A/N: Alright alright, time for chapter two! People seem to like the story so far, so that's good!

Just to clarify, because I forgot to mention it last chapter, but Delia keeps a bunch of Pokémon food. She often feeds wild Pokémon that come around the house.

If you've read my abandoned story The Dragon Tamer, *dodges tomatoes at abandoning it*, then you'll know my OC Amara. In this story, she's but a humble teacher (but she is based more on me this time). Speaking of that story, it was hugely popular. Maybe one day I will go back to it. We'll see.

Typically I reply to reviews via PM, but since I can't do that with guest reviews (there were several spam ones I had to delete, which sucked), here's my replies:

Damon: Thank you! Hopefully you'll like what I plan on giving him.

Guest: Thanks! My muse comes and goes, but I'll try and update as much as I can.

Anyway, on to chapter 2!

Chapter 2: The Spiky Perfectionist

Ash slowly woke up, blinking as the sun's beams of light filtered through the curtain of his temporary room. The first thing he noticed was how sore he was. Very sore.

Groaning, he carefully sat up, taking care not to jostle Joltik, who was still snoozing away at his side. Reaching over the side of the bed, he pulled up his backpack and opened it to retrieve the medicine the hospital had prescribed to him. And a water bottle of course. Popping the cap on the pills, he grabbed one and swallowed it down with water, grimacing at the awful taste. 'Ugh, I hate pills.'

Picking up the medicated bath stuff that he did not know the name of, he eased himself out of the bed, hissing slightly in pain, and limped his way to the bathroom. After doing his business, he ran the tub with warm water, dumping a bit of the medicated bubble bath in under the running faucet.

He had forgone a bath last night as all he had wanted to do was sleep.

Ash rid himself of his clothes and sunk down into the water, yelping at the initial sting of the medicine over his wounds. The sound had woken up Joltik, who came running into the bathroom on high alert.

"I'm alright, girl, it's just the medicine doing its job," Ash told her, calming her down instantly. Ash sighed. He hoped she would calm down in the future. The overprotective-ness was cute at first, but now it was a little aggravating. He would not yell at her though, this was something she would have to work out on her own.

Slipping down further into the water and closing his eyes, Ash started relaxing as the medicine and warm water started to sooth his pain. He would not always get to use this stuff as he would be traveling a lot, so he was going to take advantage of it while he could.

Eventually, as in a couple of weeks, he would not need it anymore, but he planned on keeping the bottle just in case.

Hearing a small scritch scritch sound, Ash opened his eyes to see Joltik climbing up the side of the tub.

"Joltik, what are you doing?" Ash asked, as his first Pokémon managed to make it up on the rim. She started to slowly crawl her way towards Ash before she lost her footing and slipped right into the tub water.

"Ah, Joltik! Ha ha, what made you think that was a good idea?" Ash laughed at his Pokémon's misfortune and the Pokémon in question quickly crawled on top of Ash's head, shaking off the water in indignation.

"Alright, I need to finish my bath, you can roost on my head afterward, I promise," Ash said, gently grabbing Joltik and setting her down on the floor. She clicked and chirped in displeasure at the action, but Ash ignored her.

Fifteen minutes later, he was ready to go. The young trainer was refreshed after his medicated bath and he was eager to hit the road. Viridian Forest was at least a week's worth of walking, so he wanted to leave as soon as possible.

On top of that, most of his Pokémon's training would take place in the forest. It was the perfect environment for it. There were tons of wild Pokémon and tons of trainers usually traveling through it as well, so it was perfect practice. Though he still needed to devise a training regimen for Joltik, and any other Pokémon he would get before Pewter City.

Before that, however, he had a couple of places to stop.

After having breakfast in the Center's cafeteria, and Joltik getting a quick checkup, Ash and Joltik exited the Pokémon Center, which was just starting to get busy, after turning in the key for the room. The young trainer had only planned on staying in Viridian City for a day, after all. He had been coming here for the past five years, there was not anything new to see.

