FicWad

I will finally get some exiting battling in on this chapter I promise.

Chapter 2 – The Trouble with Littleroot
Outside Littleroot Town -

The sun was just starting to set when Ash spotted the familiar town of Littleroot. His previous travels as an Elite Ranger had never confined him just to Kanto and Johto. He knew Professor Birch on a professional level and hoped that he could crash at the Professor’s house prior to moving on towards Petalburg City. “Almost there Pidgeot, please go ahead and land us over there in that field towards your right.” Ash gestured to a field that was fairly clear of trees and shrubs that would put him just a little outside of Littleroot. He did not want to make a huge entrance, especially with how small the town was he did not need word of a new trainer’s arrival by an oversized Pidgeot to reach ears of any less than desirable ears.
Pidgeot flapped its wings creating powerful gusts into the clearing as it gently touched down on a clear patch of the field. After Pidgeot lowered itself closer to the ground, Ash hopped off of the giant bird. He withdrew Pidgeot’s pokeball and pointed it towards the giant bird. “Return Pidgeot and take a nice long rest.” Pidgeot returned in a beam of red light.
Pikachu finally decided to wake up from his nap and crawled out of the top of Ash’s back pack before yawning. “Piiiiiii…” Pikachu rubbed it’s eyes with his paws momentarily before taking up his normal position on Ash’s shoulder.
“You said it Pikachu. Let’s get down to Littleroot and see if Professor Birch is around. I don’t fancy a night outside.” Ash absent mindedly rubbed Pikachu’s head before he turned towards the direction of Littleroot town. Right before he was about to take off he heard laughter coming from the trees of to his right.
“Prepare for trouble!” Jessie shouted as she burst out of the tree line looking worse for the wear. Her hair a tangled mess and her white Team Rocket uniform was scuffed up with dirt and grass stains.
Ash turned towards the tree line with an exasperated sigh ‘Just what I need…a visit from the fantastic duo.’ He thought as Pikachu mirrored Ash’s face.
Jessie stood there awkwardly…looking at Ash with a confused expression before turning back toward the tree line. She whisper shouted at her companion. “James! Get out here! He is here!”
James finally stumbled out of the tree line not looking much better than Jessie…in fact the dark bags under his eyes that Ash could easily make out even from 500 feet made him appear worse. James yawned deeply while speaking. “Yes and ahhh..make it double.” James yawned deeply again.
Jessie’s eye brow twitched briefly before her right hand came around in an open handed slap to the face. Ash watched with a cringe as James fell to the ground with a groan.
“Why do I bother!? If you are not going to participate in our agreed upon entrance then why do it at all!” Jessie screamed at her partner. James had the common sense to look guilty prior to replying. “But Jessie…you made me stand watch for the past two nights in a row…I’m tired.” He whined while slowly pulling himself off the ground. All the while James eyed Jessie carefully for any further aggression.
Ash decided to step in before their bickering became full blown. Eyeing the Rocket agents he took a few steps towards them. Pikachu sat on Ash’s shoulder, his eyes wandering across the field and tree line while his ears continued to rotate in an attempt to pick up any sound or movement. “So what do I owe the pleasure of two of Rockets finest agents?” Ash chuckled softly while shoving his hands in his pockets.
Jessie huffed while crossing her arms over her chest. James on the other hand glanced around quickly counting on Pikachu to pick up on any other people or Pokemon in the area. “We have information for you…or at least some news on Rocket’s movement.”
This caught Ash’s interest and he started moving closer to the Rocket members until he was within arm’s reach of the pair. “Oh…what kind of information...?”
Jessie smiled before she lowered her voice to a whisper. “Oh you know…something you will find interesting. Of course my memory is a little hazy…” Jessie trailed off while sticking her hand out.
Ash looked over at James with an expression that said ‘Seriously?’ in return James just shrugged his shoulders before replying to Ash’s look. “She has been watching a lot of spy movies lately.”
“Right…anyway.” Ash slung his backpack off of one shoulder and reached his hand into the backpack. Unzipping a secret compartment, Ash reached in and grabbed an envelope provided to him by Red prior to leaving. He handed the plain envelope over to Jessie before reshouldering his back pack. “I need to know what Rocket is up to and any information you have on what is occurring with Hoenn.”
Jessie was too busy ripping open the envelope to really pay attention to what Ash was asking. Leaving James to sigh in exasperation before speaking directly to Ash, ignoring Jessie in the back ground as she fantasized out loud about what she would spend the money on. “Nothing good. Even worse I fear Butch and Cassidy may be having doubts about our allegiance to Team Rocket’s cause.”
Jessie looked up from counting the money briefly growling slightly. “Fucking bitch needs to learn her own god damn place.”
Ash and James glanced over to Jessie for a moment before James continued. “We are being cut out of important operations. As of now Team Rocket is too weak to go on by itself.” At this James smiled slightly…despite being one of the survivors of Cinnabar Island and witnessing the destruction Ash caused he could respect his once opponent’s skills. “There are two main powers here in Hoenn and they are vying for power. Rocket members are joining both but my contacts in both agencies are going dark.”
James and Ash stood in silence for a moment, both mulling over the information that James was providing to Ash. Ash finally noticed something…Meowth the talking pokemon did not appear to be anywhere nearby. Normally by now the sarcastic little cat pokemon would have made some derogatory comment. “By the way where is Meowth…not that I miss his glowing personality but normally he is not too far from you two.”
“Gone.” Jessie glowered and stuffed the envelope in her pocket. “Cassidy had a special mission that she needed Meowth on…that was weeks ago though. We haven’t seen or heard from Meowth since and Cassidy has been rather tight lipped about it.”
Ash nodded slightly before looking over to James. “So anything more about these groups that are absorbing the remainder of the Rocket members from Kanto and Johto?”
“Nothing much just that they call themselves Team Magma and Team Aqua respectively that and there seems to be no love lost between the two. There have already been a number of skirmishes between the two and normally it happens at historical sites. I have no idea what they are looking for but it must be something important.” James spoke while once again doing a quick scan of the area, looking for anything out of place.
Ash shot a smile to both the Rocket members before scratching the back of his head. “Well guys thanks for the information. Keep your ears to the ground and find me in Petalburg city if you have any further information.” Ash’s face turned serious after a moment of reflection. “Be careful, the both of you, I am not here just for fun and games. Also I am just Ash Ketchum while here in Hoenn.” At the end Ash flashed a smile before turning away from the two and started to head towards Littleroot Town. Pikachu flashed the two Rocket Members a thumbs up from Ash’s shoulder while crying out a good bye. “Pi! Pika! Pi!”
James and Jessie just shared a look of confusion when Ash announced he was not here as a Ranger but shrugged it off. They stayed in the clearing for a moment watching Ash depart before fading back into the tree line.

