Working Sinnoh With Skill(Old) - Chapter 4 (Patreon)

It took another three days of travelling and training before Ash and Dawn finally arrived in Jubilife city, two days before the annual Jubilife contest was set to take place.

“I’m thinking of switching out some of my older Pokemon for some others when we reach the Pokemon Centre.” Ash commented as they walked along one of the busy city roads.

Dawn turned towards him curiously, taking a break from her vivid search for a shop that sold Poketch’s, “You haven’t really told me much about your other Pokemon except Butterfree and Charizard.” She commented thoughtfully, “What ones are you thinking of bringing over?” She asked.

Ash brought his fist to his chin as he ‘hmm’d’ in thought, “Well, there’s a few Pokemon I left in different places around the regions that I made sure to get back before I came to Sinnoh.” He replied, “I’m thinking, I’ll send Croconaw and Cyndaquil back to Professor Oak to relax for a little while and have him send Pidgeot, Primeape and Haunter over, three of the Pokemon I caught on my original journey through Kanto.”

“You have a Pidgeot?” She asked, her tone taking a rather high pitch.

“Yeah,” Ash answered, “I caught him as a Pidgeotto a few days after I started my journey and left him in Viridian Forest to protect a nest of Pidgey and Pidgeotto from a clan of violent Spearow and Fearow. I decided I wanted him back so me and Pikachu headed into the forest and put an end to the flock of Spearow by capturing their leader, the Fearow, but damn is that thing violent! I’ve only let it out once so far, other than that it’s locked up tight back at the lab because of how volatile the thing is.” He continued.

Dawn raised an eyebrow questioningly, “Why is the Fearow so violent?” She asked.

Ash gave a sheepish laugh, “Back when I first started my journey, I kind of tried to catch it when it was a Spearow and tried to weaken it by belting it across the head with a rock, suffice to say it’s held a grudge against me ever since.” He replied.

Dawn gave an amused giggle, “But is it really that strong? I mean you handled my Ursaring easily and you said it was a powerhouse of a Pokemon, so I’d think you’d be able to keep it in line.” She stated.

Ash rubbed the back of his head, “Well, the thing you’ve got to realize is Pidgeot, I trained him for nearly a full year and he was a Pokemon league level Pokemon as a Pidgeotto and Pidgeotto had to evolve to defeat that Fearow in a battle and since then they’ve been battling each other over territory for 3 years straight as the leaders of their flock. They’ve been almost constantly training for that long in their rivalry, and while Pikachu is stronger than both of them and has the type advantage, they’re both really powerful so Fearow would still be able to cause something or somebody damage and maybe serious injury before he was taken down.” Ash explained, somewhat dejectedly.

Dawn nodded her head, indicating she understood and seeing how Ash felt about that particular Fearow, decided to change the topic, “So what about Primeape and Haunter?” She asked.

A smile graced Ash’s face, he was grateful for her changing the subject, Fearow was a touchy matter of his that he hadn’t addressed yet but would make sure to soon, “Well, both of them are from a type of Pokemon I really had no experience with so I left Primeape to train at a fighting dojo and Haunter I left with the Psychic Gym Leader, Sabrina from Saffron City.” Ash replied, “They’ve both been training for years with some of the best Trainers for their types, so even though I haven’t really Trained them all that much myself, they’re still powerful and in tip-top shape.” He added next.

Dawn’s gaze grew distant as she picture how powerful the two Pokemon must be. “Are all of your Pokemon super strong? They just all seem like monsters when it comes to battling compared to other Pokemon I’ve seen.” She asked after a few seconds of daydreaming.

Ash laughed in amusement, “No they’re not all super strong.” He conceded, “But I made sure that each and every one of them was at least up to the level of battling with Gym Leaders. So I guess while some of them aren’t as strong as others, they’re no-where near weak.” Ash boasted.

Dawn giggled at his boasting, “So what about your Pidgeot? Can you tell me more about him? I’ve heard a lot of Coordinators want one because of how majestic they look.” She rapid fire questioned.

Tilting his head Ash replied, “Well, yeah I’d have to say Pidgeot is a really cool looking Pokemon, and an even more amazing battler, even now I have very few Pokemon who could keep up with his speed back then and at the present he’s way faster than he was back then.” He said.

Dawn opened her mouth and was about to say something else, when someone calling loudly above the crowd from a stand down the street caught her attention.

“The new Poketch watches! Freshly out today! Come one come all get your Poketch today!” The rotund brown haired man in a grey tailored suit hollared over the loud busy street.

