Adventure Reloaded! - Chapter 1 (Patreon)

Ash Ketchum had only been awake for five minutes. But those five minutes were well and enough time to conclude that everything around him was wrong.

He stared at the pokedex in his hand, his disbelieving eyes finding it incredibly hard to accept. The map was stating he was in Viridian City.

How could this be Viridian?

The young black haired trainer cast his eyes around him, taking in the scantily populated city. IF it could even be called that. Houses and buildings were placed quite far apart, there was so much space they didn't need to squash the houses together unlike the bustling city of Viridian he knew.

The roads and paths were roughly cobbled, stray parts of grass sticking out here and there, wild and untamed. And the even bigger surprise was the building he was currently standing in front of.

The Viridian City Gym. It looked nothing like the massive, grandiose building he'd battled in twice before, once to earn his Earth Badge and the other for a battle against Agatha of the Elite Four.

It was as if it were Viridian City of like twenty years ago. Except the date on one of the papers at a local stand was the exact same date he remembered.

So what was going on here?

"Is this your doing?" Ash asked, narrowing his eyes at the black sphere held under one arm.

As expected though, there was no response. The Black Stone lay dormant, hell it was even cold to the touch. It had never been cold to the touch before, there had always been a pleasant warmth whenever he was in contact with it and the feeling that he could accomplish anything he set his mind to.

What was more worrying though, was that he had none of his pokemon with him. Not even Pikachu. He had a bunch of supplies in his bag, a load of empty pokeballs in his pocket and the money in his wallet that he'd thankfully stocked up on not long ago at least worked here if the newspaper stand was anything to go by.

He even still had his black Z-bracelet clasped around his wrist and the Key Stone hanging around his neck by a chain, something he got from Brock and Misty, apparently both them and he got them from Lance due to services rendered. A reward long time deserved.

He had to find the mega stones themselves by his own though.

"At least Pikachu and the others will be fine at the ranch," Ash sighed to himself in relief. He'd just taken a quick trip home on a plane while his school in Alola was out for a week or so break. He thought it would be great for everyone, Rowlet, Torracat and Lycanroc to meet and train with all of his older and much more experienced pokemon since they didn't get the chance to on that mini vacation to visit Kanto with his class.

"Ugh," he groaned. What to do, what to do?

He had no idea why he had the dormant Black Stone with him. For one thing, when he left Unova he made it a comfortable little shrine in the closet of his bedroom and left it there. The last thing he remembered was going to sleep in his bed while Pikachu and his other Alola pokemon were off enjoying the night at the ranch with his other pokemon.

And for one thing, the dragon of ideals didn't have any space or time warping powers. Hell, the Zekrom he knew didn't have anything besides really attack moves that he could remember.

From what he could recall, its attacks were; Thunderbolt, Fusion Bolt, Bolt Strike, Dragon Claw, Dragon Breath and err….Thunder Punch?

It was hard to remember, but in his defence he only fought a few battles with the black dragon before he returned to his slumber and it had been a good year and a half since then.

But again that came with the problem. Zekrom obviously had something to do with what was going on, otherwise the Black Stone wouldn't come with him when he arrived, wherever or whenever he was.

That or it could just be their connection as dragon of ideals and hero of ideals. But he couldn't dwell on that, this was the only plan of action he could think of right now besides trying to find Dialga. Either way he'd still need Zekrom's power.

The problem itself was waking up the black dragon. He knew only two ways. One was for a great calamity to come about and one where his ideals were upheld tightly, something where Zekrom's power alone would be needed to win the day.

Or he supercharged the stone with enough electric power to wake him up fully. And that was going to be a stretch and a half. For one, not even letting Pikachu use up all his juice alongside a lightning storm had been enough to wake the dragon up.

That left him with only one option. A legendary electric type.

Ash swung his bag over his shoulder before setting the stone inside, a grimace on his face, "Looks like I'm searching for a Zapdos," he grunted in annoyance. Or a Raikou, but they were even more elusive. He had no desire to chase one of the legendary dogs all around the regions.

He wondered idly if the legendary birds were still hanging around the Shimouti Islands wherever here was.

Those were the strongest incarnations of the birds he'd ever seen, they could have even given Rayquaza and the like a good battle. And here he was without any pokemon at all. If only he had Charizard with him.

