A few minutes after capturing his first pokemon , ash and squirtle had finally made it to viridian city .
" we're here squirtle " ash said looking at the city I'm front of them .
" I'm gonna have to bring you back into your pokemon , just to be safe ok ? " ash told squirtle.
Squirtle made a sad expression but he understood.
" I'll bring you out after we we're done from the poke-center " ash said as he brought back squirtle to his pokeball.
He didn't want him to get lost or stolen.
He then made his way into the city thinking about pikachu as did . He hoped the three of them could get along , he wanted his team to get along and be friends instead of feeling like their forced to get along just because he said so .
He continued to think until he finally arrived at the poke-center. The pokeball symbol on top of it making it very obvious.
He entered the building as he was greeted by cool air that made him sigh in bliss .
' That hits the spot ' he thought as he walked in .
As he looked around he saw a few things looked different from the last time he had been in one but nothing much .
There was the area where poeple wait for their pokemon while they are healing with nurse joy .
There was a small pool for water types that can't move on land like seaking and tentacool .
Even a small dirt and ground area for pokemon like diglet and sandygast .
It was built to care for different species of pokemon .
Ash made his way to the front desk where a nurse joy was waiting.
" hello how may I help you " she said as she smiled at him .
" yes hello , I need to heal my squirtle and this pikachu I just caught please " he told her as he unclipped their pokeballs from his belt and put them on the tray in front of her .
" ok sir please have a seat and i will call you when they are ready " she said as she took the tray .
" ok thank you " he thanked her as she left before he went to the waiting area .
He pulled out his rotom phone as he sat down and called his mum .
It rang for a few minutes before she picked it up .
When she saw that it was him she smiled and waved .
" hi honey ! I hope you made it to viridian city without any trouble " she asked him .
" yeah mum everything's fine , me squirtle got some good battles on the way here , squirtle won them all though " he told her thinking about them .
"Really ? Well it sounds like he's getting stronger. "
" he is , I made him a promise after all " ash told his mum
" I'm glad everything is going fine for you two , just Don't push yourself too much out there ok ? " she said with worry in her tone .
" I won't mum , don't worry " he waved off her fear .
" Bye "
" bye "
And with that she hang up .
Next up he decided to call professor oak next and After a few minutes he answered.
" oh ash my boy how's it going ? " professor oak asked putting some things on his desk aside.
" pretty good , I made it without any trouble " ash said .
" well I'm happy to hear that . Have you caught any pokemon ? " the professor asked him , curious to know if he had caught anything on his way through route 1.
" yeah i caught a pikachu , I had to sneak up on him though because i didn't want to risk a battle with squirtle having the type disadvantage " he felt a little disappointed at not getting to battle his first capture.
" smart but remember that won't always be an option . Sometimes you will be forced to face opponent's even when you are at a disadvantage " professor told him in a wise voice.
" I know professor , i just didn't want risking squirtle any unnecessary pain " he said smiling at squirtles pokeball .
" that's good to hear my boy , now take care " professor oak said with a smile as he waved goodbye.
" I will bye "
" Bye "
And the call ended.
Ash put the rotom phone in his pocket as a nurse joy approached him.
" excuse me , your pokemon are fully healed" she said handing him his two pokeballs.
He smiled as he took his two pokeballs from the tray and put them back on his belt .
" thank you " he said to her , happy to have his pokemons fully healed .
" your welcome , have a nice day " she replied with bow as she turned around and went back to her work .
' ok time to meet the new team member ' he thought as he made his way out the door.
He wanted to meet pikachu in a calm area where he would feel safe and this wasn't the best for that in his opinion.
' ok there's an area right next to the town that seems like a good place ' he thought while looking at the map on his rotom phone .
" should be the perfect place to meet pikachu . Squirtle will also be there so if pikachu gets scared he could calm him down" he said .
As he made his way there , his eyes caught on the viridian city gym .
He didn't even entertain the idea of challenging it . The viridian city gym was THE most difficult gym in the whole region , it's leader giovanni was known as one of the strongest trainers in the kanto AND johto region.
Only coming after the Elite four and lance .
And maybe Claire
He had made it the number 1 rule that only pokemon trainers with all 7 official gym badges can have the right challenge the gym.
This was a problem because most trainers get 4-5 of their badges from side gyms . And while it still counts as the badges that are needed to enter the indigo league , it doesn't count for the badges needed to challenge giovanni .
the reason for that is that from L.T surge and onwards , some gyms start to become much more difficult.
Sabrina and blame just to name some .
