The next day Ash had woken up snuggled between all of his Pokemon on his bed, they had somehow managed to fit in somewhere with him. He remembered last night after dinner he had called his home first and talked to his mother who was relieved to see him doing well. Ash had told her about Bulbasaur and Squirtle and she had been excited to meet them, she even told Charmender she would be waiting for him to come home. Charmander had simply nodded in answer while Ash ended his call and rang up the Professor. He had agreed to send Pikachu, Pidgeotto and Togepi while he got Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Milotic. He couldn't wait to either have five badges or ribbons and have the right to carry more than six Pokemon at a time of course it's just one ball per badge after that but still.
Ash, "Well, guys let's train before breakfast, it's still early in the morning and we have three hours before the cafeteria opens."
Lucario, -Let's do this together.-
Pikachu, "Pika pikachu!"
Ash turned to Charmander, "We will first work on your endurance and increasing your strength."
Charmander looked down, "Char... "
Ash, "Stop, no no no! It is not your fault, absolutely not, do not apologize for this, Damien was cruel, he completely failed in training you. But don't worry we will not be stupid like him. You will become the one of strongest Charizard in the world, this I promise you."
Primeape hugged Charmander, "Ape ape."
Charmander melted, "Chaaaaaaar!"
Ash had spoken about his plan to help Charmander with his Pokemon and they agreed to it. Pidgeotto and Togepi had taken the young fire type Pokemon and talked to him about their experience with their bad trainer as they did the most basic type of training. They worked on their endurance and stamina as compared to others they still had a long way to go thanks to their previous trainers. Ash on the other hand was able to get an hour each of one on one training with Lucario, Pikachu and Primeape and the difference was pretty evident. He was also very relieved to see Charmander had been very busy with his own training to start feeling anxious or worried about him.
Pikachu climbed his shoulder and nuzzled him, "Pikapi, pika pikachu?"
Ash smiled, "Just thinking about what Surge said yesterday, buddy. Don't worry about me, I'm not the one hurt."
Lucario, -Don't worry, the fact he was able to go three hours without feeling anxious or worried is an improvement compared to the last few days.-
Primeape, "Ape ape! ape ape."
Lucario, -Fire punch? Alright teach him but pace the training a bit yeah.-
Pikachu, "Pika pikachu Pikapi pika."
Ash smiled, "Of course you can teach him Iron tail buddy but after he masters Fire punch okay? We don't want to set his physical healing backwards."
The Pokemon nodded in agreement and watched as the three joined them to go and get breakfast. He joined the others by the table that was located near the window, with their Pokemon around them. It always fascinated him how the centre was able to hold their Pokemon so easily, Red had once told him that in the beginning the large Pokemon were not allowed outside their pokeballs in the centres. Now it was different, Red, Blue and a few other friends of theirs had done a complete overhaul of the entire league and society.
Lance had tried to do his best with both Jhoto and Kanto as the dual Champion but there was only so much one man could do. Now he had more free time as an Elite member although he still attended the Champion meetings as Blue returned his Championship to Lance. Ash wondered what Lance in this world was like, was he like the anime version or the manga, Ash hoped he would not have to worry about Lance going crazy eco terrorist. Ash sweatdropped remembering that's not possible considering the friendly relationship his older brothers had with the man.
Brock, "Are you thinking about yesterday?"
Ash, "Huh? No just wondering what the others are up-to. They have not come back yet."
Brock, "Well Jessilina has her battle tomorrow and Surge is not a pushover. Misty spent the night with Chloe as she had not spent time with her for a year."
Ash, "Ah! I don't blame her for that. It's been a long time since we saw Gou and Chloe."
Brock, "Sounds like you have good relationship with them."
Ash smiled as he told Brock about their adventures during summer camp. Jameson and Jessilina joined them a few minutes after Ash had started to talk and they listened interested in how his childhood was. Their adventure flabbergasted the three, who in the world was lucky enough to come across an egg in the wild let alone four of them. They looked at Lucario with a new light after the story telling ended and understand where the habit of sleeping with Pokemon originated from. Misty joined them with Chloe and Gou following her after a while, since it was Sunday they didn't have school and had decided to hang out with them.