Dawn squealed happily and literally glomped Ash’s arm as she began dragging him down the street towards the Poketch stand, “Come on Ash! I need to get a Poketch, I’ve been wanting one for ages! They’re a must have for any Coordinator these days.” She chattered as he dragged him down the street.

Ash brushed the hair that had fallen in front of his eyes out of the way and gave an amused laugh, “Okay Dawn we’ll each get one then.” He stated amusedly through his laughter.

Dawn turned and pouted cutely at him, “Don’t laugh at me…” She mock glared, “I’ve been wanting one of these for over a year but my Mom wouldn’t let me until I was a Trainer and now I can finally get one!” She finished with an excited squee.

Ash waved her off, amusement dancing clear in his eyes, “Alright, then let’s go get some before they’re all sold out then, eh?” He questioned.

Dawn nodded eagerly and began dragging him towards the Poketch stand faster.

Two hours later, Ash and Dawn entered the Pokemon Center the proud owners of a black and pink Poketch, respectively.

Ash unclipped the Pokeballs for his newest captures in Sinnoh and Larvitar’s Pokeball and handed them to Dawn, “Do you mind getting Nurse Joy to give them a check up while I go call Professor Oak?” He asked.

Dawn shook her head, “Sure, I don’t mind, you go switch your Pokemon over.” She told him as she accepted his Pokeballs and made her way to the front desk.

Ash watched her go for a few moments, more specifically the sway of her hips, before turning and heading down the corridor of the Pokemon Center where he knew that the video phones and transporters would be located.

When he reached it he sat down on the cushioned seat and dialled the number for the Oak Ranch.

Seconds later as he held the phone up to his face, Professor Oak appeared on the screen, “Why hello Ash, what can I do for you my boy?” He asked jovially

Ash smiled at seeing the old professor, “Hey Professor Oak, I was hoping to send over Cyndaquil and Croconaw over to you and in return get Pidgeot, Primeape and Haunter.” The young Ranger replied.

Professor Oak gave him a large smile, “Of course Of course my boy.” He said and turned to go gather the three Pokemon Ash had asked for, when the Trainer’s voice stopped him. The researcher turned to see Ash with a surprisingly thoughtful frown on his face.

“Hey, Professor Oak?” Ash called.

“Yes?” The old researched replied.

“Could you get Fearow as well, I’m thinking it’s high time I dealt with his attitude.” Ash decided, completely serious.

Professor Oak nodded in reply and turned to go collect the Pokeballs of the four Pokemon.

Five minutes later, Ash was heading towards the front desk to meet up with Dawn, both Pokeballs for Croconaw and Cyndaquil being replaced by four different ones.

Surprisingly when he got to the front desk Dawn was already sitting on the couch beside it waiting for him, Pikachu beside her, with all her own and his Pokeballs on her.

Ash raised an eyebrow, “Is there a reason you didn’t give them to Nurse Joy?” He asked curiously.

Dawn gave him an amused smile, “Well she used a machine to check their vitals while in the Pokeball’s and she said they’re all in tip top shape, a little tired at most but nothing a good night’s rest wont fix, she was rather impressed with how healthy they were.” She replied.

Ash laughed softly, “Well the credit should really go to my friend Brock, everything I know about taking care of Pokemon I learned most of it from him, in my own opinion he’s a world class Breeder, one of the best travelling companions a guy could ask for.” Ash told her.

Dawn smiled at his fond expression and handed him his Pokeballs as she stood up and stretched lightly. Pikachu jumping onto his favourite perch on Ash’s shoulder before she even stood to prevent being hit as she swung her arms. “So what now?” She asked curiously.

Ash met her gaze and gave an easy smile, “Why don’t you go get us a room for the next few days or so from Nurse Joy. I have something I need to take care of; it shouldn’t take more than an hour or two.” The black haired teen replied. He didn’t mean to be evasive, but that’s the way it came out.

“Okay.” Dawn chirped, she couldn’t deny she was curious about what he was going to do, but trusted him enough to let him do what he wanted. She’d seen him glancing discreetly at a Pokeball clenched tightly in his hand and assumed whatever he was going to do involved whatever Pokemon was inside that ‘Ball. She decided she’d just do as Ash suggested. She knew he could keep himself safe, and she trusted him enough to let him tell her, instead of prying about it.

Ash watched her go for a moment before turning his attention to the Pokeball gripped tightly in his hand, a frown on his face. He stared at it for a few more moments before turning on his heel and walking out of the Pokemon Center.

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Ash stood with his arms crossed in one of the empty battlefields behind the Pokemon Center, Pikachu on his shoulder, both with completely serious looks on their faces.

Unwinding his arm slightly, Ash allowed the Pokeball in his hand to release the Pokemon inside straight into the air in a flash of light.

