Working Sinnoh With Skill(Old) - Chapter 8

“So, this is a Gym?” Dawn inquired, her blue hair swaying in the breeze.

Her boyfriend, who’s hand she was clasping gently with her own, turned to look at her. “Yeah, why, is there something wrong with it?” Ash questioned, he’d seen a great many Gym’s like the one in front of them and nothing seemed wrong to him.

Dawn shook her head in the negative, “No, not really, it’s just I didn’t expect the Gym to look like a big rock.” The bluenette replied, gesturing vaguely towards the large building.

Ash chuckled, amused as he ceded to her point. He’d grown so used to it that he didn’t even pay it any mind anymore. “It’s built like that to show that this Gym is a Gym that focuses on and specializes in Rock-Type Pokemon.” The amber eyed teen told her.

The Oreburgh City Gym looked as if it was actually built right into the side of a mountain.

“Oh.” Dawn replied shortly before perking up, “So do you know what Pokemon you’re going to be using?” His beautiful girlfriend asked.

Ash nodded, “From the information I gathered, Roark the Gym Leader here always goes with 3-on-3 battles, so I’ve chosen Turtwig, Riolu and I used my Pokedex to grab one of my older Pokemon from the Oak Ranch back in Pallet Town.” He replied.

Dawn looked at him with curious eyes, “What Pokemon did you get?” She asked.

Ash just gave her a mischievous smile, “You’ll see when I send him out.” He replied teasingly.

Dawn was ready to question him more, maybe bribe him with one of those ‘activities’ he liked doing with her, but sighed and closed her eyes in defeat when she saw her boyfriend’s resolute look, “Fine…” She relented with a small pout of her supple pink lips.

As Ash lead Dawn in through the doors of the Gym, a question she’d been thinking on for a few days came to mind, “Hey, I’ve been thinking about this for a little while now, but do you think I can get it set up so that when I have more than six Pokemon, the rest go to the Oak Ranch with your Pokemon?” The blue haired beauty asked.

Ash stopped suddenly in the middle of the Gym reception room and blinked, “Huh…” He said stupidly to himself before he plastered a grin to his face and released a forced laugh as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly and looked his girlfriend in the face, “Yeah, funny story, I kind of already set that up way back when we were at Professor Rowan’s lab in Sandgem Town, I just assumed you’d like it that way so my Pokemon who reside there can help yours with their training.” Ash answered her, his voice having an odd hitch.

Dawn gave a cooing noise as she leaned up and pecked Ash on the cheek, “Aww, I have the best Boyfriend ever.” She cooed before slipping her hand out of his.

Ash raised an eyebrow in slight confusion, glad she wasn’t mad at him for taking liberties, “But we weren’t dating when I did that.” The young Ranger pointed out.

Dawn took a few steps in front of him and started walking through the Gym, swaying her hips nicely from side to side, the way she was doing it teased Ash all the more because at the end of each sway it looked like her small pink skirt would swish just enough to give him the view of the tantalizing prize beneath, but it never did. “Are you saying you didn’t want this then?” She asked curiously, and Ash could swear he could hear the sultry grin on the bluenette’s face.

Ash felt a throb of desire shoot through him but squashed it as he forced himself under control, “Trust me Dawn, I’ve wanted a piece of that since the first time you walked in front of me.” He growled huskily as he stepped up and wrapped his arms around her waist from behind and pulled her back against his chest, leaning his head to the side and brushing her hair out of the way, he began to gently suck on a sweet spot Dawn had at the nape of her neck that he’d discovered the previous night when they’d stayed up for hours ‘exploring’ their relationship.

Releasing a quiet moan subtly as she could Dawn returned fire by angling her hips back and began to grind her supple behind into Ash’s crotch.

“Ahem!” A young male voice coughed, interrupting them. “Could you get a room if you’re going to do stuff like that?” The young male – a man’s – voice inquired.

“Hn…” Another cold voice snorted, “No wonder you took this long to get here, you were too busy attempting to screw your new girlfriend than actually pay attention to Gym Battles.” The cold but rather familiar voice stated, although there was no real bite behind the words.

Both stiffened rather abruptly, but Ash relaxed when he recognized the cold voice of Paul. Tightening his grip on Dawn slightly to keep her from springing out of his embrace – she still got rather flushed and embarrassed when a tease backfired on her; they’d have to work on that, he didn’t really care about the public’s opinion, they were a fickle bunch – taking a second, he nipped gently on her sweet spot again getting her to melt into his arms with a sigh before he let his eyes wander up to meet Paul’s cold orbs and the amused glasses covered orbs of an older male wearing a grey open vested miner outfit and a red miner helmet covering long beage locks of hair, “Hey Paul, fancy meeting you here.” Ash greeted with a small smile on his face, not even bothering to remove his face from his girlfriends neck.

Paul’s eyebrow gained a twitch of annoyance, the cold purple haired Trainer had met a great many Trainers on his journey through the Regions, and despite heeding the slightly older Trainer’s advice recently, conceded to himself that no other person in the world could get under his skin like Ash Ketchum. “Ketchum, can you at least remove your face from that girl’s neck?” Paul asked in annoyance.

Ash only gave him a patronizing smile as he rubbed his nose gently up and down Dawn’s pulse point, causing the bluenette to let out a small sigh of pleasure at the tingly feelings it sent up her spine, “Sorry Paul no can do, don’t worry I’ll explain why I’m doing this when you start going through puberty so you can understand it better.” The young Ranger replied easily.

Paul’s eyebrows both began to twitch violently and he began to grind his teeth in frustration, “I’ve seen your Trainer page! We’re the same age!” The purple haired trainer retorted angrily.

