Orange Island

Tad gave a whistle, "I didn't know Venasaur could learn how to heal... Frankly I'm a bit jealous of you Ash. You have all three starters, basically every kids dream. How did you get them?"

Ash gave a sad smile which made Tad blink, "If you stick around for lunch after the battle, I'll share their story with you. Mind you though it's not a happy story."

Tad got a suspicion, "I see, well then let's battle. Let's go Poliwrath."

Ash, "Ready Charizard!"

Gou, "Begin!"

Tad, "Ice punch!"

Ash, "Counter with fire punch!"

The fire punch and ice punch hit the other Pokemon and the two Pokemon grunted in response to the hit before separating.

Tad, "Ice beam!"

Ash, "Heat wave!"

The fire and ice type move resulted in a thick steam making the already hot weather even more humid. Misty grumbled wiping her sweat off while Charizard and Poliwrath stood just fine in the middle of it. Tad had taken off his jacket and Ash took off his shoes, jacket already taken off before the match even started. Silver grumbled about weather affecting moves as he got rid of his dark T - shirt leaving him in his white undershirt that was soaked with sweat.

Silver, "Gross I am gonna need a shower first after this."

Chloe grumbled, "Me too!"

Ash, "Dragon breath!"

Tad, "Poliwrath, hydro pump!"

The two attacks hit and caused a water explosion that pushed the two Pokemon back, however Charizard flew up and grunted while Poliwrath huffed and stood up.

Ash, "Ariel wing!"

Tad, "Hyperbeam!"

Ash, "Add agility for extra speed!"

Charizard went for a flight coming back down with high speed against his opponent. The water slash fighting type shot a powerful hyperbeam at the fire lizard however Charizard added agility at that moment to move faster. The hyperbeam missed and Charizard rammed into his opponent making him skid backwards into the ocean. Tad looked surprised at that before he regained his calm waiting for Poliwrath to come out which he did unconscious.

Gou, "Poliwrath is unable to battle, Charizard wins the match."

Ash grinned up at the Shiny, "You were awesome Charizard!"

Charizard glomped Ash, "Zarrrrrr!"

Tad got Poliwrath and joined them, "That was a fun battle Ash, I must admit I didn't see that last move coming at all."

Ash smiled, "That was a combo move actually, Aerial Ace and Steel Wing."

Tad, "Very powerful combination, looks like we have more training to do buddy."

Misty, "You're still joining us for food I hope."

Tad, "No proper trainer would ever say no to free food."

Tad and his Pokemon happily joined them for an open barbeque style lunch by the ocean and set up the place once they had all gotten cleaned up. Tad gave an appreciative whistled seeing the Shiny Pokemon in the group asking about them and Ash explained how he had got them. Tad frowned and shook his head in disappointment and disbelief of how idiotic some trainers were. Misty shrugged before changing the subject and asking about his Pokemon especially Poliwrath, as she had one of her own. The two shared tips on how to care for the Pokemon before informing them about the water Pokemon challenge on Ascorbia island.

Tad, "It's the island next door, where water Pokemon from across Kanto gather and perform water feats to become part of the Fire Fighter service or get liscence to tackle fire hazard problems officially."

Ash looked at his water team, "Do you think we could take part?"

Misty, "I want to take part too."

Gou looked at his water Pokemon, "Do you guys want to take part?"

Tad, "There are four rounds so you need four Water Pokemon. The first round is water round, second is rescue, third is putting out a fire target and final round is to check how well they can work with strangers, or as they like to call it blind team work."

Gou looked perturbed, "That sounds a little difficult but I'm in for a challenge."

Silver, "You have taken part before, haven't you?"

Tad, "Yes, I did and three of my Pokemon are certified to help during problems without being questioned. I'm hoping to get the other three up to par soon."

Misty, "Cool so Ascorbia island next."

Ash, "Definitely!"

