2 Chapter 2

Five years after the battle with Bill's Charizard, Tommy and Alfie were finally eligible to begin their journey. They challenged the big lizard every single day and only managed to defeat the pokemon very few times.

Meanwhile, the egg that Bill had gifted to Tommy hatched shortly after the battle. Turned out, it was an egg of a Mandibuzz, a dark and flying type pokemon from Unova region.

It was a Rufflet that hatched from the egg and boy was it a handful. He was always picking fights with Alfie and because of this, he improved a lot.

Tommy decided not to choose a starter pokemon as he already had two pokemons with him. He was excited on the day he was going to leave. Alfie, Rufflet and him were running around all over the house as they packed their stuff to hit the road.

The day Bill visited Pallet town, Tommy challenged him to a battle.

As they faced each other, Bill asked, "Are you sure you want to battle against me? It'll be completely different from battling my Charizard on his own."

Tommy replied, "You bet! Alfie and I have trained hard to get stronger. Rufflet hasn't slacked off at all. We wanna know how we'd stand against a veteran."

Bill nodded and said, "Alright! I won't go easy on you even if you're my son."

"I'll be mad if you held back!"

Bill pulled a pokeball from his belt and said, "Let's show this brat what he's up against. Mandibuzz, I choose you!"

Tommy narrowed his eyes and thought, 'A Mandibuzz.. Chould she be Rufflet's mother?'

"Let's go, Rufflet!"

The little bird chirped with enthusiasm and glared at Mandibuzz, ready to fight despite the fact that he was clearly underpowered.

Bill whistled and said, "That's a brave one. Or foolish. There's a fine line between those two, Tommy."

'Yeah.. I know that. Still, I want to see how strong he is.'

Without saying anything further, the two began the battle.

Tommy commanded, "Use agility."

"Mandibuzz, pluck that little chick."

The vulture pokemon screeched and attacked Rufflet.

"Dodge and use agility again."

Rufflet dodged easily and once again used agility.

Bill quirked his eyebrow and said, "I don't know what you're planning. But, if it's a battle of speed, we can have that too. Mandibuzz, tailwind. Then use brave bird and finish this battle."

'Brave bird?!'

"Rufflet, use aerial ace to dodge! Do not get hit by that move!"

The little bird was annoyed by the tactic. It was against his pride to run away. But, he trusted Tommy and complied.

Rufflet easily managed to dodge Mandibuzz. Then, Tommy commanded, "Get behind her and use crush claw."

The bird was too fast for Mandibuzz but Bill was far too experienced.

"Mandibuzz, use dark pulse all around you!"

The vulture pokemon complied and with a mighty screech, emitted a powerful dark pulse all around her. Rufflet had no time to dodge and was hit point blank with the move.

"Rufflet!" Tommy cried out in worry.

Bill shook his head and said, "While speed is good, but, you should remember that it can easily be used against you."

Tommy ignored Bill as his entire focus was on the status of Rufflet.

"Can you continue, Rufflet?"

The bird struggled to get up from the ground but when he laid his eyes om the Mandibuzz flying high up in the sky, he was reinvigorated and chirped loudly to indicate that he could still fight.

Tommy nodded and commanded, "Use scary face and then leer."

"Mandibuzz, knock that bird out with brave bird."

As the scary face and leer took effect, Tommy commanded, "Dodge and then use hone claws."

"Keep attacking, Mandibuzz!"

"Dodge and use agility again, Rifflet."

Bill understood what Tommy's next move was going to be. He commamded, "Mandibuzz, stop attacking and use Iron defense!"

"Quick! Use aerial ace, Rufflet!"

As the Mandibuzz was about to use iron defense, Rufflet struck the vulture pokemon right into her keel lile a laser. Despite the small size of the pokemon, Rufflet's attack hit with enough momentum to send the Mandibuzz crashing to the ground.

When Tommy looked at Bill, he frowned when he saw no signs of worry on his father's face.

'He's a ranger. It's not possible for him to disregard the health of his pokemon. Unless..'

Eyes wide in realization, Tommy shouted, "Rufflet! Keep using aerial ace!"

Bill raised an eyebrow, smiled and said, "Amazing.. You realized what Mandibuzz can do. Come on girl, use roost."

