Chapter 20-21

I woke up the next day with a headache. I spent a few minutes relaxing in the soft bed before I bolted upright. I remembered last night. I couldn't even stop the smile that bloomed on my face. I looked around the room for my new friend and felt that smile die down when I realized the room was empty.

It surprised me more than it should. I'd bailed on people in my first life all the time. Expecting it not to be done to me was unreasonable. I took a shower in the hotel room and dressed up. I headed down to the reception. A thousand fucking pokedollars. How the fuck did a single night cost that much? The receipt answered my questions and ignited my anger.

She didn't just bail. She'd apparently gone to the restaurant and had a large breakfast, along with ordering several bottles of wine to-go. I made a thousand five hundred yesterday. Drinks had cost about 200 and the hotel bill took my winnings down to 300 dollars. Fuck. I had to go back to the arena.

A teleport to celadon would cost about a thousand pokes. An amount I would have had if I just went back to my room yesterday. I didn't regret it though. Yesterday was fun. That wasn't in doubt.

I walked back to the pokemon centre to get my pokeballs. I'd dropped off Igneel after the battles yesterday. I picked up Igneel and Hashirama and went back to the arena. The entrance fee took the rest of my winnings from yesterday and I was sent into the halls to wait to hear my name.

It took me a bit over thirty minutes to hear my name. I went out to the stadium and was met with a guy that looked to be a year older. He also had four badges so the match would be an even one. I lost the coin flip and sent Kenpachi out. The crowd hmmed and awwed appreciatively. My opponent sent out a Krabby. The water type looked young and didn't seem very strong. Appearances could be deceiving but I had the feeling my opponent was going to be relying on type advantage and hoping for a miracle.

He started the fight out by screaming "water gun" at the top of his voice. The Krabby concentrated for a few seconds before sending out a blast of water from one of its pincers. The attack had virtually no chance of hitting. Kenpachi dodged the attack with contemptuous ease. He then used his terrakinesis to rip several boulders out of the ground and fired them at the Krabby.

I wasn't shocked when the boy's shouts for the Krabby to dodge went ignored and the Krabby was knocked out after the second boulder hit it. The boy returned his pokemon and sent out a Parasect. The grass/bug type looked to be more skilled than its predecessor.

I chose to take the initiative this time. "Hyper beam" I intoned calmly. I hadn't gotten around to teaching Kenpachi to recognise aura signals which was a huge oversight. He charged up the move and sent the bug into the sweet bliss of unconsciousness, all in a few seconds.

I watched him sag in exhaustion and returned him. That battle was boring. It's why I ended it so quickly. It was probably arrogant of me to think so but most of these trainers were below me. That was why I felt a breath of fresh air when I went into the trainer's halls in the arena and ran into Sabrina. She was standing there like she'd been waiting for me. The first person my age to deal me a loss.

Sabrina looked just like she did all those months ago. She was as breathtakingly beautiful, and her face was just as inexpressive. I moved forwards to say hi, but she beat me to the punch. "Hello, Donnell Oak. It is good to see you again" Her voice sounded as melodic as I remembered.

"Uh. Hi," I managed to stammer out. Fuck. Get your head in the game, man. I got lucky yesterday and I couldn't stop imagining myself getting lucky with Sabrina. Very unlikely but teenage hormones cared little for logic or propriety.

POV CHANGE- The Psychic

Donnell Oak once again. My powers were bad at predicting his actions, but I knew he'd show up here. I also knew what he did yesterday. The audacity of that scarlet woman. Did she not understand that he was mine?

The first boy my age with a silent mind, and he almost gets snatched right from my grasp. I had been content with watching from afar but it was clear to see that I couldn't just leave him to his own devices. Mother always said that teenage boys couldn't survive on their own. I decided to confess my feelings so our love could blossom in the open. I opened my mouth and said, "Would you like to have a battle?" What? How did that happen?

His enthusiastic response brought a smile to my face and the next thing he did turned my face an embarrassing shade of red. He grabbed my hand and dragged me over to the referee to register our match. I couldn't even hear what he said over the sound of my heartbeat. I looked down at our joined hands and my smile threatened to split my face in two.

I didn't know what happened till I found myself across from him ready to do battle. I manipulated the coin flip so I would win. It was a reflex for me to do so at this point. I had to win this battle to prove my love for him.

The battle at the forest had gone well but I'd been too scared to confess my feelings. This time would be different. He started things off by sending out a Trevenant. 'Grass/Ghost type. Poor mobility, high attack power, and average durability' my brain supplied instantly.

I sent out one of my more recent captures, Metang. Our psychic link formed the moment they were out of their ball. Sooner or later, I'd be strong enough to breach even pokeballs but that wasn't important for now.

The love of my life started things out with sunny day. Ha. Such a tactic. I asked Metang to disable the sunny day with rain dance. The Trevenant was powerful but it hadn't spent time mastering the move to the point of preventing it from being cancelled out.

My next order was for Metang to fire as many shadow balls as they could at the Ghost type. Its protect was powerful but was being worn down. I settled down to watch with eagerness before a tendril of wood burst out of the ground and smashed into my pokemon. Wood hammer? The Trevenant didn't stop there. It somehow managed to fire a solar beam even under the rain dance.

My mental screams at Metang to teleport away went ignored as the grass-type move crashed into him. The ghost moved forwards and plants started to rise out of the ground and bind themselves around my newest teammate.

This was harder than I expected. I wasn't out for the count yet. Metang still had some powerful moves they could employ. I stilled his panic and relayed my next orders. The flamethrower they used burned through the plants surrounding them.