Littleroot town –

The street lights were starting to come on just as Ash and Pikachu stepped onto the main road into the town. Overall it was a quiet little town with only a few houses and businesses. Ash and Pikachu took in the little town that they had not been to in a few years. Overall the town had not changed much. In fact it almost completely mirrored his home town of Pallet. Ash deftly moved through the small groups of people on the street he got a few curious looks from some of the citizens. A new face in town was always interesting and the fact that he had a Pikachu riding on his shoulder made it doubly so.
Cursing a little bit under his breath, Ash hurried up and started heading towards the Lab of Professor Birch. Perhaps taking the main road was not the best call but it beat skirting around the town and possibly being thought of as an intruder by the town watch. Come to think of it…he had gotten rather lucky the whole trip here. He had not run into any wild pokemon, not that he was complaining but normally he had to fight off or kill a few anytime he was traveling between towns.
Ash continued to walk through the town and before he knew it he found himself at the door to the lab of Professor Birch. He raised his hand to knock on the door but just as he was about to bring his hand down on the door it opened up. Ash could not make out the figure due to the light coming through behind the person at the door.
“Ash…Ash Ketchum is that you?” Queried a confused voice from the doorway, before the figure slowly moved out of the light, letting Ash identify the individual as Professor Birch.
Ash laughed nervously while scratching the back of his head. “Hey Professor, long time no see. Would you mind if I come in?”
“Pi! Pikachu!” Pikachu greeted the professor with excitement; the little electric rodent waved one of its hands in greeting to the Professor.
“Haha…yes Pikachu it is great to see you as well. I hope you have been well.” The Professor smiled as he ushered both of the weary travelers into the lab.
Once both were inside, Professor Birch quietly closed the door behind them before locking the door. He turned to Ash taking a moment to survey the young man he had not seen in person in well over three years. “So Ash! What brings an Elite Ranger to Hoenn region? I would think you would be busy back in Kanto with all the clean up after pushing Team Rocket out.”
Ash shook his head before smiling at the Professor. “Well Professor that is why I am here actually.”
“Oh? Trouble all the way in Hoenn?” The professor adopted a pensive expression as he led Ash into one of the smaller side labs where they could talk in private.
Following along behind the Professor Ash took a moment to compose himself and decide how much he wanted to bring the Professor into his mission. After a moment he figured Professor Birch could both be trusted and be a great resource on any happenings in the area. After all the Professor he was sure had his own sources of information. “Not trouble…not yet but Red tracked Rocket to Hoenn. A few of our sources have reported Rocket is regrouping here.”
Ash took a moment to sit down in the small lab. The Professor took a seat at the lone work station. He hummed to himself momentarily before addressing the younger man again. “Well unfortunately I do not have any further information for you. I have heard some rumblings here or there of possible trouble but nothing substantial.”
Both men took a moment to ponder on the issue before Ash spoke again. “Well anyway I am here to find out if anything is going on that Kanto needs to worry about. I am just here as Ash Ketchum a moderately decent trainer.” He finished with a self-deprecating grin.
Even Professor Birch had to laugh at that. “Of course I will believe that! Lucky for you no one really knows you in this region.” Birch’s smile disappeared as he considered his next words. “Well…I should say only knows of your legends from Cinnabar.” He patted the younger man on the shoulder in an attempt at comfort.
