As he made his way towards Crasher Wake's gym with Brock and Dawn on either side of him, Ash pondered on what to do. The information he'd gotten last night had been surprising. It had been on his mind all night until he fell asleep and even when he woke up, it was one of the first thoughts to enter his head.

He wanted to battle it and possibly capture it. Despite all the Pokemon he'd come across on his travels, he'd never once come across one of the members of the Beldum line in the wild and the same with the Bagon line. He owned a Larvitar, now Pupitar that lived up on Mount Silver under the care of a ranger corps, and he'd come across quite a few Dratini and Dragonair in the wild, but hadn't been able to catch any of them because of the area they lived in and would have felt shitty capturing them and taking them away from where they had lived.

But not only was this Metagross a fully evolved member of one of the Pseudo-legendary group - a small group of pokemon famed for their natural power that put them above ordinary Pokemon even without training - it was also a rare, alternately colored Pokemon like his Noctowl.

The rarity of that Metagross was ludicrous. And it was well known apparently, very well known. From he'd been told by the girl he'd been sharing a few drinks with last night, it had been over a year now that the rumours of it had been circulating, with more and more trainers attempting to capture it..

Yet none had managed to even come close from what she told him.

It must be extremely powerful. Just the thought of battling such a pokemon had flutters of excitement beginning to blossom within his stomach. Taking it on would be a great test for his team!

'Well, maybe not all of them.' Ash mused internally. His hand ghosted across his pocket, feeling the narrow and sharp shape of the Razor Fang he'd bought after capturing Gligar. His latest problem child, and the little ground and flying type was a much bigger problem than Chimchar. At least with Chimchar he had a good idea on how to help the fire type and was already working towards helping him overcome his problems with his Blaze.

…..Ash did not know how to help Gligar overcome his fears of battling. It wasn't even a problem of strength either, Gligar was strong. Out of all the pokemon he'd ever captured, Gligar had one of the best starting move sets. Knowing Steel Wing and X-scissor right off the bat.

But ever since Gligar fought Paul's Gliscor the other day and was absolutely demolished, all of his confidence had been shattered and he had become afraid to battle, even shying away from a simple spar with Turtwig.

He'd held off on letting Gligar know he had the Razor Fang to evolve him because the simple fact was, Ash had never believed a pokemon had to evolve to become strong, and even upon evolving, the stronger a pokemon was before evolving, the stronger it would become upon doing so.

Maybe he shouldn't have? Maybe he should have just let Gligar know about it? If he had been a Gliscor as well when he and Paul battled, it would have ended much differently he was sure. If only he had been a bit more proactive, he had been more focused on Buizel and helping the water type get stronger to soothe the sting he felt upon only managing a draw against Maylene's Lucario. With Gligar, he'd mostly focused on having him train with Staravia to get Aerial Ace down, while Staravia worked on Steel Wing, Turtwig on Stealth Rock and Pikachu on an interesting move he found not long ago called Electric Terrain.

A hand jostled his shoulder breaking Ash from his thoughts. He blinked and looked to the owner of the hand to see Dawn staring at him, deep blue eyes alight with concern, "Are you okay Ash?" she asked, "We've been trying to get your attention for like thirty seconds."

"I'm fine," he waved off her concern easily, "I was just thinking about some stuff I learned last night at the party."

"Well better get your head in the game Ash," Brock piped in and when Ash looked at him, the older teen gestured forward with his hand, "We're here, your battle to get your fourth badge here is just coming up."

Ash looked up at the large towering lavender brick building he found himself standing in front of, dome like in shape with a gleaming orange yellow roof, and couldn't help but grin, all worries leaving him for the moment. It had been a while since he'd got to take on a gym leader, what with being held up with the Wallace Cup and May's visit.

"That didn't take long." Brock chuckled, patting him on the back.

Ash barely held in his wince as his friend's hand pressed against the burns he had there. "Brock!" Dawn hissed angrily, "Watch it, you're hitting his burn mark!"

"Oh right! Sorry buddy!" Brock held his hands up in surrender and stepped back, a sheepish laugh leaving the older teens mouth.

But the knowing look and raised eyebrow Brock sent him when Dawn huffed and looked away was rather telling. 'Don't over do it.' the message was clear, he was warning him.