From there, they started using ice beams on the soaked ground and forced the Trevenant to hide behind a protect for fear of getting hit. Metang focused for a few seconds and fired a flash cannon that shattered the protect.

The Trevenant was still unaffected and kept trying to stretch its branch arms towards my pokemon. I had Metang stop his onslaught to retreat from the grasping ghost. With the area around it frozen, it couldn't move forward. I started preparing another plan when the length of the grasping branches multiplied. It didn't take a second before one of the branches smashed into Metang with a shadow claw. After that, it started to wail on my pokemon with a barrage of wood hammers. I had no choice but to return him.

My next choice was clear. Alakazam was my strongest pokemon after all. The rain dance ended as I returned Metang and the first thing I had Alakazam do was use flamethrower on the Trevenant. Its Protect had taken a beating across its battle with Metang and it had to be exhausted.

Alakazam didn't let up and the protect eventually broke. My lover returned his pokemon before it could get hit. Such a caring and pragmatic man he was. He released a strange pokemon on the field next. It was obviously a rock type, and I was able to see some resemblance between it and his scyther.

Was this a new evolution? To think that he was intelligent enough to discover a whole new evolution. My choice was clearly a wise one. I had Alakazam attempt to reach into its mind and my theory was confirmed. It had the sort of alien presence that all bug types did.

This battle was going to be a tough one. The bug started by driving one of its axe hands into the ground. That single hit was enough to rip apart the arena. I ignored the gasps of shock from the audience.

I ordered Alakazam to teleport just in the nick of time. The area in the air he occupied was soon occupied by multiple boulders. Again. Alakazam was barely able to dodge the attack this time. This game of cat and mouse continued for minutes. Alakazam had never chained so many teleports together and he was already leaning on my psychic energy to preserve his.

I had to come up with a solution. Sooner or later, we'd run out of energy. The idea that came to me was a risky one, but it was worth it. Alakazam understood my plan as I came up with it. Our bond was just that strong.

He stopped dodging and hunkered down in a protect. The bug kept sending rocks at the protect and I closed my eyes. The goal here was to share my energy with Alakazam in an even deeper way. We charged up a hyper beam while within the protect and teleported out of it, behind the bug type, and let our move fly.

What happened next took my breath away. The bug somehow managed to use protect without even turning around to see the attack. My lover hadn't yelled anything out either. Did they have a psychic link? How? Bug types were impossible to psychically connect with.

I didn't even see what happened next. Mother always told me to stop getting stuck in my head so much. All I knew was that Alakazam's presence disappeared from my mind. I searched the field for my first friend and found him on the floor. I saw the move charging up in my lover's bugs' hands and I knew exactly what had happened.

Signal beam. Bug-type moves also ruined psychic connections. Alakazam was too unfocused to have any hope of protecting himself from the next attack, so I returned him. I only had one more pokemon and he wasn't a battler, so I forfeited.

To think that my lover would get so much stronger in a few months. What had I been doing? Roaming the region and using my abilities to try spying on the love of my life. I needed to train. I needed to become strong enough to stand by his side. My lover valued strength above all else. He'd only accept my love if I showed him I was strong. I teleported away from the arena with my mind full of training strategies.

POV Change- Back to MC

Huh. She just left. That was odd. I didn't think much of it till I realized she didn't pay before she left. Fuck. That didn't hurt as much as I thought it would though. I beat Sabrina. Well, not beat beat. She forfeited. That confirmed something for me though. Those months spent in the wilderness, putting my life and that of my pokemon at stake. It was all worth it. No. Not all of it, I thought soberly. Never all of it. Would I give up all this new strength to have Quicksilver back? In a heartbeat.

My answer shocked me to the core. I'd always viewed gaining strength as my number one priority. You really didn't know what you loved until it was all gone. That realization made me leave the arena without gathering all the money I needed.

What was the point of finishing the league, gathering all the badges, and even becoming champion if I didn't enjoy the journey with those I loved? There was no need to rush things, I thought as I packed up my room at the centre. I wasn't even going to wait till daybreak the next day. I walked right into the forest and opened my map.

A few days into my journey and I remembered why I hadn't wanted to travel by land in my original plans. It was just too fucking slow. It wasn't boring though. Praise be to Arceus for that. My team was just too entertaining for that. They all walked with me through the forest. More floated than walked in Kisame's case.

She was using her water prison to float around. Even now, she trained. I saw signs of the same thing in all my pokemon. Ino teleported forward and backward every few feet and I felt her presence spread out around us like a sonar. Kenpachi darted around trees. Still getting used to his new body. Every stone I walked across moved itself out of my way. Broly's terrakinesis at work, I suspected.

Igneel lit our path for us as the canopy got more intense. Small fireballs floated all around him. Kisame had to quell a few fires here and there but the training was good, so I allowed it. Hashirama… I had no idea what Hashi was doing. I'd barely formed the question before Ino fed the answer into my head. He'd stretched his roots into the ground and was taking control of all the trees around us. Impressive.

A few more hours of walking and the sun had gone down. I looked around and the team wasn't showing signs of exhaustion but reaching out with my aura showed me how worn they actually were. I still decided to push on for today though. It was good training.

We kept going as the last rays of light disappeared. Igneel's flames helped us maintain visibility. Even a few months ago, I wouldn't have been brave enough to try something like this. The things that went bump in the night were always more dangerous. My team was strong though. We were the apex predators of the forest.

As the hours flew by, I felt my teammates relax a little. They'd been tense as the sun disappeared and even tenser when the night proved to be a dark one. Igneel's flames cast our surroundings in an orange glow that did more to heighten their paranoia. Speaking of which, could pokemon experience colour? I couldn't think of any studies that proved it either way. So, I decided to ask a pokemon of my own.