Ash turned his head and stopped his ministrations on his girlfriend’s neck and proceeded to stare blankly at Paul, “If you’re the same age as me, then why are you asking such stupid questions?” He asked, the Trainer’s mirth-filled amber eyes widening a moment later as if he just realized something, complete with a hammy gasp. “Unless your gay! It makes sense in fact, every time we’ve met, you haven’t so much as bat an eye at Dawn here despite how gorgeous she is, yet you always focus so intently on me!” Ash blurted out in ‘realization’.

Paul’s face went slack with shock, before his eyes hardened, his mouth formed into a snarl and his face went almost red with rage, he opened his mouth to give Ash a piece of his mind, but was cut off.

“I’m sorry Paul, I’m flattered I really am, but I’m just not into that kind of debauchery.” Ash told him ‘soothingly’ as he gestured to Dawn who along with the other older man looked highly amused by the situation, “I’m already taken and I’m a one woman kinda guy.” The young Trainer stated, putting extra emphasis on the word ‘woman’.

Paul opened and closed his mouth wordlessy, trying his damnedest to fire back a heated and biting retort, but just couldn’t seem to do it, so he settled for throwing his arms in the air and snarling angrily before pushing past Ash briskly and racing out of the entrance of the Oreburgh Gym.

Ash and Dawn watched him go before they both burst out in loud laughter as they separated, “Ha… Oh that guy, he’s just so easy to rile up.” Ash wiped an amused tear from the side of his eye as he finished laughing, fighting back the grin he so wanted to let out when he heard Pikachu, who’d been sleeping in his backpack, giggling loudly.

Taking a deep breath to stop himself from laughing again, Ash stood to his full height and let an easy smile come across his face as he offered his hand to the older dark red haired male, who’d cracked a grin of amusement of his own, “Sorry about that, me and Paul don’t always see eye to eye so I try to rile him up every time we meet.” Ash told the glasses wearing man who took his offered hand and shook it with a firm grip, “I’m Ash Ketchum and this beauty beside me is my girlfriend Dawn Berlitz” The amber eyed teen introduced himself and Dawn as he gestured to her.

The helmet wearing man nodded to Dawn’s wave of her hand as a greeting, “Hello, I’m Roark and I’m the Gym Leader of this Gym.” The now named Roark replied.

Ash’s smile stretched a bit, “That’s great, I was just here to ask you for a Gym battle.” The black haired teen stated.

Roark gave him an apologetic smile, “Sorry, but I just got through with having Gym battle with Paul and I need to take my Pokemon to the Pokemon Center to recover, so I won’t be able to battle you until tomorrow.” He told his young challenger.

“Who won?” Dawn inquired politely.

“It was a close battle, especially when my Cranidos evolved into Rampardos, I thought I had the battle won then, I just didn’t expect Paul’s Elekid to evolve into Electabuzz a few moments later and pull a win from the grasps of defeat.” Roark said in answer to the bluenette’s question.

Ash waved off his apology, “It’s fine, you’re Pokemons’ health is far more important then a little badge; go on.” He tilted his head, gesturing towards the door.

Roark nodded in thanks, giving a brief, “I’ll be looking forward to our battle tomorrow, Ash.” before he left his Gym.

Ash and Dawn wordlessly left the Gym, hand in hand. When they got outside Dawn stood on her tiptoes and looked around the city. She apparently found what she was looking for because she turned to Ash and excitedly said, “I’m gonna go check out the Contest Hall to see where and when the next contest is being held.” She declared.

Since she was already on her toes she took advantage of the situation and pecked him on the lips. Normally, such a small kiss would prompt Ash to lean forward for more, but the to honorary Ranger’s surprise and happiness it was Dawn this time who darted forward again to claim a second kiss, this one much longer and deeper as she grabbed onto his jacket to pull them closer.

They eventually pulled apart, both their faces flush with desire for more despite half the pair having just made plans for herself not five seconds ago.

“I think we’ll be doing some more exploring tonight.” Ash whispered, his voice slightly deeper.

Dawn hummed, somehow making it sound sultry, as she agreed. She managed to snap out of it before she turned on her heel and walked away.

Ash watched her hips swaying, the really cheesy line about hating to see her go but loving to watch her leave playing in his head, before he too ventured towards the town proper; looking for something to do to pass the time.

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Ash walked silently down the busy streets of Oreburgh city, his hands in his pockets and his face was set in a thoughtful look as he contemplated his up-coming battle tomorrow.

While both Turtwig and Riolu were strong in their own right and had the advantage thanks to their types, both were still young and rather inexperienced.

Gym Leaders were not to be underestimated, Wallace had been one of the Hoenn Gym Leaders, yet now he was the Champion of the whole Hoenn Region.

So, he’d used his Pokedex to bring over one of his oldest Pokemon, one he’d caught on his very first journey through Kanto and had won him a great many battles to make sure he came out the winner, despite using two very new Pokemon.

Ash was just passing by the Museum contemplating if he should take his Pokemon out for a quick training session up in the rocky coal mines when a large explosion rocked the street, a good sized chunk of the Museum being blown straight off and leaving a large gaping hole in the side of the building.

In the smoke filled haze coming from the hole in the wall of the Museum – where Ash quickly deduced the explosion occurred – he could make out three shadowy figures before the one with wings took to the air and flew straight out of the smoke into the air, just in time to miss a large orange beam of powerful energy that blasted straight through where it had been.

“That was a Hyper Beam.” Ash commented to himself as the bystanders on the street began screaming in panic and fleeing the area.

Looking up, Ash was rather surprised to find that the flying figure was in fact an Aerodactyl!

Aerodactyl possessed serrated, saw-like fangs, It’s wings possessing light purple skin stretched from it’s side to it’s arms. It had a gray oval-shaped bod with a triangular tip. Aerodactyl had dark green eyes, though the iris of it’s eyes were barely visible.

Turning his attention back to the clearing smoke and debris, Ash noted that one of the shadows, the smallest one, had disappeared, just as the smoke finally cleared to show a very pissed off looking Armaldo roaring in fury at the flying Aerodactyl, who was flying up above the street and heading through the city.

