairy ran forward ass Ash released Riolu to assist her and Zorua. Clefairy began the battle buy letting loose a loud cry that made all that heard flinch. Luckily, Riolu and Zorua had covered their ears. Seizing the opportunity, Zorua bounded forward with bounce as she slammed into Primeape and Mankey, not even bothering to pause and look at the damage. She was at a disadvantage here and if they caught her, she was out. Riolu had activated detect as he began clashing with Mankey and Primeape, evading their attacks before landing a couple of hits of his own.

A Primeape grabbed Zorua just before she could use bounce and used fling to send her flying. Clefairy's response to this was to slam the Primeape with zen headbutt. She bowled over them without hesitation and ploughed through their wall. She too was caught and was focus blasted back to Ash. She squeaked at him and took his bag and took out a glowing stone.

"Are you sure?" Ash asked her. She nodded. He has been there for her and now she wants to be there for him. She smiles as a blinding light takes over and her form changes. Her ears elongate and she apparently gains wings on her back. Her height increases as she approaches Ash's. With the power from her evolution, she charges back into the field. She lets loose a metronome and the resulting attack is a devastating sky attack. She glows a bright white as she bounces before descending with a mighty crash on the Primeape.

Riolu was having the time of his life as he was landing hits on the enemies. He had managed to knock out four Primeape. He winced as a cross chop found its mark on his neck. This gave the Primeape the chance to capitalize. He was met with a follow up fire punch that sent him into the air. Subsequently, Zorua was blasting them with dark pulse. She was however sent to the ground by a karate chop. She barked loud enough for Ash to hear her and release Butterfree and Beedrill.

A wing attack was all it took to send majority flying as he rescued Zorua and took the dark type back to Ash who returned her to her friend ball.

Misty was also doing well. Politoed had been knocked out by a triple thunder punch combo and she had sent out Poliwrath and Gyarados. Luckily for her, there were not much attackers on this end.

Riolu barked as he hurled a Primeape in a circular manner. The Primeape crashed into a tree with a loud thud. Ash winced at the sound of bone cracking as it impacted the tree. He looked at Riolu with eyes glowing blue. He was getting pretty tired but nonetheless still persevered. Butterfree tossed a couple pokémon with psychic but was blind sighted with a fire punch to the face. Far in front of Ash was Beedrill who had released several poisonous spores. As all around her glowed with purple energy, she proceeded to use venoshock, and further damage them. She followed up by charging a powerful solar beam attack. Butterfree nodded as he used psychic to hold the beam in place before hurling it down on the Primeape. The result was a massive explosion just like the one at Celadon City and it knocked out few Primeape and some Mankey.

One lucky Primeape that survived the attack glowed with a red aura as it slammed into Butterfree with double the power of psychic sun. Butterfree was knocked out of the sky where he dug a trench in the ground. Beedrill got angered as she used drill run to slam the Primeape into the ground and drawing blood. Ash returned Butterfree and clutched another friend ball. Ash hurled it and released a blur of blue that slammed into a couple Primeape with such force that they were sent flying, just as Clefable was knocked out. The blur came to a stop as it looked at the damage it had left in its wake. Soon, hail began to fall as Ash's powerful ice type and the sixth member of his elite began to create icicles from the air. She flipped backwards, avoiding two fire punch attempts as she dropped the icicles on her targets.

Similarly, the air also became charged as a roaring and angry Electabuzz smashed his fists together. He whirled his hands, sparking with electricity before shooting a massive thunder attack into the sky. The clouds responded to his plea by darkening and rumbling with thunder. With a cry from Ash all his pokémon fell back and Volt unleashed a massive thunder shower on the Primeape.

Ash currently had Beedrill, Riolu, Glaceon and Volt out of their balls, but before he could even begin to think, Riolu was knocked out with a focus punch. Apparently, the Primeape had attacked him while one of them charged up a focus punch. He returned the little fighting type and released Golduck. The Duck pokémon came out and immediately used future sight and followed it up with confusion. The psychic attack slammed into them as a couple of them were sent flying from the attack.

Ash watched as all of a sudden the Primeape decided to pull back. Ash decided to let up a bit as his pokémon came to surround him and Misty.

