Pokémon Version Orange

[MarcusDeGabriel]

I needed to look for Mew.

Click to shrink...

Eurgh, i've just never liked Goh ever since i first learnt of him and his "goal", even having him appear in fics just makes him more annoying.

 

[iceknight90]

I'm really enjoying this.

I wonder what Travis' future adventures are like, as he tries (presumably futilely) to escape the misadventure orbit that Ash exudes.

 

[IcurasFallen]

Pokémon Version Orange

Arc 2 - The Summer


Chapter 16
​

---

For several seconds after the roar, nobody moved.

The Nidoking stood partially concealed beneath the trees, enormous shoulders rising and falling with every breath as its furious red eyes remained fixed on the four children who had wandered into its territory. Moonlight barely penetrated the canopy above, leaving most of its body swallowed by darkness outside the thin flashlight beams pointed shakily in its direction.

Then it took a step forward.

In reality, the movement was slow. One massive foot lifted before coming down against the forest floor with a heavy crunch, followed several seconds later by another.

To the four nine-year-olds standing in front of it, it might as well have been an avalanche.

Serena stumbled backward first, nearly colliding with Chloe as both girls instinctively crowded closer together. Chloe herself had gone pale, one hand locking around Serena's arm while the other clutched her flashlight tightly enough for her knuckles to turn white. Yamper was trembling just as badly, but the little Electric-type still planted himself firmly in front of both girls. Its legs were spread, and ears flattened against his head as a weak crackle of electricity sparked across his body in an astonishing display of courage from something that was smaller than the Nidoking's foot.

Goh wasn't doing much better. His flashlight shook badly enough that the beam bounced from the Nidoking to the ground and back again, while every breath came faster and shallower than the last. He looked seconds away from hyperventilating outright.

Ash, meanwhile, did what Ash apparently always did when presented with something vastly outside his weight class.

Whether from courage or sheer foolhardiness, his shaking hand dropped toward Poliwag's Poké Ball.

The Nidoking stepped closer…then paused as a sharp whistle cut through the air.

A small glass bottle spun end over end through the darkness before smashing against an exposed root several feet in front of Nidoking. Glass scattered across the earth, followed almost immediately by a sharp burst of acrid scent that spread through the clearing.

Nidoking blinked as its nostrils flared, and its entire face twisted into something resembling revulsion.

"GRAAAAGH!"

The roar turned ragged as the massive Pokémon recoiled and threw one clawed hand over its snout. It shook its head violently, taking an awkward step backward as it tried to escape whatever had just assaulted its sense of smell.

Even half a clearing away, Yamper began whining. The poor dog's bravery evaporated as he sneezed hard enough to stumble sideways, pawing frantically at his nose while Chloe stared between him and the shattered bottle in confusion.

"What the...?"

"MOVE!"

Four heads snapped toward the treeline.

I crashed through the brush before any of them could process my arrival, while Pichu clung to my shoulder with his fur puffed out in every direction and an expression that was some strange mixture of serious and panic.

I didn't give anyone time to ask questions as one arm hooked around Chloe while my other caught Serena, and I immediately started dragging both of them back the way I'd come. "Goh! Ash! Come on!"

"Travis?!" Goh sputtered.

"What are you doing here?!" Ash asked in shock.

"Saving your asses! Move!"

Chloe recovered first and grabbed Serena properly as I released them, allowing me to turn back toward the other two idiots. Goh was already stumbling after us, but Ash remained frozen for another second as he stared toward the still-stumbling Nidoking.

I grabbed his shirt. "Now, Ketchum!"

That finally got him moving.

For several precious seconds, it actually looked like my improvised plan might work. The Max Repel had bought exactly what I'd hoped for: enough time for us to put some distance between ourselves and the very pissed-off Poison-type.

Then a furious roar tore through the forest behind us.

Every one of us jerked around.

Nidoking stood at the edge of the trees we'd just escaped from, one hand still rubbing furiously across its snout. Whatever discomfort remained from the Repel clearly hadn't overridden its anger, because those red eyes locked directly onto us before one massive foot slammed into the ground.

A thick wave of poisonous liquid rolled across the clearing, swallowing grass and underbrush beneath a bubbling mass that surged directly toward us.

I could only click my tongue. I'd really hoped we could do this without a fight.

I stepped forward.

"Travis?!" Chloe's voice jumped an octave as the sludge rapidly closed the distance.

"What are you doing?!" Goh yelled.

Ignoring them, my hand dropped to my belt and closed around the second Poké Ball clipped beside Pichu's. My partner tightened his grip on my shoulder as I pulled it free, and I couldn't help the small smile that spread across my face.

"Round Table Protection, Sandy!"

White light exploded across the clearing before crashing into the ground in front of us, and the moment Sandy took shape, his entire body collapsed outward.

Sand surged in every direction.

Serena yelped as a thick tendril wrapped around her waist, only for another to catch Chloe beside her. Goh and Ash received the same treatment before any of them could react, and even I felt sand curl around my ankles as Sandy dragged all five of us into one tight cluster behind him.

The rest of his body rose into broad walls of sand that folded around us from every angle as pale green energy flashed across their surface. The glow curved overhead at the exact moment the Sludge Wave struck.

Serena screamed while Ash threw both arms over his head. Goh and Chloe clutched at each other as the barrier flashed violently beneath the impact, but it held. Not a single drop made it through.

The wave split around us instead, rushing past either side of Sandy's barrier before gradually losing momentum among the surrounding trees. For several seconds, nobody said anything as poisonous sludge dripped down the outside of the glowing shield, until Ash finally lowered his arms.

"Who's that Pokémon?!"

I laughed.

Four startled faces turned toward me. Even Pichu leaned away from my neck to stare.

I couldn't help it.

Maybe it was the lack of sleep. Maybe it was the adrenaline still buzzing through my veins, or the fact that after several days of camp activities designed for inexperienced children, I was finally standing across from something that could actually be called a challenge.

Whatever the reason, the fear I'd felt while watching those four idiots stand frozen in front of Nidoking had burned away the moment Sandy appeared.

And something considerably more familiar was taking its place.

My grin widened as the Protect barrier faded.

"Well then, guess we've got ourselves a Challenge!"

Sandy's face shifted around to give me a flat look.

I pouted. "What?"

His expression didn't change.

"Oh, come on. This isn't just me wanting a fight." I pointed toward Nidoking. "I hit him in the face with a Max Repel, and he still came after us. You really think he's going to let us turn around and walk away now?"

That finally earned a reaction.

Sandy's eyes shifted back toward the Poison-type.

The Nidoking looked nearly rabid as it scraped one heavy foot through the dirt, shoulders lowering as another growl rolled from its chest.

The humor left me.

"We need everyone out of here safely, bud." I gave Sandy's body a quick pat. "Looks like that means putting him down first."

The Palossand considered Nidoking for another moment before releasing a low, ghostly hum.

Agreement.

The protective walls surrounding us collapsed into flowing streams that rushed back toward Sandy, piling higher and higher as his broad, castle-like body rebuilt itself. Towers rose from the shifting mass, stubby arms formed at either side, and the red shovel atop his head tilted slightly as his proper shape settled into place.

Nidoking watched the transformation for only a moment before attacking.

One massive foot slammed down, and the forest floor erupted with golden light.

"Earth Power!" Goh shouted in recognition.

Cracking golden energy raced through the dirt toward us, glowing brighter by the second as buried energy tore beneath the ground.

I didn't even flinch.

"Cancel it out with a Bulldoze!"

Sandy slapped the ground.

A broad ripple of earth exploded outward from beneath him, not with the wild violence of Nidoking's attack, but with enough controlled force to make the entire clearing in front of us buck.

The two Ground-type attacks collided halfway between them.

For half a heartbeat, glowing fractures spread chaotically through the earth.

Then Nidoking's Earth Power broke apart beneath Sandy's advancing wave, golden light flickering out as the Bulldoze rolled straight through it and continued forward without slowing.

Nidoking's eyes had only a moment to widen before the massive Poison-type was ripped from the ground and thrown backward. It flew through the air before crashing shoulder-first through a cluster of bushes, then slammed into a tree hard enough to shower the clearing with splintered wood.

Behind me, nobody said anything.

My smile grew as Nidoking pulled itself back to its feet.

Its eyes locked onto Sandy before roaring loud enough to shake the very air. It charged.

Each step shook dirt loose beneath its feet as it barreled across the clearing, one fist drawing backward while harsh brown light gathered around the clenched claws.

"Sandy."

The Palossand hummed.

"Take it."

"What?!" Someone shouted behind me.

Nidoking's fist slammed into Sandy, and the impact blasted sand outward in every direction.

Serena cried out, Chloe threw an arm over her face, and even Ash recoiled as a good portion of Sandy's torso seemed to explode beneath the force of the punch.

Then Nidoking tried to pull its arm back and remained locked in place.

Its eyes widened as it looked down to find sand wrapped from its fist all the way to its elbow, flowing around every scale and locking into place as the rest of Palossand's body slowly reformed around it.

Nidoking pulled harder, and Sandy barely moved an inch.

I chuckled. "Giga Drain, Sandy."

Dark green light flashed inside the sand.

Nidoking screamed.

Thin tendrils of Grass-type energy crawled up its trapped arm before spreading across its torso, glowing brighter as energy poured backward into Sandy. The damage from Nidoking's punch disappeared almost as quickly as it had been inflicted, loose sand lifting from the ground and flowing back into the holes torn through his body.

Nidoking snarled and swung its free fist in a haymaker against Sandy's side. More sand scattered, only for another pulse of green light to race through Nidoking as the damage immediately began repairing itself. It struck again, then again, and Sandy tanked every blow without flinching.

I shook my head. "Don't bother."

Nidoking's furious eyes snapped toward me.

"You wanted this fight." I folded my arms. "Sandy, drain him dry."

The Palossand's eyes brightened.

Nidoking's roar turned into a strangled bellow as multiple streams of energy poured from its body at once. It slammed its free arm downward, clawed at Sandy's sand, kicked hard enough to tear chunks from his lower body, and even tried wrenching itself free with enough force to crater the ground beneath them. Yet nothing it did worked.

Every bit of damage Sandy took gave him more room to shift. Every piece torn away simply rejoined somewhere else. And every pulse of Giga Drain restored whatever little damage Nidoking actually managed to inflict.

The struggle lasted less than thirty seconds.

By the time Sandy finally released its arm, Nidoking barely had the strength to remain standing.

My own pulse was finally beginning to settle. I let out a slow breath and forced my shoulders to relax.

"Alright, Sandy. That's enough."

The Palossand gave a quiet hum.

"Let's make sure he stays down until everyone gets clear." I lifted one hand and pointed. "Hypnosis."

Sandy's eyes glowed.

The change was subtle at first, a faint pulse of psychic light spreading from beneath the shadowed rim of his sandy towers. Nidoking stiffened and tried to look away, but after everything Giga Drain had taken out of it, there wasn't much resistance left.

Its eyelids drooped, and the mighty Nidoking released one last exhausted rumble before toppling sideways into the grass with an impact that shook the clearing.

Silence finally settled.

I let out the breath I'd been holding and scratched Pichu beneath the chin as he finally loosened his death grip on my shoulder. "Well." I turned toward the four children staring at me. "Anybody else want to break curfew tonight?"

Silence followed for a moment, the others seemingly incapable of speaking.

I opened my mouth to continue—

"I would rather like to know the answer to that myself."

Every single one of us froze as a familiar voice drifted out of the darkness behind us.

Very slowly, we turned around.

Professor Oak stood near the edge of the clearing in a pair of slippers and old-fashioned button-up pajamas, his normally neat hair sticking out at several decidedly unprofessional angles. Beside him stood Amber, arms folded tightly across her chest as she stared at the collection of children she was presumably supposed to have safely asleep back at camp.

Nobody spoke.

Professor Oak's eyes traveled from Ash to Goh, then Chloe and Serena, before finally settling on me.

I swallowed.

Suddenly, the Nidoking seemed considerably less terrifying.

---

Professor Oak's laboratory was incredible.

For the first time since arriving at camp, we were actually inside the famous laboratory rather than wandering around the enormous property surrounding it. Computers and diagnostic equipment occupied entire sections of the room, shelves were packed with books and research journals, and several glass doors offered tempting glimpses into adjoining areas filled with even more equipment I desperately wanted to investigate.

Under practically any other circumstances, getting dragged in here after midnight would have been a dream come true.

Unfortunately, properly appreciating any of it was somewhat difficult with an angrily concerned Regional Pokémon Professor lecturing us.

"What were you thinking?!"

Professor Oak was still dressed exactly as he'd been when he found us. Button-up pajamas, slippers, disheveled hair, and an expression that made the five of us feel considerably smaller than we already were.

"You were told repeatedly that the forest was off-limits after lights-out," he continued, pacing in front of us. "Those rules are not there because we enjoy keeping you confined to camp. Visibility is poor at night, many wild Pokémon become more territorial, and most of you do not know the property well enough to recognize when you've wandered somewhere dangerous!"

Goh shrank slightly beside me.

Professor Oak's eyes immediately found him. "You and Ash were the first to leave camp. Would either of you care to explain what possessed you to wander into the forest after midnight?"

Goh hesitated before muttering, "I just wanted to look around."

The Professor raised an unimpressed brow. "At midnight?"

"I wasn't planning to go that far!"

"You went far enough to enter a Nidoking's territory."

That shut him up.

Ash rubbed awkwardly at the back of his head. "I only went because I saw Goh leaving?"

Professor Oak slowly turned toward him. "Which means you should have alerted a counselor, not gone with him into the forest!"

Ash puffed himself up. "I wanted to know what he was doing!"

"That is not a valid reason, Ashton Red Ketchum, and I know you are smart enough to know that."

Ash winced at the use of his full name and went silent.

"And then," Oak continued, looking toward an apologetic-looking Chloe and Serena, "rather than alerting an adult yourselves, you two followed them."

Chloe immediately frowned toward Goh. "Because I knew they were doing something stupid."

"Hey!"

"You walked into a Nidoking's territory!"

"I didn't know it was there!"

"And that," Professor Oak cut in before the argument could gather momentum, "is precisely the reason why we don't want you kids wandering around at night."

Both of them went quiet.

Serena shifted nervously beside Chloe, her answer coming out more like a question. "I only went because Chloe was going alone, so I thought it would be safer if we went together?"

Professor Oak's expression softened slightly. "Wanting to make sure your friend was safe was kind of you, Serena; however, just like Ash, following her into the woods without getting help was not."

Serena looked down with a whispered, "Sorry."

Chloe sighed. "We thought we could catch them and bring them back before anything happened."

Professor Oak raised a hand to rub his temples. "And instead, all four of you ended up within striking distance of a territorial Nidoking."

Nobody had an answer for that.

Then Professor Oak looked at me. "And you, Travis."

I straightened. "Professor."

"You saw them leave."

"Yes."

"You knew they were breaking curfew."

"Yes, sir."

"You even had enough presence of mind to retrieve your mother's Palossand and bring a Max Repel before following them."

I could already tell where this was going. "That's correct."

Professor Oak folded his arms. "Yet somehow, during all of that preparation, it never occurred to you to alert one of the counselors."

I had to fight down a frown. "I didn't want to lose track of them."

"That is not a good reason, and we both know it."

Professor Oak gestured toward the direction of the campsite. "You should have awoken everyone if you had to. I would much rather deal with an entire camp full of tired children than discover five of them missing come morning."