Ino had started stretching her senses even further to make sure nothing snuck up on us. I wouldn't distract her from her essential duty. "Broly" I spoke suddenly. The entire team turned to me at that. I guess I startled them by breaking the relative silence of the forest. "Do pokemon see colour?" He looked confused at that one. I facepalmed. How silly of me.

He was a bug type. They had different senses even when compared to other pokemon. I shrugged my shoulders and let the questioning die out. My question seemed to have settled the moods of many of my teammates. Kisame started sending a few bubbles at Igneel to distract him and he was sending his mini fireballs at her watery shell every once in a while, to try boiling the water.

Kenpachi went back to bothering Broly. They'd gotten even closer over the weeks. I'd expected Kenpachi to assert his independence after evolution, but it seems like we'd missed that stage. Ino and Hashirama didn't involve themselves in the chaos though. Still too tense for that.

I'd love to try settling their worries, but I knew that if we had no early warning system then we might just find ourselves in an ambush. We kept moving for hours before Ino suddenly opened her eyes in surprise. Her mind connected with mine and I paled.

What the fuck was a Snorlax doing on this route of all places? Where were the rangers? I looked around me with a critical eye and remembered that we'd wandered off route a while ago. I was keeping an eye out for new teammates and the route was too heavily patrolled to find anything useful.

The good news was that the Snorlax wasn't heading in our direction. In fact, it was content to just stay still in its grove. A smile spread across my face. My fear was banished. My instinctual reaction to being told about one of the most dangerous pokemon in the world being in my vicinity was overcome by sheer greed. I wanted a Snorlax.

The pokemon that always triggered ace trainer responses. The pokemon even gym leaders hesitated to deal with. The true disaster pokemon. When a Snorlax got close to a town, the locals got on their knees and prayed. I'd be adding one to my team today. You probably thought I was crazy. You're probably right. I wasn't completely insane though.

From what Ino could sense, this Snorlax was calm. That meant it wasn't hungry. Hungry Snorlax were the true danger. When they weren't hungry, they were content to sleep and laze about in most cases at least.

Ino updated the team on what we would be doing and we moved as one towards the Snorlax' clearing. It was about ten minutes away and while I was calm as ever, the same couldn't be said for my team. We'd seen a Snorlax rampage on the TV back in Saffron. Come to think of it, this might even be the same Snorlax. They were rare enough that the possibility wasn't negligible.

When we arrived, I had the rest of the team wait in the forest while I approached with Ino. They weren't happy about that but they stayed. I had no doubts that they'd bolt into the clearing the moment things went pear-shaped.

The Snorlax was awake and looked up as we began our approach. It didn't do anything though. "Hello. My name is Donnell Oak. I am a pokemon trainer. I'd like to have you on my team. As a member of my team, you get as much food as you'd ever need" The mention of food got his interest and he groaned at me as if telling me to continue.

"You'll also be expected to train with the rest of the team, obey my orders and fight my battles." There wasn't really a better way to put it. It still seemed interested. I was even more certain that this was the very same Snorlax. That one fought Bruno's Machamp on equal footing for a while and seemed to be enjoying it.

"Snorrrr laxxxx" It groaned out. Ino translated and said it wanted to battle my team. I almost laughed maniacally at my luck. A battle-crazy Snorlax? I was truly blessed by Arceus.

I waved at the rest of the team to come over and I took more than a few steps back to step out of the danger zone. I was about to start the battle when the Snorlax sent a mega punch into Kenpachi's shell that sent him soaring into the forest. Fuck. It was strong. Very strong.

I wasn't worried about Kenpachi though. A pupitar's armour was one of the strongest shells out there. I wanted to start issuing orders to the rest of the team but Ino stopped me. The Snorlax wasn't interested in fighting the rest of my team. It wanted to go one-on-one with Kenpachi.

Fuck. This was salvageable at least. Kenpachi wasn't the strongest on the team, but he was plenty strong and rock types had good resistance to normal type moves and Kenpachi had good coverage.

I had the rest of the team retreat towards me and I felt for Kenpachi's aura and started issuing orders to him.

He came sailing out of the forest and fired a hyper beam straight at the Snorlax. The monster just stretched out a hand and fucking caught the move. That was metal. "Rock throw" I shouted and all the boulders strewn across the clearing went flying at the Snorlax.

It shattered the boulders heading at its head with powerful punches that made my bones rattle and allowed the rest to break against its body. I started to regret not expanding Kenpachi's move repertoire earlier. "Leer" I commanded.

Kenpachi's eyes turned red and expanded towards the Snorlax. My next command was for Kenpachi to use Hyper beam on its head while it was distracted. It was all for naught though. The leer barely stopped the Snorlax for a second and I marched through the hyper beam before punching Kenpachi into the ground.

It didn't let up and fired a hyper beam at Kenpachi's prone form that knocked it unconscious. The Snorlax let out an earth-shaking roar as I returned Kenpachi to his ball before pointing at Hashirama. Another difficult battle. Hashirama still stepped forwards though.

"Your ghost-type moves won't work. Stick to grass-type attacks for now. Be ready to use protect once you see it get close to you." I spoke out in a whisper. The Snorlax decided to start this battle by running straight at Hashirama with a charge-up mega punch. "Trip it up" I commanded.

Vines grew out from the ground at the Snorlax's feet and grabbed at its ankles. The vines barely slowed it down. It tore through them like they weren't even there. It got close enough and smashed a powerful fist into Hashirama's protect. It started wailing on the shield and Hashirama executed my next orders perfectly.