The next day they left for the neighbouring island where they first registered for the Pokemon challenge. They looked around Ascorbia island for a bit after that seeing challengers train their Pokemon to deal with various problems using their various move sets. It was like Pokemon move innovation contest rather than a simple Pokemon challenge, after a bit of looking around Gou decided to drag Misty and Ash away to train a bit. Ash looked at some of the training and decided some of them were outright insane, at least the Pokemon looked like they were having fun.

The first round Ash and Misty's Blastoises and Gou's newly evolved Seadra cleared very easily and moved to the second round. In the second round they had to rescue a person or a Pokemon, Milotic, Starmie and Golduck took part and cleared it. In the third round the Pokemon had to work in groups, and Blastoise, Milotic, Kingler and Lapras used a combined rain dance to put it off as fast as possible. Misty's Pokemon, Blastoise, Starmie, Poliwrath and Politoed and Gou's Pokemon, Seadra, Golduck, Tentacruel and Sobble used the same technique to clear the round. Then came the final round where Ash got teamed up with a group of Muk who were actually really touchy feely.

Ash, 'So Muk hugging people is actually a normal thing for them.'

Ash, "Nice to meet you all too."

Gou watched as the Muk tittered happily around Ash, "Hi, I guess we are working together."

Gou was paired up with a group including a Lapras, Seaking, Kingdra and Tentacruel who took one look at him then put him in the middle making him sweatdrop, 'And I got the overprotective ones.'

Misty sighed as she looked at her two friends who got really friendly teams, 'Meanwhile I got.... '

Gyarados grunted looking at her before turning away to chat with his partners that were, a Lanturn, a really proud Milotic who refused to acknowledge her and a really grumpy Peliper. She sighed before getting up and deciding to at least get along with the proud water types. She introduced herself to her partner team and what she wanted to become, Gyarados snorted amused before lifting his tail and patting her head.

Misty, 'Huh? That's all it took?'

She grinned, "Let's do this guys and girls, we can win this!"

The final round they had to face a combination of the first three rounds, meaning they had to save someone or rather something while putting out the fire. Ash and the Muk worked together to get rid of the fire using a lot of ground type moves like mud shot and sludge. Gou's team, Lapras refused to let him down and when he insisted, Tentacruel grabbed him and placed him on top of herself. Misty's team despite the aloof nature and tendency to ignore her managed to perform and complete the task. At the end of the round they declared the winner based on the total points they had collected. It was a girl that went by Haze Jenny who won, Misty swears she's related to Officer Jenny. When they regrouped with their Pokemon Gou got a very pleasant surprise.

Ash, "Congratulations Gou!"

Misty, "Congratulations to you too Drizzile!"

Drizzile gave her a deadpan look, "Zile!"

Gou, "You evolved buddy! I knew you could do it."

Drizzile looked away, "Dri!"

Announcer, "Now we are going to give the certificate to the following trainer's Pokemon who have shown exceptional talent in handling problems. Trainers when your names are called out please come to collect the certificate and the Pokemon item that marks your Pokemon legal hazard handlers."

Ash got three for Blastoise, Milotic and Kingler, Misty got all four for her Pokemon and Gou received two for Golduck and Tentacruel. Captain Aiden who was one of the sponsors of the Pokemon challenge gave a speech on teamwork and bonds between Pokemon and humans. Misty squealed seeing him, apparently she was a big fan of the man who had one of the best fire fighting Team in Kanto. Ash grinned before leaving the area with the others in tow and met up with Chloe, Tracey and Silver outside.

Tracey, "Congratulations you three."

Chloe, "Great job out there!"

Silver nodded, "You did really well."

Ash, "Thank you, I'll be honest I was a bit worried about Lapras but he did really well."

Misty, "Lapras is still young, it's normal to be worried."

Gou who couldn't stop smiling, "My Sobble evolved into Drizzile. I'm so happy!"

A voice came, "There you are!"

Ash turned around to see a man with one of the Muks he was with earlier, "Hello!"

He spoke, "My name is Pumo, and my little buddies here wanted to say goodbye to you kid."

