The Rise Of The Guardians

Chapter 1: Team Magma Rising

One day, Ash was sitting down at his home in Pallet Town, home from his latest regional challenge, though this time he didn't even manage to get all eight badges in time. So he was staying home, taking a break from his Pokémon journey. Then he heard the phone ring. When he picked it up he said, "Hello, Ketchum residence. Ash speaking."

"Ash!" the person on the other end said, "you're just the person I needed to talk to."

" Lance? Why? No, actually, what do you mean?"

"Well, as it turns out, someone has taken control of Team Magma."

"Team Magma? What does that have to do with me?"

"Well, after our last misadventure with them, they know me, so I can't go in myself again."

"Wait. You're telling me that you want me to infiltrate Team Magma?"

"Yes."

"Why me?"

"Well, as I said, I can't do it myself, and you are the only other person that I can think of that can fill the role on quick notice."

"What do you mean 'the role'?"

"The results of your latest regional attempt gives us the ability to get you in as a trainee. Of course, there will need to be some...measures implemented for your cover to stick."

"What do you mean measures?"

"Will you do it or won't you?"

"I suppose," Ash said. "It certainly beats sitting around here day in, day out, thinking over everything that I did wrong."

"Good. Then I want you to meet me at Pallet Town Port in three hours."

"Three hours! Isn't that a little soon?"

"Yes, but I'm afraid that there is little time to waste."

"Alright, sure. Three hours it is," Ash said, hanging up on Lance. He called out, "Mum, I'm going to meet someone at the port, okay?"

"Sure thing honey!" Delia called out.

Ash then ran up to his room and threw some clothes into a backpack and quickly changed into his travelling clothes, which were now blue jeans, a black shirt polo shirt and a royal blue trench coat. Ash then bolted back downstairs, calling out, "See ya!" to his mother as he ran out the front door, surprising her when she saw what he was wearing.
Delia thought, 'Well, I guess he's off again,' and sighed in regret at having her son's extended stay cut short.

Ash wasted no time in going to Professor Oaks Lab and retrieving six of his Pokémon. He bade the professor farewell as he released his new, shiny, Charizard and hopped on her back, and flew to Pallet Town Port.

XXXXX​

When Ash got to Pallet Town Port he found Lance already waiting for him, which surprised him as he had gotten there half an hour early. He landed in front of Lance and dismounted, leaving Charizard out, in case she was needed. He said, "Hey," and nodded at Lance.

Lance nodded and said, "Ash."

"So, what's going on?"

"I don't know. That's why I need you to go undercover for me."

"Okay, so what do I do?"

"Well, there's a few things that you're going to need to know. The first of which is that your trainer license has been revoked."

"It's what!" Ash exclaimed as Pikachu's cheeks started to spark on his shoulder.

"It had to be done."

"Why?"

"You are a very famous trainer Ash. Equally famous are your speeches about trusting in your Pokémon and their abilities. Without a very good reason there would be no reason for Team Magma to even consider you joining them." Ash shrugged, admitting that there was probably some truth in what Lance was saying. "So what I am going to have to do now will probably seem excessively cruel."

"What? What do you mean?"

Lance sighed. "Ash, you're going to have to give me all of your Pokémon."

"What!?" Ash exclaimed, an intense anger washing over him. If it's massive roar was any indication, Charizard also felt.

"If your trainer's license has been revoked, you cannot very well keep all of your Pokémon now then, can you?"

Ash sighed and said, "I suppose not," reluctantly handing his pokébelt over to lance with all of his pokéballs in it. "Now what?"

"You're going to take this ticket and spend every night getting drunk until you reach Oldale Town in the Hoenn Region. Then, when you're there you are going to go to The Drunken Rapidash and get well and truly sloshed, then spend the night in the alley next to it. If all goes well then you should end up meeting someone from Team Magma there. If not, then do it again and again until you do."

"Get drunk? That's it?"

"Pretty much, and the louder you are about your misery, the better."

"I see," Ash said, taking the ticket.

Before Ash could walk off, Lance said, "Don't worry too much Ash. If we're aware of their actions, even over here in the Kanto Region, then it's very difficult to believe that they are completely unaware of their movements in the Hoenn Region, so there will likely be at least one other person with you. That said, I would advise that you not actively search for them, lest you break both your cover, and theirs."

"Alright. Thanks Lance," Ash said, heading to the ship.

Pikachu let out a mournful cry as it saw Ash walk away. Lance calmed it down somewhat by scratching it on its electric sacs, saying, "Don't worry Pikachu, I'm sure that he'll be fine. After all, despite his recent spate of bad luck, he is still one of the strongest trainers I know. And that's saying something."

​

XXXXX​

After a week that Ash didn't remember he woke up, groaning. When he opened his eyes he forced them shut tight, exclaiming in pain, the light too bright for his beer-addled mind. He heard a female voice say, "I would advise against trying to open your eyes for some time yet."

Ash kept his eyes closed as he asked, "Whr 'm I?"

The voice said, "You were passed out in an alley next to The Drunken Rapidash. We brought you here to rest and recover. You've been having a rough time of it since that happened, haven't you?"

"D'nt wunna tu'k 'bout't."

"I see. Well, be that as it may, there is someone that wants to meet you."

"Hu?"

"Well, you'll find out later, after you are over your hangover."

"'S'at W'at des'r'?"

"Yes; and a ripper of a one by the sounds of it." Ash groaned. "Well, just give it a few minutes...or hours, and you'll get over it."

A few hours later the woman came back in to find that Ash was now sitting up on the bed, looking around for his shirt...and pants for that matter. When the woman came in he said, "Uhh, thanks for bringing me in 'n' all, but..."

"What happened to your clothes?"

"Yeah."

"Well, when we found you your clothes reeked of alcohol. So we had to take them off you before putting you to bed. Speaking of which, you really should have a shower before you meet Courtney."

"Courtney?"

"Yes. The Magma Admin that is in charge of this facility."

"Magma? What's that got to do with anything? I mean, it is buried quite far underground."

"That is for her to tell you. For now, shower."

"Alright, but where?"

The woman said, "There is a bathroom in through that door," indicating a door on the left side of the room, "and a change of clothes in the other one," indicating an identical door on the right. "There is a towel on the rack in the bathroom. I'll come back when you are done." She then left the room.
About thirty minutes later Ash was done in the shower and dried off. He then left the bathroom and walked to the door on the opposite side of the room. He opened the door and found piles and piles of clothes, all of which were red. Ash gulped and shrugged as he said, "Ah well, I guess they like red here, don't they?" He rummaged through them all until he found what he deemed good enough to wear. He ended up wearing a red jacket with two pockets on either breast that fastened with push clips and one on the inside that fastened the same way, below which he wore a black t-shirt. He also found a pair of black pants and black shoes that fit him, that were stuffed under all of the red. The jacket also had a hood that could be stowed in a zippered compartment at the neck. Once he was dressed, Ash said, "Well, it'll do," and knocked on the door.

Soon enough the woman that had been tending to him opened the door and said, "Hello again. It's nice to see you when you don't reek of liquor."

"Uhh...thanks, I think."

"Now, if you'd follow me then I'll take you to Courtney." Ash followed the woman down a nondescript hallway. Somewhere near the end of the hallway she stopped and said, "If you'll go through here Courtney will see you momentarily," indicating a door on the left.

"Sure thing," Ash said, entering the room. When he had he saw that there was a simple table with two identical chairs on opposite sides. He sat shrugged and sat down in the closest one, not saying a word.