"What are they doing?" Misty asked, worry evident in her voice. The Primeape had begun to gather together and Ash noticed that they were charging up an attack. His eyes widened. They had given him some distance and had begun to charge up a focus blast attack. What even shocked Ash was the fact that the attack didn't take much to charge and it looked ready to be launched.

Ash instinctively sent out Blastoise, Venusaur, Scizor and Blaze. "Venusaur, Blastoise and Blaze use protect. I want the strongest you can muster." The trio nodded as they began to focus their energy. Ash meanwhile turned to the rest. "Hit that thing with the strongest attacks you have."

All the pokémon nodded as they let loose their most powerful attacks. A powerful psybeam escaped Starmie's gem. Gyarados shot a powerful ice beam at the incoming attack. Glaceon also responded by using an ice beam of her own and it was far more powerful than what Gyarados had released. Scizor fired twin flash cannons from his jaw-like hands. A powerful psybeam that was enveloped with thunderbolt was the present that both Golduck and Volt decided to give the Primeape. Beedrill charged up and unleashed the most powerful sludge bomb that she could.

As both attacks clashed, there was a powerful explosion as debri were launched everywhere. The protect that Ash had his pokémon set up only held up until the explosion died down. Apparently, the attacks of both sides were directed at the ground and as such, the earth was what took the majority of the damage. He heard a roar and looked up to see a figure descending upon them.

'It must have been what diverted the attack to the ground,' Ash thought as he watched the figure land with a thud. He examined the pokémon carefully. It had a singular sharp claw for its hands with fins underneath it, and on each arm were two spikes just near the shoulder. It was primarily a blue grey colour with what appeared to be thrusters on top of its head. It had yellow eyes and sharp teeth. Its leg was sturdy and there were three claws on each foot, two spikes running across each leg. It had a fin on its back and a strong, sturdy tail with two fins on both sides. It roared as if daring the Primeape to get up and try to attack it. It was a Garchomp, the final stage of the pseudo-legendary Gible. It stood at six feet and radiated power. Not power on par with that of champion level pokémon, but that of elite four levels.

There was a girl that looked like she was the trainer of said beast. She had blonde hair that flowed to just below her knee. That was all he could see from this angle and he ultimately took her to be the ace trainer the league had sent. She sure took her time getting there.

Ash returned all his pokémon, save Blaze. The fire type was definitely interested in seeing just who the heck the lady was. What followed after the Primeape tried to get up was not something that Ash had expected. The ground exploded as it made its way towards the Primeape. The move knocked them out.

"Hey!" Ash called out to her. She turned around and walked up to Ash. She was apparently smiling. "Thanks," Ash said as she reached him.

Blaze was apparently eyeing the Garchomp in front of him. He was trying to gauge how stronger the dragon type was than him.

"How are you doing?" she asked as she looked at him. "Sorry I arrived late, I was just curious to see how you would handle the Primeape…"

Ash's eyes widened in a mix of shock, confusion and anger. She had seen his battle apparently and had not stepped in. That was pretty reckless of her.

"… That is until you decided to use an attack that would have decimated the entire area and might have probably killed you. I just managed to divert it with hyper beam."

Ash rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. She was right and he knew it.

"Anyways," she said as she pressed a dial on her wrist. "I just alerted the league to my location and when they get here, we will round up the entire Primeape horde-"she was cut short as Blaze took off and barreled into a Primeape with aerial ace.

He took off before the Primeape could even think and just used air slash. This Primeape was also bigger than the rest and looked to be the leader of the horde. It was apparently pissed at the way that his subordinates were taken out.

"I guess your Charizard has everything under control," she said as she averted her eyes from the battle. "The name's Cynthia, Cynthia Shirona and I am from the Sinnoh region."

Ash nodded. All the way from Sinnoh to Kanto. "My name is Ash Satoshi Ketchum and I am from Pallet Town here in the Kanto region."

He noticed how Cynthia's eyes widened at the mention of his name. "I never imagined I'll be coming to the aid of the Pokémon Master's son…" she averted her eyes to Misty's form. "Who's your lady friend?"