It's also rare because of how a strong and experienced trainer he is . Even when he uses pokemon that aren't on his personal team , he's still a veteran pokemon trainer that has years of experience under him .
Type advantage will mean nothing.
That's why it was rare to see any trainers actually beat him . Most just challenge the side gyms because it's easy and isn't as difficult.
' not me because it doesn't matter how tough those gyms are. I'm beating him and taking that gym badge right after i defeat them ' ash thought with a firm determination.
He quickly brought himself back to the present as he arrived at a small clearing on route 22 .
It was an area that had slightly stronger pokemon than route 1 but was still a great place for beginner trainers .
" ok well here goes nothing , " and with that ash released pikachu from his pokeball.
Light from the pokeball flashed before it down down to reveal the yellow electric type .
He looked around him for a few seconds before noticing ash .
An unhappy expression made it's way to the pikachu's face , something ash could see .
"Hey there buddy , I'm ash your new trainer " ash said gently with a soft voice . The last thing he wanted was to scare the yellow rodent.
Pikachu still kept his gaze on ash , not looking away even for a second.
Ash could tell he felt a little scared so he crouched down to feel less intimating.
" sorry if this all scary to you , I didn't mean to but I was walking by route 1 and I saw you . Pikachu's are not normally found on route 1 so i was surprised when you ran across me while me and my starter while we were walking by . Listen I know i you don't have a reason to but I'm asking you if you want to join my team , I want to become one of the best trainers in the world , if you join me i promise I'll train you and help you become the best raichu in the world and i promise to be by your side the whole time and to treat you like family , so what do you say ? " ash said handing his hand out to pikachu.
Pikachu looked at ash for a few seconds or minutes that felt like hours before he stepped foward slowly and nodded.
" pika " he said signaling he was on board.
Ash smiled at him , he knew it was going to take time but he was confident they would one day get along great one day.
" Alright let's what we've got " pulling out his rotom phone ash scanned pikachu.
Pikachu
Gender : Male
Ability : static
Moves : thunder shock , quick attack . Thunder wave .
Pikachu's store electricity using their pouches in it's cheeks in case it is attacked , so one might feel a small shock if touched . These pouches become electrically charged during the night as it sleeps, so a dozy Pikachu may occasionally discharge electricity after waking up. If it does not get enough sleep, it will not be able to release said electricity at its full power. When angered or threatened, Pikachu quickly unleashes the electric energy from its cheeks, which can reach the intensity of a lightning bolt. This also serves as a sign that it's wary, and it will feel stressed if it's unable to fully release the electricity. When several Pikachu form a group, they are capable of causing thunder storms by building up electricity. If one Pikachu sees another one who is weakened and in need of help, it revitalizes it by recharging it with an electric shock. Many Pokémon Trainers prefer Pikachu's cute appearance over Raichu's, which is why the latter is not commonly seen among them. By occasion, Pikachu can get unintentionally swallowed by Cramorant. While startled, it looks for ways to escape from the latter. Pikachu, along with Pichu and Raichu, is related to Pachirisu.
" wow that was a lot , I thought I was only going to get a small bit of information but I didn't know there was that much " he said after putting the device away I'm his pocket .
How honestly that was way more than he thought there was . But at least it gave him all he Needed to know , which was way better than just getting a bunch of obvious useless facts.
Grabbing squirtle's pokeball from his belt he released his starter .
" Hey squirtle , I know you two haven't met yet but I want you to meet . Squirtle this is pikachu and pikachu this is squirtle " ash introduced the two before stepping aside to see how things went .
Squirtle stepped foward with a welcoming smile on his face as he waved at pikachu.
" squi "
Pikachu seemed hesitate at first , but after a few seconds he waved back
" pika "
Ash couldn't help but smile , he was happy his pokemon were getting along just fine . And while he knew they all weren't super best friends yet , he knew he had to be patient .
A pidgey's nest isn't built in day after all.
" ok how about we work on some future plans " he said to himself looking at pikachu and squirtle happily talking to each other.
[ several hours later ]
It had been a few hours since ash had introduced pikachu to squirtle and things were going pretty well .
Pikachu was sitting things out for now .
Ash didn't want to force him to train immediately as he was new on the team . But he knew he would soon have to face brock so he had decided to start his training later, maybe in viridian forest or later but now was too soon.
Squirtle was practicing bubble .the instructions ash gave him on the move helped a lot .
He was getting the hang of it well enough.
" we'll focus on you learning bubble before learning bite because we need to prepare as much as possible " ash told squirtle .
The earlier squirtle learns the attacks he needs , the better chances they will have at winning the gym badge .
