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EVERYONE: Back To Basics (WARNING: Gen 6 Spoilers Ahead!) - CHAPTER SEVEN IS UP!

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Note: This will be in TV format. Also, Gen 6 Spoilers!!

Note 2: People have been asking how they got from Pewter City to Cerulean City, and I only have this to say: Anime Physics. :p

Note 3: I actually have chapters 2 and 3, but they're being edited, so they won't be posted on this site until then. Now, then, let's start, shall we?

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~ <- This is my line break, BTW.

I want to be the very best,
Like no one ever was.
To catch them is my real test,
To train them is my cause.

I will travel across the land,
Searching far and wide.
Each Pokemon to understand
The power that's inside

(Gotta catch 'em all)

It's you and me
I know it's my destiny

Pokemon!

You're my best friend,
In a world we must defend.
Pokemon

(Gotta catch 'em all)

A heart so true.
Our courage will pull us through.
You teach me and I'll teach you.
Pokemon

(Gotta catch 'em all, Gotta catch 'em all)

POKEMON!

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

The words "Going Back To Basics!" appeared on a title card, which Ash read.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

A boy of about fifteen years old was in his room with his starter Pokemon, Pikachu. He hadn't been out for days. Ever since he lost the Unova League to Virgil, he had been really depressed. How could he have lost? In every league, he had some so close, but someone took victory from his grasp. In Kanto, it was Richie (he could have won it all, if only Charizard didn't fall asleep!). In Johto, it was Harrison (at least it wasn't Gary, the jerk he was back then!), in Hoenn, it was Tyson (he hated Meowth even more now!), in Sinnoh, Tobias (the cheater! Why was he allowed to have legendaries?), and now in Unova, the region he just came from, it was Virgil, a huge fan of Eevee and its evolutions. He didn't understand how he went from taking on two legendaries to losing to a team of Eevee evolutions.

One thing was certain: He and Pikachu had grown to really hate the Eevee line, even moreso than Meowth back when Tyson beat him. It was bad enough when Gary's Eevee beat him, but this was terrible.

He replayed the events of his league matches in his mind, but he just didn't see what he could have done better.

"Ash, are you still moping?" a voice called out. That could only be his mom. His thoughts were proven true when she opened the door, though she wasn't alone. Next to her were Tracey and Professor Oak.

"Tracey! Professor Oak! Mom!" he said, forcing a smile.

"Ash, you have to go out now," said Professor Oak sternly. "There's no use dwelling on the past."

"The Indigo League is reopening soon. Why don't you sign up?" Tracey asked.

Ash perked up for a moment. This was his chance to redeem himself. He thought of entering, but then memories of the final battle with Virgil came to him. Should he reenter? What would happen? Would he even make it past Top 16? His loss kept flashing through his mind. With a combo of Toxic and Thunder Wave from Jolteon, as well as Mean Look, Sand Attack, Swagger and Curse, Umbreon had beaten his weakened, confused, poisoned and paralyzed Pikachu so badly (he didn't even think it was possible for a Pokemon to have so many status conditions!). Maybe he just needed to train harder, or he could accept that he wouldn't be a Pokemon Master. "I-I might sit this one out."

"Ash, this is not like you!" his mom scolded. "You did a great job! Why not reapply? You might even win next time!"

With no comeback, Ash forced himself to leave the house with Pikachu. He trudged from Pallet Town all the way to Pewter City, not really paying attention to any of the wild Pokemon. He went to the Pokemon Center to sign up for the tournament, and as he went out, he was surprised to see a familiar black-haired man: It was Brock!

"Hey, Brock!" he shouted, his depression leaving him for a while.

Brock turned around to see him. "Ash! You're here!" They both high-fived.

"I thought you were a doctor," Ash said, still surprised.

"I graduated." the black man replied.

"Already?!" Ash asked, astonished. Brock nodded and showed off his diploma. "In only a year? Awesome!" Ash then muttered, "At least someone reached the top..."

Brock heard him and said, "You tried your best, we're all still proud of ya, win or lose. Now follow me."

10 minutes later

They had arrived at Cerulean City, and headed to the gym. Misty's Staryu had just taken down her opponent's Leafeon with a Rapid Spin attack.

"YES!" cheered Ash. Brock looked at him oddly. The guy who had just got defeated by Misty recalled his Leafeon and left the gym. Misty saw her friends, and they all broke into a hug. They then talked a bit about Ash's Unova journey, and what the other two did while he was at Unova.

"Misty, can you travel with us?" Brock asked, and Misty told him that she could take a break, since her sisters were perfectly capable of running the gym themselves now. The three of them left and saw a limousine pull over. It looked familiar, but they ignored it at first, until a familiar spiky-haired brunette boy rolled down the window. Ash was confused. Didn't he get rid of it ages ago, or whatever happened? Why were there cheerleaders around him? And what was with that smirk on his face? Brock and Misty seemed pretty confused, too.

"Hey, Ashy-boy!" he snickered. "So ya lost the Unova League, huh?"

Instead of getting sad, like Gary probably expected of him, Ash got angry. His former rival (probably non-formal rival in a few minutes) was a douche again.

"Like you would have done any better!" Ash retorted angrily. "You're a researcher!"

"Yeah, but I decided to take a break for a while! When you're done moping around, I'm gonna cream you in the league, and that goes for anyone else who stands in my way!" Gary said snottily. "When you make a fresh start and get over yourself, I'll be waiting!"

"GARY, GARY, HE'S THE BEST, IF HE CAN'T DO IT, NOBODY CAN!" his cheerleaders shouted. Ash was about to retort back, when-

"Smell ya later, loser!" Gary shouted, breaking his train of thought and driving away slowly. It seemed almost deliberate. Ash merely stared at the back of the vehicle, and he noticed the tag on the back said a familiar phrase...

Gary was here. Ash is a loser!

"NOT AGAIN!" fumed Ash. Gary always knew what got to him. "THAT GARY! I'LL SHOW HIM!" He shouted, storming off. His words kept ringing into his mind, along with that phrase that should have died years ago.

"Hey, Ashy-boy!"

"So ya lost the Unova League, huh?"

"Not anymore, I decided to start fresh - start fresh - start fresh..."

All of a sudden, it hit him. He now realized why he always lost in every league after Johto: He was starting fresh! That meant his older Pokemon got rusty, and got little training. Professor Oak trained them, sure, but he wasn't their trainer. Who knew how rusty they were now...especially Muk and Kingler. Sure, he beat the Battle Frontier, but that wasn't an official league, and he hadn't made a fresh start anyway. Charizard, Sceptile, and a few others were lucky to be constantly training, but the same couldn't be said for the others. That's when he realized that he wouldn't have made it nearly as far as he did without the help of all his Pokemon (and his friends as well).

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

Now in the Pokemon Center, Ash was contacting Professor Oak. Brock was busy with Forrest on another videophone, so he didn't flirt with Nurse Joy. Ash had him call over Kingler, Muk, Bayleef, Unfezant, and Glalie.

"This is a surprise! I knew Gary could get you to call over some of your old friends! They all missed you!" Professor Oak said.

"I missed them too - wait, YOU KNEW ABOUT THIS?!" Ash demanded.

"Guess he overdid it a little, huh?" Professor Oak chuckled and disconnected. At the same time, Brock was finished, so the three met up again.

"Gary sure has his weird methods of helping, huh?" Misty commented.

"Why didn't Gary just TELL me?" Ash wondered.

"If I can guess, it's because just confronting you about it would cause tension, and you two would be arguing about different training styles." Brock answered. "So he did it the only way he could: by riling you up and kicking you out of your depression." Just as Brock finished the sentence, they all exited the Pokemon Center.

"And from the looks of things, it worked, too." he concluded.

Ash said, "Yup, and he's gonna regret it, too, after I cream him!" He looked even more confident than ever before. "Next stop: Pallet Town!"

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

(PokeRap plays here, but this time, it features all Pokemon from Kanto - Unova.)