That was… unfortunately fair.

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Okay, that's a good point."

"It is a very good point." The Professor shook his head with a sigh. "You are considerably more experienced than most children your age, Travis, which means I expect you to recognize when experience is not a substitute for proper authority."

I didn't bother hiding my wince. Back home, I was used to being one of the people everyone expected to handle problems. Unfortunately, I'd let that habit override the rather important fact that, at camp, I was supposed to go get an adult.

"And while I understand why you battled Nidoking once it pursued you and attacked, you should never have been forced to make that decision alone in the first place."

"I did try getting everyone away before fighting," I at least attempted to argue.

He pursed his lips. "I am aware."

Amber, leaning against one of the nearby counters, took that moment to speak up. "It was pretty impressive."

Professor Oak slowly looked at her.

She raised her hands in mock surrender. "I'm not saying it wasn't stupid, but you have to admit that he did pretty well with what he had."

He simply grunted at the point before turning back to us. Some of the anger had finally faded from his face, leaving the worry beneath it much easier to see.

"Do all of you at least understand why I am upset?"

"Yes, Professor," we chorused instantly like the not-munchkins we were.

Professor Oak studied us for several seconds. Then he shrugged.

"Well, okay then. "

We stared at him. He stared back with a smile.

Ash was the first to break. "That's it?!"

Oak chuckled. "Yes, Ash. That's it."

"But you were really mad!"

"Believe me, I still am."

Ash blinked.

Professor Oak's smile widened slightly. "This camp exists to prepare you for the situations you'll eventually encounter as Trainers. Sometimes lessons come from instruction. Sometimes they come from practice. And sometimes they come from making a mistake frightening enough that nobody involved is likely to repeat it."

That was fair. Harsh, but fair.

"Encountering dangerous wild Pokemon is simply part of the Journey," he continued. "Despite every precaution we take, we usually have at least one or two serious encounters somewhere on the property each year. That is precisely why we spend so much time teaching you how to recognize danger and when to seek help."

I glanced along our little lineup.

Goh's shoulders finally loosened. Serena released the breath she had no doubt been holding in, while Chloe looked openly relieved.

Even I could admit that I felt a sliver of tension fade. I had honestly expected some kind of—

"Of course," Professor Oak added pleasantly, "learning your lesson doesn't mean you're avoiding punishment."

The relief vanished.

Our faces fell. "Punishment?"

Professor Oak chuckled. "Oh yes, you did break several camp rules after all." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I suppose I could remove all five of you from the tournament at the end of camp."

"NO!"

Ash's horrified shout echoed through the Lab.

I can admit I also went a little rigid at his words. That tournament had been just about the only thing I had been looking forward to since arriving at camp!

His lips twitched before he continued. "Perhaps something less severe, then. One of the Tauros stables is overdue for a proper cleaning."

Both girls immediately looked appalled.

Goh frowned. "How many Tauros?"

"Oh, just a few dozen."

His expression joined theirs.

Professor Oak chuckled before turning toward Amber. "You'll be supervising them for the rest of camp. Any ideas?"

Amber blinked, looked over the five of us thoughtfully.

Her smile slowly widened.

"Actually," she said, sweetness almost dripping from her voice, "I think I've got an idea."

---

"Pancakes or waffles?"

The boy didn't immediately answer. Presumably because he was too busy snickering as he stared at the white hairnet stretched across my head.

I narrowed my eyes. "Choose."

"P-Pancakes."

I slapped two onto his plate, and he barely managed a "Thank you" before hurrying away with a laugh.

"I hope you drop your syrup," I muttered after him.

"Travis," Amber warned from farther down the serving line.

"I didn't say I hoped he got hurt."

"That doesn't make it better."

I grumbled something considerably less charitable under my breath and reached for the next plate.

This was our punishment.

Not getting kicked out of camp. Not losing our chance to compete in the tournament. Not even spending several deeply unpleasant hours discovering exactly how much waste fifty Tauros could produce.

No, Amber had apparently decided on something far more insidious.

For the remainder of camp, the five of us would help prepare, serve, and clean up after every single meal. Normally, the counselors and camp staff handled most of that work unless it had been turned into a lesson about cooking, campsite etiquette, or properly feeding Pokémon. They also spent roughly an hour after each meal cleaning everything while the campers were released to enjoy those precious stretches of free time between scheduled activities.

We no longer possessed such luxuries.

If everyone finished breakfast and had forty minutes before the morning lesson, we spent those forty minutes scrubbing pans. If lunch ended early enough for everyone else to wander around camp, we were wiping tables, putting away supplies, and dealing with whatever culinary crime twenty children had somehow committed with access to condiments.

The work itself wasn't even particularly difficult. I'd done more complicated kitchen prep back at the Grand, and anyone who spent enough time around a hotel understood that cleaning up after other people came with the territory.

The uniform, however, had been completely unnecessary.

Amber disagreed. The fact that said disagreement came with a series of snickers had me seriously reconsidering whether I should finally let Pichu indulge his gremlin instincts and shock someone.

And now, all five of us stood in the breakfast line with hairnets and aprons. Chloe's was covered in cheerful little Sunflora, while Serena had received one patterned with Dunsparce and bows, which she had actually seemed to think was cute until realizing that enjoying the punishment probably violated some unspoken social rule. Goh's had, rather ironically, cartoon Caterpies crawling across it, while Ash's proudly declared KISS THE COOK! beneath an enormous smiling Magikarp.

Mine was covered in Luvdisc. And hearts. So many hearts.

"Next!"

Another camper approached, visibly fighting a smile.

I glared hard enough that I could swear I felt a vein throbbing on my forehead.

He immediately looked down at his plate.

Smart kid.

By the time the last camper wandered away with breakfast, I had served enough food to feed a Snorlax. Unfortunately, breakfast ending only meant we'd reached the second half of our punishment.

Amber appeared from behind the preparation tables carrying a plastic tub filled with cleaning supplies, looking entirely too cheerful for someone awake this early. "Alright, troublemakers! Breakfast service complete!"

Ash immediately sagged against the table. "Finally!"

Amber dropped the tub directly in front of him. "Now we clean!"

The whine Ash released wouldn't have sounded out of place coming from a Growlithe puppy.

Goh stared at the cleaning supplies. "We already helped make everything. And serve everything. Now we have to clean everything too?!"

"Yep!" She even popped the 'p'.

Goh's face twisted into something unpleasant.

Within several minutes, breakfast had been transformed into an organized cleanup operation. Chloe and Serena wiped down the tables and benches while Yamper followed behind them, occasionally sniffing anything that smelled vaguely edible. Ash and Goh had been assigned the stack of trays and serving utensils, while I found myself at the washing station dealing with the larger cookware.

Pichu sat comfortably on an overturned crate beside me. He wasn't being punished, and the smug little bastard was milking it.

I scrubbed at a pan while he happily worked through the last piece of breakfast I'd saved for him, tiny feet kicking against the side of the crate. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Pi Chua Chu." I hear that smug undertone, you little shit.

"I'm going to double this evening's training."

Pichu immediately started choking on his breakfast.

Behind me, something clattered.

"Goh!"

"I didn't do anything!"

"You dropped it!"

"Ash bumped me!"

"You were standing in the way!"

"I was putting it away!"

"You were putting it in the wrong place!"

Chloe pointedly glanced toward me from the tables and gave a helpless little shrug, so apparently this had become my problem.

I planted both hands against the edge of the washing station. "ASH! GOH!"

Both boys jumped, along with several nearby campers who had apparently decided free breakfast entertainment was included with the meal.

I pointed toward the remaining mountain of dishes. "The faster we finish, the faster we get whatever's left of our free time."

Goh frowned. "But he keeps getting in the way!"

Ash immediately pointed at him. "You're the one who keeps stopping to complain!"

"And you're both currently doing nothing," I pointed out. "Work first. Argue later!"

Ash and Goh exchanged annoyed looks before returning to the dishes with considerably more effort than before.

Amber shot me a thumbs-up that I pointedly ignored.

Breakfast cleanup still took the better part of an hour. By the time everything was packed away and cleaned until it practically sparkled, the rest of the Pikachu Group had already moved on to make the most of their break.

Amber inspected our work with her hands planted on her hips while the five of us watched her expectantly. She checked one table, then another, ran a finger along the edge of the serving station in a completely unnecessary manner, and examined the completely clean fingertip while Ash visibly struggled not to complain about how long she was taking.

Finally, she turned to us with a smile. "Looks good! You've got about fifteen minutes before the morning activity."

Ash groaned while Goh immediately dropped onto the nearest bench. Serena sat beside him, and Chloe removed her hairnet with enough force to suggest she'd developed deeply personal feelings about the thing.

I pulled mine off considerably more carefully before ripping the apron away with significantly less restraint. Hearts were not my look.

Amber passed behind me. "Make sure you keep track of that, Travis. You'll need it again for lunch~."

She would be lucky if I didn't set it on fire.

"Hold still, Poliwag!"

I glanced over just in time to see Ash tugging a considerably larger hairnet from around Poliwag's upper body.

The Water-type had decided sometime during breakfast that being the only member of our little group without one was unacceptable. Amber, because she was Amber, had immediately found an extra and helped him into it.

Poliwag had spent the rest of the morning proudly assisting us.

And by assisting, I meant knocking over a stack of cups, splashing dishwater across half the washing station, somehow getting syrup on Goh's back, and nearly sending an entire tray of clean plates crashing to the ground.

Thankfully, we'd established early on that anything Poliwag messed up became Ash's responsibility to fix.

The strained smile Ash had given his partner while cleaning syrup from the walls of one of the nearby tents had been the sole highlight of my morning.

"There!" Ash finally freed him, causing Poliwag to bounce happily in place. "You did great!"

We stared at him.

Ash's smile didn't budge.

"Poli!"

"Don't encourage him," Goh muttered from where he'd collapsed across the bench.

Poliwag puffed himself up indignantly before hopping toward him, which caused Goh to sit upright remarkably quickly.

"Keep him away from me! I already had to change my shirt once!"

Ash laughed and scooped Poliwag up before he could exact whatever happy vengeance he'd been planning. Chloe shook her head from beside Serena, though the smile tugging at her mouth ruined whatever disapproval she was trying to project.

For all the complaining, nobody seemed particularly miserable anymore.

Tired, definitely. Irritated about losing most of our break, absolutely. But somewhere between the ridiculous aprons, Goh and Ash trying to blame each other for dropped dishes, and Poliwag's determined efforts to unintentionally make our punishment worse, the whole thing had stopped feeling quite so awful.

Maybe shared suffering really did build character.

Ash dropped onto the bench beside me with Poliwag settling comfortably in his lap. For several seconds, he said nothing, which, coming from Ash, was enough of a rarity that I immediately glanced toward him.

"Hey, Travis?" There it was.

I sighed. "Yes Ash?"

He hesitated, fingers idly rubbing across Poliwag's head. "How were you able to move?"

That caught me off guard. "Pardon?"

"Last night." His expression tightened slightly. "When Nidoking showed up. We were all just standing there, but you came running out like it was nothing. How'd you do that?"

I blinked at the question. It was far more…serious than I had expected from Ash.

"Practice mostly." I leaned back against the bench, shifting slightly when Pichu climbed into my lap. "I've been working around a Gym for years. You spend enough time watching people battle in person that eventually seeing a giant Pokémon angry enough to flatten a building stops being a big deal."

Ash frowned. "But Nidoking was really angry!"

"So is Momo, Mom's Machamp, whenever somebody touches her food."

Chloe snorted from across from us, while Goh looked vaguely interested despite the fact that he was still slumped against the table.

Ash wasn't laughing.

"I mean it," I continued, realizing he was actually bothered by this. "I've been around dangerous Pokémon for years. I've helped referee Gym battles, trained with Mom's team, and watched Trainers throw attacks around that could probably level the campsite if they missed badly enough. You get used to keeping your head."

"But that's not what I'm asking!"

The sudden frustration in his voice made everyone look toward him.

Ash gripped Poliwag a little tighter, though the Water-type didn't seem bothered. "I want to know how you weren't scared!"

I stared at him for a second before letting out a quiet breath.

"Ash, I was terrified."

He blinked. "What?"

A chuckle escaped me. "Ash, I was scared out of my mind."

That earned his full attention.

I rubbed one hand through Pichu's fur as I thought back to the night before. "I was scared when I saw the four of you standing there with Nidoking stalking toward you. I was scared when the Max Repel didn't send it running like I'd hoped. I was definitely scared when it chased us down and threw a Sludge Wave at five kids."

I paused before adding, "And if we're being completely honest, Professor Oak finding us afterward might've been even scarier."

That finally got a few laughs.

Even Ash smiled, but the confusion didn't leave his face. "Then how'd you still do all that?"

I leaned over enough to meet his eyes. "Because I had something more important to worry about: all of you."

That quieted the others.

I glanced between them before shrugging. "Being afraid of Nidoking wasn't going to make it disappear. Standing there thinking about everything that could go wrong wasn't going to get any of you away from it either. So I focused on what mattered."

"Getting us away," Serena said softly.

"Exactly." I nodded toward her. "Get everyone moving. Put some distance between us and the threat. If that didn't work, I knew I had Sandy to protect everyone. After that, I'd just deal with whatever came next."

Ash looked almost lost at the explanation. "So you just…ignored being scared?"

"Not really." I scratched my cheek. "You can't exactly turn fear off because it's inconvenient. Believe me, I've tried."

Goh raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound healthy."

"Believe me, my psychologist tells me that all the time."

Quite a few eyebrows shot up in surprise.

Ignoring their reactions, I looked back toward Ash. "Don't get me wrong, fear's useful. It tells you when something is dangerous. It keeps you from doing something stupid just because you think it'll make you look brave."

Chloe slowly turned toward Goh.

He noticed immediately. "Why are you looking at me?"

"No reason."

"Then why did you look at me!?"

I ignored them. "The problem is when you let being afraid decide everything for you. Sometimes you've got to move anyway."

Ash was quiet for a moment. "Even if you're really scared?"

"Especially then."

His eyes dropped toward Poliwag, and I had a pretty good idea what he was remembering.

"You reached for Poliwag last night," I pointed out. "You were scared enough that I could see your hand shaking from the trees, but you still tried to do something."

"It wasn't a particularly good something," Ash grumbled.

"No, it wasn't," I agreed, causing Ash to look at me in frustration. Frustration that fell as I continued, "But you still moved. You moved in the face of your fear. At the end of the day, that's the part that matters."

Ash's face scrunched up as he absorbed my words. I swear I could almost see the gears trying to work behind his eyes.

"So…being scared is okay?"

"Of course it is." I leaned over to shake him a little. "Everyone gets scared. You just can't let it control you. Figure out what's more important than the fear, and focus on that instead."

Ash seemed to think about it before glancing toward the others. "For you, that was us?"

"At the moment, yes," I answered easily.

The others smiled, although I found Chloe's softening expression suspicious, while Goh became extremely interested in anything that wasn't the rest of us.

I frowned. "Don't make this weird."

"We're not," Chloe said while smiling and clearly making it weird.

"You're all making faces."

"I'm not making a face," Goh protested.

"You're deliberately not making a face. That's worse."

Ash laughed and bumped his shoulder against mine. "Thanks, Travis."

I huffed before bumping him back. "Just don't make me demonstrate the lesson again tonight."

"No promises!"

"That is literally the opposite of what I just asked!"