Ash, "Oh! Of course, why not."

Silver, "Actually we were thinking about having a celebratory dinner. You and your Pokemon are welcome to join us."

Pumo smiled, "We would love that."

Muk meanwhile was hugging Ash again getting giggles from him. Sensing the presence of another Muk, Ash's Muk came out to see his trainer being hugged. Not wanting to be out done by another he grabbed his trainer from the back and pulled him away from the other.

Ash, "Hey buddy! We got a new friend here."

Muk looked at his trainer then the other before nodding, "Muk muk muk!"

Dinner was an interesting affair when they met the others two older trainers that owned the Pokemon who teamed up with Misty and Gou. Gou's Pokemon belonged to an Officer Jenny from Alola who had travelled to Kanto to take part in the challenge. Misty's partnered Pokemon belonged to a surfer, Tanny, who was pretty proudy in a very nice way. But then again being one of the best woman surfers was something to be proud of the orangette decided. It was nice getting to know more people and getting their perspective on what they do as a career. Chloe listened attentively as they spoke about their different professions that varied from being a patrol gaurd to a surfer and to a damage controller in Pumo's case. The next day they left towards Kumquat island for Ash's fourth and final badge for the Orange Island challenge.

Misty, "You are in deep thought!"

Chloe looked up, "Oh! Uhhh, yeah! Yesterday was very informative I guess."

Gou, "Are you thinking about it?"

Chloe, "Well I was thinking maybe I'll take part in challenges like this one from next time."

Lapras, -No rush! Ash tells me there is no need to grow up quickly! To take my time.-

Chloe laughed, "Of course Lapras, thank you!"

Lapras, -Welcome! Welcome!-

Silver who was riding his Feraligator next to them spoke, "Lapras is right, there is no need to hurry, trust me once you have done something completely, you are gonna want something else to do really bad so take your time."

Chloe, "Right... What's that?"

Milotic, -Magikarp?-

Ash, "There's so many of them."

Lucario, -Looks like it, Kingler, could you go closer please?-

Kingler, "Ki ki ki!"

Tracey who was on top of Pidgeot, "That's one large Magikarp over there."

The large Magikarp turned, "I'm not a Magikarp!"

The top part of the Magikarp opened and a dark haired man came out, "I'm Quincy T. Quackenpoker. I'm a Magikarp researcher."

Misty, "I heard about you and I read your paper on Magikarp and Gyarados."

Gou, "Me too, it was really interesting to read and learn more about the Gyarados line."

Quincy laughed, "Ho ho ho ho ho! I'm glad you kids enjoyed my work. I put fifteen years into studying them."

Ash, 'Quincy like Bleach Quincy? I need to focus.'

Ash, "Where are you going Mr Quackenpoker?"

Quincy waved at Ash, "None of that Mr stuff young lad, call me Quincy!"

Silver, "I'm Silver, my cousin Ash, our friends, Tracey, Misty, Chloe and Gou."

Tracey, "Quincy then, where are these Magikarp from? I have read you put different ribbons on Magikarp to see where they go and come from."

Quincy grinned and explained about how Magikarp despite the weak statistics in battle are actually capable of swimming around the world. The Magikarp with the blue ribbons were from Galar apparently, one of his niece lived there and helped him out from time to time. The Magikarp with white ribbons on them were new born while the ones with red ribbons were from Jhoto. Ash's eyes twinkled listening to the information while patting some of the Magikarp around them. Some of the Magikarp playfully nipped at their fingers making them all giggle at the friendly Pokemon. The researcher explained his latest findings to them about how he believes Magikarp are actually strong but are unable to access that strength in battle like most Pokemon before their evolution. However they are able to use it to swim further distances then most Pokemon in their unevolved stages. It was fascinating Ash decided to learn about the more detailed intricate of Pokemon biology which was not possible in his old life as Pokemon were considered a product of imagination there.

[A. N.: I love Acacia "Gotcha" so much. It's awesome!]