Ash’s smile also disappeared, he never enjoyed reliving that day in anyway. It would be nice in a way that Hoenn did not really know of him in any substantial way. He could just blend in and be Ash. Trying to put up another smile he continued with his point. “Well Professor I will be heading out to Petalburg City tomorrow. I figure I will cut through Oldale Town on my way. If you could provide a room tonight it would be appreciated.”
The Professor smiled. “Of course Ash, I can set you up in the guest bedroom!” He paused for a moment before his smile turned into a grin. “Though…if you don’t mind I have a favor to ask.”
Ash’s face grew visibly nervous. With the accident prone and act first professor, a favor, could be a scary thing indeed. “S..Sure…Professor…what can I do?” Even Pikachu’s face looked nervous as both remembered the Professor’s last “favor” that landed them returning a lost Aron to it’s parent. That of course led them to facing off against two angry Aggrons.
Professor Birch must have noticed their faces as he laughed. “Nothing too bad I promise! I just have a package I need delivered to Petalburg Gym! The gym leader’s daughter was going to come down here to pick it up but I figure since you are here…”
Both Ash and Pikachu looked visibly relieved as they both sighed. Ash then threw the professor a smile. “Of course Professor…but Professor what about the gym leader’s daughter?”
Professor Birch got up and started leading them out of the lab and towards the house portion of the lab and up to the guest room. “Well she left this morning…she is probably in Oldale tonight. As long as you leave early in the morning you should be able to intercept her!”
Ash nodded before bidding the Professor a good night. He just managed to kick off his shoes before collapsing in the bed. After the long journey he passed out before even eating anything since lunch yesterday. Right before he fell asleep he hoped that the Professor had a large breakfast ready for him in the morning.

Petalberg City – earlier that day
“May! If you are going to get to Littleroot by tomorrow afternoon you are going to have to get a move on missy!”
May groaned as she pulled herself out of her nice warm bed. The brunette had taken a “short” cat nap after breakfast to recharge her energy prior to leaving for Littleroot. The cat nap had turned into a 4 hour mini coma. “Just wrapping up packing Mom!”
“Of course sweetie!” Her mother called up the stairs in between giggles.
May just grumbled before she hurriedly threw a few things into a bag that she thought she needed for the journey. She took a moment to look at herself in the mirror. She spun for a moment taking in her outfit. She wore a red polo shirt and a pair of blue biking shorts. She threw on her backpack and tied her red bandana on over her hair. After taking one last look she made sure to clip her pokeballs to the magnetic belt around her waist.
When she appeared downstairs she waved a friendly good afternoon to both her parents before she sat down at the table. Like a ravenous growlithe she tore into the food her mother had left out for her. Both parents laughed in amusement as her brother Max slowly edged away and out of reach.
“Take a breath May…geez” Max grumbled before he started fiddling with his pokedex. He was home taking a few weeks off from traveling before he restarted his journey. At the time he only had three pokeballs around his waist but he wasn’t too concerned he had only started recently.
May threw a glare towards her brother before she finished up…leaving a table missing half its contents. “Thanks for the food mom! I will call you when I get to Oldale!” With that May rushed out the door.
“Be careful!” Norman yelled out the door before sighing in exasperation. He always worried about his daughter. She had never been completely together in the safety department. He also secretly worried about her safety since he knew she concentrated more on contest moves than actual battling.
Caroline smiled at her husband and instantly read his face. “Dear, May has been traveling alone for the past six years. I think that she can handle herself.” She kissed her husband on the cheek not paying attention to their son as Max made gagging sounds.
“I know…I know I just worry…sometimes that girl has her head in the clouds.” Norman shook his head once again debating the decision to send her off for the package from Professor Birch.