"Oh… My name is Misty Waterflower and I'm from Cerulean City here in Kanto."

"Nice to meet you both-"They all turned to see Blaze get nailed with a mega punch. The attack sent the fire type sprawling on the ground, but he was quick to get back into the fight with a wing attack and ended the battle with a devastating dragon rush.

Ash hurled a pokéball as he caught the fighting type. He wasn't going to add it to his roster until after the Indigo League. He was okay with the fifteen pokémon he had to challenge the league. For now, Primeape was going to spend his time at the ranch. He sent a message to Professor Oak, telling him about the Primeape he had sent over.

"If I may," Cynthia said as she walked up to Ash. "Your Charizard has control over draconic moves far better than most dragon pokémon I've seen."

"Well… that's because, he is actually the son of my dad's Charizard and Dragonite, and we spent a year before I began my journey to just basically work on his moves with my dad, and the dragon type genes stuck to him."

"That's interesting," Cynthia said as she examined the fire type.

"What brings you to Kanto? If you don't mind me asking." It was Misty who asked that question.

"I don't mind. I came to Kanto to further my training because my elite four challenge is approaching and I hope to win it and become the next champion."

Ash just realized that Cynthia was a league winner. The elite four challenge was only given to those who had won any of the league competitions and it was a common occurrence in all the regions, with the exception of Alola who was still recovering from the wars. He had no idea if the Galar region did it the same way, but he hoped they were the same.

After winning the league, the trainer was given a whole year to train and then a month to successfully challenge all the elite four in order of weakest to strongest, and on whatever rules they chose for the battle. Losing to one of the elite four would mean that the challenge was over and that the challenger had lost, and they would have to beat the league again before they can have another chance. If the challenger successfully beats all the elite four, they would get to challenge the Champion of that region to a six-on-six battle for the title of Champion of that region. If they lost, they would be offered the position of elite trainer or if they wanted, they could join the elite four. If they won, then they would become the new champion of the region and then the former of champion would either join the elite four or just leave.

There were also opportunities for gym leaders and other recognized trainers to climb that ladder. Every year, a gym leader conference is held, kind of like the league conferences. This conference comprises of all gym leaders from each region and they battle it out to make the top sixteen. The top sixteen gym leaders are then permitted to participate in the Elite Four Conference alongside four elite trainers from each region. It is in this conference that elite four members can be reshuffled and replaced. The Conference was held every two years and the top eight were allowed to participate in the Tournament of Champions. A tournament that features the champions of each region and that is used to determine the strongest champion in the world.

From there, whosoever wished to challenge the Master provided they have completed the criteria.

"… Uh Ash," Misty called out.

"W-What?"

"You zoned out."

"Sorry… if you don't mind me asking, for how long have you being a trainer?"

"Umm… Roughly ten years."

"That's nice," Ash said as he turned around to face Misty."We should get going… hope you beat the champion so that when I come to Sinnoh I can have the liberty of facing you as a champion."

Cynthia smiled and nodded. "Hopefully… and good luck on your journey."

"Thanks for the help Cynthia. Good luck!" he and Misty left as they continued their journey to Fuschia.

Ash, Misty and Paul had arrived at Fuschia. They had encountered the purple haired trainer near the end of the cycling road training. Said trainer had already earned his badge from the elite ninja pokémon trainer, Koga. The purple haired boy was apparently training his newly caught Nidorino and his newly evolved Ursaring. Said normal type had evolved in the battle against Koga.

"Finally," Misty said as they reached the Pokémon Center. She was tired as hell from the trekking and battles that they had. "I'll go sign us in," she said as she walked into the center. The day was bordering towards the hours of evening.

"So… how's your Gible?" Ash asked.

The purple haired teen just shrugged. "She's coming along just fine, but I'm afraid I won't be able to use her until the league rolls by."

"Why's that?"

"The gym leaders left for me just so happen to be Sabrina, Blaine and Giovanni and they won't take it lightly with any pokémon you use to challenge them, with the exception of Erika. Until then, I'll just have to train her."

"I see. Well Zorua's coming along okay and unlike you and Gary who got pseudo-legendaries, I got a pokémon that was experienced enough to use her against Erika and come out on top."