Above them, a large Fearow with a murderous glare materialized flapping it’s wings harshly. Fearow was a large, mostly brown bird Pokémon with a vulturine neck and broad, powerful wings. It had a long, pointed beak that was pink in coloration, and had a decorative red coxcomb atop its head. Its intense-looking eyes had very small pupils, and did not appear to have colored irises. It had shaggy feathers on the base of its neck and in a vaguely cape-like pattern covering the upper portion of its wings. The cape itself was cream in color, as were the tips of its flight feathers. Its sharp-clawed talons were pink, with three toes pointing forward and one pointing backward.

“Row!” It screeched angrily.

Ash had already planned on what course of action to take for this moment though, “Shut up!” He barked angrily.

Surprising the flying Pokemon as it blinked in shock, because even it had never seen Ash ever get angry at his Pokemon, “I can understand why Charizard refused to listen to me years ago, he was powerful and I was an arrogant inexperienced idiot who thought whining at his Pokemon was how to do things, but you on the other hand, I’m more than strong enough to be your Trainer, all I did was hit you with a small rock, get over it!” Ash bit, his tone full of anger.

“Fearow!” Fearow cawed in anger taking flight rapidly towards Ash, preparing to skewer him on it’s beak as it spun into a rapid Drill Peck attack.

Ash didn’t even bat an eyelash though as Pikachu literally looked like he teleported up in front of Fearow from the insane speed of his Extreme-Speed attack and batting the large bird Pokemon out of it’s spin and flying across the clearing, where it crashed harshly with the unforgiving ground.

It took some damage and was a bit dazed, but pulled itself up to its taloned feet and took flight again within seconds and began circling ahead over Ash and Pikachu who had returned to his position on his Trainers shoulder, looking for a point to strike.

Ash grit his teeth angrily, “Fine then! If you won’t accept a loss because Pikachu has the advantage over you, how about I use a Pokemon at a disadvantage against you and beat you down again?” He angrily retorted to Fearow’s loud rage filled caws.

Slipping his hand down to his belt, Ash unclipped one of the ones he received from Professor Oak and released the Pokemon inside in a beam of light.

Primeape appeared a few feet in front of him, pounding his gloves together in preparation for a battle.

Fearow seemed to take offense to being ‘underestimated’ because Ash sent out a ‘lowly’ Fighting Type to fight against it and opened it’s mouth in a rage, powering up and firing a massive orange beam of energy down towards Primeape.

“Tch, Sloppy.” Ash muttered, “Primeape dodge to the left and then Thunderbolt.” Ash ordered calmly.

When the Hyper Beam attack was almost upon the pig monkey Pokemon Primeape dodged to the side about a metre away gracefully, ignoring the explosion caused by the powerful Normal Type attack and the relatively large crater formed at the point of impact, his white furred body becoming enshrouded in a thick coat of electricity before he launched the powerful Thunderbolt straight into the sky to the completely defenseless Fearow who was still recovering from using a draw back technique like Hyper Beam.

The attack washed over Fearow, who screeched in agony from the powerful Super Effective attack, his charred body falling from the sky in a spinning nose dive.

“Finish it.” Ash declared grimly, “Meet Fearow at his landing and use Ice Punch.”

Primeape grunted in understanding, “Ape ape ape!”

With that, the gloved Fighting Type sprinted rapidly towards the descending Fearow, reaching the large Flying Type Pokemon when it was but a few feet from the ground and smashed his icy blue glowing fist straight into Fearow’s chest, covering it in a thick tomb of ice and letting it drop to the ground.

Grunting, Primeape turned and began walking back towards Ash who was watching with a thoughtful frown. Ash really hated having to put his Pokemon through such treatment, but Fearow was a danger to others and it was his responsibility as his Trainer – not to mention the one who caused this mess in the first place – to fix it.

Ash raised his eyebrows in surprise as the ice tomb suddenly shattered and scattered everywhere as Fearow flew straight out of it, covered in injuries screeching angrily.

Fearow streaked across the field, it’s body a blur, towards Primeape, becoming surrounded by orange streaks. A purple energy dome appearing from the top of the streaks and enveloping Fearow’s large bird-like body.

Ash smirked, “I’ve got to admit I’m impressed, taking an Extreme-Speed powered Iron Tail from Pikachu, a Thunderbolt from Primeape and then an Ice Punch as well and still be raring to go?” Ash stated, before his smirk widened slightly, “But I’m ending this charade here and now, you’re strong no doubt, but without my training that’s all you are, you have no skill or finesse and fight like a berserker, what good is your power when your opponent is just as strong, more skilled and has a trainer like me prepared to issue a strategy to counter you at every turn?” Ash asked rhetorically

“Primeape use your own Giga Impact.” He said calmly.