No doubt his first fire type was stronger. Back in Unova he'd overpowered Reshiram, and while Zekrom would have the type advantage if they fought, it had been a year and a half longer still for Charizard to get even stronger.

Ash withheld a sigh of lament. Why was it than when he really needed Charizard the most, he never had his strongest on hand?

The raven haired teen shook his head and slapped his cheeks, "Head in the game Ketchum!" he admonished himself. He had a plan, he just needed to get some pokemon and train them up enough for them to hold their own against a Zapdos. Easier said than done, but he'd done so before. Little Noibat immediately after evolving into a Noivern had done well against a Zapdos alone.

But, while he was here, he may as well check out the insides of Viridian Gym, it looked completely deserted and the doors were rotted to the point where they looked like they would fall of their hinges at the slightest touch.

Making his way over the doors, the raven haired trainer pushed the doors open gently, wincing slightly at the rackety, creaking groan they let out as he opened them up.

His first thought as he entered the gym, was that it was disappointing. It was just a very dark, widespread room covered in dust and cobwebs. Some Spinarak had probably set up shop in here at some point.

Walking in a few steps, he paused as he caught sight of a statue slightly to his side and both of his eyebrows raised in surprise, "Dad?" Ash blurted out, his voice tinged with incredulous disbelief.

The statue itself was a simple bust. A bust that looked exactly like his father Giovanni whom he'd not seen since his last birthday. While not very attentive, his dad did check in on him from time to make sure nothing was going amiss and he was financially set. That and to keep urging him to continue the pursuit of his goal.

Funnily enough, his dad was truly the only one whom fully supported his dream to become a Pokemon Master. Actually, he was really and truly proud that Ash shot for the stars in his goals. Something about him expecting no less than his son.

He stared intently at the statue, noting that the statue version of him looked a bit younger than he remembered. Odd, very odd. "Why the hell is there a statue of my dad here?" he asked aloud, not expecting an answer.

He knew his dad was the Viridian City Gym Leader at one point. But he resigned after the building got blown up because of the three stooges. He'd been really disappointed that he hadn't got to battle his dad that day he was going for his eighth badge, but was slightly mollified in learning that those three powerful pokemon the rocket stooges used, the Rhydon, Machamp and Kingler were all his father's.

A loud groan tore him from his thoughts. Whirling around in surprise, Ash narrowed his eyes and peered intently into the darkened gym and finally noticed something he'd just glazed over when he entered the room.

A bipedal, human like figure laying flat on its back in the middle of the room. How did he miss that?

"Wonder what it is?" Ash mused to himself, stuffing his hands into his pockets and making his way over. The closer he got, the more details he could make out in the darkened room and came to realize just what the figure was.

The very large figure. The reptilian face, the long and powerfully muscled limbs. It was without a doubt a Machoke. But not only that, it was covered in light burns and appeared to be rather unconscious.

What the heck was a Machoke doing laying out cold in an abandoned gym? They usually stuck to mountain ares, training themselves by breaking and lifting boulders.

"What happened to you?" Ash asked as he reached the fighting type pokemon and stood by its side. He knelt down and gosted his hands over the pokemons body without, fear, taking in the extent of its injuries.

"A fire type attack didn't do this to you." He mused to himself. He knew a lot about fire type attack based injuries, he'd gotten his fare share of them from Charizard and even Infernape when he lost control before he fully mastered his Blaze. It wasn't an electrical burn either, if it was the pokemons muscles would still be spasming slightly here and there. And he knew even more about electrical burns than fire based ones.

"Thanks a bunch Pikachu," he snorted.

And the smell in the air. There was no burning or sulphur like smell. It smelt slightly of something flowery actually.

And he knew what it was.

"Took a Solarbeam straight on, huh?" Ash chuckled, "I don't envy you, Sceptile and Bulbasaur could probably demolish this entire Gym with ease in one shot." Especially Bulbasaur. His first grass type had mastered Solarbeam to a degree Ash had never heard of. Able to shoot it off in an instant, making signals and patterns with it, even control it mid-flight and change its direction.

He supposed Bulbasaur had felt a little emasculated when Sceptile came in and took over as his strongest grass type without much issue. Especially since Sceptile could use Frenza Plant and Bulbasaur couldn't.