Pikachu was just sitting there watching the water type train with a curious expression on his face .
Seeing squirtle trying to learn a new attack got pikachu thinking about if he could get stronger ?
" ok so I'll need to mark down moves for pikachu's gym battle against brock since electric type moves will almost certainly be useless . Brick break and iron tal immediately come to mind , maybe dig or grass knot ? Right now though I'll need to start training pikachu first before I teach him any thing , new moves aren't gonna do much without training backing them up " ash muttered to himself thinking about any future moves or training for pikachu.
' his speed is gonna help in future battles but we can't rely on that , but he's going to have to get stronger physically too ' ash thought .
Taking a break from future training for pikachu he disided to check in on squirtle .
As he looked over he saw squirtle had basically learned the move and was now just getting the hang of it . It was easy for him to learn water type moves being a water type himself , along with ice type moves because of how similar ice and water were .
Pulling out his rotom phone he disided to check just incase.
Squirtle
Moves : tackle , growl , water gun , withdraw , bubble .
He still had to master it though.
" That's enough you can take a break squirtle , ok pikachu how about we test out some of your moves .no heavy training just seeing how good are they " ash said turning his attention to the yellow electric type .
Pikachu ran up to ash stopping right in front of him waiting for his command.
" Alright let's start with thunder shock , try and hit that patch of grass over there " he said pointing at a nearby spot , it was an easy start .
Pikachu's cheeks sparkled with electricity before he hurled it at the area . The electricity shot out of pikachu before crashing into the grass releasing a small bust of electricity as it it hit .
Ash looked at the attack as it hit .
" pretty good , next up let's see thunder wave"
Mimicking a similar pose as before pikachu changed up electricity throughout his body , before launching it in the same area .
It came out in the form of electric rings , a bit different than thunder shock as the attack focused on paralyzing more then damaging .
" ok last but not least , quick attack "
Preparing himself , pikachu got into position and after a few seconds he shot off followed by a white trail behind him.
He was so fast he seemed like a yellow Blur to both ash and squirtle.
" wow ..THAT'S gonna a huge help " ash said as he was already coming with some strategies that against brock with rock types not known for their speed.
" so not a bad moveset pikachu , their good but we will need to improve them and train you as we go through viridian forest ok ? " ash told pikachu.
Pikachu nodded understanding what ash ment as he wanted to get just as strong as squirtle.
" I see your training is going well ashy-boy " he heard someone suddenly speak to him.
He was caught by surprise for a momment before composing himself as he already knew who it was .
" gary ? Is this gonna be a habit now ? Just showing randomly to look mysterious ? " ash said to his childhood rival.
Gary just shrugged off it off
" Hey it helps to keep you on your toes doesn't , also it's worth it to see you caught by surprise " he said with a grin .
" that's nice but seriously what are you doing here ? " ash asked curiously and suspiciously .
" I was just training the new pokemon I caught a few hours ago and now I'm was just heading back to the poke-center now before i saw you " gary told ash , grabbing the new pokemons pokeball on his belt to show him .
" huh , well i was just finishing squirtle training and taking a look at pikachu's moves"
" so you've caught a new pokemon to huh ? how about a battle ? " gary suddenly asked.
A smirk made it's way to ash faces .
" I was wondering when you were going to ask " honestly ash wasn't surprised , being rivals since they were kids it was bound to happen .
" 1 on 1 ? " gary asked grabbing a pokeball from his belt .
" sure , squirtle !! " ash agreed before calling for his starter
Pikachu hid behind ash's leg as squirtle arrived running before coming to a stop infront of ash with a grin on his face , already having an idea why ash called him.
" Going with your starter ? Well i guess i should go with mine " with gary tossed his pokeball into air before a bust of light appeared releasing gary's starter.
As the light died down it revealed bulbasaur , a determined expression on his face showing that he was ready to face down his opponent.
The two starters who have known each other at the lab prepare to face off.
" Alright Bulbasaur let's start off with tackle " gary ordered.
It was a simple and safe for the start of the battle.
" squirtle use withdraw " ash countered.
Bulbasaur charged at the water type , but squirtle withdrew in his shell for defense.
As Bulbasaur's attack hit squirtle , it sended him flying back a bit from the attack.
After he came to a stop he got out of his shell looking pretty much ok , he wasn't that much damaged as withdraw had Lessened the damage but the tackle still had one heck of a blow behind it .
' his Bulbasaur is strong , that tackle had much more power in it then any pokemon we've faught so far ' ash noticed.
