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.