To be fair, when they fought to decide who was the strongest of the grass types, Bulbasaur had put up a hell of a fight and made Sceptile really work for it. It was a bit too bad Bulbasaur didn't want to evolve, if he did he'd probably be a monster of Charizard's level. And he even knew how to train a Venasaur on how to be quick and agile thanks to the time he spent in Sanpei's ninja village during his journey through Kalos. He'd ended up asking Sanpei's older brother Nihei after seeing his own ninja Venusaur in action, just in case the day ever came that Bulbasaur felt the need to evolve.

He knew Bulbasaur had his eyes on May's Venusaur who was very taken with Bulbasaur as well. Mating for them would be a bit of a problem due to their size difference, so Ash was just waiting for Bulbasaur to decide if love won out over pride.

He turned his attention back to Machoke and gave a humm of thought. "I've not no pokemon on me and Machoke are pretty strong," he commented, reaching into his pocket and fingering an empty pokeball.

He hesitated for a brief moment. He usually didn't do this. He usually caught pokemon when they were fully aware that he was going for it, or they just tagged along themselves. He'd never found an unconscious pokemon and just took advantage of them for a quick capture like this.

Ash didn't like it. It took the fun out of training and catching pokemon. Made him feel a bit like Paul from before he lightened up a bit, just picking up any strong looking pokemon with any chance he got. He remembered the way Paul took advantage of a city's near panic just to catch his own Gliscor. A Gliscor he rarely ever used.

But the only other alternatives were buying a pokemon which was just plain sad. Or physically beating a pokemon down himself and catching it. He could do it. Ash knew he could. He could probably just head for Viridian Forest, find the first Beedrill he could and punch it out. He'd punched his fair share of Beedrill out that one time Sceptile got injured and couldn't use attacks. He could do it again.

But actively seeking a pokemon out just to beat it up, not battle it fairly left a bad taste in his mouth. That wasn't pokemon training, that was just cruelty. He knew in an abstract sense that, it wasn't really all that different from getting his own pokemon to beat them down before he caught them. But still, Ash loved pokemon, he didn't like hurting them. He only ever physically attacked a pokemon when things were dire.

In the end, Ash had to swallow his pride, he knew it. This was the lesser of the two evils and Machoke needed to get some treatment anyway.

With a sigh, he pulled the pokeball from his pocket and gently touched it to the out cold fighting type. It burst open and Machoke was sucked inside. The ping of successful capture was almost instantaneous, the pokemon unable to put up much of a fight being unconscious as it was.

"This sucks." Ash growled in annoyance, his amber eyes narrowing in displeasure of the situation as a whole.

But, there was no use dwelling on it. Right now this was reality and he'd just gotten a new pokemon that needed to be treated.

He may as well get things moving along.

Grabbing the pokedex from his pocket again where he'd stashed it when he entered the gym. His Kalos dex at that - where was Rotom Dex? - and pointed it at the pokeball in his hand, hitting the scan button.

"Machoke, the Superpower Pokémon. With enough strength to lift a giant truck with one hand, Machoke are often used for extremely heavy work. Gender: Male, Height: 5'8 - Attacks Known: Low Kick, Karate Chop, Seismic Toss, Knock Off."

Ash frowned slightly, "That's rather basic," he commented to himself. More of a move set he'd expect from a Machop and not a Machoke. Seismic Toss was an issue. He'd perfected it with Charizard and his flight. Hell even as a Charmeleon they could make it work because of how fast he was and the sheer strength packed into his frame.

As a Charmeleon he may have never listened to him. But he was always interested in getting stronger so he'd followed Ash's instructions and focused his training on getting as physically strong as possible.

That harsh physically conditioning he put the fire type through back then was probably why he evolved into a Charizard so quickly. Only two weeks or so after becoming a Charmeleon.

Well at least it knew Knock Off, that was a pretty good attack and set it up for dealing with ghosts and psychic types.

But damn this Machoke was massive. It was actually two inches taller than him. That was impressive as hell considering the average Machoke topped out at an inch or so under five feet tall.

"Maybe that's why it's evolved and has such a basic move pool?" Ash hummed to himself in thought. He knew the Machop to Machamp line was all about physical strength. A Machoke like this that physically outrstripped the average specimen of his species must have evolved quicker due to his sheer physical power. Most Machoke after all, even wild ones had a ranged attack to fall back on like Rock Slide, Fire Blast or Focus Blast.