"Whatever… Gary's also coming out strong, said he had evolved his Graveler and that both his Ralts had improved. Trip already has a Conkeldurr on his team and according to him; his Kangaskhan is an absolute powerhouse alongside Emboar."

"That just makes things even more interesting."

"So… you'll be challenging Koga tomorrow?"

"Yeah… I want to get this over with. What about you?"

"I already have the badge, so I'll be heading to Celadon City to take on Erika. I had thought about going to the safari zone, but I'll most likely head over to the rock tunnel and take it to Lavender town. There I'll catch a ghost type and take on Sabrina."

"You sure have this planned out."

"Of course I do."

"Well, I'll be taking the long road to Lavender town. As it is I have sixteen pokémon caught already and I don't need any extras so I won't be facing Sabrina with a ghost type."

"You on a catching spree or what?

"They just happen to occur to me… that's all. Leaf on the other hand is going about catching a bunch of pokémon."

"I need at least a team of twelve for the league. I'm going to have to catch another fire type and evolve most of my pokémon."

"I just remembered… Volt evolved."

Paul smiled. "Guess someone's eager to get an Electivire."

"So do you?"

"Of course yes."

"So when are you going back to Celadon?"

"I should be going now." He released Fearow and got on the avian.

"Don't go losing to just anyone…I want to have the honour beating you in battle."

"We'll see about that. Take care Ash." And he was off. Ash also turned around as he made his way inside the Pokémon Center, all too ecstatic about his match in the morning.

The Next Morning

Ash was standing in front of the Fuschia Gym. He had a refreshing rest the previous night as he was too exhausted to train, given the events that occurred at the Cycling Road. He just wanted to face Koga and get things over with. His birthday was also approaching and he was excited 'cause his dad had promised to get him a present.

He took a deep breath as he stepped into the gym. The gym was set in a standard Japanese home style and was pitch black. He was only able to see this because of aura sight. He was lucky to be able to use aura, the entire gym was booby trapped to the tee. He casually avoided the trap doors and the occasional projectiles that were sent flying at his head and the sleep darts. Darts that Koga used to knock out people who were not worthy to face him in battle; usually the trainer would wake up to see themselves outside the Pokémon Center. Only rarely did a person get hit by all this attacks and still be able to face Koga, and that's why most trainers enter this gym with a pokémon that would be able to sense danger and all those attacks.

Ash sighed as he located the gym arena. It had definitely been more than ten minutes and he had located it, he was also able to locate the aura of Koga and another person. Now what was left was the final test of the invisible door, something Ash was not sure his aura sight would be able to locate, but he did so and he was glad. As soon as he entered the arena, the lights came on and he could see clearly. There on the gym floor was Koga standing as he usually was, calm, and besides him was a girl that was so bubbly and cheerful, reminding him of Leaf.

"Ash Satoshi Ketchum, I presume?"

The raven haired trainer just nodded as he studied the gym. It was just like a typical Japanese floor. Ash let his senses take over as he tried to get a feel for one of the League issued Alakazam.

"Your aura is even more impressive in person. My name is Koga Kyō and I am the Gym Leader of Fuschia City." The poison type specialist took a bow as he introduced himself.

"Hi," the girl said as she jumped up ecstatically.

"Hello, my name is Ash Satoshi Ketchum… you already knew that."

Koga smirked. "Allow me to introduce my daughter, Janine Kyō. She will be refereeing us today as we battle. She needs to get a huge grasp as a trainer before I hand over the gym to her."

Ash blinked. "You're quitting?!"

"Yes… I have been chosen by Lance to come and take one of the vacant Elite Four posts of Johto."

Ash looked a bit shocked but before he could voice out as his thoughts, Koga beat him to it. "Blaine and Giovanni both turned down the offer. Blaine on the account that he couldn't go back to being an elite again and Giovanni brushing it off due to the fact that he needs to protect Viridian City from Team Rocket… reasons that I am not very aware of. Sabrina was the one that actually convinced me to take it. So as of the next Gym Leader's Conference… my daughter, Janine will be representing Fuschia City."