Despite being hit with another aerial ace, the Mandibuzz didn't flinch and restored her health.

"Now Mandibuzz, finish the battle with rock tomb."

"Rufflet! use aerial ace to avoid the rocks!"

Bill clicked his tongue in frustration.

'That speed boost is a pain in the ass.'

"Mandibuzz, tailwind then use foul play!"

Rufflet continued to dodge but signs of exhaustion were clear. It was only a matter of time before he lost.

Tommy clenched his jaw and commanded, "Rufflet, I know you are exhausted but stopping the battle will be against your pride. So, let's end this battle with a bang."

His statement recieved a loud appoval from Rufflet.

Smirking, Tommy commanded, "Let's show that vulture what you can do when you're really angry. Now! Use thrash!"

Bill panicked and quickly commanded, "Iron defense!"

Like a dam breaking, Rufflet unleashed his aggression upon Mandibuzz, hitting her with claws, beak and feathers. The vulture pokemon couldn't even react to the bombardment of attacks.

"Mandibuzz, use dark pulse and create distance!"

"Don't let her rest, Rufflet!"

As the pokemon obeyed the command, Bill said, "End it with a bang, huh? Well said. Mandibuzz, use Giga Impact."

By that time, Rufflet's rampage was over and he was confused.

"Rufflet! Use aerial ace and get away!"

But, the pokemon ignored Tommy's command and was hit by the giga impact.

It was over.

Before the little bird could crash onto the ground, Tommy recalled him back to his pokeball.

"You are a tough son of a gun, Rufflet."

After that intense battle with Mandibuzz, Rufflet began training even harder. Alfie too intensified his training as he didn't want to be left behind.

Bill stayed for a month and gave Tommy some pointers. He even gave the boy a set of evolution stones as they were hard to come by. Privileges of having a decently rich father.

Meanwhile, Ash and Gary were also starting their journey. Thomas was acquainted with them especially due to his work with Oak. But, he wasn't a fan of either of the two. One was a dumbass while the other was so arrogant that Tommy wanted to drive the pole already up the boy's ass further up just to make him shut up.

He didn't wait for them to choose their pokemons. Instead, he began his journey as soon as the sun rose up.

With Alfie and Rufflet by his side, he wasn't worried at all about the encountering hostile pokemons. The Growlithe was strong enough to fight a fully grown and experienced Charizard, just a bunch of Spearows were no more than little children throwing a tantrum. Meanwhile, Rufflet flew high up in the sky, enjoying the breeze while keeping an eye on Tommy and Alfie.

They didn't encounter the flock which disappointed Alfie a little. It was that very flock which had attack him ten years ago. He was over it but he would have loved to get some form of retribution.

Around noon, they had reached Viridian city and were resting at the pokemon center. Tommy knew that his pokemon didn't like being inside a pokeball. So, he chose to respect their wishes.

When they had arrived at Viridian city, they were stopped by Officer Jenny to check their trainer I.D. as Team Rocket was stealing pokemons from trainers. While that wasn't all that interesting, Tommy did want to meet the talking Meowth. If he had a talking pokemon in his team then his travel would become a lot easier.

Thus, it was decided that he would wait for them to show up and try to capture the Meowth.

As the sun went down, an extremely worried Ash rushed into the pokecenter with a heavily injured pikachu in his arms. Meanwhile, Tommy was busy smiling at his pokemons who were busy playing with a ball. He had already registered in the league and was simply lazing around.

Moments after Ash ran in, a girl around Tommy's age, who was deduced to be none other than Misty, given her clothes and hair, made Tommy look away from his pokemon.

The cute little kid had grown up and had filled out her clothes quite nicely.

'Girls mature so fast..'

With the heat rising in his body, Tommy pulled out a water bottle from his bag and emptied it down his stomach. Meanwhile, his presence was noted by Ash who then approached Tommy.

"Hey, I thought you'd have left Viridian city by now."

Tommy looked at Ash and said, "We're just taking it slow. There's no need to rush. What happened to that Pikachu?"

Ash replied, worry and regret filling his voice, "He's my starter pokemon. He wasn't listening to me so I tried to catch a Spearow by myself."

