Home Training

"Blaze come here," Ash called to the dragon. "We are going to work on your defense. Golduck, Wartortle, Volt, and Tyrunt, you're going to help in Blaze's training. I need you guys to blast him with all sorts of water, electric and rock attacks." The quartet nodded at their instructions.

"Blaze, while they attack you, your only options are to take it or dodge it. No attacking back. Is that clear." The fire type nodded, but the prospect of been made target practice wasn't all that good to him. Ash smiled. This training would help in Blaze's defense and also train their aim in hitting aerial targets.

"Ready, begin." As the words left Ash's mouth, Blaze took off into the air as a water gun sailed after him. He swerved right to avoid it, and narrowly avoided another one. Blaze flinched as a sharp stone hit his stomach and sent him down. He took off just in time to avoid a thunderbolt. Ash decided to leave them. He would stop them when Blaze had been hit enough.

"That's enough," Ash said as Butterfree and Beedrill successfully completed their twentieth lap around their training area. It had been roughly an hour since he dismissed Blaze and the rest and gave them various tasks. "Good job." He scratched both of them. They had completed the stat aspect, now it was time for a move.

"Butterfree use string shot." Butterfree squealed as he shot a singular string of web at a tree, wrapping it in seconds. "What I want you to do is this. Practice shooting your string shot as a giant web. That would help you get a starting grasp on learning electroweb. I'll check on you in a while." The bug type nodded as he flew off to a place to practice the move.

"This will be an easy one for you. You'll be working on drill run. Basically, I want you to practice rotating your drills at a high speed and with great force. Once that force is sufficient enough, ram your drills into a tree. Practice that and gradually add ground energy into the move. I'll check on you soon." And he left her.

Scene Change

Ash arrived to see Golduck face off against Clefairy. Golduck clenched his right hand as it soon started to take on an icy sheen. He ran at her as he slammed his icy fist into her. She flinched before launching a water pulse at him. Golduck dodged it but soon had to dodge more as Clefairy assaulted him, throwing in a signal beam on occasion. They stopped as Ash walked up to them.

"How's reflect coming?" Clefairy nodded as she used the move. Golduck's hand glowed an orange red as he ran at her. He slammed into the barrier and his move hit her. The barrier flared up, showing that the damage was reduced. "Good job. I think you've got reflect just about mastered. As it is now, we can use it in battle. Clefairy, I want you to run over your moves. Go help out Emerald. Golduck. I want to see shadow ball."

Golduck quacked as he formed the blob of ghostly energy and launched it at a tree. The ball hit the tree and exploded. "Good enough. It's time for the next step. What I want you to do is create a water pulse inside a shadow ball. Try forming the two separately in both hands and try fusing them. Understood?"

Golduck nodded as he began his training, while Ash left to meet the next trainees.

Scene Change

Scizor and Volt were both sparring since both their styles involved tanking, they took turns slamming each other with attacks. And since Ash had explained their battle styles to them, Volt was more than ready to surprise his partner. He waved his hands as the clouds turned dark and lightning struck Scizor. It was a good thing he was using light screen or it might have been bad.

Ash ran to Scizor's aid as he saw the light screen flare and shatter. "Scizor!" The steel type actually took the attack well and stood up back as he aerial aced Volt. Volt was the one who was now surprised. He rolled across the ground where he slowly got up. "That was amazing you guys. Nice attack Volt and nice defense Scizor. How about we call it Thunder shower?" Volt thought about it for a moment before nodding and whirling his hands.

"Scizor you did good. Your defense is improving and so is light screen. Why don't you give flash cannon a try." Scizor nodded as he opened his claws. Light formed at the center of them and he shot the twin beams at a tree. The beams slammed into a tree and destroyed it. "Now that flash cannon's getting better, I want you to work on bullet punch. It was basically using steel energy to augment the user's striking speed, letting them hit the target at the speed of a flying bullet. Use metal claw to practice."

Scizor nodded as he turned his attention towards a rock. "Volt you did good with that Thunder shower attack, but I want you to practice cross chop and try to make it like focus punch. Slowly combine the two into a unique technique that we can call our own again. I'll come check on you in a while. Is that okay?" Volt nodded as he went to work.

Scene Change

Ash arrived at the location of Tyrunt's training. The rock type was working on earthquake and stone edge. Ash walked over to the rock type as he took a breather. "How's it coming along?"

The rock type growled. "Then I suppose everything is going well then." Ash tossed him a yache berry. Thanks to the typing relationship, Tyrunt had grown rather fond of the berries that were known as yache berries. The berries were packed with a chemical that helped pokémon grow their resistant to ice moves and also increase the power of ice attacks.

"Earthquake." Tyrunt leapt into the air and came down on the ground with all his might. The impact caused the ground beneath to rumble and shake with force. The move was nowhere close to been mastered. A perfected earthquake would cause the ground to rumble and explode outwards. All Tyrunt's did was trip pokémon. "It still needs work. Halt stone edge and focus on earthquake. Throw in a dark pulse once in a while. We're getting there buddy."

Ash scratched the rock type just under his chin, eliciting a rumble from him. "I believe you." Ash walked away as the rock type went back to his training.

Just a few feet away from Tyrunt, Eevee was practicing on work up. The boy had no doubt that Eevee would get it down before the week runs out. "Eevee!" Hearing her name, Eevee darted into the forest.

"Wait up." Ash gave chase after her. He wondered what was wrong. He ran a couple of feet before the forest before him was covered in a bright white light. "What's that?" Ash asked himself as he headed for the light source. "Eevee!" Ash screamed while running. He stopped when he saw a light blue quadruped pokémon. It had long diamond-shaped ears and what appeared to be dark blue bangs with a diamond-like shape at the end. On its light blue fur were dark shades of blue on its back and paws. Its tail also ended in a diamond-like tip.

"Eevee. Is that you?" Ash asked slowly. The Glaceon trodded over to him with confidence, before growling. "It is you," Ash said as he picked her up. He noticed an object before her and was able to make it out to be an icy rock. The item that evolved Eevee into Glaceon.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Glaceon just growled as she looked at him. He had dropped her because she had become a little heavy to carry. She growled as she shook her fur. "You wanted to surprise me? If that was your plan, it was a hundred percent success." Ash was happy. Now that Ee - Glaceon had evolved, he could work out her battle style and up her training.