Ash barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes at Brock's mothering. But if he didn't, he knew it would get back to his actual mother somehow at some point. And that would lead to her worrying and fretting over him and it just wasn't something he wanted her dealing with. All things considered, while the burns he got from Chimchar were painful, he'd dealt with far worse training Charizard, heck, he'd had to deal with him burning his face when he was a Charmeleon, all things considered he had been lucky he hadn't lost an eye a few times and even now the skin on his cheeks was a little bit rough to touch.

..Maybe he should look into getting a pokemon with healing abilities? Not a Chansey, they weren't big on battling. But maybe a Slowpoke, he knew that line could learn Heal Pulse, he'd researched them quite a bit after meeting that talking Slowking back in the Orange Islands when dealing with the legendary birds and Lugia. Or he could start bringing Bayleef out with him, she knew Heal Pulse, she'd learned it not long before he headed to Sinnoh.

A small hand grabbed onto his wrist and Dawn broke him from his thoughts again as she began dragging him inside, "Come on slowpoke!" she grinned, forcing him in alongside her as the doors to the gym slid open automatically as they got close.

A young brunette woman sat behind the main desk within the all blue lobbie of the gym and Dawn wasted no time dragging him over "Hiya!" Dawn greeted her bubbly, "We're here for Ash Ketchum to battle Crasher Wake."

The brunette smiled politely at them, "Hello, we've been expecting you," she greeted, eyes looking to Dawn first before moving on his own eyes, "Mr. Wake is already waiting at the battlefield for you, please feel free to head straight through there." she pointed behind her to a wide open corridor where Ash could smell dampness in the air. A smell he was quite accustomed to after spending so much time in the Cerulean City Gym over the years.

"Thanks!" Dawn beamed and began dragging him along.

Ash looked over his shoulder to see Brock shrugging at him and waving him off before making a beeline straight for the receptionist. Ash didn't even bother stopping from shaking his head and smirking. 'Way to seem desperate Brocko.' he chuckled internally.

If only Brock could hold himself back a bit and show off that cool side of himself he had whenever treating pokemon or caring for them. He wouldn't have a problem getting many dates then.

Minutes later, Ash found himself standing before a massive water battlefield littered throughout with dozens of large platforms floating atop the water.

"All right! The next battle of the Pastoria City Gym is about to begin!" The ref, standing in an opening from the stands declared loudly, while not to far away, Dawn sat in one of the red seats amongst hundreds of others, Crasher Wake usually drew in quite the crowds normally when battling, "In the blue corner, the challenger is Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!" the ref continued, pointing at him.

Ash was honestly quite disappointed the blue haired girl wasn't dressed up in her cheerleader outfit this time. Sadly, most of her clothing besides the set she was wearing currently was in the washing machine at the Pokemon Centre. Dawn was ever a stickler for clean clothes. It never bothered him since he knew they would inevitably all get dirty real quick anyway.

..Well, not that he really had anything to complain about. Her usual pink miniskirt was the definition of 'mini' and shorter than the skirt of her cheerleader uniform. Still, it was a definite ego boost to have a girl dress up as one to cheer for him on her own merit, when Gary had to use Professor Oak's money to do it for his own cheerleaders.

Then the man swung around the point at Crasher Wake at the other side of the battlefield, easily one hundred feet if not more in distance, "And in the red corner, you know him, you love him. The Gym Leader of Pastoria City!" Ash supposed the man doubled as Crasher Wake's hype man when he wrestled, "CRAAAASHER WAAAKE!"

"Raaah!" Crasher Wake bellowed, tearing the white mantle from his shoulders and casting it into the air behind him, revealing his massive heavy set body. He could give Bruno a run for his money in build Ash bet, "Crasher Wake is in the house!"

Despite himself Ash couldn't help but grin at his showboating. Wake was an interesting, charismatic guy, and he played to crowds better than almost anyone he had ever seen. He was beloved by Pastoria City, after all, it was only thanks to him the city was still standing. From what he'd learned last night from some citizens of the city, much of Pastoria City had been destroyed in a massive flood a few years ago.

Many had lost their homes and livelihood, and the city wasn't going to be receiving much funding. Many would have probably starved to death. Crasher Wake was only a passerby visiting the Great Marsh at the time, but a famous and rich wrestler known far and wide. He led the rescue efforts and invested all of his money into helping everyone put their lives back together. And in a year's time the city was thriving one again, better even than before.

Crasher Wake dragged the city and its people up from desolation and thanks to his efforts, he was beloved by the city. Mayor, Gym Leader, Protector. He was all that and more to Pastoria City.

"This will be a three on three battle!" the ref added, "In addition only the challenger will be allowed to switch pokemon."