-Between Petalburg and Oldale.
May sighed in boredom as she walked along the route towards Oldale. The path was completely deserted which was not a huge surprise since Oldale was not exactly a prime travel location. More for companionship than protection May threw out a pokeball. “Blaziken! Go!” The tall human shaped bird pokemon appeared in a beam of red light. Immediately it surveyed the area for any danger to it’s master.
“Calm down Blaziken! I just needed some companionship.” The girl smiled before lightly punching the pokemon’s shoulder. Blaziken nodded before it fell in step next to it’s trainer. The pokemon kept an ever vigilant watch over the area.
They continued for some time until Oldale came into view ahead of them. May sighed with relief…not only had she not run into any trouble…mostly due to Blaziken’s intimidating presence but the sun was just setting.
May hurried along towards the pokemon center with Blaziken trailing behind. Within minutes she had gotten her room for the night and ended up having a large meal at the center prior to going to bed early in hopes to hit the road early. If she actually stuck to schedule she could probably get back to Petalburg tomorrow night if she pushed on all day.

Littleroot town – Next Morning.

Ash woke up with a groan. After flying all day yesterday his muscles protested his every movement. Taking a moment to stretch himself out he slowly picked himself out of bed. The moment he did however his stomach started to gurgle.
Taking only a moment to change out his clothing for a fresh pair he hurried down the stairs already smelling breakfast. The electric rodent not far behind him in his quest for food.
When Ash came into the kitchen he saw a feast laid out in front of him. Birch’s wife Ana stood by the stove smiling at Ash’s face when he skidded to a halt inside the kitchen. “Good Morning Ash…my husband said you arrived last night right after dinner. I knew you would be starving if you did not have dinner last night.” She finished with a laugh.
Ash could only nod as he fell upon the food much like a certain Brunette had done the day before at her residence. Ana could only look on in amusement as the young man ate as if he had been starved for weeks.
Birch appeared in the doorway with a small package wrapped up in brown paper just as Ash had finished. He smiled before dropping the package in front of Ash. “Much appreciated Ash! Looks like you enjoyed breakfast.”
Ash could only nod as he finished up the remaining food on his plate before sending a disarming smile to Ana. “Thank you Mrs. Birch! I haven’t eaten this well since I was home last.”
Ana smiled before looking at her husband in an expectant matter, she then started pointing to the messy dishes strewn across the kitchen, the kitchen looked like a war zone. “Looks like it is your turn to do the dishes dear since I made the meal!”
Birch’s face fell into despair as he surveyed the damage done by Ash. It appeared that Ana had used the entire collection of pots and pans to cook up the feast for the young trainer. He turned to Ash laughing slightly. “Well looks like I am on kitchen duty. I am sure you can find your way out?”
Ash could only snicker over the Professor’s unintended predicament before nodding to the professor. “Of course Professor…thanks again for the room and the information…I will contact you if I find anything else out.” His face turned somber for a moment before a gigawatt smile returned as he faced Ana. “And thank you Mrs. Birch! The meal really helped fuel us up for our adventure!”
“Pi Pika!” Pikachu agreed from the floor before hopping onto his trainer’s shoulder.
Ana smiled at both of the guests before she turned towards the front door and started to lead Ash and Pikachu out of the lab, both travelers following her. “Well thanks Ash, I am always happy to cook for you two! My husband never fully appreciates my cooking like you.”
With that Ash left the lab and Littleroot town behind as he headed towards Oldale town. He waved over his shoulder one last time before disappearing across the horizon.