"How about we go over your details?" Glaceon nodded. Ash took out his pokédex and asked it to scan her.

"Scanning. Glaceon, the Fresh Snow Pokémon. It protects itself by freezing its fur into sharp needles. It can drop its body temperature below -75 degree Fahrenheit."

"This Glaceon is female and upon evolution has learnt the moves icy wind, ice fang, and ice shard. It has the ability snow cloak and the hidden ability ice body."

"Let's put those moves to the test. Icy wind." Glaceon squared back as she unleashed a blast of chilled air at a nearby tree. Evolving had really upped Glaceon's strength. The icy wind froze the tree in a layer of ice. "That's enough." Glaceon stopped the assault as she waited for her next order.

"Ice fang." Ash watched as Glaceon's fangs became covered in ice. She ran at a tree and bit into it, freezing it quickly. The move was definitely stronger than icy wind due to the way Glaceon had executed it and the speed at which the tree froze. She leapt away from the tree as she stood in front of Ash.

"Nice," Ash said with a grin. Glaceon had to call her back to earth with an icy wind to his face. "Oh. Right," Ash said as he regained himself. "Ice shard."

Glaceon pawed the ground as she focused greatly. Soon, the air around her begn to freeze into small chunks, before she flash froze the chunks into large shards. She launched them at a tree and the shards pierced it. Ash just stood mouth agape and wide eyed. Glaceon threatened to blast him again if he did not snap out of it. "I'm okay. I'm okay."

She tilted her head and growled. "No it's just that. Evolving really gave you a huge power boost. You might even be in the elites now." She waved her bangs and growled. "I know. You have no interest in it, but it is trainer tradition and you will love it. After all, you gain bragging rights." Glaceon's eyes widened at that. Bragging rights. She loved them and if been a member of the elites would grant her those sweet rights, then she would work hard and make it there.

"Let's get back to the others." Ash turned as he made his way alongside Glaceon to their training grounds. He was excited. Professor Oak had told him that Glaceon was almost the same age as Blaze, Wartortle and Ivysaur. To find out that she had evolved.

Soon, Ash and Glaceon had arrived. "The others would be surprised to see you. For now, work on your ice moves while I plan your battle style." Ash walked away, leaving Glaceon to herself.

Ash paused for a second as he ran over what he thought would be best suited for Glaceon's fighting style. She was an ice type, so they were brittle in a way, but surprisingly, Glaceon had high defenses. From what he had seen about Glaceon in the pokédex, they were good ranged attackers. It hit him. Her battle style would be similar to Emerald's, but instead of always evading, she would take on some hits too.

He nodded as he went to check on his next pokémon. Clefairy and Emerald were sparring together. The aim was for Clefairy to improve her defense while taking various attacks from Emerald. In turn, Clefairy attacks Emerald in order for her to evade. Ash watched as Emerald reared back and unleashed a torrent of flames at Clefairy. The fire type move slammed into Clefairy, but didn't do much. First, Emerald was still young and second, her flamethrower was nowhere near perfect. After taking much of the flames, Clefairy responded by shooting a barrage of water pulse, forcing Emerald to try to evade all of them. Seeing no need to butt into their training, Ash left the duo and made his way to his next stop.

Ivysaur and Wartortle were Ash's next stop. Both starters were facing each other and time seemed to stop as Ash appeared. Wartortle shot a water pulse at Ivysaur. The grass type tool the hit before retaliating with a barrage of razor sharp leaves. The leaves slammed into Wartortle and they continued their exchange turn after turn. They were to continue like this until either one of them was able to continue. Ash nodded as they turned his way before going to check on Zorua.

Ash had given the dark type a tree for her to attack with only dark pulse. He wanted her to be able to use the move without wasting much time to charge the next one. If her fighting style was going to be one of ferociousness, she should be able to attack without stoppage for a long time. Reaching the area where she was, Ash saw her fire a dark pulse at the tree before falling face first out of exhaustion. Ash smiled at the sight before turning on his heels to check on his starter.

Blaze was furthest away from the forest for obvious reasons. Ash had ordered him to practice aerial battling. It would help him a lot in battles. His task was to fly and then swoop down to land metal claw on nearby boulders. Doing so would strengthen his wings and make him a better aerial combatant. Ash called out to him before heading back to his station to make plans. He had a total of thirteen pokémon and he intended to focus on all of them. He was sure he wasn't going to catch any pokémon for the meantime except they wanted to come with him.

He turned on his Xtransceiver and crossed evolution from Eevee's page and changed the name to Glaceon. Out of the rest of his pokémon, Tyrunt, Volt and Emerald were furthest from evolution. Zorua would take long to evolve but it wouldn't be that long. From the way she executed her moves, Ash could tell she was old. Maybe around five months. Clefairy was one pokémon he could evolve at the moment, but he intended for her to grow some more before evolving her. That left Ivysaur and Wartortle, the only two who could evolve any moment from now. They were both as old as Blaze and the others. He took a deep breath as he ran over all the stuff he had typed in their training page.

"That's it," Ash said as sludge bomb sailed through the air before hitting Butterfree. The Butterfly Pokémon squealed at the hit before slamming into Beedrill with wing attack.

It had been roughly a week of rigorous battle style development period. A lot had happened during that week that Ash was happy about. After the first day, Ash had assembled his team and anytime Ash remembered the meeting with Glaceon, he fell down, laughing. He had called them to assembly while Glaceon approached from behind him. On seeing her, Scizor shot off as he shot a flash cannon at her. Due to the St. Anne incident, the bug type had being on high alert. Ash broke up the fight, laughing. That was the funniest first impression he had seen.

Other than that, their training was pretty fruitful. Butterfree had pretty much gotten electroweb down. Electroweb involved the user ensnaring the target in a web that was made of electricity. Due to the electric nature of the web, it lowered the speed of whatever was trapped inside. Butterfree hadn't downright mastered the move, but he could use it in battle and Ash made sure that they were able to get the moves extra effect down. "Electroweb," Ash ordered from him. Butterfree spewed a huge web made of yellow electricity from his mouth and launched it at a rock, ensnaring it.

Volt had also played a part in the learning of electroweb. He had drilled electricity into Butterfree's head so he could use it in his technique. Electroweb was a good addition. It would enable Butterfree's shut down a target's speed gradually. He had also gotten solar beam ready.