Taking a path through the city that had been ingrained in him, Ash finally arrived at a pristine-looking building with "Viridian Pokémon Academy" lettered across the top of the entrance gates. It was a newer building, which looked more like a modern manor than a school, with various other buildings scattered around the seven acre campus.

The place was enormous, and for good reason. There were multiple battlefields all around the place, several training gyms with exercise equipment for both human and Pokémon, dorms for those who wanted to live on campus, a fairly large cafeteria area, and many other buildings for various uses.

It had been a little daunting to navigate when he first started learning here, but Ash quickly got used to it and learned his way around. He had been thankful the school had been completely free, as it was paid for by donations, subsidies, and taxes, not that he understood how any of that worked, but it was what he had been told. It was a public school, basically.

Unlike the Pokémon Technical Institute, or Pokémon Tech, for short, which was a private school for the more wealthy among society. That school had been around long before the Law of Schooling was put into place by the Goodshows, and was a huge inspiration for the now required public ones for those seeking to be trainers.

Ash had, and still, preferred his own school as he got to meet a lot of people from all walks of life. From the incredibly rich (many of which whom were snobs, in his humble opinion) to the unfortunate people who lived in poverty, just wanting a better life for themselves. He often found those people to be the nicest and most giving among all of his classmates, though there were always exceptions of course. He had come across a couple of poor kids from other classes who were downright bullies, but they had been taken care of since the school had a strict "no bullying" policy.

He had met a few wealthy kids who were friendly as well, and more than willing to help out those in need, so Ash supposed it went both ways.

'Alright, enough reminiscing,' the preteen thought to himself, as he went to open the gates to the school. A few questioning clicks and chirps from Joltik made him pause for a moment.

"It's the school I graduated from to become a trainer, Joltik. I just figured I would visit it one last time." With that, Ash entered the campus and started walking up the path towards the main building where all the classrooms were held.

Ash did not spot anyone roaming around, which did not surprise him. It was a little after nine in the morning, which meant the lecture classes were going on. Entering the building, he strolled up to the reception area and cleared his throat to gain the attention of the male wheelchair-bound attendant, who seemed to currently be engrossed in his work. He had a crop of dark-brown hair that was cut rather professionally, with a mustache and short beard to match. An average-looking guy by all standards, though he was anything but.

"Huh? Oh, hello, how can I help you? Ah, it's you Mr. Ketchum. Didn't you graduate just a week or so ago? What are you doing back here?"

"Hi, Mr. Warsaw. I did, I was just wondering if I could see Ms. Blackthorn, if she is available."

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, she's on break at the moment. You can probably find her in the staffroom."

"Okay, thanks Mr. Warsaw! Enjoy your day."

"Same to you, Mr. Ketchum."

Ash shook his head as he started heading towards the staffroom. Robert Warsaw had started working at the school shortly after the young trainer started to attend it, and while he was a nice man, he was very professional about his demeanor. It had been quite the shock to him and his other classmates when he had first started, though. None of them had ever encountered anyone in a wheelchair before, let alone someone with no legs at that point in their lives.

Some kid finally had the nerve to ask him why he did not have any legs one day, and his class, plus a few from some other classes, eagerly gathered around him to listen to his story. The middle-aged man had been happy to indulge the group of curious children, and the few teenagers who had gathered around as well.

Apparently he had been a traveling trainer at one point, and a decent one to boot, if his slight bragging was anything to go off of. One day, though, he was up on Mt. Silver training his team for an upcoming league tournament for Johto, when he accidentally enraged a group of powerful Tyranitar. His Pokémon had managed to fend off a vast majority of the terrifying beasts, but one had managed to find its way to him, tearing into him and mangling his legs to the point where they could no longer be repaired.

Robert had been lucky to get out of there with his life, but it was a very close call. He had stayed conscious long enough to witness his Pokémon tearing into the beast before passing out from pain and blood-loss. The next thing he remembered after that was waking up in a hospital bed with his legs amputated. The doctors had told him there was no way they could have saved the limbs; they were simply too damaged.