Primeape obeyed and sprinted towards the approaching Fearow, his own body becoming enveloped by the purple dome and orange streaks of energy. Both Pokemon using their strongest physical attacks clashed in the middle of the battlefield, both trying to steadily overpower the other for a good few moments. Until, that is Fearow flinched back from pain it had received from it’s other injuries and Primeape took the opportunity and overpowered the Flying Type.

Primeape broke through Fearow’s own Giga impact and smashed straight into the bird Pokemon, Fearow gave a loud cry of pain as he was sent careening across the field, crashing into the ground and remained there, unmoving, a good thirty feet away.

Ash frowned at the completely still heap that was Fearow before lifting Primeape’s Pokeball and returning the pig snout fighter in a beam of red energy.

He clipped the Pokeball back onto his belt and walked steadily and calmly walked over to Fearow, who was struggling to move now, Pikachu jumping off from his shoulder to give them privacy, Pokemon to Trainer, but stayed close enough to intervene if Fearow tried to pull another crazy stunt despite his injuries.

Fearow glared at him through a swollen eye as he sat down beside it, “You know it didn’t have to come to this, wouldn’t you much rather just get along with me?” Ash asked dejectedly.

Fearow squawked indignantly and Ash had a sort of epiphany, as if everything just became clear to him and he smirked at Fearow, “So it’s pride is it? Did I damage your pride?” Ash asked amusedly.

Fearow pushed himself up on his wings and snapped his beak at Ash angrily, only for Ash to laugh and bat his weakened form back down to the ground. “So you’re proud eh? You want to be the strongest right?” Ash asked.

Fearow cawed from his position under Ash’s hand and the Trainer grinned, “Then buckle down and respect me, agree to be my Pokemon and I’ll make you the strongest Fearow in the world without a doubt!” He declared passionately.

Fearow squawked again but relented and lowered it’s head to his Trainer, one of the few submissive gesture’s Fearow would ever give, even if only to Ash.

Ash grinned happily, “Well great, now let’s go get you healed up.”He stated as he lifted Fearow’s Pokeball and returned the large bird Pokemon in a beam of red energy before clipping the Pokeball to his silver belt.

Standing up, Ash grinned at Pikachu who just landed on his shoulder, “Well buddy, that’s that.” He stated merrily.

Pikachu held his gaze for a moment, before the two best friends for four years burst out in peals of laughter as Ash headed back towards the Pokemon Center, Pikachu getting comfy on his shoulder all the while.

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Later that evening after Ash had returned to his and Dawn’s room, the bluenette in question was watching all of Ash’s recorded battles on the HD television provided in the room, connected to the computer via HDMI cable.

Ash himself was taking a shower, not having done so since he left the boat that brought him to the Sinnoh region. Steams and creaks were decent enough for taking a bath, but a warm shower made loads of difference in making one actually feel clean.

As he was doing this Dawn’s attention was rapt by the battle between Ash and his former rival ‘Gary Oak’, and she had to say she was deeply impressed. Both Ash and Gary were commanding their Pokemon to battle in ways she could only dream of, but what held her attention most was when Ash was down to one Pokemon left and Gary had three, yet his incredible Charizard sweeped every single one of them and still looked raring to go, Nidoqueen, Golem and Blastoise, Charizard just mowed them all down.

The strategy Ash used to defeat Gary’s incredible powerful Blastoise was ingenious, she had no idea a Trainer could even utilize a battlefield like that, “I thought I’d learned a lot from Ash, but i’ve just scratched the surface of what he could teach me!” Dawn lamented to herself.

Shaking her head, Dawn turned to the computer and pulled up another one of his League Battles, this time from the Hoenn Region, against a trainer named Tyson.

The battle had just begun, Ash sending out his powerful Glalie against Tyson’s very own Starter Pokemon, his fully evolved form of Treecko, Sceptile, when she heard the sound of the bathroom door opening she turned to greet Ash only for her mouth to hang a gape and a red hue to spread across her cheeks.

Out of the bathroom, Ash came with nothing but a pair of blue and black trimmed shorts on, his muscled torso from years of exercise and travelling exposed to Dawn’s blue eyes as he ran a towel through his wet and messy blackish-blue hair.

“Hey Dawn have you seen my backpack?” He asked without turning to look at her, still trying to dry messy locks with his cream coloured towel.

Dawn licked her lips as he watched a drop of water trail down his neck, over his broad chest and straight down over his toned six-pack abs. It took her a moment before she finally registered what he said, “Err… ummm… It’s… It’s over by the window, beside your bed… I think.” She stammered out, her face nearly flaming red. Thankfully Ash didn’t seem to notice.

