AN: Alright, poll results are in and the winner is 'Son of the Moon' so for the next six updates every other one will be 'Son of the Moon'.

AN2: New elite four/Gym members I've been thinking about adding to Ash's league are

Silver (the son of Giovanni) for Water type

Aya or Janine (Koga's sister and daughter) for Poison type

A Nurse Joy for Normal type

Samurai for bug type

Still open for any suggestions for the other members, looking for characters from Pokémon.

AN3: Pairing is as of yet undecided, the only thing is that I've eliminated certain pairings. Ash WON'T be paired with Misty, Iris, Serena, or any male characters (I don't like those pairings as a matter of principle). Ash also won't be paired with Leaf but she will remain his friend and eventually get over her crush (I do have a good reasoning for it in the story and will pair her with someone else). I'm open to other suggestions for possible pairings.

A Diamond in the Rough

Chapter 3

-Ash-

"Thank you, we'll get them back to you as soon as possible." Nurse joy smiles as he hands her the Pokéballs for Pikachu, Charmander, and Gyarados.

"Thanks," he grinned "just be careful with them. Gyarados is rather large, Pikachu is slow to trust people, and Charmander's last trainer was abusive."

"What?" Joy gasps softly "That poor thing. What happened to the trainer?"

"Professor Oak took away their trainer's license and turned him over to the police." Ash assured the woman who breathed a sigh of relief "Also, while I'm waiting do you have a tablet I can use?"

"Of course." Joy smiles and pulls one out from a box, a sticker on it denoting the number "You can make use of them for one hour before having to return it or check it out again."

"Thanks." He grinned and walked over to the couch where Leaf was waiting, sitting down as she quickly propped her feet up on his lap. "Seriously?" he chuckled, not really all that bothered by the action.

"Shut up," she smirks, wriggling into the couch to get comfy as she relaxed "pillows and foot stools don't talk." Rolling his eyes with a chuckle he turned on the tablet as he began searching forums for trainers around Viridian. "What are you doing?" Leaf asked him, cracking open an eye as she watched him, head tilted with curiosity. The corner of his lips twitched as he remained silent, causing Leaf to scowl and smack him with her heel "Don't ignore me!" she pouted.

"I'm sorry, I thought foot stools couldn't talk." He said with faux sincerity, laughing when Leaf blew a raspberry at him. "In all seriousness though I'm checking the trainer forums." He told her, showing her the page he had pulled up "A lot of trainers post information about the Pokémon in an area that they've seen. Some are people reporting a very strong Pokémon to warn weaker trainers from coming near it, others say what Pokémon they've found in the area, or if there's a missing Pokémon, or just looking for a battle."

"Any good grass types in the area?" Leaf asked getting off his lap so she could look at the tablet as well.

"Tangela are supposed to be on Mount Silver," he pointed out, having the forum for the mountain pulled up "I was planning to go there to get a Larvitar. My status in the Orange Islands is enough to qualify us to be able to get onto the mountain itself."

"Qualify?" Leaf asked confused as he pulled out several forum pages and sent them to the Center printer.

"The mountain tends to have very powerful Pokémon," Ash explained, moving over to return the tablet and pick up his printed pages "so if you aren't strong enough they won't let you up there for your own safety. Would you want a lot of trainers who just have pidgey running into an irate Tyranitar?" nodding to his old friend's wince he returned the tablet and paid for the pages he printed out.

"There he is officer!" an irate voice yelled out as the center doors opened. Turning at the voice he saw the same girl who had tried stealing Gyarados glaring at him, her finger pointed his way while an officer Jenny stood next to her.

"Young man, this young lady is claiming that you attacked her on the road to Viridian, destroying her bike and catching a Pokémon she was battling." The Jenny stated as the orangette smirked victoriously.

"Does she have any proof of this?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, putting a hand on Leaf's shoulder to keep her from exploding angrily "Or is it just going to be a 'he said, she said' situation?" he didn't have any proof of her attacking him just like she didn't have proof that he broke her bike. Unless someone in the police department or Nurse joy had a psychic type, the accusations couldn't go anywhere.

"I have a giant lump of charcoal that used to be my bike!" she yelled, waving the charred lump of what used to be a bike over his head.

"But does that prove I'm the one who did it?" he asked, "Is there any proof you aren't just trying to steal my Pokémon?"

When the girl looked ready to scream again Officer Jenny held up a hand for silence "I've heard her report but I'd appreciate you both coming down to the station with us so we can get your side as well and get this matter closed."