Pretty standard rules Ash noted. Though he wished Gym Leaders were allowed to switch their pokemon as well, it didn't seem like it, but it was actually quite a disadvantage. If they could switch freely, battles would be so much more challenging than they already were.

"I've been waiting Ash!" Crasher Wake laughed loudly, pointing one massive finger towards him, "It's my privilege as the Pastoria City Gym Leader to see just what kind of pokemon and power you have to bring to the table! Come at me with all you've got because I won't be going easy on you little buddy!"

His massive hand slashed down through the air, grabbing one of the six pokeballs atop his stretchy blue, waterproof pants, "Empoleon, come on out!" the man declared.

In a burst of white, the fully evolved form of Piplup appeared on one of the platforms, metallic wings crossed over its chest and a serious stare levelled at Ash and Pikachu atop his shoulder. Its huge golden crown gleamed brightly in the light of the gym and ash had to marvel at the sheer size of the Empoleon. He'd seen a few since starting his journey in Sinnoh, but this one was easily half again the size of any he'd come across, and so broad in the chest. It was probably nearly twice Ash's height.

"Don't worry, I don't plan on disappointing!" Ash called back, hand going to his belt. The obvious choice was Pikachu or Turtwig. Especially with Turtwig's new attack which would set him up with an advantage on any pokemon Crasher Wake brought in next.

But that Empoleon, it was the perfect opponent for his newest pokemon. He grabbed the sixth pokeball on his belt and enlarged it before releasing the pokemon inside, "Come on out, Chimchar!" Ash shouted.

In another burst of silvery white light, Chimchar appeared in one of the platforms in front of Ash. "Chimcha!" he cried, crouching down though, knuckles digging into the platform in preparation to get moving quickly.

It was a testament to how courageous Chimchar was that the little fire type didn't even bat an eye at the towering fully evolved water and steel type pokemon.

But yeah, Empoleon would be a great opponent for Chimchar. And battling such a pokemon would make good headway into Chimchar evolving. With how strong the little fire chimp was, and with how old he was according to Brock after the older teen examined him after Ash caught the fire type, he was ready to evolve at any time.

"A fire type?" Crasher Wake cocked his head to the side, eyeing your choice with interest, "Bold of you Ash! I like it!"

"Don't underestimate Chimchar just because he's a fire type," Ash chuckled, "This little guy is something else, I wouldn't have sent him out if I didn't think he couldn't take down your Empoleon."

Chimchar looked over his small shoulder and beamed at Ash and he smiled back, giving the pokemon a reassuring nod.

"Hah! I wouldn't dream of it!" Crasher Wake laughed loudly, lifting a hand and pointing his massive index finger at him and Chimchar, "Come on then, show me what you and Chimchar have got! I'll give you the first move!"

Well, it would be rude not to take him up on his kindness wouldn't it? "Chimchar, Flamethrower and get close!" Ash snapped out an order instantly.

"Char!" Chimchar nodded and jumped, cocking his head back and releasing a massive stream of red hot flames that tore through the air like a scorching rocket.

"Metal Claw, cut through it!" Crasher Wake countered.

The massive Empoleon barked and its metallic wings gleamed with silver power. It swung both enhanced wings out just in time to slash into the wave of flames threatening to sweep over it.

Its wings parted the first of the flames, but Ash grinned as the cool look in its eyes was replaced as they widened in shock when the wave of flames bulged up and doubled in intensity slowly pushing it back for a few moments before the fully evolved starter pokemon was overwhelmed and lifted into the air by the force behind the flames, unable to hold them back.

Empoleon slammed into the other side of the water arena as the flames cut off. It hung onto the side of the pool, a glare directed at Chimchar as the simian fire type began hopping rapidly between the floating platforms towards it.

"Well now," Crasher Wake blinked, "That was something else! I wasn't expecting power like that from a little Chimchar!"

As much as Ash would like to deny it, he hadn't had enough time with Chimchar to nurture such power. It mostly came down to Chimchar's natural talent and Paul's training. He hated to admit it, but his rival really was talented when it came to drawing out the power of pokemon he saw potential in.

With a growl, Empoleon launched itself up into the air, ignoring the smouldering flames still clinging to its armoured body. "That's the way!" its trainer encouraged, "Time for a combat, chase it down with Aqua Jet!"

"Poleon!" Empoleon bellowed loudly as it began to fall back down towards the pool. But just as it was a massive cloak of water surrounded its form and like a missile of water, the water and steel type cleaved through the air like a bullet and shot towards Chimchar, intent on mowing the little fire type down.