Ash didn’t even bother turning to her as he gave her a quick ‘thank you’, and wandered over to his bed, pulling the large backpack that was beside it up on top of the bed and began rummaging through it.

Dawn sighed in relief as Ash walked away, breathing deeply to calm her thundering heart, onlt ot notice that while she’d been ogling the battle between Ash and Tyson on the television had still been playing and was already half way over. She groaned in annoyance at allowing herself to be distracted when she was ‘researching’, even if Ash without a shirt on and dripping wet was the hottest thing she’d ever seen.

She was broken from her musings, as Ash, who’d finished drying his hair and putting a white muscle shirt on, spoke up from behind her as he tugged on his silver belt, “Hey Dawn, I’m gonna go get a quick Training session in with my Pokemon, I’ll be back in about an hour or two. If you you’re going to be watching the rest of those feel free to ask any questions you have once I get back.” He told her from behind.

“Right…” Dawn squeaked out, not turning to face him because she didn’t want him to see her flaming blush, still covering her face as her imagination wouldn’t stop flashing an image of Ash shirtless and wet every time she tried to concentrate.

Ash raised an eyebrow at her tone of voice but shook his head and left the room, preparing to head back down to the battle field he’d used earlier to cow Fearow’s attitude and get in some good Training, the kind of Training Dawn’s Pokemon just weren’t ready for yet.

When he closed the door behind him, Dawn collapsed breathlessly onto her back on the couch, “Oh Arceus! I’d thought he was good looking before but gosh those muscles! And those abs!” Dawn squealed to herself. She had no idea Ash was so ripped, she’d never seen any boy close to her age with muscles like those, lean and sleek like some kind of predator, like a Persian or even a Lucario instead of the muscle-head types she’d seen on TV who tried to look like Machokes or Machamps.

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A half an hour later Ash stood leaning against the wall outside the Pokemon Center, arms crossed and a small smile on his face as he watched his Pokemon Train.

Pidgeot, who’d been very affectionate upon seeing him again, had agreed instantly with his request and took his newest flying Pokemon Starly up to get a head start on learning one of the stronger Flying-Type moves, Brave Bird. There wasn’t much he could teach Starly until the little bird was fully evolved and gained the ability to use Fighting-Type attacks as a Staraptor, so he’d decided to just work on his speed, endurance and after having mastered Aerial Ace rather quickly, he thought it would be a good choice to give Starly a nice power move, and Brave Bird was one of the best he could think of.

He’d get Starly started on Steel Wing straight after Brave Bird; that move was almost on a need-to-know level for Flying-Types because of their weakness to Rock-Types, and Starly would be no use over in Oreburgh City if he didn’t teach him a way to damage Rock-Types. From the search he’d done he knew that Rork, the Oreburgh City Gym Leader was a Rock-Type specialist like Brock was way back when.

Pikachu was running through speed drills with Chimchar, helping the small fire chimp build his endurance, speed and dodging ability as he randomly fired small bolts of electricity at Chimchar when he wasn’t expecting it.

Chimchar had a good set of moves as is for now, Fighting-Type moves such as Mach Punch and Close Combat were what Ash had in mind, but until Chimchar became a Monferno he wouldn’t be ready for those kind of attacks. His current repertoire was perfect for his size for now, although maybe he could teach him some supplementary moves as well, like Sunny Day or Protect.

Haunter was helping Turtwig perfect Energy Ball. Ash had been working on it with Turtwig for the last few days and the little shell covered grass Pokemon had almost got the attack down pat. Haunter was making sure the Grass-Type had fully mastered the attack down to the smallest detail though. His time with Sabrina had made him a perfectionist when it came to learning attacks, apparently.

Fearow was, surprisingly, staying close to Pidgeot and Starly, helping out where he could seeing as he didn’t know Brave Bird, but made sure Starly didn’t crash when the smallest of his bird Pokemon failed to perform the attack.

Primeape… Well Primeape’s chosen method of training made Ash sweatdrop, the pig monkey Fighting-type was currently doing one handed vertical press ups, large and heavy weights strapped to both his forearms and ankles, and to top it off had a large boulder bigger than Ash and thicker than he was tall on each foot.

Damn, Dawn was right, some of his Pokemon were complete monsters!

Larvitar was still hibernating for now, but he’d be finally finished by tomorrow, something Ash couldn’t wait for. He’d trained Larvitar a little before coming to Sinnoh and the little green Pokemon was pretty damn strong, with how close he was to evolving now – hibernating being something Larvitar did when they were gathering more power inside themselves to evolve – Ash couldn’t wait to see the strength he’d have as a Pupitar.