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

~~~POKEMON!~~~

CREDITS

Pokemon: Back to Basics

Creator: marioluigifan05

Theme Song: Jason Paige

4Kids Entertainment

Voices

Ash, Delia: Veronica Taylor

Brock: Eric Stuart

Professor Oak: Stan Hart

Tracey: Ted Lewis

Misty: Rachael Lillis

Pikachu: Ikue Otani
 
Last edited:
Re: Back To Basics (WARNING: Gen 6 Spoilers Ahead!)

Here's chapter 2!

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

Note: Originally, Team Rocket was to appear to try and steal Pidgeot, but I took them out. WARNING: GEN 6 SPOILERS AHEAD! DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU!

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

I want to be the very best,
Like no one ever was.
To catch them is my real test,
To train them is my cause.

I will travel across the land,
Searching far and wide.
Each Pokemon to understand
The power that's inside

(Gotta catch 'em all)

It's you and me
I know it's my destiny

Pokemon!

You're my best friend,
In a world we must defend.
Pokemon

(Gotta catch 'em all)

A heart so true.
Our courage will pull us through.
You teach me and I'll teach you.
Pokemon

(Gotta catch 'em all, Gotta catch 'em all)

POKEMON!

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

The words "Calling Back Some Old Friends" appeared on a title card, which Ash read.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

Now in Pallet Town, Ash, Misty and Brock talked to Tracey for a while. Ash hadn't noticed until now, but Brock and Misty were wearing the outfits he first saw them in. Brock's outfit consisted of a green vest, an orange shirt, and dark brown pants. Misty wore a yellow midriff with red suspenders supporting them and short blue jeans. Ash noted that the redhead's hair was still in the ponytail he remembered so well. He also remembered that Gary was wearing his old outfit as well. Ash excused himself and went back to his house.

He then opened the door to his closet and stared at the outfit he wore when he first started his journey. Even without having to look at it, he remembered it all in detail: His green shirt, his blue jacket with yellow lines and buttons, and white sleeves. His light blue pants with a belt buckle around them. His green fingerless gloves. His black and white shoes with red dots on the sides were carelessly placed on the ground. The rest of his attire was just hanging there, unworn for so many years. His League hat, which he had sent so many postcards for, was just dangling around the hanger. Why did he ever replace it?

After staring at the clothes for a few minutes, he snapped out of his nostalgic thoughts and wore the now cherished clothes, replacing his Unova outfit. He had worn it long enough. Surprisingly, they still fit him just fine...

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

A few minutes later, he came back out, joining his friends once again. Misty smiled at him. "I was wondering when you'd change back! That's more like it!"

Ash grinned back at her, and the trio waved Tracey off Within a couple of minutes, they were in Viridian Forest. Pikachu was acting as a bodyguard for Misty, scaring away all bugs with Thundershock. Other than that, nothing else of interest happened, until Ash, Misty and Brock saw an old friend: Samurai.

"Hey, it's Samurai!" Brock remembered.

"I remember you three!" Samurai shouted out.

"Us three? I don't remember Brock with us," Ash thought, before realizing that Brock was a gym leader, which meant that Samurai must have fought him at some point or another.

"Where have you been these past five years?" Samurai wondered.

"Well, we've - "

1 Boring Chat Later

"I challenge you to a battle!" Samurai stated. "Let's see how much you've improved!"

"I accept!" Ash stated boldly, his hand gripping a Poke Ball.

"This battle will be 4-on-4! Substitutions allowed! Begin!" announced Brock, refereeing the match.

"Go, Butterfree!" Samurai declared, sending out a Pokemon Ash knew too well. Butterfree was the first Pokemon he captured, as a Caterpie. It evolved fairly quickly, and was a good battler (and a good friend as well), but then a short time later, he fell in love with a pink Butterfree. After many attempts to impress it, it finally succeeded in its goal, so Ash selflessly let it go. He stared at Butterfree longingly for a while, before Samurai had to snap him out of it.

"Ash? Everything okay?" Samurai questioned, and Ash snapped out of his thoughts.

"Oh, sorry. Muk, I choose you!" he called one of his two Poison types.

Glob of poison faced off against butterfly. Samurai decided to give Ash the first move. Ash commanded a Sludge Bomb. Muk aimed globs of poison at Butterfree, who dodged them all easily. It then beat its wings rapidly, and Muk was suddenly forced into its ball and replaced with Unfezant. Ash pondered what happened for a few seconds, before realizing that Samurai's Butterfree used Whirlwind.

"I've never seen that Pokemon before...regardless, Butterfree will smash it!" Samurai boasted. "Butterfree, Stun Spore!"

"Unfezant, just like we practiced!" Ash called. Unfezant rapidly beat her wings and suddenly white streaks of wind appeared behind her. She then blew the spores away and sent them back at her opponent, stunning it.

"NO!" cried Samurai, as Unfezant quickly went in for an Aerial Ace. Thanks to the speed boost from Tailwind, it was quicker than usual. It was able to take out Butterfree in one hit.

"Butterfree can't battle, the winner is Unfezant!" Brock began. Samurai recalled Butterfree and sent out Beedrill. Unfezant merely squawked at it, showing no fear. The same couldn't be said for Misty, who hid behind Brock.

"Beedrill, Twineedle!" Samurai shouted. Beedrill flew at Unfezant and tried to jab it with its stingers, but the pheasant dodged the attacks with ease. Ash then tipped his hat, which didn't go unnoticed by Unfezant. Without a verbal command, she sent red rings at it, causing her opponent to fall asleep. It slowly descended to the ground, its wings no longer moving as it landed.

"Hypnosis was a good move to teach it." Brock commented.

"Great job, Unfezant! Go, Kingler!" he shouted, sending out his first crab Pokemon. Samurai desperately pleaded at his Pokemon, while Kingler just kept bombarding it with Bubblebeam after Bubblebeam attack. Eventually, Beedrill was overwhelmed by all the damage stacking up, and went down. After another announcement saying which Pokemon was unable to battle (which of course was Beedrill) from Brock, Samurai sent out a Parasect, while Ash replaced his Kingler with Muk again. Brock signaled for them to begin.

"Parasect, use Aerial Ace!" its trainer commanded. Parasect disappeared for a split second, before reappearing behind Muk. Ash quickly ordered an Acid Armor attack, and Muk hardened its body a little. When Parasect slashed it, its appendage got stuck to its globby body. Muk squeezed its opponent to the floor for a while, before finally getting up. Parasect was down.

"Parasect can't battle, Muk wins!" shouted Brock.

Samurai sent out his last Pokemon: Pinsir. Muk was replaced with Bayleef, who tackled Ash to the ground.

"I'm glad to see you too, but we have a battle!" Ash told her, laughing a bit. Samurai stared at the sideshow in confusion. Bayleef got off of him and faced Pinsir and Samurai. Samurai ordered a Stone Edge. Stones formed around his Pokemon and launched at Bayleef, who used her vines to defend herself. Pinsir's next move was Close Combat. When it got close to Bayleef, she wrapped her vines around Pinsir's limbs and horn on Ash's command, rendering him immobile. Ash then told her to use Energy Ball. Bayleef opened her mouth and unleashed a green ball at Pinsir, knocking it out.

"Pinsir can't battle! Since Samurai lost all of his Pokemon, the winners are Ash and Bayleef from Pallet Town!" shouted Brock. Ash and Bayleef were celebrating, while Samurai recalled his Pokemon. After a brief conversation, Ash went deeper into the forest. It looked like he had gotten all of them lost until a familiar cry filled their ears. They looked up, and sure enough, Ash's old Pidgeot was flying above them. Ash was elated.

"Pidgeot!" he cried. "It's you!" Suddenly, he felt guilty for having not visited him in years. "I-I'm so sorry I didn't come back sooner." Pidgeot landed next to him and softly chirped, as if to say he forgave him. Brock and Misty looked on in awe. Ash then got Pidgeot's old Poke Ball from his bag and threw it at Pidgeot, who got sucked in. It didn't even struggle to break out. He then called it back out so it could head the way out of the forest.

30 Minutes Later

They had just arrived in Vermilion City, where Samurai told them a minor triple battle tournament was being hosted earlier. This would be good practice for the main one coming up in a week. The trio approached a man who was hosting it.

"You're just in time," he told them. "Just sign your names right here on this slip." They did as they were told.

7 Easy Matches Later

Ash, Misty, and Brock were in the finals against a trio they knew all too well...and it wasn't Team Rocket in disguise. One was lean with blue hair, the other had spiky maroon hair, and the last one was fat with a bowl cut. They all wore karate suits that were purple.

"I-I thought they were banned from all official Pokemon tournaments!" Ash cried.

"This is a minor tournament, so I guess even they're allowed." Brock answered, as Ash made a few rotations with his Pokedex.

Before Misty could add anything, the announcer cut in with: "Next up: The Invincible (Ash, Misty and Brock made quote fingers as he said the word) Pokemon Brothers: Kail, Kim, and Kai vs...Ash, Brock and Misty!" The six of them took their positions on each side. Ash noticed Misty and Brock staring at their Poke Balls intently.

"Now's a good time, don't ya think?" Misty asked quietly, as their opponents sent out Hitmonlee (Kail), Hitmonchan (Kim), and Hitmontop (Kai).

"Yup." Brock answered, and Ash wondered what they were discussing. His question was soon answered as the man shouted, "Go, Fennekin!" A cute, fuzzy orange fox with even fuzzier ears emerged from Brock's ball. Everyone was surprised, including the referee. Many people, including Ash, tried to scan it, but: "NO DATA FOUND."

Next, Misty sent out a blue quadrupedal frog with white fuzz around its neck. Just like before: "NO DATA FOUND."

Ash felt left out that he didn't have a mysterious Pokemon, but thought little of it. "Snivy, I choose you!" He sent out his Unova starter, who landed next to the frog (who Misty called Froakie), who was between Snivy and Fennekin.

Shaking off his confusion, the referee began the match.

"Hitmonchan, use Bullet Punch!" commanded its trainer, pointing at the snake. Its fists glowed silver as it dashed towards Snivy.

"Dodge it!" shouted Ash, as Snivy smacked its vines to the ground to jump, not unlike his Bulbasaur. Hitmonchan dashed right under the snake. Ash commanded his Snivy to use Vine Whip as Kim got his Pokemon to jump back, before he realized that the Vine Whip was actually meant for Hitmonlee's legs. Thanks to that, Froakie could finally get a Bubblebeam attack in, unlike just seconds ago, when its legs were blocking all attacks. To try to close the distance, Hitmonchan jumped towards the snake and went in for a Mach Punch, the silver from its fists disappearing, but Fennekin dashed towards it and rammed into it, sending it back a little so that it couldn't hit Ash's Pokemon. Froakie used Protect to avoid a Close Combat from the spinning Hitmontop. Snivy was finally forced to let go of Hitmonlee when its foot cloaked in flames and covered Snivy in fire, burning it..

"Snivy, Leaf Storm!" shouted Ash. His Snivy winced at the pain, but spun around and unleashed a bunch of leaves at her opponents. They tried their best to avoid them, and succeeded as the leaves fell harmlessly on the ground. Even as Brock gave out his next command, the "Invincible" Pokemon Brothers were laughing at them.

"Fennekin, Flame Burst!" shouted Brock, as Fennekin formed a ball of fire that split into many flame streaks. They all fell on the grounded leaves and scorched them, releasing a foul stench. Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee (along with everyone else at close range) covered their noses because of the awful singed smell. Even Hitmontop had to stop spinning because of how bad it smelled.

"Brine!" shouted Misty, as Froakie slowly opened its mouth and spat water needles at all of them. The damage then accumulated to the point where they were taken down. The "Invincible" Pokemon Brothers shouted at their Pokemon to get up, but it was no use, so the referee called their defeat. Big surprise, they didn't take it well; each of them sent out Sawk, Throh, and Conkelder.

"Hey, that's not fair!" the referee shouted. "You already lost!"

Kai ignored him and commanded a Stone Edge. The stones that circled around Conkelder's body were all launched at Fennekin, who weaved around them with Quick Attack. The next set of stones, oddly enough, missed Fennekin completely. Snivy and Froakie were distracted by Sawk and Throh, who forced them to avoid their various Fighting typed attacks. When Fennekin saw who the stones were aimed at, she rushed towards Brock and tackled him into the ground, the two just barely managing to avoid them. This did not go unnoticed by anyone. In fact, everyone was shocked at just how low they were willing to stoop as Brock got up and thanked his Pokemon, who got back on the field.

"Hey! Who do you think you are!?" Ash shouted, as a stray stone hit the fox Pokemon, sending it crashing on the ground.

"We play to win, don't like it? Too bad." Kail said.

Ash and Misty were both angry. "You'll pay!" Misty shouted. "Froakie, use Double Team!" Her Pokemon made many copies of itself, then did a Bubblebeam in the air, making it that much harder for anyone to even detect the real one (thanks to the bubble reflections). None of their opponents could hit anyone. Ash was coming up with a strategy of his own, before he flashed back to a battle between Tripp and Bianca, two of his Unova rivals. Emboar took Conkelder's stone pillars and thrust them back at it, taking it down. Brock seemed to have formulated a plan, too.

"Flash!" shouted Brock, as his Pokemon's tail turned bright and blinded Sawk and Throh, whose latest plan involved ganging up on Fennekin 2-on-1. The duo covered their eyes after the bright attack temporarily blinded them. Conkelder was on its own as Ash's Snivy used Attract on him. Snivy seduced him into giving up his pillars, before she hoisted them up in the air with her vines. They fell down and toppled on the Pokemon, rendering him unable to battle.

"Wow, not only did they cheat many times, but they're still losing." a spectator said, as Froakie and Fennekin used Hydro Pump and Flamethrower on the remaining two opponents, securing them the victory.

"Despite cheating, the 'Invincible' Pokemon Brothers are unable to battle, the clear winners are Ash, Misty and Brock! That means they win the grand prize!" Everyone cheered as they went up to get all of the money they had earned. The brothers broke down in front of everyone as Officer Jenny arrested them. They then congratulated their Pokemon on a job well done as they recalled them.

"So, what are we going to do with all this money?" Ash asked.

"Shopping! What else?" Misty cried, as she somehow dragged both Ash, Brock, Pikachu and Azurill through a forest.

"You had to ask, didn't you?" Brock muttered.

"Winning's never felt so unrewarding..." Ash said, dazed. From behind a tree, a spiky Pokemon was watching them, laughing to itself...

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

CREDITS

Back to Basics

Creator: marioluigifan05

Theme Song: Jason Paige

4Kids Entertainment

Voices

Ash, Delia: Veronica Taylor

Brock: Eric Stuart

Professor Oak: Stan Hart

Tracey: Ted Lewis

Misty: Rachael Lillis

Pikachu: Ikue Otani

Samurai: Jimmy Zoppi

Kim: Sean Schemmel

Kai: Greg Abbey

Kail: Marc Thompson
 
Re: Back To Basics (WARNING: Gen 6 Spoilers Ahead!) - CHAPTER 2 IS UP!

Chapter 3!!

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

(Theme Song (season 1) goes here.)

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

The words "Chespin Checkmates" appeared on a title card, which Ash read.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

[Pokemon Anime Sound Collection: The Johto Journey Begins]

Two hours after Misty dragged them clothes shopping, Ash and co. found themselves back at the forest, where Brock prepared some Pokemon food for them. Ash sent out Pidgeot, Snivy, Palpitoad, Glalie, and Quilava. Misty's Pokemon were Froakie, Psyduck, Azurill, Corsola, Politoed, and Horsea. Brock released these Pokemon: Fennekin, Steelix, Ludicolo, Crobat, Golem, and Marshtomp. Politoed cheered Brock on as he stirred the stew, while Psyduck just watched. Pidgeot took the time to intruduce himself to the others, Snivy turned away from everyone, and Palpitoad stared at the pot. As for Brock's Pokemon, most of them just stood there, except for Crobat and Fennekin, who assumed a guarding position in front of him.

Several minutes later, Brock was serving everyone the food. Ash was the first to get served, so by the time Brock finished passing it around, Ash had already went for a second plate. Misty scolded him for being a slob, to which he responded, "Hey, I'm a growing boy!" While Ash and Misty were distracted, a small figure had taken Palpitoad's food. They turned around, but all they saw were blurry spikes. Ash assumed that it was a Pokemon, and got ready to scan it, when he got blasted in the face by Hydro Pump. Ash turned to Palpitoad, who was yelling at him and pointing towards some bushes.

"I could have got him a new bowl..." Brock muttered, as Ash and Palpitoad ran off. Pikachu followed them shortly after.

[Pokemon Anime Sound Collection: Scramble]

The snickering light green figure (which was, indeed, a Pokemon) ran off, with Ash and Palpitoad on its tail (bad pun). Ash was beginning to wish he hadn't left his Pokemon behind. If only Pidgeot followed him.

"Palpitoad, use Sludge Wave!" the boy yelled out. A huge ball of dark purple sludge formed around the Water/Ground Pokemon, before shooting at the mysterious Pokemon. It nimbly leaped to a tree branch, avoiding the attack. It then jumped from branch to branch, not unlike Sceptile (amazingly, it did this all with the bowl still in its hands). They still couldn't catch up with him while running, so Palpitoad let its tongue hang out and aimed multiple balls of mud skyward. They didn't seem to be aiming anywhere in particular. The Pokemon kept leaping from branch to branch, until it slipped on one that was covered in mud. As the Pokemon was falling downward, Palpitoad used its long tongue to catch the food and place it down next to him.

Ash could now make out its features as it was descending, though he still wouldn't have been able to reach it on time to save it.. It was tan with white toenails, brown arms and what looked like brown markings on its face, and an orange nose matching its tail tip. The Pokemon was trying to suppress its screams, but Ash could still see its chattering buck teeth. It looked like a Grass/Ground type, so Ash concluded that it could take at least one water attack.

"Great job, Palpitoad! Now use Hydro Pump to break its fall!" he told Palpitoad. Palpitoad stared at him like he was crazy, but forcibly let loose a huge stream of water for the Pokemon to land on. Palpitoad slowly tilted its head down so that its opponent could slowly land on solid ground. With the two Pokemon staring at each other seemingly calmly, Ash took the time to try and scan it, but no data was found. By the time Ash had put the Pokedex aside, Pikachu had arrived to the scene to see Palpitoad and the unknown Pokemon staring down at each other.

[Pokemon Anime Sound Collection: Johto Wild Battle Music]

"Palpitoad, use Hyper Voice!" called Ash, as Palpitoad let loose loud supersonic waves from his mouth. Its opponent was disoriented from the attack as it covered its ears. It didn't hear Ash's next command, and when the Hyper Voice ended, Palpitoad was gone. It looked around for a few moments, before looking up to see Palpitoad descending on it. It looked like it would land on it, but then the wild Pokemon created multiple copies of itself, and the toad-like Pokemon landed on a mirage that merely disappeared.

The real one came from behind a tree and scratched Palpitoad from behind, before sending out a flurry of leaves, all doing super-effective damage on him. He tried to stand his ground, but then fell over. The wild Pokemon got ready to release another Leaf Tornado, but Palpitoad opened its mouth, this time to release an icy wind from it. (Note: they do their training off screen. I don't really want to devote the story to training if it doesn't advance the plot, it's boring.)

The counterattack froze the leaves, which dropped heavily on the ground. Palpitoad's opponent approached him once again as Ash commanded a Supersonic. Palpitoad let out a shrill scream as the spiky Pokemon covered its ears, just as Ash planned. Because its hands were up, it was left defenseless to the ice shards that the Supersonic attack gathered from the ground and thrust at it. They all hit the Pokemon and damaged it badly. It fell to the ground, covered in wounds and scratches. Ash turned his hat around, and cried, "All right!" in delight. He took out a Poke Ball. "Poke Ball, go!" The capsule opened up and landed on the ground. Everything seemed to go in slow motion as he stared at the slightly moving ball, gritting his teeth.

/\|/\

One shake.

Two shakes.

Three shakes.

The ball opened up and out came the wounded Pokemon! Before either Ash or Palpitoad moved, it started glowing.

[Pokemon Anime Sound Collection - Raid!]

"It's using Synthesis! Palpitoad, use Supersonic one more time!" Ash's Pokemon released its attack before the creature could even cover its ears. It hit itself a few times in confusion before a bitter berry fell out of its 'hat' and into its mouth. It somehow managed to chew it and compose itself.

"Icy Wind again, then Supersonic!" Palpitoad once again breathed a frosty wind from its mouth, which the bitter berry eater jumped over. It caused the entire area under it to be frozen. Ash hid his eyes under his hat as the temperature suddenly and abruptly rose and the ice area that Palpitoad froze became a huge puddle, providing a safe landing for the 'hat' wearer. While Ash was distracted, a ball of light in the spiked Pokemon's mouth formed into a beam and aimed at Palpitoad.

"Pika, Pika!" Pikachu yelled out, as Palpitoad instinctively tried to overpower it with Hydro Pump. With the sun glaring so brightly, Hydro Pump was weaker than it usually was. The Solar Beam easily overpowered the water type attack and hit the Water/Ground type, turning it into a cloud of smoke. Even Ash and Pikachu looked confused at first, but then they saw Palpitoad sneakingly creeping up behing the thief. It was sucking in all of the water under them, which confused the green-clad Pokemon at first. Ash and Pikachu smiled to themselves as the unknown Pokemon looked up to see the second stage Pokemon fully inflated and towering over it. Palpitoad then unleahed a huge tidal wave from its mouth, sending its opponent washing away towards a tree as it deflated. By the time Palpitoad was back to normal size, everyone was soaking wet, including Ash and Pikachu, who shook it off. The wild Pokemon wasn't moved, so Ash decided that now was the time to try and catch it again, but first...

/\|/\

"Palpitoad, you learned Substitute and Surf! Awesome!" he praised the once-inflated Pokemon, taking out a Poke Ball. "And now..." He jumped into the air, and threw it. "Poke Ball, go!" Once again, everything seemed to go in slow motion as the orb sucked in the unlucky thief. It shook, once, then another time, then thrice, then it stood still with a 'Ding' sound, with no movement afterwards.

[Pokemon Stadium 2 - Got a Rare Pokemon]

He then picked it up, and then yelled, "All right!" He spun around. "I caught...a - " He stopped himself when he not only realized he didn't even know the Pokemon's name, but the Poke Ball disappeared from his hand, too. Just then, Brock and Misty arrived at the scene, Brock giving him back his Poke Balls. He quickly realized that his party was full (he would have to show it to Professor Oak later on).

"What happened?" Misty asked, and Ash explained it all to her.

"So Palpitoad learned two new moves to help you catch a Pokemon." Brock mused. "That's new."

"I couldn't have done it without him!" Ash cried, rushing to Palpitoad to hug him.

"Ash, DON'T!" Brock and Misty shouted, as he hugged Palpitoad...who was many times bigger than him for some reason. "Palpitoad, how did you get so...uh-oh." Palpitoad deflated as it spat a huge geyser of water at him and sent him crashing on a tree, not unlike what he did to his earlier opponent.

"You'll never learn." Brock said, as the 15-year-old slid down the bark of the tree.

/\|/\

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

[Pokemon Anime Sound Collection - Pokemon Center]

After healing his Pokemon, Ash was on the videophone with Professor Oak. After he had explained the situation to the old man, Professor Oak took a deep breath, and then beckoned over to someone from his right. A girl appeared on the screen. She had long, wavy blonde hair, a pink dress and hat with glasses around it, a sleeveless black blouse, as well as matching stockings, wristbands and flats.

"Hello!" she said, waving at all of them. They all waved back at her.

"Ash, Misty, Brock, this is Yvonne Yvette." Professor Oak introduced.

"Yvonne for short." the blonde said, before addressing Ash. "This old geezer says you've caught a 'mysterious' Pokemon." Professor Oak headed away from the screen as the girl held out a Poke Ball. A huge glob of poison followed him. She opened it, and out came the presumed Grass/Ground type.

"You found Chespin, thanks so much!" Yvonne thanked Ash.

"Chespin?" Ash asked.

"Chespin is one of the starter Pokemon of my region, along with Fennekin and Froakie." the blonde explained.

"Froakie/Fennekin?" Misty/Brock chorused.

"I'm the Professor's assistant." she continued, not addressing them. "I was to have them delivered by hand to some new trainers, but the three of them escaped into a boat leading here."

"More like she lost them." Professor Oak said from the corner.

"Manners, Professor Oak." Yvonne chastised him, before doing a double take. "You've seen them?" Misty sent out Froakie, and Brock sent out Fennekin, who stared at him. The girl smiled in delight. "Where did you find them?"

"Chespin kind of found us." Ash said nervously, laughing a little. "He stole one of my Pokemon's food, and we had to get him, and that's how we caught him."

"Hey, if they're starter Pokemon, why is it that Ash was able to catch it with its own ball?" Professor Oak asked, coming to the screen. Yvonne laughed nervously, before adjusting the glasses on her hat. "Details, details. How about you, Misty?" Just then, the poison glob hugged her and pinned her to the ground. "Professor Oak! Restrain that Muk - mmf!"

Ash laughed as he and Muk greeted each other.

"My Azurill found Froakie, and they became inseparable. I didn't want to deprive Azurill of a new playmate, so I just caught it." Misty explained.

"And you?" Yvonne pointed to Brock.

"Just before I graduated, someone took in this Pokemon. It was injured very badly, so I treated it. Afterwards, I tried to release it back, but it became so attached to me that I couldn't help but catch it." Brock said.

"That was sweet of you two. Wish I could say the same for Ketchum." the blonde teased.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ash complained.

The blonde's personality did a complete 360 and she turned nice once again. "Fennekin's always gotten into trouble. Anyway, you have to return them to me so I can bring them to the rookie trainers."

"Technically, Ash is a rookie trainer." Misty muttered.

"Hey!" he yelled out, turning to her. The new fire starter hid behind Brock, tugging on his pant leg.

"What's wrong?" Yvonne asked.

"I think Fennekin would rather stay with Brock." Professor Oak said happily.

"Really?" she asked, genuinely confused, but then she shook it off. "I guess it was to be expected. What about you, Froakie?" Froakie nodded slowly. She then turned to the smirking Chespin. "How about you?" The Chespin merely pointed at Ash.

"Well...if you three really want to stay with them, I can't stop you, I guess." Yvonne said solemnly.

"So what are you gonna do now?" asked Brock, as Ash sent in Snivy for Chespin.

Yvonne thought to herself. "I'm going to investigate some legendary Pokemon. Well, I gotta run, those Pokemon won't study themselves. See ya!"

"Wait!" Professor Oak yelled, as Yvonne disconnected.

/\|/\

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

[Pokemon Anime Sound Collection - A Meeting And Parting]

At night, Ash, Misty and Brock sent out the trio of Fennekin, Chespin, and Froakie. Pikachu and Azurill introduced themselves to them.

"Where should we go next?" asked Misty.

"Wherever the path takes us." Ash answered simply.

"And knowing you, it involves getting lost," Misty muttered, recalling Froakie. Chespin got recalled too.

"At least I can see myself." Ash muttered, as Brock tried to recall his newest Pokemon. It avoided the red beam that Brock pointed at it.

"Brock, I think maybe you should carry it around." Misty suggested.

"Would you like that?" Brock asked, carrying it.

"Fen!" it cried, perching itself onto his shoulder, not unlike Ash's Pikachu.

"I guess we're all settled, so let's go!" Ash said, walking ahead of Misty and Brock.

"I'll be looking forward to getting lost many times." Brock whispered to Misty. Fennekin whispered something similar to Azurill.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

CREDITS

Back to Basics

Creator: marioluigifan05

Theme Song: Jason Paige

4Kids Entertainment

Voices

Ash, Delia: Veronica Taylor

Brock: Eric Stuart

Professor Oak: Stan Hart

Tracey: Ted Lewis

Misty: Rachael Lillis

Pikachu: Ikue Otani

Yvonne: Rachael Lillis
 
Re: Back To Basics (WARNING: Gen 6 Spoilers Ahead!) - CHAPTER 4 IS UP!

Here's Chapter 4!

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

(Theme)

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

"Snivy's Tale To The N" (Note: This is partly a filler chapter)

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

Misty, Ash, and Brock were in their sleeping bags, fast asleep. Pikachu and Azurill were asleep next to their trainers, but Fennekin was curled next to Brock, still asleep. Crobat was on the man's head, watching the Fire-type intently. Bayleef was right behind Ash, pretending to sleep. The two stared at each other for a few minutes, before Psyduck appeared from Misty's bag.

"Psy!" it cried, clutching its head, as Oshawott came out at that exact moment and shushed him, pointing at the sleepers. Oshawott went away from them, while Psyduck approached Bayleef, tapping it.

"Bay! BAY!" she cried, a bit too loudly. She noticed Ash tossing and turning and grabbed Psyduck with a vine in urgency. At one point, Psyduck was swung into Ash's bag, and then dragged out again. They ran towards Oshawott, with Fennekin following close behind.

"Mom? What did you say?" Ash asked groggily, before heading back to sleep.

"Pika Pika?" Pikachu asked, approaching Fennekin, who pointed towards the direction the other Pokemon ran. The two followed along, with Snivy (who was released from her Poke Ball in Ash's bag by accident) also with them. They finally stopped in front of a lake.

"Oshawott..." the Water type sighed in relief. Psyduck stepped into the water, only to end up jumping out of the lake. Most of them couldn't believe he couldn't swim, since he was a Water-type. Snivy didn't seem to care all that much, staring into the lake. Brock's Fire type slowly approached the snake. "Fenn?" she questioned.

"Snivy." she responded, saying nothing was wrong.

The fire fox didn't really buy it, but decided not to press the matter anymore. She felt a tap on the shoulder, and turned around to see Pikachu.

"Pikachu, Pika?" He was asking if she liked Brock. The really furry Pokemon denied this claim. Oshawott, Bayleef and Snivy started to giggle, while Psyduck still looked confused. Soon, though, Snivy's laughter died down, and she continued staring into the lake.

"Oshawott?" Oshawott asked the grass snake, who hissed at him. "Oshawott, Osha." He asked if she was still thinking about her old trainer.

"Sni, Sni!" she shouted at him, saying she wasn't.

"Fenn?" the fox questioned. Oshawott told her about Snivy's life, but didn't finish before he was slapped with a vine. Soon enough, everyone wanted to know about her former life, so Snivy sighed. She had no choice but to tell...

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

A charred Snivy was running from flame-coated Darmanitan and Darumaka. She had no way of fighting them off. Her only moves were Vine Whip, Leaf Tornado, and Coil. Her most useful move in this situation would be Coil, but even with the attack and defense boosts, she couldn't damage them enough, or withstand their fire attacks. Her only advantage against them was speed, but that advantage was slowly disappearing as the fire types got faster and faster. Eventually, they got fast enough to surround her. It looked like she was finished, until a Pokeball flew her way. It looked like it was headed for the Darmanitan, but it landed on the wild Snivy. She didn't want to be captured, but it was preferable to being prey to the Darumaka family.

She had no idea what became of them, but a few days later, she found herself in front of a rock, trying to slam into it with her tail. Behind her was a pudgy kid with green hair, a black jacket that was zipped up, and green pants: the same one who saved her back then. But if she thought he would be nice, she had another thing coming...

"I said 'Use Leaf Blade', not Tail Whip!" he shouted, as Snivy failed to even dent the rock once again. He never even taught her the move, just expected her to know it already. About twenty failed Leaf Blades later, the trainer decided to let it go. But she had a feeling she wasn't off the hook...

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

"Snivy, use Coil, followed by Wrap!"

"Panpour, just wait there." Cress, the Water type gym leader was surprisingly calm, while Snivy's trainer was loud and boastful.

Snivy coiled itself to raise its defense, attack, and accuracy. Then it uncurled and slithered towards the water monkey. It wrapped itself around its opponent, thinking it had it in the bag, until...

"Ice Beam." A look of horror was on Snivy's face as she realized it was a trap! Panpour opened its mouth and released a beam of ice at her, freezing it. Hr trainer was yelling at her, but she still didn't unfreeze, so the referee called it Cress's match. After that, she was recalled by her trainer. Not even bothering to recall it, she was released on the spot where she first got captured, still frozen. Her former trainer called her every name in the book before leaving her behind. She was eventually defrosted when a robed man approached her. She didn't have her hopes so high up; after all, her former trainer also saved her, probably unintentionally.

He took her in his arms, bringing her into a castle, where she was eventually treated. She was then introduced to N, his son. He couldn't be more than ten. He had long tea green hair, cute gray eyes, a baseball hat, a loose white shirt, and tan pants. He wore no shoes. Snivy slowly approached the boy.

"Come on in, I don't bite." N smiled at her cutely. He had the softest, cutest voice. She tried to look away from him, but couldn't. A Zorua appeared from behind him and licked the grass snake. Snivy decided to relax, and found herself at home with not only N and Zorua, but Darmanitan and Woobat. They were all happy being with him. N turned out to be the exact opposite of her former trainer. He was nice, innocent, caring, and to top it all off, he could communicate with Pokemon! Together, the five of them were a happy family (well, six, but his father wasn't around much). He also didn't force them to battle if he didn't want to; in fact, he didn't like battles! Everyone was treated equally, no one was treated better than the other.

Nothing could go wrong, until...she fell in love. One would have thought that she'd fallen in love with one of the Pokemon, but no...it was N.

She had started to distance herself from N little by little. Not so much that he worried about her, but just enough so that he didn't suspect anything. She wondered what to do about her dilemma, until she overheard Ghetsis (the name of N's father, as she soon found out) talking to himself about Pokemon moves he could teach one of his Pokemon. Many of the ones he named were powerful attack moves, with a few status moves here and there. None of them really interested her (she couldn't learn most of them anyway), except for one. That's when Snivy got an idea...

For a few days, she had been learning a move where hearts materialized around her and hit the opponent (in this case, N, though he wasn't an 'opponent', exactly) to make him fall in love with the user (in this case, her). She had learned other moves naturally with experience, but she didn't really care about those right now. She had more or less mastered the move within that timeframe. One night, N took her outside and proclaimed his undying love for her under the stars. Before she could even say anything, she woke up from Zorua groaning. N went to comfort the Pokemon, who had had a nightmare. Snivy was disappointed that she was woken up, and also sad that it was a dream. But on the bright side, Attract didn't go to waste. She went back to sleep, this time without a dream.

The next morning, Snivy woke up before anyone else. She couldn't wait to get N to like her! A few minutes later, he woke up.

"Good morning." He yawned, before a flurry of hearts hit him. He rubbed his eyes for a few seconds, before staring at Snivy. He was completely lovestruck. Snivy smiled to herself as she wrapped him around her body with her vines. She then confessed her love to him. Darmanitan, Zorua, Woobat, AND Ghetsis could have been watching them, and she still wouldn't have cared, and she knew N wouldn't have either. They danced around for a few minutes, before N got on one knee.

"I've been dying to tell you something. I..." N began. Snivy urged him not to be shy, before he shook his head a few times. N never finished his sentence, instead, he looked confused. It was almost like he was back to normal...and that's when the realization struck the grass snake: The effects of Attract were temporary! That meant that N never felt true love towards her. She was heartbroken...how could he lead her on like that? She knew it was mainly her fault, but still...why did that move have to be temporary? Ghetsis never mentioned that! Snivy lied to N through her teeth, telling him he was about to feed everyone. He brought it, and everything went as normal (mostly), until night, when she was asleep. She couldn't live like this, she had to get over him. So she did the one thing that came to mind: She left. She didn't even want to think about N, or how he would react: She knew he cared about her, even if he didn't love her. She never looked back.

But even when Ash captured her years later, she still harbored feelings for N, trying to fill the void left in her heart. Ash was great, but he wasn't N. But he would do, she supposed...


~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

After Snivy's tale, they all felt sorry for her. Oshawott couldn't believe that N would lead her on. That was JUST like what Meloetta did with him and Piplup! Meloetta liked Ash, but got their hopes up. It made him so angry. Before anyone could say anything, a small tanned fox rushed towards them, bumping into Pikachu. Two people ran towards the Eevee: The blonde (who only Pikachu and Fennekin recognized) and a shorter brunette boy, who Pikachu (again) and Psyduck knew.

"There you are!" the blonde exclaimed, panting. "I knew I shouldn't have trained you in speed..." The brunette giggled as he took a picture of all of them. Somehow, Pikachu wasn't in it.

"Todd, you said you'd show me the legendaries you captured!" the girl pleaded.

"I said I'd get to them later." Todd answered, as the Pokemon all headed back, Eevee following them. "Hey, Pikachu and Psyduck seem familiar..."

"I don't know Psyduck, but I think that's the Fennekin I took care of before..." the blonde told him.

Their suspicions were confirmed as they followed the Pokemon and saw Ash, Brock, and Misty in sleeping bags.

"It is them." she gasped quietly, as she and Todd set up sleeping bags for themselves, and slept a few feet away from the trio. She was having trouble sleeping. She couldn't wait to see the legendary Pokemon that Todd captured. Her Eevee seemed to have as much trouble sleeping as she did, because it ran around her, and the sleeping Todd. Its trainer tried to recall it, but it dodged each and every blast. She finally managed to suck it in when a low growl from Crobat froze it in place. She relaxed for a few minutes, before falling asleep herself...

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

CREDITS

Back to Basics

Creator: marioluigifan05

Theme Song: Jason Paige

4Kids Entertainment

Voices

Ash, Delia: Veronica Taylor

Brock: Eric Stuart

Professor Oak: Stan Hart

Tracey: Ted Lewis

Misty: Rachael Lillis

Pikachu: Ikue Otani

Yvonne: Rachael Lillis

N: ???

Snivy's Old Trainer: Dan Green
 
Re: Back To Basics (WARNING: Gen 6 Spoilers Ahead!) - CHAPTER ELEVEN IS UP!

(Theme)

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

"Together Furret-er"

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

That morning, Yvonne was immediately going to ask Todd to let her see what he caught, but her Eevee popped out of it ball instantly. At the same time, Ash's Oshawott did the same. Eevee ran around Oshawott, its tail nudging the Water type for each runaround. Misty stared at the scene in awe, while Todd took pictures of it. Brock was still asleep, with Crobat and Fennekin protecting him. No one noticed Pikachu subtly glaring at the Evolution Pokemon.

"Eevee, no playing until you're done with your training today!" its trainer chastised. Eevee groaned as she continued, "If you really want to play with Oshawott, fine, but at least do some training. Today, we'll build up your defenses."

"I've got an idea," Ash announced. "Why don't you have your Eevee battle my Pikachu? That way, everyone wins." Ash knew that Pikachu wanted to take on an Eevee just as badly as he did. But it wasn't to be, because Oshawott got in front of him.

"You wanna battle?" his trainer asked, and the Water Pokemon nodded. Ash looked at a disappointed Pikachu.

"You'll get your chance someday," he assured him, and Pikachu seemed to cheer up just a little.

The blonde seemed to like the idea, because the next few minutes saw her and Ash facing each other, with only Oshawott and Eevee between them. Eevee was hopping in place, while Oshawott just stared at it blankly. Yvonne seemed to be lost in her thoughts.

"Let's see...Sand Attack might work, but then what? Oshawott could just wash the sand away, which would give me enough time for an attack..." she was musing to herself. "I could use Quick Attack and follow it up, but he could easily counter. Neither of us have the type advantage. Why didn't he send out something with the advantage? It doesn't look like it knows a fighting move, so..."

Ash sighed. "This is taking forever. Oshawott, use Hydro Pump attack."

Oshawott opened its mouth and released a large, powerful stream of water at Eevee, sending it crashing into a tree.

"Umm...Eevee is unable to battle. The winners are Ash and Pikachu, from Pallet Town." Misty announced, but Eevee's immediate recovery said otherwise.

"False alarm," she corrected herself, confused. "The battle continues..."

"You won't beat us that easily," Yvonne told Ash. "Eevee, use Sand Tail."

"Sand Tail? What kind of move is that?" wondered Ash, as Eevee dashed towards Oshawott, quickly doing a 180 turn and kicking sand in the Water type's face with its hind leg. Ash smirked, he knew what to do. He commanded Oshawott to face upward and use Water Gun, which it did. As the water descended down on its face, it washed the sand out of its eyes. But they weren't off the hook yet; Eevee's tail had became encased in iron. It dug its paws on the ground as Ash frantically called on his Oshawott to block it. It successfully guarded Eevee's tail with its scalchop, but the item was sent flying.

Now Razor Shell was out of the question, which Ash was going to use next. Yvonne must have sensed the slight hesitance, because she yelled out, "Now that it can't use that shell, get in close with Work Down!"

Ash also didn't know that that was, he could only assume it was a stat lowering move, but why would she use that? As Eevee glowed a bright red, Ash requested a Water Gun attack. Eevee merely jumped over it and dived towards it. Ash would have used Counter Shield, but he never taught Oshawott that move. Instead, he asked for a simple Aqua Jet. Oshawott cloaked itself with water, intending to collide with Eevee's attack, when...

"Dodge that!" Ash called, and his Pokemon swerved under Eevee, who landed cleanly on the ground.

"You can't dodge forever! Hidden Power attack!" Eevee's trainer instructed, as light blue orbs of energy appeared around it. Ash was confused and annoyed, another combo move? The spheres eventually launched in every direction imaginable.

"Dodge as many as you can!" the male hat wearer commanded, as Oshawott tried to weave around the attack. The ones that missed Oshawott landed on a surface, encasing it in ice. So it wasn't a combo attack after all...

'Hidden Power Ice, huh?' Ash thought to himself, grinning at the girl in front of him. "Thanks, Yvonne!"

"You two can thank me by not running when you're about to lose!" she replied, as three orbs headed towards Oshawott.

"Oshawott, Aqua Jet again, and spin!" Ash clenched a fist in victory as Oshawott looked up at him in confusion. "Just trust me." the boy pleaded.

Deciding to face his dear with eyes wide open, he cloaked himself with water again and launched towards the attacks, while also spinning. Yvonne was shocked; she didn't know he had combo attacks too. But her surprise didn't end there; the three orbs covered the Aqua Jet, encasing it in ice, but Oshawott continued on, almost as if it wasn't frozen.

"Let's see how she likes 'Ice Aqua Jet'!" Ash screamed, as his adversary commanded a Last Resort attack. Eevee briefly encased itself in a white aura as it tackled the combination attack head-on. Thanks to Work Up (as Ash found out was the stat modifying attack she actually used earlier), it was just as powerful as Oshawott's attack. But he had faith in Oshawott. The result was an explosion...of ice shards and stars. All of the spectators looked on in curiosity as everything cleared up. Oshawott and Eevee both had bruises and marks all over their bodies, but Oshawott seemed more exhausted, as it could just barely stand.

"Oshawott, you've got to pull through! I know you can!" Ash encouraged. The person who had a first and last name starting with the same letter just stared at her Eevee. Seconds later, Oshawott and Eevee both keeled over, much to the shock of everyone.

"B-Both are unable to battle," Misty announced, as Brock came to the scene groggily, wondering what happened. Todd filled him in on the details as Ash picked up his Oshawott.

"Thanks, Oshawott, you did great." he congratulated his Pokemon, as his Crobat flew from his head and handed Oshawott the scalchop. "Oh, that's where that went. Thanks, Crobat." Ash smiled up at the four-winged Pokemon as Oshawott put on the accessory.

Yvonne and Eevee came up to him. "Eevee, run along," the long-haired girl said, as Eevee and Oshawott went off to play with each other. She then put her full attention on Ash. Misty frowned at this for some odd reason.

"My Eevee fainted just a few mere moments after your Pokemon. Just thought I'd fill you in," the sore loser told Ash. "If you don't catch my drift, I technically won." Ash and Oshawott frowned at her.

"Guys, why don't we just go to the Pokemon Center?" he cut in, calming everyone down. He could have healed them, of course, but he had just woken up.

A Few Minutes Later...

Everyone's Pokemon got healed by Nurse Joy, and...a tall brown and tan striped Pokemon wearing a white cap with a red plus symbol? Brock tried to come on to Joy, but Misty dragged him away.

"Excuse me, miss, your coworker is a...Furret?" Ash wanted to know.

The red-haired nurse sighed. "It's a long story..."

Yvonne took out a buttonless tablet-like device that had at least ten screens, all of which displayed something different. She tapped the one with the magnifying glass on it, and the contents of the screen became blank, with the outline of a camera around it. She held her tablet in front of the Furret. The tall Pokemon popped up on the screen, of course, but it was holding something else. At first glance, the item looked like an upside-down Pokeball, but she saw that it had a grin on its face, and two eyes.

It buzzed. "DOUBLE SCAN INITIATING." Todd stared at it jealously, wishing he had something like that.

"Furret, the Long Body Pokemon. There is no telling where the tail begins. Despite its short legs, it is quick at hunting Rattata...Electrode, the Ball Pokemon. It is dangerous. (Yvonne laughed at that first sentence a little.) If it has too much electricity and has nothing to do, it amuses itself by exploding." ("Oh, that's how," she mused, when it finished.) At that moment, Brock and Misty came back. Just when they arrived, Furret dropped the evolved form of Voltorb, and scampered off. Electrode quickly rolled towards it, catching up.

"They'll be back," Nurse Joy told them. And indeed, about ten minutes later, they did come back...with injured Rattata. Everyone seemed shocked (that is, except for Nurse Joy) as Furret scampered over to Nurse Joy with a tight frown. Nurse Joy sighed once again. "Where are they finding all of these injured Rattata?"

"What was that?" Misty questioned her, immediately.

"It's not so important, but ever since Furret and Electrode became my coworkers, a lot of injured Rattata have been coming in, even more so than usual. Coincidentally, most of them seem to be wild. Before then, I barely healed a single Rattata, either wild or trained. Now, they're coming in almost every single day, and it pains me to see so many injured Rattata." She explained.

Brock gasped, and looked towards Yvonne. "What did that entry say about Furret?" he asked urgently.

The blonde took it out, tapped a square containing the outline of a dictionary, and typed in 'Furret'. It then showed a picture of it, and its data. Brock read, "Despite its short legs, it is quick at hunting Rattata".

"It only says that it's quick at hunting-" Misty began, before realization struck her. Nurse Joy wanted to know what was wrong, and the two of them filled her in. Nurse Joy clasped two hands to her mouth in disbelief as Brock (with Fennekin and Crobat) ran off.

"Brock! Wait up!" Ash called, but he was already gone.

"I'm sure he can handle them." Yvonne sat on a bench, Ash and Misty on either side of her. Todd looked out of the window.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

"Crobat, can you search for them?" the black man asked. The bat didn't need to be told twice. He flew off in the air in search for the mischievous duo. At first, it didn't see or hear anything, but then the sounds of electricity crackling rang in its ears, and it looked down to see Electrode unleashing electricity from its circular body towards two purple rat Pokemon. Crobat quickly flew down and grabbed the two of them with its legs before the burst of lightning could hit either of them. They scampered and struggled to break free, but Crobat explained the situation to them. They stopped moving as Crobat took them back to Brock.

"Not here, I have a plan. Take them back to that bush," Brock whispered.

Crobat nodded and did as he said, before heading back to the place where he saw the Electrode, but this time, he saw both Electrode and Furret terrorizing a group of Rattata. Crobat quickly flew in front of them, and before either of them knew what was going on, the bat opened its mouth and released supersonic waves at them, confusing them to the point where Furret curled itself around Electrode, thinking it was its offspring.

Crobat couldn't help but snicker quietly as he led the Rattata away, knowing that it wouldn't hold them off for long. The Poison/Flying type took them to the same place that it took the first two Rattata, before nesting itself on Brock's head again. Brock then shouted, "Oh, look! Fresh, plump, juicy Rattata! Hurry before a hungry Crobat gets its hands on it first!"

In just a few seconds, Furret and Electrode both scampered on all fours/rolled over to Brock, only to be disappointed when they didn't see any Rattata.

"Let's settle this!" Brock shouted, as the Fire Pokemon he was carrying jumped out of his arms. At the same time, Crobat flew off its nest/Brock's hair and flew next to his Double Battle partner. "Fennekin, Ember! Crobat, Steel Wing!"

All four wings of Crobat got covered in metal as Electrode launched a Thunder attack on it. It planted its steel wings into the ground as the electricity harmlessly passed it and directed onto the ground. He had learned this trick from watching Ash's battle against Winona back in Hoenn. Meanwhile, Fennekin released a weak burst of flames from its mouth, but Furret avoided it...only to get a fistful of sand in its face from Fennekin's tail. Its torso then got slammed into by the Fire-typed fox, sending it back a bit, but it still recovered.

"Now, Crobat, Swift!" The purple Pokemon unleashed a barrage of stars from its mouth that aimed at both of them. Electrode got in front of Furret and rolled in place, the attack bouncing off it harmlessly. It then rulled towards Fennekin quickly.

"Crobat, take her to the air!" The helpful bat Pokemon grabbed her and took her to the sky, but their opponents had other ideas. Furret grabbed the still rolling in place Electrode and tossed it towards Brock's Pokemon. He didn't seem worried for even a second.

"Detect." He spoke calmly, as Crobat's eyes glowed bright blue for a brief second. It then swerved under Electrode's midair Rollout attack, almost as if the Electric type were going in slow motion.

"Now, use Air Slash." Crobat flapped its wings, and as the name implied, slashes of wind formed from its wings and approached the upside-down Pokeball Pokemon, who briefly stopped rolling as its body got surrounded in a bright color. Before Brock could react, it reflected the Air Slash back at both of his Pokemon, who were forcefully going down diagonally. Electrode landed cleanly on Furret's back as Crobat managed to balance himself and his partner.

"Flamethrower." Just as Fennekin opened its mouth, Furret dashed towards her, jumped into the air and punched her in the stomach, canceling the attack. She and Crobat began to crash again, but just when they were about to crash, the fox dug its tail into the ground and slapped mud towards my favorite Pokemon. However, Electrode rolled off of it and took the hit. Crobat didn't let Furret go off the hook, as it briefly let go of Fennekin and bit into its tail. On Brock's command, it beat its wings facing the ground and let the gust force himself up with Furret...

Meanwhile, Fennekin went for another Quick Attack, when Electrode suddenly started making crackling sounds, before rising in the air just enough to avoid the attack. Even though its sight was blocked, it could still hear. It went in for another Quick Attack, but then a knot of grass tripped it up. Brock realized that Furret used Grass Knot to assist Electrode. Said attack didn't do much damage to her, being a light fire type, but Electrode could hear the crash just fine as a ball of electricity formed around it and shot at her, sending it flying. Meanwhile, Crobat let Furret go...and then looped in the air and rammed into it, sending it crashing.

"Switch targets!" Brock instructed. Crobat and Fennekin tried to switch places, but a quick Pursuit attack from Furret sent it tumbling on his tag battle partner as Electrode rolled to its partner's side. Meanwhile, a huge wave of water erupted from in front of Brock's opponents, towering over everything and everyone else.

"Crobat, grab Fennekin and fly over it!" Brock called out, wondering if they could do it on time. Crobat did as he was told and tried to fly over the giant wave, when suddenly, a wave of electricity hit the fire type, sending a mild jolt to Crobat's nerves and causing him to let go unintentionally. It was far too late to go back and get Fennekin (who just crashed on the ground), and then try and fly over the attack, so he got in front of her in a defensive position and put his wings in front of her securely. It took the entire move head-on as the surfboard-positioned Furret finished its attack. Without a moment's reprieve, Electrode rolled towards them, but then Crobat bit into it, and a green aura washed over the ball. Furret rushed over to help, but Fennekin scampered over on all fours and slapped up mud in its face, this time successfully.

By then, Crobat had finished its Giga Drain attack, thus sucking up all of Electrode's energy.

"Use Gust and Flamethrower!" Brock pointed at Furret, as Crobat whipped up a gust that headed towards the tall Pokemon. Fennekin used its Flamethrower to combine the two attacks into a flaming tornado that engulfed the Normal type Pokemon. Eventually, the attack subsided, and Furret struggled to remain conscious. It crawled over to them, before finally fainting.

Brock got out two Pokeballs. "Those two are unable to battle, so...go, Pokeballs!" He threw the two spheres at both of them and sucked them in. Both fell to the ground and started moving.

One shake.

Two shakes.

Three shakes.

Ding!

"All right, I caught a Furret...and an Electrode!" Brock exclaimed, taking a pose. He then released the Pokemon he caught, before getting out a couple of items from his backpack. A few minutes later, they were fully healed. Both of them smiled at him, before heading off.

"STOP!" he cried. "Now, explain yourselves!"

Furret began explaining his backstory...

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

A family of Sentret were lying in a nest, when a Pokeball dropped in in front of it. The largest one (by a small margin) went to go pick it up, but then it began to glow, scaring the rest of the other Sentret. That's when it realized that it was Voltorb again! Voltorb was an intruder who tried (and failed) to break into their home. It quickly rushed towards it and tackled it away from the nest and off the tree, before jumping off and landing on its large tail. The ball Pokemon briefly stopped glowing, canceling whatever move it was about to do. Sparks began emanating from it as Sentret swiped its tail off the ground and swiped mud towards it, but as Sentret landed on all fours, Voltorb rolled out of the way. It then rolled back towards Sentret, faster than usual, sending it on the muddy ground. Voltorb turned back around and got ready to ram into Sentret again, when it got smacked with a water-covered tail, halting the attack.

Then, before anyone knew what was happening, it glowed in a bright white light. Even Voltorb stopped trying to attack for a while to see what it would become. Sentret was now a long-bodied tan Pokemon with brown stripes and whiskers. Its bushy tail seemed to have merged with its whole body. The entire group of Sentret looked at the newly-evolved Pokemon in shock, as did Voltorb. In fact, Voltorb was so shocked that it didn't notice its opponent unleash a bright beam of energy from its mouth and hit it. With the intruder defeated, the victor looked back at the Sentret.

"Furret!" it cried, the small creatures still shocked. They all ran away, saddening the tall Pokemon. It won the battle, but lost its friends. What was the point?

Soon, it dug a hole into the ground, and created an underground maze, and made a living by training and stealing food. It also had a strange urge to hunt down any Rattata in sight. One morning, it poked its head from the hole and saw Voltorb again, but this time, its colors were inverted. Furret stared at it strangely, before it explained that it evolved soon after the battle. Electrode wanted to know what happened after it lost the battle, so Furret filled him in on all the details.

After hearing the story, Electrode decided to live with Furret (though not inside of the maze). They lived a decent life for a while, but then one day, in the middle of a training session, a boy walked past them, with a huge Pokemon behind him.

"They should make good target practice. Torterra, Earth Power!" He barked, as his Pokemon glowed a golden hue. The area in front of it began to crack as Furret and Electrode tried to escape its line of sight. The ground was rumbling fiercely as the attack quickly headed towards them, so Furret shakily placed Electrode on its tail and launched it to the sky so that it wouldn't get hurt by the intense attack. It fainted from the sheer power of Earth Power, as the boy then had his Torterra use Hyper Beam on Electrode, who wasn't completely off the hook.

"Pathetic." He and Torterra simply walked away.

It had been at least an hour before a nurse went out and took them into a Pokemon Center. They were promptly healed just minutes later.

They gave Nurse Joy their thanks as they stared at her Chansey enviously.

"What's wrong?" the nurse wondered, before coming to her own conclusion. "Oh, I get it, you can't go back out there. Well, maybe my daughter will know what to do with you!"

As if on cue, a similar-looking woman not looking much younger arrived. The two of them had a brief conversation before it was decided that Furret (and Electrode) would be her coworkers, since she didn't have a Chansey of her own.

So they had been helping Nurse Joy with her duties (and by helping, I mean hunting Rattata and taking them in to be healed, then hunting them all over again, thus starting a vicious cycle, though they did do some good from time to time. It had been an endless cycle, too, until Brock and his friends stopped it...

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

Brock looked at the two of them in pity. "I'm so sorry that happened to you two...but that's still no excuse. Come on, we're going in, and letting them know the truth!"

20 Minutes Later...

"All Furret ever wanted was to be acknowledged..." Misty realized.

The rest of them were speechless, except for Yvonne. "What jerk of a trainer attacked them, and for no reason, too?"

After a few minutes of apologizing from the Pokemon duo, Nurse Joy decided to forgive them. Having nothing else to do, Ash and his friends headed out of the center, and Brock got ready to recall Furret and Electrode, when they both pleaded him not to do it.

"You two want to stay outside, too?" Brock asked, and Furret nodded. Electrode gave out a cry to confirm Brock's suspicion.

"Okay, that's just weird..." Yvonne said, looking at Brock. In addition to the Fennekin in his arms and the Crobat on his head, he now had a Furret curved around him, and an Electrode rolling around him, eventually hovering with Magnet Rise.

"I agree..." Todd said, taking a picture, before going into his bag. "Oh, you wanted to see the legendaries I caught?"

Misty opened her mouth to say something, but Ash shushed her as Todd showed her a few pictures. "Here's Moltres...and Zapdos, too! Look, it's Articuno! Ash, Brock and Misty were there when I caught it! And even Mew!"

Yvonne turned red as she found out that Todd didn't capture Pokemon with balls; he captured them on camera! Ash and Pikachu burst out laughing as she went into an angered frenzy, and soon after, Misty, Azurill, and Brock laughed along with him. By now, everyone (except Todd and Yvonne, of course) was in fits of giggles.

"IT'S NOT FUNNY!"

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

CREDITS

Back to Basics

Creator: marioluigifan05

Theme Song: Jason Paige

4Kids Entertainment

Voices

Ash, Delia: Veronica Taylor

Brock: Eric Stuart

Professor Oak: Stan Hart

Tracey: Ted Lewis

Misty: Rachael Lillis

Pikachu: Ikue Otani

Yvonne: Rachael Lillis
 
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Re: Back To Basics (WARNING: Gen 6 Spoilers Ahead!) - CHAPTER 4 IS UP!

Here's chapter 6! (WARNING- Paul fans: DON'T READ THIS CHAPTER!)

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

(Theme)

"Go, Go, Gogoat!"

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

A few days after that incident, Todd left the group for unknown reasons, so now it was just Ash, Yvonne, Brock, and Misty. The blonde girl had showed them all a picture of another mysterious Pokemon on her device. It was a large, ferocious avian-like creature. It was mainly red in coloring, but had black lines.

"What's that Pokemon?" Brock wondered to himself, as she showed them another picture on her tablet, this time of a black and blue antler-like Pokemon with eight horned antlers on each side of its head.

"This one is Xerneas, and the one I showed before is Yveltal," Yvonne answered.

Otherwise, it was just the usual training for when Ash would retake the Indigo League in a few weeks. Aside from getting lost every once in a while, nothing much of interest happened, until they arrived at Vermillion City. The first thing they noticed was an Officer Jenny riding on a motorcycle towards them. A sky blue turtle with sunglasses (not unlike his Krookodile) was with her.

"Ash, that looks like your Squirtle..." Brock began, approaching Officer Jenny. "...and the love of my life!" He then clasped her hands together. The fire type on his shoulder looked distraught as Misty pulled his ear and yanked him away. Ash laughed nervously, as he approached her much the same way (minus the flirting, of course).

"Officer Jenny! How's Squirtle doing?" the boy inquired.

"SQUIRTLE!" the Pokemon shouted, saluting to him and Pikachu. Pikachu greeted him back.

"What a coincidence that I ran into you here," Officer Jenny began. "He seems to have gotten split up from the rest of his squad. It seemed to have happened at least a while ago, as we couldn't find the rest of them."

"So what are you going to do?" Ash wanted to know.

"I'll keep looking. Ash, take back your Squirtle for now," she offered, driving away from them without it. Two others followed behind her, a few Growlithe close behind. Brock and Misty chose that moment to come back, and Ash updated them. Since Ash's party was full, Ash had to replace Palpitoad.

"Should we help them?" questioned Ash.

"I'd love to help, but we-" Misty was cut off by a loud rumbling noise from a nearby route. "W-W-What was that?!"

"Only one way to find out..." Brock mused.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

A purple-haired guy of around Ash's age was training his Magmortar (and by training, I mean ruthlessly bossing it around). His "training" was interrupted by footsteps. At first, he ignored it, but then when they got louder, he turned around to see Brock, Ash and Misty. Ash and Brock were shocked; what was he doing in Kanto? They decided to confront him on his actions, when-

"I see you're as pathetic as ever." Paul sneered, apparently having not changed.

Ash frowned at him. It looked like he was a douche again (and unlike Gary, he must not have been acting). but why?

"I know what you're thinking." Paul continued, as he recalled his Magmortar. "You really thought I had gained respect for you, didn't you? Well, guess what, I beat Brandon, so that about evens us out."

"He still beat you in the league." Brock pointed out.

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Ash snapped.

"Entering the Pokemon World Tournament, genius," Paul scoffed. "When I found out that the Indigo League merged with the PWT, I couldn't resist the chance to show the Pokemon world how powerful I am." He then turned to Brock. "And also, he beat me only once by a stroke of luck, out of the multiple times I trashed him. Before you ask, I don't count the Pokeringer competition."

"Why don't you just back off?" Misty complained, not liking his attitude.

"I have no intention of backing off. Don't tell me you're afraid?" Paul replied.

"Go be a sore loser somewhere else!" Brock interjected.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu agreed.

Paul narrowed his eyes. "At least I can battle, unlike you."

"Who is this jerk?" Yvonne wondered, and Ash looked towards her.

"Long story," he answered.

"If you think you can beat me, why don't you try?" Brock urged him. Paul may have beaten him and Holly in the Tag Battle Tournament, but this time would be different. Next to him, he felt Furret, Fennekin, and Electrode tense up at the sight of the grape-haired boy.

"What's wrong?" Misty was referring to the trio. That's when Brock remembered part of the story that Furret told him about how he got ruthlessly assaulted by a trainer. He also remembered that when the injured Fennekin was taken to him, he was told that it was found that way.

"Paul was the person who attacked you three before, wasn't he?" Brock guessed, and they tensed up even more.

"I accept." Paul replied, ignoring the whole scene, as he and Brock took their positions.

Brock made a silent vow. "I won't let him get away with this...!"

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

"This 3-on-3 battle will be between Brock of Pewter City and Paul from..." Misty realized she didn't know where Paul was from. In fact, she didn't know where he was from.

"BEGIN!" Ash finished for her.

"Aggron, stand by for battle!" Paul declared, sending out his Rock/Steel monster of a Pokemon.

"Steelix, let's go!" Brock shouted, releasing the tall Iron Snake Pokemon. He then seized the opportinity, "Use Stone Edge!"

Paul sneered. Stone Edge wouldn't have much effect on Aggron. And right, he was, as the stones launched at hs Aggron had little effect. Yet, for some reason, Brock repeated his command. He was probably trying to get him to snap under pressure, which would then lead to a trap, but it wouldn't work. It might have worked if this was a rookie trainer that Brock was up against, but Paul wasn't just anyone.

"Umm...why is Paul just standing there? Why is Brock spamming the same move?" Misty wondered.

"Beats me." Ash responded. It was like watching a five second clip on loop. No one was moving, well, except Steelix to an extent.

"He has other options he could use, like Earthquake, but uses Stone Edge? Interesting," Yvonne mused to herself, recording the match. She would later truncate the extraneous Stone Edges.

"So you gonna actually make a move or what?" Paul actually seemed to be losing his patience as Stone Edge attack after Stone Edge attack bounced off the Rock/Steel type Pokemon belonging to him. Brock didn't say anything in response.

15 Grueling Minutes Later

Suddenly, the unexpected happened. Steelix...stopped using Stone Edge, making everyone think that Brock would command something else, when Aggron...fainted.

"Aggron is unable to battle!" cried Misty in surprise. "The winner is Steelix, from Pewter City!"