Armaldo was a bipedal, amphibious Pokémon, somewhat resembling a mantis shrimp and covered with thick, heavy-duty plates. It was mainly colored blue, with accents of yellow, black, white and red. Additionally, Armaldo’s eyes extended from the sides of its head. However, they were not beady and instead oblong in shape. Armaldo also had a black pattern present on it’s head, supported by a long neck with three lobes on each side. It had a yellow lower jaw, and a continuation of the yellow coloration on the rims of the armor on its underside. The yellow patterning encircled the holes on the armor of the underside, out of which Armaldo’s blue-and-black-tipped, segmented blade-like arms extended from. The yellow rim on the shell underside culminated on Armaldo’s lower belly, although there was also yellow rimming on the fin-like, triangular ‘wings’ on Armaldo’s sides. Armaldo’s legs were thick, with black-colored knees and two toes. Armaldo’s long tail was similar to that of the Legendary Pokemon Lugia’s in shape, although blue with black fins.

“Maldo!” Armaldo shouted in fury at the retreating form of Aerodactyl. Opening it’s mouth it fired a decent sized glowing silver beam of energy at Aerodactyl, who swerved to the side avoiding it completely and continuing to flee in the air.

Growling again, Armaldo started running after Aerodactyl, intent on chasing down the reborn flyer.

All the while, Ash stood in the same spot as he had since the beginning of the spectacle, not sure if he should get involved or not; it wasn’t really his place to discipline someone else’s Pokemon after all.

“H-help.” A male voice rasped from the fallen debris around the hole in the wall of the museum, a shaking hand pushing it’s way through and waving for assistance.

Ash acted quickly and rushed to the man’s aid, pulling the debris aside to show a slightly injured older man maybe in his early 30’s.

Ash pulled the man out and shook him gently, “Hey, hey are you okay?” He asked.

The older man, a scientist by the looks of it if his thick glasses and white lab coat were anything to go by, groaned and his eyes fluttered open, landing on the Pokeball around Ash’s neck, “A-are you a Pokemon trainer?” He rasped out.

Ash nodded, although he was rather curious why this injured scientest was asking if he was a trainer or not, “Yeah, I am. Why?” The young Ranger inquired.

The scientist lifted his hand weakly, “Those three ancient Pokemon; Armaldo, Aerodactyl and Kabutops, are a newly reborn group of Pokemon from fossils found in the mines, but ever since they were revived a few days ago they’ve been extremely violent and refused to submit to any of our Trainers at the lab…” The older man trailed off with a cough, “Please, this is our fault, please subdue them before they can hurt anyone el-” That was as far as the scientist got before he fell limp in Ash’s arms.

Sighing, Ash set the man down gently before standing up. Looking down at the man he quirked a grin at him, “I’m a nice guy, but I’m still a Trainer and you just asked me to subdue ancient and rare Pokemon.” Ash stated evenly before continuing his voice becoming rather cheerful, “I hope you know that you won’t be getting them back, they may be prehistoric, but a Pokemon is a Pokemon, and all a rowdy Pokemon needs is the right Trainer to cow it’s attitude, and I’m happy to take up that position.”

Ash was running down the street after Armaldo for a few moments before he realized something and began cursing, “Dammit! I completely forgot about the Kabutops.” He said aloud, “To hell with it, I’ll track it down once I’m done with these two.”

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Dawn smiled to herself as she left the Oreburgh City Contest Hall. It hadn’t taken her long to find it at all and when she did there was a video on repeat on the big screen in the middle of the hall. The video being of Marian and her announcing the next Contest would be taking place on Floroama Town.

As Dawn walked out of the Contest Hall, she noted something weird; the street that had been so busy before she had entered the hall was now desolate and a few of the buildings were even damaged, large slash marks across the walls and even a few holes that punched straight through the building into the inside.

The street she was in was eerily quiet as the bluenette walked down it cautiously. Dawn whirled around her, heart rate increasing as she heard the sound of something metallic clanking across the ground.

When she turned Dawn easily identified the sound as coming from an empty soda can that spilled out of one of the alleys across the road, picking up subtle movement in the alley Dawn squinted her eyes, but there was no need as whatever was lurking in the shadows of the alley stepped out into the day light to give Dawn’s blue eyes a good look at it.

“What Pokemon is that…?” Dawn murmured to herself as she pulled out her pink Pokedex and hit the scan button to get a read on it.

“Kabutops, With sharp claws, this ferocious, ancient Pokémon rips apart prey and sucks their body fluids. This Kabutops is Male and has the ability Battle Armor. Currently, this Kabutops knows the attacks Night Slash, Aqua Jet, Giga Drain, Earth Power and Ancient Power.” The voice of the pink Pokedex stated before Dawn slipped it back inside her pocket.

“The Pokedex told me the attacks it knows, so that means it’s a wild Pokemon…” Dawn concluded to herself. The Kabutops had noticed her now and was standing stock still, staring at her. “Ash would kill me if I didn’t try to catch a wild Pokemon this rare and strong when I had the chance.” The bluenette told herself as she grabbed one of her Pokeballs.

Kabutops stood bipedal on two long legs, Two long sharp claws (or sickles) extended from Kabutops’ exoskeleton and several plates closed the front of the torso off. There were six hard spikes going down from the back of its neck, three on each side that lead down towards the beginning of its tail. Its head was covered in a rock-hard, semicircle-shaped armor. A stiff, brown tail protruded from its back.

“Ursaring, spotlight!” Dawn called out as she released Ursaring from his Pokeball.

The large bear Pokemon appeared with a roar of excitement in a flash of energy.

“Kabutops!” Kabutops sneered threateningly as it began to walk towards Ursaring, who responded in kind and began marching towards his opponent as well.

“Focus Blast!” Dawn called out abruptly.