"She needs all the training she can have because her battle style is a little… shabby."

"That is so not true," the Gym Leader heiress pouted as she looked at her father. Koga glanced at Ash and gained a twinkle in his eyes of some sort. The raven haired trainer was quick to understand this and voiced his thoughts.

"… You want me to battle her?"

"Just to test her skills and to see her she would do in a battle against someone her age… so what do you say?"

"I'm always ready for a battle," Ash declared as he pumped his fists.

"Fine by me," Janine replied as she adjusted her scarf, revealing three pokéballs. "How does a three-on-three battle sound?"

"Sounds good to me," Ash said as he clutched a pokéball. He was going to let one of his weaker pokémon battle.

Janine took one of her pokéball as she hurled it and releasing a purple goo-like pokémon. "Meet Grimer," she said as she patted the Pokémon's head. "He is the most defensive battler I have." Said poison type just squished in response. Ash nodded his head and watched the Grimer with caution, because said Grimer was a shiny one.

"In that case… I choose you." Ash tossed his friend ball as he released Emerald. The Dratini came out and cooed as she studied the sudden change of location. Her eyes darted back to her trainer as she observed him. "We're about to have a battle." She nodded as she trained her eyes on the Grimer in anticipation and awaited the signal for the battle to start.

Koga walked up to the center of the field as both trainers took their spot. "Battle begin."

"Grimer harden and follow up with mud-slap."

Grimer nodded as his body went stiff for a moment before hurling mud at Emerald.

"Dodge and use agility to circle him."

Emerald's body lightened as she avoided the mud-slap and began to circle Grimer.

"Poison gas."

Grimer squished as he let loose a purple gas that filled the area around him. "Into the gas and nail him with dragon pulse."

Ignoring the poisonous gas, Emerald darted in and nailed Grimer with a point blank dragon pulse. The attack sent the poison type flying, but he immediately got up, ever ready to attack.

"Sludge bomb."

Grimer spread his hands in front of his mouth as he released a huge blob of poison. Emerald swerved to dodge the attack but was met with another poisonous blob. The attack exploding on impact and sending her flying.

"Gunk shot!"

Ash was not having that. "Dragon pulse again." Emerald steadied herself as she shot the orb of draconic energy just before Grimer used gunk shot. The result was an explosion that completely covered the poison type.

"Grimer!" Janine shouted as she awaited the result.

"Emerald, ready a flamethrower."

The dragon type nodded as her mouth began to go ablaze. She tensed ever so slightly as she readied to release the flamethrower at the slightest sign of movement from the poison type.

Grimer shot out of the smoke as he threw himself into the air. Emerald released the flamethrower as Grimer's body approached her. The attack did nothing as Grimer completely body slammed Emerald. The poison type got off her as he made his way back to his trainer. Electricity sparked across Emerald's body as she was paralyzed, but not even a second later and her body glowed as she "shed" her skin, freeing herself from the paralysis.

"How's that possible?" Janine asked. She'd noticed that poison gas hadn't affected the Dratini in the slightest and was wondering how that was. She'd read about Dratini and she had not seen anything peculiar about them, save the fact that they were rare pokémon.

"Its her ability, shed skin. It heals her of any status effects that she may have in battle."

"Janine… clearly you haven't been studying as I had hoped you would. One of the things that will make you a great trainer is a basic knowledge on the pokémon you encounter."

"Yes Dad…" she pondered her next move because her opponent had just sent out a pokémon that she could not poison. "… Grimer use mud-slap again and don't let up until I give you the go ahead."

"Emerald, dodge with agility and use thunderbolt once you're in the clear."

Emerald nodded as she lightened her body with psychic energy before darting around the mud that was hurled at her. She danced around them before letting loose a powerful thunderbolt from her gem. The electric move slammed into Grimer and broke his attack. Wasting no time, Ash gave the command for a dragon pulse, which Emerald executed without missing a beat.

The dragon move hit Grimer and sent the poison type flying till it hit the psychic barriers and get repelled. Grimer hazily pulled himself to his feet as he awaited Janine's command. The gym leader in-training grit her teeth as she pondered her next move.