"All right, Brock!" cheered Ash and Misty.

Paul growled. "I won't let that happen again." He recalled Aggron, and then gave him a scolding. "That was absolutely pathetic! You shouldn't have taken any damage at all! Magmortar, stand by for battle!" He sent out his Magmortar, which was the evolution of Magmar.

Misty and Yvonne were horrified at the cruel things he was saying, but Brock and Ash were hardly surprised.

"Steelix, Earthquake!" Brock commanded. Steelix slammed its tail on the ground and created a huge tremor that would have hit Magmortar had Paul not ordered a Protect. The problems were not over as the pebbles and dust that accumulated on the ground as a result of the "failed" Stone Edge attacks rose up around Magmortar, forming a smoke cloud.

"Magmortar, you know what to do." Magmortar did know. With one swoop of its tail, it blew all of the smoke away, but Steelix was nowhere to be found.

"Where did Steelix go?" Ash was confused, especially as Yvonne made a zipping motion on her mouth.

"How did Steelix disappear so fast? Unless...Magmortar, use Earthquake!" Paul sneered at Brock as Magmortar jumped into the air and landed hard on the ground, creating strong tremors. Any minute now, Steelix would emerge from underground, and take even more damage from the attack, possibly fainting it. But it didn't emerge at all, even as craters and fissures formed all over the battlefield.

"Toxic, now!" Brock requested, and Magmortar tried to counter with a Thunderbolt while it spun around. Whichever direction the electric attack stopped abruptly, that's where Steelix was hiding. It would also block any incoming globs of poison. All the Thunderbolt did was manage to flail wildly. Without a moment to spare, a small four-winged creature bit into Magmortar's arm and injected its venom into it. When Magmortar tried to swat it away, it made the mistake of looking into the bat's glowing red eyes. The fire Pokemon's heavy eyelids dropped as it fell asleep. It then gave a heavy snore that sent the winged Pokemon flying backward.

"Toxic and Hypnosis...that should keep him on his toes..." Yvonne commentated.

"Big mistake." Paul glowered. "Sleep Talk, and get rid of it, now!"

Magmortar muttered something in its sleep, before taking out its arm cannon and blasting flames at its opponent.

"Crobat, Gust!" Crobat rapidly beat all four of its wings to create a strong gust of wind while ascending a little. The wind created a pseudo-barrier in front of the user, protecting it from harm, and Crobat's continued ascension dodged whatever flames weren't blown away.

"Sleep Talk again." Magmortar jumped high into the air, Crobat quickly flying to its level. Just as Magmortar was descending, Brock told his Pokemon, "Use Brave Bird!"

Crobat flew down above Magmortar's head, glowing three different colors: icy blue, lightning yellow, and fiery red, on to its opponent like a Crobat outta hell (actually, that described Crobat's appearance perfectly at this moment, the fiery red glow in particular matching this expression). In less than a second, it crashed on Magmortar's head, making it fall much faster. Thanks to the momentum of the fall (Brave Bird included), Magmortar had taken a lot of damage. Crobat had taken some recoil damage, too, but it still looked just fine. Without a moment's reprieve, Brock had it use Acrobatics. It disappeared and reappeared to strike Magmortar multiple times. Everytime Paul would issue a command, Crobat would just weave around it and then come back to do more damage to the huge Pokemon. A few seconds later, it was over as Magmortar finally toppled over.

"Magmortar is unable to battle, the winner is Crobat from Pewter City!" Misty announced, as Crobat gracefully landed on the didn't come out completely unscathed, as small flames appeared on its bottom right wing. Flame Body had taken effect.

"It's Mt. Moon." Ash snickered, earning himself a kick in the face from the Cerulean City Gym Leader, who then turned back to the battlefield.

"Crobat's burned," she observed, as the bat glared at her, tucking its burned wing under its body.

"But that's a small price to pay," Yvonne added.

"Crobat, you still wanna battle?" Brock waited for an answer, and it nodded. Paul had recalled Magmortar and sent out his Electivire. It had given Ash a lot of trouble back at the Sinnoh League, but Brock was sure he could take it on.

"BEGIN!" shouted Misty.

"Electivire, Thunder!" The Electabuzz evolution let loose a huge stream of electricity. The ground split even more as the attack tore into it, debris flying around as a result of this. Brock just stared into the distance.

"Brock, do something!" urged Ash and Misty.

"You ready, Crobat?" Brock turned to his Pokemon, who nodded.

"Return." he spoke calmly. Paul frowned at his opponent, thinking that he had recalled his Pokemon, but then a white outline suddenly appeared around Crobat as it charged through the high powered electric attack with ease, even cancelling it out. Before anyone could react, it crashed into Electivire, causing a huge explosion. When the smoke cleared, Electivire was out, shocking everyone, including Paul.

"I-I don't believe it!" Ash gasped. "What was that attack?"

"T-That's Return, an attack that increases in power the closer the Pokemon's bond with its trainer is. But..." Misty began, before realizing that she hadn't announced the winner. Ash cut in for her, "Electivire is unable to battle! Since Paul's last Pokemon is defeated, that means the winners are Crobat from Mt. Moon and Brock from Pewter City!"

"We did it!" Brock cheered, his Crobat flying around him.

"I still have three more, you know." Paul hissed. Crobat growled lowly at him.

"As I recall, you two agreed to a 3-on-3 battle, just admit that you lost," Yvonne told Paul, who ignored her and sent out his Froslass.

Misty got in front of Brock. "If he wants to be that way, then fine. I'll show him the skill of a true Water Master. Gooo, Starmie!" She sent out a purple 10-sided starfish with a red glowing gen in the middle of its body. Her Pokemon spun around in place.

"Froslass, Shadow Ball, make it quick." Paul snorted, as Froslass formed a dark circular ball in front of itself, and then hurled it at Starmie.

"Starmie, Light Screen!" commanded Misty, and a transparent barrier appeared in front of Starmie, protecting it from the attack just in time. The ball dissipated into the air as Misty had Starmie use Bubblebeam. It spun around, shooting rapid bubbles from its ten sides as Froslass weaved around all of them.

"Hail, and then finish it with Blizzard." A hail storm began on cue, not only damaging Starmie, but concealing Froslass, too.

"Starmie, Camouflage!" Misty cried, as Starmie changed its body color to blend in with the weather, getting out of sight.

"Now, Gravity!" she instructed, as a psychic-like energy forced everything and everyone to the ground, stopping the hail altogether. Froslass and a now light blue Starmie faced off against each other, tied to the ground.

"Thunderbolt." Paul grunted, as Froslass covered itself in lightning, before attempting to unleash it at its opponent. The electricity was simply drawn to the ground in front of Starmie. Misty smiled as she recalled Starmie and tossed her Poke Ball into the air, releasing her Atrocious Pokemon. It materialized just above Froslass, diving down at it to bite. The increased Gravity made it all the more faster as Gyarados bit down on Froslass before either her or Paul could do a thing.

"I've always overlooked the move Gravity," Yvonne commented to no one in particular.

Gyarados and Froslass were now comically smushed into the ground, the latter being bitten into. On Misty's next command, it expelled flames from its mouth, which surrounded the trapped Froslass and fainted it.

"Froslass is unable to battle, the winner is Gyarados from Cerulean City!" Ash refereed.

Paul recalled Froslass. "One more mistake like that, and you're out. Ninjask, stand by for battle!" His Bug/Flying type Pokemon was released from its Poke Ball, flying around Gyarados annoyingly. That meant that the effects of Gravity had worn off. Misty recalled Gyarados and sent out a spiked blue seahorse.

"So Horsea evolved," Ash observed.

"Ninjask, Fury Cutter," Paul demanded, as Ninjask appeared right before Seadra and cut it, before disappearing and reappearing again, repeating its move.

"Seadra, Smokescreen!" Misty yelled, as it expelled a thick cloud of smoke from its snout, obscuring the area.

"Pathetic move. Aerial Ace, now!" Ninjask disappeared from sight, and popped up behind Seadra with a thin white outline around it.

"Use Water Gun on the ground, now!" Seadra spat a pump of water on the ground, raising the snow that gathered on the surface, some of it landing on Ninjask. It shivered, stopping in its tracks because of the cold.

"Now, Ice Beam!" Misty instructed her Seadra, as a beam of ice came out of its snout, freezing it in place. It fell to the ground, crashing the ice surrounding it.

"Ninjask, get up!" Paul yelled, but nothing happened.

"Ninjask is unable to battle, the winner is Seadra!" Ash announced, as a glowering Paul returned his Ninjask and sent out his starter Pokemon, Torterra. Seadra and Misty tensed up a bit.

"Scared, huh?" Paul sneered. "Use Razor Leaf!"

Without moving its massive body, Torterra sent sharp leaves towards Seadra, hitting it for massive damage.

"Seadra!" Misty cried in concern. "Are you okay?"

Seadra gave out a weak cry in response. "Return!" its trainer shouted, and it was brought back to its Ball. "Go, Politoed!" A green and yellow frog with one strand of curly hair emerged from the capsule. It cheered for a few seconds, but then frowned intensely at its Grass/Ground type opponent.

"Politoed, use Double Slap!" Misty called out, and the frog ran towards Torterra. Paul made no move, even as Torterra's face was slapped multiple times.

"Earthquake." Torterra raised its forelegs and slammed them to the ground, creating powerful tremors that shook everyone off balance. Unfortunately, Politoed was up close, so took the brunt of the attack.

"Stone Edge, let's go!" Paul roared, as sharp glowing stones circled around Torterra's front. They then became grey and launched towards Politoed.

"Double Slap them away!" Misty requested. She had planned this strategy for stubborn Rock and Ground types who tried to take her Pokemon quickly. It used its hands as a defense and dispatched all incoming rocks. All of the remaining ones that weren't blocked were redirected around the slapper and hit it, knocking it down. Politoed quickly got back up, albeit with major difficulty.

"Perish Song!" Misty cried, and Politoed sang the most horrible song that any of them had ever heard. Everyone, even Paul, covered their ears. Torterra shook its head for a few seconds, before Paul commanded a Frenzy Plant.

"Bounce!" countered Misty, as Politoed crouched its legs, and soared high into the air. It was descending towards Torterra, who was still initiating Frenzy Plant. Just as Politoed was going to strike the gigantic Pokemon, a thorn scraped it on the side, followed by many others wrapping it up.

"Toss it." Paul smirked at her as the thorns sent Misty's Pokemon flying towards her. It groaned in pain as it tried to get up yet again. That Frenzy Plant had taken it down, though not completely. Before Paul could hurt it anymore, Misty replaced it with Gyarados.

"Flamethrower while it has to recharge!" Her Water/Flying type unleashed flames from its open maw and sent them towards Torterra, who put all of its weight into the area it was standing in, causing the ground around it to crumble and send it downward a bit, which let it avoid the flames. Unfortunately, it was all for naught, as that horrible song from earlier rang in its ears once again, making it fall over, much to the dismay of Paul.

"Torterra is unable to battle, which means the winners are Gyarados and Misty from Cerulean City!" Ash and Pikachu cheered, as Paul recalled his Pokemon and muttered something that no one heard. Misty and Gyarados were celebrating their victory over the jerk.

"You two got lucky. Next time, in the PWT, you won't be so lucky." Paul walked away as soon as he finished his sentence.

"We should get to a Pokemon Center," Ash said.

"Or I can just heal them up in a less traditional manner." Yvonne held out a Poke Ball, and threw it into the air, far from everyone. "Gogoat!"

Out came a large brown and white goat-like Pokemon with black horns and a green "scarf" which extended to a linear patch that ended past its back, the end of the patch being a "tail". The scarf was filled with all sorts of berries, herbs, and other medicinal items (think Dia's Tru/Torterra).

Ash moved his hand to his pocket to get out his Pokedex, but Yvonne stopped him with, "It won't scan."

"Pika?"

"Yes, really," Yvonne answered. She didn't understand Pikachu, but just assumed she knew what he had said. She then turned to Gogoat in curiosity. "How was the daycare?" Misty and Brock sent out the Pokemon that had participated in the battle with Paul. Gogoat shook itself and flung a couple of the berries from the bush-like scarf on its neck. Crobat quickly flew and caught them all, before gently dropping them to the ground. The Pokemon all ate at least one berry and restored their health/got rid of a status condition. Crobat flew back to Brock's head and fell asleep.

Gogoat then turned to its trainer and lowered its head, its horns now covered in orange. It then turned to a nearby rock and charged at it, when Eevee zipped in front of it and took the attack head on. Eevee looked hurt by the attack, but stood strong. Gogoat looked as refreshed as ever.

"You learned Horn Leech!" Yvonne cried, as Eevee took a couple of berries to heal up. The blonde then climbed on it, and sat on its back. Ash, Misty, and Brock looked on in curiosity.

"You three coming on or not?" she offered them. Without a word, they climbed on its back, and Yvonne directed her Pokemon through the forest. Misty and Brock were awed, while Ash just looked on. Yvonne gestured Gogoat to stop, and turned to Ash. "Anything the matter?"

"No, not really," Ash answered.

"Are you enjoying the ride?" she inquired.

"It's nice, I suppose, but it doesn't beat riding on the back of a Lapras," he told her quietly. Misty remembered her time in the Orange Islands fondly, while Brock just sat there.

"Did you say Lapras?" Yvonne interrogated, causing him to scoot back a bit.

"Why is it so important?" Misty questioned.

"Hold on tight!" Yvonne yelled out, as Gogoat quickly made a sharp right.

"PIKACHUU!" Pikachu yelled out, nearly falling off. Yvonne's giant Pokemon soon carried them towards a sea. It was quiet and peaceful, as expected.

"Why are we- whoa!" Ash exclaimed, as a familiar sight appeared before him. It was a Lapras. To be more precise, his Lapras. And it was leading a heard of its species.

"The Lapras, along with many other water types, both foreign and native, all migrated to the Kanto region," Yvonne explained.

"Hey, Lapras!" Ash called, waving at it. The leader stopped and turned towards him. "It's been a while!"

"Pika!" Pikachu climbed out of his shoulder and stood next to Ash, so they could be recognized better.

All of them bayed at him as Ash got closer. "It's nice to see you again!"

His Pokemon nudged his waist with its blue horned head, tickling him. Ash laughed a little. "What's up?" He then understood. Lapras wanted to travel with him again. He took out his Pokedex and sent his Corphish (who he had been training for a while) to the lab so that Lapras could still be with him, before rummaging through his backpack for Lapras's Poke Ball, and catching it inside. The Pokemon stayed in without so much as a struggle. He then picked it up and held it to the rest of the herd to see.

"I'll bring it back safely...I promise," he declared, and they softly bayed at him again, indicating that they trusted him. They then swam off until they were just specks in the sea to Ash and his friends. Ash then twirled around a few times, before holding it towards the people. "All right, I brought back...Lapras!"

Pikachu jumped into the air. "Pika!"

"Hate to interrupt, but what now?" Yvonne cut in. "I don't have a place in particular I'd like to go, but maybe one of you do?"

Misty and Brock shook their heads, while Ash was deep in thought. After a while, he answered with, "There is one, actually..."

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

Their next location after a couple of days was Mt. Silver, which served as the barrier between the Kanto and Johto regions. It would have taken weeks had it not been for the seemingly tireless Gogoat.

Yvonne recalled her Gogoat. "Why are we here again?"

Ash smiled at her. "To bring back an old friend." Misty and Brock knew who he was talking about, while Yvonne looked confused. A terrifying roar sounded off in their ears, and Yvonne shivered.

"I-I sure hope that's n-not his old friend," she mumbled to herself, sending out a ghost Pokemon with gems as eyes.

They heard the roar again, which only seemed to encourage Ash, Misty and Brock to go into the mouth of the mountain. Yvonne and Sableye reluctantly trailed behind them.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

CREDITS

Back to Basics

Creator: marioluigifan05

Theme Song: Jason Paige

4Kids Entertainment

Voices

Ash, Delia: Veronica Taylor

Brock: Eric Stuart

Professor Oak: Stan Hart

Tracey: Ted Lewis

Misty: Rachael Lillis

Pikachu: Ikue Otani

Yvonne: Rachael Lillis
 
Re: Back To Basics (WARNING: Gen 6 Spoilers Ahead!) - CHAPTER SIX IS UP!

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

(Theme)

"The Summit of Mt. Silver"

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

Two guards were in front of the entrance to Mt. Silver. They wouldn't let them pass unless they were shown at least sixteen badges, so Ash showed them the insides of his jacket, where all his Kanto and Johto badges were placed. He even went the extra mile and showed off his Orange Islands badges, Battle Frontier symbols, Hoenn badges, Sinnoh badges, and lastly, his Unova badges. The guards could only stand there in shock as Ash, Misty and Brock walked past them.

The first few steps inside of Mt. Silver were uneventful, but that all changed when a horde of Golbat flew towards them on the offensive. Pikachu and Froakie got ready to attack them, but Crobat got in front of them and sent small red rings at the duo. It didn't put them to sleep immediately, but made them a bit drowsy. He then flew above the Golbat, and chattered something inaudible to them.

"Pika, Pika?" Pikachu tapped its head in confusion. Froakie simply chirped in response. The Golbat all seemed to calm down, and slowly fly back to wherever they came from.

"Amazing job, Crobat!" Brock congratulated, as it nested itself back on his head, lowering its wings on his hair. It actually looked quite harmless when perched on Brock.

With the bats out of the way, it was smooth sailing for a while longer. The only thing they encountered within that timeframe were a small horde of Donphan (who were kept busy by Ash's: they had raced each other around Mt. Silver, Ash's Donphan's endurance earning it a victory in each event, and also tiring out the others), and Golduck, who had no intention of letting them pass.

"Looks like we'll have to-" Ash began, before a red laser shot out of one of Misty's balls. Out came her Psyduck, which blankly turned to Golduck.

"Psy...duck?"

Golduck seemed to relax a bit.

Misty sighed in relief. "Maybe this'll be easier than I thought." But alas, she was wrong, as Golduck tensed up and sprayed a blast of water its pre-evolved form's head.

Psyduck cried out in pain and ran around, clutching its face the whole time. Before anyone could react, Psyduck glowed with a light blue outline, and then surrounded its evolved form with the same aura, before slamming it into a rock, angering it further. The blue Pokemon ran towards Psyduck, webbed hands in front of it at an offensive stance, before scratching Psyduck multiple times.

"Psyduck, use Headbutt!" Misty directed, but her Pokemon was engulfed in the psychic aura. It was soon flung to the ceiling, head first. It fell to the ground in front of Golduck, who got ready for another Fury Swipes, when a giant azure sphere suddenly surrounded the yellow duck Pokemon. Everyone stepped back as rocks and debris were forced into the air by the barrier, which was steadily growing larger. Even Golduck looked a bit wary, but it was too late for it to do anything as the energy extended towards it, the scattered debris also hitting it with the psychic energy. This caused a giant smoke cloud to form around the two ducks.

"Psyduck..." Misty prayed. "Please come out okay."

Her prayers were answered as the smoke cleared to reveal Psyduck standing on top of its evolution, confused.

Yvonne shrugged. "That's the power of a headache, I suppose." Ash and Brock glanced at each other.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

They soon found themselves out of the cake and at the summit, where Yvonne's Sableye lured a bunch of wild Geodude and Graveler out of their way so that they could pass. It then taunted them into exploding, all at the same time. Being part-Ghost type, Sableye wasn't affected by the huge explosion at all. The next Pokemon they encountered was an Ursaring, which Brock's Crobat subdued with Hypnosis. Somehow, it was able to convince the giant bear Pokemon that it was on their side. Most of the rest of the journey to the summit was spent with Ursaring protecting the group from the rest of the wild Pokemon that resided in Mt. Silver, demolishing most of them in mere seconds.

It's only a matter of time, thought Ash, as Crobat led Ursaring away from them, then came back to Brock's side. Just then, they heard a scary roaring noise, this one different from the earlier one. Each of them held out a Poke Ball in a protective stance as Pikachu, Froakie, Azurill, Electrode, Crobat, Sableye, Furret, and Fennekin formed a line of defense in front of everybody.

"Hey, Ash!" a familiar voice rang from above, and everyone relaxed. They all looked up to see a blue and maroon six-headed dragon with black fur that seemed to extend to six thin wings. On the dragon was a boy with brown gray hair, a light orange shirt, blue shorts, and a light blue backpack on his back. Why he was wearing that thin outfit in the cold weather (despite having a white scarf on) was anyone's guess. Behind the boy was the Aura Pokemon, Lucario.

"Camoron!" Ash greeted back. "How'd you get here?" As far as Ash knew, he only had eight badges from Unova.

"Soon after the Unova League, I headed to Johto and got eight more badges, and now I'm up here!" Camoron explained. "So, how about a battle, Ash? This won't be like last time, where I got disqualified!"

"Sure thing!" Ash agreed, taking his place as Camoron and Lucario went down. Camoron then recalled Hydriegon and took his place in the battlefield as well. Camoron counted his Poke Balls to make sure he had six, which he did.

"Six-on-six! No substitutions!" he announced. "Go, Ferrothorn!"

A Pokemon looking like a metallic durian with thorns and three vine-like appendages with spiky metal disks. Yvonne took out her tablet and started to record the scene.

"Tauros, I choose you!" Ash cried, sending out the Wild Bull Pokemon.

"A Normal type against a part Steel type...this won't end well for him," Yvonne told herself.

"This battle between Ash's Tauros and Camoron's Ferrothorn will now begin!" refereed Brock.

"Ferrothorn, Power Whip!" Camoron shouted, and his Pokemon waved its three appendages, before flinging them at Tauros.

Ash smiled. "Rock Climb, now!" His Tauros stamped on the ground, and a huge rock pillar appeared below Ferrothorn, forcing it upward and bringing its spiky vines off balance, thus making the Power Whip attack fail to hit its opponent, who was then running up the rock. Its head slammed into the Grass/Steel type and sent it crashing to the ground. Tauros groaned in pain, and that was when Ash remembered that it had the Iron Barbs ability. That meant that contact attacks would do recoil damage to Tauros.

"Pin Missile!" Camoron instructed immediately. The metallic Pokemon pointed two of its appendages at Tauros and shot multiple pin missiles at Tauros.

"Dodge it!" Ash called in urgency. Tauros ran to the side and dodged each one that came towards him.

"Gyro Ball!" Camoron ordered quickly. His Ferrothorn spread its appendages apart and started spinning in place. It then spun towards Tauros while scraping the ground.

"Tauros, stand your ground!" Ash requested. It dug its hooves into the ground as Ferrothorn reached it. Tauros lowered its head and withstood the Gyro Ball attack, its appendages getting tangled in its horns, which shocked Camoron.

"It's trapped! Use Take Down!" Ash shouted. Tauros did the command, but ran away from Ferrothorn, flinging it around and accumulating more and more damage on it. This went on for about a minute. Camoron grabbed his headband and stretched it away from his head, before letting it go, causing the headwear to smack hard on his head. At the same time, Tauros slammed Ferrothorn on the ground, finishing it off once and for all.

"No! Just when I had an idea..." Camoron weeped.

"Ferrothorn is unable to battle, the winner is Tauros from the Safari Zone!" Brock announced.

Yvonne turned to him. "Which Safari Zone?"

As Brock answered the question, Camoron had already replaced his Ferrothorn with Hydriegon.

"Hydriegon, Tri Attack!" Camoron commanded, and Hydriegon opened its three mouths and formed spheres of red, blue and yellow, before sending them towards its opponent.

"Dodge it!" Ash shouted, but Tauros wasn't fast enough to avoid the attack and got sent flying back.

"Giga Impact!" Camoron roared.

Hydriegon glowed in a light-purple-and-yellow aura and flew towards Tauros, who created a huge rock pillar at Ash's request. It then ran onto it as Hydriegon was getting closer.

"Smash through that rock!" shouted the headband wearer, as Tauros had nearly reached the top.

"Jump!" Ash cried, as Tauros reached the apex of the pillar and jumped high in the air. Hydriegon had managed to land its attack, but all it hit was the rock pillar, which crumbled in pieces.

Camoron frowned. "Hydriegon, Tri Attack again!"

His Pokemon panted heavily, having had to rest after that Giga Impact attack. Meanwhile, Ash commanded a Wild Charge. Tauros looked down at the tired Hydriegon and cloaked itself in electricity. Few things were scarier than an electricity-covered wild bull about to descend down on an opponent, so Hydriegon had every reason to be worried, especially as Tauros rammed into its chest hard, sending it crashing to the ground. Tauros landed as nimbly as it could, but was also hurt from the recoil. Hydriegon struggled to get up as Ash ordered a Horn Attack.

Camoron snapped his headband on his head once again, before holding his head. He then grinned at Ash. "Fly above it!"

Hydriegon flapped its wings and narrowly evaded the Horn Attack, now out of reach of its opponent.

"Keep using Tri Attack!" Camoron commanded.

The Dark/Dragon type continued to launch orbs of the three primary colors at Tauros, who dodged all of them. Eventually, the dragon got so tired that it slowly began to descend from the air, in reach of Tauros once again.

"Horn Attack, one more time!" cried Ash, as Tauros rammed into Hydriegon's chest with its horns, sending it falling to the ground in defeat.

"Hydriegon is unable to battle, the winner is Tauros from the Safari Zone!" announced Brock again.

"Two down, four to go," Ash told himself, as Camoron replaced his fallen Pokemon with the fully evolved Unova Water Starter Pokemon, the quadrupedal Samurott.

"Wow, a Samurott!" Misty gushed. "I've only ever heard of this Pokemon, but finally I get to see one in person!"

"Samurott, Aqua Jet!" Camoron yelled out, as it cloaked itself in water and quickly launched itself at Tauros, sending it staggering back.

"Now, Hydro Cannon!" continued Camoron, as Samurott opened its mouth and spat a huge stream of water at Tauros, forcing it backward. The attack took its toll on the Wild Bull and fainted it.

"Tauros is unable to battle, the winner is Samurott from-" Misty began, before Ash cut in with, "From Professor Juniper's lab!"

Misty glared at a smirking Ash. Ash returned his Tauros, gave his thanks, and then threw another Poke Ball. "I have the perfect opponent for you...Infernape, I choose you!" The Sinnoh Fire/Fighting starter emerged from its Poke Ball, poised for battle. The two fully evolved starters both glared at each other.

Yvonne turned pale at the sight of Infernape. "Why did he use a fire type against Samurott, is he trying to get Camoron to catch up?!"

Misty also looked a bit worried. "I sure hope he knows what he's doing..."

"Begin!" Brock announced.

"Mach Punch!" Ash instructed, as Infernape zoomed towards its enemy and gave it a hard punch in the face, and then zipped back to its original position.

Camoron's jaw dropped. "Whoa, that thing's fast! Aqua Jet, quick!"

Once again, Samurott covered itself in a veil of water as it leaped towards Infernape, who stood there with a smirk on his face.

"Dodge it!" Ash urged the monkey, as Infernape did a series of flips above the Water type to dodge. I'm sure he'll use Hydro Cannon next...

Ash's prediction was right as Samurott unleashed a giant geyser of water, which Infernape dug under. Just like Hydriegon before, Samurott was tuckered out from the immense stamina required for the powerful attack. Just then, Infernape reemerged from below Samurott and gave it an uppercut under its jaw, forcing it skyward. When it landed down, Ash asked for a Close Combat attack, and Infernape proceeded to kick and punch Infernape everywhere.

"Samurott, get away!" Camoron shouted, but it was no use. "I knew I should have used Razor Shell instead..." Before Infernape was finished, Samurott struck it with her horn so it could have some breathing room.

"All right! Use Aqua Jet again!" yelled Camoron, who had just smacked himself again. Samurott, again for its part, launched its water-covered body at Infernape, who jumped over it, which led to Samurott redirecting it upward and hitting him. Infernape tumbled on the ground as Samurott used the attack once more, but this time, Ash was ready.

"Dodge with Flamethrower!" Infernape lied on its stomach and spat flames on the ground, ascending itself above the Aqua Jet. Samurott stopped its attack and looked up in surprise.

"Mach Punch!" Infernape immediately turned to Samurott and zipped towards it, giving it another punch in the face. That was enough to knock it down, rendering it unable to battle.

"Infernape is unable to battle, the winner is Samurott!" Brock declared.

Yvonne gasped. "H-H-He won?"

Infernape whooped for joy as Camoron recalled Samurott and replaced it with Swanna.

"Infernape vs Swanna. Begin!" Brock cried.

"Infernape, Dig!" called Ash, as Infernape created another hole. It reemerged under Swanna, intending to uppercut it, but this time, it missed. Swanna tried desperately to attack Infernape with its wings, beak and bubbles, but each time, they missed. By the time Infernape was done digging, there were at least thirty holes in the battlefield. Infernape jumped above Swanna, who was going in for another Wing Attack.

"Flamethrower!" Infernape aimed its Flamethrower at Swanna, who avoided it by swerving to the side. The flames went inside one of the holes, and out of another. Unfortunately for Swanna, it was above the second hole, so it took the Flamethrower.

"Swanna, no!" Camoron yelled. Swanna probably could have taken the attack, but it was so tired from all of that moving, so it just collapsed on the ground.

"Swanna is unable to battle, which means Infernape wins!" announced Misty, as Infernape and Ash cheered again. Camoron recalled the Water/Flying type and looked at his fifth Poke Ball. After a few seconds, he tossed it in an overhead motion.

"Watchog, go!" It opened up...and nothing came out. The sphere just fell to the ground. "It's...empty?"

The rest of them (including Lucario) sighed as Camoron scrambled to pick it up. He then pointed to the field. "Lucario, go!"

"Infernape, up for another round?" questioned Ash. Infernape nodded. "Then we're gonna win it!" He roared in assent.

"Begin!" chanted Yvonne/Misty/Brock, who all stared at each other.

"Infernape/Lucario, Mach Punch!" Ash/Camoron called. Both of them dashed towards each other and clashed fists.

"Use Close Combat!" They both went into a flurry of punches and kicks, most of which were blocked by the other.

"Flamethrower!" Ash cried, as Infernape released flames from its mouth at Lucario, who blocked it with Aura Sphere.

The rest of the match went on like this, until Infernape got too tired to keep up with Lucario in yet another Close Combat attack war. Lucario kicked it off, and then followed up with Aura Sphere, which took down Infernape.

"Infernape is unable to battle, the winner is Lucario!" Brock shouted.

"Thanks a lot, Infernape, you were great," Ash told the Sinnoh Pokemon, after he recalled it. He then took out another Poke Ball. "I choose you...Tauros!" He sent out the Wild Bull Pokemon, looking perfectly healthy.

Yvonne's jaw dropped. "Huh!?"

If Yvonne was surprised, then Camoron was downright shocked. "How did it revive! I took it out, I know I did!"

Pikachu, Misty and Brock held back laughter as Ash just smirked. Without hesitation, he told Tauros to use take Down while Camoron was still distracted. Tauros charged at Lucario, who grabbed it at the request of its trainer. Ash immediately called for a Fire Blast, which shocked Lucario and Camoron. Tauros opened its mouth and sent out flames the shape of an outstretched person towards Lucario. Before it even snapped out of its initial distraction, the attack engulfed the Fighting/Steel type, burning it.

"That's the way, Tauros!" Ash encouraged, as the flames disappeared to reveal a charred Lucario, who fell over seconds later.

"That's it! Lucario is unable to battle, and since that was Camoron's last Pokemon, the winners are Tauros and Ash, from Pallet Town!" Brock and Misty cheered, as a distraught Camoron yelled out, "WAIT!" He then released all of his Pokemon...who were still fainted. The boy hung his head. "How did he revive his Pokemon like that..."

"Great battle!" Ash called out to him, as Camoron tended to his Lucario.

"Thanks!" the shorts-wearer thanked him. "I think you could beat the guy on the top. He beat me pretty badly, but I think you can take him on."

"Who?" Yvonne looked confused.

"There's a guy all the way at the top, who just sits there, with a Pikachu by his side..." Camoron explained to her. Ash, who was making a couple of rotations with his Pokedex, couldn't hide his shock. "He just waits there, presumably for challengers. He managed to sweep me with just his Pikachu. Another guy with a bunch of Pokemon I've never seen before did better than me, but only got to his second Pokemon, Jigglypuff."

Ash, Misty and Brock couldn't help but giggle at the mention of Jigglypuff.

"It seems funny now...until you can't land a single hit on it!" Camoron yelled frantically.

Ash smiled. "Sounds like quite the challenge! You guys coming? After we pick up Larvitar, I'll see what this guy's all about!"

"Did you say Larvitar?" Camoron turned to Ash, who nodded. "Follow me!"

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

A few minutes later, Camoron led them to a fierce Tyranitar and her Larvitar child. Tyranitar at first tensed up, but then softened up upon seeing Ash, Misty and Brock.

"If you're wondering why it was roaring a while ago - that is, if you heard it - then it's because I...kinda tried to catch it..." Camoron told them. They all stole glances at each other.

"Larvitar, it's nice to see you again!" Misty cooed, as she came a bit closer to them.

"Larvitar!" it cried, as Brock did the same, and then fully opened his eyes, which were just circles with a dot in the middle of each one. Unlike years ago, Larvitar actually laughed at him, having warmed up to humans.

"Please tell me that Tyranitar is not his..." Yvonne repeated quietly, but not quiet enough, apparently.

"No, his Pokemon is Larvitar," Misty answered.

"That is, unless Larvitar evolved between the time we brought it back to its mother, and then - " Brock began, before Misty hit him on the head. "Brock, you're scaring her!"

"I-I was not scared!" the blonde retorted. Her Sableye just laughed at this in amusement.

Ash and Pikachu talked to Larvitar and its fully-evolved form for a bit, before the former slowly turned around. "Let's go on, he's waiting for us."

Yvonne came to his side. "Why did you come here? I thought you were going to bring back your Pokemon."

Ash looked at her. "Yeah, but look." He pointed to Larvitar, who seemed content just being with its mother. "He looks so happy with his mom."

"I still think you should take it," Yvonne began. "It wouldn't be where it is now without you, and it is your Pokemon. Aren't you sad?"

"Maybe, but it's really up to Larvitar if he wants to stay or not. I wouldn't like it if someone forcibly separated..." He glanced at Tyranitar once again. "...me from my mom. I at least owe it that much. It's pretty sad for me, but if it makes my Pokemon happy, that's what I'll do."

"That's pretty sweet," Yvonne admitted. "You really do care about Pokemon." She looked into his eyes and smiled at him. In the background, Misty gagged and Camoron snickered. Pikachu merely gave Ash the "thumbs-up" sign without so much as a "Pika!".

"What's so funny?" Yvonne quickly did an about-face formation to Camoron, who Misty was smiling at for some unknown reason.

"Nothing. Are we gonna go or not?" Camoron questioned, his hands over his mouth. They all nodded, said their goodbyes to the two part-Rock type Pokemon, and started to go higher up Mt. Silver."

"Why's that Larvitar following us!?" Camoron yelped, as they all turned back to see Larvitar running up to them.

"What is it?" Ash wanted to know, and at one fell swoop, it yanked his backpack, and started rummaged through it, when it suddenly turned into red energy and got sucked into it.

"Ash! Your backpack ate Larvitar!" Camoron shouted, as the others laughed at him. Ash slowly went towards his backpack, picked up everything, and then held up a Poke Ball. "All right, I caught...a Larvitar?" He declared.

"No, Larvitar caught itself," Yvonne responded to him flatly.

"Eh, it wouldn't be the first time," Misty chimed in.

"Yeah, like her Psyduck for example," Ash smirked at her.

Brock sighed. "Come on, do we really need to fight now? You two are supposed to be grown up."

"Keywords: supposed to be," replied Misty. "At least, for Ash."

"I'M SERIOUS! KNOCK IT OFF!" Brock yelled out in pure frustration. "I swear, I'm taking care of two big babies..."

"I could help you out next time," Yvonne offered, bringing Brock to an odd silence. "...Was it something I said?"

"Pika/Azurill/Fur..."

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

They soon found themselves on the summit of Mt. Silver, facing someone similar to Ash. The brown-haired boy had a red baseball hat with half of a white Poke Ball symbol on it, a black shirt with a red vest with a light blue badge on it, blue jeans, red and black shoes, and a yellow backpack. He was about the same height as Ash, maybe slightly taller. On his side was a slightly bigger Pikachu than Ash's wearing a blue party hat on its head.

"That's him?" Misty wanted to know for sure. Camoron nodded as Ash went closer to him.

"Good luck, we believe in you," Brock encouraged his friend.

"You can do it!" Misty/Yvonne added in at the same time.

"Kick his butt, okay?" Camoron told Ash quietly.

"Thanks, everyone. And to Camoron, I'll kick his butt twice as hard as yours," Ash grinned, before turning back to the battlefield. Both of them held out a Poke Ball at the same time, in the same manner. It was almost like looking into a mirror, only it reflected Ash only. They both then threw it.

"Go, Ivysaur/Bulbasaur!" They both released the Pokemon of their choice: Bulbasaur for Ash, and Ivysaur for the mysterious trainer. Without a word, Ivysaur glowed a light-green.

"That's Synthesis, but why now?" Yvonne questioned, but she soon got her answer when Ash's Poke Balls all glowed.

"He's healing his Pokemon so they'll have a fair fight," Camoron informed them.

When the glow disappeared, Ash's opponent immediately tipped his hat. Ivysaur ran towards its pre-evolved form, initiating the first move...

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

CREDITS

Back to Basics

Creator: marioluigifan05

Theme Song: Jason Paige

4Kids Entertainment

Voices

Ash, Delia: Veronica Taylor

Brock: Eric Stuart

Professor Oak: Stan Hart

Tracey: Ted Lewis

Misty: Rachael Lillis

Pikachu: Ikue Otani

Yvonne: Rachael Lillis
 
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Re: Back To Basics (WARNING: Gen 6 Spoilers Ahead!) - CHAPTER SIX IS UP!

Wow, this is awesome. If only the anime was this good nowadays. *sigh*
 
Re: Back To Basics (WARNING: Gen 6 Spoilers Ahead!) - CHAPTER SIX IS UP!

Wow, this is awesome. If only the anime was this good nowadays. *sigh*

Thanks for the review it's much appreciated!

If only the anime (referring to Da!) was good, period...

ROFL.

Don't mention it. It was my pleasure.

I cried a bit when you said Ash took off his Unova Uniform and put back on his Original Series Uniform. The first part of your tale in particular was written so well, and it shows just how easily the writers could bring the series back to the way it was once again. I really mean that...and I only wish you were one of the head writers of the anime.
 
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Here's chapter 8! NOTE: I know this might have more errors than before, but most of it was typed on a phone.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

"Battle of Reflections of the Past"

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

"Bayleef, Razor Leaf!" Ash commanded, as his
Pokemon rotated her head and sent leaves at the
running Ivysaur, who did a short hop and dodged
them.

Ash pointed at Ivysaur. "Vine Whip, get it away!"
Bayleef extended two of its vines, and Ivysaur did
the same. Ivysaur's vines grabbed Bayleef's and
pulled it closer, shocking everyone. No one said a
word as Ivysaur hurled Bayleef to the air, jumped
over it, and attacked with an uncharged Solar Beam
(Note: Ivysaur's Down Aerial from Brawl; I don't
know how else to describe it). Bayleef was sent
crashing on the ground. Ivysaur came descending
down on the ground, hurling Razor Leaves from its
seed at the same time.

"Bayleef, Counter Shield, now!" If Ash's opponent
was going to give silent commands, then he was
going to give cryptically named ones. The middle-stage Johto starter spun on its back as it sent
multiple Razor Leaf attacks in a spiraling motion,
not only deflecting leaf attacks, but stopping it from
body slamming on Bayleef. Ivysaur was sent flying.
The Johto Pokemon didn't stop using it, as it stood
up and continued the attack. But then Ivysaur did
something that no one expected. It jumped through
the improvised Grass-type attack like an acrobat
through a flaming hoop and spun around like a
hovering top. Even when Bayleef redirected it, the
spinning move rendered the attack null and void.

"Reflect!" Ash shouted, as a clear light blue wall
appeared in front of Bayleef, protecting her from
Ivysaur, who stopped its attack and landed nimbly
on the ground.

"Ivysaur can't battle anymore, Bayleef wins!"
Yvonne cheered. This time, she decided to be the
referee.

Without a command, Ivysaur reared its head back,
its vines glued to the ground, and then headbutted
the wall, shattering it into pieces.

"NO!" cried Ash, as Bayleef was tripped by a vine.
Ivysaur, again for its part, jumped over Bayleef. It
then cracked a vine towards Bayleef like a whip.
The Johto Grass type rolled out of the way, but was
then hit by leaves. It didn't hurt it, but distracted it
enough to take another uncharged Solar Beam to
the head. Bayleef cried out in pain as Ivysaur
charged up a Solar Beam.

Ash gritted his teeth as the ball of light on Ivysaur's
seed got bigger. What would he do? He doubted
Light Screen would deflect all of it. That's when his
mind flashed back to a past event...

The Whirl Cup, Johto

Ash's Totodile was up against Christopher's
Kingdra. Nothing Ash tried was working. When all
hope seemed lost, Chris's Kingdra prepared for
another Hydro Pump attack, Totodile bit its snout,
which caused it to inflate full of water. Kingdra was
then sent flying everywhere, resulting in its defeat.

Back in the present, Ash grinned at his opponent,
before telling Bayleef to clog up Ivysaur's seed.
Everyone seemed shocked as Bayleef wrapped its
vine around the base of Ivysaur's seed, causing it
to expand. Ivysaur tried everything from Razor Leaf
to Vine Whip to physical attacks to get it to let go,
but Bayleef's endurance was steel-like and its grip
was strong.

Ash thrust his arm to the side as the seed
expanded to the size of Brock's head. "Let go!"
Bayleef immediately let go as the inside of the seed
exploded in solar energy, causing the beam to
shoot out aimlessly. The explosion did a lot of
damage to Ivysaur. Ivysaur used Synthesis to try
and heal itself up, but it didn't get to finish as
Bayleef rammed into Ivysaur, taking it down once
and for all.

"Ivysaur can't battle anymore, Bayleef wins!"
Yvonne announced. This time, she decided to be
the referee.

"One down, five to go!" Ash cheered, as his
opponent recalled Ivysaur and sent out Jigglypuff.
It was wearing a green headband and a yellow
crown with red gems. The pink Pokemon hovered
towards Bayleef, who again used Reflect.

"Razor Leaf again!" Ash called, as Bayleef rotated
its head again. Jigglypuff weaved through all of the
leaves, effortlessly avoiding them. Bayleef's next
move was Vine Whip, which Jigglypuff casually
kicked away. By then, the Reflect had already worn
off.

"Tackle it!" Bayleef tried to ram into its opponent,
who inflated itself to the size of Brock's chest,
before sending it flying. The Balloon Pokemon
hovered towards it and spun around, its feet kicking
its head multiple times. Bayleef groaned as
Jigglypuff drilled into its head with its powerful
legs. Its head seemed to be a favorite target of its
opponents today. Ash yelled for a Body Slam
attack, but Jigglypuff rammed into it while spitting
flames at it, not only burning it, but hurling it on a
rock (based on Jigglypuff's Down B move).

"Bayleef can't battle anymore, Jigglypuff wins!"
Yvonne announced, as Ash recalled Bayleef. They
were about even now. But Ash was going to turn
the tides right now.

"Okay, Pignite, I choose you!" Ash declared sharply,
as he sent out the Fire/Fighting pig Pokemon. It
roared at Jigglypuff, who didn't look phased in the
least.

Ash made the first move. "Pignite, use Flame
Charge!" Pignite cloaked itself in fire before
charging at Jigglypuff, who merely flew above the
attack.

"Rock Slide, now!" A clear portal materialized from
above everyone as giant boulders rained down on
Jigglypuff, who again dodged them. Whichever
ones she couldn't dodge, she broke them with
karate moves. A light bulb flashed in Ash's head...

"Pignite, jump and use Arm Thrust!" In the blink of
an eye, Pignite jumped from boulder to boulder,
confusing everyone. Thanks to its increased speed,
it leaped towards its opponent in a matter of
seconds, thrusting it with its arm and crashing it on
a rock. Pignite jumped towards it again and thrust
it with another arm, sending it upward this time.
The Fire/Fighting type went in for the attack again,
but Jigglypuff sang, putting it to sleep on a stone.
Because of that distraction, a couple of rocks fell
on it, forcing it on the ground. It got back up and
began slapping, kicking, and ramming on Pignite.

"Pignite, wake up!" Ash cried, as his Pokemon was
hit on the cheek by a particularly nasty slap. Seeing
as it wasn't waking up, Ash held out a Pokeball and
sucked it into a red light. "Return!"

He took out his next Poke Ball and stared at it for a
while. For some odd reason, Iris came to his mind.
She was a black girl with poofy purple hair, and a
yellow, pink and white outfit. With Axew (Fraxure by
the end of Ash's Unova journey) by her side, she
aspired to be a Dragon Master. Immediately after
Iris popped into his head, another, certain green-haired person then came to his thoughts. He
shrugged it off quickly, not wanting to think about
him, and tossed the Poke Ball to the field.

"Glalie, I choose you!" The Face Pokemon emerged,
expressionless as usual.

Ash's mind then drifted again, this time to his two
traveling companions of Hoenn, May and Max. He
wondered how May was doing in Johto, and how
much progress Max had made as a trainer now that
he was old enough to have his own Pokemon.

To snap him out of his thoughts, Jigglypuff spat
flames from its mouth and aimed them at Glalie.
Ash cheered inwardly as he shouted, "Water Pulse!"
The pulse of water was used as a defense against
the flamethrower. The collision of the two attacks
resulted in steam covering the arena.

"Gyro Ball!" Glalie took on a metallic shine and spun
around, collecting all of the steam and revealing
Jigglypuff launching towards it. The balloon floated
out of the way at the last second, landed on the
ground, and curled up. It then rolled towards Glalie.

Ash looked on in horror. "That's Rollout, use Ice
Beam!" Glalie unleashed a beam of ice in front of
Jigglypuff, who moved out of the way while still
rolling towards Glalie.

"Gyro Ball again!" Glalie span around in place,
releasing the steam in its holes, heating up the field
again, and also slowing down Jigglypuff, and
eventually stopping it in place. Ash then told Glalie
to use Headbutt and it crashed itself on its
opponent. As soon as it made contact, though,
Glalie found itself lit up in flames and flying on the
ground. Both of them were struggling to get up, but
in the end, they both fainted.

"Both sides are down, it's a tie!" Yvonne cried.

"Um...Ash still has one more Pokemon than him,"
Camoron told her.

"...between Glalie and Jigglypuff," she continued.

Jigglypuff and Glalie were soon replaced with
Squirtle and Buizel. Ash looked at Buizel for a few
moments, his mind drifting to Dawn, his traveling
companion in Sinnoh. She aspired to be a Top
Coordinator.

"Squirtle vs. Buizel, begin!" Brock announced.

"Buizel, Sonic Boom!" Buizel swished its tails
towards Squirtle and sent sonic waves towards the
Kanto Water-type starter, who nimbly dodged them
without a sweat. It then quickly ran towards Buizel
while still dodging Sonic Booms, all without losing
its speed. In one swift motion, it halted immediately
and slapped Buizel with its tail.

That Squirtle's fast... Ash thought, as Squirtle did a
kickflip on Buizel, sending it up. He watched as
Squirtle jumped towards the airborne Buizel and
called, "Inflate!"

"Inflate? Does he mean Swallow or Stockpile?"
Yvonne wondered. "I don't think Buizel can learn
any of those moves."

Her question was answered as Buizel inflated its
floatation tube and sent Squirtle away from it, but
that just made Squirtle even faster as it deftly
landed on a boulder and used Skull Bash on
Buizel's head, taking care to avoid the tube.

"Ash, watch out! One more hit like that, and Buizel's
out!" Brock pointed out. He was right. Buizel didn't
look like he could survive another hit. Squirtle ran
towards it again, but Buizel was ready this time. It
cloaked itself in water and prepared to ram at
Squirtle, who used Withdraw to minimize the
damage it took. Buizel tried it once again, but
Squirtle, still in its shell, slid away. Ash smiled
widely.

"Pursuit!" Buizel, defying all logic, canceled its
initial move and tackled Squirtle with lightning
speed. It then followed up with another Pursuit,
hitting it once again, before it went through a red
beam of light. The party hat-wearing Pikachu
eagerly ran to the battlefield, and without warning,
launched a powerful blinding Thunder attack at
Buizel, taking it down in one hit.

"Whoa...just as soon as the match between Buizel
and Pikachu began, it ended in Pikachu's favor!"
Brock announced.

"Is that even fair...?" Yvonne began. "The match
didn't even begin, and he attacked without
warning." Even Ash's opponent seemed to agree
with this assessment as he knelt down and pointed
at Pikachu a few times. His Pikachu let out an
apologetic squeal, and then turned back to Ash. Its
trainer got back up and smiled. Ash threw another
Poke Ball and sent out a large cream colored
Pokemon known as Snorlax. The Pikachu he was
facing merely looked up at him.

"H-He has a lot of sca...big Pokemon," Yvonne
commented.

"Not that many," Brock reminded her.

Pikachu dashed at Snorlax and aimed for a Quick
Attack, but faked out at the last minute and
swished to the side. The electric type seemed to be
teleporting for each step it took. Leaving electric
trails in its wake, Pikachu confused Snorlax to the
point where it couldn't move.

"Snorlax, you know what to do!" Ash commanded.
The bulky Pokemon did know. Snorlax jumped high
into the air, shocking Pikachu for a moment, before
it moved out of the way of the Body Slam attack.
Snorlax left tremors in the wake of its Body Slam
attack, forcing Pikachu to jump to avoid it. At the
apex of its jump, it unleashed a Thunder attack,
which Snorlax was absorbing as it was getting up.
At the same time, it ran towards Snorlax and flipped
into the air, striking it in the face with its tail. As it
landed on the ground, it used Quick Attack to get
away from an Ice Punch, which meant Snorlax only
punched an Electric trail. Pikachu then "warped"
behind Snorlax and prepared for an uncharged
Skull Bash. Ash's mind quickly flashed to an early
match once again...

Violet City Gym, Johto

Falkner's Pidgeot was up against Ash's Charizard.
The fully evolved fire starter had trouble even
hitting Pidgeot, who just kept appearing behind
Charizard, dodging whatever attack it was trying to
hit it with, before using Quick Attack. Pidgeot would
do this over and over again, until Ash had Charizard
used Flamethrower...after turning around. It had
worked, and so Ash and Charizard then went on to
secure the victory.

Granted, he thought of it only a moment, but it was
enough time. He knew he only had one chance to
even hit the small mouse.

Ash thrust his arm to the side. "Turn around and
punch!" Snorlax covered his hand in ice, turned
around, and punched Pikachu with its ice covered
fist, which overpowered the Skull Bash. It was
enough to send Pikachu back a few feet. It was
going to land on a jagged boulder, but at the last
second, it flipped around and shattered the boulder
with its tail, ensuring a safe landing. It ran towards
Snorlax and jumped, before unleashing three small
jolts of electricity at Snorlax. It jumped high over
the attacks.

Pikachu then dashed under Snorlax, let out a light
squeal, and then got out of the way. A dark
thundercloud appeared above the airborne Snorlax,
and a huge ray of thunder came out of it, striking
the Sleeping Pokemon head on. The rest of them
were too shocked to even say a word as Snorlax
landed on its feet harmlessly. Static electricity
crackled around it.

"It's paralyzed! This is bad!" Brock told everyone in
worry.

"Rest!" Ash called, as Snorlax laid on its back,
avoiding another tail attack from Pikachu, who
landed on Snorlax's stomach.

"Bad move..." Yvonne commented. "Snorlax is
vulnerable while in sleep mode." Pikachu did a
break dance-like move (Note: Based on Pikachu's
Down B move, NOT Counter Shield!), beginning to
form electricity around it, but a loud snore from
Snorlax forced it off of it.

"Now, Sleep Talk!" Ash raised his voice. Snorlax
murmured in its sleep a few times before punching
Pikachu with Ice Punch again. A few patches of ice
actually formed around it. At that moment, Snorlax
woke up, fully healed and unparalyzed.

"Pikachu's frozen! Now, finish it off with Hyper
Beam!" Victory for Ash was just seconds away as
Snorlax's open mouth was forming an orange orb
of energy, which then became a large beam headed
towards Pikachu, who was being covered in
electricity. The ice patches around it shattered as it
ran towards the beam, still covered in lightning.

Ash smiled; it didn't look any stronger than his own
Pikachu's Volt Tackle. "You can do it Snorlax!" But
just as the beam was about to reach Pikachu, the
electric type slowly rose in the air, becoming a large
blue ball of electricity. The Hyper Beam missed the
crackling orb by inches. Pikachu flew around
Snorlax, hitting it each time it passed by him.

"How did Volt Tackle..." Yvonne, just as shocked as
the rest of them, scanned her Pokedex for that
move.

Unfortunately for Snorlax, it had to recharge, so it
could only stand there as the powerful attack
struck it multiple times. By the time the blue
thunder disappeared, Snorlax was completely
charred. To add insult to injury, Pikachu stood on
Snorlax's head and tapped it with its tail, sending it
to the ground. Pikachu fist pumped on Snorlax as
Misty flabbergastedly declared the winner/loser.

"Thanks, Snorlax, you were great." Ash returned the
large Snorlax, and tried to decide between the
sleeping Pignite and his own Pikachu. Next to him,
Pikachu growled at Ash's opponent as his cheeks
sparked.

"Looks like Pikachu wants to prove itself," Misty
stated.

"Are you ready, Pikachu?" Ash questioned him. To
answer the question, Pikachu dashed in front of
him. Ash's opponent's Pikachu returned back to its
trainer, who threw another Poke Ball containing a
familiar Fire/Flying type: Charizard!

"Ash really has his work cut out for him..." Misty
stated, before Charizard flew towards Pikachu,
gliding with its fangs bared.

"Quick Attack!" Ash commanded, as Pikachu
zipped away from Charizard, who turned around
and spat flames at Pikachu, who nimbly avoided it.
It lightly tackled Charizard in the gut, but just as it
made contact, it covered itself in flames and leaped
up, sending Pikachu soaring and doing damage to
it. It then flew upward and attempted to slash it, but
-

"Use Iron Tail!" Pikachu turned around a few times
before its metallic tail clashed with Charizard's
claws. Its trainer gave a few gestures, before its
fiery tail wrapped around the small electric type,
stopping it from landing. It opened its giant maw,
and found itself numbed by electricity. Static had
kicked in!

Ash breathed a sigh of relief as he had Pikachu
shoot a large stream of thunder at the fire type,
forcing it to let go of it. Both of them landed on their
feet as Pikachu went in for another Quick Attack,
but unfortunately, Charizard was able to overcome
its paralysis and swing its flaming tail at the mouse
Pokemon like a bat.

"Electro Ball, now!" Ash yelled out, as a ball of
electricity formed on the tip of its tail. It quickly
righted itself in the air before launching it at
Charizard, who glided around it.

"One more time!" Ash requested, as his starter
repeated its course of action, and Charizard dodged
it again. This went on for a while until Pikachu
formed a particularly large Electro Ball on its tail. By
the time it was done expanding, it was nearly three
times the size of Pikachu. Charizard stopped in
shock (both literally and figuratively) as it took the
particularly large variation of the attack head on. It
tucked in its wings as it braced itself for a crash
landing.

"Finish it with Thunderbolt!" Pikachu formed a
lance of thunder and aimed it at Charizard, who
was flying closer to it,

Before Ash could even wonder why it was flying
closer to the attack, it lifted a giant boulder to the
ground while still flying and smashed it into pieces
which flew towards the attack. The shards collided
with the bolt, causing a large explosion. Everyone
had to brace themselves as debris was scattered
everywhere. The smoke was quickly blown towards
Pikachu, who coughed as the cloud of smoke
surrounded him. A split second later, Pikachu felt
giant talons hurl it into the air, above the smoke. It
quickly looked up to see Charizard preparing for a
Seismic Toss!

"Pikachu, bite your way out of there!" Ash
instructed, as it bit the offending talons and
loosened Charizard's grip on it. It started to fall
once again as Charizard flew after it. Pikachu
quickly landed on the ground again as its opponent
covered itself in flames and charged at Pikachu,
who was more than prepared for it. His trainer only
had to say one word to get his point across.

"Spin!"

It jumped over the fiery flier and spun around, thus
spinning above it and avoiding the attack.
Charizard had to make an abrupt stop...and take
another Thunderbolt. The winged beast toppled
over, but still had some fight left in it. The flame on
its tail suddenly turned a whitish-blue, merging
with the red aura that was around its body. Pikachu
took a few steps back as Charizard slowly got back
up, albeit barely.

"That's Blaze," Ash murmured to himself. "Pikachu,
return! I'll need you for later!" Pikachu rushed to his
side as he sent back out Pignite. It immediately
woke up to the smell of Charizard's tail flame,
looking eager to take on the fully evolved fire
starter.

"Pignite, use Brick Break!" was Ash's answer to
Charizard picking up a boulder. Pignite smashed it
before anything else could be done with it. Pignite
then followed up with another Brick Break, which it
dodged by swerving to the side, but that only made
things worse for it.

"Scald!" A large amount of boiling hot water came
out of its mouth and hit Charizard dead on.

"Go, Ash! You can do it!" Misty cheered, as
paralysis kicked in for Charizard yet again, causing
it to get hit with another Scald.

"You're on the right track!" Brock added in, when a
whitish-blue Flare Blitz from the Fire/Flying type
was avoided unexpectedly with Pignite using Brick
Break to carve a hole in the ground and duck the
attack.

"Beat him!" Camoron chimed in as Charizard
toppled over thanks to another Scald attack,
paralysis hindering it.

"And the winner is Pignite!" Yvonne announced
happily, as Ash turned his hat backwards.

"You did it!" Ash whooped in delight, as Charizard
was recalled and replaced with Pikachu. It
immediately wreathed itself in electricity and ran
towards Pignite, who dug another hole with Brick
Break on Ash's command and hid under there to
avoid it. Just like with Snorlax before, it turned into
a hovering blue ball, flailing wildly in the air...until a
few seconds later, when it dived down into the hole.

"Jump out and use Fire Pledge!" Ash yelled, but it
was too late. Pignite had already been hit and down
for the count.

"Pignite is unable to battle, the winner is Pikachu!"
Brock declared, as Ash recalled a distraught
Pignite.

"Pikachu, you're my last hope. Ready to beat the
rest of them?" Ash smiled at his very first Pokemon,
who got on his field, ready to show the bigger
Pikachu a thing or two. The large Pikachu shot a
weak jolt of electricity at Ash's Pikachu, before
running back to its trainer. The boy then threw a
Poke Ball high in the air.

"Pikachu, look out," Ash warned him, as the electric
type scanned the sky. Pikachu then heard the
sound of a Poke Ball opening, and prepared to dash
away from any attacks.

A deep voice boomed in the air, Watch the power of
aura.

The next thing they saw was a large blast of light
blue energy that descended from the sky to the
battlefield. Pikachu tried desperately to avoid it, but
fatigue eventually took over it and allowed it to get
hit by the powerful attack.

"I-I've never seen that move before!" Brock was
alarmed.

"Pikachu, no!" Misty shouted in worry as it fell over,
clearly battered by whatever that move was.

Yvonne could barely muster herself to announce
the winner/loser, but managed to anyway. Ash ran
up to Pikachu and picked him up. "Thanks for
everything. You were great. I-I couldn't have - "

The person he had just lost to recalled his unseen
Pokemon from the sky and sent out Ivysaur, who
shook its flower a few times. A lime green aura
emanated from its seed and washed over it, as well
as the two Pikachu, who were getting along just
fine, and the rest of the Pokemon in their Poke
Balls. The aura eventually faded as he then sucked
the grass type in its ball and sent out Jigglypuff.

"It's not gonna sing, is it?" Brock asked in worry.

Jigglypuff took the top off its marker, worrying
them at first, but it wrote on the surface: "Where
would you like to go?"

"Saffron City," Ash answered, not feeling
particularly enthusiastic. Squirtle was sent out to
wash away the ink from the summit as Ash and his
friends suddenly felt lightheaded.

"PUFF!"

The next thing they knew, they were transported in
front of the Saffron City Gym. To save them more
time, Sabrina just happened to be exiting it.

"I told you that Jigglypuff was scary!" Camoron
shouted.

"I have to remember to thank it someday, for it
brought us one -" Brock's confession was
interrupted by Misty, who yanked his ear.

"Sabrina, do you still have - " Ash began, but was
interrupted.

"Yes, I still have Haunter," she responded,
shockinghim. Had he really been that predictable?
Then again, why else would he come there?

"You seem to forget who I am." Sabrina chuckled,
as she handed him a Poke Ball.

"Thanks." Ash smiled at her.

"I sense your plight," Sabrina went on, shocking
him yet again. Her psychic abilities never ceased to
amaze him.

"It's really nothing," Ash lied through his teeth.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of," the woman
interjected, as Ash found himself feeling
lightheaded again. He and the others were then
transported in front of a building, which Ash, Misty
and Brock recognized as the P1 Grand Prix.

Yvonne pouted. "I didn't even get a chance to talk
to her! Now I have to wait until the World
Tournament...and what is this place?"

Ash ignored her question and looked around to see
a well-built man exercising with two Pokemon: A
Hitmonchan and a Primeape. His Primeape.

"Hey, Ash, is that you?" the man asked him,
adjusting his red scarf.

"Yup! Nice to see you again, Anthony!" Ash greeted.

"I'm guessing you're here for your Primeape?"
Anthony guessed, and Ash nodded.

"I think he'd be better off back with you, anyway,"
Anthony told Ash. Primeape and Hitmonchan
nodded in agreement as Ash took out his Poke Ball
and placed it on the pig monkey Pokemon, sucking
it in. It stayed in without a struggle.

"Welcome back to the team, Primeape and
Haunter," Ash mouthed to his Poke Balls.

"Haunter?" Anthony was confused until Yvonne
explained to him.

With everything settled, they all said their
goodbyes, except for Camoton, who decided to stay
behind and train his Lucario in the P1 Grand Prix.

"Tell Rebecca I said - " Brock began, but this time,
instead of being dragged by Misty, he was dragged
away by Croagunk.

"That's a new one," Yvonne commented, as Misty
looked at the Poison/Fighting type in amusement.
She then looked to Ash, who hadn't said a word
since they left Anthony.

"Anything the matter?" she interrogated him.

Ash looked away from her. "Not really...I just
missed Anthony." They all knew he was lying.
Before they could even say anything, they heard
calling, followed by engine sounds behind them.

"Guess who?" a familiar voice called. Ash didn't
even need to turn around to know who it was.

"You're looking down in the dumps," the voice
continued. "I have to say that's an improvement
over your usual look."

Yvonne groaned. "Another Paul?"

"It's a long story," Misty told her, as Ash turned to
his longtime neighbor, Gary Oak. He had a smug
smile on his face as he got back in his limousine
and drove off.

"Later!" he called, as Ash and Pikachu fought the
urge to wail on his vehicle. They continued on, with
all of their attempts to cheer Ash up failing.

That night, Ash barely touched his dinner, still
upset over his loss to the stranger on top of the
mountain. He left his half-full plate behind and
went straight into the tent with Pikachu, going
straight to sleep.

"Poor Ash, he must be still mad over that loss,"
Brock stated. "And Gary isn't helping matters at all."

"I hate seeing him so sad, but what can we do?"
Misty wanted to know.

Yvonne and Froakie shrugged.

"Furret. Fur!" Furret articulated.

"I sure hope so..." Brock responded.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

The next day, Ash got up and rushed out of his tent,
his stomach growling. The smell of Brock's cooking
alerted him. As he rushed to get a bowl, Brock
yanked the pot away from him.

"Hey! What gives?" Ash demanded.

"Ash...they have something they'd like to tell you,"
Yvonne informed him. Today, she was wearing a
blue and white jacket under a black blouse, a
matching black dress, and blue high heels. She
didn't don her hat today.

"Ash...both of us have talked it over last night..."
Brock began. "And we realized you're just holding
us back."

"Talked what over? And what do you mean, holding
you back?!" Ash retorted.

"What he's saying is that you've suck," Misty
reiterated. "You've been through five regional
leagues, and you haven't made the finals in any of
them. Each time, you lose again and again."

Ash found himself speechless, even as Brock
continued the tirade. "Without you, we'd have been
closer to our goals! Traveling with you just to watch
you fail was a waste!"

"But...but - " Ash stammered.

"I became a doctor when I was away from you, and
Misty could have been closer to her goal if she
didn't have to watch in the background. And what
about the others you've traveled with?"

Misty scowled. "You can't accomplish a thing, so
you have to drag other people down with you, huh?
No more! Come on, Yvonne, we're leaving this
wannabe Pokemon Master!"

Her last three words went through his mind like a
broken record. Usually, she only ever said that
about him during their little arguments, but now
she was using those words to bring him down. And
maybe they were true...

Wannabe Pokemon Master...wannabe Pokemon
Master...

He even started repeating them to himself as the
three of them left in Gary's limousine.

Everyone, except for Yvonne, chanted this lame
rhyme: "Gary, Gary, he was here! Ash is a loser ,
didn't you hear?" No matter how far they went off,
the words still rang in his ear, along with Misty's
previous insult.

"Well...at least you're around." Ash turned to
Pikachu, who shocked him -

Ash woke up, sweating bullets. Pikachu had
shocked him awake from a terrible dream. He
breathed a sigh of relief; it was all just a dream...

He came out his tent to see his friends setting up
camp. Yvonne was wearing her trademark outfit
and not the one she wore in his nightmare...no,
"nightmare" was an understatement.

He took in her outfit for a few minutes, trying to
erase that other one out of his mind.

Yvonne was confused. "What is it?"

Ash shook his head a few times. "Oh, it's nothing."
He forced himself to laugh.

"Didn't know he liked my outfit that much," the
blonde mused. "He could have just told me."

Misty was fuming as Brock blurted out, "I think
there's more to you than meets his eye." He grinned
at Ash's direction. "He's never been very good at
this type of stuff. He might not be sure of his
feelings towards you..."

"Maybe not, but I'm sure you're an absolute
nutcase!" Ash retorted.

Brock put a thumb up. "See? He admits it."

Both Ash and Misty kicked him to the side.
"Perhaps he leans more towards Misty..." He
muttered.

"Right..." Yvonne went into her tent and didn't come
out for the rest of the night. Misty turned to Brock
and helped him up.

"He seems to be back to his old self for now, at
least," Misty told him, as Ash went back to his tent.