Ash didn't have to wait long until a girl that didn't seem to be much older than him, if she was, entered through the door that he had not long ago. She grunted and moved around the other side of the table to take the other seat. When she was seated she silently looked at Ash for about a minute. She sighed and said, "Okay, I'm going to play it straight. We would like you to work for us."

"Work for you? I'm sorry, but I don't know who you are."

"I see. Well then in that case, let me start from the beginning. We are Team Magma and we're seeking to protect the human race from Team Aqua's plans."

"What are they?"

"They want to wipe humanity off of the face of the earth using Kyogre's abilities."

"Okay, so how are you going to do that?"

"That is of no concern to you right now," Courtney said, unwilling to divulge such secrets to a recruit that hadn't even accepted their offer yet.

"Suppose I refuse and try to stop them on my own?"

"An interesting proposition. But I wonder, just how would you go about doing that? I mean, your licence was revoked after all, so all of your Pokémon were stripped from you by the Pokémon League."

"Oh, right," Ash said dejectedly. Feigning drunken forgetfulness.

"In any case, if you agree to work with us we have ways of allowing you to work with Pokémon once more. That said, you still wouldn't be able to compete in any official competitions. However I get the sense that you were just using those competitions to get stronger for some reason. Otherwise you would not have disappeared off of the proverbial map for so long."

Ash sighed and said, "You're not wrong. My ultimate goal was to become a Pokémon Master," he scoffed, "Not that that is likely to happen anymore."

"Well, there are many ways to achieve that goal."

"Really?" Ash asked, this time not needing to feign anything due to his genuine curiosity.

Courtney thought, 'I've got him.' She said, "Your Professor Oak is considered a Pokémon Master far and wide just for his knowledge about Pokémon. Brock Harrison of Pewter City is considered as to being on the brink of achieving masterdom as well. So, as you can see, there are other methods of achieving that goal. We in Team Magma could assist you in your goal, of course, you would, in turn, need to assist us in ours."

"I see," Ash said. "I find these terms...amenable."

"Great!" Courtney exclaimed, things having gone far easier than she could have hoped. "But before we can get to that, we will need you to undertake some training so that you can fit in to our organisation. After all, we wouldn't want the others to think that you are getting special treatment."

Ash shrugged and said, "Fair enough."

With Ash's agreement, Courtney said, "Good. Now, with that over, I'd like you to go back to the room that you were in when you woke up and stay there until someone comes and gets you."

"Alright," Ash said, getting up from his seat and leaving the room. He headed straight to his room.
Courtney followed Ash from the room, but, as soon as he had exited it, she said to her assistant, who had just come out of the next room on the right, and said, "Keep an eye on him."

"Yes sir," her assistant said.

Courtney sighed and said, "How many times do I need to tell you Wendy, we basically grew up together so you can call me Courtney."
Wendy said, "As always, once more than last until I become an Admin," causing her friend to sigh, not for the first time regretting her promotion.

 

Chapter 2: Training Differences

When Ash got back to his room he sat on the floor and crossed his legs. Then he closed his eyes and let all thoughts flow away, leaving a state of serene clarity. He stayed like that until a guy came and got him. When the guy entered the room he asked, "What the hell're you doing?"

Ash opened his eyes and said, "Meditating. Why?"

"Medi-what now?"

"Meditate. It's when you enter a state of complete calm and everything is clear. But that doesn't really matter, does it?"

"No, though you might not have any time for such things in the near future."

"Why?"

"Because, you'll start training physical training at nine o'clock and do it continuously for three hours. Then you are given a one hour break before another three hours, this one with specialised training."

"Oh? Specialised in what?"

"The first hour is battle training, though I doubt that someone with your record will need it, so you can do whatever you want during that time. After that, testing drills to see where you fit in the organisation, and what skills you will still need. That testing phase continues until the end of seven days after you arrive, then that last bit changes to skills teaching, then there is half an hour a day of theory. That continues on for about a month until there is a final skills assessment when the final decision of whether we accept you or not takes place."

"Theory?"

"Yeah. It's basic history of Team Magma and our objectives."

"Okay, so where are we headed now?"

"To get you your Pokémon," the man said, smirking at the eager look on Ash's face, thinking that he would soon be another devoted follower of Team Magma's doctrine.
When he heard what they were doing Ash thought, 'Finally, we get to the good part. I wonder what they have in store for me. In the past the Team Magma Grunts mainly used Zubat and Poochyena or Mightyena. But Lance said that it has changed management since then, so it might be different now.' Ash asked, "So, what Pokémon do you have available?"

"It's not what's available. The highest ranked member of Team Magma at the facility decides the Pokémon that are given to trainees and right now that is Courtney. As to what she has decided to give you, only those in that department are aware of."

"I see," Ash said, continuing to follow the guy in silence.

Soon enough they went through a door that led to a room that was really rather bare, only having a hole in the wall that had someone standing behind it, like a desk. They went up to it and the man with Ash said, "We're here to get some Pokémon for the newbie."

"Right," a woman behind the desk said. "Courtney told us that we might have a new one last night." She then rummaged around under the desk before putting two black and yellow pokéballs that had dark red M's on the black part, on the desk. "There you go, one Noibat and one Liepard."

Ash said, "Thanks," before following the guide back out of the room.

The man led Ash outside and said, "Over there. There're the other trainees over there," nodding his head in the direction of a series of Pokémon battlefields of various types. Go and talk to the training officer and she'll tell you what to do from there."

"Sure thing," Ash said, leaving the guy that had been leading him through the base.

When Ash reached the battlefields he went to who he had to assume was the leader due to her not standing in a trainers box. The woman said, "So, you're Courtney's latest then?"

"Uhh...excuse me?" Ash asked, not getting what the woman was driving at.

"Well, it doesn't matter. She then looked to the side and said, "Adria." A girl, about Ash's age walked up to the trainer. "Adria. See if you can't work with this one."

Ash thought, 'Does she think I'm defective or something?'

The green haired girl, Adria, said, "Sure," arrogant boredom in her tone. She yawned as she said, "Come on, this way," flicking her hand back and forth. Adria led Ash to one of the unoccupied, in-ground, water fields. She moved to the far side and yawned again as she lazily said, "Alright, let's get this over with," rubbing one of her eyes, wanting to get it over so she could go back to sleep. Ash's eye started to twitch as he moved to the closer trainer box. Adria said, "Go Crawdaunt," as she thought, 'If I get this done with quick, maybe I can finish that level before it runs out of power.'

Ash thought, 'Crawdaunt huh? I guess she thought that choosing this field would give her some kind of advantage. Well, we'll just have to see about that.' He said, "I choose you, Noibat!"

Adria said, "Crawdaunt, use Razor Shell."

Crawdaunt held its claw out to the side and water coalesced around it, extending from it to create a blade. It then raced at Noibat, who was flapping its wings above the water. As Crawdaunt came on, Ash thought, 'That Razor Shell's bigger than Dewott's is. So Crawdaunt's ability is probably...'

As Crawdaunt closed in on Ash's Noibat, Adria thought, 'Hn. Like I thought, just another loser wannabe.'

Ash waited until Crawdaunt was closer to Noibat before he said, "Use Double Team." As Crawdaunt sliced down on Noibat, instead of connecting in any way, shape, or form, it just sliced straight through. It looked about wildly as Ash said, "Use Brick Break!"