"Spin and dodge!" Ash countered himself.

Chimchar came to a halt in his bouncing between the platforms, waiting for Empoleon to get close.

Just as the towering emperor pokemon was set to smash into Chimchar's position, the little fire type sprang forward and leaped into the air. They were set for a head on collision, before Chimchar spun rapidly and curved around the missile of water cloaking Empoleon.

Empoleon flipped, dispersing the cloak of hydro energy around its form and landed on its feet upon the platform Chimchar previously stood, beginning to swing around to face the airborne fire type almost instantly.

"Fire Spin now!" Ash added, punching a fist forward, a wide grin on his face. He hadn't had long with Chimchar, but the little guy had picked up his spin dodge tactic quickly. The next step he'd come up with using the tactic wasn't ready quite yet, but for now, the spin dodge was enough.

"Char!" roaring, the small fire type tilted his head to the side and released a spiralling corona of flame that swept around Empoleon just as the dual water and steel type turned to face him fully.

Empoleon shrieked in agony as the flames smashed into the platform and exploded upwards into a tornado of flame that constricted around the penguin pokemon.

..This wasn't going quite the way Ash was thinking it would. Chimchar had the advantage in spades. Here he was hoping Empoleon would push the little fire type enough to be pressured into evolving.

Looked like it wasn't going to work for now. Ash raised Chimchar's pokeball, "Good job Chimchar, return for now!" he said, bringing back his pokemon and switching out for another pokeball. While he had the chance, he wanted to take advantage of Empoleon being stuck within the Fire Spin.

"Turtwig, let's go!" Ash released his second pokemon, his Sinnoh Region grass type. "Stealth Rock!"

Turtwig appeared on the platform in front of him in a burst of white light and immediately growled loudly, silvery white light forming a whirlwind of streams around his body that began to rapidly swell in size.

"Hydro Pump Empoleon!" Crasher Wake shouted himself at the same time Turtwig appeared.

A massive jet of water, taller and thicker than Ash was tall tore through the tornado of fire keeping Empoleon trapped. The emperor penguin was dropped to a knee, even more flames smouldering over its armour. The burn effect would keep it down for a few moments at least.

Just as Empoleon broke free, Turtwig gave a loud shout and the now much larger steams of silver energy shot out across the area and burst into form, massive thick jagged boulders easily ten feet in height and five wide appeared floating in the air, numbering easily in two dozen if not more.

"Go Empoleon, Drill Peck!" Crasher Wake shouted.

Pushing itself up, Empoleon struggled forward into a limping run before jumping and rotating rapidly, shooting through the air like a drill towards Turtwig.

Taking a book out of Paul's book, Ash had started training Turtwig towards being a tank instead of increasing his considerable speed much further. But, instead of playing to that, Ash decided to counter, "Razor Leaf!"

From what he'd found out from the pokedex, training Turtwig in preparation for evolving would let him move a lot better upon evolving.

"Turt!" the grass type ran forward and jumped out to meet the rapidly approaching water and steel type and swung his head forward, releasing a barrage of large razor sharp blade like leaves from the stem on his head.

The barrage of leaves slammed into the drill like form of Empoleon, pushing it back a bit before it managed to push through and continue on. But it opened up enough time for Turtwig to open up his mouth and conjure a large sphere of pulsing green power.

Before Empoleon could reach Turtwig, the Energy Ball was fired and slammed into its spinning form, exploding in a rapturous wave of grass type energy. Empleon roared as it was thrown out of its spin and slammed hard into one of the platforms beneath it. The platform cracked and splintered down the middle, splitting into two.

One one of the halves, Empoleon feebly began struggling to its feet before its legs buckled beneath it and it fell onto its back limp, unable to continue.

"Empoleon is unable to battle!" the ref declared after a moment when Empoleon didn't make any movements, "Gym Leader, please release your next pokemon!"

"Yeah!" Dawn bounced up from her seat, pumping a small dainty fist into the air, "Way to go Ash! Keep it up!"

Ash grinned and sent a wink her way before flashing her a thumbs up.

"Return Empoleon," Crasher Wake brought his pokemon back and touched its pokeball to his forehead, "You did well my friend, this loss was my fault, I was not expecting such small opponents to have such explosive power."

He stowed the pokeball back on his pants and grabbed another. Then the towering water trainer grinned fiercely at Ash, "That was quite something Ash," he praised and lifted his pokeball into the air, "But don't think for a moment things are anywhere close to over! Into the water, Gyarados!"