Looking Away, Ash suddenly smirked as he looked above himself to a seemingly empty ledge, “Are you going to reveal yourself anytime soon? You haven’t said much at all since I started this journey. You were much far talkative when I travelled through the Battle Frontier and you finally decided to join me now that your other friends are safe and sound from any unwanted advances.” He said to the small wind blowing around him.

He heard a deeply amused and male voice chuckle as a Pokemon fazed into view above him, sitting relaxed on the edge of the ledge, “There is not much you require my services for Ash, the only possible thing you’d need my help for is to battle another Legendary, or maybe one of the Region Champions.” Mewtwo replied to him. “Although, knowing your luck none of those two options are far off, you seem to have a knack for meeting Region Champions and Legendary Pokemon alike.” The clone Pokemon added.

Mewtwo was a Pokemon a with a humanoid appearance, but had a few distinctive feline features. He was a grayish-purple with a purple underside and a long, purple tail. His finger and toes were less like fingers and more like feelers, ending on a ball rather than a normal finger or toe. He had three finger and three toes, one of his toes on each foot being an opposable toe on the inside of each foot. He had purple eyes that sometimes glowed a deep blue when battling and two short ears atop his head. One of Mewtwo’s most notable features was the tube extending from the back of his skull to his spine. Mewtwo had told Ash once that it was a secondary spinal cord, or a system of nerves, allowing for an increased amount of blood and sensory transmission to the brain, heightening his potent psychic powers.

“Well I can’t really use you in a normal battle, now can I? It would be kinda over overkill against even most Legendaries.” Ash asked with an amused smile, “It took a combination of Pikachu and Charizard to beat you in a mock battle, and considering both of them have defeated Legendaries in one on one battl before and you were only using fifty percent power, that’s saying alot about your strength.”

Mewtwo chuckled in return, “But isn’t it your duty as my Trainer to make me battle?” He asked in return.

Ash shook his head with a rueful smile as he reached under his white muscle- shirt and held up the silver chain adorned around his neck, a unique deep black Pokeball with a purple X over the front attached to the end.

He showed it to Mewtwo with an amused smile on his face, “You hunted me down when you were sure your friends were safe and even brought your own Pokeball for me to capture you in. that sounds more like your keeper rather than your Trainer.” Ash replied, “Even If I am your Trainer, I hardly ever keep you in the Pokeball and let you come and go as you please, it’s not as if you can’t just Teleport to me whenever I need you. You can read my mind from half-way across the world! Hell I worry about the privacy of my thoughts these days.” The young Pokemon Ranger added a moment later with a mock shudder.

Mewtwo chuckled again before falling silent, both Trainer and Pokemon enjoying a comfortable silence, only disrupted here and there by the sounds of their teammates training.

Ash broke the silence after a few minutes, “So why are you back? You told me you’d be gone for a while this time because you wanted to meet the other Legendaries.” He asked his Pokemon curiously.

Mewtwo’s tail twitched slightly as a serious frown came over his face, “I met a few of them, one of them being a rather boastful Lugia who seemed to gloat about you every chance he could get.” He replied as his lips twitched when Ash groaned, “But the reason I’m back so soon is because many of the Legendaries are tense, something is happening with some of them in particular, I was only able to gleam that two of the Pokemon involved have the power over space and time, and that there is a group of Rogue Trainers not unlike Team Rocket, Magma and Aqua calling themselves Team Galactic in this region attempting to gain the power of these two Pokemon.” The clone of Mew revealed.

Ash sighed mournfully, “Another one… Just once I’d like to have one normal adventure without some ‘team’ of madmen trying to take over the world.” He replied sadly, “So what are your plans now? Are you going to go out and keep an eye on them?” He asked as he looked his strongest Pokemon in the eye.

Mewtwo shook his head in the negative, “No, this is not quite like the incident with Groudon and Kyogre, these two Pokemon have the power over Space and Time meaning if they battled they may actually disrupt the natural order of things and destroy the entire world. You always seem to get involved one way or the other with these kind of things so I’m staying with you to make sure you’re safe from harm.” Mewtwo replied.

Ash brightened at the answer and sighed gratefully, “Thank Arceus, Pikachu and the rest are strong but I feel much more relieved knowing I have my very own Legendary to help out if things get out of hand.” Ash lamented.

Mewtwo chuckled, “Yes, between the power of me and the rest of your Pokemon we should be able to handle anything that gets sent our way, but if you don’t mind can you please return me to my Pokeball? It’s been a long trip and I would like to rest.” Mewtwo replied, his eyes seemingly drooping in exhaustion.