Ash just laughed harder.

---

Author's Note:

Sooo, we had the fight. We had an angry Professor Oak (arguably worse), and we had frilly aprons…oh, and some wholesomeness, but the aprons were the big thing there.

More seriously, hope y'all enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see ya next time…

Or, as you probably know at this point, I've got a Patreon up and running! If you want to read 5 chapters ahead or just support me in general, feel free to visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / IcurasFallen

 

[Lillie Jones]

Absolute Cinema
The Journey continues
10/10
Continue on
Cheers!

 

[iceknight90]

I pray to Arceus (Hail the mighty thousand handed llama) that Travis does not adventure with the likes of Ash or Goh in the future.

Because holy shit they would be some stressful idiots to follow around, blundering into one misadventure after the other through stubborn idiocy.

 

[IndraP]

Why Amber not getting punished? Isnt she is the one that suppose to keep an eye out for the kids?

 

[IcurasFallen]

Why Amber not getting punished? Isnt she is the one that suppose to keep an eye out for the kids?

Click to shrink...

Eh, it's kinda different there. The idiot from before outright lost a kid for an hour when said kid was his immediate responsibility. Amber is one of several counselors in this situation, and she is even the one who alerted the Professor in the first place, proving that she had thought to check on them in the first place, when they should have all been asleep, aka the one time the counselors shouldn't have to pay as close attention.

 

[IcurasFallen]

I pray to Arceus (Hail the mighty thousand handed llama) that Travis does not adventure with the likes of Ash or Goh in the future.

Because holy shit they would be some stressful idiots to follow around, blundering into one misadventure after the other through stubborn idiocy.

Click to shrink...

Lol, I've had quite a few people voice this, and I can confidently state that Travis's Journey will be his Journey...whether he himself blunders into a few misadventures however...

 

[Aura_Guardian]

I wouldn't be against Travis showing up to help with some of Ash's bigger adventures or even dealing with the periphery.

Like Mewtwo's storm, I'm sure it might have messed up the Sevii Islamds a bit (depending on where New Island is. Or Lugia's movie. Or even just one of the flavour of the day adventures, maybe one of the MANY times they deal with poachers, absolutely stomping them into the ground

Anyway, thanks for the chapter and I can't wait for more! (Though I am forced to)

 

[IcurasFallen]

Pokémon Version Orange

Arc 2 - The Summer


Chapter 17
​

---

"Keep moving, Pichu! Hold the Charge!"

Pichu darted sideways as another spray of String Shot splattered across the grass where he'd been standing, sparks continuing to dance through his fur as he circled his opponent.

Across the field, Weedle twisted around remarkably quickly for something without legs.

"Weedle, Poison Sting!"

"Wee!"

The little Bug-type surged forward with its horn glowing purple. Its inability to land anything from a distance had finally frustrated both Pokémon and Trainer enough to push for a close-range attack.

And that's what I had been hoping for.

"Left!"

Pichu skipped aside at the last second, letting Weedle shoot past him before immediately spinning around.

My lips twitched. "Thunder Shock!"

"Pichu!"

Electricity erupted from his cheeks.

The stored Charge did its job, amplifying the attack into a bright burst that slammed into Weedle before it could properly turn around. The Bug-type squealed as electricity crawled over its body before it finally toppled onto its side.

The counselor acting as referee leaned forward to stare at the fallen Bug-type for a moment before raising one arm.

"Weedle is unable to battle! The winners of the round are Travis Cashion and Pichu!"

Applause broke out around the small battlefield, joined almost immediately by a considerably louder cheer from somewhere off to my right.

I grinned as Pichu scampered back over, crouching long enough for him to leap up onto my shoulder. "Nice work, buddy."

"Pi!"

Across from us, Weedle's Trainer hurried forward and knelt beside his Pokémon with a worried expression. Thankfully, Weedle was already twitching and trying to push itself upright, which seemed to take some of the sting out of the loss.

The counselor crouched beside them for a moment before smiling. "Don't get discouraged. Remember, this isn't the end of your tournament. You'll move into the second-chance bracket now, so you've still got another opportunity to fight your way back in."

That managed to get a reluctant nod from the boy before he quickly moved off to see to his injured 'mon.

Which was, admittedly, one of the better parts of Professor Oak's tournament setup.

The final day of camp had been dedicated almost entirely to battling, giving everyone a chance to put the last week of lessons into practice while showing their parents what they'd learned. And considering there were nearly a hundred campers scattered across several battlefields, Professor Oak had apparently decided that knocking half of us out after a single match would defeat most of the educational value.

Everybody was guaranteed at least two battles. Lose once, and you dropped into the second-chance bracket. Do well enough there, and you could still work your way back into the later stages of the tournament.

As someone who had helped organize dozens of tournaments in the past, I knew from experience that it made the entire thing considerably more complicated. Considering this was supposed to be a learning experience, however, I could understand the purpose behind it.

Honestly, watching how everyone handled the tournament was proving almost as interesting as participating in it.

Most of the temporary partners Professor Oak's Lab had assigned were exactly the sort of Pokémon you'd expect newer Trainers to start with around Kanto. Rattata, Pidgey, Spearow, Caterpie, Weedle, and a handful of other common species made up most of the field, with only a few notable exceptions. Ash had somehow lucked into Poliwag; there were a couple of Nidoran scattered between the groups, and one particularly fortunate and unfortunate kid had managed to draw a Mankey.

That last one really just went to show how misleading a good matchup could be if the Trainer and Pokémon themselves were a bad fit.

On paper, a Fighting-type should have been a fantastic draw for a tournament where Normal-types made up a good portion of the competition. Even with the abundance of Flying-types running around to keep things from becoming completely unfair, a Mankey had enough raw ability that I would've expected the pair to make a decent run.

The problem was that Pokémon weren't numbers on a spreadsheet.

Mankey was temperamental even by the standards of its species, and its Trainer had spent most of their first match getting increasingly frustrated whenever it didn't immediately follow an order. By the time they reached the second-chance bracket, whatever shaky cooperation they'd managed over the week had fallen apart completely. Mankey had eventually stopped listening altogether, and the resulting loss had sent its Trainer into a meltdown almost as impressive as his Pokémon's.

It was an interesting reminder of just how many variables were actually at play. A strong Pokémon certainly helped, but so did temperament, experience, type matchups, and whether Trainer and Pokémon had learned how to communicate with each other at all. Some campers with less immediately impressive partners were already doing far better than kids who had gotten luckier draws simply because the two of them had figured out how to work together.

And with nearly a hundred different Trainer and Pokémon combinations scattered across the grounds, there were plenty of examples to watch. Cheers rose from the surrounding battlefields every few minutes as another match reached its end.

One voice, however, was considerably easier to pick out than the others.

"THAT'S MY BABY!"

Pichu chirped beside my ear in what sounded suspiciously like amusement.

I tried and failed to smother my own chuckle. "Don't encourage her."

Mom was standing near the edge of the field, waving both arms over her head as if I'd just won the Orange League rather than the opening rounds of a children's camp tournament. Blissey stood beside her, looking almost as excited, clapping her hands together with a broad smile.

And then there was Momo, simply standing behind them with a banner stretched between her upper pair of hands that was large enough to be read from the other side of the grounds. GO TRAVIS! was emblazoned across its front while a third hand gave me a massive thumbs-up.

"...I was hoping she'd forgotten the banner."

"Pichu."

"Yeah, that was probably optimistic."

Mom caught me looking and somehow began waving even harder.

I sighed, though I couldn't quite stop myself from smiling as I stepped off the battlefield and started toward them.

I made it perhaps three steps past the boundary line.

"Travis!"

"Oh, shi—!"

Mom hit me like a redheaded missile.

One moment I was walking, the next I was wrapped in both arms and lifted clean off the ground as she squeezed hard enough to make several vertebrae reconsider their current arrangement. Pichu gave an alarmed squeak from my shoulder before getting dragged into the embrace along with me, his face disappearing somewhere between my neck and Mom's cleavage.

"Another win!" Mom cheered. "That's my boy!"

"Mooom," I wheezed. "You've done this after every match!"

"And I'm gonna keep doing it!"

I went limp in her arms. I both hated and begrudgingly accepted the situation.

She finally loosened her grip enough for my feet to touch the ground before immediately turning her attention toward Pichu, scratching beneath his chin as he melted against my shoulder.

Traitor.

Blissey stepped forward with a cheerful trill and offered him a Soft-Boiled egg, which got a considerably more enthusiastic reaction as Pichu practically launched himself into her arms before digging in.

Technically, outside healing might have sounded unfair in a normal tournament. Professor Oak had made it clear this wasn't that kind of competition, though. A separate healing area had been set up near the front of the grounds specifically so campers could have their partners looked over between matches, with basic restorative treatments available to everyone.

Blissey saving us the walk wasn't exactly breaking the spirit of the rules.

Momo stepped forward while Pichu ate and offered one enormous fist toward me. My smaller fist barely met a single knuckle in a fist bump.

"Thanks for being the sane one."

"Champ."

Mom beamed. "She spent twenty minutes making sure the banner was straight."

I looked up at the enormous sheet still hanging between Momo's upper hands. "You made her bring that?"

Mom placed one hand against her chest. "Excuse you. Momo volunteered."

The Machamp nodded solemnly.

Apparently there were traitors everywhere today.

A laugh from nearby finally dragged my attention away from my family's ongoing routine.

"Well, at least now we know where you get it from."

I turned to find Chloe standing a few yards away with Yamper at her feet, one hand covering a smile. Goh stood beside her with Caterpie perched comfortably against his shoulder, looking far less amused.

"What exactly am I supposed to be getting from that?"

Chloe glanced toward Mom. Then back to me.

I narrowed my eyes. "Choose your next words carefully."

"I wasn't going to say anything."

"Sure you weren't."

Goh snorted.

I pointed at him. "You're in no position to laugh after what happened in your match!"

His expression immediately soured. "I knew what that Rattata was going to do."

"And you also spent so long deciding what Caterpie should do about it that the Rattata still hit first."

"I was thinking!"

"Out loud, in the middle of the battle. Your opponent even made it a point to ask if you knew you were talking loud enough for her to hear."

His eye twitched.

Chloe laughed before stepping forward and giving Pichu a careful scratch behind one ear while he continued eating. "You two did really well, though. That Weedle barely touched him."

"Thanks." I glanced toward her. "You done already?"

She shrugged with absolutely none of the anguish most would have expected from someone eliminated from a tournament. "Yep."

That tracked. Chloe had enjoyed learning to battle well enough, but nothing during the last week had suggested she was suddenly going to dedicate her life to competitive battling. If anything, she'd seemed more interested in figuring out what Yamper liked doing than whether they actually won.

Goh, meanwhile, crossed his arms. "My second match was closer."

Chloe looked at him.

He frowned. "Shut up."

"I didn't say anything."

"You didn't have to!"

A quiet laugh came from behind them.

Standing a short distance away were the four adults I'd been introduced to earlier that morning. Professor Cerise stood closest to Chloe, looking considerably more amused than his daughter probably wanted, while her mother Talia smiled beside him. Goh's parents, Walker and Camille, were watching the entire exchange with equal interest. From what little I'd gathered, Chloe had been Goh's only real friend before camp, which probably explained why they seemed considerably more entertained by our bickering than their son was.

"Congratulations, Travis," Professor Cerise said when he noticed my attention had turned to them. "That was an impressive match. Pichu maintained remarkable control of his Charge while staying mobile."

"Thanks, Professor Cerise."

Talia smiled. "And congratulations to Pichu too, of course."

The little Electric-type lifted his head from the remains of his egg and chirped proudly.

Mom looked immensely delighted that someone else was praising us.

Dangerous territory.

Thankfully, Mom managed to restrain herself to only looking insufferably proud rather than immediately launching into another speech about our progress.

The group had already spent most of the morning together anyway, with our various matches giving everyone plenty of opportunities to talk while waiting around the fields. Mom had taken to Chloe and Goh's parents with predictable ease, and within an hour she'd gone from exchanging introductions to chatting with them like they'd known each other for years.

That wasn't exactly unusual for her.

Mom could probably make friends with someone while actively arguing with them, but seeing her fall into the distinctly parental sort of conversations the others kept drifting toward was a little different. She had plenty of friends through the Grand, the Gym, and the League, but most of those relationships had started through work.

Actual parent friends were somewhat rarer. Not that she seemed to be having any trouble making up for lost time.

Professor Cerise had also taken a rather noticeable interest in me, although not because of anything I'd done during camp. Apparently, he'd read one of Professor Ivy's research papers.

That had been enough for him to recognize my name before Mom had even properly introduced me that morning, which had led to several questions and a conversation I had thankfully been pulled away from by another match.

For now, I was simply glad everyone seemed to be getting along. Chloe and Goh had already been eliminated, which meant they had no reason to wander far from the group, while Mom appeared perfectly content talking with their parents between my matches.

Ash and Serena were somewhere on the opposite side of the tournament grounds, which I continued to consider an act of divine mercy. Last I'd heard, Serena had already been knocked out as well, though she'd apparently gone straight back to cheering Ash on afterward. Her assigned Spearow hadn't been a bad Pokémon by any means, but the two had never quite figured each other out. Spearow needed a firmer hand than Serena was comfortable giving, and Serena hadn't realized that until far too late into the camp to make real progress.

Mom meeting my "twin" was something I was both dreading and almost looking forward to, if for no other reason than getting to watch someone else have an existential crisis.

"Travis Cashion!"

I glanced toward the voice and spotted one of the counselors waving from beside the tournament board.

"Looks like that's me."

Pichu immediately choked down the last pieces of his egg and scrambled back onto my shoulder and, because he was a little shit, used my shirt to wipe his face.

Mom brightened. "Next match?"

"Apparently."

Momo lifted the banner higher.

I pointed at her as I started backing away. "Don't encourage her!"

"Champ~"

Mom laughed.

I shook my head and headed toward the counselor to find out who we were going to wipe the floor with next.

---

Ash 'Future Pokemon Master' Ketchum POV!

"Nidoran, use Peck!"

The little Poison-type charged straight toward us, head lowered as it kicked up dirt with every step.

"Dodge it, Poliwag!"

"Poli!"

Poliwag bounced aside just before Nidoran barreled past him, landing in a little skid before spinning back around.

"Now! Water Gun!"

A burst of water blasted from Poliwag's mouth and into Nidoran's face. The attack knocked it off its feet and sent it tumbling through the grass, where it rolled once before coming to a stop.

The counselor acting as referee leaned forward, waited a moment, then lifted one arm. "Nidoran is unable to battle! Ash Ketchum and Poliwag advance to the next round!"

"We did it!"

"Poli!"

Poliwag launched himself at me before I could do the same to him, and I barely managed to catch him without both of us falling over. That didn't stop us from celebrating, though. I spun around with Poliwag while he kicked his little feet excitedly, both of us laughing.

"Top sixteen!" I shouted.

"Poliwag!"

"Top sixteen!"

"Ash!"

I stumbled halfway through another spin and looked toward Mom, who stood beyond the edge of the battlefield with both hands cupped around her mouth.

"The next match can't start while you're still standing in the middle of the field!"

Oh.

I glanced around and found the counselor staring at me alongside the next two campers waiting to battle.

"Sorry!"

I hurried off the field with Poliwag still tucked under one arm, earning a laugh from Serena the second I reached her.

"You two were really good!" she said, smiling brightly before offering me a towel.