Ursaring punched both palms together quickly before pulling them apart to reveal a beach ball sized cyan blue energy ball of power, before Ursaring threw his arms forward and launched the Focus Blast at Kabutops.

Kabutops hissed in reply as his sickle like claws glowed a light red and slashed them forward in an X formation, cutting straight through the Focus Blast like wet tissue and forcing it to dissipate from lack of shape.

Kabutops didn’t finish there though and followed up quickly as it’s body became surrounded in a veil of water and it shot off like a rocket straight towards Ursaring, slamming into the large bear Pokemon’s stomach and sending it sprawling back towards Dawn faster than the Normal-Type could react.

“That was fast.” Dawn commented as Ursaring stood up to his full height and gave a roar of challenge, despite being scuffed up slightly.

Kabutops responded in kind as it took off in another jet of water straight towards Ursaring.

“Don’t back down!” Dawn ordered, “Use Bulk Up and then block it with Slash!”

Ursaring growled as he became outlined by a deep crimson glow, before the glow disappeared and Ursaring brought up two sets of glowing white claws crossed against his chest, just as Kabutops reached him and ploughed straight into him harshly.

The ground beneath Ursaring cratered from the force of the impact, but the large bear Pokemon held strong stopping Kabutops in it’s tracks.

“Now!” Dawn shouted, “Push it off balance and follow up with Hammer Arm!” The bluenette commanded sharply.

Ursaring roared and pushed forward with a burst of strength, disrupting the veil of water around Kabutops and sending the prehistoric Pokemon staggering back a few stops, leaving it open with no hope of counter for the glowing white arm Ursaring brought down on it’s head sending it crashing off into the street a good few metres away.

As Kabutops shakily pulled itself to it’s knee’s, Dawn pumped her fist in the air and prepared to finish this battle now, “Finish up with Hyper Beam!” The blue eyed girl shouted.

Ursaring opened it’s mouth where an orange orb of energy began to gather and condense, but just as Ursaring was prepared to fire it in a beam of epic power, Kabutops glowed faintly with a golden outline of energy before it brought down both bladed sickles on the ground harshly.

The ground began to splinter and break apart and travelled right over below Ursaring, before the ground opened up and entrapped Ursaring in a golden hail of power coming from beneath the surface of the street and causing Ursaring to roar in pain as he lost his focus and the Hyper Beam attack dissipated from it’s gaping maw.

Not a second later did the golden glow disappear and Kabutops followed up once again before Ursaring could recover.

From three of the spike-like segments on Kabutops’ back, three glowing green beams of energy erupted and shot across the street, wrapping around Ursaring’s body and lifting it a few feet into the air as they drained Ursaring’s health and replenished Kabutops’ with the stolen energy.

With each passing second as Dawn tried to think of a way to turn the battle in Ursaring’s favour, Kabutops began to look livelier and livelier as the ancient Pokemon stood to it’s full height again, it’s injuries done to it by Ursaring healing and fading away bit by bit.

“Ursaring use Hammer Arm to break out!” Dawn ordered desperately; she was running out of options.

Ursaring’s arms glowed white and it began to struggle against it’s glowing green energy binds, but it wasn’t to be as Kabutops brought it’s sickle bladed arms into the air and slashed down at Ursaring, creating and launching a beach ball sized silvery white glowing ball of energy.

Ursaring’s eyes widened and it began to struggle harder against it’s bindings, but to no avail, the powerful silver orb of energy crashed directly into Ursaring’s face, exploding and launching Ursaring soaring through the air, crashing into a building a good distance away and sliding down to the concrete ground unconscious.

Dawn cursed, “No! Ursaring!” She called out worriedly, pulling up his Pokeball, Dawn returned him in a beam of red energy before Kabutops could continue to beat on the large injured bear.

Kabutops hissed angrily at her and began to walk towards her threateningly.

Steeling any fear she felt, Dawn grabbed another Pokeball and released the Pokemon inside, “Go Aipom!” She said aloud.

Aipom was a small purple furred monkey-like Pokemon with a large grin on her face and a long purple tail that ended with a large four fingered human hand at the top.

As Dawn was thinking of a strategy to beat Kabutops, something her boyfriend Ash told her after her loss to Nando and his Roselia floated into her mind.

“Every attack that a Pokemon can learn and use to recover their health has one glaring weakness; every single one of them have the same weakness.” Ash’s voice instructed, “While they may heal injuries sustained by the using Pokemon, the moves themselves do not cure the fatigue the Pokemon has gained during the battle thus far. They may be healthy again, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t exhausted.“

Dawn smiled suddenly as an idea came to mind, “Power up Focus Punch and run towards it.” she ordered.

Aipom obeyed and started sprinting towards Kabutops, the fist of her tail beginning to glow a brighter and brighter white with every passing moment.

Kabutops charged as well, both sickle-like claws glowing light red again in preparation for the clash to come.

When they were a few feet from each other, Dawn acted. “Now Double Team!” She commanded sharply.

Suddenly multiple clones of Aipom appeared in a line running at Kabutops, who charged straight into the one at the front slashing right at her, only to phase right through her and the images to disappear

“Now from above!” Dawn called out.

Aipom came down with a loud cheer, crashing a devastating Focus Punch right onto the top center of Kabutops’ cranium.

Kabutops screeched in pain as it’s face was ploughed straight into the ground, cratering it and injuring both the front of his face and the top of it’s skull.

Dawn, seeing her chance took it, not even noticing Aipom, who had jumped back to her side glowing a bright white. Grabbing an empty Pokeball, Dawn launched it through the air towards Kabutops.

Kabutops, who was face down on the concrete ground, was struggling hard to get up but to no avail. The Pokeball smacked it and opened up absorbing Kabutops inside it in a beam of red energy.

Dawn waited with baited breath as the Pokeball shook from side to side glowing a deep red, side to side it shook for a few moments before stilling and the red glow fading as it gave off a soft ‘ding’ signifying capture.