Beedrill had also gotten drill run down. The move even looked to be almost mastered to Ash. Beedrill's drills spun at a very fast rate as she used the move. Just then, she slammed into a rock, shattering it with enough pressure from her drills. Ash wished her usage of solar beam was just as good, but sadly it wasn't. The beam of light wasn't as powerful as an average solar beam was to be. Ash left it at that but ordered her to work on it.

Clefairy's defense had also improved. She could take more hits from Golduck and not get knocked out, though, the energy to fight back wasn't completely there. It was a start and as for reflect, she had it down to the core. She had also worked on the power behind her attacks. She needed to hit hard because the pokémon they would be battling would be far stronger than them.

Golduck had showed great results in his training. His speed had improved greatly and so did his reflexes. He was specially faster in water and Ash intended to exploit that ability when the league rolled over. He had heard that one of the battlefield was a water field. During that period, they had worked on the duration at which Golduck used disable and it had increased to about three minutes on normal circumstances against pokémon like Clefairy. As for the combo move, shadow pulse, Golduck hadn't made much progress. He could now form shadow ball and water pulse simultaneously, but when it was time to fuse the two things got messy. Since he was combining the two moves, he had to open shadow ball in order for water pulse to get inside, and he had to maintain that compatibility throughout.

Golduck could create a hole inside shadow ball and place water pulse inside, but as for compatibility. That was where the problem was. Before Golduck could think of doing anything with the move, it exploded and knocked him back. The move definitely needed a lot of work before they got it down. Ash intended for Golduck to have a powerful special combo for stunning opponents. Golduck didn't plan on stopping until he had the move down.

Bullet punch was an easy move for Scizor to get down. Bullet punch augmented the user's speed, allowing it to strike with the speed of a bullet, delivering quick and powerful punches. Scizor had already gotten it down good and could strike with fast speed for a Scizor. The move wasn't perfect but they were close. Light screen was also pretty much mastered by Scizor. Ash knew he was neglecting Scizor's bug attributes, so to compensate for that, he had him practice his flying. Currently, Scizor could fly for about three minutes before tiring out.

Volt had also worked hard over the course of the week. He had worked hard to learn the move cross punch. The move required Volt harnessing cross chop's fighting energy in one hand. Slowly, he adds focus punch's energy to cross chop. Ash hoped the move would be very destructive, at least more than cross chop. The previous day when Ash had asked him to use the move, even at its imperfect state, it was enough to break a large tree. Ash was pleased with the result of the training. Volt had also practiced thunder shower. It was as a result of the colliding water molecules when he used rain dance. The move was hard to control, and his accuracy was a little off. Volt had also improved his defense a little with Tyrunt's help.

Tyrunt had focused mostly on earthquake. Stone edge was already gotten down thanks to typing relationship and as for dark pulse, it was easy to get down. Though not mastered, dark pulse was better than earthquake. Currently, Tyrunt's earthquake could now split the ground on a very small scale and Ash was proud of him. The Royal Heir Pokémon had also worked on his defense with Clefairy and had improved. It would take a lot of water pulse from Clefairy to knock him out. He had improved just the way Ash liked.

Glaceon's recent evolution had opened new doors for her training. Ash had her work on hail as a start. The move was very easy for Glaceon to learn, because they could easily form ice out of thin air. Glaceon easily mastered the move hail and it was a good one for her to learn because of her abilities snow cloak and ice body. Glaceon was able to send hailstones of about ten centimeter in diameter. After she had hail down, Ash had her learn the move icicle crash. Glaceon had also gotten the move down easily. Icicle crash was a powerful ice move that involved the user sending icicles down on the target. Glaceon had also improved her defense with Blaze's flamethrower.

Emerald had surprised Ash. The King Dragonite hadn't told him that she was a quick learner, and over the course of the week, Ash had noticed that Emerald had taken to Blaze as an apprentice to a mentor. The Dragon Pokémon had practiced flamethrower diligently and had improved greatly. Since speed was a major factor in her battle style, Ash had her work on agility. Agility was a psychic move that involved the user relaxing and lightening their body with psychic energy to move faster. She also had daily speed drills with Blaze. The exercise was pretty easy. Blaze would chase her around and she would evade the flamethrowers he shot. It was good training for her and awesome target practice for Blaze. With Blaze's help and tutoring, she had learnt dragon pulse and dragon dance. She had easily gotten the hang of all three moves. Her usage of thunderbolt had also improved, thanks to help from Volt.

Ivysaur and Wartortle had also improved defense wise. They were also getting close to evolution. Ivysaur's bulb had started opening, letting loose the sweet aroma that Venusaur are known to give off. As for Wartortle, the water type had been feeling restless lately and all he could think of was battling. Ivysaur and Wartortle had just practiced their defenses and drilled power into their attacks.

Zorua had increased the power and lethality of her attacks. The force behind each of her moves was now more focused and accurate. Ash was surprised when she had destroyed a tree the other day while using payback. She was an expert in the dark energy and Ash was willing to bet his bottom dollar that both her parents were Zorua. She practically breathed dark energy in all she did. She had mastered all her moves and Ash was ready to use her in gym battles.

And then there was his starter, Blaze. While Blaze rarely battled, when he did, it was against really strong opponents. The fire type was feeling pretty down because of his loss to the Rockets, but the prospect of training had caused him to bounce back. Blaze had gotten bulldoze down and was ready to use it in a real battle. Currently,he could destroy one of Tyrunt's stone spires. Ash was frightened at the power gap between Blaze and the rest of his team. The only pokémon in his team that could challenge the fire type were Wartortle, Ivysaur, Golduck and Scizor. The others like Glaceon, Zorua maybe, Volt and perhaps Beedrill and Butterfree if they attack smart, could only do little damage. The fire type was the best pokémon he had technique wise. Blaze had improved his aerial skills and had also taught himself steel wing to add to his arsenal of aerial skills.

Currently, they had about a week before the reunion party was to commence. Ash stood tall as he watched his pokémon feed. He was not spared from the training exercise as he has worked on his aura skills. Just the day before, he had asked his dad for a battle against just one member of his elites and he had accepted. Today was the day for that battle. The previous day, Ash had Ivysaur and Wartortle battle and they both had injured themselves, so they would not be participating in the battle. Blaze would also not be participating on the account that he had fought Pyro the previous day and was placed out of commission for the time being.

