Ash and the others left Trovitopolis and headed towards Trovita Island. The Island as it turns out is surrounded be whirlpools and huge spiked rocks. Charizard rumbled as he hovered above the island before descending and landing on what looked like landing pads for helicopters. Ash gave a stretch as he waited for Gou and Tracey to get off Pidgeot and Fearrow respectively. He returned the three to take some rest and followed after Tracey as he led the way to the gym.
Ash, "So this is Trovita Island."
Gou, "It looks really nice."
Tracey, "The third gym was actually in Trovitopolis but five years ago moved to this island."
Lucario, -A fine choice.-
Pikachu cooed, "Pikapi pika."
Phantump floated around Ash, "Phaaaaaa."
Tyrunt rushed ahead, "Ty Ty."
Omanyte on Tyrunt's back, "Yte."
Cinderace rushed after the young ones, "Ace cinder."
Lucario, -Same training plan?-
Ash hmmed, "Yes, remember we are training for the League and Grande Festival not just the gym."
Lucario nodded, -It'll be after the League correct?-
Ash, "Mn, we will not have the time to come up with combos as we'll have only one week after the League before the Grand Festival starts."
Tracey whistled, "It'll be very busy month for you."
Gou, "Yeah! Will you be okay?"
Ash waved, "It's not a bad thing. We can finish them one after the other. Sure it'll be very exhausting but it's what we chose to do."
Gou, "Let's take a vacation!"
Ash, "Eh?"
Gou, "After you finish the Kanto League and the Grand Festival. Let's go on a vacation."
Tracey nodded, "That's a good idea."
Lucario, -We could go to Alola.-
Ash laughed, "Sure, I was thinking about meeting Kiawe and the others anyway."
Gou, "And you are not allowed to take part in the Alola League while we are there. We will be going there for you to rejuvenate and relax from League and Festival battles."
Ash, "Of course, of course. Two weeks of rest and relaxation before I go to Jhoto."
Gou, "I have been to Jhoto twice. It's pretty cool."
They entered the Pokecentre as Gou told them about his trips to Jhoto for the Professor and how he was searching for clues for Suicuine, Raikou and Entei. The Professor had been surprised when he learned Suicuine was spotted in Kanto and sent him to Jhoto to see if he could find some clues as to why the Legendary was not on it's main territory. Suffice to say Gou did not find much clue but remembered the Legendary was interested in Ash.
Ash, "Ah! That's only thanks to the feather Ho oh left me I think."
Tracey gasped as Ash showed the feather in the safety of their rooms, "That's... Ash! That is the real deal."
Gou chuckled, "Yeah, that was my reaction too when I first saw it."
Ash, "Before you ask, no Tracey I don't know why Ho oh gave me his feather. I don't know what he was doing in Kanto, that too very conveniently near Pallet town. I promised my family I would not go searching for Ho oh as that would be really dangerous."
Tracey sighed in relief, "That's good, I really don't want to tell you about the tales that rotate around about trainers searching for Ho oh, only to go insane or loose their lives."
Gou, "Which is exactly why he's not searching for Ho oh, aside from the journey there are those questionable organizations floating around."
Ash leaned back against Charizard who had taken over his bed, "My Pokemon would be pushed to the limit and beyond to battle them, especially with the technology they are using during battles."
Gou frowned, "I can't believe they created a mind controlling device."
Cinderace hissed, "Ace!"
Gou pat his shoulder, "It was disturbing how dead the eyes of the Pokemon looked."
Lucario, -They commit blasphemy by forcing Pokemon to battle under the influence of a foreign object, instead of working together with them. The bond between Pokemon and trainer... it's not just the humans who strive for it, Pokemon do so as well. Tales of higher evolution go around many Pokemon clans, evolution resulting from a powerful bond between humans and Pokemon, and I can honestly say they are true.-
Ash hugged Lucario, "I know buddy."
Charizard snarled remembering the battle, his opponent had even turned an unforgivable eye on his brood. He should have ripped that bastard's head off and would have too, if he had not been busy fighting. Of course, the next few humans who turned a covetous eye on his humans were not shown mercy, and he enjoyed making himself clear. His brood both Pokemon and humans were his, and no one was allowed to touch them without his permission. Lucario had not gone against his decision in fact he had approved it as the pack alpha followed by Pikachu the second in command.
The two of them turned to the chat where Serena made plans to visit Pinkan Island and invited all the girls for a girls outing next season. Misty promised to be there on time with Lana, the two girls had made plans to check Orange Islands out together. The boys were talking about their plans, Gary had apparently decided to get his hands on the certificate they had talked about before. Zoey, Mallow and Sophocles encouraged him while Ritchie, Drew and their favorite twins were not online currently. Ash half wondered what they were upto before shrugging and wishing them goodnight and going off to sleep. He spent the next three days training his Pokemon before heading towards the Gym to challenge it.
A little girl greeted them, "Hello, I'm Mahri, welcome to Trovita Island Gym."
Ash smiled, "Hello Mahri, my name is Ash and I came here for the gym challenge."
Mahri nodded, "My big brother has been waiting actually. Well he has heard a lot of stuff about you."
Ash gave a wry smile, "Good things I hope."
A red haired teen greeted them, "Hello I'm Rudy, the gym leader. Are you ready for the challenge?"
Ash grinned, "Definitely!"
Rudy, "There will be two challenges, the first round is a point round where your Pokemon will compete with my Pokemon to collect points. The second round will be a three on three battle round. You will have to pick which type you want to battle, also you cannot use the Pokemon from first round in the second round."
Ash nodded, "Electric, Grass and Fighting for the second round and as for the first round, ready Chimchar?"
Chimchar, "Chim chim char."
Rudy, "Alright then hope on the boat and we'll get going, get ready Seadra."