Walking over a beaming smile on her face, Dawn picked the Pokeball of her newest Pokemon up and cheered, “We did it!” She cheered before turning to face Aipom, only to gape as she did; for in Aipom’s place stood a larger version of Aipom with two long tails tipped off with large human hands.

“Ambi, ambi Ambipom!” The new form of Aipom cheered.

Blinking stupidly, Dawn slipped Kabutops’ Pokeball into her bag and grabbed her pink Pokedex.

Bringing the Pokedex up Dawn hit the scan button to check out her newly evolved Pokemon, “Ambipom, the evolved form of Aipom, it evolves when Aipom learns the attack Double-Hit.” The dull monotone female voice stated aloud.

Dawn slipped the Pokedex into her bag and ran up and hugged her new Ambipom, “We did it! Not only did we catch Kabutops but you evolved as well!” She cheered as she hugged her Pokemon, who replied in kind hugging her back and cheering with her in excitement.

Pulling Ambipom’s Pokeball out after their short celebration, Dawn returned her in a beam of red before standing up with a sigh of relief, “Whoo, I didn’t even battle and I’m exhausted.” The bluenette sighed to herself, “I guess I’ll go to our room at the Pokemon Center and show Ash my newest Pokemon.” She commented to herself idly as she stood up and began walking down the street towards the Pokemon Center, completely ignoring all the damage her Pokemon caused to the street in her attempt to catch Kabutops. Even if she did… well it was somebody else’s problem; she had a boyfriend to impress!

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By the time Ash had caught up with Armaldo, he found himself at the rocky outcrop coal mines just outside the city. Armaldo and Aerodactyl were already engaged in a battle, something Ash realized when he noted that both Pokemon had a few injuries littering their bodies each.

Aerodactyl opened it’s mouth and fired a powerful looking Hyper Beam straight at Armaldo from mid-air, only for Armaldo to return fire and both powerful Hyper Beam’s to clash in the air between them, exploding against each other and launching their respective users soaring a few metres back, scuffed up with a few more burns added to their injuries.

Ash had seen enough, reaching down he grabbed a Pokeball from his silver belt and unleashed the Pokemon inside, “Haunter let’s do this.” He stated calmly.

Beside him Haunter phased into existence a silly grin on his face – Haunter always was his most cheerful Pokemon, and prankster for what it’s worth – noticing Haunter reaching inside his mouth and down his non existent throat reaching to pull out one of his prank bombs, Ash decided to curb it before Haunter started, “Not right now Haunter, I need your help just now, we can go play pranks together later.” Ash told his Ghost Pokemon.

Haunter whined and pouted – a scary thing indeed – but relented and floated steadily beside Ash awaiting orders.

Ash kept his patience about him as he waited for the perfect opportunity, closely scrutinizing the ongoing battle between Armaldo and Aerodactyl as both prehistoric Pokemon traded attacks back and forth.

Looking to his side, Ash sighed silently in exasperation as he saw Haunter still pouting trying to look sad but looking almost terrifying, making up his mind to fix this in the bud before it became a problem Ash caught Haunter’s attention before crouching down a bit and looking from side to side suspiciously, “We must be very very quiet, stay out of sight and search for an opening like true shinobi, nin nin!” Ash said in a mock whisper, placing his hand in a fake ninja hand seal.

It worked as Haunter began to giggle like crazy silently. Ash rolled his eyes as he stood up to his full height getting ready.

Both Armaldo and Aerodactyl were charging each other, Armaldo from down below and Aerodactyl from the sky. Aerodactyl was encompassed by the glowing purple and orange aura of the Giga Impact attack and Armaldo was bravely running to meet it head on claws glowing a light cyan blue.

When both Pokemon were just mere moments from impacting against one another, Ash acted.

“Haunter, Hypnosis.” He ordered sharply.

“Haunter!” Haunter replied eagerly as his eyes began to glow a deep crimson and he began to wave his hands from side to side.

Unprepared for the attack, both Aerodactyl and Armaldo could do nothing to defend themselves from Haunter’s will and were forced into a trance before both lagged and fell asleep, crashing straight into the ground beside each other.

Ash smiled at Haunter, “Good job.” He praised his Pokemon before holding up it’s Pokeball and returning it in a beam of red.

Switching Haunter’s Pokeball with two empty ones on his belt, Ash launched both Pokeballs using both of his hands.

The two red and white Pokeballs hit home and opened up, absorbing both Armaldo and Aerodactyl inside in beams of red energy.

Both Pokeballs shook from side to side beside each other on the ground, perfectly synchronized. Aerodactyl, who’d sustained the most damage in the battle’s Pokeball stopped first, followed closely by Armaldo’s, both giving off a soft ‘ding’ of successful capture each.

Ash snorted, “Despite both being quite powerful, those were some of the easiest captures I’ve ever made.” He commented to himself, “In fact I think only Caterpie was easier to catch.” Ash laughed as he made his way over and picked up his new Pokemon’s Pokeballs.

Grabbing his Pokedex, he hit one of the white buttons causing both Pokeballs of his newest Pokemon teleporting back to the Oak Ranch.

Ash shook his head in amusement as he put his Pokedex away and turned on his heel and began walking back towards the Pokemon Center, “I can expect a call from Professor Oak tonight I guess.” Ash murmured to himself in amusement.

Shaking his head to rid himself of the thought, he continued on, not bothering to go look for Kabutops, he was sure somebody like Roark would have dealt with it by now, it had taken him longer than he thought it would to track down and catch up with both Armaldo and Aerodactyl.

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When Ash finally got back to his shared room with his girlfriend at the Pokemon Center, he found Dawn already in there with an excited and giddy smile on her face.

“You’ll never believe what happened!” Dawn squealed excitedly as she bounced up to her feet a Pokeball clasped firmly in her hand.