Gary also noticed ash's squirtle defense.
' he's been training his squirtle well , most pokemon that gotten hit by Bulbasaur's tackle don't recover that quickly before ' it wasn't anything too amazing but it did tell gary that ash wasn't playing games and was just as prepared as he was .
Good .
ash went in for the attack.
" squirtle use tackle " he decided to test squirtles physical strength , compered to the grass type .
Squirtle charged forward at full speed tackling Bulbasaur.
Bulbasaur was hit and was knocked back a bit before managing to stable himself.
They were testing the 'waters' to see how strong their opponents were with both knowing this being their first pokemon battle will tell them about they are doing so far .
"Vine whip " gary called out.
" Dodge it " ash quickly told squirtle without missing a beat.
Bulbasaur attacked squirtle using his two vines , but squirtle bearly managed to dodge out of the vines reach.
" now water gun " ash said going on the offensive.
Taking aim at Bulbasaur , squirtle shot the water gun at the grass type .
Bulbasaur not having anytime to dodge was hit by the attack . Even if he was resistant to water attacks , it still did some damage to him.
" growth " gary said with a smirk , it was time for him to land his winning plan once again.
A green light glowed around Bulbasaur's body , it's vines looked slightly stronger and it's bulb looked thicker.
This put ash on edge immediately as growth raised a pokemon attacking strength and made it stronger.
But before he could order an attack.
" now use leech seed "
Taken by surprise ash did have time to tell squirtle to dodge, forcing the water type to get hit by the leech seed .
As the seeds make contact , they instantly began to wrap around squirtle with vines and leaves.
' I wasn't expecting leech seed with how he's been focusing on up close attacks . I figured it was a little bit to early for him to be able teach Bulbasaur razor leaf '
With leech seed in play , ash was now on a timer until all of squirtles energy was drained by the vines and that ment mistakes so he needed to act quickly and carefully.
" now vine whip " gary said
" Invade it ! " ash told squirtle urgently.
Squirtles tries to but because of how he was covered by the leech seed it was very difficult.
The vine whip hit squirtle causing him to take serious damage from the growth boosted vine whip.
' this isn't good ' " use bubble " ash called out in desperation.
This may have been a new move but he was running out of options.
After struggling to get up a little , squirtle launched his attack and sprayed countless bubbles in the direction of Bulbasaur.
" Dodge it Bulbasaur " gary told his starter.
Bulbasaur wasn't fast enough and got hit by the attack.
If gary was being honest he thought squirtle would water gun , bubble was a surprise .
But it didn't matter this battle was over .
" one last tackle Bulbasaur " gary said a triumphant smile on his face .
The grass type listened to gary and charged at his opponent.
" withdraw " every hit mattered.
Squirtle retreated back into his shell just as Bulbasaur hit .
He was sent flying across the battle field like earlier , only this time a little bit harder.
Ash watched as squirtle struggled to even stand up . He had to do something squirtle couldn't last much longer . He needed to stick to long ranged if wanted to win.
And then the leech seed hit.
The vines and leaves glowed green as squirtle had the energy sucked out of him .
Not being able to take anymore ,squirtle fainted.
" and that's all she wrote " gary said with a smirk on his face as Bulbasaur body glowed green and some of the damages he took from the battle healed.
Ash didn't even hear gary as he walked up to squirtle's fainted form and picked him up.
Pikachu looked worried at his new friend and teammate , wondering if he was OK.
' I should have been more carefully the momment he had Bulbasaur use growth ,return squirtle you did fantastic ' and with that he return his starter to his pokeball.
" pika " Ash heard as he looked down to see pikachu's worried expression.
" he'll be ok pikachu , nothing a trip to the poke-center can't fix " he give him a smile .
He noticed his rotom phone alert him about his loss and diminished trainer's account because but he ignored it .
" I have to say ashy-boy , you pushed Bulbasaur WAY longer than any trainer I've battled so far would even dream off " gary said as he approached , having recalled the grass type .
" yeah well , your the only one to even give squirtle a good fight let alone defeat him . Most pokemon we've fought on the way here would need would need luck to even cause just one of those hits " ash wasn't happy about lossing but at least he had to admit that gary did train his Bulbasaur very well .
" yeah obviously , common let's head to the pokemon center "
________________________________________
" So you caught a pikachu huh ? That's not common on route 1 since they like to live in viridian forest with others , still that's gonna help in the water type gym ....not that you need it " gary snickered.
Ash just rolled his eyes at gary's insult to the water gym .
They just arrived at the poke-center and were now waiting for the nurse joy to heal their pokemons .