Vines rose out of the ground and snatched the Snorlax' hands. It broke through them but they were quickly replaced by double their number. In no time, the Snorlax was almost completely enveloped by the vines. Hashirama dropped his protect and sent a wood hammer smashing into the Snorlax's head.

The sound rang across the clearing. "Keep going," I said with a smile. Hashirama started wailing on the Snorlax with the move before one of his attacks dislodged the vines keeping the Snorlax's mouth shut. The Hyperbeam that came out made the clearing look like it was midday.

Hashirama had managed to use a protect to save himself but he was still knocked out. I knew that without the move, his injuries would be even worse. I returned him and sent Broly at the Snorlax. Losing two members of my team to the same pokemon was a huge blow to my pride.

Broly already had the plan. Our aura connection was deep. Deeper than any of the others. He rushed at the Snorlax and started a hand-to-hand exchange. The Snorlax's defence was too powerful for it to fall to any of the ranged moves Broly was capable of. Broly used his axe arms to great effect.

He'd lost a good amount of speed with his evolution but even his diminished speed was more than enough to run circles around the Snorlax. Its punches hit air and Broly's counters landed with devastating effect. The Snorlax kept trying to gain distance to use its long-range moves. It saw the futility of that and when it gave up, it fought back. It started accepting more strikes from Broly and countering them whenever he overstretched.

The longer this went on, the worse it got. The Snorlax was taking at least 12 hits for everyone it managed to land. Good news, right? No. It didn't matter that Broly got 12 hits in if those hits seemed to have little effect, and when the one hit that the Snorlax managed to land seemed to send Broly reeling.

My starter was a trooper though and managed to keep the entire thing going for another half an hour before I returned him. He'd just taken way too much damage. The Snorlax's next target was Igneel.

"Sunny day" I commanded with a sigh. Losing three pokemon to this monster was just embarrassing. I'd thought myself strong, but the world seemed intent on proving me wrong. I'd finally beaten the bogeyman. Sabrina herself. Only for me to get violated by a wild pokemon. A pokemon Broly beat with only a single pokemon. The gap between the Elites and I seemed to stretch even farther.

Igneel brought the sun to the nighttime and flew above the foliage. Well out of the reach of the Snorlax. The normal type pokemon was already exhausted from his earlier battles. "Solar beam barrage" I instructed my dragon.

I relaxed as I watched the plan come together. The Snorlax's thick skin and endurance could only stretch so far. Eventually, Igneel won the day by firing solar beams at an opponent too slow to dodge and flying around to avoid the occasional hyper beam sent in retaliation.

When the Snorlax went down, I captured it with a Pokeball and had Ino teleport us back to Fuchsia. The league had a very strict procedure for capturing Snorlax. Disobeying that was even a crime. I doubted I'd be sent to prison, but there was no need to tempt fate.

I went into the pokemon centre and walked up to the nurse's table. It was nighttime so the nurse there was watching tv and not really paying attention. "Hello" I spoke out. "Hello? Nurse Joy?" My impatience finally won out and I banged the table with my fist.

She looked up at me in surprise. "I just caught a Snorlax" The look on her face was well worth the trouble. Even if the Snorlax was going to be completely useless to my team, the look on her face was worth all the effort.

"Was it hungry?" the very first question she asked after her surprise wore off. Capturing a hungry Snorlax was also a huge no-no. Her next question was also predictable, "Are your pokemon alright?"

"Three of my pokemon were knocked out and one of em is pretty tired" She gave me an evaluating look at that.

"Drop their pokeballs in the tray over there. Put the Snorlax on this one" She said while releasing her Chansey.

After I gave her the pokemon, she booked me a room and told me to be back in a few hours.

With the adrenaline gone, I slept like a baby. It was a great nap and I was happy to note that I got a full six hours of sleep. Another weird difference between the pokemon world and the one I hailed from. Here, six hours of sleep was a good night's rest, with most humans capable of living on five. It made for strange working hours but it was what it was.

I went down to the nurse's station and met a different Nurse Joy. I figured she'd already been briefed by the one I met last night since she was to one to welcome me when I got down. "I hope you had a good night, Mr. Oak. I have taken the liberty of informing the league of your…. acquisition. They have promised to send a representative to observe. I've also been instructed to let you know not to release the pokemon till the representative arrives."

I nodded to show I understood and then took back my pokeballs. At this point, I was sure that the league would prefer to not even hand over the Pokeball to me. That would be a breach of my oh-so-sacred fundamental rights. In a society where people carried around the power to level mountains on their belts, the league avoided anything that could set off a revolution.

I had to wait an hour before the league representative showed up. I was more shocked than I should have been when Koga walked into the centre. Of course, it would be him. Who else would it be? He walked up to me and gestured for me to follow.

A man of little words, Eh? I could get behind that.

Koga's tests were simple things. He didn't ask to battle the Snorlax or anything. He just had me give the Snorlax orders and then wrote things on his clipboard. I was elated when I released the Snorlax and it decided to honour our unspoken deal. It obeyed every order I gave. It was amazing.

After almost half an hour of tests, Koga finally said a sentence longer than a single word, "That will be all, Mr. Oak. From what I've seen, you have passable control of the Snorlax. You will be permitted to keep it." The sigh of relief I let out was so loud, that I was sure he heard it. He said nothing though and turned around to leave.

As he walked away, I noticed something. Snorlax hadn't taken its eyes off the gym leader. I looked at him and noticed something. He had a rice ball poking out of his costume. Snorlax and I moved at the same time. He tried to rush toward the gym leader, but I was in his way in seconds. Fortunately for my continued survival, he stopped when he saw me. "I'll get you food, buddy. Lots of food. Let him go" I whispered while rubbing his stomach and covering as much of his body as I could in a hug.