Ash raised an eyebrow and gave her a smile as he walked towards her, “What?” He inquired.

“I caught a really rare Pokemon earlier, a Kabutops!” The bluenette gushed in answer.

Ash chuckled loudly, “I caught the two Pokemon that Kabutops escaped from the museum with.” The Ranger replied.

Dawn gasped at the mention of them escaping the museum, “Does that mean we’ll need to return them to the museum?” She asked her tone taking a rather melancholy edge.

Ash shook his head and gave her a reassuring smile, “No need to worry.” He replied with her trademark phrase, “Just keep Kabutops a secret until tomorrow and we can leave straight after my Gym Battle. While what we’re doing isn’t illegal, we’ll probably be expected to give them back because ‘it’s the right thing to do'” He told his girlfriend.

Dawn sighed in relief, “Thank Arceus, Kabutops put up a hell of a fight when I tried to catch it, I didn’t want all my Pokemon’s hard work to go to waste.” The bluenette voiced her worries aloud.

Ash gave her an amused grin as he gently took the Pokeball from her hand and set it down on the desk beside the bed, before he reached up and grasped her chin and brought her into a short but passionate kiss.

Pulling back for a second, Ash looked her in her deep blue eyes, his own eyes smoldering, “Now, let me return the favour from last night.” Ash told her softly as he lowered her to the bed, before slowly descending and pushing her shirt up and kissing softly down her stomach, lower and lower towards her skirt.

                                                                                ____________

The next day bright and early, Ash was standing on the opposite side of a rocky battlefield inside the Oreburgh gym of Roark the Gym Leader,

He couldn’t say he was not enjoying himself, because the fact was he was enjoying himself a lot, the reason being? His beautiful girlfriend Dawn up in the stands beside Pikachu wearing a pink cheerleader outfit, pom-pom’s in hand as she cheered him on.

“Good luck Ash.” Roark told him.

“You too.” Ash returned.

The referee standing on the podium to the side of the battlefield raised his hand in the air, “This will be a 3-on-3 battle between Roark the Oreburgh city Gym Leader and Ash of Pallet Town.” He announced aloud before swiping his hand downwards through the air, “Begin!” He called out loudly.

Both Ash and Roark released their first Pokemon each.

“Geodude, I choose you!” Roark shouted as he released his Pokemon. Geodude was a Pokemon that had no legs, and it’s entire body was mostly a small boulder with two muscular rock arms, one on each side.

“Turtwig, let’s do this.” Ash said aloud as he released his newest Grass type Pokemon.

Roark started off the battle quickly, “Geodude use Hidden Power!” The Gym leader called out.

Geodude became outlined in yellow as it hunched together. Light blue circles then appeared around Geodude’s body, and when it stretched its hands at it’s opponent, the circles of energy shot towards Turtwig on the other side of the battlefield.

“Block with Razor Leaf!” Ash commanded quickly.

Turtwig swung his head towards the oncoming onslaught, sending a multitude of razor sharp leaves firing from the leaves on his head.

Both attacks collided in the middle of the battlefield cancelling each other out.

“Rollout!” Roark shouted next.

Geodude tucked itself into a ball and began rolling towards Turtwig, picking up speed and getting stronger every moment.

“Energy Ball.” Ash commanded sharply.

Turtwig opened his mouth forming a dark green ball of energy and shot it off right at the rapidly approaching Geodude.

Using the momentum and speed behind it, Geodude ploughed straight into the Energy Ball causing it to explode on impact, but Geodude just kept going towards Turtwig despite the damage it took from the attack.

Before Ash could order a counter, Geodude was upon Turtwig, smacking it straight in the face and sending the small Grass-Type soaring into the air.

“Follow it and finish it!” Roark shouted to his Pokemon.

Geodude rolled around and used one of the rocky outcroppings as a ramp to fire itself into the air, soaring towards Turtwig.

Ash smirked, “Now Turtwig, finish it off with Leaf Storm!” The young challenger ordered abruptly.

Turtwig recovered mid-air and held his head sky-ward calling out his name loudly, multiple glowing green leaves gathering from around the leaf on his head. The leaves began to spiral around Turtwig in a tornado like fashion before the small Grass-Type thrust his head forward, sending the cyclone of leaves spiralling towards the unprepared Geodude.

“Geodude!” Roark called out worriedly, but it was too late for any hope of a counter as the tornado of glowing green leaves crashed straight into Geodude, hitting it hard.

The super effective attack launched Geodude through the air and while Turtwig landed nimbly on the battlefield covered in some injuries, Geodude crashed harshly into the unforgiving ground and, with one last spasm as the Leaf Storm faded, Geodude lost consciousness.

“Geodude is unable to battle! Turtwig is the winner!” The referee called out.

Roark returned Geodude to his Pokeball and smiled softly at it, “Thank you for you hard work.” He told the Pokeball before switching it for another.

While he did this Dawn took the opportunity to cheer extra loud, jumping up and down along with Pikachu. Ash watched her for as long as he could, but sadly needed to pay attention ad Roark started talking.

The Gym Leader looked over the battlefield at Ash, “That was a good strategy, you knew in mid-air that Rollout wouldn’t be as effective, so you got Geodude in the air and finished it off quickly.” Roark said to him, “But the next battle won’t be as easy, it’s time to take it up a notch, Onix I choose you!” Roark continued loudly.

Roark’s next Pokemon appeared on the field with a loud roar. Onix was a large snake made up of large rock segments, and on the top of it’s head there was a large rock outcropping in the shape of a spike or shark fin.

Ash started things off this time, “Turtwig run towards Onix.” He ordered calmly.

As Turtwig began sprinting towards Onix, Roar called out, “Onix meet it halfway with Double-Edge!” The Gym Leader called out.

Onix’s body became enshrouded in gold energy as it launched itself through the air towards Turtwig.