~~~ GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

The real next day started off much like Ash's
dream, but with minor differences. He woke up to
the smell of jelly filled donuts and oatmeal, not
soup. Most notably, none of them said anything
bad to or about him, and there was no Gary.
Yvonne came out of her tent with a different outfit.
She was now wearing a red and black hat similar to
her trademark headwear, but with a green symbol
on it. Her jacket was blue with a white collar and a
white symbol on the bottom of the front side. It had
a yellow button on it, too. She had on a black shirt
inside. She also wore a matching blue dress, dark
blue knee-high socks, and blue flats with black
bottoms.

They all stared at her in shock. Ash, in particular,
looked flabbergasted. "Where did you get that
from?" he whispered, but she had heard him.

"My hometown has a few malls, so I go shopping
every once in a while," she answered.

"Ripoff," Ash whispered to Pikachu.

"Pika."

"This one was actually quite cheap." The foreigner
sat next to Ash and Brock and took a bite out of a
donut. Ash was a little more excited about eating,
but he was still quiet as Misty and Yvonne
chattered up a storm, and Brock bathed all of the
Pokemon.

Ash looked to the sky, his hat blocking him from the
hot rays of the sun. Yesterday's loss still ran
through his mind. He had tried so hard, but one by
one, his Pokemon all went down. He had let down
not only them, but his friends. They had -

"Earth to Ash!" Brock's voice shattered his
thoughts. "You're not still let down, are you?"

"I was just thinking," answered Ash. It wasn't a lie.
He got up and left with his Pokemon.

"I didn't think he was still so upset," Yvonne stated.

"It's not easy for an aspiring Pokemon Master to
lose like that," Misty told her. "Or anyone, for that
matter. He did his best, but in the end, it didn't pay
off. And, as stated before, Gary wasn't helping
matters."

"I know the feeling," Yvonne mused.

"Electrode."

"Electrode's right. We have to bring him back!"
Brock declared. They all stared at him.

"Just follow my lead."
 
Re: Back To Basics (WARNING: Gen 6 Spoilers Ahead!) - CHAPTER NINE IS UP!

Here's chapter 9!

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

(Theme)

"A Helping Hand on a Friend"

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

"Pika Pika, Pikachu?" The electric mouse stared up
at Ash, who was sitting on a log.

"I don't know, Pikachu...I could try again, but - " Ash
began, before a voice interrupted him.

"Hey, Ash!" Ash and Pikachu turned around to see Misty. "Is this seat taken?" Ash said nothing as Pikachu scampered into his arms, clearly signaling that Misty could sit there.
She plopped herself next to him, and Pikachu jumped into her arms. It squealed happily. Ash
couldn't help but smile at the sight, even though Pikachu's love for the Cerulean City Gym Leader had been the bane of his existence a few times in the past.

"Maybe you can watch Pikachu for - "

"Not so fast, Ash Ketchum!" shrieked Misty,
causing Pikachu and Ash to recoil. "We need to talk!"

"H-Huh?" Ash stammered.

"Ash, you can't let one little loss get you down!"
Misty began, before calming her voice a little bit.

"It's not the end of the world if you lose. Why are you so upset about it? You and your Pokemon tried
your best, and that's what counts. We're all proud of you." Ash was now listening intently as Misty continued on, raising her voice a bit. "Losing doesn't let down the ones that care for you. Sitting on a log and sulking and not moving on does let us down! You're better than this! By sitting here moping, you're only proving you really don't
want to be a Pokemon Master, or beat Gary! And I
know more than anyone else, that you want to
prove him wrong. Now, move on, or Gary
automatically wins!"

Ash faced her and retorted, "Gary couldn't beat me
if I only had Pikachu without electricity!" Pikachu
grimaced slightly not wanting to be reminded of his
first encounter with Zekrom, or his battle with Trip's
Snivy.

Misty got up, faced him, and smirked. "No, but I
could."

"Pikachu won't even battle you," Ash reminded her.

"No one said you had to use Pikachu...or are you
just saying that because you know I'll beat you?"
tainted Misty. As she expected, Ash immediately
got up, holding Pikachu.

"Fine! I accept your challenge!" he shouted, getting
on his side. "Just don't come running back to
Cerulean Gym when you lose!"

"And you'd better not go back to your mom and
sulk!" Misty countered, before throwing what she
thought was a Poke Ball. "Go, Staryu!" A rock flew
out of her hand and hit Ash on the head.

"Ow! What did you do that for?" Ash groaned,
clutching his forehead, before Misty searched
herself, only to see that all of her Poke Balls were
replaced with rocks. "Hey! Where are my Poke
Balls?"

As she stated to scan the ground, Ash asked her
where Azurill and Froakie were.

Misty turned pale as she roamed around the entire
area, when she and Ash suddenly heard laughter
from the bushes.

"Show yourself!" Ash demanded, but the identities
of the people shocked him. One was a magenta-haired female with a miniskirt, boots, and a blouse
with a red "R" on it. Her hair was shorter than Ash
remembered. The other was a lavender-haired
male with a similar outfit, only instead of a miniskirt
and blouse, he wore a shirt and pants. His hair, too,
was shorter than Ash remembered. He also
seemed to have built a lot more muscle. If there
was anyone he didn't want to see again, it was
them. In fact, he thought he'd never see them again
after Unova (NOTE: Da! never happened).

"Team Rocket..." Ash growled. It seemed like he'd
never be rid of the trio...and speaking of "trio",
where was Meowth?

"You two just never quit, do you?" Misty scoffed.

"Prepare for trouble," the woman began, before she
was interrupted.

"Wait! How come you always get the first line?" her
companion complained.

"James, I told you before, it's in the script!" she bit
back at him.

"But Jessie..." James began, as Ash and Misty
glanced at each other. They merely watched as
they continued their argument.

"I guess some things never change, huh, Ash?"
Misty nudged him.

"Fine, we can deviate from the script just this once,"
Jessie grumbled.

"Yes!" James cheered, before striking a dramatic
pose. "Prepare for trouble, and minor script
rewrites!"

"Make it double, this won't be like old times!" Jessie
added.

"To protect the world from devastation!"

"To unite the peoples within our nation!"

"Cut!" James yelled. "It's our peoples, not the
peoples!"

Ash looked baffled. It didn't seem to be that much
of a problem before.

"James, you were the one complaining that you
wanted a change!" Jessie argued back.

"I don't have time for this! Chespin, I choose you!"
The Grass-type emerged from its ball and landed in
front of Ash. "Use Rollout!"

"Ah-ah-ah," Jessie lectured, as a Meowth-shaped
balloon emerged from the bushes where they were
hiding earlier. The left side was covered with tape.
Fennekin was keeping it floating with its ear flames.
Under the balloon was a net which contained a
bunch of Poke Balls, as well as Electrode, Furret,
Azurill, and Froakie. Team Rocket jumped into the
balloon.

"Our Pokemon!" Misty cried, as Pikachu's cheeks
sparked.

"Halt that Thunderbolt, Pikachu," Ash told him, as
he had Chespin use Bullet Seed.

"I'll play for a little while." Jessie threw a Poke Ball
of her own, and out came a butterfly-like Pokemon
with a white, black and grey body, antennas, and
wings colored various shades of red with black
outlines, as well as a little light blue. "Go, Vivillon!"

Oddly enough, Misty was unafraid, probably
because it wasn't a creepy bug. Ash opened his
Pokedex to scan it, but no data was found.

"Vivillon, Energy Ball!" The unknown Pokemon
created a ball of green in front of its body, which
absorbed the bullets. It then fired it at Chespin, who
rolled to the side. Ash turned his hat backwards
once more; he would not lose to another
mysterious Pokemon.

"Vivillon, String Shot!" Jessie called, as it slowly
wove a shot of string towards Chespin.

"Chespin, move to the side and shoot diagonally at
the middle!" Ash hadn't been working with Chespin
for very long, so he had to be specific in his
commands. Chespin jumped to the side and shot a
bullet at the center of the string, redirecting it away.
Chespin repeated this a couple more times until
Vivillon was trapped in its own string. Because it
couldn't flap its wings anymore, it clumsily fell to
the ground. While it was descending, Chespin
curled up into a ball and rolled towards the
grounded Bug/Flying type at the request of Ash.

"Vivillon, break that string!" The bug tried to bite
through the string, but it proved to be too strong. It
was forced to take multiple Rollout attacks in a row.
Vivillon was sent flying towards Jessie, who
grumbled and recalled it.

"We're not gonna take this one lying down!" James
began. "Go -" A rock throw on the wrist interrupted
him, causing him to drop the ball he was holding.
"Ow! Not so hard, Mist -erm, I mean, twerps!"
Indeed, Misty had thrown a rock at him.

"James, I told you using the big twerp's Furret to
replace their Pokemon with hard rocks using Trick
was a bad idea!" Jessie scolded him, as Chespin
used Bullet Seed again to break the net.

"Well I told you we shouldn't have done this without
Meowth!" James replied, as Froakie and Azurill
used Bubblebeam on them. In addition to getting
wet, their hair (and James's skin) seemed to...wash
off? "James" turned out to have black hair, and his
skin was revealed to be brown. "Jessie's" hair
turned blonde. Misty was hardly surprised, but the
same couldn't be said for Ash.

"...Brock? Yvonne?" he stammered. He had a lot of
questions for them.

"Yup," Brock grinned, before picking up Pikachu.
"Then again, we could also be wearing a disguise
inside of a disgu - "

"CHUUUUUUUUU!!!"

"I tooold you weee should have made them electric
proof," Brock said, before he and Yvonne feel over.

"Where did you get those outfits from? That
balloon? Why did you do this?" Ash wanted to
know.

"One question at a time," Yvonne chided. "As I said
before, I go shopping. For the balloon, we found it
lying in the woods, popped open." Now Ash knew
why there was tape over the left side. "And to
answer your last question, we wanted to be sure
you wouldn't let anyone get in your way...except
me, of course. My Vivillon went easy on that
Chespin of yours."

Ash was riled up. "Did not! Face it, I'm ten times the
trainer you'll ever be!"

To change the subject, Brock asked: "You found
Team Rocket outfits in a mall?" Yvonne shushed
him for some odd reason.

"So what now?" Misty inquired.

"Why don't we use this balloon?" Ash suggested. "It
may not hold up for much longer, but while it lasts,
it should be a good source of transportation."

"Finally you have a good idea," Misty muttered
under her breath.

"That's more than I can say for you!" Ash shouted.

Brock yanked both of their ears and dragged them
into the balloon wordlessly. Yvonne hopped in, and
they soared high into the air.

"This is actually kinda fun," Ash admitted. "Now I
know why Team Rocket liked using it so much."

Yvonne pointed behind her in fear. "Look out!" They
turned around to see a dark grey flying scorpion-like Pokemon.

"It's headed towards us!" Ash cried, as it winked
and its tongue out at them, and that's when Ash
remembered that he had a Gliscor of his very own.
"Wait a minute, its Gliscor!"

"Is every other wild Pokemon in your monopoly?"
Yvonne wondered, as the Ground/Flying type flew
closer to the balloon.

"No, wait, Gliscor, stop!" they all yelled, but it was
too late. It landed on the balloon,.its razor sharp
claws poking holes in it, sending them blasting off
all the way to Fuchsia City. All the while, Gliscor
was following them.

"That did not feel good..." a dazed Yvonne
mumbled. "Remind me never to listen to you
again..." At the same time, Gliscor clutched onto
Ash's head.

"Gliscor, let go!" Ash pleaded, as he grabbed it from
his head. He then faced it towards Brock. "You
remember Brock, right?" It nodded. "He then held
them towards Misty and Yvonne. "Gliscor, this is
Yvonne. And this is Misty." Now Gliscor and Misty
were merely inches away from each other.

"Ash, get that thing away from me!" Misty shouted.

"Aw, come on, Mist, he likes yo - "

"Why don't you put it back in its ball?" Brock
suggested, trying to diffuse the tension.

"Good idea." Ash used his Pokedex to deposit one
of his Pokemon, before throwing Gliscor's Poke Ball
high into the air. Gliscor flew upward and bumped
into it. Ash caught it in midair.

"All right, I caught...a Gliscor!"

"Pikachu!"

They then stepped inside of the Pokemon Center,
where they healed their Pokemon. After she was
done, Brock clasped the nurse's hands and
confessed his love. "Nurse Joy, my heart could use
your professional healing too - "

Misty and Croagunk got ready to drag him away,
but a voice from behind them called, "Are you done
yet? Other people have to use the Pokemon Center!
You're not the only ones in here, you know!" They
all turned around to see a brown-haired boy with a
red baseball cap with glasses on top. He had on a
blue and white jacket, blue pants, and dark brown
boots. Next to him was a black lion cub-like
creature with a brown face, tail tip, paws and ears,
as well as a scarlet nose and "mohawk".

"Can't you wait just five seconds?" Brock cut in, but
the Pokemon growled at him. Ash tried to scan it,
but again, it didn't work. They all moved out of the
way except for Yvonne, who stood there in shock.
She seemed to be at a loss for words, even as the
boy ignored her and gave five of his Poke Balls to
Nurse Joy. His Pokemon leaped on the desk in
front of her, and she got to work. Croagunk stared
up at the blonde.

"Earth to Yvonne!" the boy tried to get her attention.

"Xavier, you're here?" she asked him slowly, after a
few seconds.

"They know each other!?" Ash and Misty yelled at
the same time.

"Yep!" he answered. "Violet told me about the
Pokemon World Tournament taking place here in a
few weeks. She seemed really eager to get me that
much closer to being a Pokemon Master!" He
flashed a smile.

"Mrs. Violet," Yvonne corrected him.

"Wait, how do you two know each other?" Misty
was curious.

"We're - " Yvonne began, before Nurse Joy's voice
cut in with, "They're healed!"

"Thanks, Nurse Joy!" Xavier told him, before turning
to Yvonne, who announced, "That's my
stepbrother."

"Really?" Ash questioned.

"If you doubt me, you can always just ask Mrs.
Violet," Yvonne answered, going to a videophone.
She tapped a few buttons, before a middle-aged
lady in a lab coat appeared on the screen. She had
poofy purple hair and dark rings around her eyes.
Next to her was a wrinkled yellow humanoid-like
Pokemon holding a pendulum. It had a very bushy
mane of snow white fur around its neck. It was
possibly puffier than the lady's hair. Her room didn't
look very organized, either.

"Professor Violet! Drowzee! Good morning!" Yvonne
greeted.

"But that's a Hypno," Ash interjected.

"Its name is Drowzee!" the cranky professor
shouted. "Who are you to talk about the names I
give!" For each word that was said, Hypno
teleported to either side of her.

"You could have just told me," Ash mumbled.

"Don't make me come over - sorry. May you
introduce me to them?" Professor Violet requested.

"Right. This is Ash...Misty...and Brock," she pointed
at each one, before sidestepping. "And you already
know Xavier and Shishiko, the Litleo."

"Hey, Violet!" Xavier called to her, and Shishiko
jumped in place.

"H-How did you get there!" the professor was
freaked out. "And I an to be addressed formally!"

"Relax, toots, I just wanted to bring a new friend for
Drowzee to play with, but I guess it'll have to wait,"
Xavier replied.

"Good! We don't want another one of your ghosts
wreaking havoc and burning everything!" Violet
snapped, before holding on to her Hypno. She then
looked up, before getting shocked again. "Oh, no,
I'm gonna be late to the daycare!" She hastily
ripped off her lab coat to reveal a rumpled white
dress with frills. She then kicked off her dress
shoes and replaced them with heels. "Sorry, guys, I
have to go now! Drowzee, take me to the daycare!"

In a flash, they were out of the lab. Yvonne dropped
the phone and glared at her stepbrother.

"Not my fault a professor, daycare woman, and a
nurse can't take care of my Pokemon." The boy
shrugged as he petted his Litleo.

"She's a nurse, too?" Brock looked downright
mortified.

"She's a professor by day, a caretaker by midday,
and a nurse at night," Yvonne answered (lol Barbie
syndrome).

"Doesn't she ever sleep?" Misty wondered, as they
all left the Pokemon Center. Shishiko jumped on
Yvonne and licked her, causing her to shudder.
Xavier grabbed it and placed it down.

"Let's find someone else to battle!" Xavier told his
Pokemon, beginning to walk away.

"Wait, what does he mean someone else?" Brock
interrogated.

"We've battled before," Yvonne addressed him.

"And?"

"Well..."

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

A younger Yvonne was particularly ecstatic after
beating Pansy, the first gym leader. Her Fennekin's
evolution only made it easier to beat Pansy, whose
specialized type had the disadvantage against Fire
types. She had crammed for the last couple of days
preparing for the battle, and her studies had finally
paid off. Nothing could have made her happier at
that moment. She was now training her Froakie,
hoping to push it to its next evolutionary stage, but
the trainers were just too weak.

"Hey, Yvonne!" She heard footsteps from behind
her. Without looking, she knew it was her
stepbrother, Xavier Xander. His Litleo was next to
him, too.

"Xavier! I see you found a way to go on a journey
without a starter, huh?" Yvonne approached him.
Xavier had annoyed Mrs. Violet so much the night
before that she flat out refused to give him a starter
Pokemon. The only reason she wasn't fired was
because no one else in the small town of Vaniville
was qualified enough. That aside, she did do her
job well.

"Yeah! You didn't think I'd just stay at home, did
you? I have to remember to thank Violet, because
Shishiko here is far better than any starter
anywhere, and so are my other Pokemon."

Yvonne smirked at him. "How about a battle? My
Froakie needs a punching bag."

Xavier's eyes glinted in anticipation. "You want a
punching bag, then go somewhere else. For a
Beatdown, you've come to just the right guy."

Yvonne's smirk split her face. Xavier was an even
bigger fool than he realized if he thought he could
beat her. Aside from Litleo, who had a
disadvantage against her Froakie, she had already
studied up on the common Pokemon in the first few
routes. Whatever he sent out couldn't possibly
stand a chance.

The boy tossed a Poke Ball at her. "Go, Yayakoma!"
Out came a robin with an orange head, white body,
small legs, a black beak, and a black feathered tail
with a white V pattern in the middle. It stood up
bravely and boldly, ready for battle. Just as Yvonne
thought, Xavier sent out a common Fletchling. It
looked well trained, to be sure, but it still wouldn't
win.

"Froakie, Bubble!" Yvonne announced. It happily
spit bubbles at Fletchling, who popped them with
its beak.

"Quick Attack!" Froakie dashed at the robin with
unexpected speed, but it was still able to avoid it.
Yvonne stared at it tensely, this little bird was
tougher than she thought.

"Quick Attack again!" Froakie once again zoomed at
the robin, but this time, it growled at the Water
starter. The attack landed on target, but didn't seem
to do much at all. Yayakoma then cloaked itself in
flames and hit Froakie with the attack. Its typing
(plus protective fur) prevented it from taking much
damage, but it still took a little regardless.

"Froakie, pound it!" Yvonne commanded, as Froakie
ran towards its opponent and attempted to strike it
down, but again, it was too fast. In fact, it was much
faster than before.

"Froakie, keep using Bubblebeam until it hits!" A
few minutes passed, and it still didn't land a hit.

"I can't thank you enough for giving Yayakoma the
push it needed," Xavier smiled at her.

"What do you mean?" Yvonne's question was soon
answered as Fletchling began to glow. She stood
there in shock; that should have been her Pokemon
evolving! His Pokemon was now a red-orange
falcon with an orange-spotted grey underside. Its
tail was now black and yellow, and its talons were
yellow. In addition, its wing tips were black, and it
had a "mask" around its eyes that matched its tail.
Its still-black beak was now partly yellow.

"Thanks for giving me a Talonflame! And now,
repay her with Brave Bird!" Xavier shouted
excitedly. The newly-evolved Pokemon glowed in
many different colors as it flew towards Froakie.

"Froakie, it's now a fire type, so dodge it with Quick
Attack and take it down with Bubble!" Yvonne
screamed in desperation, but she knew that the
battle was over, even with Froakie's new type
advantage. The Brave Bird hit Froakie, fainting it.
Yvonne rushed towards her Pokemon and recalled
it. Xavier approached and extended his hand.

"Great battle!" His Litleo and Talonflame seemed to
agree, but Yvonne didn't. How could he say that
when he almost beat her no damage, and that was
after his Pokemon evolved and gained a type
disadvantage. She reluctantly took his hand, before
letting go.

