CHAPTER 1: A LESSON LEARNED

He couldn't belive it.

A multitude of emotions ran through his mind. Anger at being defeated, disappointment at the fact that it had been so easy for his opponent. However, the most prominent one on his face was that one of shock.

Ash Ketchum didn't pay attention as his opponent, Gary Oak, grandson of the renowned Pokémon Professor, Samuel Oak, and a brilliant researcher in his own right, recalled his Electivire into its Pokéball and started walking towards the center of the small clearing that they had chosen as their makeshift battlefield

The shock quickly turned into self-procrastination as various thoughts churned within his mind.

'How did he defeat me so easily?' The young trainer thought. 'He defeated Pikachu as though he was nothing. Wasn't Pikachu strong enough?' He immediately discarded this thought with an internal scoff. 'Of course he is. He defeated Brandon's Regice just a week ago. This means he is a strong Pokémon. So why was he defeated so easily.'

His thoughts were answered from the all too familiar voice of his childhood rival turned friend, "You were overconfident Ash."

The suddenness of the voice made him jump abruptly, as he finally noticed Gary standing in front of him, his hands cradling his injured Pikachu. He was all the more shocked to see that instead of the infuriating smirk that he thought would see on his face, it had an expression of complete seriousness that he hadn't ever seen on his rival before.

The shock quickly receded, as he gingerly took Pikachu from him, followed by a super potion that Gary handed to him. He sprayed the potion almost mechanically on the Pokémon, grimacing as the small mouse Pokémon hissed before the potion started having its effect and healing the more severe wounds marring its body.

As the expression on the asleep Pokémon's face changed from a grimace to a more peaceful one, Gary's words registered the youngest Battle Frontier winner.

"What do you mean by that Gary?" he spoke, an undertone of anger evident in his voice.

Gary, having noticed this, decided to not pay any attention to it. "You heard what I said Ketchum. I said you were overconfident. You thought that just because Pikachu had defeated a Legendary a week ago, he could take on any other Pokémon easily. When I released Electivire you had shown some apprehension at seeing a new Pokémon, yet as soon as the battle began, you completely disregarded everything and started using attacks in the hope of simply overpowering me."

"You got flustered when your attacks were not causing Electivire any harm and soon abandoned any form of plan you may have had and started calling out your powerful moves hoping that they would hit."

Ash looked towards Gary, anger evident in his face, to reply to his speculations. But the seriousness on the young Researcher's face simply made him keep quiet. Gary placed his bag on the ground and sat down on the ground, his elbows supporting his upper body and motioned for Ash to do the same. Not hesitating, Ash sat in a similar manner, with Pikachu on his lap, sleeping soundly.

"You know Ash," Gary continued, "Ever since you defeated me in Johto, I knew that you were a better trainer than I could ever be. I have even followed your battles ever since then."

Seeing the questioning and perplexed look on his face, Gary elaborated, "As your sponsor, Gramps has the option to get videos of your official gym matches or any League battles from the League. I had asked him to simply send me those whenever possible. Even your mom gets them from him."

"You mean Mom has watched every one of my matches?" Ash asked, astonished at the fact.

"Only the official gym matches, the tournaments and the entire Battle Frontier, since they are League sanctioned."

Ash nodded his head, indicating Gary to continue.

"You see, every battle that I have seen you fight, either win or lose, I have noticed a few things. In fact even Gramps noticed them. When I asked him why he didn't point it out to you, he simply answered that while he is your sponsor, he doesn't want you to be over-reliant on others. He wanted to see those flaws for yourself and fix those weaknesses yourself. He wants you to grow into the kind of trainer all of us in this town know you can be."

Ash, who was still not over the fact that his rival and his mother had seen every one of his official battles, was overwhelmed by the words if his friend.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked, the undercurrent of anger still not abated completely.

Gary sighed at the childlike behavior of his friend. "Ash…" he began, the slight annoyance not missed by the black haired trainer, "When someone is trying to give you some advice, you must first listen to that person before flying off the handle. Most of the times it is for your own good."

The remaining anger quickly receded from Ash's face, as he scratched his cheek somewhat sheepishly, and muttered a quick "sorry!"

Seeing that his friend had calmed down, Gary spoke once again, "Gramps was okay with you finding your weaknesses yourself, however I do not think that is right for you. We both know you have the capability to achieve much more than the top eight of the tournaments and therefore I told him what I was going to do today."