Ash smirked, “Roll underneath it and Razor Leaf!” Ash commanded quickly.

Turtwig rolled right underneath Onix’s attack and as he spun he launched a multitude of leaves, causing the large rock Pokemon to cry out in pain despite being protected somewhat by the golden energy around it from it’s own attack.

Roark recovered admirably though, “Use Slam when it gets to the back Onix and send it flying back to it’s Trainer!” The red haired man shouted.

Onix, while roaring in pain, managed to follow through on it’s orders and spun as it landed, bringing its massive stone tail up as Turtwig rolled to a stop and swung it down harshly, connecting straight with Turtwig’s face and launching the tiny – in comparison – Pokemon sailing through the air, landing a few feet in front of Ash, a large bruise forming on his head as Turtwig shakily pulled himself up.

“Stealth Rock!” Roark ordered quickly

Ash ignored the attack, knowing that it was a non-damaging attack for the most part, “Synthesis now!” Ash ordered quickly.

Turtwig began to glow as he healed himself, ignoring the small white energy beams that crashed into the ground around him creating a multitude of rock slabs sticking out of the ground.

The Gym roof was closed tightly so there was no sunlight and that was causing Turtwig problems, mainly because Synthesis was healing him really slowly thanks to it.

Roark wasn’t going to allow Turtwig the time to heal though, “Onix, Dragon-Breath!” He shouted almost instantly when Onix finished with Stealth Rock.

“Stand your ground, Safeguard.” Ash ordered, his voice level as Onix fired a torrent of green-yellow flames towards Turtwig.

Turtwig obeyed Ash’s command and dismissed the power of Synthesis, allowing a small green force field to phase into existence around him, repelling the flames of Dragon-Breath as they washed over the shield.

“Screech!” Roark literally roared as a follow up, and just as Turtwig’s green force field receded, Onix blasted a large spiral of glowing blue sound waves straight at Turtwig, faster than the small Grass-Type could dodge and blasted Turtwig straight into the wall behind Ash.

Turtwig fell to the ground, leaving a Turtwig shaped dent in the wall. Shakily Turtwig began to pull himself up, but just as he reached his full height he collapsed onto his side.

“This round goes to Roark and Onix!” The referee called out.

Ash sighed as he returned Turtwig, “You did well, let the others handle the rest.” He said proudly as he switched it with another Pokeball and released the Pokemon inside on the field, “Let’s go Riolu!” Ash shouted.

Riolu appeared on the field, calm as can be, but was not expecting for two of the rocky outcrops to tip from the ground and crash into him with quite a bit of force. When the smoke cleared from Stealth Rock hitting Riolu. Riolu was seen standing tall despite the small injuries that littered his arms from when he blocked with them.

Ash smirked, Riolu was a Fighting type, so Rock-Type based attacks like Stealth Rock were not very effective against the little Aura user.

“Aura Sphere.” Ash ordered calmly as he crossed his arms.

Riolu clasped both palms together and formed a blue sphere of energy roughly half the size of his body and launched it towards Onix.

“Dragon-Breath!” Roark countered.

Onix opened it’s mouth and fired the green-yellow flames of Dragon-Breath, which connected with the Aura Sphere in the middle of the battlefield, exploding as they clashed and covering the arena in a haze of smoke.

Roark and Onix were not expecting Riolu to burst from the smoke, charging straight towards the towering figure of Onix with glowing orange arms.

“Slam!” Roark called out quickly.

Onix roared and swung it’s tail towards Riolu, only for the small Aura user to jump and flip in mid-air landing on Onix’s tail and begin running up the length of it’s body.

“Dragon-Breath!” Roark shouted desperately.

Onix fired the intense flames down the side of it’s body, but Riolu used the glowing orange arms powered by Bullet Punch to block in an X formation in front of him and plough straight through the flames.

“Force Palm.” Ash ordered clearly from his side of the arena as Riolu finally got through the waves of green-yellow flames and made it to the top of Onix’s body.

Riolu jumped the last few feet and came down hard, thrusting his palm straight in the center of Onix’s large head. From Riolu’s palm erupted a large green blast of energy. Onix roared in agony of the Super Effective attack as the large Rock type was sent flying through the air.

Riolu flipped in mid-air and began descending towards the ground when Ash called out his next move, “Finish with Aura Sphere!”

Riolu clasped both palms together and held them there, charging the Aura within him, before pulling them apart to create an Aura Sphere almost three quarters of the size of his body and launched it through the air towards Onix, landing nimbly on his toes as he did.

The larger than average – for Riolu that is – Aura Sphere sped through the air and connected with the side of Onix’s body before the large behemoth could even hit the ground, the Aura Sphere exploded on contact and Onix roared in agony once more before falling silent and smashing into the ground hard enough to make the Gym shake like a mini-earthquake.

When the smoke cleared from the Rock-Type’s body, Onix came into view with swirls in it’s eyes and unable to continue battling.

“Onix is unable to battle, this round goes to Riolu.” The referee stated loudly.

Roark sighed sadly as he returned Onix to it’s Pokeball, “Job well done.” He told the Pokeball softly as he switched it with his final Pokeball and released the Pokemon inside onto the battle field, “Rampardos, I choose you.” The Gym leader called out his last Pokemon.

Rampardos was a large, dark-gray dinosaur-like Pokémon. Rampardos had a blue stripe on its tail and one blue stripe on each of its knees and wrists. Rampardos also had a spike on each knee. It had a blue collar on its neck with two spikes on it, Two of Rampardos’s head spikes were bigger than the other two. Its red eyes were obstructed by its dome-shaped head Two short spikes sat atop this Pokémon’s nose.

Ash looked Rampardos up and down before he surprised Roark by lifting up Riolu’s Pokeball and returning it in a beam of red energy.