It took only a few minutes for Ash to arrive at the Professor's training yard. Ash had agreed earlier on that the battle would be all of Ash's pokémon against one of his elites at a time, to evaluate them. Everyone had already gathered at the training yard and Red was currently on the field. Ash saw Oak at the center of the field, ready to begin the match.

As Ash approached the trainer's box, he could hear them cheer him on. "Are you ready Ash?" Red asked as his son arrived. "You bet I am." Ash turned his cap backwards as he readied a pokéball in his hand.

Red tossed a pokéball unto the field and it burst in a bright white light. A loud mechanical cry was heard as a huge blue pokémon condensed from the light. It had a huge white "x" across its face and it beared dark red eyes that looked like they could stare into someone's soul and compel them as easily as it breathes. It possessed no body. Four huge legs emerged from its head, giving it a quadruped body style. At the bottom of each leg were three large silver claws. The pokémon appeared to emit a powerful psychic pressure. Around its neck, Ash could make out a small gem.

"What's that? Around Metagross' head?"

"That's a Metagrossite. It allows Metagross mega evolve when activated alongside my key stone."

"You won't be using that right?"

"In your case, it would be overkill to use mega evolution, especially since mega evolution still exists only in Kalos and Hoenn. At least, that was until you found a mega stone here." Red casually stretched as he gestured for Ash to release his pokémon.

Ash tossed a friend ball as he released Emerald. It was more like a training experience for them. So, all his pokémon, including the young ones had to partake. "You ready girl? It's a battle." Emerald cooed as he said that. She thrashed her tail sideways.

Ash took a second to analyse Metagross. The Iron Leg Pokémon in front of him was humongous. The height of an average Metagross was five feet and three inches. The Metagross in front of them was about seven feet and ten inches and looked to weigh a lot. If one were to compare the two pokémon about to battle, it would be comedic. Emerald was just about four feet and ten inches. That was her length, not her height, and she weighed three kilograms. Ash stopped as the Professor began the battle.

"Dratini vs Metagross begin."

"Agility." Emerald lightened herself as she slipped into the speed augmenting psychic move. "Flamethrower." While slithering across the ground, she spewed a torrent of flames at Metagross. The steel type didn't move an inch as the flames slammed into it.

Emerald cut off power to the flames as she noticed that it wasn't effective. "Thunderbolt." The gem atop her head sparked with yellow electricity as she shot a bolt of lightning at Metagross. The thunderbolt did nothing against the powerful defense Metagross possessed.

"Nothing's happening," Misty said.

"That's got to be the strongest Metagross in the world," Paul said as he watched the battle.

"What's Ash going to do now?" That was from Dawn.

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see," Trip said.

"Flamethrower in a circle. Go for its legs." Emerald shot off as she circled Metagross while spewing jets of flames at it. "Meteor mash." One of Metagross' hands shone white as it tracked the Dratini. After a second, it shot off like a meteor and slammed into Emerald. The power behind the move was reduced obviously, but nevertheless, she was still knocked out by the attack.

"What amazing speed. That was surprising," Gary said.

"That meteor mash was pretty much destructive," Paul said as he checked his pokédex to see which of his pokémon could learn it.

Ash grit his teeth as he tossed another friend ball and he released Zorua. The dark type pawed the ground before growling at Metagross. "A dark type. Going for a type advantage Ash?"

"Anything if it means a chance at winning you. Dark pulse." Zorua fired the beam of dark aura at Metagross. The huge pokémon didn't move as the beam slammed into it. "Dark pulse again."

Instead of using dark pulse, Zorua faded away, confusing everyone around. She appeared behind Metagross with a glowing arm, and she slammed it into Metagross. "Feint attack."

"What?" Ash asked. "Your Zorua just learnt feint attack."

"Really?" Ash looked at Zorua who had appeared by his side of the battle. "Pursuit and dark pulse." Zorua shot off with pursuit while she gathered dark energy and shot it as a beam. "Flash cannon."

Metagross made a mechanical grunt as it gathered steel energy in the form of light and shot it at Zorua, almost as quickly as the move was called. Flash cannon eradicated dark pulse in less than a second, before slamming into Zorua. The move launched her into the air, where she was caught by Oak's Alakazam using psychic.

"Ash!"

"Yeah."

"Your Zorua is fast and has reserves to use attacks relentlessly. However, I noticed her lack of illusion. Address that. You've done a good job working on her." Red smiled as he crossed his arms.

"Thanks Dad." Ash returned Zorua's unconscious form and tossed another friend ball unto the field. The light condensed into Clefairy. She waved at everyone as she came out.

"So Cleffa's already evolved. You've done a good job with making her happy." He paused before continuing. "Show me how well her battle skill has improved."

"I will. Signal beam." Clefairy opened her mouth as she shot a beam of light at Metagross. The huge psychic type raised one leg and blocked the beam.

"Metronome and sing." Clefairy waved her hands side to side as they glowed. A powerful flamethrower escaped her mouth and raced towards Metagross. The Iron Leg Pokémon took the hit before using protect to block sing.

"Work up." Clefairy tensed her muscles as she raised her attack and special attack. "Disarming voice." Clefairy let loose a charming cry at Metagross. "Earthquake."

Metagross stomped the ground, causing it to explode violently towards Clefairy. "Dodge it!" Clefairy took to the sky but Metagross followed and slammed a fist into her.

"Damn," Ash muttered as he returned her. Meragross' was extremely fast, despite its size. The battle style was perfect for it. He looked up to see the field completely devastated by the earthquake attack. "Ash!" His father called, snapping him out of his train of thought.

He took a ball from his belt and hurled it unto the field, releasing Beedrill. The bug type immediately took on a defensive stance in front of Ash.

"Beedrill. Focus energy and follow up with pursuit."

Beedrill's stance soon became offensive as she began to focus, increasing her critical hit ratio. She shot off a second later, shrouded in dark aura as she made her way towards Metagross. Metagross stood still as Beedrill slammed into him. The impact made Ash flinch as Beedrill rebounded off Metagross and skidded to a stop across the ground.

She got up shakily and tried to regain her senses. "That was a bad move Ash. Metagross' defense is one of the best out there. You just placed Beedrill out of commission." As he said this, Beedrill was knocked out by a metal claw to her back. "Don't fret. Your Beedrill's strong. She was able to recover from that slam. It's obvious you've trained her well."

