Ash POV
I walked down to the city park as usual to figure out my strategy for this next gym fight. Poison types were weak to Ground and Psychic type moves, something I could definitely work with. However, type advantages weren't everything, especially with gym leaders who trained specifically to help minimize their weaknesses to those types.
The battle was going to be a two on two, so it would make sense to bring Gabite, being Ground type. However, I wasn't too sure on who else to bring with me. Even though Larvitar was Ground type, he didn't know any Ground type moves, so it wouldn't make too much of a difference.
'Who do you think I should take with me to the battle, Pikachu?' I asked.
'Well, obviously you take Gabite, and from there you can pick anyone to be honest. You could take Larvitar, Squirtle, or one of the newer Pokemon to help them get some experience in high stakes battles. It would be a good learning experience for them and you'd still have Gabite in case things start to go wrong.'
I gave Pikachu a surprised look, genuinely surprised.
'What?' the Pokemon asked indignantly. 'I can give good advice if I want to.'
With a slight chuckle, I decided to start training training my Pokemon. Out of everyone, Larvitar definitely had the least amount of experience battling. While Squirtle had yet to participate in a gym battle, I knew that he was a competent battler, Larvitar had shown grit during previous battle, but there were a lot of things to improve with it's technique and skill, things that battling would definitely help with.
Once everything was set, I let out Gabite and Larvitar, getting them both up to speed. Then I informed them what they would each be working on, as I had planned out different things for them. While I'd never say this to Gabite's face, he had to work on his power and brute force. He relied to much on his small size and agility as a Gible which would not work well as a Gabite and eventually a Garchomp. Specializing in natural skills would be more beneficial, while the added bonus of the training in the agility would definitely prove to be handy.
Larvitar was also in the same boat, using agility and it's small size to it's advantage. However, this would be fine for now as power and finesse weren't things that Larvitar would be able to work on now in it's current evolution or in the time we had today. So, he was going to work on his agility as well as his aim with Rock Throw, something that I had noticed to be very poor in his debut against Surge.
I had Poliwag help Gabite out with his drills, creating ice blocks for Gabite to break and bite through. I had Gabite progressively increase the intensity to see exactly where he stood, and I found out that he was able to smash through a 140 pound block of ice and bite through a 6 inch thick block of ice.
I had him work on some more drills to help him in those areas before turning my attention to Larvitar, who had Bulbasaur and Squirtle working with him. I had Bulbasaur use Razor Leaf to help Larvitar with his agility and dodging while having Squirtle create bubble ring for Larvitar to toss rocks into.
By the time we had finished, it was well after sunset, and I trudged back to the Pokemon Center with Pikachu on my shoulder. He had somehow found some ketchup packets at the park, so now my right shoulder looked like it had been stabbed by a knife.
With the gym battle tomorrow, I had to make sure I got some rest before I had to wake up early in the morning. I decided to make a quick stop one of the Pokemon Center's PCs to call my mom and Professor Oak.
After a short conversation with my mom and convincing her over and over that I was perfectly fine, I called Professor Oak.
He picked up the call after a few seconds and his face popped up on the screen.
"Hey there, Ash!" he greeted, waving.
"Hey, Professor Oak. I just called so I can switch out a Pokemon really quick. You have a couple minutes?" I asked.
"Of course," he assured. "What Pokemon are you sending me?"
"I'll send Bulbasaur over for Magikarp," I responded as I put Bulbasaur's Pokeball in the terminal.
"Good choice, Ash. Having Magikarp train with your Poliwag and Squirtle would definitely help it grow stronger and eventually evolve."
"That's the plan," I said with a tired sigh as I picked up Magikarp's Pokeball which had just come though. "Thanks for your help, Professor."
"Anytime, Ash," he said with a smile before ending the call.
With all my work for the night completed, I went up to the room that Misty had already booked for me.
Once I opened the door, I widened my eyes. I was so screwed.
In front of me were Leaf and Yellow who looked like they had been waiting for me for hours. Yeah, I wasn't going to make it out alive tonight.