Ash noted Roark’s look and decided to elaborate, “I’m not sure how strong that Rampardos is, and while I’m confident Riolu had a good chance in beating it, I brought an old friend of mine who I’ve not battled together with for a long time, so I’m letting him get the battle.” Ash told his listening audience before he released his own third Pokemon, “Kingler, to battle.” Ash stated calmly.

Kingler was a crab-like Pokémon with four legs, two arms, and two powerful pincers. The upper half of its body and its pincers were orange, while the bottom half and legs were cream colored. Kingler had spikes on its head, and had a large lower jaw with teeth-like bumps. Its left pincer was particularly larger than its right pincer.

Dawn up in the stands looked at Kingler in slight awe, “Wow, that thing looks really strong…” She muttered to herself.

“Koo kee koo kee!” Kingler cried eagerly.

Ash smirked at his Pokemon’s excitement to be battling for him again, “Okay Kingler, let’s start this off with CrabHammer.” Ash said easily.

Kingler brought his largest claw down harshly on the ground and shot a small narrow ball of white energy straight across at Rampardos at near enough blinding speeds.

Roark only had time to blink before the attack hit Rampardos, the large dinosaur Pokemon crying out in pain from the Super Effective attack and being completely taken by surprise by the speed of the attack.

“That was so fast I almost missed it.” Roark muttered to himself as Rampardos pulled itself to it’s feet, a few light injuries on it but nothing to serious, “Rampardos hit back with Flamethrower!” The Rock type gym leader called out.

Rampardos opened it’s mouth with a roar and sent a large torrent of white hot flames speeding across the battlefield at Kingler in reply of the earlier Crab-Hammer.

“Bubblebeam.” Ash ordered calmly.

Kingler opened both claws and placed them directly in front of himself, firing a large multitude of glowing bubbles straight at the flames, clashing with them in the middle and causing the battlefield to be covered in a fine mist of condensation.

Ash, really was not expecting Rampardos to burst from the clearing mist literally flying through the air, the top of it’s head glowing a deep blue, smacking straight into Kingler roughly before he could react.

Kingler stood tough though and held his ground, standing strong as his feet ground a few feet long trenches in the ground.

Ash smiled at his Pokemon’s resilience, “Water Gun and then follow up with Brick Break!” The Trainer ordered sharply.

Kingler opened his mouth and fired a spiral jet of water straight at Rampardos. The prehistoric Pokemon managed to spin to the side just enough to avoid the Super Effective attack but was unprepared for Kingler to have jumped high into the air – belaying the clumsiness his body suggested – and came down hard with his largest claw glowing white, smashing it straight down on Rampardos’ armored head.

Rampardos roared in pain as it fell backwards into a tumbling roll that kept going for a few metres.

Roark grit his teeth as his thoughts raged, he hadn’t expected that Kingler to have more physical strength than Rampardos, but that was to be expected; Rampardos had only evolved the day before and Ash insinuated that he’d had his Kingler for years.

As Rampardos shakily pulled itself to it’s feet, Roark went with the only move he knew had a high rate of being successful and not being countered, “Head Smash!” The red haired Gym Leader shouted.

Rampardos’ body became surrounded by a whitish-blue aura, making it seem black and white, and it shot of in blinding speeds at the Kingler with its head pointed at the large crab like Pokemon.

“Blizzard on the floor!” Ash ordered quickly, he knew the weakness to these types of moves, he had a lot of Pokemon that knew Giga Impact and the Volt Tackle variations.

Kingler opened both claws with a snap, ignoring the rapidly approaching Rampardos, and from both pincers erupted two narrow blizzards of snow and ice, impacting against the ground Rampardos was running across and freezing it over quickly.

Rampardos, having put all of it’s momentum and speed into the Head Smash slipped and crashed face first harshly into the ground and began sliding over to Kingler fast.

“Finish with Crabhammer!” Ash ordered sharply.

“Koo kee koo kee!” Kingler cried in response as he launched a glowing white claw straight down onto Rampardos’ head when the large dinosaur-like Pokemon reached the Water-Type.

Rampardos roared in pain as the ground cratered beneath it and kicked up a large cloud of smoke and debris.

Seconds later the roar of pain went silent and the Gym was quiet as the smoke cleared to show Rampardos unconcious.

“Rampardos is unable to battle, Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town wins the battle!” The referee cried out resolutely.

Roark returned Rampardos and gave the Pokeball a proud smile, “You’ve done well old friend, this loss was my fault and I’ll make sure to do better next time.” He told the Pokeball of his first ever Pokemon softly.

Rooting around in his pocket, Roark grabbed the contents inside and left his side of the battlefield to make his way over to Ash.

Said Ranger gave Kingler a proud smile before he returned the large crab Pokemon to his Pokeball and made his way to meet Roark halfway.

When they met at the side of the battlefield Roark held his hand out, which Ash gladly accepted and they shook hands. “Well done, you dominated that battle from the very start and countered almost every attack I made.” Roark started, “It is my honor to present you with the Coal Badge.” The Gym Leader finished as he held his other palm out and showed him the badge inside it.

Ash smiled and took it, “Thanks, that was a great battle.” He replied.

They were interrupted by the flying missile that was Dawn Berlitz who ran up and glomped him with a giddy smile on her face, “That was amazing Ash.” She told her boyfriend.

Ash laughed, but then the conversation he and Dawn had about their most recent captures came to mind and he turned to face Roark, easily in fact as if Dawn wasn’t hanging from his back, “It was a pleasure meeting you Roark but Dawn and I are running late for something and we need to get going now.” Ash ‘apologized’.

Roark waved it off, “I understand, young love and all that jazz, am I right?” Roark asked with a wink at Ash.

Ash gave Roark a mock smug smirk, “Oh yeah.” He replied arrogantly.

Dawn smacked his shoulder at the insinuation but had a small smile on her face as Ash turned on his heel and began walking towards the exit, grabbing his bag with Pikachu on his shoulder as he did, still not once showing strain from Dawn hanging from his back.