He had fallen into a deep depression after that. The hospital had offered him the chance to get prosthetic legs, but he had refused. They would never replace what he lost. Not to him. At one point he had nearly given up on his life and had contemplated suicide multiple times. What was the point, he had asked himself. He could no longer travel and continue battling Pokémon, which had been his passion.

It had been his own Pokémon who had helped him out of his depression, though it definitely was not something that happened overnight. They had continued to train by themselves, and eventually encouraged him to enter the next Johto tournament. He had been reluctant, naturally, but eventually gave in, showing up to battle in his wheelchair.

The thrill of battle had managed to finally break through his funk, and he had finished in the top four. Robert had retired from battles after that, deciding to take the humble receptionist job here at the academy. Though he kept his Pokémon on him at all times, even giving demonstrations for the students from time to time.

He still refused to get prosthetic legs, even to this day.

Everyone had been enthralled by his story, many even inspired by it. It was, however, a humbling reminder that Pokémon were wild, instinctive creatures until they were tamed by capturing them.

Ash had certainly learned that lesson a day ago.

Arriving at his destination, Joltik curiously clicking and chirping atop his head the whole time, he knocked on the staffroom door, entering when he heard the soft "come in". Opening the door, he looked around and quickly spotted the person he had come to see. She sat on one of the comfortable crimson sofas, engrossed in her laptop. That was one of her quirks- if she was not doing literally anything else, her nose was in some sort of electronic device. Her favorite one being her laptop.

She was of average height at around five feet and six inches, wore her dark brown hair short to where it sat on her shoulders, and her brown eyes were set behind her square, black-framed glasses. She wore long black pants that covered the tops of her stylish black shoes, and a nice black jacket over a plain white t-shirt. She was a bit on the hefty side as well, though that did not mean squat to anyone, thankfully.

The look suited her, even if some thought she was a hidden goth of some sort, though Ash had a good feeling she was not. In all the five years that he had her as a teacher, she always preferred to wear darker clothing. She never once wore a pair of jeans either, and Ash suspected she hated them for some reason or another.

Ms. Amara Blackthorn. She was an enigma to some, but to Ash, she was the most amazing teacher he had ever had. Of course she was his main teacher, so the young black-haired trainer was a bit biased in the regard, but he never once had a single thing to complain about with the woman.

Except for the time she beat him in the school eating contest. Yeah, he still had a grudge against her for that one, but it had all been in good fun nonetheless.

Though Ash vowed his revenge against her one day, regardless.

Finally, she looked up from her computer and glanced at her visitor in the doorway, a look of surprise coming to her face.

"Oh, well, if it isn't my top student and the Master Tactician himself! What the heck are you doing back here?" She asked in her very noticeable deeper alto voice. Ash scratched his cheek in embarrassment, not noticing how tense Joltik had become after he had entered the room. He had failed to notice the two very large felines curled up around each other a few feet away in an enormous cat bed that was set in a corner of the room. Joltik did not though, and she had her blue eyes trained on them in an instant.

"I'm no master tactician, Ms. Blackthorn..." Ash replied. Ever since she started calling him that, the rest of the faculty copied her, and he could never escape the moniker after that. True, he was good at battle strategies, but he would not go so far as to call himself a master at them.

"Don't be so modest Ash, you were amazing at them. One of the best students in that department." Ash was feeling flustered at her praise and squirmed a bit in discomfort. It was not that he did not enjoy praise, but she had the habit of shoving his achievements into everyone else's face. And Gary's too, for that matter. The twenty eight year old was an amazing teacher in all things Pokémon, but her boasting about certain other areas were very annoying.

Gary, though, soaked it up for all it was worth.

"Well, don't just stand there in the doorway like a moron, get in here and take a seat next to me and tell me how your adventure has been so far." Ah, yes, he had almost forgotten how outspoken and demanding she was about things.