" what about that spearow you told me about ? " he said remembering the pokemon gary told him he caught .
" he put up a fight but he wasn't a Match for Bulbasaur , and we defeated him just like all the flying types we beat on the way here " gary said smugly.
" Can gary oak and ash ketchum please come to the front desk please "
" well looks like our pokemons are healed " ash said as they made their way to the front desk .
They took back their pokeballs and put them back on their belts .
" well thanks for the battle ash but I've got a badge to win "
" your not gonna go to the cafeteria ? Your pokemon might get hungry " ash asked confused .
"Nah they already ate , besides it's not like I'm going to run into anyone strong in there " gary shrugged him off as he took his leave.
" things won't be the same next we battle " ash told his childhood rival just as he was at the door .
Gary looked back before turning with a big smirk on his face .
" I know hope not " he said before walking out .
Ash just smiled and shook his head before grabbing pikachu's and squirtle pokeballs on his belt and releasing the two .
Upon release they both happily greeted him.
" Hey I'm happy to see you doing well squirtle . common i bet you guys are starving , the cafeteria is this way " he said to his two pokemon.
Pikachu after happy to see his friend ok followed ash .
Squirtle did to just slightly less enthusiastic.
[ a few minutes after ]
" Well that was a good lunch , I bet you guys are full of energy after that huh ? " ash asked a smile on his face .
He was now on the edge of viridian forest after they finished their lunch. He had even packed some that were left over for him squirtle and pikachu.
" pikachuuuu " pikachu nodded excitingly. That food tasted way better than any berry he ever tasted.
Squirtle nodded to just slightly less as excited.
Ash noticed this and knelt down at to him.
" it's ok squirtle I know you lost , but you did your best . Besides , this will make it better when we defeat him . Everyone losses sometimes , it sucks but one of the benefits to losing is that you learn from your mistakes" ash told him , putting a hand on his head.
Even pikachu encouraged squirtle to make him feel better until a smile appeared on squirtle's face
" that's the spirit , next time things won't be the same " said ash determination opinion his eyes .
" pikaaaa " pikachu cried out with electricity sparkled out of his cheeks. Next time he would help and make sure that Bulbasaur went down at any cost.
A loud cry suddenly caught their attention , followed by an immense fealing he hadn't felt before.
Power.
Ash had felt power like this , mostly from professor oaks Alakazam , nidoking and dragonite .
But never on a level like this before , it was in a league on its own and compared to this it made any of professor oaks pokemon feel like pidgey's , rattata's and magikarp.
He looked around for the the souce until he saw it .
It was a bird pokemon that was mostly red and was trailed by multiple colors as It flew up in the sky surrounded in a rainbow of light it left behind.
Ash couldn't form any words , squirtle and pikachu were not any better.
'Camera ' the thought came to his mind instantly.
Quickly reaching for his rotom phone , he grabbed it and immediately went to camera mode .
*click* *click* *click*
He took quickly took multiple photos trying to take a clear picture of the legendary pokemon.
A legendary pokemon he didn't need his pokedex to know about.
Ho-oh .
It hasn't been seen in years . Not since the incident with one of the towers in johto . Ash had read about ho-oh in books.
The books made it very clear it wasn't your typical dratini .
Even squirtle could feel his previous sadness evaporate. Replaced by a fealing of pure hope and amazement.
It was the same with pikachu.
As a they saw it disappear over the horizon, ash noticed something glowing floating down .
He reached his hand and grab it only for him see it was a rainbow wing .
He stared at it for a couple of seconds unable properly think about what he was holding in his hand .
A feather belonging to ho-oh , a legendary pokemon .
He quietly put it back in his pocket while looking around to see if there wasn't anyone around watching.
People would kill for this .
After putting away the feather , he took a couple of breaths .
No one was going to believe him , even with the photos , he had with how advanced technogy had gotten people would think they were fake .
"The most exciting thing that will ever happen to me and no one will ever know about it " ash sighed before taking a look at his pokemon.
His heart was still racing .
" see that guys , nothing but clear sky's ahead" he told his pokemon.
Pikachu smiled feeled with joy while squirtle still looked at where ho-oh flew off to hoping to meet it again someday.
"Ho-oh has the right idea , come on lets keep moving " ash had previously been a little down at lossing to gary .
The thought of relying on power over strategy - even if he didn't have an option for strategy .
Just seeing ho-oh alone was more than enough to erase ANY worry he or his pokemon had on the future.
As they walked foward in to the forest ash took one last look at where the legendary had flown off to before he kept moving .