Ash returned her. That was a huge mistake on his part. He sent out Butterfree and he took on an offensive stance. "Electroweb." Butterfree flew at Metagross and shot a web of electricity at it, ensnaring it. The web sparked as it lowered Metagross' speed. Ash knew that the attempt did nothing against Metagross' speed.

"Wing attack and silver wind." Butterfree shot off at Metagross ready to slam his wings. Nearing Metagross, he pulled back and flapped his wings as he shot powdery scales in the form of wind. The attack slammed into Metagross but did nothing except irritate it.

"Meteor mash." Metagross shot off towards Butterfree, but the bug type was able to evade the claw narrowly. "Sleep powder." Butterfree flapped his wings as green powder was sent at Metagross. Red was shocked at the way Butterfree evaded the claw and countered Metagross.

Metagross knew better and as such avoided inhaling the powder. It flew out of the powder's reach and landed somewhere else, calmly. "Solar beam." Butterfree spread his wings as he took in sunlight. Red waited patiently until the beam was fired. "Psychic."

Metagross glowed as psychic energy outlined the beam and sent it at Butterfree. "Run!" Butterfree took off as he tried out running the beam. Metagross appeared to show no strain on his face while Butterfree was doing his best to avoid it. After about a minute, Metagross slammed his leg as rocks fell from the sky, halting Butterfree. He turned around to see the psychic controlled beam slam into him.

"No!" Ash said as the beam slammed into Butterfree and knocked him out. "Good job Ash. I never expected Butterfree to evade Metagross like that. You've worked on his speed greatly and for that you deserve praise. Since his battle style is to weaken and shut down, consider teaching him double team."

"I will."

"His speed is okay. Focus on his defense and offense. Try to work on the power behind his attacks also."

"Now let's move on. Send out your next pokémon."

Ash nodded as he took another ball from his belt. He hurled it unto the field and the light condensed into Tyrunt. The rock/dragon type came out with a loud growl.

"Let's do this. Rock polish." Tyrunt slammed his hands together, polishing his body to raise his speed. "Now dragon breath." Tyrunt let loose a gust of draconic energy at Metagross. The attack slammed into Metagross and did nothing at all.

"Dragon dance and then earthquake." Tyrunt began the series of ancient dragon movements as he raised his attack and speed. He jumped up as he prepared to stomp the ground to use the move. "Psychic."

Tyrunt instinctively shot a dark pulse at the psychic attack. The beam was able to tear through the psychic, creating a hole were it passed over Tyrunt. Tyrunt slammed the ground as it split, sending ground energy at Metagross. The beast of a steel type took the earthquake with ease.

"Stone edge." Tyrunt punched the ground as blades of stone shot off at Metagross. "Flash cannon." The powerful beam of light raced towards Tyrunt, destroying all stones in the way. It was times like this that Ash wished he had thought Tyrunt protect. Faster than the rock type could avoid, flash cannon slammed into Tyrunt and knocked him out.

Ash recalled the rock type as he took another ball. "Tyrunt's good. His instincts are good and from what I could work out," Red said with eyes glowing blue. "His defense is also solid, though not what I would expect from a pokémon four times stronger than normal. Reflexes are solid. But he needs defensive moves."

Ash's eyes glowed blue as he used aura sight. Aura sight was purely legal in this kind of battle. He tossed a friend ball and out came Volt. The electric type whirled his hands as he charged himself. "Thunderbolt." Volt whirled his hands as a bolt of yellow lightning raced at Metagross. Metagross just held up a hand and the bolt slammed into it, harmlessly.

"Rain dance. You know what to do." Volt began to sway his hands in a pattern as he moved in just one spot. The clouds soon turned dark as rain began to fall. Volt smirked as a far larger bolt of lightning rained down and slammed into Metagross. The move was completely unexpected, but still did nothing against the amazing defense of the Iron Leg Pokémon.

"Go in with thunderspeed." Volt whirled his hands as he shot off with an electrified body. He darted past Metagross and kept on that moving. He was moving at his top speed, but to the eyes of Metagross, he was still slow. It was easy for it to keep up with his movements. "Dynamic punch." Volt's hand glowed a dangerous red as he sped past Metagross. "Psyshock." Faster than Volt could stop the momentum behind his attack, the powerful psychic wave slammed into Volt and sent him skidding across the ground.

The electric type was obviously out. Ash returned him and reached for another ball. "Ash! His moves and power are okay at the moment. His speed is something that impressed me a lot. I can't imagine what he would do as an Electabuzz, or even as an Electivire. He should evolve in a few months. As for speed, you should work on him stopping moves mid attack." Red paused, making sure everything had sunk into Ash's head. "Bring out the next one."

Ash tossed the friend ball as he released Glaceon. The ice type came out with a cry as she faced her opponent.

"Ash's Eevee has evolved." It was more of a statement than a question.

"So it seems. Almost makes me jealous," Gary said.

"Is someone feeling bad," Leaf said as the others laughed.

"Hey. I said almost okay. Besides. The battle is about to start."

"Let's put your new moves to the test," Ash said to the ice type. She just rolled her eyes at his words and blasted him with cold air. "What was that for?!" She rolled her eyes and growled. "Oh. I'm slow?" She nodded. She squealed some more. "Fine. I'm sorry for wasting your time when we can just battle." She laughed slightly and nodded at that, before turning her attention to Metagross. "Hail."

Glaceon squealed as she froze Volt's rain, turning them into hail. The hailstones rained down on the field, and Glaceon's snow cloak ability activated. "Icicle crash." She growled once more as she formed large ice shards from the air. After deciding they were large enough, she hurled them at Metagross. The shards slammed into Metagross but still weren't enough to break Metagross' defense.

"Hyper voice." Glaceon opened her mouth as she let loose a loud horrible cry that slammed into Metagross. The cry caused everyone to cover their ears, but it was almost nothing to Blaze and Red. "Flash cannon." A silver beam of steel energy in the form of light was sent at Glaceon, but she was able to evade it, thanks to snow cloak.