"Uh, sure," Ash responded, quite eloquently. As he stepped further inside the staffroom, he finally took notice of the two large, cream-colored felines lounging in the far corner of the room. They both lifted their heads to look at him at last. The face of the larger one with longer whiskers lit up in recognition and happiness as its eyes landed on Ash.

Ash quickly recognized the sleepy pair of felines, and his face morphed the match the one he knew best.

"Persian!" Ash cried, and he fell to his knees with his arms wide open in invitation. Said Pokémon let out an eager meow and went bounding towards Ash.

The youthful trainer forgot one little detail, however...

"Joltik, no!" He shouted as the little spider jumped from his head in front of him protectively, unleashing a Shock Wave at Persian, who had stopped in the middle of his run. He just tilted his head to the side at the electricity hit him, shrugging off the attack as if it were just a pesky little mosquito biting him. Joltik chirped in surprise at her attack doing absolutely nothing to the cat, a fear that she had never felt before rolling through her body.

Uselessness. Incapable of protecting her trainer. She did not like the feeling. She got the shock of her life, however, when she heard her trainer's next words and felt her world turn into nothingness for the first time in days.

"Joltik, return!" Ash called, and sighed as his only Pokémon was returned to her Pokéball for the first time under his care. 'Never thought I would put you back in your ball this early on.'

"Dear lord, what was that all about?" Amara asked, still seated, though her eyes had gone wide at what had transpired. Persian, seeing that the little pest was gone, rushed at Ash once more, nearly tackling him to the ground, but Ash just grunted and held steady. He wrapped his arms around the feline in a hug, softly petting him as the Persian began to loudly purr.

"Sorry about that. Joltik is overly protective of me," Ash said, now sitting on the floor with Persian trying to curl up in his lap with poor results.

"Oh, I hadn't realized that was a Pokémon on your head at first, I thought it was some gaudy souvenir hat from the school store," his previous teacher commented with a laugh. Ash felt a bead of sweat run down the side of his head.

"Um, no, she was, mmhhrrgg, the Pokémon I got from Professor Oak," Ash replied, grunting a bit in pain when Persian started kneading into his leg. His old teacher raised an eyebrow at that.

"Really? She was your starting Pokémon, huh. I'm surprised you didn't go with one of the regular three he usually hands out."

"Yeah, they just didn't, urrrgh, feel right to me is all," Ash said, wincing as Persian's claws slightly dug into him again.

"Ah, understandable then," she responded, her face softening as she watched Persian get cuddly with Ash. "You know, he really missed you, even if you were only gone for a week or so. He's going to be heartbroken once you leave and not come back for months, or even years to see him."

The school had a system in place where they allowed you to choose three Pokémon for the entirety of your schooling career from a pool of young Pokémon that belonged to the staff. A student chose their first Pokémon days after they start, then six months later they chose their second Pokémon. Six months after the second Pokémon, they were allowed to choose their final Pokémon for the rest of their school days at the academy.

They were simply rental Pokémon in a sense, used as teaching tools for battling and care. Many students often formed a strong friendship and bond with them. Ash had been one of those who did so.

Ash had thought long and hard about the first Pokémon he would choose first, when he went into the room that had held all of the Pokémon. They had all been playing, chatting with each other, or sleeping. It had been a tough choice, but once he laid eyes on a small, sleeping Meowth that had been curled up with its siblings, he made his choice. He did not know what made him choose the tiny cat, but he was glad that he did.

He spent the first six months playing with, feeding, grooming, and of course training the Meowth kitten. In fact, he spent countless hours, even away from the school, training and teaching both himself and his tiny feline.

By the time the sixth month rolled around, the tiny Meowth was no longer tiny and was a master of his own abilities. And if Ash had anything to say about it, the strongest Pokémon amongst his classmates'.

When it came time to choose their second Pokémon, a tournament was held to determine who would get to choose first, then second, then third, and so on. It was a way to determine who had listened well in their lessons.