"I'll be heading to the first gym, see ya soon!" His
Talonflame flew Shishiko and him up and away.
Yvonne was left in her thoughts.

~~~ GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

"I see." Brock was deep in thought.

"So, Ash, how about a battle?" Xavier requested,
and Ash instantly agreed. They each took their
positions, with Yvonne as a referee.

"This is a one on one battle between Xavier Xander
and Ash Ketchum! Begin!"

"Totodile, I choose you!" Ash called out the Johto
water starter from his ball. It danced for a few
seconds.

Xavier threw his Poke Ball. "Faiaro, go!" He sent out
an unknown flying type. Ash, again, couldn't get
any data.

"That's Talonflame," Yvonne informed him. "It's
Flying, and also Fire, sorry to burst your bubble. I
know you can only use the type chart backward."

Ash ignored this comment and made the first
move. "Totodile, Scary Face!" His Pokemon made a
face at its airborne opponent.

"Faiaro, close your eyes and use Flame Charge!" It
closed its eyes as flames were wrapped around it.
It then shot like a missile towards Totodile.

"Use Water Gun to put it out!" Ash called, as it
unleashed a burst of water to put out the fire.
Xavier had it go up before Totodile could bite on it.
It then flew back towards Totodile, who Ash told to
use Water Gun on the ground to avoid the attack.

"The air is Faiaro's specialty. Gotcha! Use
Whirlwind!" Talonflame rapidly beat its wings as
Totodile was trapped in the air. It found itself
caught in the hot, powerful gusts.

"Now, finish - " Xavier looked to the side for a
second and saw a round blue Pokemon with four
legs and a yellow cap with an antenna. It also had
blushes on its cheeks. "A Surskit! Timeout! I gotta
catch one! Faiaro, Shisjiko, let's go!" The three of
them chased after the Surskit.

"Is that a water type?" Misty inched towards Ash
and Brock.

"Yes, but - " they stammered, but Misty was already
gone.

"I'm not going to be the one to tell her,"
Brock pointed out, as they all chased after Misty
and Xavier.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

CREDITS

Pokemon: Back to Basics

Creator: marioluigifan05

Theme Song: Jason Paige

4Kids Entertainment

Voices

Ash: Veronica Taylor

Brock: Eric Stuart

Professor Violet: Kayzie Rogers

Misty: Rachael Lillis

Yvonne (young): Rachael Lillis

Yvonne (present): Jimmy Zoppi Rachael Lillis

Xavier (young): Veronica Taylor

Xavier (current): Jason Griffith

Pikachu: Ikue Otani
 
Last edited:
Here's chapter 10!

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

(Theme)

"The Mistresses of Disguise"

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

Xavier and Misty chased after the Surskit, with the rest of them trailing behind. The Surskit turned around for a brief second, before unleashing a couple of bubbles from its mouth at them.

"Shishiko, charge through and use Take Down!" Xavier shouted, as his Litleo charged through the bubbles and rammed into the wild Pokemon, slamming it on a tree. Oddly enough, it didn't put up much more of a fight before closing its eyes. The whole time, Misty just stood there with a smile on her face.

"Why's Misty just standing there?" Ash was confused.

"I guess she decided she didn't want it after all," Yvonne theorized.

"No way..." Brock contradicted.

Xavier took out a Poke Ball and tossed it at Surskit, but a bubble from Misty's direction encompassed it, sending it hovering into the air. Xavier glared at Misty as Faiaro flew up to get it. Misty threw her own Poke Ball at Surskit and sucked it in.

One shake.

Two shakes.

Three shakes.

Ding.

"Yes! I got a Surskit!" Misty cried, turning to Froakie. "Thanks." Froakie had made the bubble which sabotaged Xavier's chances of catching it.

"That's not fair!" Xavier demanded. "I did all the work, and you just get it with no skill or effort!"

"Finders, keepers." Misty's smile grew wider as she turned to Ash. "Ash, scan it for me."

Ash reluctantly took out his Pokedex and scanned it. "Surskit, the Pond Skater Pokemon. From the tips of its feet, it secretes an oil that enables it to walk on water as if it were skating. It feeds on microscopic organisms in ponds and lakes."

"Ash, aren't you going to scan its type?" Brock whispered.

"I already know its type," responded Ash.

"Yes, but she doesn't." Brock pointed at Misty, who was still celebrating her capture. Xavier was fuming.

Ash sighed as he pressed a few more buttons. His Pokedex called out, "Type: Water - "

"I know that already!" Misty complained.

"...slash Bug," it finished, before Ash put it back in his pocket.

"B-B-Bug!?" Misty stammered, turning to Ash. "Ash Ketchum, why didn't you tell me?"

"We tried," Ash explained nervously. "But you just ran off...but hey, a Water type is a Water type!" Xavier couldn't help but laugh.

"All right, Misty, you caught your first Bug type!" congratulated a voice from above.

"No, it's not all right!" Misty shouted back. "I hate bugs!" They all ignored Misty's tirade and continued on. Soon after they got their Pokemon healed at a Pokemon Center, Misty forgot her initial anger and stared at a fountain.

I could at least let it out for a bit, Misty thought, before throwing a Poke Ball. "Misty calls...Surskit!" The Water/Bug type materialized above the fountain and started to skate around on the water in circles.

"It's kinda cute...even if it is a bug..." she admitted, before hearing footsteps. At first, they paid no mind to it, but then they got louder. They also heard a voice yelling, "Out of the way, out of the way, out of the way!"

Ash sidestepped away from everyone else, as did Xavier. Ash turned to him. "You know her?" he questioned.

"Do I ever...she came asking me to protect her from a guy named - " Before he even finished, Yvonne, Misty, Azurill, Froakie, Brock, Electrode, Furret, and Fennekin were crashed into like bowling pins, falling into the fountain. Surskit just skated around everyone, seemingly oblivious to what just went on. The crasher turned out to be a blonde wearing red glasses that seemed to be halfway cut off from the top, a lime green beret with a white bow, a black and white blouse, an orange jacket with shoes which had black bows on them, and green pants. She was also holding a green handbag.

"What was that for!?" Misty whined, as Bianca bowed to everyone she had crashed into. Brock glared at Ash for not warning them. Ash merely smiled at him.

"Sorry!" the girl cried out, as they all climbed out of the fountain. "I gotta go before he fines me!" As if on cue, a different pair of footsteps rang in their ears. Brock's Electrode sparked for a few moments before sending a small jolt of electricity towards the runner, paralyzing him for a while. It turned out to be a blonde haired boy with an orange and yellow shirt, a green scarf, grey pants, and brown shoes. He was holding a brown handbag.

"It's Barry," Ash mused quietly to himself.

Meanwhile, Bianca immediately rushed to Brock. "Oh, thank you so much for saving me! How can I ever repay you?"

"WAIT! You'd pay some guy you don't even know, but not even pay your fine!" Barry shouted at her, who turned to him. "That's unfair!" he continued.

"Uh-oh, this doesn't look good," Misty commented, and the next thing they knew, they were engaged in a battle. It was Barry's Empoleon vs Bianca's Emboar.

"The battle between these two will now begin!" Yvonne announced, as Misty gushed over Empoleon. At the same time, Brock discreetly led Ash and Xavier behind a bush.

"So, why did you take us here?" Xavier wanted to know.

"Because...tomorrow is Princess Day," Brock announced in a dramatic tone. Ash looked horrified, while Xavier looked confused. Brock explained the concept of Princess Day to him as best as he could.

"So they get a bunch of girls-only stuff. What's so bad about that?" Xavier was still confused.

"That's not the worst part," Brock continued on, as Ash grimaced. "Last time, we had to go shopping with Misty and lift all of her stuff - "

"Pika..."

"Well, we can't just leave them," Xavier pointed out.

"Who says we have to leave?" Brock snickered, pointing to Yvonne.

"What about her?" Now Ash was confused, while Xavier seemed to be catching on.

Brock sighed. "Yvonne said her Vivillon sewed most of her clothes for her. Ash, you still have your Leavanny, right?" Ash nodded. "Well, you can have Leavanny sew some disguises for us...or you can 'borrow' some of her clothes, and hair dye, if needed."

"No way, I'm not doing it!" Ash pouted.

Brock inched closer to him. "Then I guess you'll be their slave for all of tomorrow..."

Ash gave in after a while. "Okay, fine, I'll do it...Leavanny, come on out." The Nurturing Pokemon emerged from its Poke Ball. "Leavanny, use String Shot into that bag and grab a few clothes." Leavanny looked confused until Xavier explained the situation. It then aimed the sticky substance into the bag and yanked out a pile of clothes.

"Thanks," Brock thanked the Grass/Bug type, as he went through the clothes. He separated them into two piles, and then put one pile into Ash's backpack.

"Hey! Why me?" Ash complained.

"This is revenge for not warning me about Bianca." Brock snickered, as Leavanny used String Shot to put back the rest of the clothes that Brock didn't need.

"Speaking of Bianca, we'd better get back!" Xavier reminded them, before they rushed back to the battlefield. Empoleon was standing on top of a felled Emboar.

"Emboar is unable to battle, the winner is - " Yvonne began, before Ash cut in with, "Empoleon and Barry from Twinleaf Town!"

"I knew that!" Yvonne shouted, before Barry pointed at her.

"How do you know me! I've never seen you around! You'd better start explaining, or I'll fine you!" Barry demanded. Yvonne shrank under his glare and laughed nervously. Ash and Pikachu struggled to hold back laughter at her misfortune, especially as Barry inched closer to her. Brock's Electrode jolted him once again, and Yvonne rushed to him.

"Oh, thank you so much for saving me! How can I ever repay you?" she repeated, as Brock took a step back. Not again, he thought, as Ash and Pikachu let loose laughter.

"Pika Pika!" The Electric type laughed. Bianca and Furret frowned at the scene, before glancing at each other.

The rest of the day went as usual, with Bianca and Barry leading the way and bumping into more people (Misty wondered if Barry did it on purpose), some of whom they knew. The next person they saw was a dark green-haired woman with an umbrella and a Marill in her arms.

"One or both of them bump into her in three...two..." Yvonne stated.

"Not on my watch," Brock muttered, grabbing both Barry and Bianca by the shirts. They struggled to get out his grip as the girl slowly approached them.

Ash took a closer look at her. "Isn't that Wilhelmina?"

"Brock tries to flirt with her in three..." Misty began, inching closer to him. Croagunk was behind him as well.

"Brock, Misty, Ash, is that you?" She turned to Brock with a light blush on her face. "Who are your friends?"

Brock was the first to speak up. "This is Yvonne, Xavier, Barry, and Bianca."

"We could have introduced ourselves," Barry muttered.

"Nice to meet you all," Wilhelmina stated. "Brock, I heard you graduated from doctoring." Marill jumped out of her arms to play with Azurill. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks..." Brock's face turned a darker shade of red than Wilhelmina's. He seemed at a loss for words, though that may have been because Croagunk and Misty were just right there. She then turned to Misty, Yvonne, and Bianca. After some more introductions and brief conversations, Wilhelmina brought up the dreaded topic (for the boys, that is): Tomorrow.

"Are any of you going to the Princess Day Festival?" she wondered.

Misty nodded, but the other two weren't so sure.

"Well, you don't have to come to a decision immediately. Just know that I'll be there. I look forward to seeing you all again." She scooped up her Marill and turned around before starting to leave. She gave Brock a quick wink, before moving on.

"Electrode?"

"Fen..."

"How the tables have turned," Misty commentated.

"What's it like to be on the receiving end of adoration?" Yvonne teased. Croagunk sat by himself on the fountain, where Surskit was still skating. The rest of the day was uneventful, although it took Misty a few minutes just to get Surskit away. Barry and Bianca had left the group to practice for the PWT, but Brock lent him a disguise.

~~~ GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

The next day was Princess Day. Brock woke up before anyone else (Ash always wondered which of them woke up first much of the time). He woke up the other guys, who put on their disguises.

Ash's disguise consisted of a yellow and black blouse similar to his Sinnoh shirt, blue jeans, and red and black boots. His hair was combed down and dyed a dark blue.

Xavier's disguise was a curly black wig, and a green and pink palette swap of his outfit. Meanwhile, Brock wore a red puffy wig with a black blouse, dress and heels.

"There!" Xavier stretched his arms out.

"Wait..." Brock put blue lipstick on Ash's lips. "There!"

"Hey!" Ash complained. "How come you don't get any lipstick?"

"Never mind that, let's go before they wake up," Brock warned.

So they spent the next couple of hours roaming around the streets, while also following Misty and Yvonne without their knowledge.

"I'm bored," Xavier voiced his feelings.

"This is our only option," Brock reminded him, as a few little girls ran to him to admire the Pikachu in his arms. Electrode, who was on the ground in front of him, felt neglected as no one admired it. Both of them had yellow bows on.

"Thank you!" Brock basked in the praise. "I've been with this lovely Pikachu for five years now! My amazing Electrode came soon after!" Just as he said that, Wilhelmina came to the scene. Brock couldn't keep his eyes away from her.

"May I help you?" she questioned.

"Oh, sorry!" Ash interjected. "Belinda can't help but get jealous of way better looking girls than herself!"Brock glared at him as Wilhelmina giggled. She then took out a poster and showed it to them. It was a lost child poster that showed pictures of Ash, Brock and Xavier. "Have you seen any of them?"

"Not in my life," Xavier answered her.

"I think Allison has." Brock turned to Ash and Fennekin, grinning from ear to ear.

"Um..." Ash tried to come up with a convincing lie. "I overheard Ash say he was going back home to serve his mom, since she could only watch the events on TV!"

The girls that were admiring Pikachu awwed as Ash turned back to Brock. "Nice try," he whispered, turning back to them. "He should be back soon, along with Brock and Xavier."

The girls all stopped admiring Pikachu and went inside of a building. Wilhelmina requested for them to tell the "lost children" that she said "hi", before following suit.

"She said hi!" Brock was lost in his fond thoughts. Meanwhile, Xavier and Furret kept themselves busy with Pokemon capturing. After making a few rotations with his Pokedex, Ash immersed himself with a few battles.

"I hear you're pretty good," a voice called from behind Ash. It turned out to be Trip, Ash's rival from the Unova region. Ash was surprised he didn't have a disguise, but then again, most of the girls were probably too busy to enslave him.

"Yeah! We'll burn you to a crisp!" Ash declared, placing Fennekin in front of him. "Let's roast this guy and get it over with!"

"You seem confident you'll beat me," Trip scoffed. "You might be a good fire type specialist." He threw a Poke Ball. "But let's see how you do against Jellicent!" From the ball came the Unova Water/Ghost type. "You make the first move."

"Fennekin, Flamethrower!" Allison commanded, as the fire type released flames from both of its ears at Jellicent. Trip just scoffed as he had Jellicent put out the flames with Brine.

"Jellicent, wrap it." Its tentacles were about to wrap around it, when Allison had Fennekin use Roar to force its opponent back into its ball. Trip said nothing as his Pokemon was replaced with Conkeldurr.

"Conkeldurr, Bulk Up." Trip's Conkeldurr flexed its muscles as an orange aura flared around it.

"Flamethrower again!" Allison called, as Fennekin's ears released hot flames at Conkeldurr, who simply swatted them away with his concrete pillars.

"Stone Edge." A ring of white orbs appeared in front of the Fighting type, eventually becoming pointed stones, which launched towards Fennekin.

"Use those as stepping stones for a quick attack!" Allison raided a fist as Fennekin jumped on each stone. It didn't seem to be getting any closer to Conkeldurr. Eventually, it got so exhausted that it was unable to dodge in incoming pointed stone, crashing to the ground.

"Bet you wish you never used that move." Trip sneered, as Conkeldurr placed its steel beams on the ground, before jumping on them. It then jumped high into the air, its fists glowing a deep red, before they exploded in a red-orange energy. Allison seemed to be in a tight spot, but then "she" looked at the crowd and saw a familiar face in the crowd. It was a blue-haired girl with a white and pink beanie, a red scarf, a black blouse attached to a pink dress, and boots that matched her dress.

It's Dawn...! Allison thought.

Flashback

Ash's Pikachu and Dawn's Quilava had just started a training match. After a bit, Ash's Pikachu used Iron Tail, which Quilava countered with Flamethrower. The flames washed over the tail, doing more damage than it otherwise would have if it had hit just Pikachu.


In the present, Allison had just thought up a plan. It was risky, but there weren't many other options. If a fire attack could do more damage to a Pokemon whose body part took on the properties of steel, then psychic attacks should have been able to do the same with fighting typed attacks (not to mention that Conkeldurr was a fighting-type already).

"Use Extrasensory on his hand!" Allison instructed, as Fennekin unleashed a circular rainbow beam with white crescents around it, hitting Conkeldurr's red fist, forcing it to halt its attack. Before the red glow disappeared, Fennekin hit its other hand with Extrasensory, doing some major damage to it.

"Fennekin, come back, girl, I'll need you for later!" Allison yelled, and Fennekin rushed to her side. Allison then threw another Poke Ball. "Quilava, into the spotlight!" The Volcano Pokemon materialized from the Poke Ball and in front of Conkeldurr. In the crowd, a smiling Dawn sent out her own Quilava to watch the battle.

"Conkeldurr, Bulk Up." Once again, its body glowed orange as it flexed its muscles.

"Quilava, use Flamethrower!" Allison called, as Quilava's back flared up, and it released a Flamethrower from its mouth.

Trip didn't seem the least bit amused as Conkeldurr swatted the flames away. Allison had her Pokemon use Smokescreen to cover the battlefield in black smoke.

"That's the way, Allison!" A high pitched voice shouted. Allison couldn't really make out her features through the smoke, but her brunette hair which was in two braids and her cheek blushes could be made out. It was Macy, one of the Johto League competitors.

"Get the smoke away with your pillars," Trip commanded, and Conkeldurr did as he was told before the smoke entered his clown nose. "Stone Edge again."

Sharp stones appeared around Conkeldurr and launched at Quilava, but Allison had the perfect plan. "Use Agility!" Quilava relaxed its body and zipped around the attack, its speed increasing for each stone it dodged.

"Smokescreen again!" Quilava quickly spat smoke from its mouth and covered the battlefield again. As expected, Conkeldurr blew the smoke away, getting rid of it, but Quilava was nowhere to be found, which confused Trip.

"Unleash Aerial Ace!" Allison shouted, tasting victory, as Quilava emerged from above, a thin white aura around it, and rammed into Conkeldurr, sending it flying skyward. Before Trip could even say anything, Quilava jumped into the air below its opponent and expanded its back flames, engulfing Conkeldurr in fire. Quilava came back to its side as Conkeldurr fell to the ground. Unfortunately, its weight caused the stones on Allison's side to fly up, before some crashed down towards Quilava.

"That's one point for Addison!" Macy announced over the cheering crowd, as Trip recalled his Conkeldurr and sent out Jellicent.

"Quilava, I might need you for later," Allison told it, before it was recalled. "Torkoal, come to the light!" The fire turtle Pokemon was sent out against Jellicent.

"Doesn't look that strong. Jellicent, Hydro Pump, and make it quick." Trip didn't hear Allison command Sunny Day during his command, so he was more than shocked when Torkoal was able to take the attack head on. He was even more surprised when it immediately launched a Solar Beam that overpowered the Water Type attack and hit it for massive damage.

"Shadow Ball." Jellicent formed a dark orb in front of it and launched it at Torkoal, who spun to dodge it.

"Rain Dance," Trip said, eliciting a groan from the audience (except for Wilhelmina, who had an umbrella). Dawn was complaining about her hair. Trip didn't seem to care about any of the complaining.

"Now, Hydro Pump." Jellicent's attack of choice was many times bigger and stronger than last time.

"Dodge it with Gyro Ball!" Allison shouted, as it retracted its limbs, cloaked its shell in steel, and avoided the blast of water. It maneuvered behind Jellicent and hit it in the back, stopping its attack.

"Now, finish it with Overheat!" Torkoal glowed a bright red as it released a large burst of flames at Jellicent and charred it, sending it crashing to the ground in defeat. Torkoal was landing on the wet ground. She frantically yelled out for Sunny Day, which Torkoal initiated, but most of the water hadn't evaporated by the time it actually landed, so it took a lot of damage.

"You're not bad." Trip looked at Allison in amusement. "But let's see how you do against...Serperior!" The regal grass snake came out, poised and ready for battle. It looked down on Allison and Torkoal.

"Serperior..." Unova League flashbacks ran through Allison's mind (NOTE: In my story, Ash and Trip got a full battle that wasn't poorly written with a DEM ending.).

"Serperior, Leer." Just like the name said, Serperior leered at it, but white smoke appeared all over its body, protecting it.

"Awesome! White Smoke activated!" Allison cheered to herself, as Torkoal used another Overheat. Normally, Overheat would be weaker each time, but with Sunny Day up, the nerf was barely noticeable.

"Serperior, dodge," Trip commanded, as Serperior slithered itslong body around the attack, making Torkoal's special attack decrease for nothing.

"Gyro Ball!" Torkoal put its limbs in and spun towards Serperior, who just stood there. "It's gonna hit! Almost - "

"Dodge." Somehow, Trip's Pokemon managed to dodge when it was just mere inches away. "Solar Beam."

"Overheat, below Solar Beam!" As Serperior unleashed a beam of solar energy, Torkoal spat out a noticeably weaker burst of flames under the beam. Serperior tried to move its body, but it couldn't slither and aim at the same time, so it was forced to take the fire attack, but its own attack hadtakenout Torkoal. Serperior didn't get out unharmed; in addition to Overheat, it had sustained a burn.

Allison replaced Torkoal with Fennekin, who didn't seem too sure of her chances of winning.

"Serperior, it uses fire attacks from its ears, so watch out," warned Trip. The next couple of minutes saw Serperior avoiding Extrasensorys and fire attacks until Fennekin finally got so tired that it was forced to take a Solar Beam, which took it down for the count.

Allison sent out Quilava. "I'm counting on you!"

Trip commanded a Solar Beam, which Quilava dodged using Agility.

Forgot all about Agility...better wrap this up before it catches up... Trip thought. "Wrap that Quilava." Serperior slid towards Quilava and attempted to wrap it, but its burn got the better of it. Before it could act, Quilava unleashed a Flamethrower at it. It did some damage, but still didn't take it down.

"Flamethrower!" Allison screamed, as Quilava attempted another one, but Solar Beam collided with it. At the same time, the effects of Sunny Day wore off, weakening both attacks. They were still strong enough to cause a thick explosion.

"Smokescreen!" Quilava released a thick cloud of smoke to make it hard for anyone to see. "Now, Quilava, listen for Serperior and use Aerial Ace." The smoke showed no signs of clearing Antoianytime soon, so Quilava twisted Allison and used Aerial Ace, charging at Serperior, whose tail glowed a light blue. Dragon Tail and Aerial Ace collided, and the two fighters fought for victory. Eventually, they both keeled over, Quilava due to exhaustion from its previous battle with Conkeldurr and Serperior due to its burn. The smoke finally cleared, and everyone saw the two Pokemon on the ground.

"Its a tie!" they all announced, as Trip recalled his starter Pokemon, and Allison carried Fennekin.

"Good battle," Trip admitted.

"Thanks, you too!" Allison replied. "You going to the PWT?"

"You know it." Trip smirked, as they both headed to the Pokemon Center.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

Meanwhile, Belinda and Gary were going at it. It wasBelinda's Electrode vs. Gary's Electivire. They both looked completely exhausted.

"Electivire, Ice Punch," Gary told his Pokemon, as it covered its fist in ice and ran towards Electrode.

"What do you say we go out with a bang?" Belinda smiled at Electrode, who hummed in assent. "Explosion!"

"What!?" Gary's expression of shock was noticeable by all as Electrode glowed a bright white, before it was engulfed by a huge explosion, which extended towards its opponent. Everyone braced themselves as the impact of the explosion left debris and chunks of earth flying. Soon enough, everything cleared to reveal both of the Pokemon fainted. Gary recalled his Electivire and went back in his limousine, before yelling out, "See ya later, Brock!"