"Thanks!" I said, taking the towel. Hopefully she wasn't getting sunburnt, though; her face was looking a little red. "Did you see that last Water Gun?!"

"I saw!"

Poliwag wiggled happily in my arms at the praise. Which he deserved! Poliwag did awesome!

A hand came down against my shoulder hard enough to make me stumble a bit. "Not bad, kid!"

I looked up at Serena's mom, who was grinning down at me.

Mrs. Grace was a lot different from Serena. Not in a bad way, of course! She was just louder, stronger, and apparently liked slapping people on the shoulder whenever she was impressed.

"That's what I like to see! You two fought all out, even with that little ankle-biter trying to get up in your faces."

"Thanks!"

Serena made a small noise, and her mom glanced over. "What's the matter, sweetie?"

"N-Nothing!"

I tilted my head. Was it just me, or was her sunburn looking a little worse?

Before I could point that out, Mom finally came back with a Potion and immediately held out both arms toward Poliwag. "Come here, sweetheart. Let's get you fixed up before Ash decides he needs another victory dance."

I frowned (no, it wasn't a pout, no matter what Gary says!). "Mooooom."

Mom only giggled as Poliwag happily settled into her arms. He barely even reacted to the Potion's spray once she started rubbing the top of his head between applications.

"So you're really in the top sixteen now?" Serena asked as we started toward the center of the tournament grounds.

"Yep!" I grabbed her hand before she could fall behind. "Come on! Maybe we can still catch one of the others!"

"A-Ash!"

She nearly stumbled before catching herself and hurrying along beside me, while Mom called for us to stop running off without them.

Camp had been awesome! I'd expected it to be fun because Professor Oak was running things and there were going to be tons of Pokémon, but it had been even better than I'd thought! I'd gotten Poliwag, done a ton of battling, camped outside, explored the woods, and learned all kinds of cool things.

Even getting yelled at by Professor Oak hadn't been all that bad…could have done without all the extra chores, though.

And then there were all the people I'd met! Goh was annoying sometimes, but he knew a ton about Pokémon. Chloe was nice, even when she gave us that look whenever we did something cool (okay, and maybe a little dumb, but it was cool in the moment!). Serena had stayed with me even after losing her own matches, which was really nice of her.

Then there was Travis, who was weird. Really weird.

He was our age but talked like the Professor sometimes, read boring books for fun, and somehow knew how to do almost everything!

…but he was also kinda cool. And I still wanted to battle him!

Somewhere ahead of us, electricity crackled loudly enough to rise above the noise of the surrounding battlefields.

My head snapped over at the same time as Serena's.

""Travis!""

We took off toward the noise, Mom calling after us as we pushed between campers and parents. Another sharp crack of electricity came from somewhere ahead, followed by a flash of orange fire above the crowd, and that was all the proof I needed.

We squeezed our way to the forefront of one of the central-most battlefields and found Travis and Pichu in the middle of a fight. And it looked awesome!

"Growlithe, use Ember!"

The orange puppy Pokémon spat a burst of fire across the field, forcing Pichu to leap sideways before it could catch him. He landed running, little sparks dancing through his fur as Travis stood casually behind him.

"Whoa..."

Serena leaned closer to be heard over the crowd. "They're really fast!"

"Yeah!"

I couldn't stop grinning.

I'd seen a bunch of battles already today, but this one felt different. Growlithe belonged to one of the lucky kids who'd been allowed to bring a Pokémon from home like Travis, and even I could tell the two had battled together before. Growlithe didn't hesitate when his Trainer shouted something, and Pichu was moving so fast that I kept almost losing track of him whenever he changed directions.

It was awesome!

"Cut him off with a Bite!"

Growlithe suddenly stopped spitting out fire in order to charge straight toward where Pichu was going.

My eyes widened. "Look out!"

Growlithe lunged with his jaws open.

"Nuzzle!"

"Huh?"

Pichu didn't dodge.

Growlithe crashed into him, and for one horrible second I thought he'd gotten Pichu good.

Then the sparks around Pichu exploded.

"GROW!"

Growlithe yelped as electricity surged across his body. His legs jerked beneath him, his Bite closing on nothing as Pichu twisted free and bounced backward.

I stared. "He did that on purpose?!"

Serena looked just as surprised as I was. "I think so!"

Pichu shook himself off, looking way too pleased with himself while Growlithe stumbled around and tried to get his feet back.

Travis grinned. "Thunder Shock!"

Electricity gathered around Pichu's cheeks, but the other Trainer gritted his teeth before suddenly shouting, "ROAR, GROWLITHE!"

Everyone around the field jerked at the sudden shout, and I couldn't help jumping when Growlithe threw back his head and—

"GROOOOWL!"

The Roar hit like a wall. Pichu's ears flattened as his whole body locked up, paws skidding backward through the dirt while the electricity gathering around his cheeks flickered wildly and started to fade. For a second, he looked like he was fighting against something I couldn't see.

"Hold on, Pichu!" Travis shouted.

Pichu gritted his teeth and dug his paws into the ground.

I blinked. Wasn't Roar supposed to...?

"Now! Ember!"

I didn't get the chance to finish the thought. Growlithe fired immediately, and with Pichu still recovering and so close, there wasn't enough time to dodge before the blast of fire hit him square in the chest.

"Pichu!"

He went tumbling across the grass, and my stomach dropped. For a second he didn't move, and I felt Serena's hand tighten around mine before Pichu slowly pushed himself back onto his feet.

"Yes!" "Go, Pichu!"

We cheered as Pichu shook his whole body, little curls of smoke rising from his fur, and tried to take off again before Growlithe could follow up.

"Don't let him recover! Bite!"

Growlithe lunged forward, only for its entire body to suddenly seize. Its legs locked beneath it as electricity snapped across its fur, and the Fire-type stumbled with a pained bark.

I blinked before remembering the Nuzzle from earlier. Hadn't Travis said Nuzzle could almost always Paralyze something?

Travis didn't waste the opening. "Calm down, Pichu. Keep your distance."

Pichu's ears twitched before he quickly backed away, putting as much of the field between himself and Growlithe as he could. He was still breathing hard from the Ember, but instead of rushing to attack again, he seemed to force himself to slow down.

Growlithe's Trainer noticed too.

"Don't give him time to set up another Charge! Ember!"

Growlithe shook off the last spasm and fired. Pichu darted aside, the flames tearing through the space he'd occupied a second earlier, only for another burst to chase him across the field.

"Keep blasting!"

Pichu kept moving, slipping away every time Growlithe managed to line up another Ember. A few times it got close enough that I thought for sure he was going to get hit, but then Growlithe's legs would suddenly twitch or lock up again, giving Pichu another few seconds to breathe and put some distance between them.

I frowned. Was it just me, or were Pichu's eyes shining a bit brighter than usual?

Before I could voice the thought, however, Growlithe's Trainer shouted again.

"Stop letting it get away! Ember again, and spread it out this time!"

Growlithe planted its paws and swept its head from side to side as it attacked. Instead of a single blast, Ember scattered across the field in a wide spray of flames that covered almost everything in front of it.

I leaned forward. There wasn't anywhere to go.

Yet when I looked at Travis, I couldn't help but remember that night with the Nidoking. He'd told us afterward that he'd been scared too, but it hadn't looked that way when he started fighting, especially since he'd been smiling.

The same smile he was wearing now.

"Dig deep, Pichu! Thunder Shock!"

Electricity erupted from Pichu's cheeks so brightly that I flinched and threw one arm in front of my face. The crackling was louder than anything Pichu had thrown out earlier, strong enough that I could almost feel it in my chest, and a really weird thought suddenly crossed my mind.

Had Pichu been holding back this whole time?

The Thunder Shock slammed into the scattered Ember. Fire and electricity crashed together in a burst of light, and for a second I couldn't see anything except orange and white before the lightning punched straight through. Growlithe was blasted backward, hitting the ground hard enough to roll several times before finally coming to a stop.

The whole field seemed to go quiet as Serena and I leaned forward.

The referee raised an arm.

"Growlithe is unable to battle! Travis Cashion and Pichu advance!"

I threw both fists into the air. "Yes! I knew they would win!"

Okay, maybe I hadn't known exactly how he was going to do it, especially after Pichu got hit by that Ember, but I knew Travis would figure something out!

Serena started clapping beside me. "That was amazing!"

"Way to go, Travis!"

Somewhere behind us, Mom finally caught up. "Ash, you can't just run off every time you hear...a..."

"Sorry, Mom!"

I glanced back, only to realize Mom wasn't looking at me anymore.

She was staring across the battlefield instead, eyes wide as she stared at Travis. Serena's Mom stopped beside her a moment later, followed her stare, and seemed to pause too.

Mom made a tiny sound.

Mrs. Grace turned toward her. "Delia...?"

I frowned. What was that about?

Before I could ask, an even louder cheer exploded from the other side of the field.

"THAT'S THE WAY! SHOW 'EM HOW WE ROLL, BABYCAKES!"

I jumped and looked around.

A really pretty redheaded lady stood near the edge of the battlefield, waving both arms over her head while a big pink-and-white Pokémon that looked a lot like a Chansey did the same. Behind them stood one of the biggest Machamp I'd ever seen, holding an enormous banner between two hands while another gave Travis a wave as well.

My eyes widened. Hadn't Travis told us his mom had a Machamp?

And if that was Momo...

"That's Travis's mom!"

Mom made another strange noise behind me, but I was already moving.

"Come on!" I grabbed Serena's hand and started pulling her through the crowd toward the others.

"A-Ash!"

"Travis!" I shouted as we hurried over. "That was awesome!"

Travis turned toward us while Pichu sat comfortably in the big Chansey-looking Pokémon's arms, already halfway through eating some kind of egg. The grin Travis gave us was still a little wild at the edges, but before he could respond, his mom reached over and ruffled his hair.

"Nice work, babycakes. Good thing you gave Sandy back to me before the tournament."

Travis grimaced. "Yeah, I got lucky there. If Roar had actually pulled him out..." He glanced back toward the battlefield. "Depending on how strict the referee wanted to be about the one-Pokémon rule, that could've caused a whole mess. Might've even gotten me disqualified."

"Oh, I would've argued."

"I know you would've."

His mom smiled brightly before looking toward Pichu. "Still, I see you finally got that move working."

I perked up at the mention of a Move.

Travis reached over and scratched between Pichu's ears while the little Pokémon continued stuffing his face. "Only locked it down a few nights ago. He's still a little slow getting settled into it, but it's coming along."

What move?

Before I could ask, however, Travis turned back to us. "How'd your match go?"

"We won too!" I puffed my chest out. "We're in the top sixteen!"

His eyebrows went up. "Seriously?"

"Yep! So we might actually get to battle each other in the finals!"

"Assuming neither of us loses first."

I frowned. Why'd he have to be such a downer sometimes? "We're not gonna lose!"

Travis stared at me for a second before snorting. "Right. Of course you won't. At least, not until you get to us."

I grinned as he seemed to finally be getting excited before finally noticing Goh and Chloe standing nearby with their Pokémon. "Oh! How'd you guys do?"

Chloe shrugged. "I'm out."

"Me too," Goh muttered.

My shoulders dropped. "Aw, really?"

"My second match was closer," Goh added quickly.

Chloe looked at him.

"It was!"

I was about to ask what happened when Mom and Mrs. Grace finally caught up with us. Mom still had Poliwag in her arms, though the Potion had apparently done its job because he was happily bouncing against her chest and looking around at everyone.

Mom's eyes moved over the group before settling on me. "Ash, aren't you going to introduce us?"

"Oh! Right." I pointed around. "That's Travis, Chloe, Goh, and Serena. Guys, this is my Mom and Serena's Mom!"

Mrs. Grace barked out a laugh while Serena covered part of her face. Even a couple of the other adults I only just noticed chuckled.

Mom shook her head, smiling strangely again. "That's very helpful, sweetie."

That was when I noticed Travis's mom staring at me.

Not in a bad way or anything. She just kept looking between me and Travis, and after a second I realized some of the other parents were doing it too. One of them would look at me, then Travis, then Mom, then Travis's mom.

Oh, not this again!

I almost groaned. How many times was this going to happen?! I knew I didn't have any brothers! Mom would have told me! Besides, Travis might've looked like me, and he was smart and kinda cool, but he also read really difficult books for fun and acted like an old man sometimes.

Brothers were supposed to have more in common than that, right?

Before I could tell everyone they were wrong, Travis's mom stepped forward with a bright smile. "Luana Cashion. Travis's mother."

"Delia Ketchum." Mom accepted her hand, although that weird look still hadn't gone away.

Mrs. Luana quickly pointed around the rest of the group. "Professor Cerise and Talia are Chloe's parents, and Walker and Camille belong to Goh over there."

The introductions should've ended there, but Mom kept staring at Travis's Mom, and weirdly enough, Mrs. Luana was doing the same now.

Then Mom tilted her head.

"This is going to sound really strange, but..." Mom hesitated before giving an awkward little smile. "Did anyone ever ask if you were a Psychic-type because they could see you in their future?"

Travis's Mom jerked back.

I blinked.

What was that about?

For a second, Travis's Mom just stared at mine. Then her whole face lit up, and she stepped forward to grab both of Mom's hands.

"Is that before asking if I knew Thunder Wave because I'd left you paralyzed?"

Mom's eyes went huge.

Mrs. Grace made a choking sound beside me.

"Well, it would certainly be before I said that I needed a map because I got lost in your eyes!" Mom returned brightly, her smile growing.

Mrs. Luana snorted, and then both of them started laughing.

Not normal laughing either. Mom had to grab Mrs. Luana's arm to stay upright while Mrs. Luana looked like she was trying and failing to breathe. Professor Cerise and the other parents were exchanging looks like they knew what the joke was, but I had absolutely no idea what was so funny.

I looked at the others, but they seemed as confused as me. Serena was poking her snickering mom while Chloe was frowning at both women. Goh even mouthed a 'what's going on?'.

I could only shrug. Adults could be really weird.

Heck, even Travis seemed confused!

He was staring between our moms with his eyebrows pulled together in that way he got whenever he was thinking really hard.

I'd tried making that face once after seeing him do it. It mostly made my forehead hurt.

Before I could ask what he was thinking about, a voice boomed across the tournament grounds.

"ALL COMPETITORS ADVANCING TO THE ROUND OF SIXTEEN, PLEASE REPORT TO THE CENTRAL STAGING AREA!"

My eyes widened.

"That's us!"

Travis barely had time to look away from our moms before I grabbed his arm.

"Wha—Ash, wait a second?!"

"Come on!" I started pulling him toward the central fields before looking back at the others. "You guys too! We gotta find out who we're battling!"

Pichu squeaked before jumping to Travis's shoulder as I dragged him along. Poliwag jumped out of Mom's arms to chase after us, and Serena hurried to catch up while Goh and Chloe followed at a considerably more boring speed.

Whatever that was all about could wait! We had a tournament to win!

---

Author's Note:

I'm not even going to pretend that some of you haven't figured out the direction I'm going with this. If you think you know the answer to that vague little statement, feel free to comment, lol. I'm always happy to see speculation or ideas or just how people are enjoying the story so far!

Hope it's not too presumptuous, but I've got a Patreon up and running! If you want to read 5 chapters ahead or just support me in general, feel free to visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / IcurasFallen

 

[axel4340]

...so will ash and MC be teaming up to beat some child support out of their deadbeat dad?