Ash and Meowth had been mocked from the get-go, and thus were severely underestimated by their fellow classmates and Pokémon. Well, they had showed them they were all completely wrong. The two of them had steamrolled through the competition, using Meowth's variety of elemental attacks and defensive techniques to take them down. It had left everyone, even the staff, in shock.

The only one who had given him a bit of trouble was his friend and rival, Gary, who had chosen a Treecko, which had evolved into a Grovyle at some point in the last couple of months before the tournament.

Both Pokémon had ended up on the ground panting and sweating in exhaustion, their wounds making it difficult for them to move. With a lot of encouragement from Ash, Meowth managed to fire one last weak Shadow Ball to knock the Grovyle out and secure the top spot in the tournament.

He had chosen a young, feisty female Girafarig as his second Pokémon. Many of his fellow classmates had questioned his choice, but he ignored them completely. He had had his reasons for choosing the Normal and Psychic Pokémon.

Much the same way he did with Meowth, he bonded and trained with his new Pokémon, while continuing the same routine with Meowth, and when the last six months were up, a second tournament was held. This time, he battled Gary in the early match-ups.

His rival had chosen a Magby as his second Pokémon, which had yet to evolve, and Ash had started seeing a pattern with the spiky-haired Oak. He had guessed his rival's next Pokémon would be a Water-type if his hypothesis was correct.

The battle had gone much the same way, though both Girafarig and Magby knocked each other out, resulting in a draw. The final battle had been between his Meowth and his rival's Sceptile. Ash had been a bit nervous when he saw the final evolved form of Treecko emerge from the Pokéball in Gary's hand. Still, he placed his complete trust in Meowth's capabilities, and that trust was not misplaced. It had come down to the wire, once again, but Sceptile was in the lead this time. Ash had been ready to throw in the towel to save his Pokémon from anymore harm, but the bright light of evolution from Meowth stopped him.

From the small, awkward Meowth emerged a graceful and powerful Persian, who leaped into action without any command and quickly rendered Gary's weakened Sceptile unconscious with his newly-learned U-turn.

After he chose his third and final Pokémon, a female Murkrow, whom he had evolved into a Honchkrow a year later, he had taken the training up a notch. Of course there had been plenty of bonding time in between as well.

Ash later found out Gary had chosen a Shellos, just as he had predicted.

He loved each and every Pokémon, but he knew their time together was not meant to last as the Pokémon did not belong to him. Every student was forced to turn in their three Pokémon after they finished and passed their final exam. It was done in private so each student could say goodbye to the Pokémon they had come to love and bond with over the past five years. It was just as hard on the Pokémon as it was the students, and many students had attempted to whisk away the Pokémon, keeping them hidden, but they always ended up caught as the school had a trained group of Growlithe and Arcanine to sniff such things out.

The Pokémon were often retired from battles by their owners after they were returned, or were given to family members to take care of. Sometimes they were rented out for various reasons outside the school, but regardless of where they ended up, they were typically never put into the hands of the students ever again.

Ash always thought it was extremely cruel to not let them keep the Pokémon that had become like family to the students, but there was nothing he could do about it unfortunately.

Not right now, at least.

He looked down at the happy, purring, Persian and sighed in sadness as he stroked down along his back. He was lucky Persian belonged to Ms. Blackthorn, as he was her own Persian's son (his siblings had been adopted out years ago), and thus she planned on keeping him. It meant he would be able to visit him whenever he got the chance, but it would be few and far between. He was not so lucky with Honchkrow and Girafarig, though.

"I know, I just wish we got to keep the Pokémon we trained and bonded with. It's just not fair!" Ash growled in frustration and slammed a fist into the carpeted floor below him. Persian started, meowing at him deeply in worry. Ash scratched behind his ears to distract the feline, eliciting more deep purrs.

"I agree with you. It's cruel to rip a Pokémon from someone who developed a strong bond with them. Unfortunately our hands are tied as it was the administration's decision to force the Pokémon back into the teacher's hands. For what reason I do not know, but if it were up to me, you would have been able to keep your three Pokémon. Sometimes I hate working for this place, but I enjoy teaching too much to leave, sadly."