I turned around to look at Koga again and I found him gone. Fucking ninja bastard. I whispered more assurances to Snorlax before I returned him to his ball. Nurse Joy was waiting for me and had already procured a Snorlax meal for me. The league had created special meals for Snorlax. They were incredibly calorically dense and were surprisingly cheap. The reasoning was that a starved Snorlax was a danger to society, so why shouldn't society (taxes) pay to prevent that?

I released Snorlax into the empty dining room and watched him demolish the three 'rice balls' laid in front of him. Watching him be satisfied after only the third one had me thanking Arceus for weird pokemon world science. No smartphones or self-driving cars yet, but we had access to psychics defying food and equipment.

After his meal, Snorlax had to watch the rest of us eat. Our food took a comparatively longer period to prepare. I finished my meal and started discussing names with him. At least, I tried to. He started snoring after my third suggestion.

Now, I had to focus on my journey. We were back right where we started. Ino could teleport us back to the Snorlax's former clearing but I felt like we could spend some more time resting. Ino pointed out that we'd been doing a lot of resting lately. I agreed with her but I couldn't bring myself to push the team so hard in training when our time together was so limited. I'd lost Quicksilver and I didn't regret not training more. I regretted not spending more time with him simply lazing about.

We spent the rest of the day at the Centre. We just watched tv in the waiting room and ignored all the curious passers-by. Some trainers walked up to me to request to battle but I refused. I'd normally be interested in getting battles when I could but I wasn't feeling up to it.

After a hearty dinner, the team and I went to bed. We were up and at it again the next morning. Today, we'd make more progress on our journey. Ino teleported me back to the clearing after I picked up the rest of Snorlax's meals from Nurse Joy. I released the rest of the team, and we started walking.

"Gai, Lee, Bo Rai Cho?" More shakes of his head. Snorlax had to be the pickiest of my teammates when it came to choosing a nickname. If not for my conviction to give all my pokemon nicknames, I'd have given up on it already. I was fresh out of ideas. I'd even gone so far as to offer names that had no similarities to him.

"Po" It came like a bolt of lightning. He gave me a deadpan look and I slumped in disappointment.

I ignored the looks of amusement the team kept sending me and I started planning a training regimen for Snorlax. I'd leave his nickname for later. According to the Pokedex, he knew 'Tackle, rest, mega punch, hyperbeam, and snore'.

I'd gotten a good look at his battling style the other day, so I knew what I was in for. His move spread wasn't impressive but it wasn't bad. The first order of business was having Ino teach him protect whenever we stopped for the day.

I ended up reconsidering my plans. Instead of going straight to Celadon, we would stop over at Vermillion to challenge Surge. I'd been avoiding challenging him for a while but adding Snorlax to my team meant I now had seven pokemon, so I didn't have to risk Kisame against an electric-type master with a penchant for brutality.

I took a deep breath before walking into the stadium. This would be my fifth badge challenge. Hopefully, I'd be walking out of here with a full team, another badge under my belt, and my head held high.

Surge marched out in a steady, commanding gait. He was just Surge right now. The famed lieutenant title was nowhere to be found, which admittedly gave me shivers. To think that a war might be right around the corner.

The referee began to explain the rules. Surge's fourth badge and up challenges were always different. He liked to create as much chaos as possible by introducing new elements and surprises.

I wasn't surprised that my battle also had a surprise. Double battles. That's what Surge wanted. Three two-on-two battles. Double battles weren't common in Kanto. There was a good reason for that though. They made things exponentially more complicated.

A trainer would have to consider exponentially more factors. My pokemon might end up hitting each other with their moves, my focus would be split in trying to order two pokemon at the same time. I recognised these problems and stopped fighting the smile that had been threatening to build on my face.

If I were any other trainer, this would be devastating. But I wasn't. I felt no fear as our eyes met. My pokemon were trained. Our teamwork was beyond anything else. I wouldn't be giving him the easy time he probably expected.

Surge did me the favour of releasing his pokemon first. His pokeballs opened up and released two balls on the arena. No. Not balls. Voltorbs. Interesting start to the match at least. I sent out Snorlax and Ino.

I had no idea what kind of strategy he was aiming for but Snorlax and Ino could deal with anything. "Formation 1" He barked out. 'Loud' was the only thought that went through my head.

The Voltorbs began to use something I suspected was roll-out to approach my pokemon at breakneck speeds. I had Ino prepare to dodge and Snorlax already stretched out his hands in a clear sign he was about to use protect.

The next thing that happened had me seeing red. The Voltorbs were within feet of my pokemon when I noticed the light that had been building up around them as they approached my pokemon. That's the light of a roll-out, I thought. 'Get out of there' I screamed into their heads.

The light intensified and both of the Voltorbs exploded as one. Explosion. I looked up at Surge's smug smile with a snarl on my face. What the fuck was that? That was sadistic. To sacrifice his own pokemon like that. The dust began to clear and I resisted the urge to burst into laughter.

Surge's plan failed. Ino had been fast enough to teleport next to Snorlax and he'd also been able to use protect to cover the both of them. The green hexagonal shield had loads of cracks on its surface, but it was intact, and my pokemon were safe.

Surge didn't even react to his failed plan. He just returned the unconscious Voltorbs and sent out a Raichu and an Ampharos. No, Not a Raichu. The Raichu. The scars around its tail showed it for what it was. This wasn't just a random Raichu. This was the one he'd completed his journey with. His starter.