Seadra nodded and they went towards the rocky part of the island where there were bull's-eye marks spread ace the water. Ash guided Chimchar to use ember and hit as many marks as he could for points, without letting his ember die out due to the water. It was a bit of a challenge but after the third try, Chimchar got the hang of it and tied with Seadra.
Rudy, "Not bad, you tied with Seadra, most trainers loose to my girl here and have to do an additional test. On to the next round then, are you ready?"
Ash half wondered what the additional test was, "Yep!"
Ash followed Rudy to a battlefield on top of one of the cliffs, "Do you mind if I let my younger Pokemon out?"
Rudy, "Not at all, as long as they don't interfere in the battle, it is fine."
Ash, "Thanks, Come out, Phantump, Omanyte, Tyrunt, Chimchar, Lapras and Magby you get to watch the battles. Charizard, you are in charge of watching over them."
Charizard nodded, "Rrrrrrr."
Ash turned to Pikachu, "Ready for battle Pikachu?"
Pikachu, "Pika!"
Rudy, "Ready Electabuzz!"
Electabuzz, "Zzzzzzzzz!"
Mahri, "Begin!"
Ash, "Quick attack, followed by iron tail."
Rudy, "Thunder punch."
Pikachu ran around Electabuzz as he tried to hit the quick little mouse before he got annoyed and hit the ground in front of the speeding Pokemon. Pikachu however didn't stop and jumped over the uneven earth and rushed to Electabuzz and hit him with a powerful iron tail. Electabuzz grunted at the hit but stood up and faced Pikachu who smirked at him.
Rudy, "Thunder wave!"
Ash, "Iron tail!"
Pikachu hit the ground with Iron tail and the thunder wave passed harmlessly through the electric mouse to the ground. Pikachu then grinned before attacking Electabuzz again with iron tail hitting him straight on before the electric type could recover from using a powerful electric attack. Electabuzz grunted as he fell out cold and Pikachu landed giving a triumphant shout.
Mahri, "Electabuzz is unable to battle, Pikachu is the winner."
Rudy, "Return Electabuzz, not bad Ash but don't think you have won this round yet, let's go Exeggutor."
Ash grinned, "Of course, let's go Ivysaur!"
Mahri, "Begin."
Rudy, "Psychic."
Ash, "Use double team to confuse."
Ivysaur double teamed and Exeggutor looked around confused as to which Ivysaur was the real one.
Rudy, "Use magical leaf and find the real one."
Ash, "Solar beam!"
Ivysaur power ups a strong solar beam as Exeggutor used magical leaf to get rid of the copies. Just as the coconut Pokemon reached Ivysaur a solar beam was shot right on to Exeggutor's face. Exeggutor was shot back and landed outcold outside the battle ring.
Ash winced, "Looks like your solar beam has become stronger."
Ivysaur smirked, "Saur!"
Mahri, "Exeggutor is unable to battle, Ivysaur wins."
Ivysaur started to glow and become bigger making Ash's eyes widen, he had known Ivysaur was getting stronger and soon enough he would be evolving. He didn't realize it would come this soon, or perhaps it was not so soon, Ash amended looking at Charizard who roared a congratulations at his Grass type counterpart. Charizard was keeping an eye on Tyrunt, Phantump, Omanyte, Chimchar and Lapras who were watching from the sides. The little ones were curious about the battles especially Lapras who had started to follow Milotic, Kingler and Wartotle around imitating their training. Ash would have preferred Lapras was at least one year old but a talk with the flock leader had shown it was normal for even babies to train. Although battling had to wait till six months had passed but it was not unexpected that some young Pokemon would be involved in battles.
Ash hugged Venasaur, "Congratulations bud, you did it, you evolved."
Venasaur wrapped his vines around Ash gently squeezing him as he rumbled, "Ve."
Rudy, "Congratulations Ash, watching a Pokemon evolve is always a delight."
Chimchar approached Venasaur, "Chim char chim."
Venasaur picked him up and went to sit beside Charizard who was lazing over a rock watching over the others. The two nodded at each other before turning their attention to the next battle. Lucario took his place on the battlefield and Rudy chose Machamp took battle Lucario.
Mahri, "Begin!"
Ash, "Lucario bone rush!"
Rudy, "Bulk up!"
Lucario attacked Machamp and Machamp defended against Lucario for about a whole minute before they separated. Lucario used agility to land hits on Machamp and Machamp blocked most of the attacks.
Mahri, "I don't hear any attacks being said."
Gou, "Sometimes you don't need to say anything attack out loud for the Pokemon to hear it."
Tracey nodded, "Instinct coupled with training together side by side plays a powerful factor."
Mahri's eyes widened, "So our Pokemon know what we want even without us needing to tell them? That's really cool!"
Gou smiled, "You need to have a strong bond with them in order for it to work."
Mahri nodded and turned her attention back to the battle, Lucario had won, "Machamp is unable to battle, Lucario is the winner."
Rudy, "Return Machamp, congratulations Ash!On both winning the match and the successful evolution."
Ash smiled as he was hugged by Lucario, "Thank you Rudy."
Rudy smiled as he held a badge, "I'm proud to present to you the Spike shell badge as proof of your victory."
Ash took the badge, "Thank you Rudy! Look guys we got our third badge."
Chimchar climbed Ash's shoulder and inspected the badge, he was very excited as this would be the first badge he had won. He looked at it with twinkling eyes and decided on becoming a main battler rather than a contest Pokemon. He would leave that to his other siblings, he wanted to battle and win more badges instead. Ash had shown them all his ribbons and badges when he took them out to clean them and Chimchar preferred the shiny badges over the colourful ribbons.
[A. N. : Finally free time to upload.
Easter really kept me busy, extra work then family picnic. It was fun.
I hope you all had fun a Easter as well.]