Gou, "Professor Sakuragi gave me a break today and permission to record your battles."
Jessilina, "Well I don't mind, just get my good side on camera. K?"
Gou, "Of course! I would not do anything else."
Jameson, "Well I need to go meet a few people to talk about family business, I'll see you around."
Meowth followed James out, "Ya kay James?"
James, "I'm fine, just lost in thought."
Meowth, "This bout the kid?"
James, "Partly yes, but not completely."
Meowth, "Talk ta me!"
James, "Well there have been rumours about some of the darker factions being seen here."
Meowth's eyes sharpened, "Do we need ta clean house? Ya knw m more den hapy ta."
James, "We will but I want to get them all in one single clean shot."
Meowth, "Dos Jess know?"
James nodded, "She was the one who noticed the presence."
Meowth, "Dats our gal. I'm guessing she's in kid control."
James gave a dark grin, "While we clean up."
Ash was on the other hand wishing Gary luck, "Good luck battling Sabrina. She has to be one of the strongest gym leaders in Kanto."
Gary, "Thanks Ashy boy! I will see you around."
Ash →_→, "Not gonna let that go, are ya?"
Gary gave a :3 look, "Nope!"
Gou, "Best of luck Gary."
Chloe, "See you at the end of the three weeks."
Misty, "You better be there."
Gary, "Wouldn't miss it for the world. You better be there too Ash."
Ash, "We will."
Gary left for Saffron city with his group and Ash, Misty and Jessilina decided to have a mock battle against each other. Brock stepped up as the healer while Chloe decided to referee. Gou had a fun time recording the different Pokemon they had, he was surprised Misty had a Butterfree with her.
Misty grinned, "I'm gonna be a Water Pokemon Master, I can't let my fear get in my way you know."
Gou, "Of course there are water and bug types too out there."
Misty, "Yup."
From the mock battles, it was pretty obvious Lucario dominated the battlefield, Ash knew it would happen, his Lucario could go toe to toe with Red's Charizard. The only thing that held Lucario back was the lack of experience in prolonged fighting which depended more on their endurance other than power. He was still not sure about becoming a Champion however as Champions have to be responsible for their region. But he supposed he could always return the title like Blue had done before becoming a gym leader. The younger Pokemon were watching the battle wide eyed from the sides especially Charmander as he looked at Lucario with starry eyes. He would become just as powerful and capable one day, not get hurt anymore and most importantly protect his new family. Togepi and Pidgeotto assured him all three of them would become strong together and show their previous trainers how wrong they were. Charmander nodded in agreement, he would show Damien he was wrong about him that he was not weak.
Charmander turned to Primeape, "Char char charmander."
Primeape nodded before turning to Ash, "Ape!"
Ash, "You want to teach him the other elemental punches? Alright but be careful, I'll be over soon."
Charmander, "Charmander!"
Gou watched as Primeape took Charmander to the side, "I didn't know that Ash's Pokemon helped during training."
Brock smiled, "It's not an uncommon practice, most older trainers do this to either help the Pokemon teaching to gain confidence or to help the team gain better team work experience."
Chloe, "That's actually smart, I bet it helps them in keeping team harmony and lowering the fights for leadership too."
Jessilina who joined them chimed in, "It does actually, by a long mile. Fights among the team is stressful not only for the trainer but also for the Pokemon who start questioning their position. Allowing them to train the younger ones or new ones, let them know they are just as important to the Pokemon as they are to the trainer."
Gou smiled, "I think I understand that."
James meanwhile had gotten inside one of the underground bases, "I'm in Meowth."
Meowth, "Let's burn dis joint."
James moved following Meowth's advice as the cat Pokemon put the cameras near James in a loop. The blue haired man walked around pretending to be one of the grunts and planting remote controlled bombs on the main supports of the base. He frowned seeing a few grunts who were too young to even be here, when he realized they were being groomed. He bit back a snarl before walking to the control room and under the pretence of fixing the bug released Porygon who helped Meowth and Rotom download the three teen's profile. To say Meowth was disturbed by what he found was an understatement, they had been chosen to be experimented on should they fail and what's even worse they wanted to recreate the Mewtwo experiment.