Brock was confused. Gary saw through his disguise?

~~~ GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

Xavier had just caught six Pokemon, with Spinarak being the last one he caught. Furret had actually managed to take on all six of them in a row, but it still took a tool on it. He thought of having Faiaro fly him to the Pokemon Center, but Misty and Yvonne would know it was him. Not only that, but it was on lookout with Brock's Crobat (he had lent his Shishiko to Ash)! So he had no choice but to go on foot...

A few minutes later, he had arrived at the Pokemon Center, where he made a few deposits, and met up with Ash and Brock.

"Anyone notice you two yet?" He was curious.

"Only Gary, but he's gone," Brock answered. "Only a couple more hours until we can get to sleep. What now...hey, what's that noise outside?" They looked out the windows to see a bunch of disgruntled girls, including Misty and Yvonne.

"This has been the worst Princess Day ever!" one woman complained.

Another female took out a doll with an almost detached arm. "These dolls are a ripoff! They're not even authentic!"

"We've been waiting all day for an event to happen, and they're still not ready!"

"This is so lame, I'm going back to Hoenn!"

"My sisters' hand-me-downs were even better!" That was Misty's voice.

"Vivillon can make better clothes with its strings knotted!" They recognized Yvonne's voice.

Many of the girls either left or kept complaining when their complaints weren't addressed.

"Well, that's a load off our minds," Brock told them, as the three of them exited the Pokemon Center. They went back into the where Xavier was catching Pokemon and called Crobat and Faiaro back to them. They then assigned Pokemon back to their rightful owners, took off their disguises (Ash changed into his Sinnoh outfit this time), and went back to the front of the Pokemon Center. Then, Ash remembered something.

"Dawn!" he shouted, a little loudly, before bubbles hit him on the back of the neck.
He jolted around to see a smiling Dawn and Piplup.

"Did ya miss me?" Dawn looked at Ash with her bright blue eyes.

"Dawn! You're here!" Ash cried. "How was Johto?"

"It was great!" Dawn answered, turning to Brock. "Brock, I know you can see me."

"Sorry, but I didn't want to interrupt anything," Brock replied.

"Just what are you implying?!" Dawn yelled at him, before calmly turning to Ash.

"So, did you win the grand prize?" Ash wanted to know.

"Careful, you wouldn't want May to know you were rooting for me over her, would you?" Dawn teased him.

"May? She's here?" Ash looked around.

"I meant we fought each other, silly!" Dawn giggled. "And to answer your question, we tied, meaning both of us technically split the first place trophy."

Ash was glad that two of his friends achieved their dreams of being Top Coordinators, but at the same time, felt sad that he had yet to achieve his own goal.

"Ash! Where were you?" Misty's voice called from behind.

"We got lost," Ash explained.

"Thanks to you," Brock cut in, and the rest of them broke into laughter. Afterwards, everyone was introduced to each other, and Ash made a rotation with his Pokedex.

"Dawn, how's my old Ambipom?" Ash wondered (NOTE: Ambipom never left to play pingpong).

"Great! Wanna see her again?" Dawn held a Poke Ball in anticipation.

Ash also held a Poke Ball. "Only if you'd like to see Buizel."

The two of them nodded, before both tossing their Poke Balls. "Ambipom, spotlight/Buizel, I choose you!" Both of them emerged from their Poke Balls facing each other. Ambipom used both of her tail hands to steal both Ash and Dawn's hats. Ash let a wave of nostalgia wash over him as memories of Aipom came back to him.

"Looks like she's still attached to you, Ash." Dawn gushed.

"I can tell Buizel feels the same," Ash commented, as they faced Buizel, who folded his arms and faced away from Dawn.

"So what do you say, Ash? Buizel? Ambipom? Wanna trade back?" Dawn waited for their answers. Buizel kept the same stoic expression, while Ash and Ambipom immediately agreed. They went into the Pokemon Center and got their Pokemon healed before going to the trade machine. Dawn placed her Ambipom's ball into its slot, and Ash did the same with Buizel's. Everyone watched as the trade was initiated.

"I'm gonna miss that little guy," Misty admitted, as the trade was finished.

Ash held his Ambipom's ball and yelled, "All right! I just got back...my Ambipom!"

"Pikachu!"

"So, Dawn, what are you going to do now?" Misty turned to her.

Dawn thought for a while. "Well, May said she'd support her brother in the Pokemon World Tournament, so I thought I'd wait for her so I can do the same. I'm even considering entering it myself, just for the fun of it!"

"Why don't you travel with us again? It'll be fun," Brock offered.

"Well, I do miss traveling with you guys," Dawn mused. "It's settled! Come on, let's go!"

"I'll be there in a minute, I just have to do something," Yvonne called to the rest of them, before turning on a nearby videophone. On the screen came Professor Violet.

"Yvonne, dear. Did you manage to get the starters like I asked?" the old woman inquired.

"Sorry, but no. They all came to the trio I told you about. But I did find something else interesting," she transferred a Poke Ball to the old lady, who opened it and revealed a panda with a leaf in its mouth. Sparkles glittered all around it.

"A shiny Pancham! This is even better!" Professor Violet squealed, but Yvonne cut her celebration short with, "That's not all." She then showed a picture to the professor, who looked on in curiosity.

"Don't they make a great couple?" Yvonne inquired.

"Yes...but never mind that. Yvonne, I've now given you a new assignment. I want you to capture them for me," Professor Violet requested. "While they may not be particularly strong, they'd still be good for my collection."

"Yes, ma'am, I won't fail you," Yvonne answered. "By the way, did you remember to give the Kalos region data to Professor Oak?"

The videophone immediately cut off.

"Okay, then," Yvonne muttered to herself, as she exited the Pokemon Center and caught up with her friends.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!!!~~~

CREDITS

Pokemon: Back to Basics

Creator: marioluigifan05

Theme Song: Jason Paige

4Kids Entertainment

Voices

Ash: Veronica Taylor

Brock: Eric Stuart

Professor Violet: Kayzie Rogers

Gary: Jimmy Zoppi

Bianca: Bella Hudson

Barry: Jamie McGonnigal

Misty: Rachael Lillis

Dawn: Emily Bauer

Wilhelmina: Amy Birnbaum

Trip: Jamie McGonnigal

Yvonne: Rachael Lillis

Xavier: Jason Griffith

Pikachu: Ikue Otani
 
NOTE: Every chapter after the tenth has been deleted! This is because I am rewriting them. However, the new Chapter 11 is here! (NOTE: This chapter was written before Team Flare/Flair was shown, but edited afterwards.)

One more thing: New beta readers: J-Keni and surskitfthemist!

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

(S1 Theme)

"Nightmare in Dream World"

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

Ash was getting closer to his dream of becoming a Pokemon Master every day. In the Pokemon World Tournament, he had managed to beat many opponents, barely breaking a sweat. Technically, he was supposed to be in first place, but there was still one more competitor he had to face. The winner got to battle a mysterious person to see if they were worthy of being the best, as opposed to the Champions League he had heard about. All he had to do was win one more round, and he would be officially the Kanto League Champion! He couldn't believe it! He impatiently looked at the screen where matchups were shown, and, as if on cue, he was called to the Grass Field. He leaped down to his side of the battlefield.

Everyone he knew was rooting for him to win, from Misty to Yvonne to Ramona to Professor Violet to Tianna to Mikey to Giselle, and even Paul.

"Go, Ash! You can do it!" Brock shouted.

"Show whoever you're up against why you made it this far!" Jeanette cried, her Bellsprout nodding in agreement.

"Come on! You didn't come all this way just to lose it all!" Butch added in. All of Team Rocket had returned after Giovanni disbanded them, but they had all turned over a new leaf altogether.

"Show this guy how you do it in Kanto," Trip advised from above. "Remember to just stick to the basics, and you'll win."

Dr. Zager was also rooting for him. "Make us proud, Champion Ash!"

James cheered louder than most of the audience. "You took on Operation Tempest! This is nothing!"

Jessie stared at him. "Need I remind you that we were the ones who saved the world?"

James sunk his head in shame. "...Oh. Well, the point is, he can do it!"

"The legendary slayer Ash Ketchum will definitely win," Tobias predicted. "No doubt about it."

"Take him or her down!" Georgia cheered.

"His little Pikachu is really strong. He's gonna win, I just know it!" Sho cried.

"That's right! The twoip is gonna clean sweep dis guy before he can even open his Meowth!" the Scratch Cat Pokemon praised.

"Give them the fight of their lives!" Paul shouted.

"Show them the power of believing in the strength of your friends, and trusting and loving them!" Nat raised her fist towards him.

"Ash is not a little kid anymore..." Iris cried in Damien's shoulder.

"Ash, Ash, he's the best! If he can't do it, Gary certainly can't!" Gary's former cheerleaders had joined Ash's side a few days before.

"Ash, we choose you to be the champion, so do your best!" Taylor encouraged him, breaking into applause. Like most everyone, she couldn't wait to see who Ash was up against.

Ash nearly teared up at almost everyone he knew, as well as total strangers, cheering for him. "Thanks, guys..." White smoke formed on the opposing side of the battlefield, breaking his thoughts. and it soon cleared to reveal not one, or even two, but three masked figures, all with long white hair and black and grey ninja suits. Everyone immediately stopped cheering when they saw Ash's opponents and their signature Pokemon in front of them. Ash stared at them in horror. He thought he had gotten rid of them!

"Let's make this quick and painless, shall we? After all, his precious Bur - " the one in the middle began, before Pikachu rushed in quickly at the Pokemon to the right. But then the ninja at the leftmost side teleported in front of him and kicked him away hard.

"PIKACHUUUUUUUU!" Ash yelled, shaking the nervous wreck of a Pokemon. Pikachu wake up, drenched in cold sweat. It had all been a dream...

Ash wrapped Pikachu into his arms and comforted him. "It'll be okay, Pikachu. Nothing will hurt you." Pikachu squeaked lightly, before drifting back to a more peaceful sleep.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

For the next couple of days, Yvonne had tried (and failed) to capture the Pokemon that Professor Violet had wanted. She hadn't told anyone about them; she wanted them to be surprised when they saw them. Not much else out of the ordinary happened, until they went to a Pokemon Center in Viridian City.

"Ash, it's been a while since you've contacted Professor Oak. You should see how he's doing," Yvonne suggested out of the blue.

Ash immediately took her up on the offer and turned on the videophone in front of him, with Yvonne on his side. He wondered why she wanted to see or talk to Professor Oak so badly. The old man appeared on the screen, shattering his thoughts. A smile split his wrinkly face.

"I see you two are getting along just fine!" Professor Oak stated, much to their embarrassment.

Misty crossed her arms. "Yeah. Perfect," she scoffed. Electrode stared at them in confusion. The professor looked ready to burst out in poem, but Yvonne stopped him with, "Professor Oak, did Professor Violet send you the Kalos region data?"

Dawn frowned in the background. "I wanted to hear another one of his poems..."

Xavier went to console her. "Maybe next time," he assured her.

"Ah, yes! She actually remembered this time!" Professor Oak began. "She also sent me the data for the 'DW Project'," Professor Oak answered.

"The DW Project?" Ash was curious. Furret scampered over to the screen, squeezing itself between the two of them and squashing its face on the screen.

Brock folded his arms. "What did I tell you about butting in?"

"Kin!"

Professor Oak merely chuckled as Furret backed away a little. "Furret wants to know, too! The DW Project, according to Professor Violet, is a device which brings Pokemon into an alternate world of dreams."

"Pika Pika!"

"I bet Pikachu wants to try it out!" Ash guessed. Pikachu nodded its head excitedly.

"Then you're in luck, because Muk just arrived from the Dream World, and he turned out just fine! Granted, the DW Project is still in its beta stage, but it still works really well! All you have to do is send your Pokemon over," Professor Oak told him.

Yvonne frowned. "Ash gets all the glory? Not fair."

Professor Oak sighed. "I was afraid of this. You're all going to have to come here in person if you wish to try it out."

"Fine with me," Yvonne replied, as Misty grabbed her Pokemon from Nurse Joy. "Dream World, here we come!"

"We're going to Pallet Town," Ash put his hands over his mouth to suppress his laughter. "The Pokemon are going to the Dream World." Yvonne's response was to take his hat off his head and hold it high beyond his reach. Ash growled as he jumped reached for his hat. The blonde smirked down at him as she dangled it above him. "Now who's laughing?"

"Hey, give it back, you - " Ash and Yvonne both were jabbed by Croagunk, who led the way to Pallet Town while dragging them to Pallet Town.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

Dawn stared at the Poison/Fighting type in disbelief. "Wow, you were right, Brock. Croagunk does make a great leader!"

"What did I tell ya?" Brock basked in her praise.

"Well, it's more than you can say for Ash, I'll admit that much." Misty smirked.

Before they went to the lab, Ash went to visit his mom. They all helped around the house, ate her cooking, then came to Professor Oak's laboratory.

"You've arrived, and just in time, might I add!" Professor Oak was excited. "Tracey is out doing research right now, but his Venonat is available to start the process. Follow me." He led them to the ranch, where all of his Pokemon were relaxing. Xavier, Dawn and Yvonne were particularly surprised. They didn't know he had so many Pokemon. Ash had his Tauros all hide from them, but his collection was still impressive nonetheless.

"First." Professor Oak snapped them out of their trance. "Send out all of your Pokemon..." He looked at Brock, who had Furret, Electrode, Fennekin, Geodude, and Croagunk out. "Just bring them over here." All of them, along with Surskit, Froakie, Pikachu, Azurill, Talonflame, Litleo, and Piplup sat on the behemoth Torterra. The others were thrown out of their Poke Balls soon after. Of note was Dawn's newest addition, a white candle with yellow eyes and a purple flame on top of its head.

"Cool, I have one of those! Wanna see?" Xavier looked at Dawn.

"Sure! Litwick would, too, I'm sure!" Dawn answered, as Xavier threw his Poke Ball. The two Litwick held hands and merged their flames. They then spit flames out at each other, causing them both to glow and the flames on their head to grow bigger.

"Creepy," Misty commented.

"I'm starting to see why Professor Violet was never a fan," Yvonne added.

Even Professor Oak seemed to find it a little weird, because he immediately got Tracey's Venonat to put them to sleep. It then followed suit on the others, except for Primeape, Scraggy, Noctowl, and Krookodile. Professor Oak quickly explained that the project didn't work for dark types, or Pokemon with sleep-nullifying abilities, before putting small devices on each of them. That meant that the four of them would immediately miss out on the Dream World. The rest of them were immediately transported away.

"How long will they be there?" Dawn wanted to know.

"They should be back in no more than an hour," Professor Oak assured them. "In the meantime, I'll set up everything else so that you can watch them from a screen until they get back to where they were."

Ash turned to his Pokemon. Krookodile looked to the side with its arms folded, Scraggy pulled up its "skin" and let it fall repeatedly, Primeape threw a fit, and Noctowl just stood there, perched on the ground.

"So, it's just us five for now." Ash simplified the current situation for them. He felt weird without Pikachu, but he could live for an hour or so.

"What are you going to do for one hour?" Yvonne questioned him. "I can't see you just sitting there with the others."

"You're absolutely right." Ash returned his Pokemon to their balls, before he got out of the lab and into Route 1, Yvonne close behind him.

"What reason could she have for following him?" Misty turned to the others, who didn't answer.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

In a lone island, the Pokemon were all investigating their surroundings. Some of them, especially the bigger ones, looked bored, but the rest of them couldn't have been happier. In front of them was a rainbow bridge.

"Pika Pikachu?" Pikachu stared at the path, before walking on the bridge. The rest of them followed suit.

They were soon led to a giant tree with an entrance. Just as the smaller ones were about to enter it, Snorlax fell over in front of the hole and feel asleep immediately. Piplup, the two Litwick, Fennekin, Froakie, Seadra, Electrode, Gogoat, Glalie, Gible, Torkoal, Snivy used all of their strongest attacks to try and wake it up, but it didn't even seem to feel it. Furret suddenly jumped on its belly and started using it as a trampoline, before some of the other little ones joined in. Pidgeot, Unfezant, Staraptor, Faiaro, Swellow, Geodude, Togekiss, and Vivillon raced around them, with Electrode joining in soon after (with the help of Magnet Rise, of course). The rest of them were sparring against each other.

After about a half-hour, they were all tuckered out. As if on cue, the sky grew dark and stormy. Many Gengar and Mismagius appeared right before their eyes, all charging up Shadow Balls immediately. All of the non-Dream World natives urgently prepared a special attack to counter them, and the moves collided, causing a huge explosion. They all heard what sounded like a sword grinding against metal, followed by Furret, Vivillon, Shishiko, the two Litwick, Froakie, Surskit, Glalie, Totodile, the two Quilava, and Oshawott groaning in pain. Swellow and Unfezant blew away the smoke, but saw only the ghosts. What else had attacked them?

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

Ash and Yvonne had changed into different outfits: Ash had on the outfit he wore during his travels in Hoenn, and Yvonne wore her standard outfit. Her hair was fixed into a French braid. They stared at each other for a few seconds, before taking a walk.

"Pika!" a voice called from behind him. Ash looked, but all he saw was Yvonne. "Pika?" Ash stared at her as if she was a rabid Umbreon.

"I thought it'd make you feel better," she admitted to him. Ash sighed as he turned back around and kept moving. It was relatively uneventful, although Yvonne did see a Pokemon she wanted: Kadabra. Before Ash could react, Yvonne sent out her Sableye and had it use Will-O-Wisp to burn it, followed by Shadow Claw, which weakened it. She then gave an empty Poke Ball to Sableye, who hovered towards the psychic type and dropped the ball on its head, sucking it in. After three shakes, it was captured. She picked up the ball and simply clipped it on her belt.

"Pichu."

Ash turned to Yvonne again. "That was so funny I forgot to laugh! Do Raichu next."

"First off, I can't do Raichu. Second, it wasn't me this time," she said, pointing to the right. Indeed, there was a young dirty-blonde girl with a black dress on, a Pichu by her side. Both of them seemed to be training hard.

"I wonder if she just started," Yvonne mused, before they heard rustling in the woods. She then sent out her newly caught Kadabra and tossed it a berry to heal its burn and recover. It was engulfed in a faint glow, which covered its wounds. When the aura disappeared, it looked good as new. Kadabra then thrust its spoon towards the bush and moved it away. Behind it was a pair of redheads with bright red suits, matching sunglasses, and black dress shoes. They had a flamboyant air about them. The Pichu and its owner tried to run to the other side, but two others that looked similar to them emerged from the front of her. Yvonne's jaw dropped in shock, something that didn't go unnoticed by Ash.

"You know these guys?" Ash turned to Yvonne, who addressed his concern.

"These guys are Team Flare. They're an organization from Kalos whose goal is to make money by any means necessary," she explained. "Guess they thought they could slip under the radar by heading to another region."

Ash groaned. "More of these organizations?" He gritted his teeth. First Team Rocket, then Magma and Aqua, then Galactic, then Plasma, and now them? "They're gonna have to change their name to Team Scared after we beat them!"

"Right on about the first part, girlie," one of the Team Flare members responded. Yvonne folded her arms, and the man looked down at her. "Oh, I wasn't referring to you."

Ash fumed inwardly at the name he was called as his left hand reached for a Poke Ball, while he pointed forward with his free hand. "Pikachu, Thunderbolt behind us! Squirtle, douse their - " That's when he remembered that the two Pokemon were at the Dream World. The duo in front of Ash and Yvonne sent out two Houndour, while the ones cornering the third wheel sent out a pair of Magmar.

"Noctowl, I choose you!" Ash cried, sending out the wise owl.

The Team Flare members all murmured to each other in approval, saying things like "Not bad" and "That could work". Ash had his Noctowl use Hypnosis on one of the two Houndour. It emitted red rings from its eyes towards the hound Pokemon, causing it to snooze. The other Houndour leaped towards Yvonne's Kadabra, who flashed its spoon into its eyes, before warping away from its fiery fangs. The blinded Houndour landed on its feet and squinted its eyes. Yvonne then requested a Charge Beam. The Psychic Pokemon's spoon glowed a sparking yellow, before a thunder beam emitted from it to the now awakened Houndour. It nimbly leaped above the electric attack, formed a dark ghostly ball in front of itself, and hurled it at Kadabra.

"Ally Switch!" Yvonne yelled, at the same time Ash called for an Air Slash. Kadabra and Noctowl both switched places in a flash, so the Shadow Ball just phased through the flier. Said Pokemon beat its wings a few times and released a blade of air towards the still airborne Houndour, hitting it and sending it crashing. For Kadabra, it used another Charge Beam on the undamaged Houndour, who retaliated with a Flamethrower. The two attacks collided, causing an explosion.

Meanwhile, the Pichu trainer was struggling with the two Magmar. Her Pokemon avoided each attack they dished out, but was already getting tired. Ash saw how much trouble she was in and released Scraggy to the field beside the tiny mouse. "Scraggy, Double Focus Blast!" The little Fighting/Dark type formed two light blue orbs in each hand, each one growing to the size of Wigglytuff, before hurling them at the two Magmar, who had Pichu cornered. The Magmar seemed relatively unharmed by the powerful fighting type attacks. The first Magmar charged towards them, and Scraggy's right leg glowed a bright red-orange as he jumped towards Magmar. Before the Hi Jump Kick could connect, Magmar warped out of the way and reappeared behind Scraggy, who was about to crash.

"Noctowl, lift up Scraggy!" Ash's Noctowl flew towards Scraggy, but the second Magmar blocked its way with a glowing fist. The girl told her Pichu to do Thunder Wave, and her Pokemon sent a small jolt of electricity at the offending fire type, but unfortunately, it also hit Scraggy.

"Sorry!" the black dress wearer called. "Pichu, Thundershock!" Another jolt of electricity, little stronger than Thunder Wave, arced over Magmar, who simply took the attack and retaliated by spewing flames at it. With Magmar distracted, Noctowl was able to pick up Scraggy and fly in Ash's range so that he could recall Scraggy. Pichu's tail caught on fire, and it ran in circles and yelled its name repeatedly. Ash and Yvonne stared, a drop of sweat forming on each of their faces as the Team Flare members snickered.

"That had to be the weakest electric attack in the world," Ash told her discreetly.

"That's an understatement," Yvonne agreed, turning back to her Kadabra, who was being double teamed by the two Houndour. Noctowl was flying over to its side with an Extrasensory attack at the ready. The multicolored attack hit both of the Houndour, but didn't affect them. They just stood in their positions in confusion.

"The Houndour family are also Dark types, which are imm - "

"Focus!" Ash interrupted his blonde partner, not in the mood for a lecture. He immediately sent out Primeape to help assist Pichu, who had just gotten knocked down by a Fire Punch attack. Yvonne saw a window of opportunity to attack the Houndour, who had just regained focus. Kadabra was charging up another Charge Beam attack in its spoon. For some reason, the one Houndour in range of the attack just stood there, even as the electric attack was unleashed. It then unleashed a powerful burst of flames at its lookalike companion, who just let the flames engulf him. As the other Houndour was taken down, Ash stared at it and Kadabra in shock.

"Flash Fire!" Yvonne informed Ash simply, as a large stream of flames spewed from the able Houndour's mouth, surrounding both Kadabra and Noctowl.

"Crobat, Gust!"

"Noctowl, Air Slash and fly up!" Ash yelled, as his Noctowl's air blades pushed the fire away in separate directions, and whatever couldn't be blown away was avoided by Noctowl. It was only a matter of time until the flames were weakened, which allowed Yvonne's Kadabra to overpower it with another Charge Beam and hit the user. From above, Ash's Johto flier sent more air blades at the back of Houndour, taking it down.

Meanwhile, Primeape and a Magmar had grasped each other's hands, each trying to push the other back. The other Magmar was getting ready to stomp on Pichu, along with a pink Shellos sprawled on the ground next to it. Their trailer stood there in shock. Ash quickly recalled Primeape, causing its opponent to topple over because of gravity. He and Yvonne then recalled Noctowl and Kadabra, before replacing them with the paralyzed Scraggy and Sableye, respectively. Yvonne called out a move called "Shadow Gem", which consisted of Sableye forming glowing gems in front of its body, covering them with ghostly energy, and then hurling them at the Magmar who was about to stomp Pichu and Shellos.

Scraggy froze in place as sparks formed around it, so it had no choice but to take the flames from the Fire type Pokemon that had just tripped after a power struggle with Primeape. The flames washed over Scraggy as Ash shouted its name in concern.

"Scraggy, pay him back!" Ash cried, trying to ignore the smirks of the Team Flare members. A faint dark purple aura momentarily appeared in the middle of all the fire, before Scraggy launched from them and gave Magmar a few punches, followed by a hard headbutt, fainting it. Yvonne's Sableye had just extended its shadow to strike the other Magmar and take it down. Both of them were promptly recalled.

"All right, we beat em!" Ash cried, as the guys in red stood there in shock, still smiling. "What's so funny? We beat you!"

"You'd think that, wouldn't you?" another voice called from behind the two Magmar owners. The source turned out to be a guy wearing a similar outfit, but his hair was styled diffferently. "It's a good thing I came when I did. You two can retreat now." The owners of the Houndour did as they were told as Yvonne and Ash focused on him.

"We're not going anywhere," Yvonne retorted, having forgotten about the retreaters.

"Fine. Have it your way," the newly arrived man responded calmly, before sending out a bipedal chicken-like Pokemon that was red and yellow in color. It had feathers that formed as its hair, which also extended to what looked like chest armor. Speaking of "extended", it also had a V-shaped crest which was an extension of its head. Fire cloaked over its grey, featherless hands. All of their jaws dropped; Yvonne's in shock, the younger girl's in fear, and Ash's in nostalgia. Before any of them could even make a move, Blaziken seemed to warp in front of each Pokemon that was out and punch them with fire covered hands. Sableye, Shellos, Pichu, and Scraggy all went down. Out of the four of them, only Sableye was actually able to take the attack. The three of them recalled their Pokemon.

Yvonne brought back Kadabra with a bright smile. "Good thing I saved him." The girl in the black dress shook and slowly sent out her Venipede, while Ash released his Primeape.

"Primeape, use Close Combat!" Ash's pure Fighting-type ran towards the Fire/Fighting type and throw multiple punches and kicks at it, and it retaliated with copying the Pig Monkey's actions, but with flare.

"Can't take the heat?" the Blaziken trainer taunted, as Primeape sweated and struggled to keep up. Yvonne's Kadabra carefully observed Blaziken and aimed a wave of psychic energy at it, but the Hoenn starter jumped into the air, making the Psywave explode on a tree. Blaziken then landed on the ground - hard. Cracks formed on the ground and shook it, sending everyone - both human and Pokemon - off balance, right before seismic waves headed towards them. Primeape jumped over them, while Kadabra teleported away from harm's way. Venipede just stood there and took the attack. Blaziken then jumped in front of Primeape and kicked it back on the ground, right in front of a seismic wave. Kadabra appeared right beside the sprawled Primeape, but it would soon wish it hadn't.

Blaziken landed on the ground once again and unleashed another earthquake, this one more powerful than the last, and sent Kadabra flying to a tree. Primeape got up, now in a blind frenzy, and charged towards Blaziken once again. Meanwhile, Kadabra was trying to recover.

"My, your Primeape certainly has power," the Blaziken user complimented, before diffusing it with an insult. "But without the flair to back it up, it's nothing."

Ash gritted his teeth as the two fighters were engaged in yet another Close Combat war. He watched their movements carefully. Ash noticed that Blaziken was using its hands much more than its legs, and also that its kicks were blocked or dodged more often than its punches.

"Low Sweep!" Before either Blaziken or its master could comprehend what was happening, Primeape crossed its right leg over its left, and then made a backward circular sweeping motion and tripped Blaziken. Yvonne's Kadabra then outlined the fully evolved Pokemon in a light blue aura, before slamming it on the ground. The little girl's Cherubi aimed a Leech Seed attack at it, but it just guarded against it with its flaring hands, before getting up, growling in pure rage.

"Not bad." The user of the dual type Pokemon tossed a swirly white, red and black stone at it. "But you're about to witness its true flair...its true power, so to speak."

Ash and the girl looked confused, while Yvonne just looked shocked. "Wha...no! Anything but that!" She gasped as a rainbow-colored sphere surrounded Blaziken, followed by pink and orange flames swirling around the barrier. It eventually faded to reveal a different looking Pokemon in its place, though it still looked much the same as Blaziken, just darker. Other than that, its red and tan feathers were replaced with black and scarlet colored feathers, respectively. Its featherless hands were now clawed, the V shaped crest on its head had formed into a single horn, and blistering Vs of fire were on its wrists. Its most notable feature, however, was its "hair", which had formed into an X around its face.

Ash was just downright baffled. "B-Blaziken can evolve?" Yvonne was too stunned to answer. When they shifted their focus back to the battlefield, Kadabra and Primeape were already sprawled on the ground, struggling to get up, while their opponent just stood there. Ash took out his Pokedex to scan it, but it disappeared out of sight before he could even point at it. Yvonne was also looking through her Pokedex. She repeatedly muttered "Trick Room". As she was fiddling through her tablet, Blaziken's new form appeared right in front of Kadabra and delivered multiple punches of fire at Kadabra (or maybe they were flaming chops, it was going too fast for anyone to tell).

"Primeape, get it away! Mega Punch!" Ash's Pokemon ran towards it and the completely charred Kadabra, but the mysterious Pokemon just warped behind Primeape, crouched slightly, and delivered a sweeping kick too quick to see coming on its back. Its next spot was above Primeape, where it kicked down on Primeape and sent it crashing on the ground.

"Teleport!" Yvonne's Psychic Pokemon disappeared from its spot, as did the Fire/Fighting type. The unknown Pokemon reappeared about ten steps away from Primeape, which is where Kadabra had landed. Kadabra could only recoil in shock as the type-disadvantaged Pokemon rammed into it and pushed it away, before spitting a weak burst of flames at it, taking it down. Both Primeape and its ally were recalled and replaced with Scraggy and Sableye.

"Scraggy, Focus Blast!" Light blue orbs formed in Scraggy's hands and expanded to the size of its head, but not before paralysis overtook it, and as if things couldn't get worse, the orbs exploded in its hands, causing a great deal of damage to it. Sableye grinned as it ran around Scraggy, unaffected by the explosion.

"Uh, Ash? MegaBlaziken is over there!" Yvonne pointed diagonally to her right. Indeed, it hadn't moved an inch since Primeape and Kadabra were recalled, though it looked like it couldn't wait to deal the smack down to the next Pokemon that dared oppose it. The little girl's Venipede was biting its feet, but its attacks did nothing.

"I have eyes, you know!" Ash snapped back at the blonde, as he recalled Scraggy. "I choose you, Noctowl!" The owl Pokemon returned, ready for another round. "Use Hypnosis!" At the same time, Yvonne's Sableye was asked to use Power Ball. It was another combination of Shadow Ball and Power Gem, but this time, Sableye formed a dark ball, before then hovering gems around it and hurling the finished attack at Mega Blaziken, who simply sidestepped the attack. It found itself in front of Noctowl, who was getting ready to use Hypnosis, but the mega Pokemon just cloaked its fists in electricity and punched it with both fists before it could pull off Hypnosis. Like Scraggy before it, it ended up unable to move.

"Noctowl!" Ash called, as the Fire/Fighting type gave his Pokemon one last Thunder Punch. The Pokemon without a type weakness hovered towards MegaBlaziken, but it disappeared. Every time Sableye turned around, Blaziken would be right behind it. Yvonne would call out move after move, but to no avail. The speedy Pokemon tapped Sableye on the head, and it turned around to see Blaziken's claws cloaked in a pitch black aura. It immediately slashed the dark ghost with it, almost taking it down.

"Sableye, Recover!" Yvonne cried, as her Pokemon began to glow. Blaziken rushed towards it, only to encounter a terracotta-colored crocodile-like Pokemon with black stripes, a white belly, and most notable of all: sunglasses.

Two rings of stones were swirling around said Pokemon, before they launched towards the enemy, who somehow weaved around each and every one of them. It was almost like it saw the attacks coming before they were actually executed.

"Krookodile, use Earthquake!" Ash ordered, as the Dark/Ground type's tail rose in the air, before slamming on the ground, unleashing tremors and seismic waves towards its opponent, who merely jumped over it, its fists cloaked in fire.

"Dragon Claw, now!" Krookodile's claws glowed a light blue as it swiped at Mega Blaziken, the two attacks colliding with each other. The two of them were struggling for dominance, when two eerie balls of light hit Krookodile's enemy, dazing it. It momentarily uncloaked its fists, allowing Krookodile to easily strike it in the torso with its Dragon Claw attack and get breathing room. The fiery Pokemon shook its head a few times, before focusing on the two part-Dark types.

It snapped out of confusion already? Yvonne thought, as Ash replaced his Krookodile with Primeape, who looked ready to keel over any minute. Sableye dashed behind Primeape, before going towards MegaBlaziken.

The man commanding the Mega Pokemon sighed. "Haven't you caught on by now? Speed Boost means my Pokemon goes faster until it beats you all." He watched as his Pokemon simply gave Sableye a flaming uppercut...turning it to white smoke? The smoke obscured its vision as Primeape got it with a powerful punch on the same spot that Krookodile slashed it. It looked a little healthier than when Ash had sent it out.

"Sorry, I only had a few Oran Berries," Yvonne told Ash. "But it's better than nothing, right?"

The Team Flare member's Pokemon tumbled over, but quickly righted itself and ran towards Primeape again. It ran past it, stopped in front of Ash, and...flicked him, causing him to roll over clumsily. It then went back to Primeape and repeatedly punched it, alternating between fire and thunder. The two girls ran towards Ash to see if he was okay.

"I'm fine..." Ash assured them, as they helped him up. "Thanks. Primeape, Low Sweep again!" The Pig Monkey Pokemon was too beaten and worn out to even do a thing, so all it took was one uppercut to send it flying, before it landed on its back. Ash recalled the pure Fighting-type, before replacing it with Krookodile once again. Krookodile looked up at Ash's face and reeled back in shock.

Yvonne pointed to MegaBlaziken and its trainer. "They're at fault." Krookodile growled at them as not two, but four rings of stones circled around it. MegaBlaziken once again weaved around them, but it wasn't expecting Sableye's Power Gem to also be thrown in, so a few stones had managed to graze it.

Ash turned to the girl, who still wasn't doing anything. "Don't just stand there and let them win, do something!"

"But I'm not nearly as good as you - " she began, before Ash cut in with, "By letting them do whatever they want, you're just giving up! You suck for letting them run over you! Did you make it this far just to tell your Pokemon - and the world - that their trainer's a coward?"

The girl blinked a few times, before sending out her Trapinch. It opened its mouth and created a gust attack, which was merged with Stone Edge to create a stone tornado that headed towards Team Flare. The Pokemon that evolved via a weird stone fought back with Flamethrower, which turned it into a flaming rock tornado and pushed it back.

"Protect!" the girl commanded, as her Trapinch formed a green barrier around itself, protecting the three of them from the improvised attack. Ash thought it looked somewhat like a contest move, one May would do. Of course, hers would have looked better. He then snapped out of his thoughts as chunks of earth beneath them cracked and rose. The green barrier disappeared, as did the attack, but the mega Pokemon was nowhere to be found.

"Trapinch, use Gust again, but around all of us!" the youngest one of the group commanded, leading them all right beside their Pokemon. Trapinch repeated its course of action. This would prevent them from any attacks aimed at the trainers. A burst of flame behind Ash was headed towards the six of them, but this time, the wind blew it away, dispersing it into small embers.

"That's more like it! Show them who's boss!" Ash encouraged her, but in one blink of the eye, he found Sableye, Trapinch, and Krookodile on the ground. That's some speed! They couldn't even see Team Flare's Pokemon anymore. Anytime one of theirs tried to get up, they would get taken down by an attack that none of them could even see coming.

"Yvonne, didn't you say Kadabra had Trick Room?" Ash reminded her.

"That's what I thought, too," she replied in defeat. The small girl looked confused for some reason. Finally, when their Pokemon fainted, MegaBlaziken got ready to finish them off with a huge fire attack, when streaks of wind suddenly appeared above them all. They heard what sounded like wings quietly flapping, followed by spores scattering. The three of them looked up to see what it was, but by then, the noises stopped, and the wind streaks were gone.

"Huh? There's nothing there..." Ash mused.

"That's not all...look," Yvonne pointed around herself. The troubling Hoenn (or at least used to be, as far as he knew, this new Blaziken form was not native to Hoenn) Pokemon was stunned, while the Team Flare members were asleep. Yvonne held back a burning urge to take care of them herself, before settling for calling the police on them. Ash would have to ask Professor Oak and/or Gary what he knew about MegaBlaziken later on, if the latter wouldn't be such a douchebag.

"I sure didn't expect to beat them," the girl commented. "By the way, my name's Salem." Just as she gave out her identity, an Officer Jenny appeared on her motorcycle and parked just in front of the stunned MegaBlaziken. She reached out to them with her handcuffs, before the air got unbearably hot. It was then that a nine-tailed fox appeared. It flicked its tails, sending small embers through the trees and causing a forest fire.

"Arcanine, Flash Fire!" Officer Jenny cried, sending out an orange puppy-like Pokemon with black stripes and a black nose. It had a tuft of fur on its head, chest hair, and a bushy tail, all of which were tan. It glowed crimson for a brief second before all of the fire that was spreading attracted towards it, powering it up. Team Flare and their Pokemon were already gone.

Officer Jenny didn't even stay to chat, she just drove away on her motorcycle, her Pokemon running beside her.

"I can't believe they escaped," Salem voiced her thoughts.

Ash smiled. "Officer Jenny will catch them soon enough! Professor Oak has a healing machine at the lab. Let's go!"

Ten minutes later, they rushed to the lab to get their healed, and Salem went off to continue her journey. Ash and Yvonne then met up with the others, who were watching the Dream World on a screen set up by Professor Oak and his Rotom (Note: He got Rotom during the Unova League, NOT Da!.). It sometimes showed static, but they still had a good idea of what was going on.

"Professor Oak, how many more minutes are left?" Misty wanted to know, as the screen turned to static again.

"About ten. Unless they can beat that Pokemon within that timeframe, the Dream World will never be safe again," Professor Oak replied, before looking behind him to see Ash and Yvonne. "Oh, you two are back! How did it go?"

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

The ghost Pokemon were all taken down, but one still remained: A sword attached to what looked like a piece of cloth. It had taken out nearly every single one of the opposing Pokemon. None of them knew how to counter it: It had an answer to almost everything they tried. Most of them would have still been up if they hadn't been caught off guard by unexpected Destiny Bonds from the Mismagius and Gengar. The sword swung itself towards the ones that were still up, chasing them down, when a white barrier appeared around every one of them.

A white winged figure with blue and red patterns on its torso appeared in front of them. Pikachu, Psyduck, and a few others gasped in shock. It couldn't be...

The winged figure then wagged its finger at the sword before a huge burst of light energy covered the sword Pokemon, dealing it a lot of damage. By the time the attack was finished, it was on the ground, and the clouds in the sky cleared. The winged creature chanted a few times before a bell appeared over them. The bell chimed a melody, revitalizing them completely. Snorlax slowly sat up, having been asleep the whole time. Without a word, the winged creature flew around the tree, berries dropping from it. The white Pokemon flew towards the rest of them and gave them one each. Snorlax swallowed his whole, while the rest of them ate at least one bite, before they were transported away from the dream world. Somehow, the Pokemon that had defeated the mysterious sword had transported out, too.

Meanwhile, in the lab, the humans all heard loud crashing noises from outside.

"Time's up!" Brock announced, as they all rushed to the ranch. Every single Pokemon sent to the other world was back, with one addition. The creature that had defeated the sword Pokemon hovered in front of Misty, who was stunned beyond belief.

"Togetic? But...I thought you were in another dimension!" Misty couldn't believe that her baby was back here. Togetic cried out in happiness.

"Apparently, that 'other dimension' was the Dream World!" Brock pointed out. Misty and Togetic hugged as Pikachu stared at them in what looked like jealousy.

"Pikachu, how was the Dream World?" Ash inquired.

"Pika Pika!"

Togetic chanted something to Misty, who looked confused. Brock translated for her. "Togetic's come back to this world because the rest of the group are strong enough to protect themselves by now! A Pokemon called Honedge had been terrorizing them for quite some time, so she trained them to become strong, all to see you, Misty! But first, she had to save the all of our Pokemon, before coming back here!"

"Furret! Fur!" Furret cried indignantly, glaring at Togetic and Brock.

"Sure, sure." The doctor/breeder smirked.

"What's a Honedge, anyway?" Ash wanted to know, as Misty was assuring Togetic that Azurill would never replace it. Yvonne showed a picture to him on her tablet. "Oh..."

As they waved goodbye to Professor Oak and continued their journey, Togetic perched itself on Misty's head. Pikachu attached balloons to itself and got on Ash's head. Crobat (who was called back to replace Electrode) and Togetic then hovered in front of their trainers, with Pikachu following suit. Its balloons were keeping it afloat. Crobat subtly sent blades of air to pop the balloons, causing Pikachu to crash on the ground.

"Pikachu? You okay?" Ash crouched in front of him as Misty and Brock laughed.

"Pikachuuuu..."

Ash carried it, before thinking a little. "I wonder if Butterfree went to the Dream World with his mate..."

Yvonne sharply turned to him. "You had a Butterfree?"

"Yeah, but I let it go when it fell in love. With a pink female Butterfree, to be exact. I knew I had to let it go with the one he loved. No one can capture my Butterfree, though, because I never officially released it, only set it free," Ash explained, and Yvonne turned pale. "What's wrong?"

He had a Butterfree and didn't tell me? I spent days trying to catch the two of them when one of them is still technically under his ownership? Professor Violet won't like this... Yvonne thought. "Oh! That's great that you let it go!" She forced a smile.

After a couple of random battles, they headed to the Pokemon Center, where two people familiar to only Ash, Brock and Misty had just arrived from the front of the desk, two multi-tailed Pokemon by their side.

"Suzy! Zane!" Brock was glad to see them again. Croagunk came out of its ball, waiting for him to flirt with Suzy, but it never happened. Vulpix jumped into Brock's arms, glad to see him again.

"Hey, Brock! Long time, no talk! Who are all of your friends? I know Ash and Misty, but not the others," Zane told him.

Brock introduced them all to each other, and Suzy looked at him. "I think Vulpix wants to come back to you."

"Really? I was only looking after it," Brock told her.

"I wouldn't have bothered, it might have been Ash's at some point," Yvonne muttered.

"What? I told you that was the last wild Pokemon to be recruited!" Ash retorted.

"Yeah, and you conveniently left out Ambipom and Butterfree," she countered.

Just then, Brock's Pokemon were brought back to him. Vulpix and Fennekin were carried in his arms, Furret was curled around him, Geodude hovered around him, Crobat was perched on his head, and Croagunk just stood behind him, confused.

"Don't ask. Please, don't ask." Xavier looked at Suzy and Zane.

Brock then rushed to a videophone and contacted his brother, who Brock once again had to introduce to most of the others. Forrest had asked to borrow his Croagunk, who looked mortified. He had never left Brock's side! He said he needed it to counter grass types, which had been more and more common these days. That was when Brock remembered that because of the upcoming PWT, gym leaders were no longer restricted to using only their types until then. He agreed to trade it in for a few days. It was then that Forrest suggested trying out the Safari Zone if any of them needed more Pokemon, seeing as many Pokemon from other regions had migrated there.

"One could always use more Pokemon for their collection," Xavier stated, and the others agreed.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

Two days later, they (minus Xavier, who had work to do, so he left the group for a while) had arrived at the entrance of Fuchsia City's Pokemon Center.

"Well, guys, ready to catch more Pokemon?" Dawn turned to them.

"Yep! As they say, gotta catch 'em all!" Ash smiled.

"Who says that?" Yvonne questioned, as they walked into the building...

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

Pokemon: Back to Basics

Creator: marioluigifan05

Theme Song: Jason Paige

4Kids Entertainment

Voices

Ash, Gary's Cheerleaders: Veronica Taylor

Gary: Jimmy Zoppi

Professor Oak: Stuart Zagnit

Brock: Eric Stuart

Misty, Yvonne, Jessie: Rachael Lillis

Tobias: J Michael Tatum

Iris: Eileen Stevens

Dawn: Emily Bauer

Damien: Maddie Blaustein

Trip: Jamie McGonnigal

James, Giovanni: Ted Lewis (James for Chapter 11 only)

Meowth: Nathan Price (Chapter 11 only)

Dr. Zager: Marc Thompson

Xavier: Jason Griffith

Paul: Julián Rebolledo

Salem: Amy Birnbaum

Pikachu: Ikue Otani

MegaBlaziken: Bill Rogers (or Nicholas Dimichele)
 
THE NEW AND IMPROVED CHAPTER 12 IS UP!

Thanks to RK for helping with a few scenes!

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

(Theme)

"Safari Zoned Out"

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

The first thing they heard upon entering the building was the sound of a gun being cocked. They all recoiled at the sound, and Ash yelled, "Wait, Kaiser! It's us!" He then realized the mistake he made; the red vest-wearing elder had only seen him, Brock and Misty before. He knew he should have walked in first! Thankfully, Kaiser put the gun down, before then apologizing to them. He explained that some shady people had tried to infiltrate the Safari Zone earlier and exploit the Pokemon for their own gain, including his precious Dragonair. Thankfully, he was able to stop them, but he had been more than a little bit on edge since then.

The old man then went on to explain the rules of the Safari Zone: No Pokemon, $500 for entry, items are limited to bait and rocks, though bikes can be used (at the mention of "bikes", Misty narrowed her eyes at Ash, who shrunk under her gaze).

"Why can't we use Pokemon?" Yvonne wanted to know. Kaiser reached for his gun slowly, and she took back what she said. "N-Not that you have t-to or an...anything. Rare Pokemon are worth every bit of money! What a good deal!" She smiled nervously and dropped a sweat. Kaiser cocked his gun again, and she hid behind Misty, who immediately grabbed her and put her back in the front. "I-I mean, going into the Safari Zone is worth it!"

What a lunatic, she thought, as they all forked over their cash, Pokemon (some of whom were sad to be away from their trainers), Poke Balls, and other belongings. They were given thirty Safari Balls each, as well as bait and rocks. When then rushed into the actual Safari Zone to get away from Kaiser, Yvonne made a call to Professor Violet with her device as Brock and Dawn went in one direction. Ash and Misty waited for the blonde to be finished. Yvonne scooted away from them a little as the Kalos region professor appeared on the screen.

"Any updates?" the old lady wanted to know.

"I'm at the Safari Zone at Fuchsia City," Yvonne answered her, before lowering her voice. "Oh, and about the Butterfree, one of them belongs to Ash, and that pink one is its mate."

Professor Violet sighed. "Can't get what you want without minor setbacks, I suppose." Her Hypno nodded its head in agreement. "What Pokemon are you going to use?"

Yvonne explained to her the rules of the Safari Zone, turning the old lady pale. "That..." she seemed at a loss for words. "It's..."

Yvonne interrupted with, "You try explaining that to a guy with a gun at the ready."

The old lady forced a smile and continued the conversation. "Well, good luck anyway! Goodbye, dear!" Yvonne's device promptly turned blank. She put it back in her pocket and went towards a meadow.

"I bet you couldn't catch even one Pokemon here." Misty leaned towards him and smirked.

"Aren't you guys coming?" Yvonne turned to the two, who were much too close to each other. "Uh, okay, don't want to interrupt anything. I'll meet you there!"

Misty and Ash huffed and turned away from each other, before running after her.

Meanwhile, with Brock and Dawn, they had been looking for rare Pokemon for about ten minutes. All they really saw were Pokemon they already had, or most often, common Pokemon that could be found almost anywhere, such as Rattata and Pidgey.

"He said rare Pokemon migrated to the Safari Zone." Dawn folded her arms. "But I don't see anything!"

"Speak for yourself." Brock tossed one of his Safari Balls on the ground in front of a charging Rhyhorn. As he expected, it headbutted the ball and got sucked in. Brock turned to the ball, then at Dawn. "All right! I caught a Pokemon!"

"Good for you - " Dawn's tirade was interrupted by the Rhyhorn breaking out of its ball. It was charging straight towards them. Dawn began to run, and Brock yelled out, "Don't waste too many steps!"