"Disable," she said and Grimer executed it before Ash could react. The dragon type was frozen in place as she fought to break free from the attack. "Ice punch."

Grimer made his way towards Dratini as fast as he could, which was pretty slow. Emerald struggled and as soon as she broke free, she was met with a very cold punch that sent her flying. A powerful sludge attack hit her before she could touch the ground.

"Emerald!" Ash called and he breathed a sigh of relief as he saw her get up. Grimer had gotten two good attacks in and Ash was clenching his fist.

"Mud bomb!" Janine declared as she was feeling lucky.

An idea clicked in Ash's mind as Emerald used agility to dodge. "Slam him into the ceiling with twister."

Emerald stopped as she used twister to pick Grimer up and slam the poison type unto the ceiling. Grimer was thrashed violently inside the twister before letting it dissipate.

"Quickly, dragon dance and then dragon rush."

Emerald, augmented by the agility speed boost, performed the dragon dance move before crouching down slightly. Ash watched as draconic energy swirled around her, and she slithered forward, almost a blur. She seemingly circled Grimer's falling body, allowing the draconic energy to build up more before she threw herself at the poison type. The impact creating a makeshift shockwave as Grimer was thrown into the psychic barriers, causing it to flare before stopping. Grimer was out for the count and Emerald was panting heavily.

Janine sighed as she recalled her Grimer and clutched another pokéball. Ash also recalled Emerald as he thought on which pokémon to send out.

"Let's do this," Janine said as she tossed the pokéball unto the field. The light materialized to reveal the female variant of the Nidoran-line, Nidoqueen. She was also a shiny variant and she bellowed as she stomped her foot.

Ash was confused as to which pokémon he would send out to battle this beast. He nodded as he thought of the perfect one. He tossed the friend ball and released his newly evolved Clefable.

Koga glanced between both trainers before giving the order for the battle to begin.

"Nidoqueen start things with poison tail."

The large poison type roared as her tail was coated in poison energy and she charged Clefable.

"Zen headbutt."

The fairy type's head became coated with psychic energy as she ran at Nidoqueen. She slammed into the poison type and was in turn hit with a poison tail to the face.

Janine smirked. "Nidoqueen has the best reflexes out of all my pokémon. You'd have to be really fast to be able to evade it. Nidoqueen use earth power."

"Water pulse below you."

Nidoqueen stomped the ground as she caused it to explode beneath Clefable. The fairy type responded to Ash's command and tossed a water pulse at the ground, causing it to counter the earth power, reducing the damage Clefable took.

"Nidoqueen charge it and use poison tail again." Nidoqueen bellowed as her tail attained a purple glow. She slammed it into Clefable's body and sent the fairy type crashing into the barrier.

Clefable got up and took on a stance, though Ash could see the glow of poison around her body. "Clefable use metronome."

The fairy type began to wag her fingers back and forth as the tips glowed. "Iron tail."

Nidoqueen's tail attained a metallic sheen as she made her way towards Clefable. The fairy type in turn smirked as an ice beam escaped her mouth and slammed into Nidoqueen. The dual ground and poison type shrieked as the beam of ice slammed into her and lifted her into the air.

Clefable smirked but was feeling the toll. She wasn't quite used to her new body yet, so some of her attacks tend to carry a little too much power. Nidoqueen took her time in getting up, but she still had enough fight in her to go.

Ash flinched as a purple glow took over Clefable's body. He needed to end the battle quickly or else he would be in trouble. "Earth power!"

"Dodge it."

Clefable jumped up to avoid the earth exploding below her, but Ash was not prepared for the attack that came next.

"Poison sting."

Nidoqueen opened her mouth as she unleashed the barrage of poisonous needles at Clefable. The fairy type instinctively threw up a protect to block the needles that were headed her way. She groaned as poison took effect and caused her to drop her defense.

"Venoshock," Janine spat as she took advantage of the situation. A poisonous liquid blob escaped Nidoqueen's mouth and slammed into the fairy type. The result was an explosion that sent Clefable into the barriers.