"You mean Professor Oak knows about this battle?" Ash asked, perplexed.

"Yes" Gary nodded, "and while he thinks it unwise, he fully supports me. However, he warned me that this is the last time I can directly help you."

Seeing him nod at this he continued, "Now, what I am about to say may be somewhat hurtful to you Ash. You may even get furious at me because of that. But I want to get past that anger and think what I say. You must understand that everyone wants you to be the best Pokémon trainer and accomplish your dream, just like you helped me find mine."

Ash nodded, "I'll listen to what you have to say Gary, don't worry."

"Good." Gary said, before getting up and changing to a cross-legged sitting position, prompting Ash to do the same. "The biggest problem that we, Gramps and I, have seen is that you get overconfident too easily. Every new region you go, you straight out challenge the gym in whichever city you visit. You don't research the leader, his preferred Pokémon or even which type Pokémon they use. Moreover, when you defeat a few gyms in a row, you start thinking yourself undefeatable. It is only when you lose a battle that you give serious consideration to what you should have done and what you need to defeat the person."

Ash simply nodded, knowing most of this to be true.

"The same thing happens to you in the tournaments. In Johto, when you defeated me you, you became overconfident there. I don't know if you know or not, but the League shows other trainers the list of Pokémon another trainer has used throughout the tournament. Had you used that to at least get an anticipation of the Pokémon your opponent had, you could have won the Conference."

Ash, as though struck by the words could only gape at Gary, who looked like he was on a steamroll. "The same thing happened in Hoenn. Had you checked Tyson's Pokémon, you could have prepared beforehand that match. And that was one Tournament that you would have won had you defeated him."

The young Pokémon Researcher took a deep breath and looked at Ash, who seemed to be in deep thought. And indeed, Ash was thinking back to all the instances that he had lost an official match. The various gym leaders and trainers who had defeated him. What felt like hours to him, but was in fact just a few seconds later, he truly saw the truth in Gary's words. He realized how, he was more successful whenever he planned for an opponent rather than when he simply ran headlong into a match without any plan.

Gary, seeing that Ash was listening like he said he would, decided to continue. "Ash… how do you train your Pokémon?" he asked.

Seeing the confused expression on Ash's face, he elaborated, "I mean, how you train your Pokémon? What training regimen you use? When you decide to teach them a new move and all that?"

Seeing the thoughtful look on his friend's face, Gary sighed, wanting nothing more than to rub his temples in irritation. Not getting an answer, he took a deep breath. "Do you know that just to reach the level I was at, during the Silver Conference, I had to train my Pokémon almost on a daily basis, regularly teaching them new moves, increasing their move pool, upgrading their old moves with more powerful ones?"

"The few times that I have talked to Brock, he tells me how often you guys run into those three Team Rocket members and how most of the times it is Pikachu himself who gets rid of them. Don't you see how that is making him one of your most powerful Pokémon? Take your Charizard as well. Isn't he constantly training in the Chartcific Valley?" Getting a mute nod from the trainer, he continued, "So…Don't you see how much training on a daily basis benefits your Pokémon's strength?"

Seeing the affronted look on his face, Gary got confused for a moment before he realized how it looked to Ash. He sighed, "Ash… I'm not saying that the rest of your Pokémon are weak. What I'm saying is that if you train them, each of your Pokémon can reach the level at which you're Pikachu and Charizard are at, maybe even exceed that."

Looking towards the sky, he spoke, "You know, whenever I see you and your Pokémon, be it in the Ranch or in the battles, I can't help but feel jealous. The level of devotion and love that you and your Pokémon show towards each other is something that is seen only in the Elite Four and the Champions, even Gramps agrees on that."

Ash couldn't help but feel proud of that. He always cherished the bonds he had with his Pokémon. They were more important to him than anything in his life, bar his mom.

"Then why did you abandon them?"

A/N:- THIS STORY IS ADOPTED FROM PREDATOR216. IT WILL HAVE ALL ITS CHAPTER AND I WILL CONTINUE FURTURE. EACH CHAPTER IS BROKEN DOWN INTO 2-3 CHAPTERS. EXPECT ANOTHER ONE IN A WEEK. CYO!