Noibat's wings glowed white as Adria called out, "Crawdaunt! Behind you!!" but it was too late as Noibat brought its wing down on Crawdaunt. Crawdaunt was plunged down into the water, the attack, while it was still powerful, lost a lot of the force due to there being no ground underneath. Adria called out, "Crawdaunt!" looking down into the water to see if it was alright.

As Adria grew concerned over Crawdaunt, Ash thought, 'There's no way that that thing was knocked out by that. It's only backed up by the fact that it hasn't surfaced yet.' He said, "Noibat use your senses to find out where Crawdaunt is and use Dark Pulse." Noibat flew over above the water, twitching its ears in its search for Crawdaunt. It didn't take long to find where it was hiding and did as ordered, firing a beam of dark energy at the water."

About ten seconds later Crawdaunt burst from the water, having received no instructions from Adria, who was still trying to see through the water, swinging its claw, which had water swirling around it, at Noibat. Ash was having none of that though, and said, "Noibat, dodge it and use Brick Break again."

Adria called out, "No! Stop Crabhammer and use Water Pulse Crawdaunt!"

"Fine," Ash said, "forget dodging." Noibat flew straight at Crawdaunt, who had stopped the water swirling around his claw, instead gathering water in front of it. When Noibat was close enough, Ash said, "Hit the claw!" Noibat did as ordered and hit the claw that was gathering energy for the Water Pulse away from it, which caused the Water Pulse to fly away. Ash said, "Now use Shadow Claw!" and Noibat slashed the arm that had Crawdaunt had been using for all of its attacks. Crawdaunt's claw was hanging limply at its side as Ash said, "Give up," to Adria, his stare hard.

"No way! You can keep going Crawdaunt, can't you?" Adria said, concern in her voice at the end. Crawdaunt nodded its conviction to keep on battling to Adria.

Ash said, "It can keep on battling Adria, but do you think that it's worth it?"

"Nngg!!" Adria said, fighting with her desire to continue on battling to prove Crawdaunt was the strongest Pokémon of the lot of them. In the end, Ash stopped it when she was taking too long and telling Noibat to finish it. Adria said, "No!" reaching out to Ash as if it would somehow change the result. It didn't, but Ash stopped Noibat anyway. Adria dropped to her knees and sighed with relief as Crawdaunt swam over to her and climbed out of the water field, letting Adria hug it.

As Ash was noting the similarities between Adria and himself, the two trainees heard a voice yell, "What was that?!" and both simultaneously looked for the source. It was the, clearly angry, instructor as she marched through every single one of the fields, stopping each battle in her wake.

When the Training Officer was close enough, Ash asked, "We're you talking to us?"

"Yes. I was talking to you!! Why didn't you finish Crawdaunt off at the end? And you, Adria, how could you beg an opponent for anything?"

Adria said, "I..."

But Ash interrupted her before she could say anything in her defence. He said, "Now see here. She didn't beg me to do anything. I offered her a chance to prevent her Pokémon from suffering from more damage than it need take, and, like any true trainer should, she chose to take that chance."

"This is Team Magma. Here we train to defeat our foes, not hold their hands."

"I don't doubt it," Ash said, "and I'll do everything I can to beat whoever it is I'm battling against. But this..." Ash pointed at his feet, "...it's just practice."

"It's just..." the training officer said, pressing her lips together in anger. "Fine. If that's what you think, then take a stand in Eric's box over there," nodding at trainers box of grass field that she was on.

Ash sighed and shrugged as he helplessly said, "Fine," and walked to the trainers box that he was told to go to.

When he got there the training officer said, "Now, send out your other Pokémon."

"Okay," Ash said. He scratched his head as he thought, 'Hmm...I probably shouldn't beat her too badly, should I?' Ash shrugged and said, "Well, here goes. I choose you, Liepard."

The training officer thought, 'Dark Type, like I thought.' She said, "In that case, I'll go with Breloom."

Ash said, "Breloom huh?" not entirely surprised that the person accosting him would make such a choice, given what he had been forced to pick. Ash thought, 'Okay, restraint, out the window,' as he focused on Breloom.

There were whispers of, 'He's fighting Teacher Erica?' and 'That's hardly a fair matchup.' Erica ignored the loud whispers and said, "Alright everyone, shut up and gather around this field. I'll show you what it takes to battle alongside Team Magma." The trainees stopped standing and staring and walked over to stand on the edge of the field that their training officer was 'teaching' on.

When they were all there, Erica said, "Now, you can go first greenhorn."

Ash's eye started to twitch as he said, "No no, that's fine. You can go first. The elderly need all the help that they can get."

"The...!!!" you could almost see steam billowing from the woman's ears. "You're done! Breloom! Use Mach Punch!"

Breloom's hand started to glow white as it quickly crossed the distance between it and Liepard. Ash took note of the rate of its ground coverage and said, "Liepard, dodge to the right." Liepard launched itself to the right, away from Breloom, but it still took a grazing hit from it. Ash thought, 'So, not fast enough from that distance. Despite this 'Erica's' bad attitude, she seems to take care of her own Pokémon well enough.' He cracked his neck as he said, "Well, it's fast. I'll give it that much at least."

Erica thought, 'He'll give it...Right. I was just going to destroy him. Now I'll need to humiliate him along the way.' "Breloom, use Mind Reader."

Ash thought, 'Mind Reader? Well, this' going to be even easier than I thought,' as Breloom placed its hands on the side of its mushroom hat and a pair of sharp, burning, indigo eyes appeared in the air above it. Ash said, "Wow!! That's so cool!" echoing sentiments that were being passed around throughout the other students.

Erica grunted as her lips twisted down in disgust. From her prone position next to Crawdaunt, Adria looked confused. She thought, 'What in the...? He's not acting anything like how he was when he was battling me! First he insults sensei, then he...huh?'

Erica said, "I'm sure that you would think so. Mind Reader is one of the greatest fighting type techniques that can be taught! Those that can use are very rare as it is only taught at the fighting dojo in the Orre Region and..."

Her diatribe was interrupted by Ash saying, "Use Thunder Wave."

Erica heard some crackling before she saw a bright yellow bolt of electricity heading for Breloom. Her face transformed into shocked rage at realising what her 'student' had done. Adria thought, 'Okay, that's more like how he was when he fought me.'

Erica said, "How dare you!"

Ash said, "You talk too much. Besides, most of it was lies."

"Excuse me?!" Erica demanded as the students started to talk amongst themselves.

"Mind Reader can't be taught, in the Orre Region or anywhere else. It can only be bred onto a Pokémon or learned naturally; and it certainly isn't a Fighting Type move, it's a Normal Type one. Granted, it's used by predominantly fighting types but, eh, who's counting."

"I'm from the Orre Region."

"Well, bully for you, but I've had multiple Pokémon that have had access to that particular move, none of which were from the Orre Region. Now, are we going to continue this battle, or are you going to try to lie me to defeat?"

Erica grunted and said, "You asked for it, kid."

Ash said, "Before that though, would you allow me to say something to my cohorts?"

"I suppose."

Ash looked around the sides of the field and said, "There is only one reason that someone uses a move like Mind Reader..."

Erica thought, 'What?! He can't know what I'm about to...'

"...and that is because their next move is hit or miss."

Erica grunted as she thought, 'That was true, once. But that was a long time ago.' "Use Focus Punch." Breloom's fist started glowing before it started charging forward.

Ash thought, 'Focus Punch? Well, strong moves like that do meet the bill at first. But with the speed that it activated it, it's been a while since it mastered it. But, like I thought, its normal speed pales in comparison to what it was when it used Mach Punch earlier.' Ash said, "Duck," and Liepard ducked down, Breloom's fist moving over Liepard's head and back, barely missing it. "Now, use Iron Tail."