It took time before the fairy type was able to pick herself back to her feet, but Ash returned her before she could fall down again. He muttered some words to her friend ball before turning to face Janine who had returned Nidoqueen and wore a smug grin on her face. They were both tied and this match was the deciding factor.

"I must admit Ash… you really are a strong trainer as you were able to take out my Grimer… but I am taking this tie breaker and you are going to witness firsthand the power of my strongest pokémon."

"Same goes for me… you really are a strong trainer, but the pokémon I have been using are not members of my elite squad… and now you are going to witness "firsthand" the power of one of my strongest."

Both trainers tossed their balls at the same time. On Janine's side, the light materialized into a Nidoking. The poison/ground type came out with a loud cry and stomped his feet violently. Its tail swished violently behind it and to top it all off, this pokémon was a shiny.

On Ash's side, the light materialized to reveal his Glaceon. The ice type coming out of her ball and flicking her ears. Koga just raised his eye brows at the sight of the rare pokémon. "Battle begin."

"Focus energy."

"Hail and then quick attack around the field."

Nidoking flexed his muscles as he was covered in a red aura as he focused greatly. Glaceon just sent a spike of icy energy into the atmosphere and hail began to fall. She proceeded to use quick attack and began to round the entire field. After Ash decided it was sufficient enough, he gave his next order.

"Iron tail."

"Counter with iron tail too."

Glaceon's tail attained a metallic sheen as she changed her direction to Nidoking. The poison type's tail also attained a metallic sheen as he countered Glaceon. Both attacks clashed and a shockwave rippled out. Ash looked at both pokémon struggling to overpower each other and noticed something. If it had not been for quick attack, Glaceon would have been thrown away by Nidoking.

"Break off and ice beam."

Glaceon disconnected herself from Nidoking and shot off a beam of ice. Janine instantly commanded her pokémon to use protect and the ice beam harmlessly bounced off of the defense barrier.

"Icicle crash."

"Sucker punch."

Nidoking shot off as he was propelled by the power of sucker punch. The punch found its mark on Glaceon's face and launched her backward. "Earth power before she can recover."

"Dodge and follow through with icicle crash."

Glaceon righted herself as she began to run around the field. Earth power exploded behind her and more hail crashed into Nidoking. Before the poison type could comprehend, some ice shards crashed into it, dealing damage.

"Nidoking, use drill run." The poison and ground type managed to catch himself. He slammed his tail into the ground as he began to propel himself at Glaceon all the while leaking of ground energy.

"Go after Nidoking with quick attack."

Glaceon shot off as she left behind a trail of silver white energy. She made her way towards the large poison and ground type. "Jump into the air and use blizzard on his head." The move had not been perfected yet but what Ash had in mind was perfect for this move.

Glaceon jumped up as she used blizzard. The move slammed into Nidoking and sent his body into the ground, digging a trench. At the same time, the blizzard had propelled Glaceon into the air and had also frozen Nidoking.

"Nidoking!"

Glaceon was sent high into the air by the force of the Blizzard attack and Ash smirked.

"What are you planning?"

"You'll see. Glaceon," Ash called out. "Descend with a spin with quick attack and smash Nidoking with an iron tail."

The ice type yipped as she used quick attack, the familiar silver white energy trailing off of her body; she began to spin as she came down, her tail attaining a metallic sheen. Ash was too dependent on luck for this move. The fact that Glaceon had to retain a sense of vertigo was just too much and she may end up confusing herself and missing the target. Ash watched as she outlined with Nidoking's body and came down, the momentum from the spin and the added effect of gravity, coupled with the speed boost from quick attack gave the iron tail more powerful.

A shockwave ripped out from the impact of steel and ice, with the ice breaking in an instance. A loud shriek was heard as Nidoking cried out in pain. Glaceon in turn made her way back to Ash's side of the field. The poison and ground type made to stand up… very slowly. He was battered and bruised beyond a shadow of doubt but was still raring to fight. He stomped as he let loose a massive earthquake attack that damaged the field and crashed into Glaceon, sending her into the barrier.

Ash looked at the Drill Pokémon's eyes and noticed something. They had tensed up and the Nidoking was on a rampage.

'Uh-oh,' Janine thought.