Ash just sighed again and spent the rest of the time he had there pampering Persian.

The young trainer now sat on a bench in the nearby park, staring at Joltik's Pokéball as the screams of young children playing surrounded him.

The goodbye between him and Persian had not been easy, but it had to be done. The poor feline kept wailing as Ash left, Ms. Blackthorn following behind him to walk him to the gates.

She had returned him to his Pokéball after he attempted to drag the poor kid back into the room.

The teacher had given him some advice on some things that he had been curious about as they walked, including on how to handle his situation with Joltik.

"She's going to be overprotective of you for some time," she had told him after he explained what had happened the day before. "The best way to even handle this situation is to talk to her, otherwise she won't work to overcome her severe protectiveness. It's not going to be today, or tomorrow, hell, it may not even happen for a year or more, but she'll eventually learn she doesn't have to constantly attack everything that comes your way."

Ash sighed as he pressed the button on the front of the ball and released his high-strung Pokémon. He hated talking things out, it made him uncomfortable, but this had to be done unfortunately.

The electric spider shook herself out and then proceeded to turn this way and that, chittering madly as she took in her surroundings.

"Joltik," Ash called out softly, gaining her attention immediately. He saw the relief in her eyes as she looked at him, and he took a deep breath. He patted his lap and Joltik swiftly jumped up and landed on his legs, nuzzling his abdomen in affection. Ash chuckled a bit as she purred when he gently started running his fingers down her body, but then his face turned serious.

"Joltik, we need to talk," he said, causing the little spider to look at him curiously, and a little nervously. "It's nothing terrible, I promise. It's just... Ugh, I'm so bad at this! Look, I appreciate how protective you are of me, if it weren't for you I wouldn't even be sitting here talking to you right now, but..." Here, Ash sighed once more, trying to organize his thoughts and his nerves. Joltik gave a few clicks in confusion at her trainer's nervousness.

"Alright, I'm just going to come out and say it! You need to stop being so overprotective of me!" Joltik let out a chirp in surprise. Stop being protective, what? If she did not protect him... Well, she did not want to think about it. Suddenly, that fear she felt from before returned with a vengeance.

"I'm not saying to stop protecting me, Joltik, you just have to stop attacking everyone and everything that comes close to me. Not everyone is out to get me, I promise. But don't worry, we're going to get you nice and strong to where no one can hurt you or me." Joltik gave an excited chitter at that as the fear slowly ebbed away. "Just... promise me you'll let up on the overprotective-ness. I know it's not going to happen immediately, but will you promise to try?" Joltik gave affirmative chirp and climbed to sit on top of Ash's head, her favorite spot.

She would do her best to calm down her overprotective-ness, but it was not going to be easy.

Ash let out a breath of relief as he leaned back a bit to relax and enjoy the early afternoon sun. 'That was a bit easier than I thought.'

They sat there for fifteen minutes just soaking up the sun and afternoon air, drowning out the sounds around them as they enjoyed the moment of peace with each other before Ash decided it was time to leave.

He stopped at the Poké Mart that was near the Pokémon Center to pick up some supplies. While he was not short on supplies, the young trainer thought it would not hurt to have extra just in case. Plus, he had quite a bit of money saved up from the past few years, so he splurged a bit on a few Great Balls and Ultra Balls and some of the better healing items. While it had cost him close to one hundred thousand yen, he knew it would be worth it in the long run.

He had even bought an electric blue ribbon that had caught Joltik's eye. It was pretty much damage proof, so he saw no reason why she could not have it. The happiness in her eyes as he put it on around her "neck" made it worth it.

As he was getting ready to start heading north towards Route 2 and into Viridian Forest, a bunch of kids around his age went rushing past him and Joltik, chattering excitedly. He felt Joltik tense, but relax a bit soon after. Already some progress then, that was good. He grew curious, though, when even more kids, and a couple of teenagers, went rushing by again.