Somewhere outside Oldale Town – Next Morning

May groaned as she walked down another path hoping to see some semblance of civilization. “How did I manage to get myself lost?!” She groaned as once again she took what looked to be a correct path. She had only been to Littleroot town once or twice in her life so she thought she would just remember the way. Instead she took the first path that looked right and when she tried to course correct she had ended up deeper in the woods. At this point she was starting to get skived out and just wanted to see some sign of human life.
Up ahead she suddenly heard human voices. “Alright! Perhaps they can point me on the right path.” The brunette muttered to herself in relief. Not even stopping to survey the scene May burst out of the thin copse of trees separating her from the human voices. “Hi! I am totally lost can you point me towards…” Her voice petered off as she surveyed the scene.
Laid out before her looked to be an excavation project. There were two Onix burrowing into the ground with their tails and a mass of Gravelers digging out the holes that the Onix were creating. Surrounding the pokemon was close to 15 people dressed in weird red and black garb she had never seen before anywhere. To make it worse she noticed a rather large pack of Houndoom patrolling the area just out of her position. May suddenly had a bad feeling and was regretting her decision to just burst out of the tree line.
The two groups just stared at each other in disbelief for a moment. The members of Team Magma surprised anyone had come this deep into this section of the forest and that their Houndoom had not picked up on her before she managed to actually get to their site.
May spoke first in an attempt to get herself out of the sticky situation. “Well…I will just see my way out…” She started to back out of the clearing slowly but surely. Right before she cleared the trees she heard one of the Magma member’s orders.
The leader of the site growled in frustration. Just what he needed…or did not need witnesses. “Houndoom!” He pointed towards the girl who was rapidly retreating. “Kill her! Make it look like an attack by a wild pokemon!” The Houndoom may not have gotten the exact words behind the order but they understood the meaning, kill the intruder.
May just had enough time to see over 12 Houndoom approaching her at a rapid pace. Knowing that not even her pokemon could handle that many at once she followed her only option. The brunette turned on a dime and plunged into the tree line running head first crashing through underbrush without a second thought. ‘I am going to die.’ This was the only thought running through her head as she kept pushing herself forward. Behind her she could hear the Houndoom catching up to her.
She finally crashed through the tree line and landed on the main path. The sudden change from the spongy forest ground to the hard packed down dirt of the main road caused her to lose her balance. She fell into a tumble and landed on her back staring up at the sky. She groaned for a moment before she pulled herself back up. The moment she pushed herself off her back she stopped before her the Houndoom had caught up to her and were advancing quickly. The started to enclose her in a half circle, blocking her ability to move left or right. In another moment she knew the pack would surround her completely. ‘Not good not good.’ She thought in her head.
Her left hand slowly moved towards one of her pokeballs…her Venasaur…if she could release her pokemon she could at least take a few down with her before one got through Venasaur’s defenses. A deep growl from one of the Houndoom stopped her in her tracks. She did the only thing she could at this point. “Somebody help me!” She screamed out hoping against hope someone would hear her.
The Houndoom paused for a moment as if they too were worried that her scream would draw unwanted attention. After a moment they came to the consensus that no one would be appearing last minute. The lead Houndoom jumped in the air towards the young girl ready to end her life by tearing her throat out.