Still he could work with this. Too bad he couldn't learn Hyper Beam until he was a Machamp, but there were still a ton of moves he could teach this guy. And he always had the Z Crystals to fall back on if things got rough.

Either way, none of that mattered until he got the fighting type all healed up.

Placing his bag on the dusty floor, Ash opened it up, reaching past the Back Stone to grab an orange spray bottle, a Super Potion before closing it and turning around. Then he released the pokemon within the pokeball in a burst of light.

To Ash's surprise, when the pokemon appeared laying on his back, the fighting types eyes were open and narrowed dangerously A threatening growl left the reptilian pokemons mouth and it tried to push itself up.

Ash rolled his eyes, putting the pokeball on his belt and then with his now free hand placed it on the Machoke's chest and pushed.

"Choke!?" Machoke grunted in surprise, eyes wide as it found itself pushed down easily.

Ash grinned, "You may be strong as hell, but I'm not so weak myself," he told the pokemon struggling against his hand. To be honest, Ash didn't really know just how strong he was. It started with Snorlax and then carrying Larvitar around for weeks on end. He just seemed to get stronger and stronger. "Now I know you're probably pissed off that I caught you while you were out cold, but bare with it for now while I heal you while ya?"

Machoke grunted in annoyance, but stopped struggling under his hand, laying limp and closing his eyes.

Ash smiled in approval,"Good man," he told the fighting type, raising the super potion up and towards the pokemon, "Now brace yourself, this will sting a little bit, but it'll take care of your injuries in a flash." thankfully, all of Machokes burns were superficial. It didn't look like it was hit by a very powerful Solarbeam, more like a beginner who had no idea how to concentrate the power by the looks of it.

Granted, the first time his Bulbasaur used Solarbeam, it would have left the Machoke beside him comatose and in critical condition. So odds were the pokemon that used Solarbeam on Machoke was a lot weaker than his Bulbasaur was back then.

Machoke hissed and jerked underneath his hand as the medicinal spray was juiced over his wounds. Almost like a flash they began to hiss with steam and the wounds healed up in a few

seconds.

"Machoke!?" the fighting type cried out in surprise once the stinging sensation stopped and he opened his eyes. Ash could see the pokemon stare at his now absent wounds in disbelief. Had this pokemon never been healed up before? Very odd, since even Oran and Sitrus berries that most pokemon tended to eat in the wild had strong healing properties.

Stowing the orange bottle of medicine in his bag again, Ash swung it up on his back before standing up. The action drew the fighting types attention and Ash smiled, holding a hand out to the fighting pokemon.

Surprisingly, the pokemon took his offered hand and Ash pulled the pokemon to his feet without effort. And now they stood eye to eye, Machoke appearing to try and stare him down or something like that from the look in his eyes.

Ash didn't really mind. All things considered, he was sure he could take it on of things got violent. At the very least enough to get the hell out of dodge if it attacked.

He wasn't nervous at all though. He regularly stared down a herd of Tauros that grew in size by the years and got trampled affectionately by the ever growing herd nearly every time he turned up to visit all his pokemon at the Oak Ranch.

"So, I caught you," Ash said bluntly. Machoke grunted in understanding, eyes flinty with irritation. Ash sighed, "Look, I'm in a bit of a bind at the moment and can't get any of my other pokemon and you look like a strong pokemon that would be a big help."

The only interest in the pokemon from his statement came in the form of a raised eyebrow, "If you don't want to be my pokemon, I'll let you go," Ash said and noticed the pokemon's eyes widen at the statement, but he pushed on regardless, "I'll tell you this though, I've trained the weakest of pokemon that couldn't even take on a common Pidgey into absolute monsters able to battle with pokemon of legend like Zapdos and such."

This time Machoke actually let loose a full blown snort that evolved into a rumbling laughter, looking at Ash as if he was an idiot.

The trainer merely grinned. Pulling his pokedex back out he quickly accessed the photo gallery, "You think I'm kidding?" Ash asked with an arched brow of his own. He found what he was looking for a moment later and then held up the Pokedex, screen facing Machoke.

The fighting type choked on his laugh, spittle flying from his mouth and eyes widening in disbelief. For upon the screen of the pokedex there was a picture. Two pokemon, one standing and one down. One a massive orange dragon standing tall and proud, while at its feet lay the blue winged, limp and defeated form of a pokemon as unique and beautiful to behold as the snowflakes falling from its wings even in its fallen state.