Ash smiled, “Thanks for the hard work Mewtwo, take as much rest as you need.” Ash told his Pokemon as he held the chained Pokeball from his neck and returned Mewtwo in a beam of red energy before setting the chain and shrunken Pokeball back around his neck under his shirt.

Ash allowed himself to slide his back down the wall he was leaning against and sliding down to rest on his rear end.

Sighing he looked up towards the night sky, the moon full and bright capturing his attention, “Will we ever just catch a break and have an adventure that doesn’t involve mortal danger and lunatics?” He muttered to himself.

He was broken from his musings when he heard Pikachu call for him.

Looking up, Ash was surprised to find all of his Pokemon standing just a few feet away from him slightly scuffed and breathing deeply from their Training, before they swarmed around him getting close, Pikachu taking one shoulder, Starly perching on the other, Pidgeot resting his wavy haired head above his own, Turtwig and Chimchar resting on his stomach and chest respectively. Haunter was floating above his knee’s with a silly grin, Primeape was standing gruffly with his eyes puffy with unshed tears to his left and finally Fearow was laying at his feet looking at him intently.

Just like that, Ash lost his melancholy aura and a smile slipped onto his boyish face, “Yeah, what was I worried about, even Legendaries can be beaten in battle and with you guys by my side, there’s no way we wont be able to take them down if they come for looking for a battle.” He declared as he began laughing deeply.

All eight of his Pokemon outside their balls were roaring and shouting in agreement with him, their spirits boosted, and Ash could even feel Mewtwo’s presence at the back of his mind blazing with them in agreement.

Ash stayed in that position with his Pokemon for another half hour, enjoying the close proximity with them. Even Fearow was being civil, seemingly having calmed down quite a bit from his usual angry attitude.

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The next Day Ash and Dawn where walking down the busy streets of Jubilife City again, Pikachu was snoozing away in Ash’s large backpack again as they headed towards the Contest Hall to sign up to compete.

Making their way to the front desk, Ash handed his Contest Pass that he’d acquired back in the Hoenn Region to the woman behind the reception desk.

A moment later she handed him a tray that had a few ball capsules for his Pokeballs and an envelope full of seals, a black ribbon case, and lastly his Contest Pass sitting on the tray. “Okay, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town in the Kanto Region; all set up to compete tomorrow in the Jubilife Contest.” She told him, “I’ve also updated your Contest Pass for all Sinnoh Region Contests.” The receptionist added.

Ash gave her a bright smile, “Thank you.” He replied as he took his new items and moved out of the way to allow Dawn up next.

“Hi, I’m new to contests, can you help me register?” The bluenette asked a bright smile of her own on her pretty face.

The receptionist gave her a small smile in return, “Of course dear, it’s great to see a new face. Please place your Pokedex in the slot there.” She explained as she pointed to the open slot in front of the desk.

Dawn nodded and took out her Pink Pokedex before slipping it in the slot and began to wait patiently, crossing her arms behind her back.

Ash took this time to slip his newest supplies into his large backpack. He could say without a doubt that he was extremely happy with how small his blue tent and sleeping bag could fold to maximize his storage space.

He decided to check over his berry case – a present from Brock – as he waited for Dawn to finish up registering.

Counting them out he smiled; he had a good amount of berries, mainly Oran Berries though, he was pretty low on Sitrus berries, but they were rather rare and the amount he did have on him would still last for a while as long as he was careful.

The receptionist smiled at Dawn as her face and information appeared on the screen behind the reception desk.

Dawn’s Pink Pokdex was ejected and the bluenette grabbed it slipping it into her small bag as she receptionist handed her a tray with the same contents as Ash, not to mention holding her very own contest pass.

“Okay that’s you registered, Dawn Berlitz from Twinleaf Town right here in the Sinnoh Region, all set up to compete tomorrow in the Contest, and don’t forget your very own Contest Pass for any Contest in the Sinnoh Region.” The receptionist told her happily.

Dawn smiled in thanks as she accepted her tray of Contest items and went over to Ash, who smiled in return as she reached him, “Hey Dawn, all set up?” He asked.

“Yup!” She chirped eagerly as she set her own contest items into her own backpack.

“Right, then let’s go, we can get some last minute training in for you then.” Ash replied as he slipped his hand into her own and gently tugged her alongside him as he left the Jubilife Contest Hall.

Dawn turned to him when they got outside and began heading back towards the Pokemon Center hand in hand, “What Pokemon are you going to use in the Contest tomorrow Ash?” She asked curiously.