Nodding he put his printed pages into his backpack and nodded to the Nurse Joy "I'll come back later for my Pokémon ma'am." He told her pleasantly before he and Leaf went with Jenny and the irate orangette. Getting to the station he was led to a plain room with nothing but a table and a chair while the girls were led somewhere else. "Alright, what's your story on the situation?" Jenny asked him as she began recording what he was saying "And be fully aware that this is just a questioning, you can request a lawyer at any time and you haven't been charged with anything as of yet."

Nodding he went into his story of how he had wanted a Gyarados and stopped by the river with his friend Leaf after they left Oak's laboratory. He pulled out his breathing device and explained the how the battle went. Pulling out kabutops Pokéball, the smallest of the crystal Pokémon, he explained the Pokémon he fought with so that way Jenny could compare it to Nurse Joy's reports on Gyarados' condition. Finally, he explained how the orange haired girl had showed up, demanded Gyarados due to his status as a 'rookie trainer' and then attacked him in order to take the Pokéball.

"Your story is a far cry from that of Miss Waterflower." Jenny said with a frown as she shut off the recording device "I'm going to go talk to your companion so you'll have to wait here until then. Also, you'll have to either surrender those Pokémon or have another officer in here to watch you."

"I'll take the other officer," he said instantly "I don't like the thought of them being away from me for anything besides treatment." Nodding Jenny called in one of her coworkers before heading out to talk to Leaf. It was roughly an hour before he was brought out of the room and taken to Leaf and the Waterflower girl.

"Thank you for this again." The voice of Officer Jenny said from down the hallway as he looked over to see her talking on the phone, a Pokéball in hand "I'll be sure to have him sent back soon." With that the policewoman hung up the phone and faced him and the girls "Alright you three, I've heard your stories but the problem is that none of you said anything that threw up immediate red flags about lying. The closest we have is that your story matches the damage done to Gyarados," she nods to him "but those can be explained as marks from a previous battle if needed." Waterflower frowned at that statement.

"Wouldn't my word as a Gym leader carry more weight?" she asks as he frowned, wondering why a Kanto Gym leader would be so easily defeated.

"He's a champion." Jenny deadpanned, pointing to his ring as Waterflower's eyes widened at it "Anyway, I called my sister from Cinnabar and she sent over her Kadabra." The Pokéball opened as the psychic Pokémon appeared "Who will be listening to your stories and using his powers to see who's lying." nodding calmly at that he stepped forward and repeated the story he told the officer, minus the crystal Pokémon as he wanted to keep that as quiet as possible. After he went Waterflower gave her story, her eyes seeming more focused as he assumed she was picturing her story in her mind to try and make it seem like she was telling the truth to the psychic Pokémon.

Once she finished the Kadabra pointed towards him "Ka-Kadabra." The psychic Pokémon said with a nod as the Officer nodded "I'm sorry about all this Mr. Ketchum." She apologized to him before turning with a scowl to the sweating girl who claimed to be a gym leader "Miss Waterflower, you've tried bringing false charges upon Champion Ketchum. The false charges alone will incur a heavy fine let alone the charges for you attempting to rob him."

"But…but he torched my bike!" she tries, taking a nervous step back.

"You had just attacked me, you really thought I would leave an easy way for you to follow me?" he asked before looking at the officer "Send her home and tell her family what she did. Make sure they do something to punish her and I won't press charges."

"You got very lucky young lady." Officer Jenny moves and leads off the orangette who's still stammering out protests while he and Leaf were released as he went to go collect his Pokémon.

"Ah, Mr. Ketchum," Nurse Joy said with a kind smile "your Pokémon are ready for you. Charmander was quite eager for you to get back." The tiny fire type ran from around the counter and leapt into his arms happily.

"Hey there little buddy." He chuckled, rubbing the pokemon's head as Charmander nuzzled him, Pikachu hopping up and jumping onto his shoulder, waving at Nurse Joy. "Not gonna let Gyarados hug me?" he asks with an amused grin as the nurse rolls her eyes.

"I'd rather not have him break something, he's a little big to hug you indoors. Are you going to need rooms for the night or will you be heading out today?" the pinkette asks as she boots up her computer to check for open rooms.

"We're going to be here for at least another day, maybe longer." He tells her "I want to get in some training and catch a Pokémon or two if able so two rooms would be great."

Nodding, Joy typed the information into her computer "Alright, you have two rooms for the next two nights. The kitchen is open at all times but prepared meals are served between eight and ten for breakfast, twelve and two for lunch, and five and seven for dinner."

"Thank you." He said with a smile before taking their keys and heading to the video phones, wanting to call home and say hi to his family.