 

[Reptil]

There dad was a Playa HAHAHAHHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHHAH. Keep up the great work

 

[Lewdhandholding]

Their dad was a Playa HAHAHAHHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHHAH. Keep up the great work

Click to shrink...

>he landed not one, but TWO hot redheads
The world is cruel.

 

[Kagenesti]

Hmm I wonder if Richie is gonna be another half brother. Doesn't look exactly like Ash but acts like him n had mostly the same team if I remember right.

 

[Azzy Rael]

We-ell. Someone is doomed.

 

[IcurasFallen]

...so will ash and MC be teaming up to beat some child support out of their deadbeat dad?

Click to shrink...

Now why would you assume that?! Why would Ash and Travis need to beat up someone who should totally have no bearing on both of them in certain circumstances?!

My goodness, people are even bringing up the idea of half-brothers and such. Now where would people possibly be getting such outlandish ideas?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go innocently whistle in this corner. Cheers!

 

[Lillie Jones]

Absolute Cinema
10/10

 

[MarcusDeGabriel]

My god, their dad had cheesy pickup lines and managed to make it work with at least 2 sexy redheads!

 

[iceknight90]

Hahahaha holy crap.

The deadbeat dad is also a fuckboi.

I'll bet he's probably left a trail of half siblings for Ash and Travis to meet across the regions.

 

[Aura_Guardian]

This mysterious father is trying to make his own Joy or Jenny clan, sowing his seeds far and wide

I wonder if Pichu will end up evolving in this tournament, maybe even getting one of those digging deeper battles and pulling out an evolution to show Ash how all his future opponents feel

Thanks for the chapter

 

[Isamaru]

>he landed not one, but TWO hot redheads
The world is cruel.

Click to shrink...

Some men die of thirst while others drown

 

[IcurasFallen]

Pokémon Version Orange

Arc 2 - The Summer


Chapter 18
​

---

"LADIES, GENTLEMEN, AND POKÉMON OF ALL TYPES! THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR HAS ARRIVED!"

One of Professor Oak's assistants had clearly gotten very invested in his temporary role as tournament announcer.

The man stood beside the central tournament board with a microphone in one hand and enough enthusiasm to make it sound like we were about to compete for the Indigo League Championship rather than bragging rights at a children's summer camp.

"The preliminary rounds have concluded! From nearly one hundred competitors, only sixteen remain! The Round of Sixteen begins now!"

Cheers erupted across the lawn.

Big Wayne would love this guy.

(Actually, that was probably a dangerous idea. The two of them would either get along like a house on fire or somehow cause one.)

"Competitors, please check the tournament board for your placements! Matches will begin shortly!"

People immediately started moving toward the large board.

I followed with considerably less enthusiasm, though not because I wasn't interested in the tournament. It had proven to be an excellent test of Pichu's training so far.

Instead, my brain couldn't let go of what I'd witnessed barely five minutes ago, namely Mom's first meeting with Delia Ketchum.

I glanced back.

They were walking a short distance behind us with the other parents, still talking like they'd known each other for years rather than approximately ten minutes, which wasn't necessarily weird.

Mom had spent years traveling throughout the various regions before eventually returning to run the Kumquat Grand. I'd met plenty of people she'd known back then, usually when they appeared at the Grand and immediately started telling me embarrassing stories about whatever she'd been doing twenty-something years ago. So the idea that she'd met Delia before wasn't out of the question.

Maybe they'd crossed paths during their journeys, forgotten about each other after two decades, and needed a minute and a few reminders before something clicked.

It was a perfectly reasonable explanation…except for the pickup lines.

Why the hell had they started throwing pickup lines at each other? Bad pickup lines, at that!

Mom had recognized Delia's first line almost immediately; Delia had recognized hers, and then they'd both started laughing like they'd suddenly remembered the funniest joke in the world.

There was obviously some context I was missing, and I couldn't figure out what.

Had they traveled with someone who constantly used them? Was it some old inside joke? Had Mom gone through an aggressively terrible flirting phase in her tweens that she'd somehow neglected to mention?

That last possibility was horrifying enough that I immediately tried to stop thinking about it.

"Travis!"

I snapped back to reality as Ash started shaking me, grinning hard enough that I briefly wondered whether I'd somehow missed him winning the tournament already.

"Look!" He spun me toward the tournament board, and I only had to stare at it for a moment before it clicked.

"Well, that's a thing."

Ash practically danced in excitement. "We could fight in the finals!"

Despite myself, I smiled. "Assuming we both make it that far."

"We will!"

Of course we would. Apparently, the possibility of losing had yet to enter Ash Ketchum's worldview.

I turned back toward the board and finally started paying attention to my own path through the tournament.

My first opponent was someone from the Squirtle Group that I knew basically nothing about. After that, I'd be facing one of the two Trainers in the next pairing, which included a kid from the Charmander Group whose name I vaguely recognized from earlier rounds for having an interesting strategy with his Oddish.

Then came the semifinals.

I huffed a laugh. "Why am I not surprised?"

A familiar name sat on the opposite branch.

Gary Oak.

Almost as if fate itself had decided to accentuate the point, the moment I lowered my gaze from the board, I found myself locking eyes with the obvious suspect.

The little bastard had apparently reached the same conclusion I had, because the moment our eyes met, his mouth curled into one of the smuggest grins I'd seen from him all week.

Slowly, a smile spread across my own face.

Well, this could be interesting.

---

By the time I stepped onto the battlefield again, the Round of Sixteen had already come and gone, and mine hadn't exactly been memorable. The kid from the Squirtle Group had sent out a Spearow that would've probably been a serious problem against quite a few of the Pokémon still competing. It was fast, aggressive, and apparently more than happy to throw itself beak-first at anything its Trainer pointed toward.

Unfortunately, that had included Pichu.

One Nuzzle later, Spearow's greatest advantage had gone from impressive speed to violently twitching in place every few seconds. A Thunder Shock shortly afterward had finished the job before its Trainer could figure out a new plan, which brought us here.

"Welcome to another Quarterfinal match!" the counselor called from the edge of the field. "This round we have Travis Cashion and Pichu against Oliver of Pallet Town and Oddish!"

"So let the battle! Begin!"

Across from me, a boy with almost comically appropriate dark green hair dramatically threw one arm forward. "Make them wish for death, Oddish! Spore Cloud!"

"Odd!"

Purple dust immediately puffed from the leaves atop Oddish's head, followed by a second cloud of yellow powder. The two mixed together as Oddish shook itself from side to side, quickly forming a hazy cloud of spores around its small body.

I raised an eyebrow. "Keep to the outside and Charge, bud."

Pichu chirped before taking off, electricity beginning to flicker across his fur as he circled the edges of the field. I kept my attention on Oddish, because as ridiculous as Oliver's dramatics had been, the actual strategy was pretty clever.

I'd noticed Oliver during one of the earlier rounds specifically because his approach stood out from the straightforward battling most of the campers were doing. Poison Powder and Stun Spore weren't particularly complicated Moves on their own, but using both to surround Oddish created a surprisingly irritating defensive position. Most of the Pokémon in this tournament were Normal, Flying, or Bug-types, and plenty relied almost entirely on getting close enough to hit something.

Charging directly into that cloud meant risking poison, paralysis, or both. Staying away wasn't necessarily much better when Oddish could still reach them with Absorb or spit Acid at anything trying to wait it out. A Pidgey or Spearow could probably disperse the powder with enough wind, but even that meant spending time dealing with the cloud instead of dodging.

Honestly, it wasn't hard to understand how Oliver had made the quarterfinals. He'd found something that worked and built his entire strategy around it.

Unfortunately for him, Pichu was probably one of the worst Pokémon left in the tournament for that strategy to matter. The Growlithe from earlier was one of the only matchups I could think of that would've been worse.

I watched the cloud thicken for another moment before speaking aloud. "Hey Oliver!"

The boy blinked, clearly surprised at me addressing him outright. "What?"

"You can surrender if you want."

Silence fell across our little section of the field. Oliver's expression slowly twisted into something I could only describe as delighted before he suddenly threw his head back and laughed.

"HAHAHAHAHA!"

I stared dryly at him while Pichu actually stopped mid-step long enough to do the same.

"So!" Oliver thrust one finger dramatically toward me. "You finally understand the hopelessness of your situation! You dare not enter our FIELD OF DEATH AND DESPAIR!"

Oddish bounced proudly inside the poisonous yellow-purple haze. "Odd!"

Oliver's grin widened as he folded his arms. "You know that one wrong step shall doom your precious Pichu! There is nowhere to run and no way to approach! Your only choice is surrender!"

I waited mostly because I wanted to make sure he was finished. When several seconds passed without another proclamation, I slowly nodded. "Right, that's what's happening here."

His expression became even more triumphant.

I pointed toward the cloud surrounding Oddish. "Out of curiosity, though…are you aware that powder and spore moves tend to be pretty flammable?"

Oliver stared at me.

I stared back.

Pichu smiled.

Slowly, Oliver's eyes shifted toward Oddish before his face went pale. "Oh shi—"

"Thunder Shock."

"PI-CHU!"

Lightning cracked across the battlefield, and the moment it reached the suspended powder, the entire cloud disappeared into a fireball.

The little Grass-type flew backward and landed several feet away, smoke curling gently from its scorched body. The battlefield went quiet as I looked toward the referee, who in turn looked toward Oddish just in time for the little Pokémon to twitch once before going still.

One arm rose. "Oddish is unable to battle! Travis Cashion and Pichu advance to the semifinals!"

I shook my head and started walking off the field to a few scattered cheers while Pichu trotted along beside me, looking unbearably pleased with himself. "Well, that was easy."

"Pichu." No reason to be so smug, pipsqueak.

For once, Blissey probably wouldn't even need to feed him afterward, although I doubted that would stop the little freeloader from trying. Sure enough, by the time I made it back toward the others, Pichu was already scanning the crowd for his favorite pink enabler.

I was considerably more distracted by Mom, or, more accurately, Mom and Delia.

They had somehow gotten worse.

The two women walked toward us with their elbows linked, laughing quietly about something, while Serena's mom, Grace, followed nearby, looking like someone who had been given access to extremely entertaining gossip and was loving every second of it. Mom noticed me first and immediately lifted her free arm.

"There he is! Congrats on another win, babycakes!"

Delia smiled right along with her. "Congratulations, Travis!"

"…thanks."

My eyes narrowed as I looked between them. There was something about those smiles I didn't trust. I'd spent nine years living with the human hurricane that was my mother, and if there was one thing I'd learned, it was how to recognize when she was planning something that would annoy me.

"So," I began carefully, "are either of you going to explain what exactly is going on, or am I supposed to keep pretending the two of you suddenly becoming best friends after exchanging terrible pickup lines is normal?"

Mom and Delia exchanged a glance, and for the first time since they'd started this whole bizarre reunion, some of their amusement faded. There was something else underneath it now, almost hesitant.

"Travis!"

Before I could try and pry more, however, hands grabbed both my arms, and I looked down to find Chloe holding one side while Goh had claimed the other.

"Come on!" Goh said, already pulling.

"Ash is still battling!" Chloe tugged my other arm. "Your match ended so fast we can probably catch the end!"

I looked between them before glancing back toward Mom. She was still smiling, Delia was now covering her mouth, and Grace was just laughing outright.

I sighed.

There had been a time earlier this week when being physically dragged from one disaster to another had bothered me. At this point, I'd learned to conserve my energy. Unless I actually had somewhere important to be, resistance only delayed the inevitable.

Mom's laughter followed us.

The remaining battlefields were close enough together that reaching Ash's only took a few dozen steps. The crowd around it was thicker than the one we'd just left, but Goh apparently considered basic social etiquette optional when Pokémon battling was involved and started squeezing through whatever gaps he could find. Chloe followed, still dragging me along, and eventually we broke through near the front.

The first thing I noticed was Serena. Mainly because of how worried she looked.

The second thing I noticed was why.

"C'mon, Poliwag, it's right there! Use Water Gun to your left!"

Poliwag fired, but the stream of water missed by several feet. A blur of brown and white darted in a zig-zag before slamming shoulder-first into the Water-Type's side.

"Zig!"

"Poliwag!"

The Water-type went tumbling while Ash stood on the opposite end of the field with both fists clenched, looking increasingly desperate. Across from him was Violet, the Eevee group member that I remembered actually managing to keep Gary in check.

And judging by the way she barely needed to finish giving instructions before her Zigzagoon reacted, this wasn't another temporary camp partnership.

"Keep it up, Ziggy!"

"Zigzagooooon!"

A Growl rolled across the battlefield. Poliwag flinched and turned toward the noise, which only made things worse. His eyes were squeezed nearly shut, and I frowned as I watched him struggle to orient himself.

The cause of his apparent blindness was probably from a Sand Attack, but that wasn't the only problem. Ziggy kept Growling as it circled him, forcing Poliwag to split his attention between Ash's shouted directions and the much closer noise moving around him. Every time Ash tried to guide him toward Ziggy, another Growl seemed to pull Poliwag's attention somewhere else and leave him only more befuddled.

"Poliwag, listen to me!" Ash shouted. "He's coming from your right!"

"Headbutt, Ziggy!"

Poliwag couldn't see well enough to track Ziggy himself, forcing Ash to direct him manually. Every time Ash started getting any sort of rhythm going, however, the Zigzagoon used Growl and muddied Poliwag's hearing with enough noise that either Poliwag hesitated, or Ash had to shout louder to compensate. This caused Poliwag to lose track of where it last heard the Zigzagoon and left it easy pickings for an attack.

It was a simple strategy, but even simple strategies could prove highly effective.

"Get up, Poliwag!"

Poliwag pushed himself upright again, wobbling badly. Ash pointed across the field. "Good job, buddy! Now try a Double Slap when it gets close!"

Violet beamed. "Dodge it and Tackle, Ziggy!"

Both Pokémon moved. Poliwag whipped his tail through the empty air, trying to catch Ziggy as it came within reach, but the Normal-type never approached in a straight line. It darted left, cut sharply right, then changed direction again with the kind of erratic movement that made the name Zigzagoon feel painfully appropriate.

"Move back, Poliwag!"

Too late.

Ziggy slammed into him, sending Poliwag bouncing once before rolling onto his back. He didn't get up.

"Poliwag!"

The referee stepped forward and watched for several seconds before finally lifting her arm. "Poliwag is unable to battle! Violet and Ziggy advance to the semifinals!"

The crowd erupted, but Ash didn't seem to hear them. He was already running onto the field before dropping to his knees beside his partner and carefully lifting the Water-type into his arms. Poliwag stirred after a moment and gave a weak little croak, causing Ash to bite his lip as he pulled him closer.

Beside me, Serena looked close to tears while Chloe sighed quietly.

Goh just crossed his arms. "Well, once Sand Attack ruined Poliwag's accuracy, there wasn't really much Ash could've done unless he found a way to compensate for it."

Chloe smacked him on the arm.

"Ow!" Goh glared at her. "What? I'm right!"

"Which isn't helping, Goh."

I tuned them out because my attention had shifted to the opposite side of the field.

Violet had crouched and thrown both arms out. The Zigzagoon practically launched itself into her chest, nearly knocking her backward as she laughed and scratched furiously behind its ears.

A smile slowly spread across my face.

That wasn't a Pokémon she'd met a week ago.