"Janine," Koga said as he glanced at his daughter. "You still haven't worked on that with Nidoking, have you?"

Janine flinched a bit at his tone. He wasn't angry nor was he upset. He came off as disappointed and a little annoyed.

"I've been working on it and there has been a little progress," she said. "But I don't know."

Koga nodded. Nidoking are a little hard to control at their final stage and some, not all, tend to go on a rampage. "Alright, I am stopping the battle."

"Uhmm… Koga let me stop him."

"Are you sure?" On seeing Ash's determination, he nodded and turned his eyes back to the rampaging pokémon.

"Glaceon let's do this for Janine," Ash said as he flicked his hat to the back. The ice type yipped as she pawed the ground and huffed.

"I know, I know… let's do this for Janine okay?" the ice type gave in and nodded. "Quick attack."

Glaceon shot off as she let loose a trail of silver white energy. Nidoking was just busy using thrash to devastate the field but he stopped as he noticed Glaceon from the corner of his eye. He changed his direction and began to charge Glaceon. She paused and before he could catch her, she sped off and hit Nidoking on the back with an iron tail. The Drill Pokémon didn't appear fazed by the attack and proceeded to attack her back, but she was already gone.

An ice beam slammed into Nidoking's chest and he felt the pain from the attack. Nidoking's hands came ablaze as he began to charge Glaceon again. The ice type used hail to its fullest extent, and the entire field was covered in a hailstorm. Thanks to her snow cloak ability, her evasion increased and Nidoking was unable to pinpoint her. Nidoking bellowed furiously and slammed the ground, letting loose an earthquake and catching Glaceon of guard. Thanks to the hail on the ground, the power of the attack was greatly limited, but it still packed a punch.

"Glaceon are you okay?" Ash was glad to hear her yip. "Now use icicle crash."

The ice type nodded and began to form the shards of ice continuously. She didn't let up and continued to form the shards of ice. Thanks to prior training, she was able to pinpoint where Nidoking was and sent the shards of ice at the ground type. Multiple grunts were heard and most likely assumed to be the grunts of Nidoking due to the fact that it was deep.

"I want you to charge up blizzard."

'This kid has really got some strange tactics to his name. Truly surprising for a kid his age. The next generation is definitely worth something.'

Glaceon pawed the ground as she pinpointed Nidoking's form. The poison type was still in his fit of rage and was thrashing about continuously and not letting up. Glaceon wondered why the pokémon was not yet confused, because if she remembered correctly, thrash was a move that caused the pokémon to become confused. Or maybe he was too in to his rampage to even notice that it was confused. She shook her head as she used an ice spear to gain its attention. The Drill Pokémon turned his attention towards her and the hail stopped. Nidoking resumed his pursuit, but Glaceon and Ash had other plans in mind.

"Icicle crash on both feet."

The ice type barked as she formed two icicles and slammed them into the poison type's feet. As Nidoking tripped ever so slightly, Ash capitalized by ordering Glaceon to use blizzard. She let loose the powerful ice type move that slammed into Nidoking and sent the poison type into the barrier, completely encasing him in ice. Nidoking was out cold.

Janine sighed as she returned the Drill Pokémon. Koga whistled and the psychic barriers were dropped. He glanced at Janine who was heading out of the room to go and heal her pokémon and have a stern talk with Nidoking.

"You did well."

"Uhh… thank you sir," Ash responded. "Is she going to be okay... your daughter?"

"Janine just needs to have a chat with her Nidoking… she needs to let him know the dangers of his rampage. Just like me, she is pretty much independent… every time I offer to help her; she says she would do it on her own… I'll just give her time to find herself and help Nidoking. In the meantime, you and I have a battle."

Ash smirked as Koga said those words. "Yes sir… but the field is damaged."

"Yes… but not beyond repair." The Poison type Gym Leader whistled again and the Alakazam came. The psychic type used its abilities to completely restore the field to its previous form and then it took on its position once again, ready to form another barrier if the need be.

Koga casually walked to his side of the field and turned towards Ash. "Are you ready?"

The raven-haired trainer nodded as he clutched a friend ball. Both he and Koga tossed their balls at the same time, releasing two pokémon.