Liepard's tail took on a metallic sheen and it sprung into the air, back-flipping to hit Breloom's mushroom hat. It knocked Breloom from its feet and Erica gasped, "No!"

Ash said, "Now, use Shadow Ball," while Liepard was still in the air. Liepard extended a paw and a ball of ghostly energy appeared at the tip of its claw. It threw the ball at Breloom, hitting it square in its chest, knocking it to the ground. "Now, pin it with Shadow Claw." A ghostly energy surrounded Liepard's two front claws as it landed on Breloom's chest, pinning it by its arms to the ground. 'Now, Erica, what will you do?'

Erica was no longer just angry. No, now she was furious. The upstart opposite her told her that she was wrong in front of her class, he outright called her a liar, and now he only was humiliating her further. She said, "Breloom, use Energy Ball." Breloom quickly gathered energy at its mouth and shot the ball of energy at Liepard, but it wasn't quick enough, giving Ash more than enough time to call Liepard away from it. Breloom pushed itself up off the ground, rubbing at its shoulders. "Now, use Mach Punch, back to back." Breloom raced at Liepard with both of it's fists glowing white.

As Breloom came towards Liepard, Ash said, "Okay Liepard, just focus on dodging in the direction that I tell you for now." Liepard glanced at Ash and nodded. Then it focused back on its oncoming opponent.

"Focus on dodging?" Erica laughed. "You must be joking," Erica said. "Cowards are unnecessary in the ranks of Team Magma." Ash idly noted Erica's words as he kept calling directions to Liepard. "Do you see? No matter how well you evade my attacks. If you don't land any of your own, then what's the point. Actually, even if you did, because of Breloom's typing, the moves that it does know won't do too much."

Ash sighed and said, "You know, you really do talk too much."

"What was that?"

"I've never quite been able to get my head around why some people try and brute force their way through situations."

"Excuse me?" Erica said as sparks burst from Breloom's body and its attacks stopped. "Huh? What just...?"

"Like I said. You do remember that I used Thunder Wave earlier, right? Liepard, use Shadow Ball." Liepard shot a shadow ball from its mouth.

"Use Mach Punch!"

"Dodge right. And then use Shadow Claw." Liepard jumped to the right and then leapt forward, all of its claws glowing with ghostly energy. It slashed Breloom's face with its left foreclaw, and then pushed off its shoulder with its both of its hindclaws, giving it enough room to enact any of its trainer's orders should they go beyond dodging. Ash said, "The difference between Adria and I, is experience. The difference between you and I, is like that of heaven and earth."

When Adria heard Ash's words she thought, 'The difference between us,...?' she cocked her head and thought of the way that she battled as opposed to the approach that Erica always took into battles. She shrugged and thought, 'He may have a point.'

"Excuse me? What has that got to do with anything?"

"Isn't that the whole reason that we're having this battle? I get that you like to force your way into, and out of, whatever situation you deem best, but look what happens as a result of that."

"What happens? What are you..." then she saw how heavily Breloom was breathing and how it had its hand on its thigh.

"Now, I'll give you the same option that I gave Adria. Give up."

"Give up?" Erica started letting out a deranged laughter. "You must be joking. You clearly still don't know who you're dealing with."

Ash raised his eyebrow, and said, "Oh. I'm sorry." Ash blinked. "I thought that I was battling against a Team Magma Instructor?" Ash saw Erica's hands disappear around her back and thought, 'Is she going to...?' Then he saw her quickly point a pokèball at Breloom and he said, "Use Pursuit." Liepard was surrounded by a black energy and it charged at Breloom and slammed into it just as it was consumed by a red energy, which knocked it away from the red 'returning' beam, leaving it unconscious on the ground.

 

Chapter 3. Team Training

The students gathered around the field started talking amongst each other, not quite able to believe that the newest recruit could not only defeat Erica, but manage to destroy her completely. Which lead them to question, one, who the newcomer was, and two, why they were listening to Erica anyway.

Ash asked, "Are we done now?"

Erica growled and said, "Return, Breloom, go Magmar, Crobat," returning Breloom at the same time as she threw the other two pokéballs that she was holding into the air.

Ash raised his eyebrow and said, "So, when you can't beat me fair and square, you resort to this?"

"Within Team Magma there are no rules. There is also no room for honour or ideals. All that matters, are results."

Ash sighed and said, "That's rubbish."

"What was that?"

"When there are grand goals involved, there must be an ideal behind it. Otherwise there would be no purpose in the undertaking. Results come after that."

"You think that you can lecture me? Magmar, use Sunny Day!" Magmar brought its hands together and expanded them, a bright orb generating in the space between them. When it was as big as it needed to be, Magmar shot it skyward. When it was about five metres above the ground, it exploded, causing a bright light to shine over the field.

Ash grunted as he thought, 'Well that's just great, isn't it?'

"Crobat, use Air Cutter." Crobat flapped its four wings in the direction of Liepard and multiple blue x-shaped blades shot in its direction.

Ash said, "Liepard, use Shadow Claw." Liepard's two front claws glowed with the ghostly energy that they had done before and it stood up on its hind legs. It slashed the air blades from the sky, showering it in blue particles. He heard Erica tell Magmar to use Lava Plume and said, "Liepard, run to the right." But the attack just followed it. Even so though, Liepard was too fast and kept on moving, circling around Magmar. It kept ahead of the attack with pure speed.

Erica grunted and thought, 'Magmar is too slow to keep up with Liepard.' She said, "Crobat, use Poison Fang." Crobat crossed over the lava and bit into Liepard, who was too slow to avoid it. It flinched from the pain, but that was it.

Ash grunted, thinking, 'It's quick, maybe even quicker than Liepard. Which means that I'm going to have to keep on moving...again.' "Liepard, keep that up for now." Liepard made a sound of agreement and started running around the field, but this time on Erica's side.

Erica said, "Magmar, use Power-Up Punch!" Magmar's fisted were surrounded by a multi-coloured energy as it slowly ran at Liepard. When it was close enough, it swung down at Liepard, but missed by far. Unfortunately, Crobat was there to back it up, hitting it with a purple 'X' on its side, sending it skidding back, but it still wasn't poisoned.

Ash grunted as he thought, 'This' going nowhere. I need another Pokémon, but Noibat is nowhere near strong enough to compete against that crazy woman's Crobat.' He looked at Adria and thought, 'Well, it's worth a shot.' He said, "Adria, I could use a hand here."

Adria thought, 'He could...hmm...well, he's not wrong. Liepard is good to go against Magmar alone, Crobat too probably, but when they are working together, they're just too strong.' She shrugged and said, "Well, she did want us to partner up anyway," and stood up, crossing the distance to the trainer box to stand next to Ash. She asked, "How do you want to do this?"

"We just met, so it's probably better if we do this individually."

"Right, so I'll take Crobat then?"

"Yeah. It's just too fast for Liepard."

"Okay. In that case I have a Pokémon that should be able to keep up, but you'll need to keep Magmar's attention away from it.

"Alright," Ash said, getting ready to gain Magmar's attention once Adria had called out her Pokémon.

Adria said, "Go, Weavile!" throwing a pokéball out, over the field. It bounced back into her hand once Weavile had been released.

Ash thought, 'Weavile huh? Well, that explains why she wants me to keep Magmar busy.'

After Adria released Weavile Erica demanded, "What are you doing Adria?"