Just as he said that, Kaiser shot a blank in the air to indicate that Dawn's time was up. She huffed as she went back to the entrance. Meanwhile, Brock dropped bait in front of Rhyhorn, who stopped to take a few bites. While it was distracted, Brock positioned itself to toss a Safari Ball at it, when -

BANG!

Brock grumbled and followed Dawn. If only he had gotten just a couple more steps, he could have caught it, but what's done was done, he supposed.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

Ash, Misty, and Yvonne ended up with each other in the meadow. For the first few minutes, all they saw were common early route Pokemon. Later on, they spotted a cream-colored cat Pokemon with a charm on its head poke its head out from behind a tree. It looked around for a few seconds, before slowly crawling towards them.

"Meowth!" Yvonne exclaimed.

"That's right!" Ash smiled widely, and Misty glared at him.

"Hey! No fair! I was gonna say that first!" she complained.

"Sorry, better luck next time." Ash watched as Meowth nipped its own paw.

"I gotta catch it! Guys, don't look," Yvonne told him.

"Why? It's not like you have to - " Ash began, but Misty got out a log and hit him on the head.

"She said don't look!"

Ash grumbled from the ground. "This is stupid..."

When Yvonne saw that they were both facing the opposite direction, she slowly approached the Meowth, cooed at it, and dropped bait between the two of them. She got out a Safari Ball and tossed it at the Pokemon, but it just narrowly missed. Meowth looked confused and crawled a few steps back as Yvonne missed with another Safari Ball. Misty peeked and held back laughter as the blonde got frustrated and chased after it, tripping over the bait she placed for the Scratch Cat Pokemon earlier.

Hearing the fall, Ash rushed toward her to try and help her up. "Are you okay, Yvonne?"

The angry girl rejected his offer, swatted him away, and got up on her own. "I would have called you if I needed your help, but as you can see, I'm doing just fine on my own."

"That's not what it looks like." Ash snickered a little, pointing to a curling Meowth, who was nipping on the bait (despite the fact that it was stepped on) and swinging its tail over the two balls.

The blonde's face heated up in embarrassment. "I told you not to look at me!" Ash and Misty laughed even harder. "I'm serious!" She got out two rocks and hurled it at them. Ash braced himself, but it turned out he didn't really need to, as the rocks just landed in the middle of him and Misty.

Ash still couldn't hold in his laughter. "Bulls-eye! It landed between us!"

"I'd like to see you do better then!" Yvonne shouted.

Ash stopped laughing after a while, and then got in front of Meowth. He then got out a rock, and tossed it on its head. Meowth yelped in pain as the round object landed on the ground, before staring at it. Yvonne giggled at his mistake.

"What's so funny?" Ash turned to her, who ignored his question. Meowth fanned itself while staring at it.

Yvonne gasped. "That's right! Meowth loves round items!" She donned her glasses as she wiped sweat off her forehead. The girl then shoved Ash aside, grabbed another Safari Ball, and tossed it...behind Meowth. It looked like it was deciding on whether to play with the rock, or the three Safari Balls.

"Ugh, this heat is ruining my concentration!" she complained, causing the other two to laugh at her expense again. "It's not funny!"

"Now that she mentions it, it is pretty hot," Misty remarked from the back, trying to shield herself from the sun.

Soon enough, Ash stopped laughing and went closer to her, leaning his head towards her and smirking. "I bet you'd like to see me do better, huuuuh?"

Yvonne refused to answer as Ash turned his hat backwards, ignoring the increasingly hot weather, and pulled out a ball. "Catching a Pokemon's pretty easy. All you do is raise your arm...and aim..." He demonstrated to Yvonne as Meowth caught the rock in its paws and started playing with it. Yvonne gave him a sharp look, and he looked away nervously. "Oops, wrong item."

He took out a Safari Ball this time, and then demonstrated the arm movements to her again. He then tossed it nowhere in particular, and yelled, "Go, Poke Ball!" It landed on a faraway Pokemon and sucked it in.

"That's a Safari Ball," Yvonne "corrected" him.

Ash ignored her comment and turned to her. "Now you try." She took a ball and winded up her arm, before throwing it at Meowth. The ball flew closer to it, but still barely grazed its charm.

"Eh, close enough." Ash took out another ball. He smiled inwardly as he tossed it in another direction. He kinda liked having someone to teach. It reminded him of his mentor days in Hoenn and Sinnoh, when he taught May and Dawn the basics. Like the first Safari Ball, this one sucked in another Pokemon.

"You might have to put it into practice a few times before you can really get the hang of it." Ash told Yvonne, as she misaimed at a mysterious Pokemon only known to her. Said Pokemon ran away from them when the ball went past it. Ash tossed a few more of the capsules given to him by Kaiser to give her a better idea of how to do it, and each of them captured a Pokemon. Yvonne practiced her aim by throwing rocks and balls at a nearby boulder. Ash showed her a couple more times how to aim. At one point, she managed to hit a Yanma on the head...with a rock (Ash giggled at that). Just a few minutes later, Ash reached for another ball...to find his pockets empty.

"Go...I wasted all thirty!?" he shouted, as Yvonne faced him.

"I guess you don't say 'gotta catch 'em all' for nothing, do you?" She nudged him and confidently took out another Safari Ball. "I've got it now!" she announced, as she hurled a Safari Ball at the Meowth. This time, it actually sucked it in. The ball landed on the ground and shook a couple of times before dinging to indicate that the capture was complete. The Poke Ball disappeared, which meant Yvonne already had a full party of six.

"All right, you finally did it!" Ash cheered, as a six-legged Pokemon with a white mane climbed up a nearby boulder. It had five fiery horns, blue eyes, and a brown lower body.

Ash's jaw dropped. "Wow, a Larvesta!" He now wished he didn't waste all thirty of his balls. He made a grab for the Safari Ball in her hand. After all, he had just as much right to get the Larvesta as she did, if not more. If she wasn't there, or at least didn't need help, he'd still have most, if not all, of the balls that Kaiser gave him. Yvonne ignored his attempts as she whirled her arm a couple of times.

"Go, go, Safari Ball!" she cried, as the ball hurled past him. Ash's eyes were glued to it. His mouth only got vertically wider as Yvonne successfully nabbed it with her Safari Ball. Ash felt his heart beat harder against his chest with each shake. He prayed that it would break out, but it never happened. In fact, the Poke Ball finally stopped moving, before it disappeared from sight.

"Yes! A Larvesta!" she bragged joyously, before putting a hand on Ash's slumped shoulder. "Thanks so much!"

Lucky shot... Ash thought, as he looked away when she got in front of him. "Don't look away, that was pretty nice of you."

"No problem..." Ash forced himself to face her smiling face. "Hey, where's Misty?" Indeed, Misty had disappeared sometime during Ash's mentorship.

"Beats - "

BANG!

Yvonne recoiled in fear, having nearly forgotten about Kaiser. Meanwhile, Ash was secretly glad that Kaiser shot a blank, mentally thanking him the whole walk back. Words couldn't describe the embarrassment he felt.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

Misty was the last to get back from the Safari Zone. On their walk to the Pokemon Center, they all shared their experiences at the Safari Zone. Just as Ash feared, Yvonne never stopped bragging about her capture. She was especially elated to find out that Brock and Dawn hadn't caught anything. Misty was quite happy herself (she caught at least one Pokemon she wasn't telling them about), but not as happy as Yvonne. When they had arrived to the Pokemon Center, Yvonne got in front of the videophone.

"Ladies first," she had reminded Ash, as she pressed a few buttons.

"That's a lady?" Ash muttered in earshot, as Professor Violet appeared on the screen.

"What did you catch?" she asked the younger girl. Yvonne told her the whole story of how Larvesta was caught, surprising the lady.

"Larvesta? That's a rare sight, even in Unova! I expected migrations of rare Pokemon, but never a Larvesta! And you managed to get it, too!" Professor Violet congratulated. "Which Pokemon would you like to transfer to me?"

"Well, Camerupt's training session is done, so I'll transfer her for Larvesta and make it as strong as I can," Yvonne answered, as her Camerupt was transferred to the professor in favor of her newly caught Bug/Fire type Pokemon.

"Good choice. With the recent delay of the PWT, this gives me more time to prepare and you more time to train that little Larvesta. Who knows, you might even get a - " Professor Violet began, before Ash cut in with, "The Pokemon World Tournament's postponed? Where'd you hear that?"

"Ash! She's talking!" Yvonne hissed at him, but the lady didn't seem to mind.

"Well..." Professor Violet looked at her clock, before immediately cutting off the videophone.

The blonde blinked at the screen, before Dawn went to check on her mom. It turned out that she had to go back to Twinleaf Town and stay with her for a while, at least until the PWT began. They all said their goodbyes to her, and vice-versa, as she flew her Togekiss to Vermilion City, hoping it would be much less hot in Sinnoh. Now it was just Ash, Misty, Brock and Yvonne outside, where the sun was blistering on them even harder. Even Ash and Yvonne's hats did little to shield them from the intense heat. They all groaned as the sun beat down on them more and more. Misty's Froakie expanded the cloud-like foam on its neck, jumped above them, before letting some of the white material fall over them like rain. Speaking of rain, the stuff eventually thinned and liquefied to rain, but it dissolved instantly. Froakie landed with a frown and recalled itself in its Poke Ball.

"Not even Rain Dance worked," muttered Misty. "Ash, we can't go to Cinnabar Island now!" Ash just smiled at the Poke Ball in his hand, ignoring her. "Ash Ketchum, are you listening!?" The male Poke Ball holder just tossed the capsule in the air and released the Pokemon inside. Before any of them could react, it swooped in from behind them, hoisted them on their backs, and immediately flew into the skies...

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

On top of a volcano, an old man with round sunglasses and a lab suit was beside a tuckered out Magmar, battling with two people in red suits. The first one was a woman with long orange hair, while the second one was a short-haired man. Both of them were commanding a Pokemon that looked like Charizard, a species Ash had experience training, but there were a few differences. Its wings had a more fiery design. It had a sharp horn between its ears, small draconic wings on top of its arms, and a few sharp points on its tail. As well as that, its tail flame looked a lot bigger than the average Charizard's too, and the heat only assisted it. Ash and Yvonne's faces narrowed when they saw the male member. He was the same person who used that different looking Blaziken against them, and escaped from the police, too.

"Robert, was it them you were talking about?" asked his companion. He nodded in response. The woman tossed a Poke Ball at him, ordering him to escape while she took care of them. Blaine turned around to see them. He normally would have been glad to see them after years, but this was an urgency.

Robert tossed the ball to the ground, and released the Pokemon inside. Whatever it was, it quickly heaved Robert on its back and ran off in a flash. Without a word, Yvonne and Brock (who recalled all of his Pokemon except Fennekin and Vulpix to protect them from the particularly hot sun) jumped off of Ash's Charizard and landed on the ground, leaving just Ash and Misty. Yvonne sent out her Kadabra and had it use Trick Room. Its eyes glowed as a blue cube formed around it, before spreading all the way beyond their eyesight. The light blue glow then disappeared as Yvonne recalled her Kadabra, before tossing another Poke Ball.

"Gogoat! Go after them!" she demanded, as she and Brock got on its back. Yvonne and Brock held on tight as the Grass type zoomed towards Robert. Before they could even see what Pokemon he was on, he recalled it. Gogoat's horns glowed threateningly as Brock and Yvonne cornered him. The Team Flare member responded by tossing a capsule on the ground. It contained a ghostly, yellow eyed chandelier-like creature with a blue fire on its head. Four arms tipped with flame extended from its body. Without warning, it waved its flames around itself and its owner in a protective stance. Yvonne immediately jumped back and recalled Gogoat, while Brock just stood there and watched as his Vulpix absorbed any fires that were headed towards the black man.

Yvonne fixed her glasses on her face as she mused over which Pokemon would be best against Chandelure. She then grabbed a Poke Ball and tossed it upward. "Go, go, Dugtrio!" she cried, as a mole with three heads emerged from it. Each of them had an oval pink nose, black eyes, and brown skin. Brock sent out his Marshtomp to assist.

"Dugtrio, Stone Edge!" Yvonne yelled, as light blue rings of aura formed around the Mole Pokemon in slow motion. Meanwhile, Brock's Marshtomp was engaged in battle with Chandelure. Both of them were faster than ever, but none could land either a physical or special hit on the other, until -

"Marshtomp, Yawn!" As Robert's Chandelure prepared to ram into it, Marshtomp yawned right in its face. Chandelure started to get drowsy and slowly drop to the ground. A few seconds later, it actually fell asleep. At the same time, the psychic barrier around them wore off.

Sharp stones were circling in all directions around Yvonne's Dugtrio for a brief moment, before they quickly launched towards the sleeping fire ghost, who could only sit there and get hit by each and every stone. It still wasn't enough to wake up the Chandelure, unfortunately for Robert. Brock had his Marshtomp use Water Pledge, which consisted of it slamming its fist on the ground, causing pillars of water to form in a straight line on the ground. They all rushed around Chandelure in a ring of aquatic pillars, ready to form into one move that would surely finish it off, when Robert suddenly rushed beside his Pokemon, taking the brunt of the attack. Chandelure still took some damage, but its trainer softened the blow.

"That works, too." Brock smiled.

"You doubted me, didn't you?" Yvonne smiled back at him.

"I doubted you could outdo me, which you didn't," teased the black man.

"You won't delay our - " Robert began, sputtering out water from its mouth. "Beautiful - " He coughed again. "World."

"I don't know what he's talking about, and I don't care," Yvonne commented, as she took out her device and got ready to call Officer Jenny on her device so she could tell her about the situation. The Team Flare member's Chandelure was still snoozing, and Brock's Marshtomp was covered in a white light...!

Its body expanded as it crouched on all fours while still glowing. When the glow faded, a new Pokemon emerged. Its large body was blue, and it had two gills protruding from its cheeks. Two black fins were on its head, and there was another one on its tail. Each of its three-fingered hands had orange oval-shaped portions. Brock smiled wider as his new Pokemon roared and opened its orange eyes, before attempting to stand on just its two hind legs. It toppled over, and its trainer went to go help it.

"Easy, you just evolved," he told the Hoenn starter, as it got back on all fours.

"I've never actually seen one of those before," Yvonne told herself, as she scanned it: "Swampert, the Mud Fish Pokémon. It is so strong it has enough strength to drag a boulder weighing more than a ton. It also has powerful vision that lets it see even in Murky Water. It predicts storms by sensing subtle differences in the sound of waves and tidal winds with it's fins."

When her Pokedex was finished giving out information, Robert had pulled himself together, recalled Chandelure, and tossed another Poke Ball high in the air. It opened up and released Charizard, a species they were familiar with. Yvonne smiled to herself; those training sessions with Ash's Charizard were going to pay off. Swampert was still getting used to its new body, so it wouldn't be of much help.

"Dugtrio, Stone Edge!" she instructed, as pointed rocks swirled around the Mole Pokemon, and then zoomed towards Charizard, who swerved around them and closer to the user. Brock tossed a ball capsule into the air and released a giant rock with eyes, a mouth, and skinny arms.

"Geodude, Rock Throw!" he commanded.

Brock's Rock/Ground type picked up a few rocks from the ground and hurled them at the opponent, who slashed them to pieces. The debris just harmlessly dropped to the ground as Yvonne's Dugtrio dug into the ground. Robert's Charizard opened its mouth and released a beam of solar energy. It grew larger as it headed towards Geodude. Oddly enough, Brock didn't look the least bit concerned or nervous.

"Geodude, Sandstorm!"

As soon as Brock said those two words, Geodude lifted its two arms up, spun around, and formed a tornado of sand around it that eventually became a sandstorm. The Solar Beam hit its mark, causing an explosion. When the smoke cleared, Geodude was nowhere to be seen.

As Charizard guarded itself against the fierce sandstorm, Geodude had taken advantage of its blind spot and rammed into the large winged creature from behind. Unwilling to back down, Charizard planted its feet hard into the field and stood its ground as its trainer ordered a Focus Blast. Charizard cupped its hands together as a light blue sphere materialized between them, slowly growing in size.

"Sucker Punch!" Yvonne ordered, as Dugtrio sped towards its opponent at incredible speed and rammed itself right into its torso. Despite Charizard being slightly groggy from the attack, it still managed to hold on to the destructive sphere. Robert quickly pointed to his right, which was where he saw the Mole Pokemon retreat. The Flame Pokemon, without hesitation, shot its powerful attack right at Yvonne's three headed Pokemon, with the force of the move causing another explosion, which picked up debris and stray rocks.

"Stone Edge!" Robert's two opponents shouted in union. Both Pokemon materialized a ring of rocks, which they both proceeded to shoot at the Fire/Flying Pokemon. With the involvement of the already stray rocks in the area, the powerful attacks were powered up, which resulted in Charizard being smashed into the ground.

"Sand Veil sure comes in handy, doesn't it?" Yvonne smiled to Brock, as the Team Flare guy inserted a stone into the ring around this wrist. Suddenly, his felled Pokemon was encased in a fiery protective orb of black and blue. All of the debris was sucked into it, effectively getting rid of the sandstorm altogether.

"Trio, Trio!" Dugtrio bellowed angrily.

"Don't attack," Yvonne warned her Pokemon, as the aura around Robert's Pokemon slowly turned to small embers.

Brock and Yvonne were speechless as the new Pokemon's body was completely uncovered. Its skin was now black with a blue underside. On its shoulders were two blue spikes. The tips of its horns matched the spikes. Two additional spikes grew on the back of its neck, and the edges of its wings got divided into large, rounded sections. Like its neck and shoulders, the tips of its wings had a curved spike on each one. To accompany its new appearance, the flame on its tail was a burning blue. It even had periwinkle-colored flames blowing out of the sides of its mouth, making it look that much more fearsome.

"Dugtrio, keep your distance and use Earthquake!" Yvonne shouted in urgency, as the cool Ground-type Pokemon burrowed on the ground backwardly to its trainer.

It then alternated between lowering and rising each of its heads in any order and created multiple small tremors that rumbled the earth, forming cracks in front of it. The blue winged Pokemon simply stepped on a seismic wave in order to stop the earthquake from taking effect. Brock's jaw dropped in shock as he recalled his Geodude. After pondering for a few moments, Yvonne put her Dugtrio back in its ball. The two of them then tossed a Poke Ball each into the air. One released a yellow and green Pokemon with brown zigzags on its body, a duck-like beak, and a lily pad growing from the top of the sombrero on its head. The second Poke Ball released...the same thing.

The two Ludicolo owners stared at each other wordlessly, before turning back to their opponent (which Robert called Mega Charizard X).

"Ludicolo, use Rain Dance!" Brock called out, as a transparent orb of liquid appeared on top of the plant on his Pokemon's head. It then shot up into the sky and split from the sphere into multiple raindrops that drizzled over everyone. The Mega Charizard casually shrugged off all of the rain that was pouring on its body as it flew towards the two Grass/Water types, with its claws sharpened. They took on a ghostly, dark purple aura as Charizard slashed down on the first Ludicolo's face, and then followed it up with another slash, this time swinging sideways. The Ludicolo lowered its head to brace itself from the second Shadow Claw attack, and as the Ghost-type move struck it, a seed launched out of the plant on its head and latched itself onto Charizard. Thorns sprouted from the seed and restrained its movements. It tried to burn the Leech Seed attack, but the rain rendered its Fire attacks useless.

Yvonne fingered her trusted device in her pocket and played a festive song on it. Brock sharply turned to her. "What are you doing?" he exclaimed, and that's when it hit him: Ludicolo got more powerful when exposed to festival music. In addition to that, the one that was hit by Shadow Claw earlier was taking in as much rain as it could, before it got absorbed by the plant, thus healing it.

"Before it can make a move, Hydro Pump!" Brock shouted, and his Ludicolo unleashed a pressurized stream of water from its mouth, being all the more powerful because of the rain. Yvonne's Ludicolo followed suit, the two blasts merging into one swirling geyser of liquid that hit Mega Charizard head on, sending it crashing on Robert. Robert got bumped into by one of his Pokemon yet again, this time, getting knocked unconscious.

The rain stopped right after that, so Yvonne called Officer Jenny, who instantly arrived to confiscate the Team Flare member's items and Pokemon, and take him into her police car, before driving off. Brock noticed a black ring in an imprint on the ground where Robert landed earlier. He slowly picked it up, before the two of them left to check on Misty and Ash.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

The two Charizard were at a face-off against each other. Pikachu, Togetic, Blaine, Magmar, and Azurill were watching them go at it (Charizard wanted to take it down on its own). Both of them roared as they flew towards each other, readying a Flamethrower attack. They both unleashed their attacks, which collided with each other. The two Fire/Flying types fought for dominance as the power struggle was at a stalemate.

"Charizard, I know you can do it!" Ash encouraged his Charizard, whose body immediately got surrounded in a bright scarlet outline for a brief second, before the flames spewing from its mouth enlarged and overpowered its opponent's Flamethrower, engulfing both Heidi and her Charizard in the scorching fire. Heidi's suit must have been fire-proof, because she came out unscathed when her Pokemon flew her away from an incoming Slash attack from its opponent. Ash's Charizard grunted in pain, but suppressed it.

"What's wrong?" Ash's eyes went over to his Pokemon, who growled and flew over a few blades of wind materialized from the wings of Heidi's Pokemon. The female Team Flare member had her Charizard fly towards Ash, its claws a few inches longer and glowing pitch black, ready to slice anything or anyone that stood (or flew) in its way.

"Ash, look out!" Misty cried, tightly holding on to the Charizard and ducking under a claw swipe.

"Dodge that, and use Dragon Tail!" cried Ash, as the Pokemon that was abandoned by Damien swerved through the shadowy claws with its tail glowing light blue. It smacked its tail on its enemy's head and sent it spiraling downward, but the more draconic looking Charizard quickly righted itself and quickly released a beam of solar energy from its mouth that struck Charizard's flank. Then, without giving it any time to rest, it tried once again to slash it with shadowy claws. Just like before, Ash's Charizard swerved around the repeated Ghost-type attack, but what they didn't see coming was the opposing Charizard's sharp tail swiping Misty off of Charizard, and scraping her a little, too.

"Ash!" cried the orange-haired girl, as she got knocked off of Charizard and was now falling into the volcano. She tried to reach for her Poke Balls, but she was falling too fast. Ash and Charizard's eyes both widened as the opposing Charizard launched towards them like a fiery bullet. Without thinking, Ash jumped off of his trusted Pokemon and free fell towards Misty, and also the bubbling lava underneath them. Misty glared at him while falling, but Ash ignored her, faced his back towards the lava, and recalled his Pokemon in the flash of red light. Then, he got closer to Misty and tossed it down below them.

"Charizard! I choose you again!" He sent out the fully evolved Kanto fire starter and flew them both on the surface, where a slightly different-looking Charizard wreathed in flames was launching towards them again, but this time, Charizard was ready. It glowed crimson red once again, before opening its maw.

"Ash, what's with that glow?" Misty questioned the fifteen year old boy, who shrugged.

This time, instead of the usual flames coming out from its mouth, a small swirling ball of red energy formed and got bigger and bigger, until it was around five times the size of the average Poke Ball. Ash took out his Pokedex to see what move it was using.

"Dragon Pulse. A draconic pulse of energy able to wipe out almost anything in sight."

Ash had actually seen Dragon Pulse before, but none like this one. Charizard then launched it at the flame-covered Pokemon and its trainer, who avoided it by going upward. The orb fizzled out before landing on anything.

"Charizard, after them!" Ash commanded. Said Pokemon panted a couple of times, before roaring and flying up after them. Ash would have to get his Charizard inspected by Professor Oak later. Not only did it look tired, but it actually looked damaged too, even though it didn't take that much damage from its opponent! A few seconds later, they rose above the volcano, but their opponents were nowhere to be found. Charizard readied another Dragon Pulse, while Misty grasped two Poke Balls of hers. A bright light formed above the two of them, blindsiding them, and the sun's glare didn't help matters, either. A beam of light shot towards them. Ash's Charizard flew around it, but the Solar Beam still managed to graze him. Heidi and her Charizard then swooped down towards them, while Ash's charged up Dragon Pulse again.

"Staryu! Starmie! Rapid Spin!" shouted Misty, as she tossed her two balls towards them. Charizard glared at her as the two ninja star-like Pokemon emerged from their capsules and spun towards Heidi. Her Charizard dodged both of their spinning attacks...before her Charizard was hit by a full power Dragon Pulse, which sent them crashing. Both Staryu and Starmie then combined their Water Gun attacks and merged it into a swirling geyser-like attack that hit them both head on, and sent them crashing harder on the ground. Heidi's Pokemon shook off the damage and flew her up, but they were suddenly hit by a large bolt of electricity from behind them, this time making them stay down for good.

Ash and Misty looked to see where the source of the attack came from. It turned out to be Gary and his Electivire. As Charizard landed Ash and Misty on solid ground, it growled at the two. A few seconds later, an Officer Jenny came to arrest Heidi. She then recalled her Charizard, who looked just like any old Charizard now. The Officer Jenny thanked Gary for taking down the Team Flare member, and he basked in the praise. Ash and Misty glared at him from a distance when Gary approached them.

"Heya, Ashy!" he called out to him, when Officer Jenny left. "When I saw how much you were struggling, I just had to come in and help ya out!" His cheerleaders swooned over him as they recited some stupid rhyme about how "great" he was. Ash groaned; he'd almost rather hear Team Rocket's lame rhymes. "What a riot!"

"Taking down a weakened Pokemon takes so much skill, doesn't it?" Ash countered.

Gary ignored his retort and continued on, "You're gonna be surprised at my latest discovery!"

"What is it?" Ash questioned, immediately wishing he hadn't said anything. Now Gary was probably going to respond with something like, "That you're a loser!"

But to his surprise, Gary didn't say anything insulting. Instead, he tossed two stones at his former rival, who caught them. Ash looked at the objects in his hand. One was blue and black, and the other was red mixed in with yellow and orange. "What are these?" he wanted to know.

"You may have heard of Mega Evolutions, which are temporary evolutions for a select couple of fully evolved Pokemon," Gary explained, and Ash's mind drifted back to the differently looking Blaziken he and Yvonne had fought a while ago, as well as the oddly-looking Charizard that Misty and Ash took on just now. "Ash! You listening or snoozing?"

Gary's sharp tone snapped him out of his thoughts. "Yeah, I'm listening," he replied.

"Okay, good. The way to activate Mega Evolutions is to have a really strong bond with the Pokemon," Gary continued, shocking Ash. He didn't expect any of Team Flare to have a bond with their Pokemon. "To be more precise, those stones in your hand are the Charizardnite X and the Charizardnite Y. Since you're so close to your Charizard, I figured you could use one of them to evolve it."

Ash's eyes lit up at the thought of his Charizard becoming even more powerful. Misty seemed pretty impressed herself, and Charizard showed no reaction.

"Gary, Gary, he's the best! If he doesn't know it, no one else does!" his cheerleaders gushed.

"Then again." Gary's smirk grew wider. "If your Charizard can't even use Blast Burn, I don't think it deserves to Mega Evolve either way. Just keep those stones as a reminder of the greatness I've surpassed, and you'll never achieve." The douchebag then turned his back to them and headed to his limousine, his cheerleaders following him.

Ash clenched the stones in his hand as he growled alongside his Charizard. By the time he had a comeback ready, Gary was already gone.

"Grr...Gary, Gary, what does he know! I'm the real star of this show!" Ash shouted. Charizard roared, this time in agreement.

Ash slowly turned to him. "So, what do you say, Charizard? Wanna Mega Evolve in the Pokemon World Tournament? We'll show Gary a thing or two!"

Charizard spit fire in his face, and Ash shook it off. "What was that for!" The Fire/Flying type turned his head away from the stones and exhaled smoke from his nostrils. "Ah, I get it! You want to prove your worth on your own merits, just like the other times!" Charizard nodded. Ash had guessed correctly.

"But, Ash, many others will probably be using Mega Stones for a boost," Misty warned him.

"Oh yeah? This is what I think of these stones!" Ash slammed the stones on the ground and stomped on them. He lifted his foot up, but they were still intact.

"Hey, if you don't want them, you can always give them to me," a voice called from behind him.

Ash quickly picked them from the ground and stuffed them in his backpack. "No way! They're mine!" he responded to Yvonne's voice.

"If they really mean that much to you, why are you getting so worked up?" the blonde stared at him bemusedly.

"Aw, don't worry about it. He's just acting like a big baby because Gary outdid him again!" teased Misty.

"No surprise there." Brock handed Ash a black ring with a circular slot in the middle. "You're going to need this if you ever change your mind. It's where you place the Mega Stone in order for any given Pokemon to evolve."

Ash frowned. "And he didn't give it to me with the stones, why?" Brock chuckled to himself.

"Brock? Brock!"

To shut him up, Charizard burned his face again.

"They haven't seen each other for a while, but their bond is still just as strong as ever, if not even more so." Brock laughed. Ash hasn't told him that he brought Charizard back towards the end of his Unova travels, when Team Plasma was at large.

"Those are truly fires of a red-hot reunion," Yvonne added, and the others just stared at her. "What?"

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

At the ranch, no less than a dozen and a half pink and black balls had been rolling all over the field, stampeding on everything they came in contact with...including the poor professor of the Kanto region, who was caught in the middle of it all.

"No, not again, Ash!" The professor cried, before he got flattened thirty times over. Yvonne, Brock, and Misty glanced at Ash, who laughed nervously. Professor Oak quickly got up and avoided the balls...before then getting stampeded on by all thirty of Ash's Tauros. The pink and black orbs then uncurled to reveal cow-like Pokemon, who all stared at a Tauros of their own. Each Miltank rushed to a Tauros and cuddled with them. Professor Oak forced a smile as Ash's Muk then smothered him affectionately.

They all stared as his Rotom gave him a jolt, not unlike Charizard's way of saying 'hello' to Ash.

"Professor Oak seems a little...busy," Yvonne remarked, as Rotom zapped him again. Ash sighed and turned off the videophone before he could see the Tauros trample him once more. They then headed out of the Pokemon Center of Cinnabar Island and flew over the seas on Charizard.

Yvonne pointed down. "Hey, guys, isn't that Paul?" They looked down to see the purple-haired boy nonchalantly surfing on a Gastrodon.

Ash wisely decided to ignore him and have his Charizard descend on a nearby route, not wanting to deal with his nonsense. He then recalled his Charizard and made a few rotations with his Pokedex.

"Don't think I didn't see you," Paul's voice cut in from behind. "Why don't we have another full battle to see who's really the stronger one, unless you're scared?"

Ash turned to him. "I'd face you, but I think I'd be wasting my time showing the obvious result."

Paul snickered. "Don't have time to waste on me, or don't have the courage to face me?"

"He said he didn't want to battle. Get lost!" Yvonne stood up for him.

"Oh, how sweet. You need someone to coddle and protect you," Paul criticized Ash, before turning to Yvonne. "Why don't you get lost, you're not even worth the half-second it'll take me to beat him."

Yvonne frowned at the douche as Ash stepped forward. "Aren't you raking up too many losses as is. Or maybe you'd like another?" he countered, as Pikachu's cheeks sparked.

"Sure. I'm ready. I'm gonna be Pokemon Master, and the way to do that is to beat challengers like you," Paul replied mockingly.

Ash and Brock remembered those words too well. It was the exact same thing the former had said to Paul before their first battle took place.

"Hey!" a voice called from behind a tree. They all looked around to see brown-haired lady with red fingernails, green eyes, and a camera come out of her hiding place and next to Misty.

Brock stared at her. "Who is that?"

"A journalist from another region. Alexa, to be exact," Yvonne explained, as the journalist approached Ash.

"You're Ash Ketchum, aren't you? You've been through five regional leagues so far, Sinnoh and Unova being the highest you ranked, correct?" Ash nodded, and Alexa continued. "As well as the Battle Frontier, and the Orange League, both of which you've won, yet oddly enough, you haven't won the five main leagues you've entered, right?" Ash glared daggers at her as she approached Paul.

"You're in a similar boat as Ash, only it took you four regions to finally beat Brandon in a close match, and never went through the Orange Island - "

"Are you done? We have a match, you know!" the purple-haired boy cut in.

"Perfect!" Alexa chirped. "I can be the referee! I need a decent match to report. Now then, this will be a full six-on-six battle. Both sides are allowed to make substitutions, and the battle ends when all six Pokemon on either side are unable to battle, or one person forfeits."

Paul held out a Poke Ball as he and Ash took their positions. "And when you see how much better I've become, you're going to wish you never even accepted.

She's really pretty, but also pretty harsh, Brock thought. "Ash, just take him down so we can move on!" he encouraged him.

Ash smiled at Brock, before turning back to the battlefield, also grasping a Poke Ball in his hand. After he turned his hat backwards, the two battlers tossed their Poke Balls to the battlefield.

"I choose you/Stand by for battle...!"

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

Additions to Credits:

Kaiser- Stuart Zagnit/Stan Hart (He has no dub voice sadly)

Robert: Bill Rogers

Heidi: Amy Birnbaum
 
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WARNING: If you are a fan of either Paul or (Anime) Serena, then stop reading this story now. There's also mild blood, but nothing that hasn't been seen in a select few Pokemon episodes before.

On top of that, Alexa's personality is rewritten to be more confrontational and cold, as I found her bland in the Da! episodes I've watched.

Let's play a game: Catch That Episode Title! I forgot to mention this in the last chapter, so the first person to correctly guess the episode titles of both the previous chapter and this one (there are two in the previous chapter, and one in this chapter) will get a shoutout! The first one will be pretty easy, but this one will be a little harder. Note that they don't have to be the exact words, just similar (for example, if I type "Saving the Braviary" and you guess "Saving Braviary", then it's still a right answer.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

(Theme)

"The Start of the Whole Wide World Tournament"

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

A huge brown grizzly bear-like Pokemon with a yellow ring on its torso, vacant eyes, and sharp claws was facing a small, blue bipedal crocodile with a yellow V shaped pattern on its chest and red spikes on its back. The latter danced in place as Alexa announced the start of the match and started her research.

"Ursaring, Slash!" Paul made the first command of the match as his Pokemon ran towards its smaller opponent. Its claws grew longer as a white aura encased it.

"Quick, Totodile, dodge it!" cried Ash, as his Totodile weaved around the bigger Pokemon's claws by dancing. "Now, use Water Gun!"

Totodile's maw unleashed a stream of water, and it was at that exact moment that Ursaring became a red flash of light and got sucked into its ball, so instead of hitting its intended target, the Johto starter ended up spraying Paul's face. Everyone (except Ash and Totodile) held back laughter at Paul's droopy hair and drenched face.

"Ash, that's Paul, not Ursaring!" Yvonne whispered in hearing range, pointing at Paul, who was even less amused than ever before, if that was even possible.

Not even bothering to say anything or shake off the liquid from his face, he sent out his burly electric type Pokemon to replace Ursaring.

Electivire, huh? Ash thought, holding out Totodile's Poke Ball and recalling it. "Totodile, return, now!"

"Congratulations. You just learned how to switch out at a type disadvantage," Paul mocked, as Ash tossed his next Poke Ball. It revealed Swellow, his flying type of Hoenn. Paul's smirk grew wider; an easy victory for him. He knew Ash could sometimes win with type disadvantages, but this was a random choice, and a stupid one, too. "Thunder."

Electivire cloaked itself in electricity, before arcing it towards the flier, who flew to the left to avoid it.

"Swellow, double Quick Attack!" Ash commanded, as his Pokemon rushed towards Electivire in a blur.

"Guard!" Paul retaliated, but the first Quick Attack already hit his Pokemon. Electivire immediately turned around and thrust its arms out in a blocking stance, stopping Swellow, who disappeared. Paul frowned in confusion as another Swellow instantly came from behind Electivire and rammed into it, sending it staggering a few feet forward.

Paul growled. He didn't just use two Quick Attacks...he combined that with Double Team... "Wild Charge!"

Electivire covered itself in lightning again, but this time, instead of directing it at Swellow, it ran towards Ash's Pokemon, intending to ram into it.

"Dodge that!" Ash called out, as Swellow quickly flew around Electivire, who instantly jumped to it at a higher speed than before and crashed into it. Swellow crash landed on the ground, not seeming to have taken that much damage, despite having taken a Wild Charge head on.

"Why's Electivire so fast all of a sudden?" Ash whispered to himself. "I didn't even use - "

"Wild Charge again!" Paul's voice cut into Ash's thoughts as his Pokemon jumped above Swellow in less than a second, ready to ram into it.

"Ash! Do something!" his friends all cried.

"Agility!" he commanded, just before Electivire crashed into the ground, creating a huge crater where Swellow used to be. With the speed boost from Agility, he was now just as fast as Electivire. Swellow swooped into the air above its opponent, who got back up, formed a sphere of electricity around itself, and aimed it at the bird.

"Swellow, use Aerial Ace to dodge!" Ash instructed, as his Pokemon disappeared right before the lightning could strike its intended target. It reappeared behind the Electric-type and dived towards it.

Paul smirked. "Don't you know Shock Wave never misses?" As he finished the sentence, Electivire's attack immediately went the opposite direction, redirecting itself towards the Flying/Normal type.

Ash seemed shocked at first, having forgotten about Shock Wave's effect, but quickly regained his composure. "Swellow, just get through it!"

What? Paul was confused as to why he thought a Flying type could overpower an electric attack, especially one from his Electivire. Maybe he had forgotten just how strong his Electivire could be? Or maybe he just believed in his Pokemon that much to the point of pure idiocy...well, it wouldn't be the first time. "Make him regret that. More power!"

Electivire shot another jolt of electricity at his first attack, which caused them to be merged together into one huge bolt. Brock, Misty and Yvonne smiled as Ash trusted his Swellow to go through with his attack. Yvonne had trained with his Swellow a few times, and even the strongest electric attacks from her Manectric couldn't take it down. As expected, the combined attack drenched Swellow in potent static, but with a little encouragement from Ash, it shrugged it off and went through the electricity, much to Paul's shock. Not only did it go through the attack that was supposed to do massive damage to it, but it executed Aerial Ace without a sweat and struck Electivire in the torso, sending it back. Electivire must have been shocked, too, because it didn't even try to stand its ground as it was knocked over.

"See, Paul? That's what believing in the strength of your friends does!" Ash declared, and Swellow crowed in agreement as it perched itself on a nearby rock. "Quick Attack, now!"

Swellow took off from the ground and instantly launched itself towards Electivire, grazing its head before it could even make a move.

"Electivire, Thunder, let's go!" Paul roared, and Electivire bellowed a battle cry as dark, grey clouds formed in the blue sky, covering up the sun and white clouds. Ash focused on his speedy Pokemon, who was looking out for any lightning that would come its way while flying around the air. A huge lightning strike shot down from a thundercloud towards Swellow, who just barely managed to swerve through it.

"Swellow, be careful!" Ash called, as another bolt of lightning came close to hitting the Hoenn Pokemon. This went on for at least a minute or two, with one of the bolts hitting Electivire every once in a while, but never actually damaging it. Ash took a few steps forward to encourage his Flying-type, and the sound of thunder rumbled in everyone's ears.

Without warning, Pikachu rushed towards his trainer and pushed him away from his position, before quickly getting under a particularly large lightning bolt and taking the attack head-on, shocking (no pun intended) every one of the spectators.

"Pikachu, no!" Ash could only watch as his buddy was engulfed in the brilliant yellow light. Oddly enough, Pikachu wasn't taking any damage, the most it felt from that lightning attack was a slight strain. When the attack wore off, Pikachu glowed with a slight yellow aura that wore off after a moment. It looked like it had just been healed at the Pokemon Center.

Paul's eyes widened. "What the - !"

"Whoa! It just took the attack like a lightning rod, and didn't even get hurt!" Misty observed in awe.

"That's most interesting," Alexa admitted.

"Unbelievable! All of that training must have really paid off! Or ..." Brock began.

"Or what?" Yvonne turned to him, who was deep in thought.

Misty turned to Paul. "You two could have killed him!"

"How is it my fault, he stepped too close," he retorted calmly.

As the atmosphere around them returned back to its fair weather condition, Pikachu glared at Paul, its electric sacs sparking.

"Pikachu, you wanna battle?" Ash inquired.

"Pika!" it responded in kind.

"Alright." Ash held out Swellow's Poke Ball, pointed it at the flier, and sucked it into a beam of light. "Swellow, return, now! Pikachu, get out there!"

Pikachu scrambled in front of Electivire and planted its paws and feet on the ground, anticipating Ash's first command to him.

Make them pay, Ash thought. "Pikachu, use Quick Attack to get up close, and then use Iron Tail!"

The Electric Mouse Pokemon ran quickly on all fours and zipped towards the larger Electric type, who lit up its right fist and swung it down at Paul's demand. Pikachu's tail glowed as it jumped and curled itself into a ball, leaving its metallic tail as the only exposed limb, and collided the appendage with its enemy's glowing hand.

"Iron Tail again!"

Pikachu used its tail to bounce off the Thunderbolt Pokemon's fist and used the momentum to leap higher into the air. At the apex of its ascent, it faced its body down and began to free fall towards the black and yellow colored creature.

"Ice Punch, now!" Paul ordered, as his Pokemon's fist became encased in ice. It started to speed towards the falling Pikachu, but Ash had other plans.

"Agility!" he countered, as Pikachu fell faster than Electivire could run, and landed nimbly on the ground. Its opponent was right there, ready to freeze it, but Pikachu swerved to the side, just barely avoiding it. The big Pokemon chased after it, making it like a game of cat-and-mouse.

"Don't let him close the gap! Agility again, and whatever you can't dodge, block it with Iron Tail!" Ash pointed forward as his starter Pokemon increased his speed and zoomed around Paul's Electric type, confusing it. Anyone could see that Pikachu was now faster than Electivire. "Quick Attack, go!"

Behind Electivire, Pikachu slid under its legs, before jumping up to uppercut its face with the move that Ash requested. Before it could land, Electivire's two tails grabbed it unexpectedly and squeezed its little body.

"Pikachu, no!" cried Ash in worry, and his mind flashed briefly to his battle with Sho and his Raichu. "Free yourself with Iron Tail!"

With its tail being unrestricted, Pikachu wrapped it around both of Electivire's tails and spun around a bit, swinging it off balance and freeing itself. Ash then commanded it to use Slam, and like before, it jumped and curled, before slamming its tail onto Electivire's head. When Pikachu went for another physical attack, Electivire used Shock Wave to try and keep it away, but Ash put a stop to that by having Pikachu use Thunderbolt. The electricity surrounding Pikachu was almost double the size of the usual Thunderbolt attack, so the two attacks were about equal in power, despite the fact that Electivire's attack should have been stronger. The collision of the two attacks created an explosion so powerful that chunks of rock erupted from the battlefield, which was now covered in smoke.

Pikachu transferred some of the electricity into its tail to make it light up, something that didn't go unnoticed by Ash. He could see the battlefield a little better now. Not enough to get a clear view, but just enough to see the effects of the explosion.

"Pikachu, hop on those rocks and use Slam, and if you can, send some back towards Electivire," Ash told his partner, who did what he was told. He hopped from rock to rock while sending some rising stones towards Electivire with its tail.

"Electivire, Protect." Paul crossed his arms as a green orb of light appeared amidst the yellow light and protected the user against the rocks that were launched towards it. They landed harmlessly on the shield and shattered as Pikachu let out a loud cry. The yellow light disappeared immediately after that. Soon enough, the smoke started to clear, and the protective shield around Electivire faded, but Pikachu was nowhere to be found. Electivire scanned the field for any sign of Pikachu, but only found a hole in the ground in place of where it was earlier.

"Reflect!" Paul shouted as soon as he heard the ground crumble just in front of his Pokemon. Pikachu popped up from under the ground and again rammed into Electivire, whose body was encased in a bright orange light. It barely felt Pikachu's attack, if at all. Paul then had it use Light Screen to surround its body in a clear blue light as well, before then recalling it. Electivire wasn't doing as well as he expected against Pikachu; in fact, it was doing worse!

"Ash is doing a lot better than I thought he would," Yvonne commented.

Pikachu growled angrily as soon as Paul took it out of play. Paul ignored Ash's grin and Pikachu's cries of anger and threw another Poke Ball.

"Magmortar, stand by for battle!"

The fat red and yellow Pokemon emerged from the capsule, readying its two arm cannons. Powerful flame blasts came out of both cannons and merged into one huge fiery star attack, heading towards Pikachu.

"Duck!"

Ash's Pikachu flattened its body on the ground, letting the Fire Blast pass over him, before immediately getting up in time to flip over a seismic wave that Magmortar created.

Ash clenched his fist, before pointing at the Fire type. "Pikachu, you know what to do!" Pikachu did indeed know. Electricity formed all around its body, before leaving it and heading towards Magmortar. The attack engulfed the Blast Pokemon's body, but was pretty much nullified by the orange-yellow coat of protection around it. Ugh, how could I forget about Light Screen? "Pikachu, come back!"

"Magmortar, Rock Tomb! Don't let it escape!" Paul watched as Magmortar launched multiple purple circles from its arm cannon on the ground between Ash and his Pikachu. For each one that landed, a giant rock would protrude from the battlefield and slow Pikachu down. Ash growled; that put a damper in his initial strategy. Regardless, he guided Pikachu through the now rocky and maze-like battlefield, though without success.

His friends' comments ranged from "He can't do that!" to "That's not fair!".

He then had Pikachu dig, which proved to be a mistake when Paul ordered his Magmortar to use Earthquake. Ash immediately told Pikachu to surface back on solid ground, which it did, but it didn't come out completely unscathed. The rocks penetrating form the ground broke apart and scattered everywhere, some of them even landing on Pikachu and damaging it.

"Magmortar, Lava Plume!"

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

Magmortar adjusted its two cannons, before releasing smog from one and flames from the other. They merged together and caused a huge explosion around the Pokemon.

Pikachu, again, surrounded itself with electricity and let it collide with the Lava Plume attack.

The two attacks were now locked in a power struggle. Once in a while, one attack would win out over the other, before they were then tied again. Eventually, Magmortar just aborted its attack and let the Thunderbolt hit its Light Screen protected body. Now that the rocks were out of the way, Pikachu ran back to Ash so it could rest up for later. Ash tossed another Poke Ball into the air. "I choose you, Ambipom!"

The two-tailed purple monkey emerged from its ball. It ran towards its trainer, hugging and tickling him with one tail, and grabbing its hat with the other. Ash laughed for a few seconds before Ambipom jumped to the field, Ash's hat latched on its right hand-tail. It then put the hat on its head. The rest of them just stared at Ambipom, who now looked embarrassed. It then slightly looked up and turned the hat around, before glaring at Magmortar, ready for battle.

"Isn't that your old Aipom from our first ever battle?" Paul questioned.

Ash ignored him and yelled, "Double Slap!"