In a burst of light, a massive towering Gyarados appeared in the water, releasing a roar that shook the air.

Ash grinned as six of the massive jagged rocks floating in the air glowed white before shooting over and slamming into the massive serpentine pokemon. It roared in pain, being a part flying type meant it would take even more damage from the rock based hazard entry attack.

Still, Gyarados proved its mettle by shaking its massive head and smashing the debris around its head out of the way. It was bruised around the top of its torso and head pretty badly, but it barely even seemed fazed.

It had been a while since he'd battled a Gyarados. Ash almost forgot how hardy the species were and the kind of power they brought to the fray.

It looked like he may need to go full out. He cast a look at his trusted partner eyeing the battlefield intently from his shoulder.

He initially wanted to give Buizel the chance to make up for his tie with Maylene's Lucario today and had planned on using the water type as his third pokemon. But Buizel didn't quite have the fire power needed right now to bring down a Gyarados. Not outright at least.

..He'd make it up to Buizel by letting him have first shot at that Metagross when he went to take it on.

Ash lifted Turtwig's pokeball, "Return!" he said, bringing the little grass type back and turned his attention to Pikachu on his shoulder, "You up for this buddy?" he asked.

"Pika!" Pikachu grinned and nodded, bouncing off of Ash's shoulder and landing on the platform in front of his trainer.

"Oh, Pikachu now huh?" Crasher Wake hummed in interest, "You sure do have a liking for small pokemon Ash." he chuckled.e

"Pokemon don't need to evolve to be strong." Ash shrugged with a smile.

"Too right!" the gym leader guffawed, slapping his broad stomach, "If nothing else you've proved that so far, let's see if you can keep it up though!"

The massive man punched his own meaty fist forward, "Gyarados, Hydro Pump!"

Roaring, the massive serpent lunged forward and spat a massive corona of water full of building crushing pressure.

"Thunderbolt!" Ash countered, mimicking the gym leader and punching out again.

Jumping, Pikachu growled and called out a massive aura electricity before spinning in the air and releasing a massive bolt of electricity wider than a car.

Electricity and water slammed into each other in monstrous quantities. They clashed hard and sparks flickered throughout the massive room while a deluge of water rained down upon the battle area almost as if Kygore suddenly appeared in the area for a brief moment.

Gyarados was powerful, incredibly so. Its Hydro Pump edged out Misty's Gyarados' by a decent margin. But Pikachu defied common sense. Capable of outperforming an Electivire when it came to sheer electricity output and capable of bringing down Brandon's Regice in a one on one battle.

The two attacks pushed against each other for a good five seconds before the bolt of lightning pushed through, piercing through the massive jet of water and slamming into Gyarados, lighting up its form before it could hope to dodge.

Gyarados roared in agony as the four times effective attack swept over its form. But Ash wasn't content to let things lie, "Volt Tackle!" he commanded his starter pokemon.

Cutting off his Thunderbolt attack, Pikachu landed before pushing off in a massive powerful leap that shot him into the air like a cannonball. "Pika! Pika! Pika!" the small yellow electric type began to chant rapidly, a massive aura of yellow lightning enshrouding his form and blurring him from view.

Gyarados swayed in the aftershock of Pikachu's attack, small crackles of electricity still running over its form. "No Gyarados!" Crasher Wake shouted, "Protect, quickly!"

At the sound of its trainers voice, the massive serpent snapped out of its daze and immediately called a large spherical green barrier into existence around its body, just in time for Pikachu to smash bodily into it.

The hastily prepared barrier held up for only a few moments before buckling and smashing apart under Pikachu's most powerful attack. Gyarados roared in agony once more as Pikachu ploughed into its face and smashed it down into a bunch of platforms.

Smoke wafted out from the impact over Gyarados' face and Pikachu landed on one a few feet away, wincing as he took the recoil of his attack.

The smoke cleared a few moments later to reveal Gyarados limp on its back, swirls in its eyes.

The ref was silent for a moment before raising his hand into the air, "..Gyarados is unable to battle," he declared, "Gym Leader, please release your final pokemon."

Crasher Wake blinked as if unable to comprehend just what happened for a moment before shaking his head, "..Well, that was something alright," he smiled, lifting his pokeball and bringing back his massive pokemon, "I didn't expect Gyarados to go down so easily, he's been with me for years and is my second strongest pokemon."