That awe inspiring beauty could be no other than the legendary Articuno.

Machoke looked to Ash with wide eyes as he stowed the pokedex away again. A confident smirk appearing on the black haired teens face, "If you come with me, I'll make you strong enough to fight even the legendary pokemon and not be found wanting," Ash offered his hand, "What do ya say? Wanna tag along with me?"

There was a tense silence for a moment. Before Machoke closed his eyes and grunted in acceptance, reaching out to grasp Ash's had in a tight grip.

Then things took a sudden and abrupt turn. Ash's other hand lashed out and grabbed Machoke under his bicep and before the fighting type could even react, Ash twisted on his feet and tossed the muscular pokemon flying over his shoulder.

Machoke grunted in more shock than pain as he hit the ground and looked up at Ash with eyes wide wondering what was going on.

Ash merely smirked and the pokemon on the floor, "Training begins now!" he declared, cracking his knuckles as a flash originated from the black bracelet on his wrist and atop it appeared a brown crystal with the emblem of a fist embedded within it.

The amber eyed teen shook his head, "You weren't ready."

"You were slow to react!" Ash lectured and Machoke suddenly found himself rushing to stand up and listen attentively, "Your reflexes aren't up to par either!"

Machoke's eyes turned towards the ground in shame. First being bested so easily by Solarbeam and now being tossed around by a human. How low could he sink?

He was torn from his self deprecation in a instant though, "But you've got a good strong build to you!" Ash continued onwards, "You're bigger than any Machoke I've ever seen and when you learn to properly use all that muscle you have you'll be a beast of a fighter."

Again Machoke found himself in awe of this human who just came out of nowhere and captured him. They'd known each other less than ten minutes and already they were firing straight into training.

Excitement began to build within the pokemon. What was he going to learn under his new trainer? The image of that massive Charizard standing above a legendary pokemon flashed in his mind and Machoke surged with desire to train.

Ash saw it all. He saw the excitement, the eager desire to obtain strength. It was actually an easy sight to find in a motivated fighting type. At least Machoke appeared to be calmer than Hawlucha. The show off flying fighter would probably already be bouncing around the room punching and kicking everything in sight.

He was going to cover all his bases with Machoke here. Get him ready to fight any challenge. Teach him how to deal with all types, teach him new attacks, maybe get him experience fighting Gym Leaders. If this abandoned gym was anything to go by, there was a gym circuit at the very least and while his wallet was stacked right now, enough for a full journey, it wouldn't last him forever and he had no access to his bank account here.

Priorities Ash decided on. Flamethrower, Rock Slide, Focus Blast, Thunder Punch, Poison Jab, Dual Chop, Ice Punch, Close Combat. All attacks he'd seen Machoke use before in his travels. He needed to teach him all of those to cover his bases, especially since the tall fighting type pokemon was all he had with him right now. Although it would be hard without the likes of Pikachu to shock Machoke lightly till he got a hold of using electric energy to learn the likes of Thunder Punch.

It was always easier to teach a pokemon elemental attacks when you had one of those types on hand to let the other pokemon get a feel for it.

Again, priorities. Ash didn't know what was out there waiting for him in this odd world, but it was most likely dangerous. He wasn't leaving this gym until Machoke learned two very specific moves.

The raven haired trainer stared intently at the fighting type who eagerly stared right back at him, "We need to train and get into sync with each other," Ash told his newest pokemon, "And when we're in total sync with each other, I'll teach you two extremely powerful attacks that will let you bring down even the toughest of foes."

Machokes crimson red eyes were so wide in eagerness they looked to be almost popping out of his head, bouncing on the tips of his large muscular feet in excitement.

"The attacks you're going to learn right now are known as Z-moves, and the ones I'll be able to teach you to use right now, "Ash paused almost dramatically, "Are All-Out Pummeling and the Black Hole Eclipse."

Machoke had no time to do anything before Ash continued on. Planting his legs apart and strengthening his core stance, he beckoned Machoke over to him, "Now, come join me and do what I do!" Ash ordered and Machoke could not help but comply. Ash thrust his hand out in a powerful punch, "follow my movements, copy me exactly, match my timing. We must be in perfect synch or the Z-moves will backfire on us instead."

It was a long and hard twelve hours before Machoke even got a break from the intense synchronization training.