The thing moved like lightning and in the next second, its form was buried in Snorlax's midsection. Wisps of green falling to the ground were all that remained of the protect.

I started screaming orders in their minds. Ino teleported away while Snorlax hurled the Raichu away. The rat pokemon just twisted in the air and landed on its tail. Fucking cheat. Ino sent a dazzling gleam to the stationary Ampharos, and Snorlax took a few breaths to steady himself. The Ampharos dodged and the Raichu appeared in front of Snorlax within a blink.

This time, he was ready. The rat's Iron tail clanged off a protect. A protect that it used as a springboard to retreat. Ino's fight with the Ampharos was going slightly better. It dodged all her attacks by the barest of margins but she'd hem it in eventually. I had faith in that.

At least, I had faith until the Raichu changed targets. Ino was barely able to teleport out of the way of its first charge. "Hyper beam" I commanded Snorlax. Let's kick this up a notch. He sent an enormous blast of white that the Ampharos managed to run around. It turned and rushed at Snorlax with the glow of quick attack surrounding him. I turned to Ino's fight and found her barely keeping ahead of the Raichu. She was only keeping ahead of it because of the knowledge I'd passed on. It was a gamble, but this Raichu was also as bad at making sudden turns as the one in the anime.

She couldn't teleport around forever though. She was no Alakazam. The Ampharos collided headfirst with Snorlax's mega punch. My genius normal type had lured it in by pretending to be slower than he was and made the sheep pay for its mistake.

I wasn't surprised to note that it was already unconscious. I turned back to Ino's battle. She was being run ragged. I had her teleport behind Snorlax to rest for a bit. Surge's voice boomed out again, "Thunder".

Fuck. Of course, this pokemon would know that move. I watched it gather energy and then a bolt of lightning that sent spots dancing in my vision flew across the arena. The bolt tore through the protect that Snorlax had set up and hit my pokemon with devastating effect.

The move hit and he was barely able to keep standing. The Raichu sought to rectify that and blinked across the arena with an Iron tail. It proved all for naught when his move hit the ground. Ino had teleported away with Snorlax in tow. 'Snorlax, use rest. Ino distract the Raichu.' I spoke my next orders into their minds.

Ino teleported away from Snorlax and began to fire moves at the Raichu to distract it. It didn't take the bait and continued towards Snorlax unimpeded. Ino teleported to Snorlax and then teleported away with him in tow. Her exhaustion became even more apparent after that last teleport. She'd been teleporting around the arena since the battle began and taking Snorlax along with her was wearing on her even more.

I reconsidered my plans and had Ino teleport from Snorlax again. She tried firing moves to distract the Raichu again and as the Raichu was about to hit Snorlax, he was hit with a hyper beam. Sleep talk. One of the moves that Snorlax had managed to learn in the last month.

Somehow, the Raichu still wasn't knocked out. It used protect at the very last second. It was rattled, but not unconscious. It was knocked back and Ino managed to get it with a psybeam the moment it landed. The rat still managed to power through and rush towards Ino in another blink.

It was too fast for me or Ino to do anything in her state. I grudgingly returned her after the Raichu knocked her out. Snorlax was now helpless in the arena. I honestly had no idea how to wake him up from rest. We never got that far in our training and nothing I'd ever tried even worked.

The good part is that whenever the Raichu approached he'd get warded off by either hyper beam or mega punch. Grabbing that TM was really a wise choice.

Surge's booming voice rang out again. Another gigantic bolt of lightning arced towards Snorlax and I just held my breath and watched. The move hit and woke Snorlax from his nap. He got up from his sitting position and looked like crap. At this point, Raichu didn't have to go anything more. He'd slump into unconsciousness in a minute or less.

The Raichu wasn't leaving it up to chance though. He ran towards Snorlax at a noticeably slower pace. His Iron tail hit Snorlax right on his head but Snorlax somehow managed to counter with a mega punch straight to the Raichu's midsection.

A double knock-out. I returned Snorlax with a smile. He'd performed marvelously. Surge's smile matched mine. "It's been a while since Raichu got a fight like that. He'll be insufferable after this"

His next pokemon were a Magneton and an Electabuzz. I sent out Broly and Igneel. The arena had been ripped apart between the Voltorb's explosion and Snorlax's hyper beams. Plenty of material for a terrakinetic like Broly to dominate a battle with and Igneel was the only flyer on my team so he'd work well with Broly in that. My breath still hitched at that thought. Time had done its job to heal the bleeding wound, but the scars still itched every now and then

The electabuzz started things off by running at Broly over the uneven ground. It covered a grand total of three steps before boulders from across the arena started flying at it. It was stuck trying to dodge them and destroying the ones he couldn't dodge.

The Magneton was flying around trying to avoid Igneel's barrage of fireballs. 'sunny day', I ordered. Let's turn things up even more. Since this was the last battle, I had no need to try to conserve Igneel's power.

After setting up the move, Igneel's fireballs became even larger and started pursuing the Magneton like heat-seeking missiles. Broly and Igneel were a deadly team. The Electabuzz had tried firing some long-range moves at Broly but they were constantly deflected by boulders that rose from the shattered arena.

The battle was more like a massacre. Eventually, it all came to a head when the Electabuzz became too slow to dodge the attacks that kept coming and ended up buried in a pile of boulders. Surge returned his pokemon and his Magneton when he saw it being hemmed in by Igneel's attacks.

The referee announced my victory and my smile could blind the sun. I allowed Broly and Igneel to revel in their victory for a few minutes before I returned them. Surge came up to me as I left the booth. From up close, I was startled by how young he looked. He couldn't be up to ten years older than me.