Reaching out, he grabbed what looked to be a twelve-year-old by the arm and stopped him.

"Hey, what's everyone running to in such a hurry?" Ash asked.

"Huh? You mean you don't know? There's a rare Pokémon out on Route 22 challenging everyone. The first one to defeat it gets to catch it!" The kid explained, before running off once again.

Intrigued, and excited at the possibility of catching a new Pokémon for his team, Ash took off running as well, following the other kids.

Ten minutes later they all arrived at the grassy area with the Pokémon, which was already occupied by several other kids and teens, all shouting in encouragement as one girl took on the mysterious Pokémon with a Houndour.

She was losing, badly, much to the shock of the rest of the group.

"Houndour, no!" She shouted as her Pokémon let out a final yelp of pain before fainting at her feet. She sighed and returned her Pokémon, backing off to let someone else give a try at defeating the Pokémon.

Ash pushed his way to the front, much to the disgruntlement of the other kids, and stared at the mysterious Pokémon that had apparently been beating every kid who had challenged it.

Its grey, spiky body definitely triggered something in his memory, but for the life of him, Ash could not remember what the Pokémon was. So, he did the smart thing and pulled out his Pokedex, earning a few shocked and jealous stares from the others (not everyone was gifted with these highly expensive electronic devices after all).

Looking down at the screen, he finally got his answer.

A Ferroseed. A Steel and Grass-type Pokémon. And a strong one to boot if it had taken out a Fire-type without breaking a sweat. It got his blood pumping as he looked on and watched as it effortlessly took down some guy's Vulpix. It seemed like those with Fire-types were only challenging it, which would have been smart if not for the fact that the Ferroseed was kicking the crap out of every one of them.

After several minutes, it seemed as though everyone else had given up, so Ash finally took the opportunity to stand before the Ferroseed and issue a challenge. Ash knew this was no wild Pokémon, or, it had not been. It was too well trained. He did not know what could possess someone to rid of such a powerful Pokémon, but he planned on catching it for himself. He would keep, love, and treasure it like its previous trainer should have done.

"Joltik, go!" Ash called, and twisted his hat around after she had jumped off of his head. "This isn't going to be easy, but I believe in you." Joltik gave a click in response.

The sudden laughing of the crowd made him turn around and glare at the group. "What?!"

"You think you can beat that thing with a Joltik? You're nuts!" One kid in a red shirt said, and Ash just smirked, much to the confusion of the crowd.

"Type match-ups aren't everything. Just watch. Joltik, Spider Web!" Joltik fired it at such a speed that the Ferroseed had no time to respond. It was covered in the sticky substance, preventing its escape, but to Ash's surprise it started shining silver and spun out of the web with ease.

"Gyro Ball..." Ash muttered. Well, Spider Web and String Shot by themselves were out of the question. Before Ash could think of something else, the spiky seed's spikes glowed white and unleashed a barrage of tiny seeds.

"Dodge!" Joltik ran to the right, evading the Bullet Seed with ease, but the Ferroseed did not let up and shined silver once more before letting loose what looked like a metallic mirror, which the little spider dodged without command. 'Mirror Shot. It's got quite the arsenal so far, and those attacks are perfectly executed. I need to go on the offensive or we'll just be dodging the whole time. Ferroseed seems stationary and doesn't move, we'll use the to our advantage.'

"Joltik, time for some strategy! Use String Shot and electrify it with Thunder Wave!" Though a bit confused, Joltik did as she was told and shot a String Shot at Ferroseed, quickly using a Thunder Wave and sending the current down the rope of sticky silk.

The seed had attempted to put up a Protect, but Joltik was just too fast for it and the two attacks connected, causing the Ferroseed to spasm as it became paralyzed. The crowd behind him were in shock. No one else had managed to land a hit on the Ferroseed at all!