Ambipom ran up to Magmortar, jumped to its face, and slapped its hand-tails to its opponent's face multiple times. Each time Magmortar was slapped, a thin clear blue aura appeared around it. The Blast Pokemon aimed one of its cannons at Ambipom, but Ambipom slapped it away with one tail and used the other to slap its face again, before jumping back. Magmortar aimed both cannons at Ambipom and unleashed powerful flames from it, but Ambipom stood on one tail so that the attack could harmlessly pass over it. Before Magmortar could readjust its aim, Ambipom cloaked the tip of its ungrounded tail red and smacked Magmortar in the torso with it, shattering both of the annoying barriers that had been protecting it from so much damage.

"Great job!" Ash congratulated. "Now use - " His command was cut off when Ambipom's body started to flare up all of a sudden.

"So Magmortar's ability is Flame Body," Yvonne remarked.

"Which Ash forgot all about," Brock added in grimly. "With so much close contact with Magmortar, it was bound to activate sometime."

Ambipom passed Ash's hat back as he caught it on his head and flipped it again. "Ambipom, use Swift!" the hat wearer ordered.

The Long Tail Pokemon swished its two tails in front of itself multiple times, and pretty projectile stars shot out of it in all directions, all heading towards Magmortar. Paul made his Pokemon use Protect to shield itself from the Swift attack.

"Double Slap again!"

Ash's Ambipom slapped a couple of stars upward. They rammed into other stars and pushed them away from the safe Magmortar. This process repeated itself until Protect wore off. Because of the nature of the attack, they all ended up redirecting towards the now vulnerable Fire-type, damaging it in every part of the body it could. Whenever Magmortar tried to find an opening, Ambipom would either send more speed stars its way, or close it off in some other way.

Mercifully for Paul and his Pokemon, the barrage finally stopped. Ambipom's body started burning once again, but it suppressed the pain.

"Focus Blast!" Paul yelled in desperation. This attack was sure to finish off Ambipom, and -

"Fake Out!"

Before Magmortar could even make a move, Ambipom rushed towards Magmortar and clapped its tails together, sending a small shock wave at it that sent it crashing on the ground.

"Now, use - "

It turned out that Ash didn't need to give anymore orders against Magmortar, as Alexa announced it down for the count.

"You did it, Ambipom!" Ash cried, as they rushed towards each other and jumped. Ash's hand slapped the hand of Ambipom's left tail to form a high-five. Ambipom's other tail snatched Ash's hat from his head, and it was only after they landed that he found out. Ambipom's body lit up on fire again. Ash winced as he recalled it. "Take a nice rest, you deserve it."

On the opposite side, Paul was scolding the Magmortar he had recalled. "Do that again, and you're out!" he complained to its Poke Ball, before bringing back Ursaring. It growled at Ash and Pikachu.

Paul stared down at Ash coldly. "I'm waiting."

"Hey, I didn't realize you were that eager to lose!" Ash held back a laugh as he tossed another Poke Ball. "I choose you, Gible!" Out came the tiny, dark blue land shark Pokemon with a red underbelly.

Without even waiting for Alexa to announce the match, Paul made Ursaring use Focus Blast. It clasped its hands together, and a light blue orb formed between them, growing larger in size until it was the size of its head. Then, it hurled it at Gible, who dug a hole to duck under it. Only the top of its head could be seen above the hole.

"Gible, use Dragon Pulse!" Gible formed a draconic orb of energy in its open mouth, before it was launched towards Ursaring, who merely blocked it.

"Pathetic. Hammer Arm, let's go!" Ursaring's arm glowed as it ran towards Gible. Ash just stood there as Ursaring swung its fist down. Gible didn't need a verbal command from Ash to know what he was planning. It opened its big mouth and bit down on Ursaring's hand. Ursaring winced in pain as the glow around its hand wore off, but it lifted the Dragon-type up.

"I knew you'd try something like that. Hammer Arm!"

Ursaring raised its free hand and pounded it down on Gible's head, but it was persistent. Ursaring winced in pain when its arm came in contact with Gible's rough skin.

"Don't let go! Draco Meteor!" Ash shouted, and Gible concentrated its Dragon type energy on the center of its body, a bright orange orb forming around Ursaring's arm, before eventually expanding around its entire being. Then, Gible launched the orb containing Ursaring into the air.

"Ursaring, get out of there!" Paul cried, but it was no use. The orb split into several meteors that harshly rained down on the ground. The sphere surrounding Ursaring exploded once the last of the meteors had stopped. Ursaring landed hard on the ground, down, but not out.

Paul shocked everyone with his next command. "Rest." His Pokemon laid on the ground and closed its eyes, before entering a deep slumber. It was then recalled, and replaced with Electivire again.

Ash already knew why Electivire was out, so he quickly ordered his Gible to use Earthquake. The Dragon/Ground type leaped in the air and slammed into the ground, causing a surprisingly huge seismic wave for a Pokemon its size. As expected, Electivire put a shield around itself to minimize the damage of the otherwise super-effective move. Then, it used Light Screen to accompany Reflect, which would make any of Paul's Pokemon hard to take down.

Pikachu's cheeks sparked in anger again as Gible's Dragon Pulse missed an Electivire coated with a light purple aura with bright orange streaks surrounding it. Electivire headed towards Gible at an alarmingly fast rate. Ash shuddered inwardly. There was no way Gible could dodge that, even with Dig, but he could soften the blow a bit.

"Outrage!"

A red outline appeared around Gible as it ran towards Electivire and bumped into its fist. It then clawed, kicked, bit, and headbutted its opponent multiple times, but still never quite overpowered it. The force of both attacks sent both of them back far away. Electivire had a few scratches and bruises on its body, and was panting heavily, but Gible was in far worse condition. As well as that, its eyes were still glowing red to indicate confusion.

"Gible, return!" Ash recalled it, before hastily calling forth his agitated Pikachu. "Slam!"

Pikachu rushed to what could have been considered its rival Electric-type Pokemon while focusing all of its energy into its tail. When it got close enough, it pivoted and slammed its tail hard into it, sending it back. The pesky Reflect reared its ugly head around Electivire again, but Pikachu and Ash persisted with another Slam.

Electivire started to move its limbs around, and Paul smirked for probably the umpteenth time. "Ice Punch."

It froze its own fist and swung it towards the smaller Pokemon, who easily weaved around it with Quick Attack. When Pikachu got close enough to it, Paul switched to Flamethrower, but Ash stopped the attack from harming Pikachu, "Flash!"

Pikachu's tail glowed a bright yellow once again as it swung it close to Electivire's face, a blinding light emerging from it. Electivire had to shield its eyes, leaving it vulnerable to another Quick Attack in the torso. By now, Reflect had already worn off, so the move did regular damage again.

"Electivire, you will not lose! Reflect and Light Screen, then Iron Tail, now!"

Without moving from its position, Electivire formed the protective shields around itself, before it then lashed out its two tails like whips. Pikachu maneuvered around like crazy just to avoid getting hit.

"Agility!"

Pikachu increased its speed and got away from its tails altogether, before leaping back towards Electivire and latching on to its head. Electivire tried desperately to get it off, but Pikachu grabbed its fur tightly. The memories of its battles with this particular Pokemon in Sinnoh came flowing back to his mind, first its battle with it while it was an Elekid, which he lost (although it was called as a tie), then his battle with it in the Sinnoh League. He refused to lose again! It tugged on the larger Pokemon's fur and bit down hard.

In desperation, Electivire let loose a couple of electric attacks in order to get it off, which proved to be a grave mistake as Pikachu merely absorbed the lightning.

Paul hissed. "Electivire, get that rat off, or else!"

Pikachu's tail glowed with a metallic sheen as it was slammed into Electivire's back a couple of times. Of course, the light blue aura showed up, but that wasn't their concern right now. Electivire ran around and prepared to punch it away, when it suddenly felt its right foot stop moving. It immediately tripped on the ground, groaning in pain. It tried to get up, but found it hard to, and the knot of grass around its leg didn't help matters, either.

Electivire was announced unable to battle, which meant Pikachu was the winner!

"All right, Pikachu!" Misty cheered for her friend.

Ash and Pikachu celebrated as Pikachu cheered on the felled Electivire. When Paul recalled it, Pikachu fell back to earth, but then righted itself.

"Pikachu, that was Grass Knot, wasn't it?" Ash queried. Pikachu nodded in confirmation. "All right!"

Paul cut the celebration short with, "Weavile, stand by for battle!"

Paul sent out a bipedal black Pokemon with a yellow gem on his forehead, two red tail feathers, a crown and collar matching its tails, as well as two feathers on each ear.

"Up for more, Pikachu?"

"Pika Pika!"

"Great! Use Thunderbolt!" Ash took the initiative, and Pikachu's body was covered in electricity almost five times its size. It launched it towards Weavile, who avoided most of the attack, but still got caught in part of it, anyway.

"Weavile, Ice Shard!" As soon as those words came out of Paul's mouth, Weavile appeared behind Pikachu in an instant, a block of ice formed in its hands, and hurled said block at its opponent.

"Pikachu, behind you! Iron Tail!" Ash warned. Pikachu heeded his warning. His tail took on the properties of steel as it flicked it up to the block of ice, shattering it to pieces.

"Now use Quick Attack!"

The mouse Pokemon zigzagged from left to right in an attempt to confuse Weavile before the actual attack, but it released a cold blizzard from its mouth to telegraph the yellow Pokemon's movements a little more. With Blizzard having so much range, Pikachu had no choice but to go back.

"Swords Dance!" Paul watched intently as his Ice/Dark type jumped back and rapidly swung its claws around, lengthening them a bit. "Now, Night Slash!"

Weavile appeared behind Pikachu, its claws now black with a red coating, and actually managed to slash Pikachu on the side. It rolled over in pain, but Weavile chased after it and struck it once more, this time with a fist of ice. Ice patches formed below Pikachu as it started to freeze up. Pikachu wagged its tail so that it wouldn't be completely frozen with its lower body. Bits of ice still formed on it, but the appendage could be of at least some use.

"Weavile, finish it with Night Slash!"

"Iron Tail!"

As Weavile got ready to finish it off, Pikachu stored steel-like energy into its tail and broke off the icy prison, and then collided the Steel type attack with Night Slash.

"Weavile, Blizzard!"

Ash made a sweeping motion with his arm, which Pikachu saw from the corner of his eye. Right when Weavile opened its mouth, Pikachu slid its tail under the black creature's legs, tripping it up. It went through with Blizzard, but it only affected the area around it.

"All right! Weavile's speed won't be a problem anymore!" cheered Brock, as Pikachu finished off the sneaky Pokemon with a Thunderbolt. Having been caught off guard, there was no way for it to avoid the full brunt of the attack That combined with the fact that Electivire had supercharged it in the previous battle left Weavile as little more than a charred mess on the ground.

Alexa announced Weavile unable to battle, trying not to laugh. Paul had been boasting before the match started, and now he had lost half of his team, while Ash hadn't lost a single Pokemon. Ash called Pikachu back and thought of which Pokemon to choose next. If he was right and Paul was using the same team he used during their Lake Acuity battle, that left Ursaring, Honchkrow, and Torterra.

"Hey! Didn't you say you'd beat him in a half second?" Yvonne taunted from the crowd.

"I thought he said he'd lose within that time frame!" Misty added, and the girls smiled at each other. Paul bitterly looked at them as they laughed at his expense, but was too busy ranting to his defeated Weavile to particularly care. When he was done, he sent out his sleeping Ursaring to oppose Ash's Bulbasaur.

"Hmph. You just exposed yourself," scoffed Paul.

"What do you mean?" Ash was confused.

"I mean that you exposed your full team. And now I know just how to counter you. Honestly, you may have gotten stronger, but you're still the same lame trainer I've known since we first met in Sinnoh," Paul explained to him. "Get ready for - "

"Ash, make a move! He's buying time so his Ursaring can be awake when he's done!" Misty cut in.

Paul smile cruelly. "Too late for that." His Ursaring growled loudly, but Bulbasaur wasn't fazed in the slightest. "Ursaring, Bulk Up!"

A red outline appeared around the grizzly bear-like Pokemon, who was flexing its arms.

"Bulbasaur, Razor Leaf!" Ash countered.

Bulbasaur sent a swirl of leaves at Ursaring, but it barely seemed affected by the leaf barrage.

"Ursaring, Stone Edge to counter!"

Multiple rings of white orbs of energy appeared around Ursaring, before then becoming sharp stones. They were shot through the leaves, and at Bulbasaur, who looked at the ground and blew a gust of wind from its mouth to lift itself through the stones.

"Great job! Tackle it!"

Bulbasaur rammed into Ursaring's face, and though it didn't do much, Ursaring still felt a little damage. As Bulbasaur landed, the stones were redirected in his direction. Bulbasaur didn't need to be told twice to dodge it; it slid under Ursaring's legs, causing the stones to strike within the ring on Ursaring's torso. It didn't even so much as flinch as each stone pelted its body.

Without a moment's reprieve, Bulbasaur followed Ash's next command, which was to form a glob of poison inside of its mouth and spit it at Ursaring's face.

"Ash, no!" Brock cried, but it was too late as the toxic fumes slowly struck it. For some reason, Paul didn't even tell it to dodge, but when he smirked, Ash's face turned to one of horror as he understood why, and that was when he remembered its ability: Guts. Being struck by poison meant Ursaring would be at least two times as powerful.

But to everyone's surprise, Paul recalled the Pokemon and pointed out that he'd save it for later. He then threw another Poke Ball. "Honchkrow, stand by for battle!"

The capsule snapped open to reveal a large dark crow-like Pokemon with a yellow beak, black talons, a huge white tuft of fur on its chest area, and what looked like a fedora hat on its head. Ash recalled Bulbasaur, and replaced it with Ambipom. Before it could do anything to him, he quickly commanded it to use Swift.

Ambipom shot multiple stars at the airborne Honchkrow, who opened its mouth and spat out a chain of dark energy to collide with all of the stars, effectively nullifying them.

"Ambipom, bounce up!" Ash yelled, and the Pokemon's body flared up for a moment, but it bared the pain, crouched its legs, and leaped towards Honchkrow. Ash formulated a contest move in his head; after all, Ambipom was made for contests.

"Honchkrow, Whirlwind!"

Paul's Pokemon beat its wings violently, blowing Ambipom back to solid ground. Just before it landed, it grabbed a rock with one of its tails and flung it at Honchkrow, who just barely avoided it by flying to the side.

"Ash's Pokemon are learning a lot of new moves mid-battle. Pikachu's Grass Knot, and now Ambipom's Fling," Brock noticed, as Ambipom flung multiple rocks left on the ground from Stone Edge above at its opponent.

Honchkrow easily weaved through all of them as the rocks started to fall to the ground, but Ash and Ambipom weren't done yet. Ambipom used both of its tails to smack every single rock that was about to land towards Honchkrow, who shielded itself with its wings, which were now coated in steel, to protect itself from the rocks. Each rock that harmlessly nailed it created more smoke to obscure part of the battlefield.

"Sky Attack!" Paul ordered as Ash shouted, "Last Resort!"

Both of them were surrounded in white auras as Ambipom ran towards the descending Honchkrow. They both bumped into each other and attempted to win the other over in the power struggle.

"You know what's gonna happen if you don't win, right?" Paul scolded, and Honchkrow pushed harder.

"Ambipom, I know you can do it!" Ash shouted, and Ambipom pushed the flier back a bit.

"Don't let this jerk beat you!" Misty cried.

"You've been through tougher than this!" Brock chimed in.

"Ambipom, take him out!" Yvonne rallied.

"You don't want that to happen again, do you? Push harder!" Paul questioned his Pokemon. "You'd better win if you know what's good for you!" Painful memories came flowing back to Honchkrow as it growled and pushed Ambipom back further and further.

"Don't give up! Give it all you've got!" Ash uplifted Ambipom's spirits as it planted its tails on the ground to avoid being pushed back too far while still struggling to beat out Sky Attack. Then, slowly, but surely, its Last Resort began to overpower Honchkrow's attack, until it dominated Honchkrow altogether. Honchkrow was struck by the Last Resort completely as Honchkrow cried out in pain, before crashing to a tree. A couple of leaves, berries, and twigs fell on its head.

Ambipom was celebrating its victory as Paul's Honchkrow just laid there. As Ambipom took a bow, the burn spread throughout its body once again, and to make things worse, Honchkrow unexpectedly flew towards it and slashed it with a glowing purple wing, scratching it deeply, and also taking it out once and for all. Even if they had seen this coming, Ambipom's burn hindered them from doing anything about it.

"See? You got cocky, and your Pokemon suffered because of it," lectured Paul, as Ash hesitantly recalled Ambipom, apologizing to it. He knew he shouldn't have let his guard down! He took out Totodile's Poke Ball and looked at it for a while.

"Okay, Totodile, you're back in. I know you can do it, so I choose...you!" he snapped it open and took out the Johto starter Pokemon.

Paul's Honchkrow opened its mouth, but this time, instead of the dark chain of energy coming out, it was a thick haze that covered the entire area.

"Totodile, get rid of that!"

The Water-type jumped on its tail, spun on it, and spat water from its mouth, creating a counter shield that spread throughout a wide area and got rid of most of the smog. However, Honchkrow was nowhere to be found. Ash and Totodile looked around, when they heard a tree rustling. Totodile turned to the source of the sound to see the Big Boss Pokemon emerge from it with glowing wings. It smacked Totodile to the ground, and then flew upward. It then descended down, this time with its mouth open. It released a dark chain of energy from it, but Totodile used its tail to bounce above it, before falling over Honchkrow, its teeth coated in ice. It bit down on the bigger Pokemon, freezing it up.

Before it could unfreeze itself in any way, water materialized around Totodile's tail. It then turned around and smacked the frozen Honchkrow with its aqua tail, taking it down for good. Totodile danced when Alexa announced the winner.

Paul quietly recalled his Honchkrow, and replaced it with its poisoned Ursaring. Totodile backed down a bit, but Ash's encouragement put it back on the right track.

"Ursaring, Hammer Arm!"

Its arm glowed white as it ran towards Totodile and tried to swing its arm down on its head, but it dodged it. It then started dancing again, but this was not its usual dance. It sidestepped for a bit and tapped its feet randomly.

Paul fumed. "Ursaring, unleash that Hyper Beam!"

Ash's jaw dropped as Ursaring aimed the beam inside of the mouth at Totodile. It was so large in diameter that there was no way Totodile could have moved fast enough to dodged it. But to Ash's surprise, Totodile jumped into the air faster than ever, soaring over the attack near effortlessly, much to the shock of everyone.

"Totodile..." Ash still couldn't get over how much faster it was than before. He then focused back on the immobile Ursaring. "Aqua Tail again!"

Totodile once again cloaked its tail in water as it descended to the ground, before doing a midair backflip and uppercutting the larger Pokemon with its appendage. It repeated its attack multiple times until Ursaring's body slowly moved. Ash didn't notice the slight movement and had Totodile try and finish it off with Ice Fang. Right when it coated its teeth in ice, Paul made it cloak its hand in a white aura, before punching it hard onto a tree.

"Totodile, are you okay? Try to get up!" Ash yelled in worry. Totodile, hearing its trainer's plea, slowly came to its feet and looked up to see Ursaring rushing towards it, covered with a red aura.

As long as Guts is activated, even a weak attack could take it down, Ash thought, as he noticed Totodile's paw resting on a Pecha Berry. That's it! "Totodile, toss it!"

The Water-type that Ash and Misty fought over back in Johto immediately understood what Ash wanted, and tossed the poison-curing berry into Ursaring's mouth. It chewed it for a few seconds while still waving a clawed hand towards Totodile, before the red aura around it disappeared. The Pecha Berry had cured it of its poison, which meant that Ursaring couldn't rely on its Guts ability anymore!

"Keep throwing!" Totodile was more than happy to indulge in Ash's order as it swiped more berries that were scattered around it at Ursaring. The fruits smashed into its face, blinding it, allowing Totodile to finish it off with another Aqua Tail attack, which took it down.

Ash's friends all cheered as Alexa announced Totodile the winner.

"Only one more to go! You can do it, Ash!" Misty cheered from the sidelines.

Paul's smirk grew wider as he tossed his last capsule. It snapped open to reveal a large, bulky quadrupedal tortoise-like Pokemon with spikes and a tree on the shell on its back. Each side of its face had a spike as large as the ones on its shell. Its lower body was brown, while the upper section was green with patches of white. It roared loudly at Totodile, who growled back at it.

Paul didn't give them the time and shouted, "Razor Leaf, let's go, now!"

The tree on its back shook as sharp leaves shot out of its crown and towards Totodile, who, again, spun on his tail and spat water to form a shield around it so it could keep the attack at bay. It went on like this for a few more seconds before Totodile hopped above the attack using its tail.

"Great! Now use Water Gun!" Ash commanded, as Totodile spit a geyser of water from its mouth at Torterra, who opened its mouth to counter it with a solar beam of energy. It easily overpowered the Water Gun and engulfed Totodile in a bright light, causing it to shriek in pain and land on the ground with bruises.

"Totodile, don't let Torterra push you around!" Ash cried, and Totodile struggled to get on his feet.

"How pathetic. Torterra, Rock Climb!" Paul ordered, as his starter Pokemon raised its hind legs. Totodile, on Ash's command, used another Water Gun on Torterra's underbelly to try and flip it over, but its weight just enabled it to ignore the basic Water-type attack and slam its paws to the ground, causing a mountain to form below Totodile, \whose attack scattered everywhere on Torterra. The Water Gun still didn't do much to it, if anything at all. Totodile was trapped face-down above the mountain, which Torterra was climbing up.

"Totodile, get out of there!" Ash yelled, but it could barely move enough to get out of range of Torterra's glowing claws. Just before Torterra rammed into it, he barked, "Ice Fang!"

Totodile's frosty teeth collided with Torterra's white claws as both attacks were executed. Torterra easily won the power struggle, of course, but it didn't get off without a scratch; patches of its body, especially the parts that were splashed by the smaller Pokemon, were frozen over. Totodile was sprawled on the ground, while Torterra stood on the mountain triumphantly.

"Totodile, return. You were great," Ash complimented, as he recalled the defeated Pokemon. He then tossed Bulbasaur's ball. "Bulbasaur, I choose you!" Bulbasaur appeared to the field once again. It looked confused at the large mountain in front of it, before a low growl from above it got its attention. It looked up and saw Torterra, who seemed to be daring it to come.

Paul made Torterra use Earthquake, even though it was partially frozen over. It shivered a bit, but pressed on the attack, albeit barely. This resulted in the mountain above it shattering into multiple sharp rocks that rained down upon Bulbasaur. It didn't have a variation of Counter Shield, so Ash opted to keep the sharp stones at bay with Hidden Power. Just when it looked like the glowing orbs from Bulbasaur would collide with the rocks, they redirected through them and struck Torterra. Worse than that, Torterra managed to position itself so that the orbs only struck the parts of its body that were immobilized by the ice, thus melting the chunks of ice. Bulbasaur was much too stubborn to go down that easily, much like Ash's unwillingness to give up.

Ash ordered a Vine Whip attack, and Bulbasaur whipped out its vines and struck Torterra's face a few times, careful not to let the spikes on the side poke them. At first, Paul's Torterra just withstood the attacks as Paul kept saying the word "Curse" over and over, but then Bulbasaur grabbed the tree on its shell. Unfortunately, it was wet, so the appendages slipped through the tree, and Torterra's hind paw finished the job as it slammed down on Bulbasaur, rendering it unable to battle.

"So, how does it feel not having beginner's luck anymore?" Paul sneered, as Ash's Bulbasaur was replaced with Pikachu. "Get rid of it with Frenzy Plant!"

Thick, spiny thorns emerged from the ground as Pikachu weaved around them with ease. Curse increased Torterra's defense, as well as its attack power, but it also reduced its speed. Unfortunately for it, Pikachu was well known for its speed, so it ended up having to recharge for nothing.

"Pikachu, hop on the crown of that tree and use Slam!" Ash shouted, as Pikachu jumped on the plant, focused all of its energy on its tail, and slammed it onto the tree multiple times, causing the Grass/Ground type to bellow in pain. Torterra began to move its limbs again as Pikachu gave the tree one last whack of the tail.

"Now, finish it with - "

"Giga Drain!" Paul interrupted, shaking Ash a bit. Instead of the spikes on its back glowing green, the crown of the tree on its shell turned brighter, essentially engulfing Pikachu by the energy-draining attack by default. It was only after Pikachu got trapped that the spikes began to turn a bright lime green, expanding to wrap around the helpless Pikachu.

"Pikachu! Get out of there!" Ash shouted, but there was no response. "Pikachu!"

"Torterra, don't stop!" Paul barked, and it just kept draining Pikachu's energy.

"You can't do this!" Ash retorted, his friends looking on in horror. All of them grew sick to the stomach just watching this display of torture.

"You say I can't do this, but look." Paul frowned at him.

Without warning (not that Paul deserved one), Brock rushed up to the purple-haired douchebag, grabbed him, and slammed him to a tree. "Stop it. Now."

Paul opened his mouth to say that this was a battle, but Brock's fist through his nose shut him up. Even Alexa was beginning to see this was going too far, because she announced Paul's disqualification, but Torterra was still going at it. Another beam of energy zoomed towards Brock, but Yvonne stopped it from harming it with a Pokemon too fast to see. It immediately cut the beam, and also slashed down all of the other ones surrounding Pikachu. Ash ran up to it and caught it before it fell to the ground.

"Pikachu!" Ash cried, as it slowly turned to him, beaten and tired.

"Pikachu." Pikachu responded, as Ash got up and clenched his fists at the douchebag, who got ready to say something, but Alexa stepped between Ash and Paul.

"You realize I can have you reported to Mr. Goodshow, which would result in your suspension in the PWT, right?" she warned him.

Paul grumbled inaudibly and recalled his starter Pokemon, before walking off.

"Thanks, Alexa!" Ash was genuinely grateful for her intervention. Who knew what would happen had Paul been allowed to continue his assault?

"It's nothing. You'd better head to the Lavender Town Pokemon Center this way, and make it snappy, or you won't live to see another day." They flinched a little as she pointed to the left, before heading to the opposite direction. Ash was carrying his Pikachu as they were walking the path that Alexa told them to go.

Brock told Ash to hand over Pikachu, which he did. He would have just healed all of Ash's Pokemon right then and there, but there were too many wild Pokemon around this area. As Misty was watching Brock tend to Pikachu, Yvonne and Ash went ahead of them.

The blonde thought for almost half a minute, before finally coming up with a subject. "I hope we never see that Paul guy again."

Ash turned to her and replied with, "Unfortunately, that's not likely. At least you can hope that he gets kicked out of the first round of the PWT so that we see less of him."

Yvonne grinned evilly at him. "And I want that someone to be me." Right at that moment, they saw a white bipedal Pokemon with red claws and blue markings on its chest, fore paws, and its eye area. The marking around its eye, which appeared to be a scar, extended to its ear. There were a couple of bruises around its chest area.

Grins split both Ash and Yvonne's faces at the same time. Ash was a little concerned, and also curious about the bruises, but he figured it just escaped capture from a trainer. Well, not this one. "I'm gonna catch it!" he declared, at the same time as Yvonne.

"You already have a Pokemon of a different color!" Yvonne argued.

"I saw it first!" complained Ash, taking out a Poke Ball.

"You did not!" Yvonne cried, doing the same thing. They both threw their balls towards the oddly-colored Zangoose and heard rustling from the bushes around them. Two black snake-like Pokemon with yellow hexagon patterns and purple markings on its body slithered in front of the balls and let themselves get sucked in.

"This is bad," Ash muttered to himself. "I have to get this Zangoose somewhere safe."

"I don't care how much you love Pokemon, I'm still getting it!" retorted Yvonne, as the two Seviper broke out of the capsules and turned to the mammal Pokemon, who growled lowly at them. One of the legless Pokemon tried to wrap itself around them, while the other one shot bullets of poison from its mouth at it. It sidestepped the Seviper that tried to constrict it while blocking the Poison Sting attack with its claws.

More rustling sounded in the bushes, and this time, it was much louder than ever before. What looked like a hundred Seviper emerged from them, all glaring at Zangoose. Ash glared right back at them as he stepped forward. "Zangoose, run!" Yvonne's mouth dropped open in shock.

Zangoose and Seviper were known for their fierce rivalries, but this one was no fool. It got on all fours and tried to run away, but its way was blocked by more of the venomous creatures. Yvonne attempted to toss a Poke Ball at Seviper, but just ended up slipping on one of the many snakes. The ball ended up rolling on the ground and tapping a Seviper on the tail.

Ash quickly snapped Gible's Poke Ball open. "Draco Meteor on all of those Seviper, let's go!"

As Gible was charging Draco Meteor, Yvonne sent out her Eevee to back the Dragon/Ground type up. Meanwhile, Ash ran to a Seviper who was ready to bite the helpless Zangoose with poison-filled fangs and kicked it away. "Leave it alone!" he shouted, before rushing in front of the Cat Ferret Pokemon's backside to shield it from a Seviper's tail. It didn't hurt much, but it did cause a rip in Ash's dark green shirt.

Just as Gible finished charging up Draco Meteor, the ground beneath it crumbled, and a Seviper lashed out at it from below, causing the attack to flub up. Meanwhile, Eevee was constricted by Seviper. It managed to bite its way out, but not before another one covered them in sticky, poisonous goo. The Fang Snake Pokemon was unaffected, being a Poison-type itself, but Eevee wasn't. They all turned their attention to Ash and Zangoose.

"Gible, use Dragon Pulse now!" Ash commanded, before a Seviper's sharp tail cut his lower leg area, drawing a little blood. He suppressed the pain as his Gible tried to create breathing room for itself, as well as its trainer and the Zangoose. He took out a Poke Ball and tried to call forth Swellow, but he was tackled to the ground. He lost his grip on the capsule, which rolled on the ground and into Gible's mouth. It snapped open as Swellow was successfully released. Gible wore a look of confusion for only a moment before articulating to Swellow what had to be done. Swellow picked up Yvonne's Eevee and made four of the wild Pokemon bump their heads into each other's, before carrying it over to Ash, who had grabbed a Seviper by the tail, and was desperately trying to whip the others with it. Unfortunately, it was a few pounds heavier than him, so he settled for stomping on it violently.

"Get. Away!" he declared. "I. Won't. Let - "

"Seviper!"

A Seviper attempted to poison him, but the Cat Ferret Pokemon protected him with its claws. It slashed through Seviper's reptile skin multiple times, before having to protect itself from others of its species. It put up a green orb around itself to stop any attacks that could have harmed it. Yvonne was having worse luck than Ash; the Seviper wouldn't allow her to do anything, but she didn't give up.

Just our luck, we encounter a shiny Zangoose, and of course it comes with a Seviper swarm, she thought bitterly. "Eevee, Quick Attack towards me!" she shouted, as Eevee hopped off Swellow, who had taken down five Seviper with well placed Aerial Ace attacks. On Eevee's way to the blonde, it knocked a few Seviper away, finally giving her some room to send out the rest of her party. She tossed all five of her Poke Balls and opened them. "Go, go, all of you!"

Five other Pokemon appeared in a bright light. They were: Dugtrio, Camerupt, Whimsicott, and a mysterious dark blue frog with white markings on its body and a long tongue wrapped around its neck like a scarf. The frog-like Pokemon immediately wrapped its tongue around her face in affection and started licking it. She jerked her head away from it. "Greninja, STOP! Take on the Seviper!" It looked a little disappointed that she didn't want his affections, but focused on the Seviper.

Dugtrio zoomed towards the Seviper while burrowing on the ground and took down all of the ones surrounding Ash. Zangoose was engaged in a struggle with Seviper. Lava and molten rocks erupted from the holes on Camerupt's back and washed over all of the enemy Pokemon surrounding it, burning them as well. When they refused to stand down, Camerupt finished them off with an Earthquake attack. A crack formed in front of it as more unsuspecting Seviper were caught in the fissure. Whimsicott hovered over every opponent below her and sent spores at them to stun them, and Greninja finished them off with its tongue. Yvonne hopped on Greninja, who bounced over to Ash and Zangoose, grabbed them with its tongue, before then hopping away from all of the Seviper. Ash and Yvonne recalled the rest of the Pokemon as Greninja hopped on the tree branches, far above the Seviper. Zangoose now had even more bruises than ever, with a little blood smeared on its fur.

"Don't worry, Zangoose, we're almost there," Ash assured it, too focused on it to wonder about Yvonne's Pokemon. Zangoose growled as the Seviper became more distant from them, but after they reached Lavender Town, it relaxed a bit.

"Thanks, Greninja," Yvonne told it, patting its head. It lowered it a bit, but was immediately recalled. Ash lifted up the bloodied Zangoose and barged through the doors of the Pokemon Center, shoving a few people out of the way and showing Nurse Joy the Pokemon he was lifting up.

"Nurse Joy, could you please - " he began, before getting cut off by the nurse, "How could you leave it in this condition!"

Yvonne immediately came to his side. "It's not his fault he couldn't take on hundreds of Seviper at once while also protecting a Pokemon!"

The pink-haired lady looked touched by this statement as she took a closer look at the Zangoose, who was panting and wheezing.

As you two might already know, Zangoose and Seviper have had fierce rivalries against each other for as long as Pokemon have existed, and this one is no exception," Nurse Joy began. "But this one in particular was disliked by Seviper more than any others of its species, because of its odd - "

"Are you going to heal it?" Ash interrupted, before yawning loudly. What time was it, exactly?

"Oh, sorry," the nurse apologized. "Oh, Misty and Brock told me to tell you two that they're staying here for the night." Ash and Yvonne perked up a little, now knowing where they were, and that they were safe. Nurse Joy then took it to a room to heal.

"Well, Ash, I'm heading to bed. Goodnight!" Yvonne forced a smile at him, but he just stared. "Everything will go fine, you should get some rest, too." She headed to a room in the Pokemon Center. When she was gone, Ash sat on a bench, waiting. He tried not to fall asleep, but eventually, he found himself counting Ampharos.

He woke up in a forest, similar to the one where he and Yvonne fought all of the Seviper. Speaking of Yvonne, she was next to him, wearing a headless Zangoose outfit. The markings were blue instead of red, just like that shiny Zangoose they saved last night. There was even fake blood on it, smeared in the same places that fake Zangoose was bleeding last night. Yvonne herself seemed to be just fine in spite of her messed up costume. He asked himself how he ended up here, when Yvonne came to him.

"How's your outfit get so messed up?" Yvonne questioned.

Ash remembered getting scratched by the Seviper a few times, resulting in rips in his clothes. He looked down and saw he was wearing the same outfit as Yvonne. I don't remember putting this on...

"Ash, run!" she cried, as multiple fifty-foot Seviper rushed towards them, baring their razor-sharp teeth. They both tried to get away from the Seviper, but they all caught up to them. One of them opened its large maw and tried to eat Yvonne, who was trying and failing to get her Zangoose costume off. Ash tackled her out of the way, saving her from harm, but he felt multiple needles stab through him everywhere from his chest to feet. He immediately cried out in pain, before waking up in a cold sweat.

He looked outside to distract himself, noticing that it was still dark out, which meant he had only been asleep for a few hours at most. Of more importance was Nurse Joy, who was walking to the Pokemon Tower. She was carrying a heavy sack of some sort in her arms. Why was she going there? Ash decided to leave the Pokemon Center and follow her without her noticing. An old man greeted her at the door. Without a word, he led the nurse to a graveyard, pointnig at a spot on the ground, where Nurse Joy carefully placed the sack.

Ash's stomach lurched as the two of them dug it up, and the next words to come out of the man's mouth would only confirm his fears: "What a shame that it had to die so young because of an old rivalry."

Ash froze up, not knowing what to think. He was too shocked to even move away from their line of sight as both Nurse Joy and Mr. Fuji walked past him. Nurse Joy turned on a dime and faced Ash. "Oh, I didn't expect to see you here. I wanted to tell you that it didn't make it through, but you were already asleep. Why don't you visit its grave before you leave?"

Ash slowly walked towards Zangoose's gravestone, at a loss for words. He wished he had been able to save it from death on time...he wished he hadn't fought with Yvonne over who got to catch it, and just let her get it...he wished he had been quicker...he wished he'd just kept Charizard so it could roast Paul's Torterra quickly...he wished he'd never battled Paul...

If he hadn't let Paul get to him, this Pokemon would still be alive. If he had taken another path on the way to Lavender Town, before then this probably wouldn't have been a problem. Now that he thought about it, why didn't he just use his Pokedex to switch to some of his stronger Pokemon? Why didn't he ask Brock for any status-curing items to use for himself, just in case of situations like these?

He stared at its gravestone for a while, before tightening his fist and whispering, "Rest in peace. I won't let them get away with this. They will all pay."

The next thing he knew, he was sprawled next to it, having fallen asleep again.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

It was finally here.

The day that everybody was anticipating had come at last. It was time for the Pokemon World Tournament! However, one person in particular could not bring himself to be excited over it any longer: Ash Ketchum.

He trudged out of bed - had Nurse Joy and Mr. Fuji carried him there, or did he sleepwalk? - and put on his original outfit. Oddly enough, it was unripped - had they changed him, too?

"Ash, you're gonna be late!" Misty called from beside him. She was wearing just a light blue bikini. Ash gawked at her for a bit, before she ran off. Ash chased after her.

"Wait for us!" Brock called. Ash looked to see Brock wearing just black swimming trunks. Next to him was Wilhelmina, who was wrapped in a light green towel. Wilhelmina's eyes were glued to Brock as she ran alongside him. "Yvonne's gonna kill us if we're late to her match! Pikachu's waiting, too!"

A look of realization struck Ash's face as he remembered that Pikachu hadn't actually been with him for almost half a day. Brock must have handed him to Yvonne after having finished healing him. Ash forced himself to run alongside the three of them, trying to keep his mind away from the events of yesterday. After thirty minutes of endless running, they made it to the location.

"The Pokemon World Tournament is at...a beach!?" Ash exclaimed, as Yvonne and her Grinja - was that the name of the mysterious Pokemon? - were battling Paul and his Torterra. Yvonne was wearing a red and black one piece bathing suit, while Paul was wearing his usual outfit.

"Finish it with Ice Beam!" Yvonne commanded, as a beam of ice formed inside of her Pokemon's mouth, before being aimed at Torterra, freezing it over. Ash smiled a bit, at least glad she made her promise to beat Paul.

Everyone cheered as Alexa took a picture of her and her Water-type Pokemon. Greninja's face slowly tilted towards her, and -

Ash rose from the cold, hard ground again. He looked down to see that his outfit was still ripped. All just a dream...

He looked out of the window to see everyone rushing out of buildings, and going in one direction. He was actually surprised to see that so many people were heading to the Pokemon World Tournament so early, but then again, he supposed most of them were trying to get good seats! It was still early, so he pushed through the crowds and went to the Pokemon Center to get a little more rest. He had a dream that Pikachu shocked him awake so they could make it on time to the tournament, but other than that, nothing else unusual happened.

A few hours later, he woke up for real. Before he headed to the Indigo Plateau, he called his mom, both because he missed her, and to get his mind off of last night.

"Hello there, Ash!" Delia chirped, when her face was shown onscreen.

"Hey, mom!" Ash greeted back, as his mom eyed him from head to toe.

"Is something wrong, dear?" she asked, making him step back in shock. How was he supposed to tell her that he was partially the cause of a Pokemon's death? Luckily, she got his mind off of the subject. "Your clothes are ripped! But that's okay, I made you a new outfit!" She showed him a new outfit, probably one that she made herself. He didn't want all of her hard work to go to waste, but he also didn't want to wear that.

"Mom, do I really have to wear that?" he pleaded.

"I think someone needs a spanking," called a teasing voice from behind. Even without turning around, he could recognize Yvonne's voice.

"That someone being you," Ash shot back at her, as Pikachu ran close behind him and jumped on his shoulder.

Delia cut their banter short and announced that she'd send it to him when he got to the Indigo Plateau. Ash and his mother said goodbye to each other, before Delia suddenly disconnected.

"Let's hurry! Misty and Brock are already there!" Yvonne demanded.

~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

Besides going through huge crowds, most of the path to the PWT was uneventful. Ash heard rustling in the bushes and growled. Better not be another Seviper, he thought, before taking a closer look. What he saw from inside of the bush was a smaller, darker bush of purple within. Ash smirked, one more mysterious Pokemon for his collection. He didn't even bother scanning it this time, because he knew it wouldn't work.

He pointed to the bush and cried, "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Pikachu shook his head no.

"Pikachu, we have to weaken it," Ash whispered to him. Pikachu's mouth slowly formed into a crooked smile as it let loose a jolt of electricity towards the target. It yelped and fell down.

"All right!" Ash took out a Poke Ball. "Poke Ball, go!" He threw it at the charred mess, but it simply bounced off. Just then, "it" giggled and got up. The purple "bush" turned out to be the hair of a black girl. It looked longer (and weirder) than he remembered. She was wearing a pink and white dress, with no yellow present in this outfit, as was the case with her original one. On her head was a yellow tiara with green gems on it. She wore slippers that were also adorned with gems.

"Only a little kid would mistake a friend of theirs for a Pokemon...again," she stated, slowly getting up.

"Hey, at least he remembered to weaken you," Yvonne teased, before the two of them giggled at his expense.

Iris then inched closer to the boy. "Ash, why didn't you tell me you had a girlfriend back home?"

"Yvonne is not my girlfriend! Only a child like you would think that, Iris!" Ash retorted.

"Aw, he introduced us to each other!" she gushed. "Such a gentleman...it almost makes me think he's growing up."

Ash fell over.

"...Almost." Yvonne finished for her, before continuing with, "So you're Iris. Don't think Ash told me about you."

"Well, he doesn't talk much about his past in general," Iris told her.

"Really?" Yvonne gasped, seeming genuinely surprised.

"Why the shock? Little kids typically don't have much of a childhood to recall in the first place," Iris snarked.

Ash glared at her. "Is that why you kept your background a secret?"

She glared back at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Only kids keep secrets from friends," Ash countered, trying not to laugh. "What are you doing in Kanto, anyway?"

"Don't you know? The Pokemon World Tournament is coming up, and now that I've been declared a real Dragon Master, I thought I'd enter it. Georgia will be there too!" Iris answered him. "Oh, and to catch any dragon types that I encounter."

Ash was glad that she, like most of his friends, achieved their dream, but also sad, because it was just another fleeting reminder that he had yet to be a Pokemon Master, or even win a regional Pokemon League. To take his mind off of that, he came up with, "You do realize the only dragon types in Kanto are the Dratini line, right?"

The purple-haired girl sighed. "Haven't you heard of migration?"

Ash wasn't sure how that had slipped his mind, but Iris didn't say much more about it as a Gible surfaced under Ash, tripping him up. Iris and Yvonne shared a laugh at his expense as Gible looked up at him. He slowly got up as Iris picked up the Dragon/Ground type.

"Wow, you have a Gible, too!" Ash exclaimed, sending out his own. His Gible was a little bit bigger than Iris's. Iris's Gible stood on its tiptoes in an attempt to tower over Ash's only Dragon type. "You still have Axew, right? I think Scraggy would like to see him again."

"Well...not exactly..." Iris answered slowly, before tossing a Poke Ball. Out came a grey dragon with green upper body armor, white and red tusks in its mouth, a red tail tip, claws, eyes, and a few markings on its body. It was Iris's Axew, which had evolved into Fraxure just before she departed from them.

Ash was actually surprised that it had evolved into Fraxure so soon after Iris and Cilan left him. Yvonne scanned it with her Pokedex. "Fraxure, the Axe Jaw Pokemon, and the evolved form of Axew. A broken tusk will not grow back, so it diligently sharpens its tusks on river rocks after the end of a battle."

"Did it just battle?" the blonde theorized, and Fraxure roared in confirmation.

Ash pressed a button on his Pokedex, before sending his Scraggy out. He and Fraxure bumped fists, seeming glad to see each other.

"So, Iris, wanna meet a new friend? I think you'll really like him." Ash smiled, holding a Poke Ball.

"Sure!" Iris smiled back at him.

"Glalie, I choose you!" He sent out the Face Pokemon in arm's length of a shivering Iris. Ash couldn't help but snicker. While she wasn't as afraid of ice types as when they first met, her reaction was still amusing to him. Yvonne looked confused as Glalie inched closer to Iris, who was scooting away from it. After a bit, Ash recalled his Glalie, and Iris went back to normal after that.

Afterwards, they headed towards the Indigo Plateau, where the tournament was actually taking place. They had to use Ash's Pidgeot and Iris's Dragonite to get there just to bypass the crowds. It seemed like many other people had the same idea, including Camoron and Hydreigon. They even had to swerve through other fliers to reach the Indigo Plateau, which was possibly even more crowded than the rest of Kanto. Ash couldn't see either Misty or Brock through all of the crowds. Everytime he would try and get a better view from a certain position, some moron would always bump into him, saying he was in the way.

"All Pokemon World Tournament participants, please gather around and settle down!" a voice boomed over the loud audience. Somehow, they all settled down, though they weren't any less excited, and calmed down. "You're just in time for the opening ceremony!"

Some people that Ash didn't know took turns running with the torch, which was said to light with the flames of a Moltres. This time, all went smoothly without Team Rocket to ruin things.

The final Torch Bearer finished up the ritual, and the tournament officially began!

Because there were so many competitors, everyone was given a few hours to prepare, train, relax, and whatever else they decided to do. The rules had been updated, too. Ash's group was already prepared for any opponent they would face, so they didn't dwell on that too much. He, Yvonne, and Iris relished the last few hours before matchups in the movies and snack bars.

With only twenty minutes left, the girls went back to the Indigo Plateau, while Ash decided to head to the Pokemon Center to heal his Pokemon to make sure they were prepared. Oddly enough, the Pokemon Center wasn't nearly as crowded as anywhere else. As she was healing his Pokemon, Ash got in contact with his mom again, who sent him the box with the new outfit she wanted him to wear, and also wished him luck in the tournament.

"You're going to look so handsome in that outfit! It's very befitting for a champion!" his mother cried, as Ash changed into it. He was now wearing an indigo blue jacket with white stripes,red and black fingerless gloves, dark blue pants, and red and black shoes. He still kept his old league hat, however, and ended up keeping the new one in his backpack. He would later give it to Pikachu. The hat in question was red, except for its brim and the symbol of half of a circle outline in the center of it, which were white.

"Now get out there and win!" Delia cheered. "I'll get to work on sewing your old clothes...your Orange League trophy is getting worn out, and without another one to balance it out, I can't exercise properly! Love you!"

As the videophone disconnected, Ash winced as she reminded him yet again that he hadn't won any main league trophies.

I wonder who my first opponent is, Ash thought to himself, as he headed back to where battles would take place. The bleachers were already almost filled.

"Here are the matchups as follows!" Mr. Goodshow announced, as the large screen revealed who would fight who. Ash looked aup at the matchup screen. He was elated to see so many familiar faces, both old and new, on the screen. All of the people he knew so far were up against random nobodies, except for one. It would be one of the first matches in the PWT, too (multiple matches took place on different battlefields, and began at the same time).

Eventually, he saw his picture and name next to a headshot of a clown in all black, the words "Dave the Clown" under it.

Dave the Clown, huh? Get ready to be knocked out in your first round, Ash thought.

A brand new journey's round the door

And this'll be nothing like before

This time I'll give it all

I have trained to become the very best

just watch as I'm beating all the rest

I will never fall

Soon the entire world will see

I know I'll fulfill my destinty

We will save the world

and our journey never ends

cause I gotta catch'em all

Pokémon X and Y

I will never stop

until' I'm number one

cause we will save the world

Pokémon X and Y

Pokémon!


~~~GOTTA CATCH EM ALL!~~~

Lyrics above by SaftOchBulle.

Mr. Fuji: Jim Cummings

Nurse Joy (all): Megan Hollingshead

Alexa: Jessica Paquet
 
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