The next morning, I woke up in the middle of the two beautiful girls feeling absolutely drained of all the strength and energy I had left.
Nevertheless, it was 8 AM, and I was late. I jumped out of bed before running into the bathroom to get myself ready. By 8:20, I was already outside my room, my hair still wet. I felt bad not telling anyone that I had left, but I didn't want them to lose out on their rest for my gym battle.
I had my battle scheduled for 8:30, so with a little Aura boosted sprint, I was able to make it there on time.
Running to the front desk slightly out of breath, I got everything verified before sitting down in the waiting area, getting ready to be called up when it was my time. Eventually, after about 20 minutes of conversing with Pikachu about random nonsense did they call me up.
So much for rushing out of bed.
I walked into the gym, and appreciated the aesthetic that had been chosen for it. It was definitely fitting, with the purple and gray palette along with the vines and plants. Making my way to the challenger's area of the battlefield, I saw the gym leader on the other side.
With a chuckle, the man cracked his knuckles.
"Another sorry looking trainer. When will this job get interesting again?" he said with a chuckle, shaking his head.
I chuckled slightly as well, catching his attention.
He growled, but didn't goad me any further.
"This match between Fuchsia Gym Leader Koga and Challenger Ash Ketchum will be a 3 on 3 battle with switch ins only allowed for the challenger. The match will now commence, trainers, send out your first Pokemon."
I widened my eyes in shock.
What the hell? They had said it was a 2 on 2 battle when I had gone to the front desk yesterday. I growled in annoyance. That just might have screwed up everything for me.
"Venomoth, you're up!" Koga yelled, sending out his first Pokemon before looking at me with smirk.
Looks like I was going to have to go little off the playbook here.
"Pikachu, you're up," I said, looking at the Pokemon on my shoulder.
He gave me an incredulous look, before reluctantly jumping onto the battlefield.
'Are you serious? I'm nowhere near prepared to deal with Poison types,' he said with a groan.
'No time to learn like the present I guess,' I replied with a shrug. Out of Squirtle, Magikarp, and Pikachu, Pikachu was probably my best bet.
"Battle begin!" called the ref, starting the match.
'Alright start off with Agility so we can comfortably outspeed the Venomoth' I said to Pikachu, wanting Koga to make the first move.
"Not even going to control your Pokemon, are you boy? You might be worse than I thought," Koga said while shaking his head.
"Venomoth, finish that rat off quickly with Psybeam," Koga ordered.
'Dodge it with Quick Attack, then use Thundershock,'
With the boost from Agility, Pikachu made it out of the attack with time to spare, letting it charge up a Thundershock and giving us a free hit. Venomoth staggered back into the air, shaking it's head in anger.
I could see Koga begin to clench his jaw as he was supposedly now losing to a guy who didn't call out attacks to his Pokemon.
"Damn you," he cursed. "Venomoth, use Supersonic, then Quiver Dance."
"Close your ears, Pikachu!" I yelled out loud. "Then use Electro Ball!"
Pikachu closed his ears when the Supersonic came in, but instead of using Quiver Dance, Venomoth flapped it's wings sending out sparkling yellow powder. It had used Stun Spore.
"Dodge it, Pikachu!" I yelled desperately, but I knew it would be no use. Pikachu wasn't going to make it out.
Unfortunately, I was proven right when Pikachu was covered in yellow dust, causing it to crumple to the ground shaking.
I looked up to Koga who had a victorious smile on his face. I guess he had a few tricks up his sleeve too. As Pikachu staggered back up in a slight daze, I grit my teeth. This could be the first gym battle I actually lose.
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A/N: I don't really know what kind of excuse I could come up with for not updating in a year, so I'm not going to try. I'm really sorry if you've been waiting for updates, but I just haven't been feeling it while writing lately and I've been working on a new book for a couple of months. Hopefully now with everything in that book set up and ready to go I can focus on some of my old stories a bit more and reread them to remember everything. I'll try to update soon, maybe in a few days. Again, I'm really sorry for not updating in this long.