"That was a good battle. Really got my blood pumping. Your pokemon are monsters. Especially that Snorlax of yours." His voice was only a few decibels quieter than it was when he was screaming across the arena.

"Thank you. Your Raichu was splendid"

"Of course, he was. He's my starter after all. I knew we'd slacked off a bit in our training but to lose against a fifth badge challenger? He'll be insufferable"

My pride smarted a bit at his statement, but he wasn't wrong. Surge's Raichu at its prime would have beaten Snorlax. "Don't look like that. You're doing well for your age. Definitely better than I did. Here's your thunder badge. I also added a TM for thunderbolt. Consider it an incentive to get yourself an electric type of your own" He finished off his statement with a wink and turned around to leave.

I left the gym in high spirits. My first destination was the pokemon centre. I'd drop off Ino and Snorlax to heal and look for people to battle against. Vermillion was filled with trainers and that Giga Impact Tm was calling my name.

Twelve battles. That's how long it took for trainers to stop challenging me. The combination of Kisame, Broly, and Igneel was sufficient to win almost every battle. I only had to change that composition when I sent out Hashirama to deal with a troublesome Hypno.

I went to bed feeling exhausted. I wasn't the one that had done the actual battling but thinking up tactics and giving orders through my aura was tiring in its own way.

I woke up the next morning to find that the league had chosen to reward me with 12,000 pokedollars for my challenge. I guess managing to beat Surge's starter was worth the big bucks. With my finances well in order, I did what any respectable teenager would. I went on a shopping spree.

With over 20,000 pokes in the bank, I was able to grab the TMs for both Giga Impact and Blizzard. After some thinking, I added the TM for Metronome. Maybe when I had some more money, I'd come back for the Blast burn TM at a later date. Kisame had been progressing well with her training and a powerful Ice type move would only make her more powerful.

I finished ringing up my purchases and then I heard a sound I hadn't expected to hear in my journey. The raid siren. It was loud. And the red lights flashing across the city's skyline told me this was the worse kind of emergency. Wild pokemon swarm. If it was only one or two then the light would be yellow.

I opened my Pokedex and wasn't surprised to see a message from the league.

"Trainer, the city you are in is about to be attacked by wild pokemon. Report to the nearest Gym leader or the ranger station to receive your assignment. Be cautioned that failure to do your duty to your country will result in the suspension of your pokemon license, and a permanent mark on your record." I read out loud. A generic message from the league. A second message then came in. This one just said to meet at the west entrance to the city.

I had Ino teleport me to my room in the centre where I dropped off my purchases and then joined the nearest band of trainers heading to the meeting point. We got there and I looked around in amazement. I hadn't ever been to this part of the city before. It was filled with electricity power stations. I'd known that Vermillion was the power-generating center of Kanto, but looking around me allowed that fact to truly sink in.

We got to the muster point and were grouped up according to abilities and specialization. As a trainer with 5 badges and a fully evolved fire-type, I was sent straight to the front line. The need for fire types told me this attack had to involve steel-type pokemon, and the fact that the attack was aimed at the power stations told me exactly what steel type it was.

I introduced myself to the rest of Squad B, that's what my squad on the front line was called. We were right behind Surge and the rangers. My teammates were a girl named Jessica, fire type specialist with six badges, Derrick, a smiling blond with eight badges, and Jon. Jon was the only one I'd heard of before today. He made it to the finals in last year's conference. He was the one in charge of the squad.

"Send out your pokemon" Jon spoke suddenly, interrupting Derrick halfway through one of his latest jokes. I looked around and couldn't see anything, but I sent out Igneel, Broly, and Ino either way. Jessica sent out a Growlithe that made a part of my chest clench. Her other pokemon were a brawly magmar, an enormous typhlosion, a rapidash, and a blaziken. Two starter pokemon? I whistled in appreciation.

Derrick sent out a Rhydon, a Tangrowth, and a Ninetails. That last one had the rest of us looking at him in shock. I'd dismissed him as a trainer when he kept making those horrible jokes. An idiot, I'd thought. That Ninetails had me re-evaluating him. In this world, there was no public information on evolution stones so if he had one then he was either a genius or just very lucky. He might have even caught it in its evolved form which was a scary thought. Wild Ninetails weren't the friendliest of pokemon, and that was putting it nicely.

Jon only sent out a single pokemon. Not to say that the pokemon was any less impressive. The roar the Dragonite let out when it came on the field served as a firm reminder of who its trainer was. A scion of the Blackthorn clan. His lack of other teammates told me why he'd been relegated to this squad. He'd lost most of his team at the conference. A final bout against a bloodthirsty dark-type trainer.

We waited for only a few minutes before we saw them. A swarm of magnemites with a few magnetons scattered about. Surge's Raichu didn't wait for them to approach and appeared in their midst. It put two magnemites down with a fire punch and moved on in a blur. That set things off and the rest of the first line sent out their pokemon to battle. As squad B, we had our pokemon hang back and only went after the members of the swarm that managed to bypass the first line.

The size of the swarm made me decide against using sunny day. We'd be here for hours and having my only fire type exhaust himself in the first hour would be the height of stupidity. The good news was that Igneel finally had his new move ready for battle. The first few pokemon made their way past the line and it was time to move.

"Katon: Gosenka no jutsu" I shouted to the skies above. Igneel let out a roar and sent out gigantic balls of fire that curved around all obstructions to hit their targets. I ignored the looks from the rest of the squad and rubbed my head in embarrassment. That was so cringe. The pokemon kept coming though, so they couldn't focus on me for long and had to give orders to their own pokemon.