Route 101 – in between Littleroot and Oldale

Ash groaned as he continued to trudge onwards. He really needed to invest in a bike either that or get a less obvious flying pokemon to ferry him around. The argument against flying though was that he would not look like a normal trainer if he just went around flying everywhere. ‘I suppose I could use Arcanine but he probably would not appreciate being used as a taxi service.’ He grumbled in his head about the proud lion dog pokemon. In fact knowing his luck Arcanine would dump him off somewhere in a river in response to using him as transportation. Pikachu kept alert on his shoulder, his ears constantly swiveling around looking for some kind of danger.
“I think I need to get in better shape Pikachu…I don’t think I have walked this much in months.” Pikachu took a moment away from his trainer before nodding and pointing towards Ash’s stomach. “Piiiiika…Pi.”
Ash glared at the little electric rodent. “Are you calling me fat!”
“Piiika! Pi! Pikachuuuu.” The little rodent responded with a grin and a shrug of its little shoulders.
“Well if you think I am so out of shape I believe your ketchup rations may be cut off soon.” Ash ended with a smirk. He knew it was a low blow but desperate times called for desperate measures.
“Piiiiiiiiiiiiii!” Pikachu’s face registered shock before he almost fell off of Ash’s shoulder.
Ash was about to retort to the small pokemon when he felt a psychic voice connect with his mind. “Ash…I feel a dark disturbance ahead and distress. I fear there may be a group of dark pokemon ahead. I cannot pierce their minds to find out what is occurring. There is another individual just ahead of them though and she is registering extreme distress.” Gardevoir spoke through a psychic link she created.
Sometimes Ash really hated when she did this but other times he was thankful that she always seemed to be scanning the area even while resting in her pokeball.
Without a word Ash started running further up the path towards where the incident Gardevoir had indicated was occurring. As he came up over the ridge he immediately saw a girl on the ground surrounded by a pack of Houndoom. Immediately he threw forth a pokeball as he continued to run closer to the action. He knew only one pokemon could get there in time to make a difference. “Arcanine! Go!” The giant dog lion took form in front of Ash and immediately saw the problem.
Just as Arcanine formed, Ash saw the lead Houndoom leaping into the air ready to rip the young girls throat out. “Arcanine extreme speed! Intercept that Houndoom!” In a blinding flash of light Arcanine took off like a rocket towards the fight ahead.
May knew it was all over the moment the Houndoom leapt towards her…she closed her eyes in preparation for her end. Right as she felt a shadow over her she all of a sudden heard a surprised yelp. Opening her eyes she saw a giant Arcanine in front of her. In between its powerful jaws it held the Houndoom which was struggling in an attempt to get free. This ended a moment later when the Arcanine chomped down with its powerful jaws. The Houndoom fell out of Arcanine’s mouth in pieces. Dark blood ran down Arcanine’s muzzle as it stomped one of its heavy front paws down on the eviscerated Houndoom’s upper body ending its life completely.
“Oh thank heavens…” May blew out her breath momentarily…that was until she realized that now the remaining Houndoom had regrouped and started to surround the larger pokemon. The Arcanine for his credit glared at the smaller pokemon like they were a blight upon this earth. His baleful glare turning to any Houndoom that started to come any closer.
Ash witnessed Arcanine’s total destruction of the lead Houndoom with a smirk. ‘That should really set the tone for the Houndoom. Once he was in range for Gardevoir and Lucario he took two more pokeballs and threw them forwards.
“Go! Gardevoir use teleport and remove that girl from the battlefield!” With a nod the psychic pokemon disappeared. She momentarily reappeared by the girl before disappearing with her and reappearing with her next to Ash. “Gardevoir take care of her!” Ash turned to the second pokemon as he watched Arcanine withdrew until he was in front of Ash and the young girl. “Lucario back up Arcanine…remember no mercy they are not holding back.”
“Of course Ash.” He heard both Lucario and Gardevoir acknowledge his command.
Lucario came up next to Arcanine who despite the advantage of power was having a hard time keeping the Houndoom corralled in one area. The Houndoom kept trying to flank the large fire dog lion. “Doom” One of the Houndoom growled before the Houndoom reigned fire down upon Arcanine and Lucario.
“Lucario block it metal sound!” Lucario acknowledged the order before he opened his mouth before emitting a metal screech at the incoming flames. The flames were disrupted by the air waves and were snuffed out before reaching Lucario.
Arcanine on the other hand took the flames and immediately fire seemed to seep out of his fur in response. If anything Arcanine looked annoyed at the flames that were lapping around him but most just slid off his skin without affecting the giant lion dog.
Ash grinned as Arcanine’s blaze was activated. “Alright show them a real flame thrower!” Ash briefly watched as Arcanine drew in a large breath of air before spewing forth a solid stream of fire towards the pack of Houndoom. The fire did not do much damage but it did intimidate the Houndoom quite effectively due to the ferocity of the flames. Ash turned his attention completely to Lucario trusting that Arcanine could continue the fight without much more direction. “Alright Lucario extreme speed into the middle of the pack…set off a wide radius aura sphere and follow it up with a close combat strike!”