"I don't like how you're acting Erica-sensei. You need to be stopped," Adria coldly said.

"Hn. You say that like you think that you could stop me."

Adria sighed and said, "I can and I will."

"How can you have the gumption to think, let alone say, something like that after what you just did?"

"Pokémon. Working together, playing together, learning together. That is how the bond between trainer and Pokémon works."

"Human and Pokémon working together? Ridiculous. Pokémon exist only to serve."

Ash said, "So, you're one of them?"

Erica said, "Magmar, use Fire Blast on Weavile; Crobat, use Cross Poison on Liepard," wanting to force the two trainees into her pace. Magmar opened its mouth to shoot the most powerful fire type attack that it knew at Adria's Weavile while Crobat shot a poison 'X' at Liepard.

Ash and Adria weren't having any of it though, as they said, "Weavile, use Ice Beam!" and, "Liepard, use Iron Tail!" That caused both Pokémon to move at once, Weavile quickly gathering enough energy in front of it to launch an intercepting Ice Beam at the poison X's flying straight at Liepard, whose tail now possessed a metallic sheen. It reached Magmar just as it shot the fire attack at Weavile and sprung into a backflip, hitting Magmar's mouth, simulating an uppercut, forcing its head up, and the fire attack to shoot into the sky.

Once Magmar's fire had stopped, Erica said, "Use Power-Up Punch." Magmar's fist glowed red as it punched without looking at where it thought that Liepard was.

Ash called out, "Liepard, to the right," causing it to spring to the right. "Now, Shadow Claw." Liepard leapt up, and hit Magmar on its chin exactly where it had hit it with its tail.

As Magmar was forced to look at the sky again, a fire lit behind Magmar's eyes. When it recovered it looked straight at where Liepard was, about three metres away from it, and focused solely on it. Which is why it didn't understand why Erica called out, "Magmar! Jump back and use Incinerate." Instead, it charged the attack where it was, which caused it to collapse on the ground, unconscious from the Night Slash delivered by Weavile that hit it exactly where the last two attacks had hit.

Unlike Liepard had done, Weavile used Magmar's shoulder to spring into the air, towards Crobat. Seeing what her Pokémon had done, Adria called out, "Weavile, use Ice Punch!"

Crobat didn't want to get hit by the attack that it knew would be super effective so it didn't wait for an order from its trainer to move away, but it didn't help any because at that instant it was hit by an electrical current that stopped it from moving. Weavile's Ice Punch hit, sending it into blissful unconsciousness. The students looked amongst themselves, not knowing what to say about what just happened, an affliction that Courtney didn't suffer as she came over and demanded, "What is going on here?" having been told about the students gathering around one field by an assistant.

Teacher Erica looked at Courtney and said, "C...C...Courtney! I...uh...was trying to teach that pair a lesson," pointing at Ash and Adria.

Courtney looked at where Erica was pointing and sighed and said, "So, let me get this straight. You were trying to force someone that has reached the Top Eight in multiple Regional Leagues, and someone who has trained under Koga into...what exactly?"

"I was...Huhh?"

"Yeah, Ash Ketchum and Adria Hanley. How could you have not recognised them?" Courtney sighed and covered her eyes as she said, "Look, how many times have I told you that...no." Then she addressed the class, "All of you trainees, there are many different types of battle and strategies that you can use within Team Magma. There are no inherently wrong ones, despite what Erica may have told you. The ultimate goal is victory, but how you get there is up to you." She thought, 'Hopefully that will be enough to keep those two onside,' as she looked at Ash and Adria. She sighed and said, "I fear that I must apologise on Erica's behalf, if there is anything that I can do to make up for her foolish mistake?"

Ash said, "For me? Not at the moment."

Adria shrugged and said, "Likewise."

"Very well then," Courtney nodded. She then said, "If you would all proceed to your next session..." and went back to her office.

While they moved to their next session, Adria said, "So, Top Eight eh?"

"Trained under Koga huh?" Ash shot back.

XXXXX​

The rest of the day was kind of a blur for Ash, as he didn't really see too much purpose in knowing how to pick locks or being able to identify the signs that indicate a hidden security system of some sort. After the last class of the day, they were told that dinner was at six thirty in the mess hall and they had two hours to do whatever they wanted. When they were told that, Ash thought, 'Okay, I want to work with Noibat and Liepard, but I should probably go and meet my roommate, whoever that is.' So he walked back to his room, all the while being 'followed' by Adria.

Eventually, Ash stopped outside of his room and Adria stopped at the same time. He rounded on her and demanded, "Okay, just why are you following me?"

"I'm not following you," Adria said. "If anything, you're the one that's acting weird."

"How do you figure?"

"Well, this is my room."

"Uh...thirty seven, right?"

"Yeah. Why are you...wait. You must be joking."

Ash pulled out his keycard and showed it to Adria as he said, "If it is it's a pretty funny one."

Adria pulled her keycard out and held it up to Ash, revealing that indeed, both keys were for the same room. She sighed and said, "Well, looks like we're roomies as well as teammates."

"I guess so," Ash said, swiping his card to unlock the door. When it had been done, he entered, followed by Adria. Ash asked, "So, which one's yours?"

"That one," Adria said, nodding to the bed that had slightly less than red sheets.

Ash said, "Then this one's mine, and walked over to it and placed his pokéballs on the bedside table. He then sat on the side of his bed and said, "So, anything you want to know about me?"

"Sure, why are you joining Team Magma?"

"My licence was revoked and all of my Pokémon taken from me. Team Magma gives me the ability to work alongside Pokémon once more. If their activities bend the rules a bit, well...so be it."

"How did your licence get revoked?"

Ash snorted and said, "The second to last gym that I competed against in the Kalos Region said that I cheated in our match."

"You?" Adria derisively said, as everything that she had seen thus far told her that Ash was honourable to a fault.

"Yeah," Ash sighed, "apparently it is illegal to blitz a Psychic Type Gym with a Fighting Type."

"You..." Adria laughed half-heartedly. "How'd you manage that?"

"Well, I trained Lucario as an all-rounder. Of course, that included teaching her Psychic too."

"A fighting type can learn psychic?"

"Yeah. It's actually not all that uncommon really. Poliwrath, Meditite, Medicham and Gallade can all learn it."

"Huh, well what d'you know?"

"So, how about you?"

"Well, I trained under Koga until I was fifteen, so I never actually got the chance to get a Pokémon Trainer Licence, even though I had been training Pokémon for quite some time. So, when I went to challenge a gym..."

"Training without a licence," Ash stated, remembering coming across an overeager Officer Jenny when he had just started out on his own journey.

"Yeah, how'd you..."

"First day after I got my first Pokémon I managed to piss off a bunch of Spearow and they attacked me time and again on my way to Viridian City, causing Pikachu to have to expend almost all of its electricity to save us."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"How'd you manage to anger Spearow on your first day?"

"I'd...rather not talk about that part of the story, if that's alright."

Adria shrugged and said, "Sure, I guess," her curiosity rising, resolving to find out what happened, come what may.

"In any case, when I got to Viridian City I found out that some Pokémon thieves had been operating in the area and when an Officer Jenny saw the condition that Pikachu was in, she jumped to the conclusion that I was one of them and asked me to prove that I was an actual trainer."

"I see. Who'd' would've thought it, the great Ash Ketchum, suspected Pokémon thief," Adria laughingly said.

"Yeah, thinking back now, it is pretty funny. But it sure wasn't at the time."

"Yeah, I bet it wasn't."