I had Ino connect me to Igneel and then started issuing rapid orders. The chaos of the battlefield, for the west entrance, had become nothing less, had me balking. Ino's stabilising presence was the only thing preventing me from getting lost in the sea of events. Everywhere I looked, there was a battle going on. Attacks flying left and right. I saw Jon's Dragonite barrel through a magnemite like its steel body was made of paper. I watched as Derrick's Ninetails crushed approaching Magnetons to pieces with its psychic power. I watched Jessica's Blaziken use fire punches to deadly effect. Where it went, dead Magnemite dropped to the ground.

I turned to focus on my team and saw Broly using his terrakinesis to pick off any attackers that flew too close to the ground. Igneel was in the skies, using white hot fireballs to put down any attackers that flew too high. Their teamwork impressed me once again. As the number of attackers kept increasing, I sent out Snorlax. Ino's connection expanded to include him and I had him use a hyperbeam to weed out some of the approaching swarm.

After that, he waddled into the fray and punched through any of the electric-type attackers that made the mistake of getting too close. An hour in and the pokemon around me started to flag. Jessica had to return her Growlithe when it was swarmed by a group of magnemites. Her Rapidash had also been knocked out. Derrick had replaced his Rhydon with an Ampharos.

Jon's Dragonite was still going strong. Its sky dominance had saved Igneel from a couple of close calls. My dragon's pride was hurt a bit. Watching another pokemon flex on him like that would probably add some fire to his belly.

Broly and Snorlax had found themselves in the chaos and had teamed up. Broly was picking off the magnetic field pokemon from a long distance while Snorlax was taking down the ones that got too close.

My focus on my team was distracted by a loud scream. I looked forward and saw Surge on his knees. A few meters in front of him, I saw something that made my heart go still. Surge's Raichu, an elite-level pokemon lay dead. The three magnezone around his still form gave me a good guess as to what had happened. Fuck. Surge remained on the floor staring at Raichu's body. It felt like the world slowed down as I watched the magnemites close to him begin getting close. He'd strayed away from the rangers with his team and with the centerpiece of that team dead on the floor, we were forced to watch what happened next in slow motion.

A bolt of lightning, pitifully small by most metrics arced up from a Magnemite and hit Surge right in the chest. I didn't need to look any further to know he was dead. I heard the screams of rage from his gym trainers on the second line. Fuck. A gym leader, one of Kanto's pillars, dead. This would have far-reaching consequences. Consequences that didn't matter at this moment.

The ordered line of trainers devolved into chaos as Surge's gym trainers surged forwards with their pokemon to avenge their fallen commander. Their breach of protocol fucked things up even more. I sent out Hashirama to help Broly and Snorlax who were about to be surrounded.

Ino remained beside me for my own protection. She'd had to move once or twice to put down some attackers that got too close for comfort. With the line gone, the magnetic field pokemon got even more frantic in their attacks. I sent out Kenpachi to take down a swarm that was threatening to overwhelm Jessica's Typhlosion.

The battle kept going and I leaned on Ino to spread my attention to all my teammates in varied locations. Igneel had started to flag in the sky and I had him use sunny day to get one last burst of power before I'd eventually send him back to his ball.

His fireballs became even hotter and larger. I watched one of them hit a magnezone and send it straight to the ground. I tossed a Pokeball at that one. I didn't have any electric or steel type pokemon on my team and a fully evolved one was too good to pass up.

I returned Igneel after a few minutes when even the burst of power from the sunny day couldn't keep him up anymore. I returned Broly as well. He wasn't as exhausted as Igneel was but there was no need to risk him making a mistake and losing his life, especially when the attackers were finally being overwhelmed.

It took another hour for the last stragglers to be driven off and the attack to be officially over. I returned my tired teammates and made my way back to the muster point. The Ranger captain thanked us for our service and sent us off. He also said the league would be disbursing rewards for answering the call.

I started the long walk back to the pokemon centre when I felt a hand around my shoulder. I turned in shock to see Derick standing by my side. "Hey Oak. The rest of us are going out for drinks, wanna come with?" I didn't. I honestly didn't. I felt so tired. A look at his expectant face had me agreeing to go with him. Fuck.

This one wrote itself to be honest. Didn't expect Surge to die but it just seemed right.

Name; Donnell Oak

Age; 15

Hometown; Pallet

Next of Kin; Samuel Oak

Account balance; 5000 Pokedollars

Pokemon.

· Kleavor (Nickname; Broly)- Male. Bug/Rock type

Moves; Signal beam, agility, fury cutter, quick attack, slash, swords dance, protect, stone axe, ancient power, hyper beam, and rock throw.

· Milotic (Nickname; Kisame)- Female. Water type.

Moves; Brine, ice beam, hydro pump, dragon breath, dragon pulse, water gun, protect, recover, hyper beam, iron tail, and bubble beam.

· Charizard (Nickname; Igneel)- Male. Fire-type.

Moves; Ember, dragon breath, scratch, bite, growl, metal claw, flame thrower, protect, sunny day, solar beam, hyper beam, and dragon rush.

· Pupitar (Nickname; Kenpachi)- Male. Rock/Ground type.

Moves; Tackle, rock throw, bite, crunch, leer, hyper beam and protect.

· Gardevoir (Nickname; Ino)- Female. Psychic/Fairy type.

Moves; Teleport, psybeam, psychic, confusion, hypnosis, dazzling gleam, moon blast, and recover.

Trevenant (Nickname; Hashirama)- Male. Ghost/Grass type.

Moves; Sunny day, solar beam, protect, hyper beam, wood hammer, shadow claw, and destiny bond.