And it was strong, Ash could admit it. Very strong. It had to be easily on par with Claire's Gyarados from what little he had seen, but Pikachu was capable of defeating that Gyarados two years ago. And since then Pikachu had more than doubled in power.

Dawn winced in sympathy as Crasher Wake brought back his Gyarados and released his most powerful pokemon. His large well built Floatzel. Only for the remaining floating rocks in the area left by Turtwig's Stealth Rock to smash into it from all sides the moment it appeared.

Ash immediately called Pikachu back and brought Chimchar back out and Dawn had to shake her head. 'He really is going all out in trying to help Chimchar evolve.' she mused internally.

It was something Brock had explained to her during the beginning of her journey. There were many contributions to a pokemon evolving, but because of their sheer ability to adapt, most evolutions occurred when a pokemon was pushed to their limits either through harsh training or intense battles. The stronger they became before evolving the easier it became for them to evolve.

Chimchar was already really strong thanks to Paul. But now with Ash's training on top of things, and him having taught the little fire type Overheat, one of the strongest fire type attacks in existence, Dawn was expecting Chimchar to evolve any day now.

She had to admit though, as Ash started off the round this time and called for Flame Wheel, that he really was on fire today.

"That Empoleon sure was something huh?" Dawn said, looking down from the battle to her starter pokemon in her lap as Floatzel fired a Hydro Pump out to clash against Chimchar's Flame Wheel.

"Pip." Piplup nodded, turning away from the battle himself to respond while Buneary continued to cheer Ash and his pokemon on.

It was so big. She didn't even know Empoleon could get that big. It made the newly evolved Empoleon Kenny showed off to her last time they met look like an utter runt.

And yet Chimchar and Turtwig had made quick work of the massive powerhouse.

Dawn honestly couldn't wait for Piplup to evolve sometimes. with coaching from Ash, she abused Bide a lot when battling with Piplup. He'd advised her that the more she used it, the more Piplup would learn to take hits better and the more his endurance would increase, which would go along way when he eventually became an Empoleon and became a steel type.

"With how things are going, you might just end up even bigger than that Empoleon when you're one." the blue haired girl gushed, hugging Piplup tightly. Her starter had shown quite a bit of growth lately since she started doing it. He was almost half again taller than the day she first got him.

Ash and Brock even said he was about ready to handle Hydro Pump and other large power intensive moves like it now!

Piplup rolled his eyes at her, but before she could say anything she watched as Piplup's eyes widened and a blinding white glow shone in the peripherals of her eyes.

"FERNO!" an unfamiliar voice screeched. Whirling her head around, Dawn was just in time to catch Chimchar, or rather, a Monferno smash a glowing white fist into the lower stomach of Floatzel and launch it into the air.

"Now, Overheat!" Ash shouted, punching forward with a massive grin on his face

Monferno's body glowed with crimson power before he opened his mouth and released a corona of blinding white hot flames that slammed into the airborne evolution of Buizel and exploded outwards in a massive sphere of blazing heat.

"Oh! man, I missed it!" Dawn cried out in dismay standing up, squeezing Piplup tightly to her chest. How could she miss it! She'd only looked away for two seconds!

Floatzel slammed into the water moments later, burnt and beaten. Its body resurfaced moments later, floating limply in the water.

The ref sighed sadly before raising his hand, "Flotazel is unable to battle, the winner is Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town." he declared.

Dawn could emphasise with the disappointment. She was right there with him right now.

...Actually, now that she was looking around. Where the hell was Brock?

Here we are, another chapter done for the day. i'm getting stuff done quite quickly the last week or so. This is the first Ash-centric thing I've wrote in a while. And really, this is a story from both Ash and Dawn's perspective so Dawn-centric as well.

I didn't want to spend too much on a Gym Battle that Ash sweeped with ease in canon. Pikachu one shot Gyarados, Buizel one shot Quagsire and then after a little back and forth, Buizel took out Flotazel with an Aqua Jet then Water Pulse. As far as Sinnoh went, when Ash wasn't forced to hold the idiot ball for Paul, he was pretty amazing all around.

Chimchar evolved near off screen. But then, the anime had a real problem with having pokemon that usually evolved quickly take ages to evolve. Specifically Ash's starter pokemon. Where as other starters evolved in a weeks, or hell, in a day in one certain Torchic's case.

From here on out, we'll be branching out in different paths from the canon Sinnoh anime. Ash found out about the shiny Metagross and wants to take it on, so he'll be splitting with Dawn and Brock for a little bit before meeting back up with them.