Ash turned his head to face her as they walked and gave her a smirk, “I’m going to be using Pidgeot for the appeal round and I’ll finally let you see the final Pokemon I have with me tomorrow in the battle rounds.” He answered, ‘Not including Mewtwo that is.’ He added silently.

“What about you?” Ash asked.

Dawn gave a thoughtful ‘hmmm’ as she struck a thinking pose, “Well, I’m going to be using Piplup in the appeal round since we’ve finally got that appeal move down and mastered that you helped us developed after Piplup learned Mist, but for the Battle rounds I’m still trying to decide, Aipom loves Contests, Buneary loves to show off how cute she is and Ursaring is without a doubt my strongest Pokemon, it’s hard to choose between the three of them.” She replied thoughtfully, her mood slightly glum as her mind started making a mountain out of a mole hill.

Ash scratched the back of his head as he tried to think up a solution, “Well…” He trailed of thoughtfully, “I’d suggest not using Ursaring, despite being strong he still needs a lot of work and isn’t really trained properly to show off anything other than how powerful he is. With a little work that could be used in and of itself, but we can work on that later.” He told her.

Dawn thought on it a moment before she nodded in agreement, “Yeah, you’re right Ash, but who should I chose between Buneary and Aipom?” She asked Ash.

Ash shook his head and gave her a grin, “Sorry, no can do Dawn, I enjoy helping you out but I don’t want you to rely on me for every little thing, I want you to flourish with what I teach you and soar to the top. I’ll give you the tools you need, but if you don’t do it yourself it’s not you winning.” Ash replied teasingly.

Dawn sighed but conceded his point, “Fine…” She mock whined childishly as a cute pout overtook her face.

Ash laughed, “Oh don’t pout, your face is much prettier with a smile on it.” He told her with a grin.

Dawn’s face took on a slight blush, but smiled nonetheless, “You think so?” She muttered back quietly.

Ash met her cerulean blue eyes with his own deep amber and gave her his answer, “Yeah in fact your much better looking than Misty and May.” Ash answered, “Misty… well she was really quite the tomboy and May was really pretty, but the effect was usually ruined because she was stuffing her face with food even more than me.” He added a second later with a laugh.

Dawn beamed happily at his compliments on her looks, her heart swelling with just a touch of pride at the boy she liked, a boy who was so travelled, deciding she was the best.

With that she started to engage him in conversation again, hoping for him to explain the different uses of more attacks she could teach her Pokemon and how she could use them in different ways, “I’ve heard of a powerful water attack called Hydro Cannon before, do you think I could teach it to Piplup?” She asked.

Ash snorted in amusement, “Well yeah, but not for a while yet, not for a long while.” He answered, before realizing he’d need to explain his sarcastic answer and went back into mentor mode. “Hydro Cannon is the most powerful Water-Type attack it can learn, and it can only be learned by…”

After reaching the Pokemon Center, and assuring Dawn that Piplup wouldn’t be able to learn Hydro Cannon until it either reached the kind of experience his own powerhouse of a Squirtle had or reached it’s final evolution – Empoleon – and agreeing to tell her when he thought Piplup was ready and would help teach the little penguin-like Water-Type Pokemon the absurdly powerful attack, they finally got down to their last training session before Dawn’s first Contest début.

As Dawn and Ash ate a light lunch, Dawn’s Pokemon who had already eaten began their Training in earnest, some of Ash’s Pokemon helping out all the while.

He got Dawn to have Piplup keep practising his appeal for his début for the Contest in the next day, since that’s the area he would be shining in.

Ursaring was working out with Primeape, who was trying to help the large Normal-Type bear Pokemon learn to be more light on his feet despite all the muscles it had. They also worked on perfecting Ursaring’s Hyper Beam; it was taking a little too long to power up and compress enough.

Aipom was having a mock battle with Chimchar, both simian Pokemon using the trees around to their advantage as they swung through the foliage and battled.

And finally Buneary, Ash had implemented some of Primeape’s training into Buneary’s; he strapped some small weights to her leg’s and had Buneary continuously use Bounce until she was exhausted to strengthen her legs so that the small rabbit Pokemon could put more power into her jumps to go even higher and kicks when coming down to finish the attack on opposing Pokemon.

All in all, Ash was rather happy with the progress they made, he was sure they would be able to get quite far in the contest tomorrow if not win outright.

If Ash was happy with the sight before him, Dawn was down right ecstatic with the progress her Pokemon made, and it was all thanks to Ash, she never dreamed her Pokemon would be so strong after only a week into her journey, she was down right giddy about competing in her first Contest and she was determined to win, for herself, for her mother and to prove to Ash that his teachings were not wasted on her.