"Tail whip and iron attack." Glaceon wagged her tail cutely as she lowered Metagross' defense. She shot off a second later with tail glowing a metallic sheen. "Hammer arm." Metagross' arm glowed as he brought it down at Glaceon. The ice type ducked under the arm as she slammed her tail into Metagross' head. She jumped off a second later as she made her way back to Ash.

"Shadow ball." The ghost type move slammed into Glaceon's retreating figure and knocked her out. "Damn." Ash silently returned her back to her ball as he waited for his father's analysis. "Good call on using hail. You were able to evade two of Metagross' attacks. Glaceon is fast and has great power behind her attacks. It also looked to me that she has a lot of experience. However, she needs to improve in her stamina. Her speed dropped after she used icicle crash."

Ash nodded as he enlarged a friend ball. He hurled the ball and out came Golduck. The Duck Pokémon quacked as he bounced on one feet. "Let's do this. Muddy water." Golduck punched the ground as mud-like water erupted and made their way to Metagross. The attack slammed into Metagross, but the steel type still didn't budge. Golduck made to move but he flinched as hail slammed into him. Ash had forgotten about hail and now Golduck had to worry about them. Metagross just stood as they bounced harmlessly off his body. "Ice beam and get close."

Golduck fired an arc of icy energy at Metagross. Metagross stood still as the beam slammed into him. Golduck kept up the attack as he edged closer to Metagross. "Shadow ball." Golduck quickly cut off power to ice beam and formed the blob of ghost energy before firing it at Metagross. As the ball neared Metagross, it held up a glowing leg and knocked it back at Golduck.

The Duck Pokémon flipped over the redirected move. "Disable." Still in the air, Golduck's eyes flashed with power as he sent an aura at Metagross. "Psychic." Metagross glowed with psychic energy as psychic wrapped around disable and sent it at Golduck. Golduck tried outrunning the move but was soon caught in a psychic attack. Disable hit him and he couldn't move.

Golduck struggled to break free from the move, but it was in vain. "Zen headbutt." Ash watched as Metagross' head became shrouded in psychic energy as it tucked its legs behind it. Like a rocket, it zoomed off and slammed into Golduck. The water type was knocked out by the move and was sent skidding across the field, where it came to a stop in front of Ash.

"Golduck's going to be fine," Red said as he noticed Ash's expression. "He is a tough pokémon. That muddy water was strong, given the fact that Golduck don't learn it normally. His ability to use shadow ball was also a surprise. His speed is okay and so is his attack. But, you have to work on his reaction rate. Shall we?"

"We shall," Ash said as he took a friend ball from his belt.

"Ash has improved," Delia said as she watched the father and son battle. "He sure has I wonder when Blue will get here," Oak said at the lateness of his son.

"Yeah. I want to battle him," Gary said as he tossed a friend ball up and down. "You're just saying that because Ash is battling his dad," Leaf teased.

Before Gary could respond, Paul beat him to it. "Calm down you two. They're about to begin." Everyone's attention was now directed to the battlefield. Ash had released Scizor to continue the battle.

"Scizor, silver wind." Scizor flapped his wings as he sent powdery scales at Metagross. The hulking steel type just stood as the super-effective move slammed into it. "Light screen and bug buzz."

Scizor used light screen, before flapping his wings rapidly and emitting a sound wave. The super-effective move did nothing against Metagross, but it made everyone else cover their ears. Seeing the move do nothing, Scizor's claws shone bright as he let loose a flash cannon from both of them. Metagross held up a leg as flash cannon slammed into it. The beams of light scattered against Metagross' leg.

"Into the air Scizor." Scizor stopped flash cannon and took to the air, thanks to light metal. "Agility and continuous vacuum wave." Scizor relaxed as he further lightened his body with agility and shot off, striking Metagross with the super-effective vacuum wave. Metagross just stood there, tanking the hits, showing no noticeable strain.

"Metagross, hammer arm." Metagross shot off and appeared quickly in front of Scizor. "Bullet punch." Scizor was able to land a bullet punch before Metagross hammered him into the ground. A red beam appeared from Ash's side as he returned Scizor.

"That's a fast Scizor. You have definitely brought out the beauty of his speed. He has some powerful attacks. Defense is lacking a bit, but good enough. Reflexes are also great. You surprised me with that last bullet punch."

"Thanks Dad," Ash said as his eyes became normal, and so did his Dad's. "Anytime Ash. You've done good son. Keep it up 'cos you've got competition." Red directed his gaze to Trip, Paul and Gary. "I know Dad."

Red returned Metagross before going to meet Delia. "That was amazing Ash," Serena said, with the girls backing her up. "Yeah Ashy-boy. I didn't know Eevee had evolved. Congratulations." Ash just shook the brunette boy. "We've got just a week till the reunion. I want to get in a good amount of training before then."

"Yeah you better. You're not the only one training," Leaf said.

They were all pumped up and ready. Even though the league was still a year and some months away, all four boys were excited for it. They weren't the only ones training. Other trainers were also trying their hardest to win all gym badges and compete on the birth place of the Pokémon League.

"Ahh," Ash screamed as he tossed an aura sphere at his father. The Pokémon Master knocked the sphere back with a flick of his wrists. The sphere hit the ground were it exploded.

It had been roughly a week since Ash and Red's battle and it was the day before the reunion. Red had asked Ash if he wanted to spar after the long week of training and Ash had agreed. It was a great way to bond and also for Ash to improve in his aura usage.

Throughout the past week, the only thing Ash and his pokémon did was to spar with each other. During the sparring exercise, both Wartortle and Ivysaur had evolved into their final evolutions of Blastoise and Venusaur, respectively. They continued their sparring exercises until the last day when Ash wanted to reshuffle his elites. The battles that day was intense. It resulted in a lot of craters and destroyed trees. Blaze was the main cause of destruction, his name was already a direct entry, but he still decided to fight in the Elite games. It got so intense that Ash had to calm him. Thanks to evolution, Glaceon had gained her place as the all rounder of the team. Ash would have given it to Golduck, but because she was far more experienced,she was best suited for it. Golduck had taken the role of fastest and Venusaur had taken on the role of best defense. Scizor had become the most accurate, while Blastoise had been given title of strongest.