While Arcanine kept the pack as a whole busy Lucario blew into the middle of the pack in a burst of speed while charging his aura sphere. The Houndoom were just reacting to the new arrival when the blue jackal pokemon let loose the pulse of aura sphere that spread out from the epicenter in all directions. The super effective attack blew the Houndoom back. Lucario followed this up by coming in close to one of the Houndoom that took the most damage. With a quick jab he drove the spikes on the back of both hands into the Houndoom’s chest. The fire dog let out a gurgle as blood started to fill it’s lungs. Lucario withdrew back to Arcanine’s side before the Houndoom could response with a wall of fire that hit the spot Lucario was standing in a moment ago.
May finally pulled herself out of her own stupor from the near death experience. She pulled herself off the ground while looking at her savior. She was amazed at the calm and collected manner the young man was dealing with this fight. Taking a moment to survey the scene she saw that young trainer’s pokemon had killed two of the Houndoom so far and heavily damaged the remaining eleven. Still it was a eleven on two fight and no matter what the level the Arcanine and Lucario could not keep up dodging or just taking the hits forever.
Making up her mind she threw out two pokeballs and out came Wartortle and Glaceon. The moment they appeared before their trainer they were shocked by the scene before them. They were startled out of their stupor by May’s command. “Wartortle back up Arcanine and Lucario! Hit any of those Houndoom you can with Water gun!” Wartortle grunted in acknowledgement before it started picking out targets and hitting them with blasts of water from its mouth.
“Now Glaceon start off with icy wind!” A chill wind blew across the battlefield causing most of the Houndoom to shiver slightly as they felt sluggish despite their being a fire type. “Now start picking out targets and hit them from afar with Ice shard!” With that Glaceon mirrored Wartortle’s attack pattern and started to try and pick off Houndoom that strayed too far around the flanks of Arcanine and Lucario.
“Thanks for the assistance, this will make life easier.” Ash smiled towards the girl who seemed to be up and no longer stunned by her near death experience. He turned his attention to Gardevoir. “Keep Arcanine and Lucario protected with light screen when you can. If any of them get too close to us…hyper beam them into the ground.”
“Of course Ash.” The floating psychic type turned her attention to the battlefield. This was one of the rare instances she was almost completely useless in a fight further than defensive moves.
Ash surveyed the battlefield with the addition of May’s pokemon the tide had begun to swing the other way. Glaceon just decapitated one of the remaining Houndoom with a large shard of ice. While Arcanine tore into a Houndoom with its jaws and held down another one with one of its enormous paws while ignoring the other Houndoom’s flame thrower attacks. Lucario had finished off another Houndoom by stabbing it through the throat with one of its hand spikes.
“Alright Lucario finish the rest off with another aura sphere across the entire area. Arcanine finish it up with a flame charge. Leave no survivors!” Ash yelled out to his pokemon. Despite both pokemon’s power he knew they both could not go on forever.
Lucario blasted the remaining Houndoom off their collective feet with another super effective attack and before they could recover Arcanine started it’s attack. The few Houndoom left alive were immediately trampled to death under the heavy feet of Arcanine as it ran through the downed dog pokemon. Arcanine finished off one of the last remaining Houndoom with its giant paw crushing the wind pipe of a piteous Houndoom making whimpers of pain.
After Ash was satisfied that none of the Houndoom remaining still drew breath he quickly recalled Gardevoir, Lucario and Arcanine. “Take a long rest guys.” He sagged with exhaustion from the stress of the battle. Pikachu still sat on his shoulder surveying the region for any further trouble.
He finally turned his attention to May as she recalled her Wartortle but left her Glaceon out for personal protection. After what had occurred just recently no one could blame her. Ash sent a disarming smile towards the young girl. “Ash Ketchum…at your service, I hope you are alright?”
May’s breath hitched slightly as she turned to the trainer. “May…my name is May.”
Ash smiled…so this was the girl that was originally supposed to pick up the package from Professor Birch. “Well that works out well! I actually just came from Professor Birch’s lab. He gave me this package to drop off to the Petalburg gym leader.” With that he pulled out the package from his back pack before handing it over to May.
“Thank you…well that saves me a trip to Littleroot Town.” May glanced around for a moment surveying the battlefield. Normally such sights did not really affect her but this was just a little too close for comfort. She pushed her hands behind her back and rocked back and forth on her heels for a moment unsure how to ask him to accompany her so she just went for it. “If you are still heading to Petalburg…would you mind traveling with me?”
Ash surveyed the young girl for a moment before Pikachu responded for him. “Pika! Pikachu! Pi!” The yellow electric rodent excitedly before giving her a thumbs up.
“Well I guess that is a yes.” The Kanto trainer laughed as he scratched the back of his head.

A/N: A little longer than I had planned but there really was not a good way of breaking up the chapter without cutting out most of the action. Well now we have 5 out of Ash’s 7 pokemon. Again I have some ideas for the 6th and 7th. I may put up a poll for the last pokemon and the legendary if anyone cares. If not I will decide eventually. Hope everyone reading this enjoys it. Next chapter will be some investigation in Oldale Town for Ash but most of it will be another battle before Petalburg and if I have time some part of the adventures in Petalburg City.