"So, how'd you meet Koga?"

"Oh, that's easy. My mother trained under the same master that Koga had in Pokémon jujitsu in the Johto Region and taught me a lot of cool stuff, but then she went off and left me at Koga's ninja mansion."
"Wait. Then why didn't I see you there when I went to challenge him for a Soul Badge?"

"You probably got there on one of the days that I spent training with Koga's daughter in the mountains."

"I see. I guess that makes sense. Wait, is his daughter Aya? Because I know that she was there at the time."

"No, Aya's his sister."

"Really? I wouldn't have guessed. Heck, even now that you've told me, I still can't believe it."

"Yeah, she does leave that impression, but I assure you, she is strong. Maybe not as strong as Janine or me, but even so."

"Janine?"

"His daughter. I believe that she recently took over as Fuchsia City Gym Leader."

"Really? What happened to Koga?"

"Who knows? The last I knew he was going off on a training journey of his own."

"I see," Ash said, "that's too bad."

"Too bad?"

"Yeah. I'd have liked to battle him at least one more time."

"Why's that?"

"Because, he was one of the toughest trainers that I fought when I was aiming for the Indigo League. And the first gym leader that I could actually battle the whole way through without any interruptions."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, I lost against brock because all I had was Pikachu and a Pidgeotto. Then I went off and trained to increase Pikachu's power output, but only won only after the sprinklers coated Onix water. I refused the badge, but he gave it to me anyway and travelled around with me on and off for a few years."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. For my Cascade Badge, I fought against someone I'd been travelling with for some time and Pikachu had developed a bond with, so he decided to disobey me and not fight against her, leaving me with Butterfree and Pidgeotto. Then Team Rocket came along, interrupted the battle and Pikachu blasted them with Thunderbolt and the three Senior Gym Leaders gave me the badge, telling their youngest sister that had Pikachu participated, she wouldn't have stood a chance."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Lt Surge, well, to be fair he was a tough one too, and did treat me to a full battle too. But Erika, she was just a pain." Ash shivered, remembering everything that he'd had to go through just because of one comment, no matter how true it was. Koga and Blaine were by far the best Gym Leaders that the Kanto Region had to offer at the time."

"Seriously! I thought that the gym in Viridian City was supposed to be tougher."

"Maybe, but that was when Giovanni was in charge. When I went to battle him he left a couple of his team rocket flunkies behind to take charge. Needless to say, they lost."

"Indeed. I didn't think that a Pokémon journey could have been so...colourful."

"Heh," Ash smiled half-heartedly. "That's one way of putting it. Another would be reckless, foolish and truly pathetic."

"Hmm, well, you seemed to turn it around rather quickly if your record is anything to go by."

"Yeah, well, the Orange League helped a lot on that score."

"The Orange League? Never heard of it."

"It's the Pokémon league of the Orange Islands. Though the gyms there are completely different to any of the mainland gyms."

"How so?"

"They have the challengers taking part in a series of...what really boils down to 'games', playing against the Gym Leader. Though they are all as tough as the mainland Gym Leaders."

'Hm,' Adria thought, 'I'll have to take a trip down to the Orange Islands on my next holiday, see if they really are as strong as Ash says they are.'

"Anyway, how long have you been a part of Team Magma?"

"Me? Hmm...about...five years?" Adria said. She paused before she said, "Wow, what d'you know? It doesn't even feel like one."

"Five years? And you're still a trainee?"

"Well, yes and no."

"Yes and no?"

"Yeah. You see, 'training' actually only takes a couple of months, but then, to 'graduate', you need to be partnered up with someone. Unfortunately, everyone that they've tried to partner me up with before has been either too slow or too weak to keep up with me."

"I see," Ash said. "Then I hope that I can break the cycle."

Adria smiled and said, "Yeah. Me too."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's getting really boring just sitting around here, waiting to be let out into the world. Though I suppose that it does have its perks."

"'Perks'?"

"Yeah. I get to go on holiday wherever, and almost whenever I like. From what I hear, the new boss is more of a slave driver on full members than on the trainees."

"Is that so?" Ash said.

"Yeah."

"So I guess you've met him then?"

"No, I only get to head the gossip because I went through training with Courtney."

"Courtney?"

"The Administrator that came into the training yard during our battle with Erica-sensei," Adria explained.

"Ah. What's she like?"

"She's one heck of a trainer. On top of that, she's tough, but fair, to her subordinates. That's part of why she was put in place as commander of this training camp."

"Part of it?"

"Yeah," Adria laughingly said. "The other part is to keep an eye on me."

"On you?"

"Yeah. You see I can be a little...on the difficult side when it comes to the new recruits."

"What do you mean?"

"I try to help them with their battle training, but I keep on winning. It's really quite unfortunate. That's why you saw me sitting on the side earlier."

"Ah."

"I like your outfit by the way."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. It's refreshing to see someone going against the grain after so long. The last one to do that was Courtney herself."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe we're a bit alike then."

Adria scoffed and said, "Trust me, the pair of you are like night and day."

"Really? How so?"

"Courtney is all about calculated moves. She considered things like instinct and guts truly abhorrent."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. Not only that, based on your league results, I'd say that you're like me and happy to work with just about any Pokémon, right?"

"Yeah, just about."

"Just about?"

"Tentacruel and Tentacool seem to have this habit of attacking me, or those I care about whenever I see them, so I try to avoid them as much as possible."

"I see. Fair enough then. But otherwise...?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Okay. Well, Courtney will only ever catch fire types that can learn steel type moves."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. I've never been able to figure out exactly why. Though I suppose in the end it doesn't really matter that much."

"I guess not."
Chapter 3. Team Training

The students gathered around the field started talking amongst each other, not quite able to believe that the newest recruit could not only defeat Erica, but manage to destroy her completely. Which lead them to question, one, who the newcomer was, and two, why they were listening to Erica anyway.

Ash asked, "Are we done now?"

Erica growled and said, "Return, Breloom, go Magmar, Crobat," returning Breloom at the same time as she threw the other two pokéballs that she was holding into the air.

Ash raised his eyebrow and said, "So, when you can't beat me fair and square, you resort to this?"

"Within Team Magma there are no rules. There is also no room for honour or ideals. All that matters, are results."

Ash sighed and said, "That's rubbish."

"What was that?"

"When there are grand goals involved, there must be an ideal behind it. Otherwise there would be no purpose in the undertaking. Results come after that."

"You think that you can lecture me? Magmar, use Sunny Day!" Magmar brought its hands together and expanded them, a bright orb generating in the space between them. When it was as big as it needed to be, Magmar shot it skyward. When it was about five metres above the ground, it exploded, causing a bright light to shine over the field.

Ash grunted as he thought, 'Well that's just great, isn't it?'

"Crobat, use Air Cutter." Crobat flapped its four wings in the direction of Liepard and multiple blue x-shaped blades shot in its direction.

Ash said, "Liepard, use Shadow Claw." Liepard's two front claws glowed with the ghostly energy that they had done before and it stood up on its hind legs. It slashed the air blades from the sky, showering it in blue particles. He heard Erica tell Magmar to use Lava Plume and said, "Liepard, run to the right." But the attack just followed it. Even so though, Liepard was too fast and kept on moving, circling around Magmar. It kept ahead of the attack with pure speed.

Erica grunted and thought, 'Magmar is too slow to keep up with Liepard.' She said, "Crobat, use Poison Fang." Crobat crossed over the lava and bit into Liepard, who was too slow to avoid it. It flinched from the pain, but that was it.