Thanks to the Elite games, Ash had also gotten to know where each of his pokémon stood in terms of power. Blaze was obviously the strongest. Blastoise and Venusaur were both tied in second. Another tie for the position of third was between Scizor and Glaceon. Golduckwas fourth. Tyrunt was fifth. Volt, sixth. Butterfree and Beedrill were tied in seventh. Zorua was eight. Clefairy, ninth. Dratini tenth and last. Ash had also used the previous week to address Zoruas usage of illusion. Apparently, the dark type was a bit inferior about using the ability, but Ash was able to help her out with it.

And being the trainer he was, how could he let his pokémon train while he didn't, so here he was, facing his father, with his mother cheering in the background.

"Mum!" Ash exclaimed as his mother kept on cheering for his dad. "Sorry honey." Ash turned back to see his father chuckle. "She is my wife after all. Of course she is to cheer for me."

"Against me, I'm not sure that should hold." Ash retorted, thinking he had won. "Yeah it holds. If you find it so bad, why don't you call Serena to cheer you on."

"Dad!"

Red burst into laughter. "Mum! Not you too." Delia had also joined in the fun. Ash groaned deeply before falling on the ground. "I can't believe you people," he muttered. An idea hit him as he spring forth and tossed an aura sphere at his dad. Red just held up a hand and caught the sphere and caused it to disperse. "I think that's enough for today," Red said. He was right. They had been at it since ten in the morning and it was already three in the afternoon.

"Who wants snacks?" Delia walked up to them with a tray filled with snacks.

After they had eaten to their fill, they sat on the grass and just took the moment to bond.

"Dad?" Ash called out. "Yeah Ash."

"Do you know anything about the Dragon Kings?" Delia perked up as he said this, wondering what her son was talking about, meanwhile, Red was deep in thought. He was obviously deep in thought. He was called back to their plane by Delia who shoved him.

"Oh the Dragon Kings. That is an old tale that existed a long time ago. According to legends, there was a man who hailed from the Kingdom of Rota when she was still young. He was your ancestor and also mine, Jeremy Ketchum." Ash's eyes went wide at this.

"If I'm not mistaken, that was the first Ketchum mentioned in anything history. He was the main reason the Ketchums have become one of the most known families in the world. Jeremy left his home of Rota after his parents were killed during that warring period. I'm sure you have a little knowledge on that time." Ash nodded. "During that period, pokémon were used as weapons of destruction. People fought and killed each other. It was as if Arceus had removed himself from the world. It was said that Jeremy left Rota by means of boat. His boat had a terrible accident and all the others were lost. Jeremy recalled how he was "mysteriously" guided to the shores of what we now know as Cerulean City. As the story goes, he tried to get a place to stay, but wasnt able to because of the warring state of the world. Fate played in his way, as he went to Cerulean Cape and took refuge there.

Not much is known about what happened, but they say that a mighty beast the likes of which no one had encountered before. They say it had the power to summon storms and control the weather to an extent. Some called it a dragon, others called it a creature of the sea. Due to the fact that no one had actually seen it apart from Jeremy, because it always shrouded itself with clouds. It caused a lot of confusion. Eventually, they agreed it to be a dragon because Jeremy was sighted flying on it many times. The beast was also too large for people to believe it existed. Its size was huge, and it was able to wipe out armies of people and pokemon with ease. Some called it a god because of the legendary powr it possessed. That may have been one of the Dragon Kings you had asked me about. Red concluded.

Is that all you know about the Dragon Kings?

Yes Ash. Im afraid thats all I know about the Dragon Kings. Red stroked his chin as he tried to recall whether he knew any more about the topic in particular. Wait. I remember Cynthia telling me something to me about an encounter some time ago.

Do you mean Champion Cynthia of the Sinnoh region?

Yeah. Apparently she had had an encounter some time ago. She said that a deep guttural voice had spoken to her when she was strolling around Celestic town. She said she didnt see anything but she had assumed it to be a dragon because of the aura of power it exuded in its voice. And people did say that sometimes it was as if Jeremy spoke with the dragon. Thats all I know. Anyways, why did you ask about this Ash?

"No reason in particular Dad. I heard about it and thought you might know something about it because you are the Pokemon Master.

Oh, then no problem there. They were all lying on the grass. Hey Dad. What about the dominant families in the world? Tell me about them.

Well, for starters, we have the Ketchums, the Oaks, the Watarus, the Stones, the Slates, the Waterflowers, the Bolts

Tell me the history of the Ketchums, Ash said to his Dad.

Whats with the sudden interest in history? Red asked his eager son.

Thats true. Ive never seen Ash interested in history. That comment was from Delia.

Its just that I want to know about the family I come from. I have a right to know.

Well, you are right. Okay, the history of the Ketchums. During the warring state of this our world all those many years ago. Like I told you, the Ketchums were first noted from the timeline of Jeremy Ketchum. As history had it, the Ketchums come from the Kingdom of Rota. After Jeremy's dealings with the beast of legend, he left Cerulean and moved back to Rota and started a family while also growing the Soul clan as the first Aura Guardian and the one true Aura Master. It was through his lineage that the Soul clan was able to produce aura users, albeit rarel.. Years passed and roughly two thousand years ago, Sir Aaron Ketchum, our direct ancestor proved greater than Jeremy by possessing greater aura abilities. He ended up sacrificing himself to save the Kingdom of Rota. And from him, two thousand years passed and we are here. We are still waiting for the next Aura Master after Aaron. One who is said to be the greatest there was or ever will be. When he or she will come, no one knows."

"How come there are huge gaps in our history?"

"That's just how it is son. Before I forget, there's something I want to give to you." Delia giggled as Red said this. Ash's eyes beamed greatly as he waited for it. Red reached into his pocket and took out an ultra ball. "Open it."

Ash took the ball and pressed the release button. White light condensed from the ball into a pokémon that Ash knew all too well. The pokémon was dog-like with a general blue and black scheme. It had red eyes and black feet and a blue tail, with pointy ears. Ash took out his pokédex to scan it.

"Scanning. Riolu the Emanation Pokémon. It is extremely energetic with enough stamina to keep running through the night. Taking it for walks can be a challenging experience."

"This Riolu is male and knows the moves Quick attack, endure, feint, metal claw and counter. It has the egg moves Cross chop and high jump kick which have not been unlocked. It has the ability Inner focus and the hidden ability Prankster."

Dexter stopped. "Thank you so much dad." Ash hugged his father who returned it equally. "No problem son. It is tradition for aura users to possess a Riolu as one of their partners, and it was high time you got yours. I can't let Blue and Green be the only to gift a pokémon to their kids."