Joltik quickly released the String Shot and glared at her foe, who had become quite angry at this point. To the surprise of everyone, it jumped up and began another Gyro Ball, heading towards Joltik at an incredible speed. Before she could dodge, it slammed right into her, causing her to let out a deep chirp of pain as she was sent flying.

"Joltik!" Ash cried out in panic, though his worry was eased as she got right back up and charged at the Ferroseed, her small fangs glowing a yellowish-green as she bit into the seed with a Bug Bite. She backed off immediately, though, when the pain from its barbs got to her.

That gave Ash an idea. "Use Screech, and don't let up!" He knew his plan would hurt her a bit, but if it knocked out the Ferroseed and secured his win, it would be worth it. No pain, no gain, as he was always told.

Joltik shook off the slight pain and began vibrating, the sound waves slamming into the Ferroseed. It reeled back in pain as the waves traversed on and through its body, but it broke through its haze of pain and struck Joltik with a Bullet Seed, causing quite a bit damage as she cried out in pain. 'Definitely have to work on her defenses and endurance.'

"Shake it off, Joltik! Get in and use a Bug Bite and stay latched on!" Her trainer was crazy at times, she decided, but did as she was told. The pain from the spikes hurt a lot, but she persisted, for Ash. The Ferroseed attempted to get her off, but paralysis struck and it was unable to move.

"Now, Shock Wave, finish it off!" Her body crackled with blue electricity and struck home, causing massive damage due to the proximity. The Ferroseed closed its eyes in pain and fell over, Joltik immediately jumping away, feeling quite exhausted. Her body hurt all over too. That seed's attacks sure packed a punch!

"Yes!" Ash shouted in glee and tossed a Pokéball at the fallen Ferroseed. His aim was true and the Pokémon was sucked in. It shook several times, rather violently, before it settled and gave a soft "ding" at a successful capture. Ash gave a whoop before running over and picking up his new Pokémon.

The crowd behind him was giving him cheers and whistles.

A couple of hours later, and a visit to the Pokémon Center, and Ash was ready to hit the road. It was already four o'clock in the afternoon and he felt as he had spent enough time in Viridian City.

After getting back his Pokémon from Nurse Joy, he introduced himself and Joltik to Ferroseed. It, or rather he, as Ash had found out, was accepting of him as his new trainer. He would never get to hold his new Pokémon, not until he bought special gloves to do so, but Ash was alright with that. He could show his affection in other ways.

Just as he exited Viridian City on to Route 2, a very familiar voice called out to him from behind.

"Well, if it isn't Ashy-boy."

Said "Ashy-boy" turned around with a grimace at his nickname, but smiled upon seeing the spiky, brown hair and purple shirt of his friend and rival.

"Hello, Gary."

END

A/N: Okay okay, I did say Gary would show up in this chapter and I wasn't kidding. The battle between the two takes place next chapter, though, so stay tuned for that!

As for his new Pokémon, bet you did not even guess it would be Ferroseed, huh? He did belong to another trainer, and you'll get to meet them at a later date.

Also, I know it is "Poké Ball" and not Pokéball, but I prefer to spell it that way.

As for the money thing, well, it technically is yen in the games. They just changed the symbol for international release to be Pokédollars or whatever it is. If we're going on a 1 to 1 scale, 100,000 yen, which is what Ash spent in this chapter, then that is $1,000. With conversion rates, it's a litle over $800. Quite a bit, but Ash had saved up all his money over the years, so he amassed quite a bit.

Ferroseed's full moveset will be revealed next chapter. The training will also begin next chapter as well, but don't expect me to go into full detail on that. I hate writing training parts and I hate reading them. It will go into the basics of how he trains each Pokémon at first, then after that will gloss over it. Some people focus way too much time writing about Ash training his Pokémon, and not enough about battles, which is what Pokémon is basically all about after all.

Also, if you see any inconsistencies, please tell me, I will go back and fix them. Also, I rushed a few parts, so I may go back and edit them later to expand on them.

Next time on Power Player: A battle between rivals and the trek through Viridian Forest.

Until next time!