Meowth, "We gotta problem."
James, "What's wrong?"
Meowth, "Dere's suppos ta be four of dem, not three."
James, "Where's the fourth?"
Porygon, "Ry."
Meowth, "I think t'ey t'ok him to be an experiment."
James, "Human - Pokemon experimentation? They are experimenting on both humans and Pokemon! Unbelievable! You know what, download everything and just blow this place up."
Meowth, "We'll be killing alotta people. Not ta forget put the forest in danger."
Rotom, "Bzzzt... "
James, "I know. If someone finds out put the blame on me."
Meowth was quite for a while, "Ya know v'ry wel Jessie and I won't do that ta ya James."
James was quite, "I think the three teens have their own separate pagers where they receive orders. Think you can hack them and get them out. If possible I rather not have the blood of children on my hands."
Meowth didn't comment on the subject change, "No problm, Porygon, Rotom and I got it handl'd. They'll be leavng in fifteen min'tes."
James, "Then I'll start the timer to go off in twenty, that should be more than enough."
Meowth, "Wat ar u doing James? Get out of there. The timer has started."
James, "I know but I want to make sure we did not over look anything. Interesting these guys are in league with other Teams."
Meowth frowned, "Other teams?"
James, "Team Galactic and Team Flare."
Meowth, "WTF? Aren't they run by psychos?"
James, "Apparently! They are looking for the Chosen One. What is Mew's name is a Chosen One?"
Meowth, "Psycho!"
James, "They really went over the top with this. Listen to this, if they are unable to find the Chosen one, they would create one themselves."
Meowth was disgusted, "Hence the Human Pokemon experimentation. Dey tryng ta produce hybrids, dos this mean Mewtwo's one?"
James, "See if you can track the fourth, I can see the three of them leaving."
Meowth, "James get out, back here and the three of us will plan something."
James left the base the same way that he came and no one was the wiser. He and Meowth rejoined the others who welcomed them before the city was disturbed by a massive tremour. Ash grabbed on to Lucario while Butterfree grabbed Misty, Gou held Scorbunny, Chloe grabbed Yamper trying to balance themselves. Brock held on to Graveller who righted him while Jessie and James looked at each other trying to get balance. The Pokemon looked around before they were returned for their safety.
Ash, "What was that?"
Misty, "Earthquake?"
Gou, "Vermillion city does not get earthquakes and the training grounds are equipped with shock absorbers."
Jessilina, "I see smoke."
Chloe, "It's coming from the east, the forest!"
Brock, "Don't tell me someone was dumb enough to battle or train without following safety, dammit."
An announcement came, "Trainers and people who have licence to have Pokemon are requested to volunteer to put out the fire alongside the firefighters, rangers and Gym leader. I repeat, please volunteer to help in putting out the fire."
Ash, "Let's go."
Everyone, "Yeah!"
They ran towards the forest that was burning and James winced, he had known the forest would catch fire but did not realize it would be this bad. James and Jessie moved towards where they knew the base was saying they will try to control it from there. Ash nodded at them, before seeing Surge and heading towards him.
Surge, "You are here and with your group. Got any Pokemon who can help with the fire?"
Brock, "Onix and Graveller can help."
Ash nodded, "I have been training Pikachu to use surf. Primeape and Lucario mastered rock slide. Charmander just started but he can use it too."
Misty, "I got my water Pokemon."
Chloe, "Nickit knows mud shot."
Gou, "Yeah! And Scorbunny is fast, he can get any Pokemon out."
Surge, "Brock and Misty you will join the firefighters. Ash, Gou and Chloe fire control with the rangers. Move move! We have a fire to put out and Pokemon to help."
Surge watched as the kids, because that's exactly what they were except Brock, ran to help where they can. He turned to look at the blazing fire infront of him, he knew quite well this was no accident nor was this Pokemon created. This was done by a human, he cursed in his mind whoever it was that did this, no humans outside of the army soldiers should know how to create bombs. When you left you had to sign more than one NDAs to make sure no one tried to misuse that knowledge, when he gets his hands on that person. He turned to the bodies they had found and hoped no soldier was dumb enough to join the criminal organization, because if they survived this, he was killing them himself.