"Enough! I can guess what happened next."

Ash sighed in despair.

Tommy continued, "Ash, you've been learning about pokemons ever since you stopped wearing diapers.. That was eleven years ago."

A "Pfft.." escaped from Misty's mouth who was standing behind Ash and listening to the conversation.

Tommy continued, "How could you be so dumb that you thought you could catch a pokemon by throwing a rock at it?"

Ash had nothing to say. He simply clenched his jaw and seethed in anger at his incompetence.

Soon, the moon was up and Ash's pikachu was out of danger. Tommy vividly remembered watching this episode. A smirk made its way to his face as he decided what his next pokemon would be.

Right then, a smoke bomb exploded in the pokecenter and the three idiots began their introduction. Tommy was so used to hearing it that he tuned them out and asked his pokemons to be ready for battle.

"Alfie, use ember!"

They barely dodged the attck.

The trio yelled at Tommy, "Hey! it's rude to interrupt others!"

Tommy scoffed and said, "Like I care."

"Now Alfie, trap the humans in fire spin and use flame charge on the meowth."

"What?! Kyaaa!!!"

Alfie's attack was so strong that Meowth was sent into the wall of the pokemon center. Tommy winced a little at that.

He immediately threw a pokeball at the fainted Meowth.. only for the capture to fail.

"Huh.. guess he's already been captured. What a waste."

By that time, the fire spin had subsided and the team resumed their attack. It was a lot easier for Ash and Misty with Tommy being there to help. In the end, the two team rocket goons and their pokemons were blasted off into the sky.. along with the Meowth.

'There goes my translator... I better catch a psychic type pokemon if I want to have proper understanding of my pokemons.'

Tommy decided not to travel with Ash. The boy couldn't navigate through a forest even if his life depended on it. Also, with Misty around, Tommy doubted he could remain level headed. Puberty was literally a curse.

The next day, Tommy and Alfie began their journey bright and early.

"You've remembered Pikachu's smell?"

Alfie barked in response.

"Good.. because that's what we will be catching next. Pikachu are incredibly fast pokemon. After they learn all the speed type moves and evolve, the resulting Raichu will be stupidly strong. Smell a strong one out that's quite young."

Tommy brought Rufflet out of his pokeball as Alfie went ahead to scout for a Pikachu.

He lovingly scrached the little bird's head and said, "You've grown a lot ever since you faught against dad's Mandibuzz. Do you think you're ready to learn some tougher moves?"

"Ruff!"

"Alright! Our first gym will be at Pewter city. The gym leader there uses rock type pokemons. I want to let you experience fighting against pokemons who have type advantage against you. So, to make it even, you will learn steel wing."

That's when they saw a pokemon stumble out of a shrub.

"A male Nidoran!"

The little pokemon immediately turned towards them and became alert and guarded.

"Let's get this one! Go, Rufflet!"

"Rufflet!"

'It's possible that he has poison point ability. I'd better use ranged attacks.'

"Use air slash!"

"Ruff!"

The attack pierced through the wind at binding speeds. But, much to Tommy's surprise, the Nidoran managed to dodge the attack.

"Nido!"

The pokemon retaliated with a horn attack.

"Dodge it and use swift!"

An attack that was sure to land. Suffice to say that the Nidoran took a direct hit.

Wasting no time, Tommy threw a pokeball and waited as the Nidoran struggled to get out. After two wobbles, the pokeball stopped shaking.

"Yes! We caught a Nidoran!"

"Ruff, Rufflet!!"

Tommy took out his pokedex and viewed the information about his new pokemon.

[Nidoran: Poison pin pokemon

Gender: Male

Type: Poison

Nidoran has developed muscles for moving his ears. Thanks to them, the ears can be moved in any direction. Even the slightest sound does not escape this pokemon.

Moves:

Poison sting

Peck

Horn attack

Double kick

Focus energy

Egg move: Sucker punch

Ability: Poison point]

'I was right. He has poison point ability. Wai.. Wait a minute!! Sucker punch?! What kind of parents does he have?!'

Just as I put the pokeball on my belt, I heard Alfie use 'Roar'.

"Huh.. That was fast. Come on, Rufflet! We have a pokemon to catch!"