There was a difference. It was hard to explain unless you'd spent enough time watching experienced Trainers work, but it was there in the immediate responses, the lack of hesitation, and the way Violet trusted Ziggy to move without micromanaging every step. Even when she wasn't giving orders, Ziggy never needed to look back for reassurance.

Maybe this tournament had a proper Challenge in it after all.

Ash eventually left the field carrying Poliwag, and Delia was waiting the moment he crossed the boundary. She scooped both of them into a hug before Ash had a chance to protest.

"You were wonderful!"

Ash's face disappeared against her shoulder. "But we lost."

"You made it all the way to the quarterfinals," Delia reminded him, rubbing his back. "Both of you did wonderfully."

Poliwag gave a tired little chirp, but Ash didn't look convinced. "But I wanted to win the whole thing."

I sighed and spoke up before I could stop myself. "Ash, you realize there were almost a hundred kids in this tournament, right?"

Ash looked down at me, and his eyes were a little glassy. "Y-Yeah? What about it?"

"You made the final eight, Ash." I nodded toward Poliwag. "With a Pokémon you've known for what, a week? Meanwhile, there were kids here who brought Pokémon they'd already been training with before camp even started."

I reached up to pat his back. "You did better than nearly ninety other kids. That's nothing to be embarrassed about."

Serena stepped closer. "He's right, Ash! A-And you would've done even better if Violet hadn't done that cheap trick at the beginning!"

Several of us looked at her in surprise at the claim.

Goh was the first to ask. "What do you mean?"

Whatever disappointment Ash had been feeling vanished surprisingly quickly as he shifted out of his mother's arms and lifted Poliwag higher in his own. "You should've seen it! Right when the match started, Ziggy just disappeared!"

I blinked. "Disappeared?"

"He was standing all the way across the field, and then Violet said something and WHOOSH!" Ash swung one arm dramatically through the air. "He crossed the whole field in a blink! I barely even saw him move!"

I cocked my head. Pichu did the same from my shoulder.

That…sounded familiar.

A hand landed on my head before I could ask more. I looked up just as Mom started ruffling my hair, wearing a smile far too innocent for me to trust. "Aren't you sweet?"

My eyes narrowed. "In what way?"

"Giving Ash such good advice." Her smile became positively unbearable as she added, "Very big-brotherly of you."

My eye twitched, but Ash responded before I could. "We're not brothers!"

Mom hummed.

I stared at her while Ash continued to huff, and Delia opened her mouth, apparently about to add something of her own, only for an amplified voice to roll across the grounds.

"ATTENTION, EVERYONE! THE QUARTERFINALS HAVE CONCLUDED AND FOUR TRAINERS REMAIN!"

"SEMIFINALISTS, REPORT TO YOUR ASSIGNED BATTLEFIELDS! THE SEMIFINAL ROUND WILL BEGIN SHORTLY!"

Ash's eyes widened before he immediately thrust one fist toward me. "Go kick Gary's ass!"

Delia immediately smacked the back of his head. "Ow!"

"Ash Ketchum, you know better than to use that kind of language!"

"But Moooom!"

I couldn't help laughing. I raised my fist to bump against his own, and I could feel my smile widen enough to show teeth.

"Don't worry, Ash. I've been looking forward to this."

---

"AND NOW, FOR OUR FIRST SEMIFINAL MATCH!"

I stepped onto the battlefield to another wave of cheers as our increasingly enthusiastic announcer swept one arm toward me. "On the western side, having battled his way through the tournament alongside his partner Pichu, we have TRAVIS CASHION!"

The cheering got noticeably louder from one particular section of the crowd.

"GO, TRAVIS!"

I didn't even need to look. Mom had lungs.

"And facing him on the eastern side, grandson of our very own Professor Oak, battling alongside Rattata, GARY OAK!"

Gary strode onto the field like he'd personally arranged the applause that followed, Rattata moving alongside him with considerably more confidence than the confused little Pokémon I'd seen a week ago.

Judging by the smug expression already spreading across Gary's face, however, the last week had done absolutely nothing to reduce his opinion of himself.

"Hope you're ready to lose this time, Cashion."

I gave him a lazy smile. "Honestly? I was kind of hoping we could just skip this so I could battle Violet already."

Gary's expression twitched, and somewhere behind me, I heard someone choke on a laugh.

"You think you're funny?"

"On occasion? Yes, yes I do."

His fists clenched. "Well, you'd better start paying attention, because Rattata and I aren't the same as last time!"

I glanced toward the little Normal-type, who stamped all four paws and glared back at Pichu. "That part I actually believe."

Gary blinked, apparently not expecting me to agree with him, but the referee stepped between us before he could retort. "This will be a one-on-one match between Travis Cashion and Gary Oak! Trainers, are you ready?"

"Ready!" Gary snapped.

I nodded, and the referee raised one arm before bringing it down sharply. "Battle! Begin!"

"Charge!"

"Focus Energy!"

Both Pokémon moved immediately. Static crackled through Pichu's fur as he took off along the edge of the battlefield, building a Charge while keeping mobile. Across from him, Rattata lowered its body close to the grass, breathing slowing as its eyes narrowed and focused entirely on Pichu.

The two began circling each other, and I couldn't help humming in amusement. "Well, look at that. You finally used something besides Tackle."

Gary's face immediately scrunched up. "We know other Moves!"

"Our last battle suggested otherwise."

"Oh, shut up! Rattata, Quick Attack!"

Rattata vanished.

My smile disappeared as Pichu's ears snapped upright, his Psychic Potential apparently giving him just enough warning to brace before Rattata slammed into him in a purple blur. There wasn't enough time to actually dodge, but Pichu managed to twist at the last second, turning what would've been a direct hit into something closer to a glancing blow.

Gary's grin returned immediately. "Not so easy now, is it?!"

I ignored him. Pichu was already done recovering.

"Nuzzle!"

Electricity snapped across his cheeks as he lunged toward the Rattata that had just passed him.

Gary reacted immediately. "Quick Attack away!"

Rattata kicked off, and Pichu's cheek passed through empty air as the Normal-type shot backward so quickly that it almost looked like someone had yanked it away on a string.

I raised an eyebrow. "Huh."

Gary folded his arms. "What's the matter? Didn't expect that?"

"No, I'm impressed." I watched Rattata settle several yards away. "You've actually been training."

His expression suggested I'd insulted him even though it was a genuine compliment.

I rolled my eyes. Children.

Turning my attention back toward Pichu, I called out, "Calm down and dodge for now, bud."

His ears flicked before he inhaled slowly, some of the tension leaving his body as he settled lower against the grass, and for just a moment I caught a faint blue sheen light up across his eyes.

Gary obviously wasn't one to let such a juicy target lie. "Quick Attack!"

Rattata burst forward again, but this time Pichu was prepared. He slipped sideways an instant before Rattata reached him, the Normal-type flashing past close enough to stir the fur along his back.

Gary looked honestly shocked. "Again!"

Rattata dug in, turned, and came back. Pichu ducked beneath it.

"Don't let him get away! Tackle!"

The sudden change in speed nearly worked. Rattata abandoned the explosive burst of Quick Attack and charged normally instead, almost throwing off the timing Pichu had been settling into.

Yet Pichu still twisted aside, and Rattata's shoulder Tackle barely missed.

"Darn it!" Gary clenched a fist. "Try a Bite!"

Rattata pivoted much faster than it had managed during our first battle, mouth opening wide as it snapped toward Pichu's back. Pichu's ears twitched, and he dropped flat, letting Rattata's jaws close on empty air before rolling beneath the attack, springing back onto his paws, and putting several feet between them.

I chuckled. "Getting frustrated?"

"I am not frustrated!"

"Could've fooled me."

"Quick Attack!"

The exchange continued, and as much as I enjoyed annoying him, I couldn't deny the obvious.

Gary had improved. Considerably at that.

During our first battle, he'd attacked in straight lines and expected raw enthusiasm to make up for the fact that neither he nor Rattata knew what the other was doing. Now he varied his timing. Quick Attack forced Pichu to stay ready for sudden bursts of speed, Tackle changed the rhythm whenever Pichu started anticipating them, and Bite gave Rattata a faster option whenever they ended up close.

I had to give credit where it was due. Gary Oak clearly knew what he was doing when it came to training Pokemon.

Unfortunately for him, Pichu had been training too.

Another Quick Attack flashed across the field. Pichu swayed aside before Rattata reached him, his eyes glowing slightly brighter now as his breathing remained slow and even. Gary's frustration continued to mount.

"Cut him off!"

Rattata planted one front paw and tried to redirect its momentum, and that was when a familiar mistake happened. Its hind legs crossed awkwardly, and for half a second the little Pokémon lost control of its own speed, nearly going face-first into the grass.

I didn't hesitate. "Pichu, in—"

Gary flinched. "Rattata dodge!"

"—for a kiss!"

Gary froze. "Bwah!?"

Rattata had the same reaction. It had only just managed to get its paws underneath itself when Pichu reached it. Instead of attacking, Pichu rose onto his hind legs, caught Rattata's cheeks between his tiny paws, and planted one quick kiss directly between its eyes in an almost ironic-sounding "Chu!"

Pichu pulled away wearing an expression of such exaggerated innocence that I almost rolled my eyes. Rattata blinked at him once, then twice, and its eyes slowly crossed.

Gary stared. "What the heck was that?!"

"Max Power Pichu!"

My partner immediately sprang backward as the stored Charge he'd been carrying since the beginning of the match surged through his fur. The faint glow in his eyes brightened as he planted his feet, and electricity began to burst from his body.

Gary's eyes widened. "Quick Attack! Get out of there!"

Rattata tried.

One paw went forward while the other went sideways. It stumbled, shook its head, then somehow turned almost completely around before stopping to stare blankly at its own tail.

Gary's mouth fell open. "What are you doing?!"

Rattata gave a confused squeak, and Gary stared for another second before realization finally hit.

"You've gotta be kidding me! It's Confused?!"

I laughed. "How'd you like Pichu's Sweet Kiss?!"

Understanding flashed across his face, but it was too late.

I grinned. "Thunder Shock."

The battlefield disappeared beneath a brilliant flash of white-yellow electricity, the discharge exploding outward with enough force to drown out the cheers around us. Several people in the crowd shouted in surprise, and Rattata never had a chance to move.

"RAaaATttttTAAAaaaaa!"

Its cry vanished beneath the crack of electricity before the light finally faded, leaving smoke drifting lazily above the grass. Rattata stood frozen where the attack had caught it, fur puffed in every direction while tiny arcs of electricity snapped across its body.

Its eyes rolled upward, and the Normal-type collapsed in an almost perfect mimicry of our last battle.

The referee hurried closer and crouched beside the fallen Pokémon long enough to check it before raising one arm. "Rattata is unable to battle! The winner is Travis Cashion and Pichu!"

The crowd erupted, but I was already looking toward my partner.

Pichu trudged over before climbing my leg with considerably less energy than usual. I helped him the rest of the way and settled him onto my shoulder before he pushed his forehead firmly against the side of my head.

I winced. "Headache?"

"Chuuu."

"Yeah, I figured."

Between holding Charge for most of the fight, leaning heavily on his warning sense, and maintaining our secret weapon while dodging Gary's attacks, he'd pushed himself even harder than he had against Growlithe. Nothing looked wrong beyond exhaustion, though, so I scratched between his ears.

"You'll be fine once Blissey gets another egg in you."

Pichu's head immediately lifted. "Pi?"

I snorted. "You glutton."

I started toward the edge of the field when a voice stopped me.

"Hey."

I glanced back to find Gary walking toward us with Rattata cradled carefully in his arms. The little Normal-type had started to stir, although one back leg still twitched every few seconds from the lingering electricity in its system.

Gary stopped a few feet away, and for once, there wasn't any smugness in his expression. He looked down at Rattata before returning his attention to me.

"You won."

I raised a brow. "That is generally what the referee announcing me as 'the winner' means."

His eye twitched. "I was trying to congratulate you!"

"Could've fooled me."

Gary grumbled something under his breath before adjusting Rattata in his arms. "Fine. You were better today."

I could physically see how much it pained him to admit that, so I decided to be nice and let my expression soften slightly. "You were a lot better than last time too, and so was Rattata. Trying to go at different speeds nearly got us more than once."

Gary blinked, his surprise lasting approximately two seconds before his usual confidence came roaring back.

"Of course! We trained all week!"

I rolled my eyes. There was the Gary Oak I knew.

He shifted Rattata into one arm before sticking his free hand toward me. "But next time, I'm gonna win."

I looked at his hand for a moment before taking it. "Sure. I'll look forward to beating you again."

"Keep dreaming!"

"You're the one making promises about next time~"

"Because I'm going to win next time!"

"Uh-huh."

We released hands before the argument could devolve into anything even more childish, and Gary turned away with Rattata still resting in his arms.

I watched him go for a few seconds.

He was annoying, arrogant, loud, and had apparently decided within hours of meeting me that we were competing over everything from Pokémon knowledge to who could breathe more impressively.

But he'd also spent the entire week training after I handed him his first loss, and judging by that battle, he'd taken it seriously. He hadn't just taught Rattata a few more Moves. They'd actually learned how to work together. Then he'd walked over after losing again, admitted I'd been better, and promised to beat me next time.

Was this what getting a rival felt like?

"TRAVIS!"

I had just enough time to turn before Ash tackled me like a poorly trained Tauros.

"Oof!"

We went down together, my back smacking into the grass while Ash somehow managed to land half on top of me without dropping Poliwag.

For several seconds, I simply stared up at the blue sky. Somewhere along the line, I had clearly made a series of terrible life choices to end up like this.

"You beat Gary!" Ash shouted from approximately six inches away from my face.

"Yes, Ash." I continued staring upward. "I was there."

"I knew you would!"

"Thank you. Now, would you mind getting off!?"

The others finally caught up. Mom was laughing openly, Delia was trying and failing to hide her own amusement, and Chloe at least had the decency to help peel Ash off me before he accidentally broke something.

I had barely gotten back onto my feet when Goh suddenly spoke.

"How was that Thunder Shock so strong?"

I paused halfway through brushing grass off my shirt. "Hello to you too."

Goh either ignored the comment or genuinely didn't notice it. "I've watched Pichu use Thunder Shock after Charge several times now, and even accounting for how much better he's gotten at holding the Charge while moving, that last attack was stronger than the others." His eyes narrowed as he looked between us. "There was something else happening while Pichu was dodging, wasn't there?"

Before I could even think of a reply, a hand settled lightly on Goh's shoulder, and he looked up to find his father standing beside him. Walker wasn't angry, but the slight lift of his brow apparently meant enough because Goh immediately shrunk down.

"Dad?"

"You're prying, son."

Goh blinked. "But I just asked what he was doing?"

"I know." Walker gave his shoulder a small squeeze. "But there's a difference between asking someone about a cool trick and demanding they explain one of their techniques."

That was actually a fairly important piece of Trainer etiquette, especially once people started battling seriously. Training methods weren't necessarily secret, and plenty of Trainers happily traded advice, but personal techniques, combinations, and anything that could provide a competitive advantage were treated a little differently.

I reached up and scratched Pichu beneath the chin. His eyes had already started drooping again now that the adrenaline from the battle was wearing off.

Deciding to throw Goh a bone, I answered honestly, "I've mostly just been making him rest a bunch. Turns out it helped him get better at staying calm in battle."

Both father and son stared at me in surprise.

I kept my expression perfectly innocent.

Mom snorted. I glanced toward her just in time to catch the amused look she was giving me.