Ash grunted, thinking, 'It's quick, maybe even quicker than Liepard. Which means that I'm going to have to keep on moving...again.' "Liepard, keep that up for now." Liepard made a sound of agreement and started running around the field, but this time on Erica's side.

Erica said, "Magmar, use Power-Up Punch!" Magmar's fisted were surrounded by a multi-coloured energy as it slowly ran at Liepard. When it was close enough, it swung down at Liepard, but missed by far. Unfortunately, Crobat was there to back it up, hitting it with a purple 'X' on its side, sending it skidding back, but it still wasn't poisoned.

Ash grunted as he thought, 'This' going nowhere. I need another Pokémon, but Noibat is nowhere near strong enough to compete against that crazy woman's Crobat.' He looked at Adria and thought, 'Well, it's worth a shot.' He said, "Adria, I could use a hand here."

Adria thought, 'He could...hmm...well, he's not wrong. Liepard is good to go against Magmar alone, Crobat too probably, but when they are working together, they're just too strong.' She shrugged and said, "Well, she did want us to partner up anyway," and stood up, crossing the distance to the trainer box to stand next to Ash. She asked, "How do you want to do this?"

"We just met, so it's probably better if we do this individually."

"Right, so I'll take Crobat then?"

"Yeah. It's just too fast for Liepard."

"Okay. In that case I have a Pokémon that should be able to keep up, but you'll need to keep Magmar's attention away from it.

"Alright," Ash said, getting ready to gain Magmar's attention once Adria had called out her Pokémon.

Adria said, "Go, Weavile!" throwing a pokéball out, over the field. It bounced back into her hand once Weavile had been released.

Ash thought, 'Weavile huh? Well, that explains why she wants me to keep Magmar busy.'

After Adria released Weavile Erica demanded, "What are you doing Adria?"

"I don't like how you're acting Erica-sensei. You need to be stopped," Adria coldly said.

"Hn. You say that like you think that you could stop me."

Adria sighed and said, "I can and I will."

"How can you have the gumption to think, let alone say, something like that after what you just did?"

"Pokémon. Working together, playing together, learning together. That is how the bond between trainer and Pokémon works."

"Human and Pokémon working together? Ridiculous. Pokémon exist only to serve."

Ash said, "So, you're one of them?"

Erica said, "Magmar, use Fire Blast on Weavile; Crobat, use Cross Poison on Liepard," wanting to force the two trainees into her pace. Magmar opened its mouth to shoot the most powerful fire type attack that it knew at Adria's Weavile while Crobat shot a poison 'X' at Liepard.

Ash and Adria weren't having any of it though, as they said, "Weavile, use Ice Beam!" and, "Liepard, use Iron Tail!" That caused both Pokémon to move at once, Weavile quickly gathering enough energy in front of it to launch an intercepting Ice Beam at the poison X's flying straight at Liepard, whose tail now possessed a metallic sheen. It reached Magmar just as it shot the fire attack at Weavile and sprung into a backflip, hitting Magmar's mouth, simulating an uppercut, forcing its head up, and the fire attack to shoot into the sky.

Once Magmar's fire had stopped, Erica said, "Use Power-Up Punch." Magmar's fist glowed red as it punched without looking at where it thought that Liepard was.

Ash called out, "Liepard, to the right," causing it to spring to the right. "Now, Shadow Claw." Liepard leapt up, and hit Magmar on its chin exactly where it had hit it with its tail.

As Magmar was forced to look at the sky again, a fire lit behind Magmar's eyes. When it recovered it looked straight at where Liepard was, about three metres away from it, and focused solely on it. Which is why it didn't understand why Erica called out, "Magmar! Jump back and use Incinerate." Instead, it charged the attack where it was, which caused it to collapse on the ground, unconscious from the Night Slash delivered by Weavile that hit it exactly where the last two attacks had hit.

Unlike Liepard had done, Weavile used Magmar's shoulder to spring into the air, towards Crobat. Seeing what her Pokémon had done, Adria called out, "Weavile, use Ice Punch!"

Crobat didn't want to get hit by the attack that it knew would be super effective so it didn't wait for an order from its trainer to move away, but it didn't help any because at that instant it was hit by an electrical current that stopped it from moving. Weavile's Ice Punch hit, sending it into blissful unconsciousness. The students looked amongst themselves, not knowing what to say about what just happened, an affliction that Courtney didn't suffer as she came over and demanded, "What is going on here?" having been told about the students gathering around one field by an assistant.

Teacher Erica looked at Courtney and said, "C...C...Courtney! I...uh...was trying to teach that pair a lesson," pointing at Ash and Adria.

Courtney looked at where Erica was pointing and sighed and said, "So, let me get this straight. You were trying to force someone that has reached the Top Eight in multiple Regional Leagues, and someone who has trained under Koga into...what exactly?"

"I was...Huhh?"

"Yeah, Ash Ketchum and Adria Hanley. How could you have not recognised them?" Courtney sighed and covered her eyes as she said, "Look, how many times have I told you that...no." Then she addressed the class, "All of you trainees, there are many different types of battle and strategies that you can use within Team Magma. There are no inherently wrong ones, despite what Erica may have told you. The ultimate goal is victory, but how you get there is up to you." She thought, 'Hopefully that will be enough to keep those two onside,' as she looked at Ash and Adria. She sighed and said, "I fear that I must apologise on Erica's behalf, if there is anything that I can do to make up for her foolish mistake?"

Ash said, "For me? Not at the moment."

Adria shrugged and said, "Likewise."

"Very well then," Courtney nodded. She then said, "If you would all proceed to your next session..." and went back to her office.

While they moved to their next session, Adria said, "So, Top Eight eh?"

"Trained under Koga huh?" Ash shot back.

XXXXX​

The rest of the day was kind of a blur for Ash, as he didn't really see too much purpose in knowing how to pick locks or being able to identify the signs that indicate a hidden security system of some sort. After the last class of the day, they were told that dinner was at six thirty in the mess hall and they had two hours to do whatever they wanted. When they were told that, Ash thought, 'Okay, I want to work with Noibat and Liepard, but I should probably go and meet my roommate, whoever that is.' So he walked back to his room, all the while being 'followed' by Adria.

Eventually, Ash stopped outside of his room and Adria stopped at the same time. He rounded on her and demanded, "Okay, just why are you following me?"

"I'm not following you," Adria said. "If anything, you're the one that's acting weird."

"How do you figure?"

"Well, this is my room."

"Uh...thirty seven, right?"

"Yeah. Why are you...wait. You must be joking."

Ash pulled out his keycard and showed it to Adria as he said, "If it is it's a pretty funny one."

Adria pulled her keycard out and held it up to Ash, revealing that indeed, both keys were for the same room. She sighed and said, "Well, looks like we're roomies as well as teammates."

"I guess so," Ash said, swiping his card to unlock the door. When it had been done, he entered, followed by Adria. Ash asked, "So, which one's yours?"

"That one," Adria said, nodding to the bed that had slightly less than red sheets.

Ash said, "Then this one's mine, and walked over to it and placed his pokéballs on the bedside table. He then sat on the side of his bed and said, "So, anything you want to know about me?"

"Sure, why are you joining Team Magma?"

"My licence was revoked and all of my Pokémon taken from me. Team Magma gives me the ability to work alongside Pokémon once more. If their activities bend the rules a bit, well...so be it."

"How did your licence get revoked?"

Ash snorted and said, "The second to last gym that I competed against in the Kalos Region said that I cheated in our match."