This went on for some time as Ash introduced his team to Riolu after he had finished with his parents. His Dad had also requested that he focused on the pokémon he had now and not catch any others. That was something Ash had agreed to.

Currently now, the raven haired trainer was lazying about on the grass, just chilling with his pokémon family. Blaze was flying over head and using steel wing from time to time. That was basically his way of relaxing. After some time, Ash saw him come down and scorch himself with flames. That was usually the way Charizard cleaned themselves and Blaze really liked it. After that, the fire type collapsed on the hard ground to rest his wings.

Blastoise and Golduck were both relaxing in the small pool that was near them. Venusaur was lying on the grass and so we're the rest. Everything was just perfect until-

"Ash!"

"Damn," Ash muttered as he turned his head to see who it was that had called him. There, running towards him was Serena. "Hey Serena." He sat up as she neared him and gestured for her to sit near him.

"What brings you here?" The honey blonde girl had already taken a seat. "Well... I was just wondering if maybe we could hangout for some time. It's been long since it has been just the two of us."

"Oh, that's okay with me. I've kind of missed hanging out with you... Do you have any ideas where the others might be?"

"Well. Leaf and Gary are running errands for the professor. Dawn said she was going to bother Paul and Misty is with Trip. He is helping her train her Poliwrath in the ways of fighting pokémon." Ash's eyes perked up at that. "So Misty has evolved her Poliwags?" Serena nodded.

"Ash?" Serena called out. "I have someone who would like to see Blaze."

"Who's that?" The boy asked.

"You'll see," Serena said as she got up holding a pokéball. She pressed the release button and the light condensed into a Charizard. Ash's eyes widened. "Your Charmeleon evolved. That's great Serena."

"Thank you," Serena said as she scratched Charizard under the chin. "Hey Blaze!" Ash shouted. "Come over here." It took a few seconds for the fire type to respond as he landed by Ash. He turned and noticed the other Charizard present and growled fiercely. Ash tapped him. "Don't you recognize her?"

It took a few seconds for Blaze to recognize the Charizard in front of him to be Serena's Charmeleon. How would he have known. The last time he saw her, she was a Charmeleon. He was broken out of his train of thoughts by Ash.

"When did she evolve?"

"It was during training yesterday. After she evolved, I called my dad and he said she should work on using her wings so she would get used to them quickly."

"Let's do it then. How about a little flight?"

Serena nodded and gestured to Charizard. "Take it easy," Ash said as she got on Charizard. He had already gotten on Blaze and was already airborne. After Serena had settled on her Charizard, they took off. At first, it was hard for Serena to maintain balance on Charizard who she had started calling Char, it soon became natural for her. Char was able to keep up with Blaze who had slown down enough.

The ride was fun and both Serena and Ash had a lot of giggles along the way. Occasionally, Blaze and Char would release flamethrowers, creating beautiful displays.

"What's that?" Professor Oak said as he looked up noticing the flames. He was outside his lab with both Red and Blue.

"Those are Charizard," Red pointed out but was confused. "I thought only Ash had a Charizard," Blue said, clarifying why they were all confused.

"Not exactly. Sycamore's daughter, Serena had a Charmeleon when they came here." Oak stroked his chin as he said that.

"So it must have evolved. Beautiful." The comment was from Red who had noticed the pattern of flames both fire types spewed to be beautiful.

"That gives me an idea," Oak said as he gestured for Blue and Red to come close. He told them what he thought of. They both agreed to that and released four pokémon.

Meanwhile...

"You're getting a hang of it," Ash said as he held on tight to Blaze as he did a barrel roll and spewed flames, creating a spark shower. Serena watched the display quite impressed.

"Hey Ash, what's that?" Serena said, drawing Ash's attention to the incoming creature approaching them fast. As it got closer, Ash recognized it as Pyro,his dad's Charizard. The elder pokémon growled as he spoke to Blaze. After some seconds, he turned and shot off. Ash tapped Blaze before telling Serena to follow him.

About a minute later, they arrived in front of the Professor's lab. They got off their pokémon and returned them to their balls and read the note on the chair which said only one word, "Wait."

Both he and Serena stood there waiting and soon enough they were joined by Leaf and Gary. As if that was surprising, Gary had arrived holding two ultra balls. Ash silently wondered what was inside those. Next came Dawn and Paul, and then Trip and Misty. Ash thought that was the surprise, but he was happy to be wrong.

A couple of minutes later, Professor Oak came out back, accompanied by Red and Blue. Soon enough, Green, Leaf's dad came walking in with Delia. Leaf was almost ecstatic as she saw her dad and she couldn't resist the urge to hug him. Two more familiar faces came in, Professor Sycamore and Delia's younger sister, Yellow. That was not all as they heard a loud roar above and were surprised to see Lance and his Dragonite. The champion of Johto and final elite four member of Kanto was also present for some reason.

While everyone was getting acquainted with each other, Professor Oak took the stage. "Greetings everyone and welcome to the reunion party thrown in honour of those eight kids as a sought of break from training. Sorry for informing you all on such short notice, but it had to be done and I'm glad you could all make it."

"The party should not take long and there will be a couple of events to make it more interesting. There would be a dinner event and as a deal breaker, a couples pokémon battle. Also the induction of Ash Satoshi Ketchum as an official Aura Student, and Gary Oak as a Psychic Student."

Both boys were shocked to hear their names. "Anyway," Oak continued. "That would be for later. The battlefield has already been arranged and all events will cone eventually."

They arrived at the area stipulated for the event and all the adults had gotten into a discussion. There were a couple of other kids that they didn't recognize and Gary was talking with one of them.

"Hey Ash," he called as Ash walked over to them. "This is my best friend and rival," Gary told the other kid as Ash reached them. "Hi. I'm Ash Satoshi Ketchum. Nice to meet you."

"Likewise. I'm Alain Sycamore," the boy said. Ash's eyes widened. "You're related to the professor?"

"Yeah. I'm his nephew." As he said this, Serena ran up to him. "Alain!" she said as she hugged him. "Long time no see cousin," he said as he returned the hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, this is a reunion isn't it and I am Professor Sycamore's assistant."

"Anyways, it's good to see you." They continued their chat with Alain and were soon joined by Paul and Trip.