Goh's eyes narrowed.

"That doesn't make sense."

"Sure it does."

"No, it doesn't!"

"It's what we did though, so obviously it does."

Goh visibly puffed himself up, which only made Mom laugh harder.

Pichu leaned against the side of my head, apparently deciding the argument wasn't worth staying awake for. I gave him another scratch between the ears before looking past everyone toward the remaining battlefield.

One more match, then camp was over.

Might as well finish strong.

---

Author's Note:

So, a few battles, a few declarations that I may or may not forget in the future, and a "secret weapon" that tons of you have speculated about so much that I've physically rubbed my hands together in glee. Continue to string board mystery solvers; the truth will be revealed next chapter!

Also, what's up with all the wild theories about "half-brothers" and "child support via bats to knees" I've been seeing? Is there some conspiracy that I'm just not aware of?

Hope it's not too presumptuous, but I've got a up and running! If you want to read 5 chapters ahead or just support me in general, feel free to visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / IcurasFallen

 

[AnInnocentBystander]

So her zigzagoon has extreme speed and now his pichu has calm mind? This next fight should be great!

 

[Lillie Jones]

Absolute Cinema
10/10
The Journey continues
Cheers!

 

[Aura_Guardian]

"So," I began carefully, "are either of you going to explain what exactly is going on, or am I supposed to keep pretending the two of you suddenly becoming best friends after exchanging terrible pickup lines is normal?"

Mom and Delia exchanged a glance, and for the first time since they'd started this whole bizarre reunion, some of their amusement faded. There was something else underneath it now, almost hesitant.

"Travis!"

Before I could try and pry more, however, hands grabbed both my arms, and I looked down to find Chloe holding one side while Goh had claimed the other.

Click to shrink...

I hope this bit of asking for more information and then getting interrupted doesn't drag on too long, there's only so much it can happen before it just gets stupid

I wonder if Travis is planning on teaching Pichu detect, it feels like something a Pokémon with psychic potential should be able to do

Thanks for the chapter

 

[Krekkles]

Thanks for the chapter.

The DNA test has been postponed and an overqualified Zigzagoon is waiting in the finals, should be fun.

 

[SpaceWhale]

I'm honestly surprised he hasn't put it together that the moms think/know that their kids might have the same father

 

[IcurasFallen]

Pokémon Version Orange

Arc 2 - The Summer


Chapter 19
​

---

Pichu let out a pleased little trill as my fingers worked through the fur behind his ears, his attention otherwise occupied by the rapidly disappearing remains of a Soft-Boiled egg.

"Feeling better?"

"Pi Pichu Pi."

"I'll take that as a yes."

I gave him another scratch before reaching into one of the smaller pouches in my bag and pulling out a Leppa Berry. Pichu's ears immediately perked up, his eyes locking on the Berry even though he still had a mouthful of egg remaining.

"Don't inhale it." He snatched it from my fingers and shoved it all in at once. "Or ignore me. That's fine too."

Pichu mumbled around the Berry, entirely unrepentant, while I settled back to let him finish. Between Blissey's egg, the break between rounds, and a Leppa Berry to give his reserves a little extra pick-me-up, he should be in decent shape for…

"LADIES, GENTLEMEN, AND ALL THE POKÉMON IN BETWEEN! THE MOMENT HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!"

I rolled my eyes with a dry chuckle as the crowd around us exploded into noise.

Professor Oak's assistant stood beside the remaining battlefield with his microphone raised dramatically overhead. "AFTER A FULL DAY OF BATTLING AND NEARLY ONE HUNDRED COMPETITORS, ONLY TWO TRAINERS REMAIN! IT IS TIME FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH OF PROFESSOR OAK'S SUMMER CAMP TOURNAMENT!"

The crowd responded exactly how he'd probably hoped, cheers spreading across the lawn while campers and parents gathered tighter around the final battlefield. Pichu swallowed the last of his Berry and sat a little straighter on my shoulder, apparently deciding that the presence of an audience meant he needed to look suitably impressive.

"FIRST, ON THE EASTERN SIDE!" The announcer spun and thrust one arm toward the opposite end of the field. "REPRESENTING THE EEVEE GROUP, ALL THE WAY FROM LILYCOVE CITY IN THE HOENN REGION! BATTLING BESIDE HER PARTNER ZIGZAGOON! WELCOME VIOLET OTTER AND ZIGGY!"

Violet threw both hands into the air at the resulting cheers while Ziggy barked excitedly beside her, apparently just as willing as Pichu to enjoy the attention.

"AND FACING THEM ON THE WESTERN SIDE!" The announcer swung his attention toward us with enough enthusiasm that I briefly wondered if he'd been saving energy specifically for the finals. "REPRESENTING THE PIKACHU GROUP, ALL THE WAY FROM KUMQUAT ISLAND IN THE ORANGE ARCHIPELAGO! BATTLING ALONGSIDE HIS PARTNER PICHU, PLEASE WELCOME ORANGE LEAGUE GYM LEADER, TRAVIS CASHION!"

That last part earned noticeably more than noise. A mixture of surprised gasps, confused questions, and excited cheers rippled through the campers and parents around the field, apparently proving that my job hadn't become common knowledge over the last week. Pichu responded by puffing his chest out as if the announcement had somehow included his résumé too.

I ignored him in favor of looking toward the particularly loud section of the crowd where Mom and the others had gathered.

At some point during the break, Ash had apparently convinced Momo to let him perch proudly on one of her shoulders with Poliwag occupying the other, both of them waving excitedly while Momo held her enormous GO TRAVIS! banner overhead with two of her free hands. The others had also somehow gotten their hands on small flags bearing my name and a caricature of my face that Rayna had originally made years ago as a gag gift. Mom was the likely culprit, but I wouldn't put it past Bliss as well. She could be annoyingly wholesome sometimes.

"COME ON, TRAVIS!" Ash shouted, nearly falling off Momo's shoulder in his enthusiasm. "YOU CAN WIN THE WHOLE THING!"

"WHAT HE SAID, BABYCAKES!"

With a helpless shake of my head, I stepped toward my side of the battlefield. Violet was already waiting opposite me with an amused smile.

"So, Gym Leader," she called across the field, drawing out the title just enough to make it obvious she was enjoying herself. "If I win, does that mean I get a Badge?"

I snorted. "I'd focus on being happy with second place."

Her smile sharpened. There was no irritation in it either. If anything, she just looked more excited, and something in my chest responded immediately as that familiar heat began to build and my pulse picked up. I could already feel my own grin spreading across my face.

Yeah. This was going to be fun.

The referee motioned us toward our starting positions, and Violet gave Ziggy a quick nod before the Normal-type trotted onto the field. I reached up and lifted Pichu from my shoulder, keeping my voice low as I pulled him close. "You remember the plan?"

Pichu looked across the field toward Ziggy, then back up at me before giving a sharp nod. There was a spark in his light blue eyes that hadn't been there against most of our earlier opponents. It wasn't just his usual smug confidence or the promise of getting to show off. He knew this one might actually push him, and he looked genuinely excited about it.

I felt a little pride at that. He'd gone from a little rat mostly concerned with food and survival to a Pokémon that actually wanted to push himself, both in training and in battle. He'd reached the point where the prospect of a genuinely tough fight was something to look forward to rather than be annoyed by.

Pichu really was my ideal Starter.

I smiled and gave him one last scratch between the ears before letting him perform his off-the-hand vault onto the field.

The referee waited until both Pokémon had settled into position before raising one arm between us. "This will be a one-on-one battle! Battle continues until one Pokémon is unable or unwilling to continue, a trainer performs a return, or I make the call. TRAINERS, ARE YOU READY?!"

Violet and I answered at practically the same time, and the referee brought his arm down. "Then let's…Begin!"

"GO!" "GO!"

Ziggy became a blur.

Pichu barely had time to blink before the Zigzagoon crossed the battlefield and slammed into him. The impact produced a sharp crack that made several people around the field flinch at the suddenness of it all.

The noise wasn't just from Ziggy slamming into Pichu, however!

Because while Pichu was knocked backward from the impact, Ziggy was left reeling as well from the burst of electricity that snapped between them upon contact.

I couldn't stop a laugh from escaping me. "Nice Extreme Speed!"

Violet's answering giggle was just a little too delighted to sound entirely innocent. "Thanks! Getting a Nuzzle off that fast was awesome!" She swept one arm forward before either Pokémon had properly reset. "Ziggy, run them down!"

Ziggy shot forward again, forcing Pichu to scramble sideways before he'd even fully recovered from the opening hit. The little Normal-type stayed on him from there, darting forward in sudden bursts before cutting sharply to one side and coming around again, never giving Pichu enough room to settle into a rhythm. My partner's warning sense kept him from taking another clean hit, but only barely, his paws constantly changing direction while Ziggy snapped at his heels.

I clicked my tongue as Pichu threw himself aside from another pass. The opening trap had worked in theory, but Extreme Speed had earned its place as the pinnacle of Priority Moves. Pichu had managed enough of a Nuzzle to not leave Ziggy unscathed, but Extreme Speed had broken contact before he could properly complete the Move and force the Paralysis we wanted.

Fine. If we couldn't slow him down, we'd just have to make ourselves inconvenient!

"Pichu, grab him!"

"Pi?!" Pichu shot me an offended look even as Ziggy came barreling in again.

"Tackle em Ziggy!"

Violet's command forced Pichu to commit.

Pichu made a distinctly frustrated noise before throwing himself forward instead of away. Ziggy slammed into him chest-first, driving a pained cry from Pichu, but my partner wrapped both arms around the longer Pokémon's neck and clung on instead of letting the impact throw him away.

Violet's eyes widened in immediate understanding. "Headbutt Ziggy! Get him off!"

"Thunder Shock!"

Electricity erupted across Pichu's body at point-blank range. Ziggy cried out as the attack coursed straight through him, his entire body jerking while Pichu buried his face against the Normal-type's fur and stubbornly refused to let go. Ziggy snapped his head around, but there wasn't enough room to put his full weight behind the Headbutts.

So he changed tactics.

Ziggy twisted hard, his long body falling to the ground as he began a death roll. One roll became another, then another, until the two of them were practically tumbling across the grass together while electricity continued to crackle around them. Pichu held on for several seconds longer before Ziggy suddenly reversed direction and threw his entire body into one final and violent twist.

That finally did it, and Pichu was ripped loose. He went skidding across the field, while Ziggy staggered several steps in the opposite direction with smoke curling faintly from his fur. Neither of them looked particularly pleased with how that exchange had gone.

Good. At least we'd made them pay for it.

"Pichu, calm down and make some distance!"

My partner shook himself and immediately started backing away, but Violet was just as quick to capitalize on the separation.

"Sand Attack!"

Ziggy spun and kicked hard at the ground, sending a spray of dirt and sand straight into Pichu's face before he could get clear.

"Piii!"

Pichu recoiled with his paws flying toward his eyes, and I felt my stomach twist as Ziggy was already starting to move again. "Don't panic, bud! Calm down and lock in the Calm Mind!"

That got a reaction from more than just Pichu.

A faint blue glow slowly spread across his tightly shut eyes as his breathing began to even out, the frantic twitching of his ears settling into something much more deliberate. Around the battlefield, surprised voices rose from the crowd at the first open confirmation of the Move we'd spent the last few matches hiding behind carefully worded commands.

Violet looked just as startled, but only for a moment. "Ziggy, we can't let them set up! Tackle!"

The Normal-type shot forward. Pichu still couldn't see him, but that didn't stop him from moving.

Ziggy darted left, cut sharply right, then shifted again in the same erratic pattern he'd used to make Poliwag's life miserable earlier. Pichu's ears twitched with each change, his body remaining almost unnaturally still until the last possible second before he slipped sideways and let the Zigzagoon tear past him.

Violet's eyes widened. "How did he dodge that?!"

I grinned madly as Ziggy wheeled around for another pass while Pichu adjusted with him, the two falling into a strange little dance across the battlefield. Ziggy zigged and zagged through sharp changes in direction while Pichu reacted without ever opening his eyes, guided by the warning sense we'd spent weeks trying to sharpen into something actually useful. Made all the stronger by Calm Mind giving him a greater understanding of his natural Psychic abilities.

"I didn't think Pichu could learn Calm Mind!"

I chuckled even as blood roared in my ears as I tracked the back and forth. "Most probably can't. Mine's got some pretty strong Psychic Potential though."

Violet looked suitably impressed. "Seriously?"

My grin grew. "Very."

That particular bit of training had actually started with a completely different goal.

Rest was still the only Move I'd taught Pichu through a TM. It was the sole Psychic-type move I knew for a fact a Pichu could learn, so it was an ideal way to start familiarizing him with the Type Energy responsible for his latent abilities. After our Charge exercises, I'd have him use Rest while slowly eating Chesto Berries since the Berries allowed him to remain conscious enough to get a proper feel for the Psychic-type energy the Move used to heal oneself.

The idea had been to make that strange mental state familiar. Let him feel Psychic energy working through him, learn what it felt like to reach for it deliberately, and gradually gain more control over instincts that had previously amounted to little more than sensing danger and other minds nearby.

Alakazam had been the one to point out that repeatedly practicing Rest while hovering in that half-awake state was also training Pichu to settle his thoughts, control his breathing, and maintain focus while Psychic energy moved through him.

In other words, I'd accidentally spent weeks building almost the perfect foundation for Calm Mind without realizing it.

I might have felt prouder about that if Alakazam, smug bastard that he was, hadn't been the one to point it out and then spent the next several days holding it over me.

Across the field, Violet was still watching Pichu weave around Ziggy with his eyes squeezed shut, and the grin on her face only seemed to grow. "This is awesome!" she called, earning an excited bark from Ziggy as he wheeled around for another pass. "I'm really glad you two ended up being our final match!"

I barked out a laugh. "Happy to exceed expectations!"

"Oh, you have!" Her expression sharpened as Ziggy dug his paws into the grass. "Now let's see if you can keep up! GO! GO! GO!"

My grin grew.

After all, talking wasn't a free action.

While Violet had been enjoying herself, I'd been doing the same thing I'd practiced with Pichu since before camp began: narrowing everything I wanted into one sharp point of Intent. No complicated directions, no attempt to explain an entire plan through whatever half-formed connection we'd built between us. Just one command, focused as hard as I could make it.

"GO!" Up!

Pichu jumped.

Ziggy erupted forward beneath him, Extreme Speed carrying the Normal-type across the battlefield in a straight brown-and-white streak. Pichu twisted in midair and dragged one forepaw across his face, using the sweat matted into his fur from all the running and dodging to wipe away some of the sand around his eyes. He immediately winced, because rubbing sweat into irritated eyes probably felt about as pleasant as it sounded, but one light blue eye managed to crack open enough to lock onto his target.

I was absolutely going to owe him for that later.

For now, though, it was enough.

I'd noticed right away that there was a clear difference between the way Ziggy normally fought and the way he used Extreme Speed. His usual movement was chaos made fluffy, constantly cutting left and right with almost no warning, but Extreme Speed demanded commitment. Ziggy understood the Move well enough to launch himself at ridiculous speeds, but he was still young and nowhere near experienced enough to make those same violent direction changes while using it. Every time he activated the Move, his path straightened, and every time it ended, there was a tiny moment where his body had to catch up with what he'd just forced it to do.

Extreme Speed was powerful, but it wasn't free.

"Thunder Shock!"