"You?" Adria derisively said, as everything that she had seen thus far told her that Ash was honourable to a fault.

"Yeah," Ash sighed, "apparently it is illegal to blitz a Psychic Type Gym with a Fighting Type."

"You..." Adria laughed half-heartedly. "How'd you manage that?"

"Well, I trained Lucario as an all-rounder. Of course, that included teaching her Psychic too."

"A fighting type can learn psychic?"

"Yeah. It's actually not all that uncommon really. Poliwrath, Meditite, Medicham and Gallade can all learn it."

"Huh, well what d'you know?"

"So, how about you?"

"Well, I trained under Koga until I was fifteen, so I never actually got the chance to get a Pokémon Trainer Licence, even though I had been training Pokémon for quite some time. So, when I went to challenge a gym..."

"Training without a licence," Ash stated, remembering coming across an overeager Officer Jenny when he had just started out on his own journey.

"Yeah, how'd you..."

"First day after I got my first Pokémon I managed to piss off a bunch of Spearow and they attacked me time and again on my way to Viridian City, causing Pikachu to have to expend almost all of its electricity to save us."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah."

"How'd you manage to anger Spearow on your first day?"

"I'd...rather not talk about that part of the story, if that's alright."

Adria shrugged and said, "Sure, I guess," her curiosity rising, resolving to find out what happened, come what may.

"In any case, when I got to Viridian City I found out that some Pokémon thieves had been operating in the area and when an Officer Jenny saw the condition that Pikachu was in, she jumped to the conclusion that I was one of them and asked me to prove that I was an actual trainer."

"I see. Who'd' would've thought it, the great Ash Ketchum, suspected Pokémon thief," Adria laughingly said.

"Yeah, thinking back now, it is pretty funny. But it sure wasn't at the time."

"Yeah, I bet it wasn't."

"So, how'd you meet Koga?"

"Oh, that's easy. My mother trained under the same master that Koga had in Pokémon jujitsu in the Johto Region and taught me a lot of cool stuff, but then she went off and left me at Koga's ninja mansion."
"Wait. Then why didn't I see you there when I went to challenge him for a Soul Badge?"

"You probably got there on one of the days that I spent training with Koga's daughter in the mountains."

"I see. I guess that makes sense. Wait, is his daughter Aya? Because I know that she was there at the time."

"No, Aya's his sister."

"Really? I wouldn't have guessed. Heck, even now that you've told me, I still can't believe it."

"Yeah, she does leave that impression, but I assure you, she is strong. Maybe not as strong as Janine or me, but even so."

"Janine?"

"His daughter. I believe that she recently took over as Fuchsia City Gym Leader."

"Really? What happened to Koga?"

"Who knows? The last I knew he was going off on a training journey of his own."

"I see," Ash said, "that's too bad."

"Too bad?"

"Yeah. I'd have liked to battle him at least one more time."

"Why's that?"

"Because, he was one of the toughest trainers that I fought when I was aiming for the Indigo League. And the first gym leader that I could actually battle the whole way through without any interruptions."

"What does that mean?"

"Well, I lost against brock because all I had was Pikachu and a Pidgeotto. Then I went off and trained to increase Pikachu's power output, but only won only after the sprinklers coated Onix water. I refused the badge, but he gave it to me anyway and travelled around with me on and off for a few years."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. For my Cascade Badge, I fought against someone I'd been travelling with for some time and Pikachu had developed a bond with, so he decided to disobey me and not fight against her, leaving me with Butterfree and Pidgeotto. Then Team Rocket came along, interrupted the battle and Pikachu blasted them with Thunderbolt and the three Senior Gym Leaders gave me the badge, telling their youngest sister that had Pikachu participated, she wouldn't have stood a chance."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Lt Surge, well, to be fair he was a tough one too, and did treat me to a full battle too. But Erika, she was just a pain." Ash shivered, remembering everything that he'd had to go through just because of one comment, no matter how true it was. Koga and Blaine were by far the best Gym Leaders that the Kanto Region had to offer at the time."

"Seriously! I thought that the gym in Viridian City was supposed to be tougher."

"Maybe, but that was when Giovanni was in charge. When I went to battle him he left a couple of his team rocket flunkies behind to take charge. Needless to say, they lost."

"Indeed. I didn't think that a Pokémon journey could have been so...colourful."

"Heh," Ash smiled half-heartedly. "That's one way of putting it. Another would be reckless, foolish and truly pathetic."

"Hmm, well, you seemed to turn it around rather quickly if your record is anything to go by."

"Yeah, well, the Orange League helped a lot on that score."

"The Orange League? Never heard of it."

"It's the Pokémon league of the Orange Islands. Though the gyms there are completely different to any of the mainland gyms."

"How so?"

"They have the challengers taking part in a series of...what really boils down to 'games', playing against the Gym Leader. Though they are all as tough as the mainland Gym Leaders."

'Hm,' Adria thought, 'I'll have to take a trip down to the Orange Islands on my next holiday, see if they really are as strong as Ash says they are.'

"Anyway, how long have you been a part of Team Magma?"

"Me? Hmm...about...five years?" Adria said. She paused before she said, "Wow, what d'you know? It doesn't even feel like one."

"Five years? And you're still a trainee?"

"Well, yes and no."

"Yes and no?"

"Yeah. You see, 'training' actually only takes a couple of months, but then, to 'graduate', you need to be partnered up with someone. Unfortunately, everyone that they've tried to partner me up with before has been either too slow or too weak to keep up with me."

"I see," Ash said. "Then I hope that I can break the cycle."

Adria smiled and said, "Yeah. Me too."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's getting really boring just sitting around here, waiting to be let out into the world. Though I suppose that it does have its perks."

"'Perks'?"

"Yeah. I get to go on holiday wherever, and almost whenever I like. From what I hear, the new boss is more of a slave driver on full members than on the trainees."

"Is that so?" Ash said.

"Yeah."

"So I guess you've met him then?"

"No, I only get to head the gossip because I went through training with Courtney."

"Courtney?"

"The Administrator that came into the training yard during our battle with Erica-sensei," Adria explained.

"Ah. What's she like?"

"She's one heck of a trainer. On top of that, she's tough, but fair, to her subordinates. That's part of why she was put in place as commander of this training camp."

"Part of it?"

"Yeah," Adria laughingly said. "The other part is to keep an eye on me."

"On you?"

"Yeah. You see I can be a little...on the difficult side when it comes to the new recruits."

"What do you mean?"

"I try to help them with their battle training, but I keep on winning. It's really quite unfortunate. That's why you saw me sitting on the side earlier."

"Ah."

"I like your outfit by the way."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. It's refreshing to see someone going against the grain after so long. The last one to do that was Courtney herself."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Maybe we're a bit alike then."

Adria scoffed and said, "Trust me, the pair of you are like night and day."

"Really? How so?"

"Courtney is all about calculated moves. She considered things like instinct and guts truly abhorrent."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah. Not only that, based on your league results, I'd say that you're like me and happy to work with just about any Pokémon, right?"

"Yeah, just about."

"Just about?"

"Tentacruel and Tentacool seem to have this habit of attacking me, or those I care about whenever I see them, so I try to avoid them as much as possible."

"I see. Fair enough then. But otherwise...?"

"Yeah, pretty much."

"Okay. Well, Courtney will only ever catch fire types that can learn steel type moves."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. I've never been able to figure out exactly why. Though I suppose in the end it doesn't really matter that much."

"I guess not."