Pichu twisted toward the recovering Zigzagoon as the blue glow of Calm Mind mixed with the yellow light exploding across his cheeks. The resulting Thunder Shock was noticeably stronger than the ones he'd been throwing around before, even without Charge backing it up, and the bolt caught Ziggy just as he tried to turn away. Electricity detonated across the grass in a burst of light and dirt, swallowing the Normal-type beneath a rapidly expanding cloud of dust.

Pichu landed hard a moment later, nearly collapsing before he managed to catch himself on all fours. His chest heaved from the combination of running, maintaining Calm Mind, leaning constantly on his Psychic senses, and now throwing out another heavy electrical attack. Through the thinning dust, I could just make out Ziggy lying motionless on his side.

For a second, I thought that was it…

Then Pichu's head snapped violently to the right.

My stomach dropped as the Ziggy inside the dust seemed to shimmer, his outline breaking apart before flickering out entirely. At almost the exact same moment, another brown-and-white blur tore in from Pichu's side, moving even faster than Ziggy had before.

Violet cackled. "Headbutt!"

"Pichu!"

But it was too late. Ziggy crashed into him with enough force to send Pichu tumbling across the grass. My partner bounced once, rolled, and finally came to a stop several yards away, while Ziggy skidded to a halt, looking almost as battered as the Pokémon he'd just hit. His fur was singed, his legs were trembling, and his breathing had become ragged, but somehow the little bastard had gotten faster.

So that was why she'd said "GO!" so many times! A fake-out Extreme Speed into a Substitute of all things!

"Come on, Pichu!" I called as he planted one paw against the ground and tried to force himself upright. His first attempt failed, but his ears twitched at my voice, and he tried again. "You've still got more in you than that!"

Across from us, Violet was doing much the same as Ziggy struggled to steady himself. She looked every bit as exhausted as her partner despite having never left her side of the field, yet her grin had only gotten wider. "This has been amazing!" she shouted before pointing toward Pichu. "But we're finishing it now! Ziggy, give us one final Headbutt!"

Ziggy barked and surged forward, and I felt a smidgen of true worry worm its way in.

Then the Zigzagoon, a Pokemon that had been practically dancing with its fancy footwork all match…tripped.

Yellow static suddenly crackled across his entire body, and Ziggy gave a startled yip as his legs locked beneath him. His momentum carried him forward just far enough to send him tumbling onto his face while Violet stared in shock.

I stared too, but only for a second.

Then everything clicked.

The first hit. The dozens of Physical Moves. Pichu clinging directly to him while Thunder Shock poured through both of them. Ziggy hadn't suddenly become faster because he'd somehow shaken off the damage!

He'd been faster because something had happened during it!

A laugh escaped me. "Quick Feet!"

Violet's head whipped toward me.

I pointed toward the still-sparking Zigzagoon, unable to keep the mad grin off my face. "He got faster after the fake-out because he's got Quick Feet. Ziggy's been Paralyzed!"

Her eyes widened before dropping toward her partner, understanding dawning across her face.

Which meant Pichu's Static Ability had apparently triggered sometime during that mess of direct contact without any of us noticing. Quick Feet had turned the status condition into an advantage by boosting Ziggy's speed, but it hadn't actually removed the Paralysis itself.

I laughed again. "Static, you beautiful bastard!"

"Pi..." Pichu managed weakly from where he was still trying to steady himself.

"It's a compliment, bud!" I thrust one hand toward Ziggy. "Now give us everything you've got! Thunder Shock!"

Pichu's cheeks began to glow.

Violet reacted immediately. "Stop him, Ziggy! Dig deep and use EXTREME SPEED!"

Ziggy forced himself upright despite the lingering sparks crawling through his fur, dug his paws into the ground, and ran. Pichu barely had time to brace before the Zigzagoon crossed the field, but this time we weren't planning on running.

"MAX POWER PICHU!"

Ziggy slammed into him at the exact moment Pichu released the attack.

The collision disappeared inside a violent burst of yellow-white electricity; Thunder Shock erupted outward from the point of impact hard enough to kick dust and burned grass into the air. Most had to look away from the blinding eruption, and the crowd went silent as the haze swallowed both Pokémon.

I leaned forward instinctively, searching for any hint of movement through the settling debris.

Two shapes slowly emerged.

Pichu stood on trembling legs, his head hanging low and his body already darkening in places from the beating he'd taken. Ziggy stood opposite him in much the same condition; every breath seemed like it might be the one that finally knocked him over.

But neither fell.

"Come on, Pichu."

My voice came out quieter than I'd intended, but his ears twitched toward me anyway.

There wasn't another trick left. No clever command, no hidden Move waiting to turn everything around. Pichu had already given me everything he had, and all I could do now was push every scrap of confidence, belief, and stubborn refusal to lose through the strange thread of Intent between us.

You can do this! "So stay up, bud!"

Across the field, Violet was doing the same, shouting encouragement toward Ziggy as he fought to keep his legs beneath him. For several long seconds, both Pokémon remained upright through sheer stubbornness, staring one another down while the entire battlefield seemed to hold its breath.

Then electricity crawled across Ziggy's fur again.

Violet's eyes widened. "Ziggy!"

The Normal-type's front legs folded beneath him, and this time he didn't manage to catch himself. He hit the grass and stayed there.

Pichu remained standing.

The referee waited long enough to be certain before raising one arm toward our side of the field. "Zigzagoon is unable to battle! Which means the winners of the match and Professor Oak's Summer Camp Tournament are TRAVIS CASHION AND PICHU!"

The lawn erupted around us, but I barely heard any of it.

Pichu's legs finally gave out, and I was already moving.

I reached him just before he hit the ground, scooping him up against my chest as carefully as I could. For a second I just held him there, one hand buried in his fur while all the tension from the battle finally melted into something warm and almost overwhelming.

Pride.

Relief.

Happiness.

I hugged him a little tighter, grinning so hard my face actually hurt.

"We did it, bud," I whispered into the fur between his ears. "You did it."

Pichu blearily blinked up at me before his gaze slowly wandered across the battlefield.

The cheering crowd surrounded the battlefield, dozens of voices blending together into a wall of sound as campers, parents, counselors, and Pokémon celebrated around us. Pichu's gaze wandered through them until it found the section we'd both recognize anywhere.

Mom was cheering loud enough to drown out nearly everyone else. Ash was outright bouncing on Momo's shoulder with Poliwag doing its best to imitate him, while Chloe, Goh, Serena, Delia, and everyone else waved those ridiculous little flags bearing my face.

Bearing our victory.

Pichu watched them for several quiet seconds before his gaze returned to me.

Something in his expression softened.

There was no smugness this time. No mischief, no attitude, or any of the old wariness I'd grown so used to seeing since we'd first met.

He just looked...content.

Then brilliant white light erupted from his body.

I sucked in a breath as the cheering around us seemed to die all at once.

The light was bright enough to make my eyes water, but I refused to look away. Even as black spots started swimming across my vision, I kept watching and tightened my hold as the small body in my arms began to change.

Pichu grew rapidly, his frame lengthening and filling out beneath the light as the small body in my arms became noticeably larger and heavier. My arms shifted to accommodate the added weight, and I jolted slightly when something longer brushed hard against my stomach before curling between us.

The glow finally began to fade.

I blinked several times against the spots dancing across my vision, and the first thing that came properly into focus was a pair of bright blue eyes. Eyes I knew all too well.

Pikachu looked back up at me with the same content expression he'd worn only moments earlier, larger now, different in a hundred obvious ways, yet still unmistakably him.

My throat tightened, and a wet chuckle escaped before I could stop it. I pulled him closer against my chest and smiled.

"Welcome to the world, Pikachu."

---

By the time everyone had been gathered for the closing ceremony, the battlefield had been cleared, the worst of the damage was patched over, and Pikachu had finally stopped inspecting every inch of his new body.

Mostly. His tail still seemed to be giving him trouble.

Unsurprisingly, suddenly gaining a tail nearly half your own size threw off one's sense of balance. He'd already smacked me with it twice and nearly knocked over Poliwag when he turned around too quickly. He was currently perched on my shoulder despite the fact that his newly increased size made the position considerably more awkward than it had been twenty minutes ago.

Neither of us really cared. We were too busy smiling like a pair of lunatics.

Professor Oak stood atop the small stage that had been set up near the main lawn, smiling as the last few campers settled into place with their families and Pokémon. Three small medals waited on a velvet-lined tray beside him, their bronze, silver, and gold surfaces catching the afternoon sunlight.

Violet, Gary, and I stood off to one side with our respective partners while Professor Oak stepped toward the microphone.

"Before we begin our final awards ceremony, I would first like to thank everyone for joining us this year. Campers, parents, counselors, and, of course, all of the Pokémon who helped make this week possible. Please, give them and yourselves a round of applause!"

An answering round of clapping and cheers swept through the crowd, and Professor Oak waited patiently for it to settle before continuing.

"When many of you arrived here a week ago, some had never cared for a Pokémon on your own. Some had never spent a night outdoors, read a trail map, prepared your own meals, or participated in a proper Pokémon battle. Others already had experience in one area or another, but if there is one thing a lifetime of studying Pokémon has taught me, it is that there is always something new to learn."

His smile widened as he looked across the gathered campers.

"And I believe all of you have proven that this week. I've watched new partnerships form, friendships grow, individuals learn how to work as part of a team, and quite a few mistakes become lessons that I suspect some of you won't be forgetting anytime soon."

There were scattered laughs at that, particularly from the counselors.

Professor Oak chuckled with them before gesturing toward the three of us standing beside him. "And I can hardly imagine a more memorable way to bring our final day to a close than the tournament we've just witnessed. Wouldn't you all agree?!"

Cheers erupted across the lawn all over again, several campers shouting about one match or another while the final received more than its fair share of attention. I felt Pikachu sit a little straighter on my shoulder (and almost overbalance again; he was a chonky boy now) when his name was inevitably yelled from somewhere in the now very appropriately named Pikachu Group.

Beside me, Violet looked every bit as pleased as she glanced down at Ziggy, while even Gary wore a proud little smirk as Rattata pressed against his leg. Whatever places we'd ended up taking, all three of us had fought our way onto this stage.

Professor Oak allowed the cheering to settle before turning toward the tray of medals.

"But a tournament still needs its winners recognized." His eyes twinkled as he reached toward the bronze medal. "So, without further ado, I believe we have some awards to present."

First went Gary, who received bronze after winning the third-place match against the other semifinalist. He accepted the medal with enough pride that you'd think it was solid gold anyway, while Rattata sat beside him with its chest puffed out in almost perfect imitation.

Violet came next, practically skipping forward to accept her silver medal while Ziggy happily weaved through her legs. Whatever disappointment she might have felt over losing seemed to have been thoroughly outweighed by how much she'd enjoyed the battle itself.

"And finally, the winner of our tournament, Travis Cashion and his newly evolved Pikachu!"

The cheering started again as I moved forward, Pikachu's ears twitching at the sudden volume while he practically beamed from his place on my shoulder. Professor Oak waited until I stopped in front of him before lifting the gold medal from the tray and carefully looping its ribbon over my head.

"Congratulations, Travis," he said, lowering his voice enough that the microphone no longer carried it across the lawn. His eyes moved briefly toward Pikachu, and his smile widened. "To both of you, really. Winning the tournament would have been memorable enough, but I suspect that evolution ensured quite a few of our campers will remember this afternoon for years to come."

Pikachu chirped proudly, and I didn't even attempt to hide my own happiness. "Believe me, Professor, I won't be forgetting it either."

Professor Oak chuckled before his expression softened. "Still, I have to ask. When you first arrived, you were not particularly enthused about camp. I hope your time here has perhaps changed that opinion?"

I twitched slightly at the reminder of my less-than-mature behavior barely a week ago. "There were definitely some annoying parts..." I trailed off as my eyes wandered past him.

My group was standing near the front.

Ash noticed first and immediately started waving hard enough to nearly smack Goh in the face. Goh shoved his arm away before waving too, Chloe giving both of them an exasperated look even as she raised her own hand. Serena smiled brightly beside them, while Poliwag, Caterpie, and Yamper added their own collection of excited noises.

Mom stood just behind them with Delia, Momo, and Bliss, looking entirely too pleased with herself as the rest of the parents waved and laughed at the kiddy crew's antics.

I chuckled and turned back toward Professor Oak. "But...I guess I made some decent friends."

His expression warmed. "That's about all I could have hoped for."

Professor Oak gave my shoulder a brief squeeze before turning back toward the microphone, and I stepped aside as he addressed the camp one final time.

"The lessons you've practiced here are not something I expect you to leave behind simply because camp is ending. The Pokémon you've met, the experiences you've shared, and the friendships you've made can follow you long after today, so long as you choose to carry them with you."

His gaze swept across the crowd.

"Some of you may become Trainers. Some may become researchers, Coordinators, Breeders, Rangers, or choose paths none of us here could predict. Whatever you decide, I hope this week helped you understand Pokémon and one another just a little better."

Professor Oak lifted one hand.

"And with that, I officially declare this year's Summer Camp complete! Thank you all for coming!"

The applause that followed lasted considerably longer, and judging by more than a few expressions around the lawn, plenty of campers weren't particularly happy to suddenly realize it was really over.

I waited for Violet and Gary to clear the steps before following them down, only for Violet to slow once we reached the grass.

"Sooo, Travis. Pretty great battle, right?"

There was something in her expression I recognized immediately. The unmistakable spark of someone who was already thinking about the next one.

I smirked. "Oh yeah. I had a lot of fun."

Her grin widened, that same competitive fire peeking through. "Good, because I don't plan on losing next time!"

My own smile sharpened in answer. "Funny. I was thinking the same thing."

"Hold on!" We both turned to find Gary standing a short distance away, looking personally offended by the entire conversation. "I already called a rematch!"

Violet blinked. "So?"

"So you can't just call one too!"

"Why not?"

"Because I called it first!"

Violet tilted her head as though seriously considering his words before a mischievous smile spread across her face. "Yeah, but I was his last fight, so obviously I get first dibs!"

Gary gaped at her. "That's...That's not how this works! You can't just call dibs!"

"That sounds like a you problem~"

Violet gave me a cheerful wave before walking away with Ziggy, even as Gary was left sputtering behind her in half-formed denials and kiddy curses.

I snorted and started toward my family and friends.

"Hey!" Gary called after me. "Don't think this means anything, Cashion! Next time we battle, I'm winning!"

Without turning around, I lifted one hand in a lazy wave. "Sure you are, Gary. Smell ya later."

"I MEAN IT!"

Pikachu laughed from my shoulder, the sound bright and tired and entirely too pleased with himself, yet I couldn't help laughing with him as together we headed back to the waiting arms of our family.

---

Author's Note:

Welp! How's that for the end of our first technical tournament?! Fun? Exciting? Wholesome? Lived up to the hype?! (I'm so dearly hoping, lol.)

However it left you, I mostly hope it continues to make you come back for more. You've been a wonderful audience so far, and I sincerely hope you'll continue to enjoy my story! I sure know I am!

Hope it's not too presumptuous, but I've got a up and running! If you want to read 5 chapters ahead or just support me in general, feel free to visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / IcurasFallen

 

[Krekkles]

Thanks for the chapter.

Great fight to end the tournament.

 

[Lillie Jones]

Absolute Cinema
The Journey continues
What a fun summer for Travis and his friends and newly evolved Pikachu at the Professor Oak summer camp.
The Journey continues
Cheers!